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(NVAE) Savanna East Africa, Inc. Announces New CEO to Lead African Expansion Toward $10 Million 2011 Revenue Objective

by on February 4, 2011

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David Isenberg: Can’t Anyone at DoD Do Oversight? Anyone at All?

by David Isenberg on December 22, 2010

The perennial issue regarding private military security contractors is the degree to which they are subject to effective oversight. In that regard there is only one item in today’s news worth looking at. That is the report issued by the House Subcommittee on National Security and Foreign Affairs, chaired by John F. Tierney (D-MA). The Majority staff report is titled, Mystery at Manas: Strategic Blind Spots in the Department of Defense’s Fuel Contracts in Kyrgyzstan . The report culminates an eight-month investigation into the Department of Defense’s multi-billion dollar aviation fuel contracts at the Manas Transit Center in Kyrgyzstan. Reminding one of the famous line by 1st Lieutenant Milo Minderbinder in Joseph Heller’s famous Catch-22 novel, “We’re gonna come out of this war rich!” the report found that to keep U.S. warplanes flying over Afghanistan, the Pentagon allowed a “secrecy obsessed” business group to supply jet fuel to a U.S. air base in Kyrgyzstan, turning a blind eye to an elaborate fraud involving fuel deliveries from Russia. The subcommittee found that the Pentagon and State Department diplomats ignored red flags raised by jet fuel contracts worth nearly $2 billion for the Manas Transit Center, a U.S. base used for in-flight refueling over Afghanistan. The fuel was supplied by a Gibraltar-registered business group comprising Mina Corp. and Red Star Enterprises. True, the report found no evidence of corrupt ties between Mina Corp. or Red Star and the families of Kyrgyz leaders. Yet it cautioned that a lack of proper oversight and a neglect of America’s broader interests in the region had often left Washington blind to “political, diplomatic and geopolitical collateral consequences.” These include the ouster of two Kyrgyz governments in popular revolts stirred in part by anger over alleged jet fuel corruption and also U.S. ties with Moscow. Since 2002, the Defense Logistics Agency-Energy has awarded Mina and its sister- company, Red Star Enterprises, four contracts worth $2 billion for fuel at Manas, and has awarded several additional contracts to Red Star for fuel supply to the United States’ Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan. The day after the 2010 contract award, an official from DLA-Energy called the Majority staff of the Subcommittee to ask who owned the companies. The Pentagon did not know. As the New York Times reported , for a number of years ending in April 2010, two Pentagon middleman companies misled the Russian authorities, by using falsified export documents, into thinking that the large quantities of jet fuel they were purchasing were for civilian use, not military, apparently with the intention of evading a tariff. But the fuel was being bought by the Pentagon for shipment to the American airbase in Manas, Kyrgyzstan, and from there on to Afghanistan, the report said. Once Russian officials discovered the true identity of the recipient, they cut off supplies, creating a major logistical headache for United States military commanders. Officials for the contractors expressed little remorse for their actions, the report shows. “We got one over on ‘em,” the report quotes one company official, Charles Squires, as telling investigators. “I’m an old cold warrior, I’m proud of it, we beat the Russians, and we did it for four or five years.” Until, that is, the Russians objected and the system unraveled. That breakdown forced a major redrawing of supply routes into Afghanistan for jet fuel, which is in chronically short supply in landlocked Afghanistan. It also touched off a major behind-the-scenes diplomatic effort by the Obama administration to rebuild the fuel lines. If this is an example of effective contract oversight I’m the Chief of Naval Operations. This fuel supply system accounted for more than half of the jet fuel used in the war, the report said. It is suggested that the Russian authorities knew all along about the falsified certificates, but did not act because the subsidiary of the Russian energy giant Gazprom which supplied the fuel was making profits on the sales. In any case, the Russian Federal Security Service and the Russian Parliament investigated in 2009, the report said, and the trainloads of jet fuel from Gazprom started to dry up, halting altogether on April 1. In a deposition with Congressional investigators, Red Star and Mina Corporation officials characterized the false certificates as necessary to circumvent Russian export restrictions on jet fuel sales to foreign militaries. In interviews, Kyrgyz officials characterized them as an effort to avoid export tariffs. While those assertions remain in dispute, there is no question that the supply disruption caused major problems. Contractors were compelled to buy far more costly fuel that had to be shipped through the Black Sea and sent overland to Kyrgyzstan and Afghanistan. It also forced the military to rely more heavily on supply routes from Pakistan into Afghanistan on vulnerable mountain roads where trucks came under repeated attack this summer. Putting aside for the moment of just how bad the oversight was the strategic question, as geopolitical types like to phrase it, was whether anyone was really interested in doing it in the first place. Here is how the report puts it: Like many of the logistics contracting agencies that support the U.S. war effort in Afghanistan, DLA-Energy has a single-minded focus on providing the warfghters with the goods they need to achieve their mission. Judged by that metric, DLA-Energy’s efforts have been remarkable. The U.S. mission in Afghanistan has required the delivery of billions of gallons of fuel to some of the most remote and hostile locations in the world. Simply stated, without this fuel, the war would come to a grinding halt. But DLA-Energy’s by-the-book focus on performance and price was inadequate for proper strategic oversight of multi-billion dollar fuel contracting in a highly graft-prone region of the world. Policy officials at the Pentagon and State Department did little to nothing to assist DLA-Energy in oversight of its massive fuel procurement contracts. As long as the flow of fuel met demand, the civilian and military officials at the Department of Defense showed little interest in fuel contracting. Te State Department, meanwhile, viewed the fuel contracts as solely a mater for the Pentagon to manage, even when fallout from the contracts badly damaged U.S.-Kyrgyz relations. In short, DLA-Energy, the Pentagon, and State Department all turned a blind eye to the fuel contracts’ serious political, diplomatic, and geopolitical collateral consequences. Evidently what we had here, as was memorably said in the classic movie Cool Hand Luke, was a failure to communicate. Returning to the oversight, or lack thereof, consider just these few paragraphs: 6. DLA-Energy conducted only superficial due diligence on Mina and Red Star, and turned a blind eye to allegations of corruption. Until recently, DLA-Energy never knew Mina and Red Star’s beneficial ownership and never had any clear visibility into their subcontracting relationships. When the interim government of Kyrgyzstan alleged that Mina and Red Star had corrupt relations with the Bakiyev family, DLA-Energy made no inquiry to determine whether the allegations might be true. 7. DLA-Energy took few steps to mitigate potential corruption and ignored red fags of anti-competitive behavior. DLA-Energy had little independent understanding of fuel supply at Manas or in Central Asia and took few steps to mitigate the high potential for corruption in a graft-prone region. When red flags of potentially corrupt or anti-competitive behavior did arise, the agency took no steps to address them. 8. The Department of Defense failed to oversee a highly sensitive fuel supply arrangement created by Mina and Red Star to disguise their fuel procurement. For most of the past five years, Mina and Red Star procured a majority of their fuel from refineries in Russia despite a perceived official Russian ban on the export of fuel for military use. Mina and Red Star constructed complex arrangements in which proxy subcontractors obtained certifications from Kyrgyz authorities stating that the fuel was being procured for domestic civil aviation. According to Mina and Red Star, the Russian refineries were aware that the U.S. military was the ultimate end-user of the fuel, and they believed that the Russian export control authorities were also aware because of the large quantity of fuel being procured. Mina and Red star told DLA-Energy and Pentagon officials about the deception; but, despite extensive memoranda and e-mails documenting the arrangements, senior DLA-Energy officials claimed that they were not aware of the scheme and asserted that there might not have been a Russian ban.

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David Isenberg: Can’t Anyone at DoD Do Oversight? Anyone at All?

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LtGen Garry L. Parks, USMC (Ret) Joins Suntiva Board of Advisors

September 16, 2010

FALLS CHURCH, VA–(Marketwire – September 16, 2010) – Suntiva, a trusted advisor to leaders in achieving their most critical business outcomes, announced today the appointment of Lieutenant General Garry L. Parks, U.S. Marine Corps (Retired) to join the Suntiva Board of Advisors. With over 40 years of experience in key leadership positions in both the US Government and the private sector, he has become recognized as a dynamic leader and alliance-builder, assisting numerous enterprises with organizational management improvements and strategic initiatives. His sound analysis and judgment have ensured the effective execution of critical projects that have led to positive transformation within demanding, high pressure environments. He is currently CEO of Efficient Energy Advisors LLC and for the six previous years was president and CEO of South Carolina Credit Union League and Affiliates. LtGen Parks has served on numerous and diverse boar

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David Isenberg: Spies and Contractors

September 10, 2010

Generally, when people characterize private security contractors (PSC) as being involved in secretive, covert operations it is a good sign that one is about to hear a rant. True, PSC have been involved in both intelligence and paramilitary work for both the intelligence community and military services. Chapter two of Robert Young Pelton’s book, Licensed To Kill , described just such operators. But generally the people involved in such operations don’t talk about it. And the people who do talk about it publicly generally don’t have a clue. It’s rather like talking about conspiracies. When people talk about them they aren’t true and when one is ongoing people almost never know about them. But, on rare occasions, one does find a genuine exception, which brings us to the forthcoming book, ” Operation Dark Heart: Spycraft and Special Ops on the Frontlines of Afghanistan — and The Path to Victory ” by Lt. Col. Anthony Shaffer (USA-Reserve). Shaffer is a CIA-trained senior intelligence operations officer with more than twenty-five years of experience in the intelligence community. Currently he is a Senior Fellow and Special Lecturer at the Center for Advanced Defense Studies in Washington, DC. In 2003 to 2004 he served in Afghanistan, where as a major he led a black-ops team to block the Taliban’s military resurgence. It not only planned intelligence operations to beat back insurgents, but played a key role in carrying out those operations, outside the wire, striking at Taliban safe havens in Pakistan. Those who see a similarity between Shaffer’s book title and Joseph Conrad’s famous novel, Heart of Darkness, are not mistaken. The latter served as inspiration for the former According to the book’s Amazon page the book was supposed to be published Aug. 31. But it now appears that was premature. It turns out that even though the U.S. Army signed off on the books release over eight months ago others in the Pentagon are unhappy about some of the book’s contents. In the past the Defense Intelligence Agency had some objections. Though it seems those objections actually came from outside the Defense Intelligence Agency. Hmm, outside pressure on an intelligence agency; let’s call it the Dick Cheney syndrome. Now another review is being conducted by the Office of the Secretary of Defense. For a mainstream media take on this see the New York Times article published today. It is not clear what the outcome will be but it is possible that all the copies that have been printed up of the original version of the book might end up being pulped. Let me quote from the dust cover, just to give a sense of the book’s contents. Lieutenant Colonel Anthony Shaffer had run intelligence operations for years before he arrived in Afghanistan. He was part of the “dark side” of the force–the shadowy elements of the U.S. government that function outside the bounds of the normal system. His group called themselves the Jedi Knights ad pledged to use the dark arts of espionage to protect the country from its enemies. … Operation Dark Heart tells the story of what really went on–and what went wrong–in Afghanistan. Shaffer witnessed firsthand the tipping point, when what seemed like certain victory turned into failure.” Let’s acknowledge that the use of PSC to try and track down and capture of kill high value targets is not something new. Last December ABC New reported that the CIA and the military special forces have quietly expanded the role of private contractors, including Blackwater , to include their involvement in raids and secret paramilitary operations in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iraq. The ABC report actually interviewed Shaffer: A U.S. Army officer who ran human intelligence collections activities in Afghanistan in 2003, Tony Shaffer, says he never worked directly with Blackwater personnel but frequently encountered them in secret operations run by the military and the CIA. “I actually met with the CIA and Blackwater operatives who were working together, totally hand in glove, to conduct operational planning and support of their objectives, which are paramilitary operations along the border,” said Shaffer, then a Major but now a Lieutenant Colonel who teaches at the Center for Advanced Defense Studies. “The idea was to bring to bear additional resources for specific special operations missions,” he said. “The purpose for that, in my judgment, may have been to avoid some level of oversight.” In an August 4 phone conversation with me Shaffer made the following point. “Blackwater guys were killed in combat. Their deaths might be mentioned by Erick Prince should the government seek to bring charges against him in the future.” At my request Shaffer sent me an excerpt from a journal he kept: Evening of 22 October 2003 – After returning to Bagram from an away mission to Asadabad (see dispatches for background), after a two day micro surge looking for Mullah Omar, I was approached by the Bagram post Command Sergeant Major at about 2 AM (0200 hours) local. He was looking for the “CIA rep” since there were two CIA KIAs in the Bagram clinic – and someone had to claim the bodies and process them for their return to the U.S. There was none – and as the Defense Intel rep – that was close enough for the SgtMajor…I became the “action officer” for the rest of the night…dead tired after having been up for the past 36 hours straight. To summarize the actions – I was able to call in a C-17 to pick up the bodies quietly just at dawn (about 0600 hours), meet with the CIA Ground Branch officer who had escorted the bodies from Shkin – I spoke directly to the ground branch officer – and he said they were “Blackwater” operatives – that they were contractors supporting CIA and had been out with their Afghan militia they were training – when they were ambushed. There was no doubt they were NOT CIA employees or US Military attached to the CIA – I have dealt with both categories of individual in the past – these were Blackwater operatives…one was a retired US Army Special Forces NCO and the other a retired enlisted Navy SEAL. Based on this – the fact that they were prior service – I felt that they were due the honors and respect of any fallen warrior – I did not like it one bit. I felt strongly that there was no need for contractors (what I considered mercenaries) operating on the battlefield…this was a perfect example. I had to interview and do the initial report of the incident – and turn that into the watch – I did not keep a copy of the report – but the information was used later in a SECRET level report regarding the Shkin ambush. The two CIA officers were killed – targeted – by the Taliban, who were using, for the first time, armor piercing shells (see pictures and briefing cover). After several hours working this issue full time, the C-17 arrived – and the two Blackwater individuals were evacuated – and as far as I know, they were manifested to Ft. Bragg, NC. It may be that these contractors did not work for Blackwater. Matthew Cole, an investigative reporter with ABC News, looked into it. He says he was never able to confirm that the two worked for Blackwater. But they definitely were civilian contractors. They were Christopher Glenn Mueller and William Carlson . Mueller was a former US Navy SEAL and Carlson, a former Army Ranger, Green Beret and Delta Force soldier. They died while tracking high level terrorists near Shkin, Afghanistan, on October 25, 2003. Both officers saved the lives of others, including Afghan soldiers, during the ambush.The CIA released this statement after they were killed Insofar as the CIA’s use of contactors is concerned Shaffer says, “This was an attempt for CIA to get around oversight and regulation; to get around Congress; for the purpose of running missions without coordination. There was an instance where he got CIA that one warlord was one of their own assets. So when contractors are used it allows them to do things they normally would not get to do. “It is one thing not to have operational oversight. It is another to allow Erik Prince to indulge in graymail. People are aware but haven’t done anything about it.” In regard to David Passaro , who is widely assumed to have been a Blackwater contractor, though it has never been definitively confirmed publicly – “He was going to let Army SF guys taking the rap for it.” And as for the eight CIA officers killed last December when a suicide bomber detonated at a military base guarded by PSC in the province of Khost he says the “Army would never have allowed foreigners to guard a base camp.” Despite his criticism Shaffer is not opposed to using PSC. He says “They are desperately in need of them. [Blackwater].” But, “If the claim is that they are more effective why are we loosing in Afghanistan?” He said, “Clearly there is a role for contractors but we have lost control of the chance to have a core of competent government officials doing the work, from GS-14 for 114K to go to SAIC and doubling that they have lost the chance to have a professional cadres. Continuing use of contractors is a hollowing out of the U.S. government.”

