Thursday, July 30, 2009

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'Jon & Kate' To Continue, But No More Couch Top
PASADENA, Calif. — Jon and Kate Gosselin are over, but "Jon & Kate Plus 8" continues. TLC president Eileen O'Neill says the popular reality show, which has been on hiatus since the Gosselins announced their split in June, returns Monday with new episodes that document the Gosselins "separately parenting" their eight children. O'Neill says the iconic sofa from which the couple addressed the camera is gone and replaced by "separate interview chairs." TLC will "continue to capture this family's journey in a respective and sensitive way," she says. O'Neill made her comments at a meeting of the Television Critics Association. More on Jon & Kate Plus 8
 
Art Levine: Grassroots Campaign Pushes House on Reform, Fights Lobbyists, 'Granny-Killing' Lies Top
While a key House committee moved to break the impasse on health reform and brokered a deal with health industry-subsidized "Blue Dog" Democrats, labor and grassroots activists kept up the pressure this week on House Blue Dogs and Senate centrists to support genuine reform. That included a national call-in day on Tuesday organized by Health Care for America Now and labor groups that generated 70,000 phone calls to Congress -- and may have helped break the logjam in the House. At the same time, progressives have to work even harder to counter the myths about the proposed health care reform coming from the fringes of the Republican Party now working its way into the mainstream. These include the claim, echoed on the House floor this week by Rep. Virginia Fox, that because a bill would reimburse doctors who offer advice to patients asking about living wills, the government is planning to kill old people to save health-care costs. Of course, it's all a fabrication , but a sign of how important grass-roots activism by progressives will be in August through such organizations as Health Care for America Now and the successor to Obama's campaign operation, Organizing for America . That's supplemented by a new set of TV ads promoting reform, like this one expressing the message, "It's time for health care reform." That urgency hasn't gotten through to the Blue Dogs, yet. Still, "the sky is not falling," notes an AFL-CIO's spokeperson on health care issues, Amaya Tune, about concerns about the deal with the Blue Dogs. "80 percent of what we like has been supported by large majorities in the House, and there's not this acknowledgment that a lot of members have agreed on very important principles. Four committees in the Senate and House have all expressed support for a public option to compete with private insurance." Of course, the deal between some Blue Dogs and House Energy and Commerce Chairman Henry Waxman came under fire from some liberal groups and legislators for weakening the public option and reducing insurance subsidies. Health Care for America Now's national campaign director, Richard Kirsh, declared Thursday: The demands made by some Blue Dog Democrats will result in higher costs for families. First, they will weaken the public health insurance option's ability to drive down prices, and second, they will shrink the amount of assistance provided to middle-class families who buy health coverage. We are confident that the House ultimately will pass legislation that includes a strong public health insurance option that lowers prices and provides financial assistance so that health insurance is truly affordable to all. Yet some of the most astute observers on reform, such as The New Republic's Jonathan Cohn, and union lobbyists, see the compromise allowing passage of a bill out of Energy and Commerce as an important first step towards passing meaningful reform. Cohn observes: Waxman has now pried away four Blue Dogs, enough--apparently--to get the bill through his committee. And he did so with what appear to be pretty small substantive concessions, like a slight reduction in subsidies and a modest reduction in the program's overall size. Most of the bill's core elements seem to be intact, including the public insurance option. The big bone Waxman threw to the Blue Dogs--thank you very much, I'm here all week folks--was time. The Blue Dogs didn't want a full floor vote on reform until after the August recess, so Waxman got assurances from leadership that the vote will wait. This is a major setback only if you think there was a chance of an August