From ctmock at gmail.com Sat May 3 04:19:35 2008 From: ctmock at gmail.com (Carlos Mock) Date: Sat, 03 May 2008 05:19:35 -0500 Subject: [News] If I Were A Terrorist... Newsletter - May 3, 2008 In-Reply-To: Message-ID: If I Were A Terrorist... ttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G1EXKLVgEx0 Intenational Herald Tribune Editorial - Notes from the war on terrorism. Copyright by The International Herald Tribune. Published: May 2, 2008. For more than a year, President George W. Bsh has refused to honor legitimate requests from the Democratic majority in ongress for legal documents that he used to justify ordering the abuse, humiiation and torture of prisoners. This week, the Justice Department finallyagreed to show some papers to members of the House and Senate. Sounds lik good news? Not so much. For starters, it is not yet clear whether the Whie House will turn over the complete and unredacted opinions of the governmnt lawyers that claimed the president could ignore the law and the Geneva onventions. And even if the documents are not censored, Bush continues to usea bogus claim of secrecy to keep documents on torture from the public. Appaling as this stonewalling is, it this is nt the only disturbing news from the war on terror. This week, Mark Mazzetti reported in The New York Times and the International Herald Tribune that the Justice Department stillclaims that intelligence agents can legally use interrogation methods prohbited under American and international law. In 2006, after Congress put restictions on the military's interrogation methods, Bush formally exempted he CIA. He issued secret rules that are believed to allow harsh and abusive ethods, some of which amount to torture by pretty much any definition. htt://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/international-herald-ti bune-editorial_03.html International Herald Tribune Editorial - Lying or the commander in chief. Copyright by The International Herald Tribune. ublished: April 28, 2008. As they prepared to invade Iraq five years ago, te Bush administration called up retired military officers to help sell thewar. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and his propaganda team courted s many as 75 retired military officers who could best market the Pentagon lin, particularly on television. All administrations try to spin, or even maniulate, the news media, but this White House has taken that to a new low. The ush administration has hired actors to pose as journalists. It has prodced mock news bulletins to promote its view of the Iraq war. At least oe conservative commentator was paid $240,000 to go on television to promote resident George W. Bush's education policies. Now, based on thousands of-mail messages and other documents, David Barstow of The New York Times has outlined how the Pentagon used a "Trojan horse" of former military officers to parrot falsey positive messages (IHT, April 21). Bush's national security team - nd many Pentagon officers - continue to labor under the tragic delusion tat negative coverage, rather than the bad news itself, undermined public suport for the war in Vietnam. So the propaganda experts created the instantcommentariat of decorated retired generals and admirals who could seem to be trong and independent voices. Too many were not independent at all. One exampe: a retired Marine colonel and Fox News analyst asked his Pentagon contactto "please let me know if you have any specific points you want covered or hat you would prefer to downplay." http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspt.com/2008/04/international-herald-tri bune-editorial_29.html Letter draws egal outline for CIA tactics. Copyright by The New York Times. 8:37 PM CD, April 26, 2008. WASHINGTON ? The Justice Department has told Congress thatU.S. intelligence operatives attempting to thwart terrorist attacks can legaly use interrogation methods that might otherwise be prohibited under nternational law. The legal interpretation, outlined in recent letters, shes new light on the still-secret rules for interrogations by the CIA. It shws that the administration is arging that the boundaries for interrogations should be subject to some latitude, even under an executive order issued last summer that President Bush said meant that theCIA would comply with international strictures against harsh treatment o detainees. While the Geneva Conventions prohibit "outrages upon person dignity," a letter sent by the Justice Department to Congress on March 5 mkes clear that the administration has not drawn a precise line in deciding whch interrogation methods would violate that standard, and is reserving th right to make case-by-case judgments. http://iretiredfromnewsletter.blogspot.com/2008/04/letter-draws-legal-outli ne-for-cia.html Krugman: Bushmade permanent By Paul Krugman. Copyright by The International Herald Tribun. Published: April 28, 2008. PRINCETON, New Jersey: Bush made permanen As the designated political heir of a deeply unpopular president - accordig to Gallup, President George W. Bush has the highest disapproval rating recrded in 70 years of polling - John McCain should have little hope of winnng in November. In fact, however, current polls show him roughly tied witheither Democrat. In part this may reflect the Democrats' problems. For th most part, however, it probably reflects the perception, eagerly propagate by McCain's many admirers in the news media, that he's very different fro Bush - a responsible guy, a straight talker. Is this perception at all rue? During the 2000 campaign people said much the same thing about Bush; those of us who looked hard at his policy proposals, especially on taxes, saw the shape of thngs to come./Hail to the chef By Walter Scheib. Copyright by The Iternational Herald Tribune. Published: April 29, 2008. GREAT FALLS, Virgnia: The long association between first ladies - or those aspiring to te role - and recipes was thrust into the headlines recently when it ws discovered that recipes attributed to Cindy McCain on her husband's campign Web site were lifted, verbatim, from the Food Network. (A campaign sokesman attributed this seeming act of plagiarism to an intern.) I ougt to be the last person to question this preoccupation with first families' dning habits, since it helped propel me to a certain kind of prominence when illary Clinton hired me to be White House chef in 1994. But I confess tat I have often wondered why we are fascinated not just with what our presidnts and their families eat, but what they cook. Let's make one thing clear First families don't get to the White House because of their cooking. True, n one episode of the TV show "The West Wing," there's a federal government hutdown, the chefs are not at work ad the first lady cooks dinner. But that's, well, television. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/04/krugman-bush-made-perman ent.html Your Lack of Money Investors pul out of mutual funds By Deborah Brewster in New York. Copyright The Financal Times Limited 2008. Published: April 27 2008 22:26 | Last updated: April 7 2008 22:26. All but one of the 25 largest US mutual fund managers aw their long-term assets fall in the first quarter, as returns dived nd investors pulled out of funds. In the worst start to a year for more thana decade, most money managers had retail outflows, and even stalwarts suchas American Funds and Vanguard suffered a drop in assets, of 6.6 per cent ad 4.3 per cent respectively. Pimco, the bond manager, was the only one to sow a rise in retail assets, according to Financial Research Corporation ad industry estimates. Pimco?s Total Return fund had an inflow of $9bn in te three months to March. The trend is likely to worry economists, becauseit suggests the credit turmoil is hurting the confidence of mainstreamvestors. That, in turn, could dampen activity among consumers in the monthsahead, since falling investment sentiment is often associated with muted houehold spending levels. However, the fall also marks a fresh blow for the fiancial industry, because mutual fund managers typically make money by chargin a percentage of assets ? meaning that profits in the industry fall when asets decline. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/04/investors-pll-out-of-mu tual-funds.html Consumer confidence index at 5-year low -The Conference Board's measure fals in April amid concerns about employment and business activity. By Catherine Clifford. Copyright by CNNMoney.com. Last Updated: April 29, 2008: 11:31 AM EDT. NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- A key measure of consumer confidence slipped in April to the lowest level in fie years, as Americans worry about their jobs and the level of business activity. The New York-based Conference Board said Tuesday that its Consumer Confidence Index dropped to 62.3, the lowest level since March 2003, from a revised 65.9 in March. Analysts had expected the index to decline to 61, according to a consensus compiled by Briefing.com. The index has now declned for four months in a row. Consumers who feel that business condition are "bad" increased to 26.7% from 25.5%, while those claiming business conditions are "good" eased to 153% from 15.6% last month. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/0/consumer-confidence-inde x-at-5-year-low.html US manufacturing contracts for third month By Chris Bryant in Washington. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008. Published: May 1 2008 14:33 | Last updated: May 1 2008 16:01. The US manufacturing sector contracted for a third consecutive month in April as waning domestic demand acted as a drag on factory output even as exports continued to provide a source of strength. A separate report showed US construction spending dropped much more than expected last month while the bulk of a reported increase in consumer spending was taken up by higher costs for food and energy. The economic headwinds facing consumers were also reflected in the latest report on the US labour market which registered the highest number of Americans on unemployment benefits in four years, a potentially worrying signal ahead of Friday?s closely-watched jobs report. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/us-manufacturing-contrac ts-for-third.html US economy avoids outright contraction By Chris Bryant in Washington. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008. Published: April 30 2008 14:25 | Last updated: April 30 2008 16:29. The US economy almost stalled in the first three months of this year, saved only by an increase in business inventories and exports, as the labour market weakened, the real estate market slumped and consumers cut back on spending. The first government estimate of the total value of all goods and services produced in the US economy increased only 0.6 per cent in the first quarter, a fraction better than economists? expectations and the same rate of growth achieved in the last three months of 2007. That period in turn represented a sharp contraction from the third quarter of last year, when the economy expanded by 4.9 per cent. The dismal growth estimate may prompt the Federal Reserve officials to cut interest rates by another quarter point when their policy meeting concludes later on Wednesday. The Fed has already slashed interest rates by three percentage points since last September in an attempt to prevent the credit squeeze and housing slump tipping the US economy into a deep recession. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/04/us-economy-avoids-outrig ht-contraction.html US jobs figures better than expected By Chris Bryant in Washington. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008. Published: May 2 2008 14:00 | Last updated: May 2 2008 16:22. US employers laid off workers for a fourth consecutive month in April as businesses cut back on spending in the face of economic headwinds but overall job losses were far less severe than most economists had feared. Investors were also cheered on Friday by stronger-than expected increase in March factory orders. Nonfarm payrolls fell by 20,000, significantly better than consensus expectations for around 75,000 job cuts and following a revised 81,000 jobs losses in March. The unemployment rate dipped from 5.1 per cent to 5 per cent, having jumped by 0.3 percentage points last time round. Economists had forecast the jobless rate to edge higher to 5.2 per cent. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/us-jobs-figures-better-t han-expected.html ExxonMobil boosted by record oil prices By Sheila McNulty in Houston. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008. Published: May 1 2008 14:55 | Last updated: May 1 2008 14:55. ExxonMobil?s first-quarter results on Thursday reinforced the emphasis the world?s biggest listed oil company places on oil and gas, which continues to provide record earnings, even as high-profile shareholders call for increased diversification into alternatives. Net income was a record $10.9bn, up 17 per cent from the first quarter of last year, on higher crude oil and natural gas prices. The results, equivalent to earnings of $2.03 a share, up 25 per cent from last year, came despite lower refining and chemical margins, lower production volumes and higher operating costs. Exxon shares fell $3.62 or nearly 4 per cent at the open to $89.45 after the results failed to meet earnings expectations of $2.11 a share, according to Reuters Estimates. The Rockefeller family, the longest continuing shareholder of Exxon, publicly called this week for Exxon to stop relying on decisions made years ago to invest in the oil and gas projects from which it is still reaping high profits, and diversify to prepare for the future. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/exxonmobil-boosted-by-re cord-oil-prices.html Shell and BP profits soar to $14bn By Ed Crooks. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008. Published: April 29 2008 07:47 | Last updated: April 29 2008 15:23. Royal Dutch Shell and BP, Europe?s two biggest oil companies, have delivered better than expected results as the price of oil soared. While BP?s profit growth was much faster than Shell?s, both companies comfortably exceeded analysts? expectations, and shares in both rose sharply. UK Daily View: BP and Shell post big profits Ed Crooks on the oil giants? results that comfortably beat analysts? expectations Shares in both groups were up by 5 per cent in afternoon London trading, with BP rising 30p to 608?p and Shell gaining 97p at ?20.38. However, BP warned that its results had been flattered by unusual factors contributing about $1bn of profit in the quarter. It cautioned that the results should not be taken as evidence that Tony Hayward, the new chief executive, had yet succeeded in his attempts to turn the company round. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/04/shell-and-bp-profits-soa r-to-14bn.html GM posts big loss as U.S. sales hurt - Weakness at GMAC, American Axle strike also hurts results, but overseas vehicle sales help company top analysts' forecasts. GM posted a large loss in the first quarter, as U.S. auto sales were hurt by high fuel costs and the economic downturn. By David Goldman. Copyright by CNNMoney.com. Last Updated: April 30, 2008: 11:19 AM EDT. NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- General Motors Corp. reported a large first-quarter loss Wednesday, due in large part to struggles at its former finance wing GMAC, a strike at American Axle and slumping U.S. car sales. But the loss was narrower than expected and sales topped forecasts, helping to lift shares of GM (GM, Fortune 500) 9% to $23.15. GM, the nation's largest automaker, posted a net loss of $3.3 billion, or $5.74 per share. That was much wider than the $42 million, or 7 cents a share, loss from continuing operations it reported in the same period last year. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/04/gm-posts-big-loss-as-us- sales-hurt.html Deutsche falls to first loss in five years By James Wilson in Frankfurt. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008. Published: April 29 2008 07:56 | Last updated: April 29 2008 15:20. Deutsche Bank on Tuesday reported its first quarterly loss in five years and revealed the drastic impact of the credit crisis on its profitable investment banking activities. Reporting a net loss of ?141m ($220m, ?110m) for the first three months of 2008, Germany?s largest bank said the short-term outlook remained highly uncertain. Deutsche took ?2.7bn of write-downs ? more than expected ? in markets that Josef Ackermann, chief executive, said were ?the most difficult in recent memory?. Net revenues more than halved, from ?9.6bn in the first quarter of 2007 to ?4.6bn, as some of Deutsche?s business lines shrank as a result of the credit crisis. The corporate and investment bank ? including Deutsche?s most lucrative trading operations ? saw net revenues plunge from ?6.7bn to ?1.5bn. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/04/deutsche-falls-to-first- loss-in-five.html Mars and Buffett agree $23bn Wrigley purchase By Jenny Wiggins. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008. Published: April 28 2008 09:32 | Last updated: April 28 2008 15:19. Mars, the privately held US confectionery group, on Monday moved to create the world?s biggest confectionery company as it announced the agreed all-cash acquisition of gum group Wrigley for around $23bn (?11.5bn, ?14.7bn). Mars is offering $80 a share for Wrigley, a 28 per cent premium to the gum maker?s closing share price on Friday of $62.45 and a 34 per cent premium to the three-month weighted average price of $59.88. The deal is pitched at a multiple of 4.3 times 2007 sales and more than 35 times earnings per share. The merged company would have around 14.4 per cent of the global confectionery market, according to Bernstein Research, annual sales of more than $27bn and more than 64,000 employees worldwide. Warren Buffett, the legendary investor, is helping to finance the transaction through his Berkshire Hathaway investment company, which is contributing $4.4bn of subordinated debt. Further financing is being provided by Goldman Sachs, which is putting up $5.7bn of senior debt. The deal will also see Berkshire take a minority equity investment in Wrigley valued at $2.1bn, purchased at a discount to the share price being paid to Wrigley shareholders. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/04/mars-and-buffett-agree-2 3bn-wrigley.html Linens 'n Things files Chapter 11, to close 4 Chicago area stores. Copyright 2008 Associated Press. 11:08 AM CDT, May 2, 2008. Bedding- and home-furnishing retailer Linens 'n Things on Friday filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, the latest major retailer to succumb to the difficult consumer environment. It also said it will close 120 stores, almost a quarter of them in California. It plans to close four Illinois stores: on North Michigan Avenue in Chicago, Palatine, Skokie and Schaumburg. The company's parent, Linens Holding Co., filed a petition in bankruptcy court in Delaware. The company named Michael Gries of the restructuring firm Conway Del Genio Gries & Co. as chief restructuring officer and interim chief executive. Current CEO Robert DiNicola will become executive chairman. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/linens-n-things-files-ch apter-11-to.html Gold and Commodities Oil $116.32 Silver Bullion $16.41 Gold Bullion $857 Platinum Bullion $ $1905 Euro $1.54.06 Opec says oil could hit $200 By Carola Hoyos in London. Published: April 28 2008 13:56. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008. Last updated: April 28 2008 13:56. Opec?s president on Monday warned that oil prices could hit $200 a barrel and there would be little the cartel could do to help. The comments made by Chakib Khelil, Algeria?s energy minister, came as oil prices continued to hover near $120 a barrel, putting pressure on the already struggling US economy. His comments suggest Algeria wants the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries to continue to resist calls by US and European leaders for the cartel to pump more oil. Some US Democratic senators have even threatened to cut off defence supplies to Opec members if the 13-member group failed to reverse its position. But Mr Khelil blamed record oil prices on the weakness in the dollar and global political insecurity. He told El Moudjahid, Algeria?s government newspaper: ?I don?t think that an increase in production would help lower prices, because there is a balance between supply and demand and the stocks of gasoline in the United States have recorded a surplus and are at their highest level for five years.? http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/04/opec-says-oil-could-hit- 200.html Oil and gold claw back some losses By Neil Dennis. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008. Published: May 2 2008 11:22 | Last updated: May 2 2008 11:22. Oil prices clawed back some ground on Friday as speculators positioned themselves for weak, dollar negative US employment data later in the session. Nymex West Texas Intermediate, the US benchmark crude contract, reached a record peak of $119.93 a barrel on Monday, but has since fallen back to $113.34 ? a drop of 5.5 per cent. Meanwhile, gold ticked 0.4 per cent higher to $855 an ounce, but remained 3.4 per cent lower on the week as the broader commodity market was hit by a strengthening dollar. James Steel, precious metals analyst at HSBC said that recent price declines may be part of an overall commodity correction. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/oil-and-gold-claw-back-s ome-losses.html Dollar climbs as Fed shifts to neutral By Neil Dennis. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008. Published: May 1 2008 11:36 | Last updated: May 1 2008 11:36. The dollar climbed to its highest level in a month against the euro and hit a two-month high against the yen on Thursday after the Federal Reserve signalled it may hold US rates at 2 per cent. Following a quarter-point cut in the Fed funds rate on Wednesday, the US central bank said the outlook for inflation remained uncertain, but it was less bearish on the outlook for the economy. ?The Fed shifted to a neutral bias, removing the phrase indicating that ?downside risks to growth remain?,? said David Woo at Barclays Capital. He added: ?These changes signal that the Fed expects to keep rates unchanged for the foreseeable future, although developments in the economy and financial markets will determine what it does next.? In contrast, economists were increasingly of the opinion that eurozone growth has slowed to the point where the European Central Bank may have to act, or risk stunting economic growth. Recent eurozone data have been disappointing. German business sentiment, measured by Ifo, recorded its biggest monthly fall since September, 2001, while eurozone purchasing managers? indexes have also fallen in the last month. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/dollar-climbs-as-fed-shi fts-to-neutral.html Dollar jumps after US employment report By Peter Garnham. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008. Published: May 2 2008 11:57 | Last updated: May 2 2008 13:45. The dollar jumped on Friday after monthly US employment figures backed up the Federal Reserve?s less-bearish view about the country?s economy. With a fall of just 20,000 in monthly payrolls, the US labour market proved surprisingly resilient, confounding expectations that more than 75,000 jobs would be lost in April. Having rallied sharply on Thursday after investors reacted to signals from the Federal Reserve that it was set for a pause in its interest rate cutting cycle, the dollar set off again on an upward trajectory. ?The data plays very strongly to the pre-existing grain of the market, namely to buy dollar?s and buy risk,? said Alan Ruskin at RBS Greewich Capital. Shortly after the data, the greenback was up 0.6 per cent to $1.5383. Meanwhile, analysts said deteriorating eurozone economic data was weighing on the euro, feeding the notion that the single currency?s uptrend against the dollar might have peaked. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/dollar-jumps-after-us-em ployment-report.html Housing Illinois Average Rates 5/2/08 - 10:46 PM 30 Yr Fixed 5.72% 15 Yr Fixed 5.29% 30 Yr Fixed Jumbo 7.04% Taking a ride through the land of lost homes - Emotions set aside as real estate agents bus potential buyers ready to capitalize on other's misfortune By Susan Chandler Copyright ? 2008, Chicago Tribune. April 28, 2008. The yellow-and-orange bus would stand out anywhere even without the giant letters proclaiming its purpose: RepoHomeTourChica go.com. A handful of buyers have showed up to board the 12-seat shuttle parked at Woodfield mall amid the drizzle on a recent Saturday morning. As they take their seats, the home shoppers are handed a slick binder listing the repossessed properties they will see in the next two-and-a-half hours. "Welcome to Chicagoland's Premier Foreclosure Tour," it says. "Today we visit Hoffman Estates and Schaumburg." A few minutes after 11 a.m., the bus pulls onto Golf Road, and they're off. Not long ago, many people viewed shopping for a foreclosed home as a distasteful act, a form of benefiting from someone else's misfortune and misery. As thousands of distressed properties have glutted the market nationwide, driving down home prices for the first time in generations, that stigma appears to have greatly lessened, or maybe disappeared. Local real estate broker Bill Diehl is hoping the demand for bargain homes is as strong here as it is in such places as California and Florida, where foreclosure auctions and bus tours have drawn eager crowds. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/04/taking-ride-through-land -of-lost-homes.html Fall in US house prices accelerates By Chris Bryant in Washington. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008. Published: April 29 2008 14:27 | Last updated: April 29 2008 15:55. US house prices continue to plunge by a record amount, a new report showed on Tuesday, adding to pressure on consumers and threatening to prolong a domestic economic slowdown. Meanwhile, confidence among US consumers fell to its lowest level in five years as shoppers reacted to the impact of the housing slump, tighter credit conditions and a weakening labour market. The Standard & Poors/Case Shiller 10-city index of single-family house prices contracted by 13.6 per cent year-on-year in February, the most since records began in 1987. The broader 20-city index fell 12.7 per cent compared with a year earlier, the biggest drop since the index?s inception in 2001. Monthly price declines have accelerated, with repeat sale prices in the 20-city index falling by 2.6 per cent in February, compared with 2.4 per cent in January and 2.1 per cent in December. The worst affected cities were Las Vegas and Miami where home values have respectively fallen 22.8 per cent and 21.7 per cent in the past 12 months. In San Francisco house prices fell 5 per cent in just one month between January and February. ?Prices of single family homes continue to drop across the nation,? said David Blitzer, chairman of the index committee at S&P. ?There is no sign of a bottom in the numbers.? http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/04/fall-in-us-house-prices- accelerates.html Fed leads fresh move to ease credit strains By Krishna Guha in Washington and Michael Mackenzie in New York. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008. Published: May 2 2008 14:06 | Last updated: May 2 2008 14:06. US and European central banks on Friday launched a fresh co-ordinated assault on dollar money market strains on both sides of the Atlantic. The Federal Reserve announced that it was increasing the size of its credit auction facility ? the Term Auction Facility, which offers one-month loans to banks ? by 50 per cent to $150bn. Meanwhile the Fed, the European Central Bank and the Swiss National Bank said they were increasing the size of dollar currency swaps by almost 50 per cent to $50bn and $20bn, respectively. This money will be used to increase the supply of dollars offshore in Europe. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/fed-leads-fresh-move-to- ease-credit.html Financial Times Editorial Comment: No quick end to the credit squeeze. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008. Published: May 1 2008 18:49 | Last updated: May 1 2008 18:49. ?While there remain downside risks, the most likely path ahead is that confidence and risk appetite will return gradually in the coming months.? That is the view of John Gieve, deputy governor of the Bank of England, on what will now happen in credit markets. But while the Bank?s Financial Stability Report may be right not to expect further spectacular crashes and liquidity crises ? in that sense the worst may be over ? it does not follow that markets will soon return to normal. The Bank observes that bond prices imply unprecedented levels of default on subprime mortgages and unprecedentedly low levels of recovery from seizing properties and auctioning them off. It argues that predictions of ultimate losses from the credit squeeze based on these prices ? such as the $945bn estimate by the International Monetary Fund ? are therefore overstated. One implication is that, if markets recover, some banks that have aggressively written down assets may be able to write them back. This argument works but, as the Bank recognises, only to an extent. Some securities probably are trading below their ?fair value? because of uncertainty and illiquidity. Unless uncertainty and illiquidity are ended, however ? and it is hard to see what can do that ? investors are likely to carry on demanding risk premiums to hold asset-backed bonds. Just as the price of credit risk remained implausibly low for a long period, it can remain implausibly high for a long time as well. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/financial-times-editoria l-comment-no.html Countrywide plunges to $893m loss By Ben White in New York. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008. Published: April 29 2008 13:46 | Last updated: April 29 2008 13:46. Countrywide Financial, the giant mortgage lender being acquired by Bank of America, said on Tuesday it lost $893m in the first quarter as conditions in the US housing market worsened. Countrywide, a significant player in the subprime mortgage market, agreed to a $4bn takeover offer from BofA last year after teetering on the brink of bankruptcy. BofA, which long coveted Countrywide?s lending platform, expects to close the deal in the third quarter. It has said Countrywide will no longer offer loans to high-risk subprime borrowers. Countrywide said it lost $893m, or $1.60 a share, in the quarter, compared with a profit of $434m, or 72 cents, in the first quarter last year. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/04/countrywide-plunges-to-8 93m-loss.html International Chicago Tribune Editorial - Hunger and hope. Copyright ? 2008, Chicago Tribune. May 1, 2008. Food prices are soaring around the world?up 83 percent in the last three years, according to the World Bank. The cost of rice, a staple for billions, has skyrocketed in just weeks to $1,000 per ton from $400. Chicagoans grumble because food inflation adds a couple of bucks to their weekly bill at the grocery store, but it's a matter of life and death in parts of the globe far from America's abundance. Food riots have erupted in Haiti, Bangladesh and Ethiopia. Afghanistan, North Korea and large swaths of Africa could face famine. India, Egypt, Argentina and Ukraine banned some food exports to soften food price hikes. World Bank President Robert Zoellick estimates that increasing food prices have pushed 100 million people into poverty, undoing a decade of economic growth in some countries. United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki Moon on Tuesday set up a top-level task force on the food crisis, warning that it could hurt trade prospects, hinder social progress and threaten political security. There is no one cause for this calamity, but there are identifiable culprits?and there are workable solutions. A multiyear drought in Australia has contributed to high food prices. The weather can't be controlled, but Zoellick correctly noted, "This is not a natural disaster." It is the unintended, though inevitable, consequence of increasing prosperity in the developing world and continued arrogant market manipulation via trade policies, tariffs, subsidies and biofuel mandates in the developed world. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/chicago-tribune-editoria l-hunger-and.html Tsvangirai wins Zimbabwe election ? Reuters Limited. May 2, 2008. Zimbabwe?s opposition leader defeated President Robert Mugabe in the presidential election but faces a run-off vote after he failed to win an outright majority, the electoral body said. Movement for Democratic Change leader Morgan Tsvangirai won 47.9 per cent of the vote on March 29 and Mugabe took 43.2 per cent, said chief elections officer Lovemore Sekeramayi. The result was announced after a verification process by the candidates to check the result, but an opposition MDC spokesman said the announcement was scandalous and described it as ?daylight robbery?. He said the party executive would decide on the next move. Earlier, it had rejected the figure. Its initial projections showed Mr Tsvangirai had won 50.3 per cent of the vote and it said it had ended the rule of Mr Mugabe, 84, who has led Zimbabwe since independence from Britain in 1980. A month-long delay to results had raised fears of widespread bloodshed in a country suffering economic ruin. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/tsvangirai-wins-zimbabwe -election.html Pakistan strikes deal on restoring judges - Move could give lift to new government By Kim Barker. Copyright ? 2008, Chicago Tribune. 10:45 PM CDT, May 2, 2008. ISLAMABAD, Pakistan ? Pakistan's ruling parties apparently have agreed how to restore the judges fired by President Pervez Musharraf last fall, potentially resolving the most contentious issue facing the fledgling government and preventing the fragile coalition from collapsing. Former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, leader of the second-largest party in the coalition, said at a news conference Friday evening in Lahore that parliament would vote on a resolution to restore the judges May 12. Sharif, overthrown by Musharraf when he seized power while army chief in a 1999 coup, also said the president could be sacked because of the restoration of more than 60 judges. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/pakistan-strikes-deal-on -restoring.html Cuba puts first computers on sale to the public By WILL WEISSERT. Copyright 2008 Associated Press. 1:37 AM CDT, May 3, 2008. HAVANA - Cubans are getting wired. The island's communist government put desktop computers on sale to the public for the first time Friday, ending a ban on PC sales as another despised restriction on daily life fell away under new President Raul Castro. A tower-style QTECH PC and monitor costs nearly US$780 (euro505). While few Cubans can afford that, dozens still gawked outside a tiny Havana electronics store, crowding every inch of its large glass windows and leaving finger and nose prints behind. Inside, four clerks tore open boxes, hastily assembling display computers. By the time a sign went up listing the PCs specifications, more than a dozen shoppers were lined up to get in. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/cuba-puts-first-computer s-on-sale-to.html Mess-o-potamia Iraq: U.S. has no claim to oil boom - 'America has hardly even begun to repay its debt to Iraq,' Baghdad official says By Liz Sly. Copyright ? 2008, Chicago Tribune. 12:42 AM CDT, May 1, 2008. BAGHDAD ? As Congress gears up to debate the Bush administration's latest request for an additional $108 billion in war funding for Iraq and Afghanistan, Iraqis are fuming at suggestions being floated by lawmakers that Baghdad should start paying a share of the war's costs by providing cheap fuel to the U.S. military. "America has hardly even begun to repay its debt to Iraq," said Abdul Basit, the head of Iraq's Supreme Board of Audit, an independent body that oversees Iraqi government spending. "This is an immoral request because we didn't ask them to come to Iraq, and before they came in 2003 we didn't have all these needs." The issue of Baghdad's contribution to the costs of the war jumped to the forefront early in April during testimony to Congress of the Iraq war commander, Gen. David Petraeus, and the U.S. ambassador to Iraq, Ryan Crocker. Noting that the soaring price of oil is likely to give Iraq a revenue bonanza this year of up to $70 billion, senators quizzed the two on why Iraq isn't using its rising oil income to pay more of the costs of reconstruction. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/iraq-us-has-no-claim-to- oil-boom.html Shiite extremists lobbed more rockets or mortar shells at the U.S. protected Green Zone By SELCAN HACAOGLU . Copyright 2008 Associated Press. 7:55 AM CDT, April 28, 2008 BAGHDAD - Shiite extremists lobbed more rockets or mortar shells at the U.S. protected Green Zone on Monday as American and Iraqi troops engaged militants in the most violent clashes in weeks in Baghdad. Abrams tanks were used to repel attacks on two army checkpoints, killing 22 militants in one clash late Sunday, the U.S. military said on Monday. Sixteen other militants were killed Sunday in separate firefights. The militants apparently were taking advantage of a sandstorm that blanketed the capital on Sunday, which enabled them to shell the Green Zone that houses the U.S. Embassy and much of the Iraqi government on the west side of the Tigris River. Alarms could be heard again on Monday as loudspeakers warned residents to take cover and stay away from windows. The U.S. Embassy on Monday confirmed the area was hit by indirect fire, the military's term for rocket or mortar attacks, and said there were "no reports of serious injury or deaths at this time." http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/04/shiite-extremists-lobbed -more-rockets.html Bombs kill 35 in wedding convoy - U.S., Iraqi forces fight militia in Sadr City By Sholnn Freeman. Copyright by The Washington Post. 11:58 PM CDT, May 1, 2008. BAGHDAD ? Two suicide bombers attacked a wedding convoy as it passed through a busy market area in Diyala province northeast of Baghdad, killing at least 35 people and wounding at least 65, police said. As police and rescue crews rushed to the site after the first explosion in the town of Balad Ruz, the second bomb was detonated, police said. They said one of the attackers was a woman. The double bombing was the latest in a series of high-profile attacks in Diyala, a largely Sunni area. The attackers appear to be targeting members of the Awakening movement, mainly Sunnis who have joined with U.S. forces to fight the Sunni insurgent group Al Qaeda in Iraq. In central Baghdad, meanwhile, a car bomb targeting a U.S. military convoy killed an American soldier, the military said. Three suspects were detained and tested positive for explosive compounds, it said. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/bombs-kill-35-in-wedding -convoy-us.html Afghan president safe after fleeing gunfire at Kabul event By AMIR SHAH. Copyright 2008 Associated Press. 7:48 AM CDT, April 27, 2008 KABUL, Afghanistan - Suspected Taliban militants attacked a ceremony attended by the Afghan president on Sunday, unleashing automatic weapons fire that sent foreign dignitaries and senior members of the government fleeing for cover. Three people, including a lawmaker, were killed and eight were wounded. President Hamid Karzai, Cabinet ministers and ambassadors escaped unharmed, the presidential palace said. Karzai later appeared on television saying several suspects in the attack had been arrested. He said that "the enemy of Afghanistan" tried to disrupt the ceremony but were thwarted by security forces. A Taliban spokesman claimed responsibility for the attack, saying it had deployed six militants with suicide vests and guns to target the president. Spokesman Zabiullah Mujaheed said three had died. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/04/afghan-president-safe-af ter-fleeing.html National Top court's unfair play against fair play By Clarence Page. Copyright ? 2008, Chicago Tribune. April 27, 2008. Lilly Ledbetter worked in a Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. plant in Gadsden, Ala., for 19 years before she received a valuable tip from an anonymous source: She was making $6,500 less than the lowest-paid guy who had her job. She did what anybody might do. She sued. She was in for a surprise. So were a lot of civil rights experts. If any cases were intended to be covered by Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, they thought, it was cases like hers. Indeed, even the women I know who are hesitant feminists, the middle-of-the-road womenfolk who insist, "I'm not a feminist, but . . ." usually tend to follow that "but" with, "I believe that women should receive equal pay for equal work." But after Ledbetter's case made it all the way up to the U.S. Supreme Court last year, the high court ruled 5-4 that the law did not apply to her. She was too late. She should have filed her complaint years earlier when the original discrimination occurred. Indeed? As a legal matter, the decision was defensible, but as a practical matter it was inexcusable. One might even call it judicial activism, tilting a law intended to protect workers against discrimination into one that gives a big edge to employers who discriminate. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/04/top-courts-unfair-play-a gainst-fair.html A better way to fight crime By Steve Chapman. Copyright ? 2008, Chicago Tribune. May 1, 2008. In June 2006, a minor brawl erupted at Ye Olde Six Bells pub in Horley, England. In the aftermath, police arrested Mark Dixie, a chef at the pub, who surprised them by breaking into tears. He had good reason. As a standard practice in arrests, a DNA swab was taken from him. What the authorities didn't suspect, but he did, is that his DNA would match that of the man who raped and murdered an 18-year-old woman nine months earlier. Dixie was eventually sentenced to life in prison. This is just one of many cases that have vindicated the use of DNA in cracking crimes. Britain, which now has the world's biggest collection of such profiles, has found it abundantly useful as a law enforcement tool. In a typical month, police get 3,500 matches between samples recovered at crime scenes and DNA profiles in the database. Now the U.S. government is set to expand its own database to include anyone arrested by federal agents, as well as many foreigners who are detained for one reason or another. It will add more than 1 million samples each year, greatly increasing the chances of getting "cold hits" from crime scenes. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/better-way-to-fight-crim e.html Hispanics lead pace in diverse nation By Howard Witt. Copyright ? 2008, Chicago Tribune. 12:02 AM CDT, May 1, 2008. HOUSTON?The United States grew steadily more diverse last year, with Hispanics holding on to their rank as the nation's largest and fastest-growing minority group?a trend with far-reaching implications for American politics and Immigration policies. Newly released figures from the U.S. Census Bureau show that the nation's Hispanic population grew by 1.4 million in 2007 to reach 45.5 million people, or 15.1 percent of the total U.S. population of 301.6 million. Non-Hispanic blacks ranked as the second-largest minority group, at 37 million people. Overall, the nation's 102.5 million minorities accounted for 34 percent of the U.S. population, a new milepost on America's inexorable journey toward greater diversity and a harbinger of the growing political clout of non-whites. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/hispanics-lead-pace-in-d iverse-nation.html Indecision 2008 McCain's Birth Abroad Stirs Legal Debate - His Eligibility for Presidency Is Questioned By Michael Dobbs. Copyright by The Washington Post. Friday, May 2, 2008; Page A06 The Senate has unanimously declared John McCain a natural-born citizen, eligible to be president of the United States. That is the good news for the presumptive Republican nominee, who was born nearly 72 years ago in a military hospital in the Panama Canal Zone, then under U.S. jurisdiction. The bad news is that the nonbinding Senate resolution passed Wednesday night is simply an opinion that has little bearing on an arcane constitutional debate that has preoccupied legal scholars for many weeks. Article II of the Constitution states that "no person except a natural born citizen . . . shall be eligible to the office of president." The problem is that the Founding Fathers never defined exactly what they meant by "natural born citizen," and the matter has never been fully tested in court. At least three pending cases are challenging McCain's right to be sworn in as president. Jurists on both sides of the political divide, consulted by the McCain campaign, insist that the issue is clear-cut. They argue that McCain is a natural-born citizen because the United States held sovereignty over the Panama Canal Zone at the time of his birth, on Aug. 29, 1936; because he was born on a U.S. military base; and because his parents were U.S. citizens. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/mccains-birth-abroad-sti rs-legal-debate.html The Democratic Race in Seven Minutes http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid988327350/bclid1037705321/bcti d1531283112 The Obama Video http://www.dipdive.com/dip-politics/wato/ Obama denounces his former pastor By Edward Luce in Washington. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008. Published: April 29 2008 19:53 | Last updated: April 30 2008 00:33. A visibly angry Barack Obama on Tuesday all but disowned Jeremiah Wright, his former pastor, whose ever more provocative comments are believed to have dented the Illinois senator?s hopes of securing the Democratic party?s presidential nomination. Mr Obama, whom opinion polls show to be level with his rival Hillary Clinton in Indiana, which holds what some have billed a ?tiebreaker? primary vote on Tuesday, said he was ?outraged and saddened? by the Reverend Wright?s most recent comments. ?Rev Wright does not speak for me ? he does not speak for our campaign,? said Mr Obama. ?I cannot prevent him from continuing to make these outrageous remarks. But I do want him to be clear that [his remarks] contradict...who I am and everything that I am about.? Mr Wright, who is reported to have ignored the pleading of senior Obama supporters to cancel his appearance on Monday in front of the national media in Washington, reiterated his most incendiary comments ? including the charge that the US government had created HIV/Aids to kill African-Americans. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/04/obama-denounces-his-form er-pastor.html Obama keeps his cool over TV attack By Edward Luce in Washington. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008. Published: April 27 2008 19:59 | Last updated: April 27 2008 19:59. Barack Obama on Sunday said that Reverend Jeremiah Wright, his former pastor, was a ?legitimate [campaign] issue?, surprising those calling on the Republican party to withdraw an advertisement that shows Mr Wright?s face morphing into that of Mr Obama. The Republican advertisement shows a clip of Mr Wright saying ?God Damn America? and then switches to a clip of Mr Obama and a burning American flag. In an appearance that could prolong the controversy, Mr Wright will on Monday address the National Press Club in Washington. Many believe that the one-minute commercial, which is being aired in North Carolina, where Mr Obama will square off next week against Hillary Clinton in a presidential primary, is a foretaste of what Mr Obama would face in a general election were he to become the Democratic nominee. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/04/obama-keeps-his-cool-ove r-tv-attack.html International Herald Tribune Editorial - Senator Obama and Reverend Wright. Copyright by The International Herald Tribune. Published: May 1, 2008. It took more time than it should have, but on Tuesday Barack Obama firmly rejected the racism and paranoia of his former pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright Jr., and made it clear that the preacher does not represent him, his politics or his campaign. Obama has had to struggle to explain this relationship ever since a video surfaced of Wright damning the United States from his pulpit. Last month, Obama delivered a speech in which he said he disapproved of Wright's racially charged comments but said that the pastor still played an important role in his spiritual life. It was a distinction we were not sure would sit well with many voters. But what mattered more was the speech's powerful commentary on the state of race relations in this country. We hoped it would open the door to a serious, healthy and much-needed discussion on race. Wright has not let that happen. In the last few days, in a series of shocking appearances, he embraced the Rev. Louis Farrakhan's anti-Semitism. He said the government manufactured the AIDS virus to kill blacks. He suggested that America was guilty of "terrorism" and so had brought the 9/11 attacks on itself. This required a powerful, unambiguous denunciation, and Obama gave it. He said his former pastor's "rants" were "appalling." "They offend me," he said. "They rightly offend all Americans. And they should be denounced. And that's what I'm doing very clearly and unequivocally here today." http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/international-herald-tri bune-editorial.html Views: Race, religion and politics in the 21st century by Rev. Deborah Lake. Copyright by The Windy City Times. 