[News] The Audacity of Hope Newsletter: March 19, 2008
Carlos Mock
ctmock at gmail.com
Wed Mar 19 07:54:35 CST 2008
Chicago Sun-Times Editorial: A moving moment in our nation's history.
Copyright by The Chicago Sun-Time. March 19, 2008. Are we listening,
America? On Tuesday morning, Barack Obama delivered the speech of his life
about the most divisive issue in America in this day or any day -- race. He
spoke for millions of Americans of good will and open minds -- Americans who
have struggled to find just these words -- challenging us to heal our
painful racial wounds by first admitting the deep roots, complexities and
truths of our grievances. The grievances of black America are not imaginary,
he said. And the anger and frustrations within segments of the white
community cannot always be dismissed as bigotry.
http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/03/chicago-sun-times-editor
ial-moving.html
Watch Obama speech:
http://www.suntimes.com/news/politics/obama/850129,CST-NWS-oba
The Obama I know - Terrific listener goes wherever reason takes him By Cass
R. Sunstein. Copyright © 2008, Chicago Tribune. March 14, 2008. Not so
long ago, the phone rang in my office. It was Barack Obama. For more than a
decade, Obama was my colleague at the University of Chicago Law School. He
is also a friend. But since his election to the U.S. Senate, he does not
exactly call every day. On this occasion, he had an important topic to
discuss: the controversy over President Bush's warrantless surveillance of
international telephone calls between Americans and suspected terrorists. I
had written a short essay suggesting that the surveillance might be lawful.
Before taking a public position, Obama wanted to talk the problem through.
In about 20 minutes, he and I investigated the legal details. He asked me to
explore all sorts of issues: the president's power as commander in chief,
the Constitution's protection against unreasonable searches and seizures,
the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, the Authorization for Use of
Military Force and more.
http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/03/obama-i-know-terrific-li
stener-goes.html
Obama and the bigots. Copyright by The International Herald Tribune. By
Nicholas D. Kristof. Published: March 9, 2008. The ugliest prejudices in
this campaign season are not directly about race. Barack Obama's skin color
may cost him some working-class white voters, but it's also winning some
votes among blacks and among whites eager to signal their open-mindedness.
Sexism seems more of a factor. Americans have typically said in polls that
they are less willing to vote for a woman than a black, and Shirley Chisholm
(a black woman who ran for president in 1972) always said that she
encountered more prejudice because of her sex than her race. Yet the most
monstrous bigotry in this election isn't about either race or sex. It's
about religion.
http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/03/obama-and-bigots.html
International
Latin America - March 10: A diplomatic success? Edited by Jonathan
Wheatley, Brazil correspondent
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008. Published: March 9 2008 18:23 |
Last updated: March 9 2008 18:23. Latin American leaders should celebrate
their success in bringing an end to the spiralling crisis in the Andean
region. But they should not get carried away by the results of Friday’s
meeting of the Rio Group in Santo Domingo. Differences between Colombia
and Venezuela – and its allies Ecuador and Nicaragua – may have been patched
over for now but there is every chance that tensions will re-emerge pretty
soon. The reason? The accusation that the Colombian left-wing guerrillas of
the Farc operate with the help of Venezuela and Ecuador has not been
resolved and as an article in the Washington Post puts it, “is sure to
fester”.
http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/03/latin-america-march-10-d
iplomatic.html
Canada warns US over oil sands By Sheila McNulty in Houston. Copyright The
Financial Times Limited 2008. Published: March 9 2008 20:47 | Last updated:
March 9 2008 22:12. Canada has warned the US government that a narrow
interpretation of new energy legislation would prohibit its neighbour buying
fuel from Alberta’s vast oil sands, with “unintended consequences for both
countries”. In a letter to Robert Gates, US defence secretary, Canada said
that it “would not want to see an expansive interpretation” of the Energy
Independence and Security Act 2007. A copy of the letter, from Michael
Wilson, Canadian ambassador, and copied to Condoleezza Rice, US secretary of
state, and Samuel Bodman, US energy secretary, has been obtained by the
Financial Times.
http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/03/canada-warns-us-over-oil
-sands.html
Spain’s Socialists celebrate poll victory By Leslie Crawford and Mark
Mulligan in Madrid. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008. Published:
March 9 2008 13:11 | Last updated: March 10 2008 09:59. José Luis Rodríguez
Zapatero greets supporters after his election victory. Spain’s ruling
Socialist were on Monday celebrating victory, after winning a second term
with an expanded majority in a general election overshadowed by the
resurgence of Basque terrorism and a slowing economy. The result is a big
personal victory for José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, Socialist leader and
prime minister, who emerges with a second successive victory against the
opposition Popular party. Mr Zapatero said he hoped the results would usher
in “a new era free of tensions” to overcome the bitter divisions that have
plagued Spanish politics since the 2004 Madrid train bombings.
