Articles of Interest 3-4-2008

246 Days until Election Day

MORNING UPDATE:

It’s time for our party to unite and get behind Senator McCain, I have therefore endorsed Senator McCain and will be casting my vote at the Republican National Convention for John McCain.  My press statement is below.

The Pentagon released a report on the military power of China…see below.

Vice President Dick Cheney will be visiting Marshall on March 7 to be the keynote speaker at a fundraiser for Congressman Tim Walberg. The doors open at 3:00 p.m. and the event cost $500 per person for general admission or $1000 per person for a special Photo reception with the Vice President. For more information and to rsvp please contact Sandra Baxter at 248-514-6884 or email her at sandrabaxterE@aol.com .

THE REST OF THE STORY:
.
- LANSING – Michigan Republican Party Chairman Saulius “Saul” Anuzis today endorsed Senator John McCain of Arizona for the Republican nomination for President of the United States, and issued the following statement:

“Senator McCain is completely and 100 percent qualified to be our next Commander in Chief – on day one. He will be a steadfast supporter of our allies around the globe and will send a strong message to our adversaries that America will defend her interests and do whatever is required to keep United States citizens safe at home and abroad. That is why I will be casting my vote at the Republican National Convention for John McCain.
“While the Democrat Party is busy tearing itself apart over which liberal senator would surrender fastest in the war on terror, Republicans are uniting behind a true patriot in John McCain and working together to win the White House in November.”

- Today the Pentagon released its annual report on the “Military Power of the People’s Republic of China.”
http://www.defenselink.mil/pubs/pdfs/China_Military_Report_08.pdf
The document states communist China reported a military budget of over $45 billion, a 17.8 % increase over its 2007 budget. This figure continues the nation’s trend of increased military spending surpassing its GDP. Yet, the report states “Accurately estimating actual PLA military expenditures is a difficult process due to the lack transparency,” outside estimates calculate the real military-related budget as high as $139 billion for 2007. Among communist China’s focus, the PLA has invested in ballistic missiles, satellite weapons and cyber warfare technologies.

Saul Anuzis

STATE STORIES

http://www.mlive.com/newsflash/index.ssf?/base/news-51/1204587248203320.xml&storylist=newsmichigan

Anuzis will vote for McCain at convention

3/3/2008, 6:27 p.m. EST

The Associated Press   

LANSING

,

Mich.

(AP) — Michigan Republican Party Chairman Saul Anuzis says he will vote for Senator John McCain at the GOP's national convention.

Anuzis had been an unpledged delegate. But he will join Republican National Committee members Chuck Yob and

Holly Hughes

in backing the Arizona Republican at the convention in September, which will be held in Minneapolis-St. Paul.

The RNC stripped

Michigan

of half its 60 delegates for defying party rules by moving its presidential primary earlier.

http://blog.mlive.com/citpat/2008/03/smartzone_bill_meets_resistanc.html

SmartZone bill meets resistance

Posted by Chris Gautz

Jackson Citizen Patriot

March 03, 2008 09:24AM

The fast track Rep. Mike Simpson's SmartZone legislation was put on last week may actually slow down

Jackson

's chances of receiving the designation, some Republicans say. Simpson says that's backward."That is a false argument," he said. "I hope this thing doesn't get slowed down by partisan politics."Simpson's bill, which would create three new SmartZones — areas where business and school taxes can be captured to help pay for infrastructure improvements — received bipartisan approval Wednesday in the House with a 79-29 vote.  It was approved just hours before in a hastily called special meeting of the House Commerce Committee that lasted less than an hour.  Rep. Kevin Elsenheimer, R-Bellaire, said there are good reasons to create more SmartZones, but there needs to be more discussion.  "When a bill is noticed and moved with this kind of speed, concerns over its effect — including unintended consequences like a watered-down demand for existing underutilized zones — are set aside by the majority in favor of political expediency," Elsenheimer said on the House floor Wednesday. "Let's hope the Senate will consider the larger issues associated with these zones."

http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080303/NEWS01/80303028

TEXT MESSAGE SCANDAL

Council meets on mayor probe

By ZACHARY GORCHOW • FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER • March 3, 2008

The Detroit City Council Tueday will consider a revised resolution calling for Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick to resign.

