Brad Rourke's Blog

* GOP Culture War
* New Political Online Source
* Spacey To Play Abramoff
__________

These are the stories that interest me this morning, along with my take on why they might be interesting to nonprofits and community-based organizations:

• Republican culture war brewing.
  

  SF Tea Party protester by flickr user Steve Rhodes

  While the Beltway GOP leaders have a “consensus” that it’s time to set aside conservative social issues, outside the Beltway a “rebellion is brewing,” according to the Politico. From the unexpected popularity of the anti-tax “tea parties” to loud denunciations of same-sex marriage, the rank-and-file of the party appears fed up with what they see as their leaders’ willingness to trade off bedrock principles. The leaders, meanwhile, see compromise as the key to governing and to longer-term party growth.

  • My take: The coastal echo chamber at work — DC, NY, SF and LA may be surprised to hear that flyover country has a vastly different set of concerns than power set does. The nonprofit and philanthropy fields can also be susceptible to the belief that coastal thinking dominates, because so much nonprofit and philanthropy takes place in these rarified towns. Midwestern heartland is fundamentally traditional.Understanding this matters as the independent sector is squeezed by the economy and by legislators’ efforts to scrutinize regulation.
• AOL announces new political news site. AOL’s MediaGlow has launched Politics Daily, with a dream team of reporters and editors. This is an online-only, daily political news source that will feature exclusively original reporting.
  • My take: This new site will be a good competitor to the Politico. With no printing costs, its cost structure may make it easier to manage than others. It’ll also have to go up against the Huffington Post for traffic but is clearly a different niche.
• Kevin Spacey to play Jack Abramoff. Deadline Hollywood Daily reports that actor Kevin Spacey has agreed to play disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff in a new biopic, “Casino Jack,” to be directed by George Hickenlooper. Spacey was in DC over the weekend to visit Abramoff in prison. “At one point during the meeting, Spacey was sharing his impersonation of Bill Clinton with Abramoff, while Abramoff shared a pretty good impersonation of Ronald Reagan with Spacey.” Pic is to be written by Dead Ringers author Norman Snider.
  • My take: Washington scandals don’t always make good movies but they very often can be quite useful to glean insights out of. (E.g. The Contender, Shattered Glass.)

Thanks for reading,

Brad

* New Cell Phone Connection To Cops
* Fox Producer Punks MSNBC
* Step Toward Human Cloning

__________

These are the stories that interest me this morning, along with my take on why I think they matter for nonprofits and community organizations:

• New software allows emergency victims to connect their cell phone directly to police. University of Maryland researchers have created MyeVyu software, which connects cell-phone users directly to campus police, alerting emergency personnel to a student’s identity and location. Police then can access the cell phone’s audio and video signals as grab the stream from the closest surveillance camera.
  • My take: Another step in all-connected-all-the-time. The millennial generation (at college now) is far less suspicious of The Man than its predecessors in Generation X. This can allow for new connecting technology to be more quickly adopted and go mainstream.
• A Fox News producer for Bill O’Reilly infiltrated a GE shareholder meeting. Jesse Waters, a producer known for a confrontational interview style, snuck into the GE shareholders’ meeting where a number of shareholders complained about what they saw as MSNBC’s leftward tilt. Waters asked a question too, without identifying himself as a Fox employee.
  • My take: The silliest of stunts, the silliest of controversies. While each network’s news gathering is by the book, the news-and-talk outlets’ overall slant is readily apparent to all and, in fact, is baked into their brands. Fox complaining of bias is, of course, the pot calling the kettle black. But that’s not the point. The point is that people increasingly want opinionated brands.
• A scientist says he has cloned humans.
  

  Cady, who died at 10 in a car crash. Her blood cells were frozen and sent to Zavos.

  Panayiotis Zavos said that he had cloned 14 human embryos, and transferred 11 to the wombs of four women who were prepared to give birth. “There is absolutely no doubt about it, and I may not be the one that does it, but the cloned child is coming. There is absolutely no way that it will not happen,” said the scientist in an interview with the UK’s Independent. Transferring cloned embroyos to a human womb is illegal in many countries and Zavos is operating in an undisclosed location. He also claims to have cloned dead people from frozen genetic material, including a 10 year old girl. None of the clones has been viable thus far and Zavos says he is trying to create healthy babies, not do anything ethically suspect. Zavos is the subject of a Discovery Channel documentary tonight, which includes footage of his cloning attempts dating back to 2003.

  • My take: Zavos has been making claims for years and other scientists dispute their validity, but he does have a point that human cloning — while it creates a host of ethical problems — is on some level inevitable. Another example of technology leveraging ethics. The same thing happens on a smaller scale in the face of any new technology or capability.