vote actually happening. At this point, there really wasn't. And why don't the Blue Dogs want to vote now? They want to wait and see what the Senate produces. If they have to take what they consider a hard vote--to raise somebody's taxes, to change the way Medicare pays for medical services, whatever--they don't want to stick their necks out any more than is absolutely necessary. Similarly, the Washington Post's Ezra Klein doesn't see the limitations of the narrow, no-public-option "compromise" being shaped by Sen. Max Baucus, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, as dooming the prospects for a stronger plan emerging from both the Senate and the House: This is who is in the room helping Baucus put together his bill. Olympia Snowe, Mike Enzi, Chuck Grassley, Jeff Bingaman and Kent Conrad. In a Senate of 60 Democrats and 40 Republicans, the health-care reform bill is being written by three centrist Democrats, one centrist Republicans, and two conservative Republicans. And until last week, Orrin Hatch was in the room, too. This is not the Finance Committee's bill. This is the Max Baucus Committee's Bill. And there's not a liberal -- or even a Democrat traditionally associated with health-care policy -- working on it. Jay Rockefeller, chairman of Finance's health subcommittee, is not included in the negotiations. Nor is Ron Wyden, who has written the Healthy Americans Act. Chuck Schumer isn't in the room, nor is John Kerry, Debbie Stabenow or Maria Cantwell. The question is whether Baucus's final product will matter. Rockefeller and the other Democrats on the committee have felt excluded from the negotiations and will want major changes before they can sign onto the final product. Then the Finance bill will have to be reconciled with the more liberal legislation built by the HELP Committee. Then it will have to go to the floor, where it will need the support of people like Russ Feingold and Bernie Sanders and Sherrod Brown just as much as it will need Ben Nelson and Evan Bayh. And then, if it passes those tests, it will have to be reconciled with the House's legislation. But will the public or health insurance lobbyists win out? A solid majority of the public still favors the central elements of the President's health care plan, including the public health option. (Here's audio of a press conference call hosted by Americans United for Change). As the pollsters noted: Anna Greenberg, Senior Vice President, Greenberg Quinlan Rosner: "When people are actually presented information about the President's plan, you get majorities of people in different polls saying that they favor the plan. And there has been no increase in any sense that the Republicans have a better alternative." Clear Public Support for Specific Elements of Obama's Proposal for Health Insurance Reform [Despite a downturn of support for reform legislation on Capitol Hill], " there is broad support for many of the core elements of the legislation currently before Congress. Nearly two-in-three (65%) favor requiring that all Americans have health insurance, with the government aiding those who cannot afford it. Nearly as many (61%) favor requiring employers who do not provide insurance to pay into a government health care fund. And there is broad support (79%) for prohibiting insurance companies from denying insurance to people with pre-existing conditions." SOURCE: Pew Research Center, July 30, 2009 TIME Magazine Poll, 7/29/09: "On the details of the plan, respondents remained supportive of many of the rough outlines of the health-reform effort as originally described by President Obama. Sixty-three percent said they would support providing health-care coverage for all Americans, even if the government had to subsidize those who could not afford it. Fifty-six percent said they supported a "public health insurance option" to compete with private plans. Fifty-seven percent support raising taxes on those with annual incomes over $280,000 to pay for the plan. Eighty percent said they would support a bill that required insurance companies to offer coverage to anyone who applies, even those with pre-existing medical conditions." Ultimately, though, as Jacki Schechner, a spokesperson for HCAN points out, the issue will be settled on the political battlefield: "Lawmakers should know that this is about people who need health care reform now, and no about kowtowing to the lobbyists in D.C. And they'll be reminded of that when they go back home."