Following an almost three-hour closed session today, an aide to Councilman Kwame Kenyatta distributed a copy of the new resolution which adds additional reasons to justify Kilpatrick's resignation, including city's financial woes, cancellation of the black mayor's conference in

Detroit

and the mayor's dismissal of the document's release last week as irrelevant. The new resolution includes additions suggested by other council members and is now expected to pass when the council votes Tuesday.

http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080303/METRO/803030419

Protester calls for

Detroit

mayor to resign

Karen Bouffard / The

Detroit

News

Monday, March 3, 2008

DETROIT

-- A lone protester from a group described as the Institute for Public Policy and Educational Affairs called for Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick's resignation today at a press conference outside City Hall. Detroiter Kenneth Reed, 39, who described himself as the director of research, planning and development of the group, succeeded in attracting virtually all of Metro Detroit's major media outlets to the Spirit of Detroit statue outside the Coleman A. Young Municipal Center with a press release announcing the protest. He said there are 25 members in his group. Reed called on the City Council to conduct hearings on removal of the mayor, saying public confidence in the city has eroded due to Kilpatrick's text-messaging travails as well as the closing of police and fire stations and

Detroit

's failure to submit financial reports, causing the state to withhold $61 million in profit sharing from the city.

http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080304/NEWS01/803040356/1003

Call for mayor to quit gains support

But it's unclear if majority of council agrees

BY ZACHARY GORCHOW

FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER

March 4, 2008

The Detroit City Council plans to vote today on whether to approve an extraordinary resolution calling for Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick to resign in the wake of the text message scandal.  Though the resolution is nonbinding and carries no legal authority, the outcome of the vote will send a definite signal about the mayor's relationship with the nine-member council, with which he must work to conduct city business. Before the Free Press reported the existence of text messages in the $8.4-million police whistle-blower settlement the council approved, Kilpatrick had assembled a functional majority to get many of his key initiatives approved.  The chances the resolution will be approved increased Monday when its author, Councilman Kwame Kenyatta, agreed to several changes Councilwoman Sheila Cockrel requested, adding reasons why Kilpatrick should quit.

http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080304/METRO01/803040384

Council votes on mayor today

Christine MacDonald / The

Detroit

News

DETROIT

-- A retooled resolution seeking Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick's resignation, saying the mayor "repeatedly obfuscates" the truth when denying any secret deal in the $8.4 million whistle-blower settlements, appears to have enough votes to pass the City Council today.   Councilwoman Sheila Cockrel has signed on to support the resolution, which was approved last week by three members of a council committee: Kwame Kenyatta, Brenda Jones and Martha Reeves. And Council President Kenneth Cockrel Jr. has said he leaned toward voting for it as well. It needs a majority of five votes to pass today.  The resolution was beefed up significantly Monday, when council members added additional justification to the list of reasons they believe Kilpatrick should resign. They include city audits so late the state withheld nearly $61 million in revenue sharing. State officials said late Monday they would release $29 million this week because the city submitted one of the audits last week; the city has submitted a plan to finish the other audit, and that could convince the state to release more of the money.

http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080303/METRO/803030421

Beatty in court in lawsuit over benefit cuts for city retirees

Christine MacDonald / The

Detroit

News

DETROIT

-- Former Mayoral Chief of Staff Christine Beatty appeared in Wayne Circuit Court this morning, after being subpoenaed in a trial over city-imposed health care cuts to police and fire retirees. Lawyers for the retirees had said they were concerned that Beatty wouldn't show this morning, after they said her personal attorney, Mayer Morganroth, told them Friday afternoon that she wouldn't appear. The city has filed a motion to fight the subpoena. Retiree lawyers filed an emergency motion this morning with Judge Isidore Torres, asking that Beatty explain why she shouldn't be held in contempt for ignoring the subpoena. But Beatty did show at about 9:15 a.m. and stayed until Torres heard initial arguments from both the city and retirees' attorneys. Torres set a trial date for March 17 and then dismissed Beatty. Morganroth told Torres that Beatty would invoke her fifth amendment right against self-incrimination if called to the stand in the civil trial and that he believed she was being asked to appear today because of her recent notoriety from the $8.4 million whistle-blower settlement and scandal involving her former boss, Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick.

http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080304/METRO/803040393

Beatty got biggest grant, even before mortgage program OK'd

Paul Egan / The

Detroit

News

Tuesday, March 4, 2008

DETROIT

-- A subsidy program under which a bank says Christine Beatty received a grant to help her buy a house had not yet been ordered by a judge when Beatty received her money, federal court records show. Fifth Third Bank says Beatty, who resigned last month as chief of staff to Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, received $12,000 in 2004 under a program created to settle a federal lawsuit that alleged the bank had discriminated against

