President Barack Obama weekly address 3-28-2009

Parents as a reminder, during this historic time we are fortunate to be living, have your children read the script below while the President delivers the weekly message

Remarks of President Barack Obama
Weekly Address
Saturday, March 28, 2009
Washington, DC

Even as we face an economic crisis which demands our constant focus, forces of nature can also intervene in ways that create other crises to which we must respond – and respond urgently. For the people of North and South Dakota and Minnesota who live along rivers spilling over their banks, this is one such moment.

Rivers and streams throughout the region have flooded or are at risk of flooding. The cities of Fargo and neighboring Moorhead are vulnerable as the waters of the Red River have risen. Thousands of homes and businesses are threatened.

That is why, on Tuesday, I granted a major disaster declaration request for the State of North Dakota and ordered federal support into the region to help state and local officials respond to the flooding. This was followed by an emergency declaration for the State of Minnesota. And we are also keeping close watch on the situation in South Dakota as it develops.

The Department of Homeland Security and the Federal Emergency Management Agency continue to coordinate the federal response. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano is helping to oversee federal efforts and she remains in close contact with state officials. Acting FEMA administrator Nancy Ward has been in the region since yesterday to meet with folks on the ground and survey the area herself.

In addition, The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is assisting in the emergency construction of levees. The Coast Guard is aiding in search and rescue efforts while the Department of Defense is helping to move people and supplies. Members of the National Guard have been activated and are on the scene as well.

Hospitals and nursing homes in the area are being evacuated and residents in poor health or with special needs are being transported to higher ground. Teams from the Department of Health and Human Services are aiding in this work. And the Red Cross is in place to provide shelter and supplies for folks in need.

It is also important for residents in these states to remain vigilant in monitoring reports on flood crests and to follow instructions from their state and local leaders in the event that evacuations become necessary.

My administration is working closely with Governors John Hoeven, Mike Rounds and Tim Pawlenty. And I’ve been meeting with Senators Byron Dorgan, Kent Conrad, and Amy Klobuchar, as well as Congressmen Earl Pomeroy and Collin Peterson, to pledge my support. I will continue to monitor the situation carefully. We will do what must be done to help in concert with state and local agencies and non-profit organizations – and volunteers who are doing so much to aid the response effort.

For at moments like these, we are reminded of the power of nature to disrupt lives and endanger communities. But we are also reminded of the power of individuals to make a difference.

In the Fargodome, thousands of people gathered not to watch a football game or a rodeo, but to fill sandbags. Volunteers filled 2.5 million of them in just five days, working against the clock, day and night, with tired arms and aching backs. Others braved freezing temperatures, gusting winds, and falling snow to build levees along the river’s banks to help protect against waters that have exceeded record levels.

College students have traveled by the busload from nearby campuses to lend a hand during their spring breaks. Students from local high schools asked if they could take time to participate. Young people have turned social networks into community networks, coordinating with one another online to figure out how best to help.

In the face of an incredible challenge, the people of these communities have rallied in support of one another. And their service isn’t just inspirational – it’s integral to our response.

It’s also a reminder of what we can achieve when Americans come together to serve their communities. All across the nation, there are men, women and young people who have answered that call, and millions of other who would like to. Whether it’s helping to reduce the energy we use, cleaning up a neighborhood park, tutoring in a local school, or volunteering in countless other ways, individual citizens can make a big difference.

That is why I’m so happy that legislation passed the Senate this week and the House last week to provide more opportunities for Americans to serve their communities and the country.

The bipartisan Senate bill was sponsored by Senator Orrin Hatch and Senator Ted Kennedy, a leader who embodies the spirit of public service, and I am looking forward to signing this important measure into law.

In facing sudden crises or more stubborn challenges, the truth is we are all in this together – as neighbors and fellow citizens. That is what brought so many to help in North Dakota and Minnesota and other areas affected by this flooding. That is what draws people to volunteer in so many ways, serving our country here and on distant shores.

Our thanks go to them today, and to all who are working day and night to deal with the disaster. We send them our thoughts, our prayers, and our continued assistance in this difficult time.

Thank you.

No National Debates for H.B.C.U.'s

Professor John Davis, Screenwriter Jeff Porro, and I at the National Press Club

You have got to be kidding me!!!

That is the reaction I had while speaking with two-time Howard University debate coach Attorney/Professor John Davis. We spoke for an hour after Davis' presentation, Davis' statement below.

The screenwriter for Oprah Winfrey's film "The Great Debaters" Dr. John Perro, which starred Denzel Washington and Forrest Whittaker, expressed his outrage as well this past Friday at the National Press Club in Washington DC.

It is always a pleasure to speak with passionate proponents for African-American college students fighting for advanced opportunities. Professor John Davis and Dr. Porro were at the National Press Club this past Friday to state their mission of re-opening opportunities for Student Debaters from Historic Black Colleges and Universities (H.B.C.U.'s).

Their objective was to bring attention that there are absolutely zero, none, nada students from H.B.C.U.'s competing at the National Debate Championship in Austin Texas this weekend, and none have ever qualified for the National Debate Tournament Championship (NCT) in the 62-years of the tournament. Secondly the under-resourced HBCU debate teams, are not given its' proper respect -- comparable to the athletics -- from HBCU's trustees and adminstrations.

Denzel Washington was noted to have given one million dollars over a ten year period to Wiley College, the H.B.C.U. featured in the movie "The Great Debaters". Davis emphasized that while 100-thousand dollars a year is an impressive amount from one donar, Denzel's contribution was one of the very few contributions given H.B.C.U.s. Davis says that "100-thousand dollars a year would not be enough to effectively compete, considering airfare, debate coach's salaries, scholarships etc..." Link: http://www.utexas.edu/news/2009/03/26/debate_tournament/ .
Professor Davis states that there are roughly twenty "major" college debate competitions, where the team receive's points toward the National Debate Championship. Professor Davis is not speaking of independent debate challenges (e.g. the recent Howard U. versus Yale U. debate at Yale University.)The point system is very similar to Professioal Tennis, Golf, and Nascar. A colleges' accummulative points from each sanctioned debate competition adds up at season's end to qualify -- or not qualify -- for the National Debate Championship.

Fact: The last FOUR YEARS, NONE OF THE HBCU's competed at qualifying debate competitions, which receive points for the National Debate Championship.
Pictured are Davis, Porro, and event coordinator Mike Smith.

One of the biggest annual qualifying debate competition takes place at Wake Forest University. I highlight Wake Forest University debate competition, because Wake Forest is located in North Carolina. North Carolina is within driving distance from most of the 105 H.B.C.U.'s. The question I personally asked at the briefing, was why can't students from the H.B.C.U.'s drive or take a school bus to North Carolina for at least the Wake Forest competition? Davis stated that, "as in sports, the major Universities are taking the best, most qualified African-American students and giving them a free ride. HBCU's cannot compete with that."

An 'older' friend of mine who played HBCU basketball in the 60's, once said that the HBCU's athletic leagues back then, were the toughest competition in all of collegiate sports. African-Americans were not allowed to compete at the most major basketball and football so-called powerhouse Universities, such as Alabama U. in football, and Kentucky U. in basketball. The same was the case when African-Americans could only go to HBCU's prior to the 1960's to compete on their debate teams. The smartest African-American all went to HBCU's pre-1970's. And following the pioneering debaters, like the late John Hope Franklin at Fisk University in the mid-1930's, HBCU's routinely had a seat at sanctioned debate competitions. Surprising still, is the fact that no HBCU students have competed in these debate competitions for FOUR consecutive years.

Davis (pictured right) pointed out that full scholarships are absolutely necessary to effectively compete, as the brightest, most scholarly students are normally selected, as tackling the rigors and expectations that debate competitions demand, requires debaters to be at the top of the class. Davis should know as he is currently the winningest debate coach in the near 150-year history of Howard University.

Professor/Attorney Davis once paid out of his own pocket to fund his debate team to compete in a sanctioned debate competition. Davis notes HBCU's administrations and trustees choose to fund every athletic trip to all games scheduled, over the debate team. And this occurs despite HBCU's athletics consistent failure to remotely compete for the National Championship.

Davis and Porro are stating their case now to the Secretary of Education Arne Duncan to provide full scholarship funding, and additional support from other sources for H.B.C.U.'s students to compete in sanctioned debate competitions. As mentioned, these qualifying debate competitions are a stepping stone for the National Debate Championship, like the one held in Austin, Texas this past weekend.

Below are comments from Professor John Davis

This weekend provide a perfect contrast in national priorities.

One example is this weekend's "March Madness" -- the annual NCAA Basketball Tournament Championships -- where everyone can play, and there is an equal opportunity for all students to compete. The result: a highly competitive highly diverse and highly profitable activity.