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Democrat Lincoln’s Senate Primary Race Tests Voter Dislike of Incumbents

June 8, 2010

By Patrick O’Connor June 8 (Bloomberg) — Arkansas Democrats decide today whether U.S. Senator Blanche Lincoln will stand for re-election or become the year’s fifth congressional incumbent denied re- nomination in a sign of voter discontent. In other high-profile races, former Hewlett-Packard Co. Chief Executive Officer Carly Fiorina and former EBay Inc. CEO Meg Whitman are seeking Republican nominations in California after trading their business careers for politics. In Nevada, Republicans pick a candidate to run against Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid . Eleven states hold primaries or run-offs today to choose candidates for November’s midterm elections. A U.S. House seat also will be filled by one of two Republicans in a special election in Georgia. Some of the results will offer clues about the perils of incumbency, the clout of the Tea Party and the prospects for wealthy, self-funded Republicans. In South Carolina, a primary today has taken on the same sideshow quality that followed revelations last year of an extramarital affair by Republican Governor Mark Sanford . Two state political operatives have said they had affairs with Nikki Haley , a married state representative who remains ahead in the polls for the Republican nomination to replace Sanford. In Arkansas, Lincoln is facing Lieutenant Governor Bill Halter in a Democratic runoff after neither received more than 50 percent of the vote in a May 18 primary. Defeated Incumbents If she loses, Lincoln would join Utah Republican Bob Bennett and Pennsylvania Democrat Arlen Specter as the third senator denied re-nomination this year. It’s been 30 years since more than two senators were similarly derailed, according to the Senate Historian’s office; in 1980 four incumbents lost in primaries. Two U.S. House members, Democrat Alan Mollohan of West Virginia and Republican Parker Griffith of Alabama, also have lost primary races this year. “There is no way Lincoln’s defeat can be seen as anything but people being upset with incumbents,” said Julian Zelizer , a history and public policy professor at Princeton University in New Jersey. Halter, 49, has blasted Lincoln, also 49, for voting against the final version of President Barack Obama ’s health- care bill. Halter’s allies in organized labor have attacked Lincoln for opposing a measure to ease union-organizing requirements and for voting against union lawyer Craig Becker nomination to the National Labor Relations Board. Labor Spending During a June 6 appearance on CNN’s “State of the Union,” Lincoln said Washington-based unions have spent about $10 million in the last three months trying to unseat her. Lincoln has highlighted her power as chairwoman of the Senate Agriculture Committee and touted a provision she added to pending financial-industry overhaul legislation to force commercial banks to wall off their swaps-trading desks. She also had former President Bill Clinton , who served 12 years as Arkansas’s governor, campaign for her. “You see the center-left tension” within the Democratic Party playing out in the Lincoln-Halter race, Zelizer said. The winner will face Republican Representative John Boozman in November. In California, polls show Fiorina leading for the state’s Republican Senate nomination and Whitman ahead for the party’s gubernatorial nod. Fiorina, 55, would take on Democratic Senator Barbara Boxer , 69; Whitman, 53, would face former Democratic Governor Jerry Brown , 72, who is currently the state’s attorney general. Self-Financing Whitman has funded her campaign with $71 million of her own money, state records show. She’s spent part of her campaign treasury rebutting attacks by opponent Steve Poizner , the state’s insurance commissioner, who ran ads that featured circling vultures to criticize Whitman’s ties to Goldman Sachs Group Inc. Whitman has outspent Poizner, 53, by more than three-to- one, state records show. Fiorina has enjoyed a cash advantage over her main primary opponent, former U.S. Representative Tom Campbell , 57. As of mid-May, Fiorina had raised more than $7.5 million and spent more than $6.7 million; Campbell had raised $2.6 million and spent $1.6 million, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. Jobless Figure California’s unemployment rate reached 12.6 percent in April, the nation’s third-highest. Economic unease among voters and concern about expanding government put Boxer, a three-term incumbent, at risk of losing in November, said Jennifer Duffy of the nonpartisan Cook Political Report . “Voters seem to be in the mood for some change right now, even in a state as Democratic as California,” Duffy said. In Nevada, recent polls show Sharron Angle , a former state legislator who went to court in 2003 to block a proposed tax increase, leading a 12-candidate Republican field for the right to challenge Reid. Angle, 60, has been helped by backing from Tea Party adherents and the anti-tax Club for Growth in pulling ahead of former state party chairwoman Sue Lowden , 58, and Las Vegas businessman Danny Tarkanian , 48. “Nevada is ground zero for the tremendous amount of voter discontent,” said Ross Baker , a political science professor at Rutgers University in New Jersey, citing the state’s highest-in- the-nation foreclosure rate and second-highest unemployment rate behind Michigan. “Sharron Angle has tapped into that anger.” An Angle win might fuel other anti-establishment candidates, Zelizer said. “The question with the Tea Party is, is this a serious movement that can do serious things?” he said. “To the extent they’re successful, they get more people involved.” To contact the reporter for this story: Patrick O’Connor in Washington at Poconnor14@bloomberg.net

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Garcia’s Booming Peru Economy May Not Help Defeat Chavez-Like Challenger

June 8, 2010

By Matthew Bristow and John Quigley June 8 (Bloomberg) — When Alan Garcia ’s first term as president of Peru ended in 1990, the economy had shrunk by 10 percent, inflation was raging at 7,000 percent, and half the population lived in government-declared emergency zones where Maoist guerrillas were active. Two decades later, the man Peruvians nicknamed “Crazy Horse” for his unstable policies presides over South America’s fastest-growing economy , with lower inflation than Switzerland. During the first Garcia administration, Peru defaulted on $14 billion in debt. Since he returned to power in 2006, the country won its first ever investment-grade rating. The economic success hasn’t lifted Garcia’s approval rating, which sank to 26 percent last month. Hostility to the president, and the political establishment, increases the chance of Ollanta Humala , an ally of Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez , taking power in elections next April to choose Garcia’s succesor, said John Crabtree, a Latin America researcher at Oxford University. There is a “sizable danger” that the 2011 vote will produce a populist winner, said Crabtree, the author of “Peru Under Garcia: An Opportunity Lost,” about the first Garcia administration. “More people are disenchanted by the way in which democracy works in Peru than in any other country in Latin America,” he added in a telephone interview from Oxford. Garcia’s approval rating stands at 26 percent, according to an Ipsos Apoyo Opinion y Mercado poll taken May 12-14 for Lima’s El Comercio newspaper. That’s down from 29 percent in March and a high of 58 percent two months after he took office. The poll of 1,200 people had a margin of error of 4.4 percent. Bubbling Discontent Even though the economy has performed well under Garcia, poverty and corruption have kept discontent bubbling at dangerous levels, said Daniel Kerner , an analyst for the Eurasia Group, a Washington-based political risk group. Garcia “focused on maintaining macroeconomic stability and proving that he was a responsible administrator, with the hope that growth would trickle down,” said Kerner in a telephone interview from New York. “He never did much to alleviate poverty, other than try to guarantee that Peru remained a good destination for investment.” Peru, South America’s sixth largest economy, is rebounding faster than its neighbors from the global recession. Bank of America said in a May report that Peru “is in a growth league of its own” after gross domestic product expanded 8.8 percent in the 12 months to March, led by construction and manufacturing. The International Monetary Fund forecasts growth of 6.3 percent this year, the most in the Western Hemisphere. Record Investment Foreign direct investment is expected to reach a record $8.4 billion in 2011, according to Bank of America. The country became a net creditor in 2007, as reserves soared to a record $35 billion. It costs less to protect Peru’s debt against default than it does for bonds issued by Brazil, which share its Baa3 investment grade rating by Moody’s Investors Service. The sol has strengthened 14 percent against the U.S. dollar since Garcia took office in July 2006, and the Lima General Index has gained 74 percent in dollar terms, compared with 80 percent for Chile’s IPSA index and 95 percent for Brazil’s Bovespa index. Peru’s fast growth has been driven by high prices for commodities including gold and copper, which account for 75 percent of exports, said Cesar Ferrari, who served as Garcia’s general manager of the central bank from 1987-1988. “Garcia caught a good wave,” Ferrari said during an interview in Bogota, Colombia. 180 Degree Pirouette Garcia, 61, a lawyer trained at the Sorbonne University in Paris, has abandoned his former hostility to the IMF and foreign capital, said Crabtree. Instead, he’s maintained the market- friendly policies established by Presidents Alberto Fujimori and Alejandro Toledo . “Ideologically he has pirouetted around 180 degrees,” Crabtree said. Fujimori eliminated price controls, floated the currency and sold off hundreds of unprofitable state companies while president from 1990 to 2000. Toledo, his successor, helped secure investments in infrastructure and energy, including Hunt Oil Co.’s $4 billion liquefied natural gas plant. Toledo also initiated talks that led to free-trade agreements with the U.S., the European Union and China. Popularity Falling There has been no equivalent under Garcia of the social programs of Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, which have lifted 30 million people out of poverty since 2003 and helped keep Lula’s approval ratings at a record 76 percent, said Kerner. Brazil’s minimum wage has increased more than fivefold in dollar terms over that time, while more than 9 million government-registered jobs were created. Garcia did not respond to requests for an interview and his press office did not comment for this article. In 2008, the most recent year for which statistics are available, poverty was 36.2 percent in Peru, compared with 25.8 percent in Brazil, according to the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America . Voters blame Garcia for corruption scandals within his American Popular Revolutionary Alliance, or APRA, such as the sale of public land at discount prices to party members. Only 14 percent of Peruvians think that Garcia was “free from acts of corruption”, according to the Ipsos Apoyo poll. Humala Factor Garcia’s failure to win popular backing may jeopardize economic stability and foreign investment by boosting the expected candidacy of Humala, said Kerner. Garcia defeated Humala by 52.5 percent to 47.5 percent in a 2006 runoff. Humala opposed a free trade deal with the U.S. and threatened to renegotiate contracts with foreign mining companies that include BHP Billiton Ltd. and Anglo American Plc. As an army lieutenant colonel, he led an uprising in 2000 against Fujimori, seizing the mining town of Toquepala. The event ended without bloodshed, and congress later voted to pardon him. Humala’s backing is strongest among the poor in the rural Andean highlands outside of the capital, where the benefit of economic growth has been scarcely felt, said Crabtree. Whereas in Lima, 15 percent of homes don’t have access to running water and sewage, that number rises to 80 percent in Huancavelica, a neighboring province, according to a UN study in April. Humala, 46, had the support of 13 percent of those surveyed by Ipsos, tied with Toledo. Lima’s Mayor Luis Castaneda , with 22 percent support, is the frontrunner. He’s followed by Congresswoman Keiko Fujimori, who has vowed to pardon her father, in jail for his role in paramilitary massacres of rebel sympathizers. Any advance by Humala in pre-election polls is likely to lower asset prices and spark capital outflows, Bank of America said in a report last month. Garcia is banned by the constitution from seeking two consecutive terms and his APRA party has not yet selected a candidate. Only 22 percent of Peruvians say they are satisfied with their democracy, the lowest among 18 countries in Latin America, according to a 2009 survey by Latinobarometro , a Santiago, Chile-based pollster. “Inequality, poverty, corruption–all those things combine to create this demand for change from wide segments of the electorate,” said Kerner. To contact the reporters on this story: Matthew Bristow in Bogota at mbristow5@bloomberg.net ; John Quigley in Lima at jquigley8@bloomberg.net

