Wednesday, March 4, 2009

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Beau Friedlander: Obama Is Rushing to Victory Top
Republican National Committee Chair Michael Steele is on his way out on a Limbaugh (sorry). More and more folks in the reality-based community are saying Rush is running the show on the Republican-side of the aisle, that he's the true heart and soul of the Grand Old Party. It seems clear enough. But unlike Michael Steele and other puppets of Limbaugh's stalwart reign of pill-popping fiscal despair, the fat man won't appear on "Meet the Press," or "Face the Nation." Same goes for radio. Air America host Ron Reagan seemed like the right sort of knight to kill this dragon. He asked Rush to talk about his platform on "The Ron Reagan Show." No dice. Rush doesn't talk about Rush with anyone but Rush. You've heard about that poll last October. Democratic strategists Stanley Greenberg and James Carville added a Limbaugh question to a poll and found that he was particularly reviled among younger voters. Why? We all know Rush Limbaugh is the rancid cream inside the boil that got him a military deferment after he dropped out of college during the Vietnam War. Who likes him? The lore has it that a bunch of old white guys are to blame, but let's face it, the toad boasts millions of listeners. Have you never tuned in? Please! Of course you have. He's the purest expression of everything you hate--a red state Darth Vader waging war on true-blue Obama-wan Kenobi. It's great theater. Who could resist. Listening to his show is like watching a train wreck. Limbaugh loves all the attention he's getting ever since Obama called him out, and he's game to play his part in the above limned drama. He stated as much in a dispatch to Politico: The administration is enabling me. They are expanding my profile, expanding my audience and expanding my influence. An ever larger number of people are now being exposed to the antidote to Obamaism: conservatism, as articulated by me. An ever larger number of people are now exposed to substantive warnings, analysis and criticism of Obama's policies and intentions, a 'story' I own because the [mainstream media] is largely the Obama Press Office. If he doesn't sound like the Mr. T of politics, I don't know who does. Check out all the bowing and scraping among the power-set in the GOP. They know the drill. "I pity the fool," quoth Rush. The catch is this: Limbaugh damages the fabric of society. Limbaugh didn't invent hate, but he perfected its mode of production. He goes unpunished because he answers to no one because he is an entertainer. He does not listen to criticism because if he is not God he at least, in the circus of his mind, runs the Republican Party and how dare anyone do anything other than bow down to kiss the ring around his famous boil? Bottom line: We need Rush Limbaugh. America needs a villain to juxtapose itself against, to escape, and to conquer. America needs to have a receptacle for the stupidity, selfishness, and pride that got us in the economic mess we're in. Limbaugh wants Obama to fail, which means to say he wants America to fail. We don't want America to fail, or Obama, and so now we've got an identifiable bogey man in the person of Rush Limbaugh--a goad for success. And that's easily worth $38 million a year. More on Michael Steele
 
Brian Wolff: ImSorryRush.com Top
Picture this. You're a Republican who just accidentally offended your leader Rush Limbaugh. You know that your only option is to bow down to King Rush and offer a groveling apology. But you have to do it fast before Leader Rush calls you out. What can you do? Luckily, we've uncovered the secret Republican Apology Machine . Check out www.ImSorryRush.com , the fastest and easiest way for a Limbaugh-Loving Republican to express the error of their ways to the king himself. Now you can draft your own "apology" to Rush just like the pros do it. Best of all, we'll share your "apologies" with Rush personally. Check it out. More on Michael Steele
 
Deepak Chopra: If you escaped the meltdown, what should you do? Top
Published in the Washington Post in response to their question: In tough times, do those of us who handled our finances responsibly have a moral obligation to bail out those of us who didn't? Are we our brother's keeper economically? When Barack Obama declared, "I am my brother's keeper," he stated not just a Christian obligation but a core tent of society. When the social contract is viable, the majority protects the rights of the minority. The obligation becomes stronger when the social contract runs into crisis, because that is the point where common bonds are most frayed. There's also a sense of natural morality at work. Passengers who made it into lifeboats on the Titanic pulled others out of the water. The same happened among the passengers on the recent crash landing of a jet in the Hudson River. So, yes, if you have escaped a collective economic disaster, it's your obligation to help the less fortunate. This is simple morality, and most people abide by it. Ugly realities intrude, however. During the Great Depression many moneyed interests sat on the sidelines and did nothing but hoard their wealth. Others took advantage of misfortune, and the minority political party became obstructionists. We are seeing a repetition of the same pattern now. It's ironic, given that the Republicans are the party of right-wing religion, that "Am I my brother's keeper?" originated as a sarcastic comment by Cain after he killed Abel (it's also the first question that a human asks God in the Bible). To implicitly side with Cain seems wrongheaded, but particularly so since Jesus tells his disciples that their primary duty is to love one another. But let's say that someone has avoided the worst of the economic meltdown and actually wants to help. The influence of fear, selfishness, uncertainty, caution, and pessimism still clouds the issue. Leaving aside any religious or moral injunction, we all have a psychological stake in two things that aren't totally compatible: individual survival and social survival. Perhaps the wisest guidance comes from the human body. Cancer, a runaway form of individual survival at the expense of collective survival, ultimately proves fatal. The individual and the collective both perish. Normal cells survive and cooperate at the same time. They are connected to every other cell in the body. They share the same food and air; they are sustained by the same circulation of blood. With that in mind, the question of what to do comes clearer: -- Identify with your own situation and society's situation as two halves of one whole. -- Don't indulge in the illusion that selfish isolation is a valid survival technique. We all need each other. -- Don't protect your luxuries when others close to you are struggling for necessities. -- Refrain from blame, which only weakens the social fabric. -- Remember basic moral dictates like "Love one another." -- Be generous of spirit in every way, not just in how you handle money. I think the last point is the most important. In a crisis the temptation is always to contract with anxiety, but no one ever got through a crisis by doing that. The heroes of every calamity are those who expand beyond fear. They don't keep only courage alive but reason, love, compassion, and giving -- the very values that we are here to experience if we want to be fully human. When you are generous of spirit, you consciously side against fear. You add to the expanded awareness that saves everyone, not just yourself.
 
Don McNay: MBNA claims to have talked to my dead mother about credit card Top
There is a New York Times story running on Huffington Post today about debt collectors attempting to collect debts from dead people. I had a situation that takes it one step further. A collector for MBNA claimed to have TALKED to my dead mother about her debt. All of the details, including the letter from the debt collector and a copy of her death certificate, are at http://www.donmcnay.com/content/view/34/9/ Once I wrote the column and our probate attorney filed an objection, MBNA withdrew the claims but the average consumer does not have access to an expensive attorney or have a son who is a nationally syndicated financial columnist. Thus, we need to change the law so that everyone is protected. Here is the story about mom: MBNA claims to have talked to my dead mother " I'll be coming home, wait for me" -Righteous Brothers, Unchained Melody, (theme from the movie, "Ghost") My mother allegedly died on April 2, 2006. I say allegedly because a collector representing MBNA said he talked to her on June 21st. Until I saw a letter from Dale Lamb, I felt pretty certain my mother was dead. I viewed her lifeless body at the hospital. A funeral director, who I have known since the second grade, gave me an urn that supposedly contained her ashes. I have a death certificate from the state of Kentucky. Despite all that, Lamb claims to have talked to her on June 21st. Thanks to MBNA and their collector--the ironically named, True Logic Financial Corporation--mom is now in a category with Elvis Presley, Kurt Cobain, and Jim Morrison. She has been deemed alive despite tremendous evidence to the contrary. Mom would love being associated with Elvis but would not have been wild about being categorized with Kurt and Jim. It seems almost comical, but I was really angry. My mother died without warning, and I miss her. If MBNA's collector is able to talk to her, I wish he would give me her number. The story of my mom and MBNA is an example why credit card companies need more regulation. I was named administrator of mom's estate after she supposedly died. I then received a letter from a company called Mann Bracken, saying MBNA had obtained an arbitration award against mom. No one in my family knew anything about a debt to MBNA or seen notice of an arbitration hearing. Mom was supposedly dead, so we could not ask her. I hired a lawyer to contact Mann Bracken to give us some verification of the alleged debt and arbitration award. Two months went by with no response. The attorney followed up again but Mann Bracken never got back to us. Instead of responding to my attorney, MBNA shifted the alleged debt to True Logic. The True Logic people didn't claim that MBNA actually had an arbitration award--only that they might get one. Taking MBNA and True Logic at their word, I'm curious as to what mom said to Mr. Lamb. I hope they have a tape recording. Mom was known to use salty language, and I'm sure Mr. Lamb would have heard some. I'm not as prone to foul language, but if MBNA calls me, I am going to make an exception. After True Logic sent the letter for MBNA, I once again hired an attorney, and once again he sent a letter denying the alleged debt. Once again, we have not had a response. If MBNA wants to sue, I am not sure if they will go after the estate or have mom declared "un-dead" since they are having conversations with her. I'm not sure how to proceed if mom orally agrees to a payment plan. A judge will have to figure all that out. The whole incident has made me wonder how often MBNA ignores the legal right of creditors to verify a debt. They have one collector send a letter, ignore the response and then have another collector try again. I suspect that collectors can sometimes convince an unsuspecting family or estate to pay money. The first letter from MBNA claiming that they had actually obtained an arbitration award sounded serious. It was enough for me to hire a lawyer. The only follow up I received from MBNA was the letter from Mr. Lamb saying he spoke to a woman who is legally dead. On the other hand, it could be that Lamb did talk to mom. One of her favorite movies was Ghost. Mom may not be able to communicate with me, but Lamb might be a real-life version of the psychic that Whoopi Goldberg portrayed in the movie. By talking to Lamb, Mom may be sending a signal that she wants MBNA put up or shut up. Mom is one you never wanted to mess with. Allegedly dead or allegedly alive. Don McNay, CLU, ChFC, MSFS, CSSC is the Founder of McNay Settlement Group in Richmond, Kentucky, where we work with clients who are currently living. Don is an award winning, syndicated, financial columnist and the author of Son of Son of A Gambler: Winners, Losers and What to Do When You Win the Lottery. Don is Treasurer for the National Society of Newspaper Columnists. More on Personal Finance
 
