For all those Tiger fans out there, yesterday's win by Woods at Arnold Palmers' tournament was yet another example of why this guy has been and continues to be the best ever (sorry Arnold).
One of the commentators noted during the closing holes of the tournament, as Woods pulled off a couple of long distance [par] saves to stay in the game, that Woods father taught him that you can "will" things to happen in life. Well, Woods on the 18th hole showed his stiff spine as he sunk a tournament winning put from roughly 16 feet.
I also heard the commentators mention how good of a technocrat the runner up was at the sport - in other words, he has learned the sport's in and outs very well. But what ultimately seperates Tiger and all the other GREATs from all those who fall by the wayside, as did this guy, is that he has not only the athletic skills and technical knowhow, but moreover, the sheer "will" to win.
How does this relate to everday life you may ask? Simply put, sometimes skill and knowhow are not enough; you have to have an internal "will" to be better, do more and dig deeper to achieve your goals, especially in the toughest times.
Tiger thrills at Bay Hill with winning putt on 18
By Doug Ferguson of the Associated Press
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/03/30/AR2009033000225.html?hpid=artslot
Tiger Woods drove away from Bay Hill wearing the navy blue blazer traditionally awarded to the winner of the Arnold Palmer Invitational. He is more interested in a jacket of a different color, but this was a good start.
Next stop, Augusta National.
Monday, March 30, 2009
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
One Nation Under God - Just Don't Say Jesus
It seems that uttering the word Jesus in a government chamber evokes harsh critism now adays. This is truly unfortunate, but has been revealed in the bible as being the norm in the "end times"; where people will deny Jesus' name and scorn those who call on him.
Individuals should see that the usual things they have become accustomed to making their gods are all failing them (houses, jobs, 401k, stocks, governments). But Jesus never fails!
A crackdown on prayers in the Senate
By Andy Green of the Baltimore Sun Blog (3/25/09)
The Baltimore Sun's Gadi Dechter sends over this dispatch from the State House: A J-bomb went off in the Maryland Senate this morning, Julie Bykowicz tells the basement, who tells you.
During the morning prayer, a pastor from Bowie uttered the name of Jesus. This is a no-no, because it is considered insensitive to non-Christians, and possibly unconstitutional. Sen. President Thomas V. Mike Miller shook his head in disgust as the name was said and later said the prayer would not be journalized.
He ordered the secretary of the Senate to review prayers from now on.
This was the latest in several times this session that visiting pastors failed to refrain from mentioning the name of their Messiah, despite admonitions from Senate leadership to keep it ecumenical.
The House of Delegates used to have this same problem, so several years ago they simply decided to have delegates recite prayers instead of having visiting ministers, rabbis, priests and imams do the honors.
Still, lawmakers in the House also slip up occasionally. Earlier this session, Del. Donna Stifler, a Harford County Republican, mentioned the “prince of peace,” a reference to Jesus, in her convocation, though she quickly corrected herself and said she meant to say “God.”
Individuals should see that the usual things they have become accustomed to making their gods are all failing them (houses, jobs, 401k, stocks, governments). But Jesus never fails!
A crackdown on prayers in the Senate
By Andy Green of the Baltimore Sun Blog (3/25/09)
The Baltimore Sun's Gadi Dechter sends over this dispatch from the State House: A J-bomb went off in the Maryland Senate this morning, Julie Bykowicz tells the basement, who tells you.
During the morning prayer, a pastor from Bowie uttered the name of Jesus. This is a no-no, because it is considered insensitive to non-Christians, and possibly unconstitutional. Sen. President Thomas V. Mike Miller shook his head in disgust as the name was said and later said the prayer would not be journalized.
He ordered the secretary of the Senate to review prayers from now on.
This was the latest in several times this session that visiting pastors failed to refrain from mentioning the name of their Messiah, despite admonitions from Senate leadership to keep it ecumenical.
The House of Delegates used to have this same problem, so several years ago they simply decided to have delegates recite prayers instead of having visiting ministers, rabbis, priests and imams do the honors.
Still, lawmakers in the House also slip up occasionally. Earlier this session, Del. Donna Stifler, a Harford County Republican, mentioned the “prince of peace,” a reference to Jesus, in her convocation, though she quickly corrected herself and said she meant to say “God.”
Monday, March 23, 2009
Alabama Takes a Hit Below the Belt - US to Buy Chinese Condomns
Being from Alabama, I could not resist posting this article. Moreover, if ever there were any doubts about how hard-hitting and far-reaching the economic downturn is in the country, as well as, the impact of the new global economy, this story captures it perfectly.
For a roughly 3 cents saving per condemn and because Congress removed "Buy America" language from the recently passed stimulus bill, USAID is taking its business to China!
As a result, 300 individuals in tiny Eufaula, AL are SOL after decades of service.
WOW
Stimulus? U.S. to buy Chinese condoms, ending Alabama jobs
Reported on McClatchy (3/23/09)
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/251/story/64577.html
By Mike McGraw of the Kansas City Star (3/22/09)
http://www.kansascity.com/637/story/1100966.html
Call it a condom conundrum.
At a time when the federal government is spending billions of stimulus dollars to stem the tide of U.S. layoffs, should that same government put even more Americans out of work by buying cheaper foreign products?
In this case, Chinese condoms.
In a move expected to cost 300 American jobs, the government is switching to cheaper off-shore condoms, including some made in China.
That's the dilemma for the folks at the U.S. Agency for International Development, which has distributed an estimated 10 billion U.S.-made AIDS-preventing condoms in poor countries around the world.
But not anymore.
The switch comes despite assurances over the years that the agency would continue to buy American whenever possible.
"Of course, we considered how many U.S. jobs would be affected by this move,” said a USAID official who spoke on the condition that he would not be named. But he said the reasons for the change included lower prices (2 cents versus more than 5 cents for U.S.-made condoms) and the fact that Congress dropped “buy American language” in a recent appropriations bill.
For a roughly 3 cents saving per condemn and because Congress removed "Buy America" language from the recently passed stimulus bill, USAID is taking its business to China!
As a result, 300 individuals in tiny Eufaula, AL are SOL after decades of service.
WOW
Stimulus? U.S. to buy Chinese condoms, ending Alabama jobs
Reported on McClatchy (3/23/09)
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/251/story/64577.html
By Mike McGraw of the Kansas City Star (3/22/09)
http://www.kansascity.com/637/story/1100966.html
Call it a condom conundrum.
At a time when the federal government is spending billions of stimulus dollars to stem the tide of U.S. layoffs, should that same government put even more Americans out of work by buying cheaper foreign products?
In this case, Chinese condoms.
In a move expected to cost 300 American jobs, the government is switching to cheaper off-shore condoms, including some made in China.
That's the dilemma for the folks at the U.S. Agency for International Development, which has distributed an estimated 10 billion U.S.-made AIDS-preventing condoms in poor countries around the world.
But not anymore.
The switch comes despite assurances over the years that the agency would continue to buy American whenever possible.
"Of course, we considered how many U.S. jobs would be affected by this move,” said a USAID official who spoke on the condition that he would not be named. But he said the reasons for the change included lower prices (2 cents versus more than 5 cents for U.S.-made condoms) and the fact that Congress dropped “buy American language” in a recent appropriations bill.
