Tyra Banks pays homage as Michelle Obama

From the runway to the Oval Office, EVERYTHING IS POSSIBLE for Tyra Banks. Bazaar casts her as First Lady while she reflects on being a model citizen and the politics of fashion.

Today, though, it's a rather more modern potential first lady who has Banks compelled. When it came to paying homage to Michelle Obama for this story, Banks found the process "surreal." "It's kind of embarrassing," she confesses, "but in my early 20s, I used to want to be a princess. But I didn't want to have to marry somebody in order to do it! Of course, I don't see the position of first lady as a princess, where it's something you have to marry into. With Barack Obama, his becoming president is them becoming president because Michelle was there from the beginning. Without Michelle, he wouldn't be there." Or, as she pronounces to her Tyra Banks Show camera after her Oval Office portrait, "Michelle Obama, you're one hot mama."

A number of presidential candidates have appeared on Banks's talk show (Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, John Edwards), and she's after Michelle Obama to appear this fall. She has met her before, noting she was "so warm and so gracious. She's got that direct-eye-contact, truly-connecting thing. She's not a 'ha, ha, ha' type." She smiles and continues, "And I love that she's tall."

With Olympics over Mike Phelps chases Gold on Land

BEIJING -- If no one in Beijing was happier -- or busier -- than Michael Phelps this past week, his agent Peter Carlisle had to be a close second.

A new race is now on for Mr. Phelps: the rush to transform his Olympic feat into a marketing juggernaut, akin to Michael Jordan or Tiger Woods. But the window for marketing Olympians -- even those with the rising stature of Mr. Phelps -- can close fast. Many of the new legions of so-called Phelps Phans likely will not see his muscled torso in a pool again until 2012, an eternity for advertisers.

As Mr. Carlisle, the agent, shuttled between meetings Saturday on the eve of Mr. Phelps's historic eighth Olympic gold medal Sunday, proposals for business opportunities far and wide streamed into his BlackBerry. Some were appealing, others less so.

A man in Omaha, Neb., offered to sculpt a statue of the chiseled swimmer. As strange as that sounded, a similar offer came from China. Several book and movie deals were suddenly on the table. A dog-food idea was pitched, given Mr. Phelps's well-known love for his British bulldog, Herman.

And still more: bobblehead dolls, acrylic paintings, commemorative coins, car rims and tuxedos. Some just wanted to give him things, like all the pizza he could eat for a year, or free dental work. And certain female celebrities and athletes wanted an introduction from Mr. Carlisle.

The number of such messages started as a trickle on the first day of the Games, Mr. Carlisle said, but then grew with each successive gold. Five the first day, then 10, then 20, eventually around 50 a day over the weekend, he said. Mr. Phelps in recent days became the most searched name on Facebook, surpassing teen singer Miley Cyrus and other celebs, he said.

"I've been doing this for a while, and I didn't think I'd be super-surprised at what was going to happen here," said the 40-year-old Mr. Carlisle, a managing director with Octagon Inc. "But I am actually."

"I'm looking forward to just sitting, not moving," Mr. Phelps, 23, said Sunday shortly after his last race, another world record as a member of the men's 4x100-meter medley relay, when asked about his plans.

Actually, Mr. Phelps will spend the rest of this week in Beijing making a series of appearances for sponsors such as Omega Ltd., Hilton Hotels Corp and Visa: A stop at the Omega pavilion on the Olympic Green on Monday. A lap in the pool at the Beijing Hilton at a party to promote swimming lessons in the inner city. On Wednesday, back to Omega for a formal event. Satellite TV interviews with U.S. media to promote other Hilton initiatives.

"This is about how big a halo Michael has," says Jeff Diskin, senior vice president for brand management at Beverly Hills, Calif.-based Hilton. "What he has done here will enable us to get our message out with a much bigger reach."

As Stephen Urquhart, chief executive officer of Bienne, Switzerland-based Omega, says, "He's a world legend now."

Howard Bloom, who teaches sports management at the University of Ottawa and has worked with several Olympic athletes, says the key decision for Mr. Phelps will be whether to renew his contract with Speedo, the swimsuit maker that sponsors Mr. Phelps and offered him $1 million if he won seven gold medals.

"Michael Phelps would be worth $40 or $50 million to Nike," Mr. Bloom said. "He could literally allow them to launch a massive swimwear company, and I think you are going to see an incredible bidding war for him....He literally saved this Olympics. Before the games started all the talk was about politics and censorship and as soon as he won that first gold medal it became about him."

