During this six-part series entitled, 20 Years of McCuistion, Dennis McCuistion revisits past programs on specific issues from the last 20 years.  In part one of this series, Dennis McCuistion discusses Education and Our Children.  This program features:

• Terry Flowers, PhD: Headmaster at St. Philip’s School
• Tom Luce: CEO of National Math and Science Initiative

Terry Flowers is joined by students from St. Philips School who recite the St. Philip’s Creed, a creed that made national news. Tom Luce talks about what is necessary for the US to remain competitive today in education.

The McCuistion TV Program (co- founded 20 years ago by host, Dennis McCuistion, and Executive Producer/Producer, Niki Nicastro  McCuistion)  focuses on issues that impact our daily lives, economically, politically and socially.  Niki believes that “the power of television when combined with an understanding of important issues can make significant, positive differences in the lives of people who watch.” The team brings that mission to every program they have produced.

Dennis and Niki both firmly believe educating our children is a critical issue, stating:

“Educating our youth is the single biggest challenge we face in a knowledge based society with global competition. We believe it’s not about more money; it’s about better parenting, more discipline, innovation or market-based education vs. government run education, and great leadership. It’s vital we put more emphasis on the basics; phonics, and repetition, yet it’s also using the best of the new technology.”

The team believes “children are our future, and while we say that if we don’t provide the tools and the environment where our children can excel, then it won’t be them who have failed us, it will be us who have failed them.”

In today’s news update we feature links to the job rate, Obama’s meeting with the Dalai Lama, and Toyota’s apologies for the recalls.

Jobless Rate Falls to 9.7%; U.S. Sheds 20,000 Job

The U.S. unemployment rate unexpectedly declined in January, but the economy continued to shed jobs and revisions painted a bleaker picture for 2009, casting doubt over the labor market’s strength.

The unemployment rate, calculated using a household survey, fell to 9.7% last month from an unrevised 10% in December, the Labor Department said Friday. Economists surveyed by Dow Jones Newswires had forecast the jobless rate would edge higher to 10.1%.

Toyota’s Chief Steps Forward to Apologize for Problems

NAGOYA, JAPAN — The president of Toyota apologized at a hastily arranged news conference Friday night for the quality problems that led to the recall of more than nine million cars worldwide.

Analysis: Obama-Dalai Lama meeting only option

WASHINGTON — Just a week after enraging China with an arms sale package for rival Taiwan, President Barack Obama risks more damage to this crucial relationship by agreeing to meet with the Dalai Lama in two weeks.

Join us this Sunday, February 7, 2010 at 12 noon on KERA, Channel 13 where McCuistion debuts its 20^th year on KERA with the first of a six-part series – 20 Years of McCuistion.

With retrospective programs on specific issues from the last 20 years, the first program in the series is Education and Our Children.  This program features:

• Terry Flowers, PhD: Headmaster at St. Philips School
• Tom Luce: CEO of National Math and Science Initiative

Terry Flowers is joined by students from St. Philips School who recite the St. Philip’s Creed, a creed that made national news. Tom Luce talks about what is necessary for the US to remain competitive today in education.

All McCuistion TV episodes can be found at www.McCuistionTV.com where you can both watch the videos and interact with the McCuistion team and other viewers.  You can also follow McCuistion TV on Twitter.

For further details on the series, please contact Niki Nicastro McCuistion at (214) 750-5157 or email her at nikin@nikimccuistion.com.

Join us this Sunday as we talk about things that matter with people who care…

Guest, Charles Gasparino, is a critically acclaimed investigative journalist and CNBC TV personality and joins Dennis McCuistion for another look at Wall Street.

In part two of this program Charles Gasparino illuminates the crisis of today and what responsibilities Ben Bernanke, Hank Paulson and others played that led to the global meltdown in our economy.  He cautions that the present day situation had its roots in irresponsible actions taken 30 years ago. He urges that if we want answers we need to look back at the players then and the key figures today… all built on yesterday’s greed and risk taking.

Wall Street’s romance with risk developed an ever increasing appetite for risk taking; which led to investments that were bizarre, esoteric and complicated. So complicated that former Treasury Secretary under President Clinton, Bob Reuben, a trader deluxe at Citigroup, didn’t even understand collateralized debt obligations.  Yet, here was a man who earned a $15 million salary at Citigroup.  According to Gasparino, “There was no responsibility. He should have stepped up to the plate, but instead advocated Citigroup to take on even more risk!!!”

