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<TITLE>July 4th Newsletter- July 4, 2008</TITLE>
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<FONT COLOR="#FF00FF"><FONT SIZE="5"><FONT FACE="Arial"><SPAN STYLE='font-size:18.0px'><B>“Most Americans lie in the middle, wisely embracing a more thoughtful definition of patriotism that allows for multiple, equally meaningful ways to support American ideals. Consider a USA Today/Gallup Poll out this week: 80 percent of Americans consider supporting U.S. policies around the world an act of patriotism. At the same time, nearly as many, two-thirds of those polled, say protesting U.S. policies also is patriotic. For ordinary Americans, patriotism is an abstract love of country but also a commitment to it, to help it achieve its promise and ideals," says Nancy MacLean, history department chair at Northwestern University.<BR>
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<B>Chicago Sun-Times Editorial - What, at heart, is patriotism all about? </B></FONT><B><FONT COLOR="#333333">Copyright by The Chicago Sun-Times. July 4, 2008. So what is patriotism anyway? Americans feel it strongly. We rank among the highest of all nations in national pride, telling University of Chicago researchers we'd rather live in the United States than in any other country. Americans also know it when they see it. Flying the flag, voting and military service are all widely cited as patriotic acts. But what does patriotism actually mean? As we pause to celebrate Independence Day, as we reflect on an election season in which Barack Obama has been forced to defend his patriotism, it's worth digging deeper and searching for a definition we can all embrace. Most Americans would agree that patriotism is more than wearing -- or not wearing -- a flag pin.</FONT></B><FONT COLOR="#333333"> </FONT><FONT COLOR="#0000FF"> <a href="http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/chicago-sun-times-editorial-what-at.html">http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/chicago-sun-times-editorial-what-at.html</a><BR>
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</FONT><FONT COLOR="#FF0000"><B>Obama creates his own patriot revolution</B></FONT><B><FONT COLOR="#333333"> By Edward Luce in Washington. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008. Published: June 30 2008 19:55 | Last updated: June 30 2008 19:55. Barack Obama on Monday sought to 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 US flag. Mr Obama’s speech, which he delivered in Independence, Missouri, the birthplace of Harry S. Truman, the former president who was known for his unassuming Mid-Western style of patriotism, comes after months of pointed attacks on his biographical credentials. Opinion polls suggest that Mr Obama’s biggest challenge is to convince the electorate that he is an authentic American who is also ready to be commander-in-chief. Mr Obama, whom one in ten Americans continue to believe is a Muslim, has recently taken to wearing an American flag pin, having been attacked for not doing so. He has also taken to speaking against a backdrop of the Stars and Stripes. “The question of who is – or is not – a patriot all too often poisons our political debates, in ways that divide us rather than bringing us together,” he said yesterday. “I have come to know this from my own experience on the campaign trail.”</FONT></B><FONT COLOR="#333333"> </FONT><FONT COLOR="#0000FF"><a href="http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/06/obama-creates-his-own-patriot.html">http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/06/obama-creates-his-own-patriot.html</a><BR>
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</FONT><FONT COLOR="#FF0000"><B>A patriotic signpost </B></FONT><B><FONT COLOR="#333333">By Clarence Page. Copyright © 2008, Chicago Tribune. July 2, 2008. Sen. Barack Obama is wearing his American flag lapel pin again, most appropriately during his speech this week in Missouri on patriotism. His critics may call that a flip-flop. I call it a sign that he's learning. As recently as the debate before the Pennsylvania primary, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee gave eloquent reasons why he didn't think a flag pin was as important as the patriotic beliefs he held in his heart. But flag-pin lovers vote too. It's too bad so many voters invest so much in symbols, but that's a reality of politics and human nature. Polls show a small but not insignificant slice of voters continue to question Obama's patriotism, especially in white working-class areas</FONT></B><FONT COLOR="#333333">. </FONT><FONT COLOR="#0000FF"> <a href="http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/patriotic-signpost.html">http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/patriotic-signpost.html</a><BR>
