Articles of Interest 4-11-2008

208 Days until Election Day

MORNING UPDATE:

Pizza and Politics on the Road was in Oakland County last night helping to recruit precinct delegates.  We had around 70 people in attendance including Sheriff Mike Bouchard, Oakland County Commissioners, Township Officials, and many Oakland GOP grassroots.  We owe a special thanks to Hank Fuhs, Marlene Chockley, and the Oakland GOP for helping make this event a success. 

What is the “Cost of Freedom”…the article below puts it in perspective.

Ultimately, the United States has to secure more domestic sources of power, including nuclear power and domestic oil reserves and exploration.

Michigan is giving out “special” tax break to lure job providers to our state.  Why not change public policy so that these “special” tax breaks become “standard” tax policy in Michigan…bringing everyone here…and keeping every job provider here?

Too Republican of an idea for Governor Granholm and the House Democrats?

A group of Members of Congress who are veterans endorsed John McCain for President.

The highlight of the announcement was a speech by Congressman Sam Johnson from Texas.  Congressman Johnson served as a POW at the Hanoi Hilton with Senator McCain and was held for nearly seven years.

It is an extremely moving speech why America needs John McCain to be her next President.

State Rep. Jack Hoogendyk is in the middle of his petition collection efforts. There are only 5 weeks left…we need your help.  If you would like to help, please sign up at his Website at:

http://www.jackformichigan.org/

http://jackformichigan.org/petitions/

We want to thank each person for the help they have given to Jack's campaign! The race still needs your help – Jack needs 20,000 signatures by May 13 to get his name on the ballot. Please check out instructions on how to download and distribute a petition form here. Thank you!

The University of Michigan-Flint College Republicans along with the Genesee County GOP are hosting a “Meet the Candidates” forum.  People can purchase tickets online by clicking here.

MEA takes on the Education Action Group for exposing their “tactics”…see more below.

THE REST OF THE STORY:

- Economist Larry Kudlow wrote in the National Review:

“The U.S. has spent roughly $750 billion for the five-year war.
Sure, that's a lot of money. But run the numbers and the total cost works
out to a miniscule 1 percent of the $63 trillion GDP over that time period.

Perhaps the anti-war forces should recall the portion of John F. Kennedy's inaugural address, where he called on Americans to pay any price, and bear any burden, in order to preserve freedom, liberty, and democracy. Do these folks actually think 1 percent of GDP is too large a price, too heavy a burden? I sure hope not.

And by the way, despite the current slowdown, during the five years of the
Iraq war the U.S. economy has performed remarkably well. Real GDP has increased by 16 percent, or 3 percent annually. The unemployment rate has hovered below a historically low 5 percent for quite some time. Nearly 10 million jobs have been created. Household net worth has increased by $20 trillion. Industrial production has expanded by 13.5 percent.  Even home prices, despite the current correction, have increased by 20 percent.”

- Nuclear power is the world's largest source of emission-free energy. Nuclear power plants produce no controlled air pollutants, such as sulfur and particulates, or greenhouse gases. The use of nuclear power in place of other energy sources helps to keep the air clean, preserve the Earth's climate, avoid ground-level ozone formation and prevent acid rain.

Nuclear power has important implications for our national security. Inexpensive nuclear power, in combination with fuel cell technology, could significantly reduce our dependency on foreign oil.

Nuclear power plants have experienced an admirable safety record. About 20% of electricity generated in the U.S. comes from nuclear power, and in the last forty years of this production, not one single fatality has occurred as a result of the operation of a civilian nuclear power plant in the United States. In comparison, many people die in coal mining accidents every year and approximately ten thousand Americans die every year from pollution related to coal burning.

For more information go to: http://www.nuclearnow.org/ and http://www.nei.org/

- Education Action Group: It was with a touch of irony we read the recent MEA magazine article on our organization, with the headline on the cover, "Education Action Group exposed."  We knew all along a project in the works for several months was launching today.

Today we announce MEAexposed.com, a clearinghouse of documents to show how and why the MEA suppresses education reform in Michigan.

Two billboards were posted this morning in the Upper Peninsula community of Gladstone directing attention to the issues there and our website.  The union there has employed such over-the-top tactics as picketing in front of board members' businesses, crying during the public comment period at board meetings, and opening a "Crisis
Center"--all to pressure the board into an irresponsible agreement.  The issue really boils down to the district seeking to save over $100,000 by simply changing employee prescription co-pays from $5 to $10.

You can view the 2 billboards here: http://www.meaexposed.org/documents/Gladstonebillboardraise.pdf and here: http://www.meaexposed.org/documents/Gladstonebillboardsalary.pdf

Because the tactics are not unique to Gladstone, our campaign won't stop there either.
We will post similar information in other communities in fights over responsible benefits.

While we're beginning our web ad campaign on RightMichigan.com, we're also earning some attention, too.  The national Center for Union Facts posted an entry about the project on their LaborPains blog: http://laborpains.org/?p=790.

