Articles of Interest 3-30-08
220 Days until Election Day
MORNING UPDATE:
Democrats continue to fight and disenfranchise voters in Michigan and Florida. Republicans are united behind a proven, tested leader who is ready to lead this country forward – John McCain!
Watch all the crazy stuff the Democrats are into on today’s talk shows.
I watched a great video on global warming that pointing out the fact that increases in CO2 does NOT cause global warming. Wow, you mean it’s not us (GM, Ford, Chrysler…)? At least watch the first one. See a great little video series on youtube below.
See POLITICOS Sunday Talk Show Tip Sheet below.
Newt Gingrich responds to Obama’s Philadelphia speech on race.
The speech does not address Pastor Wright, but takes up Obama’s “challenge” on how to best allow all American to pursue prosperity and create prosperity.
Newt argues that bad government and bad culture (not the legacy of slavery and segregation) have much more to do with the massive problems we see in so many of our cities, and elsewhere in society.
http://app2.capitalreach.com/esp1204/servlet/tc?cn=aei&c=10162&s=20271&e=7239&&espmt=2
Text link at AEI: http://www.aei.org/events/filter.all,eventID.1701/transcript.asp
Longtime GOP activist Smokie Wall (husband Gerry 4th District) was admitted to Providence Hospital in Southfield for emergency care. Please keep her in your prayers.
THE REST OF THE STORY:
- Climate Change...Is CO2 the cause? Gore Wrong?
Part I (9:41 min)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FOLkze-9GcI
Part II (8:40 min)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vN06JSi-SW8&feature=related
Part III (8:29 min)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iCXDISLXTaY&feature=related
Part IV (9:34 min)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bpQQGFZHSno&feature=related
- POLITICOS Sunday Talk Show Tip Sheet
As the Democratic presidential race lurches ever closer to one conclusion, or the other, surrogates for Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama again lead the way on the Sunday talk shows.
ABC’s “This Week” features two of the biggest Democratic surrogates of all: Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell, Clinton’s top supporter in the Keystone State, squares off against 2004 Democratic presidential nominee Sen. John F. Kerry of Massachusetts, who has endorsed Obama.
Will the two play nice, or is the comity of the 2004 campaign a distant memory?
Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman (I-Conn.) also stops ABC to tout the presumptive Republican presidential nominee: his old friend, Sen. John McCain of Arizona.
Host George Stephanopoulos also leads a roundtable on the latest political and economic developments with Paul Krugman of The New York Times, former Labor Secretary Robert Reich and ABC’s Donna Brazile and George Will.
CBS’s “Face the Nation” features another major surrogate, with Obama supporter Gov. Bill Richardson of New Mexico, who recently ended his own bid for the Democratic nomination, dropping by to tout his candidate and, maybe, explain his new goatee.
Host Bob Schieffer also interviews Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter, who’s backing Clinton.
Can Clinton make inroads in Nutter’s city, or will it be Obama country?
Democratic strategist Joe Trippi and John Dickerson of Slate magazine round out the CBS lineup.
Bloomberg’s “Political Capital” scores a big coup this weekend, as both Clinton and Obama discuss economic issues in separate interviews with host Al Hunt.
Will the markets be moving Monday morning based on anything these candidates tell Hunt? Or will they stick to the usual talking points?
Switching gears, NBC’s “Meet the Press” leads with the CIA director, Gen. Michael Hayden, who’ll discuss still looming threats from Iraq, Iran and Al Qaeda.
Host Tim Russert also discusses the week’s politics with David Brooks of The New York Times and Peter Beinart of the Council on Foreign Relations and The New Republic.
“Fox News Sunday” leads with the war in Iraq after another violent week threatens to unravel newfound security gains.
Host Chris Wallace moderates a debate between two leading military experts in the Senate — Republican Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Democrat Jack Reed of Rhode Island.
