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Inside Higher Education
http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2008/01/14/gandhi
Rochester Scholar Says Jews 'Overplay' Holocaust
Jan. 14
The head of a nonviolence research center that recently relocated to theUniversity of Rochester has angered many Jewish people - and the university's president - with blog comments that said Jewish people "overplay" theHolocaust and that Jews and Israel are the "biggest players" in theworldwide "culture of violence."
Arun Gandhi - who made the comments - is the founder of the M.K. GandhiInstitute, named for his grandfather, Mohandas K. Gandhi, and devoted to histeachings on nonviolence. Arun Gandhi is a popular speaker on many campuses.
The comments by Gandhi that set off the controversy came in The WashingtonPost's "On Faith" series of online discussions on religion. Last week'sfocus was Jewish identity. In his post, Gandhi wrote: "Jewish identity inthe past has been locked into the holocaust experience - a German burdenthat the Jews have not been able to shed. It is a very good example of acommunity can overplay a historic experience to the point that it begins torepulse friends. The holocaust was the result of the warped mind of anindividual who was able to influence his followers into doing somethingdreadful. But, it seems to me the Jews today not only want the Germans tofeel guilty but the whole world must regret what happened to the Jews. Theworld did feel sorry for the episode but when an individual or a nationrefuses to forgive and move on the regret turns into anger."
After describing his frustration with Israeli policies, Gandhi wrote: "Wouldit not be better to befriend those who hate you? Can you not reach out andshare your technological advancement with your neighbors and build arelationship?
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New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/14/us/politics/14campaign.html?hp
Race and Gender Are Issues in Tense Day for Democrats
By ADAM NAGOURNEY
January 14, 2008
LAS VEGAS - After staying on the sidelines in the first year of thecampaign, race and to a lesser extent gender have burst into the forefrontof the Democratic presidential contest, thrusting Senators Barack Obama andHillary Rodham Clinton into the middle of a sharp-edged social and politicaldebate that transcends their candidacies.
In a tense day of exchanges by the candidates and their supporters, Mrs.Clinton suggested on Sunday that Mr. Obama's campaign, in an effort toinject race into the contest, distorted remarks she had made about the Rev.Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Mr. Obama tartly dismissed Mrs. Clinton's suggestion, adding that "thenotion that somehow this is our doing is ludicrous."
Mr. Obama's campaign then attacked Mrs. Clinton for failing to repudiate oneof her top black supporters for "engaging in the politics of destruction"with an apparent reference to Mr. Obama's acknowledged drug use in the past.And throughout the day, supporters of Mrs. Clinton and of Mr. Obama eachaccused the other of injecting race in search of political gain.
The exchanges created apprehension among many of their supporters who viewedthis moment - if perhaps inevitable, given the nature of the contest - asdivisive for Democrats. At the same time, it offered a portrait of a partystruggling through entirely unfamiliar terrain that has been brought intorelief by Mr. Obama's victory in Iowa and Mrs. Clinton's in New Hampshire.
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New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/14/arts/television/14watc.html?hp
The TV Watch: Strike Was Unseen Star of the Night
By ALESSANDRA STANLEY
January 14, 2008
Day for night is what filmmakers call the technique for shooting nightscenes in daylight. "Today" for night was the technique NBC used to getthrough a Golden Globes ceremony that was canceled by the writers' strike.
Matt Lauer and other NBC reporters filled two gutted hours withmorning-show-style interviews with nominees, but the result was less likethe brisk, newsy first hour of "Today" than its frilly, prolonged fourthhour. The showdown between NBC and the striking guild members was all tooapparent between the lines. Mr. Lauer, who interviewed Russell Crowe, DenzelWashington and Sally Field, didn't ask any of them about the strike that hadled them to boycott the awards ceremony.
All in all, the preshow special looked hastily put together and awkward - anapt preview of the tensions that poisoned the no-frills announcement event.NBC, which had bought the rights to the Golden Globes, wanted to recoup someof its losses with exclusive coverage of the substitute event, a newsconference. The Hollywood Foreign Press Association instead opened the newsconference at the Beverly Hilton to all the media.
