Cartoon - Lifestyle Guru

Is the cup half full or half empty?

(I still love Starbucks and hope things turn around.)

Starbucks Earnings Sink 21%

Laurie J. Flynn
New York Times
May 1, 2008

SAN FRANCISCO — Starbucks, faced with a sharp drop-off in customers, reported on Wednesday that earnings declined 21 percent during the second quarter.

Starbucks reported that net income declined to $108.7 million, or 15 cents a share, from $150.8 million, or 19 cents a share, in the year-ago quarter. The company said revenue rose 12 percent, to $2.5 billion.

The report came just a week after Starbucks, the world’s largest coffee chain, warned of lower-than-expected earnings and cut its full-year forecast, citing a decline in quarterly sales and describing the economic environment as the weakest in the company’s history. Wall Street analysts had forecast 19 cents a share for the quarter.

“Fiscal 2008 is a transitional year for Starbucks and, while our financial results are clearly being impacted by reduced frequency to our U.S. stores, we believe that as we continue to execute on the initiatives generated by our transformation agenda, we will reinvigorate the Starbucks Experience for our customers,” Howard Schultz, who is chairman, president and chief executive, said in a statement.

Mr. Schultz returned as chief executive in January in hopes of turning the company around, replacing James Donald.

Read the full story.

Cartoon - Temps

Justice Served!

Let's be sure we send him out to the "general population" in prison. '-)

Man gets prison after hundreds of thousands of spam e-mails

Associated Press
April 29, 2008

A Colorado man accused of sending hundreds of thousands of spam e-mails has been sentenced to 21 months in prison after pleading guilty to tax evasion and falsifying e-mail headers.

Thirty-five-year-old Edward "Eddie" Davidson of Louisville was also ordered to pay nearly $715,000 to the Internal Revenue Service. He was sentenced Monday and ordered to report to prison authorities in May.

Federal prosecutors say Davidson's operation used false e-mail headers to disguise the sender. Prosecutors say some of the spam was meant to dupe stock investors and manipulate markets.

Authorities say Davidson made at least $3.5 million sending e-mails for nearly 20 companies.

1st Generation Effects

Number of California's potential immigrant voters to swell

An analysis finds that they and their children could make up almost 30% of the state's electorate by 2012.

Teresa Watanabe
Staff Writer - Los Angeles Times
April 29, 2008

In the first detailed analysis of potential immigrant voters and their children in California legislative districts, a study to be released today shows they could constitute nearly one-third of state voters by 2012.

The analysis, commissioned by a Bay Area immigrant support group, is seen as a political road map to maximize the state's pro-immigrant vote. It also undergirds efforts to intensify political and civic action to help immigrants better integrate into society and win comprehensive legislative reforms, long stalled in Congress.

"We hope policymakers will look at this data to see who is in their district and how to best serve their interests," said Daranee Petsod, executive director of Grantmakers Concerned With Immigrants and Refugees, a Sebastopol, Calif.-based organization. "With these numbers, immigrants can invigorate our democracy."

Los Angeles County dwarfed all others with about 2.7 million potential pro-immigrant voters -- naturalized U.S. citizens, legal immigrants eligible for citizenship and their children ages 12 to 17 -- followed by Orange, Santa Clara and San Diego counties. Statewide, the total was nearly 7.7 million.In the Los Angeles area, the San Gabriel Valley had the highest number of such potential voters.

Read the full story.

All About Getting That GTA?

'GTA IV' expected to sell 9 million copies at launch

Derrik J. Lang
Entertainment Writer - Associated Press
April 28, 2008

There's no Burger King tie-in or special flavor of Mountain Dew. No commercial directed by Peter Jackson, or even an action figure.

The run-up to "Grand Theft Auto IV" has been considerably less ballyhooed than last year's over-the-top "Halo 3" debut. Yet when "GTA IV" parks on store shelves on April 29, the latest entry in the controversial video game franchise could be the most lucrative launch in entertainment history--and one that many people may not even know about.

Analysts predict Take-Two Interactive Software and Rockstar Games' open-world, action-driving game will easily top last year's record-breaking $300 million first-week sales of Microsoft and Bungee Studios' first-person shooter "Halo 3" � and without a similar marketing bonanza.

With the launch of "GTA IV" on both the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, Rockstar is seemingly steering in one direction: the downlow.

"Rockstar wants to control the message all the time," says Sam Kennedy, editorial director for the gaming site 1UP.com. "They want this to be seen and perceived exactly the way they want. That's why--outside of the official trailers they released--people haven't seen a lot of gameplay footage in advance of 'GTA IV' shipping. They want to build that hype."

Take-Two and Rockstar declined to comment for this story, but following a 90-minute demonstration of the game in January, "GTA IV" writer and Rockstar vice president Dan Houser told The Associated Press that the infamous game developer, who's also responsible for the "Manhunt" and "Bully" games, was being overly protective for one very important reason.

"We want people to be really excited and not know everything by the time they play the game," said Houser. "Of course, we want them to understand what they're buying, but we want there to be surprises along the way."

The desire for intel about "GTA IV" has been mounting since the game was announced at the Electronic Entertainment Expo in 2006 and again in August when Take-Two revealed "GTA IV" would be delayed until 2008. Other than four popular online trailers and some embargoed press previews, there hasn't been much information.

Read the full story.

McCain on Healthcare

McCain assails Democratic health-care approach

John Whitesides
Political Correspondent - Reuters
April 28, 2008

Republican presidential candidate John McCain criticized his Democratic rivals on Monday for a
"big government" approach to health care and said he would focus on reducing costs and increasing coverage.

McCain launched a week-long campaign swing on his health care plans with a visit to a Miami children's hospital and a talk with parents of ill children who have been forced to endure long struggles with care and costs.

"America can have a health care system that is characterized by better prevention, coordinated care, electronic health records, cutting-edge treatments -- and lower costs," McCain said.

He drew a contrast with the Democrats battling for the right to face him in November's presidential election -- Illinois Sen. Barack Obama and New York Sen. Hillary Clinton.

The debate on overhauling the U.S. health care system has been one of the campaign's top issues.

Both Democrats have set a goal of universal health care coverage for the 47 million Americans without health insurance. Clinton would mandate some form of coverage for all individuals, while Obama would only mandate coverage for children.

McCain's plan, released last year, does not include a mandate requiring coverage.

Read the full story.

Cartoon - Obama and the Clintons

Cartoon - Health Insurance

Fortune Cookie Wisdom

Beauty

If you're attractive enough on the outside, people will forgive you for being irritating to the core.

Source: http://www.despair.com/

The Audacity of Spin

It is laughable that Garin would play the victim card when it's his candidate that is willing to do and say anything (along with her surrogates) to get the nomination--even if that means tearing down the person ahead of her (in states won, delegates, and the popular vote) and trying to change both the rules (Florida/Michigan) and the goal posts (the one ahead with the "most electoral votes"). One thing is clear, however, the Clintonistas have a "gift for fiction." Perhaps we should all send him black kettles like the one below; they resemble the color of certain pots and are sure to whine when steamed.

Fair Is Fair

Geoff Garin
Op-Ed - The Washington Post
Friday, April 25, 2008; A23

What's wrong with this picture? Our campaign runs a TV ad Monday saying that the presidency is the toughest job in the world and giving examples of challenges presidents have faced and challenges the next president will face -- including terrorism, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, mounting economic dislocation, and soaring gas prices. The ad makes no reference -- verbal, visual or otherwise -- to our opponent; it simply asks voters to think about who they believe is best able to stand the heat. And we are accused, by some in the media, of running a fear-mongering, negative ad.

