A new EPA program helped clean up San Jose, CA’S polluted Coyote Creek by eliminating trash from homeless encampments and other sources employed homeless people and helped them find housing.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, San Jose’s Mayor Chuck Reed and other groups announced nearly $1 million in funding for the program called Clean Creeks, Healthy Communities.
The program started in July 2011 and lasts through June 2015, and will provide about 50 of the creek’s estimated 100 homeless residents with jobs and temporary housing until they can find permanent housing.
“The job cleaning the creeks is temporary employment, but it’s about rebuilding people’s dignity,” said Eileen Richardson, executive director of Downtown Streets Team, one of the groups involved in running the program.
The four-year pilot program brings together an interdisciplinary partnership that will target improving creek health with a three-prong approach:
- Engage neighbors as creek stewards
- Employ and assist the homeless
- Deter dumping and litter
Homeless People’s Voting Rights http://www.nationalhomeless.org/projects/vote/court.html
Wednesday, August 24, 2011
All Times Eastern
President Obama receives the presidential daily briefing
2:00 AM
Vice President Biden Speaks to U.S. Service Members
Yokota Air Base, Tokyo, Japan
3: 00 AM
4:00 AM
5:00 AM
6:00 AM
7:00 AM
8:00 AM
9:00 AM
10:00 AM
11:00 AM
11:30 AM
The White House Deputy Press Secretary Josh Earnest holds a special briefing from Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts.
12:00 PM
1:00 PM
2:00 PM
3:00 PM
4:00 PM
5:00 PM
6:00 PM
7:00 PM
8:00 PM
9:00 PM
10:00 PM
August 24, 2011
WhiteHouse.gov http://www.whitehouse.gov/live
2:00 AM EDT
Vice President Biden Speaks to U.S. Service Members
Yokota Air Base, Tokyo, Japan
11:30 AM EDT
Briefing by Principal Deputy Press Secretary Josh Earnest-
Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts (Audio Only)
—-
CNN http://live.cnn.com
11:00 AM EDT
CBO Updates its Budget & Economic Forecast
ly11:30 AM EDT
White House briefing
The White House holds a special briefing from Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts. Topics expected to be discussed include Libya, Hurricane Irene and Tuesday’s earthquake.
12:30 PM EDT
State Department briefing
The State Department holds its daily briefing with reporters. Topics expected to be discussed include the uprising in Libya.
6:00 PM EDT
Dinner honoring global peace leaders tonight in honor of the Martin Luther King Jr. National Memorial. This is day one of five days of events.
—-
CSPAN http://www.cspan.org/
11:00 AM EDT
CBO Updates its Budget & Economic Forecast http://www.cspan.org/Events/CBO-Updates-its-Budget-Economic-Forecast/10737423673/
11:30 AM EDT
White House briefing
The White House holds a special briefing from Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts. Topics expected to be discussed include Libya, Hurricane Irene and Tuesday’s earthquake.
12:30 PM EDT
State Department briefing
The State Department holds its daily briefing with reporters. Topics expected to be discussed include the uprising in Libya.
6:00 PM EDT
Dinner honoring global peace leaders tonight in honor of the Martin Luther King Jr. National Memorial. This is day one of five days of events. http://www.cspan.org/Events/MLK-Memorial-Events-Begin/10737423663/
—
Middle East Protest
Al Jazeera – English http://english.aljazeera.net
God continue to bless our dear Vice President during his trip – and hurry home, Joe!
I never really like it when he and/or PBO are out of our country!
Clean Creeks, Healthy Communities
Cleaning Up Coyote Creek Watershed
Despite being a beautiful waterway, Coyote Creek is trash-impaired — meaning trash is significantly damaging the creek as a healthy habitat for fish and wildlife. The creek project area is notably polluted by homeless encampments and illegal dumping.
The four-year pilot program brings together an interdisciplinary partnership that will target improving creek health with a three-prong approach:
* Engage neighbors as creek stewards
* Employ and assist the homeless
* Deter dumping and litter
The City of San Jose’s Clean Creeks, Healthy Communities project will improve water quality by addressing trash at its source: illegal encampments and illegal dumping. The city will focus on areas of
greatest pollution, including homeless encampments. The project’s results are intended to help inform cities of ways to reduce trash flowing from their streets and storm drains to San Francisco Bay.
To learn more: http://www.epa.gov/region9/mediacenter/cleancreeks/
Polluted S.D. site gets federal funds for cleanup
6/6/2011 signonsandiego.com
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Tuesday plans to award $200,000 to the Jacobs Center for Neighborhood Innovation for renovating a site polluted by pesticides and lead.
The grant is part of a $76 million national initiative to clean up the nation’s 450,000 abandoned and contaminated waste sites, called brownfields. The program targets under-served and economically disadvantaged neighborhoods where the EPA says environmental restoration and new jobs are most needed.
The Jacobs Center is part of a family foundation dedicated to improving an area of about 90,000 residents in Southeast San Diego referred to as the Diamond Neighborhoods, including Chollas View and Webster. Its project involves removing 12,000 cubic yards of tainted soil from a former industrial site. It’s not clear when the project will start because the group still needs to raise about a third of the $25 million overall project cost.
“This funding will rid the soils of contamination at this site, the first step in the construction of green, affordable rental homes,” said a statement by Jared Blumenfeld, EPA’s regional administrator. “We are pleased to collaborate with the Jacobs Center and the San Diego Redevelopment Agency in their efforts to revitalize the Diamond Neighborhoods. The results will prove that a cleaner environment can sustain a healthier community, bringing new opportunities and new jobs.”
For the entire article: http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2011/jun/06/polluted-site-gets-federal-funds-cleanup/
SJ campaign gives homeless jobs, cleaner creek
6/9/11 David Louie – abclocal.go
SAN JOSE, Calif. (KGO) — A new campaign to clean up trash along a San Jose creek aims to create jobs for the homeless who live along its banks and it might change lives.
The problem is obvious — trash lines San Jose’s Coyote Creek for miles. Much of it is generated by the hundreds of homeless who camp out there. The Environmental Protection Agency, with help from local groups, plans to hire the homeless to do the clean-up.
Jim Kenny has lived near the creek for four years. The prospect of a job and a cleaner environment intrigues him.
“It’ll help an awful lot of people get off their petunias and say, ‘Hey, this is where I live. This program’s going to help me get back into the swing of things,’” said Kenny.
One of the agencies involved — Destination: Home — believes the approach will foster hope among the homeless.
“It’s an opportunity to be able to reconnect with folks and offer a partnership in terms of restoring the environment and helping them find housing,” said Destination: Home executive director Jennifer Loving.
How much the homeless can earn hasn’t been announced. Almost $1 million in funding is coming from public and private sources. A long-time homeless advocate Pastor Scott Wagers, from Cham Deliverance Ministry, says the program holds promise.
“A job does give hope and so jobs are an integral part of peoples’ psychological well-being on the streets, and so you give them that empowerment, they work toward a goal, housing is the ultimate solution, but having a job temporarily is a good start,” said Pastor Wagers.
For the entire article and to see the video: http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?section=news/local/south_bay&id=8179639
Program to clean San Jose creek to employ homeless
6/9/11 The Associated Press
SAN JOSE, Calif.—A new program meant to help clean up San Jose’s polluted Coyote Creek by eliminating trash from homeless encampments and other sources will employ homeless people and help them find housing, officials said Thursday.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, San Jose’s Mayor Chuck Reed and other groups announced nearly $1 million in funding for the program called Clean Creeks, Healthy Communities.
The program starts in July and lasts through June 2015, and will provide about 50 of the creek’s estimated 100 homeless residents with jobs and temporary housing until they can find permanent housing.
“The job cleaning the creeks is temporary employment, but it’s about rebuilding people’s dignity,” said Eileen Richardson, executive director of Downtown Streets Team, one of the groups involved in running the program.
In the past three years, the Santa Clara County Water District said it had pulled 300 tons of trash from homeless encampments and other areas along the creek, which is a major source of trash for San Francisco Bay.
The program will target three miles of Coyote Creek for cleanup and also conduct outreach to residents and others to help deter people from illegally dumping trash.
About $680,000 of the $943,000 for the program was granted by the EPA.
That’s the best and brightest idea, yet – to employ homeless people in cleaning the site, and help relocate them. Wow.
Joining Forces for Our Oceans, Coasts, and Great Lakes
Posted by Andy Lipsky on July 01, 2011
Last week, the National Ocean Council brought together more than 500 Federal, state, tribal, and local government representatives, indigenous community leaders, and other stakeholders and members of the public from across the country for a National Coastal and Marine Spatial Planning (CMSP) Workshop in Washington, DC. An additional 260 participants joined us online for the Workshop webcast. The workshop kicked off a major program of regional collaboration to advance the stewardship of our ocean, coasts, and Great Lakes—and by all accounts it provided a great start to achieving this important goal.
We heard from participants how cooperative ocean and coastal planning can be used to create jobs, help secure energy independence, enhance recreational opportunities, and maximize the uses of our Nation’s working waters while ensuring their conservation for future generations. We also discussed how our country’s first comprehensive National Ocean Policy engages tribal nations as equal partners alongside states and the Federal government to produce a balanced plan that serves all Americans who have equities in our ocean, coastal and Great Lakes resources.
For the entire article: http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2011/07/01/joining-forces-our-oceans-coasts-and-great-lakes
Court Decisions on Homeless People’s Voting Rights
Prior to the 1980’s when homelessness grew into the national problem we know today, state election laws did not adequately address the issue of voter registration by people without a home. Listed below are selected court cases in which courts have addressed the ambiguities in state election laws and found that homeless people cannot be denied the right to vote. Courts in some of the cases below found the following principles.
