WAL-MART Is Selling DONKEY Meat & Fox Meat In CHINA! They Also Refuse To Pay Employees Decent Wages!

#WalMartDONKEYS

WAL-MART is Selling DONKEY MEAT & FOX MEAT in CHINA!!

OMG!! Is there a possibility some of that DONKEY & FOX MEAT could be in American Stores too??

This is more Negative Public Relations for the "King Of Processed Food & Low Wages".

Ironically the OBAMA Administration supports WAL-MART.

How can Pres OBAMA claim to support MINIMUM WAGE Increases, yet still be an Advocate for WAL-MART...."King Of Processed Food & Low Wages"??

"Wal-Mart Recalls Contaminated Donkey Meat In China"


Wal-Mart is recalling donkey meat in China after it was found to be contaminated with other animal products.

Wal-Mart (WMT, Fortune 500) said it was recalling the meat in Jinan, the provincial capital of Shandong.

The company apologized to customers and said it would provide refunds.

State media said the product -- Five Spice Donkey Meat -- had been contaminated with fox meat.

Wal-Mart spokespeople in the U.S. did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

But in a statement posted on Weibo -- China's popular Twitter (TWTR)-style micro blogging site -- the company said it had "zero-tolerance" for contamination problems. It said it was stepping up its food safety efforts by introducing routine DNA testing of easily adulterated meat products such as beef, mutton, donkey and venison.

Suppliers would be subject to inspections by a third party, and Wal-Mart will report companies suspected of fraud to the local police, it added.

Wal-Mart is the largest retailer in the world but has faced growing pains in China, where it is slated to close many under-performing stores in early 2014.

In its latest quarterly earnings report, the company said the Chinese closures would hit overall profitability.

Food safety and contamination problems have plagued other companies in China.

Earlier this year, a series of scares damaged confidence in local powdered infant formula, causing a surge in demand for baby milk from Western countries.

Global brands have built up a reputation among many Chinese consumers for safer products, but they've had their own share of problems.

Yum! Brands (YUM, Fortune 500), which owns the KFC, Taco Bell and Pizza Hut brands, has faced an uphill battle in China as it grappled with the fallout from a food safety scandal that began in late 2012 and fears over a new strain of bird flu.


Sources: AP, CBS News, CNN, Reuters, Youtube

Nafissatou Diallo's PR Campaign Garners Public Support; Stops Character Assassination

Let's Hear It For Nafissatou Diallo! Alleged Rape Victim Of Former IMF Chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn.

Ms. Diallo's Decision To Come Forth To The Public, Defend Her Name & Give An Extremely Detailed Account Of What Happened In DSK's Lavish Manhattan Hotel Room Has Garnered Her Much Support From Women & Common, Everyday Citizens Well Aware Of How Frequently People With Great Wealth Are Allowed To Simply Walk Away After Committing Crimes.

I Admire Ms. Diallo For Boldly Speaking Out Despite The Manhattan D.A.'s Office Attempt To Destroy Her Character.

Had She Not Come Forth To The Public Soon, Cyrus Vance's Office Would Have Totally Destroyed Her & Dismissed The Case Like Yesterday.

Just Because Ms. Diallo Is A Victim Of Life's Circumstances, Does NOT Mean She's A Liar Or Gold Digger!

You Go Girl!!




The Real DSK Maid Tape

The lawyer for the hotel maid who has accused Dominique Strauss-Kahn of sexual assault tells The Daily Beast that tape recordings in the possession of prosecutors capture her describing her alleged attack to an incarcerated friend less than 24 hours after it occurred in a manner consistent with what she told police and prosecutors.

The tapes also show a much different conversation about lawyers and money than what was leaked by authorities earlier this month in a newspaper report, attorney Kenneth Thompson said late Wednesday night after listening to the audio recordings for the first time.

Thompson and the maid, Nafissatou Diallo, 32, met Wednesday with the New York District Attorney’s Office for the first time in nearly a month after the relationship between the alleged victim and prosecutors fell apart over questions about her credibility.

The meeting came just days after Diallo described the attack in an exclusive interview with NEWSWEEK.

Strauss-Kahn was the head of the International Monetary Fund and a leading candidate for French president before Diallo accused him of attacking her and forcing her to have oral sex after she entered his luxury suite to clean it May 14 at the Sofitel Hotel in Manhattan.

After being arrested, Strauss-Kahn resigned his IMF post and has pleaded not guilty to sexual assault and attempted rape in a case that has fascinated two continents and taken several dramatic turns.

After steadfastly standing by Diallo, prosecutors disclosed late last month they had serious reservations about her credibility after learning she lied to them about an earlier rape in her home country of Guinea, filed a false tax return, and lied on her application seeking asylum in the United States.

During an eight-hour session Wednesday, the prosecutors grilled Diallo about her conduct and contacts after the alleged attack, and they allowed her to listen for the first time to a tape-recorded conversation she had 24 hours after the alleged attack with Amara Tarawally, an illegal immigrant convicted on drug charges and being held in an Arizona detention center.

The call became a critical and tantalizing piece of evidence in the case after The New York Times reported July 1 that law-enforcement sources claimed the tape captured Diallo making a comment to the effect that her alleged attacker was rich and she knew what she was doing. The leak has since been used to suggest that Diallo may have schemed with her incarcerated friend to make money off Strauss-Kahn.

Diallo and Tarawally, in interviews with , also disputed the leaked version of the call.

Thompson said the tape was played Wednesday for Diallo in her native Fulani language and an interpreter explained what was on it. In all, the imprisoned friend called Diallo at least three times in the aftermath of the attack, according to Thompson.

“The tape they played today does not capture Nafi Diallo being recording as saying, ‘He has a lot of money and I know what to do,’ as was leaked to The New York Times,” Thompson said. “Instead it shows there were at least three calls over several days.