Forget Smoking - Eat a Few Burgers
I was just mentioning to a co-worker the other day that I have never had an addictive personality. I drank in college, but quit later in life. Likewise, I smoked cigars for a period of time, but also let that habit go. However, those hamburgers and fries are something I have never been able to shake (pun intended).
Maybe it is because fast food joints are on nearly evey corner in urban communities. Or maybe it is because most American children have been unwittingly trained, socialized even, to know the golden arches from birth. Either way, fast food is as ingrained into our way of life as is t.v. (which is a whole other conversation).
We all know fast food can be very unhealthy, but is fast food akin to tobacco? A case is being made by a Yale research center that says so.
Is Food the New Tobacco?
By Marion Nestle of the Atlantic (3/21/09)
http://food.theatlantic.com/nutrition/is-food-the-new-tobacco.php
The Rudd Center at Yale is devoted to establishing a firm research basis for obesity interventions. Its latest contribution is a paper in the Milbank Quarterly from its director, Kelly Brownell, and co-author Kenneth Warner, an equally distinguished anti-smoking researcher from the University of Michigan. Its provocative title: The perils of ignoring history: Big Tobacco played dirty and millions died. How similar is Big Food?
The paper is getting much attention. A spokesman for the American Dietetic Association, a group well known for its close ties to food companies, emphasizes that food is not tobacco. Of course it's not. But food companies often behave like tobacco companies, and not always in the public interest. The Milbank paper provides plenty of documentation to back up the similarity. Worth a look, no?
Maybe it is because fast food joints are on nearly evey corner in urban communities. Or maybe it is because most American children have been unwittingly trained, socialized even, to know the golden arches from birth. Either way, fast food is as ingrained into our way of life as is t.v. (which is a whole other conversation).
We all know fast food can be very unhealthy, but is fast food akin to tobacco? A case is being made by a Yale research center that says so.
Is Food the New Tobacco?
By Marion Nestle of the Atlantic (3/21/09)
http://food.theatlantic.com/nutrition/is-food-the-new-tobacco.php
The Rudd Center at Yale is devoted to establishing a firm research basis for obesity interventions. Its latest contribution is a paper in the Milbank Quarterly from its director, Kelly Brownell, and co-author Kenneth Warner, an equally distinguished anti-smoking researcher from the University of Michigan. Its provocative title: The perils of ignoring history: Big Tobacco played dirty and millions died. How similar is Big Food?
The paper is getting much attention. A spokesman for the American Dietetic Association, a group well known for its close ties to food companies, emphasizes that food is not tobacco. Of course it's not. But food companies often behave like tobacco companies, and not always in the public interest. The Milbank paper provides plenty of documentation to back up the similarity. Worth a look, no?
President's Green Jobs Push May Stall Due to NIMBY
As President Obama promotes job growth (green jobs) while also mapping out a 21st century energy transformation, he may run into a modern-day hurdle known by all: NIMBY - - Not In My Back Yard
We all know great ideas are great ideas unless they somehow impact us. Once that becomes the case, great ideas often die a quick and painful death. The President's effort to create new jobs through developing the wind, wave, solar and biofuels industries of tomorrow may be the latest casualty of this communal self-interest.
'Green' Push Faces Resistance From Locals
By Ian Talley of the Wall Street Journal (3/20/09)
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123757810072598461.html
The risk that President Barack Obama's plans to promote "green jobs" could bog down amid local and state opposition to the transmission lines, windmills and other clean energy hardware is becoming an issue for both supporters and critics of the president's agenda.
A new U.S. Chamber of Commerce Web site launched Friday catalogues 62 wind, wave, solar and biofuel projects and 15 high-voltage transmission proposals across 25 states that have faced significant local opposition, often enough to shut them down entirely. It also documents how 18 natural gas projects, 17 nuclear power plants and around 175 coal plants worth more than $62 billion in investments have encountered local antagonism.
"Just saying you're for green jobs or green technology doesn't get the project built," said William Kovacs, the Chamber's vice president of environment and regulatory affairs. The Chamber advocates setting stricter deadlines for environmental reviews, among other actions.
We all know great ideas are great ideas unless they somehow impact us. Once that becomes the case, great ideas often die a quick and painful death. The President's effort to create new jobs through developing the wind, wave, solar and biofuels industries of tomorrow may be the latest casualty of this communal self-interest.
'Green' Push Faces Resistance From Locals
By Ian Talley of the Wall Street Journal (3/20/09)
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123757810072598461.html
The risk that President Barack Obama's plans to promote "green jobs" could bog down amid local and state opposition to the transmission lines, windmills and other clean energy hardware is becoming an issue for both supporters and critics of the president's agenda.
A new U.S. Chamber of Commerce Web site launched Friday catalogues 62 wind, wave, solar and biofuel projects and 15 high-voltage transmission proposals across 25 states that have faced significant local opposition, often enough to shut them down entirely. It also documents how 18 natural gas projects, 17 nuclear power plants and around 175 coal plants worth more than $62 billion in investments have encountered local antagonism.
"Just saying you're for green jobs or green technology doesn't get the project built," said William Kovacs, the Chamber's vice president of environment and regulatory affairs. The Chamber advocates setting stricter deadlines for environmental reviews, among other actions.
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
The Sisterhood!
As we draw toward the close of Women's History Month (March) it is only fitting that I recognize the incredible strides women have made in our society over the years. Particularly in the African American community, sistas have been on a rocketship to higher and higher heights never before realized. Case in point is the lovely FLOTUS (First Lady of the United States).
Yet, other beneficiaries of this monumental realigning of power over the years can be found within the administration with the "sisterhood", a group of African American females that are running things for the POTUS (President of the United States) and making new history. These women are a new cadre of highly educated, well regarded and super networked powerbrokers that have scaled to some very high heights.
The Ties That Align: Administration's Black Women Form A Strong Sisterhood
By Krissah Thompson of the Washington Post (3/18/09)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/03/17/AR2009031703744.html?hpid%3Dartslot
Like two old girlfriends catching up, they ignored onlookers, hugged and laughed. Donna Brazile, the political strategist and Washington veteran, peppered Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa Jackson with questions.
"How are the kids?" "Have you contacted the church? I don't go every Sunday but they know me."
Before she left, Jackson had an open invitation to Brazile's place for home-cooked red beans and rice, served up every Monday night.
"The sisterhood in this town, there's deep history here," Jackson said.
The "Obama women" -- as African American women who've taken big jobs in his administration have been nicknamed -- mark another step in the long journey of black women from outsiders to gatekeepers in political Washington. They have quietly entered their jobs with little attention paid to the fact that they are the largest contingent of high-ranking black women to work for a president.
Many are firsts -- as in the first black woman to run the Domestic Policy Council, the first black EPA chief and the first black woman to be deputy chief of staff. Last week, Obama tapped Margaret (Peggy) Hamburg to lead the Food and Drug Administration. If confirmed, Hamburg -- who is biracial (her mother is African American, her father Jewish) -- will also be a first.
