Sports Trap Radio Sunday Football Edition 7-21-13 - Jul 21,2013

Stanford Professor Rich Thompson Ford discusses the impact the Trayvon Martin verdict has on those in the sports world.

Nick Lachey, popular singer/songwriter from 98 Degrees, discusses being the host of NBC's ?The Winner Is? and dishes about the 98 Degrees reunion tour.

Personal transformation expert Steve Rizzo, also known as the attitude adjuster, will share tips from his book, "Get Your Shift Together."

Author Megan Marshall brings to life the story of Margaret Fuller, America's first female foreign correspondent, who helped create new opportunities for women.

Lisa Renee Jones? books for "thinking, can-do women, with a dose of romance and mystery" are being made into a television series for the Starz Network.

Dr. Allan M. Armitage, horticulture writer, speaker, teacher and researcher, discusses his new app, which serves as a bridge between industry and consumer.

Linda Tellington-Jones, worldwide legend in the field of animal behavior and author of more than 20 books, talks about her theories of cellular communication.

Spike TV's Ric Savage joins radio hosts Chris Clites, Shawn Miller and former WWE writer Pete Doyle to interview former WWE superstar Hurricane Helms.

Football guru Russell Baxter and sporty diva Pamela Michelle discuss the 2013 AFC, and writer Keith Chartrand previews golf's Open Championship.

Learn how food storage can be a part of your family's regular meals in this episode of ?Food Storage Made Easy.?

Learn about Jessica Meir, a 35-year-old scientist from Maine, one of 8 people chosen from a pool of more than 6,000 applicants to be trained as astronauts.

Bernie Siegel, author of ?Love, Magic and Mudpies,? discusses kids and summer vacations, family therapy and sibling rivalry with his trademark humor and hope.

Guitarist Shun Kikuta, who has played alongside B.B. King and Miss Koko Taylor, offers insight into his soulful, explosive and heart-wrenching music.

Former catcher Kelly Stinnett discusses who got shafted in the Hall of Fame because of steroids and blasts the Blue Jays for signing Melky Cabrera.

Trel Mack, hip-hop artist and songwriter, discusses his rap career and the formation of his independent entertainment label, Street Knowledge Entertainment.

Fiscal and social conservative Senator Lee Bright discusses his political career and his selection to the South Carolina State Legislature in 2008.

Matt Iseman, host of NBC?s ?American Ninja Warrior,? dishes on what makes the show so successful and what we can look forward to in upcoming episodes.

Jay Bakker, author, speaker and pastor of Revolution Church NYC, talks marriage equality and crossing the line to ?discover a faith that is beyond belief."

Evoking such artists as Robin Thicke and Maroon 5, rising stars Cable Car discuss their debut EP, ?Ride,? a refreshing blend of pop, rock and soulful R&B.

Public speaker, educator and author Dr. Rich Schuttler explains the need for everyday leader heroes and encourages listeners to join a worldwide movement.

Beautifully flawed and courageously vulnerable, the women of ?5 Alive? tackle today's most interesting, controversial and disturbing issues head-on.

Dr. Sampson Davis, co-author of the bestselling book ?The Bond,? discusses his journey in life and his new inspirational book, ?Living and Dying in Brick City."

Stuntwoman Deja Mae, daughter of famous stuntman Howard Howell, followed in his footsteps, but music was her first love. Hear about her newly released debut CD.

Marie Manuchehri, nationally known energy intuitive, Reiki master, teacher and author of ?Intuitive Self-Healing,? reveals how to achieve balance and wellness.

Source: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/sportstrapradio/2013/07/21/sports-trap-radio-sunday-football-edition-7-21-13

australia Brothers Grimm Tate Stevens Miss Universe 2012 x factor x factor eastbay

Warner applauds military insurance program for move on autism coverage

?

Posted: July 20, 2013 ?

Filed under: Politics

Tags: autism, congress, mark warner, senate

Get real-time news updates from AFP on Facebook and Twitter

Connect with AFP editor/CEO Chris Graham on LinkedIn

U.S. Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) applauded the TRICARE military health insurance program for clarifying a controversial change in behavioral health care coverage for families with children who have developmental disabilities, including autism.