* A requirement that people live in a traditional dwelling in order to vote placed an unconstitutional constraint on the voting rights of homeless persons. Coalition for the Homeless v. Jensen, 187 A.D.2d 582 (N.Y. App. Div. 1992).
* States should use a broad interpretation of the term “residence” to include any place, including a non-traditional dwelling, that an individual inhabits with the intent to remain for an indefinite period. Pitts v. Black, 608 F.Supp. 696 (S.D.N.Y. 1984); In re-Application for Voter Registration of Willie R. Jenkins, D.C. Bd. of Elections and Ethics (June 7, 1984).
* When registering to vote, homeless people may designate a shelter, park, or street corner as their residence. Fischer v. Stout, 741 P.2d 217 (Alaska 1987).
Remember, each case is unique. This information is intended to describe principles from key cases in specific jurisdictions, not to act as legal advice. If you or your clients need help with a specific problem, contact a local lawyer.
For the entire article: http://www.nationalhomeless.org/projects/vote/court.html
5.9 quake hits East Coast; Pentagon, Capitol buildings evacuated
8/23/11 By John Whitesides, the World Desk Americas | Reuters
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A magnitude 5.9 earthquake struck the U.S. East Coast and Canada from Virginia to Toronto on Tuesday, shaking buildings and forcing evacuation of the Pentagon and U.S. Capitol.
There were no immediate reports of major damage or injuries from the quake, which the U.S. Geological Survey said was centered in Mineral, Virginia, between Charlottesville and Richmond. It was initially recorded at 5.8 magnitude.
Washington office workers scurried into the streets after the quake, which lasted for about five seconds and sent items crashing to the floor from store and office shelves.
Tremors shook New York City office buildings, prompting evacuations of courthouses, City Hall and halting work at the World Trade Center construction site, officials and witnesses said.
It was not immediately clear if there was any damage or injuries in New York, but fire department and police officials in Dutchess County, north of New York City, reported structural damage to some buildings.
A spokesman for the city transit agency said the quake was felt but declined immediate comment on whether the subway system was affected.
Control towers at John F. Kennedy airport and Newark Liberty Airport in New Jersey were also evacuated.
Buildings in Boston were evacuated, while a Reuters witness said the quake was felt as far away as Toronto.
BRIEFING ON THE VINEYARD
8/23/11 POLITICO44
President Obama on Tuesday was updated on the earthquake that occurred in Virginia via a conference call with officials. Here’s the statement from White House spokesman Josh Earnest:
“At 2:50 p.m. EDT this afternoon, the President led a conference call with DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano, White House Chief of Staff Bill Daley, National Security Advisor Tom Donilon, Homeland Security Advisor John Brennan, FEMA Administrator Craig Fugate, Senior Science Advisor for Earthquake and Geologic Hazards with the Department of Interior Dr. David Applegate, Nuclear Regulatory Commission Chairman Greg Jaczko, Deputy Homeland Security Advisor Heidi Avery, and Deputy National Security Advisor Denis McDonough to discuss the earthquake and status of critical infrastructure. The President was told that there are no initial reports of major infrastructure damage, including at airports and nuclear facilities and that there were currently no requests for assistance. The President asked for regular updates on the situation. The President also was provided an update on preparations for Hurricane Irene by Secretary Napolitano and Administrator Fugate.”
UPDATE: POLITICO’s Carrie Budoff Brown has more details about the call: “It is unclear where the president led the 2:50 p.m. conference call on the earthquake. He has not left the general golf course area here in Oak Bluffs, but the White House will not provide any more specifics on his exact whereabouts during the call.” (4:57 p.m.)
UPDATE 2: President Obama did not feel the earthquake today, according to a White House spokesperson. (6:46 p.m.)
Final Regulatory Reform Plans Will Save Money, Reduce Waste
Posted by Cass Sunstein on August 23, 2011
In January of this year, the President emphasized that our regulatory system “must measure, and seek to improve, the actual results of regulatory requirements.” With this point in mind, he ordered an unprecedentedly ambitious government-wide review of existing federal regulations. He directed agencies and departments to produce plans to eliminate red tape and to streamline current requirements.
Today, we are announcing that agencies are releasing their final regulatory reform plans, including hundreds of initiatives that will reduce costs, simplify the system, and eliminate redundancy and inconsistency.
As the plans demonstrate, a great deal has been achieved in a short time. Significant burden-reducing rules have been finalized or publicly proposed from the Department of Labor, the Environmental Protection Agency, and the Department of Transportation. These rules are expected to save more than $4 billion over the next five years.
The reforms announced today span a wide range. Consider just a few examples:
* The Department of Health and Human Services will soon propose to remove unnecessary regulatory and reporting requirements now imposed on hospitals and other healthcare providers, potentially saving an anticipated $4 billion over the next five years.
* The Department of Labor is finalizing a rule to simplify and to improve hazard warnings for workers, likely saving employers over $2.5 billion over the next five years without compromising safety.
* The Department of Transportation is proposing a rule, announced just today, that will eliminate unnecessary regulation of the railroad industry, saving up to $340 million in the near future, and avoiding the risk that regulatory costs will be passed onto consumers.
* By the end of this year, the Internal Revenue Service will eliminate 55 million hours in annual paperwork burdens by consolidating reporting requirements and streamlining various tax forms.
For the entire article: http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2011/08/23/final-regulatory-reform-plans-will-save-money-reduce-waste
I love the Pro President Obama Blog. All news, all the time!
And another great thread topic. I’m reading now at http://www.epa.gov about the EPA working with local/state/federal agencies to manage the natural abestos-containing sediment carried by Swift Creek into the Sumas River in Whatcom County WA.
>^..^<
Happy Tuesday Kat! That sounds like good news as well!
I agree with you Kat. I visit other blogs but I always come here to get the news of the day all in one. Thanks CR. I don’t always post but I stop by everyday.
Thanks COS!
I try to be here every day, as well, COS.
Thanks, CR! Hi, Kat!
August 23, 2011 Posted by Josh Cohen – democrats.org
It looks like Republicans are about to make a novel argument. If a tax hike hits only the middle class, they’re saying it’s not really a tax hike.
Beginning in January, President Obama enacted a payroll tax cut for millions of Americans, ensuring that working Americans get to keep more of the money they earn. It’s a policy that helps families, but also pumps more money back into the economy to spur growth.
Now, President Obama wants to extend those low rates. And Republicans want to raise them.
The Associated Press reports:
Many of the same Republicans who fought hammer-and-tong to keep the George W. Bush-era income tax cuts from expiring on schedule are now saying a different “temporary” tax cut should end as planned. By their own definition, that amounts to a tax increase.
We expect the GOP to scrape and claw to defend taxes for the rich. And for years, we’ve watched Republican candidates sign a pledge “to oppose any and all tax increases.”
But in opposing the extension of this payroll tax cut, they’re suddenly ready to raise taxes on 160 million middle class families.
Perhaps we shouldn’t be surprised that the words “middle class” haven’t been mentioned once in any of the three Republican debates.
When your only priority is protecting special interests, you just don’t have time to fight for the rest of us.
Next Up…
2:00 AM EDT
Vice President Biden Speaks to U.S. Service Members
Yokota Air Base, Tokyo, Japan
WhiteHouse.gov http://www.whitehouse.gov/live
Biden Thanks Yokota Airmen for Helping Japan
By Air Force Airman 1st Class Desiree Economides
374th Airlift Wing
Aug. 24, 2011 defense.gov
YOKOTA AIR BASE, Japan- Vice President Joe Biden thanked about 1,000 military and civilian personnel from Japan’s Kanto Plains here today for their role during Operation Tomodachi, partnering with agencies worldwide to provide assistance in the wake of the March 11 earthquake and tsunami.
The vice president stopped at Yokota during his nine-day tour to China, Mongolia and Japan, where he met with key leaders to discuss a full range of bilateral, regional and international issues.
“I’ve visited military bases all over the world, and what you did here in Japan over the past few months is nothing short of astounding,” Biden said. “I come here for a simple reason, on behalf of the president and myself, to say, ‘Thank you. Thank you not only for saving thousands of lives. Thank you for making America look as good as we are.’”
The vice president shared about his pride in the service members for their role in aiding the people of Japan.
“All the American people are in awe of what you do day in and day out, especially when you rise to the occasion of the most difficult times,” he said. “You guys are awe-inspiring. You were part of the largest humanitarian relief efforts in U.S. history. It was a truly monumental operation.”
Biden noted the importance of the relationship between the United States and Japan, and he told the service members and civilians they have an essential role in that partnership.
“The role you all play is going to become increasingly important, and our alliance with Japan will be more important than in the past,” he said. “It continues to be absolutely critical, and you are the glue that holds this all together. You’re the ones ensuring this alliance remains effective.”
After his remarks, the vice president posed for pictures with service members.
Air Force Staff Sgt. Alicia Greene, 374th Wing staff agency unit deployment manager, said she appreciated Biden’s words of gratitude and encouragement. “It is really great that Vice President Biden took the time to come here and thank us for all that we did during Operation Tomodachi,” she said.
Thanks for keeping your eye on the pulse of all of the magnificent things our Obama administration is doing, CR. You could just turn over your blog to the Obama Presidential Library after 2017, as a grand historical record.
I know it’s a lot of hard work for you to do independently, but well worth it.
