Saturday, March 7, 2009

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Helena Christensen: 'I Eat Like a Pig' Top
"I eat more than anyone I know," says Helena Christensen. "I'm obsessed! [Food] takes up about 75 percent of my brain. I eat like a pig." But don't show up at her doorstep with flaming torches just yet: Christensen, who first found fame in Chris Isaak's steamy Wicked Game video, admits she's had to step up her workouts to make up for her eating habits. "I'm super lucky with my metabolism," she tells InStyle U.K. in the new April issue.
 
Mike Hegedus: You want Good News? You can't handle Good News! Top
Live long enough and nearly everything comes back around. It's the reason my 80 year mother thinks we're headed to The Great Depression II, a sequel. Let's hope it's not as 'good' as the first one. I think Brando was in that one too. It's also why I'm chuckling at all the publicity that Brian Williams' 'discovery' is getting. What discovery? The one where the erstwhile NBC anchor has been apparently shocked to learn that you just can't hammer away at the audience night after night with one dire report after another. According to him, he's been getting so many emails from viewers asking for just a little 'good news', that according to Brian all three network news divisions couldn't do them all. Oh sure they could. But they won't. 'Good news' has a strange connotation in the news business. It conjures up images of old guys making toys for kids out of wire hangars (I've actually done that story), or a couple in Utah that provides a home for any abandoned Golden Retriever--as in any dog of that breed anywhere in the U.S., including Alaska (I've done that one too). They and any number of other stories about the goodness of mankind, the depth of the human spirit, the steadfastness of the American soul are all out there, waiting to be done, looking for a broadcast home. Some of them make it, the vast majority do not. Why? There are a myriad of reasons. The news division has to 'buy in', there has to be someone who's good at doing them, and the audience has to respond, has to really want them. According to Williams now they do. And what I think they're looking for are not the 'Person of the Week' kind of stories that ABC does so well on Friday nights. I think what we're looking for are signs that we're all okay, that we're going to make it. That my Mom is wrong. For every company that lays off workers, there's a company that is saving jobs using innovative techniques. For every factory that closes, there's another small or medium sized business that is opening somewhere in America--how are they doing that, why? For every foreclosure, there's a young couple buying their first home. I once had a colleague ask me this question--'How come I'm the one who does all the important stories, but it's your stories that people remember?' That was good news.
 
Mike Hegedus: Workers of the World Unite! or at least those that are left... Top
Question--Why do they call them the 'jobs numbers'? Shouldn't they be called the 'lack of jobs' numbers? There's no way around how dismal the government's report on unemployment is--8.1 per cent in the U.S.-- thanks in large measure to revised numbers on the two previous months of an additional 100,000+ folks out of work. What that means of course is that this latest report is also going to be revised----up, next month. You can likely bet you're assistance check on double digit unemployment figures soon. And who's to blame? Labor. Now before you drop your tool belt and come out swinging, think about it for a second. While all those 'fat cat' Republican CEO's were raking in the cash and taking all those 'loser' homeowners to the cleaners where was organized labor? Still fighting the battles of the 60's. Still trying to hang onto '..all that we've gained...' to quote one fellow. Who by the way I think is a little over weight and a Republican. My point is this. 8.1 per cent is a heck of a number and when it hits 10 per cent, '..all the we've gained..' won't mean bubkiss. There's something weird about the UAW still 'negotiating' with General Motors as it slides inexorably towards bankruptcy. Negotiating what exactly? Where to build the monument to Walter Reuther in Flint? You'll find few people more labor and union friendly than yours truly. I'll match my shop steward credentials with the best of them. However, the 'union' employees should be embracing at this point is the one that works with management to save JOBS--not territory, not pay raises--but pay, period. I challenge every CFO to find a way to SAVE as many jobs as possible---cut everyone's salary in half? Fine, as long as it includes his and his boss's. Work fewer hours? You bet--as long as he and his boss are working longer hours to figure a way to keep the plant open. That's why I'm disappointed in labor,get fired up, not fired. I say challenge that CEO--challenge that CFO--challenge that COO--tell'em you're willing to do anything it takes--anything--to keep your friends and relatives working. As long as they are willing to do anything too. It's about good faith, it's about a willingness to truly compromise, to go the extra mile, to be honest with each other. Like I said--unemployment in double digits soon.
 
Paula Duffy: Why Americans ignore the World Baseball Classic Top
While watching the Canada vs. USA match this Saturday morning it occurred to me that 40,000 Canadians in a dome in Toronto are there out of national pride and to see if their team can beat the Americans. And this comes at a time when their beloved hockey season is heading towards the playoffs. Wherever our team goes they are the ones who others want to beat into submission. The USA team might as well be the Yankees. And that's the key. Rightly or wrongly we don't feel like we exist in the shadow of a more powerful country in sports or in other endeavors for that matter. Thus, we don't look for times like these to prove what we are made of. We are convinced our team sports athletes are far superior to international baseball, basketball or football leagues Stars from around the world play in our leagues whereas Americans go abroad when they can't make it in the NFL, MLB or the NBA. Sprinkled throughout the WBC international teams are players who we root for when they don uniforms of the Mariners, Red Sox and Angels. It seems odd for us to turn around and hate on them because they are now wearing the colors of Japan, the Dominican or even Canada. It's not that we have no national pride. That is clear when you see the size of audiences for the Olympic games. But in general, most of the Olympic sports that consume us are individual in nature. And in many of those sports we are the underdog, living in the shadow of dominant teams from countries around the world. We also are given the opportunity to get to know our Olympic athletes and feel connected to their personal stories. Some of that is a creature of the television networks who need to make us care to justify the hundreds of millions they spend on the rights to broadcast the games. But since we know the MLB players who play on Team USA no introductions seem necessary. It's just not life or death for us and we don't think we have a point to prove. This isn't the Olympic men's basketball team needing redemption. But it is baseball and despite some of the quirky rules that irk us, it isn't a waste of time. Just one woman's thoughts. I'm sure you have yours.
 
