Wednesday, March 18, 2009

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Trader Joe's Planning Lincoln Park Store: Report Top
Trader Joe's, known for its budget-conscious gourmet offerings and its upbeat employees who sport Hawaiian shirts, has leased 14,500 square feet in a new building planned on Diversey Parkway next to two vacant retail stores at 651 and 659 W. Diversey, sources say.
 
Sophie Keller: How Happy is... How Your Body Reveals How You Feel Top
Have you noticed that when you get anxious or nervous you get an upset stomach, find yourself with a headache or become accident-prone? Are you the sort of person that eats more when depressed or stops eating altogether? When you're really happy, balanced and unchallenged you probably notice that you have enormous amounts of energy and are way less likely to catch any virus that is going around. The unity of body and mind is reflected in your state of health and really does give you an indication of how you are coping with the challenges in your life. If you have something physically wrong with you and you look back at what has been happening up to six months prior, you will probably find a connection as illnesses or accidents often come at times of change, such as moving home, a new marriage or getting a different job. The uncertainty and fear can easily upset your balance, and can leave you open to bacteria and viruses. At the same time, becoming ill gives you time to rest and adjust to the changes. It also puts things in to perspective, such as the importance of your health and relationships. In the same way, if you injure your body you can easily pass it off as an accident, but you might also want to look below the surface and see if there is a deeper connection to what you are emotionally going through at the time. You might decide that there isn't, but often an injury usually happens because there is a need to look at something going on in your life. Even if you look at the simplest of every day occurrences i.e. tripping over the curb or getting your finger caught in a car door, you might notice that you were feeling a bit angry at the time and off balance. Here are a few parts of your body and the possible mind connection when you injure them. Your back represents your support system and where you put feelings that have created pain and confusion that you don't want to look at. If you do have back pain ask yourself if feel supported by others who are close to you. If you've had it over a long period of time and it has become a chronic problem, you might want to look at where you haven't felt supported in your past. If this is the case, sorting out these old issues might really help your back heal and release some of the stuck energy held in your cells. Your arms express your inner most feelings and expression. If you think of all the things you do with your arms including holding, hugging, pushing away, giving out or folding your arms to protect your heart from anyone coming near. Injuring your shoulder, elbow, wrist or hands can often be an indication of an emotional conflict and that you might be having problems reaching out to others. Your neck gives you the ability to see on all sides, all aspects of your world. When it becomes stiff, it limits your movement and vision. A stiff neck can indicate that you are becoming narrow in your views or do not want to look back, or perhaps forward, depending on which way you are having difficulty turning it. (Usually the right is forward and the left is back, unless you are left-handed then it could be the other way round.) If you do injure your neck, you might want to ask yourself, what you don't want to look at? Your legs. If you hurt your legs, whether it's your thighs, knees, ankles, feet or toes often there can be a conflict in the direction you are going in, or a fear of moving forward. You might notice that a twisted ankle, for example, can come at a time when you are about to start something new and there is a bit of fear or even at the end of an endeavor. If you have any doubt or resistance in your direction, then problems in the legs will have the ability to hold you back. Your stomach is about digesting your reality, as well as obviously digesting your food! If your reality is indigestible then indigestion can follow, although, you could have just eaten too much as well!! However, if you have a pattern of stomach issues i.e. acid in the stomach, stomach ulcers, constipation etc, you might want to notice if you are feeling emotionally nourished and if your reality is in conflict with what you really want. That's it for this week, I am now taking a month off as I have just given birth to a boy called Judah and we are moving house at the same time! However, I will be back and, in the meantime, if you look at my previous articles you will find many useful tips. If you do want to contact me, I would love to hear from you and will be picking up my e-mails at sophie@howhappyis.com . More on The Balanced Life
 
Howard Schweber: AIG, Populist Rage, and the Future of Banks Top
When AIG top management approached their staff about foregoing bonuses, the response - as described at The Hill - was "take a hike." Management, in turn, felt they had not choice but to pay the bonuses. Partly they were afraid of the costs of potential lawsuits for breaching contracts that had been written prior to the receipt of any bailout money, and partly - most importantly - they were afraid that without the bonuses they would be unable to retain the services of the "quants," the technical experts who had created the mess by devising Credit Default Swaps that got AIG into trouble in the first place. The feeling was that the quants who had created the mess are the only ones with the skills to undo it. Okay, here I go saying the unthinkable: management has a point. If a nuclear reactor fails, it is probably not a good idea to fire all the nuclear engineers and bring in civil engineers to fix the problem. Which leads to a more general point that needs to be kept in mind. Everyone I talk to in the banking industry makes the same argument: government does not have the talent that one finds in the overcompensated private sector. Nothing complicated about this - the smartest and most skilled operators follow the money, and the private sector pays better. Much better. Partly through bonuses. Do we really want to try to change that situation? It is not feasible for government to pay the kinds of salaries that would be necessary to compete with the profit-making opportunities available at the commercial banks and hedge funds. (You feel outraged about taxpayer money going to these executives now? How would you feel if taxpayer money went to these guys at that rate all the time?) What about the opposite approach: using the power of government to prevent such high salaries being paid, especially by firms receiving bailout money? The problem, obviously, is talent drain, at a time when the firms receiving bailout money are exactly the firms where we most desperately need our best nuclear engineers on the job. So what, we're stuck with this system of super-compensation for insane risk-taking backed by a promise of public funds in the case of failure? The infamous "privatize profit, socialize risk" approach? No, but in the short term we are stuck with the consequences of having adopted that system over the past decade. In other words, there are obviously some things we need to do to correct the system of incentives going forward, but until the reactor stops leaking radioactive steam into the atmosphere we have to keep the nuclear engineers on the job. What are the steps for the future? We have to think structurally, not functionally. People react to incentives, smart ambitious people often seek to make as much money as they can, in a global financial system making money involves risk-taking, within limits risk-taking is a good thing that we want to encourage. Theoretically, the mechanism for rewarding and punishing risk-taking was supposed to be "the market," but there are publicly necessary functions that should be shielded form the operation of that system. As a recent NYTimes editorial put it, you don't want a utility and a casino in the same building, but that does not necessarily mean that you want to abolish casinos. So . . . 1. We do not want to nationalize the banking system. We really don't. No, not because of the idiotic analogy to Soviet communism - the USSR didn't have a nationalized banking system, it had a nationalized economy, which is not the same thing. But other countries have experimented with nationalized banking systems in capitalist economies (France, South Korea), with less-than-ideal results. There are other problems with a nationalized system, as well. Globally, it creates opportunities for arbitrage by international investors that can work to the significant disadvantage of the national bank. It is also the case - as unpopular as it may be to say at this moment - that government are not efficient allocators of resources. You do not want the political branches controlling the availability of investment capital, for starters. Privately controlled investment that makes money on its successes and loses money on its failures is still the best way we know to keep capital flowing. Which means that the risk of failure has to remain in place. What we do want to do is identify those banking functions that are socially necessary - the utilities - and separate them from the risk-taking, purely profit-driven enterprises. Call it the Enron principle: we want to diminish the extent to which a system can be gamed in proportion to the extent that the consequences of gaming the system could be disastrous for our society. For the very same reasons that complete nationalization would be a very bad idea, partial nationalization might make some sense, so long as it is restricted to areas where we don't care so much about the inefficient allocation of resources - there are other goals besides efficiency - and do not need or want the services of the quants. 2. We do not really want the government - even at this moment - to be in the business of rewriting contracts. The behavior of the financial markets is all about confidence; the problem with the credit freeze, remember, is not that banks have no money to lend, it is that they have no confidence in seeing a return on those loans. The specter of the government using its power to undo transactions that people entered into in the hope of making money can only diminish global confidence in the system as a whole. 3. Where the consequences of failure are intolerable, the opportunities for profit need to be limited; that's the converse of the basic premise that smart risk-taking should be rewarded. Back in the Depression, the Glass-Steagall law tried to separate the utilities from the casinos by prohibiting bank holding companies from owning other financial institutions. That law was repealed in 1999 by a bill sponsored by Phill Gramm, the same economic genius who gave us the Commodities Futures Modernization Act of 2000 that deregulated the derivatives market. That Act included the notorious "Enron loophole" deregulating energy-related trades, specifically crafted by Enron lobbyists working for Gramm. The story is too good not to repeat: the bill was passed two days after the Supreme Court's decision in Bush v. Gore, was never debated in either the House or the Senate, and was signed into law as part of an omnibus spending package. In other words, an awful lot of good can be done just by undoing the spectacularly stupid and corrupt things we - our government representatives -- did recently. Laissez-faire capitalism did not work well in an industrial economy; it works even less well in a post-industrial finance-driven system of capitalism. But restoring sanity to the regulatory system may not be enough. People are right to be thinking about the need for structural changes. Toward that end, we may want to nationalize certain aspects of the banking system, or at least to regulate their operation to the point where they are effectively separated from the private financial markets. Such sectors would not attract the best of the "quants," but that's okay - the point is to create sectors that do not have the potential for nuclear meltdown even though hey will not produce nuclear power. It's the utility model again. So what functions that the banking system serves are analogies to clean water and electricity? Start with private mortgages. It was a really dumb idea to turn Fannie Mae ove to private shareholders back in the 1968. That program was created in 1938 in response to a lack of liquidity in mortgage markets. The reason for change in 1968 was to get the costs of the programs off the government's balance sheets in order to help pay for a war -- something simultaneously classical and contemporary about that move, isn't there? Then in 1970 we created Freddie Mac to expand the secondary mortgage market. Both steps were essentially ways to raise revenue -- to pay for our wars -- by allowing utility-style function (enabling people to buy homes) to mix with casino-style functions (speculating on the future of those mortgages). Let's start by undoing those moves. It is worth remembering that the asset-backed securities on which AIG was writing insurance policies were not unregulated; at that stage of the transactions all the underlying valuation information was availablt. It's just that the form of the security (bundles of huge numbers of mortgages) and the system of trading created overwhelming incentives to ignore the underlying valuation information and rely on historical trends. So the ratings agencies and the bond underwriters and everyone else screwed up. That's what "risk" is all about, and it's why you don't want it in your living room. On the other hand, you don't necessarily want the government to be in the business of supplying credit for real estate speculators like the folks buying up hundreds of properties in Detroit for a song. How about a public mortgage guarantee program that is limited to a single property that is used as a primary residence, and restricting the secondary mortgage-based investment market to other loans? How about offering rates that, while good, can still be undercut by private lenders willing to take on riskier loans, with assurances that in the event those riskier loans go bad those entities will not be "too big to fail"? It is an equally bad idea to have private providers of student loans. That one should simply be nationalized outright. Which would not prevent any lender from offering a loan that could be used to pay for college, it's just that those loans would not come with any governmental support or guarantees. Conversely, a nationalized student loan program should define its mission as giving as many students as possible the opportunity to go to college; in terms of long-term returns, there is simply no better investment that the government can make. What about commercial paper - the short-term credit that keeps our small businesses in operation? There is a good argument that the current crisis demonstrates the desirability of a permanent version of the instruments Geithner promoted at the New York Fed and now at Treasury, a backup system of government-provided short-term credit available in case the private system fails. Such a system has to be designed carefully to avoid creating structural incentives that make the government financing always the more attractive option; the idea is that publicly financed credit should be a last resort, not an entire competing system. The credit card industry is a disgrace. One reason to avoid incentives for seeking rewards by taking on excessive risk is to avoid encouraging predatory behavior. A national usury law limiting interest rates on private credit agreements to 10% would mean that some people cannot get credit cards, but it would do a tremendous amount of good in reducing the chance of triggering yet another crisis that many forecasters see looming on the horizon. If you can't make a profit lending money at 10% interest, you're in the wrong line of work. 4. We have to use the power of government to reduce - not abolish, merely tame the excesses - of the risk-reward relationship in the private financial markets. We need to restore or invent limits on the level of leveraging. By ""we" I am talking about a global effort, not a local one. The only alternative would be some kind of weird financial protectionism that tried to limit the interactions of the American and global financial markets. Which would not work: any such system simply begs to be gamed. Some kind of an antitrust principle to limit the size of any single fund or coordination among funds might be a good idea, and the same goes for commercial banks and other financial institutions. Basic premise: in the private sector, no business should ever be allowed to become too big to fail, as a basic matter of preserving the risk-reward relationship. 5. We do not want to abolish all "derivatives," a term that covers a multitude of different kinds of instruments ranging from currency futures to, well, credit default swaps. Derivatives were created to reduce risk - basically, they are various forms of side bets -- and they often work in just that way. When they fail, they can fail badly, but the solution is to ensure that the consequences of those failures do not endanger the "utility" side of the operations, not to prevent side-bets in our casinos. I recently wrote a post arguing that the sheer size of the derivative market and the relative opacity of at least some categories of those instruments makes them a danger - I called them the dragon in the living room. But the solution is not to kill the dragon, it is to get it out of the living room. Dragons, after all, keep the pterodactyl population in check. I should note that my previous post resulted in a fairly outraged e-mail from someone at the International Swaps and Derivatives Association, who argued that I was looking at the wrong numbers. I remain unconvinced - the role of CDS's and asset-backed securities in creating the current crisis cannot be denied - but he made some good points about other categories of derivatives. The real point is that if you want to talk about restructuring a nuclear reactor, you had better have some nuclear engineers in the room. All of this may seem awfully obvious and old hat by now. In fact, I am pretty sure that what I am articulating here is close to the thinking of Geithner and others in the Obama administration. But lately the torches-and-pitchforks voices have begun to drown out serious discussion. Time to take a deep breath or two: populist rage is a rotten basis for policy-making. More on The Bailouts
 
