ABC Devotes 15 Minutes to Softball Obama Profile, Highlights Questions From Drew Brees, D-Wade
June 17, 2011 No Comment
Good Morning America's Robin Roberts on Friday conducted a softball, light-hearted interview with Barack Obama, devoting 15 minutes to the President. She even included questions from sports celebrities such as Drew Brees. During the two part segment, which was billed as a look at Obama on Father's Day, Roberts only bothered with four policy questions, instead choosing to highlight the queries from NFL quarterback Brees and NBA star Dwyane Wade. Relaying audience questions, she investigated, “…Many of you wanted to know how the President would handle a big birthday next month, his daughter Malia is turning 13. You are about to hit the teenage years.” [See video below. MP3 audio here .] The Anthony Weiner scandal warranted only two questions, the same number given to requests of advice from celebrities. At one point, Roberts introduced, “Quarterback for the New Orleans Saints and he had a very good question and it's one that all parents deal with and that's about balance, Drew Brees.” The GMA anchor followed up with Wade of the Miami Heat. The multi-millionaire needed help with this question: ” Hello, Mr. President. I recently received full custody of my two sons. What is the best advice you can give to a single dad? ” What political/policy questions Roberts did pose were relatively mild. Of Weiner, she wondered, “There are many people that are asking why is it that some men in positions of power and authority are engaging in such reckless behavior?” The anchor didn't ask if the controversy harms the Democratic Party. She also labeled the story a “distraction” and insisted “people want to talk about other topics.” One of the very few tough questions came when Roberts speculated, “The thought [from Republican presidential candidates] was that you made a bad situation worse. How do you respond to that?” By this time four years ago, during the 2008 presidential campaign, GMA had given Democratic candidates (Hillary Clinton and John Edwards) 64 minutes in special town hall shows. They offered none for Republicans. Now, four years later, no Republicans have received a town hall and Barack Obama is the subject of a lengthy, fawning Father's Day interview. A transcript of the first segment, which aired at 7:07am on June 17, follows: ABC GRAPHIC: President Obama One-on-One: Taking on the Republicans ROBERTS: A short time after that announcement, I had a chance to sit down with our exclusive interview with President Obama. We were there to talk about fatherhood, his own experience and his hopes for America's dads and he made some news of his own. But before we got to that, of course, I got his thoughts on the Anthony Weiner scandal and his response to Republican attacks on his handling of the economy. There are many people that are asking why is it that some men in positions of power and authority are engaging in such reckless behavior? OBAMA: Well, you know, keep in mind that obviously the vast majority of folks are, you know, doing the right thing and focused on their work. And I wish Representative Weiner and his lovely wife well. Obviously it's been a tough incident for him, but I'm confident that they'll refocus and he'll refocus, and they'll end up being able to bounce back. ROBERTS: This is something that you were hoping to see, that he would step aside. OBAMA: Well, I think it was just important for him to be able to focus on his family and what's most important I think for all of us and that is how do the people we love, you know, how do we interacting with them and this gives him some time to do that. ROBERTS: It became a distraction and people want to talk about other topics such as the economy, the struggling economy, which was a hot button topic at the Republican presidential debate in New Hampshire earlier this week, and you were a top target. TIM PAWLENTY: This president is a declinist. NEWT GINGRICH: We need a new president in the Obama depression. ROBERTS: The thought was that you made a bad situation worse. How do you respond to that? OBAMA: You know, there will be time for campaigning. I'll let those guys sort out what they want to say. What I know is that an economy that was shrinking is now growing but we've got to grow it faster and, so, the steps we've already taken in terms of payroll tax cut, making sure that we provide tax incentives to businesses to build plants and put people to work, that those steps we've got to sustain. ROBERTS: The payroll tax cut, will we have that again next year? OBAMA: Whatever incentives we can provide to businesses to hire more people, the better off we're going to be. And so I'll be working with leaders in both parties hopefully to make the right decisions for the American people. ROBERTS: Political battles ahead. But just before Father's Day we also came to the White House to talk about fatherhood, with a dad who grew up barely knowing his own father. We ask you to weigh in with questions, both on Twitter and video and many of you wanted to know how the President would handle a big birthday next month, his daughter Malia is turning 13. You are about to hit the teenage years. OBAMA: Oh, yeah. ROBERTS: And there were a lot of questions from viewers saying, are you prepared for what's about to come? OBAMA: Malia and Sasha, for whatever reasons, and I think Michelle gets the lion's share of the credit. They're smart. They're