Sunday, March 29, 2009

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Steve Rosenbaum: Obama -the "Always On" President Top
The Twittering White House. So, for those of you who are tuned in to the media whirlwind that is Barack Obama - the last 5 days have been something of a world record. There was Leno on Thursday night. Then, "60 Minutes" on Sunday. There was that ESPN College Football betting pool segment, a national press conference on Tuesday night and then the live web Town Hall this week. Oh, and along the way he had all the largest Bankers by for a closed door love-fest that had them all out on the White House lawn looking like they'd just had the political equivalent of a 'nooner'. And speaking of the White House Lawn, Michelle was no media slouch herself - planting a Kitchen Garden and making sure that her sustainable self was front and center. So, what's this all about? Is Obama overdoing the media thing?, or is he just re-tooling the Presidency for the new media reality? Well, let's ask the metaphorical 'kids' in the audience. Kids, how often are you 'online, in public, and engaged in some sort of media'? Kids answer: "always." Righto. Times have sooo changed. Our last President didn't have a computer on his desk. This President has a Secret Service hotwired blackberry - and a Twitter handle. Are you following him? 615,836 American's are - and more every day. @BarackObama We live in an Always On world. A full time, broadband, interactive world. And that means the idea of newscycles, and the 'bubble' that has historically kept Presidents a safe distance away from the electorate has been burst. No more bubble. Instead, a hungry digital maw - looking for engagement, comments, content. The Always On web continues to chatter - whether you're online, or checked out. Barack Obama and his team are smart. They've registered this change is going to either help them drive their agenda, or create a huge noisy distraction that gets in their way. So two weeks ago, they made a change. They decided to dive in, both feet - and expand their presence and make sure that their message (and their guy) was as Always On as the ideas and distractions that could derail their efforts. Done and done. You see, Obama gets how to do this. It's situational. On ESPN he's a fan. On Leno he's a jokester (ok, points off for the 'special olympics' line, but he apologized). On 60 Minutes he's Presidential, yet folksy. And at the national press conference, he is large and in charge. The right tone, the right message, for each medium. But far and away the most interesting thing in this new Always On Presidency was 'Open for Questions" at Whitehouse.gov. 92,937 people submitted 104,005 questions and cast 3,603,648 votes. This is really interesting stuff. Anyone can post a question, and then the White House crowd-sourced the review of questions. The top rated questions (along with video submissions) became the central themes of the "Open" town meeting. This isn't insignificant stuff. This is the first time in history that our representative form of government has given citizens direct, unfiltered, actionable access to the President of the United States. This is evidence of the Always On President embracing the change in communications, and using to to make government more transparent and more accountable. So, just to recap the week of the Always On President: Leno. Everything is Ok. I can still smile and laugh. ESPN. I'm a regular guy. March Madness isn't lost on me. Live Address. I'm large and In Charge. Bankers at the White House: I can rock a photo op, and deliver the quotes. Open for Questions: We're doing things in a new way. Each strategic, each with a message both in what was said and how it was said. And with if you believe Marshall McLuhan's "Medium is the Message" ... then Obama's figured out that new mediums require new messages too. More on Barack Obama
 
GM, Chrysler Sales Hurt By Bailout Pleas Top
For six months, General Motors Corp. and Chrysler have been trying to convince the government that they need billions of dollars in aid, while assuring the American consumer that everything is A-OK. It's proved to be the marketing equivalent of trying to stuff a Hummer into the trunk of a Corvette. More on Auto Bailout
 
Obama's Climate Change Team Debuts At UN Talks Top
BONN, Germany — President Barack Obama's climate change envoy promised a new U.S. commitment Sunday to reducing carbon emissions but insisted that rapidly developing nations like China also had to share the load in fighting climate change. Obama's team made their international debut Sunday at a major U.N. conference, and delegates were eager to see whether Obama would expand his aggressive domestic agenda to meet even tougher demands for a worldwide deal on global warming. The two-week meeting by 175 countries is the latest attempt to craft a global agreement to govern the emissions of carbon dioxide and other gases that scientists say are dangerously warming the planet. Todd Stern, Obama's special climate envoy, broke cleanly with the reluctant attitude of the previous Bush administration. He said the new U.S. team will be "powerfully, fervently engaged" in the talks _ but added it was crucial for China and other developing nations to share the burden of reducing carbon emissions. "We all have to do this together. We don't have a magic wand," he told reporters before making his first statement to the convention. Stern defended the U.S. administration's goal of reducing U.S. carbon emissions by roughly 16 percent in the next dozen years. That goal falls far short of the target under discussion by the industrial world, which is eyeing slashing emissions by 25-40 percent below 1990 levels by 2020. "The target that the United States has put forward is not going to be sufficient," said Keya Chatterjee of the Worldwide Fund for Nature. "The science is evolving. We need more, we need more from everybody." With time running out before the pact is due to be completed in December, delegates are trying to narrow vast differences over how best to fight climate change. Issues include how much countries need to reduce emissions, how to raise the tens of billions of dollars needed annually to fight global warming and how to transfer money and technology to poor countries who are most vulnerable to increasingly fierce storms, droughts and failing crops. Stern said the U.S. position will be guided by whatever deal Obama can strike with Congress on domestic legislation. "I do not think that it is realistic to believe that we will then be able to then go into an international setting and get a higher number than that," he said. At a recent conference in Copenhagen, scientists warned that climate change is happening more rapidly that previously calculated, and said the Earth could be in danger of major climatic changes that would trigger widespread social disruption. U.N. scientists reported last year that rising sea levels caused by global warming threatens to swamp coastlines and entire island states, and predicted increasing drought and water stress for arid countries, especially in Africa. In a symbolic move embraced around the world, lights dimmed Saturday night for one hour in nearly 4,000 cities and famous sites _ from the Sydney opera house to the Egyptian pyramids, from the Eiffel Tower in Paris to Times Square in New York _ to highlight concern over global warming. The Worldwide Fund for Nature, which organized the event, said hundreds of millions of people took part. "Last night's message from the masses was loud and clear: Delay no more, real action now!" said Kim Carstensen, head of WWF's Global Climate Initiative. The climate change agreement to be concluded in December in Copenhagen, Denmark, is meant to succeed the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, which requires 37 industrial nations to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 5 percent from 1990 levels by 2012 when it expires. The United States was instrumental in negotiating Kyoto, but could not win enough support in Congress. Global talks stalled as the U.S. Bush administration refused to reduce carbon emissions. Still, the talks have barely picked up momentum since Obama's election. Everyone is waiting for the new team to clarify its stand on a host of issues, from emission targets to finances. "There is a clear reluctance to go too fast and too quickly into numbers until we know what the U.S. will say," said Harald Dovland, chairman of a key forum at the conference. Obama announced Saturday he would revive a parallel negotiating forum of the 17 nations that emit more than 80 percent of the world's greenhouse gases, including India, China, Brazil, Russia, Japan and the European Union. Stern said the Major Economies Forum was not intended as a negotiating platform, but as a place to generate ideas for the climate change accord in Copenhagen. When the forum was first launched by former President George W. Bush, many of the U.N. delegates viewed it as an attempt to undermine the U.N. process. That view has eased. Yvo de Boer, the U.N.'s top climate official, said the forum could be "a very valuable discussion platform" that could lead those countries to work for "a higher level of ambition." But De Boer also asked the major emitters group to consider financing issues, and said any agreement they could reach on targets and funding "would be welcome with open arms by the real negotiations." More on Barack Obama
 
