3 April 2012, Tues, SoS Clinton and Staff Schedule

http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/appt/2012/04/187339.htm

SECRETARY HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON
12:15 p.m. Secretary Clinton delivers remarks on “George Marshall and the Foundations of Smart Power” to the Virginia Military Institute and receives the Distinguished Diplomat Award, at VMI’s Cameron Hall, in Lexington, Virginia.
(OPEN PRESS COVERAGE)

1:40 p.m. Secretary Clinton visits the George C Marshall Museum, at VMI, in Lexington, Virginia.
(CLOSED PRESS COVERAGE)

4:50 p.m. Secretary Clinton visits NATO's Allied Command Transformation (ACT) Headquarters and is briefed by ACT command, in Norfolk, Virginia. Please click here for more information.
(MEDIA TBD BY HOST)

6:10 p.m. Secretary Clinton delivers remarks on the upcoming NATO Summit in Chicago to the World Affairs Council 2012 NATO Conference, at the Sheraton Waterside Hotel, in Norfolk, Virginia. Please click here for more information.

DEPUTY SECRETARY BILL BURNS
10:00 a.m. Deputy Secretary Burns meets with U.S. Ambassador-Designate to Iraq Brett McGurk, at the Department of State.
(CLOSED PRESS COVERAGE)

11:00 a.m. Deputy Secretary Burns meets with Italian Ambassador to the U.S. Claudio Bisogniero, at the Department of State.
(CLOSED PRESS COVERAGE)

2:30 p.m. Deputy Secretary Burns meets with Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for the Middle East Matthew Spence, at the Department of State.
(CLOSED PRESS COVERAGE)

3:15 p.m. Deputy Secretary Burns meets with South African Ambassador Ebrahim Rasool, at the Department of State.
(CLOSED PRESS COVERAGE)

3:45 p.m. Deputy Secretary Burns meets with Director General of the Foreign Service Linda Thomas-Greenfield, at the Department of State.
(CLOSED PRESS COVERAGE)

DEPUTY SECRETARY TOM NIDES
Deputy Secretary Nides is on foreign travel to Amman, Jordan for discussions with the Jordanian government on U.S.-Jordanian relations and meetings with the business community on U.S.-Jordanian business relations. While in Amman, Deputy Secretary Nides will meet with King Abdullah II of Jordan and senior Jordanian government officials, including Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh and Minister of Planning and International Cooperation Jaafar Hassan.

USAID ADMINISTRATOR RAJ SHAH
Administrator Shah is on foreign travel in Nairobi, Kenya, to participate in a "Joint IGAD Ministerial and High-Level Development Partners Meeting on Drought Resilience in the Horn of Africa."

9:00 a.m. LOCAL Administrator Shah delivers remarks at the opening of the Joint IGAD meeting, at the Safari Park Hotel in Nairobi, Kenya.
(CLOSED PRESS COVERAGE)

11:30 a.m. LOCAL Administrator Shah meets with African Development Bank President Donald Kaberuka, at the Safari Park Hotel in Nairobi, Kenya.
(CLOSED PRESS COVERAGE)

6:15 p.m. LOCAL Administrator Shah holds a press conference to discuss the Joint IGAD meeting, at the Safari Park Hotel in Nairobi, Kenya.
(OPEN PRESS COVERAGE)

US FOR POLITICAL AFFAIRS WENDY SHERMAN
Under Secretary Sherman is on foreign travel for official meetings in New Delhi, India.

ACTING US FOR ARMS CONTROL AND INTERNATIONAL SECURITY ROSE GOTTEMOELLER
Acting Under Secretary Gottemoeller is on foreign travel to Vienna, Moscow, Tallinn and London through April 5.

US FOR ECONOMIC GROWTH, ENERGY AND THE ENVIRONMENT ROBERT HORMATS
2:00 p.m. Under Secretary Hormats participates in a briefing on Nuclear Industry Competitiveness, at the Department of State.
(CLOSED PRESS COVERAGE)

3:30 p.m. Under Secretary Hormats participates in a follow-up briefing on Business Support Organizations on GBC, at the Department
of State.
(CLOSED PRESS COVERAGE)

ACTING US FOR PUBLIC DIPLOMACY AND PUBLIC AFFAIRS KATHLEEN STEPHENS

Acting Under Secretary Stephens is on foreign travel to Algiers, Doha, Amman, Jerusalem and Tel Aviv through April 5.

