Michigan AD says playoffs are more likely in the future

I think most college football football fans can agree when I say "amen" when a university president, AD, or coach publicly advocates some sort of playoff system. Really, any kind of playoff scenario is better than this BCS travesty.
Pictured at right is Bill Martin, the University of Michigan's AD.

BEVERLY HILLS, CALIF. - Add Michigan athletic director Bill Martin to the list of folks who are viewing some sort of playoff as growing more likely after yet another college football season ending in controversy over the Bowl Championship Series.

"I'd say it's better than 50-50," Martin said when asked how he viewed the chances of the BCS adding at least a post-bowls title game, sometimes called a plus-one playoff model, in the next four years: "A little bit (better)."

But Martin, speaking at Lawry's restaurant with Rose Bowl officials a few feet away, quickly added he didn't want the Rose Bowl to be diminished.

"This is a unique tradition," he said. "We don't want to lose it from a part of the fabric of college football. This is an important deal."

Click here to here to read the entire column by John Heuser and Jim Carty of the Ann Arbor News.

Packers' WR Greg Jennings alleges racial profiling during test drive

It's about time more people speak out regarding the unfair practice of police men and women pulling over minorities for driving luxury vehicles. It's absolutely heinous that this practice continues in this day and age. Racial profiling reinforces the worst stereotypes in society and denigrates the self-esteem of the innocent victims. Kudos, Greg Jennings!

Football star Greg Jennings said he plans to file a complaint with Kalamazoo police alleging he was racially profiled when he was questioned last weekend on suspicion he was driving a stolen sport-utility vehicle.

Though the vehicle was not stolen, the officer was justified in stopping Jennings because Jennings didn't use his turn signal, Maj. Ken Colby of the Kalamazoo Department of Public Safety said.

Jennings, a former Kalamazoo Central High School and Western Michigan University standout who is now a rookie wide receiver with the Green Bay Packers, said he was approached and questioned by a police officer at about 9:45 p.m. last Friday while test-driving a Hummer from a Vicksburg dealership.

According to Jennings, who is black, officer Eric Shaffer followed him for about "six or seven" blocks before Jennings pulled into the parking lot of Progressive Church of God in Christ at 1527 N. Edwards, where his father, the Rev. Greg Jennings Sr., is the pastor. There, Jennings said, Shaffer approached the car, explaining to him "I have a report of a stolen black Hummer."

"Obviously, I'm on the north end of town, driving a Hummer," Jennings, contacted by phone, said Thursday. "They don't see a lot of Hummers on the North Side (of Kalamazoo)...They're not on the West Side pulling over any black vehicle."

Colby said officers were on the lookout that night for a vehicle reported stolen and described to them at a briefing as a black Hummer.

Authorities later learned that the stolen vehicle was a GMC Envoy, he said.

Jennings' father and the Rev. Joseph Anderson reviewed the police tape of the traffic stop Thursday at public-safety headquarters. A Kalamazoo Gazette reporter also reviewed the tape, which shows Jennings did not use a turn signal as he turned into the parking lot. Jennings said Shaffer didn't mention his failure to signal. "He never mentioned it to me, not once," he said. Jennings turned into the parking lot, he said, because he noticed the patrol car had been behind him for some time.

Jennings said his brother, Cortney, was in the car, as was another friend whom Jennings said he "doesn't want to bring into this" and declined to name.

Jennings was not cited for any violation. He said he plans to file a complaint with KDPS following the Packers' season, which will end Sunday if the team fails to make the National Football League playoffs.

"As of right now, this is not a concern of mine," he said Thursday. "Right now, I can't waste time with whatever this is."

Jennings said, though, that he feels it is important that he pursue the matter.

"This is not a case where who I am is the reason it's a big issue," he said. "I'm doing this as ordinary Greg. I'd still file this complaint (if I wasn't in the NFL)."

Colby, meanwhile, defended the officer's actions. "His attention was drawn to the vehicle because he was told to be on the lookout for a stolen 2005 black Hummer. He's out there doing exactly what we want him to do," Colby said.

Click here to read the original article from Graham Couch and Rex Hall from the Kalamazoo Gazette

A Story of Friendship

Check out the following heart-warming tale of a human being donating a kidney to save his friend's life. What makes this story different is that it involves two former Dallas Cowboys players.

Ron Springs (left) and Everson Walls (right) are further proof that not all athletes are spoiled, greedy, or criminal-minded.

PLANO, TEXAS - Having grown up in Dallas, Everson Walls thought he knew his way around town. Then he started playing for the Cowboys and a third-year running back who grew up in Virginia showed him how it was really done.

Ron Springs taught the rookie cornerback where to go for free this and discount that. In return, Walls did the driving and, better yet, introduced Springs to a terrific, cheap late-night food joint - his mom's kitchen.

Kindred spirits only a few years apart, they quickly built a friendship that went way beyond being teammates. It was so much like big brother and little brother that Springs became a regular at Walls family gatherings.

By the time Springs left the Cowboys in 1985, their wives already were good friends. Eventually, so were their kids. Everyone gets along so well that they've taken family vacations together, like the time all eight piled into one Land Cruiser and drove from Dallas to Orlando through a rainstorm so blinding they missed their destination.

Springs is the godfather of Walls' oldest daughter and Walls received the same honor for Springs' youngest. And, living up to the old saying that "your family is my family," Springs recently spoke at the funeral of Walls' father-in-law.

That's close, right? Well they're about to get a lot closer: Walls has agreed to donate a kidney to help Springs, a diabetic, regain the quality of life he's lacked for nearly three years.

The disease already has forced the amputation of his right foot and the big and middle toes on his left foot. His rotting kidney has knotted his hands, bound him to a wheelchair and forced him to get up at 5 a.m. three times a week to endure several hours of dialysis treatments.

Walls' kidney is expected to be transplanted in March. Once the healthy one takes over, Springs can look forward to his hands uncurling, ditching his wheelchair and never going to dialysis again.

"This man has got to love me in order to give up something. He's taking some risk," Springs says. "It's something you can't explain, but something that I will always think about every day for the rest of my life. It's like getting a new battery in a car. I'll be able to be back to basically almost 100 percent normal."

"A piece of me is going to be inside him and hopefully giving him a lot more life than he would've had otherwise," Walls says. "To me, friendship is unconditional. He pisses me off all the time, and I'm sure I do the same to him, but you move on. That's how you do with family."

* * *

Springs grew up in Williamsburg, Va., a short drive from several black colleges where friends and relatives played football. He followed the teams closely, but picked Ohio State for himself.

Adept at running, receiving and blocking, the Cowboys drafted him in the fifth round in 1979, a few months after Tom Landry and Roger Staubach won their second Super Bowl.

Springs became a starter in the same backfield as Tony Dorsett in his third season. At training camp that same year, he got to know Walls, an undrafted rookie from Grambling, and his roommate, another black-college alum.

"Ron would always come over and give us a bunch of crap about black colleges being from the Negro Leagues," Walls says. "That's how we started joking around and he started hanging out with us."

During the season, they became regulars at each other's houses. Springs was married, with no kids; Walls was living with his mom and dating his future wife.

"You kind of hung with the people who did what you did," Springs says. "We were professional beer drinkers and margarita drinkers and crawfish eaters."

Offseasons were spent touring the state and the country together with a basketball team called the Dallas Hoopsters, which was really just a group of Cowboys paid to play at fundraisers. Springs later took over organizing the shows.

As a locker-room lawyer and the de facto leader of the "Ghetto Row" clique, Springs talked Walls into telling team officials he was "mentally frustrated" and had to retire, a word chosen to avoid being fined for holding out. He instructed Walls to go into hiding, except for once-a-day calls to Springs. Walls resurfaced to sign a contract that paid about four times what he was supposed to make, with a hefty signing bonus.

"The guys figured out that me and him had concocted this," Springs says. "But he got a nice new contract and we celebrated pretty good."

Springs went to Tampa Bay for two seasons, then retired. Walls lasted with the Cowboys through Jimmy Johnson's disastrous first season, then joined the New York Giants in 1990, the year Bill Parcells guided them to their second Super Bowl title.

