Tuesday, March 31, 2009

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11 Unsolved Medical Mysteries Top
They are conditions that one would be hard-pressed to find in medical literature. Bring them up in front of a physician and in some cases you may get little more than a blank stare. But they exist, often as an extreme form of a normal bodily function that most people experience every day. And while the thought of uncontrollable hiccups or never feeling pain sensations are cocktail-party fodder for some, they can be a source of difficulty and shame for those who experience them firsthand. People with these strange conditions can be so uncomfortable, physically, socially and emotionally, that their lives can grind to a halt as they struggle to find a cure. The following pages feature some of the more unusual medical conditions that have received recent media attention. More on Health
 
Diane Francis: Gold not money: bling's the thing Top
Nobody knows whether the current Washington bailout plans with banks, General Motors and real estate will work quickly, at all or at what cost to the U.S. currency. This is why China and others are talking up a new reserve currency, or basket of the biggest such as the Euro, Yen, US dollar and a few others of significance. The future is always a matter of opinion, as is political competency, which is why it's a good idea to own a little gold. That may be a leap to most people, but the facts are that protecting yourself against the vagaries of markets, leaders and capitalist running dogs has never been more important or perilous. Best advice I've come across is to divide your asset mix into four classes: real estate, stocks, bonds and gold (probably bullion or coins not stocks). It's apparent that more people in the world are turning to gold for several reasons: 1. The U.S. dollar as a reserve currency is on the endangered species list and as it wobbles the only safety play is gold. 2. Capitalism as we have known it recently is also coming to its logical conclusion and the uncertainty of what, when, how and who has led the millions of younger entrants to Asia's middle class to buy a little bling. 3. Chicken Littles: these are the survivalists who think the world as we know it is coming to its logical conclusion. They counsel the purchase of gold coins, bottled water, a generator, canned goods, a garden and guns. (dailyreckoning.com.) 4. Legacy gold bugs whose beliefs are rooted in libertarianism and paranoia about gold price manipulations. 5. Other gold bugs include those who will never believe in paper currency and want a return to "fiat" money, backed by gold as was the case until a handful of decades ago. My favorite lately is an excerpt from a gold bug manifesto out of Australia: "After gold's breathtaking $38 surge in 15 minutes, there is much renewed interest in the Ancient Metal of Kings. The Federal Reserve, which is clearly being run by lunatics, publicly announced it is going to create over a trillion dollars out of thin air to monetize US debt. This degree of pure monetary inflation is utterly unprecedented, Gold soared because it remains the best asset to own in inflationary times. Inflation is an immoral stealth tax levied on everyone." I like gold Of course, Canada is a big gold producing nation, and I'm on a gold mine board, so I'm a bigger fan of the shiny stuff than most. America's Fort Knox is the biggest hoard of the shiny stuff in the world, representing the biggest government reserves globally. The U.S. is also a significant gold producing country and none of its reserves have been sold despite the removal of the gold standard for currencies in the 1970s. Today, there may be more reason than ever to believe in gold, including the five reasons above which continue to drive prices upwards. And buyers are not looney-tunes living in armed treehouses. Here are estimates as to prices in 2009 and 2010 by a sprinkling of financial institutions: Citi Group - gold will hit US$2,000 an ounce by end of 2009 Bank of America, Merrill Lynch - average US$1,000 an ounce in 2009, up from a previous estimated average for the year of US$875 an ounce. In 2010, US$1,050 an ounce. UBS US$1,000 an ounce average in 2009. Morgan Stanley also US$1,000 an ounce in 2009. On the other hand, an Indian website called Sife points out that gold will only reach its peak price in 1980 in real terms when it hits US$2,500 an ounce. (India, mostly due to cultural reasons and in jewelry, has the most gold of any nation on earth by the way.) Diane Francis blogs at Financial Post
 
Mike Robbins: Letting Go of Worry Top
How often do you find yourself worrying these days? When I was a kid my mom used to say to me, "95% of what we worry about never happens." She recognized that I was the "worrying type" and was trying to help ease my mind. Although this rarely worked, I appreciated her sentiment and know now that she was right. For as long as I can remember, I've been a bit of a worrier. I continue to work on this, let it go, forgive myself for it, and choose different ways of being in the face of my fear. And, I still catch myself worrying more than I'd like to admit -- about money, about the future, about how things will turn out, about what people think about me, about the well-being of my loved ones, about the state of the world and economy (especially right now), and much more. However, no matter how much we worry, it never helps. And, as we look deeper at what worrying really is -- a set-up for failure, a negative attractor, and a denial or avoidance of feeling our true feelings -- we see that it can have a damaging impact on our lives, our work, and our relationships. When we worry, we're really getting ourselves ready to be upset or angry -- assuming something will not work out in the future. Our worrying not only creates stress, it has an impact (usually negatively) on what we create and manifest, and on our experience of life in general. Worry is really a superficial emotion. It's clearly something that many of us are all familiar with, can share with others in a way that will garner sympathy, empathy, or even pity, and is easy for us to go through day to day life experiencing. However, underneath our worry are usually deeper emotions like shame, fear, guilt, hurt, or anger, many of which are more difficult for us to feel and express. If we're able to tell the truth and face our deeper feelings, we won't have to waste our time and energy worrying. We can then deal with the root of the issue, not the superficial impact of it (which is what worry usually is)." There's nothing wrong with feeling scared, angry, hurt, and even "worried," in and of itself. These emotions, like love, gratitude, excitement, joy, and others are very important to our human experience. Emotions that are felt deeply and expressed appropriately give us power (regardless of what they are). Emotions that are not felt deeply, that are denied or avoided, and are not effectively expressed, can be damaging. Worry is always a sign that there are some deeper feelings and issues for us to address. It's often a good reminder for us to get more real, take better care of ourselves, and pay attention. Below is a list of some things we can do when we get worried (which many of us are these days, especially given the state of the economy and the world, among other things.): 1. Ask ourselves, what's underneath my worry (i.e. why am I really worried and what am I really feeling)? 2. Face, feel, and express these underlying emotions - get support from others in this process if we need it. 3. Once we have felt and expressed these emotions, choose how we want to feel and what we want to create, instead of feeling like a victim. 4. Appreciate ourselves for the courage it takes to be honest and to deal with the challenging situations or emotions we're experiencing. 5. Focus on the good stuff in our lives (i.e. be grateful for what we have, who we are, and what we're going through) Mike Robbins is a motivational keynote speaker, consultant, and the bestselling author of Focus on the Good Stuff (Hardcover, Wiley) and the forthcoming book Be Yourself, Everyone Else is Already Taken (Hardcover, Wiley, April 13, 2009). More info - www.BeYourselfBook.com More on The Balanced Life
 
Good News At Ford: Some Workers Getting Jobs Back To Build New SUV Top
CHICAGO (AP) -- There is a bit of good news amid all the bad surrounding the auto industry. Officials of the United Auto Workers union say Ford Motor Co. has selected its Chicago assembly plant to produce a new version of the Explorer sport-utility vehicle. UAW bargaining unit chairman Matt Kolanowski said Ford agreed to build the Explorer at the plant as part of a deal this month in which workers agreed to concessions. Amid weak demand for cars, Ford dropped a second shift at the Chicago assembly plant in November, eliminating 600 part-time positions and about 200 full-time jobs. The plant began a temporary shutdown this week. Kolanowski said building the Explorer will lead to the callback of 300 laid-off full-time workers at the plant and at a Chicago Heights stamping plant. --- Information from: Chicago Sun-Times, http://www.suntimes.com/index More on Cars
 
The Progress Report: The GOP's Budget With No Numbers Top
by Faiz Shakir, Amanda Terkel, Satyam Khanna, Matt Corley, Benjamin Armbruster, Ali Frick, and Ryan Powers To receive The Progress Report in your email inbox everyday, click here . On Feb. 26, President Obama delivered an ambitious $3.6 billion budget that would "finance vast new investments in health care, energy independence and education by raising taxes on the oil and gas industry, hedge fund managers, multinational corporations and nearly 3 million of the nation's top earners." Obama acknowledged that the proposal would "add to our deficits in the short term to provide immediate relief to families and get our economy moving," but he said that these investments had been put off for too long and could not face more delays. Republicans immediately attacked the plan. "The era of big government is back, and Democrats are asking you to pay for it," said House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH). "The administration's plan, I think, is a job killer, plain and simple." When a recent National Journal poll asked how Congress should "respond to the recent deficit projections," zero percent of Republican lawmakers said that Congress should pass "something close to President Obama's budget." So what is their alternative? As the AP summarized, it's "a glossy pamphlet short on detail and long on campaign-style talking points." THE GLOSSY PAMPHLET: Last week, reporters excitedly gathered for a GOP press conference where House leaders said they would announce their alternative to Obama's budget. The proposal that GOP leaders presented, however, was a huge disappointment; basically, it was nothing more than a "brochure." Annoyed at being summoned for this non-event, reporters quizzed Boehner on specifics of the plan: "Are you going to have any further details on this today?" "What about some numbers? What about the out-year deficit? What about balancing the budget?" Reporting on MSNBC, host Contessa Brewer exclaimed, "Give me some substance!" The GOP "budget," in fact, contains almost no numbers -- except where they criticize the Obama administration's figures. The few ideas their plan does have include undoing the economic recovery package (which would be hard to do since some of the money is already out the door), and lowering the 35 percent, 33 percent, and 28 percent income tax brackets to 25 percent (regressive cuts that would gut government revenue). According to a Citizens for Tax Justice analysis, more than a quarter of all taxpayers -- mostly low-income families -- would pay more in taxes under this plan than they would under Obama's. On the other hand, "the richest one percent of taxpayers would pay $100,000 less, on average, under the House GOP plan." Additionally, although Republicans claim to be so concerned about the rising deficit, their income tax proposals "would cost over $300 billion more than the Obama income tax cuts in 2011 alone." "The party of 'no' has become the party of no new ideas," quipped White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs in response to the GOP proposal. TAX WINDFALL FOR CORPORATE EXECUTIVES: According to the Republican leadership, the reason that lawmakers didn't release numbers last week is because they intend to do so this week. "The numbers will come next week with a multi-hundred page piece of legislation" that Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) is currently drafting, Boehner's office told First Read. Ryan's bill will still likely be short on new, deficit-cutting ideas though. As the Wonk Room's Pat Garofalo has noted, his plan "consists almost entirely of massive tax cuts for corporations and the rich," including lowering the top marginal tax rate to 25 percent, lowering the corporate tax rate to 25 percent, and completely eliminating the capital gains tax. Not only are these tax cuts regressive, but they will result in significant lost government revenue. According to a Center for American Progress Action Fund analysis, Ryan's plan gives the average CEO a $1.5 million tax break, while doing nothing for minimum wage workers. THE RECONCILIATION HYPOCRISY: Republicans are also standing firm against allowing Obama to use the reconciliation process to pass key parts of his budget, such as health care and energy reform. This 25-year-old procedure "allows for the passage of a budget by a simple majority vote rather than the usual 60 votes needed to prevent a filibuster." Republican senators have said that they are prepared to go "nuclear" -- essentially shutting down the Senate through the use of parliamentary maneuvers -- if budget reconciliation is pursued. Sen. Judd Gregg (R-NH) compared reconciliation to "an act of violence" against the GOP. However, Republicans employed the same procedure to pass major Bush agenda items, including the 2001 and 2003 Bush tax cuts, the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005, and the Tax Increase Prevention and Reconciliation Act of 2005. In fact, in 2005, Gregg defended using the reconciliation procedure, arguing, "The president asked for it, and we're trying to do what the president asked for."
 