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Arlen Specter’s 30-Year Senate Career Ends With Pennsylvania Primary Loss

May 18, 2010

By John McCormick and Catherine Dodge May 18 (Bloomberg) — The 30-year U.S. Senate career of Arlen Specter came to an end with his primary election loss in Pennsylvania to Democratic Representative Joe Sestak . Specter’s defeat today came as Rand Paul , a favorite of Tea Party activists, won the Republican nomination for Senate in Kentucky in a demonstration of the movement’s ability to convert anger against Washington into a political win. Specter, 80, was seeking to overcome anti-incumbent sentiment in his primary race for re-nomination, as was two-term Democratic Senator Blanche Lincoln in Arkansas. She was in a close primary race with Lieutenant Governor Bill Halter , according to returns from the Associated Press. “It’s been a great privilege to serve the people of Pennsylvania,” Specter told supporters tonight after the Associated Press declared Sestak the winner in their race. “It’s been a great privilege to be in the United States Senate.” Sestak led Specter, 54 percent to 46 percent, with about 91 percent of the vote counted, according to AP. “This is what democracy should look like — a win for the people over the establishment,” Sestak told his supporters tonight. “It should come as no surprise to anyone that people want a change.” Results from the votes in Kentucky, Pennsylvania and Arkansas will be analyzed for the clues they offer about November’s midterm elections. Incumbent Losses Specter’s loss was the third for a congressional incumbent in less than two weeks and underscored potential difficulties for lawmakers in both parties in November’s general election. The Utah state Republican convention’s May 8 vote ended three- term Senator Bob Bennett ’s re-nomination bid. Democratic Representative Alan Mollohan , a 14-term incumbent from West Virginia, lost in a May 11 primary. Sestak, 58, campaigned in part by questioning Specter’s commitment to Democratic causes. Last year, Specter switched parties and, at the time, gave Democrats the crucial 60th vote needed to thwart Republican stalling tactics in the chamber. When Specter made the change, he said his decision was based in part on his slim prospects of winning the Republican nomination in 2010. At the time, President Barack Obama pledged to back his re- election. Specter used the president in his advertising, although Obama didn’t campaign in the state in the race’s closing days. Flew Over Pennsylvania As voters were casting their ballots, the president flew over Pennsylvania on his way to an event highlighting the administration’s efforts on the economy. He made no mention of the primaries during his appearance today in Youngstown, Ohio. Pat Toomey , a former congressman, won the Republican nomination for Senate in Pennsylvania. Paul, 47, defeated Secretary of State Trey Grayson , 38, who was backed by Kentucky’s Republican establishment, including Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell . An ophthalmologist and son of Representative Ron Paul of Texas, Paul called the mandate of his victory “huge” as he embraced the Tea Party’s quest to promote limited government. “Washington is horribly broken,” he said in his victory speech. “We are encountering a day of reckoning and this movement, this Tea Party movement, is a message to Washington that we’re unhappy and that we want things done differently.” Paul led Grayson, 59 percent to 35 percent, with about 90 percent of the vote counted, according to AP. Arkansas Contest In Arkansas, Halter, 49, was backed by labor unions and the liberal activist group MoveOn.org in his race against Lincoln, 49. Halter gained favor among Democratic activists when Lincoln in March voted against landmark health-care-overhaul legislation. Since then, Lincoln pushed a derivatives provision into the financial-overhaul bill before Congress that would require commercial banks to wall off their swaps-trading desks. It has been among the bill’s most contentious issues. The presence of a third primary candidate, businessman D.C. Morrison , may force a June 8 runoff between the two top finishers if nobody wins at least 50 percent of today vote. With almost 40 percent of the vote counted, Lincoln had 44 percent, Halter 42 percent and Morrison 14 percent. With nationwide unemployment at 9.9 percent, Republicans are hoping voter discontent will enable them in November to reduce Democratic House and Senate majorities — or perhaps take control of one or both chambers. Democrats control the Senate, 59-41, and the House, 254-177. Special House Election Another race that could provide insight into the midterm elections occurred in a coal-mining area of western Pennsylvania, Democrat Mark Critz, 48, won a special election for a U.S. House seat against Republican Tim Burns, 42, according to the AP. The election was held to fill the seat vacated by the death of Democratic Representative John Murtha . The district is the kind Republicans may need to win in November, if they are to take control of the House. Although Democrats have about a 2-to-1 advantage in the district’s voter Registration, it was the only district in the nation where 2004 Democratic presidential nominee Senator John Kerry won and where Obama lost in 2008. With about 84 percent of the vote counted, Critz led 53 percent to 45 percent, according to AP. Paul will be the favorite in Republican-leaning Kentucky this November to fill the seat of retiring Republican Jim Bunning . His father once ran for president as the Libertarian Party candidate and, as a Republican House member, for years has sought the abolishment of the Federal Reserve. McConnell has said he will support the party’s nominee. Palin Endorsement Paul had the backing of 2008 Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin , as well as that of South Carolina Senator Jim DeMint , a Republican who is donating funds to more conservative candidates within the party. Democrats in Kentucky picked Attorney General Jack Conway over Lieutenant Governor Daniel Mongiardo for their Senate nominee. In the race for Pennsylvania governor, Attorney General Tom Corbett won the Republican nomination, while Allegheny County Executive Dan Onorato won the Democratic nomination. In Oregon, where term limits prevent Democratic Governor Ted Kulongoski from running again, voters were selecting Democratic and Republican candidates for that office. The nine- candidate Republican field includes Chris Dudley , a former National Basketball Association player for the Portland Trail Blazers. To contact the reporters on this story: John McCormick in Chicago at jmccormick16@bloomberg.net ; Catherine Dodge in Washington at cdodge1@bloomberg.net

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Cuomo Holds 38-Point Lead in New York Governor’s Contest, Siena Poll Shows

March 22, 2010

By Michael Quint March 22 (Bloomberg) — New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo holds a 38-point lead over his nearest Republican rival in a hypothetical race for governor of the third most-populous U.S. state, a Siena Research Institute poll shows. Cuomo, a Democrat who hasn’t declared his candidacy, holds a 59 to 21 percent lead over Rick Lazio , a Republican, according to a telephone survey of 810 registered voters. The poll , conducted March 15-18, had a margin of error of plus or minus 3.4 percentage points. “With more than seven months until the election, the undeclared candidate for governor remains the candidate to beat,” said Steven Greenberg , a spokesman for the Loudonville, New York-based institute , in a statement . Cuomo holds a 47-point lead over Steve Levy , a Democrat who said March 19 he will seek the Republican nomination. Among Republican voters, Lazio is ahead of Levy by 45 to 16 percent. “After we informed those Republican voters that Lazio is a former Republican congressman and Levy is the current Democratic Suffolk County executive, and asked their choice again, Lazio expanded his lead to 60-19 percent,” Greenberg said. The poll showed 48 percent of voters opposed a plan by Lieutenant Governor Richard Ravitch to sell as much as $6 billion of bonds over three years to finance the state’s budget deficit. Ravitch’s proposal to create a new state financial review board received the support of 46 percent of voters. To contact the reporter on this story: Michael Quint in Albany, New York, at mquint@bloomberg.net .

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Gates Sees Afghan War Gains, Risks as Fight Expands in Taliban Heartland

March 9, 2010

By Viola Gienger March 9 (Bloomberg) — Defense Secretary Robert Gates heard from front-line participants in the Afghan war today, pinning awards for bravery on U.S. soldiers and Marines and shaking hands with farmers selling goods in a revived market. Gates flew to the southern province of Kandahar on his second day in Afghanistan to meet with commanders and visit a forward operating base that has borne heavy casualties and will play a role in the war’s next major offensive. He then traveled to a combat post in neighboring Helmand Province, where a re-opened mud-hut market in the town of Now Zad illustrates U.S. hopes of guaranteeing enough security in most of Afghanistan to restore commerce and a semblance of normal life. “Essentially for four years, that town was a complete ghost town. There wasn’t anybody there,” Gates told reporters traveling with him to the base flanked by mountains with patches of fertile, green farmland in a distant valley. U.S. Marines working with Afghan soldiers and British troops in Operation Cobra’s Anger in December wiped out the insurgents who controlled the area, according to commanders. The market, made of the adobe-like material common in rural Afghanistan, now has about 15 shops selling juice and produce such as potatoes. Residents are beginning to return to the town, once the second-largest in the province. The operation became a model for an offensive the NATO-led coalition in Afghanistan is wrapping up in Marjah, farther south in Helmand Province. That, in turn, provides lessons for a bigger and more complex operation being planned in Kandahar, the heartland of the Taliban. Security Worries Now Zad also shows the difficulties facing international organizations in supporting development after areas are cleared of insurgents and security improves. Gates heard appeals from the market stall operators in the town for faster demining of roads so they can get more of their goods to markets elsewhere and customers can come to them. “I feel reinforced the path we’re on is the right path,” Gates said after the visit. It also is “going to take a while, and it’s going to be complicated.” Afghan Brigadier General Muhiudin Ghori, who accompanied Gates on his tour, agreed change would take time, in part because of the low levels of education and literacy in his country. Afghan and American troops have formed a “brotherhood,” he said in an interview, speaking through an interpreter. They eat together, work together, fight together, and ties are growing “step by step.” Combat Intensifies The risks are climbing for American troops. Gates awarded two Silver Stars in Kandahar and a Purple Heart in Helmand Province. One of the Silver Star recipients, Lieutenant Colonel John Morgan of Virginia Beach, Virginia, led a group of attack and armed-reconnaissance aircraft in August to rescue an ambushed bomb-clearing patrol. The Pentagon chief also visited the 1st Battalion, 17th Infantry Regiment, which has lost 22 soldiers and seen 62 wounded in seven months on the ground. The unit was diverted from a planned mission in Iraq and was deployed last year to Afghanistan, said battalion commander Lieutenant Colonel Jonathan Neumann. The switch was part of President Barack Obama ’s shift of troops after taking office. The battalion’s new charge was to secure the northern approach to Kandahar City, which included the pomegranate- and wheat-growing Arghandab River Valley, the site of an irrigation dam built with U.S. funding in the 1950s. That meant scaling tall mud walls the farmers use to delineate the property so the soldiers could avoid roads and other areas littered with roadside bombs. ‘Fight Our Way’ “We really had to fight our way to get to the population,” Neumann told reporters traveling with Gates, illustrating his remarks with a computer-slide presentation. U.S. soldiers intercepted militants earlier today who were planting bombs on a route into a village that was going to be used by a medical unit to assist villagers, Neumann said. The action by the reconnaissance platoon prevented an aid effort “from being interrupted by Tommy Taliban,” Neumann said, using a nickname for the enemy fighter. Gates assured the soldiers that he had personally read a memo that their commander had written on improvements needed to the Stryker combat troop-transport vehicle, and he said he would move “urgently” on the recommendations. “You all have had a very tough tour here,” Gates told them in front of a cement block carved with the names of those who died. “You’re in an area that once again is going to be important, part of a decisive phase in this campaign, and once again you will be the tip of the spear.” Gates cautioned against raising expectations too fast. “It’s a poor country to start with and has been through 30 years of war,” he told reporters. “It seems to me, just looking at it, somebody having a roof over their head and being able to work their farm and send their children to school — for a lot of Afghans today sounds like a pretty good life.” To contact the reporter on this story: Viola Gienger in Now Zad, Afghanistan, at vgienger@bloomberg.net