The week of the big game, Walls and linebacker Lawrence Taylor - who played Little League and high school ball with Springs in Williamsburg - spent hours trying to persuade Springs to join them in Tampa. Once he gave in, Springs drove all night, despite feeling the effects of a flu bug that wound up keeping him in his hotel room on game day.

"I was happy to see one of us finally win a Super Bowl," Springs says.

* * *

After giving up football, Springs stayed in good shape by playing basketball a lot. But he was getting tired easily, which didn't make sense.

A checkup revealed he had Type 2 diabetes, the most common kind. He was 34.

"I just kept working out and denying it for a while," he says. "Then, all of a sudden, it was attacking me worse than it did most people."

In 2004, at age 47, Springs went on dialysis and was added to the national transplant waiting list. The following year, he lost his foot, then began feeling the muscles ball up on his right arm, then the left.

Given his age, overall health and degenerating condition, he was told it would take about four years for his number to come up - unless he could find a donor on his own.

Springs immediately ruled out his children, including his oldest son, Shawn, a cornerback (Walls' position) who'd starred at his dad's alma mater and now plays for the Washington Redskins. Springs also has a 21-year-old daughter, Ayra, soon to graduate Oklahoma State and Ashley, a high school senior.

Because diabetes is hereditary, he worries they eventually will be afflicted. He couldn't bear the thought of taking a kidney they may end up needing either for themselves or to donate to their kids should one of them be stricken.

Plenty of friends and relatives offered to be tested, but being a donor involves far more than want-to. Requirements start with being in good health, good shape and, in Springs' case, having type-O blood.

Springs only let two people try, a niece and a nephew. Both were perfect matches, until she got pregnant and his kidney turned out not to be strong enough.

"Instead of being down on himself after two failed attempts, he wanted to just stay active to keep his mind and body strong so we started working out together," Walls says. "As we started working out together, I said, 'Well, look, I know my blood type is the same as his. Why not give it a shot and see what happens?'"

"I never tried to influence him," Springs says. "If he was going to do it, I wanted him to do it out of the love he had for me."

Springs warned Walls of all the painful, time-consuming tests and paperwork ahead of him. He also prepped him for a 500-question psychiatric evaluation.

"That's the one I thought he'd fail," Springs says, cackling.

The process was so grueling that Walls became more resolved, especially after talking to doctors, donors and transplant recipients.

"I wasn't going to go through all of this for nothing," Walls says. "My mind was pretty much made up that if I was going to be a complete match, then I was going to do it."

Informal confirmation came several weeks ago. Thinking the donation was more of a done deal than it was, Shawn Springs shared the good news with a Redskins beat writer, even saying the transplant could happen "any day now."

The resulting six-paragraph note on page five of the Dec. 12 Washington Post sports section got the story out before either was ready. It hasn't been all bad, though.

"We've gotten some great phone calls," Walls says. "It does allow you to see how many people care about us, how many people respect us."

* * *

Now comfortable sharing their story, the guys are sitting on a sofa in Springs' den. A pair of framed No. 20 Cowboys jerseys is on a wall high above them and eight game balls are on a ledge across the room. Upstairs, 18-year-old Cameron Walls and Ashley Springs are hanging out.

The camaraderie among the former teammates is evident from the time Walls lifts Springs from his wheelchair and threatens to drop him onto the sofa. Throughout a 11/2-hour interview, there are arguments over who had various ideas first (score it 1-1) and several instances of finishing each other's sentences.

More often, though, they build on what the other is saying, like on the topic of the greater good their story will serve.

"What we want to parlay from this is the ability for more people to donate," Springs says. "That's the key."

"When something happens with athletes, its always brings the most recognition to a certain issue," adds Walls.

Sitting nearby, Shelah Zmigrosky loves what she's hearing. As president of Kidney Texas Inc., she understands how many people can benefit from spreading their story. The organization already got a $382,000 boost this year through an event at which Springs and Dorsett served as honorary co-chairs.

Zmigrosky is hoping people who become inspired to get tested for diabetes and to follow Walls' lead and become donors. As both men note, blacks especially need to know the importance of diabetes testing and organ donation.

Of the 69,256 people awaiting kidney transplants in the U.S., 24,100 are black, more than double the next ethnic group, according to the Southwest Transplant Alliance. The crux of the problem is that diabetes afflicts blacks at a higher rate than whites, yet there are fewer minority donors.

Demand for organs far outweighs the supply, which is why living donations are so important. After all, taking Springs off the waiting list will move someone else up. About 4,000 people in need of a kidney die each year before their name is called.

"We need to get this right," Springs says. "They've got it down so well, it's like going to Quick Lube and getting an oil change."

Only two other professional athletes are known to have donated a kidney: Greg Ostertag, who was playing for the Utah Jazz when he did it for his sister; and NBA Hall of Famer Oscar Robertson, who did so for his daughter.

Springs half-jokingly says he wanted his new kidney by Christmas, but understands that business obligations have Walls tied up until March. No date has been announced, and they're cautious about revealing one because they're tentative until the final minute. If the donor or recipient is even slightly ill, doctors will reschedule.

Speaking of Christmas, Springs is asked what he'll be giving Walls, who also has his 47th birthday in a few days. Smiling wide, Walls turns to better hear Springs, who details plans to round up several couples for a cruise - with Springs paying for Everson and his wife, Shreill.

It's a nice gesture, but Springs is the first to say it's nothing compared to the gift he's getting.

"He's not only saving my life, he's doing a justice for me," Springs says. "He's letting me live a better life. I can only be grateful for that."

Click here to the original story by the AP's Jaime Aron in the Abilene Reporter-News

Plan B pill now readily available

It's good to hear that American citizens have more options to avoid unwanted pregnancies. For too long, this country has been held hostage by the "morals" of a few.

This is a story that definitely deserves more attention in all corners of the world!

A month after distribution began, the over-the-counter version of the morning-after pill is now available at pharmacies nationwide. Planned Parenthood celebrated Wednesday with a free giveaway of the emergency contraceptive, while critics insisted that Plan B's accessibility will soon be a cause for regret.

Plan B was the focus of bitter debate for years before the Food and Drug Administration, after repeated delays, declared in August that customers 18 and older should be able to buy it in pharmacies without a prescription.

The manufacturer, Barr Pharmaceuticals Inc., then needed to develop new packaging for the over-the-counter version; it announced the start of national distribution on Nov. 6.

Plan B, a high dose of a drug found in many regular birth-control pills, can lower the risk of pregnancy by up to 89% if taken within 72 hours of unprotected sex. Girls 17 and younger still need a prescription to buy Plan B, though an older person — male or female — could buy it over the counter on a teenage girl's behalf.

Supporters of Plan B had sought over-the-counter approval on the premise that wider availability would reduce the number of unplanned pregnancies and abortions.

Critics of the drug challenge those claims, arguing that Plan B instead will promote promiscuity and unsafe sex; they warn that men might coerce their underage sexual partners into using it. Some critics also consider the pill tantamount to abortion, although it differs from the abortion pill RU-486 and has no effect on women who are already pregnant.

Carol Cox, a Barr Pharmaceuticals spokeswoman, said the Plan B distribution went smoothly, but she would not specify how many pills were issued. She said the company does not expect detailed sales information until February.

The cost of a standard two-pill pack varies. Kate Horle, a Planned Parenthood official in Colorado, said prices there range from $30 at her organization's clinics to $61 at some supermarket-based pharmacies.

While some independent pharmacies are not stocking Plan B because of moral objections or perceived lack of demand, the pill is widely available. Major pharmacy chains such as CVS Corp., Rite-Aid Corp. and Walgreen Co. not only offer the pill throughout their networks, but also pledge to ensure that customers can buy Plan B on-site even if a given employee declines to provide service for reasons of conscience.

A CVS pharmacist who has qualms about selling Plan B must arrange for another employee to sell it, and the pharmacist must ensure that the customer "is served promptly and treated with respect," the company said.

Jackie Payne, government relations director for the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, said some pharmacy chains were less explicit in their commitments, but overall she was pleased by the industry's reception of over-the-counter Plan B.