http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/03/spains-socialists-celebr
ate-poll.html
Mess-O-Potamia
International Herald Tribune Editorial: Firing an admiral for speaking the
truth. Copyright by The International Herald Tribune. Published: March 13,
2008. It is a worrisome sign that Defense Secretary Robert Gates had to
accept the obviously forced resignation of Admiral William Fallon, chief of
the United States Central Command. Even if Gates was right to say, as he did
Tuesday, that it would be "ridiculous" to take Fallon's departure as an
augury of war with Iran, the fate of the outspoken admiral suggests that
President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney have learned nothing
about the value of letting military chiefs speak their minds, particularly
when they disagree with questionable administration doctrines. As Central
Command chief, Fallon presided over U.S. military operations in the Middle
East. In a recent Esquire article that precipitated his ouster, he sagely
observed that in this region, "where five or six pots are boiling over, our
nation can't afford to be mesmerized by one problem" - an assertion that has
been interpreted as a rebuke of Bush's approach toward Iran's nuclear
aspirations.
http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/03/international-herald-tri
bune-editorial_14.html
Petraeus: Iraqi leaders fall short - Political expectations of 'surge'
unfulfilled By Cameron W. Barr
Copyright by The The Washington Post. March 14, 2008. BAGHDAD - Iraqi
leaders have failed to take advantage of a reduction in violence to make
adequate progress toward resolving their political differences, Gen. David
Petraeus, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, said Thursday. Petraeus, who is
preparing to testify before Congress next month on the Iraq war, said in an
interview that "no one" in the U.S. and Iraqi governments "feels that there
has been sufficient progress by any means in the area of national
reconciliation," or in the provision of basic public services. The
general's comments appeared to be his sternest to date on Iraq's failure to
achieve political reconciliation. In February, after the passage of laws on
the budget, an amnesty for certain detainees and provincial elections,
Petraeus was more encouraging. "The passage of the three laws today showed
that the Iraqi leaders are now taking advantage of the opportunity that
coalition and Iraqi troopers fought so hard to provide," he said at the
time.
http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/03/petraeus-iraqi-leaders-f
all-short.html
International Herald Tribune Editorial - Helping Iraqi refugees who helped
America. Copyright by The International Herald Tribune. Published: March
12, 2008. The Iraqis who have worked for the U.S. government during the war
have a "bull's-eye on their back," as Senator Edward Kennedy of
Massachusetts put it last year. Theirs aren't the only lives at risk,
either; militants have kidnapped or killed relatives of those employed by
the United States. These workers need - and are owed - safe ways to build
new lives. Some of these workers are relocating to the United States on
"special immigrant" visas. A new law backed by Kennedy increased the number
of visas from 500 in an earlier program to 5,000. The law also expanded
beyond interpreters and translators to include all Iraqis who work for the
United States. This could include cooks, drivers, and fixers. And like
refugees, special immigrants have access to resettlement programs run by the
federal government. Unfortunately, federal officials have stopped
processing these visas, citing snags over such logistics as how visa
applicants can prove that they face a threat in Iraq as a result of working
for the United States.
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bune-editorial_13.html
Archbishop kidnapped in Mosul is found dead By Erica Goode. Copyright by
The International Herald Tribune. Published: March 13, 2008. BAGHDAD: The
body of the Chaldean Catholic archbishop of Mosul, who was kidnapped by
gunmen in Mosul in northern Iraq late last month as he drove home after
afternoon Mass, was discovered Thursday in an area south of the city, church
officials and the Iraqi police said. A church official in Baghdad,
Cardinal Emmanuel Dali, confirmed that the body of the archbishop, Paulos
Faraj Rahho, had been found and taken to the morgue in Mosul. The body will
be released to the archbishop's family late Friday or early Saturday so that
they can bury him, Dali said.
http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/03/archbishop-kidnapped-in-
mosul-is-found.html
8 U.S. soldiers die in Iraq By Liz Sly. Copyright © 2008, Chicago Tribune.
8:42 AM CDT, March 11, 2008. BAGHDAD - On the bloodiest day for U.S. forces
in Iraq in eight months, eight soldiers died Monday in two separate
bombings, including five who were killed in an upscale Baghdad district by a
man wearing a suicide vest who mingled with their patrol. Three other
soldiers were killed by a roadside bomb that struck their patrol in the
troubled eastern province of Diyala, the military said in a statement
released early Tuesday. Their Iraqi interpreter also was killed, and another
U.S. soldier was injured.
