US STOCKS SNAPSHOT-Futures advance on Obama's speech

NEW YORK, Jan 27 (Reuters) - U.S. stock index futures added gains in late after-hours trading on Wednesday as investors took President Barack Obama's State of the Union speech as toning down some of the rhetoric that unnerved investors last week when he unveiled new restrictions on U.S. banks.

If you go back to what he said last week it was incredible how adversarial he was from a standpoint of the financial system: banks and fat-cats on Wall Street versus poor little Americans," said Alan Lancz, president of Alan B. Lancz & Associates Inc, an investment advisory firm, based in Toledo, Ohio. "It seems from what I've heard he has toned down the rhetoric."

S&P 500 futures SPc1 rose 5.30 points and were above fair value, a formula that evaluates pricing by taking into account interest rates, dividends and time to expiration of the contract. Dow Jones industrial average futures DJc1 gained 51 points, and Nasdaq 100 futures NDc1 added 7.25 points. (Reporting by Ellis Mnyandu; Editing by Tomasz Janowski)

Source:reuters.com/

Obama, Democrats Put Politics Above Educating D.C.’s Disadvantaged Youth, Black Leaders Say

Black leaders say that President Obama, Education Secretary Arne Duncan, and Congress have put politics ahead of helping low-income children in the District of Columbia by refusing to support a program that allows 1,700 children to go to a private school, including the school Obama’s two daughters attend.

Congress did not reauthorize funding for the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program (OSP) in the 2010-11 federal budget, ending a program that has helped thousands of disadvantaged children attend some of the best schools in the nation’s capitol since its inception in 2004.

And while Obama backed Congress’ move to continue funding scholarships for children already in the program until they graduate from high school, no new children will receive the $7,500 annual tuition scholarship.

“The cancellation of the program, in my view, has been an unprecedented move by the federal government, because this is a historic moment, historic government spending in our nation’s history – a time when the U.S. Treasury is giving hundreds of billions of dollars to Wall Street bailouts,” Juan Williams, political commentator, said at a press conference held last week at the National Press Club in Washington.

“Congress chose, in the midst of all this spending, to end a very small, $13 million dollar program that, according to the Department of Education (DOE), has increased and improved the reading scores of low-income children here in the District of Columbia,” he said.

“The move is a matter of politics, in my opinion, plain and simple,” Williams said. “Powerful special interest groups like the National Education Association are clearly committed to destroying and denying these programs as they benefit low-income families and denying them the same opportunities that powerful Washington politicians and privileged people take for granted – the power to choose a safe and effective school for their children.”

Williams, a Democrat and regular commentator for National Public Radio, said his own personal story – growing up in poverty with a single mom devoted to seeing that her children got an education – makes helping disadvantaged children a moral imperative. He also said Obama, who attended a private school on scholarships while growing up in Hawaii, should share his passion for school choice.

“Despite the fact that support is evident, locally and nationally, for school choice programs, the cries of D.C. parents have rung hollow with the Congress and even more disappointing to me, with President Obama.”

Williams called access to quality education the most important civil rights issue facing low income, mostly minority families in the country today.




Virginia Walden Ford has been fighting for school choice in Washington, D.C., for a decade, including championing the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship program that has helped thousands of disadvantaged children in the district attend the top schools in the nation's capitol -- for half the cost of educating pupils in its public schools. (CNSNews.com/Penny Starr)Virginia Walden Ford, president of D.C. Parents for School Choice and long-time champion for the OSP program, also expressed at the press conference her displeasure with Obama’s lack of support.

“It is so frustrating to me, particularly as an African American, that this president hasn’t jumped to help us,” Walden Ford said. “In his book, he has said if it had not been for the opportunity to attend a quality school, he may not have been where he is today.

“So why wouldn’t he understand the parents like Patricia and Carmen and the many parents who are fighting for their children?” Walden Ford said. “Why wouldn’t he understand that? It’s very, very confusing to me and very frustrating to me. I’m angry. I’m really, really angry that he wants us to have to fight for this program.”