TRICARE recently announced a rule change that would have placed thousands of military children with developmental disabilities at risk of losing treatment options unless they could demonstrate ?measurable progress? every six months through stringent, standardized testing. The restrictive changes, set to take effect on July 25^th, also would have set an age limit for receiving the special behavioral care treatment known as applied behavioral analysis, viewed as the most widely effective treatment for autistic children.

?I heard from dozens of Hampton Roads military families who were understandably upset about the impact of this TRICARE policy change on their kids, and it certainly appears to have been poorly thought-out. Equally frustrating was their difficulty in getting the attention of anybody at TRICARE so they could express their concerns,??Sen. Warner said. ?We ask an awful lot of our military families, who already are dealing with the stress and disruption of repeated deployments and regular relocations. We should not be adding to that stress, ?especially for military families who are caring for young children with unique challenges.?

After hearing from several Virginia military families, Sen. Warner?on Wednesday??contacted TRICARE to express concerns about these controversial changes. The following day,?on Thursday, TRICARE officials clarified their previous statements, and announced the proposed rules changes?would?not?be applied to active-duty military families?after all.

For ?any active-duty family member currently enrolled in the [extended care program], there is no change in their requirements on?July 25. They can continue to get the same care under the same rules going forward,??Dr. Jonathan Woodson, assistant defense secretary for health affairs, said during a conference call with reporters. ?For all of the existing?programs,there is no plan to implement more rigorous requirements during the next year. We are apologetic to the autism community because we know there has been some controversy over the issue.?

The leading advocacy group?Autism Speaks?also applauded TRICARE?s decision, calling it ?a positive step in the right direction.??? ?I am very, very pleased we were able to get the attention of TRICARE officials so we could provide this reassurance to these Virginia families,? Sen. Warner said.

Since joining the U.S. Senate in 2009, Sen. Warner has consistently worked to protect Virginia?s military families and veterans. In 2010, Sen. Warner enlisted Northern Virginia?s leading technology companies in a pro-bono effort to help address the Army?s chronic recordkeeping challenges and burial errors at Arlington National Cemetery. In 2011, he intervened to insist that the Navy upgrade substandard military family housing in Hampton Roads.? In 2010 and 2011, he successfully worked with the Veterans Administration to expand access nationwide to PTSD treatment services for female veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. More recently, Sen. Warner has championed the efforts of The College of William & Mary?s Puller Veterans Clinic to assist veterans in successfully applying for V-A disability benefits ? a program which the V-A has agreed to highlight as a national model.

Comments

Source: http://augustafreepress.com/warner-applauds-military-insurance-program-for-move-on-autism-coverage/

Valentines Day Quotes nerlens noel Mark Balelo Anne Stringfield paczki lent la times

Shock lingers after Nazi unit leader found in US

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) ? The revelation that a former commander of a Nazi SS-led military unit has lived quietly in Minneapolis for the past six decades came as a shock to those who know 94-year-old Michael Karkoc. World War II survivors in both the U.S. and Europe harshly condemned the news and prosecutors in Poland have said they'll investigate.

An Associated Press investigation found that Karkoc served as a top commander in the Ukrainian Self-Defense Legion during World War II. The unit is accused of wartime atrocities, including the burning of villages filled with women and children.

"I know him personally. We talk, laugh. He takes care of his yard and walks with his wife," his next-door neighbor, Gordon Gnasdoskey, said Friday.

"For me, this is a shock. To come to this country and take advantage of its freedoms all of these years, it blows my mind," said Gnasdoskey, the grandson of a Ukrainian immigrant himself.

Karkoc told American authorities in 1949 that he had performed no military service during World War II, concealing his work as an officer and founding member of the legion and later as an officer in the SS Galician Division, according to records obtained by the AP through a Freedom of Information Act request.

Though records do not show that Karkoc had a direct hand in war crimes, statements from men in his unit and other documentation confirm the Ukrainian company he commanded massacred civilians, and suggest that Karkoc was at the scene of these atrocities as the company leader. Nazi SS files say he and his unit were also involved in the 1944 Warsaw Uprising, in which the Nazis brutally suppressed a Polish rebellion against German occupation.