CNN’s “Late Edition” also focuses on foreign affairs, with former State Department adviser Aaron Miller and Chilean Ambassador to the United Nations Heraldo Munoz analyzing the war in Iraq and the latest developments in Israel.
Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson of Florida also discusses his controversial plan to abolish the Electoral College after his state was stripped of its convention delegates by the Democratic National Committee for moving up the primary day.
Florida’s other senator, Republican Mel Martinez, also stops by CNN to discuss the situation in the Sunshine State.
Pulling double duty, Nelson also appears on C-SPAN’s “Newsmakers,” where he’ll be questioned by Politico’s Amie Parnes and the Chicago Tribune’s Mark Silva.
Finally, Fox features an interview with Washington Nationals president Stan Kasten at the start of the new baseball season.
Can Elijah Dukes and Dmitri Young lead the Nats to the Promised Land?
Saul Anuzis
STATE STORIES
http://freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080330/OPINION04/803300543
For forgiveness, mayor must change
Detroit Free Press
March 30, 2008
The Detroit Council of Baptist ministers and many other Detroiters seem to have an odd sense of what forgiveness is supposed to mean. Forgiveness should not mean that there is no consequence for poor behavior or condoning the continuation of that behavior. There should be a minimum of three steps before forgiveness is asked for and granted:
http://detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080330/OPINION03/803300308/1007/OPINION
A deal may be a key option for mayor
Sunday, March 30, 2008
Nolan Finley
Deal or no deal? Great game show. But is Kwame Kilpatrick going to play it? The Detroit mayor is looking at eight felony charges. If only one of them sticks, he'll automatically lose his job and quite likely end up behind bars. Trusting his fate to a jury is a gamble that only makes sense if Kilpatrick is absolutely certain of his innocence. But that doesn't seem to be his defense. The mayor is not making his case on the facts, but on the ability of his top-gun lawyer to keep the facts from making it into court. Counting on technicalities to keep him free is a dangerous dice roll, even with a gold-plated defense team at his side.
http://freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080330/NEWS01/803300685
Defining perjury: Judge for yourself
Experts point to ambiguity, lies during the trial
BY JOE SWICKARD, DAVID ASHENFELTER AND JIM SCHAEFER
March 30, 2008
Text messages detailing Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick's affair with aide Christine Beatty and their efforts to fire a cop are at the heart of felony perjury charges they now face. But while Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy sees clear-cut lies in their testimony, the mayor's lead criminal lawyer sees fuzziness he can pick apart. "Perjury cases are supposed to be limited to cases where there's an unambiguous question ... and then there's an unambiguous answer," Kilpatrick's attorney Dan Webb said Monday with the mayor by his side. "The questions that they're relying upon are vague and indefinite and ambiguous."
http://freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080330/OPINION01/803300546
In defense of truth
Criticism of perjury charges undermines core principle of justice
Detroit Free Press
March 30, 2008
The justice system is no place for liars. Those who swear to tell the truth, then dodge, undermine or even smash it are threats to the very purpose of our courts. The truth is paramount; the system exists and works the way it does to determine truth, and thus responsibility. So it's odd if not outrageous to hear the criticism of Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy's decision to charge Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick and his former chief of staff/lover with multiple counts of perjury. The mayor's legal defenders have said they will attack the admissibility as evidence of the text messages at the heart of this scandal.
http://freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080330/COL27/803300597
Mayor's security pulls rare ruse
Body double tactic seldom used by U.S. city leaders
BILL McGRAW
March 30, 2008
The shiny black Escalade pulled to the curb in front of Detroit's 36th District Court. Plainclothes police officers began assuming positions as if they were going to protect their very important passenger, Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick. Someone sitting in the backseat was wearing a stylish fedora, just like the mayor. But the scene on Madison Avenue on Tuesday afternoon was not what it appeared. The Escalade was a decoy. The person in the backseat was a body double. A body double? Yes, a body double, just like the one used by U.S. President Henry Ashton in the current film thriller, "Vantage Point."