Program successful

As reported CNSNews.com earlier, according to the Education Department’s own reports D.C. schools are the most expensive in the U.S., costing $18,339 per pupil per year for average daily attendance --- more than double the cost of an OSP tuition grant.

And the most recent Congress-mandated report on OSP three years after the program’s inception showed improved reading scores for the children enrolled in it and across-the board-support for the program by parents.

Math scores did not show significant improvement, but Dan Lips, an education policy expert with the Heritage Foundation, said reading was the most important indicator of the success of an academic program.

“It’s a shame that there hasn’t been a stronger effect in math, but from an education policy perspective, reading is really the focus of what we want to see first,” Lips said. “That’s the key that unlocks all the other doors to learning.”

A 30-minute documentary produced by the Heritage Foundation was also previewed at the press conference. “Let me Rise” is a moving account by parents and their children about how OSP has changed their lives.

The film also features footage from parents of the more than 200 children who were told they had been granted a scholarship for the 2009-2010 school year, only to be notified a short time later by DOE that OSP was not being reauthorized and no scholarships would be offered.

Presidential pledge

Ironically, when Obama spoke to the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce in March, he cited the importance of access to a quality education and said that his administration would only back programs the have been documented as successful by the DOE.

“What's at stake is nothing less than the American Dream,” Obama said. “It's what drew my father and so many of your fathers and mothers to our shores in pursuit of an education. It's what led Linda Brown and Gonzalo and Felicitas Mendez to bear the standard of all who were attending separate and unequal schools.

“It's what has led generations of Americans to take on that extra job, to sacrifice the small pleasures, to scrimp and save wherever they can, in hopes of putting away enough, just enough, to give their child the education that they never had. It's that most American of ideas, that with the right education, a child of any race, any faith, any station, can overcome whatever barriers stand in their way and fulfill their God-given potential.”

Obama went on to cite the importance of only using federal funds to finance programs deemed successful by the DOE.

“Secretary Duncan will use only one test when deciding what ideas to support with your precious tax dollars: It's not whether an idea is liberal or conservative, but whether it works.”

As CNSNews.com reported, when asked why the Obama administration did not support the reauthorization of OSP, Duncan said in a statement that school vouchers would not fix D.C.’s failing schools.

“I appreciate the desire of every family to have the best possible education for their child,” Duncan said. “I also understand that our role is to support children, parents and educators. That is why this Administration is devoting more resources and supports more ambitious reform of our public school systems than any administration in history.”




Kevin Chavous, former member of the D.C. City Council, advised President Barack Obama on education policy when he was a candidate, but now Chavous said Obama and the Democrats are beholden to special interests, including the teachers unions, and are acting against school choice. (CNSNews.com/Penny Starr)Democrat opposition

When CNSNews.com asked if a direct appeal to resurrect the program has been made to Obama, former City Councilman Kevin P. Chavous said that although he was an education policy adviser to the president when he was a candidate, he hasn’t spoken directly to him about OSP.

“It’s clear to me that they just wish we would go away,” Chavous said. “I also think that there are powerful people who are supporting the president who have worked against us, and I put Sen. (Dick) Durbin (D-Ill.) in that category.”

He also included the long-time D.C. delegate as an outspoken opponent to school choice.

“Even though the mayor and the majority of the city council again support it, it’s clear that our delegate, Eleanor Holmes Norton, has been a strong opponent, and I think that’s had a real major impact on us getting support from the president,” Chavous said. “She has made it her mission to kill this program.”

At the press conference, however, both black leaders and parents in attendance vowed to continue their efforts to get OSP restored.

“We’ve been fighting this fight for a long time, and we will continue to fight,” Walden Ford said.

Soource:cnsnews.com/

Pelosi, Obama, other officials to travel to Detroit for auto show, learn more about industry

WASHINGTON — Months after the government took large ownership stakes in General Motors, Chrysler and auto lender GMAC Financial Services, top lawmakers and members of the Obama administration will be taking a close look at their investment.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood and others will meet with company executives, state and local leaders and tour vehicle displays Monday at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit, one of the auto industry's annual showcases.