Jose A. Garcia: Use the Race Lens to Scrutinize Financial Products Top
Democratic lawmakers in Congress this week introduced legislation to create a Financial Product Safety Commission to ensure that mortgages, credit cards and retirement accounts do not pose unacceptable risks to consumers. Such a move would provide consumers with their first real protections in decades -- but the effort will be far less effective if the Commission fails to use a race lens when scrutinizing financial products. All Americans have been affected by deregulation regardless of race or ethnicity. Stories abound of salary cuts, job losses, foreclosures and disappearing 401(k) savings in the wake of the mortgage debacle. However, the resulting recession has been particularly devastating for communities of color. The recession hit consumers of color at a time when many are using credit cards to pay for basic necessities. In a 2008 survey of low- and middle-income Americans, Demos, a non-partisan public policy center, found that Hispanic and African-American households carried credit card debt twice the total value of their financial assets. White households, by comparison, tend to have more financial assets than credit card debt. The group United for a Fair Economy estimates that the total loss of wealth to date among households of color is between $164 billion and $213 billion thanks to subprime loans taken out during the past eight years. With few to no assets and mounting debt, the economic insecurity experienced by communities of color has as much to do with 30 years of disinvestment in these communities as it does with today's economic climate. Social investment policies in the past have failed to provide a hand up for families of color in the United States. Policies like the Higher Education Act of 1965 and GI Bill helped to assist many in joining the middle class by funding higher education and assisting in the purchase of a home, respectively. Sadly, these initiatives did not equally benefit all Americans and helped create a racial wealth gap that persists today -- a problem that will be addressed later this month in Washington at the "Color of Wealth" policy summit involving scholars, policy experts and advocates from communities of color and members of Congress. That problem has only been compounded by the financial industry's less than equal treatment of consumers of color. For years, these communities were denied financial services as banks refused to extend loans or simply failed to place banking centers in communities of color. Then the industry courted these same neglected consumers, targeting them for toxic mortgages and high-cost credit card and auto loans, often even if a borrower qualified for a prime rate product. If the proposed Financial Product Safety Commission comes to fruition, it is these past inequities that it must actively address. To do so requires moving past the notion of color blind policies as a one-size-fits-all answer. The pressing economic needs of communities of color require advocates and policy makers to ask how particular lending will directly impact communities of color. That means tracking marketing campaigns, scrutinizing products and terms, and analyzing the long-term economic impact of the products offered by race and ethnicity. Already, mortgage data is collected by race and ethnicity. By extending the collection of race data to other lending industries -- credit cards, auto loans, payday loans and so on -- the proposed Commission can better police the lending industry and its treatment of consumers of color. It's just common sense. Consumer protections must protect all Americans equally. Failing to do so will only widen the economic gap and threaten to leave so many further behind as the nation tries to lift itself out of recession. Jose Garcia is the Associate Director of Policy and Research at Demos ( demos.org ), a national public policy center. He is the author of many reports on debt and race, and is the co-author of the book "Up to Our Eyeballs: How Shady Lenders and Failed Economic Policies are Drowning Americans in Debt." He is a member of the Insight Center for Community Economic Development's "Experts of Color Clearinghouse." ( www.insightexpertsofcolor.org )
 
Steve Young: Hey Stewart!: Lay Off AIG, Madoff and Kramer Top
Jon Stewart Interviews Jim Kramer Has America gotten so callous that we no longer appreciate the fine art of securities fraud? Am I the only one who's sick and tired of having pundits and holier than thou's demeaning the missteps of those who did what we all know we would have done if we were in their very expensive shoes? It seems that everyone is taking some kid of perverted joy from watching these powerful entities fall. Folks, we're only talking about money here. It's not like anyone is dying, except maybe for those who are so distraught about losing their jobs, watching their pensions dissolve or their family fall apart, that they've swallowed a gun barrel. So what if there are those who have become so depressed that they've crawled into a chronic fetal position in bed, covers over their head, thumb tucked neatly in mouth, unable to face friends and family? Since when does being weak deserve our compassion? Isn't that what Zoloft and funeral directors are for? So shame on you, Jon Stewart. Shame on your so-called satire. Is everything a joke with you? Jim Kramer looked at you with remorseful baby seal eyes and instead of granting him forgiveness, you chose to club him and use his blubber and glossy white pelt for comedy material. Humiliating another human for the sake of entertainment? That, Mr. Stewart, isn't entertainment. That's plain, unadulterated mockery. Which I admit, in some cases, might be considered entertainment, if it's done well. But still, can't you just use puns or prop comedy. Do you have to READ THE REST OF INSULT TO OUR RICH DEFRAUDERS HERE Award winning TV writer, Steve Young, is author of "Great Failures of the Extremely Successful" www.greatfailure.com and blogs at the appropriately named, steveyoungonpolitics.com More on Jon Stewart
 
Hagel: Cheney's Critique Of Obama As "Ridiculous" Top
Last night on MSNBC's Rachel Maddow Show, Maddow asked former Sen. Chuck Hagel about former Vice President Cheney's recent claims that President Obama is making the American people "less safe" by raising the "risk to the American people of another [terrorist] attack." Hagel called Cheney's comments "ridiculous" and "folly," concluding "I'm sorry the Vice President said that": More on Barack Obama
 
MJ Rosenberg: AIG: The Media's Appalling Hypocrisy and Anti-Obama Bias Top
Did you see Jake Tapper of ABC getting getting all medieval on Robert Gibbs at the White House yesterday? When did the president first learn about the AIG bonuses? Would you give us a tick-tock on what he knew, how he knew, and what his reaction was? And the newspapers are going nuts. Outrage is the #1 headline word of the day. And the pundits are wondering: is the bloom off the Obama rose? I have two words for the MSM: shut the f--- up. For eight years, the Republicans gave unprecedented trillion dollar bonuses to the richest people in America. They took the Clinton boom and intentionally turned it to bust. On top of that, they lied us into a war that killed 4000+ Americans and maybe a million Iraqis. Where was the MSM's OUTRAGE then? Was David Gregory outraged when he boogied with Rove at the press dinner? Did any of his colleagues join Helen Thomas when she asked some really hard questions at the daily briefings? No. They laughed at her for taking it all so seriously. But now they are GENUINELY outraged at a Democratic president who is trying to fix a mess that occurred in part because they refused to challenge the big scary Republicans. Chutzpah. They are so full of shit I'm going totally Lewis Black on you. God, I hate the MSM. Obama should ignore them. Most Americans do. More on Bailout Bandits
 
Police Supt. Jody Weis Gets No-Confidence Vote From Cops Top
Chicago cops gave the department's top boss an unexpected -- and unflattering -- performance review during a monthly union meeting Tuesday night. Nearly 200 officers, out of the 11,000-plus in the union and below the rank of sergeant, in attendance registered a vote of "no-confidence" in the leadership of Supt. Jody Weis, said Fraternal Order of Police President Mark Donahue.
 
