Sunday, March 29, 2009

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Ben Cohen: Blogosphere Must Challenge Obama's War Top
Obama's decision to amp up the war in Afghanistan is basically going unchallenged by the main stream media, and a travesty given the awful mess they failed to prevent back in 2003. While Obama painted himself as the anti war candidate during the election, his record suggests otherwise. An ardent supporter of the original attack on Afghanistan, Obama is as pro war as any other American President, (just not the insanely stupid ones), an inconvenient fact his supporters and media likes to ignore. The debate is again being constructed around the technicality of the war, rather than the morality. As Joe Klein wrote after listening to Obama lay out the detail: "Taken together, this is a sober, well-reasoned policy. I hope it works." And that about sums up the criticism we're hearing from the beltway journalists. The plan itself appears to be a mix of carrots and sticks, devoid of any long term exit strategy and awfully expensive. While Obama promised that "We will not blindly stay the course,"  and that he, "Will not, and cannot, provide a blank check," the open ended nature of the plan of course allows for increased spending at the Presidents discretion. As Fred Kaplan states : At a press conference after Obama's speech, Bruce Riedel, who led the White House strategic review on the new policy, admitted that specific benchmarks haven't yet been defined. Holbrooke added that the strategy itself is "a framework within which there's plenty of flexibility to bring in ideas which are not in this report." Obama is attempting to differentiate himself from the last administration by making serious efforts to build an international coalition and promising to let the public see how much it costs, but the major expenditure and man power will be covered by America. And we don't really know how much money, and how much time this mammoth task will take.  While the rhetoric surrounding the 'surge' in Afghanistan is far more sophisticated and intelligent in comparison to Bush's simplistic slogans, the premise is basically the same. It is an open ended 'War on Terror', designed to protect American by fighting abroad. As we have seen, any troop presence in their countries will be deeply resented by the population and causes a great deal more hatred towards the United States. While individual goals may be reached, the overall strategy is self defeating and enormously damaging. It is a continuation of a war on an idea, not a nation, and can therefore never be won. The war in Afghanistan was illegally waged in the first place, a fact the MSM failed to report on, and liberals have largely ignored as well. Afghanistan did not attack the United States and had nothing to do with 9/11. The strike was pre-emptive and regarded by international law a the 'supreme' war crime. Any surge is simply a continuation of this crime. The United States essentially owns the Afghani government, giving it little to no credibility in the region. Hamid Karzhai has little control over the country, and is widely viewed as a U.S stooge. The hatred resides amongst the general population, and any efforts to work with the government will simply make the matters worse. While Obama will seek to build an international consensus around his plans, the fact is that the war will become another endless pit that will consume more and more money that no one actually has. It is a war leveraged against our children's future, and one that will cost them dearly when they have to pick up the tab. It will be left to the blogosphere to challenge Obama on his foolhardy mission to 'defeat Al Qaeda' in the region, a difficult task given his popularity. But it is a task we must take on if Obama's otherwise promising Presidency is to succeed. Obama was largely elected through the power of the internet, and it is the internet that must keep him honest. Ben Cohen is the Editor of The Daily Banter Photo by by Army.mil More on Afghanistan
 
Dr. Irene S. Levine: Big hurts, little hurts and apologies: How to save a friendship Top
"If I'd known how devastated she would be, I would have done whatever it took to get there," explains Karen, a woman now in her late 40s. When Karen was 24, she opted not to attend the funeral of her best friend Megan's father, who had died suddenly of a heart attack. The funeral was being held more than four hours away from where Karen and Megan lived and Karen had no car. Public transportation was a real hassle and Karen wasn't even certain that she could find a way to make it to the service on time. She made the decision to skip the funeral entirely, planning instead to spend "quality time" with her friend during the days that followed. When Karen contacted Megan to arrange to visit her afterwards, Megan was livid, no longer wanting to have anything to do with Karen. During the phone call, Megan was abrupt and said she was still grieving. She told Karen she was stunned when she heard that she wasn't coming to the funeral. Although it was never her intention, Karen quickly realized she had caused a big hurt. No friendship is conflict-free and even good friends say the wrong things or make mistakes occasionally. Some hurts are big but most are relatively minor. If you've insulted a good friend or done something stupid, apologize immediately. Sometimes your friend will make allowances for your lapse because you share a bank of goodwill based on history and trust. But you'll need to be careful not to make the same mistake again. However, if you've made a big blunder or blurted out something totally regrettable, all you can do is try to apologize although it may take some work to turn things around. In the case of Karen and Megan, with hindsight, Karen realizes that she probably should have made an effort to get a ride with someone else. Karen had never lost anyone in her own family and didn't realize how traumatic the loss would be to her friend. Her apology came in the form of "I'm sorry," said in a perfunctory way, because she felt too guilty and uncomfortable to say anything more. The two women, who had been close all through high school and college, never spoke again. Now many years later, Karen's parents are gone and she still thinks about how she "blew" that friendship by not showing up when she should have. She also realizes that, perhaps, if she had made a better effort to apologize, she could have saved the friendship. Here are some tips for making apologies that matter: Step back and think about what happened . You can't sweep it under the carpet and pretend it never happened because it will affect your friendship. Examine your own motivations, the consequences, and how you can undo it. Take responsibility for what you did wrong . It doesn't help to provide feeble excuses (e.g. I didn't have a car) if what you did was hurtful or offensive, in both your opinion and your friend's. Make a clear-cut apology. Acknowledge the effect of your mistake . In this case Karen could have said, "I'm so terribly sorry that I wasn't there for you when you needed me. I wish I had been by your side." Explain your motivations, assuming they were well-intended . Karen might say: "I didn't realize how important my support would be at the funeral. I had hoped to be with you soon after." Try to find some way to make amends . For example, Karen might have simply asked Megan what she could do to support her afterwards. Could she help her address condolence cards? Bring her dinner? If your friend doesn't immediately forgive you, follow-up with a personal note, restating what you said in person or by phone. This gesture will allow your friend time to mull over what happened and hopefully come to the decision that she wants to save the friendship too. Be sensitive to timing . While you might be ready to apologize, your friend may still be seething or feel too hurt to respond. Give her time before you attempt to apologize again. Figuring out timing was particularly tricky for Karen. While it was difficult for Karen to approach Megan while she was grieving, not doing so may have fueled the fire. Don't let too much time pass so that the friendship drifts apart . Ask her to get together to talk or to go to the movies to show her you hope for reconciliation. If your friend is unwilling or unable to forgive you, don't lash out in anger. Step back and learn from the experience. At least, you've done what you can to clear your conscience. On the other hand, if you are unable to see what you did wrong, it is difficult to apologize because your apology won't come across as sincere. You need to talk to your friend about what happened so you can better understand what role you played in making her unhappy. When there's been a big hurt--even if a heartfelt and appropriate apology is accepted--there's been a breech of trust. You need to seize the opportunity and work on strengthening the friendship. Have a friendship dilemma that is bothering you? Perhaps I can help. Write to me at: Irene@fracturedfriendships.com. I rene S. Levine, PhD is a freelance journalist and author. She holds an appointment as a professor of psychiatry at the New York University School of Medicine and is working on a book about female friendships, Best Friends Forever: Surviving A Break-up With Your Best Friend, that will be published by Overlook Press in September, 2009. She recently co-authored Schizophrenia for Dummies (Wiley, 2008). She also blogs about female friendships at The Friendship Blog. More on Relationships
 
Jacqui Smith, British Minister, Promises To Pay For Porn She Expensed Top
The Home Secretary is to pay back parliamentary allowances claimed for pay-per-view television services, reportedly including two adult films. Jacqui Smith said she "mistakenly" claimed for the TV package while billing for an internet connection.
 
Study: Cholesterol Drug Lowers Blood Clot Risk Top
ORLANDO, Fla. — Statin drugs, taken by millions of Americans to lower cholesterol and prevent heart disease, also can cut the risk of developing dangerous blood clots that can lodge in the legs or lungs, a major study suggests. The results provide a new reason for many people with normal cholesterol to consider taking these medicines, sold as Crestor, Lipitor, Zocor and in generic form, doctors say. In the study, Crestor cut nearly in half the risk of blood clots in people with low cholesterol but high scores on a test for inflammation, which plays a role in many diseases. This same big study last fall showed that Crestor dramatically lowered rates of heart attacks, death and stroke in these people, who are not usually given statins now. "It might make some people who are on the fence decide to go on statins," although blood-clot prevention is not the drugs' main purpose, said Dr. Mark Hlatky, a Stanford University cardiologist who had no role in the study. Results were reported Sunday at the American College of Cardiology conference and published online by the New England Journal of Medicine. The study was led by statistician Robert Glynn and Dr. Paul Ridker of Harvard-affiliated Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston. Ridker is a co-inventor on a patent of the test for high-sensitivity C-reactive protein, or CRP. It is a measure of inflammation, which can mean clogged arteries or less serious problems, such as an infection or injury. It costs about $80 to have the blood test done. The government does not recommend it be given routinely, but federal officials are reconsidering that. For the study, researchers in the U.S. and two dozen other countries randomly assigned 17,802 people with high CRP and low levels of LDL, or bad cholesterol (below 130), to take dummy pills or Crestor, a statin made by British-based AstraZeneca PLC. With an average of two years of follow-up, 34 of those on Crestor and 60 of the others developed venous thromboembolism _ a blood clot in the leg that can travel to the lungs. Several hundred thousand Americans develop such clots each year, leading to about 100,000 deaths. However, this is uncommon compared to the larger number who suffer heart attacks. Many doctors have been uncomfortable with expanding statin use to people with normal cholesterol because so many would have to be treated to prevent a single additional case. "I don't know that it changes the big picture very much" to say that a statin can prevent blood clots, Hlatky said. "Where do you draw the line? Are we giving it to 10-year-old kids that are fat?" AstraZeneca paid for the study, and Ridker and other authors have consulted for the company and other statin makers. Many doctors believe that other statins would give similar benefits, though Crestor is the strongest such drug. It also has the highest rate of a rare but serious muscle problem, and the consumer group Public Citizen has campaigned against it, saying there are safer alternatives. Crestor costs $3.45 a day versus less than a dollar for generic drugs. Its sales have been rising even though two statins _ Zocor and Pravachol _ are now available in generic form. Researchers do not know whether the benefits seen in the study were due to reducing CRP or cholesterol, since Crestor did both. Another new analysis reported Sunday and published in the British journal the Lancet found that the patients who did the best in the study were those who saw both numbers drop. Many doctors remain reluctant to expand CRP testing or use of statins. A survey by the New England journal found them evenly divided on the questions. Others questioned why so few people in the study were getting other treatments to prevent heart problems. "If more of them were on aspirin, you would have less benefit from the statin," said Dr. Thomas Pearson of the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry. Dr. James Stein of the University of Wisconsin-Madison said that doctors examining treatment guidelines should pay close attention to the new results. He said the CRP test had helped him convince patients that they need to be on a statin drug. "There are very few times you can say to a patient, 'this medicine is going to keep you alive.' We should try not to pick apart studies that save lives," Stein said. ___ On the Net: Heart meeting: http://www.acc.org Medical journal: http://www.nejm.org
 
