US Marines and Taliban fight battle of perceptions

U.S. military personnel treat a wounded Afghan soldier, as another sits nearby, outside a U.S. military clinic following what witnesses described as a car-bomb attack against a military checkpoint, in Sangin, Helmand province, Thursday Sept. 8, 2011. Witnesses described seeing several Afghan soldiers and civilians laying dead following the attack, and several wounded were evacuated. (AP Photo/Brennan Linsley)

U.S. military personnel treat a wounded Afghan soldier, as another sits nearby, outside a U.S. military clinic following what witnesses described as a car-bomb attack against a military checkpoint, in Sangin, Helmand province, Thursday Sept. 8, 2011. Witnesses described seeing several Afghan soldiers and civilians laying dead following the attack, and several wounded were evacuated. (AP Photo/Brennan Linsley)

U.S. military personnel and Afghan soldiers help carry a wounded Afghan man into a U.S. military clinic following what witnesses described as a car-bomb attack against a military checkpoint, in Sangin, Helmand province, Thursday Sept. 8, 2011. Witnesses described seeing several Afghan soldiers and civilians laying dead following the attack, and several wounded were evacuated. (AP Photo/Brennan Linsley)

FORWARD OPERATING BASE JACKSON, Afghanistan (AP) ? The jarring blast near the American base sent up a cloud of smoke that drifted silently in the breeze. "Not good," a U.S. Marine said. Minutes later, vehicles raced through the gates with the wounded, three Marines and half a dozen Afghans.

Some lay bloodied on stretchers as medics worked on them. Soon, a pair of helicopters swept in and scooped up the injured, including a bomb sniffer dog, for delivery to a military hospital.

Word spread. A suicide bomber in a car packed with explosives had attacked security forces in the Sangin district center, next to the Marine battalion headquarters in an area of southern Afghanistan that has seen some of the war's hardest fighting. Three Afghan police and four civilians were killed.

Marines at Forward Operating Base Jackson called Thursday's attack part of a battle of perceptions with Taliban insurgents in a war triggered by the 9/11 attacks.

The Taliban, driven from power after sheltering Osama bin Laden, need to remind residents they are capable of inflicting damage on any opponent. The Marines must convince the Afghans that they have weakened the Taliban so much that they could never pose a threat ? even as the U.S. and its allies transfer security responsibility to Afghan forces by the end of 2014.

The Taliban aim to push the Marines onto the defensive with high-profile bombings, forcing them to conduct fewer patrols and hole up in their bases in a sign that their own security is more important than that of the Afghans. U.S. forces, in turn, are trying to expand operations outward from population centers to keep insurgents away from civilians who will ultimately decide the fate of their nation.

By targeting the seat of local government Thursday, insurgents in Sangin apparently sought to show they can dictate the tempo of the conflict, despite heavy pressure since last year by successive Marine battalions. The U.S. military describes such acts as a sign of desperation by an enemy that has lost sway over communities it once controlled.

The challenge of breaking the Taliban grip is especially formidable in Sangin, which lies in the traditional Taliban stronghold of Helmand province. The district acts as a regional transit hub and is a conduit to a major dam that provides electricity.

Here, insurgents oversee opium-bearing harvests of poppy with the profits filling fill their war chests.

Sangin also has one of the highest concentrations of concealed bombs in Afghanistan. More than 100 British troops died there during several years of operations.

The Marines pushed aggressively into Sangin in larger numbers than the British had, forcing the Taliban onto the defensive, often at heavy cost. They tried to lend legitimacy to newly appointed Afghan officials by bankrolling bridge construction and other public works projects in their name.

Fighting ebbed during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, which ended more than a week ago, and American troops are poised for any upswing.

"We're kind of waiting for what the next step is," said Lt. Col. Thomas Savage, commander of the 1st Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, which occupies Jackson, a former British camp. "We've got enough of a lid on it that they're not going to be able to come back hard."

Savage spoke days before Thursday's bombing in a key town that has become relatively secure. There was a time when the Taliban's white flags ringed the Jackson base, the commander said, and insurgent snipers fired on Marines on the perimeter walls. Many Afghan civilians have since returned, and Marines patrolling in armored vehicles drive past merchants manning their kiosks.

After the explosion, Afghan soldiers at Jackson leaped into pickup trucks to collect the wounded. Back at a base clinic, they used a blanket to haul one injured Afghan whose eyes darted wildly. Other men lay inert. A U.S. medic turned one over to check his back for unseen wounds.