Saul Anuzis

STATE STORIES

http://blog.mlive.com/citpat_opinion/2008/04/shine_a_bright_light_on_state.html

Shine a bright light on state spending

Posted by Jackson Citizen Patriot

April 10, 2008 09:45AM

Categories: Editorial

The following is the Jackson Citizen Patriot's editorial for April 10:

Attorney General Mike Cox used federal Sunshine Week last month to suggest shining some light on state government by putting all state spending online. To have the public in the know — and because this is low-hassle, low-cost thinking — the Legislature should act on this.  It's a good idea for transparency in government, and other states' experiences show it's practical.  Cox is throwing his support behind House Bill 5137. It would require state officials to put contracts, purchases and grants on the Web for all to see. The idea is simple: The Internet site would provide information that people want to know and help them scrutinize how state government spends our dough.  A strong argument for this is that similar efforts are working successfully in other states.

Missouri

,

Texas

and

Kansas

all have made state spending more transparent. In

Missouri

, creating an online site cost $12,000. The federal Office of Management and Budget started www.USAspending.gov in December for less than $1 million.

http://www.macombdaily.com/stories/041108/loc_local03.shtml

Miller, Levin push jobless pay

72,000 in

Michigan

soon to lose benefits

By

Chad

Selweski

Macomb

Daily Staff Writer

Friday, April 11, 2008

Michigan

's struggling jobless workers would see their unemployment benefits extended for 26 weeks under House legislation that has the bipartisan backing of both

Macomb

County

lawmakers, Reps. Sander Levin and Candice Miller.  The congressional bill would pay for 13 weeks of additional benefits in every state and 26 weeks in high-unemployment states like

Michigan

. Across the nation, 1.3 million workers are expected to exhaust their jobless benefits in the first half of this year, 72,000 of those in

Michigan

.

"In the past, extensions of unemployment benefits have come too late. We simply cannot afford to wait any longer while the nation's economic condition worsens and more jobs are lost," said Levin, a Royal Oak Democrat, in a statement.  The last time the president and Congress extended unemployment benefits was in 2002, nearly a year after an economic downturn set in. This time, the number of workers facing long-term unemployment is twice as high as during the last slide in the economy, with almost one in five going without work for six months or more.

http://www.lansingstatejournal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080411/NEWS04/804110340/1005/NEWS04

Plan: Top students to get priority at

Mich.

universities

Public colleges likely to oppose admission change

Tim Martin

Associated Press

April 11, 2008 •

From

Lansing

State

Journal

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 equal chance of acceptance to all state universities for top students from all

Michigan

communities - inner city, rural or suburban.  "With this plan, you achieve a greater geographic, economic and racial diversity," Jones said.  Mike Boulus, leader of the Presidents Council representing

Michigan

's public universities, said the plan will draw opposition from universities. A primary concern is that the top 10 percent of some

Michigan

high schools is not academically equal to the top 10 percent of others.

http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080410/NEWS01/80410056

Mayor's lawyer confirms secret pact

By Jim Schaefer and Zachary Gorchow

Free Press Staff Writers

April 10, 2008

Samuel McCargo, Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick's private but city-paid lawyer, confirmed today in testimony before City Council that he wanted a confidential agreement in a legal settlement to avoid a Free Press public records request that would have exposed the mayor's embarrassing text messages.

“I believe my client had the right to have his personal privacy ... protected," McCargo testified. "I told him that that is what I was trying to do."  McCargo was referring to negotiations he had with another lawyer, Mike Stefani, who represented three former police officers who had sued Kilpatrick and the city under the Whistleblower Protection Act. McCargo and Stefani were hammering out details of an $8.4 million setlement of those suits last fall when McCargo brought up that the newspaper might discover the deal in a Freedom of Information Act request.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/M/MI_DETROIT_MAYOR_COUNCIL_MIOL-?SITE=MIPON&SECTION=STATE&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2008-04-10-19-00-38

Detroit

City

Council text-message scandal hearings to end Friday

By COREY WILLIAMS

Associated Press Writer

Apr 10, 7:00 PM EDT

DETROIT (AP) -- Hundreds of questions during two days of testimony are giving Detroit City Council members more insight into dealings behind an $8.4 million whistle-blowers' settlement and how sexually explicit text messages were hidden from them.  But the key to unlocking the whole story could be Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick who has declined to appear at the rare hearings.  "The one who needs to be here is the mayor - and the corporate counsel," Councilwoman Barbara Rose-Collins said during a moment of empathy in the testimony of one of the top city lawyers.  Chief assistant corporation counsel Valerie Colbert-Osamuede testified for nearly three hours about her role in the settlement of two separate whistle-blowers' suits and a confidential agreement that kept word of sexually explicit text messages from the council when they approved the deal last fall.

http://www.lansingstatejournal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080411/NEWS01/804110337/1001/NEWS

