Articles of Interest 3-24-2008
226 Days until Election Day
MORNING UPDATE:
I have received many inquiries about how to add Michigan to California, Arizona and Nevada, which all have enacted constitutional amendments requiring a two-thirds vote of both houses of the legislature to raise taxes. This requires a petition drive and ballot initiative. This may be the only way, that will stop what has happened to us from happening again. The Democrats are swirling around “ways” to solve the “next” shortfall…unbelievable.
Given the fact that Democrat Speaker Andy Dillon once AGAIN said you can’t say “no” to another tax increase this year, maybe “after” the elections…WE should be worried!!!
State Rep. Jack Hoogendyk has started his petition collection efforts. If you would like to help, please sign up at his Web site at: http://www.jackformichigan.org/
BECOME A PRECINCT DELEGATE! Fill out and return the Affidavit of Identity to your county clerk or send it to the state party…we’ll handle the filings. Link to form
Many folks have asked…what does a precinct delegate do? Here is some basic information about how we try and organize our precinct delegates to be part of our “political machine” to help elect Republicans.
We have had so many areas where more than one person wanted to serve…I am going to encourage our county and district parties to “open” up the participation and attempt to “maximize” the number of potential precinct delegates…not minimize them. If you are willing to run, work and be part of the team…we want you on board! Our party needs to grow!!!
TAX season is upon us. Here are a few reforms we should consider:
1) Simplify, the one-page, optional flat tax or a consumption base “Fair Tax”.
2) Replace depreciation with expensing…common sense and a stimulus.
3) Expand IRAs/401(k)s and index them to inflation
4) Abolish the “Death Tax”…mom and dad earned it, let the family keep it.
5) Abolish the Capital Gains and Dividend Tax…taxing savings & investment?
6) Abolish the AMT Alternative Minimum Tax…outdated and punitive.
7) Establish “Tax Me More” accounts for those who feel under-taxed.
8) A federal Balance Budget Amendment…fund it or spend less!
As April 15th approaches and we start working on our tax returns and realize how backwards and punitive our tax system is, let us think about, discuss and push for some real changes/reforms. Real change requires real change.
We enjoyed a traditional Lithuanian Easter Sunday morning…after “resurrection” mass we shared some of our traditional foods and decorated eggs:
THE REST OF THE STORY:
No further commentary today.
Saul Anuzis
STATE STORIES
GOP against some of Granholm's budget, including small schools
by David Eggert | The Associated Press
Sunday March 23, 2008, 12:39 PM
LANSING — Gov. Jennifer Granholm's educational ideas are hitting roadblocks as lawmakers start working on how to spend the state's money in the next budget year.
The Democratic governor's proposals for making daylong kindergarten mandatory, offering two years of free community college tuition to laid-off workers and setting up smaller high schools all could face trouble in the Republican-led Senate, and some face changes in the Democratic-led House.
The reasons for the disagreements range from the practical to the ideological.
State Democratic Party postpones district conventions
Mark Hornbeck / Detroit News Lansing Bureau
LANSING -- Acknowledging that Michigan's delegate selection mess is unlikely to be resolved in the coming week, the state Democratic Party decided to postpone its congressional district conventions.
The 15 district gatherings, at which more than half of the Democratic delegates are elected to the Democratic National Convention in August, had been slated for March 29. The state party's executive committee late Friday postponed the conventions until April 19.
Kevorkian to launch his bid for seat in Congress
BY KATHLEEN GRAY • FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER • March 23, 2008
Jack Kevorkian, who spent eight years in prison for his role in an assisted suicide, will take on another crusade Monday: a race for Congress.
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He has planned a 10 a.m. news conference in Southfield to discuss his decision to run for Congress. He lives in the 9th Congressional District, which is represented by U.S. Rep. Joe Knollenberg, a Bloomfield Township Republican.
Knollenberg already has one announced challenger, former Lottery Commissioner Gary Peters, a former state senator from Bloomfield Hills. The race has been targeted by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee as one of the most competitive in the nation.
State swamped by homeowner appeals of taxes, assessments
Catherine Jun / The Detroit News
Monday, March 24, 2008
LIVONIA -- Seeing empty houses and "For Sale" signs around his neighborhood, Jaroslaw Siemieniak swears the assessment on his home -- and his property taxes -- were too high last year.
