The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
Friday, April 17, 2009 - 3
NEWS BRIEFS
DETROIT
UAW focusing on
talks with Chrysler
The United Auto Workers
union has placed concession
talks with General Motors Corp.
on the back burner as it tries to
reach a deal with Chrysler LLC
before an April 30 government
deadline, two people briefed on
the negotiations said yesterday.
The decision likely means
that any deal with Chrysler will
set the pattern for concessions
granted to GM as both compa-
nies try to show the government
they have cut costs enough to get
more government loans.
The people, who spoke on
condition of anonymity because
the talks are private, said the
union is focusing on Chrysler
because its government dead-
line to cut labor costs and swap
debt for equity is just two weeks
away.
Chrysler also has to ink an
alliance deal with Fiat Group
SpA by April 30 to get more gov-
ernment aid. Without further
help, Chrysler likely would be
auctioned off in pieces under
bankruptcy court supervision.
AUSTIN, Texas
Democrats: Texas
gov should disavow
secession talk
A group of Texas Democrats
says Republican Gov. Rick Perry
was reckless when he suggested
at an anti-tax rally that fed-up
Americans may one day want to
secede from the United States.
They said yesterday that he
should disavow such talk. Dem-
ocratic state Rep. Jim Dunnam
of Waco says talk of secession
is anti-American and that some
people associate it with racial
division and the Civil War.
Perry's office did not immedi-
ately respond Thursday.
Answering a question from
The Associated Press at an anti-
tax rally Wednesday, Perry said
he doesn't think Texas should
secede. But he said the federal
government was thumbing its
nose at the American people and
added, "who knows what might
come out of that."
MEXICO CITY
15 gunmen, one
soldier killed in
Mexican shootout
A shootout between Mexican
troops and a convoy of gunmen
left 15 assailants and one sol-
dier dead hours before President
Barack Obama arrived in the
country to show his support for
the fight against drug cartels.
The shootout happened in
a remote, mountainous region
in Guerrero state, where the
Pacific coast resort of Acapulco
is located, Mexico's Defense
Department said in a statement
yesterday.
Soldiers came under fire from
a convoy of gunmen on Wednes-
day while patrolling the drug
trafficking hotbed. One was
killed and another wounded in
the firefight near the town of
San Nicolas del Oro. Troops later
seized two .50 caliber Barrett
rifles, 17 other rifles, eight gre-
nades, two handguns, ammuni-
tion and eight vehicles.
NEW YORK
Health advocates
Obama absolves CIA interrogators
Tactics include
waterboarding and
slamming prisoners
against walls
WASHINGTON (AP) - Presi-
dent Barack Obama absolved
CIA officers from prosecution for
harsh, painful interrogation of ter-
ror suspects yesterday, even as his
administration released Bush-era
memosgraphically detailing - and
authorizing - such grim tactics as
slamming detainees against walls,
waterboarding them and keeping
them naked and cold for long peri-
ods.
Human rights groups and many
Obama officials have condemned
such methods as torture. Bush
officials have vigorously dis-
agreed.
In releasing the documents, the
most comprehensive accounting
yet of interrogation methods that
were among the Bush administra-
tions most closely guarded secrets,
Obama said he wanted to move
beyond "a dark and painful chap-
ter in our history."
Past and present CIA officials
had unsuccessfully pressed for
more parts of the four legal memos
to be kept secret, and some critics
argued the release would make the
United States less safe.
Michael Hayden, who led the
CIA under George W. Bush, said
CIA officers will now be more
timid and allies will be more
reluctant to share sensitive intel-
ligence.
"If you want an intelligence ser-
vice to work for you, they always
work on the edge. That's just
where they work," Hayden said.
Now, he argued, foreign partners
will be less likely to cooperate
with the CIA because the release
shows they "can't keep anything
secret."
On the other side, human rights
advocates argued that Obama
should not have assured the CIA
that officers who conducted inter-
rogations would not be prosecuted
if they used methods authorizedby
Bush lawyers in the memos.
Obama disagreed, saying in a
statement, "Nothing will be gained
by spending our time and energy
layingblame for the past."
The Bush administration memos
describe the tough interroga-
tion methods used against 28 ter-
ror suspects, the fullest and now
complete government account-
ing of the techniques. They range
from waterboarding - simulated
drowning - to using a plastic neck
collar to slam detainees into walls.