Detroit

residents in its home lending practices. But a federal judge did not order Fifth Third Bank to create that "economic empowerment program" until May 19, 2004 -- two weeks after Beatty received her mortgage, federal court records show. Not only was Beatty the first Detroiter to receive a grant under the program, the $12,000 the bank gave her was more than anyone else in the program received, Fifth Third senior vice president Jack Riley confirmed. Four months after Beatty received her grant, Fifth Third set a $2,500 cap on individual grants, an amount that later was increased to $5,000, Riley said.

http://blog.mlive.com/grpress/2008/03/state_stimulus_plan_skips_west.html

Gov. Granholm proposes new university projects; none in

West Michigan

Posted by Peter Luke

Press

Lansing

Bureau

March 03, 2008

Gov. Jennifer GranholmLANSING -- The billion-dollar economic stimulus package Gov. Jennifer Granholm is proposing in her new budget isn't proving to be very stimulating for lawmakers. According to those legislators, there's a paradoxical problem with a plan that includes about two dozen building projects for

Michigan

universities and community colleges: It's not big enough, and it costs too much.  Granholm recommended new buildings for the

University

of

Michigan

's three campuses,

Michigan

State

University

,

Eastern

Michigan

University

,

Saginaw

Valley

State

University

and the three universities in the

Upper Peninsula

.  Her plan doesn't include projects sought by

Western

Michigan

University

,

Grand

Valley

State

University

,

Central

Michigan

University

and others.

While Granholm's plan funds community college projects from Bay de Noc to

Detroit

, it omits college requests in

Grand Rapids

,

Flint

,

Jackson

,

Ann Arbor

and

Kalamazoo

.

West Michigan

left on the sidelines  Projects at area schools excluded from Gov. Jennifer Granholm's stimulus package. Complete list below.

Central

Michigan

University

: Biotech building. Total cost, $75 million; state share, $40 million. 

Ferris

State

University

: Collaborative health education center. Total cost, $26.9 million; state share, $20.2 million. 

Grand

Valley

State

University

: Learning and technology center. Total cost, $70 million; state share, $40 million. 

Western

Michigan

University

: Sangren Hall building renovation. Total cost, $56 million; state share, $40 million.

http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080304/NEWS06/803040378/1008

Medical pot proposal on its way to

Michigan

's ballot

BY

DAWSON

BELL

FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER

March 4, 2008

Michiganders with chronic or debilitating diseases would be able to possess and use marijuana legally under a proposal on its way to state voters in November.

A state elections panel Monday certified petitions with 377,975 signatures backing the plan, well more than the 304,000 minimum needed to put the initiative before voters if the Legislature fails to act on it within the next 40 days.  Spokespeople for House Speaker Andy Dillon,

D-Redford

Township

, and Senate Majority Leader Mike Bishop, R-Rochester, said Monday afternoon that legislative action is unlikely.

"We will be letting the voters decide this one," said Greg Bird, an aide to Dillon and House Democrats.  Dianne Byrum, a former lawmaker and spokeswoman for the Michigan Coalition for Compassionate Care, the group that circulated the petitions, said she has no expectation the Legislature will take up the medical marijuana issue.

The initiative would amend

Michigan

law to allow seriously

http://blog.mlive.com/kzgazette/2008/03/homeowners_light_up_phones_ove.html

Homeowners light up phones over tax twist

Posted by Kathy Jessup

Kalamazoo

Gazette

March 03, 2008 09:27AM

KALAMAZOO

-- How could a home be worth less on the market than it was the year before, yet be taxed on a value that's higher than ever?

That's a question many homeowners are asking after receiving tax-assessment notices explaining how their property-tax bills will be calculated this year. And those homeowners are keeping assessors busy.

"People are calling even when their assessed value went down. I can't win," Kalamazoo City Assessor Connie Darling said.

But before disgruntled homeowners call to set up a time to argue their assessments before their local boards of review, they should know this: The increases in taxable values despite drops in markets values are not mistakes.