Tim Giago: Chocolate Spray Paint and Hollywood Indians Top
By Tim Giago (Nanwica Kciji) © 2009 Native Sun News March 29, 2009 My older brother Tony should have been the writer in our family. Tony died in 1991 from complications of a defective heart valve. He always blamed his heart condition on the rheumatic fever he had as a boy at Kyle on the Pine Ridge Reservation. At the Holy Rosary Indian Mission Boarding School his best pal was "Snazzy" Trimble. Trimble and the Boy Scout Troupe nicknamed him "Batman," from the DC Comics. I was darned lucky they didn't name me "Robin." Later in life my cousin "Sonny" Torres named him "Tuna the Bass." It was the nickname he carried to his grave. During the summer when all of the kids in the family were home from the boarding school at our house in Kyle we couldn't wait for nightfall because Tony would carefully blow out the kerosene lamps sit back on the bed and start telling us stories about faraway places, of spooky monsters, and of heroes that came to rescue the maidens in distress. He told us stories about a great Lakota warrior astride a magnificent painted stallion, a warrior that could fell a mighty buffalo with a single arrow. My sisters and I would fall asleep with the tales he created for our nighttime enjoyment nagging at the back of our minds. When Tony was a baby he was riding in the car with my father, my mom and my mom's sister, my aunt Mary Tapio. He was sitting on Aunt Mary's lap when a gravel truck with an intoxicated driver smashed into the car. A sliver of glass wedged into his temple and he was rushed to the Indian hospital at Pine Ridge. A Catholic priest gave him the Last Rights, but he survived. My father's left arm was shattered so badly that he could no longer play the violin, or fiddle as he called it, because he could not turn the arm far enough to run his fingers on neck of the violin. My father used to say, "The good Lord kept all of us from getting killed." One year, I believe it was 1951; my brother and my cousins, "Red Tapio" and Sonny Torres were cast in a movie that was shooting up in the Black Hills. The movie was called "Tomahawk," and it starred Van Heflin, Rock Hudson, and Susan Ball. Of course Tony, Red and Sonny were the Indians. Sonny said that the director told all of the Indian actors that they had to be sprayed with chocolate colored paint because it would make them more photogenic. "One morning they rushed me into a tent and told me to take my shirt off and they started to spray me with the chocolate paint and we heard a shriek and some terrible cussing and discovered that we were in Susan Ball's tent and she was hysterical that they would have the nerve to paint me in her tent," Sonny said. Sonny and Red were expert horsemen, but poor "Tuna" hadn't sat on a horse since he was about five. And that is where the troubles began. As Sonny tells it, "One day Tuna climbed off the horse to have a cigarette. He took the reins, laid them on the ground and then stood on them to keep the horse from moving. He took a deep puff and just then the horse through its head back and it flipped Tuna up in the air and on to his back. The director and all of the other actors let out a roar." "At the end of the day we would race our horses back to the actor's camp and when we got there we would wonder what happened to Tuna. Red and I would ride back up the trail and there he would be lying in a heap on the ground and this happened about three times," Sonny said with a chuckle. Of course, all of the things that happened in this movie became fodder for Tony's memory banks and by the time he finished telling us stories about his great adventure in the movie, he was the star. We all knew what really happened, but it didn't really matter because we knew that this was his way of doing what he had always done; entertain and educate us. Tony never had the opportunity to develop the background to be a writer. We were very poor and since he was the oldest son, he was expected to work and work he did. Although he was tiny and very frail, he worked side by side with my father baling hay, picking potatoes, topping beets, and one summer they even picked oranges in Arizona. His chance at an education passed him by and in his own way I think he paved the way for me to get the opportunities that should have been his. (Tim Giago, the publisher of Native Sun News, can be reached at editor@nsweekly.com)
 
"New York Post"'s Jokes Of The Year (VIDEO) Top
The "New York Post" compiled a pretty random list of the year's best jokes by asking comedians to select their favorites. Most of them chose their own jokes, but some chose ones from other comedians they admire. Here are some highlights: David Letterman: "Why exactly are you here, honest to God?" Gov. Rod Blagojevich: "Well, you know, I've been wanting to be on your show in the worst way, for the longest time." Letterman: "Well, you're on in the worst way, believe me." Eugene Mirman: "I was thinking about truth or dare, and what the first dare was. I bet it was a cave man daring a cave woman to throw a burning stick at a monster. And I bet she was like, 'Fine, truth.' And I bet he was like, 'OK. What's your biggest fantasy?' And I bet she was like, 'Agriculture.' " Wendy Liebman: "My husband suffers from migraines. It sucks for him, but it works for me. I'm like, 'Not tonight, honey -- you have a headache.' " Michael Ian Black: "I like boots. They're like putting your foot inside a sheep." They also did a photo shoot with Sara Benincasa, Judah Friedlander, Richard Belzer and others (photos and the full list of jokes available here. Here's the behind the scenes video: More on New York
 
Merkel Attacks British PM Brown's Plan For "Global New Deal" Top
Gordon Brown's carefully laid plans for a G20 deal on worldwide tax cuts have been scuppered by an eve-of-summit ambush by European leaders. Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, last night led the assault on the prime minister's "global new deal" for a $2 trillion-plus fiscal stimulus to end the recession. More on Economy
 
Chris Brown, Rihanna No-Show At Kids' Choice Awards Top
LOS ANGELES — Chris Brown and Rihanna, who added star power to last year's Kids' Choice Awards, were conspicuously absent at the annual event on Saturday. Brown, who was nominated for favorite male singer and favorite song for "Kiss Kiss," withdrew his name from Kids' Choice contention after he was arrested Feb. 8 for allegedly attacking his girlfriend. Rihanna, a fellow Kids' Choice nominee for favorite female singer and favorite song for "Don't Stop the Music," was also a no-show. "For them not to be here is very sad. I was looking forward to seeing them here," rapper Soulja Boy, who is a friend of the pop stars, said from the orange carpet. "Right now, it's a sad situation. And it's very touchy. I'm just .... it just shocked me when it happened," he added. Soulja Boy said he's spoken with Brown over the phone and that the 19-year-old R&B singer is "doing OK." "Yeah, right now, it's a delicate time," he added. "You know, the court date is coming up. I hope that they both get through it in a positive way." Brown, who has been charged by Los Angeles prosecutors with felony assault and making criminal threats, is scheduled to be arraigned April 6. More on Chris Brown & Rihanna
 
Gates: I Expect NATO Allies Will Send Forces To Afghanistan Top
Defense Secretary Robert Gates said on Sunday that he expected NATO allies to contribute "additional forces" to Afghanistan, and defined the mission on that front as flexible but premised on the defeat of al Qaeda. Speaking on Fox News Sunday, the Bush administration holdover expanded on the plan for Afghanistan and Pakistan that President Obama presented on Friday. He said that the administration was "in it until we're successful." As for what constituted success, he said: "that al Qaeda is no longer a threat to the United States and that we are in no danger of either Afghanistan or the western part of Pakistan being a base for al Qaeda." Such a lofty and defined measure of success has, in the recent months, given rise to concerns of mission-creep in Afghanistan. But Gates stressed that the administration would not be rigid in its approach. The president, he said, has "been clear and frankly it was my view in our discussions that we don't want to just settle on this strategy and then pursue it blindly and open-endedly. And that's why I felt very strongly that toward the end of the year or a year from now we need to reevaluate this strategy and see if we're making progress." "The strategy is subject to review," asked host Chris Wallace. "The commitment to defeat the Taliban and al Qaeda, is that subject to review? "I don't think so," Gates replied. "That is the commitment," re-stated Wallace. "Certainly to defeat al Qaeda and to make sure Afghanistan and Western Pakistan are not safe havens for them," said Gates. On specific topics of the Af/Pak front, Gates offered a few more details. Asked about reports that the president had turned down requests for more troops to be sent to the field, he stated: "The president has approved every single soldier that I have requested of him ... The reality is, I've been at this a long time and I don't think I've ever in several decades run into a ground commander who thought he had enough troops. That's probably true in all of history." As for the notion that European and NATO allies would help alleviate the military burden that the United States was now shouldering, Gates seemed a bit more optimistic than most foreign policy analysts. "I think some of our allies will send additional forces there to provide security before the August elections in Afghanistan," he said, when quizzed as to whether that support would be let known in the upcoming NATO Summit. "But I think what we're really interested in for the longer term from our partners and the allies is helping us with this civilian surge in terms of experts in agriculture and finance and governance and so on to help us improve the situation inside Afghanistan, give a sense of forward progress on the part of the Afghan people. Also, police trainers. You know... these various groups in Europe are really very good paramilitary type police, and I think they could do a good job in the police training, so those will be probably the principal focus of our requests." More on Terrorism
 
Gates: No Change Coming Soon On "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" Top
WASHINGTON — Don't expect any change soon to the "don't ask, don't tell" policy about gays in the military. Defense Secretary Robert Gates says both he and President Barack Obama have "a lot on our plates right now." As Gates puts it, "let's push that one down the road a little bit." The White House has said Obama has begun consulting with Gates and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff on how to lift the ban. Gates says that dialogue has not really progressed very far at this point in the administration. The Pentagon policy was put in place after President Bill Clinton tried to lift the ban on gay service members in 1993. The policy refers to the military practice of not asking recruits their sexual orientation. In turn, service members are banned from saying they are gay or bisexual, engaging in homosexual activity or trying to marry a member of the same sex. Gates appeared on "Fox News Sunday."
 
