Couple's 'buy black' experiment becomes a movement
May 12 03:15 PM US/Eastern
By ERRIN HAINES
Associated Press Writer
ATLANTA (AP) - It's been two months since 2-year-old Cori pulled the gold stud from her left earlobe, and the piercing is threatening to close as her mother, Maggie Anderson, hunts for a replacement.
It's not that the earring was all that rare—but finding the right store has become a quest of Quixotic proportions.
Maggie and John Anderson of Chicago vowed four months ago that for one year, they would try to patronize only black-owned businesses. The "Empowerment Experiment" is the reason John had to suffer for hours with a stomach ache and Maggie no longer gets that brand-name lather when she washes her hair. A grocery trip is a 14-mile odyssey.
"We kind of enjoy the sacrifice because we get to make the point ... but I am going without stuff and I am frustrated on a daily basis," Maggie Anderson said. "It's like, my people have been here 400 years and we don't even have a Walgreens to show for it."
So far, the Andersons have spent hundreds of dollars with black businesses from grocery stores to dry cleaners. But the couple still hasn't found a mortgage lender, home security system vendor or toy store. Nonetheless, they're hoping to expand the endeavor beyond their Chicago home.
Plans are under way to track spending among supporters nationwide and build a national database of quality black businesses. The first affiliate chapter has been launched in Atlanta, and the couple has established a foundation to raise funds for black businesses and an annual convention.
"We have the real power to do something, to use the money we spend every day to solve our problems," Maggie Anderson said recently at a meet-and-greet in Atlanta. "We have to believe that black businesses are just as good as everybody else's."
Now, the Andersons are following up with 4,000 people who signed up for the experiment on their Web site to gauge their commitment and set up online accounts to track their spending. Hundreds have also joined the experiment's Facebook page, Maggie Anderson said.
Gregory Price, chairman of the economics department at Morehouse College, said black visionaries like Booker T. Washington and Marcus Garvey made similar calls to action.
"The idea is a sound one, given that black Americans are still underrepresented in the ranks of the self-employed and that entrepreneurship is a key component to wealth," Price said.
There are one million black businesses in the United States accounting for more than $100 billion in annual sales, according to the National Black Chamber of Commerce. The latest U.S. Census numbers report that blacks have more than $800 billion in expendable income each year.
The Andersons track their spending on their Web site and estimate about 55 percent of their monthly spending is with black businesses for things like day care, groceries, car maintenance and home improvements.
One of the businesses highlighted by the Empowerment Experiment is Brenda Brown's Atlanta wine boutique, a shop with a growing black clientele. She said the project can help overcome the problems many black consumers lament.
"When we were a community of black folks who could not go to the white stores, our community of black stores flourished," Brown said. "When we were given the opportunity to go into the white store, it was like nothing else mattered anymore and we wanted to go to the white store, regardless of what the black store provided. We could have the same or better products if we supported (black businesses) in the same way."
Lewis Peeples, 45, lives in a black neighborhood in southwest Atlanta but didn't think to spend his money with black businesses until a friend told him about the project.
"So often, we make purchases and decisions and aren't even mindful that there is a a need to support our own businesses," said Peeples. "Now, I'm reaching out and making sure I know that I have an option when I look to make a purchase."
Two months ago, he committed to patronizing black businesses and found a black dry cleaner 10 minutes from home. Even when he was dissatisfied with his black doctor, he was able to find a new one. He suggests both to friends and refers others to the experiment's Web site, where he tracks his expenses.
Dallas Smith, who owns a commercial real estate firm in Atlanta, said mainstream retailers have undervalued black consumers. He lives in a black neighborhood in southwest Atlanta, where he tries to dine at black restaurants. He lamented the lack of quality businesses catering to black customers and said blacks should appreciate such businesses more.
"We've still got that 'the white man's water is colder' mentality," he said. "We can't take us for granted. When we go to our establishments, it's almost like we're doing a favor. That ought to be a given for us."
The Andersons remain encouraged by their momentum online and in the media. At the end of 2009, they hope to show $1 million in spending with black businesses among supporters across the country.
"The response has been so huge," Maggie Anderson said. "We think so much can come out of this. We're in movement-making mode now."
Price, the Morehouse professor, said defining the project's success won't be easy, since the real barriers to black advancement are poor access to capital and lack of training opportunities.
"It would be nice to see some real, hard data," Price said. "Otherwise, it could just be an episode of ethnic cheerleading."
news
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
Monday, May 11, 2009
The Gutless Wonder
I believe he has it about right.
Wanda Sykes’ Gutless Performance
by Ben Shapiro
Hollywood’s favorite phrase is “speaking truth to power.” It charts just above “She/he is the love of my life,” “Though we’re not together anymore, we’ll remain good friends,” and “Hey, where did I leave my underwear?”
Hollywood slings around the phrase “speaking truth to power” as if it were cocaine at a Sean Penn movie premiere party. And they particularly love slinging it around at the time of the White House Correspondents Dinner.
A couple years ago, Stephen Colbert of Comedy Central was the beneficiary of the “speaking truth to power” Hollywood press machine. He headlined the 2006 White House Correspondents Dinner, and laid ‘em in the aisles with brilliant lines like, “Over the last five years, you people were so good-over tax cuts, WMD intelligence, the effect of global warming. We Americans didn’t want to know, and you had the courtesy not to try to find out. … And then you write, Oh, they’re just rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic. First of all, that is a terrible metaphor. This administration is not sinking. This administration is soaring. If anything, they are rearranging the deck chairs on the Hindenburg!”
Yes, when you’re a leftist, spouting leftist Hallmark cards cribbed from Democratic Underground counts as humor.
But at least Colbert said all this to Bush’s face. It took a peculiar kind of guts, but it took guts. It wasn’t truly “speaking truth to power” - after all, Bush wasn’t going to send Colbert to the gulag or force him into re-education camp. But by the watered-down definition of the media, it counted.
Wanda Sykes, by contrast, is the most gutless and feckless performer ever to grace the White House Correspondents Dinner.
Sykes, for those who haven’t seen her stellar work in gems like CondomNation, Brother Bear 2, and Over the Hedge, is a militant lesbian with a grating voice and an obnoxious strut. She recently proclaimed during the California Prop. 8 debate that “Everybody that knows me personally, they know I’m gay … Now, I gotta get in their face. I’m proud to be a woman. I’m proud to be a black woman, and I’m proud to be gay.”
Well, apparently she’s not so proud to be gay. Because when given the opportunity to make jokes about the nation’s leading proponent of opposite-sex marriage, President Barack Obama, she said precisely nothing. Instead, she chose to gently stroke his ego with jokes about his pecs, his dog, and his basketball skills.
Meanwhile, she saved her real ire for non-federal or non-active politicians and non-governmental figures like Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity. To Obama’s hysterical laughter, she said that she hoped Limbaugh would suffer kidney failure and accused him of being the 20th hijacker. She said she wanted Sean Hannity waterboarded by Keith Olbermann. She attacked Dick Cheney, stating that if her child had a choice between getting in a car with Dick Cheney and a car with a stranger, she would tell her child to choose the stranger.
Courageous, to be sure.
But she saved her most despicable gibe for Sarah Palin, who was not attending. Apparently, Sykes isn’t only a shrinking violet when it comes to her lesbianism - she’s a shrinking violet when it comes to her sex. Noting Sarah’s absence at the dinner (her husband, Todd, attended), Sykes said that Palin had pulled out at the last minute. “Somebody should tell her that’s not really how you practice abstinence,” she chided.
This is sexism of the highest order. Sarah Palin didn’t get knocked up before her marriage - her daughter did. Why didn’t Sykes blame Todd, who was sitting right there? Or why didn’t she blame Levi, who knocked up Bristol? Or why didn’t she blame Bristol? By focusing on Sarah, she perpetuated the stereotype that the woman is utterly and totally responsible for each and every individual act of the child - a stereotype Sykes would surely reject were she not so blindly hateful of Palin.
The bottom line: both feminism and homosexuality matter less to Sykes than kissing Barack Obama’s butt. She didn’t utter a single joke about Obama’s out of control spending. Not one joke about his teleprompter. Not one joke about his visit with Chavez, his messages to Iran, his Cinco De Mayo screwup, his mastery of the Austrian language, his “world without nuclear weapons,” his spreading the wealth around, his ownership of the car companies, his tax-cheat employees.
And most of all, not a single joke about Dan Choi, the first gay Arabic linguist fired by Barack Obama under the military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy. Not a single joke about Obama’s interracially married parents and his refusal to stump for homosexual marriage. Sykes pledged to “get in their face” about gay marriage, but refused to get in the face of the most powerful man on earth about it. Instead, she chose to go after Rush Limbaugh and oxycontin - a choice for which she will surely be praised by the leftist media.
In certain times, such posturing buffoonery would have been ripped as “Uncle Tomming.” Imagine Richard Pryor speaking at a White House Correspondents Dinner for JFK and failing to mention the civil rights movement, instead choosing to focus on Jackie Kennedy’s hairdo and JFK’s winning smile.
Nobody has the obligation to “speak truth to power” when given the opportunity. Sometimes it’s okay just to be funny. But if one is given the opportunity to speak truth to power, sees him/herself as a champion of “speaking truth to power,” and instead chooses to spend the time excoriating the power’s opposition, that would be sycophantic stupidity of the worst kind.
That would be Wanda Sykes.
Hollywood
Wanda Sykes’ Gutless Performance
by Ben Shapiro
Hollywood’s favorite phrase is “speaking truth to power.” It charts just above “She/he is the love of my life,” “Though we’re not together anymore, we’ll remain good friends,” and “Hey, where did I leave my underwear?”
Hollywood slings around the phrase “speaking truth to power” as if it were cocaine at a Sean Penn movie premiere party. And they particularly love slinging it around at the time of the White House Correspondents Dinner.
A couple years ago, Stephen Colbert of Comedy Central was the beneficiary of the “speaking truth to power” Hollywood press machine. He headlined the 2006 White House Correspondents Dinner, and laid ‘em in the aisles with brilliant lines like, “Over the last five years, you people were so good-over tax cuts, WMD intelligence, the effect of global warming. We Americans didn’t want to know, and you had the courtesy not to try to find out. … And then you write, Oh, they’re just rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic. First of all, that is a terrible metaphor. This administration is not sinking. This administration is soaring. If anything, they are rearranging the deck chairs on the Hindenburg!”
Yes, when you’re a leftist, spouting leftist Hallmark cards cribbed from Democratic Underground counts as humor.
But at least Colbert said all this to Bush’s face. It took a peculiar kind of guts, but it took guts. It wasn’t truly “speaking truth to power” - after all, Bush wasn’t going to send Colbert to the gulag or force him into re-education camp. But by the watered-down definition of the media, it counted.
Wanda Sykes, by contrast, is the most gutless and feckless performer ever to grace the White House Correspondents Dinner.
Sykes, for those who haven’t seen her stellar work in gems like CondomNation, Brother Bear 2, and Over the Hedge, is a militant lesbian with a grating voice and an obnoxious strut. She recently proclaimed during the California Prop. 8 debate that “Everybody that knows me personally, they know I’m gay … Now, I gotta get in their face. I’m proud to be a woman. I’m proud to be a black woman, and I’m proud to be gay.”
Well, apparently she’s not so proud to be gay. Because when given the opportunity to make jokes about the nation’s leading proponent of opposite-sex marriage, President Barack Obama, she said precisely nothing. Instead, she chose to gently stroke his ego with jokes about his pecs, his dog, and his basketball skills.
Meanwhile, she saved her real ire for non-federal or non-active politicians and non-governmental figures like Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity. To Obama’s hysterical laughter, she said that she hoped Limbaugh would suffer kidney failure and accused him of being the 20th hijacker. She said she wanted Sean Hannity waterboarded by Keith Olbermann. She attacked Dick Cheney, stating that if her child had a choice between getting in a car with Dick Cheney and a car with a stranger, she would tell her child to choose the stranger.
Courageous, to be sure.
But she saved her most despicable gibe for Sarah Palin, who was not attending. Apparently, Sykes isn’t only a shrinking violet when it comes to her lesbianism - she’s a shrinking violet when it comes to her sex. Noting Sarah’s absence at the dinner (her husband, Todd, attended), Sykes said that Palin had pulled out at the last minute. “Somebody should tell her that’s not really how you practice abstinence,” she chided.
This is sexism of the highest order. Sarah Palin didn’t get knocked up before her marriage - her daughter did. Why didn’t Sykes blame Todd, who was sitting right there? Or why didn’t she blame Levi, who knocked up Bristol? Or why didn’t she blame Bristol? By focusing on Sarah, she perpetuated the stereotype that the woman is utterly and totally responsible for each and every individual act of the child - a stereotype Sykes would surely reject were she not so blindly hateful of Palin.
The bottom line: both feminism and homosexuality matter less to Sykes than kissing Barack Obama’s butt. She didn’t utter a single joke about Obama’s out of control spending. Not one joke about his teleprompter. Not one joke about his visit with Chavez, his messages to Iran, his Cinco De Mayo screwup, his mastery of the Austrian language, his “world without nuclear weapons,” his spreading the wealth around, his ownership of the car companies, his tax-cheat employees.
And most of all, not a single joke about Dan Choi, the first gay Arabic linguist fired by Barack Obama under the military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy. Not a single joke about Obama’s interracially married parents and his refusal to stump for homosexual marriage. Sykes pledged to “get in their face” about gay marriage, but refused to get in the face of the most powerful man on earth about it. Instead, she chose to go after Rush Limbaugh and oxycontin - a choice for which she will surely be praised by the leftist media.
In certain times, such posturing buffoonery would have been ripped as “Uncle Tomming.” Imagine Richard Pryor speaking at a White House Correspondents Dinner for JFK and failing to mention the civil rights movement, instead choosing to focus on Jackie Kennedy’s hairdo and JFK’s winning smile.
