All Blog Posts from Couric & Co.
Katie Couric's Notebook: Arizona Immigration Law
If those words were written in Arizona today, they might include a footnote: just make sure they have their papers.
Arizona's tough new law, set to take effect next week, is really about enforcement -- whether state police can demand proof of someone's immigration status. The Justice Department will argue in court today that this power should remain in federal hands.
But the debate has grown far beyond that question - and both sides tend toward hyperbole.
CBS News reports tonight, for instance, that some of the law's supporters have exaggerated accounts of a crime wave along the border... Yet opponents who compare Arizona officials to Hitler aren't helping either.
People are fed up with the immigration system and want to see change. But real change will take accurate information, not heated rhetoric. We all need to meet halfway to have an honest and respectful debate.
That's a page from my notebook.
I'm Katie Couric, CBS News.
Katie Couric's Notebook: Intelligence
Today, the Washington Post published a report two years in the making - examining how U.S. intelligence programs have expanded since 9/11. More than 1,200 government offices and 1,900 private companies work on counterintelligence and security with a budget estimated at $75 billion last year.
The study raises concerns about redundancy and inefficiency. For example, 51 different offices track the cash flow of terrorist organizations. It's probably just as tough to track those 51 offices.
The acting intelligence director fired back today, saying U.S. agencies have thwarted attacks and achieved untold successes.
But Defense Secretary Robert Gates admitted...it's time to take another look at the system.
It's not about putting a price on our safety, it's about making U.S. intelligence...even more intelligent.
That's a page from my notebook.
I'm Katie Couric, CBS News.
Katie Couric's Notebook: Haiti
Our driver, Sebastian, told us they were praising God, happy to be alive.
Six months ago a devastating earthquake claimed as many as 300,000 lives, and destroyed 60 percent of Port-au-Prince.
On this sad anniversary, more than a million Haitians are still homeless...sleeping under plastic tarps and eating rations from relief groups when they can get them. Recovery has been slow, and billions of dollars of aid remains mired in bureaucracy.
Former Haitian ruler Jean-Claude Duvalier once said it's the destiny of the people of Haiti to suffer. But no human being was born to live like this.
In January, mere survival was worthy of praise. Today, Haitians need more than that to rise again from the ruins.
That's a page from my notebook.
I'm Katie Couric, CBS News.
Katie Couric's Notebook: July 4
Boy, you think you know somebody, and then you Google them and all bets are off.
Like Betsy Ross. I was sure I had that story down - a simple seamstress who impressed George Washington by forming a five-point star with just one scissor snip and then sewed the first U.S. flag.
It turns out there was nothing simple about her, including her story.
She was a businesswoman, an upholsterer by trade, so she did know a thing or two about fabric. She was married and widowed three times, and owned and managed land - and her household - as a single mom for many years.
But despite the story her grandson told about the scissors, the stars and the stripes, there really is no evidence to prove she either designed or made that first flag.
That said, the true story is even more exciting. A working mom with a brain for business. Betsy Ross did have it all sewn up.
Happy Fourth of July everyone!
That's a page from my notebook.
I'm Katie Couric, CBS News.
Katie Couric's Notebook: Extra Time
Ever wish you had an extra hour in the day? Well, according to a new Labor Department study, you do. Okay, not an hour, but 17 minutes, to be exact.
The study, described in the Wall Street Journal, found that the average American 15 or older spent three hours and 11 minutes per day working in 2009. That's 17 minutes less than we did two years ago.
It makes sense, considering that unemployment doubled over the same period. But how did we spend those extra minutes? Here's a hint - we weren't reading Shakespeare or saving the whales.
We watched 12 minutes more TV per day, raising the total to two hours and 49 minutes. And we slept six minutes more than we did in 2007, well over eight hours a night.
Now there's nothing wrong with a day of leisure, but TV and sleep don't make good hobbies.
In 17 minutes, you could read an article, run a mile or cook an omelet. So get cracking - there's no time to lose.
That's a page from my notebook.
I'm Katie Couric, CBS News.
Katie Couric's Notebook: Summer Meals
No more pencils, no more books. No more teachers' dirty looks! That little rhyme is a favorite among kids celebrating the last day of school before summer.
But for many kids, summer also means no more lunch, and that's nothing to celebrate.
The Center for American Progress reports that nearly 20 million children get free or reduced-price lunch at school. But only one in six of them will receive subsidized meals this summer.
Part of the problem is a shortage of sites where the lunches can be served, and a lack of transportation to help kids get to them. Meanwhile, the groups that run these programs often have trouble sustaining funding from year to year.
Congress is now working on a child nutrition bill that would, among other things, improve access to summer meals. That bill is essential.
Nearly one in four children is at risk for hunger. The last day of school shouldn't mean last call for lunch.
That's a page from my notebook.
I'm Katie Couric, CBS News.