Steele: "I'm Done" Reaching Out To Obama Top
RNC Chairman Michael Steele said he is "done" reaching out to the president, having apparently been rebuffed in his previous attempts to start a dialogue. In an interview with CNN that aired over the weekend, the Maryland Republican said he could detect no bipartisanship coming from the White House, stating that Barack Obama "has got a little thing about me that I haven't quite figured out." The remarks were a new installment in yet another bizarre interview given by the Republican National Committee chair. As aired earlier, Steele told CNN that he would contemplate a president run if God told him the time was right. He also claimed to have strategically planned his squabble with Rush Limbaugh, in which he called the radio talk show host's work incendiary and ugly. In the clips that aired on CNN this weekend, Steele delved once more into the interpersonal psychoses of politics, quickly dismissing questions over whether he was jealous of Obama's ascension to the White House. "What would I be jealous of?," he said. "I'm chairman of the RNC, so, what's your point? We both have leadership responsibilities and roles. I'm not equating the two. My point is: you are on your track. I'm on my track. You do your thing. I do my thing." HERE IS THE TRANSCRIPT STEELE: Look, I like the president personally, even though I think he has got a little thing about me, that I haven't quite figured out what that is. CNN: You haven't spoken to him? STEELE: No. CNN: You've reach out? STEELE: Several times, and I'm done. CNN: So there is no bipartisanship going on there? STEELE: Not, not that I know of. CNN: Is there any professional jealousy? STEELE: Not on my part. What would I be jealous of? CNN: He's the president of the United States. STEELE: I'm chairman of the RNC, so, what's your point? We both have leadership responsibilities and roles. I'm not equating the two. My point is: you are on your track. I'm on my track. You do your thing. I do my thing. More on Michael Steele
 
Air traffic controllers: Madonna arrives in Malawi Top
LILONGWE, Malawi — Madonna, the original Material Girl, landed in a decidedly un-material nation Sunday, flying into the capital of Malawi where she was expected to begin proceedings this week to adopt a young girl. Air traffic controllers at the airport in the capital of Lilongwe confirmed that her plane landed Sunday, speaking on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to discuss the matter with reporters. This would be the second child the 50-year-old pop star has adopted from the impoverished African country. The adoption for her Malawian-born son David, 3, was finalized last year. A Malawian welfare official and another person involved in the adoption proceedings say the girl Madonna is hoping to adopt is about 4 years old and her unmarried mother died soon after she was born. The girl's father is believed to be alive but no other details were available. They spoke on condition of anonymity because the case is considered sensitive. Madonna and the girl's uncle are expected to appear in court on Monday to sign adoption papers. A U.S. government official confirmed that an adoption bid by Madonna, an American, was under way. The luxury lodge where Madonna normally stays in Malawi has been fully booked and visitors are being turned away. Madonna faced harsh criticism for years over David's adoption. Children's advocacy groups accused her of wielding her wealth and influence to circumvent Malawian law requiring an 18- to 24-month assessment period before adoption. Austin Msowoya, legal researcher with Malawi's Law Commission, played down concerns that a second adoption by Madonna would violate any laws. He said the best interests of the child needed to be taken into account _ whether that was staying in an orphanage in Malawi or getting "an education with Madonna." "When you look at these two options, then perhaps it becomes in the best interests of the child to allow the adoption if the parents and the guardians consent to it," he told Associated Press Television News on Saturday. But Save the Children UK said the recently divorced superstar risked sending the wrong message by going through with the second adoption. "International adoption can actually exacerbate the problem it hopes to solve," spokesman Dominic Nutt said. "The very existence of orphanages encourages poor parents to abandon children in the hope that they will have a better life." Nutt said he was not suggesting that Madonna was doing anything wrong _ but he said the whole process of international adoptions was often flawed and sometimes linked to criminal activity. He said, barring exceptional circumstances, children should be kept in the care of their extended families or within their communities. Madonna's spokeswoman Liz Rosenberg in New York, who has not commented on the adoption reports, told The Associated Press the star would not respond to comments from Save the Children. In a recent interview in Malawi's leading daily The Nation, the singer said she was considering another adoption but would only do it if she had "the support of the Malawian people and government." If the adoption goes through, Madonna would become a single mother of four. She also has an 8-year-old son, Rocco, with former husband and British film director Guy Ritchie and a 12-year-old daughter, Lourdes, from a previous relationship. She and Ritchie, who were married in 2000, obtained a preliminary divorce decree in November 2008. Madonna first traveled to Malawi in 2006 while doing charity work and filming a documentary on the devastating poverty and AIDS crisis there. She is also establishing a school for girls there. More on Madonna
 
John Lundberg: Allen Ginsberg Is Coming To The Big Screen Top
Allen Ginsberg's "Howl" is coming to theaters. And if that makes you want to hide your children, hold off for a moment. The movie isn't an incarnation of the watershed poem itself, it's based on the obscenity trial that the poem sparked. "Howl" was first published in 1956 by famed poet and publisher Lawrence Ferlinghetti of City Lights Books (which still operates in downtown San Francisco). Ferlinghetti, concerned about possible obscenity charges, initially had the poem published in London. But, after some legal maneuvering by City Lights and the San Francisco Police Department, he was arrested and charged with "willfully and lewdly printing, publishing and selling obscene writings." Ferlinghetti's subsequent trial garnered a great deal of media attention, with the ACLU even stepping in on his behalf. It ended as a victory for Ferlinghetti, when Judge Clayton Horn--who will be played by Alan Alda in the movie--ruled that Ginsberg's poem should not be considered obscene, as it had "redeeming social importance." The event drew attention to Ginsberg's beliefs and to his ability as a poet. "Howl" criticizes society for expelling its best minds "from the academies for...publishing obscene odes on the windows of the skull," and those lines, essentially, played out in the real world. What made "Howl" potentially obscene? The poem relentlessly references drugs, sex and even (gasp!) homosexual sex in an effort to illuminate and break through the veneer of conformity that Ginsberg felt typified 1950s America. It celebrates people whom most viewed as delinquents (it's dedicated to Carl Solomon, whom Ginsberg met at a mental institution), and a lifestyle that mainstream America looked down upon, to put it mildly. Ginsberg did this with an unleashed free verse style (the poem's lengthy first section is a single sentence) which has had a lasting impact on American poetry. In case you aren't familiar with the poem, here's a taste: I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness, starving hysterical naked, dragging themselves through the negro streets at dawn looking for an angry fix, angelheaded hipsters burning for the ancient heavenly connection to the starry dynamo in the machinery of night, who poverty and tatters and hollow-eyed and high sat up smoking in the supernatural darkness of cold-water flats floating across the tops of cities contemplating jazz, who bared their brains to Heaven under the El and saw Mohammedan angels staggering on tenement roofs illuminated, who passed through universities with radiant cool eyes hallucinating Arkan- sas and Blake-light tragedy among the scholars of war, who were expelled from the academies for crazy & publishing obscene odes on the windows of the skull, who cowered in unshaven rooms in underwear, burning their money in wastebaskets and listening to the Terror through the wall, who got busted in their pubic beards returning through Laredo with a belt of marijuana for New York, You can read the poem in its entirety here . Howl , the movie, has a terrific cast. Actor James Franco -- recently of Milk and Pineapple Express -- plays Ginsberg . I've always thought of Franco as something of a stoner -- which isn't entirely inappropriate for Ginsberg -- but Franco takes writing very seriously. He attends graduate courses in creative writing at NYU and Columbia (Columbia, coincidentally, is where Ginsberg went to college), though, as TMZ dutifully reports, he isn't always awake . He also recently signed a deal to publish a book of short stories with Simon & Schuster. The movie will also feature the aforementioned Alda, along with Jeff Daniels, Paul Rudd, David Strathairn, and Weeds star Mary-Louise Parker. When the movie is released, and a new -- if more benign -- wave of protests against "obscenity" begin, I'm sure that Ginsberg, somewhere, will be smiling.
 
