Volume 88, Issue 15 | February 3, 2010
the
Charger Bulletin The official student newspaper of the University of New Haven since 1938.
www.ChargerBulletin.com
Grammys Bring Amazing Night of Music Elton John in a musical duet that rivaled John’s last Grammy per–––––––––––––––––––––––––– formance with Eminem in 2001. The night was off to a fantastic On Sunday, Jan. 31, millions start musically. The first couple around the United States hun- of awards, Song of the Year kered down in front of their tele- for Beyonce’s “Single Ladies”, visions at 8 pm, Eastern Time, Record of the Year for “Use to view the 52 annual Grammy Somebody” by Kings of Leon, By ERIN ENNIS
ASSISTANT EDITOR
rendition of “I’ve Got a Feeling” and Taylor Swift graced the stage with her idol, Stevie Nicks. Country group Lady Antebellum performed one of their more popular songs and Green Day joined the cast of their newly inspired Broadway show to perform “21 Guns.” More awards
FBI Releases 16,659 Page File on Martin Luther King
By KYLE QUINN-QUESADA STAFF WRITER
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In an unprecedented act of declassification, the FBI file on the civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. has been released by a freedom of information act request. The entire file, which spans 16,659 pages, had originally only been available at the FBI archives reading room at the J. Edgar Hoover FBI building in Washington DC. The entire file made up of 121 separate files is now on the FBI’s website in PDF form. The file, which gives an alarmingly intimate look at the personal life of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., is made up of interviews, surveillance, and wire taps the FBI had conducted on the Reverend and people close to him. At the time the FBI believed that the civil rights movement led by Dr. King was a communist plot aimed at destabilizing the United States. The FBI’s pursuit of King increased after the momentous March on Washington where Dr. Miley Cyrus and Taylor Swift posed with R&B singer LL Cool J. (Larry Busacca / Getty Images) King gave the famous “I Have a Dream” speech. Concluding the Awards. The top names in the and Country Album of the Year were also distributed: New Art- speech, an FBI memo declared music industry swept up the red (awarded to Taylor Swift) show- ist went to the Zac Brown Band Dr. King the “most dangerous carpet, adorned in the most glitzy cased the high diversity of this and Rock Album went to Green and effective Negro leader in the and unusual garments, to watch year’s nominees. Most of the Day. country.” the award distributions and in- industry’s most popular names, The FBI had begun to coWhile some performanctense musical numbers. Always including Swift, Beyonce, Kings es definitely stood out, a few vertly track King’s close busia captivating awards show, this of Leon, and the Black Eyed seemed slightly lackluster for ness and personal associates. In year’s Grammy celebration was Peas, were up for numerous the Grammy stage. Maxwell 1963, the then notorious FBI Dilike no other. awards and considerations. sung a slow graceful ballad rector J. Edgar Hoover requested The show opened with “Poker The night continued with fan- while a powerful group featur- a warrant to tap the Reverend’s Face” by Lady Gaga in her usu- tastic performances by Beyonce ing Lil Wayne, Eminem, and homes, offices and phones. al, or maybe unusual, style. She and P!NK. The Black Eyed Peas After the agency’s surveilthen returned to the stage with took the stage with a fantastic See GRAMMYS page 19 lance came up empty with re-
gards to communism, the bureau decided to reveal details of King’s infidelity and other transgressions to the public to further undermine him. With the release of these memos it has become increasingly clear that J. Edgar Hoover had become obsessed with discrediting Dr. King in any way, shape or form. When Dr. King was awarded the Nobel Peace prize in 1964 it was too much for Hoover to bear and he had the FBI draft a letter to the Reverend detailing everything they knew about his sexual transgressions with the hope that he would commit suicide. “You are a colossal fraud and an evil, vicious one at that.” The draft had said, “The American public ... will know you for what you are, an evil, abnormal beast,” and “Satan could not do more.” Once again hinting that there was only one way out for the Reverend, the letter went on to say, “King, there is only one thing left for you to do.” The letter concluded, “You know what it is ... You better take it before your filthy, abnormal fraudulent self is bared to the nation.” After his death on April 4, 1968, the FBI still recorded some of his close associates, but the file was closed shortly thereafter. If you would like to review the FBI file on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. it is now available to the public free of charge, go to http://foia.fbi.gov/foiaindex/ king.htm for further information.
Obama Unveils $3.83T Budget with Massive Deficits By MARTIN CRUTSINGER ASSOCIATED PRESS
–––––––––––––––––––––––––– WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama sent Congress a $3.83 trillion budget on Monday that would pour more money into the fight against high unemployment, boost taxes on the wealthy and freeze spending for a wide swath of government programs. The deficit for this year would surge to a record-breaking $1.56 trillion, topping last year’s then unprecedented $1.41 trillion gap. The deficit would remain above $1 trillion in 2011 although the president proposed to institute a three-year budget freeze on a variety of programs outside of the military and homeland security as well as increasing taxes on energy producers and families making more than $250,000. Echoing the pledge in his State of the Union address to make job creation his top priority, Obama put forward a budget that included a $100 billion jobs measure that would provide tax breaks to encourage businesses to boost hiring as well as increased government spending on infrastructure and energy projects. He called for fast congressional action to speed relief to
millions left unemployed in the worst recession since the 1930s. After a protracted battle on health care dominated his first year in office and led to a string of Democratic election defeats, the administration hopes its new budget will convince Americans the president is focused on fixing the economy. Republicans complained about Obama’s proposed tax increases and said the huge projected deficits showed he had failed to get government spending under control. But administration officials argued that Obama inherited a deficit that was already topping $1 trillion when he took office and given the severity of the downturn, the president had to spend billions of dollars stabilizing the financial system and jump-starting growth. Obama’s job proposals would push government spending in 2010 to $3.72 trillion, up 5.7 percent from last year. Obama’s blueprint for the 2011 budget year, which begins Oct. 1, would increase spending further to $3.83 trillion, 3 percent higher than projected for this year. Much of the spending surge over the past two years reflects the cost of the $787 billion economic stimulus measure that Congress passed in February
2009 to deal with the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression. The surge in the deficits reflects not only the increased spending but also a big drop in tax revenues, reflecting the 7.2 million people who have lost jobs since the recession be-
gan and weaker corporate tax receipts. “Having steered the economy back from the brink of a depression, the administration is committed to moving the nation from a recession to recovery by sparking job creation to get millions
of Americans back to work,” the administration said in a statement accompanying its budget. The administration’s $100 billion proposed jobs measure would be lower than a $174 bilSee DEFICIT page 2
AN AP PHOTO