From ctmock at gmail.com Fri Jul 4 18:49:15 2008 From: ctmock at gmail.com (Carlos Mock) Date: Fri, 04 Jul 2008 19:49:15 -0500 Subject: [News] July 4th Newsletter- July 4, 2008 In-Reply-To: Message-ID: ?Most Americans lie in the middle, wisey embracing a more thoughtful definition of patriotism that allows for multipe, equally meaningful ways to support American ideals. Consider a US Today/Gallup Poll out this week: 80 percent of Americans consider supporing U.S. policies around the world an act of patriotism. At the same time, narly as many, two-thirds of those polled, say protesting U.S. policies als is patriotic. For ordinary Americans, patriotism is an abstract love ofcountry but also a commitment to it, to help it achieve its promise and ideal," says Nancy MacLean, history department chair at Northwestern University. Chicago Sun-Times Editorial - What, at heartis patriotism all about? Copyright by The Chicago Sun-Times. July 4, 2008. So what is patriotism anyway? Americans feel it strongly. We rank among the highest of ll nations in national pride, telling University of Chicago researches we'd rather live in the United States than in any other country. Amerians also know it when they see it. Flying the flag, voting and military servie are all widely cited as patriotic acts. But what does patriotism actuallymean? As we pause to celebrate Independence Day, as we reflect o an election season in which Barack Obama has been forced to defend his patiotism, it's worth digging deeper and searching for a definition we can all ebrace. Most Americans would agree that patriotism is more than wearing - or not wearing -- a flag pin. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.co/2008/07/chicago-sun-times-editor ial-what-at.html Obama creates his own ptriot revolution By Edward Luce in Washington. Copyright The Financial Time Limited 2008. Published: June 30 2008 19:55 | Last updated: June 30 200819:55. Barack Obama on Monday sought t portray himself as a mainstream American patriot and put his Republican opponents on notice that he would ?not stand idly by? when others questioned his support for the S flag. Mr Obama?s speech, which he delivered in Independence, Missour, the birthplace of Harry S.?Truman, the former president who was known for is unassuming Mid-Western style of patriotism, comes after months of poted attacks on his biographical credentials. Opinion polls suggest that MrObama?s biggest challenge is to convince the electorate that he is an athentic American who is also ready to be commander-in-chief. Mr Obama, whomone in ten Americans continue to believe is a Muslim, has recently taken to earing an American flag pin, having been attacked for not doing so. He has lso taken to speaking against a backdrop of the Stars and Stripes. ?Thequestion of who is ? or is not ? a patriot all too often poisons our politial debates, in ways that divide us rather than bringing us together,? he saidyesterday. ?I have come to know this from my own experience on the campaign trail.? http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/06/obama-creates-his-own-pa triot.html patriotic signpost By Clarence Page. Copyright ? 2008, Chicago Tribune. Jul 2, 2008. Sen. Barack Obama is wearing his American flag lapel pin again,most appropriately during his speech this week in Missouri on patriotism. Hs critics may call that a flip-flop. I call it a sign that he's learning As recently as the deate before the Pennsylvania primary, the presumptive Democratic presidetial nominee gave eloquent reasons why he didn't think a flag pin was as impotant as the patriotic beliefs he held in his heart. But flag-pin lovers voe too. It's too bad so many voters invest so much in symbols, but that's areality of politics and human nature. Polls show a small but not insignifcant slice of voters continue to question Obama's patriotism, especially n white working-class areas. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/patriotic-signpost.html Save the press. By Timothy Egan. Copyright by The International Herld Tribune. Published: July 3, 2008. On the lobby wall of the newspaper whee I got my first reporting job are the Thomas Jefferson words that U.S. journlists like to trot out as America's Independence Day nears: "Were it lef to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers or ewspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer th latter." Of course, Jefferson also said the only reliable truths in newsppers were the advertisements, and that he was happiest when not reading te papers. But as to his iconic quote, it's no secret that we're trending tward the former. And anyone who cheers the collapse of the newspaper indusry should consider why Jefferson put aside his distaste for the vitrioland nonsense of the press for the larger principle of healthy democracis needing informed citizens. http:/iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/save-press.html International British economy falling into American-style slump - In an echo of the United States, conomists now predict the U.K. is likely to fall into a recession this yea. By David Jolly. Copyright by The International Herald Tribune. Published: uly 3, 2008. PARIS: A housing market in shambles, inflation at the highest lel in years and signs that the economy is headed for, or already in,recession. Sound familiar? The British economy, like its counterpart acrss the Atlantic, has fallen on hard times, and in many ways the experience apears to be mirroring that in the United States. Indeed, the run last Septeber on a British mortgage lender, Northern Rock, was one of the events that elped to embed the terms "credit crisis" firmly into the global consciousnes. "A recession is more likely than not by the end of the year," Peter Newlad, who covers the British economy for Lehman Brothers in Lndon, said Thursday, summarizing a recent string of dismal economic data that have led economists to revise their growth forecasts downward. "Activity seems to bedeclining across the economy," he said. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogsp.com/2008/07/british-economy-falling- into-american.html Editorial Note: conomically and globally, Tony Blair was joined at the hip with George Bushs policies. Eurozone inflation soars to new high By Gerrit Wiesmann in Frankurt. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008. Published: June 30 2008 0:57 | Last updated: June 30 2008 19:29. Eurozone inflation rose in une to the highest rate since the bloc?s 1999 formation, new data showed on Mnday as political opposition mounted to a widely-expected move by the Europan Central Bank to raise its main interest rate later this week. n its initial estimate of inflation for the month, Eurostat, the Euroean Union?s statistical office, said prices were 4 per cent higher in June han a year earlier ? twice as high as the ECB?s inflation target. The figures come as oil prices hit a fresh record of $143.67 a barrl and commodities recorded their largest first half of the year price jump fo at least half a century, exacerbating global concerns about inflation. TheJefferies-Reuters CRB index ? a global benchmar for commodities prices such as oil, corn or copper ? jumped to a record high of 467.60 points on Monday, bringing the first-half increase to 30.4 per cent, the largest since record began in 1957. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/06/euroone-inflation-soars -to-new-high.html Financial Times Editorial Comment: Urbe?s rescue deserves acclaim. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008. Published: July 3 2008 19:31 | Last updated: July 3 2008 19:31. Colombias dramatic hostage rescue has vindicated President Alvaro Uribe?s hardline ecurity strategy and inflicted another devastating blow on the Farc, the solated and increasingly fragmented leftwing guerrilla group. By freeing Inrid Betancourt, a charismatic former presidential candidate, and 14 other hig profile long-term hostages without firing a shot, Mr Uribe has also confonded international critics, such as Venezuela?s President Hugo Ch?vez, wo had been pressing him to negotiate a prisoner exchange. Mr Uribe merits laudits for sticking to his guns and restoring the public?s faith in the Coombian state. But his next task should be to avoid hubris and look to strenthen independent institutions./Colmbian troops rescue Betancourt By Richard Lapper in London, Anastasia Moloney in Caracas and Naomi Mapstone in Lima. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008. Publhed: July 2 2008 20:55 | Last updated: July 3 2008 10:13. ?lvaro Uibe, Colombia?s president, secured one of the most significant triumphs of is political career on Wednesday when troops freed Ingrid Betancourt ad 14 other hostages held by leftwing Farc guerrillas. ?I believe thatthis is a sign of peace for Colombia, that we can find peace,? Ms Betancour said, weeping as she thanked the Colombian military in her first publi comments, carried on Colombian radio station Caracol. Minutes later, a pae but smiling Ms Betancourt landed at Bogota?s air force base, walking dow the stairs of the plane and hugging her mother, Yolanda Pulecio, on the runay. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/fiancial-times-editoria l-comment.html International Herald Tribune Editorial: Mugabe steals an election, Africans look away. Copyright by The International Herald Tribune.Published: July 1, 2008. Robert Mugabe brazenly and brutally stole his lates re-election as president of Zimbabwe. Now Africa's leaders, who have lookedthe other way for far too long, must decide what they will do. They can cotinue to enable Mugabe out of political cynicism or misplaced solidarity wh a former liberation leader turned tyrant. Or they can follow the wiser eple of the living symbol of African liberation, Nelson Mandela, who las week condemned Zimbabwe's "tragic failure of leadership." The signals fom Monday's opening session of the African Union summit, with Mugabe smuglyin attendance, were not encouraging. While African election monitors rihtly denounced the voting, few summit speakers went beyond muted and indirec criticism. More than truth telling is at stake. Zimbabwe and its people re dying at Mugabe's hand - ravaged by an imploding economy, skyrocketinginflation, man-made famie and a governmental machinery whose only visible function is to reward the dictator's collaborators and cronies and beat and kill his critics and opponents. http://iretiredfmnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/international-herald-tri bune-editoria.html Mess-o-potamia "Opening up a third front right now would be exremely stressful on us," Mullen acknowledged during a Pentagon news confernce. He added moments later, "This is a very unstable part of the world, nd I don't need it to be more unstable." Adm. Mike Mullen Military chie warns against striking Iran By Aamer Madhani. Copyright ? 2008, ChicagoTribune. July 3, 2008. WASHINGTON ? The words Wednesday from Adm. Mike Mulen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, were notable for their blunt pramatism: An Israeli airstrike on Iran would be high-risk and could further desabilize the region, leading to political and economic chaos. On Iran's wetern border, the U.S. military is more than five years into a war in Iraq tha has taken 4,113 American lives and cost U.S. taxpayers more than $600 bilion. And on Iran's eastern border, American commanders are now openly questoning whether they have los their way in the fight against a resurgent Taliban. Israel, the United States' closest ally in the Middle East, has refused to rule out a strike against Iranian nucle sites, and this week's New Yorker magazine reported that the U.S. has steped up its covert operations inside Iran. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogpot.com/2008/07/military-chief-warns-aga inst-striking.html Pentagon exteds tour of Marines in Afghanistan By LOLITA C. BALDOR. Copyright 2008 Assoiated Press. 6:20 AM CDT, July 4, 2008. WASHINGTON - The Pentagon has extened the tour of 2,200 Marines in Afghanistan, after insisting for months theunit would come home on time. The 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit, whichis doing combat operations in the volatile south, will stay an extra 30 daysand come home in early November rather than October, Marine Col. David Laan confirmed Thursday. Military leaders as recently as Wednesday stressed th need for additional troops in Afghanistan. Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of he Joint Chiefs of Staff, has often praised the work of the 24th MEU infighting Taliban militants in Helmand Province. Defense Secretary Robert Gats, however, has repeatedly said he did not intend to extend or replace the US. Marines in Afghanistan, calling their deployment there an extraordinary, one-time effort to help tamp down the increasing violence in the south. Asked about the possibility of an extenion in early May, Gates said he would "be loathe to do that." He added tat "no one has suggested even the possibility of extending that rotation." ttp://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/pentagon-extends-tour-of-marines-in.html Coalition deaths in Afghanistan hit a record high By MarkMazzetti. Copyright by The International Herald Tribune. Published: July 2 2008. WASHINGTON: More American and coalition troops died in Afghanisan last month than during any other month since the U.S.-led invasion bega in 2001, the latest evidence of a strengthening Taliban insurgency thathas menaced NATO forces and reclaimed control over some southern and easter parts of the country. The violence in Afghanistan has surged at the sam time as the number of attacks and American deaths in Iraq has fallen. Amng the American-led forces in the two countries, there were 46 troops killd in Afghanistan in June, compared with 31 in Iraq, the second straigt month in which combat deaths in Afghanistan exceeded those in Iraq. A recnt Pentagon report about Afghanistan paintd a stark picture of security conditions inside the country, a militant force that has "coalesced into a resilient insurgency" and a central government in Kabul that still cannot extend its reach into the hinterlands. http://itiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/coalition-deaths-in-afgh anistan-hit.html Wounded Iraqi forces say they've been abandoned By Michael Kamber. Copyright by he international Herald Tribune. Published: July 1, 2008. BAGHDAD: Dawoud Ameen, a former Iraqi soldier, lay in bed, his shattered legs splayed before him, worrying about the rent for his family of five. Ameen's legs were shredded by shrapnel from a roadside bomb in September 2006 and now, like many wounded members of the Iraqi security forces, he is deeply in debt andstruggling to survive. For now, he gets by on $125 a month brought to himby members of his old army unit, charity and whatever his wife, Jinan, can beg from her relatives. But heworries that he could lose even that meager monthly stipend. In the United tates, the issue of war injuries has revolved almost entirely around the care received by the 30,000 wounded American veterans. But Iraqi soldiers and police officers have been wounded in greater numbers, health workers say, and have been treated far worse by their government. A number of the half-dozen badly wounded Iraqis interviewed for this article said they had been effectively drummed out of the Iraqi security forces without pensions, or were receiving partial pay and in danger of losing even that. Coping with severe injuries, and often amputations, they have been forced to pay for private doctors or turn to Iraq's failing public hospitals, which as recently as a year ago were controlled by militias that kidnapped and killed patients ? particularly security personnel from rival units. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/wounded-iraqi-forces-say -theyve-been.html Palestinian goes on rampage in Jerusalem; 3 killed By STEVEN GUTKIN. Copyright 2008 Associated Press. 