The Brewster Report

President Obama's first 100-Days: Great Photos from WhiteHouse.gov

More Presidential Obama appointments

Christine M. Griffin, Nominee for Deputy Director of Office of Personnel Management

Christine M. Griffin has been a member of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission since January 2006 and currently serves as its Acting Vice Chair. 

Kevin Concannon, Nominee for Under Secretary for Food, Nutrition and Consumer Services, United States Department of Agriculture

Kevin Concannon was appointed Iowa Department of Human Services Director in March 2003. He was re-appointed as DHS Director by Governor Culver and Lt. Governor Judge in January 2007. Iowa DHS provides authority and financing for health care for Iowans of all ages through the Medicaid program and the Iowa hawk-i program.

Rajiv Shah, Nominee for Under Secretary for Research, Education, and Economics, United States Department of Agriculture

Rajiv J. Shah is the Director of Agricultural Development in the Global Development Program for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation where he manages the Foundation's Agricultural Development program - including grant-making portfolios in science and technology, farmer productivity, market access, and policy and statistics - with the goal of helping the world's poor lead healthy and productive lives.

Michael Nacht, Nominee for Assistant Secretary of Defense (Global Strategic Affairs), Department of Defense

Michael Nacht is currently Professor of Public Policy and former Aaron Wildavsky Dean at the Goldman School of Public Policy at the University of California - Berkeley. Nacht served a three-year term as a member of the U.S. Department of Defense Threat Reduction Advisory Committee, for which he chaired panels on counter terrorism and counter proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, reporting to the Deputy Secretary of Defense.

Mercedes Márquez, Nominee for Assistant Secretary for Community Planning and Development, Department of Housing and Urban Development

Mercedes Márquez assumed her duties as the General Manager of the City of Los Angeles Housing Department (LAHD) in January 2004. Mercedes returned to public service after serving as Vice-President of McCormack Baron Salazar, Inc., a national firm specializing in the development, consultation, and management of urban communities. She served in the Clinton administration as the Senior Counsel to the Secretary and Deputy General Counsel for Civil Rights and Fair Housing for the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) in Washington, D.C. She was principal advisor to former Secretary Andrew Cuomo on civil rights policy including fair lending and fair housing enforcement, and led investigations and negotiations of housing discrimination cases resulting in landmark settlements.

Raymond M. Jefferson, Nominee for Assistant Secretary for Veterans Employment and Training, Department of Labor

Ray Jefferson is a leadership consultant with over 20 years of experience spanning several of the world's premier organizations. From 2006 to 2008, he served with McKinsey & Company in Southeast Asia where he created and delivered leadership training and development programs for clients and offices throughout Asia.

Robert S. Litt, Nominee for General Counsel, Office of the Director of National Intelligence

Robert S. Litt is a Partner at Arnold & Porter LLP, where he specializes in white collar criminal defense. Prior to joining the firm, Litt served for five years at the Department of Justice as Principal Associate Deputy Attorney General and as Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the Criminal Division. In these positions, his responsibilities included matters relating to national security, healthcare fraud, public corruption, computer crime and intellectual property.

William F. Brinkman, Nominee for Director of the Office of Science, Department of Energy

William F. Brinkman is currently a Senior Research Physicist in the Physics Department at Princeton University. He retired as Vice President of Research from Bell Laboratories, Lucent Technologies, Murray Hill, NJ. In that position his responsibilities included the direction of all research to enable the advancement of the technology underlying Lucent Technologies' products.

USDA SECRETARY VILSACK SEEKS APPLICANTS FOR BROADBAND GRANTS IN RURAL AREAS

USDA Secretary Vilsack announced the department is accepting applications for grants to bring broadband service to rural areas.  Community Connect grants will bring state-of-the-art broadband services to some of America's most isolated and economically challenged communities. Grants will be awarded on a competitive basis and can be used to:

• Construct, acquire or lease broadband transmission services;
• Improve, expand or lease community centers that provide free access to broadband for at least two years before, during and after normal work hours and on Saturdays and Sundays;
• Purchase computer equipment, and
• Provide broadband to all critical community facilities – first responders, police, etc. – within the proposed Service Area.

