Articles of Interest 11-19-08
713 Days Until Election Day
November 19, 2008
MORNING UPDATE:
MCCAIN TO RUN IN 2010...Arizona papers have announced that John McCain plans on running for re-election to the U.S. Senate in 2010!
ALASKA...SENATOR TED STEVENS...AP reports Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens has lost his bid for a seventh term. The longest-serving Republican in the history of the Senate trailed Anchorage Mayor Mark Begich by 3,724 votes after Tuesday's count. That's an insurmountable lead with only about 2,500 overseas ballots left to be counted.
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TODAY'S TOP STORIES
The following stories and more are available at my Articles of Interest online.
Paulson Warns TARP Isn't `Panacea' for Economy Ills
By Rebecca Christie and John Brinsley
Nov. 18 (Bloomberg) -- Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson rejected using the government's financial-rescue program as a ``panacea'' for economic difficulties, clashing with lawmakers who want the funds to help beleaguered homeowners and automakers. ``The rescue package was not intended to be an economic stimulus or an economic recovery package,'' Paulson said in testimony to the House Financial Services Committee in Washington. The $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program was designed to stabilize financial markets and the flow of credit and ``is not a panacea for all our economic difficulties.''
Barney Frank, who heads the House panel, took issue with Paulson, urging the Bush administration to step up efforts to stem record foreclosures. Democrats are also pursuing legislation to deploy part of TARP to prevent General Motors Corp., Ford Motor Co. and Chrysler LLC from collapsing due to lack of cash. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke told lawmakers at the hearing that using the TARP for buying stakes in banks is ``critical for restoring confidence and promoting the return of credit markets to more normal functioning.'' He warned that lending in the U.S. is ``still far from normal.''
Big 3 carmakers beg for $25B, warn of catastrophe
Nov 18, 6:56 PM (ET)
By JULIE HIRSCHFELD DAVIS
WASHINGTON (AP) - Detroit's Big Three automakers pleaded with a reluctant Congress Tuesday for a $25 billion lifeline to save the once-proud titans of U.S. industry, pointedly warning of a national economic catastrophe should they collapse. Millions of layoffs would follow their demise, they said, as damaging effects rippled across an already-faltering economy.
But the new rescue plan appeared stalled on Capitol Hill, opposed by the Bush administration and Republicans in Congress who don't want to dip into the Treasury Department's $700 billion financial bailout program to come up with the $25 billion in loans.
"Our industry ... needs a bridge to span the financial chasm that has opened up before us," General Motors Corp. (GM) CEO Rick Wagoner told the Senate Banking Committee. He blamed the industry's predicament not on management failures but on the deepening global financial crisis.
Bailout or bankruptcy, Big 3 need union concessions
Martin Feldstein
The Big Three U.S. automakers need more than an injection of $25 billion from the federal government. Because of their ongoing losses, they would burn through that money in less than a year and would soon be back for more. General Motors, Ford and Chrysler can make excellent cars, but they cannot sell them at prices that are competitive with the prices of cars produced in the United States by Toyota and others or with the prices of cars imported from Europe and Asia. The basic reason is the labor costs imposed by union contracts.
The Big Three pay much higher wages than production workers are paid in the nonunion auto firms and in the general economy. And the health-care costs of current workers and retired union members are an enormous additional burden. The simplest solution is to allow GM and the others to file for bankruptcy. If the companies file under Chapter 11, they would be able to continue producing cars, and the workforce would remain employed while the firms reorganized. The firms would also be able to get short-term credit under bankruptcy protection.
Dingell gets boost ahead of key vote
Dearborn congressman's showdown for powerful panel post starts today.
Deb Price / Detroit News Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON -- A high-stakes battle gets under way today over whether Rep. John Dingell, a longtime ally of the Big Three domestic automakers, stays on as chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee. Dingell headed into what many observers expect will turn into a two-day showdown with a growing list of powerful supporters that allies had hoped might scare off challenger Henry Waxman, a California environmentalist. But Waxman hasn't backed down -- and says he can win.
The final stretch of the contest begins at 11:30 today, when 46 members of the Democratic Steering and Policy Committee gather to secretly vote on who should chair the top House committees, including Energy and Commerce. Waxman only has to get 14 votes for his name to be put up for nomination, along with Dingell's, for Energy chairman at the Thursday meeting of all the Democrats who will serve in the 111th House. But even if Waxman doesn't reach that minimal threshold, he would only need a petition signed by 50 House Democrats to get his name into contention on Thursday.
Michael Isikoff
President-elect Obama has decided to tap Eric Holder as his attorney general, putting the veteran Washington lawyer in place to become the first African-American to head the Justice Department, according to two legal sources close to the presidential transition.
