Colorado Public Employees Unions' Secret Agreement

Colorado's largest public employees unions announced a historic agreement last Thursday to form one merged organization to represent state workers in accordance with the "partnership agreements" created by Gov. Bill Ritter's November 2 executive order.

In fact, the secret merger agreement, obtained by the Education Intelligence Agency, reveals the new organization, christened Colorado WINS, has one primary purpose: to create and enact a collective bargaining law for Colorado public employees, and then make Colorado WINS their exclusive representative.

The 26-page document, posted on the EIA web site at http://www.eiaonline.com/coloradowins.pdf, sheds light on a number of questions that have occupied Coloradans and their media outlets.

The agreement sets out goals, structures, finances and timetables for the achievement of the national unions' agenda for Colorado. Included are:

* "Unified Legislative Action. The parties pledge to work together to draft a comprehensive state employee collective bargaining bill and to jointly urge that it be enacted by the State Legislature and approved by the Governor."

* "Unified Organizing Campaign. The parties pledge to work together in a coordinated organizing campaign to seek joint certification as the exclusive representative of all state employees covered by this Agreement."

* "Unified Representation of State Employees." The parties pledge to establish the Colorado WINS as a unified structure with unified leadership representing all state employees. Colorado WINS will have the sole authority to advocate for legislation affecting state employees., including but not limited to legislation affecting PERA, the State Personnel System, employee accountability and state employee protections."

Job One is already underway. "As soon as practicable following the effective date of this Agreement, the parties shall reach final agreement on the specifics of comprehensive collective bargaining legislation for Colorado state employees which shall be endorsed and supported by the three unions," the agreement states.

Colorado WINS seeks to eliminate all other representatives of public employees, with the exception of the state Enforcement and Protective Services Unit. The new organization will seek to represent all of those employees other than the 500 state troopers, who will remain under the jurisdiction of the Association of Colorado State Patrol Professionals.

Funding responsibilities and dues income (including PAC money) will be divided among the three national unions – 50% for SEIU, and 25% each for AFT and AFSCME. The organization will also belong to the AFL-CIO. No mention is made of the Change to Win federation, despite the signature of CTW co-founder Andrew Stern on the document.

In the first phase of the plan, which runs from the present to August 2008, current Colorado local unions will remain autonomous, but will have to enter into a servicing agreement with Colorado WINS. Assuming a collective bargaining law is passed, those locals will then be incorporated into Colorado WINS by July 1, 2009. At that point, the new union will hold a constitutional convention and elect officers.

The agreement runs until December 30, 2012, but if there were any remaining doubt as to the overriding purpose of the organization and the transitory role of Gov. Ritter's partnership agreements, it is erased by the provision that allows the member unions to terminate the merger and dissolve Colorado WINS "in the event that no state employee collective bargaining legislation is in effect by July 1, 2009."

There is also a hint that Colorado WINS hopes to establish an agency fee requirement for state employees who choose not to join. "Colorado WINS shall establish a dues trust fund and shall make arrangements to have employer-withheld membership dues and agency fees (if applicable) deposited directly into the trust account," the document states.

The organization will be run by a four-member Permanent Coordinating Committee, consisting of SEIU's Robert Lawson and Eliseo Medina, AFSCME's Paul Booth, and AFT's Phil Kugler. Lawson was named Campaign Director, and AFSCME's Steve Kreisberg was named Chief Negotiator.

Union involvement in the crafting of Gov. Ritter's executive order has been a matter of some controversy for months – from the public records release of September 4 to questions about the Ury memo. Nevertheless, the governor's issuance of the executive order in the afternoon of Friday, November 2, generated surprise and outrage and a page one editorial excoriating the move in the Denver Post.

But it's obvious the executive order didn't surprise the unions.

Though the formation of Colorado WINS wasn't publicly announced until November 15, the final agreement had already been signed by November 6, a mere four days after the executive order, belying claims that this was cobbled together last week and is still being worked out.

Additionally, the creation of the document not only pre-dates the attempt of the Colorado Federation of Public Employees (CFPE) to disaffiliate from the American Federation of Teachers, it appears to be the cause of it. The merger document is an agreement between the national SEIU, AFSCME and AFT. Neither AFT Colorado nor CFPE are signatories. The agreement specifically states its provisions are "intended to be binding on the three International Unions and on all of their subordinate bodies and affiliates" and that "Colorado WINS is the lawful successor to their existing local unions with respect to representing Colorado state employees covered by this Agreement."

Fall Into the Gap

Posted by Mike Antonucci at 07:15 | Permalink | Com

John Rogers and Jeannie Oakes, co-directors of UCLA's Institute for Democracy, Education, and Access, found that the problem with public education in California isn't the racial achievement gap, it's the gap between the rest of the nation and California.

Rogers and Oakes write:

"For example, for years, people have been describing and lamenting California's general decline in education. We've all heard it. Test scores of California's Latino and African American students are, on average, among the lowest in the country. However, white students don't do well either, and by a wide margin: California's white eighth-graders score below white eighth-graders in every state but West Virginia and Nevada on the NAEP reading test."

If it's bad, it's bad for everybody, regardless of race, gender, ethnicity, English language status, income, parent education or teacher experience. What a great way of looking at the problem. Wish I had thought of it.

Lincoln's Thanksgiving Proclamation

The year that is drawing toward its close has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added, which are of so extraordinary a nature that they cannot fail to penetrate and soften the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever-watchful providence of Almighty God.

In the midst of a civil war of unequaled magnitude and severity, which has sometimes seemed to foreign states to invite and provoke their aggressions, peace has been preserved with all nations, order has been maintained, the laws have been respected and obeyed, and harmony has prevailed everywhere, except in the theater of military conflict, while that theater has been greatly contracted by the advancing armies and navies of the Union.

Needful diversions of wealth and strength from the fields of peaceful industry to the national defense have not arrested the plow, the shuttle, or the ship; the ax has enlarged the borders of our settlements, and the mines, as well of iron and coal as of the precious metals, have yielded even more abundantly than heretofore. Population has steadily increased, notwithstanding the waste that has been made in the camp, the siege, and the battle-field, and the country, rejoicing in the consciousness of augmented strength and vigor, is permitted to expect continuance of years with large increase of freedom.

No human counsel hath devised, nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy.

It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently, and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and one voice by the whole American people. I do, therefore, invite my fellow-citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next as a day of thanksgiving and praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the heavens. And I recommend to them that, while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings, they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to His tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners, or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty hand to heal the wounds of the nation, and to restore it, as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes, to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquility, and union.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.

Done at the city of Washington this third day of October, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, and of the Independence of the United States the eighty-eighth.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.

By the President:

WILLIAM H. SEWARD, Secretary of State.