Obama Urges Door-To-Door Canvassing For His Budget (VIDEO) Top
President Barack Obama released a new video Wednesday morning through his campaign-offshoot organization, Organize for America, asking viewers to rally in support of his proposed budget. The video, sent to the 13-million-strong email list by former Obama campaign manager David Plouffe, has the president declaring: "We must rebuild our economy on a foundation that lasts. And that is exactly what the budget I submitted to Congress is designed to do." WATCH: The accompanying website asks viewers to either "Call Congress" or "Join a Canvass." The video email blast has become a tried and true tool of the Obama political arsenal, one which Organize for America has deployed several times since its inception. The problem OFA and the president face is that there may simply not be enough oxygen in the room. The public was easily galvanized for an election, and seems moved and affected by highly populist issues like AIG's bonuses or financial bailouts. Getting similar levels of involvement for a budget fight is a much more difficult battle - one that proved elusive during the stimulus debate - and it should provide an interesting insight into the extent of the emotional investment of Obama supporters. "I'm asking you to head outside this Saturday to knock on some doors, talk to some neighbors, and let people know how important this budget is to our future," the president says. "And that is why I'm asking you to stay involved in the days ahead." More on Barack Obama
 
The Sportsman's Daily: Bill O'Reilly Rips Obama's Final Four Picks: "Concerns About Administration Growing" Top
NEW YORK (Sportsman's Daily Wire Service) - Tuesday, President Barack Obama filled out his NCAA bracket for ESPN, picking Louisville, North Carolina, Memphis and Pittsburgh to make it to the Final Four - all number one seeds with the exception of No. 2 seeded Memphis. On just about any other day, the President announcing his Final Four picks would cause little stir. But the President's picks flew into the teeth of mounting populist rage triggered by the "retention" bonuses awarded to the geniuses responsible for driving insurance giant AIG off the proverbial cliff - and onto the backs of the American taxpayers who find themselves at the bottom of the ravine. Fox News TV personality Billl O'Reilly, who knows a thing or two about rage (both populist and personal), lit into the President's picks, calling them "reckless, irresponsible, transparently phony and ill-timed." O'Reilly devoted an entire "Talking Points Memo" segment of his popular cable show to thunder at the President. "Here we have these crooks at AIG being awarded for their malfeasance to the tune of $165 million in bonuses, and our President is, la-di-da, spending time with ESPN to noodle over this Final Four picks. The 'Memo' wants to know: where is the outrage, Mr. President? The American public is in no mood to be distracted, charmed or amused. What they want to see from their President is a show of focused, sustained fury. Blind rage. If you, Mr. President, are unfamiliar with what blind rage looks like, I submit the following for your edification." O'Reilly thrilled his loyal viewing audience with a fifteen second highlight reel of his most renowned temper tantrums. "That, Mr. President, is how it's done," said a visibly self-satisfied O'Reilly, obviously energized by the bravura display of vintage shit-fits. "Point two, the picks themselves. North Carolina out of the South, solid pick, no quarrel there, and I have no problem with Pittsburgh who the Factor believes will emerge from the East. But picking two seed Memphis over the clearly superior (Connecticut) Huskies out of the West - who the Factor is picking to go all the way -- shows the extent to which this President is politicizing his picks. We all know there's no love lost between President Obama and Connecticut Senator Joe Lieberman...and picking Louisville over Wake Forrest out of the Midwest is an insultingly transparent attempt to mend electoral fences, as Kentucky went for McCain by a 16 point margin this past November." O'Reilly brushed aside Republican charges that the President is "willy-nilly" reversing" President Bush's Final Four picks from the year before. "The Factor has no evidence that that is the case, as, quite frankly, we have no record of the former President making his thoughts on the subject known. But this we do know: Concern about the Obama administration is growing. Fair or not. And that's the memo." O'Reilly's nemesis Keith Olbermann dismissed the comments out of hand. "Bill-o doesn't know the difference between jaywalking and a traveling violation and all of a sudden he's Billy fucking Packer? Ridiculous. And the last thing the President needs is a lesson on outrage from a guy that makes Dick Vitale look like Fred McMurray on Paxil. If the President wants to share his Final Four picks with the nation, I don't see the problem. But Memphis, Mr. President? Memphis? Really?" More on Barack Obama
 
Baha'is Subject To Persecution In Iran, Labeled As Spies (AUDIO) Top
Iran arrested seven leaders of the religious Baha'i community last year, charging them with espionage and alleging that the five men and two women are spies for Israel. Baha'i headquarters are located in Israel. Iranian leaders view the religion as heresy and it has been banned since the 1979 Islamic Revolution. Many followers of the Baha'i faith in Iran have been arrested, imprisoned or executed. The Baha'i faith is a monotheistic religion with origins in 19th-century Iran. Baha'is are considered Iran's largest non-Muslim religious minority, with about 300,000 members. The U.S. has condemned Iran for its persecution of the Baha'is, calling the detainment of religious leaders "baseless." Worldfocus.org's weekly radio show explored the background and history of the Baha'i faith, religious persecution in Iran and the arrest and forthcoming trial of the seven Baha'i leaders. Martin Savidge hosted a panel of guests: Dwight Bashir is a senior advisor for the Middle East at the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom. Mr. Bashir is a specialist in ethnic and religious conflict and preventive diplomacy. He has traveled widely in Europe, the Middle East and West Africa and has lectured and published on a wide array of topics in international affairs, including human rights, religious extremism and U.S. foreign policy. Kit Bigelow is the director of external affairs for the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of the U.S. Since 1985, she has represented the National Spiritual Assembly in the promotion and protection of human rights, including religious freedom, the rights of women, U.S. ratification of United Nations human rights treaties and the elimination of racism. She advocates on these issues at the White House, the State Department, the Congress and the U.N. She has testified before Congress on the oppression of the Baha'is in Iran and of Egypt. Trita Parsi is the founder and president of the National Iranian American Council and an expert on U.S.-Iranian relations, Iranian politics and the balance of power in the Middle East. He is the author of "Treacherous Alliance: The Secret Dealings of Iran, Israel and the United States" and an adjunct scholar at the Middle East Institute. He was born in Iran and has followed Middle East politics through work in the field and experience on Capitol Hill and at the United Nations. [LISTEN:] Check out more from WorldFocus... More on Iran
 
Pavel Somov, Ph.D.: Can Dieting Make You Dumb? Top
You've heard it again and again: diets don't work. But here's a new one for you: diets make you dumb. Some diets, that is. No, not metaphorically - literally! The Monitor on Psychology, a publication of the American Psychological Association, reports in its February issue: "The Adkins diet and other low-carb weight-loss plans may hamper thinking and memory. " "Researchers compared the cognitive skills of 19 female dieters over three weeks and found that during the initial period of carbohydrate elimination for the diet low in carbohydrates, the women performed more poorly on memory-related tasks and had slower reaction times than those following low-calorie diets" (APA Monitor on Psychology, 2009, Vol. 40, No. 2, p. 12; Appetite, Vol. 52, No. 1). To clarify: the cognitive deficits weren't necessarily the result of calorie restriction per se but due to a reduction in carbs. If this finding isn't the last nail in the coffin of low-carb diets, I don't know what would be! Thankfully the effects are reversible. Holly Taylor, Ph.D. (Tufts University), the psychologist who conducted the study, reassures low-carb dieters: "Thinking and memory skills returned to normal" once the carbs were reintroduced into the diets (APA Monitor on Psychology, p. 12). The fact that cognitive deficits (memory decline and slower reaction time) are reversible is certainly reassuring. But let's face it: weight loss at the cost of mind loss is hardly a sustainable long-term approach! Pavel Somov, Ph.D., author of EATING THE MOMENT: 141 MINDFUL STRATEGIES TO OVERCOME OVEREATING ONE MEAL AT A TIME (New Harbinger, 2008) www.eatingthemoment.com Copyright 2009
 