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Pakistan Suicide Car Bomber Kills 12, Wounds 70 at Lahore Police Building

March 8, 2010

By Khalid Qayum and Anwar Shakir March 8 (Bloomberg) — A suicide car bombing outside a Pakistan police building in Lahore killed 12 people, the first attack this year on major northern cities struck repeatedly by Taliban militants in late 2009. The bomber smashed his car into the outer gate of the two- story intelligence building, causing it to collapse and leaving a 20-foot (six meter) deep crater, Khusro Pervez, the city’s police commissioner said. At least 70 people were injured with some still trapped under rubble, Akhtar Ali, a spokesman for the Edhi Ambulance Service , said by telephone. After Pakistan’s military launched its biggest offensive against Taliban guerrillas in October, the capital Islamabad, nearby army town of Rawalpindi, Peshawar and Lahore were struck by bombers and gunmen leaving hundreds dead. Since December, violence has been concentrated in smaller, more remote towns in the northwest. In a major setback for the Taliban, Pakistan says their leader, Hakimullah Mehsud , was killed by a missile fired from a U.S. drone aircraft in January. Fresh “hits in the main cities may be a reaction” to the army’s progress in fighting the militants, said Fateh Muhammad Burfat , an analyst at Karachi University. Interior Minister Rehman Malik said today the five-month offensive against the Taliban in their northwestern strongholds near the Afghan border had “broken the back” of the insurgency. Lahore last year suffered several major bombings and gun attacks, including one on the Sri Lankan cricket team in March. Police buildings in the city were raided on Oct. 15, and twin bombings at its busiest market on Dec. 7 killed 40 people, including many women and children. ‘Substantial Blow’ This year, only Karachi among Pakistan’s major cities had been hit by a bombing, with 31 killed at a religious procession in the port city on Feb. 5. The army said in February its campaign had dealt a substantial blow to the militants’ ability to carry out nationwide terrorist strikes. Some of the attacks in the northwest have claimed large numbers of victims, with 105 people killed when a suicide bomber struck a volleyball tournament in the town of Lakki Marwat. As troops pursue their campaign, Pakistani security forces have detained at least four senior members of the Afghan Taliban, including deputy leader Abdul Ghani Baradar . Talat Masood , a political consultant and retired Pakistani army lieutenant general, said it’s too early to judge how “complete or permanent” the shift against Afghan militant groups that Pakistan has long backed may become. Adam Gadahn, a U.S.-born spokesman for al-Qaeda, was yesterday reported by Associated Press to have been arrested in Karachi. The U.S. hasn’t confirmed the detention. To contact the reporters on this story: Khalid Qayum in Islamabad at kqayum@bloomberg.net ; Anwar Shakir in Peshawar at Ashakir1@bloomberg.net .

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Allied Rockets Kill 12 Civilians in Afghan Fighting; McChrystal Apologizes

February 14, 2010

By James Rupert and Eltaf Najafizada Feb. 15 (Bloomberg) — U.S.-led forces engaged in firefights with insurgents and uncovered stockpiles of explosives, as they sought to reestablish Afghan government control over a Taliban stronghold in southern Afghanistan. Troops from the Afghan government and North Atlantic Treaty Organization countries were involved in “clearing operations” on their second-day of a campaign in the district of Marjah, in the Helmand province, British Royal Air Force Flight Lieutenant Wendy Wheadon said in an interview from Kandahar. Twelve Afghan civilians were killed today when an allied rocket went awry, according to a NATO and Afghan government statement. The use of mobile rockets was suspended after the accident, the statement said. “The current operation in Central Helmand is aimed at restoring security and stability to this vital area of Afghanistan,” General Stanley McChrystal , the top commander in the country, said in a statement. “It’s regrettable that in the course of our joint efforts, innocent lives were lost.” The offensive involves 15,000 troops, the biggest number since the war began, according to NATO, and aims to wipe out a Taliban stronghold whose opium crop has helped fund the guerrilla movement. Opium is refined into heroin. It’s the first major combat test for some of the 50,000 reinforcements President Barack Obama authorized for Afghanistan to reverse Taliban gains in the war that began in October 2001. Sending Shockwaves “Instead of clearing the area and leaving, as we frequently did in the past, our plans call for clearing, holding the area and then providing some building for the people there – - better security, better economic opportunity, better governance,” U.S. National Security Adviser James Jones said on CNN’s “State of the Union” program. The offensive also has what Jones called “a much bigger Afghan face,” with two Afghans for every one U.S. soldier involved. The operation ‘is going to make a big change in not only the southern part of Afghanistan but will send shockwaves through the rest of the country that there is a new direction, there is new commitment, and that we’re going to be successful,” Jones said on “Fox News Sunday.” The provincial government plans to move in “quickly” with “road construction and digging of wells,” Ahmadi said. “We want to have a government working as soon as the military operation to control Marjah is complete.” Bombs Everywhere Three caches of explosives, including 250 kilograms (551 pounds) of ammonium nitrate and 300 meters (984 feet) of detonation cord, were discovered in Marjah and surrounding areas, a NATO statement said. Bombs are “a concern — the Taliban has placed a lot of them everywhere,” said Lieutenant Commander Iain Baxter of the Royal Navy. “We need to try to find them and deal with them.” Twenty-seven Taliban have been killed since the NATO troops attacked before dawn Feb. 13, said Daud Ahmadi , a government spokesman for Helmand province. Two soldiers of the International Security Assistance Force, one American and one Briton, have been killed, said U.S. Air Force Master Sergeant Sabrina D. Foster. While Helmand has been a guerrilla stronghold and a key Taliban supply route from nearby Pakistan, U.S. troops began operations in the province in the past 21 months. “Recent gains enjoyed by insurgents in Helmand have made a deliberate and properly resourced campaign by coalition forces that much more critical” in the province, said a report in September by Washington-based Institute for the Study of War . The U.S. presence in Helmand has improved security and the economy since July, said Abdul Ahad Helmandwal, a tribal elder near Marjah, in a phone interview. Still, the accompanying aid effort — which provided millions of dollars worth of seed and fertilizer to encourage farmers to grow wheat instead of opium – - has been undercut by a corruption scandal in which several top provincial officials have been arrested. A Taliban commander in Afghanistan, Akhtar Mohammad, said before the fighting that such operations had been attempted before and failed. “The Taliban have never been defeated,” Mohammad said. To contact the reporters on this story: To contact the reporter on this story: James Rupert in New Delhi at jrupert3@bloomberg.net ; Eltaf Najafizada in Mazar-i-Sharif, Afghanistan at enajafizada1@bloomberg.net

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Paul Helmke: Guns And Starbucks: Espresso Shots, Not Gunshots

February 8, 2010

What would your reaction be if you and your kids walked into the local Starbucks and, while contemplating the choice between a latte and a mocha cappuccino, you noticed several fellow customers had semi-automatic pistols and ammunition magazines hanging from their hips ? This scenario has become more than a flight of imagination. In several communities in California, and elsewhere, it has become reality. Welcome to the ” open carry ” movement, an effort by “gun rights” extremists to foist their interpretation of the Second Amendment on the rest of us by openly carrying handguns in public places. While virtually all states have at least some minimal restrictions on the carrying of concealed weapons, few states do anything to regulate the “open carry” of firearms. Particularly in the Bay Area in Northern California, “open carry” adherents have been gathering in Starbucks and other coffee shops and restaurants — their semi-automatic pistols and revolvers in plain view — apparently to make an ideological statement. The sight of such gun-toters in Starbucks reminds us of the incidents last summer, when anti-Obama protestors appeared at political events and “town hall meetings” with handguns and assault rifles openly strapped to their bodies — including events attended by President Obama himself . The “open carry” folks view this as “normalizing” their self-defined “right” to carry guns with them at all times wherever they please, regardless of its impact on public safety. But what about the rights of everyone else who wishes to be free from lethal weapons in public places, except for trained law enforcement? Surveys show that the presence of more guns in a community does not make people safer, or feel safer; indeed, it has the opposite effect. Studies show that the more guns there are, the more gun violence there is in that location. In addition, 80 percent of those who don’t own guns say they would feel less safe if more people in their community acquired guns; only eight percent would feel safer. Even among gun owners, roughly equal proportions would feel less safe if more people had guns versus those who would feel more safe. Take the reaction of one coffee shop customer in San Ramon, California when faced with a group of pistol packers: “I’m scared. I’m getting out of here. They say they want to make a statement. What’s wrong with a T-shirt?” The “open carry” gatherings provoked an immediate reaction from Californians who were appalled that coffee shops and restaurants would allow guns on their premises. At least two national chains have responded responsibly. For example, Peet’s Tea & Coffee stated that its policy “is not to allow customers carrying firearms in our stores” unless they are uniformed law enforcement officers. It also indicated that it would post a notification of that policy in all its stores and would call the local police for assistance should a customer display a firearm in the future. After being alerted by local chapters of the Brady Campaign about a scheduled “open carry” meeting at one its Northern California stores, California Pizza Kitchen issued a statement that it “does not allow guests other than uniformed officers to display firearms in our restaurants” because of its concern “that the open display of firearms would be particularly disturbing to children and their parents.” But now we come to Starbucks. When asked about the company’s policy on the “open carry” of firearms in its stores, its Customer Relations Department responded to the Brady Campaign’s California chapters that “Starbucks does not have a corporate policy regarding customers and weapons; we defer to federal, state and local laws and regulations regarding this issue.” Here’s the problem with that answer: generally speaking – and certainly in California – businesses have the right to bar guns on their premises. It is their property and, just as they can prohibit entry by people with bare feet, they can do the same for people with guns. Despite its response, Starbucks clearly does have a policy and it is one that should be deeply disturbing to the vast majority of its customers. Starbucks has apparently chosen to allow civilians to carry semi-automatic pistols and possibly even assault weapons into its stores. Such a policy is disturbing to law enforcement officials as well as Starbucks patrons. As a San Mateo County Sheriff’s Lieutenant put it, “Open carry advocates create a potentially very dangerous situation,” because when police respond to a “man with a gun” call, they have no idea what the intentions of the gun carrier are and “the result could be deadly.” If a mistake in judgment or perception results in a shooting at a Starbucks, will the company still have no “corporate policy regarding customers and weapons”? This is no idle consideration. Just this past September, at a picnic hosted by “open carry” activists at a Michigan state park, a gun activist was charged with reckless use of a firearm after he unintentionally fired his semi-automatic handgun in a parking lot. Then there was the California “open carry” activist in December who was arrested for carrying his .357 magnum revolver near a school , complaining, “I just can’t see what I did wrong.” Even more disturbing was the man – ” of high interest to the FBI because of his alignment with violent demonstrators at abortion clinics ” – who was arrested for possession of a semi-automatic handgun which he was carrying openly outside a North Carolina abortion clinic last October. As these and other incidents show, the “open carry” movement clearly has implications beyond Starbucks. It is part of a broader campaign, led by the National Rifle Association, to force guns into every corner of American society by “normalizing” the carrying of guns in public places, openly and concealed. The gun pushers want an America where there is nowhere that you and your family can go to be free from guns. As just one example, the same lawyer who won the U.S. Supreme Court case two years ago which declared a Second Amendment right to have a gun in your home for self defense, has filed a new lawsuit seeking to force localities to allow civilians to carry guns on the streets. The “open” carrying of guns is just the visible tip of the “guns everywhere” iceberg. The gun lobby’s clout in state legislatures has forced consideration of dangerous proposals to allow people to legally carry concealed weapons into bars , churches , workplace parking lots , airports , parks , college campuses and elsewhere. While most states do not require any permit, license or training of any kind to carry a semi-automatic pistol openly, the NRA assures us that those who have permits to carry concealed weapons are all ” law-abiding citizens ” whose gun-toting behavior protects the rest of us. Since May, 2007, however, these “law-abiding citizens” have killed at least 117 people , including nine law enforcement officers. During that same period, they have committed eleven mass shootings. So, Starbucks, what will it be? Like Peets Tea & Coffee, will you do the socially responsible thing and stand up for the rights of families and children to be free from guns when they visit your coffee shops? Or will you take the chance that there will be more than just shots of espresso being served up in your stores? If you think Starbucks is wrong here, sign our petition today: http://act.credoaction.com/campaign/starbucks_guns/?rc=brady Sign our petition to tell Starbucks to keep guns out of its stores: http://act.credoaction.com/campaign/starbucks_guns/?rc=brady

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Al-Qaeda Is Likely to Attempt U.S. Attack Within Six Months, Senators Told