Pelosi said they would visit Detroit "to see firsthand the innovative technologies the industry is investing in to create the jobs of the future and to ensure our national competitiveness. We go to Detroit with our commitment to continue to preserve our manufacturing base, which is essential to our economic and national security."

Lawmakers frequently visit the auto show but organizers said they received more interest from Washington this year, only months after the government steered General Motors Co. and Chrysler LLC through bankruptcy helped by billions in federal aid. GMAC, a key lender to GM and Chrysler dealers and customers, recently received its third taxpayer-funded bailout.

"This year we were swamped with additional requests," said Doug Fox, the auto show's chairman. Fox said the auto show created a separate grey-coloured credential because of the large demand from lawmakers and administration officials, distinguishing them from credentials issued to journalists, auto dealers and car company employees and executives.

With steep declines in auto sales and massive job losses, the Obama administration has awarded billions in funding for car companies to retool their auto plants to build more fuel-efficient cars, provided grants to spur the development of advanced batteries and pushed retraining programs for laid-off auto workers.

Pelosi, who was invited to the show by Rep. John Dingell, D-Mich., will meet with Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm and Detroit Mayor Dave Bing and is expected to be joined by members of her House leadership team and members of Michigan and Ohio's congressional delegation. Sen. Tom Carper, D-Del., who has visited the show in past years, will also visit the exhibits.

LaHood and Labor Secretary Hilda Solis will represent the administration, which will include officials with the Transportation Department and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The two agencies oversee regulations for the industry involving fuel efficiency, safety and tailpipe emissions.

The auto show will feature 60 vehicle debuts and attract more than 5,000 journalists from 50 countries. The exhibit at Detroit's Cobo Center will include a 37,000-square foot venue called "Electric Avenue," featuring electric vehicles and prototypes from a dozen manufacturers.

Source:AFP

Bomb plot thrusts Obama into political storm

President Barack Obama is weathering a political storm over last month’s suspected al Qaeda plot to bomb a Detroit-bound plane, particularly from Republicans who say he dropped the ball on security while pursuing healthcare and climate reforms. But how much substance there is behind the allegations may depend on who’s talking.

Republican Sen. Jim DeMint of South Carolina told NBC’s Today show that he believes Obama just woke up to the gravity of the al Qaeda threat.

“A lot of us have been concerned over the last year that the president did seem to downplay the threat of terror. He doesn’t use the word anymore. He hesitates to say that there is a war on terror,” DeMint said.

“But in the last few days, he seems to have come around to the idea that there are people in Yemen and other places who are intent on hurting Americans,” the lawmaker added.

A completely different picture comes from Bob Woodward, the Pulitzer-winning journalist who chronicled Republican George W. Bush’s response to the Sept. 11 attacks.

“The new administration is taking a very aggressive stance on these matters and perhaps even more than the Bush administration, doing more about the al Qaeda sanctuaries in places like Yemen,” Woodward told ABC’s Good Morning America. That view comes from reporting Woodward says he is doing for a new book on the Obama White House.

Meanwhile, DeMint says he wants to eliminate politics from the security debate. That means not blaming Obama or members of the president’s team for security lapses, at least not for now. It also means retaining his hold on the Senate confirmation of Erroll Southers, Obama’s nominee for the Transportation Security Administration. DeMint blocked that nomination out of concern that Southers would unionize the TSA.

“What I’ve asked for is just some debate and a recorded vote,” he told NBC. “This is all about politics and not security. What I want is a few hours of debate on Mr. Southers to help focus the nation back on security and get this politics, particularly union politics, out of our security apparatus.”

TSA’s job is to protect all modes of transportation, not just air travel. That breadth of responsibility could be important now that the Detroit bomb plot has put all the focus on airport security.

“Al Qaeda has capabilities to do other things. How about trains? How about buses?” Woodward said. “You can’t fight the last terrorist attack.”

Photo Credit: Reuters/Hugh Gentry (Obama)

Source:blogs.reuters.com

Opinion: Barack Obama: leader without a cause

Last month, no American soldiers were killed in Iraq. Last month, the unemployment rate dipped a bit, the stock market ended the year up, the financial system did not crater, Detroit's Big Three began to get a pulse — and yet a consensus started to form that Barack Obama, who is either responsible for or merely presided over all this good stuff, is a failure.

