Free Internet Press Newsletter - Tuesday September 4 2007 - (813)

Tuesday September 4 2007 edition
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U.S. Auto Talks Aimed At Firms' Survival 2007-09-03 22:45:05 Precarious condition of Ford draws special attention. The United Auto Workers union appears to be simultaneously crafting new labor contracts with each of the three Detroit automakers, a break from traditional tactics but one motivated by a desire to keep the financially strapped American companies alive. Detroit automakers in the past have competed for the position of lead company in the contract talks, viewing it as an opportunity to fashion an agreement that put crosstown rivals on the defensive. With this year's contract talks heading into a final two-week stretch, sources close to the talks say the UAW is being careful to complete a deal that doesn't worsen the problems of any one company, especially Ford Motor. In Michigan, Ford is viewed as the most endangered of the Detroit automakers. Ford borrowed $23 billion last year, and it is now in the process of breaking up its European luxury division, taking bids for its Jaguar and Land Rover brands. It sold Aston Martin this year and is studying options for Volvo.  "The foundation might be based upon what Ford can live with," said one source, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the secrecy of the talks. "There is probably a need that whatever is agreed upon has to be financially feasible for Ford." Read The Full Story Human-Animal Embryo Study Wins Approval In U.K. 2007-09-03 22:44:25 Mixing cells and eggs to be allowed in search for new medical treatments. Plans to allow British scientists to create human-animal embryos are expected to be approved Wednesday by the government's fertility regulator. The Human Fertilization and Embryology Authority (HFEA) published its long-awaited public consultation on the controversial research Monday, revealing that a majority of people were "at ease" with scientists creating the hybrid embryos. Researchers want to create hybrid embryos by merging human cells with animal eggs, in the hope they will be able to extract valuable embryonic stem cells from them. The cells form the basic building blocks of the body and are expected to pave the way for revolutionary therapies for diseases such as Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and even spinal cord injuries. The consultation papers were released ahead of the authority's final decision on the matter, which will mark the end of almost a year of intense lobbying by scientists and a fervent campaign by organizations opposed to research involving embryonic stem cells. Read The Full Story Commentary: This Great Free-Market Experiment Is More Like A Corporate Welfare Scheme 2007-09-03 22:43:19 Intellpuke: The following commentary by Professor George Monbiot appears in the Guardian edition for Tuesday, September 4, 2007. In it, Prof. Monbiot writes that a hospital in Conventry, England, lays bare British neoliberal logic: staff cuts, ward closures and millions to the financiers. Prof. Monbiot has held visiting fellowships or professorships at the universities of Oxford (environmental policy), Bristol (philosophy), Keele (politics) and East London (environmental science). He is currently visiting professor of planning at Oxford Brookes University. In 1995 Nelson Mandela presented him with a United Nations Global 500 Award for outstanding environmental achievement. His commentary follows: After my column last week, several people wrote to point out that the neoliberal project - which demands a minimal state and maximum corporate freedom - actually relies on constant government support. They are, of course, quite right. The current financial crisis, caused by a failure to regulate financial services properly, is being postponed by government bail-outs. The U.S. federal reserve has reduced its lending rate to the commercial banks, while the Bundesbank organised a €3.5 billion rescue of the lending company IKB. This happens whenever the banks suffer the consequences of the freedom they demand. But over the past week an even starker example has emerged. In Britain the split loyalties of the major political parties have created a hybrid system of public provision. If it left public services intact, the party in power would be roasted by the corporate media, but if it attempted full-scale privatization, it would be booted out of office. So the last Conservative government devised a plan that would keep both sides if not exactly happy, then at least totally bewildered. They called it the private finance initiative, or PFI. Corporations would build and run our schools, hospitals, roads and prisons, and rent them to the state. This, the Tories maintained, would enable costs to be cut, while ensuring that public services remained free of charge. At first Labor opposed this scheme. Alistair Darling warned in opposition that "apparent savings now could be countered by the formidable commitment on revenue expenditure in years to come". But as the 1997 election approached, Labor sought to prove that it was more sympathetic to business than the Tories were. Two months after the party took office, the health secretary, Alan Milburn, announced that "when there is a limited amount of public-sector capital available, as there is, it's PFI or bust". From then on, the only money the NHS could rely on for capital projects belonged to the private sector. Read The Full Story Blast Destroys Ohio Plant's