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Politics : PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: pompsander who wrote (754181)	11/14/2006 12:43:39 PM
From: Hope Praytochange	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 769670

The big retreat in core inflation was certain to be welcomed at the Federal Reserve, where policymakers are hoping that a string of 17 consecutive rate hikes will slow the economy enough to cause a decline in inflation pressures, which had risen above the Fed's comfort zone. The central bank has left rates alone since August and analysts believe there will be no change when the Fed meets for the last time this year on Dec. 12. Unidentified shoppers pass the window display in the Guess store in Park Meadows Mall in the southeast Denver suburb of Lone Tree, Colo., on Sunday, Nov. 5, 2006. Inflation at the wholesale level plunged at a record pace in October, led by big declines in the price of gasoline and new cars. Wholesale prices fell 1.6 percent last month, tying the record decline set in October 2001, the Labor Department reported. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski) (David Zalubowski - AP) Partnership Resources for anyone who runs a small business or wants to start one. • Starting a Business • Small Business on the Net • Home-Based Businesses » FULL COVERAGE Updated Financial Features • Economic Calendar • Earnings Calendar • Upgrades & Downgrades • Most Actively Traded • Stock Chart Builder Save & Share Article What's This? DiggGoogle del.icio.usYahoo! RedditFacebook The big 0.9 percent drop in core inflation was a welcome development following a 0.6 percent spike in September. The big movements were attributed to car and truck prices, which drove core inflation higher in September and then acted to depress core inflation in October as dealers brought back sales incentives to move a huge backlog of unsold cars. Excluding new car prices, core inflation would have risen by a modest 0.1 percent in October. Energy prices dropped by 5 percent last month following an even larger 8.4 percent fall in September. Gasoline prices, which had been surging for much of the year, have fallen by about 80 cents since rising above $3 per gallon in early August. Gasoline prices were down 7.9 percent last month while natural gas, the most popular home heating source, fell by a record 9.3 percent. Food costs were down 0.8 percent in October as the price of vegetables, pork, chickens and beef all declined. Outside of food and energy, the 0.9 percent fall in core inflation was heavily influenced by the swing in auto prices. The category that includes sport utility vehicles fell by a record 9.7 percent while the price of passenger cars was down 2.3 percent. Computer prices fell by 3.1 percent, the biggest drop since June. The good news on wholesale inflation was expected to be seen in falling consumer prices as well. Analysts were predicting that prices at the retail level should drop by around 0.3 percent. The government will release that report on Thursday.

To: pompsander who wrote (754181)	11/14/2006 1:57:18 PM
From: Hope Praytochange	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 769670

But Mr. Murtha is also coming under the spotlight on another subject that dominated the campaign: Congressional ethics. He helped block changes in ethics policies that Democrats proposed last year. He has also been an astute backroom-deal maker known for trading votes for the pet projects known as earmarks. He has had family members who lobbied on issues under his control, and he was caught up in the Abscam corruption scandal more than 25 years ago, though he was never charged. The leader of one watchdog group said Monday that Mr. Murtha’s record should disqualify him for the No. 2 job, particularly since Democrats campaigned so hard against Republican corruption and have promised to make new ethics and lobbying rules a priority. “How can Americans believe that the Democrats will return integrity to the House when future Speaker Pelosi has endorsed an ethically challenged member for a leadership position?” asked Melanie Sloan, executive director of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, a Democratic-leaning group that focuses on government integrity. “Representative Murtha is the wrong choice for this job.” Mr. Murtha dismissed the attack and promised that, if elected majority leader, he would help formulate a strict ethics policy. “Wait until you see the ethics package we support and we pass,” he said. “No meals, no trips, nothing. I support it 100 percent.” Mr. Hoyer, who learned of Ms. Pelosi’s letter of support for Mr. Murtha while he was courting new Democratic members at a reception on Sunday, said he did not expect much of a shift in votes as a result of what he described as her low-key endorsement. “We have seen no sign of that,” Mr. Hoyer said. He and his allies say he has well more than a majority of Democrats pledged to back him in Thursday’s election, providing a cushion to account for any lawmakers who might stray in the secret ballot. Mr. Hoyer said Ms. Pelosi, with whom he has had an occasionally tense relationship since he unsuccessfully challenged her for party whip in 2001, had already told him she would vote for Mr. Murtha. But Mr. Hoyer said many of their colleagues believed that he and Ms. Pelosi had demonstrated a strong ability to work together over the past four years. “We got the victory,” he said. “Why change?” Ms. Pelosi’s preference for Mr. Murtha had been well known since he ran her campaign for House whip against Mr. Hoyer. In the past year, she has come to believe that Mr. Murtha did the party — and her — a service by putting his own military credentials behind a call to begin removing troops from Iraq. But the letter of support she provided Mr. Murtha was surprising, since it meant that Ms. Pelosi could be perceived as being weakened before she even takes her new office if Mr. Murtha falls short. Ms. Pelosi’s allies said she was willing to take the risk because of her deep loyalty to Mr. Murtha and since it was already assumed by many that she was working to advance his candidacy. She and her allies have also taken the view that Mr. Murtha’s scrapes regarding ethics should not be an impediment to his election. And some of his backers say the Abscam scandal of 1980 is ancient history. In that case, Mr. Murtha was among lawmakers caught on film being offered bribes by F.B.I. agents posing as Arab businessmen. Mr. Murtha, a protégé of Speaker Thomas P. O’Neill Jr., refused a bribe, saying he was not interested “at this point.” He went on to testify against some of those sent to prison, and the federal government chose not to indict him. He was cleared by the House ethics committee, but the committee counsel quit after the case was dropped. “It was 26 years ago,” said Representative Kendrick B. Meek, Democrat of Florida and a former Florida state trooper who is supporting Mr. Murtha. Mr. Meek said he and others believed that Democrats needed a close-knit leadership team at this critical point, avoiding conflict in the crucial positions. “We need a united top shelf,” he said. But Mr. Hoyer has won support from respected veterans who are in line to take over top committees, including Representatives Henry A. Waxman of California, John D. Dingell of Michigan, Barney Frank of Massachusetts and Ike Skelton of Missouri, along with Representative John Lewis of Georgia, a veteran of the civil rights struggle. He has also won public support from leading Democratic progressives and more than 20 of the incoming freshmen. Democrats on both sides of the leadership fight say that they wish the battle could have been avoided, in the interests of starting out together, but that such contests are a fact of life, particularly with the lure of new power. “They happen, and we will deal with them and see what happens,” said Representative George Miller, Democrat of California.

