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The White House's unprecedented use of 'unprecedented'

Wed, 25 Nov 2009 06:18:03 PST

Carol E. Lee – Wed Nov 25, 12:54 am ET

The Obama White House is addicted to the “unprecedented.”

Perhaps it was a sign when President Barack Obama sat down in January to record his first weekly address and announced: “We begin this year and this administration in the midst of an unprecedented crisis that calls for unprecedented action."

What has followed is declaration after declaration of “unprecedented” milestones. Some of them are legitimate firsts, like the president’s online town hall at the White House in May.

But others the president wins merely on a technicality, and several clearly already have precedent.

The White House’s announcement of its unprecedented – “a first by an American president visiting China” – town hall meeting with students in Beijing, for instance, drew a collective eye-roll in certain circles back home, namely among former aides to President George W. Bush who had already been grumbling about Obama’s carefree application of “unprecedented.”

“I think I attended a town hall with President Bush in China,” former Bush adviser Karen Hughes quipped with a laugh, recalling a 2002 Bush speech in Beijing where he took questions from the audience. “I thought: Were they asleep? Or were they dreaming? I remember standing and watching President Bush engage in a town hall that I believe was televised.”

President Bill Clinton also took questions from Chinese students at an event during a trip to the country in 1998, then did a radio call-in show in Shanghai the next day.

The White House’s characterization of Obama’s Beijing town hall mirrored the description staff gave Obama’s address to students on the first day of school, which the Education Department called “historic.” Yet President George H.W. Bush delivered an address to students, as did President Ronald Reagan. Maybe it was the streaming online video of President Obama’s speech to students that was unprecedented?

Either way, for a president whose approach to exaggerated critiques of his administration is to “call ‘em out” and who has made an issue of forcing corporate America to expose the fine print, it’s a wonder if his use of “unprecedented” would pass his own litmus test.

Indeed some of his efforts are unprecedented. Obama noted, for example, that world leaders took “unprecedented steps” on nuclear non-proliferation at a meeting where he was the first U.S. president ever to chair a meeting of the United Nations Security Council.

But at times Obama’s use of “unprecedented” is questionable.

Obama has said he “took office amidst unprecedented economic turmoil,” and that the situation demanded “unprecedented international cooperation” and resulted in his signing of the “unprecedented economic recovery act.” Yet it seems the Great Depression and the New Deal might be considered precedents for the current economic crisis and the $787 billion stimulus plan.

And Obama’s promise of “an unprecedented effort to root out waste and inefficiency” sounded a lot like past presidents.

“I believe the Congress and the American people approve my goals of economy and efficiency,” President Lyndon Johnson told Congress in 1965. “I believe they are as opposed to waste as I am. We can and will eliminate it.”

On bipartisanship, Obama also raised a few eyebrows when during his first press conference he cited “putting three Republicans in my Cabinet” as “something that is unprecedented.”

“He is right – assuming he's talking specifically about selecting three Republicans (and not Democrats in a Republican administration) simultaneously and during the first term (not over the course of a presidency),” the National Journal pointed out. The magazine noted that Johnson, Harry S Truman and Franklin Delano Roosevelt had three Republicans serving in their Democratic administrations. Republicans Gerald Ford and Dwight Eisenhower had three Democrats serving in theirs.

The White House stands by its claims.

“During his first year in office, President Obama has taken historic and in some cases, unprecedented, actions to fulfill his campaign promise to change business as usual in Washington and confront the wide-ranging challenges facing America,” said Deputy White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest.

“Cynics may say they’ve heard it all before, but the progress we’ve made on health care reform, energy reform and transparent government demonstrates these changes — in the view of the American people – can’t happen soon enough,” he said.

And when it comes to the Chinese town hall, White House officials say the ex-Bush aides have it all wrong – saying it was the first full-blown “town hall” by a U.S. president in China (compared to Clinton and Bush, who took questions after a speech). It was also the first U.S. presidential event streamed to an Internet audience in China, the first with questions from the Internet and it garnered the biggest viewership, with 55 million Internet hits alone – making its audience unprecedented, the official said.

The desire to be seen as treading on an unbeaten path is a part of the Obama brand. His candidacy was built on the notion that his rise to the presidency followed no footprints. He wasn’t a Clinton or a McCain. He had a uniqueness that made him an unprecedented, if not unlikely, candidate.

That theme, which is driven by his personal narrative, has carried over into the White House. And, mixed with the something-to-prove drive of a young president with scant executive experience, the Obama White House has used “unprecedented” as a rhetorical means through which he has asserted himself.

It’s also a reflection of the president personally.

“It says how very unique he feels he is,” said Stephen Hess, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, who worked in the Eisenhower, Nixon, Ford and Carter administrations. Hess described Obama as “a man who sees himself as unprecedented in every way … given his background – his mother, his father, where he grew up, how he became president of the United States.”

“Of course, Biblically there’s nothing new under the sun and most everything he’s done as president there is some precedent for somewhere,” he added. “What he does is variations on a theme.”

Still, Hess said, the word doesn’t have “great political currency.”

“I don’t think he gets special credit for being unprecedented, but he thinks that way,” he said. “I think that tells us more about him than really anything else about how he runs the White House.”

Andrew Jackson was the first president to use the word “unprecedented” in 1831, according to a search of the archives of The American Presidency Project. For more than 100 years afterwards, presidents only used the word “unprecedented” in 72 speeches and mostly reserved it for major addresses.

But since Franklin Delano Roosevelt talked of meeting “the unprecedented task before us” during his first Inaugural address in 1933, presidents have used the word on almost 2,000 occasions to describe everything from the death of Elvis Presley (Carter) to the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan (Reagan).

Obama has relied on “unprecedented” in more than 90 instances, using the word at least 129 times in everything from major addresses to small speeches, statements, memorandums and proclamations. (Bush, by contrast, used the word in 262 instances over eight years.)

Obama has used “unprecedented” to describe his efforts on science research, his plan for the auto industry and his administration’s ethics, transparency and accountability guidelines.

He has promised an “unprecedented commitment” to education, to developing clean energy, and “to preserving America's treasured landscapes,” which, Obama has noted, have seen “unprecedented droughts” and “unprecedented wildfires” in the face of climate change.

There has been “unprecedented consensus” on health care reform under Obama’s watch, as well as “the unprecedented intervention of the federal government to stabilize the financial markets” and an “unprecedented” bank review.

His administration has also taken “unprecedented action to stem the spread of foreclosures,” Obama has said, including the creation of “an unprecedented fund, in partnership with the Federal Reserve,” to get credit flowing.

“I wonder if they believe that everything is really unprecedented or is it just their talking point,” said former Bush spokesman Gordon Johndroe, who is among those smarting over Obama’s use of unprecedented. “This rhetoric is more understandable during a campaign, but I’m not sure it’s going to get them far while governing when the facts don’t always agree.”

It arguably started during the campaign, when Obama’s team was clocking one unprecedented milestone after another: his trip to Europe, his Internet connectedness, his fundraising strategy, his rallies, his crowds. Obama’s election was historical. His inauguration broke attendance records that reportedly required “unprecedented” security.

And sure, once in office, the administration faced a massive economic crisis. And yes, the Obama team brought the White House onto Facebook and Twitter.

But by applying the “unprecedented” label to a so many scenarios in government – from transparency to efforts to reduce the environmental impact of mountaintop coal mining – the Obama administration risks outsized expectations and overhype.

“It comes close to a certain arrogance,” Hughes said, “as if this president has done things that no other president has ever done before – except that they have done them before.”

Obama even treads on unprecedented territory in ways he’s not trying to highlight. At this point in his presidency he’s spent more time on the golf course, for instance, than his immediate predecessor. He’s also attended more fundraisers. And sometimes he surprises people with his use of the characterization, such as in Tokyo last week when he declared himself “America’s first Pacific President.”

