Monday, February 9, 2009

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Jerry and Joe Long: Cheney Plans To Continue Torturing As Private Citizen Top
McLean, Virginia: Former Vice President Dick Cheney said today that he sees nothing in the Constitution that could prevent him from practicing torture after leaving office. Speaking before a gathering of CSPAC, the Conservative Sadists Political Action Committee, Cheney grew wistful and almost teared up as he spoke of how difficult it has been to "walk away from beatings and electric shock". Cheney, renowned for his personal physical cowardice, said he plans to have private KBR security contractors kidnap random Wyoming residents off the streets and bring them to his basement. Once there, they'll be placed in a windowless room with 24 hour electric light and subjected to loud noise, extremes of heat and cold, and random psychological abuse. "The coolest thing", said Cheney, "is when you chain or rope them into uncomfortable positions and they have to stay that way even when they shit and piss themselves. Just talking about it gets me hard. Or as hard as I'm capable of getting". Cheney, 68, is currently dating Victor Davis Hanson. The couple are said to prefer quiet evenings at home oiling each other up and misreading Greek history. More on Dick Cheney
 
Scott Mendelson: 'Chick Flicks' that aren't really chick flicks (ie - ones that are actually good movies) Top
I've always had a theory that there is no such thing as a good 'chick flick'. In that, I meant that a chick flick was by nature a bad film, made by people who knew it was lacking but expected women to flick to it anyway because it was "about womens' issues". Simple version - One True Thing was a real movie, while Stepmom was a 'chick flick'. But, instead of further dissecting the genre (that will be for another day), let us start the week of Valentine's Day by singling out a few quality films that may be labeled 'chick flicks' by the critical community, but rise above that title by being good. Sisterhood Of The Traveling Pants (2005) Why it works - Because this adaptation of the popular young adult novels plays like a real drama, with no excuses made for its young cast or PG rating. In many ways, its characters are actually far more mature and three-dimensional than those in many Oscar-bait adult dramas. All four actresses shine, but Blake Lively (in basically her first professional acting job) and America Ferrera have the meatiest story lines. When Lively's overly driven Bridget regrets sleeping with her older soccer coach, they both take equal responsibility for the mess they've made. No one is a victim or victimizer based on their gender. Ferrera's storyline, involving her bitterness at her father (Bradley Whitford) remarrying into a very white new family, provides the climax, and the finale is far more touching than you'd expect. In this world, these four girls are best friends not because they shop for shoes and talk about boys (Alexis Bledel's adventure in Greece is the only storyline specifically about romance), but because they are actually there to help each other with life's struggles. Return To Me (2000) Why it works - This Bonnie Hunt directed romantic comedy belongs on a pedestal next to When Harry Met Sally and Annie Hall . Why? Simple, this is the rare romantic comedy that actually shows the couple (David Duchovny and Minnie Driver) actually getting to know each other. Unlike most romantic comedies which basically boil down to 'you're hot... I'm hot, let's pursue each other for the rest of the movie', this one actually takes the time to form a real personal chemistry between the widowed doctor and the waitress who ended up with his late wife's heart. Unlike many romantic comedies where you fear for the future of the couple, this film works because you know that if they can survive the initial courtship, they'll stay together forever. Bonus points - when his wife dies in the opening scenes, Duchovny performs one of the most realistic weeping scenes I have ever seen from a male movie star (his vulnerability is stunning - loud tears, gasping for breath, snot pouring out of his nose - which makes the moment that much more effective). Mean Girls (2004) Why it works - I discussed this one in a prior essay involving female escapism, basically alleging that it actually follows the template for the male escapism genre. Personal thesis arguments aside, this is still one of the very best movies ever made about high school girls. Lindsey Lohan deservedly became a star (regardless of what happened afterward), and Rachel McAdams and Amada Seyfreid used this as a building block toward longterm careers (poor Lacy Chabert can't quite break out). Writer and co-star Tina Fey proved she could write smart stories and build fictional worlds outside of the sketch realm, paving the way for 30 Rock and general global domination. This is the rare female driven film where getting the guy is not the primary or even secondary concern. Rather, the goal in this picture is simply remembering how to be a decent human being. And it's also quite funny. 13 Going On 30 (2004) Why it works - This theoretical female variation on Big actually surpasses the Tom Hanks classic for emotional pathos. If Tom Hanks snagged an Oscar nomination for basically playing a ten-year old, then Jennifer Garner deserved a nod too for successfully playing a thirteen-year-old trapped in the body of her future thirty-year-old self. While this is a more straightforward romantic comedy, where snagging the guy eventually becomes the primary concern, the emotions are more realistic and the tone is more somber than you'd expect. Plus, Mark Ruffalo once again brings a gravity and depth to the rom-com traps that make the movie better than it otherwise might have been ( Rumor Has It and Just Like Heaven may not be good movies, but he singlehandedly makes them watchable). At heart, this is a dark comedy about a young woman who loses seventeen-years of her life, only to take up and realizes that she became a pretty terrible human being in those missing years. The act of snagging the childhood friend that she mistreated becomes as much about redemption as romance. But the film dares to suggest that she has no right to that redemption if it comes as the expense of other peoples' happiness. Until the very final moments (which, intentionally or not, equate total happiness with winning the guy), this is one of the darkest and deepest romantic comedies out there. Scott Mendelson More on Movies
 
Scott Lilly: Arts Bashing: Five million Americans work in the arts, so why are conservatives holding back funding that will help save their jobs? Top
Nearly all of the criticism of the stimulus legislation pending before Congress is directed at a small number of programs that make up a tiny percentage of the total spending in the package. One of the favorite targets of these critics is $50 million in funding for the National Endowment for the Arts. Rep. Mike Pence (R-IN) claims that these funds won't create jobs and Rep. Jack Kingston (R-GA) says, "We have real people out of work now and putting $50 million in the NEA and pretending that's going to save jobs as opposed to putting $50 million in a road project is disingenuous." Despite Kingston's philistine views, people who work in the arts are real people who make a significant contribution to the national economy. In bad economic times, artists are among the most vulnerable people in the workforce. You can find more of Scott Lilly's analysis in his recent article "Arts Bashing." Scott Lilly is a Senior Fellow at the Center for American Progress. More on Stimulus Package
 
Steve Clemons: The Role of Podesta Top
Now I know why John Podesta is so unique -- and how and why skillful princes use him. . . New America Foundation/American Strategy Program research associate Sameer Lalwani sent this to me this morning: The search for an impartial and neutral tool to mitigate the disruptive effect of factionalism was an important feature of political life in Italian city republics. As Waley (1991) maintains, the political scene in medieval Italy was characterized by factionalism fueled by intense competition for political office. The citizens were driven by an ardent desire to obtain the "honors and benefits" of office (Manin 1995). To overcome factional strife, most Italian communes adopted the institution of podesta , a foreigner endowed with judicial and administrative powers. The podesta was usually hired for a year and played the role of military leader, judge, and administrator. An important attribute of the podesta was that he had to be a foreigner so that he could be neutral to the internal "discords and conspiracies" (Waley 1991, 37). -- from Wantchekon, Leonard, " The Paradox of "Warlord" Democracy: A Theoretical Investigation ," American Political Science Review , Volume 98 John Podesta did an outstanding job leading the Obama transition team and is now back to heading the Center for American Progress. But I have no doubt he'll be called on again when factionalism around President Obama becomes dangerously heated. -- Steve Clemons publishes the popular political blog, The Washington Note More on Obama Transition
 
Marian Wright Edelman: The Cradle to Prison Pipeline: America's New Apartheid Top
Incarceration is becoming the new American apartheid and poor children of color are the fodder. It is time to sound a loud alarm about this threat to American unity and community, act to stop the growing criminalization of children at younger and younger ages, and tackle the unjust treatment of minority youths and adults in the juvenile and adult criminal justice systems with urgency and persistence. The failure to act now will reverse the hard-earned racial and social progress for which Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and so many others died and sacrificed. We must all call for investment in all children from birth through their successful transition to adulthood, remembering Frederick Douglass's correct observation that "it is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men." So many poor babies in rich America enter the world with multiple strikes against them: born without prenatal care, at low birthweight, and to a teen, poor, and poorly educated single mother and absent father. At crucial points in their development after birth until adulthood, more risks pile on, making a successful transition to productive adulthood significantly less likely and involvement in the criminal justice system significantly more likely. As Black children are more than three times as likely as White children to be poor, and are four times as likely to live in extreme poverty, a poor Black boy born in 2001 has a one in three chance of going to prison in his lifetime and is almost six times as likely as a White boy to be incarcerated for a drug offense. The past continues to strangle the present and the future. Children with an incarcerated parent are more likely to become incarcerated. Black children are nearly nine times and Latino children are three times as likely as White children to have an incarcerated parent. Blacks constitute one-third and Latinos one-fifth of the prisoners in America, and 1 in 3 Black men, 20 to 29 years old, is under correctional supervision or control. Of the 2.3 million in jail or prison, 64 percent are minority. Of the 4.2 million persons on probation, 45 percent are minority; of the 800,000 on parole, 59 percent are minority. Inequitable drug sentencing policies including mandatory minimums have greatly escalated the incarceration of minority adults and youths. Child poverty and neglect, racial disparities in systems that serve children, and the pipeline to prison are not acts of God. They are America's immoral political and economic choices that can and must be changed with strong political, corporate and community leadership. No single sector or group can solve these child- and nation-threatening crises alone but all of us can together. Leaders must call us to the table and use their bully pulpits to replace our current paradigm of punishment as a first resort with a paradigm of prevention and early intervention. That will save lives, save families, save taxpayer money, and save our nation's aspiration to be a fair society. Health and mental health care and quality education cost far less than prisons. If called to account today, America would not pass the test of the prophets, the Gospels, and all great faiths. Christians who profess to believe that God entered human history as a poor vulnerable baby, and that each man, woman and child is created in God's own image, need to act on that faith. The Jewish Midrash says God agreed to give the people of Israel the Torah only after they offered their children as guarantors, deeming neither their prophets nor elders sufficient. It is time to heed the prophets' call for justice for the orphans and the weak. America's Declaration of Independence says, "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights...." After more than two centuries, it is time to make those truths evident in the lives of poor children of color and to close our intolerable national hypocrisy gap. America's sixth child is waiting for all of us to welcome him or her to the table in our rich land and show the world whether democratic capitalism is an oxymoron or whether it can work. Our national creed demands it. All great faiths demand it. Common sense and self-interest require it. And our moral redemption and credibility in the world we seek to lead compels it. Ending child poverty is not only an urgent moral necessity, it is economically beneficial. Dr. Robert M. Solow, M.I.T. Nobel Laureate in Economics, wrote in Wasting America's Future that "ending child poverty is, at the very least, highly affordable" and would be a boost to the economy. A healthy Social Security and Medicare system for our increasing elderly population need as many productive workers as possible to support them. We can ill afford to let millions of our children grow up poor, in poor health, uneducated, and as dependent rather than productive citizens. What then can leaders do to help build the spiritual and political will needed to help our nation pass the test of the God of history and better prepare for America's future? What steps can you take to heed Dr. King's warning not to let our wealth become our destruction but our salvation by helping the poor Lazaruses languishing at our closed gates? How can our nation use its blessings to bless all the children entrusted to our care and rekindle America's dimming dream? As President Obama and Congress contemplate ways to stimulate our economy, let them begin by investing in a healthy, fair, head, and safe start for every American child and measures to ensure their successful transition to college and productive adulthood. Learn more about CDF's Cradle to Prison Pipeline® Campaign . Marian Wright Edelman, whose latest book is The Sea Is So Wide And My Boat Is So Small: Charting a Course for the Next Generation, is president of the Children's Defense Fund . For more information about the Children's Defense Fund, go to www.childrensdefense.org.
 
