JFK library to release last of his secret tapes

JFK library to release last of his secret tapes — President John F. Kennedy's library is releasing 45 hours of privately recorded meetings and phone calls, providing a window into the final months of his life.

The tapes include discussions of conflict in Vietnam, Soviet relations and the race to space, plans for the 1964 Democratic Convention and re-election strategy. There also are moments with his children.

On one recording, made days before Kennedy's assassination, he asks staffers to schedule a meeting in a week. He tells them he's booked for the weekend, with no time to meet with an Indonesian general then, either.

"I'm going to be up at the Cape on Friday, but I'll see him Tuesday," JFK tells staffers.

This Nov. 20, 1963 photo released by the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum in Boston, shows President John F. Kennedy, First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy, Chief Justice Earl Warren, Mrs. Warren, and others descending the Grand Staircase during the Judicial Reception at the White House, in Washington. On Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2012, the Kennedy Llibrary will release the final 45 hours of White House recordings secretly taped during President Kennedy’s time in office. The last tapes were made on Nov. 20, 1963, two days before his assassination in Dallas. (AP Photo/The White House, Cecil Stoughton)

The tapes, being released Tuesday by the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, are the last of more than 260 hours of recordings of meetings and conversations JFK privately made before his assassination in Dallas on Nov. 22, 1963.

In the scheduling discussion three days before his killing, JFK also eerily comments on what would become the day of his funeral.

"Monday?" he asks. "Well that's a tough day."

"It's a hell of a day, Mr. President," a staffer replies.

Kennedy kept the recordings a secret from his top aides. He made the last one two days before his death.

Kennedy library archivist Maura Porter said Monday that JFK may have been saving them for a memoir or possibly started them because he was bothered when the military later gave a different overview of a discussion with him about the Bay of Pigs.

The latest batch of recordings captured meetings from the last three months of Kennedy's administration. In a conversation with political advisers about young voters, Kennedy asks, "What is it we have to sell them?"

"We hope we have to sell them prosperity, but for the average guy the prosperity is nil," he says. "He's not unprosperous, but he's not very prosperous. ... And the people who really are well off hate our guts."

Kennedy talks about a disconnect between the political machine and voters.

"We've got so mechanical an operation here in Washington that it doesn't have much identity where these people are concerned," he says.

On another recording, Kennedy questions conflicting reports military and diplomatic advisers bring back from Vietnam, asking the two men: "You both went to the same country?"

He also talks about trying to create films for the 1964 Democratic Convention in color instead of black and white.

"The color is so damn good," he says. "If you do it right."

Porter said the public first heard about the existence of the Kennedy recordings during the Watergate hearings.

In 1983, JFK Library and Museum officials started reviewing tapes without classified materials and releasing recordings to the public. Porter said officials were able to go through all the recordings by 1993, working with government agencies when it came to national security issues and what they could make public.

In all, she said, the JFK Library and Museum has put out about 40 recordings. She said officials excised about 5 to 10 minutes of this last group of recordings due to family discussions and about 30 minutes because of national security concerns.

Porter has supervised the declassification of these White House tapes since 2001, and she said people will have a much better sense of the kind of leader JFK was after hearing them. While some go along with meeting minutes that also are public, she said, listening to JFK's voice makes his personality come alive.

She said he comes across as an intelligent man who had a knack for public relations and was very interested in his public image. But she said the tapes also reveal times when the president became bored or annoyed and moments when he used swear words.

The sound of the president's children, Caroline and John Jr., playing outside the Oval Office is part of a recording on which he introduces them to Soviet Foreign Minister Andrei Gromyko.

"Hello, hello," Gromyko says as the children come in, telling their father, "They are very popular in our country."

JFK tells the children, mentioning a dog Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev gifted the family: "His chief is the one who sent you Pushinka. You know that? You have the puppies."

JFK Library spokeswoman Rachel Flor said the daughter of the late president has heard many of the recordings, but she wasn't sure if she had heard this batch.

