The non-profit PR shop ecoAmerica finally released the findings of its public opinion research today, bringing a trove of information about how on-the-fence Americans respond to different messages about climate change and energy.
The firm conducted an impressive amount of research in February through March—focus groups, a phone survey, an online survey—all focused on finding better talking points for wooing folks who are undecided about this whole global warming/clean energy/green jobs business.
This was the report whose summary was accidently sent to a bunch of media outlets after a White House briefing from ecoAmerica in April, leading to a not-very-flattering story in the New York Times. The story suggested itÂ’s cynical to try to sell the climate crisis the way youÂ’d sell toothpaste, and itÂ’s true that the report wholeheartedly embraces a public-relations way of looking at things:
Remember to speak in aspirational language about shared American ideals, like freedom, prosperity, independence and self-sufficiency while avoiding jargon and details about policy, science, economics or technology.
--Ditch “global warming.” It makes people think of Al Gore more than anything else, too polarizing. “Climate change” is almost as bad. “Our deteriorating atmosphere” is the term soccer moms and other “environmental agnostics” respond to best, the report found.
--Likewise, people don’t want to hear about “cap-and-trade.” Too wonky. When you’re talking about cap-and-trade, call it “Clean Energy Dividend” or “Clean Energy Cash Back.” This fits a central theme of the report—the climate-action camp needs to learn how to translate think-tank language into kitchen-table language. To hear how this sounds in action, try out ecoAmerica’s blog post explaining the report.
--Even “renewable” and “alternative” energy are too vague. (Were you clear on the difference anyway?) Instead, talk about energy sources that run out and ones that don’t run out. Or energy sources you have to burn and ones you don’t have to burn.
--Talk about values, not facts.
--“Activating multiple values tends to be stronger than just invoking a single value.” Bring prosperity, national security, and personal health into your argument. The report doesn’t mention human rights or climate justice arguments—odd, since evangelicals have already shown they can rally behind this perspective.
--One the other hand, one good fact packs more punch than a string of facts. You don’t win people over with a relentless barrage of facts, says the report. That only muddles the brain. Somehow this connects to Joseph Stalin’s “One death is a tragedy; a million is a statistic.”
--For your one key fact, the report’s authors especially like the phrasing, “Local temperatures always fluctuate naturally. But when the 10 hottest years on record have all occurred since 1990, we have a problem.”
--Finally, the report says it would be a travesty to let the Right own “comprehensive energy solutions”. Show why your side, not theirs, is the true “all-of-the-above” option. As with everything else, it works better to stay on the offensive and make the other side defend their position.
President Obama's pick to be the Army's top lawyer withdrew after failing to disclose Fannie Mae as his former employer in a document submitted as part of his nomination process.
Good grief. Isn't there anyone in the Bambi administration who knows how to hire?
Donald Remy caught heat from the Senate Armed Services Committee for not disclosing his ties to the troubled mortgage giant, instead describing his tenure at Fannie Mae as a 'major U.S. company.'
He had mentioned, by name, other companies for which he has worked on his work history provided to the committee.
And figured no doubt that he could get away with 'major U.S. company' ...
Remy called the omission a 'mistake' in a written response to Senate follow-up questions after his confirmation hearing in February.
In a letter Friday obtained by Congressional Quarterly, Remy thanked the president for the opportunity to serve the public.
"I am honored by your confidence in my ability to deal with the critical issues that face our soldiers and their families and I was looking forward to serving in this time of great national crisis," Remy said. "Regretfully, I have decided to remove my name from consideration for this position."
"The president believes that Donald Remy would have been an excellent general counsel of the Army, but understands his personal decision and the choice he has made," White House spokesman Tommy Vietor said.
During his time at Fannie Mae, Remy served as vice president and deputy general counsel for litigation; senior vice president and deputy general counsel; senior vice president and chief compliance officer; and senior vice president, housing and community development. There's that Community thingy again.
#1
During his time at Fannie Mae, Remy served as vice president and deputy general counsel for litigation; senior vice president and deputy general counsel; senior vice president and chief compliance officer; and senior vice president, housing and community development
If I worked at Fannie Mae when Franklin Raines and Jamie Gorelick were sacking it and Barney Frank was raping it and then pimping it to the 'hood, I'd want to forget about also especially if I was the the Chief Compliance Officer. Another rat bites the dust. Good riddance!
