Pretty high quality production comin from Tisa Arnold and Daedelus.
Saturday, May 10, 2008
A Day In The Life ~ Saturday, May 10th
BARACK OBAMA
-- Tours PV Powered and holds press availability, Bend, OR
-- 2:30 pm ET: Attends town hall meeting with voters, Bend, OR
-- Travels back to Chicago, IL
HILLARY CLINTON
-- 2:00 pm ET: Attends Mother's Day Celebration with Chelsea Clinton, New York, NY
BILL CLINTON
--5:30 pm ET: Attends event with voters, Rapid City, SD
-- 11:00 pm ET: Addresses Yellowstone County Democratic Central Committee 22nd Annual Harry S. Truman Dinner, Billings, MT
JOHN MCCAIN
-- No public events scheduled
At the White House. . .
PRESIDENT BUSH
-- No public events scheduled, Crawford, TX
Friday, May 9, 2008
Obama Takes Superdelegate Lead
According to ABC News' count HERE.
No significant change in the already daunting math Sen. Clinton faces, but it is a symbolic milestone.
A Day In The Life ~ Friday, May 9th
BARACK OBAMA
-- 12:45 pm ET: Attends economic discussion with voters, Portland, OR
-- 6:30 pm ET: Attends town hall meeting with voters, Albany, OR
-- 10:45 pm ET: Attends rally with voters, Eugene, OR
MICHELLE OBAMA
-- 1:00 pm ET: Attends event with Rep. Jan Schakowsky, Chicago, IL
HILLARY CLINTON
-- 12:30 pm ET: Attends roundtable discussion on health care, Portland, OR
-- 8:30 pm ET: Delivers remarks to Kentucky Democratic Party Dinner, Louisville, KY
BILL CLINTON
-- 10:00 am ET: Attends event with voters, Madison, WV
-- 12:15 pm ET: Attends event with voters, Williamson, WV
-- 3:00 pm ET: Attends event with voters, Wayne, WV
-- 5:30 pm ET: Attends event with voters, St. Albans, WV
-- 7:30 pm ET: Attends event with voters, Ripley, WV
JOHN MCCAIN
-- 11:00 am ET: Holds press conference, Jersey City, NJ
-- 5:00 pm ET: Attends fundraiser with supporters, Columbia, SC
At the White House and Beyond. . .
PRESIDENT BUSH
-- Crawford, TX
COMMERCE DEPARTMENT
-- 8:30 am ET: Releases the March report on trade balance, Washington, DC
Thursday, May 8, 2008
Toward Better Student Lending
The New York Times' Editorial Board outlines the future of student loans as they ought to be, the political forces working against the reform, and the realistic middle ground that can be achieved.
President Bush showed good sense on Wednesday when he signed legislation to ensure an uninterrupted flow of federal student loans during the credit crunch. Now comes the test of leadership.
The new law will help lenders who have found themselves unable to raise money for new loans on acceptable terms — if at all. The difficulty has nothing to do with the quality of the loans. The government guarantees all federal student loans against default and guarantees lenders an interest rate set in law. But as capital has become costly and scarce, student lending has become less profitable, leading several dozen lenders to stop lending.
There was no real danger of students being left high and dry because plenty of lenders remain in the market and the government also offers loans directly. To keep the situation from deteriorating, the new law allows the Education Department to buy some outstanding loans, thus providing money to make new loans.
At the same time, however, the student loan crunch has shown that the private lending program is costlier and less reliable than it should be. Fixing it will mean standing up to lenders that have long reaped immense profits from the status quo and would no doubt prefer to revert to the old ways as soon as credit conditions permit. It is up to lawmakers and Mr. Bush to prevent that.
The major reform is to push for more direct government lending. Currently, direct lending accounts for about 22 percent of student loan volume, down from 33 percent in the mid-1990s. It has suffered as free market enthusiasts insisted that it is better for the government to subsidize lenders rather than make loans directly.
