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VOLUME 20 NO. 49
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DECEMBER 7 - DECEMBER 13, 2012
IN THE 13th GRADE BY SARAH GONZALEZ, MC NELLY TORRES AND LYNN WADDELL FLORIDA CENTER FOR INVESTIGATIVE REPORTING
Shakira Lockett was a pretty good student in elementary, middle and high school. The Miami-Dade County native says she typically earned A’s and B’s in English classes – though math was a struggle. Still, she got through her high school exit exam with a passing grade and went on to graduate from Coral Gables Senior High School in 2008. She went straight to MiamiDade College. Then, something unexpected happened: She flunked the college placement exams in all three subjects – reading, writing and math. PHOTO BY SAGETTE VAN EMBDEN That didn’t mean she It took Shakira Lockett, 22, four years to earn her associates’ degree couldn’t attend the school; from Miami-Dade College – a process that usually takes only two years. all state and community col-
Elections supervisors under fire
Many of Florida’s high school graduates are unprepared for tougher college courses. That’s costing state taxpayers millions of dollars every year. leges in Florida have an opendoor policy, which means everyone is accepted. But it did mean she had to take remedial courses before she could start college-level work.
Tree time
How to pay? The “Aim Higher” initiative, unveiled at a press conference in the Capitol including most of the presidents and student body leaders of the state’s 12 universities, enters into a growing debate over how to fund higher education in Florida. According to the university system, $118 million would equate to a tuition increase of 15 percent, the maximum the schools are allowed to ask for under the state’s differential tuition law. Several universities had used that law in recent years to offset deep state cuts in higher education funding, though the consensus over the size of those tuition increases cracked last summer under pressure from Gov. Rick Scott. The new funding should be tied to performance measures, the university presidents said, lining up with the premium that some legislative leaders have placed on education accountability.
Lines ‘unacceptable’ In many locations, voters stood in line for several hours waiting to cast ballots, and the state wasn’t called for President Obama until several days after the election ended. “Long lines are unacceptable in Florida for performance,” Detzner told a state Senate panel, one of two legislative committees taking up the election performance Tuesday. Speaking to meetings of both the House and Senate ethics and elections committees, Detzner said he didn’t want to prejudge what had caused the breakdowns at some polling locations in the state. But he offered a menu of possibilities. “When you look at underperformance, it could be an administrative issue, it could be an issue about judgment about turnout, could be an issue about locations of the early voting sites, it could be manpower issues, and it could be technology,” Detzner said. He also indicated the length of the ballot, which included several legislatively-authored proposed constitutional amendments, could have caused some of the long waits.
ALSO INSIDE
See GRADUATES, Page A2
University presidents pledged Wednesday not to increase tuition next year if the Florida Legislature agrees to plow another $118 million into the State University System’s budget. But leaders at the University of Florida and Florida State University would not pledge to stop pushing for legislation that would allow them to increase tuition by virtually unlimited amounts.
TALLAHASSEE – Local supervisors of elections came under fire Tuesday as lawmakers began probing what went wrong in the 2012 elections, with state officials singling out five who reportedly deserve special scrutiny for their performance. Secretary of State Ken Detzner told lawmakers he would visit supervisors of elections in Broward, Lee, MiamiDade, Palm Beach and St. Lucie counties as part of his own inquiry into the lengthy lines and other problems that plagued the November balloting. Detzner said he would also meet with the Hillsborough County supervisor of elections, whose performance is not under fire.
See SUPERVISORS, Page A2
Lockett, now 22, spent a year and a half taking remedial classes before she could start her first college-level class to count toward her degree in mass communication and journalism. The seven extra courses cost her $300 each. “It makes you feel dumb,” Lockett said. “And you ask yourself, ‘Is there something
BY BRANDON LARRABEE THE NEWS SERVICE OF FLORIDA
COMPILED FROM WIRE REPORTS
Attention also fell on the number of early-voting sites that were open in some areas after those lines also swelled. A staff analysis showed a wide disparity between the number of voters per early-voting site in Florida’s 12 biggest counties. Pinellas County, for instance, opened only three early voting sites, which equates to one per 210,506 vot-
Felt ‘dumb’
Universities seek more money for tuition freeze
CHRISTMAS SEASON 2012
Legislators unsure about solving voting problems
Early-voting problems
“When they told me I had to start a Reading 2 and Reading 3 class, I was like, ‘Serious?’” Lockett said. “Because I’ve always been good at reading.” Remedial classes do not count toward a college degree. Each class runs an entire semester. And students cannot enroll in college classes until they pass all their remedial courses.
Money from health care
OLIVIER DOULIERY/ABACA PRESS/MCT
The annual U.S. Capitol Christmas Tree was lit during a ceremony Tuesday in Washington, D.C. Many Floridians are buying and trimming their own Christmas trees as Christmas Day approaches.
SNAPSHOTS NATION | A3
More of the same: White males to head House committees
Boy Scouts resisted background checks
FLORIDA | A6
Bolden’s future as NASA chief uncertain
FINEST | B5
Meet Viola
Senate Appropriations Chairman Joe Negron, R-Stuart, told reporters Wednesday that he would like to shift additional funding from health care into education areas, potentially allowing the university system to compete with top-notch public schools like the University of North Carolina, the University of Virginia, the University of Texas, the University of Michigan, and the University of California, Berkeley. Scott issued a statement praising the universities for focusing on the concept of “value” in higher education, but notably did not specifically mention the universities’ request for additional funding. The leaders of FSU and Florida dismissed questions dealing with whether they would continue to seek “preeminent university” legislation, vetoed by Scott last year, allowing schools that meet certain standards to raise tuition by virtually unlimited amounts.
COMMENTARY: CHARLES W. CHERRY II: RANDOM THOUGHTS OF A FREE BLACK MIND | A4 COMMENTARY: MARIAN WRIGHT EDELMAN: KINDERGARTNERS NEED MORE TIME TO LEARN | A5
FOCUS
A2
DECEMBER 7 - DECEMBER 13, 2012
Latinos teach Black Americans about power, politics How does any constituency group get a president to do what they want? The answer is simple. The group in question must first assert its right to make a demand, and then make that demand in a consistent and public way and in so doing, force a new political consensus that cannot be ignored.
MARGARET KIMBERLEY BLACK AGENDA REPORT
tricate themselves from the abyss of Obama worship.
Others gained
Courageous campaign
Barack Obama’s first term in office provided tangible political gains for some groups, such as the lesbian/gay/bisexual/transgendered and Latino communities. The president ended the armed forces’ “Don’t ask don’t tell” policy which prohibited openly gay men and women from serving. Republican intransigence prevented any efforts to act on immigration reform, particularly the Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors (DREAM) Act, which would have given the undocumented pathways to legal residence. Obama did issue an executive order known as “Deferred Action” that stopped the deportations of undocumented young people brought to this country as children. Therein lies a lesson for those Black people willing to ex-
The victory of young Latinos and Latinas did not come about because of altruistic motives from the administration, but because of a carefully planned and very courageous public campaign. These young people risked their very freedom and their ability to stay in the United States. Such was their desire to bring about change that would help them and their families. When the DREAM Act went down to defeat they were obviously discouraged, but they were also motivated to push for what they needed. A group who not only can’t vote, who aren’t even citizens, and who had no legal right to live in the United States at all risked arrest and deportation to go where the group of Americans most in need of political help fear to tread.
When it appeared that the young Dreamers had failed in their goal, they quite simply didn’t give up. These activists made African-American inaction all the more shameful.
Latinos want more While Black Americans celebrate and emote at the very site of a Black president, others treat him the way politicians ought to be treated. They insist on quid pro quos in exchange for political support. And even though Obama brought some measure of change with the Deferred Action executive order, members of the group United We Dream are not satisfied. “People are not going to hug the president right now,” says United We Dream national coordinator Carlos Saavedra. “They are waiting for him to take some action.”
Millions deported Their dedication was all the more astounding because Barack Obama oversaw the deportations of more than one million people – more than had been deported under any other administration. This fact could have been a reason for further discouragement, but instead the Dreamers real-
ized that the high number of deportations was Obama’s responsibility. That was proof that the president had the power to stop them, too. When White House advisers claimed that the president had no authority to issue an executive order, the dreamers called them out. In a public meeting Lorella Praeli told Valerie Jarrett, “With all due respect, I disagree.” With an election looming and Latino votes up for grabs, lo and behold, the president issued the Deferred Action order, and took the specter of deportation away from thousands of young people from all over the world. Unfortunately, too many Black people hug Obama when he does nothing for them at all. While Black people suffer from loss of their homes, loss of jobs, and mass incarceration, they also confine themselves to bouts of emoting whenever they see the Obamas looking beautiful together at a state dinner.
Political muscle The Latino community have newfound political muscle and aren‘t afraid of showing it off. They know that the Republicans now rue the day they killed the DREAM Act and nominat-
SUPERVISORS
Look hard at sites But Ron Labasky, general counsel of the Florida State Association of Supervisors of Elections, responded that the association has been pushing for years to be allowed to use a wider variety of sites for early voting. He said that some sites might not be ideal.
GRADUATES from A1 wrong with me?’” Lockett’s experience actually is quite normal in Florida. In 201011, 54 percent of students coming out of high school failed at least one subject on the Florida College System’s placement test, according to an investigation by the Florida Center for Investigative Reporting and StateImpact Florida. That meant nearly 30,000 students – high school graduates – had to take at least one remedial course in college. The numbers are worse at Miami-Dade College, Lockett’s school. There, 63 percent of high school graduates take at least one remedial course upon enrollment. Many of them, like Lockett, are shocked to find out that they weren’t ready for college despite having a high school diploma. Nationwide, about 40 percent of all first-year students need remedial education according to the Alliance for Excellent Education, a Washington, D.C.-based policy and advocacy group.
The cost of being unprepared There’s a price to all these students showing up at Florida’s 28 community and state colleges unprepared. The students must pay for – and the state must subsidize – the remedial coursework. The costs of remedial education, shared by students and the state, have jumped from $118 million in 2004-05 to $168 million in 2010-11. Most of the state’s cost is spent on non-traditional students – students who return to college after being out of school for a while. But according the Florida Department of Education, about one-third of the cost of remedial education is spent on students who are fresh out of Florida high schools. Education experts say part
We used to lead There was a time when Black America led the way in bringing about social and political change. We showed the nation and the world how to take risks, sometimes the risk of losing life itself, in order to fight for justice. Perhaps the young Dreamers can inspire Black people to once again hold political conventions and draft platforms of political action. In the future, perhaps we will have to learn from others who learned our history lesson better than we did.
Margaret Kimberley’s column appears weekly in BlackAgendaReport.com. Contact her at Margaret.Kimberley@ Black AgendaReport.com . Click on this story at www.flcourier.com to write your own response.
about the infamously troubled efforts of Palm Beach County, Latvala said: “If the shoe fits, Palm Beach County should wear it.”
from A1 ers. Duval had the lowest average, with 17 voting sites and 30,501 voters per site. Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties all had more than 62,000 voters per early-voting site. But so did Orange County, at 69,478 voters per location, though the department or lawmakers for problems didn’t single it out. In Miami-Dade, there are 82 locations that could be used for early voting; 20 were. That led to some lawmakers wondering whether Detzner should be given more authority to step in when local supervisors seem to make wrong-headed decisions. “If you have 83 or 85 sites available and you only open up 20, we might need to look at who’s making those decisions and based on what criteria,” said Sen. Lizbeth Benacquisto, R-Fort Myers.
ed a presidential candidate who worked for “self-deportation.” These same Dreamers who may have once feared publicly revealing their status now hold very public conventions. A recent United We Dream convention in Kansas City attracted some 600 participants who drafted a comprehensive platform on all aspects of immigration.