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</FONT><FONT COLOR="#FE0000"><B>Save the press.</B></FONT><B><FONT COLOR="#333333"> By Timothy Egan. Copyright by The International Herald Tribune. Published: July 3, 2008. On the lobby wall of the newspaper where I got my first reporting job are the Thomas Jefferson words that U.S. journalists like to trot out as America's Independence Day nears: "Were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter." Of course, Jefferson also said the only reliable truths in newspapers were the advertisements, and that he was happiest when not reading the papers. But as to his iconic quote, it's no secret that we're trending toward the former. And anyone who cheers the collapse of the newspaper industry should consider why Jefferson put aside his distaste for the vitriol and nonsense of the press for the larger principle of healthy democracies needing informed citizens.</FONT></B><FONT COLOR="#333333"> </FONT><FONT COLOR="#0000FE"><a href="http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/save-press.html">http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/save-press.html</a><BR>
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<FONT COLOR="#FE0000">British economy falling into American-style slump - In an echo of the United States, economists now predict the U.K. is likely to fall into a recession this year.</FONT><FONT COLOR="#333333"> By David Jolly. Copyright by The International Herald Tribune. Published: July 3, 2008. PARIS: A housing market in shambles, inflation at the highest level in years and signs that the economy is headed for, or already in, recession. Sound familiar? The British economy, like its counterpart across the Atlantic, has fallen on hard times, and in many ways the experience appears to be mirroring that in the United States. Indeed, the run last September on a British mortgage lender, Northern Rock, was one of the events that helped to embed the terms "credit crisis" firmly into the global consciousness. "A recession is more likely than not by the end of the year," Peter Newland, who covers the British economy for Lehman Brothers in London, said Thursday, summarizing a recent string of dismal economic data that have led economists to revise their growth forecasts downward. "Activity seems to be declining across the economy," he said. </FONT></SPAN></FONT></B><FONT SIZE="4"><SPAN STYLE='font-size:14.0px'><FONT COLOR="#333333"> </FONT><FONT COLOR="#0000FE"><a href="http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/british-economy-falling-into-american.html">http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/british-economy-falling-into-american.html</a> </FONT><FONT COLOR="#FE0000"><B>Editorial Note: Economically and globally, Tony Blair was joined at the hip with George Bush’s policies.<BR>
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<FONT COLOR="#FF0000">Eurozone inflation soars to new high </FONT><FONT COLOR="#333333">By Gerrit Wiesmann in Frankfurt. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008. Published: June 30 2008 10:57 | Last updated: June 30 2008 19:29. Eurozone inflation rose in June to the highest rate since the bloc’s 1999 formation, new data showed on Monday as political opposition mounted to a widely-expected move by the European Central Bank to raise its main interest rate later this week. In its initial estimate of inflation for the month, Eurostat, the European Union’s statistical office, said prices were 4 per cent higher in June than 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 barrel and commodities recorded their largest first half of the year price jump for at least half a century, exacerbating global concerns about inflation. The Jefferies-Reuters CRB index – a global benchmark 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 records began in 1957.</FONT></B><FONT COLOR="#333333"> </FONT><FONT COLOR="#0000FF"><a href="http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/06/eurozone-inflation-soars-to-new-high.html">http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/06/eurozone-inflation-soars-to-new-high.html</a><BR>
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<FONT COLOR="#FF0000">Financial Times Editorial Comment: Uribe’s rescue deserves acclaim. </FONT><FONT COLOR="#333333"> Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008. Published: July 3 2008 19:31 | Last updated: July 3 2008 19:31. Colombia’s dramatic hostage rescue has vindicated President Alvaro Uribe’s hardline security strategy and inflicted another devastating blow on the Farc, the isolated and increasingly fragmented leftwing guerrilla group. By freeing Ingrid Betancourt, a charismatic former presidential candidate, and 14 other high profile long-term hostages without firing a shot, Mr Uribe has also confounded international critics, such as Venezuela’s President Hugo Chávez, who had been pressing him to negotiate a prisoner exchange. Mr Uribe merits plaudits for sticking to his guns and restoring the public’s faith in the Colombian state. But his next task should be to avoid hubris and look to strengthen independent institutions./</FONT><FONT COLOR="#FF0000">Colombian troops rescue Betancourt</FONT><FONT COLOR="#333333"> By Richard Lapper in London, Anastasia Moloney in Caracas and Naomi Mapstone in Lima. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008. Published: July 2 2008 20:55 | Last updated: July 3 2008 10:13. Álvaro Uribe, Colombia’s president, secured one of the most significant triumphs of his political career on Wednesday when troops freed Ingrid Betancourt and 14 other hostages held by leftwing Farc guerrillas. ”I believe that this is a sign of peace for Colombia, that we can find peace,” Ms Betancourt said, weeping as she thanked the Colombian military in her first public comments, carried on Colombian radio station Caracol. Minutes later, a pale but smiling Ms Betancourt landed at Bogota’s air force base, walking down the stairs of the plane and hugging her mother, Yolanda Pulecio, on the runway. </FONT></B><FONT COLOR="#333333"> </FONT><FONT COLOR="#0000FF"><a href="http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/financial-times-editorial-comment.html">http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/financial-times-editorial-comment.html</a><BR>