Various government reports, including President Bush’s own budget estimates, have shown that direct lending is a much better deal for taxpayers, and just as good for students. But ideology, reinforced by huge campaign donations from lenders, has created deep support for subsidized lending. Lenders have burrowed into the financial aid system, providing software and other support to colleges and universities and — as we learned last year — kickbacks to aid officers.
Then, when trouble loomed, some of the lenders who profited so well for so long headed for the exit. Direct lending won’t dry up when credit gets tighter.
Ideally, all student lending could be handled directly. But politically, that may be a long way off. In the meantime, subsidized lenders should be made to adhere to new rules. The ability to profit from government subsidies during good times should come with a reciprocal obligation, currently lacking, to hang tough in bad times.
And rather than simply provide generous subsides for lenders to make federally guaranteed student loans, lenders should have to bid for that profitable opportunity. Auctions would potentially raise tens of billion of dollars in revenue that could be used to improve grants and loan terms for college students. Free marketeers should cheer the development, because auctions would bring market forces to bear on a system that is currently nothing more than an expensive government giveaway.
Student lending always has been a government program designed to make college more attainable. The new law could be a first step toward that core goal — if political leaders will take the next necessary steps.
Power Still With Putin
A mere 3 hours after stepping down from the presidency to make way for Putin's hand-picked successor, Dmitri Medvedev nominated Putin as Prime Minister. Only 23 hours later, Mr. Putin was approved as Prime Minister receiving 392 votes in the 450-seat Duma, Parliament’s lower house.
In a speech directly before the parliamentary vote, Putin focused on economic matters, per BBC News:
Mr Putin told parliament that he would strive for "single-digit inflation within a few years".
He said Russia could overtake the UK in terms of GDP this year. Reducing the tax burden and widening the shareholder class were further priorities, he said.
To no one's surprise, Putin seeks to maintain his influence even under the new title.
Analysts say the powers of the prime minister will expand under Mr Putin, and he may in effect govern Russia jointly with the president.
Mr Medvedev told the deputies: "I don't think anyone doubts that our tandem, our co-operation will only strengthen."
Some speculate that the relationship may experience some bumps in the road:
Although Putin and Medvedev are political allies, some analysts have said that the partnership could be unstable.
After he won the presidency in March, Medvedev said only the president would determine foreign policy, but Putin has called the prime minister's office the "highest executive power in the country".
Yet, at Medvedev's inauguration, Putin did hand over the country's prize:
Shortly after he took the presidential office, Medvedev was presented with a briefcase containing controls for Russia's nuclear arsenal.
A Day In The Life ~ Thursday, May 8th
BARACK OBAMA
-- Attends senate duties, Washington, DC
HILLARY CLINTON
-- 10:15 am ET: Attends rally with voters, Charleston, WV
-- 3:15 pm ET: Attends rally with voters, Sioux Falls, SD
-- 11:30 pm ET: Attends town hall meeting with voters, Central Point, OR
BILL CLINTON
-- 10:30 am ET: Attends event with voters, Philippi, WV
-- 1:00 pm ET: Attends event with voters, Sutton, WV
-- 3:45 pm ET: Attends event with voters, Fayettesville, WV
-- 5:30 pm ET: Attends event with voters, Fairlea, WV
-- 8:00 pm ET: Attends event with voters, Athens, WV
JOHN MCCAIN
-- Attends fundraiser with supporters, Lakewood, NJ
At the White House and Beyond. . .
PRESIDENT BUSH
-- No public events scheduled
VICE PRESIDENT CHENEY
-- 10:30 am ET: Participates in a tour of the Philadelphia Financial Center, Philadelphia, PA
-- 10:50 am ET: Speaks to employees at the Philadelphia Financial Center, Philadelphia, PA
-- 7:00 pm ET: Speaks at a reception on the 60th anniversary of the founding of Israel, Washington, DC
Wednesday, May 7, 2008
A Day In The Life ~ Wednesday, May 7th
BARACK OBAMA
-- No public events scheduled, Chicago, IL
HILLARY CLINTON AND CHELSEA CLINTON
-- 12:00 pm ET: Attends event with voters, Shepherdstown, WV
-- 5:45 pm ET: Attends a fundraising event in Washington, D.C.
