Sunday, February 15, 2009

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Obama's Sunday: Basketball At University Of Chicago, Haircut In Hyde Park Top
CHICAGO — President Barack Obama has dropped by the University of Chicago campus for two hours of basketball with friends. Obama, who's spending a long weekend in his hometown, headed out Sunday to indoor basketball courts where he has played before. Aides did not say who played hoops with the president. After the game, Obama stopped at his neighborhood barbershop for a quick cut. Obama and his family plan to return to Washington on Monday. More on President Obama
 
Pamela Gentry: Don't underestimate Obama's Political Savvy Top
By Pamela Gentry Feb. 15, 2008 -- President Barack Obama has forgone a "honeymoon" with legislators and the press to push his agenda forward and deliver what he promised: billions of federal dollars into the economy and jobs. In his weekly radio address Obama said, "I will sign this legislation into law shortly." (On Friday White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said most likely Monday.) "We'll begin making the immediate investments necessary to put people back to work doing the work America needs done," he said. Republicans and the handful of Democrats didn't support the president - and they should be worried how this might play back home. Obama was smart in the way he criticize his opponents of the package. He opted to oppose the "ways of Washington" from outside the beltway and took his stimulus sales pitch on the road. It appears to have worked because he was able to build his case for the package literally in the backyards of his critics. His strategy to preach to the non-believers and not the faithful paid off and the president was able to convert new believers back home. The $787 billion package will extend unemployment benefits, state-funded Medicaid health coverage for low-income the disable and still gives $280 billion in tax relief. While cuts were made during the House and Senate negotiations process, the final bill also includes money for road construction, new bridges, school repairs and expansion of Broadband networks to rural communities. Not bad for the first four weeks in office. If Obama continues to roll his agenda forward; maintain his popularity; minimizing his critics and nurture his up-close and personal relationship with the American people, he'll re-define "political powerhouse" and be a formidable adversary. It's appears Obama made up for his inexperience with tenacity and prevailed. It would be foolish for anyone to underestimate him moving forward.
 
Mario Cuomo: Lincoln and Obama -- My Comparison Top
I delivered this speech in President Obama's hometown of Chicago on Friday, February 13th, the day after the 200th anniversary of Abraham Lincoln's birth. It differs in one substantial way from most of the many comparisons of Presidents Lincoln and Obama that have been put forth recently. My view is that the success or failure of President Obama's presidency will have far greater impact globally than did the Lincoln presidency. Tonight, we have come together to celebrate the unchallenged greatness of two other former presidents and to express our hope for the success of our new President, Barack Obama. George Washington was elected and sworn in as our first President in 1789, having been chosen by the Electoral College on the basis of his military exploits, his wise and intelligent leadership of the Constitutional Convention and his strong personal attributes. After having helped forge our small, thirteen scattered states into a nation, he served for two terms declining many invitations to stay on longer. Much of the rest of the world had predicted that this new, unique republican democracy ─ cobbled together by a largely untrained assortment of revolutionary idealists who had defied the British Empire ─ would not survive. The "change" into nationhood they believed, was too great to be plausible. That was more than 200 years ago. Ever since then, George Washington has been honored as the "Father of Our Country," who unified, moderated and inspired the Constitutional Convention whose work gave birth to what has become the greatest nation in world history. On March 14, 1861 Abraham Lincoln ─ who many historians regard as our greatest President ever ─ was sworn in. Yesterday's celebration of his 200th birthday provided still another opportunity for many, including President Obama himself, to note all kinds of parallels between Lincoln and our newest President. Both were born and raised in modest circumstances. Both became lawyers and politicians in Illinois. Both were underdog candidates for the Presidency, with little experience as executives. Obama, like Lincoln, has superb personal gifts: a brilliant analytical mind, riveting oratorical and writing abilities. Obama's embrace of Lincoln should come as no surprise. Lincoln's popularity and achievements make him irresistible and his eloquence makes him easy to quote. And so politicians of both parties regularly seek to claim the mantle of Lincoln in ways big and small. Unfortunately, the comparisons are often distorting, as when both Liberals and Conservatives claim him as one of their own. Lincoln is too complex, too profound, too valuable to be distorted the way he often is. But it would be even more unfortunate, however, if we were so awestruck by the towering figure that history and legend have made of him, that we would be reluctant to draw upon Lincoln's ideas for dealing with some of today's challenges. That would be a foolish sacrifice of his extraordinary wisdom. Lincoln speaks to us today as he did more than 150 years ago because he spoke to the ages -- and to the world. He does it in what may be the best words a president has ever produced, words which constantly urge us on to a course that is directed by reason, supported by principle, sanctified by history and designed to achieve the greatest good. Obama too has already demonstrated his rhetorical prowess. His brilliant