Kari Henley: Are Facebook Friends "Real" Friends? Top
Well, I have to say one thing - HuffPost readers rock! This is one spirited group and thanks to everyone who joined in on the lively debate about "Facebook and Kids" last week. Clearly there is a lot of energy, pent up emotion, generational gaps and strong opinions regarding the "tipping point" of Facebook and other social networking sites. I stumbled into a much bigger lion's den than I imagined! Today I'd like to explore why social networking in general has touched a collective nerve. Do sites like Facebook stand as viable communities, and are the people on your home page "real friends?" Many of you say no. It's the brick and mortar, sit-face-to-face-and-talk that counts. Some expressed feeling leery of all the myriad new drains on time and energy with texting, tweeting, facebooking and so on. They lament the discourtesy of people constantly texting while out to dinner, or using twitter to reply to Facebook to send you an email to ask a simple question. They fear we are losing ourselves. Yet, this prism has many sides. Plenty out there are believe these sites are solid and viable resources for maintaining connections, and the wave of the future. Some of you spoke of how you enjoy the broad networks you can manage easily, as well as nostalgic components of finding old friends and delighting in renewed connections. One of our readers said she joined Facebook, met old elementary school friends she had lost touch with, and was making plans for a reunion in New York City. "But do you really consider these relative strangers to be your 'friends?"' I asked her. "Yes," she replied, "because they have a piece of my history that almost none of my existing friends have. It is really feels almost like finding a long lost relative." So, what gives? When something hits a nerve, clearly there are unresolved emotions, the boundaries of a comfort zone is being tapped, or we are being asked to make a paradigm shift around something we are unsure of. Perhaps we are being asked to broaden our horizons of relationship in general. Let's look at Wikipedia's definition of Friendship: Friendship is a term used to denote co-operative and supportive behavior between two or more people. In this sense, the term connotes a relationship which involves mutual knowledge, esteem, and affection and respect along with a degree of rendering service to friends in times of need or crisis. Friends will welcome each other's company and exhibit loyalty towards each other, often to the point of altruism. Their tastes will usually be similar and may converge, and they will share enjoyable activities. They will also engage in mutually helping behavior, such as exchange of advice and the sharing of hardship. How about the definition of community? 1)Group of people sharing a common understanding who reveal themselves by using the same language, manners, tradition and law. 2) The condition of having certain attitudes and interests in common. Technically then, it really doesn't matter if you feel comforted by others online or feel nourished at church or connected at a company retreat; we all need varied experiences of friendship and community in our lives. I have written extensively about community and believe there is much to gnosh on here. What's behind the movement is essentially - we are starved for one another. That is why Facebook took off across the generations. We crave opportunities to see a friendly face and know the silly details of each others lives. It fills a void. The experience of loneliness is a widespread societal wound. I believe, when we get down to the root, what we're craving is not physical or cyber connections, but Meaningful connections. Humans are hardwired to gather together as a means of survival, and loneliness prompts a "desire to affiliate" according to John Cacioppo, author of the book, Loneliness: Human Nature and the Need for Social Connection . I have quoted him before as his research is so powerful. "You can have all the 'right' friends in terms of social prestige, in-group cachet, or business connections, or a spouse who is rich, brilliant and fabulous looking, but if there is no deep, emotional resonance, then none of these relationships will satisfy the hunger for connection or ease the pain of feeling isolated." I believe most teens discussed last week deeply crave connection, and the cyber world is a tour de force of potential; with proper 'driving lessons' to guide them. Most of us 'grown ups' have not had time to develop close relationships in our lives. In fact, whenever I teach workshops and poll people as to who feels somewhat lonely in their lives, a majority raise their hands. I talk to people every day who lament they do not have a community in their lives, or a dedicated group of friends they feel they can count on to call when life is falling apart. Psychologists Wendi Gardner and Marilynn Brewer studied the ways people describe themselves and believe when you answer the question, "Who Am I?" The answer usually relates to the groups in our lives. (ie: I am a mother, a writer, etc.). They created three categories of Self: your physical, social, and collective Selves. Here's a few tips on how to find balance across the physical and cyber world: 1) Ground your 'Physical Self'- stay grounded in what makes you unique in this world and tend to your inner life each day with the essentials of air, earth, fire and water. Find activities that put you in a "flow state." 2) Nurture you Social or Relational Self- Be mindful of the relationships you have through work, spouse, friends, neighbors and offer gratitude when you can. Knock on a door out of the blue and surprise someone! 3) Develop our "Collective Self"- this is the part of you that expands to others via social networking sites, larger societies or associations and other broader social identities that are less a part of your day-to-day experience, yet can expand who you are. Maybe someday this will all blow over when we learn how to become telepathic. Then we can ditch all these terminals, beeping phones and complex devices and just return to the Oneness. We will simply know and trust that we are not alone and won't have to prove it over and over again. As always, I love to hear your comments and thoughts. Feel free to leave a comment below or if you have a longer story to tell, you can email me directly at: karihenley@comcast.net. If you would like to receive notices of my columns, simply click on the "Become a Fan". See you next Sunday! More on Facebook
 
