[News] The Hope Newsletter - May 10, 2008

[Carlos Mock]

“Pessimism never won any batte.”
 Dwight David Eisenhower

Let’s hope there is enough Hope in Mr. Obam’s heart to deal with the deck
he will inherit.



Your Lack of Money
Misleading growth statistics giv false comfort By Martin Feldstein.
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008.  Published: May 7 2008 18:54 |
Last updated: May 7 2008 18:54.  Prepositions matter. Th recent government
report that US gross domestic product increased 0.6 per cet in the first
quarter was very misleading. It implied that economic activty was rising in
January, February and March. But the increase actually reers to the rise
from the average level in the fourth quarter of 2007 to he average level in
the first quarter. Monthly data since January indicatethat economic
activity and GDP have been declining since the start of thisyear.  Private
sector payroll employment peaked last November and has falle five months in
a row, shedding more than 300,000 jobs. Industrial prodction was lower in
March than in December and January. Real personal income et of taxes and
transfers is also lower than in January. Real retail sales hae fallen since
the start of the year. Private housing starts are down 13 per ent in just
the two months since January and 36 per cent from a year ago.  Alhough the
government does not provide monthly estimates of GDP, Macroeconomc
Advisers, a private forecaster, constructs them using the same conceptual
aproach as the government uses for its quarterly estimates. The companyestimates real GDP based on the price level of the year 2000. Its mot
recent estimates (revised figures to be published this month) show that real
GDP rose from an annual $11,649bn last October to $11,701bn in December and
$11,777bn in Januar but fell to $11,686bn in March, a decline of about
$100bn in two months. Alhough GDP declined during the first quarter, the
average of the monhly figures in the first quarter ($11,711bn) is higher
than the average of he monthly figures for the final quarter of 2007
($11,675bn). 
http://iretredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/misleading-growth-statis
tics-givefalse.html

More US businesses file for bankruptcy By James Politi in Washigton.
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008.  Published: May 6 2008 22:2 |
Last updated: May 6 2008 22:22.  Corporate bankruptcy filings in the S last
month rose more than 50 per cent over the previous year’s figure as the
economy weakens and an increasing number of businesses fail.  Accoring to
Jupiter eSources, a research group in Oklahoma that tracks data fro US
courts, 5,173 companies filed for bankruptcy protection in April.  he
number of commercial bankruptcy filings has been steadily rising over he
past few months, with readings of 3,808 in December and 4,236 in February.
Several high-profile companies have been forced into Chapter 11 bankruptcy
recently, includi Tropicana, the casino company, and Linens N Things, the
retailer that wa taken private by Apollo Management, the US private equity
group, two yearsago.  The US economy has been growing at a sluggish annual
rate of 0.6 per ent for the past six months.
http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/008/05/more-us-businesses-file-
for-bankruptcy.html

Wall Street fall as oil hits new highs By Anuj Gangahar in New York.
Copyright The Financal Times Limited 2008.  Published: May 9 2008 13:24 |
Last updated: May 92008 15:17.  US stocks fell at the open on Friday as
steep losses at insure American International Group fuelled credit concerns
and the soaring rice of oil raised inflation worries  Shortly after the
market opened in New ork, the S&P 500 index was 0.8 per cent lower at
1,387.25 while the Nsdaq composite was 0.7 per cent lower at 2,434.13. The
Dow Jones IndustrialAverage was down 0.7 per cent at 2.434.13.  The crisis
at AIG deepened on Tursday after $15bn in credit-related writedowns plunged
the US insurer ino a record quarterly loss, reported after the market
closed, and prompted t to raise $12.5bn to bolster its weakened balance
sheet.  AIG’s poor first uarter results and capital raising plans will
increase pressure on Martin Sllivan, chief executive, and dispel investor
hopes that turbulence in the credit markets has subsided. AIG shares were
down 5.8 per cent to $41.53.
http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/008/05/wall-street-falls-as-oil
-hits-new-highs.html

Citigroup considrs $400bn asset sales By Francesco Guerrera in New York.
Copyright The Financal Times Limited 2008.  Published: May 9 2008 00:41 |
Last updated: Ma 9 2008 14:51.  Citigroup on Friday confirmed that at least
$400bn in noncore assets could be sold as part of plans to reduce costs and
restore profitgrowth to double-digit rates.  At a long-awaited meeting with
Wall Street anaysts, Vikram Pandit, Citi’s chief executive, also plans to
confirm his pledge first disclosed in the Financial Times, to cut Citi’s
cost base of more tan $60bn by about 20 per cent.  Despite his desire to
prune Citi’s balance heet aggressively, Mr Pandit will use the meeting to
rebuff calls for a breakup of the company, say sources familiar with his
thinking. They say he wil defend Citi’s “universal banking model” combining
consumer and wholesale anking.  Mr Pandit is likely to say that about 20
per cent of Citi’s $2,000b-plus balance sheet consists of “legacy” assets –
entire businesses or tradin positions outside its core businesses in
commercial, consumer and invesment banking.
http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/citigroup-onsiders-400b
n-asset-sales.html

UBS to shed a further 2,600 bankers By Hig Simonian in Zurich.  Copyright
The Financial Times Limited 2008.  ublished: May 6 2008 08:14 | Last
updated: May 6 2008 13:53.  UBS is to cutanother 2,600 jobs from its
investment bank in a further reaction to lsses caused by the US subprime
crisis, the Swiss group said on Tuesday. The latest job cuts – part of a
package to reduce the group’s total wororce by about 5,500 by the middle
of next year – follow the initial 1,50 investment banking jobs shed as the
Swiss group emerged as the biggest European casualty of the turmoil in
credit markets in recent months.  The bank, which posted a SFr11.54bn
($11n, €7.1bn) pre-tax loss for the first quarter, said that while most of
te investment banking cuts would be involuntary, it hoped the job losses i
other parts of the group could come through attrition and internal
rdeployments.  The losses, prompted by about $19bn of further write-down
on troubled holdings, were in line with the figures indicated by the bank onApril 1. However, UBS on Tuesday added a more positive forecast for its
emaining US positions, which have been sharply reduced, along with a goomy
profits outlook for the full year.
http://iretiredfromnewsletters.bogspot.com/2008/05/ubs-to-shed-further-2600
-bankers.html

US shoppers stic to the bargain basement By Daniel Pimlott in New York.
Copyright The Finacial Times Limited 2008.  Published: May 8 2008 17:47 |
Last updated: May  2008 20:27.  US shoppers continued to veer towards
cheaper stores and essetial goods and away from discretionary items in
April but brought some relef for retailers after a poor start to the year.
Same-store sales, a ey retail measure of sales in stores open at least a
year, rose by 3.3 per cnt against expectations of a 1.1 per cent rise
according to Retail Metric, which analyses shopping trends.  The rise
suggested a better period for shops after weaker sales over the past few
months, but still pointed to a consumer who is contending with record oi
bills and falling home prices.  Wal-Mart, the world’s largest retailer,and
Costco, the warehouse club, in particular benefited from the upturn in
sles, in a sign that cost-conscious consumers are turning increasingly t
discount retailers and bulk buying as the US economy slows.  Teen appare
retailers bucked the trend among clothes retailers to receive a boost frm
warmer April weather.
http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/u-shoppers-stick-to-bar
gain-basement.html

U.S. aims to rein in 'unfair' creit cards By Becky Yerak.  Copyright ©
2008, Chicago Tribune.  May 3, 2008. Addressing "unfair" and "deceptive"
practices in the credit card business, he Federal Reserve on Friday
proposed sweeping new rules to reform an ndustry that wields
ever-increasing power.  The Fed, which has been criticzed for reacting too
slowly to the mortgage crisis, along with the Office ofThrift Supervision
and the National Credit Union Administration, want to, mong other things,
give consumers enough time to make their payments and sop credit card
companies from charging punishing interest rates on outstaning balances.
"This is the first time in many years that so many new rule involving the
credit card industry have been proposed at one time, said Judith Rinearson,
a partner with law firm Bryan Cave LLP in New York nd a former group
counsel for the American Express Global Travelers Cheque."In this economic
environment, such regulation is probably inevitable."  ne rule would ensure
that statements are mailed or delivered at least 21 days before the payment
due date.  Another would prohibit credit card companies from applyig
partial payments to only the balances on the credit card with the lowest
nterest rates, forcing them to apply at least some of the payment to
higher-ate balances.
http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/us-aims-t-rein-in-unfai
r-credit-cards.html



Gold and Commodities

Oil $126.2
Siler Bullion $16.81
Gold Bullion $885
Platinum Bullion $ $2094
Euro            1.5467

Financial Times Editorial Comment: Living in a world of $200 oil.  opyright
The Financial Times Limited 2008.  Published: May 9 2008 19:50 | Lat
updated: May 9 2008 19:50.  It is about 125 years since shipping oilin
wooden barrels became obsolete. An oil price above $125 a barrel, however,and speculation that the price could hit $200 are reminders that we hav
become ever more dependent on the black stuff. Oil is unlikely to hit $200
nd remain above it any time soon – but economies would suffer if it di.
The underlying reason for oil’s tenfold price rise in less than 10 years i
that demand, not least from China and India, has risen rapidly while supplyhas not kept pace. That dynamic is diffrent to the supply shocks of the
1970s, but because truck drivers and commuters cannot easily stop
travelling, even a small deficit in supply can cause large moves  the oil
price.  Tight supply and demand have made markets volatile. The spo price
of oil for immediate delivery remains above the price for delivery i future
months. This suggests particular fear about short-term supplies, hile there
is some evidence that speculation and worried buyers laying in stoks have
pushed up prices. Spot prices could surge or plunge in the short-erm, but
seem unlikely to return to levels that are low and stable for some tme.
http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/financial-times-editria
l-comment_10.html

