No Surprise: Michigan incomes lag nation; poverty rising

It is going to take years for the Michigan economy to recover. Families are being forced to split up; husbands are going to different states for work and sending the money home.

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WASHINGTON -- Incomes in Michigan continued to lag the nation in 2006, remaining essentially unchanged and continuing the state's slide down national rankings, according to Census Bureau data released today.
Median household income in Michigan last year was an estimated $47,182, virtually unchanged from 2005, according to figures from the American Community Survey. Michigan fell from 22nd to 24th among states.
Nationally, household median income, adjusted for inflation, rose about 1.6 percent last year to $48,200. Michigan saw an estimated dip of about 0.5 percent, within the survey's margin of error.
The survey found a slight increase in the state's poverty rate, from 13.2 percent in 2005 to 13.5 percent this year, though that also was within the survey's margin of error. Another study, also released today by the Census Bureau and using slightly different methodology, found a larger increase in the state's poverty rate, from about 12 percent in 2005 to 13.3 percent in 2006, among the largest increases in the nation.
That second set of data, from the Current Population Survey, found the nation's poverty rate fell substantially for the first time since President Bush took office.


The article can be found at the DetroitNews.

US could be heading for recession

Former US Treasury Secretary Larry Summers warned that the United States may be heading into recession as the biggest victim to date of the sub-prime mortgage debacle was humiliatingly sold for a token sum in Germany.
Traders are braced for another week of turmoil after the near breakdown of America's $2,200bn (£1,100bn) market for commercial paper.
"It would be far too premature to judge this crisis over," Mr Summers said. "I would say the risks of recession are now greater than they've been any time since the period in the aftermath of 9/11."
In Germany, it emerged that the state-bank SachsenLB may have accumulated $80bn of exposure to risky assets through a set of Irish funds kept off balance sheet.
The regional government of Saxony agreed yesterday to sell the East German bank - the biggest victim so far of the worldwide credit rout - for a token €300m (£204m) to the Landesbank Baden-Württemberg in Stuttgart (LBBW), ending a three-week saga that has revealed the extent of German involvement in the some of the most treacherous areas of US sub-prime debt.
Georg Milbrandt, prime minister of Saxony, said the sale of state-owned lender was the only viable option.
"Given the market turbulence and the pressures on the bank, it could not have gone on without a partner. We want to get our ship off the high waves and into a safe port," he said.
Sachsen LB, founded in 1992 after the fall of the Berlin Wall, was rescued two weeks ago in a state orchestrated bail-out. A consortium of banks agreed to provide a €17.3bn credit lifeline, but only on the understanding that it agreed to be sold to a stronger player.
It allegedly used no fewer than five Irish 'conduits' (off-balance sheet vehicles) to invest in collateralised debt obligations (CDOs) and other high-risk instruments, according to German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung.

Read the full article at the Telegraph.

Mother Teresa's secret: Tormented By Her Doubts In Her Faith

(CBS) In life, Mother Teresa was an icon — for believers — of God's work on Earth. Her ministry to the poor of Calcutta was a world-renowned symbol of religious compassion. She was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. In a rare interview in 1986, Mother Teresa told CBS News she had a calling, based on unquestioned faith. "They are all children of God, loved and created by the same heart of God," she said. But now, it has emerged that Mother Teresa was so doubtful of her own faith that she feared being a hypocrite, reports CBS News correspondent Mark Phillips. In a new book that compiles letters she wrote to friends, superiors and confessors, her doubts are obvious. Shortly after beginning work in Calcutta's slums, the spirit left Mother Teresa. "Where is my faith?" she wrote. "Even deep down… there is nothing but emptiness and darkness... If there be God — please forgive me." Eight years later, she was still looking to reclaim her lost faith. "Such deep longing for God… Repulsed, empty, no faith, no love, no zeal," she said. As her fame increased, her faith refused to return. Her smile, she said, was a mask. "What do I labor for?" she asked in one letter. "If there be no God, there can be no soul. If there be no soul then, Jesus, You also are not true." "These are letters that were kept in the archbishop's house," the Rev. Brian Kolodiejchuk told Phillips.

Read the article at CBSNews.

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Latest China Scare: Dirty Chopsticks

BEIJING (Reuters) - A Beijing factory recycled used chopsticks and sold up to 100,000 pairs a day without any form of disinfection, a newspaper said on Wednesday, the latest in a string of Chinese food and product safety scares.
Counterfeit, shoddy and dangerous products are widespread in China, whose exports have been rocked in recent months by a spate of safety scandals, ranging from pet food to medicine, tires, toothpaste and toys.
Officials raided the factory and seized about half a million pairs of recycled disposable bamboo chopsticks and a packaging machine, the Beijing News said.
The owner, identified only by his surname Wu, said he had sold the recycled chopsticks for 0.04 yuan a pair and made an average of about 1,000 yuan ($130) a day.
Wu, who had no license to sell the goods, said he had sold 100,000 pairs a day when business was good.
China, on track to overtake the United States this year as the world's second-largest exporter, lacks the manpower to enforce food and drug safety regulations at home or for export. Imports are generally carefully scrutinized.

Read about it at ABCNews.

Chinese blankets recalled over chemical

WELLINGTON, New Zealand - Chinese-made blankets containing high levels of formaldehyde have been recalled across Australia and New Zealand, the distributor said Wednesday, amid rising global concern over the safety of products from China.
The voluntary recall by Australia-based Charles Parsons came two days after New Zealand launched a probe of Chinese-made clothing after scientists found dangerous levels of formaldehyde in woolen and cotton garments.
The New Zealand Ministry of Consumer Affairs said Wednesday it would start a program to test for formaldehyde in clothes next week as part of its probe, while acknowledging the country had no standard for formaldehyde levels in textiles — a concern of retailers.
A range of Chinese exports — from pet food to toothpaste — have come under international scrutiny in recent months. Toy company Mattel Inc. issued its second recall of Chinese-made toys this summer because of lead-tainted paint and tiny magnets that could be swallowed by children.
Formaldehyde — a chemical preservative that gives a permanent press effect to clothes and is also used as an embalming fluid — can cause problems ranging from skin rashes to cancer.
Charles Parsons declined to release the total number of blankets involved in the recall, but spokesman Mark Bilton said "there's a lot" in Australia and about 800 in New Zealand.
Tests had shown the formaldehyde level in the "Superlux" label blankets was "above the European and U.S. standards. There are no standards in Australia and New Zealand so it's a voluntary recall," Bilton said.

Read about it in YahooNews.

