Former Russian President Boris Yeltsin’s funeral was today in Moscow. Yeltsin
faced down resurgent Communists at a critical moment in the final days of
the Soviet Union, but leaves a mixed legacy as Russia’s first democratically
elected president.
** PRISON BREAK. There are many details in the compromise on the California prison crisis announced by Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata and Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez. But I’m not a prison policy expert and will not become one late today.
To make a long story short, the plan calls for lots of new construction, though not so much as Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger proposed, tied to the implementation of more rehabilitation programs and a call for stronger management practices in the state corrections department. The deal provides for 53,000 new inmate beds, in two phases of construction. The second phase kicks in after benchmarks on delivering rehab and improving management are met.
The total cost of the program would be $6.1 billion, with $1.2 billion in local matching funds, funded by revenue lease bonds, along with $350 million from the state’s general fund. Revenue lease bonds do not require a public vote, but are usually more expensive than other bonds. There would be no early release of inmates.
** THERE IS A CALIFORNIA PRISON DEAL. MORE DETAILS TO FOLLOW.
** SCHWARZENEGGER SAYS HE WILL SUE BUSH ADMINISTRATION. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger today sent a letter to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency providing legally required formal six-month notice of his intent to sue the agency if it fails to grant approval to California to regulate greenhouse gases. The former action movie superstar reiterated the threat in a phone call today to EPA chief Stephen Johnson.
The Bush Administration had maintained that there was no legal authority under the Clean Air Act to regulate greenhouse gases. But the US Supreme Court held differently a couple of weeks ago, saying that greenhouse gases are clearly pollutants covered by the act. California has the ability to regulate air pollutants on its own autority, but requires a formal waiver from the EPA do so. The Schwarzenegger requested that nod in 2005, after the Air Resources Board had developed regulations to implement a 2002 law to sharply curtail tailpipe emissions of greenhouse gases. Last year, California enacted an additional omnibus act to cut greenhouse gas emissions causing global warming.
“I have called on the federal government to expedite California’s request, and now with a Supreme Court decision behind us, the time to act is now. If the federal government once again fails to act, we have an obligation to take legal action,” said Schwarzenegger. “Californians clearly want to protect our environment. The U.S. EPA must act aggressively to grant our waiver so we can begin reducing greenhouse gas emissions.”
** SOUTH CAROLINA DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE TOMORROW NIGHT. Don’t forget that the first Democratic presidential debate takes place tomorrow night in South Carolina, from 4 PM to 5:30 PM Pacific time. You can watch it on MSNBC and msnbc.com.
South Carolina will be the fourth state in the presidential nomination contests for both the Democratic and Republican parties in 2008, following Iowa, Nevada, and New Hampshire. During the debate, John Edwards will urge the firing of presidential political counselor Karl Rove.
** NUNEZ BACKS CLINTON ON VIDEO. Here is video of Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez explaining why he backs Senator Hillary Clinton for president.
** RICE TO TALK WITH RUSSIANS ON MISSILE SHIELD. With Defense Secretary Bob Gates having tried and apparently failed to assuage Russian anger about the proposed US missile defense shield in Eastern Europe on a visit to Moscow, Secretary of State Condi Rice will take her shot in side talks during her trip to the NATO foreign ministers meeting in Oslo, Norway. Gates offered Russia participation in the shield project, but was turned down. Russian rhetoric has become somewhat heated about the shield project, with top generals saying Russian missile technology can defeat the US project.
** CLINTON WITH SLIGHT EDGE IN SOUTH CAROLINA. And speaking of tomorrow’s South Carolina Democratic presidential debate, a new poll by Garin-Hart-Yang Research shows Hillary Clinton with a narrow lead over Barack Obama, 31% to 28%. John Edwards, a native of the state who won the South Carolina primary in 2004, is third with 21%. Roughly half of the vote in 2004 was from the African American community. Clinton leads Obama there, 40% to 35%, with Edwards way behind at 9%.
** NUNEZ CO-CHAIRS CLINTON’S NATIONAL CAMPAIGN. As first reported here yesterday, and again in the morning column, Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez has endorsed Senator Hillary Clinton for president. In addition to a leading role in her California campaign, Nunez is a national co-chairman of her presidential campaign. Clinton and Nunez made the announcement via conference call, Nunez in Sacramento and Clinton in Washington, where she is preparing for tomorrow’s debate in South Carolina.
** MCCAIN FORMALLY ANNOUNCES CANDIDACY. Senator John McCain formally announces his candidacy today in a New Hampshire address. His announcement tour takes him to Iowa, South Carolina, and Nevada before ending up at home in Arizona on Saturday. McCain is languishing in national polls, well behind Rudy Giuliani, but is strong in Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina.