City knew of some texting, lawyer says

Council learning more about mayor's 'harmful messages'

Corey Williams

Associated Press

April 11, 2008

From

Lansing

State

Journal

DETROIT

- A top lawyer in the city's legal department said her office knew of the existence of potentially embarrassing text messages that may have been critical of - and unflattering to -

Detroit

business leaders and members of the City Council. But chief assistant corporation counsel Valerie Colbert-Osamuede told the council on Thursday that she was unaware of messages linking Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick to a romantic relationship with his former chief of staff.  "It was my understanding there could be very harmful messages that could certainly harm the relationship between the executive and legislative branches, and entities outside the city of

Detroit

that had interest in the city," she said.  Colbert-Osamuede's testimony followed that of

Detroit

attorney Sam McCargo during the second day of council hearings into an $8.4 million whistle-blowers' deal signed by Kilpatrick.  McCargo did not reveal to her the contents of text message excerpts included in a proposed motion for attorneys fees by Michael Stefani, who represented three former police officers in two separate whistle-blowers' suits, Colbert-Osamuede said.

http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080411/METRO/804110402

City attorney: Texts 'explosive'

Messages called potentially 'embarrassing' to council, business leaders

David Josar and Christine MacDonald / The

Detroit

News

Friday, April 11, 2008

DETROIT

-- City lawyers were told for years that text messages exchanged between Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick and his former chief of staff contained "embarrassing" and "explosive" comments that would affect

Detroit

's ability to do business, chief assistant corporation counsel Valerie Colbert-Osamuede told the City Council on Thursday.   "My understanding was there could be very harmful messages," said Colbert-Osamuede, who was also the first attorney to express regrets for not disclosing to the council the existence of the text messages. She said two of her bosses told her the text messages contained "embarrassing" comments about local leaders, City Council members and other area business people. Sam McCargo, the attorney the city hired to defend Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, testified he, too, had been misled about the texts, and once he saw purported excerpts that were "of a sexual nature," he no longer could represent the mayor in opposing their release.   "I concluded I would have to withdraw from representing my client because my ability to effectively represent him had been compromised," he said. "I lost my credibility."

http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080411/NEWS01/804110367/1003

Long arm of mayoral staff reaches

Fla.

TV station

News clip deemed unfair; director is stunned to get call

BY JOE SWICKARD

FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER

April 11, 2008

Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick's spin team is ever vigilant.  Mention Kilpatrick on a 5:30 a.m. newscast in the

Ft.

Myers

,

Fla.

, area, and his press secretary will be on the phone if she thinks the mayor didn't get a fair shake.  Forrest Carr, WFTX Fox 4 news director, said he was puzzled that

Detroit

city hall was concerned about a broadcast in "little ol' Cape Coral,

Fla.

"  "It was just incredible, but incredible doesn't really describe it," Carr said Thursday. "We have never had an out-of-town local politician call us about a 20-second clip and voice-over in a national news roundup."  On Wednesday, Carr received a voice mail from mayoral spokeswoman Denise Tolliver.  She was calling to complain that his station's coverage early Tuesday was unbalanced because it showed a clip from a

Detroit

community activist group attempting to serve a symbolic eviction notice on the mayor, but had failed to mention a pro-Kilpatrick rally at the Shrine of the Black Madonna.

http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080411/NEWS01/804110322/1003

DAY 2 OF COUNCIL HEARINGS

Lawyer for city: We should've told you

Another says romantic parts of text messages shocked him

BY JIM SCHAEFER and ZACHARY GORCHOW

FREE PRESS STAFF WRITERS

April 11, 2008

City Council members hammered away at

Detroit

staff lawyer Valerie Colbert-Osamuede for nearly three hours Thursday.  By day's end, the veteran lawyer admitted to "lessons learned" and "regrets" -- making her the first person who works for Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick to speak in those terms about the deal that led to the ongoing text message scandal.  The revelation came on the same day that a lawyer for Kilpatrick talked for the first time about being blindsided to learn of the romantic exchanges in the mayor's text messages.  Councilwoman Sheila Cockrel asked Colbert-Osamuede why she never told the council that the text messages, if they became public, would pose a serious danger to the city.  "No doubt that that's probably something that should have been done," said Colbert-Osamuede, one of several attorneys facing questions about their roles in an $8.4-million police whistle-blower settlement.  By the time the questions ended, the embattled lawyer no longer drew the ire of council members, but sympathy.  "The one who needs to be here is the mayor" and the city's top lawyer, Councilwoman Barbara-Rose Collins proclaimed from a dais above the bespectacled Law Department attorney. "My heart feels for her. And I think we ought to leave her alone and go after the big fish."