funny, but most importantly they're kind. They're respectful. They're responsible. They're well behaved. I could not ask for better kids. I'm not anticipating complete mayhem for the next four or five year, but I understand teenage-hood is complicated. I should also point out that I have men with guns that surround them often and a great incentive for running for re-election is that it means they never get in the car with a boy who had a beer and that's a pretty good thing. ROBERTS: Still that young man, knock, knock, knock, 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. OBAMA: It's a little intimidating. ROBERTS: Just a wee bit. OBAMA: I might invite over to the Oval Office, ask him for his GPA, find out what his intentions are in terms of career. ROBERTS: Very important. Very important. I know. OBAMA: Malia, Sasha, if you're watching this, I'm just joking. ROBERTS: Sure you are. Another question, what if the President had a son? I know you and Reggie have coached a little basketball. But this is a little league dad who has a very interesting question for you. SANFORD BROWN:
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Jennifer Hudson for Weight Watchers Completing The 2011 Chase Corporate Challenge! Dad Does a Forward Flip LauraASnell says: #FF @hughina04 cause she's my mum! She's also doing # weightwatchers
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It was not a mass movement but about 30 or 40 women across the country took the wheel At just after 10 o’clock on Friday morning Maha al-Qahtani swapped places with her husband, Mohammed, and took the wheel of the family car. For the next 50 minutes, she drove through the Saudi capital, along the six-lane King Fahd Road, through Cairo Square, down the upmarket Olaya Street with its shopping malls, Starbucks, Apple store and boutiques. “No one tried to stop us. No one even looked,” the 39-year-old civil servant said. “We drove past police cars but had no trouble.” In fact, the biggest problem for Qahtani was her husband sitting next to her. “He kept telling me to slow down or speed up. He was very fussy,” she said. This is Saudi Arabia, the only country in the world that bans women from driving motor vehicles. Qahtani was part of a small but striking movement of women determined to do something about it. The exact number of Saudi women who protested was unclear. It was certainly not a mass movement. By mid-afternoon a handful had driven in Riyadh, a few in the southern port city of Jeddah, a couple in Dammam in the east, perhaps 30 or 40 overall in a country with a population of 27 million including migrant labourers. But it was a breakthrough. In the closed and authoritarian kingdom, such open and premeditated dissent is extremely rare. Under the spotlight of international attention, Saudi Arabia’s rulers had clearly decided to allow the protest to go ahead. “It is not the issue of women’s driving itself which poses a problem, it is the challenge to authority,” said a political analyst, Khaled al-Dhakil. “But … change is eroding that authority.” This was the closest Saudi Arabia has yet got to the revolutionary upheavals of the Arab spring. A “day of rage” declared in March was, outside areas dominated by the Shia minority, a non-event. A lack of tradition of public protest and heavy security presence rapidly ended any efforts at mobilisation. Last month seven women were arrested for driving. Manal al-Sharif, a 32-year-old who had posted a video on the internet of herself at the wheel, was held for 10 days , made to sign a pledge not to drive again and banned from talking to the media. On Friday, a different mood prevailed. Police appeared to be under orders not to intervene. In Jeddah, one woman said she had been detained by soldiers and escorted home. Others reported being ignored. But when Qahtani, who holds American and international driving licenses, tried driving again in the afternoon, she was stopped after 30 minutes by police, given a ticket for driving without a Saudi licence, and sent home. The question now is whether this signals forthcoming concessions from the authorities. King Abdullah, a relative moderate reigning since 2005, is known to be sympathetic but constrained by a conservative religious establishment. The support of the clergy has been crucial to the house of Al Saud and successive kings have been careful not to antagonise them. Earlier this year, clerics issued a fatwa against challenging the royal family’s authority. Many clerics claim the driving ban prevents vice by stopping women interacting with male strangers – despite the enforced proximity with a hired driver. Wajeha al-Huwaider, the activist who filmed Sharif’s drive, said the “big campaign” might make the government rethink. “Driving is a basic simple right. Denying it is hurting the image of the country. Even if the ban is nothing to do with religion, it is also hurting the image of Islam,” she said. Social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook have been key for the women drivers, providing support networks and, crucially, publicity outside the kingdom. The legal situation is unclear. Supporters say it is justified by both religious fatwas and the rulers’ own statements. Critics say there is nothing in Islam to back the ban and that there has never been a royal decree. Women in Saudi Arabia are also banned from voting or from leaving home without a male guardian. Previous campaigns to overturn the ban have