CHIEF OF PROTOCOL AMBASSADOR CAPRICIA PENAVIC MARSHALL

10:00 a.m. Ambassador Marshall hosts a reception in honor of departing Jamaican Ambassador Her Excellency Audrey Marks and Mr. Jassel Horrel Dunstan, in Washington, DC.
(CLOSED PRESS COVERAGE)

2:00 p.m. Ambassador Marshall hosts a reception in honor of departing Spanish Ambassador His Excellency Jorge Dezcallar de Mazarredo and Mrs. Teresa Cunha Eca De Valenta, in Washington, DC.
(CLOSED PRESS COVERAGE)

AS FOR SOUTH AND CENTRAL ASIAN AFFAIRS ROBERT BLAKE
Assistant Secretary Blake is on foreign travel to Dushanbe, Tajikistan, New Delhi, India and Bishkek, Kyrgygz.

AS FOR WESTERN HEMISPHERE AFFAIRS ROBERTA JACOBSON
1:00 p.m. Assistant Secretary Jacobson attends a luncheon hosted by CARICOM ambassadors to the United States, in Washington, DC.
(MEDIA DETERMINED BY HOST)

AS FOR DEMOCRACY, HUMAN RIGHTS AND LABOR MICHAEL POSNER
1:00 p.m. Assistant Secretary Posner meets with U.S. Ambassador-Designate to Iraq Brett McGurk, at the Department of State.
(CLOSED PRESS COVERAGE)

AS FOR EDUCATIONAL AND CULTURAL AFFAIRS ANN STOCK:
8:30 a.m. Assistant Secretary Stock delivers remarks at the Regional English Languages Officers Workshop in Washington, DC.
(CLOSED PRESS COVERAGE)

11:00 a.m. Assistant Secretary Stock holds a joint Twitter Question & Answer session with Kerry Kennedy on the topic of the 12th World Summit of the Nobel Laureates for Peace.
(OPEN PRESS COVERAGE)

2:00 p.m. Assistant Secretary Stock attends a farewell reception in honor of in honor of Her Excellency Audrey Patrice Marks, Ambassador of Jamaica and Mr. Jassel Horrel Dunstan in Washington, DC.
(MEDIA DETERMINED BY HOST)

AMBASSADOR-AT-LARGE AND COORDINATOR FOR COUNTERTERRORISM DANIEL BENJAMIN
Ambassador Benjamin is on foreign travel to Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates through April 5 for the inaugural meeting of the Global Counterterrorism Forum Countering Violent Extremism Working Group and to discuss counterterrorism initiatives with Emirati Government officials.

AMBASSADOR-AT-LARGE AND U.S. GLOBAL AIDS COORDINATOR ERIC GOOSBY
Ambassador Goosby is on foreign travel to Haiti to evaluate progress in U.S. government health reconstruction activities.
(CLOSED PRESS COVERAGE)

OFFICE OF GLOBAL CRIMINAL JUSTICE AMBASSADOR-AT-LARGE STEPHEN RAPP
Ambassador Rapp is on domestic travel to Iowa City, Iowa, speaking to several different audiences about war crimes and accountability.

AMBASSADOR-AT-LARGE FOR GLOBAL WOMEN’S ISSUES MELANNE VERVEER
Ambassador Verveer is on foreign travel to Morocco and Tunisia through April 6. She is holding meetings in Rabat, Morocco and in the evening attends a reception in Tunis, Tunisia celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the Peace Corps.

SR, GLOBAL PARTNERSHIP INITIATIVE, KRIS BALDERSTON
2:00 p.m. Special Representative Balderston participates in a panel discussion about building public-private partnerships at the Interagency Working Group on U.S. Government-Sponsored International Exchanges and Training (IAWG) Forum on Public Private Partnerships at the Ronald Reagan Building in Washington, DC.
(MEDIA DETERMINED BY HOST)

