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CX 'I Can Fly' members pledge to spread their wings and set new goals in life
The pledging ceremony was held at the Kowloon Park Sports Stadium with the Secretary for Labour and Welfare Matthew Cheung and Cathay Pacific Chief Operating Officer Rupert Hogg as the officiating guests. Other guests included the airline's Director Corporate Affairs Chitty Cheung, Vice-Chairperson of Bless Hong Kong Leonie Ki and Deputy Director-General of the Civil Aviation, Civil Aviation Department Colman Ng.
Launched in 2003, "I Can Fly" aims to give young people the opportunity to enhance their aviation knowledge, encouraging them to fly high to achieve their dreams. At the same time the programme also gives participants a greater sense of socially responsibility, providing them with an opportunity to serve the community.
In addition to learning about various aspects of aviation including flight operations, inflight services and engineering, "I Can Fly" members will also have the opportunity to visit Hong Kong International Airport, the Civil Aviation Department and other aviation facilities. They will then use their creativity and new-found aviation knowledge to devise and implement a social service project to help others in the community.
In support of the "Bless Hong Kong" campaign launched by the Commission on Poverty, Cathay Pacific has specially recruited 500 less-advantaged students from more than 130 secondary schools and NGOs in Hong Kong who were nominated by their headmasters, teachers or social workers. Many of them have achieved excellent academic results and participated actively in social services.
Speaking at the pledging ceremony, Mr Hogg said: "As Hong Kong's home carrier, Cathay Pacific has a deep commitment to the local community and in particular to helping young people reach for their dreams. We have been pleased to see many graduates from previous 'I Can Fly' programmes join the aviation industry after getting to know more about themselves and their responsibilities within society.
"This year we have specifically targeted students from under-privileged backgrounds as part of our support for the Bless Hong Kong campaign. I would like to express my heartfelt thanks to the school heads, teachers and social workers for recommending such an excellent batch of members who include student leaders, students with outstanding academic results and those who have shown real determination in their struggle against adversity. I am sure you will all benefit from this valuable learning opportunity and get a clearer understanding of your goals in life."
After getting invaluable insights into aviation and taking part in social service programmes, 100 outstanding performers will be invited to explore new learning opportunities at overseas facilities such as Flight Training Adelaide in Australia or the Airbus factory in Toulouse, France.
The success of "I Can Fly" relies on the support of various organisations, members of the CX Staff Volunteers and Alumni Coordinators. For this year's programme, more than 70 CX Volunteers and Alumni Coordinators will be providing help and guidance for 500 "I Can Fly" members.
CX Volunteers Staff Leader Kinna But said: "I am glad to see that the students are being very proactive in their learning. They are always asking questions and communicating with each other, which motive and inspire me both personally and professionally. Spending time with these enthusiastic young people makes me feel younger, too!"
The main objective of the programme is to encourage young people to fly high and reach for their dreams. Alumni Coordinator Jeffrey Lam, who graduated from "I Can Fly" in 2008 said: "Through 'I Can Fly' I was able to enjoy an overseas trip and experience a real test flight. The programme helped to broaden my horizons and made me realise how passionate about aviation I was. It made me more determined than ever to become a professional pilot."
One of the highlights in the programme is to devise a social service project and contribute to the community. Current "I Can Fly" member Miki Cheung hopes to fly high in this regard. "I think this programme is very meaningful because it enables our age group to take part in voluntary work and help people in need. It prepares us to give back to society in the future and provides us with a better understanding of our role in the community."
Learn more about "I Can Fly" at http://icanfly.cathaypacific.com.


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Choose your computer setup
This guide is different depending on your operating system (Windows, Mac or Linux). Please select from the options below.
If you are not certain which version is installed on your computer, refer to this guide: What setup am I using?
Please choose one
Press the Windows key + Pause to open a window similar to one of those shown in Fig 1 and Fig 2.
Click on the Apple icon in the top left-hand corner of the menu bar and select 'About this Mac' from the drop-down menu to open the window shown in Fig 1. Alternatively, press Ctrl + F2 and use the arrow keys to navigate to 'About this Mac', then press Enter.
For the purposes of these How to guides, it is not important to know the version of the Linux operating system (for example, Ubuntu) that you are using. Instead, it is which version of the desktop environment you are using that matters. The How to guides are available for both Gnome and KDE.
Click on 'System' in the menu bar, then select 'About GNOME' from the drop-down menu. Alternatively, press Alt + F1 and use the left and right arrow keys to select 'System', then, using the down arrow key, select 'About GNOME' and press Enter to open the window shown in Fig 1.
Open your system's file manager programme (it will be either Dolphin or Konqueror, depending on your setup). Click on 'Help' in the menu bar, then select 'About KDE' from the drop-down menu. Alternatively, press Alt + H and use the down arrow key to select 'About KDE' and press Enter to open the window shown in Fig 2.

subset: commoncrawl


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Many customers chose to get life insurance quotes on the Internet and then buy their life insurance policy online, and for good reason. There are many reasons for deciding to buy term life insurance online.
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Also, while you may appreciate not dealing with a life insurance agent in person, this can present a drawback in that you will have to figure out the policy in its entirety by yourself-you won't have anybody to talk you through it in person.
However, a good life insurance company online will have customer service agents and representatives to help you should you have any questions or concerns, or should you require any clarifications about the term life insurance quotes or policies. If they don't, take your business elsewhere.
The Internet is chock full of term life insurance options, so you don't have to worry about not finding another quote or policy you can feel good about.


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Locals flock to Hostess stores, stock up on Twinkies
Hostess holds store closing sales
With the fate of Twinkies, Wonder Bread other Hostess staples undetermined, some Central Floridians are stocking up on their favorite treats.
Folks looking to savor the nostalgic flavors offered up at Hostess bakeries lined up at stores across the area for closing sales over the weekend.
The food company announced last week it would be going out of business after it failed to reach a contract agreement with a labor union.
"We took them for granted. We thought they were always going to be here. Now that Hostess is gone, I don't know what's going to happen," customer Christopher Phillips said.
In Orlando, more than 200 workers at the Merita Bread factory are losing their jobs because of the move.
Nationwide, 18,500 workers will be out of a job.
Related: Hostess snacks through the years


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Practitioners of the dismal science rarely elicit much mirth from audiences when they explore the state of the economy, but Austan Goolsbee is an exception. Speaking at a general session at the 2012 NAPFA national conference in his hometown of Chicago, where he teaches at the University of Chicago, Goolsbee provoked serious laughter numerous times as he took a hard look at economic prospects in the United States and Europe for the more than 500 attendees of the fee-only planner group's annual gathering.
Goolsbee (left), former chairman of President Obama's Council of Economic Advisers, began his talk by contrasting the U.S. and European responses to two separate crises: the 2008 credit crisis in the U.S. and the ongoing sovereign debt crisis in the euro zone.
He argued that if you "cross out mortgage-backed securities and insert government bonds," then the euro zone crisis is nearly identical to the earlier U.S. meltdown. "The lesson of TARP should be 'This is how to do it'" by recapitalizing the banks, and opening their balance sheets for all to see. However, "Europe took the opposite lesson" and has failed to disclose the scope of the sovereign debt issue for its banks, which has led to an erosion of confidence in the markets in European debt and the European banking system itself.
"Banking crises must be dealt with quickly," Goolsbee counseled, "or else they morph into something terrible." While in the U.S., "we did the best we could and still had a terrible recession," he predicted that a worse fate awaits Europe, including "an awful recession." Current austerity measures throughout the euro zone, within which he said there were "humongous trade imbalances," would not be effective. "If you're not growing, you'll never balance your budgets; all the austerity in the world won't fix it."
As for the American economy, the fundamental question, he said, is "Why aren't we growing faster?"—as tends to be the case after most deep recessions. The reason is that the primary drivers of growth in evidence in the 2000s, high personal consumption and housing, are no longer a factor. Now, personal consumption is only growing as fast as income and the once-negative savings rate is holding steady at around 5%. Government spending will continue to fall, Goolsbee said, and while the health care, services and, "surpisingly," the manufacturing sectors are showing healthy signs of growth, it's not enough to push U.S. economic growth past 3%.
Goolsbee sees positive signs for the economy in the high level of corporate profits, which he suggested could lead to the private sector as "the sustaining driver of growth." But he also warned of the "fiscal cliff at the end of the year," when the Bush-era tax cuts sunset and Congress will be forced to deal with budget sequestration and the debt ceiling.
As for the U.S. budget deficit, he said there's a short-term deficit and a long-term deficit which are "totally different." The short-term deficit was caused by the recession and will disappear as "we slowly work our way out of it" through restored economic growth and the tax receipts that come with that growth.
The longer-term deficit is a structural problem, he said, caused by the aging of the American population and the rise in health care costs. Referencing politics, he said that "conflating the two" kinds of deficits "has not done the country any good." Moreover, he said "I'm not so sure we'll address" those issues pushing us toward the cliff until the election, and "maybe even later." That uncertainty will produce volatility and affect the markets throughout the year, particularly in the U.S.
Over the medium term Goolsbee is more optimistic. "We have problems, but compared to the rest of the developed world they're not so bad," he said, citing our debt-to-GDP ratio, our entrepreneurial culture, "pent-up investor demand" and even our relatively high birth rate. "If we can get past this bumpy, painful time," he said, the U.S. economy can have a brighter future. "Our job market will improve," he predicted, we just "need politics that matches our economy."