failed. One, in 1991, resulted in nearly 50 women who drove losing their jobs and being banned from foreign travel. The critical question now is broader public opinion. Those driving on Friday come from a small – if growing – element of Saudi society. Saad, a 24-year-old engineer who recently returned from government-sponsored studies in the US, said that Saudis should “get over” the issue. “There are much more important issues here than women driving. We need to be more broad-minded,” he said. But many others disagree. Abdullah al-Otaiba, who trades camels on the outskirts of Riyadh, said that women driving was a “bad idea”. “You have your ways of doing things in the west and that’s fine for you. We are conservative people. We are not democratic. We have another religion and women should not go alone,” he said. There is room for compromise – the most likely outcome, experts says. Some younger clerics would accept women being allowed to drive in case of emergency. The women, most of whom learned to drive overseas, say their campaign will continue until a royal decree is issued allowing them to drive “without any conditions”. “It’s our right. We have to have it. We will continue until we can decide ourselves,” said Maha al-Qahtani. “I’m really excited,” said Eman Nafjan, 32, who drove round her Riyadh neighbourhood for 15 minutes . “We need to do it again.” Saudi Arabia Women Middle East Islam Religion Gender Arab and Middle East unrest Jason Burke guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …It was not a mass movement but about 30 or 40 women across the country took the wheel At just after 10 o’clock on Friday morning Maha al-Qahtani swapped places with her husband, Mohammed, and took the wheel of the family car. For the next 50 minutes, she drove through the Saudi capital, along the six-lane King Fahd Road, through Cairo Square, down the upmarket Olaya Street with its shopping malls, Starbucks, Apple store and boutiques. “No one tried to stop us. No one even looked,” the 39-year-old civil servant said. “We drove past police cars but had no trouble.” In fact, the biggest problem for Qahtani was her husband sitting next to her. “He kept telling me to slow down or speed up. He was very fussy,” she said. This is Saudi Arabia, the only country in the world that bans women from driving motor vehicles. Qahtani was part of a small but striking movement of women determined to do something about it. The exact number of Saudi women who protested was unclear. It was certainly not a mass movement. By mid-afternoon a handful had driven in Riyadh, a few in the southern port city of Jeddah, a couple in Dammam in the east, perhaps 30 or 40 overall in a country with a population of 27 million including migrant labourers. But it was a breakthrough. In the closed and authoritarian kingdom, such open and premeditated dissent is extremely rare. Under the spotlight of international attention, Saudi Arabia’s rulers had clearly decided to allow the protest to go ahead. “It is not the issue of women’s driving itself which poses a problem, it is the challenge to authority,” said a political analyst, Khaled al-Dhakil. “But … change is eroding that authority.” This was the closest Saudi Arabia has yet got to the revolutionary upheavals of the Arab spring. A “day of rage” declared in March was, outside areas dominated by the Shia minority, a non-event. A lack of tradition of public protest and heavy security presence rapidly ended any efforts at mobilisation. Last month seven women were arrested for driving. Manal al-Sharif, a 32-year-old who had posted a video on the internet of herself at the wheel, was held for 10 days , made to sign a pledge not to drive again and banned from talking to the media. On Friday, a different mood prevailed. Police appeared to be under orders not to intervene. In Jeddah, one woman said she had been detained by soldiers and escorted home. Others reported being ignored. But when Qahtani, who holds American and international driving licenses, tried driving again in the afternoon, she was stopped after 30 minutes by police, given a ticket for driving without a Saudi licence, and sent home. The question now is whether this signals forthcoming concessions from the authorities. King Abdullah, a relative moderate reigning since 2005, is known to be sympathetic but constrained by a conservative religious establishment. The support of the clergy has been crucial to the house of Al Saud and successive kings have been careful not to antagonise them. Earlier this year, clerics issued a fatwa against challenging the royal family’s authority. Many clerics claim the driving ban prevents vice by stopping women interacting with male strangers – despite the enforced proximity with a hired driver. Wajeha al-Huwaider, the activist who filmed Sharif’s drive, said the “big campaign” might make the government rethink. “Driving is a basic simple right. Denying it is hurting the image of the country. Even if the ban is nothing to do with religion, it is also hurting the image of Islam,” she said. Social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook have been key for the women drivers, providing support networks and, crucially, publicity outside the kingdom. The legal situation is unclear. Supporters say it is justified by both religious fatwas and the rulers’ own statements. Critics say there is nothing in Islam to back the ban and that there has never been a royal decree. Women in Saudi Arabia