Obama's unprecedented use of "unprecedented" will likely continue in his second year in office, when the administration is expected to tackle the unprecedented deficit.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/politico/20091125/pl_politico/29896

Oprah betrayed

Tue, 24 Nov 2009 15:27:53 PST

Oprah Winfrey is heartbroken after discovering that her long-time lover Stedman Graham is writing a tell-all book for $10.37 million, exposing her most shocking and embarrassing secrets.

Stedman, 57, has kept sensational diaries of his life with Oprah, 54, during their 22-year on-off relationship. Now he's been persuaded to write his memoirs and include all the salacious details he's kept hidden about the talk-show queen.

Stedman will reveal:

HOW he caught Oprah in bed with her best friend Gayle King.

WHY the superstar only gave birth to one child.

WHO warned Oprah to stay away from her man.

'Oprah has convinced Stedman in the past to ignore book offers,' an insider says. 'But things are different now, and he's putting himself first.

'He's decided to write a book that will finally make a name and fortune for himself, not just as "Oprah's boyfriend".'

Oprah is believed to have flown into a rage when she learnt their intimate details would be made public.

The most riveting chapter will focus on her relationship with Gayle, 53, who has constantly denied rumours they're lovers.
'Their friendship is misunderstood,' our source says. 'Stedman was confused early on, too, when he walked in on Oprah and Gayle in bed together.'

Stedman will write that the women are mates who act like teenagers having a sleepover.

'It took Stedman years to realise that,' says the insider. 'He says Oprah and Gayle are like sisters. They share every part of their lives together, including personal stuff.'

Stedman also plans to lift the lid on why Oprah never wanted to have his child. As a teenager she had a baby who died just after birth, and wouldn't cave in to his wishes for another one.

But the biggest shock may be Oprah's feud with Michelle Obama, wife of US presidential hopeful Barack Obama. After Oprah backed Barack, 46, in his presidential bid, Michelle, 44, became upset about the TV star's flirting with him and told him to stop seeing Oprah.

Stedman also plans to write about the time last year when he begged Oprah to finally tie the knot with him. 'He pledged his love to Oprah and she rejected him, so he's taking steps to build a future for himself,' says the insider. 'His book is the perfect start.'

http://au.lifestyle.yahoo.com/b/new-idea/13086/oprah-betrayed

By Drew MacKenzie

First Lady Michelle Obama Hates Oprah Winfrey. So Much For That Sense Of Entitlement

Tue, 24 Nov 2009 12:31:52 PST

by Lisa Voglesonger's

On Oprah's part, I mean. She's really seemed very full of herself in the last few years (being the richest woman in show business can do that to a person, I guess) but since Obama has risen to power, she's been almost insufferably smug - like she singlehandedly got him elected. It's a crock of shit. And I'm not the only person who feels that way.

Oprah's (cough, cough, wink, wink) BFF Gayle King interviewed Mrs. President for O recently at the White House. The First Lady was peeved when Oprah swept in like visiting royalty - ahead of Gayle - and presented her large, fleshy cheek for a greeting kiss. Michelle wasn't having any of that, and stepped back and stuck out her hand for a handshake, as proper protocol would dictate.

The First Lady has been irked by Oprah's self-grandeur since the days of the campaign trail. She's not fooled by Oprah's phony chumminess, either. She saw the way Oprah tried to flirt with her husband in front of the cameras. Throughout the interview Michelle made it a point to speak directly with Gayle and ignore her Royal Winfreyness, making her blood boil. Wish I could've been there to see it.

MICHELLE OBAMA HATES OPRAH

Tue, 24 Nov 2009 12:24:02 PST

Sources over at “O” Magazine are claiming that First Lady MICHELLE OBAMA has had enough of talk show titan OPRAH WINFREY!

“Oprah marched into the White House with Gayle King in tow like she owned it,” an insider said when the chatty twosome arrived for an interview with Michelle.

“(Oprah) believes she played a major role in getting President Obama elected and expects to be treated like royalty when she calls on them.

“But Michelle had other ideas. She appreciates that Oprah endorsed her husband, but considers her role minor in getting him elected.”

Michelle, 44, is still annoyed by the way Oprah flirted with her husband Barack during the presidential campaign, says the insider.

“She knew they weren’t having an affair, but it was as though Oprah wanted people to wonder,” continued the insider. “Michelle wouldn’t mind if Oprah went back to doing her show and left the Obamas alone forever.”

The trouble began as soon as Oprah set foot in the White House to do an interview for O magazine. When she went to greet Michelle with a kiss on the cheek, Michelle stepped back and extended her hand, says the insider from “O”.

Then, when the interview began, Michelle focused her attention on 54-year-old Gayle.

“Oprah felt completely left out of the conversation. And it was obvious that was how Michelle intended for her to feel.”

“By the end of the interview, Oprah was seething!”

White House: Obama Afghan decision 'within days'

Tue, 24 Nov 2009 06:18:31 PST

By ANNE GEARAN and JENNIFER LOVEN, Associated Press Writers Anne Gearan And Jennifer Loven, Associated Press Writers – 19 mins ago

WASHINGTON – The White House braced for a tough sell of President Barack Obama's long-awaited decision on whether to commit tens of thousands of new U.S. forces to the stalemated war in Afghanistan, even as the president met with top advisers for possibly the last major deliberations before an announcement.

Military officials and others expect Obama to settle on a middle-ground option that would deploy an eventual 32,000 to 35,000 U.S. forces to the 8-year-old conflict. That rough figure has stood as the most likely option since before Obama's last large war council meeting earlier this month, when he tasked military planners with rearranging the timing and makeup of some of the deployments.

"After completing a rigorous final meeting, President Obama has the information he wants and needs to make his decision and he will announce that decision within days," White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said Tuesday morning.

The president has said with increasing frequency in recent days that a big piece of the rethinking of options that he ordered had to do with building an exit strategy into the announcement — in other words, revising the options presented to him to clarify when U.S. troops would turn over responsibility to the Afghan government and under what conditions.

As Gibbs put it to reporters on Monday, "It's "not just how we get people there, but what's the strategy for getting them out."

Obama held the 10th meeting of his Afghanistan strategy review since mid-September on Monday night, with a large cast of foreign policy and military advisers, to go over that revised information from war planners. The two-hour Situation Room session was aimed at discussing "some of the questions that the president had, some additional answers to what he'd asked for," Gibbs said.

The meeting was arranged for the unusual nighttime slot to accommodate both Obama's packed public schedule on Monday and the fact that many of his top advisers were leaving town for the holiday. No more war council meetings are on the calendar.

The presidential spokesman had said ahead of the meeting that it was possible Obama could lock in a decision then, or that one could come "over the course of the next several days." In either case, it will not be announced this week, he said, and the meeting concluded with no announcement about a decision.

The White House is aiming for an announcement by Obama next week, either Tuesday or Wednesday, after Congress returns from its Thanksgiving break.

Military officials, congressional aides and European diplomats said they expect Obama to deliver a national address laying out the revamped strategy. Obama said in a television interview last week: "At the end of this process, I'm going to be able to present to the American people in very clear terms what exactly is at stake, what we intend to do, how we're going to succeed, how much it's going to cost, how long it's going to take."

Congressional hearings would immediately follow that address, including testimony from the U.S. commander in Afghanistan, Gen. Stanley McChrystal. Others likely to take part in hearings would be Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, Defense Secretary Robert Gates and U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan Karl Eikenberry. All four were among the approximately 20 top administration officials and Obama advisers participating in the talks Monday night — one of the biggest groups gathered for these sessions in some time.