"He'd go from being a president to being a father," Porter said of the recordings. "... And that was really cute." ( Associated Press )

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'Queen of cocaine' expresses regret

'Queen of cocaine' expresses regret -- From her very humble beginnings in Barranquilla, Colombia, she rose to be one of her country's most coveted beauty queens. At 21, Angie Sanclemente Valencia was crowned as Colombia's "Queen of Coffee."

It was 2000 and the beginning of a career that would propel Sanclemente into the world of her dreams as an internationally acclaimed model. After winning the Colombian pageant, she quickly found work as a lingerie model in Mexico and other countries. She also started training as an actress and took theater lessons.

But Sanclemente's career came to a screeching halt in May of 2010 when she was arrested in Argentina and charged with drug trafficking.

Interpol had issued an arrest warrant against her in December of the previous year after she was connected to a 21-year-old woman who was arrested just before she was to board a flight to Cancun, Mexico, from Buenos Aires carrying 55 kilograms of cocaine (120 pounds). The fallen beauty was on the run for five months, hiding in Argentina.

While on the run, Sanclemente continued to update her Facebook page. In a Facebook message to CNN in 2010, she denied any involvement in the case, writing, "I'm very sad and hurt by the bad information. I don't know how the press can destroy an innocent person."

After being convicted in early November, Sanclemente is speaking from prison for the first time. It's quite a change from the life of glamor she lived before her arrest.

"I have been here [in prison] one year and seven months. I'm innocent of all of the accusations. It was all a big misunderstanding," Sanclemente said.

Her 2010 arrest was an international scandal and her Interpol mugshot made headlines around the world. The former queen of coffee became known as "the queen of cocaine." Four men and two other women were also arrested in connection with the case.

Argentinian authorities charged her with leading a ring of fashion models to smuggle cocaine from South America and into Europe, via Cancun. She says her Argentinian boyfriend and his uncle, who are also in prison, were indeed involved in drug trafficking, but not her.

"It may sound ridiculous and incredible, but I'm innocent of this farce they invented. My boyfriend made a mistake, and I'm paying the consequences. But I love him and I love him because he loves me just the way I am. I never found in anybody else what I found in him," Sanclemente said.

Now 32 and sentenced to six years and eight months behind bars, the promising career she once had seems like a vanished dream. Nicolas Gualco, her boyfriend, and Daniel Monroy, Gualco's uncle, have also received the same sentence.

Moving to Argentina from Mexico, Sanclemente says in retrospect, was a big mistake. "I regret having taken the flight to Argentina, to be honest with you."

Sanclemente had expressed regret once before about making the wrong choices. She was dethroned as Colombia's queen of coffee for breaking the rules by having been married. Reports say that she was once married to a Mexican drug trafficker, but she's always denied that was the case.

In an interview shortly after being dethroned, she spoke about the consequences of not listening to the woman who raised her as single mother. "I'm very capricious and a lot of [bad] things have happened to me for not listening to my mother," Sanclemente says. Her words now seem prophetic. ( cnn,com )

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Justin Bieber on DNA Test: ‘I Did It Because I Wanted To’

Justin Bieber on DNA Test: ‘I Did It Because I Wanted To’ - Justin Bieber said on ABC’s “The View” that he’s taken a DNA test in connection with Mariah Yeater’s now defunct paternity suit against him.

“I didn’t have to do it, I did it because I wanted to,” he said on “The View” today. “I wanted everything to be out in the open.”

“You always have to keep your head high,” he said about the paternity suit reports, adding “I think we’re bringing too much attention to this girl.”

Justin Bieber at the American Music Awards

Earlier today, Yeater’s attorney Jeffrey Leving told TMZ.com that his client is looking forward to comparing her son’s DNA with Bieber’s. In her paternity suit, Yeater claimed that Bieber is the father of her son Tristyn, the result of a backstage tryst at one of his concerts last year. Yeater dismissed the suit last week but her lawyer claims that negotiations for settlement are ongoing.

Bieber’s reps declined to comment.