Among his announcement remarks: “We are fighting a war in two countries, and we’re in a global struggle with violent extremists who despise us, our values and modernity itself. If we are to succeed, we must rethink and rebuild the structure and mission of our military; the capabilities of our intelligence and law enforcement agencies; the purposes of our alliances; the reach and scope of our diplomacy; the capacity of all branches of government to defend us. We need to marshal all elements of American power: our military, economy, investment, trade and technology. We need to strengthen our alliances and build support in other nations. We must preserve our moral credibility, and remember that our security and the global progress of our ideals are inextricably linked.
“We all know the war in Iraq has not gone well. We have made mistakes and we have paid grievously for them. We have changed the strategy that failed us, and we have begun to make a little progress. But in the many mistakes we have made in this war, a few lessons have become clear. America should never undertake a war unless we are prepared to do everything necessary to succeed, unless we have a realistic and comprehensive plan for success, and unless all relevant agencies of government are committed to that success. We did not meet this responsibility initially. And we must never repeat that mistake again.
“We must also prepare, far better than we have, to respond quickly and effectively to another terrorist attack or natural calamity. When Americans confront a catastrophe, natural or man-made, they have a right to expect basic competence from their government. They won’t accept that firemen and policemen are unable to communicate with each other in an emergency because they don’t have the same radio frequency. They won’t accept government’s failure to deliver bottled water to dehydrated babies or rescue the infirm from a hospital with no electricity. They won’t accept substandard care and indifference for wounded veterans. …
“Our dependence on foreign sources of energy not only harms our environment and economy, it endangers our security. So much of the oil we import comes from countries in volatile regions of the world where our values aren’t shared and our interests aren’t a priority.”
** YELTSIN FUNERAL IN MOSCOW. Former Presidents Bill Clinton and George Bush were on hand at Christ the Savior Church in Moscow for the funeral of former Russian President Boris Yeltsin. Yeltsin faced down would-be military coup leaders in the streets of Moscow when hardline Communists attempted to overthrow reformer Mikhail Gorbachev during the last stages of the Soviet Union and became Russia’s first democratically elected president.
But Russia’s new democracy and capitalist economy proved quite chaotic. The Yeltsin transition led to the rise of a highly-connected oligarchy controlling the key elements of the post-Soviet economy, as the dash for cash led to astounding riches for a few (Moscow leads the world in billionaires) and endless disappointment for most of the rest. The political transition was wracked by chaotic alignments, violence and contract murders, all of it with an overlay of regret and shame over the nation’s precipitous fall from superpower status.
Vladimir Putin was his handpicked choice as successor. Putin has stabilized the country and restored a greater sense of pride, but in so doing made it much more authoritarian. Yet Yeltsin did hold the country together and prevented its vast storehouses of advanced weaponry from destabilizing the world. His frequent public drunkenness embarrassed, but he had a good heart. If he lacked the vision of Gorbachev, he possessed more than enough of the Russian soul to see his rodina through one of its most difficult passages.
** Track global and national energy prices in near real time via Bloomberg. Crude oil prices are in the $64 to $65 per barrel range.
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| Comments (47) |
McCain took a big shot at Giuliani with that mismatched radio frequency crack.
McCain gave that speech well.
I always thought Yeltsin was a joke.
Missed it but apparently McCain had a bad night on THE DAILY SHOW.
I can’t begin to find the words for Mr. Yeltsin.
Yelsin’s death
When I heard about his death on Monday…I was reading about Saint George…and I though how appropriate and even wonderful for him to die on Saint George’s memorial day. For those that have been to Moscow you may or may not know that there are many statues of Saint George…that is because he is the patron saint of Moscow, he is also the patron saint of the Palestinian Christians…and the city of Beirut. It was actually among the Palestinians that I first learned about Saint George. He was born in what is now the city of Lod in Israel…the was a Roman soldier, a great horseman (he is the patron of horses also) and the most famous story has him is that he saved a princess by slaying a dragon..every Palestinian child I met could recount this story.
Yeltsin was no doubt a dragon slayer …as is his successor….unfortunately, unlike Saint George, they both have many dragons to slay not just one….when you have more than one dragon to slay and all have the ability to be very destructive, even destroy …you have pick and choose prudently which dragon to slay first…I am glad Yeltsin had much of his funeral in this great Church that he, Yeltsin, was responsible for rebuilding… The poor coverage here is very disappointing…
That’s a beautiful description.
I’m a little surprised by the lack of coverage in the US, especially given how much time is burned up on cable TV.
Thank You.
Terrible, the lack of coverage …what I have seen via Catholic Cable news and Russian news.. it was a beautiful state funeral…
Broadcast TV has the excuse of having a small newshole. But the cable news networks have all 24 hours.
Cable is getting as bad as everything else.