Nobody has the obligation to “speak truth to power” when given the opportunity. Sometimes it’s okay just to be funny. But if one is given the opportunity to speak truth to power, sees him/herself as a champion of “speaking truth to power,” and instead chooses to spend the time excoriating the power’s opposition, that would be sycophantic stupidity of the worst kind.
That would be Wanda Sykes.
Hollywood
Sunday, May 10, 2009
Obama / Chavez - Oil and Auto Companies - Any differences.
Chávez seizures fuel Venezuela oil fears
By Benedict Mander in Caracas
Published: May 10 2009 12:41 Last updated: May 10 2009 18:27
Financial Times
A fresh round of expropriations in Venezuela has raised fears that the Opec producer’s already declining oil output could sink to its lowest level in the past 20 years.
Troops were mobilised over the weekend to assist Venezuela’s state-owned oil company, PDVSA, in seizing the assets of some 60 oil service companies, after a law was approved last week that paves the way for the state to take increasing control over its all-important oil industry.
“To God what is God’s, and to Caesar what is Caesar’s,” said Venezuela’s President Hugo Chávez, as he presided over the expropriation of at least a dozen rigs, more than 30 oil terminals and some 300 boats.
“Today we also say: to the people what is the people’s,” the socialist leader said to roars of approval from red-clad supporters on the shores of Lake Maracaibo, the heartland of the nation’s oil production.
This move forms part of a broader assault against the private sector, which Mr Chávez has increasingly blamed as Venezuela slides into recession. Simultaneously he is engaging in what opposition leaders say is a campaign of persecution of his political foes.
Manuel Rosales, a former presidential candidate, has been granted asylum in Peru to escape arrest over corruption charges, while congress has removed almost all the spending powers of Antonio Ledezma, the anti-Chávez mayor of Caracas. Other opponents have been jailed or gone into hiding.
PDVSA, which is suffering from a sharp fall in export income, made the surprise move against the oil service companies in response to their threat that they would suspend operations until it paid a backlog of invoices. Some, including Helmerich & Payne and Ensco International, abandoned rigs this year.
PDVSA, which is under pressure to cut expenses by 60 per cent because of tumbling revenues, is estimated to owe as much as $12bn (€8.9bn, £7.9bn) to contractors since suspending payments to them last August, shortly after oil prices began their precipitous decline.
It has demanded that companies accept a 40 per cent cut in their bills, arguing that the decline in oil prices means they are charging too much.
The new law will also enable PDVSA to pay debts with bonds rather than cash, and compensate assets at book value.
The move is the latest sign of the deepening cashflow crisis that has bedeviled the state oil company for at least two years as it has become overburdened with responsibilities far removed from its core business – in particular funding and running the massive social programmes that have become the bedrock of Mr Chávez’s support.
But analysts say that by shifting its problems onto its suppliers, PDVSA is storing up even bigger problems for the future. Not only does it lack the ability to operate as efficiently as the service providers, but it sends a grim signal to companies considering investing in Venezuela. Consequently, future oil production is under threat.
Perhaps most worrying is the impact this could have on foreign companies’ interest in a major auction currently underway to develop the Carabobo block in the oil-rich Orinoco Belt, which is the first oil investment opportunity in Venezuela in the last decade, and represents the oil dependent country’s biggest hope for reviving sagging production. According to the IEA, production fell to 2.36m bpd in 2008, compared to 3.18m bpd in 1997, although PDVSA claims it actually increased to 3.27m bpd in 2008.
Some 19 companies – including BP, Chevron, Shell, StatoilHydro, and Total – have expressed interest in bidding for the Carabobo projects that could collectively produce over 800,000 bpd, and require investments of $25-30bn.
But adding to worries about the lack of legal security in Venezuela, intensified by recent developments, international oil companies are also concerned by prohibitively high start-up and financing costs as well as tight profit margins due to fiscal terms that were drawn up before oil prices began their precipitous decline last year.
David Voght, a director at IPD Latin America, which advises several international oil companies operating in Venezuela, said: “Venezuela’s aggressive fiscal terms and the country’s persistent trend toward nationalisation of oil industry activities will make it more and more difficult to attract foreign investment and competitive bids from qualified operators.”
Taxes and royalties have been hiked four times since 2004, with an 85 per cent windfall tax introduced last year, while companies were ordered to give up operational control over four multibillion-dollar projects in the Orinoco two years ago, prompting Exxon Mobil and ConocoPhillips to exit the country and opt for international arbitration.
Although most companies are keen to have a stake in Venezuela, which now claims to have 172bn barrels of proven oil reserves making them the second largest in the world after Saudi Arabia, the government’s unpredictability and inflexibility are a serious deterrent.
“It’s a great paradox. There are companies that want to invest in Venezuela and to remain on a long-term basis, bringing capital, technology and know-how, but they may not do so because the government is refusing to recognize that the outlook for oil prices has changed,” said an industry source in Caracas, who requested anonymity. “They have to face up to reality.”
Chavez
By Benedict Mander in Caracas
Published: May 10 2009 12:41 Last updated: May 10 2009 18:27
Financial Times
A fresh round of expropriations in Venezuela has raised fears that the Opec producer’s already declining oil output could sink to its lowest level in the past 20 years.
Troops were mobilised over the weekend to assist Venezuela’s state-owned oil company, PDVSA, in seizing the assets of some 60 oil service companies, after a law was approved last week that paves the way for the state to take increasing control over its all-important oil industry.
“To God what is God’s, and to Caesar what is Caesar’s,” said Venezuela’s President Hugo Chávez, as he presided over the expropriation of at least a dozen rigs, more than 30 oil terminals and some 300 boats.
“Today we also say: to the people what is the people’s,” the socialist leader said to roars of approval from red-clad supporters on the shores of Lake Maracaibo, the heartland of the nation’s oil production.
This move forms part of a broader assault against the private sector, which Mr Chávez has increasingly blamed as Venezuela slides into recession. Simultaneously he is engaging in what opposition leaders say is a campaign of persecution of his political foes.
Manuel Rosales, a former presidential candidate, has been granted asylum in Peru to escape arrest over corruption charges, while congress has removed almost all the spending powers of Antonio Ledezma, the anti-Chávez mayor of Caracas. Other opponents have been jailed or gone into hiding.
PDVSA, which is suffering from a sharp fall in export income, made the surprise move against the oil service companies in response to their threat that they would suspend operations until it paid a backlog of invoices. Some, including Helmerich & Payne and Ensco International, abandoned rigs this year.
PDVSA, which is under pressure to cut expenses by 60 per cent because of tumbling revenues, is estimated to owe as much as $12bn (€8.9bn, £7.9bn) to contractors since suspending payments to them last August, shortly after oil prices began their precipitous decline.
It has demanded that companies accept a 40 per cent cut in their bills, arguing that the decline in oil prices means they are charging too much.
The new law will also enable PDVSA to pay debts with bonds rather than cash, and compensate assets at book value.
The move is the latest sign of the deepening cashflow crisis that has bedeviled the state oil company for at least two years as it has become overburdened with responsibilities far removed from its core business – in particular funding and running the massive social programmes that have become the bedrock of Mr Chávez’s support.
But analysts say that by shifting its problems onto its suppliers, PDVSA is storing up even bigger problems for the future. Not only does it lack the ability to operate as efficiently as the service providers, but it sends a grim signal to companies considering investing in Venezuela. Consequently, future oil production is under threat.
Perhaps most worrying is the impact this could have on foreign companies’ interest in a major auction currently underway to develop the Carabobo block in the oil-rich Orinoco Belt, which is the first oil investment opportunity in Venezuela in the last decade, and represents the oil dependent country’s biggest hope for reviving sagging production. According to the IEA, production fell to 2.36m bpd in 2008, compared to 3.18m bpd in 1997, although PDVSA claims it actually increased to 3.27m bpd in 2008.
Some 19 companies – including BP, Chevron, Shell, StatoilHydro, and Total – have expressed interest in bidding for the Carabobo projects that could collectively produce over 800,000 bpd, and require investments of $25-30bn.
But adding to worries about the lack of legal security in Venezuela, intensified by recent developments, international oil companies are also concerned by prohibitively high start-up and financing costs as well as tight profit margins due to fiscal terms that were drawn up before oil prices began their precipitous decline last year.
David Voght, a director at IPD Latin America, which advises several international oil companies operating in Venezuela, said: “Venezuela’s aggressive fiscal terms and the country’s persistent trend toward nationalisation of oil industry activities will make it more and more difficult to attract foreign investment and competitive bids from qualified operators.”
Taxes and royalties have been hiked four times since 2004, with an 85 per cent windfall tax introduced last year, while companies were ordered to give up operational control over four multibillion-dollar projects in the Orinoco two years ago, prompting Exxon Mobil and ConocoPhillips to exit the country and opt for international arbitration.
Although most companies are keen to have a stake in Venezuela, which now claims to have 172bn barrels of proven oil reserves making them the second largest in the world after Saudi Arabia, the government’s unpredictability and inflexibility are a serious deterrent.
“It’s a great paradox. There are companies that want to invest in Venezuela and to remain on a long-term basis, bringing capital, technology and know-how, but they may not do so because the government is refusing to recognize that the outlook for oil prices has changed,” said an industry source in Caracas, who requested anonymity. “They have to face up to reality.”
Chavez
Hollywood does the Obamanation 2
There is nothing new about Barack - he is a socialist. He feigns his dislike for government involvement - which means nothing. He says one thing and does another, and then uses the economy as excuses. He is an old time socialist in 21st century wrappings, intent on ridding the world of the evil of 'unregulated' capitalism (which leaves socialism).
He is no different, his administration has already been riddled with fiasco's and scandals - no one it seems pays taxes except for the Middle Class who will, shortly be paying more under Obama's future plans than they are now. And his storytelling that his programs will reduce taxes for a majority ... in some ways it does - it reduces (by returning money never given) taxes on the poorest and lower middle classes, and takes from everyone else. Even with that simplistic analysis, he is not different.
His tone, his actions, his behavior - nothing has changed.
And the Hollywood crowd are simply hateful, vile, and disgusting ...
Not funny: Barack Obama laughs at Wanda Sykes "joke" about wanting Rush Limbaugh dead
Toby Harnden
May 10, 2009
Telegraph.co.uk
What was Wanda Sykes thinking? Perhaps more to the point, what was President Barack Obama thinking when he laughed and smiled as the comedienne wished Rush Limbaugh dead?
Although the Left is reporting her White House Correspondents' Dinner speech as "taking shots" at Limbaugh and mocking everyone, that's a gross misrepresentation of what turned into a hateful and disgusting diatribe.
I was at the dinner and I began by laughing at Sykes's gentle teases about the press loving Obama so much they never capture him on film smoking but often seem to get him on the beach.
It was amusing when she quipped that Obama trying so hard to be all things to all men that the next thing is he'll be seen mowing the White House lawn.
But the speech took a very ugly turn when she laid into Limbaugh.
This is what she said: "Rush Limbaugh said he hopes this administration fails, so you're saying, 'I hope America fails', you're, like, 'I dont care about people losing their homes, their jobs, our soldiers in Iraq'. He just wants the country to fail. To me, that's treason.
"He's not saying anything differently than what Osama bin Laden is saying. You know, you might want to look into this, sir, because I think Rush Limbaugh was the 20th hijacker. But he was just so strung out on OxyContin he missed his flight."
She then concluded: "Rush Limbaugh, I hope the country fails, I hope his kidneys fail, how about that? He needs a good waterboarding, that's what he needs." Obama seemed to think this bit was pretty hilarious, grinning and chuckling and turning to share the "joke" with the person sitting on his right.
There's not much room for differing interpretations of what Sykes said. She called Limbaugh a terrorist and a traitor, suggested that he be tortured and wished him dead.
What was his crime? Hoping that Obama's policies - which he views as socialist - will fail.
That's way, way beyond reasoned debate or comedy and Obama's reaction to it was astonishing.
Imagine if a comedian "joked" that Obama was a terrorist who was guilty of treason and should be tortured and allowed to die. There would justifiably be an outcry.
But when the "joke" comes from a liberal, Obama-supporting comedienne and the target is a right-winger then the likes of Hilary Rosen and Donna Brazile are on CNN saying it's just comedy and Limbaugh is "fair game".
And Obama laughing when someone wishes Limbaugh dead? Hard to take from the man who promised a new era of civility and elevated debate in Washington.
Obama
Hollywood does the Obamanation
Spotting stars at the White House Correspondents dinner
By Linda Feldmann
May 10, 2009 edition
Christian Science Monitor
After all these years, I have figured out the best way to attend the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner or at least this year’s dinner: with a 16-year-old girl.
Rebecca had an eagle eye for celebs, some of whom I would never have recognized. Ludacris? I’ve heard of him, but that’s it. But there he was on the red carpet, with his mother (smart guy!), and I wasn’t completely clueless.
Other folks were easy to recognize, but Rebecca was much better at spotting them in the crowd. There’s Owen Wilson! Will he pose for a picture with a young fan? Sure.
Same with Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, Eva Longoria Parker, Demi Moore, Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Jason Bateman, Amy Poehler, and on and on. We also tracked down Ed Westwick, the wonderfully arch Chuck Bass on “Gossip Girl,” with the help of Ana Marie Cox, Wonkette emeritus.
I hate to say this, but it was almost star overload. You’d be heading for one (I won’t name names), then you’d see someone even more cool in one instance, the stunning Padma Lakshmi of “Top Chef” — and detour over to her, lest you miss your chance.
I have two favorite memories: Rebecca spying a tall nerdy guy wearing a red bow tie and saying, “Peter Orszag! I have to say hello.” Her best friend babysits for his kids, and oh by the way, he’s President Obama’s budget director.
Favorite moment No. 2: Walking up to a friendly-looking old man and striking up a conversation about Woodrow Wilson High School here in Washington, where Rebecca goes. This man graduated from Wilson more than 60 years ago, and when I mentioned the connection, he said, “Oh, a Tiger!” and launched into the Wilson fight song.