"It's been a dramatic change in terms of access, of commitment to stock the pills and ensure that women receive service in the store without delay," she said.

On Wednesday, in celebration of Plan B's expanded availability, the pills were being given away free at more than 350 Planned Parenthood centers in 30 states.

Planned Parenthood's vice president for medical affairs, Dr. Vanessa Cullins, urged women to back up their regular birth control by keeping emergency contraception in their medicine cabinet "in case the condom breaks, you miss two or more birth control pills or have unprotected sex."

Planned Parenthood centers also sell the pill; as a clinic operator, the organization gets a discount from Barr that helps it undercut pharmacy prices.

The pill giveaway was denounced by some Planned Parenthood critics.

"They're using this to drive customers to their clinics and drive up their profits," said Jim Sedlak, vice president of the American Life League.

Dr. Joe DeCook of the American Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians and Gynecologists said he worries that sexually active women using Plan B will feel less need to see a physician, reducing the odds of early detection of sexually transmitted diseases.

DeCook pronounced Plan B's over-the-counter status a "done deal" that would be hard to reverse, but some other opponents said they would carry on the fight. They said future studies may cast doubt on the pill's merits, and they spoke of pushing legislation on the state level to curtail access to it.

"The battle is not over," said Wendy Wright, president of Concerned Women for America. "There are more things we can do and will be doing."

Already, four states — Arkansas, Georgia, Mississippi and South Dakota — specifically allow pharmacists to opt out of providing emergency contraceptives.

Because of the prescription requirement for younger buyers, Plan B is actually kept behind pharmacy counters — not on display. NARAL Pro-Choice America is one of several groups working to broaden awareness of it.

"We're not seeing many TV ads for it, like you see for Viagra," said NARAL's president, Nancy Keenan. "Folks have to know it's there."

Click here to read the original AP story from USA Today

Rest in peace, Gerald Ford

Homer Simpson's favorite president passed away yesterday in Rancho Mirage, California. His wife - Betty Ford - released statement saying, "His life was filled with love of God, his family and his country."

In honor of our 38th commander-in-chief, who was the longest-living as well as the last unelected ex-president, I present you his official biography from the Gerald R. Ford Library and Museum:

Gerald Rudolph Ford, the 38th President of the United States, was born Leslie Lynch King, Jr., the son of Leslie Lynch King and Dorothy Ayer Gardner King, on July 14, 1913, in Omaha, Nebraska. His parents separated two weeks after his birth and his mother took him to Grand Rapids, Michigan to live with her parents. On February 1, 1916, approximately two years after her divorce was final, Dorothy King married Gerald R. Ford, a Grand Rapids paint salesman. The Fords began calling her son Gerald R. Ford, Jr., although his name was not legally changed until December 3, 1935. He had known since he was thirteen years old that Gerald Ford, Sr., was not his biological father, but it was not until 1930 when Leslie King made an unexpected stop in Grand Rapids that he had a chance meeting with this biological father. The future president grew up in a close-knit family which included three younger half-brothers, Thomas, Richard, and James.

Ford attended South High School in Grand Rapids, where he excelled scholastically and athletically, being named to the honor society and the "All-City" and "All-State" football teams. He was also active in scouting, achieving the rank of Eagle Scout in November 1927. He earned spending money by working in the family paint business and at a local restaurant.

From 1931 to 1935 Ford attended The University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, where he majored in economics and political science. He graduated with a B.A. degree in June 1935. He held various part-time jobs to supplement his scholarship. A gifted athlete, Ford played on the University's national championship football teams in 1932 and 1933. He was voted the Wolverine's most valuable player in 1934 and on January 1, 1935, played in the annual East-West College All-Star game in San Francisco, for the benefit of the Shrine Crippled Children's Hospital. In August 1935 he played in the Chicago Tribune College All-Star football game at Soldier Field against the Chicago Bears.

He received offers from two professional football teams, the Detroit Lions and the Green Bay Packers, but chose instead to take a position as boxing coach and assistant varsity football coach at Yale hoping to attend law school there. Among those he coached were future U.S. Senators Robert Taft, Jr. and William Proxmire. Yale officials initially denied him admission to the law school, because of his full-time coaching responsibilities, but admitted him in the spring of 1938. Ford earned his LL.B. degree in 1941, graduating in the top 25 percent of his class in spite of the time he had to devote to his coaching duties. His introduction to politics came in the summer of 1940 when he worked in Wendell Willkie's presidential campaign.

After returning to Michigan and passing his bar exam, Ford and a University of Michigan fraternity brother, Philip A. Buchen (who later served on Ford's White House staff as Counsel to the President), set up a law partnership in Grand Rapids. He also taught a course in business law at the University of Grand Rapids and served as line coach for the school's football team. He had just become active in a group of reform-minded Republicans in Grand Rapids, calling themselves the Home Front, who were interested in challenging the hold of local political boss Frank McKay, when the United States entered World War II.

In April 1942 Ford joined the U.S. Naval Reserve receiving a commission as an ensign. After an orientation program at Annapolis, he became a physical fitness instructor at a pre-flight school in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. In the spring of 1943 he began service in the light aircraft carrier USS MONTEREY. He was first assigned as athletic director and gunnery division officer, then as assistant navigator, with the MONTEREY which took part in most of the major operations in the South Pacific, including Truk, Saipan, and the Philippines. His closest call with death came not as a result of enemy fire, however, but during a vicious typhoon in the Philippine Sea in December 1944. He came within inches of being swept overboard while the storm raged. The ship, which was severely damaged by the storm and the resulting fire, had to be taken out of service. Ford spent the remainder of the war ashore and was discharged as a lieutenant commander in February 1946.

When he returned to Grand Rapids Ford became a partner in the locally prestigious law firm of Butterfield, Keeney, and Amberg. A self-proclaimed compulsive "joiner," Ford was well-known throughout the community. Ford has stated that his experiences in World War II caused him to reject his previous isolationist leanings and adopt an internationalist outlook. With the encouragement of his stepfather, who was county Republican chairman, the Home Front, and Senator Arthur Vandenberg, Ford decided to challenge the isolationist incumbent Bartel Jonkman for the Republican nomination for the U.S. House of Representatives in the 1948 election. He won the nomination by a wide margin and was elected to Congress on November 2, receiving 61 percent of the vote in the general election.

During the height of the campaign Gerald Ford married Elizabeth Anne Bloomer Warren, a department store fashion consultant. They were to have four children: Michael Gerald, born March 14, 1950; John Gardner, born March 16, 1952; Steven Meigs, born May 19, 1956; and Susan Elizabeth, born July 6, 1957.

Gerald Ford served in the House of Representatives from January 3, 1949 to December 6, 1973, being reelected twelve times, each time with more than 60% of the vote. He became a member of the House Appropriations Committee in 1951, and rose to prominence on the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee, becoming its ranking minority member in 1961. He once described himself as "a moderate in domestic affairs, an internationalist in foreign affairs, and a conservative in fiscal policy."

As his reputation as a legislator grew, Ford declined offers to run for both the Senate and the Michigan governorship in the early 1950s. His ambition was to become Speaker of the House. In 1960 he was mentioned as a possible running mate for Richard Nixon in the presidential election. In 1961, in a revolt of the "Young Turks," a group of younger, more progressive House Republicans who felt that the older leadership was stagnating, Ford defeated sixty-seven year old Charles Hoeven of Iowa for Chairman of the House Republican Conference, the number three leadership position in the party.

In 1963 President Johnson appointed Ford to the Warren Commission investigating the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. In 1965 Ford co-authored, with John R. Stiles, a book about the findings of the Commission, Portrait of the Assassin. President Ford was the last living member of the Warren Commission.

The battle for the 1964 Republican nomination for president was drawn on ideological lines, but Ford avoided having to choose between Rockefeller and Goldwater by standing behind Michigan favorite son George Romney.

In 1965 Ford was chosen by the Young Turks as their best hope to challenge Charles Halleck for the position of minority leader of the House. He won by a small margin and took over the position early in 1965, holding it for eight years.