“In the first call on the day after the attack, Ms. Diallo clearly reported to her friend in prison that ‘a man tried to rape me on my job. He is big and powerful. I did not know who he was when he attacked me. Because he couldn’t take off my clothes, he put his penis in my mouth.’ And she explained she tried to stop him,” the lawyer said in an interview.

Thompson said that in a later call, the prisoner called back to check on his friend after learning more about the man who allegedly attacked her. During that call, there were discussions about Strauss-Kahn’s wealth and the fact that Diallo had gotten a lawyer, but the quote attributed to Diallo in the leaked report was not on the tape, he said.

At one point, the tape shows Diallo learned after the fact that the man she accused was politically powerful and wealthy. She also acknowledged hiring an attorney, Thompson said.

“Later in the call the prisoner makes a statement like ‘you could get money from this.’ I take this to mean he was referring to a lawsuit,” Thompson explained as he related what the translator told him was on the tape. “Nafi Diallo’s first reaction is ‘wait, wait, wait,’ suggesting she wasn’t worried about that. She then makes a comment like ‘he can deal with it,’ which I took to mean her lawyer could deal with the issue.”

Thompson said he was angry after learning the tape recordings are different from what was leaked and that he conveyed his concerns to prosecutors during Wednesday’s meetings.

“For nearly a month, information has been leaked to the media that falsely portrays Ms. Diallo as scheming to take Dominique Strauss-Kahn’s money a day after he attempted to rape her,” Thompson said. “But what I heard today shows that Ms. Diallo has been telling the truth from the very beginning, that she was sexually assaulted by Strauss-Kahn while doing her job at the Sofitel.”

Prosecutors were not immediately available for comment late Wednesday. They are continuing to investigate the evidence in the case as they try to determine whether to proceed to trial despite their concerns about the maid’s credibility or drop the charges. A decision is expected in weeks.






Strauss-Kahn’s Accuser Meets the Press and Thanks Supporters

Nafissatou Diallo continued her transformation from anonymous accuser in a headline-grabbing criminal case to a public figure, making a brief statement on Thursday afternoon at a Brooklyn church.

Ms. Diallo’s appearance came just days after she first revealed her identity to the public, and the day after she walked past reporters to discuss the case with lawyers at the Manhattan district attorney’s office. While brief, her comments suggested that she was prepared to be a highly visible presence as the case moves toward possible resolution in the coming weeks.

Before a throng of journalists and supporters from her native Guinea, Ms. Diallo, who has accused Dominique Strauss-Kahn of sexual assault, thanked supporters and spoke about her case in the lobby of a megachurch in East New York, Brooklyn, shortly after noon.

“I’m here because I had people call me a lot of bad names,” Ms. Diallo said softly at the Christian Cultural Center on Flatlands Avenue. “A lot of things they said about me was not true.”

Before being introduced by the Rev. A.R. Bernard, senior pastor at the center, Ms. Diallo, 32, dressed in a dark suit, rubbed her fingers together slowly, blinking often as she gazed out the windows of the lobby, past the bank of cameras and reporters.

“Me and my family, we are going through a lot,” she said. “We cry every day.”

Ms. Diallo, a housekeeper at a Midtown hotel, made her accusation in May against Mr. Strauss-Kahn, the former head of the International Monetary Fund, but has watched the case crumble around questions of her credibility. She said her 15-year-old daughter had seen her crying recently, prompting a plea from the girl.

“She said: ‘Please stop crying. Be strong for me,” Ms. Diallo said at the church. “I told her, ‘I will be strong for you and for every other woman in the world.’”

Ms. Diallo, working without a script or notes, spoke for less than five minutes at the event on Thursday and did not take questions from reporters before being escorted from the lectern. Her lawyer, Kenneth Thompson, and other supporters remained at the microphone and spoke with reporters, as did Mr. Bernard.

Khadijah Shakur, a member of the New Black Panther Party, was among the roughly two dozen supporters who joined Ms. Diallo near a small stage in the lobby, assembled behind red velvet rope.

“She is being blamed, but she is the victim,” Ms. Shakur said before the news conference.

Ms. Diallo broke her public silence last week, granting interviews to Newsweek and ABC News.

At another prominent house of worship on the other side of Brooklyn, the Rev. Herbert Daughtry stood in the pulpit of the House of the Lord Church on Atlantic Avenue in Boerum Hill and called for prosecutors to aggressively pursue charges against Mr. Strauss-Kahn.

“I urge District Attorney Cyrus Vance not to drop the case but to pursue truth and justice and let the chips fall where they may,” Mr. Daughtry told a handful of reporters in an otherwise empty house.

In meetings on Wednesday at the district attorney’s office in Manhattan, Ms. Diallo and her lawyer, Mr. Thompson, listened to recordings of conversations Ms. Diallo had with a fellow African immigrant in an Arizona prison after the alleged attack.

Last month, law enforcement officials told Mr. Thompson and The New York Times that Ms. Diallo could be heard saying on the tape “words to the effect of: ‘Don’t worry, this guy has a lot of money. I know what I’m doing.’ ” After hearing the recordings on Wednesday, Mr. Thompson said his client’s statements, which were made in her native language, Fula, had been mischaracterized.


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Sources: ABC News, AP, Atlantic Wire, Daily Beast, Newsweek, NY Times, Youtube, Google Maps

Kelly Cutrone Doesn't "Cry Outside" Over Fashion World Success

Kelly Cutrone’s Self-Help Book Encourages Young Women To "Celebrate The Magic" Inside Themselves


"It didn’t take much convincing" to get Kelly Cutrone to write a book, according to WWD.

The sometime talking head only has reality shows on both Bravo ("Kell on Earth" premieres February 1) and MTV, and a team of top agents behind her.

Cutrone polled her People's Revolution staff to find out what kind of book they'd want to read by her.

The girls said they wanted advice on making it and dealing with sexism.