A feature in

Michigan

law that kept many property-tax bills lower during the real-estate boom will this year hike taxes for many owners whose market values have declined or remained flat.

http://www.mlive.com/news/kzgazette/index.ssf?/base/columns-3/1204559462317760.xml&coll=7

Loan money on hold for college students

Monday, March 03, 2008

The

Grand Rapids

Press

The recent suspension of one of the few fixed-rate loans available to

Michigan

college students should not go unnoticed by those responsible for setting tuition at state schools. The shutdown of the Michigan Alternative Student Loan (MI-Loan) program means it likely will be more expensive for thousands of students to borrow the money needed for college. The extra expense could postpone or even derail some students' higher education plans.

About 8,500 loans totaling $68 million were offered through MI-Loan last year. On

West Michigan

campuses, more than 1,700 students borrowed $18 million from the program. Approximately 1,100 students at Calvin and Hope colleges and

Grand

Valley

State

University

were among the recipients. (About 220

Western

Michigan

University

students and 59

Kalamazoo

College

students have borrowed from the program.) The loans often were used to cover costs not met by other sources, attracting students ineligible for government aid or who didn't receive enough of it to fully cover college costs.

NATIONAL STORIES

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/

Limbaugh urges listeners to vote for

Clinton

Posted: 08:57 PM ET

(CNN) – As Hillary Clinton battles to keep her presidential bid alive, she may be getting help from an unlikely source: conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh.

Limbaugh has been actively urging his

Texas

listeners to cross over and vote for

Clinton

in that state's open primary Tuesday, arguing it helps the Republicans if the Democratic race remains unsettled for weeks to come. "I want Hillary to stay in this…this is too good a soap opera," Limbaugh told fellow conservative talk-show host Laura Ingraham on Fox News Friday. He reiterated the comments on his Monday show and replayed the exchange with Ingram.  He also said

Clinton

is more willing than the Republican National Committee and John McCain's campaign to criticize Barack Obama.

"We need Barack Obama bloodied up politically. It's obvious that the Republicans are not going to do it, they don't have the stomach for it," Limbaugh continued. "As you probably know we're getting all kinds of memos from the RNC saying we're not going to be critical. Mark McKinnon of McCain's campaign said he'll quit if they get critical over Obama. This is the presidency of the

United States

we're talking about. I want our party to win I want the Democrats to lose.”

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D8V67AE80&show_article=1&catnum=3

McCain Says He Can Best Handle Crisises 

Mar 3 04:58 PM US/Eastern

By LIBBY QUAID

Associated Press Writer

PHOENIX

(AP) - Republican Sen. John McCain said Monday he's the best prepared to deal with a dead of night national emergency, not his Democratic rivals. Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama have argued in recent days over who would exercise superior judgment in the case of such a crisis. "It's 3 a.m. and your children are safe and asleep. But there's a phone in the White House, and it's ringing,"

Clinton

's ad begins.

McCain, a four-term senator from

Arizona

, said he is the most experienced and qualified to respond in that situation. "I would believe that my knowledge and experience and background clearly indicates that if the phone rang at 3 a.m. in the White House, and I was the one to answer it, I would be the one most qualified to exercise the kind of judgment necessary to address a national security crisis," McCain told reporters Monday in Phoenix. He opened a news conference in an airplane hangar by reeling off international events that concern him, including the Russian election of Vladimir Putin's hand-picked successor, several days of bombing in the Gaza Strip and increased tensions among

Venezuela

,

Ecuador

and

Columbia

.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120450564143806509.html?mod=opinion_main_commentaries

Obama and

Chicago

Mores

By JOHN FUND

March 3, 2008; Page A17

On Tuesday, Barack Obama may well wrap up the Democratic nomination. Yet how he rose so quickly in

Chicago

's famously suspect politics -- and who his associates were there -- has received little scrutiny.

That may change today as the trial of Antoin "Tony" Rezko, Mr. Obama's friend of two decades and his campaign fund-raiser, gets under way in federal court in

Chicago

. Mr. Rezko, a master fixer in

Illinois

politics, is charged with money laundering, attempted extortion, fraud and aiding bribery in an alleged multimillion dollar scheme shaking down companies seeking state contracts.

John McCain's dealings with lobbyists have properly come under a microscope; why not Mr. Obama's? Partly, says Chicago Tribune columnist John Kass, because the national media establishment has decided that

Chicago

's grubby politics interferes with the story line of hope they've set out for Mr. Obama. Former Washington Post reporter Tom Edsall, who now teaches journalism at

Columbia

University

, told

Canada

's Globe & Mail that "reporters have sometimes allowed themselves to get too much caught up in [Obama] excitement." Then there are Chicago Republicans, loath to encourage the national party to pounce because some of their own leaders are caught in the Rezko mess.

