Articles of Interest 4-12-08
207 Days until Election Day
MORNING UPDATE:
Our “mail server” crashed yesterday. We will NOT be able to email the Articles of Interest out until Sunday or Monday. We will continue to post the information on the blog.
Obama let everyone know what he thinks of midwestern values at a San Francisco event…ouch:
“You go into these small towns in Pennsylvania and, like a lot of small towns in the Midwest…And it's not surprising then they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations.” Oh really??? I wonder what the folks in Michigan, Ohio, Wisconsin and even Illinois think? Talk about pandering to the liberal elite.
First you bash the auto industry, domestic manufacturers and auto related retirees by siding with Nancy Pelosi and her winger friends in San Francisco…then add this?
Maybe this explains why Obama didn’t want to come and campaign in Michigan???
From Michael Yon in Friday’s Wall Street Journal:
"I may well have spent more time embedded with combat units in Iraq than any other journalist alive. I have seen this war - and our part in it - at its brutal worst. And I say the transformation over the last 14 months is little short of miraculous."
There are only 5 weeks left…candidates need your help. If you would like to help, please contact the candidates directly.
State Rep. Jack Hoogendyk is in the middle of his petition collection efforts for the U.S. Senate at:
http://www.jackformichigan.org/
http://jackformichigan.org/petitions/
Bart Baron also plans on running for the U.S. Senate. He notified me that he has contracted with a vendor to help him collect signatures. If you would like to get more information about Bart Baron and his campaign, or offer to help…email him at:
Candidates need 20,000 signatures by May 13 to get their name on the ballot. Get behind one of the candidates and help them get on the ballot.
THE REST OF THE STORY:
Here is where you can go for good, public policy information...check out these sites:
The Heritage Foundation is a research and educational institute - a think tank - whose mission is to formulate and promote conservative public policies based on the principles of free enterprise, limited government, individual freedom, traditional American values, and a strong national defense.
The Cato Institute seeks to broaden the parameters of public policy debate to allow consideration of the traditional American principles of limited government, individual liberty, free markets, and peace. Toward that goal, the institute strives to achieve greater involvement of the intelligent, concerned lay public in questions of policy and the proper role of government.
The Mackinac Center for Public Policy is a nonpartisan research and educational institute devoted to improving the quality of life for all Michigan citizens by promoting sound solutions to state and local policy questions. The Mackinac Center is broadening the debate on issues that have for many years been dominated by the belief that government intervention should be the standard solution. Center publications and programs, in contrast, offer an integrated and comprehensive approach that considers the important role of voluntary associations, business, community, and family, as well as government.
Saul Anuzis
STATE STORIES
http://detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080412/METRO/804120338
Mayor must get OK for personal trips
Judge rules Kilpatrick can leave state for city work with notice; private travel requires hearing.
Paul Egan / The Detroit News
Saturday, April 12, 2008
DETROIT -- A 36th District Court judge on Friday clarified the conditions of Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick's bond, saying he must file a motion with the court if he is leaving the state for purely personal reasons. Judge Paula Humphries said Kilpatrick is free to travel outside the state and anywhere in the world on city business -- provided he merely notifies the court first. Filing a motion, which requires a hearing before a judge, is not required for travel on city business, and it is acceptable for the mayor to combine personal purposes on trips that have an official reason, she said. On March 24, Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy charged Kilpatrick and his former chief of staff, Christine Beatty, with conspiracy, obstruction of justice, perjury and official misconduct in a case arising from a police whistle-blower trial in 2007.
http://detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080412/METRO/804120335
Mayor's lawyer has links to quasi-city incinerator
Christine MacDonald / The Detroit News
Saturday, April 12, 2008
DETROIT -- William Mitchell III, the personal attorney for Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick who took control of the damaging text messages after the $8.4 million whistle-blower settlement, is under contract with a quasi-city agency that operates Detroit's trash incinerator. Officials with the Greater Detroit Resource Recovery Authority said they retained Mitchell's firm -- Mitchell, Lord and Associates -- more than a year ago, long before he represented Kilpatrick in what would become the text message scandal. But Councilwoman Sheila Cockrel said Friday she's concerned about the appearance that tax dollars may have been spent for his personal benefit. "There is an appearance that resources attached to a public entity could be used indirectly to assist the mayor in the text message scandal," Cockrel said of Mitchell's contract with GDRRA.