SR FOR GLOBAL INTERGOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS RETA JO LEWIS
Special Representative Lewis discusses how the Brazil-hosted World Cup and Olympics may present opportunities to increase the possibilities for women, Afro-Brazilian and Indegenous business owners, with SEBRAE Products Director Professor Armando Clemente, SEBRAE Culture and Education Director Mr. Francisco Marins, and SEBRAE 2014 Coordinator Mr. Yeddo Bittencourt, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Special Representative Lewis meets with Incubadora Afro-Brazilian founder Giovanni Harvey to explore opportunities for partnerships with minority owned businesses in the U.S., in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Special Representative Lewis meets with American Chamber of Commerce President Henrique Rzezinski, to discuss how the Chamber can facilitate private sector partnerships in the preparation for the World Cup and Olympic Games, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Special Representative Lewis meets with Empresa Olimpica Municipal Institutional Relations manager Deborah Levinson and Communications Director Bernardo Carvalho, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Special Representative Lewis meets with Rio de Janeiro Mayor Eduardo Paes to discuss the potential for advancing subnational cooperation, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

PRESS BRIEFING SCHEDULE
12:00 p.m. Daily Press Briefing with Spokeperson Victoria Nuland

What is the ASNE?

The President delivers remarks and answers questions at the Associated Press luncheon during the ASNE Convention
Washington Marriott Wardman Park

The American Society of News Editors (ASNE) is a membership organization for editors, producers or directors in charge of journalistic organizations or departments, deans or faculty at university journalism schools, and leaders and faculty of media-related foundations and training organizations.

History
The ASNE formed after two United States publications took the newspaper industry to task. In January 1922 the The Atlantic Monthly featured two articles by Frederick Lewis Allen and Moorfield Storey were critical and requested change in how newspapers were published. After reading the articles Casper Yost saw the need for forming an organization of editors willing to combat criticism.

Yost wrote to a few dozen editors soliciting support. The responses were positive and, just a month later, in February 1922, a small meeting was held in Chicago. Attendees included Yost and editors from Cleveland, Detroit and Chicago. They gathered to discuss action they could take for the advancement of the news and editorial side, to develop a constitution and a code of ethics and to launch a recruiting campaign for the group.

The editors called a meeting in New York that April, when editors would be joining their publishers and congregating for the annual ANPA meeting (despite no formal mention of them by ANPA in its bulletins). Their efforts were so successful that by October nearly 100 charter members had signed up.

Organizational goals
The founders decided that ASNE would be an organization of individual editors of big-city papers — limiting membership to editors of newspapers in cities of 100,000 or more. In October 1922, ASNE was launched with directors and officers; they hammered out a code of ethics, named committees and made preparations for the first convention at the New Willard Hotel in Washington the next April.

Annual meetings
The convention is held annually - with the exception of 1945 and 2009 - mostly in Washington.

Every U.S. president has spoken at the organization's convention and it is considered a premier venue for politicians to appear. Notable examples are President Coolidge's Press Under a Free Government speech and President Eisenhower's Chance for Peace speech.

Activities
ASNE has several initiatives carried out by its committees. The Diversity Committee was formed to evaluate employee diversity using the Newsroom Employment Census. The census queries every daily newspaper and online news site in the United States to determine the number of news staffers as well as their gender and race as part of the organization's yearly census.

Awards
The ASNE Awards are another feature offered by the organization. The Distinguished Writing Awards and Jesse Laventhol Prizes are designed to foster, recognize and reward excellence in writing in daily newspapers, eligible news services and ASNE member publications.

The Community Service Photojournalism Award recognizes a body of work that contributes to an improvement or heightened awareness in the community through photography. They are for work in a calendar year and are generally announced in February. Winners receive money and are invited to come to the ASNE convention to discuss their work. Given that the overlap of winners for the ASNE Awards and the Pulitzer Prize correlates very closely, they are said to be second only to the Pulitzers in importance.

Projects
ASNE also runs several projects, generally carried out by staff with advice from committees. Projects subject areas have included diversity, credibility and readership. Additional projects have included the Institute for Journalism Excellence, a program for reacquainting educators in journalism schools with the newsroom and the International Journalism Exchange, which brings international journalists into U.S. newspapers to share ideas and work experiences.

A major project of ASNE is the High School Journalism Initiative, launched in 2000. Supported by grants from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and the Donald W. Reynolds Foundation, the initiative hopes to reinvigorate scholastic journalism and student media through partnerships between high schools and daily newspapers and by providing resources to high school journalists like online hosting, a wire service and the High School National Ad Network, as well as a major educational Web site.

The association runs the national Sunshine Week initiative promoting the importance of open government. Sunshine laws were enacted to make sure journalists have access to all government meetings. In California, for example, all public meetings require proper notification except in emergencies. Also, in California the Brown Act is the equivalent of the Sunshine Law in other US states.