Oil and corn hit record high By Javier Blas in London. Copyright The
Financial Times Limited 2008.  Published: May 9 2008 08:41 | Lst updated:
May 9 2008 18:49.  Crude oil and corn prices surged to reord highs on
Friday asthe world’s hunger for fuels continued to convulse the energy and
agriculture markets.  The rise in oil prices to a record of $126.2 a barrel
– double the level of a yea ago – was the culmination of a stunning week in
which prices jumped by 10, stoking fears of higher inflation in spite of
lower economic growth. A year that began with people asking whether oil
prices would finally each $100 a barrel is seeing some traders already
betting on when it will ht $200.  The increase in energy costs is putting
fresh pressure on the Orgaisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries, the oil
producers’ cartel, toincrease levels of production.
http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/208/05/oil-and-corn-hit-record-
high.html

Financial Times Editorial Commet: The dollar danger is not over yet.
Copyright The Financial Times Liited 2008.  Published: May 8 2008 19:35 |
Last updated: May 8 2008 19:3  When a currency rises after government
officials say that it should, you larn one thing: that the fundamentals
were pushing it up anyway. It makessense for senior US and European
officials to talk up the dollar against he euro – as they did this week in
the Financial Times – especially nowthat optimism about the US economy
makes theirarguments plausible. In the long run, however, the real risk of
a dollar crisis is against the managed currencies of Asia and the Middle
East.  Early March was time of danger for the dollar. There were forecasts
of a deep depression, liqidity fears around some of the mightiest banks on
Wall Street, and the dollr’s decline against the euro, already rapid, began
to accelerate. Tha decline could have become self-sustaining if investors
had begun to dum US assets, but the decisive rescue of Bear Stearns by the
Federal Reserve shfted expectations about future US interest rates and
restored confidence. Through good judgment, as well as a little good luck,
policymakers have so ar avoided turning a credit crisis into a currency
crisis. Without a run f fresh bad news on the US economy there is little
reason for the dollar to all further.
http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/financial-tmes-editoria
l-comment_09.html





Housing

Illinois Average Rates
5/10/0 - 10:46 PM
30 Yr Fixed                    5.74%
15 Yr Fixed                   5.33%
30 Yr Fixed Jumbo        6.95%
Mood swings against US homes rescue By James Politi and Krishna Guha in
Washington.  Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008.  Published: M 8
2008 22:30 | Last updated: May 9 2008 00:00.  A senior White House offial
set out two conditions on Thursday that would have to be met if the
adinistration is to reach agreement with Democrats on a housing finance
pan.  Keith Hennessey, director of the National Economic Council, told th
Financial Times that a proposal to allow the Federal Housing Administrtion
to refinance up to $300bn (€195bn, £152bn) of mortgages should be modfied
to make the programme self-financing and strengthen its underwriting
tandards.  Buoyed by better-than-expected economic news, the administrationhardened its negotiating stance this week, making clear that the president
wold not accept the plan in its present form. “It clearly is way too
expensiv and it looks way too much like a bail-out,” Mr Hennessey said,
adding tha now the question was whether a compromise could be worked out
that ould still involve an expansion of the role of the FHA, but without
any cot to taxpayers and fewer concerns about “moral hazard”.
http://iretiredromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/mood-swings-against-us-h
omes-rescu.html

Fannie Mae to raise $6bn new capital By Michael Mackenzi in New York.
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008.  Published: May 6 2008 13:45 |
Last updated: May 6 2008 14:38.  Fannie Mae, the largest buyer of mortgages
in the US, on Tuesday eported a first-quarter loss of $2.2bn, posted credit
loss provisions of $31bn and said it would seek $6bn in new capital as the
deteriorating housig market extracted a heavy toll.  Fannie, a government
sponsored enterprise(GSE), swung to a loss of $2.57 a share as home
delinquencies and foreclosurs rose. This was in sharp contrast with a $961m
or 85 cents a share profit fo the first quarter a year ago. Credit losses
were $249m a year ago.  The comany warned that housing faced “severe
weakness” and that house prices would all by 7-9 per cent in 2008, raising
the prospect of further mortgage defauts and home foreclosures.  Fannie
said an estimate of its fair value of netassets was $12.2bn at the end of
the first quarter. This was 66 per cent lwer than the value of $35.8bn
assigned at the end of December. The fairvalue estimate is an
off-balance-sheet measure that Fannie uses to report mar-to-market losses.
The capital raising will consist of selling common stock,convertible and
non-convertible preferred stock, and Fannie will also cut itsquarterly
dividend to 25 cents a share from 35 cents beginning in the tird quarter.
http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/fanniemae-to-raise-6bn-
new-capital.html

US banks continue to tighten lending By rishna Guha in Washington.
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008.  blished: May 6 2008 02:43 |
Last updated: May 6 2008 02:43.  US banks tighteed lending standards in the
early months of this year in near-record nubers, a Federal Reserve report
indicated on Monday, suggesting that the crdit squeeze in the economy
continued to intensify.  The senior loan officers’survey reported that the
fraction of banks tightening lending standards was “lose to or above
historical highs for nearly all loan categories” – including corporate
loans, commercial real estate, mortgages, credit cards and other consumer
loans.  Meanwhile,Ben Bernanke, Fed chairman, called on lenders andolicymakers to help homeowners with negative equity to restructure their
debts and avoid foreclosure.  In a speech, he said in cases when the value
of ahome has fallen far below the value of the mortgage, “the best solution
ma be a write-down of principal ... perhaps combined with a refinancing by
te Federal Housing Administration or other lender”.
http://iretiredfromnewsltters.blogspot.com/2008/05/us-banks-continue-to-tig
hten-lending.html


U.S. ending home sales drop to new low in March By J.W. ELPHINSTONE.
Copyright 008 Associated Press.  May 7, 2008.  NEW YORK - An industry group
said Wedesday that pending U.S. home sales dropped to a new low in March,
signaling he housing slump has yet to bottom out even as the spring sell
season gets nder way.  The National Association of Realtors' seasonally
adjsted index of pending sales for existing homes fell to 83.0 from a
downwadly revised February reading of 83.8, the index's previous low. The
index tood at 103.9 in March 2007.  Wall Street economists polled by
Thomson/IF had predicted the index would slip to a readin of 83.8.  A
reading of 100 is equal to the average level of sales activity in 2001, when
the index started. 
http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/us-pendinghome-sales-dr
op-to-new-low.html

Fed auctions $75 billion to banks to give redit relief By Jeannine Aversa.
Copyright © 2008, Chicago Tribune.  9:15 AM DT, May 6, 2008.  Battling to
relieve stressed credit markets, the FederalReserve said Tuesday it has
provided a total of $435 billion in short-term oans to squeezed banks since
December to help them overcome credit problems. The central bank announced
the results of its most recent auction -- another$75 billion in short-term
loans -- the 11th such auction since the programstarted in December.  It's
part of an ongoing effort by the Fed to help eae the credit crunch, which
erupted last August, intensified in December ad January and took another
turn for the worst in March, when Bear Stears -- the nation's fifth-largest
investment house -- edged closer to the brik of bankruptcy.  The housing,
credit and financial crises have weakeed the economy and threaten to push
it into recession.  In the latest action, commercial banks paid an interest
rate of 2.220 percent for the loans. There were 71 bidders for the slice of
the $75 billion in 28-day loans. The ed received bids for $96.62 billion
worth of the lans. The auction was conducted on Monday with the results
released Tuesday. 
http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/fed-auctions-75-billion-
to-banks-to.html

Illinois home sales dro 27% in first quarter - Median home price down 4.3%
in state By James P. Miller.  Copyright © 2008, Chicago Tribune.  97 AM
CDT, May 9, 2008  Home sales in Illinois tumbled 27 percent in the first
quarter, a real estate trade group reported Friday, hurt by "theongoing
credit crunch and a softening economy."  The Illinois Association of
Realtors said total home sales, including condominiums and single-family
homes, plunged to 21,576 from the year-ago quarter's 29,553 sales.
Statewide, the median home price was $187,500 in the first quarter, down 4.3
percent from the year-earlier period's $196,000 median price.  Kay Wirth,
presdent of the Illinois association, said sales activity has been dampened
i part by "extreme winter weather on top of shaky consumer confidence to
rising gas and food prices and th uncertain economy."
http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/illnois-home-sales-drop
-27-in-first.html

US trade deficit narrowed in March By James Politi in Washington.  Copyright
The Financial Times Limited 2008.  Published: May 9 2008 14:49 | Last
updated: May 9 2008 14:49.  The US trade deficit narrowed by 5.7 per cent to
$58.2bn in March, as weak demand for imported goods due to the economic
downturn offset a shrinking of US export volume that was ascribed to a fall
in aircraft shipments.  The data, released on Friday, was significantly
better than the $61bn trade deficit expected by most economists. Several
reacted by saying that US gross domestic product for the first quarter,
which was initially estimated to have grown at an annual rate of 0.6 per
cent, could now be revised higher.  Goldman Sachs and Citigroup economists
both said that the improvement in the trade balance could lead the Commerce
Department to add half a percentage point to US GDP in the first quarter.
Imports fell by $6.1bn to $206.7bn, the most since the September 11
terrorist attacks, in a clear sign that the weak dollar and US economic woes
are affecting the appetite of American consumers and business for purchases
of imports, particularly cars. The US trade deficit with China fell to
$16.1bn - its lowest level in two years. However, deficits with Japan, the
European Union and Mexico expanded.
http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/us-trade-deficit-narrowe
d-in-march.html


