May 30, 2010
(CBS) BP said last evening that its so-called "Top Kill" operation failed to stop the oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico. Don Teague has more on where things stand now in this Sunday Journal: It's been almost six weeks since the explosion and fire that destroyed the Deepwater Horizon drilling platform, killing 11 workers. Forty days of oil gushing at what experts now fear may be up to a million gallons a day. Forty days of failure, at every attempt, to stop the flow. The latest failure, the so-called "top kill" procedure of sealing the well with mud and bits of junk, confirmed yesterday by BP Chief Operating Officer Doug Suttles - a new setback for a Gulf of Mexico disaster that's been described as a Hurricane Katrina in slow motion.
Every day that more escaping oil washes up on beaches or into delicate marshes, more birds and marine life perish, and more tourists - key to the Gulf economy - are driven away. And the people who depend on these once-clear waters to make a living are driven closer to bankruptcy . . . people like fishing guide Jeff Brumfield: "The efforts to stop and cleanup the oil aren't happening fast enough," he said. He fears he's watching the death of his livelihood… "This is where the shrimp and the fish and everything starts, in this marsh, and if it kills this marsh grass, the entire ecosystem is gone," Brumfield said. Memorial Day weekend is supposed to be the high season in Grand Isle, Louisiana. Ordinarily these beaches should be filled with tourists, but on this weekend they're empty. It's an economic disaster. Once-bustling fishing marinas are also deserted. Cleanup workers are the only people out in large numbers. "A lot of people can't understand," said one. "This is our Gulf. This is where we're from. We need to protect it." And questions are mounting about BP's efforts to clean up the spill. Yesterday the company responded to charges that an army of workers that suddenly appeared around the time of President Obama's visit Friday was largely there for show. "This was not window dressing," said BP's Suttles. "If you went there today - I just flew over it - you would find people working today." BP announced yesterday plans for the building of tent cities and even floating camps to house cleanup workers, so they can spend more time at work. And the next step? The company said it will now cut off the well's broken gushing riser pipe and try to replace it with a new riser to help capture the oil. "It takes a little longer to do that and that's why that would be the next option to stop the flow," said Suttles. But all the while, the waters of the Gulf of Mexico - like the emotions of those that live here - grow a little darker.
Sunday, May 30, 2010
Monday, May 24, 2010
Kingston under siege
By Nick Davis
BBC News, Kingston 5-24-2010
As I drive through the city, my taxi driver tells me that he is going to have to charge extra: "Everywhere is blocked up, it's just turn, turn, turn."
I am just trying to get into the main commercial district of the capital, New Kingston, but the journey provides a snapshot of the situation the country finds itself in.
As we head up one road we spot the few vehicles on the road doing sharp U-turns. Then I hear it, the sound of automatic weapon fire.
We head back down the road to go around the trouble, and we are suddenly surrounded by police. A shot-up Toyota is parked up by a petrol station.
We continue. Towards the centre of town the streets are quiet - it is a national holiday, Labour Day, a time when communities get together to do work in their areas.
But everywhere is empty until we pass the main army camp as truckloads of soldiers in convoy head out, sandbags loaded on their vehicles, to a city under seige.
Steve the driver, like many Jamaicans, has a nickname. His comes from his time in the Jamaican defence force: Sojey, the patois for "soldier".
After seven years in the army, he recognises the sound of the M16s fired in our direction. Tight control
The old police station at Darling Street had stood in West Kingston for over a century. Now it is a ruin, firebombed and looted in an brazen daytime attack. Parts of the capital are under a state of emergency with two police officers killed overnight.
Jamaica had been gearing up for trouble from the moment the country's Prime Minister, Bruce Golding, announced he would address the nation a week ago.
He promised to explain his handling of an extradition request from the US for Christopher Coke, better known as Dudus.
He also goes by the other aliases of Shortman and President, the last one an indicator of how he is viewed in his community of Tivoli Gardens in West Kingston.
Before the violence which came to a head on Sunday, I had spent time in the community of Denham Town, and I was surprised by the reaction from many residents.
The area had been called the "mother of all garrisons" by a former head of the Jamaica Constabulary Force yet when I spoke to people, I was struck by the loyalty and support people had for the Dudus.
"Nobody can steal round here without his say-so, nobody carries out rape round here, they'd be dead."
I was worried for my safety but was told that nobody would touch me and in the early hours of the morning I walked out of the community, something that would be unheard-of in other more volatile communities on the island.