and eloquent speeches have mesmerized hundreds of millions of listeners all over the globe. And they have in important ways echoed Lincoln's profound wisdom. Lincoln saw what other less farsighted politicians could not see: that it was the immensity of the fundamental ideas of freedom and self-determination that made his young nation such a radically new adventure in government. Lincoln saw the world clearly. He looked beyond the superficial difference that God or history or geography had imposed on the people of the world to see the essential truths that unite us all. He understood that a respect for individual dignity and the equality of all people was the essential foundation for any democratic society. Not just for Americans, but for the whole human race. He sympathized vigorously with the cause of democracy in other lands, in Hungary and South America and Greece. Were he alive today, Lincoln would express no shock at learning that there are millions of people around the world, in the Middle-East, in Africa and in other places, whose poverty, lack of freedom, and lack of self-esteem make some of them dangerous enemies to those more fortunate people who they believe are oppressing them, aiding their oppressors, or denying them the help they need to earn their own share of comfort and security. He would understand that we cannot end terror in the world today just by having the world's most powerful weapons and best fighting force, anymore than we can end crime in America simply by having the best police departments and prisons. We have to add to this force whatever is needed to provide people in need with the realistic hope for opportunity and dignity that will quiet their rage and produce peace, here at home and across the globe. Lincoln said repeatedly that we need to be guided by a powerful sense of universal mutuality that will bring us together instead of pitting us against one another. More than once ─ and most recently in his Inaugural Address ─ Obama has pledged to do exactly that for all the same reasons. The parallels go on and on. Both Lincoln and Obama have helped make significant progress in reducing the hateful implications of the racism that was institutionalized by our original Constitution. Obama seeks to make further strides in that direction. Obama, like Lincoln, rejects rigid ideology in policymaking, relying instead on common sense, benign pragmatism and the overarching grand concept expressed in the Declaration of Independence's achievable goal of equality and opportunity. Obama echoed Lincoln in his Inaugural Address when he said he would "carry forward the God─given promise that all are equal, all are free, all deserve a chance to pursue their full measure of happiness." To Lincoln, and now to Obama, this is not only a lofty dream or sweet poetry designed to soothe the soul by wrapping it in high aspiration. It was and is the attainable goal of flesh-and-blood humans who would have to come together as a nation and together find ways to provide fairly-rewarded work, education, healthcare, security in our older years, and most of all equality of opportunity and the right to be treated with dignity. Lincoln's prose on this basic principle was true to his poetry. In discussing the role of government in seeking to achieve these goals he avoided simplistic notions of "big government" and "little government", "people on the left, people on the right" or any other simplistic shibboleths. Characteristically, in describing government he went to the heart of the matter. I was delighted to hear President Obama yesterday repeat words of Lincoln that I have cited for more than twenty years as the best and most practical definition of "government" I've ever heard. He said: "Government is the coming together of people to do for one another collectively what they could not do as well or at all privately through the market system or philanthropy." (See "Lincoln's Hands," his original manuscript.) In effect Lincoln was saying we should have only the government we need, but all the government we need. And he made clear that the need for government would grow as the world's population grew larger and people's interaction became more intense. In that straight forward practical way Lincoln respected the indispensable need for a market system economy in achieving the nation's goals, but he also realized that while the market is essential to a successful economy, it is not by itself sufficient to assure it. For that reason Lincoln urged that government be used aggressively to meet the needs the market economy failed to satisfy. Obama has already demonstrated clearly that he, like Lincoln, will not hesitate to call for significant governmental assistance in the effort to right the Ship of State in today's troubled economic waters. Because Obama shares so much of Abraham Lincoln's personality characteristics and so many of his fundamental beliefs, his leadership could give today's America the chance to live the American Dream as Lincoln perceived it, an opportunity that Lincoln himself was denied by an assassin's bullet. But Obama's leadership could mean even more -- much more than that. While there are obviously significant similarities between Obama and Lincoln, there's a vast and important difference between the circumstances faced by the two in their first term as president. Lincoln focused his 1861 Inaugural Address on the issue that eventually dominated his political career ─ slavery in the United States and how it would affect the Union. In the first moments of his Inaugural Address, Lincoln dismissed the other issues facing him as creating "neither excitement nor anxiety." Obama, on the other hand, has literally scores of daunting global issues to deal with, and his success or failure will have an impact not just on our nation but worldwide. Obama is the President and Commander-in-Chief of the dominant superpower in a world that has more than six billion human beings, many of whom depend to one extent or another on the nation Obama leads. Never