Applications are due by the close of business on June 19. The application guide for this grant program can be found at Broadband Grant Application Guide. Also see the April 20 Federal Register, page 17941.

"Universal access to affordable broadband will stimulate local economies and create jobs," Vilsack said. "All Americans – regardless of where they live – should be able to benefit from the opportunities available in our digital age."

USDA SEEKS APPLICATIONS FOR COOPERATIVE DEVELOPMENT CENTER GRANTS

Today, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced USDA is accepting applications for grants for cooperative development centers to improve economic conditions in rural areas.

USDA may award up to $4.4 million in grants through this notice. Grants may finance up to 75 percent of the cost of establishing and operating the cooperative centers. Recipients must match 25 percent of the total project cost.

Applications are due by the close of business June 29, 2009. The application guide for this grant program can be found at http://www.rurdev.usda.gov/rbs/coops.htm.  Also see the April 29, 2009, Federal Register, page 19485.

"These cooperative development centers provide rural Americans with stronger technical and managerial skills helping small businesses become more profitable and creating jobs in rural communities," said Vilsack.

USDA Secretary Vilsack announced the appointment of Jay Jensen as Deputy Under Secretary for Natural Resources & Environment

April 22, 2009 – Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack today announced the appointment of Jay Jensen as USDA Deputy Under Secretary for Natural Resources and Environment (NRE). In this position, Jensen will have responsibility for the U.S. Forest Service (FS), which manages 193 million acres of National Forest System lands and provides assistance to the more than 10 million family-forest landowners in this country.

Obama announced intent to nominate Edward M. Avalos as USDA - Under Secretary for Marketing and Regulatory Programs

April 24, 2009  -- President Barack Obama has announced his intent to nominate Edward M. Avalos as Under Secretary for Marketing and Regulatory Programs at the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Avalos will serve with Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack.

"Edward Avalos has spent a lifetime in agriculture, including 34 years in agricultural marketing," said Vilsack. "He has spearheaded innovative marketing techniques which have improved the economic viability of rural areas and established export marketing programs which have placed American crops on tables around the world.

Pigford v. Glickman (now Pigford v. Vilsack) and Brewington v. Glickman (now Brewington v. Vilsack) class action lawsuits

In case you want to follow the Black farmers case, go to http://www.pigfordmonitor.org/

The Office of the Monitor was established pursuant to the Consent Decree entered in the Pigford v. Glickman (now Pigford v. Vilsack) and Brewington v. Glickman (now Brewington v. Vilsack) class action lawsuits.

The Consent Decree defines the duties of the Monitor, which include:

(1) making periodic written reports on the good-faith implementation of the Consent Decree;

(2) attempting to resolve problems that class members may have with respect to the Consent Decree;

(3) deciding the merits of Petitions for Monitor Review and ordering reexamination of meritorious claims; and

(4) establishing a toll-free number to respond to the questions of class members.

This web site contains public documents, including court orders about the Pigford case. Current orders issued in the case are also available from the Court's web site.

This web site also contains documents that claimants can receive by calling the Monitor's toll free line (1-877-924-7483).  These materials are intended to assist claimants and to provide more information about the relief to which claimants are entitled under the Consent Decree.

USDA's New Civil Rights Era, we hope!

In an April 21, 2009 memorandum to all USDA employees, Secretary Vilsack announced a new civil rights era for USDA. Secretary Vilsack wrote “As you know, civil rights is one of my top priorities. In the Departmental complaint system alone, more than 14,000 complaints have been filed since the year 2000. Approximately 3,000 of these complaints remain to be processed, and questions continue to be raised about USDA’s handling of complaints. I have said many times that I intend to take definitive action to improve USDA’s record on civil rights and to move USDA into a new era as a model employer and premier service provider. … To be successful, all USDA employees must be committed to making USDA a model in the Federal Government for respecting the civil rights of its employees and constituents. As Secretary, I will accept nothing less.”

