Saturday, December 19, 2009

“New Macau leader to diversify economy from gaming - YAHOO!” plus 4 more

“New Macau leader to diversify economy from gaming - YAHOO!” plus 4 more

New Macau leader to diversify economy from gaming - YAHOO!

Posted: 19 Dec 2009 08:57 PM PST

MACAU (Reuters) – Macau, heavily reliant on its gaming industry, plans to diversify its economy over the next five years into sectors such as logistics, its new leader Fernando Chui said on Sunday.

Chinese leaders, who face challenges in corporate governance in Macau, also pledged to better regulate gaming regulations in the territory, whose $15 billion casino industry overtook that of Las Vegas in late 2006.

"Over the next five years, we shall actively develop the appropriate diversification of the economy," Chui said in a speech after being sworn in as Macau's chief executive as the territory marked the 10th anniversary of its handover to China from Portuguese colonial rule.

"While enhancing regulations on the gaming industry, we will also put emphasis on the convention, exhibition, logistics and cultural industries. We will also focus on the upgrade and transformation of traditional industries."

Chinese President Hu Jintao told the ceremony that he wanted to encourage Macau to work with China's Pearl Delta region, which encompasses Guangdong province, to further develop its economy.

Pro-democracy activists planned a protest later to demand the Chinese government introduce universal suffrage in the territory and intensify the fight against corruption.

Despite its casino industry boom, analysts say Macau is beset by corruption, organized criminal gangs and North Korean money laundering that could hamper its development.

Returned to Chinese rule after being a Portuguese colony for 442 years, Macau faces stiff competition in the gaming industry from markets like Singapore and Malaysia.

Macau's gaming industry has been dominated by casino magnate Stanley Ho and his family, who own SJM Holdings (0880.HK), Melco International Development (0200.HK) and Sands China (1928.HK).

Other international names with a strong presence include Wynn Resorts (WYNN.O) and the Las Vegas Sands (LVS.N).

(Reporting by Stefanie McIntyre and Gary Ling in Macau and Lee Chyen Yee in Hong Kong; editing by Ron Popeski)

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Scandal doesn't shake lawmakers to reform - PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE-REVIEW

Posted: 19 Dec 2009 08:57 PM PST

HARRISBURG -- Six of the eight legislative leaders who presided over the July 2005 middle-of-the night legislative pay raise have been stripped of power, but substantive reform in the General Assembly remains elusive.

There have been changes around the edges such as eliminating all-night voting sessions and providing more time for consideration of bills. Structural changes, such as term limits, reducing the size of the Legislature and rotating leaders and committee chairs, have barely seen the light of day.

The lack of major reform may seem all the more glaring amid a public corruption investigation by Attorney General Tom Corbett that shines a bright light on legislative practices. The investigation has resulted in charges against 25 former and current legislators and staffers with ties to the House Democratic and Republican caucuses for allegedly using public resources for political campaigns.

"It's absolutely one thing to change the faces, and it's another thing to change the institution," said Bryn Mawr lawyer Mark Schwartz, a former top aide to late House Speaker K. Leroy Irvis, D-Oakland.

Schwartz is convinced a constitutional convention -- a gathering of delegates charged with making changes to the state Constitution -- is the only way to change the way government works.

"The institution right now is in almost complete paralysis," said Larry Ceisler, a public relations consultant based in Philadelphia. "It's a perfect storm that's created an impotent institution."

Pennsylvania has the largest full-time Legislature in the nation with 253 members. It has historically been a leadership-driven system in which seniority counts more than ideas and campaigning at taxpayers' expense has been viewed as the norm.

Corbett has called it a "culture of corruption."

"I do think there have been substantial changes and improvements in the Senate," said Sen. John Eichelberger, R-Altoona, elected as a reformer in 2006. Leaders can no longer wield pressure on members through all-night sessions; there's a moment to take a breath, thanks to the Senate's rule that a final vote on legislation cannot be taken until six hours after the previous vote.

But Eichelberger, who defeated one of the pay raise architects, former Senate President Pro Tempore Robert Jubelirer, wants to see more reform.

"I've got a term limits bill. We're going to introduce it again. It probably won't get a committee vote," he said.