Ford led Republican opposition to many of President Johnson's programs, favoring more conservative alternatives to his social welfare legislation and opposing Johnson's policy of gradual escalation in Vietnam. As minority leader Ford made more than 200 speeches a year all across the country, a circumstance which made him nationally known.

In both the 1968 and 1972 elections Ford was a loyal supporter of Richard Nixon, who had been a friend for many years. In 1968 Ford was again considered as a vice presidential candidate. Ford backed the President's economic and foreign policies and remained on good terms with both the conservative and liberal wings of the Republican party.

Because the Republicans did not attain a majority in the House, Ford was unable to reach his ultimate political goal--to be Speaker of the House. Ironically, he did become president of the Senate. When Spiro Agnew resigned the office of Vice President of the United States late in 1973, after pleading no contest to a charge of income tax evasion, President Nixon was empowered by the 25th Amendment to appoint a new vice president. Presumably, he needed someone who could work with Congress, survive close scrutiny of his political career and private life, and be confirmed quickly. He chose Gerald R. Ford. Following the most thorough background investigation in the history of the FBI, Ford was confirmed and sworn in on December 6, 1973.

The specter of the Watergate scandal, the break-in at Democratic headquarters during the 1972 campaign and the ensuing cover-up by Nixon administration officials, hung over Ford's nine-month tenure as vice president. When it became apparent that evidence, public opinion, and the mood in Congress were all pointing toward impeachment, Nixon became the first president in U.S. history to resign from that office.

Gerald R. Ford took the oath of office as President of the United States on August 9, 1974, stating that "the long national nightmare is over. Our Constitution works."

Within the month Ford nominated Nelson Rockefeller for vice president. On December 19, 1974, Rockefeller was confirmed by Congress, over the opposition of many conservatives, and the country had a full complement of leaders again.

One of the most difficult decisions of Ford's presidency was made just a month after he took office. Believing that protracted impeachment proceedings would keep the country mired in Watergate and unable to address the other problems facing it, Ford decided to grant a pardon to Richard Nixon prior to the filing of any formal criminal charges. Public reaction was mostly negative; Ford was even suspected of having made a "deal" with the former president to pardon him if he would resign. The decision may have cost him the election in 1976, but President Ford always maintained that it was the right thing to do for the good of the country.

President Ford inherited an administration plagued by a divisive war in Southeast Asia, rising inflation, and fears of energy shortages. He faced many difficult decisions including replacing Nixon's staff with his own, restoring the credibility of the presidency, and dealing with a Congress increasingly assertive of its rights and powers.

In domestic policy, President Ford felt that through modest tax and spending cuts, deregulating industries, and decontrolling energy prices to stimulate production, he could contain both inflation and unemployment. This would also reduce the size and role of the federal government and help overcome the energy shortage. His philosophy is best summarized by one of his favorite speech lines, "A government big enough to give us everything we want is a government big enough to take from us everything we have." The heavily Democratic Congress often disagreed with Ford, leading to numerous confrontations and his frequent use of the veto to control government spending. Through compromise, bills involving energy decontrol, tax cuts, deregulation of the railroad and securities industries, and antitrust law reform were approved.

In foreign policy, Ford and Secretary of State Kissinger continued the policy of detente with the Soviet Union and "shuttle diplomacy" in the Middle East. U.S.-Soviet relations were marked by on-going arms negotiations, the Helsinki agreements on human rights principles and East European national boundaries, trade negotiations, and the symbolic Apollo-Soyuz joint manned space flight. Ford's personal diplomacy was highlighted by trips to Japan and China, a 10-day European tour, and co-sponsorship of the first international economic summit meeting, as well as the reception of numerous foreign heads of state, many of whom came in observance of the U.S. Bicentennial in 1976.

With the fall of South Vietnam in 1975 as background, Congress and the President struggled repeatedly over presidential war powers, oversight of the CIA and covert operations, military aid appropriations, and the stationing of military personnel.

On May 14, 1975, in a dramatic move, Ford ordered U.S. forces to retake the S.S. MAYAGUEZ, an American merchant ship seized by Cambodian gunboats two days earlier in international waters. The vessel was recovered and all 39 crewmen saved. In the preparation and execution of the rescue, however, 41 Americans lost their lives.

On two separate trips to California in September 1975, Ford was the target of assassination attempts. Both of the assailants were women -- Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme and Sara Jane Moore.

During the 1976 campaign, Ford fought off a strong challenge by Ronald Reagan to gain the Republican nomination. He chose Senator Robert Dole of Kansas as his running mate and succeeded in narrowing Democrat Jimmy Carter's large lead in the polls, but finally lost one of the closest elections in history. Three televised candidate debates were focal points of the campaign.

Upon returning to private life, President and Mrs. Ford moved to California where they built a new house in Rancho Mirage. President Ford's memoirs, A Time to Heal: The Autobiography of Gerald R. Ford, were published in 1979.

Since leaving the White House in January 1977, President Ford has lectured at 179 colleges and universities, on such issues as Congressional/White House relations, federal budget policies, and domestic and foreign policy issues.

Associated with the American Enterprise Institute, President Ford attends the annual Public Policy Week Conference, and in 1982 established the AEI World Forum, which he hosts annually in Vail/Beaver Creek, Colorado. This is an international gathering of former and current world leaders and business executives to discuss political and business policies impacting current issues.

In 1981, the Gerald R. Ford Library in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and the Gerald R. Ford Museum in Grand Rapids, Michigan, were dedicated. Since that time conferences at either site have dealt with such subjects as the Congress, the presidency and foreign policy; Soviet-American relations; German reunification, the Atlantic Alliance, and the future of American foreign policy; national security requirements for the '90s; humor and the presidency; and the role of First Ladies. President Ford also hosts the William E. Simon Lecture Series in Grand Rapids and Ann Arbor. Former Secretary of the Treasury Simon and former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger have been among the featured speakers.

Following the Humor and the Presidency Conference, President Ford's book Humor and the Presidency was published (1987).

Since leaving office, President Ford has continued to actively participate in the political process and to speak out on important political issues. The former President is the recipient of numerous awards and honors by many civic organizations. He is the recipient of many honorary Doctor of Law degrees from various public and private colleges and universities.

Click here to read the original biography and remarkable photographs from the Gerald R. Ford Library and Museum

Federal Court Grills FCC in Fox TV Indecency Case

Last week, the Second Court of Appeals held hearing into whether random obscenities violate the FCC's indecency rules. Here's an informative report of what transpired:

The Federal Communications Commission faced tough questions Wednesday from a federal court considering whether the FCC overreached in a ruling on broadcast indecency standards.

In hourlong oral arguments, News Corp.’s (NWS, NWSA) Fox said the FCC acted capriciously and contrary to its longstanding policies when it found two network broadcasts indecent because of unscripted profanities uttered by celebrities.

The appeal stems from Fox’s 2002 and 2003 broadcasts of the Billboard Music Awards in which Cher and Nicole Ritchie used the curse words “shit” and “fuck” in live broadcasts. In March this year, the FCC said the incidents violated decency standards.

Fox wasn’t fined, but the network, backed by CBS Corp. (CBS), General Electric Co.’s (GE) NBC and others, wants the FCC to clarify what it says are vague rules about what networks can and cannot air. It’s the first time a hearing on indecency, a crucial business and freedom of expression issue for the networks, has been heard at the federal court of appeals.

In a hearing peppered with uses of the profanities at issue, the three-judge panel of the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals aggressively questioned both sides.

Carter Phillips, an attorney for Fox, argued Wednesday the FCC acted arbitrarily in ruling the unscripted, fleeting use of swear words was indecent. He said the FCC historically has pursued indecency rulings only in egregious circumstances, not in incidental uses of profane words.

Context, the FCC said Wednesday, is key in determining whether uses of profanities are indecent. The same swear word in a news program or television show may not be ruled indecent if the words are considered legitimate, said Eric Miller, an attorney for the FCC.

The judges bored in on the FCC position. Noting that the appeals hearing was broadcast on C-Span, the judges quizzed Miller about whether news programs that subsequently air the oral arguments — where the offending words were sprinkled liberally throughout — would violate FCC standards.

