Citizen Brand

Proud to be a Jayhawk

March for Babies

 

It is an important time of year for our client, the March of Dimes. In cities and towns across America, people who imagine a day when all babies are born healthy are organizing their 2009 March for Babies. If you know someone who is thinking about having a baby; getting ready to have a baby; or, just had a baby, you qualify to walk a mile or two in a March for Babies near you. Call your local March of Dimes chapter or go to www.marchforbabies.org  to sign up. For additional encouragement, watch this.

Tiger is back

The sports world is in alignment now. March Madness approaches. Baseball's spring training is underway. And Tiger Woods is back playing golf. Nike never misses a trick with Tiger. This spot heralding his return is pure genius.

Please don't blame Kansas

A brief open letter to Hollywood.

Dear Hollywood and the movie industry,

We understand there were some idiots outside the Kodak Theatre tonight as the Oscars began. While this family of lowlifes who go by the name of Phelps reside in the state of Kansas, please don't blame the rest of us. We have been trying to think of ways to get rid of them for years. They are the proverbial roll of bad pennies.

Please know that we have to see their horrid signs and listen to their moronic ideas throughout the year. And when they turn up in other cities across the country, we are embarrassed that they come from our state. We wish they would move somewhere else although we would not wish them on anyone.

Anyway, just wanted you to know that we despise their thinking and all we can all do is continue to move our country forward on the principles on which it was founded - equality for all people all the time.

By the way, fantastic year for movies.  Keep up the good work.

Mike

Hey Bernie, help this guy!

There are thousands of sad stories created by the whole Bernie Madoff debacle.  But a 90-year-old man having to go back to work might just take the cake.  Courtesy of MSNBC.com.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Lou Gehrig's Disease

What it would be like to have one of your loved ones suffer Lou Gehrig's disease? Here is a riveting PSA from ALS/Canada. Courtesy of Adrants.

Find more videos like this on AdGabber

Those rural folks don't need the internet

Former FCC economist Michael Katz might want to rethink his recent comments about rural America when he buys his next loaf of bread. You see, Katz, thinks it's a waste of money to bring broadband internet access to rural areas. That is one of the initiatives outlined in the economic stimulus package President Obama will sign this week.

Katz made these comments in a story broadcast on National Public Radio's Morning Edition today. Here is an excerpt from the story.

"Katz listed ways that the $7.2 billion could be put to better use, including an effort to combat infant deaths. But he also spoke of rural places as environmentally hostile, energy inefficient and even weak in innovation, simply because rural people are spread out across the landscape.

"The notion that we should be helping people who live in rural areas avoid the costs that they impose on society … is misguided," Katz went on, "from an efficiency point of view and an equity one."

"Just the week before, a New York Times story on the rural broadband funding in the economic stimulus package used the phrase "cyber bridge to nowhere." That stung the rural issues advocates at the Center for Rural Strategies in Whitesburg, Ky.

"When they talk about 'cyber bridges to nowhere,' what they're really doing is betraying arrogance," complains Dee Davis, the center's director. "When people think of rural as 'nowhere,' [they're] saying the people who live in those places aren't worth working with, they're not worth helping."

If you follow Katz's logic, then it was a waste of money to bring electricity, telephones and paved roads to the rural areas of America. Arrogance is one excuse but I think this mentality goes even deeper. It is likely that Katz is one of those folks who just don't believe anything good can come from anywhere other than two or three metropolitan areas of this country.

As a fourth generation Kansan, I see firsthand everyday the talent, creativity and work ethic that comes from people who grew up in rural areas. I am only one generation removed from growing up on a farm so I don't have direct experience, but I sure am glad that is part of my heritage.

So Mr. Katz, we invite you to come out to see how the rest of us live. You might be surprised at what you find and realize that a little investment in rural America does pay off.

(Link to NPR Morning Edition story)  

Happy Valentines Day

Peanut shells

This didn't take long. From the AP and MSNBC.com. And thanks to Average Jane for the heads up.

Peanut Corp. of America files for bankruptcy

Company at source of national salmonella outbreak succumbs

ATLANTA - The peanut processing company at the heart of a national salmonella outbreak has filed for bankruptcy.

The Virginia-based Peanut Corp. of America filed Friday for Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection in bankruptcy court in Lynchburg, Va. The company said in the filing that its debt and assets both ranged between $1 million and $10 million.

The salmonella outbreak was traced to one of the company's plants in Blakely, Ga., where inspectors found roaches, mold and a leaking roof. A second plant in Texas was shuttered this week. The outbreak has resulted in more than 500 illnesses, led to one of the nation's biggest recalls and caused as many as nine deaths.

Homelessness

I can't imagine being homeless. Can you?

Here are two different approaches working to call attention to the homeless who live among us every day. The first one is this video produced by our IPREX partner in Miami, Great Communicators.