2 - The Michigan Daily - Tuesday, February 6, 2001
NATION/WORLD
Bush defends sweeping tax
WASHINGTON (AP) - Flanked by a jumbo
refund-check stage prop, President Bush asked
Americans to get behind his proposed tax cuts
yesterday and said the reductions should be
retroactive to Jan. 1 to "help get money into the
people's pockets quicker."
He warned Congress and an army of lobbyists
against add-ons, saying his plan is the right size
"and I'm going to defend it mightily."
In the White house diplomatic room, the presi-
dent began a drive for the upper hand yesterday as
he and Congress move toward formal debate over
the centerpiece of his presidential campaign. He
did not shy from the idea, emphasized by Democ-
rats in what Bush decried as "class warfare," that
the wealthiest Americans stand to benefit the
most.
"All the income tax rates should be cut," Bush
said. "Our tax code should not punish success at
any stage oflife."
Ile stood beside a jumbo check written out to
"U.S. Taxpayer" in the amount of S1 ,600. the
average tax cut for a family of four under his plan.
according to White house estimates, and gathered
around him three photogenic families who, in the
bottom three tax brackets, would realize tax sav-
ings.
Asked by a reporter why no one was there rep-
resenting the big winners in the top bracket, Bush
laughed. "Well, I beg your pardon," he said. "I got
a little pay raise coming to Washington from
Austin. I'll be in the top bracket."
The former Texas governor makes $400,000 as
president under 1999 legislation that doubled the
$200,000 annual salary.
Bush has proposed lowering and simplifying
federal income tax rates by 2006. Current rates are
15 percent, 28 percent, 31 percent, 36 percent and
39.6 percent. New rates would be 10 percent, 15
percent. 25 percent and 33 percent.
lie would also expand child credits, ease the so-
called marriage penalty and gradually repeal
estate taxes.
Presidential appearances planned for today and
tomorrow were to highlight such individual bene-
fits plus the job-creation potential of tax cuts,
before Bush submits his plan to Congress on
Thursday.
Drawing battle lines. Democrats contended that
Bush's proposal would disproportionately help the
cut proposal
wealthy and, combined with his spending plans,
wauld bring back federal deficits. Senate Democ-
ratic leader Tom Daschle said earners making
about S300,000 would get enough of a tax break
to pay for a Lexus, while people making S50,000 a
year would see only enough tax savings to buy a
muffler for a used car.
Sen. Kent Conrad, a top Democrat on the bud-
get committee, said rate cuts need to be aimed
more at middle- and low-income earners. "All I
hear from the Bush administration about compro-
mise is we're supposed to accept their position.
We're not going to do that," said Conrad.
Retroactively will not be part of Bush's formal
submission, aides say, but the president said yes-
terday he will fight for it.
Bush played down his argument that tax cuts
could stimulate a slowing economy and under-
scored instead their bread-and-butter appeal.
"This is real and practical help when, at this
time, many Americans need it." Bush said, ticking
down what SI.600 could buy: a year's tuition at
community college: gasoline for two cars for a
year or, with a political eye on California's energy
crisis, 24 months of electricity there.
NEWS IN BRIEF }9\t
HEADLINE~SRMA UN THWRL
I
SHU]. India
Two survive 10 days after earthquake
Soldiers searching for the bodies of rthquake victims rescued a brother and
sister yesterday who survived 10 days trapped on the second Ilkor of their dam-
aged building, living offcereal and water.
"Everyone had given up hope of finding any survivors. This is a miracle" sa*
Bakshi Singh. inspector general of the Border Security Force.
The rescue came even as demoliti4n teams were clearing away the ruins of
collapsed apartment buildings in Bhuj and other towns of India's western Gujarat
state, and authorities turned to the monumental task of finding shelter for some
600,000 people left homeless by the Jan. 26 quake.
The two survivors were discovered by a team of soldiers who had gone into
Bhuj's Karsana neighborhood to help a resident search for a relative's body. Once
there, they met a policemen who said he had heard faint cries for help, said
Nazim Khan, a team member.
The soldiers checked the area and spotted a man waving through the grill
of a second-story window of his damaged apartment building. Thl6
entrance was blocked by rubble, but 20 soldiers formed a human pyram
to reach the second-floor window, where they discovered the sister inside.
said Khan.
CHICAGO
Study: HIV prevalent in gay black men
A stunning one-third of young gay black men in large U.S. cities are infected
with lIl, another sign of the growing racial divide in the AIDS epidemic.
The findings, based on a study released yesterday, show that I lIV infections
are disturbingly common among gay men of all races in their 20s, especially c
sidering that they grew up knowir how AIDS spreads.
However. ItIV is particularly vampant among young gay blacks. and experts
worry that these men have missed the safe-sex message that has been a drumbeat
among white homosexual men since the mid-1980s.
The study found that among young gay men, 3 percent of Asians, 7 percent, of
whites, 15 percent oll lispanics and 30 percent of blacks are infected with the virus.
"That 30 percent is an amazirg statistic." said Dr. IHelene Gayle. AIDS chief at
the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "When people think 'gay.' they
think 'white.' But the people still at greatest risk are sexually active gay men, and
that cuts across all races and ethnicities."
The study, directed by the CIC's Linda Valleroy. was presented at the Eighth
Annual Retrovirus Conference in Chicago.
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Gunman
kills 41in
Chic ago
factory
Ml LROSE PARK, Ill. (AP)- A
former factory worker who got caught
stealing from his employer forced his
way into the suburban Chicago engine
plant yesterday and opened fire one
day before he was to report to prison.
lie killed five people, including him-
self, and wounded four others.