Andrea Chalupa: Colplay's "Rules" Caught on Tape by 60 Minutes: Does Chris Martin Yearn to Go Solo? Top
As suspected, Coldplay is not your average professional and calculating superband. In last night's 60 Minutes, while Steve Kroft was getting a tour of the band's recording studio, the camera closed in on a list of rules plastered to the wall. Thanks to the magic of DVR and a hit of the pause button, Colplay's rules are avail for every fan and budding "next U2" to dissect. Chris Martin explained to Kroft that the rules are very important; obviously only someone obsessed with the creative process can be unabashed in sharing his. Behind the set of instructions on how to make a perfect album lurks a deeper desire. Martin included in his sacred pillars a reference to The Verve frontman Richard Ashcroft--contrasting a Verve song with one from Ashcroft's solo work. Martin reminds himself and his band at the top of the list that rhythm is the most important thing to concentrate on. The drums/rhythm, the rule explains, spells the difference between The Verve's superhit Bittersweet Symphony and Ashcroft's song Science of Silence off his second, solo effort, Human Condition , that was largely panned by critics as overproduced. Is Martin warning himself not to sound too processed? Or was he just contrasting song style? Martin was an outspoken fan of Human Condition and ignited a friendship with Ashcroft. Perhaps he was seeking out a mentor, seeking to learn from Ashcroft's regret of not releasing his masterpiece Urban Hymns solo. Martin must see himself--a genius songwriter--in Ashcroft and presumably plans on taking that leap of faith too, eventually, one day. Luckily, Coldplay is too professional to break up. We may get a couple Chris Martin albums, but the band is too well oiled, quirky, and Gap cute not to play into the sunset. Colplay is one of those unique bands walking the tightrope of artistic relevance and genormous success. Not an easy job. It makes sense he'd cover a portion of his recording studio with his own personal steps to fulfilling a five-album record contract sanely. Albums must BE NO LONGER THAN 42 MINUTES PRODUCTION MUST BE AMAZING, RICH, BUT WITH SPACE, NOT OVERLAYERED, LESS TRACKS, MORE QUALITY. GROOVE AND SWING Drums/rhythm are the most crucial thing to concentrate on; diff. between bittersweet and science of silence 3. COMPUTERS ARE INSTRUMENTS. NOT RECORDING AIDS. 4. IMAGERY MUST BE CLASSIC, COLOURFUL AND DIFFERENT. COME BACK IN GLORIOUS TECHNICOLOUR. 5. MAKE SURE VIDEOS AND PICTURES ARE GREAT BEFORE SETTING RELEASE DATE. And highly original. 6. ALWAYS KEEP MYSTERY. Not many interviews 7. GROOVE AND SWING. RHYTHMS AND SOUNDS MUST ALWAYS BE AS ORIGINAL AS POSSIBLE. Once jon has melody, twist it and weird it sonical 8. Promo/review copies to be on VINYL. Stops copying problem, sounds and looks better. 9. Jaqueline sabriado, ns p cc, face forward 10. Think about what to do with charity account. Set up something small but really enabling and constructive. Ref; j oliver fifteen
 
Edgar M. Bronfman: What Hamas Has Wrought Top
"We do not recognize your right to exist. We reserve the right to attack you at any point. And we will surely not honor any previous agreements regarding peace and reconciliation." These are Hamas' positions vis-à-vis Israel, which they state publicly and repeatedly. This very same organization fires rockets at Israeli civilians from among the people of the Gaza Strip, and then the whole world condemns the Israeli government for acting to defend its citizens. Western liberals condemn Israel for reacting "disproportionately," in supposed contravention of certain laws and norms, while remaining mute on the fact that Hamas is using all of Gaza - men, women, and children - as a human shield for cynical political gain. As a Jew and as a liberal, I am appalled at what took place last month in Gaza and the tragic loss of innocent life. But, despite the recent war, the fundamentals of this crisis have not changed. First, Hamas is still not a partner in any meaningful way, certainly not for peace. The ongoing negotiations in Cairo aimed at creating a better and more stable situation for the people of Gaza is predictably being held up by Hamas' maximalist demands and machinations. All the while, rockets are still being smuggled into Gaza; their only function, as should be clear to everyone, is to instill terror and increase bloodshed. Second, Hamas cannot demand to be engaged as a legitimate actor by the West, and in the same breath reject any responsibility towards its own people, towards its neighbors, towards signed agreements, and towards basic notions of peace and morality. Armchair ethicists in the West would do well to imagine a Middle East that, for the past 15 years, did not have a Hamas. What would such a world look like? It wouldn't be a stretch to imagine a strong Oslo Peace Process, since the countless suicide bombers of buses and shopping malls and coffee shops would never have been dispatched in the first place for the sole purpose of undermining any progress towards peace. It wouldn't be hard, either, to imagine a Gaza Strip after Israel's 2005 pullout being built-up, not as the world's first inhabited launching pad for rockets, but as the first step in real Palestinian self-determination and self-sufficiency. And it wouldn't be difficult to imagine the tragic but unavoidable recent events in Gaza never having taken place, since thousands of Hamas rockets would not have found their way into Israeli living rooms and school yards. That's the crucial point about Hamas that is always overlooked: at every point in their interaction with Israel and peace-seeking Palestinians, they have chosen the path of armed aggression. On the other side, the crucial point about Israel that is often overlooked is that, for all its faults (and I have never been shy about pointing those out), a two-state solution to this conflict has been the official policy of every government since 1993. Due to Hamas' rockets, however, don't be surprised if a hard right-wing government comes to power in Tuesday's elections. That is what Hamas has wrought. It is worth noting that the last time Israelis went to the polls, in 2006, they elected Ehud Olmert and the centrist Kadima party on an explicit platform of additional territorial pullbacks, this time from the West Bank. That kind of thinking is finished now, gone up in a trail of Hamas rocket fire and the suspicions of the Israeli electorate. Israel will not commit suicide, nor should it. It is time for observers in the West to understand that the biggest impediment to a better future for both Palestinians and Israelis is not the actions Israel might take to defend itself, but rather Hamas' obstinate rejectionism and violence. Solve this, and then you can begin to solve the overall conflict. More on Palestinian Territories
 
Shelly Palmer: Pioneer to Close Unprofitable Flat Screen TV Business : MediaBytes with Shelly Palmer February 9, 2009 Top
Watch Shelly's commentary on Pioneer closing its unprofitable flat-screen TV business and how this is a sign of the time for the Consumer Electronics industry. President Obama is set to make Melissa Hathaway his head of cyber security . Hathaway, who also worked in the Bush administration, will be in charge of reviewing and maintaining secure computer networks for the government. Hathaway is responsible for the cyber security plan developed during the Bush years. DreamWorks and Disney are expected to announce a distribution deal this morning after DreamWorks contract with Universal expired on Friday. Sources say Disney will distribute six films a year for DreamWorks, while also helping the company financially. Disney will receive a distribution fee of 8% from DreamWorks. The USA Network has signed a $200 million deal for basic cable and broadcast rights to 24 films by Universal Pictures . The contract will give USA exclusive premier rights to Universal films, including Bruno, the sequel to Borat. While the deal is expected to be worth $200 million, if Universal's films flop at the box office, USA could end up paying half the amount. LG will cut costs by 30% this year in accord with its forecast which predicts a 20% drop in sales. CEO Nam Yong said the consumer electronics manufacturer would not cut jobs immediately, rather it would stress productivity and efficiency to get through the tough economic times. LG may relocate 20% of its domestic work force to growth industries like solar energy development. Led Zeppelin front man Robert Plant and country singer Alison Krauss took home all five awards they were nominated for last night at the Grammy's . Other winner's included Coldplay for song of the year, and rapper Lil Wayne, who took home 4 awards. Shelly Palmer is a consultant and the host of MediaBytes a daily show featuring news you can use about technology, media & entertainment. He is Managing Director of Advanced Media Ventures Group LLC and the author of Television Disrupted: The Transition from Network to Networked TV (2008, York House Press). Shelly is also President of the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, NY (the organization that bestows the coveted Emmy® Awards ). You can join the MediaBytes mailing list here . Shelly can be reached at shelly@palmer.net
 