Contrast that with the other intercollegiate tournament that will crown a national champion this weekend -- the National Debate Tournament Championships (NCT), chartered and sanctioned by the American Forensics Association. In start contrast to March Madness, not a single African American nor other minority is even on the team at all of the 78 Universities competing at the NDT.

And, none of the 78 teams invited are among the nation's 105 Historically Black College or Universities (HBCU), which by definition is an institution that was established prior to 1964 for the expressed purpose of educationg African Americans.

The NDT result, by contrast to the NCAA tournament, is a highly competitive, yet virtually all white and all male activity. That means that intercollegiate debate, which helped to produce so many African American leaders throughout American history, IS NOW CONFINED TO ONE GROUP. Where would young James Farmer, or James Nabritt, or John Hope Franklin, Jr., or Dr. Benjamin Mays, Barbara Jordan and Donald McHenry have an opportunity to debate today? NOT AT AN HBCU like they did in the 30's, 40's and 50's, and probably not at one of the debate powers competing this weekend at the NDT.

Yet the evidence (as documented in a UMKC study) demonstrating the educational and leadership value of debate is overwhelming: increased literacy by 25%; imporved grade-point averages by 8 to 10%; and graduation rates of nearly 100%. Furthermore, a long historical record demonstrates that debaters are porven to be effective advocates for themselves and their communities.

Notwhithstanding our national progress in the 75 years since Professor Melvin Tolson had a vision to build a highly competitive debate team at Wiley College to crack the color barrier, it is certain that barrier will remain through 2009 as well, and dejure segregation is no longer the culprit.

I've been involved in debate since 1974, beginning as a high school sophomore. For decades as a debater, coach and league founder, I've seen the difference it can make in the lives of African Americans and every other group that takes part. That's why I, along with Tim O'Donnell (chair of the NDT and Director of Debate at UMW - one of the top national teams) and my colleague Jeff Porro, launched the Debate Consortium in September 2008, with the support of the White House Initiative on HBCU's. The Debate Consortium shares Melvin Tolson's vision, but goes beyond just cracking the barrier. It seeks to eliminate it forever, just as Texas Western did at the 1966 NCAA Basketball Tournament.

I'm happy to say we've gotten some great response, but it is clear we can't do it alone. And that's why we're here: to call upon Education Secretary Arne Duncan to direct Stimulus funds to achieve greater diversity at the NDT within 5 years.

In sum, America gains a broader national benefit when it brings to the table all of the top talent it has to offer in any given endeavor. We need help from America's political, civic and business leaders to end a system that retards our national benefit and under develops large segments of our society.

We can achieve it.

Video: The Obama Deception

The "just released" video titled "The Obama Deception" speaks of the "New World Order." The video claims that the "New World Order" is running the World Economy. And for some straaaange reason President Barack Obama, after just two months into office, is "the chosen New Spokesman" for the New World Order.

The video also states that Wall Street has hijacked Washington DC and the entire Western world. Was it Wall Street that ripped off innocent American Businesses to the point where they can no longer function properly? Is there an 'Anglo-American World Order' as stated here in this video, with London, New York, and Washington DC the targets by the New World Order? The video above mentions many financial people as part of the Bilderberg Group. Who is the Bilderberg Group?

Today I listened to the Warren Ballentine show where the audio of this "new" video was aired. I even air-checked the show so Warren can better present future revealing and informative programs so the "radio" listener can better follow along. Warren played a large protion of the audio from the video - "The Obama Deception" - on his show today. I had to see the video for myself. After seeing it, wow! You have to see it for yourself, even though you may not agree with the information provided. However, knowing that the DVD is circulating around the world, with our President mentioned in a questionable manner.

Whether the video was put together by Neo-Cons (as one radio caller stated), or Obama-haters, Independent Journalists, or whomever -- the information is worth your critique.

President Obama Weekly Address - March 21, 2009

Remarks of President Barack Obama
Weekly Address
Saturday, March 21, 2009
Washington, DC

Last week, I spent a few days in California, talking with ordinary Americans in town halls and in the places where they work. We talked about their struggles, and we talked about their hopes. At the end of the day, these men and women weren’t as concerned with the news of the day in Washington as they were about the very real and very serious challenges their families face every day: whether they’ll have a job and a paycheck to count on; whether they’ll be able to pay their medical bills or afford college tuition; whether they’ll be able to leave their children a world that’s safer and more prosperous than the one we have now.

Those are the concerns I heard about in California. They are the concerns I’ve heard about in letters from people throughout this country for the last two years. And they are the concerns addressed in the budget I sent to Congress last month.

With the magnitude of the challenges we face, I don’t just view this budget as numbers on a page or a laundry list of programs. It’s an economic blueprint for our future – a vision of America where growth is not based on real estate bubbles or overleveraged banks, but on a firm foundation of investments in energy, education, and health care that will lead to a real and lasting prosperity.

These investments are not a wish list of priorities that I picked out of thin air – they are a central part of a comprehensive strategy to grow this economy by attacking the very problems that have dragged it down for too long: the high cost of health care and our dependence on foreign oil; our education deficit and our fiscal deficit.

Now, as the House and the Senate take up this budget next week, the specific details and dollar amounts in this budget will undoubtedly change. That’s a normal and healthy part of the process.

But when all is said and done, I expect a budget that meets four basic principles:

First, it must reduce our dependence on dangerous foreign oil and finally put this nation on a path to a clean, renewable energy future. There is no longer a doubt that the jobs and industries of tomorrow will involve harnessing renewable sources of energy. The only question is whether America will lead that future. I believe we can and we will, and that’s why we’ve proposed a budget that makes clean energy the profitable kind of energy, while investing in technologies like wind power and solar power; advanced biofuels, clean coal, and fuel-efficient cars and trucks that can be built right here in America.

Second, this budget must renew our nation’s commitment to a complete and competitive education for every American child. In this global economy, we know the countries that out-educate us today will out-compete us tomorrow, and we know that our students are already falling behind their counterparts in places like China. That is why we have proposed investments in childhood education programs that work; in high standards and accountability for our schools; in rewards for teachers who succeed; and in affordable college education for anyone who wants to go. It is time to demand excellence from our schools so that we can finally prepare our workforce for a 21st century economy.

Third, we need a budget that makes a serious investment in health care reform – reform that will bring down costs, ensure quality, and guarantee people their choice of doctors and hospitals. Right now, there are millions of Americans who are just one illness or medical emergency away from bankruptcy. There are businesses that have been forced to close their doors or ship jobs overseas because they can’t afford insurance. Medicare costs are consuming our federal budget. Medicaid is overwhelming our state budgets. So to those who say we have to choose between health care reform and fiscal discipline, I say that making investments now that will dramatically lower health care costs for everyone won’t add to our budget deficit in the long-term – it is one of the best ways to reduce it.

Finally, this budget must reduce that deficit even further. With the fiscal mess we’ve inherited and the cost of this financial crisis, I’ve proposed a budget that cuts our deficit in half by the end of my first term. That’s why we are scouring every corner of the budget and have proposed $2 trillion in deficit reductions over the next decade. In total, our budget would bring discretionary spending for domestic programs as a share of the economy to its lowest level in nearly half a century. And we will continue making these tough choices in the months and years ahead so that as our economy recovers, we do what we must to bring this deficit down.

I will be discussing each of these principles next week, as Congress takes up the important work of debating this budget. I realize there are those who say these plans are too ambitious to enact. To that I say that the challenges we face are too large to ignore. I didn’t come here to pass on our problems to the next President or the next generation – I came here to solve them.

The American people sent us here to get things done, and at this moment of great challenge, they are watching and waiting for us to lead. Let’s show them that we are equal to the task before us, and let’s pass a budget that puts this nation on the road to lasting prosperity.

President Obama Weekly Address March 14th, 2009

Remarks of President Barack Obama
Weekly Address
Saturday, March 14, 2009
Washington, DC

I’ve often said that I don’t believe government has the answer to every problem or that it can do all things for all people. We are a nation built on the strength of individual initiative. But there are certain things that we can’t do on our own. There are certain things only a government can do. And one of those things is ensuring that the foods we eat, and the medicines we take, are safe and don’t cause us harm. That is the mission of our Food and Drug Administration and it is a mission shared by our Department of Agriculture, and a variety of other agencies and offices at just about every level of government.

The men and women who inspect our foods and test the safety of our medicines are chemists and physicians, veterinarians and pharmacists. It is because of the work they do each and every day that the United States is one of the safest places in the world to buy groceries at a supermarket or pills at a drugstore. Unlike citizens of so many other countries, Americans can trust that there is a strong system in place to ensure that the medications we give our children will help them get better, not make them sick; and that a family dinner won’t end in a trip to the doctor’s office.