Then he said, “I’m going to whisper a stock tip in Rebecca’s ear, and you take our picture.” OK! Eventually, Rebecca figured out who this jolly grandpa was: Warren Buffett.
Obama and Wanda Sykes killed with their post-dinner speeches. The videos are all over the web.
I have a suggestion for next year: Send all 2,000 tickets to Hollywood and let the stars divvy up the tables and decide which journalistsand politicos to invite.
Obama
By Linda Feldmann
May 10, 2009 edition
Christian Science Monitor
After all these years, I have figured out the best way to attend the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner or at least this year’s dinner: with a 16-year-old girl.
Rebecca had an eagle eye for celebs, some of whom I would never have recognized. Ludacris? I’ve heard of him, but that’s it. But there he was on the red carpet, with his mother (smart guy!), and I wasn’t completely clueless.
Other folks were easy to recognize, but Rebecca was much better at spotting them in the crowd. There’s Owen Wilson! Will he pose for a picture with a young fan? Sure.
Same with Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, Eva Longoria Parker, Demi Moore, Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Jason Bateman, Amy Poehler, and on and on. We also tracked down Ed Westwick, the wonderfully arch Chuck Bass on “Gossip Girl,” with the help of Ana Marie Cox, Wonkette emeritus.
I hate to say this, but it was almost star overload. You’d be heading for one (I won’t name names), then you’d see someone even more cool in one instance, the stunning Padma Lakshmi of “Top Chef” — and detour over to her, lest you miss your chance.
I have two favorite memories: Rebecca spying a tall nerdy guy wearing a red bow tie and saying, “Peter Orszag! I have to say hello.” Her best friend babysits for his kids, and oh by the way, he’s President Obama’s budget director.
Favorite moment No. 2: Walking up to a friendly-looking old man and striking up a conversation about Woodrow Wilson High School here in Washington, where Rebecca goes. This man graduated from Wilson more than 60 years ago, and when I mentioned the connection, he said, “Oh, a Tiger!” and launched into the Wilson fight song.
Then he said, “I’m going to whisper a stock tip in Rebecca’s ear, and you take our picture.” OK! Eventually, Rebecca figured out who this jolly grandpa was: Warren Buffett.
Obama and Wanda Sykes killed with their post-dinner speeches. The videos are all over the web.
I have a suggestion for next year: Send all 2,000 tickets to Hollywood and let the stars divvy up the tables and decide which journalistsand politicos to invite.
Obama
Obama: Where in the World is Osama ?
Everytime Osama Bin Laden made a statement or distributed a recording, the left went wild. It was all a Bush concoction. Bush did it all. Bush was responsible, Bush would pull out a tape everytime his approval numbers dropped. Bush was purposely trying not to catch Bin Laden, so he could have a boogeyman to use for political gain.
That was then.
Obama aide: Seems no one knows bin Laden's status
May 10, 2009 6:29 AM (3 hrs ago) AP
WASHINGTON -
President Barack Obama's national security adviser says he isn't sure if Osama bin Laden is dead or alive.
Retired Marine Gen. James Jones said Sunday that U.S. intelligence agencies are looking at data and watching for confirmed appearances by the al-Qaida leader.
Jones said, "The truth is, I don't think anybody knows."
White House spokesman Robert Gibbs last week said Obama wants bin Laden brought to justice, but that the U.S. is focused on more than just one person.
Jones spoke on ABC's "This Week."
Isn't it amazing what winning an election can do! Politics. That is all that drives them. Sad.
Obama
Saturday, May 9, 2009
Liberalism is a Serious Illness and Academia Contributes to the Disease.
I received the following from a person who pays to attend the educational institution where I am employed. I would call the person a student, but that is in serious doubt given the fact the student is seemingly beyond hope - in writing, respect, and comprehending the simplest of issues.
I have pasted the 2 page paper, in its entirety, including grammatical mistakes. The only details I am omitting - the individuals name, names of the relatives, and a smiley face at the end of the final sentence. I have no comment, none that even begins to address what was written, and certainly no comment that I will post on this page.
I have pasted the 2 page paper, in its entirety, including grammatical mistakes. The only details I am omitting - the individuals name, names of the relatives, and a smiley face at the end of the final sentence. I have no comment, none that even begins to address what was written, and certainly no comment that I will post on this page.
Since I do not teach this class and my opinions are usually brushed aside, I decided to put a few my thoughts to paper for my final unit review.
NO, I am not brainwashed by Palestinian media. I am merely an observer of the realities that are not implemented in the sources you present in class. I speak from experience, and it seems to me, that you speak of what you think you know. I have visited Palestine and Israel a total of five times throughout my life [Note: This person turned 18 years of age a month prior]. The most recent time was the summer of 2008. Each year the treatment of my people and injustice worsens.
I have seen the apartheid wall that has been built to confiscate land and destroy communities. I had my camera smashed to pieces at a check-point by and Israeli soldier when he saw me taking a picture of an Israeli tank. I saw an interview with a Holocaust survivor who doesn’t support the illegal occupation of Palestine and was abused because of it. I saw an IDF soldier pointing a gun at an old woman because she stepped over a line. She was waiting in line at the Jordanian / Israeli border. I saw a Jewish-Israeli Journalist being tormented by her fellow Israelis. I met Craig Corrie, the father of Rachel Corrie, a volunteer with the International Solidarity Movement in the Occupied Territories, who was killed by a Caterpillar D9 armoured bulldozer operated by the Israel Defense Forces in the Gaza Strip while courageously trying to prevent the demolition of a Palestinian home.
Just this week, my 18 year old cousin Yxxxx and 12 year old cousin Mxxxx, who live in the West Bank, have been severely hurt by the occupation. Israel dumps their nuclear and chemical waste in Palestinian lands especially in the southern parts of the West Bank. Through their drinking water my cousins have been exposed to this waste and are now suffering from severe health problems.
You discuss in your class the issues of suicide bombing. I do not agree with the act, for I don’t believe innocent people should be killed at all, but I understand why people do it. This is an ethnic cleansing you don’t know about.
ONE MORE THING! The assassination of Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin on Nov. 4, 1995, by right-wing Israeli extremist network was on account of Rabin accepting the accords and Arafat accepting them as well. Not wanting to budge from their illegal settlements, Israelis killed him. They didn’t like the guy very much. Menachem Begin became the first right-wing Prime Minister just after Rabin’s murder. Hmmm.
BUUUUT of course it is I who is brainwashed by the Palestinian media; and it is you who has been to Palestine and Israel and isn’t brainwashed by American media. Put that in your pipe and smoke it.
If we clipped away all the drivel, silliness, foolishness, nonsense, and lies - we wouldn't have much to read. Six words - I do not teach this class.
stupid things
Swine Flu: US has over 2200 Cases
U.S. has more than 2,000 new flu cases: CDC
Sat May 9, 2009 11:24am EDT
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States has 2,254 confirmed cases of the new H1N1 swine influenza, with 104 people in the hospital, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Saturday.
"Today there are almost 3,000 probable and confirmed cases here in the United States," the CDC's Dr. Anne Schuchat told a news briefing. "The good news is we are not seeing a rise above the epidemic threshold in that system."
swine flu
Sat May 9, 2009 11:24am EDT
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States has 2,254 confirmed cases of the new H1N1 swine influenza, with 104 people in the hospital, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Saturday.
"Today there are almost 3,000 probable and confirmed cases here in the United States," the CDC's Dr. Anne Schuchat told a news briefing. "The good news is we are not seeing a rise above the epidemic threshold in that system."
swine flu
Boston: On Welfare, get a free car.
I'm moving to Boston, going on welfare and living a much less stressed lifestyle.
Free cars for poor fuel road rage
By Hillary Chabot
Thursday, May 7, 2009
Boston Herald
Gov. Deval Patrick’s free wheels for welfare recipients program is revving up despite the stalled economy, as the keys to donated cars loaded with state-funded insurance, repairs and even AAA membership are handed out to get them to work.
But the program - fueled by a funding boost despite the state’s fiscal crash - allows those who end up back on welfare to keep the cars anyway.
“It’s mind-boggling. You’ve got people out there saying, ‘I just lost my job. Hey, can I get a free car, too?’ ” said House Minority Leader Brad Jones (R-North Reading).
The Patrick administration decided last month to funnel an additional $30,000 to the nearly $400,000 annual car ownership program.
The program, which is provided by the State Department of Transitional Assistance, gives out about 65 cars a year, said DTA Commissioner Julia Kehoe.
The state pays for the car’s insurance, inspection, excise tax, title, registration, repairs and a AAA membership for one year at a total cost of roughly $6,000 per car.
The program, which started in 2006, distributes cars donated by non-profit charities such as Good News Garage, a Lutheran charity, which also does the repair work on the car and bills the state.
Kehoe defended the program, saying the state breaks even by cutting welfare payments to the family - about $6,000 a year.
“If you look at the overall picture, this helps make sure people aren’t staying on cash assistance. It’s a relatively short payment for a long-term benefit,” Kehoe said.
But Kehoe admitted about 20 percent of those who received a car ended up back on welfare, and while they lose the insurance and other benefits, they don’t have to return the car.
“Given the state’s fiscal condition, paying for AAA and auto inspection costs is outrageous,” said Senate Minority Leader Richard Tisei (R-Wakefield). “There are so many families out there trying to deal with layoffs and pay cuts. You have to wonder what the state’s priorities are at this point.”
Applicants for cars must have a job or prove they could get one if they had the car in order to qualify. Once they have the wheels, they must send DTA their pay stubs to prove they are employed.
To get the cars, they must be unable to reach work by public transportation and have a clean driving record. The program is only available to families on welfare with children.
Kehoe said the bulk of cars go to places with less public transportation, such as Fitchburg, New Bedford and Lowell.
“I can’t believe there are no restrictions on how they use the car,” Jones said. “I just don’t see this as a core function of government.”
liberalism
Free cars for poor fuel road rage
By Hillary Chabot
Thursday, May 7, 2009
Boston Herald
Gov. Deval Patrick’s free wheels for welfare recipients program is revving up despite the stalled economy, as the keys to donated cars loaded with state-funded insurance, repairs and even AAA membership are handed out to get them to work.
But the program - fueled by a funding boost despite the state’s fiscal crash - allows those who end up back on welfare to keep the cars anyway.
“It’s mind-boggling. You’ve got people out there saying, ‘I just lost my job. Hey, can I get a free car, too?’ ” said House Minority Leader Brad Jones (R-North Reading).
The Patrick administration decided last month to funnel an additional $30,000 to the nearly $400,000 annual car ownership program.
The program, which is provided by the State Department of Transitional Assistance, gives out about 65 cars a year, said DTA Commissioner Julia Kehoe.
The state pays for the car’s insurance, inspection, excise tax, title, registration, repairs and a AAA membership for one year at a total cost of roughly $6,000 per car.
The program, which started in 2006, distributes cars donated by non-profit charities such as Good News Garage, a Lutheran charity, which also does the repair work on the car and bills the state.
Kehoe defended the program, saying the state breaks even by cutting welfare payments to the family - about $6,000 a year.
“If you look at the overall picture, this helps make sure people aren’t staying on cash assistance. It’s a relatively short payment for a long-term benefit,” Kehoe said.
But Kehoe admitted about 20 percent of those who received a car ended up back on welfare, and while they lose the insurance and other benefits, they don’t have to return the car.
“Given the state’s fiscal condition, paying for AAA and auto inspection costs is outrageous,” said Senate Minority Leader Richard Tisei (R-Wakefield). “There are so many families out there trying to deal with layoffs and pay cuts. You have to wonder what the state’s priorities are at this point.”
Applicants for cars must have a job or prove they could get one if they had the car in order to qualify. Once they have the wheels, they must send DTA their pay stubs to prove they are employed.
To get the cars, they must be unable to reach work by public transportation and have a clean driving record. The program is only available to families on welfare with children.
Kehoe said the bulk of cars go to places with less public transportation, such as Fitchburg, New Bedford and Lowell.
“I can’t believe there are no restrictions on how they use the car,” Jones said. “I just don’t see this as a core function of government.”
liberalism
Obama: no Money to Keep Illegals in Prison
Obama budget nixes aid for jailing illegal immigrants
By Ian Swanson and Walter Alarkon
Posted: 05/08/09 09:24 AM [ET]
The Hill.com
President Obama voted in the Senate to provide additional funding for a program targeted for elimination by his budget that provides states a federal subsidy to offset the costs of jailing illegal immigrants.Killing the State Criminal Alien Assistance Program (SCAPP) would save $400 million, according to Obama's budget for fiscal 2010 released Thursday. It's one of the largest non-defense discretionary cuts proposed in the president's budget.
The program is popular with border-state politicians on Capitol Hill, however, making its elimination a tough sell to lawmakers, particularly from California.
Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) has repeatedly pushed for additional funding for the program, and lawmakers from other states that have costs associated with illegal aliens have also offered support.
A bipartisan trio of House members from California have drafted a letter urging the House Appropriations subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science and Related Agencies to restore funding for the SCAAP program. The three members, Reps. Mike Honda (D), Adam Schiff (D) and Jerry Lewis, the top Republican on the Appropriations Committee, are also asking the rest of the California House delegation to sign the letter, Honda's office said.
As an Illinois senator, Obama co-sponsored an amendment offered by then-Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.), now Obama's secretary of state, that would have provided additional funding for the program. It also would have established a grant program to defray local government healthcare and education costs for non-citizens.
"Each year, the SCAAP program is underfunded," Clinton said in 2006 comments urging support for her amendment. She cited a 2005 Government Accountability Office study that found local governments get only 25 percent of their costs reimbursed through the program.
"Throughout our country and in my state, there are counties and municipalities that are covering the costs of dealing with education, healthcare, and law enforcement without adequate or any federal reimbursement," Clinton said. "So we have left our local and state governments to fend for themselves. They should not be left to bear these costs alone because it is not they who are making federal immigration policy."