Massive numbers
CHARLES W. CHERRY II / FLORIDA COURIER
Early voters in Broward County waited in line at the African-American Research Library in Fort Lauderdale on Election Day. Speaking later in the day at the House meeting, though, Detzner said the state should weigh that issue carefully. “We should find out, are they using all sites that are sufficient and available within their inventory of available sites,” he said. It’s not clear what legislation might grow out of the meetings. Sen. Jack Latvala, the St. Petersburg Republican chairing his chamber’s committee, brushed off the idea of giving Detzner greater control over local officials. But he did note that gover-
of the problem is that a high school diploma has never been the same thing as a certificate of college readiness. There’s a curriculum gap between what high school students are taught and what they need to know going into college.
Flawed state test Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush has been a proponent of the state’s high school exit exam – the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test, or FCAT. But he now admits the test was never meant to determine whether students are prepared for college. “It’s really a gateway to graduate from high school, not to be college-ready,” he told StateImpact Florida in an interview. Bush said it’s evident the test is flawed, since many high school students can’t graduate because they can’t pass the FCAT – which only tests 10th-grade level academic skills.
‘Developmental education’ Lenore Rodicio is vice provost for Student Achievement Initiatives at Miami-Dade College. She said until high school curriculum aligns with college curriculum, state and community colleges need to fill in the gaps by offering remedial courses, also known as “developmental education.” “One of the downfalls of developmental education,” Rodicio said, “is that students get stuck in a cycle where they don’t pass their courses and have to take multiple semesters of the developmental courses before they go in to college-level work.” But Rodicio said offering remedial courses allows Florida colleges to keep their doors open and give all students the opportunity to get a college education. A downside, Rodicio said, is that students who fail a remedial class are less likely to make it to the finish line of graduation.
Inside a remedial class At Miami-Dade College, the fi-
nors have suspended supervisors of elections over performance. “I’m not prepared to say that there’s an occasion here where I think that might be merited, but I think that that’s a question that ought to be asked in one or two of these cases,” Latvala said. “When a county every single election has problems, then you can’t blame a new law or you can’t blame the Legislature; you have to look within that county.” Asked at one point if he was talking
nal project for students in most remedial writing classes is to write a single paragraph by the end of a semester. “We’re looking to see that students can focus a topic, maintain a main idea, develop that point, support that point, use transitions,” said Associate Professor Michelle Riley. And she said it’s very difficult for many of them. During a recent remedial reading class, Riley showed students a sentence on the white board. It read: “The bandage was wound around the wound.” The professor asked students to read the sentence aloud. Many got stuck on the last word – pronouncing the word “wound” (sounds like “boomed”) the same way they pronounce “wound” (sounds like “ground”). The course is one step above the lowest remedial reading level offered at Miami-Dade College. Miami high school teacher Vallet Tucker said she isn’t surprised to hear what students are learning in remedial college courses. She teaches honors English at Miami Northwestern and said her average 10th-grade student reads at a seventh-grade reading level. “And I have honors students,” she pointed out. “This is 10thgrade material and they’re not there yet. The vocabulary is not where it should be – the stamina for reading,” she said. “I look at some of my students and say, ‘I wish we could read this novel,’ but they’re not there yet.”
FCAT focus of criticism The FCAT debuted in 1998. It’s used as a tool to assess high school students, determine their class placement and decide whether they can graduate from high school. But over time, FCAT has also become a management tool. Students’ scores on that test now determine school funding levels, teacher evaluations, and starting this year teacher pay. FCAT scores also help determine whether a school itself stays open or is shut down for poor performance.
In Miami-Dade, the elections supervisor was delivered 56,000 absentee ballots on the two days leading up to the election, Nov. 5-6. “Validating the signature is not just something that’s done by putting ballots in a machine. It’s a manual process. … ” Detzner said. “In this election with record turnouts, one has to recognize there are deadlines that were met by all but one county.” Labasky said he didn’t have the budgets for processing votes earlier or opening more locations. In the Miami-Dade alone. “That’s 400,000 pieces of paper that have to be looked at and verified,” Labasky told senators. “The time consumption is tremendous.” Nearly 8.5 million votes were cast this fall. And for the first time, more voters cast absentee and early ballots than voted on Election Day, Detzner said.
Aaron Deslatte of the Orlando Sentinel (MCT) and Brandon Larrabee of the News Service Of Florida contributed to this report.
Critics of the FCAT say teachers, under pressure to help students achieve higher test scores, have emphasized test-taking skills over core subject lessons. Students are taught to memorize facts and eliminate answers on multiple-choice questions. “From the time a child is in kindergarten, every option that a child is given has four answers for which two or three can be easy eliminated,” said Raquel Regalado, a Miami-Dade School Board member. “Unfortunately, life doesn’t give you four options for which two or three can be easily eliminated. And that’s the problem.”
Tougher test The FCAT has become more rigorous over the years in reading, writing and math. But the material doesn’t align with what is tested on the college entrance exam. Policy makers have understood this for a while. In 2006, the research arm of the Florida Legislature, widely known by its acronym OPPAGA, studied remedial education in community colleges. The study concluded that the FCAT created a disconnect between the skills taught in public schools and those needed in college. Success on the FCAT, the state accountability office found, “does not ensure students are prepared for college-level work.” OPPAGA noted that despite previous reports pointing out the same problems, state education leaders and legislators had not reviewed the effectiveness of the FCAT.
Would be dropouts Matthew Ladner, a policy and research adviser for Jeb Bush’s Foundation for Excellence in Education, said the FCAT, emphasized when Bush was governor, helped increase the high school graduation rate. In the 2010-2011 school year, Florida graduated the most students, and students of color, in the state’s history. “We should not view the fact that these students then go on to an institution of higher edu-
cation and have to take a remedial course necessarily as a catastrophic failure,” Ladner said. “... (A) lot of those students in Florida higher education institutions today would have dropped out of high school 15 years ago.” The increasing number of people entering college, he said, may be a factor in rising remedial education numbers.
Damaging illusion Some students who excel in public school and do well on the FCAT graduate thinking they are well-prepared for higher education, only to find they’re not ready at all. Shakira Lockett’s reality was that she needed extensive remedial work at Miami-Dade College. She finally completed her two-year journalism program in May – two years later than she’d expected going in. Many students can’t make it all the way through. Research shows that students who require remedial education are less likely to earn a degree than students who don’t require remediation.
‘Just me’ Lockett remembers when her first remedial class instructor challenged her classmates to continue to make it to the finish line. Many of her classmates went on to the next remedial course with her. But when Lockett finally got her degree, those students didn’t share the stage with her. “None of my friends were behind me,” Lockett said. “None of the people that I knew. It was just me. And I felt really, really accomplished.”
The Florida Center for Investigative Reporting is a nonprofit news organization supported by foundations and individual contributions. For more information, visit fcir. org. StateImpact Florida is an educating reporting project of NPR, WUSF in Tampa and WLRN in Miami. For more information, visit http://stateimpact.npr.org.
DECEMBER 7 - DECEMBER 13, 2012
FLORIDA
A3
Boy Scouts resisted background checks BY JASON FELCH AND KIM CHRISTENSEN LOS ANGELES TIMES (MCT)
After reports of widespread sexual abuse of children in the late 1980s, several leading youth organizations began conducting criminal background checks of volunteers and staff members. Big Brothers Big Sisters ordered the checks for all volunteers starting in 1986. Boys and Girls Clubs of America recommended their use the same year. One of the nation’s oldest and largest youth groups, however, was opposed — the Boy Scouts of America. Scouting officials argued that background checks would cost too much, scare away volunteers and provide a false sense of security. They successfully lobbied to kill state legislation that would have mandated FBI fingerprint screening. While touting their efforts to protect children, the Scouts for years resisted one of the most basic tools for preventing abuse.
‘Half-hearted’ screening As a result, the organization let in hundreds of men with criminal histories of child molestation, many of whom went on to abuse more children, according to a Los Angeles Times analysis of the Scouts’ confidential abuse files. Scouting did not require criminal background checks for all volunteers until 2008 despite calls from parents and staff who said its vetting system didn’t work. In 1989, a Scout committee chairman in St. Paul, Minn., decried the organization’s “half-hearted” screening in a letter to headquarters. “BSA is only creating an illusion of performing what they claim,” K. Russell Sias wrote to Scout chief executive Ben Love. “It becomes quite clear that BSA is more concerned in ‘passing the buck’ than in accepting responsibility for those who are its adult leaders.” That same year, a Las Vegas scoutmaster with a criminal history of exposing himself to boys was arrested for sexually abusing a 12-year-old Scout.
Hundreds molested From 1985 to 1991 — when the detailed files obtained by The Los Angeles Times end — the Boy Scouts admitted more than 230 men with previous arrests or convictions for sex
Speaker of the House John Boehner looks on as President Barack Obama meets with a bipartisan group of congressional leaders in the Roosevelt Room of the White House on Nov. 16. When Boehner announced the 19 House committee chairs, not one was a minority. OLIVIER DOULIERY/ABACA PRESS/MCT
crimes against children, the analysis found. The men were accused of molesting nearly 400 boys while in Scouting. They accounted for one in six of those expelled for alleged abuse during those years. Scouting officials declined to be interviewed but said in a prepared statement that they have enhanced their policies over the years and tried “to ensure we are in line with and, where possible, ahead of society’s knowledge of abuse and best practices for prevention.”
‘Perversion files’ The Scouts’ past handling of child sexual abuse has come under increased scrutiny since October, after the court-ordered release of hundreds of confidential files dating back decades. The Times earlier obtained and analyzed a larger and more recent set of files — about 1,900 dossiers opened from 1970 to 1991. The records, called the “perversion files” by Scouting officials, have been a key tool for nearly a century, intended to keep out men expelled for alleged abuse. The files also offer a detailed record of the system’s failures. The Times reported in August that from 1970 to 1991 dozens of men previously expelled had slipped back into the program, only to be accused of molesting again. The Times later reported that Scouting officials failed to report hundreds of alleged abusers to police and often hid the allegations from parents and the public. The organization has fought in court to prevent the release of more recent files, making it impossible to determine how many men with criminal histories were caught in the organization after 1991.
DAVID BUTOW/LOS ANGELES TIMES/MCT
Joshua Solomon poses at his Redwood City, Calif., home with his Boy Scout uniform. Solomon kept his uniform in his closet for 30 years, a cotton and nylon reminder of the sexual abuse he said he endured as a 12-year-old in Berkeley’s Troop 22.
Inside the ‘perversion files’
From a parent
In the late 1980s, a parent and a local Scouting official separately warned in letters to the Boy Scouts of America that the screening system for volunteers was seriously flawed. Criminal checks for all volunteers were not required until 2008.
The black eye which scouting has suffered in this community could easily have been avoided if the council had taken the simple expedient of doing a background investigation on Shilling before allowing him to become a scoutmaster.
