September 26, 2015


News Clips For The Day


ON BOEHNER AND THE REPUBLICANS – TWO ARTICLES


http://www.cbsnews.com/news/house-speaker-john-boehner-to-resign-from-congress/

Boehner on resigning: "I decided today's the day I'm going to do this"
By STEPHANIE CONDON CBS NEWS
September 25, 2015

Play VIDEO -- Boehner: “It does pain me to be described as spineless or a squish”


House Speaker John Boehner made his decision to step down from Congress quickly, considering it Thursday night and then concluding Friday morning, "Today's the day I'm going to do this," he told reporters Friday afternoon.

Boehner, who announced he would leave the House at the end of October, said he had originally planned to announce his departure on his 66th birthday on Nov. 17, but he moved up his timeline because of the "turmoil that's been churning now for a couple of months," he said.

The Republican leader has come under fire repeatedly in recent years from conservatives in the House GOP conference. Boehner announced his departure to his fellow House Republicans Friday morning, amid the latest GOP conflict over whether or not to risk shutting down the government over Planned Parenthood funding.

"My mission every day is to fight for a smaller, less costly, and more accountable government. Over the last five years, our majority has advanced conservative reforms that will help our children and their children," Boehner said in a statement he released via Twitter. "It is my view, however, that prolonged leadership turmoil would do irreparable damage to the institution. To that end, I will resign the Speakership and my seat in Congress on October 30."

The speaker noted that he was ready to retire at the end of last year, but he "stayed on to provide continuity to the Republican Conference and the House." The unexpected loss of House Majority Leader Eric Cantor -- who was ousted from office in the 2016 GOP primary for his Virginia seat -- changed Boehner's plans.

Republican sources on Capitol Hill, as well as GOP-leaning lobbyists, say that House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy of California has a decided edge to succeed John Boehner as speaker, CBS News chief White House correspondent Major Garrett reports. Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, the House Budget Committee Chairman, said Friday morning that he's not running for speaker and called Boehner's decision a selfless act.

The widely held belief is McCarthy will ascend to the speakership, and Rep. Steve Scalise of Louisiana, currently majority whip, would rise to majority leader, Garrett reports. Sources also say Rep. Patrick McHenry of North Carolina will make a strong bid for majority whip and appears to have an edge. Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers of Washington, currently GOP conference chair, is also a potential contender for the whip's job.

In a statement, McCarthy called Boehner a mentor of his, as well as a "true statesman, always moving forward with the best interests of the American people close to his heart."

McCarthy added, "Now is the time for our conference to focus on healing and unifying to face the challenges ahead and always do what is best for the American people."

Boehner has represented Ohio's 8th district since 1991. He served as House Majority Leader from 2006 to 2007. In 2010, when Republicans won control of the House with a wave of tea party support, he was unanimously elected speaker.

He has, however, struggled to unify the increasingly conservative Republican caucus in the House. Back in March, for instance, the GOP fought over how to respond to President Obama's immigration actions and nearly shut down the Department of Homeland Security over the matter. Appearing on CBS' "Face the Nation" at the time, Boehner called the House a "rambunctious place" and called the infighting over immigration "just messy."

"We do have some members who disagree from time to time over the tactics that we decide to employ, but remember, Republicans are united in this idea that the president has far exceeded his constitutional authority," he said.

The current threat of a government shutdown over Planned Parenthood appears less imminent at this time, since the Senate on Thursday blocked a bill to strip the health care provider of government support. Conservative Rep. John Fleming, R-Louisiana, contended Friday that Boehner's resignation makes the threat even less likely, CBS News' Walt Cronkite reports.

When Boehner announced his resignation in a GOP conference meeting Friday morning, he also announced that the House would vote on a Senate-passed bill to fund the government for two more months -- without removing Planned Parenthood funding.

The House bill that retains the Planned Parenthood funding for now could keep the government open while the new Republican leadership team comes up with its own approach to defunding Planned Parenthood.

After hearing the news of Boehner's resignation, Rep. Pete King, R-New York, told CBS News' Alicia Amling, "the crazies have taken over."

Nobody saw this coming, he said, calling it "biggest shock I've had in 22 years." King slammed the right-wing of the GOP as "anarchists" who "just want to bring down the place."

Democrats slammed the Republican Party for heading in a more extreme direction. Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nevada, weighed in on Twitter:

Senator Harry Reid ✔ @SenatorReid
I wasn't always happy with what Speaker Boehner told me, but he never, ever misled me. He never told me something that wasn't true.
11:07 AM - 25 Sep 2015

Senator Harry Reid ✔ @SenatorReid
By ousting a good man like Speaker Boehner -- someone who understood the art of compromise -- the party of Eisenhower and Reagan is no more.
11:08 AM - 25 Sep 2015

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-California, called the news of Boehner's resignation "seismic."

Some claim the House majority has been "hijacked by the fringe element of the Republican Party," Pelosi told reporters Friday. "We're seeing evidence of that now."

The conservative group Heritage Action for America called Boehner's departure a "sign that the voice of the American people is breaking through in Washington."

"Americans deserve a Congress that fights for opportunity for all and favoritism to none. Too often, Speaker Boehner has stood in the way," Heritage Action CEO Michael Needham said in a statement.

Boehner will appear live on CBS' "Face the Nation" this Sunday.



http://www.cbsnews.com/news/obama-wants-to-get-some-things-done-before-john-boehners-exit/

Obama wants to "get some things done" before John Boehner's exit
By STEPHANIE CONDON CBS NEWS
September 25, 2015

Play VIDEO -- House Speaker John Boehner announces resignation a day after meeting Pope Francis
Play VIDEO -- What's the impact of Boehner's exit?


The House Republican caucus has an opportunity to shake up its leadership and priorities now that Speaker John Boehner is resigning, but President Obama said Friday he still expects "significant fights around Planned Parenthood and around issues like immigration."

"It's not as if there's been a multitude of areas where the House Republican caucus has sought cooperation previously, so I don't think there's going to be a big shift," Mr. Obama said at a White House press conference with Chinese President Xi Jinping.

"I do think sometimes Speaker Boehner had a tough position," Mr. Obama continued. "There were members of his caucus who saw compromise of any sort as weakness or betrayal. When you have divided government -- when you have a democracy -- compromise is necessary. I think Speaker Boehner had difficulty persuading members of his caucus" of that.

Mr. Obama called Boehner "a good man and a reasonable man," adding, "I hope we can get some things done before he steps down."

The president also mused that "perhaps the visit by the Holy Father to Congress may have changed hearts and minds." He congratulated Boehner for facilitating Pope Francis' historic visit to Congress on Thursday.

The president and the speaker have had a fraught relationship over the years. Boehner and Mr. Obama were able to negotiate with each other on some occasions, such as in 2011, when they agreed to major spending cuts to avert a government shutdown. Other times, however, their negotiations failed -- in 2013, the government shut down for 16 days over Republicans' opposition to Obamacare.

Mr. Obama noted Friday that he only learned of Boehner's resignation from the press.

The news "took me by surprise, and I took the time prior to this press conference to call John directly and talk to him," he said. He added that Boehner is "a patriot, he cares deeply about the House and the institution in which he's served for a long time, he cares about his constituents, and he cares about America."

"Maybe most importantly," he continued, Boehner is "somebody who understands that in governance you don't get 100 percent of what you want, but you have to work with people you disagree with, sometimes strongly, in order to do the people's business."




BOEHNER -- "My mission every day is to fight for a smaller, less costly, and more accountable government. Over the last five years, our majority has advanced conservative reforms that will help our children and their children," Boehner said in a statement he released via Twitter. "It is my view, however, that prolonged leadership turmoil would do irreparable damage to the institution. To that end, I will resign the Speakership and my seat in Congress on October 30." …. Republican sources on Capitol Hill, as well as GOP-leaning lobbyists, say that House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy of California has a decided edge to succeed John Boehner as speaker, CBS News chief White House correspondent Major Garrett reports. Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, the House Budget Committee Chairman, said Friday morning that he's not running for speaker and called Boehner's decision a selfless act. …. After hearing the news of Boehner's resignation, Rep. Pete King, R-New York, told CBS News' Alicia Amling, "the crazies have taken over." Nobody saw this coming, he said, calling it "biggest shock I've had in 22 years." King slammed the right-wing of the GOP as "anarchists" who "just want to bring down the place." …. Senator Harry Reid ✔ @SenatorReid -- By ousting a good man like Speaker Boehner -- someone who understood the art of compromise -- the party of Eisenhower and Reagan is no more. -- 11:08 AM - 25 Sep 2015 …. The conservative group Heritage Action for America called Boehner's departure a "sign that the voice of the American people is breaking through in Washington." "Americans deserve a Congress that fights for opportunity for all and favoritism to none. Too often, Speaker Boehner has stood in the way," Heritage Action CEO Michael Needham said in a statement.”