Another Obama Cabinet member, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, then a senator from Colorado, was also a co-sponsor.
Obama voted for the amendment, but it was defeated 43-52.
Mark Krikorian of the Center for Immigration Studies, a group that has called for tougher border security, predicted it is "very unlikely" that Obama's proposal to cut the program will be accepted by Congress. He noted that the Bush administration repeatedly tried to zero out the program, but always ran into opposition in Congress.
"It's hard to justify getting rid of it honestly," Krikorian said. "It's a necessary program because the federal government is reimbursing states and localities for the federal government's own mistakes."
Krikorian, like Clinton in 2006, argued immigration enforcement is a federal responsibility, and if state and local jails are incarcerating illegal immigrants, it is because of failed federal policies.
According to the fiscal 2010 budget, Obama's administration thinks resources used for the program could be better used to enhance federal efforts to curb illegal immigration.
"In place of SCAAP, the administration proposes a comprehensive border enforcement strategy that supports resources for a comprehensive approach to enforcement along the nation's borders that combines law enforcement and prosecutorial efforts to investigate arrest, detail, and prosecute illegal immigrants and other criminals," the budget states.
It emphasizes that the budget will provide funding for 20,000Border Patrol agents, and $1.4 billion for Immigration and Customs Enforcement programs to support the quick identification and removal of illegal aliens who commit crimes in the U.S.
The Office of Management and Budget did not respond when contacted about this story.
Obama
By Ian Swanson and Walter Alarkon
Posted: 05/08/09 09:24 AM [ET]
The Hill.com
President Obama voted in the Senate to provide additional funding for a program targeted for elimination by his budget that provides states a federal subsidy to offset the costs of jailing illegal immigrants.Killing the State Criminal Alien Assistance Program (SCAPP) would save $400 million, according to Obama's budget for fiscal 2010 released Thursday. It's one of the largest non-defense discretionary cuts proposed in the president's budget.
The program is popular with border-state politicians on Capitol Hill, however, making its elimination a tough sell to lawmakers, particularly from California.
Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) has repeatedly pushed for additional funding for the program, and lawmakers from other states that have costs associated with illegal aliens have also offered support.
A bipartisan trio of House members from California have drafted a letter urging the House Appropriations subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science and Related Agencies to restore funding for the SCAAP program. The three members, Reps. Mike Honda (D), Adam Schiff (D) and Jerry Lewis, the top Republican on the Appropriations Committee, are also asking the rest of the California House delegation to sign the letter, Honda's office said.
As an Illinois senator, Obama co-sponsored an amendment offered by then-Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.), now Obama's secretary of state, that would have provided additional funding for the program. It also would have established a grant program to defray local government healthcare and education costs for non-citizens.
"Each year, the SCAAP program is underfunded," Clinton said in 2006 comments urging support for her amendment. She cited a 2005 Government Accountability Office study that found local governments get only 25 percent of their costs reimbursed through the program.
"Throughout our country and in my state, there are counties and municipalities that are covering the costs of dealing with education, healthcare, and law enforcement without adequate or any federal reimbursement," Clinton said. "So we have left our local and state governments to fend for themselves. They should not be left to bear these costs alone because it is not they who are making federal immigration policy."
Another Obama Cabinet member, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, then a senator from Colorado, was also a co-sponsor.
Obama voted for the amendment, but it was defeated 43-52.
Mark Krikorian of the Center for Immigration Studies, a group that has called for tougher border security, predicted it is "very unlikely" that Obama's proposal to cut the program will be accepted by Congress. He noted that the Bush administration repeatedly tried to zero out the program, but always ran into opposition in Congress.
"It's hard to justify getting rid of it honestly," Krikorian said. "It's a necessary program because the federal government is reimbursing states and localities for the federal government's own mistakes."
Krikorian, like Clinton in 2006, argued immigration enforcement is a federal responsibility, and if state and local jails are incarcerating illegal immigrants, it is because of failed federal policies.
According to the fiscal 2010 budget, Obama's administration thinks resources used for the program could be better used to enhance federal efforts to curb illegal immigration.
"In place of SCAAP, the administration proposes a comprehensive border enforcement strategy that supports resources for a comprehensive approach to enforcement along the nation's borders that combines law enforcement and prosecutorial efforts to investigate arrest, detail, and prosecute illegal immigrants and other criminals," the budget states.
It emphasizes that the budget will provide funding for 20,000Border Patrol agents, and $1.4 billion for Immigration and Customs Enforcement programs to support the quick identification and removal of illegal aliens who commit crimes in the U.S.
The Office of Management and Budget did not respond when contacted about this story.
Obama
Swine Flu: Canada has a fatality
Canada says woman with swine flu dies
May 8 12:52 PM US/Eastern
TORONTO (AP) - A Canadian health official says a woman with swine flu has died.
Alberta's chief medical officer says the woman from northern Alberta was in her 30s and did not travel recently. He says she also had other medical conditions.
Dr. Andre Corriveau made the announcement at a news conference Friday.
It would be the first death from swine flu in Canada. Mexico has confirmed 45 deaths and there have been two deaths in the United States.
flu
May 8 12:52 PM US/Eastern
TORONTO (AP) - A Canadian health official says a woman with swine flu has died.
Alberta's chief medical officer says the woman from northern Alberta was in her 30s and did not travel recently. He says she also had other medical conditions.
Dr. Andre Corriveau made the announcement at a news conference Friday.
It would be the first death from swine flu in Canada. Mexico has confirmed 45 deaths and there have been two deaths in the United States.
flu
Swine Flu: US has over 1600 cases
United States has 1,639 cases of new flu, CDC says
08 May 2009
CHICAGO, May 8 (Reuters) - The United States has 1,639 cases of the new H1N1 flu in 43 states, with two deaths, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported on on Friday.
U.S. officials have said they expect the swine influenza virus to spread to all 50 states and to cause many infections ranging from mild to severe. The case count on Thursday was 896 but there has been a backlog of likely cases that need extra testing to confirm.
(Reporting by Julie Steenhuysen, editing by Jackie Frank)
flu
08 May 2009
CHICAGO, May 8 (Reuters) - The United States has 1,639 cases of the new H1N1 flu in 43 states, with two deaths, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported on on Friday.
U.S. officials have said they expect the swine influenza virus to spread to all 50 states and to cause many infections ranging from mild to severe. The case count on Thursday was 896 but there has been a backlog of likely cases that need extra testing to confirm.
(Reporting by Julie Steenhuysen, editing by Jackie Frank)
flu
Friday, May 8, 2009
Obama to hold town hall meeting on credit cards
Fri May 8, 2009 5:10pm EDT
By Jeff Mason
WASHINGTON, May 8 (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama will hold a town hall meeting next week in New Mexico to promote congressional efforts to reform credit card practices, the White House said on Friday.
Banks such as Bank of America Corp (BAC.N)>, JPMorgan Chase & Co (JPM.N), Citigroup Inc (C.N) and Capital One Financial Corp (COF.N) face a new set of rules issued by the Federal Reserve last year aimed at reining in abusive credit card practices.
The rules are to be implemented by July 2010, a date some lawmakers and consumer groups complain is too far away to help struggling consumers.
U.S. lawmakers are trying to codify those rules in legislation and send it to Obama this month to sign into law. Legislative efforts are aimed at stopping credit card companies from imposing certain late fees, restricting retroactive rate increases, as well as other questionable billing practices and marketing to minors.
The Senate is expected to begin debating on Monday on legislation. The House of Representatives overwhelmingly approved its own legislation last month.
White House spokesman Robert Gibbs told reporters on Friday that Obama will focus on legislation and urge lawmakers to "get something done on an issue of tremendous importance to middle class families.
"For many people credit cards provide an opportunity to finance purchases," Gibbs said. "But we think there's a more equitable way to do that and I think that those reforms are on their way through Congress."
In 2007, Americans used an estimated 694.4 million credit cards with Visa Inc (V.N), MasterCard Inc (MA.N), American Express Co (AXP.N) and Discover Financial Services (DFS.N) logos, according to industry data.
The American Bankers Association trade group, which represents many of the biggest credit card issuers, have warned that legislation could reduce the amount of credit available and make it more expensive for card users going forward.
"We're in a difficult lending environment," Ken Clayton, the ABA's senior vice president for card policy, said during a conference call with reporters. (Editing by Andre Grenon)
Obama
Fri May 8, 2009 5:10pm EDT
By Jeff Mason
WASHINGTON, May 8 (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama will hold a town hall meeting next week in New Mexico to promote congressional efforts to reform credit card practices, the White House said on Friday.
Banks such as Bank of America Corp (BAC.N)>, JPMorgan Chase & Co (JPM.N), Citigroup Inc (C.N) and Capital One Financial Corp (COF.N) face a new set of rules issued by the Federal Reserve last year aimed at reining in abusive credit card practices.
The rules are to be implemented by July 2010, a date some lawmakers and consumer groups complain is too far away to help struggling consumers.
U.S. lawmakers are trying to codify those rules in legislation and send it to Obama this month to sign into law. Legislative efforts are aimed at stopping credit card companies from imposing certain late fees, restricting retroactive rate increases, as well as other questionable billing practices and marketing to minors.
The Senate is expected to begin debating on Monday on legislation. The House of Representatives overwhelmingly approved its own legislation last month.
White House spokesman Robert Gibbs told reporters on Friday that Obama will focus on legislation and urge lawmakers to "get something done on an issue of tremendous importance to middle class families.
"For many people credit cards provide an opportunity to finance purchases," Gibbs said. "But we think there's a more equitable way to do that and I think that those reforms are on their way through Congress."
In 2007, Americans used an estimated 694.4 million credit cards with Visa Inc (V.N), MasterCard Inc (MA.N), American Express Co (AXP.N) and Discover Financial Services (DFS.N) logos, according to industry data.
The American Bankers Association trade group, which represents many of the biggest credit card issuers, have warned that legislation could reduce the amount of credit available and make it more expensive for card users going forward.
"We're in a difficult lending environment," Ken Clayton, the ABA's senior vice president for card policy, said during a conference call with reporters. (Editing by Andre Grenon)
Obama
Canada: Too Many Honor Killings
8 May 2009
National Post
BY NECO COCKBURN
Brother shot couple in honour killing, jury told
O T TAWA • A 23-year-old Afghan-Canadian shot his younger sister and her fiancé to death in a so-called honour killing rooted in anger over their engagement, a jury heard during the first day of Hasibullah Sadiqi’s murder trial.
During his opening statements, assistant Crown attorney Mark Moors told the court Mr. Sadiqi shot his 20-year-old sister, Khatera, and her fiancé, Feroz Mangal, with a .44 Magnum revolver while they sat in a parked car at an Ottawa shopping plaza just before 1 a.m. on Sept. 19, 2006.
Mr. Sadiqi’s defence lawyers have indicated they will not dispute their client was responsible for the killings, but will argue he is not guilty of murder because he was provoked.
Footage played at the trial shows a series of flashes in the dark in the rainy shopping plaza’s parking lot, where Khatera Sadiqi would be found barely breathing, slumped against her fiancé in a car.
There are four flashes on the video footage caught by a bank’s ATM camera, a pause as a car’s headlights sweep a nearby area, then another flash — all within 37 seconds.
Mr. Sadiqi, a Canadian of Afghan descent, is charged with two counts of first-degree murder. He was upset because his sister got engaged without their father’s permission and had moved in with Mr. Mangal’s family, Mr. Moors told the jury.
The trial is expected to hear that Mr. Sadiqi believed his sister had brought dishonour upon the Sadiqi name, Mr. Moors said. A witness is expected to testify that Mr. Sadiqi said after the killing that he believed his sister would be a martyr and go to paradise, he added.
Although Mr. Sadiqi came to Canada when he was very young, he had a “profound attachment” to his heritage, shaping his views of relationships between men and women, Mr. Moors said. The Crown intends to lead expert testimony regarding honour killings, he said.
The defence will not dispute the fact that Mr. Sadiqi was responsible for the killings. Natasha Calvinho, one of Mr. Sadiqi’s lawyers, told the jury that the case centres on the classification of the homicides.
By the end of the trial, the defence is expected to advance the argument of provocation, which could reduce a murder charge to manslaughter if certain conditions are met, Ms. Calvinho said.
The Crown, meanwhile, will try to prove that Mr. Sadiqi’s actions were planned and deliberate.
Khatera Sadiqi was shot in the head and torso, while Mr. Mangal was shot in the neck and chest, Mr. Moors said. She was pronounced dead at the scene, while Mr. Mangal was taken off life support 10 days later. Mr. Moors said evidence will show that Khatera Sadiqi had driven her brother and Mr. Mangal back to the parking lot after a night out for dinner and a movie with friends. It was the first time she and her brother had made plans to see each other since she and Mr. Mangal got engaged eight months earlier, Mr. Moors said.
Expected evidence will indicate Mr. Sadiqi had intended to give his sister and her fiancé a chance to acknowledge that what they had done was wrong, he added.
One witness is also expected to testify about instant messages with Ms. Sadiqi months earlier in which he had warned her of her brother’s anger and urged her to leave town, Mr. Moors said. Ms. Calvinho said that witness is expected to say he exaggerated.
Mr. Sadiqi, she said, will testify at the trial. He is expected to talk about his relationship with his sister and his love for her, Ms. Calvinho said. Mr. Sadiqi will not echo expected testimony about an abusive side to his father, she said.
Mr. Sadiqi is expected to say that he had not intentionally brought the gun, but it had been in his car for weeks as he was holding it, and other items including ammunition, for a friend, who, unlike Mr. Sadiqi, has a criminal record, Ms. Calvinho said.