Stop Taxpayer Bailout, another S&L fiasco

Contact your Elected Representative and tell them NO!

http://stoptaxpayerbailout.typepad.com/

This really ticks me off.

Romney is tough sell for many U.S. Christians

By Ed Stoddard

DALLAS - When a pair of Mormon missionaries knocked at the door of Jerry Pierce's home in a north Dallas suburb last month, he marshalled his arguments and stood his ground.
"I look forward to encounters like that. I like to talk to them about the nature of Christ and who Jesus is," said Pierce, a staunch Southern Baptist, the biggest Protestant denomination in the United States.
Mitt Romney, a Mormon, is running into similar resistance as he tries to win over Southern Baptists and other evangelical Protestants in the race for the Republican Party's nomination for the 2008 U.S. presidential election.

Full Story: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21906747/

Romney denounces phone calls attacking his faith

From Dana Bash
CNN Washington Bureau

DES MOINES, Iowa (CNN) -- "You've got to be kidding" was GOP presidential hopeful Mitt Romney's incredulous response.

GOP presidential hopeful Mitt Romney says he has no idea who is behind calls in New Hampshire and Iowa.

The question: Is he confident that no one associated with his campaign was involved in so-called push-polling?

The practice is a political attack disguised as legitimate polling. Callers portray themselves as nonpartisan members of a polling organization, then provide negative or misleading information about a candidate in an effort to discourage voting for that person.

Romney appeared taken aback because the phone calls -- reported in early presidential contest states of Iowa and New Hampshire -- cast aspersions on him and his Mormon faith.

The calls also raised questions about deferments he received during the Vietnam War because he was doing missionary work in France.

"Obviously, the beneficiaries of push-polling that attacks me is not me. Somebody else has obviously pushed that forward. I have no idea who it was, but I hope the attorney general of New Hampshire finds out who it is, and we can get that resolved and we can know who was behind it, " Romney told CNN. Watch what Romney says when asked about push-polling »

Some of his rival campaigns privately have suggested that a Romney ally did the calls deliberately to illicit mass condemnation and perhaps discourage an opponent from using the tactic closer to Election Day.

"I think it's the same kind of conspiracy theorists that you're raising that say, 'Oh, we brought down the World Trade Center ourselves,' " the former Massachusetts governor said. "It turns everything on its head. It's a little silly I think."

Matt Rhoades, Romney's communications director, said the calls were "repulsive."

Romney is "campaigning as an optimist who wants to lead the nation. These attacks are just the opposite. They are ugly and divisive," he said in a statement.

Rhoades also said Sen. Judd Gregg, a chairman of Romney's campaign in New Hampshire, has asked state Attorney General Kelly Ayotte to open an investigation into the matter immediately.

Other GOP presidential campaigns have denounced the push-polling, which roiled voters in both states who got the calls.

"But as you know it was vicious attack on me, an un-American attack on me --and that's totally inappropriate, particularly at a time like this with Thanksgiving recognizing that this is a nation that celebrates diversity of religious thought and belief," Romney said. E-mail to a friend

Is Obama's Iowa Surge for Real?

Wednesday, Nov. 21, 2007 By AMY SULLIVAN

U.S. Senator and Presidential candidate Barack Obama waits for the start of another town-hall meeting in a stairwell in Muscatine, IA at the Muscatine Center for Social Change.

Callie Shell / Aurora for TIME

The new message driving Barack Obama's resurgent campaign these days is "electability plus." He debuted the new appeal at the Iowa Jefferson-Jackson dinner earlier this month, calling for a "party that doesn't just focus on how to win but why we should." Obama referred to what Martin Luther King Jr. called "the fierce urgency of now" and argued that the U.S. faces too many challenges at home and abroad for Democrats to be satisfied with merely taking the White House away from Republicans.

Photos

Barack Obama: Portrait of a Candidate

TIME Photographer Callie Shell travels with the Democratic hopeful for an intimate look at his bid for the Presidency

Obama‘s Red State Appeal

Obama‘s Red State Appeal Friday, Nov. 02, 2007 By JAY NEWTON-SMALL/OMAHA Sen. ...

Hit Her Again!

Hit Her Again! Wednesday, Oct. 31, 2007 By JOE KLEIN Democratic presidential c...

Barack Obama‘s People Problem

Barack Obama speaks at a house party organized in support of his presidential bid, in Las Vegas, Nev...

Can Obama Rock the Nomination?

Can Obama Rock the Nomination? Sunday, Nov. 11, 2007 By ANA MARIE COX U.S. Pre...

Electability plus means not just getting elected but getting elected for the right reasons. It is a rebuttal of the argument that Hillary Clinton should win the Democratic nomination simply because of her perceived advantage against gop rivals. And it provides a rationale for why Obama is running now, why he didn't wait four or eight years to launch a presidential campaign.

It's significant then that Obama's message seems to be catching on among the notoriously pragmatic Iowans. By 55% to 33%, Iowans—who will take part in a Jan. 3 caucus that will be the first test for Democratic presidential candidates—said they favored "new direction and new ideas" over "strength and experience," a new Washington Post/ABC poll found. In July the ratio was 49% to 39%. After trailing Clinton in the state most of the year, Obama now leads by 4 points, and he has eliminated her advantage among women voters and older voters. He is also dead even with her when voters are asked whom they trust more to handle the economy, Social Security and the war in Iraq.

To run on electability plus, of course, you first have to pass the electability threshold. There, too, Obama has fresh data on his side. His aides tout the fact that their candidate boasts higher favorability ratings among independents and Republicans than either of his main rivals. (A recent Pew survey found that 21% of Republican respondents would like to see Obama as the Democratic nominee.) And the Post poll suggests that Obama could benefit from last-minute shifts in support: 34% of Iowa voters said he was their second choice, compared with only 15% for Clinton. Under the arcane rules of Iowa caucuses, that means Obama is more likely to pick up voters who can switch their support if their candidate falls short of the required 15% bar for votes.

Winning in Iowa, however, still comes down to the fine art of connecting with individual voters. And on that front, the state isn't always a good match for Obama's strengths. The graveyards of political campaigns are littered with candidates who excel at forging connections with individual voters but who can't give a big speech to save their lives. Obama may be that rare politician with the opposite problem. Before a crowd of 4,000, he can be magnetic and compelling. But before a crowd of several hundred, he can sometimes fall flat.

On a Sunday evening a week after delivering the best speech of his campaign before thousands of roaring supporters at the Jefferson-Jackson dinner, the Illinois Senator is easily distracted, interrupting himself to get a bottle of water for a man with a cough. A few minutes later, he stops in the middle of a riff to pick up an earring dropped by a woman in the front row. And Obama's energy level fluctuates. "He hits the wall in late afternoon before really firing back up," explains Iowa press secretary Tommy Vietor, making a sine curve with his hand. For long stretches, audience members are sitting back with arms crossed, waiting to be impressed. When he finishes, the crowd stands, yet there are few cheers.