OBAMA -- The House Republican caucus has an opportunity to shake up its leadership and priorities now that Speaker John Boehner is resigning, but President Obama said Friday he still expects "significant fights around Planned Parenthood and around issues like immigration. …. "I do think sometimes Speaker Boehner had a tough position," Mr. Obama continued. "There were members of his caucus who saw compromise of any sort as weakness or betrayal. When you have divided government -- when you have a democracy -- compromise is necessary. I think Speaker Boehner had difficulty persuading members of his caucus" of that. Mr. Obama called Boehner "a good man and a reasonable man," adding, "I hope we can get some things done before he steps down." …. "Maybe most importantly," he continued, Boehner is "somebody who understands that in governance you don't get 100 percent of what you want, but you have to work with people you disagree with, sometimes strongly, in order to do the people's business."

Play VIDEO -- Boehner: “It does pain me to be described as spineless or a squish”. It sounds as though Boehner may have been mistreated a good deal by those of his own party, and can probably feel personally that “pain” of the minority. Obama gently suggested that some, perhaps Boehner himself, had done some soul searching due to the Pope’s visit. Boehner is a devout Catholic, and undoubtedly was taught the Christian Social Gospel along with their efforts to turn away from specific sins such as birth control, same sex relationships and divorce. I think that anyone who believes a good Christian will help the poor and defend the weak, will have some qualms about a fascist takeover by big business and the establishment of a state religion, so Boehner must see the danger that the Tea Party represents. Boehner hasn’t been spineless, but a martyr. I hope a Republican of good heart will be his successor instead of one of the bad guys.

As a very liberal person on the religious scale, but not atheist, I believe in the words of Jesus as he taught his disciples, rather than the modern fighting issue of whether or not his mother was a virgin. It also upsets me that those Tea Partiers want schools to stop teaching evolution and climate change. Good science is a very important part of what kids should learn in school. If we are to survive the coming decades we need an educated citizenry. The Republican Party has gone far afield from the gospel of love and helping the poor toward those hard line Fundamentalist views of Southern Baptists. Some of them – Boehner’s enemies in the Tea Party – are actually advocating a state religion, which is of course to be Fundamentalist Protestant Christianity. That leaves out not only Islam, the United Methodists/Episcopals/most Lutherans, many of the Catholics, all athiests/agnostics, those of us who are of mixed views as free-thinking UUs, and last but not least the Jews. I forgot to mention the American Indians, Buddhists, and other. We should never forget that Jahweh was introduced to mankind through the faith of the Jews, so to me they are our cultural ancestors. The climate today is ripe for a new pogrom in this country if we aren’t careful, not to mention some form of civil war.

I don’t know if Boehner fears the new influence of that far right wing in his party or not, but I surely do. In addition I just hate the infuriating waste of time and energy that a government shutdown every year causes. We need to make that, the filibuster, frequent revision of congressional boundaries in order to defeat political enemies by in effect killing their votes, unconstitutional. Those tactics are grossly unfair and undemocratic. I agree with Senator Reid, “By ousting a good man like Speaker Boehner -- someone who understood the art of compromise -- the party of Eisenhower and Reagan is no more.” We could easily lose the democratic process entirely if we aren’t vigilant and feisty as we fight this war against the huge money interests from big coal to Wall Street. There is a dark cloud over Washington.

Go Bernie Sanders, Hillary Clinton, Biden/Warren or whichever good Democrat runs in 2016.





http://www.cbsnews.com/news/officials-more-emails-uncovered-from-clintons-private-account/

Officials: More emails uncovered from Clinton's private account
CBS/AP
September 25, 2015

Photograph -- Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton speaks during an interview with The Associated Press, Monday, Sept. 7, 2015, in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. CHARLIE NEIBERGALL, AP
Play VIDEO -- Will new round of Clinton emails and docs affect campaign?
Play VIDEO -- Full interview: Hillary Clinton, September 20


WASHINGTON -- The Obama administration has discovered a chain of emails that Hillary Rodham Clinton failed to turn over when she provided what she said was the full record of work-related correspondence as secretary of state, officials said Friday, adding to the growing questions related to the Democratic presidential front-runner's unusual usage of a private email account and server while in government.

The messages were exchanged with retired Gen. David Petraeus when he headed the military's U.S. Central Command, responsible for running the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. They began before Clinton entered office and continued into her first days at the State Department. They largely pertained to personnel matters and don't appear to deal with highly classified material, officials said, but their existence challenges Clinton's claim that she has handed over the entirety of her work emails from the account.

When asked about the emails, Clinton press secretary Brian Fallon referred CBS News to a fact sheet on the campaign's website. It reads: "Early in her term, Clinton continued using an att.blackberry.net account that she had used during her Senate service. Given her practice from the beginning of emailing State Department officials on their state.gov accounts, her work-related emails during these initial weeks would have been captured and preserved in the State Department's record-keeping system. She, however, no longer had access to these emails once she transitioned from this account."

Republicans have raised questions about thousands of emails that she has deleted on grounds that they were private in nature, as well as other messages that have surfaced independently of Clinton and the State Department. Speaking of her emails on CBS' "Face the Nation" this week, Clinton said: "We provided all of them."

"I should have used two separate e-mail accounts, one personal, one work-related," Clinton told "Face the Nation" host John Dickerson that. "What I did was allowed. It was fully above board. People in the government certainly knew that I was using a personal e- mail. But I have tried to be transparent."

She added that she had released an "unprecedented" 55,000 pages of her emails and that her level of transparency has been "more than anybody else ever been."

The FBI and several congressional committees are still investigating.

The State Department's record of Clinton emails begins on March 18, 2009 - almost two months after she entered office. Before then, Clinton has said she used an old AT&T Blackberry email account, the contents of which she no longer can access.

The Petraeus emails, first discovered by the Defense Department and then passed to the State Department's inspector general, challenge that claim. They start on Jan. 10, 2009, with Clinton using the older email account. But by Jan. 28 - a week after her swearing in - she switched to using the private email address on a homebrew server that she would rely on for the rest of her tenure. There are less than 10 emails back and forth in total, officials said, and the chain ends on Feb. 1.

The officials weren't authorized to speak on the matter and demanded anonymity. But State Department spokesman John Kirby confirmed that the agency received the emails in the "last several days" and that they "were not previously in the possession of the department."

Kirby said they would be subject to a Freedom of Information Act review like the rest of Clinton's emails. She gave the department some 30,000 emails last year that she sent or received while in office, and officials plan to finish releasing all of them by the end of January, after sensitive or classified information is censored. A quarter has been made public so far.

Additionally, Kirby said the agency will incorporate the newly discovered emails into a review of record retention practices that Clinton's successor, Secretary of State John Kerry, initiated in March. "We have also informed Congress of this matter," he added.

These steps are unlikely to satisfy Clinton's Republican critics.

The House Benghazi Committee plans to hold a public hearing with Clinton next month to hear specifically about what the emails might say about the attack on a U.S. diplomatic outpost in Libya that killed four Americans on Sept. 11, 2012. And the Senate Judiciary Committee's GOP chairman said he wants the Justice Department to tell him if a criminal investigation is underway into Clinton's use of private email amid reports this week that the FBI recovered deleted emails from her server. The Senate Homeland Security Committee also is looking into the matter.

Clinton has repeatedly denied wrongdoing. "When I did it, it was allowed, it was above board. And now I'm being as transparent as possible, more than anybody else ever has been," she said earlier this week.

Clinton has been dogged for months by questions about her email practices. She initially described her choice as a matter of convenience, but later took responsibility for making a wrong decision.

Separately Friday, State Department officials said they were providing the Benghazi-focused probe more email exchanges from senior officials pertaining to Libya. The committee broadened its scope after examining tens of thousands of documents more specifically focused on the Benghazi attack.