Secretary Vilsack’s memorandum outlines fourteen initial steps to change the direction of Equal Employment Opportunity, civil rights, and program delivery in USDA by designing a comprehensive approach to ensure fair treatment of all employees and applicants and improve our program delivery to every person entitled to our varied services. Read the Secretary’s memorandum for more information on the actions to be implemented immediately or that are already underway.

• Memorandum: A New Civil Rights Era for USDA (HTML)(PDF 184KB)
• Secretary Vilsack's Civil Rights Policy Statement
  (HTML) (PDF 684 KB)

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s (D-Nev.) cuts deal to allow Sen. Arlen Specter to retain his seniority

I could not believe the news report that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s (D-NV) cut a deal to allow Sen. Arlen Specter to retain his seniority after he switches to the Democratic Conference.  I understand why it has not been received well by senior senators in the party.  Senator Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.), who sits on the Appropriations Committee with Specter and is fifth in seniority among Democrats behind Chairman Daniel Inouye (Hawaii), Sens. Robert Byrd (W.Va.), Patrick Leahy (Vt.) and Tom Harkin (Iowa). "I'm happy with the Democratic order but I don't want to be displaced because of Arlen Specter," Sen. Mikulski said.

After reading the article, I feel, Senator Arlen Specter, you should not be allowed to keep your Republican seniority, so get in line behind people we know are "real" Democrats.

USDA & Black Farmers' Crisis: Secretary Vilsack, Ralph Paige and John Boyd respond

     

In 1997 with a class-action lawsuit known as the Pigford case,Timothy Pigford, a Black farmer from North Carolina and  400 black farmers sued the US Department of Agriculture [USDA] claiming they had for years been denied government loans and other assistance that routinely went to whites. 

After the lawsuit was filed, Pigford requested blanket mediation to cover what was thought to be about 2,000 farmers who may have been discriminated against, but the U.S. Department of Justice opposed the mediation, saying that each case had to be investigated separately. As the case moved toward trial, the presiding judge certified as a class all black farmers who filed discrimination complaints against the USDA between 1983 and 1997.  The plaintiffs settled with the government in 1999. Under the consent degree, all African American farmers would be paid a "virtually automatic" $50,000 plus granted certain loan forgiveness and tax offsets, if they could present substantial evidence that they had been discriminated against on the basis of race. To do so, they needed to show that they had applied to the USDA for farm credit or benefits, had to have made a complaint before 1997, and had to show that the USDA had treated them less favorably than the USDA had treated similarly-situated white farmers. This process was called "Track A". 

The government settled paying out some damages on almost 16,000 claims, but many other inquires and letters seeking information were never answered by President Bush's USDA's Civil Rights office.  Now, John Boyd, president of the National Black Farmers Association and Ralph Paige, executive director of the Federation of Southern Cooperatives/Land Assistance Fund are using different methods, but with the same goal to help Black farmers.

On Tuesday, April 29th, John Boyd, as well as an estimate of 200 Black farmers gathered at USDA in Washington DC to bring attention to their plight and wanting USDA to live up to a promise last year to pay black farmers for years of discrimination by the agency.

Protesters carried signs that read "Stop Promising, Start Paying" and chanted, "Pay the black farmers." Boyd led his famous mule to the Capitol and unrolled a scroll with the names of 75,000 black farmers.  They will also meet today with members of Congress and federal farm officials to discuss the funding and other issues.  

Boyd believes President Obama has changed his position on Black farmers, and the change isn't sitting well with black farmers who thought they'd get a friendlier reception from Obama after years of resistance from President George W. Bush.  Former Senator, Barack Obama led the charge in 2008 to pass a bill allowing black farmers to seek new discrimination claims against USDA.

However,  Ralph Paige believes USDA is planning to address the problem, and wrote for the Seattle Medium.  For more than 40 years and through nine (9) Presidential administrations, Paige has personally seen Black farmers discriminated against by the USDA.

Paige wrote "I have never seen a U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) like this one. At the very beginning of the Obama administration, Tom Vilsack, the Secretary of Agriculture, has developed initiatives to address the extensive and infamous civil rights problems at USDA."