International

International Herald Tribune Editorial - Medvedev's first crisis.  Copyright
by The international Herald Tribune.  Published: May 7, 2008.  Russia is
playing a game of cat-and-mouse with Georgia that could quickly turn deadly.
The Kremlin has never been happy with Georgia's pro-Western preferences and
was infuriated by its push for membership in NATO. Because of Moscow's
fierce objections, the Atlantic alliance decided last month to postpone
membership talks with Georgia. Moscow saw that as confirmation that its
bullying and threats work - and decided to bully and threaten even more.
First, Russia announced plans to strengthen ties with two pro-Russian
breakaway regions in Georgia - Abkhazia and South Ossetia. Last week, it
sent hundreds of extra "peacekeepers" to Abkhazia. Russian officials said
the troops are needed to protect the province from a Georgian invasion, and
it insisted that the contingent would remain within the 3,000-troop limit
allowed under a 1994 UN-brokered cease-fire. The deployment almost certainly
violated the peacekeeping mandate because it was done without Georgia's
approval.  Russia's new president, Dmitri Medvedev, who was sworn in on
Wednesday, needs to move quickly to calm things down. There are questions
about whether Medvedev will be his own man or just a creature of President
Vladimir Putin, and this would be a way to prove his independence.
http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/international-herald-tri
bune-editorial_9514.html

Is it Time to Invade Burma? By ROMESH RATNESAR.  Copyright by CNN.com News.
Saturday, May. 10, 2008.  The disaster in Burma presents the world with
perhaps its most serious humanitarian crisis since the 2004 Asian tsunami.
By most reliable estimates, close to 100,000 people are dead. Delays in
delivering relief to the victims, the inaccessibility of the stricken areas
and the poor state of Burma's infrastructure and health systems mean that
number is sure to rise. With as many as 1 million people still at risk, it
is conceivable that the death toll will, within days, approach that of the
entire number of civilians killed in the genocide in Darfur./Burma defies
calls to let aid workers in By Amy Kazmin in Bangkok, Harvey Morris at the
United Nations and James Blitz in London.  Copyright The Financial Times
Limited 2008.  Published: May 9 2008 09:05 | Last updated: May 9 2008 23:12.
Burma’s ruling junta was on Friday night locked in a stand-off with the
international community after flatly refusing to allow foreign aid workers
into the country to tackle the impact of the recent cyclone disaster.  Amid
clear indications that between 60,000 and 100,000 people are now dead or
missing in the region, the Burmese junta said it was prepared to receive
offers of aid from foreign sources, including the US.
http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/burma-defies-calls-to-le
t-aid-workers.html

International Herald Tribune Editorial - Burma's twin disasters: A cyclone
and the generals.  Copyright by The International Herald Tribune.
Published: May 6, 2008.  By all accounts, Cyclone Nargis has devastated
Burma - a 12-foot wall of water swept away entire villages, leaving the
coastal plain under water, thousands dead, missing or homeless, and much of
the capital city of Rangoon without electricity or water.  It is the sort of
disaster that brings the world together in a single-minded and unconditional
desire to help, and the reaction of national governments, the United Nations
and international humanitarian organizations has been swift and noble. There
is no time to waste.  We wish we could also say that this is no time for
politics, but that would not be true. Burma - or Myanmar, as its junta wants
it called - has been under the dictatorial rule of the military for 46
years, increasingly isolated from the rest of the world and struggling under
economic sanctions by the United States and Europe. Last September, the
world was forcibly reminded of the junta's brutality when it crushed
peaceful protest marches by Buddhist monks./Financial Times Editorial:
Burma’s tragedy.  Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008
Published: May 8 2008 19:23 | Last updated: May 8 2008 19:23.  The full
extent of the cataclysmic cyclone that has devastated southern Burma has
taken time to become so horribly apparent. That was time during which the
paranoid and isolated military junta led by Than Shwe should have been
straining every muscle and mobilising every resource – in and outside the
country – to come to the rescue of its stricken countrymen in the heavily
populated Irrawaddy delta.  But this army, so adept at crushing any
challenge to its authority and monopoly of scarce resources, and deployed
purely to safeguard the privileges and power of the generals, has done
nothing of the sort.  The regime’s reaction is breathtaking in its cynicism.
Far from responding to a national emergency, the junta is going ahead with a
constitutional referendum – part of its so-called roadmap to democracy – and
holding up the entry of urgently needed foreign aid.
http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/international-herald-tri
bune-editorial_7185.html

IMF warns on global inflation.  Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008
By Krishna Guha in Washington, Javier Blas and Chris Giles in London and
Ralph Atkins in Athens.  Published: May 8 2008 21:44 | Last updated: May 8
2008 21:44.  Global inflation has re-emerged as a major threat to the world
economy, the International Monetary Fund said on Thursday in a stark warning
that marked an abrupt change of tone from its emphasis on the risks to
growth.  John Lipsky, IMF deputy managing director, said “inflation concerns
have resurfaced after years of quiescence” due to soaring energy and food
prices. Mr Lipsky said global growth was slowing but headline inflation was
“accelerating”. 
http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/imf-warns-on-global-infl
ation.html

Cuba may end dual currency - Bank advises gradual shift, fewer subsidies.
Copyright by The Associated Press.  May 10, 2008.  HAVANA — Cuba's central
bank is urging the government to gradually unify the island's two parallel
currencies and cut back on "indiscriminate" subsidies, according to an
internal report obtained by The Associated Press on Friday.  The document,
which was distributed to Communist Party members, says a single, strong peso
would boost productivity and morale in Cuba. The island now has two separate
currencies: one for locals, and one designed principally for foreigners.
Party members were instructed to discuss the bank's recommendations between
April and June. One of those members provided a copy of the document to a
local journalist. 
http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/cuba-may-end-dual-curren
cy-bank-advises.html


Mess-o-potamia

Financial Times Editorial Comment: Beirut on fire.  Copyright The Financial
Times Limited 2008.  Published: May 9 2008 19:43 | Last updated: May 9 2008
19:43.  The stand-off in Beirut between the shaky, western-backed government
and an opposition spearheaded by Hizbollah, the Shia Islamist group backed
by Iran, has taken an alarming turn. Lebanon may finally be committing
suicide as a nation.  Hizbollah overran west Beirut on Friday in a
devastating show of force that left the Sunni-led coalition of Fuad Siniora
reeling.  There seem to be no limits to the depths into which Lebanon’s
politicians can dig a country they treat as booty or an arena for proxy war.
Their struggle for power is now fatally tied to the visceral contest between
Sunni and Shia Muslims that was uncorked across the region by the US-led
invasion of Iraq. 
http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/financial-times-editoria
l-comment_5854.html

Hizbollah seizes Muslim west Beirut By Roula Khalaf, Middle East Editor.
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008.  Published: May 9 2008 21:42 |
Last updated: May 9 2008 23:46.  It took Lebanon’s Hizbollah group just a
few hours on Friday to seize control of Muslim west Beirut and bring the
country’s western-backed government to its knees.  Amid scenes reminiscent
of the 1975-90 civil war, the country’s most heavily armed and disciplined
force deployed its gunmen around al-Mustaqbal newspaper – owned by Saad
Hariri, the leading Sunni in the pro-western governing coalition – at about
7am, setting the fourth floor of the building ablaze.  The Lebanese national
army, no match for the Shia militant group and eager to stay out of the
domestic battle, quickly arrived. But instead of confronting the gunmen, it
turned into the negotiator, asking staff to evacuate and thus avert a
storming of the building./Hizbollah seizes large parts of Beirut By Roula
Khalaf, Middle East Editor.  Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008.
Published: May 8 2008 18:56 | Last updated: May 9 2008 09:16.  Gunmen loyal
to the Shia militant group Hizbollah seized control of several Beirut
neighbourhoods on Friday, and shut down a pro-government newspaper and
television station as opposition forces tightened their grip on the Lebanese
capital.  About 11 people were killed in clashes as gun fire echoed around
the city, amid growing fears that the violence threatened to degenerate into
a broader Sunni-Shia conflict and wider regional conflict. Forces loyal to
the weak US-backed government appeared unable to match the better armed and
organised Hizbollah gunmen, who were supported by fighters loyal to Amal,
another Shia opposition movement.
http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/hizbollah-seizes-large-p
arts-of-beirut.html

Financial Times Editorial Comment: Mideast mediation needs new dynamic.
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008.  Published: May 4 2008 20:05 |
Last updated: May 4 2008 20:05.  Yet another meeting of would-be Middle East
peacemakers – the Quartet made up of the US, United Nations, European Union
and Russia – has yielded yet more pious exhortations to Israelis and
Palestinians to agree the terms of a future Palestinian state. Nobody is
holding his breath, and no wonder.  Since last November’s conference in
Annapolis, when the two direct parties to the conflict undertook to
negotiate a resolution to it by the end of this year, prospects for peace
have gone sharply backwards.  The increasingly vicious conflict in Gaza,
where Hamas rains primitive rockets on neighbouring Israeli towns and dozens
of Palestinian civilians are dying in Israel’s reprisals and targeted
assassinations, has turned into a siege. The occupied West Bank, cut into
slices by some 560 Israeli checkpoints, is being further colonised by the 
expansion of Jewish settlements, announced within days of Annapolis.  That 
has led to much international handwringing, but nothing to stop Israel’s 
creeping annexation of the West Bank, which not only defies international 
law but undermines Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president, and the US and 
Israel’s preferred interlocutor. Israel, meanwhile, spurns a ceasefire offer 
from Hamas, claiming that would delegitimise Mr Abbas. 
http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/financial-times-editoria
l-comment_05.html