“The messages were exchanged with retired Gen. David Petraeus when he headed the military's U.S. Central Command, responsible for running the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. They began before Clinton entered office and continued into her first days at the State Department. They largely pertained to personnel matters and don't appear to deal with highly classified material, officials said, but their existence challenges Clinton's claim that she has handed over the entirety of her work emails from the account. …. "Early in her term, Clinton continued using an att.blackberry.net account that she had used during her Senate service. Given her practice from the beginning of emailing State Department officials on their state.gov accounts, her work-related emails during these initial weeks would have been captured and preserved in the State Department's record-keeping system. She, however, no longer had access to these emails once she transitioned from this account." …. The Petraeus emails, first discovered by the Defense Department and then passed to the State Department's inspector general, challenge that claim. They start on Jan. 10, 2009, with Clinton using the older email account. But by Jan. 28 - a week after her swearing in - she switched to using the private email address on a homebrew server that she would rely on for the rest of her tenure. There are less than 10 emails back and forth in total, officials said, and the chain ends on Feb. 1. …. And the Senate Judiciary Committee's GOP chairman said he wants the Justice Department to tell him if a criminal investigation is underway into Clinton's use of private email amid reports this week that the FBI recovered deleted emails from her server. The Senate Homeland Security Committee also is looking into the matter.”

“The committee broadened its scope after examining tens of thousands of documents more specifically focused on the Benghazi attack.”

Heap big smoke, but so far no fire. We need to really get down to the matter of culpability and who is responsible for what it is that supposedly happened. I hate to say this, but the Republican focus on some as yet unspecified suspicions surrounding the Benghazi attack – a right wing news article mentioned a command to the Marines “to stand down” and therefore leaving the Embassy unprotected – seems to be the center of the matter. Last time I looked for precise information about the whole thing, I could find nothing. This time I found an unsubstantiated account on Facebook, but it’s better than nothing. It is what Perry Mason would call a hearsay report of an admitted rumor, but it does describe a “stand-down order.” This account does not say WHO gave a stand-down order or why, though from the way this reads it was probably “the Pentagon.” Again, it doesn’t say who, and perhaps how much time elapsed during all this. I can imagine an international relations issue as being involved, because according to this a US ship was pulled back from making an attack on Libya. Maybe Obama didn't want to get the US involved in another hot war. Go to https://www.facebook.com/james.ezell.7/posts/345477275549369 to read the whole thing. This is an excerpt:

“James Ezell

November 4, 2012 •

Just read this and think...

Obama fires General, Admiral in Benghazi shake-up

General Carter Ham
The latest rumor making the rounds is that Barack Obama replaced General Carter Ham at AFRICOM after the general made a move to help the US security officials at the Benghazi consulate and annex. Ham was replaced by Gen. David Rodriquez on October 18.

Tiger Droppings reported:
The information I heard today was that General [Carter] Ham as head of Africom received the same e-mails the White House received requesting help/support as the attack was taking place. General Ham immediately had a rapid response unit ready and communicated to the Pentagon that he had a unit ready.

General Ham then received the order to stand down. His response was to screw it, he was going to help anyhow. Within 30 seconds to a minute after making the move to respond, his second in command apprehended General Ham and told him that he was now relieved of his command.

The story continues that now General Rodiguez would take General Ham’s place as the head of Africom.


Obama Administration Replaces Top General, Admiral Following Benghazi Disaster

Posted by Jim Hoft on Saturday, October 27, 2012,
….
The Navy said Saturday it is replacing the admiral in command of an aircraft carrier strike group in the Middle East, pending the outcome of an internal investigation into undisclosed allegations of inappropriate judgment.

Rear Adm. Charles M. Gaouette is being sent back to the USS John C. Stennis home port at Bremerton, Wash., in what the Navy called a temporary reassignment. The Navy said he is not formally relieved of his command of the Stennis strike group but will be replaced by Rear Adm. Troy M. Shoemaker, who will assume command until the investigation is completed.

It is highly unusual for the Navy to replace a carrier strike group commander during its deployment.

Comment: The Stars and Stripes is a military newspaper, published and distributed to military forces ovrseas. One unconfirmed report says that Adm. Gaouette, upon receiving notice of the attacks in Benghazi, moved the Stennis strike force closer to Libya and readied aircraft for a strike, but the order never came.

Walla Wall Union Bulletin:Â

President Obama should be impeached”





THE POPE ON POLITICS – TWO ARTICLES


http://www.cbsnews.com/news/pope-francis-united-nations-implores-world-leaders-climate-change-poverty/

Pope: "Human beings take precedence over partisan interests"
By STEPHEN SMITH CBS NEWS
September 25, 2015

Play VIDEO -- Inside NYPD's massive security effort to protect Pope Francis and U.N.
Play VIDEO -- How Pope Francis' Congress address was received
gettyimages-489973966.jpg -- Pope Francis speaks at the United Nations General Assembly in New York City on September 25, 2015. TIMOTHY A. CLARY/AFP/GETTY IMAGES


Pope Francis took center stage at the United Nations on Friday, imploring world leaders to protect the environment and the "vast ranks of the excluded," condemning what he called a "culture of waste" that prevails around the globe.

"Economic and social exclusion is a complete denial of human fraternity and a grave offense against human rights and the environment," Francis said.

The pope said that "the poorest are those who suffer most from such offenses" because "they are cast off by society, forced to live off what is discarded and suffer unjustly from the abuse of the environment."

Francis ticked off what he called the "baneful consequences" of social and economic exclusion, including human trafficking, the sexual exploitation of children and drug trafficking.

As he did in his historic address to the United States Congress on Thursday, Francis did not shy away from hot-button topics, addressing issues such as the migrant crisis and climate change. Francis spoke to world leaders and diplomats minutes before they were set to open the 70th meeting of the United Nations General Assembly.

Francis said that the "vast ranks of the excluded" and the natural environment are closely interconnected because they are both threatened by "dominant political and economic relationships."

Francis urged action on climate change, a theme he emphasized from the moment he landed on U.S. soil.

"Any harm done to the environment," the pope declared Friday, "is harm done to humanity."

Shortly after Francis spoke, world leaders at the U.N. adopted a set of ambitious global development goals that aim to fight climate change as well as eliminate poverty and hunger over the next 15 years.

Francis also called on the world body to protect the victims of war and conflict in places like the Middle East and Africa and the subsequent migrant crisis. The U.N. calls the flood of refugees from the Middle East now spreading into Europe the greatest humanitarian crisis of the century.

"Real human beings take precedence over partisan interests, however legitimate the latter may be," the pope said.

On Thursday, Francis urged Congress to reject what he called a "mindset of hostility" toward refugees and undocumented immigrants.

Francis, who is on the second leg of his three-city American tour, spoke to the U.N. in Spanish, one of 14 speeches the Argentinean-born pope delivered in his native tongue while in the U.S. For the first time in United Nations history, the Vatican flag was raised at the U.N. to welcome the pontiff.

Before his address to the General Assembly, Francis spoke in English to about 400 U.N. staff gathered in the Secretariat lobby. He thanked them for making "possible many of the diplomatic, cultural, economic and political initiatives" of the world body.

After the U.N. address, the pontiff visited the National September 11 Museum and Memorial, where he toured the reflecting pools that mark the location of the World Trade Center's twin towers that were destroyed in the 2001 terrorist attacks.

After laying a white rose at the edge of one of the pools, Francis shook hands with former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg. The pope also met with families of 9/11 victims before speaking at an interfaith service at the memorial.

Francis urged people to throw away "feelings of hate and revenge and rancor" and said he was heartened by joining leaders of diverse faiths.

"In this place of pain and remembrance, I am full of hope," he said.

Later Friday, Francis will visit an inner-city school in Harlem, where eager students were boning up on their papal history and knowledge of the first Jesuit pontiff. Nine-year-old Nicholas Marronaro is one of six lucky students from Our Lady Queen of Angels school who will greet Francis.

"I think he's gonna be like an easy person to talk to," Nicholas told CBS News. "Cause I also learned that he was the first [pope] to pose for a selfie, so I think he's gonna be fun and easy to talk to."

Later Friday, Francis will ride in his popemobile through Central Park in front of an estimated 80,000 people. The pope's day will culminate with a Mass on Friday evening at Madison Square Garden.

The pope's visit has sparked unprecedented security measures in New York. In addition to thousands of officers on the ground, the NYPD will also have an extra set of "eyes in the sky," helicopters to monitor the pope's every move with incredible detail.

NYPD Commissioner Bill Bratton told CBS News that the U.N. meeting's confluence with the papal visit is the greatest test of his department's preparedness.

"It is unprecedented in a sense of the security challenge to us," Bratton said. "From a crowd management point of view, this is the largest we've ever been engaged in. Because of the sheer number of people we are going to have to protect," Bratton said.

As he did in Washington, Francis received an enthusiastic welcome to New York on Thursday. Shortly after his jet, dubbed "Shepherd One," landed at John F. Kennedy International Airport, Francis was greeted by cheering crowds and serenaded by Frank Sinatra's iconic "New York, New York."