But in recent years, we’ve seen a number of problems with the food making its way to our kitchen tables. In 2006, it was contaminated spinach. In 2008, it was salmonella in peppers and possibly tomatoes. And just this year, bad peanut products led to hundreds of illnesses and cost nine people their lives – a painful reminder of how tragic the consequences can be when food producers act irresponsibly and government is unable to do its job. Worse, these incidents reflect a troubling trend that’s seen the average number of outbreaks from contaminated produce and other foods grow to nearly 350 a year – up from 100 a year in the early 1990s.

Part of the reason is that many of the laws and regulations governing food safety in America have not been updated since they were written in the time of Teddy Roosevelt. It’s also because our system of inspection and enforcement is spread out so widely among so many people that it’s difficult for different parts of our government to share information, work together, and solve problems. And it’s also because the FDA has been underfunded and understaffed in recent years, leaving the agency with the resources to inspect just 7,000 of our 150,000 food processing plants and warehouses each year. That means roughly 95% of them go uninspected.

That is a hazard to public health. It is unacceptable. And it will change under the leadership of Dr. Margaret Hamburg, whom I am appointing today as Commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration. From her research on infectious disease at the National Institutes of Health to her work on public health at the Department of Health and Human Services to her leadership on biodefense at the Nuclear Threat Initiative, Dr. Hamburg brings to this vital position not only a reputation of integrity but a record of achievement in making Americans safer and more secure. Dr. Hamburg was one of the youngest people ever elected to the National Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Medicine. And her two children have a unique distinction of their own. Their birth certificates feature her name twice – once as their mother, and once as New York City Health Commissioner. In that role, Dr. Hamburg brought a new life to a demoralized agency, leading an internationally-recognized initiative that cut the tuberculosis rate by nearly half, and overseeing food safety in our nation’s largest city.

Joining her as Principal Deputy Commissioner will be Dr. Joshua Sharfstein. As Baltimore’s Health Commissioner, Dr. Sharfstein has been recognized as a national leader for his efforts to protect children from unsafe over-the-counter cough and cold medications. And he’s designed an award-winning program to ensure that Americans with disabilities had access to prescription drugs.

Their critical work – and the critical work of the FDA they lead – will be part of a larger effort taken up by a new Food Safety Working Group I am creating. This Working Group will bring together cabinet secretaries and senior officials to advise me on how we can upgrade our food safety laws for the 21st century; foster coordination throughout government; and ensure that we are not just designing laws that will keep the American people safe, but enforcing them. And I expect this group to report back to me with recommendations as soon as possible.

As part of our commitment to public health, our Agriculture Department is closing a loophole in the system to ensure that diseased cows don’t find their way into the food supply. And we are also strengthening our food safety system and modernizing our labs with a billion dollar investment, a portion of which will go toward significantly increasing the number of food inspectors, helping ensure that the FDA has the staff and support they need to protect the food we eat.

In the end, food safety is something I take seriously, not just as your President, but as a parent. When I heard peanut products were being contaminated earlier this year, I immediately thought of my 7-year old daughter, Sasha, who has peanut butter sandwiches for lunch probably three times a week. No parent should have to worry that their child is going to get sick from their lunch. Just as no family should have to worry that the medicines they buy will cause them harm. Protecting the safety of our food and drugs is one of the most fundamental responsibilities government has, and, with the outstanding team I am announcing today, it is a responsibility that I intend to uphold in the months and years to come.

Thank you.

Michael Steele is the fall guy

I often have Political Journalist Raynard Jackson, other commentators, and articles from periodicals on this blog. And will do so with the below commentary about Michael Steele. But before I let Raynard speak on the trials and tribulations of the former Maryland LT. Governor Michael Steele, I thought that I would talk about my many talks and my understanding of Michael Steele.

Michael Steele just crept onto the national scene as the newly elected/appointed Chairman of the Republican National Committee. Steele is often criticized by African-Americans Democrats as being a Republican Party patsy, or a sell-out, an oreo, and any other negative name that you can think of resembling a traitor. However, I happen to personally know Michael Steele. I have had the honor of speaking with him in depth on several occasions:
1. 2008 Democratic Convention
2. 2008 Congressional Black Caucus Convention
3. 2008 New Hampshire Primary.
Also, as Operations Supervisor of the Syndication One News-Talk Network, I invited Michael Steele on the radio shows of both Warren Ballentine and Al Sharpton.

Michael Steele may be a patsy for the Republican Party, but Steele is not a sell-out nor an orea, and I can assure you that Steele has the best interest of Black America in heart and mind.

Michael Steele has yet to impress the millions of Republican followers of the late Congressman Strom Thurman, and Strom's proteges' Lee Atwater and Karl Rove's southern-style politics, commonly labeled as extreme "Right-Wing" Republicans...not to mention its' accompaning extreme right radio programs. Most noted Black Republican leaders and radio talk show hosts/commentators, have followed Thurman's principals to the point where they even back the ideology of extreme Southern right-wingers on national media outlets, to the detriment of non-Republican African-Americans. For instance, Rubert Murdoch's New York Post cartoon picture a month back with the depiction of the President as a monkey, killed by two policemen, is considered to many Black Republicans as "not" a racial cartoon picture.

Black Republican spokesmen and women unrelentently touted that our President is a communist, without mention of the Constitution itself clearly stating to "promote the general welfare" on behalf of the country. Republican leaders should understand that if their party allows major Financial institutions, Oil companies, and Health Insurance companies to rip off America, then the Government has a right to step in to save the American Economy by any means. For far too long, most Black Republicans have spewed hatred about Black people in general; the Black President specifically; and reek havoc on Black civil rights leaders on a regular basis. It is as if they are following segregationist like Stroman, Atwater, and Rove politics to the tee.

Michael Steele is not one of those Black Republicans you commonly see on the Cable News channels and hear on Conservative talk radio stations, or crinch at the Republican campaign messages of the past 40 years.

In short, Michael Steele a Lincoln-Republican. The same Lincoln-Republican party that your Great-Grandfather was a part of, that believed in freedom for all. Steele's return to the Lincoln-Republican ideology is the fight that he faces with his own Republican party. It is also the fight to remove the stigma of the many Black Republican sell-outs, we have seen and heard far too long.

For my African-American readers, Michael Steele wants you to have the money, power, education, and community ownership that you un-abatedly and rightfully have earned. Steele wants to free up more Bank loans for aspiring Black business entrepreneurs to start their own business, and to propell those established Black businesses to the next level. Statistically Black businesses hire more Black people than other groups, and Steele dreams of that self sufficient Black community that does not have to rely on others that do not have the best interest of African-Americans upward mobility.

I have gone on far too long. I will let Raynard Jackson, a Lincoln-Republican, tell his side of the same story in a different insider way.


March 19, 2009

Michael Steele The One
by Raynard Jackson

Michael Steele, the new head of the Republican Party, has been in office less than 50 days and he is already being set up to be the fall guy for the state of the party. On Friday, he will be criticized for the anemic fundraising numbers for March. Mind you that he became chairman on Friday, January 30 around 5:00 p.m.

He will be blamed if Republicans lose the March 31 special house election. The seat became vacant when NY governor, David Paterson (D), appointed then congressman, Kirsten Gillibrand (D) to fill the vacant senate seat of Hillary Clinton (she was picked by President Obama to become Secretary of State).

Now, let’s add a little context to the picture. As with any new chairman, Steele asked for the resignation of all the employees of the Republican National Committee. During the month of February, he had his transition team do a top-down review of the entire operation of the committee and to make recommendations on how to better run the organization.

Earlier this month, Steele began to announce his senior staffers. April will probably be the first month that he will have anything resembling a full compliment of senior level staffers in place. Then he has to hire staff to fill out the rest of the committee.

Now, let’s talk about the real problem. The problem is not Steele (though he has made his share of unforced errors). The problem is the Republican Party! You can have the best party chairman in the world, but if the people don’t like the product or service you are offering, then the support will not be there.

Conservatives represent about 30% of the Republican Party, but exercise a disproportionate amount of influence within the party. Even if all 20 million of Limbaugh’s listeners voted Republican, it is not enough to win a national election.

So, when Michael made his comments about abortion in GQ magazine, he was being pragmatic. I have known Michael for close to 20 years and he has always been pro life. But what amazes me about my more conservative friends who went apoplectic at Steele’s comments is: they are quick to say that he is a party chairman who happens to be Black (not a Black party chairman). But, when it comes to ideology, these same people claim that he is a conservative chairman not a chairman who happens to be conservative. What hypocrisy. So, let’s get this straight, Steele is only chairman of 30% of the party and not the remaining 70%? This is the fundamental problem with the party, either you agree with us (the 30%) on all the issues that we care about or you are not welcome in our party (the 70%).

Michael understands that he must bridge this gap in order to put together a winning coalition. That’s what he was trying to say (however ineptly) in the GQ story. Most of the large contributions to the RNC come from pro-choice Republican corporate executives, not conservatives. They tend to give in smaller amounts and account for a good portion of the direct mail contributors ($ 10 and $ 20 amounts).

