Blast Time Warriors !

An Open Letter To President Obama About The Republicans (from a Republican)

By: Frank Schaeffer

Dear President Obama: I know that from time to time you read Huffington Post because you've written for it. As a Huffington Post reader you'll know that no one on this web site has more faithfully supported your candidacy and now your presidency than me. As a former lifelong Republican, son of a co-founder of the Religious Right; my late evangelical leader father, Francis Schaeffer, I'm in a unique position to tell you a few things about the Republicans from inside perspective. (As you know I left that movement in the mid 1980s.)

The lack of cooperation you're getting from the Republican Party will continue. You were right to indulge in a little bit of tokenism when you had to Pastor Rick Warren pray at your inauguration. But if you think that the Republicans in Congress and the Senate are going to do more than their utmost to obstruct everything you are and what you stand for you're dreaming.

As someone who appeared numerous times on the 700 Club with Pat Robertson, as someone for whom Jerry Falwell used to send his private jet to bring me to speak at his college, as an author who had James Dobson giveaway 150,000 copies of my one of my fundamentalist "books" allow me to explain something: the Republican Party is controlled by two ideological groups. First, is the Religious Right. Second, are the neoconservatives. Both groups share one thing in common: they are driven by fear and paranoia. Between them there is no Republican "center" for you to appeal to, just two versions of hate-filled extremes.

The Religious Right supply the kind of people who at McCain and Palin rallies were yelling things such as "kill him" about you. That's the constituency to which your hand was extended when looking for compromise on your financial bailout bill.

There's only one thing that makes sense for you now. Mr. President, you need to forget a bipartisan approach and get on with the business of governing by winning each battle. You will never be able to work with the Republicans because they hate you. Believe me, Rush Limbaugh and Ann Coulter are the norm not the exception. James Dobson and the rest are praying for you to fail. The neoconservatives are gnashing their teeth and waiting for you to "sell out Israel" or "show weakness" in Afghanistan, whatever, so they can declare you a traitor.

The problem is that when you deal with the Republican Party you're talking to the polished characters in Washington. I wish you could see the hate e-mail's that I have received over the last two years because I supported you, letters calling for God to kill me, telling me that I hate God because I supported you and that I am "an abortionist" and worse a "fag lover" because I've written that I believe that you will be a great president.

What those senators and congressmen are telling you is not what their rabid core constituents are telling them. Their loyalty is to a fundamentalist Christian ideology on the one hand and American exceptionalism of perpetual warfare and hatred and fear of the "other" on the other hand. Between the neoconservatives and evangelical Religious Right Republicans you have no friends.

The good news is that most Americans support you. And if you will just get in the face of the Republican Party and call their bluff you'll be surprised how many individual ordinary Republicans will support you, not to mention the rest of us. America is sick of the Republicans.

The Democratic Party won for a reason: the Republicans failed and have taken us all down with them! You're doing your presidency and America no favor by extending an open hand to the perpetually knotted fist of what has become the embittered lunatic fringe of our country. They would rather go down in flames than "compromise" their ideology.

As you showed us again at your press conference of Feb 9, you are a brilliant, articulate and decent man. Your Republican opponents are not decent people but ideologues bent on destroying you. To quote the biblical adage sir, don't cast your pearls before swine.

B4B Note: Send This Everywhere. Sums things up quite well.

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Historians Rank George W. Bush 36th Worse

President In History !

WASHINGTON — Just days after the nation honored the 200th anniversary of his birth, 65 historians ranked Abraham Lincoln as the nation's best president.

Former President George W. Bush, who left office last month, was ranked 36th out of the 42 men who had been chief executive by the end of 2008, according to a survey conducted by the cable channel C-SPAN.

Bush scored lowest in international relations, where he was ranked 41st, and in economic management, where he was ranked 40th. His highest ranking, 24th, was in the category of pursuing equal justice for all. He was ranked 25th in crisis leadership and vision and agenda setting.

In contrast, Lincoln was ranked in the top three in each of the 10 categories evaluated by participants.

In C-SPAN's only other ranking of presidents, in 2000, former President Bill Clinton jumped six spots from No. 21 to 15. Other recent presidents moved positions as well: Ronald Reagan advanced from No. 11 to 10, George H.W. Bush rose from No. 20 to 18 and Jimmy Carter fell from No. 22 to 25.

This movement illustrates that presidential reputations are influenced by present-day concerns, said survey adviser and participant Edna Medford.

"Today's concerns shape our views of the past, be it in the area of foreign policy, managing the economy or human rights," Medford said in a statement.

After Lincoln, the academics rated George Washington, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Theodore Roosevelt and Harry Truman as the best leaders overall. The same five received top spots in the 2000 survey, although Washington and Franklin D. Roosevelt swapped spots this year.

Rated worst overall were James Buchanan, Andrew Johnson, Franklin Pierce, William Henry Harrison and Warren G. Harding.

The survey was conducted in December and January. Participants ranked each president on a scale of one, "not effective" to 10, "very effective," on a list of 10 leadership qualities including relations with Congress, public persuasion and moral authority.

Related Article: C-SPAN Survey of Presidents

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President Obama Plans To Sign

Stimulus Measure Tuesday

WASHINGTON – Savoring his first big victory in Congress, President Barack Obama on Saturday celebrated the newly passed $787 billion economic stimulus bill as a "major milestone on our road to recovery. "

Officials said he would sign the measure on Tuesday in Denver.

Speaking in his weekly radio and Internet address, Obama said, "I will sign this legislation into law shortly, and we'll begin making the immediate investments necessary to put people back to work doing the work America needs done."

At the same time, he cautioned, "This historic step won't be the end of what we do to turn our economy around, but rather the beginning. The problems that led us into this crisis are deep and widespread, and our response must be equal to the task."

The bill passed Congress on Friday on votes split mostly along party lines, allowing Democratic leaders to deliver on their promise of clearing the legislation by mid-February. The decision to sign it Tuesday in Denver, where Democrats held their national convention last summer, was disclosed by officials on condition of anonymity. They said they were not authorized to discuss the plans.