Byron Williams: A Follow-up to Last Week's Piece Top
Last week, I wrote a column about the gay-lesbian pursuit to be fully added to the preamble of the United States that reads: "We the people of the United States in order to form a more perfect union." It seems, based on the e-mail and phone messages I received, quite a few readers took exception with my mentioning the Civil Rights Movement and that the contemporary struggle of gays and lesbians was the unfinished business of civil rights. I did want to share some of my favorites responses from last week's commentary: "I read your articles everyday and you are so gay it's pathetic. But stop putting your nasty opinion in the paper because I'm sick of it. Don't start involving your gayness with blackness because you're not black. Men and women being married is not the same as YOU gays being married. You got all these rights now so leave it alone and stop putting your nasty opinion in the paper. I'm going to write the paper to let them know you're sick! You need to keep your gay (expletive) at home!" This next one gets right to the point: "Hey Byron, you gay (expletive) you! How in the hell are you going to preach homosexuality? What kind of church do you have? You're going straight to hell. You look like a closet (expletive) in the paper. Can't you think of other issues for black people besides supporting these (expletive) (expletive). God is going to strike you down, you (expletive) (expletive). You need to be feathered and tarred, you gay son of a (expletive)." And for a theological take: "Byron, what kind of bible do you use in your church? You better read Genesis and Romans instead of supporting (expletive) (expletive) (expletive). You're an (expletive). Are you gay? You're just one (expletive) in the community. Next time you should say, 'I support gay rights because I believe in (expletive) (expletive)!' " This by no means is representative of everyone who does not share my support of same-gender marriage, but it is reflective of a visceral hate that cannot be ignored. The mere assumption that I am "other" than what is accepted by the dominant culture opens the door to unbridled dehumanization. Like Ralph Ellison's "Invisible Man," my humanity is hidden deeply under a shroud of hatred that justifies actions I suspect many of the authors of the aforementioned e-mails would otherwise condemn. Beyond a fundamental disagreement, nothing short of my being relieved of my journalistic duties, or, in the extreme case, tarred and feathered would suffice. What a cruel irony that homophobia, under the guise of sound religious doctrine can be articulated each Sunday from many pulpits across the country, but to suggest that equal protection under that law does not come with qualifiers brings calls for public flogging. If there is any aspect to this unfortunate display of inhumanity that remains a mystery to me, those who expressed such hatred stand to lose nothing. They are not being asked to forfeit any rights already conferred. Nor are they being asked to alter their Neanderthal theology. Though not explicitly stated, the communication I received last week raises an interesting question: Why do I care? Why risk my "privilege" as a straight man in order to receive the diatribe traditionally reserved for gays and lesbians? The answer is linked to my seemingly contradictory understanding of theology and the Constitution. My theological understanding teaches me that we must err on the side of love; it is an inconvenient love that transcends what an individual may like or agree. My unwavering belief in the Constitution teaches me that we must support the principles that the Founders articulated beyond individual issues, which means the measure of one's belief in the Constitution cannot be limited to the issues we support. In this case, my personal support for same-gender marriage is secondary to my unequivocal support for equal protection under the law. Moreover, I am proud to have a position that puts me in the company of civil rights icons such as Rev. Joseph Lowery, Rep. John Lewis, and the late Coretta Scott King. Byron Williams is an Oakland pastor and syndicated columnist. He is the author of Strip Mall Patriotism: Moral Reflections of the Iraq War. E-mail him at byron@byronspeaks.com or visit his website: byronspeaks.com
 
Urban Coyote Attacks On The Rise, Alarming Residents Top
DENVER — A coyote ambling into a Chicago sandwich shop or taking up residence in New York's Central Park understandably creates a stir. But even here on the high plains of Colorado, where the animals are part of the landscape and figure prominently in Western lore, people are being taken aback by rising coyote encounters. Thanks to suburban sprawl and a growth in numbers of both people and animals, a rash of coyote encounters has alarmed residents. Wildlife officials are working to educate the public: Coyotes have always been here, they've adapted to urban landscapes and they prefer to avoid humans. "Ninety-five percent of this problem is a human problem, and we really need to focus on that 95 percent to solve it," said Nicole Rosmarino, wildlife program director of the environmental group WildEarth Guardians. Since December, four people in the Denver area have been nipped or bitten by coyotes. A fifth told police a coyote lunged at him. State wildlife officers have killed seven coyotes. An eighth was killed by a sharpshooter hired by Greenwood Village, in Denver's southern suburbs. "These are coyotes that were born and raised in the 'hood," said Liza Hunholz, an area manager with the Colorado Division of Wildlife. Marc Bekoff, a professor emeritus of ecology at the University of Colorado, says there are more people and less habitat along Colorado's Front Range, bringing the animal and people populations into closer proximity and producing what he calls "an unprecedented scare response." "The communities seem to be really feeding one another," said Bekoff. He has studied coyotes for 40 years and believes that in some cases dogs are mistaken for coyotes. Coyotes once were found primarily on the Great Plains and in the Southwest, but have expanded their turf to most of North America. Populations of wolves, a fierce competitor, have shrunk, and swaths of forest have turned into coyote-friendly open spaces. After generations of urban living, some coyotes navigate subdivisions as easily as the cactus and scrub oak of the high desert where their ancestors roamed. Experts won't even try to guess how many coyotes there are nationwide. Coyote sightings have skyrocketed in Greenwood Village. Last year, police received 186 reports, including 15 clashes with pets. Already this year, there have been 142. "People are afraid to let their pets out or their children to walk to school," said Greenwood Village City Manager Jim Sanderson. Jacque Levitch, of south Denver, was bitten by one of three coyotes she said confronted her and her Labrador retriever, Taz, on Feb. 21. "I hit it with my right fist and right forearm," Levitch said. Taz was all right. Levitch had to endure rabies shots. She said her neighbors now carry big sticks and golf clubs. "If nothing is done, I can only see the problem escalating," Levitch said. In New York City, a coyote pup was found in the Bronx last year, and in 2006 police captured a coyote in Central Park. In California's San Bernardino County, two toddlers were reported injured in separate coyote incidents last year. One toddler was killed in California in the 1980s in the country's only known fatal coyote attack. WildEarth Guardians' Rosmarino thinks in most cases it's people who need to change their behavior. She has organized volunteers in Greenwood Village and other cities to walk through parks to shoo coyotes and make them more wary of people. Most coyotes do everything they can to avoid people, said Stan Gehrt (GURT), an assistant professor at Ohio State University's School of Environment and Natural Resources. That's true even in Chicago, where Gehrt has led a study since 2000. About 300 coyotes there have been radio-collared and tracked. The coyote that walked into the Chicago sandwich shop in 2007 got a lot of attention. But Gehrt said few people are aware of how many have lived in Chicago for decades. One of his subjects has a hiding spot near the downtown post office and thousands of people pass within yards of it each day. "Even though they live in urban areas and figure out how people work ... it doesn't mean they're necessarily becoming more aggressive toward us," Gehrt said. They also haven't changed their diet. Gehrt expected to find urban coyotes eating a lot of garbage and pets. But their scat shows rodents are still the meal of choice, followed by deer, rabbits and birds. Coyotes view pets such as cats and dogs as competitors, not food, Gehrt said. Most coyotes are submissive toward dogs, though some will stand their ground _ especially during breeding season, when they may see dogs as rivals for mates. Mating season peaked in February, when some of the Denver-area incidents occurred. Residents are warned to not feed coyotes, to keep dogs on short leashes, and to yell or throw rocks at coyotes so they associate humans with bad things. Bird seed may attract mice and voles, which then can draw hungry coyotes. Don't leave out pet food and garbage, and don't leave pets alone. A coyote that bit a boy snowboarding on a golf course in Erie, 26 miles north of Denver, had been fed by golfers. Reducing the number of coyotes doesn't work, Rosmarino said, because the animals breed more and have bigger litters when their population declines. The U.S. Agriculture Department's Wildlife Services killed more than 90,000 in 2007 to stem livestock attacks. Relocation also doesn't work, Gehrt said. Coyotes moved from Chicago to the country headed back to the city. "The coyotes are here, they've always been here and the only way to deal with them is to understand them and make them afraid of you," said Ned Ingham, a Greenwood Village retiree and one of Rosmarino's volunteers. "We live in an area with wildlife."
 
