The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
N ewsiWednesday, October 29, 2008 - 3A
NEWS BRIEFS
BELL.S, Tens,
Authorities say
skinhead plot
wasn't fully formed
Two white supremacists
charged with plotting to behead
blacks across the country and
assassinate Barack Obama while
wegring white top hats and tuxes
were likely too disorganized to
carry out the plot, authorities said,
and their planning was riddled
with blunders.
Paul Schlesselman, 18, of Hele-
na-West Helena, Ark., and Daniel
Cowart, 20, of Bells are accused
of dreaming up the plan. While
authorities say they had guns
capable of creating carnage, docu-
ments show they never got close to
getting off the ground.
Amongethe blunders: They drew
attention to themselves by etching
swastikas on a car with sidewalk
chalk, only knew each other for
a month, couldn't even pull off a
house robbery, and a friend ratted
them out to authorities.
ATLANTA
Georgia residents
wait up to 8 hours
to vote early
Georgia residents packed poll-
ing places as early voting started
in earnest this week, braving lines
as long as eight hours to cast bal-
lots and forcing some voting sites
to stay open deep into the night.
Polls have been open in Georgia
since Sept. 22, but dozens more
opened this week as part of a state-
wide strategy to ease the crunch
on Election Day. The advance vot-
ing sites will be open every day
through Friday.
The new system has been popu-
lar: About 200,000 voters cast their
ballots on Monday alone. They're
among 1.2 million people, more
than 20 percent of the state's 5.6
million registered voters, who have
voted early so far. The votes won't
be counted until Election Day.
In Florida, a crucial battle-
ground state where early voting
lines have also been long, Gov.
Charlie Crist signed an executive
order Tuesday keeping polling
places open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.,
fourhours longer than specified in
state law. He cited record turnout
in signing the order, which also
requires polling places to be open
a total of 12 hours this weekend
instead of eight.
COLUMBUS, Ohio
Joe the Plumber
endorses McCain,
chides Obama
Job the Plumber endorsed Re-
publican John McCain for presi-
dent yesterday.
Samuel J. Wurzelbacher gained
national attentionwhen Obama told
him during a campaign stop that
he wanted to "spread the wealth
around." Their exchange about
Obama's tax plan aired countless
times'on cable news programs, and
McCain repeatedly cited Joe the
Plumber in their third and final de-
bateand again at campaign events.
McCain points to Wurzelbacher
as an example of the middle-class
worker who would be hurt economi-
calIry an Obama presidency, How-
ever;Wurzelbacher likely would fare
better under Obama's tax plan be-
caus4 it calls for no tax increase for
wontng couples earning less than
$240,b00 a year - Wurzelbacher
hin~lfearnsfarless - andprovides
for imiddle-class tax cut.
i4a McCain rally at a flag store,
Wsirielbacher said he feared that
Ob t4a would turn the U.S. into a
socialist nation.
TRAVRSE CITY, Mich.
Court to allow suit
a inst Meijer
T Michigan Supreme Court
is allowing officials in Grand Tra-
vee County's Acme Township to
sue retail giant Meijer Inc.
h court issued an order on
Monday upholding a ruling by Cir-
cuitjudge Philip Rodgers that the
suiitould go forward.
* Wnning commissioner Robert
Carstens accuses Meijer of harass-
in m with a frivolous lawsuit
ani Ilegal campaign activity.
Thy dispute involved the Grand
Rapi s company's plan to build a
superstore in the township, which
has (Ovided local residents.
several other local officials say
theyay join Carstens in suing Mei-
jer.
- Compiled from
Daily wire reports
Political T-shirts, buttons
banned at Mich. polling places
DISCUSSING SOCIAL IDENTITIES
Judge's ruling
upholds 1950 law
LANSING (AP) - A federal
judge has upheld Michigan's ban
on campaign T-shirts and buttons
inside polling places.
U.S. District Judge Patrick
Duggan ruled yesterday in the
lawsuit brought this month by
Council 25 of the American Fed-
eration of State, County and
Municipal Employees against
Secretary of State Terri Lynn
Land and state elections director
Chris Thomas.
AFSCME attorney Herbert
Sanders argued Monday that
the ban oppresses voters' right
to freedom of expression and
abridges their right to vote free
from intimidation.
But the state argued the law
has been on the books since the
1950s and was amended in the
early 1970s to prevent intimida-
tion and preserve the sanctuary
of the voting place.
"This was never an effort to
squash enthusiasm, but to pre-
serve the sanctity of the polling
places on Election Day," sec-
retary of state spokeswoman
Kelly Chesney said Tuesday.
"We want voters to be able to
cast their ballots without being
bombarded with messages and
without feeling pressured or
intimidated."
She says voters are asked only
to remove their buttons and to
cover up their T-shirts or. turn
them inside out before entering
the polling place.
State law requires candidates
and campaign material be kept at
least 100 feet from any entrance
to a polling place.
A message seeking comment
was left Tuesday evening at
AFSCME Council 25 headquar-
ters in Lansing.