“Francis said that the "vast ranks of the excluded" and the natural environment are closely interconnected because they are both threatened by "dominant political and economic relationships." Francis urged action on climate change, a theme he emphasized from the moment he landed on U.S. soil. "Any harm done to the environment," the pope declared Friday, "is harm done to humanity." …. Francis also called on the world body to protect the victims of war and conflict in places like the Middle East and Africa and the subsequent migrant crisis. The U.N. calls the flood of refugees from the Middle East now spreading into Europe the greatest humanitarian crisis of the century. On Thursday, Francis urged Congress to reject what he called a "mindset of hostility" toward refugees and undocumented immigrants.”

"Human beings take precedence over partisan interests, however legitimate the latter may be," the pope said. "He is speaking a simple, but urgent truth, and personally I don’t think the rightwing economic views that an unfettered Free Market should be allowed to exist any longer. That’s why the problems of the very poor and the worsening environmental conditions continue to persist. It’s all so ultra-wealthy business people can continue to grow ever richer. They have no other goal, except world domination politically. The Tea Party stands for complete “freedom” for the wealthiest interests and selected religious people who want to be free to behave abusively to minority groups of all faiths and skin colors.

I do hope that the words of the Pope will make a difference about the situation we are now in, since the shock of 9/11 knocked our republic off its’ balance and started this upsurge of undemocratic feelings of a number of kinds across the US. European countries are also suffering from anti-Semitism, etc. We really need to get out of this well-worn rut that we find ourselves in. Luckily there are some of us who strongly oppose these things, and who will fight to win elections for liberal-minded candidates. We need to “get out the vote” in mid-term elections, at least as much as in presidential contests. People tend to be enthusiastic on Presidential years, but somewhere between bored and just plain lazy in between, with the result that a bunch of wild-eyed Tea Partiers flood the Congress with their candidates. (Tea Partiers are never bored.) Black and Hispanic people have a tendency to be cynical about elections when it comes to taking action in town meetings and on Election Day, and then they want to march together over hot button issues. Marching is exciting, but less effective about creating real change. I understand that desire, but we still need their support for progressive ideas all the time. We need less negativity and more cooperation toward progressive goals.





http://www.cbsnews.com/news/pope-francis-visits-the-poor-at-catholic-charities-in-washington/

Pope Francis: "No justification whatsoever" for lack of housing
By REENA FLORES CBS NEWS
September 24, 2015

img3545-version-2.jpg -- Pope Francis arrives at the Catholic Charities lunch outside St. Patrick's Church on Thursday REENA FLORES/CBS NEWS
323d711f-b251-4f09-9454-92075aad42a8.jpg -- Monsignor John Enzler, President and CEO of Catholic Charities, at St. Matthew's Church Thursday REENA FLORES/CBS NEWS
sharon-dixon.png -- Sharon Dixon, with her daughter, at St. Matthew's Church in Washington, DC, Sept. 24, 2015 CBS NEWS/REENA FLORES


WASHINGTON -- Outside St. Patrick's Church in downtown Washington, denizens of Catholic Charities' various housing shelters waited for Pope Francis' visit.

The pontiff spoke about the plight of the homeless in remarks when he arrived at the church. "We can find no social or moral justification, no justification whatsoever, for lack of housing," he said. "The Son of God came into this world as a homeless person. The Son of God knew what it was to start life without a roof over his head."

Afterwards, the Pope blessed the lunch served to the clients of the shelter and the homeless who have come to eat.

James Garfield Murphy Jr. is among those at the Church, waiting for lunch and the pope. "I hope he keeps on blessing me and helps me find a place to get out of this shelter," Murphy, 68, said. Murphy has lived at a Catholic Charities shelter for the last two years. He thinks that the pope's visit may also "keep me in the sight of God.

Pope Francis came from the U.S. Capitol, where he addressed a joint meeting of Congress, the first pontiff ever to address the nation's lawmakers. Poverty is an issue close to the pope's heart, and he brought it up in the House chamber.

Pope Francis in America

"The fight against poverty and hunger must be fought constantly and on many fronts, especially in its causes. I know that many Americans today, as in the past, are working to deal with this problem," he said. "It goes without saying that part of this great effort is the creation and distribution of wealth."

He called for "the right use of natural resources and the proper application of technology" to build an inclusive, sustainable and modern economy.

The pope's message on poverty, which some in the church have criticized for being too progressive, found fierce defenders at the luncheon.

"He doesn't change the doctrine" of Catholicism, said Monsignor John Enzler, the President and CEO of the Catholic Charities Archdiocese of D.C. "Those are things the Catholic Church has said for years." Rather, Enzler explains, "It's his emphasis. His words are for the poor."

St. Patrick's is the oldest parish in the city, and here, the Pope is speaking, in his native tongue of Spanish, and then he'll meet some of the people who live in the Catholic shelters. Many of them are poor, have medical or mental health issues, and some may be immigrants.

Sherrie May, 33, and her five-month-old daughter Rebecca have lived in the Catholic Charities shelter for the last few months, since May. "Being here is an amazing experience," May said, as she held Rebecca at the Catholic Charities lunch. "I've seen reports of all the pope's done for people...It's a history making experience."

For Douglas Donatelli, the chairman of the Catholic Charities board, the pope's visit marked "the hard work we do here, to take care of the poor and less privileged."

One resident at Catholic Charities, Shawn Dixon, has been homeless for twelve years, "going from shelter to shelter to shelter." Dixon, 54, appreciates that Pope Francis "is a people person" but also said, "The Catholic Church is filthy rich, you know." The Washington native added, "This pope, he's not about riches and fame."




“Outside St. Patrick's Church in downtown Washington, denizens of Catholic Charities' various housing shelters waited for Pope Francis' visit. The pontiff spoke about the plight of the homeless in remarks when he arrived at the church. "We can find no social or moral justification, no justification whatsoever, for lack of housing," he said. …. He called for "the right use of natural resources and the proper application of technology" to build an inclusive, sustainable and modern economy. The pope's message on poverty, which some in the church have criticized for being too progressive, found fierce defenders at the luncheon. "He doesn't change the doctrine" of Catholicism, said Monsignor John Enzler, the President and CEO of the Catholic Charities Archdiocese of D.C. "Those are things the Catholic Church has said for years." Rather, Enzler explains, "It's his emphasis. His words are for the poor." …. One resident at Catholic Charities, Shawn Dixon, has been homeless for twelve years, "going from shelter to shelter to shelter." Dixon, 54, appreciates that Pope Francis "is a people person" but also said, "The Catholic Church is filthy rich, you know." The Washington native added, "This pope, he's not about riches and fame."

The US Catholics who have complained about the Pope as being too liberal and “too political” are those who are more rigidly doctrinaire in their basic faith than he is and who are Republicans, thus generally speaking less concerned about the poor. It is true that the Catholic Church has “always” been concerned about the poor, and during the Middle Ages for instance they had the only hospitals available to my understanding. Stories like the book and movie “Philomena” show a dark underside of some of their charitable works. The people who sent their pregnant daughters to those Catholic orphanages often wanted to get them out of sight during their unseemly condition, so they didn’t keep track of whether or not abuses were going on. They probably were likely poor people, also, and unable to send them off to a little refuge in some foreign country until they gave birth. There was also an unquestioning “faith” in the hierarchy of the church, which is of course what Martin Luther strode up out of the background and challenged so profoundly. I can’t imagine believing all the things that Catholics have to espouse, so I would never join one of their churches as long as I have a choice about the matter, but I do respect and admire this Pope. As my “born again Christian” friend from high school said to me when I asked her what she thinks of him, I think he “is trying to live the Christian life.”





http://www.cbsnews.com/news/ohio-deputy-goes-out-of-his-way-to-help-homeless-family/

Ohio deputy goes out of his way to help homeless family
CBS/AP
September 23, 2015

Photograph -- 25-year veteran deputy Brian Bussell with the two young children he helped. BUTLER COUNTY SHERIFF'S OFFICE FACEBOOK PAGE


HAMILTON, Ohio -- A southwest Ohio sheriff's office is praising one of its deputies who quietly went out of his way to help a homeless family he spotted in a jail waiting room.

The Butler County Sheriff's Office says 25-year veteran deputy Brian Bussell first saw the woman and her two young children sitting in the waiting room Sunday morning. He asked if something was wrong, and she told him she had been evicted from her home.