http://detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080412/METRO/804120365
City's top attorney accused of lying
Bickering council ends hearings; Johnson denies knowing messages' content
David Josar / The Detroit News
Saturday, April 12, 2008
DETROIT -- Three marathon days of City Council hearings about an $8.4 million whistle-blowers settlement ended Friday with a torrent of bickering, name-calling and accusations of lying. Hours after council members recessed the hearing because of a shouting match, they turned their ire on Corporation Counsel John E. Johnson. He told members he was kept in the dark about the content of SkyTel messages at the heart of the settlement -- as well as a separate deal that gave the embarrassing missives to Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick's personal attorney. It was an explanation Council President Kenneth Cockrel deemed "unbelievable." "You either have a lack of truthfulness or a lack of competence and either one is scary," he said.
http://freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080412/NEWS01/804120331
Conyers defends attack on Cockrel
'He's bullying,' she says
BY SUZETTE HACKNEY
April 12, 2008
In the blockbuster animated movie trilogy, Shrek is a bald, rotund and grumpy -- but lovable -- green ogre who loves to eat eyeballs. In Detroit, Shrek is City Council President Ken Cockrel Jr. At least in the eyeballs of council President Pro Tem Monica Conyers. Cockrel brought a special investigative hearing into the police whistle-blower lawsuit settlement to a temporary adjournment Friday after Conyers interrupted him and the two got into an argument. Conyers, wife of U.S. Rep. John Conyers, D-Detroit, demanded that Cockrel respect her and twice called him Shrek. "You're not my daddy," Conyers yelled. "You do that at home, not here. Give me some respect 'cause I'm tired of that. You may not do that at home, but you gon do it up in here. "Grow up!" she continued. "Control your house and you'll know how to treat women better." Cockrel responded by saying that Conyers had little room to talk about the issue of respect and interrupting others.
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080411/NEWS01/80411049
Expert: Council should oversee city's lawyers
By Suzette Hackney
April 11, 2008
A legal expert testified today that Detroit City Council should consider changing the City Charter to address structural deficiencies in how the council receives attorney representation. Frank Wu, outgoing dean of the Wayne State University Law School, said a charter amendment could enable council to oversee who supervises corporation counsel and who hires and fires city attorneys. An amendment also could force corporation counsel to dual-report to both city council and the mayor’s office. Corporation counsel, head of the city’s law department, currently serves at the will of the mayor. Wu said the council could also request an extensive risk-management system that would identify and analyze cases that deal with public policy, those that could be considered a conflict of interest, could tarnish the city’s reputation or have other unusual factors.
http://detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080411/POLITICS01/804110401/1022/POLITICS
Obama's fiery ex-pastor to keynote NAACP's Freedom Fund Dinner
Darren A. Nichols and Mark Hornbeck / The Detroit News Friday,
April 11, 2008
DETROIT -- The Detroit branch of the NAACP thrust itself into the national debate about race and politics Thursday, announcing that the controversial former pastor of presidential candidate Barack Obama will deliver the keynote address at the branch's signature event. The Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright, whose incendiary speeches about the 2001 terror attacks and black separatism opened Obama up to criticism on the campaign trail, is scheduled to take the stage April 27 at the Fight for Freedom Fund Dinner at Cobo Center. "Rev. Wright has challenged the nation, challenged our comfort zone and stimulated nation-wide discussions on the issues of how we must move forward together as both a nation and a people. We look forward to his participation here in the city of Detroit," said branch president the Rev. Wendell Anthony in prepared remarks Thursday. Wright, the longtime leader of the Trinity United Church of Christ megachurch in Chicago, retired in January. The church's Web site refers to itself as "unashamedly black and unapologetically Christian."
