ABC News’ Rick Klein reports: As the House grapples with the fallout of a controversial compromise, Senate Democratic leaders are vowing to keep out provisions from the health care bill that abortion-rights advocates say would limit access to abortion.

On ABCNews.com’s “Top Line” today, Sen. Ben Cardin, D-Md., said senators hope to be “neutral” on the issue of abortion in the health care bill — using a standard similar to the one laid out by President Obama in an interview with ABC’s Jake Tapper yesterday.

“We wanted to take up health care reform and not take sides on the abortion [issue],” Cardin told us. “Unfortunately, the Stupak amendment [in the House] does advance the pro-life position beyond where it is today, and that is something that I disagree with. I think a lot of my colleagues will be opposed to the Stupak amendment. Hopefully we’ll be able to resolve this in the Senate.”

Cardin, who served 20 years in the House before being elected to the Senate in 2006, applauded House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer for cutting a deal that allowed the bill to move forward. But he made clear that the deal shouldn’t stand in the Senate.

“I think the speaker made a judgment that’s the only way she could get this bill moving. Now, on the floor of the Senate I hope that we can change that,” Cardin said. “Hopefully we’ll come out of conference with a bill that accomplishes the goal of health care reform, and can just ask people to calm down. This is not an abortion bill, as the president said. This is a bill on health care — let’s stick to health care.”

Cardin said also warned that President Obama won’t be able to count on automatic support from Democrats on his new strategy for Afghanistan.

“I think that there is a great deal of reluctance to committing any more combat troops in Afghanistan,” he said. “We’re going to wait for the president to give us his recommendations. But the circumstances in Afghanistan are such that I think most members of the Democratic caucus believe it’s up to the Afghans to take responsibility for the internal security within their own country — that we should be focusing on the war against terror, against the terrorists organizations, most of which are now in the Pakistan area, not Afghanistan. And that needs to be where we concentrate.”

Watch the full interview with Sen. Ben Cardin HERE.

Republican strategist Kevin Madden said that Democrats created a new distraction for themselves in how they handled the abortion issue on the House floor.

“This is one of those cases where when you map out the first five steps in front of you without looking at the next five miles, [and] you put yourself in a very tough predicament,” Madden said.

Watch the discussion with Kevin Madden HERE.

ABC News’ Rick Klein reports: As the House grapples with the fallout of a controversial compromise, Senate Democratic leaders are vowing to keep out provisions from the health care bill that abortion-rights advocates say would limit access to abortion.

On ABCNews.com’s “Top Line” today, Sen. Ben Cardin, D-Md., said senators hope to be “neutral” on the issue of abortion in the health care bill — using a standard similar to the one laid out by President Obama in an interview with ABC’s Jake Tapper yesterday.

“We wanted to take up health care reform and not take sides on the abortion [issue],” Cardin told us. “Unfortunately, the Stupak amendment [in the House] does advance the pro-life position beyond where it is today, and that is something that I disagree with. I think a lot of my colleagues will be opposed to the Stupak amendment. Hopefully we’ll be able to resolve this in the Senate.”

Cardin, who served 20 years in the House before being elected to the Senate in 2006, applauded House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer for cutting a deal that allowed the bill to move forward. But he made clear that the deal shouldn’t stand in the Senate.

“I think the speaker made a judgment that’s the only way she could get this bill moving. Now, on the floor of the Senate I hope that we can change that,” Cardin said. “Hopefully we’ll come out of conference with a bill that accomplishes the goal of health care reform, and can just ask people to calm down. This is not an abortion bill, as the president said. This is a bill on health care — let’s stick to health care.”

Cardin said also warned that President Obama won’t be able to count on automatic support from Democrats on his new strategy for Afghanistan.

“I think that there is a great deal of reluctance to committing any more combat troops in Afghanistan,” he said. “We’re going to wait for the president to give us his recommendations. But the circumstances in Afghanistan are such that I think most members of the Democratic caucus believe it’s up to the Afghans to take responsibility for the internal security within their own country — that we should be focusing on the war against terror, against the terrorists organizations, most of which are now in the Pakistan area, not Afghanistan. And that needs to be where we concentrate.”