Scott Mendelson: Review: The Great Buck Howard (2009) Top
The Great Buck Howard 2009 90 minutes Rated PG by Scott Mendelson "People die everyday, Frankie - mopping floors, washing dishes and you know what their last thought is? I never got my shot." - Morgan Freeman ( Million Dollar Baby ) We are always hearing about comebacks in Hollywood. Sometimes it's the much-vaunted recovery from some kind of personal issues, trying to remake their career after artistic or financial failure, or simply re-emerging back into the limelight after a self-imposed sabbatical. There is an odd need to embrace the 'back from the dead' narrative in Hollywood careers. What's never discussed, however, is why so many entertainers feel that they are entitled to a second chance, especially when so few people get their first shot in this most random and brutal of businesses. The Great Buck Howard is a charmingly entertaining comedy about the difference between second chances and second acts. It is no small irony that the film seems to cement the next stage of John Malkovich's career, that of the approachable and non-threatening comedy actor. I've written elsewhere about the odd phenomenon of famous villains becoming gentle comic souls in their later years (in fact, that essay started as the opening paragraph of this review), and Malkovich's humorous and subtle performance is what makes this film worth seeing. A token amount of plot - Troy Gabel (Colin Hanks) has just quit law school, much to the chagrin of his father (Tom Hanks, who also produced this picture). Deciding that he wants to be an entertainer/writer instead, Troy eventually finds himself hired as an assistant to Buck Howard (Malkovich), a past-his-prime stage magician and hypnotist who is struggling to regain the fame and glory of his prime years. Buck Howard may be occasionally pushy, rude, and overly demanding, but Troy sees the true talent that once made Buck a star and convinces himself that what he's doing has purpose. It's not the most original story ever told, and I was annoyed at the pointless inclusion of a romantic interest. Emily Blunt's publicist character has little depth and no real use to the story other to give Troy someone attractive to crush on. But the pay off is surprisingly moving and the characters are surprisingly honest. I'm fond of the moment when Troy's father confides in his son that he certainly doesn't enjoy the high-stress work that pays the bills, but that he was hoping that his son wouldn't have to fend for himself (tragically, this marks the once invincible Tom Hanks' first good live-action movie since The Ladykillers in early 2004). This is a small movie, and the picture sneaks up on you even as you know where it's probably headed. The film works mainly because of John Malkovich's delightful comic performance. As a genuinely talented man who is in denial about the level of his fame and the nature of his legacy, Buck Howard inspires our sympathy even when his behavior doesn't always earn it. The story eventually becomes a treatise on what it means to be successful in a given field, regardless of your level of fame. The final ten minutes are shockingly effective, with Malkovich doing some of the best work in his career. In the end, The Great Buck Howard is a small story, well-told by actors who rise above the sometimes stock plot mechanics. The film has a good-natured vibe, with a surprisingly sound resolution that rings true. It's worth seeing for John Malkovich's wonderfully atypical performance, and I cannot wait to see what he does with his own second act. Grade: 3.5/5
 
Lee Stranahan: Cable News Has Failed All of Us Once Again on the Economy Top
Ask an average American how they feel about executives at AIG getting bonuses and I bet their answer will be short, clear and definite. After a few days of wall to wall cable news coverage of the $165 million dollar outrage, it's something that nearly everyone knows about. But if you asked the same average American to explain AIG's role in the financial crisis, I'm wagering you'll get nothing but a blank stare and a mumble or two. That's because the major media, especially cable news, has failed dismally in explaining what actually happened to trigger the biggest economic crisis since the Great Depression. The media is letting down the American public in the same way they let us down in the months leading up to the Iraq war and the consequences could be even worse. Jon Stewart was right to lambaste the financial news channels for blowing the story but he didn't go far enough. Cable news has been a bright shiny bauble of sound and fury explaining nothing but feeding us Dow numbers and battling viewpoints. Where are the explanations of the the complexities of mortgage backed securities, the commercial paper market, or credit default swaps? The AIG bonus story has created another chance for cable news to get it right but they have remained admirably true to form. The bonuses are awful and there's a story there as Congress and the Obama administration struggles to deal with it but the deeper story remains unexamined. Why is AIG too big to fail? What were they insuring? What are those derivative things that have been mentioned? Oops, no time -- let's cut to the B Roll of the people protesting! As much as both the right and left love to claim an ideological bias to the media, the real culprit is journalistic laziness and a bias towards simple, dumbed down discourse and argument. The actual causes of crisis seem fairly nonpartisan and there's plently of blame to go around. There is one area, however, where the Republicans need to be called out and that's in the narrative they have been running since the election that the heart of the crisis is subprime loans made to poor, minority borrowers by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. It's an easy, one sentence soundbite that plays to a good sized chunk of the country's prejudice and it's beyond shameful in both its manipulation and inaccuracy. Worse, it's gotten traction because cable news has let it be repeated countless times in the last few months and they have utterly failed to prmeovide the real explanation for the meltdown. But there's nothing dumb that can't be made dumber. The even shorter version of the GOP narrative was Pete Santelli's rant against 'losers'. This is ideological justification for the frenzied cries of wealth redistribution. To a citizenry treated like idiots by many journalists and told repeated lies by the political leaders of a major political party, the whole thing sounds plausible. This is too important to let the media blame the public and their short attention spans. NPR's show This American Life did an episode back in May, 2008 called The Giant Pool Of Money that showed that the subject can be handled in a way that's clear, compelling and entertaining. NPR's Planet Money podcasts have continued to be an invaluable tool for understanding what's really happening with lucid, east to follow explanations of things like the TED spread and why the interest rate on the 3 Month Treasury Bill matters. 60 Minutes has also done excellent work. These are exceptions, though, and so the person on the street isn't learning what they need to know in order to understand what is happening. The useful information is drowned out in a waterfall of simplistic and often partisan explanations of things that are tangential to the crisis at hand. Ultimately, blaming the media is futile. Can we really expect Contessa Brewer, Wolf Blitzer or Steve Doocy to explain semi-complex financial terms when it's so much easier to do a segment where two people bicker? And is it a good use of time for economists like Paul Krugman or Dean Baker to explain the same thing over and over again in layman's terms? At this point, the explanations needs to come from the Obama administration itself. Yes, it has plenty to do already but if wants continued public support for their efforts to solve the crisis they need to realize that people don't even really understand the crisis. The President can mention the derivative market in speeches but he's got to realize that he might as well be speaking Latin to the people on Main Street. It's time for back to basics. Capitalism In Crisis 101. It's crazy that we're this far into the crisis and it needs to be explained, but that's the situation we find ourselves in. Paging Professor Obama. More on Barack Obama
 
Russia's Inflation Could Spur Social Unrest Top
Her job is safe and her salary hasn't been cut by a single ruble, yet Svetlana Nikolayeva says she feels the effects of the financial crisis as badly as anyone. More on Russia
 
Dr. Judith Rich: Follow Your Bliss: The Holy Work Of Living Your Dreams Top
Impossible To Inevitable: Dare To Dream Big - Part IV " What is it that makes you happy? 
Stay with it, no matter what people tell you. 
 This is what I call, 'Following Your Bliss.' If you do follow your bliss, you put yourself on a kind of track that has been there all the while, waiting for you. 
And the life that you ought to be living,
is the one you ARE living.
 Wherever you are, if you are following your bliss, you are enjoying that refreshment, 
that lives within you, all the time. When you can see that, you begin to meet people who are in the field of your bliss,
 and they open doors for you. 
I say, follow your bliss and don't be afraid, and doors will open 
where you didn't know they were going to be." Joseph Campbell Last week, our focus was on declaring your impossible dream and making it tangible. One way to do that is to make a Dream Map. Check out last week's post for instructions on how to map your dreams. If you think this is just child's play, think again! There's a principle at work here: consciousness aligns with itself. So while at the surface, it looks like you're just cutting out pictures from magazines and arranging them artfully on a piece of poster board, there's something "else" going on at the same time. This is an intuitive process that is like taking your right brain to the gym! If you don't appreciate the importance of giving your right brain a creative work-out, listen to this: Daniel Pink in his book A Whole New Mind says, "Right brainers will rule the future," and New York Times columnist Thomas L. Friedman says in his books The World Is Flat and Hot, Flat, and Crowded that right brain activities are essential to jobs that cannot be out-sourced. Friedman asserts, "Creativity can be applied not only to creating art, but also to solving pressing problems of the day: finding sustainable energy solutions, developing innovative business ideas, and creating jobs". Here's what reader Nicole_Deggins shared about her experience AFTER she made her map: "First I have to say Ideas and direction opened up. Once I had the "map" in front of me I began to know which way to go and I was able to get to work. That was one of my biggest problems before. I have heard it a million times, at seminars, in books, in conversations....Put your plan down on paper, make it real. I never did it. Making the vision board gave me something tangible and as a result I was able to make deicisons about what to do first instead of just THINKING about the plan I was able to begin DOING something. And when I look at it....it makes me smile." Thanks Nicole! So go ahead! Give your right brain a creative workout and have fun mapping your way to your dreams. Once you've created your map or chosen an object that represents your dream and makes it tangible: Create a sacred space and place your object there with the intention of incubating your dream . It might be the top of a bookcase, a shelf or a dresser top. Find a beautiful cloth to place there and add candles, photos, statues, flowers; whatever brings you back to your dream vision and fires your imagination. Carrying a dream is like being pregnant. Dreams take time to unfold and manifest in form. Think of this sacred space as womb for your dream, a place to do the inner work required to flesh it out. My own dream now lives in me with a burning passion. So much so that doing anything other than writing almost seems like a disruption. I know I need to be mindful about getting outdoors to exercise, eating properly and taking care of the "business" of my life. But my heart is now devoted to the writing of my book. I find myself guarding this time like a mother bear, turning down invitations for social events because, well, I'm kind of like a maniac on a mission! That's how inspired dreams live in us when we're fully surrendered to them. It's taken me 67 years to get here! I thought I'd most likely missed my chance this lifetime. If I didn't do it decades ago, what made me think I'd have the energy and motivation to devote to a project like this now? And who would want to read what I have to say? Who would want to publish me? How would I ever pull it off? Can you hear me arguing for my limitations? Well that's a thing of the past. I'm now focused on doing the work. The rest will take care of itself. I am incubating this dream, holding it near and dear to my heart like an embryo. Consider that incubating and giving birth to your dreams is holy work. It's what your soul came to do. For all that might seem impractical and improbable, there is also a certain inevitability to your dreams. Sooner or later, the soul will have its way with you. It's a good idea to get on board before your "flight is cancelled", if you know what I mean. So follow your bliss and while you're at it put intention around incubating your dream. Build it and they will come. Hold it near and dear, nurture it, listen to it, let it guide you. Offer up a blessing to yourself and to the diamon that brought it to you. Maybe all you have for evidence is a spark of imagination or a burning passion you can't extinguish. Listen to this and follow it. It'll take you on an amazing adventure. Consider the adventure of Paul Potts, the mobile phone salesman from the UK who won the Britain's Got Talent competition a couple of years ago. I'm sure you've all heard of him and seen the You Tube videos of his stunning, winning performance. Check out this interview of him, made after he became rich and famous. He offers advice for the rest of us following our dreams: Aren't human beings magnificent? It's a privilege to be here with all of you, while I follow my own bliss. I hope you're following yours. I'd love to hear from you, specifically what you're up to in this domain of manifesting your impossible dreams. I'm also interested in gathering stories of people living their dreams for my book, and future blog posts. Feel free to contact me at judith@theraisinyears.com . Or send me a friend request on Facebook (please let me know you're a reader) and join our Impossible Dreamer's group on FB. And of course, please let us know you were here by leaving a comment below. Follow your bliss and I look forward to seeing you here next time. More on YouTube
 