But then a 64-year-old woman named Jane Svoboda stands up to challenge him. She wants to know why Obama doesn't talk more about terrorism —"the people who keep attacking us," as she puts it—and illegal immigrants. Obama discusses the need to regain global respect for the U.S. and argues that President George W. Bush erred by focusing on Iraq instead of Afghanistan. Svoboda interrupts to disagree, and that gets Obama going. "Iraq did not launch 9/11," he says, growing more and more animated. "That is part of the misinformation that has been coming out of this Administration."

The two get into a back-and-forth, which finally wakes up the crowd. By the time Obama moves on to immigration ("These are people who are trying to make a living. I understand they broke the law. But let me tell you something: if the minimum wage in Canada was $100 an hour ..."), he is, to steal a phrase, fired up. And the crowd, which cheers so loudly that he doesn't need to finish the sentence, is won over. The passionate response has answered their electability questions. As for the plus? On her way out of the event, even Svoboda offers a positive verdict: "He did a good job."

Giuliani Highlights NYC Record

Wednesday November 21, 2007 6:01 PM

TITLE: ``Challenges.''

LENGTH: 30 seconds.

AIRING: New Hampshire.

SCRIPT: Announcer: ``The world's 17th largest economy. Swimming in red ink. Record crime. Runaway taxes. A million on welfare. That was New York. Until Rudy. He cut taxes $9 billion. Welfare 60 percent. Crime in half. The most successful conservative turnaround in 50 years. In America's most liberal city, Rudy delivered. And he can do it again, in a place called Washington, D.C.'' Giuliani: ``I'm Rudy Giuliani, and I approved this message.''

KEY IMAGES: Scenes of bustling traffic give way to a neon peepshow sign, someone sniffing cocaine and one of the city's notorious ``squeegee men'' - people who intimidated motorists by washing windshields unsolicited and demanding payment - and a 1990 Time Magazine cover about ``the rotting of the Big Apple.'' Then, sparkling images of the nighttime city skyline and the Statue of Liberty.

ANALYSIS: In his third television spot, Giuliani continues to emphasize New York's resurgence while he was mayor, for which he was known before his profile was elevated by the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

On taxes, independent analysts say Giuliani's tax cuts were actually lower, about $5.8 billion, rather than the $9 billion he claims. The independent analysis was done by the city's Citizens Budget Commission. The discrepancy is because the commission credits state lawmakers, not Giuliani, with an income tax reduction. Giuliani aides say that's silly and that he lobbied hard for the cut.

During Giuliani's two terms as mayor, the city cut taxes by 7 percent or 8 percent, according to the commission and the city's Independent Budget Office. Giuliani reduced income taxes, sales taxes, hotel taxes, commercial rent taxes and co-op and condo taxes, among others.

For managing that in liberal New York, Giuliani gets high marks from the anti-tax group Club for Growth. Yet the group faults him on several fronts, including his resistance to eliminating commercial rent taxes in 1999 in favor of spending the revenues on new baseball stadiums and his opposition in 1996 to a flat tax, which he now says would make sense.

The city was, indeed, operating in the red when Giuliani became mayor. Yet critics note he left the city with a deficit bigger than the $2.3 billion budget gap he inherited.

Welfare rolls under Giuliani shrank by about 52 percent - from more than 1 million to 516,000, according to federal and city figures - as Giuliani helped tie public assistance to work, requiring people to work in community service jobs in exchange for welfare benefits.

Yet New York fell behind a national welfare decline of 62 percent.

And while crime under Giuliani dropped a dramatic 60 percent - aided by a ``zero tolerance'' policy that rid the city of squeegee men - it was no longer at record levels. In fact, crime in New York peaked in 1990 and had been dropping for three years when Giuliani arrived, according to FBI statistics.

``He's trying to make a very straightforward political point, which is, ``I took on the beast,' said Stanley Renshon, a political scientist at City University of New York.

``And the beast is a liberal city out of control. It's got to do with welfare. It's got to do with crime. It's got to do with taxes. It's got to do with quality of life,'' Renshon said. ``He deserves a lot of credit.''

Critics insist Giuliani takes too much credit and exaggerates his record; Renshon said Giuliani should share the credit with others but that most politicians engage in hyperbole.

---

Analysis by Associated Press Writer Libby Quaid.

---

On the Net: http://www.joinrudy2008.com

Stem cell breakthrough uses no embryos

NEW YORK (AP) -- Scientists have made ordinary human skin cells take on the chameleon-like powers of embryonic stem cells, a startling breakthrough that might someday deliver the medical payoffs of embryo cloning without the controversy.

Laboratory teams on two continents report success in a pair of landmark papers released Tuesday. It's a neck-and-neck finish to a race that made headlines five months ago, when scientists announced that the feat had been accomplished in mice.

The "direct reprogramming" technique avoids the swarm of ethical, political and practical obstacles that have stymied attempts to produce human stem cells by cloning embryos.

Scientists familiar with the work said scientific questions remain and that it's still important to pursue the cloning strategy, but that the new work is a major coup.

"This work represents a tremendous scientific milestone - the biological equivalent of the Wright Brothers' first airplane," said Dr. Robert Lanza, chief science officer of Advanced Cell Technology, which has been trying to extract stem cells from cloned human embryos.

"It's a bit like learning how to turn lead into gold," said Lanza, while cautioning that the work is far from providing medical payoffs.

"It's a huge deal," agreed Rudolf Jaenisch, a prominent stem cell scientist at the Whitehead Institute in Cambridge, Mass. "You have the proof of principle that you can do it."

The White House lauded the papers, saying such research is what President Bush was advocating when he twice vetoed legislation to pave the way for taxpayer-funded embryo research.

There is a catch with the new technique. At this point, it requires disrupting the DNA of the skin cells, which creates the potential for developing cancer. So it would be unacceptable for the most touted use of embryonic cells: creating transplant tissue that in theory could be used to treat diseases like diabetes, Parkinson's, and spinal cord injury.

But the DNA disruption is just a byproduct of the technique, and experts said they believe it can be avoided.

The new work is being published online by two journals, Cell and Science. The Cell paper is from a team led by Dr. Shinya Yamanaka of Kyoto University; the Science paper is from a team led by Junying Yu, working in the lab of in stem-cell pioneer James Thomson of the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Both reported creating cells that behaved like stem cells in a series of lab tests.