Drew Westen: Change vs. Bipartisanship: What Happens When You Throw a Bipartisan Party and Half the Guest List Stays Home? Top
In the Presidential election, Barack Obama ran on two messages. One was a message of change, following eight years of a the most morally, administratively, and ideologically bankrupt administration in our nation's history, which has left our country in its most precarious state since the 1930s. The other was a message of unity, of getting past petty partisanship and restoring an atmosphere of civility to Washington so that government could actually do something again for the lives of everyday Americans. Those messages lived in peaceful but uneasy coexistence during the Presidential campaign and the transition, when soon-to-be President Obama did everything possible to avoid pointing fingers. The problem with a message of bipartisanship, however, is that it makes it very difficult to tell the story of why things are so bad that we need dramatic change. It may or may not have been possible for Barack Obama to continue to blend both of these messages as President. Doing so would have required offering the American people a compelling, honest, blemishes-and-all story about what has happened between the New Deal of FDR and the Raw Deal of George W. Bush . That story might have begun with a description of Roosevelt's pragmatic, experimental approach to leadership in a time of economic crisis--essentially, "let's make our best guesses, see what works, and keep what works and discard what doesn't"--and how that led to unemployment insurance, Social Security, roads, rural electricity, federal insurance for our bank deposits, and a host of other programs we have today that guarantee our economic safety in troubled times--and most importantly, how it put able-bodied, hard-working Americans back to work. The President could then have gone on to describe how that spirit of experimental pragmatism often got lost over the next 50 years, as constituencies grew for programs that were no longer working so well and politicians refused to make hard choices, leading Ronald Reagan to tap into a public sentiment that too much money was leaking out of the bucket into which they were pouring their tax dollars. He could have described how ultimately Reagan's revolution degenerated into Bush's disastrous return to Hoover economics, with its blind faith in unregulated markets and corporate greed, and how the rallying cries of "tax and spend" and "government is the problem, not the solution" have prevented us from investing in America for 30 years, leaving us dangerously reliant on foreign oil, behind other nations in educating our children, and vulnerable to all of the dangers faced by a nation with a collapsing infrastructure and virtually no protections against natural disasters like floods and hurricanes because we have failed to invest in both the infrastructure to keep our cities and towns safe and the energy solutions that could protect our endangered atmosphere. He could give that speech today, and it would likely reach voters in the political center whose support he needs to maintain if he is to prevent those on the right from galvanizing support for obstructionism. But a failure to distinguish alternative meanings of bipartisanship, an apparent miscalculation about the political and ideological extremism of the Republicans left in Washington in the wake of the Democratic landslides of the last two electoral cycles, and an unwillingness to fight back when attacked led the Obama administration unwittingly to participate in a setback to both change and bipartisanship, as they urged Democratic lawmakers to cut and paste elements of the conservative ideology that has unhinged our economy into a package designed to resuscitate it and emboldened the Republican leadership in a way that has sown the seeds of renewed partisan polarization. Whereas two weeks ago substantially more Americans supported the President's recovery plan than opposed it, according to Rasmussen polls, by early last week those numbers had reversed, with support or opposition falling squarely along party lines. The situation has become dire enough that the President has wisely chosen to go on a campaign-style tour in support of the measure. The problem lies in the way the White House has attempted to offer a bipartisan solution to the nation's problems. They could have construed "bipartisanship" in one of several ways. One is pragmatism, taking good ideas from wherever they come, and making clear to Republicans that if they have ideas other than the ones that had led us over the precipice over the last several years (and several Senate Republicans have, in fact, offered constructive suggestions), the President's door was open. This is precisely what the public wanted from the new President. Over the last two years, the pollsters Stan Greenberg, Celinda Lake, and I tested messages with thousands of voters, and what all but the most ideological voters said in dozens of ways was that they wanted pragmatic, "common sense," problem-solving government, not symbolic politics and ideological inflexibility. A second meaning of transcending partisanship is to end to the politics of personal destruction and attacks on the other side's patriotism and integrity that we have seen since the Republicans opened fire on the Clintons in the 1990s and which they used effectively to quell Democratic opposition to every ill-begotten, unconstitutional, and illegal action undertaken by the Bush administration, from torture to wiretapping to the politicization of the Justice Department. Our polling data showed that the public clearly had a strong desire for this form of bipartisanship as well. President Obama has clearly made tremendous efforts to achieve both of these forms of bipartisanship, and for that he deserves high marks. But he has also implicitly adopted a third construal of the term, which not only undercuts his promise of change but fails to recognize that the public overwhelmingly elected not only a Democratic President but supermajorities of Democrats in both houses of Congress, and they did this for a reason: They did not want a continuation of the failed Republican policies and ideology of the last eight years. The third meaning of "bipartisan" the President embraced was to invite an ideological fringe minority not only to the table (and to Superbowl at the White House) but to the microphone, allowing them to get their message out more loudly than the message of both the President and the governing majority, and to give them unwarranted power to amend or veto legislation for the indefinite future--all while they were taking potshots at the man who magnanimously gave them a seat at the table. This construal of "bipartisan" runs the danger of producing legislation that seeks the "golden mean" between truth and falsehood, good policies and failed ones, and exhorts Democratic legislators who were elected to enact the best policies they possibly can to "split the difference" between good ideas by some of the best economic minds in the country and the failed ideas of the rigid ideological descendants of Herbert Hoover. There is, in fact, nothing John McCain has to offer as words of wisdom on the economy that President Obama has not already heard in McCain's three decades crusading to block or dismantle the kind of federal regulations that could have prevented the current crisis, and McCain represents the left wing of what's left of his party in Washington. In fact, the 2006 and 2008 Senate and Congressional elections cleared out all but a handful of moderate Republicans from Washington, leaving no one to reach across the aisle to but economic and social extremists who have had no interest in attending the President's bipartisan party. They are more interested in salvaging their own party and figuring out how to return themselves to relevance. They are precisely the politicians the American people made clear in November they do not want shaping further policy. Yet when Republican ideologues began attacking the President's efforts to resuscitate the economy they were instrumental in destroying, the President responded with a fourth meaning of "transcending partisanship"--refusing to respond to partisan attacks and appointing yet another Republican to his Cabinet, this time to his economic team as Secretary of Commerce. When Republican Senators like Corker, Shelby, and McConnell began describing the President's recovery package as the usual tax and spend liberal big-government solution, there was only one appropriate response: "Senator, you and your party are the ones whose fiscal irresponsibility and failed ideology have saddled our children and grandchildren with more debt in the last eight years than all the debt amassed in the prior 200 years combined, and your radical economic ideology has led to a financial crisis and soaring unemployment like we haven't seen since the Great Depression. If you have something constructive to offer, I'm all ears. But if all you have to offer is partisan sniping and the same tired ideas that are costing people their homes, their jobs, and their savings, neither I, nor the American people, have any interest in hearing from you further." And when a Republican Congressman spoke of how he and his colleagues constitute an insurgency that should learn from the Taliban how to thwart the Democratic majority, the President should have personally demanded his resignation and branded every Republican in the House with his words until he had no choice but to resign. Instead, in a one-way spirit of "bipartisanship" (which by definition requires two to tango), the White House refused to "dignify the attacks"--the standard failed Democratic response to viscerally appealing or appalling attacks from the other side--allowing the Republicans to gain traction with the public. The White House sent out surrogates like Larry Summers, who understands economics but not how to talk to the public about economics, against well-coached, media-savvy Republicans like House Minority Leader John Boehner, who demolished Summers on Meet the Press with well-crafted lines mixed with economic nonsense. But no one in the Obama camp was willing to call it nonsense, and weeks of Republican re-branding and withering attacks on the "reckless fiscal irresponsibility" of the Democrats has turned failed but catchy conservative taglines into what the public now sees as a reasonable alternative to Keynesian economics (which no one in the administration has explained to them in lay terms--most importantly, why after hearing for forty years that deficit spending is bad thing that they should now embrace it). The result has become a he-said/she-said format on television, a Crossfire-style "debate" that has re-legitimized radical conservative ideology and has turned the three or four moderate Republican Senators like Olympia Snow and Susan Collins, who should have been quaking in their boots at any thought of voting against the President's plan, into "elder statesmen" who are saving the day and now wield inordinate power. When not a single Republican member of the House voted for the stimulus and recovery plan, the President could and should have lambasted them and sent a warning to their Senate counterparts. I would not presume to put words into the mouth of a man who can use the English language as well as anyone alive, but something like the following might have been appropriate: "What the Republicans in the House did today was reckless, irresponsible, and showed an extraordinary indifference to the suffering of the people in this country who have worked hard and played by the rules but are losing their homes, their jobs, their health insurance, and their life savings. These are the same Republicans who stripped the government of any power to regulate the corporate greed that has led us down the road. So let me say to those members of the House: If you want to continue to be part of the problem and not part of the solution, you can make yourself irrelevant. If you want to join in a constructive conversation, my door is always open. But let me just send a clear message to your Republican colleagues in the Senate: I hope you will not do what your counterparts in the House just did. I have made every effort to reach out my hand to you, but my patience, and the patience of the American people, is not limitless." Unfortunately, when the House Republicans slapped down the President's outstretched hand with their clenched fists, he chose to say nothing about it, a move that not only made him look weak but emboldened Republicans to step up their attacks, which they saw they could make against the wildly popular new President with impunity. Bullies respond to gestures of good will as signs of weakness, and they respond with contempt and further aggression. When the President finally did begin to hit back this week, he did so effectively, but he left out one crucial element of the story: why his tone was changing. As was clear from the tenor of media accounts of his change in tone (which largely ranged from negative to perplexed), he did not explicitly tie that change to the actions of his opponents, leaving them, and media talking heads, to question his consistency of message and tone, rather than to recognize it as a natural reaction to having extended himself to the opposition far beyond the extent he needed to and their responding so ungraciously. What has unfolded over the last week was both predictable and avoidable. President Obama could have told one of two stories to "sell" his recovery package, depending on the extent to which he wanted to speak directly about the Republicans' degree of responsibility for our current economic meltdown. The first would have been the more hard-edged but also not only the more accurate but the more memorable, because it has the "story structure" our brains are wired to "look for": "The Republicans had eight years to test their radical economic ideology, and it has led to disaster. They took a record budget surplus as far as they eye can see, which President Clinton created for the first time in 30 years, and turned it into a record deficit that exceeded a trillion dollars last year alone. They took an economy that had created twenty million jobs in the eight years of the Clinton administration and lost millions of jobs for the first time since the Great Depression. And they relentlessly followed an ideology that asserted that if you just hand money to the wealthy and well-connected and eliminate all regulations on corporate greed, everything will somehow magically work out. Well, it didn't. We've lost 3 million jobs in the last year alone, and the economy is spiraling downward fast. That is why in November the American people spoke, and they spoke clearly. They entrusted me to be their President and they created extraordinary Democratic majorities in both houses of Congress because they knew the country could not withstand four more years of the same. I would be delighted by constructive suggestions by Republicans who have something to offer other than tax cuts to the wealthy that drain our treasury or spending cuts to hard working Americans who have suffered through no fault of their own and cuts to programs that would extend unemployment insurance and health insurance for the children of workers who've been laid off. The public has demanded change, and change is what we are going to see." This is not far from where the President ended up by late this week. Given that the President is not fond of telling stories with antagonists--and he has been reluctant even to use active voice in pointing to "bad decisions that were made" or to specific actors whose poor judgment and decisions contributed substantially to the economic meltdown (notably the ones who are criticizing him now)--he could have offered a milder version of that story more in line with his temperament: "We are in a crisis, and the old solutions we've been hearing about for decades--that if you just cut taxes
 