Michael J. Panzner: Up Next: The Obama Bounce? Top
All of a sudden, our president is being blamed for the selloff in share prices. Yesterday, for example, the Wall Street Journal published an editorial by Michael Boskin, former chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers under George H.W. Bush, claiming that " Obama's Radicalism Is Killing the Dow ." In a Bloomberg News report, " Obama Bear Market' Punishes Investors as Dow Slumps ," a money manager attributed the selloff to uncertainty stemming from the Administration's efforts to turn things around. As usual, the alleged experts don't have any idea what they are talking about. For one thing, the current bear market began long before Barack Obama assumed the reins of power. Since hitting its all-time high in October 2007, the S&P 500 index has fallen by more than half, with 80 percent of those losses occurring before the January inauguration. More important, still, are the real reasons behind the sell-off. These include the bursting of history's biggest housing bubble, which triggered a shockwave of wealth destruction that has wreaked widespread havoc throughout the economy, as well as the unraveling of a multi-trillion-dollar financial house of cards built on greed, ignorance, and fraud. Throw in the fact that stock prices had been supported by earnings and expectations about the future that had little basis in reality and it's not hard to see why the bears have been in control during the past year-and-a-half or so. Indeed, on valuations alone, it is easy to make the case that there is plenty more downside to come. During the similarly turbulent times of the past, including the Great Depression, World War II, the late-1970s era of stagflation, and the twin-recessions of the early-1980s, the ratio of share prices to the aggregate earnings of companies included in the S&P 500 during the prior 12-months fell to the mid-to-upper single digits before another bull market began. Right now, in contrast, the P/E ratio of the bellwether index is around 12. Assuming that we've seen the worst as far as the economy and corporate profits are concerned -- though there are lots of reasons to believe otherwise -- stocks could still fall another 50 percent before they would represent a true "buying opportunity." To be sure, no market moves in a straight line. Even during the period from 1929 to 1932, when share prices lost 90 percent of their value, there were six double-digit-percentage countertrend moves along the way . These included a five-month, 52 percent rally in the wake of the Great Crash, as well as a nine-week, 29% gain in early-1932, amid the depths of the Depression. In fact, an expanding array of technical and sentiment indicators suggests that a short-term bottom is likely at hand. Bespoke Investment Group recently noted , for example, that a weekly poll by the American Association of Individual Investors (AAII) showed that investors "are now at their most bearish levels in the history of the survey." For contrarians, that is a bullish sign, indicating that pessimism -- and the selling that goes along with it -- is somewhat overdone, at least in the short run. My own research on the deviation between stock prices and their longer-term moving averages, which can help gauge the "intensity" of a move, reveals that the differential has reached a level not seen since mid-November, after which the market jumped 19 percent in five days. Prior to that, the last time we saw such a rubber band-like divergence was during the 1930s -- before one of those rebounds I referred to earlier. What this means, of course, is that when the stock market does have another one of its dead cat bounces, it likely won't be because of anything our president has done. But that won't stop another group of "experts" from claiming otherwise. More on Barack Obama
 
Jeff Danziger: Limbaugh Crossing the Delaware Top
 
Specter Facing Pressure To Abandon Republican Party Before 2010 Election Top
Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) does not have the fall-back option of running as an independent should he lose his 2010 primary election, giving the senior lawmaker strong incentive to abandon his party this year. Specter faces an extremely difficult primary race against former Rep. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.), the conservative firebrand who lost his bid to oust Specter from his seat in the 2004 GOP primary by a mere 17,000 votes (out of more than a million cast).
 