Full Story:

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/S/STEM_CELLS?SITE=UTSAC&SECTION=INTERNATIONAL&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT#

A Foreign Legion to Protect Our Borders, and How to finally Secure Air Travel

By Mark E Towner, Editor and Publisher of The Spyglass

Identification — I have been pondering recently about the Immigration proposal presented by President Bush, and how this does little to protect our southern boarders. Additionally we need the creation of a National ID / Work Card / Drivers License for all non US citizens.

This would eliminate the practice of illegal aliens getting Driver’s Licenses in Utah, then moving to another state and getting a drivers License there using the Utah License as ID. Any non US citizen when pulled over for a traffic citation would present their ID card and this would alert the police that this person is not a US citizen, and they should do a little more checking before just writing a citation and letting them go.

As for driving, when they can demonstrate in the state of their jurisdiction the ability to pass both a written and practical test, their ID cards would be embossed with driving privileges from that state. This must be accomplished in 90 days upon arrival to the US. This would allow tourists visiting the US to be able to rent cars while here in the US without this restriction.
(Since my original post in 2004, some of these ideas have been implemented)

Border Security — I would propose the creation of a "USA Foreign Legion" run and administered by the US Marine Corps. This force would recruit foreign nationals to enlist for 4 years. After successfully completing the normal Marine Corps Training program (failure of this training program would return them to the country of origin) they would be trained for a new Horse Calvary unit that would be stationed all along the southern border.

Although fully armed for any situation, these forces would be specially trained to intercept, and control border incursions using high tech non lethal measures. Those illegal aliens intercepted would be photographed and fingerprinted, then after processing they would be immediately flown by Chinook helicopter back over the border to a deportation base in Mexico.

Utilizing the old US Army training manuals for the upkeep of the animals, feeding, grooming, etc will keep these troops fairly busy. After successfully serving a 4 year stint in the legion, they would be given fast track status for US citizenship. They could choose to re-enlist into the regular Army, or continue with this force.

This force also could be deployed anywhere in the world for peacekeeping proposes, reserving our shock fighting forces for quick deployment. Coordinated ops with military helicopter units along the boarder directing the cavalry forces to the locations of incursion, these forces by utilizing infrared and other Military technology would finally secure our southern boarder.

The benefits to the US would be a bilingual force that is familiar with the region, creates an avenue to US citizenship, and they are trained soldiers who are proud to be part of the US military. Upon honorary discharge they could enter the US civilian status with the education and tools to be successful in life.

How to Secure Air Travel — To travel by air in the United States, you should have a passport. The new generation passports should have RF ID chips and holographic pictures that can be read automatically when you go through security checkpoint before you even get to the screening machines. Arm the pilots. No Airplane will ever be hijacked again if the pilots are armed period. X-ray ALL cargo and baggage and create special transponder beacon codes that airline flights are assigned that they must squawk at a designated time during the trip, or they will be instructed to land at the closest secure airport.

Originally Posted by on January 16, 2004

The Monday morning Presidential Briefing

By Jessica Van Sack | Monday, November 19, 2007 | http://www.bostonherald.com | 2008 Campaign News

Some corn with your turkey? The candidates zero in on Iowa in the run-up to Thanksgiving this week. As former Bay State Gov. Mitt Romney prepares to make his 35th campaign visit to the Hawkeye State, Sen. Hillary Clinton has juiced up her Iowa staff and ads. Two Democratic candidates, Joe Biden and Chris Dodd, will celebrate Turkey Day in Iowa with their families. Meanwhile, the GOP’s front-runner in national polls, Rudy Giuliani, will focus on Feb. 5 primary states more than the leadoff momentum of an Iowa win.

HITTING THE ROAD

Clinton in Iowa all week; Obama in Iowa for a two-day swing and then New Hampshire;Edwards and Biden in Iowa. Giuliani fundraising in Texas and campaigning in Illinois; Romney in Idaho today and Iowa until Wednesday; McCain in New Hampshire.

THE LONE REPUBLICAN WITH HOLLY ROBICHAUD

I have some swamp land to sell you in Florida if you believe that Hillary Clinton will abide by her latest position of opposing driver’s licenses for illegal immigrants. She cannot even say the words “illegal immigrants.” Clinton’s clarity on the issue of so-called “undocumented workers” came on the same day the governor of New York threw in the towel. Eight states already pass out licenses. Do you suppose she will support cutting federal funds for those states? Only during the election.

HOT VIDEO OF THE WEEK

Mike Huckabee’s first TV ad debuts this week in Iowa, and you might call it a roundhouse kick of marketing. None other than Chuck Norris by his side, the former Arkansas governor proclaims, “My plan to secure the border? Two words: Chuck Norris.” Think hunting, border patrol and obliterating the IRS.http://www.youtube.com/explorehuckabee

POLLS Gallup/National Primary Dems: Clinton 48%, Obama 21%, Edwards 12% GOP: Giuliani 28%, Thompson 19%, McCain 13%, Romney 12% Research 2000/Iowa Caucus Dems:. Clinton 27%, Obama 25%, Edwards 21%, Richardson 10% GOP: Romney 27%, Huckabee 18%, Giuliani 16%, Thompson 10% EPIC/MRA Michigan Primary Dems: Clinton 49%, Obama 18%, Edwards 15% GOP: Giuliani 28%, Romney 25%, Thompson 13%, McCain 12%

THE MITT WATCH

We may never know who was responsible for the calls made in New Hampshire and Iowa impugning Romney’s Mormonism, but the Granite State’s attorney general is vowing to get to the bottom of who’s behind the underhanded hit, which violates state laws banning anonymous political ads. Utah-based Western Wats is under suspicion for reportedly placing the 20-minute calls. They ask whether the person receiving the call knew Romney received military deferments when he served in the Mormon missionary, and that the religion didn’t accept blacks as bishops until the 1970s, among other negative messages known in campaign circles as “push polling.”

Article URL: http://www.bostonherald.com/news/national/politics/2008/view.bg?articleid=1045660

Related Articles:

Romney vows $$ cuts for ‘sanctuary’ cities, states
/news/national/politics/2008/view.bg?articleid=1045680

Obama chastises Hillary for past support of NAFTA
/news/national/politics/2008/view.bg?articleid=1045653

McCain says he’ll respect Clinton
/news/national/politics/2008/view.bg?articleid=1045568

Rudy Giuliani thrilled that New York Yankees, A-Rod on brink of deal

13 hours ago

HOMESTEAD, Fla. - Rudy Giuliani can't wait to keep cheering for A-Rod.

Asked Sunday how he feels that the New York Yankees and third baseman Alex Rodriguez are on the cusp of finalizing a US$275-million, 10-year contract, the Republican presidential candidate broke into a wide smile and said he was thrilled.

"My take on A-Rod? I'm glad to have him back," Giuliani said before watching NASCAR's season-ending Ford 400. "If you give up a player like A-Rod, you've got a lot of rebuilding to do."