http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080410/NEWS15/804100351

CITY'S TURNOUT IS KEY

Kilpatrick case could hurt Democrats

BY TODD SPANGLER

FREE PRESS

WASHINGTON

STAFF

April 10, 2008

As if this election season hasn't been challenging enough for Michigan Democrats, Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick's legal issues present a new twist: Will he be able to get out the vote in November?  And if not, who will?  With one of the most reliably Democratic cities in the nation at stake, it's more than an academic question, say pollsters, pundits and political experts.  In a close election, the number of registered voters who actually vote could make the difference between a narrow win or a close loss for Democrats who can't afford to lose a state that has backed Democratic presidential candidates in the last four elections.  Consider that without the

Detroit

vote in 2004, Democrat John Kerry would have lost

Michigan

to President George W. Bush by about 120,000 votes, instead of winning 51% to 48%.

http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080411/NEWS05/804110422/1003/NEWS01

Obama's fiery ex-pastor to give

Detroit

a chance to hear his views

BY SUZETTE HACKNEY

FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER

April 11, 2008

The Rev. Jeremiah Wright has virtually disappeared from the spotlight since becoming embroiled in controversy for remarks he made in sermons, but he is expected to resurface in

Detroit

later this month -- and he'll be ready to talk.  Wright, former minister and spiritual mentor for Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama, will be the keynote speaker at the Detroit Branch NAACP's 53rd annual Fight for Freedom Fund Dinner on April 27. He came under fire last month after TV networks showed portions of sermons in which he used biting words while preaching about race relations, the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and black separatism.  Video clips of some of Wright's more than 4,000 sermons were played repeatedly on cable news programs and volleyed around the Internet. In February, the 66-year-old minister retired as pastor of Trinity United Church of Christ, a 10,000-member megachurch in

Chicago

.  "When you take the t-e-x-t out of context, you're left with c-o-n, and we have been conned," Detroit Branch NAACP President Wendell Anthony said as he announced the dinner's keynote speaker Thursday at a news conference.

NATIONAL STORIES

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0408/9532.html

McCain unexpectedly moves on housing

By JONATHAN MARTIN

4/10/08 7:48 PM EST 

After saying last month that he was “prepared to examine new proposals” for addressing the mortgage crisis, John McCain instead came out on Thursday and unveiled a new plan of his own.   With yet another monthly government report showing more job losses — and some economists describing the country as already in recession — McCain’s stepped-up response reflects the political peril of not doing enough to respond to homeowners.  So in a speech at a window contacting business in

Brooklyn

, the presumptive GOP nominee rolled out a plan to aid those who have lost their homes or are in danger of foreclosure.  McCain’s proposal, which he called the “HOME Program,” would let some homeowners replace their mortgage for one that is more in line with the depressed value of their home. He said the plan, to be guaranteed by the Federal Housing Administration, would be limited to those defaulting on only a primary residence and to those who could afford a new mortgage.

http://www.theweeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/014/966wnclh.asp

"My Answer Is No"

A conversation with President Bush.

by William Kristol

04/10/2008 6:30:00 AM

I SPENT ABOUT 40 minutes with President Bush in the Oval Office late yesterday afternoon, in a meeting whose purpose was to allow the president to preview the

Iraq

speech he's giving today.  We ended up spending more than half the time on other matters. The president recounted some of the behind-the-scenes negotiations at the recent NATO summit. He discussed his phone conversation yesterday with Iraqi prime minister Nuri al-Maliki, a previous conversation with Chinese president Hu Jintao about the Olympics, and earlier conversations with Arab leaders about

Iran

. As we were breaking up, the president also offered a few thoughts on the presidential race. The president was forthcoming---and impressive--in discussing these sensitive topics. Unfortunately, he--sometimes prodded by his attentive press secretary, Dana Perino--put these parts of the session off the record.  So you'll have to take my word for it: The president is an interesting man with whom to have an off-the-record conversation about foreign affairs and American politics.  Meanwhile, on the record, the president discussed

Iraq

. Here too, he was interesting and impressive--though there were, as you'd expect, no great surprises.

http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080411/NEWS07/804110352/1009

Halt to troop pullout seals course on

Iraq

Bush's successor to face complex choices

BY ROBERT BURNS

ASSOCIATED PRESS

April 11, 2008

WASHINGTON

-- President George W. Bush ordered on Thursday an indefinite halt to

U.S.

troop withdrawals from

Iraq

after July. He also said his top war commander, Gen. David Petraeus, will "have all the time he needs" to consider when more could return home.  In addition, Bush said the length of combat tours for Army units deployed after Aug. 1 would be cut from 15 months to 12.  The announcement seals the U.S. war strategy into a holding pattern through January, when it will be out with the old and in with the new -- a new commander in chief who will set his or her own course in Iraq. Bush's defense secretary, Robert Gates, even carries a digital clock showing the hours, minutes and seconds until the new chief takes over.  Whoever that turns out to be -- war foes Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton or supporter John McCain -- the next administration will face the same

Iraq

complexities. But not necessarily the same situation or choices.

http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=OTkyYTQzZjYzMjViYmU5ZTMwYzZiMWVhMWQ4YTE3YWI=

The Perfect Defeat?

