JoAnne Allen Fri Jan 29, 2010 9:03am EST
ALEXANDRIA, Virginia (Reuters) - U.S. health officials have leveraged the star power of first lady Michelle Obama to roll out a new campaign against obesity, a preventable condition that drains billions of dollars from the economy
Obama, who plans to take on childhood obesity as a cause, headlined the launch on Thursday of Surgeon General Regina Benjamin's blueprint for what can be done at home, school and work to reverse the epidemic.
In her first initiative since becoming "America's doctor," Benjamin issued a report on the consequences of obesity to start a national dialogue on the subject.
"The number of Americans, like me, who are struggling with their weight and health conditions related to their weight remains much too high," she said.
Benjamin's report lists recommendations for preventing obesity. They range from simply eating more fruit and vegetables to adding "high-quality physical education" in schools and bringing more supermarkets to low-income communities.
Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said at the launch that the Obama administration was investing $650 million in economic stimulus money in wellness and prevention programs aimed at obesity and stopping smoking.
She introduced the first lady as "everyone's favorite vegetable gardener."
Obama, who created a White House garden with local school children, said the solution to the obesity epidemic cannot come from government alone. Everyone has to be willing to do their part to end the public health crisis.
"This will not be easy and it won't happen overnight. And it won't happen simply because the first lady has made it her priority," Obama told an audience of children's advocates at a recreation center in Alexandria, outside Washington.
"It's going to take all of us. Thank God it's not going to be solely up to me."
Two-thirds of U.S. adults and nearly one in three children are overweight or obese -- a condition that increases their risk for diabetes, heart disease and other chronic illnesses.
The United States spends nearly $150 billion a year on obesity and related complications -- twice what it cost in 1998 and more than every cancer cost put together, Sebelius said.
"The unhealthier we are as a nation, the more our health care costs will continue to rise and the less competitive we will be globally," she said.
(Editing by Chris Wilson)
Friday, January 29, 2010
Thursday, January 28, 2010
Obama's latest speech seen by 48 million Americans
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - President Barack Obama's television ratings may be the latest indication that his popularity is slipping, despite his move to push job creation to the top of his policy agenda.
Just over 48 million Americans tuned in to the telecast of his State of the Union speech on Wednesday, about 4 million fewer than watched his first address to Congress a month after taking office last year, Nielsen figures showed on Thursday.
Yet, Obama's latest speech, seeking to reconnect with Americans angry about a weak economy and high unemployment, surpassed the numbers that either of his immediate predecessors -- George W. Bush or Bill Clinton -- averaged with their State of the Union addresses.
Both Clinton and Bush averaged fewer than 46 million viewers in their respective eight annual messages to Congress.
While a president's TV audience can reflect his standing in public opinion polls -- Obama's approval level has declined since his inauguration -- Nielsen ratings also ebb and flow according to events.
Bush, for example, failed to crack 40 million viewers with either his first address to Congress or his last. But his January 2003 speech, a couple of months before the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, was watched by 62 million Americans, the biggest audience on record for an official State of the Union.
Clinton scored higher, 66.9 million viewers, with his first address to Congress in 1993. But that speech, like all first presidential addresses to Congress, was not considered an official State of the Union.
By comparison, Obama's first address to a joint session of Congress in February 2009, was seen by 52.3 million viewers. Bush's first drew 39.8 million.
Wednesday's State of the Union was not Obama's first TV appearance to compare unfavorably to previous prime-time outings. A televised address to the nation in December to outline the U.S. strategy in Afghanistan drew 40.8 million viewers, about 10 million fewer than two televised speeches in February 2009 on the issue of healthcare reform.
Still, Obama continues to top U.S. television's highest rated series, "American Idol," which drew 24.7 million viewers in a Wednesday night broadcast that gave him a strong "lead-in" on the Fox network on the East Coast.
Nielsen's latest Obama tally included all four major broadcast networks, plus the three leading cable news channels, the BET (Black Entertainment Television) network, business cable channel CNBC and Spanish-language networks Univision and Telemundo.