He was seen as the boss who cared for his community, providing what the state had not: safety.
Fast-foward to nine months ago and the US put in an extradition request for Christopher Coke, a man Washington claims is the head of the Shower Posse, an infamous gang that made and earnt its name in the 1980s by spraying bullets like water when they attacked rivals.
It is believed they are responsible for more than 1,400 murders in the US.
His extradition would see him facing charges of drug-smuggling and gun-running but, as a prominent supporter of the ruling Jamaica Labour Party, he holds a large amount of political sway. Jamaica's 'dons'
He keeps the area, which is also Prime Minister Bruce Golding's constituency, loyal to the party.
The government initially turned down the request, saying the evidence for the extradition had been gathered illegally.
But following calls for Mr Golding's resignation, after it became clear he had sanctioned a US law firm to lobby against the extradition, he announced the order would be signed the following day.
The warrant for the arrest saw fortifications being put round West Kingston.
The tough inner city communities of Kingston are not called garrisons for nothing.
Controlled by an "area leader" - the island's euphamism for the criminal bosses who are better known as "dons" - local strongmen can control a few blocks to whole swathes of the city.
The power they have stretches from the gully to the Gordon House, the seat of government.
The prime minister says the security forces will be swift and decisive in re-establishing law and order but, as the violence spreads, many wonder if they can handle the criminals who are taking on the state.
-------Jamaica PM promises to end unrest
BBC News, Kingston 5-24-2010
As I drive through the city, my taxi driver tells me that he is going to have to charge extra: "Everywhere is blocked up, it's just turn, turn, turn."
I am just trying to get into the main commercial district of the capital, New Kingston, but the journey provides a snapshot of the situation the country finds itself in.
As we head up one road we spot the few vehicles on the road doing sharp U-turns. Then I hear it, the sound of automatic weapon fire.
We head back down the road to go around the trouble, and we are suddenly surrounded by police. A shot-up Toyota is parked up by a petrol station.
We continue. Towards the centre of town the streets are quiet - it is a national holiday, Labour Day, a time when communities get together to do work in their areas.
But everywhere is empty until we pass the main army camp as truckloads of soldiers in convoy head out, sandbags loaded on their vehicles, to a city under seige.
Steve the driver, like many Jamaicans, has a nickname. His comes from his time in the Jamaican defence force: Sojey, the patois for "soldier".
After seven years in the army, he recognises the sound of the M16s fired in our direction. Tight control
The old police station at Darling Street had stood in West Kingston for over a century. Now it is a ruin, firebombed and looted in an brazen daytime attack. Parts of the capital are under a state of emergency with two police officers killed overnight.
Jamaica had been gearing up for trouble from the moment the country's Prime Minister, Bruce Golding, announced he would address the nation a week ago.
He promised to explain his handling of an extradition request from the US for Christopher Coke, better known as Dudus.
He also goes by the other aliases of Shortman and President, the last one an indicator of how he is viewed in his community of Tivoli Gardens in West Kingston.
Before the violence which came to a head on Sunday, I had spent time in the community of Denham Town, and I was surprised by the reaction from many residents.
The area had been called the "mother of all garrisons" by a former head of the Jamaica Constabulary Force yet when I spoke to people, I was struck by the loyalty and support people had for the Dudus.
"Nobody can steal round here without his say-so, nobody carries out rape round here, they'd be dead."
I was worried for my safety but was told that nobody would touch me and in the early hours of the morning I walked out of the community, something that would be unheard-of in other more volatile communities on the island.
He was seen as the boss who cared for his community, providing what the state had not: safety.
Fast-foward to nine months ago and the US put in an extradition request for Christopher Coke, a man Washington claims is the head of the Shower Posse, an infamous gang that made and earnt its name in the 1980s by spraying bullets like water when they attacked rivals.
It is believed they are responsible for more than 1,400 murders in the US.
His extradition would see him facing charges of drug-smuggling and gun-running but, as a prominent supporter of the ruling Jamaica Labour Party, he holds a large amount of political sway. Jamaica's 'dons'
He keeps the area, which is also Prime Minister Bruce Golding's constituency, loyal to the party.
The government initially turned down the request, saying the evidence for the extradition had been gathered illegally.
But following calls for Mr Golding's resignation, after it became clear he had sanctioned a US law firm to lobby against the extradition, he announced the order would be signed the following day.
The warrant for the arrest saw fortifications being put round West Kingston.