Warehouse 2007-09-03 22:42:13 An explosion leveled a storage warehouse at a northeast Ohio industrial plant closed on Labor Day and shook the ground more than a mile away, officials said. No injuries were reported. "We heard a huge boom like a percussion, then complete silence," said Ravenna city councilman Joe Bica, who lives more than a mile away. "Then you could hear every fire and police siren in town." Fire officials did not know what caused the explosion at the Griswold Manufacturing Inc. processing plant shortly before 7 a.m., said fire department spokesman Bob Walker. The processing plant, which punches holes in metal products, has 117 employees - all off on Monday because of the holiday, Walker said. The warehouse's steel structure is all that's left standing, he said. Read The Full Story Palestinian Rockets Hit Near Israeli Day-Care Center, School - Olmert Threatens Retaliation 2007-09-03 15:24:47 A Palestinian rocket exploded Monday next to a day care center crowded with toddlers in southern Israel, sparking anger and panic in the frequently targeted town of Sderot and bringing warnings of retribution from Israeli leaders. No one was hurt, but the blast and the panic underlined Israel's ineffectiveness in the face of the primitive rockets, which fall daily despite frequent Israeli airstrikes and occasional ground offensives. Terrified mothers rushed to comfort their screaming babies, schoolchildren ran for cover, and angry parents said they wouldn't send their children back to school until they get classrooms outside town. Prime Minister Ehud Olmert pledged to provide "better security for the residents," indicating he would step up the Israeli offensive against Palestinian militants. Read The Full Story Democrat Focuses On Financial Toll Of Iraq War 2007-09-03 15:24:24 If the White House retains any hope of persuading moderate Democrats to support the president’s strategy in Iraq,  U.S. Representative Tim Mahoney, of Florida, would seem to be a top prospect. A fiscal conservative from a mostly Republican district, Mahoney visited Iraq in July and acknowledged seeing military progress. Allies of the Bush administration are paying for television advertisements that are running in Mahoney’s district, including one featuring the teary mother of a marine killed in the war saying: “We are starting to see results. The price is being paid. Don’t give up.” Mahoney says that he and his constituents have made up their minds and that it is time for Congress to force a change. “There is consensus that it’s time to do something different,” said Mahoney, who won the seat vacated by Rep. Mark Foley, who resigned last year after disclosures that he sent sexually explicit e-mail messages to House pages. “America has made a decision that it wants to move out.” Mahoney added: "Republicans are probably more vocal in my district than Democrats. Those ads are driven to Republicans - that’s who they are trying to appeal to because they have lost Republican support for this war.” Read The Full Story British Troops Withdraw From Basra Palace Base In Iraq 2007-09-03 02:23:38 British troops began pulling out of Basra Palace Sunday night and expect to hand control of the base to Iraqi forces within days, amid new Anglo-American recriminations about the aftermath of the Iraq war. The U.K. battlegroup in Saddam Hussein's former compound comprises about 500 troops and their redeployment to the city's airbase is the penultimate stage of Britain's presence in the country. Their withdrawal will be followed by the handover of the city itself to the Iraqi authorities in the autumn, said Britain's  Ministry of Defense (MoD). The MoD statement released last night said: "Handing over Basra Palace to the Iraqi authorities has long been our intention, as we have stated publicly on numerous occasions. We expect the handover to occur in the next few days. Read The Full Story	Tourists Flee As Hurricane Felix Nears Honduras 2007-09-03 22:44:42 Planes shuttled tourists from island resorts in a desperate airlift Monday as Hurricane Felix bore down on Honduras and Belize. But thousands of Miskito Indians were stranded along a swampy coastline where the Category 4 storm was expected to make landfall. Grupo Taca Airlines provided special free flights to the mainland, quickly touching down and taking off again to scoop up more tourists. Some 1,000 people were evacuated from the Honduran island of Roatan, popular for its pristine reefs and diving resorts. Another 1,000 were removed from low-lying coastal areas and smaller islands. Felix's top winds weakened slightly to 135 mph as it headed west, but forecasters warned that it could strengthen again before landfall along the Miskito Coast early Tuesday. From there, it was projected to rake northern Honduras, slam into southern Belize on Wednesday and then cut across northern Guatemala and southern Mexico, well south of Texas. Read The Full Story Editorial: What You Don't Know Can Hurt You 2007-09-03 22:44:05 Intellpuke: The following editorial appears in the New York Times edition for Tuesday, September 4, 2007. The recent turmoil in the markets highlights the damaging effects of uncertainty, stemming from the lack of reliable information from opaque market actors like hedge funds and private equity firms and from off-balance-sheet transactions at banks. Obviously, the system cannot thrive without good and timely information. With that in mind, lawmakers returning to Washington this week should make it a top priority to restore full funding