(Editing by Dan Whitcomb)
Monday, January 25, 2010
Conan Not Laughing All the Way to NBC’s Bank
By DAVE ITZKOFF- nytimes-Arts Beat
Just to be totally clear — and regardless of what any bandleaders for any other NBC late-night shows might say — a publicist for Conan O’Brien said on Monday that none of the skits and stunts that Mr. O’Brien ran during his final week at the host of “The Tonight Show” broke NBC’s budget or cost more than what was normally spent on the show.
In a telephone interview, Leslee Dart, Mr. O’Brien’s publicist, said the various sketches “all fell within the show’s normal prop and music budget guidelines.” For example, for a skit in which Mr. O’Brien appeared to bring the Kentucky Derby-winning horse Mine That Bird onstage while showing National Football League Super Bowl footage on a television screen, Ms. Dart said, “The horse was a standard rental and the Super Bowl footage wasn’t from the N.F.L.” For a segment in which Mr. O’Brien showed off an expensive Bugatti Veyron automobile while playing the Rolling Stones song “Satisfaction,” Ms. Dart said, “The Bugatti was loaned to the show for free, and the music clearances were no different than the show gets for other pop tunes all the time.”
?uestlove, the bandleader on NBC’s “Late Night With Jimmy Fallon,” had written on Twitter that it cost “The Tonight Show” $500,000 to play the Beatles song “Lovely Rita” when To Hanks appeared on the show Friday. But a representative for Sony/ATV Music Publishing, which handles the Beatles catalog, said it cost the show only a “nominal fee.”
Ms. Dart said she wanted to emphasize that “The Tonight Show” was “a comedy show, which means that not everything Conan says on the show is a fact.”
Just to be totally clear — and regardless of what any bandleaders for any other NBC late-night shows might say — a publicist for Conan O’Brien said on Monday that none of the skits and stunts that Mr. O’Brien ran during his final week at the host of “The Tonight Show” broke NBC’s budget or cost more than what was normally spent on the show.
In a telephone interview, Leslee Dart, Mr. O’Brien’s publicist, said the various sketches “all fell within the show’s normal prop and music budget guidelines.” For example, for a skit in which Mr. O’Brien appeared to bring the Kentucky Derby-winning horse Mine That Bird onstage while showing National Football League Super Bowl footage on a television screen, Ms. Dart said, “The horse was a standard rental and the Super Bowl footage wasn’t from the N.F.L.” For a segment in which Mr. O’Brien showed off an expensive Bugatti Veyron automobile while playing the Rolling Stones song “Satisfaction,” Ms. Dart said, “The Bugatti was loaned to the show for free, and the music clearances were no different than the show gets for other pop tunes all the time.”
?uestlove, the bandleader on NBC’s “Late Night With Jimmy Fallon,” had written on Twitter that it cost “The Tonight Show” $500,000 to play the Beatles song “Lovely Rita” when To Hanks appeared on the show Friday. But a representative for Sony/ATV Music Publishing, which handles the Beatles catalog, said it cost the show only a “nominal fee.”
Ms. Dart said she wanted to emphasize that “The Tonight Show” was “a comedy show, which means that not everything Conan says on the show is a fact.”
Thursday, January 21, 2010
Tonight Show host Conan O'Brien gets $45m pay-off
Thursday, 21 January 2010 BBC News Tonight Show
NBC has reached a $45m (£28m) agreement with Conan O'Brien over his late-night US talk show, paving the way for his predecessor Jay Leno to return.
O'Brien, 46, will be paid in excess of $33m (£20m) to end his seven-month reign as host of The Tonight Show, with the remainder going to his staff.
The deal allows Leno, 59, to return to the show, a programme he hosted for 17 years before leaving last May.
O'Brien, who took over in June, will host his final programme on Friday.
Actor Tom Hanks is scheduled to appear, as is comedian Will Ferrell - O'Brien's first guest as Tonight Show host when he began his stint last year.
Leno will return to The Tonight Show on 1 March, NBC announced on Thursday.
Ratings slump
The deal brings to a close an ignominious battle that has seen both hosts discuss the dispute on NBC's own airwaves.
It will also allow Leno to bounce back following the failure of his 2200 prime-time show, launched in September, to pull in audiences.