BILL CLINTON
-- No public events scheduled.
JOHN MCCAIN
-- 10:00 am EST: Holds a Town Hall Meeting at Oakland University East Campus, Rochester, MI.
At the White House and Beyond. . .
PRESIDENT BUSH
-- 1:15 pm ET: Makers remarks to the Council of the Americas, Washington, DC
LABOR DEPARTMENT
-- 8:30 am ET: Releases the productivity report for the first quarter, Washington, DC
FEDERAL RESERVE BOARD
-- 3:00 pm ET: Releases the March report on consumer credit, Washington, DC
Tuesday, May 6, 2008
Big Night for Obama
As the final Indiana votes trickle in, it is already apparent that Obama scored a big "W" tonight.
He won handily in North Carolina and it looks as though Clinton will barely scrap out a win in Indiana. The delegate math is daunting for Clinton. But more importantly, it shows that Obama has still got it. Despite Clinton's 'momentum' and Obama's month and a half of news cycles from hell, Obama is still on top of his game. While the math has always been troublesome for the Clinton camp, their electability argument and superdelegate pitches have been undermined as well.
It will be interesting to see how the media analyzes the results, but I would be surprised if they didn't reflect on tonight as a decisive win for Obama.
The Food Crisis Stirs Violence in Somalia
The food crisis first led to violent outbreaks across the world in early April. Over a week later, the World Bank committed to taking action, but has not provided any significant results.
Beginning Monday, Somalia's capital Mogadishu erupted in violence as rioters took to the streets in protest of the detrimental combination of rising food prices covered with soaring inflation.
The riots come less than two weeks after another violent face in Somalia's capital between the Ethiopian-backed interim government and the Islamist-led insurgency and only a few days after US air raids on Dusamareb, roughly 300 km north of Mogadishu.
Due to the rampant printing of counterfeit money in Somalia, the Somalian shilling has dropped significantly in value. Monday's protests were focused on both the devalued currency and rising food prices. Al Jazeera News has more:
On Monday thousands of demonstrators poured onto the streets to vent their anger at printers of fake money and unscrupulous traders whose preference for US dollars over the Somali shilling is helping to push inflation to record levels....
Although there are no official inflation figures, UN monitors say cereal prices have increased by between 110 and 375 per cent in the past year as central Somalia has endured its worst drought in recent memory.
The dollar is now equivalent to 25,000 Somali shillings, up from an average of 4,000 shillings in 1991, when the country descended into lawlessness after the sacking of Mohammed Siad Barre, the president.
Since then, Somalia has had no central bank to regulate inflation.
The profiteering from fake Somali currency has created more destitution in the war-torn country, affecting the poorest of Somalia's poor, especially those whose wages are paid in the practically useless currency, Al Jazeera's correspondent Mohammed Adow said.
"Many feel that these riots have been long overdue. Faced with numerous other challenges the Somalia people seemed to have forgotten their currency woes."
The simultaneous crises occuring in Somalia make the issue exceptionally difficult for international aid organizations to address.
Cindy Holleman, chief technical adviser for the UN's food security analysis unit for Somalia, said the country has been hit by a number of disasters at the same time.
Speaking to Al Jazeera, she said: "We have a very serious, deteriorating situation. Rising food prices ... are affecting a lot of the urban poor who cannot afford to buy food any more.
"On top of that, you have the drought in central and southern parts of Somalia ... [rains] should've started mid-April and they have not come."
She said a humanitarian response is needed in the country and with increasing food prices, "you're going to see more and more people desperate" to be able to access enough food.
BBC News takes a look at civilian life in a country over run with armed, aggressive, and competing militias:It says the situation is "dire" in the centre and the south with government troops, their Ethiopian allies and Islamist insurgents "out of control".
They carry out killings, torture, rape, beatings, arbitrary detention and forced disappearances, a report says....