Watch the full interview with Sen. Ben Cardin HERE.

Republican strategist Kevin Madden said that Democrats created a new distraction for themselves in how they handled the abortion issue on the House floor.

“This is one of those cases where when you map out the first five steps in front of you without looking at the next five miles, [and] you put yourself in a very tough predicament,” Madden said.

Watch the discussion with Kevin Madden HERE.

Les images parlent souvent mieux que les mots :

Et là tout le monde voit de quoi je veux parler ! (“ah mais oui ! Mr chat, c’est le “chat jaune/orang” avec un grand sourire et des ailes” que j’ai vu sur le toit de la rue xx!”)

En fait, Monsieur Chat est une création graphique d’un artiste franco-suisse, nommé  Thoma Vuille.

Pour la petite histoire, il a commencé à dessiner son fameux chat sur les murs d’Orléans en 1997, puis a continuer sur Blois, Tours, Nantes, Rennes, Saint-Etienne, La Rochelle, l’ile de Ré, avant d’atterrir sur les toits de Paris en 2000 et de se faire connaitre. Depuis 2003, le chat a envahit le monde.

L’artiste autrefois considéré comme un simple “graffeur” et désormais reconnu comme un artiste  à part entière. D’ailleurs, une expo lui est consacrée à l’espace Pierre Cardin du 21 Octobre au 5 novembre à Paris. L’expo est assez petite mais si vous êtes dans le coin, allez y jetter un coup d’oeil. Dans tous les cas, vous pouvez toujours en découvrir plus sur son site : ici

“ J’utilise la rue et l’environnement public comme une toile, cherchant à proposer aux passants des fenêtres imaginatives et colorées. Je marque mes parcours, ceux que j’imagine naturels et poétiques dans l’espace urbain. Je cherche à créer des supports à la narration de la ville pour ses habitants, participant à la naissance et à l’échange d’une culture de proximité”

There were a lot of media reps there… TV, Press. The local Herald put this out:

At one point, Cardin said he agreed “with the frustration in regard to the deficit,” and said he would not vote for a bill that would increase the deficit.
Some in the crowd began shouting out angry comments as the session grew to a close at about 2:15 p.m.

Cardin, who frequently had to raise his voice to be heard off and on during the meeting, thanked those in the audience of participating.
He said he was told people in Hagerstown are respectful, and that 90 percent of those present were.

According to HCC’s Chief of Security Henry Gautney, 450 people were seated inside the Kepler Theater, including some members of the press and Cardin’s staff.

Gautney estimated that about 500 people did not get in.
Of those, more than 100 were still waiting outside at about 2 p.m. Some heated arguments broke out among those on the lawn outside the Kepler Theater.

I didn’t have a video camera with me, so I turned my iMac laptop around and used the built in camera… here is a sound and (poor) video sample of what went on:

He’s starting off with a general coverage of the Health Care system, the increases in cost over the last ten years, how 10% of what we pay in current health insurance covers the people with no coverage in Emergency Rooms. He raised the Medicare issues and the number of benefits that aren’t covered and which require additional insurance.

The audience is giving him a really hard time on issues that, as he is trying to explain, are not in the bill yet.

They are setting up audience questions now and the lines are fairly long… this is going to be tough since they said they were ending the meeting at 2:00… a little over a half an hour from now.

The lines were really long. I walked along them speaking with people, most of whom seemed to be out of towners brought in by some Republican group or other with the goal of breaking up any comments. They were carrying signs, which were not allowed inside, and starting to yell and chant while they waited. I realized that if I waited around here, I’d never get in to see the event.

It’s a good thing I know the back door and secret pathways around Hagerstown Community College, having taught here for a couple of years… so I managed to sneak in through the backstage costume shop door to the Kepler Auditorium … it’s already pretty full.

There are easily a couple of thousand people in line outside, most of whom will never get in… so they are making their anti-Obama, anti- Cardin noises outside… and the are neither pretty nor backed by any kind of real fact.