O'Brien, who used to host a show in a later slot before filling Leno's shoes, will be allowed to return to TV in eight months.
"He just wants to get back on the air as quickly as possible," his manager Gavin Polone told the Wall Street Journal.
It is unclear, though, whether any of NBC's rivals will be prepared to sign him up following The Tonight Show's ratings slump during his tenure.
The dispute has provided plenty of comic material for O'Brien's late-night competitors, among them veteran broadcaster David Letterman.
The 62-year-old, who hosts The Late Show on CBS, had been expected to take over The Tonight Show from the late Johnny Carson prior to Leno's appointment.
NBC has reached a $45m (£28m) agreement with Conan O'Brien over his late-night US talk show, paving the way for his predecessor Jay Leno to return.
O'Brien, 46, will be paid in excess of $33m (£20m) to end his seven-month reign as host of The Tonight Show, with the remainder going to his staff.
The deal allows Leno, 59, to return to the show, a programme he hosted for 17 years before leaving last May.
O'Brien, who took over in June, will host his final programme on Friday.
Actor Tom Hanks is scheduled to appear, as is comedian Will Ferrell - O'Brien's first guest as Tonight Show host when he began his stint last year.
Leno will return to The Tonight Show on 1 March, NBC announced on Thursday.
Ratings slump
The deal brings to a close an ignominious battle that has seen both hosts discuss the dispute on NBC's own airwaves.
It will also allow Leno to bounce back following the failure of his 2200 prime-time show, launched in September, to pull in audiences.
O'Brien, who used to host a show in a later slot before filling Leno's shoes, will be allowed to return to TV in eight months.
"He just wants to get back on the air as quickly as possible," his manager Gavin Polone told the Wall Street Journal.
It is unclear, though, whether any of NBC's rivals will be prepared to sign him up following The Tonight Show's ratings slump during his tenure.
The dispute has provided plenty of comic material for O'Brien's late-night competitors, among them veteran broadcaster David Letterman.
The 62-year-old, who hosts The Late Show on CBS, had been expected to take over The Tonight Show from the late Johnny Carson prior to Leno's appointment.
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
U.S. Mobilizes to Help Haiti
By HELENE COOPER and LIZ ROBBINS
Published: January 13, 2010
WASHINGTON — President Obama, facing the first large-scale humanitarian crisis of his presidency, moved quickly to send help to Haiti, pledging Wednesday that the Haitians and their devastated island nation would have the “unwavering support” of the United States.
Within hours of Mr. Obama being informed of the quake in Haiti on Tuesday, United States officials were plotting a response that included ships, transport planes, helicopters and thousands of Marines. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton decided Wednesday night to cancel the rest of her Pacific trip and return to Washington.
Gen. Douglas Fraser, head of the United States Southern Command, said that one of the Navys large amphibious ships would probably be sent to Haiti, with a Marine expeditionary unit aboard, and that other American military forces were on alert, including a brigade of 3,500 troops. He said the Pentagon was “seriously looking” at sending thousands of Marines to help the disaster effort.
The Navy aircraft carrier Carl Vinson was deployed from Norfolk, Va.; military commanders said it should arrive in two days. In addition, White House officials said the military was looking into sending the Southern Command’s hospital ship, the Comfort, in light of reports that most of Haiti’s medical facilities were severely damaged if not destroyed. The Coast Guard also dispatched four cutters.
As the United States mobilized, other governments and aid agencies around the world began marshaling supplies and manpower and overwhelmed rescue workers in Haiti scrambled to set up makeshift clinics. Medical workers from Doctors Without Borders, which had 800 people in Haiti before the quake, said they were mobbed everywhere they went by people who had suffered severe traumas and crushed limbs, and by others begging for help in rescuing trapped relatives.
France said that it would send three military transport planes, including one from nearby Fort-de-France, Martinique, with aid supplies, and that 100 troops based in the French West Indies would be sent, according to TF1, a French television network. Britain and Germany were sending governmental assessment teams, and Germany said it would make available 1.5 million euros, or about $2.2 million, for emergency assistance.