 
Samantha Burke: Jude Law's Baby Mama Confirms Identity Top
This is the mystery woman pregnant with Jude Law's baby #4. We've learned her name is Samantha Burke, an actress and model. Our sources say DNA tests make it a slam dunk -- Jude's the daddy. More on Celebrity Kids
 
White House Made Top CEOs Pay For Lunch With Obama Top
Four of the most powerful business leaders in America arrived at the White House one day last month for lunch with President Barack Obama, sitting down in his private dining room just steps from the Oval Office. More on Transparency
 
Jacob Heilbrunn: White House Beer Garden Top
Both Henry Louis Gates and Sergeant Crowley should get some credit for demonstrating their tenacity at the White House this evening. While President Obama and Vice President Biden ditched their jackets, Gates and Crowley wore them despite the heat and humidity that afflict Washington in the summer. Relaxing in shirt sleeves was supposed to convey the attitude that the meeting was really no big deal, just a few folks, as Obama put it, enjoying a brew at the end of a hard working day. Of course it was anything but. Most people don't show up in dark suits, as did Gates and Crowley, just to have a beer late at night. Everyone had something to gain from the meeting -- Crowley got to demonstrate he's not some racist ogre, Gates that he can demonstrate some forbearance toward his erstwhile tormentor, Obama that he's not prejudging either party, and Biden... well, what did Biden have to prove? That he could let someone else get in a word edgewise during the confabulation? For all the oddity of the meeting, there was something touching about the skill with which Obama, after beginning so poorly, managed to unite the formerly bickering parties. George W. Bush wouldn't have invited such adversaries to the White House, let alone been able to crack open a brew or any other alcoholic drink. For all the potshots at Obama as some Ivy League elitist, he wasn't serving Chardonnay, but the common man's drink, while engaging in his favorite, and most popular, role of conciliator. Whether turning the White House into a beer garden can convert other adversaries into friends is an open question. Alcohol has always been a good presidential lubricant. Richard Nixon used to sail up and down the Potomac in the presidential yacht Sequoia with his chums enjoying a few stiff drinks. Maybe Obama should invite the heads of North and South Korea to his backyard or the presidents of Russia and Georgia to make nice in his backyard, while he pops open a few cold ones. Perhaps the Gates-Crowley powwow hasn't just opened a new chapter in discussions about race, but also in world history. More on Barack Obama
 
RJ Eskow: Blue Dog Compromises: A War On the Middle Class? Top
It's hard to analyze the compromises coming from Blue Dog Democrats without concluding that, intentionally or not, they add up to a financial assault on working families. Every concession rings with the sound of middle-class Americans being dinged financially. Ding! That's the sound of lower-income working Americans losing what remained of their subsidy for purchasing health insurance. They've raised the bar 1 so that people making $31,200 will no longer get any help with their premiums. Neither will parents trying to raise a family of four on $63,000. That means families without employer-based coverage will have to come up with the money for health insurance (currently $12,000 per year) or face a government penalty. But how many Americans will have employer-sponsored coverage? Ding! That's the sound of more people losing that chance, as Blue Dogs raise the minimum payroll requirement for employers from $500,000 to $750,000. 86% of small businesses will now be exempt from any mandate. Small businesses have been the engine of economic growth and recovery. But wait. At least some of these uninsured folks will be able to buy into a public option, right? (That is, if the Blue Dogs' soul mates in the Senate don't kill it altogether.) Won't the public option be more affordable than those high-cost private insurance plans? Ding! That's the sound of the Blue Dogs eviscerating the cost-cutting potential of the public plan by refusing to allow it to use Medicare rates with providers, even for the conservative three-year period contemplated by earlier drafts of the bill. What does that mean for uninsured working Americans? Their lowest-cost option is going to cost a lot more if the Blue Dogs get their way. This particular initiative has a historical parallel. It's similar to the Republicans' refusal to let Medicare use its buying power to bargain on pharmaceutical costs. What about the luckier middle class types, the ones that do get health insurance through their employers? Well, there's a lot of talk that they'll be facing a new financial burden when Congress starts taxing health benefits (although the income levels at which that will happen are still being debated). Why? Because supposedly some