1 The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom
Friday, September 212007- 3A
NEWS BRIEFS
WASHINGTON
Bush refuses to
criticize firm
over shooting
President Bush yesterday
refused to criticize a U.S. secu-
rity company in Iraq accused in a
shooting that left 11 civilians dead,
saying investigators need to deter-
mine if the guards violated rules
governing their operations.
Bush said he expected Iraqi
Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki
would raise the shooting by agents
of Blackwater USA when they
meet next week at the U.N. Gen-
eral Assembly.
AI-Maliki has urged the U.S.
Embassy to find another security
firm to protect its diplomats, say-
ing he cannot tolerate "the killing
of our citizens in cold blood." He
called the shootings a "crime" and
said they had generated "wide-
spread anger and hatred."
WASHINGTON
Senate blocks bill
that would have
stopped Iraq funds
The Senate blocked legislation
yesterday that would have cut
off money for combat in Iraq by
June. It was a predictable defeat
for Democrats struggling to pass
less divisive anti-war measures.
The 28-70 vote was 32 short of
the 60 needed to cut off a GOP fili-
buster. The legislation, sponsored
by Senate Majority Leader Harry
Reid and Sen. Russ Feingold, was
indicative of the Democratic lead-
ership's new hardline strategy.
Unable to attract enough
Republican support on milder pro-
posals, Reid has sought votes on
strong anti-war measures intend-
ed to force a withdrawal of troops.
The outcome was not a sur-
prise. In May, the Senate rejected
a similar proposal by Reid and
Feingold by a 29-67 vote, with
* most Democrats saying they did
not support using money to force
an end to the war because that
approach could hurt the troops.
CAIRO, Egypt
Bin Laden video
calls on Pakistan to
wage jihad
Osama bin Laden called on
Pakistanis to wage holy war on
their. president yesterday, saying
in anew recording that it was their
religious duty to overthrow Gen.
Pervez Musharraf for his alliance
with the U.S. against Islamic mili-
tants.
The message was the third from
bin Laden this month after a long
lull, coming in a flurry of al-Qaida
propaganda marking the anniver-
sary of the Sept. 11 terror attacks
on the United States.
Joining in, bin Laden's chief
deputy, Ayman al-Zawahri, issued
avideo yesterday seeking to galva-
nize Islamic fighters from North
Africa to Afghanistan.
WASHINGTON
Giuliani adviser
criticized for
mosques comment
A homeland security adviser
to Rudy Giuliani came under fire
yesterday for claiming there were
"too many mosques" in the United
States - and defended himself
by saying his point was that not
enough Muslim leaders cooperate
with law enforcement.
Rep. Peter King (R-N.Y.) the
former chairman of the House
Homeland Security Committee
and the top GOP member on the
panel, said his comments to the
Politico Web site were taken out of
context. Democrats said Giuliani
should drop him as a campaign
adviser.
"I stand by everything I said
other than the fact that the Polit-
ico totally took it out of context,"
King said yesteday.
In the Politico interview, King
said: "Unfortunately we have too
many mosques in this country,
there's too many people who are
sympathetic to radical Islam. We
should be looking at them more
carefully, we should be finding out
how we can infiltrate, we should
be much more aggressive in law
enforcement."
After King complained, Politico
posted video of the entire inter-
view.
- Compiled from
Daily wire reports
SOLE asks Coleman
to pay their fines
DRAWING BLOOD
Twelve students
had to pay $6,120
for trespassing
By SARA THELEN
and RYAN PODGES
For the Daily
Activists held a press confer-
ence outside a University Board
of Regents meeting yesterday
and called for the University
to force companies that make
its apparel adhere to more
stringent labor standards. Sev-
eral student activists who were
arrested and fined for tres-
passing for holding a sit-in in
University President Mary Sue
Coleman's office in the spring
also asked Coleman to reim-
burse them for the fines.
The 12 students arrested in
April owe a combined $6,120
in fines. They're trying to raise
money to cover that cost.
They've already received
$1,000 in donations from the
American Federation of State,
County and Municipal Employ-
ees, the International Brother-
hood of Electrical Workers and
the University's nurses union.
Yesterday's protest was sup-
ported by Students Organizing
for Labor and Economic Equal-
ity, the Lecturers' Employee
Organization, the Graduate
Employees Organization and
the AFL-CIO.