Abuse risks downplayed In 1993, leaders of several major youth organizations were called to testify before a congressional panel about a proposed law urging states to require employees and volunteers of nonprofits to undergo FBI fingerprint checks — the gold standard in criminal screening. Some youth groups were supportive. Big Brothers Big Sisters already was doing background checks. But the Boy Scouts said fingerprint screening would be an unacceptable burden. “Many worthy volunteers
From a Scouting official
Switched course in 2003
From these half-hearted attempts by BSA, it becomes quite clear that BSA is more concerned in “passing the buck” than in accepting responsibility for those who are it’s adult leaders.
Source: Boy Scouts of America Graphic: Los Angeles Times
would simply not wish to subject themselves to being fingerprinted,” testified Law-
risks of child sexual abuse in youth organizations, saying most molestations occurred among family members. As drafted, he added, the federal law would establish a standard that could result in “massive civil justice damages” against groups that did not do the checks. The Boy Scouts were in a unique position to know how easily child molesters could slip into youth groups. Its files showed that at least 300 were caught in the Scouts from 1970 to 1991, according to the Times analysis. But the organization had never studied the files and wouldn’t do so for many years.
© 2012 MCT
rence Potts, then the Scouts’ head of administration. Potts downplayed the
The National Child Protection Act passed with limits on liability and costs that the Boy Scouts had requested. The Scouts then led a coalition of youth groups, including the YMCA and the Girl Scouts, that fought against mandates for fingerprint checks in Florida, Pennsylvania and other states. In 1994, Scouting required background checks for employees — but not
volunteers. A spokesman explained that screening volunteers might cost as much as $41 million. “We don’t have close to that,” he said. That year, Scouting had income of $486 million, according to the Chronicle of Philanthropy, and was the second-largest recipient of private support among youth groups nationwide. Nine years later, the Scouts switched course. In April 2003, as the child sex abuse scandal in the Roman Catholic Church was making headlines, Scouting began requiring criminal background checks for new volunteers. In a press release, the organization said the “state of the art” screenings would complement its “nationally recognized” youth protection program. But the new policy did not cover volunteers already in the organization. It would be four more years before the Scouts mandated criminal checks for all volunteers.
More of the same: White males to head House committees No minorities, women selected for top positions
ranking member of the judiciary committee. South Carolina Congressman James Clyburn also is likely to remain third in the ranks of the House leadership.
BY ZENITHA PRINCE TRICE EDNEY NEWS WIRE
Limited field?
U.S. House Speaker John Boehner has announced the House committee chairs for the 113th Congress. The 19 names proffered on Nov. 27 are all White men — no women, no minorities. It is a move that seems to belie the GOP’s mea culpas about its lack of diversity — apologies that were prodded by the party’s election losses, mostly at the hands of women and minority voters. The selections also are in glaring contrast to the Democratic contingent on Capitol Hill: White men are expected to represent only 47 percent of the Democratic Caucus in the next Congress. The group is expected to name at least nine women and minorities among their 19 committee leaders, including California representative Maxine Waters, who is likely to be the ranking member of the financial services committee, and John Conyers (D-Mich.), who will likely retain his spot as
GOP apologists argue that Boehner had a limited field to choose from — House Republicans lost one of their two Black members in the recent elections in freshman Florida Rep. Allen West, and one of its eight Latino members, leaving only eight racial or ethnic minorities in the Caucus. And, the GOP caucus comprises a mere 7 percent of women — 17 women will be among the ranks of 234 or 235 Republican members in January. Boehner did include women in Caucus leadership positions. Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash.), will be the Republican Conference chairman, the fourth top Republican in the House; Rep. Lynn Jenkins (R-Kan.), will be the conference’s vice-chair, and Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.), will act as conference secretary.
This story is special to the Trice Edney News Wire from the Afro American Newspaper.
EDITORIAL
A4
DECEMBER 7 - DECEMBER 13, 2012
Prison telephone rates exploiting inmate families In Cook County jails, prisoners are charged as much as $15 a call to be in touch with their relatives. The exploitive rates can force families – already struggling with the burdens of having a loved one locked up – to choose between supporting their loved one or paying for heat or food. An Illinois study found that the price of phone calls from prison was one of the two most significant barriers to family contact during incarceration.
Legalized kickback Why are the most captive and vulnerable being charged such brutal rates for a phone call? Because they can be. They have no choice in the provider. The
Phone companies’
vice by emphasizing that states have passed laws banning jail phone contracts that generate revenue for government bodies. But the Federal Commumake it harder for prisoners nications Commission has and their families to stay in been dithering for nearly a touch. Yet studies show that decade on regulations that family contact and support would either break up mois directly related to the suc- nopolies or impose price cess of a prisoner after re- caps on long-distance prislease. on telephone rates and put a lid on the price-gouging. Calls reduce But action has been derecidivism layed in wake of an aggresAs the Prison Policy Ini- sive lobbying effort by pristiative reports, the 2012 Re- on phone companies. The phone companies publican Party Platform enand prison officials argue dorses “family friendly policies . . . [to] reduce the rate that the extra charges are of recidivism, thus reducing needed to pay for security the enormous fiscal and so- screening of inmates’ calls. cial costs of incarceration.” But New York State banned The 2012 Democrat- kickbacks years ago, requiric Party Platform also sup- ing low-cost service, while ports initiatives to reduce doing screening. Currently Global Tel-Link recidivism. A sensible step would be to lower prison charges New York prisoners and their families about 5 telephone rates. According to the Cen- cents per minute for local ter for Media Justice, eight and long-distance calls.
Rev. the prison systems can cash cow Jesse L. make money for the prison The result makes prison- systems. Jackson, telephone use a cash cow These outrageous rates Sr. for the phone companies TRICEEDNEYWIRE.COM
prison system cuts a deal with a telephone company that pays the state a “commission” — what the New York Times calls a “legalized kickback” — that ranges from 15 to 60 percent of the revenue. Thus, as a report by the Prison Policy Initiative details, state prison systems have no incentive to select the company with the lowest rates. Instead, the correctional departments gain the most by selecting the company that provides the highest commissions.
— and a brutal exploitation of the families of prisoners who pay the charges. Not surprisingly, over the past few years, three corporations have come to monopolize the service of 90 percent of all incarcerated persons, making it even easier to control rates. The Cook County Jail contract is with Securus Technologies. The Dallasbased company has contracts across the state of Illinois, and with a total of 2,200 jails and prisons nationwide, provides phone service for some 850,000 inmates. Securus peddles its ser-
VISUAL VIEWPOINT: SUSAN RICE
$17 a minute Compare that with Georgia, where inmates pay $17 a minute for a 15-minute long-distance call. Again, by contrast, the federal prison system has inexpensive phone service, using a computer-controlled system that enables inmates to place calls to a limited list of numbers. Rep. Bobby Rush from Illinois and Rep. Henry Waxman from California have joined in calling on the FCC to act. It’s time to end a shameless system that benefits a few big corporations at the expense of the poor families trying to support loved ones.
The Rev. Jesse L. Jackson, Sr. is president and CEO of the Rainbow/ PUSH Coalition. Click on this story at www.flcourier.com to write your own response.
Crabs rise from bottom of barrel with help
Taylor Jones, Political cartoons.com
Random thoughts of a free Black mind, v. 160 Glad to be back – Been traveling so I’ve been absent from this space, thanks for asking... Bro. Prez – After whipping up on Mitt Romney, he’s fighting again with recalcitrant House Republicans, this time about going over the so-called “fiscal cliff.” I’ve criticized Bro. Prez’s poor negotiation skills before; in the past, he’s made basic mistakes like not demanding concessions and negotiating against himself. If any deal is cut, it’ll be after Christmas. And it wouldn’t surprise me if Bro. Prez caves by cutting a last-minute deal to get this over with rather than standing his ground, going over the cliff, and dealing with a new, weaker GOP House majority... China vs. America – There’s an economic battle going on. Travel enough in the Caribbean and in Africa and you’ll see Chinese investment everywhere. Where are we? Though we give billions in foreign aid, America spends billions more putting military boots on the ground worldwide. The Chinese are taking over the planet’s economics – including ours – without firing a shot. They loan us billions which we spend to support hundreds of U.S. military bases around the world, then they show up in strategic nations with open check-
quick takes from #2: straight, no chaser
Charles W. Cherry II, Esq. PUBLISHER
books. But when it comes to Americans, particularly Black Americans trying to do business in the Caribbean and in Africa, places which we have natural cultural affinities, why isn’t America putting Black entrepreneurs front and center in building business relationships in these countries? By the way, Chinese stonemasons – not Americans – carved the MLK Memorial in D.C. Press reports are that they worked “for the glory of China” and they may never have been paid. You can bet China got a piece of the $120 million that the project cost. What would MLK, who was murdered while fighting for the dignity of work for fair pay, have said about that?
Contact me at ccherry2@gmail.com; holler at me at www.facebook.com/ ccherry2; follow me on Twitter @ccherry2.
Opinions expressed on this editorial page are those of the writers, and do not necessarily reflect the editorial stance of the newspaper or the publisher.
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Not too long ago President Barack Obama was being criticized for not having a very diverse presidential staff. Today, he is being criticized for having too many Blacks in important positions. However, I am not one of those critics. The way I see it, the president has made a conscious decision to hire more and more people like him. Several of his Ivy League buddies and friends are getting key appointments. Now, if the president would hire some of the activists in the Black community that he worked with while community “organizing,” we might be getting somewhere.
Ivy League Blacks Most, not all, but most Blacks that attend Ivy League schools like Harvard, Princeton and Cornell have more in common with their White classmates than with Black people that are exploited, oppressed, suppressed, refused and abused in the ghettos and barrios of America. The president’s darkskinned buddies don’t
Lucius Gantt THE GANTT REPORT
support Louis Farrakhan or worship with Jeremiah Wright. United Nations Ambassador Susan Rice has been the target of criticism by right wing conservatives for comments she made after a U.S. Embassy was attacked in Libya that resulted in the deaths of several Americans. It has been suggested that after taking hit after hit and after being “jacked” by conservative politicians and Fox News reporters and talk show hosts, Susan Rice may have a tough time replacing Hillary Clinton as America’s Secretary of State.
Qualified to serve There is no question about Rice’s qualifications for the job but the qualified Rice (Condoleeza) that came before Susan was burnt by what the fresh Rice is accused of, making false
statements to the American people about military operations or the lack thereof. I hate for people to attack Black women or any person of color, but I don’t care who gets the Secretary of State job because all the new hire will do is rubber stamp and parrot the positions of Wall Street, the World Bank and the world’s military industrial complexes. I just find it interesting that everyday Black citizens are always ignored until it is time to run and support someone of color that will rarely support AfricanAmericans or Africans. Now, we should tell the world how much we love Brown Rice and how much we hate Cracker Jacks. Rice and crabs is a tasty dish but even if a crab rises to the top of the political barrel the crab still would have to thank her lowly brothers and sisters for letting her ascend.
Contact Lucius Gantt at www.allworldconsultants.net. Click on this story at www.flcourier. com to write your own response.