No one answered the door Friday morning at Karkoc's house on a residential street in northeast Minneapolis. Karkoc had earlier declined to comment on his wartime service when approached by the AP, and repeated efforts to arrange an interview through his son were unsuccessful.

Late Friday, Karkoc's son, Andriy Karkos, read a statement accusing AP of defaming his father. Karkoc became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 1959.

"My father was never a Nazi," said Karkos, who uses a different spelling for his last name. He also said the family wouldn't comment further until it has obtained its own documents and reviewed witnesses and sources.

Polish prosecutors announced Friday they will investigate Karkoc and provide "every possible assistance" to the U.S. Department of Justice, which has used lies in immigration papers to deport dozens of suspected Nazi war criminals.

The AP evidence of Karkoc's wartime activities has also prompted German authorities to express interest in exploring whether there is enough to prosecute. In Germany, Nazis with "command responsibility" can be charged with war crimes even if their direct involvement in atrocities cannot be proven.

Efraim Zuroff, the lead Nazi hunter at the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Jerusalem, said that based on his decades of experience pursuing Nazi war criminals, he expects that the evidence of Karkoc's lies as well as the unit's role in atrocities is strong enough for deportation and war crimes prosecution in Germany or Poland.

Former German army officer Josef Scheungraber ? a lieutenant like Karkoc ? was convicted in Germany in 2009 on charges of murder based on circumstantial evidence that put him at the scene of a Nazi wartime massacre in Italy as the ranking officer.

Members of Karkoc's unit and other witnesses have told stories of brutal attacks on civilians.

One of Karkoc's men, Vasyl Malazhenski, told Soviet investigators that in 1944 the unit was directed to "liquidate all the residents" of the village of Chlaniow in a reprisal attack for the killing of a German SS officer, though he did not say who gave the order.

"It was all like a trance: setting the fires, the shooting, the destroying," Malazhenski recalled, according to the 1967 statement found by the AP in the archives of Warsaw's state-run Institute of National Remembrance, which investigates and prosecutes German and Soviet crimes on Poles during and after World War II.

In a background check by U.S. officials on April 14, 1949, Karkoc said he had never performed any military service, telling investigators that he "worked for father until 1944. Worked in labor camp from 1944 until 1945."

However, in a Ukrainian-language memoir published in 1995, Karkoc states that he helped found the Ukrainian Self Defense Legion in 1943 in collaboration with the Nazis' feared SS intelligence agency, the SD, to fight on the side of Germany ? and served as a company commander in the unit, which received orders directly from the SS, through the end of the war.

It was not clear why Karkoc felt safe publishing his memoir, which is available at the U.S. Library of Congress and the British Library and which the AP located online in an electronic Ukrainian library.

Karkoc currently lives in a modest house in an area of Minneapolis that has a significant Ukrainian population. He recently came to the door without help of a cane or a walker. He would not comment on his wartime service: "I don't think I can explain," he said.

Karkoc and his family are longtime members of the St. Michael's and St. George's Ukrainian Orthodox Church.

"All the time I am here, I know him as a good man, a good citizen," said the Rev. Evhen Kumka, the church's pastor. "He's well known in the congregation."

Kumka moved from Ukraine to Minnesota 19 years ago to lead the congregation, and said Karkoc was already active in the church. Kumka wouldn't say whether he'd spoken to Karkoc about his past, but said he was skeptical.

"I don't think everything is correct," Kumka said. "As I know him, he is a good example for many people."

Karkoc worked as a carpenter in Minneapolis, and appeared in a 1980 issue of Carpenter magazine among a group celebrating 25 years of union membership. He was a member and a secretary in the local branch of the Ukrainian National Association, a fraternal organization, and voting records obtained by the AP show he regularly voted in city, state and general elections.

Karkoc's name surfaced when a retired clinical pharmacologist who researched Nazi war crimes in his free time came across it while looking into members of the SS Galician Division who immigrated to Britain. He tipped off the AP when an Internet search showed an address for Karkoc in Minnesota.

The AP located Karkoc's U.S. Army intelligence file, which was declassified by the National Archives in Maryland through a FOIA request. The Army was responsible for processing visa applications after the war under the Displaced Persons Act.

The intelligence file said standard background checks found no red flags that would disqualify Karkoc from entering the United States. But it also noted that it lacked key information from the Soviet side regarding the verification of his identity.

Wartime documents located by the AP also confirm Karkoc's membership in the Self Defense Legion. They include a Nazi payroll sheet found in Polish archives, signed by an SS officer on Jan. 8, 1945 ? only four months before the war's end ? confirming that Karkoc was present in Krakow, Poland, to collect his salary as a member of the Self Defense Legion.

He joined the regular German army after the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941 and fought on the Eastern Front in Ukraine and Russia, according to his memoirs, which say he was awarded an Iron Cross for bravery.

He was also a member of the Ukrainian nationalist organization OUN; in 1943, he helped negotiate with the Nazis to have men drawn from its membership form the Self Defense Legion, according to his account. In 1945, the legion was dissolved and folded into the SS Galician Division.

Policy at the time of Karkoc's immigration application ? according to a declassified secret U.S. government document obtained by the AP from the National Archives ? was to deny a visa to anyone who had served in either the SS Galician Division or the OUN.

Justice Department spokesman Michael Passman in Washington said the agency could was aware of the AP story and could not confirm or deny an investigation.

News of Karkoc's past prompted anger from World War II survivors in countries where the Ukrainian Self-Defense Legion was active. In Poland, Honorata Banach told the AP she wants Karkoc to apologize. She was 20 when she fled the Polish village of Chlaniow before it was burned down by the legion.

"There was so much suffering, so many orphans, so much pain," Banach said. She and her mother returned the day after the attack, she said, to see that "everything was burned down, even the fences, the trees. I could not even find my house."

Survivors told her the Ukrainian legion did it, she said.

Sam Rafowitz, an 88-year-old Jewish resident of the Minneapolis suburb of Minnetonka, grew up in Warsaw, Poland, and spent four years working in concentration camps. He took a hard line after hearing the news about Karkoc.

"I think they should put him on trial," said Rafowitz, who lost his mother and other relatives at the Majadenk concentration camp in Lublin, Poland. He said soldiers in the camp were German but that it was run by Ukrainians.

"You don't forget," Rafowitz said. "For me, it's been almost close to 70 years those things happened, but I still know about it. I still remember everything."

Menachem Rosensaft, who was born in the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, now teaches the law of genocide and war crimes at several New York universities. He said Karkoc is a reminder that the Holocaust and other genocides "cannot be viewed as abstract history."

"I have every confidence that if Mr. Karkoc was not already on the Justice Department's radar screen, he now is," Rosensaft said.

___

Rising reported from Berlin, Herschaft from New York, Scislowska from Warsaw and Condon from Minneapolis. Associated Press writers Maria Danilova in Kiev, Ukraine; Efrem Lukatsky in Pidhaitsi, Ukraine; Svetlana Fedas in Lviv, Ukraine; Amy Forliti, Doug Glass and Brian Bakst in Minneapolis; and Pete Yost in Washington contributed to this report.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/shock-lingers-nazi-unit-leader-found-us-135442792.html

bill clinton andy roddick Costa Rica Earthquake sandra fluke costa rica Earthquake Costa Rica

Jackie K. Cooper: It's So Easy To Bash "Franklin & Bash"

Get Entertainment Alerts:

TV Review Jackie K Cooper
"Franklin & Bash" (TNT)

"Franklin & Bash" has always been an easy show to criticize, or to bash, due to its lack of focus. Since its inception it has been a show in search of a theme. It is advertised as two wild and crazy guys serving as lawyers in cases where the underdogs of society are being run over by the system. This worked for James Spader and William Shatner on ""Boston Legal" but somehow just doesn't work here.

As Jared Franklin (Breckin Meyer) and Peter Bash (Mark-Paul Gosselaar) go about their legal cases week after week, it seems they are playing roles and not really being characters. Plus they don't have the right chemistry between them to make this a buddy buddy type of series. They say the right words but the emotions behind the words seem fake.

The supporting cast of Dana Davis, Reed Diamond and Kumail Nanjiani are grossly underused. Each of these actors show the needed talent in creating characters that would enhance "Franklin and Bash" but because they are kept so far in the background they don't make a dent in the effect of the show. Then you have Malcolm McDowell as the slightly bizarre Stanton Infeld, a character who is all over the map, and the show slips even further into the mire.

This year they have brought in Heather Locklear to play the managing boss of the firm where Franklin and Bash are employed. If this isn't jumping the shark nothing is. Locklear made a positive impact on "Melrose Place" and "Spin City" when she made a late arrival. It is doubtful her magic will work on this show. She will certainly make a valiant effort but it seems she brings too little too late.

"Franklin & Bash" is starring its third season. They have tossed out Garcelle Beauvais and brought in Heather Locklear. The episodes I have viewed are still more of the same from the past two years. The two guys are still lamely clowning around; McDowell's character is behaving even more bizarrely; Locklear is bringing her "Melrose" role of Amanda into the office - and none of it works.

It appears it is time to shut down this series and find something that provides more entertainment. It is difficult to believe that "Southland" was cancelled and this show stays on the air.

"Franklin & Bash" airs on TNT, Wednesday nights at 9.

Jackie K Cooper
www.jackiekcooper.com

?

?

?

"; var coords = [-5, -72]; // display fb-bubble FloatingPrompt.embed(this, html, undefined, 'top', {fp_intersects:1, timeout_remove:2000,ignore_arrow: true, width:236, add_xy:coords, class_name: 'clear-overlay'}); });

Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jackie-k-cooper/its-so-easy-to-bash-frank_b_3451144.html

homeland homeland Miss America 2013 Aaron Swartz Gangster Squad school shooting oscar nominations

Google Wants to Use Balloons to Cover the World in Wi-Fi

If you go deep inside the desert or climb a mountain or find yourself in the South Pole or a remote farm or any place that can be considered 'the middle of no where', guess what? You have no internet. Well, Wired is reporting that Google wants to change all that by sending high-altitude balloons into the stratosphere to give the world Wi-Fi. Whoa.

Because of course Google would dream something as impossible and radical as cloaking the world in balloons 60,000 feet above sea level so that the entire world can get on the Internet. It's something straight out of meetings about the future, something rooted in conversations between smart people who only ask each other "But why not?", something even Google itself admits is crazy by calling it Project Loon.

What is Project Loon exactly? Only a plan to get hundreds and thousands of high-pressure balloons to circle the Earth and given internet to billions of people on Earth. It's part of Google's famed Google X Lab which is bringing the world Google Glass and self-driving cars. Wired reports:

It is an audacious proposal, and today in Christchurch, Google is holding a press conference with New Zealand's Prime Minister to formally unveil it. Google will also stage Project Loon?s biggest trial yet: 50 testers in Christchurch within the 12-mile range of the balloons will see if they can get connected from the sky.

How the heck will Google control the Internet giving balloons? Variable buoyancy, apparently. It means steering by tweaking altitude to find desirable wind currents. That sounds like guessing to me but Google insists it's controlled better than that. Google lets the balloons fly naturally but also will move them up or down to catch winds in the direction Google wants the balloons to travel in. The balloons will be carried by wind at altitudes twice as high as planes and "beam Internet access to the ground at speeds similar to today?s 3G networks or faster."

Read the whole report about the current testing of the Google Wi-Fi Balloons at Wired. Learn more about Project Loon at Google. And wonder what seemingly unsolvable problem Google wants to solve with the future with us down below. [Project Loon, Wired, Image Credit: Wired]

Source: http://gizmodo.com/google-wants-to-use-balloons-to-cover-the-world-in-wi-f-513537918

mariano rivera jobs report tiger woods masters 2012 nikki haley stan van gundy navy jet crash virginia beach crash

Airbus A350 XWB First Flight Video: The Dreamliner's Nightmare Is Real

What you're looking at here is history; the triumph of seven years of design and engineering. Today, the Airbus A350 XWB completed its first flight. Here's the video of the mammoth taking to the skies:

Far from just another tin tank, the A350 is a carbon fiber miracle. It's frame is made from 53-percent composite materials?more than competing planes?as well as a fuel-conscious amenities like LED lighting inside. Altogether, these features make te A350 the most-efficient, large twin-engine bird to ever fly?according to Airbus' numbers anyway.

The A350 sailed off a runway in Toulouse, France, and completed a four-hour test flight as scheduled early this morning. This is just the beginning of the airplane's one-year, 2500-hour certification process. If all goes well, the airplane could be taking off from an airport near you by 2014.

The European-build A350 is considered the key competitor to Boeing's new 787 Dreamliner, and the larger Boeing 777. The Dreamliner is a considerably smaller plane than the A350. The 787 can hold up to 250 passengers while the A350 can fit up to 350.

The reason the two planes are considered competitors is due to their advanced composite bodies and fuel efficiency. Indeed, that the Airbus bird is made of 53-percent composites is a not-so-subtle answer to the Dreamliner's 50-percent composite build.

The Dreamliner, which first took off last year, had the first-mover advantage.

It was supposed to vanquish the A350 with ease. Except the plan completely backfired. The Dreamliner has been plagued with problems. Earlier this year, a Dreamliner caught fire in boston following the failure of its experimental power system, which uses lithium-ion batteries. In fact, just a few days ago, the world's second largest operator of Dreamliners canceled service with an aircraft after one plane's engines refused to start on the runway?it's happened three times in a week.

Airbus might have been a little late to the party, bit it learned from Boeings failures and scrapped plans for a lithium-ion battery. [Airbus]

Source: http://gizmodo.com/airbus-a350-xwb-first-flight-video-the-dreamliners-ni-513360748

barcelona vs real madrid renee zellweger catherine zeta jones charlize theron barbra streisand barbra streisand hugh jackman

Christie maintains a political balancing act

CHICAGO (AP) ? Republican Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey is walking a political tightrope as he charts his future, trying to balance his re-election campaign in a Democratic-leaning state with a potential presidential bid aimed at winning over Republicans.

His latest challenge came in an appearance with former President Bill Clinton in Chicago, a move that ran the risk of alienating religious conservatives being wooed in Washington by other potential GOP presidential candidates.

Christie has pitched himself as a pragmatic, bipartisan leader as he seeks a second term as governor this fall. Participating in the Clinton Global Initiative America's meeting on Friday gave him a chance to appear with the popular ex-president ? the event was billed "Cooperation and Collaboration: A Conversation on Leadership" ? and to talk about tackling problems like New Jersey's recovery from Superstorm Sandy.

In Washington the same day, evangelical conservatives gathered for Ralph Reed's annual Faith and Freedom Coalition conference. Republican presidential hopefuls tackled heated issues like abortion and immigration ? policy debates that may shape the future of the GOP. Activists attending the conference questioned Christie's priorities.

"He can't spend 10 minutes just to make an appearance?" asked Ginger Howard, a Christian conservative who hosts an Atlanta radio show. "People who neglect us are sorry."

Seven hundred miles from the conservative gathering, Clinton and Christie praised each other during a friendly 40-minute conversation about New Jersey's recovery from the storm at the Clinton Global Initiative America meeting.

The former president turned to the audience at one point and said of Christie, "I want all of you to know how much work he's done on this."

"The enduring image that most Americans have of you is standing there in your jacket, grieving with your people, working with them and working with your president," Clinton told the Republican governor. "And you got both praise and damnation for ignoring the political differences that you had then and still have with the president and all of us in the other party to do something that was really important."

Christie explained his thought process in the days after the storm, repeatedly mentioning his discussions with Obama.

"There are no partisan lines on this one when it happens," Christie said. "You're reaching out to everybody you can."

Christie has taken a number of steps in recent weeks to highlight his centrist, above-politics approach. The governor picked up endorsements earlier this week from home-state Democrats and appeared with President Barack Obama along the Jersey Shore late last month to tout the region's recovery from a devastating storm. It was Christie's second joint appearance with Obama along the coast, the first coming a week before the 2012 election in a move that caused some conservatives to charge that it undermined Mitt Romney's presidential campaign.

Reed's Faith and Freedom Coalition, a group created by the influential former Christian Coalition leader, featured appearances from several Republicans thought to be weighing presidential bids. Sens. Marco Rubio of Florida and Rand Paul of Kentucky spoke at the opening luncheon, followed by former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, Romney's running mate last year, and former presidential candidate Rick Santorum, among others.

In many cases, they rejected calls for a moderate approach to explosive issues like gay marriage and immigration, insisting that Republicans double down on their conservative ideals as they look to rebuild after Obama's re-election.

Christie avoided the issues completely by not showing up.

"Chris Christie is dangerously close to sending conservative Republicans a clear message that he doesn't care about their thoughts or views," said Republican operative Michael Dennehy, a veteran of presidential politics. "Spending time with Barack Obama is one thing, but when he goes out of his way to spend time with Bill Clinton it begins looking like a pattern of behavior that will alienate Republican voters ? and conservatives in particular."

Christie's political team remains focused on his re-election campaign, setting aside any potential presidential ambitions ahead of the November election. But the appearance alongside Clinton could have benefits.

Clinton carried New Jersey twice and remains popular among Democrats, who comprise about one-third of the state's electorate. Unaffiliated voters in Christie's state account for nearly half the electorate, and Republicans make up the smallest slice, only about 20 percent.

Beyond the immediate political implications, Clinton's appearance with Christie offers parallels to the ex-president's own career. When Clinton launched his presidential campaign in the fall of 1991, his party had suffered three straight presidential defeats and many Democrats openly wondered if they could recapture the White House.

Clinton effectively bridged the divide among liberal Democrats and more business-minded centrists who supported fiscal discipline, welfare reform and tougher responses to crime.

Now Republicans have lost two straight presidential campaigns and the party has gone through an extensive evaluation on how to expand its appeal to women, minorities and young people. In running for re-election, Christie regularly talks about building a new coalition in his home state that appeals to independents and "right-thinking Democrats" as he calls them ? a recipe that he could take to the national stage in the 2016 campaign.

"(Christie) has to be bigger than his party," said Al From, the former head of the Democratic Leadership Council and an adviser who was critical to Clinton's success in the early 1990s. "He has to reach out to constituencies that Republicans haven't been able to appeal to."

All of that helps explain why Christie has been so focused on the political center. Even his light-hearted moments are aimed there.

The governor took flak last week for scheduling a special election in October to fill a Senate vacancy created by the death of Sen. Frank Lautenberg ? even though he stands before voters in November. Democrats contended that a hugely expensive election would be staged mainly to allow Christie to avoid appearing on a ballot with a Democratic senate candidate, probably popular Newark Mayor Cory Booker. Republicans, meanwhile, thought Christie had missed the opportunity to put a GOP senator in office for 18 months.

Christie taped a humorous segment defending his decision on NBC's "Late Night with Jimmy Fallon" on Wednesday. The show was bumped by a triple-overtime NHL playoff game, but the video, in which Christie "slow-jams" the news, was released Thursday and quickly racked up about 60,000 views on YouTube.

At one point, Fallon intoned, "You ain't lyin', CC. Now look at you, sounding all presidential-like. Do you have something you want to announce on the show right now?"

Christie responded, "C'mon, Jimmy, do you really think I'd come on this show to announce a presidential run?"

Conservatives in Washington knew about the Fallon appearance. And they weren't pleased.

"He has time for Jimmy Fallon and not us?" Jane Parker, a Christian conservative from North Carolina, said while waiting for Bush to take the stage in Washington. "I really liked him to start. But he's not doing enough to support conservatives."

___

Follow Ken Thomas on Twitter: http://twitter.com/AP_Ken_Thomas

Follow Steve Peoples on Twitter: http://twitter.com/sppeoples

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/christie-maintains-political-balancing-act-210223596.html

aretha franklin whitney houston paul williams paul babeu kevin costner budweiser shootout animal house invincible