Russia steps up military expansion

Vladimir Putin announced ambitious plans to revive Russia's military power and restore its role as the world's leading producer of military aircraft yesterday.
Speaking at the opening of the largest airshow in Russia's post-Soviet history, the president said he was determined to make aircraft manufacture a national priority after decades of lagging behind the west.
The remarks follow his decision last week to resume long-range missions by strategic bomber aircraft capable of hitting the US with nuclear weapons. Patrols over the Atlantic, Pacific and Arctic began last week for the first time since 1992.

Read the article at the Guardian.

DNC may sanction Fla. Dems for early primary

The ugly elbowing over which states will go first in the 2008 presidential primary process is due to explode into open warfare Saturday as the Democratic National Committee decides what to do about “rogue” states that are threatening to violate party rules. The DNC’s powerful Rules and Bylaws Committee is scheduled to meet at 10 a.m. in Washington to decide primarily what sanctions to take against Florida, where Democrats say they will conduct a primary on Jan. 29 in violation of party rules. The Politico has learned, however, that a secret 8 a.m. “off the record” breakfast will precede the open meeting and the 30 sometimes contentious members of the rules commitee will try to achieve some kind of consensus. “We will decide then whether to blow off Florida,” a rules committee member told me.

Read the article at ThePolitico.

NYT: Romney Ad Takes on Immigration and Giuliani

Mitt Romney has stepped up his broadside of his Republican rival, Rudolph W. Giuliani, over immigration with a new radio ad in New Hampshire.
The 60-second spot opens with a narrator sternly declaring: “Immigration laws don’t work if they’re ignored. That’s the problem with cities like Newark, San Francisco and New York City that adopt sanctuary policies. Sanctuary cities become magnets that encourage illegal immigration and undermine secure borders.”
The ad, of course, picks up on an accusation Mr. Romney has been hitting on the campaign trail over the last few weeks to conservative audiences that while mayor of New York City, Mr. Giuliani encouraged the flouting of immigration laws.
Mr. Romney is seizing upon an executive order that Mr. Giuliani inherited from previous administrations that protects undocumented immigrants from being reported to the I.N.S. while using certain city services.
For his part, Mr. Giuliani has argued that the policy was part of the necessary protection of public safety and health, as the city needed illegal immigrants to be able to report crimes and get medical care without fear of deportation. His campaign has also fired back that Mr. Romney, while serving as governor of Massachusetts, failed to take action against known sanctuary cities in his state.

Read it over at the NYT.

New feature added

I added a new feature to the blog. Towards the right of the site, you will see from The Huffington Post a tool you can use to search how people you know contributed in recent campaigns.

Happy searching!

Pentagon Paid $998,798 to Ship Two 19-Cent Washers

Aug. 16 (Bloomberg) -- A small South Carolina parts supplier collected about $20.5 million over six years from the Pentagon for fraudulent shipping costs, including $998,798 for sending two 19-cent washers to an Army base in Texas, U.S. officials said.

The company also billed and was paid $455,009 to ship three machine screws costing $1.31 each to Marines in Habbaniyah, Iraq, and $293,451 to ship an 89-cent split washer to Patrick Air Force Base in Cape Canaveral, Florida, Pentagon records show.
The owners of C&D Distributors in Lexington, South Carolina -- twin sisters -- exploited a flaw in an automated Defense Department purchasing system: bills for shipping to combat areas or U.S. bases that were labeled ``priority'' were usually paid automatically, said Cynthia Stroot, a Pentagon investigator.
C&D and two of its officials were barred in December from receiving federal contracts. Today, a federal judge in Columbia, South Carolina, accepted the guilty plea of the company and one sister, Charlene Corley, to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and one count of conspiracy to launder money, Assistant U.S. Attorney Kevin McDonald said.
Corley, 46, was fined $750,000. She faces a maximum prison sentence of 20 years on each count and will be sentenced soon, McDonald said in a telephone interview from Columbia. Stroot said her sibling died last year.

Read the article at YahooNews.

It doesn't end: Some bibs made in China contain lead

WASHINGTON, Aug. 14 — Certain vinyl baby bibs sold at Toys “R” Us stores appear to be contaminated with lead, laboratory tests have shown, making the inexpensive bibs another example of a made-in-China product that may be a health hazard to children.
The vinyl bibs, which feature illustrations of baseball bats and soccer balls and Disney’s Winnie the Pooh characters, are sold for less than $5 each under store brand labels, including Especially for Baby and Koala Baby.
Tests this summer, financed by the Center for Environmental Health of Oakland, Calif., found lead as high as three times the level allowed in paint in several styles of the bibs purchased from both Toys “R” Us and Babies “R” Us stores in California.
A separate test by a laboratory hired by The New York Times of the same Toys “R” Us bibs, purchased in Maryland, found a similar level of contamination.
“These bibs are exposing children to lead in an unnecessary way,” said Caroline Cox, research director at the Center for Environmental Health, a nonprofit agency that for the last decade has been testing consumer products for lead, in an effort to remove them from the market.
Kathleen Waugh, a Toys “R” Us spokeswoman, said that the company had hired an independent lab to do tests on the bibs as recently as May and they were found to be in compliance with safety standards for lead levels. Any test showing that individual bibs were potentially contaminated should not be interpreted as meaning the problem is widespread, she said, adding that the company’s own tests are more stringent than federal standards. “Our uncompromising commitment to safety has been, and continues to be, our highest priority,” she said in a written statement.
Officials from the Consumer Product Safety Commission, which regulates children’s products, said that they would prefer that there be no elevated levels of lead in bibs.
But their own recent tests of baby bibs on the market in the United States found that the lead, when present, was at levels low enough that a child chewing on or rubbing the bib would not get an unhealthy dose.
As a result, the agency urges parents to discard vinyl bibs only if they are ripped or otherwise deteriorated.
“There is a potential risk of lead exposure from babies swallowing pieces of cracked vinyl on used bibs,” the agency said in a statement, after being presented with the test results on the Toys “R” Us bibs.
But agency officials have not pushed for a recall of lead-contaminated bibs, including a brand sold earlier this year at Wal-Mart Stores, which the Center for Environmental Health also identified. Wal-Mart removed the bibs from its store shelves nationwide, but in Illinois, where 60,000 of the bibs had been sold, a strict lead law required their recall.
The bibs were imported for Toys “R” Us by Hamco Baby Products, the same company that made the bibs for Wal-Mart. The bibs will be retested, Ms. Waugh, the Toys “R” Us spokeswoman, said.

Read the article in the NewYorkTimes.