People who have visited the capital, Mogadishu, recently say parts of it are a ghost town, but Amnesty says residents fleeing the city are prey for armed bandits on the road who rape women and girls and steal whatever they have taken with them.
Even in refugee camps, Somalis face attack, Amnesty says. It says no-one is offering them any protection.
The group says more than 6,000 civilians have been killed in Somalia in the past year....
"Nothing justifies gang rape, slitting the throats of civilians or disproportionate attacks," Amnesty's Michelle Kagari told the BBC.
In one case, "a young child's throat was slit by Ethiopian soldiers in front of the child's mother," the report says....
In another incident, the report quotes Haboon, 56, saying Ethiopian troops raped a neighbour's 17-year-old daughter in 2007.
When the girl's two brothers tried to help her, Ethiopian soldiers gouged out their eyes with a bayonet, she said.
Graphic and disturbing, yes, but a reality we must face and address. Somalia has been without a central government for 17 years and offers little prospect of progress in the years to come.
Primary Predictions
Clinton by 6 in Indiana.
Obama by 9 in North Carolina.
Dynamics of the race go unchanged: the race undoubtedly goes on, but Obama's lead remains insurmountable.
A Day In The Life ~ Tuesday, May 6th
PRIMARY DAY
North Carolina -- 115 Delegates at Stake
Indiana -- 72 Delegates at Stake
BARACK OBAMA
-- Spends the morning and early afternoon in Indianapolis, IN
-- 8:30 pm ET: Election night party with Michelle Obama and voters, Raleigh, NC
HILLARY CLINTON
-- 8:30 pm ET: Election night party with voters, Indianapolis, IN
BILL CLINTON
-- 9:30 am ET: Attends event with voters, Hutersville, NC
-- 11:30 am ET: Attends event with voters, Lexington, NC
-- 1:00 pm ET: Attends event with voters, Winston-Salem, NC
-- 3:30 pm ET: Attends event with voters, Durham, NC
JOHN MCCAIN
-- 10:00 am ET: Attends event with voters, Winston-Salem, NC
At the White House and Beyond...
PRESIDENT BUSH
-- 9:45 am ET: Delivers remarks commemorating Military Spouse Day, Washington, DC
-- 2:20 pm ET: Meets with the President of Panama, Washington, DC
Monday, May 5, 2008
The Empire Strikes Barack
The YouTube mash-ups come a dime-a-dozen these days, but every now and again you come across one that someone spent entirely too much time on; this one fits the description.
Micro-financing: Coming Soon to New York
New York is often viewed as the leader in banking with the rest of the world taking notes and cues from the giants in Manhattan. But the city of banking and finance may have overlooked some of its own.
Noble laurate Muhammad Yunus announced that Grameen Bank will be opening its first branch in the Big Apple.
Al Jazeera News Reports:
Grameen Bank, the micro-credit financier initially set up to help the poorest in Bangladesh, has opened its first branch in the United States.
The Bangladesh-based outfit known as the poor people's bank plans to hand out loans to the less well-off in one of the most ethnically-diverse neighbourhoods in the US....
Muhammad Yunus, who founded the bank in 1976, said the branch in Queens, New York City, was to cater to thousands of new immigrants without access to basic banking services.
"People consider this audacious," he told Al Jazeera's Kristen Saloomey.
"They think 'What you come from Bangladesh to do banking in NYC? That sounds so ridiculous. This is [the] city where [the] whole world learnt banking from'."
But the Nobel laureate said New York also had its share of poor people just like any other city "so we are actually working in [a] third world" environment.
Cyclone Ravages Myanmar
A cyclone ripped through Myanmar leaving thousands dead.
Al Jazeera reports on the carnage:
At first the death toll estimates stood around a few hundred. However, this morning the Myanmar state radio program reported that over 4,000 people have died in the storm.
The stubborn behavior of the military government in Myanmar has thwarted the efforts of aid groups to deliver much needed relief to the area. Al Jazeera News has more:
The UN says the government has not responded to its offer to help after the storm destroyed communities and left thousands of people homeless....