The tough inner city communities of Kingston are not called garrisons for nothing.
Controlled by an "area leader" - the island's euphamism for the criminal bosses who are better known as "dons" - local strongmen can control a few blocks to whole swathes of the city.
The power they have stretches from the gully to the Gordon House, the seat of government.
The prime minister says the security forces will be swift and decisive in re-establishing law and order but, as the violence spreads, many wonder if they can handle the criminals who are taking on the state.
-------Jamaica PM promises to end unrest
Thursday, May 20, 2010
Brown switches vote to advance financial regulation overhaul
Posted by Stephanie Vallejo May 20, 2010 03:44 PM
By Matt Viser, Globe Staff
WASHINGTON – Senator Scott Brown switched a key vote from yesterday and joined 57 Democrats and two Republicans this afternoon in advancing a massive financial regulation overhaul.
The Massachusetts Republican said that over the last 24 hours he received assurances – from the chief negotiators in the House and Senate, Senator Christopher J. Dodd, and Representative Barney Frank -- that changes he was seeking would be addressed. Those assurances came during a phone call with Frank last night, while the Newton Democrat was working out in the House members gym. Brown was further convinced during a 40-mile bike ride he went on this morning with Senator John Kerry.
“We recognize that there’s going to be some fixes here, more than likely, and the conference committee,” Brown said after voting. “I’m satisfied that all of our efforts – Senator Kerry and my efforts – will benefit and protect jobs in Massachusetts.”
“I spoke at length over a 40 mile bike-ride with Senator Kerry about it,” Brown added. “He’s a very good athlete.”
Brown’s vote was the key in making the difference after Democrats tried unsuccessfully yesterday to shut off debate and move toward a final vote. Brown was criticized, though not by name, by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid for breaking his word and not voting for the measure. Reid and Brown met this morning.
Brown said yesterday that he opposed the measure to end debate because he did not have assurances that several changes would be made, including one that would ensure that some of the new regulations would not apply to certain financial institutions.
Brown has tried to protect some of the insurance and mutual fund companies in Massachusetts from falling under the so-called Volcker rule, which could restrict the investment options of large institutions, including preventing them from owning private equity funds.
Brown argues that those restrictions should be designed to curtail the risky bets placed by big Wall Street firms, not the more traditional practices of the Massachusetts-based companies.
One of the key difference-makers was assurances that Brown received from Frank, who told Brown last night that he would ensure that the changes were made in conference committee. Frank, chairman of the House Committee on Financial Services, wrote legislation that the House passed last year and will be the top negotiator in reconciling differences between the House and Senate.
The financial overhaul legislation, which has been debated for several weeks, is designed to crack down on some of the risky practices that contributed to the financial downturn. It would create a consumer protection bureau that seeks to help people avoid trouble with mortgages and credit cards they cannot afford. The legislation would also establish a council that would be charged with monitoring the system for potential problems.
Matt Viser can be reached at maviser@globe.com.
By Matt Viser, Globe Staff
WASHINGTON – Senator Scott Brown switched a key vote from yesterday and joined 57 Democrats and two Republicans this afternoon in advancing a massive financial regulation overhaul.
The Massachusetts Republican said that over the last 24 hours he received assurances – from the chief negotiators in the House and Senate, Senator Christopher J. Dodd, and Representative Barney Frank -- that changes he was seeking would be addressed. Those assurances came during a phone call with Frank last night, while the Newton Democrat was working out in the House members gym. Brown was further convinced during a 40-mile bike ride he went on this morning with Senator John Kerry.
“We recognize that there’s going to be some fixes here, more than likely, and the conference committee,” Brown said after voting. “I’m satisfied that all of our efforts – Senator Kerry and my efforts – will benefit and protect jobs in Massachusetts.”
“I spoke at length over a 40 mile bike-ride with Senator Kerry about it,” Brown added. “He’s a very good athlete.”
Brown’s vote was the key in making the difference after Democrats tried unsuccessfully yesterday to shut off debate and move toward a final vote. Brown was criticized, though not by name, by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid for breaking his word and not voting for the measure. Reid and Brown met this morning.
Brown said yesterday that he opposed the measure to end debate because he did not have assurances that several changes would be made, including one that would ensure that some of the new regulations would not apply to certain financial institutions.
Brown has tried to protect some of the insurance and mutual fund companies in Massachusetts from falling under the so-called Volcker rule, which could restrict the investment options of large institutions, including preventing them from owning private equity funds.