Seven of about three dozen senior positions on President Obama's team are filled by African American women. Veterans in town see them as part of the steady evolution of power for black women, not only in the White House but also across the country -- in the business world, in academia, in policy circles.
Yet, other beneficiaries of this monumental realigning of power over the years can be found within the administration with the "sisterhood", a group of African American females that are running things for the POTUS (President of the United States) and making new history. These women are a new cadre of highly educated, well regarded and super networked powerbrokers that have scaled to some very high heights.
The Ties That Align: Administration's Black Women Form A Strong Sisterhood
By Krissah Thompson of the Washington Post (3/18/09)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/03/17/AR2009031703744.html?hpid%3Dartslot
Like two old girlfriends catching up, they ignored onlookers, hugged and laughed. Donna Brazile, the political strategist and Washington veteran, peppered Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa Jackson with questions.
"How are the kids?" "Have you contacted the church? I don't go every Sunday but they know me."
Before she left, Jackson had an open invitation to Brazile's place for home-cooked red beans and rice, served up every Monday night.
"The sisterhood in this town, there's deep history here," Jackson said.
The "Obama women" -- as African American women who've taken big jobs in his administration have been nicknamed -- mark another step in the long journey of black women from outsiders to gatekeepers in political Washington. They have quietly entered their jobs with little attention paid to the fact that they are the largest contingent of high-ranking black women to work for a president.
Many are firsts -- as in the first black woman to run the Domestic Policy Council, the first black EPA chief and the first black woman to be deputy chief of staff. Last week, Obama tapped Margaret (Peggy) Hamburg to lead the Food and Drug Administration. If confirmed, Hamburg -- who is biracial (her mother is African American, her father Jewish) -- will also be a first.
Seven of about three dozen senior positions on President Obama's team are filled by African American women. Veterans in town see them as part of the steady evolution of power for black women, not only in the White House but also across the country -- in the business world, in academia, in policy circles.
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
A Community of Leaders or Not - Political Leadership in the African American Community
In keeping with the question of the day regarding the time being at hand (or has been at hand) to see a new generation of leaders take charge in the black community; what say you regarding Roland Burris - - the Senator from Chicago?
At best a quizzical figure whose self-aggrandizing only makes you laugh harder or at worst, a stain on the recent legacy the President tried to build coming out of the often repudiated Chicago political environment to rise to a level never before seen by the African American community?
Either way, these two figures - representing a generational divide - are an interesting juxtaposition to one another and a stark reality of where we find ourself as a community.
Here are two recent sources to check out more on Senator Burris:
Collection of the latest stories by the Chicago Tribune (3/17/09)
http://www.chicagotribune.com/topic/crime-law-justice/justice-rights/roland-burris-PEPLT000007550.topic
The Replacement
The rise of Roland Burris.
By Jeffrey Toobin of The New Yorker (3/23/09)
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2009/03/23/090323fa_fact_toobin
At best a quizzical figure whose self-aggrandizing only makes you laugh harder or at worst, a stain on the recent legacy the President tried to build coming out of the often repudiated Chicago political environment to rise to a level never before seen by the African American community?
Either way, these two figures - representing a generational divide - are an interesting juxtaposition to one another and a stark reality of where we find ourself as a community.
Here are two recent sources to check out more on Senator Burris:
Collection of the latest stories by the Chicago Tribune (3/17/09)
http://www.chicagotribune.com/topic/crime-law-justice/justice-rights/roland-burris-PEPLT000007550.topic
The Replacement
The rise of Roland Burris.
By Jeffrey Toobin of The New Yorker (3/23/09)
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2009/03/23/090323fa_fact_toobin
The President May Like Hoops, But His Election Did Not Go Unnoticed by Football
A few days back, I posted a story regarding the interwoven fabric of D.C. and how six degrees of seperation really describes the town's political labyrinth. I also noted that if you did not know how to navigate it on your own, you had better hire someone who did if you wanted to be successful.
Well the NFL Players Association must have heard me having just hired a DC powerbroker from Patton Boggs Law Firm to be their next Executive Director.
Patton Boggs is one of the consistent big dogs on the block in Washington, D.C. when it comes to access and clout. Each year, the firm is listed as one of the top, if not the top, money earners for lobbying activities. Quite simply, they helped event the "game". http://www.pattonboggs.com/
Attorney Smith elected to succeed Upshaw as NFLPA executive director
By the Associated Press (3/17/09)
http://www.nfl.com/news/story?id=09000d5d80f469df&template=without-video-with-comments&confirm=true
DeMaurice Smith's ties to presidential power and business experts trumped football experience, leading the Washington D.C.-based attorney to become the NFL Players Association's new executive director.
With two former union presidents and a high-profile sports attorney also as finalists, NFLPA player representatives instead went with an outsider in electing Smith on Sunday. He succeeds the late Gene Upshaw and guides the players into a critical era that includes negotiating a new collective bargaining agreement in the shadow of an economic meltdown. "Guys, let's get to work," Smith told the membership.
Inside Smith's career A native Washingtonian, Smith is a trial lawyer and litigation partner at Patton Boggs, a firm that concentrates in white-collar criminal defense and "bet the company" tort liability trials. Smith Graduated from University of Virginia law school in 1989. Admitted to the bar in Washington D.C. and Maryland. Former President, Assistant United States Attorney’s Association. On the Board of Directors for the Good Samaritan Foundation. Member of the American Bar Association White-Collar Crime Committee. Recipient of the United States Attorney General Award in 2000. Named one of Washingtonian magazine's Top 40 Lawyers Under 40.
Smith, 45, was elected on the first ballot by the 32 player representatives -- one for each NFL team -- and was introduced to a standing ovation.
Well the NFL Players Association must have heard me having just hired a DC powerbroker from Patton Boggs Law Firm to be their next Executive Director.
Patton Boggs is one of the consistent big dogs on the block in Washington, D.C. when it comes to access and clout. Each year, the firm is listed as one of the top, if not the top, money earners for lobbying activities. Quite simply, they helped event the "game". http://www.pattonboggs.com/
Attorney Smith elected to succeed Upshaw as NFLPA executive director
By the Associated Press (3/17/09)
http://www.nfl.com/news/story?id=09000d5d80f469df&template=without-video-with-comments&confirm=true
DeMaurice Smith's ties to presidential power and business experts trumped football experience, leading the Washington D.C.-based attorney to become the NFL Players Association's new executive director.
With two former union presidents and a high-profile sports attorney also as finalists, NFLPA player representatives instead went with an outsider in electing Smith on Sunday. He succeeds the late Gene Upshaw and guides the players into a critical era that includes negotiating a new collective bargaining agreement in the shadow of an economic meltdown. "Guys, let's get to work," Smith told the membership.
Inside Smith's career A native Washingtonian, Smith is a trial lawyer and litigation partner at Patton Boggs, a firm that concentrates in white-collar criminal defense and "bet the company" tort liability trials. Smith Graduated from University of Virginia law school in 1989. Admitted to the bar in Washington D.C. and Maryland. Former President, Assistant United States Attorney’s Association. On the Board of Directors for the Good Samaritan Foundation. Member of the American Bar Association White-Collar Crime Committee. Recipient of the United States Attorney General Award in 2000. Named one of Washingtonian magazine's Top 40 Lawyers Under 40.