“I think plainly not,” Miller said, explaining the FCC wouldn’t act if curse words were used for news or other legitimate purposes.

“This seems to be a scheme that depends on what you (the FCC) think instead of having objective criteria,” said Judge Rosemary Pooler, part of the appeals-court panel. “Are you just telling the networks...to make some sort of cockamamie claim and they’ll survive?”

C-Span general counsel Bruce Collins, who attended the hearing, said Miller’s defense of profanities in news broadcasts seemed to contradict the FCC’s prior stance. “When I heard that, I said, ‘well, we’re in the clear,’” Collins said.

C-Span itself has a stake in the argument.

C-Span’s radio airplay of the hearing — where Phillips in particular didn’t hesitate to use the contentious curse words — could face the ire of the FCC. The C-Span cable network, which also aired the appeals hearing live, isn’t subject to FCC decency standards.

The judges also questioned why the Fox case was being heard on appeal while an appeal of a 2004 FCC order that established the isolated use of on-air expletives as potentially indecent has been “moldering” at the FCC, as Pooler put it.

But Fox faced skepticism from the judges as well.

“I don’t think the FCC ever took the position that in order to be indecent there must be more than a fleeting expletive,” Judge Pierre Leval shot back at Phillips, who said the FCC for decades refrained from pursuing broadcasters for uses of profanities that were unintentional or used sporadically.

Click here to see the original report from MarketWatch

Hip Hop's Low Image

Hip hop the musical art form of self-expression is dead. Long gone are the lyricists, replaced with the lyrically challenged, pumping materialism, hate, sex and stupidity daily to millions.

Perception is everything and America's corporate minds once again have found a way to control hip hop and who and what you hear and see. Control the media and you will control the messenger.

History has proven time and time again the 'what you see is what you get' philosophy. Hip hop images are now carefully managed, produced and marketed. Television, news, film, radio and video dictate similar themes; perception is everything.

A recent football brawl between the University of Miami and Florida International received a blitz of national media attention. Miami and FIU rosters both have predominantly black student athletes. The consistent images of black on black violence aired hundreds of times on television. On the same day, Dartmouth and Holy Cross had a similar football brawl but it never made national news? Of course, both teams are predominantly white at superior learning institutions. Is it skin color, winning percentage that made one story larger than the other? Or is it the gate keepers of corporately owned media picking and choosing what you see?

Music has always played a key role in shaping minds and attitudes. Black America's obsession with song started unifying minds during slavery. Slave owners could see the musical talent of their herds of black sheep and featured a select few to entertain with song and dance. Not much has changed in the way of music or media in America since then. The record industry is the new 'master,' now the vehicle being that of hip hop awarding recording deals to one hit wonder teens, touting them shamelessly like Motown featured Michael Jackson.

Geffen Records signed a fifteen year-old rapper named Jibbs from St. Louis. Jibbs first single "Chain Hang Low" was a huge success receiving major airplay from pop radio, MTV and BET. Jibbs ringtone also reached platinum status (over one million) but his first week sales on his CD were only 46,000. Is this another example of radio not getting it right? A fifteen year old spitting lyrics on huge chains? Is that real hip hop or simply controlling its content?

Media radio, television and film still answer ultimately to white owners. Although the land of the free boasts the "American dream," which is merely a carefully controlled mix of government and wealth controlled media. Hollywood has shaped the minds of a nation. Ask any American Indian how westerners have portrayed this nation's original inhabitants. How does the government and our education system still celebrate Columbus Day as if America was a uninhabited land?

Commercialized hip hop is today's vehicle portraying young African Americans as a modern day minstrel show. The constant barrage of materialism is too much for young minds to process while adults profit. Many of today's hip hop stars vilified MC Hammer as a commercial sell out, although Hammer shared his wealth by employing over one hundred African Americans. Hip hop since that time has quickly turned into a Madison Avenue endorsement soundtrack, selling cars, clothes, alcohol and bling. Corporate America is playing hip hop like a new board game, a living "black monopoly" carefully censored and corrupted.

Controlling hip hop's voice creates wealth and defuses the original source of lyrical power, strength, struggle and unity. Although slavery has long been outlawed, corporate imaging continues as Americas power structure. Attaining freedom took centuries and garnering wealth and equality for black America is not a story you will ever see on BET. When Bob Johnson launched BET in 1980 it was never embraced by corporate advertisers. As BET continued to build with "the more you watch the less you'll learn" programming it was ultimately bought by Viacom, the parent company of MTV and VH1. Since then BET has proudly targeted teens with an abundance of negative images.

Hip hop is a multi billion dollar industry without one owner of African descent. Yes, of course hip hop's mainstream decapitating culture pays relative wealth to a select few Stepin Fetchit type characters. But if you're waiting for Russell Simmons, Puffy or Jay-Z to speak up on hip hop's abrupt change, don't hold your breath. In today's culture, money in the hands of a select few silences the empowerment of the masses. Hip hop is the ghetto's new Amerikkkan dream replacing sports with a laundry list of young one hit wonders.

In American history, not one musical genre has delivered more materialism, sex, violence and misogyny than hip hop. And the most powerful aspect in this analysis is those who profit are disproportionately white, who continue daily breaking federal law. Pay for play(payola) is against the law and now widely proven. CBS Radio the nation's second largest radio broadcaster recently settled a New York state payola probe for two million dollars.

Hip hop's largest names are never mentioned in Hewlett Packard television adds. You will never read about Sumner Redstone, Jimmy Iovine, Edgar Bronfman or Lowry Mays when it comes to hip hop. Don't label me a racist because the list of black names that remain shut in the industry are also inexcusable.

Corporate America has paid top dollar to buy the public airwaves and the voices that lead the sheep. In urban radio, local programming quickly turned to national syndication. No other format in music radio has higher a percentage of syndication than black targeted formats. By not only limiting the ownership ratio by limiting the voices, issues like payola or degenerative hip hop will never be discussed. Unfortunately, Tom Joyner, Steve Harvey, Michael Baisden and Al Sharpton broadcast daily on conglomerates that profit hip hop. Free speech is not an option if you continue to work in corporate America. American voices are often controlled like radio play lists.

If you ever listen to the radio or watched a music video, you have been lied to for years. The illegal practice of payola has created music's largest stars. Corporately controlled venom that effectively killed hip hop. I am sure you have questioned the constant barrage of limited themes and lyrics. Hip hop has been stuck for close to a decade with hand picked stars and images. Record companies have been telling radio and video outlets for years what and when to play a song or video.

It has been relatively easy to brainwash black America. Twenty years after "The Cosby Show" reached number one on network television, Viacom's VH1 has Flavor Flav as the number one series for African Americans. Cosby's outrage on black America fell on mainly deaf ears already manipulated and controlled after decades of negative processing.

The pay for play system is quite effective targeting youth like Ronald McDonald hooked children on fast food. The same sorry songs from coast to coast over and over again, but once again black America continues to roll over without a fight. You will never hear a payola story on the radio or see it on TV because the corporate gate keepers own that too.

In 2004, New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer launched a state wide payola probe. The investigation has finally connected the dots. Records and radio have been breaking federal law for decades and Spitzer has all the proof. After the four major record distribution companies settled for millions on October 19th, Spitzer's office announced a settlement with CBS Radio.

The FCC have failed to pursue prosecution on a national level, stuck in a political quagmire.

Click here to see original piece from IndustryEars.com and related links

Effort to Limit Commercials May Be Revived

An alarming growth in the rate of overweight children and the political sea change in Congress make it likely that lawmakers will consider restricting the marketing of food to kids.

With a briefcase full of warnings about the mushrooming childhood obesity rate, Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, will become the chairman of the Senate Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry Committee next month. He is expected to use the position to argue, as he did in a 2004 speech, that “the marketing of junk food, especially to kids, is out of control.”

Harkin introduced a bill that year that would have restored the authority of the Federal Trade Commission to regulate the marketing of foods and beverages to children younger than 18. To do so, the FTC would have to find evidence that consumption of certain foods is detrimental to the health of children. The bill stalled in committee.