Wendy Diamond: Lucky Diamond and President Obama's Dog Naming Political Party Top
What's In A Dog's Name? The burning question on the minds of the entire world was answered last week when First Lady Michelle Obama announced that her family is looking to rescue a Portuguese water dog that is "old enough" and a "match" for the family dynamics, due to arrive and reside at the White House this April. According to Mrs. Obama, the only thing still up in the air is the presidential pooch's name. What's in a name anyway? What does a name really mean? Merriam Webster states that a name is: "a word or phrase that constitutes the distinctive designation of a person or thing". Well, since the "distinct designation" of this fortunate dog is going to be in the global spotlight, maybe the classic canine name "Spot" would work. Probably won't happen though since the former president Bush's English Springer Spaniel donned that name. The number one dog name nationally for many years in a row has been Lucky. Ten years ago when I named my little rescued Maltese Lucky, picking a popular name was not on my mind. I felt so lucky to have rescued the cutest little dog that to date has completely changed my life. Now Lucky Diamond certainly does not take credit for the popularity of her name, although her Today Show and CBS Greatest American dog primetime show (where she sat on the judges panel for hours, very well-behaved) appearances certainly makes a pet parent like me proud (and many pet parents very jealous). Everyone else should be so lucky to have such a charismatic and patient dog like I do. That Obama is being very bipartisan and politically correct in their choice of the First Dog will put the breeder and the rescue community both at ease - a purebred rescue. Smart move and that's why we love the Obama family living in the White House and why they reign popular across the nation with dog lovers. So let's take a step back into history with some of our favorite past presidents and look at the creative (and not so creative) names they bestowed on their pets. Remember our number one cherry pie loving president George Washington, he named his Foxhounds: Mopsey, Taster, Cloe, Tipler, Forester, Captain, Lady Rover, Vulcan (B.S. - Before Star Trek) Sweet Lips, and Searcher. Sure President Obama admires his former predecessor Abraham Lincoln, whose two dog's breeds are unknown, but Lincoln crowned one Jip, and the other helped to coin (not Penny, the one cent) the canine name favorite: Fido. Calvin Coolidge obviously had an imagination, huge heart and sense of humor, he named his 11 dogs: Peter Pan, a terrier; Paul Pry, an Airedale; Rob Roy, a white Collie; Clamity Jane, a Shetland Sheepdog; Tiny Tim (holiday spirit), and Blackberry, both Chow Chows; Ruby Rough, a Collie; Boston Beans (one can only imagine why), a Bulldog; King Kole (not Kong), breed unknown; Bessie, a Collie; and Palo Alto, a bird dog. And the list goes on and on, visit: www.dogtime.com/presidential-dog-names, for a more extensive list of presidential pooch monikers. In honor of the new soon-to-be adopted presidential purebred and the national wave of purebred adoptions sure to follow from coast to coast, I thought I would be kind enough to provide you with pointers (not the breed) on how to adopt a purebred. 1) A lot of people think they need to go to a breeder and spend lots of money if they want a certain breed, but that's not at all true! There are many wonderful rescue groups that cater to specific breeds, where you can adopt the purebred your heart is set on. Breed-specific rescue groups have the advantage of extensive knowledge and experience with their particular breed. They are a great source of information, especially if you're still searching, about their breed and of course about dogs in general. 2) You can start your search in the phone book or online - just look for "rescue + "name of breed." You can also call the Human Society - they're always willing to help! Whatever breed you're looking for, someone, somewhere has likely formed a rescue society. If you don't immediately find what you're looking for, a rescue for a similar breed can almost always point you in the right direction. Even if they don't have that particular breed, chances are they know who does. Start asking around! 3) When you do find a breed rescue group, get as much info as you can. How do they care for animals? How do they decide who to put up for adoption? How do they decide who can adopt? What is the process for the actual adoption? What services are available post-adoption? 4) Once you actually go meet an animal, find out as much as you can about its history. Where was it rescued from? Has it ever been mistreated? Are there behavioral or medical problems to consider? Has it been spayed or neutered? How is it with other animals? Kids and crowds? Talk to the people at the shelter about the breed and the specific dog, and make absolutely sure that this is the dog for you. 5) Be prepared with the necessary food and accessories, and medical history for your first vet visit. If you have small children, prepare them for interacting with the animal. Be ready to establish rules and schedules for your new family member as you all adjust. Take time to play and bond, and most of all have fun! Next time you are out with friends, around the water cooler at work, or dinner table at home, start a new conversation/debate on what the new presidential Portuguese water dog should be named and why. And I guarantee you'll certainly find out - what's in a dog's name? For more information on rescue pets visit: www.Petsmart.com, or if you want to see what some of your favorite celebrities or politicians top dog names are visit: www.animalfair.com. More on Today Show
 
Republican Rep. To Obama: Appoint Frist Special Envoy To Darfur Top
A Republican congressman urged the Obama administration Wednesday to not delay in appointing a special envoy for Sudan and floated the name of former Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist for the job. More on Darfur
 
The Morningside Post: Europe's Gas Opera Top
By: Christian Kim In Guiseppe Verdi's 1841 opera "Nabucco," the eponymous Babylonian king: destroys Jerusalem and takes the Jews captive; goes mad and regains sanity; then begs the God of the Hebrews for forgiveness and lets the Jews go. Apparently, someone named Europe's southern gas corridor project after this classic Italian masterpiece, perhaps in the hopes of inspiring a similarly liberating denouement for the EU's energy woes. But much like King Nabucco-who himself enslaved the Jews before granting them freedom-Europe's Russian gas shackles are a circumstance of its own making, and Nabucco will do little to change that. In 2007, the EU consumed approximately 505 billion cubic meters (bcm) of natural gas. The Nabucco pipeline's proposed maximum throughput of 31 bcm per year would supply the EU with only about 6% of its gas requirements. Given the relatively minor contribution Nabucco would make to total gas supply and its estimated €8 billion price tag, the EU knows it would be paying a hefty premium to build a pipeline circumventing Russian soil. But if Nabucco's cost were the only issue, the European Commission would have allocated a lot more than the measly €250 million of the €3.5 billion Euro energy investment proposal it unveiled on January 28. The more serious concern is where Nabucco's gas will come from. The U.S. State Department keeps insisting Western-friendly Azerbaijan will fill Nabucco's pipes. That would be nice but for the fact that Azerbaijan produced only 23 bcm in 2008, and its proven gas reserves of a CIA-estimated 850 bcm are not significant enough to make Baku a major gas player. The truth is, gas must come from either or both of two major sources: Iran, which boasts 27.8 trillion cubic meters (tcm) of proven reserves (15.7% of global supply, second-largest after Russia); or Turkmenistan, whose South Yolotan-Osman fields were independently appraised by a Western firm to have anywhere from 4 tcm to 14 tcm of gas (with a best estimate of 6 tcm) and represent the crown jewels of Central Asian gas. For now, Iran is an unpalatable option as long as its nuclear program remains under UN scrutiny. And Turkmen gas would have to be delivered by an underwater, trans-Caspian pipeline, which is infeasible because of the Caspian Sea's unresolved maritime boundaries--a body of water patrolled mostly by the Russian Navy. "Whither Nabucco" is not the issue. The proposed pipeline is not a gas panacea for the EU; it is too costly, too insignificant and too riddled by a host of logistical problems. And the numbers say Russian gas is not the issue either. Pierre Noel of the European Council on Foreign Relations points out that only 6.5% of Europe's total energy requirements come from Russian gas, a figure that has not changed for the last 20 years. In addition, Russia's share of EU gas imports has been halved, from 80% in 1980 to 40% today, due to increased LNG imports from Africa and the Middle East. Of the current Russian gas imports, 86% is consumed by the original 15 EU members (47% by Germany and Italy alone), and that amount only accounts for 20% of EU15 primary gas supply. In essence, when we talk about EU dependence on Russian gas, we are really talking about Eastern European dependence. Several opinion pieces and reports have already laid out the EU game plan for neutralizing Russia's use of energy as a political weapon: create a common EU gas market, energy policy and pipe infrastructure in order to de-politicize Russian gas; and diversify energy supply. The second suggestion is too obvious to comment on, but formulating a uniform EU gas strategy has thus far been hindered by countries such as Germany, France and Italy, who have deeply vested interests in maintaining bilateral relations with Moscow (see Total's deal with Gazprom to develop the offshore Shtokman field; Gerhard Schroeder and Nordstream; et al). Russia has been able to divide Europe for its own ends because Europe has allowed it to. No matter what Washington may think, the Russian gas dilemma is mostly the EU's to face alone. Because gas is not as fungible as oil, the pipeline networks inextricably tie Europe and Russia together--for better or worse. Thus, dealing with Russia and formulating an effective energy policy represents the first real security issue that the EU has faced without its transatlantic partner. Although in theory all EU member states are equal, some members are more equal than others. If Paris and Berlin cannot lay down their individual interests for the greater good of Europe, the EU will continue to be vulnerable to Russian power plays. It's not as if Brussels is without levers of its own. Russian gas production peaked in 2005, and it cannot develop the massive Yamal reserves without Western technology, which Gazprom needs to fulfill supply obligations in the future. And no matter what Moscow says about building pipelines to China, the EU is Russia's most important and lucrative market. Not whither Nabucco...but rather whither Europe. More on Europe
 
Rondi Charleston: Dream Big Dreams -- a Song for the Ages Top
When I first met Obama two years ago at his very first fundraiser in New York, I asked him to inscribe a copy of his book for my 10-year-old daughter. He wrote in bold letters: "TO EMMA -- DREAM BIG DREAMS -- BARACK." I sensed then that he was someone special -- someone we both could believe in. On election eve, after his electrifying speech in Grant Park, the lyrics for Song For the Ages came pouring out of me. I wanted it to be an anthem that would both reflect our history and also project our hope for the future. The reference to Abraham Lincoln and the lyric "a time for dreams of better things to come," with the Bush era finally behind us, were all carefully chosen to mirror the mood of the moment. I wanted to capture the energy of that night because part of me knew that it would not last. The hard cold confrontation with reality would engulf us all soon enough, as it has. Layoffs, bailouts, a shrinking global economy, wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, a troubled Middle East and social security and healthcare systems in crisis are evidence enough. As we are now in the thick of it, we need all the help we can get to sustain this hope which Obama initiated. Music is one of the most powerful social tools we have for collective change. As noted eloquently in the latest book I'm reading, Oliver Sacks' "Musicophilia," music can move us to the heights of emotion and can persuade us to take action. It can lift us out of depression when nothing else can. It even occupies more areas of our brain than language does. We are a musical species! Just think of the role that music played during the Civil Rights Movement. Songs like "We Shall Overcome," "Amazing Grace" and "The Times They Are A-Changin'" became anthems which called people to action. Music seeps into the cells and pores of our beings, energizes us as a nation and motivates us to go out and create change. Can you imagine how different the outcome of the marches on Washington, Selma (AL) and the myriad of Vietnam War protests might have been without music? While no one yet knows what impact the Obama presidency will have on the world, it is so important that we put our bodies, minds and spirits to work to help make this administration a success. If Song for the Ages plays even a small role in helping to inspire people to take action, to do what they can as individuals, I will be humbled and immensely grateful to have had this opportunity to contribute to the energy of this extraordinary moment in this historic time. Rondi Charleston was born and raised in Hyde Park, Chicago. She is a singer/songwriter, as well as a former producer, and Emmy and Peabody Award-winning journalist for ABC News' "PrimeTime Live." Song For the Ages is currently climbing the Adult Contemporary and Hot AC charts. Her new album, "In My Life," will be released April 7th. She lives in Westport, Connecticut and NYC with her husband and daughter. You can listen to a snippet of the song here .
 
Mike Lux: From Lincoln to Limbaugh: Oh How The Republican Party Has Fallen Top
Did you catch the newly crowned leader of the Republican Party's "first address to the nation" Friday night? I am truly embarrassed for my Republican friends as to how far the party of Lincoln and Teddy Roosevelt has fallen. As I discuss in my book, The Progressive Revolution: How the Best in America Came to Be , the Republican Party began as the party of radical reform. In the Big Change Moment of the 1860s, they abolished slavery, passed the three most far reaching progressive constitutional amendments in history outside of the Bill of Rights, made sure the freedoms of the Bill of Rights would be enforced in the states, gave away millions of acres of free land to poor people, started the land grant university system, and passed the nation's first progressive income tax. Although they increasingly became the party of big business in the years afterwards, Teddy Roosevelt brought them back some of their glory by breaking up big corporate trusts, establishing a national parks system, instituting food safety measures for the first time, and establishing other reforms of the progressive era. Sadly for the country and their party, though, Republicans have become more and more conservative in the years since. Not a single Republican House member supported Social Security, the minimum wage, or most of the other major reforms of the New Deal. Only a few remaining Northern moderates supported civil rights legislation in the 1960s, and most of those were driven out of the party when Goldwaterites and southern segregationists took over the leadership of the Republican Party in that decade. Now they have sunk to a new low, as Rush Limbaugh has become their virtually undisputed leader. Did you see the adoring reception at the Conservative Political Action Committee Convention? The way attendees listened in rapture to every word of his 80 minute speech? The reception for Limbaugh far, far exceeded GOP presidential frontrunner Mitt Romney or that of Senate Minority Leader McConnell. As I discuss in The Progressive Revolution, Limbaugh's ugly, mocking, racist and sexist rhetoric is eerily similar to the worst right wing demagogues in American history, people who opposed ending slavery and Jim Crow, denying women the right to vote, and attacking immigrants who were not of European descent. Yet no matter how ugly or outrageous his remarks, Republicans rarely do anything to distance themselves from him, and one GOP congressman who did last year was forced to quickly apologize and beg for forgiveness. Now RNC chair Michael Steele made a half-hearted attempt to stand up to him, but he too almost immediately backed down. No matter what Limbaugh says or does, no Republican dares stand up to him because he controls their party. Now Limbaugh has made himself crystal clear: even in the midst of the terrible economic crisis we are in, he wants the president to fail. No Republican member of Congress has condemned those remarks. That's why groups are joining together to take action and to congratulate Rush on ascending to the Republican Party's heights - by dragging it down to his level. Limbaugh says he hopes President Obama's economic plan fails, and Republican leaders have rushed to agree. Never mind that the fate of our economy - and Americans who are suffering because of its decline - are at stake. And that siding with Rush means rooting against recovery. The most telling thing about Limbaugh's speech is how badly he mangled the words of the Constitution. His quote was classic: We [conservatives] love and revere our founding documents, the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence. We believe that the preamble to the Constitution contains an inarguable truth that we are all endowed by our creator with certain inalienable rights, among them life, liberty, freedom, and the Pursuit of happiness. Those of you watching at home may wonder why this is being applauded. We Conservatives think all three are under assault. Yeah, you revere those documents so much you don't know which sentence is in what document. And you don't know that equality was at the cornerstone of Jefferson's Declaration. I guess that's not a surprise: conservatives throughout history have always wanted to ignore that inconvenient idea in the Declaration that was at the heart of the American idea. Right now, it's good to be Rush. Let's let him know we're happy for him by sending a congratulations card from Americans United for Change by clicking here . More on CPAC
 