Meanwhile, Bieber’s busy promoting his new Christmas album, “Under the Mistletoe.” He performed the album’s title track on “The View” with Mary J. Blige and chatted about a special someone he’s thankful for: His girlfriend, Selena Gomez.

“People know that we’re dating and stuff but I like to keep a certain privacy,” he said when asked what drew him to Gomez. “I have to have something that’s special to me that I don’t share with everyone else.” ( abcnews.go.com )

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Five Secrets To Getting Celebrity Love For Your Products

Five5 Secrets To Getting Celebrity Love For Your Products - In the 1990s, Sarah Shaw’s line of Sarah Shaw handbags became a hit with celebrities like Jennifer Aniston, Julia Roberts and Sarah Jessica Parker, and were featured in the pages of People, InStyle, and Oprah Winfrey’s O Magazine. The resulting publicity helped Shaw grow her business to a $1 million company, with Sarah Shaw bags sold in over 1,200 boutiques and department stores nationwide.

Today, Shaw has a new business as CEO of Entreprenette, a consulting firm that helps women launch businesses specializing in accessories, clothing, cosmetics, home and lifestyle products. I spoke with Shaw to get her step-by-step secrets for getting your product to celebrity—and parlaying that into publicity and profits.

Celebrity endorsements work well for tangible products like clothing, accessories or handbags. However, the tactic can also work for a service, Shaw says. “If you have a catering company, you could offer a gift certificate to a celebrity to get them to use your services to cater their party.”


Shaw shared six key action moves:

1. Determine which celebrities appeal to your target market

“Who would be your best brand ambassador?” asks Shaw. Since celebs at the top of the heap are inundated with products, consider approaching B-list or up-and-coming celebrities, who may be more likely to use your product.


2. Decide on an “angle” that will help your product stand out

“Find a connection to the celebrity,” says Shaw, who adds that charities can be a way into a celeb’s heart. A handbag designer could approach a star by offering to make a handbag named after the person and donating part of the profits to the actress’s favorite charity.


3. Get in touch

Shaw’s company helps entrepreneurs with celebrity placements. She also recommends the website ContactanyCelebrity.com. “Every celebrity, political figure or athlete you can think of is listed on this site—and if you’re looking for someone who’s not, they will find their contact information for you,” says Shaw.


4. Be persistent and polite

“You have to go through a lot of gatekeepers to get to these people—publicists, assistants, maybe even assistants to assistants,” says Shaw. “Be nice to everybody.” Shaw also suggests “greasing the palms” along the way by sending samples of your product to the gatekeepers as well: “It doesn’t cost you anything to do this, and could mean thousands in sales for you if your product actually gets through to the celebrity.”


5. Be prepared

When a celebrity is photographed using your product, it could mean thousands of orders—or nothing. “Be prepared for a surge in business, but don’t go hog wild,” cautions Shaw. “Have a comfortable amount of inventory on hand, but not more than you could sell [without the celebrity].” Most people won’t mind getting on a waiting list if a product is back ordered—in fact, it could add to the product’s cachet. But if you get stuck with unsold inventory, your celebrity strategy could end up costing you big time.


6. Promote it

It may take months before your efforts pay off and you see that celebrity holding or wearing your product in People magazine or on “E! Entertainment News.” When you do, be ready to move fast. “Create a one-sheet—a paper with your company logo, a picture of the celebrity and your product, and a blurb about how they are using it or how they got it,” recommends Shaw. Send your one-sheet to the media to get publicity, or to stores to get more sales. Of course, you’ll also want to feature the information prominently on your website—and use social media tools like Twitter and Facebook to spread the word, too.

Pitching your products directly to celebrities isn’t the only route you can take, Shaw adds. There may be hit or up-and-coming TV shows that are perfect for your product design. Pitch the show’s costume, props or set departments, depending on the type of product you have.

Keep in mind that your efforts don't just benefit your business—they benefit the celebrity or TV show as well. “They want to be the one who discovered your cool, new product,” Shaw says. “Everyone’s looking for the next big thing.” ( openforum.com )

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Some tips : Traveling to London for royal wedding?