Yesterday, testimony was heard from Ottawa police officers who arrived first at the scene — one of whom said Ms. Sadiqi was breathing sporadically before paramedics arrived and she was pronounced dead — along with an officer who noted that items such as press clippings about Afghanistan and a flag were among items seen in Mr. Sadiqi’s apartment.
Islam
National Post
BY NECO COCKBURN
Brother shot couple in honour killing, jury told
O T TAWA • A 23-year-old Afghan-Canadian shot his younger sister and her fiancé to death in a so-called honour killing rooted in anger over their engagement, a jury heard during the first day of Hasibullah Sadiqi’s murder trial.
During his opening statements, assistant Crown attorney Mark Moors told the court Mr. Sadiqi shot his 20-year-old sister, Khatera, and her fiancé, Feroz Mangal, with a .44 Magnum revolver while they sat in a parked car at an Ottawa shopping plaza just before 1 a.m. on Sept. 19, 2006.
Mr. Sadiqi’s defence lawyers have indicated they will not dispute their client was responsible for the killings, but will argue he is not guilty of murder because he was provoked.
Footage played at the trial shows a series of flashes in the dark in the rainy shopping plaza’s parking lot, where Khatera Sadiqi would be found barely breathing, slumped against her fiancé in a car.
There are four flashes on the video footage caught by a bank’s ATM camera, a pause as a car’s headlights sweep a nearby area, then another flash — all within 37 seconds.
Mr. Sadiqi, a Canadian of Afghan descent, is charged with two counts of first-degree murder. He was upset because his sister got engaged without their father’s permission and had moved in with Mr. Mangal’s family, Mr. Moors told the jury.
The trial is expected to hear that Mr. Sadiqi believed his sister had brought dishonour upon the Sadiqi name, Mr. Moors said. A witness is expected to testify that Mr. Sadiqi said after the killing that he believed his sister would be a martyr and go to paradise, he added.
Although Mr. Sadiqi came to Canada when he was very young, he had a “profound attachment” to his heritage, shaping his views of relationships between men and women, Mr. Moors said. The Crown intends to lead expert testimony regarding honour killings, he said.
The defence will not dispute the fact that Mr. Sadiqi was responsible for the killings. Natasha Calvinho, one of Mr. Sadiqi’s lawyers, told the jury that the case centres on the classification of the homicides.
By the end of the trial, the defence is expected to advance the argument of provocation, which could reduce a murder charge to manslaughter if certain conditions are met, Ms. Calvinho said.
The Crown, meanwhile, will try to prove that Mr. Sadiqi’s actions were planned and deliberate.
Khatera Sadiqi was shot in the head and torso, while Mr. Mangal was shot in the neck and chest, Mr. Moors said. She was pronounced dead at the scene, while Mr. Mangal was taken off life support 10 days later. Mr. Moors said evidence will show that Khatera Sadiqi had driven her brother and Mr. Mangal back to the parking lot after a night out for dinner and a movie with friends. It was the first time she and her brother had made plans to see each other since she and Mr. Mangal got engaged eight months earlier, Mr. Moors said.
Expected evidence will indicate Mr. Sadiqi had intended to give his sister and her fiancé a chance to acknowledge that what they had done was wrong, he added.
One witness is also expected to testify about instant messages with Ms. Sadiqi months earlier in which he had warned her of her brother’s anger and urged her to leave town, Mr. Moors said. Ms. Calvinho said that witness is expected to say he exaggerated.
Mr. Sadiqi, she said, will testify at the trial. He is expected to talk about his relationship with his sister and his love for her, Ms. Calvinho said. Mr. Sadiqi will not echo expected testimony about an abusive side to his father, she said.
Mr. Sadiqi is expected to say that he had not intentionally brought the gun, but it had been in his car for weeks as he was holding it, and other items including ammunition, for a friend, who, unlike Mr. Sadiqi, has a criminal record, Ms. Calvinho said.
Yesterday, testimony was heard from Ottawa police officers who arrived first at the scene — one of whom said Ms. Sadiqi was breathing sporadically before paramedics arrived and she was pronounced dead — along with an officer who noted that items such as press clippings about Afghanistan and a flag were among items seen in Mr. Sadiqi’s apartment.
Islam
The Hobbit (for reals)
Studies say 'hobbit' previously unknown species
by Marlowe Hood Marlowe Hood – Thu May 7, 2009
AFP
PARIS (AFP) – The tiny ancient humans dubbed hobbits, whose remains were discovered on an Indonesian island in 2003, were a previously unknown species altogether, according to two new studies.
Debate has raged in the scientific community since the fossils were found on the island of Flores, with some experts insisting they were descended from Homo erectus and others saying evolution could not account for their small brains.
About a metre (three feet) tall and weighing 30 kilos (65 pounds), the tiny, tool-making hunters may have roamed the remote island as recently as 8,000 years ago. Their fossils are about 18,000 years old.
Many scientists have said Homo floresiensis, as the creature is now formally known, was a prehistoric human stunted by natural selection over millennia through a process called insular dwarfing.
Others countered that even this evolutionary shrinking, well documented in island-bound animals, could not account for the chimpanzee-sized brain -- just a third the size of that in a modern human being.
The only plausible explanation, they insisted, was that the handful of specimens found had a genetic disorder resulting in an abnormally small skull or that they suffered from "dwarf cretinism" caused by deficient thyroids.
Two new studies in the British journal Nature go a long way toward settling the debate.
A team led by William Jungers of Stony Brook University in New York tackled the problem by analysing the hobbit's foot.
In some ways it is very human. The big toe is aligned with the others and the joints make it possible to extend the toes as the body's full weight falls on the foot -- attributes not found in great apes.
But in other respects it is startlingly primitive: far longer than its modern human equivalent and equipped with a very small big toe, long and curved lateral toes, and a weight-bearing structure closer to a chimpanzee's.
Recent archaeological evidence from Kenya shows that the modern foot evolved more than 1.5 million years ago, most likely in Homo erectus.
So unless the Flores hobbits became more primitive over time -- considered extremely unlikely -- they must have branched off the human line at an even earlier date.
For Jungers and colleagues, this suggests their ancestor was not Homo erectus "but instead some other more primitive hominin whose dispersal into southeast Asia is still undocumented."
Companion studies published by the Journal of Human Evolution bolster this theory and conjecture that these more ancient forebears may be the still poorly understood Homo habilis.
In any case, Homo floresiensis would be confirmed as a separate species.
But what still has not been explained the hobbit's inordinately small brain.
That's where hippos come into the picture.
Eleanor Weston and Adrian Lister of the Natural History Museum in London compared fossils of several species of ancient hippos found on the island of Madagascar with the mainland ancestors from which they had evolved.
They were surprised to find that insular dwarfing -- driven by the need to adapt to an island environment -- shrank their brains far more than had previously been thought possible.
"Whatever the explanation for the tiny brain of H. floresiensis relative to its body size, our evidence suggests that insular dwarfing could have played a role in its evolution," they conclude.
While the new studies answer some questions, they also raise new ones sure to spark fresh debate, Harvard professor Daniel Lieberman said in Nature.
Only more fossil evidence will indicate whether the hobbits of Flores evolved from Homo erectus, whose traces have been found throughout Eurasia, or from an even more ancient lineage not yet found outside Africa, he said.
humans
by Marlowe Hood Marlowe Hood – Thu May 7, 2009
AFP
PARIS (AFP) – The tiny ancient humans dubbed hobbits, whose remains were discovered on an Indonesian island in 2003, were a previously unknown species altogether, according to two new studies.
Debate has raged in the scientific community since the fossils were found on the island of Flores, with some experts insisting they were descended from Homo erectus and others saying evolution could not account for their small brains.
About a metre (three feet) tall and weighing 30 kilos (65 pounds), the tiny, tool-making hunters may have roamed the remote island as recently as 8,000 years ago. Their fossils are about 18,000 years old.
Many scientists have said Homo floresiensis, as the creature is now formally known, was a prehistoric human stunted by natural selection over millennia through a process called insular dwarfing.
Others countered that even this evolutionary shrinking, well documented in island-bound animals, could not account for the chimpanzee-sized brain -- just a third the size of that in a modern human being.
The only plausible explanation, they insisted, was that the handful of specimens found had a genetic disorder resulting in an abnormally small skull or that they suffered from "dwarf cretinism" caused by deficient thyroids.
Two new studies in the British journal Nature go a long way toward settling the debate.
A team led by William Jungers of Stony Brook University in New York tackled the problem by analysing the hobbit's foot.
In some ways it is very human. The big toe is aligned with the others and the joints make it possible to extend the toes as the body's full weight falls on the foot -- attributes not found in great apes.
But in other respects it is startlingly primitive: far longer than its modern human equivalent and equipped with a very small big toe, long and curved lateral toes, and a weight-bearing structure closer to a chimpanzee's.
Recent archaeological evidence from Kenya shows that the modern foot evolved more than 1.5 million years ago, most likely in Homo erectus.
So unless the Flores hobbits became more primitive over time -- considered extremely unlikely -- they must have branched off the human line at an even earlier date.
For Jungers and colleagues, this suggests their ancestor was not Homo erectus "but instead some other more primitive hominin whose dispersal into southeast Asia is still undocumented."
Companion studies published by the Journal of Human Evolution bolster this theory and conjecture that these more ancient forebears may be the still poorly understood Homo habilis.
In any case, Homo floresiensis would be confirmed as a separate species.
But what still has not been explained the hobbit's inordinately small brain.
That's where hippos come into the picture.
Eleanor Weston and Adrian Lister of the Natural History Museum in London compared fossils of several species of ancient hippos found on the island of Madagascar with the mainland ancestors from which they had evolved.
They were surprised to find that insular dwarfing -- driven by the need to adapt to an island environment -- shrank their brains far more than had previously been thought possible.
"Whatever the explanation for the tiny brain of H. floresiensis relative to its body size, our evidence suggests that insular dwarfing could have played a role in its evolution," they conclude.
While the new studies answer some questions, they also raise new ones sure to spark fresh debate, Harvard professor Daniel Lieberman said in Nature.
Only more fossil evidence will indicate whether the hobbits of Flores evolved from Homo erectus, whose traces have been found throughout Eurasia, or from an even more ancient lineage not yet found outside Africa, he said.
humans
Thursday, May 7, 2009
SWINE FLU: 1/3 of the Planet Will Get the Illness
WHO: Up to 2 billion people might get swine flu
May 7, 2009
By ELIANE ENGELER and ALEXANDER G. HIGGINS
GENEVA (AP) - The World Health Organization said Thursday that up to 2 billion people could be infected by swine flu if the current outbreak turns into a pandemic. The agency said a pandemic typically lasts two years.
WHO flu chief Keiji Fukuda said the number wasn't a prediction, but that experience with flu pandemics showed one-third of the world's population gets infected.
"If we do move into a pandemic then our expectation is that we will see a large number of people infected worldwide," Fukuda said. "If you look at past pandemics, it would be a reasonable estimate to say perhaps a third of the world's population would get infected with this virus."
In Mexico, which has had the most cases, high schools and universities opened for the first time in two weeks as the country's top health official insisted the epidemic is on the decline. All students were checked for swine flu symptoms and some were sent home.
Fukuda said WHO is unable to know what the future holds and that it is impossible now to say whether the outbreak will turn into a pandemic or whether it would be a mild or severe strain of influenza.
Even with a mild flu, "from the global perspective there are still very large numbers of people who could develop pneumonia, require respirators, who could die," Fukuda said.
People react differently to the flu depending on their general state of health and other factors.
Some younger people in the Southern Hemisphere may be more vulnerable because of malnourishment, war, HIV infections and other factors, Fukuda said. This means a mild outbreak in wealthier countries can be "quite severe in its impact in the developing world," he said.
"We expect this kind of event to unfold over weeks and months. Pandemics don't occur in a couple of days. When we go back and we look at history, we're often looking at a one-year period. Really if you look over a two-period that is really the period in which you see an increase in the number of illnesses and deaths during a pandemic influenza."
History has been the spur to WHO to make sure the world is as prepared as possible for a pandemic, which would be recognized by a rise to phase 6 from the current phase 5 in the agency's alert scale. That would mean general spread of the disease in another region beyond North America, where the outbreak so far has been heaviest.
"I'm not quite sure we know if we're going to phase 6 or not, or when we would do so," Fukuda said. "It's really impossible for anybody to predict right now."
Mexican dance halls, movie theaters and bars were allowed to fully reopen Thursday after a five-day shutdown designed to curb the virus' spread. Businesses must screen for any sick customers and restaurant employees must wear surgical masks.
Fans can attend professional soccer matches this weekend after all were played in empty stadiums last weekend.
Mexico confirmed two more deaths, for a total of 44, while 1,160 people have been sickened, up 90 from Wednesday. Despite death tolls and confirmed caseloads that rise daily, Health Secretary Jose Angel Cordova insisted the epidemic is waning in Mexico.
The WHO said the number of confirmed swine flu cases around the world has surpassed 2,000.
This swine flu seems to have a long incubation period—five to seven days before people notice symptoms, according to Dr. Marc-Alain Widdowson, a medical epidemiologist from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention now tracking the flu in Mexico City. That means the virus can keep being spread by people who won't know to stay home.
Mexico had mobilized teachers and parents to disinfect its schools before reopening. Primary schools reopen next week.
Laughing and joking, high school students gathered at the entrance of the National School of Graphic Arts in Mexico City, waiting to fill out forms that asked about their health.
Of 280 students entering the school in the first 20 minutes, two showed symptoms of swine flu, including coughing and nasal congestion, said assistant principal Ana Maria Calvo Vega. Their parents were notified and they won't be readmitted without a statement from a doctor saying they don't have the virus, she said.
Students at a Mexico City vocational high school were welcomed with a dollop of hand sanitizer and a surgical mask. Joyful to see each other again, students embraced and kissed—some through masks.
Parents expressed relief that their children, shuttered so long at home, could return to class. But they also worried that the virus could surge back once 40 million young people gather in groups again.