U.S. to expand domestic use of spy satellites

The U.S.'s top intelligence official has greatly expanded the range of federal and local authorities who can get access to information from the nation's vast network of spy satellites in the U.S.
The decision, made three months ago by Director of National Intelligence Michael McConnell, places for the first time some of the U.S.'s most powerful intelligence-gathering tools at the disposal of domestic security officials. The move was authorized in a May 25 memo sent to Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff asking his department to facilitate access to the spy network on behalf of civilian agencies and law enforcement.
Until now, only a handful of federal civilian agencies, such as the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and the U.S. Geological Survey, have had access to the most basic spy-satellite imagery, and only for the purpose of scientific and environmental study.
According to officials, one of the department's first objectives will be to use the network to enhance border security, determine how best to secure critical infrastructure and help emergency responders after natural disasters. Sometime next year, officials will examine how the satellites can aid federal and local law-enforcement agencies, covering both criminal and civil law. The department is still working on determining how it will engage law enforcement officials and what kind of support it will give them.
Access to the high-tech surveillance tools would, for the first time, allow Homeland Security and law-enforcement officials to see real-time, high-resolution images and data, which would allow them, for example, to identify smuggler staging areas, a gang safehouse, or possibly even a building being used by would-be terrorists to manufacture chemical weapons.

Read the story at WSJ.

Poll: Americans Optimistic on Surge

(CBS) According to a new CBS News poll, Americans have become somewhat more optimistic about the impact of the troop surge in Iraq. The poll, released Monday, shows that 29 percent of respondents now believe that the surge is having a positive impact, an increase of 10 percentage points from last month. Fifteen percent of Americans say the surge is making the situation worse, and 46 percent say it is having no impact either way, according to the poll. A majority of Americans remain pessimistic about the direction of the war in general. Just 29 percent say the U.S. efforts to bring stability and order to Iraq are going well, while more than two-thirds say those efforts are going badly. About one-third of Americans say that the U.S. should reduce troop levels in Iraq, and another 30 percent say the U.S. should remove all troops from the country. Just under one-third say America should increase troop levels or keep them at the same level they are today. Nearly half the public, 46 percent, says the U.S. presence in Iraq is creating terrorists who want to attack America. Just 26 percent of Americans say they approve of how President George W. Bush is handling the situation in Iraq, a figure nearly unchanged since last month.

Read more at CBSNews!

Fed: Banks tightening lending standards

(AP) A majority of the nation's banks have tightened lending standards on subprime mortgages, the Federal Reserve said Monday in a survey that provided further evidence of the spreading problems in mortgage lending. The Fed said it found that 56.3 percent of banks responding to a survey reported that they had tightened their lending standards for subprime mortgages, loans offered to borrowers with weak credit histories. The survey found that 40.5 percent of banks responding said they had tightened loan standards for so-called nontraditional mortgages. The Fed defines this category as adjustable-rate loans with multiple payment options, interest-only mortgages and products referred to as "Alt-A" loans that offer such features as limited verification of incomes. The Fed survey found that even on prime loans, which offer traditional payment options such as 30-year mortgages to borrowers with strong credit histories, 14.3 percent of the banks responding said they had tightened their lending standards "somewhat."

Read more at CBSNews.

you can thank the subprime loans

Russia flying more missions near U.S. territory

PETERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Colo. (Reuters) - Russian bombers are flying more missions than normal near U.S. territory, including Alaska, demonstrating their long-range strike capability, U.S. and Canadian officials said on Monday.
Russian aircraft carrying cruise missiles ran an aviation exercise near Alaska two weeks ago, according to Canadian Col. Andre Dupuis, an officer at the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD), a U.S.-Canadian operation responsible for protecting both countries' airspace.
"They didn't do it to practice alone. They're making a point, doing it outside of their normal training cycle," he told Reuters. "They maintain capability."
Russian bombers were also tracked last week flying a course toward Guam, a U.S. territory in the Pacific.
Some analysts and defense officials say the flights likely reflect Moscow's desire to display its military muscle to remind Washington of Russia's capabilities and express dismay over U.S. plans to build a missile shield in Eastern Europe.
One defense official called the Russian flights "a little bit of chest pounding, trying to let people know Russia's back in the game."
"Over the last probably three months or so the Russians have been flying their bomber force maybe a little bit more than we've seen in the past, certainly they're ranging farther than they have in the past," said U.S. Air Force Gen. Gene Renuart, commander of NORAD and U.S. Northern Command.
"We've had a couple times where we've intercepted them out over international waters, near Alaska."
Relations between Washington and Moscow have been strained, partly by U.S. plans to put missile defense assets in former Soviet-allied territory.

Read the story at Reuters.

Secrecy: Spy programs defense

WASHINGTON - The Bush administration's warrantless wiretapping program has a built-in feature the Justice Department believes may shield it from ever being challenged as unconstitutional: secrecy.
The administration has acknowledged it intercepted some U.S. telephone conversations without warrants as it hunted for terrorists.
Whose calls? The government isn't saying. And since only those who were spied on have grounds to sue, it's almost impossible to mount a successful legal challenge.

Read the whole article at YahooNews.

U.S. Slipping in life expectancy

WASHINGTON (AP) - Americans are living longer than ever, but not as long as people in 41 other countries.
For decades, the United States has been slipping in international rankings of life expectancy, as other countries improve health care, nutrition and lifestyles.
Countries that surpass the U.S. include Japan and most of Europe, as well as Jordan, Guam and the Cayman Islands.
"Something's wrong here when one of the richest countries in the world, the one that spends the most on health care, is not able to keep up with other countries," said Dr. Christopher Murray, head of the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington.
A baby born in the United States in 2004 will live an average of 77.9 years. That life expectancy ranks 42nd, down from 11th two decades earlier, according to international numbers provided by the Census Bureau and domestic numbers from the National Center for Health Statistics.
Andorra, a tiny country in the Pyrenees mountains between France and Spain, had the longest life expectancy, at 83.5 years, according to the Census Bureau. It was followed by Japan, Macau, San Marino and Singapore.

Read the article at APNews.

U.S. Warned: Learn from the fall of Rome

The US government is on a “burning platform” of unsustainable policies and practices with fiscal deficits, chronic healthcare underfunding, immigration and overseas military commitments threatening a crisis if action is not taken soon, the country’s top government inspector has warned.
David Walker, comptroller general of the US, issued the unusually downbeat assessment of his country’s future in a report that lays out what he called “chilling long-term simulations”.
These include “dramatic” tax rises, slashed government services and the large-scale dumping by foreign governments of holdings of US debt.
Drawing parallels with the end of the Roman empire, Mr Walker warned there were “striking similarities” between America’s current situation and the factors that brought down Rome, including “declining moral values and political civility at home, an over-confident and over-extended military in foreign lands and fiscal irresponsibility by the central government”.
“Sound familiar?” Mr Walker said. “In my view, it’s time to learn from history and take steps to ensure the American Republic is the first to stand the test of time.”
Mr Walker’s views carry weight because he is a non-partisan figure in charge of the Government Accountability Office, often described as the investigative arm of the US Congress.
While most of its studies are commissioned by legislators, about 10 per cent – such as the one containing his latest warnings – are initiated by the comptroller general himself.