Iraqi alleges Abu Ghraib torture, sues US contractors By GREG RISLING.  
Copyright 2008 Associated Press.  4:40 AM CDT, May 6, 2008.  LOS ANGELES - 
An Iraqi man sued two U.S. military contractors, claiming he was repeatedly 
tortured while being held at the notorious Abu Ghraib prison for more than 
10 months.  Emad al-Janabi's federal lawsuit, filed Monday in Los Angeles, 
claims that employees of CACI International Inc. and L-3 Communications 
Holdings Inc. punched him, slammed him into walls, hung him from a bed frame 
and kept him naked and handcuffed in his cell beginning in September 2003.  
Also named as a defendant is CACI interrogator Steven Stefanowicz, known as 
"Big Steve." The suit claims he directed some of the torture tactics.  Phone 
messages left for Arlington, Va.-based CACI and New York City-based L-3 
Communications, formerly Titan Corp., were not immediately returned Monday. 
There was no phone number listed for Stefanowicz at his Los Angeles address.  
The lawsuit, filed in Los Angeles because Stefanowicz lives there, seeks 
unspecified monetary damages.  The firms provided interrogators or 
interpreters to assist U.S. military guards at Abu Ghraib, which became 
notorious when photos made public in early 2004 showing U.S. soldiers 
abusing and humiliating detainees. Military investigators later concluded 
that much of the abuse happened in late 2003 -- when CACI and Titan's 
interrogators were at the prison. 
http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/iraqi-alleges-abu-ghraib
-torture-sues.html

Bomber was in Guantanamo - Former U.S. detainee named in Iraq attack By Ben 
Fox.  Copyright by The Associated Press.  11:37 PM CDT, May 7, 2008.  SAN 
JUAN, Puerto Rico — A Kuwaiti freed from Guantanamo Bay carried out a 
suicide car bombing recently in Iraq, the U.S. military said Wednesday, 
confirming what is believed to be the first such attack by a former detainee 
at the U.S. military detention center in Cuba.  Abdallah Salih al-Ajmi took 
part in one of three suicide bomb attacks last month that targeted Iraqi 
security forces in the northern city of Mosul, said U.S. Navy Cmdr. Scott 
Rye, a military spokesman in Baghdad. At least seven people were killed in 
the attacks.  Ajmi's American lawyer said incarceration at Guantanamo may 
have turned the Kuwaiti into a terrorist. But the U.S. military says he was 
already an enemy combatant when he was brought to Guantanamo in 2002 after 
being captured in Afghanistan.  As many as 36 former Guantanamo detainees 
have taken up hostilities against the U.S., including some who have been 
taken back into custody or killed, the Pentagon says. Ajmi is apparently the 
first to have become a suicide bomber, said Navy Cmdr. Jeffrey Gordon, a 
Pentagon spokesman. 
http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/bomber-was-in-guantanamo
-former-us.html



National

CAPITAL PUNISHMENT - Cruel and unusual history By Gilbert King.  Copyright 
by The International Herald Tribune.  Published: May 5, 2008.  The U.S. 
Supreme Court has concluded, in a 7-2 ruling, that Kentucky's three-drug 
method of execution by lethal injection does not violate the Eighth 
Amendment's prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment. In writing his 
opinion, Chief Justice John Roberts cited a Supreme Court principle from a 
ruling in 1890 that defines cruelty as limited to punishments that "involve 
torture or a lingering death."  But the court was wrong in the 19th century, 
an error that has infected its jurisprudence for more than 100 years. In 
America's landmark capital punishment cases, the resultant executions were 
anything but free from torture and prolonged deaths.  The first of those 
landmark cases, the 1879 case of Wilkerson v. Utah, was cited by Justice 
Clarence Thomas, in his concurring opinion in the Kentucky case. The court 
"had no difficulty concluding that death by firing squad" did not amount to 
cruel and unusual punishment, Thomas wrote.  Wallace Wilkerson might have 
begged to differ. Once the Supreme Court affirmed Utah's right to eradicate 
him by rifle, Wilkerson was let into a jailyard where he declined to be 
blindfolded. A sheriff gave the command to fire and Wilkerson braced for the 
barrage. He moved just enough for the bullets to strike his arm and torso 
but not his heart. "My God!" Wilkerson shrieked. "My God! They have missed!" 
http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/capital-punishment-cruel
-and-unusual.html

6 fraternities suspended in drug probe at San Diego State U. By ALLISON 
HOFFMAN.  Copyright 2008 Associated Press.  8:56 AM CDT, May 7, 2008.  SAN 
DIEGO - San Diego State University has suspended six fraternities after a 
sweeping drug investigation that landed dozens of students in jail on 
suspicion of openly dealing drugs on campus.  The probe -- prompted by the 
cocaine overdose death last year of a freshman sorority member -- led to the 
arrests of 96 people, 75 of them San Diego State students. A second drug 
death occurred during the investigation.  Twenty-nine people were arrested 
early Tuesday in raids at nine locations including the Theta Chi fraternity, 
where agents found cocaine, Ecstasy and three guns, authorities said. 
Eighteen of those arrested were wanted on warrants for selling to undercover 
agents.  Theta Chi and five other fraternities have been suspended pending a 
hearing on evidence gathered during the investigation, dubbed Operation 
Sudden Fall.  All of the arrested students have been suspended and will be 
barred from attending classes or taking final exams until their cases are 
reviewed, San Diego State President Stephen Weber said in a statement. Those 
who live in university-owned housing were evicted, he added. 
http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/6-fraternities-suspended
-in-drug-probe.html

On the pot-holed highway to hell By John Gapper.  Copyright The Financial 
Times Limited 2008.  Published: May 7 2008 19:37 | Last updated: May 7 2008 
19:37.  If anyone doubts the problems of US infrastructure, I suggest he or 
she take a flight to John F. Kennedy airport (braving the landing delay), 
ride a taxi on the pot-holed and congested Brooklyn-Queens Expressway and 
try to make a mobile phone call en route.  That should settle it, 
particularly for those who have experienced smooth flights, train rides and 
road travel, and speedy communications networks in, say, Beijing, Paris or 
Abu Dhabi recently. The gulf in public and private infrastructure is, to put 
it mildly, alarming for US competitiveness.  You might have expected that 
investing in US infrastructure would be a hot political topic this year. 
Well, no. Hillary Clinton spent the final week of her Indiana campaign 
standing on the back of a pick-up truck arguing for a temporary suspension 
of the “gas tax”, the fuel duty that pays for highways.  You read correctly. 
Faced with the emptying of the Highway Trust Fund, established in 1956 as 
the US entered a period of growth and prosperity, Mrs Clinton suggested 
cutting its source of funds (which she claimed could be made up by a tax on 
oil companies). It was more important to give Americans a summer break from 
$4-per-gallon petrol. 
http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/on-pot-holed-highway-to-
hell.html


Bush Whacking 

A prison of shame.  Copyright by The International Herald Tribune  By 
Nicholas D. Kristof.  Published: May 4, 2008.  My New York Times colleague 
Barry Bearak was imprisoned by the brutal regime in Zimbabwe last month. 
Barry was not beaten, but he was infected with scabies while in a 
bug-infested jail. He was finally brought before a court after four nights 
in jail and then released.  Alas, we don't treat our own inmates in 
Guantánamo with even that much respect for law. On Thursday, America 
released Sami al-Hajj, a cameraman for Al-Jazeera who had been held without 
charges for more than six years. Hajj has credibly alleged that he was 
beaten, and that he was punished for a hunger strike by having feeding tubes 
forcibly inserted in his nose and throat without lubricant, so as to rub 
tissue raw.  "Conditions in Guantánamo are very, very bad," Hajj said in a 
televised interview from his hospital bed in Sudan, adding, "In Guantánamo, 
you have animals that are called iguanas . . . that are treated with more 
humanity."  Al-Jazeera's director general, Wadah Khanfar, said by telephone 
from the hospital that Hajj was so frail when he arrived that he had to be 
carried off the plane and into an ambulance. Guantánamo inmates are not 
allowed to see their families, so that evening Hajj met his 7-year-old son, 
whom he had last seen as a baby.  Reliable information is still scarce about 
Guantánamo, but increasingly we're gaining glimpses of life there - and they 
are painful to read. 
http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/prison-of-shame.html

A lack of patience - Containment worked before. Why not again? By Steve 
Chapman.  Copyright © 2008, Chicago Tribune.  May 8, 2008.  When it comes to 
the war in Iraq and other foreign policy issues, Republicans like to hearken 
back to the stalwart presidents of the Cold War. John McCain has invoked 
Harry Truman and Ronald Reagan as kindred spirits, and so has George W. 
Bush. Which raises the question: Why do they embrace those leaders while 
rejecting their policy?  The centerpiece of the U.S. approach to the Soviet 
Union was captured in a famous 1947 essay by American diplomat George 
Kennan, who rejected either war or retreat in favor of "a long-term, patient 
but firm and vigilant containment of Russian expansive tendencies."  Some 
conservatives, regarding this as appeasement, advocated "rollback" to 
liberate captive nations from oppression. But even resolute anti-communists 
like Dwight Eisenhower and Richard Nixon saw the risks and costs were too 
high. They kept troops to guard Western Europe, built a robust nuclear 
deterrent and employed prudent measures to block Soviet expansion. That was 
containment.  But in the months before the Iraq war, it became a dirty word. 
"Containment is not possible," President Bush insisted, "when unbalanced 
dictators with weapons of mass destruction can deliver those weapons on 
missiles or secretly provide them to terrorist allies." The only remedy for 
such regimes lay in preemptive war. McCain agreed, saying the only option in 
Iraq was "disarmament by regime change." 
http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/lack-of-patience-contain
ment-worked.html