http://marcambinder.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/04/an_update_on_republican_rules.php
An Update On Republican Rules
Marc Ambinder
02 Apr 2008 08:07 am
The Republican National Committee's rules committee is poised to take action on a proposal to revamp the party's primary calendar. I'll have more on this later, but for now, here's how Saul Anuzis, the chair of the Michigan Republican Party, describes the debate so far: RNC Rules Committee held its first day of meetings yesterday. National Committeewoman Holly Hughes and I attended and participated on behalf of Michigan. We moved the Ohio Plan as the base plan for the working meeting. It would create regional, rotating-state primaries. It would allow NH, IA, NV & SC to go first, then some 20+ other small state and territories…followed by 3 larger regional pods that would rotate…Michigan being part of a larger pod. I believe today’s vote will come down to an amended Ohio Plan to replace our existing rules with the caveat of moving the start date into March. It looks like a toss-up at the break of last night’s meeting, with a lot of lobbying going on from all sides.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080411/AUTO01/804110396
Axle 'disappointed' with UAW offer
Supplier: Offer an improvement; talks resume
Eric Morath / The Detroit News
Friday, April 11, 2008
American Axle & Manufacturing Holdings Inc. was "disappointed" in an offer from the United Auto Workers union that would have paid workers double the market rate, the company said Thursday. Formal negotiations will continue, but the two sides remain far apart on wages and benefits, American Axle said in a statement. American Axle characterized the proposal as "a slight improvement from the UAW's previous bargaining positions," but didn't elaborate. Union officials did not return calls seeking comment. The union is asking for wages and benefits of between $40 and $60 an hour, according to American Axle spokeswoman Renee Rogers. The company is proposing a wage and benefit package of between $20 and $30 an hour. Contract talks between the UAW and the Detroit-based auto supplier had been stalled for more than three weeks until the full bargaining teams met Wednesday to try and hammer out a deal.
http://detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080411/SCHOOLS/804110358/1022/POLITICS
Admissions tweak pushed
Plan would give top 10% of graduates from each Michigan high school automatic college entry.
Tim Martin / Associated Press
Friday, April 11, 2008
LANSING -- A state lawmaker is drawing up a proposal that would give the top 10 percent of graduates at each of Michigan's high schools automatic admission to state universities. Rep. Rick Jones, a Republican from Grand Ledge, said Thursday he hopes to get action on the upcoming legislation before the Legislature adjourns at the end of the year. The plan would help give first choice to qualifying Michigan students at the state's 15 public universities over students from out-of-state or other countries. Jones said the plan would give top students from all Michigan communities -- inner city, rural or suburban -- an equal chance of acceptance at all state universities. "With this plan, you achieve a greater geographic, economic and racial diversity," he said.
State senator proposes freezing foreclosures in Michigan
4/11/2008, 6:49 p.m. EDT
The Associated Press
DETROIT (AP) — Some state lawmakers want to halt all mortgage and tax foreclosures in Michigan for two years. The legislation announced Friday in Detroit would still require homeowners to work out an agreement with their lenders and continue making payments during the moratorium. Democratic Sen. Hansen Clarke of Detroit says the state froze foreclosures during the Great Depression of the 1930s, along with 25 other states. Michigan is among states with a high foreclosure rate. The state recently passed a series of bills to help homeowners refinance their loans.
http://blog.mlive.com/kzgazette/2008/04/congressmen_say_cdc_report_on.html
Congressmen say politics holding up report on pollution, health problems
Posted by Pat Shellenbarger
April 11, 2008 07:47AM
GRAND RAPIDS -- Muskegon County, home to a dozen hazardous waste sites, has higher-than-normal rates of infant mortality and breast cancer. In Allegan and Kalamazoo counties, linked by the polluted Kalamazoo River, there are higher-than-expected rates of colon cancer, infant mortality and the number of babies born with low birth weight. Those are among the findings of a federal study that Democratic congressmen say is being withheld for political reasons. Their Republican colleagues disagree, saying the study, which began nearly seven years ago, needs further scientific analysis. While the politicians and federal bureaucrats debate its merits, public-health officials in those three counties say they would like to see the study so they can decide what to do about it. "To me, having politics play a part in all this does a disservice to us," said Rashmi Travis, Allegan County's health officer. "They need to get it out so we can get it out to the public."
NATIONAL STORIES
http://apnews.myway.com/article/20080410/D8VV52QG0.html
McCain Erases Obama Lead
Apr 10, 1:39 PM (ET)
By NEDRA PICKLER
WASHINGTON (AP) - Republican Sen. John McCain has erased Sen. Barack Obama's 10-point advantage in a head-to-head matchup, leaving him essentially tied with both Democratic candidates in an Associated Press-Ipsos national poll released Thursday. The survey showed the extended Democratic primary campaign creating divisions among supporters of Obama and rival Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton and suggests a tight race for the presidency in November no matter which Democrat becomes the nominee. McCain is benefiting from a bounce since he clinched the GOP nomination a month ago. The four-term Arizona senator has moved up in matchups with each of the Democratic candidates, particularly Obama. An AP-Ipsos poll taken in late February had Obama leading McCain 51-41 percent. The current survey, conducted April 7-9, had them at 45 percent each. McCain leads Obama among men, whites, Southerners, married women and independents.