Last spring, he convinced a three-member tax board at Livonia City Hall to lower his assessment, but not enough to reduce his taxes. So the 48-year-old engineer decided to appeal to the next higher power: the Michigan Tax Tribunal.
That was eight months ago. Siemieniak is still waiting. "I haven't heard anything yet," he said Friday.
Siemieniak is not alone. The Michigan Tax Tribunal is still chipping away at an overwhelming backlog of appeals from last year, and now it's bracing for another flood of appeals this summer from this spring's round of disgruntled homeowners who failed to get their property assessments changed at their local boards of review. With many cities reporting record numbers of assessment challenges, the tribunal has tried to reduce the overflow. It has hired extra workers and encourages homeowners to appeal by phone, but the backlog continues to grow. An expected record number of appeals means property owners who appeal this year will likely not get a hearing until fall 2009.
Granholm's plans for schools may face hurdles
Small high schools among ideas that raise cost concerns
David Eggert
Associated Press
Gov. Jennifer Granholm's educational ideas are hitting roadblocks as lawmakers start working on how to spend the state's money in the next budget year. The Democratic governor's proposals for making daylong kindergarten mandatory, offering two years of free community college tuition to laid-off workers and setting up smaller high schools all could face trouble in the Republican-led Senate, and some face changes in the Democratic-led House.
The reasons for the disagreements range from the practical to the ideological. Some lawmakers are leery of spending as much as Gran-holm has proposed because of the economic uncertainty the state faces. Granholm's budget plan would raise spending by 2.9 percent, to $44.8 billion, in the fiscal year that starts Oct. 1.
Michigan's home vacancy rate rises
Only Florida, Nevada rank higher on list; problem most acute in Metro area.
Marisa Schultz / The Detroit News Monday, March 24, 2008
The percent of non-rental homes that sit vacant on the market has risen markedly in Michigan, another example of how the state's beleaguered economy and foreclosure crisis have hit home.
Just two states rank higher -- Florida and Nevada -- for the rate of homeowner vacancies, according to census statistics released earlier this year. But unlike Michigan, those states have something powerful working in their favor: growing populations.
"If they stop building homes in Florida, they will eventually fill up," said Donald Grimes, senior research specialist in economics at the University of Michigan.
"Michigan has excess homes and a declining population, and that's a really bad combination."
In all, 3.8 percent of owner-occupied homes in the state are vacant and for sale, compared to 2.7 percent nationwide. The problem is more acute in Metro Detroit, where the vacancy rate is 4.1 percent compared to 2.8 percent among other metropolitan areas in the country.
Man takes rejected mayoral recall petition to court
by The Associated Press
Sunday March 23, 2008, 12:38 PM
DETROIT (AP) -- A man whose recall petition against Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick was rescinded is taking his fight to court. The Detroit Free Press reports Douglas Johnson is appealing to the Wayne County Circuit Court to have the petition reinstated. A hearing is scheduled for April 4.
The county election commission had approved the recall language March 5. But it later reversed its stance at the request of the mayor's lawyer Alan Canady. The commission said Johnson doesn't live at the Detroit address listed on the petition.
Nolan Finley: Commentary
Mayor Kilpatrick must weigh resignation option
I can't imagine Kwame Kilpatrick will get much sleep tonight. Tomorrow morning, the Detroit mayor will learn whether his next battle will be to avoid doing prison time. I've got no clue what's going on inside the Manoogian Mansion today. Perhaps Kilpatrick is as cavalier about his predicament in private as he is in public.
But I doubt it. I suspect the mayor is spending a good deal of time today on his knees, when he's not walking the floor. He must be reassuring his family and friends, and, hopefully he's finding some relief for a while in an NCAA tournament game.
Kilpatrick should also be objectively reflecting on how his next move will affect his family, his community and himself, in that order. Tomorrow could be a historic day for Detroit and certainly a life-changing one for Kilpatrick.
Monday, March 24, 2008
Editorial: Kilpatrick must put Detroit first
Detroit could be plowing new ground today. If Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy brings indictments against Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, it would be the first time in modern history that a sitting mayor has been charged with a crime.