Some tips : Traveling to London for royal wedding? – Diane Morton will soon be flying from Florida, where she lives, to London, to be in the city when the royal wedding takes place.

She hasn't researched the procession route, and she may or may not try to stake out a spot to catch a glimpse of the carriage carrying Prince William and his bride Kate Middleton. But she just wants to be in London when it happens.

"Even if we don't see anything, it's OK just to be there, and be part of the hoopla," said Morton, 67, of Parkland, Fla., who will be traveling with her partner, Donald Ammons. "We enjoy London. It's a fun place to be, and we have a couple of good friends there. If we are lucky, maybe we'll get a glimpse of Kate in the carriage afterwards."

Morton is one of 600,000 additional people who are expected to be in London when the royal wedding takes place April 29, according to estimates from London + Partners, the city's official tourism body.

Those determined to wake up early and stand for hours along the procession route in hopes of seeing the royals in person may get their wish, but tourism experts say there are many other ways to experience the event, from street parties to watching it on giant screens to toasting the happy couple in a pub.

"The atmosphere in the city is going to be a lot of fun," said Dinah Hatch, author of a downloadable ebook, "Frommer's The Royal Wedding," just out from the travel guidebook company. "There will be a lot of pubbing and drinking, and even if you don't catch sight of Kate and Will, it'll be fun. Let's just hope it doesn't rain."

"We love a good party," agreed Karen Clarkson, Visit Britain's vice president for North America, "and there will be informal street parties happening all over London and around the U.K."

Officials have confirmed that giant screens at Hyde Park and Trafalgar Square will show live TV coverage of the event. Clarkson said Visit Britain expects screens will be put up at other locations as well "where people can watch it with a crowd, enjoy the atmosphere and experience the procession."

The route for the procession between Buckingham Palace and Westminster Abbey, where the couple will wed, runs through St. James's Park along The Mall; along Horse Guards Avenue past the Horse Guards Parade; and along Whitehall to Parliament Square. Those determined to stake out a spot should be prepared for hours of waiting.

"The key is to actually get there early; everyone knows these spots quite well," Hatch said. "There's a very specific route, past lots of major landmarks. ... There are places where you can get very close to their car or carriage."

But exactly what time you should arrive is anybody's guess. Three a.m. might be too early, but 6 a.m. might be too late. Bad weather might cut down crowds and wait time, while adding to the misery.

Crowds are also sure to be filling the streets and sidewalks beyond the palace grounds in expectation of an appearance by the happy couple after the ceremony. As fans of "The King's Speech" film know, tradition calls for the royals to emerge from Buckingham Palace onto a balcony after major events to greet the public.

"Everyone will be waiting for that moment," said Hatch. "It's a historic moment. You want to be a part of history."

Clarkson said despite the expected crowds, London had ample hotel capacity as of early April, with several new hotels just opened, including the W, St. Pancras Renaissance and the Corinthia. Those for whom the W's $440 (269 pounds) nightly rates are too steep will find plenty of alternatives, with prices falling the farther from center city you go. Early April data from Orbitz.com found average rates for hotel rooms in London this time of year are 21 percent higher over the same period from last year, at $185 nightly.

Locales like Windsor, Brighton or Cambridge offer cheaper lodging, though you'll have to commute by train an hour or more to reach London. On the other end of the spectrum, if you can afford to live like a king, Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park hotel is offering a $30,146 five-night package for two that includes views of the procession and private tours by "associates of the royal family."

Airfares, meanwhile, do not appear to be going stratospheric. On April 7, online listings offered roundtrips from New York to London for well under $800 on several different carriers.

Those with a broader interest in Britain's monarchy can visit castles, museums and other attractions offering tours and exhibits, including the Tower of London, where Anne Boleyn, wife of Henry VIII was beheaded; Buckingham Palace, where you can watch the changing of the guard daily; St. Paul's Cathedral, where William's mother Princess Diana was married; and the National Gallery, which houses paintings of kings and queens.