The day before this ad went on the air, David Axelrod, Barack Obama's chief strategist, appeared with me on "Meet the Press." He was asked whether Hillary Clinton would bring "the changes necessary" to Washington, and his answer was "no." This was in keeping with the direct, personal character attacks that the Obama campaign has leveled against Clinton from the beginning of this race -- including mailings in Pennsylvania that describe her as "the master of a broken system."

So let me get this straight.

On the one hand, it's perfectly decent for Obama to argue that only he has the virtue to bring change to Washington and that Clinton lacks the character and the commitment to do so. On the other hand, we are somehow hitting below the belt when we say that Clinton is the candidate best able to withstand the pressures of the presidency and do what's right for the American people, while leaving the decisions about Obama's preparedness to the voters.
Who made up those rules? And who would ever think they are fair?

The writer is a strategist for Sen. Hillary Clinton's campaign.

Read the full story.

Cartoons - Doctors

You're on notice Fabricators ...

I love the line from that David Mamet gem State and Main: "I don't lie. I just have a gift for fiction." Whether you have a gift for fiction or simply atone for the truthiness of that famous Eagles song, it seems as if your face gives you away. Which then begs the question: "Is there more than one application for botox?" '-)

Lying? Your face will give you away: study

Reuters
April 24, 2008

Liars might think they are good at covering up their deceit but a new Canadian study shows there's one thing they can't control that will give them away -- flashes of emotion in their faces.
Researchers at Dalhousie University's Forensic Psychology Lab in Halifax conducted the first detailed study on the secrets revealed when people put on a false face or inhibit various emotions, and found their faces told the truth.

But instead of clues like shifty eyes or sweaty brows, their expression would crack briefly, allowing displays of true emotions such as happiness, sadness, disgust and fear to come through.

"Unlike body language, you can't monitor or completely control what's going on your face," Stephen Porter, who worked on the research, said in a statement.

The researchers, who reported their findings in journal Psychological Science, examined the case of Canadian Michael White who sobbed as he made a public appeal for the return of his missing pregnant wife Liana White in July 2005.

But three days later, flashes of anger broke through his sadness and he said he was so frustrated with the police that he was going to find his wife himself, leading volunteer searchers directly to her body in a ditch on the outskirts of Edmonton.

He was charged and convicted of second-degree murder.

When Porter and his team analyzed White's plea frame by frame, they found hints of anger and disgust in his face, not noticed by most of the public.
The researchers also studied adult who were asked to view images that ranged from happy (puppies playing) to fearful (a close-up of open-mouthed rabid dog) and disgusting (a severed hand).

They were told to respond with genuine or deceptive expressions and their reactions recorded.
Porter said no one was able to falsify emotions perfectly. Some emotions were harder to fake than others. Happiness was easier to fake than disgust or fear.

Cartoon - Natural Selection

Dan Schnur on the Presidential Campaigns

‘American Idol’ Meets ‘Survivor’

Dan Schnur
Blog - New York Times
April 23, 2008

Dan Schnur was the national communications director for John McCain’s presidential campaign in 2000. (Full biography.)

Back in the heady, halcyon days of winter, the Democratic primary had taken on the characteristics of a high-stakes and more substantive version of “American Idol,” in which a dwindling number of contestants performed their best material before a group of surrogate judges and a nationwide audience. The eventual winner would receive not only the party’s presidential nomination, but an almost certain path to the White House over a baggage-laden Republican nominee. While there was great suspense over which competitor would eventually claim the prize, the political version of the stardom that had been granted to Kelly Clarkson and Ruben Studdard seemed a certainty for the victor.

But unlike the real “American Idol,” the primary season did not play out on nearly as precise a time line, so the audience is getting restless and the contenders are getting peevish. To extend the reality television metaphor slightly past the breaking point, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama now resemble the participants on an unusual version of “Survivor” in which they are presented with increasingly unbecoming challenges (bowling, shots-and-beers, endless media interviews about electability and authenticity) on their way to the final Tribal Council in Denver this August. Senators Obama and Clinton seem increasingly grim with their less stirring circumstances: the glamour has long since disappeared as they trudge from state to state in search of a magic formula that can help them short-circuit the unyielding arithmetic of delegate acquisition.

But the audience is becoming impatient as well. This newspaper’s editorial page has unloaded on Senator Clinton with both barrels, but the rising unfavorable ratings of both candidates demonstrate that the voters are unhappy with both candidates’ behavior. And while both campaigns talk optimistically of a final decision by early June, it appears that only a large Obama victory in Indiana will prevent this fight from continuing through most of the summer. As John McCain pulls even in many national polls, that battle is beginning to worry Democrats at all levels.

As well it should. John McCain was a big winner in Pennsylvania this week. Not because of his primary victory — in fact, his advisers should be concerned that more than one-fourth of all Republicans still refused to cast their ballots for their party’s nominee — but because a continued Democratic primary season allows Senator McCain to continue his move to the political center with no significant obstacle in his path. Already, he has begun using phrases like “the best ideas from both parties,” and he has used the last several weeks to begin to address his campaign’s financial and organizational difficulties.

Read the full story. (emphasis added)

Marc Cooper on the Clinton Campaign

Hillary's Afterlife

She lost the race weeks ago, but the Clintons keep haunting Obama

Marc Cooper
LA Weekly
Wednesday, April 23, 2008 - 4:58 pm

As the good tidings for Hillary Clinton came in Tuesday night, Philly Mayor Michael Nutter told an amped crowd of her supporters that, as far as he’s concerned, “A win is a win.”

The mayor is absolutely right. With a comfortable 10-point margin, Hillary Clinton handily won the Pennsylvania primary. Equally true, Barack Obama won the Democratic nomination more than two months ago on Super Tuesday.

The media, obligated to fill airtime and column inches since the previous round of primaries six weeks ago, manufactured two fairy tales to keep us tuned in to a horserace that for all practical purposes has already ended. First, they invented a prolonged bedtime story about some dark, mysterious, almost primeval region known as Pennsylvania. This troll-like land, exempt from the rest of America, we’ve been told, is inhabited by some strange exceptional species of hairy-armed, bushy-browed near-humans with sloping foreheads, who spend their days dragging bowling balls through the woods and then waste away their nights oiling their .12 gauges and knocking back brewskies. The second tale: that how these bizarre creatures eventually voted would somehow be crucial in determining the outcome of the Democratic race.

But the Obama campaign itself, in a purloined internal document that made the rounds of the Web weeks ago, conceded that Pennsylvania would be lost. And that it would matter little. There could be little suspense in a state that was demographically the most favorable to Clinton, with one-third of voters on Tuesday age 65 or older.

The fundamentals of the Democratic nomination fight have not changed. After Pennsylvania, the only way Hillary Clinton can capture the nomination is the same way she could before Pennsylvania. By overturning the protocols of democracy and persuading unelected superdelegates to nullify the results of the primaries and caucuses, by taking the nomination away from the candidate who will have the greatest number of elected delegates and popular votes.

It’s about that simple. Clinton’s net gain of delegates this week looks to be less than 10, still leaving her 150 behind. And still behind by a half-million popular votes. I’ll spare you the math, and the reality check that comes with it, but there still remains no plausible way for Clinton to make up the difference. On top of that, her campaign coffers are dry.