If this were New Jersey or Illinois, perhaps we'd be more experienced in reacting to public corruption. But Detroit -- and Michigan for that matter -- has been mercifully free of criminal proceedings against incumbent elected officials.
What happens next will depend on the breadth of charges brought against Kilpatrick -- if any -- and the depth of any evidence.
OPINION: Daniel Howes
Mayoral scandal's victims: All of us
Monday, March 24, 2008
A little after 11 a.m. today, when Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick is set to learn whether he is under criminal indictment for perjury and who knows what else, they'll begin toting the casualties of his widening scandal. At the top of the list: All of us, the Detroiters and suburbanites, the city taxpayers who live there and vote and those who work there, pay taxes but can't vote. Us, the folks who want to be proud of where we're from, but reel from incessant reminders of why we often aren't. This is another one of those times.
It hurts business. It complicates recruiting. It breeds cynicism. It hampers image-makers trying to bury 30-plus years of negativity under the weight of downtown redevelopment, big-ticket events like Super Bowl XL, new stadiums, flashy casinos, corporate relocations from the suburbs. So much of it, however, is muted by a kind of civic self-mutilation that draws the only thing worse from outsiders than derision -- and that's irrelevance.
Health care costs a nagging worry for Detroiters
Many rate quality good, poll finds
BY JOHN GALLAGHER • FREE PRESS BUSINESS WRITER • March 24, 2008
Like many metro Detroiters, Dyan Lacey digs a little deeper each year to pay medical bills that her insurance plan no longer covers. "Our co-pays are going up and some of the coverages are taken away," Lacey, 35, a worker at General Motors' Pontiac Assembly plant, said last week. She understands that as a UAW member, she enjoys first-rate health care. But with three children and retired in-laws for whom she helps pay for medication, Lacey is more worried than she used to be.
"I'm OK with paying a higher co-pay rather than not having insurance at all," the Detroit resident said. "At the same time, I'm a little nervous with the changes." Nervous describes the attitude of a majority of metro Detroiters as they consider the cost and quality of their health care. A new poll reveals that solid majorities rank cost and availability of health insurance as big concerns.
Cop gave Beatty advice in Brown ouster
Aide of then-chief Oliver said he 'needs to be gone'
BY JIM SCHAEFER, BEN SCHMITT and M.L. ELRICK • FREE PRESS STAFF WRITERS • March 24, 2008
Days before she recommended that Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick get rid of Deputy Police Chief Gary Brown in 2003, chief of staff Christine Beatty got some advice from the police department. But it didn't come from Chief Jerry Oliver.
Instead, Cmdr. Shereece Fleming-Freeman, Oliver's chief of staff, offered this unvarnished recommendation in a text message: "It is obvious that he needs to be gone, he just needs to be gone." Kilpatrick dismissed Brown two days later, on May 9, 2003. Oliver said he never saw it coming. The ouster set off a chain of controversies that dog the mayor to this day.
Detroit mayoral scandal
Prosecutor readies Kilpatrick decision
Monday, March 24, 2008
David Shepardson, Christine MacDonald and Mike Martindale / The Detroit News
DETROIT -- As Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy prepared to announce whether charges will be filed in the text message scandal, even more messages came to light Sunday. They suggest even greater involvement by former Chief of Staff Christine Beatty in the firing of a police officer who won a whistle-blower's lawsuit against the city.
By Sunday evening, representatives for Kilpatrick and Beatty said Worthy still hadn't given any indication of whether charges would be brought. "We're as much in the dark as everybody else," said Mayer Morganroth, a lawyer for Beatty. "We're going to find out by watching the press conference." He said Worthy's office had made no attempt to interview Beatty.
Big payouts adding up for public employers
Mid-Mich. governments, agencies pay millions in walk-away money
Christine Rook
Lansing State Journal
Parting can be such sweet ... well, it can be sweet. During a roughly five-year period ending in late 2007, Lansing area governments and agencies gave out at least $1.8 million in walk-away money to high-ranking executives, and that doesn't count the $4.3 million parting payout to fired Michigan State University football coach John L. Smith.
Call 'em what you want: golden parachutes, gilded goodbyes.