Oddly enough this has even drawn the Lyndon LaRouche people to Hagerstown, where they have put up pictures of Obama with a Hitler mustache and are trying to sucker the press into interviewing them.

It’s now fifteen minutes before the scheduled start of the brouhaha… I spent much of the morning watching a C-Span tape of the Town Hall that Cardin did yesterday at Towson, I think. I must say he handled himself pretty well while much of his audience didn’t. It may have gotten worse near the end, but I had to leave to get over here.

I’m Up in the House Right back rows, but there’s a good view of the dais. I’ll be taking pictures which I will put up later.

John M. Broder, a columnist for the New York Times, writes that:

The changing global climate will pose profound strategic challenges to the United States in coming decades, raising the prospect of military intervention to deal with the effects of violent storms, drought, mass migration and pandemics, military and intelligence analysts say.

Such climate-induced crises could topple governments, feed terrorist movements or destabilize entire regions, say the analysts, experts at the Pentagon and intelligence agencies who for the first time are taking a serious look at the national security implications of climate change.

Against this backdrop, the U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works held hearing on Thursday, August 6, 2009, on the climate change bill currently under consideration by Senate after being passed by the House earlier this summer.  According to Chairman Barbara Boxer (D-Cal.),  “the hearing will focus “on ensuring that America leads the clean energy transformation as we address the threat posed by climate change.

The battlelines were drawn in the opening statements.  The Democrats emphasized the national security aspects of the failure of the United States to address climate change adequately.  Sen Lautenberg (D-N.J.) said in his opening remarks:

We have also heard from our military leaders that global warming is a serious threat to our national security.  As many as 800 million people are going to face water and cropland scarcity in the next 15 years, setting the stage for conflict and breeding the conditions for terrorism.

These sentiments were echoed by Sen. Cardin (D-Md.) who stated that addressing climate change was “important for national security.”

The Republicans seemed to acknowledge the fact that movement on climate change is necessary, but that the energy policy of the United States should focus first and foremost on the economy.  This resulted in Sen. Bond (R-Mo.) calling for off-shore drilling for natural gas and oil, Sens. Voinovich (R-Ohio) and Alexander (R-Tenn.) calling for more nuclear energy, and all of them calling for “Clean Coal,” describing the United States the “Saudia Arabia” of coal.  Nuclear energy, in particular because of its “no carbon emissions,” is high on the Republican’s agenda.

The basic issue between the two parties seems to be this:  the Republicans believe that the status quo should be protected, because the alternative proposed by the Democrats is too costly and uncertain.  The Democrats, on the other hand, believe that while the costs will be high in some sectors, other sectors will pick up the slack.  While Sen. Voinovich is correct that the economy must be protects, Sen. Whitehouse (D-R.I.) is also correct in stating that to

move the government’s hands in a way that supports a better clean energy future is not a distrubance in the “state of nature” . . . it’s actually making better decisions with the same power we use now.

Panel One:  Views From the Obama Administration

Putting aside for the moment the prepared testimony by the witnesses, the nuclear question was addressed through a question from Sen. Boxer to panel by stating “under the analysis of the House Bill, 161 new 1000 megawatt nuclear power plants would result from that bill.”  The panelists confirmed that the cap-and-trade system sets up the market mechanisms that would allow the power and energy companies to move forward with the development of nuclear power plants in addition to solar and wind.

Sen. Inhofe attempted to move the discussion away from climate change and toward the issue of reliance on foreign oil.  His point was that we need to develop our oil reserves that we have here, presumably instead of developing solar, wind and nuclear resources.  Hon. Strickland, from the Interior Department, replied that the Interior Department is moving toward developing all of the natural resources of the United States in “responsible manner.”  But that should not mean that we should not also develop “renewable” resources.

Panel Two:  Industry and Environmental Group Representatives

The second panel of the day concentrated a little more on reductions of carbon emissions.  Interestingly enough, Mr. Fehrman of the Mid-American Energy seemed to support a hard cap, without any trading of allowances.  His belief is that introducing market mechanisms only raise the costs for energy companies.  In addition, he believes that carbon capture and sequestration will be “commericially available” in 5 to 10 years.