people are getting "Cadillac plans." Look a little closer, however, and you usually find that they're just priced like Cadillacs. It's not that they're generous (certainly not by Medicare or European standards). More often than not, those $40,000 plans you hear about are costly because they're covering sicker people. Ding! Congress may begin taxing these benefits, if the Blue Dogs have their way. That's a regressive tax, one that's based on behavioral logic that seems questionable at best to me . Taxing the wealthiest Americans on truly luxuriouis plans (say, ones with concierge medicine features) would be reasonable ... if we could trust Congress to stop there. Sadly, we can't. Where didn't the Blue Dogs and Rep. Waxman (my representative) compromise? Here's where: They didn't ease up on the mandate for individuals to obtain health insurance coverage. They made it easier for employers not to offer it, and they found several ways to make it more expensive, but they didn't give a break to the working people - mostly blue-collar working people - who will be hit the hardest by their much-vaunted compromises. That would be the same blue-collar voters that proved so vital to the Democrats' electoral victories in 2008. You don't have to believe in the supernatural to believe that sometime soon Democrats could face some bad karma - the electoral kind - for their indifference to the needs of their constituents. In this debate, the progressives aren't just being idealistic. They're being pragmatic . Their plans have a greater likelihood of helping people who need it - and as a result, of helping their party in the years to come. Ding! Ding! Ding! Hear that? It's the sound of the disaffected middle class in 2012 if the Blue Dogs have their way. Already alienated by big payouts to wealthy Wall Street bankers, they're counting up their new financial burdens ... and taking a second look at the Republican Party. ______________ 1 From 300% to 400% of the Federal poverty level. RJ Eskow blogs when he can at: A Night Light The Sentinel Effect: Healthcare Blog Website: Eskow and Associates
 
Michael Brenner: The Heavenly Host of Health Care Authors Top
The health care bill is 1,000+ pages. As long as the Old and New Testaments, with a few centuries of The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire tacked on. That in itself raises justifiable suspicions as to what is in it. All conceivable explanations for such unseemly length suggest that these doubts are well founded. The legion of authors is one reason. Most all congressmen, their armada of staffers, armies of lobbyists, and even the occasional White House operative have had a hand in writing this opus. Unhappily, the all too common motivations of ego satisfaction and promotion of self-interest are a lethal combination as far as the public interest is concerned. That's one. Then there are the myriad of qualifiers, addenda and exemptions incorporated at the behest of some special pleading party or other. That's two. Complexity and rephrased repetitions similarly serve to open opportunities for dispute as to what exactly has and has not been stipulated. Multiple interpretations can be a form of compromise between drafters and/or a way for legislators to put their own spin on the bill when defending it before constituents. That's three. Confusion as to specific aims and purposes also can be the more or less innocent outcome of a turgid, wearisome process. To quote the prophet Isaiah, "Take counsel together and it shall come to nought." Protracted deliberations on this scale pretty much ensure that we have gone beyond 'nought' and passed into negative territory. Amazingly, Isaiah had this blazing insight without ever serving on a Congressional committee or having attended a faculty meeting. That is four. A persuasive explanation can be compounded of all four hypotheses. That is not reassuring, especially for those who doubtless will encounter the hardships of trying to obtain affordable medical care -- the point of the exercise, supposedly. Those of a more positive frame of mind will be free to celebrate the modest signs of bipartisanship that marked the bill's tortuous odyssey. No small thing; after all, even the Good Book is bipartisan. Consider the fair and balanced admonitions of Matthew (7:7): "Seek and you shall find," he counsels Republicans while comforting Democrats with the words, "ask and you shall be given." Perhaps reflections on Scripture will give Barack Obama peace of mind on his holidays. More on Transparency
 
Dobbs' Ratings Take A Hit Over "Birther" Controversy Top