The Butler County Sheriff's Office posted about the incident on their Facebook page. (SEE ALSO: https://www.facebook.com/ButlerCountySO for more detail, public comments and photographs)


"I know our visitation is at 9 AM, and I saw the lady and the two young children sitting in the chairs," Deputy Bussell said in the post. "I assumed they were here to visit someone in our jail. When I walked back out a while later, the children were asleep, and the lady was still sitting there, so I inquired if she needed assistance."

He tried unsuccessfully to get her into a shelter and instead paid for a hotel room for her for 10 days. He also took the family to a Wal-Mart and bought clothes. The little boys asked if they could get shoes, and Deputy Bussell told them they absolutely could.

"I am pleased that he was able to help this family out," Butler County Sheriff Richard K. Jones said in the Facebook post. "This speaks volumes in light of all the recent negativity people are saying about law enforcement. I have some of the best employees here."

Bussell didn't tell anyone at work. Others found out when the woman took a photo with him and posted it on Facebook.




“The Butler County Sheriff's Office says 25-year veteran deputy Brian Bussell first saw the woman and her two young children sitting in the waiting room Sunday morning. He asked if something was wrong, and she told him she had been evicted from her home. …. He tried unsuccessfully to get her into a shelter and instead paid for a hotel room for her for 10 days. He also took the family to a Wal-Mart and bought clothes. The little boys asked if they could get shoes, and Deputy Bussell told them they absolutely could. "I am pleased that he was able to help this family out," Butler County Sheriff Richard K. Jones said in the Facebook post. "This speaks volumes in light of all the recent negativity people are saying about law enforcement. I have some of the best employees here."

This officer spent a lot of his own money between Wal-Mart and the motel to protect this family in jeopardy, and then the mother was the one who told his boss what he had done. Bussell was too modest. I believe what he did is comparable to the deeds of the Good Samaritan in the Bible, and whatever his personal religious beliefs, was an example of true Christianity. He isn’t just a “good cop” in this time of cynicism about policemen, but a good human being. He has compassion. God bless him.

This story really helps with the bad reputation that police tend to get with their “broken windows” training style. If they were all as gentle as possible, as fair in their actions, as absolutely generous as this man is they would be viewed differently. Most cops, just like all other groups, are somewhere between the best and the worst, luckily, but this story shows that change and improvement are possible. Police work needs to be changed from the initial selection of our officers and their training to their supervision on the street, and discipline when needed over incidents of corruption and violence. Shooting a man just because he runs from the officer is corrupt, more than a little bit stupid, it and should be punished with at least a few years in prison. Setting that aside, however, this officer is putting a very good face forward to the public view, and I hope he gets an award or citation for it as well as a promotion. The sheriff did put his story on the department’s Facebook page, so that’s good.

I grew up with police officers in my neighborhood, so I have always known that they absolutely are not all rogues, as many people nowadays think. The theory of “broken windows policing” in my opinion has made all city police departments more harsh and unjust in their philosophy, and that is as great a part of the problem as the emotional imbalance and lack of “people skills” that I believe too many officers have. Let’s face it, not everybody wants a job like that. To me racial hatred and the love of bullying are not mentally and emotionally stable characteristics, no matter how common in our population they happen to be. Average is not necessarily the same thing as normal.





http://www.cbsnews.com/news/kentucky-clerk-kim-davis-switches-to-republican-party/

Kentucky clerk Kim Davis switches to Republican Party
CBS/AP
September 25, 2015

28 PHOTOS -- A history of gay rights in America
Play VIDEO -- Kentucky clerk Kim Davis on being a role model
Play VIDEO -- Legitimacy of licenses issued in Kim Davis' absence uncertain
31 PHOTOS -- Supreme Court says "I Do"
Play VIDEO -- Kim Davis' lawyer explains her position


LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- Kentucky clerk Kim Davis, a longtime Democrat, says she is switching to the Republican Party because she feels abandoned by Democrats.

Davis made the announcement while in Washington, D.C., to attend the Family Research Council's Value Voters Summit, Liberty Counsel spokeswoman Charla Bansley said Friday.

Liberty Counsel represents Davis in her legal battles. Davis sparked a national firestorm by refusing to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples.

"My husband and I had talked about it for quite a while and we came to the conclusion that the Democratic Party left us a long time ago, so why were we hanging on?" she told Reuters.

She was ordered by a federal judge to issue the licenses and spent five days in jail for continuing to defy the order, propelling her to folk hero status among some on the religious right.

She was elected Rowan County clerk last fall as a Democrat. She replaced her mother, also a Democrat, who served as county clerk for 37 years.

Davis could be back in court soon for altering marriage license forms issued to same-sex couples.

On Monday, lawyers for two gay couples and two straight couples questioned the validity of the new marriage licenses and asked a federal judge to order Kim Davis' office to reissue them. If she refuses, the lawyers asked the judge to put the office in receivership and have someone else do it.

Davis is prepared to return to jail over her beliefs, according to an interview that aired Tuesday morning on "Good Morning America" -- the first she's given since her refusal to issue licenses gained national attention.

"I have never once spouted a word of hate. I have not been hateful," she said. She also said the licenses going out of her office now, issued by a deputy clerk, don't have her authorization and are "not valid in God's eyes."

Davis stopped issuing all marriage licenses in June after a U.S. Supreme Court ruling effectively legalized gay marriage nationwide. Two gay couples and two straight couples sued her. A federal judge ordered Davis to issue the licenses, and the U.S. Supreme Court upheld that order.

But Davis refused, citing "God's authority." That's when U.S. District Court Judge David Bunning threw her in jail, prompting a fierce debate in the public square about religious liberty versus the civil rights afforded to all U.S. citizens.

Davis' office issued marriage licenses while she was in jail, but the licenses did not include her name. Bunning ruled those licenses were valid and released Davis on the condition that she not interfere with her employees. Davis, a Democrat, was greeted at the Carter County Detention Center by a crowd of thousands and a church choir, flanked by her attorney and Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee.

But when Davis returned to work last week, she confiscated the marriage licenses and replaced them. The new licenses say they were issued not under the authority of the county clerk, but "pursuant to federal court order."

On Monday, lawyers for the American Civil Liberties Union wrote that the validity of the altered licenses is "questionable at best," and the new licenses bring "humiliation and stigma" to the gay couples who receive them. They asked Judge Bunning to order Davis' office to reissue the licenses. If Davis interferes, the lawyers say Bunning should place her office in a receivership for the purposes of issuing marriage licenses.

"The adulterated marriage licenses received by Rowan County couples will effectively feature a stamp of animus against the LGBT community, signaling that, in Rowan County, the government's position is that LGBT couples are second-class citizens unworthy of official recognition and authorization of their marriage licenses but for this Court's intervention and Order," the lawyers for the couples wrote in a court filing.

Mat Staver, Davis' attorney and founder of the Liberty Counsel law firm, did not directly respond to the ACLU's request for Bunning to put the office in a receivership. Staver said he would formally respond to the ACLU's motion Tuesday. But he noted that Democratic Gov. Steve Beshear said last week that the altered marriage licenses would be recognized by the state.

"Kim Davis has made a good-faith effort to comply with the court's order," Staver said. "The ACLU's motion to again hold Kim Davis in contempt reveals that their interest is not the license but rather a marriage license bearing the name of Kim Davis. They want her scalp to hang on the wall as a trophy."

In her Tuesday interview, Davis was frequently tearful, and she said that she's received hate mail, with people calling her Hitler and a homophobe. But she says she's not a hypocrite, despite her own four marriages.

"I haven't always been a good person," she acknowledged. But she said that she's been forgiven, that godly authority trumps all, and that she won't resign her position.

'I'm good at my job," she said. "I have friends who are gay and lesbians. They know where I stand. And we don't agree on this issue, and we're OK because we respect each other."




Good riddance, Ms. Davis. I’m sorry to say it, but most Democrats don’t miss voters like you when you stand in the way of human progress. Yesterday Speaker Boehner’s stepping down is being described as “the end” of the Republican Party of Eisenhower and Reagan. Personally, I thought Reagan was the end. We may be in a new Civil War with this emergence of the ultra-rightists in Congress and the Tea Party in general. Christianity as I knew it in the 1950s is gone, I’m afraid. Nearly everybody’s a Fundamentalist now, and the schools can’t teach evolution or the rights of minority groups without offending them. I await the armed conflict with sadness.