Smith, 45, was elected on the first ballot by the 32 player representatives -- one for each NFL team -- and was introduced to a standing ovation.
Saturday, March 14, 2009
Job Losses Spawn a Wave of Business Creations
For thousands of us around the country, the current recession has created a major rethinking in how we sustain ourselves economically. No longer able to count of institutional stability or life-long jobs, many of us are looking at a variety of methods for improving our lot in life in this new world order. Many have gone back to school to upgrade skills or retrain for other job sectors. Others, such as those referenced in this article, have tapped into their entrepreneurial ingenuity to become their own bosses.
As we move forward as a world (we have to look beyond traditional borders and job sectors) entrepreneurs will be more vital than ever for reshaping the global economic community; particularly in the science, technology and environmental sectors. Hoever, for many, it simply boils down to taking control of their own financial destiny.
Weary of Looking for Work, Some Create Their Own
By Matt Richtel and Jenna Wortham of the New York Times (3/14/09)
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/14/technology/start-ups/14startup.html?_r=1&ref=business
Alex Andon, 24, a graduate of Duke University in biology, was laid off from a biotech company last May. For months he sought new work. Then, frustrated with the hunt, he turned to jellyfish.
In an apartment he shares here with six roommates, Mr. Andon started a business in September building jellyfish aquariums, capitalizing on new technology that helps the fragile creatures survive in captivity. He has sold three tanks, one for $25,000 to a restaurant, and is starting a Web site to sell desktop versions for $350.
“I keep getting stung,” he said. And his crowded home office is filled with beakers and test tubes of jellyfish food. “But it beats looking for work. I hate looking for work.”
Plenty of other laid-off workers across the country, burned out by a merciless job market, are building business plans instead of sending out résumés. For these people, recession has become the mother of invention.
As we move forward as a world (we have to look beyond traditional borders and job sectors) entrepreneurs will be more vital than ever for reshaping the global economic community; particularly in the science, technology and environmental sectors. Hoever, for many, it simply boils down to taking control of their own financial destiny.
Weary of Looking for Work, Some Create Their Own
By Matt Richtel and Jenna Wortham of the New York Times (3/14/09)
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/14/technology/start-ups/14startup.html?_r=1&ref=business
Alex Andon, 24, a graduate of Duke University in biology, was laid off from a biotech company last May. For months he sought new work. Then, frustrated with the hunt, he turned to jellyfish.
In an apartment he shares here with six roommates, Mr. Andon started a business in September building jellyfish aquariums, capitalizing on new technology that helps the fragile creatures survive in captivity. He has sold three tanks, one for $25,000 to a restaurant, and is starting a Web site to sell desktop versions for $350.
“I keep getting stung,” he said. And his crowded home office is filled with beakers and test tubes of jellyfish food. “But it beats looking for work. I hate looking for work.”
Plenty of other laid-off workers across the country, burned out by a merciless job market, are building business plans instead of sending out résumés. For these people, recession has become the mother of invention.
Thursday, March 12, 2009
A Call to Service - Some Answer More Often
Ok, there seems to be a Southern thread through today's posts. But I am very sensitive to this particular post having served in the Alabama Guard and Reserves for 11 years. These guys/ladies are true heroes who have been placed in harm's way more than they probably can ever understand. God Bless them and their families.
Going back to the previous post, I hope members of their families are not having to deal with the unemployment insurance situation in their absence.
Alabama sixth in nation for Army National Guard soldiers who have served in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars
By Tom Gordon of the Birmingham News (3/12/09)
http://www.al.com/news/birminghamnews/metro.ssf?/base/news/123684580073100.xml&coll=2
The number of Army National Guard soldiers from Alabama who have served in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars is the sixth highest in the nation, according to the latest Pentagon figures.
At the end of January, 7,250 Army National Guard soldiers from Alabama had served in Operation Iraqi Freedom or Operation Enduring Freedom, which is the U.S. military effort in Afghanistan. The states with higher numbers than Alabama were Texas, with 12,288; Pennsylvania, 10,181; California, 10,155; Indiana, 7,736; and Illinois, 7,410. Most of the Alabama Guard soldiers who deployed were members of Alabama National Guard units, but some were in units from other states.
Pentagon figures also show that nationally, the number of Alabamians in Guard and Reserve units who have served in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars - 13,609 - is the 11th highest.
California, with 36,116, is first, followed by Texas, with 30,982. Four other Southern states are ahead of Alabama: Florida, with 20,383; Virginia, 18,929; Georgia, 16,650; and North Carolina, 15,245.
All of the states with higher totals have larger populations than Alabama. Also according to the Pentagon, 1,601 Alabamians who are Air National Guard members have served in Iraq or Afghanistan. That total is the nation's 13th highest. This year, about 1,600 Alabama Army Guard soldiers are expected to deploy to the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts.
Going back to the previous post, I hope members of their families are not having to deal with the unemployment insurance situation in their absence.
Alabama sixth in nation for Army National Guard soldiers who have served in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars
By Tom Gordon of the Birmingham News (3/12/09)
http://www.al.com/news/birminghamnews/metro.ssf?/base/news/123684580073100.xml&coll=2
The number of Army National Guard soldiers from Alabama who have served in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars is the sixth highest in the nation, according to the latest Pentagon figures.
At the end of January, 7,250 Army National Guard soldiers from Alabama had served in Operation Iraqi Freedom or Operation Enduring Freedom, which is the U.S. military effort in Afghanistan. The states with higher numbers than Alabama were Texas, with 12,288; Pennsylvania, 10,181; California, 10,155; Indiana, 7,736; and Illinois, 7,410. Most of the Alabama Guard soldiers who deployed were members of Alabama National Guard units, but some were in units from other states.
Pentagon figures also show that nationally, the number of Alabamians in Guard and Reserve units who have served in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars - 13,609 - is the 11th highest.
California, with 36,116, is first, followed by Texas, with 30,982. Four other Southern states are ahead of Alabama: Florida, with 20,383; Virginia, 18,929; Georgia, 16,650; and North Carolina, 15,245.
All of the states with higher totals have larger populations than Alabama. Also according to the Pentagon, 1,601 Alabamians who are Air National Guard members have served in Iraq or Afghanistan. That total is the nation's 13th highest. This year, about 1,600 Alabama Army Guard soldiers are expected to deploy to the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts.
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
McDonald's Can't Even Catch a Break
If McDonald's is struggling to make profits, you know times are hard for people. Much of their food is only a buck - one dollar - four quarters: 2 year olds even know the golden arches by name.
McDonald’s Offers a Cautious Outlook
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS (3/10/09)
The McDonald’s Corporation posted higher comparable sales Monday but warned that the stronger dollar and higher commodity costs might hurt its first-quarter sales and profit.
McDonald’s said global sales at stores open at least a year grew 1.4 percent in February. Sales at stores in the United States rose 2.8 percent.
Monday’s warning was not much of a surprise to investors — the company had indicated in January when it reported fourth-quarter results that the dollar would hurt first quarter results.
But the restaurant chain was more specific Monday, saying quarterly sales would probably be off by at least $600 million and earnings by 7 cents to 9 cents a share if foreign currency rates stayed at current levels. The company posted sales of $5.61 billion in the first quarter of 2008.