And that led to a bizarre showdown: while E! and the TV Guide Network showedthe announcements being read out in the hotel ballroom, NBC snubbed theevent and jury-rigged its own version, using Nancy O'Dell and Billy Bush,the anchors of the NBC Universal show "Access Hollywood," to announce thewinners on a different gold-colored stage, with different film clips. NBCchose its own timing to announce the winners, and was mostly slower, so thatviewers watching E! learned that Marion Cotillard won the award for bestactress in a musical or comedy for "La Vie en Rose" long before NBCannounced it.
Ms. O'Dell, unusually somber in a black satin cocktail dress, tried to bepeppy alongside Mr. Bush, but mostly the two looked like bailiffs at a courthearing. E! also cobbled together its own sideshow, cutting away from theHilton ballroom to Ryan Seacrest and Ben Lyons discussing the winners. Theywere slightly less stilted, but only slightly. (The TV Guide Network servedas the C-Span of the night, showing the announcements in their entirety,with minimal commentary from hosts or presenters.)
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New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/14/opinion/14mon1.html?ref=opinion
Editorial: The Candidates Discover the Economy
January 14, 2008
The presidential candidates are only beginning to recognize what many votershave already figured out through painful, personal experience: the economyis in trouble and unlikely to improve without some sensible governmentresponse.
The Republicans have been particularly slow to grasp the depth of theproblem and the anxiety and pessimism Americans are feeling. Campaigningover the weekend in Michigan - one of the hardest-pressed states and alsothe site of a G.O.P.-only primary this week - they doled out sympathy, butcalled mainly for their party's all-purpose fix: more tax cuts.
Sympathy is apt for a state with the nation's highest unemployment rate, anda targeted and short-term tax rebate may well be necessary. But as stimulusmeasures go, tax cuts are not nearly as effective as bolstered federalspending on unemployment compensation, food stamps and direct financial aidto states. None of the Republican candidates have yet to think thatcreatively. And they have barely mentioned the foreclosure crisis at theroot of many of today's economic problems.
The Democratic front-runners have been slow off the mark, but they'recatching on. Last week, Hillary Clinton called for a robust short-termstimulus package, including more federal spending for jobless benefits, homeheating aid and grants to states to help prevent foreclosures. John Edwardshas been pushing a similar plan for weeks. Barack Obama announced a rescueplan Sunday that relies more heavily on targeted tax cuts to get the economymoving, and less on direct spending.
The proposals from Mrs. Clinton and Mr. Edwards are closer to what's neededand the type of stimulus that Congressional leaders and the White Houseshould begin to discuss as soon as President Bush returns from his MiddleEast trip. Even such welcome steps would need to be designed and managedcarefully to ensure that they don't permanently add to the deficit. Spendingto manage a crisis need not be paid for immediately. Lawmakers and all ofthe candidates will still need to explain how stimulus measures would bepaid for later on, when the economy has recovered.
There is already pending legislation that could help blunt some of the pain.The House has passed an excellent bill to modernize the nation'sunemployment compensation system - expanding the number and types of workerswho qualify - but the Senate has yet to move. Congress should also pass ameasure that would allow bankrupt homeowners to modify their mortgages underbankruptcy court protection. That would help more homeowners keep the roofover their heads, as well as be an incentive to lenders to work morediligently to modify loans before they wind up in bankruptcy court.
The candidates - especially those who still have day jobs on Capitol Hill -should press for swift approval of those two important measures, and beready to press the case for a targeted and temporary stimulus package ifconditions worsen. The voters are watching and waiting.
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New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/14/opinion/14krugman.html?ref=opinion
Op-Ed Columnist: Responding to Recession
By Paul Krugman
January 14, 2008
Suddenly, the economic consensus seems to be that the implosion of thehousing market will indeed push the U.S. economy into a recession, and thatit's quite possible that we're already in one. As a result, over the nextfew weeks we'll be hearing a lot about plans for economic stimulus.
Since this is an election year, the debate over how to stimulate the economyis inevitably tied up with politics. And here's a modest suggestion forpolitical reporters. Instead of trying to divine the candidates' charactersby scrutinizing their tone of voice and facial expressions, why not payattention to what they say about economic policy?