McCain to Obama: keep your word on public funds
Fri Apr 11, 2008 5:45pm EDT
By Jeff Mason
DALLAS (Reuters) - Republican presidential candidate John McCain on Friday accused Democrat Barack Obama of breaking his word on campaign financing and said he might turn down public money for his campaign if Obama does so. McCain, a senator from Arizona, is trailing far behind both Democratic candidates -- Illinois Sen. Obama and New York Sen. Hillary Clinton -- in fundraising despite having wrapped up his party's nomination for the White House contest in November. Obama, the Democratic front-runner, pledged last year to accept public financing and its accompanying spending limit of an estimated $85 million for the general election if he wins the nomination and if his opponent also agreed to do so. But with monthly hauls of some $55 million in February and more than $40 million in March, Obama appears to be rethinking that pledge.
Obama on small-town PA: Clinging to religion, guns, xenophobia
Ben Smith
April 11, 2008
Huffpo's Mayhill Fowler has more from Obama's remarks at a San Francisco fundraiser Sunday, and they include an attempt to explain the resentment in small-town Pennsylvania that won't be appreciated by some of the people whose votes Obama's seeking: You go into these small towns in Pennsylvania and, like a lot of small towns in the Midwest, the jobs have been gone now for 25 years and nothing's replaced them. And they fell through the Clinton administration, and the Bush administration, and each successive administration has said that somehow these communities are gonna regenerate and they have not. And it's not surprising then they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy toward people who aren't like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations. That's a pretty broad list of things to explain with job loss.
http://detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080412/POLITICS01/804120407/1022/POLITICS
Obama defends stand on 'bitter' voters
Under fire, presidential hopeful doesn't retreat from earlier comments on economic inequality.
Jim Kuhnhenn / Associated Press
Saturday, April 12, 2008
TERRE HAUTE, Ind. -- In the midst of an assault from his rivals, a defensive Barack Obama said Friday that many working-class Americans are angry and bitter over economic inequalities and have lost faith in Washington -- and, as a result, vote on the basis of other issues, such as gun protections or gay marriage. The Illinois senator's analysis of what motivates working-class voters came after chief rival Hillary Rodham Clinton accused him of looking down on them. Clinton rebuked Obama on Friday for similar remarks he made privately last Sunday to a group of donors in San Francisco. "People don't vote on economic issues because they don't expect anybody is going to help them," Obama told a crowd at a Terre Haute, Ind., high school Friday evening. "So people end up voting on issues like guns and are they going to have the right to bear arms. They vote on issues like gay marriage. They take refuge in their faith and their community, and their family, and the things they can count on. But they don't believe they can count on Washington."
Obama under fire after fundraiser remarks
By Caren Bohan
April 12, 2008
TERRE HAUTE, Indiana (Reuters) - U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama came under fire on Friday for saying small-town Pennsylvania residents were "bitter" and "cling to guns or religion," in comments his rivals said showed an elitist view of the middle class. Obama's Democratic rival, Hillary Clinton, and presumptive Republican presidential nominee John McCain both pounced on the comments Obama made last weekend at a fundraiser in San Francisco. Video of the fundraiser, which was closed to the press, surfaced as Obama was campaigning in Indiana, trying to highlight issues of concern to working-class voters, such as job losses and rising mortgage foreclosures. "You go into some of these small towns in Pennsylvania, and like a lot of small towns in the Midwest, the jobs have been gone now for 25 years and nothing's replaced them," Obama, an Illinois senator, said.