Elizabeth Rigby: Electronic Medical Records: A Patient's User Review Top
Like anyone following the President's policy proposals, I have heard touted the benefits of electronic medical records and am aware that stimulus funds are dedicated to getting these systems in place. Yet, I was still a bit surprised this week when I visited my doctor's office and learned that they were already in the middle of implementing an electronic medical record system. (Of course, I could have guessed as much since the process of setting up an appointment was a little more complicated than usual, which was explained by the all-telling comment: " We have a new system .") As I would have hoped, electronic medical records seemed to make my check-in process quicker. The receptionist was able to catch mistakes that I made. For example, although I was describing myself as a new patient (since I had never seen this doctor), I was not new to the practice (and so had records to be linked to). Also my new doctor quickly noticed that I hadn't had blood work in years prompting him to order some. And as I feared, this innovation raised privacy concerns among many who I told about my initial experience. But mostly, I was surprised by many aspects of this first experience with electronic medical records, although in retrospect, many things seem quick obvious. For example: 1. The patient does a lot of the typing. I checked in on a kiosk in the lobby and then later was ushered back to a private cubicle with a computer where I entered in my symptoms etc. 2. Sick patients typing on the same keyboard = germs. My doctor's office tackles this problem by providing bottles of purell at each station, as well as a gell-like, spongy, material that covers the keyboard (and makes it a little hard to type). 3. The receptionist takes your picture on small desktop cams that I don't expect to see in a doctor's office. (This was the feature that raised the hackles of my libertarian friends.) 4. In the exam rooms, the doctor can swing the computer over so that you can both review test results, notes from earlier sessions, vital signs etc. This was very helpful. 5. And finally, I hadn't considered that it can take a really long time for a doctor, who rarely typed before as a part of this job, to type in the facts you are telling him. For someone who types quickly, this can be a little excruciating to witness. Of course, there are still a few glitches in the system I experienced. In addition to the scheduling problems noted above, I was given a paper form to take to the lab for lab work. I have placed it somewhere safe, but it would be nice to have the specific doctor's request in my electronic record as well. In addition, during my visit the nurse still asked me what medication I was taking; and she did not think it was funny when I answered, "The same medication that I just entered into the computer." But, in general, I was really impressed with the electronic medical record system and, along with our president, have high hopes for increased health care efficiency and reduced cost as a result of this initiative. More on Health
 
Terry Krepel: The Return of the Western Journalism Center Top
How is Barack Obama's birth certificate like Vince Foster? To answer that, we must go back to the very beginning. After leaving the Sacramento Union in 1991, Joseph Farah and former Union publisher James Smith founded the Western Journalism Center -- under whose aegis Farah later founded WorldNetDaily. (After WND was spun off as a for-profit subsidiary in 1998, the WJC's share of of it was gradually transferred over the years to Farah.) Farah likes to peddle the story that the WJC was founded "to fill a growing void in my industry's commitment to investigative reporting" and that its "mission was not ideological." In fact, the WJC didn't do all that much actual investigating; its main function was to attack the Clinton administration by promoting conspiracy theories surrounding the death of deputy White House counsel Vince Foster -- it accepted $330,000 in donations from then-Clinton-hater Richard Mellon Scaife toward that end, and other conservative foundations contributed as well -- and it went dormant as soon as Clinton left office. Now that there's a Democrat in the Oval Office again, guess who's back? The first hint of the WJC's resurrection came last August with a WorldNetDaily commentary by Andrea Shea King touting Jerome Corsi's factually dubious anti-Obama book, asserting that the book contains "legitimate questions about Obama that the author meticulously documents in the book's nearly 700 footnotes." The article contained the tagline, "This column was commissioned by the Western Journalism Center." After undergoing a slight name modification -- it now prefers to call itself the slightly more highfalutin'-sounding Western Center for Journalism -- the WJC website is functional again, if only as a blog linking to other articles trashing President Obama and the so-called "liberal media" in general while offering no original commentary. According to its archives, blog posts began sporadically last September, but the blogging efforts have ramped up over the past few months. All posts thus far are anonymous. The WJC blog's " about " page touts its previous efforts at publicizing conspiracy theories over Foster's death: It first made its mark following the suspicious death of Deputy White House Counsel Vincent Foster during the Clinton presidency. Officially ruled a suicide by authorities, reporter Christopher Ruddy-with assistance from the Center for Western Journalism-unearthed evidence that shouted, "cover up!" No matter how hard they tried to conceal the real cause of Foster's death, Ruddy's dogged investigations clearly showed that the suicide ruling was phony. Unmentioned is the fact that numerous investigations by people who weren't rabid Clinton-haters (and even a few who arguably were, like Kenneth Starr) discredited Ruddy's conclusions by repeatedly and inconveniently ruling that Foster committed suicide. Also unmentioned is the Scaife double-dealing: For much of the time he wrote about Foster, Ruddy worked for the Scaife-owned Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, meaning that Scaife was essentially paying the WJC to promote one of his own reporters. (Ruddy then went on to found Newsmax with Scaife's financial assistance.) Even Ann Coulter has dismissed Ruddy's reporting on Foster, calling his 1997 book on it, "The Strange Death of Vincent Foster," a "conservative hoax book." The statement continues, and tells us who's guiding the WJC now: Today the Center is lead [sic] by columnist and veteran broadcaster Floyd Brown. The Western Center for Journalism is a vigorous watchdog that keeps a check on government abuse and the media. The Center believes strongly in open public debate. It also believes that informed public debate requires quality journalism and reporting. Yes, that Floyd Brown, who does indeed identify himself as WJC chairman on his own website . He's a longtime right-wing hitman -- the guy behind the notorious Willie Horton ad in 1988 -- who last year was peddling smears of Barack Obama and falsely suggesting that Obama is a Muslim. So change "vigorous" to "vicious" on that "about" page, and you get a more accurate idea of what we can look forward to from Brown's WJC. Further, does anyone really believe that a smearmonger like Brown is interested in "quality journalism "? As long as it attacks Democrats in general and Obama in particular, that's good enough for Brown. Indeed, the WJC's first major anti-Obama salvo under Brown is exactly what one would expect from an organization with a history of peddling discredited claims: an enthusiastic embrace of the Obama birth certificate conspiracy theory. In a March 24 email sent to those on Newsmax's mailing list, Brown and the WJC demonstrate WorldNetDaily-esque levels of obsession over the conspiracy (capitalization and italics in original): Is the biggest political crime in American history taking place right before our eyes? Is the man in the White House INELIGIBLE, according to the Constitution, to sit in the Oval Office... is he a FRAUD... a USURPER? Barack Hussein Obama could put the issue to rest right now by simply releasing his ACTUAL BIRTH CERTIFICATE! But he WON'T release his ACTUAL BIRTH CERTIFICATE . In fact, he is actively RESISTING efforts to compel him to release his ACTUAL BIRTH CERTIFICATE. He's dug in his heels. He has teams of lawyers fighting efforts to get him to release his ACTUAL BIRTH CERTIFICATE , while his underlings look down their noses at the American people and call these legitimate requests "garbage." And the one pivotal question that those who attempt to dismiss the controversy cannot answer is: If Barack Hussein Obama has nothing to hide, what's the problem? The more he resists, the more you have to wonder. Meanwhile the liberal press is trying to drag this story into a dark alley and bludgeon it to death. It's time for you and me to weigh in and FORCE THE ISSUE! Let's call-out the liberal media. Let them know they must report this story and that there is nowhere to run or hide. The email goes on to insist that it's "Not Conspiracy Theories... Just The Facts" -- then goes on to cite claims by WND columnist Janet Folger Porter that even it admits "may be convoluted, but it is well-worth examining" -- that Obama's visit to Pakistan in 1981 somehow proves he's not an American citizen because "No record of Obama holding an American passport prior to the one he received once becoming a U.S. senator has been found." Porter, unsurprisingly, doesn't explain how she would know this, since passport information is supposed to be confidential and government contractors have been fired for improperly accessing it. Porter insisted that Obama "couldn't get into Pakistan with a U.S. passport," only with an Indonesian one, and "the only way you can get one of those is if you are an Indonesian citizen." In fact , a 1981 New York Times article states that "Tourists can obtain a free, 30-day visa (necessary for Americans) at border crossings and airports," and an August 1981 State Department travel advisory explains how Americans can obtain visas for visiting Pakistan. The email builds up to a full-frothing climax, which demolishes any notion that Brown and the WJC care about honest journalism and exposes the naked partisanship at the heart of the organization: If Obama was in fact born in Kenya, the information may save the United States from bankruptcy: Since Obama's inauguration on Jan. 20, stocks have plummeted to catastrophic lows. The Dow has fallen 20.4 percent. Investors have lost an estimated $2.5 trillion in market value. All because an arrogant young man - obsessed with 19th century Marxism - is trying to wreck the United States of America. But suppose he isn't legally president after all? Then that fact would surely nullify all his official acts, and acts he plans to put into place, including the following: -- His recent executive order rescinding the Mexico City Policy and committing U.S. taxpayers to fund abortion worldwide; -- His upcoming appointments, including FCC members who might attempt to shut down conservative talk radio; -- Any treaty he might sign that would weaken our defenses in an increasingly dangerous world; -- And the signing of legislation giving amnesty to illegal aliens. We need to act quickly before the entire nation is standing on a street corner, rattling a tin cup. Brown's rant is ultimately all about fundraising -- sprinkled throughout the email are reminders that "donations to the Western Center for Journalism are tax deductible." In between all the ranting, Brown includes the airbrushed history of the WJC, complete with the dubious assertion that "Ruddy's persistent and dogged investigations eventually showed that the suicide ruling was phony." It continues: The Center is working to provide quality journalism and reporting by exposing bias and falsehoods in the mainstream media so that true information will be available. The Western Center for Journalism website covers a wide variety of topics from media bias, to media industry news, and articles about online news sources and the impact of "citizen journalists." In addition, the Center trains individuals to become "Citizen Journalists" and bloggers. These individuals are provided with technical training and practical advice on quality reporting and commentary. There's no evidence on the WJC website that it actually does any of this sort of training of "citizen journalists." And if the WJC actually cared about "quality reporting and commentary," why didn't it investigate Porter's bogus allegations on Obama's visit to Pakistan before copying them to its email? Another issue: Will the people behind this incarnation of the WJC other than Brown ever publicly reveal themselves and disclose their funding? After all, one way to be a credible "vigorous watchdog" -- if that's what Brown and crew really want, instead of the partisan hacks they have so far demonstrated themselves to be -- is to provide transparency. We're guessing that Smith, who was last seen in 2005 getting ousted from a reincarnation of the Sacramento Union (the most recent version, a freebie biweekly tabloid, went kaput in early March), is still involved; Farah likely isn't, at least not on a day-to-day basis, though it would be easy to surmise that he has some input given WND's similar obsession with (and willingness to lie about ) Obama's birth certificate. There's no reason to take the WJC seriously if it intends to operate in the shadows. Of course, Floyd Brown's involvement and its conspiratorial rantings are further reasons not to take it seriously. If Brown's WJC refuses to offer "quality journalism" at home by avoiding full transparency about its activities, personnel and funding, why should anyone trust the garbage it hurls at Obama? Right-wing haters like Brown and the WJC have decided that the birth certificate will be to Obama as Farah and Ruddy decided Vince Foster was to Clinton -- a crude conspiratorial cudgel around which to rally like-minded haters. But they don't seem to have noticed that the two are alike in another way -- the WJC, then as now, will desperately cling to their conspiracies long after actual facts have proven them wrong. (A version of this article is posted at ConWebWatch .) More on Barack Obama
 
Richard Laermer: Publishing Is Dead [Part 2]: Can We Make It About Writers For A Change? Top
Thought experiment time. Pretend, for a moment, that the nation's publishers met Godfather -style in a smoke-filled room somewhere high atop midtown Sixth Avenue. Everyone is there: Random House overlords; Simon & Schuster bosses; charming and benevolent folk who run HarperCollins. Everyone. In the corner there's a nice dairy tray with lox and whitefish, but no one's paying attention to that. The business at hand is too life and death. The industry heads agree - yes, they've been flooding the marketplace with too many books. Too many authors for too many niches and too few eyes. So they've come to a decision. They're tightening the reins and establishing what amounts to a basement. Let the Internet have its laissez faire free-for-all. It's what it's intended for, damn it. But the ink-and-binding set will move in the opposite direction: only credentialed, worthy writers get to publish under commercial banners. Word tumbles down to the editorial gatekeepers that, yes, or rather no, there will be no more taking chances on just anyone's two bit thesis. Err on the side of exclusion. If something looks like it should be relegated to the vanity presses, it should. We can't afford to take chances on a slush pile's silt. The draw bridges are rising up, and we're taking the express elevator to the upper floors of our ivory tower. So here's the question: Is there anything wrong with this? Sure it's elitist. But we're evolving into a culture that can allow for a healthy dose of selective elitism when it's needed. You aren't Spielberg? Have no care. Throw that video of your toddler angrily dropping fuck-words on the family cat onto YouTube. If it's compelling, a few million people will watch and cheer. Or maybe they'll prefer your neighbor's video of Grandpa belching out the national anthem. But you'll be better off either way because the chance of someone in Singapore seeing your adventures in auteurism is much higher than if you decided to try for a dozen years to secure foreign distribution through NBC Universal! It's an extreme and not completely analogous example, but there's truth here. Despite all those fancy technological advancements and truncated attention spans leading publishing gradually down the path to the graveyard of dinosaurs, books matter. They have cachet. And having your name on the spine right above Knopf or St. Martin's or Penguin or, ahem, Harper, still means something to you as a writer (you mean me?). But walk into any Barnes & Noble and look on those overflowing tables. Look at some of the people "playing author" right now. It's one thing to be an expert in a particular field and have a little assistance, whether by ghostwriter or co-author, like a lot of my pals do. A lot of these manuscripts are mis-labeled midlife crises with acknowledgments, an index and a marketing budget. And more are so-called books doodled by people who are desperate to have PRODUCT to show their friends, associates, mistresses, and the longed-for prospect. My current publisher ("McGraw-Hill/S&P") proved to me that they are more interested in an author's "platform" and who follows him, miles before they reads any of his content. Just because you're good at one thing doesn't mean that you'll be swell at another. That holds true in every industry--all except book biz. Some people really have compelling stories that ought to be told. Most people do not. The filters are broken, dammit! Alas, there is a reason they're called vanity presses. These places appeal to the absorbed bits of every person's soul; I'm talking the bulbs that light up when you pics up Tolstoy and murmurs with eyes ablaze, "Shit. I could do that." So go ahead. Publish. Do it independently, though. Write your masterpiece, put it on Amazon or in the back of your van, take it to the willing with spare cash at a state fair. If it's good it'll sell. You just got to make them open it up. Some home-schooled child wrote a dragon book and proved just that. It's likely not very good and it will not sell. At which point . . . you think people will just give up. Because the same it's not every morning a shower karaoke balladeer winds up on Sony BMG, not every halfwit who can tat-tat-tat and has time to keyboard it down will clog the ridiculously congested publishing pipeline made worse by desperate agents and slammed-to-the-wall editors. So, well, now a favor: Just because you can't write doesn't mean you should stop reading. Blog: Laermer.com Twitter: @laermer Book: Yeahwhatever.com Email: richard@laermer.com
 
City Plans $15.5B In Downtown Projects, Most For Transit Top
A draft of Chicago's plans for the city's central area through 2020 calls for $15.5 billion in public works, mostly for transportation improvements, and asserts the projects are attainable with or without the 2016 Olympics.
 