Read the article at FT.

U.S. Homeowner Woes Felt Around World

FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) - The latest crisis in financial markets has once again served as a reminder of how vital and interconnected the health of the U.S. economy is to that of the rest of the world.
From New York to Frankfurt to Tokyo, markets were jolted in the past week by fears that Americans are failing to keep up with their mortgage payments and the ripple effects that could have on the global banking and financial system.
The fallout could further depress U.S. housing prices by making it harder to find buyers for a glut of foreclosed homes. That, coupled with a drop in the value of investments, could leave U.S. consumers feeling poorer and less likely to spend on domestic and imported goods.
"The sharp falls in global stock markets obviously affect consumer wealth, which again could dampen spending," said Howard Archer, chief British and European economist at Global Insight.
The most immediate effect for the half of all American households who own mutual funds and other individual investors worldwide is a decline in the value of their investments, which may or may not be short-lived.
Around the globe, small-time investors are taking a beating. Stock prices have slid in recent days as fears of the market crisis infected markets worldwide. Worried investors sold stocks but finding buyers was hard, which caused share prices to dip even lower.
"We all feel threatened, problems on the stock exchange have consequences for the economy of America and of the world" said Gabriella Savarini, a 69-year-old shopkeeper in Rome. "America influences all, for good or for bad."
The distress in the markets makes it harder and more expensive for businesses and consumers to get loans and cash, Archer said. If companies cannot get loans, they cannot expand and may have to cut expenses, typically through layoffs.
America faced a crisis similar to the current mortgage fiasco when hundreds of savings and loan companies went belly-up in the 1980s. Back then, the fallout did not spread dramatically to foreign shores because the U.S. government stepped in to bail out the banks and repay depositors.

Read the story in the APNews.

Karl Rove to Exit

Karl Rove to Resign At the End of August

Karl Rove, President Bush's longtime political adviser, is resigning as White House deputy chief of staff effective Aug. 31, and returning to Texas, he said in an interview with Paul Gigot, editor of The Wall Street Journal's editorial page.
Mr. Rove, who has held a senior post in the White House since President Bush took office in January 2001, told Mr. Gigot he first floated the idea of leaving a year ago. But he delayed his departure as, first, Democrats took Congress, and then as the White House tackled debates on immigration and Iraq, he said. He said he decided to leave after White House Chief of Staff Joshua Bolten told senior aides that if they stayed past Labor Day they would be obliged to remain through the end of the president's term in January 2009.
"I just think it's time," Mr. Rove said in the interview. "There's always something that can keep you here, and as much as I'd like to be here, I've got to do this for the sake of my family." Mr. Rove and his wife have a home in Ingram, Texas, and a son who attends college in nearby San Antonio.
In the interview, Mr. Rove said he expects Democrats to give the 2008 presidential nomination to Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, whom he described as "a tough, tenacious, fatally flawed candidate." He also said Republicans have "a very good chance" to hold onto the White House in next year's elections.

Read the rest of the story in the WSJ.

Dems fear Clinton could hurt candidates at the bottom

WASHINGTON - Looking past the presidential nomination fight, Democratic leaders quietly fret that Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton at the top of their 2008 ticket could hurt candidates at the bottom.
They say the former first lady may be too polarizing for much of the country. She could jeopardize the party's standing with independent voters and give Republicans who otherwise might stay home on Election Day a reason to vote, they worry.
In more than 40 interviews, Democratic candidates, consultants and party chairs from every region pointed to internal polls that give Clinton strikingly high unfavorable ratings in places with key congressional and state races.
"I'm not sure it would be fatal in Indiana, but she would be a drag" on many candidates, said Democratic state Rep. Dave Crooks of Washington, Ind.
Unlike Crooks, most Democratic leaders agreed to talk frankly about Clinton's political coattails only if they remained anonymous, fearing reprisals from the New York senator's campaign. They all expressed admiration for Clinton, and some said they would publicly support her fierce fight for the nomination — despite privately held fears.
The chairman of a Midwest state party called Clinton a nightmare for congressional and state legislative candidates.
A Democratic congressman from the West, locked in a close re-election fight, said Clinton is the Democratic candidate most likely to cost him his seat.
A strategist with close ties to leaders in Congress said Democratic Senate candidates in competitive races would be strongly urged to distance themselves from Clinton.
"The argument with Hillary right now in some of these red states is she's so damn unpopular," said Andy Arnold, chairman of the Greenville, S.C., Democratic Party. "I think Hillary is someone who could drive folks on the other side out to vote who otherwise wouldn't."
"Republicans are upset with their candidates," Arnold added, "but she will make up for that by essentially scaring folks to the polls."

Read about it at YahooNews.

Food prices to rise as biofuel demand grows

Oil or biofuel? Which is better for us economically in the long run? The article below describes how demand from biofuel manufactures has pushed up the cost of corn and grain. Yes, everybody wants cheaper fuel, and in the U.S. nobody wants to pay over $3 a gallon for gasoline. But at what cost and where is the fragile line drawn between those who have and those who have not? As demand for corn and grain rise due to biofuel manufacture and consumption, the cost to feed the livestock will go up. Therefore, at your local grocer, it is going to push up the cost of poultry, cattle and hog. How will the poor in our country be able to afford to purchase meat and grain products? What happens if the U.S. goes through another major drought or there is a poor harvest? What happens when budgets dry up and people can no longer be able to afford to feed themselves and can no longer receive help from the government?

I guess we will have to take the wait and see approach.

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Consumers will have to pay more for food in coming years as demand from biofuel manufacturers has pushed up the prices of corn and other grains for the long term, a senior economist of the US government has warned.
Keith Collins, chief economist at the US department of agriculture, also said grain prices could be very volatile this year because of low global grain stockpiles.
"In the past when we have seen grain prices spike, they have always fallen back because the spike was normally the result of a supply shock, such as a bad harvest, but this time it is a demand shock, which will keep prices higher," Mr Collins told the FT.
Mr Collins, the most senior economist to warn of a longer-term shift in food prices, compared the change to that of oil prices over the past four years; there is almost a universal agreement that oil will remain relatively more expensive.
"I don't think this change has been fully appreciated yet," said Mr Collins.
He said higher grain prices had a knock-on effect on the livestock industry as corn, wheat and soyabeans, in the form of soyameal, are used as animal feed. Higher corn prices also affect tortilla prices in Mexico, which has forced the government to consider a price cap on one of the country's staple foods.
"Feed prices are rising, so that pushes up the costs of poultry, hogs and cattle and therefore a rancher is going to lower the size of his herd to keep costs down. In turn there is going to be less meat, which means prices are going to go up," said Mr Collins, who is responsible for the USDA's agricultural forecasts and is adviser to Mike Johanns, the US secretary of agriculture.