If the Republican Party was run like a business, it would be bankrupt. One of the keys to any business’s longevity is the ability to adapt to the ever changing business climate. Like Blacks within the Democratic Party, conservatives act very emotionally sometimes and not strategic.

After the 1990 census Republicans joined with Democrats in pushing for more Black and Hispanic congressional districts, thereby guaranteeing a Republican takeover of congress in 1994. So, minorities got what they wanted but at the cost of their majority in the house and senate. Similarly with conservatives, you mention abortion and they lose their minds. As a Republican candidate, conservatives would much rather see you lose if you are not pro-life; rather than see you win if you agree with them on 80% of the issues.

When McDonald’s Hamburgers open stores in China, they adjust their menu to reflect cultural differences. That’s just smart business. But, Republicans would go to China and tell them they have to change their culture to fit the Republican approach to business.

Changing this mindset is going to be Michael’s biggest challenge. He understands the necessity of broadening the party. As with any change, there are winners and losers. Those losers are the source of most of these anonymous quotes in the media and they are hell-bent on tarnishing Michael’s reputation and weakening his support within the committee. These are the outside consultants who used affirmative action (their relationship with party insiders) to further their own business interests. Michael ended all of these contracts once he became chairman.

Now it’s time to affirm Michael’s actions of creating a new paradigm with fresh faces and new voices. I hope Black Republicans like Lynn Swann (ran for governor of PA), Michael Williams (currently chairman of the Texas Railroad Commission and U.S. senate candidate), will finally speak out and embrace Michaels efforts to change the face of there party. That’s why I support Michael Steele!

Raynard Jackson is president & CEO of Raynard Jackson & Associates, LLC., a D.C.-based political consulting/government affairs firm. You can listen to his radio show every Saturday evening from 7-9:00 p.m. Go to www.ustalknetwork.com to register and then click on host, and then click on his photo to join his group.

Radio and Records Magazine's Talk Seminar

That is yours truly, Kirk Tanter, on a panel titled: "Did you hear that? How to listen to your station more effectively," telling it like it is. However, in all, or should I say most of the panels at the Radio and Records Talk Radio Seminar last weekend at the Marriott Hotel in Marina Del Rey in California, the discussion turned into addressing the PPM Ratings system.

The experience talking to fellow Talk Radio Programmers, Talent, Consultants, and Managers was valuable. Most there seemed concerned with the direction of talk radio, both past and future. I say past because most of the talk stations are political in nature. Forgetting the exact percentage number, I can say for certain that the majority of today's talk stations are Conservative talk.

Witnessing the Fairness Doctrine panel, where liberal talk show advocates complained about Conservative talk radio stations not adding Liberal Talk to the stations' mix. The conservative response was "Tough". In all "fairness" any radio station Owner can play what he or she wants to play on their radio station, and so should you when you commit to paying for a radio station. I do not think that the Liberal Talk representation on that panel understood that. It is my opinion that having a Conservative talk show followed by a Liberal Talk Show, is like having one very different music format follow another. In other words, listeners from the previous show will all change the channel when a totally format comes on. To a station owner that is a ratings disaster. A Liberal Station will have to live or die on its' on, and so does a Rock and Roll station or a Hip Hop/R&B station. You will never see a classical show followed by a country show on radio.

However, overall I was pleased with the information that I brought back to Syndication One News-Talk Network. Special thanks to Mike Stern, News-Talk format journalist for Radio and Records magazine, for inviting me. The convention was high class and ran flawlessly. The tribute to Paul Harvey was incredible. Thanks again Mike, and I look forward to next year's convention.

King Memorial on FaceBook

Dear Kirk,

The Washington, DC Martin Luther King, Jr. National Project Memorial Foundation is now on Facebook and we want you to join our cause!

We have created a fantastic Facebook application called “Build the Dream” dedicated to constructing Dr. King’s Memorial. It is a virtual place where supporters are able to join our cause, recruit members, raise awareness about the Memorial and also donate money to the Washington, DC Martin Luther King, Jr. National Memorial Project Foundation. It is the perfect way to reach Facebook users, both young and old!

When you join our cause, your friends will be able to see your commitment to building the dream and through the power of social networking we can connect with thousands of other people who support the Martin Luther King, Jr. National Memorial, too!

There are so many cool features on the new “Build the Dream” Facebook application and if you’re already on Facebook you can follow this link to check them out now. If you’re not on Facebook you can still join the “Build the Dream” application by using this link.

After you add “Build the Dream” as one of your applications, be sure to spread the word and invite all of your Facebook friends to join the cause. The more supporters we have, the closer we can get to building the Memorial on the National Mall.

Not only will this application raise awareness, it is the perfect vehicle for raising additional funds for the Memorial. Did you know that there are over 175 million active users on Facebook? Just think, if we got every Facebook user to donate $1 to our cause, we’d easily beat our goal of raising the final $16 million dollars needed for construction!

Join the cause today and help make a big difference towards building the Martin Luther King, Jr. National Memorial.

Not a member of Facebook? Sign up now and get in on the action.

Thank you for joining our cause.

Sincerely,


Harry E. Johnson, Sr.
President & CEO

The Urban Network Convention

African-American Broadcasters that have come up since after the 1996 telecommunications bill was signed by Mr. Clinton that allowed mega-corporations to buy out most of the Black Owned radio stations, really missed some good radio times. Prior to the major change in ownership rules, Black Radio flourished.

It was not uncommon to have three to five Black-owned radio stations in one city. The term "across the street" was a popular phrase that meant the other Black Owned radio stations in the same market. Going "across the street" to work, meant that you got a better deal on a competing radio station.

Also not uncommon were the many Black Radio and Music Conventions prior to 1996. The major two were the "Family Affair" and "Black Radio Exclusive Magazine" Conventions. But there were other Black Radio, Black Music, and Associations gatherings that had their own appeal throughout the year. Simply put: There were more African-Americans in the Radio and Music industry back then, as there were a lot more Black-Owned Radio stations and Black-Operated promotions department in the Music Industry. The late Jack the Rapper's "Family Affair", and Sidney Miller's BRE Conventions continued to survive and grew because the others failed. The over-crowding of these two successful events though, turned into a few memorable moments that we want to forget. Jack was a passionate and extremely busy Broadcaster that should not have had to endure this as many folks that he helped along the way. Jack lived his last days happily with family in Las Vegas.

The issue now though is that there's not as many African-Americans in radio and in music promotions as there used to be, in order to sustain a profitable and effective convention. NABOB used to have their management seminars on islands, but not anymore because of cancellation due to lack of attendance. NABOB's annual dinner in Washington DC is still a big success, which also combines the management seminars. NABOB is not open to all level of Broadcasters though due to the expense. NABOB primarily is for upper management and owners. NABOB's dinner this Spring is 650-dollars in Washington DC. Travel, hotel, car, and registration for an out-of-towner could easily cost 1500 dollars. But believe me, it is worth it. I Rock the Mic convention is a new convention held annually in Miami, but a few that went last year, said that this year's convention was a bit more costly than last years and they did not return.

The Urban Network Magazine Convention in Southern California is this weekend, and has been a consistent affordable presence every year since it began in 1990. The Urban Network Magazine and convention was introduced to me by Jerry Boulding, when I worked at KGFJ in Los Angeles in 1990. Boulding was then a writer for the magazine and one of the organizers for the Urban Network's first convention in 1990. The first Urban Network convention was held at the Stouffer's Hotel by the Los Angeles Airport. From that first professional presentation -- Boulding made sure of it -- I returned each and every year to the Los Angeles-based convention until moving to Washington DC in 1996 to work at Radio One (Jerry Boulding referred me to that job in DC).

I was reading the Urban Buzz -- a website and pdf publication -- and ran across one of the icons in the Broadcast Business. He was often a moderator and/or panelist at all of the "hey-day" Black Radio and Music conventions. I am speaking of the legendary Vinny Brown. Since I have been going to conventions (beginning in the early 1980's), if I saw Vinny Brown on the program at a seminar I would circle the time and day of his session making sure that I would be their front and center. The same can be said for Barry Mayo, Elroy Smith, Charles Warfield, Percy Sutton, Cathy Hughes, the late Frankie Crocker, Tom Joyner, Jerry Boulding, Tony Gray, and Jeff Foxx. It was Jeff Foxx that gave me my very first nationally Syndication deal with SJS Entertainment at the 1993 Urban Network Convention. What stumped me while reading through the Urban Buzz was a quote by Vinny Brown. Vinny stated that the Urban Network was the last true Black Radio/Music conventions left and encouraged everyone to support it.



This week through the weekend, the Urban Network will be at the Pacific Palms Resort in Industry Hills, in suburban Los Angeles. I plan to attend and you should come on board. And judging from the multi-media seminars with experts in each field, a lifetime achievement award presented to Berry Gordy, Danny Glover hosting a dinner, Vinny Brown will be on a panel, and networking with you, I know that I will take a great deal away from the Urban Network...again.