International Herald Tribune Editorial - Big oil's friends in the U.S. 
Senate.  Copyright by The International Herald Tribune.  Published: May 5, 
2008.  Listen to almost any politician, President George W. Bush included, 
and you'll hear that the fight against global warming cannot be won without 
cleaner technologies that will ease dependence on fossil fuels. Yet these 
same politicians are on the verge of allowing modest but vital tax credits 
to expire that are crucial to the future of renewable energy sources like 
wind and solar power.  These credits are necessary to attract investment in 
renewable sources until they become competitive with cheaper, dirtier fuels 
like coal. When the credits disappear, investments shrivel. The production 
tax credit for wind energy has been allowed to expire three times. In each 
case, new investment dropped by more than 70 percent. The credits for wind 
and solar expire at the end of this year, so action now is important.  
Though there is plenty of blame to go around, Bush and Senate Republicans 
bear a heavy burden. The House approved, as part of last year's energy bill, 
a multiyear extension of the credits, while insisting - under its 
pay-as-you-go rules - that they be offset by rescinding an equivalent amount 
in tax credits for the oil companies.  The oil companies screamed, Bush 
lofted veto threats, and the Senate, by a one-vote margin, refused to go 
along. 
http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/international-herald-tri
bune-editorial_05.html

Ex-Halliburton unit in bribery probe By Michael Peel in London and Matthew 
Green in Lagos.  Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008.  Published: May 
9 2008 20:21 | Last updated: May 9 2008 20:21.  US anti-bribery 
investigators are targeting a former Halliburton subsidiary over its work on 
a key Royal Dutch Shell project in Nigeria, widening a corruption probe into 
the country’s troubled oil industry.  The US investigation into 
Halliburton’s Nigerian operations – which covers a period when it was headed 
by Dick Cheney, US vice-president – has uncovered evidence of bribery and is 
now looking at a range of payments made in a number of countries over the 
past 20 years, according to the company.  The developments highlight the 
growing problems the investigation is creating for Halliburton and the 
western multinationals it has worked for in a nation whose oil industry is 
plagued by production disruptions and is the focus of increasing competition 
from Chinese companies.  The US authorities say they have evidence that an 
agent used by Halliburton’s former KBR subsidiary made payments to Nigerian 
officials in connection with the Shell project, according to a filing made 
by Halliburton to the US Securities and Exchange Commission at the end of 
last month. Halliburton and KBR have suspended the agent and another agent 
who had worked for KBR on “several current projects and on numerous older 
projects going back to the early 1980s”, the filing says. 
http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/ex-halliburton-unit-in-b
ribery-probe.html





Indecision 2008

International Herald Tribune Editorial - It's about the White House.  
Copyright by The International Herald Tribune.  Published: May 7, 2008.  
Like many Americans, we have been intrigued and often exasperated by the 
long-running Democratic primary and the ever smaller-bore spats between 
Senators Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama. So we are thankful to 
Senator John McCain for reminding us what this year's presidential race 
really is about.  While Democrats voted in North Carolina and Indiana, 
McCain spoke about his judicial philosophy. He is determined to move a far 
too conservative and far too activist Supreme Court and federal judiciary 
even further and more actively to the right.  McCain predictably criticized 
liberal judges, vowed strict adherence to the founders' views and promised 
to appoint more judges in the mold of Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice 
Samuel Alito. That is just what the United States does not need.  Since 
President George W. Bush chose Roberts and Alito, the court has ordered 
Seattle and Louisville, Kentucky, to scrap voluntary school integration, 
protected employers who illegally mistreat their workers and constrained 
women's right to choose and citizens' right to vote.  McCain did not 
mention, of course, how the Roberts-led court blithely overruled Congress by 
nullifying an important part of the McCain-Feingold campaign finance law. He 
did wax nostalgic about what "the basic right of property" has meant "since 
the founding of America." (He did not mention that in 1789, many women could 
not own property and black people were property, but he did criticize the 
idea that values evolve over time.) 
http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/international-herald-tri
bune-editorial_08.html

McCain's justice - Conservative activism gone wild By Geoffrey R. Stone.  
Copyright © 2008, Chicago Tribune.  May 7, 2008.  Sen. John McCain's speech 
on Tuesday on the role of judges in our constitutional system might very 
well qualify as one of the most ignorant statements ever made by a 
presidential candidate on this important subject.  McCain complained that 
sitting judges and justices systematically "abuse" the federal judicial 
power by issuing "rulings and opinions on policy questions that should be 
decided democratically." McCain, seeking the Republican nomination for 
president, is apparently blissfully unaware that the vast majority of 
current federal judges were appointed by Republican presidents and that 
seven of the nine sitting U.S. Supreme Court justices and 12 of the last 14 
Supreme Court justices were appointed by Republicans. As Pogo once said, "We 
have met the enemy, and he is us."  McCain also seems stunningly unaware 
that the justices he simplistically lauds as "judicial passivists" are 
nothing of the sort. William Rehnquist, Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas, 
and more recently John Roberts and Samuel Alito, have consistently voted to 
invalidate laws at a record clip, most notably holding unconstitutional a 
broad range of laws regulating commercial advertising, limiting corporate 
campaign expenditures and authorizing affirmative action programs to enhance 
educational diversity—to say nothing of Bush vs. Gore. This is not strict 
construction and it is not judicial restraint. It is conservative activism 
gone wild—in judicial robes. McCain just doesn't understand. 
http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/mccains-justice-conserva
tive-activism.html

Why McCain’s big idea is a bad idea By Gideon Rachman.  Copyright The 
Financial Times Limited 2008.  Published: May 5 2008 19:32 | Last updated: 
May 5 2008 19:32.  American presidents are meant to have big ideas about the 
world: a “new frontier”, an “alliance for progress”, a “war on terror”. 
Unfortunately for the Democratic party the big idea that most animates their 
two would-be presidents – Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton – seems to be 
mutually assured destruction.  That has left the field open to Senator John 
McCain. The Republican is currently the only presidential candidate to 
champion a striking new idea about America’s role in the world. The world 
should pay attention, since the chances of Mr McCain winning the presidency 
are going up by the day.  Mr McCain’s big idea is for the formation of a 
“league of democracies” with America at its heart. In a recent speech in Los 
Angeles, he outlined a plan to “harness the vast power of more than 100 
democracies”. This was not just a vague notion tossed out to fill a speech. 
Mr McCain has been banging on about the league of democracies – in public 
and in private – for more than a year. In another speech at the Hoover 
Institution last year, Mr McCain gave some concrete examples of what such a 
league might do. Essentially, it seems to be a means to get around the 
United Nations.  The league could sponsor intervention in Darfur or “bring 
concerted pressure to bear on tyrants in Burma or Zimbabwe, with or without 
Moscow and Beijing’s approval”. Alternatively, “it could unite to impose 
sanctions on Iran”. He promised that he would call a summit of democracies 
in his first year in the White House – and likened the formation of the new 
democratic league to the foundation of Nato.  Mr McCain’s support for a 
league of democracies means that it has quickly been labelled a rightwing 
idea. But variants of the idea have also attracted support from liberals. 
The Princeton Project on National Security – supported by many liberal 
academics – has promoted the idea of a “concert of democracies”. Ivo 
Daalder, an adviser to Mr Obama, has also pushed the idea. 
http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/why-mccains-big-idea-is-
bad-idea.html

Yes Comparisons! Two Points... 
http://www.crooksandliars.com/2008/05/09/countdown-the-pulpit-bullies/

DESERT DEAL - McCain Pushed Land Swap That Benefits Backer By Matthew Mosk.  
Copyright by The Washington Post.  Friday, May 9, 2008; Page A01.  PRESCOTT, 
Ariz. -- Sen. John McCain championed legislation that will let an Arizona 
rancher trade remote grassland and ponderosa pine forest here for acres of 
valuable federally owned property that is ready for development, a land swap 
that now stands to directly benefit one of his top presidential campaign 
fundraisers].  Initially reluctant to support the swap, the Arizona 
Republican became a key figure in pushing the deal through Congress after 
the rancher and his partners hired lobbyists that included McCain's 1992 
Senate campaign manager, two of his former Senate staff members (one of whom 
has returned as his chief of staff), and an Arizona insider who was a major 
McCain donor and is now bundling campaign checks.  When McCain's legislation 
passed in November 2005, the ranch owner gave the job of building as many as 
12,000 homes to SunCor Development, a firm in Tempe, Ariz., run by Steven A. 
Betts, a longtime McCain supporter who has raised more than $100,000 for the 
presumptive Republican nominee. Betts said he and McCain never discussed the 
deal. 
http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/desert-deal-mccain-pushe
d-land-swap.html