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D8V693NG0&show_article=1&catnum=3

Obama Pushes Away From Indicted Donor 

Mar 3 07:00 PM US/Eastern

By TOM RAUM

Associated Press Writer

SAN ANTONIO (AP) - Democratic presidential contender Sen. Barack Obama on Monday reiterated the steps he has taken to separate himself from longtime donor Antoin "Tony" Rezko, as jury selection began in the Chicago businessman's political corruption trial. The

Illinois

senator was pressed by reporters at a news conference about his relations with the 52-year-old real estate developer and fast-food magnate. Rezko is charged with buying political influence with campaign money and using it to launch a multimillion-dollar shakedown scheme aimed at companies hoping to build hospitals or invest state pension money. Obama has not been accused of any wrongdoing in the case brought by federal prosecutors. Questions about the relationship dogged Obama as he wound up campaigning on the eve of crucial primary votes in

Texas

and

Ohio

in his hard-fought contest with Hillary Rodham Clinton. Obama campaigned exclusively in

Texas

on Monday, a state polls suggested he was more likely to carry than

Ohio

.

Pressed, Obama said, "Tony Rezko was a friend and supporter of mine for many years. These charges are completely unrelated to me, and nobody disputes that."

http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=25282

Rezko Connections: More Questions for Obama

by John Batchelor

Posted: 03/03/2008

A mysterious fugitive from Iraqi justice named Aiham Alsammarae, who is also a Chicago resident, is the focus of a politically fraught episode in the association between accused political fixer Antoin "Tony" Rezko, who goes on federal trial today in Chicago for graft, and Senator Barack Obama, the most spectacular Illinois presidential candidate in half a century.

"We want him back to serve his sentence of fourteen years," said an Iraqi government official in

Baghdad

last week. "He stole $650 million from the people of

Iraq

, and from the people of the

United States

, and he was tried and convicted in an Iraqi court in October 2006 for his crimes. We have a four-inch-thick file of his crimes. He plundered the Ministry of Electricity. Dates, bank accounts, dummy companies, a lot of them in the States. We want him, and we want the money back."

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D8V67DOO0&show_article=1&catnum=3

Obama Denies Assuring

Canada

on NAFTA 

Mar 3 05:05 PM US/Eastern

By NEDRA PICKLER

Associated Press Writer

SAN ANTONIO (AP) - Barack Obama said Monday that his campaign never gave Canada back- channel assurances that his harsh words about the North American Free Trade Agreement were for political show—despite the disclosure of a Canadian memo indicating otherwise. According to the memo obtained by The Associated Press, Obama's senior economic adviser told Canadian officials in

Chicago

that the debate over free trade in the Democratic presidential primary campaign was "political positioning" and that Obama was not really protectionist. The adviser, Austan Goolsbee, said his comments to those officials were misinterpreted by the author, Joseph DeMora, who works for the Canadian consulate in

Chicago

and attended the meeting. In

Carrollton

,

Texas

, Obama told reporters: "Nobody reached out to the Canadians to try to assure them of anything."

Asked why he had appeared to deny a report last week that such a meeting had taken place, Obama said: "That was the information I had at the time."

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D8V677300&show_article=1&catnum=3

Obama Adviser Rebuffs

Canada

Trade Memo 

Mar 3 04:51 PM US/Eastern

By NEDRA PICKLER

Associated Press Writer

SAN ANTONIO, Texas (AP) - Barack Obama's senior economic policy adviser privately told Canadian officials to view the debate in Ohio over trade as "political positioning," according to a memo obtained by The Associated Press that was rejected by the adviser and held up Monday as evidence of doublespeak by rival Hillary Rodham Clinton.

The memo is the first documentation to emerge publicly out of the meeting between the adviser, Austan Goolsbee, and officials with the Canadian consulate in Chicago, but Goolsbee said it misinterprets what he told them. The memo was written by Joseph DeMora, who works for the consulate and attended the meeting.

"Noting anxiety among many

U.S.

domestic audiences about the

U.S.

economic outlook, Goolsbee candidly acknowledged the protectionist sentiment that has emerged, particularly in the

Midwest

, during the primary campaign," the memo said. "He cautioned that this messaging should not be taken out of context and should be viewed as more about political positioning than a clear articulation of policy plans."