Jeremy Scahill: While Obama Escalates War in Afghanistan, Iraq Could Blow Up in His Face Top
Over the past couple of weeks, the Obama administration has clearly attempted to shift the US foreign policy focus from Iraq to Afghanistan, seemingly intent on leaving the public with the impression that Iraq is under control and US withdrawal has been set in full motion; that the end of the "war" is within sight. This fantasy has been reinforced by some so-called anti-war groups, like MoveOn, which have praised Obama's Iraq plan without confronting the cold fact that Obama's vision for the country includes a sustained presence of tens of thousands of US troops, a monstrous US embassy the size of Vatican City and the continued--and likely increased-- use of corporate mercenary forces. Also, consider this fact : by September of this year, Obama will have actually sent more troops into combat than Bush. There is great reason to suspect that the timeline for withdrawal--all troops out by 2011-- announced in February by the Obama administration will prove to be a fallacy . Military officials have told journalists of plans for "a significant number of American troops to remain in Iraq beyond that 2011 deadline," with one senior military commander saying "he expects large numbers of American troops to be in Iraq for the next 15 to 20 years." Moreover, Obama has made clear he views the Status of Forces Agreement as malleable. Then there is the issue of the residual force of up to 50,000 troops whose mission has been loosely described as counter-terrorism, training and protection for US civilians. Obama has made clear that he will adjust the timeline and the size of the US occupation force according to circumstances on the ground. I have been saying for some time that I think that if the stability or predominance of the US-backed Iraqi government was threatened, that would result in a major adjustment to Obama's announced intentions for Iraq. While the "surge" has been praised by Democrats and Republicans alike as having reduced violence in Iraq, this has always been a dishonest simplification of reality. Part of the "success" (their term, not mine) is due to the fact that the US supported, encouraged and armed a Shiite campaign of ethnic and religious cleansing in Baghdad, which, after a horrifying and sustained period of death squad operations, largely from 2005-2007, resulted in a drop in violence (after most of the non-Shiites were expelled from the Iraqi capital). Secondly, the US co-opted the Sunni resistance forces through the so-called Awakening Councils, essentially paying off 100,000 or so Sunnis to stop killing US soldiers and to stop fighting the Shiite-led government. This combined with Moqtada al Sadr's restraint over the past year created circumstances for what is portrayed in the US corporate media as a "success" in US strategy. What has not happened is that the US somehow "got it right" and stabilized Iraq in a lasting way for sustained peace. Washington basically backed one faction and paid the other not to fight it. The point here is that, with just a few definitive events, all of this could unravel very swiftly and Obama could find himself facing a renewed guerrilla insurgency against his occupation--from both Sunni fighters and Shiite forces opposed to Maliki-- and a destabilization of the puppet regime Obama is now backing. In fact, the early stages of such an unraveling may already be in swing, according to a new analysis of the situation in Iraq by veteran military correspondent Thomas Ricks, author of Fiasco and formerly of the Washington Post. "I thought some of the surge-era deals in Iraq would unravel but I didn't think that would begin happening this quickly," says Ricks. "It's only March 2009, and already Awakening fighters are fighting U.S. soldiers in the streets of Baghdad." Ricks points out that Nouri al-Maliki's government never liked some of the US arrangements with the Sunnis and appears to be reescalating his war against them. "I think Maliki's gambit is to crack down on the Sunnis while American forces are still available in sufficient numbers to back him up," Ricks observes. On his Foreign Policy blog, Ricks wrote this week, "Maliki's guys" are: * Arresting some leaders of the "Sons of Iraq" (the American term for Awakening forces) * Attacking others * Bringing only 5,000 of the ex-insurgents into the Iraqi security forces * And stiffing others on pay, with some complaining they haven't been paid in weeks or even months Ricks asserts: Anyone who tells you that the Iraq war is over should be forced to memorize this paragraph from the Sunday edition of the Washington Post : "As Apache helicopter gunships cruised above Baghdad's Fadhil neighborhood, former Sunni insurgents fought from rooftops and street corners against American and Iraqi forces, according to witnesses, the Iraqi military and police. At least 15 people were wounded in the gunfights, which lasted several hours. By nightfall, the street fighters had taken five Iraqi soldiers hostage." That is Iraq 2009. Does it sound peaceful to you? Does it seem like the political questions vexing Iraq have been solved? Ricks also says he "wouldn't be surprised to see Moqtada al-Sadr's Shiite militia re-emerge. I've always thought the Sunni Awakening forced him to go to ground, because he didn't want to be the only guy taking on American forces. But if the Sunnis are on the attack again, it might be game on for him as well." On this point, it is important to remember that the period where the US occupation was in the biggest trouble was in the spring of 2004 when Sadr and the Sunnis flirted with a unified resistance in response to the occupation. It is extremely important that anti-war groups take a two-track approach right now: oppose the Obama administration's escalation of the war against Afghanistan and remain vigilant in demanding a complete withdrawal from Iraq. More on Barack Obama
 
Lt. General Robert G. Gard Jr. (USA, Ret.): Spend More Wisely on National Security Top
By Lt. Gen. Robert Gard and Travis Sharp As the U.S. government spends hundreds of billions of dollars to create jobs and revive the American economy, vigilance is required to make sure that our money is spent effectively. Yet stimulus funds are not the only massive government expenditure in need of scrutiny and oversight. At over $500 billion per year, today's Pentagon budget is larger in inflation-adjusted terms than at any time since World War II. Some say the country is spending what it must to protect itself in dangerous times. But this is simply false. In today's disastrous economic climate, the U.S. government desperately needs to prioritize its top national security objectives and realign spending accordingly. In order to revitalize underfunded competencies, such as for military personnel and foreign assistance, Congress must stop recklessly pumping taxpayer dollars into weapons systems unneeded for the foreseeable future. This is surely a controversial position when there are thousands of defense industry jobs at stake. Yet the United States cannot permit expensive high-tech weaponry to be justified as employment projects when these systems are strategically unnecessary and divert scarce resources from more essential programs that better defend the nation's security. Moreover, due to the long time required to invest in and build planes and ships, funding already approved by Congress will continue to flow into weapons programs even if the programs are cut or cancelled this year. During the Bush administration, annual spending on big-ticket weapons programs increased by 160 percent, from $66 billion in 2000 to over $170 billion in 2008. Some of these funds paid for badly-needed equipment such as mine resistant vehicles that protect against roadside bombs. Much of this money, however, was wasted on weapons systems that ran way over budget, years behind schedule, and aren't even being used in Iraq and Afghanistan. Meanwhile, the chronic lack of investment in non-military foreign policy tools led the American Academy of Diplomacy to conclude last year that the State Department faces a crisis in resources that "cannot continue without serious damage to our vital interests." A typical example of Pentagon waste is something known as Future Imagery Architecture. Before it was canceled, this satellite program violated every principle of responsible development and procurement. The contractor proposed a technologically risky design with an unrealistic budget. The Pentagon bit on the low-balled estimate. Then Congress failed to exercise oversight to ensure that money was being spent productively. Before it was all said and done, American taxpayers had invested at least four billion dollars in a system that never got off the ground. That money would have paid for a year's worth of health care for one million Americans. The Obama administration's new budget proposal seeks to stop this type of waste. It will shift Pentagon spending toward increased support for U.S. troops and away from weapons systems designed to combat another superpower sometime in the distant future. President Obama's budget provides a 2.9 percent pay raise for men and women in uniform, a relatively small benefit they so richly deserve. The budget also accelerates planned increases in the size of the Army and Marine Corps. By paying for more Soldiers and Marines, the Obama administration hopes to alleviate stress on the more than 1.8 million service members that have deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan since 2001. To pay for these badly needed personnel benefits, the Obama administration will invest only in weapons programs that are necessary to keep us safe and that help our troops accomplish their missions in Iraq and Afghanistan. President Obama does not believe in pandering to the military-industrial-Congressional complex. "I recognize the real choice between investments that are designed to keep the American people safe" - such as for military personnel - "and those that are designed to make a defense contractor rich," President Obama said in March. To help stop Pentagon pork projects, President Obama is relying on his onetime political opponent, Senator John McCain. President Obama has endorsed a new bill introduced by Senators McCain and Carl Levin that would impose restraints on problematic weapons systems that continually exceed their budgets and schedules. The goal of this reform effort obviously is not to eliminate defense industry jobs, but to make sure that the United States needs and can afford the weapons that are being produced. During rocky economic times and in a dangerous and unpredictable world, Congress must make tough choices about all types of spending. The Pentagon budget no longer should get special treatment. Wise investments in all elements of U.S. national security should trump pork-barrel weapons spending undertaken by members of Congress solely for political benefit. Robert Gard, a retired U.S. Army lieutenant general and former president of both National Defense University and the Monterey Institute of International Studies, is chairman of the Washington, D.C.-based Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation, where Travis Sharp is a military policy analyst . More on Barack Obama
 
Peggy Drexler: Obama Everyman: How Much Is Too Much? Top
As I watch President Obama filling out his NCAA bracket and his wife Michelle digging in the White House dirt to plant vegetables, I think of a photo op from another time. There were Hillary and Bill Clinton, embracing after a swim under the trees beside the beach - as if the photographer ambled into an unguarded moment between two of the most heavily guarded people on earth. The Lewinsky scandal, oddly enough, broke shortly thereafter. As Robin Williams said: "Reality - what a concept!" When it comes to real, I don't know at what point, politically speaking, the Obamas "jump the shark." But I have to think we are dangerously close to takeoff. Once airborne, a nation that never has needed to trust motions and motives - the real intentions - of political leaders will be in bigger trouble than it is right now. Just as we were asked to pretend that the beach photographer breached the Clinton's Secret Service perimeter of heavy weapons and helicopters, there is a fiction afoot that we have been invited into the life of just plain folks. The Daily News and US Magazine have already afforded the first family the full-on "just like us" treatment. We've: Obama filling out his NCAA bracket; sipping beer at the ball game; riding a roller coaster with the kids; showing off the new swing set (note to staff: maybe we should have had shots of him actually putting it together); body surfing; downing cheese steaks in Philly; waiting in the snow for the kids outside school; going out for a Valentine's date and, of course, yucking it up with Jay Leno just like Dennis Miller does. The most refreshingly natural family to grace the White House in decades may be on the verge of becoming something unnatural - over packaged and over exposed. But ... Let's say I get it. The Obamas are good people, with adorable kids, determined to lead normal lives. Especially after eight years of egregious lunacy, a little normalcy sells. But what are my instructions? Am I supposed to call my anti-stimulus, anti-bailouts congressman and say "don't be mean to my buddy?" Of course, there might be something else entirely going on. The midterms are already looming. Two years in, a new president always loses some seats. With houses taken, savings decimated and jobs evaporated, an angry and impatient electorate expects things to be a lot better by then. If they're not - and they might not be - the only thing standing between populist rage and a Democratic rout may be Obama's personal popularity. I truly believe that the Obamas are fine people with a deep love of family. The kids are the best thing to hit the White House since John-John peeked out from under the desk. I don't want Obama to succeed. I want him to succeed spectacularly. I want him to fix the economy. I want him to heal the Middle East. I want him to catch Bin Laden. I want to find where Madoff hid the money. I want him to go down as one of the great presidents of our time. But the everyman photo ops are fast approaching the end of their useful shelf life. And still to come are the dog and the "Obamas First White House Christmas." Mr. President, you are not like us. You run the free world, and that guy following you around with a briefcase has the codes to blow up humanity. There is a Latin phrase that might have a place in the White House communications office: "Ars est celare artem - the art is to hide the art." Right now, the brush strokes are a bit obvious.
 
Kile Wygle Gets DUI On Motorized Bar Stool Top
Some MacGyver-esque drunkard in Ohio is facing DUI charges after crashing a bar stool he was driving -- HE WAS DRIVING! Cops arrived to the scene around 5:41 PM on March 4th, arrested the guy, and filed a police report .
 