February 2, 2010

By Chris Dolmetsch Feb. 2 (Bloomberg) — Al-Qaeda is likely to attempt a terrorist attack in the U.S. within the next three to six months, U.S. intelligence officials told a Senate panel in Washington. National Intelligence Director Dennis Blair told the Senate Intelligence Committee that an attempted attack is “certain” within that time frame. Blair was responding to a question from the panel’s chairwoman, California Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein , during an annual assessment of threats to the U.S. The other four officials to testify before the panel today agreed with Blair when questioned by Feinstein: Central Intelligence Agency Director Leon Panetta , FBI Director Robert S. Mueller , Lieutenant General Ronald L. Burgess, director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, and John Dinger, acting assistant secretary of state for the Bureau of Intelligence and Research. “I think that tells us something very clearly,” Feinstein said. Al-Qaeda is changing its methods to avoid detection as it becomes more difficult for the group to conduct large attacks, Panetta told the panel. The terrorist group is relying more on homegrown terrorists to stage smaller plots in their own countries and trying to inspire so-called “lone wolves,” he said. “My greatest concern and what keeps me awake at night is that al-Qaeda and its terrorist allies and affiliates could very well attack the United States in our homeland,” Panetta testified. To contact the reporter on this story: Chris Dolmetsch in New York at cdolmetsch@bloomberg.net

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Chavez Failing to `Burn’ Currency Traders as $93 Billion Leaves Venezuela

January 26, 2010

By Daniel Cancel Jan. 26 (Bloomberg) — Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is selling dollars from central bank reserves for the first time in six years in what Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Barclays Plc say is a futile bid to shore up the bolivar in unregulated trading. The central bank , under orders from Chavez to “burn the hands” of speculators betting against the bolivar, said it sold $179 million since Jan. 13, the first dollar auctions since trading restrictions imposed in 2003 spawned the unofficial market. Chavez said on Jan. 15 he wanted to strengthen the bolivar more than 30 percent in unregulated trading, where it fetches 6.3 per dollar, to contain inflation after he devalued the official rate as much as 50 percent to 4.3. The plan will fail because Chavez’s nationalizations and land seizures are prompting Venezuelans to pull money from the country, said Alberto Ramos , a Goldman Sachs economist. More than $93 billion has left the South American nation since 2005, according to the central bank’s capital account data. “You have a problem that can’t be resolved by throwing reserves at it,” Ramos said in a phone interview from New York. Venezuelans “pay a huge premium to get their assets out of the country, out of the reach of the government, so that they can’t confiscate them,” he said. “Under that situation, $20 billion, $50 billion or $100 billion is not enough. The entire capital stock of the economy could leave.” Phone calls to the Finance Ministry seeking comment weren’t returned. A central bank spokeswoman said no one was available to comment when contacted by Bloomberg News. Oil Plunge The 55-year-old former Army lieutenant colonel has nationalized the oil, cement, steel, and utilities industries while seizing rice plants from Cargill Inc. and retail stores this month from French-Colombian run Hipermercado Exito in a bid to transform the country into a state-run socialist economy. Venezuela faces international arbitration hearings from Exxon Mobil Corp. , the largest U.S. energy company, and Cemex SAB, the biggest cement maker in the Americas, over nationalized assets. Companies and individuals in Venezuela, the fourth-biggest supplier of oil to the U.S., turn to the unregulated market to buy dollars when they can’t get authorization from the government to make the purchases at the official rate. Demand in the unofficial market swelled last year as the government said it cut the amount of dollars provided at the fixed exchange rate by 38 percent to preserve foreign reserves after crude tumbled 54 percent in 2008. Private companies bought about 30 percent of their imports in 2009 with dollars acquired in the unregulated market, according to Asdrubal Oliveros , an economist at Caracas-based Ecoanalitica. Devaluation On Jan. 8, Chavez devalued the bolivar for the first time since 2005, saying he aimed to shore up a slumping economy by stimulating exports and cutting imports. He weakened the official exchange rate by 17 percent to 2.6 per dollar for “essential” imports and by 50 percent to 4.3 for “nonessential” items. Morgan Stanley forecasts the devaluation will push inflation to a 14-year high of 45 percent this year from 27 percent in 2009, the fastest pace among 78 economies tracked by Bloomberg. The central bank began selling dollars in the unregulated market on Jan. 13, driving the bolivar up 10 percent to 5.87 per dollar in the first week after the devaluation. Those gains prompted Chavez to say on Jan. 15 that he was “revaluing” the bolivar, not devaluing it, and that he planned to drive the unofficial rate to 4.3 per dollar. ‘Un-nameable’ Chavez picked up a copy of local newspaper El Mundo during the speech to point out a headline that highlighted the bolivar’s rally, a sign he’s backing off the 2007 law he signed that prohibited the media from publishing the unregulated rate or mentioning it on the radio. The rate, known as the “un- nameable” among Venezuelans, has begun appearing in other newspapers since the speech. The bolivar has slid 6.8 percent since then. Central bank dollar sales of about $100 million a week are insufficient to drive the unofficial rate to 4.3, said Alejandro Grisanti , an analyst at Barclays. Central bank President Nelson Merentes sells the U.S. currency through auctions of three-month dollar-denominated zero coupon bonds that Venezuelan financial institutions can buy with bolivars. The government’s best chance to strengthen the unofficial rate may be to authorize more companies to buy dollars at the official rates, a move that would ease demand in the unregulated market, Grisanti said. Russell Dallen , the head bond trader at Caracas Capital Markets, estimates demand for dollars in the unofficial market to total as much as $100 million a day. ‘Psychological Element’ “At around 5 per dollar or so, the government would have to burn a lot of reserves to maintain it,” Grisanti said in a phone interview from New York. “It wouldn’t be sustainable.” He said he’d recommend his Venezuelan clients buy dollars if the bolivar approaches 5.3 in the unregulated market. Venezuela’s foreign reserves have slumped to $31.3 billion from a record high of $42.5 billion a year ago, in part because of Chavez’s transfer of $15 billion to a government development fund, according to central bank data. Ecoanalitica’s Oliveros estimates the central bank would have to sell at least $11 billion to get the unofficial rate close to Chavez’s 4.3 target. Goldman’s Ramos said assigning a dollar estimate to the plan is flawed because people will move money out of the country as fast as the central bank makes dollars available. Venezuela, which last had a capital account surplus in 1998, the year before Chavez became president, posted a capital account deficit of $10.8 billion through the first nine months of 2009, the most recent central bank data show. Only a more “market friendly” stance from Chavez would slow capital flight, Ramos said. “There’s this psychological element,” Ramos said. “People don’t feel comfortable with the future of the country. They save in dollars.” To contact the reporter on this story: Daniel Cancel in Caracas at dcancel@bloomberg.net

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Eight Americans Killed in Suicide-Bomb Attack at Afghanistan Military Base

December 31, 2009

By Viola Gienger and Tony Capaccio Dec. 31 (Bloomberg) — Eight American civilians died in a suicide-bomb attack on an American military base in Afghanistan, a U.S. official said. The terrorist assault occurred as the U.S. expands its involvement in the war in Afghanistan. A single attacker was responsible for the blast yesterday, which also caused an unspecified number of injuries, according to the official, who asked not to be identified. A Pentagon spokeswoman, Lieutenant Colonel Almarah Belk, said the Americans died at Forward Operating Base Chapman in Khost province. Most, if not all of those killed, were probably CIA employees or contractors, the Washington Post reported, citing unidentified U.S. officials. The Central Intelligence Agency couldn’t be immediately reached for comment. An attack on a base is particularly threatening because the sites are regarded as sanctuaries, said retired U.S. Army General Jack Keane, a member of the advisory Defense Policy Board. “So when you’re able to penetrate that, you achieve a level of terror and intimidation that the attacks outside the bases, even though they happen daily, do not achieve.” Four Canadian soldiers and a Canadian reporter were also killed yesterday in a roadside bomb attack on an armored patrol vehicle south of Kandahar City, according to a military statement. Taliban Insurgency U.S. officials haven’t described the affiliations of the civilians killed at the base. The U.S. has been expanding the ranks of civilian aid experts in Afghanistan in parallel with the surge of military reinforcements aimed at the Taliban insurgency. Belk said she didn’t know what installations or agencies are located at the base. “We mourn the loss of life in this attack, and are withholding further details pending notification of next of kin,” State Department spokesman Ian Kelly said in an e-mailed statement. The State Department and the U.S. Agency for International Development aim to strengthen the government of President Hamid Karzai and local officials to demonstrate to Afghans the benefits of backing elected leaders and defeating the Taliban. General Stanley McChrystal , the commander of U.S. and other NATO-led forces in Afghanistan, has said civilian aid will be pivotal in solidifying gains the military makes with the 30,000 additional troops that President Barack Obama authorized earlier this month. Health, Education The number of civilians working on reconstruction, improving governance and bolstering health and education services is due to triple to about 1,000 in January compared with a year earlier. As of October, U.S. civilians worked at about 52 locations in Afghanistan, according to Deputy Secretary of State Jacob Lew . “In some cases, they’re moving into areas that have just been cleared with the military as the clearing process is under way,” Lew told reporters in Washington on Oct. 26. “They go in groups of two to 10 to 15. They’re surrounded by locally employed staff, by Afghan nationals who are working in a civilian capacity and by” employees of non-governmental organizations, he said. Lieutenant Colonel Todd Vician , a spokesman for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization-led force in Afghanistan, said the base explosion is under investigation. Border With Pakistan Khost is located in eastern Afghanistan, along the border with Pakistan. Southern and eastern Afghanistan are areas where the Taliban have made the biggest inroads. The additional U.S. troops will bring the number of American forces in Afghanistan to almost 100,000 in 2010. Obama’s strategy is to roll back the Taliban, which harbored al- Qaeda before being ousted from power after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, in time to begin a drawdown of troops in July 2011. In testimony to Congress this month after Obama announced his revised approach, officials including Defense Secretary Robert Gates cautioned that the increasing activity also was bound to lead to higher U.S. and allied casualties until the momentum turns. To contact the reporter on this story: Anthony Capaccio in Washington at acapaccio@bloomberg.net ; Viola Gienger in Washington at vgienger@bloomberg.net

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U.S. Army Psychiatrist in Custody After 13 Killed, 30 Hurt on Texas Base

November 6, 2009

By Viola Gienger and Anthony Capaccio Nov. 6 (Bloomberg) — An Army psychiatrist is under guard in a Texas hospital after being accused of killing 13 people and wounding 30 others in one of the worst mass shootings at a U.S. military base. Major Nidal Malik Hasan opened fire on fellow soldiers with two handguns at the Fort Hood Army Base yesterday afternoon before he was shot several times, Lieutenant General Robert Cone, the commander of III Corps at the base, told reporters. “He is currently in custody and in a stable condition,” said Cone, adding authorities initially believed the assailant had been killed. “As horrible as this was, I think it could have been much worse.” Military officials and the Federal Bureau of Investigation are probing what triggered the attack by the licensed physician at a crowded medical processing center on the base. Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison , a Texas Republican, said she was told by Fort Hood authorities the suspect was about to be deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan and had been “very upset and angry” in the past few days. President Barack Obama called it a “horrific outburst of violence” directed at soldiers who have dedicated their lives to protecting the nation. While the deaths of soldiers in battles overseas is tragic, “it is horrifying that they should come under fire at an Army base on American soil,” Obama said in Washington. Injured Woman Dies The death toll rose to 13 from 12 early today when a woman who was shot died of her injuries, a base spokeswoman said by telephone. The shootings began at about 1:30 p.m. local time as soldiers were awaiting dental and medical treatment at the processing center, said Cone. At an auditorium about 50 meters (164 feet) away, 138 soldiers were graduating from college extension courses and officials were able to close the doors to protect participants, he said. Military police locked down the base after the shooting, lifting the restrictions hours later after determining there was no likelihood of a further threat. The Virginia Board of Medicine lists Hasan as a licensed physician who has a primary practice at the Darnall Army Medical Center at Fort Hood. It says he received his medical degree from the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in Bethesda, Maryland, in 2003 and completed a residency in psychiatry at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington in 2007 and a fellowship in disaster and preventive psychiatry in 2009. Hasan, 39, transferred to Fort Hood in July, the Associated Press reported, citing unidentified military officials. Devout Muslim He was a devout Muslim and had sought for several years to be discharged from the military, the Washington Post reported, citing his aunt. Noel Hasan told the newspaper her nephew had endured name-calling and harassment about his faith for years after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on New York and the Pentagon. The Council on American-Islamic Relations condemned the shootings and urged calm as investigators piece together what happened. “No political or religious ideology could ever justify or excuse such wanton and indiscriminate violence,” Nihad Awad , the group’s executive director, said in a statement. Admiral Michael Mullen , chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said in a statement the Army should be allowed to complete its investigation before “we speculate about the circumstances leading to this senseless violence.” The suspect came to the attention of authorities six months ago because of Internet postings discussing suicide bombings and other threats, AP reported, citing unidentified law enforcement officials. Suicide Bombers One of the Web postings equated suicide bombers with a soldier throwing himself on a grenade to save the lives of his comrades, according to the report. Officials are trying to confirm whether Hasan was the author of the postings, the news service said. FBI agents and police raided Hasan’s apartment early today and were searching for evidence, CNN reported. Fort Hood, about 60 miles (97 kilometers) north of Austin, the Texas capital, houses about 45,000 U.S. troops and is home to the Army’s 1st Calvary and 4th Infantry divisions. It is one of the three largest Army bases in the U.S. by population and acreage. Base Suicides The base has felt the strain of multiple combat deployments, with 10 suicides reported there this year and more than 75 since the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, the Washington Post reported. Hasan’s apartment is in the nearby town of Killeen, the site of one of the worst mass killings in U.S. history. A gunman drove his pickup truck through a cafeteria window in 1991 and shot 22 people dead with a handgun before killing himself, AP said. No other shooting at a military base in the U.S. has been anywhere near as deadly as yesterday’s attack, the news service reported. In 1993, a gunman at Fort Knox shot five civilian co- workers, killing three, and then fatally shot himself, AP said. To contact the reporters on this story: Viola Gienger in Washington at vgienger@bloomberg.net ; Anthony Capaccio in Washington at acapaccio@bloomberg.net .