http://www.mlive.com/news/grpress/index.ssf?/base/news-41/1206771334193650.xml&coll=6
Primary deal, not 'do-over,' still possible
Saturday, March 29, 2008
The Grand Rapids Press
GRAND RAPIDS -- Despite the collapse of a proposed "do-over" Democratic primary, U.S. Sen. Carl Levin remains optimistic a compromise still is possible. The national party stripped the state of its 128 pledged delegates after its Jan. 15 primary, punishing Michigan for holding the contest earlier than rules allow. Levin noted Friday that Illinois Sen. Barack Obama has sought to split the delegates evenly, giving 64 delegates to him and 64 to New York Sen. Hillary Clinton. Clinton wants to count the Jan. 15 primary, in which she earned 73 delegates. She was the only major Democratic candidate on the ballot.
http://www.thetimesherald.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080329/NEWS01/803290308/1002
Granholm pushes schools plan
By NICOLE GERRING
March 29, 2008
Gov. Jennifer Granholm encouraged community leaders to work with Blue Water Area schools to create smaller, specialized learning environments during a visit Friday morning to Port Huron High School. More than 50 community leaders, school administrators and staff and students attended the round-table discussion in the school's media center. The visit was part of a tour of schools this month in which the governor is promoting education proposals outlined in her January State of the State address. One of those ideas, the 21st Century Schools Fund, would allow school districts to apply for money to support creative initiatives that seek to lower dropout rates and increase college enrollment.
Giveaways to film industry won't pave streets in gold
Truth behind curtain: Movie industry's impact minimal
Jack McHugh:
March 30, 2008
Michigan legislators are rushing to grant extensive refundable tax breaks, government loans and even outright cash handouts to the film industry. Upping the ante from the usual discriminatory tax breaks betrays a tinge of desperation among business subsidy advocates. The film package is being sold as an economic development initiative, but it's unlikely to have any significant effect on this state's failing economy. That's because Michigan's current gross domestic product is nine times the size of the entire U.S. film and sound recording industry, according to the federal Bureau of Economic Analysis. A comparison with the auto industry puts this in perspective.
http://macombdaily.com/stories/032908/loc_local03.shtml
Pave now, pay later?
Leaders mull options for Van Dyke potholes
By Gordon Wilczynski
March 29, 2008
State Sen. Mickey Switalski has proposed that the state pave crumbling Van Dyke Avenue in Sterling Heights immediately and pay for the work in two or three years.
"Art Van can offer customers no interest deals and where they don't have to pay for one or two years so why can't we?" said Switalski. "We (state of Michigan) can certainly do that." The Roseville legislator was in attendance at a meeting Friday called by the Sterling Heights, Utica and Shelby Township Chamber of Commerce to address the deteriorated roadway. Attendees, including local politicians, business owners and residents, expressed dissatisfaction with the answers they've heard from state officials. They expressed dismay that Van Dyke Avenue disintegrated seemingly over night and no one did anything about it, except schedule meetings and conduct more studies.
Michigan approves use of pesticide in fighting ash borer
3/29/2008, 10:31 a.m. EDT
The Associated Press
LANSING, Mich. (AP) — The Michigan Department of Agriculture has given special approval to a pesticide to fight the emerald ash borer, an invasive beetle that is decimating ash trees in Michigan and several other states. In preliminary studies conducted by Michigan State University researchers last year, the pesticide killed more than 99 percent of ash borer larvae in treated trees and 100 percent of the adult beetles that nibbled on their leaves. "This is as close to ... a silver bullet as possible," Jim Bowes, spokesman for Michigan's emerald ash borer programs, told the Lansing State Journal. Special approval for the pesticide was given Thursday.
http://freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080330/COL32/803300549/1081
ER abuse needs emergency solution
BY RON DZWONKOWSKI
March 30, 2008
Mike knows all about the high cost of health care in Michigan. He sees it coming at him every day in his work as a technician providing patient services in a hospital emergency room. There are those who invent conditions in hope of getting prescription drugs: "I have probably witnessed more Academy Award performances than seen by most movie critics," says Mike. "There was a 27-year-old woman who came in three times in one week with low back pain. She entered and exited the department walking like a 90-year-old with scoliosis and a fractured hip.