"For every person's gain, there is a loss," said Craig Ruff, senior policy fellow with the Lansing-based think tank Public Sector Consultants. "In many cases, it's the taxpayer's loss."
As economy heads south, so does customers' generosity – The tipping point
Dana Knight
Gannett News Service
Gannett News Service
Hair isn't the only thing being trimmed at Head Bangers The Salon in Pendleton, Ind.
Customers searching for ways to fight high gas and food prices are doing some trimming of their own - in tips.
"Even the regulars are cutting back," stylist Joanna Anderson said. "Usually they are apologetic and say they wish they could give more. But they just can't right now."
Many workers depend on tips for a substantial part of their income, and those hairdressers, bartenders, cab drivers and food servers have been among the first to be hit hard by the slowing economy, experts say.
Livonia could profit from Northville Twp. moves
The Detroit News
Northville Township deserves to lose a major development if -- as proposed -- the land is annexed to nearby Livonia. The annexation bid comes after township officials balked at plans for an $800 million project on 414 acres on Seven Mile near Haggerty.
At stake are 6,500 new construction jobs and 2,500 permanent jobs associated with Highwood, a first-class residential and business complex designed by REIS Northville, LLC. Metro Detroit needs the work. Michigan is expected to lose as many as 51,000 jobs this year. State and local officials talk a lot about making the area business-friendly. They want to reverse downward trends.
In the 12 months ending June 30, Wayne County lost 35,296 residents. That's more than the 30,548 who split town the year before, says the U.S. Census Bureau. A higher percentage of people left the county than any other large county in the nation.
Studies mixed on state's 2008 retail outlook
By Nancy Kaffer
There's good news — and some bad news — on the horizon for Michigan retailers in 2008, according to two separate studies released last month by the Michigan Retailers Association and Marcus and Millichap Real Estate Investment Services.
The good news is the MRA is forecasting modest retail growth later this year, according to its report. But the study by national commercial real estate brokers Marcus and Millichap predicts flat employment, increasing vacancy rates and decreasing sales for Detroit-area retailers.
http://crainsdetroit.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080324/SUB/803240325/1069
Rival Blues bills emerge
Senator drops high-risk pool
By Jay Greene and Amy Lane
LANSING — Sen. Tom George, R-Kalamazoo, surprised many last week when he proposed to grant a subsidiary of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan the right to sell automobile, life and other insurance products in exchange for a requirement that the Blues pay $100 million into a Charitable and Social Mission Fund that would provide subsidies to people who buy individual health insurance.
George, who is chairman of the Senate Health Policy Committee, also had another surprise: He didn’t include in his plan a provision that would allow the Blues to create a statewide high-risk health insurance pool. A package of bills approved by the state House of Representatives in October included the high-risk pool for people denied coverage because of medical conditions. It did not include the $100 million charitable fund.
Catching creatives: Detroit group gets grant to attract 1,000 design pros
By Sherri Begin
Alberto Ibargüen’s “aha!” moment on how to help transform Detroit’s economy came during a conversation with General Motors Corp. CEO Rick Wagoner. Ibargüen, the president of the Miami-based John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, was in Detroit for a foundation board meeting and sought out Wagoner to talk with him about Detroit’s future.
“When (Wagoner) said design might be a major continuing area of interest in Detroit, I thought, ‘Aha! That might be an area where a foundation could do some work,’ ” Ibargüen said.
Utilities' upgrades: $150M over
Customers' share of computer costs scrutinized
By Amy Lane
LANSING — Michigan's two largest energy companies have taken on the biggest computer upgrades in their histories — projects that will cost at least $153 million more than expected. The cost of the upgrades is likely to come under scrutiny as the utilities ask customers to pay for at least some of the expenses.
The two projects replace aging spiderwebs of systems that make up the guts of DTE Energy Co. and CMS Energy Corp. operations — areas such as financial management, purchasing, human resources, work management, even customer billing in CMS' case.
Housing market stirs, especially at bargain prices
Sunday, March 23, 2008By Cami ReisterThe Grand Rapids Press
Many people have questioned Doreen Bolhuis' sanity lately.
"Are you crazy?" is triggered when people find out she and her husband, Mark, put their East Grand Rapids home up for sale this month. "Every single person has said that," said Bolhuis. "It's not just some, it's every single person."