Read the rest of the story in the FinancialTimes.

Fed Pumps Another $38B Into US Financial System Friday to Stem Credit Turmoil

Hopefully, this will be a good thing and should help out the economy and banking systems.

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WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Federal Reserve, trying to calm turmoil on Wall Street, announced Friday that it will pump as much money as needed into the U.S. financial system to help overcome the ill effects of a spreading credit crunch.
The Fed, in a short statement, said it will provide "reserves as necessary" to help the markets safely make their way. The central bank did not provide details but said it would do all it can to "facilitate the orderly functioning of financial markets."
The Fed pushed $38 billion in temporary reserves into the system Friday, on top of a similar move the day before.
Financial markets in the United States and around the globe have been shaken by fears about spreading credit problems that started with home mortgages for those with tarnished credit histories. Investors are worried that these problems will infect the larger financial system and possibly hurt the U.S. economy.
The Fed's action may have eased some investors' anxieties. The Dow Jones industrials were down around 90 points in afternoon trading Friday following much sharper losses near the start of the session.
Presidential spokeswoman Dana Perino said the Fed is an independent body, and the White House will not comment on its decisions.

Read the rest at YahooBiz.

More quality issues: 255,000 tires made in China recalled

WASHINGTON -- A New Jersey importer will recall 255,000 Chinese-made tires, about half of what the company initially estimated, because they lack a safety feature.
The recall is the latest in a growing list of products made in China that have posed safety risks for U.S. consumers.
Union, N.J.-based Foreign Tire Sales Inc. said Thursday it was recalling the steel-belted radials because they lacked a "gum strip" or contained gum strips that were not adequate.
The tires were sold from early 2004 to mid-2006 as replacement tires for SUVs, pickups and vans under the brands Westlake, Compass and YKS.
They were manufactured in China by the Hangzhou Zhongce Rubber Co. Ltd.
Foreign Tire Sales said in June it thought about 450,000 tires would be affected.
"The gums strips help to protect against the tread or belt separating from the tire, which can cause accidents. But HZ changed the construction of the tires without informing FTS," the company said in a statement.
Despite the change and the recall, Foreign Tire Sales maintained the tires still met safety standards. "The affected tires meet all federal motor vehicle safety standards," company President Richard Kuskin said in the statement. "We went the extra mile by testing them and determining that they did not meet our standards. Nothing is more important than the safety of consumers who use our tires."
Sean Kane, president of Safety Research and Strategies, said his firm is having tires made by Hangzhou and other Chinese manufacturers analyzed to see if they have similar problems. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration also is collecting tires for analysis.

Read the article in the DetroitNews.

ECB injects €95bn to help markets

The European Central Bank scrambled to head off a potential financial crisis on Thursday by pumping an emergency €94.8bn ($131bn) into the region’s banking system after liquidity in the interbank market started to dry up, threatening banks’ access to short-term funds.
The cash injection was the biggest in the ECB’s history, exceeding the €69bn provided the day after the terrorist attacks of September 11 2001. The ECB also made an unprecedented one-day pledge to meet 100 per cent of all funding requests from financial institutions.
The ECB action followed a sharp increase in the rate at which banks are prepared to lend overnight to each other. It was designed to ensure that money markets continued to function.
The rise in the interbank rate swiftly spilled over into the US. The Federal Reserve did not implement any emergency steps, but put an unusually large $24bn into US markets in scheduled open market operations.

You can read the article at FT.com.

China Threatens To Trigger US Dollar Crash

The Chinese government has begun a concerted campaign of economic threats against the United States, hinting that it may liquidate its vast holding of US treasuries if Washington imposes trade sanctions to force a yuan revaluation.
Two officials at leading Communist Party bodies have given interviews in recent days warning - for the first time - that Beijing may use its $1.33 trillion (£658bn) of foreign reserves as a political weapon to counter pressure from the US Congress.
Shifts in Chinese policy are often announced through key think tanks and academies.
Described as China's "nuclear option" in the state media, such action could trigger a dollar crash at a time when the US currency is already breaking down through historic support levels.
It would also cause a spike in US bond yields, hammering the US housing market and perhaps tipping the economy into recession. It is estimated that China holds over $900bn in a mix of US bonds.
Xia Bin, finance chief at the Development Research Centre (which has cabinet rank), kicked off what now appears to be government policy with a comment last week that Beijing's foreign reserves should be used as a "bargaining chip" in talks with the US.
"Of course, China doesn't want any undesirable phenomenon in the global financial order," he added.
He Fan, an official at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, went even further today, letting it be known that Beijing had the power to set off a dollar collapse if it choose to do so.
"China has accumulated a large sum of US dollars. Such a big sum, of which a considerable portion is in US treasury bonds, contributes a great deal to maintaining the position of the dollar as a reserve currency. Russia, Switzerland, and several other countries have reduced the their dollar holdings.
"China is unlikely to follow suit as long as the yuan's exchange rate is stable against the dollar. The Chinese central bank will be forced to sell dollars once the yuan appreciated dramatically, which might lead to a mass depreciation of the dollar," he told China Daily.
The threats play into the presidential electoral campaign of Hillary Clinton, who has called for restrictive legislation to prevent America being "held hostage to economic decicions being made in Beijing, Shanghai, or Tokyo".
She said foreign control over 44pc of the US national debt had left America acutely vulnerable.

Read the rest at the Telegraph.

Democrats debate infrastructure needs

CHICAGO - Democratic presidential candidates said Tuesday the nation should invest more money in infrastructure and less in the Iraq war, citing the Minneapolis bridge collapse as a symptom of neglect. The candidates cast the matter as one of creating jobs as they addressed thousands of labor union activists, a constituency that could prove pivotal in deciding which contender emerges as the party's nominee.
The 90-minute debate, held outdoors at Soldier Field, was sponsored by the AFL-CIO.
"Putting our country back to work begins by cutting the funding for the war in Iraq," said Connecticut Sen. Chris Dodd. He said $1 billion in domestic infrastructure spending would create 40,000 jobs.
New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton said, "We have to make investments in infrastructure," adding that it would create jobs and improve security at ports, tunnels and other potential terrorist targets.
Several questions dealt with trade, a sensitive subject for union activists who argue that too many U.S. jobs have gone overseas.
Labor leaders often have criticized the 1993 North American Free Trade Agreement, which was enacted by former President Clinton, the New York senator's husband.
Hillary Clinton defended the pact, saying the nation needs "broad reform" of trade. "NAFTA is a piece of it, but it's not the only piece," she said.
Her chief rivals — Illinois Sen. Barack Obama and former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards — also stopped short of saying NAFTA should be scrapped. But they criticized the front-running Clinton for her ties to lobbyists and Wall Street.