Limbaugh Challenges Obama To A Debate Top
To loosely quote the puppet Lamb Chop, 'This is the media story that never ends... it goes on and on my friend'. And Rush Limbaugh is doing a great job of extending it and ensnaring everyone on network television, including the White House press office. We're guilty too, since I'm about to post Rush's latest challenge to the President. This time he doesn't want the President to fail, but he does want to debate him. He even made up an invite for the Commander-in-Chief. Read an excerpt from Rush's radio transcript below : But I have an idea. If these guys are so impressed with themselves, and if they are so sure of their correctness, why doesn't President Obama come on my show? We will do a one-on-one debate of ideas and policies. Now, his people in this Politico story, it's on the record. They're claiming they wanted me all along. They wanted me to be the focus of attention. So let's have the debate! I am offering President Obama to come on this program -- without staffers, without a teleprompter, without note cards -- to debate me on the issues. Let's talk about free markets versus government control. Let's talk about nationalizing health care and raising taxes on small business. Let's talk about the New Deal versus Reaganomics. Let's talk about closing Guantanamo Bay, and let's talk about sending $900 million to Hamas. Let's talk about illegal immigration and the lawlessness on the borders. Let's talk about massive deficits and the destroying of opportunities of future generations. Let's talk about ACORN, community agitators, and the unions that represent the government employees which pour millions of dollars into your campaign, President Obama. Let's talk about your elimination of school choice for minority students in the District of Columbia. Let's talk about your efforts to further reduce domestic drilling and refining of oil. Let's talk about your stock market. By the way, Mr. President, I want to help. Yesterday you said you looked at the stock market as no different than a tracking poll that goes up and down. More on Barack Obama
 
Thomas Frank: Conservatives and Their Pity Parties Top
Just as the financial crisis has created toxic assets and "zombie" financial institutions, so has it transformed conservatism into a movement of the living dead. Its partisans cling to a now-toxic portfolio of discredited notions, rhetoric, gestures and strategies. They lumber comically on, their only goal being to obstruct efforts to save the economy from catastrophe. These days the zombie right is rallying around CNBC commentator Rick Santelli, who won fame last month when he railed against a rescue of the economy's "losers." Mr. Santelli claimed he was backed in his outrage by "the silent majority" -- meaning a floor full of traders at the Chicago Board of Trade -- and he called for a "Chicago tea party" to protest the administration's mortgage plan. Next thing you knew, there were "tea parties" all over the land. When I showed up for one last Friday in Washington's Lafayette Park, however, my suspicions were immediately raised. A fellow in an expensive-looking pinstriped suit came hustling into the gathering knot of the discontented, handing out pink pig balloons. This had to be a put-on, I thought, one of the "Billionaires for Bush" pranksters in his capitalist costume, preparing to lead us in a chant of "Four More Wars." But no, this was for real: the pigs symbolized "pork," the stuff of which President Barack Obama's stimulus package was supposedly made. Suits were common among the protesters. And the slogans on the signs made their undead politics impossible to misinterpret: "Liberalism Socialism Communism," read a typical one, "What's the Difference?" Lending proletarian authenticity to the proceedings was the famous Joe the Plumber, who took up the bullhorn to deliver a dose of working-class cynicism that would have been convincing in, say, 1978. "Our politicians up on the hill, Republicans or Democrats, don't give a rip about you, and that's the bottom line right there," Joe Wurzelbacher declared. Banks are insolvent, asset prices are falling, GDP has taken a nose dive, but what exercised this bunch was the possibility that government -- understood as a force of pure evil -- might get too big. "America wants people who are gonna come to D.C. and say no," exhorted Andrew Langer of the Institute for Liberty. "No more taxes! No more spending! No more expansion of government!" Another speaker insisted that deregulation was not at fault for our troubles, and that the free market had never really been tried. As the event wore on, the speakers began to repeat, zombie-like, some version of the famous line from "Network," the 1976 movie, "I'm as mad as hell and I'm not going to take this anymore." I got out of there quick. This was no place to find the changed, chastened conservatism that all the pundits are looking for. But at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), which was going on in the swank Omni Shoreham hotel on that same day, what I found was merely a smoother version of the same grumbling. Capitalist self-pity was much in vogue. Former presidential candidate Mitt Romney, looking tanned and groomed and yet strangely mechanical, joked that he needed to get through his speech "before federal officials come here to arrest me for practicing capitalism." Jim Gilmore, a former governor of Virginia, moaned that the "philosophy" one encountered in the land these days was that "people who succeed and have wealth are bad people, and they're entitled to be discriminated against in the tax code." Perhaps this was because the current economic crisis was being "overblown," as claimed Lew Uhler, who heads the National Tax Limitation Committee. The administration was trying "to create as much trouble for all of us as possible, and we're here to create trouble back, back, back!" A little while later, Mr. Uhler lapsed into the same confused zombie cry as the tea partiers across town: "We're not going to stand around and take it anymore! We're mad as hell and we're not taking it!" They're not going to take it anymore? I guess it's supposed to be obvious that conservatives are history's real victims -- that their imagined suffering at the hands of that Big Deficit to Come trumps the global systemic economic crisis and all the upheaval it may unleash. Or is it that the mind of the right is running on some spooky kind of autopilot? "Silent majority," "Mad as hell": These are the sayings of the 1970s. Remembering them brings back all the false populisms to flicker across the screen since then, all the stale illusions that brought us to our present disaster -- all the fake cowboys, the folksy radio talkers, the regular-guy billionaires, the middle American tax rebels, the salt-of-the-earth bankers. There is much to dislike about President Obama's approach to the financial crisis. But opposition, it seems, will have to come from somewhere other than conservatism. The party out of power is also a party out of touch. Thomas Frank's column, The Tilting Yard, appears every Wednesday at OpinionJournal.com Also in Opinion Journal : Evan Bayh: Deficits and Fiscal Credibility Robert J. Barro: What Are the Odds of a Depression? More on Barack Obama
 
Recycled Toilet Paper Passes The Fox News Blind Test (VIDEO) Top
Can you tell the difference in feel between recycled toilet paper and virgin forest toilet paper? Fox News can't, but forests can. America's Newsroom made fun of the tissue issue -- and let's be honest, it's easy to -- but they got to some of the finer points, too, thanks in large part to their guest from Greenpeace. WATCH: More on Video
 
Rush Challenges Obama To Debate Top
Conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh challenged President Barack Obama to a debate Wednesday in response to the White House's reported strategy of turning him into the face of the Republican Party. More on Barack Obama
 
Tom Gerety: Behind the Ambush on the Sri Lankan Cricket Team Top
Even those of us who don't follow cricket shouldn't miss the continuing coverage of the attack on the Sri Lankan team visiting Lahore, Pakistan, for an international match. The attack may well prove to be one of the pivotal moves in the complex chessgame of South Asian politics. Despite the usual welter of conspiracy theories, it's a good bet that over time popular revulsion against the attack will be massive, especially in military circles. No foreign team will visit Pakistan again anytime soon, and India, Australia and Europe are already boycotting Pakistani matches. This attack will brings with it a kind of famine in entertainment all across Pakistan. And it will not lift soon. Will that reaction lead to a coup? I can't know but I do expect -- at last -- a real crackdown on the loose alliance of the people who killed Benazir Bhutto, who attacked Mumbai, and, not least, who have cheered the re-Talibanization of the frontier provinces in both Pakistan and Afghanistan. The present government's compromise in Swat now looks even more feckless and desperate than it did a week ago. We have seen in Sunni sections of Iraq how an excess of bloodshed by terrorists can lead to revulsion. The terrorist fever can burn itself out, much like the fevers in Dickens novels. Afghanistan, with its enormous rural/urban divide, does not seem to be at that point. Pakistan, on the other hand, has huge, vibrant cities that have drawn rural populations from as far away as the frontier provinces (and even Afghanistan.) And everywhere, perhaps even in the secret gatherings of the Taliban, Pakistani men are drawn to cricket and its unabashed nationalism. But it takes two nations and more to field nationalistic sporting rivalries, with the agonies of defeat and the joys or hopes of victory; and it's no fun if there are no home games! It may seem sad that it takes an attack on a sports team -- as opposed to, say, a girls school -- to turn Pakistani nationalist opinion against terror. Yet there's real cause for hope in the sad news from Lahore. More on Afghanistan
 
Beth Arnold: Letter From Paris: Heads Up, China Top
So it looks like Pierre Bergé will get to keep his stunning Chinese bronze fountainheads after all. I refer to the rat and rabbit heads that turned into the show stealers of Bergé's and Yves Saint Laurent's breathtaking collection of art, furniture, and objects that Christie's auctioned off in Paris last week. Ironically, it was the fact that the heads were "stolen" that caused the Chinese government and nationals to protest that the pieces should be returned to China free of charge. Nobody disputes the fact that they were looted from the summer palace outside Beijing in 1860, but that was then and this is now. A century and a half has passed, and the heads have been bought and sold several times. The general rule of thumb is that after 100 years these kinds of claims are irrelevant in international courts, and a Paris administrative court ruled against a Chinese cultural defense group that tried to stop the sale--and ordered the group to pay €1000 to both Christie's and Pierre Bergé. Chinese nationals pitched a fit . "Auctioning cultural objects looted in war time not only offends the Chinese people and undermines their cultural rights but also violates relevant international conventions," Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said. Questioned over the row, Berge said he and Saint Laurent had acquired the bronze heads legally through an established Paris antique dealer. "These Chinese bronzes were looted 150 years ago in China in the same way as were the Parthenon frescoes in Athens that are now in the British Museum, along with many other looted pieces in museums worldwide," Berge said. Of course, the Chinese government would love to reacquire these exquisite works of art--which, by the way, were designed by a European Jesuit--and even if that's where they should eventually go, both Bergé and Christie's have a point. If the Vatican's treasures were returned, the halls would look like Rome had never been Rome, and all those popes had been minimalists. Yeah, right. The thing is, the Chinese could have had their heads if they'd only kept their heads. In fact, the Chinese did have the bronzes until the winning bidder--auction house owner Cai Mingchao--defiantly announced he wasn't paying. My mother would've said, "Cut off your nose to spite your face." Or in this case, don't pay what you bid and lose the art you hotly wanted back because it's a national treasure. So, Mr. Minchao, what have you actually accomplished? Bergé has said that he will write a letter and Minchao will have up to a month to respond. If he won't pay, M. Bergé is still the legal owner. Nothing new about that. I watched the auction from start to finish, covering it for Vogue on Style.com-- Day One , Day Two , and Day Three . This has been a year of Saint Laurent, a sad one at that. Pierre Bergé has said that when YSL died last summer, it was the end of the story. He wanted to sell the collection they'd lovingly put together. So the French have watched the end of the YSL era. In June, they lined up shoulder to shoulder--men and women of all ages--along the rue St. Honoré to pay their respects outside his funeral at the church of St. Roch, just as they later waited for hours in drizzling rain to see his and Pierre Bergé's amazing collection being shown in the Grand Palais. No doubt, you'll have read the headlines about these three pricey Parisian days (that is, for the bidders): The "Sale of the Century," the "World Record for the Most Valuable Private Collection Sold at Auction," and "Highest Total for Any Auction in Europe." Don't forget about the "World Record for A Collection of 20th Century Decorative Arts" and the "World Record for Most Expensive Work of 20th century Decorative Art at Auction" for Irish designer Eileen Gray's divine 'Dragons' armchair, which sold for €21.9 million (or $28, 300,000). Not to mention world record prices being clocked for such artists as Henri Matisse, Constantin Brancusi, Piet Mondrian, Giorgio de Chirico, Marcel Duchamp, Paul Klee, and James Ensor. Some sales were preempted by the Musée d'Orsay, Centre Pompidou, the Louvre, and the lovely French National Museum of the Renaissance, Château d'Écouen (if you haven't been there, it's a sweet day trip from Paris that's easily done by train). Whether Bergé envisioned his collection in a museum or not--and he didn't--these were all pieces that went to their good and right homes. I was surprised a few others weren't preempted as well. They should have been. Bergé gave his voluptuous Goya to the Louvre and the sumptuous Burne-Jones tapestry was presented to the d'Orsay. This builder of the YSL brand and Yves Saint Laurent's life partner said that if he'd had the money to build his own museum for Saint Laurent's genius oeuvre and their collection of art, furniture, and objects, he would have. This could seem narcissistic, but I see it. I can imagine the creative ebullience of walking through it. I saw the Saint Laurent exhibition at San Francisco's De Young Museum in December. It was a beautiful and vital representation of his work--and high art for me. When the Chinese demanded the return of the imperial bronze fountainheads, Bergé said that if they recognized human rights, gave liberty to the Tibetan people, and welcomed the Dalai Lama he would give it to them. "It's definitely a maneuver targeting the positions I have taken vis-a-vis human rights in China and Tibet," Berge told The Associated Press by telephone from Marrakech, Morocco. As I said in Vogue , China could have seen Bergé's offer as an opportunity. They could have changed world opinion in an instant of largess. I'm not being a Pollyanna here, but just imagine if the Chinese government and people had heard Bergé's words in a different way. What I wrote is this: Pierre Bergé and China might have shared the Nobel Peace Prize. Just imagine. Beth Arnold lives and writes in Paris. To see more of her work, go to www.betharnold.com. More on China
 