Other methods were more psy-
chological than violent. One tech-
nique approved but never used
involved putting a detainee who
had shown a fear of insects into a
box filled with caterpillars.
New York governor
introduces bill to
allow gfay marriage
President Barack Obama, left, waves as he walks with Mexican President Felipe Calderon in Mexico City, yesterday. Presi-
dent Obama is in Mexico for a brief official visit on his way to attend the Summit of the Americas in the Caribbean.
In MeXCObama pledges help
to slow United States arms flow
President says he will
not seek renewal of
assault weapons ban
MEXICO CITY (AP) - Con-
fronting a Mexican drug war that
is "sowing chaos in our commu-
nities," President Barack Obama
signaled yesterday he will not
seek renewal of a U.S. assault
weapons ban but instead will step
up enforcement of laws banning
the transfer of such guns across
the border.
Obama had pledged during
his campaign to seek renewal
of the ban but has bowed to the
reality that such a move would
be unpopular in politically key
U.S. states and among Republi-
cans as well as some conserva-
tive Democrats.
Obama met with Mexican
President Felipe Calderon, who
has been conducting an aggres-
sive fight against drug cartels and
had hoped to persuade Obama to
push for reinstatement of the gun
ban.
Obama arrived here on the
first stop of a trip that will take
him to a weekend Summit of the
Americas in Trinidad, bringing
together the leaders of 34 West-
ern Hemisphere democracies.
Allies in the fight against
drugs, Obama and Calderon took
different stands on U.S. sanctions
against Cuba. Calderon said the
47-year-old U.S. trade embargo
has not been successful in forc-
ing Cuba to adopt democratic
reforms.
"We do not believe that the
embargo or the isolation of Cuba
(is) a good measure for things to
change in Cuba," Calderon said.
"On the contrary. Their real-
ity that we see there is that their
reality has not changed."
Obama pointed to the
announcement this week that
the U.S. was softening sanctions,
allowing Americans to make
unlimited transfers of money and
visits to relatives in Cuba. But he
said Cuba needs to reciprocate
with actions that are "grounded
in respect for human rights."
Obama acknowledged that the
United. States shares responsi-
bility for bloodshed and kidnap-
pings in Mexico that have spilled
across the border into the United
States. "I will not pretend this is
Mexico's responsibility alone,"
Obama said.
Paterson compares
effort to the fight for
abolition of slavery
NEW YORK (AP) - Gov. David
Paterson introduced a bill yester-
day to legalize same-sex marriage
in New York, comparing the effort
to the fight for the abolition of slav-
ery.
Paterson, whose job approval
rating has plunged below 30 per-
cent, is making a political gamble
that he can ride the momentum
of other states that have recent-
ly allowed the practice, and it's
unclear how the legislation will
play in New York.
The proposal is the same bill
the Democratic-controlled state
Assembly passed in 2007 before
it died in the Senate, where the
Republican majority kept it from
going to a vote. Democrats now
control the Senate, but opponents
are vowing to make sure this one
fails, as well.
Gay marriage is a crucial issue
of equal rights in America that
cannot be ignored, Paterson said.
He was joined Mayor Michael
Bloomberg, City Council Speaker
Christine Quinn and other elected
officials, as well as gay rights advo-
cates and his wife, Michelle.
"For too long, gay and lesbian
New Yorkers - we have pretended
they have the same rights as their
neighbors and friends. That is not
the case. All have been the vic-
tims of what is a legal system that
has systematically discriminated
against them."
Paterson, who is black, framed
the issue in sweeping terms, invok-
ingFrederick Douglass and Harriet
Beecher Stowe and drawing a par-
allel between the fight to eliminate
slavery in the 1800s to the current
effort to allow gay marriage.
"Rights should not be stifled
by fear," Paterson said. "What we
should understand is that silence
should not be a response to injus-
tice. And that if we take not action,
we will surely lose."
Gay and lesbian couples are
denied as many as 1,324 civil pro-
tections - such as health care and
pension rights - because they can-
not marry, Paterson said.
Quinn, who is openly lesbian,
dared anyone to "tell me I deserve
less" than the right to marry her
partner.
"Look me in the eye and tell me
that Kim and I aren't a family, that
we don't struggle every day, that
we don't pay taxes, that we don't
work every day in this city. No one
can look me or her in the eye and
tell us that, because it is not true."
