Spike Lee Pays Settlement for Retweeting Wrong Sanford, Florida Address

Police Surveillance video shows no cuts nor bruises on George Zimmerman

Story and Video by ABC News
Written by Matt Gutman

A police surveillance video taken the night that Trayvon Martin was shot dead shows no blood or bruises on George Zimmerman, the neighborhood watch captain who says he shot Martin after he was punched in the nose, knocked down and had his head slammed into the ground.

The surveillance video, which was obtained exclusively by ABC News, shows Zimmerman arriving in a police cruiser. As he exits the car, his hands are cuffed behind his back. Zimmerman is frisked and then led down a series of hallways, still cuffed.

Zimmerman, 28, is wearing a red and black fleece and his face and head are cleanly shaven. He appears well built, hardly the portly young man depicted in a 2005 mug shot that until a two days ago was the single image the media had of Zimmerman.
The initial police report noted that Zimmerman was bleeding from the back of the head and nose, and after medical attention it was decided that he was in good enough condition to travel in a police cruiser to the Sanford, Fla., police station for questioning.

His lawyer later insisted that Zimmerman's nose had been broken in his scuffle with 17-year-old Martin.

In the video an officer is seen pausing to look at the back of Zimmerman's head, but no abrasions or blood can be seen in the video and he did not check into the emergency room following the police questioning.

Zimmerman was not arrested although ABC News has learned that the lead homicide investigator filed an affidavit urging Zimmerman be charged with manslaughter. The prosecutor, however, told the officer to not file the charge because there was not enough evidence for conviction.

Zimmerman said he was heading back to his car when Martin attacked him. His lawyer, Craig Sonner, said his client felt "one of them was going to die that night," when he pulled the trigger.

Martin's girlfriend, who was on the phone with him in his final moments, told ABC News in an exclusive interview that she has not been interviewed by police, despite Martin telling her he was being followed.

The 16-year-old girl, who is only being identified as DeeDee, recounted the final moments of her conversation with Martin before the line went dead.

"When he saw the man behind him again he said this man is going to do something to him. And then he said this man is still behind him and I said run," she said.

Phone records obtained by ABC News show that the girl called Martin at 7:12 p.m., five minutes before police arrived, and remained on the phone with Martin until moments before he was shot.

DeeDee said Martin turned around and asked Zimmerman why he was following him.

"The man said what are you doing around here?" DeeDee recalled Zimmerman saying.

She said she heard someone pushed into the grass before the call was dropped.

Zimmerman, who had called 911, was asked by the dispatcher if he was following the teen. When Zimmerman replied that he was, the dispatcher said, "We don't need you to do that."

Martin's death has sparked protests across the country and prompted President Obama to say that if he had a son, he would look like Martin.

Court signals entire health care law might need to be struck down

Story by MSNBC
Written by Tom Curry

In the Supreme Court’s final day of arguments on the constitutionality of the 2010 health care law, the justices wrestled Wednesday with what happens to the law if they strike down the provision that requires the uninsured to buy insurance.

“I think a majority of the court believes that if it rules that individual mandate is unconstitutional, then the rest of the health care law probably cannot be saved,” reported NBC’s Pete Williams after hearing the 90 minutes of oral argument.

“It would seem that a majority of the court -- again, breaking down along the familiar lines -- believes ... it would be a very difficult, almost impossible, chore to figure out which parts of the law could still be saved,” Williams reported.

At issue before the court on Wednesday was “severe-ability” -- a principle that holds that if one part of a law is ruled unconstitutional, the remaining parts of the law can stay in force.

Attorney Paul Clement argues on behalf of respondents challenging the constitutionality of 2010 Affordable Health Care law, while standing before members of the Supreme Court in this courtroom illustration by Reuters.

Williams reported that the justices were “very concerned” about the effects on the insurance industry of leaving intact the obligations imposed on it to offer coverage to all who seek it without the source of income from the individual mandate.

“They are very worried about saddling the insurance industry with that,” he said.

Arguing that Congress ought to be given the opportunity to repair the bill if the court strikes down the individual mandate, Justice Sonia Sotomayor asked, “In a democracy structured like ours, where each branch does different things, why we should involve the Court in making the legislative judgment?”

Read more »

Syndication One News-Talk Network at the White House

Chief Adviser to President Obama Valarie Jarrett with Syn1 News-Talk Network's Operations Supervisor Kirk Tanter in the Chief Adviser's office at the White House (photo by Kirk Tanter)

Over the past two days, March 26 and 27, 2012, the Syndication One News-Talk Network broadcasted live from the Mott House across the street from the United States Supreme Court during the Supreme Court hearings on the Patient Protection and Affordable Health Care plan. 

Syn1 News-Talk Network's talk show host Warren Ballentine interviewed Congressman Dennis Kucinich (advocate of the Patient Protection and Affordable Health Care law), Women Health Advocates, Medicare and Social Security activists, President of Families USA Ron Pollack, and more. 

On Monday, following day 1 of the two-day US Supreme Court broadcast, Ballentine was granted a taped interview with Chief Adviser to the President, Valarie Jarrett. The interview took place from Jarrett's office in the White House.

The issue discussed were the multiple benefits that the Patient Protection and Affordable Health Care plan provides to Americans of all ages, races, economic status, and genders. The Jarrett interview aired on the Syndication One News-Talk Network on Tuesday March 27th on the 10a-1p edt Warren Ballentine show.

 

Syn1 Talk Show Host Warren Ballentine prepares for an interviewPresident Obama's Chief Adviser Valarie Jarrett in her office at the White House (photo by Kirk Tanter) 

The Supreme Court hearings concluded on Wednesday March 28th, with the justices having a major concern about one clause within the Patient Protection and Affordable Health Care Plan. The justices were “very concerned” about the effects on the insurance industry of leaving intact the obligations imposed on it to offer coverage to all who seek it without the source of income from the individual mandate. 

If the justices repeal this clause in the Affordable Health Care Law, there is possibility that the entire 2700-page Patient Protection and Affordable Health Care law will be repealed.

Another issue that the Majority-Republican court constitutionally had a issue with is, the Federal Government promising State's additional money they expand Medicaid to include more of the poor. States can refuse, but only if they pull out of the program altogether. 

Protesters lined up at the Supreme Court during the Affordable Health Care Law hearings (photo by Kirk Tanter)

The question before the Supreme Court is whethere the law violates limits the the court has set in the past: that the federal bovernment cannot impose conditions "so coercive as to pass the point at which pressure turn into compulsion."

Liberal justices thought the States' argument lacked merit. "Why is a big gift by the fereal government as matter of coercion?" asked Justice Elena Kagan, saying the government is giving the States a "boatload of money."

Conservative Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. said that if Medicaid program had become so large that no State could turn down the government's offer. "When that's the case, how can that 'not' be coercion?" he asked Solicitor General Donald B. Verrilli Jr.. 