McDonald’s Offers a Cautious Outlook
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS (3/10/09)
The McDonald’s Corporation posted higher comparable sales Monday but warned that the stronger dollar and higher commodity costs might hurt its first-quarter sales and profit.
McDonald’s said global sales at stores open at least a year grew 1.4 percent in February. Sales at stores in the United States rose 2.8 percent.
Monday’s warning was not much of a surprise to investors — the company had indicated in January when it reported fourth-quarter results that the dollar would hurt first quarter results.
But the restaurant chain was more specific Monday, saying quarterly sales would probably be off by at least $600 million and earnings by 7 cents to 9 cents a share if foreign currency rates stayed at current levels. The company posted sales of $5.61 billion in the first quarter of 2008.
They're Married to It - DC Power Couples
To the average reader, you may take this article as nonsense and foolishness; but understand this, if you are trying to navigate the politics of Washington, D.C. (or for that matter, the politics of anywhere USA) you better gain an understanding of the interwoven dynamics of the "who, what, when and where": or hire someone who does know! Below is a little [101] for you.
Doubling Down
By Richard LeibyWashington Post Staff (March 10, 2009)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/03/09/AR2009030902943_pf.html
A new administration, a new opportunity to anoint new Washington power couples. (It's just what we do around here.) But identifying them proves a bit harder than we thought.
Rule No. 1 about power couples: They deny that they are power couples.
"I'm sort of intensely uncomfortable with the term; I'm not quite sure what it means," says Bob Bauer, President Obama's personal counsel and the Democratic Party's new lawyer, who was described by Politico as having "new, unmatched legal power." His wife is Anita Dunn, an Obama campaign veteran who passed up a White House job and now reigns as the town's resident political consultant-strategist-genius. She seemingly has worked for every Democrat who ever lived, back to the Carter days. Newsweek, which we think should know, listed the couple among the new "D.C. powers." Not so, says Dunn: "The idea of power couples is a very retro idea. We don't really have them among us now." Interesting theory.
Rule No. 2: Washington must have power couples. It needs them, or at least the idea of them.
Because Washington, despite being the seat of democracy and all that, is fundamentally a place of pecking-order distinctions. There are striations in levels of access and power; major and minor signifiers. Does your government position afford you a shiny black Suburban (or two, or more) and a security detail, or just a reserved spot in your agency's garage? Small things convey prestige, unfettered passage, no second look from the Secret Service. Are you "hard-pinned" or "tin-pinned" when traveling with POTUS? Badges and clearance levels matter: How far above "secret" are you? Were you "read into" the program? Power couples, especially, make good subjects for envy. Outsiders might see them as charmed, somehow. They are the people who aggregate all the connections, the juice, the access. They drop the right names; they have a good place to entertain. They are deemed politically or socially important because somebody (usually us, the media) points out that they are politically or socially important. Non-insiders want to be them: If only you could only get on their radar, on the list, maybe you'd be able to leach away some of their juice, too. "People are drawn to them," says Ann Stock, who was a White House social secretary in the Clinton administration. "The biggest thing that power couples do is that they're conveners of people. They bring people to them, but they also radiate information out to others. That's the magnetism of it." Why do we need them? "It's human nature," she says. "People just want to know. . . . It's a new administration in town, and people want to know them and feel like they're connected." To a certain extent, power couples never go away. The names of yesterday's couples still float like motes through the musty politico-media celebrisphere. James Carville and Mary Matalin. The Dingells, John and Debbie. Republicans Susan Molinari and Bill Paxon, formerly of Congress. Monied Democrats Beth and Ron Dozoretz, not to be confused with monied Democrats Mark Penn and Nancy Jacobson. Andrea Mitchell and Alan Greenspan. Victoria Toensing and Joe DiGenova. Bob and Elizabeth Dole. Elaine Chao and Mitch McConnell.
And who can forget Bob and Georgette Mosbacher? (We did, until we searched in the clips for hits on "power couple.")
Sometimes, the designation ends when the partners split. Elizabeth Birch and Hilary Rosen, once called Washington's first same-sex power couple, are no longer a couple. Republican lobbyist Juleanna Glover, who almost singlehandedly revived the idea of a Washington hostess-to-know, still throws fine parties, but is now divorced from Jeffrey Weiss, also a lobbyist. (She's now with Dal LaMagna, a progressive activist.) Some couples burn too brightly and leave town: Remember Joe Wilson and Valerie Plame? Some move on after decades, such as Bob Shrum and Marylouise Oates, who leave behind fond memories of their casual soirees and their nicknames, "Oatsie" and "Shrummy." (Although to this day, they deny being a power couple: "That was not us," Oates swears. "Shrummy did campaigns and I made a lot of meatloaf.") Paths to Power
There are different breeds of power couples. Sometimes each person asserts a singular identity, with different social bases and circles of people that intersect like a Venn diagram, creating a multiplier effect. Into that category we'd put Richard Holbrooke -- the go-to diplomat for President Bill Clinton and now Obama -- and his wife, Kati Marton, the author (who, don't you know, used to be married to Peter Jennings). Jay Carney and Claire Shipman were once merely a media couple with individual perches -- at Time magazine and ABC News, respectively. Now Carney has gone to work for Veep Joe Biden, amplifying the partnership's collective juice.
Then there are top-liners like Eric Holder and Sharon Malone. He, of course, is the new attorney general; she's a longtime Washington OB-GYN and advocate for teen pregnancy prevention. In their nearly 20 years together, they have forged a formidable medical-legal and civic-social alliance.
Holder got to know Barack Obama four years ago at one of those fabled "Washington dinner parties" -- a gathering hosted by Ann Walker Marchant, chief executive of a PR firm and former Clinton aide, to welcome the new senator from Illinois. She seated Holder next to Obama: "This is what Ann does," Malone says. "She put them together because she thought they had a lot in common, and it turned out to be true." Holder later became candidate Obama's senior legal adviser. And now for the bonus points: Eleven years ago, Malone had delivered Rahm Emanuel's eldest child. "Rahm's son was luck of the draw," she explains. "I happened to be on call that night," subbing for Emanuel's wife Amy's doctor. The doctor wasn't friends with them, but Holder, as a former Clinton deputy attorney general, knew Emanuel professionally, of course.
So we have to ask: Are Holder and Malone finally now a power couple?
"No, it sounds so 'ohhhh . . . get over yourself,' " she says, adding for good measure, "I said no." Family Matters. Let's say you and your spouse both take important jobs in the Obama administration -- isn't that the very definition of a power couple? (Take a guess.)
"We don't consider ourselves to be that," says John Norris, newly arrived from Iowa to serve as chief of staff to Tom Vilsack, the secretary of agriculture. "That isn't what trips our trigger."
Norris, 50, is married to Jackie Norris, 38, the chief of staff to Michelle Obama. They got engaged at the 2000 Democratic National Convention -- could there be more propitious launch into political coupledom? Later, as Iowa state director for Obama's campaign, Jackie Norris was crucial to delivering his first big win. Now the Norrises have three young sons, including twins. Their life revolves around them, not "who's who at the zoo and what bars we can go to," as Jackie Norris put it. To the extent that power coupledom requires hitting the cocktail circuit -- the embassy parties, the charity galas, the book signings -- "I think we'll fall out of that pretty quickly," agrees John Norris. "My priority is to get home and play in the garden with my kids."