“We are certain to introduce the legislation again this year,” Harkin aide Tom Reynolds said. “This is an area where Sen. Harkin is an advocate. It will be one of our top-tier agenda items.”

Marketers will surely mount a vigorous challenge. But some companies are acting on their own.

In 2005, Kraft Foods said it would not market foods of poor nutritional quality to kids. In October, the Walt Disney Co. said it is phasing out trans fats and establishing guidelines that include limits on calories, fat, saturated fat and sugar in its licensed foods and at theme park restaurants.

Consumer advocates applauded the Kraft and Disney announcements. But they say they are disappointed with revisions to guidelines of the Children’s Advertising Review Unit, a voluntary watchdog funded by marketers.

In November, 10 companies that produce about two-thirds of the food and drink ads for kids under 12 said that at least half of their future ads for youngsters will promote good nutrition and healthy lifestyles.

“The new voluntary program is insufficient, with half of the ads still selling junk food,” said Margo Wootan, nutrition policy director of the Center for Science in the Public Interest. “It makes me think it is more likely it will take legislation to stop companies from marketing junk food to kids.”

Marketers say they already act responsibly.

“We’re the only sector in our society that takes obesity seriously and has done something about it — the food industry, restaurants and the beverage industry,” said Daniel Jaffe, executive vice president of the Association of National Advertisers. “We are spending hundreds of millions of dollars (for public service advertising) on this issue. The problem is with others in society not stepping up to the plate to join the battle.”

Statistics from the Centers for Disease Control are eye-popping. Since 1980, the rate of overweight children ages 6 to 11 has more than doubled. The rate for adolescents has tripled.

Today, 1 in 5 children ages 2 to 5 and almost 1 in 3 older children are either overweight or at risk for being overweight, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics. About 50 percent of obese children and adolescents will be overweight as adults, the academy says.

“We’re doing very little in terms of prevention,” said Dr. Victor Strasburger, professor of pediatrics at the University of New Mexico School of Medicine and principal author of an academy report released this month on marketing to kids. “But part of it is limiting kids’ viewing of advertising which will promote a higher obesity rate.”

Strasburger and a panel of colleagues urged academy members to ask Congress to implement a ban on junk-food advertising during programs that are watched predominantly by young children. The pediatricians also recommended asking Congress and the FTC to prohibit interactive digital TV advertising to children.

The challenge will be to navigate some very difficult regulatory waters. The last major effort to limit commercials directed at kids sank nearly 30 years ago, when the chief concern was tooth decay.

In 1978, the FTC considered a sweeping regulatory plan called “kidvid” that would have banned all television advertising seen by audiences with a significant number of children deemed too young to understand the selling purpose of commercials. It would also have prohibited ads for food directed to audiences with large numbers of older children and would have required that TV advertising for sugared food products not covered by the ban be balanced by nutritional or health disclosures funded by advertisers.

There was an uprising in the broadcasting, advertising, food and toy industries. The Washington Post said the proposal was “a preposterous intervention that would turn the FTC into a great national nanny.” In 1980, Congress briefly shut down the FTC. A law was passed prohibiting the commission from adopting any rule affecting advertising to children. The FTC pulled the plug on kidvid in 1981.

A 2004 FTC staff report shows no interest in reprising the effort.

“Although the idea of banning certain kinds of advertisements may offer a superficial appeal, it is neither a workable nor an efficacious solution to the health problem of childhood obesity,” the report concluded. “The Federal Trade Commission has traveled down this road before. It is not a journey that anyone at the commission cares to repeat.”

Meanwhile, marketers will fight legislative efforts to restrict advertising by citing their First Amendment right to free speech. The industry will point to guidelines the U.S. Supreme Court established for restrictions on non-misleading commercial speech, Jaffe of the Association of National Advertisers said.

The court determined that to restrict advertising, the government’s interest must be substantial, the regulation must directly advance the governmental interest and it must be no more extensive than necessary to serve the government’s interest. The government must also adopt less-intrusive alternatives for achieving its goal before it can restrict speech.

Critics respond that they can make the case for regulating ads because there is a significant health risk. “It seems to me we now have a compelling health interest when it comes to junk food,” Strasburger said.

Click here to read the original article from George Raine of the San Francisco Chronicle

Rest in peace, James Brown

The Godfather of Soul passed away earlier this morning at the age of 73 after battling pneumonia in an Atlanta Hospital. He may be dearly departed, but the Hardest Working Man in Show Business will not soon be forgotten. His spirit will live on in his music and the multitude of artists influenced by his body of work. The following biography from the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is a fitting tribute to this troubled legend.

James Brown has had more honorifics attached to his name than any other performer in music history. He has variously been tagged "Soul Brother Number One," "the Godfather of Soul," "the Hardest Working Man in Show Business," "Mr. Dynamite" and even "the Original Disco Man." This much is certain: what became known as soul music in the Sixties, funk music in the Seventies and rap music in the Eighties is directly attributable to James Brown. His transformation of gospel fervor into the taut, explosive intensity of rhythm & blues, combined with precision choreography and dynamic showmanship, served to define the directions black music would take from the release of his first R&B hit ("Please Please Please") in 1956 to the present day.

Brown's life history documents one triumph over adversity after another. He was born into poverty in Barnwell, South Carolina, during the Great Depression. As a child, he picked cotton, danced for spare change and shined shoes. At 16, he was caught and convicted of stealing, and he landed in reform school for three years. While incarcerated, he met Bobby Byrd, leader of a gospel group that performed at the prison. After his release, Brown tried his hand at semipro boxing and baseball. A career-ending leg injury inspired him to pursue music fulltime. He joined Byrd in a group that sang gospel in and around Toccoa, Georgia. But then Byrd and Brown attended a rhythm & blues revue that included Hank Ballard and Fats Domino, whose performances lured them into the realm of secular music. Renaming themselves the Flames (later, the Famous Flames), they became a tightly knit ensemble that showcased their abundant talents as singers, dancers and multi-instrumentalists.

Brown rose to the fore as leader of the James Brown Revue - an entourage complete with emcee, dancers and an untouchable stage band (the J.B.'s). Reportedly sweating off up to seven pounds a night, Brown was a captivating performer who'd incorporate a furious regimen of spins, drops and shtick (such as feigning a heart attack, complete with the ritual donning and doffing of capes and a fevered return to the stage) into his skintight rhythm & blues. What Elvis Presley was to rock and roll, James Brown became to R&B: a prolific and dominant phenom. Like Presley, he is a three-figure hitmaker, with 114 total entries on Billboard's R&B singles charts and 94 that made the Hot 100 singles chart. Over the years, he amassed 800 songs in his repertoire while maintaining a grueling touring schedule. Recording for the King and Federal labels throughout the Fifties and Sixties, Brown distilled R&B to its essence on such classic albums as Live at the Apollo (patterned after Ray Charles' In Person) and singles like "Cold Sweat," "Papa's Got a Brand New Bag" and "I Got You (I Feel Good)." His group, the J.B.'s, was anchored by horn players and musical mainstays Fred Wesley and Maceo Parker. Brown also recorded a series of instrumental albums, taking a break from soul shouting to pursue his prowess as an organist.

By the late Sixties, Brown had attained the status of a musical and cultural revolutionary, owing to his message of black pride and self-sufficiency. In the late Sixties and early Seventies, such message songs as "Say It Loud - I'm Black and I'm Proud" reverberated throughout the black community, within which he was regarded as a leader and role model. During this time, he began developing a hot funk sound with young musicians, such as bassist William "Bootsy" Collins, who passed through his ever-evolving band. Though his influence waned in the latter half of the Seventies, a cameo role in The Blues Brothers film in 1980 and his recognition as a forefather of rap helped trigger a resurgence. His records were more heavily sampled by rap and hip-hop acts than those of any other artist, and he achieved renewed street credibility by recording a single ("Unity") with rapper Afrika Bambaataa in 1984. Brown was among the first group of performers inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1986. Unfortunately, his personal life took a nose-dive in 1988, as he was investigated on a series of charges that ranged from spousal abuse and drug possession to problems with the IRS. Paroled after serving two years in prison, a chastened but resolute Brown picked up the pieces in the Nineties and carried on. If nothing else, his status as the Godfather of Soul has remained unassailable. In December 2003, only months after his 70th birthday, James Brown was the recipient of the prestigious Kennedy Center Honors.