"My 17-year-old daughter is afraid. She knows she must go back but doesn't want to," said Silvia Mendez as she walked with her 4-year-old son, Enrique, in San Miguel Topilejo, a town perched in forested mountains near the capital.
Working parents have struggled to provide child care during the shutdown. It forced many to stay home from work, bring their youngsters to their jobs, or leave them at home.
Each school, Mexican officials said, had to be cleaned and inspected this week. Complicating the task: Many schools are primitive buildings with dirt floors and lack proper bathrooms. It was unclear how students attending those schools could adhere to the government's strict sanitary conditions.
The government promised detergent, chlorine, trash bags, anti-bacterial soap or antiseptic gel and face masks to state governments for delivery to public schools. But some local districts apparently didn't get the word.
U.S. health officials are no longer recommending that schools close because of suspected swine flu cases since the virus has turned out to be milder than initially feared. But many U.S. schools have done so anyway, including the school of a Texas teacher who died.
flu
May 7, 2009
By ELIANE ENGELER and ALEXANDER G. HIGGINS
GENEVA (AP) - The World Health Organization said Thursday that up to 2 billion people could be infected by swine flu if the current outbreak turns into a pandemic. The agency said a pandemic typically lasts two years.
WHO flu chief Keiji Fukuda said the number wasn't a prediction, but that experience with flu pandemics showed one-third of the world's population gets infected.
"If we do move into a pandemic then our expectation is that we will see a large number of people infected worldwide," Fukuda said. "If you look at past pandemics, it would be a reasonable estimate to say perhaps a third of the world's population would get infected with this virus."
In Mexico, which has had the most cases, high schools and universities opened for the first time in two weeks as the country's top health official insisted the epidemic is on the decline. All students were checked for swine flu symptoms and some were sent home.
Fukuda said WHO is unable to know what the future holds and that it is impossible now to say whether the outbreak will turn into a pandemic or whether it would be a mild or severe strain of influenza.
Even with a mild flu, "from the global perspective there are still very large numbers of people who could develop pneumonia, require respirators, who could die," Fukuda said.
People react differently to the flu depending on their general state of health and other factors.
Some younger people in the Southern Hemisphere may be more vulnerable because of malnourishment, war, HIV infections and other factors, Fukuda said. This means a mild outbreak in wealthier countries can be "quite severe in its impact in the developing world," he said.
"We expect this kind of event to unfold over weeks and months. Pandemics don't occur in a couple of days. When we go back and we look at history, we're often looking at a one-year period. Really if you look over a two-period that is really the period in which you see an increase in the number of illnesses and deaths during a pandemic influenza."
History has been the spur to WHO to make sure the world is as prepared as possible for a pandemic, which would be recognized by a rise to phase 6 from the current phase 5 in the agency's alert scale. That would mean general spread of the disease in another region beyond North America, where the outbreak so far has been heaviest.
"I'm not quite sure we know if we're going to phase 6 or not, or when we would do so," Fukuda said. "It's really impossible for anybody to predict right now."
Mexican dance halls, movie theaters and bars were allowed to fully reopen Thursday after a five-day shutdown designed to curb the virus' spread. Businesses must screen for any sick customers and restaurant employees must wear surgical masks.
Fans can attend professional soccer matches this weekend after all were played in empty stadiums last weekend.
Mexico confirmed two more deaths, for a total of 44, while 1,160 people have been sickened, up 90 from Wednesday. Despite death tolls and confirmed caseloads that rise daily, Health Secretary Jose Angel Cordova insisted the epidemic is waning in Mexico.
The WHO said the number of confirmed swine flu cases around the world has surpassed 2,000.
This swine flu seems to have a long incubation period—five to seven days before people notice symptoms, according to Dr. Marc-Alain Widdowson, a medical epidemiologist from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention now tracking the flu in Mexico City. That means the virus can keep being spread by people who won't know to stay home.
Mexico had mobilized teachers and parents to disinfect its schools before reopening. Primary schools reopen next week.
Laughing and joking, high school students gathered at the entrance of the National School of Graphic Arts in Mexico City, waiting to fill out forms that asked about their health.
Of 280 students entering the school in the first 20 minutes, two showed symptoms of swine flu, including coughing and nasal congestion, said assistant principal Ana Maria Calvo Vega. Their parents were notified and they won't be readmitted without a statement from a doctor saying they don't have the virus, she said.
Students at a Mexico City vocational high school were welcomed with a dollop of hand sanitizer and a surgical mask. Joyful to see each other again, students embraced and kissed—some through masks.
Parents expressed relief that their children, shuttered so long at home, could return to class. But they also worried that the virus could surge back once 40 million young people gather in groups again.
"My 17-year-old daughter is afraid. She knows she must go back but doesn't want to," said Silvia Mendez as she walked with her 4-year-old son, Enrique, in San Miguel Topilejo, a town perched in forested mountains near the capital.
Working parents have struggled to provide child care during the shutdown. It forced many to stay home from work, bring their youngsters to their jobs, or leave them at home.
Each school, Mexican officials said, had to be cleaned and inspected this week. Complicating the task: Many schools are primitive buildings with dirt floors and lack proper bathrooms. It was unclear how students attending those schools could adhere to the government's strict sanitary conditions.
The government promised detergent, chlorine, trash bags, anti-bacterial soap or antiseptic gel and face masks to state governments for delivery to public schools. But some local districts apparently didn't get the word.
U.S. health officials are no longer recommending that schools close because of suspected swine flu cases since the virus has turned out to be milder than initially feared. But many U.S. schools have done so anyway, including the school of a Texas teacher who died.
flu
Farrah
I remember going to the mall with my sister as a kid, and walking through the mall, passing a store that was a curio type - carrying all sorts of odds and ends, including a poster of Farrah on their front window. I stopped my sister and asked her if I could get the poster. She said no. I threw a temper tantrum and she bought me the poster. I didn't really know who this woman was, but I knew I had a crush on her and would, several years later, watch her television show in re-runs and recall seeing her poster for the first time in that mall, and then, on my bedroom wall. I still have it somewhere.
She was the most beautiful woman in the world when I was 7 or 8 or whatever age I was and she is no less so now. Even though none of us, around the world, knew her personally, millions had that poster, and perhaps still have it, somewhere.
Farrah Fawcett's dad, 91, flies in to say goodbye
Farrah Fawcett's 91-year-old father James is flying into Los Angeles to say goodbye to his dying daughter, reports RadarOnline.com and KTLA.
Farrah's condition has allegedly worsened. The 62-year-old actress and Hollywood icon is battling anal cancer that spread, according to doctor's statements.
Ryan O'Neal revealed in an interview with People today that her "treatment" has pretty much ended and that her cancer has spread to her liver. He reveals that she stays in bed now and is on IVs.O'Neal says, "She stays in bed now. The doctors see that she is comfortable. Farrah is on IVs, but some of that is for nourishment."
"It's a love story," he tells People. "I just don't know how to play this one. I won't know this world without her,"
Farrah
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
L'histoire me rappelle ...
I thought the following was a very beautiful story. I am sure there is an English version, although translating it into English loses some of the beauty of it.
A friend sent it to me and I appreciated it.
[The fact I enjoy the story and the French language, does not imply/suggest/connote that I feel anything for the French ... just the story and their language.]
Il était une fois, une île ou tous les différents sentiments vivaient : le Bonheur, la Tristesse, le Savoir, ainsi que tous les autres, l'Amour y compris. Un jour on annonça aux sentiments que l'île allait couler.
Ils préparèrent donc tous leurs bateaux et partirent.
Seul l'Amour resta.
L'Amour voulait rester jusqu'au dernier moment. Quand l'ile fut sur le point de sombrer, l'Amour décida d'appeler à l'aide.
La Richesse passait à côté de l'Amour dans un luxueux bateau. L'Amour lui dit, - "Richesse, peux-tu m'emmener?" - "Non car il y a beaucoup d'argent et d'or sur mon bateau. Je n'ai pas de place pour toi."
L'Amour décida alors de demander à l'Orgueil, qui passait aussi dans un magnifique vaisseau, - "Orgueil, aide-moi je t'en prie !" - "Je ne puis t'aider, Amour. Tu es tout mouillé et tu pourrais endommager mon bateau."
La Tristesse étant à côté, l'Amour lui demanda, - "Tristesse, laisse-moi venir avec toi." - "Oooh... Amour, je suis tellement triste que j'ai besoin d'être seule !"
Le Bonheur passa aussi à coté de l'Amour, mais il était si heureux qu'il n'entendît même pas l'Amour l'appeler !
Soudain, une voix dit, - "Viens Amour, je te prends avec moi." C'etait un vieillard qui avait parlé.
L'Amour se sentit si reconnaissant et plein de joie qu'il en oublia de demander son nom au vieillard. Lorsqu'ils arrivèrent sur la terre ferme, le vieillard s'en alla.
L'Amour réalisa combien il lui devait et demanda au Savoir - "Qui m'a aidé ?" - "C'était le Temps" répondit le Savoir. - "Le Temps ?" s'interrogea l'Amour. - "Mais pourquoi le Temps m'a-t-il aidé ?"
Le Savoir, sourit plein de sagesse, et répondit : - "C'est parce que Seul le Temps est capable de comprendre combien l'Amour est important dans la Vie.
L'histoire me rappelle de Lee.
love
A friend sent it to me and I appreciated it.
[The fact I enjoy the story and the French language, does not imply/suggest/connote that I feel anything for the French ... just the story and their language.]
Il était une fois, une île ou tous les différents sentiments vivaient : le Bonheur, la Tristesse, le Savoir, ainsi que tous les autres, l'Amour y compris. Un jour on annonça aux sentiments que l'île allait couler.
Ils préparèrent donc tous leurs bateaux et partirent.
Seul l'Amour resta.
L'Amour voulait rester jusqu'au dernier moment. Quand l'ile fut sur le point de sombrer, l'Amour décida d'appeler à l'aide.
La Richesse passait à côté de l'Amour dans un luxueux bateau. L'Amour lui dit, - "Richesse, peux-tu m'emmener?" - "Non car il y a beaucoup d'argent et d'or sur mon bateau. Je n'ai pas de place pour toi."
L'Amour décida alors de demander à l'Orgueil, qui passait aussi dans un magnifique vaisseau, - "Orgueil, aide-moi je t'en prie !" - "Je ne puis t'aider, Amour. Tu es tout mouillé et tu pourrais endommager mon bateau."
La Tristesse étant à côté, l'Amour lui demanda, - "Tristesse, laisse-moi venir avec toi." - "Oooh... Amour, je suis tellement triste que j'ai besoin d'être seule !"
Le Bonheur passa aussi à coté de l'Amour, mais il était si heureux qu'il n'entendît même pas l'Amour l'appeler !
Soudain, une voix dit, - "Viens Amour, je te prends avec moi." C'etait un vieillard qui avait parlé.
L'Amour se sentit si reconnaissant et plein de joie qu'il en oublia de demander son nom au vieillard. Lorsqu'ils arrivèrent sur la terre ferme, le vieillard s'en alla.
L'Amour réalisa combien il lui devait et demanda au Savoir - "Qui m'a aidé ?" - "C'était le Temps" répondit le Savoir. - "Le Temps ?" s'interrogea l'Amour. - "Mais pourquoi le Temps m'a-t-il aidé ?"
Le Savoir, sourit plein de sagesse, et répondit : - "C'est parce que Seul le Temps est capable de comprendre combien l'Amour est important dans la Vie.
L'histoire me rappelle de Lee.
love
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
Obama: Transparency and Truth
PHANTOM AIR FARCE PICTURES
Last updated: 11:24 am
May 5, 2009
New York Post
The $328,835 snapshots of an Air Force One backup plane buzzing lower Manhattan last week will not be shown to the public, the White House said yesterday.
"We have no plans to release them," an aide to President Obama told The Post, refusing to comment further.
The sole purpose of the secret photo-op, which sent thousands of New Yorkers running for cover, was to take new publicity shots of the presidential jet over the city.
"The photos . . . are classified -- that's ridiculous," Councilman Peter Vallone Jr., said.
The photos have not technically been "classified," a White House aide said, but they are being kept from public view.
New Yorkers said they could not understand how a president who shares intimate snapshots from the White House could justify keeping these secret.
"So we're not gonna see the fruits of this cruel joke?" said Frank Antonelli, 39, one of the Wall Street traders spooked by last week's flyover.
"I'm not surprised. Obama . . . wouldn't further all the bad publicity by putting out those pictures."
Obama
Monday, May 4, 2009
Democrats: The Only Uncorrupted Influence Peddlers
Two things:
1) Several times I have copied and pasted articles from the WP. Each time, the same bit is included (seen below) - House Majority Leader Tom Delay is indicted. It is listed under News Alert. When you click on it, an article from 2005 opens up with details of the indictment (which is not a conviction, it is simply a list of claimed violations).
WHY is this always appearing? Why has it appeared twice when I have copied and pasted? Why isn't an article titled: President Clinton impeached, on the banner for news alert? Makes you wonder, it does me.
2) There has been recent clamoring about fraud and waste in contracts given in Iraq. Congress is holding hearings, and while millions are not very much ... it is the principle isn't it. So why isn't Murtha and his son and their dealings all over the front pages?
Amazing. They lie and cheat and steal and because the media (in large part) are so caught up in the idea of liberals in charge again, they ignore and overlook. Many members of the elitist media want their ideology to prevail, to succeed, and they will do anything to ensure it does prevail, even cover up and ignore stories that, were they about Republicans three years ago, would be splashed all over the papers, hearings would be held, and indictments handed down.
Intellectual dishonesty - par for their course.
News Alert House Majority Leader Tom DeLay Indicted -->
Murtha's Nephew Got Defense Contracts
Millions in Work Came Without Competition
By Carol D. Leonnig and Alice Crites
Washington Post Staff Writers
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
The headquarters of Murtech, in a low-slung, bland building in a Glen Burnie business park, has its blinds drawn tight and few signs of life. On several days of visits, a handful of cars sit in the parking lot, and no trucks arrive at the 10 loading bays at the back of the building.