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Typhoon Mirinae Strikes Philippines, Forcing Evacuations in Two Provinces

October 30, 2009

By Clarissa Batino and Francisco Alcuaz Jr. Oct. 31 (Bloomberg) — Philippine authorities carried out evacuations and thousands of travelers were stranded as Typhoon Mirinae slammed into the archipelago, where about 1,100 people have died in cyclones this year. Evacuations were ordered in the island province of Catanduanes and the coastal areas of Quezon province, where Mirinae’s eye made landfall, police and disaster agency officials said. Eight thousand were evacuated in Rizal province south of Manila, ABS-CBN News reported. From the Pacific Ocean, the typhoon entered Quezon around midnight and was 60 kilometers south-southeast of Manila at 4 a.m., the local weather bureau said. The storm, with winds of 130 kilometers per hour, will exit Batangas province for the South China Sea around noon, the agency said. The typhoon’s arrival coincides with the All-Saints’ weekend, when many Filipinos travel to their home provinces in the archipelago of more than 7,000 islands. Many visit cemeteries to pay respects to their ancestors. Others vacation during the three-day weekend. The Philippines has been battered by more than 10 cyclones this year. More than 121,000 people remain in evacuation centers after cyclones Ketsana barreled into Luzon Sept. 26 and Parma followed this month. Hundreds were killed in floods and landslides and farm damage forced the world’s biggest importer of rice to schedule a supply auction for this week. Delay Trips The National Disaster Coordination Council advised Filipinos to delay their trips until at least this afternoon. About 8,500 people and hundreds of trucks and cars were stranded as the government banned boats and ferries from taking to sea in Luzon and the Visayas islands farther south, Admiral Wilfredo Tamayo, Coast Guard commandant, said. About 20 fishermen were rescued off Quezon, he said. “While the typhoon is here, travel has to be stopped both ways,” Tamayo said by phone. Vessels weighing more than 1,000 gross tons may sail by tomorrow, he said. As many as 800 people were killed after a ferry sank in June last year when Typhoon Fengshen slammed into the Philippines. Philippine Airlines and Cebu Pacific Air, the nation’s biggest carriers, canceled or delayed flights to and from Manila and said they had moved aircraft to central airports, away from the typhoon’s path. At least five bus companies suspended trips between Luzon and Visayas, ABS-CBN reported. Leaving Homes Troops persuaded people along Catanduanes’ rivers to leave their homes, Lieutenant Colonel Romeo Basco said in a phone interview. Some are already in town halls, he said. More than 4,000 people are expected to be evacuated in Quezon, Senior Superintendent Elmo Sarona, the police chief there, said. Roads in Pagsanjan and Lumban in Laguna, a province south of Manila, were inaccessible amid strong currents of knee-deep water, said military spokesman Noel Detoyato. In Manila, while winds are strong, the rain is falling in spurts, meaning there’s a “very slim possibility” of the degree of flooding brought on by Ketsana, weather bureau Administrator Prisco Nilo said in an interview. Ketsana left about 80 percent of Manila, a city of almost 12 million people, underwater. Winds splintered trees and toppled free-standing or lightly constructed signage in the Manila area. Power had been cut in several parts of the city because of strong winds, Manila Electric Co. spokesman Joe Zaldarriaga said in a phone interview today. The power retailer has monitored outages in parts of the capital and nearby provinces of Laguna and Rizal. Rains have been “continuous” along Mirinae’s path, Nilo said, resulting in some flooding in Laguna province, south of Manila. To contact the reporters on this story: Clarissa Batino in Manila at cbatino@bloomberg.net ; Francisco Alcuaz Jr . in Manila at falcuaz@bloomberg.net

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States Will Have Deficits Totaling $500 Billion in ’11, New York Aide Says

October 28, 2009

By Henry Goldman Oct. 28 (Bloomberg) — New York Lieutenant Governor Richard Ravitch predicted states across the U.S. would face deficits totaling as much as $500 billion in 2011 after the federal government stops paying them economic stimulus grants. Ravitch, 76, a real estate developer and former chairman of New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority , said the looming nationwide fiscal crisis would first become apparent as states’ credit ratings falter, making it more expensive to borrow money. “I believe that the states across the United States will face deficits a year after stimulus ends of $300 billion to $500 billion a year,” Ravitch told about 200 people gathered at New York University’s Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service. “You’re going to begin to see cracks in the municipal bond market well before then, because that’s an inexorable casualty of unfundable state deficits.” Ravitch, who became lieutenant governor in July through an unprecedented appointment by Governor David Paterson , estimated the state’s current deficit at about $4 billion, about $1 billion more than the state Budget Office’s calculation. He predicted the gap would be $7 billion to $8 billion next fiscal year and then $15 billion to $18 billion the following year after payments under the federal government’s $787 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 stop flowing to states. “These are numbers that are unprecedented,” Ravitch said, adding that the current recession is unlike any in the nation’s history, with unemployment continuing to rise, “banks are falling like autumn leaves, and nobody is projecting any significant growth in 2010.” Special Session Paterson intends to meet with leaders of the state Senate and Assembly in New York City tomorrow to discuss how to deal with the deficit that he’s said is at least $3.1 billion for the fiscal year ending March 31. The governor intends to present recommendations during a joint session of the Legislature Nov. 9, and ordered lawmakers into a special session Nov. 10 to consider spending cuts or revenue increases. Congress enacted and President Barack Obama signed the stimulus program into law in February intending to help the U.S. economy with tax cuts, expansion of unemployment benefits, and help for the states to pay costs of public education, Medicaid and infrastructure building and repair. “Health-care costs are rising six to eight times faster than the rate of inflation,” he said. “Those of us who care about the obligations of the public sector to the economy, the growth and the stability of this society, we face a very difficult set of choices.” People Leaving Ravitch, who as lieutenant governor holds the power to cast a tie-breaking vote should the Senate be deadlocked, said the Legislature faces “a terrible dilemma.” Tax increases would be counterproductive, he said, because “anecdotal evidence suggests” people are making “locational decisions,” moving out of state, based upon property, income and business taxes they perceive as too high. “It’s not fun to be there when you have to conjure with the question of do you cut health care? Do you cut education? Do you cut public transportation investment?” he said. “So it’s an interesting task and I hope we’ll begin to deal with it and begin to turn it around. There’s no magic answer.” New York’s $133.5 billion spending plan , including U.S. aid, is 9.8 percent larger than a year ago, the Budget Division said in July. Excluding federal funds, the budget grew 3.4 percent, to $86 billion. Spending Cuts Paterson proposed a $5 billion deficit reduction plan Oct. 15. The program included cuts of $1.8 billion in spending before the end of the fiscal year, and raising $1.17 billion in cash through one-time actions, such as a tax penalty amnesty program and a bond sale by the Battery Park City Authority. About $1.3 billion of the cuts would require legislators’ approval. New York faces a cash squeeze in December, when it expects to have $2 billion on hand and faces more than $5.1 billion of scheduled payments to schools, local governments and other groups, Paterson has said. The governor’s plan would reduce spending by $2 billion next year, change the pension system and impose a cap on spending in subsequent years. Pension fund changes and a spending cap haven’t been approved by lawmakers. To contact the reporter on this story: Henry Goldman in New York City Hall at hgoldman@bloomberg.net

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Typhoon Parma Spares Manila, Heads for Northern Luzon, on Toward Taiwan

October 2, 2009

By Francisco Alcuaz Jr. and Cecilia Yap Oct. 3 (Bloomberg) — Typhoon Parma shifted course and weakened last night, reducing its effect on Manila and the southern part of the Philippine island of Luzon. It’s forecast to make landfall in northern Luzon later today before heading toward Taiwan. The respite will help government officials and relief organizations to deal with the effects of Tropical Storm Ketsana, which flooded Manila and surrounding provinces a week ago, forcing more than 800,000 to abandon their homes. Schools, many used as evacuation and relief operation centers, were shut all week. Some areas remain flooded while others, including Marikina in eastern Manila, are mired in as much as two feet of mud. “It’s a big help, we weren’t ready for another catastrophe,” Marikina Mayor Marides Fernando said in a phone interview. “Prayers worked; everyone was praying. We can go back to our homes.” Most of the municipality’s 10,000 remaining evacuees may be home before Monday, allowing schools to reopen. Parma is now traveling in a northwesterly direction instead of a west-northwest path, Philippine weather bureau Director Nathaniel Cruz said in a phone interview. Parma was 370 kilometers (230 miles) northeast of Manila at 4 a.m. local time, according to the U.S. Navy Joint Typhoon Warning Center . Parma’s winds decreased to 185 kilometers per hour from 222 kilometers per hour. Canceled Signal The bureau canceled the public storm signal over Manila and some surrounding provinces and reduced the signal to No. 1 from No. 2 in the Bicol region southeast of Manila. In Catanduanes, the province nearest to Parma’s path last night, “the wind wasn’t devastating,” Lieutenant Colonel Romeo Basco, the local Army commander there, said in a phone interview. “Even our squad tents didn’t fly off. If it didn’t affect our tents, more so houses.” While landslides partially blocked roads in three villages, many of the 6,000 persons evacuated yesterday are already returning home. Albay province, also in the Bicol region, is sending home the 15,300 families it evacuated in the past two days, Governor Joey Salceda said. According to initial reports, damage was limited to flooding of some rice paddies and the roof being blown off one “old” building, he said. Santa Ana The typhoon is forecast to make landfall tonight around Santa Ana in Cagayan province north of Manila, the weather bureau’s Cruz said in a phone interview. Cagayan and surrounding provinces remain under signals No. 2 and No. 3, indicating winds as strong as 185 kilometers per hour. The Central Weather Bureau in Taiwan, north of the Philippines, issued a sea warning. Isabela province immediately south of Cagayan has prepared trucks, rubber boats and outriggers for rescue and relief operations, Vice Governor Ramon Reyes said in a phone interview. They’ve packed more than 10,000 bags with rice, canned corned beef and sardines, coffee, noodles and sugar, he said. Farmers tried to save what they could of the rice crop, much of which is sold in Manila. “We expect the province to be part of the center of the storm,” Reyes said. “If this harvest gets destroyed, the country will have a shortage.” Ketsana “didn’t affect the province and we even sent relief goods to Manila, he said. “The situation might reverse. We hope it wouldn’t come to that.” To contact the reporters on this story: Francisco Alcuaz Jr . in Manila at falcuaz@bloomberg.net ; Cecilia Yap in Manila at cyap19@bloomberg.net

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Philippines Declares National `Calamity’ as Thousands Flee Typhoon’s Path