John Farr: The Best Original Movie Scores By Farr Top
From the first organ accompaniment in those early silent movie theatres, music has played an integral though often underappreciated role in creating a non-musical film's desired mood and impact. By and large, over the last quarter century, the most successful use of music in new releases- particularly those seeking to evoke a certain period- has taken the form of soundtracks, comprised of popular songs from the time that get re-introduced to generations old and new. Notably, cult director Quentin Tarantino has adopted this approach to strong effect: "Reservoir Dogs" accounts for why my children have Bob Dylan's "Stuck In The Middle With You" (performed by Stealers Wheel) on their iPods, while "Pulp Fiction" gets the credit for their well-justified appreciation of Dusty Springfield's "Son Of A Preacher Man". (One of the movies that helped popularize the now-common "various artist" soundtrack approach was Francis Ford Coppola's 1973 feature "American Graffiti"). It hardly makes sense to complain about a practice helps viewers appreciate the best songs that we, or even our parents, grew up with. Still, there is something special about a fabulous original piece of music that helps a great picture stick with you. Surveying the historical span of filmmaking, the use of original music appears more prevalent from the dawn of sound through the 1970s- or perhaps it's just that the scores themselves were more memorable over this period. During Hollywood's Golden Age in the thirties and forties, you had Max Steiner, who composed one of the most powerful, recognizable title themes ever- for "Gone With The Wind" (1939). Over at Warners, the brilliant Erich Wolfgang Korngold was creating heroic music that enhanced the sweep of Errol Flynn's various swashbuckling vehicles. Other big names of the day included Miklos Rozsa, Alfred Newman, and David Raksin, who reportedly composed the classic theme to 1944's "Laura" over a single weekend. Perhaps generational factors account for my own preferences, but beyond the two specific scores listed above, for me the most enduring original music came mostly in or around the 1960s, attached to equally iconic films. The following lays out my own picks for the ten most memorable movie scores over this fertile period when (not coincidentally) all popular music was beginning to expand in exciting new directions. You'll find in this list many composers known for other fine scores in addition to the features specified. (Note: all movies referenced are endorsed by our site. For full write-ups of these films, and close to 2,000 other outstanding titles, visit www.bestmoviesbyfarr.com ). 1) "North By Northwest" (1959) / "Psycho" (1960)- Composer: Bernard Herrmann 2) "The Magnificent Seven" (1961)- Composer: Elmer Bernstein 3) "Breakfast At Tiffany's" (1961) / "The Pink Panther" (1964)- Composer: Henry Mancini 4) "Lawrence Of Arabia" (1962)/ "Doctor Zhivago" (1965)- Composer: Maurice Jarre 5) "Dr. No" (1962) / "Goldfinger" (1964)- Composer: John Barry (and for "James Bond Theme", Monty Norman ) 6) "A Man And A Woman" (1966)- Composer: Francis Lai 7) "The Good, The Bad and The Ugly" (1967)- Composer: Ennio Morricone 8) "The Thomas Crown Affair" (1968)- Composer: Michel Legrand 9) "Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid" (1969)- Composer: Burt Bacharach 10) "The Godfather" (1972) / "The Godfather, Part II" (1974)- Composer: Nino Rota
 
Huffington Post Launches Investigative Journalism Venture Top
NEW YORK — The Huffington Post said Sunday that it will bankroll a group of investigative journalists, directing them at first to look at stories about the nation's economy. The popular blog is collaborating with The Atlantic Philanthropies and other donors to launch the Huffington Post Investigative Fund with an initial budget of $1.75 million. That should be enough for 10 staff journalists who will primarily coordinate stories with freelancers, said Arianna Huffington, co-founder and editor-in-chief of The Huffington Post. Work that the journalists produce will be available for any publication or Web site to use at the same time it is posted on The Huffington Post, she said. The Huffington Post Web site is a collection of opinionated blog entries and breaking news. It has seven staff reporters. Huffington said she and the donors were concerned that layoffs at newspapers were hurting investigative journalism at a time the nation's institutions need to be watched closely. She hopes to draw from the ranks of laid-off journalists for the venture. "All of us increasingly have to look at different ways to save investigative journalism," she said. The Huffington Post venture is reminiscent of ProPublica, a nonprofit independent newsroom funded by The Sandler Foundation and headed by Paul Steiger, former managing editor of The Wall Street Journal. ProPublica works with a $10 million budget. Huffington said she hoped to encourage others to fund similar ventures. Foundation spending to support journalists is a promising trend, although the money set aside for such ventures represents far less than what a newspaper would spend to thoroughly cover a community, said Tom Rosenstiel, director of the Project for Excellence in Journalism. Foundation-based journalism will also require organizations to prove that situations are being looked at with a truly open mind, a larger burden than that faced by newspapers, he said. The Huffington Post skews liberal, but its founder promised that the work done by the investigative fund would be nonpartisan. The group would be discredited quickly if it puts out faulty information, said Nick Penniman, the fund's executive director. "We care about democracy, not Democrats," he said. Rosenstiel said the HuffPost is following another recent trend encouraging content to be reproduced virally for maximum exposure, instead of trying to direct people exclusively to the site. The HuffPost also promises to give a higher profile to work produced by other reporting groups, such as The Center for Public Integrity and The Institute for Justice and Journalism.
 
Susan Brison: Let Vermont Move Forward on Marriage Equality: an open letter to Governor Jim Douglas Top
The Honorable Jim Douglas Governor of Vermont 109 State Street, Pavilion Montpelier, VT 05609-010 Dear Governor Douglas, Fifteen years ago, my husband Tom and I bought our house in Thetford, Vermont, partly for the spectacular view of the mountains across the Connecticut River in New Hampshire, but mainly because we already had a wonderful community of close friends there. A number of them happen to be lesbians, living in committed relationships like our own. My parents, who live in Colorado, came to know them and would see them on their visits here and ask after them in our phone conversations. Although my folks knew that our friends Annelise and Alexis lived together as a couple, when I called them excitedly one day, in 1996, to announce that Alexis was going to have a baby, my mother's bewildered response was, "Oh? I didn't even know she was married!" I shouldn't have been surprised. My mother had been raised to believe that homosexuality was a sin, but she, like my father, had come to not only accept, but love, our lesbian friends. Which is not to say that she wasn't occasionally a little confused, but, after a brief conversation about sperm donors and artificial insemination, the next thing I knew, she was making a baby quilt for Alexis and Annelise's daughter, Evann. A few years later, when Annelise became pregnant with their second child, she made another baby quilt. And she made two more around that time, for babies of other lesbian friends. Our son, Gabriel, who is now fourteen, spent so much time with these kids that one day when he was four or five he asked me, with genuine puzzlement, "How come I don't have two moms?" He was too young to be involved in the Vermont marriage debates a decade ago, but he's keenly interested in civil rights these days, so he joined me and some one thousand Vermonters at the statehouse in Montpelier on March 18 to attend the public hearings on the marriage equality bill before the Vermont legislature. We heard Evann, now twelve, testify in favor of the bill that would give her parents the right to get married: "It hurts me sometimes when I feel invisible, because few people understand my feelings about my family, and few people want to ask about families with two moms. It's time to ask. It's time to understand. And it's time to accept and honor families like mine." We heard Evann's mom, Alexis, testify that it comes down to "what's best for the kids. And when you really think about it, why is it better for the children of gay and lesbian parents to be less secure, financially and legally, than other kids?" And we heard many Vermonters, gay and straight, with kids and without kids, argue that everyone should have full civil rights, that no one should any longer be treated like a second-class citizen. As you know, a few days later, the Vermont senate voted 26-4 for the marriage equality bill and it was sent to the house where it stood an excellent chance of passing. But the next day, you announced you would veto the bill--the first time in your tenure that you've threatened to veto a bill before the entire legislature voted on it. In the press release announcing your intention to veto the bill, you said: "I respect the passionate opinions of individuals on both sides of this debate and hope that when the Legislature makes their decision, whatever the outcome may be, we can move our state forward, toward a bright future for our children and grandchildren." Governor Douglas, if you truly respect all Vermonters, I urge you to honor the votes of our elected representatives when they make "their decision." Don't veto the bill. Allow it to become law, free the legislature to move on to other urgent tasks, and let the families of our gay and lesbian friends and neighbors enjoy all the civil rights you and I already enjoy. Our state is well on its way toward to that bright future all our children and grandchildren deserve. All you need to do is not hold us back. Sincerely, Susan Brison More on Gay Marriage
 
