The Morning Read: Monday, September 17, 2007

Hillary Clinton will unveil her $110 billion-a-year health care plan today in Iowa.

Lots of people back home want her seat.

Under Michael Bloomberg, spending by city government has grown 23 percent (more than it did under Rudy Giuliani, David Dinkins and Ed Koch) mostly due to pension, health care costs and Medicaid.

Bloomberg gave $165.5 million to charity last year.

One of the people behind Bloomberg’s campaign-looking web site is the former CEO of American Express.

The City Council lays out its agenda for Congress.

More than 225 more cases of abuse aboard school buses are uncovered.

A New York judge who swore in Rudy Giuliani and presided over the Jose Padilla case will be nominated as the next U.S. attorney general.

Alan Greenspan criticized George Bush for not curtailing “out-of-control spending.”

Greenspan told the Wall Street Journal “I just may not vote” in the 2008 presidential election [subscription].

He also tries to explain that line in his new memoir where he said, “The Iraq war is largely about oil.”

Gotham Gazette has a guide for last-minute voters.

The Daily News criticizes elected officials for putting their name on expensive garbage cans.

The New York Post editorial board praises (who else?) Andrew Cuomo, this time, for cracking down on Medicaid fraud.

State Senator Bill Perkins asks, “Why is the notion of taking Columbia’s land for a public use like affordable housing laughable while the inverse is viewed as wholly reasonable?”

An Iraq War veteran writes in an open letter to members of Congress, “I voted for you in 2000. Could I take that vote back, the way you seem to want to take back your vote to authorize force?”

Wesley Clark writes about “the next war” which he says will be with Iran.

And a murder suspect is running for office in Russia.