Posts Tagged ‘Michigan’

US swine flu cases rise to 109, some 300 schools closed

Friday, May 1st, 2009

Washington, May 1 (Xinhua) The number of confirmed human swine flu cases in the US has risen to 109, health officials said.

Nearly 300 schools across the country have been closed in view of the swine flu threat.

The states with confirmed swine flu cases are Arizona, California, Indiana, Kansas, Massachusetts, Michigan, Nevada, New York, Ohio, South Carolina and Texas, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said Thursday.

In Texas, a 23-month-old Mexican child has died of swine flu, the CDC said. The child is the first to die of the deadly flu outside Mexico, where the influenza A(H1N1) virus has killed at least 170 people.

The Education Department said Thursday that 298 schools in 11 states have been closed amid concerns about swine flu. The officials, however, did not mention when the schools would reopen.

It is the recommendation of public health officials ‘that schools with confirmed cases should consider closing if the situation becomes more serious,’ Obama said in remarks at the White House.

The US government is ‘closely and continuously monitoring’ the swine flu situation in the country.

‘This is obviously a serious situation. Serious enough to take the utmost precautions,’ Obama said.

Health officials were testing lab specimens from more patients, and these ‘may confirm additional cases of influenza A(H1N1) in the coming days,’ said Ned Calonge, chief medical officer in the US state of Colorado.

UN International summit to emulate Bretton Woods

Sunday, October 19th, 2008

French President Nicolas Sarkozy and UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon have agreed that the United Nations will host an international summit in December.

The summit will concentrate on reforming the global financial system, which Sarkozy and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown have said should be “a new Bretton Woods.

In September, Sarkozy said that it was necessary to rebuild the entire global financial and monetary system from the bottom up, the way it was done at Bretton Woods after World War II.

That call was echoed by Brown at last week’s EU summit in Brussels.

In July 1944, an agreement was signed in Bretton Woods, New Hampshire, establishing new rules for commercial and financial relations among the world’s major industrial states.

Sarkozy has said that he would like the G8 group of leading industrial nations, the large developing nations, such as China, India, Brazil and South Africa, and representatives from the Arab world to participate at such a summit.

On Saturday, the French president and European Commission head Jose Manuel Barroso met with US President George Bush to invite him to take part in the summit; which he agreed to do at his Camp David retreat.

While Mr Sarkozy called for world leaders to work together to develop a “capitalism of the future,” President Bush stressed that the summit, called in the wake of the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression, should not seek to undercut the basic economic principles of international capitalism.

He said: “We must resist the dangerous temptation of economic isolationism and continue the policies of open markets that have lifted standards of living and helped millions of people escape poverty around the world.

President Bush said Friday that Washington has taken ‘aggressive’ action to resolve the financial crisis, but warned Americans it will take time for the efforts to take effect.

Economic reports paint a mixed picture of the crisis.

Some economists say there is evidence that stalled credit markets — a big part of the financial crisis — are starting to improve.

But the U.S. Commerce Department said the number of new homes under construction fell to a 17-year low in September.

And a separate University of Michigan report said consumer confidence dropped sharply, by nearly 13 percentage points to a reading of 57.5, during the month.

U.S. stock markets posted losses Friday after a day of volatile trading, while European markets closed with strong gains.

Key Asian markets closed before Mr Bush spoke, resulting in mixed fortunes.

McCain and Obama even with 50 days to go

Tuesday, September 16th, 2008

John McCain and Barack Obama have 50 days left to push the case for the job of the United States’ 44th President.

Heading into the frenzied final weeks, national polls remain essentially even.

If the trends are to be believed, the numbers in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Florida, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Missouri, Iowa, Wisconsin, New Hampshire and Virginia will be crucial to who will win and who will lose the election.

The New York Daily News has reported that McCain leads in Ohio, Obama in Pennsylvania and Michigan, but all dozen contests are tight.

The state of the economy at the time of the election will also be a key factor.

Voters are jittery about high gas prices, housing woes and the falling stock market.

Obama’s strategists believe he will be a big winner if the economy doesn’t start to look better.