Gary Shapiro: Advice to Obama at G-20 Summit: A Rising Tide Lifts All Boats Top
I don't know precisely when progressives in this country gave up on free trade. Because when they did, without perhaps even realizing it, they turned their backs on the developing world. In the 1960s, President Kennedy outlined a global vision based on the premise that a "rising tide lifts all boats." And lift it did. In the last 15 years alone, global trade has helped to lift 400 million people out of poverty around the world. Yet, when it comes to boosting living standards in places like Colombia and Panama, we hear hardly a peep from progressives. These stalled trade deals would improve economic and humanitarian conditions in those countries while helping U.S. companies, including many consumer electronics and technology companies, access new markets. The last 15 years are proof of that. I understand that at a time of economic pain, nations tend to look inward, but that is why it's so important for President Obama, as he heads to the G-20 Summit on April 2, to rise above insular, regressive politics and truly work to protect and expand global trade. His choice is either to embrace the world of trade or to build on the barriers Congress has begun to create. I am optimistic that President Obama gets it. In recent days, He sees the link between our economic prosperity and open markets. In an op-ed for the Chicago Tribune , he wrote, "Once and for all, we have learned that the success of the American economy is inextricably linked to the global economy. There is no line between action that restores growth within our borders and action that supports it beyond." Now he can back up those words with action. Our President must rebuff protectionists within his party who, in their well-intentioned zeal to insulate U.S. jobs from competition, are actually harming American workers by denying them access to 21st Century jobs and opportunities. And he must take his knocks from world leaders who will, rightly, question why the country that is based on the fundamental principles of capitalism, competition and innovation has resorted to trillions of dollars in bailouts and subsidies. But most importantly, President Obama must be the champion of free trade and ensuring that open markets continue to "lift all boats." In isolated regions of the world, technology can be the difference between life and death, prosperity or squalor. These countries need trade to access technology to keep people alive. What is more a progressive goal than life itself? Through health-care kiosks and telemedicine sites, the people of rural India gain access to doctors and even specialists. In a country with five times fewer doctors than the United States, the ability to use technology to communicate with a doctor is transformational. And in remote regions in Africa, SMS messaging is vital for commerce. Launched with fruit and vegetable exporters in Burkina Faso and Mali in 2006, the "Trade at Hand" initiative uses mobile phones to send a daily SMS message to exporters in developing economies with the day's product prices on international markets. These messages give exporters information to react to demand and negotiate prices. Helping developing countries means we do well by doing good. When new industries develop in emerging countries, they rely on the technological expertise of U.S. companies to help them achieve their goals. And when billions of people achieve prosperity, they demand of their governments political reforms that stabilize their countries and lead to more peaceful resolutions of disputes. International trade exposes developing companies to new technologies, communications and democratic ideas. Progressives in the United States have a rich history of looking beyond themselves to try to help the world. In recent years, they seem to have lost their way on trade issues. Hopefully, with a President they trust, they can once again lead the United States to policies that build bridges around the world instead of putting up protectionist walls. Gary Shapiro is the president and CEO of the Consumer Electronics Association. More on G-20 Summit
 
Holly Cara Price: Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep: Celebtweets I'd Like to See Top
Way back in the olden days, before Twitter was a gleam in anyone's eye, except perhaps the grandparents of the guys who invented it in 2006, there was a global chart-topping hit by a Scottish band named Middle of the Road called Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep in 1971. Evidence here and here , courtesy of those other geniuses who invented YouTube . This song has been running through my head as I formulated this column. But I digress . . . Since now everyone and their mama has suddenly turned to Twitter as the NBT (that's Next Big Thing for you initialists) including, of course, large numbers of celebrities such as Martha Stewart , Michael Phelps , and David Lynch ; and during the past week Time Magazine and the New York Times did some investigative reporting on the celebrity twitter scene - I thought I'd put out there to the universe a list of some celebtweets I'd like to see: @Madonna ( taking the kids to Kabbalah class; for the first time I'm thinking they're really not into it ) @SimonCowell ( I'm God; did anyone doubt it? ) @SarahPalin ( beautiful crisp clear day. feel like shooting a moose from an airplane ) @BobbyJindal ( keep putting my foot in it. laying low for awhile and letting Michael Steele f*** things up ) @NancyPelosi ( long day today; hope I don't fall asleep at work ) @DonaldTrump ( these jerks are really getting on my last nerve - glad Rodman is finally history ) @RushLimbaugh ( I'm so mad at the Dems my head just came off but my hand still works so I'm typing ) @AngelinaJolie ( Looks like Madonna's getting ahead of me; I'm really feeling the urge to adopt again ) @LauraBush ( really got used to that huge house on Penn. Ave; too easy to run into G in this smaller place ) @BernieMadoff ( the big guy in the next cell wants to be my friend. help me! ) @BruceSpringsteen ( think I'll play a song I've never played live before when we open the tour April 1 ) @HughHefner ( i can't remember what goes where. this too shall pass ) Read more of Holly Cara Price 's ruminations on the slings and arrows of outrageous pop culture on her website, Snoop* Du Jour . You can follow her twitter feed here . More on Twitter
 
Miss Universe Blogs About Her Trip To Gitmo Top
The XX Factor 's Hanna Rosin has been reading the blog of Miss Universe, Dayana Mendoza. And, as it turns out, Miss Universe is sort of a nimrod! But there are blissful benefits. For example, you can travel to the detention center at Guantanamo Bay and be able to describe the experience as if you were reading copy from a Sandals resorts advertisement: We visited the Detainees camps and we saw the jails, where they shower, how the recreate themselves with movies, classes of art, books. It was very interesting. We took a ride with the Marines around the land to see the division of Gitmo and Cuba while they were informed us with a little bit of history. The water in Guantanamo Bay is soooo beautiful! It was unbelievable, we were able to enjoy it for at least an hour. We went to the glass beach, and realized the name of it comes from the little pieces of broken glass from hundred of years ago. It is pretty to see all the colors shining with the sun. That day we met a beautiful lady named Rebeca who does wonders with the glasses from the beach. She creates jewelry with it and of course I bought a necklace from her that will remind me off Guantanamo Bay :) Oh, there's more. Much more . Every sentence is a delightful little sip of candy-flavored brain poison. I just wonder if, you know... the Universe might deserve a better representative than someone who dots her torture center travelogue with emoticons . But who knows? Maybe it doesn't! MORE: Gitmo!!!Awesome!!!! [The XX Factor]
 
ZP Heller: Why Jim Hightower Shouldn't Be the Only One Debating John McCain on Afghanistan Top
The same neocons who orchestrated the war in Iraq and undermined US efforts in Afghanistan the first time around are at it again, determined to sink us deeper into the costly Afghan quagmire. They have resurfaced in the form of the Foreign Policy Initiative (FPI), a Washington think tank headed by Robert Kagan, Bill Kristol, and Dan Senor. As Sam Stein reported last week on The Huffington Post, the FPI will hold a summit today titled "Afghanistan: Planning for Success." And slated to attend the event are powerful Republicans and Democrats like Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), Rep. John M. McHugh (R-NY), and Rep. Jane Harman (D-CA). What's particularly troubling about McCain and a think tank like the FPI is that they are trying to manipulate President Obama's plans for military escalation into a massive, limitless war of Iraq proportions. We already know where McCain stands on Afghanistan. He and fellow warmonger Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) celebrated the sixth anniversary of the Iraq war by urging the Obama administration to support an all-out military commitment in Afghanistan, regardless of cost. McCain clearly shares the FPI's warped notion of "success" in Afghanistan, which he has discussed everywhere from the Op-Ed pages of the Washington Post to his recent speech at the American Enterprise Institute. He envisions a Utopian outcome to this war, one in which our military engages in a broad-based, long-term counterinsurgency to create "a stable, secure, self-governing Afghanistan that is not a terrorist sanctuary." Compounding that highly improbable scenario is the fact that McCain and the FPI are getting away with defining "success" in Afghanistan because not enough mainstream journalists or members of Congress are contesting their views. You know your foreign policy is highly questionable if Bill Kristol goes on FOX News and says he supports it, which is what happened Sunday. Kristol was able to sweep Obama's plan into the neocon call for a major counterinsurgency, falsely claiming an all-out war is in the interest of national security and defeating al Qaeda. Kristol even managed to suggest Obama is now divided with his own administration on Afghanistan, and in a twisted retrospective kicker, Kristol compared the Afghan and Iraq surges to imply President Bush actually showed good leadership. Because Obama is toying with escalation by sending 4,000 trainers (in addition to the 17,000 troops he already pledged), McCain, Kristol and their FPI cohorts are now taking that foreign policy to the logical extremes of military commitment. But where are the journalists to call out Kristol? Where are the members of Congress who will hold oversight hearings that bring in real experts to explain to us what escalation will mean for Afghanistan, Pakistan, and the United States? More people ought to be picking apart McCain's wholly unrealistic notion of victory and reclaiming the frame of success in Afghanistan; just watch Jim Hightower show you how it's done. The reality is that the kind of success McCain and the FPI dream of would require an commitment of at least 640,000 troops --a far fry from the 21,000 Obama has called for. And if the current rate of escalation could cost our country $1 trillion by the end of Obama's first term, as Tom Hayden has predicted in his must-read piece " Don't Go There, Mr. President ," then you can only imagine how much this war could cost (and how exponentially difficult it will become to pull ourselves out of this recession) if we keep allowing McCain and his neocon pals at the FPI to manipulate foreign policy. It's time to reclaim the frame on Afghanistan , and that starts with real debate in the mainstream media and the halls of Congress. More on Barack Obama
 
New GM CEO says more plants could close Top
DETROIT — General Motors Corp.'s new chief executive said Tuesday that more of the automaker's plants could close as part of GM's effort to meet new, tougher requirements for government aid. In his first press conference as CEO, Fritz Henderson said he expects the company would "need to take further measures" in terms of plant closures. That's beyond the five plants the company said it would shutter when it submitted a restructuring plan to the government last month. GM is likely to offer another buyout program to workers as it looks to cut labor costs, Henderson said. President Barack Obama said Monday that GM's plan didn't go far enough. The company has 60 days to make more cuts and get more concessions from bondholders and unions or it faces bankruptcy. Henderson said that although an in-court bankruptcy filing is not preferred, it is "certainly more probable" as he looked at what the company needed to do. He also said on the fate of GM's Hummer brand will come in the next few weeks. Henderson took over as CEO of GM Monday, after the Obama administration asked former CEO Rick Wagoner to resign. Shares of GM fell 24 cents, or 8.8 percent to $2.46 in morning trading Tuesday. In an effort to increase sales, GM launched its "Total Confidence" program which will make car payments for customers who lose their jobs through no fault of their own. GM will make up to nine payments of $500 each to qualifying customers. Consumers must qualify for state unemployment to be eligible for the program. The program starts April 1 and runs until April 30. Ford Motor Co. also announced a similar program Tuesday, which will take over customer's payment of up to $700 a month for a year in the event of job loss.
 
Washington Residents Smuggling In Eco-Unfriendly Products Top
SPOKANE, Wash. — The quest for squeaky-clean dishes has turned some law-abiding people in Spokane into dishwater-detergent smugglers. They are bringing Cascade or Electrasol in from out of state because the eco-friendly varieties required under Washington state law don't work as well. Spokane County became the launch pad last July for the nation's strictest ban on dishwasher detergent made with phosphates, a measure aimed at reducing water pollution. The ban will be expanded statewide in July 2010, the same time similar laws take effect in several other states. But it's not easy to get sparkling dishes when you go green. Many people were shocked to find that products like Seventh Generation, Ecover and Trader Joe's left their dishes encrusted with food, smeared with grease and too gross to use without rewashing them by hand. The culprit was hard water, which is mineral-rich and resistant to soap. As a result, there has been a quiet rush of Spokane-area shoppers heading east on Interstate 90 into Idaho in search of old-school suds. Real estate agent Patti Marcotte of Spokane stocks up on detergent at a Costco in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, and doesn't care who knows it. "Yes, I am a smuggler," she said. "I'm taking my chances because dirty dishes I cannot live with." (In truth, the ban applies to the sale of phosphate detergent _ not its use or possession _ so Marcotte is not in any legal trouble.) Marcotte said she tried every green brand in her dishwasher and found none would remove grease and pieces of food. Everybody she knows buys dishwasher detergent in Idaho, she said. Supporters of the ban acknowledge it is not very popular. "I'm not hearing a lot of positive feedback," conceded Shannon Brattebo of the Washington Lake Protection Association, a prime mover of the ban. "I think people are driving to Idaho." Steve Marcy, manager of the Costco in Coeur d'Alene, about 10 miles east of the Washington state line, estimated that sales of dishwasher detergent in his store have increased 10 percent. He knows where the customers are coming from. "I'll joke with them and ask if they are from Spokane," Marcy said. "They say, `Oh yeah.'" Shoppers can still buy phosphate detergents in Washington state by venturing outside Spokane County, but Idaho is more convenient to many Spokane residents. Phosphates _ the main cleaning agent in many detergents and household cleaners _ break down grease and remove stains. However, the chemicals are difficult to remove in wastewater treatment plants and often wind up in rivers and lakes, where they promote the growth of algae. And algae gobble up oxygen in the water that fish need to survive. While traditional detergents are up to 9 percent phosphate, those sold in Spokane County can contain no more than 0.5 percent. The Washington Lake Protection Association has launched a campaign to encourage people to give the environmentally friendly brands a fair chance. The group suggests consumers experiment with different brands or install water softeners to help the green detergents work better. "Clean lakes and clean dishes do not have to be mutually exclusive," said association president-elect Jacob McCann. Phosphates have been banned in laundry detergent nationally since 1993. Washington was the first state where the Legislature passed a similar ban against dishwasher detergents, in 2006. The ban is being phased in, starting with Spokane County. "It's nice to be on the cutting edge," Spokane resident Ken Beck, an opponent of the ban, said sarcastically. Among other states that have banned or are banning phosphates in dishwasher detergent are Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Michigan, Vermont, Minnesota, Illinois, Massachusetts and New York. A bill on Capitol Hill would impose a nationwide ban. The Soap and Detergent Association, which represents manufacturers, initially fought the bans. But as the movement gained strength across the country, the association asked legislatures to delay bans until July 2010 to allow for a uniform rollout of products. The industry has been working to develop better low-phosphate detergents, said Dennis Griesing, vice president of the manufacturers group. "This is an irrevocable, nationwide commitment on the industry's part," he said. For his part, Beck has taken to washing his dishes on his machine's pots-and-pans cycle, which takes longer and uses five gallons more water. Beck wonders if that isn't as tough on the environment as phosphates. "How much is this really costing us?" Beck said. "Aren't we transferring the environmental consequences to something else?" ___ On the Net: Washingtion Lake Protection Association: http://www.walpa.org Soap and Detergent Association: http://www.cleaning101.com More on Green Living
 
