Articles of Interest 6-9-08
148 Days until Election Day
June 9, 2008
MORNING UPDATE:
OBAMA’S LEGISLATIVE RECORD…here is an interview that Chris Matthew’s conducted asking about Obama’s legislative record…his accomplishments…it almost hurts to watch it…almost .
CARD CHECK…Protect the workers’ right to a secret ballot. The vast majority (around 81%) of Americans believe that American workers have a right to have a secret ballot election before they are forced to join a union. Last year the House Democrats passed a bill that would strip American workers of the secret ballot. A new bill should be introduced reaffirming that right, and it should be brought up again and again until marginal Democrats are forced to vote with the American people against the union power structure. This, coming from a Teamster.
TALK RADIO 1400 AM…I’ve become a weekly guest on the Hughes Sullivan Show on WDTK-AM 1400, which is broadcast in metro Detroit every evening. I am scheduled to regularly appear Mondays and Fridays between 8:15-8:45 pm. Good, conservative talk radio. You can hear it here.
THE BIG SHOW…every Tuesday morning, Democrat State Chair Mark Brewer and I go head to head on WJIM with Michael Patrick Shiels and discuss the issues of the day. The Big Show is heard statewide on many local stations. You can hear it online at here.
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TODAY’S TOP STORIES
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Barack Obama returns to Michigan next week
Posted by The Associated Press June 09, 2008 04:52AM
DETROIT — Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama will hold a campaign stop and a fundraiser in Detroit on June 16.
A spokeswoman for the Illinois senator made the announcement Sunday.
It will mark Obama’s third campaign stop in Michigan in a little more than a month.
Obama Maps a Nationwide Push in G.O.P. Strongholds
By ADAM NAGOURNEY and JEFF ZELENY
Published: June 8, 2008
WASHINGTON - Senator Barack Obama’s general election plan calls for broadening the electoral map by challenging Senator John McCain in typically Republican states - from North Carolina to Missouri to Montana - as Mr. Obama seeks to take advantage of voter turnout operations built in nearly 50 states in the long Democratic nomination battle, aides said.
On Monday, Mr. Obama will travel to North Carolina - a state that has not voted for a Democratic presidential candidate in 32 years - to start a two-week tour of speeches, town hall forums and other appearances intended to highlight differences with Mr. McCain on the economy. From there, he heads to Missouri, which last voted for a Democrat in 1996. His first campaign swing after securing the Democratic presidential nomination last week was to Virginia, which last voted Democratic in 1964.
Monday, June 9, 2008
Barack Obama has considerable time to undergo the kind of vetting process he will need to select the best possible running mate. He already has exposed his hand (unlike his chief opponent, Republican John McCain.) The most important factor is putting together a winning ticket now that Democratic primary and caucus voters have proven that theirs is a party deeply divided.
Mr. Obama announced his vice-presidential selection team following his victory over Hillary Clinton on Tuesday. Already, he has come under fire, and rightly so. Mr. Obama is being criticized for naming former Deputy Attorney General Eric Holder as one of three people vetting his vice-presidential selection. Mr. Holder (who had previously served as the top federal prosecutor for the District of Columbia), failed to notify the Justice Department and New York prosecutors during the Clinton administration’s consideration of a pardon for Marc Rich - the tax-evading, illegal-trading, racketeer billionaire, who avoided prosecution by fleeing to Switzerland and renouncing his citizenship. Then-President Clinton pardoned Mr. Rich during the closing days of his second term.
By William Kristol
Published: June 9, 2008
Hillary Clinton’s concession speech Saturday was the story of the weekend. But the dueling speeches by John McCain and Barack Obama on Tuesday night, after the last primaries, are what voters - and campaign operatives - should be revisiting.
McCain chose to speak early in the evening, before the polls closed in South Dakota and Montana, thereby getting the jump on Obama. He read a disjointed set of remarks at a badly staged rally at the Pontchartrain Center in Kenner, La. Here’s part of an e-mail message I received as McCain spoke, from a Republican who admires him: "They could have done so well tonight, shown a tone of confidence. Instead it looks like a bad Congressional race: dumb green puke background, small crowd … Makes me want to cry."
Campaign Adds to Complicated Clinton Legacy
By JOHN M. BRODER and ROBIN TONER
Published: June 9, 2008
WASHINGTON - Bill and Hillary Clinton have stirred virulent passions in their nearly two decades in the national spotlight. They have been known as many things, good and bad - brilliant policy analysts, manipulators of facts and friends, tireless campaigners, skillful political tacticians, monumentally self-absorbed baby boomers. But most of all they were known as winners.
Until now.
Mrs. Clinton, who survived public humiliation as first lady and then easily won two Senate races in New York, entered the 2008 presidential primary season as the odds-on favorite because of money, connections and celebrity. But through a series of blunders and the appearance of a once-in-a-lifetime opponent, Mrs. Clinton saw the prize slip through her grasp despite a valiant personal effort that lasted through the final contests in South Dakota and Montana.