Posted by: Jack is Back! ||
06/13/2009 10:02 Comments ||
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#2
During his time at Fannie Mae, Remy served as vice president and deputy general counsel for litigation; senior vice president and deputy general counsel; senior vice president and chief compliance officer; and senior vice president, housing and community development.
Remy called the omission a 'mistake' in a written response to Senate follow-up questions after his confirmation hearing in February
"I forgot"
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/13/2009 10:47 Comments ||
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#3
Pay-to-Play?
Donald Remy Contribution List in 2008
Name & Location Employer/Occupation Dollar
Amount Date Primary/
General Contibuted To
Remy, Donald
FAIRFAX STATION, VA
22039 Latham & Watkins, LLP/Attorney $500 10/15/2008 P OBAMA VICTORY FUND - Democrat
Remy, Donald
FAIRFAX STATION, VA
22039 Latham & Watkins, LLP/Attorney $500 10/15/2008 P OBAMA VICTORY FUND - Democrat
Remy, Donald
FAIRFAX STATION, VA
22039 Latham & Watkins LLP/Attorney $1,000 09/30/2008 P OBAMA VICTORY FUND - Democrat
Remy, Donald
FAIRFAX STATION, VA
22039 Latham & Watkins LLP/Attorney $1,000 09/21/2008 P OBAMA VICTORY FUND - Democrat
Remy, Donald M. Mr.
FAIRFAX STATION, VA
22039 Latham and watkins/Attorney $2,300 01/31/2008 P OBAMA FOR AMERICA - Democrat
Remy, Donald M. Mr.
FAIRFAX STATION, VA
22039 Latham and watkins/Attorney $-2,300 01/31/2008 P OBAMA FOR AMERICA - Democrat
Remy, Donald M. Mr.
FAIRFAX STATION, VA
22039 Latham and watkins/Attorney $2,300 03/21/2007 P OBAMA FOR AMERICA - Democrat
President Barack Obama on Thursday tapped four big Democratic Party donors for plum ambassadorships in Europe and Latin America while naming six career diplomats to posts in Africa, the Mideast and the Pacific.
Washington lawyer Howard Gutman, who raised more than $500,000 for Obama's campaign and personally contributed the maximum $4,600 to it, was nominated to be the next U.S. envoy to Belgium, the White House said in a statement.
Gutman also contributed $2,300 to now Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton's presidential campaign, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, a nonpartisan group that tracks money in politics.
Obama named former Virginia Lt. Gov. Donald Beyer to be ambassador to Switzerland and Luxembourg. Beyer, who made his money as a car dealer, raised more than $500,000 for Obama and also contributed $4,600 to his campaign, according to the center.
Vinai Thummalapally, a Colorado business executive and Obama friend who raised between $100,000 and $200,000 for the campaign and donated $4,500 to it, was named the next U.S. ambassador to Belize. Thummalapally's wife, Barbara, contributed $2,800 to Obama, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.
Obama also named Washington lawyer Mark Gitenstein, who donated more than $4,000 to now Vice President Joe Biden's presidential campaign and contributed $1,500 to Clinton's campaign to be ambassador to Romania.
Career diplomats were nominated on Thursday to be envoys to Burundi, Tunisia, the Marshall Islands, Oman and Suriname. Obama also chose retired Army Gen. Alfonso Lenhardt to be ambassador to Tanzania.
#2
For those who may not be entirely aware, these people had an absolutely extraordinary amount of influence over the approval and scope of intelligence related activities within thier assigned countries.
As long as they are aware of it. I can tell you from personal experience this is sometimes more often the case then not.
Posted by: Jack is Back! ||
06/13/2009 8:27 Comments ||
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#4
Wasn't "Gutman" the Sidney Greenstreet character in Maltese Falcon? Perfect casting for those filthy Belgians.
Posted by: regular joe ||
06/13/2009 9:25 Comments ||
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#5
Yeah, but what's the cost-benefit ratio?
Sure, it's a cushy job, but what are the pay and perk benefits?
Posted by: Bobby ||
06/13/2009 10:41 Comments ||
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#6
Jack is Back:
Pi**er it is when in 6 months or less in the postion they've .... completely gone a whoring over to the other side native and forgotten all about the USA? :(
#7
I'd be more upset if this hadn't been going on for 200 years - How do you think Joe "the Bootlegger" Kennedy ever got to be ambassador to the Court of St James. Yeah another democrat, but do you believe the GOP doesn't pay in kind?
#8
Please compare the above "Ambassadors" to the real thing - eye opening, is it not ?