WMU researchers to study how to convert algae into ethanol
3/29/2008, 3:44 p.m. EDT
The Associated Press
KALAMAZOO, Mich. (AP) — A group of Western Michigan University researchers working to transform grease into biodiesel for city buses is planning to research how to effectively convert algae into ethanol. Steven Bertman, a chemistry professor, was among a group of investigators who gave U.S. Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., a presentation of their ideas Thursday, the Kalamazoo Gazette reported. "The unifying theme is recovery of energy from waste," Bertman said. Bertman, along with Sarah Hill, assistant professor of anthropology, and John Miller, associate professor of chemistry, are awaiting a $984,000 U.S. Department of Energy grant to support the research. They expect to project to take two years.
http://freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080329/NEWS05/803290335
Mackinac Island braces for fewer workers this summer
Visa exemption expires; businesses feel the pinch
BY TINA LAM
March 29, 2008
MACKINAC ISLAND -- It's 80 degrees in Kingston, Jamaica. On Mackinac Island, winter lingers on frigid, snowy streets. Even so, Nadine Wright is sad that she won't be able to leave her home in tropical Kingston in a few weeks for her usual summer job on the island. For the last seven years, Wright, 29, has worked at the Chippewa Hotel on an H2B visa, part of a guest worker program the United States started in the 1940s. This year, like hundreds of other foreigners who wait tables, check in guests, clean bathrooms and handle horses on the island, she won't be back. They've all been caught up in the fight in Congress over immigration. Last fall, lawmakers let lapse an exemption that allowed some past visa holders to return to their old employers each year.
http://www.mlive.com/news/grpress/index.ssf?/base/news-41/1206771334193651.xml&coll=6
Levin wants Iraq pullout on 'reasonable timeline'
Saturday, March 29, 2008
By Ted Roelofs
GRAND RAPIDS -- There is no obvious good way out of Iraq, says U.S. Sen. Carl Levin. "There is risk in continuing the course we are on. There is risk is changing the course we're on. "After five years and $600 billion and 4,000 lost lives and seven times as many wounded, after all the blood and the treasure, how do we force the Iraqi leaders to work out a settlement?" In Levin's view, that means withdrawal of U.S. troops by a "reasonable timetable." But in an interview Friday with The Press editorial board, the Detroit Democrat also conceded Iraq could descend into widespread civil war after U.S. troops are out. "I acknowledge that risk," he said.
Electrolux appeals taxes on Mich. factory it vacated
3/29/2008, 4:50 p.m. EDT
The Associated Press
GREENVILLE, Mich. (AP) — The city and Montcalm County may fight an appeal by Electrolux AB over property taxes it paid on what once was one of the nation's largest refrigerator plants. The Swedish appliance maker closed the factory in March 2006 and moved production to Juarez, Mexico and Anderson, S.C. Nearly 2,800 people lost their jobs. In appeals filed with the state, Electrolux claims its 85-acre Greenville site had a cash value of about $3.76 million in both 2006 and 2007.
http://www.mlive.com/news/flintjournal/index.ssf?/base/news-49/120679141050180.xml&coll=5
Mayor cuts police budget
18 supervisors to be demoted
March 29, 2008
By Shannon Murphy and Joe Lawlor
FLINT - This time, Mayor Don Williamson turned his budget-cutting ax on the police department. Williamson said Friday 18 police supervisors will be demoted and take pay cuts of at least $8,000 in a move that puts more police on the streets as patrol officers. It's the sixth time this year Williamson's administration has announced budget cuts - which have resulted in at least 50 layoffs - to offset a projected $4-million deficit. But Williamson is cutting the police budget while still managing to keep his campaign promise not to cut any police officers. "It sounds like an ingenious approach to both saving money and putting police power where it matters most to citizenry," said Bill Ballenger, editor and publisher of Inside Michigan Politics and a Flint homeowner.