4:54 PM CDT, July 2, 2008. JERUSALEM - A Palestinian laborer driving a construction vehicle rammed into packed buses, tossed cars into the air and rolled over pedestrians in a deadly rampage Wednesday that killed three people and wounded dozens in Jerusalem. The attacker's unusual weapon -- a yellow Caterpillar front loader transformed into a deadly assault vehicle -- threatened both Israelis' sense of security and Palestinians' fragile status in the city. Hundreds of panicked people were sent running for cover before the attacker was shot dead by security forces. Three Palestinian militant groups claimed responsibility for the onslaught, the first major attack in Jerusalem in four months. However, Israeli police said the assailant, a 30-year-old Palestinian from Arab east Jerusalem, apparently acted alone. Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said the man was working on a railway project in Jerusalem. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/palestinian-goes-on-ramp age-in.html Scientist: Pakistan knew of NKorea nuke deal By MUNIR AHMAD. Copyright 2008 Associated Press. 9:55 AM CDT, July 4, 2008. ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - Pakistan gave centrifuges to North Korea in a 2000 shipment supervised by the army during the rule of President Pervez Musharraf, nuclear scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan said Friday. Khan told The Associated Press in a telephone interview that the uranium enrichment equipment was sent from Pakistan in a North Korean plane that was loaded under the supervision of Pakistani security officials. His claims contradict his 2004 confession that he was solely responsible for spreading nuclear technology to Iran, North Korea and Libya -- and Pakistan's repeated denials its army or government knew about Khan's nuclear proliferation activities. Khan said the army had "complete knowledge" of the shipment of used P-1 centrifuges to North Korea and that it must have been sent with the consent of Musharraf, the then-army chief who took power in a 1999 coup. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/scientist-pakistan-knew- of-nkorea-nuke.html Bomb blast kills young girl, wounds 11 in Pakistan. Copyright 2008 Associated Press. 1:02 AM CDT, July 4, 2008. QUETTA, Pakistan - A bomb exploded on a busy street in the southwestern Pakistan city of Quetta on Friday, killing a 4-year old girl and wounding 11 other people. The bomb was rigged to a motorcycle and it exploded outside a commercial bank, said Raja Mohammed Ishtiaq, a Quetta police officer. There was no immediate claim of responsibility. Four of the wounded were traffic police on duty nearby, and others were passers-by, said Mohammed Khalid, another police officer. The wreckage of the motorcycle -- to which Ishtiaq said the bomb was attached -- lay scattered on the roadside. The windows of cars parked in front of the bank were damaged. Quetta is the capital of southwestern Baluchistan province, where authorities have blamed armed tribesmen for bombings and attacks against the government. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/bomb-blast-kills-young-g irl-wounds-11.html National Chicago Tribune Editorial - Catastrophe ahead. Copyright ? 2008, Chicago Tribune. June 29, 2008. Midwesterners still mopping up from the worst flooding in 15 years might be surprised to learn that a plan in Congress would put them?and everyone else in the country?on the hook for major hurricane damage in Florida. It's called the Homeowners Defense Act of 2007, and it passed the House last fall. The bill would create a taxpayer-financed federal program that would back up giant private insurance companies when disasters strike. The government would provide what's called reinsurance, basically insuring the insurance companies against catastrophic losses. This has been likened to the troubled National Flood Insurance Program, which ought to make taxpayers very nervous. By underpricing risk, the flood program has encouraged building in areas prone to flooding. Just this spring, Congress approved a $17 billion bailout because of excess losses from floods in 2005. Two big private insurers, Allstate and State Farm, are firmly behind this. It would be less expensive for those companies to buy reinsurance coverage from a federal pool than the private market. The companies promise to pass along their savings to homeowners. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/06/chicago-tribune-editoria l-catastrophe.html International Herald Tribune Editorial: The fragile center of America's Supreme Court. Copyright by The International Herald Tribune. Published: July 3, 2008. In some ways, the U.S. Supreme Court term that just ended seems muddled: disturbing, highly conservative rulings on subjects like voting rights and gun control, along with important defenses of basic liberties in other areas, including the rights of detainees at Guant?namo Bay, Cuba. The key to understanding the term lies in the fragility of the court's center. Some of the most important decisions came on 5-4 votes - a stark reminder that the court is just one justice away from solidifying a far-right majority that would do great damage to the Constitution and the rights of Americans. The Supreme Court abandoned its special role in protecting voting rights when it rejected a challenge to Indiana's harshly anti-democratic voter ID law. Critics warned that the law, which bars anyone without a government-issued photo ID from voting, would disenfranchise poor people, minorities and the elderly, all of whom disproportionately lack drivers' licenses. The critics were right. In the Indiana presidential primary, shortly after the ruling, about 12 nuns in their 80s and 90s were turned away at the polls for not having acceptable ID. In another sharp break with its traditions, the court struck down parts of the District of Columbia's gun-control law. After seven decades of holding that the Second Amendment's right to bear arms is tied to raising a militia, the court reversed itself and ruled that it confers on individuals the right to keep guns in their homes for personal use. The decision will no doubt add significantly to the number of Americans killed by gun violence. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/international-herald-tri bune.html Scalia's selective history By Jack Rakove. Copyright ? 2008, Chicago Tribune. June 30, 2008. Appeals to the evidence of history figured prominently in last week's Supreme Court decision in District of Columbia vs. Heller, striking down a sweeping ban on handguns and affirming that the 2nd Amendment protects a fundamentally individual right "to keep and bear arms." Yet read the two main opinions by Justices Antonin Scalia (for the conservative majority) and John Paul Stevens (in dissent), and you will see that different ways of defining and reading what counts as historical evidence expose a fault line between them. One would have to be terribly naive to think that how these two very amateur historians reason about history actually explains why the court divided as it did. But it does reveal important differences in how we think about the origins of the Constitution and its interpretation, and thus judge which argument seems more persuasive. As the lead author of a historians' amicus curiae, or friend-of-the-court, brief filed in support of the district, I persist in thinking that Stevens has the better account of why the 2nd Amendment was adopted. Here's why. Looking back Begin with what I read as the historical fault line. Scalia's opinion argues that private ownership of firearms for personal use, including self-defense, was a "pre-existing" right that adoption of the amendment only confirmed. The addition of the prefatory statement about the value of "a well-regulated militia" gave a further purpose to this right, but did not otherwise alter its prior understanding. Scalia actually has very little to say about why the amendment was even adopted. He says almost nothing about the constitutional debates of 1787-1789, and dismissively observes that relying on the actual "drafting history of the 2nd Amendment" would be of "dubious" value. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/06/scalias-selective-histor y.html The law says what they want it to - Next time, Supreme Court could rule differently on guns BY MARK BROWN Sun-Times Columnist. Copyright by The Chicago Sun-Times. July 1, 2008. In the course of many years in this line of work, I've often had occasion for somebody to inquire of me, "That must be illegal. What does the law say?" The implication always is that somewhere there are these magical tablets containing the applicable statutes for the specific fact situation at hand, and if I only would consult the tablets, all would be revealed to me. And what I usually say in response is that the law isn't like that. It's not something finite that allows you to check the books, plug in the facts and ascertain the outcome. That's because in the end, the law only says what somebody decides it says. And the highest-ranking somebody gets the final say??... I submit to you that the laws on abortion are not much different. Roe v. Wade is the law of the land, until a majority of Supreme Court justices decides it isn't, and then it won't be. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/law-says-what-they-want- it-to-next-time.html Chicago Sun-Times Editorial - Four gun regulations would make us safer. Copyright by The Chicago Sun-Times. July 2, 2008. If Charlton Heston were alive, he'd be beaming. The man who filled the silver screen with chariot races and a parting of the sea played another prominent role in later years -- president of the National Rifle Association. Heston treasured his constitutional right to own a gun and was fond of intoning at NRA conventions, with his rifle held aloft, that his weapon would be taken only "from my cold dead hands." Now, thousands of fervent gun rights advocates can celebrate their most important court victory -- the Supreme Court decision last week that interprets the Second Amendment as giving citizens the right to have guns in their homes for self-defense. The ruling applies to residents in Washington, D.C., and soon will apply to all Americans. In the wake of that victory, paradoxically, this might be a perfect opportunity to impose a few additional common-sense regulations on gun ownership. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/chicago-sun-times-editor ial-four-gun.html California fires prompt evacuations. Copyright by The International Herald Tribune By Jesse Mckinley and Mitchell L. Blumenthal. Published: July 3, 2008. BIG SUR, California: As flames on nearby mountaintops licked at this nearly abandoned coastal retreat on Thursday, officials in Santa Barbara County, far to the south, declared a state of emergency as a wildfire swept out of the mountains and threatened several hundred homes. Officials ordered the evacuation of about 1,500 residents of Big Sur on Wednesday as flames flared on the nearby mountaintops and moved steadily toward this famed resort area. Firefighters have been attacking a fire near Big Sur for 12 days and had been helped in recent days by fog, moist conditions and lighter winds. Seventeen homes have been lost here ? more than half the total destroyed statewide from the first major wildfires of the season ? and about 1,200 remained threatened, but many residents had been allowed to remain as the fire stayed to the east and south. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/california-fires-prompt- evacuations.html Chicagoland Budget showdown?again. The governor is calling lawmakers back to Springfield to balance the state's spending plan. They say it's a politically motivated waste of their time. By Ray Long and David Mendell. Copyright ? 2008, Chicago Tribune. July 3, 2008. Gov. Rod Blagojevich is in a bind with the state budget and he's looking for someone to blame. He estimates that the budget lawmakers have sent him is about $2.1 billion out of balance, so he's calling them back to work next week to find the funds to pay for the spending. If they don't, and there's no sign they will, the governor wants the public to know he's not the only one responsible for the resulting cuts. "I still cling to the hope that they might act appropriately and responsibly and pass funding," Blagojevich said Wednesday. "I'm hopeful that the House won't force these cuts." http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/budget-showdownagain.htm l Soaring taxes lead to sore taxpayers BY CAROL MARIN cmarin at suntimes.com. Copyright by The Chicago Sun-Times. July 2, 2008. There it was, right in front of me, the face of the Dump Todd Stroger Revolution. I witnessed it at the Starbucks on Racine and Wrightwood at 6:38 a.m. Tuesday. The guy ahead of me was getting his usual, a grande coffee, caf not decaf. Monday's price: $2.04. Tuesday's price: $2.07. The young man behind the counter explained a county sales tax hike necessitated the price hike. The guy was grumbling. I didn't catch all of it, but two words were crystal clear: "Todd Stroger." Let's get the obvious out of the way. Lincoln Park Starbucks sippers are not the ones hardest hit by cranking up the sales tax; poor people are. The grumbling guy could downsize by dropping by Dunkin' Donuts, but he has enough money to avoid such sacrifices. Furthermore, latte lovers in Cook County barely know there is a Cook County. They can name their alderman, but their county commissioner might as well be from Mars. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/soaring-taxes-lead-to-so re-taxpayers.html I want more taxes, and so should you - The nagging voice of doubt is trying to talk me out of writing this column: By Eric Zorn. Copyright ? 2008, Chicago Tribune. Originally posted: July 3, 2008. You want to call for more sales taxes in Illinois? The very week Cook County residents are reeling and seething over the latest hike? Yes, more sales taxes. Not higher taxes, but more taxes on more consumer transactions. Such as? Well, shoe repair, to name just one. When a shop fixes your boots in Illinois, you pay a fee but no tax. That's a good thing. Sure, if you're a cobbler or if your uppers are distressed. But if you own or shop at a store that sells new shoes and every purchase now includes up to an additional 10.25 percent in sales taxes, it's not such a good thing. It's unfair and illogical. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/i-want-more-taxes-and-so -should-you.html Your Lack of Money Limbaugh signs radio contract worth $400m By Joshua Chaffin in New York. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008. Published: July 3 2008 00:25 | Last updated: July 3 2008 00:25. Rush Limbaugh, the conservative talk radio host, has signed an eight-year contract extension said to be worth as much as $400m. The deal, with Clear Channel Radio and Premiere Radio Networks, comes during the 20th year of The Rush Limbaugh Show and is among the most lucrative in broadcasting history. It is also a reminder of Mr Limbaugh?s enormous value to the US?s ailing radio industry even as pundits have suggested his political influence may be waning. The conservative movement that Mr Limbaugh helped propel has suffered a string of electoral setbacks and appears to have crested. At the same time, his programme is now battling for attention amid a cacophony of political bloggers. This year, John McCain managed to secure the Republican presidential nomination in spite of opposition from Mr Limbaugh, who questioned his conservative credentials. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/limbaugh-signs-radio-con tract-worth.html US jobs fall for sixth straight month By Daniel PImlott in New York. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008. Published: July 3 2008 14:34 | Last updated: July 3 2008 15:39. The US lost jobs in June for the sixth month in a row while unemployment remained elevated, signalling an ongoing deterioration in the labour market and helping to push back thoughts of a hike in interest rates. Non-farm payrolls fell by 62,000 last month, only slightly more than the 55,000 jobs that economists had predicted, and in line with the upwardly revised 62,000 jobs lost last month. However, revisions to earlier reports showed that 52,000 more jobs had been lost in the prior two months than previously thought. ?The net number is grim,? said Ian Shepherdson, economist at HFE, adding that there was ?worse to come?. The unemployment rate held at 5.5 per cent, 0.1 percentage point higher than expected. Economists had been hoping that the jobless rate would dip down again, arguing that the previous month?s sharp uptick - the biggest monthly rise in 22 years ? was a statistical quirk caused by the inclusion of too many school and college leavers in the figures. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/us-jobs-fall-for-sixth-s traight-month.html Dow enters bear market as stocks slide. Thu Jul 3, 2008 12:05am BST. Copyright by Bloomberg News NEW YORK (Reuters) - The Dow sank into a bear market on Wednesday as U.S. stocks fell on growing concerns about the toll that record oil prices are taking on the economy and corporate profits. After flirting with bear market status for several sessions, the Dow closed 20 percent below its October peak as it was no longer able to withstand the avalanche of warnings about banking losses, surging inflation fears and weakening consumer confidence. Merrill Lynch struck a negative chord early in the session when it downgraded General Motors, saying the automaker will need $15 billion to shore up liquidity. Merrill added that bankruptcy is "not impossible" for GM if the auto market continues to slump, sending GM's shares down more than 15 percent. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/dow-enters-bear-market-a s-stocks-slide.html Small US banks feel the pinch By Saskia Scholtes. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008. Published: June 29 2008 17:55 | Last updated: June 29 2008 17:55. When Southern California?s oldest bank, PFF Bancorp, was sold for the fire-sale price of $30.5m this month, it was buckling under the weight of soured loans to real estate developers and its stock had plunged more than 95 per cent from its 2006 peak. Like many small regional and community banks, PFF increased its loan portfolio over the past decade ? doubling it to more than $4bn ? in large part by financing commercial and residential developers and homebuilders during the house price boom. Now, as these companies struggle through the housing slump, lenders such as PFF are feeling the pinch. Banks? first-quarter losses on such real estate loans were more than 15 times the amount of the same quarter last year, according to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. Regulators are growing increasingly concerned that many small banks have high concentrations of such loans on their books at a time when inflated house prices are collapsing and land values are falling further still. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/06/small-us-banks-feel-pinc h.html Factories feel pain as their costs rise. Copyright ? 2008, Chicago Tribune. July 2, 2008. Each week, Ira Cooper opens a letter from another supplier with the same message as the last: We're raising our prices, effective immediately. We can't tell you how long the new prices will last. "We used to get quotes good for six months," said Cooper, president of QED Inc., a lighting company based in Lexington, Ky. "Now you're lucky if you can get a quote good for 15 days." Manufacturers of everything from wallpaper to cereal are feeling the same hit. The Institute for Supply Management said Tuesday that its index of prices manufacturers pay for raw materials hit 91.5 in June, up from 87 in May and the highest reading since 1979. Its overall index of manufacturing activity was 50.2, barely breaking a five-month contraction streak. Any reading above 50 signals growth. "While it may be too soon to say that manufacturing has begun to start growing again, it is possible that a bottom is being reached," said Joel Naroff, president of Naroff Economic Advisors Inc. in Holland, Pa. At the same time, "Fed members may not be as happy with the costs index moving into the stratosphere." http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/factories-feel-pain-as-t heir-costs-rise.html Auto sales hit 17-year low - Normally strong June sees 18 percent slide By Rick Popely. Copyright ? 2008, Chicago Tribune. July 2, 2008. June didn't bust out all over for the auto industry. It just went bust. Though it's usually one of the strongest sales months, this June was the industry's worst in 17 years, according to figures reported Tuesday. And there's no sign of improvement with carmakers on track to sell fewer than 15 million vehicles this year, the lowest annual total since 1995. "Nobody expected it would be this bad," said David Cole, chairman of the Center for Automotive Research. Industry sales in June slid 18 percent, to 1.19 million, a level typical of traditionally slow January. For the first half, sales fell 10 percent, to 7.4 million vehicles. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/auto-sales-hit-17-year-l ow-normally.html Ford Motor's June sales skid 27.9 percent By TOM KRISHER and DEE-ANN DURBIN. Copyright 2008 Associated Press. 11:57 AM CDT, July 1, 2008. DETROIT - Ford Motor Co.'s U.S. sales tumbled 27.9 percent in June as high gas prices and a weak economy continued to cause trouble for Ford and the rest of the auto industry. Ford was the first automaker to report sales data Tuesday. Analysts had predicted June auto sales could drop by double-digits to their lowest monthly rate in 16 years. Ford sales sank to a new 52-week low, while rival General Motors Corp. shares are trading near their lowest level in more than a half century. Dearborn-based Ford blamed the latest sales decline on high gas prices and low consumer confidence, which sent buyers to the sidelines. It reported steep drops in June sales of pickup trucks and sport utility vehicles, including a 41 percent year-over-year decline for the F-Series pickup, a perennial best-seller, and a 52 percent drop for the Ford Explorer SUV. U.S. auto sales had already fallen for seven straight months as of May, the longest period of consecutive monthly drops in eight years, according to the auto information Web site Edmunds.com. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/ford-motors-june-sales-s kid-279-percent.html Starbucks to close 600 stores nationwide - Slow consumer spending leads to more cutbacks By Wailin Wong. Copyright ? 2008, Chicago Tribune. 9:56 PM CDT, July 1, 2008. You might have to walk a whole extra block to get your latte. Starbucks Corp. will begin shuttering 600 stores nationwide at the end of July, cutting about 7 percent of its global workforce as it sheds unprofitable locations and responds to a drop-off in consumer spending. The Seattle-based company said Tuesday that the store closings, coupled with a scaled-back expansion plan for its next fiscal year, will help the specialty coffee giant meet its longer-term targets for profitability. While Chief Financial Officer Pete Bocian said in a conference call, "We believe absolutely we're seeing a major impact from the economy," he also acknowledged that Starbucks' aggressive growth strategy of recent years created problems with cannibalized sales and market saturation. Looking ahead, management will use a "much higher level of scrutiny on store performance to make sure we take action earlier," Bocian said. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/starbucks-to-close-600-s tores.html Deal to let Tribune draw against $300 million in future assets By James P. Miller. Copyright ? 2008, Chicago Tribune. 2:05 PM CDT, July 3, 2008. Tribune Co. said Friday that it signed a $300 million asset-backed commercial paper facility with Barclay's Bank PLC, in essence raising cash against future trade receivables due to the company. The debt-heavy Chicago media concern, which went private late last year through an $8.2 billion leveraged buyout led by real estate magnate Sam Zell, said that it initially borrowed $225 million under the facility. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/deal-to-let-tribune-draw -against-300.html GM considers marching Chevy Beat mini-car into U.S. Market. Copyright by the Associated Press. July 4, 2008. DETROIT ? General Motors Corp. is considering a new Chevrolet mini-car for the United States as it reworks its product lineup to cope with a dramatic consumer shift from trucks to cars linked to high gas prices, a spokesman said Thursday. GM spokesman Dee Allen said bringing the Chevrolet Beat, which is about the size of a Honda Fit or Toyota Yaris mini-car, to the U.S. is among the options the company is studying. "It is certainly one of the things that is being looked at from a portfolio perspective," Allen said. The comments came as GM shares have been trading near their lowest levels in more than a half-century, raising investor worries about the automaker's future and its ability to adjust quickly to demand for more fuel-efficient cars. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/gm-considers-marching-ch evy-beat-mini.html Chrysler explores Chinese partnership By John Reed in London. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008. Published: July 3 2008 09:13 | Last updated: July 3 2008 12:23. Chrysler has signed a memorandum of understanding with China?s Great Wall Motor to explore long-term business ties in areas including distribution, components and technology. Chrysler is the smallest of Detroit?s three struggling automakers, and has been scouting for foreign partnerships to complement its shrinking, core US business, which is currently focused on large vehicles. Chrysler said in a statement issued on Wednesday that the move was part of the company?s drive for greater involvement in China?s auto industry. Daphne Zheng, a Chrysler spokeswoman, told the Financial Times the company would ?assess the feasibility of a number of options,? and that no decisions had been made yet. She added: ?We are talking to a number of Chinese automakers as part of our ongoing efforts to explore growth opportunities in this important market.? http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/chrysler-explores-chines e-partnership.html Virgin rips 3 airlines' proposed alliance- American nearing pact with potential partners. Copyright by The Associated Press. July 4, 2008. LONDON ? An alliance between British Airways PLC, American Airlines and Iberia SA should be blocked, competitor Virgin Atlantic Ltd. said Thursday, amid reports the trio are close to applying for U.S. antitrust immunity to form a trans-Atlantic joint venture. The three airlines aim to reach an accord on profit and revenue sharing this month, the Financial Times reported, citing executives at the carriers. "[British Airways] has been in talks with American Airlines and Iberia for some time, but no decisions have been reached," said British Airways spokeswoman Cathy West. British Airways and AMR Corp.'s American, the world's largest carrier, have failed in the past to win an exemption from U.S. antitrust laws to work more closely together because of their dominance at London's Heathrow Airport, where the pair have more than half the capacity to and from the U.S. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/virgin-rips-3-airlines-p roposed.html Financial Times Editorial Comment: LA Confrontational. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008. Published: July 3 2008 19:25 | Last updated: July 3 2008 19:25. Think of it as Kramer vs Kramer remade by Billy Wilder. An amicable break-up turns sour as two ex-partners battle to get what they want ? at a moment of crucial change in the movie business. With a superstar cast, the intriguing tale of a possible strike by Hollywood actors is gripping Tinseltown. It started with a dramatic split. The Screen Actors Guild and the smaller American Federation of Television and Radio Artists fell out after a 27-year partnership when one discovered that the other had gone behind its back to lure away the cast of The Bold and the Beautiful . The two unions are now negotiating separately about how actors should benefit from film sales on DVD and online. The unions need to co-operate but, predictably, want different things. The negotiations are a cliffhanger. When authorities such as Jack Nicholson, Martin Sheen, Tom Hanks and Kevin Spacey are at the table, all bets are off. Thank goodness that George Clooney has offered to mediate. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/financial-times-editoria l-comment-la.html Commodities Oil $144.18 Silver Bullion $18.25 Gold Bullion $932 Platinum Bullion $ $2033 Euro $1.5689 Wednesday, July 2, 2008 Bin Laden's Dream Comes True Osama bin Laden said that he wanted oil prices to be $144 a barrel : ''If bin Laden takes over and becomes king of Saudi Arabia, he'd turn off the tap,'' said Roger Diwan, a managing director of the Petroleum Finance Company, a consulting firm in Washington. ''He said at one point that he wants oil to be $144 a barrel'' -- about six times what it sells for now. Guess what oil closed at today? $144 a barrel. That article is from October 2001, which means oil prices have raised sixfold since the 9/11 attacks. Many of the Bush administration policies have helped instead of hindered Osama bin Laden and his minions. The Iraq war, energy policy, the weak dollar policy, and the slow shredding of the constitution have done some of Osama's work for him. It could be argued, and I would agree, that Bush has done a lot more damage to America then bin Laden ever could. Housing Today's loan rates RATE LAST WEEK 30 yr fixed mtg 6.25% 6.27% 15 yr fixed mtg 5.77% 5.84% 30 yr fixed jumbo mtg 7.30% 7.38% 5/1 ARM 5.58% 5.70% 7/1 ARM 5.86% 5.99% The McCain Residences: A Google Earth Tour: Inspired by the McCains' recent tax default, I decided to go on a little tour of their many homes across the nation. Enjoy! http://www.jedreport.com/2008/06/the-mccain-resi.html International Herald Tribune Editorial: Inflation, oil dependence and the Fed's next step. Copyright by The International Herald Tribune. Published: June 30, 2008. Last month, Ben Bernanke, the U.S. Federal Reserve chairman, broke from the usually banal official pronouncements about the dollar to talk bluntly about the risks of inflation. He told an international conference that a weakening dollar had caused an "unwelcome rise" in inflation and pledged to guard against such dangers. Until this recent round of comments - which other Fed officials have now joined - the Fed had focused on the turmoil in the financial markets and slowing growth, not rising prices. With the markets relatively calm during most of June, it apparently felt freer to raise warnings about inflation. The Fed's decision last Wednesday to hold interest rates steady - after a string of cuts to stabilize financial markets and support the economy - underscored its growing concern about prices. Then came Thursday and Friday. The stock market plunged into bear market territory, leaving no doubt that the credit crunch persists and the economy is still very fragile. At the same time, oil prices surged, sharply increasing inflationary pressure. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/06/international-herald-tri bune-editorial_30.html Bush Bashing Wednesday, July 2, 2008 Bin Laden's Dream Comes True Osama bin Laden said that he wanted oil prices to be $144 a barrel : ''If bin Laden takes over and becomes king of Saudi Arabia, he'd turn off the tap,'' said Roger Diwan, a managing director of the Petroleum Finance Company, a consulting firm in Washington. ''He said at one point that he wants oil to be $144 a barrel'' -- about six times what it sells for now. Guess what oil closed at today? $144 a barrel. That article is from October 2001, which means oil prices have raised sixfold since the 9/11 attacks. Many of the Bush administration policies have helped instead of hindered Osama bin Laden and his minions. The Iraq war, energy policy, the weak dollar policy, and the slow shredding of the constitution have done some of Osama's work for him. It could be argued, and I would agree, that Bush has done a lot more damage to America then bin Laden ever could. Army criticizes itself in Iraq invasion report. Army history of Iraq war's first two years says U.S. was unprepared for chaos. U.S.