Yet last year, Murtech received $4 million in Pentagon work, all of it without competition, for a variety of warehousing and engineering services. With its long corridor of sparsely occupied offices and an unmanned reception area, Murtech's most striking feature is its owner -- Robert C. Murtha Jr., 49. He is the nephew of Rep. John P. Murtha, the Pennsylvania Democrat who has significant sway over the Defense Department's spending as chairman of the House Appropriations defense subcommittee.
Robert Murtha said he is not at liberty to discuss in detail what his company does, but for four years it has subsisted on defense contracts, according to records and interviews. He said Murtech's 17 employees "provide necessary logistical support" to Pentagon testing programs that focus on detecting chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear threats, "and that's about as far as I feel comfortable going." Giving more details could provide important clues to terrorist plotters, he said.
Murtha said he does not advertise being the nephew of John Murtha and considers it "unfortunate" that some will unfairly assume Murtech received its federal contracts because of his uncle's influence at the Pentagon.
[To read the rest of the article, click on the title link]
Democrats
Take No Prisoners: Liberals in Charge
I have to admit, I rather enjoyed the meltdown within the Democratic party in 1998, and likewise believe the disintegration of the Republican party was equally well deserved.
However, setting aside justice for the political parties, one event last week seemed to get little notice (this from someone who does not watch TV nor any newspapers per se) - Arlen Specter.
Why didn't the media label him as a traitor, a turn-coat, a rogue, a disloyal and untrustworthy person?
Answer: because he became a Democrat.
There are moments when you truly enjoy watching events unfold - the meltdown in the Democratic party in 1998, the impeachment of one of the most corrupt liars we have had in the White House, followed by the disintegration of the Retardican party - true moments of joy to watch. Equally as important is clarity - we, the people, see the media for what they are - so biased they do not even recognize the fact they are biased - the analysis of Specter leaving the Retardicans, but not of what that means - the disloyal nature of such events.
Understandably, Specter used as an excuse - his party abandoned him. We know that is a lie, for he just joined a party committed to weakening the US worldwide and taxing the American people into poverty.
It is not the same as Democrats who switched to the Republican party after September 11 claiming the Democratic party didn't take their security seriously. THAT is a reasonable and justified argument unlike Specter's feckless claim. Everyone knows why he did it and it had nothing to do with his party abandoning him.
Obama
However, setting aside justice for the political parties, one event last week seemed to get little notice (this from someone who does not watch TV nor any newspapers per se) - Arlen Specter.
Why didn't the media label him as a traitor, a turn-coat, a rogue, a disloyal and untrustworthy person?
Answer: because he became a Democrat.
There are moments when you truly enjoy watching events unfold - the meltdown in the Democratic party in 1998, the impeachment of one of the most corrupt liars we have had in the White House, followed by the disintegration of the Retardican party - true moments of joy to watch. Equally as important is clarity - we, the people, see the media for what they are - so biased they do not even recognize the fact they are biased - the analysis of Specter leaving the Retardicans, but not of what that means - the disloyal nature of such events.
Understandably, Specter used as an excuse - his party abandoned him. We know that is a lie, for he just joined a party committed to weakening the US worldwide and taxing the American people into poverty.
It is not the same as Democrats who switched to the Republican party after September 11 claiming the Democratic party didn't take their security seriously. THAT is a reasonable and justified argument unlike Specter's feckless claim. Everyone knows why he did it and it had nothing to do with his party abandoning him.
Obama
Liberal is as liberal says, Conservativism is as liberals say.
For eight years, FOX News was attacked as the mouthpiece of the Bush administration.
Everyone from students to the brilliance of Hollywood would attack FOX as a right-wing mouthpiece.
The funny thing is, in the White House they listened to and watched all the news channels.
What if Bush had said - 'We in the White House, LOVE FOX' ? What would the hue and cry have been?
What if Obama did the same, only with MSNBC?
No need to wonder - The special assistant to the president for arts and culture and a key White House advisor on disability policy said just that. But I doubt we will hear anything about this, or any sarcasm directed toward MSNBC as a result. It is odd that their criticism was only political - it lacked reason, and that is proven now with the comment about MSNBC. It shows clearly the void among liberals. Their hypocrisy and anger. And uncontrollable anger.
Obama
Everyone from students to the brilliance of Hollywood would attack FOX as a right-wing mouthpiece.
The funny thing is, in the White House they listened to and watched all the news channels.
What if Bush had said - 'We in the White House, LOVE FOX' ? What would the hue and cry have been?
What if Obama did the same, only with MSNBC?
No need to wonder - The special assistant to the president for arts and culture and a key White House advisor on disability policy said just that. But I doubt we will hear anything about this, or any sarcasm directed toward MSNBC as a result. It is odd that their criticism was only political - it lacked reason, and that is proven now with the comment about MSNBC. It shows clearly the void among liberals. Their hypocrisy and anger. And uncontrollable anger.
Obama
Friday, May 1, 2009
Obama: We are all special.
Brilliant.
Opinion
Squanderer in chief
By James Kirchick
April 28, 2009
Los Angeles Times
At a stop on his grand global apology tour this spring, President Obama was asked by a reporter in France if he believed in "American exceptionalism." This is the notion that our history as the world's oldest democracy, our immigrant founding and our devotion to liberty endow the United States with a unique, providential role in world affairs. Rather than endorse the proposition -- as every president in recent memory has done one way or another -- Obama offered a strange response: "I believe in American exceptionalism, just as I suspect that the Brits believe in British exceptionalism and the Greeks believe in Greek exceptionalism."
This is impossible. If all countries are "exceptional," then none are, and to claim otherwise robs the word, and the idea of American exceptionalism, of any meaning. Besides, American exceptionalism is demonstrable -- Cuban journalists, Chinese political dissidents, Eastern Europeans once again living in the shadow of a belligerent Russia and, yes, even some Brits and Greeks look toward the U.S. and nowhere else to defend freedom.
Viewed within the context of the first 100 days of his presidency, Obama's nonsensical statement is part of a disturbing pattern. Since swearing the oath of office, our president has traveled the world criticizing his predecessor, confessing America's supposed sins and otherwise flagellating the nation he leads on the altar of international "public opinion."
Obama delivered his first collective mea culpa on our behalf in an interview with the Arab Al Arabiya television network, in which he said that he hoped to "restore" the "same respect and partnership that America had with the Muslim world as recently as 20 or 30 years ago." (Would that be when Iranian revolutionaries held our embassy hostage for 444 days?) Obama neglected to identify what exactly had caused the rift between the United States and the "Muslim world," leaving his audience to believe that Islamic radicalism is as much our fault as it is of the Islamic radicals themselves.
But that was a mild beginning. Obama waited to ramp up the apologetics until his first trip overseas. In Strasbourg, France, he said the United States had "failed to appreciate Europe's leading role in the world" and that "there have been times where America has shown arrogance and been dismissive, even derisive." Never mind the questionable basis of these statements (even if Europe played a "leading role in the world," which it hasn't since nearly destroying itself 60 years ago, how have Americans "failed to appreciate" it?). More troubling was the impropriety of Obama's willingness to attack President George W. Bush in an obvious gambit to curry favor with Europeans.
Not content with faulting Americans for their arrogance (in France, no less!), Obama delivered a speech in Prague days later where he offered a not-so-subtle apology for America's use of nuclear weapons in World War II. "As the only nuclear power to have used a nuclear weapon, the United States has a moral responsibility to act" in furtherance of total disarmament, he said.
Yet the use of the atomic bomb in ending the war with Japan saved hundreds of thousands of lives, and America's possession of nuclear weapons prevented the Cold War from becoming bloodier. More unsettling, however, was the implication that the U.S., and not regimes that have illicitly sought such technology, is at fault for nuclear proliferation.
Obama apologized some more in Turkey. "I know that the trust that binds us has been strained, and I know that strain is shared in many places where the Muslim faith is practiced. Let me say this as clearly as I can: The United States is not at war with Islam."
Here, Obama seamlessly joined the Bush administration's irritation at Ankara's refusal to allow American troops' passage to Iraq with the bogus claim that the United States has, until Obama's presence in the White House, been "at war with Islam," an assertion that essentially (and falsely) blames Bush for declaring such a war.
When not establishing false premises about the previous administration (the easier to glorify his own) or apologizing for his country, Obama has shown unusual deference to autocrats. At the Summit of the Americas, he calmly sat through a 50-minute anti-American tirade by the communist leader of Nicaragua, Daniel Ortega, and was disturbingly ebullient in glad-handing Venezuelan autocrat Hugo Chavez. There's nothing wrong with the president participating in a multilateral summit where criticism, even egregiously unfair criticism, of the U.S. is expressed. But if he can sit and take verbal abuse from Latin American demagogues, then surely speaking a little truth in response to their lies is appropriate.
It was plenty controversial when, years into his ex-presidency, Jimmy Carter publicized his critique of U.S. policy by meeting with hostile governments to conduct freelance diplomacy. In 1994, Carter traveled to North Korea, called its then-dictator, Kim Il Sung, a "vigorous and intelligent" man, and took the Clinton administration by surprise, negotiating a deal empowering Kim to continue his nascent nuclear program. But Carter at least waited until he left the White House before denigrating his country.
The ill effects of Obama's obsequious behavior will not be immediate. His friendly handshake with Chavez will not suddenly lead to the closing of more opposition radio stations in Venezuela, nor will his bemoaning American arrogance in Europe lead to more Russian aggression tomorrow.
But Obama's fecklessness emboldens our adversaries and discourages advocates of liberty around the world. The consequences will be felt in damage to American prestige. As much as liberals like to claim that Bush "squandered" America's reputation, Obama is doubling that offense by setting up his country -- rhetorically and materially -- to be overtaken by other powers on the international stage. He is paving the way for America's decline.
James Kirchick is an assistant editor of the New Republic.
Obama
Opinion
Squanderer in chief
By James Kirchick
April 28, 2009
Los Angeles Times
At a stop on his grand global apology tour this spring, President Obama was asked by a reporter in France if he believed in "American exceptionalism." This is the notion that our history as the world's oldest democracy, our immigrant founding and our devotion to liberty endow the United States with a unique, providential role in world affairs. Rather than endorse the proposition -- as every president in recent memory has done one way or another -- Obama offered a strange response: "I believe in American exceptionalism, just as I suspect that the Brits believe in British exceptionalism and the Greeks believe in Greek exceptionalism."
This is impossible. If all countries are "exceptional," then none are, and to claim otherwise robs the word, and the idea of American exceptionalism, of any meaning. Besides, American exceptionalism is demonstrable -- Cuban journalists, Chinese political dissidents, Eastern Europeans once again living in the shadow of a belligerent Russia and, yes, even some Brits and Greeks look toward the U.S. and nowhere else to defend freedom.
Viewed within the context of the first 100 days of his presidency, Obama's nonsensical statement is part of a disturbing pattern. Since swearing the oath of office, our president has traveled the world criticizing his predecessor, confessing America's supposed sins and otherwise flagellating the nation he leads on the altar of international "public opinion."
Obama delivered his first collective mea culpa on our behalf in an interview with the Arab Al Arabiya television network, in which he said that he hoped to "restore" the "same respect and partnership that America had with the Muslim world as recently as 20 or 30 years ago." (Would that be when Iranian revolutionaries held our embassy hostage for 444 days?) Obama neglected to identify what exactly had caused the rift between the United States and the "Muslim world," leaving his audience to believe that Islamic radicalism is as much our fault as it is of the Islamic radicals themselves.
But that was a mild beginning. Obama waited to ramp up the apologetics until his first trip overseas. In Strasbourg, France, he said the United States had "failed to appreciate Europe's leading role in the world" and that "there have been times where America has shown arrogance and been dismissive, even derisive." Never mind the questionable basis of these statements (even if Europe played a "leading role in the world," which it hasn't since nearly destroying itself 60 years ago, how have Americans "failed to appreciate" it?). More troubling was the impropriety of Obama's willingness to attack President George W. Bush in an obvious gambit to curry favor with Europeans.
Not content with faulting Americans for their arrogance (in France, no less!), Obama delivered a speech in Prague days later where he offered a not-so-subtle apology for America's use of nuclear weapons in World War II. "As the only nuclear power to have used a nuclear weapon, the United States has a moral responsibility to act" in furtherance of total disarmament, he said.
Yet the use of the atomic bomb in ending the war with Japan saved hundreds of thousands of lives, and America's possession of nuclear weapons prevented the Cold War from becoming bloodier. More unsettling, however, was the implication that the U.S., and not regimes that have illicitly sought such technology, is at fault for nuclear proliferation.
Obama apologized some more in Turkey. "I know that the trust that binds us has been strained, and I know that strain is shared in many places where the Muslim faith is practiced. Let me say this as clearly as I can: The United States is not at war with Islam."
Here, Obama seamlessly joined the Bush administration's irritation at Ankara's refusal to allow American troops' passage to Iraq with the bogus claim that the United States has, until Obama's presence in the White House, been "at war with Islam," an assertion that essentially (and falsely) blames Bush for declaring such a war.
When not establishing false premises about the previous administration (the easier to glorify his own) or apologizing for his country, Obama has shown unusual deference to autocrats. At the Summit of the Americas, he calmly sat through a 50-minute anti-American tirade by the communist leader of Nicaragua, Daniel Ortega, and was disturbingly ebullient in glad-handing Venezuelan autocrat Hugo Chavez. There's nothing wrong with the president participating in a multilateral summit where criticism, even egregiously unfair criticism, of the U.S. is expressed. But if he can sit and take verbal abuse from Latin American demagogues, then surely speaking a little truth in response to their lies is appropriate.