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</FONT><FONT COLOR="#FF0000"><B>International Herald Tribune Editorial: Mugabe steals an election, Africans look away.</B></FONT><B><FONT COLOR="#333333"> Copyright by The International Herald Tribune. Published: July 1, 2008. Robert Mugabe brazenly and brutally stole his latest re-election as president of Zimbabwe. Now Africa's leaders, who have looked the other way for far too long, must decide what they will do. They can continue to enable Mugabe out of political cynicism or misplaced solidarity with a former liberation leader turned tyrant. Or they can follow the wiser example of the living symbol of African liberation, Nelson Mandela, who last week condemned Zimbabwe's "tragic failure of leadership." The signals from Monday's opening session of the African Union summit, with Mugabe smugly in attendance, were not encouraging. While African election monitors rightly denounced the voting, few summit speakers went beyond muted and indirect criticism. More than truth telling is at stake. Zimbabwe and its people are dying at Mugabe's hand - ravaged by an imploding economy, skyrocketing inflation, man-made famine 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.</FONT></B><FONT COLOR="#333333"> </FONT><FONT COLOR="#0000FF"><a href="http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/international-herald-tribune-editorial.html">http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/international-herald-tribune-editorial.html</a><BR>
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<FONT COLOR="#FF00FF">"Opening up a third front right now would be extremely stressful on us," Mullen acknowledged during a Pentagon news conference. He added moments later, "This is a very unstable part of the world, and I don't need it to be more unstable." Adm. Mike Mullen<BR>
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<FONT COLOR="#FF0000">Military chief warns against striking Iran </FONT><FONT COLOR="#333333">By Aamer Madhani. Copyright © 2008, Chicago Tribune. July 3, 2008. WASHINGTON — The words Wednesday from Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, were notable for their blunt pragmatism: An Israeli airstrike on Iran would be high-risk and could further destabilize the region, leading to political and economic chaos. On Iran's western border, the U.S. military is more than five years into a war in Iraq that has taken 4,113 American lives and cost U.S. taxpayers more than $600 billion. And on Iran's eastern border, American commanders are now openly questioning whether they have lost 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 nuclear sites, and this week's New Yorker magazine reported that the U.S. has stepped up its covert operations inside Iran. </FONT></SPAN></FONT></B><FONT SIZE="4"><SPAN STYLE='font-size:14.0px'><FONT COLOR="#333333"> </FONT><FONT COLOR="#0000FF"><a href="http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/military-chief-warns-against-striking.html">http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/military-chief-warns-against-striking.html</a><BR>
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</B></FONT><B><FONT COLOR="#FF0000">Pentagon extends tour of Marines in Afghanistan </FONT><FONT COLOR="#333333">By LOLITA C. BALDOR. Copyright 2008 Associated Press. 6:20 AM CDT, July 4, 2008. WASHINGTON - The Pentagon has extended the tour of 2,200 Marines in Afghanistan, after insisting for months the unit would come home on time. The 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit, which is doing combat operations in the volatile south, will stay an extra 30 days and come home in early November rather than October, Marine Col. David Lapan confirmed Thursday. Military leaders as recently as Wednesday stressed the need for additional troops in Afghanistan. Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, has often praised the work of the 24th MEU in fighting Taliban militants in Helmand Province. Defense Secretary Robert Gates, however, has repeatedly said he did not intend to extend or replace the U.S. 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 extension in early May, Gates said he would "be loathe to do that." He added that "no one has suggested even the possibility of extending that rotation."</FONT></B><FONT COLOR="#333333"> </FONT><FONT COLOR="#0000FF"><a href="http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/pentagon-extends-tour-of-marines-in.html">http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/pentagon-extends-tour-of-marines-in.html</a><BR>