Eichelberger and former Rep. Lisa Bennington of Morningside expressed frustration about how much -- or how little -- gets done in Harrisburg.

"Until people change their ideas on putting so much emphasis on seniority, it's not going to change," said Bennington, who quit after one term and is a divorce lawyer with Pollock Begg Komar Glasser, Downtown. "Senior dinosaur members are beholden to the job. When you're a career politician ... you have to vote the line."

As for reforms such as shrinking the size of the Legislature, Bennington said, "Those guys who have been there 30 years are never going to do that."

Gerald Shuster, a professor of political communications at the University of Pittsburgh, sees change on the horizon, however. "The signs are out there that it won't be business as usual. Citizens won't be satisfied until there's a constitutional convention."

A referendum for a constitutional convention can only be placed on the ballot by the Legislature.

Former Rep. John Kennedy of Camp Hill posed a scenario under which a convention could materialize: If 128 supporters run for the Legislature and win seats, that would be enough in the House (102 votes) and in the Senate (26 votes) to call for a convention.

The root of the issue is that members don't want to give up power, Eichelberger said. "Once they get a position, they like to keep it."

Reform is in the eye of the beholder. While Tim Potts, co-founder of Democracy Rising PA, wants campaign finance to be addressed, conservative Bob Guzzardi of Montgomery County wants to see a "forensic audit" of the General Assembly with the results posted online along with full transparency of legislative discretionary grants.

Democracy Rising is gathering signatures from across the state to pressure lawmakers into voting on a constitutional convention.

Shuster said he believes major changes won't come overnight or even next year. But since the pay raise, and with the criminal investigations under way, lawmakers "can't play the games they once did," he said.

Said Kennedy: "It all comes down to 'Can we take it back to a citizens' Legislature?'"

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Op-Ed: 2009 a dark year for Michigan - Traverse City Record-Eagle

Posted: 19 Dec 2009 08:22 PM PST

For Michigan, this has been a year of losing things that were deeply interwoven into the fabric of the state's history. General Motors and Chrysler went bankrupt, and though they survived -- at least for now -- famous models and brands died.

This fall, Gov. Jennifer Granholm vetoed $7 million for the oldest state fair in the nation, apparently meaning the death next year of the Michigan State Fair, which has been bringing town and county together, mostly at the fairgrounds in Detroit since 1849.

Earlier, to howls of protest, she dismantled the state department of History, Arts and Libraries.

And now, an even older tradition is threatened. Thanks to the continuing budget crisis, one of the best books you probably never heard of will apparently be no more. The Legislative Services Bureau indicated it will probably only publish the famous red-bound Michigan Manual online this year -- if at all.

That news left Bill Ballenger, publisher of Inside Michigan Politics and himself a former state senator, "stupefied" and angry.

He fired off an e-mail to every influential member of the Legislature he could find. "PLEASE don't do away with the hard copy Michigan Manual for 2009-10. How ironic it would be if the legislative branch dropped the guillotine on this historic publication, which in its entirety, is literally the ONLY documentation of this state extending back to the beginning of our existence in 1837."

Frankly, this columnist himself has an emotional attachment to the Michigan Manual; with all due respect to Ohio and other states, it is by far the best state almanac I have ever seen. Like Ballenger and a few other history buffs, I collect them. He has some from the 1840s; the earliest one I have is from 1869.

The manual is sort of a mini-Michigan encyclopedia. It is a thousand or so pages full of pictures, facts, maps and, as the official state description indicates, "fundamental reference information about Michigan -- its history, constitutional development, governmental organizations, and institutions."

Additionally, you can learn all about the state's universities. The prison system; the state bird, flower, mineral, all that stuff. Look up something in current or past constitutions; see how your money is being spent, or get exact primary and general election returns.

Plus there all sorts of neat facts in it; flipping though the current one, I discovered that the nation's first mile of concrete roadway was built on Detroit's Woodward Avenue exactly a century ago.

The manual from a century ago looks exactly the same as today's, except it was hard bound and had wonderful, pull-out maps of the state's railway system. Eliminating this book would seem terribly short-sighted. Ballenger continues to fight to save it.

Earlier this week, he had a call from State Rep. Pam Byrnes, D-Chelsea, who held out some hope the printed book could be saved, if enough people registered their ire. "It may be possible, but it's not likely to include everything it has in the past," she said.