Backing the "Birthers" may be a good way to gain notoriety and attract criticism, but it's proving to be ratings poison for Lou Dobbs. The New York Observer 's Felix Gillette crunches the numbers , and the bottom line is Dobbs is bottoming out: Mr. Dobbs' first began reporting on Obama birth certificate conspiracy theories on the night of Wednesday, July 15. In the roughly two weeks since then, from July 15 through July 28, Mr. Dobbs' 7 p.m. show on CNN has averaged 653,000 total viewers and 157,000 in the 25-54 demo. By contrast, during the first two weeks of the month (July 1 to July 14) Mr. Dobbs averaged 771,000 total viewers and 218,000 in the 25-54 demo. In other words, Mr. Dobbs' audience has decreased 15 percent in total viewers and 27 percent in the demo since the start of the controversy. Maybe this will get CNN President Jon Klein's attention. After initially attempting to put Dobbs' birther madness to bed in an email that read , "It seems this story is dead- because anyone who still is not convinced doesn't really have a legitimate beef," Klein has had to go on the defensive as Dobbs continued to merrily dig himself a hole. This past week, Klein, on a panel discussion at the Television Critics Association press tour , argued that Dobbs was beyond his control so long as he was using the forum of his radio show: We have no control over what he says on his radio show. It's not a CNN radio program so he does what he does on the radio separate from what he does on our air. So we ask you and anyone writing about this, to look at what he says on CNN. It's the only thing we control. Dobbs' radio ravings may be beyond Klein's reach, but now that CNN's ratings are trending ditchward, it's Klein's problem now. READ MORE: Controversy Surrounding Lou Dobbs Has Failed to Increase His Ratings [New York Observer] [Would you like to follow me on Twitter ? Because why not? Also, please send tips to tv@huffingtonpost.com -- learn more about our media monitoring project here .] More on CNN
 
Cash For Clunkers To Be Suspended: AP Top
WASHINGTON — The government plans to suspend its popular "cash for clunkers" program amid concerns it could quickly use up the $1 billion in rebates for new car purchases, congressional officials said Thursday. The Transportation Department called lawmakers' offices to alert them to the decision to suspend the program at midnight Thursday. The program offers owners of old cars and trucks $3,500 or $4,500 toward a new, more fuel-efficient vehicle. The congressional officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly. A White House official said later that officials were assessing the situation facing the popular program but auto dealers and consumers should have confidence that transactions under the program that already have taken place would be honored. Rae Tyson, a spokesman for the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, which administers the program, declined comment. Congress last month approved the Car Allowance Rebate System program, known as CARS, to boost auto sales and remove some inefficient cars and trucks from the roads. The program kicked off last Friday and was heavily publicized by car companies and auto dealers. Through late Wednesday, 22,782 vehicles had been purchased through the program and nearly $96 million had been spent. But dealers raised concerns about large backlogs in the processing of the deals in the government system, prompting the suspension. A survey of 2,000 dealers by the National Automobile Dealers Association found about 25,000 deals had not yet been approved by NHTSA, or nearly 13 trades per store. It raised concerns that with about 23,000 dealers taking part in the program, auto dealers may already have surpassed the 250,000 vehicle sales funded by the $1 billion program. "There's a significant backlog of 'cash for clunkers' deals that make us question how much funding is still available in the program," said Bailey Wood, a spokesman for the dealers association. The clunkers program was set up to boost U.S. auto sales and help struggling automakers through the worst sales slump in more than a quarter-century. Sales for the first half of the year were down 35 percent from the same period in 2008, and analysts are predicting only a modest recovery during the second half of the year. So far this year, sales are running under an annual rate of 10 million light vehicles, but as recently as 2007, automakers sold more than 16 million cars and light trucks in the United States. Even before the suspension, some in Congress were seeking more money for the auto sales stimulus. Rep. Candice Miller, R-Mich., wrote in a letter to House leaders on Wednesday requesting additional funding for the program. "This is simply the most stimulative $1 billion the federal government has spent during the entire economic downturn," Miller said Thursday. "The federal government must come up with more money, immediately, to keep this program going." Brendan Daly, a spokesman for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said they would work with "the congressional sponsors and the administration to quickly review the results of the initiative." General Motors Co. spokesman Greg Martin said Thursday the automaker hopes "there's a will and way to keep the CARS program going a little bit longer." More on Auto Bailout
 