Karl Frisch: With Talent on Loan from Rush Top
In 1994 when Republicans regained power in the House of Representatives after 40 years of Democratic control, the freshly minted majority knew just who to thank: radio host Rush Limbaugh. With great fanfare they bestowed upon their spokesman the unique title of honorary member of Congress . Fifteen years later, with Republicans on the ropes following major losses in back-to-back elections, Congressman Limbaugh remains the conservative movement's de facto leader, and he's wasted little time embarking on a mission to take President Obama down and bring the right back to life. The day before closing the annual Conservative Political Action Conference last weekend in Washington, D.C., with a barn-burning call for obstinance and obstruction , Limbaugh told his radio audience -- "ditto heads" as they refer to themselves -- "the dirty little secret ... is that every Republican in this country wants Obama to fail, but none of them have the guts to say so; I am willing to say it." It wasn't the first time Limbaugh had declared his hope that the president would fail. Just days before Obama's inauguration, the conservative talker ignited controversy when he matter-of-factly said of the soon-to-be-president, " I hope he fails ." The "ditto heads" in Congress were listening. Marching in lockstep with Limbaugh, not a single House Republican voted in favor of the president's economic recovery and reinvestment plan despite numerous overtures from a White House avowedly committed to the search for common ground. Congressional Republicans went all in, betting on Obama's failure. To be fair, not all conservatives have been happy with Limbaugh's line of attack. Some have even spoken out noting their displeasure. Congressman Phil Gingrey, a Georgia Republican, reportedly said , "I mean, it's easy if you're ... Rush Limbaugh ... to stand back and throw bricks. You don't have to try to do what's best for your people and your party." Hold your applause. It took less than one day for Gingrey to reverse course. Appearing the next day with his tail between his legs on Limbaugh's radio program, Gingrey apologized , saying, "I want to express to you and all your listeners my very sincere regret for those comments I made yesterday. ... I clearly ended up putting my foot in my mouth on some of those comments." Not to be outdone, the other night on CNN's D.L. Hughley Breaks the News , Michael Steele, the new Republican National Committee chairman, offered his own unpleasant assessment of Limbaugh , telling Hughley, "Rush Limbaugh is an entertainer. Rush Limbaugh, his whole thing is entertainment. Yes, it's incendiary. Yes, it's ugly." Perhaps the ugliness to which Steele referred was Limbaugh saying of Obama, "We are being told ... that we have to bend over, grab the ankles ... because his father was black." Or maybe it was after Obama's historic Democratic Party presidential nomination when Limbaugh said it "goes back to the fact that nobody had the guts to stand up and say no to a black guy." It could have been back in the 1990s, when Limbaugh reportedly played "Movin' On Up" -- the theme song from TV's The Jeffersons -- while discussing Sen. Carol Moseley Braun, the only African-American woman ever elected to the U.S. Senate. It shouldn't have been surprising that Steele, the first African-American chairman of the Republican Party, would seemingly harbor such ill will toward Limbaugh. True to form, however, the very next day Steele appeared on bended knee ready to kiss Limbaugh's ring , telling Politico , "I have enormous respect for Rush Limbaugh. ... I was maybe a little bit inarticulate. ... There was no attempt on my part to diminish his voice or his leadership." Several recent polls have showed Obama substantially more popular than congressional Republicans. Who on Earth would want to "diminish" Limbaugh's influence when it's paying such tremendous dividends for the right? I kid, but seriously, it's beginning to look like conservatives are hopelessly addicted to Limbaugh. At a briefing this week, White House press secretary Robert Gibbs advised those in attendance to "ask individual Republicans whether they agree with what Rush Limbaugh said. Do they want the president's economic agenda to fail?" Should the press choose to take Gibbs' advice, it would behoove them to take note not only of what conservatives say, but what they do as well. After all, if they stand up against Limbaugh it will only be a matter of time before they end up groveling for forgiveness. Limbaugh often proclaims that he's broadcasting "with talent on loan from God." It seems more and more that conservatives are attempting to find their way out of the political wilderness with talent on loan from Rush. Karl Frisch is a senior fellow at Media Matters for America , a progressive media watchdog, research, and information center in Washington, D.C. Frisch also contributes to County Fair , a media blog featuring links to progressive media criticism from around the web as well as original commentary. You can follow him on Twitter and Facebook or sign-up to receive his columns by email. This column also appeared in the Orlando Sentinel . More on Barack Obama
 
Youth Radio -- Youth Media International: Vegetative State of the Black Union Top
Originally published on Youthradio.org , the premier source for youth generated news throughout the globe. By: King Anyi Howell This past weekend, Tavis Smiley's tenth annual "State of the Black Union" was held at the Los Angeles Convention Center. While the main televised panel featured some of the most prominent minds and perspectives in Black America, it also featured a forward from President Barack Obama, who acknowledged, "Tough times for Americans often mean tougher times for African-Americans." I was impressed with the discussion that took place, what I heard, and saw. But it was what I didn't see that concerned me. There was little representation of new and diverse black leadership. In these times, it would have been nice to see a brother FROM Wall St., someone from the LGBT community, and even someone from the Hip-Hop community. I believe that we, as a people, are not so much divided as we are disconnected, and the absence of certain elements in the debate did more to keep us in a "Vegetative State of Unity." Two attempts at bringing new perspectives to the table were made. One win and one fail: Fail!: Van Jones, Founder and President of Green For All, attempted to shake the stigma within the black community that green issues were Caucasian issues by explaining how Africans were the original environmental activists, speaking out of against the comodification of our planet's resources, and how "green jobs," a large part of Obama's stimulus, could rebuild the black community, shook by unemployment. All that was great, until he began to call out the names of "Pookie," "Shenaenae," and others unnecessarily to further his point in the POOREST of taste (I'll spare you the video). boo! Success!: Erica L. Williams, Director of Policy and Advocacy at Campus Progress, who mentioned her offense that people assume that she voted for Obama because she is a young black person, without checking his stances and researching before voting. Write your congressperson and two Senators about Economic Stimulus allocation of funds, and mandatory cocaine sentencing reform! I interviewed GOP chairman, Michael Steele, who had this to say: Among my favorite quotes from the "State of the Black Union" panel: Danny Bakewell, Sr: "We shouldn't raise Obama to a sanctified position, we elected a leader, not a savior." Rev. Al Sharpton: "We don't have Dem or Rep in our DNA, we support those parties that support us." Dr. Cornel West: "For us the condition of truth is to let the suffering voices emerge." Dr. Julianne Malveaux: "Why did we ever have affirmative action?- because there was exclusion." "If you can finance a car for 0% interest, why no a college education." "Couldn't Bank of America shave off $1 billion To save the food stamp program [which is almost bankrupt]." Randal Robinson: "When you watch American news You get controlled news, when you watch outside news, you learn what we aren't doing." "I played basketball in college; I ran up and down a court and thought it was important." "We cant go around the world overthrowing democracies we don't like, just because they don't like us." Youth Radio/Youth Media International (YMI) is a youth-driven converged media production company that delivers the best youth news, culture and undiscovered talent to a cross section of audiences. To read more youth news from around the globe and explore high quality audio and video features, visit Youthradio.org More on Barack Obama
 
Obamas To Host Congressional Leaders For Dinner Wednesday Night Top
WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama's charm tour is continuing, this time aimed at the heads of congressional committees set to visit the White House for dinner. Officials say the president, first lady Michelle Obama and Senate and House committee chairmen will dine Wednesday night in the East Room. It's part of the Obama White House's new routine of inviting guests for casual chats on Wednesday nights. The Obamas have hosted cocktail parties for political leaders, a concert for singer Stevie Wonder and a Super Bowl party for members of Congress. The new first family wants to use the White House as an asset to persuade lawmakers to support the administration's agenda. Vice President Joe Biden also plans to attend Wednesday's dinner.
 
Fortune 's Stanley Bing: This Just In! New Survey Finds Surveys Superfluous! Top
According to a new survey conducted in late January by Charles Schwab, 85% of all independent advisors believe that the recession will be over in a couple of years. Two or so, they think. Perhaps a little more. Or less. Some believe that it will be over by the end of this year, but not many. Others think it's going to be bad until late 2011, although they are in the minority, or they were in late January. Most think it's going to be two years. Or thereabouts. Which is probably what they're saying when they're advising people who presumably listen to them. Who are these people? That's what I'd like to know. Because according to my personal survey, conducted with the inside of my brain pan six seconds ago, 97.2 percent of non-stupid people have stopped listening to anybody's advice, particularly that of those who offer any. 72.3% of all respondents have stopped believing that the Market is driven by any metrics at all. 82% of those have come to the conclusion that a bunch of scared lunatics have taken control of the machinery of capitalism and that there's no sense to what these losers may do on any given day. Interestingly, 83.4% of all intelligent people have decided that numbers themselves are weird little creatures that are about as meaningful as a plate of chocolate pudding and just as solid. Of those, 71.3% figure there is no way that anybody knows anything in a world where Warren Buffett had the worst year of his career. And speaking personally? 100% of me wants to slap somebody when they offer a view on what other people should be doing with their money. I know what I'm going to do with mine right now. I'm going to have a turkey sandwich. After that, I'm not making any predictions for the rest of the day, other than declaring that there's a 100% likelihood that I'm going to be ignoring any putative punditry until 2012. Perhaps a little sooner. Or later. More on The Recession
 
Holly Madison To Join "Dancing With The Stars" Top
Holly Madison is joining the cast of Dancing With the Stars, a source tells Usmagazine.com. There is speculation the Girls Next Door star could be replacing Jewel, who has been struggling with knee problems, and blogged last week that tendinitis could force her to drop out. More on Playboy
 