In fact, recent statements by the candidates and their surrogates about theeconomy are quite revealing.
Take, for example, John McCain's admission that economics isn't his thing."The issue of economics is not something I've understood as well as Ishould," he says. "I've got Greenspan's book."
His self-deprecating humor is attractive, as always. But shouldn't we worryabout a candidate who's so out of touch that he regards Mr. Bubble, the manwho refused to regulate subprime lending and assured us that there was atmost some "froth" in the housing market, as a source of sage advice?
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New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/14/opinion/14mon3.html?ref=opinion
Editorial: The Pork King Keeps His Crown
January 14, 2008
The new earmark disclosure rules put into effect by Congress confirm thepre-eminence of Representative John Murtha at procuring eye-popping chunksof pork for contractors he helped put in business in Johnstown, Pa. ThePennsylvania Democrat, a power player on defense appropriations, exudespride, not embarrassment, for delivering hundreds of millions of dollars inlargesse to district beneficiaries. They, in turn, requite with hundreds ofthousands of dollars in campaign donations.
Mr. Murtha led all House members this year, securing $162 million indistrict favors, according to the watchdog group Taxpayers for Common Sense.In all, eager members in both houses enacted 11,144 earmarks, worth $15billion. Taxpayers may be inured to $113,000 for rodent control in Alaska ora million for Idaho's weed management. Mr. Murtha's universe is a far morecomplicated and costly creation of interlocking contractors who continue tofeed at the public trough despite reviews questioning their performance.
In 1991, Mr. Murtha used a $5 million earmark to create the National DefenseCenter for Environmental Excellence in Johnstown to develop anti-pollutiontechnology for the military. Since then, it has garnered more than $670million in contracts and earmarks. Meanwhile it is managed by anothercontractor Mr. Murtha helped create, Concurrent Technologies, a researchoperation that somehow was allowed to be set up as a tax-exempt charity,according to The Washington Post. Thanks to Mr. Murtha, Concurrent hasboomed; the annual salary for its top three executives averages $462,000.
There's been no report of Mr. Murtha's profiting personally. "This is aboutjobs," the congressman insists. But the Murtha operation - which has becomea model for other entrepreneurial lawmakers - is a gross example of quid proquo Washington. Every one of the 26 beneficiaries of Mr. Murtha's earmarksin last year's defense budget made contributions to his campaign kitty, atotal of $413,250, according to the newspaper Roll Call. The Pentagon,seeking its own goodies before Mr. Murtha's committee, is noticeablyhesitant to challenge his projects. And we're not hearing a lot ofobjections from his colleagues - not after members have ladled out a fresh$15 billion for their own special interests, just in time for the comingelections.
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New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/14/business/14gm.html
G.M. Buys Stake in Ethanol Made From Waste
By MATTHEW L. WALD
January 14, 2008
General Motors, eager to ensure a supply of fuel for the big fleet offlex-fuel ethanol-capable vehicles it is building, has joined the rush intoalternative energy and invested in a company that intends to produce ethanolfrom crop wastes, wood chips, scrap plastic, rubber and even municipalgarbage.
Rick Wagoner, G.M.'s chairman and chief executive, announced the investmenton Sunday in a speech at the opening of the North American InternationalAuto Show in Detroit. The company purchased an equity stake in Coskata, astart-up company in Warrenville, Ill., that plans to make ethanol withoutusing corn. G.M. would not say how much it paid or how big a stake it tookin the company.
Coskata plans to build a pilot-scale plant this year in Warrenville, WilliamRoe, the president and chief executive of Coskata, said in a briefing withreporters last week. It has demonstrated all the phases of its technologybut has not linked them together in an operating plant, he acknowledged.
Putting money into the fuel business is new for car companies, said JeffreyLeetsma, the president of the Automotive Hall of Fame, in Dearborn, Mich.,and a car historian. "I think this could be new ground," he said.
Henry Ford, he said, established rubber plantations in Brazil to try tobreak the Dutch cartel, but in the modern era the car companies havegenerally not invested in fuel.