James Warren: This Week in Magazines: Is the "End of Excess" Really Upon us? Why Paul Krugman is Pissed at Obama, and Why the Death of Newspapers Won't Supposedly Impact Democracy Top
April 6 Time proclaims "The End of Excess" is here. Ah, were it true. Kurt Andersen pens a provocative, extended op-ed-as-cover story (the two giant newsweeklies' increasingly favorite species), essentially arguing that we're coming back to Kansas from Oz after a self-destructive economic era. We will have to admit our powerlessness over easy money and cheap fuel and "make a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves and be entirely read to remove our defects of character." He's correct in asserting we're exceptional but not magical as a country, and thus not "exempt from the laws of economic and geopolitical gravity." But does that mean that "our age of self-enchantment has ended," with a long-term, potentially sharp recalibration of expectations for how we lead our lives now imminent? One would hope that a new humility were on the way, that we will now plot what he calls our "reconstruction and reinvention," with the aggressively sober President Obama leading the way. And, yet, when the downturn is over, it will be interesting to assess how much soul-searching will have prompted individual and national recalibration of our goals and behavior. One can hope he's correct and still take note of how one of the symbols of our just-concluded era of accumulation, namely Wall Street pacesetter Goldman Sachs, is impatiently and publicly craving to return the federal aid it received last fall. Its aim is simple: to be liberated from federal limits on executive compensation. And there may be other yellow warning lights that our pre-crash quests for the extra car, the fancy master bathroom and the multitasking perfection of our children may simply return and override any fleeting contrition inspired by our current comeuppance. You could juxtapose Andersen's essay with "The Life Cycle of Conspicuous Consumption" in April Money, where George Mason University economist Tyler Cowen suggests the current modesty will give way to "a new social dynamic" in which, "It will start to look smart to affiliate yourself with a nascent economic recovery. The pendulum will swing back toward consumption." And, perhaps, that consumption will include some of the high-end goodies (and oddities) comprising the April 13 Forbes cover story, "What Recession? Some Entrepreneurs Have Hungry Customers Waiting in Line for Years." From $7,000 hand-built bicycles to $12,000 English Labradors, there's an unceasing market for deluxe. Elsewhere in Time, Laura Fitzpatrick's "The Financial Aid Game" is a terrific inside look how one college, Skidmore, is juggling its need for revenue and applicants' increasing need for assistance, with handy examples of multiple families and how much aid they are receiving, if at all. Will applying for aid hurt your chances of acceptance? "At Skidmore, one figure suggests the answer is yes: students of color, who disproportionately applied for financial aid, made up a higher percentage of this year's applicant pool than last year's." But reflecting 'the demands of financial aid,' says [dean of admissions-financial aid Mary Lou] Bates, they make up only 24 percent of the admitted pool this year, in contrast to 28 percent last year. As the magazine quotes Morton Schapiro, president of Williams College and a higher-education economist, "You've always been in an advantaged position to be rich and smart. Now you're at an even greater advantage." ---Newsweek's "Obama is Wrong" is a solid profile of Princeton economist Paul Krugman, a high-profile voice criticizing the president's economic recovery strategy from the political left. Much of his argument turns on doubts about the amount of assistance being given directly to banks and his belief that nationalization of some is incumbent. Since he's an intellectually honest Nobel Prize winner, it's no surprise that few White House folks will go on the record but, clearly, they think he's totally wrong. And, conspicuously, Krugman concedes he's not totally versed in all the "details" of the various recovery plans dealing with rather complex issues. This quotes one unidentified White House officials as noting that pundits will always be right some of the time and can outlandish, knowing that, at worst, they'll lose a few readers even if wrong. The White House, meanwhile, could totally wreck the economy if it's wrong. It's a predictable, media-bashing response but not without a scintilla of truth, given the undoubted dynamic among many elite pundits, especially in Washington, to be constantly provocative in this 24/7 Internet world. And, when it comes to Obama, one suspects many don't want to look as if they're doing too much cheerleading from the left, or that they've gotten on, or off, an Obama bandwagon too quickly if they're on the political right. Elsewhere, Newsweek.com includes "The End of Verse?" Marc Bain tries to dissect a National Endowment for the Arts report on the seeming increase in reading of fiction, but decline in reading of poetry. "Sunil Iyengar, the NEA's director of the Office of Research and Analysis, says the agency can't answer with certainty why fewer adults are reading poetry. He and others believed the opposite would be true, largely because of poetry's expansion onto the Internet. 'In fact,' he says, 'part of our surmise as to why fiction reading rates seem to be up might be due to greater opportunities through online reading. But we don't know why with poetry that's not the case.'" ---Nicholas Lemann has these words to the wise in April 6 New Yorker's Talk of the Town "Madder and Madder" offering: "Those in Washington who say they represent, or even embody, the public's anger at bankers should do their constituents a favor by focusing not on whom to demonize but on the hard work of building support for a program that would actually help people. Those who aren't angry--like, maybe, President Obama--ought to stop pretending they are, and, instead, try to persuade the country that pure rage is not something to be honored and respected at this dangerous moment." And you're informed elsewhere in Talk of the Town that the United Nations, amid all its generally depressing topics of discussion, had a rollicking discussion one recent evening on, ah, "Battlestar Galactica," the Sci Fi Channel cult classic which just finished a four-year run. Mike Peed's "Shuttle Diplomacy" tells you why, while disclosing the identity of a UN official who opined that "every one of us is a Cylon, and every one of us is a Colonial." ---April 6 ESPN The Magazine is very good on "Welcome to Mannywood," a breakdown of the hitting aplomb of iconoclastic baseball superstar Manny Ramirez. Its baseball preview issue will be a statistics lover's delight, as it focuses on a new obsession with analyzing how well players are defensively. With stats maven Nate Silver employing his Fielding Runs Above Average metric, which seeks to account for runs saved or lost relative to the Major League Average, "Defensive Shift" argues that Seattle, Detroit and the New York Yankees made very positive, off-season defensive changes, while the Cardinals, Cubs and Angels should be worse defensively. Interestingly, a related piece, "Smell the Glove," argues that Yankees icon Derek Jeter has been dead last defensively at his position for three consecutive years when one factors in "the number of balls he doesn't reach compared with the average major league shortstop." ----This week's Journey to the Obscure, or, as my five-year-old puts it, "This makes my head hurt" comes via "Factors Influencing Olive Oil Brand Choice in Spain: An Empirical Analysis Using Scanner Data." It's in Vol. 25 of Agribusiness, in case your copy was not delivered. Here's the abstract: "Olive oil consumption is growing all around the world as a consequence of the extension of the Mediterranean diet. Because of limited production, pricing, promotions, and consumer-related variables are essential to explain olive oil consumer behavior. As a consequence of this increasing consumption, it is fundamental to analyze the main factors influencing consumers' olive oil choices for both brands and retailers to be able to compete more efficiently and satisfy consumer needs more closely. But, few such studies are concerned with olive oil (although a great many works in the literature analyze the influence of these factors in other product categories). In a sociocultural context like the Spanish market, in which brand awareness is strong and the use of the product is very high, these factors are even more important. Thus, the main objective of this article is to determine and assess how different marketing variables, such as price, price discounts, use of store flyers and loyalty, explain olive oil brand choice." I'll save you the wait. Apparently, being a national brand is important, given unusually strong loyalty to those brands. Price is a factor but the brand leaders don't play around much with pricing promotions, lest they endanger their image. --- "Democracy's Cheat Sheet?" on Slate.com is newspaper lover Jack Shafer's cautionary note about those folks (present company included) who assert that vibrant daily newspapers are important to democracy. He disagrees. Shafer is really smart and has some good points ("Democracy survived its first century without much in the way of the investigative and accountability journalism we associate with newspapers"). But some other points are not quite as telling, such as citing a Pew poll showing that less than half of Americans "say that losing their local newspaper would hurt civic life in their community 'a lot.'" All that might tell you is that a long self-satisfied industry never made the case to citizens as to its relevance, or that civics instruction in the nation's schools is so dismal that kids are clueless as to papers' role in the political process (and thus television's and radio's role, given how those guys rip off papers each day). As for the suggestion that Illinois exemplifies the disjoint between ongoing corruption and admirable journalism, the reality is that there probably would be a lot more had it not been for lots of expensive exposes about the process. And, even if one argues that no newspaper can truly keep government accountable all the time, it might be mentioned that declining coverage (especially of institutions like state legislatures) will accelerate the lack of accountability. And, somewhere in there, is bad news, even if one stipulates that many papers are mediocre and that most people wouldn't lose sleep if they disappeared. When the cat's away..... ---March-April Foreign Affairs' "Reshaping the World Order" by Dartmouth's Stephen Brooks and William Wohlforth suggests that despite the inherent, even "anarchic" world of decidedly self-interested states, a needed reshaping of the world order, notably international institutions like the United Nations and World Bank, is in order. In fact, it's a desperate need, they argue, as they lay out a variety of prospective changes; with the underlying premise that the United States should be the Big Fish and tailor changes in our national self-interest. This is thoughtful but misses a chance to make far more specific suggestions for some critical areas, notably the growing and generally underappreciated mess of humanitarian aid. As it stands now, the key institutions, mostly part of the United Nations universe, tend to serve as their own judge and jury when assessing their roles in particular crises, as well as being independent fundraisers. Far greater cohesion and centralization is a desperate need, with more thought to also be given the tricky matter of military intervention in certain instances, given the near certainty that humanitarian aid crises will just mushroom. The mess in Darfur, with an awful Sudanese dictator, is one of multiple examples. ---Is the $2,000 Nano from India's Tata Motors the car for a new century? "The New People's Car" in March 26 Economist has some doubts, especially given the firm's many corporate troubles. But maybe, just maybe. "Rakesh Batra of Ernst & Young India, a consultancy, says rivals are watching closely, and Tata must succeed when it comes to quality, service and the availability of parts if the Nano is not to fall flat on its pert little nose. Undaunted, Mr Kant believes that the Nano is tapping into a social and economic revolution in India. 'There is a paradigm shift under way in the country,' he says. 'Through the explosive growth of cellphones and television, the aspirations of rural people are converging with urban people.' He also points to India's plan to connect every village with a population of more than 1,000 to the road network by 2010. Nor are his ambitions for the Nano limited to India. The Nano Europa, a plusher version that meets Western safety and emissions standards, will go on sale in 2011, with an American version due a year or so later. 'The interest in the Nano", he says, 'is worldwide.'" ---"Inside the Ivory Tower" in March-April Foreign Policy surveyed 1,743 international relations scholars at four-year colleges and universities and found ample frustration with the role they see themselves playing in policymaking, "and, more often, the frustrating lack of influence they think they have from their perch above the fray of international politics. Most revealing? Nearly 40 percent of respondents reported that these scholars have 'no impact' on foreign policy or even the public discourse about it. Indeed, the only academics judges less effectual in the policy realm were historians." Of course, if you were looking to influence President Obama, it probably didn't hurt to be an Abe Lincoln scholar, like Doris Kearns Goodwin. She, and probably others, have likely had some impact, especially with the "team of rivals" notion. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton might concur.
 