A mild rupture to the system, that of decreasing housing prices, among others, created massive implosion. The model, did not have a possibility that home prices could go down so they were kept on balance sheets. The correction led to defaults, people could not afford the mortgage they were paying, they had variable rate loans, had bought homes with nothing down and nothing invested, homeowners in increasing numbers walked away from obligations they could not fulfill… and the list goes on.

You’ll walk away from watching this program angry at the irresponsibility of government and Wall Street  and the risks they have taken that have put all of us at risk.

Join us as we talk about things that matter with people who care…

Niki Nicastro McCuistion
Executive Producer/ Producer

***

1813 – 01.31.10

Niki sits down with Dennis McCuistion to discuss his interview with Charles Gasparino and his views on topics discussed and the upcoming program.

Critically acclaimed investigative journalist and CNBC TV personality, Charles Gasparino, joins Dennis McCuistion for an intense discussion and look at the last 30 years that led to today’s financial meltdown.

Charles Gasparino talks about Wall Street’s “love affair” with risk. From the 1980’s and the advent of mortgage-backed securities, to the packaging of mortgages to bonds, to the selling of those to Wall Street.  He speaks on the bond market situation in 1986 and Alan Greenspan, the former Chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank, who in 1987 lowered interest rates and  bailed out Wall Street.

Charles Gasparino explains the trail of culpability, including the Government’s encouragement of home ownership which prompted mortgage brokers to give loans to people who did not have the means to pay back the money loaned and the underwriters who invested in risky debt.  He states the outcome was an abdication of collective responsibilities on the part of government, homeowners and financial institutions and for Wall Street – greed and risk taking.

Overall, Charles Gasparino says it was about avarice, arrogance, stupidity and greed… and the “selling off of the American Dream.”

Niki Nicastro McCuistion
Executive Producer/ Producer

***

1812 – 01.24.10

In today’s news update we provide links to information that is going on in Haiti, Obama’s banking proposals, China and Internet censorship and GE’s Q4 Profits.

Obama’s banking proposals: The impact on Europe

“If these folks want a fight, it’s a fight I’m ready to have,” Mr Obama vowed on Thursday.

The president’s opening salvo, designed to stop banks taking too many risks in the future, comprises a four-punch combination:

• To limit the overall size of banks
• To ban banks from buying and selling assets with their own money, a practice known as proprietary trading
• To ban them from dealing in hedge funds
• To ban private equity trading, or buying and selling whole companies.

But these wide-ranging activities are undertaken by big banks across the world, and not just in the US.

Haitian Government to Relocate 400,000 Displaced by Quake

Haitian government officials say an estimated 400,000 residents displaced by last week’s earthquake will be moved to new villages to be set up outside the devastated capital, Port-au-Prince.

Officials said Thursday they will provide transportation for the residents and hope to begin moving them as soon as possible. The 7.0 magnitude quake left an estimated 1.5 million people homeless, and earthquake survivors have been living outside in overcrowded camps with little or no sanitation.

China Says U.S. Internet Accusations Harm Ties

BEIJING — The Chinese Foreign Ministry lashed out Friday against a speech on Internet censorship made the previous day by Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, calling on the United States government “to respect the truth and to stop using the so-called Internet freedom question to level baseless accusations.”

2nd UPDATE: GE 4Q Profit Drops 19% On Finance-Arm, NBC Weakness

General Electric Co. (GE) on Friday beat expectations with a 19% drop in fourth-quarter earnings, with an upbeat outlook that foresees a return to growth in 2011.

Orders have improved since its investor update in December, with delinquencies in its problematic finance unit also trending down, though commercial real-estate remains a key concern.

“The world we look at really has improved,” said chairman and CEO Jeff Immelt on a conference call with analysts.

Net profits for the December quarter of $3.01 billion, or 28 cents a share, compared with $3.72 billion, or 35 cents, a year earlier and a 26-cent consensus forecast among analysts. Revenue dropped 10% to $41.44 billion.

In today’s news updates we provide links to the current situation in Haiti, an update on arms in North Korea and Toyota’s plans for the hybrid cars by 2011.

CNN News Updates from Haiti

Look here for news updates on the aftermath of a 7.0 earthquake that struck Haiti. All times are Haiti local time, which is the same as Eastern Standard Time in the U.S. and five hours behind GMT.

North Korea’s Kim calls for stronger army amid tension

SEOUL, South Korea — North Korean leader Kim Jong Il said his country must bolster its armed forces, state media reported Sunday, two days after his regime warned it would launch a war against South Korea if necessary.