Read the full story. (emphasis added)

Oklahoma governor endorses Obama

Ron Jenkins
Writer - Associated Press
April 23, 2008

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) - Oklahoma Gov. Brad Henry endorsed Barack Obama for the Democratic presidential nomination Wednesday, calling him an inspirational leader who can unite the country.

"I believe Senator Obama is uniquely positioned to unite our nation and move beyond the divisiveness and partisan skirmishes that too often characterize politics as usual in Washington," Henry said early Wednesday in a statement released by the Obama press office in Chicago.
The endorsement one day after the Pennsylvania primary gave Obama the official support of three of the state's 10 superdelegates, while Clinton has the backing of one superdelegate. The rest are uncommitted.

Henry, a moderate Democrat in a Republican-trending state, said he had worked hard to build a consensus across party lines on such issues as education, job creation and health care and "that is why I am so enthusiastic about Barack Obama's candidacy."

"Senator Obama understands that the serious concerns facing average Americans must transcend partisan games if we are to rise to the challenges of today and tomorrow. He is a strong, committed and inspirational leader, ideally suited to bring together Democrats, independents and Republicans," Henry said.

Obama said he was proud of Henry's support "as we continue to build our grass-roots movement for change." He said Henry had "achieved real results" as a consensus builder himself in Oklahoma.

"We're fortunate to have Governor Henry's backing, and I look forward to working with him in the months ahead to bring about real change not just for Oklahomans, but all Americans," Obama said.

Henry became the first major Democratic elected official from Oklahoma to endorse Obama. The state's only Democratic congressman, Rep. Dan Boren, remains uncommitted as a superdelegate, although his father, David Boren, has endorsed the Illinois senator. David Boren is a former governor and senator.

The 44-year-old governor's endorsement came despite Obama getting only 31 percent of the Democratic primary vote in Oklahoma's Democratic primary on Feb. 5 against Hillary Rodham Clinton, who got 55 percent.

Clinton also picked up a superdelegate Wednesday - Rep. John Tanner of Tennessee, co-founder of the Blue Dog Coalition, a group of fiscally-conservative Democrats in Congress.

Tanner, who said the country is facing an economic crisis, praised Clinton in a statement released by her campaign as a leader "who can work with others to return to fiscal sanity."

Governor Schwarzenegger on the Tonight Show

Governor to make 7th 'Tonight' appearance

Edwin Garcia
Staff Writer - Mercury News
April 23, 2008

SACRAMENTO - If Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger needs to find work after leaving office in 2011, he should consider applying for a gig on "The Tonight Show," where on Thursday he'll once again be a guest - his seventh appearance since becoming governor.

Schwarzenegger will discuss California's pro-environment agenda, part of NBC Universal's so-called Green Week, the network's campaign to encourage viewers to protect the environment.

The governor last week joined with representatives from 17 other states to pressure Congress and the next president to aggressively curtail greenhouse gas emissions. Schwarzenegger also continues to tout California's landmark global warming legislation that he signed in 2006, which at the time seemed an unusual move for a Republican governor.

"To have him on is very newsworthy and timely for us," said Tracy St. Pierre, a spokeswoman for "The Tonight Show."

It also must be good for ratings. Host Jay Leno, a longtime friend of the governor's, frequently mimics Schwarzenegger's accent. And Schwarzenegger, of course, gave Leno the biggest scoop of all when he used the show to announce his candidacy for California governor in the 2003 recall election.

Schwarzenegger last appeared on the show May 23, 2007. He was on once in 2006, twice in 2005 and twice in 2004, said Jeff Macedo, a spokesman for the governor.

"The Tonight Show" is taped in Burbank and airs locally at 11:35 p.m.

Cartoon - Cell Towers

The Clinton Machine Continues

Why Clinton won Pennsylvania

David Paul Kuhn
Politico
April 22, 2008

For all the campaigning and money spent, Hillary Rodham Clinton won Pennsylvania with the same base of white women, working-class voters and white men that revived her candidacy in Ohio last month. The demography that has defined the Democratic race went largely unchanged, according to exit polls.

To Clinton's relief, Pennsylvania proved more of a repeat of her win in Ohio rather than an echo of Wisconsin, where Obama won with the support of white men and blue-collar Democrats while neutralizing Clinton's base of white female support.

There were few surprises in Pennsylvania, according to the exit polls conducted by Edison Media Research and Mitofsky International for television networks and The Associated Press. Clinton held about 65 percent of white women and about 55 percent of the key swing bloc of white men, a strong showing though slightly weaker than her Ohio showing. Clinton has now won white men in 12 states and Obama has done the same in 10 states.

Obama did win more than nine in 10 black voters, continuing his unbroken support of African-Americans. And Clinton continued her trend of winning white women in all but a couple of contests. But other trends may prove disconcerting for Obama.

Obama won six in 10 voters age 29 and under. But Clinton split young white voters, as she did in Ohio. In early February, Obama heavily lost whites in Missouri but narrowly won the state with the help of 57 percent of the white youth vote.

Young Democrats made up only 12 percent of voters, however. In comparison, fully 22 percent were age 65 and older. Clinton won more than six in 10 senior voters while winning a majority of all voters 40 and older.

Also similar to Ohio, Clinton won nearly six in 10 of those voters without college degrees, a strong indicator of working class status. Obama's bus tour and advertising blitz targeting working-class voters appears to have had little effect. The same can be said for the row over Obama's remarks about "bitter" Midwestern small town voters, though that too was expected, as polling indicated that it was mostly non-Democrats who were offended.

Obama won only a slight majority of voters with college degrees, again largely reflecting the Ohio results. That is a disconcerting result for Obama, as the Illinois senator needed to dominate voters with higher levels of education to overcome Clinton's advantage in the state. It has been Obama's base of blacks and highly educated whites that has formed the bedrock of his victories throughout the primary race.

Read the full story.

Cartoon - Dilbert

Ruben Salazar Stamp Released

Mexican American journalist to be honored with U.S. postage stamp

Ruben Salazar's columns for the Los Angeles Times and his management of a major TV outlet helped shape the community's political and social identity.

Louis Sahagun
Staff Writer - Los Angeles Times
April 22, 2008

The U.S. Postal Service will issue a stamp today honoring Los Angeles newsman Ruben Salazar, who, through his reporting and opinion columns during the 1960s, became a provocative voice for a Mexican American community searching for its political and social identity.

Among the first Mexican American reporters to work at a mainstream newspaper, Salazar was killed Aug. 29, 1970, struck in the head by a high-velocity tear gas projectile fired by a sheriff's deputy during an anti-Vietnam War demonstration in East Los Angeles. He was 42.

A Times columnist and general manager of KMEX-TV at the time of his death, Salazar quickly became a cultural icon. Awards are granted in his memory, and roads, schools and parks have been named after him. His likeness appears on posters, murals and lithographs, including one by the famous Mexican painter David Alfaro Siqueiros. Folk songs were written about him.

He is one of five American journalists being honored with stamps. The others are Martha Gellhorn, John Hersey, George Polk and Eric Sevareid.