"It will take time, and it will take effort, but working together, we will turn this crisis into opportunity and emerge from our painful present into a brighter future," the president said.

Obama "now has a bill to sign that will create millions of good-paying jobs and help families and businesses stay afloat financially," said Sen. Max Baucus, a Montana Democrat who was a leading architect of the measure.

"It will shore up our schools and roads and bridges, and infuse cash into new sectors like green energy and technology that will sustain our economy for the long term," he added in a statement.

Hours earlier, Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell offered a different prediction for a bill he said was loaded with wasteful spending.

"A stimulus bill that was supposed to be timely, targeted and temporary is none of the above," he said in remarks on the Senate floor. "And this means Congress is about to approve a stimulus that's unlikely to have much stimulative effect."

Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski, in the GOP radio address Saturday, contended Democrats settled "on a random dollar amount in the neighborhood of $1 trillion and then set out to fill the bucket."

Obama, who was spending the weekend in Chicago, planned to fly back to Washington on Monday. His schedule for the week ahead includes trips to Denver on Tuesday to talk about his economic agenda and a visit to Phoenix on Wednesday to present a plan to fight foreclosures.

In a struggle lasting several weeks, lawmakers in the two political parties both emphasized they wanted to pass legislation to revitalize the economy and ease frozen credit markets. But the plan that the administration and its allies eventually came up drew the support of only three Republicans in Congress — moderate Sens. Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe of Maine and Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania.

Their support was critical, though, in helping the bill squeak through the Senate on a vote of 60-38, precisely the number needed for passage. Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown cast the 60th vote in favor in a nearly deserted Senate, hours after the roll call began. He arrived after a flight aboard a government plane from Ohio, where he was mourning the death of his mother earlier in the week.

The House vote was 246-183.

The legislation, among the costliest ever considered in Congress, provides billions of dollars to aid victims of the recession through unemployment benefits, food stamps, medical care, job retraining and more. Tens of billions are ticketed for the states to offset cuts they might otherwise have to make in aid to schools and local governments, and there is more than $48 billion for transportation projects such as road and bridge construction, mass transit and high-speed rail.

Democrats said the bill's tax cuts would help 95 percent of all Americans, much of the relief in the form of a break of $400 for individuals and $800 for couples. At the insistence of the White House, people who do not earn enough money to owe income taxes are eligible, an attempt to offset the payroll taxes they pay.

In a bow to political reality, lawmakers included $70 billion to shelter upper middle-class and wealthier taxpayers from an income tax increase that would otherwise hit them, a provision that the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office said would do relatively little to create jobs.

Also included were funds for two of Obama's initiatives, the expansion of computerized information technology in the health care industry and billions to create green jobs the administration says will begin reducing the country's dependence on foreign oil.

Friday's events capped an early period of accomplishment for the Democrats, who won control of the White House and expanded their majorities in Congress in last fall's elections.

Since taking office on Jan. 20, the president has signed legislation extending government-financed health care to millions of lower-income children who lack it, a bill that President George W. Bush twice vetoed. Obama also has placed his signature on a measure making it easier for workers to sue their employers for alleged job discrimination, effectively overturning a ruling by the Supreme Court's conservative majority. (David Espo AP Special Correspondent)

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Congress, White House agree on

$790 Billion stimulus bill

WASHINGTON – Moving with lightning speed, the Democratic-controlled Congress and White House agreed Wednesday on a compromise $790 billion economic stimulus bill designed to create millions of jobs in a nation reeling from recession. President Barack Obama could sign the measure within days.

"More than one-third of this bill is dedicated to providing tax relief for middle-class families, cutting taxes for 95 percent of American workers," said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid at a Capitol news conference where he was joined by moderates from both parties whose support is essential for the legislation's final passage.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., Reid's partner in negotiations over more than 24 intense hours, initially withheld her approval in a lingering disagreement over federal funding for school construction. "We had to make sure the investment in education" was in the bill, she said.

Obama, who has campaigned energetically for the legislation, welcomed the agreement in a written statement that said it would "save or create more than 3.5 million jobs and get our economy back on track."

The emerging legislation is at the core of Obama's economic recovery program.

The president's signature tax cut was preserved — a break for millions of lower- and middle-income taxpayers of $400 per individual and $800 per couple. That's less than the $500 and $1,000 the White House originally sought, although officials said it would mean an estimated $13 per week extra per paycheck.

Wage-earners who don't earn enough to pay income taxes would get a reduction in the Social Security and Medicare taxes they pay.

The bill also includes help for victims of the recession in the form of expanded unemployment benefits, food stamps, health coverage and more, as well as billions for states that face the prospect of making deep cuts in school aid and other programs.

Another provision will mean a one-time payment of $250 for millions of beneficiaries who receive Social Security, Supplemental Security Income and veterans pensions and disability, according to officials. They added that the measure will include $46 billion for transportation projects such as highway, bridge and mass transit construction.

The president also won money for two other administration priorities — information technology in health care, and "green jobs" to make buildings more energy-efficient and reduce the nation's reliance on foreign oil.

The bill "will be the beginning of the turnaround for the American economy," predicted Sen. Joe Lieberman, the independent from Connecticut.

Republicans couldn't have disagreed more.

"It appears that Democrats have made a bad bill worse by reducing the tax relief for working families in order to pay for more wasteful government spending," said Rep. John Boehner of Ohio.

But some prominent Republicans straddled the issue.

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, last year's Republican running mate and a potential White House contender in 2012, said her state was ready to accept a projected $1 billion in federal funds if they make sense for the state. But she criticized increased spending on social programs, which she said could wind up costing her state in the long run and "don't necessarily stimulate the economy."

The events capped a frenzied 24-plus hours that began at midday Tuesday when the Senate approved its original version of the bill on a party-line vote of 61-37. Reid, Pelosi and White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel plunged into a series of meetings designed to produce agreement in time for Obama to sign the bill by mid-month.