On Wednesday, relief organizations developed aid plans from their headquarters outside of Haiti and quickly raised millions of dollars through social networking sites and donations by cellphone. But they were still struggling to get workers and supplies into Haiti, where operations at the capital’s port were shut down and runways at the main airport were open only to limited traffic because the control tower had collapsed.
“We’re looking at private charter options, looking at getting people through the Dominican Republic,” said Paul McPhun, a director of the emergency management team for Doctors Without Borders. “We need to get people in, and get people fast. There’s not a shortage of getting people to go, but it’s how to get them there.”
Mr. Obama did not make a specific aid pledge, and administration officials said they were still trying to figure out what Haiti needed. But he urged Americans to dig into their pockets and to go to www.whitehouse.gov to learn ways to donate money.
“This is a time when we are reminded of the common humanity that we all share,” Mr. Obama said Wednesday, speaking in the White House diplomatic reception room with Vice President Joseph R. Biden. at his side.
He described the reports of thousands buried under the rubble in the capital, Port-au-Prince, as “truly heart-wrenching,” a tragedy made more cruel by Haiti’s desperate poverty.
Robyn Fieser, the regional information officer for Catholic Relief Services, said, “All they heard last night was chanting and praying,” describing reports from some of her organization’s relief workers who were in Port-au-Prince on Tuesday night. “They did not hear any emergency vehicles or emergency efforts at all. All they saw was people doing rescue work on their own, with their bare hands.”
White House officials were clearly conscious that Mr. Obama’s response to the first major humanitarian disaster of his presidency would be closely watched. President George W. Bush learned that lesson the hard way, when his initial response to the December 2004 tsunami in Asia that killed 226,000 people was derided as paltry, and a year after that when his White House fumbled its response to Hurricane Katrina.
Mr. Obama canceled a trip to Lanham, Md., scheduled for Wednesday afternoon so he could make telephone calls to discuss the relief effort with staff members and foreign diplomats, White House aides said.
Mr. Obama was informed about the quake at 5:52 p.m. Tuesday by Denis McDonough, his national security chief of staff; he told aides that he wanted the United States to move “fast and aggressively,” one White House official said. By 6:22 p.m. the White House had issued a statement from the president that the United States was “closely monitoring the situation” and stood “ready to assist the people of Haiti.”
The Coast Guard cutter Forward was at the Guantánamo Bay naval base in Cuba when the earthquake hit on Tuesday, causing the 270-foot ship to rock back and forth even though it was more than 200 miles from the epicenter. The Forward arrived in Port-au-Prince early Wednesday morning, the first American military ship on the scene and the only large vessel in the harbor, Diane W. Durham, commander of the Forward, said in a telephone interview.
Commander Durham described extraordinary devastation, with collapsed buildings reaching from the port into the hills above, and said that Haitian officials had told her that half of the 80 Haitian coast guard staff members stationed at the port were killed in the earthquake.
The Department of Homeland Security said it was halting the deportations of Haitians back to the island “for the time being.” Refugee and immigration rights groups said the United States should grant temporary protective status that would allow Haitians who are now in the United States to stay here.
Helene Cooper reported from Washington, and Liz Robbins from New York. Eric Lipton contributed reporting from Washington.
Published: January 13, 2010
WASHINGTON — President Obama, facing the first large-scale humanitarian crisis of his presidency, moved quickly to send help to Haiti, pledging Wednesday that the Haitians and their devastated island nation would have the “unwavering support” of the United States.
Within hours of Mr. Obama being informed of the quake in Haiti on Tuesday, United States officials were plotting a response that included ships, transport planes, helicopters and thousands of Marines. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton decided Wednesday night to cancel the rest of her Pacific trip and return to Washington.
Gen. Douglas Fraser, head of the United States Southern Command, said that one of the Navys large amphibious ships would probably be sent to Haiti, with a Marine expeditionary unit aboard, and that other American military forces were on alert, including a brigade of 3,500 troops. He said the Pentagon was “seriously looking” at sending thousands of Marines to help the disaster effort.
