American Morning
Iranian authorities vow to quell protests on key anniversary
[cnn-photo-caption image=http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2009/images/07/09/iran.protests.anniversary.art.jpg caption="Protests by Iranians, such as this one on June 15, have been defended by the reformist figures."]
TEHRAN, Iran (CNN) - The commander of Iran's security forces warned that police would "strongly confront" anyone planning to protest Thursday, a day that marks the anniversary of a pivotal point in Iran's reformist movement.
In an interview with the state-run Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA), Maj. Gen. Esmaeel Ahmadi Moghadam said authorities would confront protesters and that no demonstration permit had been issued for Thursday, the 10th anniversary of a 1999 student uprising that, at the time, posed the biggest threat to the Islamic regime since its inception in 1979.
Tehran's governor Morteza Tamaddon issued a similar warning as the police chief Maj. Seyed Hadi Hashemi told IRNA that authorities are trying to encourage people to leave the capital before Thursday because of severe haze.
Hashemi "urged the citizens to consider Tehran's heavy pollution and travel outside of the Capital for the weekend in order to help reduce traffic," IRNA reported.
Iranian-American journalist Jason Rezaian said Iranians were scared after a brutal crackdown on those who protested what they called the fraudulent outcome of the June 12 presidential elections. Hardliner Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was declared the winner over his chief rival Mir Hossein Moussavi, a reformist candidate.
Economy could make Obama, Democrats vulnerable in 2010
[cnn-photo-caption image=http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2009/images/07/09/obama.economy.romans.art.jpg caption="President Obama maintains that investing in key areas such as health care will help stabilize the economy."]
NEW YORK (CNN) - They are two presidents from different parties but have striking similarities
Former President Ronald Reagan and current President Obama are incredibly popular, and both faced rising unemployment early on.
Reagan's experience could be instructive for Democrats today; the GOP lost 26 seats in the 1982 elections. Reagan's popularity could not trump double-digit unemployment.
If we look back at 1982, as soon as the unemployment rate hit 10 percent, there was a political dynamic that changed significantly ... and it became much harder for the incumbent party to be able to make their case," said Daniel Clifton, head of policy research at Strategas, an investment strategy and policy research firm.
But Reagan was fighting joblessness, inflation and high interest rates. Obama has a full plate, but inflation and high interest rates are not on it.
Nonetheless, the jobless rate today is at 9.5 percent, which is above the peak of 8 percent the White House predicted earlier this year. The administration now concedes 10 percent is likely in the next couple of months.
While some economists have long forecast jobless rates this high, Vice President Joe Biden now admits that the administration "misread how bad the economy was."
Not exactly, according to the president.
We Listen – Your comments 7/8/09
Editor's Note: Wednesday’s American Morning audience voiced frustration at the state of the economy, believing that neither political party had the right answers. Some blamed the Bush Administration for the poor economy, and others suggested giving money to the people, wondering “how can I stimulate the economy without money.”
- William: It seems the two political parties have no answer for the economy. I think it is time to turn to the third party moderates. I think the typical CNN pitting of the left and the right in a standoff over the issues is no longer worthwhile. It is time to get away from the extremes of the two party system.
- Linda: It took 8 years of Republican rule to put the "finishing" touches in our economy. Yet, the MSM will keep pounding the right wing talking points of "where are the jobs"!! How idiotic do they think we are?? President Obama is expected to "fix" all our massive problems in 6 months. Also, speaking of idiotic, despite Sarah Palin’s demonstration of incoherence and incompetence, she is still being touted as a viable candidate!! Mark Sanford is merely "censured" for dereliction of duty, (in addition to his disastrous press conferences explaining his sexual and spiritual infidelity), when they voted to impeach Bill Clinton for much less. At least Clinton didn't disappear for a week, and call Monica his "soul-mate"!! All this stuff is merely another demonstration of how the media is still being controlled by the Republican party. Hopefully, the next important elections will show that the electorate has finally wised up to this nonsense, and give Obama and our Democratic congress a fair chance to fix the mess these people have gotten us into. By the way, we notice that "Gonzo" finally got a job. With a little "help from his friends" in Texas.
- Carl: I'm sorry, what was the Republican response to the recession they initiated? Was it let the free market correct the problem. Every time they criticize the Obama Administration by mincing words from top officials within the administration they show that they still have no plan to help the American public. Except Chuck Grassle who thinks his health insurance is above the American publics, and if we want the same insurance we should get a government job. You guys need to call these do-nothing, philosophical elitists on there plans for the problems our country faces when they step in front of your microphones and complain instead of offer ideas of their own.
- Mike: THINK JOE'S STATEMENT, SHOWS NEITHER OBAMA OR HE, DID ANY HOMEWORK ON THE ECONOMY ALTHOUGH THEY PLAYED THE 'BLAME GAME' SUPERBLY AND THEN COMPOUNDED THE ERROR WITH PELOSI'S 'STIMULUS" !!