He continued, "Usually, lip service is paid to these problems shortly before the end of an administration and nothing is done as a result. But this time it looks to be a different and new era at the USDA. The “People’s Department,” which is what its creator President Abraham Lincoln called the Department of Agriculture, might actually become a department for the people. I applaud the secretary’s efforts."

Paige's article discuss the discrimination against black farmers:

• lack of credit opportunities 
• and access to programs for Black farmers and other minority farmers (which includes women) at the USDA’s Farm Service Agencies across the country and in other USDA agencies.

Results

• tragic loss of land, which has gone from a peak 15 million acres of Black owned land in 1910 to a little over 3 million acres today.
• in 1999 Black farmers filed a class action lawsuit against the USDA (known as the Pigford case); some claims in the case have yet to be resolved. Congress later offered in the 2008 Farm Bill, an opportunity for thousands of Black farmers who were initially left out of the Pigford case to participate.

Paige believes that President Obama's USDA Secretary Vilsack has a plan and knows his department has Civil Rights problems and will:

1. analyzing services at USDA agencies to develop recommendations for equitable access to these agencies – particularly the Farm Service Agency, the Natural Resources Conservation Service and in Rural Development
2. strengthening a weak and poorly run Civil Rights office at USDA
3. reviewing the 1,000 plus civil rights complaints since 2000 to see if they have been properly addressed
4. working with the Department of Justice to resolve the remaining Pigford claims against USDA
5. addressing the civil rights issues of other minority and socially disadvantaged farmers across the country and confront the discrimination of employee and promotion practices within the USDA.

I feel, it doesn't matter which approach Black farmer advocates like Paige or Boyd take, the Black farmers have been discriminated against and their case needs to be resolved.  Some of the same banks, the government bailed out have denied the Black farmers access to loans.

For an understanding of how it was put into law read: Pigford Case.

Read more at    http://www.seattlemedium.com/news/Article/Article.asp?NewsID=96128&sID=34&ItemSource=L 

Second Chance For Black Farmers by Carol Estes

USA Today: Black farmers file new suit against USDA

Pigford Case Settlement

Other references

1. Timothy Pigford, et al., v. Dan Glickman, Secretary, United States Department of Agriculture, US District Court for the District of Columbia, Civil Action No. 97-1978 (PLF). Paul L. Friedman, U.S. District Judge.
2. "The Pigford Case: USDA Settlement of a Discrimination Suit by Black Farmers", Tadlock Cowan, Congressional Research Service, January 13, 2009. Fetched February 9, 2009.
3. The Pigford Case: USDA Settlement of a Discrimination Suit by Black Farmers", p. 5. Tadlock Cowan, Congressional Research Service, January 13, 2009. Fetched February 9, 2009.

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pigford_v._Glickman"

Obama names Jeffrey Zients as chief performance officer

Jeffrey Zients, a founder and managing partner of Portfolio Logic - management consultants, as chief performance officer and deputy director of the Office of Management and Budget.  His selection comes after Obama's first choice for the newly created position, Nancy Killefer, withdrew in February over tax problems.

Obama names Aneesh Chopra and Vivek Kundra

Last week, Aneesh Chopra, the Harvard-educated secretary of technology for the state of Virginia was named by President Obama as the federal government's first chief technology officer.  Chopra will promote technological innovation to help achieve urgent priorities of creating jobs and reducing health care costs to keeping our nation secure.

Vivek Kundra will serve as chief information officer and is responsible for setting technology policy across the government, and using technology to improve security, ensure transparency, and lower costs.  Kundra was chief technology officer for the city of Washington.

Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA) to become a Democrat

Sen. Arlen Specter (Pa.) is leaving the Republican Party to run as a Democrat in the 2010 Primary.  And President Obama has offered to help him during the campaign.  Others who have talked to Specter are Vice President Biden, Gov. Ed Rendell (D-PA) and Sen. Bob Casey Jr. (D-PA), all of whom have tried recently to persuade Specter to leave the GOP.