North Carolina Nursing Home Shooting Kills 6, Injures 3 Top
CARTHAGE, N.C. — A gunman opened fire at a North Carolina nursing home Sunday morning, killing at least six people and wounding several others, police said. The gunman was also injured before he was apprehended by police after the 10 a.m. shooting at Pinelake Health and Rehab in the town of Carthage, Police Chief Chris McKenzie told several television stations. A police officer was also hurt. "It's a horrible event in any size town, particularly, though, when you deal with a small town such as Carthage," McKenzie said. "It's hard. This is my home, my small town. I was born and raised here so, yeah, I take it to heart a little bit. All you can do is move forward." Gretchen Kelly, spokeswoman at FirstHealth Moore Regional Hospital in nearby Pinehurst, said six people were brought to the hospital from the nursing home. Kelly said two of the injured died at the hospital, but it wasn't clear if those two were among the six initially reported dead by police. Kelly said two other patients had been discharged, while two were still being treated. She wouldn't release further details on the injuries or conditions of those hospitalized. McKenzie said the gunman wasn't a patient at the nursing home, located about 60 miles southwest of Raleigh, but didn't offer any further details on what the gunman's motive might have been. Late Sunday afternoon, authorities appeared to be conducting a search of the nursing home's parking lot, which they had blocked off with yellow police tape. Among the items they found was a camouflaged-colored rifle or shotgun, which was leaning against the side of a Jeep Cherokee. The road leading to the home was filled with parked cars, both of police and relatives of those living at Pinelake. Howard McMillian, of Lakeview, said he raced to the scene as soon as he heard about the shooting. His 56-year-old sister lives at the nursing home, and McMillian said his brother had gotten a call from officials saying she was unharmed. "I know she's real nervous," McMillian said. "I just want to make sure she's OK." A nursing home Web site said the facility that opened in 1993 has 110 beds, including 20 for those with Alzheimer's disease. Calls to the nursing home by The Associated Press rang unanswered Sunday, and McKenzie and several state law enforcement agencies didn't immediately return messages or declined to comment. Police planned a news conference for later Sunday afternoon. Carthage is a small town of roughly 1,800 people in the North Carolina Sandhills, an area popular among retirees and home to several noted golf courses, including the famed Pinehurst resort and its No. 2 course that regularly hosts the U.S. Open. Pinelake Health and Rehab was last inspected in May, and the review resulted in an overall five-star _ or "much above average" _ rating from federal Medicaid officials. ___ Associated Press Writer Erin Gartner contributed to this report from Raleigh, N.C. ___ On the Net: Pinelake Health and Rehab: tml http://www.peakresourcesinc.com/nursing/pinelake.h
 
Richard Z. Chesnoff: CARYL CHURCHILL: LOVING TO HATE ISRAEL Top
I went to hear a reading of acclaimed British playwright Caryl Churchill's hyper-controversial "Seven Jewish Children - a play for Gaza". It was presented by the ever adventurous New York Theatre Workshop at its cavernous East 4th Street theater. The actual reading - which lasted barely eight minutes - was extremely well done and was followed by a lively audience participation- discussion hosted the night I attended by literary luminary Mark Crispin Miller. For the most part, the audience discussion was more than civil - and given the number of would be playwrights present and eager to talk about themselves, at times slightly boring. So what's the big stink? It's in the very nature and tone of Ms Churchill's latest creation, a blatant attempt to use drama to spew forth her own very one sided, super narrow Mideast political perspective and then call it "art". Churchil has never made a secret of where she stands on the Mideast conflict. She is vocally, ardently pro-Palestinian and decidedly anti-Israeli (or as one of the theater's spokespeople told me "she's really just anti-Zionist" - - as if that made it kosher). Her new play consists of a supposed stream of consciousness dialogue among a handful of fictional Jewish and then Israeli parents who debate just what to tell or not tell a little Jewish girl at various moments of modern Jewish history - from Nazi pogroms to Israel's birth to the recent battles in Gaza. The moment the abbreviated time span reaches the beginnings of a reborn Jewish state, the characters become increasingly repulsive, boorish interlopers. The final lines of the Gaza war mini-sequence contain Churchill's ultimate punches. As she portrays it, the once oppressed have become the true oppressors, the once weak are now the super strong, the "chosen people" as they refer to themselves, are bloodthirsty by choice, immoral haters, merciless. "Tell her there's dead babies, did she see babies? tell her she's got nothing to be ashamed of. Tell her they did it to themselves. Tell her they want their children killed to make people sorry for them, tell her I'm not sorry for them, tell her not to be sorry for them, tell her we're the ones to be sorry for, tell her they can't talk suffering to us. Tell her we're the iron fist now, tell her it's the fog of war, tell her we won't stop killing them till we're safe, tell her I laughed when I saw the dead policemen, tell her they're animals living in rubble now, tell her I wouldn't care if we wiped them out, the world would hate us is the only thing, tell her I don't care if the world hates us, tell her we're better haters, tell her we're chosen people, tell her I look at one of their children covered in blood and what do I feel? tell her all I feel is happy it's not her....' Churchill's defenders see her mini-play (really more of a poem) as legitimate theater, the political drama of a playwright entitled to a singular perspective. Others. Like The Atlantic's Jeffrey Goldberg see "Seven Jewish Children" as little more than agit-prop with some decidedly dangerous echoes of classic anti-Semitic blood-libel . I'd agree with Goldberg. In fact, while it is arguably political drama , I am puzzled how anyone would see it as pure art - especially when it deals with so complicated an issue as the Mideast conflict. Indeed, why choose to comment on this most recent phase of the decades old conflict by restricting it to a supposed discussion between Jewish/Israeli parents, especially repulsive one who are far from representative of Israeli parents who generally preach peace to their children - not war. More to the point, why examine the Gaza battles and totally ignore the supposed thoughts of Palestinian Gaza parents who allow their children to be systematically taught to hate Christians as well as Jews, whose children are told that there must never, ever be peace with Israelis, whose children are exhorted from toddlership that there is no higher Palestinian goal than to strap an explosive belt around one's waist and then venture forth to murder as many Jewish men, women and children as possible. The answer is because Ms Churchill, like her Hamas friends, is not interested in promoting true Mideast peace. I don't believe she's even that interested in defending all those hapless Palestinians she claims to identify with (she has forfeited any claim to royalties for this play in exchange for audience contributions to Palestinian medical welfare). What interests her most, like a dangerously increasing number of left wing Britons, is to strike out at Israelis and Israeli actions, and in doing so to question the Jewish state's very validity. In the end, Churchill has produced a let's-hate-the-Israelis piece of political propaganda disguised as avant-garde drama. Her work is a sad reflection of a growing tendency among "progressive intellectuals" here as well as abroad not merely to criticize specific Israeli government policies - their perfect right, even obligation - but to openly challenge Israel as such, to challenge its very right to exist as a Jewish state more than 60 years after its renaissance was ratified by the vast majority of the family of nations. Indeed, it is increasingly chic in supposedly intellectual circles to claim "I'm not anti-Semitic, I'm merely anti-Zionist". If that means "I disagree with certain Israeli government policies" - than calling oneself "an anti-Zionist", is a dangerous misnomer. Lord knows most of the people of Zionist Israel sharply disagree with their government's policies at one time or another. However, if by "anti-Zionist" one questions Israel's very legality, then this Zionist would argue the term is nothing more than a camouflage for anti-Semitism: it is denying to Jews the right that all nations have to a home on their ancestral land, even if, as in the case of Israel, they must share that land with another people that clearly doesn't want to share it. Like so many who now proudly define themselves as "anti-Zionists", Caryl Churchill simply loves to hate Israel. And that ain't art. More on Gaza War
 
Roger Warner: The C.I.A.'s tribe in danger Top
[Part 3 in a series: The Strange New Life of an Old Secret War] It wasn't the usual kind of Agency interrogation. At a table under a tree, in the yard of a locked detention center, in the city of Nong Khai, in the country of Thailand, across the wide Mekong river from the country of Laos, in the interior of Southeast Asia, sat two men. They had never met before, but they were connected by history. One of them was Bill Lair , an American in his early eighties, retired from the C.I.A. During the 1960s, back during the Vietnam war era, Lair himself had started and led an enormous covert operation in the mountains of northeastern Laos. At the core of Lair's operation was a Laotian hilltribe, the Hmong. The other man at the table was a Hmong named Blia Shoua Her. After the Americans left Indochina in 1975, and after Laos was taken over by their communist enemies, many Hmong kept on fighting instead of leaving for refugee camps in Thailand and then going to America. Those who stayed in the resistance in Laos became known as the "jungle' Hmong. Until recently, Blia Shoua Her had been a "jungle" Hmong leader. (see video ) Bill Lair was on a private fact-finding mission, looking into a multi-nation Hmong crisis. In Thailand, he already had discovered an outer layer of fake refugees, hoping for free rides to America. Now he was looking for the inner core, the real refugees fleeing from Laos. These were the tribespeople who had fought for the C.I.A. back in the Vietnam war years, who somehow had stayed loyal after the Americans left, and who had suffered because of it. These were the Hmong who deserved U.S. government help. In the locked detention center, the old spook and the tribesman spoke in their common language, which was Thai. Gently, Lair asked the Hmong leader about his life, about his training in the American war years, and what it was like after the Americans left and the communists took over. Lair knew the Hmong well, and knew Laos well, and by talking directly without interpreters would know if he was hearing the truth. The Hmong man said he had gotten military training as an adolescent, in program that Lair personally had set up, back in the 1960s. But then he had returned to his village to become a civilian leader. In the year that everything changed - 1975, when the Hmong military commander, Gen. Vang Pao, left with the Americans - Blia Shoua Her said he was asked to stay by "Vang Pao," (apparently, one of the general's supporters). For more than thirty years after that, he and the people of his village farmed until they were attacked, then retreated into the forests, farming and fleeing, again and again in a cycle. His band of "jungle" Hmong only fought to defend themselves from the soldiers of the Lao People's Democratic Republic. They ate bark and bugs, hid from government planes, and raised children and grandchildren without the help of teachers or doctors. After his wife was shot and killed by government soldiers while foraging for wild foods in 2006, Blia Shoua Her decided to get out. He considered surrendering, but the Laotian secret police have a history of torturing "jungle" Hmong. So he escaped from Laos across the Mekong river with part of his band to what he hoped was safety in neighboring Thailand. He told Bill Lair he had one son in Sacramento, California who was an American citizen. Maybe the Thais would let him go to America. Or maybe not. Turns out, there was a problem, a change in Thai policies. Out of the frying pan, into the fire. By the time of Lair's visit, in 2007, the Thai and Lao governments had agreed in principle to repatriate the 150 Hmong in the Nong Khai detention center, and another 8,000 in a Thai refugee camp. (This policy was hardened when Vang Pao was arrested on trumped-up U.S. government charges in June 2007). A short time before our arrival, there had been an attempt to forcibly repatriate the Nong Khai group. It had only been thwarted when Blia Shoua Her and his people barricaded themselves in their cells and threatened to commit suicide. As Lair put it, "If they are repatriated - because they have caused so much trouble for the Lao government - my own feeling is that they will be executed. If not, they will be held in detention centers in Laos and probably won't live very long." The Hmong imprisoned in Thailand felt that if they were going to die anyway, why give their old enemies the satisfaction of killing them? Suicide seemed a rational option. One after another, the Hmong inside the Thai detention center lifted their shirts or the bottoms of their trousers to show us their bullet scars. One of Blia Shoua Her's younger sons had lost an eye to shrapnel, his face disfigured. They were the real thing. Living fossils of a long-ago covert war. And they had suffered because of their loyalty to an old American cause that few Americans today know anything about. By visiting these "jungle" Hmong, by speaking with them directly, Lair had confirmed that there was an inner core of legitimate refugees whom the U.S. government should help. But he couldn't do much to solve their dilemma himself. Not the way he could have in the old days, when he was running the C.I.A.'s covert war. Back then, at the height of his powers in the 1960s, he could have freed anyone he wanted from a prison or a detention center in either Thailand or Laos. And if Hmong in the jungle needed to be rescued, Lair could send a helicopter to get them, with soldiers on the ground or planes in the air to provide armed escort. But that was then. This was now. He was long retired, and the C.I.A. was out of Laos entirely, and didn't have the clout it once had in Thailand. So he would have to go to the U.S. embassy in Bangkok, Thailand, to see what the diplomats could do about the jungle Hmong dilemma. It was the next step. The State Department was in charge. Or, at least, it was supposed to be. Next in this series : The State Department's human rights disgrace. Note : Lair made his visit to Nong Khai in March 2007. Two years later, as these words are written, Blia Shoua Her and the 150-plus Hmong in Nong Khai are still in danger. They've been kept indoors, jammed in cells, and subjected to harassment that is very nearly torture. Whether they will be forcibly repatriated, and killed, or resettled in the West is anybody's guess. Click here for a brief video of Lair's visit to Nong Khai . And a tip of the hat to my colleague, Roger Arnold, who photographed Blia Shoua Her in the jungles of Laos, and who has visited him in Nong Khai many times since. I edited the video, but it combines footage and imagery that both Roger Arnold and I (Roger Warner) shot and collected. Previous installments in this series: Part 1: The Weirdest Terrorism Court Case in America Part 2: The C.I.A. Man Returns More video: An overview of the Sacramento terrorism case and its Southeast Asian context
 