International Herald Tribune Editorial - The tax trickery spreads.  
Copyright by The International Herald Tribune.  Published: May 8, 2008.  It 
was bad enough when Senators Hillary Clinton and John McCain decided to 
engage in some petty pandering by calling for a suspension of the federal 
gas tax over the summer. What they suggested would reduce needed tax 
revenues and hamper efforts to combat global warming. And it would fail to 
deliver lower prices while giving oil companies more money. But neither 
senator is actually running the country, so it might be tempting to chalk it 
all up to campaign pandering.  Unfortunately, their demagoguery is growing 
into a real problem, setting off a chain reaction of "me too" proposals 
across the country to suspend state gasoline taxes, which tend to be much 
larger than the 18.4-cent-a-gallon federal levy. If the pandering spreads, 
it would go a long way in setting the nation's energy strategy in precisely 
the wrong direction. 
http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/international-herald-tri
bune-editorial_09.html

A hardened idealist: Obama’s toughest fight By Edward Luce.  Copyright The 
Financial Times Limited 2008.  Published: May 8 2008 20:02 | Last updated: 
May 8 2008 20:02.  At Washington’s annual Gridiron dinner with the media two 
years ago, Barack Obama converted a recent falling-out with fellow senator 
John McCain into material for a humorous speech. The older senator had 
publicly scolded the freshman for behaving with “disingenuousness” over an 
ethics bill on which they had earlier been collaborating.  To the tune of 
“If I only had a brain”, Mr Obama sang: “When a wide-eyed young idealist/ 
Confronts a seasoned realist,/ There’s bound to be some strain. With the 
game barely started,/ I’d be feeling less downhearted/ If I only had 
McCain.”  Two years later, the game is finally getting started and it looks 
likely to be a match between Mr Obama and Mr McCain. The former is perhaps 
less wide-eyed and the latter less of a realist than in 2006. But there is 
already plenty of strain.  “It’s no secret that John McCain has a lot more 
respect for Hillary Clinton than he does for Barack Obama,” says a McCain 
insider, who adds that the Republican nominee has been targeting the 
Illinois senator almost exclusively “not only because Obama is the likeliest 
opponent but because it comes much more naturally”. 
http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/hardened-idealist-obamas
-toughest-fight.html

Obama takes lead among super-delegates By Edward Luce in Washington.  
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008.  Published: May 9 2008 23:11 | 
Last updated: May 9 2008 23:11.  Barack Obama for the first time on Friday 
overtook Hillary Clinton’s support among the unelected “super-delegates” who 
will ultimately settle the Democratic nomination amid signs that people 
around Mrs Clinton were pushing for her to become Mr Obama’s running mate.  
Nine super-delegates on Friday endorsed Mr Obama, including one, Donald 
Payne, an African-American congressman from New Jersey, who switched his 
support from Mrs Clinton saying that Mr Obama “can bring about the change 
the country needs”.  According to the ABC News count, Mr Obama now leads Mrs 
Clinton among super-delegates with 270 endorsements compared to 267 for her 
with another 265 yet to commit.  Mr Obama needs another 170 delegates of any 
type (elected or super-delegate) to cross the 2025 winning threshold.  
Friday’s flurry of support for Mr Obama coincided with a number of possibly 
unauthorized efforts by senior backers of Mrs Clinton to push forward the 
idea of Mrs Clinton becoming Mr Obama’s vice-presidential running mate. 
http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/obama-takes-lead-among-s
uper-delegates.html

Chicago Sun -Times Editorial - Face it, Hillary: It's over.  Copyright by 
The Chicago Sun –Times.  May 8, 2008.  Hillary, it's time to call it quits. 
Don't do it for Barack Obama. Don't do it for the Democratic Party.  After a 
Democratic primary that brought legions of first-time voters to the polls, 
that engaged us as never before, to bow out now would be the right -- even 
noble -- thing to do.  Do it for a nation that is ready for, and has 
everything to gain from, a vigorous general election campaign, one that pits 
the Democratic and Republican nominees long enough to really show us who -- 
Obama or Sen. John McCain -- would be the better president.  Obama has 
Hillary Clinton beat in both the delegate count and the popular vote. Her 
chances of catching up in the six remaining primaries and caucuses are 
virtually nil. Fewer than 500 pledged and superdelegates remain in play, and 
by accepted estimates she would have to pick up 70 percent of them to become 
the nominee. Obama needs just 38 percent. 
http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/chicago-sun-times-editor
ial-face-it.html

Chicago Tribune Editorial -No photo finish for Clinton.  Copyright © 2008, 
Chicago Tribune.  May 8, 2008.  The only filly in the crowded field crossed 
the finish line second, but the fans who'd bet on her still had one last 
gasp of hope. Perhaps some fortuitous technicality would disqualify the 
first-place finisher. But things got worse instead of better. We're talking 
about Eight Belles, who was euthanized Saturday after almost winning the 
Kentucky Derby. But we're thinking about Hillary Clinton.  Like Eight 
Belles, Clinton is determined to finish her race. Coming into the 
stretch—this week's Democratic presidential primaries in North Carolina and 
Indiana—it wasn't easy to count her out. Though the delegate math favored 
Barack Obama, a strong showing in Tuesday's contests would have bolstered 
Clinton's campaign to have the eventual primary outcome overruled. 
Uncommitted superdelegates could cite a close finish as an excuse to support 
Clinton. The cheaters who held early primaries in Michigan and Florida would 
clamor ever louder that they should be forgiven in time to vote for Clinton 
at the August national convention.  Obama ended up gaining ground Tuesday, 
which led to renewed calls for Clinton to drop out of the race. But she's 
still running. 
http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/chicago-tribune-editoria
l-no-photo.html

Well of donors dries up for Clinton.  Copyright The Financial Times Limited 
2008.  By Edward Luce and Stephanie Kirchgaessner in Washington.  Published: 
May 9 2008 19:03 | Last updated: May 9 2008 19:03.  It took 20 years for 
John Glenn, the former astronaut and Democratic senator, to repay the debts 
that he ran up in his failed bid for the presidential nomination in 1984.  
Nobody is predicting that Hillary Clinton, whose campaign debts are 
estimated at between $20m and $30m – and rising – would take that long to 
meet her obligations. But the financial strain is getting more difficult 
with each day.  Having raised little more than $1m (€650,000, £510,000) 
since her defeat in North Carolina and narrow victory in Indiana last 
Tuesday, compared to $10m in the days following her Pennsylvania win last 
month, Mrs Clinton’s decision to fight on is almost certainly adding to her 
mountain of debts.  “I don’t recall the last time any candidate faced 
withdrawal from the race with debts of this magnitude,” says Michael Toner, 
the former head of the Federal Election Commission. “She began the race with 
the most formidable money machine in modern history and she looks likely to 
end it in record debt.” 
http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/well-of-donors-dries-up-
for-clinton.html

Clinton accused of ‘race-baiting’ By Andrew Ward in Washington.  Copyright 
The Financial Times Limited 2008.  Published: May 8 2008 21:50 | Last 
updated: May 9 2008 01:58.  Hillary Clinton added fresh fuel to the racially 
charged Democratic presidential race on Thursday when she touted her appeal 
among “hard-working” white Americans.  Mrs Clinton said she could build a 
broader support base than Barack Obama, her rival for the Democratic 
nomination, because of her strength among working-class white voters.  
Critics accused her of “race-baiting” for equating white people with hard 
work and said the remarks would further inflame racial splits within the 
Democratic party.  In an interview with USA Today, she cited a news report 
on how Mr Obama’s support among “hard-working Americans, white Americans, is 
weakening again, and how whites in both states who had not completed college 
were supporting me”.  Mrs Clinton won 60 per cent of white votes in the 
North Carolina and Indiana primaries on Tuesday. Mr Obama’s clear win in 
North Carolina, where almost 40 per cent of Democrats are black, coupled 
with a narrow loss in Indiana, extended his almost insurmountable lead in 
the Democratic race. 
http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/clinton-accused-of-race-
baiting.html

Thanks to Hillary for being a winner at heart By CAROL MARIN 
cmarin at suntimes.com.  Copyright by The Chicago Sun-Times.  May 10, 2008.  
Shirley Johnson of Knoxville, Tenn., just gave Hillary Clinton money.  "I 
sent her $100," said my old friend.  Shirley, it should be noted, does not 
throw money away. A retired special education supervisor for the county 
school system, she worked tirelessly and saved carefully. To this day, she 
shops like a homicide detective, tracking down any and all information 
before committing to buying anything.  We've been friends for three decades 
and, despite the miles that separate Knoxville from Chicago, have stayed 
close.  And so Wednesday night, after Clinton squeaked out a victory in 
Indiana and lost outright to Barack Obama in North Carolina, I called. And 
that's when Shirley announced she'd just moments earlier on the Internet 
made her first political donation of the presidential season. Why, when the 
drumbeat for Clinton to withdraw was growing in decibels, superdelegates 
were jumping ship and only six primaries remained, why send cash now? 
http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/thanks-to-hillary-for-be
ing-winner-at.html