Wishing for 1976.

By John J. Pitney Jr.

Representative Tom Cole (R., Okla.), chair of the National Republican Congressional Committee, made a revealing but little-noticed comment to the New York Times. He said of the presidential race: “I don’t need the nominee to win; I just need him to be competitive enough that we can win behind him in the places that should be ours. I need him to be Gerald Ford.”  Conservative readers may have blanched at that name. But Cole was not talking about Ford’s policies. He was referring to the 1976 election. In the aftermath of their huge losses in the 1974 midterm, Republicans feared for their party’s survival. And early in the 1976 campaign, they appeared to be dinosaurs looking at an incoming asteroid. Ford was heading for a wipe-out that would doom dozens of GOP lawmakers. Yet by Election Day, he had pulled almost even with Carter, enabling House and Senate Republicans to hold their own.  It was the perfect defeat. Its narrowness kept the party from going deeper into the hole, and its aftermath was GOP resurgence.  The out-party had gained seats in every midterm for decades, and the 1978 election followed the pattern. That year’s freshmen not only bolstered the GOP’s ranks but included such extraordinary figures as Newt Gingrich and Dick Cheney. Their activism opened the way for greater gains in 1980 and the Reagan Revolution that followed.

http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=25963

Politicians Demand Petraeus and Crocker Make Impossible Predictions

by Oliver North

Posted: 04/11/2008

Five years ago this week, American soldiers and Marines liberated

Baghdad

from Saddam Hussein’s Republican Guards and the foreign “fedayeen” who had flooded into the despot’s capital. For those of us who were there, it was an unforgettable event. But, as Ambassador Ryan Crocker so cogently noted this week while he and General David Petraeus were testifying before Congress, “the euphoria of that moment evaporated long ago.” The assembled lawmakers, perched on their raised daises, barely noted the anniversary -- while subjecting the warrior and the diplomat to a sixteen-hour-long spectacle. For the General and the Ambassador, it had to be an excruciating exercise in patience and bladder control.   The “hearings” -- two in the Senate and two more in the House -- were all carefully choreographed to give maximum exposure to the potentates on the

Potomac

. The masters of the mainstream media were all gathered. Professional protesters were present. The solons, all carefully prepared by their staffs, made their little speeches, and then shamelessly angled for the best “gotcha” question to win the sound-bite sweepstakes -- and the “honor” of being replayed repeatedly on the news and entertainment channels. Like so many of these “hearings” it was a bit like Ringling Brothers’ “Greatest Show on Earth” -- without a ringmaster. I know -- as they say -- I’ve “been there, done that.” 

http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=25965

What the Petraeus Testimony Means

by Armstrong Williams

Posted: 04/11/2008

This columnist has concluded that it is truly justifiable to debate whether we Americans are fighting a war in

Iraq

that is necessary to preserve our way of life and sustain other democracy-loving nations around the world.  Truly it is not unpatriotic to agonize over the present and future ramifications of our presence in

Iraq

.  We can just measure the impact of this war through the lenses of lost lives. One must consider that many of our soldiers have been disabled for life; many will have psychological and emotional challenges; families are grieving and finding it difficult in many instances to find meaning in their loved ones’ ultimate sacrifice for country.  Recently I spoke with a Navy Seal who returned from

Iraq

with a bronze star and a purple heart.  It was clear from our frank discussion that he and his fellow warriors have made many sacrifices for our nation.  This country continues to call upon our soldiers to make even more sacrifices.  This past week, General Petraeus has come to tell the congress -- the elected representatives of the American people -- the reason for all of that sacrifice.  This country needs to know that all of our blood and treasure is being spent on a worthy endeavor.  At the end of the day, Americans must know if we've taken a moral and just course of action.  They also need to know why this country and the world are far safer and secure as a result of this moral and just course.

http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=25968

Rep. Jeb Hensarling Won't 'Throw in the Towel' for Republicans

by Ericka Andersen

Posted: 04/11/2008

Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R-Tex.) understands that ending wasteful spending -- typified in Congressional earmarks -- and lowering taxes two of the keys to bringing to a quick close to what may be an economic recession. And he doesn’t comprehend why others don’t.   The Chairman of the Republican Study Committee and former Chairman of the RSC Budget and Spending Taskforce sees government intervention in market forces as the demise of economic prosperity. At a breakfast meeting yesterday morning sponsored by The American Spectator, Hensarling said with Democrats in control of Congress, free market conservatives have to “play defense” on most issues, “measuring success in smaller increments.”   Hensarling is leading the latest initiative for a total earmark moratorium though even fellow Republicans are reluctant to sign on. But he is satisfied that presumptive Republican presidential nominee John McCain supports transparency and eliminating earmarks. McCain has said he will veto any bill with earmarks attached.

