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. ,a . r4 F "r I 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 -- Conrlcp ihcd/ivmDaily wue ,epoj~i~@ Guaranteed growth never looked so good! 4 * '-. ,1 , A'n' -,- No one knows what the market has in store. 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AAA Fitch Aaa Moody's Investors Services TIAA has earned the highest possible ratings for stability,,sound investments, and overall financial strength.' The Michigan Daily (ISSN 0*5-967) is published Monday through Friday durng the fall and winter terms by. students at the University of Michigan. Subscriptions for fall term, startng in Sptemter, via U.S. mad ate $100. Winter term (January, through April) is $105. yearlong (September through April) is $180. On-campus subscriptions for fail term ae $35. Subscriptions must be prepaid. The Michigan Daily is a meliber of The Associated Press and The Assodiated Collegiate Press. ADDRESS: The Michigan Daily. 420 Maynard St.. Ann Arbor. Michigan 48109-1327. PHONE NUMBERS (All area code 734): News 76-DAILY: Arts 763-0379; Sports 647.3336: Opinion 764.05 Circulation 764-0558: Classified advertising 764-0557; Display advertising 764-0554: Billing 764-0550. E-mail letters to the editor-to dai.lyeters@uich.edu. World Wide Web: www.michgandiiady.com. NEWS Nick Bunkley, Managing Edit*e 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--- Gil*-rn,, Ai4, Il Hadi. Lisa Hll4li. i.l ehi Kasti4. JanerWil 4 mi, Kim u l.'din ,S. L. I i. L-Alti M .flh iJ,:,W;.n k4 . .ii 511gi hyare $churihul. i, ! q b( hUtte. K s~e S[hwlirfl. Mona !)ptov. COsn.Thuiso. Johalow : We .n nl, 1wi in46 ( ALE U',Li nim,-.lpoit. (' 4MICS(5 i At (4i'l EDITORIAL Michael firms, Nicholas Woonier, Editors ASSOCIATE EDITORS: Potoetonniffe, Manlsh Raijl, Josh Wickerham STArr n t l tv. Kevin Ciune,'Sium n ; ki. r,j ,, I r i-hr. lGo R o 1 ,4 , .Jesis:Guoin. Justin Hi lhani. hh na ii . A biii, Hvnfit ,tHiiy H nui.thmr n. i Sw Jed U,-n wtmh""., t (:OttM3.iSTSEmily Am~h i,-niieiu. Gir..i-laI.J oli,l. I al H i- tisi' G u Ri iu 4n,fl n arv usinSliri i, l Vii.-Spf tn. Ai.*,A- ilt'. SPORTS Jon Schwartz, Managing Editor SENIOR EDITORS: Raphael Goodsteln, Michael Kom, Joe Smith, Dan Williams u.HT ELm mflin 1',,ioo rit . Arun G.f -,- .ev t'JIn.w. re i P irpv . nu , CP M.oC .4ri-y. l-u.rj, 6 r1 i birm, STArr R hi tevvia.- i iM.+,i. (tm hns bur. lK. C .'i ni C-. 1 .-n ura' i'bu4' .hns L-urNii. Mi rart - f it' . lm t >'xni j nn,,. lic~hoAdH: dW. DavH Hv m ,% . K Ko h-r Aid whKIA W i, S1avn kMr. ,Albeol Kim, tix~VJ up,-tfy r i Y1, .Qucen'., hi Lri, , I',tor Lii 3ii Jio 'icli I -A-013iu 01 i. Swdfi f'l, U a , i ~i ttlj' i , t w,,ru.--'Siku,, .JvAi bI ir 4 (, i t f. ARTS Nan Goldstein, Managing Editor EDITORS: Jennifer Fogel, Robymn MelaineeI WEEKENO, ETC. EDITOIy: Jenni 4lennElizabeth Pensier LU EITe JSL, H-,ml-- - r. I ir ' l-1, r .-rlki nn A , 1_' , k''-' L.. R'l 51 Vi U ""' TV T ,-' Mu-, L - i sTrF. (alr AlliN-rlis 4. jiES.j i . t Si un, baL -t r,, Y -,i -A L strb i n b A'u t-- rausi : t u t-u .r',h .,4-n Lie 1, 4 Viir >rn G Au- riuti S il . ,d i .iA. 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