The work and death of the husky man with piercing eyes, wavy black hair and a penchant for Louis Roth suits continue to haunt and inspire people. Among them are a restaurant owner who for half a century has been helping Latinos campaign for political office, a professor writing a book about injustices Mexican Americans have suffered at the hands of law enforcement, a woman trying to separate myths from facts about her famous father, and a continuation high school student trying hard to get back on track.

But after 38 years of reminiscing and interpretation, can the true personal, professional and political depths of Salazar's life ever be known?

The truth, like everything else about Salazar, is complicated. Born in Juarez, Mexico, he was a political moderate who married a young white woman and lived in a middle-class home with a swimming pool in Orange County. Salazar was especially fond of dining on steak and corn with his wife, Sally, and their three children.

Read the full story.

Hawking: Unintelligent life is likely on other planets

Seth Borenstein
Science Writer - Associated Press
April 20, 2008

Famed astrophysicist Stephen Hawking has been thinking a lot about the cosmic question, "Are we alone?" The answer is probably not, he says.

If there is life elsewhere in the universe, Hawking asks why haven't we stumbled onto some alien broadcasts in space, maybe something like "alien quiz shows?"

Hawking's comments were part of a lecture at George Washington University on Monday in honor of NASA's 50th anniversary. He theorized that there are possible answers to whether there is extraterrestrial life.

One option is that there likely isn't life elsewhere. Or maybe there is intelligent life elsewhere, but when it gets smart enough to send signals into space, it also is smart enough to make destructive nuclear weapons.

Hawking said he prefers the third option:

"Primitive life is very common and intelligent life is fairly rare," he then quickly added: "Some would say it has yet to occur on earth."

So should you worry about aliens? Alien abduction claims come from "weirdos" and are unlikely. However, because alien life might not have DNA like us, Hawking warned: "Watch out if you would meet an alien. You could be infected with a disease with which you have no resistance."

The 66-year-old British cosmologist, who suffers from ALS and must speak through a mechanical device, believes "if the human race is to continue for another million years, we will have to boldly go where no one has gone before."

Hawking compared people who don't want to spend money on human space exploration to those who opposed the journey of Christopher Columbus in 1492.

"The discovery of the New World made a profound difference to the old. Just think we wouldn't have had a Big Mac or KFC."
___

On the Net:

Stephen Hawking's web site: http://www.hawking.org.uk/home/hindex.html

Senator Cedillo Delves into Deportation History

Depression-era deportations bill's focus

Steve Lawrence
Writer - The Associated Press
April 21, 2008

SACRAMENTO - State Sen. Gil Cedillo is trying to shine some light on a shocking but little known episode in U.S. history. He faces an uphill battle.

The L.A. Democrat is the author of a bill that would require public junior high and high schools to teach students about the deportation of about 2 million Latinos, including 400,000 Californians, to Mexico during the Great Depression.

Elementary schools would have the option of including information about the deportations in social science studies.

The deportation program was started in 1929 by the Hoover administration, supposedly as a way to get rid of illegal immigrants and open up jobs during the Depression. Most of those rounded up and sent to Mexico were U.S. citizens or legal immigrants, critics say.

Cedillo calls it "an embarrassment to all Americans."

"Those that don't learn from history are doomed to repeat it," he said. "That would be another tragedy upon a tragedy. ... The way to avoid that is through education."

Cedillo's bill is scheduled to be considered today by the Senate Appropriations Committee.

That committee shelved an earlier version of the legislation last year as part of an effort to hold down spending. A committee analysis said the bill could lead to hundreds of thousands of dollars in state costs to reimburse school districts for a new mandate.

Cedillo said he might be able to "tweak the language regarding what's mandatory, what's optional or available" to get the bill out of committee.

Even if the bill clears the Legislature, it faces a possible veto by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who turned down similar legislation in 2006 that was introduced by then-Sen. Joe Dunn, D-Garden Grove.

The governor says he has consistently rejected bills that require mention of specific events or groups of people in social science instruction. "I continue to believe that the state should refrain from being overly prescriptive in school curriculum beyond establishing rigorous academic standards and frameworks," he said in vetoing Dunn's bill.

He also vetoed a Dunn bill in 2005 that would have set up a fund to pay reparations to victims of the deportations.

Fortune Cookie Wisdom

Dysfunction

The only consistent feature in all of your dissatisfying relationships is you.

Source: http://www.despair.com/

Cartoon - Ignore Me

Washington Post on McCain's Economic Plan

Election Year FollyMr. McCain's irresponsible economic plan

Editorial
Washington Post
Monday, April 21, 2008; A14

WITH ONE significant exception, the essence of Sen. John McCain's speech on economic policy last week could be summed up as, "Let's just get me elected, and then we can talk seriously." Of course, the presumptive Republican nominee is far from the first candidate, and he's certainly not the only one in this campaign, to put political advantage over telling unpleasant truths. This is why he deserves credit for an element that is minor, as far as dollar amounts go, but still politically risky: his proposal to require wealthier seniors to pay higher premiums for prescription drug coverage. This would affect just 5 percent of seniors, with incomes of more than $164,000 a year per couple, and it would bring in only about $2 billion over five years. But it is one sensible step in the battle to control Medicare spending, and the howls of outrage with which it was greeted by Democrats illustrate the difficulty of dealing with entitlement spending.

At the other end of the spectrum of responsibility was Mr. McCain's proposal for a summer gas tax holiday -- the kind of pandering to voters that the Arizona senator prides himself on avoiding. This juicy promise would be done and gone before he took office, which makes it awfully easy to dangle. It would drain some $10 billion from the trust fund that pays for maintenance and repair, the opposite of what is needed. It's hard to square with Mr. McCain's commitment to combat global warming and his belief in a cap-and-trade system that would result in higher gas prices. And it might not even do much to reduce prices. Gas prices generally rise in summertime because demand is higher and refineries are already running near capacity. If lifting the federal excise tax of 18.4 cents a gallon reduced gas prices, that would push up demand and -- since supply can't grow -- result in driving prices back up. Think of it as help for the struggling petroleum refiner.

The rest of Mr. McCain's economic plan was more of the same. He had already endorsed cutting the corporate income tax from 35 percent to 25 percent, allowing immediate deductions for new business purchases and entirely eliminating the alternative minimum tax, even for the wealthiest taxpayers. To that, Mr. McCain added doubling the income tax exemption for dependents, from $3,500 to $7,000, at a cost of $45 billion per year. The exemption is twice as valuable to the wealthiest taxpayers as it is to those with modest incomes.

Mr. McCain's tax cuts would cost more than $300 billion a year in 2012, according to estimates from the Urban Institute and the Brookings Institution's Tax Policy Center . That sum does not include the cost of extending the Bush tax cuts (around $110 billion a year beyond the extensions that Sens. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama also endorse), and it assumes any president would end up taking the costly step of fixing the alternative minimum tax. The McCain campaign posits an array of ways to pay for this -- slashing discretionary spending, abolishing earmarks, getting rid of corporate tax breaks -- but it has failed to give details about what, exactly, it would cut. In addition, it assumes that allowing immediate write-offs for all new investment would be cost-free. The Bush Treasury Department scored a plan to allow immediate write-off of 65 percent of the cost of new investments at $1.2 trillion over 10 years. Mr. McCain is making it awfully hard to take seriously his proclamations of fiscal responsibility.

The Ideas Primary, a series of editorials on the issues of the presidential race, can be found athttp://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions.

Burbank Airport Update

Panel may shift flights at Burbank

Airport authority proposes moving overnight operations to Van Nuys to answer concerns about noise.