Karen Dalton-Beninato: The Hello Girl - An Interview with Author Quinn Cummings Top
Quinn Cummings has written her debut book, the alternately lyrical and hilarious, Notes from the Underwire, Adventures from my Awkward and Lovely Life. From her stories about starring in The Goodbye Girl to her string of endearing domestic mishaps, this book is what my book would like to be when it grows up and writes itself. Quinn was kind enough to answer the following questions and since we stay in touch via Twitter, I'd like to add: Read @Quinncy For the Win: I love your pet stories in Notes from the Underwire , and was thrilled to learn the term feline rage. Do you believe the new study that cats control their owners? Was anyone who lives with a cat who saw that study surprised? I have known women suffering through morning sickness open cans of stinky wet food for their cats. My theory is that, down deep, the cat and the human both know that if the size ratio was inverted, they would eat us. We love our cats, but we're also appeasing them in case they suddenly have a huge growth spurt. You talk about trying your hand at sitcom writing in Notes from the Underwire (Favorite quote: "That's not just good, it's Saved by the Bell good"). What kind of writing comes the most naturally to you? That question just sent me off on a reverie about how totally sweet it would have been if my natural writing style was like Tom Clancy, only I developed this talent two years before Clancy wrote his first book. And then I made Clancy-money for decades and was writing this answer on my estate in Hawaii. Heck, I'd be writing it from my estate which was Hawaii. Anyway, I think my natural inclination is towards the quotidian and the ruminative. This is a fancy way of saying I like to think for a long time about an uncomfortable conversation I have had at the grocery store and then I like to write about it. Your QCReport was picked as a top blog on Newsweek , how soon after that did the subsequent book deal with Hyperion come about? Years later. Completely unrelated nice things which happened to me. Newsweek was alerted to my blog within three months of my starting to write it; the book came about because Abigail Breslin was nominated for an Academy Award. No, I'm not seeing patterns where none exist. Because a child was nominated, USA Today did an article about former nominees who were children. My story went something like "Didn't go to jail, never went to rehab, created The Hiphugger, has a blog now." An editor at Hyperion found the blog, read enough to think there was a book there, got the head of Hyperion and the marketing department to agree and came to me with an offer. If you have an MFA and a thick file of turndowns from agents for your really good book, I know that my story is very irritating. Sorry. You're currently on a blog book tour. Did you come up with that concept, and how cool is it to meet your readers without having to leave the house? The Quinn Cummings Seemingly Endless Blog Book Tour of 2009 has been much more fun than I could have anticipated. First of all, there's the part where you can do press without have to check your lip-gloss, which is a huge "Yeah!" in my book. Second, and I'm not sucking up to my readers, I promise, but the questions have been remarkably good. And the Q&A format works not unlike tennis, in that you're more likely to hit the ball back hard and well if it's hit hard and well to you. And the idea was offered to me by Sara J. Henry who will be using the blog book tour for her own page-turner of a novel very shortly. I wish I could say I thought of it, but I can take credit for having the sense to see a nearly perfect idea when it's handed to me. Speaking of coming up with concepts, what was your inspiration to invent the hip hugger? I don't carry many babies lately, but it's a brilliant design! I had Carpal Tunnel Syndrome when I was pregnant, which went away the second the kid was born but left me with some nerve damage in my fingers. Nerve damage which was aggravated by holding my baby and then my toddler on my hip. I wanted something which displaced the weight of holding her there across my upper body and didn't make my hands go numb. I mentioned this to a friend who had a design background. Nine months later, we had our first Hiphuggers in a store. One of the strange facts of my life is that my name is on a patent, which still strikes me as absurd; people with patents should be able to put together Ikea furniture without needing to take a sobbing break. But here I am. I've been name dropping you shamelessly and friends are happy to hear about a writer who went from a childhood in the limelight to a happy home life. With all the Michael Jackson childhood stories coming to light, what advice would you give to the parents of a precocious child looking to break into life in the public eye? I lucked out. I had parents who didn't confuse me for an ATM and a certain psychic stability which allowed me to come through my childhood with only the usual