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Hillary, Jeb Bush, Koch, Al Gore, More Special From NewsMax's Most Informed Sources
Headlines (Scroll down for complete stories):
1. Hillary Flip-Flops on Ethanol Hillary Clinton did a politically expedient about-face when she proposed to dramatically boost the use of ethanol in vehicles – just last year she voted against a bill calling for increased ethanol use. On May 23, with high gas prices on Americans' minds, Clinton called for $1 billion in grants for research on making ethanol from plant cellulose – found in a variety of organic materials including corn stalks, wheat straw, grass and wood – instead of making it exclusively from grain. But Clinton was one of 26 senators who opposed the energy bill passed by Congress in 2005 mandating the use of 7.5 billion gallons of ethanol by 2012. The bill included a 30 percent tax credit for the cost of installing pumps capable of dispensing fuel that is 85 percent ethanol, plus a program authored by Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, for subsidizing the production of ethanol from plant cellulose, the Des Moines Register reports.
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The Senator from New York explained her opposition to the ethanol mandate by telling the Greater Des Moines Partnerships: "I have to look to first protecting and supporting the needs of the people I represent right now." Clinton's recent proposal called for increasing the tax credit to 50 percent. Hillary's change of heart was noted by Judicial Watch Inc., which mused on its Corruption Chronicles Web site: "Could the sudden change have anything to do with the fact that, as a farm state, Iowa would benefit tremendously from corn-based ethanol consumption and the state just happens to host the caucuses that kick off the presidential nomination process?" But Cullen Sheehan, director of Iowa's Republican Party, accused Hillary of "transparent pandering" and said voters in the state won't be fooled by Hillary's shift: "Iowans remember her anti-ethanol past and are looking for strong leaders who won't run from their record and change positions whenever it's politically expedient."
2. Expert: Name Jeb Bush Envoy for the Americas Outgoing Florida Gov. Jeb Bush would be the perfect choice for the next White House special envoy for the Americas, a Washington insider declares. "With a slew of new, democratically elected leaders, the appointment of a new special envoy would be particularly timely as regional leaders and elites increasingly question the wisdom of a close relationship with the United States," Eric Farnsworth, vice president of the Council of the Americas, writes in the Miami Herald. "The appointment of a special envoy would provide a focal point, and a symbolic statement, of engagement at the most senior levels with new leaders chosen by the people themselves. "And there is nobody better suited to such a role, who would instantly reenergize the hemispheric conversation and advance and enhance the agenda, than Florida's current governor, Jeb Bush." Farnsworth, who served as the top policy official in the White House Office of the Special Envoy for the Americas from 1995 to 1998, pointed to these factors that make Jeb Bush a good choice for the envoy role:
"U.S. policy toward the Americas suffers from the perception -- rightly or wrongly -- that the region is a low priority on a long list of U.S. priorities and that the so-called leftward drift in the region is perceived -- again, rightly or wrongly -- both as a product of U.S. inattention as well as a threat to our interests," said Farnsworth.
"A special envoy with the ear of the president can bring needed senior level attention to matters that might otherwise get buried in the normal process." 3. Chechens Acquitted in Killing of Forbes Editor In a surprise verdict, two Chechen defendants have been found not guilty of gunning down Forbes magazine journalist Paul Klebnikov in Moscow – leaving open the question of who was behind the killing. U.S. citizen Klebnikov, a Doctor of the London School of Economics and the chief editor of the Russian version of Forbes, was shot and killed as he left his Moscow office on July 9, 2004. Klebnikov, 41, was known for his investigations into controversial privatizations in Russia in the 1990s. Russian prosecutors maintained that two Chechens, Musa Vakhaev and Kazbek Dukuzov, staked out Klebnikov's office and carried out a murder orchestrated by Chechen warlord Khozh-Akhmed Nukhaev, who was the subject of a book by Klebnikov, "Portrait of a Barbarian." During the trial – which was held behind closed doors – prosecutors said Dukuzov was the gunman, while Vakhaev drove their car to and from the scene. The evidence against the two men included cell phone records that put them close to the Forbes office on many evenings in the two weeks before the attack. There was also evidence that the two men were overheard saying they had a "big job" coming up and they would soon be receiving money from London. But Alexander Gordeyev, editor of the Russian Newsweek, who came to Klebnikov's side after the shooting, said the Forbes editor told him he had seen a "Russian" in the car, "meaning a man with features that tend to be lighter and finer than those of a person from the Caucasus region," according to Forbes. The not guilty verdict on May 5, which is being appealed by the government, is "not what you expect from the Russian judicial system, where juries seem to act like prosecutors' rubber stamps," Forbes reports. But the verdict should come as no surprise to a former high-ranking CIA official, who told NewsMax last June that Klebnikov was killed because of a project he was working on, not for something he'd already written. "He was investigating something very smelly," the former official – a specialist in Russian affairs – told NewsMax. Klebnikov's brother Mikhail said in an interview that he and other family members were "amazed" that investigators had blamed the killing on Nukhaev, who remains at large. "We never heard anything from Paul that would have led us to think that after the book came out, Mr. Nukhaev was unhappy with what was there." In fact, he said Klebnikov had given the impression that his conversations with Nukhaev while researching the book "were very interesting" and that "Nukhaev was satisfied to have the opportunity to express his point of view." The ex-CIA official said he heard that Klebnikov was "suspected of looking into a very delicate aspect of the money pipeline in Russia" at the time of his death. Just two and a half weeks before Klebnikov's murder, Yan Sergunin, a former vice-premier of Chechnya who had reportedly promised to provide Klebnikov with information helpful to his investigation of Russian corruption, was gunned down in a Moscow street. The Kommersant daily has cited investigators who said Klebnikov's murder was carried out to prevent him from publishing a new book about how senior officials stole federal funds earmarked for the reconstruction of Chechnya.