Syndication One News-Talk Network host Warren Ballentine with Chief Adviser to the President Valarie Jarrett in her office at the White House (photo credit: Kirk Tanter)

In the White House interview that Syndication One News-Talk Network's talk show host Warren Ballentine had with Chief Adviser to the President Valarie Jarrett, Valarie listed a number of Health Care benefits within the Patient Protection and Affordable Health Care law for Senior Citizens, the Poor, and Small Businesses:

1. Insurance Companies cannot discriminate against Pre-Existing Conditions

2. Young people under 26 years old can remain on parents medical plans

3. Seniors will have rebates on medicine

4. An exchange pool of physicians for individual medical coverage is set up for employees not covered by employers

5. Small Business will have a 35% tax credit toward Health Care

6. Health Insurance Companies are required not to charge co-pays for Preventive Care 

and so on...

The Republican-dominated Supreme Court is schedule to officially vote on the constitutionality of certain provisions within the Health Care law (may repeal the entire Health Care law altogether) on Friday March 30th; Debate their vote between Friday and June; and have a final ruling on the Patient Protection and Affordable Health Care law in June 2012.

Inner City set to get needed financing.

Briefing by Inside Radio

U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge Shelley Chapman has given temporary approval to allow Inner City Broadcasting’s new owners to access up to $3 million in financing. YMF Media says it needs the money to cover the costs of running the company as well as relocating its New York operations to a smaller and cheaper location.

Congressional Black Caucus statement on the Death of Trayvon Martin

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                         Contact: Muriel Cooper March 26, 2012                                                                       (202) 263-2829                                                                                                mcooper@cbcfinc.org CBCF STATEMENT ON THE TRAGEDY OF TRAYVON MARTIN      The Congressional Black Caucus Foundation (CBCF) wishes to express its condolences to the family of Trayvon Martin. We are dismayed that such a terrible tragedy occurred, and are in full support of the Congressional Black Caucus, and the thousands of others gathered in Sanford, Florida and nationwide, calling for the full investigation and arrest of the person responsible for Trayvon's killing. The death of any young person is a loss that reverberates throughout our communities.  Trayvon's killing is yet another example of the challenges posed by some local laws which seemingly afford disparate protections under the law.  CBCF is working to remedy this legal dissymmetry by educating the public about our criminal justice system, and informing the public about ways to eliminate the legal disparities that are disproportionately impacting African Americans and other youth. We look forward to the findings of the Justice Department, and remain hopeful that true justice will be rendered for the late Trayvon Martin and his family. Again, our deepest sympathy to the Trayvon Martin family.   The Congressional Black Caucus Foundation, Inc., established in 1976, is a non-partisan, non-profit, public policy, research and educational institute intended to broaden and elevate the influence of African Americans in the political, legislative and public policy arenas.

VP Joe Biden comments on Affordable Care Act

Friend --

Two years ago today, we passed health care reform.

We did the right thing and it's affecting people's lives.

Preventive services with no out-of-pocket costs, an end to women paying higher premiums just because they're women, protection from insurance company abuses, 33 million Americans gaining coverage ... and it extends the solvency of Medicare through 2024, while closing the "doughnut hole" in prescription-drug coverage and reducing costs for seniors.

It's a long list of achievements that affects each and every one of us.

When I hear the other side saying they'll take it all away, that gets me pretty fired up.

I'm proud we passed the Affordable Care Act. Let's show just how many of us are willing to protect it.

If you're with me, stand up for this landmark legislation today:

http://my.democrats.org/Proud

Thanks,


Joe

Rev. Al Sharpton dialogs the Trayvon Martin investigation

Reverend Al Sharpton's Mom Funeral Arrangement

REVEREND AL SHARPTON TO DELIVER THE EULOGY FOR HIS MOTHER ADA SHARPTON ON TUESDAY, MARCH 27, 2012

Public Viewing:
Monday, March 26, 2012
5-7 p.m.
Center Baptist Church
4344 Alabama 173
Newville, Alabama 36364
(334) 889-4710

Funeral:
Tuesday, March 27, 2012
Wake 10-11a.m.
Funeral 11:00 a.m.
Center Baptist Church
4344 Alabama 173
Newville, Alabama 36364
(334) 889-4710

Repast:
The Evergreen Plaza
805 N Lena, St
Dothan, AL 36303

The funeral is open to the media. Please confirm your outlet by emailing Rachel@noerdlingermedia.com
To send flowers and cards please send them to:
Stanford & Son’s Funeral Home
2378 U.S. Highway 431 South
Abbeville, AL 36310
(334) 585-5344
Attention Ada Sharpton

Sanford, Florida's Police Chief Bill Lee steps aside "temporarily"

A Rally at Sanford, Florida's City Hall this Monday at 4pm

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:                                                                     CONTACT: Priscilla Clarke (240) 476-9643 March 22, 2012

MEDIA ADVISORY Trayvon Martin Rally with Empowerment Movement, African American Clergy and Civil Rights Leaders on Monday, March 26 at 4:00pm at Sanford City Hall in Florida

WHO:               African American Clergy and Civil Rights Leaders from around the country, Rev. Jesse Jackson, the NAACP, Central Florida Urban League, AME Ministerial Alliance, Students from Howard University, Bethune Cookman University, Florida A&M University, Morehouse College, Spelman College, University of Central Florida, the African American Student Union, National Pan-Hallenic Council, as well as concern citizens and the community will join Rev. Dr. Jamal Bryant of the Empowerment Movement to Rally against the injustice of Trayvon Martin.         WHAT:              The rally will begin at 4:00pm on March 26, 2012 at Centennial Park located at 400 Park Ave in Sanford, Florida and they will march to Sanford Civic Center (300 North Park Ave) where the City Commission will be held, a month after the victim was slain. Sybrina Fulton, the mother of Trayvon Martin will speak, immediately following the rally at the Sanford City Council Meeting at 5p.m. The rally is being led by Pastor Jamal Bryant of the Empowerment Movement with support from local and national African American Clergy, Civil Rights organizations and leaders and the community.  Protesters are asked to bring their voice and a bag of skittles in honor of Trayvon. WHEN:   Monday, March 26, 2012 at 4p.m. (EST) WHERE:              Begins at Centennial Park (400 Park Ave.) at 4:00pm and then March to Sanford City Hall (300 North Park Ave., Sanford, FL.)                                     WHY:              Rev. Dr. Jamal Bryant, the pastor of Empowerment Temple and President of the Empowerment Movement, vowed to "Shut down Florida" at a rally last week in Florida to demand justice for slain Miami-Dade teen Trayvon Martin. The organization is asking everyone to come out to rally in support of the Martin family. The Empowerment Movement, is a faith based coalition of African American Clergy with initiatives that will bring together leaders of the faith based community of all denominations, designed to move the African American Community forward in social justice, politics, education and economics with the use of Christian principles. The organization's involvement in the case is to rally for justice for Trayvon Martin and his family and other victims.                            In addition, the Empowerment Movement has taken on a massive undertaking, with a goal to register one million voters on one day, Easter, April 8, 2012, by challenging every black church in the United States to register 20 people on that day. For more information visit:  www.Empowermentmovement.org   Dr. Bryant is a pastor with a global mission, which is to Empower the World Through the Word. He has the fastest growing church in the A.M.E. denomination. This new millennium minister is an impassioned social activist, community developer, and cultural philanthropist; an author, motivational speaker, and TV and radio personality.  www.facebook.com/jamalbryant  /  twitter.com/jamalhbryan

For interviews contact: Priscilla Clarke at Clarke & Associates (202)723-2200, priscilla@clarkepr.com

The Martin Family's attorney say police turned a blind eye because to them, "Trayvon's life didn't really matter that much".