After wondering how the couple could want to leave the home where they raised their two children, they question the wisdom of trying to sell in a market that so heavily favors buyers.
"We do know that our house will sell for less, listing it now, than it would have three years ago," Bolhuis, 56, acknowledged. "But we will also purchase a property for less than we would three years ago. "That all kind of equalizes itself out."
Debate continues over benefits, risks of medical marijuana
Posted by Chris Killian | Special to the Gazette March 22, 2008 22:54PM
KALAMAZOO -- The chief medical officer of Kalamazoo County might use marijuana to alleviate the pain of his glaucoma -- if it were legal.
In 2000, Richard Tooker, 54, was diagnosed with pigmentary glaucoma, a rare eye disease where fluid buildup inside the eye can lead to intense pain. Blindness is also possible.
"I would consider taking it, if it were legal, for medical use," he said. "I want to keep my vision."
Breaking point? Surging fuel prices leave pocketbooks depleted; businesses struggle to cope
BY JENNIFER WEZENSKY Sunday, March 23, 2008
KALAMAZOO -- Out of work for 18 months, Todd Greenlee, of Kalamazoo, has had to move in with his parents. He struggles from day to day to pay his bills. Greenlee's unemployment benefits ended recently, and he and his parents barely survive on his father's $13-per-hour welding job. So Todd, 22, and his mother, Sally, are both applying for food stamps.
``We're just barely making it,'' he said. ``It's kind of stressed around here. Everybody is at each other's throats.'' To top it off, Greenlee can barely afford to gas up his car to search for work. He and his family are not alone. A sign of the times
Recent Economic events shake up
By STEFANIE MURRAY
The Ann Arbor News
To say the least, the last nine days have been a whirlwind of economic ups and downs. The shocking and historic $2 a share Bear Stearns fire sale and government bailout was followed by the sixth Fed interest rate cut since September, a three-quarter percentage point slash. Major stock market indexes were volatile all week.
Combine that with news of rising prices for energy and food, slowing U.S. factory production, sluggish consumer spending, the continuing credit crunch, a slumping housing market and a weak U.S. dollar - and it's more than enough to shake up even the most savvy investor or experienced economist.
A Michigan view of earmarks
March 21, 2008
How decent/indecent is your congressperson at grabbing earmarks*? Here are the Michigan delegation's totals for individual earmarks in this year’s appropriations bills. The differences may reflect what committees each one sits on.
Joe Knollenberg, for example, is the top minority member on the appropriations subcommittee for transportation, which deals in lots of bucks. Pete Hoekstra, by contrast, has a prime seat on the intelligence committee. (Maybe he’s doing more earmarking, but if he told us he’d have to shoot us. ;) ) John Conyers chairs the judiciary committee.
With water, state can boost economy and help the world
BY RON DZWONKOWSKI • FREE PRESS COLUMNIST • March 23, 2008
Saturday was World Water Day, so designated by no less a body than the United Nations to call attention to the global water crisis. But you probably didn't even notice. And why would you? Hereabouts, we are relatively awash in the stuff that most of the people on the planet scrounge for daily.
While we worry about what low levels in the Great Lakes may mean for boat launching, people in much of the world would die, or kill, for access to a body of water the size of Lake Huron at its shallowest point of the last century.
Almost 10 years ago, I wrote a column about a then-new book called "Tapped Out: The Coming World Crisis in Water," by Paul Simon, the former U.S. senator from Illinois who died in 2003.
NATIONAL STORIES
'Painful concessions' needed in Mideast
By Deb Riechmann March 23, 2008
RAMALLAH, West Bank (AP) — A Mideast peace agreement will require "painful concessions" by Israelis and Palestinians who must work together to defeat those "committed to violence," Vice President Dick Cheney said today. After meeting with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, Cheney stressed the U.S. commitment to the creation of an independent Palestinian state, saying it was "long overdue."
"Achieving that vision will require tremendous effort at the negotiating table and painful concessions on both sides," said Cheney, whose stop in Ramallah came just two months after President Bush's trip to the West Bank.