http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=25967

Petraeus’s Policy Quandary

by Jed Babbin

Posted: 04/11/2008

We are not self-employed,” said Gen. David Petraeus in response to a question of how he would advise the next president on

Iraq

.  In hearings last Tuesday and Wednesday, Gen. Petraeus and Amb. Ryan Crocker reported again to four congressional committees on the situation in

Iraq

.    Petraeus, answering that question from House Armed Services Committee Member Ellen Tauscher (D-Calif.) in Wednesday’s hearing, came as close to striking back at congressional buffoonery as he ever has.  His point -- that the military doesn’t set policy, civilians do -- reveals the core of the political battle these hearings have become.  The Democrats have chosen to not debate the merits of the counterinsurgency Gen. Petraeus is leading brilliantly.  They are single-issue debaters, speaking only of how to end the war, how quickly to withdraw and how much more the

Iraq

conflict will cost -- in dollars, not lives -- before we can. Their quarrel is with President Bush, not with the two gentlemen who are responsible for implementing his policy in

Iraq

.  By quibbling with Petraeus and Crocker about “what comes next” the Democrats avoid speaking responsibly about what they would do about a war that will not be over even if -- by some Obamamanic prestidigitation -- every American soldier was out of

Iraq

before January 21, 2009.

http://www.economist.com/opinion/displaystory.cfm?story_id=11016333

The great American slowdown

Apr 10th 2008

From The Economist print edition

The recession may not be as severe as many fear, but the recovery could take longer—and that is dangerous.  AMERICANS are unaccustomed to recessions, particularly ones that involve shopping less. During the past quarter-century, the world's most powerful economy has suffered only two official downturns, in 1990-91 and 2001. Both were short and shallow. In 2001 consumer spending barely skipped a beat; a decade earlier it fell, but only briefly. Buoyed by rising asset prices and financial innovations that allowed ever more people to tap ever more debt, the collective American wallet has not snapped shut in almost two decades.   That may be about to change. Evidence is mounting that the economy has slipped into recession—and this time consumer weakness is to the fore (see article). The doughty American shopper is being pummelled by four things: the housing bust, the credit crunch, higher fuel and food costs and, most recently, a weakening labour market. The unemployment rate rose to 5.1% in March, while the private sector lost jobs for the fourth month in a row. Feeling poorer and with fewer people prepared to lend them money, consumers are cutting back: witness the slump in car sales. And seeing that consumer spending accounts for 70% of American demand, that hurts, especially when it is coupled with a collapse in the once mighty construction industry. The IMF now officially predicts an American recession in 2008; many at the Federal Reserve think output is contracting.

http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=25964

Oil Drilling

America

by Deroy Murdock

Posted: 04/11/2008

How much more pain must Americans endure before our masters in

Washington

let oil companies punch a few holes in the Alaskan tundra? Must we shiver pennilessly in the dark before we may extract new domestic petroleum deposits? Or shall we simply keep buying $111 barrels of oil from people who want us dead?  In case Congress missed the news, three

U.S.

airlines went broke last week. Aloha, ATA, and Skybus blamed unaffordable fuel as they grounded their jets. Aloha said sayonara to 1,900 employees, NBC News reports. ATA’s demise destroyed 2,200 jobs, while Skybus sacked 450 workers, atop the 80,000 positions lost across the economy as unemployment spiked from 4.8 percent in February to 5.1 in March.  Losing these airlines likely will boost plane-ticket prices, which already have climbed alongside fuel bills. Since April 4, 2007, a gallon of jet fuel has risen 62 percent to $3.22. The International Air Transport Association calculates that jet fuel will cost airlines worldwide an extra $56 billion in 2008 versus 2007. Having ditched complimentary meals, movies, and even pillows on many flights, there is little left for embattled carriers to curtail, as their chief expense goes sky high. What’s next? Bring your own seat belt?

http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=25971

Congressional Democrats: The Other Insurgents

by Michael Reagan

Posted: 04/11/2008

There must have been times when Gen. David Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker thought they were back in embattled

Sadr

City

when they faced Democrats on Capitol Hill this week -- no Iraqi insurgents or al Sadr militiamen could have been more hostile.  No wonder. The goals of the Democrats and both al Qaeda and al Sadr insurgents are the same: the defeat of the

United States

in the war in

Iraq

.   From the opening statement by Sen. Carl Levin -- a vitriolic tirade against the war -- to the less vehement but equally unfriendly statements by the

Clinton

woman and her rival for their party’s presidential nomination, Sen. Barack Obama, the Democrats made no secret of their burning desire to see the

United States

humiliated by a defeat in

Iraq

.