Obama must not only sell his plan to the public, but to foreign allies whose additional resources the White House wants in Afghanistan and to lawmakers on Capitol Hill who would be asked the fund the effort.

Gibbs said that the subject of a war tax on the wealthy, proposed by a handful of leading Democrats, has not come up yet in the president's extensive war council meetings. But the idea, though unlikely to pass Congress, is one way for Democrats who are coming to dislike the war in greater numbers to challenge the president to confront the cost of any escalation.

Democratic allies of the president, such as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Senate Armed Services Chairman Carl Levin, have become more outspoken on the war in other forums as well.

The force infusion expected by the military would represent most but not all the troops requested by Obama's war commander, for a retailored war plan that blends elements of McChrystal's counterterror strategy with tactics more closely associated with the CIA's unacknowledged war to hunt down terrorists across the border in Pakistan.

McChrystal presented options ranging from about 10,000 to about 80,000 forces, and told Obama he preferred an addition of about 40,000 atop the record 68,000 in the country now, officials have said.

Obama has already ordered a significant expansion of 21,000 troops since taking office. The war has worsened on his watch, and public support has dropped as U.S. combat deaths have climbed.

The additional troops would be concentrated in the south and east of Afghanistan, the areas where the U.S. already has most of its forces, military officials said. The new troops that already went this year were directed to help relieve Marines stretched to the limit by far-flung postings in Helmand province and that would continue, while the U.S. effort would expand somewhat in Kandahar.

The increase would include at least three Army brigades and a single, larger Marine Corps contingent, officials said.

All officials spoke on condition of anonymity because the decision is not final.

U.S. war planners would be forgoing the option of increasing U.S. fighting power in the north, a once-quiet quadrant where insurgents have grown in strength and number in the past year. But McChrystal's recommendation never called for a quick infusion there.

In the absence of large additions of ground forces, dealing with the north would probably require relying more heavily on air power, two military officials said. Any such additional air strikes would be more successful if, as U.S. officials hope, Pakistan turns up the heat on Taliban militants on their side of the border.

As originally envisioned by McChrystal, the additional U.S. troops would begin flowing in late January or after, on a deployment calendar that would be slower and more complex than that used to build up the Iraq "surge" in 2007. McChrystal's schedule for full deployment has it taking nearly two years, military officials said.

The relatively slow rollout is largely driven by logistics. But it also could give the White House some leverage over Afghan President Hamid Karzai. U.S. officials note that where and how fast troops are deployed are a means to encourage fresh and more serious efforts at cooperation and clean government in Afghanistan.

New Map Bolsters Case for Ancient Ocean on Mars

Mon, 23 Nov 2009 19:44:48 PST

SPACE.com Staff

SPACE.com Space.com Staff

space.com – Mon Nov 23, 5:30 pm ET

Several lines of evidence point to the possibility of a past ocean on Mars, from apparent ancient shorelines to chemicals in the soil.

Add to the list a new map of the red planet's valleys. The map shows extensive valley networks around the equator and in the southern hemisphere, suggesting a warmer Mars long ago, with extensive rainfall that would have fed an ocean in the northern hemisphere.

"All the evidence gathered by analyzing the valley network on the new map points to a particular climate scenario on early Mars," Northern Illinois University geography professor Wei Luo said. "It would have included rainfall and the existence of an ocean covering most of the northern hemisphere, or about one-third of the planet's surface."

The valley networks are more than twice as extensive (2.3 times longer in total length) than had been previously mapped out.

"The presence of more valleys indicates that it most likely rained on ancient Mars, while the global pattern showing this belt of valleys could be explained if there was a big northern ocean," said Tomasz Stepinski of the Lunar and Planetary Institute.

Luo and Stepinski published their findings in the current issue of the Journal of Geophysical Research — Planets.

Longstanding debate

For nearly four decades, scientists have debated whether the valley networks on Mars were created by surface water erosion or some other process, such as groundwater sapping, which can occur in cold, dry conditions.

One argument against rainfall had been that the valley networks on Mars were not as dense as on Earth. The new map shows the densities on Mars are greater than previously thought.
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"It is now difficult to argue against runoff erosion as the major mechanism of Martian valley network formation," Luo said.

"When you look at the entire planet, the density of valley dissection on Mars is significantly lower than on Earth," he said. "However, the most densely dissected regions of Mars have densities comparable to terrestrial values."

The mapping project, funded by NASA, used topographic data from Mars satellite missions, fed into a computer algorithm.

"The only other global map of the valley networks was produced in the 1990s by looking at images and drawing on top of them, so it was fairly incomplete and it was not correctly registered with current datum," Stepinski said. "Our map was created semi-automatically, with the computer algorithm working from topographical data to extract the valley networks. It is more complete, and shows many more valley networks."

Explaining Mars

The Martian surface is characterized by lowlands located mostly in the northern hemisphere and highlands located mostly in the southern hemisphere. Given this topography, water would accumulate in the northern hemisphere, where surface elevations are lower than the rest of the planet, thus forming an ocean, the researchers said in a statement today.

"Such a single-ocean planet would have an arid continental-type climate over most of its land surfaces," Luo said.

The northern-ocean scenario meshes with a number of other characteristics of the valley networks.

"A single ocean in the northern hemisphere would explain why there is a southern limit to the presence of valley networks," Luo added. "The southernmost regions of Mars, located farthest from the water reservoir, would get little rainfall and would develop no valleys. This would also explain why the valleys become shallower as you go from north to south, which is the case.

"Rain would be mostly restricted to the area over the ocean and to the land surfaces in the immediate vicinity, which correlates with the belt-like pattern of valley dissection seen in our new map," Luo said.

Obama could lock in Afghanistan decision Monday

Mon, 23 Nov 2009 19:39:40 PST

By ANNE GEARAN and JENNIFER LOVEN, Associated Press Writers Anne Gearan And Jennifer Loven, Associated Press Writers – 1 hr 7 mins ago

WASHINGTON – The White House said President Barack Obama could use an unusual evening war council session Monday to lock in his long-awaited decision on whether to commit tens of thousands of new U.S. forces to the stalemated war in Afghanistan.

Military officials and others said they expect Obama to settle on a middle-ground option that would deploy an eventual 32,000 to 35,000 U.S. forces to the 8-year-old conflict.

That rough figure has stood as the most likely option since before Obama's last large war council meeting earlier this month, when he tasked military planners with rearranging the timing and makeup of some of the deployments.

As White House press secretary Robert Gibbs put it to reporters on Monday, it's "not just how we get people there, but what's the strategy for getting them out."

Obama was holding the 10th meeting of his Afghanistan strategy review since mid-September on Monday night, with a large cast of foreign policy advisers, to go over that revised information from war planners.

In the 90-minute session in the Situation Room, "they'll go through some of the questions that the president had, some additional answers to what he'd asked for, and have a discussion about that," Gibbs said.

The presidential spokesman said it was possible Obama could lock in a decision at Monday's meeting or that it could come "over the course of the next several days." In either case, it will not be announced this week, he said.

The force infusion expected by the military would represent most but not all the troops requested by Obama's war commander, for a retailored war plan that blends elements of Gen. Stanley McChrystal's counterterror strategy with tactics more closely associated with the CIA's unacknowledged war to hunt down terrorists across the border in Pakistan.

McChrystal presented options ranging from about 10,000 to about 80,000 forces, and told Obama he preferred an addition of about 40,000 atop the record 68,000 in the country now, officials have said.

Obama has already ordered a significant expansion of 21,000 troops since taking office. The war has worsened on his watch, and public support has dropped as U.S. combat deaths have climbed.

The increase would include at least three Army brigades and a single, larger Marine Corps contingent, officials said.

All officials spoke on condition of anonymity because the decision is not final.

The White House is aiming for an announcement by Obama by the middle of next week, after Congress returns from its Thanksgiving break.