Lieberman is McCain's bipartisan wingman
Wherever John McCain goes these days, it seems, Joseph I. Lieberman is there. When McCain needed a quick reminder in Jordan last week on how to characterize Islamic radicals in Iraq receiving aid from Iran, Lieberman was there to whisper into his colleague’s ear. A day later in Israel, the Connecticut senator proved equally helpful, stepping in to help McCain clarify the meaning of the Jewish holiday of Purim.
Whether wearing yarmulkes together amid the throngs at Jerusalem’s Wailing Wall, meeting reporters outside 10 Downing Street in London or sporting matching suit-and-sweater combos at a snowy New Hampshire town hall meeting, the two have been nearly inseparable since Lieberman endorsed McCain last December.
McCain Offers Soothing Tones in Trip Abroad
By MICHAEL COOPER
Published: March 23, 2008
PARIS — Senator John McCain’s trip abroad this week — which took him from the Middle East to No. 10 Downing Street to the Élysée Palace here — was more than just a Congressional fact-finding trip, or even a candidate’s attempt to appear statesmanlike.
It was also an audition on the world stage for Mr. McCain in his new role as the Republican presidential nominee. And it offered him the chance to test his hope that he could repair America’s tattered reputation by shifting course on some of the policies that have alienated its allies, in areas like global warming and torture. But he is making his foray even as he embraces what much of the world sees as the most hated remnant of the Bush presidency: the war in Iraq.
At several stops along the trip, Mr. McCain struck a markedly different tone from that of President Bush. Mr. Bush is so unpopular, even with America’s allies, that people in Britain and France told pollsters last spring that they had even less confidence in him to do the right thing in world affairs than they had in President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia.
'Race' to the finish?
March 24, 2008
By Donald Lambro - The 2008 presidential election is about seven months away, the Democrats' nomination process faces a deadlock that threatens to split the party, and both its candidates are trailing John McCain.
It wasn't supposed to be this way. With the Republicans presiding over an unpopular war, the economy in turmoil, the housing and credit markets in a slump, skyrocketing gas prices and the legislative agenda in gridlock, the conventional wisdom holds that the GOP stands little chance of retaining the White House in such a bleak political environment.
But in an unexpected turn of events, the Democratic candidates are on the defensive, and Mr. McCain is leading them in the latest Reuters news poll by 6 to 8 points. Freshman Sen. Barack Obama has been reluctantly forced to explain a 20-year relationship with the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, the pastor of his church whose hateful racial condemnation of white America threatens to seriously damage his presidential bid. Indeed, his downturn in the polls suggests this damage has already been done.
Both Obama And Clinton Embellish Their Roles
By Shailagh Murray and Jonathan Weisman
Washington Post Staff Writers
Monday, March 24, 2008; A01
After weeks of arduous negotiations, on April 6, 2006, a bipartisan group of senators burst out of the "President's Room," just off the Senate chamber, with a deal on new immigration policy.
As the half-dozen senators -- including John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.) -- headed to announce their plan, they met Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.), who made a request common when Capitol Hill news conferences are in the offing: "Hey, guys, can I come along?" And when Obama went before the microphones, he was generous with his list of senators to congratulate -- a list that included himself.
"I want to cite Lindsey Graham, Sam Brownback, Mel Martinez, Ken Salazar, myself, Dick Durbin, Joe Lieberman . . . who've actually had to wake up early to try to hammer this stuff out," he said.
Democrats' Obama Dilemma
By Robert D. Novak
Monday, March 24, 2008; A13
Barack Obama's speech last week, hastily prepared to extinguish the firestorm over the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, won critical praise for style and substance but failed politically. By elevating the question of race in America, the front-running Democratic presidential candidate has deepened the dilemma created by his campaign's success against the party establishment's anointed choice, Hillary Clinton.
In rejecting the racist views of his longtime spiritual mentor but not disowning him, Obama has unwittingly enhanced his image as the African American candidate -- as opposed to being just a remarkable candidate who happens to be black. That poses a dilemma for unelected superdelegates, who as professional politicians will settle the contest because neither Obama nor Clinton can win enough elected delegates to be nominated.