for gathering vital economic and business data by the Census Bureau. Unless the funds are restored, Congress will be adding to the uncertainty that has proved so destabilizing. Just before the break, the House of Representatives passed a bill that would cut $23.6 million from the bureau’s 2008 budget for compiling the nation’s most important economic statistics. A cut of that size would result in the largest loss of source data since the government started keeping the statistics during the Great Depression, impairing the accuracy of figures on economic growth, consumer spending, corporate profits, labor productivity, inflation and other benchmark indicators. The data is critical to Federal Reserve policy, financial markets, official budget estimates at every level of government and everyday business decisions. Read The Full Story Strike Shuts Down Most Of London's Subway Network 2007-09-03 22:42:45 London’s subway network virtually shut down at the height of the rush hour Monday evening when 2,300 maintenance workers walked off their jobs in what they said would be a three-day strike over pensions and security. Transportation officials then closed nine subway lines, the bulk of the system. They said it was too dangerous to keep the network going without the workers, who are responsible for maintaining and repairing tracks, signals, trains and the like. Just three lines - the Jubilee, Northern and Piccadilly lines, which are maintained by workers who belong to another union - were operating tonight. Commuters across London left work early in a rush to make it home before 6 p.m. local time, when the strike began. Commuters arriving later found that their stations were locked or - in those stations still operating - that signs had been put up explaining that most of the lines had ceased to operate. Read The Full Story Bush Makes Surprise Visit To Iraq 2007-09-03 15:25:01 President Bush landed in Iraq Monday on his third surprise trip to the war zone, this time intent on emphasizing his belief that his military strategy was working to ease the violence. His visit to a military base in Anbar province about 120 miles northwest of Baghdad came on the eve of a crucial assessment on the progress of the war and the effectiveness of the U.S. troop buildup. The report is being prepared by his administration and the top general in Iraq, Army Gen. David H. Petraeus. Bush, who traveled with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, was greeted in Iraq by Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates, and was scheduled to meet with his top Iraq commanders and a range of Iraqi leaders. "This is the last big gathering of the president's top military advisers and Iraqi leadership before the president decides on the way forward," said Pentagon Press Secretary Geoff Morrell. "He has assembled his war council here." Read The Full Story A Republican Senator Charts A Middle Path On Iraq 2007-09-03 15:24:37 U.S. Senator Lamar Alexander, the Tennessee Republican and career consensus seeker, finds himself in a familiar position when it comes to the war in Iraq:somewhere in the middle. With Congress set to take pivotal votes on the war soon after lawmakers begin returning to Washington on Tuesday, radio advertisements in Knoxville from a group that supports the Bush administration are urging voters to call lawmakers and demand they stand firm on Iraq, a plea that sends as many as 25 telephone calls per day in support of President Bush to Alexander’s local office. In Nashville, on the edge of the campus of Vanderbilt University, scores of antiwar demonstrators gathered recently at the entrance to Centennial Park to read solemnly a toll of the war dead and pass out fliers encouraging people to call Tennessee politicians “often” to push for a troop withdrawal. Organizers, who had Alexander’s office number at the top of their list, considered it a pretty fair turnout for Nashville, the country-and-western capital that practically banished the Dixie Chicks for their anti-Bush comments in 2003. Read The Full Story Book Tells Of Dissent In Bush's Inner Circle 2007-09-03 15:24:01 White House granted author unusual access. Karl Rove told George W. Bush before the 2000 election that it was a bad idea to name Richard B. Cheney as his running mate, and Rove later raised objections to the nomination of Harriet E. Miersto the Supreme Court, according to a new book on the Bush presidency. In "Dead Certain: The Presidency of George Bush," journalist Robert Draper writes that Rove told Bush he should not tap Cheney for the Republican ticket: "Selecting Daddy's top foreign-policy guru ran counter to message. It was worse than a safe pick - it was needy." But Bush did not care - he was comfortable with Cheney and "saw no harm in giving his VP unprecedented run of the place." When Rove, President Bush's top political adviser, expressed concerns about the Miers selection, he was "shouted down" and subsequently muted his objections, Draper writes, while other advisers did not realize the outcry the nomination would cause within the president's conservative political base. It was John G. Roberts, Jr., now the chief justice of the United States, who suggested Miers to Bush as a possible Supreme Court justice, according to the book. Miers, the White House counsel and a Bush loyalist from Texas, did not want the job, but Bush and first lady Laura Bush prevailed on her to accept the nomination, writes Draper. Read The Full Story
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