Mark Nickolas: Do You Know Which Countries Hold America's National Debt? Top
While most of us know that China and Japan are the two nations that hold the greatest portion of America's national debt, last night I took the time to find out how much debt is held by other nations. Here are the most current figures as released by Treasury ( click here for historical data): Couple of quick notes: Russia went from effectively holding no American debt at the start of 2007 to its current ranking of 7th place with $120 billion -- and climbing -- at the end of 2008;              While Treasury doesn't breakdown the oil producing states which hold American debt (together they are in third place), that group includes quite a few pariah nations: Oil exporters include Ecuador, Venezuela , Indonesia, Bahrain, Iran , Iraq, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Algeria, Gabon, Libya , and Nigeria. Mark Nickolas is the Managing Editor of Political Base , and this story was from his original post, " Who Owns America? " More on Japan
 
Lance Simmens: Severance Packages and Steroids Top
Have we all lost our minds? Collectively, as a society, we have perverted the whole system of incentives and performance-based rewards to the point where it is not wholly unreasonable to question what constitutes good and bad. Today it is reported that the individual in charge of General Motors' phenomenal collapse would be punished by losing his job and a $20 million severance package. Athletes, too, have been rewarded for misdeeds, but the difference is at least performance-enhancing drugs actually enhance performance; the same cannot be said for performance rewards granted when the only apparent performance is dismal. In both cases, a fraud is perpetrated upon the public, and in both cases fraudulent behavior is rewarded. Until we correct this farce, we as a society will pay the price. What is good for General Motors is not good for America. This is just another blatant illustration of a system so perversely out of touch with any semblance of fairness that it defies rationalization. If ever there were a clarion call for a radical reassessment of basic values, it is the extent to which we not only tolerate but encourage irresponsible behavior in this society. Two concepts seem so scream out for attention here: first, personal responsibility; second, fair competition. These are two of the hallmarks of our culture that have shown like beacons in a free democratic society that have made us the envy of the world. We gamble with them at our own peril. Athletes who cheat should be forced to forfeit their records and banished from the game. Use of performance enhancing drugs is cheating, plain and simple. Rewarding such behavior teaches young aspiring athletes to be clever and creative in masking their usage. Just as importantly, however, the quintessential nature of fair competition or a fair fight gets lost in the confusion. Rewarding business executives for poor decisions that result in lost jobs, inferior products, sacrificing long-term growth for short-term profits, and ultimately putting at risk the pension and benefits plans that employees depend upon is quite simply wrong. But in a larger sense it teaches future generations a set of skewed morals and ethics that makes us all weaker as a society. It reinforces the notion that individual gain trumps collective pain, it distorts any sense of common weal; it quite simply diminishes our economy and our nation. The general malaise and funk we now find ourselves in, I believe, is directly related to a pervasive lack of confidence in judgment abilities and leadership exhibited by those to whom we turn to inspire us to be something greater. The Obama Administration is attempting to reverse years of accumulated distrust in our governmental institutions and leaders and public opinion polls evidence that they are meeting with success. But our corporate leadership is desperately in need of an inspirational figure willing to stand up and speak out against the abuses that seem to reveal themselves on a daily basis. Similarly, we need sports legends to speak out forcefully on the need to reform what is acceptable and unacceptable within the realm of athletic competition. It is really not complicated: cheating is wrong. But more importantly, once you get caught there are negative consequences. For far too long we have allowed our kids to dismiss, with a shrug, the notion that actions can have negative consequences. Yet, they will be the first to remind us when actions deserve positive consequences, say when they feel they are deserving of an allowance. Today, workers are being penalized for the misguided actions of their bosses. But the bosses walk away with severance packages and golden parachutes, the workers struggle with Hobson's choices such as whether or not they can afford to carry health insurance for their families, or whether or not their kids can go to college. It is patently unfair and further expands the wide divide between the haves and the have-nots. And it makes us weaker because it exposes the disparities in our society that beg for correction. The new sense of accountability that is being advanced by the Obama Administration is a strong indication of just how far afield we have strayed from core principles such as personal responsibility and fair competition. But it is important that our corporate leaders and sports icons join in the process. More on Sports
 
Michael Wolff: C'mon, Michelle Obama, Get Real! Top
Michelle Obama , who will meet the Queen of England tomorrow on her husband's first overseas swing, is the most media savvy and, ipso facto, phoniest first lady we've had since...actually, possibly ever. The goal of the modern first lady has traditionally been to be a stoic trooper, or, Hillary like, to find her own thing, or, in the manner of Pat Nixon, to hide in plain sight. Or to be the backbone of the family: In the case of Barbara Bush, to keep her boozy family in line; in the case of Nancy Reagan, to protect her not-entirely-with-it husband. Never before has there been someone so obviously enthusiastic about and dedicated to public image making , to selling her husband. Nobody in the history of this quasi-office has been so aggressive in a PR way. There's no awkwardness to this lady--in one of the more awkward jobs this side of vice president. No reticence. No sense of being caught up in something far from her own making. Continue reading at newser.com More on Barack Obama
 
Jonathan A. Schein: Good News? Is This Possible? Top
Every day media coverage of the Obama administration's stimulus package(s) and efforts to revive the economy is primarily negative in regards to bonuses, bailouts to irresponsible financial institutions as well as the Secretary of Treasury, Timothy Geithner. The feeding frenzy continues over and over again and unfortunately misses some of the plan's positive outcomes. For example, Solyndra, a California-based manufacturer of solar photovoltaic systems, was awarded the first green loan guarantee by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) under President Obama's stimulus package. The loan guarantee falls under Title XVII of the Energy Policy Act of 2005. This loan of $535 million is for construction of a second manufacturing plant of Solyndra's products. This project is expected to employ 3,000 people, and once the plant is completed, Solyndra says it expects to hire 1,000 full-time employees. Considering the stimulus packages and bailouts have sailed well past the $1 trillion mark, this is hardly a huge amount. However, the impact might be considered huge if it were given its fair share of coverage. This story made into the news on wire services and some nominal mentions across the spectrum of media outlets, however, ask anyone you meet whether the president's plan will have any impact on jobs creation, chances are that you'll get an earful about waste, pork, earmarks, and congressional and executive branch failure to act properly. Not once will this story about one company in the green energy sector be in the discussion, nor will the fact that 3,000 jobs are immediately being created. And while millions of jobs have been lost over the past 12-18 months and more will surely be lost, the fact that there is some marginal sunlight breaking through due to the stimulus package is encouraging. It's important to not lose sight of the fact these jobs are being created. It's also very important to get the word out in order to balance the reporting we are being fed by the major news organizations. The economy is in extremely fragile shape, but there are nuggets of good news as well. If we don't bring these facts out into the mainstream there is a terrific chance of continuing the non-stop cycle of depressing news which can only lead to more despair. Jonathan A. Schein is the publisher of MetroGreenBusiness.com and GreenBusinessCareers.com More on Stimulus Package
 
TARP Watchdog: "We Do Not Seem To Be A Priority For The Treasury Department" Top
Elizabeth Warren, in charge of oversight of the financial industry bailout, told a congressional panel Tuesday that the Treasury Department has not been cooperating with her efforts to oversee the project. "We do not seem to be a priority for the Treasury Department," said Warren. She added that the administration's failure to ask for more accountability has led to a situation that is difficult to oversee. "This problem starts with Treasury," she said. Warren is testifying before the Senate Finance Committee. We'll update with video when it's available. Warren argued that "continuous subsidization without vigorous oversight is exactly what got us into this." She complimented the administration's oversight of the auto industry, but contrasted it with the lack of the same with regard to the banks. More on Timothy Geithner
 
How To Stop Grinding Your Teeth Top
My boyfriend has started grinding his teeth in his sleep. On some nights it's so noisy that it wakes me up. Why is he doing it, and is there anything he can do to stop it? A: Grinding of the teeth (bruxism) is a surprisingly common problem with as many as one in ten people doing it at some stage during his or her life. It can occur at any age but tends to peak in adults in their twenties and thirties. Studies show that it mostly happens during the periods of light sleep and awakening that occur at numerous times throughout the night as part of our natural sleep cycle. And it is closely linked to a number of other sleep-related problems, including heavy snoring, sleep talking and walking, and nightmares. More on Health
 
Robert J. Elisberg: GOP Discovers How Not to Steele an Election Top
The problem for Republicans with Michael Steele, chairman of the RNC, isn't that he puts his foot in his mouth more than a six-month toddler. The problem isn't even that he postures as if he has authority with the American people. The problem is that there is no one with any stature or guts in the Republican Party to tell Michael Steele how much damage he's doing to the Republican Party and to just stop it. It's really not worth much telling the tale of Michael Steele alone. By himself, he's meaningless on the national political stage. He's an administrator, the in-house executive director overseeing fundraising and organization. In truth, he runs a committee. You know, the "C" part of Republican National Committee . What is worth telling, however, is the tale of a political party that has, by choice, allowed itself to be approvingly identified with a sputtering figurehead. It all became too much to ignore when, this past weekend, committee head Michael Steele said that he's "done" trying to reach out to the President of the United States, after attempting "several times." And this, he insists, therefore means there is no bipartisanship in Washington "that I know of." Shocking, I know, that the President of the United States has been too busy during the past two months to spend quality time with the administrative head of a committee. And after "several" overtures, no less!. (Question: how many meetings in four years do you think George Bush took with Howard Dean, when he headed up the DNC? If your answer is any more than "zero," you've likely overbid.) Further, this is the same Michael Steele who, after House Republicans voted 172-0 against the Administration's stimulus package said, "The goose egg that you laid on the president's desk was just beautiful. Absolutely beautiful." Hint: this is not the way to show you're interested in bipartisanship. Unless you live in OppositeLand. And the thing is, though mere weeks into the new president's term, elected on a platform of change and bipartisanship, not one Republican had the strength or wisdom to chastise the RNC chairman for cheering a roadblock to that bipartisanship. This is the same Michael Steele who proclaimed on the night of his RNC election, "And to those of you who will obstruct [us], get ready to get knocked over." And not one Republican stood up and told Michael Steele that this wasn't the best way to start a dialogue of bipartisanship between their party and the newly-elected President of the United States. That his saying that bipartisanship is "done" is a very bad thing, a horrible signal to send to the American public, that the Republican Party is putting an end to bipartisan efforts. The Republican Party has created their own monster. They elected Michael Steele chairman of their party's committee. They have all stood by, silent, approving as he puts the Republican Party imprint on a menagerie of statements guaranteed to bewilder the American public: "Not in the history of mankind has the government ever created a job" ignored such minor employment as the postal service, fire department, his own previous-job as Lt. Governor of Maryland, and the Roman sentries of Julius Caesar. Or the bizarre circus of his first stating that Rush Limbaugh is "incendiary" and ugly" - then claiming "there was no attempt on my part to diminish his voice or his leadership" - and finally insulting the intelligence of human life forms everywhere by insisting, "It may look like a mistake, a gaffe" but was actually intentional. "There is a rationale, there's a logic behind it." It is a "logic" that says if it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it's actually a French poodle. If your five-year-old child tried this on you, you'd send him to his room without desert. But Republican Party leaders accepted all this from their administrative executive. Perhaps because that's been their game plan for the past four years: screw up and try to convince the American public that the Iraq War, economy, Katrina, and nominating Sarah Palin were not gaffes, but that there's a logic behind it all. Perhaps, too, that's why there was no response from Republicans when the bumbling Michael Steele also said he "would think about" running for President. Yet only if "that is where God wants me to be at that time." (This is so right-wing Republican. It's God's choice for president. Never mind the voters.) The problem here isn't whether Michael Steele should run for president, or just get anointed by God. It's that his core job as chairman of the Republican National Committee is to keep his party united by being apolitical himself. Saying for the record that he would consider running for president obliterates that. And again, not one Republican leader has been willing to express concern. Given the laughingstock Michael Steele has become, you'd think the last thing any Republican would want is him to head their ticket one day. Yet there was only silence.. Michael Steele being out of control, pandering and floundering symbolizes the Republican Party today. And in the end, that may well be why Republican leadership (whatever in the world that may be) seems absolutely fine with his inconceivable actions and words As you sow shall you reap.
 