So Cutrone set out, along with co-author Meredith Bryan, to write a book about what it means to be feminine. Apparently being feminine does not boil down to wearing all black and barking from across the office at annoying new hires from L.A. who wear inappropriate leggings to work, and only brushing your hair when you feel like it.

"If You Have to Cry, Go Outside ... And Other Things Your Mother Never Told You", Cutrone tells her disciples to "gather up your courage like an armful of free clothes at a McQueen sample sale" and "celebrate the magic inside of yourself."

But Cutrone is not one of those self-help gurus who sells you a ThighMaster and then runs off for liposuction. A practitioner of her preachings, she's currently celebrating the magic inside herself:

“P.r. is what I know how to do to make money and it’s what I’m really good at,” she said. “I think it’s a natural thing to say, ‘Oh, OK. Well, now Kelly Cutrone has to leave p.r., but that would be an old model and I’m not really interested in old models ... Do I want to stick around when I’m making a fortune writing books and producing television, taking s—t from a designer who pays $6,000 a month who doesn’t want to pay their bills for three months? No.

Does being on TV and writing books give me the freedom to kick their asses out of my office before they f—k me over? Yeah. That’s the reality.”

Although if she left PR, Bravo and MTV wouldn't have shows to make of her. And Whitney Port, without her mentor, would wind up living on the sidewalk in a fort fashioned from a stolen clothing rack and all the tight dresses she designed that Bergdorf refused to buy because they made models look fat, begging passersby for celery sticks and sequins.

Also, where would Kelly get her best stories? Like that time she was fired by Yigal Azrouël for seating Ashley Dupré in the front row of his fall 2009 fashion show?

“[The night I was fired,] I called another one of my clients, Jeremy Scott, and told him to please make me a T-shirt that said, ‘What Would Madonna Do?’” Cutrone said, reading from a manuscript.

“‘Oh please, I don’t need to make you a T-shirt,’ Jeremy replied. ‘Madonna would have grabbed that girl by her ponytail, made out with her and said, ‘Why are you talking about my girlfriend like that?’ And suddenly I realized that I hadn’t maximized my moment.”

Oh, so being feminine is all about making a scene. So if you see a chick wearing a Snuggie to Fashion Week next month, she's not crazy. She's just celebrating the womanly magic inside herself.


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Sources: Amazon.com, Bravo, NY Mag, WWD, Youtube, Google Maps

Tiger Woods' 5 Minute ESPN Interview

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Sources: ESPN, Youtube, Google Maps

Peter Kauffmann: Paterson's Communication Director Resigns

Gov. Paterson's Communications Director Peter Kauffmann Quits


The scandal engulfing Gov. Paterson claimed another victim: communications director Peter Kauffmann.

Kauffman resigned Thursday afternoon from his $175,000-a-year job, the third person in a week to bolt from the scandal-scarred administration.

"As a former officer in the United States Navy, integrity and commitment to public service are values I take seriously," Kauffmann said in a statement.

"Unfortunately, as recent developments have come to light, I cannot in good conscience continue in my current position."

Paterson's now former criminal justice deputy secretary Denise O'Donnell also said in her resignation letter last week that she could not "in good conscience" continue serving Paterson.

Former state Police Superintendent Harry Corbitt, whose agency is also under investigation, retired Thursday.

A veteran of Hillary Clinton's political operation, Kauffmann joined the administration last March 23.

He was charged with turning around Paterson's press operation and tanking poll numbers in the wake of the U.S. Senate appointment debacle that included the trashing of Caroline Kennedy.

This week alone, Kauffmann was forced to go before investigators for two agencies because of the scandals engulfing Paterson.

On Tuesday, he met with investigators for the state Public Integrity Commission, which was probing whether Paterson illegally solicited and accepted World Series tickets last October from the Yankees.

Kauffman's testimony directly contradicted Paterson's claim that the governor had always intended to pay for the tickets to the World Series game.

Kauffman told investigators that Paterson at first told him that he'd been invited to the game by Yankees President Randy Levine - a claim that was quickly refuted by Levine himself.

Paterson, according to Kauffmann's testimony, then indicated that no payment was necessary because he attended in his official capacity.

The governor also made no mention of having written a check for the tickets or wanting to pay for the tickets used by his son and his son's friend Meanwhile, Kauffmann on Wednesday was brought before investigators for Attorney General Andrew Cuomo who are probing whether the governor and state police tried to improperly influence a woman who claimed a top Paterson aide brutally assaulted her on Halloween night.

Press secretary Marissa Shorenstein, who is close to Kauffmann, has also met with Cuomo's investigators.

Paterson is said to have asked Shorenstein to contact the woman and ask her to say there was no violence involved.

Those close to Shorenstein say she was duped by the governor.

She was under the belief that there was no physical assault but simply a bad break-up between the woman, Sherr-una Booker, and the aide, Charles Johnson.

The Daily News reported earlier this week that Paterson's staff told the governor it would no longer issue statements on his behalf regarding the scandal.

They told him such comments should be made through a lawyer.


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Sources: NY Daily News, Google Maps

Rahm Emanuel's PR Challenge: "Never Waste A Good Crisis"

Hotheaded Emanuel May Be White House Voice Of Reason



Rahm Emanuel is officially a Washington caricature. He's the town's resident leviathan, a bullying, bruising White House chief of staff who is a prime target for the failings of the Obama administration.

But a contrarian narrative is emerging: Emanuel is a force of political reason within the White House and could have helped the administration avoid its current bind if the president had heeded his advice on some of the most sensitive subjects of the year: health-care reform, jobs and trying alleged terrorists in civilian courts.

It is a view propounded by lawmakers and early supporters of President Obama who are frustrated because they think the administration has gone for the perfect at the expense of the plausible. They believe Emanuel, the town's leading purveyor of four-letter words, a former Israeli army volunteer and a product of a famously argumentative family, was not aggressive enough in trying to persuade a singularly self-assured president and a coterie of true-believer advisers that "change you can believe in" is best pursued through accomplishments you can pass.