Kim’s all-powerful National Defense Commission had threatened Friday to initiate a sacred “retaliatory battle” against the South in anger over its reported contingency plan to cope with potential unrest in the communist country. The commission also warned it could break off all dialogue and negotiations with the South.

Toyota shooting for one million hybrids by 2011

Toyota wants to be producing 1 million hybrid cars worldwide a year by 2011, reports Reuters, quoting Nikkei business in Tokyo. That would likely be double the number of hybrids it built last year.

Among the 10 new hybrid models planned in the next few years, Toyota showed off one hybrid concept for the U.S. at last week’s North American International Auto Show in Detroit. It’s the FT-CH concept, which would be smaller, cheaper car more along the lines of the Corolla. In addition, Toyota’s brass disclosed that they plan to turn Prius into a family of cars.

Updates In Haiti

Haiti aid efforts hampered in critical hours

Port-au-Prince, Haiti (CNN) — Impassable roads, a bottleneck at the damaged airport, an unreachable dock and not enough equipment to unload supplies kept much of the world’s help Friday from desperate Haitians.

With thousands of people trapped under the rubble since Tuesday’s 7.0-magnitude earthquake, every minute mattered. Officials said the window of opportunity to save many lives was closing.

Burst of Mobile Giving Adds Millions in Relief Funds

In the aftermath of the earthquake in Haiti, many Americans are reaching for their cellphones to make a donation via text message. And plenty of them are then spreading the word to others on sites like Twitter and Facebook.

The American Red Cross, which is working with a mobile donations firm called mGive, said Thursday that it had raised more than $5 million this way.

Health Reform

Massachusetts vote could threaten health reform

Democrats envisioned a smooth passing of the baton in the January 19 special election to fill the seat of the late Edward Kennedy, a political giant who died of brain cancer in August after holding the seat for 46 years.

A victory would maintain the Democrats’ 60-seat Senate majority, allowing them to overcome Republican procedural hurdles that could block reform of the $2.5 trillion healthcare sector, Obama’s top legislative priority.

Wall Street

Intel shares fall on ‘peaking’ fear despite strong quarter

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) – Shares of Intel Corp. fell early Friday after the semiconductor giant reported strong fourth-quarter results that won rave reviews from Wall Street, but also triggered worries about a peak in earnings growth.

The China Study, one of the most comprehensive studies of its time, pointed out the benefits of vegetarian diets. According to Dr. Campbell, meat and dairy are harmful and shorten a life span, not to mention the accompanying side effects that can be detrimental to one’s health.

Click here to view the episode on nutrition that provoked the vegetarian diet experiment.

Dennis McCuistion, host of the discussion, was so taken by the information, he decided to experiment and see if the benefits were all the study touted.  He has and it worked… He is now almost a full blown vegan himself, with good results. I (Niki McCuistion) asked him about the up and down sides.  Here’s what Dennis said:

“The China Study had information that was based on real, objective research that clearly pointed out the risks in eating animal protein and the advantages of plant protein.  So I just asked, ‘Why am I killing myself when I have a third of my life left?’ I had already quit drinking milk due to lactose intolerance so that was easy to see.

I lost over 10 pounds in the next 90 days and have kept it off for over 2 years.  I always felt good and now feel even better with one great unexpected side effect: I seldom ever have a headache. I cannot say there is a cause and effect, but it’s an added advantage.

It is not difficult to follow, just bothersome as there is virtually no way to eat anything at a fast food place.  That is a shame as I am in the habit of often eating on the run, so to speak. At good restaurants, while there may be a limited menu, they will make a vegetable plate. Our American habits of filling up a plate is a shame as there is always a waste.

My typical breakfast is:

• Cereal with fruit (blueberries, strawberries and bananas) with man’s bread or equivalent and non-butter.
• Hot decaffeinated tea is good and some health supplements are also good.

Lunch is  usually a vegetable dish. I shouldn’t have bread but usually do, and of course anything chocolate is my weakness.

Dinner can include:

• Salad and veggies, beans, in particular, for protein.
• I may have a protein drink occasionally.
• Pizza without cheese but with lots of veggies is also good.
• Eat lots of nuts, easy on the salt of course.

Oh, after about 30 days, I had no craving for a good steak or other meat. I do eat fish once or twice a week, preferably not fried. I am not obsessive; I just try to be sensible.

As to other regimes, I never really dieted before and don’t consider this a diet either, just a change in the way I eat and live.  And I sure feel better.”

Niki Nicastro McCuistion
Executive producer/Producer