Nike Inc. declined to comment.

In the coming weeks, Warnaco Group Inc., which licenses the Speedo brand in North America from the Pentland Group in the U.K., will begin advertising its association with Speedo. "That connection will be tightened, which we think will serve shareholders well," says Craig Brommers, vice president of marketing for Speedo USA.

Even if all goes according to plan over the coming weeks and months, few expect Mr. Phelps to reach anywhere near the earnings of Mr. Woods. That's because the golfer, who is estimated to make around $100 million annually from both his winnings and endorsements, is competing year in, year out.

By comparison, Mr. Phelps made an estimated $3 million to $5 million a year through his endorsements before these Games, a huge sum for an athlete in a sport rarely televised outside the Olympics.

Now that figure could double or more, as a result of his performance here, according to Mr. Carlisle.

"What is the value of eight golds in Beijing before a prime-time audience in the U.S?" asked Mr. Carlisle, riding in the back of a Volkswagen minivan through the streets of Beijing on Saturday. "I'd say $100 million over the course of his lifetime."

Mr. Carlisle, who signed Mr. Phelps in 2002 after his first Olympics in Sydney, said that figure seemed more of a stretch a few days ago. While independent sports-marketing experts acknowledge that's a hefty sum, they said it's within reach.

"It's an aggressive number put out there by an aggressive agent," says Paul Swangard, managing director of the Warsaw Sports Marketing Center at the University of Oregon in Eugene. "But also eight gold medals was an aggressive number. Not a good idea to bet against the man right now."

Speedo says its Phelps jerseys had sold out in recent days -- tens of thousands at $24.99 a piece -- even though swimmers don't wear jerseys in their sport. That could suggest Mr. Phelps's growing appeal beyond swimming.

Even the white Speedo parka that Mr. Phelps wore to the starting block before his races prompted consumer demand. Speedo had no intention of selling that item to customers. Now it's begun ramping up production, says Mr. Brommers, the Speedo marketing vice president.

"People want a piece of history here," says Mr. Brommers. "We're trying to get this stuff out the door as fast as we can."

The Olympics typically lead to a 5% to 6% increase in people swimming in the months after the Games, he says. This year Speedo expects several times that as a result of Mr. Phelps. Speedo plans to have a number of different versions of the LZR Racer suit worn by Mr. Phelps, which retails for $550, in the stores by the holidays, says Mr. Brommers.

China Strategy

While no one could be certain that Mr. Phelps would make history in Beijing, Messrs. Carlisle and Phelps began planning their China strategy shortly after the Athens Games in 2004, where he won six gold medals in his first attempt to break U.S. swimmer Mark Spitz's record seven golds at one Olympics

Things got started on the wrong foot, though. Mr. Phelps pleaded guilty to driving while impaired by alcohol several months after the Athens Games. He was sentenced to 18 months probation, profusely apologized in a number of interviews, and then, on Mr. Carlisle's advice, dropped relatively out of sight.

They continued with a plan that would allow Mr. Phelps to exploit the 2008 Games' location in the world's most populous market. The first step Mr. Carlisle took was exposing Mr. Phelps to the Chinese consumers through an Asian company, rather than an American one. Mr. Carlisle struck a deal in the fall of 2004, just months after the Athens Games, with Matsunichi, a Hong Kong-based maker of MP3 players. That was followed up with three visits to China by Mr. Phelps, first in 2005, again in early 2007 and then a year before the Games in August 2007.

The idea over this period was to gradually build up the sponsorships, rather than sign a number quickly tied to the Beijing Games.

How long will Phelps mania last, particularly now that he won't be swimming on television this evening, or anytime soon?

Mr. Phelps's record-tying seventh gold was announced at the Yankees game in New York Friday night, prompting a standing ovation. His record-breaking race was shown in its entirety Saturday night to wild cheering at the end of an exhibition football game of his hometown Baltimore Ravens.

Still, such fans will return to their teams' games well before Mr. Phelps's next swimming competition. "They're going to have to figure out a way pretty quickly to make him relevant on land," says Mr. Swangard, the Oregon sports-marketing professor.

Georgia: "It's all a plot to block Obama"

By: Charles Bremner in Moscow

Russians were told over breakfast yesterday what really happened in Georgia: the conflict in South Ossetia was part of a plot by Dick Cheney, the Vice-President, to stop Barak Obama being elected president of the United States.