The Urban Network is one of those conventions that you make sure the annual tradition continues. NABOB (though expensive) must also remain a force, and so should the Urban Network. Registration for the Urban Network is just 200-dollars. I hope that you can attend and keep the Urban Network alive.

Here is the link for the 19th annual Urban Network convention: http://www.urbannetwork.com/summit/index.html

Michael Jackson returns

http://michaeljacksonlive.com/video.php
Above link is Michael Jackson's press conference, or click on the blog's title

Oprah's message to Rihanna

Michael Steele Genuflects for Rush Limbaugh

By George E. Curry
NNPA Columnist

Michael Steele, basking in the celebration his sixth-ballot election as the first Black chairman of the Republican Party, was quick to pick a fight with President Barack Obama, saying, "It's going to be an honor to spar with him."

However, Steele refused to get into the ring with Rush Limbaugh, the reigning GOP champion. After giving an accurate description of Rush Limbaugh on D.L. Hughley's CNN show, Steele bent over backwards - or just plain bent over - profusely apologizing to Limbaugh.

The kowtowing was prompted by this exchange between Hughley and Steele:

HUGHLEY: You know what we do, we talk like we're talking now. You have your view. I have mine. We don't need incendiary rhetoric.

STEELE: Exactly.

HUGHLEY: Like Rush Limbaugh, who is the de facto leader of the Republican Party.

STEELE: No, he's not.

HUGHLEY: I will tell you what ...

STEELE: I'm the de facto leader of the Republican Party.

But Steele did not stop there. He added, "So let's put it into context here. Let's put it into context here. Rush Limbaugh is an entertainer. Rush Limbaugh, his whole thing is entertainment. Yes, it's incendiary. Yes, it's ugly."

And it only got uglier when Limbaugh posted a response on his Web site, titled, "A Few Words for Michael Steele," which was actually 2,491 words for Michael Steele, none of them complimentary.

Telling Steele that, in effect, he should be seen rather than heard, Limbaugh wrote,

"It's time, Mr. Steele, for you to go behind the scenes and start doing the work that you were elected to do instead of trying to be some talking head media star, which you're having a tough time pulling off."

Steele told Politico, "I have enormous respect for Rush Limbaugh. I was maybe a little bit inarticulate...There was no attempt on my part to diminish his voice or his leadership."

As if that weren't enough, Steele offered this poorly-worded explanation: "I went back at that tape and I realized words that I said weren't what I was thinking. It was one of those things where I thinking I was saying one thing, and it came out differently. What I was trying to say was a lot of people... want to make Rush the scapegoat, the bogeyman, and he's not."

Steele is a lot of things, but inarticulate is not one of them. When it comes to Rush Limbaugh, he is spineless. Steele should have had the courage of his convictions rather than caving in to a blowhard who demands - and gets - serial apologies from Republicans willing to take him on.

Rush Limbaugh is not only the face of the Republican Party, he's the death of it. And a few Republicans, Steele not among them, are willing to say that for fear of risking Limbaugh's wrath. An exception is longtime Republican activist David Frum.

In an article in Newsweek, he said: "And for the leader of the Republicans? A man who is aggressive and bombastic, cutting and sarcastic, who dismisses the concerned citizens in network news focus groups as 'losers.' With his private plane and his cigars, his history of drug dependency and his personal bulk, not to mention his tangled marital history, Rush is a walking stereotype of self-indulgence-exactly the image that Barack Obama most wants to affix to our philosophy and our party. And we're cooperating!"

Frum worries about the future of the Republican Party. "We lost the presidency in 2008. In 2006 and 2008, together, we lost 51 seats in the House and 14 in the Senate. Even in 2004, President Bush won reelection by the narrowest margin of any reelected president in American history," he said. "The trends below those vote totals were even more alarming. Republicans have never done well among the poor and the nonwhite-and as the country's Hispanic population grows, so, too, do those groups. More ominously, Republicans are losing their appeal to voters with whom they've historically done well."

But Limbaugh has another agenda, according to Frum.

"Rush knows what he is doing. The worse conservatives do, the more important Rush becomes as leader of the ardent remnant. The better conservatives succeed, the more we become a broad national governing coalition, the more Rush will be sidelined."

Limbaugh is anything but sidelined. He said on his radio program, "I'm not in charge of the Republican Party, and I don't want to be. I would be embarrassed to say that I'm in charge of the sad-sack state that it's in. If I were chairman of the Republican Party, given the state that it's in, I would quit."

And that's exactly what some Republicans are saying Steele should do, including Ada Fisher, a Black national committeewoman from North Carolina.

For now, however, it looks like Michael Steele is safe. And the only thing he's going to quit doing is criticizing Rush Limbaugh.

George E. Curry, former editor-in-chief of Emerge magazine and the NNPA News Service, is a keynote speaker, moderator, and media coach. He can be reached through his Web site, www.georgecurry.com.

President Obama's Weekly Address: Toward a Better Day - March 7, 2009

Saturday, March 7th, 2009 at 6:00 am

In the President's March 7th weekly address, the President Obama capped off a busy week in Washington remarking on new lending guidelines aimed at lowering mortgage payments; an initiative to generate funds for small business and college loans; the release of his administration's first budget which includes $2T in deficit reduction, and the start of long overdue health care reform.

Meeting with the Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi

Tuesday's (3-3-2009)meeting with Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi went well. Journalist from Magazines, Reporters from News-Talk Operations, and Bloggers all met for an early breakfast with the Speaker of the House on the coldest March day ever in the history of Washington DC. It was ten degrees that morning and one degree wind chill. Catching the metro/subway to DC had me out there walking in that brisk cold weather. It was freezing. What a day to re-start the breakfast sessions.

I was invited by Ellen Ratner of TalkRadioNews.com and Washington bureau chief of Talkers Magazine, to attend a rebirthing of the breakfast series that Maria Leavey started years ago. The renewed breakfast series is named after its' founder and Progressive Political advocate. The series is called the Maria Leavey Memorial Foundation breakfast at the United States Capitol. The series selects a high level official from Congress to speak, and answer questions from media.

Who was Maria Leavey? I was priviledged to know Maria Leavey, though it was just short of a year's time. Maria Leavey was a tireless Progressive Political activist. During here Political career, she worked for Senators Tom Harkins and Harry Reid, and consulted Govenor/former DNC chairman Howard Dean during his run for the Presidency. After working for Howie, Tom, and Harry, Maria began to promote Political issues htat she felt strongly about, and focused her efforts to market and promote the meetings and conventions via radio, blogging, television, etc... She pushed for more talk radio rows at these Political conventions.

During the first year of the Syndication One News-Talk Network in 2006, it was Maria Leavey that invited our News-Talk network to partake in her radio rows of mostly talk shows. Radio Row is a row of radio stations that are set up at events, and in Maria Leavey's case, Political events. While setting up the Syndication One News-Talk networks shows, I would have to communicate with Maria Leavey to make sure everything was in order. But once the i's were dotted and the t's were crossed, politics would take center stage and a one minute discussion would turn into a half-hour. Maria loved to talk politics and no matter what she was doing -- which was always ten things at once -- she would find time to speak about the issues of the day.

Maria brought in radio talk shows from around the country to add voice to the Progresive events. Michael Harrison of Talkers Magazine provided staff, and reported on these events in Talkers Magazine and talkradionews.com.

The annual Democratic Progressive Convention "Take Back America", and Consumer Health advocate Ron Pollacks' "Families USA" conference, are just two of the major Political events that Maria Leavey worked hard to promote. These two major conventions are held in the Washington DC area at two of the grandier hotels. I was blown away with the Political guests that we were able to interview from these two multi-day conventions. Keynote speakers we would record in the main ballrooms (auditoriums) and play their quotes or whole speeches on air.

Whether talk show guests or keynote speakers, the guest list was always impressive. Some of the guests and speakers from these two events, were Senator Ted Kennedy, President Barack Obama (then running for Senator), Secretary of State Hilary Clinton (then a Junior Senator), Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (then not Speaker of the House), Senator John Edwards, and Congressmen John Conyers and Dennis Kucinich ...to name a few. Once we saw the level of guests, the Syndication One News-Talk network intelligently continued our relationship to this date.

Maria Leavey poured her life into her work, and the committed people that she surrounded herself -- like Ellen Ratner and Kandy Stroud -- were and still are tireless political advocates and promotional wizards. I knew nothing of the monthly breakfast sessions back then that Maria Leavey spear-headed with Congress in 2006, as we just came on the scene. Unfortunately, our working relationship with Maria Leavey ended suddenly and tragically as she died from a family heart aliment, that could have been prevented if she had Health Insurance and regular check ups. I say "tragically" because one of her major causes was Health Care reform. The aforementioned Families USA Conference is the nation's largest Health conference. Leavey died one day before her 53rd birthday in December 31st, 2006.