Pelosi was conspicuously absent from Wednesday's news conference in which members of the Senate announced the agreement. Moments later, Reid arrived in her office, and the two talked by phone with Emanuel, according to officials who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Officials had said previously that one of the final issues to be settled was money for school modernization, a priority for Pelosi as well as Obama and one on which they differed with Collins and other moderates whose votes will be essential for final Senate approval.

Originally, Pelosi and House Democrats wanted a new program dedicated to school construction, but Collins held firm against that. In the end, officials said the agreement added flexibility to a $54 billion State Stabilization Fund, to permit local governments to use some of the money for modernizing school buildings but not building new ones.

There also was an unspecified last-minute change in a House proposal that would allow state legislatures to order the use of funds over the opposition of governors. Officials said that issue related in part to South Carolina, where GOP Gov. Mark Sanford has been a vehement critic of the legislation.

The officials who described the developments and elements of the bill did so on condition of anonymity, saying they were not authorized to speak.

Stocks moved higher in the moments after Reid stepped to the microphone just outside the Senate chamber. The Dow Jones industrials, which plunged 382 points on Tuesday, rose 51 points for the day.

Obama has been contending daily that the plan is essential to avoid turning what is already the worst economic crisis in a generation into a catastrophe.

As if to underscore the urgency, he said a few hours before the agreement was announced that machinery giant Caterpillar Inc. plans to rescind some of the 22,000 layoffs the firm recently announced — once the stimulus is signed into law.

Scaling back the bill to levels lower than either the $838 billion Senate measure or the original $820 billion House-passed measure caused grumbles among liberal Democrats, who described the cutbacks as a concession to the moderates, particularly Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., who are under pressure from conservative Republicans to hold down spending.

Working to accommodate the new, lower overall limit of the bill, negotiators effectively wiped out a Senate-passed provision for a new $15,000 tax credit to defray the cost of buying a home, these officials said. The agreement would allow taxpayers to deduct the sales tax paid on new car purchases, but not the interest on loans for the same vehicles.

With numerous demands for the funds in the bill, lawmakers worked to satisfy competing demands.

A Senate-passed provision to give $10 billion to the National Institutes of Health for research — a favorite of both Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, and Specter — appeared to have survived.

Not every decision was driven by concern about job creation, though.

The bill includes $70 billion to shelter wealthier taxpayers from the alternative minimum tax, originally passed a generation ago to make sure the super-rich didn't avoid taxes. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that provision will have relatively little impact on the economy.

_____

Associated Press writers Andrew Taylor and Ben Feller contributed to this story.

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Blacks4Barack Now Part of
White House Daily Reporter Corp

We are pleased to announce that Blacks4Barack has been named to the White House Daily Reporter corp. Now, we will also be giving you news 'hot off the press' directly from the White House. From President Obama's daily meetings and phone calls to special statements, transcripts of press conferences, calls for action and more. Blacks4Barack is dedicated to invigorating all to participate in the 3 B's...

Be Inspired...
Be Informed...
Be Involved !

Please invite others to sign-up for our B4B instant e-mails.
There is much work ahead...

Together, We WILL Make A Difference !
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President Obama's Statement on Recovery and Reinvestment Act

White House Office of Press Secretary

“I want to thank the Democrats and Republicans in Congress who came together around a hard-fought compromise that will save or create more than 3.5 million jobs and get our economy back on track. Just today, the CEO of Caterpillar said that if this American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan is passed, his company would be able to rehire some of the employees they’ve been forced to lay off. It’s also a plan that will provide immediate tax relief to families and businesses, while investing in priorities like health care, education, energy, and infrastructure that will grow our economy once more. I’m grateful to the House Democrats for starting this process, and for members in the House and Senate for moving it along with the urgency that this moment demands,” said President Obama.

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VIDEO:
Maxine Waters Scolds Wallstreet
'Bankster Gangsters'
Told To 'Calm Down'

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VIDEO: Henrietta Hughes Gets Home After Telling

President Obama She Was Homeless

If you were paying attention to Obama's stimulus push yesterday it was hard to miss Henrietta Hughes, a woman on the verge of tears who asked the President to help her with an "urgent need": homelessness. After the Florida town hall where Hughes talked to Obama, a local Fort Myers paper says she was offered a home by State Representative Nick Thompson's wife. Watch the exchange between Hughes and President Obama below the excerpt.

Henrietta Hughes was offered a home by Chene Thompson, wife of State Representative Nick Thompson, who heard the homeless woman's pleas for help to President Obama before a local and national crowd.

The house is in LaBelle, the first home Scere Thompson bought after law school. She told Hughes, "Just give me the opportunity to help you."

P.S. Also watch the 'I Love You' Lady

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The Stimulus Bills: House vs. Senate

The Senate passed the Stimulus Package today 61-37. Now the plan will return to the House for final revision.

So how do the two versions stack up? We’ve put together this chart so you can easily spot the differences.

Some highlights: The House version would spend $60 billion more on education. The Senate version adds more than $100 billion for tax cuts to individuals and families. The House would spend more to upgrade the country’s electricity grid. The Senate would spend more on medical research. And there are plenty more.