Creation of Position: The class of Career Ambassador was first established by an Act of Congress on Aug 5, 1955, as an amendment to the Foreign Service act of 1946 (P.L. 84-250; 69 Stat. 537). Under its provisions, the President with the advice and consent of the Senate was empowered to appoint individuals to the class who had (1) served at least 15 years in a position of responsibility in a government agency, including at least 3 years as a Career Minister; (2) rendered exceptionally distinguished service to the government; and (3) met other requirements prescribed by the Secretary of State. Under the 1980 Foreign Service Act (P.L. 96-465; 94 Stat. 2084), which repealed the 1946 Act as amended, the President is empowered with the advice and consent of the Senate to confer the personal rank of Career Ambassador upon a career member of the Senior Foreign Service in recognition of especially distinguished service over a sustained period. Except as noted, all persons included in this list are also listed in this volume under the country and Department positions they held.
Swindlers, con men, and thieves could siphon off as much as $50 billion of the government's planned stimulus package as the money begins flooding the economy in coming months, according to David Williams, who runs Deloitte Financial Services Advisory and counsels clients on fraud prevention.
Williams predicted that about $500 billion of the total $787 billion stimulus would be channeled into the traditional procurement network for government contracts, while the rest will be spent directly by the government or outside the corporate network.
"The rule of thumb typically is that of the about $500 billion worth of money that's going to run through the procurement process, somewhere between 5% and 10% of that usually finds it way into potential problems," Williams said. "That's sort of the benchmark that I use."
Companies will face increased pressure to try to stem the tide, and need to be prepared to safeguard data as well as the cash, according to Williams.
Williams said this week that the money flowing from the current stimulus package is particularly vulnerable to fraud because almost all movement of money is now done electronically.
"We're telling our clients to be very careful and to make sure their firms are resilient in terms of dealing with the potential opportunities for fraud and waste," Williams said.
That means keeping an eye out for the traditional scams such as billing for services not performed. But it also means firms must become even more diligent about electronic records and network security.
"It becomes ever more important that firms remain diligent about their data," Williams said.
Stimulus Funds Susceptible to Fraud
As much as 10% of the federal government's stimulus money is likely to get lost to fraud, says David Williams, chief executive of Deloitte Financial Advisory Services. MarketWatch's Greg Morcroft reports.
Earlier this month, FBI Director Robert Mueller warned the nation to brace for a potential crime wave involving fraud and corruption related to the economic stimulus package. "These funds are inherently vulnerable to bribery, fraud, conflicts of interest, and collusion. There is an old adage, that where there is money to be made, fraud is not far behind, like bees to honey," Mueller said. See full story.
Earlier this month, Vice President Joe Biden said some stimulus-related scams had already happened and that some mistakes were inevitable. President Barack Obama said Monday that the White House is trying to make sure the stimulus money isn't being ill-spent.
He said many of the safeguards and transparency measures "so far seem to have worked" but added his administration will have to stay vigilant.
"At a time when everybody is tightening their belts, the last thing the American people want to see is that any of this money is being wasted," Obama said.
Potential damage
Williams suggested that the fraud and theft losses from the roughly $787 billion stimulus package approved earlier this year could reach about $50 billion.
Williams said firms would be well advised to beef up monitoring of their transaction systems, and that his firm is helping clients develop software and computer systems to predict and catch fraud before it gets started.
Dozens of US cities may have entire neighbourhoods bulldozed as part of drastic "shrink to survive" proposals being considered by the Obama administration to tackle economic decline. The government looking at expanding a pioneering scheme in Flint, one of the poorest US cities, which involves razing entire districts and returning the land to nature. Local politicians believe the city must contract by as much as 40 per cent, concentrating the dwindling population and local services into a more viable area. Ethnic cleansing?
The radical experiment is the brainchild of Dan Kildee, treasurer of Genesee County, which includes Flint. Having outlined his strategy to Barack Obama during the election campaign, Mr Kildee has now been approached by the US government and a group of charities who want him to apply what he has learnt to the rest of the country. Wasn't this the plot of "RoboCop 3"?
Mr Kildee said he will concentrate on 50 cities, identified in a recent study by the Brookings Institution, an influential Washington think-tank, as potentially needing to shrink substantially to cope with their declining fortunes. Most are former industrial cities in the "rust belt" of America's Mid-West and North East. They include Detroit, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Baltimore and Memphis.