4. Koch Letter Lauds McCain Speech Former New York City Mayor Ed Koch was so impressed by Sen. John McCain's recent commencement address – and so outraged by students' behavior during the speech – that he wrote McCain a letter expressing his support. When McCain spoke on May 19 at the historically liberal New School in Manhattan, students heckled, booed and even tossed paper airplanes at the Republican from Arizona, who was shot down in Vietnam and spent years as a POW. "I don't do this very often, but I thought it was warranted in this case," Koch, a NewsMax columnist, said about his letter. "I believe that some of the students at the New School in welcoming the Senator engaged in behavior that disgraced them." In his letter to McCain, Koch writes that he had "just read the commencement address that you delivered at the New School and was very moved by it. It is brilliant and very appropriate with its call for tolerance – a call to listen to the words of others, particularly those with whom you are in disagreement. "That message to Americans is good advice at any time but particularly so today when we are at war with those who literally want to kill us. Abu Mus'ab Al-Zarqawi, second only to Osama bin Laden, summed up the hate that he and the international Islamic terrorists spew throughout the world when he said, ‘Killing infidels is our religion, slaughtering them is our religion, until they convert to Islam or pay us tribute.' "Your commencement address appeal to fellow Americans was exactly right." Koch cited several passages from McCain's address, including: "Let us argue with each other then. By all means, let us argue. Our differences are not petty, they often involve cherished beliefs, and represent our best judgment about what is right for our country and humanity. Let us defend those beliefs. Let's do so sincerely and strenuously… "Let us exercise our responsibilities as free people. But let us remember, we are not enemies. We are compatriots defending ourselves from a real enemy. We have nothing to fear from each other." Koch wrote: "Your entire speech is one of the best I have ever read, and I am going to share it with friends."
5. Al Gore Flush with Cash If Al Gore decides to run for president in 2008, he won't have much trouble funding at least part of his campaign – he's amassed a personal fortune since losing the White House race in 2000. A year before that election, Gore had a reported minimum net worth of only $800,000. Since then, the former vice president has been rolling in green from a variety of sources, according to Forbes magazine:
"He doesn't need the extra money," Forbes reports. "Unless he wants to run for president."
6. We Heard … THAT Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. rocks! Huntsman, who reportedly played rock and roll in his youth, joins some friends to jam at night in a soundproof room in the basement of the governor's mansion, according to Bryan Shiffer, an executive producer at station KUTV in Salt Lake City.
The station's main anchor Mark Koelbel was recently invited to sit in on drums with keyboardist Huntsman and friends. Selections during Koelbel's visit included Bachman-Turner Overdrive's "Taking Care of Business" and Chuck Berry's "Johnny B. Goode." THAT major Democratic donors seeking to counter the Republicans' edge in federal fund raising are considering strategies to raise money for several committees that would air TV ads to aid Democrats in tight races this November. "Several of these wealthy liberals are affiliated with the Democracy Alliance, which pools donations and channels progressive philanthropy to center-left think tanks and advocacy groups," the National Journal's Web site The Hotline reports. Some of the money could go to the Fresh Start America Project, which has registered as a 527 committee with the IRS. Michael Gehrke, a former top aide to Sen. John Kerry, is listed as the organization's contact. He said the group hopes "to have a good start" on fund raising by the end of June. Check Out NewsMax's Great Collections:
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