The shrapnel wounds of two Marines were described as minor. A third Marine lay on a stretcher with his eyes closed, his face pale, his trouser legs cut away to aid treatment. His life was not in danger.

One of the wounded was a dog used by U.S. Marines to detect crudely made but lethal bombs. His hindquarters were soaked in blood.

"This is Drak. Drak got hit as well," a servicemen said to three dog handlers who put a muzzle on the animal and hoisted him onto a stretcher. "He's got a puncture wound on his hip. I don't know if he's got anything under his tail, but he's dripping pretty bad."

The battle for Sangin, which has a population of about 100,000, plays out most days in a slower, more subtle fashion. The Marine battalion aims to unify a patchwork of tribes, some with long-standing rivalries, and empower Afghans who can represent fractured communities and may be targets for assassination.

"There are no cookie-cutter solutions here," said Marine Capt. Casey Brock of Charlie Company. As an example, Brock, of Bend, Oregon, cited his operational area. It encompasses a fertile belt along the Helmand river with a relatively stable tradition of landownership and, on the other side of a paved highway, an arid zone known as the "Fish Tank" where a fluctuating population leases land and has little to unite it.

Savage, a veteran of three tours in Iraq, said there were a "million little problems" in Sangin and that an overarching solution, such as the U.S.-backed marshaling of Sunni militias that turned against al-Qaida in Iraq, could not work in the territory under his command.

"You can't do what we did in Iraq," he said. "You don't get an entire bloc to flip."

He said Sangin's population was tilting toward the Marines, but acknowledged there are "fence-sitters" whose long-term loyalties are unclear. This summer, when President Barack Obama announced plans for a troop drawdown in Afghanistan, Savage cast U.S. policy in stark terms in his conversations with tribal leaders: Support coalition forces and allow stability to take root, or endure more combat, with all its devastating fallout, before the Americans leave.

Even the Taliban cells in Sangin appear to operate independently, often without signs of coordination. Marines say their leadership in neighboring Pakistan provides broad direction.

On patrol one day, Lance Cpl. Patrick Hawco of Tivoli, New York, described the conflict as a "small unit leader fight" where troops of lower rank make spur-of-the-moment decisions that, drawn together, have a wider impact on the course of the war. In the Marines' case, a decision to walk down one alleyway instead of another, or to stop for tea with a tribal elder, is a matter of instinct and experience.

At this time of year, the corn harvest is approaching. The stalks rise green and strong up to 12 feet, towering over the Marines as they zigzag on paths through the dense fields, their body armor soaked in sweat. Marines can't use their high-tech optics in the corn, but sometimes they move into it to set ambushes.

"We have to make sure the enemy fears the corn, and not the other way around," Brock said. In this battle of perceptions, he said, the goal is to sow doubt in the opponent.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2011-09-09-AS-Afghan-Battle-for-Sangin/id-f8827010c71f42c5813f5f8489116883

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Getting back to even on jobs divides US leaders (AP)

WASHINGTON ? America's sickly economy can be healed with jobs, jobs and more jobs. On that, everyone agrees. Figuring out how to produce them is what is stumping everyone.

Other than letting time take its course, Washington lacks a clear answer on how to create permanent new jobs on a national scale. Forecasters suggest it will take 20 million new jobs over the next 10 years just to repair recession damage and to keep pace with adult population growth.

Recent streams of bleak employment and economic data drive home the difficulty of the challenge.

As President Barack Obama prepares to tackle jobs issues in a speech to Congress on Thursday, deep divisions persist among economic policymakers on just how to spur job growth. The speech comes as national polls show a clear majority of those surveyed say they disapprove of the way Obama is handling the economy.

Lots of schemes have been tried or floated ? first under Republican President George W. Bush and now under Democrat Obama. More than $2 trillion has been plowed into stimulus spending, loans and bailouts to banks, auto companies and other corporations, tax cuts for individuals and businesses, mortgage refinancing assistance and aid to state and local governments.

But so far, the needle has barely moved on unemployment, which has stayed near or above a frightening recession-level 9 percent for 29 months. It was 9.1 percent in August, same as the month before, with zero net job gains during the month.

"Neither side can make a definitive case that they really know what they're doing," said Douglas Holtz-Eakin, a former director of the Congressional Budget Office and top economic adviser to 2008 GOP presidential nominee Sen. John McCain.