Chicagoland

Legislators don't trust us? Feeling is mutual BY CAROL MARIN Sun-Times 
Columnist.  Copyright by The Chicago Sun-Times.  May 4, 2008.  Out of the 
legislative madness in Springfield this week came five little words said 
twice for emphasis: “I need a pay raise. I need a pay raise.”  It was Senate 
President Emil Jones speaking.  The chamber he controls in the Illinois 
General Assembly had just moments earlier denied voters of this state the 
right to decide for ourselves if we should be able to recall politicians we 
have elected to public office.  Whether you are a fan of the recall idea or 
not, you now have been summarily stripped of the opportunity to say yes or 
no to amending the state constitution thanks to the Senate that Jones 
controls and his Democratic camp followers who packed the measure with 
poison pills to assure it would be voted down. And who then adjourned, 
preventing Republicans from calling up an earlier, less onerous recall 
measure that might actually have passed. One that would have permitted the 
recall of Gov. Blagojevich or legislators themselves.  No, fellow voters, 
recall is a measure lawmakers think is just too dangerous to put in our 
hands. Why?  If this doesn’t make you laugh until you cry, nothing will. 
Citizens, they warn, might seek revenge against politicians who take 
courageous but unpopular stands. 
http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/legislators-dont-trust-u
s-feeling-is.html

Chicago Tribune Editorial - A stacked deck.  Copyright © 2008, Chicago 
Tribune.  May 7, 2008.  If you were looking for qualified people to overhaul 
one of the worst-run public health systems in the country, would you pick 
someone who has already run a health center into the ground? Todd Stroger 
would and did.   Last week, the Cook County Board president picked nine 
candidates for a supposedly independent board of directors to oversee the 
county's chronically mismanaged and patronage-riddled system of hospitals 
and clinics.  On Stroger's list: F. Daniel Cantrell, who in the late 1980s 
was president of the Mile Square Health Center on the West Side, which 
failed to pay more than $1 million in payroll taxes and went bankrupt.  Not 
an auspicious start.   A nominating committee gave Stroger 20 candidates and 
he chose nine. Stroger's list is heavy on Democratic insiders—Cantrell is an 
aide to U.S. Rep. Danny Davis (D-Ill.). David Carvalho is deputy director of 
the Illinois Department of Public Health. Quin Golden is a former chief of 
staff at the state public health agency. Stroger also went for folks who are 
friendly to organized labor—Jorge Ramirez, secretary-treasurer of the 
Chicago Federation of Labor, and Barbara Hillman, a union attorney. 
http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/chicago-tribune-editoria
l-stacked-deck.html

Chicago Sun -Times Editorial - More cloutrageous choices.  Copyright by The 
Chicago Sun –Times.  May 8, 2008.  Cook County President Todd Stroger had a 
chance at recommending a sterling board to run the county's ailing 
health-care system.  The kind of board whose independence critics couldn't 
question.  The kind of board that would give confidence to taxpayers that 
the nearly $1 billion each year going to county health care is being well 
spent.  Mr. President, you blew it.  Stroger had many good nominees, among 
the 20 he was given, to run the county health system.  But he bypassed many 
with strong backgrounds in health care and finance and focused on people 
with ties to unions or the Democratic Party. One Stroger selection, F. 
Daniel Cantrell, is a congressional aide who ran a health center that went 
bankrupt in the 1980s.  What's worse is a proposal to add a new person to 
the health-care board, Cook County Commissioner Jerry Butler, a strong 
Stroger ally, as a liaison between the commissioners and the health-care 
board. 
http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/chicago-sun-times-editor
ial-more.html

LaSalle Bank brand disappears as BofA takes over By IEVA M. AUGSTUMS.  
Copyright 2008 Associated Press.  10:18 PM CDT, May 4, 2008.  CHARLOTTE, 
N.C. - Bank of America Corp. will officially mark its $21 billion purchase 
of Chicago's LaSalle Bank Corp. on Monday, taking down LaSalle's green and 
yellow colors for the blue and red of Bank of America.  "Those red signs 
will be very evident in Chicago," said Liam McGee, Bank of America's 
president of global consumer and small business banking, in an interview 
with The Associated Press. "When they walk into a former LaSalle banking 
center, it will look and feel like a Bank of America banking center."  The 
nation's second largest bank by assets bought LaSalle Bank last year, 
picking up the unit of ABN Amro Holding Co. as Europe's biggest banks fought 
over the rest of the Dutch company. The deal filled a key gap in the 
Charlotte-based bank's national coverage map, adding thousands of ATMs and 
hundreds of branch offices in Chicago and Michigan.  While Bank of America 
and LaSalle customers have had access more than 18,500 ATMs to make cash 
withdrawals with no fees since October, McGee said customers as of Monday 
will have greater access to most of the bank's products and services in its 
banking centers.  A complete system conversion will occur later this year, 
he said. 
http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/lasalle-bank-brand-disap
pears-as-bofa.html




GLBT

Anti-gay marriage referendum effort fails By Gary Barlow.  Copyright by The 
Chicago Free Press.  May 7, 2008.  Another effort to pass an anti-gay 
marriage referendum in Illinois failed May 5 when organizers didn’t meet the 
deadline for submitting petitions to put the question on the November 
election ballot.  The organizers had pledged to submit more than 300,000 
signatures to put the question on the ballot. If they had, and a majority of 
voters had voted yes, Illinois legislators would have been pressured to pass 
a constitutional amendment banning marriage for gay and lesbian couples.  In 
2006, anti-gay groups mounted a similar effort but managed to gain enough 
signatures to submit them to the Illinois Board of Elections. The question 
never made it past that stage, though. Gay groups such as Equality Illinois, 
Lambda Legal, PFLAG and the Gay Liberation Network, together with allied 
groups such as the ACLU, created FAIR Illinois to challenge the petitions, 
and election officials ruled that there were enough questionable signatures 
to disqualify the petitions./Anti-same-sex marriage referendum push fails by 
Amy Wooten.  Copyright by The Windy City times.  May 7, 2008.  Same-sex 
marriage opponents failed to collect enough signatures to place an advisory 
referendum on the November ballot.  Protect Marriage Illinois ( PMI ) had 
previously boasted that they would turn in 300,000 signatures to the 
Illinois State Board of Elections by the May 5 deadline. In order to place 
an advisory referendum that would ask state legislatures to amend the 
constitution to define marriage as between one man and one woman on the 
ballot, supporters would have had to turn in 270,000 valid signatures.  
According to the Springfield Journal-Register, PMI did not file by the 
deadline. 
http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/great-news-no-il-marriag
e-amendment.html

NY High Court Refuses Gay Marriage Case.  Copyright by 365Gay.com Newscenter 
Staff.  Posted: May 6, 2008 - 5:00 pm ET.  (New York City) The Court of 
Appeals, the highest court in New York State, Tuesday declined to hear a 
case challenging an appeals court ruling that found the marriages of 
same-sex couples married in jurisdictions where they are legal must be 
recognized in New York.  The decision not to accept the case means the lower 
court ruling will stand.  On February 1 the Appellate Division of state 
Supreme Court reversed a judge's ruling in 2006 that Monroe Community 
College did not have to extend health benefits to an employee's lesbian 
partner.  Patricia Martinez, a word processing supervisor, sued the school 
in 2005, arguing that it granted benefits to heterosexual married couples 
but denied them to Martinez and her partner, Lisa Ann Golden.  The couple 
formalized their relationship in a civil union ceremony in Vermont in 2001 
and were married in Canada in 2004.  The college refused to add Golden to 
the health care benefits because its contract with the Civil Service 
Employees Association did not address benefits for same-sex partners. Since 
then, the contract has been enhanced to extend benefits to an employee's 
domestic partner. 
http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/ny-high-court-refuses-ga
y-marriage-case.html

One loving couple's living legacy By Clarence Page.  Copyright © 2008, 
Chicago Tribune.  May 7, 2008.  There is a poignant significance to the 
passing last week of Mildred Loving at a time when a biracial senator leads 
the race for the Democratic presidential nomination. Their stories are 
connected by time, skin color and a Supreme Court decision.  Mildred and 
Richard Loving had been married only five weeks in 1958 when the sheriff 
burst into their Central Point, Va., bedroom with two deputies.  They shined 
flashlights in their eyes and a menacing voice demanded, "Who is this woman 
you're sleeping with?"  When Richard pointed to their marriage certificate 
on a wall, the sheriff responded, "That's no good here." Their District of 
Columbia marriage license was "no good" because Richard was white and 
Mildred was black in a small Virginia town in 1958, when it was one of 16 
states that banned interracial marriage.  The raid, sparked by an anonymous 
tip, resulted in a night in jail for Richard, several more for Mildred, a 
felony conviction and their banishment from returning to the state at the 
same time for 25 years....Frankly, I don't see how anyone else's marriage 
would make my marriage any weaker, as opponents of gay marriage suggest. 
Nevertheless, I expect that debate to continue for a while. Public 
resistance to interracial marriage was a lot weaker in the late 1960s than 
resistance to gay marriages is today.  American attitudes toward race have 
relaxed considerably. Our attitudes toward sex are still pretty uptight. 
http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/one-loving-couples-livin
g-legacy.html

Young gays and marriage By Jennifer Vanasco.  Copyright by Chicago Free 
Press and Jennifer Vanasco.  May 7, 2008.  Young gays and lesbians want to 
be married. And have kids.  That’s what the first survey of the aspirations 
of gay and lesbian youth discovered.  Rockway Institute reported that more 
than 90 percent of the lesbians and more than 80 percent of the gay males 
they surveyed “expect to be partnered in a monogamous relationship after age 
30.”  About two-thirds of the males and just over half of the females said 
they thought it was very likely they’d have children.  What’s extraordinary 
about this is just how very ordinary it is.   Ordinary for mainstream 
society, I mean. When we think of straight young people, we assume they want 
to get married and have children. There are always those who don’t, of 
course, but they tend to be eccentric outliers.  The gay community, though, 
has long assumed the opposite of itself (especially gay men), and the 
mainstream world has assumed the same. Gays were thought to be promiscuous. 
Gays were artists, not parents. Gays were the outrageous life of the party, 
not couples who were in bed by 10 p.m. 
http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/young-gays-and-marriage.
html