Therese Borchard: 8 Ways To Affair-Proof Your Marriage Top
According to Peggy Vaughan, the author of "The Monogamy Myth," 60 percent of men and 40 percent of women will have an affair at some point in their marriage. In other words, the person who stays monogamous within her marriage is among a growing minority. Twelve years into my marriage, I can appreciate that statistic. Eric and I are getting to the hard part, where the pressing responsibilities of raising kids and growing two careers could easily blow apart the vows we recited on our wedding day. Because I want my marriage to stay on the happy side of the statistics, I've gathered these tips for how to make marriage affair-proof. 1. Nurture Safe Friendships. This is the most important affair-preventer in my life. No marriage can give you everything. A husband is going to have interests that his wife will never care about like fishing, hunting, or golfing. So he's less likely to stray if he can find some good guy buddies with whom to fish, hunt, and golf. 2. Recognize the Drug. Depressives and addicts are especially prone to affairs because of the head rush that comes with infatuation. The spikes in dopamine and norepinephrine we experience upon connecting with someone new fools us into thinking that the sexy man or attractive woman at the bar holds the key to our nirvana and the end to our problems. This is the same as, say, the high from cocaine. Recognizing that that rush is not real, meaningful, or lasting, can help a married person to "just say no." 3. Keep Dating. I'm serious here. Visiting with your spouse with some regularity--just the two of you and no one else--will bring some very definite rewards to a marriage. By dating, you will learn how to talk to each other again. In her book, "Mating in Captivity," Esther Perel urges a client to imagine her spouse as if she has just met him, to put him into that mysterious category again. This is really hard when you got a little one screaming, "Wipe me!" from the bathroom. However, when you can pull it off, I find her theory very effective. 4. Find a Creative Outlet. People get lured into emotional and physical affairs because the infatuation provides an exciting, stimulating place where they are energized. So to stay affair-proof, you have to find other sources of stimulation and excitement. For me, my blog is that outlet. I can't wait to log on each day to see what all of my dear readers have to say. When I get overwhelmed by the domestic chaos of our lives, Beyond Blue provides me that outlet where I can create something new, where I can run away, however temporarily, from the stress. 5. Hang Out with Happy Couples. If you're hanging with a bunch of guys (or girls) that see nothing wrong with sleeping around, you are much more likely to do it yourself. The good news is that the opposite is also true. If you have a set of friends committed to their marriages, you will be less likely to cheat on your spouse. 6. Learn How to Fight. Wait before saying something really ugly, and make sure you weren't tired or hungry, or in a stressful situation. I'm not saying that you can't confront your spouse if you're tired, hungry, or stressed, because then we'd live in a silent world. But, it's a good idea to recognize situations that tend to accelerate arguments. 7. Be Nice and Listen. "Duh," you're saying to yourself. But think about it. This is the hardest part about marriage. Listening. Keeping your mouth closed when the other person is talking. In my conversations with men and women who have had affairs, the number one reason for pursuing the affair was this: "She listened to me. I mattered to him." 8. Remember These Tools. Never forget that you have a toolbox of resources to draw on when you feel tempted by an extramarital affair. Here are some tools offered to me by those healing from affairs, insights to keep in mind when you feel that familiar head rush and are tempted to abandon logic for a thrill: *Don't go there: Don't put yourself in a threatening situation. Skip the conference in Hawaii with the colleague who flirts with you. If you absolutely have to go, avoid all opportunities to be alone with him. *You've got mail: When you don't know if your email crosses the line into appropriate language, send it to yourself first. Read it again, and ask yourself: would I feel comfortable showing this to my husband? *Dress with intentions: One woman told me that she saved her lingerie for her husband, and wore the ratty old underwear to the high-school reunion where she'd see a flame from the past. *Talk about your spouse: A guy friend told me that whenever he is alone with a woman he finds attractive and things are getting uncomfortable, he'll start talking about his wife--what her hobbies are, and how much he loves her. It immediately kills the mood. *** Originally published on Beyond Blue at Beliefnet.com . To read more of Therese, visit her blog, Beyond Blue, on Beliefnet.com , or subscribe here . More on Sex
 
Jack Hidary: Countdown to Bezos Top
Jeff Bezos will be launching a new Kindle and other initiatives today. We will be on the spot to report in. While the buzz meter is high on this one, it still falls short of the launch of the Segway. The question is - will he pick up the Steve Jobs legacy by wearing a black half-turtle neck?
 
Melissa Rossi: Thirty Years of Turmoil Fall in Obama's Lap Top
For three decades, certain key events that brewed up in 1979 have created simmering in the Middle East. Obama steps in right when they're all at full boil, forcing him to decide whether to stir the pot, season the contents or turn off the flame. I don't know just how closely Barack Obama was watching the news when he was eighteen years old, but I'm pretty sure he had no idea how vastly the events of 1979 would affect the presidency thirty years later. The showdowns, blowups, treaties and alliances formed that year - from the first formal diplomatic relations between the US and Mainland China to the fall of Cambodia's Khmer Rouge (driven out by the America's enemies the Vietnamese) couldn't begin to even hint at the ramifications that would play out for decades to come. And nowhere were these headline grabbers more intense or have longer-lasting consequences than in the Middle East. The short list: The Iranian Revolution: Enraged by the Shah's deceptions, the brutality of his secret service SAVAK, his coolness towards (and occasional deportations of) clerics, and not real happy about his poorly-performing economy (that he'd promised would soon overtake Germany's), Iran's merchants and students rise up to bring in Ayatollah Khomeini (who set up an Islamic government with him at the head) and toss the Shah, who'd been anointed policeman of the Gulf by the US. Alas, the US had armed the Shah with an impressive cache of arms (the administration of Jimmy Carter - who was attacked by a bunny that year - seriously contemplated just asking Iran to give them back) but they were soon put to use in fighting Iraq in an eight-year war that killed over a million. Khomeini also supported students who held 52 Americans hostage for 444 days, leading to the shredding of US-Iranian diplomatic relations. The US later had military skirmishes with Iran in the Persian Gulf during the Iran-Iraq war, and shot down an Iranian commercial liner, Flight 655, killing 290. Lingering Probs for Obama : Diplomatic relations are still not restored, trade is minimal (we do sell them cigarettes, but lost a supplier of oil and major arms client), and Iran now pulls weight in Iraq, where the Bush administration claimed they were providing weapons to insurgents (a disputed claim). The Islamic republic of Iran is now developing nuclear energy (using its own enriched uranium facilities), which unsettles the US, Israel and others, who fear that they really want nuclear weapons. Also problematic: the US frets about the safety of oil tankers squeezing past Iran in the narrow Strait of Hormuz, while Iranians are still hacked off about Flight 655 (for which the US never apologized), the US siding with Iraq during the Iran-Iraq War, the lack of international outrage when Saddam used chemical weapons on Iranians, and even 1953's Operation Ajax, when the CIA helped toss Iran's prime minister Mossadegh, believe to be commie (and also putting into motion plans to nationalize Iran's oil production). Saddam Hussein muscled his way into the president's seat: When Iraq's president Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr made plans to tightly align Iraq with Syria and its president Hafez al-Asad - thereby pushing Vice President Hussein into the back seat - Saddam shoved out his uncle Ahmed, forcing Bakr's and Asad's resignation. Among Saddam's first acts: declaring war on Iran, a bloody eight-year debacle which would ultimately put him in debt for billions to wealthy Arab countries, including Kuwait. At least partly as a result of that debt (made all the more burdensome since Kuwait was slant-drilling into Iraqi territory, he claimed), Saddam forcefully annexed Kuwait in 1990 - an event that would first bring the US military big time into the Gulf, where it has ever since remained, the presence only increasing with the US-led invasion to topple Saddam in 2003. Lingering problems for Obama: Post-Saddam Iraq is still a mess (though calming down somewhat, we're told) and the US military presence there and throughout the Gulf isn't appreciated by many. While we are now buying Iraq's oil - and may soon be operating some fields - the cost of the 2003 war when all is said and done, will likely exceed $3 trillion. Saudi Radicals Seize the Grand Mosque in Mecca: What really went down and how many were killed when Saudi zealots overtook the holiest mosque in Mecca, the holiest city for Muslims, for two weeks remains a mystery, but one thing is for sure: it nearly got the royals tossed for looking like bad caretakers of the Prophet Mohammed's birthplace. King Fahd immediately added the title of "Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques" - the other mosque is in second-holiest site Medina - and the royals were forced to fork over more power (and more mullah) to the religious establishment, which in turn opened more madrassas - religious schools that indoctrinate the young with the most rigid form of Islam, the Saudi state religion, Wahhabism. Lingering Probs for Obama: The still-powerful religious elite loathes any Western, modernizing presence in Saudi Arabia (necessary for oil and security) - making our deals with Saudi Arabia (which provides 8 percent of US oil) trickier, and it still indoctrinates young 'uns with a deep dislike of infidels, one reason why so many of the 9/11 hijackers came from here. The royals (whom the US has armed to the hilt) still might get tossed, and then who knows what hell will break loose. The Soviets invaded Afghanistan: Seeking a warm water port, and perhaps pipelines, the Soviet Union fearlessly rolled into Muslim-dominated Afghanistan. Jimmy Carter adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski devised a brilliant plan - of arming Arab religious warriors (many from Saudi Arabia) to fight the Soviets to free their fellow Muslims and using Pakistan's secret service, the ISI, to train them. The plan was further helped along by the Reagan administration - and Wahhabism was part of the holy warrior training. Good news: the Soviets gave up (eight years later) and put those tanks in reverse, an event believed to have contributed to the breakup of the Union. Bad news: the holy Muslim warriors, mujahideen, wanted to keep fighting and hung on to their weapons. Lingering probs for Obama: The mujahideen banded together to form numerous militant groups - including al Qaeda -- who threaten the US as well as American allies from Saudi Arabia to Jordan; many are now in Yemen. Afghanistan, which was left to rot after the war, become home of the Taliban, brought to power by Saudi Arabia, which liked their religious bent - and became training ground central for militants. Even though the Bush administration brought down the Taliban, they're still around, and Afghanistan is a seething mess. The Egyptian-Israeli Peace Treaty was signed. The Camp David Agreement, brokered by Jimmy Carter, was an earth-shaking land-for-peace deal. Israel gave Egypt back the Sinai Peninsula (captured during the 1967 Arab-Israeli Six Day War), and Egypt became the first Arab country to recognize Israel's right to exist. An added perk: both countries received billions in US arms to play nicey-nice. Lingering Probs for Obama: Clauses concerning the creation of a Palestinian state were forgotten, leading to ongoing Palestinian unhappiness. Furthermore, taking Egypt -- which holds the Arab world's largest army -- out of the fighting equation meant countries probably wouldn't gang up on Israel as they had in previous wars, a good thing. But in their place, anti-Israel militant groups, such as Hamas and Hezbollah sprang up, and have been a threat to Israel ever since. One more headache: the US continues to pay billions of dollars to Israel and to Egypt every year - mostly in the form of free arms. Thus, the US is blamed not only for Israel's military actions, but also for the continuing militarily-enforced dictatorship in Egypt. After three decades, these events are still exploding in one form or another, this time in Obama's lap. And more than anyone else in recent history, fate calls on Obama to re-examine them all. Given this burden - not to mention the one of the collapsing US economy - Obama may well wish he were 18 and blasting "YMCA" once again. -- In her new book, What Every American Should Know about the Middle East , Melissa Rossi explores the tumultuous events of 1979 and how they led to the modern Middle East (and much more) in depth. More on Middle East
 