And in the new Washington landscape, it may raise one's stature to have kids: They expand your social circle and allow you to tap into the whole family-friendly "work-life balance" thing Michelle Obama always talks about. One insider recalls going to a function when the Obamas were staying at Blair House and noticing all these kids running around and playing on Wiis upstairs. (Children, like dogs and cats, have always made good conversation pieces.)
On the other hand, consider what White House Chief of Staff Emanuel recently told the New Yorker, in explaining his hesitation, as a father of three, to take the job: "No matter what every White House says -- 'We're going to be great, family-friendly' -- well, the only family we're going to be good for is the First Family. Everybody else is, like, really a distant second, O.K.?"
Some administration couples, with kids or not, almost certainly won't have time to do anything besides work themselves into exhaustion. Into this category we'd put Dan Pfeiffer, 33, and his wife, Sarah Feinberg, 31, both of whom toil in pressure-cooker jobs -- he as deputy White House communications director, she a senior adviser to Emanuel.
An acquaintance touted them as belonging at the "top of the list" of any story about power couples. They declined to comment. Via BlackBerry, of course.
Rule No. 3: Catering to the crowd. To be a full-fledged power couple, you need a decent-size kitchen and/or the number of a good caterer.
This is essential to staging one of those fabled dinner parties, which are usually held in a baroque-looking house somewhere on the Hill, Kalorama or Georgetown. But not always: Obama brings with him some young, urban cool; a nice downtown apartment will do.
Rufus Gifford, 34, and Jeremy Bernard, 44 -- leading candidates for Washington's new same-sex power couple -- just migrated from Los Angeles, where they raised millions of dollars for Obama. They landed a two-bedroom apartment in a trendy "green" building in Logan Circle.
"We had that conversation: Is it big enough to entertain," says Gifford, new finance director for the Democratic National Committee. "It's certainly more confined that we are used to, but we can fit a cocktail party for a couple dozen people."
Initiated to Washington ways as deputy treasurer for the Clinton '93 inaugural committee, Bernard has been appointed White House liaison to the National Endowment for the Humanities. He and Gifford have been together three years; they placed on Out magazine's 2008 list of the country's 50 most influential gays. "We had a certain amount of juice out West, but we're newcomers here and we're going to have to work hard," says Gifford, a former entertainment industry executive. He and Bernard mainly knew the Obama Chicago crowd from a distance, by phone. Here, "we will have time to cement relationships, and to expand the circle . . . and see what makes this town tick." (That's easy: access to power, a.k.a. juice.)
In the Wings Rule No. 4: Today's fresh-faced kids in the administration will be tomorrow's power couples.
They meet and mate in the hothouse of the campaign, improbably end up in Washington, awestruck, and proceed to marry among their own kind. Consider this 2002 wedding announcement in the New York Times for Antony Blinken and Evan Ryan: "Ms. Ryan and Mr. Blinken met in 1995 at the White House, where she was special assistant to Mrs. Clinton's chief of staff and he was a special assistant to the President and the senior director for speechwriting."
Now when people are asked to nominate new power couples, the names Tony and Evan inevitably come up. Both work for Biden: He as national security adviser, she as the veep's aide for intergovernmental affairs and public liaison. Titles matter for tomorrow's power couples, but not too much. Even the lowly assistant press secretary who merits no office window can always say, "I worked in Washington for President Obama." It's a chit to dine out on and a résumé-booster for life. Because you were there, in the mix, and you knew them. (Even if they didn't know you.)
Which brings us to Rule No. 5: There is only one Washington power couple who really matter, and everybody knows it.
They live at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. No wonder everyone else invokes Rule No. 1.
Doubling Down
By Richard LeibyWashington Post Staff (March 10, 2009)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/03/09/AR2009030902943_pf.html
A new administration, a new opportunity to anoint new Washington power couples. (It's just what we do around here.) But identifying them proves a bit harder than we thought.
Rule No. 1 about power couples: They deny that they are power couples.
"I'm sort of intensely uncomfortable with the term; I'm not quite sure what it means," says Bob Bauer, President Obama's personal counsel and the Democratic Party's new lawyer, who was described by Politico as having "new, unmatched legal power." His wife is Anita Dunn, an Obama campaign veteran who passed up a White House job and now reigns as the town's resident political consultant-strategist-genius. She seemingly has worked for every Democrat who ever lived, back to the Carter days. Newsweek, which we think should know, listed the couple among the new "D.C. powers." Not so, says Dunn: "The idea of power couples is a very retro idea. We don't really have them among us now." Interesting theory.
Rule No. 2: Washington must have power couples. It needs them, or at least the idea of them.
Because Washington, despite being the seat of democracy and all that, is fundamentally a place of pecking-order distinctions. There are striations in levels of access and power; major and minor signifiers. Does your government position afford you a shiny black Suburban (or two, or more) and a security detail, or just a reserved spot in your agency's garage? Small things convey prestige, unfettered passage, no second look from the Secret Service. Are you "hard-pinned" or "tin-pinned" when traveling with POTUS? Badges and clearance levels matter: How far above "secret" are you? Were you "read into" the program? Power couples, especially, make good subjects for envy. Outsiders might see them as charmed, somehow. They are the people who aggregate all the connections, the juice, the access. They drop the right names; they have a good place to entertain. They are deemed politically or socially important because somebody (usually us, the media) points out that they are politically or socially important. Non-insiders want to be them: If only you could only get on their radar, on the list, maybe you'd be able to leach away some of their juice, too. "People are drawn to them," says Ann Stock, who was a White House social secretary in the Clinton administration. "The biggest thing that power couples do is that they're conveners of people. They bring people to them, but they also radiate information out to others. That's the magnetism of it." Why do we need them? "It's human nature," she says. "People just want to know. . . . It's a new administration in town, and people want to know them and feel like they're connected." To a certain extent, power couples never go away. The names of yesterday's couples still float like motes through the musty politico-media celebrisphere. James Carville and Mary Matalin. The Dingells, John and Debbie. Republicans Susan Molinari and Bill Paxon, formerly of Congress. Monied Democrats Beth and Ron Dozoretz, not to be confused with monied Democrats Mark Penn and Nancy Jacobson. Andrea Mitchell and Alan Greenspan. Victoria Toensing and Joe DiGenova. Bob and Elizabeth Dole. Elaine Chao and Mitch McConnell.
And who can forget Bob and Georgette Mosbacher? (We did, until we searched in the clips for hits on "power couple.")