I went to Maria Leavey's Memorial service at the DNC Headquarters and the iconic Political notables that Leavey worked for and consulted, were there to pay tribute to Maria Leavey -- Governor and former Presidential Candidate Howard Dean, and Senators Tom Harkin and Harry Reid.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maria_Leavey

Maria Leavey handed her Political advocate torch over to Ellen Ratner and Kandy Stoud, and through our continued great relations, we -- the Syndication One News-Talk network -- have benefited tremendously. We are thankful.

Ratner and Stroud have included Sydication One's talk shows on radio rows at the nations first 2008 Presidential Primary in New Hampshire; the Democratic Convention in Denver; the Inaugural Radio Row in Washington DC; front position on the Media Stand at the Inauguration -- just 20 yards from the Swearing-In ceremony podium; and this year will be our fourth consecutive year on Radio Row at the aformentioned Take Back America and FamiliesUSA conventions.

Fair to say that I did not just walk up to the US Capitol for the first renewed breakfast meeting on March third with the Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi as special guest, by asking the United States Capitol Guards and Secret Service: "Can you let me in so I have breakfast with the Speaker of the House."

The renewed first Breakfast session this past Tuesday was a major success, and should be sent out to all periodicals, as this is a historic time that needs to be accurately documented. The US Capitol conference room was available to us from 8a to 10a and the Speaker of the House arrived in a timely fashion at 9am (by the way, the Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi can down some donuts. I think she had about nine during the hour session).

The Speaker began speaking about the new Democratic policies being implemented and the President's agenda. Congresswoman Pelosi spoke uninterruptedly for about ten minutes. The question and answer session followed for the remaining fifty minutes from the "panel" of Talk-Radio News folks, Journalists, and bloggers.

Below is the link to the transcript and audio from the first and renewed Breakfast session with the Speaker of the House. I will have all of the transcripts and nuances from the meeting here on www.kirktanter.blogspot.com in future blogs. And will also continue the weekly White House addresses President Obama. Feel free to bookmark this blog site.

As promised, directly below is the transcript and audio link from the renewed breakfast session of the March 3rd. session with featured speaker, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi -- or you can click on the title above:

http://www.marialeaveymemorial.com/node/22

Arbitron Cites PPM Enhancements

by Mike Boyle of Radio and Records Magazine

Customers get 'increase in transparency'

In accordance with its recent agreement commitments with the attorneys general of New Jersey, New York and Maryland, Arbitron says it has committed the same key methodological enhancements to all PPM markets.

While there is variation in metrics and milestones based on particulars of the local market environments, all Arbitron PPM customers are in the process of receiving enhancements to the PPM methodology in four key areas: cell-phone-only sampling, address-based sampling, in-tab compliance rates and response metrics (Sample Performance Indicator or SPI).

In addition, customers in all PPM markets will be seeing an increase in transparency for more of the sample metrics in the Arbitron PPM survey research, including the distribution of sample by ZIP code and by cell-phone status. Arbitron will also continue to share with all customers any current and future findings of the impact of non-response on the PPM service.

"I am committed to continue our focus on the concerns of our PPM market customers in terms of the sample size, sample proportionality and sample quality of our PPM panels," Arbitron president/CEO Michael Skarzynski says. "I want to assure the industry that Arbitron is actively engaged in the continuous improvement of our PPM and diary market services. Thanks to specific customer input, Arbitron is already making good progress on improvements in many operational areas. As an integral part of the company's continuous improvement programs, Arbitron is on track to meet or exceed 100% of the settlement agreement criteria with the attorneys general of New York, New Jersey and Maryland."

Arbitron's key methodological enhancements include:

* Arbitron will increase the sample target for cell-phone-only households in all PPM markets to an average of 15% by year-end 2010. In an interim step, the current target of 7.5% will be raised to 12.5% in PPM markets by year-end 2009. (Monthly milestones within each year will vary by market.)

* In keeping with the commitment to increase cell-phone-only sample in all markets, Arbitron is committing to the use of address-based sampling technique for at least 10% of its sampling efforts by late 2009 and for at least 15% of its recruitment efforts by the end of December 2010 in all PPM markets. (Monthly milestones within each year will vary by market.)

Arbitron has already begun using addressed-based sampling for cell-phone-only households in PPM markets. The initial returns from the first round of address-based sampling are indicating that markets such as Nassau-Suffolk and Middlesex have a cell-phone-only penetration that is significantly less than 15%.

* Arbitron is applying its average-daily in-tab benchmark of 75% of installed sample to all PPM markets. Arbitron is currently implementing in all PPM markets many of the techniques and methods that Arbitron is using to minimize differential compliance rates in order to fulfill the terms of the New Jersey, New York and Maryland agreements. (Specific programs and techniques are being applied based on an individual market's in-tab performance.)

* The PPM markets that were first recruited in 2008 have received the benefit of the latest response rate and compliance programs starting with the very first recruitment contact. In these markets, SPI metrics are already above the commitments to New Jersey, New York and Maryland.

Arbitron will continue its focus on improving the SPI in all PPM markets. Based on the progress to date in the company's response rate programs, Arbitron has informed the MRC that it hopes to achieve a 21% SPI average across all PPM markets by the end of 2010.

* The company's commitments to New Jersey, New York and Maryland include greater transparency in terms of information regarding PPM sample composition and other metrics of PPM services. Arbitron intends to provide this additional information in all PPM markets that many of its clients have indicated they would find useful and would help their understanding the strengths and limitations of PPM samples.

* Arbitron is providing in all PPM markets installation and in-tabulation data by individual ZIP code, along with market population data for blacks, Hispanics and others (non-black or non-Hispanic) for each individual ZIP code.

* Arbitron will continue its practice of publishing the percentages of installed and in-tab cell-phone-only sample in the front of all monthly Arbitron electronic PPM market reports.

* The company intends for all PPM markets to benefit from the findings of a non-response bias study that it will conduct in the New York market by July 15. Should the findings indicate any measurable statistical bias, Arbitron will inform all clients of the identified sources of that statistical bias in the PPM methodology and will take reasonable measures to address those sources.

* The option to see the current composition of the Hispanic sample by country of origin has been a topic of discussion with Hispanic broadcasters. Arbitron has conducted a test of three markets selected by the Spanish Radio Association (Houston, Los Angeles and New York) to determine if asking the country of origin question during one of the regular status calls to PPM households would have an adverse impact on the PPM sample. Early results from the test are indicating that Arbitron would be able to collect and track country of origin without affecting the quality of the sample. The decision about moving forward with country-of-origin tracking is pending a full analysis of the test.

Genachowski Nominated To Head FCC

By Jeffrey Yorke of Radio and Records Magazine

It's official: President Obama nominated Julius Genachowski (pictured) as chairman of the FCC on Tuesday (March 3).

The appointment, which awaits Senate confirmation, has been rumored for months and appeared to be even closer to fact two weeks ago when, during an appearance on Fox News Sunday, senior presidential advisor David Axelrod deflected a question about the Fairness Doctrine and said, "I’m going to leave that question to Julius Genachowski, our new head of the FCC."

In a statement released by the White House on Tuesday, President Obama said, "I can think of no one better than Julius Genachowski to serve as chairman of the Federal Communications Commission. He will bring to the job diverse and unparalleled experience in communications and technology, with two decades of accomplishment in the private sector and public service."

"President Obama has made an excellent choice in announcing his intent to nominate Julius Genachowski to be the next chairman of the FCC," said FCC commissioner Michael Copps, also a Democrat who Obama picked to serve as acting chairman on Jan. 21 until Genachowski can take the reins. "Julius has the knowledge, experience and dedication to lead this agency forward as we tackle the many challenges confronting the country -- and the Commission. I look forward to the prospect of working with him on a communications agenda focused on serving consumers and the public interest. He will find here a talented and energized team of public servants committed to precisely this goal. I wish him a successful Senate confirmation."

Republican commissioner Robert McDowell also congratulated Genachowski on the nomination and said, “He will bring a valuable perspective to the Commission with his experience not only in government but also in the private sector. I look forward to working closely with Mr. Genachowski on the many important communications challenges that lie ahead for the American people.”
NAB president/CEO David Rehr said, "Julius Genachowski has a keen intellect, a passion for public service, and a deep understanding of the important role that free and local broadcasting plays in American life. NAB salutes President Obama on this superb choice to lead the FCC."

For Genachowski, 46, it is a return to the agency where he once served as a top legal and technical advisor to former FCC chairman Reed Hundt during the Clinton Administration. More recently, Genachowski, a college chum of Obama's, is credited with serving as the technology guru behind the President's massive and wildly successful Internet campaign that ultimately attracted million of dollars in donations and gave the average Internet contributor a sense of political might and worthiness.