Alex McCord: Laid off? Update Your Resume and Take Time to Admire the Gold Sparkly Drag Queen Top
I thought I'd gotten out. A little over two years ago, I was doing our tax prep. Although I'd had a great year creatively, with 3 films either in festivals or theatrical release, TV work and a challenging play, my reward for that was less than 1/16 of my husband's salaried income that year. Shortly thereafter, Simon and I had a long conversation over many drinks. I was beyond tired of fighting for film parts I didn't even want, going to parties in the city or (yes) the Hamptons to chat up directors and producers in the hopes of finally landing a breakout role. I turned to my other life, my at that time 9+ year graphic design career, and decided that it was time to get a job. I'd had many rewarding jobs in the graphics field throughout my time in NYC, but for the first time I was going to put all my energy into one thing. Within two weeks I had the perfect job with a great company and a top notch salary at just the right time. Johan was 14 months old and in the process of weaning himself. The time was right and I leaped. Going to work in a retail corporate headquarters is a little bit like being shot from a cannon every morning, and I ate it up. There was nothing I liked more than to dive into a project with a venti latte at 9am only to come up for air at around 1pm with a growling belly and cold coffee. Yes, I do eat a normal lunch every day, just not until I notice I'm hungry! My work was very detailed with lots of room for creative flexing -- my passions were fed, and fed well. I was happier, and it showed. Instead of looking around for industry professionals to meet at parties, I concentrated on enjoying where I was; a welcome change. It's more fun to first admire the gold sparkly drag queen at the party rather than wonder immediately if she has a script for you. All of a sudden, producers from a series I'd screen-tested for a year prior called. They had a green light, a full cast, a crew and were ready to roll. Our lives had completely changed due to me going back to work full time. Did we really want to do this? The producers worked hard to convince us. It was a reality show, so wouldn't take up as much time as a drama. They'd film evenings, weekends and basically not get in the way. After much argy-bargy we said, "What the hell," and began a journey that continues today. It's all well and good to film a reality show, but who knew it would be the monster hit it's become? My life took on sort of a split personality, which kind of worked as I'm a Libra. During the day I was worker Alex and upon leaving the building morphed into mom, wife and reality star Alex. I chuckled when co-workers occasionally brought in show posters or asked if other people on the show were really as they seemed in celluloid, but beyond that the office was my green zone. So it happened, until my layoff almost three weeks ago. In that time I've been busy as hell, but somehow the time has been filled up with not much. After the initial shock and weekend, I "took some time to process" which is a polite way of saying I did nothing. Well, that's not exactly true -- I appeared on Mike & Juliet to weigh in on the Rihanna/Chris debacle with a side of the First Lady's forearms, and also began to update my resume. Everything's current, if not up-to-trend as per the latest resume styles. For that my company graciously provided time with a career transition service, and I began with the orientation session last week. It's disconcerting to go into an office where everyone except the staff is looking for work. Prior to heading in I wondered if the air would smell of desperation and if everyone would be looking around furtively, protectively, and viewing all others as a potential threat to their job search. Oh wait, this isn't an acting audition full of wannabe gangsters, it's a corporate career center. I did see some of the furtive glances but not too many. Apparently doing "not much" the first few days beyond dusting off the resume is exactly right -- though I'm not sure I believe that. I also checked the NY Times job section and discovered that in January a luxury retailer was looking for someone who did exactly what I do and thought -- "Great, the perfect next job was available 2 months before I was. Now what?" Bringing this up in orientation yielded a somewhat helpful response -- it turns out that surfing classifieds is also a good way to start, if nothing else than to get a feel for the language used in the ads to describe what you do, to then write your resume. So, I'm supposedly on the right track. A one-on-one meeting this week with a counselor yielded, "At what point do you tell people you're on a show?" Answer as of today is, "When you feel it's right." Thanks. What makes this different than other job searches? When I walked into the career center, people recognized me. "Wow, you were laid off too? It really can happen to anyone." There have been hundreds of wonderful people who've written words of support on my Facebook page, and outreach from surprising places as well. From the star of another network show to the company who wants to do a luggage line to the agent who suggested the panel circuit and back to the happy news that my graphic design skills are portable across many industries...there are quite a few interesting suggestions. My method at this point is to talk to and follow up with everyone -- you literally never know where the next job/income source/path in life will come from. At the same time, I'm enjoying a marginally less hectic schedule. I'm having lunch with people whom I've wanted to for a year. I'm really loving school drop off without having to throw the kids in the door and blast away at Mach 2, although in the afternoon it's a bit hard to write emails to colleagues when Johan turns up with a dripping red paintbrush wanting to know if he can decorate my monitor. I've taken the time to read the insane Real Housewives episode recaps on Gawker and wonder what would happen if Richard were tied to Maureen Dowd and left in a small room. I didn't immediately judge myself and think "Snap out of it," when I read about Natasha Richardson's accident and got a little emotional. Although I'm not where I want to be right now, at least I can feel, and in these times, that's as good a place as any to start. Once a week I'll post here and let you know how it's going. More on Layoffs
 
Frances Beinecke: Waxman and Markey Jumpstart House Clean Energy Discussion Top
width="130" height="36" align="right" /> Today Congressmen Henry Waxman and Ed Markey released draft legislative language that could propel America into a clean energy future, cut global warming pollution, and create millions of jobs in the process. This is a welcome development, because even though President Obama has exhibited strong leadership on climate, America won't be able to confront global warming without decisive action from Congress. The Waxman-Markey draft is a good starting point for the new Congress, and no doubt it will be debated and revised in the coming weeks. As chairman of the powerful House Energy and Commerce Committee, Representative Waxman is committed to passing a bill through his committee by Memorial Day, and Speaker Pelosi has promised a vote by the full House soon after. This is important, because time is short. All the scientific data we have on global warming point toward the need for urgent action. Now the economic data is telling us the same thing. We need bold steps right now to pass a climate bill that will prevent the worse climate impacts and help power our economic recovery by generating billions of dollars in green energy investment and creating good-paying green jobs right here in America. Energy production and use touches every aspect of our economy, and refashioning our energy system into something cleaner and more sustainable will generate economic growth all across the nation. This includes weatherizing our homes, building more efficient cars, building a smart electric grid, laying down public transit systems, and writing the software to engineer it all. It will require the work of engineers, automobile manufacturers, construction workers, software developers, architects, and hard-working Americans of all stripes. Support is growing for this kind of clean transformation. From the oval office in the White House to the board rooms of the business-environmental coalition called the US Climate Action Partnership --including companies like GE, Duke Energy, and Alcoa --political and business leaders see the economic potential in tackling global warming and shifting to clean energy. Just last Friday, a labor-environmental partnership--the Blue Green Alliance , made up of the United Steelworkers Union, the Communications Workers of America, Laborers' International Union of North America, and the Service Employees International Union, NRDC, and the Sierra Club--added its voice to those calling on Congress to pass a comprehensive climate law by the end of this year. Action this year is critical. Our economy, our workers, and our environment need this kind of jumpstart. Why delay any longer before unleashing the benefits of a clean energy economy? This post originally appeared on NRDC's Switchboard blog .
 
Srinivasan Pillay: Dealing With Recession Panic: The Science of Physical Exercise Top
During the economic recession, there are and will be many moments of panic. When stocks are in free fall and the world seems to be falling apart, there is widespread panic that makes the market even worse. Now, in the middle of one of the worst recessions ever, we will also have to face the constant question of whether we have reached rock bottom yet. This anticipation of the possible worst-case scenario erodes our confidence and the resulting anticipatory anxiety can make our thinking and decision-making uncertain. While there are several ways that we can work with our minds to handle this panic, how can we deal with panic when we are mentally exhausted or paralyzed? When we are anxious or feeling stressed, there is a point at which no further thinking can actually help. We may try to talk ourselves down, or think of other things, or even try to meditate or find a quiet place to relax, but the constant internal chatter disrupts our sense of peace. When things are more extreme, any attempt to "think" our ways out of the stress and anxiety may not work because our thinking feels paralyzed. What can we do when we are faced with this thinking paralysis but still feel anxious and stressed? A recent review of existing research has shown that regular physical exercise reduces anxiety in people who are not anxious at baseline and in people who have severe anxiety in the form of panic disorder [1]. Another study [2] showed that an acute bout of aerobic exercise (a one-time session) actually reduced anxiety and panic attack frequency even in people who had panic disorder. In fact, yet another study showed that even when people are trying to use their minds to reduce stress or anxiety, a walking program can significantly reduce stress and anxiety [3]. The practical significance of these studies is that they back up what my clinical experience has been. While a few people feel too panicky when they exercise, because increasing their heart rates reminds them of the panic that they may feel at other times, many people I have worked with find that going for a brisk walk, running or doing something physical at the time of the panic takes their minds off the panic and actually reduces the anxiety. A gentleman who had been extremely stressed about not having enough contractual work as a plumber approached me for help with his panic which had become so severe that he would get panic attacks three to four times a day that would just occur out of the blue. Even though medication and talking him through some of this helped him, he found that there would be times when his mind would just stand still and he could do nothing. However, when he used this "mind-numbing" moment as a cue to exercise, he would either go for a brisk walk or when he could, he would go running. He found that during these times, his stress would appear to completely go away and his mind felt as though it was completely at rest. From a scientific perspective, why would this be? While there is no certainty about these mechanisms, exercise appears to reduce panic caused by carbon dioxide as well as panic caused by a hormone called CCK-4. Also, exercise leads to the release of endorphins and possibly enkephalins that are partly responsible for the "high" that one may experience with exercise. But why would the brain respond to these or other substances that may be reduced or increased with exercise? It turns out that the brain regions that activate when you have anxiety are connected to those that activate when you move. When you are anxious or stressed, a brain region called the amygdala has increased activation. This and other regions involved in anxiety are linked to brain regions that are responsible for movement. It appears that when we exercise, we increase brain activity in the movement centers that then decreases brain activity in the amygdala. One of the reasons for this is that when the brain is forced to attend to demanding tasks such as strenuous physical exercise, it has to increase blood flow to the "attention" regions and this may decrease blood flow to the amygdala thereby reducing anxiety [4]. This is just one of many examples that illustrates the value of recognizing the connection between the "physical" and the "psychological". This principle can be used to address anxiety and stress whenever you are feeling it. The basic idea is that for the anxiety regions to shut off, you have to give the brain something more demanding of your attention than anxiety. Exercise counts as one of these things and is a simple, practical way to force your brain's attentional system to change its focus away from the anxiety and to release calming hormones and substances that will also decrease your anxiety even further. References: 1. Strohle, A., Physical activity, exercise, depression and anxiety disorders. J Neural Transm, 2008. 2. Strohle, A., et al., The acute antipanic and anxiolytic activity of aerobic exercise in patients with panic disorder and healthy control subjects. J Psychiatr Res, 2009. 3. Merom, D., et al., Promoting walking as an adjunct intervention to group cognitive behavioral therapy for anxiety disorders--a pilot group randomized trial. J Anxiety Disord, 2008. 22(6): p. 959-68. 4. Geday, J. and A. Gjedde, Attention, emotion, and deactivation of default activity in inferior medial prefrontal cortex. Brain Cogn, 2009. 69(2): p. 344-52. More on The Recession
 
Retiree group to vote against Verizon CEO's pay Top
NEW YORK — A group representing 100,000 retirees is going to vote against the pay package for Verizon's chief executive. Verizon Communications Inc.'s Ivan Seidenberg is one of the first CEOs at a major company to face the need to justify his pay directly to shareholders. At the phone company's annual meeting on May 7, shareholders will vote on whether his 2008 compensation package is reasonable. The vote won't be binding, but if the Association of BellTel Retirees is joined by major shareholders and pushes through a "no" result, it would be embarrassing to the company. Seidenberg earned a pay package valued at $20.2 million in 2008, according to Associated Press calculations, though much of that was in stock that since fallen in value.
 