http://www.mlive.com/news/annarbornews/index.ssf?/base/news-27/1206772824249420.xml&coll=2
City mulls living wage again
Council to consider amending law
Saturday, March 29, 2008
The Ann Arbor News
Mayor John Hieftje's attempt to boost city support for the Ann Arbor Summer Festival - without tinkering with the living-wage law - has hit an apparent dead-end. Hieftje had asked city employees to tally the amount the city charges the nonprofit festival for services like security at its popular Top of the Park program. The idea was that the city might be able to donate those services, effectively contributing more to the festival, rather than tackling the ticklish issues that stem from the living-wage. But it turns out the total charges are $10,000 to $13,000 a year, less than Hieftje imagined. By tradition, the festival is a town-gown partnership - with the University of Michigan donating $30,000.
NATIONAL STORIES
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/30/us/politics/30campaign.html?ref=politics&pagewanted=print
Iraqi Offensive Revives Debate for Campaigns
By MICHAEL COOPER and LARRY ROHTER
March 30, 2008
The heavy fighting that broke out last week as Iraqi security forces tried to oust Shiite militias from Basra is reverberating on the presidential campaign trail and posing new challenges and opportunities to the candidates, particularly Senator John McCain. The fierce fighting — and the threat that it could undo a long-term truce that has greatly helped to reduce the level of violence in Iraq — thrust the war back into the headlines and the public consciousness just as it had been receding behind a tide of economic concerns. And it raised anew a host of politically charged questions about whether the current strategy is succeeding, how capable the Iraqis are of defending themselves and what the potential impact would be of any American troop withdrawals.
http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-na-mccain29mar29,1,3657496.story
Life-story tour will show voters the real McCain
The jaunt starts in Mississippi, highlighting events that shaped the senator.
By Maeve Reston, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
March 29, 2008
LAS VEGAS -- Eager to stay in the news in the long march to the Republican convention, presumed nominee John McCain sets out on a biographical tour next week intended to reintroduce himself to voters. McCain explained Friday that the tour would include "the places where I had the opportunity to serve the country." "Each one of the places we're going to was part of the formative experiences that shaped my views and my thinking," he told reporters Friday after a fundraiser at the Venetian casino-hotel. McCain will attend an air show Monday near Meridian, Miss., at McCain Field, which was named for his grandfather, an admiral. His speech there will outline his family's military service. McCain was stationed in the area as a flight instructor.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/28/AR2008032802823.html
McCain's Manifesto
By David S. Broder
Sunday, March 30, 2008; B07
What Barack Obama tried to do with the sensitive issue of race, John McCain attempted last week on the no less important topic of foreign policy. Obama, the leading Democratic presidential candidate, criticized the Rev. Jeremiah Wright Jr. but did not repudiate his ties with his former pastor; he used his speech in Philadelphia to explore the wider dimensions of America's tragic history of bigotry and discrimination, suggesting ways this country could move beyond its racial polarization. In an equally significant address to the Los Angeles World Affairs Council, McCain, the certain Republican nominee, refused to back off his support for remaining in Iraq but put that decision in a broader context of American foreign policy, outlining a vastly different approach from President Bush's and one that might heal the wounds left here at home and abroad by the past seven years.