I have two questions: (1.) Why is Specter leaving the Republicans?  (2.) Who would trust him after leaving?

 

 

White House Staffer moves to US Dept. of Commerce

Ellen Moran, the White House communications director, will become the chief of staff at the Department of Commerce. 

Government meetings being canceled

After President Obama's 1st full Cabinet meeting, he said, he has asked his Cabinet secretaries to identify $100 million in savings and programs to cut. 

He highlighted ways to save money: 

Veterans Affairs has canceled or delayed 26 conferences, saving nearly $17.8 million and will use the less expensive alternatives - videoconferencing. 

USDA is working to combine 1,500 employees from seven office locations into a single facility by 2011, which we estimate will save $62 million over a 15-year lease term.

Homeland Security estimates a savings of approximately $52 million over five years just by purchasing office supplies in bulk.

Veterans Affairs canceling 26 conference will just add to the problems of the already struggling hospitality industry.  Many hotels have had to layoff staff from housekeepers to sales, so the industry does not need the government to start canceling meetings.

Obama's latest nominations at USDA

 

Obama's USDA picks might signal revamped priorities -- By Jerry Hagstrom CongressDaily April 20, 2009

With his two latest picks for key Agriculture Department posts, President Obama is signaling a possible shake-up in several programs that have historically gotten little attention, including nutrition and agricultural research.

Kevin Concannon, director of the Iowa Department of Human Services, has been tapped to be USDA undersecretary for food, nutrition and consumer services -- a post that oversees, among other things, the food stamp program -- while Rajiv Shah of the Gates Foundation has been nominated for USDA undersecretary for research, education and economics. Both appointments, announced Friday, require Senate confirmation.

Click for full article

GovernmentExecutive.com: Obama Job Predictions

 The Short List: Key Federal Management Jobs -- April 21, 2009

Speculation on who President-elect Barack Obama would select for his Cabinet began almost immediately after his historic victory on Nov. 4. But less has been said about how Obama might fill lower-level positions that have a direct influence over management and workforce policies affecting federal employees.

We have asked government observers to share their thoughts on likely candidates for jobs such as the director of the Office of Personnel Management, who will have a critical role in determining whether the next administration continues a push toward pay-for-performance, and the chief of the General Services Administration, government's main purchasing agency.

The chart below tracks their predictions. We will update it regularly as we receive more information, and as Obama announces nominations. Please note that nobody named in the "rumored" column has confirmed that he or she is under consideration. Their names have been provided by other sources.

Click here for table of predictions!

FROM NoLimits.org: The Women of Afghanistan Speak Out

"Afghan women and girls want education. Many risk their lives to go to school... Human rights are not a western concept, but universal and necessary for all human beings "

Dr Sima Samar, chairperson of the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission and Special Human Rights Rapportuer for Sudan.

Kabul, Afghanistan, April 15, 2009: Hundreds of Afghan women stood up to an angry crowd and marched to the Parliament, calling for repeal of a new law restricting women's lives.

For the women of Afghanistan and neighboring areas of Pakistan dominated by the Taliban, recent news has been dire: The new law passed by Parliament and signed by President Karzai, forbidding women to leave the house without their husbands' permission and legalizing marital rape; a 17 year-old woman in the Swat region of Pakistan, flogged for what the local Taliban commander described as a "transgression"; continuing attacks on girls' schools. According to the Feminist Majority Foundation, hundreds of girls' schools have been destroyed and teachers murdered; young girls on their way to school had acid thrown at them.

Reaction to the new law -- and to the attacks on women which preceded it -- has been strong: President Obama said "I think this law is abhorrent. Certainly the views of this administration have been, and will be communicated to the Karzai government... The first reason we are there is to root out al Qaeda...those two things aren't contradictory, I think they're complementary..."

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton: "My message is very clear: Women's rights are a central part of American foreign policy in the Obama administration; they are not marginal; they re not an add-on or afterthought...So we will continue to work very hard on behalf of women and girls in Afghanistan and around the world."