Program	House	Senate	Change
Aid to Low-Income Families Total	$124,186,000,000	$97,230,900,000	▼$26,955,100,000
Health insurance aid		$2,272,000,000	▲$2,272,000,000
Unemployment benefits	$36,000,000,000	$39,490,000,000	▲$3,490,000,000
COBRA healthcare for unemployed	$30,300,000,000	$20,000,000,000	▼$10,300,000,000
Hunger programs	$21,176,000,000	$17,100,000,000	▼$4,076,000,000
Housing	$13,510,000,000	$8,600,000,000	▼$4,910,000,000
Medicaid for unemployed	$8,600,000,000		▼$8,600,000,000
Job training and placement	$5,120,000,000	$4,300,000,000	▼$820,000,000
Disabled and elderly programs	$4,200,000,000		▼$4,200,000,000
Other	$5,280,000,000	$5,468,900,000	▲$188,900,000
Aid to States Total	$172,500,000,000	$134,840,000,000	▼$37,660,000,000
Medicaid	$87,000,000,000	$86,700,000,000	▼$300,000,000
State fiscal relief	$79,000,000,000	$39,000,000,000	▼$40,000,000,000
State and local law enforcement	$4,000,000,000	$3,500,000,000	▼$500,000,000
Other	$2,500,000,000	$5,640,000,000	▲$3,140,000,000
Business Total	$880,000,000	$730,000,000	▼$150,000,000
Small businesses	$880,000,000	$730,000,000	▼$150,000,000
Education Total	$68,456,000,000	$42,850,000,000	▼$25,606,000,000
K-12 education	$26,616,000,000	$25,400,000,000	▼$1,216,000,000
School construction and technology	$21,000,000,000		▼$21,000,000,000
Higher education	$16,140,000,000	$13,900,000,000	▼$2,240,000,000
Early childhood programs	$4,700,000,000	$3,550,000,000	▼$1,150,000,000
Energy Total	$53,650,000,000	$38,963,000,000	▼$14,687,000,000
Fossil energy research		$4,600,000,000	▲$4,600,000,000
Energy efficiency projects	$11,400,000,000	$5,800,000,000	▼$5,600,000,000
Electricity grid	$11,000,000,000	$4,500,000,000	▼$6,500,000,000
Federal building/Defense facility efficiency	$8,500,000,000	$6,313,000,000	▼$2,187,000,000
Renewable energy loans	$8,000,000,000	$8,500,000,000	▲$500,000,000
Weatherization	$6,200,000,000	$2,900,000,000	▼$3,300,000,000
Renewable energy research	$2,350,000,000	$2,600,000,000	▲$250,000,000
Advanced batteries	$2,000,000,000	$2,000,000,000
Other	$4,200,000,000	$1,750,000,000	▼$2,450,000,000
Health Care Total	$26,750,000,000	$19,191,000,000	▼$7,559,000,000
Health information technology	$20,000,000,000	$19,191,000,000	▼$809,000,000
Other	$6,750,000,000		▼$6,750,000,000
Other Total	$1,898,000,000	$1,760,000,000	▼$138,000,000
Accountability	$248,000,000	$110,000,000	▼$138,000,000
Census	$1,000,000,000	$1,000,000,000
DTV conversion coupons	$650,000,000	$650,000,000
Science and Technology Total	$17,771,000,000	$22,405,000,000	▲$4,634,000,000
Broadband	$6,000,000,000	$7,000,000,000	▲$1,000,000,000
National Science Foundation	$3,000,000,000	$1,200,000,000	▼$1,800,000,000
National Institutes of Health	$2,000,000,000		▼$2,000,000,000
Department of Energy	$2,000,000,000		▼$2,000,000,000
University research facilities	$1,500,000,000		▼$1,500,000,000
Biomedical research	$900,000,000	$10,000,000,000	▲$9,100,000,000
NASA	$600,000,000	$1,300,000,000	▲$700,000,000
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration	$600,000,000	$1,000,000,000	▲$400,000,000
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention	$462,000,000		▼$462,000,000
Other including National Institutes of Health		$1,100,000,000	▲$1,100,000,000
Other	$709,000,000	$805,000,000	▲$96,000,000
Tax Cuts Total	$282,284,000,000	$358,162,000,000	▲$75,878,000,000
Manufacturing		$1,603,000,000	▲$1,603,000,000
Individuals	$184,637,000,000	$302,198,000,000	▲$117,561,000,000
State and local governments	$42,957,000,000	$14,272,000,000	▼$28,685,000,000
Businesses	$29,483,000,000	$17,546,000,000	▼$11,937,000,000
Energy projects	$19,961,000,000	$17,682,000,000	▼$2,279,000,000
Other	$5,246,000,000	$4,861,000,000	▼$385,000,000
Transportation and Infrastructure Total	$80,604,000,000	$85,090,000,000	▲$4,486,000,000
Competitive grants		$5,500,000,000	▲$5,500,000,000
Homeland security		$4,700,000,000	▲$4,700,000,000
Federal buildings		$1,400,000,000	▲$1,400,000,000
Bureau of Reclamation		$1,400,000,000	▲$1,400,000,000
Water and waste disposal		$1,400,000,000	▲$1,400,000,000
Nuclear weapons program maintenance		$1,000,000,000	▲$1,000,000,000
Highways and bridges	$30,000,000,000	$27,000,000,000	▼$3,000,000,000
Transit	$12,000,000,000	$8,400,000,000	▼$3,600,000,000
Clean water	$9,500,000,000	$6,000,000,000	▼$3,500,000,000
Defense Department facilities	$8,265,000,000	$2,400,000,000	▼$5,865,000,000
Corps of Engineers	$4,500,000,000	$4,600,000,000	▲$100,000,000
Water resources	$1,124,000,000		▼$1,124,000,000
Public land and parks	$3,100,000,000	$3,400,000,000	▲$300,000,000
Aviation	$3,000,000,000	$1,300,000,000	▼$1,700,000,000
Environmental cleanup	$2,300,000,000	$7,600,000,000	▲$5,300,000,000
Border stations	$1,250,000,000	$1,200,000,000	▼$50,000,000
Railroads	$1,100,000,000	$3,100,000,000	▲$2,000,000,000
Veterans hospitals and cemeteries	$1,000,000,000	$3,700,000,000	▲$2,700,000,000
Federal government technology	$965,000,000		▼$965,000,000
Wildfire mitigation	$850,000,000		▼$850,000,000
Other	$1,650,000,000	$990,000,000	▼$660,000,000

*Some provisions that aren’t listed in one bill may be part of another category.

Source: House Appropriations and Ways and Means committees, Senate Appropriations and Finance committees

Michael Grabell and Krista Kjellman/ProPublica

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Video:
President Obama At Town-hall in Indiana:
"I intend to keep that Promise"

President Obama traveled today to Elkhart, Indiana for a town-hall on the American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan. Before opening the event up for questions, the President spoke directly to Elkhart residents about the impact the plan will have on their lives, and explained the reason for his trip here today:

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Tom Curley AP Chief Executive

AP CEO Admits Bush Regime Controlled Media !

