Sunday, May 17, 2009

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Alec Baldwin: The Rise and Fall of Detroit Top
When I was growing up, some kids dreamed of owning cars like a Trans Am, Camaro, Firebird, Corvette, Chevelle or GTO. Stock or tricked out, owning one of the fastest street cars that American automakers turned out was a dream come true. Mustangs were for the West Coast. Chevy ruled the road on Long Island in the1960's and 70's. Back then, in the middle class neighborhood where I grew up, foreign cars were for foreigners. As fuel economy began to become an issue, NOBODY in my neighborhood gave a thought to buying a Japanese car. Nobody. OPEC appeared and gas shortages came and went. You went Ford, Chevy, Chrysler. That was it. I have a feeling that it was like that in most American middle class neighborhoods back then. The fact that we have arrived where were are now is painful. Americans, who are being asked to invest billions upon billions of dollars in US automakers and their employees' futures, have already been investing in those companies, against their better interests, for decades. Now Chrysler is dead, GM is on critical life support and Ford has cancer but may beat it. What do you care? The heads of these corporations did not spend the last thirty years lying in bed each night, sleepless. They did not turn their spouses in the wee hours and say, "How do I serve the automotive needs of the American public and better protect their health and safety AND help them conserve energy?" They never said that. Instead, they spent billions of dollars attempting to bribe the Congress to avoid putting in seat belts and air bags, installing catalytic converters and reaching more ambitious fuel efficiency standards. For the most part, they succeeded. Congress approached those issues with the same combination of sentiment, fealty and fear that Detroit's customers accepted. It was said to be "bad for Detroit." Little did we know that falling for that bull for so long was what was bad for Detroit. Now, the American automotive industry, once the industrial pride of this country and a source of so many great paying jobs that changed the economic fortunes of millions of Americans in assembly, parts, dealerships and service, is about to go away. What do you care? I feel horribly for every single man and woman who will suffer as the result of this heartbreaking turn of events. I was the voice of Chevy Tahoe TV spots for five years in the early 90's. I drove a Tahoe then and loved it. Now, I drive a Prius. I've owned Mercs, Chevys, Fords and Jeeps. I'm in the market for a new car now. I'll probably get a hybrid from a Japanese company, manufactured at a transplant factory in the American South. (Read the excellent recent article in the New Yorker by Peter Boyer about the path the Big Three and the UAW took to get here.) I'd like to buy an American car, but I'd feel like a fool doing that now. The leadership of the biggest automakers made sure of that. There can be only one legitimate response to this crisis. Let energy conservation and fuel efficiency rule the day. Let the car makers go under. In the same way we have subsidized Big Oil by destabilizing the governments of petroleum rich countries, or outright invading them, we have subsidized Detroit long enough. Just as every barrel of oil is undervalued because we do not factor in that portion of the defense budget that helped bring that oil to market, so we have undervalued our government's, and therefore our, complicity in producing cars that not only were inferior, but drove Detroit itself right off a cliff. From the ashes of such great innovation, hard work, beautiful design and extraordinary branding-as-myth-making, let's have better cars. From the ashes of arrogance, greed and corporate cowardice, let's have better cars. Until then, pull the plug. More on Celebs Talk Politics
 
US Skeptical That Former CIA Detainee's Death In Libyan Jail Was Suicide Top
The Obama Administration is pressing the Libyan government to explain the reported prison death of a former CIA detainee--an incident that U.S. officials fear could reopen questions about the agency's "extraordinary rendition" program and further complicate the president's plans to shut down the Guantánamo Bay detention center.
 
Financial Regulatory Overhaul Starts Next Month Amid Intense Lobbying Top
Congress will next month start the biggest regulatory overhaul of the US financial system in decades, bringing into the open a frantic lobbying effort between banks, regulators and policymakers on what it contains and who pays for it.
 
Pakistan Rapidly Adding Nuclear Arms, Says US Top
WASHINGTON -- Members of Congress have been told in confidential briefings that Pakistan is rapidly adding to its nuclear arsenal even while racked by insurgency, raising questions on Capitol Hill about whether billions of dollars in proposed military aid might be diverted to Pakistan's nuclear program.
 