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Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/13/AR2008011302514.html
McCain Moves Into Lead; Obama Gains on Clinton
Giuliani Falls to 4th in National Poll
By Dan Balz and Jon Cohen
Washington Post Staff Writers
Monday, January 14, 2008; A01
The first contests of the 2008 presidential campaign have led to a dramaticshake-up in public opinion nationally, with Sen. John McCain now leading theRepublican field and Sen. Barack Obama all but erasing Sen. Hillary RodhamClinton's once-overwhelming advantage among Democrats, according to a newWashington Post-ABC News poll.
As the campaigns head into the next round of voting this week, thecompetitive contests in both parties have captured the public's attention.Four in five are closely tuned in, and a third are "very closely" followingthe races, a sharp increase from a month ago, and well higher than theproportions saying so at this stage in 2000 or 2004.
Clinton had dominated in national polls from the outset, holding a 30-pointadvantage as recently as a month ago, but the competitiveness of the firsttwo contests appears to have reverberated among Democrats across thecountry.
In the new poll, 42 percent of likely Democratic voters support Clinton(N.Y.), and 37 percent back Obama (Ill.). Clinton's support is down 11percentage points from a month ago, with Obama's up 14. Former senator JohnEdwards (N.C.) held third place with 11 percent, followed by Rep. Dennis J.Kucinich (Ohio) at 2 percent.
The big gains by McCain (Ariz.), which come after his victory in the NewHampshire primary, mark the first time he has topped the Republican field ina Post-ABC News national survey. His rise mirrors a dramatic tumble forformer New York mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani, who led most national pollsthroughout 2007.
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Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/13/AR2008011301315.html
Huckabee Eschews Politics for Preaching
By LIBBY QUAID
The Associated Press
Sunday, January 13, 2008; 7:03 PM
SPARTANBURG, S.C. -- Republican Mike Huckabee spoke from the pulpit Sunday,not as a politician but as the preacher he used to be, delivering a sermonon how merely being good isn't enough to get into heaven.
Huckabee is vying for support from the Christian conservatives who dominatethe GOP in South Carolina, which chooses a Republican presidential nomineeon Saturday. A former Baptist minister and Arkansas governor, Huckabee iscompeting for their votes with fellow southerner Fred Thompson.
As in Iowa, where he won the Jan. 3 caucuses, Huckabee is rousing pastors tomarshal their flocks for him. He pitches himself as someone who not onlyshares their views against abortion and gay marriage but who actually comesfrom their ranks.
On Sunday in South Carolina, Huckabee avoided politics entirely, insteadpreaching about humility and trusting in Jesus to open the gates of heaven.
"The criteria to get into heaven is you have to be not good, but perfect.That's the real challenge in it," he said at First Baptist NorthSpartanburg, a megachurch with 2,500 members.
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Miami Herald
http://www.miamiherald.com/692/story/378604.html
Congress faces war economy, election
By JIM ABRAMS
Posted on Mon, Jan. 14, 2008
Still smarting from the partisan wars of 2007, Congress confronts a sinkingeconomy, a lingering war and election-year politics as it gets back to workfor the 2008 session.
The Democratic-led House reconvenes Tuesday with the familiar scenario ofhaving to deal with a President Bush veto. The White House objected to oneprovision in a massive defense bill that opened the way for lawsuits againstthe Iraqi government.
The defense bill contains an additional pay raise for the military andCongress is expected to quickly fix the problem, either with a veto overridevote - that would probably fail - or by removing the offending provision.
House Democrats are planning a vote the following week on overriding Bush'ssecond veto of legislation to expand the federal child health insuranceprogram. The bill passed by a veto-proof margin in the Senate but enoughRepublicans in the House have stuck with Bush to stop an override there.
Such legislative exercises had numerous precedents in 2007, whenpresidential vetoes - or veto threats - and Republican filibusters in theSenate blocked Democratic-proposed legislation or forced major changes.
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Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/13/AR2008011302303.html
On Taxes, Less-Than-Straight Talk
By Robert D. Novak
Monday, January 14, 2008; A21
Two days before his decisive victory in New Hampshire, John McCain was askedby Tim Russert on NBC's "Meet the Press": "Do you believe that votingagainst the Bush tax cuts was a mistake?" Sen. McCain replied quickly, "Ofcourse not." He next said I was wrong when I wrote, "McCain has admitted tome that those tax votes were a mistake." In fact, what he actually told meamounted to admitting error.