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- Dimitri: "People aren't going to be happy if you kill me, stupid motherfucker."
- Niko: "I've never been popular. I don't mean to start now."
- ― Dimitri Rascalov fruitlessly tries to scare Niko Bellic before he kills him
A Dish Served Cold is one of the final storyline missions in Grand Theft Auto IV, if the "Revenge" ending is chosen. During the mission, Niko Bellic kills Dimitri Rascalov on the ship the Platypus, the very ship that brought Niko to Liberty City.
During a meeting with Jimmy Pegorino, Niko had found out that he is being forced to do a heroin deal with Dimitri Rascalov. Niko decided not to take the deal and instead exact revenge on Dimitri after finding out from Roman that he is on board the Platypus ship. He goes over to the Platypus and begins a violent shootout, during which he kills every single one of Dimitri's men and eventually corners him in the ship's hull. During the standoff, Niko wounds Dimitri, who then begs for his life and tries to bribe him. Niko is unmoved and kneecaps Dimitri before finally killing him with a shot to the head.
Mission Objectives
In order to complete the mission the player must:
- Go to the bridge
- Operate the controls to open the cargo hold
- Go to the cargo hold and get revenge on Dimitri
- Finish off Dimitri
- Get off the ship
After getting the decision, if revenge is chosen, head to the red "revenge" icon on the map. Get close to the Platypus boat and a cutscene will show an overview of Dimitri and his security. Head up the side stairs and take immediate cover. Go to the bridge.
Tip: You can head up a nearby ladder and up there will be a sniper rifle that the player can use to snipe some of the men down.
Use an SMG or assault rifle and start blasting everyone in sight. Get to a safe spot and snipe the guard that is on a balcony above ground. Remember to blast anyone in your way. Take cover beside the door of ship the and shoot as many guards that are inside as possible. Then go inside, shoot the rest of them, and head up the stairs. Take cover beside the door to the second floor. There are three heavily armed guards in there - just shoot them and proceed to the end of the hall. Turn left or right; doesn't matter.
Niko will land outside again. There will be quite a few guards - don't panic. Just get cover and shoot them, then get out of cover and shoot the rest. Go up a small staircase to the bridge.
Operate the controls to open the cargo hold. Go to the cargo hold and get revenge on Dimitri. Drop a grenade, wait five seconds, then jump inside. Take immediate cover and blast all the guards. After a quick gunfight, Niko will confront Dimitri. Dimitri runs to the corner and orders his guards to finish Niko off. One option is to kill the guards, and then confront Dimitri, while an easier one is to stay in cover, and use a few grenades or an RPG to attack Dimitri in the corner. A cutscene of Dimitri begging for his life is shown. Execute him or free-aim and shoot him; either way, Dimitri will easily go down with one shot. Go to the cargo hold's exit.
Video Walkthrough
After the Mission
There is no reward for this mission. Niko will call Roman and Kate. He will tell Roman that Dimitri is dead, mentioning that it "ended where it began", and Roman, somewhat wistfully, replies by saying that they'll get no money but is grateful that Dimitri is no longer around to bother them. Shortly after, Phil will call Niko and say that he heard about what happened and he understands why Niko killed Dimitri and for what it's worth, he also didn't trust him. As a result of falling out with the deal, however, the Pegorinos are falling apart, and Niko can't talk with him anymore, adding that he's out of the life of crime. Later, Niko will call Kate and tell her he didn't go through with the deal. She replies that he did a good thing, and that it must have been difficult to stick to his principles, adding that she'll be coming to Roman's wedding.
Post Mission phone calls:
1. Niko: I killed Dimitri, It's over. He was on the Platypus, the boat I arrived to Liberty City on, so it seems it ends where it began.
Roman: I guess you did what you thought you had to do, no deal, no money, no hot tubs and models, but Dimitri will not bother you again, I will see you at the wedding yes? Remember to wear a suit.
Niko: I'll be there Roman, Don't worry.
2. Phil: Hey, it's Phil, I understand why you made the decision you did. For what it's worth, I didn't trust that Dimitri neither.
Niko: Yeah, well, I did what I had to do....
Phil: Anyway, you and me can't talk no more. Jimmy's fallin' apart and the Pegorino's ain't nothin' no more, I'm out man, goodbye.
- Dimitri Rascalov (for betraying Niko and threatening Roman.)
- Dimitri's thugs
- The name of the mission is a reference to a quote in the 1841 French novel Mathilde; the quote is translated into English as "Revenge is very good eaten cold." It has since been turned into "Revenge is a dish best served cold".
- In the opening cutscene, Dimitri makes a mistake in his Russian line, mispronouncing the Russian word for "heroin" (in Russian, the leading "h" is pronounced as a hard "g"). Later, there are mistakes in the Russian inscriptions on containers inside the ship.


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Banderas is believer in Challenge hype
Dallas JacksonClick Here to view this Link. is the National High School Sports Analyst for Rivals. Email him your questions and comments at email@example.com Here to view this Link. and follow him on TwitterClick Here to view this Link..
When Josh Banderas decides to participate in events during the summer camp circuit it comes with immediate doubt of his fellow competitors.
"Everyone out there tries to hype themselves," he said. "Everyone says they have a USC offer and I usually just subtract like five offers from whatever number they say.
"A lot of guys want to boost themselves I guess, but I just figure a lot of people are lying."
The outside linebacker from Lincoln (Neb.) Lincoln Southwest knows that coming to the Rivals100 Five-Star Challenge will be different and that he will not have to adjust his expectations of who is on the field with him.
"There will not be any underestimating guys out there," he said. "These guys are the best and don't need to brag; I don't think many of us will be talking about how many offers we have since we all know this is the best group of guys."
The invitation-only event will take place from June 22-24 at Lakewood Stadium in Atlanta. The inaugural group of players will be made up of 80 members from the class of 2013 and 20 from the class of 2014.
Banderas, a Nebraska commit, thinks that he is in for a lot of fun as well as competition.
"This is a big-time showcase so I am really excited," he said. "It is the biggest and fastest and best. I am hoping to hang out and talk to a bunch of guys."
The bond-building part of this type of event is big for Banderas.
"There are not a ton of D-I guys in Nebraska," he said. "So at the pre-combine dinners and rooming with guys it is cool to talk and share the experience with.
"Usually I will meet a couple guys and try to go against them and make it a friendly rivalry, too. You can do it before the camp or during when you see who is yapping and get with him that makes it fun."
One of the players that Banderas said he is going to search out is Eddie Vanderdoes from Placer (Calif.) High.
While both will be on defense, and in different position groups, Banderas wants to befriend the defensive lineman.
"I think he would be a great fit at Nebraska so I am going to try to talk to him and recruit him a little," Banderas said. "I will be working some other guys too but that is a kid that I want on my team."
Spreading the word of Nebraska football has been the charge of Banderas since committing in April.
"A lot of people do not know about how powerful Nebraska football was," he said. "Once I start talking about tradition and where we are going I think it gets the awareness out there. We are trying to bring back the Old Husker power."
Getting the story of Nebraska circulating will be a major task for Banderas at the Rivals100 Five-Star Challenge but those are only words and he will have to back it up with action.
"These are all D-I kids," he said. "If you want them to come play with you they have to want to play with you; that means more than being friends, it means being a good player.
"I will try to do my best and just beat one guy at a time."
Mike Farrell's take
Banderas did very well at the U.S. Army Combine in San Antonio last January and his stock has continued to rise. A hard-nosed linebacker with an old-school approach, he will take this event very seriously and he will compete from the start to be the best individually as well as for his team. The big question is, how athletic is he and how well can he cover in space? He'll find that out very quickly.
Click Here to view this Link.


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The truth about "miracle" acne cure
"Get rid of acne overnight with this 1 weird trick!" A few years ago, I used to scour the internet in the hope of finding the acne holy grail, some magical substance with the power to clear my acne in a flash.
Acne & lifestyle
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Zits, spots, pimples… call them what you may, acne affects most teens and a good chunk of the adult population too. This much-maligned condition causes different types of spot to appear on the face, back or chest, but just what causes acne and how does it all work?


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Trust me they won't be going stale...steady flow of 'customers' helps there. As an aiside, 15 years brewing and roasting has taught me that the phrase 'stale coffee' is far too widely used. What is stale anyway? How do you define stale coffee?
For me, bean change over a period of four weeks or so, sure the first week or two are the pinnacle, but to suggest (Not that you are) that beans over this period are stale, I have found is, well rather snobby.
They change, the chemical composition changes, the oxidisation changes the taste, sometimes for the better.
But be rest assured, they are not and will not sit there forever.
On a side note...I had cause to visit a farmers house yesterday and was offered a drink. I spotted a machine and grinder. They refused to make me a coffee because they felt the beans really were too old. (We are talking several weeks). I was impressed and promised to drop in some fresh roasted coffee for them!