Jennifer Oldham
Staff Writer - Los Angeles Times
April 21, 2008

It's taken eight years and $6 million for Burbank airport officials to come up with a proposed solution to ease sleep-depriving aircraft noise that has frustrated nearby residents for decades: Shift some overnight operations to Van Nuys Airport.

The recommendation by the Glendale-Burbank-Pasadena Airport Authority is the latest chapter in what has been among the most acrimonious homeowner battles in the San Fernando Valley.

The proposal, part of an effort to ban all overnight flights at Burbank's Bob Hope Airport, also represents a new front in the "airport wars" erupting around Southern California. Noise-weary residents increasingly are seeking to limit operations over their skies in part by attempting to get communities near busy airports elsewhere to shoulder more of the burden.

"This has stirred up a little hornet's nest," said Don Schultz, who sits on the Van Nuys Airport Citizens Advisory Council. "I think it would be an unfair burden. You don't shift it from one airport to the other."

The proposal would send about 16 private and corporate jet flights each night to Van Nuys -- already the world's largest general aviation airport. In Burbank, whether they live in the flatlands around Bob Hope Airport or in the hills ringing the city, residents are fed up with flights that routinely startle them out of a deep slumber.

Read the full story.

Congrats GSP!!

I am sporting my own shiner from an errant knee while grappling yesterday but it was GSP who shined last night at UFC 83, removing all doubt that he is the welterweight champion.

GSP answers all the questions

Dave Meltzer
Yahoo! Sports
April 20, 2008

MONTREAL – Georges St. Pierre answered the questions about his ability to handle pressure with a dominant win over Matt Serra to become the undisputed Ultimate Fighting Championship welterweight champion Saturday night at the Bell Centre.

The match drew more interest throughout the country of Canada than any match in UFC history. There were more than 120 credentialed media for the fight, and more than 1,000 bars and restaurants across the country ordered the fight, believed to break a record set in 2002 by the Lennox Lewis-Mike Tyson boxing match.

“I had a lot of pressure,” said St. Pierre going in, which Serra was counting on to be one of his advantages in the fight. “I had a hard time sleeping, but that always happens before a fight. I’m afraid to fail. But if I don’t feel butterflies, I can’t perform.”

A crowd of 21,390 fans paid in excess of $5 million USD, selling the building out to almost exclusively UFC Fight Club fans, with virtually no tickets put on sale to the general public. The few that were put on sale sold out in one minute.

It was both the largest and loudest crowd in UFC history, with St. Pierre, Rich Franklin and Sam Stout (who lost a split decision to Rich Clementi in a preliminary match) getting deafening reactions.

The crowd, heavily male and almost exclusively people in their 20s and 30s, came from throughout the country, and were heavily partisan to all the Canadian fighters. But they were there mostly to see St. Pierre, who grew up in a small farm town, Ste. Isidore, about 15 miles from the Bell Centre.

St. Pierre used to say that he got recognized more in Las Vegas than in Montreal, but with the promotion of this fight, that changed, and he wasn’t able to go anywhere in recent days without being mobbed.

St. Pierre took Serra (16-5) down at will, and tried to use his conditioning to keep the action fast on the ground. Serra got virtually no offense in, with two judges giving the first round 10-8 scores in favor of St. Pierre.

At 4 minutes, 45 seconds of round two, after St. Pierre had connected with punches on the ground that had blackened both of Serra’s eyes, and threw four hard knees to the body, ref Yves Lavigne felt it was enough and stopped the fight.

Serra was clearly disappointed, feeling he could have lasted out the round, but was taking it matter-of-factly, and not complaining, as he was never in the fight.
“This time Georges kicked my ass,” he said after the match.

It was a rematch of the biggest upset title change in company history, held April 7, 2007, in Houston. Serra, an 8-to-1 underdog, knocked Serra down twice and finished him on the ground in the first round to win the welterweight title.

St. Pierre was technically an interim champion by beating Matt Hughes on Dec. 29, a title set up when Serra missed a scheduled title defense after herniating two discs in his lower back, and the fight was to unify the title. But St. Pierre said he was not accepting that he was champion until he beat Serra and portrayed himself as the challenger throughout the build-up.

“I didn’t want to play a jiu-jitsu game with him because he’s a world champion (at jiu-jitsu),” said St. Pierre, who at 26 is the youngest man ever to regain a UFC title. “As far as the fight goes, I had a good night and he had a bad night. Last time I had a bad night and he had a good night.”
Serra was booed to almost insane levels both at the weigh-ins and when he came out for the fight. But after it was over, St. Pierre told the crowd that Serra had said things to hype the fight, praised him for agreeing to defend the title in Montreal and told his home fans to cheer Serra. And they did.

St. Pierre noted the noise level during the fight was so high that for the first time in his career, he couldn’t even hear his corner giving instructions.

Both UFC president Dana White and St. Pierre after the match talked about Jon Fitch, a former wrestler from Purdue, as the next challenger. There was some talk by White and the press about a possible champion vs. champion match with Anderson Silva, the company’s middleweight champion. The consensus right now is they are the two best pound-for-pound fighters in the company, if not in the entire sport.

“Never say never, but I have a lot of training partners at 185 pounds,” St. Pierre said. “You can play baseball against your friends, but you can’t play UFC. I will never fight a friend. Maybe I’d do it for a super fight.”

Mark Staniforth on Hopkins vs. Calzaghe

Hopkins bitter after loss

Mark Staniforth
Special to PA SportsTicker
Yahoo! Sports
April 20, 2008

LAS VEGAS (Ticker) - Joe Calzaghe battled his way back from a first-round knockdown to win a split decision over Bernard Hopkins at the Thomas & Mack Center, but the final bell did not spell the end of a fight week full of acrimony.

Hopkins fiercely protested the 116-111, 115-112, 113-114 verdict in favor of the Welshman, who had been sent to the canvas from a jolting right hand and struggled to combat the 43-year-old in the early rounds.

With the victory, Calzaghe stretched his unbeaten professional record to 45 fights and assumed the position of the world’s number one light-heavyweight in his debut at the weight. But it was a coronation bitterly opposed by Hopkins.

“I believe I won the fight,” Hopkins said. “I know questions will be asked and it was close. But when all is said and done history will reflect well on Bernard Hopkins. I got beaten tonight but it wasn’t by Joe Calzaghe.”

Perhaps it was not quite the conclusive style in which Calzaghe dreamed of winning his first fight in Las Vegas in front of a phalanx of A-list celebrities and almost 10,000 roaring Welsh supporters.

But Calzaghe gradually got to grips with the 43-year-old’s rough-house tactics, circled away from his most potent weapon and came on strongly to claim victory in a dominant second half of a grueling fight.

Calzaghe, who bled from the bridge of his nose in the opening round and was harshly penalized for a supposed low blow in round 10 from which panting Hopkins was given three minutes to recover, was in no mood for niceties.

“Hopkins was head-butting me, hitting me with low blows and cheating,” Calzaghe said. “He was holding me with one arm on the blind side of the referee and he was sticking his head in my face. He basically cheated and had five minutes off in the 10th round. He stopped my momentum by turning his back on me and feigning injury. It was ridiculous because I know I didn’t touch him.
“I had to keep my composure because I knew that if I retaliated I might get a point knocked off. He came to steal the fight and he was just trying to survive. He was knackered and there was no low blow.”

