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