Brown argues that those restrictions should be designed to curtail the risky bets placed by big Wall Street firms, not the more traditional practices of the Massachusetts-based companies.
One of the key difference-makers was assurances that Brown received from Frank, who told Brown last night that he would ensure that the changes were made in conference committee. Frank, chairman of the House Committee on Financial Services, wrote legislation that the House passed last year and will be the top negotiator in reconciling differences between the House and Senate.
The financial overhaul legislation, which has been debated for several weeks, is designed to crack down on some of the risky practices that contributed to the financial downturn. It would create a consumer protection bureau that seeks to help people avoid trouble with mortgages and credit cards they cannot afford. The legislation would also establish a council that would be charged with monitoring the system for potential problems.
Matt Viser can be reached at maviser@globe.com.
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
New $100 bill: Why the high-tech redesign?
By Daniel B. Wood, Staff writer / April 21, 2010
A hundred dollar bill? "Dottie," a Starbucks cashier, says she almost never sees them.
“Maybe, once in a month someone will pull one out,” she says, placing four tall lattes into a cardboard carrier. “Otherwise, no way Jose.”
After a quick spot query of the café shows that not a single person has one in his or her wallet, the question arises: Why is the US's new $100 bill necessary?
The quick answer, say banking experts, is that $100 bills are the most common use of American currency by foreigners. Two-thirds of all $100 bills are in foreign pockets. Therefore, international counterfeiters feel they can get away with bigger sums of fake cash in the far reaches of Europe, Africa, and Asia – not to mention being far from the spotlights of law enforcement.
“The necessity of such a move can be easily debated. Counterfeiting of US currency is quite a big deal, especially in markets outside the US,”, says Scott J. Dressler. Assistant professor of economics at Villanova University’s School of Business.
US Secret Service spokesperson Edwin Donovan says the $100 bill is a favorite of foreign counterfeiters. “It’s in the most exotic, far away and non-domestic locales abroad where this activity goes on most,” he says.
Among the many new high-tech security features, a blue ribbon will give a 3-D effect to micro-images on the bill. Tilt the note back and forth and you will see tiny bells on the ribbon change to 100s as they move. And that's one of the reasons for the new design. “You can check these features without holding the bills up to a special light,” says Mr. Donovan.
While the added security features should thwart counterfeits of the new note for the time being, the old note will remain in circulation and can still be counterfeited, Mr. Dressler says. “While the old notes get retired, counterfeiting becomes more difficult. Therefore, you can think of this as the beginning of the end for counterfeiters - until they can successfully pass off a counterfeit of the new bill.”
The perception that paper money is on the way out as consumers opt for debit and credit cards is incorrect, says Chad Wasilenkoff, CEO of Fortress Paper, which produces high quality security paper including bank notes and passports. "Contrary to popular opinion, banknotes, which are commonly known as 'paper money,' 'bills,' or 'notes,' are more in demand than ever across the globe," he says.
The design of the new bill was unveiled Wednesday, but won’t appear in circulation until February, 2011.
“As with previous U.S. currency redesigns, this note incorporates the best technology available to ensure we’re staying ahead of counterfeiters,” said Secretary of the Treasury Tim Geithner, at the unveiling.
Those still in possession of the old-style bills needn't do anything, officials say. “When the new design $100 note is issued ... the approximately 6.5 billion old design $100s already in circulation will remain legal tender,” said Chairman of the Federal Reserve Board Ben S. Bernanke. “U.S. currency users should know they will not have to trade in their old design notes when the new notes begin circulating.”
A hundred dollar bill? "Dottie," a Starbucks cashier, says she almost never sees them.
“Maybe, once in a month someone will pull one out,” she says, placing four tall lattes into a cardboard carrier. “Otherwise, no way Jose.”
After a quick spot query of the café shows that not a single person has one in his or her wallet, the question arises: Why is the US's new $100 bill necessary?
The quick answer, say banking experts, is that $100 bills are the most common use of American currency by foreigners. Two-thirds of all $100 bills are in foreign pockets. Therefore, international counterfeiters feel they can get away with bigger sums of fake cash in the far reaches of Europe, Africa, and Asia – not to mention being far from the spotlights of law enforcement.
“The necessity of such a move can be easily debated. Counterfeiting of US currency is quite a big deal, especially in markets outside the US,”, says Scott J. Dressler. Assistant professor of economics at Villanova University’s School of Business.
