From the Herald Tribune:

President Bush, in a significant shift in American policy, told Prime Minister Ariel Sharon today that the United States would not object if Israel retained some West Bank settlements under a future peace accord. Mr. Bush, appearing with Mr. Sharon after a White House meeting, called the prime minister’s proposals to withdraw from the Gaza Strip and parts of the West Bank “historic” and courageous, and said Mr. Sharon had created “an opportunity” that would help accelerate moves toward the creation of a Palestinian state. The president also offered a second concession sought by Israel. He said that in future, Palestinian refugees should immigrate to a new Palestinian state, not to Israeli lands they say their families were forced to flee in the fighting of 1947-1948.

The Center for American Progress critiques Bush’s performance last night, and offers some help with question he had trouble answering.

The top story in today’s YDN is an additional million dollars in state cuts to New Haven’s already anemic budget. Looks like the cuts will fall on education:

“The issue is whether anyone’s willing to trade off the number of cops or firemen or aides in kindergartens,” DeStefano said. ‘That’s the choice here, and how it all sorts out is what the process is going to be all about.”

“If the state budget goes through, Dr. Mayo is going to have to make some choices over at the Board of Education,” said Healey, a Democrat who represents much of the Yale campus. “I think the impact will come, unfortunately, in the school system.”

Wonkette:

Short Bush News Conference: If my answers cannot distract you from the miserable failure that is the Bush foreign policy, perhaps my tie will.

Brian at Crooked Timber takes the “liberal media” to task on an attempt to seem fair about the candidates’ perspectives on household income.

From the The New York Times > Washington > Times:

The fact that Mr. Bush chose a prime-time speech and news conference in the East Room, his least-favorite format in his least-favorite venue, to explain himself says volumes about the situation that White House officials find themselves in. A growing number of Americans tell pollsters that the country is headed in the wrong direction, despite signs of economic recovery. After a week in which Mr. Bush has been largely out of sight on his Texas ranch, his communications advisers, including Karen P. Hughes, one of his closest aides, are widely believed in the White House to have told him that he has failed to sound reassuring enough and caring enough.

My take on Marvin Lender’s visit to Yale in today’s YDN is on-line here:

These are issues that define the course of the hospital’s future and test its fidelity to its mission of public service. Whether the hospital will keep faith with New Haven’s poor — be they its patients, its employees, or both — is exactly the kind of issue that demands moral leadership from its board, and all the more so from that board’s chairman. For a famous and respected philanthropist in that seat not to speak out and demand change on these questions is a shameful missed opportunity. To mark them as out of bounds in a discussion with students of business ethics furthers the too-common conception of business ethics as an esoteric discipline rather than a way of life — a characterization that Jewish tradition has always rejected. The Talmud teaches that upon death you will first be asked not whether you were a learned scholar but whether you justly conducted your business.

Duke’s student paper, preparing for our Dean to become their President, examines our town-gown relations – and theirs:

For much of Yale’s history, New Haven has been simply a backdrop for the school and while in recent years the institution has made some moves to improve local life, such actions have been limited. Richard Brodhead, dean of Yale College and president-elect at Duke, acknowledged that in the past, Yale overlooked New Haven as an area of particular focus. He added that Yale has attempted in recent years to be a more active and enriching citizen. The school’s claims, however, of an internal imperative to enhance the local area often fall flat. The university’s campus is metropolitan and shops like Urban Outfitters and J. Crew line the streets, relying heavily on Yalies’ expenditures. Beyond the small enclave of student-subsidized retail shops, however, growing sentiment of division separates many residents from the Yale community.

Yale’s seemingly restrained involvement in New Haven also contrasts greatly with many of Duke’s advancements for city revitalization in Durham in recent years. Duke’s Neighborhood Partnership Initiative, a community-based program founded in 1996 to increase University outreach in the areas surrounding campus, targets 12 neighborhoods, forming collaborative partnerships with area homeowners associations and seven elementary and middle schools. Dozens of community service organizations and opportunities, a resourceful Community Service Center and classes with service-learning components are also vital parts of the Duke community’s commitment to Durham.

Good news from the White House:

Scott J. Bloch, head of the Office of Special Counsel, announced Thursday that his agency would continue a long-standing policy of enforcing employee claims of such discrimination under civil service law. “It is the policy of this administration that discrimination in the federal workforce on the basis of sexual orientation is prohibited,” Bloch said in a statement.

The decision appeared to end a controversy that began in January when Bloch pulled references to sexual orientation from documents concerning discrimination on the agency’s Web site, pending a legal review. The move drew criticism from Democrats in Congress and gay rights groups, who noted that the federal government had long prohibited such discrimination against its employees. The Office of Special Counsel’s mission is to protect federal employees and applicants from prohibited personnel practices, especially retribution for whistle-blowing.

Wal-Mart Watch: The Sunday Herald assesses the battles to follow Inglewood:

This summer the Los Angeles city council is expected to vote on whether to ban such ?big box? shops. ?It will become the battle royal for all of organised labour in the United States,? said Miguel Contreras of LA Union, the local umbrella group for trade unions. ?It?s a major setback. Wal-Mart doesn?t often lose,? says Harley Shaiken, a labour expert at the University of California. ?This has dented Wal-Mart?s armour.? The move is likely to embolden other opponents of the firm…

In a class-action lawsuit filed in November in New Jersey, janitors accused Wal-Mart of breaking federal anti-racketeering laws by conspiring with sub-contractors to cheat them out of overtime pay and of failing to make proper contributions to the government. A fortnight before the suit was filed, federal agents had arrested 250 night-time cleaners in 60 Wal-Mart shops who were allegedly in the country illegally.

From Time:

In some neighborhoods, the Marines say, anyone they spot in the streets is considered a “bad guy.” Says Marine Major Larry Kaifesh: “It is hard to differentiate between people who are insurgents or civilians. You just have to go with your gut feeling.”

Andy Stern cites the Terminator on outsourcing:

[Schwarzenegger] laughed. “Hey, we don’t have to have prisons in California. What about having them in Vietnam? What about having them in Mexico?”

Far fetched? Well, in Japan there is a discussion about sending their nursing home patients to the Philippines rather that bringing Filipino workers to Japan.