Thanks for reading,

Brad

* Foundation Giving To Decline
* Obama Signs Natl Service Bill
* Health Care Reform Heats Up

__________

By Flickr user luismi1985

Here is my take on the stories that interest me this morning, and why I think they may be interesting to nonprofits, foundations, and community organizations:

• Foundations plan to reduce giving in 2009. In a survey of 1,200 foundations by the Foundation Center (one of the most respected sources for information on philanthropy), “Close to two-thirds of foundations responding . . . expect to reduce the number and/or the size of grants they award in 2009.”
  • My take: This is certainly expected, as foundations are essentially conservative entities. They typically generate no income other than investment returns and their management must also typically ensure that the foundation will continue in perpetuity. But I can’t help but think, isn’t this the time to increase giving? Now is when the need is greatest. That would require a wholesale change in mindset, however.
• President to sign national service into law. From the White House press briefing: “[Today] the President will sign national service legislation passed by Congress a few weeks ago. Scheduled to attend that event are former President Bill Clinton and Senator Ted Kennedy, for whom the bill is named.”
  • My take: This is one of a series of moves by the Obama administration to forge a new relationship between citizens and government.
• Sides are already lining up for health care battle. With congress set to decide between health care and climate change as their chief fast-track issues, and the White House pushing for health care reform, lines are being drawn already among Democrats, subjecting Obama to political crossfire. Conservatives are demanding a consumer-based proposal, but many Democrats say that without a public insurance option any plan is a non-starter.Obama recently signaled a “willingness to compromise” and this raised alarms among Democrats.
  • My take: This is one of the largest issues facing the Administration. To date, it is doing many of the right things to avoid a repeat of the health care reform debacle from the first Clinton administration.

Thanks for reading,

Brad

* CPI Falls
* Mall Co. Bust
* Obama’s Taxes
* Lawmakers Ethics Probes
* Octomom ™

__________

These are the stories I am interested in this morning:

• For the first time since 1955, the Consumer Price Index has fallen for the year. The Labor Department said the CPI fell 0.1 percent for March, after increasing 0.4 percent in February. Most analysts expected a 0.1 percent rise.
• Nation’s second largest mall operator filed for bankruptcy. Early this morning, General Growth Properties Inc., filed for Chapter Eleven. The mall operator, with 200 malls in 44 states, had been suffering under enormous debt brought about by a housing-boom expansion. It owes $27 billion, with reported assets of $29.6 billion. It filed for bankruptcy protection after failing to convince its creditors to give it more time to refinance.
• The First Family (and Second Family) celebrated Tax Day by filing and releasing their tax returns. The Obamas reported an adjusted gross income of $2,656,902, mostly from book sales. The Bidens reported $269,256, mostly from Senate salary.
• 

  From Life & Style Mag.

  The new Office of Congressional Ethics has opened reviews on ten lawmakers. The office was created last year to help Congress police itself (“drain the swamp,” according to Speaker Pelosi). It keeps its activities secret, but in a quarterly filing Wednesday some details emerged. The full list of reviewees was not released, but these are known so far: Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. (D-Ill.); Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.); John Murtha (D-Pa.). Just being under review does NOT mean there is anything worth forwarding to the full Ethics Committee.

• Octomom seeks trademark on self. Nadya Suleman, the 33-year-old mother of 14 who gave birth to octuplets, has filed an application to trademark her media nickname. She plans to market a line of baby products and a reality TV show that would follow her children until they are 18. “What I’m doing with this TV show is basically creating documentaries about the lives of my children,” she told Life And Style Magazine. “It will give me the opportunity to have incredible home movies that, believe me, I don’t have the time to make myself.” Suleman has competition: Super Happy Fun Fun Inc. also filed an application in March. That company wants to make Octomom action figures.

Thanks for reading,

Brad

* UN Diverts US Funds
* GM Recalls 1.5M Cars
* US To Iran: Nukes OK?
* Chicago Library Bans Smelly People
* Phil Spector Guilty

__________

These are the stories that interest me this morning:

• The U.N diverted and wasted USAID funds, according to a federal report. The U.N. had received $25M from USAID for “quick impact” infrastructure work in Afghanistan over 2003-2006. The U.S. government has hired a collection agency to dun the U.N. for $7.6M. According to witnesses quoted in the USAID inspector general’s report, obtained by USA Today under the Freedom Of Information Act, $10M went to projects in other countries, and one official spent $200,000 to renovate his guest house.

• General Motors recalled 1.5 million vehicles due to possible engine fires. The recall spans multiple years: 98-99 Olds Intrigue, 97-03 Pontiac Grand Prix, 97-03 Buick Regal, and 98-03 Chevy Lumina, Monte Carlo and Impala. Culprit: 3.8 liter V6 engine, which could leak oil into exhaust system and ignite.

• The U.S. is considering dropping its demand that Iran dismantle its nuclear program. In a shift, the New York Times reports that the U.S. may allow Teheran to continue its uranium enrichment efforts, while pressing it to gradually make the program more open to international inspection.

• A public library in a Chicago suburb has banned “offensive bodily odors.” According to the Chicago Tribune, the Schaumberg Township District Library’s new policy “stemmed from complaints about an apparently homeless person,” but the library’s director said “it would apply just as much to an overuse of perfume as an underuse of soap”

• Iconic pop producer Phil Spector has been convicted of second-degree murder. After 30 hours of deliberation in his second trial for the 2003 murder of actress Lana Clarkson, the jury found Spector guilty and that he personally used the gun. Sentencing is set for May 29 but Spector was denied bail. Spector is credited for creating the “wall of sound” style of producing.

Thank you for reading,

Brad