Jeff Jarvis: HuffPost's Investigative Fund: New Slice of a New News Pie Top
The AP reports that Huffington Post is announcing the creation of a $1.75 million fund with various donors to pay for investigative reporting. First target: the economy. This, I've long held, is where foundation and public support will enter into the new ecosystem of journalism: not by taking over newspapers but by funding investigations and other slices of a new journalistic pie. I've been hoping to get the resources to preform an audit of the current resource allocation in journalism: Take a town, add up all the journalistic spending there (paper, TV, radio, magazine) and then see how much is spent on investigative reporting (I'll wager it will be tiny; a fraction of a percent of the total) as well as the beat reporting that feeds it - and judge the value of the results. When we see that number, I predict, it will be feasible to imagine support from foundations and the public (that is, in the NPR and Spot.US models) to pay for investigative journalism. Indeed, I'll bet that we could multiply the amount spent on and the output of investigative reporting today. This is how to subsidize news. It's happening now, as ProPublica stories run in The New York Times . That is a form of subsidy. Now to touch the third rail in the debate over the future of news: This is how paid content will work, how news will get money from its public -- not by putting content behind walls and charging all readers (the few who'll remain) to see it but instead by setting up systems to take advantage of the 1 percent rule online that decrees you need only a limited number of contributors (of money or effort) to support great things in a gift economy. See: Wikipedia and NPR. But the public's contributions won't go to lifting the sinking Titanics of the old-media failures; I don't want to contribute to failed newspapers anymore than I want my tax money to go to failed banks and their dividends and salaries. Instead, contributions will need to go directly to supporting work people care about. The future of journalism is not about some single new-fangled product and company taking over from the old-fangled and monopolistic predecessor. News come from a broad ecosystem with many players adding in under many models for many reasons. News organizations will organize news in this diverse new framework, aggregating, curating, organizing. Laid-off journalists are starting blogs, alongside other bloggers. Some people will volunteer, podcasting their school-board meetings, just because they care. When we demand transparency from government as a default, data will become part of the news ecosystem we can all examine. Some of this will be supported by advertising, some by contributions from foundations, some by contributions from individuals, some by volunteer effort. And it will all add up to a new pie, one slice of which will be efforts such as the one HuffPost is announcing. More on Newspapers
 
North Korea Preparing For Another Missile Test: Report Top
SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea's plans to launch a rocket as early as this week in defiance of warnings threatens to undo years of fitful negotiations toward dismantling the regime's nuclear program. The U.S., South Korea and Japan have told the North that any rocket launch _ whether it's a satellite or a long-range missile _ would violate a 2006 U.N. Security Council Resolution prohibiting Pyongyang from any ballistic activity, and could draw sanctions. North Korea said sanctions would violate the spirit of disarmament agreements, and said it would treat the pacts as null and void if punished for exercising its sovereign right to send a satellite into space. "Even a single word critical of the launch" from the Security Council will be regarded as a "blatant hostile act," a spokesman with North Korea's foreign ministry said Thursday, according the North's state-run Korean Central News Agency. "All the processes for the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, which have been pushed forward so far, will be brought back to what used to be before their start and necessary strong measures will be taken." That would be a sharp reversal from June 2008 when the North made a promising move toward disarmament, dramatically blowing up a cooling reactor at its main Yongbyon nuclear complex. But the regime routinely backtracks on agreements, refuses to abide by international rules and wields its nuclear program like a weapon when it needs to win concessions from Washington or Seoul, analysts say. "History has shown them that the more provocative they are, the more attention they get. The more attention they get, the more they're offered," Peter M. Beck, a Korean affairs expert who teaches at American University in Washington and Yonsei University in Seoul, said Sunday. Despite years of negotiations and impoverished North Korea's growing need for outside help, it's clear the talks have done little to curb the regime's drive to build _ and sell _ its atomic arsenal, experts say. "If this is Kim Jong Il's welcoming present to a new president, launching a missile like this and threatening to have a nuclear test, I think it says a lot about the imperviousness of this regime in North Korea to any kind of diplomatic overtures," Defense Secretary Robert Gates said in an interview broadcast on "Fox News Sunday." North Korea, a notoriously secretive country, has been challenging the international community with its atomic ambitions since 1993, when the regime briefly quit the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty amid suspicions it was secretly developing atomic weapons. In 1994, North Korea and the U.S. worked out an agreement that promised Pyongyang oil and two light water nuclear reactors if the country would give up its nuclear ambitions. The power-generating reactors cannot be easily used to make bombs. Four years later, North Korea fired a multistage Taepodong-1 missile over Japan and into the Pacific Ocean. The North pledged in 1999 to freeze long-range missile tests, but later threatened to restart its nuclear program and resume testing missiles amid delays in construction of the reactors. In 2002, Pyongyang admitted to a secret nuclear weapons program in violation of the 1994 agreement, prompting the U.S., Japan and South Korea to halt oil supplies promised as part of the pact. The North withdrew again from the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty in 2003, and announced it had reactivated its nuclear power facilities. That August, six nations _ the two Koreas, China, Japan, Russia and the U.S. _ began negotiations on disarmament now known as the "six-party talks," eventually resulting in a landmark accord on Sept. 19, 2005. The agreement called for North Korea to abandon its nuclear program in exchange for economic aid, diplomatic recognition and a security guarantee from Washington. As the talks continued in fits and starts, the North in 2006 carried out a surprise 5 a.m. test-fire of six missiles, including its Taepodong-2 long-range missile, which U.S. and South Korean officials believe has the potential to strike Alaska. The rocket fizzled just 42 seconds after takeoff but the launch, denounced as "provocative" by Washington, angered even North Korea's longtime ally and main donor, China, which agreed to a U.S.-sponsored U.N. Resolution 1695 condemning the move. Later that year, an underground nuclear test prompted U.N. Resolution 1718, which bans the North from any ballistic activity. The U.S., South Korea and Japan say that sending satellites into space since the technology for launching a satellite and a missile are virtually the same. By February, Pyongyang agreed to concrete steps toward disarmament: disabling its main nuclear facilities in exchange for the equivalent of 1 million tons of energy aid and other concessions. Disablement began that November. But the North halted the process in 2008 amid a dispute with Washington over how to verify its 18,000-page account of past atomic activities. The last round of talks _ in December 2008, weeks before President Barack Obama moved into the White House _ made little apparent progress. Analysts speculated that North Korean leader Kim Jong Il was holding out for talks with Obama. But in forming its North Korea policy, the fledgling Obama administration has made it clear it will work through the six-party process. The rocket launch scheduled for April 4-8, at a time when Pyongyang has custody of two American reporters detained March 17 at North Korea's border with China, could provide the opening North Korea needs to force direct talks with Washington, analysts said. "The timing couldn't be better for North Korea. It strengthens the North's bargaining position with the U.S. in dealing with the nuclear issue. They can try to link these two issues in some way," said Daniel Pinkston of the International Crisis Group. Bringing everyone, including North Korea, back to the talks will be "rough going," said Paik Hak-soon, an analyst at the Sejong Institute think tank. But South Korea's envoy expressed confidence the talks would be back on track soon. "I am looking forward to seeing the talks resume after certain amount of time, and I am not deeply worried or concerned about resumption of the talks," Wi Sung-lac said last week. Ultimately, the talks may never achieve their aim, Beck said. "It may very well be that in the end, the North will try to play it both ways: continue to negotiate for goodies while never giving up its nuclear trump card," he said in his House testimony. "After all, that is essentially what it has done for the past 16 years." ___ Associated Press writers Hyung-jin Kim and Kwang-tae Kim contributed to this report. More on North Korea
 