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q.html
Bombs Reported to Kill 4 in Mosul. By ANNA JOHNSON. Copyright 2008
Associated Press. 6:30 AM CST, March 7, 2008. BAGHDAD - Bombings in the
northern city of Mosul, an al-Qaida in Iraq stronghold, killed at least four
people and wounded 46 on Friday, officials said, while relatives mourned the
victims of an attack that killed 68 in a Baghdad shopping district. The
carnage was a grim reminder of the continuing danger in Iraq, which
nonetheless has seen major security gains in the last half-year. An
extremist detonated an explosives-laden car outside a police station's front
gate in Mosul, killing at least three and wounding 32, authorities said.
http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/03/bombs-reported-to-kill-4
-in-mosul.html
China
International Herald Tribune Editorial: China terrorizes Tibet. Copyright
by The International Herald Tribune. Published: March 18, 2008. It was
impossible not to notice that the United States removed China from its list
of top 10 human rights violators just as the biggest anti-China protests in
20 years erupted in Tibet. Even when handed that undeserved dispensation,
the Beijing government cannot control its authoritarian nature. A week of
protests in Tibet turned violent on Friday as Chinese security forces
clashed with hundreds of Buddhist monks and other ethnic Tibetans.
Information was hard to verify, but news reports said a market in the
capital was burned; at least 16, and perhaps many more, people were killed;
and paramilitary police and troops were deployed. Over the weekend, rioting
spread to neighboring provinces, and demonstrations even reached Beijing.
http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/03/international-herald-tri
bune-editorial_19.html
Financial Times Editorial Comment:: Trouble in Tibet. Copyright The
Financial Times Limited 2008. Published: March 16 2008 18:16 | Last
updated: March 16 2008 18:16. China’s Communist party has lied for so long
about the situation in the supposedly autonomous region of Tibet that
Beijing officials, and the Chinese people as a whole, now believe their own
propaganda. The dangers of this approach have become evident in the past
few days. Far from being grateful to Beijing for the benefits of
modernisation and economic development, many Tibetans bitterly resent the
government and the Han Chinese migrants who have flooded into Tibet and who
dominate commerce.
http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/03/financial-times-editoria
l-comment_17.html
France raises idea of boycotting Olympics ceremony over Tibet By Katrin
Bennhold. Copyright by The International Herald Tribune. Published: March
18, 2008. PARIS: Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner of France said Tuesday
that the European Union should consider punishing China's crackdown in Tibet
with a boycott of the opening ceremony of this summer's Olympic Games in
Beijing. His comments followed an appeal by the press advocacy group
Reporters Without Borders to governments across the world to shun the highly
symbolic ceremony during which the Olympic flame is lighted. European
leaders have been conspicuously quiet since protesters and the Chinese
police first clashed in the Tibetan capital, Lhasa, a week ago.
http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/03/france-raises-idea-of-bo
ycotting.html
Clooney Puts Pressure on Olympic Sponsor. Copyright 2008 Associated Press.
7:33 AM CDT, March 11, 2008. LONDON - Hollywood star George Clooney has put
pressure on an Olympic sponsor to speak out over China's foreign policy in
Sudan. Clooney promotes Omega Watches -- one of the worldwide Olympic
partners for the Beijing games. "I have talked with Omega (about China) for
over a year and will continue to talk to Omega," Clooney was quoted as
saying on the BBC Web site on Tuesday. "I have and will go to the places I
and China do business and ask for help." Clooney has publicly spoken
several times about the crisis in Darfur, Sudan, where more than 200,000
people have been killed and about 2.5 million people displaced in three
years of fighting between African rebels and government troops allied with
Arab militia known as janjaweed.
http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/03/clooney-puts-pressure-on
-olympic.html
National
America's Shame by Carlos T Mock. Copyright by Carlos T Mock 2008. March 16,
2008. How gullible are we? If the story is about sex and scandal we allow
ourselves to be completely distracted. We act like life is a reality show
when sex comes up and we're appalled at the 'immoral behavior of our elected
officials'. However, the country is tolerant of an administration that lied
to the country for political gain, invaded a country without provocation,
has caused the death of four thousand American soldiers, wounded more than
forty thousand—not to mention the death of sixty thousand Iraqis with the
displacement of four million who are in exile in Jordan and Syria. While
forty seven million Americans are without health insurance, our economy is
in shambles—one out of five hundred Americans is about to lose their homes,
banks are suffering a credit crunch not seen since the Great depression of
1929—our citizens do not seem to care that this irresponsible administration
is spending billions of dollars in Iraq every day. My concern is
ideological, moral, and, to a certain degree, political. While Spitzer is
now out of a job and the butt of late-night jokes; the reality is that other
than Spitzer and his family, no one else was harmed. No one will die for his
actions. No American will lose his job or his health insurance for Spitzer's
transgression.