Participants in the April sit-
in wanted the University to
adopt the Designated Suppliers
Program. The program would
require clothing manufactur-
ers licensed by the University
to pay workers enough to sup-
port their families by working
no more than 48 hours a week,
allow workers to join unions
and submit to labor standards
inspections.
"It's easy to get larger unions
to support you when a president
breaks over 30 years of prec-
edent," said Blase Kearney, a
SOLE member who was arrest-
ed in April. "People at this uni-
versity haven't been arrested
for peaceful protest in thirty
years."
SOLE members said they
made progress eight years ago
through a similar sit-in that
ended when then-University
President Lee Bollinger agreed'
to many of the protesters'
demands. Though a University
official said the students partic-
ipating in the April sit-in were
arrested because of changes to
security procedures after the
Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks,
Kearney said he thinks Univer-
sity administrators and Cole-
man specifically are responsible
for the arrests.
"By attacking the right to
peaceful protest, the Univer-
sity has silenced the voice of
students," the group said in the
letter, read by SOLE member
Aria Everts, an LSA junior, to a
crowd of about 60 people.
The letter also said the Uni-
versity doesn't value student
voices and doesn't focus on
social change.
"The focus is too often on
understanding inequities of
(globalization) and rarely on
rectifying them," the letter
said.
Nurse Toni Oliverio draws blood from LSA junior Christina Carson at a blood drive in West Quad Residence Hall yesterday
House votes on tax hikes
LANSING (AP) - The state
House began voting onanother pro-
posal to raise the state's income tax
late last night, an effort to resolve
a budget crisis projected for the fis-
cal year that begins Oct. 1.
The proposal would raise the
state's income tax from the current
3.9 percent to 4.6 percent.
The income tax proposal would
raise about $1.1 billion for the state
next fiscal year, leaving more than
$600 million of a potential deficit to
be eliminated by cuts or other rev-
enue sources. The income tax rate
would drop back to 4.2 percent in
2011.
Other votes later last night could
possibly include extending the
sales tax to some services. Some
spending cuts also may be voted
on. House Democrats were trying
to woo Republican votes for the
income tax by tying it to several
cost-cutting proposals, possibly
including the elimination of life-
time health benefits for lawmak-
ers, a reduction in the use of state
vehicles and other changes to ben-
efit levels for state employees. In
another effort to persuade unde-
cided voters, a small portion of the
income tax revenue would go to the
state's lowest funded schools and
some would go to fish and wildlife
programs.
The proposal would need 56
votestopassthe110-member.House
and advance to the Senate. About
an hour into the tally, the proposal
was 14 votes short of passing, and 15
lawmakers were not posting votes.
Democrats hold a 58-52 edge in the
House, but six of them were voting
against the proposal.
The state has a projected $1.75
billion deficit for the fiscal year that
starts in12 days.
A partial government shutdown
is possible unless a solution is
found soon.
It appeared late last night that
whatever bills the Democrat-con-
trolled House might pass, the
Republican-controlled Senate
wasn't on board. Matt Marsden,
a spokesman for Senate Major-
ity Leader Mike Bishop, said there
had been no agreement reached
between leaders of the two cham-
bers several hours after House
Speaker Andy Dillon announced
the House would be voting.
illegal immigrants
head for Canada
On rumors of
asylum, hundreds
go to Windsor
By MONICA DAVEY
and ABBY GOODNOUGH
The New York Times
WINDSOR, Ontario - Flee-
ing stepped-up sweeps by the
American authorities, ille-
gal immigrants to the United
States, mostly Mexican, are
arriving in growing numbers
at the foot of the bridge in this
Canadian border town seeking
refugee status.
Still more immigrants, most-
ly Mexicans who had been liv-
ing illegally in Florida, have
begun trying to make their way
past America's northern border
at other locations, the majority
of them flying into the airport
in Toronto, Canadian officials
said on yesterday.
The arrivals here began sud-
denly three weeks ago, just a
family or two at first, fueled by
the notion - largelyunfounded,
the authorities here say - that
Canada would grant them asy-
lum.
The journey, some of the
immigrants said, was first sug-
gested by an organization in
Naples, Fla., which charged
a fee for assisting with the
required paperwork. The idea
has now spread on the Internet
and through social networks.