Jacqui Smith, UK Minister, Apologizes For Porn Movies On Expenses Top
LONDON — Britain's Home Secretary apologized Sunday for putting five pay-per-view movies on her parliamentary expense account _ including two X-rated ones screened by her husband. Jacqui Smith admitted she should not have claimed any of the movies and said all the money would be paid back. She attributed the mistake to not being careful enough with a service package that included both Internet and TV. "I am sorry that in claiming for my Internet connection, I mistakenly claimed for a television package alongside it," Smith said in a statement. "As soon as the matter was brought to my attention, I took immediate steps to contact the relevant parliamentary authorities and rectify the situation." Smith put on her expenses two unnamed adult movies shown on pay-per-view television channels at her family home in April 2008 at 5 pounds ($7) each, as well as three other movies _ two viewings of "Ocean's Thirteen" and one of "Surf's Up" at 3.75 pounds ($5) each. Smith's spokeswoman said the adult movies were X-rated and had scenes of a sexual nature. "X-rated is not the same as porn," the spokewoman said, refusing to elaborate. She spoke anonymously in line with government policy and would not release the names of the X-rated movies. British media reported that the adult movies were watched by Smith's husband Richard Timney _ who said he was sorry for any embarrassment he caused his wife. "I can fully understand why people might be angry and offended by this," he said. "Quite obviously a claim should never have been made for these films, and as you know that money is being paid back." Smith is already under investigation by the parliamentary ethics watchdog over the thousands of pounds (dollars) in expenses she has claimed on her home in Redditch, in central England. She says that house is her second home _ with her sister's home in London being her main residence. The government backed Smith on Sunday. "Jacqui Smith has done the right thing by taking steps to rectify this inadvertent mistake as soon as she became aware of it," Prime Minister Gordon Brown's office said. The Home Secretary is in charge of Britain's police and anti-terror forces, as well as enforcing the country's immigration and drug laws. More on England
 
Bashir At Arab League Summit Given Red-Carpet Welcome Top
DOHA, Qatar — Qatar's leader embraced Sudan's president in a red-carpet welcome Sunday as he arrived to attend an Arab Summit in his most brazen act of defiance against an international arrest warrant on charges of war crimes in Darfur. For host Qatar _ a key U.S. ally that is home to American warplanes and more than 5,000 U.S. troops _ the Arab League meeting beginning Monday also showcases its desire to stake out a prominent role in regional affairs even at the risk of angering the West. Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir had promised to attend the 22-nation gathering after assurances from members they would not enforce the International Criminal Court's arrest order issued March 4. But his lavish arrival sent an apparent message that al-Bashir will have a center stage role at the two-day meeting. Wearing a traditional Sudanese robe and white turban, a smiling al-Bashir was greeted at the airport with an embrace and kiss by Qatar's emir. They later had coffee with the head of the Arab League, Amr Moussa. It was a low-risk trip for al-Bashir with high symbolic value for his Arab backers, who argue that carrying out the ICC's arrest would further destabilize Sudan as the Darfur conflict between the Arab-led government and ethnic African rebels enters its seventh year. Only Jordan and two other tiny Arab League members, the Comoros and Djibouti, are party to the ICC charter, but can take no action on Qatari soil. Arab foreign ministers have endorsed a draft resolution for the summit rejecting the ICC's arrest warrant. ICC prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo has said that al-Bashir should be arrested once he leaves Sudanese airspace, but it was unclear whether any military forces were monitoring his flight. The United States does not recognize the ICC's jurisdiction, citing fears that Americans would be unfairly prosecuted for political reasons. But President Barack Obama earlier this month denounced the "genocide" in Darfur. The Sudanese government's battle against rebels in the western Darfur region has killed up to 300,000 people and driven 2.7 million from their homes since 2003, according to the United Nations. "The president is performing his duties and is going to visit more countries either on bilateral bases or for regional meetings," said al-Bashir's foreign policy adviser, Mustafa Osman Ismail. The Sudanese leader also visited Eritrea, Egypt and Libya over the past week. "What is required from all of us is to stand with our brothers in Sudan and its leadership in order to prevent dangers that affect our collective security," Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem said. But the Arab ministers rejected an offer from Sudan to host an emergency Arab summit. Instead, Arab governments promised to increase diplomatic visits to Sudan. The Doha gathering is another chance for Qatar to enhance its role as a regional broker _ with the growing confidence to occasionally break ranks with traditional regional heavyweights Egypt and Saudi Arabia and their Western allies. In January, Qatar hosted a Gaza crisis conference that included two leaders sharply at odds with Washington: Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal. The following month, Qatar mediated preliminary talks between Sudan's government and the most powerful Darfur rebel group. But Qatar's rulers are careful not to step too far from the Western-leaning fold. The nation serves as a strategic military hub for U.S. operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. Qatari officials who have also invested huge efforts to become an international sports venue _ including bidding for the 2022 World Cup _ worry that a maverick reputation could harm their chances. Human Rights Watch issued an appeal for Arab leaders to press Sudan to allow the return of 13 foreign humanitarian aid groups expelled in retaliation for the warrant. The Arab League also "should not reward Sudan's behavior by supporting a suspension of al-Bashir's case, which would only encourage further abuses," said Richard Dicker, director of the group's international justice program. ___ Associated Press Writer Salah Nasrawi contributed to this report. (This version CORRECTS that total number of displaced is 2.7 million.) More on War Crimes
 
Ian Welsh: What to Watch For In the Administration's Financial Sector Reforms Top
Here's a partial scorecard for looking at the administration's regulation reforms. I've listed what the administration should, in my opinion, of course, do, along with notes on how likely I think it is. Is Obama going to regulate Collateralized Debt Swaps like insurance , meaning that you can't insure something if you can't pay it back and you have to use government mandated tables, make sure there's insurable interest, not allow over-insurance and so on? Will Obama do this? He may do some of it, but I doubt he'll do all of it. Is he going to limit leverage properly , by which I mean not just not allowing leverage rations above 10:1, for anyone, but not allowing leverage on leverage - not allowing someone to use a leveraged asset to leverage off of. Will Obama do this? Maybe, maybe not. Is he going to properly regulate securitization? By which I mean not allowing securitization of already securitized assets, full reform of the ratings agencies so they have no incentive to over-rate securities, not allowing collateralized assets to have higher ratings than the underlying securities, and not allowing financial innovation which is not approved by regulators? Will Obama do this? We'll see. Move to highly progressive taxation. If he doesn't do this executives will always have an incentive to create bubbles because they will be able to make so much money in a few years that it doesn't matter what happens to their companies in the long term. Will Obama do this? No. Is he going to move to a financial transactions tax like the Tobin tax in which every transaction is taxed a little bit so that if the government gets stuck with the bill again, it's been collecting cash for the job of cleaning up banker's messes? Will Obama do this? Hardly. Is he going to break up the "too big to fail" banks and other financial firms so that in the future failed financial firms can just be put into receivership and can't hold the economy bankrupt? Will Obama do this? Don't make me laugh. Is he going to reinstitute the Glass-Steagall provisions to not allow brokers, investment banks, commercial banks and insurance companies to conglomerate? Will Obama do this? Hardly. Is he going to tell his Attorney General to engage in widespread fraud investigations as to whether mortgages were sold fraudulently, Collateralized Debt Obligations were created fraudulently, and Debt Swaps were sold fraudulently? Will Obama do this? Probably a few prosecutions, but nothing wide ranging. Is he going to try and pass anti-usury laws? He'll try. But somehow they won't pass. Is he going to spend as much money, or even half as much money, helping homeowners and people who lost their jobs as has been given to banks and financial firms? Will Obama do this? No. I'm hoping to be surprised on the upside here. Of course, any regulations are only as strong as the regulators will and resources to enforce them, so the other question will be "is this all for form?" We'll see. More on Economy
 
Obama: "I've Strained Some Friendships" (VIDEO) Top
No one ever said being president was fun, or for that matter good for one's popularity. As Bob Schieffer reminded President Obama during their chat on "Face the Nation" Sunday, Thomas Jefferson once remarked that the presidency had brought him "nothing but increasing drudgery and a daily loss of friends." In light of such gloomy sentiments, Schieffer asked Obama if his first few months in office had cost him any friendships. Obama admitted there had been some strain. WATCH: More on Barack Obama
 
Politico: Michelle Obama Too Ambitious Top
Politico moves the inane doing-too-much storyline forward with an article about whether Michelle Obama is "spreading herself too thin." More on Michelle Obama
 
Geithner-Krugman Feud Comes To A Head On Sunday Shows (VIDEO) Top
The high-profile policy duel between Tim Geithner and Paul Krugman came to a head on Sunday. Following the Treasury Secretary's appearance on ABC's "This Week ( read/watch that interview here ), Krugman participated in the panel session and made clear that he hadn't yet been convinced. "It's a plan to rearrange the deck chairs and hope that that keeps us from hitting the iceberg," the Nobel Prize-winning economist said of Geithner's bank plan. "They've done some things very fast, but they've been very small things ... There's no way this could be enough." Watch: On "Meet the Press," Geithner was asked to respond to the critiques Krugman has written about Treasury's financial rescue proposal. Geithner defended the bad assets buying plan, which Krugman called "trash for cash," arguing that it was a "critical" part of the administration plan. He asserted that the alternatives were worse. "Life is about choices, about alternatives," the Treasury Secretary said. "This is a better way to help get the markets working again." "The investors' money is at risk. They can lose all their money. Now, again, you have to compare these to the alternatives. The alternative scheme, the government in our view, will be taking on much more risk. The taxpayer will be much more exposed to losses. Life is about choices, about alternatives. This is a better way to help get the markets working again. ... What we're trying to do is get the entire financial system, our complicated system, working again so that we get credit where it needs to go in the economy and that requires strengthening our banking system. It requires making sure there's enough capital to withstand a deeper recession, and we're going to make sure that capital comes with conditions to make sure banks restructure, that there's accountability for management, that the firms emerge stronger not weaker, and there are tough conditions to protect the taxpayer. ... This is not going to solve our problems, but it is a critical part of the solution and we think it's the best approach to protect the taxpayer and make sure that the market is working with us." In order to bring confidence back to the markets, Geithner added, the rules of the program "cannot change." Watch: Send us tips! Write us at tv@huffingtonpost.com if you see any newsworthy or notable TV moments. Read more about our media monitoring project here and click here to join the Media Monitors team. More on Timothy Geithner
 