But State Sen. Tom George, R-Texas Twp., a history buff himself, as well as an underdog candidate for governor, was less hopeful. He told a reporter for the Michigan Information and Research Service that he wouldn't lead an effort to preserve it, noting "we have to face the fact that the state is broke. It is a shame that our cultural assets are being sacrificed."

What's not clear is why the Legislature doesn't A) raise the price from the current $25, B) go to on-demand publication of the manual, and/or C), contract it to a private printer.

Ballenger sounded a note of defiance in a recent e-mail, telling the legislators: "Someday, no matter what you decide to do now, the Manual will return in all its former glory, and people will talk darkly about what was done to this essential piece of Michigan's legacy during the "dark ages" of the 95th Legislature."

He still holds out hope that "there are enough of you who ... will address this issue now and conclude: 'This shall not pass!'"

•

Latest Motown Woes: Officially, unemployment in the Motor City is a staggering 27 percent. But when "discouraged workers" who have left the official labor force are counted, along with part-timers who want a full-time job, the figure may, Mayor Dave Bing said recently "be closer to 50 percent." That was confirmed this week by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, which put the figure at 44.8 percent.

If President Obama ever launches a new federal jobs program, it is hard to imagine anyplace more likely to be receptive than Detroit.

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Op-Ed: Land's cross-border duties - Traverse City Record-Eagle

Posted: 19 Dec 2009 08:22 PM PST

In Washington, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, like her 65 predecessors, deals with foreign affairs.

In Lansing, Secretary of State Terri Lynn Land, like her 40 predecessors, deals with domestic affairs-- including, most importantly, those involving drivers and elections.

But, of late in our border state during these post-9/11 days of heightened national security concerns, Land also has a role in some security issues.

She made Michigan a pace-setter among states in offering an enhanced driver's license and personal identification card option as a handy alternative to passports to help Michiganians meet federal ID requirements for border crossing.

"I said there's gotta be a better way," she said in a phone chat last week about issuing 100,000 of the new cards under a program she developed that has been duplicated in varying forms by other states, including Washington and Vermont.

Her department, through material available at branch offices for boaters, has partnered with the Coast Guard in America's Waterways Watch program, enlisting "citizens to report suspicious activity on Michigan's lakes and rivers."

As a further sign of the times, Land instituted training for employees of all branch offices to "ensure proper security procedures are followed" on verification of citizenship.

For decades, I have reviewed year-end reports by assorted officeholders. Land's year-ender is impressive in accomplishments and scope, often in partnership with other agencies, beyond her department's traditional chores -- ranging from clearing more than 80,000 abandoned vehicles from communities and roads to signing up a record 250,000 more organ donors.

"We have a rock-solid strategic plan that has allowed this department to provide quality convenient service with fewer resources," Land said in releasing her nine-page brag report. "By moving more transactions online and providing innovative and cost-effective ways to deliver service, we will continue to meet budgetary challenges while maintaining a high level of service for our customers."

A major challenge in her final year in office is to get the Legislature to give the secretary of state more enforcement power on campaign finance issues.

"I don't have any teeth on enforcement," she said. "I can't subpoena anybody."

The fact is -- although not mentioned in Land's year-end review -- there is much wrong with Michigan's state campaign finance regulations.

Too much falls through the cracks between Land's office and that of Attorney General Mike Cox.

In a May report highlighting several ways in which regulations and accountability are lacking, the Michigan Campaign Finance Network (MCFN) said of the $7.5 million spent for 2008 Supreme Court campaigns, over half the money was not disclosed in campaign finance reports.

It said, "The money spent by the Michigan Chamber of Commerce and the Democratic and Republican Parties for candidate-focused 'issue' advertising is entirely off the books."

MCFN Executive Director Rick Robinson said, "That is particularly insidious for Supreme Court campaigns because the prospective justices' biggest financial backers may come before the Court as litigants and we wouldn't even know it. This is no place for a 'don't ask, don't tell' policy."

Voters will have opportunities to ask questions about the views on campaign finance regulation by the many candidates running to replace term-limited Republicans Land and Cox and Democratic Gov. Jennifer Granholm.