Hello Ms O’Boomer! Thank you for the complement!
President Obama and First Lady Michelle are such wonderful people that they inspire me!
MLK Memorial Events Begin
6:00 PM EDT – Dinner honoring global peace leaders tonight
8/24/11 CSPAN
A formal dinner tonight honoring global leaders in the peace movement will kick off five days of events marking the opening of the Martin Luther King Jr. National Memorial. The Memorial will be formally dedicated on Sunday, the 48th anniversary of the “I Have a Dream” speech.
The $120 million King Memorial is the only one on the National Mall that honors an individual other than a president.
President Obama is set to speak at the memorial’s formal dedication Sunday. More than 300,000 are expected to attend the ceremony. The new memorial is located next to the Lincoln Memorial, where Dr. King delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech in 1963.
This week also includes a celebration of influential figures in the Civil Rights movement and an event honoring the women of the movement. And Saturday night, a formal gala will recognize leading donors, dignitaries and long-time supporters of the monument’s completion.
For the entire article and link to the live stream for the dinner event:
http://www.cspan.org/Events/MLK-Memorial-Events-Begin/10737423663/
With CIA help, NYPD moves covertly in (questionable) Muslim areas
8/24/11 By ADAM GOLDMAN – Associated Press,MATT APUZZO – Associated Press | AP – 1 hr 38 mins ago
NEW YORK (AP) — In New Brunswick, N.J., a building superintendent opened the door to apartment No. 1076 one balmy Tuesday and discovered an alarming scene: terrorist literature strewn about the table and computer and surveillance equipment set up in the next room.
The panicked superintendent dialed 911, sending police and the FBI rushing to the building near Rutgers University on the afternoon of June 2, 2009. What they found in that first-floor apartment, however, was not a terrorist hideout but a command center set up by a secret team of New York Police Department intelligence officers.
From that apartment, about an hour outside the department’s jurisdiction, the NYPD had been staging undercover operations and conducting surveillance throughout New Jersey. Neither the FBI nor the local police had any idea.
Since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, the NYPD has become one of the country’s most aggressive domestic intelligence agencies. A months-long investigation by The Associated Press has revealed that the NYPD operates far outside its borders and targets ethnic communities in ways that would run afoul of civil liberties rules if practiced by the federal government. And it does so with unprecedented help from the CIA in a partnership that has blurred the bright line between foreign and domestic spying.
For the entire article: http://news.yahoo.com/cia-help-nypd-moves-covertly-muslim-areas-090019915.html
Good Wednesday morning everyone! I HOPE that you have a good day!
Good Wednesday morning everyone!! HOPE you all have an O productive day.
Just visited OFA and it is not being invaded by the firedoglake trolls. sigh how sad.
CR I may not be here as often but I do peek in when I get a break from babysitting the twins and your blog is still thriving. Thanks.
Sorry that should read “it is now…”
Glad to see you here Sandy. I post the candle link and only occasionally add to the great articles posted by CR and others. My home computer doesn’t copy but one line at a time and work keeps me from scouring the “internets” for meaningful information. I do a lot of lurking.
I have not looked in on OFA for some time as they only censored true supporters and allowed hate and vitriol from trolls. Very sad indeed because this is when we all need to be sharing and building a movement.
Good Wednesday morning Sandy! If the OFA website does not intend to weed out the trolls maybe eliminiating comments would be a better thing.
Good morning CR, Sandy and everyone. HOPE you all have a terrific Wednesday.
Please join me in lighting a candle for our beloved President, First Family and the Nation.
http://www.gratefulness.org/candles/candles.cfm?l=eng&gi=PBO
Good Wednesday morning and thank you Jackie!
Transportation boosts July durable goods orders
8/24/11 By Lucia Mutikani | Reuters – 34 mins ago
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – New orders for long-lasting U.S. manufactured goods surged in July on strong demand for transportation equipment, government data showed on Wednesday, but a gauge of business spending fell.
The Commerce Department said durable goods orders jumped 4 percent after a 1.3 percent drop in June. Economists had expected orders to rise 2 percent last month.
Though durable goods orders are extremely volatile, the data eased fears the economy was slipping back into recession, after a raft of weak sentiment surveys.
“It’s consistent with the idea of positive growth but not especially strong. The underlying trend is certainly good,” said Scott Brown, chief economist at Raymond James in St. Petersburg in Florida.
Prices for U.S. Treasury debt fell on the data, while stock index futures turned positive. The dollar extended losses against the euro.
Orders last month were buoyed by a 14.6 percent jump in bookings for transportation equipment, which was the largest increase since January.
Excluding transportation, orders rose 0.7 percent after gaining 0.6 percent in June and confounding economists’ expectations for a 0.5 percent fall.
For the entire article: http://news.yahoo.com/transportation-boosts-july-durable-goods-orders-123352319.html
Fed Still Has Bullets And Bernanke Knows How To Use Them
8/24/11 By Sherli Looi | Forbes – 2 hrs 8 mins ago
Global stock markets lost nearly $8 trillion in value over the past four weeks.
On Tuesday, there was a massive sigh of relief as technical supports held, and U.S. equity indices rallied between more than 3%. The rally was fueled in large part by hopes that Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke will reenact a similar 2010 Jackson Hole performance and speak calming words which will allay the market’s recent fears.
The weekly chart of the S&P 500, as represented by the SPX, best illustrates this tremendous hope. The SPX rallied 29% from the time when Bernanke spoke at Jackson Hole last year, to its high of 137o on May 2 earlier this year.
Is the optimism warranted? The short answer is, “yes.”
The dual mandate of the Federal Reserve is price stability and maximum employment. In the latest August 9 Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting, it was acknowledged that the long term inflation outlook is stable and within the committee’s expectations.
The FOMC noted, however, that economic conditions had slowed unexpectedly and brought with them a rise in unemployment. In previous remarks and speeches, Bernanke had indicated that high unemployment was not created by structural changes but are a direct result of the weakened economy. Thus, it seems assured that the Fed will defend their dual mandates by making sure that the feeble economic recovery since 2009 will not perish without a fight.
What is left in the Federal Reserve arsenal?
The Fed has three main tools for implementing its monetary policy in a low-interest rate environment. All these three tools have been used, and to varying degrees with at least temporary success.
For the entire article: http://news.yahoo.com/fed-still-bullets-bernanke-knows-them-122653573.html
8/24/11 Richard Cohen – Washington Post
Whatever global warming might or might not have done to polar bears, it has put Rick Perry’s presidential candidacy at risk. The Texas governor clings to an ice floe of diminishing credibility, emerging in just about a week’s time as intellectually unqualified to be president. He engaged in a brief dialogue with a child about evolution and came out the loser. Perry said there are some gaps in the theory. If so, he is one.
Maybe more important, Perry waxed wrongly on global warming. He rejected the notion that it is at least partially a product of industrialization, asserting that “a substantial number of scientists have manipulated data” to make it appear that mankind — our cars, trains, automobiles, not to mention China’s belching steel mills — is the culprit. He said that an increasing number of scientists have challenged this notion and that, in conclusion, he stood with them — whoever they might be. In Appleton, Wis., Sen. Joe McCarthy’s skeleton rattled a bit.
The late and hardly lamented demagogue pioneered the political use of the concocted statistic. In his case, it was communists, and they were, literally, everywhere. There were some, of course, just as there are some scientists who are global warming skeptics, but these few — about 2 percent of climate researchers — could hold their annual meeting in a phone booth, if there are any left. (Perhaps 2 percent of scientists think there are.)
Perry’s quaint belief in the utter innocence of mankind when it comes to polluting our precious atmosphere might seem like an innocuous tick, a conviction without consequence. In this, it could be likened to the entirely wacky conservative belief of yore that the fluoridation of drinking water was a communist tactic to addle the minds of youth: It was not designed to eliminate cavities, but capitalism instead.
For the entire article: http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_18740161?IADID=Search-www.mercurynews.com-www.mercurynews.com
Source: http://theweek.com/article/index/218473/6-reasons-rick-perry-is-not-another-george-w-bush
9/11 families headed to meeting with Eric Holder
8/24/11 AP – 1 hr 14 mins ago
NEW YORK (AP) — Relatives of 9/11 victims were headed to Washington on Wednesday to meet with Attorney General Eric Holder about allegations surrounding Britain’s phone hacking scandal.
According to a London tabloid’s story based on unnamed sources, a former New York police officer who became a private investigator said he rejected requests by journalists from Rupert Murdoch’s News of the World to retrieve private phone records of Sept. 11 victims. The U.S.-based parent company for Murdoch’s News Corp. has called the report “anonymous speculation” with “no substantiation.”
Norman Siegel, an attorney representing some 9/11 victims’ relatives, said the family members want to cooperate with the FBI and the Department of Justice “to determine if such hacking was attempted, and/or occurred.”
“We are going to the meeting with the attorney general to listen to what he can tell us about the investigation and to ascertain the scope, the goals and timetable of the inquiry,” Siegel said.
Retired New York Deputy Fire Chief Jim Riches was among family members from New York, New Jersey and Connecticut taking a train from Manhattan to Washington on Wednesday to attend the meeting with Holder. Riches said federal investigators “have permission to investigate my cell lines, my family’s, whatever they need.”