Thomas Friedman's Five Worst Predictions: Vanity Fair Top
In this morning's New York Times, columnist Thomas Friedman makes a grave prediction regarding Obama and the ongoing financial crisis: "I fear that his whole first term could be eaten by Citigroup, A.I.G., Bank of America, Merrill Lynch, and the whole housing/subprime credit bubble we inflated these past 20 years." Friedman is a three-time Pulitzer Prize winner, a staple of The New York Times, and a bestselling author, and thus this prediction should be taken very seriously--in some alternate universe where the news media is a meritocracy and Thomas Friedman is a competent observer of the world and its workings. The rest of us can probably relax. Let's review. More on Thomas Friedman
 
Victoria Namkung: Green is the New Black Top
Thanks to the Green Movement, there are now eco-friendly fashion options on the market, from chic vegan shoe lines to silky and sustainable bamboo knits. But one of the easiest (and often economical) ways to go green is by simply buying vintage. "Green is the new black and vintage is the original green," says Decades owner Cameron Silver. "Hollywood helped propel vintage as a viable fashion option, and helped to demystify 'used clothing' and remove any stigma associated with it." Early fans such as Winona Ryder and Demi Moore, who debuted vintage on the red carpet, may not have chosen vintage for its green attributes, but they certainly helped to break the door wide open in fashion. "Every time I buy something vintage I feel like I'm recycling," reports Taylor De Cordoba gallery co-owner Heather Taylor, who counts an Yves Saint Laurent shirtdress and Zandra Rhodes chiffon headband in her collection. "Opting to buy a pre-existing garment directly lowers my carbon footprint." Buying vintage to mix with modern pieces can be the most creative choice around when it comes to fashion. And you'll never have to worry about going to a party and seeing a woman wearing the same dress as you ever again. Just look at style icons like Dita Von Teese, Kate Moss and Chloe Sevigny, who have all used vintage to sartorially separate themselves from the masses. "We all know that stuff comes back in style eventually so why spend good money on cheap knock offs that were probably made thousands of miles away," asks Delilah Snell, proprietor of the eco shop The Road Less Traveled . "Now it's not 'food miles,' but 'fashion miles.'" Consider for a moment the energy required to grow cotton, use pesticides, harvest, transport to the mills, ship to the designer, do the cutting and sewing and then ship to a store. It's exhausting just thinking about it. Buying vintage is practically guilt-free shopping. What more could you ask for in this economy? The Way We Wore owner and vintage encyclopedia Doris Raymond adds, "Recycling anything is about as green as you can get and the hippie movement started the popularity of wearing vintage clothing in the mid-1960s." Her Los Angeles shop stocks casual to high-end vintage clothing, accessories and jewelry. And gents-in-the-making can channel their inner Donald Draper at nearby Jake Vintage, where owner Jonathan Kanarek has assembled a collection of suits, trousers and sport coats from the 1940s through the early 1960s. For those who don't wear recycled clothing or haven't set foot in a vintage shop in their lives, it can be intimidating. Here are some tips for incorporating vintage into your life, whether it's to help save the planet or to simply look a little edgier: Start Small: Vintage neophytes should start with accessories such as purses and costume jewelry. "It's always best to wear one statement piece that fits well and really fits your personality as well," notes Raymond. "Avoid wearing vintage head-to-toe because that is very difficult to carry off." Look in Your Parents or Grandparents Closets: "I still have my dad's army jacket from the Korean War," says Snell, who pairs it with jeans or cute heels and a black dress. "Clothing from the past often lasts forever. Do you remember a garment from Forever 21 lasting more than a second wash?" Don't Buy Just Anything : Vintage is a great way to be fashionable and environmentally conscious, but Raymond warns to focus on the classics and beware of trendy styles. Higher end vintage stores will have done the editing for you.
 
Phil Bronstein: Is there a posse big enough to enforce Sheriff Obama's will? Top
Oh Yeah? You and what army? The silver lining news is filled these days with stories about a few professions that are actually hiring (the military, repo men/women ). "Where to find a paycheck," was a segment this morning on CNN. But there's one kind of employment our new President has absolutely ensured will be expanding: enforcers. Don't dust off your Green Hornet costume. These new avenging angels will have slide rules, calculators, definitely financial and maybe legal backgrounds, and several pairs of reading glasses. Mr. Obama has sworn to eliminate waste and fraud , both in government and in the private sector. He has pledged to impose "fiscal responsibility." That means going after everyone who's fiscally -- never mind criminally -- irresponsible. Presidential advisor David Axelrod has promised they'll monitor the effectiveness of government programs. It's a great idea but this is not San Francisco Keystone Kop crime corner cameras , where the light's on but no one's watching. This Obama pledge requires a hell of a lot of policing. So far, we've just seen the top of the tip of the toxic iceberg of bad actors and their shenanigans. Call me cynical, but the last decade or two has proven what cultural observers have always known: human nature is like the shopping cart with the weird wheel. Given the chance, some substantial number of people will veer off the moral track and do the wrong thing, no matter what. President Obama has essentially called for a new moral order. Just ask the deposed Focus On The Family's James Dobson, or Elie Weisel, who's felt the lash of evil on both ends of his life, how hard it is to enforce morality in this country. And with the economic panic going on here and around the world, getting a vice grip on our calamity and its perpetrators really is an issue of national security. Until now, places that were supposed to enforce the rules, like the SEC, have not. Or maybe that early Bernie Madoff alarm bell just got lost in the mail. No wonder Mr. Madoff looks so calm and serene in photos these days. He and the other marauders are just not used to being held truly accountable. We'll need many thousands of Eliot Spitzers (not the D.C. hotel room part ) to clean things up, with zeal and proper righteousness and some serious tools, maybe up to and including the death penalty. In the "putting-your-money-where-your-mouth-is" category, Mr. Obama actually injected a big bunch of dough into the budget for more enforcement at the EPA, the FDA, HUD, the Department of Commerce, OSHA and even NASA. New SEC commission head Mary Schapiro has said her agency will now have a "laser-like focus on fraud." She also said she will "take the handcuffs" off the SEC's enforcement division. But that means putting the cuffs on some bad guys, past, present and future. Maybe that should include Goldman Sachs, the dark shadow behind the bottomless money pit of AIG. Or these former top executives of the corrupted bloat that was Countrywide Financial who are now making a second killing because of the mess their old operation created in the home mortgage field. Supposedly it's all legal but that's like shooting people dead, then collecting a piece the undertaker fees. Did you see Appaloosa ? Our town is full of Randall Braggs and Sheriff Virgil Cole Obama needs to start deputizing a lot of people, and fast. For more, read Bronstein at Large . More on Barack Obama
 
Andrew Kreig: Probe the Past To Protect the Future Top
To build the public confidence needed for economic recovery, Congressional leaders need to be much tougher in overseeing such high-level decision-making as the $30 billion more in bailouts for American International Group (AIG) that the Obama Administration announced on Monday. After so much savings and job loss the public deserves far more assurance that investigations will get to the bottom of past and present decisions by Democrat and Republican alike. Vast questions remain about the last decade's federal deficits, even as the government fast-tracks $787 billion in new stimulus spending and proposes a $3.6 trillion annual federal budget that includes a $1.75 trillion deficit. Fears are growing that oversight won't be effective . Congressional committees must become better watchdogs, especially because of cutbacks by the traditional news media and foot-dragging by Executive Branch officials who fear accountability. Wrong-doers and their apologists insist that the country should look forward for the betterment of all, and that any future problems will be dealt with fairly. Nonsense. As always, justice starts by a review of the evidence. "Sunshine is the best disinfectant," Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis famously said. But pest control is useful too. Either way, strong measures are required to build public confidence for legitimate initiatives on such complex questions as which companies are "too big to fail," and which ones should pay the price for their terrible decisions. Congress is taking well-publicized steps for increased oversight. Yet vigorous public pressure is required to ensure that their "investigations" are not merely for show. For example: • Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont) is holding a hearing today on "Truth" to examine Bush Administration policies that led to torture, rendition and imprisonment without trial. But House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-California) is among those who fear that the Senate probe might foreclose further inquiry, including potential liability. • House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers (D-Michigan) again subpoenaed former Presidential advisor Karl Rove to respond Feb. 23 to allegations that the White House helped fire federal prosecutors for political reasons, including tolerating corrupt contracts and targeting such Democratic politicians as Alabama Gov. Don Siegelman. But Rove again ignored the subpoena. In doing so, he continued his defiance enabled by the Bush Justice Department during the nearly two years since contracts attorney and Republican political operative Jill Simpson stepped forward with allegations against Rove and federal authorities prosecuting Siegelman. • The House Energy and Commerce Committee concluded its year-long investigation of Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin Martin in December with a majority report entitled "Deception and Distrust," finding that he had abused his power. But the Committee could not persuade Martin or three of his top appointees (including his Chief of Staff and the FCC Inspector General) to appear before them to answer the allegations - even though the FCC was created in the 1930s as an agency independent of the Executive Branch, and subject to oversight. As usual, pressure for government contracts and favorable law is the basic problem. Back in the 1800s, the word "lobbyist" was coined to describe those operating from the lobby of the Willard Hotel near the White House. Today's Willard is replicated by thousands other venues that breed the kind of scandals that have blighted every U.S. Presidency of any duration, especially during war. During the Civil War, for example, a much-smaller Washington and its adjoining suburbs hosted between 7,500 and 15,000 prostitutes , with the heaviest concentrations near the Army encampment of Gen. Joseph Hooker between Congress and the White House. Republican President Dwight Eisenhower warned in his 1961 " Farewell Address to the Nation " against a vast "military-industrial complex" that threatened democracy. As the former World War II hero feared, those dangers are now undermining not simply the contracting process, but also such institutional protections as Congress, the courts and news media. For those searching for protections in the U.S. Constitution, the most explicit reside in Congress. But protection is dwindling from there when Executive Branch officials refuse to testify by citing "Executive Privilege," historically regarded a Constitutional myth initiated in 1958 and bootstrapped since Watergate into a way to avoid questions. As an advocate for business in Washington civic affairs for nearly two decades, I'm convinced that these problems require our full attention. Regarding the news media, their income stream is increasingly dependent on affiliated businesses and not on serving subscribers. The major TV networks, for instance, make virtually nothing from direct customer billings via cable and satellite, although many in the public naively assume that they're being served via a "marketplace of ideas." In fact, traditional and new media alike depend heavily on the goodwill of government officials, plus advertising. The financial reports of the Washington Post , for instance, show that since 2007 it has been making more than ten times its revenue from its education industry affiliates as from its Post subscriptions. Although new media are more entrepreneurial and increasingly broader-based in consumer appeal, many of their roots are in fairly recent federal Internet research and privatization policy -- and many of their futures are highly dependent on favorable regulation, merger approval and stimulus spending. Congress and many other government officials face strong temptation to go through the motions of vigorous oversight, but to defer quietly at critical junctures to special interests that can help with campaign contributions, plus investment tips and jobs for friends. In terms of self-policing, forget about it. The U.S. Senate Ethics Committee recently reported for the second year in a row that it took no disciplinary action against anyone. To illustrate how the House of Representatives sometimes works, let me reconstruct a conversation I had with Democratic U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro a decade ago when I sat next to her on a flight from Washington to her home district in New Haven, Connecticut. I was near the beginning of a long run as president of the Wireless Communications Association International, and took the opportunity to describe unrelated problems that I had observed in the justice system and relevant news media. "You've got to do something!" I recall her responding. "Me? I'm in business, and you're in Congress." "Yes, but we can't do much." At least she was trying, unlike many who quickly disintegrate from their Mr. Smith Goes to Washington idealism. But the upshot is that we all, in effect, passed the buck for years, and it's now a fine mess that we're in. The three examples of Congressional investigations cited above each illustrate important problems. Regarding today's Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on U.S. government-run torture, should the goal of such a review simply be fact-finding and promises not to torture others? We had that during the Church Committee hearings in the 1970s. And if the Senate process isn't done absolutely correctly, clever defense attorneys are adept at using a legislative investigation and any technical legal slip-ups to foreclose more serious liability down the road. In the Siegelman case, Alabama's leading Democrat was convicted in 2006 of re-appointing an industry executive to a state advisory board in return for $500,000 for a state ballot referendum campaign. Siegelman was promptly shackled after sentencing and shipped to prison to begin a seven-year sentence. Supposedly, this helps ensure good government. But if Siegelman were framed to get him out of the way, what's the public interest in that? Perhaps even more important, why can't Congress get answers so long after the underlying events that go back to the late 1990s? In case you're wondering how you'll know what's going on, consider the results of the year-long House Energy and Commerce Committee probe of abuse of power allegations against the Bush Administration Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin Martin. The still-boyish looking Martin might have seemed overmatched in defying longtime Committee Chairman John Dingell (D-Michigan), now the longest-serving member of Congress in U.S. history after succeeding his father in 1955. The white-haired, cane-carrying, tough-talking Dingell ostensibly wielded vast oversight power over the FCC. But his power base was declining, in part because of his strong support for the embattled U.S. auto industry. Martin, by contrast, could rely upon his tight bonds with the White House and his confidence that most in the financially stricken news media had other priorities than scrutinizing someone with so much power over their companies. To be sure, there were a few critics such as the iconoclastic conservative editorial pages of the Wall Street Journal whose staff worried about arbitrary interventions disrupting free markets. Martin also had to endure some adverse headlines from the Commerce Committee report in December. But Martin, as a former member of Independent Prosecutor Ken Starr's team pursuing President Bill Clinton, knew better than most the dangers of answering questions under oath. So, he issued his own statements, including a summary for posterity on the FCC website summarizing his accomplishments: " Driving Investment and Innovation While Protecting Consumers ." No small-timer, Martin's previous job before becoming an FCC Commissioner had been leading the 2000 Bush-Cheney Florida vote recount that enabled the Bush Presidency. Martin's wife Cathie Martin then went to work in the Bush Administration as communications director for Karl Rove before promotion to the same post for Vice President Dick Cheney. In other words, her job was to influence the communications industry, and her husband's was to regulate it. Rather convenient, yes? If you already knew these things, I'll plead guilty right now to wasting your valuable time. But if not, let's consider what's necessary to make our government the public's servant instead of its master. One key test for the Obama Administration will be whether the land-rush for stimulus spending dollars proceeds in a transparent and otherwise effective manner, or whether it becomes a black box of unknowable criteria, as sometimes seems the case in such financial bailouts as that for the insurer AIG. Another promising sign would be whether Obama's Attorney General Eric Holder enforces Congressional subpoenas, and otherwise takes the steps to foster a non-political and transparent justice system. Or will the Obama Administration itself try to benefit from expanding Executive Privilege, and otherwise limit effective oversight by a compliant Congress? In shoring up the public will to dig deep, we can learn from former CBS News anchor Walter Cronkite. He was steeled as a World War II correspondent, and then recognized in1970s public opinion surveys as, "The most trusted man in America." This is what he said in 2002 looking back at all that he'd seen: "Not only do we have a right to know, we have a duty to know what our Government is doing in our name." More on Barack Obama
 