Stephen Mo Hanan: Selling Your Soul to the Devil for Fun and Profit Top
Recently in New York I went to a preview performance of a rarely staged piece of music theater called "The Damnation of Faust," by Hector Berlioz. In his introduction, the manager of the opera house jested about the relevance of the subject to the current economic crisis, and the audience gave a grim chuckle. As if we collectively knew that at the heart of the meltdown there was some kind of Faustian bargain. I started thinking about what the expression could truly mean to someone for whom the Devil is fiction, or at least metaphor. Even people who don't believe they have a soul sometimes swear they'd sell it for x, y or z. Those we envy are often assumed to have traded with the Devil for their success. What is the truth we are alluding to, whether or not we believe in eternal damnation as a literal threat, or an imperishable something within us as a mindful actuality? The legend of Dr. Faust, originally a German Renaissance alchemist, has inspired poets, playwrights and composers for centuries. A discontented old philosopher is visited in his study by Satan himself (billed as Mephistopheles). In exchange for signing his soul over to his diabolical guest, Faust gets another crack at youth, fucks the world's most beautiful women, enjoys luxuries that Robin Leach would drool over, on and on until the piper insists on payment. The moral: a life dedicated to the pursuit of personal ease and pleasure will be punished. For a literalist Christian, Faust is dragged into the flames of Hell, and that's that. To a more flexible mental approach, the story's enduring hold suggests a multitude of possibilities. What are we really talking about when there's something, anything, we'd Sell Our Soul to the Devil for? If nationally we've sold our soul (henceforth SOS), as the audience that afternoon seemed to affirm, what was the asking price? If the meltdown is really the fruit of a Faustian bargain, even as metaphor, what did our duped side get for it? And if the devil is bogus, whom did we SOS to? What does this figment represent, and what desired object did it deliver at such disastrous cost? Because without desire, we'd never SOS. The Soul (pretending we have one) is the most precious item at our inner disposal, the source of our vitality, our filament in the web of existence, our Isness, and we wouldn't surrender it for just anything. Desire must be the motivating factor, prolonged and unfulfilled desire, and its forms are as infinite as humankind, as insistent as an infomercial. To SOS, there must be an object of desire, be it person, treasure, substance or office, without which we think life won't be worth living. Something that we imagine will make us so happy that to get it, we'll part with our most precious item. Obviously our most precious item isn't doing its job, and a soul that isn't doing its job is already the devil's perfect tool. The filament is severed, the web unraveled, the Isness lost. We feel an alien emptiness where the soul ought to be. Why not then hand it over to whatever devil (Mephistopheles or Madoff) promises to heal the ache? To the planet's masters, of course, the deal delivered a cornucopia of coddled luxury that would have left Faust aghast. Till recently this plutocratic domain was borne aloft, like the gondola of a zeppelin, by the relentless inflating of the middle class with the hot air of consumerism. The campaign began in the Twenties, halted temporarily for Depression and war, then took advantage of America's postwar economic boom to bring undreamed-of convenience to millions of homes. But the demonic side was always present, warned against as early as the Fifties by C. Wright Mills, who saw alienated office and factory workers acquiescing zombie-like in the creation of a permanent war economy, kept in place by the political, military, and economic elite of either party. His cautioning voice and others (like the Beats and later the hippies) were submerged by the twin tsunamis of TV and credit cards, innovations which wiped out the lessons of the Great Depression. In 1929 there were radios in barely 30% of American households. Penetration more than doubled by FDR's inauguration, but nobody needed commercials to tell them what they lacked. After the war, TV's invasive, mesmerizing imagery created an entirely different ethos of lack, based not on scarcity but abundance. Where not having enough had been the curse of an ailing prewar economy, it became a way of life for postwar shoppers, a commercially manipulated appetite, inculcating the value system, currently tottering, whose by-product turned out to be a restlessness incapable of saying Enough. More natural paths to contentment were obscured by an American culture "demented with the mania of owning things," in Walt Whitman's phrase. SOS. But now, with the dirigible crashing in flames, what will happen to the manipulation, the appetite, and indeed to the culture itself? Is more hot air the solution? Will we turn to the government to help us continue buying stuff we don't need with money we don't have? (Missiles as well as cosmetics.) Will we continue to SOS, or can our public discourse begin to examine alternatives to the devil's bargain of the past sixty, and especially the past thirty years? In Berlioz' drama, Mephistopheles traps Faust with the demand for "your oath to serve me." "Got To Serve Somebody," Dylan reminds us. Maybe the meltdown is upon us because America's soul has been serving the economy, instead of the other way round. If the economy actually served the people, who are truly the country's soul, goods and services would flow where human needs, not financial ones, direct them. The economy would hasten to deliver health care, housing, education and more, if it weren't enslaved by the addiction to unlimited private profit which has at last brought capitalism to its knees. But the economy has no will of its own. It isn't a living thing, even if it appears to be dying. It's a set of concepts meant to facilitate an ongoing result, the well-being of a community and, as now we see, of a species and a planet. And the real Faustian bargain was that we looked for well-being in all the wrong places. We mastered production for profit until profit became master. Could it be time for the overconsuming hamster to get off the wheel? Time to examine the failures of distribution that tarnish all our successes at production? If capitalism fails, what will happen to innovation, many experts cluck. But how many more toys do we need, after a century and a half of astonishing technological breakthroughs? What would happen if we said Enough, and directed our innovative focus to distribution, and in global terms? It would be a way to win our soul back, for sure. Because the soul, besides being our filament in the web of existence, is the link to whatever makes us prefer kindness to cruelty, and generosity to selfishness. If we lose it, we are truly doomed. If we thought affluence could take its place, we were wrong. A healthy economy may produce necessities, conveniences, and luxuries, but to swill in the last before all members are equipped with at least the first is a sure warning of decadence and collapse. Will inherent goodwill prevail over collective psychosis? In a culture that puts a price on everything, can the soul survive? Faust hurtles into flame at the end of Berlioz' opera, but Marguerite, his abandoned lover, ascends to heaven as angelic voices celebrate her redemption with soft blissful melody. Here's the good news: the only devil is the voice in our mind that persuades us to delay contentment. The soul can always be revived. Greater riches than all the decades have dreamed of await an America that wakes up to tranquility within and community without. +++++++++++++++++++++++++ More on Spirituality
 
Obama Urges Americans Not To "Stuff Money Under Their Mattresses" Top
President Obama declared in an interview that the United States was not winning the war in Afghanistan and opened the door to a reconciliation process in which the American military would reach out to moderate elements of the Taliban, much as it did with Sunni militias in Iraq. Mr. Obama pointed to the success in peeling Iraqi insurgents away from more hard-core elements of Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia, a strategy that many credit as much as the increase of American forces with turning the war around in the last two years. "There may be some comparable opportunities in Afghanistan and in the Pakistani region," he said, while cautioning that solutions in Afghanistan will be complicated. More on Barack Obama
 