Giuliani's affinity for the Yankees is no secret.

The former mayor of New York is a regular at Yankee Stadium, with a seat right next to the team's dugout. And even on the campaign trail, he can't get away from Yankee-related questions: In recent weeks, he expressed hope Joe Torre would be back as manager and recently said former right fielder Roger Maris should be in baseball's Hall of Fame.

So on Sunday, it wasn't exactly a surprise that amid questions on oil prices and push polling, a conversation with Giuliani turned to Rodriguez's pending deal.

"Negotiations are complex in baseball and everyplace else," Giuliani said. "I'm glad it's going to work out the right way. I'm very glad to see that as an American League fan, as a Yankee fan, that we're keeping him in the American League and keeping him on the Yankees. ... Maybe next year he'll have 62 home runs."

Rodriguez opted out of the final three seasons of his $252-million, 10-year contract on Oct. 28, but later contacted the Yankees through intermediaries and began discussing the prospects of a return. The parameters of the new deal were agreed to last week.

Rodriguez has 518 career home runs, 244 shy of Barry Bonds' career record.

A-Rod's new manager, Joe Girardi, was also at Homestead-Miami Speedway Sunday for the NASCAR finale. Girardi chatted for a few minutes with popular driver Dale Earnhardt Jr., who posed for a photo with Girardi's son, Dante.

"Congratulations about your job," Earnhardt told Girardi, who was hired as the Yankees' manager last month after Torre turned down the team's $5-million, one-year offer.

Girardi thanked him, telling Earnhardt he's "very excited" to get started.

McCain Takes On Clinton, With an Eye to Civility

Kevin Lamarque/Reuters

Potential rivals, Hillary Rodham Clinton and John McCain, at a prayer breakfast in February.

By MARC SANTORA

Published: November 19, 2007

RINDGE, N.H., Nov. 18 — Senator John McCain tried Sunday night to make the case that he was best positioned to defeat Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton in a general election, outlining a series of contrasts with her on issues including national security and health care.

Skip to next paragraph

Related

Transcript: McCain’s Speech in New Hampshire (November 19, 2007)

Times Topics: John McCain

Blog

The Caucus

The latest political news from around the nation. Join the discussion.

• Candidate Topic Pages

• More Politics News

In a speech here that his campaign described as the kind of pointed but respectful approach he will take for the rest of the campaign, Mr. McCain sought to tap into the anti-Clinton sentiment seen to be driving many Republican primary voters, particularly in New Hampshire.

At the same time, he tried to do it in a markedly different way from his two main rivals, Rudolph W. Giuliani and Mitt Romney, who have both harshly attacked Mrs. Clinton in making their own cases for electability.

The Republicans have taken aim at Mrs. Clinton early in the campaign, months before even the first votes are cast, assuming that her lead position in national polls makes her the likely Democratic nominee. Each is trying to show that he would be best able to slug it out in what primary voters assume will be a very rough campaign.

Swift Boat Fire Fighters?

New York firefighters to oppose Giuliani

Ewen MacAskill in Washington
Monday November 19, 2007
The Guardian

A group of American firefighters opposed to Rudy Giuliani, the Republican front-runner in the 2008 presidential race, are planning to run damaging adverts expressing scepticism about his 9/11 leadership.

The deputy New York fire chief, Jim Riches, whose son, also a firefighter, was killed in the Twin Towers' collapse, said: "TV made him a hero, and we'll use TV to take him down."

Riches and other New York firefighters have been voicing opposition to Giuliani, mayor of the city on 9/11, since he launched his campaign for the Republican nomination earlier this year. But they are now seeking to set up an official organisation that will fund television adverts in a campaign similar to the one that undermined John Kerry in 2004, the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, which challenged his Vietnam record.

Giuliani Attends NASCAR Race

Go to Google News

Republican presidential hopeful, former N.Y. Mayor Rudy Giuliani, center,walks with his wife Judith, right, and Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum, left, prior to the start of the Ford 400 NASCAR NEXTEL Cup series auto race at the Homestead-Miami Speedway in Homestead, Fla. Sunday, Nov. 18, 2007. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee)

Related News

• Poll: Electability drives Giuliani lead in Nevada
  CNN - Nov 16, 2007
• Rudy Giuliani Expands Lead For
  Ad-Hoc-News (Pressemitteilung) - 2 hours ago
• Giuliani looks for voters at NASCAR finale Former New York City ...
  Sarasota Herald-Tribune - 3 hours ago

Full coverage »

By DAVID FISCHER – 11 hours ago

HOMESTEAD, Fla. (AP) — As pit crews made last-minute inspections to their cars Sunday at NASCAR's Ford 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway, Republican presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani stressed the need for America to break its dependence on foreign oil.

Giuliani likened the pursuit of energy independence and the development of alternative energy sources to the race to put a man on the moon several decades ago.

"Now it's a matter truly of national security," Giuliani said. "We have to pursue all of those alternatives that exist."

In the meantime, Giuliani said, the U.S. needs to focus on domestic sources of oil, as well as oil from friendly countries like Mexico and Canada. He said conservation also will have to play a role.

Giuliani attended the season-ending race with his wife, Judith.

"This is our third one this year, so now I feel like I really am a fan," Giuliani said to a tent full of drivers and their crews. "It really represents the very best of America. You should be very proud of where you've taken it and where it's going to go."

Just before the race, Giuliani and his wife took a lap around the track in the official pace truck.

"I've ridden in the car twice at the beginning, and now Judith is going to ride with me," Giuliani said.

Asked whether he was going to cheer for Jeff Gordon or Jimmie Johnson in the race, Giuliani said: "I'm going to pull for both of them. They're both good guys. May the better man win." Johnson won the race, as well as his second consecutive Nextel Cup championship.

Gas leak forces historic theater to close

1913 building is but latest casualty of fumes in Gunnison

By John Hales
For the Deseret Morning News

Published: November 18, 2007

GUNNISON — Within two steps of the open doors of the Casino Star Theatre in Gunnison, the smell of gas is so pungent that one pauses, momentarily but abruptly, before stepping the rest of the way into the building.

For some time to come, though, most people won't have to worry about that, since those doors won't be opening to the public again until the fumes — and the 20,000-gallon gas leak that caused them — are taken care of.

"The theater will be closed for the foreseeable future," announced Peter Stirba Friday during a press conference in the theater's lobby, where gas fumes were thick enough to cause light-headedness after about 15 minutes, followed a few minutes later by a metallic taste and tingling sensation in the mouth.

Stirba is the attorney representing Gunnison city and others, including the theater's owners, in the wake of a Top Stop store's massive underground fuel leak that has raised frantic concern in the city.