Genachowski also played an important role in shaping Obama's telecommunications and technology policies. He is a proponent of ownership rules that promote diversity in media. Immediately after the Nov. 4 election victory, his name was linked to not only the FCC as its possible chairman, and as a possibility to head National Telecommunications & Information Administration, but also to a position that likely would have been created just for him, the nation's first chief technology officer. While that position was discussed as a possible presidential cabinet-level job, Genachowski's interest in it reportedly wavered at some point in December as the job description was crafted and included too little, if any, purview over any one government agency. It is unclear if there will be such a position in the current administration.

Since then, Genachowski's interest has been on the more powerful and perhaps influential FCC position. And his nomination has been closely watched in the technology industry because of both President Obama and Genachowski’s known interest in expanding high-speed internet service throughout the United States and making Internet technology a major financial engine in the American economy.

Genachowski met Obama at Columbia University, but the two became friendly while attending Harvard Law School. His parents were Eastern European Jews who fled during the Holocaust. His wife, Rachel Goslins, is a documentary filmmaker whose latest film, "Bama Girl," documents the 2005 homecoming queen contest at the University of Alabama.

Genachowski also has significant private sector experience, sometimes a rarity in bureaucratic Washington, D.C. He worked for eight years as a top executive with Barry Diller's IAC/Interactive Corporation and he was founder and managing partner of Rock Creek Ventures, an investment and advisory firm specializing in digital media that created LaunchBox Digital. He also was part of the founding of the nation's first commercial "green" bank.

President Obama newly appointed U.S. Trade Representative owes taxes

Cabinet-pick Ron Kirk owes $10,000 in back taxes

12:00 AM CST on Tuesday, March 3, 2009

By TODD J. GILLMAN / The Dallas Morning News
tgillman@dallasnews.com / The Dallas Morning News
Pamela Yip in Dallas and Dave Michaels in Washington contributed to this report.

WASHINGTON – Ron Kirk's excess deductions for basketball tickets and failure to report speaking fees as income have cost him $10,000 in back taxes, a Senate committee disclosed Monday, in the latest IRS-related embarrassment for an Obama Cabinet pick.

The problems are the first indication of potential trouble for Kirk's nomination to be U.S. trade representative, though White House officials and key senators called the errors minor and predicted the former Dallas mayor will be confirmed by the Senate.

"When you put anybody's tax filings under a microscope, people don't have to be dishonest," said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev. "It's just hard to do all the right things. It certainly shouldn't disqualify him."

Aides to the Senate Finance Committee uncovered Kirk's tax shortfall during weeks of vetting. Kirk, a lawyer and the Texas Democratic Party's 2002 Senate nominee, will file amended tax returns for the last three years and pay the Internal Revenue Service $9,975 plus interest.

That pales beside the lapses of some Obama Cabinet picks, though independent tax experts agreed that Kirk had made some "careless" errors.

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner paid $43,000 in back taxes before his confirmation. Tom Daschle, the former Senate majority leader who withdrew his bid to lead the Health and Human Services Department, paid $128,203 in back taxes, plus interest, for failing to report as income the car and driver a friend had provided to him.

Labor Secretary Hilda Solis' confirmation was delayed for weeks amid questions about her husband's unpaid taxes. Outside the Cabinet, an Obama pick for a top White House job withdrew over questions about her tax compliance.

The series of problems prompted the White House to review its vetting process and slow the pace of nominations. It was hard to gauge Monday how badly Kirk might suffer from the snafus' cumulative effect.

"We are confident that Mayor Kirk will be confirmed," said White House spokesman Ben LaBolt.

'Disappointed'

Texas Sen. John Cornyn, a member of the GOP leadership and the finance committee who defeated Kirk in the 2002 race, had been supportive of the nomination. But Monday night, an aide called the tax problems "a very serious offense."

"He's very disappointed," Cornyn spokesman Kevin McLaughlin said. "He's hopeful Mr. Kirk will take the opportunity to provide an explanation when he comes before the finance committee."

The top Republican on the panel, Sen. Charles Grassley of Iowa, "will reserve judgment on the nomination until the vetting process, including the hearing and any follow-up questions resulting from the hearing, is completed," said spokeswoman Jill Gerber.

Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., postponed the confirmation hearing for four days, until next Monday, citing a conflict with the White House health care summit. He was standing by Kirk, however.

"Mayor Kirk is the right person for this job," Baucus said. "I am confident he can successfully restore the confidence of Congress and the American people in a balanced international trade agenda."

Kirk supports free trade, and Republicans have generally welcomed the pick.

He earned more than $1 million last year as a law partner at Houston-based Vinson & Elkins and from corporate board positions, according to his financial disclosure form.

He was a key Obama supporter in Texas and was unveiled in December as Obama's point person on foreign trade. Kirk's nomination has been pending longer than any other for the Cabinet. Baucus blamed his committee's focus on the economic stimulus and nominations for Treasury and health and human services posts.

Kirk didn't respond to interview requests Monday.

His tax bill includes three main discrepancies:

• He owes $5,800 because of $37,750 in honorariums from 16 speeches dating to 2004. He assigned the fees to be paid directly to a scholarship fund at his alma mater, Austin College in Sherman. The Finance Committee said he should have reported the income and claimed a corresponding charitable deduction.

Independent tax attorneys agreed but called it an honest mistake.

"This is not something he should be hauled over the coals for," said Bill Roberts, a Dallas tax lawyer. "It doesn't show any intent to evade tax. ... Anybody could have made that mistake."

• Kirk owes $2,600 stemming from deductions for season tickets to the NBA Dallas Mavericks: $6,208, $7,035 and $4,139 in 2005, 2006 and 2007, respectively.

A memo issued by Democratic and GOP Finance Committee staffs said, however, that "he has substantiated $9,900 of the total $17,382 as qualifying entertainment expenses."

Written records rule

The IRS requires written records indicating the time and place, business purpose, and name and business relationship of the person being entertained.

A White House official called it a "matter of record-keeping," arguing that just because Kirk couldn't come up with documentation for every game since 2005 doesn't mean he hadn't taken clients.

But Norm Lofgren, a partner at Looper Reed & McGraw law firm in Dallas and a former IRS trial attorney, said that being able to substantiate only 57 percent of claimed expenses "suggests carelessness in his business record-keeping. The question is why. Mayor Kirk is an experienced lawyer who undoubtedly knows the specific substantiation rules for entertainment."

• An additional $1,000 in back taxes involved deductions for $25,218 in tax and accounting fees over three years. Kirk attributed 90 percent to his law practice, but that was too high.

Last October, Kirk also paid the IRS $2,188 plus $139 interest for tax year 2006, after the IRS notified him that he had failed to report a $5,000 speaking honorarium and $819 in dividend income.

Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, said through an aide late Monday that "I have confidence in Ron Kirk [and] I believe he should be confirmed."

Staff writers Pamela Yip in Dallas and Dave Michaels in Washington contributed to this report.

While the Economy Tanks, the President's Team Dawdles

Written by Economist and Author Ann Pettifor for the Huffington Post
There is no doubt about it. Barack Obama is an effective and inspiring president. His address to the Joint Session of Congress this week cheered all those who heard it.

His courtesy and respect for colleagues -- regardless of political affiliation or status is refreshing and will no doubt raise the overall standard of political and civic conduct.

His budget is honest, ambitious and fair.

On almost every day of his first 38 days in office he has taken firm, sometimes transformational action.

But in the most critical area, the economy, he is allowing his economic team to dawdle. That could be fatal to his presidency. Geithner, Summers and Bernanke are still lagging behind events. If he is not careful he, and they, will be overtaken by these events, and the U.S. could suffer the fate of Japan.

He needs to demonstrate a much sounder grasp of the colossal urgency of this crisis, and inject that urgency into the dawdling of his economic team. His advisors are schooled in Greenspan-style economics, and they are having to learn about intervention. While they gingerly climb this learning curve, the US economy continues to tank, the banks face systemic failure, companies are being bankrupted and unemployment is rocketing.

The impact on the global economy is incalculable.

America's total income (GDP) in the final three months of 2008 declined by nearly twice that expected -- by 6.2%. This is its worst performance since 1982.

The story of this collapse in output is the big story -- beside it, everything else, even Iraq, can wait.

While confidence in the president rises, consumer confidence has slumped.

Plenty of Americans would have been home, listening to the president's address to Congress. They had the time, because they are jobless. In fact in the third week of February, 36,000 more Americans lost their jobs than in the week before -- a record. Economists are predicting job losses rising to 1 million a month.

For these unemployed men and women, the euphoria of the speech will have quickly evaporated.

Consumer behavior and attitudes show that Americans do not really believe the president has a grip on this recession. They do not see it easing up in 2009, and reported record declines in their personal finances and prospects.