http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/03/americas-shame-by-carlos
-t-mock.html
Chicago Tribune Editorial - Take aim at guns. Copyright © 2008, Chicago
Tribune. March 12, 2008. You can trace the end of gun control as a winning
political issue to the 1994 midterm election, when Democrats lost control of
the U.S. House and blamed that, in large part, on their support for a ban on
semiautomatic assault weapons. You start with that election. And you follow
the line to the killings at Columbine High School in 1999 -- Congress did
nothing in response, and paid no political price. Congress allowed the
assault weapons ban to expire in 2004; that caused barely a whimper. The
number of murders with firearms steadily declined from 1994 through the end
of the decade, which probably helped to take off some of the political
pressure to support gun control.
http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/03/chicago-tribune-editoria
l-take-aim-at.html
High court signals gun sentiments - Some weigh in on 2nd Amendment By James
Oliphant. Copyright © 2008, Chicago Tribune. 10:54 PM CDT, March 18, 2008.
WASHINGTON — A majority of Supreme Court justices on Tuesday appeared ready
to make history and embrace the view that the 2nd Amendment creates an
individual right to own a gun, placing Washington, D.C.'s ban on handguns at
risk and perhaps jeopardizing Chicago's anti-gun law as well. In oral
arguments in a case challenging the District of Columbia's law, which
prohibits ownership of handguns and allows rifles or shotguns only if they
are trigger-locked or disassembled, the more conservative members of the
court repeatedly expressed a view that the long-debated provision contains
some sort of right of self-defense.
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entiments-some.html
Bush Whacking
International Herald Tribune Editorial: Bush-colored glasses. Copyright by
The International Herald Tribune. Published: March 16, 2008. President
George W. Bush admitted on Friday that times are tough. So much for the
straight talk. Bush went on to paint a false picture of the economy. He
dismissed virtually every proposal Congress is working on to alleviate the
mortgage crisis. And despite the rush of serious problems - frozen credit
markets, millions of impending mortgage defaults, solvency issues at banks,
a plunging dollar - he said that a major source of uncertainty today is
whether his tax cuts, scheduled to expire in 2010, would be extended. This
was too far afield of reality to be dismissed as simple cheerleading. It
points to the pressing need for a coherent plan to steer through what some
economists are now predicting could be a severe downturn.
http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/03/international-herald-tri
bune-editorial_17.html
There's no room for real life in Bush's world. Leonard Pitts:
McClatchy-Tribune Newspapers. Copyright © 2008, Chicago Tribune. March 11,
2008. Here's how it is out there. Awhile back, I was at the self-checkout
counter of a hardware store. A young man approached and offered to put my
$20 purchase on his store gift card if I would give him $10 in cash. He said
he had no money for gas. I let him put my purchase on his card, but I gave
him the full amount back. It was the second time in a week I'd been asked by
a stranger for help in filling the tank. And this was before last week's
prediction of a spike in gas prices to $4 a gallon. So I am intrigued by
the following exchange between President Bush and CBS News reporter Peter
Maer at a recent news conference. "What is your advice," Maer began, "to the
average American who is hurting now, facing the prospect of $4-a-gallon
gasoline, a lot of people facing ..."
http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/03/theres-no-room-for-real-
life-in-bushs.html
International Herald Tribune Editorial: Timid fiddling while mortgages burn.
Copyright by The International Herald Tribune. Published: March 14, 2008.
The Bush administration's proposal for revamping the nation's ailing
mortgage market contains some sensible ideas. But they are still too modest
and rely far too much on the voluntary cooperation and public spiritedness
of the private sector, which has shown little of either since the housing
and credit crisis began. Until the White House and Treasury Secretary Henry
M. Paulson Jr. develop a real sense of urgency, and more serious policies,
they are not going to rebuild confidence or ensure that today's problems are
not repeated in the future. What is especially frustrating is that many of
the administration's proposals aren't new. The House of Representatives
passed legislation four months ago that contained some of the same
requirements - but in greater detail and with more muscle. Stronger versions
of the proposals are also in bills pending in the Senate, including one that
Republicans recently blocked from being considered for debate.
http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/03/international-herald-tri
bune-editorial_15.html
US pays price in power for Iraq role By Daniel Dombey in Washington and
Stephen Fidler in London. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008.