US Secret Service spokesperson Edwin Donovan says the $100 bill is a favorite of foreign counterfeiters. “It’s in the most exotic, far away and non-domestic locales abroad where this activity goes on most,” he says.
Among the many new high-tech security features, a blue ribbon will give a 3-D effect to micro-images on the bill. Tilt the note back and forth and you will see tiny bells on the ribbon change to 100s as they move. And that's one of the reasons for the new design. “You can check these features without holding the bills up to a special light,” says Mr. Donovan.
While the added security features should thwart counterfeits of the new note for the time being, the old note will remain in circulation and can still be counterfeited, Mr. Dressler says. “While the old notes get retired, counterfeiting becomes more difficult. Therefore, you can think of this as the beginning of the end for counterfeiters - until they can successfully pass off a counterfeit of the new bill.”
The perception that paper money is on the way out as consumers opt for debit and credit cards is incorrect, says Chad Wasilenkoff, CEO of Fortress Paper, which produces high quality security paper including bank notes and passports. "Contrary to popular opinion, banknotes, which are commonly known as 'paper money,' 'bills,' or 'notes,' are more in demand than ever across the globe," he says.
The design of the new bill was unveiled Wednesday, but won’t appear in circulation until February, 2011.
“As with previous U.S. currency redesigns, this note incorporates the best technology available to ensure we’re staying ahead of counterfeiters,” said Secretary of the Treasury Tim Geithner, at the unveiling.
Those still in possession of the old-style bills needn't do anything, officials say. “When the new design $100 note is issued ... the approximately 6.5 billion old design $100s already in circulation will remain legal tender,” said Chairman of the Federal Reserve Board Ben S. Bernanke. “U.S. currency users should know they will not have to trade in their old design notes when the new notes begin circulating.”
Saturday, April 17, 2010
Benjamin L. Hooks, Civil Rights Leader, Dies at 85
By STEVEN A. HOLMES
Published: April 15, 2010
Benjamin L. Hooks, who for 15 years led the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People as it struggled to remain an effective champion of minorities in an era of rising political conservatism, died Thursday at his home in Memphis. He was 85.
Leila McDowell, a spokeswoman for the N.A.A.C.P., said the cause was heart failure.
“Black Americans are not defeated,” Mr. Hooks told Ebony magazine soon after he became the association’s executive director in 1977. “The civil rights movement is not dead.
“If anyone thinks that we are going to stop agitating, they had better think again. If anyone thinks that we are going to stop litigating, they had better close the courts. If anyone thinks that we are not going to demonstrate and protest, they had better roll up the sidewalks.”
Yet under his leadership the N.A.A.C.P. faced a growing white backlash against school busing and affirmative action programs intended to redress past discrimination. And it repeatedly tangled with the administrations of Presidents Ronald Reagan and George Bush to preserve the gains that minorities had made in the 1960s and ’70s. When Mr. Bush selected a conservative black federal judge, Clarence Thomas, to serve on the Supreme Court, the N.A.A.C.P. ultimately opposed the nomination.
“I’ve had the misfortune of serving eight years under Reagan and three under Bush,” Mr. Hooks said in 1992, the year he stepped down as executive director. “It makes a great deal of difference about your expectations. We’ve had to get rid of a lot of programs we had hoped for, so we could fight to save what we already had.”
Mr. Hooks shifted much of the N.A.A.C.P.’s focus to increasing educational and job opportunities for blacks as recession gave way to economic recovery in the Reagan years. But the association had been weakened under the weight of declining membership and shaky finances.
It had also developed an image problem, as that of an outmoded and increasingly irrelevant civil rights group. For some who had watched the N.A.A.C.P. over the years, Mr. Hooks came to symbolize an older generation of leaders who had marched with the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and who had fought for the passage of landmark civil rights legislation but who had become unwilling or unable to adapt to modern times and changed political circumstances.
Mr. Hooks rejected that notion, maintaining that he had succeeded in advancing a just cause, to improve the lot of African-Americans. “I have fought the good fight,” he said in his valedictory to the N.A.A.C.P. in 1992. “I have kept the faith.”
Mr. Hooks had a varied career. He was a lawyer, a businessman (he owned fried chicken franchises in Memphis that ultimately failed) and a Baptist minister, heading two separate churches. He was also a gifted orator, mixing quotations from Shakespeare and Keats with the cadence and idioms of the Mississippi Delta.