Lester Sloan: Where's the Corned Beef? Top
Wednesday, my last day at the local YMCA before going to Detroit, was fairly normal for me. I arrived a little before 8:30 in the morning and greeted my buddy Payo. He gave me his blood sugar numbers for the day. I mumbled something about mine and tried to slip away to the coffee machine. "What's up with you?" he wanted to know. "Stress," I shouted back over my shoulder. "I'll get it together." The door to the kitchen was locked. I had to face Payo again. Back at the front desk, he tossed me his keys and I returned to the kitchen. The coffee machine was down again, but I ignored the sign and put my money in anyway. I pressed C-6 and got a cold cappuccino, nuked it for 45 seconds and then wiped the spillage off the plate with two, heavy-duty napkins. I drank what remained in the cup and headed upstairs to the weight room across from the gym. It was practically empty. It was just as well; I wasn't in the mood to talk about AIG. Besides, what more was there to say? My sentiments are adequately expressed by the congressman who suggested that those responsible for this mess should follow the ancient Samurai tradition of hara-kiri. Rewarding incompetence, however, seems to be the American way. Where else can a CEO run a company into the ground, and then, as severance, receive enough money to buy his own island? And in the case of AIG, the country is to be held hostage if we renege on a contractual agreement to pay them bonuses? Since when are bonuses based upon failure? Are we really supposed to reward the idiots who have brought the country to its knees? But hold on a second! I promised not to go there. I seated myself at one of the Hip Abductor machines, the one that works the outer thighs. Wally, one of the guys I often see there on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, was adjusting the weight on the Calf Extension machine. Sitting to my right was a guy I didn't know. "You want in here?" I asked, looking for an excuse to end my pain. "No, I'm about finished," he said, getting up and wiping his machine down for the next person. He walked over and stood next to Wally who was flexing his toes, working his calves. Without missing a beat Wally said, "The place seems pretty empty today, I guess some members had too much St. Patrick Day celebration." "Or maybe not enough corned beef," said the guy standing tall on his freshly buffed leg muscles. "Did you notice that the stores locally didn't have any?" I was suddenly feeling left out, not because Wally had slowed up and I wasn't going to be able to work another muscle group, but because I had didn't know about the corned beef tradition and St. Patrick's Day. Wally continued, "I went to Ralph's and had picked up my carrots, cabbage, onions and potatoes, then went over to the meat department and was told that there was no corned beef. Why?" No delivery, he was told by the man behind the meat counter, who then added that it was true of other grocery stores in the area. "I simply let go of my hand basket and left it on the floor by the meat counter and walked out," said Wally." I called the Ralph's office, and I was told someone would get back to me. I'm still waiting." Now I was pissed! I tried to hide my anger by taking a survey of the room and noticed that the six treadmills were still completely empty. On the two televisions above them, Regis and Kelly were having a hoot with Julia Roberts, and on CNN, President Obama was giving a press conference on the White House lawn talking about, you guessed it, AIG. I remained fixated on corned beef. "So you guys are lovers of corned beef? I offered, timidly. Wrong! Wrong! Wrong! They both glared at me, with forgiveness in their eyes, as if to say: Tradition. I skipped my calves and went directly to the deltoid machine in another part of the room. I finished up and eased out of the weight room and went to the gym to catch up on Michelle's stretch routine as a finish to my workout. When done, I signed the attendance sheet and looked up and saw Wally walking toward me with a smile on his face. He was joined by a pretty, blond-haired lady in a light blue sweat suit. "This is my wife JoAnne. That's with a royal 'E.' I was just telling Lester about the corned beef shortage at the local stores. I told him that we finally found two stores [Albertson's and Gelson's] that were selling it for $5.99 per pound." "It's a little ritual with us," she said with a smile. On my walk home I tried to reconcile the price of corned beef and its availability with what's going on in the country. I decided that Wally's action held the key: If a company treats you in a manner that does you a disservice, just drop them in the middle of their mess, and let them fend for themselves. But, more importantly, I remembered that I forgot to say goodbye to Payo. More on CNN
 
Alexander Davenport: Evolving Laws but Stagnant Realities for Shanghai's Migrants Top
Not surprisingly, the existence of the 200,000 or so children of migrant workers living in Shanghai is far from easy. But the lives of children whose parents could not take them to the cities is oftentimes even more heart wrenching. The story of one girl in particular shows the struggle migrants face as they try to balance the demands of family, education, and their livelihoods. Xiao Li, as we'll call her, is from Anhui, one of the poorest provinces in all of China that is just a few hundred kilometers from prosperous Shanghai. Her parents work in Shanghai to support the family back in Anhui. But Xiao Li rarely sees her parents as Xiao Li lives with her grandparents in order to attend school. Because of household registration policies, children are only entitled to attend classes in the location where they are legally registered to live. Thus Xiao Li must attend classes in Anhui even though her parents have lived and worked in Shanghai her entire life. Living with grandparents provinces away was a recipe for disaster. Although Xiao Li emerged from primary school relatively unscathed, as she matured and attended middle school, the relationship with her grandparents disintegrated completely. At wits end, her traditional and austere grandparents beat her when she misbehaved, much to the fury of her mother in Shanghai. However, her mother was miles away and there was nothing for her to do if she wanted her daughter to continue to receive an education. But thanks to a recent policy shift in Shanghai, Li's mother gained another option--enrolling Xiao Li in public school here. The Shanghai's public schools just last year began permitting and subsidizing the education of the children of migrant workers who can document their legal status. However, like so many other issues in China, the rules on the books and the real situation are oftentimes two completely different things. When Xiao Li's mother approached a local school to register her daughter, the principal stated that they were full (even subsequent research on my part revealed this not to be the case). Other schools nearby said the same thing. When she sought out the educational bureau's assistance, they simply pushed her case further and further into bureaucratic morass. By the time Li's mother eventually did find a school, it was already one month into the semester and her daughter, were she to enroll, was already too far behind. Also, because her daughter was in 8th grade, she could only take one semester of classes before her legally allowable 9 years of education would run out (9th grade is usually spent in the home provinces preparing for the high school entrance exams). Thus, after this struggle, Xiao Li's mother had succeeded yet failed. While her daughter could attend school, it would be far away from her mother's apartment, in a school that she would likely fall behind in, and one that she could only attend for one semester. Thus, although she technically could take advantage of the newly reformed law allowing migrants to enter the schools, in actuality, the circumstances of her life made taking advantage of the opportunity impossible. Today, Xiao Li remains in Anhui with her grandparents. While obviously the laws regarding education in Shanghai have become more progressive, the attitudes and the processes involved with education in the city remain parochial and territorial (a topic itself worth another essay). Thus, while the laws have certainly changed for the better, in actuality, so many obstacles remain for migrants in the cities that even these well-intentioned reforms cannot meaningfully affect change. Xiao Li's case is a sure sign that changing the laws can only do so much. Changing attitudes as well as policy implementation are both vital should any of these reforms be effective. To be sure, these changes are to be applauded, but if they are not supplemented with deeper, more genuine shifts in Shanghai, the impetus driving change in Shanghai will likely stall and be lost, sinking the hope of any improvement for China's migrants. More on China
 
Taylor Marsh: President Karzai 'Legalises' Rape Top
by Taylor Marsh After what happened in the Swat region, this was easily foreseen , especially with President Karzai's popularity plummeting and an election on the horizon. The Independent's article today also throws a shadow, maybe even complications, across Obama's Afghanistan strategy . From The Independent : ... Critics claim the president helped rush the bill through parliament in a bid to appease Islamic fundamentalists ahead of elections in August. In a massive blow for women's rights, the new Shia Family Law negates the need for sexual consent between married couples, tacitly approves child marriage and restricts a woman's right to leave the home, according to UN papers seen by The Independent. "It is one of the worst bills passed by the parliament this century," fumed Shinkai Karokhail, a woman MP who campaigned against the legislation. "It is totally against women's rights. This law makes women more vulnerable." [...] That extremism is hitting the Af-Pak region just as President Obama unveils his new strategy, with Secretary Clinton in the Hague making our case today, should be a chilling signal to us all. When Sharia law was agreed to in Swat, Ahmed Rashid, a leading voice in all things Taliban, wrote what it meant to the unraveling in Pakistan , which we saw take yet another lurch yesterday . While the government insists the legal change will allow only a limited application of Islamic justice through the local courts, the Taliban interprets it as allowing the full application of Sharia, affecting all aspects of education, administration and law and order in the region. However the deal may be interpreted, it is an unmistakable defeat in the country's losing battle against Islamic extremism. Even though the military regime of former President Pervez Musharraf entered into several controversial, short-lived cease-fires with the Pakistani Taliban in the Pashtun tribal belt, Musharraf's army never conceded major changes in the legal or political system. In all the arguments against Obama's Afghan strategy, many coming from the left , what the President's commitment means to women is rarely in the mix. But how can any country be stable without women as part of the political mix? The answer is simple and sobering. It can't. We'll have to see if any reporter on the trip with Clinton asks her about this latest development aimed at women, compliments of Pres. Karzai. Mrs. Clinton has shown her commitment to women's rights as human rights as first lady, so it's a perfect question to ask. As an independent journalist, unfortunately, I don't have a seat at that table, because I don't have a new media (or traditional) sponsor. But if I did it would be the first question I'd ask. More on Afghanistan
 
One For The Table: Potatoes That You Have to Love Top
It's just a fact. If you don't love these, it's over between us. The dialogue will stop. Okay, it's been sort of one-sided up until now anyway, but these potatoes are defining. They are comforting. They are easy. I've been cooking them for years. Believe me, they taste fabulous. You will thank me later. I can eat these potatoes three times a day. But they are meant for dinner. Still, I bring this up because the potato is one of the few vegetables that people feel comfortable with in the early morning hours. Most people hear the word eggplant and see the sunrise and feel the need to go back to bed. Which is to say, you can make these potatoes for dinner and reheat them in the morning in a skillet with your scrambled eggs and we have what is known as a slice of heaven. This is not something most people want to do with eggplant parm. Which leads me to mustard. An underachiever. In so many ways. Now we know, from experience, that the potato is simply a vehicle for a sauce, an oil, or a spice. This recipe takes advantage of all three propositions. So here's what you do: Use a potato and a half per person. I'm going to say there are four of you. So I'm going to say you have six potatoes (this is starting to sound like a math problem). Cut up the potatoes into pieces the size of Hersey's kisses, meaning odd shapes, the size of chunky coins. There must be a better way to describe that. I can't think of how at the moment. Now use equal parts mustard and olive oil to coat the potato chunks. I like to use Dijon mustard, or Gulden's spicy hot mustard. I can't tell you how much because this is dependent on your potato situation. But I can tell you that you are going to coat your potatoes in this oily mustard bath and you will probably have about one third of a cup of mustard, and one third of a cup of olive oil. To this brightly colored mixture, shake in a few drops of Tabasco sauce (or not if you're already using the spicy mustard), and then spread your potatoes on a cookie sheet (I put tin-foil down first). Sprinkle with a dash of pepper, and bake in a hot oven (400 degrees), checking after fifteen minutes often. I like my potatoes on the crispy side. Remove when they are done to your liking, and serve with a roasted chicken, a fresh tossed salad, and a glass of nice wine. Or with a grilled hamburger, a fruit salad and a beer. Or with some lamb chops, broccoli, and cheese bread. You get the picture.... Pure comfort. More on Food
 