Russell Bishop: How To Expand During The Current Contraction: Complete Your To-Do List Top
Last week, we examined a way to expand during the current economic contraction. The tip had to do with taking stock of all the "stuff" you have at home, and giving some of it away to someone who could make good use of it. Did any of you try this? If so, I'd love to hear how it went - what did you do, what did you notice? Here's a different take on a similar concept. Do you have more to do than you can get done? If so, there's a certain amount of good news there - it means you have something to do! In the past, that was called a job - a job, by definition, is something that needs doing and is almost never finished. Cleaning the floor is obvious - as soon as you finish cleaning it, dust and dirt begin to accumulate again. Thus, the need for floor cleaning is ongoing and winds up producing jobs. However, if you keep a to-do list, you may actually have a list of stuck energy, and the list helps the energy stay stuck. Normal to-do lists are easy to spot; others of us have a sea of sticky notes surrounding our work space, stuck to computer screens, hanging from the phone, and just about any surface that will accept the sticky note. Do you have dozens, hundreds, or even thousands of email messages stored in your in-box? How about voice mail messages stored in the system? All of these are simply reminders of something that you committed to doing. In some instances, the commitment is straightforward and clear - you told your boss you would draft a new budget, you told your son you would take him to the doctor, etc. Sometimes, the commitment is a bit less clear: figure out a new sales strategy, find time to go to the gym, remember to read that new article, etc. With stored email messages in the inbox, it gets even murkier. You may have read the message one or more times, and each time you closed the message, you told yourself you need to read it again and figure out what you are going to do with it. Each one of these commitments, whether clear and written, kind of clear and stored somewhere, or pretty vague and perhaps lodged only in your memory, represents a bit of your energy that is locked up in the commitment you made. The energy could be mental, emotional, and sometimes even physical in nature. Let's address the mental part first, because that's actually one of the most important parts of the puzzle. If you have ever sat down to do something, started working on it, and all of a sudden found yourself distracted by one of those sticky notes, an email message that suddenly jumped out at you, or perhaps even just a stray memory ( Oooops - forgot to call Fred about getting the dentist appointment) , then you know what it is like to become distracted by the myriad possibilities that you told yourself you would get done. It can be quite draining to go through a whole day of jumping from one thing to the next and still feel like you got nowhere. If you want to look at this in your own life, here's a suggestion: back in the early 1980's, David Allen , Sally McGhee and I created what we called an incompletion trigger list. Get a copy of the trigger list and use it to create a separate list of all the outstanding commitments you have made and not yet completed. For each item on your incompletion list, simply ask yourself, "What value will show up if I get that done?" If the answer is "little or none," then I'd suggest striking each of those items off the list. Simply tell yourself that you will not be completing that item, and that you are now releasing yourself from that commitment. (You may also need to ask yourself if you will be letting anyone else down by not completing that item. If it will harm another, interfere with your job, or create a series of negative consequences, then you probably need to either go ahead and complete that item, or at least renegotiate with the other party). If you go through your list, and strike off all those little or no value items, you may be surprised at how much energy you will find yourself experiencing. If you then turn your attention to what's left on the list, and start doing a couple of them, you may be even more surprised to learn how much energy you can create simply by getting things done. The strangest paradox will probably occur: the more you get done, the more energy you will find to do even more. Logic says you will tire yourself out. Reality seems to be that the tiring thing is keeping all that energy locked up in things that aren't moving. (PS: if you're really concerned about the stuff you are taking off the list, move them to a new list and call it something like "Not For Now, But Maybe Later." You can review that list once a week or so and see if anything jumps out at you as something you want to do. In the meantime, somewhere inside yourself you will have freed up considerable energy because you will actively know that you no longer have a commitment to getting those things done!) So, try this out: make your list, strike off things you are no longer committed to doing, and move on what's left. Be a scientist about this - just try it and notice what happens. If you like the result, keep on doing it. You are likely to find that your store of energy will grow and you will be able to use that reclaimed energy to further your own expansion in this time of apparent global contraction. Let me know how it goes! *** You can find out more about Russell Bishop at http://www.lessonsinthekeyoflife.com . Contact Russell at: russell@lessonsinthekeyoflife.com The author of Lessons in the Key of Life, Russell is an Educational Psychologist, professional life coach and management consultant, based in Santa Barbara California. More on Energy
 
Mark Winston Griffith: Put Serious Foreclosure Prevention Options Back on the Table Top
This entry is cross-posted on the DMI blog . Over the last two years, while home foreclosures overtook, torpedoed and then finally sank the economy, the White House and Congress took promises from banks to modify mortgages and passed them off as national foreclosure prevention policy. As my father would say, don't piss in my pocket and tell me it's raining. Predictably, voluntary mortgage modifications have proven to be breathtakingly ineffective. So much so that the foreclosure crisis has exceeded the original worst- case predictions and has spread beyond the subprime market into millions of prime mortgage homes. In this desperate environment, anything that resembles a sincere attempt from the federal government to address the foreclosure crisis is somewhat heartening, even when it comes so late in the game. For instance, there are news reports that what once seemed like politically dead idea - giving judges in chapter 13 bankruptcy proceedings the ability to force mortgage modifications - is beginning to show a pulse on Capitol Hill. In other news, a Sunday article in the Washington Post reported: Geithner is likely to roll out a plan, worth $50 billion to $100 billion, to encourage the modification of mortgages for homeowners who are otherwise at risk of being foreclosed upon. It could be based loosely on a strategy for foreclosure relief engineered by FDIC Chairman Sheila C. Bair when the FDIC took control of the failed bank IndyMac last year. Extensive details of how the plan will work may not be complete by tomorrow's speech, however. This is indeed good news. But the foreclosure crisis is now so far along that it's going to take a potent cocktail of policy strategies to function as an effective medicine for what ails American homeowners in distress. In addition to the fact there is a crushing volume of bad loans, there are so many other challenges - like under-water mortgages, resistant loan servicers, securitizations that impede modification - that a simple loan-by-loan re-negotiation plan is a non-starter. Bankruptcy cramdowns and a Bair-like modification plan, perhaps in equal measure with other ideas once considered politically radioactive, like bank nationalization and a foreclosure moratorium, are all worth seriously considering. More on Timothy Geithner
 
Vicky Ward: Bad Times Bring Out the Best in Manhattan Top
Another day, another one bites the dust. Friends everywhere are losing their jobs. They're bright. The New York Times described the growing ranks of the city's unemployed as the new chic club in town. In part, this is because the people who are losing their jobs are the best and ergo the most expensive talent around. I have been bewildered to see some of the cleverest people I know go down, while five goons get left sitting in their office chairs. They're also mostly male. A study last week claimed that one result of the massive job cuts was that for the first time ever, women are poised to surpass men on America's payrolls: 82 per cent of the cuts have been men. For those left in work, the cuts seem illogical. A really busy, productive photographer friend tells me he got an email from a bureaucrat's young female assistant asking him to account for every paper clip, pencil and battery in his desk -- with suggestions of cheaper places to buy them. Why, thought my friend, didn't they just cut the cost of the assistant, if she had time on her hands to add up how many paper clips he was using? But cost-cutting bureaucrats are not thinking in these panic-stricken times. In one large media company the interns -- rich 21-year-old inheritors with zero experience -- have taken over. Fortunately some managements have not entirely lost their heads. At JP Morgan Chase, associates are being promoted to vice presidents -- but without any pay rise. The promotion is a signal you're wanted to stay on. The signal that you're not is what's called a "message bonus" -- that is, a bonus of zero. Meanwhile, various IT companies and hedge funds have told employees to make a collective decision: take a pay cut or some of you will be fired. Hearteningly, people are taking the pay cut. And that's the interesting thing about these times: we see who people really are. For the most part, the collective anxiety has brought out the best in people. I've never been prouder of the friends who've stoically accepted the axe but have kept their ideas flowing and their sense of humor -- even as they hunt for work in places where the sign "nothing available" hangs metaphorically above the door. This article was originally published by the London Evening Standard More on Job Cuts
 