Hopkins’ refusal to accept his loss was predictable, but the verdicts allowed Calzaghe to pick up the nominal 175-pound ‘Ring’ magazine title to go with the undisputed super-middleweight crown he still owns.

Cartoon - Something for Me to Do?

Patrick McGreevy on the Unwritten Rule

Having worked for an Assembly Member and a state Senator, I can attest to the "unwritten rule." All too often, folks "voluntarily" give up vacation time to politik in their "off hours."

Perata reprimands senators

In a letter, the Democratic leader says their chiefs of staff failed to attend a meeting to plan political campaigns for this year's legislative elections.

Patrick McGreevy
Staff Writer - Los Angeles Times
April 19, 2008

SACRAMENTO -- — The leader of the state Senate has reprimanded several members because their aides disobeyed an unwritten rule of the Legislature: If you hold a big staff job, you're expected to campaign for lawmakers in your off hours.

The targets of Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata's (D-Oakland) wrath were a handful of senators' chiefs of staff, who had failed to attend a Wednesday meeting to plan political campaigns for this year's legislative elections. Gloria Negrete McLeod (D-Chino), Louis Correa (D-Santa Ana) and Ron Calderon (D-Montebello) were among those senators.

"Your chief of staff was a no-show at yesterday's off-campus meeting . . . This is not an optional activity," Perata said in a letter hand-delivered to senators' Capitol offices.

The letter reminded the lawmakers that at the meeting, their chiefs of staff had been expected to provide a list of people who could work on campaigns. Legislative aides said the list was to include other government employees.

The letter directed that the chiefs of staff contact Perata's legislative aide Shanda Chaudhry "ASAP" at her personal e-mail address. Typed at the end was the notation, "Thank you. Don Perata."Under state law, government workers are barred from engaging in political activity while on state time or using state resources.

Jason Kinney, a spokesman for Perata, called the letter "completely permissible and fairly run-of-the-mill." Derek Cressman, a spokesman for Common Cause, a government watchdog group, said Perata's letter came close to an ethical line between politics and government service.Political work "needs to be optional and clearly done on staffers' own time, or it is using state resources for a campaign," Cressman said.

Kinney said "it has been and always will be" Perata's policy that political work be done "on a volunteer basis," outside the office, and he stressed that the letter was not produced on government time.

In the Senate, neither staffers nor their bosses were willing to comment openly about the letter. But several expressed their displeasure privately."It's just not done -- not on paper," said one staffer, who called Perata's move "ham-handed."

Howard Kurtz on the ABC Presidential Debate

Performance By ABC's Moderators Is a Matter Of Debate

Howard Kurtz
Staff Writer - Washington Post
Friday, April 18, 2008; C01

The political fallout from the Philadelphia face-off between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton was all but eclipsed yesterday by a fierce debate about Charlie Gibson and George Stephanopoulos.

The ABC moderators found themselves under fire for focusing on campaign gaffes and training most of their ammunition on Obama. Huffington Post blogger Jason Linkins called the debate "utterly asinine." Washington Post television critic Tom Shales called the duo's performance "despicable." Philadelphia Daily News columnist Will Bunch said the moderators "disgraced the American voters, and in fact even disgraced democracy itself."
Tough crowd out there.

"I think the questions were certainly pointed -- tough at times, as they should be in a presidential debate -- but not inappropriate or irrelevant at all," Stephanopoulos said yesterday. "The questions have been part of this campaign and in the news. We did our job. You're not going to satisfy everyone."

In the first 40 minutes of Wednesday's two-hour Democratic debate, the moderators asked Obama about his remarks that small-town residents bitterly cling to guns and religion; the inflammatory sermons of the Rev. Jeremiah Wright (Stephanopoulos follow-up: "Do you think Reverend Wright loves America as much as you do?"); why Obama doesn't wear an American flag pin; and his relationship with William Ayers, a former Weather Underground radical who has acknowledged involvement in several bombings in the 1970s.

In the only comparably aggressive question directed at Clinton, Stephanopoulos cited a Washington Post-ABC News poll challenging her honesty and tied it to her false tale of having once come under sniper fire in Bosnia.

"Senator Obama is the front-runner," said Stephanopoulos, the network's chief Washington correspondent and a former Clinton White House aide. "Our thinking was, electability was the number one issue," and questions about "relationships and character go to the heart of it."
Besides, he added, "you can't do a tougher question for Senator Clinton than 'six out of 10 Americans don't think you're honest.' "

Obama, for his part, complained about "gotcha games," saying yesterday: "I think we set a new record, because it took us 45 minutes before we even started talking about a single issue that matters to the American people."

Read the full story.

Reich, Nunn and Boren Endorses Obama

Former Clinton cabinet member, 2 ex-senators endorse Obama


Glen Johnson
Writer - Associated Press
April 18, 2008

Former Clinton Cabinet member Robert Reich on Friday endorsed Barack Obama over Hillary Rodham Clinton in the battle for the Democratic presidential nomination.

Two other Democratic elder statesmen, former Sens. Sam Nunn of Georgia and David Boren of Oklahoma, also said they were supporting the Illinois senator.

Reich, who served as Labor secretary under Bill Clinton, said in a blog post that "although Hillary Clinton has offered solid and sensible policy proposals, Obama's strike me as even more so."
Reich also said Obama's plans for reforming Social Security and health care have a better chance of succeeding, and his approach to the nation's housing crisis and financial market failures are sounder than the New York senator's.

Reich is a longtime friend of Bill and Hillary Clinton. He ran for governor in Massachusetts in 2002 and now is a professor at the University of California-Berkeley.

A number of other former Clinton cabinet members have endorsed Obama. New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, who was U.N. ambassador and energy secretary under Clinton, endorsed former rival Obama in March despite heavy wooing by the former president. Former Denver Mayor Federico Pena, who headed the transportation and energy departments under Clinton, became a co-chair of Obama's campaign last September. Former Clinton Commerce secretaries Norman Mineta and William Daley also have endorsed Obama.

Read the full story.

Greg Lucas on Jerry Brown

Does Jerry Brown Want to Cut Emissions Or Just Run for Governor?

The war on greenhouse gases and suburbs

Greg Lucas
Writer - LA Weekly
April 16, 2008

THIRTY YEARS AGO AND change, Gov. Jerry Brown put the brakes on building new freeways in California. Oil dependence, painfully highlighted by the recent OPEC crisis — and more and more single-occupant cars belching filth into the atmosphere — convinced him that mass transit is a far smarter way to go.

The Democratic governor’s policy, personified in the Santa Monica Freeway’s three-passengers-per-vehicle diamond lanes, won resounding jeers from 1976 commuters. Lawsuits were filed. Mike Royko’s famous sobriquet of Brown — Governor Moonbeam — was coined.
So ugly was the reaction to the lanes and the no-new-freeways policy that Brown’s director of transportation, Adriana Gianturco, received death threats.

The political oddsmakers say Brown is two years from reacquiring the governor’s seat he left in January 1983. And being aspiring governor, er, attorney general, is pretty much the most bitchin’ place to be for a gubernatorial wannabe. As California’s top lawyer, the A.G. can focus on everything from Medi-Cal waste and timber practices to consumer protection, product labeling and crime fighting. Hell, do a little of everything. There’s something north of 4,000 active cases filed by Brown in various courts or being probed by his lawyers and investigators.