What's more, the consensus came supported by numbers. The polls, according to Rasmussen Reports, showed the president's approval rating dropping two points in December while his disapproval rating gained a point. Obama began 2009 with 43 percent of Americans strongly approving of his performance and ended it with 26 percent feeling that way. Any way you measure the polls, Obama did not have a good year.

On the left, the president is being pummeled for health care legislation that does not include a public option and has not dispatched insurance executives to Guantanamo. On the right, he is being pummeled for socializing the economy, establishing death panels and allowing maniacal Nigerians to load their Calvins with boom-boom and fly into peaceful Detroit. It's a cartoon.

In foreign policy, Obama has sorely disappointed his fans on the left for escalating the war in Afghanistan and on the right for not escalating it enough. Guantanamo, which he vowed to close, is still open. He supports gay rights, but don't ask and don't tell about "don't ask, don't tell." He zigs, he zags.


Change! Hope! But not much of the former and little of the latter.

To some, he's weak on the environment. To others, he's too strong on the environment. He is camouflaged in the incomprehensible, leaving no (carbon) footprint and quixotically tilting at energy-producing windmills. He confers too much with our allies, bows when he should shake and has not brought peace to the Middle East — as, you will remember, George W. Bush did.

Much of this critique is asinine. If the Republican Party had its way — and God sees to it that it doesn't — the country would now have reverted to the barter system and the unemployment rate would be around 25 percent.

The GOP economic program simply does not exist, and even Bush knew this. When push came to shove, he tossed his ideology overboard and used government money to bail out financial institutions.

Still, the reason the GOP criticisms have started to stick is that Obama can be made into anything his critics want.

He is a lean man of ideological clay who has let others mold his image. His bottom line is forever on the move. It's not that he's not good or smart, it's rather that in a political universe ruled by ideological yellers, he lacks both an ideology and the pipes.

Obama could be a great president. He has already achieved much — possibly saving the country from financial ruin, salvaging the auto industry, getting some sort of health care reform. Possibly, possibly.

Yet his numbers sink as his achievements rise. He is the Johnny Appleseed of cognitive dissonance, so utterly detached that when he wins it seems to be only for himself. Pollsters measure him but poets have described him.

William Butler Yeats got it down years ago: "The best lack all conviction, while the worst are full of passionate intensity."

Source:mercurynews.com/

Our Views: Obama’s first year in office

When he occupied the Oval Office, President George W. Bush was fond of saying that political capital was useless if a leader didn’t spend it on something.

Bush’s father, George Herbert Walker Bush, had tried to safeguard his political popularity when he was president, but eventually was turned out by voters who regarded him as too cautious. That cautionary lesson apparently wasn’t lost on the younger Bush.

President Barack Obama, so unlike George W. Bush in so many ways, does seem to share his immediate predecessor’s view that political capital must be spent to advance a presidency.

Regardless of how one views Obama, no one can reasonably accuse the sitting president of chronic caution. Obama has spent his first year pushing a controversial overhaul of the nation’s health-care system, and he’s rolling the dice on an ambitious new strategy in the war in Afghanistan.

Perhaps not surprisingly, Obama’s poll numbers have declined as his policies have come under fire. That will mean an interesting new year for a president who, in his first year of office, has shown himself to be something of a gambler.

Source:2theadvocate.com/

Obama Vacation photo of the Day…

President Barack Obama shares shave ice with his daughter Malia Obama, 11, at Island Snow in Kailua, Hawaii Friday, Jan. 1, 2010. The Obamas are in Hawaii for the holidays. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)




President Obama went over to Island Snow in Kailua, Hawaii, not far from his vacation home to enjoy this unique Hawaiian treat. The ice is shaved into a cone and flavors are added. Some people add in ice cream or azuki beans. The President got his favorite flavors, lemon/lime, cherry and passion guava.

If you want to hear more about Obama's Hawaii and shave ice, tune into Fox News on Sunday when Steve Centanni reports about the Hawaii of President Obama.

