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Toby Keith Waves the Flag, Praises the USO, Disses the Press
Hours before he embarked on his eighth USO-sponsored tour of Iraq and Afghanistan, country-western singer-songwriter Toby Keith told stories, waved the flag and railed against the news media at a luncheon Tuesday. Keith, named by Forbes magazine as the nation’s highest-earning county music star with a restaurant franchise, lucrative product endorsements and million-seller hits that include “Should Have Been A Cowboy,” “American Soldier,” and “Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue,” appeared as a good ol’ boy from Oklahoma in his Army-issue combat fatigues and black cap with black shades on…
Type: News
Board Approves Membership Applications
Active Sandra Abrams - Thomson Reuters, Producer; Alegra Hassan - CBN News, Producer; Charles Leocha - Tripso.com, Columnist; Robin Mazyck - Christian Broadcasting Network, Executive Producer; Molly Peterson - Bloomberg News, Reporter; Richard J. Simon - Los Angeles Times, Congressional Correspondent Active Non-Resident Janet A. Begley - Scripps Treasure Coast Newspapers, Reporter; Douglas R. Currin - Nexstar Broadcasting Group, WBRE-TV, News Anchor Active Under 35 Leigh Ann Caldwell - Free Speech Radio News - Pacifica Radio, DC Editor/Correspondent; Jacqueline C. Palank - Dow Jones, Reporter…
Type: News
Latvians Predict Economic Recovery
Though hard hit by the global financial crisis, as were many other countries, Latvia is "well positioned to recover," two of the Baltic nation's top financial officials told an April 24 Newsmaker. Minister of Finance Einars Repse and Bank of Latvia Governor Ilmars Rimsevics traced the financial ups and downs of the country from a period of "excessively rapid" economic growth since joining the European Union in 2004 to an "abrupt hard landing" in 2008. Rimsevics said weaknesses in the Latvian banking system "brought one of our largest banks to the point where the government had to step in"…
Type: News
S. Africa Promises to be Ready for 2010 World Cup
Despite a severe global recession, South African officials told aNewsmaker audience on April 27 that the country will be prepared to host the 2010 World Cup -- an event that they hope will underscore the country’s political progress and draw millions of visitors. “All (South African) financial institutions are well,” said Ambassador Welile Nhlapo. “We’re not taking bailouts for anybody.” He said that the country is meeting all the economic requirements for hosting the World Cup. South Africa will have two practice runs before next summer. It is currently running a major criquet tournament…
Type: News
Owls Honor Helen Thomas; Everyone has a Hoot
Helen Thomas, dean of the White House press corps, was inducted into the Order of the Owls Thursday night during the Spring Hoot of the Club's Silver Owls. The night was heavy on nostalgia, in words and music. Newer Club members (Owlets) shared thoughts with the 25-years-plus members about the past and the future. The ceremonial award bestowed on Thomas recognizes "birds of a unique species, weathered and wise, who have nested at the National Press Club and demonstrated that they give a hoot for Washington journalism." In her response, Thomas lamented that the newspaper business isn't…
Type: News
Former White House Photographer Describes "Helluva Ride"
As the official White House photographer during the 1990s, Sharon Farmer got to know President Bill Clinton in a way few others did. He jumped over security barriers to shake hands with ordinary Americans. He wept when the Deputy Chief of Staff Harold Ickes informed him that Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin had been assassinated. And, on a state visit to Ghana, he draped himself in the traditional cloth over his suit. “I thought I died and went to heaven when Clinton wore the Kente cloth,” Farmer told members at a retrospective of her photos of the Clinton era arranged by the…
Type: News
Non-Profit Tech Company Provides Books for Vision-Impaired Students
College students who are blind or have a reading disability will have greater access to textbooks through an initiative announced at an April 29 Newsmaker. Benetech, a non-profit technology company based in Palo Alto, Calif., said that it has established an agreement with schools around the country to pool the books that they have scanned and digitization. Through the initiative, Bookshare, the online accessible library run by Benetech, connects schools so that when one of them completes the labor-intensive process of scanning and proofreading an educational text, it is available to all…
Type: News
Parental Support Linked to Education Achievement
Marshall S. “Mike” Smith, senior counsel to Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, and Richard Coley, director of the Education Testing Service’s policy information center, seemed to differ on the import and meaning of a new Educational Testing Service report at a Newsmaker April 30. Parsing the Achievement Gap II – a follow-on report to an ETS research product delivered in 2003, said 16 factors determe success in secondary education – many of them environmental. Joining Coley and Smith were Mike Nettles, senior vice president of ETS for policy and research, and Ed Gordon, professor emeritus…
Type: News
De Klerk Praises New South African Leader But Says to "Watch Him"
F.W. de Klerk, former president of South Africa who shared the 1993 Nobel Peace prize for ending apartheid and launching a new multiracial South African democracy, expressed both optimism and concern about the country’s new leadership in a speech at the Club Tuesday. Appearing at NPC during the week of the 15th anniversary of South Africa’s first free elections, de Klerk said he is “personally optimistic” that Jacob Zuma, elected April 22 as the nation’s fourth president and due to be inaugurated this weekend, “will make the right choices” in governing. Despite corruption and racketeering…
Type: News
Chris Matthews Offers Career Advice: Get in the Door
Chris Matthews “will never say anything” that he wouldn’t say on MSNBC’s “Hardball,” his popular TV show, he said at a Book Rap Monday. Instead of talking about his book, "The Hardball Handbook: How to Win at Life," Matthews recounted stories from his life sprinkling the presentation with amusing and politically-charged anecdotes. He quoted a man he met while he was a Capitol Hill policeman, Leroy Taylor, “a real country boy”: “Why does the little guy love his country? … It’s because it is all he has.” “I learned a lot from that guy,” Matthews said. Matthews gave some career advice: “…
Type: News