Military officials, congressional aides and European diplomats said they expect Obama to deliver a national address laying out the revamped strategy. Said Obama in a television interview last week: "At the end of this process, I'm going to be able to present to the American people in very clear terms what exactly is at stake, what we intend to do, how we're going to succeed, how much it's going to cost, how long it's going to take."

Congressional hearings would immediately follow that address, including testimony from McChrystal.

"Gen. McChrystal will certainly be coming back to ... testify. When that is is still to be determined," based on the timing of the White House announcement, Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said.

On the topic of increased costs in Afghanistan, Gibbs said that the subject of a war tax, suggested by some leading Democrats on Capitol Hill, has not come up yet in the president's extensive meetings with his war advisers.

Will Minorities Get Enough Out of the Economic Stimulus?

Mon, 23 Nov 2009 19:35:45 PST

By TIM PADGETT / MIAMI Tim Padgett / Miami – Mon Nov 23, 10:10 am ET

Miami's poorer residents have long complained that the city's meager public-transit system makes it harder for them to get to work. So when the Obama Administration announced the $787 billion stimulus plan earlier this year, many hoped some of that money would help fund plans like an expansion of Miami's undersized Metrorail system - especially a 10-mile northern extension that would reach into predominantly African-American and other minority communities largely cut off from downtown and other employment centers. But the project, in part because it's not considered as shovel-ready as jobs like existing highway maintenance, isn't getting any of the $15 billion in stimulus aid for Florida, and has been shelved for the time being.

To Gihan Perera, that's just one example of how federal and state governments are missing a great opportunity to use the stimulus to aid the poor and minority communities hardest hit by the Great Recession. Perera, director of the nonprofit Miami Workers Center (MWC), is among a number of antipoverty activists closely examining which communities and contractors are getting stimulus dollars, and so far he says the picture doesn't look bright for already marginalized "low-opportunity" zones and minority-owned firms. The lion's share of road and other construction work in Florida has gone to venues like airports and new highways that usually benefit more affluent suburbs, Perera argues. And as of September, less than 10% of the $330 million in stimulus projects awarded directly from federal agencies to Florida-based contractors had gone to minority-owned firms, according to a study by the MWC, the Kirwan Institute at Ohio State University and the Research Institute on Social and Economic Policy (RISEP) at Miami's Florida International University. In all, black-owned firms received less than 2%. "The fear," says Perera, "is that the stimulus money could instead serve to exacerbate the inequalities that existed before." (See which businesses are bucking the recession.)

That's not just a concern for the Sunshine State, which now has one of the nation's highest jobless and home-foreclosure rates. Earlier this year, the Associated Press found that across the U.S., the stimulus plan was "set to spend 50% more per person in areas with the lowest unemployment than it will in communities with the highest." In Illinois, President Obama's home state, a Chicago Public Radio investigation this fall found that less than 10% of the Department of Transportation's stimulus contracts had gone to "disadvantaged business enterprises," or DBEs, even though the state says it benchmarked almost a quarter of the dollars for those minority- and women-owned firms. Less than 2% of it had gone to black-owned businesses. Florida's Department of Transport doesn't have a specific DBE participation target for stimulus-related projects, but it says it exceeded its goal of more than 8% for all federally funded (not just stimulus) work in the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30. Still, given that Florida's workforce is about one-third minority, watchdogs like the MWC suggest the target should be higher.

Washington and the states have been trying to get stimulus money and projects out the door as quickly as possible, often bundling smaller projects into larger ones set to begin work immediately (so-called shovel-ready projects) for more efficiency. Consequently, they have also tended to rely on larger and therefore predominantly white-owned construction contractors (who in turn also tend to use their preferred subcontractors) over smaller minority-owned firms that often don't have ample equipment or personnel. Those smaller companies also have trouble finding the resources to post construction bonds (money contractors must offer up front as a guarantee that a job will be finished) on larger jobs. Serge Jean-Louis, a Haitian-American contractor and president of Nicon Engineering in Coconut Creek, Fla., near Fort Lauderdale, is struggling to land stimulus-related projects in South Florida. He says federal and state officials managing the stimulus should relax bond requirements for smaller firms and DBEs, "or we're going to be out of the stimulus picture." (See pictures of the global financial crisis.)

The Obama Administration insists that 15% of the stimulus contracts awarded so far across the country have gone to DBEs. That's 2½ times the share of federally funded projects that went to minority- and women-owned firms in fiscal 2008, say officials. "It's a top priority of the President's, and we've worked very hard to create those opportunities," says David Hinson, director of the Commerce Department's Minority Business Development Agency (MBDA). Hinson points to the outreach program the MBDA and the Small Business Administration have created to "put boots on the ground" and make contract procurement easier for DBEs. He also suggests it's "a little early to draw conclusions" about the stimulus' level of minority participation.

Most of the federal stimulus money is disbursed via states and counties, and the outlook for minorities does seem better once the dollars reach more local levels. Miami-Dade County's Public Works Department has kept its so far $25 million worth of stimulus projects relatively small, and therefore more accessible to minority contractors, to ensure its own 10% DBE participation goal. On some projects Miami-Dade has even 100% DBE involvement. For now, the county is using what stimulus money it can earmark for transit purposes to purchase a fleet of BRT (bus rapid transit) buses that will at least reach into predominantly minority corridors at a faster clip than conventional metro bus lines. Says Miami-Dade Public Works Director Esther Calas, the stimulus trickle-down "wasn't really crafted to happen as fast as it could have, but once it gets to us we're expediting it quickly." She points out that Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Alvarez championed an ordinance last year that accelerates contracting processes related to any kind of economic-stimulus project.

Given such different track records, minority-business advocates like John Powell, director of the Kirwan Institute, which studies race and ethnicity issues, feel that additional stimulus billions should be pushed more directly to the local level, where it stands a better chance of boosting poor minority areas. "These communities see tons of money moving around, but they fear it's passing them by," says Powell, noting that many, if not most, U.S. municipalities don't yet know how to access stimulus funds for basic green projects like home weatherization and biofuel stations. (See pictures of the effects of global warming.)

Powell thinks it's only fair that more stimulus money finds its way to minority communities, since much of today's economic disaster can be traced to those areas being lavished with subprime mortgages. Despite recovery.org, the federal website designed for tracing stimulus outlays, Powell argues, "We need to put how this is playing out under a larger magnifying glass, make it more transparent." If not, he warns, "we'll have the irony of the first black President presiding over the greatest economic restructuring in decades, but it could actually end up worsening the racial disparity." Whether or not that's an exaggerated warning, heeding it could help Obama ensure that his recovery crusade is on a track that does the most long-term - and not just immediate - good.

Michelle Stabs Oprah In The Back !

Mon, 23 Nov 2009 18:08:37 PST

A distraught Oprah Winfrey is telling pals her "thank you" for helping Barack Obama win the presidency has been a knife in the back.

A jealous first lady has frozen the talk queen out of the White House inner circle, say insiders. "Oprah is devastated," revealed a friend.

"She had no idea that Michelle was so jealous about the influence she had on Barack. She hated the way her husband would huddle with Oprah over strategy and jump when she called.

"The jealousy and anger was eating up Michelle. During the campaign, she vowed Oprah would not be a part of the new administration.

"Oprah had visions of being a close adviser to the president and a regular visitor to the White House. She was actually planning to redecorate the famous Lincoln bedroom, which is reserved for special guests of the first family.

"But in the first 10 months of the Obama administration, Oprah has visited the White House only twice, and one visit was for a business meeting to do an interview with Michelle for O magazine.

"And that was a disaster. Oprah arrived with her friend Gayle King, but was shocked to find Michelle cold and distant. Worse, she all but ignored Oprah and directed her attention to Gayle. It was as though Oprah wasn't even there."