This week, the city's environmental consultant, Lance Hess, began testing the air in residences and businesses in areas known to be affected by the leak. Air tests in the theater revealed levels of benzene that were approaching safety-standard limits and continuing to increase — they had quadrupled in only two days, according to Hess.

Stirba said it was the latest example of the effects of an "environmental disaster."

"Residents of the city have already experienced toxic levels of benzene in their homes and businesses, which has created considerable issues of public health," he said. "This symbolizes the catastrophic nature of this incident. It is a tragedy for this community."

The theater is one of the city's jewels and a state landmark that was placed on the National Register of Historical Places in 1987.

Its importance as the premier cultural and historical icon of the city is shown by the efforts of its current owners, Lori Nay (who is also a city councilwoman) and Diana Major Spencer to restore it to the original grandeur it had when built in 1913.

Since that time, it has been in operation for all but about two months, and Nay and Spencer boast that it is the nation's longest-running theater.

The two purchased the building in 2004 after a 20-year dream of having it come up for sale so they could save it through historical preservation. The project became their passion, and in three years the restoration effort has cost countless hours and about $50,000 in addition to the building's purchase price.

"This is heartbreaking for us," Spencer said. "It's been so much a part of our lives."

Spencer and Nay said that although the theater is closed for showings and performances, the restoration work on the building's exterior will proceed as planned.

The theater is the sixth business to close because of the leak, and business at other Main Street locations has dwindled since early August, when the leak forced Main Street businesses to evacuate for a day. The cost to the city in lost infrastructure and beautification projects is already in the tens of thousands of dollars and will almost certainly become greater.

But the closure of the theater strikes a different chord.

"(The effect on businesses) strikes at the pocketbook of the community," Spencer said. "The theater strikes at the heart."

Young Megan Anderson, a high school student who works at the theater, illustrated what Spencer said.

Before the news conference, Anderson and her sister, Candice, were sweeping the walk in front of the theater and wiping down its glass doors. Asked why, if the theater was closed, they were worrying about it, Megan said, "It's important to us. Sometimes we come here on our own because we love the building. It's got a lot of history behind it, and I just love it."

---

E-mail: john@sanpetemessenger.com

© 2007 Deseret News Publishing Company | All rights reserved

Congrats Jeff Bell

Utah's Most Influential Political blogs for the Week

Rank	Blog	Prev
1	JM Bell	3
2	THE UTAH AMICUS	1
3	Mark Towner's Political Spyglass	4
4	The SideTrack	12
5	KVNU's For The People	2
6	UTAH CONSERVATIVE	-
7	SLCSpin	8
8	Wasatch Watcher	13
9	Reach Upward	-
10	The Senate Site	6
11	Voice of Utah	10
12	Pursuit of Liberty	7
13	The Third Avenue	18
14	Simple Utah Mormon Politics	17
15	The World, According To Me	5
16	Utahania	-
17	Green Jello	-
18	GenRolly Speaking	19
19	Weber County Forum	15
20	Out of Context	-

Put your BNN blog rank on your blog.

File 'c:\mysql\share\charsets\?.conf' not found (Errcode: 2) Character set '#33' is not a compiled character set and is not specified in the 'c:\mysql\share\charsets\Index' file

BlogNetNews' Blogosphere Influence Rating combines a variety of data sets to determine which blogs are most powerfully influencing the direction of the Utah political blogosphere. The exact method BNN uses to calculate influence scores must remain proprietary in order to prevent attempts to game the system. BNN's methodology takes into account the fact that all Internet data is profoundly limited in its reliability by using multiple data sets that, when combined, reveal a fair picture of activity in the blogosphere.

Hillary Clinton back out in front again after two weeks of setbacks

Tim Reid in Washington

Hillary Clinton has reasserted her authority over her Democratic rivals with an aggressive performance in the latest presidential debate.

After a troubled fortnight in which a defensive Mrs Clinton has fended off questions about her honesty and electability, she moved forcefully on to the front foot. She accused Democratic rivals of throwing mud at her simply because she was ahead in the polls.

The rivals, Barack Obama and John Edwards, were booed by some in the crowd when they went on the attack. The result was that Mrs Clinton appeared to steady the ship. The first words out of a senior aide’s mouth yesterday were: “She’s back.”

Mrs Clinton, Mr Obama and Mr Edwards all return to the critical first nominating state of Iowa in the coming days, where they are locked in a statistical tie. But Mrs Clinton heads there with the state’s influential Des Moines Register declaring that she easily won the Las Vegas debate – a welcome boost in a state where her campaign was forced to admit recently that it had planted questions at her events.

For the first time in months the Democratic race appears truly competitive. Mrs Clinton’s troubles began at a debate on October 30, when she was accused of giving dishonest answers. At the same time Mr Obama, whose campaign had appeared listless and fading, is generating fresh excitement, especially after the best speech of his campaign to an audience of 9,000 Iowans last weekend.

Mrs Clinton’s performance on Thursday night, before a friendly audience in Nevada, where she is popular among Democrats, was thus a test of how she would react to the first true pressure of the campaign.

She attacked her rivals for the first time, accusing them of adopting tactics out of the Republican playbook, after Mr Obama and Mr Edwards continued to try to paint her as cynical and inauthentic. “What the American people are looking for now is straight answers to tough questions, and that is not what we’ve seen out of Senator Clinton,” Mr Obama said.

Mr Edwards said: “She says she will bring change to Washington, while she continues to defend a system that does not work.” Mr Edwards also accused Mrs Clinton of trying to have it both ways on a host of issues.

“I’ve just been personally attacked again,” Mrs Clinton broke in. “I don’t mind taking hits on my record on issues, but when somebody starts throwing mud at least we can hope it’s accurate.”

She added: “They’re not attacking me because I’m a woman. They’re attacking me because I’m ahead.” Later, when Mr Edwards and then Mr Obama went on the attack again, they were booed by some in the audience.

The three rivals are acutely aware of how large Iowa looms in the campaign. A victory by Mr Obama or Mr Edwards on January 3 could alter the dynamic of the race significantly. A victory there by Mrs Clinton could end it almost before it begins.

GOP rivals get probe into dirty trick 'poll'

By Jill Zuckman

Tribune national correspondent

November 17, 2007

CONCORD, N.H.

Presidential campaigns of Mitt Romney and John McCain -- rocked in different ways by a highly negative "push poll" targeting Romney's Mormon faith -- demanded Friday that the New Hampshire attorney general investigate who is behind the tactic.

The attorney general's office said it was investigating the phone calls.

As part of the poll, which began Sunday, callers have been asking voters in Iowa and New Hampshire whether they know that Romney is a Mormon, that his five sons did not serve in the military and that Mormons believe the Book of Mormon is superior to the Bible.