For the entire article: http://news.yahoo.com/9-11-families-headed-meeting-eric-holder-132626430.html
Next Up…
11:30 AM EDT
Briefing by Principal Deputy Press Secretary Josh Earnest-
Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts
WhiteHouse.gov (Audio Only) http://www.whitehouse.gov/live
CNN http://live.cnn.com
CSPAN http://www.cspan.org/
August 24, 2011
Press Briefing by Principal Deputy Press Secretary Josh Earnest, 8/24/2011
Mansion House Press Filing Center, Vineyard Haven, Massachusetts
11:57 A.M. EDT
MR. EARNEST: Good morning, everybody. All right. Just a couple of updates before we get started. As usual, this morning the President received his Presidential daily briefing from John Brennan. Mr. Brennan is the President’s top homeland security — top counterterrorism advisor. Mr. Brennan updated the President on a couple of issues. The first is he updated him on overnight developments in Libya. Mr. Brennan also updated the President on the preparations that have been underway for several days over at DHS and FEMA, in preparation for the — for Hurricane Irene.
As you know, FEMA has been in close consultation with state and local officials all up and down the Eastern seaboard to ensure that communities are prepared — that could be affected by the storm are prepared.
In addition, the President also was briefed this morning by Brian Deese. Brian is the Deputy Director of the National Economic Council. Brian updated the President on overnight developments in the international markets. Brian also talked through the President the CBO report that was released today with — that included some deficit projections. And Brian also updated the President on the ongoing policy process that’s underway back at the White House in preparation for the major economic address that the President will deliver shortly after Labor Day.
A couple of you over the course of the week have asked for a photo of Brian briefing the President, and that’s just been put up on the White House Flickr site. So if folks are interested in that, you can take a look.
In addition, the President conducted a conference call today with General Electric CEO Jeffrey Immelt and American Express CEO, Ken Chenault. Mr. Immelt and Mr. Chenault are the chair and co-chair of the President’s Council on Jobs and Competiveness. They discussed a number of the proposals that the Jobs Council has been developing. And the President solicited their input on the policy — again, on the policy process that’s underway related to the major economic address that the President will deliver after Labor Day.
A couple of things that the Jobs Council — that Mr. Immelt and Mr. Chenault flagged for the President were a couple of initiatives that they’re reviewing. One is, they’re looking for ways to increase the number of engineers that graduate from American institutions of higher learning. The second thing is they also spoke with the President about some different initiatives that involve putting more construction workers back to work by putting them to work retrofitting buildings to make them more energy efficient. So they talked about a couple of these ideas.
There are actually a couple of Jobs Council meetings that are coming up on August 31st in Portland, Oregon, with Paul Otellini, the CEO of Intel, where they’re going to talk about the engineering issue. Secretary Chu and the deans of some colleges and universities will also be there. And then on September 1st in Dallas, Texas, there will be a conversation about investments in infrastructure and the impact that that could have on job creation. So they had that conversation today.
For the entire article: http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2011/08/24/press-briefing-principal-deputy-press-secretary-josh-earnest-8242011
Hah! My scheduled Monday thread is on the President’s Job Council!! Talk about timing!
Well done!
Good and HOPEful Wednesday, CR, COS, Jacquelineoboomer, Jackie, Sandy, Sheri jr and all friends!
TPM says the CBS News report that blamed PBO for debt growth is “deeply flawed.”
“…. (The report) ignores key facts about the nature of government debt…. (and) treats as a partisan issue the question of what caused the growth in debt ….
…. the CBS report compares Obama to George W. Bush, who inherited two very different economies and budgets. Bush inherited a surplus, and, soon after his inauguration, a recession, which he used as an excuse to enact massive, long-term tax cuts that ate into deficits long after that recession was over, and into Obama’s term. Obama inherited a record deficit in 2009, with an economy in complete free fall….”
http://bit.ly/pl9mKh
>^..^<
Good Wednesday morning and thank you Kat!!!!
Mark Knoeller seem to have a beef with PBO lately. I remember that he was complaining about PBO’s bus tour, saying that it was a campaign tour or something to that effect. I think he got a lot of pushback on twitter from Obama supporters for this report. I thought he was fair but he lost credibility with this hit job.
Are we all gathered? Ready to sing? A-one, a-two, a-three…
HAPPY BIRTHDAY COS!
OMG, Thank you all sooooooo much. Now you all have me in tears. I feel so honored today. Kat love the happy birthday wish from Socks.
The cake is beautiful CR. You all made my day.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY COS!
Thanks Jackie.
Journalists trapped in Tripoli’s Rixos hotel are freed
8/24/11 By Dylan Stableford | The Cutline – 2 hrs 31 mins ago
Dozens of journalists that were trapped inside the Rixos Al Nasr Hotel in Tripoli for five days have been allowed to leave.
“It’s been an absolute nightmare for all of us,” CNN senior international correspondent Matthew Chance–one of the trapped journalists–said on air Wednesday. “I can’t tell you how relieved we all are.”
All of the journalists were allowed to leave on Wednesday, Chance said, and were escorted in four Red Cross vehicles to another hotel at an undisclosed location. No one was injured, he said. “Perhaps some emotional scars, but other than that, nothing,” he said. “It’s a huge, huge relief.”
The journalists–from CNN, Fox News, Reuters and other outlets–had been held inside by armed forces loyal to Moammar Gadhafi, and the $400-a-night Rixos had become something of a five-star “prison” for journalists.
Even if they were allowed to leave, the New York Times noted, “a raging gun battle outside would probably prevent them from getting very far.”
For the entire article: http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/cutline/journalists-trapped-tripoli-rixos-hotel-freed-151112636.html
Latest developments in Arab world’s unrest
8/24/11 By The Associated Press | AP – 3 hrs ago
LIBYA
Libyans hunting Moammar Gadhafi offer a $2 million bounty on the fallen dictator’s head and amnesty for anyone who kills or captures him as rebels battle to clear the last pockets of resistance from the capital Tripoli. While some die-hard loyalists keep up the fight to defend Gadhafi, his support is crumbling. His deputy intelligence chief defects, and even his foreign minister says his 42-year rule is over.
SYRIA
The European Union imposes sanctions against the elite unit of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, saying the Quds Force is providing equipment and other support to help Syrian President Bashar Assad crush the 5-month-old uprising against him. The sanctions broadens the international pressure against Syria by directly targeting its key ally Iran, which the U.S. and other nations have accused of aiding the crackdown.
YEMEN
Airstrikes kill 36 suspected al-Qaida militants in southern Yemen, as the government pressed on with a campaign to drive out fighters who have overrun several towns. Islamic militants — some suspected of links to Yemen’s al-Qaida branch — seized the towns starting in late May, taking advantage of the political turmoil unleashed by protests against Yemen’s longtime ruler. Nearly three months of attacks by warplanes and ground forces have failed to dislodge them.
QATAR
Libyan rebels urgently need world leaders to release at least $5 billion in frozen assets to pay state salaries and maintain vital services like medical care, a senior Libyan diplomat says after talks with Western and Arab envoys. The figure is higher than previous estimates on the rebels’ immediate financial needs. The diplomat, Aref Ali Nayed, suggests that the rebels’ transition team is expanding its short-term goals of repairing hospitals and oil facilities to include projects like clearing mines and disarming civilians as it takes over from the regime of Moammar Gadhafi. “We cannot wait for this money,” Nayed says.
Every single Republican today talks about being a Reagan conservative. This is a conservative that believes in small government, reducing federal spending and ultimately runs a lean and mean government. They talk about this stuff in campaigns, but in practice they failed miserably.
In fact HISTORICALLY, it is has been Democratic presidents who have reduced the size of the federal government. The Republicans have lied to the people so much that I believe the current crop somehow BELIEVES the history as they have been told, rather than researching the facts for themselves. This may be a stretch, but I am trying to give them the benefit of the doubt.
According to the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, which tracks the number of employees per year, the data shows that the “conservatives” for small government are really just big government conservatives. I know that is an oxymoron, but numbers don’t lie.
Let’s start with President Carter.
On December 31st 1976 (Not Carter’s term yet), total nonmilitary personnel was 2,883,000. By December 31st 1980 the end of his term (minus a month), the total in nonmilitary personnel was 2,875,000.
Federal government nonmilitary employees shrunk by 8,000 employees under Carter.
On January 21st, 1981, President Reagan started with 2,875,000 nonmilitary federal employees.
By the end of Reagan’s terms the total number of nonmilitary federal employees was 3,113,000. That is an INCREASE of 238,000
Let’s move on to President George H.W. Bush.
On January 20th, 1989, total federal nonmilitary employment was 3,113,000
by the end of his only term, President George H.W. Bush had 3,083,000 federal nonmilitary employees on the books. That is a REDUCTION of 30,000 employees.
President Bill Clinton came into office with 3,083,000 and by the END of his TWO TERMS he reduced the number of Federal employees to 2,703,000. That is a reduction of 380,000 federal employees.
Now finally, President George W. Bush came into office with 2,703,000 nonmilitary employees and by the time his terms were through, the total nonmilitary federal employees on the books were 2,756,000, which is an INCREASE of 53,000 employees.
The small government, lean and mean political party, seems to be the Democratic Party. President Clinton reduced the size of the federal government’s nonmilitary employees by OVER 10%.
The “so called” small government President Reagan INCREASED the nonmilitary size of government by almost 10%.
In fact, Democratic president Bill Clinton reduced the size of the federal government employee size to PRE- REAGAN levels.
Clinton left office with 2,703,000 and Reagan started his term in 1981 with 2,875,000
The Reagan conservatives, in fact the entire GOP TODAY are trying to frame President Obama as a big government liberal but again, the numbers don’t lie.
By the end of 2010, the United States STILL has less employees on the books than we did back in 1980 even though the population has grown from 226,545,805 to approximately 330,000,000 in 2010.