Trayvon Martin Case: Police Chief Bill Lee Under Fire With 'No Confidence' Vote

Story by Huffington Post
Written Tramaine Lee

SANFORD, Fla. -- The city commission on Wednesday gave a vote of “no confidence” to beleaguered police Chief Bill Lee Jr., under fire for his department’s investigation into the killing of Trayvon Martin, the unarmed teen shot last month by a neighborhood watch volunteer.

The measure was passed 3 to 2, and comes after a tumultuous two weeks for Lee, whose department has failed to bring charges against George Zimmerman, 28, who told investigators he shot Martin in self-defense after the teen attacked him on Feb. 26.

Lee has said his department has neither the evidence nor legal grounds to arrest Zimmerman, who he said was legally carrying the concealed 9 mm pistol the night of the shooting. Lee said Zimmerman had the right to defend himself with deadly force.

Martin was returning to his father's home in the gated community from a convenience store. He had a can of iced tea and a pack of Skittles.

As the furor over the case continues to spread across the country, so have calls for Lee’s ouster. With protests in New York City and Miami on Wednesday and major rallies planned for Thursday and early next week in Sanford, local officials have said they do not believe Lee can continue to lead the city’s police department.

While the city commission vote is not binding, Lee’s fate now rests with city manager Norton Bonaparte Jr., who has the authority to fire Lee. Bonaparte told HuffPost last week that he was weighing his options. 

Bonaparte told reporters on Wednesday that he would postpone deciding Lee's fate until investigations by outside agencies, including the U.S. Department of Justice, the FBI and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. Those probes might detail missteps by Sanford during the initial investigation into Martin’s death.

“I’ve never thought the chief was a racist or anything. It’s more of a lack of experience and a lack of leadership,” Commissioner Velma Williams said during Wednesday's meeting, according to the Miami Herald.

Williams, the only black city commissioner, was among the first to ask the chief to step aside.
The department has been criticized for several aspects of the investigation. Officers initially told Martin’s parents that Zimmerman had a squeaky clean-record. He was arrested for violence and battery against a police officer in 2005. Martin was tested for drugs and alcohol after his death. Zimmerman was not tested. Police failed to check cell phone records for Martin and Zimmerman after the shooting, a lawyer for Martin's family said. And witnesses have said police did not return phone calls, attempted to manipulate them during questioning and have twisted their statements to fit Zimmerman’s self-defense claim.

“I take no pleasure in publicly flogging our police chief. He’s a good man,” City Commissioner Mark McCarty said at the outset of the meeting, according to the Orlando Sentinel. McCarty said he had called for Lee’s firing more than a week ago during a meeting with Bonaparte. Lingering questions cast such a negative light on the city and the department that he thought it time for Lee to step down, he said.

Chief Lee has said repeatedly that his department did not gather enough evidence from the night of the shooting to contradict Zimmerman's self-defense claim and charge him with a crime. He said Zimmerman noticed Martin walking home from a store, thought he looked suspicious and followed him. 

At some point Martin noticed that he was being trailed, Lee has said. The chief said Martin turned and confronted Zimmerman, asking why he was being followed. At that point Lee said a confrontation ensued. Lee says that Zimmerman said he stepped out of his truck to jot down the address to give to a 911 dispatcher when Martin attacked him from behind.

Lawyers for Martin's family have presented police with phone records to dispute Zimmerman’s self-defense claims. Martin’s 16-year-old girlfriend was on the phone with him moments before he was shot. The police department also released audio 911 recordings from the night of the shooting that include one of Zimmerman being told by a dispatcher not to follow Martin, who started running. Zimmerman did not heed the dispatcher’s advice.

In a letter posted recently on the city’s website, Lee wrote that “By Florida statute, law enforcement was prohibited from making an arrest based on the facts and circumstances they had at the time.”

“Additionally, when any police officer makes an arrest for any reason, the officer must swear and affirm that he/she is making the arrest in good faith and with probable cause,” Lee wrote. “If the arrest is done maliciously and in bad faith, the officer and the city may be held liable.”

Sanford is gearing up for a major rally on Thursday night, led by the Rev. Al Sharpton and several thousand expected protesters.

And in New York City on Wednesday, where thousands marched in support of Martin, his parents, Tracy Martin and Sybrina Fulton, vowed to keep fighting.

"We're not going to stop until we get justice," his father, Tracy Martin, told the crowd, according to the Associated Press. "My son did not deserve to die," said Fulton, the teen's mother. "My heart is in pain, but to see the support of all of you really makes a difference."

Al Sharpton, mourning the death of his Mother, will attend the Trayvon Martin rally in Sanford, Fl. tonight

Source: Reverend Al Sharpton tweet
‏ @TheRevAl
I am on the flight to Florida and will move forward with our plans to protest the killing of Trayvon Martin. My MOM would have wanted me to.

Trayvon Martin rally in Sanford Florida tonight moved to a bigger location

Source: Rev. Sharpton tweet 

• DUE TO OVERWHELMING RESPONSE THE RALLY FOR TRAYVON MARTIN HAS BEEN MOVED TO FORT MELLON PARK IN SANFORD, FLORIDA AT 7P.M.
  
  WHO:
  Parents of Trayvon Martin
  Attorney Benjamin Crump & lawyers for the family of Trayvon Martin
  Reverend Al Sharpton, President of National Action Network
  Michael Baisden, Host of the Michael Baisden Show
  
  WHAT:
  National Rally for justice on behalf of Trayvon Martin-- the unarmed African-American teenager who was shot and killed in a gated community in Florida late last month by a white neighborhood watch captain. The watch captain, George Zimmerman — a 26-year-old college student who has admitted to police that he shot the young man — still walks free.
  
  WHERE:
  FORT MELLON PARK
  600 East 1st St, Sanford, FL
  
  WHEN:
  Thursday, March 22 - 7:00 p.m.
  