Holder, who served as deputy attorney general during the Clinton administration, still has to undergo a formal "vetting" review by the Obama transition team before the selection is final and is publicly announced, said one of the sources, who asked not to be identified talking about the transition process. But in the discussions over the past few days, Obama offered Holder the job and he accepted, the source said. The announcement is not likely until after Obama announces his choices to lead the Treasury and State departments.
Holder, 57, has been on Obama's "short list" for attorney general from the outset. A partner at the D.C. law firm of Covington & Burling, Holder served as co-chief (along with Caroline Kennedy) of Obama's vice-presidential selection process. He also actively campaigned for Obama throughout the year and grew personally close to the president-elect. Holder has not returned a call seeking comment; a spokeswoman for the Obama transition team told Newsweek in an e-mail early Tuesday afternoon that no decision has been made.
Obama in talks with Gates on Pentagon role
By Demetri Sevastopulo in Washington
November 18 2008
President-elect Barack Obama and Robert Gates are negotiating terms under which the defence secretary would remain as Pentagon chief in his administration, the Financial Times has learned. Mr Obama, through an intermediary, has approached Mr Gates, who has served as defence secretary under President George W. Bush since 2006, about accepting the position, which would place a respected Republican appointee in his cabinet.
According to a source familiar with the situation, Mr Gates is seriously weighing the option. The two men are ironing out policy and personnel issues before a final offer could be made. Mr Gates, the former head of the Central Intelligence Agency, has won bipartisan acclaim for his handling of the Pentagon since replacing Donald Rumsfeld in 2006. Democrats had speculated that Mr Obama might choose Mr Gates to assemble a "team of rivals", mirroring the approach of Abraham Lincoln who appointed former rivals to his cabinet in 1861.
US Admiral 'stunned' by pirates' reach
The top US military officer said Monday he was "stunned" by the reach of the Somali pirates who seized a Saudi supertanker off the east coast of Africa, calling piracy a growing problem that needs to be addressed. But Admiral Michael Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said there were limits to what the world's navies could do once a ship has been captured because national governments often preferred to pay pirates ransom.
"I'm stunned by the range of it, less so than I am the size," Mullen said of the seizure of the Sirius Star Sunday by armed men. The huge, oil laden prize, which is three times the size of a US aircraft carrier, was some 450 miles east of Kenya when it was boarded, he said. That is the farthest out at sea that a ship has been seized in the latest surge of piracies, according to Mullen.
Last-minute Bush abortion ruling causes furor
By Robert Pear
November 18, 2008
WASHINGTON: A last-minute Bush administration plan to grant sweeping new protections to health care providers who oppose abortion and other procedures on religious or moral grounds has provoked a torrent of objections, including a strenuous protest from the government agency that enforces job-discrimination laws. The proposed rule would prohibit recipients of federal money from discriminating against doctors, nurses and other health care workers who refuse to perform or to assist in the performance of abortions or sterilization procedures because of their "religious beliefs or moral convictions."
It would also prevent hospitals, clinics, doctors' offices and drugstores from requiring employees with religious or moral objections to "assist in the performance of any part of a health service program or research activity" financed by the Department of Health and Human Services. But three officials from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, including its legal counsel, whom President George W. Bush appointed, said the proposal would overturn 40 years of civil rights law prohibiting job discrimination based on religion.
Obama addresses global warming summit
Foon Rhee,
November 18, 2008
Through the magic of video, President-elect Barack Obama will encourage governors and others today to tackle global warming -- an issue he highlighted during the campaign. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger of California is hosting a two-day summit, drawing several fellow governors plus more than 600 environmental officials and activists from around the world. Obama is pledging to make America more energy independent and to also slash carbon emissions by focusing on alternative sources such as wind and solar. He is also vowing to work more cooperatively with other nations on climate change.
"Few challenges facing America -- and the world - are more urgent than combating climate change," he says in the video. "The science is beyond dispute and the facts are clear. Sea levels are rising. Coastlines are shrinking. We've seen record drought, spreading famine, and storms that are growing stronger with each passing hurricane season. Climate change and our dependence on foreign oil, if left unaddressed, will continue to weaken our economy and threaten our national security.
Castro serenades China's Hu on landmark Cuba visit
Nov 18 07:58 PM US/Eastern
China's President Hu Jintao made a landmark visit to Cuba Tuesday, bearing millions of dollars in aid and promises of closer future trade ties. The Chinese leader brought 4.5 tonnes of humanitarian aid for victims of three hurricanes that battered Cuba this year, which was handed over late Monday after Hu's arrival at the Jose Marti International Airport.
Receiving the gift, Cuba's Minister of Foreign Investment and Economic Cooperation Rodrigo Malmierca said that Cuba "deeply appreciates the visit of President Hu Jintao, at the exact moment the country is struggling to recover and continue its development." It was the third donation China has made to assist Cuba in its recovery from hurricanes Gustav, Ike and Paloma, which caused 10 billion dollars worth of damages in the space of two months. Hurricane aid from the Chinese government and businesses has totalled more than 2.5 million dollars.