(Cox seeks the GOP gubernatorial nomination. Land, after deciding against running for governor, now campaigns in tandem with Oakland County Sheriff Mike Bouchard as his prospective gubernatorial running mate.)

Citizens also should pin down their local legislative candidates on the issue.

The MCFN's Robinson noted that current officeholders won't file another campaign finance report this year, even though elected officials hold hundreds of fundraising events and raise millions of dollars every year.

"Officeholders should be filing campaign finance reports at least quarterly, every year," he said. "Citizens should be able to know who is giving what to whom as policy debates unfold, not a year after the fact."

He said the absence of limits on contributions to state political action committees is particularly important in Michigan House campaigns. He said independent expenditures by state PACs were up by more than 500 percent at $2.5 million in 2008, and they were a major financial factor in the most competitive races. The vast majority of that spending traced back to PACs that received most of their funds from Kalamazoo philanthropist Jon Stryker.

"Mr. Stryker is playing according to the rules we have," Robinson said, "and Michigan's political culture doesn't include limits on spending. That's a world different from federal law, but there doesn't seem to be much inclination for change in either party."

There would be if voters demanded change. Do ask. Make them tell.

Checking political climate

Greg MacMaster, chief meteorologist for Traverse City's WPBN-TV 7&4, says "I'm considering" running next year for the 105th District seat being vacated by House Minority Leader Kevin Elsenheimer, R-Kewadin, who plans to seek a district judgeship.

A complaint was filed with Land's office contending that he already is "an all but declared candidate" and should have filed required paperwork. The complaint was filed by Chet Zarko of Dewitt, a supporter of Cheboygan County Drain Commissioner Dennis Lennox, a Republican who is campaigning and gathering endorsements for the House race to represent Antrim, Charlevoix, Cheboygan and Otsego counties.

Land's office said it is reviewing the complaint "to see if it meets basic standards" and contains "legitimate evidence."

George Weeks retired in 2006 after 22 years as political columnist for The Detroit News. His weekly Michigan Politics column is syndicated by Superior Features.

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Movie buff Clint O'Connor shares thoughts on 'Up in the Air,' 'Avatar ... - Cleveland Plain Dealer

Posted: 19 Dec 2009 08:57 PM PST

By Clint O'Connor, The Plain Dealer

December 20, 2009, 12:00AM
upinair.jpgDALE ROBINETTE / PARAMOUNT PICTURESAnna Kendrick and George Clooney in "Up in the Air."

MOVIE BUFF

Plain Dealer film critic Clint O'Connor has been as busy as a secret Santa buying for fourth-graders, with a slew of major A-list movies moving into Greater Cleveland. And in fact, he gives them all an A. First up is Jason Reitman's "Up in the Air," which snagged six Golden Globe nominations Tuesday. Clint's take: " 'Up in the Air' is one of the best films of the year. Both smart and funny, it's how films are supposed to be made: sharp writing; crisp, clever direction; a perfectly cast ensemble. And, oh yeah, George Clooney in one of the best performances of his career. By far. . . . [Reitman] gets the little details right and asks the big questions, like: What are you exactly, if you don't live anywhere at all?"

Another winner in the Globes sweepstakes was "Avatar," the 3-D fantasy from "Titanic" mastermind James Cameron. It appears he may have done it again. Clint's take: "I know you have a lot on your plate this season, but you're going to have to go see 'Avatar.' See it soon, before all the protracted puffery. And see it in 3-D. . . . What is astonishing is the look of 'Avatar.' . . . The [CGI] digital wizardry and a monster budget . . . allowed Cameron to realize his dream of creating a wondrous world complete with its own language and culture."

Not so lucky with the Golden Globes crowd was "The Road," the bleak but beautiful film based on the Cormac McCarthy novel. Lead actor Viggo Mortensen was snubbed for a nomination. Clint's take: Director John Hillcoat's film "is exceedingly faithful to the book. That artistic decision is not always in the best interest of a movie. But in this case, it works. The spare, beautiful writing comes to life in the desperate doings of father (Mortensen) and son (newcomer Kodi Smit-McPhee). Mortensen is excellent. It's his most touching film performance. . . . 'The Road' is not for everyone. There are some gruesome images, but it also has a breathtaking rhythm and tone." Read the complete reviews at cleveland.com/moviebuff.

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