By all accounts, Obama selected Emanuel for his experience in the Clinton White House, his long relationships with the media and Democratic donors, and his well-established -- and well-earned -- reputation as a political enforcer, all of which neatly counterbalanced Obama's detached, professorial manner. A president who would need the deft navigation of Congress to pass his ambitious legislation turned to the Illinois congressman and former chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee because he possessed a unique understanding of the legislative mind.

The pairing made sense, but things haven't worked out as expected. And in the search for what has gone wrong, influential Democrats are -- in unusually frank terms -- blaming Obama and his closest campaign aides for not listening to Emanuel. And this puts the 50-year-old chief of staff in a very uncomfortable position.

Listening to Emanuel would serve "all our overall goals," said Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.). "I think that Rahm's considerable legislative experience translates into advice that the president should heed."

Instead, Obama went for the historically far-reaching, but more legislatively difficult, achievements that he and his campaign-forged inner circle believe they were sent to Washington to deliver.



'Gut Instincts'

In December 2008, Obama, Emanuel and Republican Sens. John McCain (Ariz.) and Lindsey O. Graham (S.C.) met in Obama's transition headquarters in Chicago to discuss detainee policy. According to Graham, Obama turned to him at one point and said, " 'I'm going to need your help closing Guantanamo Bay. . . . I want you and Rahm to start talking.' " They did, and as the discussions progressed, Emanuel grew wary that closing the U.S. military prison in Cuba was possible without opening a slew of other politically sensitive national security problems " 'This stuff is like flypaper,' " Graham recalled Emanuel saying. " 'It will stick to you.' "

Graham said Emanuel was well aware that his and any other Republican support for closing Guantanamo Bay hinged on keeping alleged Sept. 11 mastermind Khalid Sheik Mohammed out of civilian court.

According to a person familiar with the conversations, who discussed the confidential deliberation on the condition of anonymity, Emanuel made his case to Obama, articulating the political dangers of a civilian trial to congressional Democrats. Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. presented a counterargument rooted in principle, for civilian trials.

David Axelrod, senior adviser to Obama, supported Holder, the source said. The president agreed that letting the Justice Department take the lead was the right thing to do.

"Axelrod has a strong view of the historic character Obama is supposed to be," said an early Obama supporter who is close to the president and spoke on the condition of anonymity to give a frank assessment of frustration with the White House. The source blamed Obama's charmed political life for creating a self-confidence and trust in principle that led to an "indifference to doing the small, marginal things a White House could do to mitigate the problems on the Hill. Rahm knows the geography better."

Emanuel and Axelrod declined to comment for this article.

"During this whole civilian-trial debate, Rahm's gut instincts knew that taking KSM to New York for civilian trials was going to be a misstep," Graham said. "He has a better ear for domestic politics on this issue than anybody in the administration, quite frankly."

With the Justice Department in charge, Emanuel tried to keep tabs on the process through Graham. "He'd say: 'How's it going? Did you tell them they were going to lose you?' And in terms a sailor could understand."

One administration official close to Emanuel did not dispute that Obama had overruled Emanuel on some key policy issues. "It's not germane what the discussion was beforehand, what his idea was, because once a decision is made, he puts himself whole-hog behind it," the official said of Emanuel. "It would be difficult for people to discern what his [original] position was."

'Taking flak'

Emanuel's allies say there is no such thing as Rahm at rest. According to almost everyone who has ever worked with him, he has an insatiable need to be in the mix, and he is deeply concerned with the news of the day. His office is the White House nerve center. "In order to get a final decision, everything needs to go through Rahm's office," said a former administration official who thinks Emanuel should delegate more.

Every morning, Emanuel leads a 7:30 meeting with about 10 senior administration aides, pushing through the president's priorities, all listed on index cards embossed with the title "Chief of Staff." Throughout the day, one senior administration official said, Emanuel might call six times to determine whether he can cross off an item. If not, it is on the list the next day.

The official said Emanuel surveys colleagues' opinions "more than people think." Emanuel's initial reaction to criticism is likely to be slamming down the phone. But usually, he calls back after a few minutes, the official said, and says, " 'Okay, let's talk.' "

His weighing in on a mind-boggling swath of governmental and political activity adds to his outsize image as chief of staff of everything. As a result, he can be blamed for almost everything, especially as health-care legislation became stuck, the president's approval ratings dipped and widespread angst about the economy fueled a GOP resurgence.

"When the going gets rough, the chiefs of staff are always on the firing line," Sen. Olympia J. Snowe (R-Maine) said last week.

Emanuel's aversion to distractions from the president's agenda has caused conflict, and disappointment, on the Hill.

Rep. Luis V. Gutierrez (D-Ill.), who wrote Obama a letter of support for Emanuel's appointment, now says it was "a mistake."

"For Rahm, power and preservation of power is always the number one priority," Gutierrez said. He said Emanuel corroded Obama's commitment to immigration reform, and he gleefully compared the renewed scrutiny on Emanuel, and the popular Washington parlor game of when he'd return to pursue other opportunities in Chicago, to "vultures circling."

Suffering that sort of opprobrium -- what Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.), Emanuel's friend of three decades, described as "taking flak" for the president -- hasn't visibly bothered the chief of staff. He has always showed a brash side. As a young operative in Illinois, he sent a dead fish to a pollster. As an aide to Bill Clinton, he stabbed a knife into a table while screaming the names of the president's enemies.

But the Rahm-knows-better-than-the-president notion, increasingly spread by his allies and articulated in a Washington Post column by Dana Milbank last month, is, regardless of its relation to reality, creating more tension for the chief of staff inside the White House and drawing more scrutiny from outside.