Ebony disses Black folks Reading Ebony Magazine’s feature article, “100 Most Influential AfricanAmericans” in its December 2012-January 2013 issue, was very revealing on the low opinion the publication has of its readers in particular and of the larger Black community in general. A brief statement before the listing proclaims, among other things, “…In this issue EBONY selects the 100 primary influencers and game changers who have made vital accomplishments during the past year.” During a year of a presidential election, of continued economic dislocation, of the continued problem of dealing with Black-onBlack homicide among lowincome Black males, the list published by the most widely distributed general interest Black magazine in the country includes a 16-year old gymnast, Gabby Douglas and 19-year old pro basketball player, Anthony Davis. It also includes “Influential African-Americans” such as recording artists Rihanna and Cee Lo Green; forward NBA Le Bron James; entertainer Nicki Minaj; actor Jesse Williams; forward NBA Kevin Durant; celebrity stylist June Ambrose; actress/activist Jurnee Smollen; artist/musician/activist Theaster Gates; actor/ radio and talk show host Steve Harvey; comedian/ actor Kevin Hart; film critic, The Boston Globe Wesley Morris; and gospel artists Mary Mary. Further listees as most
A. Peter Bailey TRICEEDNEYWIRE.COM
influential African-Americans are event designer Diann Valentine; authors Ashley and Je Quavis; entertainment moguls Beyoncé and Jay-Z; singer and pianist Alice Hall Moran and Jason Moran; director TJ Martin, actor/publisher Zane; tennis player Serena Williams; television personality/ author Wendy Williams; quarterback NFL Cam Newton; and president of The Style Network, Salaam Coleman Sanith. I am sure that all of the above are talented individuals. But there is no way, considering the times in which we are living, that they could be the year’s “primary influencers and game changers” among African-Americans.
Real most influential It is next to impossible to believe that they are more influential than Rev. Jeremiah Wright, who all year long has been delivering powerful, perceptive, solutionsoriented speeches and sermons at churches throughout the country; or then attorney Faya Rose Sanders, founder of the National Black Voting Rights Museum in Selma, Ala. and leader of a campaign against honoring with a statue Nathan Bedford Forrest, the former Confederate gen-
eral who ordered the coldblooded murder of 300 captured Black Union soldiers during the Civil War and who also founded the Klu Klux Klan, a terrorist organization. They are also not more influential than George Fraser, whose FraserNet continued in 2012 being the “largest network of Black professionals in the world” or than former Essence editor-in-chief Susan Taylor, director of the National CARES Mentoring Movement which advances educational opportunities for many Black youngsters.
Living in never-never land There are numerous other Black folks who made major contributions in 2012. I once heard Ebony’s founder, the late John H. Johnson, whom I considered to be one of the major game-changers of the 20th century, say that his magazine basically reflects where Black folks are at any given time. If that’s still the case, this article is graphic evidence that today’s Ebony believes that many, if not most of us, are living in some kind of economic and cultural never-never land. Ebony should be ashamed of itself.
Peter Bailey, a former associate editor of Ebony, is currently editor of Vital Issues: The Journal of African American Speeches. Click on this story at www.flcourier.com to write your own response.
DECEMBER 7 - DECEMBER 13, 2012
Kindergartners need more time to learn About 4 million American children celebrated a very big milestone this fall – their first day of kindergarten. Far too many were already a step or more behind their peers. If we want all of our children to be school-ready so that they can become college-, career-, and workforce-ready, it’s long past time to offer universal quality prekindergarten followed by universal full-day kindergarten in the United States. A while back the bestselling book “All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten’’ touched a chord with its simple messages: share everything; clean up your own mess; don’t take things that aren’t yours; and say you’re sorry when you hurt somebody.
List of skills But those kinds of lessons sound very quaint today as 45 states and the District of Columbia move towards implementing Common Core Standards that shift the focus for kindergarteners to mastering a new list of skills such as: solving addition and subtraction word problems; describing measurable attributes of objects (such as length or weight); analyzing and comparing two and three-dimensional shapes; using informal language to describe their similarities, differences, parts, and other attributes; spelling simple words phonetically drawing on knowledge of sound-letter relationships; and participating in shared research and writing projects. For too many kindergarteners, though, one thing is still a throwback to the old days: going to
Marian Wright Edelman NNPA COLUMNIST
school for only half a day. In order to master the skills covered in the Common Core Standards, the amount of time a kindergartener gets to go to school each day can vary from as little as 2½ hours to a full day of six hours. As even a 5-year-old can see, that’s not fair. It’s time to stop demanding performance from children we do not give the supports they need to succeed. Public education in America is built on the foundation of equal opportunity for all children. But while most Americans think of all children as having access to a robust K-12 education system, in many places full-day kindergarten is a huge missing half step in the early learning continuum. Research comparing full-day kindergarten (“Full-Day K”) and half-day kindergarten suggests that children benefit more from developmentally appropriate Full-Day K.
Educational development Full-Day K plays a vital role in children’s educational development, boosting cognitive learning, creative problem-solving, social competence, promoting positive school outcomes including faster gains on literacy and language measures, better attendance through the primary grades, and
higher academic achievement in later grades. As the expectations for kindergarten in the Common Core Standards show, kindergartners across the country also are being expected to meet more rigorous academic benchmarks than ever before just like students in every other grade. The case for making kindergarten equal to every other school day seems obvious. Yet too many children aren’t given an opportunity to attend kindergarten for a full schoolday. Instead, access to Full-Day K is more like playing a game of chance in which the lottery of geography and income determine who wins. Millions of children are the losers. Consider these facts: Only 10 states and the District of Columbia require by statute that school districts provide publicly-funded Full-Day K. An additional 34 states require school districts to provide half-day kindergarten, and 6 don’t require school districts to provide kindergarten at all. Some school districts have voluntarily chosen to provide FullDay K for all students funded through local taxes. Others construct a hodge-podge of funding to provide Full-Day K for some students dependent on factors such as whether a family qualifies for tuition assistance based on family income or whether the child is at risk of school failure. In 12 states, some children can access Full-Day K only if their parents pay tuition for the half of the day not covered by public funds.
EDITORIAL
A5
VISUAL VIEWPOINT: NORQUIST THE MUPPET
John Cole, The Scranton Times-Tribune
Funding cut for Full-Day K States and school districts across the country have cut or delayed funding for Full-Day K as budgets have tightened because of the recession. Unequal access to publiclyfunded full-day and full-week high quality kindergarten programs means too many young children lose a critical opportunity to develop and strengthen foundational skills necessary for success in school and lifelong learning. Many children who attend full day pre-K programs find themselves cut back to half days in kindergarten, which becomes a huge setback for them and hardship for their working families. And although a year of instructional time for kindergartners varies from 540 to 1,080 hours, the expectation of mastery of the Common Core Standards is the same from state to state and district to district no matter how much class time the children receive. If implementation of the rigor-
ous Common Core standards is to succeed, Full-Day K can no longer be viewed as an optional addon, enrichment, or intervention program. It must become a stable part of the pre-K- 3rd grade early learning continuum in every state and school district.
Kindergartners need help What are children in your state – or your neighborhood – getting? Policymakers at all levels of government can help make Full-Day K a reality for all children in urban, suburban, and rural districts. Join CDF in our campaign to make this happen. Kindergarteners like to try to do lots of things all by themselves but they need adults to help speak up for FullDay K.
Marian Wright Edelman is president of the Children’s Defense Fund. For more information, visit www.childrensdefense.org. Click on this story at www.flcourier.com to write your own response.
TV watching expands to Internet – phones vs. tablets I love this time of the year. Oh, yes – the holidays, too – but, I am referring to the release of the newest “Nielsen Cross-Platform Report.’’ The latest edition is called “A New Connected Community,’’ analyzing the constant shifting in how and where consumers watch our content. I love the idea that through the marvels and growth of technology, “the community” of consumers is all of us, one people – multiple generations, all ethnicities and races, breaking down socio-economic boundaries. We are connected. To each other and to our content. And, boy do we consumers love our visual and informational content. Big time. 24/7. Let’s break it down.
Keeping it old-school According to the report, Americans spent more than 34 hours a week in front of a TV set in the second quarter of 2012. Being sophisticated consumers (and regular readers of this column, right?), we know that being in front of a TV can mean watching traditional TV, timeshifted TV, DVDs or
CHERYL PEARSONMCNEIL NNPA COLUMNIST
game playing. For African-Americans, those numbers skew higher. We know from the “African-American Consumers: Still Vital, Still Growing 2012 Report,’’ that on average we spend nearly six and a half hours a day of television viewing in all of its forms. In studying the entire U.S. population, the cross-platform report gives an even closer and later analysis of weekly TV watching in hours and minutes among African-Americans over age two: • Traditional TV - 44:25 (hours: minutes) • Watching Timeshifted TV 1:56 • Using a DVD/Blu-ray Device - 1:26 • Using a Game Console - 1:41 • Using the Internet on a computer - 4:16
at about 11 percent. You know what the really cool thing is about tablet ownership? The data shows that young folks don’t corner the market on trying the newest or the latest in this instance. Tablet New kids on the block Then there are those near- owners tend to be older and more ubiquitous extensions of us – our affluent. smartphones and tablets. Smartphones now claim more than 50 Multitasking masters percent of the market. PenetraAll of us are becoming more tion of these devices is, however, adept at doing it all, engaging highest among ethnic groups. our smartphones or tablets while Sixty-two percent of African- watching TV. The latest crossAmericans, 60 percent of His- platform report calls it “Simultapanics and 70 percent of Asian- neous Usage” and some of it looks Americans in the U.S. own smart- like this: phones. The conclusion is that Eighty-five percent of tablet and smartphones provide an opportu- smartphone owners use their denity for American consumers who vices at least once a month while might not have regular access to a watching TV. computer to get on the Internet. Those age 25-34 and 55-64 are As for tablets – they seem to be most likely to use their tablets everywhere with new models of- several times a day while watchfered by any number of providers ing TV. at a dizzying rate. Just two years Smartphone multitaskers are a ago, tablets were a novelty. bit younger. Nearly half of 18-24 In that short period, this de- year olds use their smartphones vice has found its way into near- while watching TV at least once ly 20 percent of American homes. a day. Tablet ownership among AfricanForty-one percent of tablet Americans, however, remains low owners use their device at least
• Watching Video on the Internet - :52 • Mobile Subscribers Watching Video - :15 on a Mobile Phone
once a day while watching TV. Thirty-nine percent of smartphone owners do this daily. 55-64 year olds are the heaviest tablet Web surfers and email checkers during commercial breaks and programs. Nearly one-third of all tablet users age 25-64 check sports scores on their tablets while watching TV. Emailing is the heaviest simultaneous smartphone activity across the board, with 50 percent of users checking email during TV shows and commercials. Do you know what this means for all of us as consumers? It means advertisers, marketers and media companies have new ways and ever-growing opportunities to woo us and reach out to us with their messages. So even more . . . you matter.
Cheryl Pearson-McNeil is senior vice president of Public Affairs and Government Relations for Nielsen. For more information and studies, go to www.nielsenwire.com. Click on this story at www.flcourier.com to write your own response.
Republican Party disrespects Blacks; Democrats ignore them “Any time you throw your weight behind a political party that can’t keep promises it made you during election time and you’re dumb enough to continue to identify with that political party, you’re not only a chump but traitor to your race.” – Malcolm X What’s your personal political ideology and most important value? Do you agree that certain political parties and issues are more important to Blacks than Whites? A political party typically seeks to influence government policy, usually by nominating candidates with aligned political views and trying to seat them in political office. In your political alignments, are you getting what you need and deserve in return, and not chump change? It was a Republican president who signed the Emancipation Proclamation. The Republicans Party was the party of most Blacks prior to the 1960s, including Frederick Douglass, Harriet Tubman, Sojourner Truth, Booker T. Washington, and Dr. Martin Luther King, Sr. Some of the founding fathers of the NAACP were Republicans as was the party that desegregated the South’s schools and implemented America’s affirmative action programs. Republicans believe in the free enterprise system. The Office of Minority Business
WILLIAM REED BUSINESS EXCHANGE
Enterprise, a federal agency dedicated to minority business, was established by Republican President Richard Nixon in March of 1969. African-American history is most often presented through liberal political lens that skew contributions and examples of African-Americans outside the liberal mainstream. Black Americans have been taught that Republicans are racist and care nothing about Black empowerment. Black Republicans are often labeled “insufficiently Black.” In truth, the history of the Republican Party’s relationship with Blacks is one of a bright start followed by steady decline. Unfortunately, a reliance on family and faith has become a casualty of the modern welfare state, contributed to the destruction of family cohesion and supplanted faith in God with faith in government.