Brown has wrapped himself in what he hopes is a winning issue: crusading to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions. When the current green governator blows town, Brown is hoping people will ask, Who better than he to heft the barbell? “I want to make something happen,” Brown said in a recent interview. “When you get to my age, you want it to happen fast.”

Read the full story.

Fortune Cookie Wisdom

Blame

The secret to success is knowing who to blame for your failures.

Source: http://www.despair.com/

Cartoon - Cliches

Obama Now More Electable

Ongoing nomination fight hurting Clinton more than Obama

Charles Babington and Trevor Tompson
Writers - Associated Press
April 19, 2008

WASHINGTON (AP) — In a dramatic reversal, an Associated Press-Yahoo! News poll found that a clear majority of Democratic voters now say Sen. Barack Obama has a better chance of defeating Republican Sen. John McCain in November than Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton.

While Obama and Clinton are both sustaining dents and dings from their lengthy presidential fight, the former first lady is clearly suffering more. Democratic voters no longer see her as the party's strongest contender for the White House.

Voters of all types have gotten a better sense of Obama, who was an obscure Illinois legislator just four years ago. As more people moved from the "I don't know him" category in the AP-Yahoo! News poll, more rated Obama as inexperienced, unethical and dishonest. And 15 percent erroneously think he's a Muslim, thanks in part to disinformation widely spread on the Internet.
But Obama's positive ratings have climbed as well, while Clinton — widely known since the early 1990s — has been less able to change people's views of her. And when those views have shifted, it has hurt her more than helped.

The New York senator's ratings for being honest, likable, ethical and refreshing have fallen since January, and Obama scores higher than she does in all those categories.

Read the full story.

CA Has Its Own YouTube Channel

State gets with it, starts YouTube video channel

Edwin Garcia
Staff Wrter - San Jose Mercury News
April 17, 2008

SACRAMENTO - California bureaucrats Wednesday launched the state's own YouTube video channel.

And some of the clips are actually pretty hip. For reals!

In one, a twentysomething guy in a hooded sweatshirt stands in front of a plain-white screen sharing his personal story while a jazzy piano plays in the background. "So, my wife, like of, three years, she left me, burned down the house, almost killed my mom, crashed my Beemer..."

OK, so what's the real story?

He's promoting the Franchise Tax Board's free online tax-filing service by mentioning the phrase
"Ready Return" three times during the 1 minute, 24-second clip - as an aside that has little to do with his fictional tale.

The video was posted earlier this year on the agency's own YouTube page, but Wednesday it became a highlight of the state's new video channel.

The channel features the playlists of departments, agencies and commissions, though none of those videos are as unusually cool as the in-house tax board ads that star college-age employees and their friends who taped the spots for free.

"We asked them to do something that was non-corporate," said Marlene Stamper, a spokeswoman for the tax board.

"It's a little edgy for us," she acknowledged, "but we're still very happy."

Cartoon - Pain PR

I Want to Believe

`X-Files' movie title is out there: `I Want to Believe'

David Germain
Movie Writer - Associated Press
April 16, 2008

The truth is finally out there about the new "X-Files" movie title.

The second big-screen spinoff of the paranormal TV adventure will be called "The X-Files: I Want to Believe," Chris Carter, the series' creator and the movie's director and co-writer, told The Associated Press.

Distributor 20th Century Fox signed off on the title Wednesday.

The title is a familiar phrase for fans of the series that starred David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson as FBI agents chasing after aliens and supernatural happenings. "I Want to Believe" was the slogan on a poster Duchovny's UFO-obsessed agent Fox Mulder had hanging in the cluttered basement office where he and Anderson's Dana Scully worked.

"It's a natural title," Carter said in a telephone interview Tuesday during a break from editing the film. "It's a story that involves the difficulties in mediating faith and science. `I Want to Believe.' It really does suggest Mulder's struggle with his faith."

"I Want to Believe" comes 10 years after the first film and six years after the finale of the series, whose opening credits for much of its nine-year run featured the catch-phrase "the truth is out there."

Due in theaters July 25, the movie will not deal with aliens or the intricate mythology about interaction between humans and extraterrestrials that the show built up over the years, Carter said.

Read the full story.

The Boss Endorses Obama

Bruce Springsteen endorses Obama for president

Joan Lowy
Writer - Associated Press
April 16, 2008

Rock star Bruce Springsteen endorsed Democratic Sen. Barack Obama for president Wednesday, saying "he speaks to the America I've envisioned in my music for the past 35 years."

In a letter addressed to friends and fans posted his Web site, Springsteen said he believes Obama is the best candidate to undo "the terrible damage done over the past eight years."

"He has the depth, the reflectiveness, and the resilience to be our next president," the letter said. "He speaks to the America I've envisioned in my music for the past 35 years, a generous nation with a citizenry willing to tackle nuanced and complex problems, a country that's interested in its collective destiny and in the potential of its gathered spirit. A place where '...nobody crowds you, and nobody goes it alone.' "

The bard of New Jersey is known for his lyrics about the struggles of working-class Americans, particularly in the economically ravaged factory towns of the Northeast.
Springsteen and his E Street band were part of the Vote for Change tour, a coalition of musicians opposed to the re-election of President Bush in 2004. He wrote the anti-war ballad "Devils and Dust" about Iraq.

President Reagan used Springsteen's then-popular song "Born in the USA" at campaign rallies in 1984 until he was asked by Springsteen, who supported Democrat Walter Mondale, to stop. The song about a Vietnam veteran's hard times was often misinterpreted as a patriotic call to arms.

Springsteen did not directly mention Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, Obama's rival for the Democratic nomination, in his letter, but appeared to take issue with her recent criticisms of comments made by Obama about working-class voters in small towns in Pennsylvania and controversial statements by his pastor.

"Critics have tried to diminish Senator Obama through the exaggeration of certain of his comments and relationships," Springsteen wrote. "While these matters are worthy of some discussion, they have been ripped out of the context and fabric of the man's life and vision ... often in order to distract us from discussing the real issues: war and peace, the fight for economic and racial justice, reaffirming our Constitution, and the protection and enhancement of our environment."

Fortune Cookie Wisdom

Success

Some people dream of success, while other people live to crush those dreams.

Source: http://www.despair.com/

Cartoon - Lapel Pins

Gary Hart on Foreign/Domestic Policy

Doctor Faust in 2008

Gary Hart
The Huffington Post
April 14, 2008

Anyone who has spent any time around politics knows that there are various paths to power. Most of these paths lie between the high road and the low road. The lowest road is the one that leads to power through destruction of one's opponent. That road is also the path to the garden of cynicism. But if the goal is power, what does a little cynicism matter. The Devil may help you get power. But he'll collect your soul in return.

Over recent weeks, and particularly in recent days, rumors circulate questioning Senator Barack Obama's commitment to a free and democratic Israel. Most recently, the rumor is that Senator Obama's strongest supporters in the Jewish community were defecting to his opponent because he had endorsed former President Carter's decision to meet with representatives of Hamas, generally recognized as a Palestinian group organizing terrorist attacks on Israel. The fact is that Senator Obama immediately and without being challenged to do so stated his disagreement with such meetings. Meeting with heads of state or heads of government is one thing; meeting with groups advocating terror is another.