Published: March 18 2008 19:19 | Last updated: March 18 2008 23:18. US
power and prestige around the world continues to suffer from the war in Iraq
and its aftermath, and the next president will struggle to repair the
damage, many foreign policy specialists argue. But the Bush administration
continues to defend its decision to launch the war five years ago on
Wednesday, and prominent voices argue that a decision to withdraw US forces
soon would send an unfortunate signal to the west’s adversaries. “A rapid
withdrawal would be a demonstration in the region of the impotence of
western power,” Henry Kissinger, the former Republican secretary of state,
told Der Spiegel last month. “Hamas, Hizbollah and al-Qaeda would achieve a
more dominant role and the ability of western nations to shape events would
be sharply reduced,” he said.
http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/03/us-pays-price-in-power-f
or-iraq-role.html
Democrats attack Bush waterboarding veto By James Politi in Washington.
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008. Published: March 9 2008 20:21 |
Last updated: March 9 2008 20:21. Democrats on Sunday attacked US president
George W. Bush for using a veto to block legislation that would have barred
the use by the Central Intelligence Agency of harsh interrogation techniques
such as waterboarding. “The CIA’s programme damages our national security
by weakening our legal and moral authority, and by providing al-Qaeda and
other terrorist groups [with] a recruiting and motivational tool,” said Jay
Rockefeller of West Virginia, who chairs the Senate intelligence committee.
Mr Rockefeller added that “by continuing this interrogation programme, the
president is sacrificing our strategic advantage for questionable tactical
gain”.
http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/03/democrats-attack-bush-wa
terboarding.html
Indecision 2008
McCain rebuffed on spending curbs. By Andrew Ward in Washington. Copyright
The Financial Times Limited 2008. Published: March 14 2008 16:23 | Last
updated: March 14 2008 16:23. John McCain has been rebuffed by fellow
senators in his bid to place restrictions on so-called pork barrel spending
projects, casting doubt on his ability to impose greater fiscal discipline
on Congress if elected president. The presumptive Republican presidential
nominee has made it one of his main campaign promises to clamp down on
wasteful government spending but Thursday night’s vote highlighted the
difficulty he will face fulfilling the pledge.
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ing-curbs.html
McCain under fire over Pentagon contract By Andrew Ward in Washington.
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008. Published: March 11 2008 19:30
| Last updated: March 11 2008 19:30. John McCain faced fresh scrutiny of
his role in the award of a $35bn (€23bn, £17bn) Pentagon contract to EADS on
Tuesday after it emerged that some of his top advisers lobbied for the
European aerospace group to win the deal. Mr McCain, the presumptive
Republican presidential nominee, has portrayed himself as a neutral watchdog
in the long battle between EADS and Boeing to supply a new generation of
refuelling tanker aircraft to the US air force.
http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/03/mccain-under-fire-over-p
entagon.html
JOHN McCAIN - Consistent on Iraq... ...consistent in folly By Steve Chapman.
March 6, 2008. On the campaign trail, John McCain has retreated on
immigration, changed his mind on tax cuts and admitted economics is not his
strong suit. But all that's unimportant, we are told, because he was Right
On Iraq -- back at the beginning, when he endorsed the invasion, and again
over the last year, when he has stoutly supported the surge. So, whichever
Democrat he faces, the November election could be a referendum on the Iraq
war and his support for it. If so, that may not be a plus for McCain.
McCain has been consistent about Iraq, in the sense of being consistently
wrong. If the American people get a long look at what he's said and a clear
picture of our fortunes in Iraq, he may yearn for the days when he was being
pilloried for offering "amnesty" to illegal immigrants. McCain portrays
himself as uniquely clear-eyed about the war. In fact, those eyes have often
been full of stars. When Army Gen. Eric Shinseki forecast that more troops
would be needed, McCain didn't fret. Shortly before the invasion, he said,
"I have no qualms about our strategic plans." As the online magazine Salon
reports, he predicted the war would be "another chapter in the glorious
history of the United States of America."
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n-iraq.html
Florida won't redo its Democratic primary - State's 210 delegates left in
limbo. Copyright by The Associated Press. March 18, 2008. TALLAHASSEE,
Fla. -- Facing strong opposition, Florida Democrats on Monday abandoned
plans to hold a do-over presidential primary with a mail-in vote and threw
the delegate dispute into the lap of the national party. While the decision
by Florida Democrats left the state's 210 delegates in limbo, Democrats in
Michigan moved closer to holding another contest on June 3. Legislative
leaders reviewed a measure Monday that would set up a privately funded,
state-administered do-over primary, the Associated Press learned.