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Dobies Growing Guides
Vegetable Garden Planner
This evergreen is a must have for any small pond. It has an unusual corkscrew twist to the cylindrical foliage. Although evergreen, cutting it back in early spring encourages fresh new growth. Flowers June-August. Minimum height 25cm; maximum height 45cm. Maximum depth 10cm. Slow growth rate. Available in two pot sizes: 3 x 9cm pots or 1 x 1 litre pot..
Code: 256425
Code: 256420
Plug or Potted Plant:Potted
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Likes Acidic Soil:False
Grows in Sun or Partial Shade:True
F1 Variety:False
Prefers full sun or partial shade.
All Dobies products should reach you in perfect condition, just as they left us. If you are dissatisfied in any way with their condition on arrival, please let us know within 14 days. We are only liable for the cost of the goods as quoted on the website plus the cost of delivery if the goods are faulty.
Order online or call 0344 967 0303 For product or any other queries, please email Customer Services Customer Services call 0333 240 5933
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Irrigating Berries
Solutions for
Irrigating Berries
High-quality fruit and productive, profitable fields start with a well-planned Rotator® Sprinkler system. Choose Rotator® Full Coverage Irrigation to irrigate a variety of berry crops, and use it in conjunction with Pressure Regulators (with optional drain check), Control Valves, and the TWIG® Wireless Control System for system automation.
A permanent set Rotator® Sprinkler system is the perfect solution for blueberries and raspberries. For cranberries, Nelson engineers have developed a detachable riser so the sprinkler can be easily removed after the irrigation season and prior to harvest. And, the Rotator has no riser vibration. MIstigation opportunities are available with the full line of Nelson Rotators.
Whatever the berry, Rotator® Full Coverage Irrigation outperforms other irrigation methods. Some of the benefits are:
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Ashlee Simpson's car wash kid
Denise and Charlie's little soccer star
Former Two and a Half Men star Charlie Sheen, and his ex-wife Denise Richards came together to watch their daughter Sam, 7, play soccer their daughter Lola, 6, tagged along to watch the game in Calabasas, CA yesterday (November 19).
Kendra and Hank's farmers market cutie
Reality Television star and former Playboy model Kendra Wilkinson and her husband NFL star Hank Baskett took their son Hank Jr., almost 2, at a farmer's market in Calabasas, CA yesterday (November 19).


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We can assist students in resolving a problem or concern related to their role as a UWM Student. We can also help connect students to appropriate campus and community resources.
Student Life
We work closely with the academic departments, Student Association, and student organizations to identify new programs and activities that will complement the classroom experience.
Student Rights and Responsibilities
The Dean of Students Office guides students to be ethical, responsible and respectful community members. DOS supports students' rights while holding them responsible for their behaviors.