Gretchen Rubin: Hannah Montana vs. Nabokov: Why We Shouldn't Be Judged By Our Interests Top
I'm working on my Happiness Project, and you could have one, too ! Everyone's project will look different, but it's the rare person who can't benefit. Join in -- no need to catch up, just jump in right now. Each Friday's post will help you think about your own happiness project. I'm going through a Tolstoy obsession right now - one which I've resisted for a long time, but now, in true Tolstoyan fashion, am allowing myself to succumb to - and I was struck by a phrase in a description of Nabatov, a hero in Resurrection . Nabatov is a peasant who got a high-school education because of his exceptional talents. He didn't go to the university, however, because he wanted to "go among the people and enlighten his neglected brethren." He took up various positions, and each time was arrested for trying to organize the peasants, and ultimately he was exiled. Tolstoy extols his virtues: "As a peasant he was industrious, observant, and clever at his work; he was also naturally self-controlled, polite without any effort, and attentive not only to the wishes but also to the opinions of others. His widowed mother, an illiterate, superstitious old peasant woman, was still living, and Nabatov helped her, and used to visit her when he was free. During the time he spent at home he entered into all the interests of his mother's life, helped her in her work, continued his intercourse with former playfellows, smoking in their company cheap tobacco in 'dog's-foot cigarettes,' took part in their fisticuffs, and explained to them how they were all being deceived by the State and how they ought to disentangle themselves from the deception they were kept in." The phrase that caught my attention in this description is that Nabatov " entered into all the interests of his mother's life ." It occurs to me that when you think of people getting along harmoniously - whether in a family, among friends, or in an office - people make an effort to enter into the interests of eachother's lives. Presumably Nabatov wasn't much interested in the things that interested his "illiterate, superstitious old peasant" mother. I'm not much interested in Hannah Montana, which interests my older daughter. My husband isn't much interested in why I think all biographers of St. Therese of Lisieux have profoundly misunderstood her. Not only do people find it difficult to enter into each other's interests, people also have a strong impulse to be judgmental about other people's interests. I think someone's interest in wine is boring. Someone thinks my interest in children's literature is childish. When you're trying to be happier, one issue that frequently arises is: "If I do this, am I being fake? Doesn't happiness depend on being authentic? If I don't naturally feel optimistic/positive/interested, why should I pretend?" (See, e.g., whether you should unenthusiastically play your part in a tradition. ) That's a very good question. If you spend your time faking an interest in topics that bore you, you're not going to be very happy. On the other hand, entering into other people's interests is an important way to show respect and affection. Ah, the elusive happy medium. What do you think? Is it laudable to enter into other people's interests, or do you view that as inauthentic? Wait...I think I hear the Hannah Montana theme song. Gotta go. * I'm thrilled! I asked if any possible "super-fans" of the Happiness Project would be willing to volunteer to help me out in a few ways -- and so many people have offered. Thank you all! If any more kind souls would like to sign up, please just drop me an email at gretchenrubin1[at]gmail[dot com] . (I added brackets to thwart spammers, but just use the usual email format.) No need to write anything more than "super-fan" in the subject line, and I'll put your name on the list. First item: before long, I'm going to launch my super-secret, super-fabulous, happiness-related website. I'll send the super-fans the link ahead of time, in case they'd be interested in being beta testers (i.e., using the site in its early, pre-public stages). If you're not interested in that, there are other issues that will come up in the next few months -- all purely voluntary, of course, so if you sign up as a super-fan but then don't have time or don't want to do anything, that's fine, too. More on The Balanced Life
 
Environmentalists Hail Earth Hour As A Big Success Top
BONN, Germany — For environmental activists, the message was clear: Earth Hour was a huge success. Now they say nations have a mandate to tackle climate change. "The world said yes to climate action, now governments must follow," the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) said a day after hundreds of millions of people worldwide followed its call to turn off lights for a full hour. From an Antarctic research base and the Great Pyramids of Egypt, from the Colosseum in Rome to the Empire State building in New York, illuminated patches of the globe went dark Saturday night to highlight the threat of climate change. Time zone by time zone, nearly 4,000 cities and towns in 88 countries dimmed nonessential lights from 8:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. WWF called the event, which began in Australia in 2007 and grew last year to 400 cities worldwide, "the world's first-ever global vote about the future of our planet." "Last night's message from the masses was loud and clear: Delay no more, real action now!" Kim Carstensen, the leader of WWF's Global Climate Initiative, said in a statement. Negotiators from 175 countries gathered Sunday in Bonn for the latest round in an effort to craft a deal to control emissions of the heat-trapping gases responsible for global warming. German boy and girl scouts on Sunday presented the top U.N. climate official, Yvo de Boer, with a blue "ballot box" symbolically representing the world's vote the night before to save the earth. "If the world keeps polluting ... we will lose our future," a young Girl Scout told de Boer. The climate chief thanked the young people as well as the WWF for mobilizing the massive show of support. "I wouldn't be surprised if that was actually the largest public demonstration that there has ever been on an issue like this," he said. Earth Hour officially began when the Chatham Islands, 500 miles (800 kilometers) east of New Zealand, switched off its diesel generators. At Scott Base in Antarctica, New Zealand's 26-member winter team resorted to minimum safety lighting and switched off appliances and computers. In Australia, Sydney's glittering harbor was bathed in shadows as lights dimmed on the steel arch of the city's iconic Harbour Bridge and the nearby Opera House. As the sun moved west, the Great Pyramids and Sphinx in Egypt darkened. So did the Acropolis in Athens and the Colosseum in Rome. In Paris, the Eiffel Tower, Louvre and Notre Dame Cathedral were among 200 monuments and buildings that went dark. The Eiffel Tower, however, only extinguished its lights for five minutes for security reasons because visitors were on the tower. The celebration then crossed the Atlantic, where crowds at New York's Times Square watched as many of the massive billboards, including the giant Coca-Cola display, darkened. The Majestic Theater marquee at the home of "The Phantom of the Opera" went dark, along with the marquees at other Broadway shows. Mikel Rouse, 52, a composer who lives and works nearby came to watch. "C'mon, is it really necessary? ... All this ridiculous advertising ... all this corporate advertising taking up all that energy seems to be a waste," Rouse said. Hundreds of other cities also joined in, from Chicago to San Francisco to Rio de Janeiro in Brazil, where the iconic Christ the Redeemer statue that watches over the city was darkened, along with the beachfront of the famed Copacabana. "Earth Hour has always been a positive campaign," said Earth Hour executive director Andy Ridley. "It's always around street parties, not street protests, it's the idea of hope, not despair. And I think that's something that's been incredibly important this year because there is so much despair around." ___ Associated Press writers around the world contributed to this report. ___ On the Net: Earth Hour: http://www.earthhour.org U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's Earth Hour video: http://sn.im/enqwn
 
Iraq Orders Sunni Gunmen In Baghdad Area To Disarm Top
BAGHDAD — U.S.-backed Iraqi forces swept through a central Baghdad slum Sunday, disarming government-allied Sunni fighters after they launched a two-day uprising to protest the arrest of their leader. The standoff in Fadhil, a ramshackle Sunni enclave on the east bank of the Tigris River where al-Qaida once held sway, eased by midday as convoys of U.S. and Iraqi forces rolled into the neighborhood. But the confrontation threatens to undermine U.S. efforts to stabilize Baghdad before American troops pull out of Iraqi cities by the end of June. Trouble started Saturday when Iraqi troops arrested the head of Fadhil's Awakening Council for alleged terrorist activity and for purportedly leading an armed group loyal to Saddam Hussein's ousted party. The arrest triggered fierce gunfights between Iraqi forces and Awakening Council members, killing four people and wounding 15. Six more people, including four women, were wounded Sunday in sporadic shooting that occurred as U.S. and Iraqi soldiers began sealing off the neighborhood, police and hospital officials said. The confrontation is important and potentially explosive because the Awakening Councils, also known as Sons of Iraq, are Sunni security volunteers who broke with al-Qaida and joined forces with the Americans. The councils help man checkpoints and guard neighborhoods, playing a major role in turning the tide against the Sunni insurgency. Despite the volunteers' role in helping reduce violence in Iraq, Shiite political leaders have never fully trusted the Awakening Councils since many of them are ex-insurgents. Some Awakening Council leaders expressed fear that Saturday's arrest could signal a crackdown on them by the Shiite-led government _ a move that could send many volunteers back to the ranks of the insurgents. After Sunday's gunbattles, Iraqi soldiers using loudspeakers ordered Awakening Council members in Fadhil to give up their weapons, and convoys of Iraqi and U.S. troops rolled in to secure the area, witnesses said. Witnesses saw Iraqi troops, some accompanied by American soldiers, leading away groups of young men. Five Iraqi soldiers were missing after Saturday's fighting and were presumed captured by Awakening Council fighters, a police officer said on condition of anonymity because he was not supposed to release the information. An Iraqi military spokesman told government television that operation in Fadhil was directed at "pursuing those involved in opening fire on our security forces" and not the general Sunni population. Maj. Gen. Qassim al-Moussawi said the Awakening Council leader who was arrested in Fadhil, Adil al-Mashhadani, was believed to have been involved in murder, extortion and other crimes as well as leading an armed wing of Saddam's Baath party. Even before the arrest, Awakening Council leaders had complained of mistreatment by the government, including delays in receiving their salaries since they went off the U.S. payroll last year. The arrest of Adil al-Mashhadani only served to reinforce their concerns. "We hope the government will not arrest any member until it is proved he made mistakes," said Sheik Mustafa Kamil Shebib, leader of the Awakening Council in south Baghdad's Dora area. Sheik Aifan Saadoun, a prominent Anbar province Awakening Council member, said no one wants criminals in the ranks but "we fear that this situation will turn into a 'settling of scores' by some political parties and we might be the victims." A U.S. military spokesman, Col. Bill Buckner, insisted the arrest did not herald a crackdown and said the government appreciated the contribution of the councils in improving security. Iraqi army officers were holding meetings with Awakening Council leaders in other parts of the city, apparently seeking to offer assurances that the arrest in Fadhil was not part of a move against them. The Iraqi government assumed responsibility for paying the more than 90,000 security volunteers in October, and will take on the remaining 10,000 on April 1. Leaders of several Awakening Council groups complained that the government has not paid them in months, with some threatening to quit the movement. "We will wait until the end of April, and if the government does not pay us our salaries, then we will abandon our work," said Ahmed Suleiman al-Jubouri, a leader of a group that mans checkpoints in south Baghdad. Buckner said the new budget law shifted funding for the volunteers to the Interior Ministry, which was still refining its procedures and payments would resume this week. Under pressure from the U.S., the government agreed to accept 20,000 of the fighters into the police or army and continue paying the rest until they could find them civilian jobs. But U.S. officials say the process has been slowed because the drop in world oil prices has cut deeply into the government's revenues, prompting a freeze on army and police recruiting. Ahmed Abu Risha, head of the Awakening Councils in Anbar province, said the government should speed up integrating volunteers into the army and police "to avoid what happened today" in Fadhil. Also Sunday, a roadside bomb exploded near a security patrol in the southern city of Basra, killing one security guard and three civilians, police said. More on War Wire
 