Holtz-Eakin said that while different theories abound, economists have yet to satisfactorily explain business cycles, predict the duration of recessions or explain why some nations' economies grow while others do not. "It's complicated by the fact that we don't live in a textbook world and that, in fact, the government's capacity to do stuff is not infinitely wide."

Obama favors a mix of new short-term deficit spending on tax breaks and jobs programs, including ones for roads, bridges and other infrastructure, to keep the economy from falling back into a recession, combined with longer-term steps to trim ballooning deficits.

The need for infrastructure jobs is one of the few areas where there's anything approaching consensus. The concept has won the support not only of Obama, but such rival groups as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the AFL-CIO. The differences come in how to pay for it.

The administration is running out of ammunition to invigorate the economy before the November 2012 presidential election, especially with a Congress that seems geared to block any Obama measures that increase government spending. The Federal Reserve also has few options left, having kept interest rates at near zero for more than two years.

Republicans, who now control the House, overwhelmingly oppose further stimulus measures and are emphasizing deep spending cuts and eliminating regulations they claim discourage business expansion and job creation. Catering to the tea party movement, these Republicans say the private sector, not the government, is the engine of growth and should be allowed to function without government meddling.

Republicans have been out singing the praises of limited government and bashing Obama's economic policies.

With Congress now back from its summer break, Republicans will "focus on how we stop the federal government from making it so difficult for small business people to create jobs," said Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va.

On Obama's left, liberal Democrats are clamoring for even more anti-recessionary spending than he has supported, saying measures enacted thus far have fallen short, given the magnitude of the downturn.

They can't all be right.

Some 16 million Americans are jobless, nearly half of them for more than six months. The number of unemployed and underemployed is some 25 million, or 16 percent of the adult population. There is but one job available for every four job seekers.

Yet there are flaws in both Democratic and Republican prescriptions for healing the economy and generating jobs.

For example, amid GOP assertions that getting the government's fiscal house in order will restore business confidence and private-sector jobs, recession-induced belt-tightening by the federal, state and local governments has resulted in widespread layoffs in the public sector.

"That's not really the way to move forward," said Lawrence Mishel, president of the labor-leaning Economic Policy Institute. For instance, even August's meager 17,000-job gain in the private sector was completely erased by lost public-sector jobs.

Many big corporations have ample cash on hand they could use for hiring, but there is little reason to do so. "There is an across-the-board lack of demand for workers," labor economist Heidi Shierholz said.

Why would a company invest to build a new plant and equipment if there's nobody to buy what is produced? It's a vicious cycle: Businesses won't hire because they don't have enough customers. But those out of work aren't shopping because they lack incomes.

On the Democratic side, many of the proposals expected to be announced by Obama, such as putting construction crews to work on road, bridge and other infrastructure projects and hiring workers to repair public schools, would be, by their very nature, temporary ones. And spending done now must still be paid for later, which is hard to do with a national debt soaring toward $14.7 trillion.

Obama also is putting emphasis on creating new jobs by exporting more, calling for approval of more free-trade agreements and seeking to double exports within the next five years. But with global markets soft, the world's top exporters ? China, Japan and Germany ? also hope to boost their lagging exports. It's a mathematical impossibility for all major trading partners to boost exports at the same time.

A major obstacle to job creation is the "mismatch between the jobs being created and the skills of those people who are unemployed," said Rob Shapiro, a former undersecretary of commerce in the Clinton administration. He hopes Obama will include job retraining programs in Thursday's speech, especially in the area of information-technology training for adults.

Citing unexpected weaknesses in the economy, White House forecasters a few days ago said unemployment will persist at around 9 percent well into the 2012 election season, revising their contention as recently as June that it would drop to about 8.3 percent next year. Some private forecasts are even gloomier.

Getting back to pre-recession jobless rates of below 5 percent ? last seen in 2007 ? may be a thing of the past.

"I think we'll get down to 5.5 to 6 percent unemployment and that will be the `new normal,'" said economist Mark Zandi of Moody's Analytics. "It will take us to the mid-part of the decade to get there, but I think we will get there."

But Zandi, who has advised both Republican and Democratic lawmakers, said it also "depends on policymakers getting it roughly right."