before has there been a nation with such tremendous influence on the entire planet, a planet infested with weapons of mass destruction possessed by dozens of nations, many of them hostile to one another, some already at war and others poised at the brink. A planet threatened by the inconvenient truths of global warming, terrorism, pandemics of various kinds, regular episodes of genocide, hunger threatening millions of human beings and now a badly wounded world economy, ailing in part because of a serious recession in the United States. It's obvious that one hundred forty-eight years of globalization with its benefits and burdens make this a very different world from the one Lincoln lived in and served, and one that will make Obama's presidency much more significant not just to our great nation ─ but to the rest of the world as well. Lincoln's failure would have left scarred the face of America, extending the cruel tragedy of slavery and perhaps critically fracturing the Union. His success helped keep the American Dream alive. On the other hand, Obama's failure could very well threaten unprecedented global damage. But his success could help lead not just our great nation, but much of the rest of the world into a period of enlightenment and progress never before achieved. Realizing that, how can we expect our new President to bring to life the contemporary relevance of the Lincoln legacy? Here are just some of the possibilities as I see them. -- Policies dictated by common sense and benign pragmatism instead of rigid ideology. -- Aggressive government support of emergency assistance to banks, some major industries, states, workers, the elderly, the poor and the sick. Accompanied by a large and aggressive stimulus program tightly connected to job creation. -- A new era of political openness, candor and reasonableness by the Federal government. -- A careful review of our expanding attacks on targets in Pakistan and our renewed commitment of American forces in Afghanistan before we make another serious mistake, this time producing what could be declared "Obama's" long, but costly and futile war in Afghanistan. -- A new respect for the Constitution and an end of the ever-expanding "Imperial Presidency," including especially a clear declaration that wars must be declared by Congress and not by the President. -- A call on the American people to be prepared to sacrifice, to spend prudently, and to save instead of falling in love with our credit cards. -- Greater discipline of the financial industry with more thorough and effective oversight. -- Trade agreements that are fair to our American workers and businesses. -- A new foreign policy emphasis on outreach to the world starting, as Obama has, with the Muslim people, including traditional allies and less friendly nations like Iran, Syria, Russia and Cuba and a new effort to negotiate an end to hostility in Palestine. -- Funding of the Millennium and Arab Partnership programs of economic support to Middle East nations originally adopted by former President Bush, but not funded. -- Voluntary service programs for young Americans. And much more. How is President Obama doing so far? In 1985 I gave a speech at Yale University in the course of which I said that politicians campaign in poetry, but they govern in prose ─ and the prose is much more difficult. Once again, that proposition has been reaffirmed. Obama's soaring rhetoric has, for now, been replaced by the more careful, practical, contentious and earthy language of negotiation, bargaining and even apology. He has had disappointments in some of his desired appointees and in his early efforts to establish bi-partisan harmony with respect to the badly needed bank and stimulus legislation that he needs to deal with the battered economy he has inherited. As usual, meaningful "change" has proven to be an easy aspiration to promote, but a very difficult goal to achieve. But there is no reason to be discouraged. Heroes and greatness are born and bred by crises. Washington, Lincoln and Roosevelt were all faced with multiple serious difficulties and reversals, especially in their early days. As the world knows, they eventually succeeded and by doing so, proved their greatness. Now it is Obama's turn. Obama's moment in history is a unique one. On the day of his Inauguration the heart of America ─ and much of the rest of the world stirred with pride and anticipation as it watched a man of unique heritage, sparkling brilliance and eloquence, and soaring aspirations, take the oath that vested in him the awesome power of the Presidency of the world's greatest nation. It happened in this very room as more than 300 guests celebrated the glorious beginning of the Obama Presidency. All over the world, countless millions of people watched and heard the pageant unfold. Many of them thinking as perhaps I and you were and maybe still are ─ that there has seldom been more to trouble us, but neither has there been more to hope and to work for. I think I know what Washington, Lincoln and Roosevelt would say about Obama's moment, and it's what Obama himself continues to say: "We need to hope with all our hearts and work with all our strength, because we know, from all that our great nation has overcome and all that we have achieved, that when we really have to, YES, yes indeed, WE CAN!" More on Obama's First 100 Days
 
Obama On Republicans: 'I'm An Optimist, Not A Sap' Top
After the trials and triumphs of his tumultuous first weeks, President Obama appears increasingly focused on ends, not means. In a conversation early Friday evening with a small group of columnists, Obama was flexible about tactics and unwavering in his goals. He signaled that he's open to consultation, compromise and readjusting his course to build inclusive coalitions, but fixed on the results he intends to produce. "My bottom line is not how pretty the process was," he said, looking back at the congressional fight over his economic recovery package. "My bottom line was: Am I getting help to people who need it?"