“There is a beauty in it and a power in it,” Mr. Hooks once said of black preachers’ speaking style.
Mr. Hooks was the first black to be appointed to the criminal court bench in his native Tennessee, and he was the first African-American to be named to the five-member Federal Communications Commission.
“Most people do one or two things in their lifetimes,” Julian Bond, a former chairman of the N.A.A.C.P., said of Mr. Hooks. “He’s just done an awful lot.”
Benjamin Lawson Hooks was born Jan. 31, 1925, in Memphis, the fifth of seven children of Robert and Bessie Hooks. His father’s photography business gave the family a stable middle-class grounding, allowing Mr. Hooks to attend LeMoyne College in Memphis. But he knew well the indignities blacks suffered in the segregated South.
“I wish I could tell you every time I was on the highway and couldn’t use a restroom” because it was reserved for whites, he once told U.S. News & World Report. “My bladder is messed up because of that.”
After serving three years in the Army during World War II and rising to staff sergeant, Mr. Hooks attended law school at DePaul University, graduating in 1948.
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Dennis Hevesi contributed reporting.
Published: April 15, 2010
Benjamin L. Hooks, who for 15 years led the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People as it struggled to remain an effective champion of minorities in an era of rising political conservatism, died Thursday at his home in Memphis. He was 85.
Leila McDowell, a spokeswoman for the N.A.A.C.P., said the cause was heart failure.
“Black Americans are not defeated,” Mr. Hooks told Ebony magazine soon after he became the association’s executive director in 1977. “The civil rights movement is not dead.
“If anyone thinks that we are going to stop agitating, they had better think again. If anyone thinks that we are going to stop litigating, they had better close the courts. If anyone thinks that we are not going to demonstrate and protest, they had better roll up the sidewalks.”
Yet under his leadership the N.A.A.C.P. faced a growing white backlash against school busing and affirmative action programs intended to redress past discrimination. And it repeatedly tangled with the administrations of Presidents Ronald Reagan and George Bush to preserve the gains that minorities had made in the 1960s and ’70s. When Mr. Bush selected a conservative black federal judge, Clarence Thomas, to serve on the Supreme Court, the N.A.A.C.P. ultimately opposed the nomination.
“I’ve had the misfortune of serving eight years under Reagan and three under Bush,” Mr. Hooks said in 1992, the year he stepped down as executive director. “It makes a great deal of difference about your expectations. We’ve had to get rid of a lot of programs we had hoped for, so we could fight to save what we already had.”
Mr. Hooks shifted much of the N.A.A.C.P.’s focus to increasing educational and job opportunities for blacks as recession gave way to economic recovery in the Reagan years. But the association had been weakened under the weight of declining membership and shaky finances.
It had also developed an image problem, as that of an outmoded and increasingly irrelevant civil rights group. For some who had watched the N.A.A.C.P. over the years, Mr. Hooks came to symbolize an older generation of leaders who had marched with the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and who had fought for the passage of landmark civil rights legislation but who had become unwilling or unable to adapt to modern times and changed political circumstances.
Mr. Hooks rejected that notion, maintaining that he had succeeded in advancing a just cause, to improve the lot of African-Americans. “I have fought the good fight,” he said in his valedictory to the N.A.A.C.P. in 1992. “I have kept the faith.”
Mr. Hooks had a varied career. He was a lawyer, a businessman (he owned fried chicken franchises in Memphis that ultimately failed) and a Baptist minister, heading two separate churches. He was also a gifted orator, mixing quotations from Shakespeare and Keats with the cadence and idioms of the Mississippi Delta.
“There is a beauty in it and a power in it,” Mr. Hooks once said of black preachers’ speaking style.
Mr. Hooks was the first black to be appointed to the criminal court bench in his native Tennessee, and he was the first African-American to be named to the five-member Federal Communications Commission.
“Most people do one or two things in their lifetimes,” Julian Bond, a former chairman of the N.A.A.C.P., said of Mr. Hooks. “He’s just done an awful lot.”
Benjamin Lawson Hooks was born Jan. 31, 1925, in Memphis, the fifth of seven children of Robert and Bessie Hooks. His father’s photography business gave the family a stable middle-class grounding, allowing Mr. Hooks to attend LeMoyne College in Memphis. But he knew well the indignities blacks suffered in the segregated South.
“I wish I could tell you every time I was on the highway and couldn’t use a restroom” because it was reserved for whites, he once told U.S. News & World Report. “My bladder is messed up because of that.”