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mocratic.html
Chicagoland
Providing health care in Cook County. Copyright © 2008, Chicago Tribune.
March 12, 2008. As physicians who care for hundreds of thousands of
patients -- the medically uninsured and underinsured -- who rely on the
hospitals and clinics of the Cook County Bureau of Health Services for their
health care, we applaud President Todd Stroger and the Cook County Board of
Commissioners for reaching a compromise that will raise the revenue
necessary to restore services lost in the 2007 budget cuts and will reform
the bureau's governance. Two acts of courage were necessary to bring this
about. First, while all the commissioners recognized the importance of
county health services to the community, Commissioner Larry Suffredin was
instrumental in breaking the months-long stalemate on how best to obtain the
revenue necessary to forestall further damage to our mission to provide
effective health care regardless of the ability to pay. In addition, by
winning passage of an ordinance creating an independent Cook County Bureau
of Health Directors, consisting of professionals with the experience and
expertise necessary to successfully operate our large and complex
health-care system and whose loyalties to the bureau and its patients will
be undivided, Suffredin has steered the bureau toward its best chance for
sustained viability and growth.
http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/03/providing-health-care-in
-cook-county.html
'Soft' ecomony prompts hard spending cuts for city - $20 million trim may
hurt some services, he says By Gary Washburn. Copyright © 2008, Chicago
Tribune. March 14, 2008. In a warning sign that Chicago's budget may be
off the mark just three months in, Mayor Richard Daley announced $20 million
in spending cuts Thursday, citing a "soft" economy. The reductions put the
city "at the point" where citizens may begin to feel an impact on services,
Daley said, but added he did not yet know which services might be affected.
The mayor said he expects the national economic downturn will mean
diminishing tax and fee revenues in Chicago. And city officials acknowledged
they're watching to see if sales tax collections will take a hit because of
a new 10.25 percent rate that threatens to push some buyers to stores
outside Cook County when in full effect July 1.
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d-spending-cuts.html
Changing of the guard in Chicago Police Department - 'Make the city proud,'
superintendent tells newly sworn-in commanders By Angela Rozas. Copyright ©
2008, Chicago Tribune. 12:44 PM CDT, March 14, 2008. Chicago police Supt.
Jody Weis on Friday swore in more than 40 district commanders and other
officers who have been assigned new positions in a sweeping shake-up of the
department's ranks. At a ceremony in police headquarters, 3510 S. Michigan
Ave., Weis told the officers he believed they all had proven track records
and that their reassignments were a signal that the department had "stepped
out of the shadow" of the past. "I am extremely pleased with the talent and
the energy that our new team represents," Weis said. He told the officers
that the public and the rest of the department would be watching and asked
them to "make the city proud."
http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/03/changing-of-guard-in-chi
cago-police.html
GLBT
Gay Bishop Out of Anglican Summit By RACHEL ZOLL. Copyright 2008
Associated Press. 9:47 AM CDT, March 11, 2008. NEW YORK - The first openly
gay Episcopal bishop announced he will have no official role in a meeting
this summer of world Anglican leaders, saying restrictions that organizers
wanted to place on his involvement had caused him "considerable pain." New
Hampshire Bishop V. Gene Robinson had been told last year that he could not
fully participate in the once-a-decade gathering in England, called the
Lambeth Conference, as the world Anglican Communion sat on the brink of
schism over his 2003 election. Still, Episcopal leaders had been
negotiating with the Anglican Communion Office to allow him to join the
event in some capacity. The Episcopal Church is the Anglican body in the
U.S.
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an-summit.html
Unmarried Partners – Partnership Agreements. Copyright by Gay Chicago
Magazine and Roger McCaffrey-Boss. March 11, 2008. Agreements do not have
to be drafted and executed every time two people decide to live together or
to help each other financially, but when decisions are made which involve
long periods of time and serious financial commitments, you ought to
consider documenting your intentions. Partnership or living together
agreements are contracts between partners, lovers and/or people who live
together, describing how finances will be managed and defining their
obligations and duties within their living arrangement. Such a document can
state what property belongs to whom and how that property will be divided
between the couple, should they break up.
http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/03/unmarried-partners-partn
ership.html
Local site to save LGBT organizations money. Copyright by The windy City
Times. 2008-03-12. A father-daughter team recently announced the launch of
a new Web site to save LGBT organizations and allies money on office
supplies.. Queer Inky, www.queerinky.com , provides low-cost inkjet
supplies to the community and its allies. The Web site is run by
father-daughter team Stacy and Craig Jacobs. Queer Inky said that it will
give back to the LGBT community by featuring a non-profit organization each
month. The chosen organization will receive a portion of Queer Inky's
proceeds from inkjet sales.
http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/03/local-site-to-save-lgbt-
organizations.html
Chicagoan appointed to GLAAD board. Copyright by The Windy City Times.