 
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GOP Leader Calls On Burris To Resign, Lawmakers Seek Perjury Investigation Top
CHICAGO — An Illinois Republican leader says the state's freshman U.S. senator should resign over contradictory statements regarding Gov. Rod Blagojevich's impeachment. State Rep. Jim Durkin told reporters Sunday that Democrat Roland Burris should resign over an affidavit contradicting statements he made earlier to a House committee. Durkin also wants Burris investigated for possible perjury. Gov. Pat Quinn also says Burris owes a full explanation. Burris plans a news conference later Sunday. An affidavit released Saturday indicates Blagojevich's brother asked Burris to host a fundraiser for the governor before Burris was appointed to the vacancy left by Barack Obama. That reflects a major omission from January testimony. THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below. CHICAGO (AP) _ Leading Republicans in the Illinois Legislature are expected to call for an outside investigation of whether U.S. Sen. Roland Burris testified truthfully at the impeachment of former Gov. Rod Blagojevich. Rep. Jim Durkin, the impeachment committee's ranking Republican, and House Republican Leader Tom Cross plan a news conference Sunday afternoon. Burris has scheduled a news conference later in the day. Gov. Pat Quinn's office said the Democratic senator owes an explanation of his seemingly contradictory statements. Burris released an affidavit Saturday indicating Blagojevich's brother asked Burris to host a fundraiser for the governor before Burris was appointed to the Senate. Burris said he declined to do so because it would look like he was trying to win favor. But the disclosure reflects a major omission from his testimony in January. More on Rod Blagojevich
 
Daniel Cubias: We Love to Love You: The Rise and Continued Prominence of the Latin Lover Top
In honor of Valentine's Day, I want to give a shout out to all those Latin Lovers... Actually, let me stop there. What the hell is a Latin Lover anyway? Whenever I hear the phrase, which has actually been pointed at me a couple of times, I think of some confident guy who charms roomfuls of women but regularly loses tracks of how many ladies he's slept with that week. This is not me, by the way. Other images come to mind. Is it the guy who snaps his heels together, plays flamenco guitar, and presents blushing ladies with roses? Or is it the player who flashes devilish smiles, tells oily lies to naïve women, and dumps trusting females eight seconds after ravishing them? Or is the guy who is open and expressive, has a sensitive-artist vibe, and respects women as well as lusts after them? All of these images have, at one time or another, been presented. By the way, other Latino male archetypes - such as the uber-macho hombre, the mama's boy, and the barrio thug, among many others - don't traditionally fit the category of Latino Lover. So let's leave them alone, for now. Of course, there is also a female version of the Latin Lover. These are usually exotic beauties who beguile (what a great verb!) respectable, rational men. The guys are helpless in her presence, even though she inevitably is either poor, crazy, or up to no good - probably all three. Regardless of gender, the Latin Lover is usually presented as, at best, a fling of simple passion. They really don't have any emotional states beyond getting aroused and flying into jealous rages, and as such, they're poor choices for long-term companionship. In worst-case scenarios, the Latin Lover is an obstacle to the hero or heroine's true love. Under such circumstances, the confused woman or blinded man eventually returns to his/her stable partner, kicking the lothario to the curb or ditching the dark-skinned mistress. Like every other aspect of our culture, Hollywood has had an influence in shaping the iconography. After the imbroglio caused by my previous post about Hispanic representation in the movies, I don't want to get too much into it. Suffice to say that the original Latin Lover was probably Rudolf Valentino, the silent-film star who terrified/fascinated innocent waifs in the early days of cinema. But Valentino was Italian, which leads to a question: How strict is the "latin" part of that equation? After all, we've seen many people of different ethnicities play this role - everyone from Antonio Banderas (a Spaniard) to Salma Hayek (a Mexican) to Johnny Depp (a white guy). So perhaps being a Latin Lover is more a state of mind than an ethnic identity. Still, its roots in ethnicity cannot be ignored. And this leads to larger questions. For starters, is the image of the Latin Lover a stereotype? If so, is the modern definition confined to Hispanics, or as we have seen, can Italian or Greek or even hot white people be Latin Lovers? Furthermore, if it is a stereotype of Hispanics, is it a positive or negative one? Or is the concept of a positive stereotype an absurd oxymoron? Really, how insulting is it - if it's derogatory at all - to be called a Latin Lover? At this point, I should mention that one of my future in-laws, upon learning that my girlfriend was dating me, famously warned her that "Those Latins. They love ya, then they leave ya." My wife and I will soon celebrate our 18th anniversary. So I guess I'm not much of a Latin Lover, at least according to my in-law's definition. So let me ask a final set of questions. Are you a Latin Lover? Are you involved with one? And in either case, is that a good or bad thing?