Clinton attacks Obama for small-town voter remarks
By John Whitesides, Political Correspondent
April 11, 2008
PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) - Democrat Hillary Clinton criticized presidential rival Barack Obama on Friday for describing small-town Pennsylvania residents as bitter and said she would help economically struggling communities, not look down on them. Clinton, whose big Pennsylvania lead over Obama in opinion polls has been shrinking before their April 22 primary election showdown, said residents in small towns suffering from job losses across the state were resilient and optimistic. "Pennsylvania doesn't need a president who looks down on them," she said at a rally in Philadelphia. "They need a president who stands up for them, who fights for them, who works hard for your futures, your jobs, your families." Obama, an Illinois senator, told a crowd in San Francisco this week he understood why residents of towns hard hit by manufacturing job losses would feel bitter. "You go into these small towns in Pennsylvania and, like a lot of small towns in the Midwest, the jobs have been gone now for 25 years and nothing's replaced them," Obama was quoted as saying by the Huffington Post.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/12/us/politics/12campaign.html?_r=1&ref=politics&oref=slogin
Opponents Call Obama ‘Out of Touch’
By JEFF ZELENY
April 12, 2008
TERRE HAUTE, Ind. — As Senator Barack Obama sought to broaden his appeal to voters in southern Indiana on Friday, Senators Hillary Rodham Clinton and John McCain separately criticized him as being out of touch with the middle class, seizing on a remark Mr. Obama made at a California fund-raiser about “bitter” Americans. At the fund-raiser in San Francisco last Sunday, Mr. Obama outlined challenges facing his presidential candidacy in the coming primaries in Pennsylvania and Indiana, particularly persuading white working-class voters who, he said, fell through the cracks during the Bush and Clinton administrations. “So it’s not surprising then that they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren’t like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations,” Mr. Obama said, according to a transcript on the Huffington Post Web site, which on Friday published the comments. America.”
http://www.suntimes.com/news/huntley/889404,CST-EDT-hunt11.article
Obama risks making bad name for himself
April 11, 2008
BY STEVE HUNTLEY
The best indicator of Republican John McCain's surprisingly strong presidential prospects in what should be a slam-dunk Democratic year is not his solid general-election poll numbers but rather the increasingly shrill attacks from Democrats. The latest was a grotesque slam from Barack Obama supporter Sen. John D. Rockefeller IV of West Virginia. In a newspaper interview in his home state, Rockefeller let loose this stinker: "McCain was a fighter pilot, who dropped laser-guided missiles from 35,000 feet. He was long gone when they hit. What happened when they get to the ground? He doesn't know. You have to care about the lives of people. McCain never gets into those issues." Never mind that laser-guided missiles hadn't been invented during the Vietnam war. Bombing is a part of warfare, and McCain was serving his country as have legions of other bomber airmen. Rockefeller smeared them all. One further point: McCain was a prisoner of war in Hanoi when U.S. planes bombed the city, on the orders of McCain's admiral father.
Big Donors Among Obama's Grass Roots
'Bundlers' Have a Voice in Campaign
By Matthew Mosk and Alec MacGillis
Friday, April 11, 2008; A01
Sen. Barack Obama credits his presidential campaign with creating a "parallel public financing system" built on a wave of modest donations from homemakers and high school teachers. Small givers, he said at a fundraiser this week, "will have as much access and influence over the course and direction of our campaign that has traditionally been reserved for the wealthy and the powerful." But those with wealth and power also have played a critical role in creating Obama's record-breaking fundraising machine, and their generosity has earned them a prominent voice in shaping his campaign. Seventy-nine "bundlers," five of them billionaires, have tapped their personal networks to raise at least $200,000 each. They have helped the campaign recruit more than 27,000 donors to write checks for $2,300, the maximum allowed. Donors who have given more than $200 account for about half of Obama's total haul, which stands at nearly $240 million.
Barack Obama may lose support in Philadelphia over 'street money'
Candidates traditionally get out the money to get out the vote. That sets up a culture clash for the April 22 primary.
By Peter Nicholas, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
April 11, 2008
Fourteen months into a campaign that has the feel of a movement, Sen. Barack Obama has collided with the gritty political traditions of Philadelphia, where ward bosses love their candidates, but also expect them to pay up. The dispute centers on the dispensing of "street money," a long-standing Philadelphia ritual in which candidates deliver cash to the city's Democratic operatives in return for getting out the vote. Flush with payments from well-funded campaigns, the ward leaders and Democratic Party bosses typically spread out the cash in the days before the election, handing $10, $20 and $50 bills to the foot soldiers and loyalists who make up the party's workforce. It is all legal -- but Obama's people are telling the local bosses he won't pay.