Smokers Face A Hit As Tobacco Taxes Spike Top
WASHINGTON — However they satisfy their nicotine cravings, tobacco users are facing a big hit as the single largest federal tobacco tax increase ever takes effect Wednesday. Tobacco companies and public health advocates, longtime foes in the nicotine battles, are trying to turn the situation to their advantage. The major cigarette makers raised prices a couple of weeks ago, partly to offset any drop in profits once the per-pack tax climbs from 39 cents to $1.01. Medical groups see a tax increase right in the middle of a recession as a great incentive to help persuade smokers to quit. Tobacco taxes are soaring to finance a major expansion of health insurance for children. President Barack Obama signed that health initiative soon after taking office. Other tobacco products, from cigars to pipes and smokeless, will see similarly large tax increases, too. For example, the tax on chewing tobacco will go up from 19.5 cents per pound to 50 cents. The total expected to be raised over the 4 1/2 year-long health insurance expansion is nearly $33 billion. Smokers are mulling their options. Standing outside an office building in downtown Washington last week, 29-year-old Sam Sarkhosh puffed on a Marlboro Light. His 8-year-old daughter has been pleading with him to quit, he explained, and he has set a goal to give up smoking by his 30th birthday. "I'm trying to quit smoking, and it could help," said Sarkhosh, an information systems specialist. "I don't think it will stop me from buying cigarettes every now and then, but definitely not as often." A friend who smokes Camels went out and bought four cartons in advance, he said. The tax increase is only the first move in a recharged anti-smoking campaign. Congress also is considering legislation to empower the Food and Drug Administration to regulate tobacco. That could lead to reformulated cigarettes. Obama, who has agonized over his own cigarette habit, said he would sign such a bill. Prospects for reducing the harm from smoking are better than they have been in years, said Dr. Timothy Gardner, president of the American Heart Association. The tax increase "is a terrific public health move by the federal government," he said. "Every time that the tax on tobacco goes up, the use of cigarettes goes down." About one in five adults in the United States smokes cigarettes. That's a gradually dwindling share, though it isn't shrinking fast enough for public health advocates. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says cigarette smoking results in an estimated 443,000 premature deaths each year, and costs the economy $193 billion in health care expenses and lost time from work. Smoking is a major contributor to heart disease, cancer and lung disease. Public health officials are urging individual doctors and staff at telephone "quit lines" in every state to make the most of the tax increase by reaching out to smokers. But it's unclear how deeply the tax will cut into tobacco consumption. Eric Lindblom, research director for the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, says he expects a drop of at least 6 percent to 7 percent among young smokers. Philip Gorham, who tracks the tobacco business for Morningstar, the investment research firm, said he expects an overall drop of 4 percent to 5 percent this year. What happens after that is less certain, especially as the economy recovers. "I would expect a road bump this year," said Gorham. "But these companies will still be extremely profitable. I still think they will make their return on capital by wide margins in the long run." Philip Morris USA, the largest tobacco company and maker of Marlboro, is forecasting a drop, but spokesman Bill Phelps said he cannot predict how big. Philip Morris raised Marlboro prices by 71 cents a pack early this month, and prices on smaller brands by 81 cents a pack. Other major companies followed suit. The pricing moves raised eyebrows. "That's nothing more than greed," said Kevin Altman, an industry consultant who advises small tobacco companies. "They weren't required to charge that until April 1. They are just putting that into their pockets." Responded Phelps: "We raised our prices in direct response to the federal excise tax increase, and people who are upset about that should find out how their member of Congress voted, and contact him or her." Some policy analysts have questioned the wisdom of boosting tobacco taxes to finance health care for children. They argue that the fate of such a broad program should not depend on revenues derived from a minority of the adult population, many of whom have low incomes and are hooked on a habit. The tobacco industry is also warning that the steep increase will lead to tax evasion through old-fashioned smuggling or by Internet purchase from abroad. But smoking control advocates such as Lindblom say tobacco taxes should be even higher. "There's a lot of room to go after cigars and smokeless," he said. "We are certainly hopeful that health care reform will include some more increases." Standing outside a Washington department store, attorney Margaret Webster, 42, puffed on a Marlboro Ultra Light and lamented the fact that the government is reaching deeper into her pocketbook. "I don't think we (smokers) like it," she said. "But I've heard so many people say they were going to quit when the price went up ... and they're still smoking." ___ On the Net: New tobacco tax rates: http://tinyurl.com/bt9c32
 
Obama Starts Climate Change Forum For Big Economies Top
President Barack Obama on Saturday invited 16 "major economies" including the European Union and the United Nations to take part in a forum on climate change to facilitate a U.N. pact on global warming. Obama, a Democrat who has taken a more aggressive stance on climate change than his predecessor, Republican George W. Bush, invited the group to a preparatory session on April 27 and 28 in Washington. More on Climate Change
 