Health Care

More killer germs resisting world's antibiotics By Robert S. Boyd.  
Copyright © 2008, Chicago Tribune.  8:39 AM CDT, May 6, 2008.  WASHINGTON - 
The threat of death-defying bacteria, stubborn organisms that refuse to be 
conquered by antibiotic medicines, is growing more alarming.  Infectious 
microbes that used to be able to resist only one drug, such as penicillin or 
methicillin, now resist multiple drugs. Some can survive virtually every 
weapon in doctors' medicine cabinets.  "This is very worrisome," said Stuart 
Levy, a microbiologist at Tufts University in Boston. "In many cases, there 
might be only one or no drugs to treat [an infection]. We are not keeping up 
with the bacteria."  Two troubling recent developments:  •Some bacteria have 
acquired the ability to "eat" the very antibiotic medicines that are 
supposed to eat them. 
http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/more-killer-germs-resist
ing-worlds.html

Chicago Sun-Times Editorial - Parents must confront HPV before girls enter 
teen years.  Copyright by The Chicago Sun-Times.  May 6, 2008.  Parents 
cannot afford to put off getting their daughters vaccinated against the 
human papillomavirus: It's a matter of life and death. Yet a new study 
suggests that moms are putting off having their young daughters vaccinated 
against HPV -- which causes cervical cancer -- to avoid exposing them to a 
conversation about a reason for the shots: sex.  But such a talk isn't 
necessary, says Dr. Jessica Kahn, the Cincinnati pediatrician who conducted 
the survey of 10,000 mostly middle-class, white moms who work as nurses. 
Preteen girls are already scheduled for booster shots, so parents and 
doctors can explain the shots are for their overall health, Kahn said.  
Putting off the vaccine until a girl is a teenager might be too late. Girls 
should get the vaccine starting at age 11. It is useless once a girl or 
woman has been exposed, according to the Centers for Disease Control and 
Prevention. Cancer caused by HPV, the most common sexually transmitted 
infection, kills 3,500 to 4,000 women yearly. 
http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/chicago-sun-times-editor
ial-parents.html

AIDSWatch 2008 by Bob Roehr.  Copyright by The Windy city times.  
2008-05-07.  Frustration, hope and a dedication to change through the coming 
election were common threads marking AIDSWatch 2008 at a rally at the foot 
of the Capitol April 29. The theme was “AIDS at Home.” “We have more 
information about this disease than any other … yet we do not take this 
information and use it to do something about the problem in the proper way,” 
said Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif ( Pictured. Photo by Bob Roehr ) “In the 
final analysis, the money appropriated does not match the talk.”  “We have 
an opportunity to ask our candidates about the issues. We know that they 
have waxed eloquently about healthcare in general. I have heard no specific 
discussion about HIV/AIDS,” she said.  “I have heard no specific commitment 
to increasing the funding for AIDS from any of the candidates. Now, their 
hearts may be in the right places, but I want to hear them talk about it. I 
want to hear them make it a priority.” 
http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/aidswatch-2008.html

When a Loved One Dies - Handling the Affairs By Roger McCaffrey-Boss.  
Copyright by Gay Chicago Magazine and Roger McCaffrey-Boss.  May 6, 2008.  
Q. My next door neighbor and friend of many years recently died of liver 
cancer. He was elderly and without many friends. I was responsible for 
handling his financial affairs when he went in and out of the hospital. 
After he died, I found his will and discovered that he named me as his 
executor. Where do I begin?  A: Whenever someone close, friend or family, 
dies, the news is always hard to take. In a state of shock, the survivors 
are left to handle the affairs and legal problems of their friend’s death. 
The following is a checklist of the steps to take in the hours and days that 
follow the death of your friend.  The first thing to do is obtain from the 
doctor, hospital or funeral home several copies of the death certificate. 
This is a document that is essential for transfers of jointly owned 
property, insurance benefits, joint bank accounts and securities.  Notify 
family and friends and then call a funeral home. Funeral directors can 
recommend a cemetery and are familiar with the bureaucratic aspects of 
death. They can also provide copies of the death certificates. 
http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/when-loved-one-dies-hand
ling-affairs.html


Immigration

International Herald Tribune Editorial - The shameful dividends of immigrant 
bashing.  Copyright by The International Herald Tribune. Published: May 2, 
2008.  For Americans, what is happening each night in the French channel 
port of Calais is poignantly and shamefully familiar. As Caroline Brothers 
reported on Wednesday in The International Herald Tribune, clusters of poor 
people wait for darkness and a high-risk chance to crawl inside or beneath a 
truck to cross to a country that needs and welcomes their labor but refuses 
to legally recognize their presence.  The United States has engaged in this 
labor-market hypocrisy for decades. Border crossers are mainly Mexican and 
Central American. Western Europe's come from North and Central Africa, the 
Middle East and former east bloc countries not yet in the European Union. 
Just about everywhere, they are distrusted by the local population and 
vilified by demagogic politicians.  In the rush to blame foreigners for real 
and imagined social ills, Europe's anemic birth rates, aging population and 
hard-to-fill jobs are forgotten. Without large infusions of foreign workers, 
the tourist industries that many European countries depend on would be 
understaffed and the cost of construction would soar. None of this has 
stopped Europe's politicians from stoking fears of immigrant crime, welfare 
burdens and foreign ways. That should also sound familiar to Americans.  
Immigrant bashing pays rich political dividends and is not just confined to 
shameless xenophobes like Italy's Northern League and the rising Dutch 
political star, Geert Wilders. It is also cynically employed by those who 
clearly know better, like France's president, Nicolas Sarkozy, and Britain's 
governing Labour Party. That too, sadly, tracks the current American debate. 
http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/international-herald-tri
bune-editorial_04.html


Other

Havens | Three Oaks, Mich. An ‘Our Town’ Stage for the Creative Set By 
MEGHAN McEWEN.  Copyright by The New York Times.  
http://travel.nytimes.com/2008/05/09/greathomesanddestinations/09havens.html
?scp=1&sq=three+oaks&st=nyt.  Published: May 9, 2008.  THREE OAKS was once 
just another small southwestern Michigan farm town burdened by a sluggish 
local economy. But in recent years, pioneering Chicagoans with a creative 
bent have transformed Three Oaks, about 70 miles away, into a hot spot for 
second-home buyers smitten with the arts.  Even so, real estate prices are a 
fraction of what they are along Lake Michigan, just seven miles due west. 
And cradled by swaying cornfields and still bisected by the tracks of the 
former Michigan Central Railroad, Elm Street has the charm of a Rockwellian 
vision.  Art galleries and newer stores selling bikes, clothes and vintage 
furniture mingle with longstanding establishments, including a 
fourth-generation butcher shop, Drier’s Meat Market, which the poet Carl 
Sandburg once patronized. There’s a bakery and organic deli, Froehlich’s, 
whose owner, Colleen Froehlich, moved to Three Oaks nearly 15 years ago, 
when there were 22 empty storefronts downtown. 
http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/havens-three-oaks-mich-o
ur-town-stage.html

Records fall at New York art auction © Reuters Limited.  May 7, 2008.  NEW 
YORK - Art records fell on Tuesday for works by Claude Monet, Auguste Rodin 
and Alberto Giacometti in New York City at a Christie’s auction dominated by 
foreign buyers taking advantage of the weak US dollar.  The auction house 
reaped more than $277.2m at the Impressionist and Modern Art sale where 44 
of the 58 lots were sold — 32 per cent to US buyers, 52 per cent to European 
buyers, and the rest to other parts of the world.  Christie’s fell short of 
its low pre-sale estimate of $286m, but Christie’s auctioneer Christopher 
Burge said that was based on the sale of all 58 lots and that the auction 
house had still achieved it’s third-strongest New York sale.  “Generally 
speaking for the very best things the market was still red hot and top 
prices were more than we expected,” Burge told a news conference following 
the packed evening sale that saw fewer works offered than last year. 
“Obviously the (US) dollar plays some part.”  Monet’s 1873 “Le Pont du 
chemin de fer a Argenteuil,” described by Christie’s as “one of the greatest 
Impressionist pictures left in private hands,” sold for $41.48m, beating the 
previous record for the artist’s work of $36.56m. 
http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/records-fall-at-new-york
-art-auction.html


Humor

 A History Lesson  http://video.stumbleupon.com/#p=q4jm0jbwo2

EXERCISE FOR PEOPLE OVER 50 
http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/exercise-for-people-over
-50.html

Sex Therapy for couples over 50  
http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/05/therapy.html


New! Carlos now has an online store. Order your books directly from Carlos 
and have them signed and dedicated. http://www.carlostmock.com/catalog/



In Pride (orgullo),


Carlos T. Mock, MD
Www.carlostmock.com
Author: Borrowing Time: A Latino Sexual Odyssey - Floricanto Press 2003.
Nominated for a Stonewall Award by the American Library Association GLBT
Round Table.
Author: The Mosaic Virus – Floricanto Press 2007.  Nominated for a Stonewall 
Award by the American Library Association GLBT Round Table, and a Lammie 
from The Lambda Literary Foundation
Author: Author: Papi Chulo – Floricanto Press 2007.  Nominated for a 
Stonewall Award by the American Library Association GLBT Round Table, and a 
Lammie from The Lambda Literary Foundation





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