A two-hour, $25 (15 pound) walking tour from Celebrity Planet will show you the history of Kate and Will's courtship, with stops at Jigsaw, the clothing chain where she was working in 2007 when Will broke off their relationship; Mahiki, a nightclub where the prince racked up a bar bill of 11,000 pounds in a week after the breakup; and St. James's Palace, the official residence of William and his brother Harry.

Elsewhere in Britain at the end of April, the birthday of William Shakespeare is being marked April 26 in his hometown of Stratford; the Cheltenham Jazz Festival starts April 27; and Scotland's Speyside Whisky Festival runs April 28-May 2. "You can toast the royal couple with a dram or two," said Clarkson.

Cynics might say the way Diana and Charles' marriage turned out has dashed all romantic illusions about the royals, but Clarkson says many American visitors to England remain fascinated by the monarchy, and plenty of royal-watchers sincerely hope William's marriage has a happier ending than his mother's. After all, says Clarkson, "Everybody loves a good fairy tale." ( Associated Press )

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Bin Laden was 'within our grasp'

Bin Laden was 'within our grasp' – Osama bin Laden was unquestionably within reach of U.S. troops in the mountains of Tora Bora when American military leaders made the crucial and costly decision not to pursue the terrorist leader with massive force, a Senate report says.

The report asserts that the failure to kill or capture bin Laden at his most vulnerable in December 2001 has had lasting consequences beyond the fate of one man. Bin Laden's escape laid the foundation for today's reinvigorated Afghan insurgency and inflamed the internal strife now endangering Pakistan, it says.

Staff members for the Senate Foreign Relations Committee's Democratic majority prepared the report at the request of the chairman, Sen. John Kerry, as President Barack Obama prepares to boost U.S. troops in Afghanistan.

The Massachusetts senator and 2004 Democratic presidential candidate has long argued the Bush administration missed a chance to get the al-Qaida leader and top deputies when they were holed up in the forbidding mountainous area of eastern Afghanistan only three months after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

Although limited to a review of military operations eight years old, the report could also be read as a cautionary note for those resisting an increased troop presence there now.

More pointedly, it seeks to affix a measure of blame for the state of the war today on military leaders under former president George W. Bush, specifically Donald H. Rumsfeld as defense secretary and his top military commander, Tommy Franks.

"Removing the al-Qaida leader from the battlefield eight years ago would not have eliminated the worldwide extremist threat," the report says. "But the decisions that opened the door for his escape to Pakistan allowed bin Laden to emerge as a potent symbolic figure who continues to attract a steady flow of money and inspire fanatics worldwide. The failure to finish the job represents a lost opportunity that forever altered the course of the conflict in Afghanistan and the future of international terrorism."

The report states categorically that bin Laden was hiding in Tora Bora when the U.S. had the means to mount a rapid assault with several thousand troops at least. It says that a review of existing literature, unclassified government records and interviews with central participants "removes any lingering doubts and makes it clear that Osama bin Laden was within our grasp at Tora Bora."

On or about Dec. 16, 2001, bin Laden and bodyguards "walked unmolested out of Tora Bora and disappeared into Pakistan's unregulated tribal area," where he is still believed to be based, the report says.

Instead of a massive attack, fewer than 100 U.S. commandos, working with Afghan militias, tried to capitalize on air strikes and track down their prey.

"The vast array of American military power, from sniper teams to the most mobile divisions of the Marine Corps and the Army, was kept on the sidelines," the report said.

At the time, Rumsfeld expressed concern that a large U.S. troop presence might fuel a backlash and he and some others said the evidence was not conclusive about bin Laden's location. ( Associated Press )

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Bless you, baby

Bless you, baby. It is normal to worry when your little ones come down with coughs and colds but, as Dr Mel Bates explains, it’s all part and parcel of building up their immune system. Carmel Doyle reports

It's natural for babies and young children to get sniffles and coughs. This is because their immune systems are not yet developed to fight off the more than 200 different viruses that can cause the common cold.