http://apnews.myway.com/article/20080411/D8VVKG700.html
Obama Urges Parental Responsibility
Apr 11, 7:11 AM (ET)
By JIM KUHNHENN
GARY, Ind. (AP) - The standard Barack Obama venue lately has been high schools. Truman High School, Theodore Roosevelt High School, Jefferson High School. The Democratic presidential candidate has been pitching an audience-pleasing message of economic populism to crowds of a few thousand packed into each gymnasium. But he gets some of his loudest applause when he segues to education - and a bit of a lecture to mothers and fathers on how to be parents. Sure, there is the usual critique of current government policies. But the cheering peaks with a dose of tough talk. "Parents if you don't parent, we can't improve our schools," he said. "You've got to parent. You've got to turn off the television set in your house once in a while, you've got to put the video game away once in a while."
http://detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080412/POLITICS01/804120312/1022/POLITICS
Clinton, Obama very much alike on policy
Democratic candidates mostly agree on how to solve education, housing and health care issues.
Nedra Pickler / Associated Press
Saturday, April 12, 2008
WASHINGTON -- Democrats just can't decide whether Barack Obama or Hillary Rodham Clinton would make a better presidential nominee, and there's some good reason for that. When it comes to policy, they are closely aligned. "The differences between Barack and I pale in comparison to the differences that we have with Republicans," Clinton said at a debate earlier this year. Even on one of their most frequently debated policies, Obama once said: "Ninety-five percent of our health care plan is similar." Stephen Hess, a presidential scholar at the Brookings Institution, said their policy agreements ironically have added to the tension in their campaign. "There is simply no doubt that when two candidates virtually agree, you have to find other reasons to find an argument about why you should be for one rather than the other," he said. "That's why suddenly the issues in this campaign are issues of character rather than position. And once they are issues of character, they can get very personal."
Out of the campaign trail limelight, Romney still on the political hunt
Mitt Romney is still running - perhaps for vice president this fall or the White House in 2012 or 2016.
Boston Globe
April 11, 2008
Two months after bowing out of the Republican race, the former Massachusetts governor has become one of Senator John McCain's biggest boosters, pledging to raise $15 million for his former rival and praising him on talk shows and the campaign trail. Since suspending his campaign Feb. 7, Romney has maintained contact with his supporters and financial backers. He is looking at creating a political action committee that would help like-minded Republican candidates. And Romney is considering starting a foundation that would promote conservative ideals. "We've talked about the creation of a new entity that would allow the governor to remain politically active past this election year," said Eric Fehrnstrom, a Romney aide.
http://online.wsj.com/article/declarations.html
Something Beautiful Has Begun
By PEGGY NOONAN
April 11, 2008
At the open-air mass in St. Peter's on April 2, the third anniversary of the death of John Paul II, Pope Benedict XVI spoke movingly – he brought mist to the eyes of our little group of visiting Americans – of John Paul's life, and the meaning of his suffering. "Among his many human and supernatural qualities he had an exceptional spiritual and mystical sensitivity," said the pontiff, who knew John Paul long and intimately. (Those who hope for swift canonization please note: "supernatural." Benedict the philosopher does not use words lightly.) He spoke of the distilled message of John Paul's reign: "Be not afraid," the words "of the angel of the Resurrection, addressed to the women before the empty tomb." Which words were themselves a condensed message: Nothing has ended, something beautiful has begun, but you won't understand for a while.
http://detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080412/LIFESTYLE04/804120361
Pope may offer defining message in U.S.
American Catholics wait for cues from Benedict XVI's first visit to Washington and NYC.
Gregg Krupa / The Detroit News
Saturday, April 12, 2008
As Pope Benedict XVI makes his first trip to the United States next week, many American Catholics and observers of other faiths are wondering how he will use his prominent pulpit to address a string of religious and secular issues affecting the lives of the faithful and the politics of the nation. Emerging from the shadow of his compelling predecessor, Pope John Paul II, the reserved, scholarly Benedict will arrive Tuesday and spend five days in Washington and New York. His trip comes amid a decline in the number of priests and nuns, disaffection caused by sex scandals and divisions based on faith that have replaced the ideological struggle of the Cold War. "We will learn a lot about this pope by the way he chooses to use the spotlight here, in the United States," said the Rev. John Staudenmaier, an assistant to the president at the University of Detroit Mercy.