The callers also inquire whether voters are aware that Romney, the former Massachusetts governor, accepted deferments to avoid military service in Vietnam while he was on a mission with other young Mormons in France.

At the beginning of the 20-minute survey, voters are asked whether they are aware of McCain's decorated military service during Vietnam. That has led many voters to assume the poll was sponsored by the Arizona senator's campaign. But McCain's campaign immediately denounced the effort and insisted it had nothing to do with it.

"Whoever did this wanted to hurt us by implication," said Mark Salter, a senior aide to McCain. "That's why we were very forceful."

Romney's supporters have long feared that a shadowy whispering campaign would arise at some point targeting his Mormon faith. The new push poll may be the most explicit anti-Mormon message to emerge in the campaign so far.

But Dean Spiliotes, a New Hampshire political analyst and founder of NHpoliticalcapital.com, said the attack may inadvertently help Romney.

"It certainly gives Romney a platform to speak about his religion, something that people have advised him to do," Spiliotes said. "It may also get him some sympathy from voters who don't like seeing religion mixed so intimately with politics."

Push polling, in which negative information is disseminated under the guise of a poll, is a well-known tactic, if a widely condemned one.

Former Rep. Charles Douglas (R-N.H.), vice chairman of McCain's New Hampshire campaign, handed his complaint to Deputy New Hampshire Atty. Gen. Orville Brewster Fitch II on Friday, calling the phone calls "repugnant.

"We find the whole thing a very bad trend eight weeks before the primary," Douglas told Fitch.

Aides to Sen. Judd Gregg (R-N.H.) also filed a complaint with the state's attorney general on behalf of the Romney campaign. Campaign officials said they are providing names of people who received the calls.

"Whichever campaign is engaging in this type of awful religious bigotry as a line of political attack, it is repulsive and to put it bluntly un-American," said Romney communications director Matt Rhoades. "There is no excuse for these attacks. Gov. Romney is campaigning as an optimist who wants to lead the nation. These attacks are just the opposite. They are ugly and divisive."

Leaders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints say the church embraces the truths accepted by other Christians but also accepts "additional information" from later revelations.

Romney blames McCain

Campaigning in Las Vegas, Romney called the poll "un-American." And he essentially blamed McCain, saying it was a direct result of the McCain-Feingold campaign finance legislation, which he said has been "ineffective" in removing special-interest money from campaigns.

Aides to McCain pointed out that before the legislation was passed, McCain was a victim of push polling in South Carolina during the 2000 presidential primary.

"It is appalling, but not surprising, that Mitt Romney would seek to take advantage of this disturbing incident to launch yet another hypocritical attack," said Jill Hazelbaker, McCain's spokeswoman. "It's the hallmark of his campaign."

New Hampshire law requires all political ads -- including phone calls -- to identify the candidate behind the effort, or at least the candidate who is being supported. The push polling calls were made by Utah-based Western Wats and did not identify a candidate that the calls were intended to help or hurt.

Previous news reports have linked calls by Western Wats to the Tarrance Group, which works for former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani. Ed Goeas, the head of the Tarrance Group, told The Associated Press that there is no connection between Giuliani and Western Wats.

Katie Levinson, Giuliani's communications director, said there is no room for push polls in the campaign.

"Our campaign does not support or engage in these types of tactics, and it is our hope other campaigns will adhere to the same policy," she said.

McCain says calls 'cowardly'

McCain, who arrived in New Hampshire Friday for a three-day swing through the northern and western parts of the state, called the phone calls "cowardly."

During the 2000 presidential race, South Carolina voters received calls and pamphlets alleging that McCain's wife, Cindy, was a drug addict, and that McCain had an illegitimate black daughter. The whispering campaign also suggested that McCain was mentally unbalanced after spending 5 1/2 years as a prisoner of war in Vietnam.

After the South Carolina primary, which McCain lost, McCain's campaign made thousands of "Catholic voter alert" calls in Michigan informing voters that then-Gov. George W. Bush had appeared at Bob Jones University and describing Jones, the institution's leader, as someone with a history of anti-Catholic statements.

The phone calls infuriated Bush, who said he did not like being called a bigot. McCain won Michigan by 6 percentage points but lost the Republican nomination.

----------

jzuckman@tribune.com

McCain Calls for Drug Reimportation

By PHILIP ELLIOTT – 11 hours ago

CANAAN, Vt. (AP) — Republican presidential contender John McCain on Saturday said he wants to again allow the importation of prescription drugs from Canada as a way to bring health care costs under control.

The Arizona senator, speaking to reporters about a mile from the Canadian border and just across the river from New Hampshire, said too much of health care costs are based on high drug prices.

"Drug companies and the lobbyists they pay in Washington want to keep your drug prices high. Obviously, I want them to be affordable," McCain said, returning to his criticism of how Washington works.

Until drugs are cheaper, the cost of health care is going to skyrocket, helping to bankrupt Medicare and Medicaid, McCain said.

"If we are going to control health care cost, we need to control the rising costs of pharmaceuticals," McCain said, adding that drug prices are 16 percent to 60 percent cheaper in Canada and are to blame for rising insurance premiums.

"A person taking a standard blood-thinner, the savings could be over $200 a year. If your problem is heartburn, it could be $750. For treating depression, as much as $1,400 a year," he said.

McCain noted his rivals do not support drug reimportation programs.

"These are drugs being reimported. They go to Canada and then they can come back in. It's a strawman to say that a country like Canada could not be responsible for safe drugs to be brought into our country. Many of them are manufactured in Canada, as you know," he said.

McCain said he would be open to bringing in drugs from any country with the proper safeguards.

"I would reimport them from any country in the world as long as you have the proper process. In Canada, we already do. In Mexico, we do not," he said.

Romney Talks Immigration, Health Care

By KEN RITTER – 1 day ago

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney anticipated questions about health care when he called on a friendly Nevada business group Friday. It was the question on immigration that surprised him.

"I didn't expect that to be ... a major concern of the chamber," the former private equity businessman and Massachusetts governor said after giving his stump speech and taking four questions from a Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce round-table.

"But it's a concern across the country," Romney said. "People are tired of all the talk and lack of action to stop illegal immigration."

Immigration is a major concern for businesses nationwide as they deal with the fallout if they hire employees who are in the country illegally.

Romney said he favors issuing employment verification cards to legal immigrants "with their name, their number, their picture" and "biometric information."

"You take that card, punch in the number in the computer or swipe it," he said. "If it's valid, you can hire them. If it's not, you can't."

Romney was on comfortable turf courting conservatives among 22 chamber members who attended. He drew laughter when he cast the Democratic candidates who debated Thursday night as too liberal to run the country.