Teams of foreign aid workers were trying to assess the damage and aid needs, but their access and movements are restricted by the military.
"That is the existing situation for international staff. The way most agencies work is they use national staff who have more freedom to move," Skavdal said.
"We will have a dialogue with the government to try to get access to the people affected," he added.
The Forum for Democracy in Burma and other dissident groups outside of
Myanmar have also urged the military government to allow aid groups unfettered access to the country.
Myanmar was formerly known as Burma.
"International expertise in dealing with natural disasters is urgently required," said Naing Aung, secretary-general of the Thailand-based group.
"The military regime is ill-prepared to deal with the aftermath of the cyclone."
[UPDATE: 11:49 am ET] Independent aid groups suspect the death toll will exceed 10,000.
[UPDATE: Tuesday, May 6th, 9:01 am ET] Burmese officials are now estimating over 22,000 dead.
Ad Watch: Obama
Sen. Obama has a new ad out responding to Sen. Clinton's attack ad regarding the gas tax holiday. Watch Sen. Clinton's ad HERE.
The two ads are essentially the same save for minor tweaks making each one specific to the respective state.
"Boost" (airing in North Carolina)
"Boost" (airing in Indiana)
A Day In The Life ~ Monday, May 5th
BARACK OBAMA
-- Attends event with voters, Evansville, IN
-- 12:45 pm ET: Attends event with voters, Durham, NC
-- 7:30 pm ET: Attends rally with voters, Indianapolis, IN
MICHELLE OBAMA
-- 11:35 am ET: Attends event with voters, Fayetteville, NC
-- 1:45 pm ET: Attends event with voters, Fayetteville, NC
-- Attends event with voters, Charlotte, NC
-- 9:15 pm ET: Attends event with voters, Gary, IN
HILLARY CLINTON
-- 8:45 am ET: Attends event with voters, Greenville, NC
-- 11:45 am ET: Attends event with voters, High Point, NC
-- 4:00 pm ET: Attends event with voters, Merrillville, IN
-- 8:00 pm ET: Attends rally with voters, New Albany, IN
-- 10:00 pm ET: Attends rally with voters, Evansville, IN
BILL CLINTON
-- 7:30 am ET: Attends event with voters, Elizabeth City, NC
-- 9:15 am ET: Attends event with voters, New Bern, NC
-- 11:15 am ET: Attends event with voters, Jacksonville, NC
-- 1:30 pm ET: Attends event with voters, Smithfield, NC
-- 3:00 pm ET: Attends event with voters, Zebulon, NC
-- 4:30 pm ET: Attends event with voters, Louisburg, NC
-- 6:00 pm ET: Attends event with voters, Henderson, NC
-- 8:00 pm ET: Attends event with voters, Roxboro, NC
-- 10:00 pm ET: Attends event with voters, Raleigh, NC
JOHN MCCAIN
-- 4:00 pm ET: Attends event with voters, Charlotte, NC
Sunday, May 4, 2008
A Day In The Life ~ Sunday, May 4th
BARACK OBAMA
-- 4:30 pm ET: Attends event with voters, Fort Wayne, IN
-- 8:30 pm ET: Delivers remarks at Indiana Jefferson Jackson Dinner, Indianapolis, IN
HILLARY CLINTON
-- 9:00 am ET: Attends ABC's "This Week" Town Hall, Indianapolis, IN
-- 12:15 pm ET: Attends event with voters, Fort Wayne, IN
-- 4:30 pm ET: Attends event with voters, South Bend, IN
-- 8:30 pm ET: Delivers remarks at Indiana Jefferson Jackson Dinner, Indianapolis, IN
BILL CLINTON
-- 12:30 pm ET: Attends event with voters, Marion, NC
-- 2:00 pm ET: Attends event with voters, Morganton, NC
-- 3:15 pm ET: Attends event with voters, Lenoir, NC
-- 5:15 pm ET: Attends event with voters, Newton, NC
-- 7:15 pm ET: Attends event with voters, Kenersville, NC
-- 9:15 pm ET: Attends event with voters, Reidsville, NC
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