It's the getting it right part that's such a tall order.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/economy/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110907/ap_on_go_pr_wh/us_replacing_lost_jobs

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Hopes cool for freedom of American jailed in Cuba (AP)

HAVANA ? Hopes that a U.S. government subcontractor jailed in Cuba might soon be freed were dashed when former New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson said the Cuban government refused to let him meet with the prisoner.

In an exclusive interview with The Associated Press, Richardson described 62-year-old Alan Gross as an "American hostage." He said he would not leave the island until he was allowed to see him at a military hospital where he is being held.

"My mission here as a private citizen is to secure the release of Alan Gross, an American hostage," Richardson said late Thursday. "I've been informed by the Cuban government that I would not be allowed to see Alan Gross during my visit."

Richardson said that he had been scheduled to depart Saturday, but that he told Cuban officials he would not leave until he was granted a meeting with Gross.

"I promised his wife, Judy, that I would see him," the governor said.

It was not clear whether he had any further meetings scheduled Friday. There was no immediate comment from Cuba's government, or from Washington.

The news, delivered by a somber Richardson at the end of a long day of meetings with Cuban officials, was sure to come as a shock to those who had felt certain Gross' long ordeal was nearing an end.

Gross' lawyer said Wednesday that Richardson came to Havana at the invitation of the Cuban government, and earlier Thursday a leading Cuban official praised the governor and described Gross as a "victim."

The case has chilled efforts to improve ties between Washington and Havana, and the failure of Richardson's visit to win his release would likely set things back even further.

The State Department said Thursday that President Barack Obama's administration has been in touch with Richardson.

Richardson, a former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, has a working relationship with Cuba's leaders and a long history of winning the release of prisoners in Cuba and elsewhere. His description of Gross as a hostage ? rather than a prisoner ? was sure to rankle Cuban leaders.

Gross was arrested in December 2009 while on a USAID-funded democracy building program. A Cuban court convicted the Maryland native in March of crimes against the state for illegally bringing in communications equipment and sentenced him to 15 years in jail, a decision that was upheld last month by the country's Supreme Court.

Gross has insisted he was only trying to help Cuba's tiny Jewish community improve Internet access, and says he had no desire to offend Cuba's communist government. Cuba says the USAID program was a thinly veiled attempt to overthrow the government.

In court testimony from March that was released last week by his own lawyer, Gross described himself as a "trusting fool."

"I was duped. I was used. And my family and I have paid dearly for this," he told the tribunal.

With the Supreme Court decision, which effectively ended Gross' legal options, efforts have turned to winning his release on humanitarian grounds.

Those who have met and spoken with him say Gross has lost 100 pounds (45 kilos) while in custody, and both his elderly mother and adult daughter are suffering from cancer, among other hardships the family has endured.

Richardson was last in Havana in August 2010, when he met with Cuba's foreign minister and appealed for Gross' release. As a congressman in 1996, Richardson secured the liberation of three island political prisoners during talks with former Cuban leader Fidel Castro in Havana.

Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter also raised Gross' case at the highest levels of government during a trip to Havana in March. The former president was received warmly by Fidel and current Cuban President Raul Castro and was even allowed to talk with Gross in jail, but he left empty-handed.

Richardson told the AP that the meeting was denied although Gross had formally requested it through a U.S. consular official.

It was not clear what Cuban officials would do if Richardson refused to leave. Physically kicking him out of the country would be public relations nightmare, particularly given the Democratic politician's previously strong ties with Cuban leaders.

Earlier Thursday, Cuban Parliament Chief Ricardo Alarcon lauded Richardson's efforts to improve ties between Washington and Havana, including advocating freedom for five Cuban agents serving long jail terms in the United States.

Richardson's effort toward rapprochement "is something legitimate," he said.

"It is something noble. I hope it gets results," Alarcon said.

He insisted, however, that he had no idea whether Richardson would be allowed to leave the island with Gross.

"I don't know what Bill's program here involves," Alarcon said. "I'm not a fortune teller."

But Alarcon seemed to signal that Havana's posture toward Gross was softening, blaming Washington and not him for his actions.

"It is a shame that this gentleman has been a victim of politics," he said. "They've used him."

___

Paul Haven can be reached at http://www.twitter.com/paulhaven

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/world/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110909/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/cb_cuba_imprisoned_american

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Ferrets As Pets. ? on-targetdirect.com

When it comes down to selecting insurance for pets, there's more than one factor you need to consider than merely the monthly price you must pay. Here are 3 factors that should be at the very top of your list for pet cover : one. Thorough Coverage While putting the quantity of coverage you get first appears nonsensical, it's regularly the finest choice for saving money down the road when your pet could have to exploit the insurance. The amount you will pay for making this error is stunning. The worst eventuality that might occur is that your pet gets a condition like cancer or diabetes that requires in depth treatment and then you find out that your animal insurance company does not cover it. I like this recipe as it includes beef, plants and rice.