Read the rest at YahooNews.

Editor of largest S. Carolina paper: Edwards is a phony

By BRAD WARTHEN - Editorial Page Editor
MONTHS ago, I observed on my blog that I think John Edwards is a phony — a make-believe Man of The People.
It’s not so much that he’s lying when he says he wants to help One America — the Deserving Poor, whom he wants to vote for him — get what it has coming to it from the Other America (that of the Really Rich, to which he disarmingly admits he belongs). I think he believes it. But I don’t, and here’s why:
Strike One: Sept. 16, 2003. The candidate was supposed to appear on a makeshift stage on Greene Street in front of the Russell House.
He was supposed to arrive at 4 p.m., but it was past 5 before he showed. When his appearance was imminent, his wife appeared on the stage and built expectation in a manner I found appealing and sincere. Then I saw Mr. Edwards step to an offstage position just behind the bleachers to my left. None of the folks in the “good” seats could see him.
His face was impassive, slack, bored: Another crowd, another show. Nothing wrong with that — just a professional at work.
But then, I saw the thing that stuck with me: As his introduction reached its climax, he straightened, and turned on a thousand-watt smile as easily and artificially as flipping a switch. He assumed the look of a man who had just, quite unexpectedly, run into a long-lost best friend. He stepped into view of the crowd at large, and worked his way, Bill Clinton-like, from the back of the crowd toward the stage — a man of the people, coming out from among the people — shaking hands with the humble, grateful enthusiasm of a poor soul who had just won the Irish Sweepstakes.
It was so well done, but so obviously a thing of art, that I was taken aback despite three decades of seeing politicians at work.
Not enough for you? OK.
Strike Two: Jan. 23, 2004. Seeking our support in the primary he would win 11 days later, he came to an interview with The State’s editorial board.
He was all ersatz-cracker bonhomie, beginning by swinging his salt-encrusted left snowboot onto the polished boardroom table, booming, “How do y’all like my boots?” He had not, it seemed, had time to change footwear since leaving New Hampshire.
The interview proceeded according to script, a lot of aw-shucking, smiling, showing of genuine concern, and warm expressions of determination to close the gap between the Two Americas. Then he left, and I didn’t think much more about it, until a week later.
On the 30th, Howard Dean came in to see us for the second time. Again, I was struck by how personable he was, so unlike his screamer image. I rode down on the elevator with him afterward, along with my administrative assistant and another staffer who was a real Dean fan (but, worse luck for Gov. Dean, not a member of our board). I paused to watch him take his time to greet everyone in our foyer — treating each person who wanted to shake his hand as every bit as important as any editorial board member, if not more so. I remarked upon it.
“Isn’t he a nice man?” said our copy editor (the fan). I agreed. Then came the revelation: “Unlike John Edwards,” observed the administrative assistant. What’s that? It seems that when she alone had met then-Sen. Edwards at the reception desk, she had been struck by the way he utterly ignored the folks in our customer service department and others who had hoped for a handshake or a word from the Great Man. He had saved all his amiability, all his professionally entertaining energy and talent, for the folks upstairs who would have a say in the paper’s endorsement.
At that moment, my impression acquired stony bulwarks of Gothic dimensions.

Read the rest of the breaking story at TheState.

Unbelievable - WND: NAFTA Superhighway traffic tied to bridge collapse

I know, it's all a conspiracy to take our nationhood away, right?

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Evidence of increasing international trade truck traffic on Interstate 35 through Minnesota raises concerns that NAFTA Superhighway traffic contributed to last week's collapse of the freeway bridge in Minneapolis.
WND has unearthed a Federal Highway Administration report dating back to 1998 that warned increasing NAFTA truck traffic was expected create a safety concern with bridges in states along the I-35 NAFTA Superhighway, including Minnesota.
The study concluded that, "The I-35 Corridor's multimodal transportation hubs – where air, rail, river, and truck cargo converge – make I-35 ideally positioned to be a major route for what is expected to be increasing levels of international trade activity."
The study warned that, "Over the next few decades, about 65 percent of I-35 will require major upgrades, however the entire route will have a continued need for rehabilitating pavements, resurfacing sections of the highway, and providing replacements of some bridge decks. Bridge substructures and superstructures will also need to be maintained, requiring repairs to maintain the integrity of the bridges."

Read the rest at WorldNetDaily.

A rant towards Humanevents.org

Ok, maybe I am not irritated at the entire site of www.humanevents.org; but I get irritated at one writer in particular. It is an article titled "Spying? Fine by me". I have it below:

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The oversized, blazing headline of The Huffington Post today reads "Let Me Keep Spying" and features several photos of President Bush at a podium. This refers, of course, to the FISA debacle going on. A news report said, "President Bush said Friday that Congress must stay in session until it approves legislation modernizing a U.S. law governing eavesdropping on foreigners."Is this really the time to tinker with national security? For all we know, we're being prepped for another 9/11 style attack on Monday morning. Maybe not -- but maybe so. It is in our best and wisest interest to give the benefit of the doubt to a little privacy invasion that -- let's be honest -- average, everyday Americans with nothing to hide aren't going to notice anyway. So it seems to me that the people at HuffPo want Bush to look like a maniac who overextends his constitutional powers and has no limits. Fine. But this spying isn't done for a good chuckle or for the government to get their kicks and flesh out all illegal drug users in the country or something ridiculous like that. This is about protecting our nation during a volatile, dangerous time in history. It's about using our resources to the best of our ability to uncover plots against us and prevent unnecessary death and destruction. The secret's been out for awhile now -- there are a lot people with scary weapons and plans that would like nothing else than to wipe out Israel and take over America. Or something like that. Please spy. Our lives may depend on it.
You can read the article at HumanEvents.
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At what point do we totally give up our freedoms for the goal of thwarting "terrorism"? I am NOT saying that there is no real threat to our nation; and it would be foolish to even say there is no threat. There is a fine line to balance between protecting our nation and protecting our freedoms. My guess is, when the "Freedom of the Press" is taken away due to the goal of stopping the information exchange between "terrorist cells", that's when they will start to speak up. Let me guess. That will never happen, right?