Goolsbee disputed the characterization from the conservative government official.

"This thing about 'it's more about political positioning than a clear articulation of policy plans,' that's this guy's language," Goolsbee said of DeMora. "He's not quoting me.

http://blogs.tnr.com/tnr/blogs/the_stump/archive/2008/03/03/nafta-gate-take-two.aspx

NAFTA-Gate, Take Two

Okay, scratch what I said about Goolsbee and

Canada

. I still don't think it's substantively a big deal, but between hearing CNN's reports from Ohio this morning, and listening in on a Clinton conference call just now (and hearing reporters' questions on the subject), I think they're getting some significant traction with this story today.

Two things make it problematic for the Obama campaign: 1.) The sudden appearance of this lurid-sounding memo written by a Canadian consular official. I don't think it's particularly revealing--as I said this morning, it reflects what the Canadians thought they heard from Goolsbee; there are, significantly, no direct quotes. But the term "memo" just sounds bad--as though there were some cover-up that's now falling apart. 2.) Certain Obama officials denied last week that there was any contact between the Obama campaign and the Canadian government about NAFTA. That's clearly no longer "operative," as Howard Wolfson pointed out on the call. While the memo story is a little ambiguous on its own--the Canadian official claims Goolsbee said one thing; he claims he said another--the Obama campaign's previous denials will make the press view their current claims more skeptically.

If this story is getting the kind of coverage in Ohio CNN is suggesting it is, it's hard to see how Obama makes up ground there today.

P.S. On the call just now, a reporter asked about a report that the

Clinton

campaign had a similar conversation with Canadian officials about NAFTA. Spokesperson Phil Singer, who's got the NAFTA-gate portfolio, adamantly denied this. He said the campaign had freed Canadian officials from any confidentiality agreements, allowing them to come forward if they knew otherwise.

http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=MWNjOGQ1MDI4NjViMWQwMGM0MmZkMzNkMzY2NTU2NjY=

Is Obama Lying About NAFTAGate?

He certainly doesn’t seem to be telling the whole truth.

By Byron York

For the last several months, the tone of the Democratic presidential debate on the issue of trade has worried government officials in

Canada

and

Mexico

. Would a President Barack Obama or a President Hillary Clinton actually pull the

U.S.

out of the North American Free Trade Agreement? It’s a nightmare scenario in

Ottawa

and

Mexico City

— not to mention Washington — and Canadian and Mexican officials have tried as best they can to gauge just how sincere the criticisms of NAFTA coming from Obama and Clinton really are. Those criticisms have been particularly intense in the run-up to today’s primary in economically struggling

Ohio

. At last week’s debate in Cleveland, Obama and Clinton dueled to see who could be more anti-NAFTA; Obama won, at least rhetorically, by promising to “use the hammer of a potential opt-out as leverage” to renegotiate NAFTA on his own terms. Did he mean it? Or was he just telling steelworkers in

Ohio

what they wanted to hear? That is the question behind the first real scandal of the Obama campaign. And while the campaign has made several statements on the issue, there are growing indications that officials there are not telling the whole story.

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D8V684LO0&show_article=1&catnum=3

Texas

,

Ohio

Could Decide Dem Nomination 

Mar 3 05:54 PM US/Eastern

By DAVID ESPO

AP Special Correspondent

WASHINGTON (AP) - campaign_minute Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton reached for the finish line of contentious

Ohio

and

Texas

primary campaigns on Monday as senior Democrats expressed concern the party could suffer this fall if their struggle goes much longer. "I'm just getting warmed up," said Clinton, looking beyond this week's contests and shrugging off 11 straight primary and caucus defeats as well as a three-digit deficit in delegates. The former first lady campaigned from

Ohio

, where she accused Obama of double talk on NAFTA, to

Texas

, where her new television commercial questioned his readiness to serve as commander in chief. Obama spent his day in Texas, a state rich in military bases, where he pledged to begin the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq next year and envisioned a "seamless transition from active duty to civilian life" for men and women who leave the armed forces. But he was shadowed by allegations that he had overstated his opposition to the North American Free Trade Agreement to win votes back in

Ohio

. He told reporters his campaign never gave

Canada

back- channel assurances that his criticism of NAFTA, which is wildly unpopular in

Ohio

, amounted to political posturing.

http://www.reuters.com/article/politicsNews/idUSN0345910420080303?feedType=RSS&feedName=politicsNews&rpc=22&sp=true

Obama says

U.S.

should not meet with Hamas

Mon Mar 3, 2008 4:59pm EST

SAN ANTONIO

,

Texas

(Reuters) - Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama on Monday backed the Bush administration's policy of shunning contact with the Islamic militants of Hamas in its

Middle East

peace diplomacy.