AP CEO: Bush Turned Media

Into Propaganda Machine

LAWRENCE, Kan. — The Bush administration turned the U.S. military into a global propaganda machine while imposing tough restrictions on journalists seeking to give the public truthful reports about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, Associated Press chief executive Tom Curley said Friday.

Curley, speaking to journalists at the University of Kansas, said the news industry must immediately negotiate a new set of rules for covering war because "we are the only force out there to keep the government in check and to hold it accountable."

Much like in Vietnam, "civilian policymakers and soldiers alike have cracked down on independent reporting from the battlefield" when the news has been unflattering, Curley said. "Top commanders have told me that if I stood and the AP stood by its journalistic principles, the AP and I would be ruined."

Curley said in a brief interview that he didn't take the commanders' words as a threat but as "an expression of anger." Late in 2007, Curley wrote an editorial about the detention of AP photographer Bilal Hussein, held by the military for more than two years.

Eleven of AP's journalists have been detained in Iraq for more than 24 hours since 2003. Last year, according to cases AP is tracking, news organizations had eight employees detained for more than 48 hours.

AP, the world's largest newsgathering operation, is a not-for-profit cooperative that began in 1846 to communicate news from the Mexican War. Curley has been the company's president and CEO since 2003.

Before his speech, Curley met for about a half-hour with Lt. Gen. William Caldwell IV, a former spokesman for the U.S. military in Iraq. Caldwell is commander at Fort Leavenworth, Kan., where military doctrines are drafted and a staff college trains both American and foreign officers.

"It's important for us to be very transparent," Caldwell said during an interview after Curley's speech. "If we do those things, ultimately, we're both trying to do the same thing."

Curley came to the University of Kansas to receive this year's national citation for journalistic excellence from the William Allen White Foundation. Curley also won national awards in 2007 and 2008 for his work on First Amendment and open records issues.

Answering questions from his audience of about 160 people, Curley said AP remains concerned about journalists' detentions. He said most appear to occur when someone else, often a competitor, "trashes" the journalist.

"There is a procedure that takes place which sounds an awful lot like torture to us," Curley said. "If people agree to trash other people, they are freed. If they don't immediately agree to trash other people, they are kept for some period of time _ two or three weeks _ and they are put through additional questioning."

His remarks came a day after an AP investigation disclosed that the Pentagon is spending at least $4.7 billion this year on "influence operations" and has more than 27,000 employees devoted to such activities. At the same time, Curley said, the military has grown more aggressive in withholding information and hindering reporters.

Curley said a military program to embed reporters with battlefield units in Iraq was successful in 2003, the war's first year. But afterward, the military expanded its rules from one to four pages, and Curley said they're now so vague, a journalist can be expelled on a whim if a commander doesn't like what's being reported.

"Americans understand hardships and setbacks," he said. "They expect honest answers about what's happening to their sons and daughters."

Caldwell now requires officers who attend Fort Leavenworth's staff college to blog and "engage" the media. "Not only when it's good stuff, but when it's challenging," Caldwell said.

Curley acknowledged that upon taking office, President Barack Obama rolled back many of the policies instituted by George W. Bush. But he said when the Pentagon faces difficulties again _ perhaps in Afghanistan, with the new administration's focus on it _ experience has shown, "the military gets tough on the journalists."

"So now is the time to re-negotiate the rules of engagement between the military and the media," he said. "Now is the time to insist that the First Amendment does apply to the battlefield."

He added: "Now is the time to resist the propaganda the Pentagon produces and live up to our obligation to question authority and thereby help protect our democracy."

Curley said examining the Defense Department's spending on its public relations efforts and psychological operations is difficult because many of the budgets are classified.

He said the Pentagon has kept secret some information that used to be available to the public, and its public affairs officers at the Pentagon gather intelligence on reporters' work rather than serve as sources.

Curley traced the propaganda efforts to former Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld. He cited a 2003 operations "road map" signed by Rumsfeld, declaring that psychological operations had been neglected for too long. Curley also noted that the current secretary, Robert Gates, has defended such efforts, including in a speech at Kansas State University in 2007.

"But does America need to resort to al-Qaida tactics?" Curley said. "Should the U.S. government be running Web sites that appear to be independent news organizations?" Should the military be planting stories in foreign newspapers? Should the United States be trying to influence public opinion through subterfuge, both here and abroad?"

He also said the Bush administration had stripped hundreds of people, including reporters, of their human rights. He noted that when an Iraqi judicial panel reviewed the evidence gathered by the military against Hussein, the AP photographer, it ordered his release. He declined in an interview to say who said AP could be "ruined" for sticking to its principles, but "I knew that they were angry."

"This is how you improve the standing of America around the world, by taking the universal human rights we enjoy as Americans and ensuring them for everyone," Curley said in his speech.

Both the award Curley received at the University of Kansas and its journalism school are named for White, who was publisher of the Emporia Gazette until 1944. A Pulitzer Prize winning editorial writer, White's commentary and friendships with prominent Americans made him a national figure.

"There's no doubt that White would have been angered by the last eight years," Curley said. "The right to access information and the ability to know the source of that information were diminished."

___

Associated Press writer John Milburn also contributed to this report.

B4B NOTE: We have been saying for years how disgusting it has been that the Bush Regime via the media has treated America like a third world country. ABSOLUTELY DISGUSTING ! It also proves that we can NOT trust our media.

B4B

Message From Media Matters:
Fundamentally flawed stimulus coverage !
(B4B NOTE: AKA....More Mis-Truths From Our Media)

by Jamison Foser

If there's one fact that should be made clear in every news report about the stimulus package working its way through Congress, it is this: Government spending is stimulative. That's a basic principle of economics, and understanding it is essential to assessing any stimulus package. So it should be an underlying premise of the media's coverage of the stimulus debate. Unfortunately, that hasn't been the case.