Women Senators have spoken up: a bipartisan group, led by U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA) and including Olympia Snowe (R-ME), Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), Claire McCaskill (D-MO), Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), and Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) sent a letter to President Karzai.

"This law should be reversed immediately," Boxer said. "Not only is this law an attack on individual freedom, but it condones despicable acts against women in their homes. By approving this law, Afghan leaders are holding back the entire country's progress and turning the nation back toward some of the most oppressive practices of the Taliban."

Responding to the public outcry, President Karzai has now promised to review the law. According to his aide, the legislation is not yet law, and will be reviewed so that it will be "consistent with the rights provided in the Constitution -- equality and the protection of women"

The State Departments is monitoring what happens next: "We're glad that President Karzai has agreed to review this law critics say permits spousal rape and severely limits women's rights," said State Department spokesman Robert Wood. "And we'll be watching this closely to see how the process develops."

The women of Afghanistan are risking their lives to speak up for their rights; we must continue to speak up for them.

NO LIMITS IS GROWING! 

Ann Lewis announced "the next steps for No Limits: our new website will be ready soon, with resources and information about the issues you care about, and a special social networking feature that will make it easier for us all to stay connected."

Why is Blackwater still operating in Iraq under a new name?

"Armed guards from the security firm once known as Blackwater Worldwide are still protecting U.S. diplomats in Iraq, even though the company has no license to operate there and has been told by the State Department its contracts will not be renewed two years after a lethal firefight that stirred outrage in Baghdad ..." Read full story

So all they needed to do is change their company name from Blackwater Worldwide to Xe!  After the Iraq government wanted Blackwater out, Xe, signed a $22.2 million deal in February with the State Department to keep the company working there through most of the summer!  I hope this was not another non-competition contract!

Somali pirate Abduhl Wali-i-Musi arrived in New York on Monday

The sole surviving Somali pirate Abduhl Wali-i-Musi, a teenager arrived in New York in handcuffs and a chain wrapped around his waist. His left hand was heavily bandaged from the wound he suffered during the skirmish on the ship two weeks ago.

I wonder if he has a clear understanding of what he has done?

US Department of Labor released $100,383,562 in unemployment incentive funds to Illinois

The U.S. Department of Labor today certified for release $100,383,562 in unemployment insurance (UI) modernization incentive funds to the state of Illinois. Illinois qualified for the funds available under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (Recovery Act) by allowing workers to use their more recent earnings to qualify for benefits. Illinois’ approved application will be posted at the department’s Employment and Training Administration Web site at http://www.doleta.gov/recovery.

The White House First Pooch - Bo

  

Somali Pirate Hostage Standoff

LET'S STOP THIS PIRATE MESS NOW!

President Obama has our U. S. Navy moving a huge amphibious ship closer to the scene of the pirate hostage standoff off Somalia and the USS Boxer will soon be in the area. The Boxer is the flag ship for a multinational anti-piracy task force. It resembles a small aircraft carrier with a crew of more than 1,000, a mobile hospital, missile launchers and about two dozen helicopters and attack planes. 

Closer to the pirate-held lifeboat are two other Navy ships; the USS Bainbridge is in sight of the lifeboat; the USS Halyburton is nearby. The Bainbridge uses drones to keep watch on the lifeboat. The Halyburton has helicopters.

President Obama show your strength and end this new era of pirates taking innocent hostages.

U.S. Rep. Kendrick Meek (D-Miami) takes his campaign for the Democratic U.S. Senate

U.S. Rep. Kendrick Meek, D-Miami, will take his campaign for the Democratic U.S. Senate nomination to Daytona Beach on Tuesday, April 14. The congressman, who's trying to qualify for the 2010 ballot by gathering more than 112,000 signatures, will be at the City Island Recreation Hall, 110 E. Orange Ave., at 6:30 p.m.  The public is invited -- and urged to bring a pen to sign Meek's petition.

STOP AID TO SOMALIA NOW!

Somali pirates and their hostage American sea Captain Richard Phillips were adrift in a lifeboat Thursday off the Horn of Africa, shadowed by a U.S. destroyer with more warships on the way in a U.S. show of force.

