July 4, 2003, in Washington, D.C. Alex Wong/Getty Images
By Mark Memmott
The Two-Way plans to take a three-day weekend to celebrate Independence Day and we hope many of you do too (Friday is a federal holiday , after all; mail will be delivered , but most post offices will close at noon).
Our plan is to pick things up again early Monday morning. But as always, if there's important news that needs to be passed along we'll jump back into the blog.
In the meantime, what better way to get into a patriotic mood than with Morning Edition 's traditional reading of the Declaration of Independence ?
Oh, and please remember: Be careful with those fireworks !
10:03 PM ET | 07-02-2009 | permalink
By Frank James
In his interview with Associated Press reporter Jennifer Loven today, she asked him why it took so long for him to react after news spread last Thursday that Michael Jackson had died.
Loven went further, saying that e-mails she has received suggested that some part of the black community was upset with the president for not responding quickly with a statement acknowledging Jackson's important contributions to American pop culture.
Obama wasn't having any of it. As the AP reports:
Continue reading "President Obama Sings Michael Jackson's Praises" »
6:58 PM ET | 07-02-2009 | permalink
By Frank James
Ruth Madoff, wife of federally convicted Ponzi scammer Bernard Madoff, was officially evicted from her $7 million Upper East Side Manhattan Penthouse apartment today by U.S. Marshals, part of the agreement she made with federal officials in her effort to not be stripped of all the assets she shared with her husband.
The Associated Press reports:
Proceeds from a sale of the property and its contents could be used to help reimburse those who lost billions of dollars investing with Madoff before he confessed to running a Ponzi scheme.
Guccione said Madoff's wife Ruth had been advised in advance of the marshals' plans and was leaving the residence and surrendering all personal property.
"She will be leaving," he said at midday. "Restitution for the victims is the government's top priority."
By about 1 p.m., the 67-year-old Ruth Madoff had left. It was not immediately clear where she went to live.
5:57 PM ET | 07-02-2009 | permalink
By Frank James
The Associated Press had an extensive interview with President Barack Obama with the topics covering everything from his imminent trip to Russia and his determination to keep Iran from getting a nuclear weapon to his take on the economy and his reaction to the death of pop icon Michael Jackson as well as his preference for Michael Jordan over Kobe Bryant.
That's what you call covering the waterfront.
The AP has a series of stories off the interview and has provided YouTube video as well.
Ticking through some of the questions, Obama was asked about Russia and why he was meeting with Vladimir Putin, Russia's prime minister. Of his response, the AP said:
On the eve of a trip to Moscow, President Barack Obama chided Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin on Thursday for keeping "one foot in the old ways of doing business." By contrast, he said Putin's handpicked successor as president understands that Cold War behavior is outdated.
Continue reading "President Obama Covers Waterfront With AP Reporter" »
5:33 PM ET | 07-02-2009 | permalink
By Frank James
Pop superstar Michael Jackson's funeral will be on Tuesday at 10 am at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, according to reports.
According to MSNBC :
Randy Philips, president and CEO of AEG, told KNBC's Robert Kovacik that the service, which will be open to the public, will begin at 10 a.m. Arrivals are set to begin at 8 a.m.
AEG is the company had hoped to stage Jackson's 50-concert comeback run in London.
There were rumors earlier in the week that a public funeral would be held at the late entertainer's Neverland Ranch about 120 miles away from Los Angeles. But many residents in the Santa Barbara area of his ranch weren't pleased at the thought of having thousands of Jackson fans descend on their community.
Continue reading "Michael Jackson Funeral Set For Tuesday At Staples Center" »
4:27 PM ET | 07-02-2009 | permalink
By Frank James
A lot of people today are watching a videotape of the late Michael Jackson's last rehearsals at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. The video, shot two days before his death, was released by AEG Live , the company that booked Jackson's planned 50-concert run in London.
Jackson appears energetic and alert in the video but, of course, it only tells us so much. We have no idea what he looked like before or after the rehearsals captured in the video.
Still, it's chilling to watch the video knowing what we now know.
3:51 PM ET | 07-02-2009 | permalink
By Mark Memmott
Despite reports in the news media of the White House and Defense Department being "at odds" (in U.S. News & World Reports ' opinion ) over whether more U.S. troops should soon be sent to Afghanistan, White House national security adviser James Jones just told All Things Considered co-host Melissa Block that he sees no "daylight" between the views at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue and at the Pentagon.
Their discussion began with Melissa asking about reports, such as this one by McClatchy Newspapers that Jones has told commanders "they won't get any more troops this year beyond what President Barack Obama already has promised."
Jones, a retired Marine general, told her that isn't exactly the message he's been giving. Instead, he said the White House just wants to see how the new U.S. strategy -- adding 21,000 soldiers and Marines to the force in Afghanistan -- works before considering whether even more are needed:
Later in the interview, Melissa asked if the White House would be open to adding more troops if commanders request them. Jones said the president will always "listen to whatever the senior commanders on the ground" and others in the chain of command recommend. "If we have to do it again we have to do it again,"Jones added:
There will be more from Melissa's conversation with Jones on today's ATC. Click here to find an NPR station near you.
In Afghanistan, Marines have launched a major operation in the south as they aim to take control of villages now in the hands of the Taliban. Earlier this afternoon, NPR's Graham Smith reported from one of the villages that Marines are now operating from.
Jones watches President Obama during a June 16 Rose Garden event. Win McNamee/Getty Images
2:55 PM ET | 07-02-2009 | permalink
By Frank James
A South Carolina law enforcement official on Thursday said authorities discovered no misuse of public funds by Gov. Mark Sanford to enable his trysts with his Argentinian mistress.
COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) - South Carolina's top cop says Gov. Mark Sanford did not improperly use state funds for visits with his Argentine mistress.
South Carolina's attorney general asked police to investigate the governor's travel after Sanford revealed to The Associated Press he had spent time with Maria Belen Chapur more often than
In other Sanford news in that falls into the "we aren't surprised" category, Sanford also lost a book deal.
Continue reading "Mark Sanford Didn't Use Public Funds For Trysts: SC Official " »
2:37 PM ET | 07-02-2009 | permalink
By Frank James
It's safe to say that federal judge Alex Kozinski has learned the hard way some lessons about computer security.
Kozinski, the chief judge for the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals based in San Francisco, has apologized and been properly rebuked by his judicial colleagues for having once had naughty pictures on a personal computer server whose files, he didn't realize until too late, the public had access to.
Even though the photos were relatively tame by Internet standards (one showed naked women painted as cows) they still weren't the sort of things the federal judiciary wants associated with its members. It didn't help matters that Kozinski was sitting on a pornography case at the time and had to recuse himself because of the discovery and that a litigant filed a complaint against him.
So Kozinkski apologized for the embarrassment he caused his fellow jurists and acknowledged that he should've either had better computer security or deleted the files after he and his son turned the computer in question into a server which they did so the judge could have access to his personal files when he was away from home.
Continue reading "Judge Apologizes, Rebuked For Racy Photos On PC" »
2:19 PM ET | 07-02-2009 | permalink
A Marine takes up a fighting position after unloading from a helicopter in Main Poshteh, Afghanistan, today. Joe Raedle/Getty Images
By Mark Memmott
"The patrols we've been going out on have been pretty quiet" so far around the small southern Afghan village of Sorhodez, NPR's Graham Smith just said to All Things Considered co-host Robert Siegel:
Graham is embedded with some of the 4,000 or so Marines who today surged into southern Afghanistan as part of an offensive known as "Khanjar," or "Strike of the Sword."
Some of the Afghans, Graham says, weren't too happy to see the Americans. But he says they also appeared to be "cautiously" optimistic that the Marines might push Taliban militia out of the region:
There will be more from Graham's conversation with Robert on today's ATC. Click here to find an NPR station near you.
1:30 PM ET | 07-02-2009 | permalink
By Frank James
Thomas Ricks, one of the nation's most highly regarded experts on the issues of Iraq and the U.S. military, had a killer quote on Morning Edition about the Obama Administration's continued message about drawing down "combat troops" from Iraq, with a total withdrawal by the end of 2011. It came in a conversation with NPR guest host David Greene.
RICKS: Obama is saying we're going to get the combat troops out. Guess what? There are no non-combat troops in the U.S. military. There is no pacifist wing of the military.
DAVID: So what does that mean when he says get the combat troops out?
In other words, the president's constant usage of "combat troops" leaves the impression he's removing "trigger pullers" but leaving behind some other parts of the military (like engineers maybe?) to help the Iraqis. But that's not what's really happening, as Ricks points out.
Continue reading "Iraq Expert Dings Obama's Use of 'Combat Troops' Phrase" »
12:54 PM ET | 07-02-2009 | permalink
By Mark Memmott
Vice President Joe Biden, who had a mysterious gap in his public calendar today, has turned up in Baghdad. The White House just released this statement:
Vice President Biden has arrived in Iraq to visit U.S. troops and to meet with Iraqi leaders, including President Jalal Talabani, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and Speaker of the Council of Representatives Ayad al-Samarrai.
The Vice President will reiterate the United States' commitment to fully implement the Security Agreement and the Strategic Framework Agreement and to carry out President Obama's plan to draw down U.S. forces. He will discuss with Iraq's leaders the importance of achieving the political progress that is necessary to ensure the nation's long-term stability. This is Vice President Biden's second trip to Iraq this year and his first as Vice President.
Reuters reports that in Baghdad a short time ago, Biden "said he was optimistic about Iraq's future but much work remained."
12:45 PM ET | 07-02-2009 | permalink
By Linton Weeks
Watching continuous news coverage of the tragedies involving Michael Jackson, Billy Mays and Gov. Mark Sanford, it was hard this week to discern the truly strange stories. But we have done our best. So here are the Whack Stories of the Week.
1) I'm naked and I'm flying and ... what do you mean this isn't a dream ?
2) Don't Beat It! Churn It! Introducing the Michael Jackson butter statue .
3) Clydesdale's bud wiser after near-tragic accident .
4) "And I, for one, welcome our new insect overlords ."
5) In Australia, 75% of video game players say they would choose gaming over courting and sparking .
Better than sex? Cate Gillon/Getty Images
12:40 PM ET | 07-02-2009 | permalink
Notes from a June 28, 2004, "casual conversation between Saddam Hussein and an FBI interviewer. National Security Archive
By Mark Memmott
"Hussein Pointed To Iranian Threat," The Washington Post headline reads
Saddam Hussein told an FBI interviewer before he was hanged (in December 2006) that he allowed the world to believe he had weapons of mass destruction because he was worried about appearing weak to Iran, according to declassified accounts of the interviews released yesterday. The former Iraqi president also denounced Osama bin Laden as "a zealot" and said he had no dealings with al-Qaida.
To see for yourself what the former Iraqi dictator told the FBI in 2004, go to the website of the National Security Archive (an independent, non-governmental research institute). It used a Freedom of Information Act request to get the FBI to release summaries of 20 interrogations and five "casual conversations."
11:30 AM ET | 07-02-2009 | permalink