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2008/03/how_john_mccain_should_talk_ab.html
How John McCain Should Talk About Economics
By Dick Armey
March 29, 2008
That John McCain places great importance on honor and fairness is plain to see in every speech and every campaign appearance. These values have made him a strong and steadfast leader on foreign policy, but on economics, his direction has been less certain. One result is that on domestic policy, the meat and potatoes of American politics, there has been noticeable tension between McCain and many conservative, free-market advocates, which some claim is a necessary byproduct of any appeal to independents. But this need not be so. Indeed, armed with both the right message and the policies to back them up, McCain could approach economic issues in a way that shores up support with most fiscal conservatives while expanding his appeal to independent voters.
http://detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080330/OPINION03/803300301/1031/opinion03
Democrats try a dirty lie on McCain's Iraq policy
Sunday, March 30, 2008
Charles Krauthammer
Asked at a New Hampshire campaign stop about possibly staying in Iraq 50 years, John McCain interrupted -- "Make it a hundred" -- then offered a precise analogy to what he envisioned: "We've been in Japan for 60 years. We've been in South Korea for 50 years or so." Lest anyone think he was talking about prolonged war-fighting rather than maintaining a presence in postwar Iraq, he explained: "That would be fine with me, as long as Americans are not being injured or harmed or wounded or killed." And lest anyone persist in thinking he was talking about war-fighting, he told his questioner:
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2008/03/portman_for_vp.html
Portman for VP
By Robert Novak
March 29, 2008
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- While Sen. John McCain will not decide on a vice president for many months, Rob Portman gets the highest marks inside the Republican presidential candidate's organization. Portman's background is legislative (House Republican leadership), executive (George W. Bush's Cabinet), diplomatic (U.S. trade representative) and economic (Office of Management and Budget director). He comes from a swing state (Ohio), is young enough (52) to contrast McCain and conservative enough (89 percent lifetime American Conservative Union rating).
http://detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080330/OPINION03/803300310/1031/opinion03
Obama engages in audacity of rhetoric
Sunday, March 30, 2008
Thomas Sowell
It is painful to watch defenders of Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama tying themselves into knots trying to evade the obvious. Some are saying Obama cannot be held responsible for what his pastor, Jeremiah Wright, said. In their version of events, Barack Obama just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time -- and a bunch of mean-spirited people are trying to make something out of it. It makes a good story, but it won't stand up under scrutiny. Obama's own account of his life shows that he consciously sought out people on the far left fringe. In college, "I chose my friends carefully," he said in his first book, "Dreams From My Father."
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/30/us/politics/30obama.html?ref=politics&pagewanted=print
Clinton Shouldn’t Feel Forced to Quit Race, Obama Says
By MICHAEL POWELL
March 30, 2008
JOHNSTOWN, Pa. — Senator Barack Obama had a few words of advice Saturday for his rival, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton: Do not drop out on my account. “My attitude is that Senator Clinton can run as long as she wants,” Mr. Obama, of Illinois, said at a news conference in a high school gymnasium here. “Her name is on the ballot. She is a fierce and formidable opponent, and she obviously believes she would make the best nominee and the best president.” A few prominent Obama supporters have recently suggested that the time has come for Mrs. Clinton, of New York, to consider withdrawing from the race for the Democratic presidential nomination.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/30/us/politics/30clinton.html?ref=politics
The Game’s Not Over, Clinton Backers Agree
By JEFF ZELENY
March 30, 2008