The Navy aircraft carrier Carl Vinson was deployed from Norfolk, Va.; military commanders said it should arrive in two days. In addition, White House officials said the military was looking into sending the Southern Command’s hospital ship, the Comfort, in light of reports that most of Haiti’s medical facilities were severely damaged if not destroyed. The Coast Guard also dispatched four cutters.
As the United States mobilized, other governments and aid agencies around the world began marshaling supplies and manpower and overwhelmed rescue workers in Haiti scrambled to set up makeshift clinics. Medical workers from Doctors Without Borders, which had 800 people in Haiti before the quake, said they were mobbed everywhere they went by people who had suffered severe traumas and crushed limbs, and by others begging for help in rescuing trapped relatives.
France said that it would send three military transport planes, including one from nearby Fort-de-France, Martinique, with aid supplies, and that 100 troops based in the French West Indies would be sent, according to TF1, a French television network. Britain and Germany were sending governmental assessment teams, and Germany said it would make available 1.5 million euros, or about $2.2 million, for emergency assistance.
On Wednesday, relief organizations developed aid plans from their headquarters outside of Haiti and quickly raised millions of dollars through social networking sites and donations by cellphone. But they were still struggling to get workers and supplies into Haiti, where operations at the capital’s port were shut down and runways at the main airport were open only to limited traffic because the control tower had collapsed.
“We’re looking at private charter options, looking at getting people through the Dominican Republic,” said Paul McPhun, a director of the emergency management team for Doctors Without Borders. “We need to get people in, and get people fast. There’s not a shortage of getting people to go, but it’s how to get them there.”
Mr. Obama did not make a specific aid pledge, and administration officials said they were still trying to figure out what Haiti needed. But he urged Americans to dig into their pockets and to go to www.whitehouse.gov to learn ways to donate money.
“This is a time when we are reminded of the common humanity that we all share,” Mr. Obama said Wednesday, speaking in the White House diplomatic reception room with Vice President Joseph R. Biden. at his side.
He described the reports of thousands buried under the rubble in the capital, Port-au-Prince, as “truly heart-wrenching,” a tragedy made more cruel by Haiti’s desperate poverty.
Robyn Fieser, the regional information officer for Catholic Relief Services, said, “All they heard last night was chanting and praying,” describing reports from some of her organization’s relief workers who were in Port-au-Prince on Tuesday night. “They did not hear any emergency vehicles or emergency efforts at all. All they saw was people doing rescue work on their own, with their bare hands.”
White House officials were clearly conscious that Mr. Obama’s response to the first major humanitarian disaster of his presidency would be closely watched. President George W. Bush learned that lesson the hard way, when his initial response to the December 2004 tsunami in Asia that killed 226,000 people was derided as paltry, and a year after that when his White House fumbled its response to Hurricane Katrina.
Mr. Obama canceled a trip to Lanham, Md., scheduled for Wednesday afternoon so he could make telephone calls to discuss the relief effort with staff members and foreign diplomats, White House aides said.
Mr. Obama was informed about the quake at 5:52 p.m. Tuesday by Denis McDonough, his national security chief of staff; he told aides that he wanted the United States to move “fast and aggressively,” one White House official said. By 6:22 p.m. the White House had issued a statement from the president that the United States was “closely monitoring the situation” and stood “ready to assist the people of Haiti.”
The Coast Guard cutter Forward was at the Guantánamo Bay naval base in Cuba when the earthquake hit on Tuesday, causing the 270-foot ship to rock back and forth even though it was more than 200 miles from the epicenter. The Forward arrived in Port-au-Prince early Wednesday morning, the first American military ship on the scene and the only large vessel in the harbor, Diane W. Durham, commander of the Forward, said in a telephone interview.
Commander Durham described extraordinary devastation, with collapsed buildings reaching from the port into the hills above, and said that Haitian officials had told her that half of the 80 Haitian coast guard staff members stationed at the port were killed in the earthquake.
The Department of Homeland Security said it was halting the deportations of Haitians back to the island “for the time being.” Refugee and immigration rights groups said the United States should grant temporary protective status that would allow Haitians who are now in the United States to stay here.
Helene Cooper reported from Washington, and Liz Robbins from New York. Eric Lipton contributed reporting from Washington.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)