  Contact:
  Rachel Noerdlinger
  rachel@noerdlingermedia.com

Statement Regarding the Passing of Reverend Al Sharpton’s Mother Ada Sharpton

Al Sharpton with his mother Ada in 2002

Statement from the National Action Network

Thursday, March 22, 2012 — Ada Sharpton, the mother of Reverend Al Sharpton, passed away in the early morning hours today in Dothan, Alabama, after a long battle with Alzheimer’s and Dementia. She was 87-years-old.  Her son Rev. Al Sharpton was informed while boarding a flight to Florida for his rally for Trayvon Martin.  Rev. Sharpton will head to Alabama to make funeral arrangements following the protest in Florida. He is accompanied on the flight by former New York Governor David Paterson.

Radio One: Liggins absorbs Mayo duties.

Briefing by Inside Radio

Following this week’s departure of Radio One radio division president Barry Mayo, the company tells investors CEO Alfred Liggins will assume Mayo’s duties. Radio One recruited Mayo in 2007 in part to allow Liggins to build an internet and cable television business. With those two new divisions up and running, Liggins now has more time to return to day-to-day oversight of radio.

Metal Rock Legends diss Rihanna

Story by Yahoo

A press conference to announce KISS and Motley Crue's 40-date co-headlining North American summer tour turned into a Rihanna diss session Tuesday.

Outspoken KISS bassist Gene Simmons stressed that the bands's sets would be live, unlike Rihanna's stage show.

"We're sick and tired of girls getting up there with dancers and karaoke tapes in back of them," Simmons said, according to Billboard. "No karaoke singers allowed. No fake bullsh-t. Leave that to Rihanna-Schimianna and everybody else whose name ends with an 'A.'"

After the press conference, Motley Crue's Tommy Lee supported Simmons's statements. "No disrespect to Rihanna, she's a great singer, but we're in a slump for some sh-t that has some personality and appeal beyond a bunch of pop stuff that's floating around out there," he said. "I'm glad he said that actually because I don't think I can bear watching another f—king award show that is just a little better than 'American Idol.' It's f—king pathetic to watch people go out and f—king karaoke with a bunch of lights and video. It's all completely watered down."

Simmons has been outspoken about lip-syncing. When it was announced that Madonna would perform during halftime at Super Bowl XLVI, he expressed his disappointment.

"I love all karaoke singers," he told TMZ. "I like all the girl singers who get up and sing with tapes. Shame on you."

Simmons described lip-syncing as dishonest. "I don't care what your music is, have some integrity, be real, or full disclosure before the fact," he said. "Hold up a sign that says, '70 percent of what you hear is fake. It's a tape. I'm a karaoke singer.'"

A spokesperson for Rihanna has not yet responded to Yahoo! Music's request for comment.

NFL suspends Williams indefinitely, New Orleans Saints' Payton one year

Story by NFL

The NFL announced Wednesday that New Orleans Saints coach Sean Payton will be suspended for one season without pay for his involvement in the team's bounty program. Saints general manager Mickey Loomis has been suspended for eight games. Former defensive coordinator Gregg Williams has been suspended indefinitely.

The team has also been fined $500,000 and will have to give up its second-round picks in the 2012 and 2013 NFL Drafts.

The league said in a news release that the involvement of individual players in the program is still being reviewed, and that any discipline will be announced at a future time.

In addition, Saints assistant head coach Joe Vitt has been suspended without pay for the first six games of the 2012 season.

Payton's suspension will begin April 1 and last for the entire 2012 season. Loomis' suspension, which is also without pay, will be for the first eight games of the 2012 season.

Williams, who was hired to be the St. Louis Rams' defensive coordinator earlier this year, will have his status reviewed by NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell after the 2012 regular season has ended, according to the release. Goodell will then decide if Williams should be reinstated.

Read more »

Tebow traded to Jets for draft picks

The Broncos finalized the trade of quarterback Tim Tebow to the New York Jets this evening for a fourth-round draft choice.

A snag in the trade earlier in the day in regards to a contract clause that stated that the New York Jets must pay the five million dollars the Denver Broncos owed Tim Tebow. The negotiation concluded with the New York Jets paying half of that five million dollars.

The Broncos-Jets trade:

• Denver Broncos receive a 2012 fourth- and sixth-round pick from the Jets.
• New York Jets receive Quarterback Tim Tebow and a 2012 seventh-round pick.

The deal was facilitated due to the Denver Broncos signing All-Pro Veteran Quarterback Peyton Manning to a five-year $96 million contract.

Jeb Bush endorses Romney for president

Story by MSNBC 

Written By Michael O'Brien 

Jeb Bush endorsed Mitt Romney for president on Wednesday, giving the former Massachusetts governor another important boost from the prominent political clan.

Bush, a figure whom many Republicans had urged to seek the presidency, called Romney this morning to inform him of his plan to endorse, according to a Romney campaign official.

The former Florida governor joins his father, former President George H.W. Bush, in endorsing Romney. Jeb Bush's brother, former President George W. Bush, has not made an endorsement in the race.
Jeb Bush said in a statement:

"Congratulations to Governor Mitt Romney on his win last night and to all the candidates for a hard fought, thoughtful debate and primary season.  Primary elections have been held in thirty-four states, and now is the time for Republicans to unite behind Governor Romney and take our message of fiscal conservatism and job creation to all voters this fall.  I am endorsing Mitt Romney for our Party’s nomination.  We face huge challenges, and we need a leader who understands the economy, recognizes more government regulation is not the answer, believes in entrepreneurial capitalism and works to ensure that all Americans have the opportunity to succeed."

As Bush's statement indicates, his endorsement comes at a point in the primary where Republicans, following Romney's win in last night's Illinois primary by a wide margin, may begin to rally around Romney's candidacy.

A popular figure within the GOP, Bush had been one of the few major Republicans yet to make an endorsement.

CLYBURN STATEMENT ON RYAN BUDGET PROPOSAL

WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. House Assistant Democratic Leader James E. Clyburn released the following statement on the budget proposal released by Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan today.

“I urge my colleagues in the House to reject the Ryan budget and the Republican Leadership’s misguided agenda. Their plan would hurt America’s seniors and working families while lavishing more tax breaks for the wealthiest few and putting insurance companies back in charge of families’ health care.

“The Ryan budget would end Medicare as we know it. The Ryan budget removes the guarantee of Medicare benefits that working people depend on after a lifetime of hard work. The Ryan budget creates new tax breaks for the wealthiest few. The Ryan budget breaks faith with the agreement Republican leaders made in last year’s Budget Control Act to maintain funding for essential services. And the Ryan budget protects all Pentagon funds while putting schools, roads, and job creation on the chopping block.

“The American people have spoken loud and clear in opposition to these misguided priorities. I urge the House to pass fair and balanced legislation to reduce our deficits in a responsible manner and invest in important priorities to build a strong middle class.”