Sometimes, the designation ends when the partners split. Elizabeth Birch and Hilary Rosen, once called Washington's first same-sex power couple, are no longer a couple. Republican lobbyist Juleanna Glover, who almost singlehandedly revived the idea of a Washington hostess-to-know, still throws fine parties, but is now divorced from Jeffrey Weiss, also a lobbyist. (She's now with Dal LaMagna, a progressive activist.) Some couples burn too brightly and leave town: Remember Joe Wilson and Valerie Plame? Some move on after decades, such as Bob Shrum and Marylouise Oates, who leave behind fond memories of their casual soirees and their nicknames, "Oatsie" and "Shrummy." (Although to this day, they deny being a power couple: "That was not us," Oates swears. "Shrummy did campaigns and I made a lot of meatloaf.") Paths to Power
There are different breeds of power couples. Sometimes each person asserts a singular identity, with different social bases and circles of people that intersect like a Venn diagram, creating a multiplier effect. Into that category we'd put Richard Holbrooke -- the go-to diplomat for President Bill Clinton and now Obama -- and his wife, Kati Marton, the author (who, don't you know, used to be married to Peter Jennings). Jay Carney and Claire Shipman were once merely a media couple with individual perches -- at Time magazine and ABC News, respectively. Now Carney has gone to work for Veep Joe Biden, amplifying the partnership's collective juice.
Then there are top-liners like Eric Holder and Sharon Malone. He, of course, is the new attorney general; she's a longtime Washington OB-GYN and advocate for teen pregnancy prevention. In their nearly 20 years together, they have forged a formidable medical-legal and civic-social alliance.
Holder got to know Barack Obama four years ago at one of those fabled "Washington dinner parties" -- a gathering hosted by Ann Walker Marchant, chief executive of a PR firm and former Clinton aide, to welcome the new senator from Illinois. She seated Holder next to Obama: "This is what Ann does," Malone says. "She put them together because she thought they had a lot in common, and it turned out to be true." Holder later became candidate Obama's senior legal adviser. And now for the bonus points: Eleven years ago, Malone had delivered Rahm Emanuel's eldest child. "Rahm's son was luck of the draw," she explains. "I happened to be on call that night," subbing for Emanuel's wife Amy's doctor. The doctor wasn't friends with them, but Holder, as a former Clinton deputy attorney general, knew Emanuel professionally, of course.
So we have to ask: Are Holder and Malone finally now a power couple?
"No, it sounds so 'ohhhh . . . get over yourself,' " she says, adding for good measure, "I said no." Family Matters. Let's say you and your spouse both take important jobs in the Obama administration -- isn't that the very definition of a power couple? (Take a guess.)
"We don't consider ourselves to be that," says John Norris, newly arrived from Iowa to serve as chief of staff to Tom Vilsack, the secretary of agriculture. "That isn't what trips our trigger."
Norris, 50, is married to Jackie Norris, 38, the chief of staff to Michelle Obama. They got engaged at the 2000 Democratic National Convention -- could there be more propitious launch into political coupledom? Later, as Iowa state director for Obama's campaign, Jackie Norris was crucial to delivering his first big win. Now the Norrises have three young sons, including twins. Their life revolves around them, not "who's who at the zoo and what bars we can go to," as Jackie Norris put it. To the extent that power coupledom requires hitting the cocktail circuit -- the embassy parties, the charity galas, the book signings -- "I think we'll fall out of that pretty quickly," agrees John Norris. "My priority is to get home and play in the garden with my kids."
And in the new Washington landscape, it may raise one's stature to have kids: They expand your social circle and allow you to tap into the whole family-friendly "work-life balance" thing Michelle Obama always talks about. One insider recalls going to a function when the Obamas were staying at Blair House and noticing all these kids running around and playing on Wiis upstairs. (Children, like dogs and cats, have always made good conversation pieces.)
On the other hand, consider what White House Chief of Staff Emanuel recently told the New Yorker, in explaining his hesitation, as a father of three, to take the job: "No matter what every White House says -- 'We're going to be great, family-friendly' -- well, the only family we're going to be good for is the First Family. Everybody else is, like, really a distant second, O.K.?"
Some administration couples, with kids or not, almost certainly won't have time to do anything besides work themselves into exhaustion. Into this category we'd put Dan Pfeiffer, 33, and his wife, Sarah Feinberg, 31, both of whom toil in pressure-cooker jobs -- he as deputy White House communications director, she a senior adviser to Emanuel.
An acquaintance touted them as belonging at the "top of the list" of any story about power couples. They declined to comment. Via BlackBerry, of course.
Rule No. 3: Catering to the crowd. To be a full-fledged power couple, you need a decent-size kitchen and/or the number of a good caterer.
This is essential to staging one of those fabled dinner parties, which are usually held in a baroque-looking house somewhere on the Hill, Kalorama or Georgetown. But not always: Obama brings with him some young, urban cool; a nice downtown apartment will do.
Rufus Gifford, 34, and Jeremy Bernard, 44 -- leading candidates for Washington's new same-sex power couple -- just migrated from Los Angeles, where they raised millions of dollars for Obama. They landed a two-bedroom apartment in a trendy "green" building in Logan Circle.
"We had that conversation: Is it big enough to entertain," says Gifford, new finance director for the Democratic National Committee. "It's certainly more confined that we are used to, but we can fit a cocktail party for a couple dozen people."
Initiated to Washington ways as deputy treasurer for the Clinton '93 inaugural committee, Bernard has been appointed White House liaison to the National Endowment for the Humanities. He and Gifford have been together three years; they placed on Out magazine's 2008 list of the country's 50 most influential gays. "We had a certain amount of juice out West, but we're newcomers here and we're going to have to work hard," says Gifford, a former entertainment industry executive. He and Bernard mainly knew the Obama Chicago crowd from a distance, by phone. Here, "we will have time to cement relationships, and to expand the circle . . . and see what makes this town tick." (That's easy: access to power, a.k.a. juice.)
In the Wings Rule No. 4: Today's fresh-faced kids in the administration will be tomorrow's power couples.
They meet and mate in the hothouse of the campaign, improbably end up in Washington, awestruck, and proceed to marry among their own kind. Consider this 2002 wedding announcement in the New York Times for Antony Blinken and Evan Ryan: "Ms. Ryan and Mr. Blinken met in 1995 at the White House, where she was special assistant to Mrs. Clinton's chief of staff and he was a special assistant to the President and the senior director for speechwriting."
Now when people are asked to nominate new power couples, the names Tony and Evan inevitably come up. Both work for Biden: He as national security adviser, she as the veep's aide for intergovernmental affairs and public liaison. Titles matter for tomorrow's power couples, but not too much. Even the lowly assistant press secretary who merits no office window can always say, "I worked in Washington for President Obama." It's a chit to dine out on and a résumé-booster for life. Because you were there, in the mix, and you knew them. (Even if they didn't know you.)
Which brings us to Rule No. 5: There is only one Washington power couple who really matter, and everybody knows it.
They live at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. No wonder everyone else invokes Rule No. 1.
Monday, March 9, 2009
Obama's Point Person On Domestic Policy
Over the past year and a half, I have had the pleasure of working with Melody Barnes (fmr. Executive Vice President for Domestic Policy at the Center for American Progress) as she helped lead the Center's efforts to develop progressive policies around the issues of the day. She is a smart and highly respected sister, who will serve the President well!
Barnes walks the point on Obama policy agenda
By Jessica Yellin and Kevin Bohn of CNN (3/5/09)
http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/03/04/melody.barnes/index.html
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Melody Barnes could be one of the most powerful inside players you've never heard of.
