George Tiller, the Wichita doctor who became a national lightning rod in the debate over abortion, was shot to death this morning as he walked into church services.
Higher education could be left at just one-quarter of its current state funding levels in three years, according to a worst-case scenario released Friday by the LSU System.
The end result could be reducing state funding for colleges from $1.48 billion in 2008 to only $388 million in 2012.
Even closing several colleges would only put a dent in the onslaught of budget cuts by 2012, said Bob Keaton, LSU System special assistant and a former state Senate budget official.
The Baton Rouge Area Chamber and the business-funded Blueprint Louisiana group asked the Legislature on Thursday to eliminate all proposed budget cuts for higher education.
The request to the Senate Finance Committee was to allow colleges to evolve and adapt to the recession economy before instituting any of the proposed “draconian” cuts of 15 percent of their state funds.
The arguments from the business community were even stronger than from higher education officials, who have asked that their proposed $219 million in cuts be halved.
One House member said voters' reactions to the proposal will be key: a flood of e-mails and phone calls -- for or against the idea -- could determine its fate.
"This will depend on the public outcry," said Rep. Michael Danahay, D-Sulphur.
Sen. Lydia Jackson's bill would affect roughly a quarter of Louisiana taxpayers, most of them wealthy, who take federal itemized deductions on their state taxes. Those taxpayers can now take 65 percent of the deductions, but a 2007 law says they can take 100 percent of them starting with 2009 tax forms.
Though various military bases had been mobilized into a state of alert well before the advance team’s tour, Rumsfeld’s aversion to using active-duty troops was evident: “There’s no doubt in my mind,” says one of Bush’s close advisers today, “that Rumsfeld didn’t like the concept.”
The next day, three days after landfall, word of disorder in New Orleans had reached a fever pitch. According to sources familiar with the conversation, DHS secretary Michael Chertoff called Rumsfeld that morning and said, “You’re going to need several thousand troops.”
“Well, I disagree,” said the SecDef. “And I’m going to tell the president we don’t need any more than the National Guard.”
The problem was that the Guard deployment (which would eventually reach 15,000 troops) had not arrived—at least not in sufficient numbers, and not where it needed to be. And though much of the chaos was being overstated by the media, the very suggestion of a state of anarchy was enough to dissuade other relief workers from entering the city. Having only recently come to grips with the roiling disaster, Bush convened a meeting in the Situation Room on Friday morning. According to several who were present, the president was agitated. Turning to the man seated at his immediate left, Bush barked, “Rumsfeld, what the hell is going on there? Are you watching what’s on television? Is that the United States of America or some Third World nation I’m watching? What the hell are you doing?”
“The mayor is not a hands-on administrator,” Dr. Renwick said. “He’s more a big-picture guy. And fixing streetlights is small picture. There’s a bit of a disconnect there.”
Even as Gov. Bobby Jindal and Saints owner Tom Benson announced from New Orleans their proposed new deal Thursday, some legislators in Baton Rouge questioned whether the state could afford to support the professional football team.
“This is a great day for Saints fans and the whole state of Louisiana,” Jindal said at a news conference inside the Louisiana Superdome where he and Benson announced a complex deal to keep the team in New Orleans through 2025.
Members of the Legislature are being asked to make deep cuts in higher education and health-care programs. The state faces a $1.3 billion drop in revenue for the fiscal year that starts July 1 and must cut state services to balance Jindal’s $26.7 billion budget.
State Rep. Sam Jones, D-Franklin, echoed the comments of some House colleagues when he said Benson is wealthy enough to operate his business without help from the state.
Jones called the deal: “A welfare check for one of the richest men in Louisiana and we’re emptying our schools out.”
"I have a hold on the FEMA nomination because I sent a list of hurricane recovery questions and projects to FEMA, many of which have not been adequately addressed," Vitter said in a statement. "I'm eager to get full responses and meet with the nominee immediately."
The hold — which comes a month before the start of hurricane season — was reported in CQ Today, a Capitol Hill newspaper, which noted that Vitter's home state "bore the brunt of the botched agency response to Hurricane Katrina in 2005."
At that time, FEMA was led by Michael Brown, who had little emergency management experience. Fugate, however, garnered widespread praise for deft handling of back-to-back hurricanes in Florida and won bipartisan support at his confirmation hearing and was expected to be confirmed swiftly.
Today is May Day, and while International Workers’ Day (Labour Day in the UK), means little in the USA, its a big holiday in Europe. Banks and markets are closed on the continent, (England celebrates on Monday).
Speaking with Mike Panzner this morning (his clients are mostly Europeans) made me think about this: Which region is the true Socialist state?
-Europe has cradle to grave health care plans, generous unemployment benefits, and free or subsidized college costs.
-The US gives away public assets (oil, gas, mineral rights) for pennies on the dollar, has huge subsidies and tax breaks, and bails out reckless speculators.
It turns out that both regions are welfare states — only in Europe, the natural population (i.e., people) is the recipient, while in the US, the corporate population is the beneficiary.
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