After serving three years in the Army during World War II and rising to staff sergeant, Mr. Hooks attended law school at DePaul University, graduating in 1948.
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Dennis Hevesi contributed reporting.
Friday, April 16, 2010
Fla. Gov. Charlie Crist goes from shoo-in to political freefall
By Michael Leahy
Washington Post Staff Writer Friday, April 16, 2010; 2:45 PM
THE VILLAGES, FLA. -- Republican Florida Gov. Charlie Crist, once regarded as a shoo-in to become Florida's next senator, waded into a milling crowd. If his campaign had been going according to plan, his audience here on this night would have been perfect: an elderly, largely conservative Republican throng that included 82-year-old Bob Gammon, who had voted for Crist before and now had a beer in his hand and something he wanted to say.
Crist smiled and put a campaign sticker on Gammon's Hawaiian shirt.
"That hug," Gammon said.
"Oh," Crist said, immediately understanding what Gammon meant. Shortly after Barack Obama's inauguration, the new president had come to Florida to pledge federal help for this economically reeling state -- and Crist had reacted by embracing Obama on stage. "I wish you hadn't hugged him," Gammon said.
"I'm glad I did," Crist said calmly, smoothing the sticker on Gammon's shirt. "He was visiting our state. He's the president. I respect the office."
"I really wish you hadn't," Gammon said. As he moved away, leaving Crist to answer more questions about the hug, he predicted the outcome of Crist's upcoming August Republican primary: "He can't win."
If you're Charlie Crist, this is what a political freefall feels like. One day it is 2008 and you're a popular governor whose Republican admirers are talking you up for the veep spot on your party's national ticket. Then, suddenly, you've infuriated party conservatives, and what you're being fitted for is a political coffin.
According to polls, Crist was once ahead by about 30 points in a primary contest widely viewed as a certain rout, a steppingstone for the 53-year-old Crist toward a bigger national stage and a future White House run. Now, targeted for extinction by "tea party" activists and the right-wing of his party, Crist is behind by more than 20 points, yet another reminder of the intraparty dangers awaiting Republicans viewed as too moderate.
"A victim of the times," is how Susan MacManus, a political science professor at the University of South Florida, characterizes his collapse.
Questions about Crist's political character and loyalty have added to his woes. He was dealt another blow this past week when former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani went on Fox News to say that Crist had lied to him in the months leading up to the Republican presidential primaries in 2008.
Giuliani claimed that Crist, whose endorsement was regarded by GOP candidates as critical in the pivotal Florida primary, had reneged on a private promise to endorse Giuliani for the Republican nomination. It is a charge denied by Crist, who ultimately endorsed Arizona Sen. John McCain, the party's eventual nominee.
"He broke his word, which to me in politics is everything," said Giuliani, who told Fox host Sean Hannity that he is endorsing Crist's front-running Republican primary opponent, former Florida House speaker Marco Rubio,, a 39-year-old tea party darling.
CONTINUED
Washington Post Staff Writer Friday, April 16, 2010; 2:45 PM
THE VILLAGES, FLA. -- Republican Florida Gov. Charlie Crist, once regarded as a shoo-in to become Florida's next senator, waded into a milling crowd. If his campaign had been going according to plan, his audience here on this night would have been perfect: an elderly, largely conservative Republican throng that included 82-year-old Bob Gammon, who had voted for Crist before and now had a beer in his hand and something he wanted to say.
Crist smiled and put a campaign sticker on Gammon's Hawaiian shirt.
"That hug," Gammon said.
"Oh," Crist said, immediately understanding what Gammon meant. Shortly after Barack Obama's inauguration, the new president had come to Florida to pledge federal help for this economically reeling state -- and Crist had reacted by embracing Obama on stage. "I wish you hadn't hugged him," Gammon said.
"I'm glad I did," Crist said calmly, smoothing the sticker on Gammon's shirt. "He was visiting our state. He's the president. I respect the office."
"I really wish you hadn't," Gammon said. As he moved away, leaving Crist to answer more questions about the hug, he predicted the outcome of Crist's upcoming August Republican primary: "He can't win."
If you're Charlie Crist, this is what a political freefall feels like. One day it is 2008 and you're a popular governor whose Republican admirers are talking you up for the veep spot on your party's national ticket. Then, suddenly, you've infuriated party conservatives, and what you're being fitted for is a political coffin.