 
Jeff Biggers: Come Home, Dick Durbin: Come Clean on FutureGen Top
As an Illinois voter, I have always valued and voted for US Senator Dick Durbin. In the footsteps of Paul Simon, our beloved senator from southern Illinois, Dick Durbin has been a voice of clarity in Congress on many of the great issues of our times. I deeply admired his vocal opposition to the Iraq war. At a time when the nation is coming to grips with the reality of dirty coal and its indisputable impact on climate destabilization and our coalfield communities, when virtually everyone in Paul Wellstone's "Democratic Wing" of the Democratic Party recognizes the necessity to dramatically shift our focus to non-fossil fuel sources of energy, it is disappointing to see Sen. Durbin turn into a cheerleader for the "Dirtiest Wing" of the coal industries. At the same time Peabody Energy celebrated an eightfold increase in profits last quarter and announced its intention to reopen the controversial and widely denounced strip mine on tribal lands on Black Mesa in Arizona, Sen. Durbin has been arm-twisting Department of Energy Secretary Stephen Chu and President Barack Obama into subsidizing Peabody's--and a host of the world's largest extraction companies--FutureGen boondoggle. No constituent, especially in my economically depressed area, begrudges a senator who wants to bring home the bacon in the form of a massive jobs program. Because, when the cards are put on the table, everyone in Illinois knows that the $1.8 billion price tag for the now "near zero-emissions" FutureGen experimental plant has nothing to do with the delusion of carbon capture and storage of carbon dioxide emissions from coal-fired plants. It's all about 1,500 construction jobs and 150 permanent jobs. It's just a shame that Sen. Durbin has not invested the same amounted of time and massive political clout into launching a FutureWind project in western Illinois, or investing that same amount of money into making Illinois the new industrial heartland for wind mill factories or solar panel factories to serve the rest of the nation, or a whole host of other renewable energy green jobs. Dick Durbin's fervent, near obsessive campaign to bring the FutureGen coal-fired plant to Illinois belies three main delusions: 1) That FutureGen will jumpstart Illinois' coal industry: As The Southern Illinoian newspaper's editorial board wrote last summer, FutureGen "was seen as a first step in developing a market for our region's ample stores of bituminous coal." Here in Illinois, Durbin, like many in our congressional delegation, has yet to come to grips with the fact that our coal industry collapsed after the Clean Air Act of 1990. Nor does Durbin, in light of Big Coal's highly mechanized and stripped down operations, ever discuss the reality that the coal industry provides less than 3,800 mostly union-busted jobs in Illinois today. Since 2002, the state of Illinois has bankrolled a Coal Revival Program. According to one survey, "the U.S. Department of Energy's National Electric Technology Laboratory reported that during the Blagojevich administration, Illinois has entertained more proposals for new coal-based electric power plants than any other state." http://focusmidwest.com/2008/11/28/the-road-to-kyoto-runs-through-illinois/ 2) That FutureGen is feasible. As Joseph Romm at the Center for American Progress pointed out last year when the Bush administration set aside the FutureGen boondoggle because of spiraling costs and other uncertainties, FutureGen was either doubly pointless or doubly cynical. Romm has written extensively about FutureGen's unsolved problems of cost, timing, scale and transparency. http://climateprogress.org/2008/09/29/is-coal-with-carbon-capture-and-storage-a-core-climate-solution/ According to most scientists, any feasible and safe implementation for a carbon capture and storage plan for coal-fired plants on a nationwide utility scale, is still a decade or two away. A GAO report in 2008 concluded that federal agencies had not begun to even address the "full range of issues that would require resolution for commercial-scale CCS deployment." At the same time, NASA climatologist James Hansen and a group of leading scientists published a paper in Science Magazine last spring that spelled out the future challenge in dealing with carbon dioxide emissions in clear terms: "If humanity wishes to preserve a planet similar to that on which civilization developed and to which life on earth is adapted, paleoclimate evidence and ongoing climate change suggest that CO2 will need to be reduced from its current 385 ppm to at most 350 ppm." "What we do in the next two to three years will determine our future," Rajendra Pachauri, Chairman of the UN's International Panel on Climate Change, has declared. "This is the defining moment." 3) That coal is clean. As the Randolph Herald Tribune noted, Durbin tells his constituents: ""We can use coal to generate electricity and there is virtually no pollution caused by its usage." http://www.randolphcountyheraldtribune.com/news/x394023903/U-S-Senator-Richard-Durbin-holds-town-meeting-in-Chester In light of last December's TVA coal ash disaster, which poured over a billion gallons of toxic sludge into east Tennessee watershed and will cost a reported $825 million to clean up, and mercury emissions from coal-fired plants, and in a state that has experienced some of the worst mining accidents in American history, and still deals with an extraordinary rate of black lung disease among our coal miners, Durbin's rhetoric about "clean coal" rings incredibly hollow. Last week, at a celebration for the Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission, Sen. Durbin wrote a very poignant tribute on "What Lincoln Means to Me." Durbin wrote: "But if Lincoln could face down a Wall Street and banking crisis and channel the awesome power of the American people -- acting through their government - to lay the foundation for a modern economy and create economic opportunities for generations of Americans to come and, at the same time, find the strength to save the Union, drive a stake into the stubborn heart of slavery, and redeem the promise of the Declaration of Independence , all while writing some of the most powerful and sublime words ever composed in the English language, surely we can find our way through these present troubles. That is another of the lessons Lincoln has taught me. Abraham Lincoln was born 200 years ago. But the principles by which he lived and for which he died are true and timeless. And his wisdom and example continues to offer us hope and guidance, if we will only pay attention." Dick Durbin needs to rise to the occasion and offer us more hope and guidance than the ruse of FutureGen. It's time for Dick Durbin to think anew, in the words of Lincoln, and come clean on the dirty realities of coal.