In Detroit, shattered by the woes of the US car industry, there are already plans to split it into a collection of small urban centres separated from each other by countryside. "The real question is not whether these cities shrink -- we're all shrinking -- but whether we let it happen in a destructive or sustainable way," said Mr Kildee. "Decline is a fact of life in Flint. Resisting it is like resisting gravity."
Karina Pallagst, director of the Shrinking Cities in a Global Perspective programme at the University of California, Berkeley, said there was "both a cultural and political taboo" about admitting decline in America. "Places like Flint have hit rock bottom. They're at the point where it's better to start knocking a lot of buildings down," she said. Flint, sixty miles north of Detroit, was the original home of General Motors. The car giant once employed 79,000 local people but that figure has shrunk to around 8,000. Unemployment is now approaching 20 per cent and the total population has almost halved to 110,000.
The exodus -- particularly of young people -- coupled with the consequent collapse in property prices, has left street after street in sections of the city almost entirely abandoned. In the city centre, the once grand Durant Hotel -- named after William Durant, GM's founder -- is a symbol of the city's decline, said Mr Kildee. The large building has been empty since 1973, roughly when Flint's decline began. Regarded as a model city in the motor industry's boom years, Flint may once again be emulated, though for very different reasons.
But Mr Kildee, who has lived there nearly all his life, said he had first to overcome a deeply ingrained American cultural mindset that "big is good" and that cities should sprawl -- Flint covers 34 square miles. He said: "The obsession with growth is sadly a very American thing. Across the US, there's an assumption that all development is good, that if communities are growing they are successful. If they're shrinking, they're failing."
But some Flint dustcarts are collecting just one rubbish bag a week, roads are decaying, police are very understaffed and there were simply too few people to pay for services, he said. If the city didn't downsize it will eventually go bankrupt, he added.
Flint's recovery efforts have been helped by a new state law passed a few years ago which allowed local governments to buy up empty properties very cheaply. They could then knock them down or sell them on to owners who give large amounts of money to local governments will occupy them. The city wants to specialise in health and education services, both areas which cannot easily be relocated abroad.
The local authority has restored the city's attractive but formerly deserted centre but has pulled down 1,100 abandoned homes in outlying areas. Mr Kildee estimated another 3,000 needed to be demolished, although the city boundaries will remain the same. Already, some streets peter out into woods or meadows, no trace remaining of the homes that once stood there.
Choosing which areas to knock down will be delicate but many of them were already obvious, he said. The city is buying up houses in more affluent areas to offer people in neighbourhoods it wants to demolish. Nobody will be forced to move, said Mr Kildee. "Much of the land will be given back to nature. People will enjoy living near a forest or meadow," he said.
Mr Kildee acknowledged that some fellow Americans considered his solution "defeatist" but he insisted it was "no more defeatist than pruning an overgrown tree so it can bear fruit again".
Posted by: Fred ||
06/13/2009 05:21 ||
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#1
I understand, anything but lower home prices.
Make homes harder to find equals artificial shortage.
#2
No need to leave these ghost towns standing simply to remind our children of the greatness that once was industrial America but is now.....thanks to the unions and the politicians, modern China. The entire country belongs to the gummit "eminently" anyway. Let the D9's roll!
#3
There's another advantage to clearing out these cities. When/where we rebuild it will be with much newer technologies, more efficient infrastructure and without shoe-horning new industries into old buildings and locations.
Of course, the left would be horrified to realize they are proposing just exactly the sort of creative destruction that Schumpeter pointed out is at the core of capitalism. ;-)
#6
How about implementing rational economic and trade policies that brings work and wealth back to America so the cities can once again have gainfully employed workers raising families, needing housing, spending money? Beats the drug dealers and whores creating demand for abandoned crack houses. Ya know, the things leaders are really SUPPOSED TO DO.
Old Flint
Posted by: ed ||
06/13/2009 9:22 Comments ||
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#7
Shovel-ready work for those 20% might not be a bad idea.
#8
Cities can be thought of as public factories to produce a wide variety of goods and services. Cities, unlike factories, are not easily shut down or reorganized when demands for outputs shift or demography changes. Think of those abandoned strip malls that stand empty for years on end before a Goodwill or, if one is lucky, Gold's Gym moves in. Pretty, ain't it?
#9
being from metro Detroit and having family near Flint I have no problem w/this. Detroit already has miles of "urban prarie" within it. In the 1950s we (Detroit proper, not the suburbs) boasted 1.5-1.8 Million people, in 2000's we are maybe at 900,000 - if lucky. Return the land to nature, fine. Right now both cities look like DMZ's - which they pretty much are.