It was plenty controversial when, years into his ex-presidency, Jimmy Carter publicized his critique of U.S. policy by meeting with hostile governments to conduct freelance diplomacy. In 1994, Carter traveled to North Korea, called its then-dictator, Kim Il Sung, a "vigorous and intelligent" man, and took the Clinton administration by surprise, negotiating a deal empowering Kim to continue his nascent nuclear program. But Carter at least waited until he left the White House before denigrating his country.
The ill effects of Obama's obsequious behavior will not be immediate. His friendly handshake with Chavez will not suddenly lead to the closing of more opposition radio stations in Venezuela, nor will his bemoaning American arrogance in Europe lead to more Russian aggression tomorrow.
But Obama's fecklessness emboldens our adversaries and discourages advocates of liberty around the world. The consequences will be felt in damage to American prestige. As much as liberals like to claim that Bush "squandered" America's reputation, Obama is doubling that offense by setting up his country -- rhetorically and materially -- to be overtaken by other powers on the international stage. He is paving the way for America's decline.
James Kirchick is an assistant editor of the New Republic.
Obama
Obama: Oh the Power and Majesty
Obama revelling in U.S. power unseen in decades
Fri May 1, 2009 9:47pm BST
By Steve Holland
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Barack Obama is revelling in presidential power and influence unseen in Washington for decades.
Barely 100 days in office, the U.S. president and his Democratic Party have firm control over the White House and Congress and the ability to push through ambitious plans.
Now, with the coming retirement of a Supreme Court justice clearing the way for him to appoint a successor, Obama already is assured a legacy at the top of all three branches of government -- executive, legislative and judicial.
On the corporate front, the federal government's pumping of billions of dollars in bailout money into banks and auto companies has given Obama the power to force an overhaul in those industries, a remarkable intervention in capitalist industries by the state.
Americans are giving him leeway as well. His job approval ratings are well over 60 percent, giving him political capital to undertake big challenges.
[We will have to remember that at this time in his administration, Bush's approval ratings were over 65%]
His political opponents, the Republicans, are in disarray, reduced in numbers and engaged in an internal struggle over how to recover from devastating election losses in 2006 and last year.
Experts speak of Obama in the same league as such transformational presidents as Democrat Franklin Roosevelt, who led the United States through the Great Depression and World War Two, and Republican Ronald Reagan, who led the country to victory in the Cold War.
"I cannot in my memory remember a time when a president of the United States has had more influence," said Democratic strategist Doug Schoen, who worked in the Clinton White House.
"Not only is it his moment, it is a level of influence and power for a president that is literally unprecedented from any time since the New Deal and Franklin Roosevelt. If he handles it right, it could be his century."
STROKE OF LUCK
Obama is seeing evidence that with power comes the occasional stroke of luck.
A gift came in the party switch this week by Pennsylvania Senator Arlen Specter from the Republicans to the Democrats.
It could give the Democrats unfettered authority. If and when Minnesota Democrat Al Franken overcomes a recount battle and takes his Senate seat, Democrats will have a 60-vote supermajority in the 100-member Senate.
The announced retirement of Supreme Court Justice David Souter has given Obama the opportunity to put his imprint on the highest U.S. court and replace one of the court's liberals with another liberal voice.
Although he will not be able to change the court's balance of power from a conservative majority any time soon, he will be able to select a justice likely to remain on the bench long after Obama has left the White House.
How long will his luck last?
With the U.S. economy reeling and millions of Americans without jobs, Obama has his work cut out for him. He has a long list of challenges, and spoke of them at a news conference this week.
"If you could tell me right now that, when I walked into this office that the banks were humming, that autos were selling, and that all you had to worry about was Iraq, Afghanistan, North Korea, getting healthcare passed, figuring out how to deal with energy independence, deal with Iran, and a pandemic flu, I would take that deal," Obama said.
Pollster John Zogby said that after his first 100 days, Obama now embarks on another weighty period in which Americans will want to see evidence that his $787 billion economic stimulus approved in February is working.
"I think by late June, they are going to have to start seeing some of these economic indicators stabilizing or at least some orange cones and hard hats out on the roads -- something that indicates either a stemming of the tide or some kind of progress," Zogby said.
Those who keenly watch the poll numbers also point out that while Obama is personally popular, some of the items on his agenda are less so.
"I think he will always stay personally popular," said Republican strategist Charlie Black, who was a senior adviser on Republican John McCain's presidential campaign last year. "But when you test the individual policies, a majority will tell you we're spending too much money."
"On the policy proposals the jury is out as to how popular they will be," he said.
(Editing by Howard Goller and Mohammad Zargham)
Obama
Obama: Smoke and Mirrors - Give me the money back!
INSIDE WASHINGTON: Taxpayers to get rude surprise
INSIDE WASHINGTON: Millions of couples, retirees may have to repay some of Obama tax credit
Stephen Ohlemacher, Associated Press Writer
On Thursday April 30, 2009, 6:55 pm EDT
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Millions of Americans enjoying their small windfall from President Barack Obama's "Making Work Pay" tax credit are in for an unpleasant surprise next spring.
The government is going to want some of that money back.
The tax credit is supposed to provide up to $400 to individuals and $800 to married couples as part of the massive economic recovery package enacted in February. Most workers started receiving the credit through small increases in their paychecks in the past month.
But new tax withholding tables issued by the IRS could cause millions of taxpayers to get hundreds of dollars more than they are entitled to under the credit, money that will have to be repaid at tax time.
At-risk taxpayers include a broad swath of the public: married couples in which both spouses work; workers with more than one job; retirees who have federal income taxes withheld from their pension payments and Social Security recipients with jobs that provide taxable income.
The Internal Revenue Service acknowledges problems with the withholding tables but has done little to warn average taxpayers.
"They need to get the Goodyear blimp out there on this," said Tom Ochsenschlager, vice president of taxation for the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants.
For many, the new tax tables will simply mean smaller-than-expected tax refunds next year, IRS spokesman Terry Lemons said. The average refund was nearly $2,700 this year.
But taxpayers who calculate their withholding so they get only small refunds could face an unwelcome tax bill next April, said Jackie Perlman, an analyst with the Tax Institute at H&R Block.
"They are going to get a surprise," she said.
Perlman's advice: check your federal withholding to make sure sufficient taxes are being taken out of your pay. If you are married and both spouses work, you might consider having taxes withheld at the higher rate for single filers. If you have multiple jobs, you might consider having extra taxes withheld by one of your employers. You can make that request with a Form W-4.
The IRS has a calculator on its Web site to help taxpayers figure withholding. So do many private tax preparers.
Obama has touted the tax credit as one of the big achievements of his first 100 days in office, boasting that 95 percent of working families will qualify in 2009 and 2010.
The credit pays workers 6.2 percent of their earned income, up to a maximum of $400 for individuals and $800 for married couples who file jointly. Individuals making more $95,000 and couples making more than $190,000 are ineligible.
The tax credit was designed to help boost the economy by getting more money to consumers in their regular paychecks. Employers were required to start using the new withholding tables by April 1.
The tables, however, don't take into account several common categories of taxpayers, experts said.
For example:
--A single worker with two jobs making $20,000 a year at each job will get a $400 boost in take-home pay at each of them, for a total of $800. That worker, however, is eligible for a maximum credit of $400, so the remaining $400 will have to be paid back at tax time -- either through a smaller refund or a payment to the IRS.
The IRS recognized there could be a similar problem for married couples if both spouses work, so it adjusted the withholding tables. The fix, however, was imperfect.
-- A married couple with a combined income of $50,000 is eligible for an $800 credit. However, if both spouses work and make more than $13,000, the new withholding tables give them each a $600 boost -- for a total of $1,200.
There were 33 million married couples in 2008 in which both spouses worked. That's 55 percent of all married couples, according to the Census Bureau.
-- A single college student with a part-time job making $10,000 would get a $400 boost in pay. However, if that student is claimed as a dependent on a parent's tax return, she doesn't qualify for the credit and would have to repay it when she files next year.
Some retirees face even bigger headaches.
The Social Security Administration is sending out $250 payments to more than 50 million retirees in May as part of the economic stimulus package. The payments will go to people who receive Social Security, Supplemental Security Income, railroad retirement benefits or veteran's disability benefits.
The payments are meant to provide a boost for people who don't qualify for the tax credit.
However, they will go to retirees even if they have earned income and receive the credit. Those retirees will have the $250 payment deducted from their tax credit -- but not until they file their tax returns next year, long after the money may have been spent.
Retirees who have federal income taxes withheld from pension benefits also are getting an income boost as a result of the new withholding tables. However, pension benefits are not earned income, so they don't qualify for the tax credit. That money will have to paid back next year when tax returns are filed.
More than 20 million retirees and survivors receive payments from defined benefit pension plans, according to the Employee Benefit Research Institute. However, it is unclear how many have federal taxes withheld from their payments.
The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees union raised concerns about the effect of the tax credit on pension payments in a letter to Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner in March.
Geithner responded that Treasury and IRS understood the concerns and were "exploring ways to mitigate that effect."
Rep. Dave Camp of Michigan, the top Republican on the tax-writing House Ways and Means Committee, said Geithner has yet to respond to concerns raised by committee members.
"So far we've got the, 'If we don't address this maybe it will go away' approach," Camp said.
IRS withholding calculator:
http://www.irs.gov/individuals/article/0,,id96196,00.html
taxes
INSIDE WASHINGTON: Millions of couples, retirees may have to repay some of Obama tax credit
Stephen Ohlemacher, Associated Press Writer
On Thursday April 30, 2009, 6:55 pm EDT
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Millions of Americans enjoying their small windfall from President Barack Obama's "Making Work Pay" tax credit are in for an unpleasant surprise next spring.
The government is going to want some of that money back.
The tax credit is supposed to provide up to $400 to individuals and $800 to married couples as part of the massive economic recovery package enacted in February. Most workers started receiving the credit through small increases in their paychecks in the past month.
But new tax withholding tables issued by the IRS could cause millions of taxpayers to get hundreds of dollars more than they are entitled to under the credit, money that will have to be repaid at tax time.
At-risk taxpayers include a broad swath of the public: married couples in which both spouses work; workers with more than one job; retirees who have federal income taxes withheld from their pension payments and Social Security recipients with jobs that provide taxable income.
The Internal Revenue Service acknowledges problems with the withholding tables but has done little to warn average taxpayers.
"They need to get the Goodyear blimp out there on this," said Tom Ochsenschlager, vice president of taxation for the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants.
For many, the new tax tables will simply mean smaller-than-expected tax refunds next year, IRS spokesman Terry Lemons said. The average refund was nearly $2,700 this year.
But taxpayers who calculate their withholding so they get only small refunds could face an unwelcome tax bill next April, said Jackie Perlman, an analyst with the Tax Institute at H&R Block.
"They are going to get a surprise," she said.
Perlman's advice: check your federal withholding to make sure sufficient taxes are being taken out of your pay. If you are married and both spouses work, you might consider having taxes withheld at the higher rate for single filers. If you have multiple jobs, you might consider having extra taxes withheld by one of your employers. You can make that request with a Form W-4.
The IRS has a calculator on its Web site to help taxpayers figure withholding. So do many private tax preparers.
Obama has touted the tax credit as one of the big achievements of his first 100 days in office, boasting that 95 percent of working families will qualify in 2009 and 2010.
The credit pays workers 6.2 percent of their earned income, up to a maximum of $400 for individuals and $800 for married couples who file jointly. Individuals making more $95,000 and couples making more than $190,000 are ineligible.
The tax credit was designed to help boost the economy by getting more money to consumers in their regular paychecks. Employers were required to start using the new withholding tables by April 1.
The tables, however, don't take into account several common categories of taxpayers, experts said.
For example:
--A single worker with two jobs making $20,000 a year at each job will get a $400 boost in take-home pay at each of them, for a total of $800. That worker, however, is eligible for a maximum credit of $400, so the remaining $400 will have to be paid back at tax time -- either through a smaller refund or a payment to the IRS.
The IRS recognized there could be a similar problem for married couples if both spouses work, so it adjusted the withholding tables. The fix, however, was imperfect.
-- A married couple with a combined income of $50,000 is eligible for an $800 credit. However, if both spouses work and make more than $13,000, the new withholding tables give them each a $600 boost -- for a total of $1,200.
There were 33 million married couples in 2008 in which both spouses worked. That's 55 percent of all married couples, according to the Census Bureau.
-- A single college student with a part-time job making $10,000 would get a $400 boost in pay. However, if that student is claimed as a dependent on a parent's tax return, she doesn't qualify for the credit and would have to repay it when she files next year.
Some retirees face even bigger headaches.
The Social Security Administration is sending out $250 payments to more than 50 million retirees in May as part of the economic stimulus package. The payments will go to people who receive Social Security, Supplemental Security Income, railroad retirement benefits or veteran's disability benefits.
The payments are meant to provide a boost for people who don't qualify for the tax credit.
However, they will go to retirees even if they have earned income and receive the credit. Those retirees will have the $250 payment deducted from their tax credit -- but not until they file their tax returns next year, long after the money may have been spent.
Retirees who have federal income taxes withheld from pension benefits also are getting an income boost as a result of the new withholding tables. However, pension benefits are not earned income, so they don't qualify for the tax credit. That money will have to paid back next year when tax returns are filed.
More than 20 million retirees and survivors receive payments from defined benefit pension plans, according to the Employee Benefit Research Institute. However, it is unclear how many have federal taxes withheld from their payments.
The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees union raised concerns about the effect of the tax credit on pension payments in a letter to Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner in March.
Geithner responded that Treasury and IRS understood the concerns and were "exploring ways to mitigate that effect."
Rep. Dave Camp of Michigan, the top Republican on the tax-writing House Ways and Means Committee, said Geithner has yet to respond to concerns raised by committee members.
"So far we've got the, 'If we don't address this maybe it will go away' approach," Camp said.
IRS withholding calculator:
http://www.irs.gov/individuals/article/0,,id96196,00.html
taxes
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