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Guests: Ezra Klein, Simon Hobbs, David Corn, Ed Rendell, Irshad Manji, Abderrahim Foukara, Ed Rollins, Todd Harris, Steve McMahon
CHRIS MATTHEWS, HOST: God wars.
Let's play HARDBALL.
Good evening. I'm Chris Matthews, back from Israel and the Mideast. Leading off tonight: Zealots abroad, zealots at home. What a horrible story I've come home to. Not the tsunami, not the nuclear disaster, not even Gadhafi. But what do you do when people, 20,000 of them, rush United Nations workers, good people doing good work in a tough place, killing them? Why? Because some character on the other side of the world burnt a holy book. Is this what young men and women risk and give their lives, arms and legs in Afghanistan and Iraq, so that any time on this planet that some clown decides to say something against Islam, innocent people get killed? Is this the deal?
I spent the last seven days in a land divided by religion. The Israelis hold their covenant with God and to the land he promised them. The Arabs cling to the land of their birth, to their Muslim or Christian faith, and yes, they, too, to Jerusalem. But listen to the fanatics in this country.
They attack the president's basics beliefs, accusing him of thinking like a Muslim from Kenya—you hear that a lot—or—and this is the subtle version—not accepting the specialness of America, like he's not really one of us. They say the president isn't one of us. They say he may also be an impostor, that Democrats are anti-American. They want next year's election—that's the people on the right—to be about who the real Americans are, the real Christians.
They let the word spread around the country. They keep spreading, by the way, to a majority of their Republicans about how the president may have just snuck in this country, doctored his papers and now pretends to be a Christian. Even John Boehner, who's obviously a sensitive guy, won't raise his voice one bit to stop this talk. Is this what's come of the wars in the Islamic world, we begin to talk like the zealots from the Middle East?
Let's begin tonight with the zealots over here. Well, no, let's start with the ones over there. Abderrahim Foukara is the Washington bureau chief for Al Jazeera and Irshad Manji is professor at New York University and author of the book "The Trouble With Islam Today."
Irshad, thank you for coming back. I wish we didn't keep having you back when the news was terrible. But I keep thinking what it must be like to be a U.N. worker. And I just bet they're all pretty good people. They're not politicians. They're not jerks. They're good people over doing a tough job somewhat sacrificially. And all of a sudden, a horde of people come sweeping in to kill them, and they realize what's going on is they're going to be the victims, basically, of a religious war, of fanatical behavior.
Now, what does this tell you? What was Karzai's role in this, the guy we supposedly have as our ally over there? He seemed to have sparked this thing, according to your reporting.
IRSHAD MANJI, NEW YORK UNIVERSITY: Well, not just my reporting, Chris. "The New York Times" reported over the weekend that Karzai made a speech in which he condemned the Koran burning and actually made federal a case of it at a time when the international media was responsible—for once responsible—and didn't cover this event. So in fact,, the guy who's gotten the real pass in all of this is not the leader, the misleader, Hamid Karzai.
MATTHEWS: Why do you think he did it?
MANJI: Oh, I...
MATTHEWS: Because we're over there fighting for him. I'm not. Our fellow Americans are fighting for this guy. And I wonder how long the Americans are going to—let me show you a poll right now...
MANJI: But I'd like to answer your question, Chris.
MATTHEWS: Go ahead. Go ahead.
MANJI: I'd like to answer your question. I think it was purely self-preservation on his part. It wasn't about the people at all, as usual. It was about the fact, I think, that because the U.S. pull-out is going to be starting in the summer, such as it is, he's basically currying favor with the extremist elements in Afghanistan in order to show, Guys, you really can trust me. Please don't kill me. Please keep me in power.
It was pure politics. And that's the sad part, Chris. You start with the phrase "God wars." It isn't about God at all. It's about politics.
MATTHEWS: Well, maybe all God wars are. Your thoughts?
ABDERRAHIM FOUKARA, AL JAZEERA: Well, I mean, I absolutely agree. I mean...
MATTHEWS: What's Karzai up to? Why did he blow the whistle and send this—it looks like he yelled fire.
FOUKARA: I think he's trying to stir the pot in hope that it would bolster his political position with public opinion in Afghanistan. We know there's a history of him being accused of corruption and other stuff, so he resorted to that. So this probably is as much a problem of religion as it is a problem of politics.
MATTHEWS: We do you think—well, aren't we protecting this guy's life and limb every day? And why is he dumping on us?
FOUKARA: Well, I mean, it just goes back to...
MATTHEWS: Isn't he alive because of us?
FOUKARA: Yes, in many ways, he is. But at the same time, he seems to think that, you know, this is the cold, cold world of politics. And he goes where he sees...
FOUKARA: ... the political capital is, rather than—his own political capital, rather than...
MATTHEWS: Well, you guys make a lot of sense to me because you're...
MATTHEWS: Let's take a look at "The Washington Post." Let's talk
about what this is going to do to us in this country, "The Washington
Post"/ABC poll out last month. And by the way, you got to figure these
numbers are going to be more extreme than they're showing. About 2 to 1,
64 to 31, people don't think this war makes any sense for us
Irshad, it's hard for me not to believe that those numbers are going to go to about 80-20 or 85-15 when people realize that the so-called ally we have over there...
MANJI: Right.
MATTHEWS: ... has been unleashing the mob on U.N. workers because some Billy Bob character, somewhere in the outskirts of Florida somewhere, decided that he was going to do some Koran burning.
MANJI: Yes. And what—you've just nailed it, that, you know, these good-hearted, big-minded U.N. workers were sold down the river by, again, the guy who claims to be the leader of a liberated Afghanistan.
Look, Chris, I think that the U.S. government needs to call this buster out. I really do. And you know, I realize that diplomacy doesn't work that way. But frankly, I mean, you know, diplomacy didn't work that way in the age of Ronald Reagan, when he said...
MATTHEWS: Yes, well...
MANJI: ... "Tear down this wall"...
MANJI: ... and completely threw away the notes that the State Department gave him. Here's the point. Can I just finish up my thought?
MATTHEWS: Sure.
MANJI: I think that, you know, the U.S. government needs to say to Karzai, Look, you publicly asked us to condemn this Koran burning. We have. Now we are publicly demanding that you go before the Afghan people and tell them that we have condemned it in no uncertain terms. Let's see if...
MATTHEWS: Yes.
MANJI: ... he's willing to do a quid pro quo.
MATTHEWS: He's not—you got—you haven't caught up with his latest act. He continues to argue that our government should go down into the bayous of Florida somewhere and find this guy and arrest him.
MANJI: He knows that that's not...
MATTHEWS: And he knows there's no law against...
MANJI: ... the way—exactly.
MATTHEWS: ... blasphemy in the United States. So in other words,
it's now the—not only is not on him, he's putting the monkey on our back
look at this...
MANJI: That's right.
MATTHEWS: ... that until we play ball with him and arrest this character, this pastor, so-called, that we haven't—that we're responsible for more murders over there.
MANJI: Right. Right. Exactly. And what a tactic, hey? This is why we need to get out of Afghanistan. It is not about punishing the people. It is about the fact that even when we're there, striving for peace, this guy is undermining every effort at peace. So it's got to be called and it's got to be said openly...
MANJI: ... there's no point in having us there while he still is in power.
MATTHEWS: This is scary because we're getting into religion, but might as well. We're here. One thing that struck me long before we got into Afghanistan after 9/11 was the blowing up of the Buddha over there because most religions have respect for other religions in terms of their historic importance in their country. I mean, I may not be Jewish, but I respect the Jewish tradition in this country, and obviously, the freedom of everybody in this country going way back. But also there's a sense that even if you're a minority religion, you tend to respect the larger religion that's been there longer and has something to do with the country's history.
For them to blow up the Buddha, which was dynamited and then—on national—international television, but then to complain that some character down in Florida burnt a Bible—I mean, burnt a Koran—there's no symmetry to this! I mean, if it's OK for them to destroy a Buddha that's been there hundreds of years, and yet they go crazy—in other words, their religion is the only thing that matters on the planet. Everybody else doesn't matter.
FOUKARA: Chris, it's not even—this is not even about...
MATTHEWS: Let's talk about...
FOUKARA: ... religion.
MATTHEWS: ... the zealots themselves.
FOUKARA: Yes. This is—this is a bunch of...
MATTHEWS: Twenty thousand people!
FOUKARA: Yes. This is a bunch of people, the Taliban, when they blew up the Buddhas, they did something just as medieval as the pastor has done. Why would you want to burn somebody else's book? It doesn't make sense in the 21st century, in the same way that it doesn't make any sense whatsoever to blow up something like—the Buddhas were part and parcel of the history of that country.
MATTHEWS: Right.
FOUKARA: Why would you resort to something like that?
MATTHEWS: Well, that's the question.
FOUKARA: And ultimately—I mean, ultimately, regardless of your motives, whether you're the pastor—General Petraeus told him in 2010, Don't do it. You're going to make the U.S. position in Afghanistan even more tenuous. He went ahead and did it. So now the ramifications...
FOUKARA: ... are actually for U.S. presence in Afghanistan over something totally medieval by both sides.
MATTHEWS: OK. Let's talk about our side. Let's talk about this Reverend Jones here. Here he was on HARDBALL back in—two years ago—a year ago, actually. It wasn't that long ago, August, when we had this first threat that he was going to do this. And it's very important to listen to his argument here because it gets to these terrible arguments that are being made in our country that we're being threatened by Sharia in Dearborn, Michigan, anywhere where there's a long Muslim population, that somehow, we're coming under Sharia.
Here he is making the case, this build-on, this other terrible rumor that's being pushed. Here he is back in August of last year. Let's listen.
TERRY JONES, PASTOR: What we hope to accomplish by the burning of the Koran is to send a very clear—it is, indeed, a radical message, but a very clear radical message to Muslims, to Sharia law, that that is not welcomed in America.
MATTHEWS: If somebody—somebody's going to react to what you do, do you think the reaction's going to be positive or negative?
JONES: I think it's going to be positive.
MATTHEWS: Yes, it's been great. People are dead right now, Reverend.
These guys...
MANJI: What did you expect...
MATTHEWS: I don't even know what religion they're...
MANJI: ... him to say, Chris?
MATTHEWS: I know. I know. Let's go to this dangerous question. There are politicians like Newt Gingrich—and I can't even keep a list anymore on the right of the charges they make that we're somehow falling under Sharia law. Gaffney's been pushing around here, Frank Gaffney from one of those organizations, those groups, selling the argument that somehow, American law has been undercut or subverted by Sharia law.
Now, here he is saying he's going to keep burning Bibles—or Korans because he says we're being overtaken by—no, we're not. That's a fact. No law in the United States is being subverted by Sharia law. We have the Constitution of the United States and laws that come out of it, and that's it. That's (INAUDIBLE) our country.
MANJI: Chris, let me...
MATTHEWS: But they keep spreading this rumor on the right, people like Newt Gingrich and the rest of them. They are building the case for this Billy Bob character to burn Korans. And then he's giving a case to Karzai to save his butt over there. This is dynamic, dangerous kind of thing that does lead to wars. This is what happens in wars. Rumors lead to rumors lead to rumors. And then only in the end—I only responded to what I heard. It's not my fault. That's what you hear.
MANJI: And I would love...
MATTHEWS: The killers.
MANJI: And I would love to hear Frank Gaffney and Newt Gingrich, and you know, Michele Bachmann and others openly and firmly condemn Jones. By the way, I refuse to call him pastor...
MATTHEWS: Fat chance.
MANJI: ... because I think that just, you know, trivializes a very...
MATTHEWS: I'm waiting for that list, by the way.
MANJI: ... noble—yes, well, so am I—a very noble profession. That having been said, let's also remember that there's a role in this country for moderate Muslims to be speaking out further.
And Chris, I would love to see those Muslim-American clerics who travel the country preaching to Christians and Jews about not feeding into anti-Muslim stereotypes to take just half their time and go to countries like Afghanistan and preach to the people there about not behaving in ways that feed anti-Muslim stereotypes. It cuts both ways.
MATTHEWS: Well...
MANJI: And we have a responsibility as Muslims in this country...
MATTHEWS: (INAUDIBLE) what do you think?
MANJI: ... if we've got a platform to step on.
MATTHEWS: It's kind of hard. Why don't people in this community, our community, our fellow Arab-Americans in this country—why don't they come out and say something?
FOUKARA: I think they have been saying something. But you know, Chris, I think people need to listen to themselves when they speak because people in the Muslim world who think all Americans are like Pastor Jones...
MATTHEWS: They do not!
MATTHEWS: They really believe that?
FOUKARA: There are people who think that. At the same time, there are people here who say things like the pastor. And they're talking about Muslim extremism. Well, how does he sound...
FOUKARA: ... to people in the Muslim world?
MATTHEWS: I'll tell you one thing. We have politicians in this country so ignorant of what's going on in the Middle East right now, the way it works geographically and religiously and culturally and how complicated the situation is in the Holy Land, that maybe they are equally ignorant on the other side.
MATTHEWS: There are probably Arab people as ignorant as Sarah Palin out there.
MATTHEWS: Anyway, thank you, Abderrahim Foukara. And thank you, Irshad Manji. Great writing today.
Coming up: From zealots abroad to zealots here at home. President Obama is off and running for reelection. I got the word this morning. I think it came on the e-mail this morning. The Republicans trying to defeat him are attacking his basic beliefs. And catch the religious wars at home here. He's a Muslim. He's not really an American. He's got fake papers. He snuck in the country. I've never seen anything like this in any political situation. The attacks on him are the worst ever. And this poor guy is fair game for this anti-American talk.
You're watching HARDBALL, only on MSNBC.
MATTHEWS: The Obama administration announced today that Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, the self-professed mastermind of 9/11, will be put on trial before a military commission down at Guantanamo, Gitmo, not in a civilian court here in the United States. It's a big reversal for the administration which was criticized for initially saying he'd be tried in federal court in New York City. Four alleged co-conspirators will also be tried in military commissions down in Gitmo. We'll have much more on the story later in the show.
We'll be right back with HARDBALL.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, it seems like the last couple of elections that we've had have been almost kind of turning-point campaigns.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Kind of nervous about it. It's, like, it's coming. Here it is, 2012, the elections!
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think it needs to reflect the changes that we've seen in the last two-and-a-half years.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Even though I couldn't exactly vote at the time, I knew that some day, I'd be able to help reelect him.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And unfortunately, President Obama is one person. He cannot—plus, he's got a job!
MATTHEWS: Wow. Welcome back to HARDBALL. That was the part—that was part of a video out today to announce President Obama's reelection bid. Those voices represent the coalition the president's campaign obviously he's counting on to put everything together—women, minorities, young voters and swing voters. And he's facing a Republican Party that's increasingly radicalized with Michele Bachmann now and Donald Trump, who's now actually talking like a birther on the facts there, as the party's most famous candidates. Former—Donald Trump will like the last word, famous.
Former Pennsylvania governor Ed Rendell's an NBC News analyst now, and Ed Rollins—welcome back, Kotter!
ED ROLLINS, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: Thank you.
MATTHEWS: Ed Rollins, one of the smart people on that side. In fact, I'm not sure you still fit in with that party.
MATTHEWS: He chaired Mike Huckabee's campaign in 2008. I think you're too—well, I'll say it, mainstream bad guy, you!
ROLLINS: Oh, that's—you just destroyed me, Chris.
MATTHEWS: I know. You're finished now. Governor Rendell, I want to ask you about the coalition. I'm going to go back to something you couldn't be more a party to. We just looked at the "USA Today" chart that showed the only time presidents get defeated is when their party is split. Basically, you go back to Taft and Teddy Roosevelt back in the '12 campaign. You remember that one?
MATTHEWS: That was a big street campaign. A lot of street money in that race. And then you've got the, of course, Carter and Teddy Kennedy. And then you've got Pat Buchanan tearing the hell out of George Bush, senior, over, I will not raise taxes, "Read my lips," and all that stuff. This time around, the party's united, the Democrats. It isn't a—the Democrats in disarray ain't being the word this phrase—this year.
ED RENDELL (D), FMR. PA GOVERNOR, NBC POLITICAL ANALYST: Now, I think that's right, Chris. And I think what's helped enormously is overreaching from the conservative or the right. The overreaching on this crap like the birther stuff, that's had a very solidifying effect among Democrats. And the overreaching by some conservative Republican governors, in terms of trying to do away with collective bargaining, I think that has solidified the Democratic Party more than anything we could do ourselves.
It's also there's a second blessing that comes from that, and that is independent voters. Independent voters sit by and listen to this stuff, that the president's a Muslim, the president wasn't born in the country, and it's beginning to scare the living bejabbers out of them.
MATTHEWS: Yes. What do you think of that? You know, I'm sort of a near suburb guy, Ed Rollins, I mean, right at the city edge. I know what it's like to be a suburbanite and a city guy both. Suburban people don't like this crazy talk, this crap talk the governor's talking about. They don't like tom-tom drums and crazy talk from the right, like birther talk.
Everybody knows, by the way, what they're up to with that, Ed.
ROLLINS: Look, first of all...
MATTHEWS: This guy isn't some white guy from Arizona who might have been born in the territory. They get the point. He's a Mao-Mao guy from Kenya who killed white people. I mean, that is the message you keep hearing from these people all the time now, from Huckabee, your guy. He's a Mao-Mao guy. Where'd he get that crapola from?
ROLLINS: No, no, no, no. Let's—let's just...
MATTHEWS: Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, because he did say that just a week or two ago.
ROLLINS: I have waited three years to get back on your show here.
You know, I was one of your first guests.
ROLLINS: And I have been on another network. So, I'm here. So, I would just like to get a little word in here.
MATTHEWS: Go for it.
ROLLINS: When you and I started in politics in the late '70s, early 80s, Democrats outnumbered Republicans 2-1. There's now a parity.
Even though that Obama had a tremendous campaign and a tremendous victory, a great deal of that was, we had a very weak candidate and there was a real Bush fatigue.
So, at the end of the day, you know, we're going to have a candidate who has been a governor, I assume. There's no Washingtonians in this mix. It ain't going to be Donald Trump. I don't think it's going to be Congresswoman Bachmann.
And, you know, when we get finished with our process, we will have someone who will go make an issue. And the issue won't be about birthers and birth certificates. It will be about a runaway economy. It will be about unemployment. It will be about making tough choices this president has a total inability to make.
MATTHEWS: Front page "New York Times" today has a headline, it plays up the Tea Party. It reads, the Tea Party favorite—that's—Bachmann stirs Iowa, and, no, her name ain't Palin.
I think Bachmann is going to win the Iowa caucuses if Huckabee doesn't go in. Do you think that is true?
ROLLINS: Well, you don't know and I don't know whether Huckabee is going to run again.
ROLLINS: If Huckabee runs, I assume he would be a very viable candidate.
MATTHEWS: You know, Ed Rendell, I once asked how did Florida go so strongly for Obama? And I said, was it Sarah Silverman going down there with the big schlep? And they said, no, it was the other Sarah that scared the hell out of people down there, because they thought they saw a theocrat coming to South Florida.
RENDELL: Yes, I think it's absolutely true. And I think Ed is right.
That's the best-scenario for the Republicans.
But, Ed, even if that's the case, even if you have a very good ticket, like a Romney/Pawlenty ticket, you are still going to have the crazies on the right screaming and yelling. You will have the Tea Party spewing out their hate. And it's going to scare, as I said, bejeebers out of independents.
ROLLINS: You know, I assume your party will be organized. And I assume young people are going to turn out. And I assume African-Americans are going to turn out in record numbers again.
But in the end of the day, as we found in the 2010 election, white voters, which is very important in your home state and across this country...
RENDELL: Sure.
ROLLINS: ... turned out in record numbers because they weren't happy with the health care bill, and there's a lot the Democrats that have done that have scared the bejesus out of our side.
So we will have two energized parties, I think. Hopefully, we will have a good nominee picked not after too long of a process. And they will go fight for independents, as we have done for the last several elections.
MATTHEWS: Let's go to the map, gentlemen. I only have some time here.
But I want you to both look at the map. Here's the brand new 2012 map put together by NBC's political team. We're already in the running, guys. Democrats start with 232 electoral votes, Republicans with 191, and there are 10 tossup states, all of them taken by Obama last time, with 115 electoral votes among those states. President Obama won all of those in 2008.
Governor Rendell, the problem with Obama is, the experts are saying he's not going to carry a single state, nobody can think of one, that he didn't get last time he will get this time. So, he's playing defense.
Do you agree?
RENDELL: Yes, I think that's right. I think we got as many as we're going to get the last election, no question about that.
ROLLINS: Well, the bottom line...
MATTHEWS: Why are you—why is the party, the Democratic Party—
I'm going to go to Ed on this. Why are the Democrats meeting in Charlotte? Why is your party going down to Tampa in September, when the temperature will be 105, the humidity will be 105, the room will be packed with Tea Party wild people beating their drums, demanding a Tea Party nominee, and you give them Pawlenty?
ROLLINS: Well, what do you mean I give them Pawlenty? Pawlenty is a good candidate and obviously...
MATTHEWS: For the Tea Party types?
ROLLINS: No, no, you can't concede it at this point in time. That's nice of you to be able to give away our nomination, but please let us go fight for it.
At the end of the day, the president cannot put 270 electoral votes together today. We can't either. And lot of those battleground states and a lot of those states he won last time by small margins, we now have Republican governors. We have Republican legislatures. We are back in the game again.
MATTHEWS: Yes.
ROLLINS: Now, I'm not going to tell that it's going to be easy. I'm going to tell you it's going to be very difficult. But I will tell you, we will be prepared for it.
RENDELL: And let me say this, Chris.
MATTHEWS: So, there's not a division in your party? There's not a division in your party between the wild cultural types, who think birtherism is a big issue, who would rather fight on abortion than anything else...
ROLLINS: I was there in '76, when the establishment of the party, when people like Lowell Weicker said what went on in Kansas City with Ronald Reagan was not what the Republican Party was.
Four years later, Weicker dropped out of the primaries before even a vote was cast and basically went onto have a mediocre career after that. And the Rockefeller Republicans—the Rockefeller Republicans...
MATTHEWS: You're so kind.
ROLLINS: The Rockefeller Republicans are basically no longer in existence. There's not a single...
RENDELL: Hey, Chris.
MATTHEWS: I think he was elected governor after that. But that's all right.
RENDELL: As an independent, as an independent.
MATTHEWS: Yes, I know. But that's not mediocre just because it's independent, though, Ed.
ROLLINS: And he broke his pledge. He had promised that he wouldn't raise taxes. And he did.
ROLLINS: So, at the end of the day, and let's talk about what our party is.
We are a strong party. We have basically the Reagan Republican Party. And the Tea Party has played a very critical part this time. And hopefully they will again.
MATTHEWS: Go ahead.
RENDELL: You make a great point, Chris. Let's picture that Tampa convention.
And I don't care if it is Pawlenty or if it is Romney.
RENDELL: With the Tea Party-ites spewing the type of hate they spew...
RENDELL: ... the effect that that is going to have on the suburbs of Philadelphia, where Pennsylvania elections are won or lost...
ROLLINS: Governor, give...
RENDELL: ... the effect that that is going to have is going to be dramatic.
ROLLINS: Give us a break.
When we went to your state, to your city, when it was hotter than hell in August...
RENDELL: There was no Tea Party.
ROLLINS: ... when it was hotter than hell in August, we didn't exactly carry the state.