Missile shield
this is just the beginning of the public wrangling it has been going on privately for sometime…the US will have to sell this to the Czechs also…there is little evidence the votes are there in Czech parliament for us on this…Poland is different, we hold sway there… but very few other places in Europe…The Germans are not sold on this either, and they are the new leaders of Europe no matter who the French elect ….I assume the US has already hired a major PR firm to sell this …it’s biggest selling point:it is a big job creator…but it is right now viewed by many has yet another aggressive move by US into Europe’s affairs…the US too often assumes that what makes sense to us makes sense to everyone else in the world…doesn’t work that way
“Cable news” is mostly variations of Entertainment Tonight.
It looks like Israel is going into Gaza…it was clear they would …I was hoping it was more targeted …it looks now like it might be on a grander wider scale…this might get messy …hope not …but it might
And not long after they called for peace talks.
Hemlock:And not long after they called for peace talks
There is an internal battle going on in HAMAS…moderates understanding they are the real power now and can broker a political solution and run a state. They talk to Abbas and make agreements ….then there is a military militant faction that talks to Iran …they make agreements…IF Israel just goes in and targets.. the Saudi’s and Jordan will make little fuss …they back the moderates and are not interested in supporting Arabs working with Iran….BUT if Israel levels significant parts of Gaza kills many civilians…Gaza is teeming with children most starving and I mean that literally….then it makes it difficult for everyone…but especially Saudis and Jordan…which is a goal of the extremists
also…if Israel does move on Gaza it is due to the fact that it made a political calculation it cannot ignore this week’s attack…Hamas/Izz al-Deen al-Qassam Brigades launched 40 rockets and 70 mortar shells on parts of Israel bordering the Gaza … amidst Israel Independence Day celebrations around the country and after a 5 month lull of no attacks….
The idea of starting to deploy, practically on Russia’s western border, a “missile shield” that a) doesn’t work, b) might never work, c) funnels billions of dollars into addressing the wrong threat (like putting barbed wire around your windows while leaving the door hanging open), and d) is creating all kinds of tension with both Russia and NATO would be comical, if the impact on diplomacy wasn’t deadly serious.
Who is the shield against? Russia? So why would they invite Russia to be part of the shield?
I have never really understood the Middle East but, I really appreciate Barbara’s comments.
Barbara,
You have a way of taking difficult issues and making them a little easier to understand.
You got it.
>Ann :
Who is the shield against? Russia? So why would they invite Russia to be part of the shield?
Apr 25, 2007 02:21 PM
Crazy.
Roger Ailes (the blogger, not the head of FOX News) wrote about his attempt to get news on the Halberstam Crash and some breaking matters in Iraq. But despite turning to FOX, MSNBC, CNN, and CNN Headline, all he got was a repition of earlier stories – Nancy and Lary, and Preditors over at you-know-where. KIt was after nine PM and everything was repeated. Fact is, despite the claim to be 24/7 they pretty much shut down at nite. Funny thing was he did get an update on Halberstam from ESPN which does keep current and discussed his work in the context of his sportsbooks.
You’re right, the cable nets have a lot of dead time. Try to get coverage of important international events late at night. It doesn’t happen.
Incidentally, I don’t know if David Halberstam was wearing a seat belt yesterday, but the car he was riding in was broadsided on the passenger side as it turned left across a highway. The passenger side was crushed and he apparently died immediately of massive internal injuries.
Very sad.
And it was in that context that I saw my only criticism of Halberstam’s accuracy and one of the earlier critiques of MSM. Bill James, the baseball maven who practically founded the “Science” of “Sabremetrics” which takes Baseball Stats to new levels for the geek in all of us, had real harsh words for the errors and ommissions in “Summer of ’49″- Halberstam’s look at the pennant race that year between the Yankees and the Red Sox. James asked if Halberstam would have been as careless if the subject weren’t sports or, did this indcate just how wrong ours news sources were?
Interesting – you’ll find it in one of his books but I can’t remember which one. But he used to do an anuual analysis of the teams and the sport in general.
I think the installation in the Czech Republic is to protect us from Iran, or any other mid-East state that decides to develop nuclear missiles.
But of course, even if the mullahs did want to nuke us, why would they telegraph the action by launching a missile, whose origin site can be identified easily? Smuggling a weapon in is much safer. “It was the North Koreans, or the Pakistanis, or the Israelis, or it was us but the material was stolen.”
Which is why I find it infuriating that we’re wasting billions (of borrowed money, no less) on protecting against a non-threat, while ignoring port security, cargo screening, etc.
What that Nunez video shot in front of a greenscreen? I smell a Nunez/Colbert Greenscreen challenge!
Let’s not forget this JibJab classic!
http://www.jibjab.com/originals/originals/jibjab/movieid/33
Richard,
Just looked it up, James tood DH to task in 1991.