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</FONT><FONT COLOR="#FF0000"><B>Coalition deaths in Afghanistan hit a record high </B></FONT><B><FONT COLOR="#333333">By Mark Mazzetti. Copyright by The International Herald Tribune. Published: July 2, 2008. WASHINGTON: More American and coalition troops died in Afghanistan last month than during any other month since the U.S.-led invasion began in 2001, the latest evidence of a strengthening Taliban insurgency that has menaced NATO forces and reclaimed control over some southern and eastern parts of the country. The violence in Afghanistan has surged at the same time as the number of attacks and American deaths in Iraq has fallen. Among the American-led forces in the two countries, there were 46 troops killed in Afghanistan in June, compared with 31 in Iraq, the second straight month in which combat deaths in Afghanistan exceeded those in Iraq. A recent Pentagon report about Afghanistan painted 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.</FONT></B><FONT COLOR="#333333"> </FONT><FONT COLOR="#0000FF"><a href="http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/coalition-deaths-in-afghanistan-hit.html">http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/coalition-deaths-in-afghanistan-hit.html</a><BR>
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</FONT><FONT COLOR="#FF0000"><B>Wounded Iraqi forces say they've been abandoned</B></FONT><B><FONT COLOR="#333333"> By Michael Kamber. Copyright by The 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 and struggling to survive. For now, he gets by on $125 a month brought to him by members of his old army unit, charity and whatever his wife, Jinan, can beg from her relatives. But he worries that he could lose even that meager monthly stipend. In the United States, 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.</FONT></B><FONT COLOR="#333333"> </FONT><FONT COLOR="#0000FF"><a href="http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/wounded-iraqi-forces-say-theyve-been.html">http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/wounded-iraqi-forces-say-theyve-been.html</a><BR>
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</FONT><FONT COLOR="#FF0000"><B>Palestinian goes on rampage in Jerusalem; 3 killed </B></FONT><B><FONT COLOR="#333333">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.</FONT></B><FONT COLOR="#333333"> </FONT><FONT COLOR="#0000FF"><a href="http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/palestinian-goes-on-rampage-in.html">http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/palestinian-goes-on-rampage-in.html</a><BR>
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</FONT><FONT COLOR="#FF0000"><B>Scientist: Pakistan knew of NKorea nuke deal </B></FONT><B><FONT COLOR="#333333">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.</FONT></B><FONT COLOR="#333333"> </FONT><FONT COLOR="#0000FF"><a href="http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/scientist-pakistan-knew-of-nkorea-nuke.html">http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/scientist-pakistan-knew-of-nkorea-nuke.html</a><BR>
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</FONT><FONT COLOR="#FF0000"><B>Bomb blast kills young girl, wounds 11 in Pakistan. </B></FONT><B><FONT COLOR="#333333">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.</FONT></B><FONT COLOR="#333333"> </FONT><FONT COLOR="#0000FF"><a href="http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/bomb-blast-kills-young-girl-wounds-11.html">http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/bomb-blast-kills-young-girl-wounds-11.html</a><BR>
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<FONT COLOR="#FF0000">Chicago Tribune Editorial - Catastrophe ahead. </FONT><FONT COLOR="#333333"> 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.</FONT></SPAN></FONT></B><FONT SIZE="4"><SPAN STYLE='font-size:14.0px'><FONT COLOR="#333333"> </FONT><FONT COLOR="#0000FF"><a href="http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/06/chicago-tribune-editorial-catastrophe.html">http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/06/chicago-tribune-editorial-catastrophe.html</a><BR>
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International Herald Tribune Editorial: The fragile center of America's Supreme Court. </B></FONT><B><FONT COLOR="#333333"> 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 Guantánamo 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. </FONT></B><FONT COLOR="#333333"> </FONT><FONT COLOR="#0000FF"><a href="http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/international-herald-tribune.html">http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/international-herald-tribune.html</a><BR>
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</FONT><FONT COLOR="#FF0000"><B>Scalia's selective history</B></FONT><B><FONT COLOR="#333333"> 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.</FONT></B><FONT COLOR="#333333"> </FONT><FONT COLOR="#0000FF"><a href="http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/06/scalias-selective-history.html">http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/06/scalias-selective-history.html</a><BR>