Emanuel, ever attuned to the politics of self-preservation, has assumed a lower profile. His on-the-record output has reduced to a trickle. The other day, he made an unusual visit to the movies ("We saw 'Ajami,' " a film about social divisions in Israel, said his friend Joel Johnson, a former Capitol Hill official.) He's taking on help in a new senior adviser, Robert Nabors, currently deputy director of the Office of Management and Budget.

"Rahm can appear to correct course better than anybody," said one senior administration official. "When the heat is on, he shows a spirit of camaraderie and working well with the team. In the last few days, he's been a little bit more solicitous about opinions on the health-care summit, about inviting people into the conversation about how things get shaped."

Obama's key campaign advisers, even those with whom Emanuel has clashed, are as eager as he is to make the civil war of the Chicago consiglieri story go away.

"Rahm has been a tremendous chief of staff," said Valerie Jarrett, a senior adviser to the president. "We have all the good fortune of working for President Obama. We're a good collegial team."

'Ally in the effort'

What makes Emanuel's position so difficult is that his job requires him to bridge the competing interests of the White House and Congress.

"All our members are up for election this year, and the president is not up for election until 2012," said Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.). "Sometimes there are tensions because of the different timetables."

Van Hollen, who is Emanuel's successor as DCCC chairman and is charged with protecting the House majority Emanuel helped win, said: "There has been some frustration with the administration," especially in the slow pace of tackling unemployment. "From my discussions with Rahm, he has been an ally in the effort to get these things moving quickly and understands it's important that there be progress."

Asked about that tension, House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer (D-Md.) said: "I'm sure there were discussions back and forth, and Rahm, being the operational guy in the room, said, 'Look, this is what we can get, let's get this now, we can pare it down, et cetera.' And I'm sure there were those in the room who said, "Look, we said during the campaign we were going to do this; we need to get the whole ball of wax."

Another senior member of the House Democratic caucus put it more bluntly. "I don't think the White House has listened to him enough," said the member, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss frustration with the White House. "There is this growing sense in the House that this White House is tone-deaf and doesn't care about 2010, that it is sacrificing members for 2012 and that the president thinks he doesn't need to get engaged, or that he thinks politics don't matter and that he could care less about what is happening on the streets of our districts. That's not Rahm."

One early supporter of Obama, who has known Emanuel for years, did not give the chief of staff a pass. "The House members recruited by Rahm say to me, 'He is supposed to know our needs; how come we are being cut off at the knees on so many issues?' They don't understand why Rahm is not being more aggressive."

Emanuel has maneuvered where possible. He has dispatched Vice President Biden to appear at 25 fundraisers and rallies to assist the "frontline members" of the House, those most in danger of being bounced out of office. Sen. Kent Conrad (D-N.D.), who negotiated with Emanuel during the shaping of the president's budget, said he helped secure assistance for projects "related to my state," including getting the delayed construction of a dormitory back on track. "Not sexy stuff," he said.

That seemingly small, unsexy stuff is, however, key to Emanuel's strategy of keeping the congressional majorities happy and building up small achievements into a substantial body of legislation.

Early in the administration, Obama signed into law equal-pay legislation and expanded health care for children and credit-card protections. When it came time for the economic stimulus plan, Emanuel -- arguing that "you never want a serious crisis to go to waste" -- was the White House's point man in the Senate. There, too, he valued the plausible over the perfect.

Snowe said he was "responsive" to her interest in removing $100 billion in spending from the stimulus bill. "He understood it operationally and legislatively, what needed to be accomplished, and was very straightforward," she said.

When health-care reform became the administration's focus, Emanuel's public persona was that of a partisan field marshal. But before Obama and his advisers settled on a policy of expansive scope, Emanuel back in August suggested a smaller bill that would be easier to pass, according to another administration official who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss private deliberations.

When the larger measure stalled, Emanuel harangued Senate Finance Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) and later argued to Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) to strike the public option from the legislation to expedite passage, the source said. Reid insisted on putting it in.

"One thing that has frustrated Rahm," said Sen. Robert P. Casey Jr. (D-Pa.), "is how the Senate works."

As health-care negotiations inched along at the end of last year, Emanuel grew impatient about addressing national joblessness concerns. One Democratic senator who wanted to pivot to unemployment said Emanuel shared his thinking. " 'I understand, I understand. We have to get to jobs,' " the senator, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss private conversations, recalled Emanuel commiserating. In a meeting with the president and chief of staff, the senator stated his case, but Obama decided the priority was seeing health-care reform through.

"It was the president's call," said the senator, who added that Emanuel showed no trace of objection. "A play was called, and he was running the play."

Sources: Washington Post, Fox News, Wall Street Journal, Youtube

Dawn Brancheau's Death, Tilikum Becomes PR Nightmare For Seaworld

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SeaWorld Decides To Keep Orca Killer Whale After 3rd Death



Despite calls to free or destroy the animal, SeaWorld said Thursday it will keep the killer whale that drowned its trainer, but will suspend all orca shows while it decides whether to change the way handlers work with the behemoths.

Also, VIP visitors who occasionally were invited to pet the killer whales will no longer be allowed to do so.

"We're going to make any changes we have to to make sure this doesn't happen again," Chuck Tompkins, chief of animal training at SeaWorld parks, said a day after a 12,000-pound killer whale named Tilikum dragged a trainer into its pool and thrashed the woman to death as audience members watched in horror.

Talk-radio callers, bloggers and animal activists said Tilikum — which was involved in the deaths of two other people over the past two decades — should be released into the ocean or put to death like a dangerous dog.

Tompkins said that Tilikum would not survive in the wild because it has been captive for so long, and that destroying the animal is not an option either, because it is an important part of the breeding program at SeaWorld and a companion to the seven other whales there.

Dawn Brancheau, a 40-year-old veteran trainer who adored whales, was rubbing Tilikum from a poolside platform when the 22-foot creature grabbed the woman's ponytail in its jaws and pulled her in. Witnesses said the whale played with Brancheau like a toy.