Source:foxnews.com/

News Corp, Time Warner Play to DC Not The Viewers

Was there ever any doubt that News Corp. and Time Warner would come to an agreement that would allow Time Warner’s cable unit to continue showing News Corp’s cable or broadcast properties on its system? The announcement on Jan. 1 that the two sides had averted a showdown that would have kept the BCS football game on the sidelines for 11 million folks is, well, a yawner.

It’s become almost an annual kabuki dance among cable or satellite operators and content providers to show which side – content or distribution – has the most muscle when it comes to such talks. Guess what fellas? Neither of you really have what it takes any longer to force your will on the other.

The last time we had a showdown anywhere near this size was back in 2000, when Time Warner, in the midst of a similar showdown with ABC, allowed Regis Philbin and his then-hit show Who Wants to Be a Millionaire” to go dark for some 3.5 million homes. The cries from Washington were deafening. Hearings were held, fingers slapped.

So when the chorus started again in Washington on Dec. 30 on the current impasse you knew that Fox and Time Warner were destined to do whatever they could to avoid having DC on their backs. First, Sen. John Kerry urged the sides toward arbitration, and then FCC commissioners started encouraging peace. If there is anything that a media company wants less than a shutdown in the ad markets, it’s to have the feds on their backs. So Time Warner and News Corp. wisely extended the Dec. 30 deadline, then scurried to cut a deal that you know is less than the monthly $1 per subscriber fee that News Corp. had all but insisted was their right to get from cable operators.

One thing News Corp chairman Rupert Murdoch, who owns TV stations, newspapers and internet sites, understands is that he sure as heck doesn’t want an angry FCC looking over his shoulder. In the past, he’s done back flips to keep them happy, whether it was striking a deal that allowed him to own the New York Post and New York area TV stations, or to get his deal to buy DirecTV passed a few years back. As for Time Warner, do you think they want the feds thinking bad thoughts about them when the FCC is still contemplating rules on such things as “net neutrality” – that is, whether Time Warner’s online offerings are to be regulated? Uh, no.

Sure, it was good theater. News Corp. told America that it might not get the NFL, American Idol or Glee. Time Warner said it was fighting to keep consumer prices from zooming if Fox high jacked higher fees from them. Yeah, yeah. A good show boys. It sure played in Washington.


Source:businessweek.com/

White House visitors log reflects Obama agenda

Tens of thousands of people poured through the White House in September, including many who visited as part of organized outreach by the Obama administration to particularly important constituencies, according to visitor logs that were released Wednesday.

The records, made public as part of President Obama's effort to keep his promise of government transparency, include almost 25,000 entries from the computerized visitor logs, primarily covering the last two weeks of September. It was the latest of three such releases, and the first of what are expected to be large-scale monthly reports by the White House.

The growing list of names of White House visitors, which now totals almost 30,000, offers a fresh, if imperfect, window into the efforts of Obama and his staff to use the White House as a tool for bringing key groups together in the historic venue.

Thousands of entries remain somewhat mysterious, offering no explanation for the reason for the visit, and some visits are not disclosed at all, including those of visitors whose known presence at the White House would pose a national security risk.

But for thousands of others, a brief explanation of the reason for the visit has been recorded in the log. There were meetings labeled "African American Clergy briefing" and others describing "Jewish Community Outreach" or "Urban Policy Working Group."

As the president's battle over health-care reform intensified into the fall, dozens of the White House meetings, involving hundreds of the visitors in September, were labeled "Health Care" or "Health care meeting w/FLOTUS," a reference to Michelle Obama, the First Lady of the United States.

Several of the visits involved energy policy, which has become an intense issue for the Obama administration with climate change legislation fighting its way through Congress and difficult treaty negotiations underway with countries around the world. There were meetings labeled "Energy reform meeting" and "Energy reform team" as well as "Energy-oriented summit."

A review of the thousands of names on the list suggests that the vast majority were members of the public who cycled through the White House on public tours.

Many more were members of the administration who work in other parts of the government and come to the White House for strategy meetings or as part of their regular business. One meeting was labeled as a lunch for chiefs of staff for government agencies.