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</FONT><FONT COLOR="#FF0000"><B>The law says what they want it to - Next time, Supreme Court could rule differently on guns </B></FONT><B><FONT COLOR="#333333">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?”... </FONT><FONT COLOR="#FF0000">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.</FONT></B><FONT COLOR="#333333"> </FONT><FONT COLOR="#0000FF"><a href="http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/law-says-what-they-want-it-to-next-time.html">http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/law-says-what-they-want-it-to-next-time.html</a><BR>
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<B>Chicago Sun-Times Editorial - Four gun regulations would make us safer.</B></FONT><B><FONT COLOR="#333333"> 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.</FONT></B><FONT COLOR="#333333"> </FONT><FONT COLOR="#0000FF"><a href="http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/chicago-sun-times-editorial-four-gun.html">http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/chicago-sun-times-editorial-four-gun.html</a><BR>
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</FONT><FONT COLOR="#FF0000"><B>California fires prompt evacuations. </B></FONT><B><FONT COLOR="#333333"> 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.</FONT></B><FONT COLOR="#333333"> </FONT><FONT COLOR="#0000FF"><a href="http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/california-fires-prompt-evacuations.html">http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/california-fires-prompt-evacuations.html</a><BR>
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Chicagoland<BR>
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<FONT COLOR="#FF0000">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.</FONT><FONT COLOR="#333333"> 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." </FONT></SPAN></FONT></B><FONT SIZE="4"><SPAN STYLE='font-size:14.0px'><FONT COLOR="#333333"> </FONT><FONT COLOR="#0000FF"><a href="http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/budget-showdownagain.html">http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/budget-showdownagain.html</a><BR>
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</FONT><FONT COLOR="#FF0000"><B>Soaring taxes lead to sore taxpayers </B></FONT><B><FONT COLOR="#333333">BY CAROL MARIN cmarin@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.</FONT></B><FONT COLOR="#0000FF"> <a href="http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/soaring-taxes-lead-to-sore-taxpayers.html">http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/soaring-taxes-lead-to-sore-taxpayers.html</a><BR>
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</FONT><FONT COLOR="#FF0000"><B>I want more taxes, and so should you - The nagging voice of doubt is trying to talk me out of writing this column: </B></FONT><B><FONT COLOR="#333333">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.</FONT></B><FONT COLOR="#333333"> </FONT><FONT COLOR="#0000FF"><a href="http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/i-want-more-taxes-and-so-should-you.html">http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/i-want-more-taxes-and-so-should-you.html</a><BR>
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</SPAN></FONT></FONT><FONT SIZE="7"><SPAN STYLE='font-size:26.0px'><B>Your Lack of Money<BR>
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<FONT COLOR="#FF0000">Limbaugh signs radio contract worth $400m</FONT><FONT COLOR="#333333"> 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.</FONT></SPAN></FONT></B><FONT SIZE="4"><SPAN STYLE='font-size:14.0px'><FONT COLOR="#333333"> </FONT><FONT COLOR="#0000FF"><a href="http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/limbaugh-signs-radio-contract-worth.html">http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/limbaugh-signs-radio-contract-worth.html</a><BR>
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</FONT><FONT COLOR="#FF0000"><B>US jobs fall for sixth straight month </B></FONT><B><FONT COLOR="#333333">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.</FONT></B><FONT COLOR="#333333"> </FONT><FONT COLOR="#0000FF"><a href="http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/us-jobs-fall-for-sixth-straight-month.html">http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/us-jobs-fall-for-sixth-straight-month.html</a><BR>
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</B></FONT><B><FONT COLOR="#FF0000">Dow enters bear market as stocks slide. </FONT><FONT COLOR="#333333"> 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.</FONT></B><FONT COLOR="#333333"> </FONT><FONT COLOR="#0000FF"><a href="http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/dow-enters-bear-market-as-stocks-slide.html">http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/dow-enters-bear-market-as-stocks-slide.html</a><BR>
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Small US banks feel the pinch </B></FONT><B><FONT COLOR="#333333">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.</FONT></B><FONT COLOR="#333333"> </FONT><FONT COLOR="#0000FF"><a href="http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/06/small-us-banks-feel-pinch.html">http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/06/small-us-banks-feel-pinch.html</a><BR>