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=080411073351.6fvmz2xr&show_article=1&catnum=3

Democrats shun free trade deals in bid for blue-collar votes 

Apr 11 03:34 AM US/Eastern

As they battle for blue-collar votes in

Pennsylvania

, Democrats Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama are jostling to prove who is toughest on free trade deals that unions blame for thousands of lost jobs.   The Democratic-led House of Representatives delayed a vote on a new free trade agreement with

Colombia

Thursday, putting the issue on the back burner probably until after November's general election.   Among the presidential hopefuls, only Republican John McCain backed the

Colombia

deal. Clinton and Obama, who face off April 22 in a primary in

Pennsylvania

-- a state with strong trade union traditions -- are strongly opposed.   But

Clinton

was forced on the defensive this week after a row involving her top strategist, Mark Penn. He quit Sunday after it emerged that, in his capacity as a lobbyist, he met with Colombian diplomats who backed a trade deal with the

United States

.   The

New York

senator is already vulnerable on the issue as her husband, former president Bill Clinton, supports the

Colombia

deal.

But campaign spokesman Jay Carsons said: "Like other married couples who disagree on issues from time to time, she disagrees with her husband on this issue."   Speaking Tuesday at a

Washington

meeting of the Communication Workers of America union,

Clinton

insisted her position was clear.

http://thehill.com/byron-york/obama-and-the-race-factor-2008-04-09.html

Obama and the race factor 

By Byron York 

Posted: 04/09/08 04:44 PM [ET] 

Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) got glowing reviews when he addressed the issue of race last month in

Philadelphia

.  But there are aspects of the race issue in this campaign that still make people nervous.  Recently I called a number of political strategists of both parties, as well as unaffiliated experts, to ask whether Democrats have been voting along racial lines in this year's primary season.  After all, 92 percent of black Democrats in

Mississippi

voted for Obama, while 91 percent of black Democrats in

Wisconsin

did the same. And 70 percent of white Democrats in

Mississippi

voted for Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.), as did 64 percent of white Democrats in

Ohio

.  That seemed kind of, well, racial. But when I asked the question, people tended to demur.  "It's more class versus race," a Democratic strategist told me.  "No, it's not racial," a Republican consultant told me. "Most people are still looking for someone who they can identify with, someone who shows an understanding of their lives. I think calling it racial would be a gross oversimplification."

http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=MzQyNGM5YWZkYzNiM2UxNjBhZWIyNjc3MjY5OTJkN2E=

Talking Cure

Obama’s flawed thinking.

By Michael Ledeen

Senator Barack Obama wants to talk to our Middle Eastern enemies, notably

Iran

. He can’t imagine a happy resolution of the war without such talks. And he seems to think this desire is something new, maybe even revolutionary.  He apparently does not know that it is not at all new, and certainly not revolutionary. It is instead the fully tested “policy” of the

United States

for the past thirty years, ever since the seizure of power by the mullahs in 1979. We have had high-level and low-level talks, public and private talks, talks conducted by diplomats, by spooks, and by a colorful array of intermediaries ranging from former Spanish President Felipe Gonzales to nephews of Rafsanjani, Iranian-American businessmen, former NSC and CIA members, and others with more dubious qualifications.  All failed. As Ken Pollack recounts in his book, The Persian Puzzle, every carrot was offered and every stick was brandished. We tried everything. The Iranians were not interested. It reminds me of that great scene from Goldfinger, with James Bond spread-eagled on a sheet of gold, and a laser beam slicing through it, headed for his private parts.

http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=25946

Obama's VP Picks

by Jennifer Rubin

Posted: 04/11/2008

Setting off speculation about his possible VP pick, Barack Obama may have unnerved his MSM cheerleaders. They’d already been dismayed to find that the Chosen One a mite “self righteous” as one Washington Post columnist described him and “arrogant” as a Slate blogger mused. (What was their first clue? I mean aside from the cult-like music videos, Obama girl and his wife’s insistence that he is the only source of pride in

America

in the last generation?)  Last weekend Obama piped up with this when asked about his VP pick:  “I would like somebody who knows about a bunch of stuff that I'm not as expert on. I think a lot of people assume that might be some kind of military thing to make me look more commander-in-chief-like. Ironically, this is an area -- foreign policy -- is the area where I am probably most confident that I know more and understand the world better than Sen. Clinton or Senator McCain.”  People, like, might get the idea, you know, that you have not been around the military, you know, um.

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0408/9531.html

Taxpayers fund Bill Clinton spending

By KENNETH P. VOGEL

4/10/08 6:32 PM EST 

The

Clintons

have made a $100-million fortune since leaving the White House, but a Politico analysis found that hasn’t kept Bill Clinton from taking full advantage of the publicly funded perks offered to ex-presidents.   In fact, his presidential retirement benefits cost taxpayers almost as much as those of the other two living ex-presidents combined.   The price tag for

Clinton

’s federal retirement allowance from 2001 through the end of this year will run $8 million, compared to $5.5 million for George H. W. Bush’s and $4 million for Jimmy Carter’s during the same period.   Since 2001,