Thus has McCain, campaigning now, as he did in 2000, as the candidate of"straight talk," made trouble for himself by taking a circuitous position ontaxes. While he favors making the Bush tax cuts permanent, he defends twicevoting against them. The old war hero is stubborn, reluctant to admit eithererror or defeat.
Mitt Romney, trying to stop McCain in Michigan on Tuesday and South Carolinaon Saturday, e-mailed a broadside last week ("Straight Talk Detour") listingMcCain's record of opposition to President Bush's tax cuts. Democrats watchwith keen anticipation. They contemplate feasting on a lame-duck Republicanpleading for continuation of a tax program that his party's nominee brandedas a mistake to pass.
In my Dec. 27 column, which projected McCain as the last man standing forthe Republican presidential nomination after being given up for dead, Iwrote that McCain "has admitted to me" that his votes against tax cuts in2001 and 2003 were a mistake. When Russert cited that column to McCain onJan. 5, the senator replied dismissively: "I can't account for Bob Novak'scomments or anybody else's comments. I know what I've said on the recordthousands of times."
I caught up with McCain later that Sunday after a town meeting in Salem,N.H. I told him I based what I wrote on what he told me over breakfast inthe Senate dining room on Jan. 31, 2007. I said that all reporters makemistakes and that I would check my transcript of our conversation when Ireturned to Washington, then set the matter straight.
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Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/13/AR2008011302304.html
A Nobel Laureate's Primary
By Sebastian Mallaby
Monday, January 14, 2008; A21
The presidential primaries are terrific fun, but they are also absurd -- farmore absurd than even most critics recognize. It is not just that atypical,early states have disproportionate influence, or that outcomes can be swayedby floods of rain or money. The basic problem is one that's common to nearlyall electoral contests: Whenever there are three or more contenders, itmakes no sense to ask voters to select a single candidate.
To see why this is so, consider last year's Nobel Prize in economics, whichwent to three founders of a field known as mechanism design theory.Mechanism designers study the rules by which people with varying preferencescan reconcile their interests. The first step is often to induce people toreveal preferences fully, so that a compromise that's best for everyone canbe arrived at.
A good example comes from radio spectrum auctions. Once upon a time, acompany that wanted the right to use spectrum simply went to the governmentand asked to buy it; there was no mechanism to discover whether some othercompany might have used the same spectrum better. So the government invitedall potential users to reveal their preferences by bidding in an auction.The firm with the smartest plan to use the airwaves would be able to bid thehighest price. In this way, a scarce public resource would be allocatedwisely.
So far, so familiar; but consider the next twist. In a standard auction,companies will bid strategically: They will name a price that won'tnecessarily reflect what the spectrum is worth to them, because they mayreckon that they can bag it with a lower bid. A company with a brilliant newcellphone technology that represents the best possible use of the spectrummay be able to pay $10 billion for it. But it might bid $8 billion and win,in which case the taxpayers would be short $2 billion. Or it might bid $8billion and lose, in which case the radio spectrum would go to a rival thatwould use it less productively.
The mechanism designers solved this problem deftly. The highest bidder, theyproposed, should win the auction, but the price he pays should be the oneset by the runner-up. This ends the incentive to bid strategically. Eachbidder will reveal what the spectrum is really worth to him, since he knowshe won't pay the price he is naming. The spectrum will end up in the mostproductive hands, and at a fair price for taxpayers.
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Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/13/AR2008011302305.html
It's Not About Iran
By Shibley Telhami
Monday, January 14, 2008; A21
As President Bush travels through the Middle East, the prevailing assumptionis that Arab states are primarily focused on the rising Iranian threat andthat their attendance at the Annapolis conference with Israel in Novemberwas motivated by this threat. This assumption, reflected in the president'sspeech in the United Arab Emirates yesterday, could be a costly mistake.
Israel and the Bush administration place great emphasis on confrontingIran's nuclear potential and are prepared to engage in a peace processpartly to build an anti-Iran coalition. Arabs see it differently. They usethe Iran issue to lure Israel and the United States into seriousPalestinian-Israeli peacemaking, having concluded that the perceived Iranianthreats sell better in Washington and Tel Aviv than the pursuit of peaceitself.