Syria's Assad Praises Obama, Asks For Meeting Top
ROME — Syrian President Bashar Assad has expressed worry over what he sees as Israeli society's turn to the right, according to a newspaper interview published Wednesday. Assad also said he would like to meet President Barack Obama, the Rome daily La Repubblica reported. Expectations for Obama are high following the administration of George W. Bush, Assad said, according to the newspaper. He was quoted as saying Obama needs to restore American credibility, and his first steps are encouraging. "The expectations are great for a new language signaling respect toward different cultures and helping ease tensions, especially religious tensions, caused by Bush when he spoke of crusades," Assad was quoted as saying. Obama has pledged to deliver a major speech in a Muslim nation early in his presidency. Asked if he would like to meet the new U.S. president, Assad said: "Yes, in principle, it would be a very positive signal. But I'm not after a souvenir photo. I hope I can see him to talk." Assad said that, while in theory he could envision a resumption of negotiations with Israel, he views the possibility as moving further away. Israel will soon have a new government with hard-line Likud leader Benjamin Netanyahu at the helm. "I'm not worried at the thought of Netanyahu, but by Israeli society's turning right, as reflected by Netanyahu's rise," he was quoted as saying. "That's the biggest obstacle to peace." More on Syria
 
China, Coca-Cola Deal Blocked Under Chinese Monopoly Law Top
March 18 (Bloomberg) -- China's rejection of Coca-Cola Co.'s $2.3 billion bid to buy China Huiyuan Juice Group Ltd. is the first denial of an acquisition under an anti-monopoly law that's been criticized since inception for a lack of openness. The Ministry of Commerce, which said today it rejected Coca- Cola's acquisition as the deal would harm competition in the domestic beverage market, should publicly disclose how it reached that conclusion, said Guan Anping, a former Chinese trade official, who's also taught anti-monopoly law at Beijing's Capital University of Economics and Business. More on China
 
Shelly Palmer: Apple Unveils New iPhone Software: MediaBytes with Shelly Palmer March 18, 2009 Top
Apple unveiled new software for the iPhone yesterday at a conference in Cupertino, CA. The company also revealed new tools available to developers to build software applications for the iPhone. For users, the new iPhone update will finally allow for the copying-and-pasting of both pictures and text, a major flaw in former operating systems. IBM is in talks to purchase Sun Microsystems . Sources say IBM could pay up to $6.5 billion in cash for Sun Microsystems, who could potentially increase IBM's web presence, as well as its share of the finance and telecommunications market. Sun, which has been struggling as of late, has shopped itself to other companies in recent months, including H-P, who declined an offer. WPP and Google have teamed to fund a research project which studies how ads in both traditional and digital media work hand in hand . The three year study, which has a budget of roughly $4.6 million, may be a key determining factor in getting companies to increase their marketing and advertising budgets amidst declines in media spending. The study will cover such essentials as how to determine where ad dollars are best spent, and what number of ads will effectively increase a brands sales and image. Guy Hands announced that he will step down as CEO of British investment company Terra Firma . Hands, who has been with the company for seven years, is responsible for its investment in EMI, and was once touted as the savior for the recorded music company. Hands will remain Chairmen and CIO, while Tim Pryce will become CEO. Nielsen reports that media spending fell 2.8% in 2008 , year over year, with total spending at $136.8 billion. Influenced by tough economic times, the top ten advertisers spent approximately 15% less than in 2007. Despite numbers being down around the board, television advertising was clearly the preferred medium of choice, with 60% of ad money spent on network, cable, hispanic, and spot TV. Shelly Palmer is a consultant and the host of MediaBytes a daily show featuring news you can use about technology, media & entertainment. He is Managing Director of Advanced Media Ventures Group LLC and the author of Television Disrupted: The Transition from Network to Networked TV (2008, York House Press). Shelly is also President of the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, NY (the organization that bestows the coveted Emmy® Awards ). You can join the MediaBytes mailing list here . Shelly can be reached at shelly@palmer.net . More on Apple
 
Russia Confirms Iran Missile Contract Top
MOSCOW — Russian news agencies cited a top defense official Wednesday as confirming that a contract to sell powerful air-defense missiles to Iran was signed two years ago, but saying no such weapons have yet been delivered. Russian officials have consistently denied claims the country already has provided some of the S-300 missiles to Iran. They have not said whether a contract existed. The state-run ITAR-Tass and RIA-Novosti news agencies and the independent Interfax quoted an unnamed top official in the Federal Military-Technical Cooperation Service as saying the contract was signed two years ago. Service spokesman Andrei Tarabrin told The Associated Press he could not immediately comment. Supplying S-300s to Iran would change the military balance in the Middle East and the issue has been the subject of intense speculation and diplomatic wrangling for months. Israel and the U.S. fear that, were Iran to possess S-300 missiles, it would use them to protect its nuclear facilities _ including the uranium enrichment plant at Natanz or the country's first atomic power plant, which is now being built by Russian contractors at Bushehr. That would make a military strike on the Iranian facilities much more difficult. It was not clear why the missiles have not been delivered, but the reports cited the defense official as saying "fulfillment of the contract will mainly depend on the current international situation and the decision of the country's leadership." That could indicate that Russia intends to use the contract as a bargaining chip before next month's meeting between President Dmitry Medvedev and President Barack Obama. But the defense official said Russia does not intend to abandon the contract, estimated to be worth hundreds of millions of dollars, ITAR-Tass said, A prominent Russian analyst, Ruslan Pukhov of the Center for Analysis of Strategies and Technologies, said the missile contract was seen by the Kremlin as primarily a political rather than commercial matter. "The S-300 contract, and cooperation with Iran in general, is regarded by Moscow only as an instrument of political bargaining with the West and not as a way of realizing the fundamental defense and commercial interests of Russia," he was quoted as saying by RIA-Novosti. More on Russia
 
Dem 'Centrists' Plot To Hamstring Obama Agenda Top
Roll Call reports (subscription required) that a group of centrist Senate Democrats are working to block parts of President Obama's agenda. As Obama and Democratic leaders consider using a budget rule to bypass Republican filibusters , some in the party are not going along. A bloc of Senate Democratic moderates is quietly maneuvering to keep open the option of vetoing two of President Barack Obama's most ambitious agenda items this year -- climate change and health care reform. Eight Democrats who want to water down new climate change legislation have already joined with Republicans and signed a letter opposing any attempt to use fast-track budget rules to prevent filibusters. Many of the same Democrats also oppose using those budget rules to prevent filibusters of health care legislation. Democrats aim to use a budget reconciliation rule to make some key proposals easier to pass. Under reconciliation, only 51 votes are needed to end debate and force a final vote, instead of 60. Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.) and Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.) are among the eight Democrats who signed the letter opposing reconciliation. Republicans are on their side , claiming the move would break Obama's bipartisan pledge. "That's absolutely a concern of a lot of people," Lincoln said. "We need everyone in the room. It needs to be done in a bipartisan way." Meanwhile, Sen. Evan Bayh of Indiana announced the formation of a 15-person working group of moderate Senate Democrats on MSNBC's "Morning Joe" Wednesday. He says they will focus on fiscal responsibility. Watch: Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News , World News , and News about the Economy
 
Audrina Leaving 'The Hills,' Inks New Deal Top
"The Hills" has lost another resident. Audrina Patridge is leaving the show after its upcoming fifth season, exiting MTV's popular soap for a new deal with Mark Burnett Prods. Burnett's proposed new series will follow Patridge's personal and professional life. The show will be pitched to networks starting next week.
 
J. Scott Gration: Special Envoy To Sudan Top
WASHINGTON — A senior administration official says President Barack Obama has chosen retired Air Force Gen. J. Scott Gration to be a special envoy to war-wracked Sudan. Gration is a close personal friend of Obama and has considerable experience on African issues. The administration official told The Associated Press on Tuesday that Gration is the pick of both Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton. The announcement was being made Wednesday. Gration was an adviser to Obama during his presidential campaign on a range of military and national security issues. He is also an expert on Africa who was partly raised on the continent and is fluent in Swahili. In 2006 he accompanied then-Sen. Obama on a trip to Africa. More on Sudan
 
Mukhtar Mai, Famed Pakistani Gang-Rape Victim, Gets Married Top
MULTAN, Pakistan — A Pakistani gang-rape victim who shunned custom and rose to global fame by speaking out about her case has defied another local taboo _ she just got married. Mukhtar Mai is now the second wife of Nasir Abbas Gabol, a police officer who was assigned to protect her as her case gained notoriety. He said she was reluctant to accept his offer and that he threatened suicide when she turned him down. Mai was gang raped at the order of a tribal council in the eastern province of Punjab in 2002 to punish her family for her brother's alleged affair with a woman from a higher-caste family. There were also allegations that the boy had been molested by members of the other family, and that the accusations of the affair were used to cover up the crime. Rape victims in Pakistan face severe social stigma and diminished marriage prospects, prompting many to commit suicide. But Mai went public and challenged her alleged attackers in court, attracting international attention and becoming a women's rights activist. She was named Glamour magazine's Woman of the Year, and now runs a school in her southern Punjab province village of Meerwala. The case against her attackers is still in the court system. Mai told AP Television News after the nuptials that she'd never completely ruled out marriage. "When you do marriage you have to have faith in your partner," she said. Her new husband told the AP on Wednesday that he was enraptured by Mai's "extreme courage." "I will do whatever is possible to help my wife in her efforts aimed at raising her voice for the rights of women," he said. Mai initially refused his offer because Gabol was already married and discouraged him from divorcing his first wife. Pakistan is a majority Muslim nation, and Islamic law allows men to have up to four wives. Gabol said he was so desperate to marry Mai that he threatened to kill himself unless she relented. Fearing he would carry out his threat, Gabol's first wife met with Mai and persuaded her to marry. The wedding took place Sunday and a reception is planned for the weekend. More on Pakistan
 