MUNCIE, Ind. — In the height of basketball season, here in the heart of basketball country, it was perhaps inevitable that the state of the Democratic presidential race would be boiled down in championship terminology. Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York stood in center court, with basketball hoops on all sides, as she offered up a sporting metaphor. “You know, we are in the fourth quarter and it is a close contest. We are running up and down. We are taking shots,” Mrs. Clinton said, speaking over a crescendo of applause. “And in the next months, we’re going to have 10 more contests, from Indiana to Pennsylvania — all the way to Puerto Rico! Millions of people will have a chance to have their voices heard and their votes counted.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/30/opinion/30dowd.html?ref=opinion&pagewanted=print
Surrender Already, Dorothy
By MAUREEN DOWD
March 30, 2008
It’s all about the magic, really. And whether we can take a flier on this skinny guy with the strange name and braided ancestry to help us get it back. Bernard Kouchner, the foreign minister of France and a strong supporter of the United States, recently observed that President Bush has done such a number on our image in the world that no one will be able to restore the luster. “I think the magic is over,” he said. Pas si vite, mon vieux. In terms of style, the Obamas could give Carla Bruni-Sarkozy a run for her euros. And at least Obama is not in a fantasy world on Iraq, as W. and John McCain are, insisting it’s improving while we see it exploding.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/30/opinion/30rich.html?_r=1&oref=slogin&ref=opinion&pagewanted=print
Hillary’s St. Patrick’s Day Massacre
By FRANK RICH
March 30, 2008
MOST politicians lie. Most people over 50, as I know all too well, misremember things. So here is the one compelling mystery still unresolved about Hillary Clinton’s Bosnia fairy tale: Why did she keep repeating this whopper for nearly three months, well after it had been publicly debunked by journalists and eyewitnesses? In January, after Senator Clinton first inserted the threat of “sniper fire” into her stump speech, Elizabeth Sullivan of The Cleveland Plain Dealer wrote that the story couldn’t be true because by the time of the first lady’s visit in March 1996, “the war was over.” Meredith Vieira asked Mrs. Clinton on the “Today” show why, if she was on the front lines, she took along a U.S.O. performer like Sinbad.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/28/AR2008032803409.html
In Pa., She's Got a Friend In Murtha
By Eli Saslow
Saturday, March 29, 2008; Page A01
UNIONTOWN, Pa. -- They waited for three hours in a chilly gymnasium, more than 2,000 people standing shoulder to shoulder on the hardwood floor, their patience waning through a cheerleading routine, a pep rally and four noisy speeches from local politicians. Finally, at 8:15 p.m., a brown SUV pulled into the snowy parking lot of the Penn State Fayette campus. Secret Service officers dispersed through the crowd, and the gym fell quiet. Pennsylvania Gov. Edward G. Rendell walked onstage and waved. Next on the platform was Hillary Rodham Clinton, the first presidential candidate to visit this town in 35 years. And then, at long last, the celebrated special guest: "Ladies and gentlemen," the announcer yelled, "please welcome . . . your congressman! John Murtha!"
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120676151938174069.html?mod=special_page_campaign2008_leftbox
Sen. Leahy Calls for Clinton to Quit Race
Wall Street Journal
March 29, 2008; Page A4
Sen. Patrick Leahy told Vermont Public Radio he believes it is time for Sen. Hillary Clinton to drop out and let Sen. Barack Obama win the Democratic presidential nomination. "There is no way that Sen. Clinton is going to win enough delegates to get the nomination," said Sen. Leahy, chairman of the Judiciary Committee. "She ought to withdraw, and she ought to be backing Sen. Obama. Now, obviously that's a decision that only she can make. Frankly, I feel that she would have a tremendous career in the Senate."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/28/AR2008032802826.html
Disloyalty That Merits An Insult
By James Carville
Saturday, March 29, 2008; Page A15
Last Friday the New York Times asked me to comment on New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson's endorsement of Sen. Barack Obama for president. For 15 years, Richardson served with no small measure of distinction as the representative of New Mexico's 3rd Congressional District. But he gained national stature -- and his career took off -- when President Bill Clinton appointed him U.S. ambassador to the United Nations and later made him energy secretary. So, when asked on Good Friday about Richardson's rejection of the Clintons, the metaphor was too good to pass by. I compared Richardson to Judas Iscariot. (And Matthew Dowd is right: Had it been the Fourth of July, I probably would have called him Benedict Arnold.)