However, it doesn’t stop parents from being extra vigilant, especia­lly if it’s the first time their baby has symptoms. According to Dr Mel Bates, spokesperson for the Irish College of General Practitioners, it’s common for bab­ies to get between six and eight colds a year between the months of September and May, with each one last­ing between two to four weeks.

He says as their baby develops a pattern to their illness, parents will become more confident, so they can treat their child at home. If you’re concerned, however, you should talk to your GP.

“If your baby has an unusual rash or a fever that won’t settle with simple methods, then these are valid reasons for bringing him or her to your GP,” says Bates.

So what are the best ways to treat your child’s cold? He says parents can treat a fever immediately in any child regardless of age. “However, in very small children, particularly those under three months, problem for colds, but it is a worry that parents have.”

Other illnesses to watch out for include colds that have a cough as the main complaint. If an asthma diagnosis has already been made, Bates says this could be an indicator that your child’s asthma is wors­ening. So, if this is the case he says parents should restart their child’s inhalers to determine if this will settle the cough.

And with the additional threat of swine flu this year, what are the symptoms to look for if you think your child might have something different to a cold?

Because it is very difficult to distinguish swine flu from the common cold, Bates’s advice is for parents to go to their GP if they have any suspicions at all about the matter.

“The at-risk groups would be the under-fives and, particularly, the under-twos.”

Childhood coughs

The cough is a life-saving reflex that helps protect the airways of the throat and chest. Bates says most GPs won’t recommend cough bottles because there is no evidence to back up their efficacy (ie that they work).

There are a variety of have. One is a mucus-like, impressive cough. “Usually the child will have snuffles. Theirs is a viral infection of the nasal passages. The mucus drips backwards as well, and as it drips it is caught by the cough reflex. This makes sure the mucus doesn’t go down onto the chest.”

Therefore, he says most of the time when GPs listen to a child, their chest will be clear, as the cough is happening in the throat and not the lungs.

For the under-twos, a dry, repetitive cough is caused by a viral wheeze. For the older child who has been diagnosed with asthma, Bates says parents should be mindful that the cough is often a worsening of their condition. Therefore, the child will have to use their inhaler more or go back on their inhaler, depending on the situation.

“The vast majority of childhood illnesses are caused by viruses and antibiotics are not required. Antibiot­ics will not make them better faster because they do not work on viruses,” he explains.

The type of cough known as croup is not as com­mon, although it does happen, according to Bates. “Croup is distressing. The most important thing to remember is that it’s a viral illness.”

With small children, he says the cough can become to see if they are on the right track. Our job is to reassure and double-check things." ( @ Independent News )

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J-Lo falls flat at the AMAs

J-Lo falls flat at the AMAs. J-Lo provided one of the unintentional highlights of the American Music Awards when she fell over on stage in the middle of her dance routine.

The star otherwise known as Jennifer Lopez landed on her famous behind mid-way through her performance of Louboutins.

J-Lo performs a daring dance move at the AMA's. Photo: Getty Images

She had climbed on to the back of a male dancer and jumped off, only to slip as she landed. Ever the professional, she quickly recovered her composure but was later filmed looking furious as she exited the auditorium.

It had all started so well, with the singer entering the arena dressed as a prizefighter for a boxing-inspired performance.

Afterwards, her spokesman reassured fans that Lopez had not been injured in the fall. "She's fine, totally fine," he said.

Lopez was not the only star to take a tumble at the ceremony. Adam Lambert, the former American Idol star, also slipped mid-way through his routine. However, that was the least noteworthy element of his performance, which was so risque that it provoked furious complaints from viewers who felt it was too graphic for a primetime audience.

Other performers at the ceremony included Rihanna, Lady GaGa and Whitney Houston.

Michael Jackson won four posthumous awards, which were accepted by his brother, Jermaine, wearing a glittery white glove in tribute to the late star.

The biggest winner of the night was Taylor Swift, who won five trophies including Artist of the Year. ( © Telegraph.co.uk )

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