7.4 magnitude earthquake strikes near Acapulco, Mexico

Story by MSNBC, AP, and Reuters

A strong, long 7.4 earthquake with an epicenter in Guerrero state shook central southern Mexico on Tuesday, swaying buildings in Mexico City and sending frightened workers and residents into the streets.

The U.S. Geological Survey set the intensity at 7.4 at a depth of 11 miles underground. Mexico's National Seismological Survey said the earthquake had an epicenter southwest of Ometepec. The quake, first reported as having a 7.9 magnitude, was centered about 120 miles east of Acapulco.

Mexico City Mayor Marcelo Ebrard's Twitter account said the water system and other "strategic services" were not experiencing problems.

 "I have problems with pressure; I felt I was going to faint," said Rosa Maria Lopez Velazquez, 62, outside a mall in Mexico City.

Telephone lines and cell phone reception were down and traffic snarled in the capital moments after the quake, which was followed by a 4.8-magnitude aftershock.  President Felipe Calderon said on Tuesday, via his Twitter account, that there was no serious damage reported.

 "I swear I never felt one so strong, I thought the building was going to collapse,'' said Sebastian Herrera, 42, a businessman from a neighborhood hit hard in Mexico's devastating 1985 earthquake, which killed thousands.

Groups of women hugged and cried at Mexico City's Angel of Independence monument, where hundreds of people evacuated from office buildings said they never had felt such a strong earthquake.

Others typed ferociously on their Blackberries. Samantha Rodriguez, a 37-year old environmental consultant, was evacuated from the 11th floor on the Angel Tower office building.

"I thought it was going to pass rapidly but the walls began to thunder and we decided to get out," she said.
Mexico City's airport was closed for a short time but there was no damage to runways and operations were returning to normal.

Victor Flores, an official at the Guerrero emergency management agency, told msnbc.com that initial reports from teams near the epicenter were of damage only to homes built of adobe or other weak construction material.

 Aerial teams will follow up,” he added, “but so far no deaths or injuries.”
A person at Acapulco City Hall told NBC News that they felt the quake had no immediate reports of injuries or damages.

No damage was reported in Oaxaca, about 100 miles west-southwest of the epicenter, according to local television. The front desk at the Hotel Real Oaxaca told NBC that the temblor scared residents but there was no damage.

A worker at Rica Pizza in Ometepec, one of the towns nearest to the epicenter, told NBC News that there was no damage to his business but he heard of damage to some other buildings in the area. He said electricity had gone out at his location -- and many of his business neighbors had lost theirs. His phone was working -- though he said there were some businesses without phone service. He also said he had heard lots of ambulance sirens but doesn't have any specifics on injuries.

The quake was followed by several aftershocks, he said.

"It was very strong, but we didn't see anything fall," said Irma Ortiz, who runs a guesthouse in Oaxaca. She said that their telephones are down and that the quake shook them side-to-side.

A U.S. State Department official told NBC News that were no injuries to the staff at the embassy in Mexico City, but the building does have some minor damage.

Earlier the quake had been reported at 7.9 magnitude. No tsunami was expected.

Trayvon Martin Case: 911 Audio Released Of Teen Shot By Neighborhood Watch Captain

Story by the Huffington Post
Written by Trymaine Lee

SANFORD, Fla. — Police have released audio 911 tapes in the shooting death of Trayvon Martin, the unarmed teenager allegedly killed by a neighborhood watch captain while walking home from a store.

In eight chilling recordings, made the night of February 26, listeners can hear the frightened voices of neighbors calling to report screams for help, gunfire and then that someone was dead.

In perhaps the most disturbing of the recordings, a frightened voice in the background cries out for help and pleads "No! No!" and then continues to wail.

And for the first time, we hear the voice of George Zimmerman, the neighborhood watch captain who admitted to police that he shot Martin, who was walking home from a convenience store to his father's home in the gated community. Zimmerman has not been arrested or charged in the shooting.

Read more »

Barry Mayo resigns from Radio One.

Story by Inside Radio

After nearly five years as Radio One’s radio division president, Barry Mayo announces he’s exiting the company to pursue other opportunities. No successor has been announced.

“While I will miss the relationships forged, I am truly looking forward to the next phase of my career,” Mayo says.

NFL Quarterback Peyton Manning is a Denver Broncos

Announcement by Fox Sports

Peyton Manning

Brazil Bars Oil Workers From Leaving After Spill

Story by NY Times
Written by Simon Romero

RIO DE JANEIRO — A Brazilian court has ordered 17 employees from two American companies, the oil giant Chevron and the rig operator Transocean, to surrender their passports, barring them from leaving Brazil as authorities prepare to file criminal charges in coming days in connection with an offshore oil spill involving the companies.

The ruling by Judge Vlamir Costa Magalhães, issued late Friday night, adds to Chevron’s woes in Brazil, which began in November when oil was found to be leaking from an offshore field controlled by Chevron. Prosecutors have already filed a civil lawsuit seeking damages of 20 billion reais, or about $11.2 billion, from the company. 

Brazil’s Navy and Chevron said Friday that they had detected a new sheen of oil from the same field where the earlier spill occurred. 

Chevron’s legal battle here points to the high stakes involved in Brazil’s plans to tap its huge offshore oil fields. If Brazil meets its ambitious production targets, by the 2020s, the country may rank among the world’s largest oil producers, with output rivaling or surpassing traditional oil powers like Iran or Venezuela. 

But achieving those goals requires companies to drill in immensely challenging offshore conditions. Pointing to the example of BP’s 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, environmental officials here say that stiff penalties are needed against Chevron in order to pressure it and other companies to adopt strict procedures for preventing and dealing with spills. 

Chevron, the foreign oil company with the largest operations in Brazil, has argued that the country’s response to the November spill, which was a tiny fraction of the size of the 2010 BP spill, was an “overreaction.”

“I’ve never seen a spill this small with this size of reaction,” Ali Moshiri, the head of Chevron’s Latin America operations, told the Wall Street Journal in late 2011. 

Such comments did not seem to sit well in Brazil. Authorities accused Chevron of lying about the scope of the November spill. And the news media lambasted George Buck, the head of Chevron’s Brazil operations, after he and Mr. Moshiri were summoned to Brazil’s Congress to discuss the spill, questioning why Mr. Buck relied on a translator instead of speaking Portuguese. 

Now Mr. Buck, an American, is barred from leaving Brazil and a lengthy legal battle awaits him and other employees at Chevron and Transocean. 

Judge Magalhães issued his ruling preventing the departure of the 17 Chevron and Transocean employees at the request of a federal prosecutor. “There is no doubt the exit of these people from the country, at this moment, would generate considerable risk to the investigation,” the judge said. 

Prosecutors said the criminal charges for environmental crimes could result in prison terms of 20 years for each defendant. 