Each day provides evidence that the US economy is spinning downwards into a debt-deflationary abyss, not dissimilar from that experienced by Japan for 19 years now. An abyss into which is dumped rising and costly debts, falling wages, falling investment, and falling prices, including house-prices (still falling in Japan after 19 years!).

US house prices have fallen 19.2% year on year. In Phoenix they fell by 34% and in Las Vegas by 33% over the year. These are dramatic and unprecedented falls -- hurting the whole of the economy. And there seems no end to their declines.

As I have said before in this column, the high cost of borrowing and of servicing existing debts is crippling companies and forcing them into bankruptcy and layoffs. And it's not just risky companies that are facing this threat. Warren Buffet highlights the high borrowing costs that even a AAA company like Berkshire must pay:

"Funders that have access to any sort of government guarantee -- banks with FDIC-insured deposits, large entities with commercial paper now backed by the Federal reserve, and others who are using imaginative methods (or lobbying skills) to come under the government's umbrella - have money costs that are minimal. Conversely, highly-rated companies, such as Berkshire, are experiencing borrowing costs that, in relation to Treasury rates, are at record levels. Moreover, funds are abundant for the government-guaranteed borrower but often scarce for others, no matter how creditworthy they may be. ... Though Berkshire's credit is pristine -- we are one of only seven AAA corporations in the country -- our cost of borrowing is now far higher than competitors with shaky balance sheets but government backing."

At a time of the greatest debt crisis in history, these high borrowing costs are hurting companies like Berkshire and causing business bankruptcies and home foreclosures to balloon upwards. Each day inflicts more damage -- on the economy, on society, on families and on individuals. And each day the stock market shows its lack of patience with an administration prevaricating over the economy.

The Fed is the slouch here -- dragging its feet. Fed Governor Bernanke needs to urgently get all borrowing costs down -- for companies as well as households; for risky as well as safe loans. At this stage of the economic cycle, very few loans are without risk. And if businesses and entrepreneurs are to take the risks needed to pull us out of this crisis, they need affordable finance.

The Fed can get rates down by applying the policy of quantitative easing far more aggressively.

And then there are the banks. Collapsing banks can't wait while Treasury embarks on a painstaking and punctilious "stress test." The stock market knows what Treasury still needs to admit: the banks are bust. Their CEOs lack all credibility. Until they are nationalized the Dow will continue its very rational path downwards.

The point of temporary nationalization will not be to score political points, or embrace so-called European-style socialism. The point of temporary nationalization will be to stabilize the banking system (and the stock market) and bring about a blanket reduction in borrowing costs -- for all borrowers.

The point will be to prevent the United States economy failing like Japan has done for 19 years now.

The economy cannot wait for the president's patient building of bipartisan agreement. Those congressmen and women that cannot grasp the gravity of this crisis need to be sidelined.

Millions of unemployed Americans can't wait while Ben Bernanke, Tim Geithner and Larry Summers learn from the mistakes made by Japan in the 1990s.

Millions of homeowners can't wait till economists unlearn the dogmatic and misguided theories of Ayn Rand, Milton Friedman and Paul A. Samuelson.

The president must not allow himself to be slowed down by the timidity of his current economic team. If they don't stop dawdling, he should take over the reins and get himself a new team.

President Obama releases secret Bush anti-terror memos

Associated Press Writers Devlin Barrett And Matt Apuzzo, Associated Press Writers

WASHINGTON – President Obama's administration threw open the curtain on years of Bush-era secrets Monday, revealing anti-terror memos that claimed exceptional search-and-seizure powers and divulging that the CIA destroyed nearly 100 videotapes of interrogations and other treatment of terror suspects.

The Justice Department released nine legal opinions showing that, following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, the Bush administration determined that certain constitutional rights would not apply during the coming fight. Within two weeks, government lawyers were already discussing ways to wiretap U.S. conversations without warrants.

The Bush administration eventually abandoned many of the legal conclusions, but the documents themselves had been closely held. By releasing them, President Barack Obama continued a house-cleaning of the previous administration's most contentious policies.

"Too often over the past decade, the fight against terrorism has been viewed as a zero-sum battle with our civil liberties," Attorney General Eric Holder said in a speech a few hours before the documents were released. "Not only is that school of thought misguided, I fear that in actuality it does more harm than good."

The Obama administration also acknowledged in court documents Monday that the CIA destroyed 92 videos involving terror suspects, including interrogations — far more than had been known. Congressional Democrats and other critics have charged that some of the harsh interrogation techniques amounted to torture, a contention President George W. Bush and other Bush officials rejected.

The new administration pledged on Monday to begin turning over documents related to the videos to a federal judge and to make as much information public as possible.

The legal memos written by the Bush administration's Office of Legal Counsel show a government grappling with how to wage war on terrorism in a fast-changing world. The conclusion, reiterated in page after page of documents, was that the president had broad authority to set aside constitutional rights.

Fourth Amendment protections against unwarranted search and seizure, for instance, did not apply in the United States as long as the president was combatting terrorism, the Justice Department said in an Oct. 23, 2001, memo.

"First Amendment speech and press rights may also be subordinated to the overriding need to wage war successfully," Deputy Assistant Attorney General John Yoo wrote, adding later: "The current campaign against terrorism may require even broader exercises of federal power domestically."

On Sept. 25, 2001, Yoo discussed possible changes to the laws governing wiretaps for intelligence gathering. In that memo, he said the government's interest in keeping the nation safe following the terrorist attacks might justify warrantless searches.

That memo did not specifically attempt to justify the government's warrantless wiretapping program, but it provided part of the foundation.

Yoo, now a professor at the University of California at Berkeley School of Law, did not return messages seeking comment.

The memos reflected a belief within the Bush administration that the president had broad powers that could not be checked by Congress or the courts. That stance, in one form or another, became the foundation for many policies: holding detainees at Guantanamo Bay, eavesdropping on U.S. citizens without warrants, using tough new CIA interrogation tactics and locking U.S. citizens in military brigs without charges.

Obama has pledged to close the Guantanamo Bay prison within a year. He halted the CIA's intensive interrogation program. And last week, prosecutors moved the terrorism case against U.S. resident Ali Al-Marri, a suspected al-Qaida sleeper agent held in a military brig, to a civilian courthouse.

A criminal prosecutor is wrapping up an investigation of the destruction of the tapes of interrogations.

Monday's acknowledgment of videotape destruction, however, involved a civil lawsuit filed in New York by the American Civil Liberties Union.

"The CIA can now identify the number of videotapes that were destroyed," said the letter submitted in that case by Acting U.S. Attorney Lev Dassin. "Ninety-two videotapes were destroyed."

It is not clear what exactly was on the recordings. The government's letter cites interrogation videos, but the lawsuit against the Defense Department also seeks records related to treatment of detainees, any deaths of detainees and the CIA's sending of suspects overseas, known as "extraordinary rendition."

At the White House, press secretary Robert Gibbs told reporters he hadn't spoken to the president about the report, but he called the news about the videotapes "sad" and said Obama was committed to ending torture while also protecting American values.

ACLU attorney Amrit Singh said the CIA should be held in contempt of court for holding back the information for so long.

"The large number of videotapes destroyed confirms that the agency engaged in a systematic attempt to hide evidence of its illegal interrogations and to evade the court's order," Singh said.

CIA spokesman George Little said the agency "has certainly cooperated with the Department of Justice investigation. If anyone thinks it's agency policy to impede the enforcement of American law, they simply don't know the facts."

The details of interrogations of terror suspects, and the existence of tapes documenting those sessions, have become the subject of long fights in a number of different court cases. In the trial of Sept. 11 conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui, prosecutors initially claimed no such recordings existed, then acknowledged after the trial was over that two videotapes and one audiotape had been made.

The Dassin letter, dated March 2 to Judge Alvin Hellerstein, says the CIA is now gathering more details for the lawsuit, including a list of the destroyed records, any secondary accounts that describe the destroyed contents and the identities of those who may have viewed or possessed the recordings before they were destroyed.

But the lawyers also note that some of that information may be classified, such as the names of CIA personnel who viewed the tapes.

The separate criminal investigation includes interrogations of al-Qaida lieutenant Abu Zubaydah and another top al-Qaida leader. Tapes of those interrogations were destroyed, in part, the Bush administration said, to protect the identities of the government questioners at a time the Justice Department was debating whether or not the tactics used during the interrogations were legal.

Former CIA director Michael Hayden acknowledged that waterboarding — simulated drowning — was used on three suspects, including the two whose interrogations were recorded.

John Durham, a senior career prosecutor in Connecticut, is leading the criminal investigation, out of Virginia, and had asked that he be given until the end of February to wrap up his work before requests for information in the civil lawsuit were dealt with.

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Associated Press Writers Pamela Hess and Philip Elliott contributed to this report.