BEAUTY AND TRUTH – TWO ARTICLES


http://www.rollingstone.com/music/features/bill-withers-the-soul-man-who-walked-away-20150414

Bill Withers: The Soul Man Who Walked Away
BY ANDY GREENE
April 14, 2015


In 1970 the singer was a guy in his thirties with a job and a lunch pail. Then he wrote 'Ain't No Sunshine,' and things got complicated

Photograph -- Bill Withers speaks onstage at the Grammy Museum in Los Angeles in 2011. This year the singer will be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Reed Saxon
Photograph -- Kori Withers and Bill Withers perform at the 36th Annual Songwriters Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony in 2005. L. Busacca/Getty
Photograph -- Bill Withers in a recording studio circa 1972. MIchael Ochs Archives/Getty


On a clear day, you can see the Staples Center from Bill Withers' house, which sits high in the hills above West Hollywood. Today, in about two hours, the Los Angeles basketball arena will host the Grammy Awards; every once in a while, a limo will rush through Withers' neighborhood, on its way to the event. But the 76-year-old Withers could not be less interested. He's padding around his home wearing Adidas track pants, an old T-shirt with a drawing of a bus on it, and athletic sandals with blue socks. On the mantel in a hallway, there is a Best R&B Song award, for 1980's "Just the Two of Us," from the last time he attended the show, three decades ago; it sits next to two other Grammys, for 1971's "Ain't No Sunshine" and 1972's "Lean on Me." A few years after "Two of Us," Withers became one of the few stars in pop-music history to truly walk away from a lucrative career, entirely of his own volition, and never look back. "These days," he says, "I wouldn't know a pop chart from a Pop-Tart."

As the Grammy telecast begins, and AC/DC kick off the show, Withers jumps into his Lexus SUV and heads down to his favorite restaurant, Le Petit Four; he has a hankering for liver and onions but settles for the blackened catfish. The hostess knows him by name, but otherwise he blends into the crowd. "I grew up in the age of Barbra Streisand, Aretha Franklin, Nancy Wilson," he says, still musing on the Grammys. "It was a time where a fat, ugly broad that could sing had value. Now everything is about image. It's not poetry. This just isn't my time."

Withers has been out of the spotlight for so many years that some people think he passed away. "Sometimes I wake up and I wonder myself," he says with a hearty chuckle. "A very famous minister actually called me to find out whether I was dead or not. I said to him, 'Let me check.' "

Others don't believe he is who he says: "One Sunday morning I was at Roscoe's Chicken and Waffles. These church ladies were sitting in the booth next to mine. They were talking about this Bill Withers song they sang in church that morning. I got up on my elbow, leaned into their booth and said, 'Ladies, it's odd you should mention that because I'm Bill Withers.' This lady said, 'You ain't no Bill Withers. You're too light-skinned to be Bill Withers!' "

His career lasted eight years by his own count; in that time, he wrote and recorded some of the most loved, most covered songs of all time, particularly "Lean on Me" and "Ain't No Sunshine" — tunes that feature dead-simple, soulful instrumentation and pure melodies that haven't aged a second. "He's the last African-American Everyman," says Questlove. "Jordan's vertical jump has to be higher than everyone. Michael Jackson has to defy gravity. On the other side of the coin, we're often viewed as primitive animals. We rarely land in the middle. Bill Withers is the closest thing black people have to a Bruce Springsteen."

Withers was stunned when he learned he had been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame this year. "I see it as an award of attrition," he says. "What few songs I wrote during my brief career, there ain't a genre that somebody didn't record them in. I'm not a virtuoso, but I was able to write songs that people could identify with. I don't think I've done bad for a guy from Slab Fork, West Virginia."

Withers' hometown is in a poor rural area in one of the poorest states in the Union. His father, who worked in the coal mines, died when Bill was 13. "We lived right on the border of the black and white neighborhood," he says. "I heard guys playing country music, and in church I heard gospel. There was music everywhere."

The youngest of six children, Withers was born with a stutter and had a hard time fitting in. "When you stutter, people have a tendency to disregard you," he says. That was compounded by the unvarnished Jim Crow racism that was a way of life in his youth. "One of the first things I learned, when I was around four, was that if you make a mistake and go into a white women's bathroom, they're going to kill your father." He was a teenager when Emmett Till, a 14-year-old from Chicago who allegedly whistled at a white woman while visiting relatives in Mississippi, was beaten to death by two men who were cleared of all charges by an all-white jury. "[Till] was right around my age," says Withers. "I thought, 'Didn't he know better?' "

Desperate to get out of Slab Fork, he enlisted in the Navy right after graduating from high school in 1956. Harry Truman had desegregated the armed forces eight years earlier, but Withers quickly discovered that didn't mean much at his first naval base, in Pensacola, Florida. "My first goal was, I didn't want to be a cook or a steward," he says. "So I went to aircraft-mechanic school. I still had to prove to people that thought I was genetically inferior that I wasn't too stupid to drain the oil out of an airplane."

By the time he was transferred to California in the mid-1960s, he realized he'd never have the courage to quit the Navy if he couldn't rid himself of his stutter. "I couldn't get out a word," he says. "I realized it wasn't physical. I figured out that my stutter — and this isn't the case for everyone — was caused by fear of the perception of the listener. I had a much higher opinion of everyone else than I did of myself. I started doing things like imagining everybody naked — all kinds of tricks I used on myself."

Against all conventional wisdom, it worked (though he still trips over the occasional word), and in 1965 he quit the Navy and became "the first black milkman in Santa Clara County, California." He eventually took a job at an aircraft parts factory. As a Navy aircraft mechanic, he was ridiculously overqualified, but "it was all about survival."

One night around that time, he visited a club in Oakland where Lou Rawls was playing. "He was late, and the manager was pacing back and forth," says Withers. "I remember him saying, 'I'm paying this guy $2,000 a week and he can't show up on time.' I was making $3 an hour, looking for friendly women, but nobody found me interesting. Then Rawls walked in, and all these women are talking to him."

Withers was in his late twenties. His music-business experience consisted of sitting in a couple of times with a bar band while stationed in Guam in the Navy. He'd never played the guitar, but he headed to a pawn shop, bought a cheap one and began teaching himself to play. Between shifts at the factory, he began writing his own tunes. "I figured out that you didn't need to be a virtuoso to accompany yourself," he says.

He began saving from each paycheck until he had enough to record a crude demo. Withers shopped it around to major labels, which weren't interested, but then he got a meeting with Clarence Avant, a black music executive who had recently founded the indie label Sussex and had just signed the songwriter Rodriguez (of Searching for Sugar Man fame). "[Withers'] songs were unbelievable," Avant remembers. "You just had to listen to his lyrics. I gave him a deal and set him up with Booker T. Jones to produce his album."

Jones, the famous Stax keyboardist, went through his Rolodex and hired the cream of the Los Angeles scene: drummer Jim Keltner, MGs bassist Donald "Duck" Dunn, Stephen Stills on guitar. "Bill came right from the factory and showed up in his old brogans and his old clunk of a car with a notebook full of songs," says Jones. "When he saw everyone in the studio, he asked to speak to me privately and said, 'Booker, who is going to sing these songs?' I said, 'You are, Bill.' He was expecting some other vocalist to show up."

Withers was extremely uneasy until Graham Nash walked into the studio. "He sat down in front of me and said, 'You don't know how good you are,' " Withers says. "I'll never forget it." They laid down the basic tracks for what became 1971's Just As I Am in a few days. (One of the songs was inspired by the 1962 Jack Lemmon-Lee Remick movie Days of Wine and Roses; Withers was watching it on TV, and the doomed relationship at the film's center brought to mind a phrase: "Ain't no sunshine when she's gone.")

The album's cover photo was taken during Withers' lunch break at the factory; you can see him holding his lunch pail. "My co-workers were making fun of me," he says. "They thought it was a joke." Still unconvinced that music would pay off, he held on to his day job until he was laid off in the months before the album's release. Then, one day, "two letters came in the mail. One was asking me to come back to my job. The other was inviting me on to Johnny Carson." The Tonight Show appearance, in November 1971, helped propel "Ain't No Sunshine" into the Top 10, and the follow-up, "Grandma's Hands," reached Number 42.

By then, Withers was 32; he still marvels at the fact that he was able to come out of nowhere at that relatively advanced age. "Imagine 40,000 people at a stadium watching a football game," he says. "About 10,000 of them think they can play quarterback. Three of them probably could. I guess I was one of those three."

He took some earnings, bought a piano and, again, with no training, began fiddling around. One of the first things he came up with was a simple chord progression: "I didn't change fingers. I just went one, two, three, four, up and down the piano. It was the first thing I learned to play. Even a tiny child can play that."