Melissa Biggs Bradley: The Costs of Financial Outing Top
Lifting the veil on who spends what, gets paid what and has lost what is the sport of the moment. But when it comes to money matters, few are honest with others--or even themselves. What could be the ultimate cost of a new world of currency openness? Among the radical shifts emerging with the new recession is a fascination with financial outing. Last week, Sandy Weill was outed for flying his family to Cabo for the holidays on a Global Express with $13,000 carpets. Goldman Sachs was shamed into canceling its annual hedge fund conference in Miami after Morgan Stanley was lambasted for scheduling trips for top brokers to Monte Carlo (since cancelled as well). The perks of Mayor Bloomberg's employees--including flying on Falcon 900s and staying in $400-a night hotel rooms at the Four Seasons--were splashed across the front page of the New York Times . All these, of course come on the heels of the evisceration of John Thain for furnishing his Merrill Lynch office with items like a $1,400 wastebasket. Masters of the Universe have been reduced to greedy villains, but they are not going to be allowed to slink off to enjoy their riches unobserved. No, thanks to a global network of irate citizens who are already sharing in the cost of the their colossal miscalculations, their spending is being exposed for vilification in countless papers and blogs. Suddenly, objects like private planes--considered trophies only months ago--have become high-profile hot potatoes. CEOs can't unload the symbols of their excess fast enough. Dick Fuld's wife had the poor judgment of shopping in Hermes and the reporters caught her in the act, even though she spurned a tell-tale orange bag. Spending is no longer a private matter but an outrage ripe for the public to gloat over. How quickly the tables have turned. For those who gladly staked their status to their bonuses, the rules have changed; and many are seeing their money used, not to define them, but to malign them. The glee with which the masses skewer the spendthrifts comes from years of having suffered under their insensitive flaunting. As writer Leslie Bennetts reflects in a new book of essays, The Secret Currency of Love: the Unabashed Truth about Women, Money and Relationships , "the excessive wealth of people who rub your nose in it can really challenge your character. It's easy to sustain a tolerant, live-and-let-live attitude about rich people who are gracious and respectful of others. And yet privilege can also breed arrogance, a sense of entitlement, and condescension toward those of more modest means. Some people wield their money like a weapon... The careless putdowns range from insensitivity to outright insults, and they can carry a memorable sting." Well, no wonder all those who have been stung are exulting. But it's not just the spending that is coming out into the open. Salaries, bonuses and stock values are being broadcast daily. A recent article, which might have been titled "The Biggest Losers," documented the decimation of the stock values held by titans such as Weill, Ken Lewis and Vikram Pandit. And last week, after the revelation that bonus bonanzas took place by bailed out banks, President Obama swiftly announced an end to bonuses and golden parachutes and a cap on executive compensation for those working at companies that take TARP funds. (Those Merrill Lynch bonus recipients worry that they, too, may be outed and forced to return the spoils.) The super wealthy are not the only ones who can no longer keep their economic information under wraps, though. A whole generation of Americans is readjusting to a new financial reality. They have to, because with unemployment at its highest level in sixteen years and the massive destruction of wealth, many can no longer afford their homes, their kids' tuitions, their monthly bills. Keeping up appearances is hardly worth worrying about, and besides facing up to reduced circumstances is easier when you can talk about it. In fact, victims of foreclosures and Madoff now frequent Tv talk shows and the internet, revealing in great detail their economic demise. Last Friday's Wall Street Journal ran an article entitled "Connected, Fabulous...and Broke" in which a Miami real estate broker comes clean: "I was flying so high, and now I'm crashing down. It was greed--pure and simple." Last week, the list of Madoff victims was released. Anyone with access to the internet could scour Exhibit A. Famous folk like John Malkovich and even Madoff's own lawyer, Ira Sorkin, who had not revealed their losses were exposed along with hundreds of others. "I spent a half hour reading the names," confided one typical New Yorker, "and found three people I knew." It's almost as if the obsession with celebrities has been replaced by an obsession with other people's money. Why? In her introduction, Hilary Black, the editor of The Secret Currency of Love argues that "We are, I believe, fascinated by the other people's financial issues because we all want to know the same things: Is she like me? Is her life better? Worse? Does she have more than I do? Is what I have enough? In this regard, these essays offer a peek through the keyhole of a door that is often locked tight." Until recently, that is. As financial outing and going-broke tell-alls gain momentum, the danger is that this spawns another kind of weapon to be wielded. Call it the tyranny of transparency, and try to be honest about how you will feel when your bank transactions are held up to scrutiny. Read Melissa's last Huffingtonpost blog Through the Looking Glass: While New York Panics, London Parties On More on Financial Crisis
 
Harry Shearer: "We Won't Take That History Lightly" Top
LONDON--Yes, that pesky "history" thing rears its ugly head, this time in a quote from General David "Surge" Petraeus in today's Washington Post . It's neat that he should pause to remember history at this juncture, after he's helped perpetuate an Iraqi adventure that completely ignored the history of the British Empire in the same part of the world in the 1920s. Sure, the Iraqis held an election last week that was quiet and orderly, if setting new records for low voter turnout . We have taught them a rudiment of American democracy. Now all we need to do is send over some lobbyists and our job will be done. Meanwhile, the thrust of the Post story is on the "dire" assessment of President Obama's national security team of the Afghanistan situation. The report suggests a new, perhaps convincing, reason why the Bush team chose to redirect its attentions to Iraq in 2003. Quoting the new super-envoy, Richard Holbrooke: "It's going to be a long, difficult struggle. . . . In my view, it's going to be much tougher than Iraq." Maybe the veer Iraqward was just a matter of trying to choose the easy war. History, that mad teacher, has a sense of humor. The "grim" assessment may be welcome news. Obama's pledge to surge in Afghanistan was an understandable campaign thrust against the recklessness of leaving the job there undone, but seven years have passed, the Taliban has regenerated, Pakistan has degenerated. They weren't sitting around quietly waiting for America to rediscover them. History may not look kindly on our attempt to reopen a window -- the opportunity for an outside force to remake Afghanistan - -that appears to have closed. General Petraeus has read enough to remember that area as "the graveyard of empires." One deja vu adventure per decade is enough. More on Afghanistan
 
Howard Kurtz On Obama's "Calculated... Media Management" Top
Three days after taking office, President Obama engaged in a calculated bit of media management. Late on that Friday afternoon, after spending the day talking up his economic stimulus package, Obama quietly signed an order allowing federal funds to be used for international groups that promote abortion. The White House wanted to discourage coverage of the divisive issue, which ran counter to the week's message of bipartisanship, so the signing was held away from reporters and cameras. It barely caused a blip. Despite early speculation that the new administration would use newfangled technology to bypass the mainstream media, the president has been strikingly accessible, sitting for interviews or fielding reporters' questions virtually every weekday. But Obama has picked his spots, minimizing his media exposure when the hot Washington topic is one he would rather avoid.
 
Cable Companies See Customers Cutting Back: "The Beginning Of Cord Cutting" Top
PHILADELPHIA — Porter McConnell gave up on pay TV last summer after noticing that monthly rates kept creeping up. Now with no satellite or cable TV, she watches her trusty old TV set with an antenna or she goes online to catch her favorite programs. Once in a while, she buys shows from Apple Inc.'s iTunes service. McConnell also upped her subscription to Netflix Inc.'s movies-by-mail service so she gets two DVDs at a time instead of one, for $15 a month. "Part of it is, I've got to economize," said the 30-year-old Washington, D.C., resident who works at a nonprofit. McConnell is the kind of consumer who makes cable and satellite TV operators lose sleep. While a weak economy invariably makes people pinch pennies, this is the first time that viewing shows online has become a viable competitor to pay TV, making cutting the cord easier. Cable operators are starting to notice. Glenn Britt, chief executive of Time Warner Cable Inc., voiced his concern Wednesday in a quarterly earnings discussion with analysts. "We are starting to see the beginning of cord cutting," he said. "People will choose not to buy subscription video if they can get the same stuff for free." It's tough to pin down how many people actually have given up cable _ most of the evidence remains anecdotal _ and which customers moved to a competitor. Still, Time Warner Cable, the nation's second-largest cable operator, lost 119,000 basic video customers in the fourth quarter, even after excluding subscribers it gave up from the sale of some cable systems. The company also posted slower growth in new digital cable TV, Internet and phone subscribers. More details will emerge as other cable and satellite TV operators report earnings in the coming weeks. This is not to say that the cable business is in trouble. It's a mixed picture in this economy. While there will be some people who will completely give up their pay TV service, many folks will keep the subscription but cut back instead on going out to the movies. They also might give up a movie channel or two and buy fewer pay-per-view shows. But pay TV providers are right to be alarmed. Not only has a flood of TV shows and movies become available online, but the video quality has gotten better. Netflix is expanding its service that lets subscribers stream movies and shows from the Internet at no additional cost. And more and more people have home broadband _ 57 percent of American adults, according to the Pew Internet and American Life Project. Throw in the worst economic slowdown in nearly a century and people question whether they still want to pay for cable or satellite. As of January 2008, the average monthly home cable bill was $84.59, up 21 percent from two years earlier, according to the Federal Communications Commission. "You've got these factors aligning at the right time," said Bobby Tulsiani, senior analyst at Forrester Research. "This time there is a real, viable alternative" to cable. To be sure, there can be drawbacks to canceling pay TV. Watching shows on a PC still isn't as comfortable as watching TV while relaxing on a couch. The quality of Internet video, while improving, still isn't as good, especially for live events, in which video and audio might not be in sync. While some game consoles, Blu-ray players and other devices enable video to be seamlessly delivered over the Internet to a TV, hooking up a computer to the TV to watch the full gamut of online shows on a big screen can take some technical savvy. These downsides mattered to 36-year-old Peter Tierney, who lost his job two weeks ago as a Web producer for a New York advertising agency. With a wife and son to support, he called Time Warner Cable to cut his premium Japanese channel and whittle down his $180 monthly cable bill. Tierney ended up saving nearly $70 a month, after Time Warner Cable gave him discounts good for two years and he canceled the premium channel. "It's hard for two people to watch shows on the computer at the same time," Tierney said. "I can't sit on the comfy couch. I have to go to my desk and sit on my chair." Indeed, a Forrester survey to be released in about a month found out that most people aren't planning to ditch their cable subscriptions soon. But the Internet is coming on strong as a new way to watch video, especially for the younger set. Tulsiani noted that the success of Hulu.com, a joint venture NBC and Fox that officially launched last year and offers free TV shows and movies, has attracted other entrants. Perhaps to hedge its bets, Philadelphia-based Comcast Corp. _ the nation's largest cable company _ runs a similar site called Fancast.com, while full TV episodes now are available through the networks' Web sites. YouTube made deals last November to carry full shows in an alliance with CBS and MGM. This is what worries Time Warner Cable's Britt. He warned that if cable networks keep moving content online for free, it would hurt them and cable operators like Time Warner. Because with fewer subscribers, cable operators will pay less money to programmers for the right to air their content. But the networks' hands largely are tied. People are illegally swapping files of shows and movies over the Internet already, so the networks might as well make money off it with advertising and take some control over their content. While cable and satellite TV companies worry about any consumers cutting service, it would appear younger people pose the biggest threat, given the wide generation gap in online TV viewing. About 72 percent of people ages 18 to 29 have watched a video online, compared to 34 percent of people ages 50 to 64, according to Pew. Consider Thomas Senger and his family. The 23-year-old security officer decided not to get cable recently after moving out of his parents' house and into his own apartment in Bayonne, N.J. He doesn't watch that much TV anyway and prefers playing video games or viewing DVDs with friends. "It's pointless to pay for something that I watch over the Internet," he said. But that's not an option for his grandparents, who don't know how to use a computer and watch a lot of TV. His parents are more savvy about the Internet, but not enough to change their viewing habits. Senger said his mother likes to watch the QVC shopping channel live. She and his stepfather also watch TV while eating dinner _ a tough proposition over a PC screen. "Both of them will still need TV," Senger said.
 
Afghan Support For US Efforts Tumbling: Poll Top
The United States, its NATO allies and the government of Hamid Karzai are losing not just ground in Afghanistan -- but also the hearts and minds of the Afghan people. A new national public opinion poll in Afghanistan by ABC News, the BBC and ARD German TV finds that performance ratings and support levels for the Kabul government and its Western allies have plummeted from their peaks, particularly in the past year. Widespread strife, a resurgent Taliban, struggling development, soaring corruption and broad complaints about food, fuel, power and prices all play a role.
 