On the other hand, Mr. Krupp advocated in favor of cap-and-trade to achieve real emission reductions in the nation.  Mr. Krupp also noted that “carbon capture is ready to roll” – in Norway.  The reason why?  Because there is a price on carbon and the rechonology was developed as a result.

Shortly after the hearing was over, the Senate recessed for the rest of the month of August, leaving the big questions regarding climate change until the Fall.

The witness list and a link to the video webcast of the hearing after the jump.

Witness List

Majority Statements
Barbara Boxer

Witnesses

Panel 1

The Honorable Jon Wellinghoff
Chairman
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

The Honorable David B. Sandalow
Assistant Secretary for Policy and International Affairs
United States Department of Energy

The Honorable Tom Strickland
Assistant Secretary for Fish, Wildlife, and Parks
United States Department of the Interior

Panel 2

Fred Krupp
President
Environmental Defense Fund

Bill Fehrman
President and CEO
MidAmerican Energy Company

View Archived Video Webcast of Hearing

Unusual cardin villa.

Source:
http://nerdestate.com/2009/05/23/cardin-villa/

Unusual cardin villa.

Source:
http://nerdestate.com/2009/05/23/cardin-villa/

This virtual library offers full text documents as well as presentations, maps, audio and video clips related specifically to the Caribbean region, making it truly one-of-a-kind resource.

Before Kansas, I had never seen a feed lot in my life. Now that I have I will tell you this: one feed lot is enough to make you wary of where your beef comes from for the rest of your life. You can smell it a long-way-coming—a thick and pungent odor of musk and excrement that can burn your nose with such a heat that your eyes water. The sight is no better: cows ankle-deep in their own shit, crammed into pens so small that there’s no telling ass-end from head. Cows aren’t meant to eat corn, and people aren’t meant to eat cows that eat corn, but corn is all these cows are being fed in such places. A tremendous sign painted on the wall of one lot reads, “Stay Lean Eat Beef.” I imagine that its been painted there by some of the portliest men in America, but there are no humans on or near these feed lots to compare with my mental picture. Even for those who make their livelihood from the stock yards, there’s no living with this stench. Forget Upton Sinclair, forget the exposés detailing the dismal conditions of meat processing plants! The horror begins before the cow has even died.

In contrast to the feed lots, the cows out roaming the fields looked all the more pleasant (and delicious?).

We continued east through southern Kansas on the 160,  past fields where the wheat grew so close to the road that I could almost reach out and run my hand across the stalks. The harvest begins in Texas in late May and moves north across the plains until it reaches the Dakotas in the fall—the fields need another day to ripen for every 15 miles—or so I’ve been told. It might as well have been days since we’ve seen another human being. The fields are empty, the roads are empty, and even the towns are empty. We drove through places with names like Oxford and Cambridge where gas stations were closed down and windows were boarded up and the only evidence of life were the recently mown lawns. Even the front yards littered with the carcasses of junked cars had all been attended to, the large perma-ornaments neatly edged around.

We gave the bike an oil change in the Wal-Mart parking lot in Independence, and then spent the night at Elk Lake. This being a small town, the campground was frequently visited by good ol’ boys who come to check out the “action.” They speed around in their trucks, drinking beer, and look for perfectly nice people to bother. They insisted that our gas canisters on the side of the bike were nitrous tanks and yelled out, “How fast does that summumabitch go?” I hid in the tent but they pulled up next to it, jeering with their “heyyys” and “how you doins,” but I stayed motionless and played dead, and they eventually grew bored and sped off, searching for their next victims.

Missouri was our destination, but we decided to cut south and go through Oklahoma instead. That way we could tick another state off of our list of places we had been, and maybe find lunch in the process. The first towns we encountered over the border were even more desolate than those we passed through in Kansas. These were ghost towns to the truest definition. Doors swung on their hinges and windows remained open—left their by hands who knew they would never see their homes again. Spray-painted on the sides of all structures were giant yellow letters: TBC. The only thing I could think of that matched with the letters was “To Be Condemned.” I considered asking Justin to stop so that I could take photos, but I was irked from a morning spat (which Justin later blame on Kansas making him crazy). Plus, the thought of wandering around in a shell of a town was just too damn creepy.