The meeting got off to a bad start when Oprah, 55, greeted Michelle. The TV host leaned to kiss her cheek, but the first lady stepped back and extended her hand instead.

Then Michelle, 45, seemed to ignore a question Oprah asked about the Obama children, instead taking a question from an aide and then returning only to chat with Gayle again - ignoring or forgetting Oprah's question.

By the end of the day, Oprah felt roundly snubbed.

"Since then, Oprah has tried again and again to mend the rift," said the friend. "But she's had no luck. Michelle has made it clear she is no longer interested in being friends with Oprah and is going to block her from access to the President."

Palin limits crowd interaction at NC's Fort Bragg

Mon, 23 Nov 2009 15:44:58 PST

By MIKE BAKER, Associated Press Writer Mike Baker, Associated Press Writer – Mon Nov 23, 2:53 pm ET

FORT BRAGG, N.C. – Former Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin is wrapping up a three-hour book signing by thanking soldiers and shaking their hands at a North Carolina Army base.

Palin did not give a speech during her stop Monday at Fort Bragg, home of the Army's 82nd Airborne Division and Green Berets. The former Alaska governor promised to limit her enthusiasm after the Army worried Palin's appearance would prompt political grandstanding against President Barack Obama.

Army officials said more than 1,200 people lined up outside a Fort Bragg store where Palin signed copies of her new memoir. She waved and greeted some supporters before walking inside.

Several military personnel craned to take photos of Palin as she arrived.

Palin's Book Tour to Include Stop at Fort Hood

Mon, 23 Nov 2009 10:34:22 PST

Monday, November 23, 2009 11:07 AM

FORT HOOD, Texas -- Sarah Palin's tour to promote her new memoir will include a stop at Fort Hood to benefit the victims of the shooting rampage and their families.

An updated schedule for the 2008 Republican vice presidential nominee and former Alaska governor includes a Dec. 4 visit to the sprawling Texas post where an Army psychiatrist is accused of killing 13 people and wounding more than 30.

The gunman, who faces murder charges, was shot by civilian police.

Palin, on her blog for the "Going Rogue" book tour, says she's "especially looking forward to meeting our brave men and women in uniform at Fort Hood."

Palin says she will donate royalties from book sales during her stop at Fort Hood to the victims and their families.

Kangaroo tries to drown dog, attacks owner

Mon, 23 Nov 2009 07:19:16 PST

2 hrs 17 mins ago

MELBOURNE, Australia – A kangaroo startled by a man walking his dog attacked the pair, pinning the pet underwater and slashing the owner in the abdomen with its hind legs.

The Australian, Chris Rickard, was in stable condition Monday after the attack, which ended when the 49-year-old elbowed the kangaroo in the throat. He said he was walking his blue heeler, Rocky, on Sunday morning when they surprised a sleeping kangaroo in Arthur's Creek northeast of Melbourne. The dog chased the animal into a pond, when the kangaroo turned and pinned the pet underwater.

When Rickard tried to pull his dog free, the kangaroo turned on him, attacking with its hind legs and tearing a deep gash into his abdomen and across his face.

"I thought I might take a hit or two dragging the dog out from under his grip, but I didn't expect him to actually attack me," Rickard, 49, told The Herald Sun newspaper. "It was a shock at the start because it was a kangaroo, about 5 feet high, they don't go around killing people."

Kangaroos rarely attack people but will fight if they feel threatened.

Dogs often chase kangaroos, which have been known to lead the pets into water and defend themselves there.

Rickard said he ended the attack by elbowing the kangaroo in the throat, adding Rocky was "half-drowned" when he pulled him from the water.

1 in 3 laptops die in first three years

Mon, 23 Nov 2009 06:11:25 PST

So your new laptop computer died in inside of a year. "I'll never buy a computer from [insert manufacturer name here] again!" I've heard the protests time and time again.

Yeah, maybe you got a lemon, but no matter which brand you bought, you truly are not alone in this situation: An analysis of 30,000 new laptops from SquareTrade, which provides aftermarket warranty coverage for electronics products, has found that in the first three years of ownership, nearly a third of laptops (31 percent) will fail.

That's actually better than I would have expected based on my experience and observations on how people treat their equipment.

SquareTrade has more detailed information (the full PDF of the company's study is available here) on the research on its website. But here are some highlights about how, why, and which laptops fail:

> 20.4 percent of failures are due to hardware malfunctions. 10.6 percent are due to drops, spills, or other accidental damage.

> Netbooks have a roughly 20 percent higher failure rate due to hardware malfunctions than standard laptops. The more you pay for your laptop, the less likely it is to fail in general (maybe because you're more careful with it?).

> The most reliable companies? A shocker: Toshiba and Asus, both with below a 16 percent failure rate due to hardware malfunction.

> The least reliable brands? Acer, Gateway, and HP. HP's hardware malfunction rate, the worst in SquareTrade's analysis, is a whopping 25.6 percent.

None of the numbers are overly surprising. As SquareTrade notes, "the typical laptop endures more use and abuse than nearly any other consumer electronic device (with the possible exception of cell phones)," so failures are really inevitable.

Want to keep your notebook running for longer than a few years? Ensure your laptop is as drop-proofed as possible (use a padded bag or case, route cords so they won't be tripped on, lock children in another room), and protect it as best you can from heat and dust.

Schoolchildren Sing Obama's Praises -- ObamaNation

Sun, 22 Nov 2009 09:58:36 PST

This is an up lifting rendition ..seems school children are a useful tool these days for getting points across..now before you get your undies in a wad remember who started it

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-huppIl2_yE

Iran begins war games to protect nuclear sites

Sun, 22 Nov 2009 09:14:46 PST

7 mins ago

TEHRAN, Iran – Iran on Sunday began large-scale air defense war games aimed at protecting the country's nuclear facilities against any possible attack, state television reported.

It said the five-day drill will cover an area a third of the size of Iran and spread across the central, western and southern parts of the country.

Gen. Ahmad Mighani, head of an air force unit that deals with threats to Iran's air space, said Saturday the war games would cover regions where Iran's nuclear facilities are located.

The drill involves both Iran's elite Revolutionary Guard, the paramilitary Basij forces affiliated with the Guard as well as army units.

The United States and its European allies accuse Iran of embarking on a nuclear weapons program. Iran denies the charge and insists the program is only for peaceful purposes.

Israel has not ruled out military action to stop Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons.

The commander of the Guard's air force, Gen. Amir Ali Hajizadeh, meanwhile sought on Sunday to play down the significance of Israel's threats against his country, saying they amounted to psychological warfare.

"We are sure they are not able to do anything against us since they can not predict our reaction," Hajizadeh was quoted as saying by the Guard's official Web site, Sephahnews.

"If their fighter planes could escape from Iran's air defense system, their bases will be hit by our devastating surface-to-surface missiles before they land," he said.

Also on Sunday, Iran's defense minister, Gen. Ahmad Vahidi, said Iran planned to pursue designing and producing its own air defense missiles, according to the official IRNA news agency.

His comments were apparently in response to the delay in the delivery from Russia of S-300 anti-aircraft missiles, a key component of Iran's air defense.

Iran complains that the delay is apparently the result of Israeli and U.S. pressure.

Israel and the United States have opposed the missile deal out of fear Iran could use the system to significantly boost air defenses at its nuclear sites — including its main uranium enrichment plant at Natanz

Dirty Secrets of Black Friday 'Doorbusters'

Sun, 22 Nov 2009 05:48:35 PST

by Parija B. Kavilanz
Friday, November 20, 2009

Here are a few things bargain-hungry consumers need to know before they hit stores before dawn the day after Thanksgiving.