Bill Chameides: Exxon Valdez 20 Years Later Top
Dr. Bill Chameides is the dean of Duke University's Nicholas School of the Environment and a member of the National Academy of Sciences. He blogs regularly at theGreenGrok.com . Prince William Sound, 2009. Pictures of picturesque beaches and icy-blue waters might suggest that the effects of the 1989 oil spill are long gone. Dig a little deeper, and a very different picture emerges. On March 24, 1989, just minutes after midnight, the 987-foot Exxon Valdez oil tanker struck Bligh Reef in the Gulf of Alaska, sending some 11 million gallons of crude oil toward the pristine shores of Prince William Sound. It was a huge spill , but a host of other factors -- its proximity to the shore, stormy weather with high winds, and delays in starting clean-up efforts -- all combined to make it one of America's most notorious environmental disasters. For area wildlife, the timing could hardly have been worse. The spill occurred shortly before the phytoplankton blooms -- the explosion of microscopic life that fuels marine life -- and migration season. Thousands of migrating birds were headed toward the area en route to new seasonal destinations. In the spill's wake, hundreds of thousands of seabirds perished, along with thousands of marine mammals. Despite the devastation, many experts were sanguine about the long-term prognosis for the area's fauna and flora. For example, Bruce Wing, a government biologist, assured the Anchorage Daily News a couple of weeks after the Valdez incident that the wildlife will "all come back. In a few years." That was 1989. Today, a good deal more than a few years later, the degree of recovery is a matter of considerable debate and litigation . Some scientists have concluded that the toxins from the oil spill have largely broken down and dispersed. Exxon has pointed to more than 350 scientific studies they funded that found no evidence of long-term effects (see here and here ). But there are a host of other studies that find that toxins remain and are hindering ecosystem recovery. The Exxon Valdez Oil Spill Trustee Council (established as part of the court settlement between the Exxon corporation and the governments of the United States and Alaska to oversee the sound's restoration) reports that a large number of species, including sea otters and Harlequin ducks, have yet to fully recover. And then there's the herring fishery. Four years after the Exxon Valdez spill, the $12-million Pacific herring fishery collapsed, sending much of the local economy into a tailspin . While the cause is debated, there is evidence that the collapse was triggered years earlier by the spill itself. The fishery remains closed today. There is evidence that oil from the Exxon Valdez oil spill remains in the area, causing ecosystem damage. This picture shows the transfer of buried oil through the food web -- from mussels, barnacles, periwinkles, etc., then to predators. (Photo by Dave Janka, Knight Island, Prince William Sound, 2003). Oil Persists and Will for Decades or More The long-term impact of the spill might continue to be deliberated, but one thing is clear: the oil is still there. Dip a pail into the sand and you may very likely pull up a black, oozy oleo of sand and oil (watch a video of such an exercise). The Valdez Trustee Council writes : "One of the most stunning revelations of ... the last ten years is that Exxon Valdez oil persists in the environment and in places is nearly as toxic as it was the first few weeks after the spill." Dr. Riki Ott, a marine toxicologist and former commercial fisherma'am, told me that the sound and other areas affected by the spill recovered unevenly: "Some beaches that were moderately or lightly oiled in 1989 have fared okay. The oil broke down and degraded and the wildlife that used the beaches recovered." "But," she continued, "northern-facing beaches and bays were hard hit in 1989. These heavily oiled beaches still have relatively fresh, toxic oil, buried about 6-12 inches below the surface." During the first few years of cleanup, beach surveys showed the oil dissipating at a pretty good clip of about 58 percent per year. At that rate, little oil was expected to remain past 1992. However, follow-up surveys in 2001 and 2005 revealed much lower rates of dissipation -- four percent per year or less. At that rate, the Exxon Valdez oil will remain on Prince William Sound's beaches for decades, perhaps a century. Dr. Jeffrey Short, formerly of the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration, and colleagues wrote in their 2007 report that "such persistence can pose a contact hazard to intertidally foraging sea otters, sea ducks, and shorebirds, create a chronic source of low-level contamination, discourage subsistence in a region where use is heavy, and degrade the wilderness character of protected lands." Not So Simple 'Doesn't look done to me' was the photographer's comment when he took this photo on Smith Island, Prince William Sound, after the Supreme Court ruled in the Exxon Valdez case in the summer of 2008. (Photo by Dave Janka, July 1, 2008). A silver lining from the Exxon Valdez spill, if there can be one, has been the intense scientific research that has followed it. As a result, today we have a much keener understanding of oil spills. The oil has proven to be remarkably persistent. Some has been pounded by the surf into a recalcitrant, emulsified, mousse-like substance that resists chemical degradation. Other oil has seeped into subsurface sediments isolated from the elements that would otherwise promote degradation. The pathways by which the oil spreads its toxicity have proven to be more complex. Jeffrey Short, the government scientist who led the 2001 and 2005 studies, explained to me that a "completely different toxicity mechanism was discovered ... (involving) ... polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons" or PAHs. These toxins can interfere with embryo development at concentrations 100 to 1,000 times lower than had been expected (see toxicology study ). Before the Exxon Valdez , oils spills were widely thought to present an acute, short-term environmental threat that would rapidly disperse and subside. Now we know it's not that simple. The oil lingers, just beneath the surface, threatening wildlife and transforming the lives of area residents. The Bard wrote that "the evil that men do lives after them; the good is oft interred in their bones." In the case of the Exxon Valdez spill, the oil is both interred and destined to live long, long after we are gone.
 
TV Networks Struggle In Effort For Diversity: New York Times Top
LOS ANGELES -- On the eve of Barack Obama's election last fall as the first African-American president, television seemed to be leaning toward a post-racial future. In October two prominent cable networks -- CNN and Comedy Central -- began new programs that featured black hosts, a development that was notable because so few current programs on cable or broadcast channels have minority leads. Five months later both programs -- "Chocolate News," featuring David Alan Grier on Comedy Central, and "D. L. Hughley Breaks the News" on CNN -- have been discontinued. In addition, CW, the broadcast network that regularly features comedies with largely African-American casts, announced in February that it was renewing six popular series, but its two with mostly black performers -- "Everybody Hates Chris" and "The Game" -- were not among them. (The network says it is still deciding their fates.)
 