- Gary: more talk about another stimulus package...GIVE IT TO THE PEOPLE, GIVE IT TO THE PEOPLE!!! I AM OUT OF WORK!! HOW CAN I STIMULATE THE ECONOMY WITHOUT MONEY...GIVE IT TO THE PEOPLE!
How do you feel about the state of the economy? Is the stimulus working for you? What has President Obama and Congress done well regarding the economy? What would you like to see them do differently?
Inspiring foster kid's "dash" for college
[cnn-photo-caption image= http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2009/images/07/03/dash.graduation.art.jpg caption="Dasheen's dark past motivates him to strive for his dreams."]
From CNN Producer Ben Tinker
Dasheen Ellis’ mother abandoned him, along with his brother, before he was old enough to form a memory of her.
“She left us on one of her friend’s steps and never came back,” he recounts. Dasheen was just five years old, his brother eight. “She was a drug addict and she had sex for drugs. She was always high and experimenting with different drugs. It was not a positive environment for us. I mean, me and my brother would have to just sometimes be in the house alone. He was the one protecting me. She was never there.”
Dasheen was sent to live with his godmother, which turned into another bad situation. “The environment wasn’t a positive thing for me,” he says. “There was a lot of drugs and sex and things around me that were uncomfortable, so I decided to tell my social worker that I wanted to leave.”
From there, he was placed into his first foster home; then, into the care of the Jewish Child Care Association. Andrea Fink, his former social worker, knows all that it took for Dasheen to get here.
“The Dasheen that you see today is pretty much the Dasheen you saw when he was 13,” she remembers. “He came in quiet, peaceful, very self-assured. But underneath it, very, very scared and worried about what was going to be his future.”
Dasheen recently returned to the Pleasantville Cottage School to offer the current residents something few others can: empathy.
“I wanted to come and talk to you guys about my experiences in life,” he tells them, “because most of them have been kind of similar to what you guys have gone through.”
Talking, Fink says, is the most important thing an at-risk youth can do. “Talk about your feelings. Find somebody who you trust and talk it out, not matter how difficult it is.”
When he was a resident, Dasheen played an integral role in crafting a unique peer mentoring program. “I figured it would be best for residents to help other residents,” he explains,” because you can relate more to someone who’s your peer rather than someone who’s above you.”
2009: A different kind of Gary
[cnn-photo-caption image=http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2009/images/07/08/palace.gary.art.jpg caption="(Getty Images) The marquee at the decaying Palace Theater advertises the Jackson Five July 7, 2009 in Gary, Indiana."]
By Stephen Samaniego – Producer, CNN's American Morning
After spending a few days in Gary, Indiana one thing is clear: this is not the same town Michael Jackson grew up in. When Michael was born back in 1958, Gary was a thriving steel town with a population of almost 180,000 people.
When I was speaking with Gladys Johnson, the former principal of Garnett Elementary School where Michael attended, she spoke of a place where new schools were being constructed, people were buying land and building new homes, and people had good paying jobs that afforded them a decent life.
Today, things are different. Jackson’s elementary school has been torn down, most of the houses built are now crumbling and the unemployment rate is in the double digits.
Driving through the streets of Gary, I could see the shell of what it once was. Gordon Keith, the former owner of Steeltown Records, told me about the exploding music scene that Gary hosted. While driving around with Gordon, he would point out an abandoned building, a pile of rubble or even an empty lot that used to be a music club or watering hole that would showcase local talent.
I stopped by Mr. Lucky's, the bar where the Jackson Five performed when they first formed. It was shuttered and appeared to have bullet holes through the front door and part of the roof had collapsed into the front of the former bar.
It is clear that Gary, Indiana has seen better days but the people that remember its glory days are still there and remember what it used to be.
Bomb parts smuggled into 10 federal buildings during test
[cnn-photo-caption image=http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2009/images/07/08/goa.bomb.art.jpg caption="A GAO report cites lax security in federal buildings after investigators got bomb compenents past guards."]
WASHINGTON (CNN) - Plainclothes investigators sent to test security at federal buildings in four U.S. cities were successful in smuggling bomb components through guard posts at all 10 of the sites they visited, according to a government report.
The investigators then assembled the bombs in restrooms and freely entered numerous government offices while carrying the devices in briefcases, the report said.
The buildings contained offices of several federal lawmakers as well as agencies within the departments of State, Justice and Homeland Security, which is responsible for safeguarding federal office buildings.
CNN obtained the report late Tuesday, ahead of its expected release Wednesday at a hearing of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs.
The Government Accountability Office, the investigative arm of Congress, conducted the tests to check on the effectiveness of the Federal Protective Service .The FPS protects federal buildings by having about 1,200 federal law enforcement officers oversee an army of 13,000 private security guards.
In a videotape obtained by CNN, a covert GAO inspector places a bag containing bomb components on an X-ray machine conveyor belt and then walks through a magnetometer at an unidentified federal building. Unlike some covert tests that use simulated explosives, the GAO used actual bomb components in the test and publicly available information "to identify a type of device that a terrorist could use" to damage a building.
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