But the list also highlights the continuing influence of the labor unions: A senior official for the Service Employees International Union, Anna Burger, was one of the most frequent visitors to the president himself.

Microsoft founder Bill Gates met on Sept. 21 with Lawrence H. Summers, the president's chief economic adviser. Gates also met with Obama in the Oval Office on March 25.

Penny Pritzker, a Chicago businesswoman and the top fundraiser for Obama's campaign, has visited the White House 10 times since the administration started, the list shows.

The list includes dozens of corporate leaders, academics and leaders of interest groups. Nan Aron, president of the advocacy organization Alliance for Justice, visited on Sept. 18 for a meeting labeled "meeting -- discussion the judges bill."

There are also a few names that, at first glance, seem odd. A Harrison Ford , but not that Harrison Ford, visited on Sept. 23. And a Ty Cobb -- who shares a name with the late, famed baseball player -- is listed as having stopped by on Sept. 16.

The official explanation for such humorous entries is on the White House blog: "Sometimes rather than providing clear information, transparency can have confusing or amusing results."

Asked about Cobb, White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki said simply, "Baseball fans are always welcome at the White House."

Source:washingtonpost.com/

Oh, Brother

Philadelphia — Marcus and Markieff Morris completed a brief on-court interview with ESPN2’s Len Elmore Saturday night in Liacouras Center, then raced over to their own 50-person cheering section behind the Kansas University basketball bench.

The KU sophomores — who combined for 18 points and seven rebounds in the Jayhawks’ 84-52 rout of Temple — planted kisses on their mom, Thomasine, who lives in Lawrence, and bear-hugs on grandmother Shirley, granddad Thomas and brother, Blake, who all reside in Philly, before finally heading through the tunnel to the showers.

All that was missing was the soundtrack from “Rocky” to make more perfect the Morris twins’ triumphant return to the place they were born and reared.

“You can’t ask for a better homecoming than that,” Markieff Morris said after the No. 1-ranked Jayhawks slaughtered a No. 18-ranked Temple team that had allowed an average of 54.2 points a game. “We played really good defense, even better than we played on offense.”

The Jayhawks performed so well on both ends that they ended this one early. KU used a 21-6 run to turn a narrow 19-17 lead into a 40-23 halftime advantage.

“They came to beat up Temple, I hate to say,” grandmom Shirley Morris said with a smile. “They wanted to play well with their family here. All this is our family. Everybody here is from (Washington) D.C. and Philly,” she added, asking all the Morrises to wave to a Journal-World reporter.

“I’m ecstatic for them. They are my cornbread babies,” Shirley added of her grandsons.

The twins returned to the court 15 minutes later to visit with all of their relatives and those of New Jersey native Tyshawn Taylor (eight points, two assists) and Washington, D.C., product Thomas Robinson (two points, three boards).

Markieff Morris held teammate Robinson’s 6-year-old sister, Jayla Paris, high in the air, while preparing to chat with reporters.

“It was great to come home and get a victory,” Marcus Morris said after scoring 13 points off 6-of-12 shooting. “I wouldn’t say I was nervous. It was exciting. I missed a couple bunnies in the beginning, but then I got going.”

It was easy for the Jayhawks to become motivated for this one. Temple’s fans, who chanted “We Want Kansas” after a recent victory over No. 3-ranked Villanova, taunted KU’s players with chants of “overrated” during warmups.

“It is what it is,” Markieff said of the chants. “I know they heard our fans chant, ‘You got what you asked for.’’’

More than 2,000 of the 10,206 fans were cheering for the Jayhawks and rocked the arena with the Rock Chalk chant the final 2 1/2 minutes.

“I was a little surprised how many (KU) people were there. The great thing is we have Jayhawk fans all over the country,” Cole Aldrich said after scoring 10 points with 10 rebounds and three blocks. “We played far west at UCLA and had great fan support. Now we’re in Philly and have another great fan base. It’s fun to have Crimson and Blue in the crowd when we are on the road.”

Morris family members, of course, helped hike the crowd total in KU’s favor.