Quigley's Victory Lap At County Board Spoiled By Stroger Top
As Cook County Commissioner Mike Quigley entered the county board meeting room today, he received a round of applause in recognition of winning Tuesday's Democratic nomination to replace Rahm Emanuel in Congress. But the reception was not so warm when County Board President Todd Stroger called the meeting to order.
 
Survivor Nick Schuyler Speaks About Missing NFL Players, Says They Removed Life Vests Top
Nick Schuyler, the only man rescued after a fishing-party that included NFL players went missing Saturday, spoke about what happened to the other men. The St. Petersburg Times reported on what Schuyler told the Coast Guard, warning that the story is "strange" and shouldn't be taken at face value considering Schuyler had spent two days in cold water. Read what Schuyler said below and see a slideshow of the players' families awaiting news on their loved ones. Schuyler told Coast Guard investigators a strange story about the fate of the others, according to family members of two of the missing men. However, they said, given Schuyler's condition when rescued after two days on the sea in cold weather, he may have been delusional. Schuyler told investigators that about two to four hours after their boat flipped in rough seas, one of the two National Football League players on board gave up hope and let himself be swept away, according to relatives briefed by the Coast Guard. A few hours later, the second one did the same. "We were told that Nick said the two NFL players took their life jackets off and drifted out to sea," said Bob Bleakley, whose son Will, 25, a former University of South Florida football player, is also still missing. With former Tampa Bay Buccaneers Marquis Cooper, 26, and Corey Smith, 29, gone, only Schuyler and Will Bleakley remained clinging to the boat. Then, sometime early Monday, Will Bleakley thought he saw a light in the distance. He decided to take off his life jacket and swim to it, hoping to get help, Bob Bleakley said Schuyler told the investigators. "I think he was delusional to think he could swim someplace," Bob Bleakley said. More on Photo Galleries
 
Princess Anne Visits Gibraltar In Snazzy Get-Up (PHOTOS) Top
Britain's Princess Anne Wednesday arrived in Gibraltar on a three-day official visit that has sparked complaints from Spain which contests London's rule over the strategic territory. The princess flew into Gibraltar on a Royal Air Force jet for her second visit in four years to the largely self-governing British outpost which lies at the western entrance to the Mediterranean. Keep reading. More on Photo Galleries
 
Claudia Ricci: Where do poor people go to read the Huff Po? Top
Chances are, if you are reading this blog post, you are sitting in a comfortable office somewhere. Or maybe you are at your kitchen table, or on the sofa, or in bed, or at your desk. In other words, you are wired up at home. The point is, you are probably NOT doing what Washington DC mom Judith Theodore and her kids have to do: race between public libraries trying to get access to the Internet. In an article over the weekend, Washington Post reporter Cecilia King highlighted the plight of inner city people like Theodore, people who don't have ready access to the information superhighway. According to U.S. Census bureau, a whopping 41 percent of homes in DC do not have dial-up or broadband Internet service. Just think of what that means!! Think about how truly disadvantaged the children are in those homes: they aren't toting their Macbooks under their arms, like my own teens did, doing research for classes at the touch of a few buttons. They aren't on Facebook and Twitter and MySpace, learning to become web-savvy at home. And think about all the elderly people in those inner city homes: they aren't like my 82-year old Dad, who stays connected via email, avoiding the isolation that often afflicts older people. President Obama's stimulus bill contanins $7.2 billion to bring the Internet to rural homes in the U.S. But there is nothing like that in the bill for wiring up urban America. What are we as a nation doing when we are zooming ahead as a blogger-rich democracy, depending increasingly on the Internet for work and just about every other function, but leaving a whole segment of our society out of the picture? "The Internet is becoming as important as electricity and gas," Theodore told the Post. Jobless, Theodore cannot afford a computer. Nor can she afford a hook-up to Comcast for Internet service. "I feel like everyone is driving on this fast road and I'm a little car with just three wheels, sometimes just two and a half," she said. Her son, Steven, 11, had a report to do last month, researching web sites for a paper on Chad. When the library's computer network went kaput, he had to stop his work. He received a failing grade. Which made me think: we as a nation also deserve a failing grade -- if we can't figure out a way to get people in the cities wired up.
 
12-Year Lows Rare For Dow Top
While this week the Dow Jones Industrial Average dipped below 7,000 and reached a 12-year low, such a measure is actually very rare . According to Thomas Lee, US Equity Strategy at JPMorgan, "Believe or not, retracing 12-year lows for the Dow is an incredibly rare event. Besides the retest of 1997 lows seen on Monday, this has only happened two other times, on April 8, 1932, and December 6, 1974."
 
Caroline Cooper: Seeking Common Ground in a Sacred Space Top
"Religion has not left us as a force in the world," commented Rabbi Justus Baird at an intimate dinner held recently in Manhattan's Church of Heavenly Rest hosted by Janera Soerel, founder of the global nomad site janera.com and Elizabeth Garnsey, an Episcopal priest at the church. "If we can't come to understand more of religions and religious diversity, we will not be safe. Our very security is at stake," Baird said. The links between religion and security were just one of several angles discussed throughout the evening, which brought together a range of experts from Christian, Muslim, Jewish, Buddhist, Hindu and Episcopal traditions -- as well as one philosopher -- to gather around a long, candle-lit table for an intimate discussion of where we have been and where we are going. The evening seemed to me a critical reflection of a broader national dialogue going on right now -- where and how religion is shaping our lives and our world. From the Pope's recent rescinding of the excommunication of a Holocaust-denying Bishop, to the disaffected Muslims bombing icons of modernity in Mumbai, faith is as much an influence on the modern world as ever. With Obama's expansion of faith-based initiatives earlier this month and the newly created White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships, the President is reaching out to groups across America with an eye to fostering dialogue, understanding and commonality. The janera.com dinner was a clear manifestation of this. The evening set out to foster a peaceful exchange of ideas. But just beneath the surface lay the insinuation of conflict, war and what is at stake. "This won't work if we smile at each other and say nice words, only to return home and bite our teeth talking about the other side," commented Dr. Uma Mysorekar, the President of the Hindu Temple Society of North America. "Only if we can sit together and fight it out will there be peace." As pear and lettuce salads were distributed across the table, Faisal Devji, a professor at the New School and a scholar of Islam, rose to recount the story of the Bhagavad Gita offering the group Gandhi's interpretation of the epic story of two families at war. "You did not ask for this," was his first summation of Gandhi's analysis of the tragedy. "And the war will go on anyway." From this, Prof. Devji took a message of hope and resilience. It was clear from the conversation among the diverse participants that the link between conflict and religion is timeless and that, from the collected group of thinkers, only common understanding, compassion and skillful ears for listening would help lead the way. As guests consumed plates of chicken with roast vegetables beneath the flickering lights of the church candelabras, the conversation moved to the broader challenge of reaching communities where poverty and despair have taken hold. "That's exactly where religious extremism is most fertile," commented Catherine Lazure, an illustrator and guest of the evening. "Religion gives people something to believe in when they have nothing else." "Economic development and opportunity is probably one of the best ways to help people from falling into that trap," agreed her neighbor. As the night came to a close and guests began to stream from the church and out to the cold February night, it was clear the evening raised more questions than it answered. But this duality is exactly what makes the challenge so compelling. As one guest put it, paraphrasing Desmond Tutu's famous statement, "Religion is like a knife -- it can be used to slice bread or to kill people." While these challenges are not new, the development of young, dynamic communities that exist both online and on the ground are helping us to keep figuring this out. More on Religion
 
Miley's Autobiography: Middle School Bullies And "Prince Charming" Jonas Top
In the pages of her first book, Miles to Go, Cyrus tells PEOPLE she hopes that her fans will see "that I'm a real person just like them." "Most of the time you see me smiling -- I mean that's how I got my name! -- but that's not what it's all about. Everyone goes through hardships and heartbreaks," she says. Before she became Hannah Montana, Cyrus writes, she had to endure daily hazing from bullies in sixth grade, who did everything from stealing her books to locking her in the school bathroom. Looking back, "sometimes I wish I could get an apology [from the mean girls], but to be honest I don't need one," she says. "I moved on and I believe they moved on as well. It helped make me the person I am today." Young Love Other people she writes about in her book include her first love -- whom she only refers to as Prince Charming (Hint: His real name starts with Nick and ends with Jonas) -- her Hannah costars and the rest of the Cyrus clan. More on Miley Cyrus
 