Timeline

May 3, 1933
James Brown is born in Barnwell, South Carolina. He is raised in poverty in Augusta, Georgia, 40 miles away.

1953
James Brown joins the Gospel Starlighters, a vocal quartet led by Bobby Byrd, after completing a four-year stint in prison for robbery. The group will change its focus from gospel to R&B and its name to the Famous Flames, as Brown becomes the focal point of the act.

November 1, 1955
The Famous Flames record "Please Please Please" at the studio of WIBB in Macon, Georgia.

January 23, 1956
Producer and talent scout Ralph Bass travels to Macon to sign James Brown to the King/Federal label, beating Leonard Chess (of Chess Records) to the punch.

February 4, 1956
James Brown and the Famous Flames cut "Please Please Please" at King/Federal studios in Cincinnati, backed by the label's crack house band. James Brown's recording debut rises to #5 on the R&B chart.

March 3, 1956
"Please, Please, Please," James Brown's first single for Syd Nathan's Federal label (a King subsidiary), is released, thereby launching the career of this legendary soul singer.

April 11, 1956
"Please Please Please" by James Brown and the Famous Flames reaches #6 on the R&B charts.

October 1, 1957
After Little Richard abruptly quits rock and roll for religion, James Brown honors pending tour dates in the South in his place. Several members of Little Richard's backup band, the Upsetters, become Famous Flames.

October 1, 1958
James Brown's first #1 hit, "Try Me," is released. It is the best-selling R&B single of 1958—and the first of 17 chart-topping R&B singles by Brown over the next two decades.

May 26, 1962
James Brown hits #35 with "Night Train".

October 24, 1962
Against the objections of Syd Nathan, who felt that no one would be interested in a live album of previously released material, James Brown records his performance at New York's Apollo Theater.

June 15, 1963
James Brown hits #18 with "Prisoner of Love".

June 30, 1963
James Brown's 'Live at the Apollo, Vol. 1,' is released. Reaching #2 on the album charts, it the most successful album issued by Syd Nathan's King Records. This same year, King/Federal releases albums by Hank Ballard and the Midnighters, Freddy King, Earl Bostic and the Stanley Brothers.

October 28-29, 1964
The concert film 'The TAMI Show' is recorded in Santa Monica, CA, featuring James Brown, the Beach Boys, Chuck Berry, the Rolling Stones and the Supremes.

February 1, 1965
James Brown records "Papa's Got a Brand New Bag," a revolutionary single that ushers in a whole new era of soul music. Released that summer, it tops the R&B chart for eight weeks and even cracks the pop Top Ten.

1965
James Brown reaches #3 with "I Got You (I Feel Good)".

June 4, 1966
James Brown hits #8 with "It's A Man's Man's Man's World".

1967
James Brown hit #7 with "Cold Sweat".

1968
Archie Bell & the Drells hit #1 with "Tighten Up"; Johnnie Taylor hits # 5 with "Who's Makin Love"; James Brown hits # 6 with "I Got The Feelin'" and #10 with "Say It Loud - I'm Black and I'm Proud"; Sly & the Family Stone hit #8 with "Dance to the Music"

December 19, 1968
James Brown releases an album entitle 'Thinking About Little Willie John and a Few Nice Things,' a tribute to his recently deceased friend and King Records labelmate.

March 8, 1969
James Brown hits #15 with "Give It Up or Turn it Loose".

July 19, 1969
James Brown hits #30 with "The Popcorn".

1969
James Brown hit #11 with "Mother Popcorn".

January 24, 1970
James Brown hits #24 with "Ain't It Funky Now (Part 1)".

1970
"Get Up I Feel Like Being Like a Sex..." by James Brown hit #15.

1971
James Brown hits #15 with "Hot Pants".

July 1, 1971
James Brown signs with Polydor Records, for which he'll record extensively throughout the decade.

September 1, 1972
"Get On the Good Foot" tops the R&B chart for a month and peaks at #18 in the pop Top Forty. A gold-certified million seller, it establishes James Brown as a potent influence on black music in the Seventies—or, as he takes to calling himself, "the Godfather of Soul."

January 5, 1974
'The Payback', the most successful of James Brown's Seventies albums—many of which were double-LPs with lengthy, extended tracks—makes its debut on Billboard's album chart. It is the only gold-certified (500,000 copies sold) album of his career.

September 1, 1974
Lloyd Price stages a music festival in Zaire, Africa, with boxing promoter Don King. The event attracts 120,000 people and offers James Brown, B.B. King, Etta James, Bill Withers, the Spinners and others.

September 1, 1979
James Brown, who has watched his sales figures slip in the disco era, attempts to move in on that market with The Original Disco Man, which only reaches #152 in the album chart.

June 1, 1980
James Brown contributes an unforgettable cameo as a manic preacher in the John Belushi/Dan Aykroyd film The Blues Brothers.

September 1, 1984
Bronx rapper Afrika Bambaataa teams up with James Brown to record the anthemic single "Unity."

January 11, 1986
"Living in America," the theme song from Rocky IV, reaches #4 on Billboard's Hot 100 chart, becoming James Brown's biggest pop hit since "I Got You (I Feel Good)" went to #3 in 1965.

January 23, 1986
James Brown is inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame at the first induction dinner, held in New York City.

1986
James Brown hits #4 with "Living in America".

December 15, 1988
James Brown is sentenced to a six-year prison term after a year's worth of arrests on various assault, drug possession and vehicular charges. He leaves prison on parole on February 27, 1991.

February 25, 1992
James Brown receives a Lifetime Achievement Award at the 34th annual Grammy Awards.

February 25, 1993
James Brown receives a Lifetime Achievement Award at the fourth annual Rhythm & Blues Foundation Pioneer Awards. MC Hammer is his presenter.

May 3, 2003
James Brown turns 70 years old.

December 1, 2003
James Brown receives Kennedy Center Honors.

Click here to see James Brown's biography from the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

Attention, Online Shoppers (State politicians are creating a de facto national sales tax)

Consumers have spent more than $20 billion shopping online since Thanksgiving - a 25% increase over a year ago. The total for this holiday season could approach $25 billion. This tracks what is expected to be strong holiday-shopping growth across the country, even in brick-and-mortar stores (which used to be called just "stores"). Not everyone will benefit equally, though all signs are that this Christmas season will be economically healthy all around.

But even Christmas stories, from Dickens to Seuss, need a villain. We'd like to nominate your friendly neighborhood state governments, which for years now have been predicting dire declines in state finances because untaxed online shopping would erode the revenue-raising ability of sales taxes.

As usual, the political gloom proved to be overwrought. State tax revenues took a header in 2002 along with the rest of the economy, but they've been growing smartly ever since. The third quarter of this year saw state tax revenues up 4.6% over last year, and that was a deceleration from growth that has bumped along at close to 10% at times in recent years. State sales-tax receipts grew at 4% in the third quarter--and that was the slowest growth in three years. The biggest news about the sales-tax apocalypse is that it isn't happening.

But the strong trend lines for overall tax receipts and sales-tax revenue in particular haven't slowed the move among states to grab a piece of the online-sales pie. In the 14 years since the Supreme Court ruled that the myriad state and local taxes were too complex for mail-order retailers to be expected to master, there's been a movement to obviate that argument by "streamlining" the country's many sales-tax regimes.

Indiana, New Jersey, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Vermont, West Virginia and more than a dozen other states have been busy laying the groundwork for an Internet sales tax regime that will charge consumers based on where they live, not where they click to when shopping online. And the system is already up and partially running.

In Quill Corp. v. North Dakota in 1992, the Supreme Court ruled that forcing retailers to learn the ins and outs of every local sales tax was too burdensome. Instead, the Court found retailers can be forced to collect sales taxes only where they have a physical presence.

