Apple Got The Ads

Say what? This what $300M buys you, gotta get back in this businesses - soon to launch a Cincinnati Change Cincinnati Development Authority subsidiary called Multimedia Advertising and Marketing (MAM).

Apple keeps pummeling Microsoft in its ads, and yadda yadda yadda, the world's largest software maker plans to hire comedian Jerry Seinfeld for its new marketing campaign, the Wall Street Journal reported Thursday.

Continually painted by Apple and other rivals as uncool and unsafe, Microsoft plans to spend US$300 million on a new series of advertisements designed around its "Windows Not Walls" slogan that will feature Seinfeld and Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates.

Seinfeld will take home $10 million for his role in the spots, the report said, citing people familiar with the situation.

Microsoft is not only trying to turn around a stodgy corporate image, but also wants to reverse recent product misfires, including the Windows Vista operating system and the Zune digital music player.

Apple has rubbed in Microsoft's lack of success and highlighted its own winning streak in a series of "Mac vs. PC. Here is one as an expample.

Fannie and Freddie are history?

WASHINGTON - The United States Government is expected to take over Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac as soon as this weekend in a monumental move designed to protect the mortgage market from the failure of the two companies, which together hold or guarantee half of the nation's mortgage debt, a person briefed on the matter said Friday night.
Some of the details of the intervention, which could cost taxpayers billions, were not yet available, but are expected to include the departure of Fannie Mae CEO Daniel Mudd and Freddie Mac CEO Richard Syron, according to the source, who asked not to be named because the plan was yet to be announced.

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and James Lockhart, the companies' chief regulator, met Friday afternoon with the top executives from the mortgage companies and informed them of the government's plan to put the troubled companies into a conservatorship.

The news, first reported on The Wall Street Journal's Web site, came after stock markets closed. In after-hours trading Fannie Mae's shares plunged $1.54, or 22 percent, to $5.50. Freddie Mac's shares fell $1.06, or almost 21 percent, to $4.04. Common stock in the companies will be worth little to nothing after the government's actions.

The news also followed a report Friday by the Mortgage Bankers Association that more than 4 million American homeowners with a mortgage, a record 9 percent, were either behind on their payments or in foreclosure at the end of June.

That confirmed what investors saw in Fannie and Freddie's recent financial results: trouble in the mortgage market has shifted to homeowners who had solid credit but took out exotic loans with little or no proof of their income and assets.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac lost a combined $3.1 billion between April and June. Half of their credit losses came from these types of risky loans with ballooning monthly payments.

While both companies said they had enough resources to withstand the losses, many investors believe their financial cushions could wither away as defaults and foreclosures mount.

Many in Washington and on Wall Street hadn't expected Paulson to intervene unless the companies had trouble issuing debt to fund their operations.

This summer, Congress passed a plan to provide unlimited government loans to Fannie and Freddie and to purchase stock in the two companies if needed.

Critics say the open-ended nature of the rescue package could expose taxpayers to billions of dollars of potential losses.

Supporters, however, argue the Bush administration had little choice but to support Fannie and Freddie, which together hold or guarantee $5 trillion in mortgages — almost half the nation's total.

Representatives of Fannie and Freddie declined to comment on the government assistance plan.

Treasury spokeswoman Brookly McLaughlin said officials "have been in regular communications" with Fannie and Freddie, but refused to comment saying, "We are not going to comment on rumors."

Concern has been growing that a government rescue of Fannie and Freddie could not only wipe out common stockholders, but also be costly for scores of investment, banking and insurance companies that hold billions of dollars in their preferred shares.

Paulson has been in contact in recent weeks with foreign governments that hold billions of dollars of Fannie and Freddie debt to reassure them that the United States recognizes the importance of the two companies.

The two companies had nearly $36 billion in preferred shares outstanding as of June 30, according to filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Mudd, the son of TV anchor Roger Mudd, was elevated to Fannie Mae's top post in December 2004 when chief executive Franklin Raines and chief financial officer Timothy Howard were swept out of office in an accounting scandal. Syron was named Freddie Mac's CEO in 2003, replacing former chief Gregory Parseghian, who was ousted in after being implicated in accounting irregularities.

He formerly was executive chairman of Thermo Electron Corp., a Waltham, Mass.-based maker of scientific equipment, served head of the American Stock Exchange and was president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston in the early 1990s.