October 2, 2009

By Francisco Alcuaz Jr. and Clarissa Batino Oct. 3 (Bloomberg) — The Philippines declared a national “state of calamity” as Typhoon Parma headed for Luzon, sending thousands to shelters already crowded with victims of Tropical Storm Ketsana, which flooded the Manila area a week ago. In central and eastern Luzon, some 33,200 people had been evacuated as of 6 p.m. local time yesterday, Lieutenant Colonel Ernesto Torres, spokesman for the National Disaster Coordinating Council, said by mobile phone text message. Thousands more fled to emergency centers in Luzon’s northern provinces, Chief Superintendent Roberto Damian said by phone. “We’ve learned: We don’t wait for the disaster,” Albay province Governor Joey Salceda said in a phone interview. He said he promised families who leave their homes 5 kilos (11 pounds) of rice for each day they are away. Almost 2,000 people stuck in ports after inter-island ferries were grounded are also considered “evacuated,” he said. “Better stranded than left out there at sea.” Parma will bring more rain to areas devastated by Ketsana, which left 293 people dead in Manila and surrounding provinces earlier this week before killing more than 130 in Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos. In Indonesia, rescue workers are searching for survivors in Padang on Sumatra island, where an earthquake two days ago left at least 448 people dead. In the South Pacific, recovery operations are under way after a tsunami killed at least 155 in Samoa, American Samoa and Tonga. “It is almost unprecedented for any region to experience so many disasters over such a short period of time,” United Nations Under-Secretary-General Noeleen Heyzer said in a statement. “The disasters of the past week remind us that the Asia Pacific is the world’s disaster hot spot.” Northeastern Luzon Parma was 245 nautical miles (454 kilometers) east of Manila at 4 p.m. local time yesterday, according to the U.S. Navy Joint Typhoon Warning Center . The typhoon is forecast to make landfall in northeastern Luzon after 8 a.m. today. Parts of central Luzon, where Manila is located, have remained flooded since Ketsana dropped the most rain on the area in more than 40 years. Almost 800,000 Filipinos were forced to seek shelter in evacuation centers and other people’s homes, prompting the government to declare a state of calamity in several areas. Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro yesterday announced that the state of calamity, which gives the government the power to peg the prices of basic goods, would be extended nationwide. He also prodded local government officials to speed up evacuations. “They should be proactive and very aggressive in taking preventive measures,” he said on government television. “We’ve told them to be ready.” Category 4 Parma’s winds decreased yesterday to 222 kilometers (138 miles) per hour from 241 kph. The typhoon remained a Category 4 storm, the second-strongest on the Saffir-Simpson scale , and was forecast by the U.S. Navy to weaken slightly before making landfall. Category 4 storms are capable of causing “devastating damage” and can blow roofs off residential buildings, according to the U.S. National Hurricane Center . Philippine Airlines Inc. and Cebu Air Inc. canceled flights between the capital and southeastern Luzon and neighboring islands, Manila airport General Manager Alfonso Cusi said in a mobile phone text message. Tropical Storm Ketsana blew across Luzon on Sept. 26, dumping a month’s worth of rain in six hours and flooding most of Manila and surrounding areas. More than 3 million people were affected and 42 are listed as missing. Ketsana’s Path Ketsana smashed into central Vietnam on Sept. 29 as a typhoon with winds of 167 kph, killing at least 99 people. The storm left at least 17 people dead in Cambodia, while 16 were killed and 135 are missing in Laos, Agence France-Presse reported. Ketsana is the name of a tree in Laos, according to the Hong Kong Observatory, which lists names in use for Pacific storms on its Web site. Parma is the name of a ham and chicken- liver dish in Macau. The Philippines weather agency , which refers to Parma as Pepeng, yesterday raised its No. 3 storm signal in Catanduanes province, meaning winds of 100 to 185 kph are expected, and its No. 2 signal over the rest of eastern Luzon. A gale warning was issued for islands to the southeast of Luzon. Rice farmers raced to save their crops. “Every community member is now harvesting rice,” said Telesforo Castillejos, governor of Batanes, the country’s northernmost province. “The grains are not ripe enough but we can’t afford to lose the harvest.” To contact the reporters on this story: Francisco Alcuaz Jr . in Manila at falcuaz@bloomberg.net ; Clarissa Batino in Manila at cbatino@bloomberg.net

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Philippines Begins Evacuation to Shelters as Typhoon Parma Heads for Luzon

October 1, 2009

By Aaron Sheldrick and Francisco Alcuaz Jr. Oct. 2 (Bloomberg) — The Philippines started evacuations as Typhoon Parma headed for Luzon, where recovery efforts continue after Tropical Storm Ketsana devastated Manila and other parts of the island six days ago, leaving 280 people dead. Authorities began moving people from provinces north and southeast of Manila into shelters, Philippine Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro said in an interview on ABS-CBN television. Parma’s center was 564 kilometers (290 miles) east of the city of Daet in southeastern Luzon at 2 a.m. Manila time today, according to the U.S. Navy Joint Typhoon Warning Center . The typhoon is forecast to make landfall after 8 a.m. tomorrow. The typhoon is forecast to bring more rain to areas already devastated by Ketsana, which earlier this week left more than 100 people dead in Vietnam and Cambodia. In Indonesia, rescue workers are searching for survivors in Padang in Sumatra, where an earthquake two days ago left 230 people dead. In the South Pacific, a recovery operation is underway after a tsunami killed more than 150. “It is almost unprecedented for any region to experience so many disasters over such a short period of time,” United Nations Under-Secretary-General Noeleen Heyzer said in a statement. “The disasters of the past week remind us that Asia Pacific is the worlds’ disaster hot spot.” Parma’s winds decreased to 222 kilometers per hour from 241 yesterday. The typhoon remains a Category 4 storm, the second- strongest on the Saffir-Simpson scale , and is forecast to regain strength before making landfall, according to the center. Preparing for Landfall The Philippines Navy assembled a task force in northern Luzon to prepare for Parma’s landfall, spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Edgard Arevalo said in a phone interview yesterday. The Air Force will send trucks and rubber boats to facilitate evacuations, Air Force spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Gerardo Zamudio said. The Philippines weather agency , which refers to Parma as Pepeng, raised its No. 2 storm signal for areas of southeastern Luzon today, meaning winds of between 60 and 100 kph are expected. A gale warning was issued for islands to the southeast of Luzon. Ketsana blew across Luzon on Sept. 26 dumping a month’s worth of rain in six hours and flooding most of Manila and surrounding areas. More than 3 million people were affected by Ketsana and 676,235 are in evacuation centers, the Philippines disaster council said in its latest report. Forty-two people are missing. The Philippine government has declared a “state of calamity” for the Manila metropolitan region and other parts of Luzon island as well as Mindoro island to the south. Ketsana smashed into central Vietnam on Sept. 29 as a typhoon with winds of 167 kph, killing at least 92 people in the country. Nineteen people were missing. The storm left at least 14 people dead in Cambodia after crossing Vietnam, Agence France-Presse reported yesterday. Ketsana is the name of a tree in Laos, according to the Hong Kong Observatory, which lists names in use for Pacific storms on its Web site. Parma is the name of a ham and chicken liver dish in Macau. To contact the reporters on this story: Aaron Sheldrick in Tokyo at asheldrick@bloomberg.net ; Francisco Alcuaz Jr . in Manila at falcuaz@bloomberg.net .

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House’s Lynch Is Second Democrat to Enter Race for Kennedy’s Senate Seat

September 4, 2009

By Tom Moroney Sept. 4 (Bloomberg) — A second Democratic officeholder in Massachusetts is moving to enter the race to succeed Edward Kennedy in the U.S. Senate, not waiting for the late senator’s nephew, Joseph Kennedy II , to say whether he will run. A representative for Representative Stephen Lynch , a Boston Democrat, took out nomination papers this morning for the Jan. 19 special election, according to Brian McNiff , spokesman for Massachusetts Secretary of State William Galvin . Calls to Lynch’s office weren’t immediately returned. Attorney General Martha Coakley , 56, announced her candidacy yesterday, saying in an interview that “this decision is so important it should be decided by the voters on the merits, not on the last name.” Joseph Kennedy , a former congressman also 56, hasn’t spoken publicly since an Aug. 28 memorial ceremony for his uncle at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library & Museum , where he asked the audience to rededicate themselves to public service. He would bring to the contest his famous name, as well as a $2 million funding head start for the five-month campaign, according to John Sasso, a Democratic consultant for the presidential campaigns of Massachusetts Senator John Kerry in 2004 and former Governor Michael Dukakis in 1988. High Favorability Kennedy, the founder of Citizens Energy Corp., a Boston- based non-profit group that assists low-income residents, also topped the field in a March survey of favorability ratings, scoring 67 percent compared with 56 percent for Coakley. Kennedy’s mark was “unbelievable,” especially since it was taken in a down economy when people lean toward a dim view of politicians, pollster David Paleologos of Boston’s Suffolk University said in an interview today. In the survey of 400 Massachusetts voters, Kennedy did well with older voters and union members, Paleologos said. The influence of these two groups is magnified in this cycle because the primary is Dec. 8, at a time of year when other voter groups may show a drop in participation, he said. Only three of the 400 surveyed said they would like to see Kennedy’s widow, Victoria Reggie Kennedy , run. Lynch, 54, a former ironworker who earned a degree from Boston College Law School , is positioned as the more conservative of other Democrats who may be running, according to Tufts University political scientist Jeffrey Berry . Split Vote? The more liberals who get into the race and split the vote, the more Lynch’s chances improve, although he starts with relatively low name recognition, Berry said. While Berry says Coakley has high name recognition and the ability to raise funds, the candidate said yesterday she starts “with zero” because her state campaign money can’t be used in a federal race. Martin Meehan , a former Democratic congressman now chancellor of the University Massachusetts in Lowell, said in an interview he’ll decide by the end of this week whether to run. Other possible contenders are Democratic Representatives Michael Capuano , Edward Markey , James McGovern and William Delahunt . On the Republican side, there is former Lieutenant Governor Kerry Healey . Former Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling , a registered independent who supported Republican John McCain ’s presidential bid last year, said he is considering a run. Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick is working with lawmakers to change a state law and allow him to appoint an interim senator to serve before the election decides who will serve out Kennedy’s term which runs through 2012. To contact the reporter on this story: Tom Moroney in Boston at tmorrone@bloomberg.net

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Massachusetts’ Coakley Signals Intent to Pursue Kennedy’s U.S. Senate Seat

September 1, 2009

By Tom Moroney Sept. 1 (Bloomberg) — Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley is the first major candidate to take out nomination papers to compete in a Jan. 19 special election to replace the late Senator Edward Kennedy . The paperwork was picked up today by a campaign staffer at Secretary of State William Galvin’s office, according to Kevin Conroy, a Coakley campaign official. Coakley’s move comes before two Kennedy family members mentioned as possible successors, nephew Joseph P. Kennedy II , a former congressman, and the senator’s widow, Victoria Reggie Kennedy , announce their intentions. Asked why Coakley didn’t wait for the Kennedys to decide, Coakley spokeswoman Alex Zaroulis, said, “Why should she?” Zaroulis declined to elaborate. “She’s not waiting for a signal,” said Tufts University political scientist Jeffrey Berry . “She’s sending a signal to others that she’s in.” Still, “if a Kennedy jumps in, it’s up for grabs,” Berry said. “I don’t think there’s a clear favorite.” Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick said yesterday that Victoria Kennedy has ruled out filling in for her late husband until the January election. Energy Group A message left at Citizen’s Energy Corp., a non-profit group Joseph Kennedy founded to assist low-income residents, wasn’t immediately returned. Other possible contenders include Democratic U.S. Representatives Stephen Lynch , Michael Capuano , Edward Markey , James McGovern and William Delahunt . Former Representative Martin Meehan , also a Democrat, may also run as well as former Lieutenant Governor Kerry Healey , a Republican. Kennedy died of brain cancer on Aug. 25, after almost 47 years in the Senate. He was the last surviving son of the political dynasty that included his brothers John, the nation’s 35th president, and Robert, who served as attorney general in his brother’s Cabinet and later as a senator from New York. To contact the reporter on this story: Tom Moroney in Boston at tmorrone@bloomberg.net

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Patrick Designates Jan. 19 for Special Election to Pick Kennedy Successor

August 31, 2009

By Tom Moroney and Heidi Przybyla Aug. 31 (Bloomberg) — Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick designated a Jan. 19 special election to choose a successor to the late Senator Edward Kennedy and said he will work with lawmakers on allowing a temporary appointment in the meantime. “Massachusetts voters will have their opportunity to fill this Senate vacancy,” Patrick said today at a press conference at the Massachusetts Statehouse in Boston. Appointing an interim senator is “the only way to make sure Massachusetts is fully represented until the voters” participate in the special election, he said. Choosing someone to temporarily fill Kennedy’s seat requires a change in state law, which currently specifies only that a special election be held five months after a U.S. Senate vacancy occurs. A joint legislative committee has scheduled a Sept. 9 hearing on legislation to change the law. Kennedy’s death Aug. 25 at age 77 of brain cancer set off a week of tributes ending with a funeral in Boston and burial in Arlington National Cemetery on Aug 29. Meanwhile, state politicians have been working behind the scenes on a succession plan. Republicans, vastly outnumbered in the Massachusetts House and Senate, have accused the Democrats of hypocrisy for trying to change the law. Massachusetts Democrats, not wanting then-Governor Mitt Romney , a Republican, to appoint a senator to succeed John Kerry if his presidential bid succeeded, changed the law in 2004 to require a special election within 145 to 160 days of a vacancy. Letter From Kennedy Before he died, Kennedy wrote a letter asking that the law be amended to allow for an interim officeholder so the seat doesn’t sit vacant before the special election. Allowing Patrick, a Democrat, to appoint an interim successor to Kennedy would preserve the party’s 60-vote control of the Senate, the minimum needed to end debate and force action on legislation. Health-care legislation is a top priority for President Barack Obama , as it was for Kennedy. The chairman of the House committee that would instigate the legislative change said in an interview last week that state lawmakers could have a bill on Patrick’s desk by the end of September. The day Patrick signs it, he can appoint an interim senator, according to Chairman Michael Moran, a Boston Democrat. Democrats outnumber Republicans in the Massachusetts House 144 to 16 and 35 to 5 in the Senate. Possible candidates in the special election include Democratic U.S. Representatives Stephen Lynch , Michael Capuano , Edward Markey , James McGovern and William Delahunt . State Attorney General Martha Coakley and former Representative Martin Meehan , both Democrats, may also contend as well as former Lieutenant Governor Kerry Healey , a Republican. To contact the reporter on this story: Tom Moroney in Boston at tmorrone@bloomberg.net ; Heidi Przybyla in Washington at hhprzybyla@bloomberg.net