At the same time Paterson was
announcing his proposal, Sen.
Ruben Diaz of the Bronx, also
a Democrat but an opponent of
same-sex marriage, met with reli-
gious leaders to discuss how to
block the bill.
Diaz, an evangelical pastor, said
his meeting in the Bronx was to
inform Hispanics, Catholics, evan-
gelicals and others opposed to
same-sex marriage of their options
to prevent the bill's passage.
Diaz said it was disrespectful of
Paterson to introduce the legisla-
tion in the same week that Catho-
lics celebrated the installation of
New York City Archbishop Timo-
thy Dolan.
Paterson attended the ceremony
Wednesday at St. Patrick's Cathe-
dral.
"I think it's a laugh in the face
of the new archbishop," Diaz said
Thursday before the start of his
meeting. "The Jews just finished
their holy week. The Catholics
just received the new archbishop.
The evangelical Christians just
celebrated Good Friday and resur-
rection. He comes out to do this at
this time? It's a challenge the gov-
ernoris sending to every religious
person in New York and the time
for us has come forus to accept the
challenge."
Paterson defended the timing of
his announcement and brushed off
suggestions that he was deflecting
attention from the state's financial
troubles, saying he has supported
same-sex marriage publicly since
1994.
"I haven'tin anywaychangedmy
point of view," he said. "We stand
to tell the world we want marriage
equality in New York state."
Paterson noted he was introduc-
ingthe proposalwith"the winds at
our back," referring to the recent
approval of same-sex marriage in
Iowa and Vermont.
Homeland security issued report
on extremism, despite concerns
Spokeswoman: report
issued before officials
resolve problems
WASHINGTON (AP) - Civil
liberties officials at the Home-
land Security Department did not
agree with some of the language
in a controversial report on right-
wing extremists, but the agency
issued the report anyway.
The intelligence assessment
issued to law enforcement last
week said some military veterans
could be susceptible to extremist
recruiters or commit lone acts of
violence.
That prompted angry reac-
tions from some lawmakers and
veterans' groups.
Homeland Security spokes-
woman Amy Kudwa said the
report was issued before officials
resolved problems raised by the
agency's civil rights division.
Kudwa would not specify what
language raised the concerns.
Homeland Security Secretary
Janet Napolitano defended the
report yesterday, but she said the
definition of right-wing extrem-
ism that was included in a foot-
note should be changed.
In the report, right-wing
extremism was defined as hate-
motivated groups and move-
ments, such as hatred of certain
religions, racial or ethnic groups.
"It may include groups and indi-
viduals that are dedicated to a
single issue, such as opposition
to abortion or immigration," the
report said.
"If there's one part of that
report I would rewrite, in the
word-smithing, Washington-
ese that goes on after the fact, it
would be that footnote," Napoli-
tano said yesterday on Fox News.
The same definition was
included in the agency's March
26 draft report on domestic
extremism. Both reports were
marked "For Official Use Only."
The departmentsaid the drafthas
been recalled and is being edited
before it is sent to state and local
law enforcement officials.
i
FRIDAYS
Domestic Bottles are only
I AY/J Ai r 4 r tieft -t
1
RMy MJTFIM, M, 17,111MIRMO
tout new model of
female condom
Advocates of the female con-
dom are promoting a less costly,
more user-friendly version that
they hope will vastly expand its
role in the global fight against
AIDS and other sexually trans-
mitted diseases.
An early version of the female
condom was introduced in 1993,
and it remains the only available
woman-initiated form of protec-
tion against both STDs and unin-
tended pregnancy. Yet despite
global promotion by the United
Nations and other organizations,
its usage is still minuscule, even
as women bear an ever-growing
share of the AIDS epidemic.
Advocates hope the dynam-
its will change following last
month's approval by the Fod
and Drug Administration of the
FC2, anew version of the female
condom produced by the Chica-
go-based Female Health Co.
- Compiled from
Daily wire reports
I lji t f. t f i f c-. p. MMMMMM=
AiMAt
II**.,W
SICK OF
THE DORMS?
CAN'T FIND A
PLACE TO LIVE?
Visit michigandaily.com/classifieds to see
ali of the great houses and apartments
Ann Arbor has to offer on a convenient map!
Also be sure to check out the Classified
Pages for other great properties.
I