Marlene H. Phillips: Egyptians Greet Americans: "Obama Very Good" Top
We are five Americans, and we are lost in Islamic Cairo. Before reading any further, answer me honestly: did your blood pressure tick upward after reading that sentence? Did you find yourself thinking "trouble" even for a brief moment? Here's my honest answer: if I'd read that sentence two weeks before arriving in Cairo, when Gaza had exploded and Arab anti-American protests were a staple on CNN, I may have thought 'troubled' would be too strong but 'concerned' would have been very appropriate. I couldn't have been more wrong. Islamic Cairo is an old part of an ancient city, a walk through it's twisting tiny streets engages your senses. Beds of bright fresh produce sold from donkey carts are a treat for the eyes while your nose deals with the accompanying fresh manure. The sound of the cacophanic and haunting call to prayer can make you stop and take an unexpectedly deep breath. The beautiful mosques are a wonder but camera-toting tourists are few, and as much as our little party tried to dress appropriately (modest clothes, long sleeves) we stuck out, especially the women, since our covering the hair attempt was sincere but pathetic (we figured out, too late, that Egyptian women use pins to keep their scarves so perfectly in place). We didn't look as bad as the tourist we saw in Luxor, absurdly out of place in short-shorts and a halter top, but there was no denying what we were: an American family trying to find our way through a difficult to navigate section of one of the craziest chaotic cities in the world. And when we lost our main path we ended up on Furniture Row: some streets of Cairo resemble the aisles of a western department or hardware store, shops on one street sell light fixtures, another does lumber, our hotel was on electronics street. And there we were, passing shop after shop full of the plush, colorful to the point of gaudy furniture fit for a pasha and favored by contemporary Egyptians. For block after block we were the only non-Cairoans. For block after block here's what happened: We passed a group of men talking outside a shop. They eyed us quietly but intensely before one stopped his conversation and said in English: "Welcome." We all looked up, startled, and responded in Arabic "Shukran" (thank you). He smiled, his companions nodded their heads, smiling broadly, without hesitation and with great sincerity. A few minutes later, still lost, we consulted the Cairo map to get our bearings. A young Egyptian hurried over and said, in English, "Where are you going?" We gave him our hotel's street and he gave expert directions. We expected the already familiar request for 'baksheesh' (a tip) but instead got a pumping handshake and the three-sentence greeting that became standard for us all over Egypt: "American? Welcome! Obama, very good!" Over the last few years I've become accustomed to the mix of reactions bestowed on an American traveling outside of the United States: I was greeted and glared at, spoken to and willfully ignored. Over the last six years I often found that people took great pains to show their genuine affection for traveling Americans like myself while also making damn sure I was aware of their utter disdain for the president we'd elected. But in all my travels I have never received a welcome like the one I got in Egypt. From Alexandria on the Mediterranean to Abu Simbel near Sudan, Egyptians were eager to go out of their way to talk to us, smile at us, welcome us, always acknowledging we were Americans, and always, always adding something about our new president, usually just that simple three word refrain: "Obama very good." It was as if the collective country of Egypt wanted to shower our little group of Americans with genuine goodwill simply because our fellow countrymen and women had elected Barack Obama. Frankly we got more than our fair share because of one very startling fact: we were virtually the only American tourists around. It was astonishing: we visited some of the most famous and extraordinary tourist sights in the world but rarely did we find ourselves in a crowd of anyone, let alone Americans. There were some Japanese tour groups in Luxor and European tour groups in Aswan, but nowhere near the levels I had anticipated (I envisioned the Grand Canyon but it was more like Glen Canyon instead). In nine days across the country only once did we meet Americans, a small group of six at the Cairo train station. To be honest, I hesitated in writing this piece. I have no hesitation in saying it did my heart good to see the stereotypes of fear and distrust sown by W and his minions evaporate before my eyes. But I also don't want to portray Egypt in terms simplistic or overly optimistic. It's a complicated country, and my experience was limited. I can only tell you what happened to me. And it's been a long, long time since I've been greeted with such heart-felt enthusiasm, simply because I was an American. More on Barack Obama
 
Jason Notte: Britney, Tom, Michael Jackson and the Case Against Second Acts for Famous People Top
On March 20, 1990, a speeding tractor-trailer collided with Gloria Estefan's bus, leaving her spine shattered and her soft-rock career in jeopardy. But a year later, when she appeared during the American Music Awards and sing "Coming Out of the Dark," she got a standing ovation. Crowds flocked to her comeback tour and Estefan spent the rest of 1991 waging war with Michael Bolton for the nation's maudlin music monarchy. Good for Gloria. She overcame tragedy and got on with her life. But the rest of Hollywood, the Britney Spearses and Tom Cruises who get sideswiped by a tractor-trailer's worth of bad press, don't deserve a goddamned thing. Recent "comeback attempts" by Cruise and Spears -- two publicity super shammies -- and Michael Jackson's recently announced "curtain call" concerts in London are separated from Estefan story by a miles-wide crevasse of entitlement. During the coverage that followed Spears' do-over comeback album Circus and Cruise's worst-kept-secret cameo in Tropic Thunder , there was no mea culpa. No acknowledgment of personal responsibility for their misfortune, only an avalanche of pre-screened propaganda that screamed "love me" and "buy my shit." Hey, it's understandable -- they only want what the rest of the famous world wants: To stay famous and beloved. It's the fuel that drives VH-1's Celebreality . But unlike Estefan, who couldn't foresee her bus crash, many of these stars have created their own train wrecks and want the paying public to clean it up. That's not a comeback -- it's desperation. And it runs contrary to the comeback that set the template for all comeback attempts to follow: Elvis Presley's '68 Comeback Special . The King had gone off to fight in Korea, made a string of terrible movies and had completely forsaken musical performances by 1968 and felt he could recapture some of his magic by coming back to live shows. How did he do this? By dressing up like a refugee from a leather bar, going on NBC and singing "That's All Right (Mama)" like the world owed him a cookie . It was the stuff commemorative plates are made of, but it was effective enough to keep Elvis famous and pack his adoring fans into Vegas hotel ballrooms for years to come. Since then, the comeback has focused more on getting that cookie than actually returning to one's craft. See, there's a difference between Stephen Baldwin and Gary Busey (drug addicts who find spirituality and want us to love them for it) and Mickey Rourke and Robert Downey Jr. (drug addicts who figure out they have real talent and should stop wasting it). Not everyone deserves a comeback just because they're famous. And not everyone gets one, like O.J. Simpson and Michael Jackson. Nobody gave O.J. a second chance after his first murder trial and while many people attempted to help Michael Jackson return to "King of Pop" status, his crimes were too creepy to ignore. Then there are just the stars with whom the world is fatigued, like Paris Hilton, Amy Winehouse, or anyone from The Hills . Maybe we'd like them more if they vanished and took Mariah Carey's "let's give the world a breather" approach to their comebacks, but they're never out of the headlines long enough for us to miss them. And what of the people who never got their first chance? Why should these other fuck-ups get a second one? That Britney Spears's comeback has gone on longer than Miley Cyrus' entire career must be somewhat discouraging to someone like Adrienne Bailon. The disgraced member of Disney's Cheetah Girls wanted what Spears had so badly that she stripped down and had her publicist leak the "stolen" photos just to generate buzz . (Nevermind that a "cheetah girl" sounds a bit too close to a pole dancer's job title to begin with.) Maybe there's a solution to this mess. A celebrity tribunal of folks who got it right the first time, overcame career (not personal or self-inflicted) setbacks, who can sit in judgment of these wannabe second-chancers. Guys like George Clooney, who kept working his way out of career-enders like Facts of Life and Return of the Killer Tomatoes to become a superstar. People like Morgan Freeman, Bruce Springsteen, Judi Dench. People still getting by just fine on their first (and only) impressions. I say we have Clooney, Freeman and Springsteen judge who does and doesn't deserve a second shot at fame. Would Rourke and Downey earn points for their self-flagellation, contrition, and raw talent? Would Cruise earn scorn for even calling his comeback a comeback when he's got three Oscar nominations and owns United Artists? Would Tim Allen and Martin Short be sent to Gitmo for conspiring to make Santa Clause 3 ? Who knows? Perhaps such a move would reserve comebacks for people like Elvis, who go away for a while and come back to remind us how electric their talents truly were. More on Tom Cruise
 