By yesterday, at least 200
people had turned up here,
across the border from Detroit,
with as much of their lives as
they could shove into suitcases,
boxes and garbage bags in their
cars. Thousands more, refugee
advocates and Canadian offi-
cials say, may be on their way.
Advocates for immigrants
issued urgent warnings to
Mexicans pondering similar
journeys, and expressed fury
at groups that were encour-
aging them. In truth, refugee
status for Mexican citizens is
relatively unusual in Canada.
Only 28 percent of such claims
by Mexicans were approved
in Canada last year, compared
with 47 percent of claims from
all nationalities.
"It's an outrage that money
is being taken to provide false
information and dangerous
informationtothesepeople,"said
RivkaAugenfeld of the Canadian
Council for Refugees, a nonprofit
umbrella organization focused
on the rights and protection of
refugees. "This idea is just out
there and growing."
Windsor officials, who
scrambled to arrange a meet-
ing on yesterday in a commu-
nity center for some of the new
arrivals so they could apply for
social services, said they were
overwhelmed by the sudden
onslaught and deeply worried
about the days ahead. Already,
they had filled a shelter with 30
single men; officials were now
paying four motels to house
families, said Maj. Wilfred Har-
bin, administrator for the Sal-
vation Army here. Meals were
being delivered to the families
by taxi cab.
"We have no idea what we
are going to do," said Habin,
who said he had heard that as
many as 7,000 Mexicans might
be seeking refugee status in the
coming weeks.
Eddie Francis, the mayor
of Windsor, faxed a letter on
Wednesday to Canadian federal
authorities seeking emergency
financial help.
"I empathize with the chal-
lenges but we don't have the
ability to manage this," Francis
said. "We have never seen any-
thing like this."
Many of the families who
drove here said they had learned
about the possibility of fleeing
to Canada from a Naples, Fla.,
organization, the Jerusalem
Haitian Community Center,
which promoted "Information
required for Canadian Refugee
Status Application" on its Web
site. The group, some refugees
said, collected $400 for adults
and $100 for children and
assured them that there would
be jobs and shelter.
"I don't know if what I was
told about coming here was
correct or not, but what am I
going to do about it now?" said
Pedro Palafox Marin, who said .
he paid $800 to the organiza-
tion before driving through the
night to Windsor with his wife
and children.
"In Florida," Marin said,
"every job I got, everywhere I
went, we were getting a lot of
pressure from immigration:
Being illegal was always on my
mind. Now, I can relax."
Illegal immigrants have been
especially frightened of depor-
tation in recent months, people
in Naples and surrounding Col-
lier County said. The commu-
nity has been filled with tales
of immigrants being caught
and deported and government
letters being sent to employers
warning them not to employ
illegal immigrants.
The Collier County Sheriff's '
Office recently became the first
local law enforcement agency
in Florida to send its deputies
for Immigrations and Custom
Enforcement training, which
gives them the authority to
detain suspected illegal immi-
grants.
In Naples yesterday, Jacques
Sinjuste, the general director of
the Jerusalem Haitian Commu-
nity Center, denied that he had
urged undocumented immi-
grants to seek asylum in Canada
or told them jobs would be wait-
ing there. Sinjuste said that he
and a small group of volunteers
at the center had merely helped
immigrants fill out applications
for asylum, he said.
"We fill it out for them and
that's the end of our job," he said.
"Many people are taking the
name of my organization with
them when they go to Canada
andsayingIsentthem.ButI don't
know anything about that"
Sinjuste, a Haitian immi-
grant who founded the center
in 2000, said he had first heard
about the possibility of seeking
asylum in Canada from a client
who brought one of the applica-
tions to his office two years ago.
Prograrn in Science, Technology & Society
Center for the History of Medicine
History, Culture, and Science
Allan M Brandt'
Harvard University
Author of The Cigazette Cenhy: The Rise, FaI4 fnndDeadly
Persistence of the Product That DefinedAmerica
Monday, 24 September 2007, 4pm
Assembly Hall, Rackham Building, 4th Floor
For more information: tmnsts m ich~edu: www.unich.edtu/-umsts/
3,790
Number of American service
members who have died inthe War
in Iraq, according to The Associ-
ated Press. No service members
were identified by the Department
of Defense yesterday.