-led coalition didn't have enough troops after Saddam Hussein's fall, report says "This is a recipe for disaster," one general recalls saying of one decision. Copyright by CNN News. June 30, 2008 (CNN) -- The U.S. Army's official history of the Iraq war shows military chiefs made mistake after mistake in the early months of the conflict. Failures to recognize the chaos engulfing the country and to send in enough troops to restore order after the 2003 invasion have long been highlighted by critics, but a new report shows the Army assessing itself. Frank opinions from officers serving in the 18 months from the start of war to Iraqi elections in January 2005 reveal there were concerns at the time, not just about assumptions made by planners but at decisions taken once U.S.-led coalition forces had control of Iraq. "I flipped," Gen. Jack Keane, then the Army's deputy chief of staff, told the historians of his reaction to a June 2003 decision to transfer control of all coalition troops away from the land forces command that had been preparing for the mission. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/06/army-criticizes-itself-i n-iraq-invasion.html Bush used phony patriotism to start war By ANDREW GREELEY agreel at aol.com. Copyright by The Chicago Sun-Times. July 2, 2008. The Russians call World War II "The Great Patriotic War." The current longest of our wars could well be called the same thing. It is a war that originated in the orgy of patriotism ("U.S.A.! U.S.A.! U.S.A.!") that followed the attack on the World Trade Center and Pentagon and has been sustained by the patriotism of those who support it ("Our soldiers are defending American freedom") and false promises of some latter-day prophets ("We are winning the war in Iraq.") It is likely to be revived by the Iranian attack that the McCainites see as their main chance of winning the election. The president was right in his spontaneous reaction when he first heard of the attack -- "This is war!" The subtext was, "Now I'll be a wartime president and people will forget about Florida and how Antonin Scalia stole the election." The Arabs had killed 3,000 Americans; we had to kill at least that many of them. The issue was: Which Arabs? The obvious target was Saudi Arabia. Most of the terrorists were from that country, indeed products of the religious education that the country provided for its devout young men. But the Saudi royal family has excellent relations with the American oil companies. So very early in the discussions the neo-cons in the administration began to promote the idea of attacking Iraq. The road to Jerusalem, they argued, is through Baghdad. The administration's neo-cons were (and are) very heavy thinkers. They write great memos. The days when the country was hesitating, some of them found a story about cooperation between al-Qaida and the Iraq government that seemed to legitimate an attack on Iraq. Some of their allies in the media, most notably the Wall Street Journal, insisted that this fable was true. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/bush-used-phony-patrioti sm-to-start-war.html Judges cite nonsense poem in Guantanamo case By MATT APUZZO. Copyright 2008 Associated Press. 2:03 PM CDT, June 30, 2008. WASHINGTON - A federal appeals court reviewing evidence at Guantanamo Bay compared a Bush administration legal argument to one made by a hapless, dimwitted character in a 19th century nonsense poem by Lewis Carroll. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit cited the 1876 poem, "The Hunting of the Snark," in ruling that the military improperly labeled a Chinese Muslim as an enemy combatant. The ruling was issued last week but an unclassified version of the opinion was released only Monday. It was the first time a court has reviewed the military's decision-making and considered whether a detainee should be held. The ruling provides guidance to federal district judges, who are about to begin reviewing dozens of such cases now that the Supreme Court says detainees can challenge their detention in federal court. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/06/judges-cite-nonsense-poe m-in-guantanamo.html U.S. interrogators were taught Chinese coercion techniques at Guant?namo By Scott Shane. Copyright by The International Herald Tribune. Published: July 2, 2008. WASHINGTON: The military trainers who came to Guant?namo Bay in December 2002 based an entire interrogation class on a chart showing the effects of "coercive management techniques" for possible use on prisoners, including "sleep deprivation," "prolonged constraint" and "exposure." What the trainers did not say, and may not have known, was that their chart had been copied verbatim from a 1957 air force study of Chinese techniques used during the Korean War to obtain confessions, many of them false, from American prisoners. The recycled chart is the latest and most vivid evidence of the way Chinese interrogation methods that the United States long described as torture became the basis for interrogations both by the military at the base at Guant?namo Bay, Cuba, and by the Central Intelligence Agency. Some methods were used against a small number of prisoners at Guant?namo before 2005, when Congress banned the use of coercion by the military. The CIA is still authorized by President George W. Bush to use a number of secret "alternative" interrogation methods. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/us-interrogators-were-ta ught-chinese.html International Herald Tribune Editorial: More waste, fraud and abuse. Copyright by The International Herald Tribune. Published: July 1, 2008. Congressman Henry Waxman recently asked a question for which we would also like an answer: "How did a company run by a 21-year-old president and a 25-year-old former masseur get a sensitive $300 million contract to supply ammunition to Afghan forces?" Waxman raised the issue after executives of a Miami Beach arms dealer, AEY, were indicted on fraud charges this month, accused of pawning off tens of millions of banned and decrepit Chinese cartridges on the U.S. Army to supply Afghan security forces. The Pentagon's folly with the fly-by-night trafficker is just the latest example of the Bush administration's cynically cozy contracting practices and shockingly weak oversight that have wasted billions of dollars of taxpayers' money. Congressional investigators took testimony from a U.S. military attach? who accused the American ambassador in Albania of helping to cover up the Chinese ammunition's origins. The ambassador, John Withers, denies wrongdoing. But Waxman is wisely working to map the dimensions of fraud and waste. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/international-herald-tri bune-editorial_01.html International Herald Tribune Editorial: Prosecuting war profiteers. Copyright by The International Herald Tribune. Published: July 3, 2008. Unless the U.S. Congress closes a gaping hole in the law against war profiteering, companies ripping off taxpayers in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars may never be fully prosecuted. This is because the latest conflicts are not declared wars. The anti-fraud law dating to World War II allows prosecution of contractors up to three years after a war ends. But this statute of limitations was omitted from the resolutions authorizing military force in Iraq and Afghanistan, which carried no formal war declaration. Investigators say that current war fraud runs into untold billions, including faulty ammunition and vehicles and not-so-bullet-proof vests. Investigative officials and the inspector general for Iraq reconstruction have testified that they're hampered by the ongoing conflicts and need more time to catch contract thieves after they end. The solution is a bipartisan bill clarifying that "war" absolutely includes congressional authorizations of military force. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/international-herald-tri bune-editorial_03.html Indecision 2008 Obama "Dignity" TV Ad http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid1185304443?bctid=1634707861 Can Obama rescue Bush legacy? By Jonah Goldberg. Copyright ? 2008, Chicago Tribune. July 2, 2008. Breaking news! The ultimate White House insider plans a tell-all book about the Bush years. With boasts of unprecedented access to the president's thinking, it will run counter to almost everything we have been told about Bush's radical presidency. Who will be the latest to break the code of silence after former White House press secretary Scott McClellan? George W. Bush. At least that's what went through my mind listening to the president during a meeting with journalists in the Oval Office Monday. The session, maddeningly and often foolishly punctuated by long, off-the-record musings and soliloquies, mostly dealt with foreign policy. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/can-obama-rescue-bush-le gacy.html McCain shuffles staff as criticism mounts By Andrew Ward in Washington. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008. Published: July 3 2008 00:04 | Last updated: July 3 2008 00:04. John McCain has reshuffled his senior campaign staff amid mounting Republican concern at his ability to compete with Barack Obama in November?s election. The Republican presidential candidate has put Steve Schmidt, a combative former aide to Dick Cheney, the vice-president, in charge of day-to-day operations in an effort to sharpen his campaign. Rick Davis, a longtime McCain ally, will remain campaign manager but shift his focus to long-term strategy. The shake-up follows weeks of grumbling among conservative commentators and some Republican operatives at Mr McCain?s performance. Critics say his campaign has been erratic and error-prone and slow to build grassroots operations in swing states. McCain officials dismiss much of the criticism as Washington tittle-tattle, pointing out that Mr Obama?s average five-point lead in recent national opinion polls is hardly insurmountable. They argue it should be Democrats who are alarmed by the tightness of the race, given the strength of political headwinds blowing against the Republicans. But Wednesday?s staff changes indicate that some of the concerns are shared by Mr McCain. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/mccain-shuffles-staff-as -criticism.html Blogs bring new reality to US polls By Richard Waters in San Francisco. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008.Published: June 30 2008 22:12 | Last updated: June 30 2008 22:12. Barack Obama and Bill Clinton have crossed swords with the biggest names in the media world, but that did not help either recently when they came up against a 61-year-old Californian amateur brandishing a $40 Sony digital voice recorder. Mayhill Fowler, a blogger for political maven Arianna Huffington?s Huffington Post website, represents something new in election-year politics. For all their mastery of the TV soundbite, the stump speech and the staged debate, it is becoming increasingly difficult with ?citizen journalists? joining the fray for campaign media managers to influence how their candidate?s message is disseminated. ?The campaigns work harder and harder to prevent disasters but, inevitably, there will be cracks in the fa?ade,? says Ms Fowler, an enthusiast who has paid her own way to be on the campaign trail almost continuously since late December. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/blogs-bring-new-reality- to-us-polls.html GLBT Historic Pride 2008: Pride perseveres by Amy Wooten. Copyright by The Windy City Times. 2008-07-02. A rather unique Pride Parade made history as it welcomed John Pennycuff and Robert Castillo ( pictured ) , who married in San Francisco last Friday. Photo by Kat Fitzgerald. See many more by Tracy Baim, Robb Olson, Amy Wooten and Kat Fitzgerald at www.WindyCityMediaGroup.com/photos/PrideParade2008-AmyWooten2 and at www.WindyCityMediaGroup.com/photos/PrideParade2008-KatFitzgerald. Chicago proved that, rain or shine, it is going to celebrate Pride./450,000 turn out on streets of Boystown By Matt Simonette. Copyright by Chicago Free Press. June 2, 2008. A few downpours and delays were not enough to dampen the spirit of most revelers who turned out for the 2008 Gay Pride Parade in Chicago. Parade officials estimated that about 450,000 people lined the parade route from Belmont and Halsted to Halsted and Broadway, and back down Broadway to Diversey. More than 250 entries registered for the parade and represented a breadth of community, political and business interests. One parade viewer, looking at a bus sporting the names of several prominent law firms, commented, ?Thank God we?ve become so boring.? http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/historic-pride-2008-prid e-perseveres.html Politics, pageantry mingle at Chicago gay pride parade - Participants seek support for same-sex marriage By Kristen Kridel. Copyright ? 2008, Chicago Tribune. 11:37 PM CDT, June 29, 2008 The first sign that the throngs lining East Lakeview streets Sunday could see on the convertible of Robert Castillo and John Pennycuff was a big thank-you to California on the hood. Smaller posters on the sides and back boasted "Just married." "Yeah, California!" a man shouted to the local newlyweds, who took advantage of the California Supreme Court's decision last month to overturn a ban on gay marriage. Support for same-sex marriages surfaced in various ways during Chicago's 39th annual Gay and Lesbian Pride Parade. Castillo and Pennycuff planned their wedding trip so they could return just in time to take a celebratory lap along the route, parade coordinator Richard Pfeiffer said. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/06/politics-pageantry-mingl e-at-chicago.html Michelle Obama pledges support for GLBT rights By Samantha Gross. Copyright by The Associated Press. July 2, 2008. NEW YORK?Barack Obama will fight for equal rights for gays just as he fought to help working-class families overcome poverty, the Democratic presidential hopeful?s wife told a gay Democratic group June 26. Recalling his past work as a community organizer to help struggling families, Michelle Obama said he would take the same approach as president. ?Barack believes that we must fight for the world as it should be, a world where together we work to reverse discriminatory laws,? she said at a Manhattan fundraiser for the Democratic National Committee?s Gay and Lesbian Leadership Council. Michelle Obama also drew a connection between the struggles for gay rights and civil rights. ?We are all only here because of those who marched and bled and died, from Selma to Stonewall, in the pursuit of a more perfect union,? she said at the event, held days before the anniversary of the 1969 Stonewall riots between gays and New York police, and the city?s annual gay pride parade./Chicago Free Press Editorial: A chance for change. Copyright by Chicago Free Press. July 2, 2008. It was a great speech Michelle Obama gave to the Democratic National Committee?s Gay and Lesbian Leadership Council June 26 in New York. Obama went point by promising point, pledging her husband?s active support to pass employment protections for GLBTs, end the military?s ban on openly gay and lesbian personnel and repeal the Defense of Marriage Act, which prohibits federal recognition of the marriages of gay and lesbian couples. ?Barack believes that we must fight for the world as it should be, a world where together we work to reverse discriminatory laws,? Michelle Obama said. ?The world as it is should be one that rejects discrimination of all kinds.? She showed just how much she gets it by eloquently connecting two iconic moments in the struggles blacks and GLBTs have waged for equality. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/michelle-obama-pledges-s upport-for-glbt.html Greg Harris talks civil unions by JOHN LENDMAN. Copyright by The Windy City Times. 2008-07-02. With the dust settling on the Great California gay-marriage rush, state legislators in Illinois are working on passing the Illinois Religious Freedom Protection and Civil Unions Act ( House Bill 1826 ) as a model for the rest of the Nation to follow. Windy City Times recently spoke with the only openly gay member of the legislature, State Rep. Greg Harris, D-Chicago, the sponsor of HB 1826, on why this may be the most important piece of legislation this year. Rep. Greg Harris: Did you see the Chicago Tribune Today? The lead editorial is in support of civil unions in Illinois. It's like the biggest Republican newspaper in the state; it's a big deal. Windy City Times: Yeah, that is surprising. How is House Bill 1826 progressing in the general assembly? http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/greg-harris-talks-civil- unions.html Cook Co. commissioners pass same-sex measure. News Update Tues., July 1, 2008. Copyright by The Windy City Times by Amy Wooten. Cook County commissioners just approved a measure that changes a county ordinance to benefit same-sex couples that get married in another state. The Cook County State's Attorney Office told Windy City Times that the measure, spearheaded by Cook County Commissioner Mike Quigley, was passed July 1. Two commissioners?Liz Doody-Gorman and Gregg Goslin?voted against the measure, which changed the ordinance so that same-sex couples who work for the county won't lose their benefits if they are married elsewhere. If the measure didn't pass, couples would not have been allowed to remain registered with Cook County and receive domestic-partner benefits. The approval follows a recent California decision legalizing gay marraige. Since June 17, gay and lesbian couples across the U.S., including couples from Cook County, have flocked to California to tie the knot. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/cook-co-commissioners-pa ss-same-sex.html Historic trans hearing takes place in Congress by Bob Roehr. Copyright by The Windy City Times. 2008-07-02. The first every federal hearing on workplace protection from transgender persons took place June 26 before the education and labor subcommittee of the U.S. House of Representatives. Shannon Minter. Reps. Barney Frank ( left ) and Tammy Baldwin testified at the June 26 hearing. Photos by Bob Roehr Subcommittee Chairman Robert Andrews, D-N.J., said under federal law it is permissible to fire persons, or refuse to hire them, because they are transgender or are perceived to be gender non-conforming. ?To me, this makes no sense whatsoever.? Employment should depend only upon how well one does the job. He added, ?We don't measure our duty by the quantity of those who are aggrieved, we measure it by the depth of the grievance of those who are being discriminated against.? http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/historic-trans-hearing-t akes-place-in.html Dyke March: Different neighborhood, same message by Yasmin Nair. Copyright by The Windy City Time. 2008-07-02. This year, Dyke March moved to Pilsen, and attracted over a thousand people, according to organizers?the largest contingent in its history. In the weeks beforehand, several questions were raised, including one often voiced anonymously: Are there any queers in Pilsen? More photos at www.windycitymediagroup.com/photos/DykeMarch2008-EmmanuelGarcia and at www.windycitymediagroup.com/photos/DykeMarch2008-TracyBaim Others wondered: What would happen when mostly white tranny fags, dykes, lesbians, queers, and gender-fuckers found themselves in the midst of a vibrant neighborhood that's embattled by immigration raids; where the predominant language is Spanish; and whose residents have frequently been painted as homophobic? http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/dyke-march-different-nei ghborhood-same.html Schism means two Black Prides by MARK CORECE. Copyright by The Windy City Times. 2008-07-02. Due to conflict and disputes, 2007 was an unstable year for Windy City Black Pride. After a successful pride celebration with former president Charles Nelson, the then-9-year-old organization began to wilt when accusations of Nelson being ?incompetent? and an ?overzealous leader? bothered board members. Although some form of celebration has been around since the early ?90s, Windy City Black Pride was not official until 1998 ( not being recognized nationally until 2000 ) ; it was spearheaded by Ken Pickens, who remained president until 2000, according to current treasurer Keith McCoy. Thayer Johnson followed Pickens from 2001-2003 and each year following 2003 a new president has surfaced; 2004 being a year with no president at all. Some may have predicted this given the presidential turnover of Chicago's Black pride. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/schism-means-two-black-p rides.html Ryan White?s mom talks about fight with AIDS By Matt Simonette. Copyright by The Chicago Free Press. July 2, 2008. The Center on Halsted observed National HIV Awareness Day June 27 with a morning-long forum that included a keynote presentation given by Jeanne White-Ginder, the mother of Ryan White. White-Ginder described her son?s initial bouts with hemophilia, his diagnosis with AIDS, their community?s hostile reaction and the family?s eventual activist work. White-Ginder said of her son, ?He was only supposed to live three to six months. Instead he lasted five and a half years.? By getting his story across, she added, ?He felt like he had something to live for.? ?Ryan felt like he had a responsibility to let everyone know what it was like to live with AIDS,? she said. Ryan was infected from using Factor 8, an experimental drug that was to treat his hemophilia. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/ryan-whites-mom-talks-ab out-fight-with.html Appointment of Agent to Control Disposition of Remains By Roger McCaffrey-Boss. Copyright by Gay Chicago Magazine and Roger McCaffrey-Boss. July 2, 2008. Q: We are planning to get married in California next month. We have wills but wonder if our marriage will offer us any extra benefits? What else beside a will do you suggest that we have? A: Even though you may be married in California, that will carry no legal benefit in Illinois. A periodic review of changes in the estate planning laws, tax laws and updating your powers of attorney are essential to all couples if you want to have a worry free legal support system, even though married. The following are four points that I think relevant for 2008 to all married and non-married couples. Appointment of Agent To Control Disposition of Remains. Pursuant to the new Disposition of Remains Act, effective January 1, 2006, unless a decedent has left directions in writing for the disposition of the decedent?s remains as provided in the Crematory Regulation Act, only certain persons, in the priority listed, have the right to control the disposition, including cremation, of the decedent?s remains. None of them listed include your LGBT partner. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/appointment-of-agent-to- control.html Health Care Sense of crisis prevails in US healthcare By Nicholas Timmins Public Policy Editor. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008. Published: June 30 2008 22:19 | Last updated: June 30 2008 22:19. America?s healthcare system is broken. If there is one statement on which the majority of Republicans and Democrats agree ? along with employers and individuals and even some health plans ? that is it. Fixing it will be another matter. Hard numbers explain the sense of crisis ? and why all the presidential candidates in recent US primaries felt the need to offer at least a partial blueprint for reform. Since 2000, premiums have risen 91 per cent on average, while wages have risen 24 per cent, and there are now 47m people ? 16 per cent of the population ? without insurance for all or part of the year, though they include the young, fit and well-off who eschew cover. But as worrying for the sense of national wellbeing is what is happening to a 25m-strong group known as the ?under-insured?, whose plight is taking the healthcare crisis to the heart of the middle class. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/sense-of-crisis-prevails -in-us.html Chicago Sun-Times Editorial - Stalling on AIDS bill puts more lives at risk. Copyright by The Chicago Sun-Times. June 29, 2008. Congressional foot-dragging on a $50 billion, five-year plan to extend the fight against the global AIDS pandemic has gone on long enough. A band of fiscally conservative Republican senators is blocking a vote on the bipartisan President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief. In April, the House passed its version of the bill that targets HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria in Africa and other parts of the world. The bill is a compromise, containing elements we disagree with, but it's better than nothing. A key issue was whether countries would be told how to spend money dedicated to HIV/AIDS or would they have the automony to spend it as they saw fit. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/06/chicago-sun-times-editor ial-stalling-on.html Chicago Tribune Editorial - Docs and secret shoppers. Copyright ? 2008, Chicago Tribune. June 30, 2008. Ever sat simmering in the doctor's office, waiting for a delayed appointment? Ever had to deal with rude, unhelpful or otherwise surly desk clerks, assistants, nurses or other staff in the same office? Ever felt treated like a chart or a statistic, not a human being? We're guessing that many readers are nodding their heads right about now. But we're also guessing that many of them either don't complain to the doctor or don't complain effectively. And maybe doctors and their staffs aren't listening all that carefully. A committee of the American Medical Association recently suggested another way to gauge performance in the doctor's office: Send in a secret shopper. Secret shoppers are dispatched to retail stores, restaurants and hotels to pose as customers in order to measure customer service and quality. So why not send them into doctor's offices to do the same? http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/06/chicago-tribune-editoria l-docs-and.html Technology Microsoft to sell Office, OneCare for $70 a year By JESSICA MINTZ. Copyright 2008 Associated Press. 8:00 AM CDT, July 2, 2008. SEATTLE - Microsoft Corp. will begin selling its Office programs to consumers on a subscription basis starting mid-July, in a bid to reach thrifty PC buyers who would otherwise pass on productivity software. The software bundle, which also includes Microsoft's Live OneCare computer security software, will be sold at nearly 700 Circuit City stores for $70 per year. Bryson Gordon, a group product manager for the Office group, said in an interview that the agreement with Circuit City Stores Inc. is not exclusive, and that the bundle will be available at other retailers and on PCs sold by the likes of Dell Inc. in the future. Subscription pricing for software has become commonplace in businesses but is a relatively new concept for consumers. The Microsoft Equipt bundle -- formerly code-named "Albany" -- includes Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote, plus OneCare and a handful of existing free Windows Live applications. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/microsoft-to-sell-office -onecare-for-70.html AT&T offers new option of iPhone without contract By PETER SVENSSON. Copyright 2008 Associated Press. 10:55 AM CDT, July 1, 2008. NEW YORK - AT&T Inc. will sell the new version of the iPhone without a service contract for $400 more than the price with a two-year plan, a break from the rules set when Apple Inc.'s popular touch-screen gadget debuted last year. Two new models of iPhones go on sale July 11 for $199 and $299, depending on the amount of memory, with two-year AT&T contracts. The contract-free versions will cost $599 and $699 and will be sold sometime "in the future," AT&T said. The phones sold under contract are subsidized by AT&T, which expects to make the money back through monthly service fees over the life of the contract. Without a contract, users can cancel service without incurring an early termination fee. But both contract and contract-free phones will be "locked" to work only on AT&T's network, and the monthly service plans available will be the same, said AT&T spokesman Michael Coe. The plans add a $30 monthly charge for data like e-mail and Web surfing on top of a calling plan. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/at-offers-new-option-of- iphone-without.html Other Ebay ordered to pay ?38m to LVMH over fakes By Nikki Tait in Brussels and Richard Waters in San Francisco. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008. Published: June 30 2008 13:13 | Last updated: June 30 2008 20:31. A French court has hit at the heart of Ebay?s business model by ordering the online retailer to pay almost ?40m to LVMH, the French luxury goods maker, for failing to do enough to block sales of counterfeit goods. The world?s biggest e-commerce company was also ordered to block sales of genuine bottles of perfume made by four LVMH brands after the court ruled that it had breached the selective distribution agreements LVMH uses to control where and how the perfume is sold. Ebay said it would appeal against both rulings, claiming the decisions could have much broader implications for online commerce by imposing restrictions on the way goods can be sold and hence consumer choice. The French ruling comes as a US court prepares to issue its verdict in a similar high-profile case brought by Tiffany, bringing to a head the long-running dispute between Ebay and owners of some of the world?s most famous luxury brands. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/06/ebay-ordered-to-pay-38m- to-lvmh-over.html Humor A worldwide poll http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/worldwide-poll.html 9 Dangerous Words Women Use http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/9-dangerous-words-women- use.