Indeed, reporters routinely suggest that spending is not stimulative. Economist Dean Baker, co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research, explains: "Spending that is not stimulus is like cash that is not money. Spending is stimulus, spending is stimulus. Any spending will generate jobs. It is that simple. ... Any reporter who does not understand this fact has no business reporting on the economy." Unfortunately, many of the reporters who have shaped the stimulus debate don't seem to understand that. ABC's Charles Gibson portrayed spending and stimulus as opposing concepts in a question to President Obama: "And as you know, there's a lot of people in the public, a lot of members of Congress who think this is pork-stuffed and that it really doesn't stimulate. A lot of people have said it's a spending bill and not a stimulus." That formulation -- "it's a spending bill and not a stimulus" -- is complete nonsense; it's like saying, "This is a hot fudge sundae, not a dessert."

But nonsensical as it is, it has also been quite common in recent news reports. There's another problem with Gibson's formulation, though -- in describing the stimulus as a "spending bill," he ignores the fact that the bill contains tax cuts, too. Lots and lots of tax cuts. And those tax cuts, by the way, provide less stimulus than government spending on things like food stamps and extending unemployment benefits. It probably goes without saying that Gibson didn't ask if the bill would be more effective if the tax cuts were replaced by additional spending. MSNBC's Mika Brzezinski, among others, has repeatedly suggested "welfare" provisions in the bill wouldn't stimulate the economy.

This is the exact opposite of true; those provisions are among the most stimulative things the government can possibly do. There are some fairly obvious reasons why that is true, beginning with the fact that if you give a poor person $100 in food stamps, you can be pretty sure they're going to spend all $100 of it; but if you give a rich person $100 in tax cuts, they probably won't spend much of it at all. But we needn't rely on logic and common sense to know that welfare spending is stimulative; economists study these things. One such economist is Mark Zandi of Moody's Economy.com, who served as an adviser to John McCain's presidential campaign. Zandi has produced a handy chart showing how much a variety of spending increases and tax cuts would stimulate the economy.

According to Zandi, a dollar spent on increasing unemployment benefits yields $1.64 in increased gross domestic product, and a dollar spent on food stamps yields $1.73 in GDP. As for tax cuts, Zandi says the most effective form is a payroll tax holiday. A one dollar reduction in federal revenues as a result of such a tax holiday would produce a $1.29 increase in GDP -- far less than the benefit realized from extending unemployment benefits, increasing food stamps, providing general aid to state governments, or spending on infrastructure. Yet if you turn on MSNBC any given morning, you're likely to find Mika Brzezinski sayingthis: "Does this plan add up to the definition of stimulus? I don't think it does. And I don't question the value of food stamps and helping low-income people pay for college. It just shouldn't be in this bill."

Or this: "If you're gonna have welfare programs in this bill, call them welfare programs and pass them, but don't call them facets of the bill meant to stimulate the economy. I do feel like there's some old politics at play here." something like, "I want to look at the plan and how much of it is sort of welfare programs and how much are things that we know, either from history or because economic experts somehow know this, actually stimulates the economy." Or like There's old politics at play, all right -- the old politics of demonizing "welfare spending" without any regard for the simple truth that such spending not only helps those Americans who are struggling the most feed their families, it also does more to stimulate the economy than anything else you can think of.

What you probably won't see is Mika Brzezinski or Charles Gibson or any other TV reporter suggesting that the tax cuts in the bill are not stimulative and should be stripped -- even though they are less effective as stimulus than unemployment benefits and food stamps. At this point, it becomes impossible to ignore the elephant in the room: Television anchors like Charles Gibson are not going to qualify for food stamps anytime soon. But they would certainly benefit greatly from some tax cut provisions that wouldn't do nearly as much to stimulate the economy. (This is not the first time Gibson has shown himself to be badly out of touch on basic economic issues.

During a Democratic presidential primary debate, Gibson challenged the candidates on their support for repealing President Bush's tax cuts for people making more than $200,000 a year by saying that a family in which both parents are schoolteachers would be hit by the repeal. Gibson's cluelessness was so apparent, the audience actually burst out laughing at him.) So far, the news media's coverage of the stimulus debate has consisted largely of repeating false Republican spin and pontificating about which side has been making their arguments more successfully (all the while ignoring the media's own role in aiding the GOP.) The bright side is that if reporters care about informing the public, it's pretty easy to do -- they just have to start basing their reports on the true premise that government spending is effective stimulus, rather than on the false premise that it isn't.

Everything else flows easily from there; for example, asking Republicans why they want to lard up the bill with less-stimulative tax cuts rather than unemployment benefits.

Jamison Foser is Executive Vice President at Media Matters for America.

B4B

January Job Loss: Worse in 34 Years

Employers slashed 598,000 jobs in January

as unemployment rate climbs to 7.6%

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Employers slashed another 598,000 jobs off of U.S. payrolls in January, taking the unemployment rate up to 7.6%, according to the latest government reading on the nation's battered labor market.

The latest job loss is the worst since December 1974, and brings job losses to 1.8 million in just the last three months, or half of the 3.6 million jobs that have been lost since the beginning of 2008.

The loss since November is the biggest 3-month drop since immediately after the end of World War II, when the defense industry was shutting down for conversion to civilian production.

January's job loss was also worse than the forecast of a loss of 540,000 jobs from economists surveyed by Briefing.com

The rise in the unemployment rate also was worse than the 7.5% rate economists expected. The unemployment rate is now at its highest level since September, 1992.

As bad as the unemployment rate was, it only tells part of the story for people struggling to find jobs. Friday's report also showed that 2.6 million people have now been out of work for more than six months, the most long-term unemployed since 1983.

And that number only counts those still looking for work. The so-called underemployment rate, which includes those who have stopped looking for work and people working only part-time that want full-time positions, climbed to 13.9% from 13.5% in December. That is the highest rate for this measure since the Labor Department first started tracking it in 1994.

More job pain ahead?

Some economists are worried that the labor market is poised to get worse still.

"This has just begun," said Sung Won Sohn, economics professor at Cal State University-Channel Islands. He projects an unemployment rate rising above 9% by the end of the year, while the monthly job losses could soon top 800,000.

"Hiring is falling off dramatically and layoffs are accelerating," he said. "The layoffs have become an almost popular thing to do for corporations. Many businesses are scared. They want to take precautionary steps."