are also banned from voting or from leaving home without a male guardian. Previous campaigns to overturn the ban have failed. One, in 1991, resulted in nearly 50 women who drove losing their jobs and being banned from foreign travel. The critical question now is broader public opinion. Those driving on Friday come from a small – if growing – element of Saudi society. Saad, a 24-year-old engineer who recently returned from government-sponsored studies in the US, said that Saudis should “get over” the issue. “There are much more important issues here than women driving. We need to be more broad-minded,” he said. But many others disagree. Abdullah al-Otaiba, who trades camels on the outskirts of Riyadh, said that women driving was a “bad idea”. “You have your ways of doing things in the west and that’s fine for you. We are conservative people. We are not democratic. We have another religion and women should not go alone,” he said. There is room for compromise – the most likely outcome, experts says. Some younger clerics would accept women being allowed to drive in case of emergency. The women, most of whom learned to drive overseas, say their campaign will continue until a royal decree is issued allowing them to drive “without any conditions”. “It’s our right. We have to have it. We will continue until we can decide ourselves,” said Maha al-Qahtani. “I’m really excited,” said Eman Nafjan, 32, who drove round her Riyadh neighbourhood for 15 minutes . “We need to do it again.” Saudi Arabia Women Middle East Islam Religion Gender Arab and Middle East unrest Jason Burke guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …A Catholic church in Long Beach has been reunited with its piece of the patron saint of missing things. The 800-year-old relic of St. Anthony of Padua, a sliver of bone encased in a gold and silver reliquary, was stolen earlier this week . Police found the relic in the living…
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Spending his savings on renting an advertising hoarding has proved a winning gamble for an unemployed Irishman “Jobless Paddy”, the unemployed Irishman who spent his life savings on an advertising hoarding pleading with bosses to save him from emigration , has been rescued by another Paddy. Irish betting giant Paddy Power has given a job to Féilim Mac An Iomaire, who has shot to fame in the past few weeks after using €2,000 (£1,770) to rent a billboard site asking for help. The Galway man displayed the ad on Dublin’s busy Merrion Road stating that he did not want to emigrate to look for work. The response was unprecedented, resulting in 20 interviews and several job offers. The 26-year-old said: “Working with Paddy and his team is something I could only have dreamt of before, but now I’m actually here, it’s real. The last month has been the most chaotic of my life, so now I’m really just looking forward to rolling up my sleeves and getting stuck into my new job.” Ken Robertson of the bookmaker chain said: “Feilim is a true rock star. I’m so happy he decided to come and work for Paddy Power. I have no doubt his energy, creativity and never-say-die attitude will be a massive plus to the brand.” Mac An Iomaire’s plight struck a chord in a nation that expects to lose 50,000 people to emigration this year, many of them young. His unusual personal sales pitch gained him fame around the world, with foreign news organisations reporting on his billboard site. Meanwhile, unemployment remains at more than 450,000, with thousands choosing to get out of the Republic in search of work, mainly in Britain, North American and Australia. Unemployment and employment statistics Financial crisis Unemployment Ireland European debt crisis Henry McDonald guardian.co.uk
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IMF rejection of proposals over Kabul Bank crisis, $820m bailout debts and suspension of aid leaves country in deepening crisis The Afghan government will struggle to pay its bills “within a month” after the International Monetary Fund rejected proposals for resolving the Kabul Bank scandal, western officials have warned. Although the war-torn country’s biggest bank nearly collapsed last September, the government of Hamid Karzai and the international community are still at loggerheads over plans to fund an $820m (£507m) bailout as well as how the disgraced former managers and shareholders who helped themselves to hundreds of millions of dollars should be prosecuted. As long as the IMF declares the plans to be inadequate, many countries, including Britain, are legally barred from pumping money into a government that is almost completely reliant on foreign cash to pay civil servants’ salaries. It was reported by Reuters that the IMF has now formally rejected the Afghan government’s proposals, meaning aid disbursements will remain on hold. The failure to reach a deal by a deadline of last Saturday also meant a $70m payment from the World Bank’s Afghan reconstruction trust fund was automatically withheld. Two senior western officials said the government will face a cash crisis in the coming weeks and could struggle to pay staff bills, although one predicted this would be avoided by cutting other spending priorities. Last month, Omar Zakhilwal, the country’s finance minister, told the Guardian that suspension of aid payments “has already had an effect on us, no doubt about it”. He insisted that the Afghan government had done “95% of what was asked of us” by