TOTAL NONMILITARY EMPLOYEES IN 1980 — 2,875,000
TOTAL NONMILITARY EMPLOYEES IN 2010 — 2,840,000
We have 35,000 less nonmilitary employees under President Obama than we had 30 years ago.
So it comes to mind that those who claim to be Reagan small government conservatives and blame Democrats for growing government are either lying to the American people or are themselves willfully ignorant
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2011/08/23/president-obama-s-libya-triumph-a-great-foreign-policy-presidency.html
WOW Jackie!
Outstanding.
SEIU Cope: “Get the Message”
Uploaded by SEIU on Aug 10, 2011
Take action at http://www.seiu.org/goodjobs – Middle class families are struggling to find and keep good-paying jobs. But Republicans in Congress don’t seem to be getting the message. To build an economy with lasting strength for future generations, we need to bring jobs back to America.
Thanks Ms O’Boomer for the heads up on this video! You know that I will be featuring it in a thread for the 2012 election season!
Thursday, August 25, 2011
All Times Eastern
President Obama receives the presidential daily briefing
7:00 AM
8:00 AM
9:00 AM
10:00 AM
11:00 AM
12:00 PM
1:00 PM
2:00 PM
3:00 PM
4:00 PM
5:00 PM
6:00 PM
7:00 PM
8:00 PM
9:00 PM
9:30 PM
Vice President Biden Speaks to U.S. Service Members
Marine Corps Base Hawaii – Kaneohe Bay, Kaneohe, Hawaii
10:00 PM
August 25, 2011
WhiteHouse.gov http://www.whitehouse.gov/live
9:30 PM EDT
Vice President Biden Speaks to U.S. Service Members
Marine Corps Base Hawaii – Kaneohe Bay, Kaneohe, Hawaii
—-
CNN http://live.cnn.com
10:30 AM EDT
Defense Department Briefing on Latest in Afghanistan
11:30 AM EDT
FEMA, NOAA’s national hurricane center hold press conference on Hurricane Irene.
12:00 PM EDT
Martin Luther King, JR. National Memorial Project Foundation Luncheon
12:30 PM EDT
State Department briefing
The State Department holds its daily briefing with reporters. Topics expected to be discussed include the crisis in Libya.
4:30 PM EDT
U.N. Security Council to Meet on Libya
—-
CSPAN http://www.cspan.org/
10:30 AM EDT
Defense Department Briefing on Latest in Afghanistan http://www.c-spanvideo.org/program/301202-1
11:30 AM EDT
FEMA, NOAA’s national hurricane center hold press conference on Hurricane Irene. http://www.cspan.org/Events/East-Coast-Prepares-for-Hurricane-Irene/10737423720/
12:00 PM EDT
Martin Luther King, JR. National Memorial Project Foundation Luncheon http://www.cspan.org/Events/MLK-Memorial-Events-Continue/10737423670/
12:30 PM EDT
State Department briefing
The State Department holds its daily briefing with reporters. Topics expected to be discussed include the crisis in Libya.
4:30 PM EDT
U.N. Security Council to Meet on Libya http://www.c-span.org/Live-Video/C-SPAN/
—-
Department of Defense http://www.pentagonchannel.mil/
10:30 AM EDT
Defense Department Briefing on Latest in Afghanistan
—-
Middle East Protest
Al Jazeera – English http://english.aljazeera.net
Vice President Joe Biden arrived in Honolulu Wednesday and visited the USS Arizona Memorial with his daughter-in-law and granddaughter.
The White House said Biden was met by Adm. Robert Millard, commander of the Pacific Command, and Adm. Patrick Walsh, commander of the Pacific Fleet.
He was accompanied by his daughter-in-law, Kathleen, and granddaughter Naomi.
Joe Biden arrived at Marine Corps Base Hawaii in Kaneohe early Wednesday morning on his way back to Washington from an eight-day visit to China, Mongolia and Japan.
Air Force 2 touched down at 5:45 a.m. on a flight from Yokota Air Base, Japan.
Biden will give remarks and meet with Kaneohe Marines and their families Thursday afternoon before taking off for Washington.
Biden spoke to U.S. troops at Yokota and said he “didn’t come to explain a damn thing” on his visit to China, adding that the country’s economy had become the world’s second biggest due to the stabilizing presence of U.S. troops in Asia.
Some media had suggested the purpose of his trip to China was to “explain our economic situation,” Biden said. “I didn’t come to explain a damn thing.”
Biden, 68, spent four days traveling in China with counterpart Xi Jinping, who is the frontrunner to succeed President Hu Jintao in 2013. The vice president said he made the visit to the biggest foreign holder of U.S. debt to build a relationship with Xi and wanted to make clear that the U.S. economy is strong and that the nation is still a Pacific power.
Biden said he spent “an unusual four days” in China. “Unusual in the sense that the man who’s likely to become the next president of China spent four days with me, he traveled the country with me. They are very anxious to understand who we are, where we are and wanting personal relationships.”
While in public, Biden made statements of reassurance about the stability of the U.S. economy and the safety of Treasuries, he said the issue wasn’t a major focus of his private talks with Chinese leaders.
“There were no probing questions about our economy from them,” Biden told reporters traveling with him to Japan from Mongolia on the final leg of his three-nation Asia tour. He said he “didn’t sense it a bit that they needed reassurance about our economic stability.”
Biden said Chinese leaders asked, “what’s going on?” not “assure me now, we’re worried.” He said the Chinese don’t view the U.S. as a declining economic power.
During meetings in Beijing, Biden and Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao both expressed confidence in the U.S. economy, with the Chinese premier saying its stability “is in the interest of the whole world.”
Biden said he told China’s leaders that their economy is thriving because of the U.S. military presence in the region.
The U.S. is “a stabilizing force in the Pacific Basin,” he told the troops. “An American focus in Asia is only going to grow in the years to come as Asia plays an ever-increasing role, particularly in the global economy but also in international affairs.”
The U.S. has about 38,000 service personnel stationed at bases in Japan. “ “You are the finest warriors that the world has ever seen,” he said at the base. “Every other military in the world watches what you can do.”
ALOHA VICE PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN!!!!
Just to give you an idea of what Kaneohe (the prettiest part of Oahu in my opinion) looks like….local boys also in the video:
Robi Kahakalau – He Po Lani Makamae
Uploaded by TahitISLAND on Aug 23, 2011
SHAKA BRADDAH!
Hawaii is definitely a beautiful and unique state!
Did the stimulus work? What the studies tell us
8/24/11 By Zachary Roth | The Lookout
Did the 2009 stimulus bill work?
Critics of the Obama administration say no, pointing out that, two years later, the economy is still barely growing, and unemployment remains high. Supporters say without the stimulus, things would be even worse. The answer matters, because it’ll help determine the kind of approaches to job creation that gain support going forward.
So Dylan Matthews of the Washington Post has done a service by rounding up the various economic studies of the question. He writes: “Of the nine studies I’ve found, six find that the stimulus had a significant, positive effect on employment and growth, and three find that the effect was either quite small or impossible to detect.”
Matthews then assesses the strengths and weaknesses of each of the individual studies — and concludes: “I’m inclined to believe that the preponderance of evidence indicates the stimulus worked.”
That’s hardly the end of the story. But it does get at an important reality: The expert consensus on the stimulus is significantly more positive than you’d think from listening to much of the debate over how to fix the economy. That debate which tends to assume that because the White House already tried stimulus and the economy is still hurting, it’s now “out of bullets,” and can only propose more targeted job creation ideas.
Not that what experts say tends to cut to much weight in Washington these days.
Good Thursday morning everyone! I HOPE that you have a good day!
Good morning CR and everyone. HOPE you all have a great Thursday.
Please join me in lighting a candle for our President, First Family and the Nation.
http://www.gratefulness.org/candles/candles.cfm?l=eng&gi=PBO
Good Thursday morning and thank you Jackie!
CBO Releases Updated Budget Outlook, Suggests Picture Improving
8/25/11 By Kelly Phillips Erb | Forbes – 9 hrs ago
The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office released its updated Budget and Economic Outlook today (downloads as a pdf) and it’s not all that bad. Okay, it’s not all that good either. But with the way the political parties have been bickering back and forth at each other over the summer, I was getting the feeling that things were as bad as they could possibly be. It turns out that they’ve been worse. Projections indicate that this year’s budget will only be the third worst deficit in the past 65 years – last year and the year before that rank higher.
So good news, right?
Makes you think maybe things are getting back to normal?
Only if your definition of normal still includes trillion dollars’ worth of debt.
But still. It’s getting, er, better. Let me break it down for you.
The CBO used the word recovery seven times in the seven page report. It only used the word recession three times and always to refer to past tense. That’s seems positive.
Here’s what else is in the report: the word tax. It’s used 25 times. That’s right, 25 times in 7 pages. I’m sensing a theme.
How does tax influence the big picture? The CBO notes early on in the report that it expects real GDP to increase by 2.3% this year and by 2.7% next year. However, that growth is predicted to slow in 2013 due to “federal tax and spending policies.” Yep, we’re back to arguing about the so-called Bush era tax cuts. They were, as you might remember, extended under the Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization and Job Creation Act of 2010… until 2013.
For the entire article: http://news.yahoo.com/cbo-releases-updated-budget-outlook-suggests-picture-improving-032945110.html
World markets rise as worries over US economy ease
8/25/11 By CARLO PIOVANO – AP Business Writer | AP – 3 hrs ago
LONDON (AP) — World stock markets rose Thursday as worries eased that the U.S. might be slipping toward recession, while the resignation of Steve Jobs — the creative force behind Apple Inc. — sent ripples through the technology sector.