amount of scars. Then again, there was no Internet when I was a kid, no cell-phone cameras, no Twitter, no Facebook. When I wasn't in the public eye, I could hope to be anonymous. No one has that luxury anymore. And if you live even a small part of your life as an entertainer you have, in the eyes of a percentage of the population, given up all expectation of ever leading a regular life. And being a former child actor is a permanent state; unless I save the rain forest, my obit is going to be titled, "Quinn Cummings, former child star, dies of something avoidable." Which is all my way of saying, if your kid likes acting and singing, there's something called local theater. After winning an Oscar nomination for The Goodbye Girl, you starred in series including "Family" and "Blossom" - What's your favorite TV show theme song? "The Wire." First of all, best show EVER, so I have this Pavlovian response to hearing "When You Walk Through the Garden," one of "YEAH! Best show EVER, about to start!" Second of all, I love how they did a new version every season and they were all great in different ways. And there's your full circle -- New Orleans' "Treme" is the next HBO series by the creators of the Wire, and I'm sitting in a New Orleans courtyard fretting over feline rage syndrome. If our kitten doesn't have a panther sized growth spurt, kill and eat us I'm very much looking forward to reading your next book. Notes from the Underwire is available at Amazon.com ( Here ). More on Celebrity Kids
 
Beer Summit Details: Obama Hails "Friendly, Thoughtful Conversation" (VIDEO) Top
As a very private "beer summit" gets underway in the Rose Garden, details remain scant since the "teachable moment' is closed to the press. But, according to this pool report, Sergeant Crowley seems to be doing most of the talking, Henry Louis Gates is listening intently and President Obama seems to be in a good mood. And Vice President Biden has joined them - drinking Buckler, a low-alcohol brew. Obama issued the following statement after the occasion: "I am thankful to Professor Gates and Sergeant Crowley for joining me at the White House this evening for a friendly, thoughtful conversation. Even before we sat down for the beer, I learned that the two gentlemen spent some time together listening to one another, which is a testament to them. I have always believed that what brings us together is stronger than what pulls us apart. I am confident that has happened here tonight, and I am hopeful that all of us are able to draw this positive lesson from this episode." Gates released a statement titled "An Accident of Time and Place " on his Website, The Root , in which he praised Obama and thanked police officers: "Let me say that I thank God that live in a country in which police officers put their lives at risk to protect us every day, and, more than ever, I've come to understand and appreciate their daily sacrifices on our behalf." Here is an excerpt: Sergeant Crowley and I, through an accident of time and place, have been cast together, inextricably, as characters - as metaphors, really - in a thousand narratives about race over which he and I have absolutely no control. Narratives about race are as old as the founding of this great Republic itself, but these new ones have unfolded precisely when Americans signaled to the world our country's great progress by overcoming centuries of habit and fear, and electing an African American as President. It is incumbent upon Sergeant Crowley and me to utilize the great opportunity that fate has given us to foster greater sympathy among the American public for the daily perils of policing on the one hand, and for the genuine fears of racial profiling on the other hand. Here is video: And here is the pool report: Beers in the Rose Garden It was, alas, only a photo op. The pool had no opportunity to ask questions as we were roped off about 50 feet from the group. The big surprise: Vice President Joe Biden was at the table with the men. POTUS invited him to join the group this afternoon. Clockwise, they sat around the round, white table in this order: Obama, Crowley, Gates, Biden. The men were drinking beer from clear glass mugs and munching on peanuts and pretzels served in small silver bowls. The beers: POTUS: Bud Light VPOTUS: Bucklers Gates: Sam Adams Light Crowley: Blue Moon In the 30 seconds your pool was out there, Sgt. Crowley was doing most of the talking. Gates appeared to be leaning in, listening intently. At one point, POTUS laughed heartily. Gates and Crowley wore dark suits. POTUS and VPOTUS were in white shirts, jackets off. POTUS had his sleeves rolled up. Both Gates and Crowley brought their families to the White House and they toured the East Wing together before the sit-down. Gates brough his kids, fiance and father. Crowley brought his wife and kids. The men met POTUS in the Oval Office before moving out into the Rose Garden. During the sit-down, the family members were given a tour of the West Wing.