Op-Ed Columnist
Let’s Not, and Say We Did
By WILLIAM KRISTOL
I shuddered only once while watching Barack Obama’s speech last Tuesday. It wasn’t when he posed the rhetorical questions: “Why associate myself with Reverend Wright in the first place, they may ask? Why not join another church?”
The real question, of course, is not why Obama joined Trinity, but why he stayed there for two decades, in the flock of a pastor who accused the U.S. government of “inventing the H.I.V. virus as a means of genocide against people of color,” and who suggested soon after 9/11 that “America’s chickens are coming home to roost.” But orators often ask themselves the convenient questions, not the difficult ones. And Barack Obama is an accomplished orator.
Obama Reaches Out to Republicans and Independents in PA
The Washington Post March 24, 2008
Barack Obama aired three TV ads in Pennsylvania this weekend, ahead of the state's Monday voter registration deadline. The ads aim to convince younger Democrats, Republicans and independents to register to vote in the Democrats-only primary on April 22nd. "Carry" has aired in other states, and it highlights Obama's bipartisan work as a member of the Illinois State Senate:
"Opportunity" is a 60-second biographical message, similar to ads he's run in other states. In this ad however, Obama says he was "as an organizer with Christian churches," helping unemployed workers. "Toughest" tells voters that Obama does not accept gifts or political contributions from lobbyists:
Obama has also aired radio ads aimed at younger Democrats, Republicans, and independents.
Clinton Camp Says Obama Has Double Standard
By Anne E. Kornblut
Sen. Hillary Clinton's campaign continued its pushback Sunday against charges that former president Bill Clinton questioned Sen. Barack Obama's patriotism last week.
In a "must-read" e-mail sent out Easter morning, the Clinton campaign forwarded a blog posting by National Review columnist Kathleen Parker, who called "nonsense" the idea that the former president attacked Obama at a campaign event in Charlotte. Later Sunday, Pennsylvania Gov. Edward Rendell (D) accused the Obama campaign of a double standard -- decrying negativity in politics and then attacking the Clinton campaign at the drop of a hat.
The contretemps began last Friday when Bill Clinton said: "I think it would be a great thing if we had an election year where you had two people who loved this country and were devoted to the interest of this country. And people could actually ask themselves who is right on these issues, instead of all this other stuff that always seems to intrude itself on our politics."
Dynasty: Not a dirty word in Pennsylvania
By CARRIE BUDOFF BROWN | 3/22/08 5:29 PM EST
PHILADELPHIA — If there were a manual to winning statewide elections in Pennsylvania, it would include at least two observations: First, dynasty is not a dirty word. And second, expect to run at least one or two times before voters reward you. They like their politicians to feel as familiar as their morning cup of coffee.
In the presidential primary campaign, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton — the political equivalent of Maxwell House after years of appearing with her husband in the state — is benefiting not just from the demographics of Pennsylvania, but from its unique amber-preserved culture.
McCain: I learned from Keating Five case
by Larry Margasak | The Associated Press
Sunday March 23, 2008, 3:26 PM
WASHINGTON — Sen. John McCain's ethics entanglement with a wealthy banker ultimately convicted of swindling investors was such a disturbing, formative experience in his political career that he compares the scandal in some ways to the five years he was tortured as a prisoner of war in Vietnam.
"I faced in Vietnam, at times, very real threats to life and limb," McCain told The Associated Press. "But while my sense of honor was tested in prison, it was not questioned. During the Keating inquiry, it was, and I regretted that very much."
Obama's rough patch could've been worse
by Matt Apuzzo | The Associated Press
Sunday March 23, 2008, 10:18 AM
MEDFORD, Ore. (AP) -- Barack Obama refers to the past couple of weeks as a tough, turbulent stretch. And why not?
First his foreign policy adviser quit for calling Democratic presidential rival Hillary Rodham Clinton a "monster." Then he had to distance himself from his longtime pastor's fiery statements, a controversy that threatened his image as a uniter. He trails in polls in the upcoming Pennsylvania primary. Obama also watched his lead wither in national opinion surveys.
"There's no doubt we had a turbulent couple of weeks but we've had turbulent weeks in the past," Obama told reporters Friday. "...It's not going to be a smooth straight line. There's times when the campaign is going well and there's times the campaign is not going well."