CLOSED ZONE: 'Waltz With Bashir' Animator Makes Film On Gaza (VIDEO) Top
RAMALLAH, West Bank -- An Israeli creator of the Oscar-nominated "Waltz with Bashir" released a short film Wednesday about the effects of his country's Gaza blockade on Palestinians. Yoni Goodman said he hoped the 90-second animated film, "Closed Zone," would draw attention to the plight of Gaza's civilians. "People talk about Hamas, but there are many civilians there who are not Hamas supporters but who are suffering from this blockade," the animator said. Israel has kept Gaza's borders largely sealed since the Islamic militant Hamas took over the seaside territory in June 2007. Since then, Israeli has heavily restricted Palestinians from leaving Gaza and limited the goods that can enter. The closed borders are a major issue in both peace talks and proposals to reconstruct Gaza after Israel's three-week offensive ended in January. Both Palestinians and international aid groups say the borders must be opened to allow in much-needed living supplies. Goodman said he began the film before Israel launched its offensive against Gaza's ruling Hamas militants in December, but the conflict affected the story. The film, a combination of animation and real-life scenes, follows a boy chasing a blue bird while large hands block his way. The hands cut Gaza's borders in the ground with a giant cookie-cutter, then prevent the boy from crossing. At one point, missiles arc over the boy's head, exploding in a city on the horizon. The film was commissioned by the Israeli human rights group Gisha. Goodman said that as an Israeli, he hoped the film could challenge the view that most Israelis favor violence. "I want people in the West to see it, to see that there are people in Israel who are against war, who want peace," he said. Goodman was animation director for "Waltz with Bashir," which followed a soldier struggling to recall suppressed memories of his involvement in Israel's 1982 war with Lebanon. The film won a Golden Globe award and was nominated for an Oscar for best foreign film. "Closed Zone" has been released on the Internet at closedzone.com and on YouTube, but Goodman hopes it will have wider distribution. More on Israel
 
5 True (And Amazing) Animal Rescue Stories Top
Luckily, there are still many people who care enough about animals to go to extreme measures to save the life of an innocent creature. Here are five of the most amazing animal rescue stories in the world. More on Animals
 
5 Mindful Secrets To Optimal Health Top
Studies have shown that mindfulness, a form of meditation in which you disengage yourself from strong beliefs, thoughts, and emotions, has a positive effect on brain function, lowering the stress response and increasing feelings of relaxation and well-being. More on Health
 
Betsy Perry: New York On Antidepressants: Please Renew Our Prescriptions! Top
So I'm riding up in my elevator with Dr. Mitch Rosenthal, the legendary drug and psychiatric czar of Phoenix House, and his dog Prozac - and yes that's the name author and sex crimes prosecutor Linda Fairstein has given Jesse in her books (we all live in the same building) — and on the way to the 17th floor I told him how anxious I was these days. His response was that most New Yorkers feel exactly the same way. Phew. Glad to know I'm not alone. So then I trudge off in my snow boots to Michael's for lunch and run into Jamee and Peter Gregory, who are very social and popular and she tells me everyone in the city is admitting to taking antidepressants. (Maybe we should go back to the martini lunches I remember so well from the 70's and 80's when we bounced off the tables at "21" and spent the afternoon in some hotel suite with an author or celebrity in town on a promotional tour. Gosh that was fun and naughty and I so miss naughty.) I always take the pulse of New York at Michael's where Cobb salads cost a leafy $38 and an iced coffee is $9 - to make up for it I steal a couple of packages of Sweet 'n Low for my morning coffee. Bruce Wasserstein seems to be the only banker willing to hang in public on a regular basis these days but you still get Tom Freston and Mayor Mike's elegant and delicious girlfriend, Diana Taylor. Michael's may not be as euphoric as months past but these are my people and from the moment you enter the door, you're back in your own expensive womb. I believe we need to band together these days and support our friends and show up for each other. The worst thing you can do is isolate yourself and think you're all alone in your misery. There are only so many hours of CNBC I can watch by myself before that cloud comes in over my head. I had tea with Marra Gad, one of Chicago's best connected entrepreneurs, in town to discreetly deal with real money. We discussed how you may feel the emotional and financial depression more in New York because we're on the streets walking around looking at stores where there are For Rent signs and of course, we palpably feel the losses from our very own Wall Street. But we all know, New York will be back and this can be a great time for creativity and reinvention. Keep saying that to yourself as you help yourself to every free make up sample at Sephora. I don't think shrinks are getting the business they once had but if you've got a good one who understands you'll be back when the markets rise and more than happy to discuss your mother again, he'll still phone in the Xanax order — generic please — even though it looks like you just refilled it. Better living through chemistry has to be good for the drug stocks and maybe it's best to ride this out in a pharmaceutically induced fog. Or you can go to Michael's and drink martinis to help the liquor industry. See there's good in all of us!
 
Producer Denies `Bachelor' Finale Was Fixed Top
NEW YORK — The executive producer of "The Bachelor" says that Jason Mesnick's change of heart was not staged. Mike Fleiss says producers of the ABC dating show did not create the outcome of Monday's season finale that prompted viewer outrage when Mesnick dumped his first choice for the runner-up. Mesnick, a 32-year-old single dad from Seattle, proposed to Melissa Rycroft in New Zealand. But in the subsequent "After the Final Rose" special, taped six weeks later, he dumped Rycroft because he still had feelings for runner-up Molly Malaney. He and Malaney are now dating.
 
Hamid Karzai's Call For Early Election Rejected By Afghan Election Commission Top
KABUL — The Afghan election commission rejected President Hamid Karzai's request to move the presidential elections to the spring, saying the country won't be safe enough or have enough money by then to hold a vote. The commission's decision came Wednesday as a car bomb exploded outside the main U.S. base at Bagram, underscoring the shaky security situation the country faces as a resurgent Taliban militia increases its attacks. Karzai had asked the commission to move the elections from Aug. 20 to spring, but the commission said it could not because of bad spring weather, lack of funds, security issues and logistical problems like the distribution of ballots. Election officials say high mountain snows would prevent many thousands of Afghans from voting in the spring. "Weather, funding, operational challenges and logistical issues and of course security remain the same and there have not been solutions to these problems," Azizullah Lodin, the head of the Afghan election commission, told a news conference. Adhering to the earlier deadline would be "impossible," Lodin said. Lodin said that $223 million is needed to hold the vote, and that his commission has received nothing except a pledge of $100 million from the international community. The U.S. has called for an August vote. Thousands more U.S. troops are expected to arrive by then and could help with security. The U.N. welcomed the decision, saying the August vote would provide the time needed to make logistical and security preparations. Karzai last week asked the commission to re-examine the date to see if it could be held in line with the Afghan constitution, which says Karzai must step down on May 22 and that elections must be held 30 to 60 days before that. A late summer vote means the country will face a three-month gap between the end of Karzai's term and the election. Lawmakers have said they won't recognize Karzai as president beginning May 22, which could throw the country into constitutional crisis. Some lawmakers have called for a caretaker president to replace Karzai. Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai, a former finance minister who said he will challenge Karzai, welcomed the decision. "The question that arises is how power should be exercised between May 22, when the term in office of the president ends and the date when the newly elected president swears in," Ghani told reporters during a gathering of all major opposition figures in Kabul. The constitution gives Karzai at least two options to avoid a crisis: Call a state of emergency that would extend his presidency but which would need lawmakers' approval, or call a loya jirga _ a grand meeting of Afghan leaders _ to negotiate an agreement. Either option would likely require a political deal with his opponents. The car bomb blast outside Bagram wounded three civilian contractors working for a U.S. company, but it wasn't immediately clear what nationalities the three were, said Lt. Col. Rumi Nielson-Green, a U.S. spokeswoman. The attack occurred near a parking area where truck drivers bringing in supplies gather. The driver of the car bomb abandoned the vehicle before it detonated, but the attacker was also carrying explosives which detonated, killing him, the U.S. military said. A Taliban spokesman, Zabiullah Mujahid, claimed responsibility for the blast soon after the attack. In the south, a Canadian general said a roadside bomb blast in Kandahar province late Tuesday killed three Canadian soldiers. Militant attacks are killing U.S. and NATO soldiers at a record pace this year. In the first two months of the year, 29 U.S. soldiers died in Afghanistan, compared with eight in the first two months of 2008. The U.S. is sending 17,000 additional U.S. forces to Afghanistan this year to bolster the record 38,000 in the country. ___ Associated Press reporters Amir Shah and Fisnik Abrashi in Kabul contributed to this report. More on Afghanistan
 
Jamie Court: Supremes Heed Quaid Factor, Side With Patients Top
When Dennis Quaid went to Congress last year to testify about a threatening Supreme Court decision, it was hard to imagine the Supremes might actually listen to why consumers should able to sue drug companies over dangerous drugs when the FDA approved their labels.  The Court had already ruled consumers could not sue medical device manufacturers if the FDA approved the products.  Well, today the Supreme Court showed it heard Congress, which responded to Quaid's testimony with a threat of legislation to overturn the FDA preemption doctrine if the Court did the wrong thing.  As the New York Times reports,  the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled 6-3 that consumers can still file state liability lawsuits against drug companies. It's a huge victory for patients and a defeat for drug maker Wyeth, which argued that a Vermont woman could not sue it for injuries she suffered after receiving the company's medicines because the FDA had approved the drug's label. Quaid testified about how his newborn twins were given a massive overdose -- 1,000 times more than the appropriate child dose -- because the medication bottles for children and adults were nearly identical. Other children had died from similar overdoses, but the bottles remained the same until Quaid's kids were affected.  You can watch the video of Dennis's testimony at The Quaid Foundation's web site: http://www.thequaidfoundation.org Today's ruling shows that a new president, a concerned Congress and a celebrity's platform can change the direction of the Supreme Court.  Justice for all won today, thanks to Quaid, Obama and the voters. More on Supreme Court
 
Obama Mortgage Plan Unveiled Top
WASHINGTON — The Obama administration kicked off a new program Wednesday that's designed to help up to 9 million borrowers stay in their homes through refinanced mortgages or loans that are modified to lower monthly payments. Borrowers, however, are being advised to be patient in their efforts to get help because mortgage companies are likely to be flooded with calls. Government officials, launching the "Making Home Affordable" program also acknowledge that the initiatives are only a partial fix for a sweeping problem that has helped plunge the U.S. economy into the worst recession in decades. In fact, tens of thousands of homeowners in some of the most battered real estate markets _ concentrated in California, Florida, Nevada and Arizona _ won't be eligible for the two programs. "It's not intended to prevent every foreclosure or to help every homeowner," a senior Treasury Department official told reporters. "It's really targeted at responsible homeowners." There was also skepticism that banks would be willing to participate. "I've just seen so many of the programs not work," said Pava Leyrer, president of Heritage National Mortgage in Randville, Mich. "It gets borrowers hopes up. They call and call for these programs and we can't get anybody to do them." The Obama administration's program has two parts: one to work with lenders to modify the loan terms for up to 4 million homeowner, the second to refinance up to 5 million homeowners into more affordable fixed-rate loans. For the modification program, borrowers who are eligible will have to provide their most recent tax return and two pay stubs, as well as an "affidavit of financial hardship" to qualify for the loan modification program, which runs through 2012. Borrowers are only allowed to have their loans modified once, and the program only applies for loans made on Jan. 1 2009, or earlier. Mortgages for single-family properties that are worth more than $729,750 are excluded. Lenders could reduce a borrower's interest rate to as low as 2 percent for five years. Rates would then rise to about 5 percent until the mortgage is repaid. If the plan works as intended, it could be a big plus for borrowers like Nick Kavalary, a network cable installer who lives outside Milwaukee. Kavalary, 42, has been struggling with JPMorgan Chase & Co. to get a loan modification. He was finally approved for one this year, but it only cuts his interest rate to about 9.8 percent from 10.75 percent. Even at the lower rate, he said, making the payment is nearly impossible. "If I can't pick up a second job, I'm going to lose this house," he said. "With the job market being the way it is, nobody's hiring nobody." For the refinance program, only homeowners whose loans are held by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac are eligible and have until June 2010 to apply. Consumers should contact their loan servicer _ the company that sends out their monthly bill _ to find out if their mortgages are held by Fannie or Freddie. The two mortgage finance companies own or guarantee almost 31 million home loans _ more than half of all U.S home mortgages. Many mortgage brokers, however, are critical. They argue the fees imposed by Fannie and Freddie over the past year make it difficult for borrowers to afford to refinance. The two companies, which are now government controlled, have yet to detail how they will implement the plan, or whether any fees will be rolled back. Meanwhile, action to put in place another part of Obama's housing plan is expected soon on Capitol Hill. House Democrats agreed Tuesday to narrow proposed legislation that gives bankruptcy judges the power to change the terms of mortgage loans for debt-strapped borrowers. In the latest version of the bill, judges would have to consider whether a homeowner had been offered a reasonable deal by the bank to rework his or her home loan before seeking help in bankruptcy court. Borrowers also would have a responsibility to prove that they tried to modify their mortgages. A full vote in the House could come as early as Thursday. ___ On the Net: . http://www.FinancialStability.gov More on Barack Obama
 