Nicole Stremlau: Somalia's Online Identity Crisis Top
Finding Somalia's government on the web can be confusing. There is no .so domain. www.somali-gov.info claims to be the "Official Federal Government Website for Somalia" but if you have been following developments in Somalia you will soon realize that the president and prime minister are no longer in power. The site for the new president, Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, can be found at www.nationtv.org , not an obvious address for the official government. Then there is the website for al-Shabab, the organization that currently controls much of south-central Somalia. While this website, www.kataaib.net, has recently been taken off-line, al-Shabab, like its al-Qaeda affiliate, has a dynamic media arm with YouTube videos receiving thousands of hits. And not to be excluded is the Puntland government, www.puntlandgovt.com , and the more stable and peaceful government of Somaliland at www.somalilandgov.com . As the internationally recognized leader of Somalia, Sheikh Sharif has the major communications challenge of selling his government both internally and externally. The enormity of this political and peacemaking endeavor will require the most ambitious of plans. Internationally, Sheikh Sharif faces the challenge of having potential partners listen and support difficult decisions. He was, after all the same leader that was ousted by Ethiopia and the US in 2006 after seizing control of part of the country from the ineffective leadership of Abdullahi Yusuf. The United States saw Sheikh Sharif's Islamic Courts Union (ICU), a coalition of Sharia courts, as a radical Islamic organization with links to al- Qaeda. The historical nemesis of Somalia, Ethiopia, had its own concerns. This was a clear mistake. First, Sheikh Sharif is a Sufi Muslim and more moderate than much of al-Shabab, who are influenced by Wahhabi teachings. But it is really what has happened in the past two years that should give us all pause, and Sheikh Sharif some bargaining power: by some estimates more than 15,000 Somalis have been killed and one million displaced; the military wing of the ICU has become more radicalized and powerful while the moderate Islamists have been isolated; and Somalia, particularly with the presence of Ethiopian troops, has become a recruiting ground for US and UK youngsters who have left their countries to go and fight. In recent weeks the FBI quietly noted that last October a US citizen from Minnesota was a suicide bomber in the north of Somalia. And the media in the UK has been running investigative reports about the disappearance of teens from London and Bristol later popping up in Mogadishu. This chapter is not yet over, some of these young people may return to Europe or North America or they may continue blowing themselves up locally in an attempt to destabilize the region. Even for Somalis who are used to war and violence, these operations have been surprising. Suicide missions are new and are largely considered culturally un-Somali and the internet has certainly played a role. Offering an alternative and local narrative is essential in competing with al Shabab. In 2006 the ICU offered the most stability the country has seen since 1990. And now, once again, Sheikh Sharif is the only viable leader that has a modicum of a chance to deliver any sort of stable government. Part of the problem with listening to Sheikh Sharif is that many countries in the west have given up on Somalia. Some Somalia watchers suggest stopping external interference may be best. Americans are not alone in struggling to exert control over this region. Everyone from the Eritreans, Qataris, Saudis, Ethiopians, and the list goes on... is involved and is vying for influence. Sheikh Sharif recently declared that he was introducing Sharia law at the request of mediators and elders. The decision is prudent and not surprising. Sheikh Sharif has little intention of implementing the most restrictive forms. Achieving peace and stability appears to be the paramount issue for his government rather than extending Islam. If the government's fledgling website is any indication, Sheikh Sharif and those around him are at least willing to listen. Apart from the feedback links (with questionable functionality) interspersed throughout nationtv.org offering the opportunity to leave a message for the President's office or request more information, Sheikh Sharif has already demonstrated more willingness than his neighbor, Prime Minister Meles Zenawi of Ethiopia, to hold press conferences and talk to the media. But many of these media houses, such as the popular and resilient HornAfrik , support him as they did in 2006. In Somalia, an effective government communications strategy will stretch well beyond outlets such as radio but would include elders, religious leaders, tea houses, among others. And part of this is simply getting the country domain .so up again. A visit to the Network Information Centre's site states, "As Somalia has no internationally recognized government, this domain is not currently used. We simply have parked this top level domain till an official government is implemented". Apparently Sheikh Sharif's government is trying to get back .so. Let's see this as symbolic that he is serious about bringing a government as in 2006- and this time, let us wish him the best. More on Somalia
 
Waylon Lewis: Yoga Forbids Homosexuality? Top
I run a little old media gone new media publication called elephant journal dot com. A week ago, I received one of the best/most interesting/most offensive/laughable/historically valid comments, like, ever: I just discovered your website last night then today saw the story on the "most meaningful moment of the oscars" . At that point I had to reject your site as having nothing to do with actual yoga. Yoga calls for the regulation of the senses, above all the tongue and the genitals. The genitals are to be used in the ultimate sense for procreation. Homosexual sex has nothing to do with this whatsoever. A yogi seeks their love in the absolute. Not in so called "love affairs" of this world. There are so many reasons why homosexual activity is rejected by true yogis that it is hard to know where to begin. I hope that not too many innocent people are confused and persuaded by your pop culture, hedonistic brand of so-called yoga. My reply: Dear Brad, Whether or not yoga forbids homosexuality is, to my mind, about as relevant as whether or not the Bible forbids homosexuality: Not. At. All. The basic issue, I would hope you agree, is not about genitalia, but about every single human being being fundamentally good and possessed of basic human rights, such as the right to wed in matrimony (and divorce, but that's another story). Anyway--thanks for the comment, and feel free to write an article for us expanding on your true understanding of yoga (which, up to 50 years ago, didn't allow women to practice). PS: this whole discussion is only slightly stranger than the recent Fatwa declared on...yoga! More on Yoga
 
Daylight-Saving Time Sunday March 8, 2009 Top
WASHINGTON — Heat up the grill and break out the badminton set: Daylight-saving time is returning to shift an hour of light to the evenings. That means push the clocks ahead _ spring forward _ before going to bed Saturday night. The official change occurs at 2 a.m. Sunday, local time. Daylight-saving time ends Nov. 1.
 