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Senate Democrats Push Back Climate Bill’s Schedule Amid Health-Care Debate

August 31, 2009

By Tom Moroney and Heidi Przybyla Aug. 31 (Bloomberg) — Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick said he will work with state lawmakers to allow appointment of a temporary replacement for the late Senator Edward Kennedy before a Jan. 19 special election to choose someone to serve out his term. “Massachusetts voters will have their opportunity to fill this Senate vacancy,” Patrick said today at a press conference at the Massachusetts Statehouse in Boston. Appointing an interim senator is “the only way to make sure Massachusetts is fully represented until the voters of the state elect our next senator in January,” said Patrick, who didn’t offer names of potential interim replacements. He said he would seek “personal assurance” that the individual won’t run in the special election. Kennedy’s term runs through 2012. Choosing someone to temporarily fill Kennedy’s seat requires a change in state law, which currently specifies only that a special election be held five months after a U.S. Senate vacancy occurs. A joint legislative committee has scheduled a Sept. 9 hearing on whether to change the law. The chairman of the House committee that would instigate the legislative change said that state lawmakers could have a bill on Patrick’s desk by the end of September. The day Patrick signs it, he can appoint an interim senator, according to Chairman Michael Moran, a Boston Democrat. He said potential interim officeholders are former Governor Michael Dukakis and former state Senate President Robert Travaglini . Week of Tributes Kennedy’s death Aug. 25 at age 77 of brain cancer set off a week of tributes ending with a funeral in Boston and burial in Arlington National Cemetery on Aug 29. Meanwhile, state politicians have been working behind the scenes on a succession plan. Republicans, vastly outnumbered in the Massachusetts House and Senate, have accused the Democrats of hypocrisy for trying to change the law. Massachusetts Democrats, not wanting then-Governor Mitt Romney , a Republican, to appoint a senator to succeed John Kerry if his presidential bid succeeded, changed the law in 2004 to require a special election within 145 to 160 days of a vacancy. Before he died, Kennedy wrote a letter asking that the law be amended to allow for an interim officeholder so the seat doesn’t sit vacant before the special election. 60 Votes Allowing Patrick, a Democrat, to appoint an interim successor to Kennedy would preserve the party’s 60-vote control of the Senate, the minimum needed to end debate and force action on legislation. Health-care legislation is a top priority for President Barack Obama , as it was for Kennedy. Patrick said the move is the best possible compromise. “You want me to be honest? I don’t need this headache,” the governor said, referring to the “political business” of having to say “yes” to some groups and “no” to others. “This seems to me to be a nice and rather elegant compromise. It leaves in place and respects the current law,” he said. “But it ensures the continuity of our representation.” Democrats outnumber Republicans in the Massachusetts House 144 to 16 and 35 to 5 in the Senate. Possible candidates in the special election include Democratic U.S. Representatives Stephen Lynch , Michael Capuano , Edward Markey , James McGovern and William Delahunt . State Attorney General Martha Coakley and former Representative Martin Meehan , both Democrats, may also contend as well as former Lieutenant Governor Kerry Healey , a Republican. To contact the reporter on this story: Tom Moroney in Boston at tmorrone@bloomberg.net ; Heidi Przybyla in Washington at hhprzybyla@bloomberg.net

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Massachusetts’ Patrick Plans Interim Successor to Kennedy Followed by Vote

August 31, 2009

By Tom Moroney and Heidi Przybyla Aug. 31 (Bloomberg) — Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick designated a Jan. 19 special election to choose a successor to the late Senator Edward Kennedy and said he will work with lawmakers on allowing a temporary appointment in the meantime. “Massachusetts voters will have their opportunity to fill this Senate vacancy,” Patrick said today at a press conference at the Massachusetts Statehouse in Boston. Appointing an interim senator is “the only way to make sure Massachusetts is fully represented until the voters” participate in the special election, he said. Choosing someone to temporarily fill Kennedy’s seat requires a change in state law, which currently specifies only that a special election be held five months after a U.S. Senate vacancy occurs. A joint legislative committee has scheduled a Sept. 9 hearing on legislation to change the law. Kennedy’s death Aug. 25 at age 77 of brain cancer set off a week of tributes ending with a funeral in Boston and burial in Arlington National Cemetery on Aug 29. Meanwhile, state politicians have been working behind the scenes on a succession plan. Republicans, vastly outnumbered in the Massachusetts House and Senate, have accused the Democrats of hypocrisy for trying to change the law. Massachusetts Democrats, not wanting then-Governor Mitt Romney , a Republican, to appoint a senator to succeed John Kerry if his presidential bid succeeded, changed the law in 2004 to require a special election within 145 to 160 days of a vacancy. Letter From Kennedy Before he died, Kennedy wrote a letter asking that the law be amended to allow for an interim officeholder so the seat doesn’t sit vacant before the special election. Allowing Patrick, a Democrat, to appoint an interim successor to Kennedy would preserve the party’s 60-vote control of the Senate, the minimum needed to end debate and force action on legislation. Health-care legislation is a top priority for President Barack Obama , as it was for Kennedy. The chairman of the House committee that would instigate the legislative change said in an interview last week that state lawmakers could have a bill on Patrick’s desk by the end of September. The day Patrick signs it, he can appoint an interim senator, according to Chairman Michael Moran, a Boston Democrat. Democrats outnumber Republicans in the Massachusetts House 144 to 16 and 35 to 5 in the Senate. Possible candidates in the special election include Democratic U.S. Representatives Stephen Lynch , Michael Capuano , Edward Markey , James McGovern and William Delahunt . State Attorney General Martha Coakley and former Representative Martin Meehan , both Democrats, may also contend as well as former Lieutenant Governor Kerry Healey , a Republican. To contact the reporter on this story: Tom Moroney in Boston at tmorrone@bloomberg.net ; Heidi Przybyla in Washington at hhprzybyla@bloomberg.net

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Massachusetts Democrats Pushing Interim Kennedy Successor by Next Month

August 27, 2009

By Tom Moroney Aug. 27 (Bloomberg) — Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick could temporarily replace the late U.S. Senator Edward Kennedy as early as the fourth week in September under a timetable being considered by Democratic members of the Legislature, a key committee chairman said today. “It is possible to get it done” by Sept. 24 or 25, said state Representative Michael Moran , a Boston Democrat and co- chairman of the Joint Committee on Election Laws. “Is it likely? I can’t answer that,” he said in an interview today. “There are too many moving parts.” Allowing the governor to name an interim replacement would mean changing current law, which calls for a special election within five months of a Senate vacancy. There are no provisions for a temporary appointment. When John Kerry , then the junior senator from Massachusetts, was running for president in 2004, the governor was Mitt Romney , 62, a Republican. The law at the time empowered the governor to appoint a replacement. The Democrat-controlled legislature changed the law to require a special election to keep Romney from appointing a Republican. Then Kerry lost the election to incumbent President George W. Bush , 63. Kennedy Letter The week before his death, Kennedy sent a letter to Patrick, a fellow Democrat, urging him to persuade lawmakers to change the law so that someone could fill in before the special election. Kennedy argued in the letter that Massachusetts should have a mechanism to allow for the full complement of two senators as soon as possible after a resignation or death. Possible candidates in the special election include Democratic U.S. Representatives Stephen Lynch , Michael Capuano , Edward Markey , James McGovern and William Delahunt . State Attorney General Martha Coakley and former Representative Martin Meehan , both Democrats, could also contend as well as former Lieutenant Governor Kerry Healey , a Republican. A Democratic interim appointee would help keep the party’s 60-vote majority needed to maintain U.S. Senate support for health-care legislation, a top priority for President Barack Obama . Sixty votes are the minimum needed to end debate and force a vote on a bill. Kennedy had called health care “the cause of my life.” “Any time you get a letter from Ted Kennedy , you certainly read it and consider whether you can accommodate him,” Moran said. Sept. 17 Hearing The timetable outlined by Moran starts with a possible Sept. 17 hearing by the committee he co-chairs with state Senator Thomas Kennedy. “That’s the date that’s been under discussion,” Kennedy, a Democrat who isn’t related to Edward Kennedy, said. “I caution that there is no agreement on this, but it’s the one we’ve been talking about.” Procedurally, the bill would be heard by the committee on that Thursday. The panel would then go into executive session to poll the members. A report would be issued and the entire Legislature could vote within days, possibly by the end of the next week, Sept. 24 or 25. Patrick, in an interview with the Boston public radio station WBUR yesterday, said he would sign such a bill when it lands on his desk. As soon as he signs, Moran said, he could choose the interim replacement. ‘Biggest Hurdle’ “The biggest hurdle is that nobody, including me, wants to see this is as a handoff,” that is, having the governor appoint someone temporarily who then becomes the frontrunner in the special election for the permanent seat, Moran said. Lawmakers are negotiating the final language, trying to decide what wording best prevents that from happening, said state Representative Robert Koczera , a Democrat who represents the New Bedford area. Koczera filed a bill in January to change the current law and allow for an interim U.S. senator. Koczera said he had heard legislative leaders were working to schedule a hearing by mid-September. It was unlikely there would be any official announcement “out of respect” until after Kennedy’s Aug. 29 funeral. Democrats control both the Massachusetts House and Senate. Republican leaders who oppose the change could stall the process, said state Senator Robert O’Leary, a Cape Cod Democrat. The timetable Moran described is possible, “but if Republicans wanted to slow it down, they could,” O’Leary said from his cell phone as he was stationed on a road in Hyannis watching the Kennedy motorcade leave for Boston with the senator’s casket and family members. Republican Opposition “In all honesty, if they think they want to do that, they can get it through,” said Massachusetts House Minority Leader Bradley Jones , a North Reading Republican who has been outspoken in his opposition. There are only 16 Republicans in the 160-member Massachusetts House and five in the 40-member Senate. Jones said the Democrats were being hypocritical because his party tried in vain to change the law for an interim appointee as early as 2004. “It shows Democrats don’t care about principle. They don’t care about debate. They don’t care about the rules,” he said. “It really is disgusting.” Moran disputed the charge, saying the Republicans were after a long-term appointment whereas the Democrats now are looking for a temporary measure. Obama will stay out of the debate, Bill Burton , deputy White House press secretary, told reporters in Oak Bluffs, Massachusetts, where the president is vacationing with his family. “It’s not a scale he’s going to put his thumb on,” Burton said. Selecting a replacement for Kennedy is “for the people, legislature and the governor of Massachusetts to decide.” To contact the reporter on this story: Tom Moroney in Boston at tmorrone@bloomberg.net

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Three American Troops, One French Soldier Killed in Attacks in Afghanistan

August 1, 2009

By Molly Peterson Aug.

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Pentagon, Eyeing Iran Threat, Wants to Rush 30,000-Pound Bomb Deployment

August 1, 2009

By Tony Capaccio July 31 (Bloomberg) — The U.S. Defense Department wants to accelerate by three years the deployment of a 30,000-pound bunker-buster bomb, a request that reflects growing unease over nuclear threats from Iran and North Korea. Comptroller Robert Hale , in a formal request to the four congressional defense committees earlier this month, asked permission to shift about $68 million in the Pentagon’s budget to this program to ensure the first four bombs could be mounted on stealthy B-2 bombers by July 2010. Hale, in his July 8 request, said there was “an urgent operational need for the capability to strike hard and deeply buried targets in high-threat environments,” and top commanders of U.S.

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Gates Pledges U.S. Aid to Iraq on Disputes Over Oil Resources, Boundaries

July 28, 2009

By Viola Gienger July 29 (Bloomberg) — Visiting Defense Secretary Robert Gates said the U.S. is prepared to help Iraq resolve disputes over oil resources and boundaries as American commanders place Arab-Kurdish tensions atop the list of biggest concerns

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