The Department of Health and Human Services has announced a $17.6 million contract to advertising firm Porter Novelli, for their expertise in “strategic planning, development, execution, and assessment of a national, integrated multi-media education campaign that promotes the preventive health care benefits available to all Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius (Charles Dharapak - AP) Americans as a result of the Affordable Care Act.” An HHS spokesperson told PRWeek that the contracted work will inform the American people “about the many preventive benefits now available to those with Medicare, Medicaid, and private health insurance” as a result of the Act. The 2010 law, better known as ”Obamacare,” was passed narrowly after hard fought legislative battles which President Obama, then recently elected, spent an enormous ... Continue reading →

Those defense lawyers in the John Edwards trial put on a case so bare-bones — three days and they were done — that it was confident to the point of cockiness. You got nothin, it told prosecutors, so why belabor the Former U.S. senator John Edwards and daughter Cate leave for lunch during jury deliberations May 24, 2012, at the federal courthouse in Greensboro, N.C. Edwards is charged with accepting excessive campaign funds to conceal his extramarital affair while he ran for president. A fifth day of jury deliberations got under way on Thursday in Edwards’s campaign finance case, which legal experts have said could expand the definition of what qualifies as campaign contributions. (JOHN ADKISSON - REUTERS) point? But after five days of deliberations, ... Continue reading →

The day of Mei Shunping’s fifth forced abortion in China was “the saddest day of my life,’’ she told a congressional subcommittee this week.This undated photo provided by the China Aid Association shows blind Chinese legal activist Chen Guangcheng, right, with wife Yuan Weijing and son, Chen Kerui in China. (AP) The cause that human rights activist Chen Guangcheng has so long championed is often glossed over in this country, where we tend to focus on how cool it is that a blind guy scaled a fence and escaped his captors like some kind of action hero. But Mei spelled out the gory particulars for the House Committee on Foreign Affairs subcommittee on Africa, Global Health and Human Rights. On a monthly basis, she told ... Continue reading →

Fred Davis, the GOP advertising man and political strategist, is known for creating incendiary political ads that -- whether or not they get his clients elected -- usually get people talking. We’ve all seen his Is 2008 Republican presidential nominee John McCain warning his successor, Mitt Romney, about the lack of loyalty he can expect from political strategist Fred Davis? No, and he doesn’t have to. (Jae C. Hong - AP) handiwork. Davis is very good at making memorable and meme-able political ads. A nephew of Oklahoma senator Jim Inhofe, he entered political messaging when his uncle first ran for his upper chamber seat. Davis made a big impact with a 1994 campaign ad that depicted convicts wearing pink ballerina tutus. More recent election cycle ... Continue reading →

Mitt Romney, you should know better than to go after Bill Clinton. In this Dec. 10, 2010 file photo President Barack Obama listens to former President Bill Clinton speak in the White House briefing room in Washington, D.C. (J. Scott Applewhite - Associated Press) Clinton and Barack Obama may have had their disagreements in 2008, and even during Obama’s presidency, but Clinton is a true-blue dyed-in-the-wool Democrat. On Tuesday, Romney invoked Clinton’s name in a speech about debt in Iowa. “Even a former McGovern campaign worker like President Clinton was signaling to his own party that Democrats should no longer try to govern by proposing a new program for every problem,” Romney said. Romney continued with talking about how Obama has hidden the Clinton doctrine ... Continue reading →

As a white girl growing up in the 1970s South, I loved Donna Summer. It was a place that was still segregated – as much as people wanted to pretend it wasn’t – but Summer’s music bonded black and white kids. We’d stand at the Big Banjo’s juke box and play “Hot Stuff” and “Bad Girls.” As kids, we probably shouldn’t have even been listening to such racy lyrics, but it was carefree disco after all. That music allowed us to dance together even if we didn’t hang out at school together. Summer, a five-time Grammy winner, died Thursday of cancer at 63. Donna Summer was the quintessential diva of disco, a genre that gets a bad rap because it wasn’t necessarily political or edgy. ... Continue reading →

Romance Books ‘R Us, a website and blog for and about erotic romance writers, has come under fire for featuring a post by author Adele Dubois, who shares a famous first name with the Adele reacts as she holds her award for best British album of the year during the BRIT Music Awards at the O2 Arena in London February 21, 2012. (DYLAN MARTINEZ - REUTERS) Grammy-winning singer from Great Britain. Google sent out copyright infringement letters to the 20 authors featured on the website, explaining that the May 4 post by Dubois about her new book Intimate Art had been removed pending investigation. Dubois, who uses a nom de plume to protect her privacy, was named Adele at birth. “It’s my legal first name,” ... Continue reading →

Start Somewhere is proud to partner with StartOut, an organization dedicated to fostering and developing entrepreneurship within the LGBT community, to host a screening of Miss Representation on Monday, May 14, 2012 in Washington D.C. at The GALA Hispanic Theater. The event will raise money and awareness for StartOut’s Lesbian Entrepreneurship mentoring program. Interested in learning more about the program? Email Leanne at leanne@startout.org. Because Miss Representation is such an important film, we’re enlisting the help of key organizations to help spread the word. To learn more about being a community sponsor click here. About The Film Written and directed by Jennifer Siebel Newsom, Miss Representation exposes how mainstream media contribute to the under-representation of women in positions of power and influence in America. The ... Continue reading →