Robert Kuttner: Profiles in Financial Courage Top
Every year, the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library gives a Profile in Courage Award to one or more public officials who took a stand that took a lot of integrity and nerve. Past winners have included Alberto Mora, then the general counsel of the United States Navy, who blew the whistle on unlawful interrogation practices on detainees at Guantanamo Bay (the 2006 winner); and Doris Voitier, school superintendent in St. Bernard Parish, Louisiana (2007) who did whatever it took to reopen public schools in her district in the face of federal and state bureaucratic indifference and hostility after Hurricane Katrina. You get the idea. Another honoree was Viktor Yushchenko (2005), who narrowly survived a Russian-backed chemical assassination attempt that left him disfigured, to become the democratically elected president of Ukraine. Two of the three laureates for 2009, who are being honored at a ceremony May 18, are, fittingly enough, Sheila Bair and Brooksley Born, two public servants, one still in office, whose courage has embarrassed three administrations including the incumbent one. The Kennedy Library deserves its own profile in courage award for providing the exclamation point. Bair, a Republican appointed by George W. Bush, chairs the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. She has been an opponent of many aspects of the Paulson-Geithner financial bail-out program, and a supporter of a more direct approach to rescuing distressed mortgages and failed banks. The FDIC is more independent than most bank regulatory agencies, partly because its own insurance funds are at risk when a bank fails and partly because its appointees serve for fixed terms. Bair's term expires in 2011. When Timothy Geithner, who had been crossing swords with Bair in his previous job as president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, became Obama's Treasury Secretary, Geithner reportedly sought to get Bair fired, according to credible accounts in the financial press. He described her as not a good team player. But Bair's allies, who include her many fans on Capitol Hill, pointedly asked, exactly which team was that? The team Bair had been challenging was team Bush, including Republican Treasury Hank Paulson, Geithner's predecessor. Today, Bair sits with President Obama, Geithner, Larry Summers, and the other senior economic officials debating the financial rescue. Obama has invoked Doris Goodwin's Team of Rivals as his model of how to seek a wide range of voices. But on economic matters, Sheila Bair is often the sole voice of dissent at the grown-ups' table. As such, she has had to walk a very delicate line offering different views without seeming disloyal. How did a Republican come to embrace policies that are less captive to Wall Street and more supportive of public solutions? Bair is a Kansas Republican, who came to Washington with then Senator Bob Dole, and served as his senior staffer on the Senate Finance Committee. In an echo of the populist revolt, Kansas bankers complain that the bailout favors Wall Street over Main Street. On this score, there is nothing at all the matter with Kansas. Bair's Profile in Courage citation reads: "Sheila Bair has been called a "lone voice in the wilderness" for her early warnings about the sub-prime lending crisis and for her dogged criticism of both Wall Street's and the government's management of the subsequent financial meltdown. As early as 2001, Bair was urging sub-prime lenders to agree on a set of best practices to prevent abuses. Since the onset of the current crisis, she, more than any other government official, has pushed for direct assistance to distressed homeowners as part of the overall effort to stabilize the financial system, a move fiercely resisted by many leaders in both the public and the private sectors. Recently, however, the government has begun to implement many of her mortgage-modification proposals in an effort to slow the alarming increase in foreclosures." Bair's co-honoree is another lonely voice of early warning in the current financial collapse. As President Clinton's chair of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, Brooksley Born began raising warning that customized derivatives not traded on exchanges were a financial time bomb. Nobody knew how much risk their underwriters were taking, and there was no "price discovery" as there is on an open financial exchange where traders set prices minute to minute. Born distributed for comment a proposed regulation that would have required greater supervision of these so called over-the-counter derivatives. This was back in 1997, a full decade before the meltdown. She warned in congressional testimony that unmonitored trading in derivatives could "threaten our regulated markets or, indeed, our economy without any federal agency knowing about it." This, of course, is precisely what occurred with AIG and its writing of trillions of dollars of credit default swaps backed by no reserves. For her prescience, Born was excoriated by Robert Rubin, Larry Summers, Alan Greenspan, as well as by the Clinton sub-cabinet official who has been nominated to chair the same CFTC, Gary Gensler, former Treasury Undersecretary. They directed her to stop making noises about regulating derivatives on grounds that this could destabilize markets. But Rubin, Summers and company did not just pressure Born, who eventually left office in 1999. Rubin, Greenspan and then SEC chair Arthur Levitt, Jr. expressly requested Congress to prevent Ms. Born from issuing such regulations. And in 2000, Sen. Phil Gramm of Texas, then the chair of the Senate Banking Committee, pushed through legislation not only shackling the CFTC when it came to derivatives regulation but also exempting energy trades as a favor to Enron. Born's Profile in Courage citation reads: "In 1998, as chair of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), Brooksley Born unsuccessfully tried to bring over-the-counter financial derivatives under the regulatory control of the CFTC. The government's failure to regulate such financial deals has been widely criticized as one of the causes of the current financial crisis. In the booming economic climate of the 1990's, Born battled other regulators in the Clinton Administration, skeptical members of Congress and lobbyists over the regulation of derivatives, warning that unregulated financial contracts such as credit default swaps could pose grave dangers to the economy. Her efforts brought fierce opposition from Wall Street and from Administration officials who believed deregulation was essential to the extraordinary economic growth that was then in full bloom. Her adversaries eventually passed legislation prohibiting the CFTC from any oversight of financial derivatives during her term. She stepped down from the CFTC in 1999 and returned to a distinguished career in public interest law." This past week, Treasury Secretary Geithner announced proposed legislation that would impose ground rules on derivatives through private clearing houses. But Geithner's plan still would not go as far as what Brooksley Born proposed long before the extent of the abuses became a full-blown catastrophe. Well placed sources have told me that Summers and Geithner embraced partial reform largely because two other brave public officials have been asking very tough questions of Treasury nominees at confirmation hearings and have threatened to block Senate action on them. These are Senators Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Maria Cantwell of Washington State. Perhaps they will be next year's Profiles in Courage winners. Robert Kuttner is co-editor of The American Prospect and a Senior Fellow at Demos www.demos.org. His best-selling book is " Obama's Challenge: America's Economic Crisis and the Power of a Transformative Presidency. " More on Financial Crisis
 