#10
I also don't mean to dismiss your comments ed -in the big scheme you're right. However & sadly, we won't see any of those sorts of policies until Obama's out of office and we have a business smart pres back in the W.H. I just hope when that time comes it's not too late to un-f*ck what Wonderboy has brought upon the country.
#11
The problem is that Obama, who's seems to have never done an honest day's work in his life, truly believes that Government creates wealth while in truth Government can only consume wealth.
#13
Wait till the left catches on that it's the poor folks that are getting displaced. How much is it going to cost to move the dregs to the upscale part of town?
#16
No one mentioned that abandoned housing & buildings deteriorate, that deteriorated housing is extremely expensive to make habitable and that this cost increases month by month. Some abandoned buildings in southeastern Michigan actually has a negative value, in that the property's value = value of raw land MINUS the cost of razing the structures on it. Better to bulldoze the structures than to live with that situation. In Texas during their housing crisis of the 1980's, nearly new housing was bulldozed this way for that reason.
There are massive structures in Detroit with negative value, such as the still-smoldering Packard plant that the Detroit Fire Dept is afraid to enter, and the "Abandoned Symbol Of Detroit's Better Days".
#17
There's another advantage to clearing out these cities. When/where we rebuild it will be with much newer technologies, more efficient infrastructure and without shoe-horning new industries into old buildings and locations.
And between one hundred, to one thousand times more expensive.
#18
Go ahead and bulldoze. But they should consider a monument with a map of the former city when it was great and a map of the present city and a statement to the effect that "This is what happens when unions get greedy and executives get complacent."
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
06/13/2009 15:16 Comments ||
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#22
in San Diego (and a LOT of other municipalities), recycling the ground-up asphalt is a given. We, however, don't repave as gravel. I suspect that, given release of asphalt oils, that would not be allowed in our region (i.e.: outside of desperationville), and it sounds like a real measure of "we'll NEVER be able to maintain it, let it go back to a dirt road", which it will, evetually. Hellooooo, Governor Granholm (D-Canada)! All your Jeff Daniels' ads aren't fooling anybody
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/13/2009 21:06 Comments ||
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#23
My father (Civil Engineer) said the best road was asphalt over concrete, he developed a method of plowing cement into the soil, watering it with water rucks, then laying asphalt over the "Stabilsed" Soil. he used this building Interstate 65 from Montgomery to the Georgia border, the road has no cracks today.
Reusing asphalt is also not new, it has been used about 30 years now, bulldoze the asphalt, truck it to a huge "Mixer"(Think cement mixer, but much bigger) add tar and truck back wher you got it, relay it, roll it smooth, and good for another 20 or so years.
#24
correct - basically CTB, mstrmech, (Cement Treated Base) which is our std Schedule-J pavement under our Standard Designs (thickness/asphalt cover based on ADT/usage)
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/13/2009 23:04 Comments ||
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#25
enuf late-day CE geek-talk for me
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/13/2009 23:05 Comments ||
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(Bloomberg) -- Health-care overhaul legislation being drafted by House Democrats will include $600 billion in tax increases and $400 billion in cuts to Medicare and Medicaid, Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charles Rangel said.
Democrats will work on the bill's details next week as they struggle through "what kind of heartburn" it will cause to agree on how to pay for revamping the health-care system, Rangel, a New York Democrat, said today. He also said the measure's cost will reach beyond the $634 billion President Barack Obama proposed in his budget request to Congress as a down payment for the policy changes.
Asked whether the cost of a health-care overhaul would be more than $1 trillion, Rangel said, "the answer is yes."
House Democrats plan to release their legislation next week. Obama has made a health-care overhaul a top domestic priority and is working with Congress to get legislation to his desk by October.
Democrats in the House and Senate are working on legislation that would require all Americans to have health insurance, prohibit insurers from refusing to cover pre-existing conditions and place other restrictions on the industry.
The legislation would establish online exchanges for individuals to purchase insurance and would require employers to provide health benefits to workers or pay a penalty. Some Democrats also are backing creation of a government-run program to expand coverage to the uninsured. The issue is the subject of bipartisan negotiations with Republican opponents.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/13/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
First time I have seen a number less than a trillion since January. Government deflation?
Posted by: Jack is Back! ||
06/13/2009 8:29 Comments ||
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#2
I'd favor a pubic i mean public plan if it meant that all Congresscritters, along with their families and aids, signed up for this insurance first.