 Captain Richard Phillips of Underhill, Vt.

The crew later overpowered some of the pirates, but Phillips, 53, surrendered himself to the bandits to safeguard his men, and four of the Somalis fled with him to an enclosed lifeboat

I sincerely hope that President Obama will take a strong stand with these Somali pirates and the county of Somalia!  Let's end this once and for all.

Somali pirates are "bitting a hand that been helping to feed their people."

From the US State Department web site: "Although the U.S. never formally severed diplomatic relations with Somalia, the U.S. Embassy in Somalia has been closed since the collapse of the Siad Barre government in 1991. The United States maintains regular dialogue with the TFG and other key stakeholders in Somalia through the U.S. Embassy in Nairobi, Kenya. Consular coverage for Somalia also is maintained by U.S. Embassy Nairobi, while American Citizens Services in the self-declared Republic of Somaliland are provided by the U.S. Embassy in Djibouti."

The web site further explains: "

POLITICAL CONDITIONS
In early 2002, Kenya organized a reconciliation effort under IGAD auspices known as the Somalia National Reconciliation Conference, which concluded in October 2004. In August 2004, the Somali TFP was established as part of the IGAD-led process. Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed was elected President of the TFG of Somalia on October 10, 2004. President Yusuf resigned on December 29, 2008, and Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed was elected President of the TFG on January 30, 2009. The components of the TFG, including the Parliament and Executive, are known as the TFIs.

Two regional administrations exist in northern Somalia--the self-declared "Republic of Somaliland" in the northwest and the semi-autonomous region of Puntland in the northeast. In Somaliland, which is made up of the former British protectorate, Dahir Riyale Kahin was elected President in presidential elections deemed free and fair by international observers in May 2003. The area of Puntland declared itself autonomous (although not independent) in 1998 with its capital at Garowe. Abdirahman Mohamed Farole was elected President by the Puntland parliament in January 2009. Puntland declared it would remain autonomous until a federated Somalia state was established."

To see US aid to Somalia:

2009 - US State Department - Background Notes on Somalia

2007 - Rice Announces Nearly $17 Million in Initial U.S. Aid to Somalia

2006 - U.S. Moves Diplomat Critical of Somali Warlord Aid

 

HHS Recovery: 1,100 community health clinics have received $337

 US Department of Health & Human Services

About 1,100 community health clinics have received $337 million to help them handle the surge of newly unemployed and uninsured people needing care.

What You Can Do

Sign up for April 14, 2009 Listening Session

Stay informed – sign up for email updates

Learn where funds are going in your state and community:

Most of Recovery Act funding will go to States, Territories, and Tribes, who will in turn distribute funds through grants, contracts, subsidies, loan programs, etc. Be sure to check your State Web site for information. Additionally, check the list of State Recovery sites for a link to your state.

Grants announced at the Federal level are announced on Grants.gov.

To learn if you are eligible to receive government benefits, visit GovBenefits.gov. Government loans are available at GovLoans.gov.

Federal contracting opportunities are listed at FedBizOps.

More information

Stimulus funds to aid 6 Pennsylvania health clinics

 

The grants will save or create jobs and provide care in Jackson County

Bees attack White House

Thursday, the Secret Service guarding the White House grounds were attacked by a swarm of honey bees, who took over a bush located between the Northwest security gate of the White House and the area where television networks stand-up positions are located early Thursday.

Full story, see Huffington Post

FROM THE HILL: Frank dismisses Towns’s plan to slow down reform

By Mike Soraghan

The chairmen of two key committees are at odds over the pace with which Congress should overhaul the nation’s financial regulatory system. House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Edolphus Towns (D-N.Y.), whose committee has undertaken a series of hearings on the AIG bailout, offered a “word of caution” Thursday about the pace of the overhaul. “I would urge my colleagues on this committee and elsewhere not to move too quickly to reform the financial sector without first fully understanding what caused this financial meltdown,” Towns said during Thursday’s hearing featuring testimony from AIG’s former chief... Read full article at The Hill