Black conservatism Black conservatism is a political and social movement rooted in communities of African descent that aligns largely with the Ameri-
can conservative movement. Since the Civil Rights Movement, the African-American community has generally fallen to the left of the political spectrum and has aligned itself on the side of liberalism, but Black conservatism emphasizes traditionalism, capitalism, free markets, and social values consistent with the context of Blacks and their religious beliefs. “Our goals promote freedom for all and encouraging entrepreneurship,” says Donald Scoggins of the Republicans for Black Empowerment. In light of 2012 election results, Scoggins is on a mission to retool the Republican Party. He’s seeking to raise profiles and awareness of Black Republicans and their number of elected officials. Scoggins invites inquires via Donelsco@aol.com. Allen West is an example of an elected Black Republican. Atlanta-born West, who was defeated for re-election this year, is known for comments alleging that Democratic “handouts” to the poor have resulted in a “modern form of slavery” and rejects Black History Month honors the achievements of African-Americans throughout history and that is a good thing.
family and faith, which allowed many African-Americans to survive the horrors of Reconstruction, racial injustice and violent acts of discrimination, has become a casualty of the modern welfare state, which has contributed to the destruction of family cohesion, supplanted faith in God with faith in government and fashioned many African-Americans into a Democratic voting bloc that has not improved the lot of the impoverished among them.
Liberal political lens
While African-American history is important, the way it is most often presented through a liberal political lens skews the contributions and examples of AfricanAmericans who do not toe the liberal line. One especially sees this in the civil rights establishment’s response to Justice Clarence Thomas and more recently to Rep. Allen West, “the idea of the safety net becoming a hammock.” West’s point is that Democrats who claim to care so for AfricanAmericans, in reality, have done them a grave disservice by perpetuating myths of Republican racism and addicting them to a government check instead of liberation through education and strong Casualty of welfare state families. Heritage Foundation data supUnfortunately, a reliance on
ports West saying: “The public’s dependence on the federal government shot up 23 percent under President Obama.” Since the 1930s, the Democratic Party has put forth and promoted social liberal and progressive platforms; and for more than 40 years Blacks have increasingly aligned themselves with Democrats rarely questioning social policies rooted in low expectations and government dependency; economic and tax policies that stifle economic growth, job creation, personal savings and investment; and education policies that refuse to subject public schools to the competition of “school choice.” Blacks are naïve if they continue in their status and low regard among either of the dominant parties. The Democrats, led by President Obama, plainly ignore Blacks, while the Republican establishment disrespects and disregards us. But, apparently Blacks cannot envision leveraging our voting bloc into party platforms, policies and programs that reflect Black Americans’ needs and wants.
William Reed is head of the Business Exchange Network and available for speaking/seminar projects through the Bailey Group.org. Click on this story at www.flcourier.com to write your own response.
TOj A6
FLORIDA
DECEMBER 7 – DECEMBER 13, 2012
Bolden’s future as NASA chief uncertain Administrator’s term riddled with missteps, including one before presidential election
exploration for years to come,” he said. “When a president begins a second term in office, there’s always gossip about who’s leaving and who’s staying. Sena-
tor Nelson doesn’t speculate on that. But he fully expects Charlie Bolden to continue as administrator,” said Dan McLaughlin, a Nelson spokesman. Still, Bolden had a rough
start as NASA chief. In spring 2010, he appeared to undermine Obama’s plan to cancel the troubled Constellation moon program when he backed additional test flights of its
Ares rocket system. That summer, he got the administration in hot water for telling the Arabic news network Al-Jazeera that a top priority given to him by Obama was to “find a way to reach out to the Muslim world.” Then in September 2010, Bolden was reprimand-
ed by the White House for violating its ethics code when, during a discussion about a NASA biofuels program, he sought the opinion of Marathon Oil Corp. — where he once served on the board and held shares worth up to $1 million.
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WASHINGTON — The NASA community is used to asking big questions, but none has loomed larger in recent weeks than this: What will happen to NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden? His future — like that of other agency heads — depends on whether President Barack Obama wants him back for a second term. But the question is especially pertinent in Bolden’s case, as his time at NASA has been marked by several missteps, including an offhand criticism of Obama just before Election Day. Sources inside Congress and the administration said it’s wholly possible Bolden, 66, stays at NASA into 2013 and beyond. They cauCharlie tion, howBolden ever, that his return is an open question, as the White House remains concerned whether the former astronaut and Marine Corps major general is committed to Obama’s vision for the space agency.
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Undercut Obama’s goals Bolden’s fate could be significant for Kennedy Space Center, which is charting a new future — as, among other things, a launch base for commercial spacecraft — in the wake of the space shuttle’s 2011 retirement. He has never fully embraced Obama’s plan to remake NASA through heavy investment in technology, nor the idea of increased reliance on commercial rockets to ferry crew and cargo to the space station. Instead, he has been more closely aligned with the development of a big, new government-built rocket capable of taking astronauts to the moon or Mars, a rocket that Congress — with the administration’s reluctant approval — ordered be built by 2017. Speculation about Bolden’s tenure has spiked since he appeared to undercut Obama’s goals for NASA during an Oct. 30 meeting with top-level NASA employees.
Timing questioned “If the president had gotten his way, the No. 1 priority for the agency probably would have been something like technology development,” Bolden said. “That is something about which he is passionate, and if you notice, it is not one of (NASA’s) three major priorities” — which are the space station, launching the new James Webb telescope and building the agency’s new rocket and capsule. As jarring as Bolden’s seeming defiance of the White House was the timing: a week before Election Day and amid a campaign in which Obama had been accused of killing NASA. Bolden declined an interview request but issued a statement that praised NASA’s current course.
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HEALTH FOOD || HEALTH TRAVEL | |MONEY SCIENCE | BOOKS | MOVIES | TV | AUTOS LIFE | FAITH | EVENTS | CLASSIFIEDS | ENTERTAINMENT | SPORTS | FOOD December 7 - December 13, 2012 How to make
IFE/FAITH
small party delights See page B3
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A family holiday guide See page B4
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Books
SPECIAL TO THE COURIER
In an excerpt from his recently released book, Tampa Bay Times TV and media critic Eric Deggans tells how he tried to engage Fox News host Bill O’Reilly this year on why he called Deggans a race-baiter on his show years ago. “The first and only time I met Fox News Channel star Bill O’Reilly, he looked at me like I owed him money,’’ Deggans writes in his first book, “RaceBaiter: How the Media Wields Dangerous Words to Divide a Nation.’’ “The situation was, I will admit, an uncomfortable one. He and a publicity executive at Fox News had already turned down an interview request for this very book, despite the fact that he inspired the title. And though he planned several stops around my St. Petersburg, Fla., home base to tout his own book in early 2012, sharing a cup of joe with me was not particularly high on his to-do list. That’s because we have, as a therapist might say, a bit of history.’’ Along with his position at the Tampa Bay Times, Deggans is a freelance contributor to National Public Radio, CNN.com,
SECTION
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Eric Deggans is the TV and media critic for the Tampa Bay Times based in St. Petersburg.
Dissecting how media feeds fears, prejudices and hate In ‘Race-Baiter,’ Eric Deggans reveals how thinly veiled racism in the media is driving Americans apart.
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the Huffington Post, and other national media outlets.
What it means
Deggans continues, “At various times on his top-rated evening cablecast, O’Reilly has called me “dishonest,” “racially motivated,” and “one of the biggest race-baiters in the country” for criticizing the way he talks about race on his program. So as I planned this tome on how race issues and prejudice play out in media, I wanted to talk with O’Reilly. And he didn’t want to talk with me.” In “Race-Baiter,” Deggans dissects the powerful ways modern media feeds fears, prejudices, and hate, while also tracing the history of the word and its consequences, intended or otherwise. In describing his book, Deggans points out that many pundits, bloggers and cable news anchors aim for a passionate niche of fans, exacerbating old prejudices and deep-rooted fears to lure viewers, readers or listeners and, in turn, advertising dollars. Deggans said he experienced this firsthand when he was called a “race-baiter” by O’Reilly. Race-baiter is a term coined by the conservative media to describe a person who uses racial tensions to arouse the passion and ire of a particular demographic. Once applied to those who unfairly leveraged racism against minorities, the term has been recast to describe anyone who criticizes prejudice in modern media.
‘Handy road map’
“This book is an attempt to decode the ways media outlets
profit by segmenting Americans. I call it the Tyranny of the Broad Niche; what happens as the biggest pieces of an increasingly fragmented audience are courted at the expense of many others,’’ Deggans said. He calls the book a handy road map to decoding tactics and defusing them. The topics include “Fox News’ use of scary Black people to motivate viewers; the history of how corporations turned angry White men on radio into a moneymaking formula; the uneasy questions raised by activist Al Sharpton’s dual role as MSNBC anchor and advocate for the family of slain teen Trayvon Martin; the way a lack of poverty coverage has allowed politicians to demonize the poor for under-informed audiences,’’ Deggans adds, “In a tribute to how far we have already come on these discussions, it is generally accepted that mainstream society rejects outright racism and prejudice. Which means the best way to defeat such techniques in modern media is simply to expose them; drag implicit messag-
es meant to work on the edges of your mind into the light, as explicit themes the audience must consciously accept or reject. “Of course, by doing that, you risk being accused of bringing up stereotypes and prejudice unfairly. You risk being called
a race-baiter. But sometimes, having that title hung on you by the right people means mostly one thing: You’re on the right track.’’ For more information about the book and Deggans, visit http://ericdeggans.com.
New book explores Miami’s unmelting melting pot BY DR. GLENN ALTSCHULER SPECIAL TO THE FLORIDA COURIER
BOOK REVIEW
Miami is “broken up into nationalities and races and ethnic groups,” a character in “Back to Blood,’’ Tom Wolfe’s fast-paced new novel, declares. Her light-skinned teenage Haitian brother dresses in jeans hung down around his knees, revealing flashy boxer shorts; a Tshirt, featuring a picture of a rasta-rap group; and a multi-colored bandana. He’s dying to be “a Neg” like his friends, she says, “and they want to be like American black gangbangers, and I don’t know what American black gangbangers want to be like.” An immensely popular writer of non-fiction (“The Tom Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test’’ Wolfe and “The Right Stuff’’) and fiction (“The Bonfire of the Vanities’’ and “A Man in Full’’), Wolfe takes satiric aim at America’s un-melting melting pot in Back to Blood.