"He kept pushing her and poking her with his nose," said Paula Gillespie of Delaware, who saw the attack from an underwater observation point. "It looked like she was just totally caught off guard and looked like she was struggling."

She added: "I just felt horrible because she's someone's daughter, mother. I couldn't stop crying."

The killer whale shows have been put on hold at SeaWorld's three parks in Orlando, San Antonio and San Diego. Tompkins said they will not resume until trainers understand what happened to Brancheau. He also said trainers will review safety procedures and change them as needed.

He would not give details on what might be changed, but he said he does not expect visitors to the theme park to see much difference in the killer whale shows, in which trainers swim with the animals, ride on their backs and jump off of them.

Close encounters

There is virtually no contact between visitors and the orcas at SeaWorld shows, said Fred Jacobs, a spokesman for the SeaWorld parks. But in the past, VIP guests occasionally were allowed to come down to the edge of the pool and touch the whales. That will no longer be permitted, Jacobs said.

Because of Tilikum's size and history of aggressive behavior, visitors were not allowed to get close to the whale, and trainers were not permitted to climb into the water with the animal. They were only allowed to work with him from a partially submerged deck.

Tompkins defended SeaWorld's use a whale that had already been blamed in the deaths of two other people.

"We didn't ignore those incidents," Tompkins said. "We work with him very, very carefully. We did not get in the water with this animal like we do with other killer whales because we recognized his potential."

Brancheau's older sister, Diane Gross, said the trainer would not have wanted anything done to the whale. "She loved the whales like her children. She loved all of them," said Gross, of Schererville, Ind. "They all had personalities, good days and bad days."

In a profile in the Orlando Sentinel in 2006, Brancheau acknowledged the dangers, saying: "You can't put yourself in the water unless you trust them and they trust you."

One of SeaWorld's most popular shows — about a child who wants to grow up to be a killer whale trainer — could have been inspired by Brancheau herself.

A trip to SeaWorld at age 9 instilled a desire in her to work with marine animals. She attended the University of South Carolina and majored in psychology, but got a job at a New Jersey park after graduation, working with dolphins and sea lions. She was hired at SeaWorld in Orlando in 1994.


Previous deaths

Tilikum was one of three orcas blamed for killing a trainer in 1991 after the woman lost her balance and fell into a pool at a Sealand theme park near Victoria, British Columbia.

In 1999, the body of a naked man was found draped over Tilikum at SeaWorld in Orlando. Officials said the man had stayed in the park after closing and apparently fell into the whale tank. An autopsy found he died of hypothermia. Officials also said it appeared Tilikum bit the man.

A few months after the 1991 death in Canada, SeaWorld asked the National Marine Fisheries Service for permission to "import and temporarily house" Tilikum in Orlando, according to documents obtained by The Associated Press.

In a 1992 letter, the federal agency said SeaWorld wanted to move Tilikum to Orlando "for the purpose of providing medical treatment and care that is otherwise unavailable in Canada at this time."

The letter did not mention the whale's role in the deadly attack. But the agency criticized the theme parks, saying "prudent and precautionary steps necessary for the health and welfare of Tilikum were not taken by Sealand or SeaWorld."

Periodic Inspections

Animals parks are inspected at least once a year by the U.S. Department of Agriculture to make sure the animals are being treated humanely and getting proper nutrition and veterinary care. Online records for the three SeaWorld parks going back to 2007 show only minor violations, such as paper feeding trays accidentally dropped into an exhibit.

None of the violations had anything to do with the park's whales.

"For the most part, they run a top-notch facility, and they take very good care of their animals," USDA spokesman Dave Sacks said.

Howard Garrett, co-founder and director of the Washington-based nonprofit Orca Network, has studied killer whales for nearly 30 years and said the creatures are not considered dangerous to humans, even though they are highly efficient predators in the wild.

"In their natural habitat, there is no record of any harm to a human anywhere," Garrett said.

He said Tilikum was probably agitated before Wednesday's attack, possibly from some kind of clash with the other whales.

Gary Wilson, a professor at Moorpark College's exotic animal training program, said it can be difficult to detect when an animal is about to turn on its trainer.

"One of the challenges working with any animal is learning to read its body language and getting a feel for what's going on in its mind," he said.






Killer Whale Kills Trainer Dawn Brancheau


After the terrible tragedy involving a whale trainer that lost her life earlier this week, many are trying to figure out exactly what happened. Many reports are saying that the whale has a history of a bad temperament, and that he has been violent in the past.

Dawn Brancheau, a whale trainer at SeaWorld, was pulled into the tank Wednesday after a show and tragically killed. Dawn’s sister Diane Gross said that her family considers the incident to be an accident, rather than an oversight on SeaWorld’s part.

“She loved all of them,” said Diane. “They all had personalities, good days and bad days.” Diane said that Dawn was inspired to become a trainer after taking a family trip as a 9-year-old.

Reports say that the whale has been considered dangerous by staff, and only certain trainers were able to work with him. This leads to the question – why was he there? The 12,000 pound whale pulled Dawn under the water after a regular performance, as she was rewarding him. Onlookers that witnessed the horrible event said that the whale was acting violently with the trainer.

This isn’t the first death that has been connected with the killer whale. Tilikum and two other whales drowned another trainer, Keltie Byrne, in 1991 at a park in Canada. In 1999 at SeaWorld, a man snuck into the whale tank to swim with them. He was also killed.


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Sources: CBS News, MSNBC, Youtube, Google Maps

Did Toyota Care More About Profits Than Customers? Yes!

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Toyota Apologizes But Asserts Electronics OK



The president of Toyota's operations apologized for the company's handling of safety issues Tuesday while insisting that electronic problems did not contribute to sudden acceleration of its cars. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood argued that such a possibility could not be ruled out.