 
Kristin Rowe-Finkbeiner: Peaceful Revolution: Blood Money or Wall Street Bonuses? Pres. Obama, Get Your Signing Pen Ready Top
While Wall Street rails against restrictions on executive salary bonuses placed by Congress in the economic-stimulus package, families are suffering. Bonuses? What planet are they on!? Some moms are selling their blood plasma several times a week to put food on the table. We asked our MomsRising.org members this past week about how the economic downturn is impacting their families, and personal stories poured in from across the country that give a glimpse of how the economic downturn is impacting families. Stories like this one: "My sister, the mother of 2 preschoolers, has track marks up and down her arms. Last July both she and her husband lost their jobs. Although they applied for every job they saw, she didn't find a job until late November--and then only a part-time one. My brother-in-law still hasn't found one. The track-marks? My sister, my wonderful sister, gives plasma several times a week, earning $25 each time in order to feed her family and pay her car insurance. Don't talk to me about bonuses and earmarks, all my sister wants is a job. How much plasma does she have to give before the government does something for regular people?" - Yvonne There are people, families, and children behind the job loss numbers that stream across the front of newspapers everyday--and most don't work on Wall Street. The House and Senate just passed the economic-stimulus package which rightly reined in Wall Street bonuses, and now President Obama needs to get his signing pen ready (and ignore those who are complaining about executive bonus restrictions). In fact, help can't come quick enough for many families. Here's a small sampling of the recent personal stories submitted by MomsRising.org members, showing just how very needed the economic-stimulus package is right now: • "I lost my job in December and have been looking unsuccessfully since then. I am a professional person and the number of resumes per job opening are staggering. My husband hasn't worked since November. Three kids, no income except unemployment insurance, and since we live in California, that is always questionable. My car needs a $525 repair. It's just sitting in the driveway." -- Lynn • "My husband recently lost his job with a major aluminum manufacturing facility in Western, PA and as a result, our health insurance. While my company offers health insurance, the premiums are far too expensive for us to afford (especially with the job loss). We have 3 children (the eldest of which is in college) and are struggling to keep our head above water, our son in college and our mortgage up to date. Something has gone to be done and QUICKLY!" -- Dawn-Michele • "I am a middle class professional, single mom with a six year old boy. I worked for a nonprofit with most of my work focused on women and poverty in the developing world. I just found out I will be laid off in early March. I pay almost all my son's expenses, own a home, and try to put money towards a college fund for him. I have been scrambling to do what I can to avert catastrophe. I am trying to get my mortgage reduced but don't qualify for many of the low-income programs. I don't qualify for most assistance programs but because I spent my retirement on my divorce proceedings, I don't have a safety net. My son can go on his dad's healthcare but I will have to forego healthcare even though I have several chronic conditions. I have a housemate already to help with the mortgage and am bringing in another housemate but I don't know if that will be enough. The only job I have found (and I know I am lucky to have a job offer) pays half of what I currently earn. I have taken it and will hope to work 2 more jobs if I have to in order to make ends meet. It is frightening--I have paid my bills and paid over my minimum mortgage bill, continue to pay for my Master's degree, had saved money in a retirement account and it could all be gone tomorrow. I have also been sending money to my mother who has been ill but that stopped a few months ago because I could no longer support her." -- Marceline • "My husband was laid off in December. We have an autistic son, the thought of putting him in daycare puts me into a panic attack. We've tried it before, nobody else can handle him. He's come home with unexplained bruises, once he was found by a stranger wandering near the highway after dark right before I picked him up. We're discussing walking away from our house. My husband has applied for hundreds of jobs and he's just not getting any offers. Tomorrow he's interviewing for a job that pays a full thirty thousand dollars less than he made last year with no benefits (we'd have to continue paying 1,200 per month for Cobra insurance). If he takes that job, our choice will be to lose our house and move into a rented apartment; or put our son in daycare so I can work full time. I'm no stranger to work; I only quit to keep my disabled son safe. I am scared." -- Jennifer • "My husband and I are expecting our first child. We are both attorneys. He works as a public defender and I was in house counsel up until this past October when I was laid off. I am almost 8 months pregnant. We have house hold bills, mortgage, 2 sets of student loans, credit card bills, attorney registration and impending child care costs including hospital extra costs. What help is out there? American people need a bail out not the greedy Wall Street people. Extend unemployment and increase the amount." -- Anika • "I have become one of the statistics, laid off on Monday a.m. with four days notice. I have three children 6 and under and my salary is 1/2 of our household income. We were squeaking by as it was, as my husband owns his own business that sells to retail which has experienced an unprecedented contraction. Think of all the families, like mine, who now cannot: send kids to preschool, shop for any retail goods beyond the absolute essentials, participate in sports or extracurricular activities; patronize local dry cleaners, restaurants, other service businesses; pay our mortgages and utilities. This is absolutely crippling - not just to the