As director of the White House Domestic Policy Council, Barnes has a huge role in determining whether the domestic policy initiatives President Obama pledged to carry out will be enacted. Barnes' job is to make sure the Cabinet and other agencies under the White House's control are putting Obama's policy agenda front and center, from health care and education reform to urban affairs and immigration.
From her West Wing office, she spends her days talking to Cabinet secretaries, members of Congress and advocacy groups.
What does a typical day look like?
"You know, my parents and friends ask the same questions, and I usually start out by laughing. Every day is completely different, but I think the singular theme would be meetings!" she said.
Barnes says the meetings usually end about 8 p.m.
This week, she's been tasked by the president to pull together a summit that's intended to begin a national debate over health care reform. The White House says the event will include members of Congress from both parties, insurance and industry representatives, advocacy groups and citizens.
"This has to happen. If we are going to fix our economic circumstances, health-care reform has to be addressed. It is an important part of our federal budget. It also affects companies and their bottom line and their budgets, and also family budgets," she said in her White House office.
Shepherding a policy agenda is a different task for Barnes, who decided to get into public policy after a short stint in the private sector. She spent more than eight years as a key aide to Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Massachusetts, and the Senate Judiciary Committee as well as working with the House Judiciary Committee and the Equal Opportunity Commission. She then took on a key leadership position at the liberal think tank Center for American Progress, helping shape ideas and policy proposals to counter the Bush White House agenda.
Former White House Chief of Staff John Podesta has worked with her at the center as well as with her during her Capitol Hill years and as an aide in the Obama transition.
"I think in a way, she tracks President Obama very well. I think she listens, she likes to solicit people's views, and then at the end of the day, she's willing to make hard calls and make hard decisions and move forward," he said.
Barnes makes time every morning for yoga. The meditation, she says, helps get through her marathon day of meetings and briefings. As a key White House official making sure the president's expansive domestic policy agenda is implemented, she probably can use help from every corner. And she isn't alone in those in the West Wing who look to yoga. "Yoga is very very important. It keeps me centered. I know yoga is also something that [White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel] practices. I think there are a number of people around here that do the same," Barnes said.
She seemed destined for this type of career path after deciding to sell cupcakes for then-Democratic presidential nominee George McGovern as a third-grader, when she was 8 years old. "The group of parents and students were doing this, and I still remember that, and it was important to me." Barnes is one of a handful of power players in a White House whose key advisers are predominantly male. But she says there isn't a struggle to be heard in the White House. Barnes said Obama's selection of people for his inner circle like longtime friend Valerie Jarrett sends a signal. "He respects her. He respects the other women that he's brought around. So he sends the signal to everyone that we all have to sit at this table, we put ideas on the table, we debate them, people have hard-charging debates, but at the same time, we respect one another. And when we walk out of the room, we are a team."
Named one of Washington's best-dressed women several years ago, she says style is something to embrace but not at the expense of substance. "I think that if you go about doing your job and if you're serious about that and people see that you know your stuff and you bring your expertise with you to the table, people will respect that. But your sense of style and who you are also gives them a sense of where you're coming from," she said.
Right now, she is working seven days a week. Most days start first thing in the morning and run until 9 to 10 p.m. A deeply religious woman, she does make time to go to church each week.
And what does she do in her spare time? Plan her June wedding (with the help of a planner).
A woman known to friends as very organized, she does maintain her files. "It is all at home, because I don't have time to do that here in the White House. That has been very fun. My mom has been up here helping me with my best friend select my wedding dress."
Barnes walks the point on Obama policy agenda
By Jessica Yellin and Kevin Bohn of CNN (3/5/09)
http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/03/04/melody.barnes/index.html
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Melody Barnes could be one of the most powerful inside players you've never heard of.
As director of the White House Domestic Policy Council, Barnes has a huge role in determining whether the domestic policy initiatives President Obama pledged to carry out will be enacted. Barnes' job is to make sure the Cabinet and other agencies under the White House's control are putting Obama's policy agenda front and center, from health care and education reform to urban affairs and immigration.
From her West Wing office, she spends her days talking to Cabinet secretaries, members of Congress and advocacy groups.
What does a typical day look like?
"You know, my parents and friends ask the same questions, and I usually start out by laughing. Every day is completely different, but I think the singular theme would be meetings!" she said.
Barnes says the meetings usually end about 8 p.m.
This week, she's been tasked by the president to pull together a summit that's intended to begin a national debate over health care reform. The White House says the event will include members of Congress from both parties, insurance and industry representatives, advocacy groups and citizens.
"This has to happen. If we are going to fix our economic circumstances, health-care reform has to be addressed. It is an important part of our federal budget. It also affects companies and their bottom line and their budgets, and also family budgets," she said in her White House office.
Shepherding a policy agenda is a different task for Barnes, who decided to get into public policy after a short stint in the private sector. She spent more than eight years as a key aide to Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Massachusetts, and the Senate Judiciary Committee as well as working with the House Judiciary Committee and the Equal Opportunity Commission. She then took on a key leadership position at the liberal think tank Center for American Progress, helping shape ideas and policy proposals to counter the Bush White House agenda.
Former White House Chief of Staff John Podesta has worked with her at the center as well as with her during her Capitol Hill years and as an aide in the Obama transition.
"I think in a way, she tracks President Obama very well. I think she listens, she likes to solicit people's views, and then at the end of the day, she's willing to make hard calls and make hard decisions and move forward," he said.
Barnes makes time every morning for yoga. The meditation, she says, helps get through her marathon day of meetings and briefings. As a key White House official making sure the president's expansive domestic policy agenda is implemented, she probably can use help from every corner. And she isn't alone in those in the West Wing who look to yoga. "Yoga is very very important. It keeps me centered. I know yoga is also something that [White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel] practices. I think there are a number of people around here that do the same," Barnes said.
She seemed destined for this type of career path after deciding to sell cupcakes for then-Democratic presidential nominee George McGovern as a third-grader, when she was 8 years old. "The group of parents and students were doing this, and I still remember that, and it was important to me." Barnes is one of a handful of power players in a White House whose key advisers are predominantly male. But she says there isn't a struggle to be heard in the White House. Barnes said Obama's selection of people for his inner circle like longtime friend Valerie Jarrett sends a signal. "He respects her. He respects the other women that he's brought around. So he sends the signal to everyone that we all have to sit at this table, we put ideas on the table, we debate them, people have hard-charging debates, but at the same time, we respect one another. And when we walk out of the room, we are a team."
Named one of Washington's best-dressed women several years ago, she says style is something to embrace but not at the expense of substance. "I think that if you go about doing your job and if you're serious about that and people see that you know your stuff and you bring your expertise with you to the table, people will respect that. But your sense of style and who you are also gives them a sense of where you're coming from," she said.
Right now, she is working seven days a week. Most days start first thing in the morning and run until 9 to 10 p.m. A deeply religious woman, she does make time to go to church each week.
And what does she do in her spare time? Plan her June wedding (with the help of a planner).
A woman known to friends as very organized, she does maintain her files. "It is all at home, because I don't have time to do that here in the White House. That has been very fun. My mom has been up here helping me with my best friend select my wedding dress."
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