the IMF, including effectively nationalising Kabul Bank, stripping the shareholders of their rights and putting all unrecovered loans into receivership. But although he claimed the remaining issues “were inconsequential to Kabul Bank” the IMF sees two aspects as vitally important. Firstly, an agreement that Afghan taxes, not foreign aid, will repay the $820m taken out of central bank reserves last year to prop up the bank. Second, they want serious criminal investigations against managers and shareholders, many of whom enjoy high level political support, who illegally borrowed huge sums of interest-free cash from the bank. Although the finance ministry has drawn up plans to increase its tax-raising efforts in order to pay off the bailout in annual instalments, horrified MPs have already rejected one budget request for $73m and is also likely to reject a supplemental budget due to be presented by Zakhilwal soon. “The IMF tells me, this is our demand, give me condition by this date the parliament must approve this line in the budget,” explained Zakhilwal. “I am a minister, can I chose the parliament timeline? On these issues the international community totally disregards the legal processes of Afghanistan.” Many MPs argue that the money should be found by simply selling off the assets illegally bought by shareholders and managers, including a gas distribution company, an airline and luxury villas in Dubai. Although a $10m forensic audit by Kroll may help identify many deliberately hidden assets, most western experts doubt more than half of the outstanding $910m will be recovered. So far just $61m has been retrieved. Zakhilwal also argued that prosecutions could only be handled by the attorney general and warned that the complicated inquiry cannot be rushed. “The attorney general can arrest people, but after 15 days with not case they have to be acquitted – that would be even more embarrassing for us,” Zakhilwal said. Although the finance minister insisted the attorney general was “absolutely committed” to a thorough investigation, the international community is sceptical, not least after Afghanistan’s top law officer threw out a case last year against one of Karzai’s key aides who had been wire-tapped soliciting a bribe. One alternative plan is for a special court of handpicked judges deemed to be reasonably honest and well-versed in finance to hear the case. Credible prosecutions are vital, not just to appease public anger, but also because many of Kabul Bank’s assets are in Dubai. Under United Arab Emirates law it is impossible to seize properties until criminal investigations have begun. Not only does Afghanistan face a cash crunch, the showdown with the IMF also threatens to derail plans, pushed hard by Hamid Karzai, for a far greater proportion of international aid to be spent through official channels, rather than on projects outside the control of the government. A key element of the “transition” strategy by which the foreign intervention in Afghanistan will be greatly reduced by the end of 2014, the international community last year agreed that 50% of spending will go through the government by 2012. But it is now feared that if the Afghan government continues to be considered unworthy of international investment by the IMF the country will have to return to patchwork of bilateral funding agreements. Afghanistan Hamid Karzai Debt relief IMF Jon Boone guardian.co.uk
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Documents filed by prosecutors provide a chronology of statements leading to the arrest of the former leader of the International Monetary Fund. (June 17)
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It’s rare that we see Sharp’s Aquos phones here in the US, but one model, at least, could be making the long journey stateside. A handset dubbed the CMDA SHI12 just cleared the FCC, and after comparing the drawings in the report to shots of devices already on the market, we’re pretty sure it’s the IS12SH that Sharp announced for Japan a few weeks back. Though the report is typically terse when it comes to specs, it does confirm that the phone has an 8 megapixel 3D rear-facing camera, Bluetooth, FeliCa , GPS, and tri-band CDMA (B0 / B3 / B6) connectivity. And though it’s not in the filing, if this is indeed the IS12SH, then it also has a 4.2-inch qHD display and runs Android 2.3 (or so we’d hope, anyway). Of course, an FCC filing doesn’t mean this will ever reach a carrier or go on sale in the US, period. But in case it does, don’t say we didn’t give you a heads up. Continue reading Sharp Aquos Phone SHI12 visits the FCC, flaunts its 3D camera in drawings Sharp Aquos Phone SHI12 visits the FCC, flaunts its 3D camera in drawings originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 17 Jun 2011 12:26:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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Can’t see the video? Click here Last night, PS3 footage of Battlefield 3 was shown off on Jimmy Fallon’s televisual broadcast, and Butthurt Levels were reported at maximum capacity. Apparently, the visuals of a game on a $300 console don’t look as good as visuals running on a $2000 computer. DICE’s response? Who seriously expected them to? “Why would anyone expect that console would look the same as… Broadcasting platform : YouTube Source : Destructoid Discovery Date : 17/06/2011 10:55 Number of articles : 6
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