According to polls, Crist was once ahead by about 30 points in a primary contest widely viewed as a certain rout, a steppingstone for the 53-year-old Crist toward a bigger national stage and a future White House run. Now, targeted for extinction by "tea party" activists and the right-wing of his party, Crist is behind by more than 20 points, yet another reminder of the intraparty dangers awaiting Republicans viewed as too moderate.
"A victim of the times," is how Susan MacManus, a political science professor at the University of South Florida, characterizes his collapse.
Questions about Crist's political character and loyalty have added to his woes. He was dealt another blow this past week when former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani went on Fox News to say that Crist had lied to him in the months leading up to the Republican presidential primaries in 2008.
Giuliani claimed that Crist, whose endorsement was regarded by GOP candidates as critical in the pivotal Florida primary, had reneged on a private promise to endorse Giuliani for the Republican nomination. It is a charge denied by Crist, who ultimately endorsed Arizona Sen. John McCain, the party's eventual nominee.
"He broke his word, which to me in politics is everything," said Giuliani, who told Fox host Sean Hannity that he is endorsing Crist's front-running Republican primary opponent, former Florida House speaker Marco Rubio,, a 39-year-old tea party darling.
CONTINUED
Monday, March 29, 2010
Tennessee, Delaware schools to get Race to the Top funds
By Sally Holland, CNN
March 29, 2010
Delaware
Washington (CNN) -- Tennessee and Delaware were the only two states designated Monday to receive funds in the first round of the education funding competition "Race to the Top," federal officials announced.
Delaware will receive $100 million under the program, while Tennessee will receive $500 million.
Secretary of Education Arne Duncan said in the announcement that one determining factor was that "both states have statewide buy-in for comprehensive plans to reform their schools. They have written new laws to support their policies. And they have demonstrated the courage, capacity, and commitment to turn their ideas into practices that can improve outcomes for students."
The states are the only two left after 40 states and the District of Columbia initially applied for the program. To receive the funds, the states had to prove that they were progressing in specific areas including turning around low-performing schools, adopting college- and career-ready standards, and using data systems to support student achievement.
Race to the Top is an Obama administration program that is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to reward states for aggressively reforming their education systems. The $4.35 billion is to be awarded in two phases to an undetermined number of states.
Several state governments have changed their state laws to make themselves better positioned to receive the funds. Both Tennessee and Louisiana changed their charter school laws to meet Race to the Top criteria, and California dropped from its books a law that made it illegal to tie teacher evaluations to student performance.
California did not make the cut in Phase 1 of the program, but could still qualify for the funds in Phase 2. Louisiana made it to the top 16.
Some states decided not to compete for the funds. In January, Texas Gov. Rick Perry sent a letter to Duncan explaining why his state would not be applying for Race to the Top funding. The letter stated, "I will not commit Texas taxpayers to unfunded federal obligations or to the adoption of unproven, cost-prohibitive national curriculum standards and tests."
March 29, 2010
Delaware
Washington (CNN) -- Tennessee and Delaware were the only two states designated Monday to receive funds in the first round of the education funding competition "Race to the Top," federal officials announced.
Delaware will receive $100 million under the program, while Tennessee will receive $500 million.
Secretary of Education Arne Duncan said in the announcement that one determining factor was that "both states have statewide buy-in for comprehensive plans to reform their schools. They have written new laws to support their policies. And they have demonstrated the courage, capacity, and commitment to turn their ideas into practices that can improve outcomes for students."
The states are the only two left after 40 states and the District of Columbia initially applied for the program. To receive the funds, the states had to prove that they were progressing in specific areas including turning around low-performing schools, adopting college- and career-ready standards, and using data systems to support student achievement.
Race to the Top is an Obama administration program that is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to reward states for aggressively reforming their education systems. The $4.35 billion is to be awarded in two phases to an undetermined number of states.
Several state governments have changed their state laws to make themselves better positioned to receive the funds. Both Tennessee and Louisiana changed their charter school laws to meet Race to the Top criteria, and California dropped from its books a law that made it illegal to tie teacher evaluations to student performance.
California did not make the cut in Phase 1 of the program, but could still qualify for the funds in Phase 2. Louisiana made it to the top 16.
Some states decided not to compete for the funds. In January, Texas Gov. Rick Perry sent a letter to Duncan explaining why his state would not be applying for Race to the Top funding. The letter stated, "I will not commit Texas taxpayers to unfunded federal obligations or to the adoption of unproven, cost-prohibitive national curriculum standards and tests."
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