Upbeat earnings in Europe helped lift the market’s moods, though trading is expected to remain tentative as investors wait to see if Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke will boost the economy with a new bond-buying stimulus program. The U.S. central banker is due to hold a speech in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, on Friday.
Britain’s FTSE 100 was 0.1 percent higher at 5,213.15 and Germany’s DAX gained 0.9 percent to 5,730.33. France’s CAC-40 rose 0.8 percent to 3,163.68.
Commodities trader Glencore reported better-than-expected earnings for its first half of the year and saw its shares rise more than 4 percent. Shares in drinks maker Diageo also rose about 2 percent after it offered upbeat figures.
Strong earnings from French bank Credit Agricole, meanwhile, helped support financial stocks across Europe. Its shares were 5 percent higher on the day.
Corporate profits have been resilient despite increased concerns about a global economic slowdown. Worries that the U.S. in particular could be headed for another recession has in recent weeks caused huge volatility in equities, bonds and foreign exchange.
Those concerns were alleviated somewhat by data on Wednesday showing a surge in demand for big-ticket items like kitchen appliances, cars and planes in the U.S. in July.
For the entire article: http://news.yahoo.com/world-markets-rise-worries-over-us-economy-ease-100416455.html
Libyan rebels say Muammar Gaddafi surrounded
(Reuters) – A group of rebels besieging a cluster of apartment buildings near the compound of Muammar Gaddafi said they believed the man who led Libya for four decades was hiding in the buildings with some of his sons.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/08/25/us-libya-compound-gaddafi-idUSTRE77O42920110825
Thanks for the update Jackie! Hope all goes smoothly for the TNC!
Wonder if there’s any news on this? I haven’t watched much Libya reporting today.
Obama campaign launching voter drive program
8/25/11 By KEN THOMAS – Associated Press | AP – 25 mins ago
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama’s presidential campaign is creating a voter registration program aimed at boosting activity among his core supporters.
The organization, called Project Vote, will try to increase participation among Obama’s core supporters from 2008, including young voters, seniors, blacks, Hispanics, American Indians and gays and lesbians.
Obama’s campaign says the project will try to increase voter registration and a turnout among voters who have not voted at high rates in the past. It will also reach out to voters who have recently moved into a new state.
Obama officials have said a large turnout in 2008 helped Obama win the White House and it hopes to repeat that effort next year.
Warren Buffett to invest $5 billion in Bank of America
8/25/11 By Ben Berkowitz and Joe Rauch | Reuters – 4 mins 20 secs ago
Berkshire Hathaway Chairman Warren Buffett wanders the company trade show before …
Article: Instant view: Warren Buffett buys into Bank of America
Reuters – 16 mins ago
NEW YORK/CHARLOTTE (Reuters) – Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway will invest $5 billion in Bank of America, stepping in to shore up the company in the same way he helped prop up Goldman Sachs during the financial crisis.
Bank of America shares rose 24 percent to $8.65 in early trading, erasing a large part of the stock’s August losses.
“This helps with the credibility gap that I think has existed in the minds of some shareholders. It reiterates the point that the balance sheet is healthy. They needed an endorsement in the market and they got it,” said Jon Finger, managing partner of Finger Interests in Houston.
Bank of America will sell Berkshire 50,000 shares of cumulative perpetual preferred stock with a 6 percent annual dividend, it said in a statement on Thursday. Bank of America can buy back the investment at any time by paying Buffett a 5 percent premium
For the entire article: http://news.yahoo.com/warren-buffett-invest-5-billion-bank-america-132343764.html
Berkshire Hathaway is the eighth largest public company in the world and is the most expensive stock to buy in the world. We use to joke at the stock brokerage firm I worked for in Hawaii that we’d like a share of Berkshire Hathaway someday.
Eastern Afghanistan Improves, Commander Reports
Aug. 25, 2011 By Lisa Daniel -American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON– Eastern Afghanistan’s government and security forces increasingly are improving their capabilities and eliciting confidence in the people they serve, a U.S. commander in the area said today.
As NATO’s International Security Assistance Force builds on improved security in the area, provincial and district government and security forces are growing in their capabilities and confidence, Army Maj. Gen. Daniel Allyn, commander of ISAF’s Regional Command East, said during a Pentagon media briefing.
“Tactically, we have kept pressure on the insurgent networks and cleared several support zones and, in the process, strengthened the leadership and capability of our Afghan partners,” Allyn told reporters in a video teleconference from Bagram Airfield, Afghanistan.
Afghan National Police demonstrated that progress earlier this month when they led a combined mission that distributed 160 tons of humanitarian assistance to residents of Nuristan province. It was an “extremely complex” mission and, unlike similar previous missions, involved limited coalition assistance, Allyn said.
Along the Pakistan border, the command is working to improve communication and coordination between Afghan and Pakistani forces, he said, adding that border forces just completed a “very effective” exercise to do just that.
In missions along the border in recent days, Afghan border police seized more than six tons of ammonium nitrate –- an illegal fertilizer used in homemade explosives — being smuggled into the country from Pakistan, Allyn said.
Two eastern provinces and one capital district have started their transition to taking over for coalition forces for security of those areas as part of the U.S. drawdown of forces that began last month, the general said.
The coalition partnership is allowing residents more access to essential services and, more and more, they are “becoming inhospitable to insurgents,” he said.
The side effect, Allyn said, are the “ruthless, desperate and inexplicable acts of insurgents” against civilians.
“Their blatant disregard for the citizens of Afghanistan” manifests in suicide attacks that target innocent civilians in population centers, he said.
Coalition forces “will continue to support our partners and ensure they meet irreversible stability,” Allyn said. “We will continue to press forward with our Afghan partners to help them achieve a stable future.”
China Report Notes Military Modernization
Aug. 24, 2011 By Jim Garamone – American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON – China’s military is modernizing, but the Chinese government needs to be more forthcoming on why it needs these new capabilities, according to a Defense Department report delivered to Congress today.
Michael Schiffer, deputy assistant secretary of defense for East Asia, calls on a reporter during an Aug. 24, 2011, Pentagon news conference. Schiffer briefed reporters on a new Defense Department report to Congress on military and security developments in China. DOD photo by R.D. Ward
(Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available.
Michael Schiffer, deputy assistant secretary of defense for East Asia, briefed Pentagon reporters on the report.
“The United States welcomes a strong, prosperous and successful China that contributes to international rules and norms and enhances security and peace both in the Asia-Pacific region and around the globe,” Schiffer said.
The United States is working to engage China in economic, peacekeeping and humanitarian areas, among others, Schiffer said. A good military-to-military relationship is one part of that engagement, he added, noting that China is working with the international community, for example, to counter piracy off the coast of Somalia and in the Gulf of Aden. The Chinese military also has contributed to earthquake relief in Pakistan and played a role in delivering humanitarian aid to Haiti, he said.
“However,” he added, “the pace and scope of China’s sustained military investment have allowed China to pursue capabilities that we believe are potentially destabilizing to regional military balances, increase the risk of misunderstanding and miscalculation, and may contribute to regional tensions and anxieties.”
The capabilities could pose a temptation for the Chinese government to use military force “to gain diplomatic advantage, advance its interests, or resolve … disputes in its favor,” Schiffer said. This danger, he told reporters, re-emphasizes the need for a sustained and reliable military-to-military dialogue between the United States and China.
Warren Buffett boosting Barack Obama
8/25/11 By ALEXANDER BURNS – POLITICO
So says the New York Post:
Buffett’s political leanings are well known, but it’ll be worth watching how far out on a limb he goes as an economic validator for the president.
Next Up…
12:00 PM EDT
Martin Luther King, JR. National Memorial Project Foundation Luncheon
CNN http://live.cnn.com
CSPAN http://www.cspan.org/Events/MLK-Memorial-Events-Continue/10737423670/
FEMA: Take steps now before you evacuate Irene
August 25, 2011 8:40 AM cbsnews
(CBS News) With Hurricane Irene aiming for the U.S. East Coast, the head of FEMA told those who live in its path to prepare in advance and get information now that is needed should evacuation orders be issued for their local areas.
“A lot of areas may be at risk, a lot of people that may have to make decisions” on clearing out, said Fugate. “You don’t want to wait until the last minute. Be ready to go, and heed the advice of your local officials,” Craig Fugate, administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), said on CBS’ “The Early Show.” “You don’t want to wait until it’s too late.
When asked where people will need to go once the evacuation order is given, and for how long, Fugate replied, “This is going to be case-by-case, community by community. This is why the first thing you need find out, if you haven’t already, [is] do you live in an evacuation zone? And if you do, who will give the recommendation or order to evacuate? Where do you need to go? How far do you need to go?
“You need that information now, because when you evacuate you want to know where you’re going and make sure you have somewhere to go – not just get on the road with everybody else and hope you can find some place. That’s why it’s important now to take those steps.”
Having a full tank of gas in the car now is a good idea, too.
“We’re not going to be able to prevent all the damage, but we can minimize impacts or risk to loss of life,” said Fugate, “and that’s why people need to be prepared now.”
For the entire article: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2011/08/25/earlyshow/main20097126.shtml
Hurricane Irene: National Resources in Case of Emergency
Posted by Colleen Curtis on August 23, 2011
As Hurricane Irene makes its way through the Caribbean, current forecasts from the National Hurricane Center project that the storm may continue to strengthen and could make landfall anywhere along the East Coast. Yesterday, President Obama signed an emergency declaration for Puerto Rico and ordered federal aid to supplement commonwealth and local response efforts in the area.