Kurt Glaubitz, a Chevron spokesman, said in a statement that “any legal decision will be abided by the company and its employees.” 

“We will defend the company and its employees,” he said. Mr. Moshiri, the top Chevron executive for the region, was unavailable for comment. 

Guy Cantwell, a spokesman for Transocean, the operator of the rig at the offshore field controlled by Chevron, declined to comment. 

As the two companies prepare to respond to the possible criminal charges over the November spill, prosecutors said Chevron and Transocean may also face charges in relation to the new seep found Friday in the field, called Frade. That seep resulted in a sheen extending over a distance of 1 kilometer, or less than half a mile. 

Chevron said it had halted output at Frade, which has the capacity to produce 80,000 barrels a day, while the company captures the oil in containment devices. According to estimates provided by Chevron, the seepage released much smaller amounts of oil than the 3,000 barrels that leaked from sea-floor cracks at the field in November. 

Nevertheless, the latest seepage points to the technical challenges of producing oil in Brazilian waters. Big oil reserves lie under about 4 miles of sea, rock and salt deposits. In 2011 alone, Petrobras, the state-controlled oil company which dominates Brazil’s energy industry, had 66 leaks of oil in its operations, releasing 234,000 liters of oil, according to a report by the newspaper Folha de São Paulo. 

“We cannot allow one leak, no matter how small,” said Maria das Graças Foster, Petrobras’s chief executive, in an interview here this month. Ms. Foster said she had created a special working group within her office that will report to her directly about leaks or spills of any volume. “We are working to have zero leaks, none at all."

The scrutiny over offshore oil leakages and Chevron’s handling of its November spill is also unfolding alongside other politicized debates.

Brazil remains more open to foreign oil companies than some oil-producing countries like Mexico or Saudi Arabia, and Chevron and other international oil companies have gained a foothold here. But Brazil has also asserted greater state control over its oil industry by ensuring that Petrobras oversees and gets a dominant role in new exploration areas

Elected officials throughout Brazil are also engaged in a contentious discussion over the distribution of oil royalties. As Brazil boosts its production, the state of Rio de Janeiro, where the bulk of the nation’s energy industry is based, is trying to maintain a big share of the royalties.

Rio stands to lose billions in revenue if the royalties are more equally distributed among Brazil’s 26 states.

“This accident is proof that producing states should receive a bigger share of the royalties,” Sergio Cabral, Rio’s governor, recently said in reference to the Chevron spill, arguing that a portion of the royalties would be used for spill prevention and cleanup efforts.

President Obama's Weekly Address: Ending Subsidies for Big Oil Companies - 3/17/2012

President Obama says that America needs an all-of-the-above energy strategy that invests in new technologies and ends the $4 billion in annual subsidies to oil companies that are earning historic profits.

President Obama's March Madness picks

When the Music Stopped for the founder of Soul Train Don Cornelius

Story by New York Times
Written by Jennifer Medina

DON CORNELIUS had many stories, and he liked to keep most of them to himself. But there was one that he recited many times, never concealing his pride in the retelling.

It was 1972, and James Brown was making his first appearance on “Soul Train,” the television show Mr. Cornelius had created two years before. As Mr. Brown looked around at the set, with its gyrating bell-bottom-clad dancers, he turned to Mr. Cornelius and asked plainly, “Who is backing you on this, man?”

“It’s just me, James,” Mr. Cornelius said he replied.

Mr. Brown thought perhaps his host hadn’t understood the question. He asked again, and again. Both times, Mr. Cornelius replied with the same four words.

“It’s just me, James.”

It was a sentiment that reverberated throughout Mr. Cornelius’s life, which ended at age 75 with a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head in his Sherman Oaks, Calif., home on Feb. 1. The creator, owner, producer and host of “Soul Train,” which showcased a number of black musicians and dancers in a partylike atmosphere to millions of homes around the country, was himself a loner who never thought he got the credit or support that was his due.

“You could fit all of Don’s friends in a phone booth and still have room,” said Clarence Avant, the music producer and one of those few friends, who lunched with him days before his death. Mr. Cornelius was often called “the black Dick Clark,” a nickname first bestowed on him in the early 1970s by The Chicago Defender, though he never achieved the same kind of fame or fortune.

With his sharp suits, sky-high platform shoes, exuberant Afro and too-cool-for-school demeanor, he was revered by generations of Americans, black and white, their appointments with his Saturday show as regular as church. At his funeral at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Los Angeles, the Rev. Jesse Jackson spoke with pride about the number of white viewers who had told him about surreptitiously watching the show in suburban basements, fearing their parents’ disapproval. “He’s right up there with any civil rights leader of our generation,” Mr. Jackson said. “He gave people a chance to feel good about themselves.”

“Soul Train” was durable enough in pop-culture memory to be parodied on “In Living Color” as “Old Train,” and a Don Cornelius action figure was once a plot point on “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.” But Mr. Cornelius’s closest friends and supporters, including Mr. Jackson, lament how little serious recognition and respect he got when he was alive.

“You pick the 20 most important people in the 20th century, and Don would be in the top 10,” Mr. Avant said over breakfast recently, his eyes welling up. “But he never got on the cover of Ebony magazine or Black Enterprise. I’ll never understand that.”

DON CORNELIUS’S last years were not his best. He had gone through a bitter divorce with his second wife, Viktoria Chapman-Cornelius, a Russian model he married in 2001. He was struggling in recent years with his health, experiencing intense headaches, occasional seizures and social anxiety.

“Don was an extremely private person,” Mr. Avant said. “He didn’t want to share something unless he had to, or unless he thought it would make you happy or think about something.”

Despite his isolation, Mr. Cornelius inspired outpourings of grief after his death. Scores of singers, dancers and superstars said they owed their careers to him. At the funeral, Smokey Robinson and Stevie Wonder spoke about their record sales exploding after appearances on “Soul Train.”

After growing up on Chicago’s South Side, the son of a postal worker and a homemaker, Mr. Cornelius enlisted in the Marines, serving for a year and a half in South Korea. When he returned to Chicago, he worked as a salesman and a police officer, marrying his high-school sweetheart, Delores Harrison.

The couple had two sons, Anthony and Raymond, but later divorced, and Mr. Cornelius left both jobs to start a broadcasting class, finding work in 1966 as a disc jockey and news reporter on a Chicago radio show. A year later, he was sports broadcaster on a television show, “A Black’s View of the News.”

He covered civil rights protests and, like many in his generation, was moved by talk of black pride and was eager to find ways to improve life for young blacks.

Mr. Jackson, who met Mr. Cornelius when the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was visiting Chicago, recalled the future host energetically describing how young blacks could appear on TV not in handcuffs or fighting.