Tired of love songs, he wrote a simple ode to friendship called "Lean on Me." Withers didn't think much of it. "But the guys at the record company thought it was a single," he says. It became the centerpiece of his second album, 1972's Still Bill. The song rocketed to Number One and was inescapable for the entire year.

Withers was now a hot commodity, appearing on Soul Train and the BBC, and headlining a show at Carnegie Hall that was released as a live album. But he refused to hire a manager, insisting on overseeing every aspect of his career, from producing his own songs to writing the liner notes to designing his album covers. "He was so opinionated," says Avant. "I was the closest thing he had to a manager. Everybody was scared of him."

"Early on, I had a manager for a couple of months, and it felt like getting a gasoline enema," says Withers. "Nobody had my interest at heart. I felt like a pawn. I like being my own man."

In 1973, Withers married Denise Nicholas, a star of the TV show Room 222. It was a rocky relationship from the start. "Their wedding day was the weirdest thing I've ever seen," Avant says. "I remember her semi-crying. She said, 'He doesn't love me.' I said, 'Bill, what are you doing getting married?' He said, 'I want everyone back home to know I'm marrying one of these Hollywood actresses.' " Withers and Nicholas had terrible fights, which soon began getting coverage in magazines like Jet; the couple split after little more than a year. Withers poured all of his pain from the breakup into his 1974 LP +'Justments. "It was like a diary," says Questlove. "That album was a pre-reality-show look at his life. Keep in mind this was years before Marvin Gaye did it with Here, My Dear."

Withers was also unhappy on the road. Despite having enormous radio hits, he found himself opening up for incongruous acts like Jethro Tull and making less money than he felt he deserved. Things got worse when Sussex went bankrupt in 1975, and Withers signed a five-record deal with Columbia. "I met my A&R guy, and the first thing he said to me was, 'I don't like your music or any black music, period,' " says Withers. "I am proud of myself because I did not hit him. I met another executive who was looking at a photo of the Four Tops in a magazine. He actually said to me, 'Look at these ugly niggers.' "

At Sussex, he had complete creative control over his music, but at Columbia he found himself in the middle of a large corporation that was second-guessing his moves. As he relives this part of his past, he gets teary. "There were no black executives," he says. "They'd say shit to me like, 'Why are there no horns on the song?' 'Why is this intro so long?' . . . This one guy at Columbia, Mickey Eichner, was a huge pain in the ass," he adds. "He told me to cover Elvis Presley's 'In the Ghetto.' I'm a songwriter! That would be like buying a bartender a drink."

Eichner, who was the head of Columbia's A&R department, says he's "hurt" by Withers' words, and he has a different recollection of events. "He submitted a rec-ord, and we didn't hear a single," he says. "I suggested he maybe do an Elvis cover. He's very stubborn. I believe that a manager would have understood what I was trying to do, but he didn't have one, so there was nobody I could reason with." As far as racism at Columbia, Eichner says he doesn't recall "hearing or seeing anything."

With the exception of 1977's Menagerie (which contains the funky classic "Lovely Day"), none of the Columbia albums reached the Top 40. Withers' 1980 hit "Just the Two of Us" was a duet with Grover Washington Jr. on Elektra – "That was a 'kiss my ass' song to Columbia," says Withers. The low point came during the sessions for his last album, 1985's Watching You Watching Me. "They made me record that album at some guy's home studio," he says. "This stark-naked five-year-old girl was running around the house, and they said to her, 'We're busy. Go play with Bill.' Now, I'm this big black guy and they're sending a little naked white girl over to play with me! I said, 'I gotta get out of here. I can't take this shit!' "

Withers hasn't released a note of music since then, aside from a guest spot on a 2004 Jimmy Buffett song; he has not performed publicly in concert in nearly 25 years. Right now he's sitting at his kitchen table reading a political blog on his iPad, as CNN runs quietly on a nearby TV. He watches a lot of television, and he especially loves Mike & Molly, The Big Bang Theory and the MSNBC prison documentary series Lockup. "I really have no idea what he does all day," says his wife, Marcia. "But he does a lot on his iPad. He always knows exactly what's going on in the world. Whenever I mention anything, he says, 'Oh, that's old news.' "

Marcia, who met Withers in 1976, runs his publishing company from a tiny office on Sunset Boulevard. "We're a mom-and-pop shop," he says. "She's my only overseer. I'm lucky I married a woman with an MBA." Since Withers was the sole writer of most of his material, he gets half of every dollar his catalog generates – and "Lean on Me" alone has appeared in innumerable TV shows, movies and commercials. Any licensee that wants to use Withers' master version of one of his songs needs his approval. "If it's for a scene in a show where somebody is killed or something, we will turn them down," says Marcia. "We don't want people to associate, say, 'Lean on Me' with violence." Technically, it's possible to license a cover of one of his songs without his consent. "But that's never happened," he says. "They don't want to piss me off."

Bill and Marcia have invested wisely in L.A. real estate. For the past 17 years, they've lived in their 5,000-square-foot house, which has three stories and an elevator and is furnished with pricey-looking African art; they bought the home for $700,000 in 1998, and it's now worth many times that. It's crammed with books and mementos from Withers' career, including a 1974 photo of him with Muhammad Ali. There's an exercise room on the third floor with several machines, which all look brand-new.

Their children, Todd and Kori, are both in their thirties and live nearby. Bill was an active father after he left the music biz, and he's very close to them. "We'd have James Brown dance parties in our pajamas," says Kori, "and take cross-country road trips, blasting Chuck Berry songs the whole time." Withers also occupied himself with construction projects at his investment properties. ("When I moved to New York for college, he built a wall in the middle of my apartment with a door on it," says Kori. "He's always building something.")

Kori Withers and Bill Withers

The Withers house also has a recording studio, but Bill has little interest in making new music. "I need a motivator or something to goose me up," he says. "They need to come out with a Viagra-like pill for folks my age to regenerate that need to show off. But back where I'm from, people sit on their porch all day."

He's turned down more offers for comeback tours than he can count. "What else do I need to buy?" he says. "I'm just so fortunate. I've got a nice wife, man, who treats me like gold. I don't deserve her. My wife dotes on me. I'm very pleased with my life how it is. This business came to me in my thirties. I was socialized as a regular guy. I never felt like I owned it or it owned me."

He hasn't ruled out a performance at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony in April, though. "There are things that will decide that for me," he says, mysteriously. Says Marcia, "I know he doesn't like how older people sound when they sing. I don't push him. People say that I enable him, but he's just over it. "

In the meantime, Questlove is determined to get him back to work. "I started my campaign to produce a Bill Withers album back in 2004," he says. "My first audition was to produce an Al Green album. I figured Bill would see it, love it and agree to record with me. He said, 'Nope, I'm fine. I don't want to sing.' So I made an album with his friend Booker T. Jones, but same thing. Finally I recorded Withers' 'I Can't Write Left Handed' with John Legend. He still said, 'Nope.' "

The Legend-Roots album with "Left Handed" won three Grammys, but Withers was unimpressed. "I won't give up," says Questlove. "He's my hero."

From The Archives Issue 1231: March 26, 2015


Read more: http://www.rollingstone.com/music/features/bill-withers-the-soul-man-who-walked-away-20150414#ixzz3mqn5XC2T
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“Still unconvinced that music would pay off, he held on to his day job until he was laid off in the months before the album's release. Then, one day, "two letters came in the mail. One was asking me to come back to my job. The other was inviting me on to Johnny Carson." The Tonight Show appearance, in November 1971, helped propel "Ain't No Sunshine" into the Top 10, and the follow-up, "Grandma's Hands," reached Number 42. …. On the mantel in a hallway, there is a Best R&B Song award, for 1980's "Just the Two of Us," from the last time he attended the show, three decades ago; it sits next to two other Grammys, for 1971's "Ain't No Sunshine" and 1972's "Lean on Me." A few years after "Two of Us," Withers became one of the few stars in pop-music history to truly walk away from a lucrative career, entirely of his own volition, and never look back. "These days," he says, "I wouldn't know a pop chart from a Pop-Tart." …. . "I grew up in the age of Barbra Streisand, Aretha Franklin, Nancy Wilson," he says, still musing on the Grammys. "It was a time where a fat, ugly broad that could sing had value. Now everything is about image. It's not poetry. This just isn't my time." …. The youngest of six children, Withers was born with a stutter and had a hard time fitting in. "When you stutter, people have a tendency to disregard you," he says. That was compounded by the unvarnished Jim Crow racism that was a way of life in his youth. "One of the first things I learned, when I was around four, was that if you make a mistake and go into a white women's bathroom, they're going to kill your father." …. . "My first goal was, I didn't want to be a cook or a steward," he says. "So I went to aircraft-mechanic school. I still had to prove to people that thought I was genetically inferior that I wasn't too stupid to drain the oil out of an airplane." …. Still unconvinced that music would pay off, he held on to his day job until he was laid off in the months before the album's release. Then, one day, "two letters came in the mail. One was asking me to come back to my job. The other was inviting me on to Johnny Carson." The Tonight Show appearance, in November 1971, helped propel "Ain't No Sunshine" into the Top 10, and the follow-up, "Grandma's Hands," reached Number 42. …. "Early on, I had a manager for a couple of months, and it felt like getting a gasoline enema," says Withers. "Nobody had my interest at heart. I felt like a pawn. I like being my own man."