2008-04-30. During the 40th anniversary of the death of Martin Luther King, Jr., we remember the ongoing struggle to end race based oppression in America. In our communities and our religious institutions we celebrate King's life, mourn his death, and we vow to continue the struggle. Meanwhile, Rev. Jeremiah Wright's comments, and our reactions to them, are part of the backdrop. Let us examine Wright's comments and our reactions to them with more than a simplified black/white understanding. As we remember the change brought about through the civil rights movement, let us look at the position of the Black church in the lives of many today with more than a bottom line good/evil lens. We can use this time of social unrest and political disagreement to develop broader understandings of what it means to be American, what it means to be oppressed, and what it means to hold ourselves, our government, and our institutions accountable. The unapologetic, racist, anti-Semitic, and anti-American comments of Wright opens a window to American history that many hoped had been closed through the work and sacrifices of activists over the decades. In addition, our reactions to these comments reveal how we tend to look for simplified explanations for the complex challenges that we face today. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/views-race-religion-and- politics-in.html Religion drags race to the fore in US election By Edward Luce in Chicago. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008. Published: May 2 2008 21:02 | Last updated: May 2 2008 21:02. The receptionist at Jeremiah Wright?s Trinity United Church of Christ makes a joking pretence of punching the latest visitor. ?We are not supposed to entertain media inquiries,? she declares. This Sunday, as on the preceding six, the media will lay siege to Barack Obama?s local church on Chicago?s south side for fear of missing what might be the latest twist in the affair surrounding its pastor. Surrounded by housing projects and boarded-up shops, Mr Wright?s church is 20 minutes drive from downtown Chicago but a world apart. Known for its work among the homeless, single-parent families and HIV-Aids sufferers, Mr Wright has irrevocably associated his church with a series of notorious comments that could badly damage Mr Obama?s prospects of reaching the White House. Rather than scolding their pastor for the damage he might have wrought, Trinity?s 8,500-strong congregation has closed ranks behind him. On Wednesday, Mr Obama, in effect, disowned Mr Wright after the pastor reiterated that the US had brought the 11 September terrorist attacks upon itself and vigorously defended the militant Nation of Islam, whose bodyguards were flanking him. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/religion-drags-race-to-f ore-in-us.html Chicagoland Chicago Tribune Editorial - Let voters decide on recall. Copyright ? 2008, Chicago Tribune. May 1, 2008. Whatever it takes. We urge the members of the Illinois House to do whatever it takes by Sunday's deadline to put a recall amendment on the Nov. 4 ballot. If they have to work the weekend, blame the defenders of Gov. Rod Blagojevich in the Illinois Senate. But if they do whatever it takes, they will give voters a chance to fire inept public officials who can't, or won't, earn their fat pay. First, of course, the Senate needs to pass its new proposal for a recall amendment and send it to the House. If the Senate fails, or if it doesn't do that soon enough to let the House vote, then Democratic senators will spend a very long time explaining how their inaction killed the recall. Public demands for a vote on a recall amendment aren't occurring in a vacuum. There's rising talk of moving to impeach the current governor if a recall mechanism isn't created. But that's a discussion for another week. This week, discussion has to focus on getting House and Senate approval on the recall amendment by May 4. That's the deadline to place it on the Nov. 4 ballot, when voters would have the final say. There's reason to be suspicious of the maneuvering by Senate Democratic leaders. The House approved a recall amendment three weeks ago, but the Senate leaders refused to call it for a vote. Then on Tuesday, they grabbed a straightforward, bipartisan Senate proposal and gummed it up with changes that were designed to make it more difficult for the House to accept. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/chicago-tribune-editoria l-let-voters.html Impeachment dust kicked up by recall talk By Eric Zorn. Copyright ? 2008, Chicago Tribune. May 1, 2008. Sentiment is growing that it's high time we got rid of Gov. Rod Blagojevich. His leadership has been so poisonously inept that we've made almost no progress toward reform in such bedeviling areas as education, pensions, health care, capital spending and transit. Contributing to this paralysis is a darkening cloud of scandal hovering over his administration. I share that sentiment. Illinois can't and shouldn't have to endure another 33 months of Cirque du Blago. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/impeachment-dust-kicked- up-by-recall.html City scraps troubled blue bag program - Oft-criticized system will give way to bins used in pilot program By Laurie Cohen and Kristen Kridel. Copyright ? 2008, Chicago Tribune. 11:43 PM CDT, May 2, 2008. Mayor Richard Daley's controversial blue bag recycling program will end this summer, and the city will expand suburban-style recycling across the city by 2011. City Hall slowly has been moving toward replacing the blue bag program, which has been marked by cronyism and lack of participation, and has been a continuing embarrassment for Daley, who prides himself on being one of the country's greenest mayors. Environmentalists said the blue bag program, which began in 1995, was so bad that they aren't concerned that its demise leaves the city without another system fully in place for the next few years. "The blue bag program was so ineffective it's a minimal loss," said Julie Dick, president of the Chicago Recycling Coalition, which has long pushed the city to adopt suburban-style recycling. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/city-scraps-troubled-blu e-bag-program.html Children's Museum lowers its profile in new Grant Park design proposal By Noreen S. Ahmed-Ullah. Copyright ? 2008, Chicago Tribune. 10:30 AM CDT, May 2, 2008. To circumvent long-standing restrictions barring buildings in Grant Park, the Chicago Children's Museum has once again changed its designs for a proposed location in the northeast end of the park. To lower the project's physical profile, the museum, which is seeking to move from Navy Pier to Grant Park, has ditched the 16-foot skylight structures it was planning to build in the park and has relocated a glassy entry pavilion onto a nearby sidewalk area so that it is no longer on park property, said Grant Park Conservancy President Bob O'Neill. "It's a considerable reduction in profile," O'Neill said. "It's going to be very difficult legally to challenge this now." Since 2005, the museum has wanted to move from its current location in Navy Pier into Grant Park directly off Randolph Street. It hopes to replace an existing fieldhouse with a $100 million museum building. The museum also plans to build a $15 million fieldhouse for the Chicago Park District. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/childrens-museum-lowers- its-profile-in.html GLBT In modern Christianity, who is out of step on gays? By Leonard Pitts. Copyright ? 2008, Chicago Tribune. April 29, 2008. James Lawson is out of step with modern Christianity. Take gay marriage. Speaking in support of a proposed state constitutional ban on same sex unions, one Rev. Hayes Wicker of First Baptist Church in Naples, Fla., was recently quoted by the Naples Daily News as saying, "This is a tremendous social crisis, greater even than the issue of slavery." As asinine as that remark is, it is perfectly in step with much of modern Christianity, which has spent years demonizing gay men and lesbians. And then there's Rev. Lawson, who spoke last weekend at the 10th anniversary conference of Soulforce, a group that fights church-based homophobia. Few things could be more "out" of step. Lawson, you may know, is an icon of the civil rights movement; it was he who invited Martin Luther King Jr. to Memphis to support the striking sanitation workers. He sees his longtime involvement with Soulforce as part of the same struggle. "The human rights issue is not a single issue," he told me recently. "It is about all humankind. And all humankind has been endowed with certain inalienable rights." http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/04/in-modern-christianity-w ho-is-out-of.html Chicago Sun-Times Editorial - School no place for anti-gay shirt. Copyright by The Chicago Sun-Times. April 28, 2008. Being gay in high school must be hard enough without having to walk past a guy in the hall wearing a T-shirt that says, "Be Happy, Not Gay." We would call that crude and intolerant -- the sort of message we all have to live with on a T-shirt spotted at, say, State and Madison, where free speech is free speech. But not in a public high school. Too bad the U.S. Court of Appeals can't see that. The court on Wednesday lifted a ban against a sophomore boy wearing just such a T-shirt at Neuqua Valley High School in Naperville. The ban remains in effect pending the outcome of a civil rights suit the boy and his parents have filed against the school. Judge Richard Posner, writing for the court, got it right when he argued that the Constitution allows for reasonable limits on free speech in schools. "High school students are not adults," he wrote, "schools are not public meeting halls, children are in school to be taught by adults rather than to practice attacking each other with wounding words." But Posner got it wrong when he concluded that "Be Happy, Not Gay" is only "tepidly negative" and should not be forbidden by the school. Unless, that is, Posner and the Court of Appeals take the increasingly scientifically bankrupt view that homosexuality is nothing but a lifestyle choice -- not a matter of nature and biology. "Be Happy, Not Gay," to our way of thinking, makes about as much sense as "Be Happy, Not Black." http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/04/chicago-sun-times-editor ial-school-no.html Schools, LGBT parents and the need to be involved (Extended for the Online Edition) by Amy Wooten. Copyright by The Windy City Times. 2008-04-30. Given the fact that LGBT parents and their children are often mistreated in a school setting, how do LGBT families go about choosing a school with a proven track record, or make the most out of the school their child currently attends? Many LGBT parents don't know where to start when it comes to finding a school or working to make their child's school a better place for the entire family. Knowing where to begin and what resources are available to both parents and students is crucial given the light a recent study has shed on the issue. A report released by the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network ( GLSEN ) , Family Equality Council and COLAGE in February found that although LGBT parents are more involved in their children's education ( more likely to attend parent-teacher conferences and volunteer ) , they are also more likely to feel excluded and ignored because the school community doesn't accept them. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/schools-lgbt-parents-and -need-to-be.html Buying a Business - Avoiding the Pitfalls By Roger McCaffrey-Boss. Copyright by Gay Chicago Magazine and Roger McCaffrey-Boss. April 29, 2008. Q: A friend of mine is planing on retiring and wants to sell me and my lover his restaurant. What are the potential problems I face in buying an ongoing business? A: Your lawyer should first assist you in the preparation of the contract for the purchase of the business. That contract will cover essential issues, such as the price and payment terms, is it to be a cash deal or will the seller finance part of the sale? The contract should also include a list of the equipment to be sold and what documents the seller should provide to establish that there are no liens against the equipment or judgments against the seller which could prevent the seller from transferring good title to the equipment and business assets. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/04/buying-business-avoiding -pitfalls.html Health Care WALKING OFF THE ANGER - Rage between cars, bikes is a vicious wheel By Kevin Williams. Copyright ? 2008, Chicago Tribune. April 27, 2008. We're mad as hell, and it's all because of the wheel. Cyclists are dropping, and the whole bike-versus-car showdown has become a tinderbox. This should make any sane person slow down and think. Instead, it inspires invective. Just look at Internet message boards, like the Tribune's, for proof: Those bikers had it coming. They don't obey traffic laws," says a motorist. "SUV-driving pigs hog the road and waste resources as they try to kill me," says a cyclist. But here's the thing: When I am in my car, cyclists vex the mess out of me. On my bicycle, cyclists and motorists vex the mess out of me. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/04/walking-off-anger-rage-b etween-cars.html Men of the cloth - When it comes to keeping women pregnant and in their place, polygamous Mormons and the pope have a lot in common. But the pope does it on a wider scale. By Katha Pollitt. Copyright by The Nation Magazine. April 29, 2008. Child abuse. Sexual abuse. Women raised to be baby machines controlled by powerful older men in the name of God. These shockers?and many more?are flagrantly on offer in the spectacle unfolding around the 139 women and 437 children removed by Texas authorities from the Yearning for Zion Ranch in Eldorado. The YFZ is an outpost of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, a breakaway Mormon cult presided over by Warren Jeffs, convicted in Utah as an accomplice to rape and awaiting trial in Arizona for incest and conspiracy. The visuals are riveting: women in pastel prairie dresses and identical pompadour-cum-French-braid hairstyles weeping for their children in state custody; skinny-necked middle-age men insisting they had no idea it was illegal to marry and impregnate multiple 15-year-olds. There's a feminist angle, a child-protection angle and a civil liberties angle?it isn't clear that the children were in immediate danger, and this drastic and clumsy sweep might well cause cultists to isolate themselves even more. The original impetus for the raid?a desperate phone call from someone claiming to be a 16-year-old girl raped and abused by her 50-year-old "spiritual husband"?is looking more and more like a hoax. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/04/men-of-cloth-when-it-com es-to-keeping.html Technology Apple in downloads deal with big studios By Kevin Allison in San Francisco and Matthew Garrahan in Los Angeles. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008. Published: May 1 2008 20:16 | Last updated: May 1 2008 21:07. Apple has struck a deal with Warner Brothers and other big film studios to sell film downloads through iTunes on the same day that titles are released on DVD. The move marks the latest step in a revamp of Apple?s film download strategy. This year the company said it would begin offering film rentals over iTunes after Steve Jobs, chief executive, admitted its paid download strategy had not worked as well as had been hoped. The inclusion of Warner, which has the biggest film library in Hollywood, significantly bolsters the video content available to buy on iTunes. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/apple-in-downloads-deal- with-big.html Immigration Financial Times Editorial Comment: The shameful dividends of immigrant bashing. Copyright by The Financial Times. Published: May 2, 2008. For Americans, what is happening each night in the French channel port of Calais is poignantly and shamefully familiar. As Caroline Brothers reported on Wednesday in The International Herald Tribune, clusters of poor people wait for darkness and a high-risk chance to crawl inside or beneath a truck to cross to a country that needs and welcomes their labor but refuses to legally recognize their presence. The United States has engaged in this labor-market hypocrisy for decades. Border crossers are mainly Mexican and Central American. Western Europe's come from North and Central Africa, the Middle East and former east bloc countries not yet in the European Union. Just about everywhere, they are distrusted by the local population and vilified by demagogic politicians. In the rush to blame foreigners for real and imagined social ills, Europe's anemic birth rates, aging population and hard-to-fill jobs are forgotten. Without large infusions of foreign workers, the tourist industries that many European countries depend on would be understaffed and the cost of construction would soar. None of this has stopped Europe's politicians from stoking fears of immigrant crime, welfare burdens and foreign ways. That should also sound familiar to Americans. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/financial-times-editoria l-comment.html Chicago Sun-Times Editorial - Get off fence on immigration. Copyright by The Chicago Sun-Times. May 1, 2008. Tens of thousands of people are expected to march in Chicago today, May Day, also known as International Worker's Day. They are demanding immigrant rights and legalization for the 12 million undocumented immigrants in the United States. It's not just a Mexican issue but one that will rally Poles, Indians, Koreans and Filipinos, who also have sizable undocumented populations in Illinois, as well as legal immigrants and U.S. citizens. An estimated 450,000 to 550,000 undocumented immigrants live in Illinois. Today's march is expected to be smaller than the 400,000 who came out in 2006 and the 150,000 in 2007. But resolving America's immigration debate remains a burning issue. It has fallen off the political radar as the media focus on such lesser and ephemeral matters as the views of Barack Obama's former pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, and how Hillary Clinton exaggerated the danger of landing in Bosnia. It's time our political leaders get back to working on issues that matter, and that includes immigration reform. But nothing is likely to happen until we elect a new president, so allow us to take this occasion to remind you where the candidates stand on immigration. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/chicago-sun-times-editor ial-get-off.html Tables turned in immigration flap - Neighbors say Mexico is guilty of a double standard when it comes to treatment of illegal migrants By Oscar Avila . Copyright ? 2008, Chicago Tribune. 12:21 AM CDT, May 2, 2008. MEXICO CITY ? While Mexican immigrants led the charge in Chicago and other cities Thursday to push the U.S. government to treat illegal immigrants more humanely, the same demands for immigrant rights are festering in Mexico, which is facing mounting criticism for how it treats Latin American migrants. In April, diplomats from El Salvador and Honduras protested after dozens of their citizens accused Mexican authorities of brutality while they were detained. That same month, the top UN advocate for migrant rights toured the country and said that "the impunity with which Mexico victimizes Central American immigrants makes it the principal violator of human rights on the American continent." The outcry came as Mexican President Felipe Calderon, while at a North American summit in New Orleans last month, gave his most eloquent defense about the contributions that Mexican immigrants make to the U.S. That led conservative U.S. lawmakers to accuse Mexico of hypocrisy, and even Mexican lawmakers say the gap between their country's rhetoric and actions has become a problem in pushing Immigration reform. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/tables-turned-in-immigra tion-flap.html The illegal immigrants you never read about - 'I WAS ASHAMED' | Hungarian kept a secret from all as she studied, worked and, finally, gained citizenship By TERESA PUENTE. Copyright by the Chicago Sun-Times. April 28, 2008. Rita Gondocs was 11 when she came to the United States from Budapest with her mother and twin sister. She remembers the shock of humidity that washed over her that summer of 1988. They soon moved into a studio apartment in Edgewater, and her mother worked days as a cleaning woman and nights at a Hungarian restaurant to pay for her daughters to attend a Catholic school. But they kept a secret for the next 10 years; they were undocumented immigrants. "Nobody knew at school. I didn't tell any of my friends. I was ashamed," recalled Gondocs, now 31 and a high school teacher on the South Side. Gondocs is one of countless immigrants who were once undocumented but through family sponsors, assistance from an employer or the 1986 amnesty have become legal immigrants or U.S. citizens. We rarely hear their stories. In this column, I plan to feature one of their stories each month for the next six months. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/04/illegal-immigrants-you-n ever-read-about.html Other Planes and purgatory: A day at the airport By Garrison Keillor. Copyright ? 2008, Chicago Tribune. April 30, 2008. A cabdriver picked me up outside the Waffle House in Little Rock last Sunday and said so sweetly, "I hope you enjoyed your breakfast" and I said yes, but honestly, I don't really associate breakfast with enjoyment. It's a standardized meal meant to fortify you for the day's maneuvers. In my parents' home we sat down to our Cheerios and toast and ate it and conversed in small declarative sentence fragments and jumped up and out the door, and I still do, and that's why I don't intend to retire: What do you do after breakfast? Do you have to hang out for hours with other geezers and geezerettes and reminisce about the days when it was fun to fly from place to place?remember? When you walked through the airport and out the door onto the tarmac and up the stairs to the plane, just like Ingrid Bergman in "Casablanca"? I don't care to. Although when I went through airport security in Minneapolis on Monday, it was an object lesson in something?a line of a hundred people twisted around in the cattle chute, 16 men and women in the white Transportation Security Administration shirts with the epaulets, an obese young woman shouting at us to take our laptops out of our cases in a voice she learned from a prison camp movie; one metal detector in operation, two closed, and the guardian of this narrow gate was a man who carefully read each boarding pass as if proofreading it for misspellings. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/04/planes-and-purgatory-day -at-airport.html Humor Bipartisanship http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/bipartisanship.html New! Carlos now has an online store. Order your books directly from Carlos and have them signed and dedicated. http://www.carlostmock.com/catalog/ In Pride (orgullo), Carlos T. Mock, MD Www.carlostmock.com Author: Borrowing Time: A Latino Sexual Odyssey - Floricanto Press 2003. Nominated for a Stonewall Award by the American Library Association GLBT Round Table. Author: The Mosaic Virus ? Floricanto Press 2007. Nominated for a Stonewall Award by the American Library Association GLBT Round Table, and a Lammie from The Lambda Literary Foundation Author: Author: Papi Chulo ? Floricanto Press 2007. Nominated for a Stonewall Award by the American Library Association GLBT Round Table, and a Lammie from The Lambda Literary Foundation -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From ctmock at gmail.com Sat May 10 13:16:48 2008 From: ctmock at gmail.com (Carlos Mock) Date: Sat, 10 May 2008 14:16:48 -0500 Subject: [News] The Hope Newsletter - May 10, 2008 In-Reply-To: Message-ID: ?Pessimism never won any batte.? Dwight David Eisenhower Let?s hope there is enough Hope in Mr. Obam?s heart to deal with the deck he will inherit. Your Lack of Money Misleading growth statistics giv false comfort By Martin Feldstein. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008. Published: May 7 2008 18:54 | Last updated: May 7 2008 18:54. Prepositions matter. Th recent government report that US gross domestic product increased 0.6 per cet in the first quarter was very misleading. It implied that economic activty was rising in January, February and March. But the increase actually reers to the rise from the average level in the fourth quarter of 2007 to he average level in the first quarter. Monthly data since January indicatethat economic activity and GDP have been declining since the start of thisyear. Private sector payroll employment peaked last November and has falle five months in a row, shedding more than 300,000 jobs. Industrial prodction was lower in March than in December and January. Real personal income et of taxes and transfers is also lower than in January. Real retail sales hae fallen since the start of the year. Private housing starts are down 13 per ent in just the two months since January and 36 per cent from a year ago. Alhough the government does not provide monthly estimates of GDP, Macroeconomc Advisers, a private forecaster, constructs them using the same conceptual aproach as the government uses for its quarterly estimates. The companyestimates real GDP based on the price level of the year 2000. Its mot recent estimates (revised figures to be published this month) show that real GDP rose from an annual $11,649bn last October to $11,701bn in December and $11,777bn in Januar but fell to $11,686bn in March, a decline of about $100bn in two months. Alhough GDP declined during the first quarter, the average of the monhly figures in the first quarter ($11,711bn) is higher than the average of he monthly figures for the final quarter of 2007 ($11,675bn). http://iretredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/misleading-growth-statis tics-givefalse.html More US businesses file for bankruptcy By James Politi in Washigton. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008. Published: May 6 2008 22:2 | Last updated: May 6 2008 22:22. Corporate bankruptcy filings in the S last month rose more than 50 per cent over the previous year?s figure as the economy weakens and an increasing number of businesses fail. Accoring to Jupiter eSources, a research group in Oklahoma that tracks data fro US courts, 5,173 companies filed for bankruptcy protection in April. he number of commercial bankruptcy filings has been steadily rising over he past few months, with readings of 3,808 in December and 4,236 in February. Several high-profile companies have been forced into Chapter 11 bankruptcy recently, includi Tropicana, the casino company, and Linens N Things, the retailer that wa taken private by Apollo Management, the US private equity group, two yearsago. The US economy has been growing at a sluggish annual rate of 0.6 per ent for the past six months. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/008/05/more-us-businesses-file- for-bankruptcy.html Wall Street fall as oil hits new highs By Anuj Gangahar in New York. Copyright The Financal Times Limited 2008. Published: May 9 2008 13:24 | Last updated: May 92008 15:17. US stocks fell at the open on Friday as steep losses at insure American International Group fuelled credit concerns and the soaring rice of oil raised inflation worries Shortly after the market opened in New ork, the S&P 500 index was 0.8 per cent lower at 1,387.25 while the Nsdaq composite was 0.7 per cent lower at 2,434.13. The Dow Jones IndustrialAverage was down 0.7 per cent at 2.434.13. The crisis at AIG deepened on Tursday after $15bn in credit-related writedowns plunged the US insurer ino a record quarterly loss, reported after the market closed, and prompted t to raise $12.5bn to bolster its weakened balance sheet. AIG?s poor first uarter results and capital raising plans will increase pressure on Martin Sllivan, chief executive, and dispel investor hopes that turbulence in the credit markets has subsided. AIG shares were down 5.8 per cent to $41.53. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/008/05/wall-street-falls-as-oil -hits-new-highs.html Citigroup considrs $400bn asset sales By Francesco Guerrera in New York. Copyright The Financal Times Limited 2008. Published: May 9 2008 00:41 | Last updated: Ma 9 2008 14:51. Citigroup on Friday confirmed that at least $400bn in noncore assets could be sold as part of plans to reduce costs and restore profitgrowth to double-digit rates. At a long-awaited meeting with Wall Street anaysts, Vikram Pandit, Citi?s chief executive, also plans to confirm his pledge first disclosed in the Financial Times, to cut Citi?s cost base of more tan $60bn by about 20 per cent. Despite his desire to prune Citi?s balance heet aggressively, Mr Pandit will use the meeting to rebuff calls for a breakup of the company, say sources familiar with his thinking. They say he wil defend Citi?s ?universal banking model? combining consumer and wholesale anking. Mr Pandit is likely to say that about 20 per cent of Citi?s $2,000b-plus balance sheet consists of ?legacy? assets ? entire businesses or tradin positions outside its core businesses in commercial, consumer and invesment banking. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/citigroup-onsiders-400b n-asset-sales.html UBS to shed a further 2,600 bankers By Hig Simonian in Zurich. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008. ublished: May 6 2008 08:14 | Last updated: May 6 2008 13:53. UBS is to cutanother 2,600 jobs from its investment bank in a further reaction to lsses caused by the US subprime crisis, the Swiss group said on Tuesday. The latest job cuts ? part of a package to reduce the group?s total wororce by about 5,500 by the middle of next year ? follow the initial 1,50 investment banking jobs shed as the Swiss group emerged as the biggest European casualty of the turmoil in credit markets in recent months. The bank, which posted a SFr11.54bn ($11n, ?7.1bn) pre-tax loss for the first quarter, said that while most of te investment banking cuts would be involuntary, it hoped the job losses i other parts of the group could come through attrition and internal rdeployments. The losses, prompted by about $19bn of further write-down on troubled holdings, were in line with the figures indicated by the bank onApril 1. However, UBS on Tuesday added a more positive forecast for its emaining US positions, which have been sharply reduced, along with a goomy profits outlook for the full year. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.bogspot.com/2008/05/ubs-to-shed-further-2600 -bankers.html US shoppers stic to the bargain basement By Daniel Pimlott in New York. Copyright The Finacial Times Limited 2008. Published: May 8 2008 17:47 | Last updated: May 2008 20:27. US shoppers continued to veer towards cheaper stores and essetial goods and away from discretionary items in April but brought some relef for retailers after a poor start to the year. Same-store sales, a ey retail measure of sales in stores open at least a year, rose by 3.3 per cnt against expectations of a 1.1 per cent rise according to Retail Metric, which analyses shopping trends. The rise suggested a better period for shops after weaker sales over the past few months, but still pointed to a consumer who is contending with record oi bills and falling home prices. Wal-Mart, the world?s largest retailer,and Costco, the warehouse club, in particular benefited from the upturn in sles, in a sign that cost-conscious consumers are turning increasingly t discount retailers and bulk buying as the US economy slows. Teen appare retailers bucked the trend among clothes retailers to receive a boost frm warmer April weather. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/u-shoppers-stick-to-bar gain-basement.html U.S. aims to rein in 'unfair' creit cards By Becky Yerak. Copyright ? 2008, Chicago Tribune. May 3, 2008. Addressing "unfair" and "deceptive" practices in the credit card business, he Federal Reserve on Friday proposed sweeping new rules to reform an ndustry that wields ever-increasing power. The Fed, which has been criticzed for reacting too slowly to the mortgage crisis, along with the Office ofThrift Supervision and the National Credit Union Administration, want to, mong other things, give consumers enough time to make their payments and sop credit card companies from charging punishing interest rates on outstaning balances. "This is the first time in many years that so many new rule involving the credit card industry have been proposed at one time, said Judith Rinearson, a partner with law firm Bryan Cave LLP in New York nd a former group counsel for the American Express Global Travelers Cheque."In this economic environment, such regulation is probably inevitable." ne rule would ensure that statements are mailed or delivered at least 21 days before the payment due date. Another would prohibit credit card companies from applyig partial payments to only the balances on the credit card with the lowest nterest rates, forcing them to apply at least some of the payment to higher-ate balances. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/us-aims-t-rein-in-unfai r-credit-cards.html Gold and Commodities Oil $126.2 Siler Bullion $16.81 Gold Bullion $885 Platinum Bullion $ $2094 Euro 1.5467 Financial Times Editorial Comment: Living in a world of $200 oil. opyright The Financial Times Limited 2008. Published: May 9 2008 19:50 | Lat updated: May 9 2008 19:50. It is about 125 years since shipping oilin wooden barrels became obsolete. An oil price above $125 a barrel, however,and speculation that the price could hit $200 are reminders that we hav become ever more dependent on the black stuff. Oil is unlikely to hit $200 nd remain above it any time soon ? but economies would suffer if it di. The underlying reason for oil?s tenfold price rise in less than 10 years i that demand, not least from China and India, has risen rapidly while supplyhas not kept pace. That dynamic is diffrent to the supply shocks of the 1970s, but because truck drivers and commuters cannot easily stop travelling, even a small deficit in supply can cause large moves the oil price. Tight supply and demand have made markets volatile. The spo price of oil for immediate delivery remains above the price for delivery i future months. This suggests particular fear about short-term supplies, hile there is some evidence that speculation and worried buyers laying in stoks have pushed up prices. Spot prices could surge or plunge in the short-erm, but seem unlikely to return to levels that are low and stable for some tme. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/financial-times-editria l-comment_10.html Oil and corn hit record high By Javier Blas in London. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008. Published: May 9 2008 08:41 | Lst updated: May 9 2008 18:49. Crude oil and corn prices surged to reord highs on Friday asthe world?s hunger for fuels continued to convulse the energy and agriculture markets. The rise in oil prices to a record of $126.2 a barrel ? double the level of a yea ago ? was the culmination of a stunning week in which prices jumped by 10, stoking fears of higher inflation in spite of lower economic growth. A year that began with people asking whether oil prices would finally each $100 a barrel is seeing some traders already betting on when it will ht $200. The increase in energy costs is putting fresh pressure on the Orgaisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries, the oil producers? cartel, toincrease levels of production. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/208/05/oil-and-corn-hit-record- high.html Financial Times Editorial Commet: The dollar danger is not over yet. Copyright The Financial Times Liited 2008. Published: May 8 2008 19:35 | Last updated: May 8 2008 19:3 When a currency rises after government officials say that it should, you larn one thing: that the fundamentals were pushing it up anyway. It makessense for senior US and European officials to talk up the dollar against he euro ? as they did this week in the Financial Times ? especially nowthat optimism about the US economy makes theirarguments plausible. In the long run, however, the real risk of a dollar crisis is against the managed currencies of Asia and the Middle East. Early March was time of danger for the dollar. There were forecasts of a deep depression, liqidity fears around some of the mightiest banks on Wall Street, and the dollr?s decline against the euro, already rapid, began to accelerate. Tha decline could have become self-sustaining if investors had begun to dum US assets, but the decisive rescue of Bear Stearns by the Federal Reserve shfted expectations about future US interest rates and restored confidence. Through good judgment, as well as a little good luck, policymakers have so ar avoided turning a credit crisis into a currency crisis. Without a run f fresh bad news on the US economy there is little reason for the dollar to all further. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/financial-tmes-editoria l-comment_09.html Housing Illinois Average Rates 5/10/0 - 10:46 PM 30 Yr Fixed 5.74% 15 Yr Fixed 5.33% 30 Yr Fixed Jumbo 6.95% Mood swings against US homes rescue By James Politi and Krishna Guha in Washington. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008. Published: M 8 2008 22:30 | Last updated: May 9 2008 00:00. A senior White House offial set out two conditions on Thursday that would have to be met if the adinistration is to reach agreement with Democrats on a housing finance pan. Keith Hennessey, director of the National Economic Council, told th Financial Times that a proposal to allow the Federal Housing Administrtion to refinance up to $300bn (?195bn, ?152bn) of mortgages should be modfied to make the programme self-financing and strengthen its underwriting tandards. Buoyed by better-than-expected economic news, the administrationhardened its negotiating stance this week, making clear that the president wold not accept the plan in its present form. ?It clearly is way too expensiv and it looks way too much like a bail-out,? Mr Hennessey said, adding tha now the question was whether a compromise could be worked out that ould still involve an expansion of the role of the FHA, but without any cot to taxpayers and fewer concerns about ?moral hazard?. http://iretiredromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/mood-swings-against-us-h omes-rescu.html Fannie Mae to raise $6bn new capital By Michael Mackenzi in New York. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008. Published: May 6 2008 13:45 | Last updated: May 6 2008 14:38. Fannie Mae, the largest buyer of mortgages in the US, on Tuesday eported a first-quarter loss of $2.2bn, posted credit loss provisions of $31bn and said it would seek $6bn in new capital as the deteriorating housig market extracted a heavy toll. Fannie, a government sponsored enterprise(GSE), swung to a loss of $2.57 a share as home delinquencies and foreclosurs rose. This was in sharp contrast with a $961m or 85 cents a share profit fo the first quarter a year ago. Credit losses were $249m a year ago. The comany warned that housing faced ?severe weakness? and that house prices would all by 7-9 per cent in 2008, raising the prospect of further mortgage defauts and home foreclosures. Fannie said an estimate of its fair value of netassets was $12.2bn at the end of the first quarter. This was 66 per cent lwer than the value of $35.8bn assigned at the end of December. The fairvalue estimate is an off-balance-sheet measure that Fannie uses to report mar-to-market losses. The capital raising will consist of selling common stock,convertible and non-convertible preferred stock, and Fannie will also cut itsquarterly dividend to 25 cents a share from 35 cents beginning in the tird quarter. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/fanniemae-to-raise-6bn- new-capital.html US banks continue to tighten lending By rishna Guha in Washington. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008. blished: May 6 2008 02:43 | Last updated: May 6 2008 02:43. US banks tighteed lending standards in the early months of this year in near-record nubers, a Federal Reserve report indicated on Monday, suggesting that the crdit squeeze in the economy continued to intensify. The senior loan officers?survey reported that the fraction of banks tightening lending standards was ?lose to or above historical highs for nearly all loan categories? ? including corporate loans, commercial real estate, mortgages, credit cards and other consumer loans. Meanwhile,Ben Bernanke, Fed chairman, called on lenders andolicymakers to help homeowners with negative equity to restructure their debts and avoid foreclosure. In a speech, he said in cases when the value of ahome has fallen far below the value of the mortgage, ?the best solution ma be a write-down of principal ... perhaps combined with a refinancing by te Federal Housing Administration or other lender?. http://iretiredfromnewsltters.blogspot.com/2008/05/us-banks-continue-to-tig hten-lending.html U.S. ending home sales drop to new low in March By J.W. ELPHINSTONE. Copyright 008 Associated Press. May 7, 2008. NEW YORK - An industry group said Wedesday that pending U.S. home sales dropped to a new low in March, signaling he housing slump has yet to bottom out even as the spring sell season gets nder way. The National Association of Realtors' seasonally adjsted index of pending sales for existing homes fell to 83.0 from a downwadly revised February reading of 83.8, the index's previous low. The index tood at 103.9 in March 2007. Wall Street economists polled by Thomson/IF had predicted the index would slip to a readin of 83.8. A reading of 100 is equal to the average level of sales activity in 2001, when the index started. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/us-pendinghome-sales-dr op-to-new-low.html Fed auctions $75 billion to banks to give redit relief By Jeannine Aversa. Copyright ? 2008, Chicago Tribune. 9:15 AM DT, May 6, 2008. Battling to relieve stressed credit markets, the FederalReserve said Tuesday it has provided a total of $435 billion in short-term oans to squeezed banks since December to help them overcome credit problems. The central bank announced the results of its most recent auction -- another$75 billion in short-term loans -- the 11th such auction since the programstarted in December. It's part of an ongoing effort by the Fed to help eae the credit crunch, which erupted last August, intensified in December ad January and took another turn for the worst in March, when Bear Stears -- the nation's fifth-largest investment house -- edged closer to the brik of bankruptcy. The housing, credit and financial crises have weakeed the economy and threaten to push it into recession. In the latest action, commercial banks paid an interest rate of 2.220 percent for the loans. There were 71 bidders for the slice of the $75 billion in 28-day loans. The ed received bids for $96.62 billion worth of the lans. The auction was conducted on Monday with the results released Tuesday. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/fed-auctions-75-billion- to-banks-to.html Illinois home sales dro 27% in first quarter - Median home price down 4.3% in state By James P. Miller. Copyright ? 2008, Chicago Tribune. 97 AM CDT, May 9, 2008 Home sales in Illinois tumbled 27 percent in the first quarter, a real estate trade group reported Friday, hurt by "theongoing credit crunch and a softening economy." The Illinois Association of Realtors said total home sales, including condominiums and single-family homes, plunged to 21,576 from the year-ago quarter's 29,553 sales. Statewide, the median home price was $187,500 in the first quarter, down 4.3 percent from the year-earlier period's $196,000 median price. Kay Wirth, presdent of the Illinois association, said sales activity has been dampened i part by "extreme winter weather on top of shaky consumer confidence to rising gas and food prices and th uncertain economy." http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/illnois-home-sales-drop -27-in-first.html US trade deficit narrowed in March By James Politi in Washington. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008. Published: May 9 2008 14:49 | Last updated: May 9 2008 14:49. The US trade deficit narrowed by 5.7 per cent to $58.2bn in March, as weak demand for imported goods due to the economic downturn offset a shrinking of US export volume that was ascribed to a fall in aircraft shipments. The data, released on Friday, was significantly better than the $61bn trade deficit expected by most economists. Several reacted by saying that US gross domestic product for the first quarter, which was initially estimated to have grown at an annual rate of 0.6 per cent, could now be revised higher. Goldman Sachs and Citigroup economists both said that the improvement in the trade balance could lead the Commerce Department to add half a percentage point to US GDP in the first quarter. Imports fell by $6.1bn to $206.7bn, the most since the September 11 terrorist attacks, in a clear sign that the weak dollar and US economic woes are affecting the appetite of American consumers and business for purchases of imports, particularly cars. The US trade deficit with China fell to $16.1bn - its lowest level in two years. However, deficits with Japan, the European Union and Mexico expanded. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/us-trade-deficit-narrowe d-in-march.html International International Herald Tribune Editorial - Medvedev's first crisis. Copyright by The international Herald Tribune. Published: May 7, 2008. Russia is playing a game of cat-and-mouse with Georgia that could quickly turn deadly. The Kremlin has never been happy with Georgia's pro-Western preferences and was infuriated by its push for membership in NATO. Because of Moscow's fierce objections, the Atlantic alliance decided last month to postpone membership talks with Georgia. Moscow saw that as confirmation that its bullying and threats work - and decided to bully and threaten even more. First, Russia announced plans to strengthen ties with two pro-Russian breakaway regions in Georgia - Abkhazia and South Ossetia. Last week, it sent hundreds of extra "peacekeepers" to Abkhazia. Russian officials said the troops are needed to protect the province from a Georgian invasion, and it insisted that the contingent would remain within the 3,000-troop limit allowed under a 1994 UN-brokered cease-fire. The deployment almost certainly violated the peacekeeping mandate because it was done without Georgia's approval. Russia's new president, Dmitri Medvedev, who was sworn in on Wednesday, needs to move quickly to calm things down. There are questions about whether Medvedev will be his own man or just a creature of President Vladimir Putin, and this would be a way to prove his independence. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/international-herald-tri bune-editorial_9514.html Is it Time to Invade Burma? By ROMESH RATNESAR. Copyright by CNN.com News. Saturday, May. 10, 2008. The disaster in Burma presents the world with perhaps its most serious humanitarian crisis since the 2004 Asian tsunami. By most reliable estimates, close to 100,000 people are dead. Delays in delivering relief to the victims, the inaccessibility of the stricken areas and the poor state of Burma's infrastructure and health systems mean that number is sure to rise. With as many as 1 million people still at risk, it is conceivable that the death toll will, within days, approach that of the entire number of civilians killed in the genocide in Darfur./Burma defies calls to let aid workers in By Amy Kazmin in Bangkok, Harvey Morris at the United Nations and James Blitz in London. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008. Published: May 9 2008 09:05 | Last updated: May 9 2008 23:12. Burma?s ruling junta was on Friday night locked in a stand-off with the international community after flatly refusing to allow foreign aid workers into the country to tackle the impact of the recent cyclone disaster. Amid clear indications that between 60,000 and 100,000 people are now dead or missing in the region, the Burmese junta said it was prepared to receive offers of aid from foreign sources, including the US. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/burma-defies-calls-to-le t-aid-workers.html International Herald Tribune Editorial - Burma's twin disasters: A cyclone and the generals. Copyright by The International Herald Tribune. Published: May 6, 2008. By all accounts, Cyclone Nargis has devastated Burma - a 12-foot wall of water swept away entire villages, leaving the coastal plain under water, thousands dead, missing or homeless, and much of the capital city of Rangoon without electricity or water. It is the sort of disaster that brings the world together in a single-minded and unconditional desire to help, and the reaction of national governments, the United Nations and international humanitarian organizations has been swift and noble. There is no time to waste. We wish we could also say that this is no time for politics, but that would not be true. Burma - or Myanmar, as its junta wants it called - has been under the dictatorial rule of the military for 46 years, increasingly isolated from the rest of the world and struggling under economic sanctions by the United States and Europe. Last September, the world was forcibly reminded of the junta's brutality when it crushed peaceful protest marches by Buddhist monks./Financial Times Editorial: Burma?s tragedy. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008 Published: May 8 2008 19:23 | Last updated: May 8 2008 19:23. The full extent of the cataclysmic cyclone that has devastated southern Burma has taken time to become so horribly apparent. That was time during which the paranoid and isolated military junta led by Than Shwe should have been straining every muscle and mobilising every resource ? in and outside the country ? to come to the rescue of its stricken countrymen in the heavily populated Irrawaddy delta. But this army, so adept at crushing any challenge to its authority and monopoly of scarce resources, and deployed purely to safeguard the privileges and power of the generals, has done nothing of the sort. The regime?s reaction is breathtaking in its cynicism. Far from responding to a national emergency, the junta is going ahead with a constitutional referendum ? part of its so-called roadmap to democracy ? and holding up the entry of urgently needed foreign aid. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/international-herald-tri bune-editorial_7185.html IMF warns on global inflation. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008 By Krishna Guha in Washington, Javier Blas and Chris Giles in London and Ralph Atkins in Athens. Published: May 8 2008 21:44 | Last updated: May 8 2008 21:44. Global inflation has re-emerged as a major threat to the world economy, the International Monetary Fund said on Thursday in a stark warning that marked an abrupt change of tone from its emphasis on the risks to growth. John Lipsky, IMF deputy managing director, said ?inflation concerns have resurfaced after years of quiescence? due to soaring energy and food prices. Mr Lipsky said global growth was slowing but headline inflation was ?accelerating?. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/imf-warns-on-global-infl ation.html Cuba may end dual currency - Bank advises gradual shift, fewer subsidies. Copyright by The Associated Press. May 10, 2008. HAVANA ? Cuba's central bank is urging the government to gradually unify the island's two parallel currencies and cut back on "indiscriminate" subsidies, according to an internal report obtained by The Associated Press on Friday. The document, which was distributed to Communist Party members, says a single, strong peso would boost productivity and morale in Cuba. The island now has two separate currencies: one for locals, and one designed principally for foreigners. Party members were instructed to discuss the bank's recommendations between April and June. One of those members provided a copy of the document to a local journalist. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/cuba-may-end-dual-curren cy-bank-advises.html Mess-o-potamia Financial Times Editorial Comment: Beirut on fire. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008. Published: May 9 2008 19:43 | Last updated: May 9 2008 19:43. The stand-off in Beirut between the shaky, western-backed government and an opposition spearheaded by Hizbollah, the Shia Islamist group backed by Iran, has taken an alarming turn. Lebanon may finally be committing suicide as a nation. Hizbollah overran west Beirut on Friday in a devastating show of force that left the Sunni-led coalition of Fuad Siniora reeling. There seem to be no limits to the depths into which Lebanon?s politicians can dig a country they treat as booty or an arena for proxy war. Their struggle for power is now fatally tied to the visceral contest between Sunni and Shia Muslims that was uncorked across the region by the US-led invasion of Iraq. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/financial-times-editoria l-comment_5854.html Hizbollah seizes Muslim west Beirut By Roula Khalaf, Middle East Editor. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008. Published: May 9 2008 21:42 | Last updated: May 9 2008 23:46. It took Lebanon?s Hizbollah group just a few hours on Friday to seize control of Muslim west Beirut and bring the country?s western-backed government to its knees. Amid scenes reminiscent of the 1975-90 civil war, the country?s most heavily armed and disciplined force deployed its gunmen around al-Mustaqbal newspaper ? owned by Saad Hariri, the leading Sunni in the pro-western governing coalition ? at about 7am, setting the fourth floor of the building ablaze. The Lebanese national army, no match for the Shia militant group and eager to stay out of the domestic battle, quickly arrived. But instead of confronting the gunmen, it turned into the negotiator, asking staff to evacuate and thus avert a storming of the building./Hizbollah seizes large parts of Beirut By Roula Khalaf, Middle East Editor. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008. Published: May 8 2008 18:56 | Last updated: May 9 2008 09:16. Gunmen loyal to the Shia militant group Hizbollah seized control of several Beirut neighbourhoods on Friday, and shut down a pro-government newspaper and television station as opposition forces tightened their grip on the Lebanese capital. About 11 people were killed in clashes as gun fire echoed around the city, amid growing fears that the violence threatened to degenerate into a broader Sunni-Shia conflict and wider regional conflict. Forces loyal to the weak US-backed government appeared unable to match the better armed and organised Hizbollah gunmen, who were supported by fighters loyal to Amal, another Shia opposition movement. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/hizbollah-seizes-large-p arts-of-beirut.html Financial Times Editorial Comment: Mideast mediation needs new dynamic. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008. Published: May 4 2008 20:05 | Last updated: May 4 2008 20:05. Yet another meeting of would-be Middle East peacemakers ? the Quartet made up of the US, United Nations, European Union and Russia ? has yielded yet more pious exhortations to Israelis and Palestinians to agree the terms of a future Palestinian state. Nobody is holding his breath, and no wonder. Since last November?s conference in Annapolis, when the two direct parties to the conflict undertook to negotiate a resolution to it by the end of this year, prospects for peace have gone sharply backwards. The increasingly vicious conflict in Gaza, where Hamas rains primitive rockets on neighbouring Israeli towns and dozens of Palestinian civilians are dying in Israel?s reprisals and targeted assassinations, has turned into a siege. The occupied West Bank, cut into slices by some 560 Israeli checkpoints, is being further colonised by the expansion of Jewish settlements, announced within days of Annapolis. That has led to much international handwringing, but nothing to stop Israel?s creeping annexation of the West Bank, which not only defies international law but undermines Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president, and the US and Israel?s preferred interlocutor. Israel, meanwhile, spurns a ceasefire offer from Hamas, claiming that would delegitimise Mr Abbas. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/financial-times-editoria l-comment_05.html Iraqi alleges Abu Ghraib torture, sues US contractors By GREG RISLING. Copyright 2008 Associated Press. 4:40 AM CDT, May 6, 2008. LOS ANGELES - An Iraqi man sued two U.S. military contractors, claiming he was repeatedly tortured while being held at the notorious Abu Ghraib prison for more than 10 months. Emad al-Janabi's federal lawsuit, filed Monday in Los Angeles, claims that employees of CACI International Inc. and L-3 Communications Holdings Inc. punched him, slammed him into walls, hung him from a bed frame and kept him naked and handcuffed in his cell beginning in September 2003. Also named as a defendant is CACI interrogator Steven Stefanowicz, known as "Big Steve." The suit claims he directed some of the torture tactics. Phone messages left for Arlington, Va.-based CACI and New York City-based L-3 Communications, formerly Titan Corp., were not immediately returned Monday. There was no phone number listed for Stefanowicz at his Los Angeles address. The lawsuit, filed in Los Angeles because Stefanowicz lives there, seeks unspecified monetary damages. The firms provided interrogators or interpreters to assist U.S. military guards at Abu Ghraib, which became notorious when photos made public in early 2004 showing U.S. soldiers abusing and humiliating detainees. Military investigators later concluded that much of the abuse happened in late 2003 -- when CACI and Titan's interrogators were at the prison. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/iraqi-alleges-abu-ghraib -torture-sues.html Bomber was in Guantanamo - Former U.S. detainee named in Iraq attack By Ben Fox. Copyright by The Associated Press. 11:37 PM CDT, May 7, 2008. SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico ? A Kuwaiti freed from Guantanamo Bay carried out a suicide car bombing recently in Iraq, the U.S. military said Wednesday, confirming what is believed to be the first such attack by a former detainee at the U.S. military detention center in Cuba. Abdallah Salih al-Ajmi took part in one of three suicide bomb attacks last month that targeted Iraqi security forces in the northern city of Mosul, said U.S. Navy Cmdr. Scott Rye, a military spokesman in Baghdad. At least seven people were killed in the attacks. Ajmi's American lawyer said incarceration at Guantanamo may have turned the Kuwaiti into a terrorist. But the U.S. military says he was already an enemy combatant when he was brought to Guantanamo in 2002 after being captured in Afghanistan. As many as 36 former Guantanamo detainees have taken up hostilities against the U.S., including some who have been taken back into custody or killed, the Pentagon says. Ajmi is apparently the first to have become a suicide bomber, said Navy Cmdr. Jeffrey Gordon, a Pentagon spokesman. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/bomber-was-in-guantanamo -former-us.html National CAPITAL PUNISHMENT - Cruel and unusual history By Gilbert King. Copyright by The International Herald Tribune. Published: May 5, 2008. The U.S. Supreme Court has concluded, in a 7-2 ruling, that Kentucky's three-drug method of execution by lethal injection does not violate the Eighth Amendment's prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment. In writing his opinion, Chief Justice John Roberts cited a Supreme Court principle from a ruling in 1890 that defines cruelty as limited to punishments that "involve torture or a lingering death." But the court was wrong in the 19th century, an error that has infected its jurisprudence for more than 100 years. In America's landmark capital punishment cases, the resultant executions were anything but free from torture and prolonged deaths. The first of those landmark cases, the 1879 case of Wilkerson v. Utah, was cited by Justice Clarence Thomas, in his concurring opinion in the Kentucky case. The court "had no difficulty concluding that death by firing squad" did not amount to cruel and unusual punishment, Thomas wrote. Wallace Wilkerson might have begged to differ. Once the Supreme Court affirmed Utah's right to eradicate him by rifle, Wilkerson was let into a jailyard where he declined to be blindfolded. A sheriff gave the command to fire and Wilkerson braced for the barrage. He moved just enough for the bullets to strike his arm and torso but not his heart. "My God!" Wilkerson shrieked. "My God! They have missed!" http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/capital-punishment-cruel -and-unusual.html 6 fraternities suspended in drug probe at San Diego State U. By ALLISON HOFFMAN. Copyright 2008 Associated Press. 8:56 AM CDT, May 7, 2008. SAN DIEGO - San Diego State University has suspended six fraternities after a sweeping drug investigation that landed dozens of students in jail on suspicion of openly dealing drugs on campus. The probe -- prompted by the cocaine overdose death last year of a freshman sorority member -- led to the arrests of 96 people, 75 of them San Diego State students. A second drug death occurred during the investigation. Twenty-nine people were arrested early Tuesday in raids at nine locations including the Theta Chi fraternity, where agents found cocaine, Ecstasy and three guns, authorities said. Eighteen of those arrested were wanted on warrants for selling to undercover agents. Theta Chi and five other fraternities have been suspended pending a hearing on evidence gathered during the investigation, dubbed Operation Sudden Fall. All of the arrested students have been suspended and will be barred from attending classes or taking final exams until their cases are reviewed, San Diego State President Stephen Weber said in a statement. Those who live in university-owned housing were evicted, he added. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/6-fraternities-suspended -in-drug-probe.html On the pot-holed highway to hell By John Gapper. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008. Published: May 7 2008 19:37 | Last updated: May 7 2008 19:37. If anyone doubts the problems of US infrastructure, I suggest he or she take a flight to John F. Kennedy airport (braving the landing delay), ride a taxi on the pot-holed and congested Brooklyn-Queens Expressway and try to make a mobile phone call en route. That should settle it, particularly for those who have experienced smooth flights, train rides and road travel, and speedy communications networks in, say, Beijing, Paris or Abu Dhabi recently. The gulf in public and private infrastructure is, to put it mildly, alarming for US competitiveness. You might have expected that investing in US infrastructure would be a hot political topic this year. Well, no. Hillary Clinton spent the final week of her Indiana campaign standing on the back of a pick-up truck arguing for a temporary suspension of the ?gas tax?, the fuel duty that pays for highways. You read correctly. Faced with the emptying of the Highway Trust Fund, established in 1956 as the US entered a period of growth and prosperity, Mrs Clinton suggested cutting its source of funds (which she claimed could be made up by a tax on oil companies). It was more important to give Americans a summer break from $4-per-gallon petrol. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/on-pot-holed-highway-to- hell.html Bush Whacking A prison of shame. Copyright by The International Herald Tribune By Nicholas D. Kristof. Published: May 4, 2008. My New York Times colleague Barry Bearak was imprisoned by the brutal regime in Zimbabwe last month. Barry was not beaten, but he was infected with scabies while in a bug-infested jail. He was finally brought before a court after four nights in jail and then released. Alas, we don't treat our own inmates in Guant?namo with even that much respect for law. On Thursday, America released Sami al-Hajj, a cameraman for Al-Jazeera who had been held without charges for more than six years. Hajj has credibly alleged that he was beaten, and that he was punished for a hunger strike by having feeding tubes forcibly inserted in his nose and throat without lubricant, so as to rub tissue raw. "Conditions in Guant?namo are very, very bad," Hajj said in a televised interview from his hospital bed in Sudan, adding, "In Guant?namo, you have animals that are called iguanas . . . that are treated with more humanity." Al-Jazeera's director general, Wadah Khanfar, said by telephone from the hospital that Hajj was so frail when he arrived that he had to be carried off the plane and into an ambulance. Guant?namo inmates are not allowed to see their families, so that evening Hajj met his 7-year-old son, whom he had last seen as a baby. Reliable information is still scarce about Guant?namo, but increasingly we're gaining glimpses of life there - and they are painful to read. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/prison-of-shame.html A lack of patience - Containment worked before. Why not again? By Steve Chapman. Copyright ? 2008, Chicago Tribune. May 8, 2008. When it comes to the war in Iraq and other foreign policy issues, Republicans like to hearken back to the stalwart presidents of the Cold War. John McCain has invoked Harry Truman and Ronald Reagan as kindred spirits, and so has George W. Bush. Which raises the question: Why do they embrace those leaders while rejecting their policy? The centerpiece of the U.S. approach to the Soviet Union was captured in a famous 1947 essay by American diplomat George Kennan, who rejected either war or retreat in favor of "a long-term, patient but firm and vigilant containment of Russian expansive tendencies." Some conservatives, regarding this as appeasement, advocated "rollback" to liberate captive nations from oppression. But even resolute anti-communists like Dwight Eisenhower and Richard Nixon saw the risks and costs were too high. They kept troops to guard Western Europe, built a robust nuclear deterrent and employed prudent measures to block Soviet expansion. That was containment. But in the months before the Iraq war, it became a dirty word. "Containment is not possible," President Bush insisted, "when unbalanced dictators with weapons of mass destruction can deliver those weapons on missiles or secretly provide them to terrorist allies." The only remedy for such regimes lay in preemptive war. McCain agreed, saying the only option in Iraq was "disarmament by regime change." http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/lack-of-patience-contain ment-worked.html International Herald Tribune Editorial - Big oil's friends in the U.S. Senate. Copyright by The International Herald Tribune. Published: May 5, 2008. Listen to almost any politician, President George W. Bush included, and you'll hear that the fight against global warming cannot be won without cleaner technologies that will ease dependence on fossil fuels. Yet these same politicians are on the verge of allowing modest but vital tax credits to expire that are crucial to the future of renewable energy sources like wind and solar power. These credits are necessary to attract investment in renewable sources until they become competitive with cheaper, dirtier fuels like coal. When the credits disappear, investments shrivel. The production tax credit for wind energy has been allowed to expire three times. In each case, new investment dropped by more than 70 percent. The credits for wind and solar expire at the end of this year, so action now is important. Though there is plenty of blame to go around, Bush and Senate Republicans bear a heavy burden. The House approved, as part of last year's energy bill, a multiyear extension of the credits, while insisting - under its pay-as-you-go rules - that they be offset by rescinding an equivalent amount in tax credits for the oil companies. The oil companies screamed, Bush lofted veto threats, and the Senate, by a one-vote margin, refused to go along. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/international-herald-tri bune-editorial_05.html Ex-Halliburton unit in bribery probe By Michael Peel in London and?Matthew Green in Lagos. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008. Published: May 9 2008 20:21 | Last updated: May 9 2008 20:21. US anti-bribery investigators are targeting a former Halliburton subsidiary over its work on a key Royal Dutch Shell project in Nigeria, widening a corruption probe into the country?s troubled oil industry. The US investigation into Halliburton?s Nigerian operations ? which covers a period when it was headed by Dick Cheney, US vice-president ? has uncovered evidence of bribery and is now looking at a range of payments made in a number of countries over the past 20 years, according to the company. The developments highlight the growing problems the investigation is creating for Halliburton and the western multinationals it has worked for in a nation whose oil industry is plagued by production disruptions and is the focus of increasing competition from Chinese companies. The US authorities say they have evidence that an agent used by Halliburton?s former KBR subsidiary made payments to Nigerian officials in connection with the Shell project, according to a filing made by Halliburton to the US Securities and Exchange Commission at the end of last month. Halliburton and KBR have suspended the agent and another agent who had worked for KBR on ?several current projects and on numerous older projects going back to the early 1980s?, the filing says. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/ex-halliburton-unit-in-b ribery-probe.html Indecision 2008 International Herald Tribune Editorial - It's about the White House. Copyright by The International Herald Tribune. Published: May 7, 2008. Like many Americans, we have been intrigued and often exasperated by the long-running Democratic primary and the ever smaller-bore spats between Senators Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama. So we are thankful to Senator John McCain for reminding us what this year's presidential race really is about. While Democrats voted in North Carolina and Indiana, McCain spoke about his judicial philosophy. He is determined to move a far too conservative and far too activist Supreme Court and federal judiciary even further and more actively to the right. McCain predictably criticized liberal judges, vowed strict adherence to the founders' views and promised to appoint more judges in the mold of Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Samuel Alito. That is just what the United States does not need. Since President George W. Bush chose Roberts and Alito, the court has ordered Seattle and Louisville, Kentucky, to scrap voluntary school integration, protected employers who illegally mistreat their workers and constrained women's right to choose and citizens' right to vote. McCain did not mention, of course, how the Roberts-led court blithely overruled Congress by nullifying an important part of the McCain-Feingold campaign finance law. He did wax nostalgic about what "the basic right of property" has meant "since the founding of America." (He did not mention that in 1789, many women could not own property and black people were property, but he did criticize the idea that values evolve over time.) http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/international-herald-tri bune-editorial_08.html McCain's justice - Conservative activism gone wild By Geoffrey R. Stone. Copyright ? 2008, Chicago Tribune. May 7, 2008. Sen. John McCain's speech on Tuesday on the role of judges in our constitutional system might very well qualify as one of the most ignorant statements ever made by a presidential candidate on this important subject. McCain complained that sitting judges and justices systematically "abuse" the federal judicial power by issuing "rulings and opinions on policy questions that should be decided democratically." McCain, seeking the Republican nomination for president, is apparently blissfully unaware that the vast majority of current federal judges were appointed by Republican presidents and that seven of the nine sitting U.S. Supreme Court justices and 12 of the last 14 Supreme Court justices were appointed by Republicans. As Pogo once said, "We have met the enemy, and he is us." McCain also seems stunningly unaware that the justices he simplistically lauds as "judicial passivists" are nothing of the sort. William Rehnquist, Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas, and more recently John Roberts and Samuel Alito, have consistently voted to invalidate laws at a record clip, most notably holding unconstitutional a broad range of laws regulating commercial advertising, limiting corporate campaign expenditures and authorizing affirmative action programs to enhance educational diversity?to say nothing of Bush vs. Gore. This is not strict construction and it is not judicial restraint. It is conservative activism gone wild?in judicial robes. McCain just doesn't understand. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/mccains-justice-conserva tive-activism.html Why McCain?s big idea is a bad idea By Gideon Rachman. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008. Published: May 5 2008 19:32 | Last updated: May 5 2008 19:32. American presidents are meant to have big ideas about the world: a ?new frontier?, an ?alliance for progress?, a ?war on terror?. Unfortunately for the Democratic party the big idea that most animates their two would-be presidents ? Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton ? seems to be mutually assured destruction. That has left the field open to Senator John McCain. The Republican is currently the only presidential candidate to champion a striking new idea about America?s role in the world. The world should pay attention, since the?chances of Mr McCain winning the presidency are going up by the day. Mr McCain?s big idea is for the formation of a ?league of democracies? with America at its heart. In a recent speech in Los Angeles, he outlined a plan to ?harness the vast power of more than 100 democracies?. This was not just a vague notion tossed out to fill a speech. Mr McCain has been banging on about the league of democracies ? in public and in private ? for more than a year. In another speech at the Hoover Institution last year, Mr McCain gave some concrete examples of what such a league might do. Essentially, it seems to be a means to get around the United Nations. The league could sponsor intervention in Darfur or ?bring concerted pressure to bear on tyrants in Burma or Zimbabwe, with or without Moscow and Beijing?s approval?. Alternatively, ?it could unite to impose sanctions on Iran?. He promised that he would call a summit of democracies in his first year in the White House ? and likened the formation of the new democratic league to the foundation of Nato. Mr McCain?s support for a league of democracies means that it has quickly been labelled a rightwing idea. But variants of the idea have also attracted support from liberals. The Princeton Project on National Security ? supported by many liberal academics ? has promoted the idea of a ?concert of democracies?. Ivo Daalder, an adviser to Mr Obama, has also pushed the idea. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/why-mccains-big-idea-is- bad-idea.html Yes Comparisons! Two Points... http://www.crooksandliars.com/2008/05/09/countdown-the-pulpit-bullies/ DESERT DEAL - McCain Pushed Land Swap That Benefits Backer By Matthew Mosk. Copyright by The Washington Post. Friday, May 9, 2008; Page A01. PRESCOTT, Ariz. -- Sen. John McCain championed legislation that will let an Arizona rancher trade remote grassland and ponderosa pine forest here for acres of valuable federally owned property that is ready for development, a land swap that now stands to directly benefit one of his top presidential campaign fundraisers]. Initially reluctant to support the swap, the Arizona Republican became a key figure in pushing the deal through Congress after the rancher and his partners hired lobbyists that included McCain's 1992 Senate campaign manager, two of his former Senate staff members (one of whom has returned as his chief of staff), and an Arizona insider who was a major McCain donor and is now bundling campaign checks. When McCain's legislation passed in November 2005, the ranch owner gave the job of building as many as 12,000 homes to SunCor Development, a firm in Tempe, Ariz., run by Steven A. Betts, a longtime McCain supporter who has raised more than $100,000 for the presumptive Republican nominee. Betts said he and McCain never discussed the deal. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/desert-deal-mccain-pushe d-land-swap.html International Herald Tribune Editorial - The tax trickery spreads. Copyright by The International Herald Tribune. Published: May 8, 2008. It was bad enough when Senators Hillary Clinton and John McCain decided to engage in some petty pandering by calling for a suspension of the federal gas tax over the summer. What they suggested would reduce needed tax revenues and hamper efforts to combat global warming. And it would fail to deliver lower prices while giving oil companies more money. But neither senator is actually running the country, so it might be tempting to chalk it all up to campaign pandering. Unfortunately, their demagoguery is growing into a real problem, setting off a chain reaction of "me too" proposals across the country to suspend state gasoline taxes, which tend to be much larger than the 18.4-cent-a-gallon federal levy. If the pandering spreads, it would go a long way in setting the nation's energy strategy in precisely the wrong direction. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/international-herald-tri bune-editorial_09.html A hardened idealist: Obama?s toughest fight By Edward Luce. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008. Published: May 8 2008 20:02 | Last updated: May 8 2008 20:02. At Washington?s annual Gridiron dinner with the media two years ago, Barack Obama converted a recent falling-out with fellow senator John McCain into material for a humorous speech. The older senator had publicly scolded the freshman for behaving with ?disingenuousness? over an ethics bill on which they had earlier been collaborating. To the tune of ?If I only had a brain?, Mr Obama sang: ?When a wide-eyed young idealist/ Confronts a seasoned realist,/ There?s bound to be some strain. With the game barely started,/ I?d be feeling less downhearted/ If I only had McCain.? Two years later, the game is finally getting started and it looks likely to be a match between Mr Obama and Mr McCain. The former is perhaps less wide-eyed and the latter less of a realist than in 2006. But there is already plenty of strain. ?It?s no secret that John McCain has a lot more respect for Hillary Clinton than he does for Barack Obama,? says a McCain insider, who adds that the Republican nominee has been targeting the Illinois senator almost exclusively ?not only because Obama is the likeliest opponent but because it comes much more naturally?. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/hardened-idealist-obamas -toughest-fight.html Obama takes lead among super-delegates By Edward Luce in Washington. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008. Published: May 9 2008 23:11 | Last updated: May 9 2008 23:11. Barack Obama for the first time on Friday overtook Hillary Clinton?s support among the unelected ?super-delegates? who will ultimately settle the Democratic nomination amid signs that people around Mrs Clinton were pushing for her to become Mr Obama?s running mate. Nine super-delegates on Friday endorsed Mr Obama, including one, Donald Payne, an African-American congressman from New Jersey, who switched his support from Mrs Clinton saying that Mr Obama ?can bring about the change the country needs?. According to the ABC News count, Mr Obama now leads Mrs Clinton among super-delegates with 270 endorsements compared to 267 for her with another 265 yet to commit. Mr Obama needs another 170 delegates of any type (elected or super-delegate) to cross the 2025 winning threshold. Friday?s flurry of support for Mr Obama coincided with a number of possibly unauthorized efforts by senior backers of Mrs Clinton to push forward the idea of Mrs Clinton becoming Mr Obama?s vice-presidential running mate. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/obama-takes-lead-among-s uper-delegates.html Chicago Sun -Times Editorial - Face it, Hillary: It's over. Copyright by The Chicago Sun ?Times. May 8, 2008. Hillary, it's time to call it quits. Don't do it for Barack Obama. Don't do it for the Democratic Party. After a Democratic primary that brought legions of first-time voters to the polls, that engaged us as never before, to bow out now would be the right -- even noble -- thing to do. Do it for a nation that is ready for, and has everything to gain from, a vigorous general election campaign, one that pits the Democratic and Republican nominees long enough to really show us who -- Obama or Sen. John McCain -- would be the better president. Obama has Hillary Clinton beat in both the delegate count and the popular vote. Her chances of catching up in the six remaining primaries and caucuses are virtually nil. Fewer than 500 pledged and superdelegates remain in play, and by accepted estimates she would have to pick up 70 percent of them to become the nominee. Obama needs just 38 percent. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/chicago-sun-times-editor ial-face-it.html Chicago Tribune Editorial -No photo finish for Clinton. Copyright ? 2008, Chicago Tribune. May 8, 2008. The only filly in the crowded field crossed the finish line second, but the fans who'd bet on her still had one last gasp of hope. Perhaps some fortuitous technicality would disqualify the first-place finisher. But things got worse instead of better. We're talking about Eight Belles, who was euthanized Saturday after almost winning the Kentucky Derby. But we're thinking about Hillary Clinton. Like Eight Belles, Clinton is determined to finish her race. Coming into the stretch?this week's Democratic presidential primaries in North Carolina and Indiana?it wasn't easy to count her out. Though the delegate math favored Barack Obama, a strong showing in Tuesday's contests would have bolstered Clinton's campaign to have the eventual primary outcome overruled. Uncommitted superdelegates could cite a close finish as an excuse to support Clinton. The cheaters who held early primaries in Michigan and Florida would clamor ever louder that they should be forgiven in time to vote for Clinton at the August national convention. Obama ended up gaining ground Tuesday, which led to renewed calls for Clinton to drop out of the race. But she's still running. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/chicago-tribune-editoria l-no-photo.html Well of donors dries up for Clinton. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008. By Edward Luce and Stephanie Kirchgaessner in Washington. Published: May 9 2008 19:03 | Last updated: May 9 2008 19:03. It took 20 years for John Glenn, the former astronaut and Democratic senator, to repay the debts that he ran up in his failed bid for the presidential nomination in 1984. Nobody is predicting that Hillary Clinton, whose campaign debts are estimated at between $20m and $30m ? and rising ? would take that long to meet her obligations. But the financial strain is getting more difficult with each day. Having raised little more than $1m (?650,000, ?510,000) since her defeat in North Carolina and narrow victory in Indiana last Tuesday, compared to $10m in the days following her Pennsylvania win last month, Mrs Clinton?s decision to fight on is almost certainly adding to her mountain of debts. ?I don?t recall the last time any candidate faced withdrawal from the race with debts of this magnitude,? says Michael Toner, the former head of the Federal Election Commission. ?She began the race with the most formidable money machine in modern history and she looks likely to end it in record debt.? http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/well-of-donors-dries-up- for-clinton.html Clinton accused of ?race-baiting? By Andrew Ward in Washington. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008. Published: May 8 2008 21:50 | Last updated: May 9 2008 01:58. Hillary Clinton added fresh fuel to the racially charged Democratic presidential race on Thursday when she touted her appeal among ?hard-working? white Americans. Mrs Clinton said she could build a broader support base than Barack Obama, her rival for the Democratic nomination, because of her strength among working-class white voters. Critics accused her of ?race-baiting? for equating white people with hard work and said the remarks would further inflame racial splits within the Democratic party. In an interview with USA Today, she cited a news report on how Mr Obama?s support among ?hard-working Americans,?white?Americans, is weakening again, and how whites in both states who had not completed college were supporting me?. Mrs Clinton won 60 per cent of white votes in the North Carolina and Indiana primaries on Tuesday. Mr Obama?s clear win in North Carolina, where almost 40 per cent of Democrats are black, coupled with a narrow loss in Indiana, extended his almost insurmountable lead in the Democratic race. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/clinton-accused-of-race- baiting.html Thanks to Hillary for being a winner at heart By CAROL MARIN cmarin at suntimes.com. Copyright by The Chicago Sun-Times. May 10, 2008. Shirley Johnson of Knoxville, Tenn., just gave Hillary Clinton money. "I sent her $100," said my old friend. Shirley, it should be noted, does not throw money away. A retired special education supervisor for the county school system, she worked tirelessly and saved carefully. To this day, she shops like a homicide detective, tracking down any and all information before committing to buying anything. We've been friends for three decades and, despite the miles that separate Knoxville from Chicago, have stayed close. And so Wednesday night, after Clinton squeaked out a victory in Indiana and lost outright to Barack Obama in North Carolina, I called. And that's when Shirley announced she'd just moments earlier on the Internet made her first political donation of the presidential season. Why, when the drumbeat for Clinton to withdraw was growing in decibels, superdelegates were jumping ship and only six primaries remained, why send cash now? http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/thanks-to-hillary-for-be ing-winner-at.html Chicagoland Legislators don't trust us? Feeling is mutual BY CAROL MARIN Sun-Times Columnist. Copyright by The Chicago Sun-Times. May 4, 2008. Out of the legislative madness in Springfield this week came five little words said twice for emphasis: ?I need a pay raise. I need a pay raise.? It was Senate President Emil Jones speaking. The chamber he controls in the Illinois General Assembly had just moments earlier denied voters of this state the right to decide for ourselves if we should be able to recall politicians we have elected to public office. Whether you are a fan of the recall idea or not, you now have been summarily stripped of the opportunity to say yes or no to amending the state constitution thanks to the Senate that Jones controls and his Democratic camp followers who packed the measure with poison pills to assure it would be voted down. And who then adjourned, preventing Republicans from calling up an earlier, less onerous recall measure that might actually have passed. One that would have permitted the recall of Gov. Blagojevich or legislators themselves. No, fellow voters, recall is a measure lawmakers think is just too dangerous to put in our hands. Why? If this doesn?t make you laugh until you cry, nothing will. Citizens, they warn, might seek revenge against politicians who take courageous but unpopular stands. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/legislators-dont-trust-u s-feeling-is.html Chicago Tribune Editorial - A stacked deck. Copyright ? 2008, Chicago Tribune. May 7, 2008. If you were looking for qualified people to overhaul one of the worst-run public health systems in the country, would you pick someone who has already run a health center into the ground? Todd Stroger would and did. Last week, the Cook County Board president picked nine candidates for a supposedly independent board of directors to oversee the county's chronically mismanaged and patronage-riddled system of hospitals and clinics. On Stroger's list: F. Daniel Cantrell, who in the late 1980s was president of the Mile Square Health Center on the West Side, which failed to pay more than $1 million in payroll taxes and went bankrupt. Not an auspicious start. A nominating committee gave Stroger 20 candidates and he chose nine. Stroger's list is heavy on Democratic insiders?Cantrell is an aide to U.S. Rep. Danny Davis (D-Ill.). David Carvalho is deputy director of the Illinois Department of Public Health. Quin Golden is a former chief of staff at the state public health agency. Stroger also went for folks who are friendly to organized labor?Jorge Ramirez, secretary-treasurer of the Chicago Federation of Labor, and Barbara Hillman, a union attorney. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/chicago-tribune-editoria l-stacked-deck.html Chicago Sun -Times Editorial - More cloutrageous choices. Copyright by The Chicago Sun ?Times. May 8, 2008. Cook County President Todd Stroger had a chance at recommending a sterling board to run the county's ailing health-care system. The kind of board whose independence critics couldn't question. The kind of board that would give confidence to taxpayers that the nearly $1 billion each year going to county health care is being well spent. Mr. President, you blew it. Stroger had many good nominees, among the 20 he was given, to run the county health system. But he bypassed many with strong backgrounds in health care and finance and focused on people with ties to unions or the Democratic Party. One Stroger selection, F. Daniel Cantrell, is a congressional aide who ran a health center that went bankrupt in the 1980s. What's worse is a proposal to add a new person to the health-care board, Cook County Commissioner Jerry Butler, a strong Stroger ally, as a liaison between the commissioners and the health-care board. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/chicago-sun-times-editor ial-more.html LaSalle Bank brand disappears as BofA takes over By IEVA M. AUGSTUMS. Copyright 2008 Associated Press. 10:18 PM CDT, May 4, 2008. CHARLOTTE, N.C. - Bank of America Corp. will officially mark its $21 billion purchase of Chicago's LaSalle Bank Corp. on Monday, taking down LaSalle's green and yellow colors for the blue and red of Bank of America. "Those red signs will be very evident in Chicago," said Liam McGee, Bank of America's president of global consumer and small business banking, in an interview with The Associated Press. "When they walk into a former LaSalle banking center, it will look and feel like a Bank of America banking center." The nation's second largest bank by assets bought LaSalle Bank last year, picking up the unit of ABN Amro Holding Co. as Europe's biggest banks fought over the rest of the Dutch company. The deal filled a key gap in the Charlotte-based bank's national coverage map, adding thousands of ATMs and hundreds of branch offices in Chicago and Michigan. While Bank of America and LaSalle customers have had access more than 18,500 ATMs to make cash withdrawals with no fees since October, McGee said customers as of Monday will have greater access to most of the bank's products and services in its banking centers. A complete system conversion will occur later this year, he said. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/lasalle-bank-brand-disap pears-as-bofa.html GLBT Anti-gay marriage referendum effort fails By Gary Barlow. Copyright by The Chicago Free Press. May 7, 2008. Another effort to pass an anti-gay marriage referendum in Illinois failed May 5 when organizers didn?t meet the deadline for submitting petitions to put the question on the November election ballot. The organizers had pledged to submit more than 300,000 signatures to put the question on the ballot. If they had, and a majority of voters had voted yes, Illinois legislators would have been pressured to pass a constitutional amendment banning marriage for gay and lesbian couples. In 2006, anti-gay groups mounted a similar effort but managed to gain enough signatures to submit them to the Illinois Board of Elections. The question never made it past that stage, though. Gay groups such as Equality Illinois, Lambda Legal, PFLAG and the Gay Liberation Network, together with allied groups such as the ACLU, created FAIR Illinois to challenge the petitions, and election officials ruled that there were enough questionable signatures to disqualify the petitions./Anti-same-sex marriage referendum push fails by Amy Wooten. Copyright by The Windy City times. May 7, 2008. Same-sex marriage opponents failed to collect enough signatures to place an advisory referendum on the November ballot. Protect Marriage Illinois ( PMI ) had previously boasted that they would turn in 300,000 signatures to the Illinois State Board of Elections by the May 5 deadline. In order to place an advisory referendum that would ask state legislatures to amend the constitution to define marriage as between one man and one woman on the ballot, supporters would have had to turn in 270,000 valid signatures. According to the Springfield Journal-Register, PMI did not file by the deadline. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/great-news-no-il-marriag e-amendment.html NY High Court Refuses Gay Marriage Case. Copyright by 365Gay.com Newscenter Staff. Posted: May 6, 2008 - 5:00 pm ET. (New York City) The Court of Appeals, the highest court in New York State, Tuesday declined to hear a case challenging an appeals court ruling that found the marriages of same-sex couples married in jurisdictions where they are legal must be recognized in New York. The decision not to accept the case means the lower court ruling will stand. On February 1 the Appellate Division of state Supreme Court reversed a judge's ruling in 2006 that Monroe Community College did not have to extend health benefits to an employee's lesbian partner. Patricia Martinez, a word processing supervisor, sued the school in 2005, arguing that it granted benefits to heterosexual married couples but denied them to Martinez and her partner, Lisa Ann Golden. The couple formalized their relationship in a civil union ceremony in Vermont in 2001 and were married in Canada in 2004. The college refused to add Golden to the health care benefits because its contract with the Civil Service Employees Association did not address benefits for same-sex partners. Since then, the contract has been enhanced to extend benefits to an employee's domestic partner. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/ny-high-court-refuses-ga y-marriage-case.html One loving couple's living legacy By Clarence Page. Copyright ? 2008, Chicago Tribune. May 7, 2008. There is a poignant significance to the passing last week of Mildred Loving at a time when a biracial senator leads the race for the Democratic presidential nomination. Their stories are connected by time, skin color and a Supreme Court decision. Mildred and Richard Loving had been married only five weeks in 1958 when the sheriff burst into their Central Point, Va., bedroom with two deputies. They shined flashlights in their eyes and a menacing voice demanded, "Who is this woman you're sleeping with?" When Richard pointed to their marriage certificate on a wall, the sheriff responded, "That's no good here." Their District of Columbia marriage license was "no good" because Richard was white and Mildred was black in a small Virginia town in 1958, when it was one of 16 states that banned interracial marriage. The raid, sparked by an anonymous tip, resulted in a night in jail for Richard, several more for Mildred, a felony conviction and their banishment from returning to the state at the same time for 25 years....Frankly, I don't see how anyone else's marriage would make my marriage any weaker, as opponents of gay marriage suggest. Nevertheless, I expect that debate to continue for a while. Public resistance to interracial marriage was a lot weaker in the late 1960s than resistance to gay marriages is today. American attitudes toward race have relaxed considerably. Our attitudes toward sex are still pretty uptight. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/one-loving-couples-livin g-legacy.html Young gays and marriage By Jennifer Vanasco. Copyright by Chicago Free Press and Jennifer Vanasco. May 7, 2008. Young gays and lesbians want to be married. And have kids. That?s what the first survey of the aspirations of gay and lesbian youth discovered. Rockway Institute reported that more than 90 percent of the lesbians and more than 80 percent of the gay males they surveyed ?expect to be partnered in a monogamous relationship after age 30.? About two-thirds of the males and just over half of the females said they thought it was very likely they?d have children. What?s extraordinary about this is just how very ordinary it is. Ordinary for mainstream society, I mean. When we think of straight young people, we assume they want to get married and have children. There are always those who don?t, of course, but they tend to be eccentric outliers. The gay community, though, has long assumed the opposite of itself (especially gay men), and the mainstream world has assumed the same. Gays were thought to be promiscuous. Gays were artists, not parents. Gays were the outrageous life of the party, not couples who were in bed by 10 p.m. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/young-gays-and-marriage. html Health Care More killer germs resisting world's antibiotics By Robert S. Boyd. Copyright ? 2008, Chicago Tribune. 8:39 AM CDT, May 6, 2008. WASHINGTON - The threat of death-defying bacteria, stubborn organisms that refuse to be conquered by antibiotic medicines, is growing more alarming. Infectious microbes that used to be able to resist only one drug, such as penicillin or methicillin, now resist multiple drugs. Some can survive virtually every weapon in doctors' medicine cabinets. "This is very worrisome," said Stuart Levy, a microbiologist at Tufts University in Boston. "In many cases, there might be only one or no drugs to treat [an infection]. We are not keeping up with the bacteria." Two troubling recent developments: ?Some bacteria have acquired the ability to "eat" the very antibiotic medicines that are supposed to eat them. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/more-killer-germs-resist ing-worlds.html Chicago Sun-Times Editorial - Parents must confront HPV before girls enter teen years. Copyright by The Chicago Sun-Times. May 6, 2008. Parents cannot afford to put off getting their daughters vaccinated against the human papillomavirus: It's a matter of life and death. Yet a new study suggests that moms are putting off having their young daughters vaccinated against HPV -- which causes cervical cancer -- to avoid exposing them to a conversation about a reason for the shots: sex. But such a talk isn't necessary, says Dr. Jessica Kahn, the Cincinnati pediatrician who conducted the survey of 10,000 mostly middle-class, white moms who work as nurses. Preteen girls are already scheduled for booster shots, so parents and doctors can explain the shots are for their overall health, Kahn said. Putting off the vaccine until a girl is a teenager might be too late. Girls should get the vaccine starting at age 11. It is useless once a girl or woman has been exposed, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Cancer caused by HPV, the most common sexually transmitted infection, kills 3,500 to 4,000 women yearly. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/chicago-sun-times-editor ial-parents.html AIDSWatch 2008 by Bob Roehr. Copyright by The Windy city times. 2008-05-07. Frustration, hope and a dedication to change through the coming election were common threads marking AIDSWatch 2008 at a rally at the foot of the Capitol April 29. The theme was ?AIDS at Home.? ?We have more information about this disease than any other ? yet we do not take this information and use it to do something about the problem in the proper way,? said Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif ( Pictured. Photo by Bob Roehr ) ?In the final analysis, the money appropriated does not match the talk.? ?We have an opportunity to ask our candidates about the issues. We know that they have waxed eloquently about healthcare in general. I have heard no specific discussion about HIV/AIDS,? she said. ?I have heard no specific commitment to increasing the funding for AIDS from any of the candidates. Now, their hearts may be in the right places, but I want to hear them talk about it. I want to hear them make it a priority.? http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/aidswatch-2008.html When a Loved One Dies - Handling the Affairs By Roger McCaffrey-Boss. Copyright by Gay Chicago Magazine and Roger McCaffrey-Boss. May 6, 2008. Q. My next door neighbor and friend of many years recently died of liver cancer. He was elderly and without many friends. I was responsible for handling his financial affairs when he went in and out of the hospital. After he died, I found his will and discovered that he named me as his executor. Where do I begin? A: Whenever someone close, friend or family, dies, the news is always hard to take. In a state of shock, the survivors are left to handle the affairs and legal problems of their friend?s death. The following is a checklist of the steps to take in the hours and days that follow the death of your friend. The first thing to do is obtain from the doctor, hospital or funeral home several copies of the death certificate. This is a document that is essential for transfers of jointly owned property, insurance benefits, joint bank accounts and securities. Notify family and friends and then call a funeral home. Funeral directors can recommend a cemetery and are familiar with the bureaucratic aspects of death. They can also provide copies of the death certificates. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/when-loved-one-dies-hand ling-affairs.html Immigration International Herald Tribune Editorial - The shameful dividends of immigrant bashing. Copyright by The International Herald Tribune. Published: May 2, 2008. For Americans, what is happening each night in the French channel port of Calais is poignantly and shamefully familiar. As Caroline Brothers reported on Wednesday in The International Herald Tribune, clusters of poor people wait for darkness and a high-risk chance to crawl inside or beneath a truck to cross to a country that needs and welcomes their labor but refuses to legally recognize their presence. The United States has engaged in this labor-market hypocrisy for decades. Border crossers are mainly Mexican and Central American. Western Europe's come from North and Central Africa, the Middle East and former east bloc countries not yet in the European Union. Just about everywhere, they are distrusted by the local population and vilified by demagogic politicians. In the rush to blame foreigners for real and imagined social ills, Europe's anemic birth rates, aging population and hard-to-fill jobs are forgotten. Without large infusions of foreign workers, the tourist industries that many European countries depend on would be understaffed and the cost of construction would soar. None of this has stopped Europe's politicians from stoking fears of immigrant crime, welfare burdens and foreign ways. That should also sound familiar to Americans. Immigrant bashing pays rich political dividends and is not just confined to shameless xenophobes like Italy's Northern League and the rising Dutch political star, Geert Wilders. It is also cynically employed by those who clearly know better, like France's president, Nicolas Sarkozy, and Britain's governing Labour Party. That too, sadly, tracks the current American debate. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/international-herald-tri bune-editorial_04.html Other Havens | Three Oaks, Mich. An ?Our Town? Stage for the Creative Set By MEGHAN McEWEN. Copyright by The New York Times. http://travel.nytimes.com/2008/05/09/greathomesanddestinations/09havens.html ?scp=1&sq=three+oaks&st=nyt. Published: May 9, 2008. THREE OAKS was once just another small southwestern Michigan farm town burdened by a sluggish local economy. But in recent years, pioneering Chicagoans with a creative bent have transformed Three Oaks, about 70 miles away, into a hot spot for second-home buyers smitten with the arts. Even so, real estate prices are a fraction of what they are along Lake Michigan, just seven miles due west. And cradled by swaying cornfields and still bisected by the tracks of the former Michigan Central Railroad, Elm Street has the charm of a Rockwellian vision. Art galleries and newer stores selling bikes, clothes and vintage furniture mingle with longstanding establishments, including a fourth-generation butcher shop, Drier?s Meat Market, which the poet Carl Sandburg once patronized. There?s a bakery and organic deli, Froehlich?s, whose owner, Colleen Froehlich, moved to Three Oaks nearly 15 years ago, when there were 22 empty storefronts downtown. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/havens-three-oaks-mich-o ur-town-stage.html Records fall at New York art auction ? Reuters Limited. May 7, 2008. NEW YORK - Art records fell on Tuesday for works by Claude Monet, Auguste Rodin and Alberto Giacometti in New York City at a Christie?s auction dominated by foreign buyers taking advantage of the weak US dollar. The auction house reaped more than $277.2m at the Impressionist and Modern Art sale where 44 of the 58 lots were sold ? 32 per cent to US buyers, 52 per cent to European buyers, and the rest to other parts of the world. Christie?s fell short of its low pre-sale estimate of $286m, but Christie?s auctioneer Christopher Burge said that was based on the sale of all 58 lots and that the auction house had still achieved it?s third-strongest New York sale. ?Generally speaking for the very best things the market was still red hot and top prices were more than we expected,? Burge told a news conference following the packed evening sale that saw fewer works offered than last year. ?Obviously the (US) dollar plays some part.? Monet?s 1873 ?Le Pont du chemin de fer a Argenteuil,? described by Christie?s as ?one of the greatest Impressionist pictures left in private hands,? sold for $41.48m, beating the previous record for the artist?s work of $36.56m. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/records-fall-at-new-york -art-auction.html Humor A History Lesson http://video.stumbleupon.com/#p=q4jm0jbwo2 EXERCISE FOR PEOPLE OVER 50 http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/exercise-for-people-over -50.html Sex Therapy for couples over 50 http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/therapy.html New! Carlos now has an online store. Order your books directly from Carlos and have them signed and dedicated. http://www.carlostmock.com/catalog/ In Pride (orgullo), Carlos T. Mock, MD Www.carlostmock.com Author: Borrowing Time: A Latino Sexual Odyssey - Floricanto Press 2003. Nominated for a Stonewall Award by the American Library Association GLBT Round Table. Author: The Mosaic Virus ? Floricanto Press 2007. Nominated for a Stonewall Award by the American Library Association GLBT Round Table, and a Lammie from The Lambda Literary Foundation Author: Author: Papi Chulo ? Floricanto Press 2007. Nominated for a Stonewall Award by the American Library Association GLBT Round Table, and a Lammie from The Lambda Literary Foundation -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From ctmock at gmail.com Sat May 17 14:02:43 2008 From: ctmock at gmail.com (Carlos Mock) Date: Sat, 17 May 2008 15:02:43 -0500 Subject: [News] The Moron Newsletter - May 17, 2008 In-Reply-To: Message-ID: Larry King: Is America ready for a woman or a black president? Jon Stewart: "This is such a non-question. Did anyone ask us in 2000 if Americans were readyfor a moron?" Keith Olbermann Special Comment *MR BUSH YOU ARE A FASCIST!*http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QEcBjpsP1bU&feature=related President ush committed political treason today Posted by Will Bunch @ 10:45 AM Ma 15, 2008. Copyright by Permalink I've seen a lot of sad things in America politics in my lifetime ? the resignation of a president who became a natioal disgrace after he oversaw a campaign of break-ins and cover-ups, anothe who circumvented the Constitution to trade arms for hostages, and yet is nw hailed as national hero. And those paled to what we have seen in the lat seven years -- flagrant disregard for the Constitution, the launching of a"pre-emptive" war on false pretenses, and discussions about torture and oter shocking abuses inside the White House inner sanctum. But now it's com to this: A new low that I never imagined was even possible. President Bushwent on foreign soil today, and committed what I consider an act of political treason: Comparing the candidate of the U.S. opposition party to appeasers of Nazi Germany -- in the ery nation that was carved out from the horrific calamity of the Holocaut. Bush's bizarre and beyond-appropriate detour into American presidential poitics took place in the middle of what should have been an occasion for oy: A speech to Israeli's Knesset to honor that nation's 60th birthday. ttp://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/president-bush-committed-political.html Blair's wife recalls disappointment at Bush's win By DAVID TRINGER. Copyright 2008 Associated Press. 5:44 PM CDT, May 14, 2008. LONDON- The wife of former British Prime Minister Tony Blair said she and her husand watched in distress as George Bush won the U.S. presidential electionin 2000, according to extracts of her autobiography published Wednesday. "Ithink it's fair to say that our hearts sank when the result was finally atified," Cherie Blair wrote in "Speaking For Myself," which is being serialzed in The Times of London newspaper. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blgspot.com/2008/05/blairs-wife-recalls-disa ppointment-at.html Internatinal Herald Tribune Editorial - The courage of Laura Berg. Copyright by The Inernational Herald Tribune. Published: May 13, 2008. The PEN American Cener, the literary organization committed to free expression, is honoring n American most people in the United States have never read or even hard of: Laura Berg. She is a psychiatric nurse at a Veterans Affairs hospial who was threatened with a sedition investigaon after she wrote a letter to the editor denouncing the Bush administration's bungling of relief efforts in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and its shocking incomptence in conducting the Iraq war. That's right, sedition: inciting rebellin against the government. We suppose nothing should surprise us in thee days of government zealotry. But the horror and the shame of tha witch hunt should shock everyone. Berg identified herself as a Veteans Affairs nurse when, soon after Katrina's horrors, she sent her impasioned letter to The Alibi, a paper in Albuquerque. "I am furious with the ragically misplaced priorities and criminal negligence of this governmet," she wrote. "We need to wake up and get real here, and act forcefully toremove a government administration playing games of smoke and mirrors and viious deceit." Her superiors at the hospital soon alerted the FBI and impouded her office computer, where she keeps the case files of war-scarred veterns she treats. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/internatinal-herald-tri bune-editorial_3538.html International Herald Tribune Editori - The mental suffering of American soldiers. Copyright by The Internatioal Herald Tribune. Published: May 12 2008. The Department of Veterans Affairs is struggling to cope with a task for which it was tragically unready: the care of soldiers who left Afghanistan and Iraq with a extra burden of brain injury and psychic anguish. The last thing tey need is the blend of secrecy and heedlessness that helped to send many ofthem into harm's way. "Shh!" said the e-mail in February from Dr. Ira Kat, head of mental health services for Veterans Affairs, to a colleague. "ur suicide prevention coordinators are identifying about 1,000 suicid attempts per month among the veterans we see in our medical facilites. Is this something we should (carefully) address ourselves in some sort o release before someone stumbles on it?" Katz's hushed-up figure was nohere near the number he gave to the House Veterans' Affairs Committee last ear; he said there had been 790 suicide attempts in all of 2007, and denid there was a suicide epidemic. The veterans affairs secretary, James Peake,apologized for Katz's "unfortunate set of words" and promised more candor. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/international-herald-tri bune-editorial_2476.html The oily ruth about America?s foreign policy By Gideon Rachman. Copyright The Financal Times Limited 2008. Published: May 12 2008 19:05 | Last updated: May 12008 19:05. With the oil price heading upwards and President George W. Bsh heading for Saudi Arabia, as part of a Middle Eastern tour, it is time o accept the truth. The pursuit of oil is fundamental to US foreign policy. he importance of oil to American foreign policy is both obvious and curiousl difficult to acknowledge in public. In the run-up to the Iraq war i was left to the left to make the argument that this was a ?war for oil?. Establishment people ? those in the know ? rolled their eyes at this ?conspiracy theory?. Yet in recent monts, both Alan Greenspan, former chairman of the Federal Reserve, and Seator John McCain have come close to saying that Iraq was indeed about oil.In his memoirs Mr Greenspan said he regretted that it was ?politically iconvenient? to acknowledge that ?the Iraq war is largely about oil?. Earler this month Mr McCain, who will carry the Republican banner in this year?s residential election, promised an energy policy ?that will eliminate ourdependence on oil from the Middle East? and so ?prevent us from having er to send our young men and women into conflict again in the Middle East? http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/oily-truth-about-americ s-foreign.html Is McCain sailing into a storm? By Steve Chapman. Copyright? 2008, Chicago Tribune. May 11, 2008. The last couple of months have been pringtime in paradise for Republicans: the loveliest of all possible season. They have been watching two Democratic presidential candidates in an endles battle to destroy each other?a process that does not appear to enhance th chance that the eventual nomineewill win in November. A recent Gallup poll showed John McCain leading both Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton in a head-to-head matchup. All this before Republicns even begin publicizing the worst that can be said about either of two andidates whose alleged defects provide a supremely target-rich environmnt. But it's easy to let the individuals involved obscure larger factors hat may prove more important. In a hurricane, even handsome, well-built bots can end up underwater. And right now, the GOP looks as though itmay be sailing into a perfect storm. Currently, 69 percent of Americans isapprove of the way President Bush is doing his job. That is the highest dispproval rating since Gallup began polling 70 years ago?higher than Lyndo Johnson during the Vietnam War, Richard Nixon during Watergate, or Jimm Carter during the Iran hostage crisis. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogsot.com/2008/05/is-mccain-sailing-into-s torm.html International Herald Triune Editorial - The lucrative arts of war and not paying taxes. Copyrightby The International Herald Tribune. Published: May 12, 2008. Congress i finally moving to shut one of the more egregious forms of Iraq war profitering: defense contractors using offshore shell companies to avoid paying heir fair share of payroll taxes. The practice is widespread and congressionainvestigators have been dispatched to one of the prime tax refuges, the Cayman Islands, to seek a firsthand estimate of how much the U.S. Treasury i being shorted. No one will be surprised to hear that one of the suspected prime offenders is KBR, the Texas-based defene contractor, formerly a part of the Halliburton conglomerate allied with Vic President Dick Cheney. According to a report in The Boston Globe, KBR, hich has landed billions of dollars in Iraq contracts, has used two Cayman shll companies to avoid paying hundreds of millions of dollars in payroll, Mdicare and unemployment taxes. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.co/2008/05/international-herald-tri bune-editorial_13.html How daydreamers cased Iraq nightmare BY ANDREW GREELEY. Copyright by The Chicago Sun-Times. My 14, 2008. As the Bush administration winds down, people will rflect on the strange ideas that have emerged during this disastrous era in ur country's history. We also will wonder about the arrogant ignorance tha shaped the tragedy of the last eight years. It is imperative to conider where the ideas came from that will live after Jan. 20, perhaps thrugh the McCain years. Fred Kaplan has written an insightful book --Daydream Believers: How a Few Grand Ideas Wrecked American Power -- about th ideas that have supported the president's understanding of foreign poicy. The basic premise of these theories was the president's convictin that his predecessor's foreign policy was wrong in every respect. When h came to the White House, he determined that there would be no more nation bilding, as in Bosnia, no more active intervention in the Israel-Palestinin conflict, no more concern about shadow groups such as al-Qaida. The tas of his national security adviser, Condoleezza Rice, was not so much to challnge his assumptions as to reassure him and help him to develop the explici theories to support what he wanted to do. Thus, when Richard Clarke warnedRice that al-Qaida was planning massie attacks on the United States, she apparently did not pass that warning on to the president. Note that the Iraq war was and still is a massive effort at nation building. W are engaged in a "war on terrorism" and the ineffable Rice bustles back nd forth to Israel to tell both warring parties what they "need" (one of er favorite words) to do. The new ideas sounded profound and important.After 9/11, the whole world had changed. The Cold War was over, and te United States was the last superpower. It could do whatever it wanted to rotect itself and in any part of the world it might choose, especially wih the new super weapons that Donald Rumsfeld promised would make wars quick ad painless and would require only a few troops. http://iretiredfromnewsetters.blogspot.com/2008/05/how-daydreamers-caused-i raq-nightmare.html ecurity contractor in Baghdad shooting is flying high By James Risen. Copright by The International Herald Tribune. Published: May 10, 2008. WASHINTON: Last autumn, Blackwater Worldwide was in deep peril. Guards for the seurity company were involved in a shooting in September that left at leat 17 Iraqis dead at a Baghdad intersection. Outrage over the killings promped the Iraqi government to demand Blackwater's ouster from the country, a crminal investigation by the FBI, a series of internal investigations by the Sate Department and the Pentagon, and high-profile congressional hearing. But after an intense public and private lobbying campaign, Blackwater apears to be back to business as usual. The State Department has just renewed its contract to provide security for U.S. diplomats in Iraq for at least another year. Threats by the Irqi government to strip Western contractors of their immunity from Iraqi law hve gone nowhere. No charges have yet been brought in the United States agains any Blackwater guards in the September shooting, either, and the FBI agens in Baghdad charged with investigating whether Blackwater guards committe any crimes under United States law are sometimes protected as they travel hrough Baghdad by Blackwater guards. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspotcom/2008/05/security-contractor-in-b aghdad-shooting.html US postpones firstGuantanamo war crimes trial By BEN FOX. Copyright 2008 Associated Press. 153 AM CDT, May 17, 2008. SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico - A military judge on Frida postponed the first war crimes tribunal at Guantanamo Bay, saying he wantsto wait until the Supreme Court makes its highly anticipated ruling o the right of detainees to challenge their confinement in civil courts. Nay Capt. Keith Allred ruled the trial for Osama bin Laden's former drivr should be delayed seven weeks, until July 21, in case the Supreme Court rulng affects his case. He scheduled pretrial hearings to begin a week earlir. A Supreme Court ruling is expected by June 30. Defense lawyers for SalimAhmed Hamdan, whose trial was scheduled to start June 2, had requested a ostponement. Military prosecutors had said they were eager to go to trial. htp://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/us-postpones-first-gant anamo-war.html Oil rice surges as Bush visits Saudi By Javier Blas in London. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008. Published: May 16 2008 14:06 | Last updated: May 16 2008 14:57. Crud oil prices on Friday hit a fresh record high of almost $128 a barrelboosted by a bullish forecast from Goldman Sachs and as US President eorge W. Bush asked Saudi Arabia, the world?s largest oil producer, for hel to lower skyrocketing energy prices. Bush, on his second visit to Sudi Arabia this year, was renewing his appeal for the Organisation of te Petroleum Exporting Countries to boost its output. ?We do count on he Opec countries to keep adequate supplies out there, so the president willtalk again with the king about that,? White House spokeswoman Dana Perino tod reporters travelling with Bush, Reuters reported. The surge in prices cae after Goldman Sachs forecasted West Texas Intermediate crude t average $141 a barrel in the second half of 2008, up from a previous projecton of $107 a barrel, it said in a report. Goldman also forecasts prices wll rise further next year to average $148. http://iretiredfromnewsletter.blogspot.com/2008/05/oil-price-surges-as-bush -visits-saudi.html You Lack of Money US consumer confidence at lowest since 1980 By Chris Byant in Washington. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008. Publishd: May 16 2008 14:36 | Last updated: May 16 2008 15:39. US consumer confience sank to its lowest level in 28 years this month as anxious shoppers grppled with surging food and fuel costs, according to a new survey publishe on Friday. The Reuters/University of Michigan consumer confidece index plunged from 62.6 to 59.5 in May, the lowest reading since June 1980 Meanwhile, one-year inflation expectations rose to 5.2 per cent, the mst since February 1982, and up from 4.8 per cent n April. A separate report revealed new construction of single-family homes dropped to the lowest level in 17 years. Although the headline rate of housing starts increase, economists attributed the improvement to a big spike in a volatile gauge f multi-family home construction. Waning consumer confidence and the slding US housing market have compelled the Federal Reserve to slash interest ates by 325 basis points since last September to try to prevent the US ecnomy tipping into a deep recession. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.cm/2008/05/us-consumer-confidence-a t-lowest-since.html An age of uncertainy - Seniors living on a fixed income face hard choices as costs soar forgroceries, gas and medicine. No relief is in sight By Dahleen Glanton. Cyright ? 2008, Chicago Tribune. May 17, 2008. ATLANTA ? It was a bad day t the bingo table. When the numbers fall right, the senior citizens who ather in a small conference room in the rear of the Kroger grocery store fortheir weekly bingo game fill their bags with winnings that include eggs, chiken, fruit, bread and fresh fish. But on this day, no one took homemore than two or three items. "I'm going to have to go shopping now," 84-yar-old Ruth Graves, a retired waitress who lives on Social Security, said asshe rolled her cart into the store to take advantage of senior discount da, a 10 percent savings on purchases on Wednesdays. For Graves, who supplemnts her income by selling Avon products, and the dozen other women who reguarly attend the bingo games, it is a tme for fun, laughter and socializing. But there is also a practical benefit?every item of free groceries helps them save money as the unstable economy pushes their living epenses higher. Faced with soaring costs of prescription drugs, housing, gasline and groceries, it is easy for seniors on fixed incomes to go over budge. And sometimes, as hard as they try, there is not enough money each monthto make ends meet. Like many of America's elderly, Graves is old enough to rmember at least part of the Great Depression that began with the stock maret crash of 1929 and ended with the onset of World War II. The memories o hunger, unemployment and watching their parents sink into financia ruin are etched in their minds. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.om/2008/05/age-of-uncertainty-senio rs-living-on.html US consumer prices how modest gain By Chris Bryant in Washington. Copyright The Financial imes Limited 2008. Published: May 14 2008 14:27 | Last updated: ay 14 2008 17:40. Consumer prices remained in check in April, in spite of suging food costs, which could give the Federal Reserve more room for manouvre as it seeks to steer the US economy out of its current malaise. The cnsumer price index advanced by 0.2 per cent in April while core prices, hich exclude food and energy, rose by only 0.1 per ent. Both price gauges came in a tenth of a percentage point less than economists had forecast. Over the past year overall consumer prices have risen by 3.9 per cet. Core prices - the Fed?s preferred barometer - gained 2.3 per cent over thiperiod but have increased at an annual rate of only 1.2 per cent in the pas three months. Economists said this relatively modest increase in iflation reflected waning consumer demand as the US economy slows and also he impact of the housing market slump which has helped keep rents under conol. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/us-consumer-pricesshow- modest-gain.html Writedowns push MBIA to $2.4bn loss By Saskia Scholts in New York. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008. Published:May 12 2008 14:55 | Last updated: May 12 2008 14:55. MBIA, the world?s larest bond insurer, on Monday reported a $2.4bn loss for the first quarter as t took billions of dollars of writedowns on derivatives contracts amid onoing credit market deterioration. The loss was more than twice analysts? esimates, equating to $13.03 a share for the quarter, compared with profits of$198.6m, or $1.46 a share, for the first quarter of 2007. MBIA was foced to reduce the value of securities it has insured through derivatives trdes by $3.6bn in the first quarter as credit markets tumbled. Unliketraditional insurance on corporate or municipal bonds, the value of derivatives contracts called credit default swaps must be priced at the end of each quarter at current market value. However, while MBIA acknowledged that the mark-to-market adjustment was ?attenion-getting?, it did not believe the writedown was representative of actual lsses on the insured securities. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.co/2008/05/writedowns-push-mbia-to- 24bn-loss.html JC Penney 1Q profit flls 50 pct; rough year ahead By SCHUYLER DIXON. Copyright 2008 Associated Pess. 11:35 AM CDT, May 15, 2008. DALLAS - J.C. Penney reported first-quater profits were halved and on Thursday predicted "difficult" conditions forthe entire year as consumers pull back on spending. Net income fell to $120 illion, or 54 cents per share, from $238 million, or $1.04 per share, a yar ago, the suburban Dallas-based retailer said. Total sales fell 5 percent o $4.13 billion from $4.35 billion. Profits per share were better than he 50 cents expected from analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial, however, nd it said second-quarter earnings would be slightly better than analystforecasts. Shares rose 3.3 percent, or $1.48, t $44.73 in midday trading. "It is obviously a very difficult time for all U.S. consumers," said Myron E. Ullman III, chairman and chief executive. "They're facing uncertainty in heir financial well-being." http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspotcom/2008/05/jc-penney-1q-profit-fall s-50-pct-rough.html German growth hels spur eurozone By Ralph Atkins in Frankfurt. Copyright The Financil Times Limited 2008. Published: May 15 2008 08:38 | Last updated:May 15 2008 11:03. A dramatic German growth spurt powered a reaccelertion in eurozone growth at the start of this year that contrasted with the harp US slowdown. Defying the global economic storms, German gross doestic product in Europe?s largest economy increased by 1.5 per cent in the frst quarter ? the fastest quarterly rate for almost 12 years, the country?s tatistical office revealed on Thursday. That was far above expectations and cmpared with GDP growth of just 0.1 per cent in the US in the same period. he German figures helped lift the overall 15-country eurozone growth rate to0.7 per cent in the first quarter, up from 0.4 per cent in the previous threemonths. That could lead to forecasts for the year being revised significanly higher. However, economists agreed that the German first quarter figure were distorted by exceptional factors, including a mild winter that boosted onstruction activity. Forward-looking confidence indicators such as te IFO business confidence index have suggesed that growth will be much weaker in the second quarter. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/german-growth-helps-spur -eurozone.html BA profits oar to record levels By Kevin Done, Aerospace Correspondent. Copyright The Fiancial Times Limited 2008. Published: May 16 2008 08:53 | Last updatd: May 16 2008 12:26. British Airways achieved record profits last year ad reached a 10 per cent operating margin for the first time in its history. It has decided to pay a dividend for the first time since 2000/01 and is payig a bonus to staff of ?35m after narrowly achieving its profit targets despit the cost of the chaotic opening of Heathrow Terminal 5 in the final ays of March. Willie Walsh, BA chief executive who has been under heav pressure since the fiasco of the T5 opening, said the company had achievedan ?outstanding financial result? despite rising fuel prices and significant conomic slowdown in the last six months. He confirmed, however, thathe would not be taking his annual bonus that is worth up to ?700,000 because f the debacle surrounding the opening of T5. ?I felt in the context of disappointing opening of Terminal 5 it would be inappropriate to take a onus,? Mr Walsh said. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/a-profits-soar-to-recor d-levels.html REBATE SUGGESTION - This strateg means making a bet on forever By Gerald D. Skoning. Copyright ? 2008, Chicago Tribune. May 11, 2008. Uncle Sam says your economic stimulus rebate checks are in te mail (I know, I've heard that joke too). Soon, American taxpayers will deide how to spend a windfall that was sold in Washington as a way to boost theeconomy. So, what to do with those checks, which for some families coul mean $1,200 or more? Buy a flat-screen TV? Pay off credit card debt? Set i aside as a hedge against skyrocketing gasoline prices? No, here's a betteridea: Use that rebate to buy "forever" stamps from the U.S. Postal Service. ostage rates are going up, again. On Monday, the cost of sending a firs-class letter will rise by a penny to 42 cents. It will be the third increasein a little over two years. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/200805/rebate-suggestion-this-s trategy-means.html Gold and Commodities Oil 126.29 Silver Bullion $16.98 Gold Bullion $902 Platinum Bullion $ $2132Euro $1.5571 Financial Times Editorial Comment: Time to covene a summit on oil. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008. Publishe: May 15 2008 19:35 | Last updated: May 15 2008 19:35. The inexorabe rise in the oil price, from below $20 to $126 in less than a decade,makes governments look powerless. But governments can ease the economic harm of a high oil price ? if they act together. In order to do so they should put oil at the heart of the next Goup of Eight summit, or even better, organise a wider summit to bring tother industrialised countries, big emerging market oil consumers and largeoil producers. Such a summit would have three objectives: to encourageenergy efficiency, and so reduce future oil demand; to promote investment innew oil supplies; and to smooth the recycling of billions of dollars in il revenues from producers back into consuming countries. All three tasks wold be easier with international co-operation and there are enough shared inteests to make a worthwhile deal possible. More efficient car engine, fuel cell power supplies, and other technologies to do more work wit each barrel of oil would all reduce future demand. The trick is to create icentives to invest in them. More money would be spent on developing the riht kinds of engine if fuel economy standards were tough (and similar in every large market. More would be invested n new. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/financial-times-editoria l-comment-time.html $4 a gallon not the end of rising gas prices - 'It's not gng to be a 1-year blip and go away' By Joshua Boak and Greg Burns. Copyriht ? 2008, Chicago Tribune. May 18, 2008. Drivers will likely need to becme comfortable with gas at $4 a gallon as oil experts say an era of historic ain at the pump will endure well beyond the Memorial Day weekend, when price traditionally peak. You might trade in that GMC Yukon for a Honda Civic skip the highway for the bike lane and redefine that time-honored traditio of the road-trip. Americans are already reordering their Memorial Day weeknds, with AAA reporting a decrease in travel for the first time since 2002. But those changes might not be enough to immediately pull down a gasoline mket that now follows the whims of the world economy. Newfound wealth flls pockets of the globe once known for overwhelming poverty, and for the fist time prices are responding to their thirst for fuel as much as demand in Aerica. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/4-gallon-not-endof-risi ng-gas-prices.html Housing Illinois Average Rates 5/17/08 -10:46 PM 30 Yr Fixed 5.80% 15 Yr Fixed 5.41% 30 Yr Fixed Jumbo 7.05% Chicago-area home prices fell .6% - Rising inventory of unsold houses a major problem By Susan Diesenhous. Copyright ? 2008, Chicago Tribune. May 14, 2008. In a broad-based housig decline, the price of existing single-family homes fell in 100 out of 149 U.S metropolitan areas during the first quarter, according to a report released Tuesday by the Naional Association of Realtors. The median sale price fell 7.7 percent natonwide, to $196,300, from $212,600 a year earlier. In the Chicago area,single-family home prices fell 6.6 percent, to $249,600. For condominiums, coperatives and townhouses, U.S. prices fell 3 percent, but metropolitan Chica prices for existing units rose 7 percent, the group reported. For the yea, U.S. median house prices will fall 2.4 percent but in 2009 will rise 4. percent as it becomes easier for buyers to secure mortgages for high-pricd housing, the association forecast. A major problem Chicago faces is a grwing inventory of unsold homes, as foreclosures mount and prospective buyes face difficulty selling the houses they already own, according to te April Homebuilding Survey released this week by Zelman & Associates, NewYork-based housing consultants. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspotcom/2008/05/chicago-area-home-prices -fell-66-rising.html Record condo numers to saturate downtown - With sales slowing in weak economy, oversupply forcast By Robert Manor. Copyright ? 2008, Chicago Tribu. May 14, 2008. Nearly 6,000 condos, by far a record number, are expected to come on the market in downtown Chicago this year at a time when mortgages are toughr to get and sales have slowed dramatically, according to a report. That add up to a big worry about the Loop-area market, which has seen explosive grwth in recent years. "It's tremendously serious," said Steven Hovany, presidnt of Strategy Planning Associates Inc., a planning and real estate conulting firm. "What you are going to see are buildings going into foeclosure." Hovany predicts developers will cancel downtown projects for seeral years to come, until the excess housing is absorbed. Downtown living, lmost inconceivable 15 years ago, has contributed an extraordinary amount to hicago's economy and its reputation as a livable city. The near West Side,once a depressed area, is now noted for fine dining. The near South Side ha gone from a desolate warren of railroad tracks and warehouses to an engagin neighborhood with a short walk to work for thousands of peple. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/record-condo-numbers-to- saturate.html HSBC sees further pain in US housing By Peter Thal Larsen, Bnking Editor. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008. Published: May 2 2008 11:34 | Last updated: May 12 2008 15:05. HSBC on Monday predicted th US housing market downturn could last for at least another year as the bankng group revealed it had set aside $5.8bn (?3bn) as a result of the creditturmoil in the first quarter. UK Daily View: HSBC seen as bellwether. Pter Thal Larsen analyses the bank?s writedowns and its outlook for US housing The bank, one of the first to suffer from the meltdown in the US subprime ortgage market, said any recovery in the US housing market was unlikelythis year. ?We don?t think this is a 2008 event, it?s a 2009 event,? said Mihael Geoghegan, chief executive. HSBC?s position as a large lender to US cusomers with poor and patchy credit histories meansits results are closely watched by other banks looking for any signs of an improvement in the markets. Many bankers believe securities backed by US mortgages will only stabilise onc US house prices stop falling. The bank said its US business had set aside $.2bn in bad debt provisions in the first quarter. This is double the amunt it provided in the first three months of last year, but lower than th $4.6bn set aside in the fourth quarter of 2007. http://iretiredfromnewslettes.blogspot.com/2008/05/hsbc-sees-further-pain-i n-us-housing.html inancial Times Editorial Comment: The great asset price controversy. Copyrigh The Financial Times Limited 2008. Published: May 14 2008 19:28 | Last updted: May 14 2008 19:28. One market bubble may be an accident; two in the sace of a decade begins to look like carelessness. After the internet bbble that burst in 2000, and last year?s collapse of a credit and house pricebubble, every sane central banker around the world must surely think againabout whether to act against over-exuberant asset prices. That the US FederalReserve is looking at this topic is welcome ? but the correct conclusionis still far from clear. The past couplef decades have seen a growing international consensus about monetary policy: central banks should be independent, their goal should be low but stable inflation,nd they should use interest rates to achieve it. But as to what centrl banks should do about asset price bubbles ? which damage economic growthand stability when they burst ? controversy still rages. Bubbles caue two problems for central bankers. First, they are hard to spot untiafter they have burst. Are sky-high share prices irrational or a signal hat the internet is an incredible investment opportunity? It is easy t call a bubble now but it was harder in the summer of 1999. If central bankrs tighten policy when there is no bubble, they will distort importan signals from the markets. Second, unlike bubbles made from soap, those mae from asset prices are hard to prick. Even interest rates of 10 or 15 per cnt might not have been enough to damp enthusiasm for the internet in thelate 1990s, but they would have crushed a range of other economic ativities. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/financial-imes-editoria l-comment-great.html International International Herald Tribune Editorial - The Burmese generals and crimes against humanity. Copyright by The International Herald Tribune. Published: May 14, 2008. After Cyclone Nargis devastated Myanmar, killing tens of thousands of people, the world rushed to offer help. Most governments would be grateful. Not this one. The Burmese generals are still blocking large-scale foreign aid. That negligence could lead to the death of tens of thousands more. It took far too long and far too many pleadings before the junta agreed to let any international relief planes land. The generals - who have brutally shut the country off from the rest of the world for more than 40 years - also finally allowed in a team of disaster experts to assess the damage. But the junta has approved only 34 of 100 visas sought by relief workers and has insisted that only its own five army helicopters transport supplies. The result? Relief supplies are reaching at best only one-third of those in desperate need of food, water and medical attention. American ships - with helicopters and hospital facilities - are nearby ready to help, but barred by the junta from doing so. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/international-herald-tri bune-editorial_15.html Editorial Comment: Unlike Katrina which was pure mismanagement Burma keeps silent on offers of US help By Demetri Sevastopulo in Washington and Amy Kazmin in Bangkok. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008. Published: May 16 2008 18:50 | Last updated: May 16 2008 18:50. Burma has failed to respond to a series of increasingly creative offers from the Pentagon to let the US military deliver aid to the country, it emerged on Friday, as the official death toll from the cyclone of a fortnight ago rose sharply to 78,000. Admiral Timothy Keating, the head of US Pacific Command who travelled to Burma this week, told the Financial Times he had made several suggestions to the junta during his visit, including allowing Burmese military officers on to US navy ships and aircraft, but he was ?disappointed? at not receiving any response. ?I cannot imagine saying no to anything . . . we are not so picky,? said Admiral Keating. ?We and the other agencies and countries are leaning as far forward as we know how.? http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/burma-keeps-silent-on-of fers-of-us-help.html US-Russia nuclear deal faces struggle By Daniel Dombey in Washington. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008. Published: May 16 2008 20:39 | Last updated: May 16 2008 20:39. The US administration is facing opposition in Congress over a nuclear deal with Russia intended to improve relations between Moscow and Washington. Some US diplomats are concerned that a fight over the agreement will hinder their efforts to develop a less confrontational relationship with Moscow now that Demetri Medvedev has taken over as Russia?s president from Vladimir Putin. The civil nuclear co-operation agreement would permit the transfer of nuclear technology and materials between Russia and the US. While it is unlikely that opponents of the deal will be able to obtain a veto-proof congressional majority, US officials anticipate a difficult struggle. Congressional aides say that Congress could eventually refuse to grant funds for implementing the agreement. ?We are confident that the Congress will ultimately agree with us,? said Tom Casey, a state department spokesman. ?This agreement is extremely important and will help us and help the Russians advance the cause of non-proliferation.? http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/us-russia-nuclear-deal-f aces-struggle.html Militant group claims it was behind India bombing By MUNEEZA NAQVI. Copyright 2008 Associated Press. 9:56 AM CDT, May 15, 2008. JAIPUR, India - A previously unknown Islamic militant group claimed Thursday to have used explosive-laden bicycles to plant bombs that tore through this historic Indian city, warning in an e-mail of more attacks on popular tourists sites.(AP) _ The e-mail, a copy of which was obtained by The Associated Press, came with a document that demands India stop working with the United States and Britain or "face more attacks at other important tourist places." Authorities said they were investigating the videos and the document to determine if they were indeed sent by those behind Tuesday's attack, which killed 61 people. "Some of the footage may have been meant to mislead," said Vasundhara Raje, the chief minister of Rajasthan state, where Jaipur is located. "Intelligence officials are looking" at the videos and the e-mail, which were originally sent to Indian television channels. The e-mailed videos show a bicycle with an alleged bomb strapped to it parked in a crowded market. Investigators believe most of the bombs were placed in bags left on bicycles, which police have traced to two shops in Jaipur's old city, said Pankaj Singh, the city's inspector-general of police. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/militant-group-claims-it -was-behind.html Cuba blames US for Internet restrictions By ANDREA RODRIGUEZ. Copyright 2008 Associated Press. 3:42 PM CDT, May 16, 2008. HAVANA - A top Cuban official said Friday that Raul Castro's government would consider loosening Internet restrictions on ordinary citizens newly allowed to purchase computers -- but Washington's decades-old economic embargo makes it impossible. "We aren't worried about the citizenry connecting from their homes," Telecommunications Vice Minister Boris Moreno told a small group of reporters. "But problems with technology and resources have made it necessary to give priority to connections that guarantee the country's social and economic development," he said, referring to an islandwide network that lets Cubans receive e-mail and view domestic Web sites. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/cuba-blames-us-for-inter net.html International Herald Tribune Editorial - Time for Africa to lean on Mugabe and his cronies. Copyright by The International Herald Tribune. Published: May 9, 2008. There is little doubt that Morgan Tsvangirai was elected president of Zimbabwe in March. There is no doubt that President Robert Mugabe's henchmen have used the weeks since to massage the count and terrorize Tsvangirai's supporters and anyone who dares to criticize the government. Now Zimbabweans are being told there will have to be a runoff. Tsvangirai has not yet said whether he will participate, and we understand why he would hesitate. But the unfortunate reality is that unless he runs again, Mugabe will automatically get another presidential term. Zimbabwe cannot afford five more years of incompetence and brutality. On Thursday, the government arrested two senior trade union leaders and the editor of one of the country's few independent newspapers. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/international-herald-tri bune-editorial_3740.html China Amid disaster, China presses onward By Evan Osnos. Copyright ? 2008, Chicago Tribune. 