Jack Hidary: Congressman Ed Markey - Video Interview on Energy and Climate Top
Here is our interview with Congressman Ed Markey on energy, climate change and the upcoming bills in Congress. Congressman Markey serves as the Chairman of the Select Commitee on Global Warming and Energy Security and the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Energy and the Environment (now that's a mouthful!). We interviewed Congressman Markey at Powershift09 which took place in DC with over 12,000 students from across the US advocating for cleaner energy and climate change action. Markey gave a rousing speech to the students -- probably one of the most dynamic speeches a congressman has given - and got them on their feet holding up their cell phones as symbols of all the new solar panels and wind turbines that will come in the next few years. Here is the interview: More on Climate Change
 
The Green Bubble: Why Cleantech Won't Burst Like Housing Did Top
The billions he's pouring into the new energy programs will help lift, and in some cases, create whole new industries. But will his programs replace one problem with another, turning the housing bubble into a "green" bubble? We don't think so. The slow thaw of credit will slow investment, which will prevent gobs of money from going to alternative energy projects the way it flowed into ill-fated real estate speculation and construction projects. More on Economy
 
Virginia M. Moncrieff: Despair In Pakistan Over Cricket Attack, Government's Incompetence Top
Notwithstanding the fact that the perpetrators have yet to be caught, what we can say for sure is that the real target of yesterday's attacks were not the Sri Lankan cricket team, nor was it Sri Lanka, or indeed cricket, but Pakistan itself. If ever there was a way to throw two fingers up at the Pakistani government and say we don't care, we don't play by your rules, this was it. And everyone knows it. My Facebook page has been nearly jumping out of my laptop, with Pakistani friends despairing, truly despairing at their government's inability and ineptitude at holding fundamentalists at bay and getting to the root of the problem - to be a proper, responsible, strong, in control, legitimate government. "It's adding to the atmosphere of insecurity already present," wrote one friend, "further tarnishing the country's image as a lawless state, more like adding to the atmosphere of insecurity already present, discouraging foreigners from visiting the troubled land, discouraging foreign investment in any form." The government in Islamabad seems criminally preoccupied with power struggles and accusations (court proceedings drag on and disrupt the important business of government while President Zadari and former PM Nawaz Sharif go the verbal stoush). Ahem gentleman, can we pay attention to the pressing matters at hand? Like the future of your country. But the West helps no one with its constant carping about Pakistan the Basket Case, Pakistan the Write Off, Pakistan the Islamist Haven. Yes, we recognize in that country the world has a problem, but let's get a grip, take a powder and dial down the pointless drama. "Today Fareed Zakaria and Afghan Foreign Minister Mr. Spanta audaciously declared Pakistan 'the single most dangerous country in the world' without a thought to the fact that this menace was planted during the Cold War," wrote my good friend Maria Ahmad, a foreign affairs correspondent at Geo TV in Karachi. "Yes, we are a country plagued with this 'cancer' but none of us - not the elected government nor a dictatorship and never the civilians, have even remotely supported this. Pakistan stands to lose the most, our citizens, friends, repute and most of all, our economic opportunities. To isolate us is not the answer. We need dialogue and development, we need friends to stand by us because in this war we have inherited, we too are struggling for survival." Within Pakistan, there is a deep struggle for some kind of political integrity, some sense that the truth must be told and that the government is genuinely working to and capable of repairing what have been identified, in the West as irreparable fissures. I despaired to my friend Farrukh - always a good sounding board - that this attack would give the West yet another opportunity to accuse and blame and dismiss Pakistan based on perceptions that all Pakistanis are Muslim nut jobs living in a lawless land. Farrukh wrote back some of the most sane words I have heard this week. "We have to fight reality not images. We must fight anyone who does this. No mercy for the terrorist either local or foreign!" was his succinct cri de coeur. The last word goes to my friend Hasan. "Most of people like me are crying in real, with tears in eyes. Today while posting my condolence to the Sri Lankan cricket board, I said them, sorry, as we feel ashamed that despite giving seven lives we could not save our precious guests from bullets of terrorists." More on Pakistan
 
Josh Dorner: VIDEO: Coal Industry Front Group CEO Refuses to Say Whether Burning Coal Causes Global Warming Top
This morning, CNN ran a piece featuring Bruce Nilles , Director of Sierra Club's Move Beyond Coal Campaign , discussing the fabulous new Reality Coalition (of which Sierra Club is also a part) anti-"clean coal" ad. The new ad, directed by the Academy Award-winning Coen Brothers, has generated a lot of buzz. But the most interesting part of the segment is an interview with Joe Lucas, head of the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity (nee Americans for Balanced Energy Choices), a coal industry front group that has spent tens of millions of dollars on deceptive advertising and political activities, as well as more than $10.5 million to lobby Congress directly on behalf of dirty coal and against legislation to fight global warming and promote clean, renewable electricity . While the group's deceptive advertising claims that the unproven technology of so-called "clean coal" can be part of the solution to global warming, Lucas stunningly refuses to admit in the CNN interview whether or not the burning of coal even contributes to global warming. NARRATOR: Still, the industry refuses to say its plants contribute to global warming. INTERVIEWER: Can you just answer that yes or no--If you believe that burning coal causes global warming? JOE LUCAS (shaking head no): I don't know. I am not a scientist. Watch it (approximately 2:00 minutes in): Embedded video from CNN Video How can an industry that refuses to even acknowledge that it's part of the problem be part of the solution? Here's the full Coen Brothers ad featured in the CNN piece: More on CNN
 
Robert Glennon: California's Drought: Water Demand, Population Growth, and Sensible Solutions Top
Drought has prompted California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger to declare a state emergency. Water agencies are preparing to impose mandatory water rationing. We're all hoping that melting snow in the Sierra will save the state's farmers and city dwellers from hardship. But once rain starts to fall - and it eventually will - California's farmers expect to irrigate their fields and residents expect to water their lawns. Drought, in other words, does not require a fundamental change in behavior, only a temporary halt to customary water use. And that's very important. We love to blame Mother Nature for every natural catastrophe, but a close look at recent droughts, in California this year and Georgia last year, shows that these droughts are not more severe than previous ones. Why, then, is there such a crisis? Because Californians this year and Georgians last year have outgrown their states' water supplies. The margin for weathering a drought has shrunk. The rain and the drought are about the same. It's us who've changed. The principal reason is pretty obvious: population growth. California's population grows by one person per minute. Metro Atlanta adds 100,000 new residents a year. Nationwide, the Census Bureau expects the population to surge from roughly 300 million today to 420 million by mid-century. Where is the water going to come from to serve these people? In Georgia, Governor Sonny Purdue hoped it would come from the sky, so he held a prayer vigil on the steps of the Capitol. But not wanting to take any chances, the governor did not schedule the vigil until weather forecasters predicted the first rain in months. The Georgia legislature hoped it could suck water from the Tennessee River. Unfortunately for Georgia, the Tennessee River does not run through Georgia. It runs through Tennessee. So the Georgia state legislature tried to move the border into Tennessee and over part of the river. Not surprisingly, Tennessee said no, deciding not to volunteer its water for Atlanta's sprawl. In California, Governor Schwarzenegger hopes water will come from new dams. Environmentalists point out, however, that new dams don't add water to the system. Why, they ask, build or enlarge new dams when the existing ones don't fill up? In America we traditionally solve water shortages though engineering fixes: dams, canals, diversions, and wells. Seldom do we turn inward and ask whether conservation, reuse, or reallocation would provide easier, cheaper, more environmentally friendly solutions to current shortages. But with most rivers already dammed, some repeatedly, with many rivers dried up or suffering from reduced flows, and with groundwater tables plummeting, business as usual is not a viable option. The current crisis should encourage us to reexamine how, when, and why we use water. Perhaps growing lawns in Beverly Hills, which gets scarcely three inches of rain more than Tucson, is no longer a sensible use of water. For readers interested in these questions, my new book, Unquenchable: America's Water Crisis and What To Do About It, will be published on April 8th. http://www.islandpress.org/unquenchable More on Economy
 
Deane Waldman: Is There Personal Responsibility in Healthcare? Top
In both his Inauguration speech and the State of the Union, President Obama repeatedly referenced responsibility in the aggregate as well as individual. With public demands increasing for universal health care and health-care-as-a-right , one must ask does that right come with any responsibility ? This question is being dramatically played out in Washington DC, and the State of Arkansas. Governmental agencies are offering low-cost health insurance but finding their products a hard sell . The people seem...resistant. The problem is not limited to DC and Arkansas. In 2006, approximately 44 million Americans had no health insurance. Of them, 12 million were eligible for State or Federal Aid Programs but chose not to enroll. There are a number of reasons why low-cost insurance is a "hard sell." Some people fear they cannot afford even very small payments, such as $50/month. Many, especially illegal aliens, are afraid of exposing themselves to the system. Some people do not even know such low-cost Programs exist. Most point accurately to cumbersome, user-unfriendly, incomprehensible forms, and a demeaning as well as time-consuming process. Each reason has some merit. Yet each individual who chooses not to enroll expects to receive medical care when sick (probably in an Emergency Room), and does not expect - certainly will not be able - to pay. Responsibilities: Government, Hospital, Provider The government pays more than it should because an ER is much more expensive than an office visit and the patient's illness might have been prevented or certainly be less severe had he or she sought earlier medical care. As people are national assets , the government has a responsibility to optimize the health and therefore the productivity of these assets. Every hospital has both an ethical as well as a legal responsibility to provide care, even when - as is often true- the care will be uncompensated: "free" to the patient but not "free" for the hospital. It still has to pay its employees, suppliers and debt service. The provider has ethical, legal and very strong cultural imperatives to provide care to sick people. Nurses and doctors are socialized to feel responsible for a patient's wellbeing. As a result of their recommendations, providers are responsible for generating costs in health care but do not generate the need for those expenses. They are cost-drivers who are micro-economically disconnected from both the consumer and the payer. Providers are (partly) responsible , (totally) accountable , having no control over either expenses or payments. Patient Responsibilities Do patients have personal responsibility for their own healthcare and if so, to what extent? This is obviously a sensitive subject but one that must be openly discussed. We patients (people) are ultimately responsible for our own health and wellbeing. The providers should be held responsible for their advice and actions only. We patients should be responsible for the consequences of our decisions and actions. I should be held responsible if: I smoke cigarettes and get lung cancer. I weigh 400 pounds and get diabetes. I have a brain injury after riding a motorcycle without a helmet. I could have prevented or ameliorated my medical condition - one that requires large expenditure of resources. I should not be held responsible if: I get lung cancer but never smoked a day in my life. I eat reasonably, weigh 180 pounds and get diabetes. I ride a motorcycle with a helmet and have a traumatic brain injury after an accident. I could not prevent my medical condition. Every parent, every psychologist, indeed every person beyond the teenage years knows that incentives effect behaviors. When my mother congratulated me on getting an A grade, her behavior encouraged me to get more. If you want to reduce gasoline usage and the emission of toxic gases, offer incentives for people to buy "green" (eco-friendly) automobiles. In our healthcare system, there are no incentives for patients to behave in a healthy manner. The incentives that do exist encourage illness and care of sick people rather than prevention and promotion of health. Imagine a machine that refuses to allow preventative maintenance or a car sticking out its tongue out through closed lips to resist a fill-up. Hard to imagine. People are different from machines: they have free will . They can create and innovate (a wonderful potential) but they can also behave not in their own best (medical) interests. People - as both the responsible persons and as national assets - must pay for the consequences of their decisions - both literally and figuratively. Is there personal responsibility in healthcare? The unfortunate answer is no! Our present system not only discourages such responsibility, it actually prevents it. We need a new healthcare system with personal responsibility, accountability, consequences, evidence , and feedback embedded in it.
 

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