Here's a Black Friday reality check: Of the hordes of pre-dawn shoppers who line up for hours outside stores on the day after Thanksgiving, most will not bag the best bargains that appear in merchants' circulars.

Look at the fine print that appears next to an advertised "doorbuster deal" at the bottom of the page in this year's circulars.

It will either say "While supplies last," "Minimum 2 per store," "No rainchecks" or "All items are available in limited quantities."

A quick scan through a few of this year's Black Friday circulars show quantities as low as a "minimum of 5 per store" on some models of large plasma and HDTVs and popular brands of home appliances such as a washer-dryer pair.

Should Black Friday deal hunters feel cheated? Yes they should, say some retail experts.

"It's a sleazy practice," said Craig Johnson, retailing expert and president of retail consulting group Customer Growth Partners.

"I am old school," said Johnson. "If a retailer is advertising a juicy deal and they are not prepared to have in sufficient quantity, don't advertise it. Or give consumers a raincheck."

Johnson said it's not enough for retailers to mention that they'll have such limited quantities of a product on one of the most-hyped shopping days of the year.

"Retailers aren't winning any customers. They are just pissing off people," he said. "It's poor retailing practice."

Unfortunately for consumers, more examples abound.

CNNMoney.com spoke to industry experts to uncover a few dirty secrets of Black Friday deals.

Limited quantities: Advertising a Black Friday deal as "limited quantities" is bogus, said Johnson.

"The only time it makes sense to have only two or three [items] in stock is if the deal is on a $2 million gift product that appears in the Neiman Marcus holiday catalog," he said.

Edgar Dworsky, a consumer advocate and editor of Consumer World, agreed with Johnson.

"C'mon guys. Give me a break," said Dworsky. "How can you be the size of a retailer like Sears and only get a minimum of five per store, yet devote big space in your circular to advertise that deal?

Sears (SHLD, Fortune 500) has not officially revealed its Black Friday sales. However, the company confirmed to CNNMoney.com that two of its post-Thanksgiving deals include a Samsung 40-inch 1080p LCD HDTV for $599.99, "Only while quantities last, minimum three per store, no rainchecks."

The other is a Kenmore 3.5-cubic-foot high-efficiency washer and 5.8-cubic foot dryer pair for $579.98, "Limit four per store, no rainchecks."

"Sure, you probably have more, but how do you put out a circular to millions of households and only have three?," Dworsky asked.

When asked for a comment, Sears spokesman Tom Aiello said he was "not comfortable" addressing the issue of limited quantities for some Black Friday deals.

Such short supply on deals are not only annoying but can also be dangerous to Black Friday shoppers.

"We saw the stampede at a Wal-Mart (WMT, Fortune 500) store in New York last year on Black Friday that led to an employee's death," said Burt Flickinger, managing director of consulting firm Strategic Resource Group. "The stampede happened because so many of the deals were advertised as limited supply."

One retailer, while not explaining why its advertised deals are in such limited supplies, said it is taking measures to better handle the Black Friday rush.

"From going down the line and handing out doorbuster tickets that guarantee a purchase in advance of the store opening, to printing the minimum quantities in the circular, we go to great lengths to ensure that the Black Friday consumer knows exactly how many items will be at the store and whether or not they will be able to purchase one prior to entering the store," Best Buy (BBY, Fortune 500) wrote in an e-mail.

What do you mean this HDTV is a "derivative?" Some of the holiday electronics with those low sale prices are derivatives, models that have a few less features than a standard model in that product line, said Dworsky.

The difference can be subtle. "The image contrast ratio might be 20,000 in a derivative model versus 30,000 in a standard model," he said. "Most consumers probably won't even notice the difference."

A report earlier this month in Consumer Reports called attention to HDTV models from Samsung and Sony advertised in Black Friday deals that appear to be "derivatives." The report said these one-off TVs "with unfamiliar model numbers" are usually cheaper than the standard model in their class.

Dworsky cautions that retailers usually don't advertise these models as derivatives. "There's no way the average consumer will know that the TV model they are buying is not the standard one unless they are savvy enough to compare their model numbers," he said.

Which Black Friday deals are online? "Many retailers will say that their Black Friday deals are available online," said Dworsky. "But they're not nice enough to tell you which ones."

"How about telling me which exact ones so I can shop online from home and I'm not in my pajamas at 5 a.m. in front of your store," he said.

Online deals that never get shipped: Case in point: Sears. Last year, one of Sears' hottest Black Friday doorbuster deal was on a Kenmore washer-dryer pair for $600.

Even though the retailer advertised that deal to be in "limited quantities," the company decided to honor every customer order made on that deal last Black Friday.

Big mistake. The manufacturer could not ramp up production fast enough. Some customers waited months before their order was shipped. Others were sold a substitute model, that was "comparable or even better" for the same deal price, said Sears' Aiello.

Lesson learned. "We will not be doing that again this year," he said.

Be careful if you're shopping online on Black Friday, said Dworsky.

"Since retailers don't have a live inventory online you run the risk of getting an e-mail weeks later that your order had been delayed or worse, canceled, because the product is out of stock," he said.

About those rainchecks: Finally, if a retailer does offer you a raincheck on a deal, it could still turn out to be an empty promise, Flickinger warned.

"A raincheck doesn't guarantee that you will eventually get that elusive Black Friday deal," he said. "Consumers can go weeks waiting and hoping, and the retailer may never get more of the product shipped to its stores."

Teenager Says, "I Hate Being Gay"

Sat, 21 Nov 2009 21:33:58 PST

From the Advocate newspaper, a young reader speaks out about the gay lifestyle ... I hate being gay
This Washington State teen faces a daily battle between the sexual attraction he feels for other men and his religious convictions that tell him being gay is against God’s word.

By Kyle Rice

In late July the Washington State supreme court upheld a law that limits marriage to heterosexual couples. As a gay 19-year-old in Longview, Wash., my delight with that ruling is probably surprising. However, I’m not your average gay person—I'm also a Christian who views living a gay lifestyle as against God's word.
And because of my religious beliefs, I hate the fact that I am gay.

About the time I was 12 years old, it became clear to me that I was sexually attracted to guys. I assumed these feelings would go away as I got older. People choose to be gay, right? I didn’t choose this, so I figured it would pass. But it didn’t. By age 15 I had my first boyfriend.

At about that time I started to attend a Pentecostal church. I began reading the Bible, including its many different and powerful passages condemning homosexual activity. I knew in my heart that being gay was wrong in God’s eyes. I decided to devote myself to living a God-filled life and knew I needed to stop being gay so that I could stop being attracted to guys.

I looked into "ex-gay" ministries and joined such a program offered by a local church. It has taught me that with God’s help I can change my desires. A friend of mine went through another church’s program, and he's changed. He’s now happy and in love with his girlfriend. I pray the same will happen to me someday.

In the meantime I focus on fighting efforts to force the "gay agenda" on those of us who know God does not accept homosexuality. Although I do not condone discrimination, I also do not support gay marriage laws or many of the other issues backed by gay rights groups. I am a proud conservative Republican, and I support political candidates who feel the same way I do.

Many people ask me how I can be gay and also be a Republican and a Pentecostal Christian. My answer is that I am so much more than my sexuality. I don’t vote solely on pet gay issues. My faith and love of God is not guided by one small piece of who I am—a piece of me that I am trying very hard to change.

Being a gay Christian is at times very hard to deal with. Some days I feel as if I’m at war with myself. But I know God would not approve of me acting on my gay feelings, and I have no right to question his directive. I know that in the end I will be happy I lived my life according to God’s standards the best that I could.

That means refusing to accept being gay

Researcher says text proves Shroud of Turin real

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 12:25:52 PST

By ARIEL DAVID, Associated Press Writer Ariel David, Associated Press Writer – 21 mins ago

ROME – A Vatican researcher claims a nearly invisible text on the Shroud of Turin proves the authenticity of the artifact revered as Jesus' burial cloth.