Lanny Davis: The Purple Leadership of Newark's Mayor Cory Booker Top
When he ran first ran for office as a young African American, some of the black political establishment accused him of not being "black enough." When he graduated from a prestigious law school, he chose to do community organizing in an inner city neighborhood where too many black men were either incarcerated or unemployed. When he ran and won election to his first local office, he rejected the "left" vs. "right" paradigm. He worked with Republicans and Democrats, liberals and conservatives, and focused on solutions to problems -- not ideological labels. Defying the purist left ideologues of his Democratic Party, he campaigned for Connecticut Senator Joe Lieberman in the 2006 Democratic primary. Of course I could be talking about Barack Obama (who also similarly defied the ideological purists of his liberal Democratic Party base and supported Joe Lieberman remaining a member of the Senate Democratic Caucus). Instead, I am talking about Cory Booker, President Obama's friend and ally, who is in his third year of his four-year term as Mayor of Newark. Cory Booker's political life story is the stuff of movies. Indeed, his first campaign for Mayor in 2002 was the basis of a 2005 Academy Award-nominated documentary, called Street Fight . (He narrowly lost, 53%-47% against long-time Mayor Sharpe James.) While at Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar, he became close friends with a young orthodox Rabbi from the Chabad Lubavitch Hasids in Brooklyn, Shmuley Boteach, and served as president of the Rabbi's "L'Chaim Society," a non-sectarian group founded by the young Rabbi (later to become a famous author and media personality) to serve as a forum for important speakers and to bridge the gaps between people and religious groups from all perspectives. After graduating Yale Law School, Booker moved to Newark, coordinated a community youth project, and lived for ten years in a notorious Newark public housing project, Brick Towers, and then in a 3-story rental unit on Hawthorne Avenue in Newark's South ward, described as a "drug and gang-plagued neighborhood of boarded-up houses and empty lots." In 1999, he scored an upset victory for a seat on the 9-member Newark City Council. Shortly thereafter he began a 10-day hunger strike, living in a tent in front of one of Newark's worst housing projects (Garden Spires) to protest the city government's apparent indifference to open air drug markets in that community. After his narrow defeat in the 2002 Mayoralty race, he announced that night his intention to run again in 2006. He gave up his Council seat and decided to run again for Mayor -- but this time put together a complete slate of Council candidates. He won the election in 2006 by a landslide 72% vote against the former Mayor Sharpe's designated successor -- and, just as important, he swept in with him his entire slate of reform Council members. Even before he was sworn in as mayor, Mayor-elect Booker filed legal challenges to halt apparent "pay for play" sales of Newark real estate at bargain basement prices to political insiders and developers. In June 2006, his suit was upheld by a local judge. Since he took office in July 2006, Booker has brought demonstrable improvements in the daily lives of Newark residents. Shocking but true: One of the first things he did was to tell taxpayers the truth. Newark's city government needed more money. He sought and obtained an unprecedented 8.3% property tax increase to invest in Newark's rebirth and renewal. Among his remarkable achievements in less than three years: * Through new recruits and reassignments, Booker immediately added several hundred new cops on the street, contributing to reduction in shootings and murders by more than 40%. He backed his new Director of the Newark Police Department, Garry McCarthy, when he installed street barricades to seal off the open air drug markets, despite harsh criticism from liberal critics. * He has been a key member in Mayors Against Illegal Guns -- a national organization of over 225 mayors, including pro-gun control liberals with pro-Second Amendment conservatives, with all committed to eliminating illegal weapons purchased and possessed by criminals to commit crime and kill people. * He has collaborated with and obtained funding from the private sector, helping to provide support for the first ever community court in New Jersey and the funding of one of wireless public safety networks, including 109 cameras over seven square miles, where 80% of the shootings had occurred in the prior 3 years, that is not only the most extensive such system in the state of New Jersey, but also, one of the largest in the United States. * He doubled the production of affordable housing, already completing more than 400 units, with more than triple that amount in the pipeline -- and did so by attracting private partners ranging from Jon Bon Jovi to local minority developers. * His particular focus has been on reconnecting mostly black male ex-offenders with their communities and families. He has created innovative programs, such as the Center for Fathers, to teach them parenting skills, train them for jobs, teach them about alternatives to another cycle of drugs, crime, and prison. * And like his friend from across the Hudson River, Mayor Michael Bloomberg of New York City and Bloomberg's courageous reformer Chancellor of New York City's public schools, Joel Klein, Mayor Booker committed himself to fundamental change in Newark's public school system. He broke with liberal orthodoxy by supporting charter schools and school vouchers, teacher accountability, and performance testing. I met Mayor Booker for the first time last week. He was one of a small group of political and business leaders discussing key issues and future trends in American politics. The session lasted about 90 minutes. It took me about five minutes listening to him to conclude that I was in the presence of an extraordinary political talent and public servant. Talk about a "purple" bipartisan approach: He sees and builds bridges where ordinary partisans see and exacerbate breaches. He speaks the truth simply and powerfully about how to solve people's problems, especially the underclass and the powerless, not by more partisanship, but by less. This guy is the real deal. If Barack Obama is the most historic and successful African American national political leader in our nation's history, then I predict that Cory Booker will be, if he isn't already, the most important African American Mayor in American history. And I wouldn't be surprised if in the not-too-distant future he becomes an historic national political leader as well. Stay tuned. Lanny J. Davis, a Washington lawyer and former special counsel to President Clinton from 1996-98, served as a member of President Bush's Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board from 2006 to 2007. He is the author of "Scandal: How 'Gotcha' Politics Is Destroying America." (Palgrave MacMillan, 2006). More on Barack Obama
 
Stephen C. Rose: Obama's Ingenuity Card Top
By Stephen C. Rose Barack Obama put all the pieces of the new economy together two years ago but it is/was obviously a mite too radical to get the John McCain's of the world aboard. He knew, for example, that, by making a contemporary high speed grid, geography would change entirely because it really would make no difference where you lived. We could build new settlements on cheap land, less prone to flood, fire and other sorts of mayhem. He also knew that by bringing total transparency to governance, he would create an environment where "reporting" could be done by all of us dolts out here. The result would be a quantum leap in ... knowing what is happening. Maybe he also knew newspapers would be dying. He knew, also, that the world of metrosprawl and everyone owning a cardboard cutout house and one or two newish cars was/is precarious, especially when built on a jail society that is not beyond re-explosion if things get really bad. We need ways to reclaim our public life and make being in public fun and safe. Above all he knew that ingenuity (a favorite Presidential word) would be required to solve these and other real and implied problems. Are we failing to catch on? Ingenuity to me would involve building new communities that have all features needed for living within walking distance or a short ride away. But I have not heard an echo of this. Ingenuity would mean the proliferation of new or changed or expanded professions -- and when will we start calling skilled workers professionals? Among these -- teachers. Many teachers should man (or woman) "remote" teaching nodes that operate nearly 24/7 to bring learning within walking distance (or a short ride). Drivers -- another professional class. The thing lacking in the reconstruction of the auto industry is what they will make. The answer is, not so many cars, not so many single passenger or single family vehicles. We need to go limo. We need all manner of decent-sized, multi-passenger vehicles. And to work toward free advertiser-supported public transit on OUR roads . A total new generation of larger vehicles could come out sounding good in Obama speech. We beat back oil dependence and enhanced the longevity of people's pocketbooks. Advertiser-supported? Absolutely. Why would advertisers not fight for the right to have their free transit wrapped with their appropriate message. I just came home on Wendy's. We have an aging global population of billions who will eventually become unable to control cars on the nightmare emulation of highway culture that is being built worldwide. When we wake up and start getting ingenious about THAT, we will move a giant step toward some serious retooling of the auto industry. We have a need to reduce vehicles while adding to their capacity. We need to de-clog our arteries. The roads after all belong to us. We should be ingenious about how to make them useful in the future. Please see my profile for a plethora of similarly utopian screeds and other widely ignored offerings. Cheers. http://stephencrose.wordpress.com/
 
Jenifer Fox: Our Education System Needs Transcendence, Not Fixing Top
Over the past two weeks I learned that three teens in three different leading independent schools on the East Coast took their own lives. Two of them committed suicide on campus. While we can never fully know the reasons young people make such tragic choices, the evidence is clear that an education system that does not put young people first plays a major role, and the broken system is not confined to our public schools or the underprivileged. For even the most successful teens, high school has become an anxiety-producing machine--and we don't seem able to reprogram it. With the U.S. House of Representatives' stimulus package committing more than $100 billion for education programs in the K-12 environment, it is clear that education is crucial to business. Maybe it's time to think of it as one and focus our attention on the consumers of that business: the students. The current win-lose, right-wrong model of education is entirely a model of scarcity. Most all of our recent decisions regarding education are predicated on the idea that if we simply remediate the weaknesses in the system that we will in effect fix the problems. But the problems are not as simple as we contend. What we are dealing with is an outdated model. The current paradigm has everyone from the most academically talented to the most challenged believing that there is one road to success--and that all the on-ramps to that road are backed up for miles. This is all wrong. You can feel in your gut that is wrong, but more importantly, teens, a consumer representing a major demographic of the education business know it is wrong and while we stand around debating what to do or not do in a system that is fundamentally wrong, they are deciding they are not going to take it any longer. They are not buying into it. See, it doesn't matter if you agree with me or not--when kids start dropping out in record numbers, and mental health departments at the Ivies are the fastest growing department on campus, and children are taking their own lives, it doesn't matter what the adults are debating. The evidence is clear--the high school as we know it is no longer relevant. And no amount of advanced technology or higher standards is going to create the change we seek. Our education system needs transcendence, not fixing. The secondary school environment in the United States and throughout the world is flawed because it is focused on achievement over relevant and meaningful learning. Having a 4.0 grade point average or perfect scores on standardized tests doesn't define who a child is or who he is able to become. Children yearn to be more than a list of achievements and scores; they desire relevance. Unfortunately, our schools do not provide them with the things they truly need to discover success in their lives. The reality is that teens today are able to learn more outside of school than in it. Students no longer need teachers to deliver content to them. Today, students can watch lectures at home if that is what is needed. Sitting in a school, listening to a teacher talk to them all day is, in a word, boring. The 1992 study The Silent Epidemic, conducted by the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation, uncovered that many drop-outs are motivated and above average academically. The study cited that the number one reason they are dropping out is boredom. For those who do stay in school, boredom is still a factor. They are simply more adept at playing the game until they get through. But is "getting through" enough? Our educational system will not deliver results until we meet the consumers where they are and give them what they want; they want to make the world a better place--they want to do this with rich technology that connects them in meaningful ways to work that plays to their strengths. This is the desire of all teens, no matter what their economic or racial background. Refocusing education will take more than money. It will take a fundamental shift in what we believe to be true about high school. Until this shift is realized, the stimulus package for education will only serve the adults, not the children. The real question the education community should be asking at this time in history is "What do schools do that can't be done by anyone else, anywhere?" When high school teachers and administrators can answer this question, they will take a giant leap toward relevancy for teens. All the money in the world will not fix a system that is outmoded. The longer we continue to merely discuss our schools as broken and in need of rescue, the more we will see teens rebel. The longer we continue to approach education from a scarcity model the weaker it will get, and young people will continue to leave to pursue other interests. The fact is most teachers still teach like they are in the 20th Century--and teens have transcended this pedagogy. Young people that desire true stimulus don't just want to be bailed out. Many high school students today want to change the world and they are doing just that in spite of what they spend the day at school learning. You don't believe me? Check out MTV's Think, an online community unconnected with any school where teens are involved in self-initiated nonprofit organizations and activism dealing with a wide range of topics including health, human rights, politics, education, faith and the environment. The tag line of this online community is "Your Cause, Your Effect." Have a look at idealist.org , a website devoted to getting people involved in causes all around the world. Much of the content on this page is geared toward proving teens with meaningful opportunities to change the world. Young people can focus in on their strengths, pick activities and causes that truly energize them and learn how to make meaningful contributions, all online. Thousands of teens participate in these communities and that is just the tip of the iceberg. To young people, these places are relevant. Here they are able to choose activities based on their strengths and passions, they can make meaningful contributions that help them learn and build their expertise based on real life. These sites and the dozens like them are not initiated in schools--they are flowing from and funded by corporate America. While we race toward new solutions to fix a broken machine, young people are transcending our system and creating new ways to learn and feel fulfilled--ways that have nothing to do with school. Until we can figure out how to use the stimulus package to stimulate meaningful learning that young people want to remain a part of, we will not improve our system. *** Jenifer Fox is the Author of Your Childs Strengths (Penguin, 2009) and a leader in the Strengths Movement in Schools, a non-profit devoted to joining corporate America with youth in discovering ways to build on strengths for a more prosperous future. You can contact Jennifer at jeniferfx@gmail.com .
 
Pistachio Recall: Setton Pistachio Sends Out Information Top
Setton Pistachio sent out this press release Tuesday, announcing its recall of pistachio bags over Salmonella fears. Scroll down for the press release. According to The Associated Press , the company knew about the tainted pistachios last week: The FDA learned about the problem last Tuesday, when Kraft Foods Inc. notified the agency that routine product testing had detected salmonella in roasted pistachios. Kraft and the Georgia Nut Co. recalled their Back to Nature Nantucket Blend trail mix the next day. The FDA contacted Setton Pistachio and California health officials shortly afterward, in what Acheson called a "proactive move." The Press Release from Setton Pistachio: TERRA BELLA, Calif., March 31, 2009 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ ----Setton Pistachio of Terra Bella, Inc. announced today that it is voluntarily recalling from nationwide distribution specific lots of bulk roasted shelled pistachios and 2,000 lbs., 1,700 lbs., 1,800 lbs. and 1,000 lbs. tote bags of roasted inshell pistachios sold to wholesale customers due to potential contamination with the Salmonella organism. This voluntary recall affects certain bulk roasted inshell and roasted shelled pistachios shipped on or after September 1, 2008. The bulk product was distributed throughout the United States. The Company is voluntarily taking this precautionary measure after learning that a small amount of roasted shelled pistachios processed by Setton Pistachio and received by a commercial customer in late 2008 recently tested positive for Salmonella. This voluntary recall is not in any way related to the recent recalls associated with peanuts or peanut butter. The Company is asking those firms who received bulk product and have further processed, repackaged, or distributed the affected products to recall those products and contact FDA. In addition, the company is voluntarily recalling the following retail product: Setton Farms brand roasted salted shelled pistachios in 9 oz. film bags, UPC Code: 034325020252 with a "Best Before" date between 01/06/10 and 01/19/10. This product was distributed in the following states: SC, GA, FL, NC, VA, TN, KY. Consumers should not consume this product and should return what they may have to the place of purchase for a full refund. Setton has established a toll free number, (888) 228-3717 for consumers to call for further information. Salmonella can cause serious and sometimes fatal infections in young children, frail or elderly people, and others with weakened immune systems. Healthy persons infected with Salmonella often experience fever, diarrhea (which may be bloody), nausea, vomiting and abdominal pain. In rare circumstances, infection with Salmonella can result in the organism getting into the bloodstream and producing more severe illnesses such as arterial infections (i.e., infected aneurysms), endocarditis and arthritis. This is the first ever pistachio recall for Setton Pistachio, which has been selling pistachios for more than 13 years. Setton Pistachio is committed to quality products and consumer safety, and is taking aggressive action to prevent the need for any future recalls of its products. SOURCE Setton Pistachio of Terra Bella, Inc. Compiled by Katharine Zaleski
 

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