Michael Phelps Loses Again At Charlotte Top
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Two days, two losses for Michael Phelps. Phelps was beaten again at the Charlotte UltraSwim, losing to French star Frederick Bousquet in the 100-meter freestyle Sunday night. Phelps touched nearly a full second behind Bousquet, world-record holder in the 50 free, after losing his first final in nearly a year the previous night. Aaron Peirsol beat Phelps in the 200 backstroke. Bousquet went out strong, ensuring he had a big enough lead to hold off Phelps at the end _ even as the winningest Olympian ever experimented with a new straight-arm stroke that is supposed to provide more speed. The Frenchman touched in 48.22 seconds, while Phelps never really had a chance and finished second in 49.04. "The biggest thing that killed me were my turns and my finishes," said Phelps, who holds the American record in the 100 free at 47.51. "I'm not disappointed with that time, but the finish was awful. There's small things I need to work on. But overall, it was a good meet." The North Carolina meet was his first since capturing a record eight gold medals at the Beijing Olympics. The nine-month layoff was the longest of Phelps' career, though he had intended to come back earlier _ after being photographed using a marijuana pipe, a picture that wound up on the front page of a British tabloid, he was given a three-month suspension by USA Swimming. The sanction ended May 5, and Phelps was eager to start competing again. He entered five events at Charlotte and won the first two, the 200 free and 100 back, both of which were part of his gold-medal haul in China. But Phelps still has some work to do in the 200 back and 100 free, two events he hopes to add to his repertoire while dropping several races he won at Athens and Beijing. It's all part of his plan to take on new challenges _ and stay motivated _ heading into his final Olympics at London. Nothing gets Phelps going like a loss. Or two. "This is something that will motivate me to fix those things over the next few weeks," he said. "I'm kind of mad at myself. I wanted to break 49. I was five-hundredths off it with the two stupid mistakes I made." Phelps was kicking himself for having to take an extra stroke going into the turn, and again at the finish. Plus, he was experimenting with a straight-arm stroke that he believes will help him be more competitive in the sprint events. He started out with the standard stroke _ elbow bent _ before switching to the windmill-like motion for the second half of the opening lap. After the flip, Phelps went back to the regular stroke, then switched again to the straight arm for the final 15 meters. Bousquet was amazed. "Did he do that? Really? Whoa," said the Frenchman, who last month became the first swimmer to break 21 seconds in the 50 free. "That's even more impressive. To go 49.0, which is a pretty decent time in season, and change up the strokes a couple of times during the race, that's pretty impressive." All things considered, Phelps said he was pleased with his performance. In addition to the two wins and two runner-up finishes, he entered the 50 free to get in some extra work with his new stroke. He actually qualified for the final of that event _ barely _ but scratched. "For my first meet back, I have no complaints," he said. "We're on the right track. This is exactly where I want to be." Bousquet covered the opening lap in a blistering 22.83 seconds, 0.99 ahead of Phelps, and didn't lose much of his advantage on his return to the wall. "Whenever you race that guy, you can't count on your back-end speed to beat him," Bousquet said. "I knew I had to use my strength, which is my speed, and go out as fast as I could." Phelps knows what he needs to work on. "I need some of Fred's first-half speed," the American marveled. "He sure takes it out." Bousquet was a late addition to the four-day meet. He doesn't usually swim the 100 free in season, but couldn't pass up a chance to go against Phelps. "Tonight's race helped me get motivated a lot," the French star said. "The fact he was in the race and the fact we were next to each other, too, definitely helped me to get motivated and get my head into it." Rising star Dagny Knutson won her fourth event of the meet in the women's 200 individual medley. The 17-year-old North Dakotan, who trains on her own and without benefit of a 50-meter indoor pool, touched first in 2 minute, 12.87 seconds, beating out 2008 Olympian Julia Smit by nearly two seconds. Aaron Peirsol completed his sweep of the backstroke events with a victory in the 200. The previous night, he handed Phelps his first finals loss in 364 days, having beaten him in the 200 back at Santa Clara, Calif., in the lead-up to the Olympics. The other winners on the final night of the meet: Joe Kinderwater in the men's 800 freestyle, Brazil's Thiago Pereira in the 200 individual medley (beating out Ryan Lochte), Emily Brunemann in the women's 1,500 free, Elizabeth Beisel in the 200 back and Amanda Weir in the 100 free. More on Michael Phelps
 