Overheated prose
His hero, police officer Nestor Camacho, a native of Hialeah, Miami’s “Little Havana,” who regards his triceps as a “geological triumph,” has a penchant for being the wrong man at the right place. When Nestor saves the life of a Cuban
ily turn against him. And he’s launched on a series of adventures that will bring him face-to-face with a Black police chief, crack dealers, porn addicts, a WASP journalist, dealers and collectors at the Miami Basel Art Fair, Jewish residents of an “Active Adult” condominium complex, and Russian oligarchs. Wolfe’s prose is often overheated. And on occasion his dialogue isn’t “in character.” Wolfe emphasizes again and again that Nestor’s sometime girlfriend, Magdalena Otero, had a limited vocabulary, for example, only to have her refer to the Hippocratic Oath, exclaim to herself “Oh, blank and empty middle age! Oh, pointless goals!,” and reflect on “the socially swellest restaurant in Miami” and her “debonair, suave, sophisticated” new beau, with his “lustrous white shirt.”
Barbs lose sting
“Back to Blood: A Novel’’ is a novel by Tom Wolfe. It is published by Little, Brown and Company (704 pages, $30 retail). refugee just before the man sets foot on American soil, unwittingly insuring that he will be sent home, his friends and fam-
Perhaps because some of his satiric targets are so familiar by now, Wolfe’s barbs have lost some of their sting. Modern art, he reminds us, “would be a ludicrous practical joke if otherwise bright people hadn’t elevated it to a higher plane…upon which a lot of money changes hands.” Psychiatrists (“logotherapists”), he indicates, sit still while their patients babble on, as long as they keep coming until they are cured, a day that never comes, or run out of money, or die. And Wolfe tells us that reality TV, his newest target, depends on writers to create a narrative to persuade
viewers they are watching “plain reality.” With identity politics, his main theme, Wolfe, a self-styled literary rabble-rouser, is more likely to raise readers’ blood pressure. His characters embody and endorse stereotypes about racial and ethnic tribalism, and Wolfe does not distance himself from them. Idealizing “big Negs in jail,” many “little Negs,” he suggests, loathe Blacks who study hard for exams. And in urban ghettoes, Blacks believe Cuban cops can’t wait to beat suspects until they urinate blood and confess.
What melting pot?
Apparently, Wolfe does not agree with Dionisio Cruz, “Back to Blood’s’’ mayor of Miami, that since the inhabitants of his city will not become a melting pot in his lifetime, “we should weld ‘em down,” forging a secure, and presumably separate, place for each nationality. For Wolfe, it seems, a person must conclude, as Nestor does, that he does not belong anywhere, that he isn’t even one of his people anymore, to have a chance to climb out of “the little box” that Hialeah has become for Cubans and Overton remains for African-Americans. It is not so simple, you want to tell Officer Camacho and Mr. Wolfe. Nor is it advisable.
Dr. Glenn C. Altschuler is a professor at Cornell University. He wrote this review for the Florida Courier.
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CALENDAR • OBIT
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DECEMBER 7 - DECEMBER 13, 2012
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B-CU’s Jenkins a finalist for coaching job at Southern BY ANDREAS BUTLER FLORIDA COURIER
Brian Jenkins, BethuneCookman University’s head football coach, is one of six finalists for the same position at Southern University in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.. Dr. William Broussard, Southern’s athletic director, plans to interview the candidates by phone this week and name a head coach by Dec. 14. The 41-year old Jenkins is considered a hot commodity among the coaching ranks. “I sought him out and he applied. We have spoken several times,” confirmed Broussard, “He is a tremendous leader, an exceptional talent, and I have followed his career for four years hoping to have an opportunity to hire him.”
KIM GIBSON/FLORIDA COURIER
B-CU’s Brian Jenkins is shown after the Wildcats defeated the Florida A&M Rattlers last month at the Florida Classic in Orlando.
B-CU hopes to keep him Bethune-Cookman officials were aware of Southern’s interest in their coach
but seemed confident that they would retain him. “Coach Jenkins and his staff are out recruiting. Brian and his family are an integral part of the fabric of
our university. Our intent is to have him remain to continue our goal of winning a national championship,’’ said Lynn Thompson, BCU’s athletic director. “The unparalleled success of our football program under his tenure makes him attractive to other universities. We have placed the proper elements around him to ensure this success. At the conclusion of this season, we did our annual review with the intent of developing a comprehensive game plan for even greater success in years to come.’’
Winning record This season, Jenkins led Bethune-Cookman University (B-CU) to a 9-3 record, an 8-0 record in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference, the MEAC title and the Football Championship
Series (FCS) playoffs. In three seasons at B-CU, Jenkins is 27-8 overall, including a 21-3 record in the MEAC. He has led the team to two MEAC titles and two FCS playoff appearances. Jenkins was named both MEAC and the American Football Coaches Association FCS Region 2 Coach of the Year. It was his second MEAC Coach of the Year award. He also won that honor in 2010. In addition, Jenkins also is a finalist for the Eddie Robinson Coach of the Year award, given annually by the Football Writers Association of America.
Other candidates The Southern football program has struggled in recent years, especially when compared to B-CU’s over the past three seasons.
The Jaguars went 4-7 overall and 3-6 in the Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) this season. In the past three years, Southern has amassed 1023 overall record and 8-19 in the SWAC. The Jaguars last won a SWAC title in 2003. Other candidates for the Southern coaching job include the Jaguars’ current interim coach, Dawson Odums, who posted a 4-5 record after taking over for fired coach Stump Mitchell in mid-September; Alabama State’s special teams coordinator, John Hendrick; University of Nevada’s offensive line coach, James Spady; and two other finalists who did not wish for Southern to identify them on Monday because their seasons had not yet come to an end.
Florida-based PR expert provides marketing solutions in new book SPECIAL TO THE FLORIDA COURIER
KOOL & THE GANG
Kool & the Gang will be at the Seminole Coconut Creek Casino Dec. 31 for a 10:30 p.m. show.
Ebony Grimsley, owner of a publicity, marketing and promotions company based in Tampa, has added author to her list of accomplishments for this year. Known for her candid and direct approach to topics related to marketing and public relations, Grimsley shares her years of experience and strategies in her newly released book, “Because You’re Small: EffecEbony tive Marketing Strategies Grimsley for Immediate Implementation.’’ “Because You’re Small’’ was created for the do-it-yourself small business owners and non-profit leaders that are looking for proven strategies to immediately implement. The book takes a hard look at removing excuses from small businesses and non-profit organizations and replaces them with free to low-cost tools and proven techniques for immediate implementation,” Grimsley said.
From blog to book Grimsley, owner and creative director ofAbove Promotions Company, has been featured on MSNBC.com, the Retail Customer Experience, Mainstreet and in other publications. She has emceed a number of events, participated in panels relating to business and marketing, and is a regular guest on a WEAL radio program in North Carolina. By the end of “Because You’re Small,’’ Grimsley notes, “previous excuses for not having a stronger presence or failing to impress potential customers are removed and replaced with a full marketing plan outline, 10 free to low-cost business marketing tools, 19 proven techniques for immediate implementation, reasons to em-
More details released about Belcher murder-suicide
ZIGGY MARLEY
Ziggy Marley will be at the Revolution Live in Fort Lauderdale on Feb. 19 for an 8 p.m. show and House of Blues Orlando Feb. 21 for a 7 p.m. show.
FLORIDA COMMUNITY CALENDAR Tampa: The National Association of Black Accountants Tampa chapter is hosting a toy drive. Donations can be dropped off at 3108 W. Azeele St. More information: Adunni Browne-Marke, adunnibm@ yahoo.com. Tampa: The Harram Court No. 96 Daughters of Isis presents a Holiday Magic Christmas Cabaret Dec. 8 from 8 p.m.-1 a.m. at the American Legion Post #248, 2105 W. Jamaica St. Holiday attire requested; hors d’oeuvres will be served. Cost: $25. More information and tickets: 813-31-0836. Orlando: Comedian Bruce Bruce joins Sheryl Underwood and Tony Rock at the Bob Carr Performing Arts Centre on Feb. 1 for an 8 p.m. show.
brace your current size, the right way to always have a marketing budget and a formula to calculate your social media return on investment.’’ Business leaders from across the country have followed Grimsley’s tips through her company’s blog titled Above Promotions. “When one eats, we all eat. This book gives businesses across the world a chance to succeed and affect other businesses through their success,” Grimsley added. “Because You’re Small’’ is available directly through the publisher’s, Booktango, site through the AbovePromotions.com webpage. It can also be purchased at Amazon, Barnes & Noble and other booksellers. For more information, send email to contactus@abovepromotions.com or call 813-383-1914.
St. Petersburg: Artz4Life presents the 15th annual “Chocolate Nutcracker’’ Dec. 15 at 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. at the Progress Energy Center for the Arts Mahaffey Theater, 400 First St. Tickets range from $17-$37. Jacksonville: A Brand New Woman Conference focusing on health, wealth, relationships and career development will be held Dec. 8 from 11 a.m. – 4 p.m. at the Sheraton Jacksonville Hotel, 10605 Deerwood Park Blvd. Cost: $25. More information: www. totalcareseminars.com. Tampa: The Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus will be at the Tampa Bay Times Forum Jan. 2-Jan. 6 for various show times. More information: www.ringling.com. Jacksonville: The theatrical musical “West Side Story’’ returns to Jacksonville as presented by
The Artist Series at the Times-Union Center for the Performing Arts, through Dec. 9. More information and show times: www artistseriesjax.org. Tampa: Tampa’s Downtown on Ice will take place through Jan. 5. Tickets are $10 for 90 minutes on the ice and covers skate rental. The rink is open from 4 p.m. until 9 p.m. Monday through Thursday nights and Friday nights until 10 p.m. On Saturdays, the rink is open from 10 a.m. until 10 p.m. and Sunday from noon until 9 p.m. More information: tampasdowntownonice.com. St. Petersburg: First Fridays are held in downtown St. Petersburg at 250 Central Ave. between Second and Third Avenues from 5:30 p.m.-10:30 p.m. More information: 727-3933597.
FROM WIRE REPORTS
As both families mourn the loss of Kansas City Chiefs linebacker Jovan Belcher and his girlfriend, Kasandra Perkins, team officials say they knew the athlete’s relationship was on rocks. Belcher, 25, shot 22-year-old Kasandra Perkins at their Kansas City home Saturday morning, then drove to Arrowhead Stadium, where he shot himself in the head in front Jovan of Chiefs general manager Belcher Scott Pioli and Coach Romeo Crennel, police said. According to police, the couple had been arguing over finances and other relationship issues for some time. Allegedly they had started relationship counseling. The New York Post also Kasandra is reporting that the footPerkins ball player spent the night with another woman before committing the murder. He reportedly had dinner with Brittni Glass while Perkins attended a Trey Songz concert. Officials say he spent several hours sleeping in his car before being awoken by police. Belcher then slept over at Glass’s house until 6:45 a.m. Glass said the two were not in a relationship.
Mom’s frantic plea Essence.com reported that upon returning home, Belcher engaged in an ar-
gument with Perkins. Belcher’s mom reportedly heard her son say, “You can’t talk to me like that!” Then Belcher pulled a gun on his girlfriend and shot her multiple times. He then leaned over her body, apologized and kissed her on her forehead, according to Belcher’s mother. Belcher’s mother begged Perkins to stay alive while frantically asking for an ambulance shortly after the Kansas City Chiefs linebacker shot Perkins, according to a recording released Wednesday of the emergency call. “She’s still breathing but please hurry,” Cheryl Shepherd says on the recording of her call with Kansas City emergency dispatchers. “I don’t know how he (inaudible), they were arguing, please hurry.” Shepherd also is heard encouraging Perkins to stay alive. “Stay with me, the ambulance is on the way. Stay with me Kasandra, stay with me,” Shepherd yells. Shepherd told dispatchers that Perkins was bleeding, “just barely” awake and that it looked as though she was wounded in the back. She said Perkins moved when she spoke to her. When a police dispatcher asked about Belcher, Shepherd says only: “He left.” Friends have said the couple had a strained relationship in the weeks before the shooting. Belcher and Perkins lived apart recently but got back together by Thanksgiving, friend Brianne York told The Associated Press. Belcher’s mother has been given temporary custody of their three-month-old child.