One does not enter the hornets-nest of the Middle Eastern debate without armor. In my case that armor includes consistent and unwavering support for the U.S.-Israeli partnership and it includes participation in tank maneuvers on the Golan Heights, flights in the back seat of Israeli high performance aircraft, and night naval patrols off the Israeli coast. I have been honored to be the guest of former Israeli prime ministers and have carried out serious discussions regarding mutual security concerns.

Having established that, I can now say that I find it outrageous and the height of political cynicism for any other candidate or campaign, Democratic or Republican, to question Senator Obama's commitment to continuation of the U.S.-Israeli partnership and particularly to do so in a sinister, duplicitous, and scurrilous manner by spreading false rumors. When he campaigns against the politics of the past, and attracts hundreds of thousands of young people and independents as a result, that is the kind of politics he means.

I personally know the leaders of the Jewish American community to be intelligent enough, thoughtful enough, and most of all fair enough to categorically reject the path of cynicism and those cowardly enough to promote it by whisper and innuendo. Perhaps above all others, they know what it is like to be the victims of hateful rumors. In the final analysis, the issue isn't Israel. The issue is honesty, justice, and fairness in American politics.

SPJ/LA Announces KABC-TV Anchor Jovana Lara Will MC Awards Banquet

Tuesday, April 15, 2008
For Immediate Release
Alice Walton – SPJ/A
(310) 595-5612 or spjlosangeles@gmail.com

SPJ/LA Announces KABC-TV Anchor Jovana Lara to Serve as Mistress of Ceremonies for 32nd Annual Distinguished Journalists Awards Banquet

LOS ANGELES, CA - The Greater Los Angeles Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ-LA) have annouced that KABC-TV anchor Jovana Lara will serve as the mistress of ceremonies for the Greater Los Angeles Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists' 32nd annual awards banquet later this month.

The Distinguished Journalists Awards Banquet will be held on Wednesday, April 30th at the Omni Hotel in downtown Los Angeles. The event helps SPJ/LA raise money for local programs, including scholarships and professional development.

Journalist and author Cokie Roberts will be the speaker at this year's event, which honors six local journalists.

This year's award recipients are Bob Banfield of KABC-TV, Beth Barrett of the Los Angeles Daily News, John Rabe of KPCC-FM and Tom Tugend of the Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles. Los Angeles Times reporters Scott Glover and Matt Lait will be honored with the Freedom of Information Award.

Lara joined ABC7 Eyewitness News since December 2000 as a reporter and was promoted less than two years later to her current position as a co-anchor for the station's 11 a.m. newscast.
Tickets to the banquet are $80 per person for SPJ members, and $90 for non-SPJ members. Tables of 10 are available for $800.

More information on the banquet is available at www.spj.org/losangeles.

###

The Society of Professional Journalists is the nation's largest and most broad-based journalism organization, dedicated to promoting high standards of ethical behavior and encouraging the free practice of journalism. Founded in 1909 as Sigma Delta Chi, SPJ works to inspire and educate the next generation of journalists and protects First Amendment guarantees of freedom of speech and press.

Headington Media Group is a full-service communications firm that specializes in image management and new/old media relations. For more information, go to HMG and/or visit The Headington Cabal and the HMG Podcast.

Richard Cohen on Hillary

Guns, God and Gotchas

Richard Cohen
Columnist - Washington Post
Tuesday, April 15, 2008; A15

Long ago I discovered that the word "frankly" often meant a lie was coming. I learned this from an insurance agent, who preceded every attempt to sell me useless coverage with a "frankly." This is why I distrust what Hillary Clinton said about Barack Obama and his admittedly klutzy statement about guns, church, immigrants and bitterness -- "elitist, out of touch and, frankly, patronizing," she said. Frankly, I don't believe her.

And this, frankly or not, is the trouble with Clinton. Obama clearly misspoke. But there are very few moments with him where I feel that he does not believe what he is saying -- even when, as with his lame capitulation of leadership regarding the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, I can't respect it. With Clinton, on the other hand, those moments are frequent. She is forever saying things I either don't believe or believe that even she doesn't believe. She is the personification of artifice.

The current fuss is an example. She turned Obama's statement into an affront to gun lovers everywhere, which it just might be. But since when is Hillary Clinton a gun lover, a hunter or even a weekend skeet shooter? She is apparently none of the above -- at least she will not say when she last fired a gun. The truth, if a guess is allowed, is that she does not give a damn about guns and hunting, and when she brings up her "churchgoing family" and "Our Town" values, they are expressions of treacly nostalgia and not the life of incredible affluence and situational morality she now enjoys. To paraphrase Dorothy, Clinton left Kansas a long time ago.

At times, Barack Obama has the air of a maitre d' who shows you to a bad table. It's the impeccable suit. It's the air of consummate confidence. It's the awesome self-assurance that comes from knowing that he has something you want. In the headwaiter's case, it's a good table. In Obama's case, it's himself.

That air of self-confidence can sometimes come off as smugness or indifference. The signal moment for that came in a New Hampshire debate when Obama glanced at Clinton and said, by way of dismissal, "You're likable enough, Hillary" -- a kiss-off as head-snapping as when James Cagney smashed a grapefruit into Mae Clarke's puss in the 1931 classic "The Public Enemy."

Read the full story.

George F. Will on Obama

Candidate on a High Horse

George F. Will
Op-Ed - Washington Post
Tuesday, April 15, 2008; A15

Barack Obama may be exactly what his supporters suppose him to be. Not, however, for reasons most Americans will celebrate.

Obama may be the fulfillment of modern liberalism. Explaining why many working-class voters are "bitter," he said they "cling" to guns, religion and "antipathy to people who aren't like them" because of "frustrations." His implication was that their primitivism, superstition and bigotry are balm for resentments they feel because of America's grinding injustice.

By so speaking, Obama does fulfill liberalism's transformation since Franklin Roosevelt. What had been under FDR a celebration of America and the values of its working people has become a doctrine of condescension toward those people and the supposedly coarse and vulgar country that pleases them.

When a supporter told Adlai Stevenson, the losing Democratic presidential nominee in 1952 and 1956, that thinking people supported him, Stevenson said, "Yes, but I need to win a majority." When another supporter told Stevenson, "You educated the people through your campaign," Stevenson replied, "But a lot of people flunked the course." Michael Barone, in "Our Country: The Shaping of America From Roosevelt to Reagan," wrote: "It is unthinkable that Roosevelt would ever have said those things or that such thoughts ever would have crossed his mind."

Barone added: "Stevenson was the first leading Democratic politician to become a critic rather than a celebrator of middle-class American culture -- the prototype of the liberal Democrat who would judge ordinary Americans by an abstract standard and find them wanting."

Stevenson, like Obama, energized young, educated professionals for whom, Barone wrote, "what was attractive was not his platform but his attitude." They sought from Stevenson "not so much changes in public policy as validation of their own cultural stance." They especially rejected "American exceptionalism, the notion that the United States was specially good and decent," rather than -- in Michelle Obama's words -- "just downright mean."

The emblematic book of the new liberalism was "The Affluent Society" by Harvard economist John Kenneth Galbraith. He argued that the power of advertising to manipulate the bovine public is so powerful that the law of supply and demand has been vitiated. Manufacturers can manufacture in the American herd whatever demand the manufacturers want to supply.

Because the manipulable masses are easily given a "false consciousness" (another category, like religion as the "opiate" of the suffering masses, that liberalism appropriated from Marxism), four things follow:

Read the full story.

Cartoon - Cartoonists at a Party