McAuliffe Takes Heat From Rival At Democratic Dinner Top
Could Terry McAuliffe's hefty bank account backfire against him in the Virginia's governor's race? That's certainly what one of his Democratic rivals is hoping At the Democratic Party of Virginia's annual Jefferson-Jackson dinner on Saturday, McAuliffe got an earful from former House member Brian Moran, who implied that the onetime DNC chairman is trying to buy the governor's mansion by tapping his rolodex of national donors.
 
Octuplets Unveiled, Mom Defends Decision, Grandmother Calls Unconscionable (VIDEO) Top
Part two of Ann Curry's exclusive with Nadya Suleman, who gave birth to octuplets two weeks weeks ago, aired Monday. In addition to talking about her relationship with the babies' father, Suleman toured the neonatal unit and introduced her babies, with names like Noah and Malia, to the world. Scroll down for that video. Nadya said the biological father, "didn't know what to say. He needs time... He expressed desire to know the six kids" before the most recent eight were born. She added they talk a couple times a year and she calls him "a friend." Meanwhile her mother, the grandmother, gave an interview slamming her daughters decision, calling her unconscionable, and also gave a tour of the cramped, messy home. [She] said daughter Nadya Suleman, 33 and single, has "no means to support" fourteen children. Angela Suleman said that she's been housing and supporting her daughter Nadya and her six grandchildren by a previous in vitro fertilization procedure in a "cramped" apartment for years. Suleman said that her daughter "spent a lot of money on toys," but never contributed rent or food money and failed to tell her mother about more than $167,000 that records show she received from worker's compensation claims. Video of the home here . WATCH THE BIOLOGICAL DAD TALK: Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News , World News , and News about the Economy MEET THE BABIES: Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News , World News , and News about the Economy More on Video On HuffPost
 
Bishop Who Denied The Holocaust Removed From Seminary Post Top
A Roman Catholic bishop who said he does not believe the Nazis murdered millions of Jewish people in gas chambers has been removed from his seminary. Richard Williamsom caused outrage with his remarks, which surfaced shortly after the Vatican's decision to welcome him back into the Catholic church last week.
 
Samantha Fennell, Named Interview Publisher, Declines Role Top
Interview lost yet another executive this week, but this one left before her first day of work. Samantha Fennell, who was named publisher of Interview when Alan Katz left Brant Publications in January, was due to report to her new job last Monday. But she declined the role after the sudden exit of coeditorial director Fabien Baron and creative director Karl Templer. "After learning of the recent editorial changes and evolution that the magazine is undertaking, I thought it best that I pursue other opportunities where I can better utilize my skill set and affect positive change. I wish them all the best," said Fennell in an e-mail on her decision.
 
Virgin Atlantic Anniversary Ad Prompts Claims Of Sexism Top
Virgin Atlantic's high-profile 25th anniversary retro TV ad campaign, featuring crowds ogling its glitzy female cabin crew, has prompted complaints to the advertising watchdog that it is sexist and insulting to women. The 90-second commercial, set to Frankie Goes to Hollywood classic Relax, features a glamorous red-suited cabin crew and pilot walking through a dreary airport for Virgin Atlantic's first flight in 1984. As the pilot and entourage walk through the airport crowds of people, mostly men, ogle the array of gorgeous hostesses. One man inadvertently squirts hamburger filling over himself while watching the procession More on ads
 
Ackerman's Pershing Square Investors To Cash Out Top
In a move that could force similar changes at other money-losing hedge funds, the well-known fund manager William A. Ackman is cutting his fees and allowing investors to take what is left of their money from one of the funds he manages. Mr. Ackman, who runs Pershing Square Capital Management, is suffering huge losses on a fund he started nearly two years ago to bet solely on the rise of the stock of the discount retailer Target Corporation.
 
Green Cleaning: 37 Reuses For Old Clothes Top
I'm finding that I've got a lot of winter clothes that are too worn-out to keep, and Spring Cleaning is approaching. But I always found the idea of throwing clothes away -- even worn-out clothes -- kind of sad. Spring is supposed to be about, you know, life and birth and re-birth. With that in mind, I've compiled a hefty list of reuses for old clothes. 1. 5 Reuses For Old Mittens Say you lost a mitten. Or there's a hole in one. Or your dog ate one. Planet Green offers ways to give your mittens new lives as drawstring bags, dusters and hoodie pockets -- which is saving two articles of clothing for the price of one! And then there's this clever idea: Get a drill, a punch or an awl and a nylon cord. Drill a hole in the bottom of your ice scraper. Thread the cord through. Attach the cord to the mitten. The scraper is now attached to the mitten. You will never find yourself without a mitten when you need one. Check it out here. 2. 5 Reuses For Old Belts Bust a belt over the holidays? No problem. Planet Green also has five uses for old belts, including the very utilitarian organizer belt: Slide some S-hooks into the belt holes and glue a strong magnet to a portion of the back of the belt, then attach it to a wall or the bottom edge of a whiteboard or a bulletin board with screws for an industrial look. Use small, powerful magnets to secure messages and notes to the front and hang keys, scarves or other small items from the hooks. The other uses are much more artsy, so read up . 3. 13 Crafty Reuses For Clothes Of All Kinds Wikihow suggests 13 ideas for all kinds of worn-out clothes -- make a quilt, a dog bed, use cut-up blouses as wrapping for green gifts. It's all pretty creative. My favorite? Dressing up a gift of cheap wine: Take old silk or rayon shirts and cut a square of fabric approximately twelve inches by twelve inches. Place a wine bottle in the center. Fold the bottom corner up. Roll the bottle in the fabric, tie the top with ribbon to secure, and insert dried flowers or gift tag in the pocket the folded corner has created. You now have a last-minute hostess gift (and people might not notice the wine inside is just two-buck Chuck). 4. 6 Reuses For Old Socks Everybody loses socks in the wash, so why not find new uses for the orphaned remaining socks -- or even for a sock with a hole worn in the toe or heel? Dusters, puppets, packaging -- Planet Green also recommends using socks as shoe-savers: I know you're used to the socks being on the inside of your shoes, but they can work on the outside too. Cover shoes when storing them or stuffing them into your suitcase. The sock covers will keep shoes from becoming dusty or your other packed items from becoming dirty. And best of all, you can make a hacky sack out of an old sock : 1. Get sock. 2. Cut sock in half. 3. Get rice or pinto beans or other biodegradable, loose-fill item. 4. Fill bottom half of sock with beans or whatever. 5. Sew sock closed. 6. You now have a hacky sack. What to do with the remainder? You can make a wrist warmer or a drink cozy out of it. 5. Make Mittens Out Of An Old Sweater Not that I'm speaking from personal experience, but sometimes somebody absent-mindedly puts a sweater in the wash and it comes out as a different size. What do to? Make mittens! And what to do when the mittens wear out? See above! 6. 7 Reuses For Jeans And T-Shirts Ah, the staples. Everybody has these pieces of clothing, and honestly everybody's heard of most of these reuses -- shorts, skirt, etc. But here's a really clever one that's still good for winter use. I have a perfect candidates for it: Old Shirt Use #2: Rice Bag Warmer. Cut off the sleeve of an old flannel shirt, fill with long grain white rice and sew up the ends. This will make a nice rice warmer for your back after a hard day's work, or your feet on a cold winter night. Just heat in the microwave for a few minutes. 7. OK, Give Up And Recycle Your Old Clothes And look. Maybe you're rushed. Maybe you're not that crafty. Or maybe you just get more psychic satisfaction from getting things out of your house. If that's the case, be sure to recycle your clothes . But instead of throwing it into the dumpster, there are a few companies out there that will recycle their product once you are done wearing it. Some of these items get turned into new clothing while some of them will get turned into playground equipment. Read on at The Good Human. More on Green Living
 
CNN Following Freshman Congressmen For Web Reality Show Top
CNN.com is tracking two freshman congressmen for a weekly series called "Freshman Year." The two politicians are producing most of the content themselves by carrying video cameras on Capitol Hill and writing essays about their experiences. Mike Toppo, the senior supervising producer for news production at CNN.com, said his team looked for "articulate and personable freshmen" with interesting biographies and contrasting backgrounds. They found two from neighboring states: Jared Polis, Democrat of Colorado, and Jason Chaffetz, Republican of Utah. "They've asked us to give insight into what it's like to be a freshman and what it's like to be a congressman," Mr. Chaffetz said in a telephone interview.
 
Bee-Gee Robin Gibb Has Love Child With Live-In Housekeeper Top
There are very few rules in his marriage, judging by all his talk of threesomes and cruising. But Robin Gibb managed to break one, all the same. The Bee Gee, 59, has fathered a child with his live-in housekeeper, who is half his age. His wife Dwina is said to be infuriated by the birth even though the couple have an open relationship. She has apparently thrown the housekeeper, Claire Yang, 33, out of the Gibbs' 12th century Oxfordshire mansion. More on Celebrity Kids
 
Sri Lanka: Female Suicide Bomber Kills 28 Top
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — A woman with a bomb strapped to her body hid in a crowd of Sri Lankan civilians on Monday, blowing herself up as security forces frisked people fleeing the northern war zone and killing 28 people, the military said. The suicide attack, which killed 20 soldiers and eight civilians, led to fears the Tamil Tiger separatists _ boxed into a small strip of land on the northeastern coast and on the verge of defeat _ will increasingly turn to guerrilla warfare in their battle against government forces. The Red Cross estimates 250,000 civilians are also trapped in the area. The military has accused the rebels of using the civilians as human shields and called for noncombatants to flee to government-controlled areas. The rebels have accused the government of indiscriminate shelling, including in a government-designated "safe zone," leading to increasing civilian casualties. On Monday morning, more than 800 civilians had crossed the front lines and were being searched by soldiers when the bomber attacked, military spokesman Brig. Udaya Nanayakkara said. The accused bomber was being frisked when she set off the explosives, killing 28 people, he said. The blast wounded 24 troops and 40 civilians, he said. Footage run on state television showed a child in a purple checked dress lying lifeless on the ground and other civilians lay dead nearby. Plastic chairs they were apparently sitting on as they waited to be processed were overturned, and blood stained the ground. The attack targeted a military weak point: the processing of the masses of civilians fleeing the area. Military officials say the flow of civilians out of the war zone has increased in recent days, with 4,700 fleeing Sunday, bringing the total number of noncombatants to escape the war zone to 20,000 this year, Nanayakkara said. The attack also highlighted concerns that the rebels are trying to blend in with the civilian population so they can fight on using insurgent tactics. "The LTTE is now desperate because they don't have any control over the civilians," Nanayakkara said, calling the rebels by the acronym of their formal title, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. "They wanted to stop these people coming in." Independent confirmation of the attack was not available because journalists were barred from the war zone. With most communication to the north severed, the rebels could not be reached for comment. The U.S. Embassy in Colombo called on the rebels "to allow all civilians freedom of movement" and urged the Sri Lankan government to ensure that all civilians who flee the fighting are transferred to the camps "in accordance with international standards." The United Nations also condemned the bombing. "We deplore the loss of civilian life in this targeted killing. It's a blow for people who have suffered so much," said U.N. resident coordinator Neil Buhne. The rebels have been accused of more than 200 suicide attacks in 25 years of civil war and are listed as a terror group by the United States and the European Union. The Tamil Tigers began fighting in 1983 for a separate state for the nation's ethnic Tamil minority after decades of marginalization at the hands of governments controlled by the Sinhalese majority. More than 70,000 people have been killed in the fighting. Nobel peace laureate Jose Ramos-Horta, the president of East Timor, called on both sides to agree to an immediate cease-fire, to allow aid groups and independent journalists full access to the conflict zone and to begin immediate talks for a political resolution to the conflict. He also offered himself as a mediator. Also Monday, the air force hit a camouflaged building inland where the rebels' sea wing hid its craft, Nanayakkara said. "The place was destroyed," he said. The military also reported killing 34 rebels who tried to break through the front lines Saturday in an armored truck.
 