By then, it will be too late.

I'm sure I will get people saying "do you have something to hide, based upon the fact that you don't agree with her article?" They can listen to my conversations all day long. It is about upholding a freedom, but at what price?

Iraq's national power grid is nearing collapse

BAGHDAD -- Iraq's power grid is on the brink of collapse because of insurgent sabotage, rising demand, fuel shortages and provinces that are unplugging local power stations from the national grid, officials said Saturday.
Electricity Ministry spokesman Aziz al-Shimari said power generation nationally is only meeting half the demand, and there had been four nationwide blackouts over the past two days. The shortages across the country are the worst since the summer of 2003, shortly after the U.S.-led invasion to topple Saddam Hussein, he said.
Power supplies in Baghdad have been sporadic all summer and now are down to just a few hours a day, if that. The water supply in the capital has also been severely curtailed by power blackouts and cuts that have affected pumping and filtration stations.
Karbala province south of Baghdad has been without power for three days, causing water mains to go dry in the provincial capital, the Shiite holy city of Karbala.
"We no longer need television documentaries about the Stone Age. We are actually living in it. We are in constant danger because of the filthy water and rotten food we are having," said Hazim Obeid, who sells clothing at a stall in the Karbala market.
Electricity shortages are a perennial problem in Iraq, even though it sits atop one of the world's largest crude oil reserves. The national power grid became decrepit under Saddam Hussein because his regime was under U.N. sanctions after the Gulf War and had trouble buying spare parts or equipment to upgrade the system.
The power problems are only adding to the misery of Iraqis, already suffering from the effects of more than four years of war and sectarian violence. Outages make life almost unbearable in the summer months, when average daily temperatures reach between 110 and 120 degrees.
One of the biggest problems facing the national grid is the move by provinces to disconnect their power plants from the system, reducing the overall amount of electricity being generated for the entire country. Provinces say they have no choice because they are not getting as much electricity in return for what they produce, mainly because the capital requires so much power.

Read more in the Detroit News.

House Approves Wiretap Bill

WASHINGTON (AP) - The House handed President Bush a victory Saturday, voting to expand the government's abilities to eavesdrop without warrants on foreign suspects whose communications pass through the United States.
The 227-183 vote, which followed the Senate's approval Friday, sends the bill to Bush for his signature. He had urged Congress to approve it, saying Saturday, ``Protecting America is our most solemn obligation.''
The administration said the measure is needed to speed the National Security Agency's ability to intercept phone calls, e-mails and other communications involving foreign nationals ``reasonably believed to be outside the United States.'' Civil liberties groups and many Democrats said it goes too far, possibly enabling the government to wiretap U.S. residents communicating with overseas parties without adequate oversight from courts or Congress.
The bill updates the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, known as FISA. It gives the government leeway to intercept, without warrants, communications between foreigners that are routed through equipment in United States, provided that ``foreign intelligence information'' is at stake. Bush describes the effort as an anti-terrorist program, but the bill is not limited to terror suspects and could have wider applications, some lawmakers said.
The government long has had substantial powers to intercept purely foreign communications that don't touch U.S. soil.
If a U.S. resident becomes the chief target of surveillance, the government would have to obtain a warrant from the special FISA court.
Congressional Democrats won a few concessions in negotiations earlier in the week. New wiretaps must be approved by the director of national intelligence and the attorney general, not just the attorney general. Congress has battled with Attorney General Alberto Gonzales on several issues, and some Democrats have accused him of perjury.
The new law also will expire in six months unless Congress renews it. The administration wanted the changes to be permanent.
Many congressional Democrats wanted tighter restrictions on government surveillance, but yielded in the face of Bush's veto threats and the impending August recess.
``This bill would grant the attorney general the ability to wiretap anybody, any place, any time without court review, without any checks and balances,'' said Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif., during the debate preceding the vote.

Read the rest of the story at Guardian.

Public Service Academy Draws New Attention

NPR today had a story about the US Public Service Academy on All Things Considered.



All Things Considered, August 2, 2007 · In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, Shawn Raymond and Chris Myers Asch put an idea into play: The U.S. Public Service Academy. Now Sen. Hillary Clinton has put them in the spotlight. Raymond and Meyers Asch tell Melissa Block where their project stands.

Be sure to visit NPR and the story here.

A journey - but at what price? Ways to help the planet

Here in the United States, we take a lot of things for granted: The fact that we can water our lawns so we have green grass, the ability to go to the local fruit market to pick up fresh produce; and we can purchase cheap goods at our local discount retailer. Most of this is a luxury that a lot of the citizens of the world cannot afford.
As I sit here writing, my sprinkler is watering my front lawn. Yes, my grass is a tad brown but here I am thinking to myself...is it worth using up our most precious resource just so my lawn can either be greener than the neighbors across the street, or less brown than the other neighbor next to me? We have people in the world who have no access to water, or no access to clean water. They are forced to drink dirty water, perhaps tainted with chemicals; or they die from dehydration.
I am able to go to my local grocer and get food or produce without fear of getting shot at or blown up (although some people in the city may debate the part about getting shot at).
I can also use up another precious resource called energy, by leaving my lights on all the time and keeping my house a few degrees below my comfort level in the summer time and a few degrees warmer so I am nice and toasty in the winter. You can do a lot of things to help lower your energy bill and most of them are simple.
1. Change furnace filters regularly. You should do so every other month or monthly if you have pets. A dirty furnace filter reduces air flow and makes your furnace fan and your air conditioner work harder; clean filters can save up to 5% of electricity use.
2. Use special tape to seal leaky heating ducts. It’s easy to apply and keeps the cool air going to where it’s needed.
3. Take a quick shower instead of a bath. A typical bath uses about 75 litres of hot water, while a five-minute shower with an energy efficient showerhead will use about half that amount. 4. Don’t overcool your food. Is the temperature of your refrigerator and your freezer set for only as cold as you need? Defrost your manual-defrost freezer regularly to ensure it operates at maximum efficiency.
5. Get rid of the old, inefficient fridge in the basement.It’s is wasting both space and energy. The fridge you bought in 1975 costs about four times as much to run as a new ENERGY STAR® model.
6. Wash your clothes in cold or warm water. Did you know that 85-90% of the energy used by washing machines is used to heat the water?
7. Use energy-saving small appliances, and use the big ones less often. Electric kettles, toaster ovens, or microwaves use much less electricity than stoves and ovens.
8. Go for the full load. Run your dishwasher and washing machine only when you have a full load, and use the energy-saving cycle, if your appliance has one.
9. Dry naturally. If you have the space, use old style clothes drying racks which also add humidity to the dry winter air in your house. When the weather is right, use an outdoor clothesline to dry laundry, if permitted by your municipality.
10. Use fans as a cool alternative to air conditioners. Install ceiling fans to help keep rooms cooler, instead of using an air conditioner. Make sure they blow downward in summer.
11. Use air conditioning responsibly. How low do you really need to go? During last summer’s heat wave, 20% of all the energy consumed was for air conditioning. The combined benefits of everyone setting their temperature a little higher would be impressive. And remember, air conditioners cool people, not homes. Don’t run the A/C when you’re not home.
You can read more on how to save energy by going to http://www.everykilowattcounts.ca/HTML/efficiencyTips.shtml. Even though the website I linked to is part of the Canadian government, they have a lot of good tips.
So, I am near the end of my article. I am still watering my lawn, the TV is still on and the dishwasher is running 3/4 of the way full. Why? I like the guilt, and dammit; I'm an American.
All joking aside, every thing that you consider to be small or minor helps out our planet a ton.