While the future path of Irene is uncertain, it’s important that those along the East Coast take steps to get prepared and stay informed. Ready.gov/hurricanes offers complete advice on how to prepare for severe storms, and hurricanes.gov always has the latest forecast from the National Hurricane Center.
Here are some other web resources that will be useful if you or people you know are impacted by this storm.
Department of Homeland Security
On Twitter @DHSJournal
On Facebook http://www.facebook.com/homelandsecurity
FEMA
Blog Updates from FEMA
On Twitter @FEMA
On Facebook http://www.facebook.com/FEMA
Ready Campaign
On Twitter: @ReadydotGov
NOAA/National Hurricane Center
Tracking Hurricane Irene
On Twitter: @NHC Atlantic
On Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/US.NOAA.NationalHurricaneCenter.gov
American Red Cross
Latest updates
On Twitter: @RedCross
On Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/redcross
Hurricane Irene Update – August 23
From: FEMA | Aug 23, 2011
Administrator Craig Fugate provides a quick update on the progress of Hurricane Irene as it threatens the east coast of the United States. Those along the east coast should take steps to get prepared today at http://www.Ready.gov/hurricanes.
Hurricane Irene Could Delay MLK Jr. Memorial Dedication
Published on Aug 24, 2011 by wisn
A Milwaukee-area woman wins a trip to the nation’s capital for the dedication of the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial on the National Mall this weekend, but a hurricane could drench the celebration.
Just now, meta posted on TOD that the dedication on Sunday has been postponed due to Hurricane Irene. Sad, but better to be safe than sorry.
Rick Perry doesn’t speak for all military
8/25/11 By DAN FUTRELL – POLITICO
Texas Gov. Rick Perry recently asserted in Iowa that one reason he entered the GOP presidential race is to “make sure that every young man and woman who puts on the uniform of the United States respects highly the president of the United States.” He was clearly implying that our current commander in chief does not have, or deserve, this respect from our active duty, reserve and veteran military community.
As a veteran of two Iraq tours of duty, I was stunned to hear Perry – the latest GOP candidate claiming to speak on my behalf – say that the military does not respect President Barack Obama because he had never served in the military. He is mistaken.
Aside from a professional respect due to the office of the president, no matter who holds it, what Perry fails to recognize is that military service is not the only national service that matters.
I did not lead a platoon in Baghdad just so the United States could continue to have a military. The U.S. military does not exist for its own sake. It exists to protect and promote American interests and values — one of many tools used to do so. For there are many ways that Americans can serve their country.
Our country now has roughly 12 million teachers and education administrators; 17 million health care and social workers, and another 18 million federal, state and local government employees, according to 2010 Census data,. That’s 37 million Americans – more than 10 percent of our population — who went to work this morning in service to America.
Though they may not necessarily risk physical harm, their service is essential to a prosperous and healthy America. I would hope that a man seeking the presidency understood that our military does its job so that U.S. educators, nurses, social workers and other public servants can do theirs.
Most of what we’ve now heard from the Perry campaign has to do with American values. I would like to ask Perry how strength, character and altruism are missing in the day-to-day work of a community organizer in Chicago.
Please explain to me how a fourth-grade science teacher is less patriotic than a drill sergeant in Killeen, Texas. Or how a social worker who helps single mothers in East Los Angeles is less patriotic than a convoy driver in Baghdad. Please explain how a fire fighter in Boston is less qualified for political office only because she has not volunteered for military duty.
Service to our country comes in many forms. It is not exclusive to taking up arms in its defense. Military service, while a beneficial foundation of growth and leadership for many — including myself – is not a prerequisite for political office.
Not every American can, or should, serve in our military. The make-up of our political leadership should reflect the make-up of our people across the spectrum of service, leadership and experience.
I am fiercely proud of my military service. But it would be short-sighted and damaging to promote the idea that it must be a prerequisite for national leadership. Doing so overlooks the inherent strength of America – the character of its people.
I ask that Perry please not try to speak for me anymore. I fought for the right to express my own opinions.
Dan Futrell, a veteran of Operation Iraqi Freedom, served 27 months in Baghdad and is a two-time recipient of the Bronze Star Medal. He is now completing his public policy masters at the Harvard Kennedy School and is a fellow with the Truman National Security Project.
Medicare Spending Slows Sharply
by Maggie Mahar
It is an article of faith, at least among conservatives, that as long as Medicare remains a government program, outlays will rise relentlessly, year after year. Only “the market” could possibly tame Medicare inflation, they say. The fear-mongers argue that unless we either shift costs to seniors; raise the age when they become eligible for Medicare; or turn the whole program over to private sector insurers, Medicare expenditures will bankrupt the country.
Here is the truth: Both Standard & Poor’s (S&P) and the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) now have 18 months of hard data showing that Medicare spending has begun to slow dramatically. Health reform legislation has not yet begun to kick in to pare Medicare payments, but something is changing on the ground. As I pointed out in an earlier post, Medicare spending began to plunge in January of 2010. After levitating by an average of 9.7 percent a year from 2000 to 2009, CBO’s monthly budget reports show that Medicare pay-outs are now rising by less than 4 percent a year. (Over the year ending June 2011, Standard & Poor’s reckons that the cost of Medicare claims rose by just 2.5 percent. But S&P’s Medicare index does not include Medicare Advantage, the private sector option that costs the government significantly more than traditional Medicare.)
Pessimists argue that Medicare pay-outs often fluctuate, and that this is just a short-term drop. Moreover, the naysayers insist, over the next few years, a horde of aging Hippies will push Medicare’s outlays higher. But hard numbers fly in the face of their assertions. Over 40 years, Medicare pay-outs have rarely dipped, and even a cursory glance at U.S. birth rates makes it clear that the baby-boom bulge will not have a significant impact on Medicare expenditures for another ten to fifteen years. By then, the Affordable Care Act (ACA) will have had a chance to rein in health care spending.
Read more:
http://takingnote.tcf.org/2011/08/medicare-spending-slows-sharply-2.html
Great news!
Really good news this week about the status of Medicare. I’ll have a vested interest in this, in October … when I, an original baby boomer, turn the big 6-5!
Do Republicans really oppose temporary tax cuts, or just Obama’s tax cuts?
08/25/2011 By Ezra Klein – washingtonpost
In recent weeks, the politics of taxes seem to have flipped. Now it’s Democrats calling for the extension of a tax cut and Republicans arguing for a tax increase.
The tax cut in question, of course, is the payroll tax cut, which adds about $1,000 to the paycheck of the average American and which is set to expire at the end of this year. Republicans who were willing to let the federal government default on its debt to prevent even a hint of a tax increase are now willing to permit a $120 billion tax increase for next year. The question is, why?
One possible answer is that a large tax increase in an election year is good for them because it’s bad for President Obama and the economy. But that’s a pretty cynical explanation. Another is that they care more about tax rates on the rich than they do about tax rates on the poor. But they resist that argument. The real answer, Republicans says, is that they just don’t like temporary tax cuts.
”We don’t need short-term gestures,” explained Sen. Lamar Alexander. “Temporary tax rebates don’t work to create economic growth,” said Rep. Paul Ryan. Brad Dayspring, the spokesman for House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, says his boss “has never believed that this type of temporary tax relief is the best way to grow the economy.”
But as Jon Chait noted, Republicans proposed and passed temporary tax cuts in 2001 and 2008. Ryan voted for both packages. So did Cantor. And Alexander. So the GOP seemed to believe in temporary tax cuts when George W. Bush was president.
They continued to believe in them once Obama became president. In 2009, Senate Republicans proposed a variety of alternatives to Obama’s stimulus proposal. One, authored by Sen. Jim DeMint, was a permanent tax cut that would have cost more than $3 trillion. But another, authored by Sen. John McCain, was a one-year cut to payroll and income taxes. Every Senate Republican — including Lamar Alexander — voted for it. Mark Hemingway, a reporter at the conservative National Review, backed them up. “Republicans and conservatives have been banging the drum for payroll tax cuts as an economic stimulus for months,” he wrote.
And Republican support for temporary tax cuts has not been limited to stimulus measures. In 2001, the GOP passed the Bush tax cuts through the reconciliation process, which meant they had to make them temporary. That’s why they were set to expire in 2010. Republicans then preferred a two-year — that is to say, very temporary — extension of all of the cuts to the Obama administration’s offer to make all of the cuts for income under $250,000 permanent.
In other words, Republicans have frequently fought for temporary tax cuts. When offered the choice between a larger temporary tax cut and a smaller permanent tax cut, as happened in 2001 and 2003 and 2010, they have opted for the temporary tax cut. Now that Obama has come to endorse a temporary tax cut, they have stopped supporting it — a pattern we’ve seen on many other issues, as well. But the idea that the party has had some steady, policy-based objection to temporary tax cuts just doesn’t fit the record.
New U.S. Deportation Policy Spares Some
8/25/11 by TED ROBBINS – NPR
Immigrants and their lawyers are beginning to see the effects of the White House policy announced last week that downgrades some deportation cases.
The Department of Homeland Security says it hasn’t officially begun to prioritize all 300,000 cases before the nation’s immigration courts, but prosecutors are definitely employing newfound discretion.
Judy Flanagan got a call this week — a call she has never gotten before in many years as an immigration lawyer. It was a prosecutor from the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency in Phoenix, suggesting that a college student Flanagan represents ought to ask for her deportation case to be dismissed.