But never underestimate the determination of politicians to impose a new tax. The Supreme Court left open the possibility of dispensing with the brick and mortar test if complying with various sales taxes could be made dramatically easier. So six years ago the National Governor's Association, the National Conference of State Legislatures and other politicians seeking more of your money founded a new organization to oversee the mammoth effort of aligning sales taxes across state lines. And the group--the Streamlined Sales Tax Governing Board--has made a lot of headway.

The biggest hurdle was getting several states to agree on how to simplify their sales taxes. The Board cleared that five years ago by striking an agreement that settled the most contentious issues, such as how to determine which locale's sales tax applies to a particular online sale. Today the Board counts 21 states as "members" of the agreement.

Approximately 1,000 retailers are also now "voluntarily" collecting online sales taxes, regardless of whether they are required to under Quill. The reason? Congress hasn't clarified what constitutes a "physical presence" and the Board has exploited fears that states might sue for back taxes by offering an "amnesty" to companies that start collecting taxes now. The catch is that to be eligible retailers must collect taxes on sales to shoppers in every member state. Last year, voluntary tax collection topped $30 million, a fraction of what states hope to rake in eventually.

Consumers are also finding themselves paying more in other ways. Last month, West Virginia Governor Joe Manchin shelved a tax cut when faced with either running afoul of the Board's definition of candy or imposing different tax rates depending on whether a candy item contains flour. Vermont will repeal taxes on clothing next month, but impose new taxes on computer software and beer.

"Simplifying" taxes thus turns out be a complicated business. Or to put it another way, this political exercise is already reducing the tax competition among states that has been a rare incentive for keeping the tax burden low. We are heading, willy-nilly and without much debate, toward a de facto national sales-tax regime. North Dakota State Senator Dwight Cook, a Republican and president of the Streamlined Sales Tax Board, told us he expects six states to reform their sales taxes next year. "The next couple of months could tell quite a story," he says.

That they could, and not necessarily a happy one for taxpayers. One source of economic growth in the U.S. has been the explosion of online purchases and the access of many small retailers and artisans to a global audience. These businesses already pay local income and property taxes, and the smaller they are the larger the burden of having to collect sales levies. The "streamlined" sales tax won't look so attractive to them.

The larger issue, however, is the decline in tax competition among the 50 states. One reason New York City has felt compelled to exempt purchases of clothing items below $110 from its 8.375% sales tax is to prevent too many shoppers from heading to New Jersey or Connecticut. The lack of an income or sales tax in New Hampshire has also forced nearby states like Massachusetts and Rhode Island to cut their own levies lest they lose even more taxpayers to Nashua or Manchester. And in the European Union, Ireland and the Baltic states have used low corporate rates or flat taxes to attract capital, driving the high-tax French and Germans to demand "tax harmonization" from the bureaucrats in Brussels.

The same self-interested impulse is driving the American state politicians who are quietly building this uniform multi-state online sales tax. If that's their game, then the least they could do for beleaguered taxpayers is cut income taxes to offset their new online windfall. Some smart politicians should start to demand it.

Click here to read the original editorial from OpinionJournal

Politics this week: 15th - 20th December 2006

America, China, Japan, Russia and South Korea resumed talks with North Korea in Beijing after a gap of more than a year. The discussions are intended to bring an end to its nuclear-weapons program — North Korea carried out a nuclear test in October. See article

All the senior economic officials in George Bush's cabinet joined Hank Paulson, America's treasury secretary, in Beijing for the first meeting in a new twice-yearly “strategic economic dialog” with China. The two sides haggled inconclusively about trade and exchange rates. See article

The son of a prominent Indian politician was convicted of the murder in 1999 of Jessica Lal, a model, at a crowded party. The case had caused outrage when it appeared that, despite the presence of large numbers of witnesses, the murderer would go free. See article

Anton Balasingam, chief negotiator for the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, the rebels fighting for a Tamil homeland in Sri Lanka, died in London. He was seen as a moderate in an otherwise ruthlessly uncompromising leadership.

King Jigme Singye Wangchuk of Bhutan abdicated in favor of his son. A revered monarch, he has promised that the country will hold its first democratic elections in 2008.

The peace process in Nepal took another step forward with an agreement between mainstream political parties and rebel Maoists on an interim constitution to prepare for elections next year.

A fingergrip on power

The fragility of the Democrats' hold on the incoming American Senate was thrown into sharp focus when Senator Tim Johnson, from South Dakota, suffered a brain hemorrhage. Mr Johnson is said to be recovering after surgery, but if he dies, South Dakota's Republican governor will appoint someone to fill the remainder of his term. A Republican replacement for Mr Johnson would upset the new Democratic majority of one in the chamber.

The death penalty in two states was more or less put on hold over concerns that executions by lethal injection had been botched. Florida's governor, Jeb Bush, ordered a halt to executions after a convicted killer took 34 minutes to die and a judge in California ruled that the state's method of administering the injections was cruel and therefore unconstitutional.

Two of the oldest Episcopalian parishes in the United States, with roots in the colonial era, voted to break away from the national church to protest against its growing acceptance of gays and the ordination of women. Located in Virginia, the parishes aligned themselves with a conservative Nigerian church. The debate over homosexuality and the role of women in the church threatens to produce a schism in the worldwide Anglican communion. See article

New Jersey's legislature passed a bill recognizing civil unions between gay couples, which gives same-sex partners the same rights and benefits as married people in the state.

Democracy's turn

President Mahmoud Abbas called for a general election in the Palestinian territories, as violence between the ruling Islamists of Hamas and Mr Abbas's secular Fatah party increased in the Gaza Strip. See article

Supporters of Iran's populist president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, did badly in elections to local councils and to the assembly of experts. The assembly can choose Iran's supreme leader, who has more power than the president. See article

A Libyan court sentenced five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor to death after they were found guilty — on flimsy evidence — of deliberately infecting hundreds of Libyan children with AIDS. See article

Nigeria's ruling party picked a reclusive Muslim state governor, Umaru Yar'Adua, as its candidate in next year's presidential election. He was strongly backed by the incumbent president, Olusegun Obasanjo, who is to step down after two terms. See article

Robert Mugabe, who has run Zimbabwe since 1980, won his ruling party's backing to postpone the next presidential election from 2008 to 2010.

Some 250 foreign aid workers left the Darfur region of Sudan after some of them were shot at and their vehicles stolen at gunpoint. The government in Khartoum continued to refuse to accept a hybrid peacekeeping force from the African Union and the UN.

Stamping his authority

As part of a promised offensive on law and order, Mexico's new president, Felipe Calderón, deployed 6,000 troops and police against drug gangs in the western state of Michoacán and placed two separate federal police forces under a single command.

Hundreds of thousands of protesters took part in demonstrations in Santa Cruz and other cities of eastern Bolivia. They demanded greater autonomy and protested at the plans of Evo Morales, the country's socialist president, to rewrite the constitution.

Ecuador withdrew its ambassador from Colombia in disapproval of the decision by Álvaro Uribe's government to resume aerial spraying of coca plantations near the border between the two countries. See article

Cuba's government made a concerted effort to deny reports that Fidel Castro, the island's president, was dying of cancer. Officials told visiting American congressmen that Mr Castro would make a public appearance soon.

Helping with inquiries

Tony Blair became the first British prime minister ever to be questioned by police during a criminal investigation. He was questioned as a witness in an inquiry into alleged cash payments from party donors in return for peerages in the House of Lords. Mr Blair said it was “perfectly natural” that he should assist. See article

Silvio Berlusconi, Italy's former prime minister and the current center-right opposition leader, went to America for health checks. Mr Berlusconi, who is 70, collapsed at a political rally last month.

A Spanish scheduled flight landed at Gibraltar airport for the first time. The Iberia flight to the British colony followed a three-way deal between the parties in September.

An aging French rock star, Johnny Hallyday, caused a political stir when he said he would move to Switzerland to escape French taxes. Mr Hallyday claims that 68% of his income goes to the taxman.

Click here to read the original political news summary from Economist.com