Automakers seeking government
aid beyond bailout and loans
Congress has
already approved
$25 billion in loans
WASHINGTON (AP) - Belea-
guered U.S. automakers are
seeking federal help beyond the
money available for them as part
of a financial industry bailout and
a loan package to fund more fuel-
efficient cars, the White House
said Tuesday.
White House spokeswoman
Dana Perino said the auto indus-
try has talked to the Bush admin-
istration about funding on a much
broader scale than the two pro-
grams approved by Congress ear-
lier this fall.
"No doubt that the automak-
ers are big important companies,
important to a lot of families and
important to a lot of regions in
this country," Perino said. "We
are capable of competing at a level
where these companies can suc-
ceed, they might just need a little
help. And that's what Congress
asked us to help provide them."
General Motors Corp., which is
in talks about acquiring Chrysler
LLC, is pursuing $5 billion to $10
billion in government aid, said an
industry official, who declined to
be identified because the discus-
sions were private. GM officials
declined comment.
GM has approached members
of Congress and the admin-
istration about a number of
ways that government funding
could be used to help the com-
pany, including playing a part
in a Chrysler deal, said a person
briefed on the negotiations. The
person asked not to be identi-
fied because no deal has been
completed.
Therequests have come as
General Motors and Chrysler LLC
are burning up cash because of an
auto industry sales meltdown due
to the U.S. economic downturn.
Perino said the "decisions
about their futures - and poten-
tial mergers - will be decided by
them."
Yet industry analysts say gov-
ernment funding might be neces-
sary to seal a deal because of the
difficult economic conditions and
frozen credit markets.
The Bush administration and
Congress would have an inter-
est in the automakers' survival
because of the magnitude of the
pension obligations it would face
in a bankruptcy and the potential
for massive job losses..
Chrysler employs about 49,000
in the U.S. and has about 125,000
pensioners. GM has 177,000 U.S.
workers and around 500,000
people receiving pensions.
The Center for Automotive
Research in Ann Arbor, Mich.,
estimates that for each auto man-
ufacturing position, there are 7.5
jobs with parts makers and other
companies, meaningthe industry
accounts for millions of jobs.
Any role by the government in
a GM-Chrysler deal would face
scrutiny from Congress because
it would likely lead to significant
job losses as the companies com-
bine operations.
The WhiteHouse is focused
on two major options to aid
the industry, Perino said. They
include the $25 billion in govern-
ment loans approved by Congress
for fuel-saving technology and
money to free up credit through
the $700 billion Wall Street bail-
out.
Perino said the White House is
trying to help automakers access
part of the $25 billion. GM has
been seeking about $5 billion
from the program.
Both Barack Obama and John
McCain, along with Michigan
lawmakers, have urged the Bush
administration to expedite the
money after estimates that it
could take six to 18 months to
fund the loans.
While the government wran-
gling continues, all three U.S.-
based automakers are having
cash troubles, with Chrysler
and GM considered by indus-
try analysts to be in the worst
shape.
Lisa Disch, a professor of political science and women's studies, and Maria
Cotera, an assistant professor of Latina American studies and women's studies,
speak at a forum titled "Social Identities and the Election" in the Michigan League
last night.
Former.Detroit mayor
begnsjail sentence
Kilpatrick shares an typically 20 days in this case.
"When someone gets 120 days
emotional goodbye in jail, they should get 120 days in
jail," Groner said.
with family Kilpatrick was taken across the
street to the county jail. He traded
DETROIT (AP) - Kwame Kil- his custom suit for green clothes
patrick, who bid adieu to a prom- and was placed in a private cell
ising career as Detroit mayor due where he will spend 23 hours a day.
partly to a torrid affair with an ex- As he was being taken from the
top aide, was unable to kiss good- courtroom, Kilpatrick yelled out to
bye the one woman who stood supporters: "You all take it easy."
beside him throughout a sex-and- They responded: "Be strong,
text scandal: his wife. mayor. We love you, mayor. We
As Kilpatrick was being led off gotyour back,.mayor."
by courtroom deputies to begin Kilpatrick, a Democrat, admit-
serving the first of 120 days in ted lying while testifying last year
jail, he was stopped just short of in a civil lawsuit filed by former
embracing Carlita Kilpatrick. police officers who had accused
"I can hand her keys, but I can't him of illegally demoting or firing
kiss her?" Kilpatrick asked. them.
The two spoke briefly before he He and chief of staff Christine
was ushered through a rear court- Beatty,.both 38, denied having an
room door following yesterday's affair, but text messages obtained
sentencing in Wayne County Cir- by a lawyer in the case - and later
cuit Court. the Detroit Free Press - clearly
Only minutes earlier Judge contradicted them.
David Groner called Kilpatrick They used their city pagers to
"arrogant and defiant" and ques- arrange trysts and share sexu-
tioned the sincerity of a guilty plea ally explicit desires. A fresh batch
thatended his career at City Hall. of messages was released by the
Kilpatrick declined to speak in prosecutor last week, revealing
court, instead relying on lawyers that Kilpatrick, married with
to urge the judge to look at his three children, likely had other
entire career, not just the crimes lovers.
that threw local government into The sentencing wasKilpatrick's
disarray for months. first public forum since a speech to
The punishment was part of a supporters after he pleaded guilty
plea agreement worked out last to obstruction of justice on Sept.
month by prosecutors and the 4. In that address, he lashed out at
defense. Wayne County Circuit Gov. Jennifer Granholm, who was
Judge David Groner followed that holding hearings to remove him
deal but said Kilpatrick would not from office, and told Detroit, "you
get time off for good behavior, done set me up for a comeback."