William D. Baker, showed up at the
Navistar International plant with an
arsenal of weapons in a golf bag and
made his way through te vast build-
ing, blasting away with an AK-47
assault rifle, police said. Employees
scattered in terror during the 10 to 15-
minute rampage.
le shot seven people, three of them
fatally, in an engineering area, then
went into an office, where he killed
one more person and then shot him-
self, police said.
Baker had been scheduled to surren-
der today to serve a five-month federal
sentence for conspiracy to commit
theft from an interstate shipment. i
pleaded guilty last une, six years after
he was fired.
Martin Reutiman, an eneineer. was
sitting at his desk when he heard gun-
fire about 10 a.m.
"I heard somebody yell, 'There's a
guy in the center aisle with a gun!"'
Reutimann said. referring to the long
hallway where engines are tested.
Reutimann said he didn't believe it at
first, then saw people running past
him. lie grabbed his coat and cellular
phone and dialed 9 11.
Police said Baker showed up at the
plant with his weapons in a golf' bag.
When a security guard tried to stop
him. Baker put a .38-caliber revolver
to her side and forced his way into the
plant. police said.
Once inside the plant. Baker fired
the assault rifle, police said. Ile also
carried a shotgun and a .30-caliber
hunting rifle besides the revolver.
police said. They were not sure
whether those weapons were used.
The plant, about 15 miles from
company headquarters in downtown
Chicago, employs about 1.400 people.
Doctors,:
SIDS may
hide abuse
of infants
Thle ssociated Press
The nation's largest group of pedi-
atricians is recommending for the
first time that all suspected cases of
sudden infant death syndrome be
investigated by a child abuse expert
because of growing fears that some
such deaths are murders.
The American Academy of Pedi-
atrics and the government already rec-
ommend death-scene investigations
and autopsies for all SIDS cases.
It is virtually impossible "to distin-
guish at autopsy between SIDS and
accidental or deliberate asphyxiation
with a soft object," said Dr. Kent
Huna-w- . ar ..no- r ha,Ademaz
NEW YORK
trial attempts to
implicate bin Laden
Four men went on trial yeserday in
the 1998 bombings of two U.S.
,embassies in Africa, with prosecutors
portraying the deadly blasts as part of a
worldwide plot by terrorist nvstermind
Osama bin Laden to kill Amricans.
"The story that's about,to unfold
before you is long, compltcated and
chilling." prosecutor Paul iutler said
in his opening statement.
Staring and pointing at each defen-
dant, Butler said the men contributed
to bin Laden's decade-lotog terrorism
spree aimed at weakeniwg or over-
throwing governments he 4islikes.
"They each helped the best way they
could and. in the end, 224 men. women
and children died and Kenya. Tanzania
and America would never'be the same,"
he said. "For that, we seek justice."
The Aug. 7. 1998, Iombings in
Nairobi. Kenya, and Ir es Salaam.
Tanzania, were nearly simultaneous.
MOSCOW
Putin fires energy
minister over crisis
President Vladimir Putin fired his
energy minister and forced the resig-
nation of a notorious rcgional governor
yesterday in response to an energy cri-
sis that has left tens of thousands with-
out heat during one of the coldest
winters in Russia's Far East in a half-
century.
In his first decisime action to halt
the sufferirig of people freezing in
their own homes. Putin also
promised to restructure the fgp
management of Russia's state-con-
trolled electricity monopoly, Uni-
fied Energy System, headed by
former deputy prime minister Ana-
toly Chubais.
"The crisis has a systematic charac-
ter, but the Russian government h
not done everything necessary in or
to eliminate the crisis," the president
told reporters at the beginning ofta
Cabinet meeting.
Students hang car
from Golden Gate
Upholding a 20-year-old tradi-
tion, engineering students from 10
University of British Columbia
tethered the hull of a n old, red"
Volkswagen Beetle to the railing of
the Golden Gate Bridge yesterday.
Witnesses told the California
llighway Patrol that about a dozen
people pulled off the prank in the
middle of the night.
Bridge workers cut the 2-inch-
wide nylon webbing and allowa
the car to drop into the water du
ing the morning rush hour.The
Coast Guard kept the area clear
until the hunk of metal sank into
the San Francisco Bay.
Every year, engineering student,
at the Canadian university hold E
Week and hang Beetles from build-.
ings and other places around Van-
couver. This year, the students took
their gig on the road. wr
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EDITORS: David Enders, Lis& Kolvu, Cattlin Nish, Jeremy W. Peters
STAFF Wtf'i 14 LSeauni4 (iAnnri. c,iairi.. M it s iiiiuiuis, Ldwa D,-ne. i/ El/i deii Wti*i,",Eli4ulj,,nri , j, , ,r, ,j---
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EDITORIAL Michael firms, Nicholas Woonier, Editors
ASSOCIATE EDITORS: Potoetonniffe, Manlsh Raijl, Josh Wickerham
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SPORTS Jon Schwartz, Managing Editor
SENIOR EDITORS: Raphael Goodsteln, Michael Kom, Joe Smith, Dan Williams
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ARTS Nan Goldstein, Managing Editor
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PHOTO Louis Brown, Jessica JAonon, Edit
ASSOCIATE EDITORS~eavld Katz, Marjorie Marshall
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ONLINE Kiran Divval, Paul Wang, Managing EdItoo
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DISPLAY SALES Sarah Esteala. Manam l ;