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Reindogs Yield: 20 servings Prep Time: 30 minutes Cook Time: 2 to 3 minutes 1 package Hillshire Farm Lit’l Smokies Pretzel twists Mustard Ketchup Heat sausages according to package directions. Break a small pretzel twist in half. Stick a pretzel half into both sides of sausage to res emble antlers. Use 2 small drops of mustard for eyes and a small drop of ketchup for the nose.
Corn Doggies Yield: 20 servings Prep Time: 30 minutes Cook Time: 2 to 3 minutes 1 package Hillshire Farm Lit’l Smokies 1 package (8.5 ounces) corn muffin mix 2/3 cup flour 1 egg, beaten 1 cup milk Vegetable oil for frying Preheat oil to 375°F. Open package of sausages and drain off any liquid. Insert wooden toothpick into tip of each sausage. Mix corn muffin mix, flour, egg and milk in a large bowl until well combined. Working quickly, dip 4 to 5 sausages in batter. Fry for 2 to 3 minutes, or until golden brown and batter is cooked in the center. Drain on paper towels. Repeat with remaining sausages.
DECEMBER 7 – DECEMBER 13, 2012
FOOD
From family Features
Holiday parties should be fun — so why not serve up some tasty appetizers with a creative seasonal twist that will be sure to spice up your gathering? These clever bites start with versatile party favorites Hillshire Farm Lit’l Smokies — and then the fun begins. Start off with an impressive — and edible — wreath for the centerpiece and serve with a cranberry-barbecue dip. Next, dress up your cocktail links with some delicious fare: simmer your Smokies in a zesty sauce; wrap them up in crispy bacon; make a splash with pineapple and edible flowers; dip and fry to make your own mini corn dogs; and turn them into tasty reindogs. With these fun-tastic appetizers, not only will you give guests plenty of food to eat, you’ll give them plenty to talk about. For more recipes to add merriment to your celebrations, visit www.hillshirefarm. com.
Pigs in Heaven Yield: 20 servings Prep Time: 15 minutes Cook Time: 20 minutes 1 package Hillshire Farm Lit’l Smokies 1 package thick sliced bacon Preheat oven to 400°F. Open package of sausages and drain off any liquid. Cut each bacon slice into 3 to 4 pieces. Wrap each sausage with a piece of bacon; secure with a toothpick. Place on a 15 x 10 x 1-inch baking pan. Bake 15 to 20 minutes, or until bacon is browned.
Lit’l Luaus Yield: 20 servings Prep Time: 5 minutes Cook Time: 3 minutes 1 package Hillshire Farm Lit’l Smokies Canned pineapple (1 can) Edible flowers Heat sausages according to package directions. Cut 1 pineapple ring in half. Wrap two halves of pineapple around each sausage. Garnish with edible flowers.
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Holiday Appetizer Wreath Yield: 16 servings Prep Time: 30 minutes Cook Time: 15 minutes 32 Hillshire Farm Lit’l Smokies 1/2 cup whole berry cranberry sauce 1/2 cup barbecue sauce 1 can (8 ounces) refrigerated crescent dough rolls Optional: Roasted bell pepper strips, cherry tomato halves and fresh rosemary for garnish Preheat oven to 375°F. Open package of sausages and drain off liquid. Combine cranberry sauce and barbecue sauce in a small saucepan; heat over low heat, stirring until smooth and hot. Unroll dough, separate at perforations, creating 4 rectangles. Press perforations to seal. With knife or pizza cutter cut each rectangle lengthwise into 8 strips, making a total of 32 strips. Wrap 1 strip of dough around each sausage. Place crescentwrapped sausages with sides touching on ungreased cookie sheet or round baking stone in a circle, forming a wreath shape. Bake for 11 to 15 minutes or until golden brown. Cool slightly. Carefully remove wreath onto serving platter, if desired. Garnish wreath with bell pepper strips to form a bow, and cherry tomato halves and rosemary sprigs for ornaments, if desired. Serve with cranberrybarbecue sauce. Lit’l Party Delights Yield: 9 servings Prep Time: 5 minutes Cook Time: 15 minutes 1 package Hillshire Farm Lit’l Smokies 3/4 cup chili sauce 3/4 cup grape jelly 1 tablespoon red wine 1 teaspoon dry mustard 1 1/2 teaspoons soy sauce 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg Open package of sausages and drain off liquid; set aside. Combine remaining ingredients in medium saucepan. Heat, stirring occasionally, over medium heat until jelly is melted and mixture is smooth. Add sausages; heat 10 minutes or until hot.
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HOLIDAYS
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december 7 – DECEMBER 13, 2012
From family Features
hether you’re looking to fill the family calendar with fun holiday activities or need a few ideas to make the season more meaningful, this guide to family holi day fun has you covered. “Whether it’s finding a great ginger bread cookie recipe and biting one arm off each one (like we do), or just making cards for the family, it’s lovely to give your kids something unique ly their own to look forward to each year,” said Liz Gumbinner of Cool Mom Picks. Here are some A to Z ideas to get you started today:
A Start a calendar to build anticipation for all holiday celebrations. You can buy one or make one, and it can be as simple or as fancy as you like. Make angels — snow angels, construction paper angels, angel ornaments or even angel food cake.
B Make bird feeders out of empty milk jugs or small cardboard tubes rolled in peanut butter and birdseed. Host a book exchange with friends, where everyone trades books they own and have already read.
C Gather some friends and go caroling around the neighborhood or at a retirement center. Cook something new. You can find plenty of new dishes with Bing, which lets you quickly find full recipes and reviews right on the search page; and that lets you spend less time searching and more time cooking up some delicious fun with the whole family.
Photos courtesy of Getty Images
D Have a family dance party. Turn up the tunes or pop in the dance video game and cut loose together. Drive around town and take in the holiday lights and sights. Plan your route ahead of time, and end the trip with a special treat like hot cider at your favorite spot.
E “Elf” your neighbors. Put together small treat bags with gift tags that say “You’ve Been Elfed!” Then leave them as a secret surprise in their mailboxes or hanging from the front door.
You can search for more family fun for the holidays at www.bing.com.
F Make time for friends. The kids, especially teens, will appreciate getting to hang out with their buddies. If you’re hosting, make sure you have plenty of fun snack foods.
M Make gifts to give friends, neighbors, teachers or coaches. You can make ornaments, baked goods, photo books, candles or pet treats. Plan holiday movie nights so you can enjoy the classics. From the funny to the touching, there are lots of ways to enjoy the silver screen’s many tributes to the season.
N Experience The Nutcracker ballet. If you can’t go to a live performance, try a recorded version on DVD or via Netflix or Hulu.
“use resources like the NORAD Santa Tracker powered by Bing, available at NoradSanta.org, to follow his trip throughout the big day.”
T Trim the tree together. Don’t worry about the tree looking magazine perfect — the point is to have fun, and the results will be a tree you can all be proud of.
U Let everyone unwrap one gift that will help get them in the holiday spirit. It could be a milk and cookie plate set for Santa, new holiday pjs or socks, or a holiday-themed book or CD.
O
G Have some fun with family game nights. Let everyone take turns picking their favorite board games, card games and video games to play together. Spice up the holidays with gingerbread. You can bake gingerbread cookies or gingerbread cake. Try your hand at building a gingerbread house — either with a kit or with graham crackers and frosting.
H Keep things cozy with hot chocolate. Set up a hot chocolate station with different flavors such as mint, caramel or raspberry, flavored marshmallows, and fun extras like chocolate sprinkles or cinnamon stir sticks. Take part in local holiday happenings. Go to a holiday concert; be a part of the local holiday tree lighting ceremony; visit Santa; or go to a seasonal sporting event. It’s easy to find something to put you in the holiday spirit when you search with Bing, which gives you performance times, ticketing information, maps and more right within the search page.
I Go ice skating at a local rink. You can rent skates and take a spin on the ice together.
J Jingle some bells. Hang bells on your front door; make a video of the littlest ones singing Jingle Bells or Jingle Bell Rock. And don’t forget the jingling Salvation Army bells. Not only can you donate, but many scout troops and church groups volunteer to ring those bells and collect donations, which is a great way for kids to help a good cause.
K Let the kids plan a Kids’ Night In. They get to pick the menu and the activities, and be in charge of making the fun happen. Practice random acts of kindness. Encourage everyone to do something kind for someone else — it could be clearing snow off the sidewalk for a neighbor, doing a family member’s chore for them, or buying a soda for the person behind you in line.
L “Learn about the holiday celebrations of other cultures,” suggests Liz. “Kids love all kinds of celebrations, and it can be magical to find out how other children around the world spend their holiday time.”
Enjoy the great outdoors, even if it’s cold. Play in the back yard, go to the park, ride your bikes, build a snowman, have a snowball fight, play flag football, soccer or ring-around-the-rosies.
P Declare a “Pajama Day” and let everyone hang out in pjs and slippers, and serve breakfast for dinner.
Q Plan quiet time amid all the hustle and bustle of the season. Whether it’s for naps, reading, unplugged time from all electronics, or just a day of not going anywhere, it’s important to take time to recharge.
R If you leave cookies and milk for Santa, don’t forget his reindeer. Carrots or homemade reindeer chow will give them energy for their long night’s journey. Try a restaurant you’ve never been to before. If you’re watching your budget, go at lunch time, when you can try smaller, lunch-size portions for less money.
S Keep track of Santa’s journey around the world. “If you’re a Santa fan,” says Liz,
V Volunteer to help those in need. Some families like to serve meals in soup kitchens, sort clothing or food donations, or collect and pack items for shelters or soldiers. Have a video game marathon with games the whole family can play.
W Take a walk around the neighborhood. Make it a scavenger hunt and look for certain holiday decorations, animals, cars and parts of nature.
X X marks the spot. Plan a treasure hunt in and around the house. Write clues that lead players from one place to the next until they find a special, hidden gift.
Y Have some fun with yarn. Learn how to finger knit or crochet. Or make holiday decorations and crafts with yarn.
Z Take a holiday trip to the zoo. Many zoos have special holiday displays and programs that let you celebrate the season wild-style.