TV SoundOff: Sunday Talking Heads Top
Good morning to everyone and welcome to your Sunday morning liveblog of your Sunday morning political chit-chat festivals. My name is Jason, and today is extra-special Obama White House Charm Offensive and Multi-Pronged Explainarama Day. Yes, today, the administration is out in full force, including President Obama himself, and the way they've got it all set up bespeaks strategy. Defense Secretary Robert Gates will take his explanation of open-ended war in Afghanistan to the open-ended war fans at Fox News Sunday. President Obama himself will sit down with CBS's Bob Schieffer, where he'll likely trade relatively rigorous questioning for a little old-school prestige. And Tim Geithner, the man most in need of a break, will go to the community college of Sunday Morning Talk Shows, to be furtively probed by David Gregory. Obama could have gone himself, but why bother: Gregory would spend the whole day asking him why he's raising taxes on the rich nine different ways. Yes, at some point, I do believe that all of Obama's favorite "bowling" jokes can become "Meet The Press" jokes. Anyway, send emails , leave comments, join up to follow me on Twitter , and sit back and let's get through todays White House infomercial, beginning with... FOX NEWS SUNDAY So, Obama now "owns" a war, and Wallace is upset that the mission has shifted from a COIN/Counter-terror mission to planting FREEDOM FLOWERS and dropping litters of DEMOCRACY PUPPIES from overhead. Gates says that everyone can go on considering that as a hunky dory longterm goal, but that there's a serious threat to be thwarted in the form of al Qaeda and the Taliban. Will there be enough troops to run an Iraq style COIN strategy? Gates says Obama has been fully on board with the strategy his commanders has put forth. He thinks the mission is going to have the correct amount of forces. He doesn't specifically answer whether the troops there are adequate to run an Iraq style COIN strategy - I think because the jury's still out as to whether that can be specifically imported to Afghanistan. Wallace asks if the commitment to defeat al Qaeda is open to review, and Gates says no. He asks about whether the Pakistanis have been helping al Qaeda. THE ANSWER IS YES, FOR YEARS AND YEARS. FROM THE MOMENT THE BUSH ADMINISTRATION THOUGHT: "Hmm, let's partner with Pakistan!" What about getting more of our allies to send troops to Afghanistan? Gates spins it positively, and adds that another way the rest of the world can help out is with a "civilian surge" of non-military expertise, and police-training. On to North Korea. What's Gates' take on the announcement that the North Koreans plan to launch a satellite. Gates isn't sure that this is a mask for their nuclear program, and isn't convinced that they have the technology to place a warhead on it. Can we shoot it down? Maybe. Wallace wants to know what we can do about it. Gates basically says, well, not much, dude. Is Obama, "less committed" to a missile defense plan? Gates won't stipulate to any cuts in that program, nor will he admit to any "new skepticism" over the missle program. He'll cop to it being "under review." CAN WE STAY IN IRAQ PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE FOREVER? Gates says there's nothing on the horizon that will affect the timelines in place. Gates sees Iran as a venue for economic sanctions to push diplomacy. Dialogue over "Don't Ask Don't Tell", Gates says, has not progressed very far, because the President and Gates both feel they have "a lot on their plate" at the moment. That money has been allocated to continue the enforcement of those rules is only because it's the prevailing law. Gates also says not to read into the fact that the administration doesn't use the dumb phraseology of the Bush administration. Wow, so now Wallace is going to stick it to Steven Harper, the Prime Minister of Canada. Will he continue to keep Canadian troops in Afghanistan, now that Obama has announced his plan? Harper won't stipulate to a troop withdrawal, and does note that an uptick in civilian efforts. Wallace tries to hang Harper out to dry on a comment he made about never being able to defeat the insurgency, and it turns out that Canadians are just as good at insisting that Fox is taking their remarks out of context as Americans are, except the Canucks can do so in French, too. Harper won't comment on U.S. domestic matters, but he does note that Canada has a much stronger economy. No bank bailouts. "Strong activist regulation" too, which Wallace does not say as if it were a bad thing. Harper, speaking "as a conservative," says of the government's role in the economy: "It's great to have less intervention and less regulation, in principle, but where has that led us?...A happy medium of regulation is the way to go." Are you beginning to appreciate what "conservative" means in Canada? How does Harper feel about the auto industry situation? "It's too important an industry to have collapse in Canada." Harper is thus far pleased with the Obama approach to the matter. Has there been any movement on revising some NAFTA contracts? Harper says he's open to the same sort of side-issue revisions, like the environment, that Obama is. All right! Happy Canada On Sunday Day! Sheesh. Only Fox would replay Geithner being questioned by Dominic Manzullo! Anyway: Panel Time! Is Geithner making a POWER GRAB? Kristol says that the response is appropriate and not unreasonable and that it would be foolish for conservatives to just insist that doing nothing would yield any significant results. He feels like there are "freer market ways" of setting up the public-private partnerships. Nina Easton feels the Geithner plan goes "so much farther than what anyone was talking about." Apparently, she wasn't told that some people were talking about bank nationalization/receivership. Juan Williams seems a little gobsmacked at "the reasonable Bill Kristol this morning" and questions whether we can go on with entities that are "too big to fail." Only Bill Sammon thinks that this is a "wide power grab." "Never waste a crisis seems to be this administration's motto," he says. Yeah. Could you imagine, for instance, if a terrorist attack led to a bunch of dumbassed and unrelated military interventions at the behest of a bunch of failed foreign policy morons? Unheard of! Anyway, this seems to attach things like healthcare and environmental policy to this "power grab" scenario. I'd point out that this administration was PUT INTO OFFICE to affect these policies, so we're talking about the most publicly sought after POWER GRAB in recent memory. Meanwhile, Kristol's been talking to hedge fund managers, and they'd be perfectly happy with "some forms of disclosure." Great! I'm sure we can trust the hedge fund managers. Surely Hillary Clinton is right that our insatiable need for drugs has caused many of the problems in Mexico. Sammon says, well, it's true, but that the LEFT is always BLAMING AMERICA. But is it America's fault those drugs are so delicious? NO. SO SHUT UP HILLARY, ALTHOUGH I SORT OF AGREE. Juan tells Sammon to "chill out." Maybe it's Brit Hume's presence that undermines Williams so much. What does Bill Kristol think about Obama's Afghanistan policy? He's actually fine with it. He seems especially pleased that Nancy Pelosi is not fully on board with it. Anyway, he's got some new crew of misfit world-rapers called the Foreign Policy Initiative to continue to pontificate from, and to continue to reward the Kagan family. Bill Sammon says the difference between liberals and conservatives is that CONSERVATIVES LOVE THE SURGE. And they will CALL A SURGE A SURGE, USING THE WORD SURGE, UNTIL THERE'S A HOT AND STICKY SURGE OF SURGING ON EVERYONE'S GABARDINES. Bill Sammon: the Jizz in my Pants of conservative punditry. FACE THE NATION
 
Geithner: Gov't Must Not Let Up, Banks Need To Start "Taking Risks Again" Top
WASHINGTON -- The banking crisis. The credit crisis. The recession. The auto bailout. The bonus furor. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner (GYT'-nur) has had to deal with so many hot button issues in little more than two months since joining President Barack Obama's Cabinet. So what's the most important thing he has learned in trying to fix the economy? He says it isn't the risk that the government does too much. Instead, Geithner says it's the risk that the government does too little to try to help solve the financial problems. Geithner says the financial markets cannot not solve all those problems -- it's up to the federal government to act and that's what he says the Obama administration is trying to do. The Treasury Secretary did, however, push for banks to act more aggressive and help restore lending to businesses. "To get out of this we need banks to take a chance on businesses, to take risks again." Geithner said the government has about $135 billion left in bailout money for struggling banks. The Treasury has the money on hand, he told ABC's George Stephanopoulos, and is not yet committed to specific banks. He said the estimate is based on a "conservative judgment" and is based on an expectation some banks would return some of their share of bailout money. He said he wants to get that money to banks as quickly as possible. Geithner said he won't rule out another round of bailout money for banks, but understands Congress would have to approve it. More on Timothy Geithner
 
Steve Young: Next up on Fox & Friends: Comparing Democratic Leaders to Nazis? Top
Following their March 26 segment where Fox News' Fox & Friends, co-hosts Brian Kilmeade and Gretchen Carlson hosted Michael Franzese , the former capo of La Cosa Nostra's Colombo crime family, to discuss similarities in the way Democratic leaders and progressive figures are "operating," Kilmeade and Carlson brought on Walter Schreiber. Schreiber, who had been instrumental in medical experiments on concentration camp inmates, was asked to discuss the Obama's administration's parallels to the Third Reich. Kilmeade began the segment by asking, "So, is this a big stretch to think that, all of a sudden, Washington, D.C., has become our "Third Reich" and the Democrats, "the Nazi Party?" Asked by Carlson what he would "call" Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner, Schreiber replied that Geithner is "like Mengele to me. The Angel of Death. I mean, he's like a surgeon experimenting on our economy determining which businesses will be exterminated and which ones will be used as guinea pigs, performing bizarre amputations of banking systems and injecting macabre bailout schemes into sick corporations." Schreiber also likened Obama to Mengele. "Obama clearly READ THE REST OF THE FOX & FRIENDS' FAIR & BALANCED NAZI INTERVIEW HERE Award-winning TV writer blogs at the appropiately named SteveYoungOnPolitics.com
 