#3
Guys, this is a one trillion dollar tax increase. The $600 billion is a down payment. The "cutting" of $400 billion from Medicare/caid means that they will pay Drs $400 billion less and the Drs in turn will have to charge the 160mm w/private insurance $400 billion more.
So there's your first trillion. Because of the cost shift, the 160mm will naturally gravitate to the "cheaper" state-run plan.
When the private insurance market is completely depleted, and the state can no longer shift costs "invisibly," you will refer to the $1 trillion tax increase as "the good old days."
Posted by: regular joe ||
06/13/2009 9:22 Comments ||
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#4
they will pay Drs $400 billion less and the Drs in turn will have to charge the 160mm w/private insurance $400 billion more.
I don't think the private insurance companies will stand for it. They will insist also insist on cost reduction in line w/ medicare and settle for status quo. Instead the doc that can afford it will drop Medicare patients and concentrate on the privately insured. I have already seen several docs in my area drop/limit medicare patients that affected my parents.
Posted by: ed ||
06/13/2009 9:30 Comments ||
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#5
That's $4000 for my wife and me. Guess I'd better start saving up for the tax man. Wait! We don't have to pay our share? Someone else is going to pick up our tab? Where is the fairness in that?
Posted by: Richard of Oregon ||
06/13/2009 11:09 Comments ||
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#6
As I have posted before, Medicare, our current socialized medicine experiment, is already inadequately funded and supervised by the Federal government. Now the Feds want to CUT funding for Medicare in order to pay for expanding their socialized medicine experiment. HOW STUPID DO THEY THINK WE ARE? (Don't answer that, we already know.)
These proposed ideas for funding national health care and the estimates for how much it would cost are utter B.S.!
#7
I think O and the Congress are fast running out of time to push this through. The polling numbers for this are falling like a rock. Even the average person knows we can't afford this now (or ever).
#9
I think the story goes like this, since Congress has just put tobacco under FDA control, the cigarette/tobacco tax will be raised to $1.00 per cigarette. i.e each pack is $20.00 in taxes, each carton is $200. If 43 Million Americans continue to smoke One pack a day for 365 days, the government can raise $271,900,000,000 - so in the roughly four years we have of the Obama Administration this is no financial problem -
Next - Taxing Americans to the Poor House - to do it or not to do it - Democrats answer - Yes
#10
AARP stand proud to watch those you've conned for years start dropping off earlier and the insurance companies you front for find that the oldsters die of 'accidents' at a higher rate [as though the government paper pushers are going to classify deaths as the result of neglect by their bureaucracy].
#11
Correction - Cigarettes for a year - $7,300.00 in taxes per user - 43,000,000 users - $313,900,000,000 annual tax revenue - pretty soon its "real money" .
An inspector general fired by President Barack Obama says he acted "with the highest integrity" in investigating AmeriCorps and other government-funded national service programs.
Gerald Walpin's job was to review grants awarded by AmeriCorps and its parent agency, the Corporation for National and Community Service. He told The Associated Press he has no doubt he acted properly in investigating Sacramento mayor and former NBA star Kevin Johnson.
Obama told Congress on Thursday he had lost confidence in Walpin.
As a result of Walpin's investigation, Johnson and the nonprofit St. HOPE Academy that he headed were ordered to repay about half of nearly $847,000 in federal grants they had received from AmeriCorps. Johnson is a political supporter of Obama.
#3
Midnight daylight basketball? Why do we need this when we have excellent gov't run learning institutions, free breakfast/lunch, bussing, cultural awareness, etc?
St. HOPE Academy, founded in 1989 by NBA All-Star Kevin Johnson, is a youth development organization in the Oak Park neighborhood of Sacramento. St. HOPE Academy was designed to supplement Sacramento's public education system and offer a structured, positive environment for educational opportunities, leadership training, character development, spiritual growth and physical well-being.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
President Obama's pick to be the Army's top lawyer withdrew after failing to disclose Fannie Mae as his former employer in a document submitted as part of his nomination process.
Dozens of US cities may have entire neighbourhoods bulldozed as part of drastic "shrink to survive" proposals being considered by the Obama administration to tackle economic decline. The government looking at expanding a pioneering scheme in Flint, one of the poorest US cities, which involves razing entire districts and returning the land to nature. Local politicians believe the city must contract by as much as 40 per cent, concentrating the dwindling population and local services into a more viable area.