Dalai Lama begins US visit in Seattle amid turmoil over Tibet
4/11/2008, 11:42 p.m. EDT
By MANUEL VALDES
SEATTLE (AP) — In his first public appearances since arriving for a five-day conference on compassion, the Dalai Lama sidestepped a question about the turmoil in his native Tibet, instead talking about how dialogue and respect are the tools for transforming enemies. "The only way to transform our enemy to become our friend is dialogue, respect," the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader said in response to a question. "That's a way of compassion." Ann Curry of NBC News, a last-minute addition to a panel discussion on compassion and the media, then asked specifically how he could forgive his enemies and remain hopeful about the situation in Tibet. He sidestepped the question, talking in general terms about creating better communities and forgiving enemies, and expressing hope that the world will see more compassion with more female leaders. "Generally, females are more sensitive; there's a greater potential to develop compassion," he said.
http://www.nypost.com/seven/04112008/postopinion/opedcolumnists/press_1__troops_0_106075.htm
PRESS 1, TROOPS 0
THE NEWSEUM OPENS IN DC
Ralph Peters
April 11, 2008
TODAY, the Newseum - a 250,000-square-foot homage to journalism that cost $450 million to build - opens on Pennsylvania Avenue, midway between the White House and the Capitol. What's wrong with this picture? Other than the (symbolic?) fact that the building's an architectural mishmash, it's this: There's no museum in the vicinity of the National Mall dedicated to our military. Tells you a lot about the vanity and priorities of today's governing and informational "elite," doesn't it? Ignore the blood, enshrine the ink. A Pulitzer Prize outranks a Congressional Medal of Honor. I don't really begrudge journalists their we-love-us monument. Massive egos need a massive building (total of 643,000 sq. ft., including a new Wolfgang Puck restaurant). But isn't something fundamentally wrong when there's plenty of donor funding available for a museum glorifying those who cover our wars, but not a cent to tell the stories of those who fight them?
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080411/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/us_hamas_carter
Rice criticizes Carter over Hamas plans
Associated Press
April 11, 2008
WASHINGTON - Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice criticized former President Carter on Friday for his reported plans to meet the exiled leader of the militant Palestinian group Hamas during a visit to Syria. Carter has not confirmed the plans to meet Khaled Mashaal, but Hamas has said the former Democratic president sent an envoy to Damascus requesting a meeting with the militant group's officials. "I find it hard to understand what is going to be gained by having discussions with Hamas about peace when Hamas is, in fact, the impediment to peace," Rice said at a press event with German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier. Rice was responding to a question about Carter's plans but did not mention him by name. "Hamas is a terrorist organization," she said, repeating the Bush administration's explanation for why it will not meet with members of the group. The State Department says it twice advised Carter against meeting any representative of Hamas. A Carter-Mashaal meeting would be the first public contact in two years between a prominent American figure and Hamas officials.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120787343563306609.html?mod=opinion_main_commentaries
Let's 'Surge' Some More
By MICHAEL YON
April 11, 2008
It is said that generals always fight the last war. But when David Petraeus came to town it was senators – on both sides of the aisle – who battled over the Iraq war of 2004-2006. That war has little in common with the war we are fighting today. I may well have spent more time embedded with combat units in Iraq than any other journalist alive. I have seen this war – and our part in it – at its brutal worst. And I say the transformation over the last 14 months is little short of miraculous. The change goes far beyond the statistical decline in casualties or incidents of violence. A young Iraqi translator, wounded in battle and fearing death, asked an American commander to bury his heart in America. Iraqi special forces units took to the streets to track down terrorists who killed American soldiers. The U.S. military is the most respected institution in Iraq, and many Iraqi boys dream of becoming American soldiers. Yes, young Iraqi boys know about "GoArmy.com."
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/middle_east/article3724048.ece
Spy photos reveal 'secret launch site' for Iran's long-range missiles
Michael Evans
April 11, 2008
The secret site where Iran is suspected of developing long-range ballistic missiles capable of reaching targets in Europe has been uncovered by new satellite photographs. The imagery has pinpointed the facility from where the Iranians launched their Kavoshgar 1 “research rocket” on February 4, claiming that it was in connection with their space programme. Analysis of the photographs taken by the Digital Globe QuickBird satellite four days after the launch has revealed a number of intriguing features that indicate to experts that it is the same site where Iran is focusing its efforts on developing a ballistic missile with a range of about 6,000km (4,000 miles). A previously unknown missile location, the site, about 230km southeast of Tehran, and the link with Iran's long-range programme, was revealed by Jane's Intelligence Review after a study of the imagery by a former Iraq weapons inspector.