ROLLINS: So, wherever you go in August, wherever you go outside of San Diego, it's a very hot place. It's going to be hot inside. And, at the end the day, we will have an nominee...
RENDELL: Ed, you missed the point.
The point is, there was no hate in 2000. And the reason that there was no hate is one of the reasons you won. Because George Bush got across to the American people that he would be a compassionate conservative.
ROLLINS: Excuse me. There was no hate in 2000, when you were the party come? You're—you're younger than I am. You're 10 months younger than I am.
ROLLINS: You're slipping a little here. If you don't think there was hate in 2000, you are nuts, man.
ROLLINS: It was hot and heavy.
MATTHEWS: Let me tell you, Governor Rendell is correct.
MATTHEWS: It was a very smooth-run convention in Philadelphia and people were happy.
RENDELL: Absolutely.
MATTHEWS: And when they get down to Tampa, you are going to be working that air-conditioning...
RENDELL: It's going to be a zoo.
MATTHEWS: ... for all you're worth, because the (INAUDIBLE) factor is going to be through the roof. And the craziest of those people will be the hottest.
MATTHEWS: And the Democrats, if we have anybody left, like—where is Dick Tuck when we need him? Dick Tuck will be down there kicking the hell of that air condition...
MATTHEWS: And...
ROLLINS: And you guys don't need any in North Carolina.
MATTHEWS: ... handkerchief on your head.
ROLLINS: I promise we have a better shot of winning North Carolina than you do Florida.
Thank you, Ed Rollins.
ROLLINS: Thank you. Thank you.
MATTHEWS: Interesting point there.
Up next—he might be right—up next, how do you handle the birthers? Bill Clinton has got some advice for President Obama. That's coming up next.
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MATTHEWS: Back to HARDBALL. Now to the "Sideshow."
First up: How should President Obama deal with those birthers? Well, if you ask Bill Clinton, the answer could be do nothing.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Donald Trump even comes out questioning now.
I mean, do you think at this point the president should just say, you know what, I'm sick of taking the high road and just either fight back or handle this once and for all?
BILL CLINTON, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I think he will fight back.
But I think that one of the elemental rules of combat is, you don't want to get in your opponent's way if he's shooting himself in the foot.
MATTHEWS: Wow. Well, four candidates, by the way, in the 2012 GOP field, Trump, Bachmann, Gingrich, Huckabee, are all toying—rMDNM_toying with this idea of the president being a foreigner.
It's a deeply personal issue, obviously. It would be to you or me. The indictment is that he's not really an American, that he's lying about his basic identity as an American. That's the birther charge.
Ask yourself, what are the birthers really saying here? It's not a paperwork issue. They think he's foreign and has tricked us.
Next, is Glenn Beck trying to save his job? On Friday's "O'Reilly Factor," Beck went after Donald Trump and his claims about the president's birth certificate.
BILL O'REILLY, HOST, "THE O'REILLY FACTOR": Could you vote for him?
GLENN BECK, RADIO TALK SHOW HOST, "THE GLENN BECK PROGRAM": He's made me a little uncomfortable here recently.
If you don't believe that he has a birth certificate, you can say, I don't believe that he has a birth certificate. But then he goes into, I don't believe that he has a birth certificate, and then he releases one that's worse than Obama's. And then he comes back and he says on your program, he might be a Muslim, too.
I would hope that we could get serious candidates who could shake things up by not saying provocative things, just by stating the truth of what's going on.
O'REILLY: OK, but...
MATTHEWS: He's clawing his way back to job security. I love it when all they do is try to say how the other guy is crazy and the other guy is nuts. Just notice the guy and his behavior. Did he seem sane?
Now for tonight's "Big Number."
Richard Nixon, a 1937 graduate of Duke Law School, hasn't gotten much credit from his alma mater over the years, obviously. Not only did they decline to give him an honorary degree when he gave his speech back in '54, a commencement address. They have since refuse to house his presidential library and papers.
Well, fast-forward to this year. Duke has had a change of heart. "The New York Times" reports today that the school's new musical on the president, "Tricky Dick," has garnered rave reviews and sold-out shows. Nixon's only portrait at Duke has, by the way, also been taken out of hiding. There it is. It's now prominently displayed at the law school library.
All this make's tonight "Big Number" 74 -- 74 years after graduating from Duke Law, Dick Nixon makes his come back. By the way, he was number three in his class at law school, nothing to sneeze about. But 74 years, he's back. Nixon is back—tonight's "Big Number."
Up next: the budget battle. Republican Congressman Paul Ryan, chairman of the House Budget Committee, wants to revamp Medicare and Medicaid and cut it a bit. It's either political courage or perhaps political suicide. Our strategists join us next. This is a hot one, especially for retirees or those who would like to retire some day.
You're watching HARDBALL, only on MSNBC.
SIMON HOBBS, CNBC CORRESPONDENT: And good evening. I'm Simon Hobbs with your CNBC "Market Wrap."
Stocks drifting to a mixed close in another quiet trading session, the Dow adding 23 points, the S&P 500 up a fraction, and the Nasdaq slipping less than a point.
Investors sticking to safe bets today without a lot of economic data or earnings news to really stir the pot. We did see some weakness in the tech sector, notably with chipmakers.
OmniVision plunging 7.5 percent on word Apple may be switching to Sony for its iPhone imaging components.
And big news breaking after the closing bell, Texas Instruments buying National Semiconductor for about $6.5 billion in cash. McDonald's moving slightly higher on news it will be hiring 50,000 employees April 19. And drugmaker Vivus spike on a study showing its weight loss drug Qnexa also lowers high blood pressure.
Finally, this weekend's deadly test flight crash of General Dynamic's new Gulfstream jet sends its shares tumbling more than 5 percent.
That's it from CNBC, first in business worldwide—now back to
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: By the authority vested in me as president by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, in order to affect the appropriate disposition of individuals currently detained by the Department of Defense at Guantanamo, and promptly to close the detention facility at Guantanamo consistent with the national security and foreign policy interests of the United States and the interest of justice, I hereby order. And we then provide, the process whereby Guantanamo will be closed no later than one year from now.
MATTHEWS: Well, that was plan A. And plan B came out today.
Welcome back to HARDBALL.
That of course was President Obama shortly after taking office as president issuing an executive order to close Guantanamo Bay prison. Today, a visibly frustrated Attorney General Eric Holder said that Congress had forced him to reverse that decision and try the 9/11 mastermind and four others at Gitmo. Let's listen.
ERIC HOLDER, U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL: I respect their ability to disagree. But I think they should respect the fact that this is an executive branch function, a unique executive branch function.
I have to deal with the situation as I find it. And I have reluctantly made the determination that these cases should be brought in a military commission.
MATTHEWS: Well, joining me right now are the strategists.
Steve McMahon is a Democratic strategist, of course. And Todd Harris is a very successful Republican strategist.
MATTHEWS: Let me ask you guys. I want to start, this—I guess other people are more excited about this than I am. But I have always believed these guys are guilty. You're never going to let them go. The only question is whether they're going to be executed or have life in prison. We're never going to let these terrorists go, especially Sheikh Mohammed.
Does it matter whether they're tried in the United States, the way the original plan was, at Foley Square, someplace in New York City, in a criminal court or down at Gitmo? Does it matter to you?
STEVE MCMAHON, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter to me.
MATTHEWS: Does it matter to you?
TODD HARRIS, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: I mean, I think they should be tried in a military—I don't think that they broke civilian law. I think that—I think we are at war.
MATTHEWS: So, what's the political fight here that you're arguing?
HARRIS: Well, nobody wanted—for Republican and Democrat alike, nobody wanted the trial to be in their backyard.
MCMAHON: No politicians did. No politicians did.
HARRIS: No one in the public wanted it.
MCMAHON: The president—the president made a point during the campaign—and he's right about this—as a matter of confidence around the world, that it would be better if the entire world could see these people tried in U.S. courts, where there are rules of due process, rules of evidence.
MATTHEWS: That's your argument?
MCMAHON: Well, no, it's...
MATTHEWS: No, it is your argument.
MCMAHON: It is an argument. And it's...
MATTHEWS: It's yours.
MCMAHON: ... a civil libertarian argument.
MATTHEWS: It is your argument.
MCMAHON: It is my argument.
MATTHEWS: OK. So, we got it.
So you're a lawyer.
HARRIS: Well, yes. It...
MATTHEWS: That's his argument. What was wrong with his argument?
HARRIS: Well, yes, it would be better. But it would be better if we didn't have terrorists trying to attack our country. It's not the reality. What we're seeing here is the difference between campaigning and actually governing. These are easy promises to make in a campaign..
STEVE MCMAHON, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: It's the professor meets the president. He's right as a matter of idealism. He's right in terms of what would be better.
The practical reality is, United States Congress is filled with politicians and they read polls. And the politicians in New York who read the polls said, oh, my Lord, we can't have it here. You had the police commissioner, Mr. Kelly, and you had, Mr. Bloomberg, both flip-flopping on this because they initially supported the trials in New York City and then after they read the polls, they decided.
CHRIS MATTHEWS, HOST: Is he right to say the world would have been impressed if we had criminal trials?
HARRIS: I think that—yes, I think the world would have liked it. But I think, you know, I think—if someone from the Bush administration were here, they would say we're not really interested in impressing the world. We're interested in convicting terrorists.
MCMAHON: It's not about impressing the world. The verdicts would have had more legitimacy if they would have come in an open court where there are rules of evidence, where there are rules of civil procedure and where there's due process.
MATTHEWS: Who thinks they're innocent?
MCMAHON: Nobody thinks they're innocent. But that doesn't mean they're not entitled to a trial. It happens every single day.
HARRIS: They're going to get a trial.
MCMAHON: That people who committed crimes, even people who admitted
crimes, like John Hinckley, have trials. And that's what you do in a rule
of law and it's a better thing to do. I understand that they bended and
they bowed to political reality here. But that doesn't mean it was the
right thing to do from
MCMAHON: As a lawyer.
MATTHEWS: He's saying it would have been better to go to New York and get a conviction. Yes. But suppose you got an acquittal in New York.
MCMAHON: That's the danger. That's the risk. And you're going to have rules of evidence and trial could take a really long time. I understand why the politicians didn't want it. I understand—
MATTHEWS: What would you guys have done if they got an acquittal in New York and Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the mastermind of 9/11, got an acquitted in New York City? What you guys have done?
HARRIS: Well, it's beyond politics there.
MATTHEWS: What would you have done? What would you have done? An honest answer.
HARRIS: It can happen.
MATTHEWS: A New York jury.
HARRIS: No, no.
MATTHEWS: You can never predict the --
HARRIS: No, no, I'm saying, we could not allow a situation where that would be possible.
MATTHEWS: OK. So, he's wrong?
HARRIS: Yes, I do. Yes, I think Steve is wrong.
MATTHEWS: So, we shouldn't have a criminal trial in New York. So Obama was wrong. Now, he's right.
HARRIS: I think he has reversed himself. But I think he's heading the right way.
MATTHEWS: OK. Here's probably and let's go to the economics issue
that probably affects more people
Medicare affects more people than Khalid Sheikh Mohammed's trial. Let's go to Paul Ryan. He's the chairman of the budget committee and the political risks of a budget plan.
Let's listen to this guy. He's got a lot of guts. Let's see if he's too gutsy or whatever. Let's watch.
REP. PAUL RYAN ®, WISCONSIN: We are—we are giving them a political weapon to go against us. But they will have to lie in demagogue to make it a political weapon. We can't keep kicking this can down the road. The president has punted. We're not going to follow suit, and yes, we will be giving our political adversaries things to use against us in the next election. And shame on them if they do that.
MATTHEWS: Can you run in Florida with that kind of argument? Cut Medicare, cut Medicaid. Can you win an election in Florida where a lot of people are retired?
HARRIS: Marco Rubio travelled across Florida and said I think we need to reform Social Security and I want to raise the retirement age and maybe even means tested. And in our tracking poll, we actually won on the question of who do you trust to preserve and protect Social Security.
So, it will be use against use? Yes, absolutely. The question is going to be: Does President Obama want to play small ball or does he swing for the fences? And if he wants to swing for the fences, then a budget plan that will cut $4 trillion in spending is something that I think we --
MATTHEWS: Well, that's ballsy. Are these guys?
MCMAHON: Well—
MATTHEWS: Are they right to go for the fence and you guys are doing this in a whiffle ball thing, don't blame me, it's not my fault?
MCMAHON: The presidential commission wasn't whiffle ball. So,
first of all
MATTHEWS: It wasn't his commission, he never agreed with it.
MCMAHON: It was the presidential deficit commission. He hasn't agreed with it yet. But he wanted the Republican—look, he's a politician, too. And he wants to get reelected.
MATTHEWS: Yes.
MCMAHON: So, he's going to let Paul Ryan float his program out there. Let me tell you what's not going to happen.
MATTHEWS: He just said—they can carry Florida by being honest.
Are they right?
MCMAHON: No, $4 trillion in cuts is something I think everybody agrees are necessary. The question is how you're going to do it. What Paul Ryan did, which was courageous, it was as courageous as it was politically stupid because he proposed taking it out senior programs and programs for the poor, not a penny out of defense. In fact, the Republicans want to give Pentagon even more than they ask for.
MATTHEWS: I see the demos who watch this show. A lot of people who watch this show are 75, in good shape, mentally as sharp as anybody here. Well, maybe better.
Watching this show thinking, wait a minute, I don't mind taking a little bit. Maybe I'll put up with some of these new restrictions on Medicare if I can, if I'm not really in bad shape and I need this procedure. But I want to know that it's all being shared. I want to know that rich people making trillions of dollars, the Donald Trumps of the world, are paying a reasonable tax rate. I want to know that the Defense Department is not gold-plating and spending tons of money that they shouldn't be doing.
Is your party going to do all three?
HARRIS: Well, first of all, I say to that 75-year-old viewer, none of this talk about entitlement reform is going to affect you because we are only talking about people who are under the age --
MATTHEWS: Oh, you're really swinging for the fences now, aren't you?
HARRIS: You can vote. You won't be affected.
MATTHEWS: OK. Are you going to do all three?
HARRIS: No.
HARRIS: Absolutely. Look, we don't have—we don't have a tax problem. We have a spending program.
MATTHEWS: You heard it all here. They don't want to do tough stuff except on Medicare. And that hurts you.
Up next: Republicans in the United States have signed a proposed constitutional amendment to balance the budget. We're going to look at the B.S. factor. Is it really going to pass? Is it going to do anything more than gives some people a free ride politically? Ezra Klein of "The Washington Post" comments and he'll talk about what he calls the worst idea in Washington.
This is HARDBALL, only on MSNBC.
MATTHEWS: Let's take a look at where President Obama stands among past presidents in this April before reelection year. Obama is at 45 percent, according to the Gallup Poll. George W. Bush was at 70 percent a year before the election. He won reelection. Bill Clinton was just under 50. He also won a second term.
The first President Bush was close to 80 at this time before his re-election but he lost his reelection. Reagan was at 42, four points lower than Obama and he won a landslide. Carter was at 40 and, of course, lost.
These figures are not predictive. Bottom line: a lot can happen between now and next November. You can't tell, but the parties united that's going to help Obama.
More of HARDBALL coming back after this.
MATTHEWS: We're back.
All 47 Republicans senators, that's all the Republicans in the Senate recently signed onto a proposed balanced budget amendment that would cap spending by the federal government and 18 percent of the country's gross national product or gross domestic product. And Congress would be prohibited from raising taxes unless approved by a vote of at least two-thirds vote in both houses of Congress. All but though could waive during wartime.
So, why are Republicans doing this? And do they think they can get this amendment passed on either house?
Joining me are two MSNBC political analysts: Ezra Klein of "The Washington Post," who wrote a good analysis of this. And David Corn of "Mother Jones."
Ezra, I'm looking at this thing. It doesn't look like even a workable document. And I've been following, ever since I got into politics, covering and working for politicians, they've been talking about balanced budget amendments, this doomsday machine that's going to come in and solve all our problems.
Why do they keep going to that mechanism? Why don't they just pass a balanced budget?
EZRA KLEIN, THE WASHINGTON POST: I guess it's messaging. But isn't workable. This is such a stringent amendment that Paul Ryan's road map would be unconstitutional under it. Every year of Ronald Reagan's presidency would be unconstitutional under it. This isn't just something that can't be done. It's something that every time Republicans actually sit down and write a plan about how you would actually run governmental fiscal policy, they realize it also shouldn't be done.
So, they're not going to try to pass it, but it looks like they're on the side of balanced budgets while Democrats aren't. It's all messaging, but it's really bad economic policy.
MATTHEWS: Messaging I think is important, just to get, so they could put out a statement, only yesterday, I co-sponsored a bill to require a balanced budget. That's a quick letter. You send it to everybody who ever writes you a letter, and you look like a good guy.
DAVID CORN, MOTHER JONES: And better yet, you say we have all 47 Republicans in the Senate who have sponsored this and not a single Democrat. I mean, there are basically two words to sum this up: magic pony.
CORN: It's just candy. It's political eye candy. And there's no -
it's not going anywhere. It won't pass.
MATTHEWS: OK. Let's go—
CORN: They're focusing in on it now.
MATTHEWS: OK. A lot of people like the sound of it. I want to tell one (ph) here.
This is Senator John Cornyn yesterday saying he'll vote against raising the debt ceiling unless this amendment is passed.
SEN. JOHN CORNYN ®, TEXAS: I intend to vote against raising the debt ceiling unless we get some systemic reform, the kind the president's own fiscal commission recommended in December of 2010. I think we need to pass a balanced budget amendment to the United States Constitution that 47 of my colleagues and I rolled out this last week. I hope we get bipartisan support. We came within one vote in 1997 of a balanced budget amendment of the Constitution, which would force the federal government to live within its means instead of spending money we don't have.
But that's the price that's going to have to be paid, systemic reforms in order to get Republican support for raising the debt ceiling. Otherwise, I think you're going to see Democrats having to do that all by themselves.
MATTHEWS: I don't know how (INAUDIBLE) thing works, Ezra. But let's look at this. I'm sure you've studied it. Looking at the texts, I used to work on the budget committee for three years. Look at this, it says that you can't spend more money than you bring in that year, except you don't know how much you bring in until September 30th to the fiscal year. How do you enforce that?
KLEIN: You can't. I mean, there's actually an interesting part at the end, where they say any court that attempts to enforce cannot do so by raising taxes. So, I think what they're expecting to happen is in many years, it actually wouldn't be done. You wouldn't balance the budget. But then the courts, because they have to enforce the constitutional duties of the Congress, would come in and then do spending cuts on their own. It creates a level of potential judicial activism in the system that is like nothing we have ever experienced before.
MATTHEWS: Last point, how do you say that the government can only spend 18 percent of the economy, David Corn, if you don't know how much the economy was? Our economy is up and own all year.
CORN: Chris, you're looking at this too practically.
MATTHEWS: OK. I'm reading the bill.
CORN: I know. But it's not about making a system that works. This is about just fooling people into thinking they care more about the budget being balanced. This is what I would like to see them do. OK, Senator Cornyn, you want this—you want this done next year, the year after, give us the budget that would reflect this. What are you going to cut?
MATTHEWS: Ronald Reagan balanced—
CORN: They can't do that.
MATTHEWS: Ronald Reagan was for every balanced-budget amendment and never proposed a balanced budget.
CORN: They can't do it.
MATTHEWS: OK. Let me ask you this, Ezra, you're on top of this. Will a couple Democrats jump on board, because it looks too sweet to be on the ship? Joe Manchin of West Virginia, will Ben Nelson of Nebraska jump aboard this ship? Yes or no?
KLEIN: I wouldn't—I think they might. But I wouldn't be shocked at all. But I just want to say one thing about how you enforce it. It's the year before. So, it's 18 percent of the budget the year before.
MATTHEWS: I know, that's right. I read that.
KLEIN: Which makes it, what's even crazier about that—
MATTHEWS: You won't know that until September 30th. I know.
KLEIN: -- of the current year. So, we didn't have 16.7 since 1955.
MATTHEWS: Thank you, Ezra Klein, good reporting, good analysis.
Thank you, David Corn.
When we return, "Let Me Finish" with how the zealots took over the Republican Party. What a job they've done on the party of Lincoln.
You're watching HARDBALL, only on MSNBC.
MATTHEWS: "Let Me Finish" tonight with what I see happening to one of this country's historic political parties.
The Republican Party has given us great moderate leaders in the past: Abraham Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt, Dwight Eisenhower. It's given us flawed leaders who are nonetheless great Americans, I think of Ulysses S. Grant, for example, who won the Civil War and was a true believer in reconstruction after the war.
I don't know where the tradition I've just described broke off and this new thing took over. I think it was passage of the Civil Rights bill back in '64 -- when the enemies of civil rights flipped from the party of Jefferson to the party of Strom Thurmond. Or maybe it was the Supreme Court ruling banning prayer in public school.
But what we have today is a different—deeply different—
Republican Party than the one that fought slavery and championed conservation in the old days.
I listen to Palin and Gingrich and Bachmann and Huckabee and what they believe. I listen to Romney and Pawlenty and now Trump trying to talk their language and I think we're talking something very different the mainstream Republicanism—the kind that has long won in the independent, moderate suburbs, won with the people I grew up with, with my family, actually.
Palin talks like thinking isn't necessary; it may not even be good for people. Gingrich uses his mind to say truly hateful things. Huckabee is a theocrat, someone who statements about the Mideast are downright incendiary. Mitt Romney knows better. So does Pawlenty. I'd hate to see Haley Barbour start dueling in these woods. He might be smart enough to beat those folks at their own game.
But beware, Haley, or anyone else who's thinking of joining the jamboree. The evidence out there is that the Republican Party today, you can't say you believe in science, you can't say you believe in evolution or in climate change or in gay rights, or even in separation of church and state. If you do, you lose the zealots, and the zealots will be waiting for you in Iowa to make sure you eat your words.
John McCain tried to beat them, the zealots, once. The family values types went after his family. George Bush's father tried to take them on. Ronald Reagan managed to charm them, but he was a rarity.
The danger today is that the only way to win the Republican Party presidential nomination is to get past the gatekeepers of the right, and they aren't looking to let anybody past who isn't dead right like them.
Maybe this is God's will, that Obama not have a reasonable opponent out there. How's that for an incendiary statement?
That's HARDBALL for now. Thanks for being with us.
More politics ahead with Cenk Uygur.
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You are here
- GoogleScholar
- Microsoft Academic Search
- Elsevier
- NEC Research Index I am at rank 6081 of the most cited computer scientists according to CiteSeer 10000
- Mendeley
Found 4 resultsSort by: Author Title [ Type] Year
Filters: Author is Yannis Avrithis [Clear All Filters]
Conference Paper
Knowledge Representation for Semantic Multimedia Content Analysis and Reasoning. Proceedings of the European Workshop on the Integration of Knowledge, Semantics and Digital Media Technology (EWIMT).. 2004.
Semantic Annotation of Images and Videos for Multimedia Analysis. Proceedings of the Second European Semantic Web Conference, ESWC 2005, Heraklion, Crete, Greece. 3532:592-607.. 2005.
Journal Article
Knowledge Representation and Semantic Annotation of Multimedia Content. IEE Proceedings on Vision Image and Signal Processing - Special issue on the Integration of Knowledge, Semantics and Digital Media Technology.. 2006.