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 Jul 12 16:13:14 2008 From: ctmock at gmail.com (Carlos Mock) Date: Sat, 12 Jul 2008 17:13:14 -0500 Subject: [News] Killing the Constitution Newsletter- July 12, 2008 In-Reply-To: Message-ID: Justice Antonin Scalia: "It is not therole of this court to pronounce the Second Amendment extinct." Stepen Colbert: He is right. Killing the Constitution is the president's job.The court's job is to overturn elections. Wednesday, July 2, 2008 Bin Ladens Dream Comes True Osama bin Laden said that he wanted oil prices to be 144 a barrel : ''If bin Laden takes over and becomes king of Saudi Arbia, he'd turn off the tap,'' said Roger Diwan, a managing director of the Petroleum Finance Company, a consulting firm in Washingto. ''He said at one point that he wants oil to be $144 a barrel'' -- abot six times what it sells for now. Guess what oil closed at today? $14 a barrel. That article is from October 2001, which means oil prices ave raised sixfold since the 9/11 attacks. Many of the Bush administration olicies have helped instead of hindered Osama bin Laden and his minions. The raq war, energy policy, the weak dollar policy, and the slow shredding of te constitution have done some of Osama's work for him. It could be argued, ad I would agree, that Bush has done a lot more damage to America then bn Laden ever could. A national cleansing By Nicholas D. Kristof. Copyriht by The International Herald Tribune. Published: July 6, 2008. When adistinguished American military commander accuses the United States of commiting war crimes in its handlingof detainees, you know that the country needs a new way forward. "There is no longer any doubt as to whether the current administration has committed war crimes," Antonio Taguba, the retired major general who investiated abuses in Iraq, declares in a powerful new report on American torture fom Physicians for Human Rights. "The only question that remains to be answeed is whether those who ordered the use of torture will be held to accout." The first step of accountability isn't prosecutions. Rather, we Ameicans need a national Truth Commission to lead a process of soul-searching nd national cleansing. That was what South Africa did after apartheid, wit its Truth and Reconciliation Commission, and it is what the United States di with the Kerner Commission on race and the 1980s commission that examind the internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II. http://iretirdfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/national-cleansing.html Internationa Herald Tribune Editorial: Compromising the Constitution. Copyright by The nternational Herald Tribune. Published: July 8, 2008. The U.S. Congress hs been far too compliant as President George W. Bush undermined the Bil of Rights and the balance of powers. It now has a chance to undo some of hat damage - if it has the courage to stand up to the White House and fr the Constitution. The Senate should reject a bill that would needlessly xpand the government's ability to spy on Americans and ensure that the counry never learns the full extent of Bush's unlawful wiretapping. Th bill dangerously weakens the 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, r FISA. Adopted after the abuses of the Watergate and Vietnam eras, the lw requires the government to get a warrant to intercept communications between anyone in the United States and anyone outside it - and show that it is investigating a oreign power, or the agent of a foreign power, that plans to harm America. The FISA law created a court to issue those warrants quickly, and over 30 yars, the court has approved nearly 20,000 while rejecting perhaps a haf-dozen. In any case, the government can wiretap first and get permissionlater in moments of crisis. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.cm/2008/07/international-herald-tri bune-editorial_08.html International Herad Tribune Editorial: The U.S. government and your laptop. Copyright b The International Herald Tribune. Published: July 10, 2008. The U.S. Depament of Homeland Security is routinely searching laptops at airports whn Americans re-enter the United States from abroad. The government then pres over or copies the laptop's contents - including financial records, meical data and e-mail messages. These out-of-control searches trample the prvacy rights of Americans, and Congress should rein them in. There hav been widespread reports of the government searching - and often seizin - laptops, BlackBerrys, iPhones and other poable electronic devices at airports. It is not clear how often these searches occur, and the government will not say. The Association of Corporate Travel Ecutives says that of 100 people who responded to a survey it conducted this yar, seven said they had had a laptop or other electronic device seized. Ths goes well beyond examining a piece of luggage. Because of the enorous amount of private information people keep on their laptops, the searchs are more akin to rifling through someone's home and reading every letter,financial record and personal journal. At a Senate hearing last mont, civil liberties, civil rights and business groups testified about the har the program is doing. Businesses object that their trade secrets are beig jeopardized. Lawyers and journalists say the government should not have accss to their confidential communications with clients and sources. Muslimscontend that they are being singled out for particularly intrusive searches. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/international-herald-ti bune-editorial_10.html US Senate approves wire-tapping bill By Andrew ard in Washington. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008. Published: Ju 9 2008 20:21 | Last updated: July 9 2008 22:53. The US Senate approveda bill overhauling domestic eavesdropping laws on Wednesday, ending more tan two years of wrangling over President George W. Bush?s terrorist survellance programme. The legislation provides the government with sweeping new powers to monitor communications involving suspected terrorists and gives legal immunity to telecommnications companies that co-operated with secret wiretapping after the Septmber 2001 attacks. Mr Bush said the measures would make it easier for his ainistration and future presidents to keep America safe. ?This bill will hel our intelligence professionals learn who the terrorists are talking to, hat they?re saying, and what they?re planning,? he said. Barack Obama, the emocratic presidential candidate, was among the 69-28 bipartisan majorit that backed the proposals, reversing his opposition to earlier versions of he bill as part of his gradual shift towards the political centre. http://ietiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/us-senate-approves-wire- tappig-bill.html Rove ignores subpoena, refuses to testify on Hill By BEN EVANS. Copyright by The Associated Press. July 11, 2008 WASHINGTON (AP) ? Former White House adviser Karl Rove defied a congressional subpoena and refused to testify Thursday about allegations of political pressure at the Justce Department, including whether he influenced the prosecution of a former emocratic governor of Alabama. Rep. Linda Sanchez, chairman of a House subommittee, ruled with backing from fellow Democrats on the panel that Rove wasbreaking the law by refusing to cooperate ? perhaps the first step toward hlding him in contempt of Congress. The White House has cited executive privlege as a reason he and others who serve or served in the administraion should not testify, arguing that internal administration communications ae confidential and that Congress cannot compel officials to testify. Rove ays he is bound to follow the White House's guidance, although he has offere to answer questions specifically on the Siegelman case ? but only with o transcript taken and not under oath. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blgspot.com/2008/07/rove-ignores-subpoena-re fuses-to.html Court tossesWhite House appeal on visitor logs By PETE YOST. Copyright 2008 Associated Pess. 10:53 AM CDT, July 11, 2008. WASHINGTON - A federal appeals courton Friday set back the White House's efforts to keep the names of its vistors secret. The Washington court threw ot the government's appeal in the case in which a watchdog group is trying to find out how often prominent religious conservatives visited the White House and Vice President Dick Cheney's residence. Despite the ruling against the White House, the decision does not necessarily mean that visitor logs will be subject to public disclosure. The White House can still raise a variety of legal arguments in an attempt to keep the identities of White House visitors secret. But appeals court Judge David Tatel said the document request from the private roup is narrowly drawn and can be processed. http://iretiredfromnewsleters.blogspot.com/2008/07/court-tosses-white-house -appeal-on.html Languag a great leader makes By Brian Groom. Copyright The Financial Times Limied 2008. Published: July 11 2008 18:32 | Last updated: July 11 2008 18:32. hatever happened to the art of political phrase-making? The leaders f the developed world were on show this week at the Group of Eight summitin Toyako, Japan. Faced with the triple challenge of a food, oil and financia crisis, their response was as tongue-tied as it was ineffectual. ?We saw ey to eye,? was all Yasuo Fukuda, Japan?s prime minister, could muster as he ought to look positively at an outcome that merely voiced concern at ising oil prices and toyed with ideas on food shortages. Ah, you may sy, the problem lies with actions ? or lack of them ? not words. Summits area hopeless way to resolve complicated problems. If you have nothing to sa, say nothing. ? ?Tis better to be silent and be thought a fool, than to spea and remove all doubt? (an unsourced remark sometimes attributed to Araham Lincoln). Yet at times of stress, we still look to elected leaders to express our collective anxieties and stiffen resolve.... But it is a painful irony that Mr sh, himself a war leader, counts Churchill as a hero yet shares so little of is gift. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/languagegreat-leader-ma kes.html International Financial Times Editorial Commnt: Pipe dreams and cigar smoke. Copyright The Financial Times Limitd 2008. Published: July 9 2008 20:19 | Last updated: July 9 2008 20:1. For proof that the G8 has outlived its usefulness, one need look no furthr than the inability of the world?s richest democracies to forge an agreed gobal strategy for tackling climate change. The refusal by China and India toendorse its proposed cuts in carbon dioxide emissions renders this week?s 8 summit in Japan pointless. Any notion a club of eight nations could run th world ? never plausible ? is now so discredited as to call into question th value of all its declarations. World leaders have since Monday talked abot global warming, rising food and oil prices, African poverty and the financil strains of the global credit squeeze. But what use is a ?shared vision? of utting carbon emissions without the endorsement of the developing world? fastest-growing and biggest polluter? How is it possible to pronounce on inflation and try to tame soaring oil prices without the involvement of Saudi Arabia, the world?s biggest crude oil producer? And who i the G8 has the influence or power to isolate Zimbabwe?s Robert Mugabe when no African nation is present? The G8?s problem is that it has becom so divided and poorly led that its annual summits have deteriorated int little more than photo opportunities and exercises in drfting bland communiqu?s. The severity of the current financial crisis nly emphasises the G8?s impotence. The world has changed beyond recognitionsince the original group was formed more than 30 years ago to discuss economc policy. Financial markets are much deeper and the flows between asset clases have grown more complex. The G8?s influence over the markets has dimiished with the power of its finance ministers to move them. Moreover any discussion on exchange rates, where governments and centra banks can still be effective, is doomed to be unproductive while China says a non-member. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/fiancial-times-editoria l-comment-pipe.html The pain of the G-8's By Nichoas D. Kristof. Copyright by The International Herald Tribune. Publised: July 10, 2008. As President George W. Bush and the Group of 8 leadrs who are meeting in Japan again shun their responsibilities in Darfur, thre is a serious argumentto be made that genocide is overrated as an international concern. The G-8 leaders implicitly accept that argument, which goes like this: Genocide is regrettable, but don't ose perspective. It is simply one of many tragedies in the world today - nd a fairly modest one in terms of lives lost. All the genocides of the lat 100 years have cost only 10 million to 12 million lives. In contrast, ever year we lose almost 10 million children under the age of 5 from diseaes and malnutrition attributable to poverty. Make that the priority, not Dafur. Civil conflict in Congo has claimed more than 5.4 million lives ove the last decade, according to careful mortality surveys by the Internationa Rescue Committee. That's at least 10 times the toll in Darfur, but becaus Congo doesn't count as genocide - just as murderous chaos - no one has pad much attention to it. Does a mother whose child dies from banditry,malaria or AIDS grieve any less than a mother whose child was killed bythe janjaweed? http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/pain-of-g8s.html Data raise fears of eurozone recession By Ralph Atkins in Frankfrt. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008. Published: July 10 208 18:34 | Last updated: July 10 2008 18:34. Steep falls in eurozone indusrial production on Thursday highlighted the economic slowdown under way acros the 15-country region, raising the risk of technical recessions in at leastsome member countries. France and Italy reported far sharper than expectd drops in industrial output in May, echoing similarly weak German producton and export data released this week and reinforcing expectations that secon quarter eurozone growth figures would be bad. The change in mood has been sharpest in Germany, where the economy is thought to have contracted in the three months to June after an exceptional growth spurt t the start of the year. ?The tone of the debate in the eurozone mightshift quite quickly from inflation concerns to straightforward growth cncerns,? said Marco Annunziata at Unicredit, suggesting Germany faced an ouside risk of recession ? two consecutive quarters of negative growth. In Ita the risks were higher, Mr Annunziata said. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blgspot.com/2008/07/data-raise-fears-of-euro zone-recession.html South Koreanfatally shot by North Korean soldier By JAE-SOON CHANG. Copyright 2008 Associted Press. 6:24 AM CDT, July 11, 2008. SEOUL, South Korea - A North Korea soldier fatally shot a South Korean tourist Friday at a mountain resort in te communist North, prompting the South to suspend the high-profiletour program just as South Korean's new president sought to rekindle strain ties between the divided countries. The news of the unprecedented shootng of a 53-year-old woman at Diamond Mountain resort emerged just hours afte new President Lee Myung-bak delivered a nationwide address calling forrestored contacts between the two Koreas, which have been on hold since he ook office in February. Kim said South Korea would suspend future Diamnd Mountain tours until it completes an investigation. The other some1,200 tourists already athe resort are to complete their tours as scheduled by as late as Sunday, said Hyundai Asan, the South Korean company that operates the resort. http://iretirdfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/south-korean-fatally-sho t-by-northhtml China Bush defends decision to attend Games opening By Sheryl Gy Stolberg. Copyright by The International Herald Tribune. Published: July , 2008. RUSUTSU, Japan: President George W. Bush arrived Sunday on the lush ad mountainous northern Japanese island of Hokkaido to talk to world leadersabout climate change, soaring oil and gas prices and aid to Africa. But firt, he defended his decision to attend the opening ceremony of the Beijig Olympics next month - and got a little help from his host, Prime Ministe Yasuo Fukuda of Japan, who announced he would go, too. "I view theOlympics as an opportunity for me to cheer on our athletes," Bush said at apress conference in nearby Toyako, after the two leaders met privatey. He said not going the opening ceremony "would be an affront to the Chiese people" that might make it "more difficult to be able to speak frankly ith the Chinese leadership." Human rights advocates have been urging a bycott of the Games, to protest China's crackdown on anti-government protst in Tibet, and its support for the regime in Sudan. Other world leaders including Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany and Prime Minister Gordon rown of Britain, are skipping the opening ceremonies. But after meeting privately with Bush, Fukuda seemed to adopt the president's reasoning. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blopot.com/2008/07/bush-defends-decision-to -attend-games.html ?Anti-China? grups threaten Olympics By Mure Dickie in Beijing. Copyright The Financal Times Limited 2008. Published: July 4 2008 22:13 | Last updated: July 42008 22:13. A top Chinese security official has warned that ?anti-Chna? forces and other hostile groups are intensifying efforts to sabotage nextmonth?s Beijing Olympics. The warning from Yang Huanning, executive vice-minster for public security, reflects concern among Chinese leaders about the pssible disruption of an event in which they have invested enormous political apital. It is also likely to further spur sweeping security measures in Bejing and other Olympic cities that some observers say could cast a chill overGames events. Tougher implementation of visa rules in recent months has alrady sent the number of tourists arriving in the Chinese capital plummetin. Some western critics have already dubbed the Olympics the ?no-fun? Gaes, although local public enthusiasm for the event still appears to be stong. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/anti-chna-groups-threat en-olympics.html China?s trade surplus shrinks By Geoff Dyer in Beijing. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008. Published: July 10 2008 134 | Last updated: July 10 2008 19:34. China?s trade surplus fell by 20 percent in June over the same month last year in a sign that the weaker gloal economy is having a serious impact on the country?s export sector. The rade figures, which show export growth slowing sharply, could strengthen he hand of officials in Beijing who are arguing for a slowdown in therate of appreciation of the Chinese currency to protect exporters. Te deputy head of the Communist party?s policy research office, Zheng inli, was quoted in state media on Thursday calling for slower renminbi rises ?We are not the Asian tigers. We need time to upgrade the structure and o handle the pressure,? he said. Government officials maintain they are stil committed to a tight monetary policy. The currency has appreciated by more han 6 per cent against the US dollar so far this year, helping to ease soe of the international pressure over China?s foreign exchange policy. http:/iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/chinas-trade-surplus-shr inks.tml China?s algae spread to resorts By Geoff Dyer in Baishatan, Shandong. Coyright The Financial Times Limited 2008. Published: July 11 2008 22:30 | Lst updated: July 11 2008 22:30. The algae outbreak that threatened the Olymic sailing competition in Qingdao has spread hundreds of kilometres up the cost to popular tourist areas, even as Chinese officials on Friday claimed nearvictory over the thick green sludge. Th long stretch of beach at Baishatan, 150km north of Qingdao, has been lined in recent days with 10-metre-wide slicks of algae that gave out a noxious odour to the f tourists who braved the sand, causing panic among tourist operators. Xu Xin who has a stall selling seashells near the beach at Baishatan, said tat the boardwalk would usually be packed at this time of year. ?But look t it now, there is almost no one here,? she said. In front of her stll, two large earth-moving machines were scooping up chunks of the green alge that covered most of the beach. ?They have cleaned the beach twice alreay, but it keeps coming back.? http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/200/07/chinas-algae-spread-to-r esorts.html Mess-o-potamia International erald Tribune Editorial: Iraq and Afghanistan: Where do we go from here? Copyright by The International Herald Tribune. Published: July 7, 2008. The resurgence of Al Qaeda and the Taliban in Afghanistan and Pakistan makes t even more imperative for the United States to begin planning for a swift nd orderly withdrawal from Iraq. For far too long, President George W. Bush' disastrous war of choice in Iraq has leached resources and attention from th war of necessity in Afghanistan. A grim new statistic underscores just howbadly things are going there: 46 American and allied forces died in Afghanisan in June, more than during any other month since the war began in 2001 And for the second straight month, combat deaths in Afghanistan exceeded tse for U.S.-led forces in Iraq, where 31 troops died. The recent decline in violence in Iraq is very welcome, but it has yet to be matched with essential political reforms Instead of planning for a serious drawdown of U.S. troops, the White House i using its self-proclaimed success as one more excuse for staying on. Bushs successor will almost certainly inherit an Iraq with at least 130,000 US. troops still fighting there. Until now nearly all of the presidentialdebate has focused on whether and when a withdrawal should occur. Senator Jhn McCain says he will stay on until "victory" is achieved. But he hasnot fully explained what that means or how it can be accomplished, much les how it can be accomplished while simultaneously routing militants in fghanistan. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/internaional-herald-tri bune-editorial_09.html The Boston Globe Editorial: Keep col on Iran. Copyright by The Boston Globe. Published: July 11, 2008. Afte Iran test-fired nine missiles Wednesday near the Strait of Hormuz, through which 40 percent of the world's oil passes, U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates wisely refused to overeact. "There is a lot of signaling going on," he said. "But I think evrybody recognizes what the consequences of any kind of conflict would be. Ad I will tell you that this government is working hard to make sure that te diplomatic and economic approach to dealing with Iran, and trying o get the Iranian government to change its policies, is the strategy and s the approach that continues to dominate." The missile tests ostensibly sowed Iran's ability to retaliate against any attack on its nuclear facilities but military experts tend to view the display as overblown. Gate insisted that there is nothing in the missile tests to alter current adminitration policy. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/boson-globe-editorial-k eep-cool-on.html Iran test-fires missile in the GulfBy Najmeh Bozorgmehr in Tehran. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 20. Published: July 9 2008 11:42 | Last updated: July 9 2008 17:51. Iran tst-fired ballistic missiles on Wednesday in an exercise officials said wa designed to show how the country could retaliate against a US or Israeli attck, state television reported. The test ? by Iran?s elite Revolutionar Guard ? came amid escalating international tensions over the country?s nucler program me. There has been speculatin in recent weeks that Israel could mount an attack on Iranian nuclear facilities. Suspicions were fuelled by recent Israeli military manoeuvres in the Meditrranean, which some US officials described as target practice for an Iran trike. The aim of the test was to prepare ?for a quick and crushing responseand retaliatory blows in the event of an enemy attack?, said Mohammad-Ali Jfari, chief commander of the Revolutionary Guard, before the missileswere fired. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/iran-test-fes-missile- in-gulf.html Six die in US consulate attack in Istanbul By Vncent Boland in Ankara. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008. Pubished: July 9 2008 10:03 | Last updated: July 9 2008 11:55. Three police fficers and three assailants were killed in an exchange of fire outside th US consulate in Istanbul on Wednesday in the most serious attack on a freign target in Turkey for five years. Gunmen attacked the fortress-like purpose-built consulate north of the city centre at about 11am, witnesse said. A gun battle broke out that lasted about 10 minutes. The three attckers who died were Turkish citizens, according to the governor of Istanbul. ?This is an obvious act of terrorism,? said Ross Wilson, the US ambasador to Turkey. He said No consular staff or US citizs had been killed, and security was being strengthened at the Ankara embassy and at another US consulate in the southern city of Adana. There was no immediate caim of responsibility for the attack, which was condemned across the poltical spectrum in Turkey. Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the prime minister, saidit was a ?heinous? attack against ? the stability and tranquillity of Turky?. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/six-die-in-us-consuate- attack-in.html International Herald Tribune Editorial: Act fast to stemthe Taliban's rising tide. Copyright by The International Herald Tribune. Published: July 11, 2008. The swelling forces of Taliban and Al Qaeda fightrs in Pakistan's border region pose a grave threat to U.S. and NATO troops i Afghanistan. They also pose a grave threat to Pakistan's people. Pakistans Taliban militias, like their Afghan counterparts, are trying to impose heir harsh version of Islamic law. More than a thousand Pakistanis have bee killed in terrorist attacks in the past year, mostly in the border areaswhere radical Islamic fighters are strongest. Pakistan's new military nd civilian leaders, caught up in their own power struggles, have been dagerously derelict in confronting the threat. Instead, they have deluded themslves that they can negotiate a separate peace with fanatic Taliban leaders.Experience has proved that will not work. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogpot.com/2008/07/international-herald-t bune-editorial_11.html Chicago Tribune Editorial - The menace in Pakistan. Copyright ? 2008, Chicago Tribune. July 12, 2008. Pakistan's new ambassador to the United Stats is asking for understanding as the new civilian government tries to cope ith the persistent insurgency in tribal areas along the border with Afghnistan. That is asking a lot of the U.S. and its Afghan allies, whose ast patience has not been rewarded. If Islamabad wants time, it needs toshow the world it is prepared to act firmly against a chronic menace thatendangers not only the Pakistani government, but Afghans, and quite posibly, Americans. The insurgents include elements of the Taliban and Al Qaed. They have terrorized Pakistan, and they have launched attacks more frequntly this year across the border into Afghanistan. American forces recently klled 11 members of Pakistan's paramilitary forces by mistake, in a bombing ttack on enemy units along the border. Menwhile, Taliban forces struck at a prison in Kandahar, freeing some 1,200 prisoners. Afghan President Hamid Karzai has sai he would send troops into Pakistan to "destroy terrorist nests"?though he probably doesn't have the forces to carry out the threat. http://iretredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/chicago-tribune-editoria l-menace-n.html Bomber near Pakistani mosque kills at least 11 By Joel Elliott. Coyright by The International Herald Tribune. Published: July 7, 2008. ISLAMBAD, Pakistan: At least 11 people died Sunday when a suicide bomber set offan explosion next to a group of poice officers guarding an area near the Red Mosque, where a restive crowd had gathered to commemorate a deadly clash between Islamic militants and gvernment security forces in July 2007, the authorities said. More than 2 people were wounded, doctors at a nearby hospitalsaid. Most of the dead and wounded appeared to be police officers. About 30 officers had been standing on a sidewalk near a police station, just a few hundred yards fr the Red Mosque in the center of Islamabad, when the explosion occurred. housands of people were at the mosque to commemorate an eight-day siege therea year ago that ended when commandos stormed the sprawling complex befre dawn on July 10. Security forces and Islamic militants armed with automati weapons, rocket launchers and grenades battled for an entire day in theconfrontation, which left more than 100 people dead. Within minutesof the suicide bombing, which occurred at about 7:30 p.m. on Sunday, medic were rushing dozens of wounded people to nearby hospitals and thouands of worshipers were fleeing the area near the mosque. http://retiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/bomber-near-pakistani-mo sque-klls-at.html It Was Oil, All Along By Bill Moyers & Michael Winship. Copyriht by The BILL MOYERS JOURNAL. July 7, 2007. Oh, no, they told us, Iraqisn't a war about oil. That's cynical and simplistic, they said. It's about terror and al Qaeda and toppling a dictator and spreading democracy and protecting ourselves from weapons of mass destruction. But one by one, these concocted rationles went up in smoke, fire, and ashes. And now the bottom turns out to be...the bottom line. It is about oil. Alan Greenspan said so last fall. The frmer chairman of the Federal Reserve, safely out of office, confessed in hismemoir, ??Everyone knows: the Iraq war is largely about oil.? He elaboratedin an interview with the Washington Post's Bob Woodward, "If Saddam Hussin had been head of Iraq and there was no oil under those sands, our resonse to him would not have been as strong as it was in the first gulf war" Remember, also, that soon after the invasion, Donald Rumsfeld?s deputy Paul Wolfowitz, told the press that war was our only strategic choice. ??e had virtually no economic options with Iraq,? he explained, ?because the ountry floats on a sea of oil.? Shades of Daniel Plainview, the monstrous ptroleum tycoon in the mie THERE WILL BE BLOOD. Half-mad, he exclaims, "There's a whole ocean of oil under our feet!" then adds, "No one can get at it except for me!" No wonder American troo only guarded the Ministries of Oil and the Interior in Baghdad, even as lootrs pillaged museums of their priceless antiquities. They were making sure n one could get at the oil except... guess who? http://iretiredfromnesletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/it-was-oil-all-along.htm l Iraq city hasbrittle calm and war scars By Alissa J. Rubin. Copyright by The Intenational Herald Tribune. Published: July 7, 2008. BAQUBA, Iraq: Less thn an hour east and north of Baghdad sprawls Diyala Province, once the garden f Iraq, known for its date and orange orchards, its rice and its barley farm. More recently it has been known as one of Iraq's worst killing fields. he religious and ethnic diversity that made it a microcosm of the countryalso meant that every lethal division played out within its borders. Sunni and Shiites, Kurds and Arabs live in close quarters here. By 2006, whoe villages were burning. There were months last year when kidnappings weredaily occurrences and headless bodies routinely showed up in the fields and floated down the rivers. Intermarriage, once a way of life in the province, was forbidden by many families The province became the headquarters of Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia, the extreist Sunni insurgent group most associated with suicide bombings and beheadins. The danger was great enough that Western reporters could visit Diyala oly while embedded with American troops. But in late June, a New York imes reporter and photographer traveled to the provincial capital, diving in old Iraqi cars with an interpreter to see how much had changed. htt://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/iraq-city-has-brittle-ca lmand-war.html Desperation, depression creates female bombers in Iraq By lissa J. Rubin. Copyright by The New York Times. 10:37 AM CDT, Jly 5, 2008. BAQOUBA, Iraq ? Wenza Ali Mutlaq walked a bit uncertainy up the long street near the main government offices here on June 22, the ht wind stirring her heavy black abaya. She passed the concrete barricdes put up to ward off suicide car bombers and made her way alone, almost aphazardly. Suddenly, a police car zoomed in. A policeman got out to talk with her. And then their lives were over ? torn apart, along with 14 other people, by the huge blast of fire from her concealed explosive vest. Mutlaq, who was in her 30s and whose attack was captured on a security video, was the 18th female suicide bomber of the war to strike in Diyala province, which has been hit by female attackers much more frequently than any other province of Iraq, according to Iraqi police records and the U.S. military. So far, 11 of the 20 suicide bombings carried out by women in Iraq this year have occurred in Diyala. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/desperation-depression-c reates-female.html Bodies of 2 missing US soldiers are found in Iraq By DAVID AGUILAR. Copyright 2008 Associated Press. 3:26 AM CDT, July 11, 2008. DETROIT - The bodies of two U.S. soldiers missing in Iraq for more than a year have been found, their families said Thursday night. The military would not immediately confirm the report. The father of Army Sgt. Alex Jimenez, of Lawrence, Mass., said the remains of his son and another soldier, Pvt. Byron W. Fouty, of Waterford, Mich., had been identified in Iraq. Jimenez, 25, and Fouty, 19, were kidnapped along with a third member of the 2nd Brigade of the 10th Mountain Division during an ambush in May 2007 in the volatile area south of Baghdad known as the "triangle of death." The body of the third seized soldier, Pfc. Joseph Anzack Jr. of Torrance, Calif., was found in the Euphrates River a year later. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/bodies-of-2-missing-us-s oldiers-are.html A blind eye on soldiers' suicides By James Carroll. Copyright by The International Herald Tribune. Published: July 4, 2008. 'Support the troops" is an American lie. This nation is grievously and knowingly failing the young men and women who wear the uniform of its military services, and nothing demonstrates that more powerfully than the suicides of soldiers. According to the U.S. Army's own figures, the rate of suicide among active duty personnel nearly doubled between 2001 and 2006. The number then grew even higher in 2007, when suicide ranked third as the cause of death among members of the National Guard. Even if proximate causes vary from war zones to home fronts, such data are anomalous, since suicide rates among soldiers historically go down during wartime, not up. Veterans, too, are in trouble. In May, the head of the National Institute of Mental Health warned of "a gathering storm." Thomas Insel told the American Psychiatric Association that one in five of the 1.6 million soldiers who have been deployed in Iraq or Afghanistan (or more than 300,000) suffer from post-traumatic stress syndrome or depression. Potentially life-threatening mental disorders, including self-destructive behavior like addiction, raise the prospect, in Insel's words, of "suicides and psychological mortality trumping combat deaths." http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/blind-eye-on-soldiers-su icides.html National America?s human capital is tested By Clive Crook. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008. Published: July 6 2008 17:43 | Last updated: July 6 2008 17:43. A startling and profoundly important fact about the US economy has received surprisingly little attention. The educational quality of the country?s workers is starting to decline ? not just relatively (because other countries are catching up and moving ahead) but also, for the first time, in absolute terms. Over the coming years, baby-boomers departing from the labour force will have better educational qualifications than the younger workers replacing them. If the ultimate source of an economy?s ability to grow and prosper is its human capital, the US is in trouble. For decades the educational quality of the US labour force surged. In 1940, less than 5 per cent of the population aged 25-64 had at least a four-year college education. By 2000, the proportion had increased to nearly 30 per cent. Successive generations of workers improved on the educational attainments of their predecessors. Retiring workers were replaced by better-educated youngsters. This remorseless accumulation of human capital helped fuel the country?s postwar growth. According to at least one authoritative study, it was the principal driver. This trend came to a halt with workers now aged 55-59. Younger cohorts are no better educated than these soon-to-retire boomers. Broadly speaking, educational quality has topped out ? and on at least one measure, it is actually deteriorating. In 2006, Americans aged 55-59 collectively possessed more masters degrees, professional degrees and doctorates than Americans aged 30-34. This impending loss of educational capital is entirely outside the country?s experience. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/americas-human-capital-i s-tested.html So how dumb are we? - Duh! Younger Americans stumped in knowledge tests in our visually driven global info age By Lisa Anderson. Copyright ? 2008, Chicago Tribune. 11:32 AM CDT, July 5, 2008. NEW YORK?Who hasn't snickered at "Jaywalking," a "Tonight Show" segment in which host Jay Leno flummoxes unsuspecting young people on the street with such tricky questions as: In what country is Paris located? Or cringed to see Miss America 2007 humiliated by a brainy bunch of 10-year-olds?who just happened to know the sun is the heavenly body with the greatest mass in our solar system?on "Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?" Or witnessed the consternation of a cashier presented with a $20 bill and two quarters for a $12.50 tab? Some consider such deficits in knowledge and ability no laughing matter, citing it as evidence of the "dumbing down" of Americans, particularly young adults. Others believe any decline in book smarts simply reflects the evolution of new ways of learning and "knowing," forged in a fast-paced wireless world where the data of the ages are downloaded in a nanosecond at the touch of a keyboard. So, which is it? No one really knows. But the topic clearly is percolating through the popular culture: Read the less-than-reassuring poll of "What Do Americans Know" in Newsweek's July 7-14 Global Literacy 2008 issue. Or the cover story in The Atlantic magazine's July/August issue: "Is Google Making Us Stoopid? What the Internet is doing to our brains." Or the just-published "DISTRACTED: The Erosion of Attention and the Coming Dark Age," by Maggie Jackson. Dumbest generation? http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/so-how-dumb-are-we-duh-y ounger.html Pentagon to build ?safer? cluster bombs - Under pressure, military agrees to modify bombs in 10 years. Copyright by The Associated Press. updated 8:52 p.m. CT, Mon., July. 7, 2008. WASHINGTON - Faced with growing international pressure, the Pentagon is changing its policy on cluster bombs and plans to reduce the danger of unexploded munitions in the deadly explosives. The policy shift, which is outlined in a three-page memo signed by Defense Secretary Robert Gates, would require that after 2018, more than 99 percent of the bomblets in a cluster bomb must detonate. Limiting the amount of live munitions left on the battlefield would lessen the danger to innocent civilians who could be killed or severely injured if they accidentally detonate the bombs. Also, by next June the Defense Department will begin to reduce its inventory of cluster bombs that do not meet the new safety requirements. The new Defense Department plan comes more than a month after 111 nations, including many of America's key NATO partners, adopted a treaty outlawing all current designs of cluster munitions. The agreement also required that stockpiles be destroyed within eight years. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/pentagon-to-build-safer- cluster-bombs.html 1,000 sickened in salmonella outbreak - Jalapeno peppers join tomatoes on list of suspects, but hard answers still elude U.S. health officials By Stephen J. Hedges. Copyright ? 2008, Chicago Tribune. July 10, 2008. WASHINGTON ? Salmonella poisoning has sickened more than 1,000 people in 41 states, the District of Columbia and Canada, and federal health officials have now linked jalapeno and serrano peppers to the outbreak. Illinois has reported 100 salmonella-related illnesses, the second highest total among affected states, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and 26 state residents have been hospitalized. Texas and New Mexico, where the outbreak was first detected, have 384 and 98 cases respectively. As of Wednesday, 1,017 cases in all had been confirmed, with 203 hospitalizations. The death of a Texas man in his 80s has been linked to the outbreak, The Washington Post reported. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/1000-sickened-in-salmone lla-outbreak.html Many more readers say they feel 'Trapped' in sexless marriages By Cheryl Lavin. Copyright ? 2008, Chicago Tribune. July 9, 2008. 'Trapped" is not the only person living, unhappily, with a spouse who can no longer have sex. Today we hear from several more Gayle: I'm 45, my husband is 53. We have two children and are committed to being an intact family. But we don't have sex because of his health. I yearn for the spiritual and physical connection that I can't get from him. His indifference to my suffering has made me seriously contemplate divorce over the last eight years. I even went so far as to hire a lawyer. Many people might say you don't have to have intercourse to have sex. I know that. We've tried many times to re-create the intimate feelings in alternative ways, but to be perfectly honest, it just makes me miss the sex even more. Your advice to have a discreet affair has some value, but with whom? All the men I know are friends of ours. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/many-more-readers-say-th ey-feel-trapped.html What Kind Of Economist Is Phil Gramm? Copyright by The Wonk Room. July 11, 2008. Our guest blogger is James K. Galbraith, author of The Predator State: How Conservatives Abandoned the Free Market and Why Liberals Should Too. A former executive director of the Joint Economic Committee, Galbraith teaches at The University of Texas at Austin. Phil Gramm is not John McCain?s pastor. He?s his closest economic adviser, and according to many reports practically the designated Secretary of the Treasury in a McCain administration. John McCain believes Phil Gramm to be a great economist. To the extent that John McCain has economic ideas, he gets them from Phil Gramm. Or did, until yesterday. So it is perhaps worthwhile to ask, what kind of economist is Phil Gramm?/Phil Gramm?s Greatest Hits: ?Poor People Are Fat? And ?There Should Be No Minimum Wage? Copyright by Think Progress.org. July 11, 2008 During the last two days, the McCain campaign has gone into damage control over top economic adviser Phil Gramm?s belief that America has ?become a nation of whiners? and is only ?in a mental recession.? McCain tried to disavow the remarks by saying that ?Phil Gramm does not speak for me.? But McCain?s distancing doesn?t change the fact that Gramm is considered his ?econ brain.? McCain thinks so highly of Gramm that he was even the chairman of his failed 1996 presidential bid. As it turns out, this is not the first time that Gramm, a self-styled ?foot soldier of the Reagan revolution,? has advocated controversial views on the economy. In the past, he has criticized public works projects, the existence of a minimum wage, and the federal welfare program. Here are some highlights from McCain?s ?econ brain,? as compiled by the Houston Chronicle [2/20/95]: http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/what-kind-of-economist-i s-phil.html Chicagoland Chicago Tribune Editorial -Bitter Taste Copyright ? 2008, Chicago Tribune. July 10, 2008. Tens of thousands of people were streaming away from the lakefront and Taste of Chicago after the city's July 3 fireworks show when a southern flank of the Loop turned into a shooting gallery. One person was killed and three were wounded. The next night, July 4, there was another shooting near the Taste festival. And people who came to the park for the fireworks report they were intimidated by roving gangbangers in Grant Park. The Loop shootings didn't happen at the Taste itself. But there were 25 arrests at the festival July 3, most for reckless conduct, and 23 arrests outside the grounds. Last year, only six people were arrested in and around the grounds on July 3. In both 2007 and 2008, police reported eight arrests on July 4. The city's July 3 fireworks show is hugely popular, drawing some 1 million people. Taste attracted 3.5 million over 10 days. It's difficult to police?and protect?such big and fluid crowds. So we won't jump to the conclusion that the Chicago Police Department, under new Supt. Jody Weis, blew the assignment. And talk that what happened last week might affect the city's 2016 Olympics bid? Well, that's just silly. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/chicago-tribune-editoria l-bitter-taste.html Mice Close Whole Foods Store - Mice, supermarkets and food safety. Posted by Renee Enna at 10:00 a.m. CDT. Copyright ? 2008, The Chicago Tribune. July 10, 2008. The discovery of mouse droppings that closed Whole Foods Market in Lincoln Park offers a sage reminder to cityfolk that we're not the only ones who like food-centered businesses. The store, at 1000 W. North Ave, was closed Wednesday by the Chicago Department of Public Health after inspectors found mouse feces throughout the premises, including more than 100 droppings in one walk-in cooler alone, according to the department. Also found was a dead mouse on a glueboard trap. Wednesday's visit was a follow-up to an inspection on June 27, when inspectors ordered management to eliminate the infestation and warned that there would be a re-inspection, according to Tim Hadac, the department's spokesman. On Wednesday, inspectors found "no compliance," which automatically raises the violation from ?serious? to ?critical,? which prompted the closing, Hadac said. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/mice-close-whole-foods-s tore-mice.html Speculation grows on governor?s pick to succeed Obama By Dennis Conrad. Copyright by The Associated Press. July 9, 2008. WASHINGTON?If the nation?s voters decide to send Sen. Barack Obama to the White House, there would be another election of sorts in his home state of Illinois. Ill. Gov. Rod Blagojevich, a two-term Democrat at odds with members of his own party, would alone choose who succeeds the state?s junior senator. Some politicians are talking openly about the possibility of being appointed to the Senate and bloggers have begun playing the ?who?s next? game about the person to fill out the remaining two years of Obama?s term. ?I?m sure a lot of people are trying to tell the governor what to do?absolutely,? said U.S. Rep. Danny Davis (D-Chicago), who did not rule out accepting an appointment. Recently, the governor was asked about Obama?s seat and he mentioned several members of Congress. He also mentioned Tammy Duckworth, the director of the Illinois Department of Veterans? Affairs who in 2006 lost a bid for Congress. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/speculation-grows-on-gov ernors-pick-to.html Chicago Sun-Times Editorial - Get to work, for law's sake. Copyright by The Chicago Sun-Times. July 9, 2008. Let's end the madness already. State legislators are due in Springfield for a special session today, called by Gov. Blagojevich to figure out how to fill what he says is a $2 billion hole in the state budget that began July 1. The outcome is all but certain, which makes this session of two days or more yet another waste of time and taxpayer money. The Associated Press Tuesday estimates a two-day session costs $80,000. By Friday, Blagojevich is expected to have cut $1.5 billion from the budget by trimming funds for social services, health care, economic development, public safety and more. Before then, the House will go through the motions of considering Blagojevich's favored revenue bills. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/chicago-sun-times-editor ial-get-to-work.html Chicago Tribune Editorial - Killing the sales tax hike. Copyright by The Chicago Tribune. July 7, 2008. Day after day, Cook County Board members who voted to raise the sales tax awaken to more headaches that will keep their dereliction of duty right where it belongs: in the forefront of furious voters' minds. Last week Fitch Ratings, a