2008-03-12. Chicago resident Bill Stewart was appointed to Gay & Lesbian
Alliance Against Defamation's ( GLAAD ) 35-member national board of
directors. Stewart is the senior vice president and chief marketing officer
for Kmart Corporation. He has been involved in a number of non-profits, and
is also the executive sponsor of the Sears Holdings Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual
and Transgender employee association.
http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/03/chicagoan-appointed-to-g
laad-board.html
Your Money
Recession Time - As the economy teeters between bad and worse, one question
looms: What's the best course of action? Here's what can be done. And what
can't by Peter Coy. Copyright by Business Week. March 24, 2008. Waking Up
To the Recession Wall Street got its hopes up on Mar. 11. Elated by a
Federal Reserve move to stop the credit crunch, the U.S. stock market posted
its biggest one-day gain in five years, with the Dow Jones industrial
average rising more than 400 points. Look out, though. Fed officials are the
first to acknowledge that their initiative attacks only one problem, the
liquidity squeeze at big banks. It does nothing about the central risk to
the U.S. economy: an unprecedented crash in home values that is sapping
households' wealth and confidence while putting an enormous strain on the
banking system. How bad will this downturn get? No one can know because
we've never experienced such a headlong slide in the housing market—and this
comes at a time when its current value of $20 trillion accounts for the vast
majority of most families' wealth. Right now most economists expect the U.S.
to experience a mild, short recession in 2008. But there is at least a
possibility of a steeper decline that the traditional recession
remedies—interest-rate cuts here, deficit spending there—won't be able to
handle.
http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/03/recession-time-as-econom
y-teeters.html
Financial Times Editorial Comment: Intervene to slow the dollar’s decline.
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008. Published: March 13 2008 19:41
| Last updated: March 13 2008 19:41. Selling the dollar is now close to a
one-way bet. So great is concern about the health of the US financial system
that the dollar traded below Y100 on Thursday, and above $1.56 against the
euro. The danger of a dollar rout is rising, and the Federal Reserve,
European Central Bank and Japan’s Ministry of Finance should co-ordinate
intervention to slow the greenback’s fall. Aggressive rate cuts and fears
that US taxpayers will have to bail out their banks are undermining the
dollar. Both make a surge in US inflation more likely, and since the Fed
first cut rates last September the risk has been that foreign investors lose
confidence, dump assets and trigger a run on the dollar.
http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/03/financial-times-editoria
l-comment_14.html
International Herald Tribune Editorial: Who'll come to the rescue?
Copyright by The International Herald Tribune. Published: March 18, 2008.
The more the U.S. Federal Reserve does to avert financial contagion, the
clearer it becomes that the Fed alone cannot solve the problems in the
financial system. It's now obvious that American taxpayers will have to step
in. Less obvious is that if the United States government doesn't stabilize
the markets, foreign governments increasingly will, in exchange for an ever
larger stake in the American financial system. Over the weekend, the
Treasury Secretary, Henry Paulson Jr. said the government would do "what it
takes" to keep order in the financial markets. On Monday, President George
W. Bush echoed that point. The American people need an explanation of what
they may have in mind.
http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/03/international-herald-tri
bune-editorial_577.html
Financial Times Editorial Content: The Fed risks doing too much. Copyright
The Financial Times Limited 2008. Published: March 18 2008 19:21 | Last
updated: March 18 2008 19:21. So the US Federal Reserve cut by 75 basis
points rather than 100 basis points: when the numbers are big enough, a
small difference between them can seem unimportant. But with rates down to
2.25 per cent, every 25bp makes a significant difference to the Fed’s brave
but perilous monetary policy. There was ample bad news for the Fed to
ponder, from evidence that the real economy is now finding it harder to
borrow money, to accelerating falls in house prices; from consistently weak
job creation to the near failure of Bear Stearns. The Fed’s focus on
reducing the danger of severe recession calls for looser policy than current
inflation would normally justify, and if the Fed wants rates below 2 per
cent, it is right to move there quickly.
http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/03/financial-times-editoria
l-content-fed.html
JPMorgan to buy Bear Stearns for $236m By Francesco Guerrera in New York and
Henny Sender in Abu Dhabi. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008.