For Analysts, Its Always Time To Buy Stocks Top
Even now, with the recession deepening and markets on edge, Wall Street analysts say it is a good time to buy. Still.
 
TPM Blogger Interrogated At Israeli Airport Over Blog Posts Top
As some of you know my wife and I have been seriously considering aliyah. We spent several weeks in November in Israel exploring some of the details involved in such a move. We were somewhat optimistic at that point and on January 22 we made an official Aliyah visit. Landing at Ben Gurion we were quickly moved to an interrogation room. Two gentlemen (I assume they were Shin Bet but they never said) questioned us for 90 minutes about my blog postings on Israel, some of which I recognized from TPM. They had a significant volume of printouts and asked detailed questions about my criticisms of Israel.. Finally in exasperation I told them - "For G-d's sake, I am no Norm Finkelstein". Bad move - they immediately started questioning me on my relationship with Finkelstein and seemed unmoved by my denials of ever meeting the man. Finally, they said we could enter Israel but we "better watch our step". I was not terribly bothered by the interrogation but my wife was extremely upset by it.
 
Charlie Axel Woods: Tiger Woods Welcomes A Son Top
On the day Tiger Woods usually hoists a trophy at Torrey Pines, the world's No. 1 golfer was busy with the birth of his first son. Woods announced on his Web site early Monday that his wife, Elin, had given birth to a boy, Charlie Axel Woods. It is the couple's second child following the birth of daughter Sam Alexis in June 2007 on the day after the U.S. Open. "Elin and I are thrilled to announce the birth of our son, Charlie Axel Woods, who was born on Sunday February 8, 2009," Woods wrote in the statement. "Both Charlie and Elin are doing great and we want to thank everyone for their sincere best wishes and kind thoughts. Sam is very excited to be a big sister and we feel truly blessed to have such a wonderful family. "I also want to thank our doctors, nurses and the hospital staff for their personal and professional care. We look forward to introducing Charlie to you at the appropriate time, and again thanks from all of us for your kindness and support." The 33-year-old Woods is a six-time winner of the Buick Invitational, where he also won the U.S. Open last summer for his 14th career major. That was the last tournament he has played because of knee surgery a week later that ended his 2008 season. He is expected to return before the Masters, possibly as early as the Accenture Match Play Championship on Feb. 25. He wrote in a newsletter last week that his return to golf would depend largely on the birth of his second child. Woods was the only child born of his parents, Earl and Tida Woods. He had said after his marriage in 2004 that he looked forward to having more than one child. Nick Watney won the Buick Invitational on Sunday, the sixth time that Woods has been unable to defend a title since his knee surgery. More on Celebrity Kids
 
Australian Wildfires Called An Act Of "Mass Murder" By Prime Minister Top
WHITTLESEA, Australia — Police declared incinerated towns crime scenes Monday, and Australia's prime minister spoke of "mass murder" after investigators said arsonists may have set some of the country's worst wildfires in history. The death toll rose to 135. There were no quick answers, but officials said panic and the freight-train speed of the firefront _ driven by 60 mph winds and temperatures as high as 117 degrees Fahrenheit (47C) _ probably accounted for the unusually high toll. Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, visibly upset during a television interview, reflected the country's disgust at the idea that arsonists may have set some of the 400 fires that devastated Victoria state, or helped them jump containment lines. "What do you say about anyone like that?" Rudd said. "There's no words to describe it, other than it's mass murder." More than one dozen fires still burned uncontrollably across the state, though conditions were much cooler than on Saturday. Evidence of heart-wrenching loss abounded. From the air, the landscape was blackened as far as the eye could see. In at least one town, bodies still lay in the streets. Entire forests were reduced to leafless, charred trunks, farmland to ashes. The Victoria Country Fire Service said some 850 square miles (2,200 kilometers) were burned out. At Kinglake, a body covered by a white sheet lay in a yard where every tree, blade of grass and the ground was blackened. Elsewhere in the town, the burned out hulks of four cars were clustered haphazardly together after an apparent collision. Australian Broadcasting Corp. radio reported a car in a small reservoir, the driver apparently steering there in desperation. "What we've seen, I think, is that people didn't have enough time, in some cases" Victoria Police Commissioner Christine Nixon told a news conference. "We're finding (bodies) on the side of roads, in cars that crashed." But there were also extraordinary tales of survival. On man leapt into his pool to escape the flames as they roared over his house, leaving it unscarred but razing the neighbor's. Another woman sheltered with her children in a wombat burrow as the worst of the fire passed. Mark Strubing sheltered in a drainage pipe as his property, outside Kinglake, burned. "We jumped in the car and we were only literally just able to outrun this fire. It was traveling as fast as the wind," Strubing told Nine Network television news. He said he and a companion rolled around in the water at the bottom to wet their clothing as the flames started licking the pipe: "How we didn't burn I don't know." Elsewhere in Kinglake, Jack Barber fled just ahead of the flames with his wife, his neighbor, driving in two care packed with birth certificates, insurance documents, two cats, four kittens and a dog. "We had a fire plan," he said Monday. "The plan was to get the hell out of there before the flames came." Their escape route blocked downed power lines and a tree, the took shelter first at a school, then _ when that burned _ in an exposed cricket ground ringed by trees, where they found five others. "All around us was 100 foot (30 meter) flames ringing the oval, and we ran where the wind wasn't. It was swirling all over the place," Barber said. "For three hours, we dodged the wind." The wind surged and changed direction quickly time and again on Saturday, fanning the blazes and making their direction utterly unpredictable from minute to minute. Local media had been issuing warnings in the days leading up to the weekend, but many people guarding their homes with backyard hoses would have been outside when the wind changed, and thus could have missed the fresh warnings. At least 750 homes were destroyed on Saturday, the Victoria Country Fire Service said. Some 850 square miles (2,200 kilometers) of land were burned out. Officials said both the tolls of human life and property would almost certainly rise as they reached deeper into the disaster zone, and forecasters said temperatures would rise again later in the week, posing a risk of further flare-ups. Nixon said investigators had strong suspicions that at least one of the deadly blazes _ known as the Churchill fire after a ruined town _ was deliberately set. And it could not be ruled out for other fires. She cautioned against jumping to conclusions. The country's top law officer, Attorney General Robert McClelland, said that people found to have deliberately set fires could face murder charges. Murder can carry a life sentence. Police sealed off Maryville, a town destroyed by another fire, with checkpoints, telling residents who fled and news crews they could not enter because there were still bodies in the streets. Armed officers moved through the shattered landscape taking notes, pool news photographs showed. John Handmer, a wildfire safety expert at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, said research had shown that people in the path of a blaze must get out early or stay inside until the worst has past. "Fleeing at the last moment is the worst possible option," he said. "Sadly, this message does not seem to have been sufficiently heeded this weekend with truly awful consequences in Victoria." Even if a house is set ablaze, it will burn more slowly and with less intensity that a wildfire and residents have a better chance of escape, he said. Victoria state Premier John Brumby on Monday announced a commission would be held to examine all aspects of the fires, including warning policies. "I think our policy has served us well in what I call normal conditions. These were unbelievable circumstances," Brumby said on Australian Broadcasting Corp. television. Blazes have been burning for weeks across several states in southern Australia. A long-running drought in the south _ the worst in a century _ had left forests extra dry and Saturday's fire conditions in Victoria were said to be the worst ever in Australia. In New South Wales state on Monday, a 31-year-old man appeared in court charged with arson in connection to a wildfire that burned north of Sydney at the weekend. No loss of life was reported there. He faces up to 10 years in prison. The country's deadliest fires before the current spate killed 75 people in 1983. In 2006, nine people died on South Australia's Eyre Peninsula. More on Australia
 
Dick Lugar Turns Down Obama Air Force One Invite Top
My colleague Carol Lee reports that Indiana Republican Senator Dick Lugar won't accompany President Obama to his home state tomorrow, despite an invitation from the president. Indiana's other senator, Democrat Evan Bayh, will be aboard Air Force One, along with six current and former members of Congress, one of whom, Brad Ellsworth, voted against the House bill. More on President Obama
 
Bank Bailout's Private Money Aid Top
Wall Street helped produce the global financial and economic crisis. Now, as the Obama administration prepares to unveil a revised bailout plan for the banking system, policy makers hope Wall Street can be part of the solution. Administration officials said the plan, to be announced Tuesday, was likely to depend in part on the willingness of private investors other than banks -- like hedge funds, private equity funds and perhaps even insurance companies -- to buy the contaminating assets that wiped out the capital of many banks. More on Economy
 
Green Shopping Still Increasing, But Consumers Want More Information Top
LiveScience.com reports that people are buying as many or more green products now as they were before the economy, but that they still have questions about the process, and they're skeptical of "green" labels. Has there ever been better news? Some of the green shopping details : Even though green buying is up, what exactly qualifies as green is still a mystery to many consumers: * About one in three consumers say they do not know how to tell if green product claims are true. * One in 10 consumers blindly trusts green product claims. * 24 percent of consumers are verifying green claims by reading the packaging. * 17 percent are turning to research, such as using the Internet and reading studies. The story also argues that shoppers just want green buying to be more convenient. That's an argument put forth recently by Kevin Grandia in his HuffPost Green blog, " Putting Green In Arm's Reach ." More on Economy
 

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