Debate still rages on impact of tax cuts
David M. Dickson THE WASHINGTON TIMES
Monday, June 9, 2008
At a White House event last week commemorating the fifth anniversary of the 2003 tax cuts and the seventh anniversary of the 2001 tax cuts, President Bush hailed the "52 months of uninterrupted job growth" that commenced shortly after the 2003 tax cuts were passed.
"There’s no question that the tax cuts provided economic vitality," Mr. Bush said.
However, politicians and economists disagree about the extent of the economic benefits generated by the tax cuts.
Biz tax, surcharge threat to job creation
Stardock Corp. is the kind of company Michigan could use more of.
It’s a 21st century technology and entertainment company. It makes computer games and software. It employs 55 people. Revenue this year may reach $18 million.
But it may be leaving Plymouth Township because its state tax liability has soared from about $1,200 under the Single Business Tax to as much as $168,000 under the Michigan Business Tax, with its surcharge. (See story, Page 1.)
Mayor Kilpatrick’s pal thrives on Detroit water dept. contracts
Change orders pump up cost of Ferguson’s deals; Kilpatrick, water board deny there’s favoritism
Robert Snell and Ron French / The Detroit News
DETROIT — A friend of Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick’s has received at least $170 million in city contracts — $109 million from the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department alone — since the mayor took office in 2002.
Bobby Ferguson, who has been at the mayor’s side at black-tie social events and on the backs of motorcycles, has long claimed the relationship hurts his general contracting company’s ability to land contracts. But an analysis of records by The Detroit News shows his share of water department contracts has jumped more than 20-fold since Kilpatrick took office. Half of them have doubled, tripled or almost quadrupled in price because of additional work — a cost that is spread among customers in 126 communities across southeast Michigan.
Councilwoman Sheila Cockrel called The News’ analysis "explosive."
Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick should have skipped Wings’ parade
June 9, 2008
The mayor should have stayed away Friday.
Instead, Kwame Kilpatrick made himself part of the story during the Red Wings’ Stanley Cup championship reception at Hart Plaza. The volume and decibel level of the booing were so deafening, you would have thought Matt Millen just stepped on stage.
I asked Wings owner Mike Ilitch on the ice at Mellon Arena following the clinching victory Wednesday night if he thought Kilpatrick should be present at the celebration, despite his political and legal difficulties. And Ilitch told me he couldn’t think of a reason why he shouldn’t be there.
I said I could think
Right-to-work laws benefit states, workers
Douglas C. Buckler’s recent commentary ("Right-to-work laws hurt business climate," May 30) grossly mischaracterizes the economic benefits of allowing workers to freely choose whether or not to associate with a union.
Buckler suggests that right-to-work states suffer economic "penalties" for protecting workers from coercive unionization. While it’s hardly surprising to find a union official defending an arrangement that ensures his organization can pay him using the dues workers must pay or be fired, his selective use of statistics fails to capture the numerous economic advantages of Right to Work states.
The National Institute for Labor Relations Research has published a response to the deceptive, union-backed study cited by Buckler. The institute demonstrated that states that protect employees’ freedom of association enjoy higher real wages and lower costs of living. In other words, workers’ paychecks go much further in economically vibrant right-to-work states because the goods they purchase are significantly more affordable.
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June 9th, 2008 at 7:51 am
[...] Alexia wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerptHolder (who had previously served as the top federal prosecutor for the District of Columbia), failed to notify the Justice Department and New York prosecutors during the Clinton administration’s consideration of a pardon for Marc Rich … [...]
June 9th, 2008 at 8:08 am
[...] Dr. Ethiopia wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerptClinton, who survived public humiliation as first lady and then easily won two Senate races in New York, entered the 2008 presidential primary season as the odds-on favorite because of money, connections and celebrity. … [...]
June 9th, 2008 at 8:10 am
[...] Randy Allgaier wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerptObama announced his vice-presidential selection team following his victory over Hillary Clinton on Tuesday. Already, he has come under fire, and rightly so. Mr. Obama is being criticized for naming former Deputy Attorney General Eric … Read the rest of this great post here [...]
June 9th, 2008 at 8:44 am
[...] 6-9-08 09 Jun 2008 | 08:41 am | Category: Uncategorized unknown wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerptBarack Obama returns to Michigan next [...]
June 9th, 2008 at 11:35 am
[...] Articles of Interest 6-9-08 …of blunders and the appearance of a once-in-a-lifetime opponent, Mrs … June 9, 2008. The mayor should have stayed away Friday. [...]
June 9th, 2008 at 3:37 pm
[...] Articles of Interest 6-9-08 148 Days until Election Day. June 9, 2008. MORNING UPDATE:. OBAMA’S LEGISLATIVE RECORD…here is an interview that Chris Matthew’s conducted asking about Obama’s legislative record…his accomplishments…it almost hurts to watch it…almost . … [...]