“He had this idea that what we had was not a talent deficit, but an opportunity deficit,” Mr. Jackson said. As Mr. Cornelius would say in a 2010 documentary about his show, “I had a burning desire to see black people depicted on television in a positive light.”

Modeled after Mr. Clark’s “American Bandstand,” but promoting artists whom that show generally neglected, including Mr. Brown, the Jackson Five, Marvin Gaye, Aretha Franklin, Mr. Wonder and Mr. Robinson, “Soul Train,” quickly became a local phenomenon.

In 1971, Mr. Cornelius moved the show to Los Angeles. Danny Bakewell, a civil rights activist and business leader there, remembers him discussing the importance of keeping ownership of “Soul Train” among blacks. “He knew about the importance of doing things for ourselves so that nobody could ever take it away from us,” Mr. Bakewell said.

Mr. Cornelius would also talk about the difficulty of securing advertisers. “It never reached a point where it wasn’t a challenge,” Mr. Bakewell said. “That always infuriated Don. It infuriated all of us.”

“Soul Train” began national syndication in 1971 and would continue for another 35 years. (It holds the record as the longest-running nationally syndicated TV show.) Many artists got their big break there, including the O’Jays and Destiny’s Child.

The show featured dances that would be imitated by teenagers across the country, including the crazy penguin, the robot and what ultimately became known as the moonwalk.

Mr. Cornelius regularly discussed politics on air, lamenting black-on-black crime with Mr. Brown in a 1974 episode that also included an interview with Al Sharpton, then 19, who called Mr. Brown’s hit “Payback” the “theme song of young black America.”

Even the commercial breaks were something of a statement, with much of the sponsorship from Afro Sheen and other black-focused products.

“Most of what we get credit for is people saying, ‘I learned how to dance from watching ‘Soul Train’ back in the day,’ ” Mr. Cornelius told Vibe magazine in 2006. “But what I take credit for is that there were no black television commercials to speak of before ‘Soul Train.’ There were few black faces in those ads before Soul Train.’ ”

But even as the show gained popularity, Mr. Cornelius found it impossible to find a network sponsor. Many households across the nation watched it through syndication, but the show was on at different times in each media market, which irked Mr. Cornelius for decades. “There was this disconnect — every artist wanted to come on his show, but the networks wouldn’t take him,” Mr. Avant said. “It didn’t make any sense to him or to any of us. Was it racism? Well, you could call it something else, but what was it?”

Mr. Cornelius financed the entire show himself, and while the production quality was good, he lamented that it didn’t have color cameras for some time.

The comparisons between “American Bandstand” and “Soul Train” continued, with one critic in The New York Times writing in 1973, “ ‘Soul Train’ is to the old ‘American Bandstand’ what champagne is to seltzer.”

As the show’s popularity grew and “American Bandstand” began to lose its black audience, Mr. Clark tried to create a similar program, called “Soul Unlimited,” hosted by a Los Angeles D.J.

Mr. Cornelius and his strongest supporters were outraged, with Mr. Jackson writing an angry letter to Mr. Clark and his producers demanding that they back off. Mr. Cornelius himself told Rolling Stone that “American Bandstand” had become obsolete because the most popular black artists were not interested in appearing there. “Soul Unlimited” went off the air within the year. A spokesman for Mr. Clark declined to comment.

The music industry changed quickly in the 1980s, with the advent of MTV and BET, two cable channels that benefitted from Mr. Cornelius’s past but eroded his audience. No longer was there a weekly appointment to see the hottest musicians or latest dance moves, but a constant onslaught.

While Mr. Cornelius had somewhat reluctantly but warmly embraced disco on his show, he had more misgivings about the advent of hip-hop and rap, which he thought were degrading. “I could do it. I could be like ‘yowassup!’ But I’d look stupid,” he once told an interviewer.

In 1982, he had an extensive operation to fix malformed blood vessels in his brain.

And nearly 15 years after he stepped down from hosting, Mr. Cornelius began to look to sell “Soul Train,” a brand he had fiercely protected for decades. His son Anthony said his father was frustrated but recognized that the music industry had evolved considerably.

“Why would he want to made no sense to me,” Mr. Avant said of that decision. “That was really his life. But once he made up his mind, there was no talking him out of it. The thing he kept saying is: ‘I want to make sure my legacy is protected.’ ”

Kenard Gibbs, a former executive at Vibe, and his two partners, who had each grown up watching the show, thought buying the rights to the “Soul Train” name and more than 1,100 hours of footage would give them a chance to create new material, as well as find ways to repackage what they already had.

“You watched that show so that you knew what to wear, you knew how to dance and you knew which songs were cool,” Mr. Gibbs said. “It was a lifestyle brand before anyone called it that.”

Mr. Gibbs said that Mr. Cornelius’s death has prompted a new round of talks about making a movie based on the show or some other kind of revival: the sorts of projects that Mr. Cornelius was fond of talking about but that never got off the ground.

Mr. Cornelius’s personal problems had also begun to spill into public view in 2008, when he was arrested for domestic violence against his then-wife. He said in court that she had instigated the confrontation by shouting insults and profanities “very close to my face,” and that the episode involved “mutual acts of aggression.”

In 2009, he pleaded no contest to one count of domestic violence and was placed on a 36-month probation. In divorce papers in 2009, Mr. Cornelius wrote: “I am 72 years old. I have significant health issues. I want to finalize this divorce before I die.”

Last year, BET asked Mr. Cornelius if it could honor him with a lifetime achievement on the Soul Train Awards show, which they had begun to show each year. He demurred.

“He said it was too early, and he did not want to do it yet,” said Debra L. Lee, the network’s president.

In recent years, as his health began to decline further, Mr. Cornelius allowed his son to make more and more business decisions. And he would discuss “not really being around much longer.”

“I never knew what that meant,” Anthony Cornelius said. “I think in a way I didn’t want to know.”

After a call from his father in the middle of the night on Feb. 1, he drove to his father’s house just a few minutes away, finding him on the floor. There was no note.

Don Cornelius was taken to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead just before 5 a.m.

This was 10 days before Whitney Houston was found in a hotel bathroom the night before the Grammy Awards. The show included a tribute to Ms. Houston, but Mr. Cornelius’s name wasn’t listed in a montage of people who had died in the last year.

“How could that possibly be for a man of his stature?” Mr. Bakewell said, not masking his anger. “It’s inconceivable that they would ever do that to Dick Clark.”

President Obama Weekly Address: Investing in a Clean Energy Future

Sultan Kosen, the world's tallest man according to the Guiness book of records, received treatment at the University of Virginia Medical Center. He's also in the record books for having the largest hands (11.22 inches) and largest feet (14.4 inches). Dr. Jason Sheehan (far right) performed radiosurgery to a tumor in Kosen's pituitary gland to stop his excess production of growth hormone. His endocrinologist, Mary Lee Vance, on Kosen's right, placed him on a new medication to help stop his growth. (Photo Credit: University of Virginia)

Greece Has Ratings Upgraded by Fitch on Distressed Debt Exchange

Story by Bloomberg

Greece’s credit rating was lifted out of the default category by Firch Ratings on optimism that a debt swap will reduce the risk that the country eventually reneges on its obligations.