Fannie Mae was created by the government in 1938, and was turned into a shareholder-owned company 30 years later. Freddie Mac was established in 1970 to provide competition for Fannie.

A government takeover could cost taxpayers up to $25 billion, according to the Congressional Budget Office.

But the epic decision highlights the size of the threats facing the housing market and the economy. On Friday, Nevada regulators shut down Silver State Bank, the 11th failure this year of a federally insured bank. And earlier this year, the government orchestrated the takeover of investment bank Bear Stearns by JP Morgan Chase.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency - a new federal regulator

Washington, DC – The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) has transmitted to the Federal Register a Notice of “Establishment of a New Independent Agency.” This provides formal public notice of the existence of the Agency, its purpose and the chapter of the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) that it will employ for public dissemination of regulations, guidances and other publications. The new chapter of the Code is Title 12 CFR Chapter XII.

FHFA was established July 30, 2008 and is making good progress in integrating the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight (OFHEO), the Federal Housing Finance Board and HUD mission and affordable housing programs.

Additional announcements will be forthcoming on issues relating to the joining of the agencies as well as regulations from the new Agency. New regulations will be necessary to address routine “merger” matters, but as well to implement, where necessary, the many new authorities, powers and directions given to FHFA that modernize and strengthen supervision of Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the Federal Home Loan Banks. All existing regulations, orders and decisions of OFHEO and the Finance Board remain in effect until modified or superseded.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency is an independent federal agency created by the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008. It combines the Federal Housing Finance Board (FHFB) and the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight (OFHEO). James B. Lockhart III, current director of OFHEO, will oversee the new agency.

“FHFA was established to ensure that Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the Federal Home Loan Banks operate in a safe and sound manner,” said FHFA Director James B Lockhart. “We are working quickly to set up the regulatory framework needed to make certain that their operations and activities foster liquid, efficient, competitive, and resilient national housing finance markets.”

The Father of Labor Day in Ohio

Cincinnati Change for the third year commemorates the Father of Labor Day, the Honorable John Patterson Green (1845-1940)

Cincinnati Change recognizes John Patterson Green’s legislative sponsorship of Labor Day in Ohio. House Bill 500 was passed on April 28, 1890 and consisted of one sentence:

“Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Ohio, that the first Monday in September of each and every year shall be known as Labor Day . . .”

In 1894, the U.S. Congress passed a bill making Labor Day a national holiday.

Patterson Green’s efforts preceded the accomplishments of organized labor leaders such as A. Philip Randolph, Sleeping Car Porters; John L. Lewis, United Mine Workers; Philip Murray, United Steel Workers; Jimmy Hoffa,Teamsters; Walter Reuther, United Auto Workers; and Cesar Chavez, United Farm Workers.

Born in New Bern, North Carolina, John Patterson Green became Cleveland’s first black lawyer and first black elected official (Justice of the Peace) and was also the second African-American elected to serve in the Ohio House of Representatives in 1882.

During his second elected term in 1890, the state of Ohio enacted Labor Day legislation that earned him the title “Father of Labor Day in Ohio.” The former common laborer and lawyer wanted to honor all working men and women in Ohio with the idea of establishing a holiday to celebrate the contributions of workers (not politicians).

The Honorable John Patterson Green served three successive terms in the Ohio General Assembly, including two terms in the House of Representatives (1882-1883 and 1890-1891). In 1892, he was elected to the Ohio Senate, making him the first African-American elected to a state senate north of the Mason-Dixon Line in the United States. While serving as an Ohio state legislator, John Patterson Green sponsored and supported 21 major bills on behalf of labor.

During his professional and legislative career, he counted among his closest friends Mr. & Mrs. John D. (Ms. Lara C. Spellman) Rockefeller, Marcus A. Hanna and George A. Myers—all captains of industry. He also was a friend of and assisted Civil Rights leaders, such as Harry Smith, Booker T. Washington, Frederick Douglas, Charles Chestnut, and other black leaders of his day.

Mr. Green was also befriended by and received appointments to federal positions by Presidents James A. Garfield and William McKinley. Of all his associations and accomplishments, however, the Honorable John Patterson Green was most proud of his work to honor all working men and women of this nation by initiating Labor Day.

Global Climate Change Solutions

Welcome to our support for solutions for Global Climate Change based on a new President who takes the issue as serious as we believe that it should be taken. It affects all of us.