Jeff Schweitzer: It is All Obama's Fault: The Republican Twilight Zone Top
Bequeathing to the American people the worst economic crisis in generations upon leaving office, President Bush continued to blame his predecessor for his failures as he was walking out the door. He blithely ignored the inconvenient fact that he was president for the past eight years. Bush said: "I think when the history of this period is written, people will realize a lot of the decisions that were made on Wall Street took place over a decade or so" before he became president. In 2004, in a speech in Colmar, PA, Bush blamed the Clinton administration for the loss of hundreds of thousands of manufacturing jobs. Even four years after occupying the Oval Office, Bush was still blaming Clinton for every economic woe. Bush blamed Clinton for 9/11 because he failed to kill Osama bin Laden. Again, Bush ignored the fact that after eight years he did not kill the target he blamed Clinton for missing. These accusations of course are incredulous, stretching the outer limits of rationality. One could even perhaps view these ideas as insane. Bush's delusional inability to accept responsibility is one of his ugliest legacies. But that is not the big story, as big a story as that is. No, what exceeds even the outrageous irresponsibility of Bush's blame shifting is the recent suggestion by Republicans and right wing pundits that the time has come for Obama to take responsibility for our economic problems . Obama has been in office for less than two months, but leading right wing voices are demanding that Obama step up and accept responsibility for the slide in the stock market and continued declines in the banking and insurance industries. Bush handed Obama the worst deficit and debt in history, a collapsing financial sector, a deepening recession and exploding unemployment, for which he blamed Clinton. And now after six weeks on the job, Obama is the culprit, leaving Bush clear of any culpability. Clinton gets no credit for his eight years of economic prosperity, Bush gets a pass on creating the worst crisis in generations, and Obama is to blame for everything. Is there something wrong with that story line? The lead fairy-tale on Fox News on January 26: "The Democrats' Economic Plan is to Blame Republicans for Everything." The truly bizarre implication is that somehow that blame is not warranted. After Bush blamed everything on Clinton for eight years, the audacity of that story is beyond description. Truly breathtaking. The Republican attempt to blame Obama for Bush's failures is a new historic low. That is like the Vatican blaming Galileo for abuses of the Inquisition. That is like being pushed off a cliff and then being blamed for not solving the problem of flight before hitting the ground. The idea is offensively absurd at every level. The Republicans have lost their already tenuous grip on reality. They have lost the concept of shame. They have lost all pride, for nobody with any self respect could blame Obama for Bush's eight years of mismanagement. No wonder Rush Limbaugh has become the voice of the Republican Party. The patients have taken control of the Republican Asylum. More on Economy
 
Tamar Abrams: A New Paradigm in Uncertain Times Top
Growing up as an Air Force dependent, I recall an unexpectedly egalitarian community. That's not to say that rank wasn't important - our home on base housing grew in direct correlation to my father's rank as an officer. And we had to say "sir" and "ma'am" a lot. But beyond that, issues of race, income, and socioeconomic background were simply unimportant. My friends were all the children of men serving in the Air Force. We were an extremely homogenous diverse group. Looking back, I suppose I received a skewed view of American society - both because I spent large amounts of my childhood outside the U.S. and because I grew up in communities where we truly looked after one another. It has been many decades since I left behind the life of a military dependent to forge a more traditional one. But remnants of that world clearly remain, as evidenced by my angst this week over a meeting I attended at my local library branch. Along with county governments across the country, Arlington's budget is being cut across the board, with the library being asked to cut seven percent of its current budget. The meeting I attended was at Cherrydale Library, a small branch in our affluent neighborhood - a lovely library that is small, friendly, safe and comfortable. My daughter attended weekly story times there throughout her preschool and early elementary school years. It is still my branch of choice. Based on data related to usage and need, the director of the county's libraries has recommended that it be closed three days a week starting next year. The outcry was immediate and, frankly, wonderful. It's a boost to the spirits when people feel such loyalty to a library and harbor such strong feelings about a county institution. As the daughter of a librarian, I am proud of my neighbors. However...the meeting left me feeling anything but proud. After the library head explained her position, the arguments from community members boiled down to, "Not my library." They argued that cuts to library hours should be applied equally to all branches, even those in neighborhoods with much less wealth than ours. One woman had the audacity to suggest that "illegal aliens" no longer be served by the system. Perhaps it's my sense that there are truly people in our county who don't just rely on the libraries for a cozy reading nook, but as the only place in their lives to find books. Perhaps it's that I believe we must -- as a county and as a nation - agree to develop a new paradigm in our new economy. One that values ensuring that all of us have enough rather than the "me, mine" attitude of the past decade. Our current economic situation offers each of us an opportunity to realign our values, to stop buying more than we can sustain, and to look out for those who have so much less than they need to survive. There are many ways to sacrifice, and even more ways to "heal the world" which is a Jewish concept that I love. Some sacrifices are forced on us by dwindling county budgets. But isn't the best response to say, "Let's take care of those who need it most?"
 