The

Illinois

senator has said he would break with President George W. Bush's stance of declining to talk to some other international adversaries but that stance does not apply to Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip and is committed to the destruction of

Israel

.

Obama has said in the past he would be willing to meet with leaders with whom the Bush administration strongly disagrees, including Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Cuban leader Raul Castro.

Obama, hoping to win his party's nomination to face likely Republican nominee Sen. John McCain in the November presidential election, said his willingness to meet with foes "does not include Hamas."

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=080303231050.mhebtg5n&show_article=1&catnum=3

US Congress to examine EADS air tanker deal: speaker 

Mar 3 06:11 PM US/Eastern

Congress is to examine the

US

military's decision to award a 35-billion-dollar aircraft contract to Europe's Northrop Grumman/EADS group dealing a blow to its

US

rival Boeing, officials said Monday.

"The Air Force's decision to award the contract for a much-needed modernization of the nation's aerial tanker fleet to Northrop Grumman and Airbus raises serious questions that Congress must examine thoroughly," Speaker Nancy Pelosi said in a statement.

"Given the ramifications of this decision for the

United States

, the Air Force must explain to Congress how it meets the long-term needs of our military and the American people," she said.

http://www.reuters.com/article/politicsNews/idUSN0337436220080304?feedType=RSS&feedName=politicsNews&rpc=22&sp=true

U.S.

Congress roiled by Air Force tanker decision

Mon Mar 3, 2008 9:18pm EST

By Kevin Drawbaugh

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A political backlash erupted on Monday over a decision by the U.S. Air Force to pass over

U.S.

aerospace giant Boeing Co and criticizing the Air Force for not considering

U.S.

jobs in its decision.

Gabriela Lemus, executive director of the AFL-CIO's Labor Council for Latin American Advancement, said EADS had received subsidies for years.

"If this is allowed to stand, the Department of Defense will have declared open season on American aerospace jobs," Lemus said.

EADS -- with major manufacturing facilities in France and Germany -- teamed up with U.S. aerospace group Northrop Grumman to outbid Boeing for the job, which will bring with it thousands of high-paying jobs over many years.

The Air Force plans to buy 179 aircraft over 15 years to replace aging KC-135 tankers, which were built by Boeing. Tankers refuel fighter jets and other warplanes in midair.

http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=25288

Air Force Rejects Made-in-America

by Robert Maginnis

Posted: 03/03/2008

Last Friday, the Air Force awarded a European firm $40 billion contract to replace

America

’s aging airborne refueling fleet. That decision effectively outsources thousands of American jobs to a firm subsidized by a foreign government and could further reduce our industrial manufacturing base. This deal encourages Europeans to continue underfunding their own security and should become a presidential campaign issue.

The Air Force has been seeking a replacement for its fleet of Eisenhower-era KC-135s for decades with increasing desperation. They realize that without the tanker fleet at full operational status,

US

ability to project power around the world is reduced from the speed of a jetliner to the speed of a ship.

Friday, Air Force

Secretary

Michael Wynne announced “…that the development and procurement of up to 179 new KC-45A tanker aircraft is awarded to the Northrop Grumman Corporation.” Los Angeles-based Northrop Grumman is teamed with the European Aeronautic Defense and Space Company (EADS), the maker of Airbus planes, to build airborne refueling tankers based on the Airbus A330-200 airframe. EADS beat Chicago-based Boeing for the contract despite the fact that Boeing has been supplying refueling tankers to the US Air Force for nearly 50 years.

http://www.spectator.org/dsp_article.asp?art_id=12831

Republicans and Catholics

By The Prowler

Published 3/3/2008 12:08:50 AM

Some Republican political insiders were surprised by the full court press other GOP presidential candidates put on Sen. Sam Brownback for his endorsement last fall when he stepped out of the race. But anyone who understands the importance of the Catholic vote in national Republican elections wasn't scratching his head. Brownbac