James doesn’t do much in the way of publishing these days as he’s an employee of the Boston Red Sox.
Thanks. BTW one of James’ acolytes wrote a book about him claiming it was James’ advice to the Red Sox that created the World Series Champs of 2004.
As for me, I always thought that James shorted the importance of defense. He could never seem to understand how the Orioles – in their glory years – could keep a Mark Belanger on the roster. Never seemed to notice that those teams always had a couple or more 20 game winners on them.
Ah Politics and Baseball – the two great national sports!
Richard,
New book out on him “How Bill James Changed Our Views of Baseball”
James is the grandfather of much of what is now called sabermetrics. Wonderful stuff…teaches us how there are more important things than batting average, runs batted in, wins and earned run average when judging players.
Think the later generation, like the folks at Baseball Prospectus and Hardball Times, are taking a harder look and giving more importance to defense.
Yes, exactly. Football and politics.
>Ah Politics and Baseball – the two great national sports!
Needs stronger special effects and a more taut storyline. Perhaps if he were menaced by rampaging giant bugs.
>Vladimir Bierko :
What that Nunez video shot in front of a greenscreen? I smell a Nunez/Colbert Greenscreen challenge!
Let’s not forget this JibJab classic!
http://www.jibjab.com/originals/originals/jibjab/movieid/ 33
Apr 25, 2007 04:37 PM
Missile defense system
Everyone these days is looking for a military edge…It’s true BMD technology is still unproven… but far more advanced than when it was discussed back in the Reagan days and the concept has been kicked around by President Bush and Clinton also much to Russia’s irritation then too….
It is being sold to guard US and Europe against Iran which makes sense and would be good if it works …but obviously it also helps protect Europe from Russia down the line which makes sense to many Europeans especially as Russia is growing more aggressive economically and politically and energy politics could become ugly .
The US is actually praying for and even counting on the Russians being not only onstructionists but very threatening verbally about this…as this should would play into the US hands and makes it easier to sell to Europe…It will be interesting to see if that is how Russia plays it…they have other ways to show their irritation with all this that could make our leaders all hot under the collar…we shall see
I would like to recommend going out to buy and read
“The Italian Letter” by Peter Eisner and Knut Royce
“How Bush Administration Used a Fake Letter To Build the case for war in Iraq”
very well written appears to be very well researched, accurate account, hence very disturbing
Funny you should mention that Barbara. I have my copy and was planning to read it tonight. Let you know what I think of it.
Bill one of the few things that I agree about with George Will is his description of football:
“Moments of Extreme Violence
interrupted by committee
meetings.”
Sounds like war, doesn’t it?
I’m trying to think of what is a more exciting pastime.
Reading a collection of George Will columns. Watching golf. Or …
Mr. Bradley,
Is there a problem with watching golf? And do you have a problem with Mr. Will, who just happens to be a life-long Cubs fan. Might explain a lot, but he’s still a fan.
Now, what’s your problem with golf?
Solon,
Nothing wrong with golf, but there are things better not watched.
Larry,
Can you think of a better way to take a nap?
As a golfer, I enjoy watching the skill of the professional players. And that’s on all four tours.
I watched all four rounds of the Masters and will probably do the same for the other three majors.
Boring by some folks standards, not mine. Watch the “action” and keep something by my side for those moments of “inaction”…hell almost sounds like watching the legislative process!
—-
Last call on the “Best and Brightest”…received it today. Someone in Sacto wants it…just let me know and I’ll drop it somewhere for you. As I said, no cost.
I like the idea of baseball better than the reality of baseball. Books and movies about it are enjoyable for me.
I think it’s far easier to be a football fan. It requires one or two days a week. Root for a baseball team an you’re in five or six nights per week.
I love the numbers of baseball and the history. Also enjoy the ability to watch the season as it moves through its various stages.
However, it’s a much better game to watch in person or listen to on the radio than it is to watch on television.
Solon,
My uncle was an excellent golfer, and I did a lot of caddying for him, back before carts. I tried golf, but found that my temperment when I was younger was all wrong for golf. I didn’t play it, I fought it, and that’s a fatal mistake.
I like this time of year–good hockey and good baseball. Amazing contrasts between the two. And for a really good column on radio baseball, see Jon Carroll’s column in Wednesday’s San Francisco Chronicle.
Football has become a very slow and deliberate game. Much like a politician afreaid to make a mistake.
Considering that I’m an F1 fan, and don’t have that day or two for football, much less a lot more for baseball …
>Sacramento Solon :
I think it’s far easier to be a football fan. It requires one or two days a week. Root for a baseball team an you’re in five or six nights per week.
Larry,
Thanks. Nice article.
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