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Should Ackman short JCPenney instead?January 11, 2013: 11:18 AM ET
Hedge fund manager Bill Ackman has been in the news a lot this week for his attack against nutritional supplement company Herbalife (HLF), which Ackman is shorting because he believes it is a pyramid scheme. But one of Ackman's other prominent investments is tanking ... and unfortunately for him, he's on the wrong side of that trade.
JC Penney (JCP) plunged more than 5% Friday morning after UBS downgraded the struggling retailer to a "sell." Ackman's Pershing Square is the largest investor in JC Penney and he has been a vocal supporter of CEO Ron Johnson, who left Apple (AAPL) to take the top spot at JCP in 2011.
Johnson has yet to prove that his turnaround plan for JCP, which hinges on an everyday low price concept (i.e. few promotional sales or discounts) and boutique store-within-a-store format, will work. Investors are growing restless and some traders on StockTwits are predicting that Ackman will get burned big time with his JCP stake.
Is that $UBS downgrade of $JCP to sell a downgrade of the store itself or because of Bill Ackman?? $HLF
$JCP "Cash-flow distress" That doesn't sound very good... UBS downgrade to sell
Ouch. This hasn't exactly been a great couple of days for Ackman. In addition to the JCP bloodletting -- shares were already down 7% this week before Friday's sell-off -- Herbalife has rallied more than 5% since Monday. Herbalife has aggressively defended itself against Ackman's allegations, culminating with a lengthy presentation for analysts in New York Thursday.
Related: Herbalife lights up Twitter
Is Ackman getting it wrong with both Herbalife and JC Penney? That remains to be seen. But Ackman doesn't have the best track record with retail stocks.
One trader brought up Ackman's investment in Target (TGT), which he owned from 2007 through 2011. Ackman tried to get Target to make big changes while he was a shareholder but the company resisted them and Ackman finally sold his stake after the share price continued to fall.
$JCP when will ackman capitulate on this one? or just years like target failure?
Ackman has stressed patience with JC Penney. It appears that Johnson's turnaround plan will take years to pan out ... if it ever does. But another trader compared JC Penney to one of the few retailers that's arguably in worse shape right now.
Spoiler Alert: Retailers that run into "cash flow distress" end up dead 100% of the time$BBY $JCP
Ha! But to be fair, Best Buy (BBY) may not wind up dead. Shares rallied Friday because holiday sales weren't as bad as feared. And the company might finally get bailed out if founder Richard Schulze makes an offer to take Best Buy private. But Best Buy does remind me of another retailer Ackman once owned a stake in that got crushed due to competition from Amazon. com (AMZN) -- Borders. The book chain went bankrupt in 2011.
Finally, while Ackman may be licking his wounds, another hedge fund manager may be licking his chops. Dan Loeb of Third Point -- who's most famous for shaming former Yahoo (YHOO) CEO Scott Thompson into stepping down after Loeb discovered inaccuracies in his resume -- disclosed earlier this week that Third Point bought a long position in Herbalife. There are also rumors that Loeb also is shorting JC Penney.
Loeb should pitch $JCP bearish at Ira Sohn
Too funny. I personally think that Ackman and Loeb should be forced to share the stage at the next Ira Sohn hedge fund conference. Maybe Carl Icahn or David Einhorn can stand in as a referee in case things get ugly.
Finally, it's time for the Reader Comment of the Week. Riffing on the $1 trillion platinum coin and speculating about names for what the Sacramento Kings should be renamed if a group that includes Microsoft's (MSFT) Steve Ballmer buys them and moves the team to Seattle made for good, clean Twitter fun this week. But Herbalife was the gift that kept giving. I particularly liked this response to one of my snarky comments.
Brilliant. Remember this day, kids. You just witnessed the birth of the multi-level tweeting business model!