Greta Van Susteren Rips Politico For Alleging She Advises Palin: A "Hit And Run" Top
Old friends of Sarah Palin think her new, inexperienced advisers are doing the governor harm, Politico reported Sunday. Interviews with Alaska and Washington-based GOP political professionals who are familiar with the Palin operation describe the governor's team as a gang that couldn't shoot straight, a staff whose failure to execute basic political maneuvers too often entangles the governor in awkward and embarrassing situations that could have easily been avoided. Fox News host Greta van Susteren and her husband, John Coale, came in for particular scrutiny. Coale helped Palin put together a Political Action Committee, and Politico quoted a "former Palin ally still in touch with the governor" saying that one of Palin's key missteps since the election was "Taking advice from Greta and her husband." On Sunday, Van Susteren responded on her blog , calling the article false and "silly" and calling out Politico reporter Jonathan Martin: "What is even more bizarre is that it is co-authored by Jonathan Martin who has been ON THE RECORD at 10pm and he never even called me to check one fact with me. Here is a picture of Jonathan Martin in case you have forgotten him from his many appearances on our show. ... Fact checking seems to be a lost art." Greta denied she has ever offered Palin political advice: Advice from me? huh? I am flattered someone would think people take advice from me but this is fanciful. Note that it is from a "source" -- is that code for phoney? In this instance yes. This is why I hate "sources" and where journalism can be grossly unfair -- in the law you have to step up on the witness stand and identify yourself and take an oath to tell the truth. You can't do a "hit and run!" I have never given Governor Palin advice - she does not need it from me. I don't even have her phone number or her email address. I don't think I have ever had a conversation with her off camera and if I have, it was 45 seconds! The goal is to get tape so you run the camera every second. When you do interviews with politicians, you interview and the politician runs to the next event or interview. Even when we did the interview at her home in Alaska post election, we did the interview in the home with her in her kitchen, another news organization was standing by and followed with their interview (I think it was the Anchorage Daily News) while we went outside to interview her husband on his snow machine. Van Susteren also defended her husband's work, saying he merely "helped with the PAC ... big deal." Get HuffPost Politics on Facebook , or follow us on Twitter .
 
Kos: GOP Senator From North Carolina Looks Like Easy Takedown For Dems Top
In 2004, freshman Republican Sen. Richard Burr won a fairly tight race in what was a huge Republican year [...] North Carolina was among the most politically interesting states last cycle, and that won't change this coming one. Republicans will be hard-pressed to hold on to this seat.
 
Obama: Biden "Can Help Stir The Pot" Top
Mr. Biden has settled into a role of what Mr. Obama compares to a basketball player "who does a bunch of things that don't show up in the stat sheet," the president said in an interview Friday. "He gets that extra rebound, takes the charge, makes that extra pass." [...] "There's, I think, an institutional barrier sometimes to truth-telling in front of the president," Mr. Obama said. "Joe is very good about sometimes articulating what's on other people's minds, or things that they've said in private conversations that people have been less willing to say in public. Joe, in that sense, can help stir the pot." More on Joe Biden
 
Thousands Of Toxic Toads Killed At Australian Celebration Top
SYDNEY — Thousands of poisonous cane toads met their fate Sunday as gleeful Australians gathered for a celebratory mass killing of the hated amphibians, with many of the creatures' corpses being turned into fertilizer for the very farmers they've plagued for years. Hundreds of participants in five communities across northern Queensland snacked on sausages, sipped cold drinks and picked up prizes as the portly pests were weighed, measured and killed in the state's inaugural "Toad Day Out" celebration. "To see the look on the faces of the kids as we were handling and weighing the toads and then euthanizing them was just...," Townsville City Councilman Vern Veitch said, breaking off to let out a contented sigh. "The children really got into the character of the event." The toads _ which can grow up to 8 inches (20 centimeters) in length _ were imported from South America to Queensland in 1935 in a failed attempt to control beetles on sugarcane plantations. Trouble was, the toads couldn't jump high enough to eat the beetles, which live on top of cane stalks. The toads bred rapidly, and their millions-strong population now threatens many local species across Australia. They spread diseases, such as salmonella, and produce highly toxic venom from glands in their skin that can kill would-be predators. The toads are also voracious eaters, chomping up insects, frogs, small reptiles and mammals _ even birds. Cane toads are only harmful to humans if their poison is swallowed. Queensland politician Shane Knuth, a longtime nemesis of the cane toad who came up with the Toad Day Out idea, figured the best way to combat the problem was to gather Australians en masse for a targeted hunt. With each adult female cane toad capable of producing 20,000 eggs, he said, killing even a few thousand toads could ultimately wipe out millions. On Saturday night, participants fanned out under the cloak of darkness to hunt down the toads. On Sunday, the toads _ which the rules stated must be captured alive and unharmed _ were brought to collection points and examined by experts to ensure they were not harmless frogs. The creatures were then killed, either by freezing or by being placed in plastic bags filled with carbon dioxide. Some of the remains will be ground into fertilizer for sugarcane farmers. The Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals has applauded the effort, provided the toads are killed humanely. In Townsville, organizers received around 3,600 toads from about 400 participants, said Andrew Hannay, coordinator of environmental management for Townsville City Council. Most of the toads will be donated to nearby James Cook University, with the biggest ones turned into souvenirs by local taxidermists, he said. The largest toad weighed more than a pound (half a kilogram), Hannay said. The monster toad's captor received several movie passes and a trophy made out of a cane toad. In Cairns, more than 100 people turned up at a collection point with around 1,000 toads, Toad Day Out organizer Lisa Ahrens said. The biggest was 5 inches (13 centimeters) long, weighed half a pound (290 grams) _ and had a fifth leg growing out of its chest. There was a tussle over the creatures' corpses between a waste management plant and a local taxidermist. But in the end, Ahrens said, a compromise was struck _ the taxidermists stripped off the animals' skins, and the rest of the remains went to the plant to be turned into compost for cane farmers. "So everybody's happy!" Ahrens said with a laugh. Knuth, who has been pushing a proposal to offer a 40 Australian cent ($0.28) bounty on the animals since 2007, hopes to eventually turn Toad Day Out into a nationwide effort. "This is an example of how the war against cane toads can be won," he said. More on Australia
 
Obama On Ailing Carmakers: `They're Not There Yet' Top
WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama says General Motors Corp., Chrysler LLC and all those with a stake in their survival need to take more hard steps to help the struggling automakers restructure for the future. Obama, in an interview with CBS' "Face the Nation" broadcast Sunday, said the companies must do more to receive additional financial aid from the government. "They're not there yet," Obama said. The president was set to announce a plan Monday for the government to provide more money in exchange for tough concessions from union workers, bondholders and others. Lawmakers were expected to get briefed on the plan Sunday evening. "We think we can have a successful U.S. auto industry. But it's got to be one that's realistically designed to weather this storm and to emerge _ at the other end _ much more lean, mean, and competitive than it currently is," Obama said. GM and Chrysler are surviving on $17.4 billion in government loans. They have been hard hit by the economic downturn and the worst decline in auto sales in 27 years. GM is seeking $16.6 billion more; Chrysler wants $5 billion more. Obama said the government would require a "set of sacrifices from all parties involved, management, labor, shareholders, creditors, suppliers, dealers. Everybody's gonna have to come to the table and say it's important for us to take serious restructuring steps now in order to preserve a brighter future down the road." Both companies are trying to reduce their debt by two-thirds and persuade the United Auto Workers union to accept several cost-cutting measures. Under the terms of a loan agreement reached during the Bush administration, GM and Chrysler are pushing the UAW to accept shares of stock in exchange for half of the payments into a union-run trust fund for retiree health care. They also want labor costs from the union to be competitive with Japanese automakers with U.S. operations. Neither GM nor Chrysler have deals with the union on the trust funding or concessions from their debtholders and the administration has been trying to accelerate those efforts. GM and Chrysler employ about 140,000 workers in the U.S. Members of the president's auto industry task force have said bankruptcy could be an option for GM and Chrysler if their management, workers, creditors and shareholders failed to make sacrifices. The conditions could be more stringent than the loan terms set by the outgoing Bush administration in December, officials have said. GM and Chrysler face a Tuesday deadline to submit completed restructuring plans, but neither company is expected to finish their work. The administration's plan would be designed to accelerate those efforts. GM owes roughly $28 billion to bondholders. Chrysler owes about $7 billion in first- and second-term debt, mainly to banks. GM owes about $20 billion to its retiree health care trust, while Chrysler owes $10.6 billion. In February, GM said it intended to cut 47,000 jobs around the globe, or nearly 20 percent of its work force, close hundreds of dealerships and focus on four core brands _ Chevrolet, Cadillac, GMC and Buick. Chrysler issued two scenarios in its February plan: one, as a distinct company, and the second, in an alliance with Italian automaker Fiat SpA. Fiat executives have talked to the task force about a proposal to acquire a 35 percent stake in Chrysler in exchange for small car technology, transmissions and other items that Chrysler has valued at $8 billion to $10 billion. Chrysler said in its February report that it would cut 3,000 workers and eliminate three vehicle models, the Dodge Aspen, Dodge Durango and Chrysler PT Cruiser. More on Barack Obama
 
Glenn Greenwald: The Incredible Courage Of Jim Webb's Prison Bill Top
There are few things rarer than a major politician doing something that is genuinely courageous and principled, but Jim Webb's impassioned commitment to fundamental prison reform is exactly that. Webb's interest in the issue was prompted by his work as a journalist in 1984, when he wrote about an American citizen who was locked away in a Japanese prison for two years under extremely harsh conditions for nothing more than marijuana possession. After decades of mindless "tough-on-crime" hysteria, an increasingly irrational "drug war," and a sprawling, privatized prison state as brutal as it is counter-productive, America has easily surpassed Japan -- and virtually every other country in the world -- to become what Brown University Professor Glenn Loury recently described as a "a nation of jailers" whose "prison system has grown into a leviathan unmatched in human history." More on Jim Webb
 

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