“That never happens,” she said. “I’ve asked for prosecutorial discretion in the past, too, for other students, and that didn’t work out too well. They said no.”
This time she didn’t even have to ask. The prosecutor apparently looked at the file and thought the student qualified under the new guidelines. The goal is to prosecute more people convicted of crimes, or back in the U.S. after having already been deported, and to ease off people like 22-year-old Ileana Salinas, Flanagan’s client.
For the entire article and audio interview: http://www.npr.org/2011/08/25/139931008/new-u-s-deportation-policy-spares-some
Immigration reform has begun, quietly and – more or less – behind the scenes! This just makes my heart glad.
Fed’s Hoenig says doesn’t see recession looming
8/25/11 By Mark Felsenthal | Reuters – 1 hr 44 mins ago
JACKSON HOLE, Wyoming (Reuters) – The U.S. economy will continue to grow at a modest pace as consumers and businesses pare back excessive amounts of debt, a top Federal Reserve official said.
“I don’t see a double-dip recession,” Thomas Hoenig, president of the Kansas City Federal Reserve Bank, said in an interview with Reuters Insider television.
The world’s largest economy should expand by between 2 percent and 2.5 percent over the remainder of this year, said Hoenig, whose institution is hosting an annual conference in this mountain valley that draws central bankers and leading economists from around the world.
Hoenig played down the significance of two recent gloomy regional reports on manufacturing. Surveys by the Philadelphia and Richmond Fed banks showing weak factory activity in the U.S. Mid-Atlantic and Central Atlantic regions were taken during a period of stock market turmoil and likely reflected the uncertainty of that period, he said.
A similar survey by the Kansas City Fed covering Kansas and surrounding states released on Thursday was soft, but not as dramatically so.
For the entire article: http://goo.gl/4IQo8
Planning the plan
Aides talk jobs ideas with Obama
08/25/11 By MATT NEGRIN – POLITICO44
President Obama spoke on the phone Thursday morning with Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner, budget director Jack Lew, the economic adviser Gene Sperling and chief of staff Bill Daley, the White House said in a statement. “He received his regular briefing on the economy,” the statement sent. “The group also discussed the progress being made on the new jobs proposals and deficit reduction measures that the economic policy team has been developing this week.”
PREVIOUSLY: After being briefed by his FEMA chief on the hurricane roaring up the East Coast, President Obama rode to a beach in Martha’s Vineyard with his wife and his two daughters, the pool reports.
Next Up…
4:30 PM EDT
U.N. Security Council to Meet on Libya
CNN http://live.cnn.com
CSPAN http://www.cspan.org/
U.N. to allow release of $1.5 billion frozen Libya funds
8/25/11 By Louis Charbonneau | Reuters – 29 mins ago
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) – The United States and South Africa struck a deal on Thursday to allow the release of $1.5 billion in frozen Libya funds for humanitarian aid and other civilian needs, U.N. diplomats said on Thursday.
U.N. Security Council diplomats said the agreement would enable the funds to be released without a vote by the council on a U.S. draft resolution that Washington submitted on Wednesday in response to South Africa blocking a U.S. request to disburse the money in the U.N. Libya sanctions committee.
The South African delegation said it did not support funds going directly to the Libyan rebel government, the Transitional National Council (TNC), which the African Union has not recognized. Pretoria insisted that there be no mention to the TNC in the official request for the release of the funds.
U.S. Deputy U.N. Ambassador Rosemary DiCarlo told reporters the South Africans “are lifting their hold now.”
“The council has reached consensus on the package of $1.5 billion,” she said, adding that the United States was “very pleased with the outcome.”
A spokeswoman for the South African U.N. mission, however, said her delegation had told the United States that Pretoria would withdraw its objection to the release of the money “as long as there is no reference whatsoever to … the TNC.”
“Because if it’s TNC, then it means that we are agreeing as the 15 collective council members to say yes to the TNC and we have not all recognized it,” she told reporters.
For the entire article: http://news.yahoo.com/u-n-allow-release-1-5-billion-frozen-205449037.html
Posted by DNC Press on Wednesday, August 24, 2011
Today, Republican presidential frontrunner Mitt Romney said he would repeal the Dodd-Frank Wall Street reform law if he were the President. In response, DNC Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz released the following statement:
Debbie is way out in front. So glad she’s our DNC Chair.
August 23, 2011 Posted by Josh Cohen – democrats.org
Two headlines that capture the essence of Mitt Romney:
[New York Times, 6/16/11]
[Boston Globe, 8/22/11]
August 25, 2011 Posted by Josh Cohen – democrats.org
On June 3 in New Hampshire:
Yesterday, August 24, also in New Hampshire:
Mitt, Mitt, Mitt … people write these things down, you know.
Speaking of Romney, I don’t want him answering that 3:00 phone. He does not perform well under pressure.
http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2011/08/25/304063/challenged-at-town-hall-romney-misleads-voters-on-social-security-reform/
You bring up a very important point. SCARY!
Romney seems to be the clueless millionaire who jokes about being unemployed.
Perry seems very much the clueless cowboy who is easily provoked and unstable; can you imagine him wanting to put “boots on the ground” all over in places where he does not like the people/ regimes?!
Bachman seems clueless, easily provoked and unstable as well. Her and her husband want to “cure gay people“.
Everybody get their free Obama 2012 bumper sticker?
http://bit.ly/qIa5Cd
Yipeee! Thanks Kat!
More 2012 campaign stuff here:
http://bit.ly/rfVmYv
I got mine in the mail a few weeks ago. Hey, hope everyone is having a nice day.
Hello COS!
I ordered mine today. Thanks, Kat!
Next Up…
9:30 PM EDT
Vice President Biden Speaks to U.S. Service Members
Marine Corps Base Hawaii – Kaneohe Bay, Kaneohe, Hawaii
WhiteHouse.gov http://www.whitehouse.gov/live
Biden thanks servicemen and women in Hawaii
8/26/11 By AUDREY McAVOY – Associated Press | AP – 6 hrs ago
KANEOHE BAY, Hawaii (AP) — Vice President Joe Biden on Thursday thanked U.S. servicemen in Hawaii for being among what he called “the greatest generation of warriors that the world has ever produced.”
He thanked about 1,200 Marines and sailors gathered at Marine Corps Base Hawaii for their service in Iraq and Afghanistan. He said their presence in the Pacific also helped provide an environment of stability and growth in the region.
“I came to say thank you. Thank you … to the greatest generation of warriors that the world has ever produced. And that is not hyperbole,” Biden said during a stop in the islands on his way back from a weeklong tour of Asia. “You represent a generation of Americas equal to any that has gone before.”
He hailed the servicemen and women for being “the best America has.”
After his speech, the vice president shook hands and posed for photos with service members and their families. He arrived in Hawaii on Wednesday and was due to leave for Delaware on Thursday night.
In Japan, Biden praised the resolve of the Japanese people in their efforts to recover from the tsunami and reaffirmed the two countries’ alliance as vital for regional peace and prosperity.
Biden also stressed strong economic and military ties between Japan and the U.S., calling their security alliance the “foundation of this region’s security and prosperity for over half a century.”
For the entire article: http://news.yahoo.com/biden-thanks-servicemen-women-hawaii-105036355.html
——-
Vice president Biden Speech to Marines in Hawaii on 8/25/2011
Uploaded by 3rdID8487 on Aug 26, 2011
Vice President of the United States Joe Biden ended his Asia Pacific tour with a stop at Marine Corps Base Hawaii in Kaneohe Bay Hawaii. This is his entire speech. This batch also has b-roll of the VPOTUS meeting with Marines and a soundbite from a marine. Produced by Nick Tovo.
Nice! Our Joe really enjoys speaking to our military – and from the photos and videos, they seem to really appreciate him!
Latest developments in Arab world’s unrest
8/25/11 By The Associated Press | AP – 53 mins ago
LIBYA
The streets where rebel fighters bombarded snipers loyal to Moammar Gadhafi are strewn with bullet-ridden corpses from both sides. Streams of blood run down the gutters and turned sewers red. By sundown the rebels appear to have won the battle for the Abu Salim neighborhood, next to Gadhafi’s captured Tripoli compound, but the fallen dictator continues to elude them. Speaking from an unknown location, he exhorted his supporters to fight on.
___
SYRIA
A renowned political cartoonist whose drawings expressed Syrians’ frustrated hopes for change is grabbed after leaving his studio and beaten by masked gunmen who break his hands and dump him on a road outside Damascus. One of Syria’s most famous artists, Ali Ferzat, 60, earned international recognition and the respect of many Arabs with stinging caricatures that infuriated dictators including Iraq’s Saddam Hussein, Libya’s Moammar Gadhafi and, particularly in recent months, Syria’s autocratic Assad family.
___
YEMEN
An airstrike kills eight suspected al-Qaida militants, including a group leader, in the south of the country. The Yemeni government is waging a military campaign to drive out Islamic fighters who overran several southern towns months ago. The militant takeover took place as the government was trying to suppress a nationwide protest movement seeking the ouster of the longtime president. The officials say the airstrike targeted the Ansar al-Sharia group, which is suspected of links to al-Qaida in Yemen. One official identifies one of the slain militants as a leader of the group named Abu Jaber al-Sanaai.
*********************
THIS POST IS NOW CLOSED
NBLB Come on over to my newest post
titled: “21st-Century Regulatory System ”
**********************
To get to newest post click on “HOME” at the top of the page and click on the title of the newest post