Published: March 16 2008 18:03 | Last updated: March 17 2008 01:49 JPMorgan
Chase agreed on Sunday to buy Bear Stearns, the stricken US investment bank,
for about $236m in shares in a deal that puts an end to Bear’s 85 years of
independence and highlights the risks faced by banks during the credit
crunch. JPMorgan’s cut-price takeover of Bear, which has the backing of the
Federal Reserve and the Treasury, came as the Fed cut its discount rate for
direct loans to banks and created a special lending facility for primary
dealers – two emergency moves aimed at stabilising financial markets.
http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/03/jpmorgan-to-buy-bear-ste
arns-for-236m.html
Emergency funding for Bear By Aline van Duyn, Anuj Gangahar, Stacy-Marie
Ishmael and Ben White in New York and Krishna Guha in Washington. Copyright
The Financial Times Limited 2008. Published: March 14 2008 14:05 | Last
updated: March 14 2008 16:50. Confidence in Bear Stearns collapsed on
Friday after the US investment bank said it had arranged for an unspecified
amount of emergency funding from JP Morgan and the Federal Reserve Bank of
New York because its liquidity position had “significantly deteriorated”.
In early New York trading, Bear Stearns shares plunged as much as 50 per
cent, pulling the rest of the US stock market down. The shares have been
hammered by concerns about the bank’s liquidity and had fallen more than 30
per cent this week alone in highly volatile trading.
http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/03/emergency-funding-for-be
ar.html
Change for a penny? - With pennies, nickels costing more to make than
they're worth, Congress considers metal makeover By Jim Tankersley.
Copyright © 2008, Chicago Tribune. March 12, 2008. WASHINGTON — These
days, your thoughts are worth 1.7 cents. That's what it costs the
government to forge a penny, thanks to the rising price of metal. A nickel
costs 10 cents. Congress, in its infinite wisdom, has concluded that's a
pretty bad deal. A House subcommittee led by Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-Ill.)
convened a hearing Tuesday on a proposal to change the composition of both
coins. Republicans and Democrats like the concept, particularly its promise
to save taxpayers $100 million a year by using cheaper metals at the U.S.
Mint. If the legislation clears the House and Senate and President Bush
signs it, you could be plucking steel pennies off the street before year's
end. In Washington, of course, nothing is that simple.
http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/03/change-for-penny-with-pe
nnies-nickels.html
Prescription drug sales growth lowest in 46 years. Copyright by The
Associated Press. March 13, 2008. NORWALK, Conn. - Sales growth in the
U.S. prescription drug market slowed to the lowest rate in 46 years in 2007
as more brand-name drugs lost their exclusivity to generics and new product
approvals declined, according to a report issued Wednesday. Sales came to
$286.5 billion in 2007, up 3.8 percent, IMS Health said in its annual U.S.
Pharmaceutical Market Performance Review. The rate of growth was the lowest
since 1961, when sales increased by 3.3 percent. Prescription drug sales
grew by 8 percent in 2006. Growth moderated beginning in 2001 but picked up
in 2006 with the start of the federally subsidized prescription drug program
for seniors, IMS Health said. However, growth slowed again last year.
http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/03/prescription-drug-sales-
growth-lowest.html
Other
Financial Times Editorial Comment: Papal indulgence. Copyright The
Financial Times Limited 2008. Published: March 7 2008 19:42 | Last updated:
March 7 2008 19:42. The Pope is opening the stable door 500 years after the
horse has bolted. The Vatican has announced it will rehabilitate Martin
Luther, the Augustinian monk whose disagreements with the Catholic Church
led to his own excommunication and started the Protestant Reformation. The
change in attitude to Luther follows another curious decision of the Vatican
– it is going to erect a statue to Galileo, the 17th century scientist who
was declared a heretic by the Roman Inquisition. Given this astonishing
reappraisal of two of history’s best known rebels against the Catholic
Church, can it be long before Henry VIII is also welcomed back to the fold?
http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/03/financial-times-editoria
l-comment-papal.html
Science fiction writer Arthur C. Clarke dies By Dennis McLellan. Copyright
© 2008, The Los Angeles Times. 12:38 AM CDT, March 19, 2008. Sir Arthur C.
Clarke, who peered into the heavens with a homemade telescope as a boy and
grew up to become a visionary titan of science-fiction writing and
collaborated with director Stanley Kubrick on the landmark film "2001: A
Space Odyssey," has died. He was 90. The British-born writer died early
Wednesday in Colombo, Sri Lanka, where he had made his home for decades,
after experiencing a cardio-respiratory attack, his secretary, Rohan De
Silva, told Reuters. Clarke, wrote scores of fiction and nonfiction books
(some in collaboration) and more than 100 short stories -- as well as
hundreds of articles and essays.
http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/03/science-fiction-writer-a
rthur-c-clarke.html
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