McCain and Obama even with 50 days to goIn these 50 days, American people wish the 2008 Democratic presidential candidate Obama-Biden will shut up their mouth to stop campaigning their UNWANTED Economics strategy which is going to “Spend, Spend, Spend, Tax, More Tax, Tax & Tax to the petroleum companies and the corporate (windfall) tax, because Obama-Biden’s economic policy is too scary to the blue-collar high unemployed states like Michigan, Pennsylvania Ohio; and the Silicon Valley of high-tech state of California, and the Silicon Forest of Oregon; will damage MORE high-yield mutual funds to embroil our American corporations to raise the short-term borrowing bailout and end up more layoffs bankruptcies. That’s what the 401K working-class are skeptical to Obama-Biden’s economic policy and the corporate (windfall) tax will turn the corporation’s high-yield bonds to junk bonds.

What McCAIN-PALIN campaign can help to propose the Congress & Senate to sit on the College Student loans for a year to give the NEW college-graduates a break before they find their first trainee job while Obama-Biden’s economics strategy has been damaging already the American real-world’s job markets.

Ask MugabeI hear Obama grew up in Kenya but retains a home in Zimbabwe that great African republic. For years Robert Mugabe has led that country to the top of the economic scale of propsperity in Africa. He enjoys widespread public support in view of past elections and has persued many unique reforms. I only hope Obama gets his inspiration and experience from Mugabe and leads the US away from economic disaster perpetrated by lil Bush!

Have you ever seen Lions fight in African Safari ? Same thing is being happened in the American field and to whom America is donating to those countries so far are watching the campaining war even if they have so many thing in mind to comment about it.

Sarah Palin Is The Bridge To NowhereAnyone that votes for McCain Palin must either be of the evangelical community or in the 5 percentile of the very rich. Because the rest of us have had a pretty rough time under the Republican and the Bush administration. I see little hope for the average person in this country if the Republicans take the white House. The middle class is disappearing. I was thinking of voting for McCain because he showed a little backbone. But his appointment of Sarah Palin demonstrated to me that the good ole boy NEOCONs are once again in the drivers seat. ONCE AGAIN-

Sarah Palin Is The Bridge To NowhereAnyone that votes for McCain Palin must either be of the evangelical community or in the 5 percentile of the very rich. Because the rest of us have had a pretty rough time under the Republican and the Bush administration. I see little hope for the average person in this country if the Republicans take the white House. The middle class is disappearing. I was thinking of voting for McCain because he showed a little backbone. But his appointment of Sarah Palin demonstrated to me that the good ole boy NEOCONs are once again in the drivers seat. ONCE AGAIN-

Oh McCain are we going to get more of the sameI read this claim in anther post.. is it true? ie The meltdown is directly related to Fannie Mae and Freddy Mac!

Who has allowed these two companies to leverage non-Existent money ala Enron style? We have all been Enronned yet again! These two companies are poster childs for non-accountability! Fraud waste and abuse! Some names for the DOJ to go after! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franklin_Raines Jamie Gorelick’s Perhaps some of you may not remember what Fannie Mae was caught doing after a whistleblower exposed the fraud (and was fired in retaliation). It was obvious that the books at Fannie Mae were being cooked: The magnitude of Fannie’s machinations is stunning, and in two key areas in particular they deserve to be better understood. By improperly delaying the recognition of income, it created a cookie jar of reserves. And by improperly classifying certain derivatives, it was able to spread out losses over many years instead of recognizing them immediately. In the cookie-jar ploy, Fannie set aside an artificially large cash reserve.

Seems many top DNC members received very generous donations with zero oversight! Take the Volokh Conspiracy! Who got the most money ouf of this deal? The mESSIAH had the second largest take in Washington! Want the truth? Listen to this audio they air it all out! Click on the Setp 15 2008 audio link. http://marklevinshow.com The first twenty minutes are well worth listening to. A little about the host. http://en.

was hacked off the board twice today and that was posted sounds like something isn’t getting it’s little way huh? I’m not playing.

Are you saying posts got deleted?

;) Midnight;103822:

was hacked off the board twice today and that was posted sounds like something isn’t getting it’s little way huh? I’m not playing.

Or are they being screened by a mod before they are allowed to be posted?

