Obama Likely to Name Google’s Eric Schmidt as Commerce Secretary

John Ellis
Business Insider
March 19, 2011

The word in Washington is that President Obama is close to naming departing CEO Eric Schmidt as the nation’s next Secretary of Commerce.


Mr. Schmidt picked up an important vote of confidence earlier this week when former Reagan Administration Commerce Department counsel Clyde Prestowitz essentially endorsed Schmidt for the job. That didn’t happen by accident and it’s a strong signal that the GOP DC establishment will support a Schmidt appointment. Such support would almost certainly insure a smooth confirmation process.

Mr. Schmidt is available to take this assignment. At the end of January, Google announced that he would shortly be leaving his CEO position. His last day is set for April 4, when cofounder Larry Page will take over.

Schmidt was at Google for 10 years, and reportedly decided to leave after battling Google’s cofounders over its decision to pull out of China. The company left China due to in part to free speech battles, and in part because Chinese hackers were attacking Google.

A final decision is expected within the next two weeks. The outgoing Commerce Secretary, former Washington Governor Gary Locke, was nominated by President Obama to serve as the US Ambassador to China.

Ciavarella guilty on 12 counts, will remain free on bail

BY DAVE JANOSKI, PROJECTS EDITOR
CitizensVoice.Com

Former judge Mark A. Ciavarella Jr. will remain free while he pursues likely appeals to his conviction on 12 counts, including racketeering and conspiracy, in the kids-for-cash case, a federal judge has ruled.

Ciavarella faces a likely sentence of 12 to 15 years under federal sentencing guidelines, according to Assistant U.S. Attorney William Houser, who argued that Ciavarella should be immediately placed in custody.

"He has a very strong motive to flee," Houser said. "He's approaching 61 years of age. His crimes had a devastating effect on his community and his state."

Defense attorney William Ruzzo argued Ciavarella would never leave his family and has complied with conditions placed on him by the court since his arrest in 2009.

"This man would rather be on a gurney and be injected rather than leave his family," Ruzzo said.

U.S. District Judge Edwin M. Kosik agreed and ruled that Ciavarella will remain free on $1 million unsecured bond.

The six-man, six-woman jury found the former Luzerne County juvenile court judge guilty of counts related to a $997,600 payment he and another judge received in 2003 from Robert K. Mericle the builder of a for-profit juvenile detention center. It acquitted him on all counts directly related to subsequent payments by Mericle and Robert J. Powell, the owner of the center, who alleged he was extorted by Ciavarella.

Ciavarella, his hands clasped in front of him, showed no emotion as the verdict was read. He huddled briefly with family members before Kosik instructed the jury it had to return to deliberations to determine if Ciavarella will have to forfeiture money to the government. The jury decided Ciavarella should be liable to forfeit $997,600, but testimony at the six-day trial indicated Ciavarella has little, if any, money.

"If he has assets that he has been hiding, we will find them," Zubrod said.
The jury found Ciavarella guilty of one count of racketeering, four counts of mail fraud, three counts of conspiracy and four counts of filing false tax returns.

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Photo shows Obama at dinner with Steve Jobs, Mark Zuckerberg

Doug Gross
CNN
Friday, February 18, 2011


Image: WhiteHouse.gov/CNN

(CNN) — A photo released by the White House on Friday shows Apple CEO Steve Jobs, along with other tech luminaries, raising a toast with President Barack Obama at a dinner Thursday night in San Francisco.

The photo, of a private dinner during the President’s visit to California, comes as tabloid reports, some featuring alleged photos of Jobs, have questioned the Apple leader’s health.

In the photo, Jobs and Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg flank Obama during the toast. Wearing his trademark black mock turtleneck shirt, Jobs is photographed from behind.

Jobs was diagnosed with cancer in 2003. He took a six-month leave of absence in 2009, during which he was reported to have had a liver transplant.

Full story here.

 

House to defund Planned Parenthood

Eric W. Dolan
Raw Story
February 18, 2011

The US House of Representatives is expected to pass an amendment to the Full Year Continuing Appropriations Act of 2011 by this weekend that would cut millions of dollars in funding to Planned Parenthood for contraceptives, reproductive health counseling and cancer screenings.

The amendment eliminates all $327 million in funding for Title X, a family planning program that began 40 years ago under President Richard Nixon. And while Planned Parenthood receives millions of dollars from the program, Title X funds cannot be used for abortion services.

The money is to be used for noncontroversial family planning services, mostly for low-income families.

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