IMF will need more cash for its bailout
Int'l Monetary
Fund could seek
emergency aid soon
LONDON (AP) _ With Iceland,
Pakistan, Hungary and Ukraine
already clamoring for mountains
of cash aid, the $250 billion set
aside by the International Mon-
etary Fund to help struggling
nationsthrough the economic cri-
sis is beginning to look puny.
China and oil-rich Persian Gulf
states should fund the bulk of a
major boost in the IMF's bailout
pot, Gordon Brown, the British
prime minister who has burnished
his reputation by taking the lead
on the financial meltdown, said
Tuesday.
Those countries have the
largest currency reserves and
therefore should do the most,
Brown said, without specifying
how much more money should
be added to the fund for helping
nations whose banking systems
and currencies are being bat-
tered.
"We must act now. We must set
up the fund as quickly as possi-
ble," Brown told reporters before
heading to Paris for further talks
on the crisis with French Presi-
dent Nicolas Sarkozy.
"I believe it is possible in a very
short period of time to create an
international fund that is strong
enough to withstand these dif-
ficulties," Brown said. "It is in
every nation's interest and in the
interests of hard working families
in our country and every country
that financial contagion does not
spread."
Chinese institutions held
relatively little of the toxic sub-
prime mortgage debt hobbling
Western institutions and were
thus largely unscathed by the
collapse of the U.S. housing
market. But as a major export-
er it is exposed to slumping
demand for its products abroad
if the debt crisis causes a deep
global recession.
There was no immediate com-
ment from the Chinese govern-
ment, which has reported foreign
currency reserves totaling $1.9
trillion as of the end of Septem-
ber. currencies plunging. Tight credit
Speaking in Berlin, Bahrain's from strapped banks and lending
King Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa markets mean it is difficult for
didn't directly address Brown's them to get financing on their
call for the Persian Gulf to help own.
but said the region was open to Those troubles insmaller coun-
talks. "We would like to play a tries could hit economies in richer
part in (working on) an interna- countries that trade with them or
tional financial system, a new sys- whose banks do business there.
tem," he said. One analyst said Beijing could
Brown's office said he would demand a bigger role in interna-
discuss how much money he tional institutions in return for
believes should be pledged to the helping.
IMF fund during talks Nov. 15 "First thing that has to hap-
with world leaders in Washington. pen is that they have be seri-
He and others, including Sarkozy, ously engaged in the dialogue,"
have called for discussion of a said Jeremy Batstone-Carr,
new world financial architecture head of research at the Charles
relying on global bodies like the Stanley investment firm in Lon-
IMF. ' don. "If you want their money,
The IMF's executive board you have to give them a seat at
is expected to soon consider the top table and let them have
streamlining its emergency loan their say."
programs ahead of a stream of Brown won plaudits after the
petitions that analysts fear will be British government took large
coming in from emerging econo- stakes in foundering banks, an
mies needing support. approach quickly adopted by
It already agreed to lend Ice- the U.S. and other European
land $2.1 billion and Ukraine governments. That burnished
$16.5 billion, and is in talks with his standing abroad - although
Hungary for an estimated $10 at home his Labour Party still
billion to $12.5 billion in loans. trails the Conservative opposi-
Pakistan said Tuesday it would tion in polls.
ask for an IMF bailout within Brown, who headed the IMF's
two weeks if it cannot secure 24-member policy advisory com-
$5 billion in funding from other mittee while he was head of the
sources. British Treasury for 10 years
Brown said he planned to hold before he became prime minister
telephone talks with Chinese i1 mid-2007, has taken the lead
Premier Wen Jiabao this week partly because he wants to main-
and would go to the Persian Gulf tain London's position as a major
region Saturday to discuss the financial hub.
crisis. Stephen Lewis, chief economist
It will be "the countries that at Monument Securities in London,
have got substantial reserves - said it is a vital national interest
the oil rich countries and others "that this position, and the tax rev-
- who are going to be the biggest enues that flow fromit, be preserved
contributors to this fund," Brown or enhanced in any new monetary
said. arrangements that emerge from the
"China also has very substan- forthcoming discussions."
tial reserves. There are a number However, Lewis said it is "prob-
of countries that actually can do ably premature" for policymakers to
quite a lot in the immediate future be trying to make decisions on a new
to make sure that the interna- international financial architecture
tional community has sufficient when it is "not yet clear how much
resources to support countries more of the old edifice will collapse."
that get themselves into difficul- There is widespread skepti-
ties," he said. cism much can be accomplished
With world stock markets at the November meeting in
down steeply, many investors Washington, given next week's
have been withdrawing money U.S. elections that will make
from smaller countries' emerg- President Bush even more of a
ing markets, which has sent their lame duck.
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