The line came on the main news of Vesti FM, a state radio station that — like the Government and much of Russia's media — has reverted to the old habits of Soviet years, in which a sinister American hand was held to lie behind every conflict, especially those embarrassing to Moscow. Modern Russia may be plugged into the internet and the global marketplace but in the battle for world opinion the Kremlin is replaying the old black-and-white movie.

The Obama angle is getting wide play. It was aired on Wednesday by Sergei Markov, a senior political scientist who is close to Vladimir Putin, the Prime Minister and power behind President Medvedev.

“George Bush's Administration is promoting interests of candidate John McCain,” said Dr Markov. “Defeated by Barak Obama on all fronts, McCain has one last card to play yet - the creation of a virtual Cold War with Russia . . . Bush himself did not want a war in South Ossetia but his Republican Party did not leave him any choice.” The Americans were now engineering an armed conflict between Ukraine and Russia, Dr Markov added.

The Establishment and its media supporters are dusting off favourites from the Cold War shelf. Sergei Lavrov, the Foreign Minister, accused Washington of playing dangerous games. The West was guilty of “adventurism”, supporting aggression against peace-loving Russian forces who are engaged on a humanitarian mission to protect human life. Yesterday's headline in Commersant, a generally admired newspaper, announced with old-style sarcasm the imminent American “Military Humanitarian Landing” in Georgia.

A classic of Soviet-speak also came from Vasili Lickhachev, a former Russian Ambassador to the EU. “The West has spent a lot of time, energy and money to teach Georgia the tricks of the trade . . . to make the country look like a democracy,” he said.

“We and many other nations see through this deceit. We understand that the seditious tactics of the so-called colour revolutions are a real threat to international law and the source of global legal nihilism.”

These grooves from the Cold War grave are shrugged off by many Russians but they strike a chord in a nation ready once again to see itself as the victim of outside conspiracy. Blogs everywhere attract conspiracy lovers but Russian blogs have been exceptionally rich this week in theories of Western skulduggery over Georgia.

The old thinking finds more fertile ground now because, in the view of disillusioned Russians, President Bush relaunched the ideological war through a compliant American media, especially at the time of the invasion of Iraq.

“In the old days under Soviet rule we didn't believe a word of our own propaganda but we thought that information was free in the West and we longed for it,” said Katya, a middle-aged Muscovite. “But we have learnt since that the West has its own propaganda and in some ways it is more powerful because people believe it.”

Moscow is using novel methods to spread a very unsubtle, Cold War version of the Caucasian conflict to the world. Chief among them is Russia Today, a state 24-hour news channel that is fronted much of the time by cheery British and other English-speaking television professionals.

The smiles and studio banter could come from BBC World or CNN but the story is unrelentingly the Kremlin version. Banners flash along at the bottom of the screen saying such things as “genocide” and “aggression” or “city turns into human hell, many people still trapped under rubble”. Recapping the conflict yesterday RT's presenter said that Georgia's “brutal assault” had killed 1,600 civilians in its breakaway province in a campaign that destroyed 70 per cent of the buildings in Tskhinvali, its capital. Russian forces had moved in only to bring peace as Georgian forces killed women and children who were trying to flee, it said. Throughout its rolling cover of alleged Georgian atrocities, there was no mention of the heavy Russian military offensive.

The coverage goes down well in developing countries that want an alternative to CNN and BBC World Service, a Russian official said. “We have learnt from Western TV how to simplify the narrative.”

The Soviet crackdown

— In January 1968 Alexander Dubcek became First Secretary of the Czechoslovak Communist Party, instituting the “Prague Spring” liberalising reforms

— In August the Soviet-led Warsaw Pact invaded, below, claiming that its assistance had been requested by Communist Party leaders. Dubcek was arrested

— Lyndon Johnson, the US President, declared the invasion in violation of the United Nations Charter, but America was in the middle of a presidential election campaign and a war in Vietnam. The West took no action

— In 1988 mass demonstrations marked the anniversary

— The Communists were finally ousted in 1989 and Václav Havel was elected President in what became known as the Velvet Revolution. Soviet forces withdrew in 1991

Strong Women Democrats to Headline First Two Nights of Convention

The Democratic National Convention Committee has released the two headliners for the first two nights of the Democratic Convention that begins August 25th. Potential First Lady Michelle Obama will be Monday's headliner (I am so excited about this), and former First Lady and former presidential candidate Senator Hillary Clinton will headline Tuesday night.