 
Beer Summit Begins: Obama Sits Down With Crowley, Gates Top
WASHINGTON — With mugs of beer and a calm conversation, President Barack Obama tried to push himself and the nation beyond a political uproar Thursday, hailing a "friendly, thoughtful" conversation with the black professor and white policeman whose dispute had ignited a fierce debate over race in America. "I have always believed that what brings us together is stronger than what pulls us apart," the nation's first black president said after the highly anticipated meeting ended. "I am confident that has happened here tonight, and I am hopeful that all of us are able to draw this positive lesson from this episode." Under the canopy of a magnolia tree in the early evening, Obama joined the other players in a story that had knocked the White House off stride: Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. and Cambridge, Mass., police Sgt. James Crowley. Vice President Joe Biden was with them on a Rose Garden patio. "We agreed to move forward," Crowley said later when asked if anything was solved. "I think what you had today was two gentlemen agreeing to disagree on a particular issue. I don't think that we spent too much time dwelling on the past. We spent a lot of time discussing the future." The issue in question began when Crowley investigated a potential burglary at Gates' house and ended up arresting the protesting professor for disorderly conduct. The matter mushroomed into a debate on racial profiling, fueled when Obama said in a prime-time news conference that the police "acted stupidly." He later expressed regret. Gates said after Thursday's White House gathering that he hoped the entire experience would prove to be an "occasion for education, not recrimination." He said the burden now rests with him and Crowley to use the opportunity to foster wider awareness of the dangers facing police officers and the fears that some blacks have about racial profiling.
 
Youth Radio -- Youth Media International: Beer With The "Enemy"? Top
Originally published on Youthradio.org , the premier source for youth generated news throughout the globe. By: King Anyi Howell As someone who has been a target of racial profiling several times, and was even arrested in front of my home and held in jail over the weekend for fitting the description of a burglar, I'm paying close attention to the White House barley & hops invitational . I've decided to do a little experiment in the spirit of the beer being downed today by the police officer, the professor, and the president. It all started the day after my most recent detention, when I put out a Twitter blast expressing my frustration against cops...with language you can't use without a parental advisory sticker. I didn't expect one of my respondents to be a cop. We fired charges at each other - him alleging I probably had a rap sheet and didn't pay taxes, and me, saying he probably had a number of citizen complaints on his record. After a certain point I was tired of the back and forth, and told him I was open to generating a real discussion on the issue, to try and gain mutual enlightenment. And for me to put out an invitation to sit down with this cop was by some standards, socially unacceptable. Because for many have been racially profiled and consider it to be an institutionalized practice. But so is the "F the police attitude" that many people of color hold about the cops - neither side gives. Once you've been unduly sidelined by police, you lose trust in them as a provider of enforcement and protection. In fact, if someone breaks into my house, I say, "Damn, what do I do now?" Citizens don't like to feel like they can't call police, and I'm sure police don't like to feel like folks can't trust them. No matter what happens over beer at the White House, and no matter the details of what actually happened on Henry Louis Gates' front porch, there's again an opportunity for acknowledgment of divisive problem. All I can say for my own life is that it's led to a meeting with that cop I had the heated exchange with. I reached out to ask him whether he'd like to sit down for a beverage and he says he's game. Reaching out to the cop from my Twitter conversation was more about getting over some type of fear - grabbing the bull by the horns, so to speak. I want to move past my own insecurities with punk police and try to hear his insights on why police target folks the way they do. Maybe they do it to white people too, I don't know. I'm hoping to find out something I didn't know before. It usually takes some terribly traumatic experience for people to embrace change. People watching the Skip Gates incident, both citizens and law enforcement officials, should use this as that opportunity to embrace perspective changing dialogue, instead of waiting for the problem to meet them front porch. Previously: DNA of the Black Experience Sick To Death of Death 'Post-Race America' or Recovering Racist? Youth Radio/Youth Media International (YMI) is youth-driven converged media production company that delivers the best youth news, culture and undiscovered talent to a cross section of audiences. To read more youth news from around the globe and explore high quality audio and video features, visit Youthradio.org More on Barack Obama
 

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