Tom Watson: Clay Shirky is Right: Newspapers' Death is Journalism's Loss Top
For journalists of a certain vintage, these are the days on the digital horizon that were long-feared and yet somehow unanticipated. The newspaper world is slowly asphyxiating, starved for the oxygen of classified advertising and simultaneously kicked in the chest by a massive recession that is hastening the tombstones in the graveyard of newsprint. The 148-year-old Seattle Post-Intelligencer will publish its final print edition this week. Huge cutbacks were approved by the staff of the San Francisco Chronicle in an attempt to save the 144-year-old daily. The Rocky Mountain News in Denver closed last month. The publishers of the Minneapolis Star Tribune and both the The Philadelphia Inquirer and the Philadelphia Daily News filed for bankruptcy. The Christian Science Monitor has abandoned print, for a small online operation that keeps the name alive - for now. The survival of even The New York Times is openly debated. I could go on, but it's too painful. I come from a newspaper family, and worked as a reporter and editor for more than a dozen years, before peeling off for the allure of my own digital printing press in the 90s. I love newspapers, and I've always believed that they're central to the American version of representative democracy - a stalwart check on the power of government. Yet even with ink in my veins and newsprint in my DNA, the patterns are changing 'round here. On the days that I commute into midtown on the train, The Times is an absolute and granite-carved morning habit. Liberated from its blue bag and advertising inserts at the station, the pattern is as unyielding as the order of the stations: the A section in the Bronx, sports by 125th Street, business in the tunnel, arts and lifestyle at a glance before hitting the platform. But on the days when I work from home - and even on Sundays - much of the paper arrives in the medium I'm typing into right now, and it often arrives via feeds or links from blogs and aggregators. Further, I'm often found reading commentary and reaction about stories in the Times before I've actually read the stories themselves. Crowdsourcing journalism is all the rage, but the idea of its widespread ascendancy and competence is the exclusive province of either deranged optimists or ideological cyberlibertarians; the vast populace will never produce great journalism - or even sufficient journalism of the kind that has nurtured our republic - any more than it will perform surgery on a widespread amateur basis, or turn out competent oil paintings by the millions. Yes, occasionally brilliant exceptions will be appear; the tools available for creating and disseminating great stories will be put to good use by people with the talent for reporting and telling those stories. But the journalistic print edifice will be not be replaced - in my view, there will be no great metro bureaus, no overseas reporting staffs, no full-time investigative teams, no cop house reporters, no City Hall beat. A network of thousands and thousands of young reporters taking notes and asking tough questions - and then writing up their reports in public, for the public - at thousands and thousands of school board and town council meetings on gray Tuesday evenings all around the nation will begin to fade. The Internet has been a destructive force for many business models, but none threatens the basis of the  republic as much as the digital knife busily sawing at the fraying Achilles tendon of American newspapers. As an editorial in the Spokane Review (rather plaintively) asked: "So as newspapers die, it's worth considering the effects on society. Who will tell the people what their institutions are doing? Who will ferret out the corruption? Who will fend off the legal challenges to public information? If no viable alternative emerges, what does that mean for our representative democracy? Author and NYU professor Clay Shirky wrote a grim and all-too-accurate assessment of journalism's dire strait, a piece that  really places no blame but captures well the doomsday formula now unfolding: The unthinkable scenario unfolded something like this: The ability to share content wouldn't shrink, it would grow. Walled gardens would prove unpopular. Digital advertising would reduce inefficiencies, and therefore profits. Dislike of micropayments would prevent widespread use. People would resist being educated to act against their own desires. Old habits of advertisers and readers would not transfer online. Even ferocious litigation would be inadequate to constrain massive, sustained law-breaking. (Prohibition redux.) As Shirky says, this is not something that proprietors of professional journalism failed to see coming - and they've tried almost every model for revenue generation that came along over the past decade and a half. All have failed. Case in the point: the Times , which gets an amazing 20 million visits to its website every month and still can't come close to touching the revenue of its wounded print sibling. And aggregators from Google to the Huffington Post shave that slim online revenue even further. The models just don't work - nothing online sustains a newsroom of 100 reporters and editors working in a beat system. Cut and paste works online. Endless commentary works online (but only pays the aggregators, in most cases). Endless links work. Newsrooms do not. As Shirky writes (correctly in my view) the casualty isn't so much the newspaper (and the companies who operate them), as it is the journalist - and professional journalism itself. And that is a huge loss for society that no one should be welcome with glee (though some digital triumphalists cannot seem to restrain themselves): Print media does much of society's heavy journalistic lifting, from flooding the zone -- covering every angle of a huge story -- to the daily grind of attending the City Council meeting, just in case. This coverage creates benefits even for people who aren't newspaper readers, because the work of print journalists is used by everyone from politicians to talk radio hosts to bloggers. The newspaper people often note that newspapers benefit society as a whole. This is true, but irrelevant to the problem at hand; "You're gonna miss us when we're gone!" has never been much of a business model. So who covers all that news if some significant fraction of the currently employed newspaper people lose their jobs? I don't know. Nobody knows. We're collectively living through 1500, when it's easier to see what's broken than what will replace it. The internet turns 40 this fall. Access by the general public is less than half that age. Web use, as a normal part of life for a majority of the developed world, is less than half that age. We just got here. Even the revolutionaries can't predict what will happen. Craig Newmark, creator of the ubiquitous classified network that has hurt the newspaper model, argues that "we need to experiment a lot more" on ways to support the kind of journalism now getting pink-slipped. But I have to say: we've all been making that argument since the mid-90s. The experiments are legion. Yet the corps of full-time paid journalists is shrinking rapidly, and their work cannot be replaced by bloggers or posts on Facebook, as much as may enjoy those social media forms. I was talking with James Wolcott about this earlier this week and he made a great point - who's going to churn out all those important but relatively small-scale exposes on bad government contracts and neighborhood graft, the kinds of pieces regularly published by the tabloids and small city dailies? As Bob Stein writes , apropos of reporting's demise: "For journalism, the goal has never been cosmic verities but everyday truth." Last year at the Personal Democracy Forum, NYU professor and media critic Jay Rosen gave a talk about the rise of semi-pro journalism that took in some of the still-arrogant attitude of "old journalism" and its resistance to going to way of the dinosaur. He adapted the talk for his blog: We are early in the rise of semi-pro journalism , but well into the decline of an older way of life within the tribe of professional journalists. I call them a tribe because they share a culture and a sense of destiny, and because they think they own the press-- that it's theirs somehow because they dominate the practice. The First Amendment says to all Americans: you have a right to publish what you know, to say what you think. That right used to be abstractly held. Now it is concretely held because the power to publish has been distributed to the population at large. Projects that cause people to exercise their right to a free press strengthen the press, whether or not these projects strengthen the professional journalist's "hold" on the press. That hold is slipping every day. Yet some of Rosen's set piece, his construction of the central tension in the story, now seems quaint, only nine months later. The attitude of recalcitrant old print journalists doesn't matter any more in this season of shuttered newsrooms. It's not about old journalists versus the rising amateurs. It's about the disappearance of one of the carrying beams of our democracy and what, if anything, will replace it - and the loss of that "everyday truth." UPDATE: Over at the WiredPen , Kathy Gill has a thoughtful response. She agrees that there is nothing on the horizon to replace newspaper, even while arguing that newspaper-owning companies aren't generally motivated by the public good (true) and that democracy hasn't exactly thrived under the model now disappearing (true, to a degree). These viewpoints are also echoed in some the comments here. Yeah, newspapers aren't public and the big dailies are indeed run by large corporations. But my response is this: that in no way mitigates the loss. Small-scale experiments in online reporting - and we're in 2009, a full 15 years into the mainstream commercial Internet - seem more like the exceptions that prove the rule. What we lose with newspapers is the commonality - that "place" in cities and towns where a good percentage of citizens gathered around news and opinion and recipes for pork chow mein. And Clay Shirky is right - it's a big loss, and there's nothing that can be done about it. UPDATE II: Will Bunch gets to the heart of an aspect of the "distributed, super-wired world of citizen journalists with blogs will replace newspapers" argument that has been bugging me as well: it's anti-blue collar to its core. Posits Bunch: "I'm trying to point out the unique challenge of preserving journalism and the vital exchange of public information in a Rust Belt city like Philadelphia. A Web-only newspaper might work in the home city of Microsoft, Amazon.com, and Starbucks . In the home city of....lots of civil servants? Not as much. I agree that printed news is a little like dirty bathwater these days, but you can't throw the baby -- a unique, non-transferable readership -- out with bathwater. More on Newspapers
 
Mozambique Jail: 12 Found Dead In Police Custody Top
Twelve people have been found dead in police custody in the northern Nampula province of Mozambique. More on Africa
 
Gwyneth, Claire, Anne, Martha, Models & More Turn Out For Valentino (PHOTOS) Top
Tuesday night in New York stars flocked to the premiere of "The Last Emperor," a documentary chronicling two years in the life of recently retired designer Valentino. In the crowed were fans like Gwyneth Paltrow, Martha Stewart, Claire Danes, Regis Philbin, Anne Hathaway and a slew of models. PHOTOS: More on Gwyneth Paltrow
 
Embattled VA Party Chief Fights Back Against GOP 'Insiders' Top
Virginia state Republican Party Chairman Jeffrey M. Frederick fired back Tuesday at party leaders seeking to remove him from his post, reiterating that he will not resign and responding to charges of mismanagement made by his opponents.
 
Country Unifying Against BPA In Products Top
In a matter a few years at most, babies living in the USA will likely be off the BPA-laced formula. Washington Post documents two important developments which signal this likelihood. In Bills Would Ban BPA From Food and Drink Containers, WaPo reports that "Leaders from the House and Senate introduced legislation...that would establish a federal ban on bisphenol A in all food and beverage containers." Read on to see what else is afoot and why baby's health will be improved. Federal Government Playing Catch-Up With the US Food & Drug Administration having been in a zombie-like state for a decade - FDA did not even stay caught up with recent voluntary market pullouts from potentially Bisphenol-A leaching products, first by Wal-MartScryve Corporate Social Responsibility Rating and, a few months later, by all six of the major brand name distributors of baby bottles in the US - Congress apparently realized it was a good time to act on the other major Bisphenol-A exposing application: interior coatings on food packaging, especially on cans of baby formula.
 
Rebels Threaten To Behead Red Cross Worker In Philippines Top
MANILA, March 18 (Reuters) - The leader of an Islamist rebel group which kidnapped three Red Cross officers in the southern Philippines threatened on Wednesday to behead one of the European hostages if troops did not stop pursuing them. More on Asia
 
Biden's Mother Asks VP: Where's Your Green? Top
WASHINGTON — Vice President Joe Biden's ailing mother is feeling well enough to give him grief for not wearing green on St. Patrick's Day. Biden told a White House crowd Tuesday night that he got up at 2:30 in the morning to get to the Philadelphia hospital where his 92-year-old mother, Catherine Eugenia "Jean" Biden, is recovering from surgery for a broken hip. Biden laughed as he noted that he hadn't given much thought about colors while dressing at that early hour. When he greeted Irish and Irish-American guests at the White House, Biden pointed out his green necktie and said, "Mom, I got my green on tonight." Jean Biden was admitted to the hospital Sunday after a fall at Biden's home in Greenville, Del. More on Joe Biden
 
Cities Helping Even Skeptics Get Into Solar Top
Bronzed and deeply lined from decades of life in the desert sun, Mr. Clark is not one to worry about global warming. He suspects that if the planet's climate is getting hotter, it is part of a natural cycle and will probably correct itself. "Experts have been wrong before," he said. But late last year, Mr. Clark decided to install a $62,000 solar power system because of a new municipal financing program that lent him the money and allows him to pay it back with interest over 20 years as part of his property taxes. In so doing, he joined the vanguard of a social experiment that is blossoming in California and a dozen other states.
 