Many Arab governments are of course concerned about Iran and its role inIraq, but not for the same reasons as Israel and the United States. Israelsees Iran's nuclear potential as a direct threat to its security, and itssupport for Hezbollah and Hamas as a military challenge.
Arab governments are less worried about the military power of Hamas andHezbollah than they are about support for them among their publics. They areless worried about a military confrontation with Iran than about Iran'sgrowing influence in the Arab world. In other words, what Arab governmentstruly fear is militancy and the public support for it that undermines theirown popularity and stability.
In all this, they see Iran as a detrimental force but not as the primarycause of militant sentiment. Most Arab governments believe instead that themilitancy is driven primarily by the absence of Arab-Israeli peace.
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Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/13/AR2008011302753.html?hpid=artslot
Escalating Ice Loss Found in Antarctica
Sheets Melting in an Area Once Thought to Be Unaffected by Global Warming
By Marc Kaufman
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, January 14, 2008; A01
Climatic changes appear to be destabilizing vast ice sheets of westernAntarctica that had previously seemed relatively protected from globalwarming, researchers reported yesterday, raising the prospect of fastersea-level rise than current estimates.
While the overall loss is a tiny fraction of the miles-deep ice that coversmuch of Antarctica, scientists said the new finding is important because thecontinent holds about 90 percent of Earth's ice, and until now, large-scaleice loss there had been limited to the peninsula that juts out toward thetip of South America. In addition, researchers found that the rate of iceloss in the affected areas has accelerated over the past 10 years -- as ithas on most glaciers and ice sheets around the world.
"Without doubt, Antarctica as a whole is now losing ice yearly, and eachyear it's losing more," said Eric Rignot, lead author of a paper publishedonline in the journal Nature Geoscience.
The Antarctic ice sheet is shrinking despite land temperatures for thecontinent remaining essentially unchanged, except for the fast-warmingpeninsula.
The cause, Rignot said, may be changes in the flow of the warmer water ofthe Antarctic Circumpolar Current that circles much of the continent.
Because of changed wind patterns and less-well-understood dynamics of thesubmerged current, its water is coming closer to land in some sectors andmelting the edges of glaciers deep underwater.
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Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/11/AR2008011103123.html??hpid=opinionsbox1
Cloudy Fortunes for Conservatism
By Jonah Goldberg
Sunday, January 13, 2008; B1
Well, this wasn't the plan.
As pretty much everyone has noticed, the Republican race hasn't exactlyfollowed any of the scripts laid out for it. Mitt Romney has been hackedapart like the Black Knight in "Monty Python and the Holy Grail." JohnMcCain's fortunes -- which had been bouncing up and down like a printout ofDick Cheney's EKG -- have suddenly spiked northward after his victory in NewHampshire. Fred Thompson ran a brilliant "testing the waters" campaign fromhis front porch, but when he tried to walk on the water, he sank like abasset hound trying to swim. Pushing the poor beast under the waves was MikeHuckabee, whose down-home folksiness makes Thompson look like David Niven.
Huckabee's surprise surge in Iowa has made him this season's pitchforkpopulist, albeit a much nicer one -- sort of a Disneyland Pat Buchanan. Thenthere's Ron Paul. He started out as the designated wack job, then became sosuccessful that the Des Moines Register had to cast Alan Keyes in the roleof hopeless firebrand wingnut for a brief campaign cameo. And it's a sign ofhow poorly Rudy Giuliani -- once the indisputable front-runner -- has donethat I'm now mentioning him only after Paul.
Of course, this could all change with the next contest.
Much of this chaos is attributable to the fact that this is a very flawedfield, or at least one ill-suited for the times we're in. If a camel is ahorse designed by committee, then this year's Republican field looksdownright dromedarian. This slate of candidates has everything aconservative designer could want -- foreign policy oomph, business acumen,Southern charm, Big Apple chutzpah, religious conviction, outsider zeal,even libertarian ardor -- but all so poorly distributed. As National Reviewput it in its editorial endorsement of Romney (I am undecided, for therecord): "Each of the men running for the Republican nomination hasstrengths, and none has everything -- all the traits, all the positions --we are looking for."