families, but the other families that own businesses and organizations that were previously supported by those families. " - Bridget To read more of these stories, please click here: http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/1768/t/1546/blog/comments.jsp?key=502&blog_entry_KEY=23311&t=&key=15078900 President Obama needs to sign the economic-stimulus package as fast as possible, and ignore the whining of Wall Street millionaires about their bonus caps. The economic-stimulus package is critical--not only to create jobs immediately and to help families in need right now (as well as to save taxpayers funds in the long run by preventing people from having to rely on other government entitlement programs), but also to ensure the future competitiveness of our workforce. President Obama, get your signing pen ready. A Peaceful Revolution is a blog about innovative ideas to strengthen America's families through public policies, business practices, and cultural change. Done in collaboration with MomsRising.org , read a new post here each week. More on Economy
 
Martin Varsavsky: The Spanish solution to the Global Crisis Top
I live in Spain. I used to live in America, Manhattan to be precise. I moved to Spain because this country has an economy the size of California but interestingly people here both work less and worry less than in California, not a small achievement. While in Spain I built two telecom/internet companies that are now national brands, Jazztel and Ya.com . Both were worth over half a billion euros by the time I sold my shares. But even though I had previously been an entrepreneur in the States as well building companies such as Viatel and Urban Capital, I noticed a big different in Madrid. As they like to say in Spain people over here work to live and not live to work (trabajar para vivir). Shortly after moving from NYC to Madrid in 1995 I adopted that philosophy. Currently both USA and Spain are experiencing spikes in unemployment and the Spanish stock market and real estate markets are as bad its American counterpart. But even though many of my Spanish friends are doing as badly as my American friends I see that the Spaniards have come up with a unique solution to the global crisis. What is it? Sorry to disappoint you but it is not based on doing anything specific to the real economy nor to their personal economy. Instead my Spanish friends solution is simply emotional. They focus on family and friends and worry less about the crisis. As we all know we don´t really experience reality but instead we experience our perception of reality. And it is at this level that my Spanish friends so effectively act. Concretely I spent last weekend in Manhattan going to dinners parties and all I could hear was how badly the economy was doing and how poorly Obama´s presidency had started. Instead I spent this weekend in Madrid going to dinner parties and people... just had a great time. If anything talking about the crisis is seen as poor taste. It is not that people don´t worry over here. But at work they worry about work, at night they just want to disconnect and have a good time. And in my view, if there´s something that Manhattanites have never learned is to disconnect.
 
Regulators Close 4 Banks, 2 Are Absorbed By TARP Recipient Companies Top
Regulators closed four more banks on Friday, seizing their assets and deposits and placing them with other financial institutions. Two of the four failed banks were absorbed by companies that had received taxpayer capital through the $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program, continuing a trend that BailoutSleuth has been tracking for the past few months.
 
George Spyros: Veggie Post Coitus: PETA Reasons to Go Veg Video Omits Climate Change, Includes Impotence Top
Being the day after Valentine's Night, we turn to a CNN news package (done in the grand journalistic tradition of Andy Rooney BTW) wherein a spokesman for PETA speaks in defense of the organization's recent pro-vegetarian ad " Veggie Sex ." He notes that the controversial spot has generated over 1 million visits to PETA's website (which now also let's viewers watch each of the four lingerie models in their own individual videos as well as a behind the scenes vid which actually has some amusing bits (the starring pumpkin actor getting make-up applied ) and some not so amusing (one lingerie actress-model hurling broccoli co-star in a mock fit of rage). PETA's spokesperson concludes that much of the real consciousness-raising benefit from all this attention derives from the racy-silly videos leading to a more serious video " Chew on This " that viewers watch after they have their veggie sex. The stylishly rendered video Chew on This intercuts beauty shots of people and graphics listing several reasons to go vegetarian. Among them are: Heart disease begins in childhood Vegetarian diet reverses heart disease Eating meat makes you fat You shouldn't have to lie to your kids about the food you eat Because in every package of chicken there's a little poop Eating meat can cause impotence PETA's Go Veg website on impotence : According to the Erectile Dysfunction Institute, up to 90 percent of all cases of impotence are physical as opposed to psychological. That's right: High cholesterol, obesity, diabetes, prostate cancers or inflammations, and hormonal imbalances cause the vast majority of all cases of impotence. The good news is that medical science suggests that all of these conditions can be managed or in some cases even prevented with a low-fat vegan diet. Okay, that's catchy and again provocatively publicity-garnering, but what about climate change? Isn't Chew on This supposed to be the "serious" video? Here's some info on climate change and meat consumption from another PETA site PETA Prime ; the author notes that the various "10 Easy Things to Do to Prevent Climate Change" lists did not include going veg: ...one of the biggest contributors to climate change didn't even appear on the checklists. We found out what it was in late 2006, when the U.N. released a report called Livestock's Long Shadow . The report states that the livestock sector is responsible for 18 percent of all worldwide greenhouse gas emissions. That's more than the emissions from the entire transportation sector-planes, trains, cars, and boats- combined . ...We found some more connections between diet and climate change in a University of Chicago study . If you replace your Camry with a hybrid Prius, you'll save about 1 ton of carbon dioxide emissions each year. Good stuff, but the study goes on to say that changing from a meat-based diet to a vegan diet saves the equivalent of 1.5 tons of carbon dioxide emissions every year! 'tis something to chew on. via Susty | EcoWonk More on Video On HuffPost
 