“They got all the tickets,” senior Sherron Collins said with a laugh after scoring 14 points with four assists and three steals. He set the tone early with a steal and layup and also scored KU’s first seven points.

Coach Bill Self noticed that at least one of the twins didn’t fare so well early.

“Marcus missed two bunnies to start the game. You could tell he and Kieff were tight,” Self said. “I was especially happy for those two to come home and leave here with a win.”

It was a historic win of sorts: the biggest margin of victory by a KU team in a road game in the seven-year Self era.

That made for one happy twin homecoming.

“To finally get to play at home ... that felt good, and it felt good to be in this building,” said Markieff, who noted he had the best game of his life in the same building in a city championship game at Philly’s Prep Charter High, when he collected 23 points and 21 boards.

Marcus provided the highlight-reel play between the twins, cupping the basketball for a vicious one-handed jam in the second half, following his steal.

“I do it ’cause my hand is small. I can’t palm the ball,” said Marcus, who always seems to come up with something new to tell the media in postgame chats. “It’s like my trademark (to cup the ball).”

Of getting the last laugh on Temple’s fans, Marcus said: “I didn’t hear the ‘overrated’ chant. I think Temple has great fans. I don’t think you can call us overrated after that. I think we were the better team, the more aggressive team.”

KU sure seemed to play like the No. 1 team in the land.

“They are playing great. They are No. 1 and are going to stay No. 1. That’s how it should be,” the twins’ older brother, Blake, said proudly.

Of his brothers, Blake Morris said, “They’ve improved. It’s how it should be their sophomore year. You break out.”

“They are at least 50 percent better than last year,” grandpa Thomas Morris added. “I’ve noticed a big improvement this year.”

As far as all the chit-chatting, Saturday’s Morris family reunion had to end sometime.

“Goodbye, KU,” one of the Morrises said, waving as the Jayhawks were finally herded out to the team bus.

“I’m staying,” Thomas Robinson told staff members Kurtis Townsend and Brett Ballard, looking lovingly at his mom and sister.

“Tell coach I’m going back to D.C.” he added with a big smile on his face.

For the record, he departed with the rest of his teammates and will be ready for the next test: Wednesday’s 7 p.m. home battle against Cornell.

Source:kusports.com/

Obama Calls For Bipartisan Approach To Fighting Terrorism

Melvin Baker - AHN Reporter
Washington, D.C., United States (AHN) - President Barack Obama on Saturday pushed for a bipartisan approach to fighting terrorism.


In his weekly radio address, the president noted the attempted bombing of an American passenger jet on Christmas Day and a suicide bombing in Afghanistan that killed seven employees of the Central Intelligence Agency.

Reflecting on his inauguration nearly one year ago, Obama repeated his pledge on that day to "do whatever it takes to defeat [terrorists] and defend our country, even as we uphold the values that have always distinguished American among nations."

In attacking terrorism, he said the United States had forged new partnerships. "[W]e've disrupted terrorist financing, cut off recruiting chains, inflicted major losses on al Qaeda's leadership, thwarted plots here in the United States, and saved countless American lives."

He promised changes would be made to prevent attacks such as those in Detroit and Afghanistan during the past week, but said the country should avoid divisiveness over what those changes should be.

"But as we go forward," the president said, "let us remember this-our adversaries are those who would attack our country, not our fellow Americans, not each other. Let's never forget what has always carried us through times of trial, including those attacks eight Septembers ago.

"Instead of giving in to fear and cynicism, let's renew that timeless American spirit of resolve and confidence and optimism. Instead of succumbing to partisanship and division, let's summon the unity that this moment demands. Let's work together, with a seriousness of purpose, to do what must be done to keep our country safe."

Source:allheadlinenews.com/

Obama's Auto Task Force: Driven by Wall Street?

The General Motors flameout has been a disaster for blue collar Americans working on assembly lines. Out of 123,000 GM workers left in North America, 20,000 are scheduled to lose their jobs.

Meanwhile, the Auto Task Force appointed by President Obama to oversee the process is led by Wall Street financiers focused on turning a profit and boosting stock prices. It's an approach that has some people worried.