Richard Branson Plans Launch Of Virgin Internet Bank Top
Richard Branson is to launch an internet bank in a move designed to exploit public disgust with Britain's big banks in the wake of the credit crunch.
 
Texas Governor Perry: I Don't Advocate Secession Top
About a month ago, I stood with a bipartisan group of Texas legislators to speak in support of a resolution honoring the 10th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. The resolution simply restates the Constitution's principle of federalism -- that powers not granted to the national government, nor prohibited to the states, are reserved to the states or the people.
 
Michelle's Weekend Wardrobe: First Lady Repeats Little Black Dress (PHOTOS) Top
On Saturday afternoon, Michelle Obama addressed graduates of the University of California, Merced in sweltering temperatures. But the first lady bravely wore black, a color not normally recommended for deflecting heat. The first lady then donned a thick graduation gown, and delivered a rousing speech to an enthusiastic crowd. No stranger to repeat outfits , you might recognize the dress as the Michael Kors number Mrs. Obama wore for her official White House portrait . See photos below. More on Michelle Obama Style
 
Cynthia Nixon ENGAGED To Christine Mariononi (PHOTOS) Top
Sunday Cynthia Nixon announced her engagement to longtime partner Christine Mariononi during an Action=Marriage Equality rally in midtown New York to fight for same-sex marriages. Nixon was joined at the rally not with by fiancee, to whom she became engaged last month, but by her "Sex and the City" costar Kristin Davis, David Hyde Pierce and New York Governor David Paterson. Below is a photo of Nixon as she shows of her new engagement ring during the rally, and below that Nixon's hand Friday night. The pair have been dating since 2003. Nixon has a son and a daughter from a previous relationship. PHOTOS: Showing off her ring at Sunday's rally At a Drama League event Friday night, ring on
 