Greece was raised four levels to B- from restricted default and given a stable outlook by Fitch, according to an e-mailed statement today in London. New government bonds have a B-rating, while debt that is not governed by Greek law has a C rating pending settlement on April 11, Fitch said.

Read more »

Egypt’s Islamist-led parliament calls for expulsion of Israeli envoy

Islamists dominate the People's Assembly, parliament's lower house, after winning elections earlier this year.

Story by AFP
Photo by Reuters

CAIRO, Egypt

Egypt’s Islamist-dominated parliament on Monday called for the expulsion of the Israeli ambassador from Cairo and the recall of Egypt’s envoy to the Jewish state, the state MENA news agency reported.

The call came as Israeli warplanes pounded anew the Gaza Strip raising the death toll from four days of violence to 25.

The parliament unanimously approved a text prepared by the Arab affairs committee of the People’s Assembly calling for “the expulsion from Egypt of the Israeli ambassador and the recall of Egypt’s envoy from Tel Aviv,” MENA said.

Egypt and Israel have been bound by a peace treaty since 1979 but ties have strained since former president Hosni Mubarak was forced to step down last year by a popular uprising.

Islamists dominate the People’s Assembly, parliament’s lower house, after winning elections earlier this year.

According to the text approved on Monday, MPs also called for a halt to gas exports to Israel.

“Egypt will never be the friend, partner or ally of the Zionist entity which we consider as the first enemy of Egypt and the Arab nation,” read the text.

It also called on the Egyptian government “to revise all its relations and agreements with that enemy.”

Late last month, Israel’s new ambassador to Egypt, Yaakov Amitai, presented his credentials to military leader Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi, who took over on Mubarak’s ouster.

Israel has responded cautiously to the Arab Spring and the rise of Islamist parties in post-revolutionary Egypt and in January it congratulated Egypt on the inauguration of its first post-revolutionary parliament.

The Jewish state has repeatedly stressed the importance of preserving the peace treaty between the two countries, and has called on Egypt’s new leadership to publicly state their commitment to the landmark accord.

Moderation out of fashion on Capitol Hill

Commentary in The Hill                                                                              Written by Juan Williams

The Founding Fathers designed Congress to represent the will of the majority of Americans.
Yet, even as more Americans identify themselves as independents — not Democrats or Republicans — there is a painfully sharp decline in moderate and independent voices in both houses of Congress. It is also true that everywhere but Capitol Hill more people are moving away from conservative or liberal labels in favor of calling themselves moderates.

The death of the political middle is the defining shift taking place in American politics today. It is ending the tradition of political leadership that rises above ideology, region, party, religion and even race to attain statesmanship. And it is weakening the two-party system. Here are the numbers:
According to a Pew Poll from last month, 26 percent of Americans identify as Republican, 32 percent say they are Democrats and a plurality of 36 percent call themselves independents. A January 2012 Gallup poll found that 40 percent of Americans self-identify as conservative, 35 percent as moderate and 21 percent as liberal.

Yet even as more citizens go to the middle, the politicians are marching to the political extremes. According to an analysis of congressional voting records by Professor Keith Poole of the University of Georgia’s Political Science Department, the Republican caucuses in Congress have become dramatically more conservative since the 1960s. At the same time, he says, the Democratic caucuses have remained largely unchanged in their moderate, left-of-center leanings. His comprehensive research is available online at www.voteview.com.
Now, with the retirement of Maine Republican Sen. Olympia Snowe after 33 years of service in Congress, the GOP caucus will become more conservative still. Moderates will have even less of a voice in the halls of Congress.

For last year, VoteView ranked Snowe as the most moderate Republican senator. This ranking mirrors that of National Journal’s congressional scorecard last year, which gave Snowe a composite liberal score of 45 out of 100 and a composite conservative score of 55 out of 100. Both VoteView and the National Journal also ranked Nebraska’s Ben Nelson as the most moderate Democrat senator. Nelson announced his retirement earlier this year.

In an interview after her announcement, Snowe cited “the frustrations that exist with the political system here in Washington, where it’s dysfunctional, and the political paralysis has overtaken the environment to the detriment of the good of this country.

“I do not realistically expect the partisanship of recent years in the Senate to change over the short term,” she added.

Perhaps the best example of the paralysis of which Snowe speaks is the record use of the filibuster by Senate Republicans. A supermajority of 60 votes is now required to pass any legislation in the upper chamber because of GOP obstructionist tactics. It used to be a simple majority of 51 votes.

The short-term political implication of Snowe’s retirement is that Democrats are now very likely to win her seat and retain control of the Senate in 2012.

Snowe and Nelson are not alone. The Congress has become an increasingly uncomfortable place for voices of moderation. Many of them are fed up and have decided that 2012 is the year they will call it quits.
Long-time moderate California Republicans like Reps. David Dreier, Wally Herger and Elton Gallegly have announced their retirement from the House. They are joined by conservative Blue Dog Democrats like North Carolina Rep. Heath Shuler and Oklahoma’s Dan Boren.

Along with Snowe and Nelson, the Senate will be losing one of its most influential moderate voices with the retirement of Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.). Recall that Lieberman won his last re-election in 2006 not as a Democrat, but as an independent because he was defeated in the Democratic primary by a more liberal challenger. Lieberman, the 2000 Democratic nominee for vice president, was harshly criticized by Democrats for crossing party lines in 2008 to support his long-time friend Republican John McCain (Ariz.) for president.
Yet after all that, 2012 is the year he has decided that he has had enough.

When Ronald Reagan was asked about his switch from being a Democrat to a Republican partisan in the 1960s, he would respond by saying: “I didn’t leave the Democratic Party. The Party left me.”

There are a lot of moderate Republicans and Democrats around Washington saying the same thing these days.

The defeat of moderate Republicans in the 2010 Republican primaries by conservative insurgents further discouraged the voices of moderation.

Progressives often complain about a “false equivalency” — when the blame for the polarization in politics is distributed equally to both parties. In their view, progressives do not exert nearly as much pressure on the Democrats to be liberal as conservatives do to make the GOP more right wing. There is some truth to that. Conservatives are better and more organized in enforcing what Grover Norquist calls “quality control” on Republican politics. However, the Left has tried to do the same thing and would be doing it more often if they could.

Because of the exodus — if not expulsion — of the remaining moderates from Congress this year, American politics will become even more polarized and dysfunctional. If you like the ideological extremism and obstructionist paralysis that has characterized the 112th Congress, then you will love the 113th.

Juan Williams is an author and political analyst for Fox News Channel.