So much for freedom of speech in Australia!

Sarah Palin dolls go on sale as her popularity soars

Tuesday, September 9th, 2008

Two new action dolls of Sarah Palin, the running mate of Republican presidential candidate John McCain, have gone on sale as her popularity is soaring in the US, a British newspaper reported Tuesday.

Sarah Palin-the Executive and Sarah Palin-the Super Hero are the two variations of the dolls on the Alaska governor that have been on sale in the US, the Daily Telegraph reported.

The dolls are the latest in a line of American political candidates who have been immortalised, including John McCain and Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, according to the newspaper.

The Sarah Palin dolls are also available online on www.herobuilders.com. The Sarah Palin executive doll was priced at $27.95, while the super hero version priced two dollars more.

The dolls are designed in a bid to capitalise on the Sarah Palin mania that gripped the Republicans since the electrifying speech by the self-confessed ‘hockey mom’ at the party convention in St. Paul, Minnesota last week.

On Friday, more than 6,000 supporters turned out to see McCain and his running mate Palin in Sterling Heights, a town in Michigan’s Macomb County.

‘Where he once played to a few hundred people, McCain was greeted by a crowd chanting ‘Sa-rah, Sa-rah’, ‘John Mc-Cain, John Mc-Cain’ and ‘U-S-A’,’ the newspaper said, describing the growing popularity of Palin.

Palin is due to conduct her first solo campaign event Monday in Pennsylvania, home state of her vice presidential rival Joe Biden.

US mid-west suffers killer storms

Monday, June 9th, 2008

Wild weekend weather, peppered with tornadoes and heavy rain, has affected the Midwest region of the US.At least three people drowned in the heavy weather and one is still missing in floodwaters.Whole roads and houses were flooded and boats had to be brought in to pull people from the swirling waters.In Indiana, the state was deluged and at least one person drowned.Another person was missing after falling off a boat in the flood.In Michigan, two delivery-men drowned early Sunday when their car became submerged in a creek near Lake Michigan in Saugatuck.A tornado hit Omaha, Nebraska while people slept.Several dozen homes and businesses were damaged but no major injuries were reported.US mid-west suffers killer stormsI recently had occasion to be in some of the of 2008, and have experienced weather of magnitudes I had not seen before.For example, non stop lightening for approximiately 5 minutes, as part of about 30 minutes of nearly constant lightening. Very few breaks!I also have read, hear reported, and been told about byother people regarding their never having experienced such severe weather before.I have made a few searches on the internet regarding data on storm ‘items’ instensities increasing, and to my surprise, there is very little data. Thinking back I have recollection of the Federal Government cancelling the collections of such informations as a ‘cost savings’.

Obama almost 1st black Democrat entrant

Tuesday, June 3rd, 2008

The Democratic party officials decided to seat the delegates of Florida and Michigan, which violated party rules by moving up their primaries ahead of Super Tuesday but each delegate will only have half of one vote.The decision has come as a blow to Hillary Clinton who won the Primaries in these states. At the meeting, Harold Ickes, a senior Clinton strategist and member of the rules committee warned that Hillary could appeal the decision which could potentially drag the matter to the party’s convention in August.Clinton supporters did not like what they heard and expressed dissatisfaction.After a day long contentious meeting, the Democratic Party’s 30-member Rules and Bylaws Committee which met to decide what to do with the delegates of Michigan and Florida, two states which violated party rules by holding primaries ahead of schedule and thus forfeited their delegates.Party officials agreed that the full delegation of Florida can be seated but each delegate will only have half of one vote.In Michigan where Barack Obama was not even on the ballot, the committee agreed to seat 128 delegates 69 for Hillary and 59 for Obama but they too will only get half a vote.The verdict maintains Barack Obama’s front-runner status as he moves closer to the nomination.The resolution increases the number of delegates needed to win the nomination to 2118, leaving Obama 66 delegates short but still within striking distance of victory once the last three primaries are held later this week.Its not the verdict the Clinton camp was hoping for and Hillary has said that she reserves the right to appeal this decision with the party’s credentials committee at the convention floor in August.The next three days will hold the remaining three democratic primaries, one of which Puerto Rico will hold its primary on Sunday.It is the biggest contest left in the Democratic race.With 55 delegates at stake, Hillary is expected to win here as she has always performed strongly among Latinos but Barack Obama has not fared well in states with large Hispanic populations.As a US territory, Puerto Ricans can’t vote in the November presidential election, causing some voters on the island to boycott the primary election.