Some talented people love music, but not the pressures from becoming too well-known. That’s like Princess Di, who related warmly to people on the personal level, but not to being chased down and hounded. She had depressive characteristics and craved a strong love relationship with a man, which simply didn’t happen with Prince Charles. Withers was able to extricate himself successfully from the music business when he found he didn’t want to continue by simply turning down any more albums. As he said, “What else do I need to buy? … This business came to me in my thirties. I was socialized as a regular guy. I never felt like I owned it or it owned me."

Actually those two people did not do well at all with mass adulation, but lots of others wouldn’t either. I’ve always wanted to win the Lotto so I would have enough money for personal security, but I plan (if I do ever win) to give to those who are in need and travel to satisfy my curiosity about the world. While I’m at it I might collect some artistic objects such as lovely pottery or small sculptures. I wouldn’t want to be recognizable at a glance by the public, however, because like Princess Di, I often need to “be alone” and think, read, or listen to music. As Withers put it, “. I was socialized as a regular guy.”

An article about lottery winners several years ago stated that not only do a good many of them prove to be unable to hold on to even as much as a million dollars, ending up instead in bankruptcy. A person whose turn of mind is oriented toward inner thoughts and feelings may have little ability to handle money or constantly protect himself from the often unethical people who want to use them rather than serve them honestly. A number of musicians have been ripped off heartlessly by their managers.

The actor who played Superman of TV in the 1950s committed suicide when he became so thoroughly type-cast that he couldn’t get another acting job that he found interesting or sufficiently lucrative. A Wikipedia article about him gives a description of the night in question that leaves doubt about the matter, however. His fiancée “may” have been up in the bedroom at the time with him, and could even have shot him. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Reeves if you are interested in his life.





NASA

Sep. 24, 2015

Photograph -- A rice field in California’s Central Valley is shallowly flooded to provide habitat and feeding grounds for migrating shorebirds, as part of the BirdReturns program.
Credits: Paul Spraycar/The Nature Conservancy
Pop-up habitat
Photograph -- The long-billed curlew is just one of dozens of species of birds that forage for insects on the flooded rice fields, created by the BirdReturns program.
Credits: Greg Golet/The Nature Conservancy


Satellite Data Helps Migrating Birds Survive

This fall, birds migrating south from the Arctic will find 7,000 acres of new, temporary wetland habitat for their stopovers in California. The wetlands – rice fields shallowly flooded for a couple weeks after the harvest – are courtesy of a project that combines citizen science, conservation groups and imagery from Landsat satellites, a joint NASA and U.S. Geological Survey program.

The Nature Conservancy of California has in innovated program called Bird Returns that works with rice farmers to create temporary wetlands just during the weeks that they are needed.
Credits: NASA/GSFC/Matt Radcliff--NASA/EO/Joshua Stevens

The BirdReturns program, created by The Nature Conservancy, is an effort to provide "pop-up habitats" for some of the millions of shorebirds, such as sandpipers and plovers, that migrate each year from their summer breeding grounds in Alaska and Canada to their winter habitats in California, Mexico, Central and South America. The route takes the birds along what’s called the Pacific Flyway, where they seek out the increasingly rare wetlands teeming with tasty insects to fuel their long-distance flights.

The problem – more than 90 percent of the natural wetlands in the Central Valley of California have been lost to development, agriculture and other land use changes, said Mark Reynolds, lead scientist for The Nature Conservancy California Migratory Bird Program. The organization operates the BirdReturns program, with partners including Point Blue Conservation Science, Audubon California and the Cornell Lab of Ornithology.

"The challenge is how do you help wildlife that move around and create habitat in places that may only be important for a few weeks or a few months out of the year?" Reynolds said. "We’d long been searching for spatial data that could help us."

The solution involves big data, binoculars and rice paddies. The Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s eBird program collects on-the-ground observations, including species and date spotted, from bird watchers nationwide. With a recent NASA grant to Cornell, scientists created computer models to analyze that information and combine it with satellite remote sensing imagery from Landsat and the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer instruments on NASA’s Terra and Aqua satellites. With these models, they could identify areas in the Central Valley where birds flocked to during the spring and fall migrations, as well as estimate the number of birds making the journey.

"The challenge then was to better understand the status of the habitat, where the models were predicting we should have birds," Reynolds said. Some of his colleagues had been using Landsat images to look at where – and when – there was standing water, to assist with surveys of shorebirds.

Matthew Reiter, a quantitative ecologist with the conservation science nonprofit Point Blue, based in Petaluma, California, worked on developing models that can classify habitats based on Landsat imagery. For the BirdReturns project, the team analyzed 1,500 Landsat scenes between 2000 and 2011, and then additional images from Landsat 8 after its 2013 launch. For each area not blocked by clouds, they classified whether there was surface water.

"We can show patterns of how there’s changing habitat availability through the year, and that the timing may vary year to year," Reiter said.

Matching the location and timing of surface water from Landsat with the route and timing of migrating shorebirds from eBird, the BirdReturns program looks for those key sites where extra water would make a difference for the birds, which forage for food in the wetland areas.

That’s where farmers come in. Rice farmers in California’s Central Valley flood their fields post-harvest, to soften the stubble and make it easier to clear for the next year. Using a reverse-auction, the farmers submit bids to The Nature Conservancy, stating how much money per acre it would take for them to shallowly flood their fields for a few weeks to create these pop-up wetland habitats. The BirdReturns team examines the bids, compares them to the priority habitats, and then makes selections, paying farmers to flood fields for specific two-week periods.

This fall, 30 farmers applied water on approximately 7,000 acres of rice fields. It’s the fourth round of auctions; about 30,000 acres of cumulative habitat was created earlier through auctions in Spring 2014, Fall 2014 and Spring 2015. In Spring 2014, the group surveyed the participating fields, as well as control fields where the water wasn’t left on. They found that more than 180,000 birds of over 50 different species used the 10,000 acres of pop-up wetlands – 30 times more than counted on the dry fields.

"It’s been a pretty astonishing success," Reynolds said. "Farmers participated, and we were able to put habitat out there at a fraction of the cost to purchase that land or put an easement on it."

Mapping water

With an ongoing drought in California, which is drying up some of the state’s wildlife refuges, it’s even more valuable to have a program like this, he said. If farmers have the water to create the habitat, it could compensate for dry areas elsewhere along the route.

With Landsat’s free archive of decades of land cover information, the mission has often been used for habitat and biodiversity studies, said Jeff Masek, project scientist for the upcoming Landsat 9 mission. With the currently in orbit Landsat 7 and Landsat 8 capturing more images per day than previous satellites, scientists have more information to draw on to study the timing of the ephemeral lakes, rivers and wetlands that only appear certain times of year.

"There’s been more and more work with the water mapping," Masek said. "You can start to do much more detailed studies of the seasonality of water – when these lakes fill in, and when they dry up."

The freely available satellite imagery from Landsat, and other satellite instruments such as the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer, are invaluable data resources to see how birds and other animals are affected by landscape changes, Reiter said.

"With applied conservation programs, we’re using that imagery to say here are the areas that we can prioritize for conservation management, and here are areas that maybe we can let go," he said. "It’s a very powerful tool for getting conservation to happen."

For more information on Landsat, visit: Landsat.gsfc.nasa.gov, www.nasa.gov/landsat or landsat.usgs.gov

Kate Ramsayer
NASA Goddard Earth Science

Last Updated: Sep. 24, 2015
Editor: Lynn Jenner
Tags: Benefits to You, Earth, Goddard Space Flight Center, Land, Landsat




This article cheers me up. The cooperation between NASA and thirty rice farmers is intelligent, and like a lot of good ideas, simple. Best of all, it's working. The birds are coming. The photograph of the gorgeous bird called a curlew is worth going to NASA's website to see. Goodnight to all.