Of course I now regret this decision, since very soon those buildings will be razed and towns like Picher and Cardin in the northeast corner of Oklahoma will be reduced to just names on a map. Ottawa County was once a booming center for lead and zinc-mining, but when the mines closed in the 70’s the towns lost their main source of income and received the first of many blows. The the honeycomb-like network of tunnels underground began sinking and collapsing, taking homes along with them. The shafts below flooded, and the polluted water that continues to leech into the Tar Creek stains it a rusty orange (“The Creek Runs Red“). Teachers noticed that children struggled to learn. People were getting sick: headaches, high blood pressure, cancer, even rarer ailments like Lou Gehrig’s disease. Still, the area didn’t receive national attention until 2006, when the government offered the townspeople buyouts for their homes and assistance relocating (the reason being that the threat of cave-ins makes it unsafe—not the lead poisoning). If anyone in the town of Picher was on the fence about leaving, an F4 tornado that wrenched a hole through the town made it easier to reach a decision. The federal government declared that nothing destroyed by the disaster would be rebuilt. It was time to go. Even those who swore to stay long after the electricity and water were turned off find themselves living elsewhere. It is only a matter of time before the chat hills become the sole reminder of what once was. Given enough time, the winds may take them, too.

Os dejo con este vídeo sobre la alucinante (o alucinógena) moda futurista que propusieron durante los años 60 diseñadores como Pierre Cardin, André Courrèges o Paco Rabanne. Menos mal que algunas de sus ideas no se llevaron a la práctica y ni entonces ni ahora vestimos así… Aunque pensándolo bien, ¡hubiera sido divertido!
Lo que está claro es que el futuro no se parece en nada a como lo imaginábamos hace 40 años…

 Click to see bigger.

Daha büyük görmek için tıklayın.

Starck est un designer français de 60 ans.

Il a suivi ses études à l’école Nissim de Camondo. Il fonde sa première entreprise en 1968, son objet de prédiliection de l’époque : les objets gonflables.

Puis il s’approche de Pierre Cardin et finit par s’installer en indépendant en 1975 pour le design d’intérieur et le design industriel.

Ensuite, son parcours s’articulera autour des années 80 avec des produits d’usage courant, des meubles individuels produits par des fabricants internationaux.

Et oui,  son génie de l’époque l’a amené à oeuvrer pour Panzani:

Pour Beneteau: avec la série FIRST:

Pour Alessi:

En tant que designer prolixe il a donc tout naturellement travaillé dans divers domaines, tous peut être….

Comment passer à côté de lui ?! Une brosse à dent : c’est lui, une voiture : c’est lui, une moto : encore lui.

Sans oublier son excellence dans l’architecture, avec la réalisation d’hôtels tels que : la Main bleue, l’Elyzée, le Costes, …

Une petite note sur les meubles qui font de votre intérieur un joyau, personne n’a oublié les chaises et fauteuils de la marque Kartell:

Depuis 2005 il est le designer officiel des marques Virgin Galactic et Fossil.

Sous ses airs de joyeux designer loufoque, Mr STARCK fait la tendance, crée l’émotion, est incontournable.

Je laisse parcourir son propre site ICI

Ainsi qu’une excellente biographie faite par le centre G. POMPIDOU

Pour les plus intéressés, je vous conseille le site de “objectsby” dédié à Philippe Starck : ICI

ou encore le site Made in Design

Pour tester vos connaissances sur le designer, je vous conseille le TEST du magazine ELLE en ligne.

