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 President Barack Obama said this
weekend he would soon announce
the elimination of dozens of waste-
ful or ineffective government pro-
grams as part of a broad effort to
restore fiscal accountability to the
federal budget.
 Obama, speaking in his weekly
radio address, said he would use his
first full Cabinet meeting on
Monday to ask department and
agency heads for specific ideas to
trim their budgets.
 He named two new officials as
part of a team of management, tech-
nology and budget experts that will
drive the process of trimming the
fat and waste from government
spending.
 "As surely as our future depends
on building a new energy economy,
controlling healthcare costs and
ensuring that our kids are once
again the best educated in the


world, it also depends on restoring a
sense of responsibility and account-
ability to our federal budget,"
Obama said.
 "Without significant change to
steer away from ever-expanding
deficits and debt, we are on an
unsustainable course," he added.
 The United States posted a record
$956.8 billion budget deficit for the
first half of fiscal 2009, more than
three times the shortfall of a year
ago, the Treasury Department
reported earlier this month.
 Much of the deficit was caused
by spending on financial and eco-
nomic rescue programs aimed at
propping up companies whose col-
lapse could worsen the global
recession.
 Republicans have accused
Obama and the Democratic-con-
trolled Congress of wasteful spend-
ing. They say Obama's $3.5 trillion


federal budget plan carries too
much deficit spending and too few
tax cuts.
 "It's irresponsible to borrow more
than all previous American presi-
dents combined," Representative
Kevin McCarthy said in the
Republicans' weekly address. "And
it must stop if we want to get our
economy moving again."
 He criticized high-priced govern-
ment spending programs, saying
the government should instead offer
more tax relief for small business.
 CONTRACT FOR
 NEW LOGOS AXED
 Obama said Cabinet officials
already had begun cutting back
unnecessary expenditures, includ-
ing a consulting contract to create
new seals and logos that cost
Department of Homeland Security
$3 million since 2003.
 The president also commended


Defense Secretary Robert Gates'
project to reform defense contract-
ing procedures to eliminate what he
said were hundreds of billions of
dollars in wasteful spending and
cost overruns.
 "If we're to going to rebuild our
economy on a solid foundation, we
need to change the way we do busi-
ness in Washington," he said. "We
need to restore the American peo-
ple's confidence in their govern-
ment -- that it is on their side,
spending their money wisely, to
meet their families' needs."
 He named Jeffrey Zients, a man-
agement consultant and entrepre-
neur, to act as chief performance
office with the official title of
deputy director for management of
the Office of Management and
Budget.
 Zients is a director of Sirius XM
Radio and served as chief executive
of The Advisory Board Company.
 His job will be to streamline
 processes, cut costs and find best
practices throughout the govern-
ment, Obama said.
 He named Aneesh Chopra, the
 secretary of technology for the state
 of Virginia, to be the U.S. chief
 technology officer charged with
 promoting technological innova-
 tion.


 City sponsors housing symposium to

address Duval County foreclosure epidemic


Pictured at the 7th Annual Fair Housing Symposium at the Schultz
Center are (L-R): Janice Love, Natasha Brereton of Jax Area Legal
Aid, Sharon Brown and Anna Roa Martinez of the Human Rights


 Continued from page
 According to Tutwiler, federal
stimulus dollars are taking fore-
closed homes and making them
available to families who couldn't
previously afford them. "We want
people to return to the urban core
and take advantage of the opportu-


nities," he said.
 Janice Love, co-chair of the
Eastside Neighborhood
Association, agrees with Tutwiler.
"I came to this event to get infor-
mation on reverse mortgages and
came away with so much more to
take back to my neighbors. Home


ownership makes a positive differ-
ence, but people need to be pre-
pared for it," she said.
 JHA case manager Terra Shaw
says that one of the biggest factors
leading to foreclosures is lack of
information. "Home ownership is
desired, but we want to educate
people to get there. There are
numerous programs available to
subsidize rent until residents can
afford to purchase. Under the
Family Self-Sufficiency Program,
we train people to convert from
renters to home owners through
education, financial literacy and job
preparation. We want them to be
better off tomorrow than they are
today," she said.
 Workshop attendee Janice Brown
is no longer frightened by the
national foreclosure crisis and
believes she has a chance at home
ownership. "This event really
made a difference for me. I plan on
getting the education I need to
make smart financial choices and
own a home. I have learned the
American dream can become a real-
ity for me," she said.


 Second Vice Chairman Bernard Reed and Secretary Denise Mathis
of the Northeast Florida Veterans Council were among the many
resource participants in the city's Veterans Resource Fair.
 Hundreds join forces to aid and assist

 area veterans at Annual Resource Fair
 The City of Jacksonville Military Affairs, Veterans and Disabled Services
Division will held its 11th annual Veterans
Resource Fair last weekend. The two day event /
provides opportunities for job placement and a ,
variety of social services at the Jacksonville -.
Agricultural Fairgrounds.
 On Friday, more than 50 local businesses and
organizations were available to provide informa-
tion on job opportunities in a wide array of career
fields. Job related services such as resume writ- .'
ing assistance and State Identification Cards were also available.
 On Saturday, hundreds of homeless and at-risk Veterans received VA
services, medical care, haircuts, food, clothing, shelter and housing infor-
mation, debt management and financial education, substance abuse infor-
mation, legal services and much more.