Ken Levine: American Idol: Country Week -- Watch Where You Step Top
Now that the kids not attractive enough for FOX have been weeded out we can get down to business. This was Country Night and the guest mentor was Randy Travis (or, for you non Country fans: Thomas Hayden Church). By and large all of the vocals were good. I must admit though that although I enjoy Country music I'm not an aficionado of it so I apologize if I don't get all the titles exactly right. Texas redneck Michael Sarver sang "Don't get my girl confused with my horse". Kara (as always) pushed for bigger notes. I bet if you looked at her iPod playlist you'd find thirty Celine Dion songs, twenty Shirley Bassey songs, and the complete works of Ethel Merman. Adam Lambert is the illegitimate love child of Freddy Mercury and Liza Minelli. He sang "Ring of Fire" but in the more traditional pre-Hitler Berlin cabaret style. Allison Iraheta (the Little Mermaid) did a great rendition of "Take my heart but leave the beer". Randy Jackson liked it too and gave the ultimate compliment to a Country singer - "It was dope". Kris Allen, this season's tween sensation sang the touching ballad, "If you leave me now I'll kill your dog". Randy Jackson was shocked. "Who knew you had tender moments?" he said to the boy who looks like a girl. Randy was on fire last night. He amazingly surmised that classy R&B belter Lil Rounds wasn't comfortable singing Hee Haw music. It's like he's...psychic! Personally, I thought she did a very nice job with "Harper Valley PMS". Scott McIntyre did a lovely interpretation of "There's not enough whiskey in Kentucky to get me to take you home". Paula thought he should stop accompanying himself on the piano. She said "Audiences need to see you as a showman". Great advice to a blind man. Let's see Scott juggle next week. Thank you, Simon for just calling her advice "stupid". The judges again scolded Alexis Grace for not looking and sounding like a whore. She sang, "Picking dingleberries". Widower/crooner Danny Gokey did not wow the judges this week with his version of the Carrie Underwood smash, "Jesus, check the oil". My favorite performance of the night was by Anoop Desai. He killed with "You were on my mind". If there's such a thing as Hindustani Soul, he's got it. Why did Megan Joy Corkrey drop her last name? Her graphic just read "Megan Joy". I thought she looked gorgeous tonight; that gown really went well with her tattoos. And despite having the flu (which should be good for at least 10,000,000 votes right there) she nailed "After Midnight". And finally, Matt Giraud served notice to Danny Gokey that he's not the only frontrunner. He brought down the house with "Give me back my spurs, the wedding is off". I think everyone is safe on Country Music night except Michael Sarver, the only actual country boy. It's not fair. But isn't that what the Coen Brothers were trying to tell us in "No Country for Old Men" after all? You can sign up for Ken's Twitter here . And read his blog here . More on American Idol
 
Conservatives Rise Up Against Obama's First Court Pick Top
Maybe the Obama administration should have nominated George Hamilton instead of David F. Hamilton. The hollywood actor may have an easier time at confirmation. Watch Hamilton in action here. More on Barack Obama
 
Hedge Funds That Bet Against Housing Could Benefit From AIG Bailout Funds Top
Hedge funds may benefit from the federal government's bailout of AIG, the Wall Street Journal reports . That is because hedge funds made bets that the housing market would fall, using investment banks as middle men to place those trades. The investment banks then entered into deals with AIG to execute the trades. Now, AIG is scheduled to use the bailout funds to pay what's due to these investment banks, resulting in the eventual restitution of funds for the hedge funds, the paper reports. In essence, while the U.S. government is busy trying to prop up the housing market -- by trying to limit foreclosures, among other things -- it is simultaneously putting up cash that could be used to pay off investors who bet housing prices would tumble and many mortgage holders would default. It's unclear how much government money might eventually flow to hedge-fund investors. Overall, the government has committed up to $173.3 billion to bail out AIG. Of that amount, AIG's housing-related bets have cost U.S. taxpayers some $52 billion. Hedge funds run by Deutsche Bank are among those likely to benefit, the paper said. AIG has put in escrow some money for at least one major bank, Deutsche Bank AG, whose hedge-fund clients made bets against the housing market, according to a person familiar with the matter. The money will be released to the bank if mortgage defaults rise above a certain level. More on AIG
 
North Korea Turns Down US Food Aid, Kicks Out American Aid Groups Top
North Korea has rejected an offer of further food aid from the US despite its chronic food shortages, the US state department said today. More on North Korea
 
Detroit Real Estate: Deals Abound Top
DETROIT, Michigan (CNN) -- Jeremy Burgess likes the location and layout of the three-bedroom, one-and-a-half bath home in the Grandmont neighborhood of Detroit, Michigan. This home in Detroit, Michigan, was bought for $12,000 and sold the next week for a $5,000 profit. The home is large for the area, around 1,600 square feet. By far the most attractive feature for Burgess is the price. While he says it may appraise at around $110,000, he bought it on March 11 for a mere $12,000. More on Real Estate
 
Yemen: Korean Officials Visiting Bomb Victims Attacked Top
A group of South Korean government officials and family members of victims killed in Sunday's suicide bombing in Yemen were attacked by a terrorist group Wednesday but no one was hurt, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade said. More on South Korea
 
Ellen DeGeneres Back To The Big Screen: To Play Mother Nature In Film Top
Ellen DeGeneres has signed on to play Mother Nature in an untitled comedy being produced by Walden Media. The project is being penned by "Sex and the City" writer-executive producer Jenny Bicks. In the film, which springs from an original concept inside Walden, the Emmy-winning talk show host will return to Earth for the first time since the planet's creation. No word yet on whether Mother Nature likes to dance. More on Ellen Degeneres
 
Colbert Announces Trip To Persian Gulf (VIDEO) Top
Stephen Colbert announced last night that he will be taking his show on the road, broadcasting from the Persian Gulf. Where you ask? He's not allowed to tell us, but "there will be sand and people that wish we would leave." When? He can't tell us that either, but it will be at some point in the "near or distant future or past." Colbert answered the challenge of the members of the 153rd Regiment who asked him to "come on over." As he told the Stars and Stripes military blog : "I'm hoping they're just going to blindfold me, fly the plane around in the air for 12 hours and drop me in New Mexico and tell me it's the Persian Gulf, because I wouldn't know the difference." WATCH: The Colbert Report Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c Shout Out - The Colbert Report Overseas Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor Mark Sanford NASA Name Contest More on Stephen Colbert
 
Consumer Prices Rise 0.4% Top
WASHINGTON — Consumer prices rose in February by the largest amount in seven months as gasoline prices surged again and clothing costs jumped the most in nearly two decades. Despite the February blip, the recession was expected to dampen any inflation pressures for at least the rest of this year. The Labor Department reported Wednesday that consumer inflation rose 0.4 percent in February, the biggest one-month jump since a 0.7 percent rise in July. Two-thirds of last month's increase, which was slightly more than analysts expected, reflected a big jump in gasoline pump prices. Core inflation, which excludes food and energy, rose 0.2 percent in February, also slightly higher than the 0.1 percent rise economists expected. The Federal Reserve, which was wrapping up a two-day meeting on Wednesday, was expected to keep a key interest rate at a record low near zero as Fed officials continue to believe that the biggest problems at present are the deep recession and severe financial crisis, not inflation. Indeed, Fed officials have expressed concerns about the opposite problem, that a deepening recession and prolonged housing slump could push the country into a period of deflation, something not experienced in the U.S. since the Great Depression. Falling prices may sound good to consumers, but can actually make a recession even worse by dragging down Americans' wages, and clobbering already-stricken home and stock prices. Dropping prices already are hurting businesses' profits, forcing them to slice capital investments and lay off workers. Over the past 12 months, consumer prices have risen just 0.2 percent. That was up slightly from a reading of zero for the 12 months ending in January, which had been the smallest annual change in more than a half-century. Gas prices surged 8.3 percent last month after a 6 percent rise in January. Both gains came after several months of huge declines in prices at the pump. Total energy costs rose 3.3 percent in February, almost double the 1.7 percent January rise. But energy prices are still down 18.5 percent from a year ago. Home heating oil and natural gas prices both fell in February. Clothing costs shot up 1.3 percent in February, the biggest one-month rise since a 1.5 percent increase in March 1990. The gain likely reflected a rebound from steep discounts offered in January as retailers were clearing store shelves after the worst holiday season in decades. Food costs dipped 0.1 percent last month but are still up 4.7 percent over the past year. Prices for meat and dairy products fell, while fruits and vegetables rose, according to the Labor Department report. Airline fares fell 2.6 percent last month, the biggest drop since November, but new car prices rose 0.8 percent. The report on consumer prices followed a report Tuesday that inflation at the wholesale level rose a slight 0.1 percent in February. Only last summer, officials at the Fed had started to worry that a surge in energy costs could spread to other areas of the economy and boost inflation to unacceptable levels. But after the financial crisis struck in the fall, the Fed switched signals and is now aggressively fighting a deepening recession. Inflation is not expected be a problem for some time to come given the prolonged recession, which is already the longest downturn in a quarter-century.
 
IBM, Sun Microsystems Deal Possible, Shares Soar Top
NEW YORK — Sun Microsystems Inc. shares soared in premarket trading Wednesday after a published report said International Business Machines Corp. is in preliminary talks to buy Sun for at least $6.5 billion in cash. The Wall Street Journal, which cited unnamed people familiar with the matter, said the deal could occur as early as this week. It also said the talks could fall apart. Sun Microsystems shares climbed $3.23, or 65 percent, to $8.20 in premarket trading, while IBM lost $2.91, or 3.1 percent, to $90. IBM, of Armonk, N.Y., and Sun Microsystems of Santa Clara, Calif., both make computer systems for corporate customers, and the newspaper said a purchase of Sun would help IBM in the finance and telecommunications markets. The Journal said an IBM spokesman declined comment when asked about any talks with Sun and that a spokesman for Sun didn't return calls seeking comment. Calls by The Associated Press to the companies Wednesday morning seeking comment on the report were not immediately returned. While some of their technologies and customers overlap, IBM and Sun have been heading in different directions for most of the past decade. Sun, a darling of the dot-com era, has been struggling since the tech bust of 2001 to find its place. The company has cut thousands of jobs and tried to refocus on open-source software besides the proprietary systems it built much of its wealth on. IBM, after an enormous restructuring in the 1990s, has proven one of the technology industry's most reliable earners. It has gobbled up dozens of companies in recent years. But a $6.5 billion deal would be its biggest to date. It also would represent a big premium for Sun, which closed trading Tuesday with a market capitalization of less than $4 billion.
 

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