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Source: http://www.on-targetdirect.com/ferrets-as-pets

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VMAs to feature time travel, black carpet, Lady Gaga (Reuters)

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) ? Sunday's MTV Video Music Awards will feature an indoor black carpet, a theme of the space-time continuum of music, and something from Lady Gaga that we've never seen before.

That's the word from MTV president Stephen Friedman and VMA executive producer Jesse Ignjatovic, who revealed the concept behind this year's show exclusively to TheWrap, as well as an exclusive look at the stage design.

"We were looking at our audience and the way they interact and engage with music today, and thinking, how do we bring that to television?" said Ignjatovic, who pitched his concept to MTV back in January.

"You can go to your computer and hang with the new Kanye track, and then go to an Otis Redding track. Or listen to Katy Perry and then jump to the '70s and listen to Led Zeppelin.

"So our jumping-off point was that idea of people being able to engage with music in a timeless way, on transporting you on a journey through a space-time continuum of music."

Also along for the journey, Friedman revealed, will be the latest round of show participants, who were confirmed on Tuesday: Will Ferrell, Jack Black, Zoe Saldana, Victoria Justice and Kevin Hart. MTV announced Wednesday that Beyonce had been added to the list of performers.

As for this space-time continuum thing, it'll start with the red carpet -- which won't be red, and won't be outside the Nokia Theater.

Instead, the black carpet will travel through the lobby of the adjacent J.W. Marriott hotel, and it will create an immersive environment that kicks off the theme of the show.

But have no fear, diehard MTV watchers: the preshow will also feature red-carpet hostess Selena Gomez and the cast of

"Jersey Shore."

"They're going to be in attendance," said Friedman of Snooki, the Situation and crew.

"They'll definitely be involved in the pre-show. And we're trying to figure out a way to fit some of them into the show as well."

That show, as MTV previously announced, will also include a tribute to the late Amy Winehouse and a salute to the not-so-departed Britney Spears.

It will begin with a performance by Lady Gaga, about which Friedman will only say, "It's something the world has never seen from her. The last time she performed on the show she raised the bar, and this is going to be unlike anything she has ever done."

Then again, reinventing the wheel is the whole point of the VMAs; where most awards shows have a firm template and can only make minor changes year to year, MTV's extravaganza varies dramatically from one show to the next. (The channel may be celebrating its 30th anniversary, but they barely mentioned the milestone except on their older-skewing sister channel VH1.)

"We almost have to do that, given who our audience is," said Friedman. "Every few years we have to reinvent everything to stay in touch with our audience. And with this show, the presumption is that if we did it last year, we really don't want to do it this year."

"It's almost a year-round job," added Ignjatovic. "You finish one show, and you have to immediately start thinking about what you should do differently next year."

Still, both men know that what viewers remember about the VMAs -- far more than many of the planned set pieces, and certainly more than who wins the awards -- are the unexpected water-cooler moments that can't be mapped out in advance: Kanye West interrupting Taylor Swift's acceptance speech to sing the praises of Beyonce, Eminem snapping at Triumph the Insult Comic Dog and feuding with Moby mid-show.

"There's no question that we can plan up to a certain point, but the show has an energy to it and things are going to start happening," said Ignjatovic.

And when Kanye has his "imma let you finish" moment while Swift is trying to talk, what goes through their minds backstage? "Oh my God, what's happening?", or "This will be a great water-cooler moment!"?

"The honest answer?" said Friedman. "Both."

(This version of the story corrects performer to Beyonce from Rihanna in paragraph 17)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/music/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20110824/music_nm/us_vmas

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Stocks turn higher after deficit report

NEW YORK?? Stocks erased initial losses and turned positive on Wednesday after the Congressional Budget Office said the recent budget deal will slice projected budget deficits nearly in half over the next 10 years.

The Dow Jones industrial average gained 21.42 points, or 0.19 percent, to 11,198.18. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index rose 2.75 points, or 0.24 percent, to 1,165.10. The Nasdaq Composite Index added 2.84 points, or 0.12 percent, to 2,448.90.