Toyota's James Lentz and LaHood presented differing views in prepared testimony before the House Energy and Commerce Committee's investigative panel, the first of three congressional panels holding hearings on Toyota's problems.

The chairman of the House Energy and Commerce investigative subcommittee, Rep. Bart Stupak, D-Mich., set the tone for sharp questioning of Lentz at the hearing's outset.

"Toyota all but ignored pleas from consumers to examine sudden unintended acceleration events," he said. "They boast in a briefing of saving Toyota $100 million by negotiating a limited recall. They claim that they first became aware of sticking pedals in late October of 2009 when in fact they had received numerous complaints many months and years earlier."

"They misled the American public," Stupak added, "by saying that they and other independent sources had thoroughly analyzed the electronics systems and eliminated electronics as a possible cause of sudden unintended acceleration when, in fact, the only such review was a flawed study conducted by a company retained by Toyota's lawyers."

Lentz said in prepared testimony that Toyota had poor communications within the company, with government regulators and with its customers.

But he also said that Toyota has no problems with its electronic throttle controls, which have been blamed as a possible cause of unintended acceleration in some Toyota models.

Also being heard from Tuesday are drivers like Rhonda Smith, a Sevierville, Tenn., woman whose Toyota-made Lexus suddenly zoomed to 100 miles per hour as she tried to get it to stop — shifting to neutral, trying to throw the car into reverse and hitting the emergency brake. Finally, her car slowed down before she crashed.

Smith wrote down her feelings after the 2006 scare, saying she had "a near death experience, which occurred on October 12, 2006 between approximately 10:50 and 11:00 a.m. At almost exactly 6 miles God intervened" and slowed the car. She said that nothing she had tried had worked.

Smith's description of her nightmare ride in October 2006 will precede testimony by safety experts — and set the tone for the hearing. Toyota executives and the secretary of transportation also will be at the witness table. Members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee's investigative panel will be armed with preliminary staff findings that Toyota and the government failed to protect the public.

Toyota, which has recalled 8.5 million vehicles to fix acceleration problems in several models and braking issues in the 2010 hybrid Prius, is bringing apologies to the hearing.

"In recent months, we have not lived up to the high standards our customers and the public have come to expect from Toyota," said Lentz, president and chief operating officer of Toyota Motor Sales U.S.A. Inc. in prepared testimony. "Put simply, it has taken us too long to come to grips with a rare but serious set of safety issues, despite all of our good faith efforts."

More than 150 Toyota dealers gathered in the Capitol Tuesday morning before the hearing to lobby lawmakers in support of the carmaker. Many wore buttons saying, "I am Toyota in America."

"We made a choice, a conscious decision, to be part of something, rather than just submit to it," said Tammy Darvish, a Washington area dealer who helped organize the action, which Toyota also helped coordinate.

Dealers Complain

Toyota dealers are complaining that the besieged automaker is being treated unfairly by the U.S. government. Some say it's because the government has invested billions in two competitors, General Motors and Chrysler.

At a news conference in advance of the hearing Tuesday morning, some complained the government is picking on Toyota, even though there have been dozens of recalls of other automakers' vehicles in the past year.

Toyota revealed Monday that federal prosecutors and the Securities and Exchange Commission are now investigating the company's safety problems and what it told government investigators.

Lentz was defiant on one point, asserting that Toyota is confident "no problems exist with the electronic throttle control system in our vehicles. We have designed our electronic throttle control system with multiple fail-safe mechanisms to shut off or reduce engine power in the event of a system failure."

LaHood, in written, prepared testimony, said his agency will ensure the safety of Toyota vehicles. He added the department's investigation includes the possibility that interference with electronics had a role in sudden acceleration.

"Although we are not aware of any incident proven to be caused by such interference, NHTSA (the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration) is doing a thorough review of that subject to ensure safety," the secretary said. "If NHTSA finds a problem, we will make sure it is resolved."

Slow to Respond

Committee investigators have made preliminary findings that the government was slow to respond to 2,600 complaints of sudden unintended acceleration from 2000 to 2010.

LaHood countered, "Every step of the way, NHTSA officials have pushed Toyota to take corrective action so that consumers would be safe."

On Wednesday, the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee will hear from company president Akio Toyoda, who is expected to speak to the committee and the American public through a translator.

In an opinion piece published by The Wall Street Journal, Toyoda acknowledged that the automaker had stumbled badly.

"It is clear to me that in recent years we didn't listen as carefully as we should — or respond as quickly as we must — to our customers' concerns," wrote Toyoda.


Sources: MSNBC, Toyota

Toyota's New PR Nightmare: Lawsuits & Declining Stock

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Toyota's Next Problem: Lawsuits


Fixing millions of gas pedals and brakes and convincing customers their vehicles are safe could end up being the least of Toyota's challenges. Some experts think the price tag from legal settlements could end up topping the company's estimate of $2 billion in recall costs.

There are already more than 30 U.S. lawsuits filed against Toyota involving the problems with its gas pedals alone, according to Craig Hutson, senior investment grade analyst at Gimme Credit, a bond research service firm. And there are more lawsuits are in the works.

"Lawyers are champing at the bit to get at these guys, and the company has come out and largely admitted mistakes in respect to these issues," said Hutson. "It's hard to put a dollar amount on it, but multi-billion dollar costs are not out of the realm of possibility."

Hutson isn't alone in worrying about how much lawsuits could hurt Toyota. Credit rating agency Moody's cited the litigation risks when it warned Tuesday that it might downgrade Toyota's credit ratings.

The company also faces at least one class action suit involving problems with the brakes on 2010 models of the Prius and other hybrid vehicles. Toyota announced a recall for those hybrids Tuesday.

New reports of problems with the steering of its Corolla could mean more lawsuits against Toyota.