US Democrats compromise on Florida, Michigan

Sunday, June 1st, 2008

Washington: The Democratic Party backed a compromise to seat the disputed Michigan and Florida delegations at reduced strength on Saturday, sparking anger from Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign and threats to press the issue at the August nominating convention.At a raucous meeting of the party’s rules committee, frequently interrupted by cheers and jeers from Hillary’s backers, the panel agreed to seat the delegations from both states but cut their voting power in half.The decision was a victory for front-runner Barack Obama, removing one of the last stumbling blocks on his march to the party’s presidential nomination. The vote moved the magic number to clinch the nomination to 2,118 delegates, leaving Obama about 70 short as he heads into Tuesday, when Montana and South Dakota hold the last votes in the lengthy Democratic presidential nominating fight.The Illinois senator said he supported the resolution to the dispute, which had threatened to damage his chances in both states in November’s presidential election against Republican John McCain."Our main goal is to get this resolved so we can immediately turn the focus of the entire party on winning Florida and Michigan," Obama told reporters while campaigning in South Dakota. "I recognize that there were compromises on all sides in resolving this issue.Hillary did not respond as happily. Campaign officials said they reserved the right to appeal the decision to the party’s credentials committee and carry the fight to the convention in Denver. "Denver, Denver!" chanted Hillary-supporters after the vote. Many Hillary-backers stood and shouted at the panel as they tried to conclude the votes, making it hard for them to continue.The committee rejected a Hillary-backed proposal to seat all the Florida delegates at full strength on a 15-12 vote, then backed compromises seating both the Michigan and Florida delegations while cutting their voting power.The moves gave Hillary a net gain of 24 delegates, but still left her far behind Obama. Her supporters were particularly angry about the decision to award Obama delegates in Michigan, where he did not even appear on the ballot."I am stunned that we have the gall and chutzpah to substitute our judgment for 600,000 voters," said Hillary adviser Harold Ickes, a member of the rules committee.The panel backed a proposal by the state party to award Obama most of the delegates for those who voted for an "uncommitted" slot on the ballot."We reserve the right to challenge this decision before the Credentials Committee and appeal for a fair allocation of Michigan’s delegates that actually reflect the votes as they were cast," Ickes and Tina Flournoy, another Hillary-backer and rules committee members, said in a joint statement. Ickes said the deal "is not a good way to start down the path of party unity.At issue was a rules committee decision last year to strip the two states of their delegates because they held nominating contests, both won by Hillary, earlier than party rules allowed.

It’s all or nothing for Hillary Clinton

Sunday, June 1st, 2008

It’s the most contentious issue remaining in the Democratic presidential race-what to do with delegates from Florida and Michigan, which violated party rules by moving up their primaries ahead of Super Tuesday.The decision which will be taken on Saturday at a meeting of the Democratic Party Rules and by laws Committee in Washington DC could decide Hillary Clinton’s fate in the fight for the White House.Hillary Clinton says its all or nothing. The Clinton camp is hoping for a full seating of the Florida and Michigan delegates and for their votes to be apportioned according to the results in their primaries, which she won.But the Democratic party rules call for the states to lose at least half their delegate strength at the party’s convention in August as punishment for flagrantly defying the official schedule and holding their primaries’ early.In that case, Senator Clinton will lose her last opportunity to cut significantly into Senator Barack Obama’s lead in delegates and keep alive any remaining hope for the nomination.Barack Obama is now just 51 delegates short of the 2,026 needed for the nomination. That magic number does not count Florida and Michigan, and could change at the end of the day depending on the verdict of the rules committee meeting.It is a last ditch effort to keep her floundering campaign alive. A ruling in Clinton’s favor will strengthen her assertion that she leads Obama in popular votes nationally and so is a stronger candidate to take on John McCain. Either ways, whatever the committee decides, Clinton could still appeal its decision at the Party’s convention in August.The Democratic nominating battle has only three primaries left, in Puerto Rico on Sunday and in Montana and South Dakota on Tuesday. Obama may be in a position to claim the nomination after these primaries, though he will need additional superdelegates to do so.