Bush wants a new climate change plan

U.S. President George W. Bush has invited the world’s largest economies to a summit at the end of September to draw up a road map for co-ordinating brand new international efforts and policies to address the threat of global warming.
In a letter dated Aug. 2, Bush invited leaders from 11 countries, including Canada, along with European Union members and United Nations representatives to the Washington meeting scheduled for Sept. 27-28.
He pledged that his government would work towards a new international agreement on climate change by 2009 to be implemented after 2012, when the existing climate pact — the Kyoto Protocol — expires.
“In recent years, science has deepened our understanding of climate change and opened new possibilities for confronting it,” Bush wrote in the letter obtained by CanWest News Service.
Bush has been criticized by his political rivals for rejecting calls from European countries to immediately commit to binding targets to slash pollution and prevent heat-trapping gases from warming up global temperatures by more than two degrees C, considered by many scientists to be a dangerous threshold for the planet.
But the president suggested that he wanted to build on a consensus reached with his international counterparts at a recent economic summit in Germany that recognized “the vital need for the major economies to work together to achieve the common objectives of reducing global greenhouse gas emissions, increasing energy security and efficiency, and sustaining economic growth.”
Although the previous U.S. administration of Bill Clinton signed the Kyoto Protocol, it was never submitted to the U.S. Senate for ratification. Bush has rejected the agreement since it set binding targets on the U.S., without any similar conditions for emerging economies such as India and China.
But in his letter, he made no mention of the Kyoto agreement which was drafted in 1997 as an update to the original United Nations treaty on climate change from 1992.
“The United States is committed to collaborating with other major economies to agree on a detailed contribution for a new global framework by the end of 2008, which would contribute to a global agreement under the U.N. Framework convention on Climate Change by 2009.”

Read about it at Canada.ca.

Gingrich: War on terror "phony"

Washington — Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich said Thursday the Bush administration is waging a "phony war" on terrorism, warning that the country is losing ground against the kind of Islamic radicals who attacked the country on Sept. 11, 2001.
A more effective approach, said Gingrich, would begin with a national energy strategy aimed at weaning the country from its reliance on imported oil and some of the regimes that petro-dollars support.
"None of you should believe we are winning this war. There is no evidence that we are winning this war," the ex-Georgian told a group of about 300 students attending a conference for collegiate conservatives.
Gingrich, who led the so-called Republican Revolution that won the GOP control of both houses of Congress in 1994 midterm elections, said more must be done to marshal national resources to combat Islamic militants at home and abroad and to prepare the country for future attack. He was unstinting in his criticism of his fellow Republicans, in the White House and on Capitol Hill.
"We were in charge for six years," he said, referring to the period between 2001 and early 2007, when the GOP controlled the White House and both houses of Congress. "I don't think you can look and say that was a great success."
Thursday's National Conservative Student Conference was sponsored by the Young America's Foundation, a Herndon, Va.-based group founded in the 1960s as a political counterpoint to the left-leaning activists who coalesced around the civil rights movement and opposition to the Vietnam War.
Gingrich retains strong support among conservatives and ranked fifth among possible Republican nominees behind former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, with the backing of 7 percent of those queried in a ABC News/Washington Post poll taken last week. The poll surveyed 403 Republicans and Republican-leaning adults nationwide and has a 5 percentage-point margin of error.
"I believe we need to find leaders who are prepared to tell the truth ... about the failures of the performance of Republicans ... failed bureaucracies ... about how dangerous the world is," he said when asked what kind of Republican he would back for president.

Read the article at AJC.

U.S. Public Service Academy

Help build the U.S. Public Service Academy!

The U.S. Public Service Academy will be America’s first national civilian university, a flagship institution designed to build a “more perfect union” by developing leaders of character dedicated to service in the public sector.
Modeled on the military service academies, the Public Service Academy will provide a rigorous undergraduate education followed by five years of civilian service to the country. It will develop young leaders with the character, intellect, and experience necessary to meet the challenges of the twenty-first century. Join us as we build our generation’s defining public institution.

They have earned the support of liberals, conservatives; and yes, even populist conservatives!

Please take a moment to visit their website at www.uspublicserviceacademy.org!

Obama might send troops into Pakistan

WASHINGTON - Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama said Wednesday that he would possibly send troops into Pakistan to hunt down terrorists, an attempt to show strength when his chief rival has described his foreign policy skills as naive. The Illinois senator warned Pakistani President Gen. Pervez Musharraf that he must do more to shut down terrorist operations in his country and evict foreign fighters under an Obama presidency, or Pakistan will risk a U.S. troop invasion and losing hundreds of millions of dollars in U.S. military aid.
"Let me make this clear," Obama said in a speech prepared for delivery at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. "There are terrorists holed up in those mountains who murdered 3,000 Americans. They are plotting to strike again. It was a terrible mistake to fail to act when we had a chance to take out an al-Qaida leadership meeting in 2005. If we have actionable intelligence about high-value terrorist targets and President Musharraf won't act, we will."
The excerpts were provided by the Obama campaign in advance of the speech.
Obama's speech comes the week after his rivalry with New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton erupted into a public fight over their diplomatic intentions.
Obama said he would be willing to meet leaders of rogue states like Cuba, North Korea and Iran without conditions, an idea that Clinton criticized as irresponsible and naive. Obama responded by using the same words to describe Clinton's vote to authorize the Iraq war and called her "Bush-Cheney lite."
The speech was a condemnation of President Bush's leadership in the war on terror. He said the focus on Iraq has left Americans in more danger than before Sept. 11, 2001, and that Bush has misrepresented the enemy as Iraqis who are fighting a civil war instead of the terrorists responsible for the attacks six years ago.

Read the rest of the article at YahooNews.