This video documents the playground assembly of a Kaboom! Playground, done by 377 volunteers in Pass Christian, Mississippi (De Lisle). The playground was erected on a center that also includes a swimming pool, which cannot be opened to the public until additional donations are received. For information on donating to the center, contact Ellen Ratner at ellen@talkradionews.com

KaBOOM! is a 501 (c)(3) tax exempt organization. Their website is: http://kaboom.org

Music: Happy Alley – Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons “Attribution 3.0″ http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Congressman Paul Hodes (D-NH) speaks to both Jay Goodman Tamboli and Ellen Ratner after the State of the Union Address. Hodes says the speech [by President Obama] was “bold, courageous, honest, and uplifting.” Hodes says Obama “is a visionary leader” and gets to the core of things, making it possible for people to understand the challenges we face. Hodes says he feels that the plan is a “comprehensive approach.” One thing is clear, Hodes says, his [Obama's] commitment to “making schools work” and the commitment to a good education system is without question. Hodes also said “hello!” to radio host George Russell and everyone listening in New Hampshire, and thanks the people of New Hampshire for electing a leader like Barack Obama. (3:25)

Congressman Ben Ray Lujan (D-NM) speaks to both Ellen Ratner and Christina Lovato (University of New Mexico, Journalism Program) after the State of the Union Address. Lujan says that he [Obama] spoke to them not just as Congress but as those the American people trusted to do the work entrusted to them. Every action we take, Lujan says, is important to the American people. Lujan then spoke to Christian Lovato, saying he knows that times can be tough, but [we will] make sure they [Amercians] get a quality education. “We all love our country,” he said. Lujan also spoke about small businesses, saying if we’re able to address the health care issue, we’re going to help small businesses, which he says are “the backbone of our country.” (5:14)

Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) speaks to Talk Radio News Services’ Bureau Chief Ellen Ratner after President Obama’s State of the Union Address. Sanders says he thinks this country has been crying out for real leadership, and finally after eight years a president has the courage to face the problems in our country. The solutions, he says, will not be easy, but will move our country in a different direction, and he says he thinks the President is trying to reach out to as many people as possible. “Let’s take a deep breath,” Sanders says, this is a stimulus package that is a “huge step forward.” As for Vermont itself, Sanders says he feels that the immediate goal is to not fall into a depression, since we are in a “very deep recession.” (3:55)

Shelly Maxwell, correspondent for Talk Radio News, interviews Laurie Arbeiter from www.convictbushcheney.org.

Shelly Maxwell, correspondent for Talk Radio News, interviews Inauguration attendees on the National Mall (Maria Jones and Meldron Evelyn) during Martin Luther King Jr Day.

Shelly Maxwell, correspondent for Talk Radio News, stands on the National Mall during Martin Luther King Day and interviews Nancy Vellucci, an Inauguration attendee.

“We are working hard to work ourselves out of a job,” Army Col. Mark Dewhurst, commander of the 4th Brigade, 10th Mountain Division, said during a live brief from Iraq. The combined efforts with the Iraqi security forces are the cornerstone against insurgents, Dewhurst said, and he’s seen a lot of developments in the area in the year since he’s been there. Listed among the most surprising, “the amount of traffic jams,” was among them. This, actually, is evidence of how well the Iraqi Security Forces are functioning, Dewhurst said, because it means that people are coming out to the market places. Of particular note is a landmark in Baghdad that Dewhurst called the “Book Market.” Practically obliterated in March of 2007, the Book Market is due to open most likely by next week, and it was rebuilt on the initiative and work of the Iraq government itself, he said.

Also in Baghdad is the Embedded Provincial Reconstruction Team, with Team Leader Conrad Tribble helping the Iraqis find “Iraqi solutions” to their own problems. There are five main areas that the PRT is working on, Tribble said. Assistance with governance, political development, business and economic growth, non-governmental organizations, and reconciliations among communities, are the goals the PRT strives toward. Governance, specifically, was elaborated on, with Tribble saying they “Coach, Teach, Mentor’ the Iraqi people, specifically with municipal city works, planning, budgeting, resource management, and how to track service requests. “A lot of it is very mundane,” Tribble said, but they are being taught how to conduct day to day level things. It’s “very nuts and bolts,” he said, and “not very glamorous.”

At the live briefing from Iraq, Army General Mike Hertling says, “When we got here, and I think this is true throughout Iraq, nothing works right.” The infrastructure system, repair, the economy, all of the things were in a really bad state. When we got here it was fractured, now it’s fragile, and every day it is starting to evolve. (0:28)

 

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Army Maj. Gen. Mark P. Hertling, commander of Multinational Division-North and the 1st Armored Division in Iraq, refused three times to answer what he thought of the draw down of the troops during a live remote briefing held in the Pentagon. “You’re asking me to speculate on that, and I won’t,” he said. Hertling also said he did not like the use of the term “draw down,” and pointed out that a year ago, there were over 1800 attacks per month in the region that he is in charge of, and compared that to the mere 108 attacks that occurred only a month ago.

A year ago, Hertling said, the unemployment in the area was staggering, and the Iraqis seemed to be taking one step forward for each two steps back. Calling the area “fragile,” he said that now they seem to be taking more of a “three or four steps forward,” for each step back. Elaborating on the word “fragile,” Hertling said there is an “evil and committed enemy” in the area, and that when they got there “nothing works right.” There are no democratic process, he continued, no rule of law procedures, no capabilities to hold people accountable for contracts, and that there are agricultural concerns, and budget execution issues, adding that the enemy affects all of it. He mentioned that the accounting offices, although functional, are actually using paper ledgers to account for millions of dinars.

Agreeing readily that there have indeed been three incidents originating in the north, [two of the three individuals are subsequently on trial for murder (the third having been killed while in the act of murdering other soldiers)], Hertling brought up a story about a soldier that drowned trying to save another man. Iraqi soldiers that didn’t even know the victim searched the freezing waters for over four hours trying to find the body, Hertling said. Those three incidents, he said, are not representative of the sixty thousand Iraqi troops that serve with American troops, every single day.