US helicopter crashes on hospital’s roof

Saturday, May 31st, 2008

WASHINGTON — A helicopter crashed on Thursday on the roof of a hospital in downtown Grand Rapids, Michigan, causing thick and black smoke and leaving two persons injured.John Vansolkema, the city’s fire chief, told reporters that the helicopter crashed at Spectrum Health Butterworth Hospital in the late morning.Two people on board managed to escape before the helicopter caught fire, and there were no patients in it, he said.However, the accident forced patients to be evacuated to other buildings on the hospital’s campus and employees were also taken to the places of safety for fear that fuel may have leaked into the hospital, police said.A witness, Lynda Ignatoski, told the Grand Rapids Press that she saw the helicopters tail hit a radio tower on the hospital’s roof and exploded in flames with its debris flying everywhere.Chicago office of the Federal Aviation Administration said they were investigating the incident.

Hillary opens another front in Democratic battle

Thursday, May 29th, 2008

With a never say die attitude, Hillary Clinton has opened another front in the Democratic presidential nomination battle ahead of a crucial party meeting Saturday on how to deal with rule-breaking Florida and Michigan.The former first lady who trails frontrunner Barack Obama by a virtually unbeatable 198 delegates is pushing for seating all the delegates from the two states at the party national convention amid reports that the party rules committee is likely to meet her demand halfway.Florida and Michigan state parties were stripped of all their delegates for holding their primaries earlier than party rules allowed. Democrats officially pick up their presidential candidate at the party national convention in Denver, Colorado, in August.Clinton won decisively in both states in the January primaries although all candidates had initially agreed not to campaign in either state after they broke party rules and Obama even had his name taken off the Michigan ballot.In addition to deciding how many, if any, Florida and Michigan delegates to seat at the convention, the rules committee must determine how the delegates would be allocated between Clinton and Obama.Even if the full delegations from the two states were counted, Clinton wouldn”t overtake Obama”s 1,661 to 1,499 lead in pledged delegates. But it may bring Clinton close enough to Obama”s total among pledged delegates when primary season ends June 3 with voting still due in Puerto Rico, Montana and South Dakota.This in turn could help persuade the party”s “super delegates” that she is better positioned to beat likely Republican candidate John McCain in November.To bolster her argument with the super delegates, key party officials who can cast their ballots for the candidate of their choice unmindful of the primary results, Clinton Wednesday sent an 11-page letter and analysis to them.Clinton conceded that neither she nor Obama will have the nomination locked up after the last primaries on June 3 but “when the primaries are finished, I expect to lead in the popular vote and in delegates earned through primaries.”Ultimately, the point of our primary process is to pick our strongest nominee,” she argues asking them to decide between a candidate who has won more delegates in caucuses and a candidate who has won more delegates in primaries.The memo from Clinton cites polls and voting patterns that show her besting Obama among women voters, retirees, Latinos, and rural and working-class voters.”We are urging 100 percent of the delegations be seated and each delegate have a full vote,” Clinton campaign adviser Harold Ickes said. Hartina Flournoy, another Clinton supporter who sits on Rules and Bylaws Committee, said the Clinton campaign is not considering a compromise.Obama”s advisers say with an overall tally of 1,980 including super delegates, they are within 46 of the 2,026 delegates needed to win the nomination under the current rules.Obama campaign manager David Plouffe said they are willing to compromise on giving the two states representation at the convention, though not without a penalty. “We are open to a result that gives her delegates,” Plouffe said. “We don”t think it”s fair to seat them fully.”Any compromise is going to benefit Sen. Clinton,” Obama strategist David Plouffe said Wednesday. “We”re hoping there can be some reasonable resolution on Saturday that can allow us to move to the general election.In another setback to the Clinton camp, DNC staff lawyers have in a 17-page analysis of the Michigan and Florida challenges, maintained that the rules committee had the authority to sanction the states.