9:01 AM CDT, May 17, 2008. CHENGDU, China - As strange as it sounds, the streets of Chengdu are normal today. This city barely 40 miles from devastated schools and apartments and hospitals is operating virtually as it was before the earthquake struck this patch of southwest China. Stores are open, tire shops are changing tires, the computer market is busy. It's not for lack of sympathy for neighbors hit harder. Indeed, ordinary Chinese with no direct connection to the quake have poured out cash and donated blood and pledges of support. Rather, the remarkable thing about the two worlds unfolding in China this week is how they exist in parallel, a case study in a nation divided between its past and its present. One of the subtexts to the earthquake is that it hit China's rural heartland, the high hills of Sichuan province, which are a galaxy away from the city. Many villages are still built out of stone and wood and clay, while many others have upgraded to light construction--concrete, white-tile exteriors, sheets of blue glass--or, if they have a bit more money, countryside versions of city apartment blocks. None of them are very permanent and their residents complain that in the best of circumstances their hard-won new homes don't stand the test of time. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/amid-disaster-china-pres ses-onward.html Mess-o-potamia International Herald Tribune Editorial - Help Lebanon: Talk to Syria and Iran. Copyright by The International Herald Tribune. Published: May 15, 2008. President George W. Bush claims that Lebanon's "Cedar Revolution" in 2005, which ended 30 years of Syrian military occupation, was a triumph of his policy of promoting democracy in the Middle East. Given Lebanon's history, that was always na?ve. Lebanon is now in deep trouble, and Bush, who will be meeting Prime Minister Fouad Siniora in Egypt on Sunday, has no real plan to help overcome the crisis. Some calm has returned to Beirut in recent days, but the country remains frighteningly close to another civil war. One hundred thousand Lebanese - out of fewer than 4 million - died in the last civil war. Responsible Lebanese leaders - Maronite, Sunni, Shiite and Druse - must do everything they can to find a peaceful exit, and the United States must do a lot more to help. The current crisis began last week when Siniora's government - which unites large sections of the Sunni, Druse and Maronite communities - tried to shut down a telecommunications and surveillance network run by the militant group Hezbollah. That would have been a welcome reassertion of governmental authority, except that the government does not have the political and military clout to pull it off. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/international-herald-tri bune-editorial_16.html International Herald Tribune Editorial - Pakistan's coalition can't afford a split. Copyright by The International Herald Tribune. Published: May 13, 2008. After an auspicious start, the leaders of Pakistan's new coalition government have let political rivalries thwart their efforts to rebuild their battered country. Former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif withdrew his party's ministers from the cabinet on Monday in a dispute with his rival, Asif Ali Zardari, over when and how to reinstate dozens of dismissed judges. The judiciary has been at the heart of Pakistan's roiling political dynamic for a year. At the height of his dictatorial powers, President Pervez Musharraf purged 57 judges, including the chief judge of the country's Supreme Court. He feared the court would overturn his re-election by the departing Parliament. The country's two main opposition parties - led by Zardari, the widower of the assassinated former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, and Sharif - won control of Parliament in February, promising to quickly reinstate the judges. But they have not been able to agree since on how to do that. Sharif, who was driven from office by Musharraf, wants the judges restored immediately, by executive fiat, with a clear expectation that they will legally oust the former general. Zardari, who seems more willing to envision a deal with Musharraf (as did his late wife), wants the judges restored by an act of Parliament, coupled with judicial reform measures - a process that could take months to play out. Strong personal rivalries, in abeyance until now, have made this all the more complicated. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/international-herald-tri bune-editorial_8630.html Iraqi forces hunt door-to-door for Mosul militants By HAMID AHMED. Copyright 2008 Associated Press. 10:23 AM CDT, May 15, 2008. BAGHDAD - Government troops began house-to-house searches for al-Qaida in Iraq militants in Mosul on Thursday, part of a major security operation to cleanse Iraq's third largest city from cells of the terror network. Described by the U.S. military as the last major urban base of al-Qaida in Iraq, Mosul has become the site of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's third security drive in two months as he attempts to defeat Shiite militants and Sunni extremists. Al-Maliki flew to Mosul on Wednesday to take charge of the operation by U.S.-backed Iraqi forces. On Thursday, he sought to enlist the support of former Saddam Hussein-era army officers and local tribal leaders in two separate meetings in Mosul. Mosul has traditionally supplied the army with a large number of its officers and al-Maliki called on authorities to help bring back those who wish to return to duty, according to a statement issued by his office. The prime minister, who has been vigorously courting tribal leaders in recent months, also appealed to dignitaries from local tribes to stand behind his security forces in the fight against militants. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/iraqi-forces-hunt-door-t o-door-for.html Spokesman: Gunfire hits Iranian convoy in Baghdad By HAMID AHMED. Copyright 2008 Associated Press. 9:19 AM CDT, May 16, 2008. BAGHDAD - An Iranian Embassy convoy came under fire in Baghdad, wounding two Iranian diplomats and two other staff, a spokesman said Friday. Tehran accused the United States of encouraging attacks against Iranian interests in Iraq. The U.S. military said Americans were "in no way involved in this attack" and said that it "condemns any attack on guests or visitors of any country." It was not clear who shot at the convoy. An Iraqi Interior Ministry official said Iraqi soldiers exchanged fire with guards in an argument that broke out when members of the convoy failed to produce identification cards. Iranian Embassy spokesman Manoucher Taslimi said he did not know who the gunmen were but said the convoy was attacked while it was en route to a revered Shiite shrine in the northern neighborhood of Kazimiyah. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/spokesman-gunfire-hits-i ranian-convoy.html UN official says foreign agents are killing Afghans By FISNIK ABRASHI. Copyright 2008 Associated Press. 12:43 PM CDT, May 15, 2008. KABUL, Afghanistan - Foreign intelligence agents are leading secret, deadly raids on suspected insurgents in Afghanistan and shirking responsibility when innocent civilians are killed, a U.N. official alleged Thursday. Philip Alston, a special investigator for the U.N. Human Rights Council, referred to three such recent raids in the country's south and east. While he didn't specifically mention any intelligence agencies, he appeared to imply American involvement. U.S. military officials declined to comment on the allegations. Alston said the raids were part of a wider problem of unlawful killings of civilians and lack of accountability in Afghanistan. He said about 500 civilians had been killed this year, most of them at the hands of the Taliban but some by Afghan police. The allegation came as a suicide bomber wearing a burqa attacked a police patrol in western Afghanistan, killing five police officers and seven civilians. Despite his criticism of secret raids, Alston said there was no evidence that international forces in Afghanistan are committing widespread intentional killings in violation of humanitarian law. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/un-official-says-foreign -agents-are.html National 22 dead in Mo., Okla., Ga. after new round of storms - Severe storms sweep across Arkansas, Missouri, Oklahoma By Murray Evans. Copyright by The Associated Press. 10:25 AM CDT, May 11, 2008. PICHER, Okla. - Crews and search dogs hunted Sunday for survivors or bodies in piles of debris after tornados and storms rumbled across the region a day earlier and killed at least 22 people in three states. Seven people died in Picher, once a bustling mining center of 20,000 that dwindled to about 800 people as families fled lead pollution here, and officials held out hope that they wouldn't find any more bodies. Residents said the tornado created a surreal scene as it tore through town late Saturday afternoon, injuring 150 people, overturning cars, throwing mattresses and twisted metal high into the canopy of trees. "I swear I could see cars floating," said Herman Hernandez, 68. "And there was a roar, louder and louder." http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/22-dead-in-mo-okla-ga-af ter-new-round.html Desmond Tutu: Equality of U.S. blacks an 'illusion' By Storer H. Rowley. Copyright ? 2008, Chicago Tribune. May 14, 2008. South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu weighed in on the presidential campaign Tuesday in Chicago, praising America's ability to produce the first viable African-American presidential candidate while describing the nation as haunted by a racial divide that still offers blacks what he called only "the illusion of equality." "You are a crazy country," Tutu, 76, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1984, said in an interview with the Tribune. "You're a country that has I think some of the most generous people I've ever come across in the world." But he chided Americans for getting "very, very upset" with the pastor of Sen. Barack Obama, noting that Rev. Jeremiah Wright Jr. "may have said more crudely what, actually, almost every African-American would have wanted to say. I mean that is how they feel in your country, that race ... is a very, very real issue." "And I think on the whole you keep trying to pretend it isn't," he added, noting the issue will haunt Americans until there is a way to talk honestly about race, such as holding a reconciliation forum. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/desmond-tutu-equality-of -us-blacks.html Republicans block war funds in House gambit - Oppose sections on benefits, withdrawal By Aamer Madhani. Copyright ? 2008, Chicago Tribune. 11:26 PM CDT, May 15, 2008. WASHINGTON ? In a surprising move to rebuke the Democratic leadership, House Republicans on Thursday found themselves allying with anti-war Democrats as they blocked a $163 billion spending bill to pay for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The bill was defeated 149-141 after 132 Republicans voted "present" on the spending bill that would have funded the two wars into 2009. Republicans said they opposed the legislation because the Democratic leaders didn't allow them the opportunity to offer alternative legislation. The "present" votes could be seen as more of a response to the Democratic leadership's attempts to gain concessions from the Bush administration than an alliance with Democrats pushing for a U.S. withdrawal from Iraq. House Minority Leader John Boehner of Ohio accused the Democratic leadership of "playing political games" for stacking the war spending bill with funding for domestic programs, an overhaul of veterans education benefits and a requirement that President George W. Bush start bringing home troops within 30 days of the legislation becoming law. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/republicans-block-war-fu nds-in-house.html Indecision 2008 John McCain Flip-Flopped on Hamas to Smear Obama http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oXp-_RKTzo8 Democrats accuse McCain of hypocrisy on Hamas. Copyright 2008 Associated Press. 9:20 AM CDT, May 16, 2008. WASHINGTON - Democrats accused Sen. John McCain Friday of hypocrisy on the question of whether the United States should negotiate with terrorists and dictators, saying the certain Republican nominee had previously been willing to negotiate with the militant Palestinian group Hamas. In an op-ed published Friday in The Washington Post, former Clinton State Department official James Rubin said that McCain, responding to a question in a television interview two years ago about whether U.S. diplomats should be working with the Hamas government in Gaza, said: "They're the government; sooner or later we are going to have to deal with them, one way or another, and I understand why this administration and previous administrations had such antipathy toward Hamas because of their dedication to violence and the things that they not only espouse but practice, so ... But it's a new reality in the Middle East. I think the lesson is people want security and a decent life and decent future, that they want democracy. Fatah was not giving them that." http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/democrats-accuse-mccain- of-hypocrisy-on.html Financial Times Editorial Comment: McCain?s worrying foreign policy. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008. Published: May 16 2008 19:34 | Last updated: May 16 2008 19:34. The next president of the United States has a golden opportunity to make a fresh start in foreign policy, to rebuild America?s prestige and restore its reputation in the world, dragged through the mud over the past eight years by George W. Bush. If that president turns out to be John McCain, the Republican candidate who is pushing national security as one of his strongest suits, will this ? as his likely Democratic opponent, Barack Obama, is implying ? amount to a third Bush term? The Arizona senator and former prisoner-of-war in Vietnam does not fit easily into any box. He has, moreover, been on the right side of some of the most defining US policy debates: against the Bush administration?s use of torture, liberal on immigration, in favour of muscular measures to combat climate change. A poll on Monday for ABC News/Washington Post gave Mr McCain a lead over Mr Obama in perceived knowledge of world affairs of 41 percentage points. Even allowing for the difference in age and experience between the two men, and mindful that the presidential campaign proper has yet to start, this is simply staggering. Mr McCain?s record, underexamined while the Democratic primaries marathon slouches towards its bitter climax, does not appear to warrant it. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/financial-times-editoria l-comment_17.html Republicans' fight against tax realities By Steve Chapman. Copyright ? 2008, Chicago Tribune. May 15, 2008. In the 1980s, a Republican House member, fed up with bipartisan efforts to reduce the budget deficit, denounced Republican Sen. Bob Dole as the "tax collector for the welfare state." Newt Gingrich, who later became House speaker, had captured something essential about the party's mood. It was not against the welfare state. It was just against paying for it. That remains the case today, as John McCain and his supporters make clear. He rules out tax increases to cut the deficit, while vowing to get tough on spending. But the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget says that while his proposals would slow the growth of spending, total outlays would still rise faster than inflation. Result: a larger deficit. Republicans used to argue that keeping taxes down was the only way to restrain spending. But as taxes have been cut under President Bush, spending has soared by 29 percent (after adjustment for inflation). Meanwhile, a $236 billion budget surplus has morphed into a deficit of more than $400 billion. If we want to cut federal spending, apparently we have to do it directly. And if we don't want to cut spending, the least we can do is pay for it ourselves instead of running up debts for our children to pay. But Republicans object to raising taxes in general, and one in particular: the tax on capital gains. Barack Obama's plan to increase the rate applied to the sale of assets has provoked howls of outrage on the right. McCain said it proves Obama "doesn't understand the economy." An editorial in The Wall Street Journal claimed that lower rates yield higher revenues and drew a damning conclusion: "Either the young Illinois senator is ignorant of this revenue data, or he doesn't really care because he's a true income redistributionist who prefers high tax rates as a matter of ideological dogma regardless of the revenue consequences." You don't have to be a Democrat to doubt that logic. Conservatives regard Obama as a true-blue liberal who itches to expand the size of the federal government. Do they think he would forfeit money to do that just for spite? As it happens, Obama is the one who is heeding data rather than ideology. Most economists believe that in the long run, the 2003 cut in the capital gains rate reduced revenue rather than raising it. For that matter, even the Bush administration's budget admits as much. Keeping the rate at 15 percent rather than letting it revert to 20 percent, it estimates, would cause a revenue loss of $79 billion over the next decade. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/republicans-fight-agains t-tax-realities_16.html ?Appeasers? row unites Democrats By Edward Luce and Andrew Ward in Washington. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008. Published: May 16 2008 23:20 | Last updated: May 16 2008 23:20. Barack Obama on Friday accused George W. Bush and John McCain of trying to fool the US electorate by comparing advocates of talks with America?s adversaries to the ?appeasers? of Nazi Germany. Denying that he had ever recommended talks with Hamas, the extremist Palestinian group, Mr Obama pointed out that Mr McCain had in an interview two years ago called for such talks. He also pointed out that Bob Gates, the US defence secretary, had advocated talks with Iran. ?That?s the kind of hypocrisy that we have been seeing in our foreign policy, the kind of fear-mongering that has prevented us from actually making us safe,? said Mr Obama. ?They are trying to fool you and scare you.?.?.and the reason is they cannot win a foreign policy debate on its merits. But it?s not going to work this time. Not this year.? http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/appeasers-row-unites-dem ocrats.html Will Obama claim a cultural war victory? By Clarence Page. Copyright ? 2008, Chicago Tribune. May 18, 2008. John Edwards did a large favor for Sen. Barack Obama, but the Illinois senator is not out of the woods yet. The former North Carolina senator's endorsement last week of Obama for the Democratic presidential nomination blunted Sen. Hillary Clinton's ability to celebrate her two-to-one West Virginia primary landslide. But, even if Obama is nominated and chooses Edwards for vice president, as many hope he will, the old adage still remains overwhelmingly true that voters vote for the candidate, not the running mate. Obama still needs to reach more of the folks who have supported him the least. According to Dave "Mudcat" Saunders, the savvy Virginia-based consultant who helped Edwards and other Democrats improve their rural vote: We make too much of "color" and talk too little about "culture." Culture matters. Democrats have long been frustrated to see their party, historically the party of America's working-class, being rejected by the very voters its policies are intended to help. For example, Democratic presidential nominees have not won a majority of working-class white males at the ballot box since Lyndon B. Johnson in 1964. Since then, Bill Clinton came closest in 1992 by connecting culturally, not just politically. When he said "I feel your pain," a lot of people believed him. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/will-obama-claim-cultura l-war-victory.html First ladies in waiting: candidates? wives enter the calculations By Edward Luce and Andrew Ward. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008. Published: May 16 2008 19:46 | Last updated: May 16 2008 19:46. Cindy McCain rarely strays from her campaign script and almost never says anything political. So when the 53-year-old wife of the Republican presidential candidate remarked in February: ?I don?t know about you ... but I?m very proud of my country,? people took notice. Although she did not mention Michelle Obama by name, Mrs McCain?s remarks were aimed at the 44-year-old wife of the Democratic frontrunner. Mrs Obama (pictured below with her husband) had sparked a fire-storm earlier that week when she said: ?For the first time in my adult lifetime, I am really proud of my country, not just because Barack has done well, but because I think people are hungry for change.? It is commonplace to say that a contest between John McCain and Barack Obama would present America with one of its starkest choices ever ? between old and young, white and black, conservative and liberal and someone born into privilege against an opponent raised by a single mother on food stamps. An equally sharp contrast can be observed of their spouses. There is still a chance that Hillary Clinton could wrest the nomination from Mr Obama. In which case, Washington would revive last year?s parlour game about whether Bill Clinton would be known as the ?First Gentleman?, the ?First Spouse? or even the ?First Laddie?, as a Scottish friend of the former president suggested. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/first-ladies-in-waiting- candidates.html Greenway: The heirs of Pandarus By H. D. S. Greenway. Copyright by The International Herald Tribune. Published: May 14, 2008. I suppose all politicians pander to what they think the voters want at one time or another, but this year in the U.S. presidential race it seems more blatant than usual. I define pandering as promising something to the voters that is either unobtainable, or saying something that you don't believe, just to get elected. It has a harsher definition. Pandarus first appears in Homer's "Iliad," but is transmogrified by Chaucer, and then Shakespeare in "Troilus and Cressida," into a debauched letch who furthers illicit love affairs, and thus enters the language as a pimp. John McCain and Hillary Clinton's advocacy of a gas-tax holiday certainly fits the definition of furthering America's illicit, and now unrequited, love affair with cheap gasoline. It is a suggestion that has little prospect of becoming law, makes no sense either environmentally or economically, but might win over a few voters. Barack Obama and Clinton, vying for the title of free trade hater-in-chief, presented a sad example of destructive pandering. Nafta has been a net gain for the United States, and was, incidentally, one of the successes of Bill Clinton's administration. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/greenway-heirs-of-pandar us.html Clinton Team Acknowledges $20 Million Debt - A Top Aide Denies Rumors That She Is Seeking VP Slot By Anne E. Kornblut. Copyright by The Washington Post. Monday, May 12, 2008; Page A04. CLARKSBURG, W.Va., May 11 -- With her campaign falling ever deeper into debt, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton spent a rainy Mother's Day seeking votes ahead of Tuesday's primary here, turning a deaf ear to calls for her to leave a Democratic presidential contest she has little hope of winning. Clinton aides continued to insist that she will remain in the race even while confirming that she is $20 million in debt. "The voters are going to decide this," senior adviser Howard Wolfson said on "Fox News Sunday," acknowledging the $20 million figure. "There is no reason for her not to continue this process." Wolfson said he has seen "no evidence of her interest" in pursuing the second-place spot on the Democratic ticket, contrary to rumors that she is staying in the race to leverage a bid for the vice presidential nomination. With the primary season nearing its close, Sen. Barack Obama's advisers are beginning to consider the question of his running mate with more urgency as they focus more openly on the general election. Although Obama himself has been careful to insist that the Democratic race is not over as long as Clinton stays in it, his advisers have planned a trip to Missouri -- a state that held its primary on Feb. 5 but appears certain to be a key November battleground -- this week. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/clinton-team-acknowledge s-20-million.html Chicagoland Daley arson is 'about the cougar' - MICHIGAN | 'Very personal and vicious' threat arrived 2 days before blaze targeted summer home, after cops killed cougar BY FRAN SPIELMAN AND FRANK MAIN Staff Reporters. Copyright by The Chicago Sun-Times. May 17, 2008. The letter to Mayor Daley was blunt, "very personal and vicious" -- and singled out the mayor's wife, Maggie, and their children. The writer was furious about the slaying of a wild, roaming cougar in Roscoe Village on April 14, and threatened to torch the mayor's home. On April 24, two days after the unsigned letter arrived, its writer -- or an associate -- is suspected of setting a fire on the grassy dunes near Daley's summer home in scenic Grand Beach, Mich., sources said. "It's about the cougar," a source told the Chicago Sun-Times on Friday, calling the writer an apparent animal rights activist. "The connection was to the killing of the cougar and [Daley's] comments making light of the killing of the cougar." http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/daley-arson-is-about-cou gar-very.html Chicago Tribune Editorial - Time for Durbin's hammer. Copyright ? 2008, Chicago Tribune. May 15, 2008. The more than 5 million people of Cook County are stuck with a public health care system that can't adequately care for the poor patients who rely on it and doesn't treat with respect the taxpayers who support it. The blame rests squarely with a derelict Cook County Board, and with a county administration that has chronically milked this nearly $1 billion-a-year enterprise for payrollers' jobs and insiders' contracts. The notion of liberating that health system from the control of County Building meddlers has, over the last year, come to sound as welcome as an escape hatch from a crashed airplane: The immediate disaster is so threatening that any way out has appeal. But that's confusing motion with progress. And that's how we got to this point. In the waning moments of Friday, Feb. 29, the Cook County Board faced an impasse over its budget for 2008. In return for flipping sides and voting for a 1-percentage-point increase in the sales tax, Cook County Commissioner Larry Suffredin got Stroger & Co. to supposedly relinquish control of the county's health system to outside directors. We are seeing now the disastrous results of that deal. Day by day, what was supposed to be a new era for the beleaguered health care system becomes a confirmation that too many County Board members, and too many officials in the Stroger administration, are devoted to keeping the health system as their fiefdom. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/chicago-tribune-editoria l-time-for.html Chicago Sun-Times Editorial - We need anti-violence plan -- but not this one. Copyright by The Chicago Sun-Times. May 15, 2008. It's hard not to support the $150 million anti-violence plan Gov. Blagojevich announced earlier this month. Who could possibly argue against summer jobs, after-school programs and economic development in some of our city's toughest neighborhoods? "My desperate cry is for youth jobs," the Rev. Michael Pfleger of St. Sabina Church in Auburn Gresham said Wednesday when he visited the editorial board with other activists and members of the governor's staff. "If we don't do something for our kids this summer, then we have to accept the responsibility of seeing the death, the violence, the killings that are going on." This page wholeheartedly embraces the notion of prevention embedded in the governor's plan. We will never make a serious dent in the violence gripping our city if we don't tackle what drives it: a lack of jobs, poverty and excess idle time among our teens and young adults. But Illinois needs a workable violence prevention plan, not a pipe dream. And Blagojevich's plan is just that. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/chicago-sun-times-editor ial-we-need.html Museum rift is about Daley getting his way By Eric Zorn. Copyright ? 2008, Chicago Tribune. May 15, 2008. Just to be sure I was remembering correctly, I went Wednesday afternoon to have another look at the north end of Grant Park?the battleground over the Chicago Children's Museum. Mayor Richard Daley is a major proponent of the effort to relocate the museum there, as you probably know. And neighborhood residents led by their alderman, open-space advocates and editorial boards are standing in opposition. The city's Plan Commission will consider the proposal Thursday in what's likely to be a contentious hearing. You'd think, from all the to-do, that the fight is over some gorgeous meadow, some undeveloped oasis that realizes the 172-year-old founding vision of Grant Park as "forever open, clear and free of any buildings or other obstruction whatever." But, in fact, no. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/museum-rift-is-about-dal ey-getting-his.html Chicago Sun-Times Editorial - Pick a different site for children's museum. Copyright by The Chicago Sun-Times. May 14, 2008. The list of reasons for keeping the Chicago Children's Museum out of Grant Park grows by the day. Nonetheless, Mayor Daley, like a pit bull with his teeth locked around a tennis shoe, shows no signs up letting up. He has done everything in his power -- including fanning racial flames, bullying aldermen and intimidating opponents -- to promote the notion, espoused by officials of the museum and its supporters, that Grant Park is the only suitable home for a new Children's Museum. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/chicago-sun-times-editor ial-pick.html Chicago Tribune Editorial: Duck, duck, goose Copyright ? 2008, Chicago Tribune. May 15, 2008. What's good for the goose isn't good for the gourmands. On Wednesday, the gourmands won. Chicago's much-ridiculed foie gras ban was repealed by the City Council. When aldermen outlawed the controversial delicacy in 2006, they congratulated themselves for bucking Mayor Richard Daley for once. But it turned out their constituents were more worried about the potholes in their wards than the menu items at pricey restaurants. And outside of Chicago, people were quacking hysterically. "Anybody who has traveled anywhere in this country knows that people are just laughing their heads off at us," said Ald. Bernard Stone./City repeals foie gras ban BY FRAN SPIELMAN City Hall Reporter. Copyright by The Chicago Sun-Times. May 14, 2008. Two years ago, Mayor Daley urged the City Council to repeal a foie gras ban that he said had made Chicago ?the laughingstock of the nation.? Today, aldermen did just that, after plotting a legislative end-run that would set a new standard for violating City Council protocol and rolling over any opposition. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/city-repeals-foie-gras-b an.html Tony Award goes to Chicago Shakespeare; Steppenwolf gains 7 nominations - Shakespeare Theater wins regional award; 'August' grabs 7 nominations By Chris Jones. Copyright ? 2008, Chicago Tribune. 12:05 AM CDT, May 14, 2008. Despite the receipt of the prestigious Tony Award for excellence in regional theater, there was no champagne on Navy Pier on Tuesday morning. Staffers seemed dazed by the unexpected news. Besides, the Chicago Shakespeare Theater was already crammed full of school kids waiting for their promised Shakespeare. "What other regional theater," pondered theater board Chairman M. Hill Hammock, as he sipped some celebratory sparkling water in the crowded lobby, "is having a performance at 10 o'clock on a Tuesday morning?" That palpable commitment to education and families goes a long way toward explaining why Chicago Shakespeare on Tuesday made Chicago the only city in the nation with four theatrical winners of the so-called Regional Tony, an institutional award announced each year in concert with the nominations for Broadway shows, and given only to theaters outside New York. In smaller cities, a theater winning a Regional Tony is often the occasion for ticker-tape parades. In Chicago, it is becoming almost a habit. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/tony-award-goes-to-chica go-shakespeare.html GLBT Ellen DeGeneres announces plans to marry http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-tJrEQxzGtc Victory for gay rights - California high court rules marriage ban illegal By Maura Dolan. Copyright ? 2008, The Los Angeles Time. 11:24 PM CDT, May 15, 2008. SAN FRANCISCO ? The California Supreme Court ruled Thursday that same-sex couples should be permitted to marry, rejecting state marriage laws as discriminatory. The court's 4-3 ruling was unlikely to end the debate over gay matrimony in California. A group has circulated petitions for a November ballot initiative that would amend the state constitution to block same-sex marriage, while the Legislature has twice passed bills to authorize gay marriage. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoed both bills. The long-awaited court decision stemmed from San Francisco's highly publicized same-sex weddings, which in 2004 helped spur a conservative backlash in a presidential election year and a national dialogue over gay rights. /California Supreme Court overturns gay marriage ban. Copyright By The Associated Press. 12:16 PM CDT, May 15, 2008. SAN FRANCISCO - The California Supreme Court has overturned a gay marriage ban in a ruling that would make the nation's largest state the second one to allow gay and lesbian weddings. The justices' 4-3 decision Thursday says domestic partnerships are not a good enough substitute for marriage. Chief Justice Ron George wrote the opinion. The city of San Francisco, two dozen gay and lesbian couples and gay rights groups sued in March 2004 after the court halted San Francisco's monthlong same-sex wedding march. The case before the court involved a series of lawsuits seeking to overturn a voter-approved law that defines marriage as a union between a man and a woman. With the ruling, California could become the second state after Massachusetts where gay and lesbian residents can marry. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/california-supreme-court -overturns-gay.html Unwise haste on gay marriage by Steve Chapman. Copyright ? 2008, Chicago Tribune. May 18, 2008. In the old story, a preacher gives an inspiring sermon, which he concludes by asking his congregants to stand up if they want to go to heaven. Everyone rises except one nervous-looking fellow. "Brother," asks the incredulous pastor, "don't you want to ascend to paradise when you die?" Says the holdout: "When I die? Sure! I thought you were getting up a group to go right now." That's pretty much how I feel about the California Supreme Court's decision granting the right of same-sex couples to marry. The destination is a good one. I just wish the court weren't in such a hurry to get there. In recent years, the country has been moving at a steady pace to affirm a once-unthinkable concept?namely that as a matter of both individual rights and social good, gays should be free to make the same commitments as heterosexuals. According to a 2007 CBS News/New York Times poll, 60 percent of Americans now support allowing same-sex couples to enter into civil unions or marriage. Radical changes don't happen overnight. But the speed of this one has been impressive. It's been only 22 years since the U.S. Supreme Court said states may criminalize homosexual conduct. It's been only 15 years since the Supreme Court of Hawaii shocked the country by ruling that gays might have a constitutional right to marry. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/unwise-haste-on-gay-marr iage.html Response to Steve Chapman?s ?Unwise haste on gay marriage? Tribune May 17, 2008. By Carlos T Mock, MD, May 17, 2008. Let Us Wed "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." Let us wed. It rests on equality, liberty, and even society. Let us wed...That idea remains shocking to many people. So far, only five countries-Belgium, Canada, The Netherlands, South Africa, and Spain-have given full legal status to same-sex unions. The sight of homosexual men and women having wedding days just like those enjoyed for centuries by heterosexuals is unsettling, just as, for some people, is the sight of us holding hands or kissing. The case for allowing gays to marry begins with equality, pure and simple. Why should one set of loving, consenting adults be denied a right that other such adults have and which, if exercised, will do no damage to anyone else?.... I raise the query because there's a lot of conversation?including Mr. Steve Chapman on today?s Tribune?in the aftermath of the recent California High Court ruling that makes same sex marriage ban illegal. At heart are the old questions: Do you wait for people to be more comfortable to make change? Or do people only become more comfortable in the wake of change? Do you sacrifice incremental benefits by going for the whole enchilada? Or do small changes merely sustain the status quo? http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/response-to-steve-chapma ns-unwise-haste.html Gay rights issues present opportunities for both candidates. Copyright by FiveThirtyEight.com. Friday, May 16, 2008. The Wall Street Journal suggests that yesterday's California Supreme Court ruling to require recognition of same-sex marriages is a gift to McCain and the Republicans. However, the reality of the issue is more complicated. Firstly, the conventional wisdom that gay marriage was a critical issue in allowing George W. Bush to win the 2004 election is dubious at best. Academic analyses suggest that, while turnout was higher in states with gay marriage ballot initiatives in 2004, George Bush performed no better in those states than he had in 2000. Moreover, gay marriage questions may be particularly irrelevant given the nature of Barack Obama's and John McCain's constituencies. Support for gay marriage and other gay rights initiatives is strongly aged-based, with younger Americans being far more tolerant. But younger Americans are more inclined to support Obama to begin with, and older Americans less so; the demographics are running along parallel rather than perpendicular tracks. Meanwhile, while civil unions are strongly opposed by evangelical Protestants, they are supported by majorities of Catholics and strong majorities of mainline Protestants. Once again, this tends to match the existing fractures in each candidate's base of support, as Obama does especially poorly with evangelicals but quite strongly with mainline Protestants, with Catholics somewhere in between. In a Clinton-McCain match-up, gay rights issues would have had far more potential to create a "wedge", as Clinton does pick up strong support from older voters and some support from white evangelicals. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/gay-rights-issues-presen t-opportunities.html Michigan high court says ban applies to partner benefits - The Michigan Supreme Court ruled May 7 that domestic partner benefits are outlawed by a constitutional ban on gay marriages. By David Eggert. Copyright by The Associated Press. May 14, 2008. LANSING, Mich.?The Michigan Supreme Court ruled May 7 that a voter-approved ban against gay marriage also prevents governments and state universities from recognizing domestic partnerships to provide health insurance to the partners of gay workers. The 5-2 decision affects up to 20 universities, community colleges, school districts and governments in Michigan with policies covering at least 375 gay couples. Gay rights advocates said the ruling is devastating but also are confident that public-sector employers have successfully rewritten or would revise their benefit plans so same-sex partners can keep getting health care. The constitutional amendment, which passed 59 percent to 41 percent in November 2004, says the union between a man and woman is the only agreement recognized as a marriage ?or similar union for any purpose.? The majority ruled that while marriages and domestic partnerships aren?t identical, they are similar because they?re the only relationships in Michigan defined in terms of gender and lack of a close blood connection. Voters ?hardly could have made their intentions clearer,? Justice Stephen Markman wrote, citing the law?s ?for any purpose? language. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/michigan-high-court-says -ban-applies-to.html Gay icon Larry McKeon passes by Amy Wooten. Copyright by The Windy City Times. News Update Wed. May 14, 2008. McKeon, 63, made a historic mark on local politics. In 1996, he was elected to the Illinois House, becoming the state's first openly gay state legislator. He served as representative of the North Side's 13th District, which was the 34th prior to redistricting in 2002. Rep. Barbara Flynn Currie, D-Chicago, announced on the House floor May 14 that McKeon died from a sudden stroke, the State-Journal Register reported. Funeral arrangements are pending. McKeon, who was also HIV-positive, served as a state representative from 1997 to 2007. In the summer of 2006, McKeon announced his retirement. His health was declining due to his struggles with HIV and cancer. Democratic ward committeemen selected the openly gay and HIV-positive Greg Harris as McKeon's replacement. Prior to becoming a state legislator, McKeon was Mayor Richard M. Daley's liaison to the LGBT community as the director of the Chicago Commission on Human Relations' Advisory Council on Gay and Lesbian Issues. In this role, he advocated for gay rights and worked closely with local politicians on issues close to the LGBT community. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/gay-icon-larry-mckeon-pa sses.html When a Loved One Dies - The Responsibilities of Handling an Estate By Roger McCaffrey-Boss. Copyright by Gay Chicago Magazine and Roger McCaffrey-Boss. May 12, 2008. Last week?s article concerned an individual whose next door neighbor and friend of many years died of liver cancer. Because the decedent?s family lived out of state, the friend was named as executor in the will and was asked to handle all the affairs of the decedent?s estate. If you are named in the will as executor, you may have to probate the will to transfer the estate?s assets - all property owned by the decedent in his name. Generally, the lawyer who prepared the will handles the probate proceeding although the executor has the right to choose a lawyer, despite instructions in the will to the contrary. While you do not need a lawyer to probate a will, the procedure can be complicated and court clerks do not offer assistance. Nontestamentary assets, such as life insurance proceeds, pension benefits, IRA accounts, joint bank accounts or jointly held real or personal property, are transferred automatically, outside the probate procedure. If there are no other assets, probate may not be necessary. But nontestamentary assets are part of an estate for federal estate tax purposes. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/when-loved-one-dies-resp onsibilities-of.html Health Care How it feels to have a stroke http://morenotes.wordpress.com/videos/ Vitamin D tied to cancer outcome - Toronto study finds low level at diagnosis correlates with disease spread and death By David Kohn. Copyright ? 2008, The Baltimore Sun. May 17, 2008. Breast cancer patients with low levels of vitamin D when they're diagnosed have a higher risk of their cancer spreading and are more likely to die from the disease, according to new research from scientists in Toronto. Women with vitamin D deficiency had almost twice the risk of the cancer spreading, and they were 73 percent more likely to die within 10 years. The findings, announced Thursday by the American Society of Clinical Oncology, add to a growing body of evidence that vitamin D may play a role in preventing and perhaps limiting breast and other cancers. "This study links vitamin D with the aggressiveness of disease," said University of Albany nutrition researcher JoEllen Walsh, an expert on vitamin D and breast cancer. "It suggests that your vitamin D status may affect how your disease progresses." http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/vitamin-d-tied-to-cancer -outcome.html Immigration Some Detainees Are Drugged For Deportation - Immigrants Sedated Without Medical Reason by Amy Goldstein and Dana Priest. Copyright by The Washington Post. Page A1; May 14, 2008. Michel Shango said he fled Congo after working as a journalist there. In America, he married and had children, but did not win asylum. Listen to Shango talk about his deportation experience. The U.S. government has injected hundreds of foreigners it has deported with dangerous psychotropic drugs against their will to keep them sedated during the trip back to their home country, according to medical records, internal documents and interviews with people who have been drugged. The government's forced use of antipsychotic drugs, in people who have no history of mental illness, includes dozens of cases in which the "pre-flight cocktail," as a document calls it, had such a potent effect that federal guards needed a wheelchair to move the slumped deportee onto an airplane. "Unsteady gait. Fell onto tarmac," says a medical note on the deportation of a 38-year-old woman to Costa Rica in late spring 2005. Another detainee was "dragged down the aisle in handcuffs, semi-comatose," according to an airline crew member's written account. Repeatedly, documents describe immigration guards "taking down" a reluctant deportee to be tranquilized before heading to an airport. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/some-detainees-are-drugg ed-for.html Iowa raid called largest in U.S. By Henry C. Jackson. Copyright by The Associated Press. May 14, 2008. DES MOINES ? A federal Immigration raid at a kosher meatpacking plant in northeastern Iowa was the largest such operation in U.S. history, with at least 390 people arrested and hundreds more being sought, federal officials said Tuesday. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials said people were arrested on Immigration charges after the raid Monday at Agriprocessors Inc. in Postville. Warrants have also been issued for 307 people who were not at the plant when the raid began, officials said. Those arrested include 314 men and 76 women, most from Guatemala and Mexico but also some from Ukraine and Israel. "Based on the number of ... arrests, this is the largest single site operation of its kind ever in the United States," said ICE spokesman Tim Counts. Of those initially arrested, officials said 56 were released on humanitarian grounds, typically because their arrest would leave a child with no custodian. A handful were also released because of medical conditions. Men are being held temporarily at the National Cattle Congress fairgrounds in Waterloo. Women are being held in jail, with many released to care for children. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/iowa-raid-called-largest -in-us.html International Herald Tribune Editorial - A mind-numbing way to protect air travelers. Copyright by The International Herald Tribune. Published: May 15, 2008. Pity the innocent air traveler whose name repeatedly registers as a match on the U.S. government's mammoth terrorist watch list. One major airline registers 9,000 false hits every day, according to Michael Chertoff, the secretary of homeland security. These travelers - and thousands more - must routinely step aside and provide firmer proof of identity. Instead of trying to fix the troubled list, Chertoff has proposed that victimized travelers and the airlines resolve the problem. He has suggested that these travelers volunteer to let airlines keep a record of their date of birth, so their bona fides can be more easily verified. Considering the dimension of the no-fly snafus, this is hardly a cure-all. Each airline is free to decide whether to take part, and whether it wants to pay to alter its computer systems. Harried fliers would also have to file with each airline they patronize. Meanwhile, the terrorist watch list keeps growing, exceeding 900,000 and adding up to 20,000 a month, by some estimates. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/international-herald-tri bune-editorial_8937.html Technology U.S. report envisions big leap in wind power - Could generate 20% of electricity by 2030. Copyright ? 2008, Chicago Tribune. May 13, 2008. WASHINGTON ? Two decades from now Americans could get as much electricity from windmills as from nuclear power plants, according to a government report that lays out a possible plan for wind energy growth. The report, a collaboration between the Energy Department research labs and industry, concludes wind energy could generate 20 percent of the nation's electricity by 2030, about the same share now produced by nuclear reactors. Such growth would pose a number of significant costs and challenges, but it is achievable without the need of major new technological breakthroughs, according to the report released Monday. "The report indicates that we can do this nationally for less than half a cent per kilowatt hour if we have the vision," said Andrew Karsner, the Energy Department's assistant secretary for efficiency and renewable energy. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/us-report-envisions-big- leap-in-wind.html Polar bear listed as threatened species because of global warming. Copyright by The Associated Press. Published: May 14, 2008. WASHINGTON: The U.S. government declared the polar bear a threatened species Wednesday because of the loss of Arctic sea ice but also cautioned the decision should not be viewed as a path to address global warming. Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne cited dramatic declines in sea ice over the last three decades and projections of continued losses, meaning, he said, that the polar bear is a species likely to be in danger of extinction in the near future. But Kempthorne said it would be "wholly inappropriate" to use the protection of the bear to reduce greenhouse gases, or to broadly address climate change. The Endangered Species Act "is not the right tool to set U.S. climate policy," said Kempthorne, reflecting a view recently expressed by President George W. Bush. The department outlined a set of administrative actions and limits to how it planned to protect the bear with its new status so that it would not have wide-ranging adverse impact on economic activities from building power plants to oil and gas exploration. "This listing will not stop global climate change or prevent any sea ice from melting," said Kempthorne. He said he had consulted with the White House on the decision, but "at no time was there ever a suggestion that this was not my decision." http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/polar-bear-listed-as-thr eatened-species.html HP agrees $13.9bn deal for EDS By Kevin Allison and Richard Waters in San Francisco and Julie MacIntosh in New York. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008. Published: May 12 2008 21:27 | Last updated: May 13 2008 13:06. Hewlett-Packard on Tuesday to buy Electronic Data Systems, one of the the world?s biggest information technology services companies, for $13.9bn. The deal marks an attempt by Mark Hurd, HP?s chief executive, to challenge IBM?s dominance in IT services, of one of the technology industry?s most lucrative markets. The $25 a share all cash price represents a 4 per cent premium to EDS? closing sharing price on Monday. EDS becomes HP?s biggest acquisition since its $19bn merger with Compaq, a rival personal computer maker, in 2002, a deal that was controversial at the time but it now generally seen as a success. It nearly triples the $4.5bn Mr Hurd paid in 2006 for Mercury, a business software company, in what was his biggest acquisition to date. As news of the approach emerged on Monday afternoon, EDS?s shares jumped by $5.27, or 28 per cent, to $24.13, valuing the company at $12.1bn. HP?s shares dropped 5 per cent to $46.64. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/hp-agrees-139bn-deal-for -eds.html IPhone rivals can't compete By Eric Benderoff. Copyright ? 2008, Chicago Tribune. May 17, 2008. It has been nearly a year since Apple Inc. launched the elegant and easy-to-use iPhone. Since then, our perceptions on how we can use a mobile phone have changed. But the essential lesson of the iPhone has yet to be learned: The magic is in the simplicity of using Apple's software. That became abundantly clear as I wrestled with two new touch-based phones. They have their merits but are no threat to what Apple offers. The LG Vu and Verizon's XV6900 (an, ahem, attention-grabbing name; another missed lesson) are both handsome from a hardware standpoint. In some respects, I prefer either to the iPhone in terms of styling. But based on usability, they are so far behind what Apple achieved that it seems unfair to even make a comparison. Essentially, the one thing these phones have in common with the iPhone is touch. And even that needs work. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/iphone-rivals-cant-compe te.html Research In Motion announces faster BlackBerry to compete with Apple's iPhone - Research In Motion beats Apple to punch with news. Copyright by Bloomberg News. May 13, 2008. Research In Motion Ltd. climbed to a record on the Nasdaq after the introduction of a BlackBerry model with quicker Web browsing and more space for video and music, stepping up competition with Apple Inc.'s iPhone. James Balsillie, the company's co-chief executive, beat Apple to the punch with the new BlackBerry Bold, due this summer. Apple probably won't announce a faster iPhone until next month, analysts say. The Bold also may help Research In Motion maintain its margins, countering concern that new models are eating into profit. The Blackberry Bold will be as profitable as earlier products, Balsillie predicted Monday. "We expect to be consistent with the margins in our business." http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/research-in-motion-annou nces-faster.html Other Cher settles into Vegas By Ann Powers. Copyright by The Los Angeles Times. May 13, 2008. LAS VEGAS?Like the temples of the ancient Roman world that it simulates, the Colosseum at Caesars Palace is an environment suited to extravagant immortals. The artists who've graced its huge stage have all achieved that status in which one name not only serves but also explains and expands upon whatever the star projects. Cher's occupation of the Colosseum, where she will play 200 shows over the next three years (rotating with Bette Midler and Elton John), is the most appropriate thing to happen to Las Vegas since rumors started flying that rock 'n' roll magician Criss Angel was dating former Playboy Playmate Pamela Anderson. Like Vegas itself, the 62-year-old queen of over-the-top pizazz bridges several eras of entertainment. Since the 1960s, when she and her former husband, the late Sonny Bono, transformed from would-be folkies into mainstream translators of the counterculture, this singer-actress-fashion extremist has crossed a surprising number of musical boundaries. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/cher-settles-into-vegas. html Art market powers ahead despite credit woes By Deborah Brewster in New York. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008. Published: 17:19 | Last updated: 17:19. Sales in the art market this week exceeded even the most optimistic expectations, with buyers at major New York sales defying widespread fears of a market slump as a result of the credit crisis. Sotheby?s had its biggest sale ever by dollar value on Wednesday night, selling $362m worth of contemporary works. It sold a 1976 painting by Francis Bacon, ?Triptych, 1976? for $86m, easily exceeding its estimate of $70m. The price was the highest ever paid for a contemporary work at auction. Bacon?s works would only fetch about $10m each a few years ago but the latest prices put the artist, who died in 1992, in the same price league as Picasso. Like many of his works, the triptych ? which attracted three bidders ? featured a distorted human form and was inspired by Greek mythology. The previous night, Christie?s sold Lucian Freud?s ?Benefits Supervisor Sleeping?, a painting of a voluptuous JobCentre supervisor, for $33.6m, setting a new record for the work of a living artist. It also sold a 1952 work by Mark Rothko, ?No 15?, for $50m, which was above its $40m estimate. Christie?s sale generated $348m in total. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/art-market-powers-ahead- despite-credit.html Humor Mom's overture http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W95Y8hNQiH8 Radio Host Kevin James Walks into a Smackdown http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d1wSZBTAXRs&eurl= Pat Buchanan's Racist Paranoid Freakout http://bravenewfilms.org/blog/38858-pat-buchanan-s-racist-paranoid-freakout New! Carlos now has an online store. Order your books directly from Carlos and have them signed and dedicated. http://www.carlostmock.com/catalog/ In Pride (orgullo), Carlos T. Mock, MD Www.carlostmock.com Author: Borrowing Time: A Latino Sexual Odyssey - Floricanto Press 2003. Nominated for a Stonewall Award by the American Library Association GLBT Round Table. Author: The Mosaic Virus ? Floricanto Press 2007. Nominated for a Stonewall Award by the American Library Association GLBT Round Table, and a Lammie from The Lambda Literary Foundation Author: Author: Papi Chulo ? Floricanto Press 2007. Nominated for a Stonewall Award by the American Library Association GLBT Round Table, and a Lammie from The Lambda Literary Foundation -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From ctmock at gmail.com Sat May 24 11:11:03 2008 From: ctmock at gmail.com (Carlos Mock) Date: Sat, 24 May 2008 12:11:03 -0500 Subject: [News] Hilary's demise Newsletter - May 24, 2008 In-Reply-To: Message-ID: Being ignorant is notso much a shame as being unwilling to learn. - Benjamin Franklin Hillary Cliton--Why it went so wrong. Copyrig by Newsday. May 22, 2008. A year and a half ago, a senior Clinton ally, speaking privately to reporters, made the following prediction: "She's the favoite, but Obama's so good. Hillary only needs to make one or two mistakes ad he'll be the the nominee." To attribute the state of the race to Clinto's mistakes alone is to discount the quality of Obama's campaign and te depth of sentiment for change that exists in the Democratic party. But Clion insiders and analysts say the former first lady's missteps have cntributed mightily to Obama's nearly insurmountable lead in overall delegats. Here are 10 reasons the once-prohibitive frontrunner is finding herself n the verge of elimination: http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com2008/05/hillary-clinton-why-it-w ent-so-wrong.html "Hillary You Went Too Fr" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Ba3x-name0 Hillary Clinton: "Why Would I rop Out Before Barack Obama Is Assassinated?" http://www.huffingtonpost.cm/david-rees/hillary-clinton-why-would_b_103332. html Your Lack of Money lump hurts Home Depot's bottom line - Target's net slips on soft sales; oveseas demand helps lift HP. Copyright ? 2008, Chicago Tribune. May 21, 2008. Home Depot Inc. said Tuesday it doesn't know if stimulus checks making thir way to potential customers will improve its fortunes this year, as it reprted a 66 percent drop in fiscal first-quarter profit. The firm's bottom lin reflects the concerns many Americans have about declinig home values and the rising cost of filling up a gas tank. Fewer people are putting money into their homes and Home Depot is selling fewer appliances, special-order ktchens and other big-tict items. The Atlanta-based company said it earned $356 million, or 21 cents a share, in the quarter ending May 4, compared with a profit of $1.05 billin, or 53 cents a share, a year earlier. Excluding a one-time charge Home Depot said it earned $697 million, or 41 cents a share. Analyts were expecting earnings of 37 cents a share excluding one-time items. Home Depot said revenue in the quarter fell 3.4 percent, to $17.91 billion,compared with $18.55 billion recorded a year earlier. http://iretiredfromnwsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/slump-hurts-home-depots- bottom-line.hml AIRLINE INDUSTRY - Fuel costs may thrust airlines into bankruptcy- Cah shrinking fast as 10 largest carriers struggle to boost revenue By JulieJohnsson . Copyright ? 2008, Chicago Tribune. May 19, 2008. Just monthsafter reporting their highest annual profits in eight years, U.S. airlins are in a nose dive that could leave some major carriers in bankruptcy. Leders at Chicago's United Airlines and across the industry are scrambling t devise business models that will hold up to the stresses of $128 per barel crude oil and a sluggish economy. If the 10 largest U.S. Airlines don'tboost revenues and restructure loans, their cumulative cash could shrink 62percent to about $8.6 billion by year's end, estimated Philip Baggaley, chie credit analyst at Standard & Poor's. That's not sufficient to cover one monh's expenses at the caiers, he said. "In other words, in this simplified example, the airlines, as a group, would be at risk of bankruptcy," Baggaley wrote in a research report Friday. To gain pricing power in a fragmented, overserved industry, U.S. airlines ned to cut as much as 20 percent of domestic flights, analysts said. That's quivalent to grounding two major carriers. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.logspot.com/2008/05/airline-industry-fuel-co sts-may-thrust.html American Alines to cut domestic flights, lay off workers - Airline also to add $15 fe for first checked bag By DAVID KOENIG. Copyright by The Associated Pres. 12:15 PM CDT, May 21, 2008. American Airlines will start charging 15 for the first checked bag, cut domestic flights and lay off worker as it grapples with record-high fuel prices, the airline said today. "Th airline industry as it is constituted today was not built to withstand oil rices at $125 a barrel, and certainly not when record fuel expenses are oupled with a weak U.S. economy," said Gerard Arpey, American Airlines paent AMR Corp. chairman and CEO, in a statement. United Airlines, the firstcarrier to announce it would charge a fee for the second piece of checked lugage, is "seriously studying" also charging passengers for the first piece of uggage they check, said United spokeswoman Robin Urbanski. But rival Delt doesn't plan to match American's fee for the first checked bag, a spokeswoan said. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.co/2008/05/american-airlines-to-cut -domestic.html United trimming mileage rewards - 500-mile minimum credit for frequent-flier members to end in latest cost cutting BAmeet Sachdev. Copyright ? 2008, Chicago Tribune. May 16, 2008. Another sandard practice of airline customer service is flying by the wayside. Stating in July, United Airlines no longer will award a minimum credit of 50 miles to its frequent-flier passengers who take short flights. Instead requent-flier miles in its Mileage Plus program will be awarded based n actual miles flown. That means a passenger flying between Chicago and Detoit will get 234 miles one way, or about half the previous level. Chicago t Indianapolis goes to 177 from 500. The Chicago-based airline joins US Airays in ending the 500-mile-per-flight minimum. More airlines are expected tofollow suit, analysts said, as they continue to pare back on perquisites ad amenities like meals, magazines and pillows in their intense efforts to ut costs. The 500-mile perk has been around since the dawn of the frequnt-flier age more than 25 years ago, and it represented a basic partof the program: Passengers were being wooed and should get a certain amount f credit for choosing one airline ver another, even for a short hop. All the airlines gave out a minimum of 500 miles because more flying those days was for short distances than, say, overseas, and th carriers wanted to help passengers earn awards. http://iretiredfromnewsetters.blogspot.com/008/05/united-trimming-mileage- rewards-500.html US producer prices add toinflation fears By Chris Bryant in Washington. Copyright The Financial Tims Limited 2008. Published: May 20 2008 14:45 | Last updated: May 0 2008 15:46. Core prices at the factory gate jumped at twice the expected rte in April as businesses continued to absorb rising costs linked to more exensive imports and commodities. Core wholesale prices, which exclude food an energy, rose by 0.4 per cent last month, double the rate recorded in Marc, reflecting a jump in car and furniture costs at the producer level. Theheadline producer price index increased by a less-than-expected 0.2 percent in April following a 1.1 per cent jump last month. Analysts had exected a 0.4 per cent increase in headline prices and only a 0.2 per cent ris in the core rate. Investors fear a sustained spike in producer prices coud force the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates again later this year t prevent an inflationary spillover. In a peech on Tuesday Fed vice chairman Donald Kohn said current monetary policy appeared to be ?appropriately calibrated for now to promote both rising employment and moderating inflation over te medium term.? http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/us-prducer-prices-add-t o-inflation.html Fed signals rate cuts are unlikely By Kishna Guha in Washington. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008. Pulished: May 21 2008 21:09 | Last updated: May 21 2008 21:09. Federal eserve officials on Wednesday slashed their forecasts for growth this yearand raised projections for inflation as minutes revealed growing tension beween the two objectives. Most policymakers viewed the decision to cut interet rates last month as a ?close call?, the minutes said. Following the ratecut, the risks to growth ?were now thought to be more closely balanced by th risks to inflation?. The minutes suggested further rate reductions were unliely unless the growth outlook deteriorates sharply, but that the Fed was aso unlikely to raise rates again soon unless inflation expectations movehigher. The minutes revealed disagreement within the Fed as to the balane of risks and the appropriate stance of monetary policy. http://iretiredfronewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/fed-signals-rate-cuts-ar e-ulikely.html Jobless claims fall to lowest level in 4 weeks By MARTIN CRUTINGER. Copyright ? Associated Press. 8:50 AM CDT, May 22, 2008. The numer of newly laid off workers filing for unemployment benefits unexpectedlyfell last week to the lowest level in a month. The Labor Department repored Thursday that applications for jobless benefits totaled 365,000, down by9,000 from last week. Economists had expected clams to rise slightly. Even with the unexpected decline, claims remain at a level that indicates the labor market is under stress from the sluggish economy. The four-wek average for claims rose slightly to 372,250, up significantly from a yer ago when the four-week average was around the 300,000 mark. Analysts predited further increases in claims in the weeks ahead, reflecting an economy truggling to overcome a slumping housing market, a severe credit crunchand soaring gasoline prices. "Over the next few months claims shouldclimb towards the 400,000 mark as companies seek to control costs in the fae of persistent very soft demand," predicted Ian Shepherdson, chief U.S. eonomist at High Frequency Economics. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.om/2008/05/jobless-claims-fall-to-l owest-level-in.html Americans worry abou funding a long retirement By EILEEN ALT POWELL. Copyright 2008 Associate Press. 10:36 AM CDT, May 19, 2008. NEW YORK - Americans worry that inflaion and the rising cost of health care are increasing the risk that theyill run out of money in retirement, according to a study released Monday. Te survey by the Society of Actuaries found that people already retired wer most worried about inflion and affording long-term care. Pre-retirees, meanwhile, ranked affordable health care as their top concern, followed by inflation and long-term care coverage. Overall, pre-retire showed greater worries than those already in retirement, the study foud. Anna M. Rappaport, a consulting actuary based in Chicago and supervisorof the biennial report, said that one theory for the difference in thelevels of concern could be that "for the pre-retiree, retirement is still anunknown." Rappaport said she was surprised that people weren't more worried. Concerns about health care costs, inflation and nursing home care expenss rose strongly in 2003, after the economy went through a recession and te stock market fell sharply, she pointed out. "Now they're not as concernedas we think they should be," Rappaport said. "It's kind of out of sight, ut of mind." Rappaport also said that Americans appear to be underestimatng the financial impact of the death of a spouse. About 60 percent of thoe responding to the survey felt there would be little impact when a spouse ies, but Rappaport said that surviving spouses often experience significnt drops in income and benefit coverage, especially women. http://iretiredromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/americans-worry-about-fu nding-long.html Age 53 golden time for investing By Paul Weingarten. Copyright ? 2008, Chcago Tribune. May 23, 2008. Do you lie awake at night berating yourself over your lack of Warren Buffett-like investment acumen? Heck, forget the Oracle of Omaha. How about besting that monkey that trows darts at the stock market tables? Do you almost invariably buy high nd sell low? Do you bore your spouse into a drooling coma with numbing, ot-repeated laments of all the real estate you should have held, or allthe stocks you should have bought?or sold? In short, are you a complte moron when it comes to investments, the kind of person who is asked for nvestment advice just so the inquirer can then do the exact opposite of what ou are advising? You have got plenty of company. Investment ineptitude is ne of those nature/nurture mysteries that deserves intense scientific study. an one inherit a gene that confers the propensity to bomb in the stock market Is this simply a case of absorbing the wrong lessons from a parent or closerelative who possessed an unerring instinct for making bad investmens? Or could the explanation be simpler?that smart investing takes time, inteligence, courage and luck, not a follow-the-herd mentality? http://iretirefromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/age-53-golden-time-for-i nvesting.html InBev weighs options for beer merger By Julie MacIntosh in New York and Neil Hume in London. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008. Published: May 23 2008 20:47 | ast updated: May 23 2008 23:44. The large Belgian brewer InBev could attemp to force Anheuser-Busch to the bargaining table or strike a deal with SABMller as it tries to consolidate share of the global beer market, accordig to people familiar with the company?s plans. InBev has long studied th possibility of a merger with Anheuser, the US brewer of Budweiser beer, bu has consistently run into opposition from Anheuser?s board of directors As it weighs whether to take a more aggressive stance, InBev is working ona $46bn takeover bid for Anheuser and arranging potential financing for adeal, according to people close to the process. Those people cautionedthat InBev?s plans were still not crystallised, however, and could change. Sares of Anheuser finished the session more than 7 per cent higher at $5.61 in New York on Friday, their biggest gain in three years. InBev fel ?1.56, or 3.1 per cent, to ?48.76 in Brussels. http://iretiredfromnewslettrs.blogspot.com/2008/05/inbev-weighs-options-for -beer-merger.html Comodities Oil $132.19 Silver Bullion $18.22 Gold Bullion $925 Platinum Bullion$ $2173 Euro $1.5763 Chicago has highest gas prices in U.S. Copright by The Associated Press. 6:13 PM CDT, May 18, 2008. CAMARILLO, Calf. - A national survey says the average price for regular gasoline rose abut 17 cents in the last two weeks, with the highest price in Chicago at $4.0 a gallon. The average price of self-serve regular gasoline on Fridy was $3.79 a gallon. Mid-grade was at $3.91, and premium was $4.02. That's according to the Lundberg Survey of 7,000 stations nationwide released Sunday. For the first time, the srvey found average prices for regular gas surged above $4 a gallon in two metropolitan areas: Chicago and on Long Island in New York. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/chicago-has-highest-gas- prices-in-us.html Fall in US crude stocks sends oil to $135 By Ed Crooks. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008. Published: May 22 2008 08:52 | Last updaed: May 22 2008 08:52. The price of oil rose above $135 a barrel for thefirst time on Thursday, driven by an unexpected fall in US stocks of crude. In morning trading in Asia, S oil reached a high of $135.04 a barrel, before falling back to about $134.0. The rise followed data from the US government on Wednesday showing a sharp fall in inventories of crude oil and gasoline. The Energy Information Administration said crude stocks fell the previous week by 5.4m barrels, leaving total crude oil stocks 6.5 per cent lower than last year. Analysts had expected a small rise. The figures for inventories are particularly sensitive as they come just before the start of the US driving season, when Americans go on holiday and petrol consumption rises. The season begins next Monday, Memorial Day. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/fall-in-us-crude-stocks- sends-oil-to.html US begins to break foreign oil ?addiction? By Carola Hoyos, Chief Energy Correspondent. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008. Published: May 19 2008 14:28 | Last updated: May 19 2008 22:13. The US is starting to break its ?addiction? to foreign oil as high prices, more efficient cars, and the use of ethanol significantly cut the share of its oil imports for the first time since 1977. The country?s foreign oil dependency is expected to fall from 60 per cent to 50 per cent in 2015, before rising again slightly to 54 per cent in 2030, according to the head of the Department of Energy?s statistical arm. America?s foreign oil dependency expected to fall by 10 per cent in 2015. Carola Hoyos, chief energy correspondent, talks to Daniel Garrahan about the domestic and international implications The net imports of the world?s biggest consumer are expected to fall between now and 2030, ending what has been an almost relentless 30-year climb in the use of foreign oil and a fall in domestic production. In 2006, George W. Bush said in his State of the Union speech that America was ?addicted to oil? ? often imported from unstable parts of the world ? and said he would work to address the issue. On Monday, oil prices hovered near record highs as China?s energy needs outweighed the reduced US demand, and Saudi Arabia output increases failed to ease supply concerns. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/us-begins-to-break-forei gn-oil.html Opec ministers criticise Saudi move By Carola Hoyos, Chief Energy Correspondent. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008. Published: May 19 2008 14:28 | Last updated: May 19 2008 15:41. Oil prices on Monday shrugged off Saudi Arabia?s offer of 300,000 barrels a day of extra crude, as other Opec oil ministers criticised the kingdom?s decision. US benchmark futures oil prices rose to more than $127 on Monday as the other ministers? criticisms made it appear unlikely the group would follow Saudi Arabia?s lead by more pumping oil. Saudi Arabia began quietly to increase its production earlier this month and Ali Naimi, the kingdom?s energy minister, announced the move on Friday in the wake of US President George W. Bush?s visit to Riyadh. Some of his fellow ministers were more blunt than others about their disagreements with the cartel?s biggest and most powerful member. Analysts noted that many of the 12 other members of the group, including those whose representatives spoke over the weekend, were unable to increase their production because they are already pumping at full capacity. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/opec-ministers-criticise -saudi-move.html The Short View: Commodity speculation By John Authers, Investment Editor. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008. Published: May 20 2008 19:54 | Last updated: May 20 2008 19:54. In 1980, the Hunt brothers cornered the silver market, causing an epic price spike and then a bust. Crude oil is close to $130 a barrel. Is something similar at work? The US Congress suspects as much and held a hearing on market manipulation in Washington on Tuesday. Long-term investors in the sector believe that the big institutions that have entered in recent years are ?accidental Hunt brothers?. Investment in indices based on commodity futures have risen from $13bn five years ago to $260bn now, according to Michael Masters, an investor who testified. The rise in investors? demand for oil futures is almost equal to the increase in demand from China. Historically, futures markets are naturally short (betting on a fall) as producers tend to buy futures to guard against falls in prices. In 1990, only 13 per cent of open interest in crude oil futures was long. That is now up to 58 per cent ? probably thanks to new investors. Changes to indices have dramatic effects on prices. Crude oil briefly dipped below $50 early last year after a cut in the weighting towards energy in the GSCI index. And there is no shortage of commodities in the US ? although many fear there are constraints elsewhere in the supply chain. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/short-view-commodity-spe culation.html The euro?s success could also be its downfall By Harold James. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008. Published: May 18 2008 17:55 | Last updated: May 18 2008 17:55. Since the second world war, the US dollar has been the world?s hegemonic currency. It took over that role from the British pound. So it is not surprising that the story of the pound often looks like a memento mori, the skull that medieval rulers placed before them to remind themselves of the transience and fallibility of the human condition. By the second world war, the US was obviously a much more powerful economy than Britain. Now, given the combination of the rapid decline of the dollar and the eurozone overtaking the US as the world?s largest economic area, we may be set for another seismic currency shift. It is one in which the euro takes over the baton from the dollar. The story of the decline of sterling mirrors Britain?s slow transformation from the world?s largest creditor to a pariah status as an impoverished debtor. British weakness was driven by declining rates of economic growth and fading competitiveness. The decline was also punctuated by stark political crises. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/euros-success-could-also -be-its.html Housing Illinois Average Rates 5/24/08 - 10:46 PM 30 Yr Fixed 5.81% 15 Yr Fixed 5.39% 30 Yr Fixed Jumbo 7.05% Backlog of unsold US homes hits record By Chris Bryant in Washington. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008. Published: May 23 2008 16:05 | Last updated: May 23 2008 18:49. The backlog of unsold US homes surged to a record level in April and sales continued to decline as the dark clouds hanging over the residential property market showed few signs of lifting, a report revealed on Friday. Existing home sales fell 1 per cent in April to a seasonally adjusted 4.89m annual rate, the National Association of Realtors said. The figure was a fraction less severe than economists had expected, but matched a record low set in January. Sales of previously owned homes were 17.5 per cent below the same period a year ago. Inventories of unsold properties climbed by 10.5 per cent to 4.55m units, which at the present anaemic sales pace would take 11.2 months to offload - the most since the NAR began tracking combined statistics for single family homes and condos in 1999. Meanwhile, inventories of unsold single family homes rose to a 10.7-month supply, the biggest since 1985. The supply of unsold properties commonly rises in the spring. Nevertheless, the report contained few morsels for those looking for signs of a bottom in the housing market. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/backlog-of-unsold-us-hom es-hits-record.html Foreclosures accelerate US housing slide By Chris Bryant in Washington. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008. Published: May 22 2008 16:23 | Last updated: May 22 2008 16:37. The US house price slump accelerated in the first three months of this year as a tide of home foreclosures added to a glut of unsold properties, a new report revealed on Thursday. House prices dropped by a seasonally adjusted 1.7 per cent in the first quarter, the biggest decline in the history of Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight house price index. Prices have fallen by 3.1 per cent in the last year, marking the largest drop since records began in 1991. House prices fell 1.4 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2007. ?For homeowners and financial market observers, these declines spell further erosion in home equity levels and potentially more trouble for mortgage markets,? James Lockhart, OFHEO director, said. The slide in house prices threatens to prolong the domestic economic slowdown as consumers rein in spending and potential home buyers wait on the sidelines. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/foreclosures-accelerate- us-housing.html Countrywide Financial Chairman Angelo Mozilo's e-mail sets off a furor - He calls a borrower's plea for help a "disgusting" example of form letters inundating the Calabasas mortgage lender. By E. Scott Reckard. Copyright ? 2008, The Los Angeles Times. May 21, 2008. Apparently clicking "reply" when he meant to hit "forward," Countrywide Financial Corp. Chairman Angelo Mozilo ignited an online furor Tuesday by describing a mortgage customer's plea for help as a "disgusting" example of form letters inundating the Calabasas home lender. Mozilo's e-mail rocketed back to the customer, Daniel Bailey Jr., who had asked Countrywide to modify the terms of his loan so he wouldn't lose his home of 16 years. Bailey said he took out the adjustable-rate mortgage without realizing how it worked and had been told incorrectly that he could refinance after a year. Instead, he wrote, "the bottom fell out" of the home-loan industry, and he was stuck with unaffordable payments. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/countrywide-financial-ch airman-angelo.html International Burma to allow in ?all? aid workers, says Ban ? Reuters Limited. May 23, 2008. In an apparent breakthrough for delivering help to millions of Myanmar?s cyclone survivors, the military government agreed to allow in ?all? aid workers, U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon said on Friday. The UN Secretary-General met junta supremo Than Shwe in his remote new capital of Naypyidaw for more than two hours to ask him to permit more foreign expertise for the victims of Cyclone Nargis. ?I had a very good meeting with the Senior General and particularly on these aid workers,? Ban said. ?He has agreed to allow all the aid workers.? Asked by a reporter whether he considered it a breakthrough, Ban replied: ?Yes, I think so, he has agreed to allow all aid workers regardless of nationalities.? http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/burma-to-allow-in-all-ai d-workers-says.html International Herald Tribune Editorial: More shame on the Burmese junta. Copyright by The International Herald Tribune. Published: May 21, 2008. There is no end to the criminal behavior of Myanmar's generals. Nearly three weeks after Cyclone Nargis killed more than 100,000 people, the junta's refusal to open Burma to international help is condemning many more thousands to malnutrition, disease and, unless something is done quickly, death. The generals have grudgingly agreed to allow their Asian neighbors to oversee distribution of foreign relief and granted the UN World Food Program permission to fly nine helicopters. Given the horrifying size and complexity of the disaster, that's not nearly enough. Most international disaster specialists are still banned from the storm-devastated area. So, largely, are the United States and France, which have ships loaded with heavy-lift helicopters, food, water, medicine, field hospitals and other supplies waiting in nearby waters. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/international-herald-tri bune-editorial_4935.html U.S. to reverse ban on phones to Cuba - Rule change follows loosening by Castro By Deb Riechmann. Copyright ? 2008, The Los Angeles Times. 10:32 PM CDT, May 21, 2008. WASHINGTON ? President Bush announced Wednesday that people living in the United States soon will be allowed to send cell phones to Cubans in the island nation, a move that he hopes will push the communist regime to increase freedom of expression for Cuban citizens. Addressing recent changes in Cuba, Bush said, "Cubans are now allowed to purchase mobile phones, DVD players and computers, and they have been told that they will be able to purchase toasters and other basic appliances in 2010." "If the Cuban regime is serious about improving life for the Cuban people, it will take steps necessary to make these changes meaningful," Bush said at the White House as he marked Cuba's 106th anniversary of independence this week. If the Cuban people can be trusted with mobile phones, "they should be trusted to speak freely in public," he said. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/us-to-reverse-ban-on-pho nes-to-cuba.html China International Herald Tribune Editorial: An honest accounting of China's disaster. Copyright by The International Herald Tribune. Published: May 19, 2008. Chinese leaders are being far more open about the earthquake in Sichuan Province than their predecessors were after a similar disaster in 1976, and more open than the Burmese junta after a cyclone devastated much of the country earlier this month. But the presence in Sichuan of Chinese and foreign reporters reveals only part of the story. A better test of China's new transparency will be whether the government lets reporters investigate whether human failings, official or otherwise, contributed to thousands of deaths. The extent of the tragedy would have been hard to conceal. Video of the quake was up on YouTube shortly after the first tremors Monday. And Chinese society is far more open to outsiders and to its own people than it was under the Maoist Gang of Four in 1976, when an earthquake devastated the north. Prime Minister Wen Jiabao arrived at the affected part of Sichuan within hours of the disaster, and news crews followed. The central government is moving quickly to shape news coverage. A Politburo member is reported to have told a meeting of propaganda officials Tuesday that the media need to "uphold unity and encourage stability." Live broadcasts from a television station in Chengdu, the provincial capital, were stopped. The government and the Communist Party want to regulate openness as though it were water from a tap./Chinese diaspora carries torch for old country By Michael Fullilove. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008. Published: May 18 2008 17:33 | Last updated: May 18 2008 17:33. China on Sunday suspended the Olympic torch relay for three days of mourning for victims of last week?s earthquake. Nevertheless the torch?s progress around China is proving more tranquil than the international portion of the relay, which was disrupted repeatedly by anti-Beijing protests. Even more striking than those rallies, however, were the counter-demonstrations by overseas Chinese nationalists determined to defend the torch. Thousands of Chinese students rallied in Seoul and a few threw bottles at critics demonstrating against Beijing?s treatment of North Korean refugees. In Canberra, 10,000 Chinese were bussed in from Sydney and Melbourne, vastly outnumbering the pro-Tibetan independence protesters. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/chinese-diaspora-carries -torch-for-old.html Mess-o-potamia Attacks surge in Afghanistan - Officials: Truces in Pakistan free rebels to hit over the border By Kim Barker. Copyright ? 2008, Chicago Tribune. 11:08 PM CDT, May 23, 2008. KABUL, Afghanistan ? The number of attacks on U.S. troops in eastern Afghanistan has increased significantly in April and May, causing many here to worry that local peace deals with militants in neighboring Pakistan are allowing them to regroup and focus on fighting across the border in Afghanistan. Officials with the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force, or ISAF, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue, said that attacks in eastern Afghanistan in the past three or four weeks have jumped to about 100 a week from 60 a week in March. This was "a very significant increase" in attacks, which include everything from minor indirect fire to suicide attacks, one ISAF official said last week. ISAF has about 51,000 troops in Afghanistan, but the U.S. military provides almost all the 16,000 troops in the eastern region, which borders Pakistan's tribal areas, the remote and mostly lawless border region where Taliban and Al Qaeda militants have found shelter for years. Any increase in attacks in eastern Afghanistan therefore would be primarily against U.S. forces. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/attacks-surge-in-afghani stan-officials.html International Herald Tribune Editorial - Extend the law to the gunslingers in Iraq. Copyright by The International Herald Tribune. Published: May 16, 2008. After guards from Blackwater Worldwide protecting a U.S. State Department convoy killed at least 17 Iraqis in a hail of bullets last September, we hoped the Bush administration would rethink the folly of relying on mercenaries, who have no accountability to Iraqi or American law. The ever-stubborn administration decided it couldn't stay at war without its gunslingers. More than six months after the event, not a single charge has been brought against the guards. Last month, the State Department - which is supposed to be sensitive to local politics and perception - renewed Blackwater's contract in Iraq for another year. Patrick Kennedy, the under secretary of state for management, told James Risen of The New York Times, "If the contractors were removed, we would have to leave Iraq." That the United States is so dependent on 30,000 or so private guards to plug the holes in the undermanned military force underscores, once again, how badly this administration has mismanaged the occupation of Iraq - and why the United States must begin an orderly withdrawal as soon as possible. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/international-herald-tri bune-editorial_18.html U.S.: 11 fighters killed in Baghdad - Sadr City calm amid push by Iraqi military By Bushra Juhi. Copyright by The Washington Post. 10:31 PM CDT, May 21, 2008. BAGHDAD ? American soldiers killed 11 suspected Shiite gunmen in clashes Wednesday in a militia stronghold near Baghdad's Sadr City, scene of a major Iraqi army clampdown, the U.S. military said. Sadr City itself remained calm, a day after some 10,000 Iraqi troops fanned out in the district in the government's biggest move yet to establish control in the bastion of the Mahdi Army, the Shiite militia loyal to anti-U.S. cleric Moqtada Sadr. Mahdi Army fighters were not visible in the streets of Sadr City, and long-closed shops began to reopen in parts of the district hit hardest by past clashes, as Iraqi soldiers and police set up more checkpoints to beef up their hold. If the move into Sadr City succeeds, it will be a major boost for Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's government, which is trying to extend its authority over regions where armed groups and militias have held sway. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/us-11-fighters-killed-in -baghdad-sadr.html Lebanese leaders sign deal to end crisis ? Reuters Limited. May 21, 2008. Rival Lebanese leaders signed a deal on Wednesday to end 18 months of political conflict, pulling their country away from the brink of civil war and paving the way for the election of a new president. Parliament will convene on Sunday to elect army chief General Michel Suleiman as head of state, aides to Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri told Reuters in Qatar, where the feuding sides signed the accord after six days of Arab-mediated talks. The agreement between the US-backed ruling coalition and the Hezbollah-led opposition resolved a dispute over a law for holding 2009 parliamentary elections and met the opposition?s long-standing demand for veto power in cabinet. It followed a Hezbollah military campaign this month against ruling coalition leaders which bolstered the opposition?s political strength. Hezbollah, backed by Iran and Syria, routed its rivals in the conflict that killed 81 and prompted the Qatari-led mediation bid. It was Lebanon?s worst civil conflict since the 1975-1990 war and exacerbated tensions between Shi?ites loyal to Hezbollah and Druze and Sunni supporters of the government. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/lebanese-leaders-sign-de al-to-end.html Israel opens peace talks with Syria By Tobias Buck in Jerusalem. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008. Published: May 21 2008 10:22 | Last updated: May 21 2008 13:37. Israel and Syria have started indirect talks with the aim of signing a comprehensive peace agreement, the first attempt in eight years to end the decades-old conflict between the two neighbours. The surprise announcement was made simultaneously by Israel, Syria and Turkey, which has agreed to act as a mediator. The statement said the two sides would ?conduct these talks in good faith and with an open mind? and added: ?They decided to pursue the dialogue between them in a serious and continuous way, in order to achieve the goal of comprehensive peace?. There was no suggestion of when the talks might end, or what conditions the two sides had agreed to at the outset of the talks, which opened this week in the Turkish capital of Ankara but were only disclosed on Wednesday. Despite repeated attempts, Syria and Israel have never managed to sign a formal peace agreement, leaving Israel in control of a swathe of Syrian territory known as the Golan Heights that it captured during the 1967 war. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/israel-opens-peace-talks -with-syria.html National Edward Kennedy has malignant brain tumor By John Sullivan. Copyright by The International Herald Tribune. Published: May 20, 2008. Senator Edward M. Kennedy has a malignant tumor in his brain, his doctors said Tuesday. Tests performed over the weekend at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston indicated that Kennedy, 76, had a type of cancer known as a malignant glioma in the left parietal lobe, the upper left portion of his brain. Kennedy, Democrat of Massachusetts, suffered a seizure Saturday in Cape Cod and was airlifted to the hospital for treatment. The doctors said Tuesday that the senator was "in overall good condition," had been walking around the hospital and had suffered no more seizures since Saturday. "The usual course of treatment includes combinations of various forms of radiation and chemotherapy," Dr. Lee Schwamm, the vice chairman of neurology at Massachusetts General Hospital, and Dr. Larry Ronan, a primary care physician at the hospital, said in a statement Tuesday afternoon. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/edward-kennedy-has-malig nant-brain.html International Herald Tribune Editorial: A threat to free speech. Copyright by The International Herald Tribune. Published: May 21, 2008. The U.S. Supreme Court upheld a law on Monday that sweeps too broadly in its attempt to ban child pornography, which is repellent and illegal. Those who traffic in it must be punished, but this law is drawn in a way that also criminalizes speech that should be protected by the First Amendment. The dissenters are right that the court should have made Congress go back and pass a more carefully written law. They are also right that the court's analysis undermines protections for political speech. The court has traditionally been extraordinarily careful both to protect children and the right to free expression. In 2002, the court struck down parts of the Child Pornography Protection Act that banned images that appeared to be explicit depictions of children, even if they were actually pictures of adults or computer-generated images. Banning images in which there are no real children, the court held, violates the First Amendment. After that ruling, Congress passed a new law with its own problems. One provision punished anyone who "promotes" material in a manner "intended to cause another to believe" it is child pornography. That, once again, sweeps in fake child pornography - which is just what the court in 2002 said must be avoided. This time, the court upheld the law, by a 7-2 vote. That creates a contradiction. Fake child pornography is protected, but marketing fake child pornography is not. As Justice David Souter noted in dissent, it makes no sense to criminalize proposing to sell items that are themselves constitutionally protected. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/international-herald-tri bune-editorial_22.html Child porn messages not protected - Offering, asking for images illegal, high court rules By David G. Savage. Copyright by The Los Angeles Times 2008. May 20, 2008. WASHINGTON ? The Supreme Court on Monday gave prosecutors a powerful tool to attack the spread of child pornography online, ruling that people who send messages over the computer offering or seeking sexual images of children can be sent to prison, even when no such pornography exists. The 7-2 ruling, which upheld a 5-year-old law, rejected the claim that such messages are protected as free speech. Monday's ruling goes a long way toward overturning the effect of a 2002 decision that shielded computer-generated pornography. The justices said then that because no real children were involved in producing these images, this material deserved protection as a form of free speech. In response, Congress passed a law in 2003 making it a crime to exchange online messages about "any material or purported material" that would cause "another to believe" it depicts a minor engaged in sex, whether "actual or simulated." Violations call for at least 5 years in prison. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/child-porn-messages-not- protected.html US Congress subpoenas Rove to testify By Stephanie Kirchgaessner in Washington. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008. Published: May 23 2008 03:37 | Last updated: May 23 2008 03:37. Karl Rove, the former political adviser to President George W. Bush, was subpoenaed on Thursday by a congressional committee investigating if the White House ordered prosecutors to target a former Democratic governor for political reasons. John Conyers, the chairman of the House judiciary committee, ordered the move after Mr Rove?s attorney said his client would not voluntarily appear to answer questions about the prosecution of Don Siegelman, the former Alabama governor who was convicted in 2006 of bribery and obstruction. ?Although he does not seem the least bit hesitant to discuss these very issues weekly on cable television and in the print news media, Mr Rove and his attorney have apparently concluded that a public hearing room would not be appropriate,? Mr Conyers said. ?I have no choice today but to compel his testimony.? It is not the first time Mr Conyers has sought to force former administration officials to testify in the investigation into the firing of nine US attorneys by the Bush administration for their alleged reluctance to pursue cases against Democrats and, in some cases, their decisions to investigate Republican officials. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/us-congress-subpoenas-ro ve-to-testify.html Texas seizure of polygamist-sect kids thrown out By MICHELLE ROBERTS. Copyright 2008 Associated Press. 6:17 AM CDT, May 23, 2008. SAN ANGELO, Texas - An appellate court decision upended the custody case that sent more than 440 children from a polygamist sect's ranch into foster care, but it's not clear whether the children might soon return home. The Third Court of Appeals in Austin said the state failed to show the youngsters were in any immediate danger, the only grounds under Texas law for taking children from their parents without court action. Texas District Judge Barbara Walther now has 10 days to release the youngsters from custody, but the state could appeal to the Texas Supreme Court and keep the children from immediately going back to their parents. The decision Thursday in one of the biggest child-custody cases in U.S. history was a humiliating defeat for the state Child Protective Services agency. It was hailed as vindication by members of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, who claim they are being persecuted for their religious beliefs. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/texas-seizure-of-polygam ist-sect-kids.html Bush Whacking International Herald Tribune Editorial: Bush's Middle East travels. Copyright by The International Herald Tribune. Published: May 20, 2008. President George W. Bush's recent visit to the Middle East offers a graphic primer on his failed policies - and the many dangers his successor will face. The Peace Process: In Israel, Bush spoke again about his vision of a two-state solution with Palestinians and Israelis living side by side in peace. But after ignoring the conflict for seven years, the negotiations he opened in Annapolis last November have made little apparent progress. And Bush did not use the trip to press either side to make even minimum concessions. The Israelis need to halt all settlement activity. The Palestinians need to do more to end attacks on Israel. The United States needs to be ready to press compromise proposals, something Bush and his secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice, show little interest in doing. After a three-day stay in Jerusalem, Bush met the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, in Egypt - not Ramallah - a fact that was duly and angrily noted by Palestinians. The next president will have to make a much stronger, and earlier, commitment to the peace process, appoint a more skilled and creative team of advisers, and resolve to be a more sensitive and honest broker than Bush. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/international-herald-tri bune-editorial_21.html International Herald Tribune Editorial: Fortunately, Israel doesn't listen to Bush. Copyright by The International Herald Tribune. Published: May 23, 2008. Everybody knew President Bush was aiming at Senator Barack Obama last week when he likened those who endorse talks with "terrorists and radicals" to appeasers of the Nazis. But now we know what Bush knew then - that Israel is in indirect peace talks with Syria, a prominent member of Bush's list of shunned nations - and it seems as if the president was going for a two-for-one in his crack about appeasement. If so, it was breathtakingly cynical to compare the leadership of the Jewish state with those who stood aside in the face of the Nazi onslaught, and irresponsible to try to restrain this American ally from pursuing a settlement that it judges as possibly being in its best interests. But Bush turned his back on Israeli-Palestinian peace efforts for seven years (before opening the anemic Annapolis process in November), and he resisted previous moves by Jerusalem and Damascus to revive serious negotiations, last held in 2000, over the Golan Heights. Instead, he has sought to isolate Syria. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/international-herald-tri bune-editorial_24.html Odd Bush boost for Obama's proposal By Clarence Page. Copyright ? 2008, Chicago Tribune. May 21, 2008. Sometimes the tit-for-tat exchanges of outrage between political candidates make me wonder: Are they for real? Or, like professional wrestlers on TV, are they just trying to build up their box-office intake? For example, when President Bush, in a speech to the Israeli Knesset, compared those who seek talks with Iran and radical Islamic groups to those who thought they could buy peace from the Nazis before World War II. "We have an obligation to call this what it is?the false comfort of appeasement," Bush said. Those were heard as fighting words by Sen. Barack Obama. Even though the Democratic presidential front-runner was not mentioned by name, he has been saying since last July that he's willing to talk to Iran's leaders without preconditions during his first year in the Oval Office. Appeasement? There's a huge difference between simply holding talks and appeasement. Obama has said he would tell Iran to stop threatening Israel, stop developing nuclear weapons, stop funding terrorist groups like Hamas and stop stirring up deadly mischief inside Iraq. If Iran didn't agree, Obama says, he would proceed with sanctions. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/odd-bush-boost-for-obama s-proposal.html International Herald Tribune Editorial: Not much help for polar bears. Copyright by The International Herald Tribune. Published: May 21, 2008. Boxed in by the courts and its own scientists, the Bush administration has agreed to place the polar bear under the protection of the Endangered Species Act. The move was the clearest official acknowledgment that the bear, its hunting grounds diminished by shrinking summer ice, is seriously at risk. The decision was a victory for conservationists. It is not clear that it is much of a victory for the bears. The listing appears to offer only modest new protections. It does nothing to address the gravest threats to the bears' survival: oil and gas drilling and global warming. Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne said the act - as he interprets it - in no way inhibits oil and gas development in prime polar bear habitat like the Chukchi Sea, where the department recently opened up 30 million acres to exploratory drilling. He also said the listing could not be used as leverage to force power plants and other carbon dioxide sources to restrict emissions of greenhouse gases, even though those gases are heavily responsible for the ice's melting. Kempthorne did not dispute that the bear's habitat is shrinking or that in time the bear could face extinction. But using the Endangered Species Act to shape climate policy, he said, would be "wholly inappropriate." http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/international-herald-tri bune-editorial_1668.html Indecision 2008 Chicago Tribune Editorial: GOP blues. Copyright ? 2008, Chicago Tribune. May 19, 2008. With polls showing a possible bloodbath in November, House Republicans have been working feverishly to rebrand themselves. But they've hit a snag with their new motto, "The Change You Deserve." It happens to be a trademarked advertising slogan for Effexor, a prescription drug to treat depression. Republicans have good reason to feel depressed. Democrats have won three special elections this year in U.S. House seats that were once considered safely Republican. On Tuesday, Democrat Travis Childers beat Republican Greg Davis in a Mississippi district that President George W. Bush carried handily four years ago. House Republican Leader John Boehner of Ohio called the loss "a wake-up call." Republicans said the same thing after they lost seats that were held by former House Speaker Dennis Hastert in Illinois and Rep. Richard Baker in Louisiana. Most voters feel the country is on the wrong track, polls show. A Gallup survey last year found fewer voters identify themselves as Republicans than at any point in the last 20 years. Some party leaders say things haven't been this bad since their post-Watergate malaise. "The Republican brand is in the trash can," Rep. Tom Davis of Virginia fumed in an open letter to his colleagues. "If we were dog food, they'd take us off the shelf." http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/chicago-tribune-editoria lgop-blues.html McCain wary of close ties with Bush By Andrew Ward in Washington. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008. Published: May 20 2008 20:14 | Last updated: May 20 2008 20:14. When John McCain visited the White House in March to receive the endorsement of George W. Bush, the Republican presidential candidate said he would be glad to campaign alongside the president anywhere in the US ? provided Mr Bush could find time in his ?busy schedule?. It has come as a surprise to no one that the two have not been seen together since. With an approval rating of 28 per cent ? close to record lows for a US president ? Mr Bush is considered an electoral liability for the Republican party in November. ?The easiest way for McCain to lose the election is to allow the Democrats to tie him to Bush,? says Larry Sabato, political scientist at the University of Virginia. A recent Gallup poll found that 38 per cent of likely voters were less likely to vote for Mr McCain because of his association with Mr Bush, compared with just 33 per cent who said they were less inclined to vote for Barack Obama, the likely Democratic nominee, because of his relationship with Jeremiah Wright, his controversial former pastor. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/mccain-wary-of-close-tie s-with-bush.html McCain Adviser's Work As Lobbyist Criticized - Foreign Clients Included Notorious Rulers By Michael D. Shear and Jeffrey H. Birnbaum. Copyright by The Washington Post. Thursday, May 22, 2008; Page A01. Longtime uber-lobbyist Charles R. Black Jr. is John McCain's man in Washington, a political maestro who is hoping to guide his friend, the senator from Arizona, to the presidency this November. But for half a decade in the 1980s, Black was also Jonas Savimbi's man in the capital city. His lobbying firm received millions from the brutal Angolan guerrilla leader and took advantage of Black's contacts in Congress and the White House. Justice Department records that Black's firm submitted under the Foreign Agents Registration Act detail frequent meetings with lawmakers and their staffs and lavish spending by Black and his partners as they attempted to ensure support for Savimbi, whose UNITA movement was fighting the Marxist Angolan government. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/mccain-advisers-work-as- lobbyist.html McCain fundraiser resigns over lobby links By Stephanie Kirchgaessner in Washington. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008. Published: May 18 2008 23:13 | Last updated: May 18 2008 23:13. The fundraising chairman for John McCain, the Republican presidential candidate, resigned on Sunday because of his work as a corporate and foreign government lobbyist. Thomas Loeffler, an attorney and lobbyist whose Texas firm, the Loeffler Group, represents clients ranging from EADS North America to the South Korean government, stepped down just days after the McCain campaign instituted a new policy forbidding any person working for his campaign to be a registered lobbyist. He was the fourth senior official to step down from Mr McCain?s campaign in two weeks. The new policy, which was outlined in a memo by Rick Davis, a former lobbyist and Mr McCain?s campaign manager, also said part-time volunteers for the campaign must disclose their status and are prohibited from involvement in policy-making on subjects on which they lobby. The policy was instituted after two advisers for the presumptive Republican nominee, Doug Goodyear and Doug Davenport, were forced to resign when it emerged that they worked for a company that had acted as consultants for Burma?s ruling junta. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/mccain-fundraiser-resign s-over-lobby.html Obama's Executive Sounding Board - Behind Barack Obama is a remarkable crew of African American business leaders in Chicago. But their helping hands extend far beyond politics by Roger O. Crockett. Copyright by Business Week. Chicago May 19, 2008, 12:01AM EST. On Feb. 10, 2007, Senator Barack Obama launched his bid for the White House in Springfield, setting himself on a course that has become one for the history books. But Obama might not have made it even to the Old State Capitol Building that frigid day if not for a private meeting he had with friends and advisers in late 2002 as he was mulling a run for the U.S. Senate. In a South Side high-rise overlooking the lake, the junior state senator vetted his lofty political ambitions with a group of Chicago's African American business elite that included Frank M. Clark Jr., Valerie B. Jarrett, Quintin E. Primo III, James Reynolds Jr., and John W. Rogers Jr. Truth be told, his executive sounding board was present chiefly to talk Obama out of entering the contest. The Chicago Democrat had already lost a race for the U.S. House of Representatives, his funds were low, and his public stature even lower. Another loss so early in his political career would be disastrous. But over bacon and eggs in Jarrett's condo in Kenwood, the group debated the pros and cons. In the end, they agreed with their ambitious friend: Obama should run, and they would all pitch in. Jarrett recalls Obama saying, "Part of what I am expecting you to do is broaden my reach far beyond the African American community." http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/obamas-executive-soundin g-board.html Mythmaking for the next war By Steve Chapman. Copyright ? 2008, Chicago Tribune. May 22, 2008. At the height of the Cold War, the Soviet Union had some 45,000 nuclear warheads. At the moment, Iran has none. But when Barack Obama said the obvious?that Iran does not pose the sort of threat the Soviet Union did? John McCain reacted as though his rival had offered to trade Ft. Knox for a sack of magic beans. "Such a statement betrays the depth of Sen. Obama's inexperience and reckless judgment," exclaimed McCain. "These are very serious deficiencies for an American president to possess." But if Iran is the Soviet Union, I'm Shaquille O'Neal. There is nothing reckless in soberly distinguishing large threats from small ones, and there is something foolhardy in grossly exaggerating the strength of your enemies. As military powers go, Iran is a pipsqueak. It has no nuclear weapons. It has a pitiful air force. Its navy is really just a coast guard. It spends less on defense than Singapore or Sweden. Our military budget is 145 times bigger than Iran's. By contrast, the Soviets had far more nuclear weapons than we did, a blue-water navy, formidable air power and ground forces that dwarfed ours. In a conventional war, it was anything but certain that we could prevail, and in a nuclear exchange, it was clear they could destroy us. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/mythmaking-for-next-war. html Chicagoland Chicago Sun-Times Editorial - Cronyism is the star of Stroger's hiring show. Copyright by The Chicago Sun-Times. May 20, 2008. The front page news Monday was Cook County Board President Todd Stroger's hiring of two men with criminal records. We have no quarrel with Stroger on that. Both men paid their dues more than a decade ago, and neither was convicted of a hanging offense -- one admitted to involvement in a club fight, the other to making threatening phone calls. America is about second chances, and Cook County government should be no different. More practically, if you impose a ban on hiring people who made dumb mistakes when they were young, you eliminate a lot of good possible hires. But this is not a story about redemption, a tale to give you a warm, fuzzy feeling. This is a story about clout. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/chicago-sun-times-editor ial-cronyism-is.html Feds: City building inspectors bribed By Jeff Coen and Dan Mihalopoulos. Copyright ? 2008, Chicago Tribune. May 23, 2008. A mole wore a wire for a year while acting as a bagman carrying bribes from developers and contractors to Chicago building inspectors, exposing systemic corruption in the Zoning and Buildings Departments, authorities said Thursday. Even for a town that has turned payoffs into an art form, the operative uncovered brazen misconduct, investigators alleged. City inspectors ignored problems, fabricated reports and sped up paperwork in exchange for envelopes of cash, work on their homes and tickets to skyboxes for Bulls games, the federal charges alleged. One inspector took $10,000 to approve two illegal basement units in a building, while another allegedly took $7,000 to "inspect" plumbing that was already covered by concrete, investigators said. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/feds-city-building-inspe ctors-bribed.html GLBT Symbol of gay power stirs ugly culture clash By LAURA WASHINGTON LauraSWashington at aol.com. Copyright by The Chicago Sun-Times. May 19, 2008 If you build it, they will come. The Center on Halsted is a spectacular success. Success can bring unintended consequences. Despite the best of intentions, this glittering symbol of gay power in Chicago is marooned in an ugly culture clash. The year-old center is a public/private collaboration serving Chicago's gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender communities. Located at the corner of Halsted and Waveland, it has firmly tethered the GLBT community to the North Halsted Street gay entertainment district. Its smorgasborg of offerings includes HIV/AIDS and career counseling, euchre and badminton leagues, ecumenical religious services, food programs for the homeless. A major focus: GLBT "bookends" -- youths and senior citizens. So they came, big time, and in rainbow colors. That's when the trouble started. They came to mostly white, middle-class Lake View from Woodlawn, Englewood, Lawndale and Pilsen -- black and Latino neighborhoods where a pernicious brand of homophobia keeps them underground. The center is a haven -- and a lure. They come to the bustling Boys Town corridor for excitement and adventure. They come to Halsted and Waveland to loiter and jostle on the street, from 10 a.m. to 1 a.m., and later. Towering, muscled youths and young adults donning flowing wigs, peekaboo dresses and platform footwear. Trim girls and boys sporting T-shirts and slouched low-riders. They strut, squeal, sashay. It's their coming-out party. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/symbol-of-gay-power-stir s-ugly-culture.html CA poll - Weigh In! Governor Schwarzenegger's office is taking an automated poll on the California Supreme Court's same-sex marriage decision. To support Schwarzenegger's position in favor of the Supreme Court decision legalizing same-sex marriage, you can call here: 916-445-2841 Press 1, 5, 1, 1 International Herald Tribune Editorial - California, gay rights and the U.S. presidential election. Copyright by The International Herald Tribune. Published: May 19, 2008. The California Supreme Court brought the United States a step closer to fulfilling its ideals of equality and justice with its momentous 4-to-3 ruling upholding the right of same-sex couples to marry. The battle is far from over, even in California. Opponents of giving gay couples the respect, benefits, obligations and protections that come with marriage are already mobilizing to try to nullify the historic decision through a proposed state constitutional amendment likely to appear on the November ballot. All three presidential candidates oppose same-sex marriage, although the two Democrats at least support recognition of civil unions. Still, the California verdict was a major victory for civil rights. At issue in the case was a ban on same-sex marriage based on a law enacted in 1977 and a statewide initiative approved by voters in 2000. Both defined marriage as available only to a man and woman. The new opinion found that "the right of an individual to establish a legally recognized family with a person of one's choice" is fundamental. The court said California's strong domestic partnership statute was not enough to solve the inequality problem. "An individual's sexual orientation - like a person's race or gender - does not constitute a legitimate basis upon which to deny or withhold rights," wrote Chief Justice Ronald George, first appointed to the bench by Ronald Reagan. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/international-herald-tri bune-editorial_19.html What California did By Paul Varnell. Copyright by The Chicago Free Press and Paul Varnell. May 21, 2008. The May 15 decision by the California Supreme Court overturning the state?s ban on same-sex marriage is clearly major news for all of us. It was a robust, comprehensive decision that examined nearly all the traditional arguments against permitting same-sex marriage and found them wanting. The court said, ?In light of the fundamental nature of the substantive rights embodied in the right to marry?and their central importance to an individual?s opportunity to live a happy, meaningful, and satisfying life as a full member of society?the California Constitution properly must be interpreted to guarantee this basic civil right to all individuals and couples, without regard to their sexual orientation.? Specifically, the court pointed out that (1) allowing gays only a differently named relationship (such as ?civil unions?) would ?impose appreciable harm on same-sex couples,? (2) given the prejudice that gays have historically faced, forbidding them the word ?marriage? would likely be viewed as an official view that their relationships are of lesser stature and (3) calling gay relationships by a different name could perpetuate the view that gays and gay couples are ?second-class citizens.? The decision is significant for several reasons. The majority included three justices appointed by Republicans and the court?s lone Democratic appointee and was written by Republican Chief Justice Ronald George. And the California court is regarded as influential since other state courts sometimes look to it for precedents and judicial reasoning. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/what-california-did.html Q and A: Same-sex marriages - The court's decision is to take effect in 30 days. By Rong-Gong Lin II. Copyright ? 2008, The Los Angeles Times. May 16, 2008 Do you have a question about the same-sex marriage ruling? Send your question to ron.lin at latimes.com. Here are questions submitted by readers today, and answers provided by Times Staff Writer Rong-Gong Lin II. My partner and I are registered domestic partners with the state of California. We are also legally married in Canada. Will both be recognized in California after the 30 day period? -April E. Yes. You and your partner won't have to do anything in California for your Canadian marriage to be recognized here. Here's a good rule of thumb to remember: The court ruling gave all the rights straight married couples have to gay married couples. If a straight couple got married in Las Vegas, Alaska, or Italy, they don't need to get married again or register their marriage in California. So when the ruling goes into effect, California will recognize the marriage of gay couples who married elsewhere. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa has said he wants to officiate at as many same-sex weddings as possible. I know the clergy, judges/commissioners, the county clerk and deputy county clerks and serving state officers, legislators and California members of Congress can solemnize marriages. How can the mayor of a city do this? -Jim D. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/q-and-same-sex-marriages -courts.html With these words, let us wed By Carlos T. Mock. Copyright ? 2008, Chicago Tribune. May 20, 2008. http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/chi-oped0520marriagemay20,0,10177 93.story. Let us wed. The idea remains shocking to many people. So far, only five countries?Belgium, Canada, Netherlands, South Africa and Spain?have given full legal status to same-sex unions. The sight of homosexual men and women having wedding days just like those enjoyed for centuries by heterosexuals is unsettling, just as, for some people, is the sight of us holding hands or kissing. The case for allowing gays to marry begins with equality, pure and simple. Why should one set of loving, consenting adults be denied a right that other adults have and which, if exercised, will do no damage to anyone else? The case rests on equality, liberty and society. One argument against same-sex marriage is rooted in semantics: marriage is the union of a man and a woman, and so cannot be extended to same-sex couples. They may live together and love one another, but cannot, by this argument, be "married." But that is to dodge the real question?Why not??and to obscure the real nature of marriage, which is a binding commitment, at once legal, social and personal, between two people to take on special obligations to one another. If homosexuals want to make such marital commitments to one another, and to society, then why should we be prevented from doing so while other adults, equivalent in all other ways, are allowed to do so? http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/with-these-words-let-us- wed.html Marriage ruling has implications in Illinois By Gary Barlow. Copyright by The Chicago Free Press. May 21, 2008. Advocates for marriage equality in Illinois praised the California Supreme Court?s ruling legalizing marriage for gay and lesbian couples last week, saying it shows where the trend is heading on the issue in the rest of the country and in the Land of Lincoln. ?That the supreme court in the largest state in the country says that it?s unfair to discriminate against gay and lesbian couples has to be a good thing for us,? said Rep. Greg Harris (D-Chicago), the openly gay state legislator who?s working to pass a civil unions bill in the Illinois Legislature. ?It will have no direct impact here but I think it clearly shows that in the larger, more populous states in our country, the trend is toward marriage equality,? said Harris, who filed the civil unions bill after failing to garner enough backing in the Illinois House to legalize marriage for gay and lesbian couples. The political director of Illinois? statewide GLBT advocacy group said the ruling is ?very exciting.? ?Although it has no real impact in Illinois, it has a huge psychological effect,? said Equality Illinois? Rick Garcia. ?It says if you have a constitution that protects everyone fully and equitably, then you cannot deny equal marriage rights just because you?re uncomfortable with it.? http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/marriage-ruling-has-impl ications-in_23.html Harris explains civil union benefits for seniors By Matt Simonette. Copyright by The Chicago Free Press. May 21, 2008. State Rep. Greg Harris (D-Chicago) joined seniors and Illinois House and Senate co-sponsors at a press conference at the Illinois State Capitol May 14 to explain how HB 1826, legislation Harris is sponsoring that would allow civil unions for Illinois residents, would benefit seniors living in the state. ?This legislation shows that there is more to civil unions than just benefits for same sex couples,? said Harris ?It shows that we are trying to protect the rights of all individuals and make sure they receive the benefits they are entitled to.? Many seniors in committed relationships do not get remarried because their pension or social security benefits would be cut. But since these individuals are not married, they can be denied the rights to visit their loved ones in hospitals or nursing homes, make emergency medical decisions or even make funeral arrangements. Creating civil unions, according to Harris, can give committed couples the ability to secure these rights without reducing pensions. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/harris-explains-civil-un ion-benefits.html NEPAL'S FIRST GAY MP SPEAKS -- Nation's Two Largest Political Parties Embrace LGBT Rights By Doug Ireland. Copyright by Direland, Doug Ireland and gay City News. http://direland.typepad.com/direland/2008/05/nepals-first-ga.html. May 8, 2008. I wrote the following article for Gay City News, New Yorks largest lesbian and gay weekly, which published it today: In an historic breakthrough, the leader of Nepal's largest LGBT group, the BlueSunil_pant_2 Diamond Society, has been named to a seat in the parliament following April 10 elections in that nation, the largely mountainous home to some 30 million people. Sunil Pant (right), 35, a Belarus-educated computer engineer who founded the Blue Diamond Society (BDS) in 2002 and has been its executive director ever since, was named to the parliament by the tiny Communist Party-(United). The CPN-(U) won the right to have five seats in the new constituent assembly under a complicated proportional representation system used in the elections, the first since Nepal, long an autocratic monarchy, declared itself a "People's Republic" last December following a 2006 peace deal that ended a decade-long civil war. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/nepals-first-gay-mp-spea ks-nations-two.html Health Care How to cure America?s health system By Clive Crook. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008. Published: May 18 2008 16:45 | Last updated: May 18 2008 16:45. In US public policy, all roads lead to healthcare. Remorseless pressure on public spending? Blame Medicare. Economic insecurity? Fear of losing health benefits is a chief cause. Stagnant wages and worsening inequality? Look to the cost of employer-provided insurance. This failing system is a national scandal not just in its own right, but because of its proliferating fiscal, economic and political implications. For many workers without employer-provided insurance, the cost of cover is now prohibitive. The average cost for a family is $12,000 (?7,700, ?6,100) a year (roughly a quarter of median household income before tax) and rising handsomely in real terms. If you have cover provided by your employer, losing your job means losing your insurance. The unluckiest ? especially those with a dreaded ?pre-existing condition? ? may then face ruin. This vastly amplifies the anxieties colouring the election and driving the US towards an increasingly strident anti-business, anti-trade outlook. Even those with employer-provided insurance and no fear of losing it are unhappy, because the cost is eating up their wages. It is so high and rising so fast that many workers can expect pay rises or continued coverage, but not both. If you add the cost of insurance to wages, the pay of low- and middle-income workers has not in fact been stagnant. Concerns about living standards and widening inequality are linked to health policy. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/how-to-cure-americas-hea lth-system.html UK lawmakers approve embryo research By DAVID STRINGER. Copyright 2008 Associated Press. 6:07 PM CDT, May 19, 2008. LONDON - British lawmakers voted Monday to approve controversial plans to allow the use of animal-human embryos for research. The proposed laws, the first major review of embryo science in Britain for almost 20 years, have provoked stormy debate -- pitting Prime Minister Gordon Brown and scientists against religious leaders, anti-abortion campaigners and a large number of lawmakers. Brown has said he believes scientists seeking to use mixed animal-human embryos for stem cell research into diseases such as Parkinson's and Alzheimer's are on a moral mission to improve -- and save -- millions of lives. The process involves injecting an empty cow or rabbit egg with human DNA. A burst of electricity is then used to trick the egg into dividing regularly, so that it becomes a very early embryo, from which stem cells can be extracted. Scientists say the embryos would not be allowed to develop for more than 14 days, and are intended to address the shortage of human embryos available for stem cell research. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/uk-lawmakers-approve-emb ryo-research.html Immigration Chicago Sun-Times Editorial - Immigrants deserve to be treated fairly. Copyright by The Chicago Sun-Times. May 21, 2008. Almost 400 illegal immigrant workers at a meatpacking plant in Iowa were rounded up last week -- the largest criminal work site raid in the U.S. A group this size couldn't be squeezed into the local county jail, so Immigration Customs and Enforcement officials improvised. The men were sent to a cattle fairgrounds, the women to county jails. Later, they were shipped to jails across the state, making it hard for volunteer attorneys to reach them. Each lawyer represents about 17 clients and has faced delays in meeting with them, the American Civil Liberties Union of Iowa said. Some immigrants, including newcomers from Mexico, Ukraine and Israel, went unfed for 15 hours, a nun who spoke with the detainees told the Des Moines Register. ICE officials dispute that claim. Immigration raids are a fact of life in the U.S., but mistreatment of immigrants shouldn't be. Besides the concerns raised in Iowa, a recent New York Times investigation reported evidence of inadequate medical care for detained immigrants. Sixty-six immigrants died in detention from January 2004 to November 2007, according to federal data obtained by the Times. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/chicago-sun-times-editor ial-immigrants.html Technology US court: Paper money discriminates against blind By MATT APUZZO. Copyright 2008 Associated Press. 11:49 AM CDT, May 20, 2008. WASHINGTON - The U.S. discriminates against blind people by printing paper money that makes it impossible for them to distinguish among the bills' varying values, a federal appeals court ruled Tuesday. The ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit upholds a decision by a lower court in 2006. It could force the Treasury Department to redesign its money. Suggested changes have ranged from making bills different sizes to printing them with raised markings. The American Council for the Blind sued for such changes but the Treasury Department has been fighting the case for about six years. "I don't think we should have to rely on people to tell us what our money is," said Mitch Pomerantz, the council's president. The U.S. acknowledges the design hinders blind people but it argued that blind people have adapted. Some relied on store clerks to help them, some used credit cards and others folded certain corners to help distinguish between bills. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/us-court-paper-money-dis criminates.html Other Financial Times Editorial Comment: Broaden the mind. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008. Published: May 23 2008 19:25 | Last updated: May 23 2008 19:25. If there is one thing more toxic than airline food, it seems to be the industry business model. While a few airlines have been making money, many more are struggling. Silverjet, an all-business class airline, suspended trading in its shares on Friday. Its rivals, Maxjet and Eos, have already filed for bankruptcy. Venerable names are not immune: American Airlines announced this week that it was cutting flights, retiring aircraft and ? perhaps to acquire that ?low-cost? cachet ? charging many passengers to check in their luggage. The extremities of the airline industry are being snipped off by the twin scissor blades of high fuel costs and a weakening economy. Given that the pruning is likely to continue, business travellers may have to steel themselves for a period in which business class travel is both expensive and scarce. Simple economics says that as prices rise, business travellers will seek substitutes. Yet there are few promising alternatives. A cruise ship is an awkward place from which to be discussing the next round of downsizing. Road warriors could deck out a caravan with a desk and the latest productivity tools ? a more literal interpretation of ?mobile office?. Cross-country skiing, airships, luxury canoes ? all these substitutes have their downsides, sadly. As for the idea of flying economy class ? well, that really is out of the question. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/financial-times-editoria l-comment_24.html Humor New! Carlos now has an online store. Order your books directly from Carlos and have them signed and dedicated. http://www.carlostmock.com/catalog/ In Pride (orgullo), Carlos T. Mock, MD Www.carlostmock.com Author: Borrowing Time: A Latino Sexual Odyssey - Floricanto Press 2003. Nominated for a Stonewall Award by the American Library Association GLBT Round Table. Author: The Mosaic Virus ? Floricanto Press 2007. Nominated for a Stonewall Award by the American Library Association GLBT Round Table, and a Lammie from The Lambda Literary Foundation Author: Author: Papi Chulo ? Floricanto Press 2007. Nominated for a Stonewall Award by the American Library Association GLBT Round Table, and a Lammie from The Lambda Literary Foundation -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From ctmock at gmail.com Sat May 31 18:55:23 2008 From: ctmock at gmail.com (Carlos Mock) Date: Sat, 31 May 2008 19:55:23 -0500 Subject: [News] The Loyal secrets Newsletter - May 31, 2008 In-Reply-To: Message-ID: ?Do not tell secrets to those whose faith and silence you have not already tested.? - Elizabeth I How Bush Sold the War By DOUGLAS J. FEITH. May 27, 2008; Page A21. In the fall of 2003, a few months after Saddam Hussein's overthrow, U.S. officials began to despair of finding stockpiles of Iraqi weapons of mass destruction. The resulting embarrassment caused a radical shift in administration rhetoric about the war in Iraq. President Bush no longer stressed Saddam's record or the threats from the Baathist regime as reasons for going to war. Rather, from that point forward, he focused almost exclusively on the larger aim of promoting democracy. This new focus compounded the damage to the president's credibility that had already been caused by the CIA's errors on Iraqi WMD. The president was seen as distancing himself from the actual case he had made for removing the Iraqi regime from power. This change can be quantified: In the year beginning with his first major speech about Iraq ? the Sept. 12, 2002 address to the U.N. General Assembly ? Mr. Bush delivered nine major talks about Iraq. There were, on average, approximately 14 paragraphs per speech on Saddam's record as an enemy, aggressor, tyrant and danger, with only three paragraphs on promoting democracy. In the next year ? from September 2003 to September 2004 ? Mr. Bush delivered 15 major talks about Iraq. The average number of paragraphs devoted to the record of threats from Saddam was one, and the number devoted to democracy promotion was approximately 11. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/how-bush-sold-war.html Bush's 'Culture of Deception:' McClellan. The book of the former press secretary accuses the White House of intentionally misleading the public in pursuit of an elusive goal: Peace in the Middle East.. It even accuses Bush of misleading himself. by Mark Silva. Copyright ? 2008, Cox Newspapers. Posted May 28, 2008 8:30 AM. Scott McClellan, one of the Texans who came to Washington with President George W. Bush, spent a long time defending the administration but now has concluded this his longtime employer misled the nation into an unneeded war in Iraq. "History appears poised to confirm what most Americans today have decided -- that the decision to invade Iraq was a serious strategic blunder," Scott McClellan, the former White House press secretary, writes in his book, What Happened, which will be released on Monday. Subtitle: Washington's Culture of Deception. "No one, including me, can know with absolute certainty how the war will be viewed decades from now when we can more fully understand its impact,'' he writes in the preface of the book. "What I do know is that war should only be waged when necessary, and the Iraq war was not necessary.'' http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/bushs-culture-of-decepti on-mcclellan.html Disillusioned' McClellan Defends Memoir By Dan Eggen and Debbi Wilgoren. Copyright by The Washington Post. Thursday, May 29, 2008; 10:36 AM. Former White House press secretary Scott McClellan today strongly defended his critical new book on the Bush administration, saying he became "disillusioned" as he realized he was a pawn in a larger political game. McClellan, who has been harshly condemned as a turncoat by some of his closest friends and former colleagues, said in an interview on NBC's "Today" show that the book was intended to illustrate how a presidential candidate who vowed to change the culture of Washington failed to do so once he was elected. Instead, McClellan says, President Bush stayed in a "permanent campaign culture" and allowed his staff to use misleading and incomplete information to "sell" the Iraq war to the American people. While the president focused his public arguments on the possibility that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction, McClellan said, his true goal in toppling Saddam Hussein was to boost democracy in the Middle East. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/disillusioned-mcclellan- defends-memoir.html Bush team lines up to blitz tell-all book By Mark Silva. Copyright ? 2008, Chicago Tribune. May 29, 2008. WASHINGTON ? The Bush White House, long accused by outside critics of misrepresenting the facts to make the case for war in Iraq and other matters, has launched a personal counterattack against harsh accusations of "deception" from a longtime insider who worked closely with the president. White House aides past and present are strongly dismissing the words of Scott McClellan, who served as President George W. Bush's press secretary and now has written a book accusing Bush of misleading the public about the war and more. With the discipline of a White House team that is nothing if not on-message during a crisis, Bush aides have stepped forward to say this isn't the Scott McClellan they recall. In their full-bore, personal attack on the author, whom Bush once embraced as a valued friend, they are confronting potentially damaging new pages in another chapter of the soon-retiring president's legacy. As Bush's party fights to retain control of the White House, the Bush administration also faces the challenge of refuting embarrassing new, inside accounts about an administration that was intent on waging a war that the presumptive Republican nominee, Sen. John McCain, supports and will have to defend in the November election. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/bush-team-lines-up-to-bl itz-tell-all.html International Herald Tribune Editorial: Bush's mouthpiece and a 'culture of deception'. Copyright by The International Herald Tribune. Published: May 29, 2008. There are several kinds of Washington memoirs: "I Reveal the Honest Truth," a kiss-up-and-tell designed to settle scores (nod to honesty optional). "I Was There at the Start," designed to make the author appear to be the linchpin of history. And, most tedious: "I Knew It Was a Terrible Mistake, but I Didn't Mention It Until I Got a Book Contract." Scott McClellan's memoir is the latest entry in the latter genre. Among his far-too-late admissions, President George W. Bush's former spokesman reveals that he knew the war in Iraq was "a serious strategic blunder," but the White House decided the best course was "to turn away from candor and honesty." http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/international-herald-tri bune-editorial_29.html International Herald Tribune Editorial: Bush and the GI Bill. Copyright by The International Herald Tribune. Published: May 26, 2008. President George W. Bush opposes a new GI Bill of Rights. He worries that if the traditional path to college for service members since World War II is improved and expanded for the post-Sept. 11 generation, too many people will take it. He is wrong, but at least he is consistent. Having saddled the military with a botched, unwinnable war, having squandered soldiers' lives and failed them in so many ways, the commander in chief now resists giving the troops a chance at better futures out of uniform. He does this on the ground that the bill is too generous and may discourage re-enlistment, further weakening the military he has done so much to break. Thankfully, the new GI Bill has strong bipartisan support in Congress. The House passed it by a veto-proof margin this month, and last week the Senate followed suit. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/international-herald-tri bune-editorial_26.html The roar of hollow patriotism By Garrison Keillor. Copyright ? 2008, Chicago Tribune. May 28, 2008. Three hundred thousand bikers spent Memorial Day weekend roaring around Washington in tribute to our war dead, and I stood on Constitution Avenue Sunday afternoon watching a river of them go by, waiting for a gap in the procession so I could cross over to the Mall and look at pictures. The street had been closed off for them and they motored on by, some flying the Stars and Stripes and the black MIA-POW flag, honking, revving their engines, an endless celebration of internal combustion. A patriotic bike rally is sort of like a patriotic toilet-papering or patriotic graffiti?the patriotism somehow gets lost in the sheer irritation of the thing. Somehow a person associates Memorial Day with long moments of silence when you summon up mental images of men huddled together on amphibious assault vehicles and pilots revving up B-24s and infantrymen crouched behind piles of rubble steeling themselves for the next push. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/roar-of-hollow-patriotis m.html International Herald Tribune Editorial: Fortunately, Israel doesn't listen to Bush. Copyright by The International Herald Tribune. Published: May 23, 2008. Everybody knew President Bush was aiming at Senator Barack Obama last week when he likened those who endorse talks with "terrorists and radicals" to appeasers of the Nazis. But now we know what Bush knew then - that Israel is in indirect peace talks with Syria, a prominent member of Bush's list of shunned nations - and it seems as if the president was going for a two-for-one in his crack about appeasement. If so, it was breathtakingly cynical to compare the leadership of the Jewish state with those who stood aside in the face of the Nazi onslaught, and irresponsible to try to restrain this American ally from pursuing a settlement that it judges as possibly being in its best interests. But Bush turned his back on Israeli-Palestinian peace efforts for seven years (before opening the anemic Annapolis process in November), and he resisted previous moves by Jerusalem and Damascus to revive serious negotiations, last held in 2000, over the Golan Heights. Instead, he has sought to isolate Syria. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/international-herald-tri bune-editorial_24.html Amnesty calls for Guant?namo to be closed By Jimmy Burns in London and Demetri Sevastopulo in Washington. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008. Published: May 27 2008 23:30 | Last updated: May 27 2008 23:30. The next US president should move quickly to restore the superpower?s moral authority by closing the detention centre at Guant?namo, Amnesty International says in its annual report published on Wednesday. The US ?sets the standard for government behaviour globally?, says the report. But it had shown ?breathtaking legal obfuscation? by its efforts to weaken international standards ?absolutely prohibiting? torture. ?We have high expectations that the new US president will set a new direction, that the US will engage positively with human rights and will begin by setting its own house in order,? Irene Khan, Amnesty?s general secretary, said yesterday. All three presidential candidates have vowed to close Guant?namo. But there are challenges in doing so. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/amnesty-calls-for-guantn amo-to-be.html - Your Lack of Money May consumer confidence falls to near 16-year low By ANNE D'INNOCENZIO. Copyright 2008 Associated Press. 