How to avoid a Democratic disaster
By Mario M. Cuomo
March 29, 2008
A DEMOCRATIC disaster in the November election looms, but it can be avoided by a demonstration of true leadership by the two candidates. By the end of the primary process, no matter how robust the turnout appears, less than half of all Democratic voters will have expressed their preference. And because the primaries will have extended over such a long period, some voters will have changed their preference by the convention in August. Other entanglements also threaten the possibility of a selection at the convention that would be supported by both constituencies of Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. Two states with significant Democratic strength - Florida and Michigan - may be denied votes, and the specific role of the superdelegates may become a matter of possibly irresolvable contentiousness.
http://detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080330/OPINION03/803300303/1031/opinion03
Conservatives are more charitable than liberals
Sunday, March 30, 2008
George Will
Residents of Austin, Texas, home of the state's government and flagship university, have very refined social consciences, if they do say so themselves, and they do say so, speaking via bumper stickers. Don R. Willett, a justice of the state Supreme Court, has commuted behind bumpers proclaiming "Better a Bleeding Heart Than None at All," "Practice Random Acts of Kindness and Senseless Beauty," "The Moral High Ground Is Built on Compassion," "Arms Are For Hugging," "Will Work (When the Jobs Come Back From India)," "Jesus Is a Liberal," "God Wants Spiritual Fruits, Not Religious Nuts," "The Road to Hell Is Paved With Republicans," "Republicans Are People Too -- Mean, Selfish, Greedy People" and so on.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/28/AR2008032802822_pf.html
An 8-Letter Word for the Ultimate Sport
By George F. Will
Sunday, March 30, 2008; B07
Washington's first major league baseball team, the Senators, was owned by Clark Griffith, who, in the democratic, give-the-people-what-they-want spirit of the city, said: "Fans like home runs -- and we have assembled a pitching staff to please our fans." Today, Washington's third team, the Nationals, opens a new ballpark near the Capitol, an appropriate setting for the national pastime. Remember, Lincoln's last words, whispered to Maj. Gen. Abner Doubleday, were: "Don't . . . let . . . baseball . . . die." Or so said a solemn Bill Stern to a radio audience of millions. Stern, who died in 1971, was a famous sportscaster whose commitment to fact was episodic. A wit responded that if Lincoln had said that to Doubleday (who was not there), Doubleday might have replied, "What's baseball?"
http://www.nationalpost.com/opinion/story.html?id=407546
Canada must defend NAFTA
National Post
Published: Saturday, March 29, 2008
According to her chief economic advisor, Gene Sperling, Hillary Clinton is really serious about reopening the North American Free Trade Agreement if she becomes president. Her anti-NAFTA rhetoric of late is not just campaign blarney. While in Ottawa on Thursday Mr. Sperling, who is also a staff member of the Council on Foreign Relations and a fellow at the Center for American Progress, told an audience that Ms. Clinton "has made very clear that she would reopen and renegotiate the agreement." And if she failed to achieve a better deal for American workers, Mr. Sperling explained, Ms. Clinton would be prepared to end the trade treaty.
Tibet tensions high as Olympic torch nears Beijing
By Lindsay Beck
March 30, 2008
BEIJING (Reuters) - Further unrest in Tibet's capital appeared to have been sparked by attempts by police to carry out security checks, indicating the tension and volatility remaining in Lhasa weeks after a deadly anti-government riot. It was unclear exactly what occurred in Lhasa on Saturday but a mobile text message to residents from police said security checks carried out earlier in the day had "frightened citizens" and caused panic in the city centre. Washington-based International Campaign for Tibet and Radio Free Asia quoted witnesses as describing people "running in all directions and shouting".
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/28/AR2008032803464_pf.html
Not Quite Free
Mr. Gaddafi might seem rehabilitated, but Libya is still a work in progress.
Washington Post
Saturday, March 29, 2008; A14
ONCE A PARIAH because of his support for terrorism, Libyan dictator Moammar Gaddafi now enjoys full diplomatic relations with the United States. The turning point came in 2003, when Mr. Gaddafi renounced terrorism and agreed to dismantle his nuclear, chemical and biological weapons programs. At the time, many attributed Mr. Gaddafi's shift to his fear of meeting the same fate as Iraq's Saddam Hussein. It also reflected his desire to lure U.S. and other Western companies to redevelop Libya's vast oil reserves.