Clinton

has received more of almost every benefit available to former presidents — from his pension to his staff’s salaries and benefits to supplies. His $420,000 phone bill and $3.2 million office rent tab both nearly surpassed the totals rung up for those purposes by Bush, Carter and the late former presidents Gerald Ford and Ronald Reagan combined. As a group, they spent $484,000 on telephone service and $3.8 million on rent in the same span.

http://weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/014/962sandw.asp

The 'Real' al Qaeda

Dems talk

Afghanistan

, but do nothing.

by Frederick W. Kagan

04/09/2008 12:00:00 AM

ONE THEME THAT emerged clearly at the Senate hearings with General David Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker was the need to abandon

Iraq

in order to deal with the real center of the war on terror in

South Asia

. A series of questioners put on the airs of grand strategic sophisticates to remind Petraeus that whereas his brief includes only Iraq, theirs covers the entire world--and from their viewpoint, the fight that matters is not the one that Petraeus and Crocker and their subordinates are winning in Iraq, but the one in the "Afghan-Pakistan border region," as it was so often called. Petraeus and Crocker pointed out repeatedly and accurately that al Qaeda's leaders themselves continually refer to

Iraq

as the central front in their war against us, but to no avail. The real fight, they were told each time, is in the Afghan-Pakistan border region against the real al Qaeda that the Intelligence Community says has only grown stronger. And, the general and the ambassador were lectured, keeping too many troops in

Iraq

was preventing the

United States

from prevailing in this more important fight. Let's consider this thesis in a little more detail.

http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=ZGE0NjI3YjBlZDVkNTZiYWRmZDY0ZjA5OWRlYzRlODY

A Hundred Years of War?

There is a worse scenario.

By Clifford D. May

A growing number of Democrats have falsely accused Sen. John McCain of “promising” 100 years of war in

Iraq

. In fact, McCain’s point was that the presence of American forces promotes stability. That’s been the case in Europe and

Asia

, where Americans have been stationed for more than half a century. It’s been true in the Balkans since the 1990s, when President Clinton sent troops there.

America

’s military plays a beneficial role when it eliminates

America

’s enemies; it does so also when it stays on to prevent those enemies from reemerging.  But there is a hard truth that McCain did not state: A hundred years from now, Americans might still be fighting militant Islamists in

Iraq

and other places. What could be worse than that? A hundred years from now,

America

and the West could have been defeated by militant Islamists.  

Al-Qaeda

,

Iran

’s ruling mullahs, Hezbollah, and others militant jihadis have told us what they are fighting for. The well-known Islamist, Hassan al-Banna, described the movement’s goals succinctly: “to dominate . . . to impose its laws on all nations and to extend its power to the entire planet.” He said that in 1928. Who would have believed then that his heirs would acquire the wealth, power, and lethality they enjoy today? Who can say where they may be 100 years from now? Who can say where the West will be? Survival is not an entitlement. Freedom must be earned by every generation.

http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=YTUzOWUzODY3ZTc2YWU2NDY3MmExZjY5ZTRjZmRiMzA=

Petraeus Patience

By the Editors

If Gen. David Petraeus wasn’t denounced as a traitor upon his arrival on Capitol Hill Tuesday, his testimony was the occasion for the same dreary willful obtuseness on the part of congressional Democrats as in September.  Petraeus and Amb. Ryan Crocker again were cautious and understated, perhaps to a fault. Without over-promising, they explained how we have built on the tentative security gains that Democrats were so skeptical of six months ago, and that there has begun to be political movement. The progress we have won is “fragile and reversible” as they repeatedly said, dependent — among other things — on maintaining sufficient U.S. forces in Iraq.  It’s the last part that Democrats especially don’t want to hear, as they lurch between arguing that the Iraqis will be better able to sort things out without us and that we are in the middle of an unstoppable civil war. Tuesday, they focused on recent events in

Basra

as evidence of the incompetence of the Iraqi government and complained the Iraqis aren’t shouldering more of the financial burden of the war and reconstruction.

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2008/04/deterrence_to_defend_israel.html

The Holocaust Declaration

By Charles Krauthammer

April 11, 2008

WASHINGTON

-- On Tuesday,

Iran

announced it was installing 6,000 more centrifuges -- they produce enriched uranium, the key ingredient of a nuclear weapon -- in addition to the 3,000 already operating. The world yawned.  It is time to admit the truth: The Bush administration's attempt to halt

Iran

's nuclear program has failed. Utterly. The latest round of U.N. Security Council sanctions, which took a year to achieve, is comically weak. It represents the end of the sanctions road.  The president is going to hand over to his successor an

Iran

on the verge of going nuclear. This will deeply destabilize the Middle East, threaten the moderate Arabs with Iranian hegemony and leave

Israel

on hair-trigger alert.This failure can, however, be mitigated. Since there will apparently be no disarming of Iran by pre-emption or by sanctions, we shall have to rely on deterrence to prevent the mullahs, some of whom are apocalyptic and messianic, from using nuclear weapons.