Karin Badt: Cannes Glamour: Opening Pixar Party Top
A Cannes party is above all good to look at. I went to the opening gala of Cannes, a private fete sponsored by Pixar (for "UP"), curious to see just how funky the art design would be. Color! Stepping down the wooden steps to the pier, onto the open terrace, under a sliver of a moon, a huge array of pink, yellow, blue and green balloons formed a plastic surprise in the sky, rising high over the pier. It was so well done that a stream of white birds, each in their own private halos, glowing in the blackened sky, seemed animated as well ("No they are not," a fellow guest informed me. "They are seagulls. We are by the sea.") Rising on white tables around low-bottomed bamboo stools and fake palm trees were mountains of bright fruit: pink watermelon, yellow pineapple, ripe red strawberry, with pots of steaming chocolate next to it. Perhap the movie "Up" has a tropical theme? The challenge, however, was figuring out how to dip the slivers of fruit into the chocolate with a toothpick. Less challenging was another high-tech display of yellow tubes, which an Argentinean producer and I figured out were custard creams, to be propelled (with a special lever) into one's mouth. As usual, handsome men in white suits graciously poured champagne or vodka or whatever drink you could imagine from long white tables of glasses. "Desirez-vous?" Yet one should not imagine a Cannes party as--what I once expected--the Rock Hudson hot-tub orgy scene in "Seconds", nor like the wild pool scene with the jumping screaming girls in David Lynch's "Lost Highway." The first hours of the party were like any other: men in tuxes and women in short glittery skirts standing alone, immobile, awkward about not knowing anyone to talk to. Still nice to look at, but a bit silent (except for the cool 70s music played by the DJ). But the pleasure of Cannes is that once the ice is broken, you always have something in common: either the fact that you are a foreigner (everyone has flown in from somewhere) or that you are interested in film. While not everyone is a star or director, everyone is in the "business"--literally. A couple Hungarians sitting at a table overlooking the water gaily told me that they were "press agents" for Hungarian film, working for the government, and convinced me that I should re-see Bela Tarr, and also go to the Hungarian party a few days down the road. One promised to send me a DVD of a documentary about life-after-death experiences--which, he winked, may or may not really exist. Then the CEO of the new "Indian Film Company"---Sandeep Bhargava--- kindly gave me a beginner's lesson in how Bollywood works. Basically Bollywood (defined as all films in Hindi) got "corporate status" seven years ago (government subsidy) so corporations have taken over the industry. Very calmly and happily, Sandeep explained that his new company is a branch of India's largest media conglomerate (Studio l8), which wanted to get a piece of the "film" cake, and hired him to start up distribution of Indian films worldwide (the first being Mira Nair's/ Sooni Taraporevala's "Little Zizou" ), to the Indian diaspora as well as to a non-Indian base (even in South America). What is the pleasure of working in the film business, I asked Sandeep, who told me he had originally come from l6 years in advertising. "Commercial success," he told me. 15% of ticket sales, I learned, go to distribution companies. Of course, I also run into my fellow journalists at these beach parties: an opportunity to discover the more intimate side of the men and women behind all the questions. One British critic spearing a pineapple told me that after a particularly moving interview with Willem Defoe, he decided to drop out and become a therapist. "I've spent 16 years interviewing people--great people with vision" he said. "And I thought the same skills--the questions, the ability to connect deeply with people--could be used in another field, perhaps more fulfilling." These are the kind of tips that motivate. Not only did I agree (perhaps I too!), but I scheduled an interview with Defoe the next morning. By the time I left (happily champagned), the party was packed--tuxedos galore--and the food had turned from animated to spectacular as well: dishes of seafood risotto, creamed fettuccini and fresh sea-bass circulated in white bowls on silver trays to the chattering crowd below the balloons by the moonlit sea.
 
Dr. Irene S. Levine: Seven Friendship Recovery Affirmations Top
Most friendships don't last forever. If you are reeling from a failed friendship or one that seemed to drift apart, here are some thoughts to help you get over the hurt. It may even be more helpful to substitute your own. Repeat these affirmations as many times as it takes to actually feel them and believe them! • Lost friendships are a part of life. • The sudden loss of a friendship doesn't invalidate the meaningfulness of the relationship that once was. • Grief and mourning are normal after the loss of a good friend. • The more important the relationship was, the longer it will take to heal. • Every broken friendship offers lessons to inspire better ones in the future. • Blame isn't the answer since it impedes forgiveness and provokes anger. • Closure doesn't take two; it's something I can work on independently. Are there other affirmations that have worked for you? Irene S. Levine, PhD is a freelance journalist and author. She holds an appointment as a professor of psychiatry at the New York University School of Medicine and is working on a book about female friendships, Best Friends Forever: Surviving A Break-up With Your Best Friend , that will be published by Overlook Press in September, 2009. She recently co-authored Schizophrenia for Dummies (Wiley, 2008). She also blogs about female friendships at The Friendship Blog .
 