Safety experts estimate official complaints involving Toyota gas pedals show there have been 19 fatalities involving the recalled vehicles.

But Gary Robb, an attorney in Kansas City who is looking at filing cases, says he believes that number will increase significantly as people look more deeply into accidents for which no cause was ever determined.

"We've had so many calls from so many people now that this news has come out," he said. "Accidents that were heretofore attributed to driver error are very likely due to a malfunction of the gas pedal. There's going to be dozens of those incidents arising."

Cases involving death or serious injury will likely be handled in individual lawsuits.

Suing to reclaim lost value.

Robb said he's also looking at a class action case to try to recover billions of dollars he claims were lost in the resale value of the recalled vehicles. He said his experts estimate total losses could be in the $6 billion to $8 billion range. "For many people their car is their second largest investment," he said.

Other experts suggest that the loss in resale value is not as high as Robb's figure, but that it is still likely in the billions.

Toyota's troubles: How it got here

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Kelley Blue Book, a leading used-car value service, is lowering its estimated prices for the recalled models this Friday by 2.5% to 3.5%. That's enough to lower the value of each vehicle by between $250 and $800.

The National Highway Transportation Safety Administration estimates that more than 6 million U.S. vehicles are affected by the recall. So based on Kelley Blue Book's estimates, the overall loss in resale value is likely to be at least $2 billion.

Toyota wouldn't comment on its legal exposure from the recalls. As to the reduction in resale value by Kelley Blue Book it said, "Historically Toyota and Lexus vehicles have held their value very well relative to other vehicles. We expect that to be true in the future as well."

It's not clear whether courts will allow plaintiffs to collect that much money. James Henderson, a law professor at Cornell University, said legal precedent is against them.

But Henderson does think the recall opens Toyota for a rash of new personal injury cases. He added that if it is determined that Toyota knew of problems with the gas pedals and did not warn a driver involved in an accident, the company could be hit with punitive damages.

Hutson said beyond the cost of any jury verdicts or settlements, the lawsuits have the potential of causing continued damage to Toyota's reputation, keeping the problems and company's failures in the news. That could cost the company additional sales going forward.

He said if any documents come out which prove Toyota engineers knew something needed to be fixed, it will be difficult for Toyota to ever regain consumers' trust.

"When your image is one that has been largely built on quality and dependability, you can't afford that kind of smoking gun," Hutson said.



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Sources: CNN, MSNBC, CNBC, DOT.gov, Google Maps

Toyota's Media Blitz, Offers Fix To Customers

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Toyota Announces Gas Pedal Fix


Toyota said Monday it has developed a fix for gas pedals in millions of recalled vehicles and is already shipping the new parts to dealers.

The fix involves reinforcing the pedal assembly in a way that eliminates the excess friction that has caused the pedals to stick, the company said in a press release. Toyota recalled 2.3 million vehicles in the United States for this problem.

Toyota said replacement parts are already being shipped and that dealers will work extended hours to fix the recalled vehicles.

"We know what's causing the sticking accelerator pedals, and we know what we have to do to fix it," said Jim Lentz, Toyota's president and chief operating officer, in a statement.

Toyota will begin contacting customers as early as this week to let them know when to bring in their vehicles for the fix. The automaker said it will cover all costs related to the fix, which will take about 30 minutes.

It's not clear how long it will take to fix all 2.3 million cars, Lents told CNNMoney.com

Much will depend on how quickly customers bring their cars into dealer for repairs.

Dealers will be open extended hours, he said.

"Dealers that are open five days will be open seven days," he said. "Dealers that aren't open extended hours will be open extended hours."

The fix involves installing a precision-cut steel reinforcement bar into the accelerator pedal assembly, which will reduce surface tension and prevent the friction that has caused the pedals to stick, Toyota said.

Toyota recall: What to do if your car's on the list

The company said it has confirmed the effectiveness of the newly reinforced pedals through "rigorous testing" on pedal assemblies that had previously shown a tendency to stick.

Toyota announced plans last week to suspend sales of the models, including its best-selling Camry, subject to the recall. It also took the unusual step of halting production of those models.

The recall has taken a severe toll on Toyota's once-stellar reputation, which Lentz acknowledged in a video statement posted on Toyota's Web site.

"I know that we've let you down," Lentz said "Toyota will work hard to fix your vehicle properly and regain your trust."

The recall affects Toyota's 2009-2010 RAV4, Corolla and Matrix; 2005-2010 Avalon; certain 2007-2010 Camrys; 2010 Highlander; 2007-2010 Tundra and the 2008-2010 Sequoia. The Camry Hybrid is not included in the recall.

The Japanese automaker also recalled cars in Europe. That recall involves eight different models, several of which are not sold in the United States. The precise number of vehicles involved in that recall is still being determined, but it could be as many as 1.8 million.

The gas pedal recall is separate from an earlier one, begun in November to fix a problem in which the gas pedal can become caught on the edge of the removable floormat.

The floormat recall was recently expanded so that it now covers a total of 5.3 million vehicles.

In cases where vehicles are subject to both recalls, Toyota (TM) said it intends to remedy both at the same time.

Toyota has been under scrutiny for suspected unintended acceleration for approximately 10 years. A total of 19 deaths have been conceited to unintended acceleration in Toyotas over the decade, according to some analysts, a figure the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration called "plausible," based on its own research.

All major automakers experience some complaints of unintended acceleration. It is unclear how the rate of complaints and crashes in Toyota vehicle compares to that of other major automakers.

Lentz said he is confident that resolving this issue and the floormat entrapment problem will solve the problem for Toyota. The automaker has also said it is making "brake override" -- a system that cuts engine power to the wheels as soon as the brake pedal is pressed -- standard equipment on all of its cars.

The "brake override" software will also be added to the internal computers on some cars as they are brought in for recall repairs, a Toyota spokesman said.


Sources: MSNBC, CNN, Toyota