The federal budget deficit will hit $1.28 trillion this year, down slightly from the previous two years, with even bigger savings to come over the next decade, according to congressional projections released Wednesday.

The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office says budget deficits will be reduced by a total $3.3 trillion over the next decade, largely because of the deficit reduction package passed by Congress earlier this month.

Stocks were also supported a bit by a government report before the open that showed companies placed more orders for aircraft, automobiles and other durable goods rose in July. Orders for longer-lasting goods rose 4 percent in July, the biggest increase since March. Orders had dropped 1.3 percent in June.

Hopes that Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke would announce new stimulus for a struggling U.S. economy fueled a 3 percent rally in stocks on Tuesday.

Bernanke speaks to a central bank conference on Friday in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. Analysts were divided on how much scope the Fed has for further stimulus.

Concerns about the economy's strength and the euro zone's sovereign debt crisis have sparked sharp volatility in the past two weeks, and the magnitude of Tuesday's rally echoed the steep moves.

Story: U.S. durable goods orders up more than expected

Applied Materials Inc is scheduled to report quarterly results later Wednesday.

Bank of America Corp could remain in focus a day after the Dow component fell to 2-1/2-year lows on fears it may have to raise massive amounts of capital. The stock rose slightly in early trrading.

Delta Air Lines Inc is expected to order 100 Boeing Co extended-range 737 planes to replace older aircraft, sources said.

U.S. stocks shot higher Tuesday on hopes for Fed action, giving investors hope that a four-week rout was ending. Technology and other growth stocks drove most of the gains, with the Nasdaq rising more than 4 percent.

Reuters contributed to this report.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44254621/ns/business/

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Celebrity Baby Scoop: Celebrity moms and Michaels say 'The family ...

Crafty mama Holly Robinson Peete gathered a few of her friends ? including actress Ali Landry ? together this week to help launch Michaels Family Craft Night in Los Angeles.

Though her gig as co-host of The Talk and her work with the HollyRod Foundation keep her busy, Holly always makes time for projects with her kids Ryan, Rodney, Robinson and Roman. She and her fellow famous moms chatted with Celebrity Baby Scoop about the importance of family fun and creativity.

On Michaels Family Craft Night:

Holly Robinson Peete: Michaels is really one of our favorite go-to stores for all of our school projects. My daughter makes stop motion videos. We go there and actually have a whole Michaels prop box. As a parent, I think it?s great that Michaels is offering a resource for families who want to spend focused time together having fun and making memories away from all the distractions of daily life. The family that crafts together, stays together.

On getting creative with the kids:

HRP: We do a lot of different things. ? We also enjoy getting a big giant poster board which we post pictures on and we decorate the pictures with different sayings, words and lettering.

On favorite family memories:

Ali Landry: It?s those memories of sitting down at our kitchen table as a kid with our box of crafts and really creating things and talking to my mom. Now, especially with my own daughter, it is doing the same things and even going to the same store, Michaels, that I went to as a kid.

HRP: The kids went to Michaels and got unfinished birdhouses and decorated with paint, sand, sparkles, you name it, they used it. I walked in and was surprised with these handmade gifts for Mothers Day. It was one of the sweetest gifts, I still get chills from it. There is something so sweet and innocent with homemade gifts.

Michaels Family Craft Night

?We listened to our customers who said they want to spend more focused time with their kids, but needed ideas and projects that engage the whole family,? said Michaels Senior Director of Digital Marketing & PR Anthony Price. ?Michaels Family Craft Night and The Knack offer a solution to time-starved families who want activities that bring their families together, spark creativity and make memories that last a lifetime.?

All components of The Knack, including monthly themed project suggestions to get families started, can be found on The Knack?s engaging, newly designed website at www.michaels.com/theknack

Michaels works with child development experts at Cook Children?s Medical Center in Fort Worth, Texas, to evaluate The Knack?s projects and give parents a resource that enhances their child?s development with age-appropriate, fun creative projects they can do at home whenever they choose.

Celebritybabyscoop.com features daily updates on baby fashion, baby names, baby trends and up-to-the-minute celebrity baby gossip. Read more at www.celebritybabyscoop.com.

By CAROLYN ROBERTSON

Source: http://centralvalleymoms.com/2011/08/22/celebrity-baby-scoop-celebrity-moms-and-michaels-say-the-family-that-crafts-together-stays-together/

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