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Is Your Life Making A Difference?
December 11
"You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden." - Matthew 5:14
When we sin it hurts our witness, it defiles our conscience, and it darkens our countenance. If we are going to have a witness about our life, we are going to have to have a clean heart. This does not mean that all we say or do will be perfect. We need to keep close accounts with God regarding sin in our personal life.
Your presence can either influence for God or take away from God. Your speech will either increase the light or it will increase the dark. We have a testimony and a witness that goes out to all, even when we are not saying anything. Let your light shine the right way, God's way.
For more resources from Above & Beyond Fellowship, visit www.abidingabove.org.


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An amazing exhibit will be on display in Hale Library throughout February thanks to the efforts of Susan Yelich Biniecki, assistant professor in the department of educational leadership.
There is much to learn from the Righteous Among the Nations exhibit that honors non-Jews who performed heroic deeds that saved the lives of Jews during the Holocaust. This exhibit is dedicated to Polish citizens living in southern Poland who were conferred with the honorary decoration of Righteous Among the Nations.
One hero's story could have faded with time if not for teacher Norman Conard in Uniontown, Kan. Four of his students chose to learn more about the Holocaust and began researching a woman named Irena Sendler, a Polish Catholic woman who smuggled 2,500 Jewish children out of the Warsaw Ghetto. The students – one of whom went on to graduate from K-State's College of Education – created a play titled "Life in a Jar." The play inspired a book, which inspired a movie, and Irena was eventually nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize.
To arrange a tour for a school or community group, contact Melia Fritch at 785.532.7361 or email@example.com.