10:25 AM CDT, May 27, 2008. NEW YORK - Soaring gas prices and weakening job prospects left shoppers gloomier about the economy in May, sending a key barometer of consumer sentiment to its lowest level in almost 16 years. The New York-based Conference Board said Tuesday that its Consumer Confidence Index dropped to 57.2, down from a revised 62.8 in April. Economists surveyed by Thomson Financial/IFR had expected a reading of 60. The May reading marks the fifth straight month of decline and is the lowest since the index registered 54.6 in October 1992 when the economy was coming out of a recession. Economists closely watch sentiment readings since consumer spending accounts for more than two-thirds of the nation's economic activity. "Weakening business and job conditions coupled with growing pessimism about the short-term future have further depleted consumers' confidence in the overall state of the economy," Lynn Franco, director of the Conference Board's Consumer Research Center, said in a statement. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/may-consumer-confidence- falls-to-near.html Uncomfortable truths for a new world of them and us By Philip Stephens. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008. Published: May 29 2008 17:47 | Last updated: May 29 2008 17:47. Globalisation belonged to us; financial crises happened to them. The world has been turned on its head. Consumers in the wealthiest nations are struggling with the consequences of the credit crunch and with the soaring cost of energy and food. In China, retail sales have been rising at an annual 15 per cent. I cannot think of a better description of the emerging global order. The trouble is that the politics of globalisation lags ever further behind the economics. For all its tacit recognition that power has been flowing eastwards, the west still wants to imagine things as they used to be. In this world of them and us, ?they? are accused by Democratic contenders in the US presidential contest of stealing ?our? jobs. Now, you hear Europeans say, ?they? are driving up international commodity prices by burning ?our? fuel and eating ?our? food. The other day I listened to an eminent central banker offer a lucid explanation of the collapse of confidence that last summer paralysed international credit markets. I say lucid because he kept it simple, skipping the indecipherable stuff about algorithms, bundled securities and mark-to-market accounting rules. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/uncomfortable-truths-for -new-world-of.html US manufacturing resists slowdown By Chris Bryant in Washington. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008. Published: May 28 2008 14:50 | Last updated: May 28 2008 14:50. Orders for big-ticket manufactured goods excluding transportation rose unexpectedly last month in a sign that manufacturers are continuing to resist a slowdown in the broader US economy. Durable goods orders ex-transportation, a less volatile measure of business expenditure, rose by 2.5 per cent in April, the biggest increase in nine months, according to a Commerce Department report released on Wednesday. Overall durable goods orders fell by 0.5 per cent in April, however the result was still better than a 1.5 per cent drop forecast by economists. The headline figure was impaired by an 8 per cent decline in transportation equipment orders, which tend to show big monthly fluctuations. Non-defense aircraft and parts orders slumped 24.4 per cent last month, in part reflecting a big slowdown in plane orders at Boeing in April. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/us-manufacturing-resists -slowdown.html Recession still likely in US, says Greenspan By Krishna Guha in Washington. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008. Published: May 26 2008 23:37 | Last updated: May 26 2008 23:37. The US is still more likely than not to have a recession in spite of the relative stabilisation in the economy in recent weeks, Alan Greenspan has told the Financial Times. The former chairman of the Federal Reserve said: ?I still believe there is a greater than 50 per cent probability of recession.? But, he said, ?that probability has receded a little and I think the probability of a severe recession has come down markedly?. His comments, in an interview with the FT, come as a counter to the increasing optimism in some quarters. In the past six weeks, most economists have scaled back their estimates of the likelihood of a US recession following a better-than-expected jobs report and stronger business activity surveys. Many now think the US will narrowly dodge outright economic contraction. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/recession-still-likely-i n-us-says.html 1 in 4 at GM taking buyout - 19,000 union workers to exit; cheaper replacements to be hired By Rick Popely. Copyright ? 2008, Chicago Tribune. May 30, 2008. About 19,000 union workers at General Motors Corp., 25 percent of its hourly employees, accepted retirement incentives or buyouts in a program that ended Thursday, clearing the way for biggest U.S. automaker to boost its bottom line by hiring new workers at lower pay and benefits. "This attrition program gives us an opportunity to restructure our U.S. workforce through the entry-level wage and benefit structure for new hourly employees," Troy Clarke, president of GM North America, said in a statement. That should allow the company, which has been hit by a major shift in buying habits, to further restructure its business. GM and Ford Motor Co. are struggling to gain traction in a market battered by high gas prices, tight credit, a sick housing industry and economic malaise. GM's U.S. sales are down 12 percent through April, with large pickups, among its most profitable vehicles, off 20 percent. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/1-in-4-at-gm-taking-buyo ut-19000-union.html Investors increase bets on US rate rise By Krishna Guha in Washington, and Michael Mackenzie and Daniel Pimlott in New York. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008. Published: May 28 2008 21:50 | Last updated: May 29 2008 03:27. A sell-off in the US bond market pushed the yield on 10-year Treasuries above 4 per cent on Wednesday for the first time since January, as investors bet that pressure from record oil prices would force the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates this year. The futures market priced in a 60 per cent likelihood of a rate rise in October, up from less than 50 per cent the day before. As recently as May 8 investors saw virtually no chance of an October rate rise. The move came as durable goods orders came in stronger than expected, and Dow Chemicals, the largest US chemicals producer, said it was raising the price of all its products by up to 20 per cent to offset the rising cost of energy and raw materials. Andrew Liveris, Dow?s chairman and chief executive, said that the rising cost of fuel was ?putting a strain on the entire value chain?. He blamed the US government?s failure to address rising energy costs for causing a ?true energy crisis, one that is causing serious harm to America?s manufacturing sector and all consumers of energy?. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/investors-increase-bets- on-us-rate-rise.html Commodities Oil $127.35 Silver Bullion $16.86 Gold Bullion $887 Platinum Bullion $ $2015 Euro $1.5545 Oil burden By Carlos T Mock, MD. May, 30, 2008. Last time the United States had an oil crises of this magnitude was in 1980. Even when adjusted for inflation, crude oil at $135 a barrel is more expensive than at the peak of the oil spike in 1980. That is an alarming statistic. Instead of talking about Oil Bubbles we should be talking about Oil Burden: V?ronique Riches-Flores of Soci?t? G?n?rale measures the ?oil burden? ? the volume of oil consumed, multiplied by the average price and divided by nominal gross domestic product. This gives the proportion of the world economy devoted to oil and accounts for the way the world has reduced its reliance on oil since 1980. The oil burden so measured has risen about 75 per cent during the past year, to its highest level in almost 25 years. This must soon have an economic impact if prices do not quickly reverse. But prices would need to reach about $190 before the burden regained its peak of 1980. It is not clear that prices are at a point where demand will fall. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/oil-burden.html The Short View: Oil burden By John Authers, Invetsment Editor. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008. Published: May 29 2008 18:53 | Last updated: May 29 2008 18:53. When will the oil price start to cause true macroeconomic pain? Once it does, it could create stagflation ? something that is still not with us, given enduring strength in US manufacturing and growth in the emerging world. It will also, probably, reduce demand for oil and hence start to push the price down. Other commodities have gone off the boil, with the S&P GSCI non-energy commodity index falling 13.5 per cent since mid-March while the energy index has gained 22.6 per cent. So attention now focuses on oil. Even when adjusted for inflation, crude oil at $135 a barrel is more expensive than at the peak of the oil spike in 1980. That is an alarming statistic. But V?ronique Riches-Flores of Soci?t? G?n?rale adjusts this by measuring the ?oil burden? ? the volume of oil consumed, multiplied by the average price and divided by nominal gross domestic product. This gives the proportion of the world economy devoted to oil and accounts for the way the world has reduced its reliance on oil since 1980. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/short-view-oil-burden.ht ml Oil has reached a turning point By Daniel Yergin. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008. Published: May 27 2008 18:50 | Last updated: May 27 2008 18:50. Oil prices at this level take us into a new world ? ?Break Point? ? where the question is not only ?how high can the price go??, but also ?what will be the response?? Is this the point at which oil begins to lose its almost total domination in transport? Yes, the current high oil price may be a demand shock triggered by what had been several years of excellent global economic growth, and thus more benign than supply shocks caused by 1970s-style disruptions. It is amplified by a dollar shock caused by the fall in the dollar and by the embrace by financial investors of oil (and other commodities) as an asset class. What is now unfolding is an oil shock. The fact that the world could take $80 in its stride in the context of strong economic growth does not mean that a price that is 60 per cent higher at a time of a credit crunch will be so easily assimilated. The economic toll is mounting. Airlines are certainly in shock as they start charging for checked luggage to find a way to pass on their biggest cost. Carmakers are reeling. Retailers are tracking the shrinking wallets of their customers. The rising prices for food reflect, in part, the impact of higher energy costs. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/oil-has-reached-turning- point.html U.S. investigating oil market practices. Copyright ? 2008, Chicago Tribune. May 30, 2008. Federal regulators have launched a wide-ranging investigation of U.S. oil markets and are looking to prevent possible price manipulation. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission on Thursday said it started the probe in December and took the unusual step of publicizing it "because of today's unprecedented market conditions." Crude prices, which on Thursday closed at more than $126 a barrel, have risen more than 42 percent since early December. Gasoline prices are nearing a national average of $4 a gallon, up from about $3.20 a year ago. The commission said it is investigating potential abuses in the way crude oil is purchased, shipped, stored and traded nationwide, but did not reveal details. It did, however, announce a handful of other initiatives designed to increase transparency of U.S. and international energy futures markets. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/us-investigating-oil-mar ket-practices.html Housing Illinois Average Rates 5/31/08 - 10:46 PM 30 Yr Fixed 6.02% 15 Yr Fixed 5.60% 30 Yr Fixed Jumbo 7.21% US home prices fall at record pace. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008. Published: May 27 2008 14:54 | Last updated: May 27 2008 14:54. New York, May 27 ? Prices of U.S. single-family homes plunged a record 14.1 per cent in the first quarter from a year earlier, marking a pace five times faster than the last housing recession, the Standard & Poor?s/Case Shiller national home price index reported on Tuesday. The S&P/Case Shiller composite index of 20 metropolitan areas fell 2.2 per cent in March from February and plummeted a record 14.4 per cent from March 2007. Economists expected prices for the 20-city index to fall 2.0 per cent month on month and 14.0 per cent from a year earlier, according to the median forecast in a Reuters survey. ?There are very few silver linings that one can see in the data,? David Blitzer, chairman of S&P?s index committee, said in a statement. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/us-home-prices-fall-at-r ecord-pace.html US banks likely to fail as bad loans soar By Joanna Chung and Saskia Scholtes in New York. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008. Published: May 29 2008 20:43 | Last updated: May 29 2008 20:43. US banks set aside a record $37.1bn to cover losses on real estate loans and other credits during the first quarter in a sign of the growing economic pain being caused by the global credit crisis, regulators said on Thursday. Sheila Bair, chairwoman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, said it was likely loan-loss provisions and bank failures would rise in coming quarters as the fallout from market turmoil hits the real economy. ?While we may be past the worst of the turmoil in financial markets, we?re still in the early stages of the traditional credit crisis you typically see during an economic downturn,? she said, adding: ?What we really need to focus on is the uncertainty surrounding the economy . . . and again it is all about housing.? http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/us-banks-likely-to-fail- as-bad-loans.html International Chicago Tribune Editorial - Terror in Zimbabwe. Copyright ? 2008, Chicago Tribune. May 30, 2008. On the morning of May 14, Tonderai Ndira, a 32-year-old pro-democracy activist, was abducted from his home outside of Zimbabwe's capital, Harare. More than a week passed before his family discovered that Ndira, kidnapped by government-sanctioned thugs, had been maimed and killed. His lips and tongue were cut off, his face shattered and the back of his head gored with a hammer. "We only knew it was my brother by his distinctive ring, his bangles, and his unmistakable height," Cosmos Ndira told the BBC. This is not an isolated tale. This type of violence has become increasingly common in Zimbabwe since the March 29 presidential election, which many citizens believe was manipulated by the deeply unpopular incumbent Robert Mugabe. As the country girds for a run-off on June 27, hopes that Mugabe will allow the vote to be free and fair are fading fast. He has authorized his thugs to use violence, including torture and murder, to intimidate voters and opposition supporters. According to opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai, more than 50 people have been killed. If Mugabe maintains power by force and ballot-box chicanery, discontent will only rise. The rush of refugees fleeing the country will accelerate. Hunger will become epidemic. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/chicago-tribune-editoria l-terror-in.html Royal flag is lowered over Nepal's new republic. Copyright by Reuters. Published: May 29, 2008. KATMANDU, Nepal: Hundreds of Nepali protesters demanding that the dethroned king, Gyanendra, immediately leave his palace clashed with the police Thursday, a day after the abolition of the monarchy. More than 25 people were hurt in the fighting. Hundreds of stone-throwing demonstrators tried to storm the palace and the police beat them back with bamboo sticks. "Gyanendra, thief, leave the palace!" protesters shouted. The clash came hours after the royal standard was lowered from the palace in Katmandu, as Nepal celebrated its first day as a republic following the abolition of its 239-year-old Hindu monarchy. A special assembly elected in April voted to abolish the monarchy and gave Gyanendra two weeks to vacate the sprawling pink palace, which will be turned into a museum. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/royal-flag-is-lowered-ov er-nepals-new.html China Financial Times Editorial Comment: China embarks on quake diplomacy. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008. Published: May 29 2008 19:41 | Last updated: May 29 2008 19:41. For Sharon Stone, the Sichuan earthquake was karmic retribution. For Wen Jiabao, China?s premier, it was a moment to show the Communist party?s human face. For Japan, it has provided a small, but genuine, opportunity to lay to rest some of the ghosts that still haunt Sino-Japanese relations. Beijing?s decision to ask Japan?s Air Self Defence Forces to fly relief equipment into Sichuan is rife with symbolism. Not since 1945, when the Japanese withdrew from China after 14 years of brutal expansionism, will a Japanese military aircraft have landed on Chinese soil. China?s seizure of the moment is laudable. So is Japan?s enthusiastic response. Less than two weeks ago the idea had seemed unthinkable. Then, Tokyo sent rescue workers to pick through the rubble of Sichuan. But they flew on commercial aircraft, via Beijing, losing time. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/financial-times-editoria l-comment-china.html Tibetans losing faith in talks, says Dalai Lama By Lionel Barber, Lifen Zhang and James Blitz in Nottingham, England. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008. Published: May 25 2008 19:04 | Last updated: May 25 2008 19:04. The Dalai Lama has given a stark warning that he is losing the support of many of his followers inside Tibet because of the Chinese government?s refusal to strike a deal with him over the territory?s future. As he continues a tour of European cities to rally support for Tibet?s autonomy from Beijing, the 72-year-old Nobel laureate has expressed hope that China will begin serious negotiations with his representatives over greater autonomy for the region in a few weeks? time. But in an interview in the UK with the Financial Times, he indicated that more radical Tibetans, who urge violent confrontation with China, are increasingly losing faith in his strategy of securing autonomy through peaceful dialogue. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/tibetans-losing-faith-in -talks-says.html Mess-o-potamia Attacks surge in Afghanistan - Officials: Truces in Pakistan free rebels to hit over the border By Kim Barker. Copyright ? 2008, Chicago Tribune. 11:08 PM CDT, May 23, 2008. KABUL, Afghanistan ? The number of attacks on U.S. troops in eastern Afghanistan has increased significantly in April and May, causing many here to worry that local peace deals with militants in neighboring Pakistan are allowing them to regroup and focus on fighting across the border in Afghanistan. Officials with the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force, or ISAF, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue, said that attacks in eastern Afghanistan in the past three or four weeks have jumped to about 100 a week from 60 a week in March. This was "a very significant increase" in attacks, which include everything from minor indirect fire to suicide attacks, one ISAF official said last week. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/attacks-surge-in-afghani stan-officials.html Bombs, attacks kill 24 in Afghanistan By AMIR SHAH. Copyright 2008 Associated Press. 10:33 AM CDT, May 27, 2008. KABUL, Afghanistan - Roadside bombings and insurgent attacks Tuesday killed 24 people in Afghanistan, including 13 police officers, while U.S.-led coalition operations killed several militants, officials said. In southern Kandahar province, Taliban insurgents killed nine police in a two-pronged attack before dawn in Shorabak district, said provincial police chief Sayed Agha Saqib. Insurgents first attacked a police checkpoint, killing five officers, Saqib said. Two roadside bombs then hit two vehicles carrying police reinforcements, killing four more officers and wounding three. Another roadside bomb in Logar province, south of Kabul, killed four police, said deputy police chief Abdul Majid Latifi. Militants regularly target the country's fledgling police force, which is seen as weaker than the better-trained and equipped Afghan army. At least 72 police officers were killed in insurgent ambushes and bombings in April alone. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/bombs-attacks-kill-24-in -afghanistan.html Anti-U.S. Sadr calls for protests - Iraqi cleric opposes long-term presence By Qassim Abdul-Zahra. Copyright by The Associated Press. May 28, 2008. BAGHDAD ? Militant Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadr called Tuesday for followers to hold weekly protests against a U.S.-Iraqi security deal under negotiation that could lead to a long-term American troop presence. The outcry by Sadr could sharply heighten tensions over the proposed pact, which is supposed to be finished by July to replace the current UN mandate overseeing U.S.-led troops in Iraq. Sadr, whose powerful Mahdi Army militia has often battled U.S. and Iraqi forces, is one of the most vocal opponents of the U.S. presence in Iraq, though many Iraqis have expressed worries over any deal that involves permanent American bases. Sadr, who is believed to be in Iran, gave no specifics on the planned demonstrations in a statement issued by Shiite religious officials. Any major marches, however, could strain the tenuous truce between the Mahdi Army and the government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki after weeks of battles that began in late March. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/anti-us-sadr-calls-for-p rotests-iraqi.html Militant group warns of Mosul retaliation By BUSHRA JUHI. Copyright 2008 Associated Press. 7:37 AM CDT, May 27, 2008. BAGHDAD - An al-Qaida in Iraq front group warned Tuesday that insurgents were waiting for the right moment to retaliate against a U.S.-Iraqi security crackdown in the northern city of Mosul. Gunmen killed a policeman near his station in Mosul, when attackers opened fire with machine guns shortly before noon about 100 yards from the Hadba police directorate, officials said. Interior Ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Abdul-Karim Khalaf ordered an immediate investigation and expressed concern that the policeman had been killed in broad daylight Tuesday in an area that was crowded with Iraqi policemen and pedestrians. Mosul, located 225 miles northwest of Baghdad, has been dubbed by the U.S. military as al-Qaida's last major urban stronghold in Iraq. The Iraqi government launched an offensive, dubbed Operation Lion's Roar, there earlier this month to clear the area. Officials have claimed initial success, saying more than 1,200 suspects have been detained, and Iraqi security forces have met little resistance. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/militant-group-warns-of- mosul.html Suicide rate in Army hits new high. Copyright ? 2008, Chicago Tribune. 11:27 PM CDT, May 29, 2008. WASHINGTON ? U.S. soldiers committed suicide in 2007 at the highest rate on record, and the toll is climbing this year. At least 115 active-duty soldiers, National Guardsmen and reservists killed themselves last year, up from 102 the previous year, the Army said Thursday. The Army counted 935 reported suicide attempts. Nearly a third of the soldiers died at the battlefront?32 in Iraq and four in Afghanistan. But 26 percent had never deployed to either conflict. Two other deaths are suspected suicides but still under investigation. The largest percentage of suicides occurred during the first three months of a deployment to Iraq or Afghanistan, the report found. The largest percentage of suicide attempts came during the second quarter of deployment. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/suicide-rate-in-army-hit s-new-high.html Iraq calls for debt cancellation By David Ibison in Stockholm. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008. Published: May 29 2008 09:06 | Last updated: May 29 2008 11:07. Senior members of Iraq?s government have stepped up calls for Arab neighbours to cancel up to $60bn in debts run up during the rule of Saddam Hussein in order to speed up the economic development of the country. Speaking at an international conference on Iraq that is being held in Stockholm, Nuri al-Maliki, prime minister, said. ?The debts of Iraq ... which we inherited from the dictator hamper the reconstruction process.? His call was echoed by Barham Salih, deputy prime minister, who said ?Saddam era debts belong to the past. It is time to liberate Iraq from this burden.? http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/iraq-calls-for-debt-canc ellation.html Financial Times Editorial Comment: It?s curtains for Olmert. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008. Published: May 29 2008 19:59 | Last updated: May 29 2008 19:59. It is all but over for Ehud Olmert. Israel?s prime minister ? though he has not been charged with anything ? cannot survive his latest corruption probe. This week?s unchallenged testimony from Morris Talansky, a US businessman who says he gave his friend Mr Olmert wads of cash for personal luxuries as well as political campaigns, will see to that. There are laws of political gravity even he cannot defy. Mr Olmert haemorrhaged authority and credibility after his incompetent and reckless conduct of the 2006 war against Hizbollah in Lebanon, which mercilessly exposed the limits to Israel?s military might. Now he has lost even the residual legitimacy of his office. Israel?s citizens have come to expect little from their politicians. That is one reason why Mr Olmert could survive strategic disaster as well as a string of financial misconduct investigations. But not this one. Now the knives are out. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/financial-times-editoria l-comment-its.html National Violent storms kill 8 in Iowa and Minnesota By HENRY C. JACKSON. Copyright 2008 Associated Press. 10:49 AM CDT, May 26, 2008. DES MOINES, Iowa - Powerful storms packing large hail, heavy rain and tornadoes made for a deadly Memorial Day weekend across the nation's midsection, killing at least seven people in Iowa and a 2-year-old child in Minnesota. Iowa Homeland Security administrator Dave Miller said seven people were killed Sunday by a tornado in northeast Iowa -- five from Parkersburg, a town of about 1,000 some 80 miles northeast of Des Moines -- and two from nearby New Hartford. At least 50 injuries were reported. "It's been a long time since we've had those kinds of injuries and deaths reported," Miller said. Witnesses reported parts of Parkersburg -- particularly the town's south side -- were reduced to rubble, including most of the town's high school. The Des Moines area had heavy rain and lightning Sunday night with wind gusts of 70 mph. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/violent-storms-kill-8-in -iowa-and.html Indecision 2008 Jon Stewart Calls Out McCain for Hypocrisy on Supporting Veterans http://www.crooksandliars.com/2008/05/30/jon-stewart-calls-out-mccain-for-hy pocrisy-on-supporting-veterans/ Chicago Sun-Times Editorial - Our soldiers deserve new GI Bill of Rights. Copyright by The Chicago Sun-Times. May 28, 2008. We send our soldiers to war and make them stay for far too long, cruelly extending their tours of duty two, three or four times. We make them stay because we can't drum up enough new soldiers to replace them. Our military is stretched to the limit, largely because of the war in Iraq, and recruiting is in the basement, also thanks to the war. And how do we reward these fine young men and women, the ones who dare to go to war while the rest of us just talk? The ones who actually volunteer? We don't. Not really. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/chicago-sun-times-editor ial-our.html Chicago Sun-Times Editorial - Sneering at talk is what's really cheap. Copyright by The Chicago Sun-Times. May 25, 2008. Should we talk to our enemies? Sen. John McCain in recent days has said Sen. Barack Obama's willingness to open dialog with leaders from Iran to Cuba shows his "inexperience and reckless judgment," but it is McCain who oversimplifies. Presidents from Nixon to Reagan to George H.W. Bush have all talked to our enemies -- with the right preconditions -- and Obama has vowed to do nothing more or less. Talk, in and of itself, is diplomacy. Talk is not by definition appeasement, whatever President Bush and McCain might like to pretend. It's what grown-ups do, before all else, to solve problems. Obama says he would be willing to meet with Iranian leaders, but only with "sufficient preparations," and he would do "everything" in his powers to keep Iran from developing nuclear weapons. "Whether [Iranian President] Ahmadinejad is the right person to meet with right now," he says, "we don't even know how much power he is going to have a year from now." That, to us, sounds like grown-up talk. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/chicago-sun-times-editor ial-sneering-at.html A bad history lesson By Clarence Page. Copyright ? 2008, Chicago Tribune. May 28, 2008. History repeats itself, someone once said, because people don't hear it right the first time. The problem with Sen. Hillary Clinton's gaffe about Robert F. Kennedy is her failure to recall correctly the history she has helped make. She was wrong on the facts, wrong in her argument and wrong in her recollection of the gut-wrenching fear and loathing that the second assassination of a Kennedy inflicted on Americans?across party lines. Grasping at historical straws to explain why she is still campaigning instead of putting her campaign on hold, at least, the New York senator unleashed an argument that not only sounded breathtakingly tacky but also happened to be wrong on its facts. "You know, my husband did not wrap up the nomination in 1992 until he won the California primary somewhere in the middle of June, right?" she said to the editorial board of South Dakota's Argus Leader. "We all remember, Bobby Kennedy was assassinated in June in California." http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/bad-history-lesson.html Big decisions ahead - Candidates face tempting moves that could backfire By Steve Chapman. Copyright ? 2008, Chicago Tribune. May 25, 2008. People who are under the influence of alcohol often are seized with impulses that seem brilliant at the time but end up looking like horrible mistakes the next day. We are now at the stage of the presidential election when intoxication at the prospect of the fall campaign produces ideas that, if adopted, will lead only to regret. One came in an article on the influential op-ed page of The Washington Post, proposing a simple way to reconcile Hillary Clinton and her supporters to Barack Obama's looming victory. "It's likely that the next president will face at least one Supreme Court vacancy," wrote James Andrew Miller, formerly an aide to Senate Majority Leader Howard Baker. "Obama should promise Hillary Clinton, now, that if he wins in November, the vacancy will be hers, making her first on a list of one." In Miller's view, it would guarantee a quick Senate confirmation, gratify her supporters by assuring her life tenure in a job more consequential than vice president and add a solid liberal vote to a conservative-leaning court. No doubt. But it would brand Obama as an unsavory dealmaker willing to bribe a rival for her blessing, badly tarnishing the rationale of his candidacy. It would also give Republicans a matchless opportunity in the fall campaign?trumpeting the specter of an Obama presidency and a Clinton court. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/big-decisions-ahead-cand idates-face.html Dem lawyers: Fla., Mich. can't be fully restored By NEDRA PICKLER. Copyright 2008 Associated Press. 8:02 AM CDT, May 28, 2008. WASHINGTON - A Democratic Party rules committee has the authority to seat some delegates from Michigan and Florida but not fully restore the two states as Hillary Rodham Clinton wants, according to party lawyers. Democratic National Committee rules require that the two states lose at least half of their convention delegates for holding elections too early, the party's legal experts wrote in a 38-page memo. The memo was sent late Tuesday to the 30 members of the party's Rules and Bylaws Committee, which plans to meet Saturday at a Washington hotel. The committee is considering ways to include the two important general election battlegrounds at the nominating convention in August, and the staff analysis says seating half the delegates is "as far as it legally can" go. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/dem-lawyers-fla-mich-can t-be-fully.html Doctor: Obama in 'excellent health' By John McCormick. Copyright ? 2008, Chicago Tribune. May 30, 2008. In a one-page letter released Thursday, Sen. Barack Obama's primary care physician said the Democratic presidential candidate has been in "excellent health" during the 21 years he has been a patient. Obama's campaign, however, declined to say whether the 46-year-old's full medical records would eventually be released. Presumptive Republican nominee Sen. John McCain, 71, released more than 1,000 pages of medical documents last week to make the case that he is vigorous enough to be president. McCain's doctors detailed his successful treatment for melanoma and concluded he is physically fit for the job, an assessment Obama's doctor also made. "Sen. Barack Obama is in overall good physical and mental health needed to maintain the resiliency required in the office of president," wrote Dr. David Scheiner, a general internist at the University of Chicago Hospitals and Rush University Medical Center. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/doctor-obama-in-excellen t-health.html Chicagoland Chicago's tale of corruption has no end By CAROL MARIN cmarin at suntimes.com. Copyright by The Chicago Sun-Times. May 25, 2008. U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald, May 22, 2008. Chicago strains the creative writing abilities of even the smartest feds. And so on Thursday, neither his Harvard education nor his near-mythic reputation as a prosecutor's prosecutor could supply U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald with a sexy new script for the same old storyline. Like Indiana Jones, this city's corruption saga is an endless series of sequels. And on this day it was about, well, what else? Corruption indictments, 15 of them, for city workers, contractors and developers who allegedly paid or took bribes to rig inspections, get building permits and make money the old-fashioned way, by cheating the taxpayers. Noting one of the alleged bribes caught on tape was passed outside Oprah's West Side studios, even Fitzgerald's invocation of Chicago's global media goddess couldn't produce much sizzle. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/chicagos-tale-of-corrupt ion-has-no-end.html Chicago Tribune Editorial: Scalpel, please. Copyright ? 2008, Chicago Tribune. May 28, 2008. If all goes as planned on Wednesday, there will be a new panel of overseers in charge of the disastrously mismanaged Cook County public health system. All eyes will rest on its 11 members, while the Cook County Board and its president, Todd Stroger, supposedly slink into the background, foisting all questions and political heat on the newbies. Hey, the county pols will say, it's all up to the health panel now. You got a problem with patronage? Talk to them. Insider contracts? Not us. Kickback schemes? We wouldn't know about that. A health delivery system so inefficient that it doesn't even attempt to bill some patients? Their problem, not ours. What should the rest of us think about this alleged transfer of power to a new health panel? Has the Cook County Board really taken the steps that will fix the health system to benefit patients who rely on it and taxpayers who support it? Or have the pols merely hauled in the fog machine? Are they just trying to avoid being held responsible for their years of dereliction? http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/chicago-tribune-editoria l-scalpel.html Lisa Madigan, your moment has arrived By Eric Zorn. Copyright ? 2008, Chicago Tribune. May 29, 2008. To: Atty. Gen. Lisa Madigan. Subject: Your political future. Status: Urgent. Three words: Hat. Ring. Now. Don't wait. Announce today that you'll challenge incumbent Rod Blagojevich for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination in 2010. Yes, it seems early. But as our readers know, The Friends of Blagojevich have kicked into gear, holding a fundraiser last week at Tavern on Rush and scheduling another one for June 26 in which big shots will donate $20,000 to be named event co-chair. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/lisa-madigan-your-moment -has-arrived.html Chicago Sun-Times Editorial - Ryan doesn't deserve a get-out-of-jail card. Copyright by The Chicago Sun-Times. May 29, 2008. It's hard not to feel a little sorry for George Ryan. As governor, he was well-liked enough and delivered for Illinois. As a statesman, he did the right -- even noble -- thing by clearing Death Row. And as a human being, he seems like a decent guy. He has loyal friends and a devoted wife of more than 50 years. Ryan is 74, has diabetes and faces at least five more years in federal prison. Yes, it's hard not to feel a little bad for the man. But that doesn't make him any less guilty of public corruption and cheating taxpayers. Like every other criminal -- most of whom don't have friends in high places and expensive lawyers -- Ryan earned his trip to prison and must do his time. The only get-out-of-jail-free card he should ever get is in a Monopoly game in the prison rec room. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/chicago-sun-times-editor ial-ryan-doesnt.html GLBT Gay rights advocates score wins in NY, Calif. By MICHAEL GORMLEY. Copyright by The Associated Press. 5:33 AM CDT, May 29, 2008. ALBANY, N.Y. - Gay rights advocates had reason to celebrate on both coasts Thursday, with New York set to recognize same-sex marriages performed elsewhere and California preparing to begin issuing marriage licenses to gay couples on June 17. Hours after California issued a directive Wednesday authorizing that date, word came that New York Gov. David Paterson instructed state agencies -- including those governing insurance and health care -- to immediately change policies and regulations to recognize gay marriages. For years, gay rights advocates have sought recognition for same-sex marriages so couples could share family health care plans, receive tax breaks by filing jointly, enjoy stronger adoption rights and inherit property. Many or all of those rights would now appear to be available to New Yorkers who legally wed same-sex partners in other states and countries, according to the memo sent earlier this month from the governor's counsel. Agencies have until June 30 to report back to the counsel on how, specifically, the directive will change existing state benefits and services for gay couples. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/gay-rights-advocates-sco re-wins-in-ny.html Poll: Majority of Californians back gay marriage By LISA LEFF. Copyright 2008 Associated Press. 8:47 AM CDT, May 28, 2008. SAN FRANCISCO - More California voters now support allowing same-sex marriage than oppose it, according to a new poll released Wednesday. The results mark the first time in over three decades of polling that more California voters have approved of extending marriage to gay couples than have disapproved, said Field Poll director Mark DiCamillo. The survey of 1,052 registered voters was conducted over the phone. "I would say this is a historic turning point or milestone," DiCamillo said. "We have speculated in the past there would be some time in the future when a majority would support same-sex marriage. Well, the lines have crossed." The poll found that 51 percent of respondents backed legalizing same-sex marriage and 42 percent opposed it, DiCamillo said. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/poll-majority-of-califor nians-back-gay.html Recognition of gay marriages in NY faces battle By MICHAEL GORMLEY. Copyright 2008 Associated Press. 1:18 AM CDT, May 30, 2008. ALBANY, N.Y. - Religious and social conservatives vowed Thursday to fight Gov. David Paterson's directive requiring state agencies to recognize gay marriages performed legally elsewhere, saying it flouts traditional values and is a big step toward legalizing same-sex unions in New York. "The definition of marriage predates recorded history," said New York State Catholic Conference Executive Director Richard E. Barnes. "No single politician or court or legislature should attempt to redefine the very building block of our society in a way that alters its entire meaning and purpose." Paterson issued a memo earlier this month saying that gay New Yorkers who marry where it is legal will have the right to share family health care plans, receive tax breaks by filing jointly, enjoy stronger adoption rights and inherit property. He cited a February ruling in a New York Appellate Division court in which the judges determined that there is no legal impediment in New York to the recognition of a same-sex marriage. Earlier this month, the California Supreme Court ruled that same-sex marriage in the nation's most populous state is legal. The ruling overturned a voter-approved ban on gay marriage. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/recognition-of-gay-marri ages-in-ny.html Judges order military to prove need for gay ban By Gene Johnson. Copyright by The Associated Press. May 28, 2008. SEATTLE?The military cannot automatically discharge people because they are gay, a federal appeals court ruled May 21 in the case of a decorated flight nurse who sued the Air Force over her dismissal. The three judges from the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals did not strike down the military?s ?don?t ask, don?t tell? policy. But they reinstated Maj. Margaret Witt?s lawsuit, saying the Air Force must prove that her dismissal furthered the military?s goals of troop readiness and unit cohesion. The ?don?t ask, don?t tell, don?t pursue, don?t harass? policy prohibits the military from asking about the sexual orientation of service members but requires discharge of those who acknowledge being gay or engaging in homosexual activity. Last week?s ruling led opponents of the policy to declare its days numbered. It is also the first appeals court ruling in the country that evaluated the policy through the lens of a 2003 Supreme Court decision that struck down a Texas ban on sodomy as an unconstitutional intrusion on privacy. When gay service members have sued over their dismissals, courts historically have accepted the military?s argument that having gays in the service is generally bad for morale and can lead to sexual tension. But the Supreme Court?s opinion in the Texas case changed the legal landscape, the judges said, and requires more scrutiny over whether ?don?t ask, don?t tell? is constitutional as applied in individual cases. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/judges-order-military-to -prove-need-for.html Cuba holds large gay rights rally. Copyright by The Associated Press. May 27, 2008. HAVANA, CUBA (AP) - Cuba?s gay community celebrated unprecedented openness, and high-ranking political alliances, with a government-backed campaign against homophobia. The meeting at a convention center in Havana?s Vedado district may have been the largest gathering of openly gay activists ever on the communist-run island. President Raul Castro?s daughter Mariela, who has promoted the rights of sexual minorities, presided. Mariela Castro joined government leaders and hundreds of activists at the one-day conference for the International Day Against Homophobia that featured shows, lectures, panel discussions and book presentations. A station also offered blood-tests for sexually transmitted diseases. Cuban state television recently gave prime-time play to the U.S. film Brokeback Mountain, which tells the story of two cowboys who conceal their homosexual affair. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/cuba-holds-large-gay-rig hts-rally.html Health Care A puzzle over fewer boy births By Judith Graham. Copyright ? 2008, Chicago Tribune. May 25, 2008. Once there was a kids hockey team on the reservation of the Aamjiwnaang First Nation in Canada, just across the border from Michigan. No longer. There aren't enough boys. This community, surrounded by dozens of pollution-spewing chemical plants, is an especially extreme example of a puzzling phenomenon playing out around world, in countries as diverse as the United States, Sweden and Japan. Though more boys are being born than girls in most places, their numbers are falling. No one is sure why. The change is small, but real. In the U.S., the ratio of baby boys to girls has been declining since 1970, translating into 17 fewer males for every 10,000 births, or an estimated 135,000 fewer boys born between 1970 and 2002, according to a study last year in Environmental Health Perspectives. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/puzzle-over-fewer-boy-bi rths.html Immigration Illegal becomes 'one of the best and brightest' By Teresa Puente. Copyright by The Chicago Sun-Times. May 26, 2008. Ricardo Estrada's story of crossing the border is one that continues today. His father, then his mother, left him and his younger brother and sister in Mexico when they went north in search of work. His grandparents cared for Estrada and his siblings. After two years, the grandparents arranged for a coyote, or smuggler, to take the children across the U.S.-Mexico border. Estrada, then only 7, and his little brother made it safely across, but his sister, 6, was kidnapped. She was held by the coyotes for several weeks until their parents paid more money and the family was reunited. It was 1973. But the part of this immigration story you haven't heard is what happens to children like Estrada when they grow up. In this column, I am profiling six immigrants, one a month, who used to be undocumented. Estrada's story is the second in the series. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/illegal-becomes-one-of-b est-and.html Technology Phoenix spacecraft lands on Mars By John Johnson Jr. Copyright ? 2008, The Los Angeles Times. May 26, 2008. The first spacecraft designed to taste the water of an alien planet landed safely on Mars' northern pole Sunday afternoon, beginning a three-month mission to determine whether the Red Planet ever did, or still might, support rudimentary forms of life. The Phoenix spacecraft parachuted to the planet's surface at 4:53 p.m. PDT, successfully ending a 296-day, 422-million-mile journey. Cheers and applause echoed through the halls of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in La Ca?ada Flintridge, which is managing the mission. "Touchdown signal detected," said Richard Kornfeld, a communications specialist. "Welcome to the northern plains of Mars." http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/phoenix-spacecraft-lands -on-mars.html Other International Herald Tribune Editorial: It's the genes, stupid. Copyright by The International Herald Tribune. Published: May 27, 2008. Social scientists are stumped. Why do we bother to go to the polls when we know our individual vote has no chance of determining the result of a national election? Variations in turnout - by age, race, income or whatever - are hard to fit into a theory of human conduct that assumes that people are rational. But with time to spare before the November election, molecular biology is coming to the rescue. In the same way that researchers have teased out a role for genes in determining sexual orientation or the propensity to smoke, they are deploying genetics to understand our political choices. That sounds like a stretch, and it may well be. But there is tempting evidence of a hereditary component to political choices. There is a strong correlation between the partisan choices of parents and children. Studies comparing identical and fraternal twins suggest that genes are at work alongside the social and psychological influence of parents. Political scientists at the University of California, San Diego have gone another step, identifying specific genes associated with voter participation and partisanship. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/international-herald-tri bune-editorial_28.html New! Carlos now has an online store. Order your books directly from Carlos and have them signed and dedicated. http://www.carlostmock.com/catalog/ In Pride (orgullo), Carlos T. Mock, MD Www.carlostmock.com Author: Borrowing Time: A Latino Sexual Odyssey - Floricanto Press 2003. Nominated for a Stonewall Award by the American Library Association GLBT Round Table. Author: The Mosaic Virus ? Floricanto Press 2007. Nominated for a Stonewall Award by the American Library Association GLBT Round Table, and a Lammie from The Lambda Literary Foundation Author: Author: Papi Chulo ? Floricanto Press 2007. Nominated for a Stonewall Award by the American Library Association GLBT Round Table, and a Lammie from The Lambda Literary Foundation -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: