New Moratorium Backed By Bureau Of Ocean Energy Management

by Miles Wolf Tamboli - Talk Radio News Service

One day after Interior Secretary Ken Salazar revealed a revised moratorium on offshore drilling in the Gulf, Director of the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, formerly known as the Minerals Management Service, Michael Bromwich met with President Obama’s special BP-Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling Commission in New Orleans to express his approval of Washington’s policies.

Bromwich contended that the decision to reinstate the ban was based on “extensive” information, and is focused on enhancing drilling safety and blowout containment capability, and developing better disaster response strategies.

Salazar’s appointed Bureau of Ocean Energy Management Director did concede that the moratorium was, “roughly congruent with the original moratorium,” but argued that this most recent ban is concerned with specific rig technologies, and not just the depth of the well.

“So long as the spill is out there, has not been contained, and that the oil spill response capabilities are all being consumed by the current spill, the Secretary concluded that it is simply too risky to allow deep water drilling to continue,” Bromwich said.

Obama Administration Announces National HIV/AIDS Strategy

By Victoria Jones - Talk Radio News Service

The Obama administration announced Tuesday its national HIV/Aids strategy, which has three primary goals: reducing the number of new infections, increasing access to care and optimizing health outcomes for people living with HIV and reducing HIV-related health disparities.

Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said the goal of the White House is to make HIV infection rare. She said that since the 1990s, progress in prevention of HIV has slowed, and that while we are keeping pace, we should be gaining ground. She said that one person is infected every nine and a half minutes.

Sebelius said that the strategy would intensify prevention in communities, and that while condoms and testing are important, prevention is most successful when are all tools are used. All those who are infected should receive “unfettered access to high quality life-extending care free from stigma and discrimination”, said Sebelius.

Sebelius said that $30 million would be made available for new and existing efforts to learn about HIV, especially in needy communities. She also said that the strategy should involve ways to use resources more effectively, that it was not just an injection of cash.

White House Domestic Policy Director Melody Barnes said that an estimated 56,000 Americans contract HIV each year, although the disease has slowed since the 1980s. Roughly 1.1 million Americans are living with HIV.

A representative from Housing Works, an AIDS advocacy organization, asked how going from one person infected every nine and a half minutes to one infected every twelve minutes makes HIV rare. The reply was that a 25% decrease in infection is an achievable, realistic goal to achieve within five years. In the past, aggressive goals have not worked.


Victoria Jones is a White House Correspondent for Talk Radio News Service

Protesters March From Philadelphia To Protest Chinese Occupation Of Tibet

By Rob Sanna-Talk Radio News

On Tuesday, a collection of American and Tibetan congregated in front of the Chinese embassy in Washington D.C. to make a statement about China’s occupation of Tibet. A handful of those present marched from Philadelphia in a 10 day trip that spanned nearly 140 miles.

One activist who made the cross-state march commented that the response has thus far been positive.

“Mostly Americans have been really supportive,” he said. “It has been an honor and a pleasure to walk with these Tibetans.”

Larry Gerstein, President of the International Tibet Independence Movement, said the organization sent a letter the to embassy asking China to remove all military and political figures, release all political prisoners.

Tibet has been under Chinese control since the 1950s. 

Sharpton Urges Congress To Do More For African-American Communities

By Sarah Mamula - Talk Radio News Service

Rev. Al Sharpton said Tuesday that more must be done in the education and housing sectors to improve the lives of African-American across the country. The reverend acknowledged the successes of the African-American community in the political arena, but pushed for even more action to be taken during President Obama’s first term.

“We are in the White House. We have chairmen in the [congressional] committees and 42 blacks in Congress. But, we have a clock that’s running,” Sharpton said. “They did not give President and Ms. Obama the deed to the White House…they gave them a lease.”

Citing Nelson Mandela, Sharpton said, “We proved now we can win an election, now we need to prove we can govern. Can we govern?”

Hosted by Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Tuesday’s conference sought to educate and inform African-American faith based leaders on how to use federal grants to confront challenges facing African-American communities in New York.

Sharpton commended Gillibrand for being proactive in helping the African-American community and organizing the summit, but he questioned the priorities of other leaders of Congress who he believes need to do more.

“Y’all [the government] got enough money to fund two wars, to bail out Wall Street, to bring the banks back,” he said. “What is available for our people?”

In remembrance of the Civil Rights Movement, Sharpton said he will host a commemorative march in Washington, D.C. on August 28. The march falls on the 47th anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have A Dream” speech.

Hoyer Criticizes Kyl, Bush Tax Cuts

Philip Bunnell - Talk Radio News Service

House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer (D-Md.) soundly criticized remarks made by Minority Whip Senator Jon Kyl (R-AZ) regarding the continuation of the Bush tax cuts.

“Essentially what [Kyl] meant was that going deeply into debt to cut taxes was acceptable,”  Hoyer said in response to Kyl’s comments on Fox News Sunday.

Kyl publicly voiced his approval for extending the Bush tax cuts on the program, despite negative impacts the tax cuts have on the deficit. “Now, somebody at some point or time has to pay that bill,” the top Democrat said. “Thirty-five percent of our deficit that we confront is directly attributable to that philosophy.”

Hoyer acknowledged a recent Washington Post/ABC News poll, which showed that a growing number of Americans disapprove of President Barack Obama’s handling of the economy.

“I’m not happy about it,” said Hoyer. “Americans are angry… their economy is still not working the way it ought to work. Their anger should be focused on not returning to the Bush, Hastert, Boehner, McCain, policies, which plunged us deep into debt and resulted in the worst economy in the lifetime of almost every American.”

The House Leader took time to applaud the recent passage of the budget enforcement resolution, which passed before Congress took its July 4th recess.  As a former member of the House Appropriations Committee, Hoyer said that the act was significant, even though he would have preferred a full budget. 

“I believe the budget enforcement resolution was, in fact, a very meaningful action taken by the Congress,” Hoyer said. “This was not some superficial action without meaning.” 

The resolution sets discretionary spending $7 billion below what President Obama requested.