Clinton and Obama advisers find fault in McCarthyism comparison
by Darlene Superville | The Associated Press
Sunday March 23, 2008, 3:32 PM
WASHINGTON — Prominent supporters of Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama on Sunday both faulted Obama's campaign for allowing a retired general and backer of the Illinois senator to equate comments by Clinton's husband to McCarthyism.
"I don't believe President Clinton was implying that," said New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, a former presidential candidate who endorsed Obama last week. "But the point here ... is that the campaign has gotten too negative -- too many personal attacks, too much negativity that is not resounding with the public."
Asked whether Obama's campaign was being too negative in accusing former President Clinton of McCarthyism, Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell, a Clinton supporter, said, "Of course ... the Obama campaign tries to have it both ways," he said.
Outsiders shower Obama with funds
By Jim McElhatton
March 23, 2008
Sen. Barack Obama, whose campaign has sharply criticized the role of outside political groups in the presidential race, has benefited more than any other candidate from millions of dollars in independent political expenditures, records show.
The increasing support for Mr. Obama has given him a boost from the same sort of political activity his campaign has railed against, especially when millions of dollars in union and other special-interest money backed his opponents.
Democrats' bickering boosts McCain
By Donald Lambro
March 23, 2008
The increasingly nasty campaign between Democratic Sens. Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton is hurting them among independent and swing voters in key battleground states, and in the process is making Sen. John McCain the more appealing candidate, according to election pollsters.
Despite an unpopular war in Iraq and an economy tilting toward recession, issues on which Mr. Obama and Mrs. Clinton have been hammering the Republicans for more than a year, the conservative Republican senator who supports the war and says he still has a lot to learn about economics has edged ahead in national matchup polls and in pivotal states such as Pennsylvania and Florida.
"It's been a bad couple of weeks for the Democrats, with Obama and Hillary continuing to snipe at each other, beginning the process of a thousand cuts," said independent election pollster John Zogby.
2 Divergent McCain Moments, Rarely Mentioned
WASHINGTON — Senator John McCain never fails to call himself a conservative Republican as he campaigns as his party’s presumptive presidential nominee. He often adds that he was a “foot soldier” in the Reagan revolution and that he believes in the bedrock conservative principles of small government, low taxes and the rights of the unborn.
What Mr. McCain almost never mentions are two extraordinary moments in his political past that are at odds with the candidate of the present: His discussions in 2001 with Democrats about leaving the Republican Party, and his conversations in 2004 with Senator John Kerry about becoming Mr. Kerry’s running mate on the Democratic presidential ticket.
Rising Health Costs Cut Into Wages
Higher Fees Squeeze Employers, Workers
By Michael A. Fletcher
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, March 24, 2008; Page A01
Recent history has not been kind to working-class Americans, who were down on the economy long before the word recession was uttered. The main reason: spiraling health-care costs have been whacking away at their wages. Even though workers are producing more, inflation-adjusted median family income has dipped 2.6 percent -- or nearly $1,000 annually since 2000.
Employees and employers are getting squeezed by the price of health care. The struggle to control health costs is viewed as crucial to improving wages and living standards for working Americans. Employers are paying more for health care and other benefits, leaving less money for pay increases. Benefits now devour 30.2 percent of employers' compensation costs, with the remaining money going to wages, the Labor Department reported this month. That is up from 27.4 percent in 2000.
Study Finds Record Education Earmarks
By ALAN FINDER March 24, 2008
Congress set aside a record $2.3 billion in pet projects for colleges and universities last year for research on subjects like berries and reducing odors from swine and poultry, according to an analysis by The Chronicle of Higher Education to be published on Monday.
Despite recent calls in Congress for a moratorium on the home state projects, known as earmarks, the sum was $300 million more than the last time The Chronicle conducted its survey, in 2003, when the total was $2.01 billion. When the publication first analyzed earmarks in 1990, legislators set aside $270 million for colleges and universities.
Congress approved 2,306 earmarks last year for higher education, compared with 223 in 1990, The Chronicle said. The earmarks included several centers honoring legislators. Among these were a $1.9 million grant to help create the Charles B. Rangel Center for Public Service at City College of New York. Mr. Rangel, Democrat of New York and the chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, sponsored the earmark.
