Palangkaraya Post News

By MIKE GLOVER, AP

DES MOINES, Iowa — Iowa politicians and interest groups are optimistic about the state’s influence on farm policy after former Gov. Tom Vilsack was tapped this week to head the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

President-elect Barack Obama’s nomination, coupled with the role that U.S. Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, plays in agricultural issues, gives the relatively small Midwestern state a commanding position in shaping policies for rural America.

“If Iowa doesn’t fare well in this go-around, it’s hard to see any circumstance that would come around that we would do any better,” said David Roederer, who was chief of staff for former Republican Gov. Terry Branstad.

Roederer and others say the politics of this year’s election cycle have left Iowa with an unprecedented role in the nation’s political agenda. Renewable fuels in particular will have key advocates high in the new administration, they said.
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By TOM HAYS, AP

NEW YORK — A city councilman is accused of hitting his girlfriend in the face with a broken drinking glass, causing a gash that required 20 stitches to close, authorities say.

Hiram Monserrate was charged with second-degree assault and fourth-degree criminal possession of a weapon after the fight at Karla Giraldo’s apartment early Friday, the Queens district attorney’s office says.

A prosecutor says Monserrate told police that he tripped while holding a glass of water in his hand and that the glass accidentally hit his girlfriend. Bail has been set at $5,000.

The 41-year-old Monserrate is beginning a term as a state senator next month. Calls and an e-mail to his lawyers weren’t immediately returned.
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AP: Lance Cpl. Lance Hering, 23, was ordered by a military judge to forfeit about $1,160 in pay and was sentenced to time already served. Hours later, Hering was discharged from the Marines and handed over to authorities from his hometown of Boulder, Colo.

Hering must return there to face charges of violating his probation from a 2004 attempted burglary conviction and a hoax he orchestrated in 2006 to convince the Marines he was either lost or dead in a Colorado park.

Hering had just returned from Iraq in August 2006 and was due back at Camp Pendleton the next month to train for a possible redeployment in 2007. Hering never returned, and he went into hiding with help from a friend who told police the Marine suffered a rock-climbing accident west of Boulder and wandered away.

The friend later admitted the disappearance was a hoax — but not before hundreds of people had scoured the landscape looking for Hering. The Marine was found in Washington state last month and charged with one count of unauthorized absence.
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By Julianna Goldman and Hans Nichols

(Bloomberg) — President-elect Barack Obama’s Cabinet is notable for its diversity, experience in government, and absence of people from the business community.

Obama, who campaigned as an advocate for Main Street against the influence of lobbyists and special interests, hasn’t staffed his Cabinet with a single person who has executive business experience. The depth of executive mostly rests with those who ran states: three current and former governors.

“It is a void that the folks that the president-elect has selected seem to be overly biased toward government service or regulatory activities,” said Peter Morici, a business professor at the University of Maryland.

Obama, 47, who moved faster than any modern president- elect in selecting a Cabinet, leaves today for a 13-day vacation in Hawaii with only a few gaps. (more…)

Associated Press

Democrat Al Franken edged ahead of Republican incumbent Norm Coleman on Friday for the first time in Minnesota’s long-running U.S. Senate recount.

Franken opened up a slight lead by the end of the fourth day of a state Canvassing Board meeting to decide the fate of hundreds of disputed ballots.

The change was notable because Coleman led Franken in election-night returns and held a 188-vote lead before the board took up challenged ballots. But its significance was limited, with the possibility that the lead could change again before the long recount ends.

The board wrapped up work Friday in the phase of the recount that resolves disputed ballots. Franken led by 262 votes. (more…)

Commentary by Susan Antilla

The U.S. president-elect said it all during a press conference yesterday announcing his choice to run the Securities and Exchange Commission:

The American public is frustrated that “there’s not a lot of adult supervision out there” when it comes to things political or financial.

Barack Obama is betting that Mary L. Schapiro, chief executive officer of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, is the right grownup to ride herd on an often-noncompliant Wall Street crowd.

As any haggard parent of a teenager can tell you — I’ve been one, so I know — whipping rule-breakers into shape is often best done by dictatorship, not democracy. The parent who seeks out the kids’ views when empty beer bottles are rolling around on the basement floor is the parent destined for a rap session at the local police station.
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Singapore fully supports the United Nations’ (UN) resolution on fighting the piracy off the coast of Somalia, the country’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement on Friday.

“Singapore views the piracy situation in the Gulf of Aden with deep concern. This situation is a complex and multi-faceted problem that is beyond the scope and capacity of any one country to resolve. It necessitates a coordinated international response,” the ministry’s spokesman said.

“Singapore will continue to work with the international community through the UN and the International Maritime Organization to address the piracy situation in the Gulf of Aden,” it added.
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