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<B>Factories feel pain as their costs rise. </B></FONT><B><FONT COLOR="#333333"> 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."</FONT></B><FONT COLOR="#333333"> </FONT><FONT COLOR="#0000FF"><a href="http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/factories-feel-pain-as-their-costs-rise.html">http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/factories-feel-pain-as-their-costs-rise.html</a><BR>
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</FONT><FONT COLOR="#FF0000"><B>Auto sales hit 17-year low - Normally strong June sees 18 percent slide</B></FONT><B><FONT COLOR="#333333"> 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.</FONT></B><FONT COLOR="#333333"> </FONT><FONT COLOR="#0000FF"><a href="http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/auto-sales-hit-17-year-low-normally.html">http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/auto-sales-hit-17-year-low-normally.html</a><BR>
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</FONT><FONT COLOR="#FF0000"><B>Ford Motor's June sales skid 27.9 percent </B></FONT><B><FONT COLOR="#333333">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.</FONT></B><FONT COLOR="#333333"> </FONT><FONT COLOR="#0000FF"><a href="http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/ford-motors-june-sales-skid-279-percent.html">http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/ford-motors-june-sales-skid-279-percent.html</a><BR>
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Starbucks to close 600 stores nationwide - Slow consumer spending leads to more cutbacks </B></FONT><B><FONT COLOR="#333333">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.</FONT></B><FONT COLOR="#333333"> </FONT><FONT COLOR="#0000FF"><a href="http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/starbucks-to-close-600-stores.html">http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/starbucks-to-close-600-stores.html</a><BR>
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<FONT COLOR="#FF0000">Deal to let Tribune draw against $300 million in future assets </FONT><FONT COLOR="#333333">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.</FONT></B><FONT COLOR="#333333"> </FONT><FONT COLOR="#0000FF"><a href="http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/deal-to-let-tribune-draw-against-300.html">http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/deal-to-let-tribune-draw-against-300.html</a><BR>
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<FONT COLOR="#FF0000">GM considers marching Chevy Beat mini-car into U.S. Market. </FONT><FONT COLOR="#333333"> 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.</FONT></B><FONT COLOR="#333333"> </FONT><FONT COLOR="#0000FF"><a href="http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/gm-considers-marching-chevy-beat-mini.html">http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/gm-considers-marching-chevy-beat-mini.html</a><BR>
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</FONT><FONT COLOR="#FF0000"><B>Chrysler explores Chinese partnership</B></FONT><B><FONT COLOR="#333333"> 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.” </FONT></B><FONT COLOR="#0000FF"><a href="http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/chrysler-explores-chinese-partnership.html">http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/chrysler-explores-chinese-partnership.html</a><BR>
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</FONT><FONT COLOR="#FF0000"><B>Virgin rips 3 airlines' proposed alliance- American nearing pact with potential partners.</B></FONT><B><FONT COLOR="#333333"> 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.</FONT></B><FONT COLOR="#333333"> </FONT><FONT COLOR="#0000FF"><a href="http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/virgin-rips-3-airlines-proposed.html">http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/virgin-rips-3-airlines-proposed.html</a><BR>
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</FONT><FONT COLOR="#FE0000"><B>Financial Times Editorial Comment: LA Confrontational.</B></FONT><B><FONT COLOR="#333333"> 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. </FONT></B><FONT COLOR="#333333"> </FONT><FONT COLOR="#0000FE"><a href="http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/financial-times-editorial-comment-la.html">http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/financial-times-editorial-comment-la.html</a><BR>
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<FONT COLOR="#FF00FF">Oil $144.18<BR>
</FONT><FONT COLOR="#FD0000">Silver Bullion $18.25<BR>
Gold Bullion $932<BR>
Platinum Bullion $ $2033<BR>
Euro $1.5689<BR>
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</FONT><FONT COLOR="#FE00FE">Wednesday, July 2, 2008<BR>
Bin Laden's Dream Comes True<BR>
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Osama bin Laden said that he wanted oil prices to be $144 a barrel :<BR>
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''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.<BR>
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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.<BR>
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<FONT COLOR="#FF0000">Today's loan rates<BR>