Mike Smith: Let's Have a (Democratic) Party Top
Virginia Dems Hear from President Clinton By Mike Smith Former President Bill Clinton came to Richmond to call on democrats, in a state that had gone blue for the first time in four decades, to focus on "how" we will get out of our nation's financial debacles. "How" will the economic stimulus package be implemented. How can we engage the Republican Party. At the Virginia Democrats annual "Jefferson-Jackson" dinner (or the "JJ", as it has become known), former President Clinton, freshman Senator Mark Warner, "senior" Senator Jim Webb, and Gov. Tim Kaine, newly installed as chairman of the national Democratic Party, promised bi-partisanship. The four seemed to forge a power rock band on-stage. There were some wonderful riffs. And the party faithful rocked-on, lighting up cell phones to get a picture of this moment. I worked on Clinton's transition briefly in 1992-93. I was among the first Washington public affairs directors during the '92 Campaign to recognize then-Governor Clinton's speaking and exceptional campaign skills. While serving as PA Director with the National Association of Manufacturers, I invited President Clinton to a breakfast and fundraiser during his primary. He worked the largely conservative crowd. My goal was to work on transition and I got the gig. I worked for Vernon Jordan in Communications and Scheduling. I spent three months on the transition team. Also did some correspondence work for First Lady Hillary Clinton and Melanne Verveer. I met the president several times at the Oval Office and in the field after transition. Here are my "tweets" from the JJ Dinner about one month ago! 1. "We Have Won the Great Culture War"- says Bill Clinton. 2. America is now a kaleidoscope. Obama reps indonesia and africa. Muslim and Christian 3. Close landfills- biofuels or biomass feed for energy. We dems have incredible oppty 4. How to drive jobs- push for energy independence says Bill Clinton. We get half all oil from dictators or mideast sources 5. Clinton seems like Teddy Kennedy now- lion but with less mane- statesman! 6. "Republicans have done themselves in"- "wish them well" says President Clinton 7. Community of US- got a better worldview. Help each other. Dem base now larger than Republican base (consummate politician - he knows the numbers) 8. Dems elected when other party "messes up and we gotta fix it" says Bill Clinton 9. "Political culture change" gives dems a "natural majority now." Clinton knows the chess games - voter segments 10. "Seamless web of American history" he calls Obama election There is a wonderful "senior stateman" role here and Bill Clinton's Foundation has proven he has more work to do. His Katrina relief with President George HW Bush, his Africa Work, and now thinking about solving world imbalances for hunger and poverty prove his leadership. What Democrats need to also consider is this - nobody does political calculus better than Bill Clinton, the politician. We lose his institutional memory at our own peril. He came to Virginia early in the campaign to tell the party leadership to "hold that Commonwealth" (my words) in the blue column. More on Bill Clinton
 
Obama Chides Holder For Comments On Race Top
WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama says he would not have used the same language that Eric Holder did last month when the attorney general declared that the United States is a nation of cowards on matters of race. "We've made enormous progress and we shouldn't lose sight of that," Obama told The New York Times in an interview posted on the newspaper's Web site Saturday. The president said he understood Holder to be saying the country often is uncomfortable talking about race until there's a racial flare-up or conflict and that the nation probably could be more constructive in facing up to slavery and discrimination. Obama gently departed from the tone of the comments by the country's first black attorney general. The president said he is not someone who believes that constantly talking about race can solve racial tensions. To address that problem, it will mean fixing the economy, putting people to work, making sure that people have health care and ensuring that children are learning, Obama said. "I think if we do that, then we'll probably have more fruitful conversations," Obama said in the interview Friday aboard Air Force One. In a speech to Justice Department employees marking Black History Month, Holder said that while the country has proudly thought of itself as an ethnic melting pot, "in things racial we have always been and I believe continue to be, in too many ways, essentially a nation of cowards." More on Barack Obama
 
Switzerland Rejects US Demand To Hand Over Client Data Top
Switzerland rejects U.S. demands that the country's largest bank UBS should hand over the data of 52,000 U.S. clients, Swiss newspaper Berner Zeitung quoted the Swiss justice minister as saying on Saturday. The group of experts the government appointed to assess how the country should proceed with its bank secrecy rules amid mounting international pressure, would not decide on the issue of UBS data, justice minister Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf said according to an interview published on the paper's website.
 
Eric Lurio: DC Has Waited More Than Two Centuries, Can It Wait Another Week? Top
It was supposed to be over by now. The House rules committee was supposed to have issued a closed rule to govern the debate of the DC voting rights act yesterday and it didn't. The two "poison pill amendments" were considered to be declarations and nothing more and would have been removed in the conference, so what's the problem? They say that the gun lobby is demanding the House include the gun proviso, which makes it so everyone in the district can have a gun. I hope that's not the case, after all, the guy who added it said in debate that the bill was unconstitutional. That's the real problem, not the guns and the "Rush Limbaugh protection act" which is also an amendment to the Senate version. The debate last week was all about the fact that DC was not a state, and thus couldn't be part of the "several States" from which House members must be elected. There are three precedents on the subject that germane here, one new, one old and one ancient. The ancient one is rather obscure but really important, because it answers the question as to whether or not a Congressperson can represent an area that is not a state, and it turns out that it can.... Once upon a time , long, long ago, there was a state called Franklin. Now Franklin is the stuff of myth, but it really did exist at one point. In fact, it had tried to join the Continental Congress before the Constitution was even ratified. The problem was that North Carolina, which didn't really want the land, which would eventually become Tennessee, but didn't like the fact that the Franklinites had unilaterally seceded. Another thing North Carolinians didn't like was that there wasn't a Bill of Rights included. So when the First Congress convened for the first time in March 1789, North Carolina was a foreign country and Franklin had just been invaded and crushed. Congress did pass a Bill of Rights, and so, in November of 1789, North Carolina ratified the Constitution and went about the task of electing it's first congresspeople and senators, they sent a guy to the temporary federal capitol in New York City to sell it's western territories, the breakaway state of Franklin, to the Federal government. What's relevant here is that this area was electing a congressman as North Carolina's fifth district, Former Franklin Governor John Servier, and by the time Servier arrived in New York to take the oath of office, none of his congressional district was in the State he was elected to represent. The credentials committee of the first Congress decided to grandfather him in for the rest of his term, and for a period of ten months, the "Territory of the United States, south of the river Ohio" had a full voting representative. Yes, it's obscure, yes it's very VERY old, but a precedent is a precedent. The other precedent for DC being "from the several states" are a number of Supreme Court cases, most notably, Stoutenburgh v. Hennick, 129 U.S. 141 (1889), which says that DC is to be considered a state when it comes to regulating commerce, and Loughran v. Loughran, 292 U.S. 216, 228 (1934 ) (District is a state for purposes of Full Faith and Credit Clause , which provides that "[f]ull faith and credit shall be given in each State to the public acts, records, and judicial proceedings of every other State") and there are other rulings as well. Clearly the residents of the D. of C. are part of the "People of the Several States" unlike insular areas such as Puerto Rico or Guam. However, there are complications. The Case of Adams v. Clinton (2000) , said that the residents of DC do not have the right to be part of national congressional apportionment. However, the judges did imply that Congress had the power to provide for this. So clearly, Upgrading the status of the Congressional Delegate to a full Representative is legal, so why has it taken this long to do it? Racism mostly. DC has had a black majority since the 19th century and the Former Confederacy had been able to hold enough seats in both the House and Senate to keep Blacks oppressed will into the 1960s. Hard to believe, but the District didn't have a non-voting Delegate until 1971. Another reason is partisanship. There was a Constitutional amendment that passed Congress in 1978, and was only ratified by 16 states, none of whom had a Republican majority in their legislatures. This was also the reason why after a few days in 1993, DC's delegate lost it's vote. Yes, DC did indeed have a full vote in the House for a brief period of time sixteen years ago. The Democrats had lost five seats in the 1992 election and decided to make them back by giving full voting privileges to the four Delegates and Puerto Rico's Resident commissioner. The Republicans, understandably went apeshit, and a weird compromise was reached in which the delegates could vote on the floor in the "committee of the whole House" but only when it didn't count. This actually passed muster in the courts, and DC (plus the insular territories) had almost full voting privileges until the Republicans took over in 1995. The Democrats put the system back on the books in '07 and that's where it stands now. So if DC is 98% the way there already, why bother with the other two percent? Well, passing a rule isn't as hard as passing a law, and DC shouldn't have its congressperson's status changeable at the whim of a majority of the House. It's good that the actual mechanics of democracy are reexamined every now and again. It keeps everything moving smoothly. Of course the NRA is a different matter. We'll find out next week...we hope.
 