January was a brutal month for layoffs, as major companies ranging from Microsoft (MSFT, Fortune 500), Boeing (BA, Fortune 500) and Caterpillar (CAT, Fortune 500) to Home Depot (HD, Fortune 500) and Starbucks (SBUX, Fortune 500) all announced substantial job cuts.

Announced layoffs so far this year have already topped 300,000. In addition, payroll services firm ADP estimates that small- and mid-sized businesses trimmed 430,000 jobs in January.

"The breadth of job losses now surpasses the prior two recessions," said John Silvia, chief economist for Wachovia.

The report showed the already battered manufacturing sector shedding 207,000 jobs last month, while the construction industry cut 111,000 jobs.

But it's not just the goods-producing sector that is losing jobs. The services sector, which now provides more than two-thirds of the nation's employment base, also reported widespread losses.

Business and professional services, the sector that includes lawyers, accountants and tech services, lost 121,000 jobs. Retailers cut 45,000 workers, while the finance sector trimmed 42,000 workers and the leisure and hospitality sector lost 28,000.

The number of temporary workers, viewed as another indicator of business and labor market strength overall, fell by 76,000.

Among the only sectors posting narrow gains in jobs were education, health services, and the government.

Weak numbers to take center stage in stimulus debate

The jobs report comes as the Senate debates the Obama administration's proposal for a nearly $900 billion economic stimulus bill. During a debate late into the night Thursday Republicans and some Democrats questioned the bill's mix of measures and its size.

The White House released a statement saying the January report was proof that quick approval of the stimulus bill is needed.

"These numbers, and the very real suffering of American workers they represent, reinforce the need for bold fiscal action," said Christina Romer, the chair of the President's council of economic advisers. "If we fail to act, we are likely to lose millions more jobs and the unemployment rate could reach double digits."

Brian Bethune, chief U.S. financial economist for research firm Global Insight, said how quickly the stimulus plan is passed, and how effective it is in jump-starting the economy, will determine whether the recent job losses are the peak, or if they continue to climb.

He argues that stimulus needs to be for programs that get money into the economy as quickly as possible.

"Business confidence is extremely weak right now," he said. "They've taken a show-me-the-money attitude. What you need to stop more job losses is a series of very effective policies. That's the only thing that will help here."

B4B

President Obama Caps Executive Pay

Tied To Bailout Money

Jim Kuhnhenn (AP)

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama on Wednesday imposed $500,000 caps on senior executive pay for the most distressed financial institutions receiving federal bailout money, saying Americans are upset with "executives being rewarded for failure."

Obama announced the dramatic new government intervention into corporate America at the White House, with Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner at his side. The president said the executive-pay limits are a first step, to be followed by the unveiling next week of a sweeping new framework for spending what remains of the $700 billion financial industry bailout that Congress created last year.

The executive-pay move comes amid a national outcry over huge bonuses to executives heading companies seeking taxpayer dollars to remain afloat. The demand for limits was reinforced by revelations that Wall Street firms paid more than $18 billion in bonuses in 2008 even amid the economic downturn and the massive infusion of taxpayer dollars.

"This is America. We don't disparage wealth. We don't begrudge anybody for achieving success," Obama said. "But what gets people upset — and rightfully so — are executives being rewarded for failure. Especially when those rewards are subsidized by U.S. taxpayers."

The pay cap would apply to institutions that negotiate agreements with the Treasury Department for "exceptional assistance" in the future. The restriction would not apply to such firms as American International Group Inc., Bank of America Corp., and Citigroup Inc., that already have received such help.

"There is a deep sense across the country that those who were not ... responsible for this crisis are bearing a greater burden than those who were," Geithner said.

Firms that want to pay executives above the $500,000 threshold would have to use stock that could not be sold or liquidated until they pay back the government funds.

Generally healthy institutions would have more leeway. They also face the $500,000 limit if they're getting government help, but the cap can be waived with full public disclosure and a nonbinding shareholder vote.

Obama said that massive severance packages for executives who leave failing firms are also going to be eliminated. "We're taking the air out of golden parachutes," he said.

Other new requirements on "exceptional assistance" will include:

_The expansion to 20, from five, the number of executives who would face reduced bonuses and incentives if they are found to have knowingly provided inaccurate information related to company financial statements or performance measurements.

_An increase in the ban on golden parachutes from a firm's top five senior executives to its top 10. The next 25 would be prohibited from golden parachutes that exceed one year's compensation.

_A requirement that boards of directors adopt policies on spending such as corporate jets, renovations and entertainment.

The administration also will propose long-term compensation restrictions even for companies that don't receive government assistance, Obama said.

Those proposals include:

• Requiring top executives at financial institutions to hold stock for several years before they can cash out.

• Requiring nonbinding "say on pay" resolutions — that is, giving shareholders more say on executive compensation.

• A Treasury-sponsored conference on a long-term overhaul of executive compensation.

Top officials at companies that have received money from the government's Troubled Asset Relief Program already face some compensation limits.

And compensation experts in the private sector have warned that such an intrusion into the internal decisions of financial institutions could discourage participation in the rescue program and slow down the financial sector's recovery. They also argue that it could set a precedent for government regulation that undermines performance-based pay.

"It's not a government takeover," Obama stressed in an interview Tuesday with CNN. "Private enterprise will still be taking place. But people will be accountable and responsible."

Still, some elected officials were pushing for the stricter caps.

Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., has proposed that no employee of an institution that receives money under the $700 billion federal bailout can receive more than $400,000 in total compensation until it pays the money back. Her figure is equivalent to the salary of the president of the United States.

Even some Republicans, angered by company decisions to pay bonuses and buy airplanes while receiving government help, have few qualms about restrictions.

"In ordinary situations where the taxpayers' money is not involved, we shouldn't set executive pay," said Sen. Richard Shelby of Alabama, the top Republican on the Senate Banking Committee.

"But where you've got federal money involved, taxpayers' money involved, TARP money involved, and the way they have spent it, with no accountability, is getting close to being criminal."

It's A NEW DAY !