To: pompsander who wrote (754181)	11/14/2006 2:01:51 PM
From: longnshort	Respond to of 769670

Pelosi draws fire for backing Murtha By Charles Hurt November 14, 2006 House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi is under fire from fellow Democrats and outside liberals for publicly backing Rep. John P. Murtha's bid to become majority leader, saying that the presumed speaker's acts have cast doubt on her party's promise to clean up the "culture of corruption" in Washington. "How can Americans believe that the Democrats will return integrity to the House when future Speaker Pelosi has endorsed an ethically challenged member for a leadership position?" said Melanie Sloan, executive director of the liberal group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW). "Representative Murtha is the wrong choice for this job." Most notably, Mr. Murtha was an "unindicted co-conspirator" in the Abscam scandal of the 1980s when FBI agents posed as emissaries of an Arab sheik and lured several congressmen into a Capitol Hill town house to hand out $50,000 bribes. Mr. Murtha was among those offered money, but he declined. "I'm not interested. I'm sorry," he said, adding: "You know, we do business for a while, maybe I'll be interested, maybe I won't." The following year, the ethics panel in the then-Democrat-controlled House declined -- on a "near party-line vote," according to press accounts at the time -- to file ethics charges against the Pennsylvania Democrat. More recently, according to press reports and a dossier compiled by CREW, Mr. Murtha abused his position as ranking member of the defense appropriations subcommittee of the House Appropriations Committee to benefit clients of his brother, Robert "Kit" Murtha, who is a registered lobbyist. The $417 billion defense appropriations bill that went through the subcommittee in 2004 benefited at least 10 companies represented by Robert Murtha's firm, which lobbied the congressman directly, according to the group. "Future House Speaker Pelosi's endorsement of Rep. Murtha, one of the most unethical members of Congress, shows that she may have prioritized ethics reform merely to win votes with no real commitment to changing the culture of corruption," Ms. Sloan said. Pelosi spokeswoman Jennifer Crider dismissed the concerns and said Mr. Murtha "has addressed these issues." "Leader Pelosi will show that Democrats will change the way business is done in Washington," Ms. Crider said. But many Democrats adamantly oppose Mr. Murtha and say Mrs. Pelosi blundered badly by throwing her public support behind a tainted figure just one week after winning so many campaigns that promised to clean up corruption in Washington. "This is cloakroom conversation," one Democrat said. "This sends a very bad message as the first thing she's gotten involved in. The whole Abscam thing is a problem, and so is the whole wheeler-dealer thing." Rep. Steny H. Hoyer, the Maryland Democrat who now holds the whip position, has said he has the votes needed to win the majority-leader post in this week's elections among Democrats. Hoyer allies say he has the support of 13 of the 19 top Democrats in the House and public statements of support from at least 28 of the 40 new members. In addition to concerns about Mr. Murtha's background, many Hoyer supporters also say they are concerned about too much power in the hands of Mrs. Pelosi and one of her closest confidants -- Mr. Murtha. Mr. Hoyer provided a counterbalance as a Pelosi rival in past leadership elections, they say, which is why so many committee chairmen-to-be support him. Many centrist Democrats, whose ranks ballooned in the last election, also support Mr. Hoyer. "If moderates don't feel they have a voice in the leadership, Pelosi will have a problem because the moderates will revolt," one Democrat said. While Mr. Murtha has fewer public supporters, he's picked up one of the most influential. "I salute your courageous leadership that changed the national debate and helped make Iraq the central issue of this historic election," Mrs. Pelosi wrote in a personal letter to Mr. Murtha. "Your leadership gave so many Americans, including respected military leaders, the encouragement to voice their own disapproval at a failed policy ... . The enthusiastic response of Americans all across this nation gave an enormous lift to our Democratic efforts, and your unsurpassed personal solicitations produced millions of dollars." Republicans, meanwhile, sat back and enjoyed the first fight inside the new Democratic majority. "If this is the way Nancy Pelosi plans to clean up Washington, Republicans could be back in the majority sooner than they think," said one Republican staffer.