True 'Spirit of America': Bush's Icon Teaches Tots to Tune In

By Al Kamen
Friday, January 26, 2007

Seems nothing's ever simple these days. President Bush, in his State of the Union, praised special guest Julie Aigner-Clark, who he said "represents the great enterprising spirit of America," for founding Baby Einstein, makers of children's videos.

She started with borrowed equipment in her basement in 1997 and "in just five years her business grew to more than $20 million in sales," Bush said, as the beaming Aigner-Clark watched from the balcony box. "In November 2001, Julie sold Baby Einstein to the Walt Disney Company," he said, "and with her help Baby Einstein has grown into a $200 million business."

But there's always a flip side, it seems. Our colleague Rachel Dry looked for more information about the company and, sure enough, found that a group called the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood (CCFC) had filed a complaint last year with the Federal Trade Commission asking it to investigate Baby Einstein for making "deceptive and false claims."

"Baby Einstein," the complaint says, "claims that with its Baby da Vinci video, 'your child will learn to identify her different body parts . . . in Spanish, English and French!' " and claims to be "educational and beneficial for infant development."

That's "deceptive and false," the complaint argues, "because no research or evidence exists" to support those claims, and there's evidence just the opposite may be true, especially for infants and toddlers. Experts, including folks at the American Academy of Pediatrics, fear parents will let toddlers spend too much time watching the videos, leading to cognitive and sleeping problems and to obesity, the complaint said.

The FTC hasn't yet posted a public response to the complaint, and Michelle Jacob, a spokeswoman for Baby Einstein, said the company does not comment on the opinions of the CCFC and is not commenting on the complaint.

On the other hand for harried parents, the supplied "testimonials" are most impressive. One mother, according to the complaint, said the videos "have been almost like a babysitter to me, while I shower or wash the dishes, I can just pop in a video and he is completely glued to the television for the whole duration of the show."

The complaint cites a mother who called Baby Einstein videos "crack cocaine for babies. Once an infant or toddler has seen one, the child becomes addicted. No matter how many times you play the tape, the kid will want more."

And if you set the "repeat play" on the DVD, the CCFC complaint notes helpfully, "it will automatically replay from the beginning over and over without end."

Hey! More than enough time for dinner and a movie.

Will Cheney's Next Hunting Trip Be to Iraq?

Meanwhile, Vice President Cheney, stepping into the curious breach left by Bush's Tuesday address, forcefully responded to the liberal media bashers who say things haven't been going very well in Iraq. "Enormous success" in Iraq, he told CNN's Wolf Blitzer in a Wednesday interview, hardly a "terrible situation."

And indeed much of that extraordinary success is completely unreported, perhaps willfully ignored, by the media. How many, for example, are writing about the first-ever "Birds of Iraq" field guide that was announced yesterday?

"Wildlife conservation in Iraq has been given a significant boost with the release of a guide to Iraq's birds -- the first field-guide of its kind for the nation," BirdLife International said.

"Covering the 387 species that have been recorded in Iraq" -- though some may now be in exile in neighboring countries -- "this is the first comprehensive, fully-illustrated field-guide to an Arabic-speaking country," the announcement said.

"For Iraq, a nation that has lost so much of its wildlife in the last 20 years" -- not to mention a lot of its people -- "this book opens the door for the growing conservation movement in this country," an Iraqi conservation official said.

So for all the talk about boots on the ground, maybe some attention should be paid to enhancing wings in the air.

Saddam's Imaginary Nuclear Race

In the Blitzer interview, Cheney also brought up our favorite mushroom-cloud imagery, noting that had Saddam Hussein been allowed to remain in power, "he would, at this point, be engaged in a nuclear arms race with [Iranian President Mahmoud] Ahmadinejad, his blood enemy next door in Iran."

Okay, so maybe the Iraq Survey Group reported otherwise. "Saddam Hussein ended the nuclear program in 1991 following the Gulf war," ISG chief Charles Duelfer wrote in an October 2004 report to Congress. U.S. inspectors in Iraq, he wrote, had "found no evidence to suggest concerted efforts to restart the program."

Well, that doesn't mean he hadn't dreamed from time to time about having nukes. Or about beating Tiger Woods at the U.S. Open.

Downsizing Begins at the Top

On Jan. 12, the Forest Service announced that chief Dale Bosworth is retiring, to be replaced as head of the agency by Abigail Kimbell, regional forester for the northern region, based in Missoula, Mont. On Monday, Bosworth, as a parting gift, announced that there is a plan to "reduce operating costs of the Washington office and regional offices by approximately 25 percent" in the next couple of years. We all know what that means. "The new organization will . . . be smaller," he said in announcing the "realignment." Well, Bosworth's showing the way, leaving his office on Feb. 2. True leadership.