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DECEMBER 7 - DECEMBER 13, 2012
FINEST & ENTERTAINMENT
Meet some of
FLORIDA'S
finest
Viola Vantise is a graduate of Florida A&M’s School of Journalism & Graphic Communication. She is the founder and editor-in-chief of an online news and entertainment site- Viola’s Tea, which provides the latest information on entertainment, beauty, gossip, news and politics. She has also landed interviews with top stars Meagan Good and BET Networks’ ‘The Game’ costar Pooch Hall. Contact Viola at info@violastea. com CREDIT: Chief D
submitted for your approval
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Think you’re one of Florida’s Finest? E-mail your high-resolution (200 dpi) digital photo in casual wear or bathing suit taken in front of a plain background with few distractions, to news@flcourier. com with a short biography of yourself and your contact information. (No nude/ glamour/ fashion photography, please!) In order to be considered, you must be at least 18 years of age. Acceptance of the photographs submitted is in the sole and absolute discretion of Florida Courier editors. We reserve the right to retain your photograph even if it is not published. If you are selected, you will be contacted by e-mail and further instructions will be given.
viola
marc Marcus Herndon is a senior at Southern Polytechnic State University in Marietta, Ga., majoring in Mechanical Engineering. The 21-year-old has modeled for Urban Spice Magazine, various runway and fashion shows, the Bronner Bros. Hair Show, and for upcoming mainstream designer Rob Bennett. He wants to combine the worlds of engineering and entertainment and states that as an ambition. “As my favorite saying goes by Gandhi, ‘Be the change you wish to see in the world.’” Contact Marc at www.facebook.com/marcus.herndon.7 or via e-mail at mcherndo@yahoo.com. CREDIT: My Miracle Moments Photography
Tuning into Haitian radio program a Saturday ritual Listeners stay glued to heated ‘Ranmase’ as politicians debate country’s future BY JACQUELINE CHARLES THE MIAMI HERALD (MCT)
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — They arrive one by one, taking their seats around the expansive table with worn chairs and color-coded microphones, ready to shred opponents in the battle to shape public opinion. Every Saturday, on the Haitian radio version of CNN’s “Crossfire,” politicians, pundits, critics and wannabe kingmakers vie for a chance to lob accusations, cross verbal swords and debate Haiti’s future. Bickering politicians drop in unannounced, pro-government operatives fire off text messages defending the administration, and everyone tries to avoid the shrapnel from the latest political bombshells. This is “Ranmase,” where there is no studio audience, no applause meter and no stop clock — just the amplified sound of Creole-accented voices emanating throughout the city. In taxicabs and beauty shops, from Portau-Prince to Paris to Miami and Montreal, listeners tune in for the political firefight. And it’s all happening in a country where free speech historically has been repressed. “This is a Saturday ritual. You have to listen in,” said Steven Benoit, a maverick senator and frequent guest. “After the show, you go on the Internet or into the streets, and everybody is talking about what was said on ‘Ranmase.’ ”
‘People’s courtroom’ Moderating the show is Jean Monard Metellus, a respected journalist who at times is more a quiet ringleader than a referee. “This is the people’s courtroom,” said Metellus, host of the broadcast since 2004. “ ‘Ranmase’ is the intersection of all the ideas of society, and the bringing together of all the actors who make the news.” But bringing such a disparate cast of characters to the table on “Ranmase” — which means “to wrap up” – doesn’t mean it’s “going to necessarily end with a handshake,” Metellus warns. Lately, the case on trial has been the deepening problems of President Michel Martelly as his administration faces growing discontent over rising food prices, allegations of corruption and a protracted political crisis over installing a permanent electoral council. With monthly protests clogging the streets of Haitian cities, the president’s problems are playing out over
PHOTOS BY CARL JUSTE/MIAMI HERALD/MCT
Opponents and supporters of the government share their viewpoints on the “Ranmase” program on Oct. 20 in Port-auPrince, Haiti. the radio. A recent broadcast on Martelly’s woes went on uninterrupted for 51/2 hours. One government minister stormed out after losing her temper. Another government defender foundered so badly that a colleague was forced to parachute in to the broadcast to rescue him.
Top non-religious show This is the weekly drama that has audiences hanging on to every word — not for the information, but for the theatrics. They listen to the broadcast live, via the Internet and even over a local U.S. call-in number. But while radio plays a critical role in this largely illiterate society, critics say the popular program, which has the ear of the masses, could do better. “I would like to see ‘Ranmase’ address public policy as well as governance issues,” said Laurette Backer, who recently moved back to Haiti from New York to assist in running a family school. “Politics for politics’ sake does not lead anywhere.” Still Backer, who spent 20 years as a litigation and forensics expert, doesn’t miss a moment. She isn’t the only one. A Media Consumption Survey presented to the U.S. Embassy by the Haiti polling firm, d.a.g.m.a.r., showed “Ranmase” is the top non-religious show on radio. It is found on Radio Television Caraibes, the most popular radio station in the country.
Samuel Maistin, a former senator and deputy, expresses his viewpoint regarding the heated political discourse on Oct. 20 at the “Ranmase’’ radio program.
Like public eavesdropping Born in the dawn of Haiti’s 1994-95 transition from military-backed rule to democracy, “Ranmase” was created as a place for debate and analysis, said Caraibes owner Patrick Moussignac. “The show is undeniably an important
part of our learning experiences of democracy because debates with opposing sides are still rare here,” said Liliane Pierre-Paul, a respected radio journalist. Still, speaking out remains risky business in Haiti where the murders of 12 journalists since 2000 remain unsolved, according to a recent press freedom study by the University of San Francisco Law School and the Institute for Justice & Democracy in Haiti. While conditions have vastly improved, Martelly’s hostility toward journalists “has created an atmosphere of fear and a chilling effect on journalists’ freedom of expression,” according to the study. Prime Minister Laurent Lamothe dismisses the study’s claims. Martelly has “people on the radio talking bad about him the whole day from the opposition and they are doing so freely,” he said. “There is no arrest of these people or anything.” To tune in to “Ranmase” is to eavesdrop publicly on Haiti’s dysfunctional democracy. “It is an arena where the good, the bad and the ugly compete with each other and the population listens,” said Michel Eric Gaillard, a political analyst who has appeared on the show over the objections of friends. “You can hear the most amazing things. It’s where culture, politics and social conflicts burst open.”
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DECEMBER 7 – DECEMBER 13, 2012
According to research by Nielsen, smartphone ownership is growing fastest among those between 13 and 17 years of age, with more than half now owning such a device. As of July, 55.5 percent of all mobile subscribers based in the U.S. own a smartphone, Nielsen said. This marks an increase of 14.5 percent a year earlier.
Shopping in the wireless wonderland Your guide to choosing the right smartphone to give ...69% of people would like to receive something wireless as a holiday gift FRom Family Features
If you’ve noticed more smartphones and tablets on your holiday wish lists, you’re not alone. A recent survey by Kelton Research found that 69 percent of people would like to receive something wireless as a holiday gift. The report also found it’s not always easy to shop for these kinds of gifts. In fact, 43 percent of people surveyed said they find shopping for technology items more confusing than assembling a child’s toy with multiple parts. To minimize the confusion around shopping for a wireless device, Ami Silverman, senior vice president of sales operations, T-Mobile USA, has a few tips for selecting the right smartphone and getting the most value for everyone on your holiday shopping list.
Smart tips for choosing a Smartphone
There are many options to choose from, and at first glance they might all seem the same. The key to picking the right one is to start by matching the phone’s featured functions to what you know about the user. For example, here are some typical mobile users and the features which would be ideal for their devices: • Heavy texter/social networker — Consider phones with a physical QWERTY keyboard to enable quick connections with inner circles. • Gamer — Look for devices that have preloaded or easy access to premium games as well as large, highdefinition screens, powerful processors (preferably a quad-core processor) and long lasting batteries. • Entertainment junkie — Keep an eye out for fast 4G smartphones with touch screens featuring large highdefinition display for watching videos and enjoying online entertainment. • Worker bee — Seek phones that offer businessready capabilities and the ability to accurately and quickly view and edit documents and share files fast. • Style maven — Choose touch screen phones that are thin, look sleek, and can be customized with a range of accessories, including stylish protective cases. • Photographer — Prioritize phones with high-resolution cameras and high storage capacity. While these tips can point you in the right direction, it’s best to talk to experts in the store. Explain the type of person you are buying for and how they’ll be using the device. Knowledgeable sales associates have tools and resources so they can help you find exactly what you need. T-Mobile has also developed a handy online quiz to help you figure out which hot device might be the best fit. You can take the quiz at http://t-mo.co/ RFCB2l. Reviews can also be helpful in finding the right phone. Check out independent reviews at www.con-
sumerreports.org or www.cnet.com, and get user reviews at www.consumersearch.com. Lastly, before making your purchase, make sure you understand the store’s return policies, and check for special offers or promotions. You can find the latest offers from T-Mobile at http://t-mo.co/SPVZIH.
How to choose a service plan And if you’re considering giving a service plan — like 63 percent reported in Kelton’s survey — to pair with that smartphone or tablet gift, there are a variety of options. Since smartphones require a data plan for access to the Internet and many applications, the gift of a service plan would enable your recipient to use the phone right away. If you go this route, Silverman recommends that you first figure out how much data the phone recipient will be using every month. According to a September, 2012 NPD Connected Intelligence study, consumers are using more data than ever before. Android smartphone users download an average of 870 MB of data per month on cellular net works and about 2.5 GB per month on Wi-Fi networks. So what does that really mean? For context, with approximately one gigabyte (GB) of data, you could do one of the following tasks: view 1,000 web pages, send or receive 50,000 emails without attachments, stream 33 hours of music, post 2,800 pictures to Facebook, or watch 8+ hours of video on YouTube. Knowing how the phone recipient will use it not only helps you find the right device, but the right data plan as well. Ask yourself: • How often will they check email on the device each day? n How often will they surf the web or check their social network? • How often will they share photos and documents? • How often will they download games, apps and music? • How often will they stream music and videos? Compare service options to get the most for your money. Some plans offer a limited number of texts or data usage and charge hefty overage fees. Other plans include unlimited talk, text and data for multiple phone lines for a reasonable monthly fee. Silverman said, “T Mobile’s Unlimited Nationwide 4G Data plan offers no data caps, speed limits, or bill shock, and access to fast, dependable nationwide 4G coverage.” In addition to contract plans, Silverman said you can also consider a pre-paid plan. “For example, with TMobile’s Monthly 4G no annual contract plans, the gift recipient can enjoy their new phone as soon as they open the box, without committing to a long-term contract.” Silverman recommends using a data calculator to help figure out the best plan based on usage. To get started, visit www.t-mobile.com/tools.
Giving kids and teens a Smartphone Are you considering giving your child a smartphone this holiday but wonder about the safety and responsibility implications? Silverman offers some advice that can help the whole family use their smartphones in a safe way:
ICE Save important contact numbers into your child’s phone; add ICE (In Case of Emergency) so responders or others can reach you if your child is in trouble, e.g. ICE Daddy Cell; ICE Home.
Check-in text Encourage kids to send a quick, discreet text as an alternative to an “embarrassing” checkin call when they arrive or leave somewhere.
911 Teach your child how to call 911 on a cell phone in case of emergency, including how to place the call if the phone is locked.
Memorize Though numbers may be programmed into a child’s phone, teach them to memorize family/emergency contact phone numbers in case they get separated from their phone.
Current photos Keep current photos of your kids on your cell phone, updating each family member’s photo every six months.
Charge it Ensure your child understands cell phones must be turned on while away from home. Make sure the phone is charged at night and buy a spare charger for his/her backpack. Cell Phone-Ready? Giving your child a cell phone can help increase safety. If your child walks home alone, babysits, or participates in afterschool activities, it may be the right time. Holiday break is a great time for parents and children to practice having this new responsibility.
Family contract Discuss the rules your child must obey to have a cell phone, and create a family contract for responsible use. Include must-dos like answering your calls/texts, keeping the phone on when away from home, not using it during school or while driving, and not re sponding to unknown numbers.