This most likely means Clinton is not the VP, given that the chosen VP will headline on the 27th. Also, the Obama campaign will be announcing the VP first to his supporters via text and/or e-mail before releasing to the media. You can sign up to be the first to know: here.

Make sure to set your DVR/Tivo to record what will be a historic convention!

ps. Have I mentioned how excited I am that Michelle is the opening night headliner?!!!????

U.S. deficit, Iraqi surplus...

"Iraq's oil-fueled surplus could hit $80 billion, report says"...i'm sorry, WHAT?!! the U.S. has a deficit of how many billion from funding this war and there's now an $80BILLION surplus in iraq?! this is ridiculous and just further proof that we need to get the hell out of there. i completely agree with senator levin that american taxpayers need to be reimbursed, since we are essentially funding a war that should and could be funding itself. something about this just seems fishy to me...if iraq's economy is strong enough to pay for reconstruction, why are we still footing the bill? either somebody's getting some checks under the table, or some other ulterior motives are at play. in any case, the article is pretty good. check it out.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/08/05/iraq.oil/index.html

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Iraq is raking in more money from oil exports than it is spending, amassing a projected four-year budget surplus of up to $80 billion, U.S. auditors reported Tuesday.


Sen. Carl Levin says the U.S. shouldn't "be paying for Iraqi projects while oil revenues continue to pile up."
2 of 2 Leading members of Congress, noting that Washington is paying for reconstruction in Iraq, expressed outrage at the assessment. One called the findings "inexcusable."

"We should not be paying for Iraqi projects while Iraqi oil revenues continue to pile up in the bank, including outrageous profits from $4-a-gallon gas prices in the U.S.," said Sen. Carl Levin, the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee. "We should require that U.S. taxpayers be reimbursed for the cost of large projects."

Baghdad had a $29 billion budget surplus between 2005 to 2007. With the price of crude roughly doubling in the past year, Iraq's surplus for 2008 is expected to run between $38 billion and $50 billion, according to a report from the U.S. Government Accountability Office.

The United States has put about $48 billion toward reconstruction since the 2003 invasion of Iraq, auditors reported. About $23 billion of that was spent on the oil and electricity industries, water systems and security.

Iraq spent $3.9 billion on those sectors from 2005 through April 2008, according to the GAO, the investigative arm of Congress. The ongoing fighting there, a shortage of trained staff and weak controls have made it difficult for the Iraqi government to spend its surplus on needed projects, the agency's report concluded.

Levin, a Michigan Democrat, has been an outspoken critic of the slow progress of reconstruction and an advocate of a U.S. withdrawal from Iraq. His criticism Tuesday was echoed by Sen. John Warner, a Virginia Republican who is the former chairman and now a leading member of Levin's committee.

"Despite Iraq earning billions of dollars in oil revenue in the past five years, U.S. taxpayer money has been the overwhelming source of Iraq reconstruction funds," Warner said in a joint statement with Levin. "It is time for the sovereign government of Iraq, using its revenues, expenditures and surpluses, to fully assume the responsibility to provide essential services and improve the quality of life for the Iraqi people."

In its written response to the audit report, the Treasury Department said U.S. officials are working with Iraqis to address the issue, "and we believe progress is being made."

"The report shows Iraq's budget surplus is likely to grow significantly over the course of 2008, but it is equally important to realize that spending in Iraq is also increasing," Deputy Assistant Treasury Secretary Andy Baukol wrote to the GAO.

Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's government submitted a $22 billion supplemental budget to the Iraqi parliament in July, including $8 billion in proposed capital expenditures, Baukol wrote.

The issue raised the hackles of several members of Congress earlier this year -- particularly because Bush administration officials said on the eve of the war that Iraqi oil money would pay for reconstruction.

In 2003, then-Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz told the House Appropriations Committee: "We're dealing with a country that can really finance its own reconstruction, and relatively soon.''

Rep. Henry Waxman, D-California, said Tuesday's report "is going to make a lot of American families very angry."

"The record gas prices they are paying have turned into an economic windfall for Iraq, but the Iraqi government isn't spending the money on rebuilding," said Waxman, the chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.

Levin spokeswoman Tara Andringa said the senator hopes to tighten rules governing U.S. expenditures on Iraqi reconstruction efforts in the next Pentagon authorization bill.

The Iraqi surplus has piled up even though the country's oil production has only recently matched prewar levels, according to the Brookings Institution's latest Iraq Index.

The country spent about 80 percent of its $29 billion operating budget in 2007, including public services and salaries, but only 28 percent of its $12 billion investment budget, the GAO found.

The export of crude oil accounted for 94 percent of Iraq's revenues from 2005 to 2007, the GAO reported.

U.S. Agents Can Seize Travelers' Laptops: Report (More Evidence of a Police State)

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. federal agents have been given new powers to seize travelers' laptops and other electronic devices at the border and hold them for unspecified periods the Washington Post reported on Friday.

Under recently disclosed Department of Homeland Security policies, such seizures may be carried out without suspicion of wrongdoing, the newspaper said, quoting policies issued on July 16 by two DHS agencies.

Agents are empowered to share the contents of seized computers with other agencies and private entities for data decryption and other reasons, the newspaper said.

DHS officials said the policies applied to anyone entering the country, including U.S. citizens, and were needed to prevent terrorism.

The measures have long been in place but were only disclosed in July, under pressure from civil liberties and business travel groups acting on reports that increasing numbers of international travelers had had their laptops, cellphones and other digital devices removed and examined.

The policies cover hard drives, flash drives, cell phones, iPods, pagers, beepers, and video and audio tapes -- as well as books, pamphlets and other written materials, the report said.

The policies require federal agents to take measures to protect business information and attorney-client privileged material. They stipulate that any copies of the data must be destroyed when a review is completed and no probable cause exists to keep the information.

House formally apologizes for slavery and Jim Crow

WASHINGTON (AP) - The House on Tuesday issued an unprecedented apology to black Americans for the wrongs committed against them and their ancestors who suffered under slavery and Jim Crow segregation laws.

"Today represents a milestone in our nation's efforts to remedy the ills of our past," said Rep. Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick, D-Mich., chairwoman of the Congressional Black Caucus.
The resolution, passed by voice vote, was the work of Tennessee Democrat Steve Cohen, the only white lawmaker to represent a majority black district. Cohen faces a formidable black challenger in a primary face-off next week.

Congress has issued apologies before - to Japanese-Americans for their internment during World War II and to native Hawaiians for the overthrow of the Hawaiian kingdom in 1893. In 2005, the Senate apologized for failing to pass anti-lynching laws.

Five states have issued apologies for slavery, but past proposals in Congress have stalled, partly over concerns that an apology would lead to demands for reparations - payment for damages.
The Cohen resolution does not mention reparations. It does commit the House to rectifying "the lingering consequences of the misdeeds committed against African-Americans under slavery and Jim Crow."

It says that Africans forced into slavery "were brutalized, humiliated, dehumanized and subjected to the indignity of being stripped of their names and heritage" and that black Americans today continue to suffer from the consequences of slavery and Jim Crow laws that fostered discrimination and segregation.

The House "apologizes to African-Americans on behalf of the people of the United States, for the wrongs committed against them and their ancestors who suffered under slavery and Jim Crow."
"Slavery and Jim Crow are stains upon what is the greatest nation on the face of the earth," Cohen said. Part of forming a more perfect union, he said, "is such a resolution as we have before us today where we face up to our mistakes and apologize as anyone should apologize for things that were done in the past that were wrong."

Cohen became the first white to represent the 60 percent black district in Memphis in more than three decades when he captured a 2006 primary where a dozen black candidates split the vote. He has sought to reach out to his black constituents, and early in his term showed interest in joining the Congressional Black Caucus until learning that was against caucus rules.
Another of his first acts as a freshman congressman in early 2007 was to introduce the slavery apology resolution. His office said that the House resolution was brought to the floor only after learning that the Senate would be unable to join in a joint resolution.

More than a dozen of the 42 Congressional Black Caucus members in the House were original co-sponsors of the measure. The caucus has not endorsed either Cohen or his chief rival, attorney Nikki Tinker, in the Memphis primary, although Cohen is backed by several senior members, including Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers, D-Mich., and Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charles Rangel, D-N.Y. Tinker is the former campaign manager of Harold Ford, Jr., who held Cohen's seat until he stepped down in an unsuccessful run for the Senate in 2006.
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The bill is H. Res. 194
On the Net:
Congress: http://thomas.loc.gov/