The claim made in a new book by historian Barbara Frale drew immediate skepticism from some scientists, who maintain the shroud is a medieval forgery.

Frale, a researcher at the Vatican archives, said Friday that she used computers to enhance images of faintly written words in Greek, Latin and Aramaic scattered across the shroud.

She asserts the words include the name "Jesus Nazarene" in Greek, proving the text could not be of medieval origin because no Christian at the time, even a forger, would have labeled Jesus a Nazarene without referring to his divinity.

The shroud bears the figure of a crucified man, complete with blood seeping out of nailed hands and feet, and believers say Christ's image was recorded on the linen fibers at the time of his resurrection.

The fragile artifact, owned by the Vatican, is kept locked in a special protective chamber in Turin's cathedral and is rarely shown.

Skeptics point out that radiocarbon dating conducted in 1988 determined it was made in the 13th or 14th century.

While faint letters scattered around the face on the shroud were seen decades ago, serious researchers dismissed them due to the test's results, Frale told The Associated Press.

But when she cut out the words from photos of the shroud and showed them to experts they concurred the writing style was typical of the Middle East in the first century — Jesus' time.

She believes the text was written on a document by a clerk and glued to the shroud over the face so the body could be identified by relatives and buried properly. Metals in the ink used at the time may have allowed the writing to transfer to the linen, Frale claimed.

Frale claimed the text also partially confirms the Gospels' account of Jesus' final moments. A fragment in Greek that can be read as "removed at the ninth hour" may refer to Christ's time of death reported in the holy texts, she said.

On an enhanced image studied by Frale, at least seven words can be seen, fragmented and scattered on and around Jesus' face, crisscrossing the cloth vertically and horizontally. One short sequence of Aramaic letters has not been translated. Another Latin fragment — "iber" — may refer to Emperor Tiberius, who reigned at the time of Jesus' crucifixion, Frale said.

"I tried to be objective and leave religious issue aside," Frale told The AP. "What I studied was an ancient document that certifies the execution of a man, in a specific time and place."

Frale is noted in Italy for her research on the medieval order of the Knights Templar and her discovery of unpublished documents on the group in the Vatican's archives.

Earlier this year she published a study claiming the Templars at one time had the shroud in their possession. That raised eyebrows because the order was abolished in the early 14th century and the shroud is first recorded in history around 1360 in the hands of a French knight.

But her latest book, titled "The Shroud of Jesus Nazarene" in Italian, raised even doubts among some experts.

"People work on grainy photos and think they see things," said Antonio Lombatti, a church historian who has written books about the shroud. "It's all the result of imagination and computer software."

Lombatti said that artifacts bearing Greek and Aramaic texts were found in Jewish burials from the first century, but the use of Latin is unheard of.

He also rejected the idea that authorities would officially return the body of a crucified man to relatives after filling out some paperwork. Victims of the most cruel punishment used by the Romans would usually be left on the cross or were disposed of in a dump to add to the execution's deterring effect.

Lombatti said "the message was that you won't even have a tomb to cry over."

Unusual sightings in the shroud are common and are often proved false, said Luigi Garlaschelli, a professor of chemistry at the University of Pavia.

Garlaschelli recently led a team of experts that reproduced the shroud using materials and methods that were available in the 14th century, proof, they said, that it could have been made by a human hand in the Middle Ages.

Decades ago entire studies were published on coins that were purportedly seen on Jesus' closed eyes, but when high-definition images were taken during a 2002 restoration the artifacts were nowhere to be seen and the theory was dropped, Garlaschelli said.

He said any theory about ink and metals would have to checked by analysis of the shroud itself.

Wal-Mart scuffle prompts racism claims

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 09:58:11 PST

From Gary Tuchman and Dave Mattingly, CNN

November 19, 2009 8:10 p.m. EST

Video of her actions here

Kennett, Missouri (CNN) -- This much isn't in dispute: Heather Ellis joined a line at a Wal-Mart nearly three years ago.

Whether she cut in line or merely switched checkout lanes to join her cousin is in dispute, and the accounts of what happened next vary greatly. The debate has divided this economically struggling town of 11,000 along racial lines.

Ellis, then a college student with no criminal history, said some white patrons shoved and hurled racial slurs at her when she switched checkout lines at Wal-Mart in January 2007.

Store employees refused to give her back her change and called police, she said.

And when she was taken outside to the parking lot, an officer allegedly told her to "Go back to the ghetto." Another roughed her up, she said.

Witnesses and police offer a different take: Ellis was belligerent, cutting in line, shoving merchandise belonging to another customer to make way for hers on the conveyor belt, kicking one officer in the shin and splitting another's lip.

A Dunklin County Circuit Court jury heard from the prosecution and defense as Ellis' felony trial got under way Wednesday.

Surveillance tapes from the store were shown in court Thursday and released publicly, but the tapes don't show much of the alleged confrontation.

A camera above the cash register appears to show Ellis' arm shoving merchandise to the side on the register's conveyor belt several times.

Employees testified Wednesday that the shoving led to a heated verbal exchange with employees, during which Ellis was loud and profane.

Another camera showed her being led out of the store by police, with her arm in the air. A third shot from the parking lot shows her being handcuffed and put into a police car. Ellis appears to kick backward at police but her defense maintains she did so after police assaulted her.

Resisting arrest and disturbing the peace, could she face 15 years in prison if convicted.

Officials with the American Civil Liberties Union and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference said the case is indicative of racial bias in the town, where 13 percent of the population is African-American.

Kennett, the hometown of singer Sheryl Crow, is in the southeastern corner of Missouri and has struggled economically.

Black and Hispanic residents have long complained about the predominantly white Police Department profiling them during traffic stops.

When Ellis' supporters held a peaceful rally in June, officers found business cards scattered along the route that read: "You have been paid a social visit by the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan. The next visit will not be social."

During another rally Monday, a handful of opponents stood on the sidelines waving Confederate flags.

"I know it's racism. It's blatant, overt racism," said Ellis' father, the Rev. Nathaniel Ellis.

Her attorney, however, has not brought up race as a contributing factor in the case.

"I'm not going to go there," Scott Rosenblum said. "It's up to the prosecutor to decide to prosecute the case that the police investigate and present to them."

At the time of the incident, Ellis was a pre-med student at Xavier University in New Orleans, Louisiana.

She was home visiting relatives when she made a trip to Wal-Mart on January 6, 2007, to pick up some items for her mother. Ellis' 15-year-old cousin was with her.

After selecting their items, the two stood in different checkout lines. Noticing that her cousin's line was moving faster, Ellis cut in next to him, angering other customers.

In the arguments that followed, Ellis yelled so loudly that employees in the back of the store could hear her, prosecutor Morley Swingle said during his opening statements Wednesday.

Ellis "went ballistic in a profane tirade," he said.

When police arrived to remove her from the store, Ellis confronted them with the "worst kind of cussing imaginable," Swingle said.

Al Fischer, the lead officer at the scene, testified on Thursday that Ellis spewed invective at the officers as he repeatedly asked her to calm down.

"If you try to arrest me, I'll kick your (expletive) ass," he quoted her as saying. That's when he told her that she was under arrest for threatening an officer.

He said Ellis began to fight as he grabbed her from behind to handcuff her, kicking and swinging. Two other officers assisted him, Fischer said, as they took Ellis into custody as she struggled.

She repeatedly kicked one officer in the shin and another in the face, police said.

"I ain't going nowhere until I get my (expletive) change back," Ellis told officers, according to a police incident report.

"She resisted arrest, kicked her feet and stiffened her body" when officers tried to put her in the police cruiser, the report said.