3 April 2012, Tues, Pres and VP Schedule

http://www.whitehouse.gov/schedule
9:45 am
The President receives the Presidential Daily Briefing
Oval Office
Closed Press

12:30 pm
The President delivers remarks and answers questions at the Associated Press luncheon during the ASNE Convention
Washington Marriott Wardman Park
Open to pre-credentialed media

4:30 pm
The President and the Vice President meet with Defense Secretary Leon Panetta
Oval Office
Closed Press


http://www.whitehouse.gov/schedule/vice-president
4:30 pm
The President and the Vice President meet with Defense Secretary Leon Panetta
Oval Office
Closed Press

Joe Biden glad as heck he never had a 'real job'

From MSN: Joe Biden glad as heck he never had a 'real job'
Joe Biden must be in cahoots with Ashton Kutcher, because there's no way that the VP's social blunders could be anything other than sound bites for an upcoming "Punk'd: America." In his latest "crazy Uncle Joe" moment, the vice president lauded former Chicago mayor Richard M. Daley at a Democratic fundraiser in the Windy City, saying that "I never had an interest in being a mayor 'cause that's a real job. You have to produce. That's why I was able to be a senator for 36 years." In what should have included a #reelectionZING hashtag, Republican delegate @BarbaraComstock tweets, "We don't want him having a real job either."

Is It Time for Rush to Start "Carrying the Water" for Romney?

Many years ago, when Bush 43 ran for his second term, (2006) he lost both the House and the Senate. Well, one of 'em. I can remember Sean Hannity, the day before the election, urging Republicans to get out and vote - but it didn't do any good, a lot of them lost.

Rush, on his show the next day, said that now he would stop "carrying the water" for those politicians who had lost.

In other words he wasn't going to criticize them while they were in power, but now that they had lost, he would criticize them.

Now we've got Mitt Romney. Let's face it... Romney is going to be the Republican nominee. And whether you like Romney or not... he's not Obama. If Obama is elected to a second term we're doomed.

And so, IMHO, it's time for Rush to stop taking digs at the guy. Focus on the positives, not the negatives. So he made the "etch-a-sketch' comment. Big deal.

From now until the November elections, Rush had better pump up Romney, ratherthan put doubts in the minds of the people so that many of them might just stay home, seeing no difference between the two men.

Of course, who Romney chooses for his VP candidate will also make a big difference.

The plots of the new Muppet movie and Cars II

The plot of the new Muppet movie, according to Rush's caller today, is that an evil oil company is going to destroy Muppet studios so they can drill for oil underneath it.

The first Cars, which I have seen, was a fun little movie with, of course, a moral for the kids. A selfish race car gets trapped in a small town, learns how to work with others, and finally gives up winning a big race so he can help his hero over the finish line, after that car had been spun out by the selfish villain. (All the characters are cars, there are no human drivers.)

In Cars II, which I haven't seen, the villain is an evil oil magnate car. He has supposedly invented green energy fuel, and someone is trying to sabotage it. But actually, he is the saboteur, because he wants people to think green energy doesn't work, but that he gave it a legitimate trial and now everyone should just start buying his gasoline again.

2 April 2012, Mon, Rush Limbaugh headlines

--The Month of March Started with the Left Trying to Fire Me... and It Ended with Algore Firing Keith Olbermann

--Is the Gallup Poll Gender Gap a Fluke?

--Shocker: NBC News Doctors a Tape!

--If the GOP Race is Over, Why is Everyone Still Attacking Rick Santorum?

--The President Runs Against the Supremes

--The President Runs Against the Supremes

--The Obamacare Mandate is Unprecedented

--Obama Opposes Basic Economic Freedom

--Environmentalist Wacko: Climate Change Skeptics are Sick

--Texas Mom Educates Your Host on Liberal Messages in "The Muppets" and "Cars"

--Trayvon Martin Tragedy Had to Wait Until the "War on Women" Theme was Over

--Ex-Lib Lorenzo on His Political Awakening

Stack of Stuff
--Top Obama Campaign Donor Accused of Fraud
--Internet Activity "To Be Monitored" Under New Laws
--Ann Romney is the Romney Democrats Fear Most
--Euro Zone Unemployment Reaches Near 15-Year High
-- Bill Clinton "Happy" If Wife Opts to Run in 2016
--The 2012 Obama Golf Season Has Begun
--Good MPG Bad News for Highway Fund