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Gov. Pat Quinn has repaid – early and with interest – $1.176 million borrowed during the last fiscal year from 11 state-controlled charity funds. But about $434,300 seized from seven such funds the year before appears. to be gone for good.
During the last fiscal year, Quinn, with authorization from the Democratic-controlled General Assembly, borrowed $1.176 million from charity "check-off" funds that appear on state income tax forms as ways to donate to causes including wildlife preservation, hunger relief and disease research. [See "State taps charity funds to pay its bills," June 9, 2011].
About three weeks after Illinois Times reported the transfers, Quinn's budget office repaid the borrowed sums in full, plus about $1,038 in interest, according to Kelly Kraft, spokesperson for Quinn's office of management and budget.
Asked about $434,300 that was "swept" – not to be repaid – from similar funds one year earlier, Kraft says it was "something approved by the General Assembly. At any time, legislators can introduce legislation to repay the swept funds."
The General Assembly authorized the sweeps through a measure later signed by Quinn.
Where the borrowing is concerned, Kraft says "this will not happen again," but Republican Sen. Bill Brady, who narrowly lost to Quinn for governor in the 2010 election, says the state needs to protect the donation-fueled funds from future raids.
Brady has drafted legislation, Senate Bill 2589, that would ban any transfers from any check-off fund to other state funds. Brady says his proposed legislation is a way of "slapping his [Quinn's] hands for doing something he shouldn't have done."
From the Alzheimer's disease research check-off fund, the state borrowed $134,900 in FY2011 and swept $112,500 in FY2010. Because of the borrowing, the state this spring had to renege on four already-approved grants, which have since been reinstated, says Nancy Rainwater, vice president of communications for the Alzheimer's Association's Greater Illinois Chapter.
"We're excited that the research efforts can continue and this is such a big health crisis that it's important to keep the work going," she says, adding that she would support a measure such as Brady's to protect the funds in the future.
About two months after repaying the $1.176 million borrowed from the charity funds last fiscal year, Quinn signed two new check-off funds into law on Aug. 21. Those funds, which will appear on next year's tax forms, will benefit the Crimestoppers program and an After-School Rescue program.
So far this year, current check-off funds have brought in a total of $1.26 million through income tax form donations.
Brady says he "absolutely" expects that next year's check-off donations will be slimmer as a result of Quinn's borrowing and sweeps from the charity funds.
Contact Rachel Wells at firstname.lastname@example.com.


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