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Boston Globe
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2008/01/14/obama_unveils_120_billion_plan_to_fuel_economy_stem_foreclosures/?rss_id=Boston+Globe+--+Today%27s+paper+A+to+Z
Obama unveils $120-billion plan to fuel economy, stem foreclosures
By Ryan Nakashima, Associated Press
January 14, 2008
LAS VEGAS - Barack Obama yesterday unveiled an economic stimulus packagecosting up to $120 billion that his campaign said would put money in thehands of workers and seniors, stem the foreclosure crisis, and cover statebudget shortfalls.
The Illinois senator is proposing that the plan be implemented before a newpresident takes office.
"We need that middle-class tax cut now more than ever - not five months fromnow or five weeks from now, but now," Obama said in a statement. "I'mannouncing a plan to jump-start the economy by putting money in the pocketsof those who need it most and will spend it quickly."
The plan would have to be approved by Congress and President Bush to goforward, which is not likely.
But Obama's campaign said it represented the kind of relief he would pursueif he were president now.
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USA Today
http://blogs.usatoday.com/oped/2008/01/straight-talk-a.html
Straight talk about schools
On education reform, one candidate stands out
Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney is often criticized fortelling people what they want to hear, but that wasn't necessarily the caseat a town hall meeting when a 9-year-old girl asked him about his stands oneducation.
"I'm going to make your school harder," Romney replied, "because I want youto have the best education in the world."
When he was governor of Massachusetts, Romney sustained that state'ssuccessful education reforms, holding schools accountable for boostingstudent learning. Now he stands out in the presidential field for supportingaccountability at the federal level and proposing helpful ways to improvethe No Child Left Behind law.
The law, President Bush's signature education reform, forced states to setlearning standards and measure school performance, particularly in narrowinglearning gaps between white and black students. The widely criticized lawhas obvious flaws, but for now it is the only mechanism for pressuringreluctant schools to ensure that all children get a decent education.
Romney rightly regards closing the achievement gap in schools as "the civilrights issue of our time." He would improve No Child by focusing moreattention on individual student progress and by giving more flexibility tostates that meet or exceed testing requirements.
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USA Today
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2008-01-13-NewJersey_N.htm?csp=34
N.J. backs popular vote, joins Md.
TRENTON, N.J. (AP) - New Jersey on Sunday became the second state to enter acompact that would eliminate the Electoral College's power to choose apresident if enough states endorse the idea.
Gov. Jon S. Corzine signed legislation that approves delivering the state's15 electoral votes to the winner of the national popular vote. The Assemblyapproved the bill last month and the Senate followed suit earlier thismonth.
Maryland - with 10 electoral votes - had been the only state to pass thecompact into law.
The measure could result in the electoral votes going to a candidate opposedby voters in New Jersey, which has backed Democratic presidential candidatessince 1988.
The compact would take effect only if enough states - those with a majorityof votes in the Electoral College - agreed to it. A candidate needs 270 of538 electoral votes to win.
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USA Today
http://www.usatoday.com/news/politics/election2008/2008-01-13-ClintonMich_N.htm?csp=34
Poll: Clinton draws strong feelings in Mich.
By Dawson Bell, Detroit Free Press
Michigan may not have political party registration, but come the morningafter the Nov. 4 presidential election, it won't be hard to tell theDemocrats from Republicans if Hillary Rodham Clinton is elected president.
Democrats will be dancing in the streets, while Republicans will be feelinglousy, the Detroit Free Press-Local 4 Michigan Poll shows.
Nearly four out of five (79 percent) of people who plan to vote in Tuesday'sRepublican primary said they would feel "not so good" or "terrible" (55percent) if Clinton were elected.
The New York senator evoked a similarly strong response from Democraticvoters, with 36% saying they would feel "pretty good" and 32% "ecstatic" ifshe were elected.
None of the other six candidates tested - Republicans Rudy Giuliani, MikeHuckabee, John McCain and Mitt Romney and Democrats Barack Obama and JohnEdwards - prompted such strong reactions from either Democratic orRepublican voters.
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