# ID: I31030
# Name: Mary Ada “Mae” Abernathy
# Sex: F
# ALIA: /Mae/

# Birth: 28 SEP 1857 in Giles Co, TN
# Death: 28 SEP 1892 in bur. Leagueville Cem., Henderson Co, TX

Father: John Jennings Abernathy b: 30 JUL 1820 in VA
Mother: Rosanna Adelaide Cardin b: 3 JUN 1824 in Giles Co, TN

Marriage 1 Edward Isaac Brownlow b: 28 DEC 1854 in Giles Co, TN

* Married: 15 DEC 1872 in Pulaski, Giles Co, TN

via RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project: Linking Mowry+Tomerlin+Norwood to Fanning&Bunn+Meeks.

I have been mostly staying away from politics since Obama has taken office.  All of his real policy changes so far have been on the social side (i.e. stem cell funding), and therefore, as a conservative, I oppose them.  On the other side (the Republican side), I am even more disappointed.  My party has apparently stolen the Democrats’ playbook.  All I see is the twisting of facts to promote fear of Obama’s policies.  Never mind the fact that we can simply oppose his policies because we disagree with them.  My party is spending its time spinning everything in the direction of fear.  I, therefore, have found myself farther removed from politics than at any point in my life.  Oh yeah, and Newt Gingrich is thinking of running in 2012.  great.  Looks like we learned a lot from that McCAin nomination.

Now that my first rant is over, I will get to the reason for my re-injecting myself into the political process.  It seems that Democrat Senator Benjamin Cardin is proposing measures to save the newspaper industry.  This is the dumbest idea to come out of Washington in years.

He proposes that newspapers be allowed to become non-profit organizations.  They will not be allowed to ‘endorse’ a candidate if they do, but they will still be able to report on elections and editorialize them.

This makes no sense whatsoever.  Reporting is never, ever unbiased.  I would rather have my news provided by an organization that announces its bias up front.  That way I can filter the information that they give me in light of these biases.

Cardin said: “We are losing our newspaper industry.  The economy has caused an immediate problem, but the business model for newspapers, based on circulation and advertising revenue, is broken, and that is a real tragedy for communities across the nation and for our democracy.”

The fact is, saving the newspaper industry would be like attempting to save the steam driven engine industry.  There is no need for it.  There is something better and much more effective available to replace the newspaper industry, the Internet.  There is no information available in a newspaper that is not already available on the Internet for free.  And, even though there may be some crazy views expressed on the Internet, it is still a place where all views are available on any topic.

The great thing is that the reader on the Internet is allowed to form his own opinion on any topic by looking at many divergent opinions, not just the myopic opinions delivered by the editorial page of a newspaper.

The Federal government does not need to get into the business of supporting newspapers for several reasons.  First, they are dying a natural death because the public is no longer interested in their product.  No amount of government support is going to make people want to read newspapers more.  Second, I have serious reservations about the government injecting itself in any way in the reporting process.  This is simply dangerous, and politicians cannot be trusted not to try any control information once they start subsidizing the industry.  And three, the press does not need to feel like it owes any politician for its livelihood.  Any situation like this could not be healthy.

In the end, with the abundance of network and cable news programs, along with radio and the Internet, newspapers are simply no longer necessary.  A few will survive because they will find a niche,  The rest need to be allowed to die a natural death.

US Senator Benjamin Cardin (D - Maryland)

I was driving home yesterday when a radio news brief informed me that Maryland’s “junior” senator, Ben Cardin (D) has proposed legislation, “The Newspaper Revitalization Act” to relax federal rules for becoming a non-profit organization. He’s apparently doing this to offer help to “community” newspapers*, whom he says are endangered and should be allowed the opportunity to become “educational” non-profits.

Why do I find this interesting? Earlier this year, as the alarm bells began to sound in regard to The Senator’s future, my daughter wrote to Senator Benjamin Cardin asking him to step in and help with the proposed non-profit plan. What follows is his response:

Thank your for contacting my office regarding the privately owned Senator Theatre.

You have raised an issue that does not fall within my jurisdiction as a federal legislator. The issue you raise is a matter that must be addressed by the owner of the property.

If my office can be of assistance to you in the future concerning a problem with a federal agency, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Sincerely,
Benjamin L. Cardin
United States Senator

So, an award-winning, community supportive, Baltimore icon, that is listed on the National Register of Historic Places is simply a “privately owned” business that is “not within his jurisdiction”…
But, LOCAL newspapers are an endangered species that demand his attention? Aren’t these “privately owned” as well?

Frankly, in my opinion this letter was nothing short of “Why are you bothering me with this?”

Excuse us. We’re Maryland residents who thought a community-centered Maryland business was worthy of your attention. Apparently we were wrong.

Now, one could point out that his support is for newspapers nationwide and one would be correct.

One could also point out that attempting legislation for a single business should not be a federal-level issue; also correct.

However:

1. What is wrong with simply stating support for a nationally recognized icon from one’s own state?
2. What is wrong with impressing upon your fellow state and city politicians that you’ve been alerted to something that is worthy of their attention?

Many have pointed to the evolution of communication as the reason newsprint is failing. I’ve been hearing about declining subscriptions for ages now. However, Senator Cardin wants you and his colleagues to believe that they are simply suffering from the economic downturn.

I’ve read/heard folks express the following sentiment when presented with the prospect of saving The Senator Theatre, “It’s  a free market, if it can’t cut it, let it fail.” I have to gather from Senator Cardin’s letter, that this is his stance on the theatre as well. So, why is it his position is 180 degrees when it comes to the newspapers?*

It’s not that I like the prospect of the newspaper folks losing their jobs & certainly don’t take delight in it. My point is that, once again, there seems to be stark differences as to what our representatives view as important, as well as a disconnect/disregard for what their constituents also consider important.

* Interesting to note: WBAL reports, “Cardin says the measure is targeted to preserve local newspapers serving communities and not large newspaper conglomerates.”, while in his video of his presentation to the U.S. Senate, he uses The Sun as example of a strapped newspaper…

If anyone else would like to let Ben Cardin know how they feel about his stance on the theatre and/or his proposed newspaper aid, visit:

http://cardin.senate.gov/contact/index.cfm

Democratic Sen.  Benjamin Cardin has a bill to turn newspapers into nonprofits with lots of tax breaks and incentives.

Wouldn’t it be a lot more honest if the Democratic National Committee simply took them over?    Most of them already read as if written by the staffers at the DNC or the White House.

Today, Hartmarx Corporation and 51 affiliates filed voluntary chapter 11 bankruptcy petitions in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Illinois.  The companies are headquartered in Chicago and are represented by Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP.

According to a press release issued by the company, Hartmarx manufactures and markets apparel under its own brands, including Hart Schaffner Marx, Hickey-Freeman, Palm Beach, Coppley, Monarchy, Manchester Escapes, Society Brand, Racquet Club, Naturalife, Pusser’s of the West Indies, Brannoch, Sansabelt, Exclusively Misook, Barrie Pace, Eye, Christopher Blue, Worn, One Girl Who . . . and b.chyll. Hartmarx also has licensing rights to market apparel and other products under a number of other brands such as Austin Reed, Burberry (men’s tailored clothing), Ted Baker, Bobby Jones, Jack Nicklaus, Claiborne, Pierre Cardin, Lyle & Scott, Golden Bear, Jag and Dr. Martens.

With respect to the reasons that a bankruptcy filing was necessary, Hartmarx stated the following: “[t]he filing is principally the result of the substantial decline in discretionary apparel purchases by consumers and by the Company’s retail customers, particularly at the luxury price points, coupled with the significant contraction in borrowing capacity under the Company’s senior credit facility.”  As for Hartmarx’s prospects for reorganization, the company further stated the following: “[t]he Company intends to continue operating its business in the normal course as management focuses on developing and executing a restructuring plan, which may include the sale of substantially all of its assets.”

In order to finance its operations during the chapter 11 cases, Hartmarx has obtained up to $160 million of pre-petition commitments as a debtor-in-possession (DIP) credit facility from its pre-bankruptcy lenders.

UPDATE: Hartmarx has filed various motions and applications for “first day” relief.  Find out more details and access copies of the documents here.

Download copies of every dcoument filed in Hartmarx’s bankruptcy cases and almost 460 other major corporate bankruptcy cases using netDockets.  Sign up now for a free trial account and get $100 of free research.