Plane that crashed near Buffalo was on autopilot Top
BUFFALO, N.Y. — The commuter plane that crashed near Buffalo was on autopilot when it went down in icy weather, indicating that the pilot may have violated federal safety recommendations and the airline's own policy for flying in such conditions, a federal official said Sunday. Steve Chealander, a National Transportation Safety Board member, said the company that operated the flight recommends pilots fly manually in icy conditions. Pilots are required to do so in severe ice. "You may be able in a manual mode to sense something sooner than the autopilot can sense it," Chealander told The Associated Press in an interview, explaining why the NTSB also recommends that pilots disengage the autopilot in icy conditions. The preliminary investigation indicates the autopilot was still on when the plane crashed, he said. That has not been confirmed by information from the plane's flight data recorder. The pilots of Continental Flight 3407 discussed "significant" ice buildup on their wings and windshield just before crashing into a home Thursday night in a suburban neighborhood near the Buffalo airport. Forty-nine people aboard the plane were killed, as well as the homeowner. The flight was run by Colgan Air, which operates a fleet of 51 regional turboprops for Continental Connection, United Express and US Airways Express. In a December safety alert issued by the NTSB, the agency said pilots in icy conditions should turn off or limit the use of the autopilot to better "feel" changes in the handling qualities of the airplane. Chealander also said Colgan, like most airline companies, had begun following NTSB recommendations that pilots use deicing systems as soon as they enter conditions that might lead to icing. He said it was not yet clear exactly when the pilot on Flight 3407 turned on the plane's advanced deicing system. By Sunday, authorities had recovered the remains of 15 people from the wreckage as crews raced to finish their work before a storm arrives later in the week. Erie County Executive Chris Collins said recovery efforts intensified after the arrival of additional federal workers. A forecast of snow for Wednesday added to the urgency. The storm could hamper recovery efforts, but "the investigation will continue snow, rain or shine," said David Bissonette, the town's emergency coordinator. Recovery crews could need as much as four days to remove the remains from the site. Chealander described the efforts as an "excavation." "Keep in mind, there's an airplane that fell on top of a house, and they're now intermingled," he said. DNA and dental records will be used to identify the remains, he said. Once all the remains are recovered, the focus will turn to removing wreckage of the 74-seat aircraft from the residential neighborhood where it went down Thursday night near the end of a flight from Newark, N.J. About 150 people were working at the site. The blue tail of the plane still stuck out from a mound of black ash and rubble. The turboprop, flying through light snow and mist, crashed belly first into the house, with the aircraft's nose pointed away from the airport. Investigators did not offer an explanation, but the orientation raised the possibility that the pilot was fighting an icy airplane. Possible explanations are that the aircraft was spinning or flipped upon impact. According to the flight data recorder, the plane's safety systems warned the pilot that the aircraft was perilously close to losing lift and plummeting from the sky. Moments before the crash, a "stick shaker" and "stick pusher" mechanism had activated to warn the pilot that the plane was about to lose aerodynamic lift, a condition called a stall. When the "stick pusher" engaged, it would have pointed the nose of the plane toward the ground to try to increase lift. Indicator lights showed that deicing equipment on the tail, wings and propeller appeared to be working, Chealander said. Investigators who examined both engines said it appears they were working normally at the time of the crash, too. Experts were also analyzing data from the flight data recorder and the cockpit voice recorder, including statements by crew members describing a buildup of ice on the wings and windshield, Chealander said. The NTSB planned to use that data to determine whether the plane was in a flat spin before it crashed. Flight data indicated "severe" pitching and rolling before impact. Other aircraft in the area Thursday night told air traffic controllers they also experienced icing around the time that the plane went down. Icing is one of several elements being examined by investigators, Chealander said, adding that a full report will probably take a year. One aspect of the investigation will focus on the crew, their training and whether they had enough time to rest between flights. Other investigators will review the weather and the mechanics of the plane. ___ Associated Press writers William Kates, Ramit Plushnick-Masti, Carolyn Thompson and John Wawrow contributed to this report.
 
Anna Wintour Interview: "Value" Is In, "Too Dubai" Is Out Top
When the editor of Vogue rails against consumerism, the economy must be in a tailspin. Before she headed to the New York runway shows, fashion kingmaker Anna Wintour--dressed in taupe Manolo Blahnik boots, a Carolina Herrera sheath dress, and a tweed coat with a large fur collar draped over her shoulders--sat down in her office, with a perfect fresh bouquet on the desk, at Condé Nast's midtown Manhattan headquarters and discussed why "value" is in and "too Dubai" is out.
 

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