Mitchell Wiener, Assistant Principal Of School, Becomes First Swine Flu Death In New York Top
NEW YORK — A school assistant principal who was sick for several days with swine flu on Sunday became the city's first death linked to the virus and the nation's sixth. Mitchell Wiener, who worked at an intermediate school in Queens, died Sunday evening, Flushing Hospital Medical Center spokesman Andrew Rubin said. Wiener, who had been hospitalized and on a ventilator, had been sick with the virus for nearly a week before his school was closed on Thursday. Complications besides the virus likely played a part in his death, Rubin said. Mayor Michael Bloomberg said the death of Wiener, who had taught for decades, "is a loss for our schools and our city." "He was a well-liked and devoted educator," Bloomberg said in a statement. Wiener was hired as a substitute teacher in March 1978, then as a mathematics teacher, working in that position until 2007. Since then, Wiener had been employed as an assistant principal at I.S. 238, also known as the Susan B. Anthony Intermediate School, in the Hollis neighborhood. Besides Wiener, no one else in New York City has become seriously ill from the virus. As of Sunday afternoon, health officials had reported five other deaths in the U.S.: three in Texas, one in Washington state and one in Arizona. Most people sickened from the swine flu, or the H1N1 virus, have complained of mild, seasonal flu-like symptoms such as fever, cough, sore throat, body aches and fatigue. The city's first outbreak of swine flu occurred three weeks ago, when about 700 students and 300 other people associated with a Catholic high school in Queens began falling ill following the return of several students from vacations in Mexico, the epicenter of the outbreak. The school was closed. Five more city schools were to close Monday because of concern for swine flu, bringing the total to 11, including Wiener's. City health officials announced Sunday that four Queens public schools and one Catholic school would close for up to five school days. Three of the public schools are in the same building in Flushing. Each school had students with flu-like illness last week. The latest school closings will affect nearly 3,000 students. Schools will be providing curriculum material online, and parents will be able to pick up materials at schools and other locations, schools Chancellor Joel Klein said. There were no documented cases of swine flu at any of the schools, said Jessica Scaperotti, a spokeswoman for the city's Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. The health department said it is monitoring unusual clusters of flu cases as it works to stop the spread of the swine flu virus. "We are now seeing a rising tide of flu in many parts of New York City," Health Commissioner Thomas Frieden said in a statement. "With the virus spreading widely, closing these and other individual schools will make little difference in transmission throughout New York City, but we hope it will help slow transmission within the individual school communities." The school where the virus was first reported, St. Francis Preparatory, has been cleaned and reopened, and many New Yorkers had assumed before the latest flurry of school closings that the danger of swine flu was subsiding. But Dr. Scott Harper, an epidemiologist with the health department, said health officials weren't surprised by the continued presence of the virus. "It's so unpredictable," Harper said. As of the weekend, there were 178 confirmed swine flu cases in New York City, Harper said, but the number of actual cases is believed to be much higher. Health officials urged people with underlying health conditions to see their doctors if they believe they may have been exposed to swine flu. That includes people with diabetes, people whose immune systems are compromised because of certain cancer medications, pregnant women, elderly people and infants. ___ Associated Press writer Cristian Salazar contributed to this report.
 
Notre Dame Protester's Shouts Included In Official White House Speech Transcript Top
President Obama told Americans that he would be pushing for more transparency in government. Today his administration really took on that call by including a protester's shout in the official transcript of the President's Notre Dame speech. The transcript was emailed to the press after the speech. In the run up to the speech, news reports highlighted protests by anti-abortion activists who disapproved of the Catholic university's invitation to the pro-choice Obama. While the numbers of protests were small compared to the attention they received, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs noted on Friday that the President would acknowledge the controversy in his speech. The President did so by calling for common ground on the issue of abortion. He also asked that people "do so without reducing those with differing views to caricature." For the White House to acknowledge a protester in an official transcript really highlights the controversy, giving a heckler, temporarily, the same volume as the President. On the flip side, the reaction to the heckler was also included in the emailed transcript. The chorus of "Yes, we can!" and "We Are ND!" carried forth the stronger message that he President received a huge, warm welcome from the student body. Perhaps, by showing the reaction of many to one protester, the White House was able to show how much smaller the group of dissenters was compared to those who were open and excited to listen to the President. See the partial transcript below: THE WHITE HOUSE Office of the Press Secretary _________________________________________________________________ For Immediate Release May 17, 2009 REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT IN COMMENCEMENT ADDRESS AT THE UNIVERSITY OF NOTRE DAME University of Notre Dame South Bend, Indiana 3:06 P.M. EDT (excerpt begins after the third paragraph in the speech) THE PRESIDENT: I also want to congratulate the Class of 2009 for all your accomplishments. And since this is Notre Dame -- AUDIENCE MEMBER: Abortion is murder! Stop killing children! AUDIENCE: Booo! THE PRESIDENT: That's all right. And since -- AUDIENCE: We are ND! We are ND! AUDIENCE: Yes, we can! Yes, we can! THE PRESIDENT: We're fine, everybody. We're following Brennan's adage that we don't do things easily. (Laughter.) We're not going to shy away from things that are uncomfortable sometimes. (Applause.) More on Barack Obama
 

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