"It's not that liberals are ignorant,'" Romney said, quoting former President Reagan. "'It's just that what they know is wrong.'"

The Democratic National Committee responded in a statement that Romney "refuses to offer clear plans on the war in Iraq, health care or immigration reform."

The chamber won't make any endorsements in the presidential campaign, though every candidate was offered a chance for a round-table chat, said Kara Kelley, chief executive of the 7,000-member organization.

Romney, who gained national prominence guiding the 2002 Winter Olympics in Utah, was the first to take the offer. He used it to espouse his core beliefs and seek backing from individual members.

He summarized his Massachusetts health law as a way to force those who can afford private health insurance to sign up, while helping low-income people pay their premiums.

"My plan said this," Romney said: "Now that we got the rates down so they're more affordable ... either buy a health care policy or pay your own way at the hospital. But no more showing up expecting free care from the government or from the hospital."

Romney's rivals gleefully pointed out this week that Massachusetts residents had to sign up by Thursday or they likely would face tax penalties starting Jan. 1.

Anyone lacking coverage will lose the personal exemption on their state income tax filing next spring, equal to $219. If they remain uninsured into 2008, they will be taxed up to 50 percent of the cost of the least-expensive private insurance plan — an estimated hit of at least $150 a month.

Push-polling starts aimed at Mitt Romney; N.H. launches probe

The Associated Press reported late Thursday that residents of both Iowa and New Hampshire had begun receiving the calls from unidentified callers. Push-polls start out sounding like a normal polling survey but in reality are designed to plant and spread distorted, damaging and often untrue information about a particular candidate, in this case Mitt Romney. He happens to be leading Republican polls in both states.

Because push-pollers also rely on the news media to help spread the same false information, we're not going to do that here except to say the calls involved Romney's Mormon religion. An example of a push-poll question could be: "If you knew that Candidate X had been previously arrested on sexual assault charges, would you be more or less inclined to vote for him?"

It's not the voter's answer that matters; it's that he or she might pass on that rumor to others and affect their vote.

For full story:

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/washington/2007/11/pushpoll.html

Romney Talks Tough on Immigration

By KATHLEEN HENNESSEY – 2 hours ago

HENDERSON, Nev. (AP) — Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney on Saturday promised to cut federal funding for cities and states that he considers tolerant of illegal immigration, though he said he was unsure how deep the cuts would be.

The former Massachusetts governor repeated his plans to deny funding to sanctuary cities, states that issue driver's licenses to illegal immigrants and states that allow the children of illegal immigrants to receive in-state tuition discounts at universities.

"They are practices that, if you will, extend this sanctuary state of mind we have," Romney told more than 200 people gathered at a public library. "I like immigration — legal immigration."

Romney also outlined a plan for an employment verification card that, he said, would make it easy for companies to determine a prospective employee's citizenship status before hiring.

Romney told reporters he was unsure how much federal funding he would cut. "I can't give you the specifics," he said. The campaign later described the in-state tuition plan as a proposal to "trim back" education funds.

Romney said Saturday he did not think students who are in the U.S. legally should be denied discounted tuition, even if their parents are illegal, but that "people that are here illegally should not be able to get a tuition break that allows illegals to have tuition that's lower than the children of our citizens."

Romney has used the issue to criticize opponent Mike Huckabee, who as governor of Arkansas supported a failed attempt to extend in-state tuition and scholarships to the children of illegal immigrants. Huckabee has said he does not believe students should be punished for crimes committed by their parents.

Giuliani bashes Clinton at conservative legal confab

by Gabrielle Russon

In front of conservative lawyers, Republican presidential contender Rudy Giuliani promised to appoint like-minded judges and petitioned for a limited central government on Friday afternoon during a speech held in a Washington hotel.

“You’re making a choice. Who do you trust more: the government or the people?” Giuliani said, alleging that some of the Democratic contenders wrongly believed the central government should play too big a role in people’s lives.

Those Democrats’ names came up early in Giuliani’s 30-minute speech at the 25th annual convention of the Federalist Society, the legal group whose members include some of the most influential figures of the conservative legal establishment and a group Giuliani has avidly courted.

He singled out fellow presidential candidate and New Yorker, Democratic Sen. Hillary Clinton, for special ridicule in the same room where, an hour earlier, lawyers debated illegal immigration policies.

“First she was for the idea and supported Gov. (Eliot) Spitzer who wanted to give driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants,” the former New York City mayor said, referring to the current New York governor.

“Then she was against the idea. Then she was for and against the idea. Then she decided it should be decided on a state-by-state basis,” Giuliani said mockingly.

Giuliani also mused about the significance of next year’s election. “I know we say that all the time, that every presidential election is the most important one we have in our history but actually it’s a truthful statement,” he said.

He offered 200 reasons why 2008’s election is “really important” - the 200 federal judges that each president typically appoints during a four-year term. Giuliani warned that the top three Democratic presidential candidates Clinton, Barack Obama and John Edwards would appoint judges who would “legislate their social policy through judicial interpretation.”

“Judges exist to interpret the law, not to invent the law,” he said, a sure applause line in this crowd.

His speech at the Mayflower Hotel was standing room only, like a hit Broadway play.

Mormon smears turn Republican race sour

Sarah Baxter, Washington

The latest poll results

THE only Mormon in the 2008 presidential race, Mitt Romney, is coming under attack for his religious beliefs as the battle for the Republican nomination becomes increasingly acrimonious.

Telephone calls to voters accusing the former governor of Massachusetts of subscribing to outlandish beliefs and “flip-flop-ping” on big issues have been made under the guise of polling in Iowa and New Hampshire, crucial early voting states that Romney must win.

These “push-polling” calls drew attention to Romney’s deferment of military service during the Vietnam war while serving as a missionary for the Mormons in France and pointed out that none of his five sons had enlisted in the military.

Related Links

• Only one Republican can end this war with honour

Callers also claimed the Church of Jesus Christ of LatterDay Saints did not consecrate blacks as bishops until the 1970s and believes the Book of Mormon supersedes the Bible. Romney called the attacks “unAmerican”.

Robert Redford, the film star, joined in the Mormon-bashing this month, claiming that church followers were “very adept at not being fazed and speaking fluently and gracefully” because they “learn how to deflect blows and stay on message” when they go on missions “when they are 19 or 20”.

He added: “So when you see Mitt Romney, he’s already been practising how to deflect blows and stay on message. But it’s plastic.”

The race is growing dirtier as the fight for the nomination intensifies between Rudy Giuliani, the former mayor of New York, and Romney.

Full Story : http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article2891073.ece

Unnecessary Force

The Previous Post didn't run correctly as an embedded script, so here is the link to the video instead

www.jibjab.com/starring_you/receipt/3006315

Should Taxpayers Get Stuck With The Bill Again?