We at Cincinnati Change classify a hurricane as a Global Climate Change.

We would like to invite you to join our team to help build support for solutions to Global Climate Change starting in Ohio. We would create Global Climate Change Solutions as a enterprise to be a world change agent so as to support jobs and growth for this great country and its allies.

Please be sure to bookmark this blog and return often to see how we are working hard to help support answers to Global Climate Change with the next President by use of A-76 and using Presidential Directives for National and Homeland Security.

Cincinnati Change also believes that Churches Can Change the World and we will start with a partnership with our Churches Can Change Cincinnati NOW and its committee on Global Climate Change.

Constitution Day 2008

Independence Day (United States), to commemorate the adoption of the U.S. Declaration of Independence (1776), not the U.S. Constitution.

On September 17, 1787, the final draft of the Constitution was signed by 39 delegates. The document was then sent to the states for ratification, and went into effect on June 21, 1788 when New Hampshire became the ninth state to ratify the Constitution.

The US Constitution was adopted on September 17, 1787, but in 1952, President Harry S. Truman made September 17 Citizenship Day instead of calling it Constitution Day.

The law establishing the holiday was created in 2004 with the passage of an amendment by Senator Robert Byrd to the Omnibus spending bill of 2004. Before this law was enacted, the holiday was known as "Citizenship Day". In addition to renaming the holiday "Constitution Day and Citizenship Day," the act mandates that all publicly funded educational institutions provide educational programming on the history of the American Constitution on that day. In May 2005, the United States Department of Education announced the enactment of this law and that it would apply to any school receiving federal funds of any kind. This holiday is not observed by granting time off work for federal employees

In celebration of Constitution Day, the Library of Congress has compiled a variety of materials from across its collections. Explore these rich resources and features to learn more about one of America’s most important documents.

Primary Source Documents Related to the United States Constitution

• Articles of Confederation
• Constitution
• Federalist Papers
• Bill of Rights
• 13th Amendment
• 14th Amendment
• 15th Amendment

Louisville, Ohio calls itself Constitution Town and credits one of its own for getting the holiday national recognition. In 1952, resident Olga T. Weber petitioned municipal officials to establish Constitution Day, in honor of the ratification of the US Constitution in 1789. Mayor Gerald A. Romary proclaimed September 17, 1952, as Constitution Day in the city. The following April, Weber requested that the Ohio General Assembly proclaim September 17 as state-wide Constitution Day.

Her request was signed into law by Governor Frank J. Lausche. In August 1953, she took her case to the United States Senate, which passed a resolution designating September 17-23 as Constitution Week. The Senate and House approved her request and it was signed into law by President Dwight D. Eisenhower. On April 15, 1957, the City Council of Louisville declared the city Constitution Town. The Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Society later donated four historical markers, located at the four main entrances to the city, explaining Louisville's role as originator of Constitution Day.

Cincinnati Change Communications Company

A Global Change Partner of Cincinnati Change
MDi Communications Vision is ANYONE at ANYTIME from ANYWHERE on ANYTHING MDi Broadband Wireless Networks

McGraw Daniels LLC (MDi) is a Ohio African American owned Small Business Enterprise with a 10 year legacy with a core competency in 4G Communications and Computing Technology and is a professional C6ISR2, design, engineering and construction management firm that specializes in broadband wireless technology who is a Global Change partner with Cincinnati Change in creating a wireless broadband network that covers Hamilton County.

Among MDi's missions is to Erase the Digital Divide through putting technology into buildings and key real estate that supports that goal. MDi provides enterprise based solutions based on the executive leadership exercised by Fred Hargrove, Sr. MBA, PE and program development lead by Dr. Robert Day that uses the technology of it’s partners.

• Wireless LANs • Mobile Broadband Networks • Camera Surveillance • DSL, T1, DS3, OC3 Circuit Replacement • AMR Backhaul • Video Uploading • High Speed Internet Access • Employees & Guests to Servers • Vehicles to Servers • Videos to Command Centers • Building to Building Connectivity • Collection Points to Towers • Vehicles to Terminals • People to the World

This company will set up Cincinnati Change Communications Company as a partnership between local minority companies in Cincinnati, Global Change Communications and Computing Company founder 1 C Corp, the local community action agency and a faith based coalition.