B4B

VIDEO: President Obama Discusses Urgent Need
For Economic Recovery Plan

Last night, President Obama recorded a series of national network and cable news interviews about the urgent need for an economic recovery plan.

Watch the video and share it with your friends and family:

President Obama discussed why we need an immediate effort to create millions of jobs while investing in long-term challenges like energy and health care.

He called for swift investment in job creation while continuing to assist those who are out of work, without health insurance, or in danger of losing their homes.

The Economic Recovery plan passed the House of Representatives, and the Senate is preparing to vote on it very soon. The final version can and will be improved. But the President's core plan will positively affect families and communities all across the country.

You can help make sure the American people have all the facts so they can support this crucial effort to boost our struggling economy.

The President is leading. Help is on the way.

Lend your voice by sharing this video with everyone you know. Then sign up to join thousands of people across the country who are organizing Economic Recovery House Meetings this weekend:

http://my.barackobama.com/recoveryplan

Thank you for staying involved,

David

David Plouffe
Campaign Manager
Obama for America

Blacks4Barack Selected To Be Part Of

U.S. Library of Congress
Historical Collection !

Cleveland,Ohioan Greg Jones' website, Blacks4Barack.blogspot.com has been selected to be part of the U.S. Library of Congress' historic collection Presidential Campaign 2008. The Blacks4Barack website will be made available worldwide through the LOC's Digital Collection.
Following is a portion of the request sent to Blacks4Barack.

The United States Library of Congress has selected your Web site for inclusion in its historic collections of Internet materials related to the Presidential Transition During a Time of Crisis. The Library's traditional functions, acquiring, cataloging, preserving and serving collection materials of historical importance to the Congress and to the American people to foster education and scholarship, extend to digital materials, including Web sites. We request your permission to collect your web site and add it to the Library's research collections. We also ask that we be allowed to display the archived version(s) of your web site.

The following URL has been selected:www.Blacks4Barack.blogspot.com

With your permission, the Library of Congress or its agent will engage in the collection of content from your Web site at regular intervals over time. The Library will make this collection available to researchers onsite at Library facilities. The Library also wishes to make the collection available to offsite researchers by hosting the collection on the Library's public access Web site. The Library hopes that you share its vision of preserving Internet materials and permitting researchers from across the world to access them.

"To have our website selected to help future generations learn more about the Historic Campaign of 2008 is a true honor," states Greg Jones, National Director of Blacks4Barack.org, a multi-racial, net/grassroots organization Jones started in February of 2007 with a mission to stimulate and invigorate support for Barack Obama."I must give thanks to all of the fellow Obama Supporters nationwide who have helped us in so many ways" adds Jones.

Greg Jones is also the producer/host of an internet radio program Obama Talk Radio 'Nothing But The Truth with Greg Jones' which is a 2 hour show discussing political news and views, issues of today and Obama Talk. The show airs Live each Sunday at 8pm (est) through BlogTalk Radio and can be accessed through the Blacks4Barack website.

About The U.S. Library of Congress:

The Library of Congress is the nation's oldest federal cultural institution and serves as the research arm of Congress. It is also the largest library in the world, with millions of books, recordings, photographs, maps and manuscripts in its collections. The Library's mission is to make its resources available and useful to the Congress and the American people and to sustain and preserve a universal collection of knowledge and creativity for future generations.

The Library of Congress occupies three buildings on Capitol Hill. The Thomas Jefferson Building (1897) is the original separate Library of Congress building. (The Library began in 1800 inside the U.S. Capitol.) The John Adams Building was built in 1938 and the James Madison Memorial Building was completed in 1981.

THANKS WARRIORS !
B4B

Romanian Baby Named After President

The Obama baby-naming craze has extended beyond the U.S. and Kenya. The first wave came after the election and the second after the inauguration.

According to the AP photo caption:

Claudia Scoica, 24, a Romanian Gypsy woman holds her son Obama Sorin Ilie Scoica, in Rusciori, Romania, Nov. 2008. By his own admission, Barack Obama was "a skinny kid with a funny name," but that isn't stopping proud parents from Romania to Indonesia from naming their newborns after the U.S. president-elect. Romania's downtrodden Gypsies - once enslaved, like African-Americans, yet still struggling to overcome deep-seated prejudice - seem particularly inspired.(AP Photo/Razvan Valcaneantu/Evenimentul Zilei)

B4B

Obamas Read To DC Students

In Surprise Visit

President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama have made a surprise stop at a public school to read to children.

The Obamas were at the Capital City Public Charter School in northwest Washington Tuesday. The president told a group of gleeful second-graders: "We were just tired of being in the White House."

B4B

Holder In As 1st Black Attorney General

Posted by Stephanie Lambidakis

(AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Eric H. Holder was sworn-in Tuesday as the 82nd Attorney General of the United States. He is the first African-American to lead the Justice Department, and surely the first A.G. to be treated as a bona fide rock star.

When Holder arrived at the department for the ceremony, a throng of Justice Department employees greeted him with thunderous applause, many snapping away with cell phone cameras to capture the moment. He sprinted up five flights of stairs where an even larger crowd erupted into cheers when Holder said, “it is so good to be home.” Holder served as Acting Attorney General, Deputy Attorney General and United States Attorney in the Clinton administration.

Tom Daschle Withdraws

Additional reporting by Sam Stein and Rachel Weiner

WASHINGTON -- Tom Daschle withdrew Tuesday as President Barack Obama's nominee to be health and human services secretary, dealing potential blows to both speedy health care reform and Obama's hopes for a smooth start in the White House.

"Now we must move forward," Obama said in a written statement accepting "with sadness and regret" Daschle's request to be removed from consideration. A day earlier, Obama had said he "absolutely" stood by Daschle in the face of problems over back taxes and potential conflicts of interest.

Moments after the news was announced, Andrea Mitchell of NBC News said she had just spoken to Daschle, who told her, "I read the New York Times this morning and I realized that I can't pass health care if I am too much of a distraction ... I called the president this morning." Mitchell described the call as emotional, and said Daschle was near tears.

B4B