Under cross-examination, Fischer admitted he did not document his own injuries from the scuffle and acknowledged that he went against police protocol.

Customer Teresa Kinder testified that Ellis shoved her items back on the checkout conveyor belt to make room for her own. When Kinder protested, Ellis allegedly threatened her with violence.

Defense attorney Rosenblum described the incident as an unjustified assault on his client.

When Ellis tried to seek help from the cashier and a store manager during the arguments, "her voice was not heard," he said.

Store employees treated Ellis with indifference, Rosenblum said, and officers taunted her by telling her to "go back to the ghetto."

Ellis told the ACLU that officers addressed her "with a series of racial remarks that included the N-word and everything you can imagine."

She said the Wal-Mart cashier asked for her ID card, even though she was paying in cash, and refused to give back her change.

"When you read the probable cause affidavit here, quite frankly, it does sound like she's out of control," legal analyst Lisa Bloom said. "There are five police officers. They're all saying the same thing. There are at least four other witnesses within the Wal-Mart store. They're all saying the same thing.

"She has a completely different version of the facts," Bloom added. "She feels that she was treated differently; it was on account of her race. It's in a racially charged community. And these charges are being blown out of proportion, so she's facing 15 years behind bars for an incident that began with cutting in line. ... I think there's good reason to think there are some racial allegations here."

Now a 24-year-old schoolteacher, Ellis is engaged to a state trooper. She has not spoken publicly about her case, saying she has been instructed not to do so.

"I wish I could, but I can't," she said leaving the courtroom Wednesday.

Two years ago, prosecutors offered a plea deal under which she would have received probation if she dropped her complaint against the police.

"She decided not to sign it, because she was taught to never admit guilt when you're innocent," her father said. "We plan to fight it as we have. We're marching on."

I say 'WHY WAIT?'

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 09:26:25 PST

Winfrey: Prayer, careful thought influenced exit

By CARYN ROUSSEAU, Associated Press Writer Caryn Rousseau, Associated Press Writer – 2 mins ago

CHICAGO – Holding back tears, Oprah Winfrey told her studio audience Friday that she would end her show in 2011 after a quarter-century on the air, saying prayer and careful thought led her to her decision.

Winfrey told the audience that she loved "The Oprah Winfrey Show," that it had been her life and that she knew when it was time to say goodbye. "Twenty-five years feels right in my bones and feels right in my spirit," she said.

Winfrey talked about being nervous when the program began in 1986 and thanked audiences who had invited her into their homes and lives over the past two decades.

"I certainly never could have imagined the yellow brick road of blessings that have led me to this moment," she said.

The powerhouse show became the foundation for her multibillion-dollar media empire, but in the last year, has seen its ratings slip 7 percent. Winfrey, 55, is widely expected to start up a new talk show on OWN: The Oprah Winfrey Network, a much-delayed joint venture with Discovery Communications Inc. that is projected to debut in 2011. OWN is to replace the Discovery Health Channel and will debut in some 74 million homes.

Winfrey offered no specifics about her plans for the future, except to say that she intended to produce the best possible shows during her last 18 months on the air.

"Over this holiday break, my team and I will be brainstorming new ways that we can entertain you and inform you and uplift you when we return here in January," she said. "And then, season 25 — we are going to knock your socks off."

CBS Television Distribution, which distributes the show to more than 200 U.S. markets, held out hope it could continue doing business with Winfrey, perhaps producing a new show out of its studios in Los Angeles.

"We know that anything she turns her hand to will be a great success," the CBS Corp. unit said in a statement. "We look forward to working with her for the next several years, and hopefully afterwards as well."

Many fans heading into Harpo Studios on Friday morning seemed to support Winfrey's decision.

"It's time to elevate to something new," said Sandra Donaldson, 59, of Indianapolis. "Whatever she does is going to be a blessing. It's going to be rewarding and eye-opening. Her name alone opens doors."

Once a local Chicago morning program, the production evolved into television's top-rated talk show for more than two decades, airing in 145 countries worldwide and watched by an estimated 42 million viewers a week in the U.S. alone.

Audience members described the atmosphere inside the studio Friday as tense and emotional, with some reaching for tissues as Winfrey announced her decision. "The whole audience was very quiet and she kept saying, `You can breathe,'" said Jennifer Aguilera, 32, of Joliet, Ill.

Fans expressed hope that Winfrey would soon announce another project.

"Oprah, she impacts everybody, her life, the way she gives," said Shawana Fletcher, 29, of Chicago. "I hope she's not totally done. That's what we're praying."

Winfrey's 24th season opened this year with a bang, as she drew more than 20,000 fans to Chicago's Magnificent Mile for a block party with the Black Eyed Peas. She followed with a series of blockbuster interviews — Mike Tyson and Evander Holyfield, Whitney Houston and ESPN's Erin Andrews, and just this week, former Alaska governor and GOP vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin.

As a newcomer, "The Oprah Winfrey Show" chipped away at talk-show king Phil Donahue's dominance. Later, it turned to inspiration. The show's coverage ranged from interviews with the world's celebrities to an honest discussion about Winfrey's weight struggles.

In 1986, pianist-showman Liberace gave his final TV interview to Winfrey, just six weeks before he died. In a 1993 prime-time special, Michael Jackson revealed he suffered from a skin condition that produces depigmentation. Tom Cruise enthusiastically declared his affection for the much-younger Katie Holmes on the program in 2005 — and jumped on the couch to prove it.

In 2004, Winfrey unveiled her most famous giveaway, when nearly 300 members of the studio audience opened a gift box to find the keys to a new car inside. The stunt became a classic show moment as much for Winfrey's reaction — "You get a car! You get a car! You get a car! Everybody gets a car!" — as its $7 million price tag.

The show also became a launching pad for Oprah's Book Club, which then launched best-sellers. The titles ranged from "Song of Solomon" and "Paradise" by Toni Morrison to Wally Lamb's "She's Come Undone" and Elie Wiesel's "Night."

For others, the selection backfired. "A Million Little Pieces" exploded in sales after Winfrey chose the James Frey memoir in fall 2005. Soon after, it was revealed as a fabricated tale of addiction and recovery, and Winfrey later chewed out Frey on her show.

The loss of "The Oprah Winfrey Show" would be a blow to CBS Corp., which earns a percentage of hefty licensing fees from TV stations that use it — largely ABC affiliates. CBS Chief Executive Leslie Moonves told analysts two weeks ago that the contract with the show runs through most of 2011 and "if there's a negative impact, it wouldn't hit us until '12."

"Oprah's been a force of media and there's really no person you can look to out there who you could say, `That's the heir apparent,'" said Larry Gerbrandt, an analyst for Media Valuation Partners in Los Angeles. Gerbrandt noted many stations build their schedules around Winfrey's show.

"It's a big loss, but not as huge as it would have been 10 years ago," he said. "However, it still commands the biggest audience and ABC station competitors are licking their chops."

Talk of the show's end often has accompanied Winfrey's contract negotiations. Before signing her current contract in 2004, she talked about quitting after the 2005-2006 season. As far back as 1995, she called continuing "a difficult and important decision."

Winfrey started her broadcasting career in Nashville, Tenn., and Baltimore, Md., before relocating to Chicago in 1984 to host WLS-TV's morning talk show "A.M. Chicago" — which became "The Oprah Winfrey Show" one year later. She set up Harpo the following year and her talk show went into syndication.

Powered by the show's staggering success, Winfrey built a media empire. Harpo Studios produces shows hosted by Dr. Phil McGraw and celebrity chef Rachael Ray. O, The Oprah Magazine was the nation's 7th most popular magazine in the first half of 2009.

Earlier this year, Forbes scored Winfrey's net worth at $2.7 billion.