Steve Parker: Formula 1 shocker; new Brawn GP team wins it all Top
Two of the three oldest drivers in Formula 1 racing started one - two and finished the same way in the season-opener of the world's most prestigious and expensive racing series at the Grand Prix of Melbourne (Australia). Drivers Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello are members of a team which didn't even exist a month ago, Brawn GP. The two drivers are relatively old for the sport, but age also brings experience and skill, and both drivers and their team ran a smart, determined and aggressive race. Italian Jarno Trulli took third place for Toyota, the world's largest car maker. Jenson Button started first and finished first in the F1 season-opener in Oz Reigning World Driving Champion Lewis Hamilton of the UK started 18th on the 20-car grid and finished fourth, by passing other cars and attrition, winning points for himself and the McLaren Mercedes team as he began defending his title. The race saw the safety car, the F1 equivalent of the yellow flag in American racing, deployed twice. After the race's start, Button never looked back in the 58 lap event, establishing a huge lead in the first lap. The UK's Ross Brawn, one of the top engineers and strategists in F1, who had a strong hand in creating the glory days of F1 teams including Benetton and Ferrari, just a month ago put together a leveraged buy-out of the former Honda F1 team. Honda, an on-again, off-again force in the sport since the 1960's, and the first Japanese company to enter the world of F1, and made an American driver, Richie Ginther, the team's star (see the movie "Grand Prix" starring Toshiro Mifuni as Mr. Honda and James Garner as Ginther). Honda left F1 during the recent off-season, saying the huge budget which F1 demands (estimated at over $400 million annually for competitive teams) could not be justified during the worldwide recession. In fact, apart from Richard Branson's Virgin Air, there were almost no sponsor logos on the Brawn GP cars. We predict that will change before the series' next race. Sir Richard Branson appeared to have a good time at the F1 season-opener When Honda withdrew this past autumn, observers expected them to shutter the team entirely, but apparently they were open to sales opportunitiest. Brawn organized a consortium of investors and bought the Honda team last month. And Jenson Button reportedly took a 50% pay cut to help get the team rolling; he'll still get an estimated $8 million a year for driving in the 17-race season. A major change for the old Honda team is Brawn's use of Mercedes-Benz engines. The MB engines are known for their speed and, most importantly, durability. You can't win any race if you don't finish. MB would have swept the podium except for Trulli and his indefatigable spirit. Toyota has struggled during its relatively short history in F1, so a podium finish means a lot to the company. By Monday, there will be Jarno Trulli posters in Toyota dealerships and offices around the world. From the left, that's Rubens Barrichello, Ross Brawn, race winner Jenson Button and third-place finisher Jarno Trulli on the podium at Melbourne Added to the dramatic twists and turns of the race itself were the most drastic rule changes in F1 in over 25 years. In money-saving moves, on-track testing of the cars and using wind tunnels to fine-tune aerodynamics have been drastically cut back by FIA, the sport's Paris-based sanctioning body. The 2009 cars appear entirely different from last year's, with a front end looking like a shark or, some say, a vampire, a wider and lower front wing, completely re-done side pods and smaller rear wings. For the first time in 11 years, F1 has returned to using slick tires, supplied by Bridgestone. Teams still have a choice of running hard or soft tire compounds, depending on track conditions and race strategy. F1 teams have the option this year of using Kinetic Energy Recovery Systems (KERS). The system uses mechanical, chemical and electrical energy to store power previously lost under braking. The cars' crankshafts keep spinning when the driver hits the brakes. A generator placed on the driveshaft captures that formerly-wasted energy. Using a series of batteries and a flywheel made of carbon fiber, KERS stores the energy. When the driver presses a button on the steering wheel, an extra 80-horsepower is added to the rear wheels for a short time. The KERS device can add an instant, extra 80-horsepower to the already stout F1 engines Currently, there are no F1 events scheduled for North America. The race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway was called off after only a few years at the track. A fiasco involving high speeds and tires saw only six cars start the event. F1's annual visit to Montreal has also been cancelled. The Formula 1 "circus" now moves to Kuala Lumbur, Malaysia for racing the weekend of April 3rd through the 5th. Button's teammate at Brawn GP, Rubens Barrrichello, started second --- and finished second in Melbourne More on Australia
 
'Dumbest Criminal' Ever Caught Robbing Cop At Police Convention Top
HARRISBURG, Pa. — A retired police chief said he was robbed by "probably the dumbest criminal in Pennsylvania," at a police officers' convention on Friday morning. John Comparetto said as he came out of a stall in the men's room, a man pointed a gun in his face and demanded money. There were 300 narcotics officers from Pennsylvania and Ohio at the gathering. Comparetto gave up his money and cell phone. But when the man fled, Comparetto and some colleagues chased him. They arrested a 19-year-old man as he was trying to leave in a taxi. The suspect is also awaiting trial on four previous robbery charges. The suspect was arraigned and taken to Dauphin County Prison. When a reporter asked the suspect for comment as he was led out of court, he said, "I'm smooth." More on Stupid Criminals
 
Syria's Assad Emails Sy Hersh: Peace With Israel Still Possible If America Mediates Top
When the Israelis' controversial twenty-two-day military campaign in Gaza ended, on January 18th, it also seemed to end the promising peace talks between Israel and Syria. The two countries had been engaged for almost a year in negotiations through intermediaries in Istanbul. Many complicated technical matters had been resolved, and there were agreements in principle on the normalization of diplomatic relations. The consensus, as an ambassador now serving in Tel Aviv put it, was that the two sides had been "a lot closer than you might think." At an Arab summit in Qatar in mid-January, however, Bashar Assad, the President of Syria, angrily declared that Israel's bombing of Gaza and the resulting civilian deaths showed that the Israelis spoke only "the language of blood." He called on the Arab world to boycott Israel, close any Israeli embassies in the region, and sever all "direct or indirect ties with Israel." Syria, Assad said, had ended its talks over the Golan Heights.
 
Mark Joseph: A Belated Thank You To Dave Ornauer & Northwest Airlines Top
The other day some friends from high school alerted me to the fact that legendary Pacific Stars & Stripes Sports reporter Dave Ornauer was compiling a list of the top Far East basketball players of the last 25 years and was kind enough to remember me and some of my friends. It reminded me that Ornauer or Orny as he's known to his friends along with Northwest Airlines was due for a long overdue thank you. Every town should be lucky enough to have an Orny-an adult who cares as much about high school sports as the players do. Only Orny's town is the entire Far East, or more specifically those of us who were fortunate enough to grow up there as expatriates and compete against each other in high school basketball. After competing within our various regions (Japan, Guam, Korea etc.) we would meet up once a year often on the island of Okinawa to compete for the coveted Far East Championship trophy. We'd live in the barracks with American forces stationed overseas, eat with them in the mess, get haircuts with them and play lots of basketball. And Orny was the reporter of record for all the festivities. But the fall of 1985 was a dark time for our beloved tournament. The Gramm-Rudman budget cutting act had passed congress and Caspar Weinberger was about to live up to his nickname he had earned in California under then Governor Reagan-"Cap The Knife." Since the tourney was sponsored by the Defense Department, it had been targeted for budget cuts and it was decided that 1986-my senior year-would see no boys Far East basketball tournament. And then Orny went to work. Writing in the Stars & Stripes, Orny voiced our dreams and disappointments, lamenting the fact that there would be no tournament for those of us who had faithfully gone to them as children, and practiced our hearts out so that one day we too could be at "the show." And then magic happened. An executive at Northwest Airlines read the story and the Airline agreed to fund the tournament. We were back in action and the tournament proceeded as scheduled. Northwest Airlines won the lifetime allegiance for hundreds of us and we also became lifetime admirers of a sports reporter named Dave Ornauer who was never too busy or too immersed in the world of adults to forget what it was like to be a kid and have a dream. So to Dave, and a classy airline, Northwest, thanks. You taught us important lessons about making dreams come true and helping others. We'll always remember.
 

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