 Statistics show more Whites, fewer

Blacks going to state prisons for drugs


 For the first time since the war
on drugs became a national law
enforcement obsession in the mid-
1980s, the number of African-
Americans in state prisons for drug
offenses has declined, a criminal
justice reform organization said. .
 A recently released study by the
Sentencing Project found a 21.6
percent drop in the number of
blacks incarcerated for drug offens-
es, a decline of 31,000 people,
from 1999 to 2005.
 The corresponding number of
whites in state prisons for drug
offenses rose 42.6 percent, or by
more than 21,000 people, while the
number of Hispanics was virtually
unchanged, according to "The
Changing Racial Dynamics of the
War on Drugs."


 Sne siuay, autnorea oy
Executive Director Marc Mauer,
found that the differences between
black and white imprisonments for
drug crimes are partly because of
how police target suspects and
court sentencing guidelines, which
vary by state.
 Also, there, has been a decrease
in the use of crack cocaine in pre-
dominantly minority urban neigh-


borhoods and an increase in
methamphetamine abuse in many
primarily white rural areas.
 Mauer said that 2005 offers the
most recent breakdown of racial
data but there was no analysis by
drug type. Nevertheless, "we know
in broad terms" that crack and
powder cocaine and methampheta-
mine have been key targets of law
enforcement, he said. Crack use
also is declining, he said.
 "We know that blacks have been
disproportionately targeted for
crack offenses ... conversely for
whites," Mauer said Wednesday. A
growing proportion of people have
been imprisoned for abusing
methamphetamine, he said, most of
whom are white.


FDA: ILL-SUITED FOR TOBACCO REGULATION




The FDA is Clearly Overwhelmed feel the food recall process is only fair or poor, while
 The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is supposed 73 percent of adults say they are just as concerned
to approve new medicines, monitor the safety of those about food safety as they are about war on terror.4


already on the market, and keep
our food safe.
 But, currently the FDA is not
doing a good job. In early 2008,
a blood thinner manufactured
in China which the FDA let into
the US was contaminated by a
mysterious ingredientand caused
81 deaths.1Summer2008brought
a salmonella outbreak, blamed
first on tomatoes and later on
hot peppers, that infected 1,442
people and resulted in at least
286 hospitalizations in 43 states.2
Just this winter, salmonella in
peanuts killed six people, made
486 people sick and led to the
recall of more than 2,800 foods
with peanut ingredients.3


It's clear that the FDA is


already overwhelmed.


Should they be given


the authority to regulate


the $80 billion tobacco


industry, too?


 It's clear that the FDA is already overwhelmed.
Should they be given the authority to regulate the $80
billion tobacco industry, too?

Congress Wants the FDA to
Regulate Tobacco
 Congress wants to add tobacco products to the
FDA's list. We think that's just wrong. The majority of
Americans are losing confidence in the FDA's ability to
protect our nation's food and drug supply. Recently, a
national survey revealed that 61 percent of U.S. adults


 Before the latest FDA
blunders, a poll was conducted
which found that 82 percent
of likely voters are concerned
that a proposal in Congress to
let FDA regulate tobacco would
interfere with the agency's
core mission of regulating the
nation's food and drug supply.5
This is an issue which deserves
to be fully debated, and right
now, that isn't happening.

The FDA is Not the
Place for it
 Lorillard supports additional


 regulation of the tobacco
 industry. But, the FDA is not
 the place for it. Expanding the
FDA's role, when the ineffective food and drug safety
programs that are now in place pose an immediate
threat, is a health hazard all its own.

'Harris, Gardner. "Heparin Contamination May Have Been Deliberate, F.D.A. Says." New
YorkTimes. April 30, 2008.
2"Investigation of Outbreak of Infections Caused by Salmonella Saintpaul." Center
for Disease Control and Prevention. August 28, 2008. URL: http://cdc.gov/Salmonella/
saintpaul/
3"Is the FDA a broken agency?"The Associated Press. March 3, 2009.
4"Food Safety: Majority of Americans Feel Industry Doesn't Do Enough." American
Society for Quality. March 11, 2009. URL: http://www.asq.org/media-room/press-
releases/2009/20090311-food-safety.html
s"Zogby Poll: 82% Fear Tobacco Regulation Mandate Puts FDA Core Mission at Risk."
Zogby International. February 26, 2008.


TOBACCO COMPANY


www.mentholchoice.com


I A


Obama Says He'll Cut Dozens of Wasteful Programs


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Ms. Perry's Free Press Page 5


April 23-30, 2009