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RATE LAST WEEK<BR>
30 yr fixed mtg 6.25% 6.27%<BR>
15 yr fixed mtg 5.77% 5.84%<BR>
30 yr fixed jumbo mtg 7.30% 7.38%<BR>
5/1 ARM 5.58% 5.70%<BR>
7/1 ARM 5.86% 5.99%<BR>
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<FONT COLOR="#FE0000">The McCain Residences: A Google Earth Tour: Inspired by the McCains' recent tax default, I decided to go on a little tour<BR>
of their many homes across the nation. Enjoy!</FONT> </SPAN></FONT></B><FONT SIZE="4"><SPAN STYLE='font-size:14.0px'><FONT COLOR="#0000FE"><a href="http://www.jedreport.com/2008/06/the-mccain-resi.html">http://www.jedreport.com/2008/06/the-mccain-resi.html</a><BR>
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</FONT><FONT COLOR="#FF0000"><B>International Herald Tribune Editorial: Inflation, oil dependence and the Fed's next step. </B></FONT><B><FONT COLOR="#333333">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</FONT></B><FONT COLOR="#333333">. </FONT><FONT COLOR="#0000FF"><a href="http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/06/international-herald-tribune-editorial_30.html">http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/06/international-herald-tribune-editorial_30.html</a><BR>
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Bush Bashing<BR>
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</SPAN></FONT><FONT COLOR="#FE00FE"><FONT SIZE="4"><SPAN STYLE='font-size:14.0px'>Wednesday, July 2, 2008<BR>
Bin Laden's Dream Comes True<BR>
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Osama bin Laden said that he wanted oil prices to be $144 a barrel :<BR>
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''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.<BR>
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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.<BR>
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</SPAN></FONT></FONT><FONT SIZE="4"><SPAN STYLE='font-size:14.0px'><FONT COLOR="#FF0000">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.</FONT><FONT COLOR="#333333"> 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.</FONT></SPAN></FONT></B><FONT SIZE="4"><SPAN STYLE='font-size:14.0px'><FONT COLOR="#333333"> </FONT><FONT COLOR="#0000FF"><a href="http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/06/army-criticizes-itself-in-iraq-invasion.html">http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/06/army-criticizes-itself-in-iraq-invasion.html</a><BR>
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</B></FONT><B><FONT COLOR="#FF0000">Bush used phony patriotism to start war</FONT><FONT COLOR="#333333"> By ANDREW GREELEY agreel@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.</FONT></B><FONT COLOR="#333333"> </FONT><FONT COLOR="#0000FF"><a href="http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/bush-used-phony-patriotism-to-start-war.html">http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/bush-used-phony-patriotism-to-start-war.html</a><BR>
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</B></FONT><B><FONT COLOR="#FF0000">Judges cite nonsense poem in Guantanamo case </FONT><FONT COLOR="#333333">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.</FONT></B><FONT COLOR="#333333"> </FONT><FONT COLOR="#0000FF"><a href="http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/06/judges-cite-nonsense-poem-in-guantanamo.html">http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/06/judges-cite-nonsense-poem-in-guantanamo.html</a><BR>
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</FONT><FONT COLOR="#FF0000"><B>U.S. interrogators were taught Chinese coercion techniques at Guantánamo </B></FONT><B><FONT COLOR="#333333">By Scott Shane. Copyright by The International Herald Tribune. Published: July 2, 2008. WASHINGTON: The military trainers who came to Guantánamo 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 Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, and by the Central Intelligence Agency. Some methods were used against a small number of prisoners at Guantánamo 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.</FONT></B><FONT COLOR="#333333"> </FONT><FONT COLOR="#0000FF"><a href="http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/us-interrogators-were-taught-chinese.html">http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/us-interrogators-were-taught-chinese.html</a><BR>
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</FONT><FONT COLOR="#FF0000"><B>International Herald Tribune Editorial: More waste, fraud and abuse. </B></FONT><B><FONT COLOR="#333333"> 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 attaché 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.</FONT></B><FONT COLOR="#333333"> </FONT><FONT COLOR="#0000FF"><a href="http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/international-herald-tribune-editorial_01.html">http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2008/07/international-herald-tribune-editorial_01.html</a><BR>
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</FONT><FONT COLOR="#FE0000"><B>International Herald Tribune Editorial: Prosecuting war profiteers. </B></FONT><B><FONT COLOR="#333333">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"