Mark Goulston, M.D.: A Defining Moment Top
Greed = Feeling entitled to more than you deserve, sooner than it's possible, and becoming hostile, belligerent and retaliatory when thwarted, e.g. banks having a run on naive, trusting, unsuspecting investors and depositors. Stress = When your feelings and impulses threaten to override your thinking, but with effort you can still maintain your focus on long term goals. Distress = When your feelings and impulses override your thinking, and your short term need for immediate relief overrides your ability to stay focused on your long term goals. Panic = What you do after you become completely controlled by your impulse to get immediate relief by either fighting or fleeing, e.g. when naive, trusting, unsuspecting investors and depositors make a run on the banks. Envy = Wanting what others have. Jealousy = Begrudging others for having what they have and you don't. Healthy = Feeling entitled to exactly what you deserve. Honest and honorable. Comfortable in your own skin. Neurotic = Feeling you don't deserve what you're truly entitled to. Uncomfortable with lying. Not comfortable in your own skin. Personality Disorder = Feeling entitled to what you don't deserve. Uncomfortable with candor. Comfortable getting under other's skin. Narcissistic Personality = America as seen through the eyes of the world (and hence their reluctance to help now that they don't need up to protect or financially support them). Borderline Personality = Spend 90 % of waking hours keeping others from controlling or abandoning them. Spend the remaining 10 % eating, sleeping, sex (until burn out and alienate their partner) and shopping for food and other stuff. Needful = Leaning into others. Needy = Leaning on top of others. High Maintenance = Easy to upset; difficult to please. Low Maintenance = Easy to please; difficult to upset. Young Love = Loving someone for what they do right. Mature Love = Loving someone in spite of what they do wrong. Measure of a Civilization = How it treats those who have hurt it and who are hurting in it. Catch Mark live on Monday, March 9, 2009 at 9 AM PST on Total Career Success speaking on "Don't Sabotage Your Career!" More on Barack Obama
 
John Amato: "Leave Limbaugh Alone" Top
Those mean liberals are beating up on Rush Limbaugh! The horror! The horror! This is, as Kos notes, the right-wing whine du jour , keyed by Karl Rove. I just wanted to beat Glenn Beck to the burst-of-tears thing ... Digby sent me an e-mail saying that a reader from the Burnt Orange Report had mentioned doing a takeoff of the " Leave Britney Alone " video from Chris Crocker, this time about Rush Limbaugh. Since Limbaugh is running the GOP now, I thought that he could use a little backup from us lefties, right? Michael Steele certainly hasn't helped the GOP or Limbaugh very much. (John Amato is the founder of CrooksandLiars.com ) More on CPAC
 
Jayne Lyn Stahl: What to Do About Those Pesky Gitmo Detainees? Top
What should we do with detainees currently held at Gitmo after the base is closed? I say we should allow detainees to be brought to the United States if for no other reason than to establish socioeconomic equity. Who knows? Bernie Madoff might even be persuaded to put up a couple dozen detainees in his $7 million Manhattan condo, but if more space is needed, there are several luxury highrises nearby on the Upper East Side that might serve equally well as temporary living quarters for some of those higher octane enemy combatants. Of course, if Mayor Bloomberg objects, or Madoff enters a guilty plea, gets a slap on the wrist and, in effect, prevails, he gets to keep his many millions and the condo, both of which are in his wife's name (and yes, there is an Easter bunny), there's lots of prime real estate in the Hamptons, or Palm Beach, that would be perfect for these political pariahs. The good news is that there are only something like 245 detainees left at Gitmo, so finding suitable lodgings for them might not be as difficult a task as, say, finding housing for the many thousands who have lost their homes as a result of foreclosure, and the scalping they got at the hands of Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, the big city banks, and the stock market. So, given that the so-called war on terror has relegated 95% of America to a financial holding cell, it makes perfect sense to look upon these detainees as our new roommates!
 

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