Sunday, April 19, 2009

Y! Alert: The Full Feed from HuffingtonPost.com

Yahoo! Alerts
My Alerts

The latest from The Full Feed from HuffingtonPost.com

Marianne Schnall: This Year Make Earth Day a Family Affair Top
Tips On Getting Kids Excited About Greening Our Planet Earth This April 22nd marks the annual celebration of Earth Day, a national American and now global expression of public will bringing together environmental activists and the community at large, to foster respect for the planet and help create a sustainable society. The following article provides creative ideas and suggestions for youngsters, teens, educators and parents seeking to celebrate the riches of our planet on Earth Day through simple, impactive gestures at the home, school, community, civic and political levels. Here are some environmentally conscious activity ideas to celebrate Earth Day: Appreciate the Earth: Wake early, take a morning walk with your children and watch the sunrise. Breathe in the morning air and focus on the natural world around you. Reflect on the things that you love about the earth. Write in your journal, make up a story, draw a picture, write a poem. Think about how you as a family can preserve and keep the earth in good health. Make an Earth-Day Pledge: Sit down with your family and come up with earth-friendly resolutions you can all keep. Examples could be to start recycling and purchasing recycled products, make the change to non-toxic cleaners and pesticides, purchase organic produce, bike to school or work, or become vegetarians. Arrange a Special Earth Day Action in Your Own Community: Plant a tree or organize an Earth Day clean up - supply bags and pick a park, street, or other public area and clean it up. Host a recycling event or organize a drop off site for toxic materials such as batteries and paint cans. Set up a table in a public place and let people know how you feel about taking care of the earth. Set up a compost demonstration alongside a plant sale. Beautify Your Schools: Participants can prepare garden beds and children can plant flowers at a later date. Have volunteers bring garden tools. Ask for landscaper and Master Gardener volunteers to help oversee this project. Plant a tree at the school. Green Your Schools: Talk to school administrators about changing over to non-toxic cleaners and building products, serving organic milk, food and juice, and using recycled, non-toxic school supplies. Have your school conduct an energy audit. Ask them to incorporate environmental themes and activities into the school's curriculum. Organize an Eco-field Trip: Plan a trail walk through a park, a visit to a nature center, organic farm, science museum, your local recycling plant, landfill, or water reservoir. Plan an Earth Day Event : Write and perform an Earth Day play, organize an Earth Day Music Concert or Earth Day Art Show. Have an Eco-Fashion show, demonstrating clothes made from hemp and organic cotton. Organize an organic picnic - invite friends for lunch in the park on the grass with only organic foods. Get the local schools involved in their own special events with the kids. Your school can make a sculpture of recycled materials, or individual classes or individual children can create their own recycled art projects. Create an Earth Day mural. Support Pro-Earth Groups : Plan an Earth Day walk-a-thon or clean-up-a-thon. Take financial pledges from people to sponsor you for each mile you walk or each garbage bag you fill. Donate the money to a reputable environmental agency or use the money for local beautification. Adopt a park, playground, or street. Adopt an endangered animal from an environmental organization. Shop Green: Use your purchasing power to support environmentally friendly companies and products by doing your shopping online, which cuts out pollution from car travel and the waste of paper catalogs. Choose from thousands of earth-friendly products including non-toxic household cleaners, organic and hemp clothing, natural body care, energy efficient products, recycled paper and more. Reduce Waste: Clean out your closets and bring things that you no longer need to a thrift shop. Don't throw things away! Instead, have a swap -- meet and trade clothes, toys, and books with your friends. Make a list of disposable items that you can do without. Take a grocery store tour and learn how to purchase products that have little or no packaging, organic produce, and products made of recycled materials. Take Action! Write a letter with your children to the President or your local, state or federal government representatives asking them to focus on a particular environmental issue. Write to a corporation and congratulate them on their "good" environmental practices or ask them to clean up their act. "The fate of the living planet is the most important issue facing mankind." - Gaylord Nelson (founder of Earth Day) This article originally appeared at EcoMall.com . More on Earth Day
 
Tom Hayden: Is Obama Isolated in Latin America? Top
Latin America may be Barack Obama's greatest opportunity and greatest current weakness. As an opportunity, the continent is in the midst of the greatest democratic revolution in fifty years and can become a successful model of independent economic development. Domestically, the growing Latino and immigrant populations in the United States are evidence as to where the future lies. Two-thirds of them voted for Obama, helping deliver New Mexico, Colorado, Nevada, and even Florida. The weakness is that Obama has little experience in Latin America, is surrounded with advisors who represent the failed models of NAFTA-style trade agreements, drug war interventions in Colombia and Mexico, the irrational embargo of Cuba, and U.S. hostility to democratically-elected governments in Venezuela and Bolivia. Over an eight-year presidency, however, Obama's progressive instincts and intelligence might lead him to break with the failed policies of the past and define the U.S. as a "good neighbor" in the tradition of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who banned military interventions and accepted Mexico's and Bolivia's rights to nationalize their oil industry in the 1930s. The future begins today in Trinidad and Tobago, an archipelago populated by the descendants of slaves and sugar-cane workers of empires past. Advisers in Washington, Caracas and La Paz have been huddling for weeks to orchestrate today's inescapable encounters between Obama, Hugo Chavez, and Evo Morales. One reasonable guess is that Brazil's Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva will facilitate the ritual contacts, which will be a mixture of the scripted and the impromptu. [One of Obama's former professors, Roberto Unger, lives in Brazil and advises Lula.] Obama surely will be good-natured and project the dawn of improved dialogue and diplomatic relations. He combines sweeping possibilities with incremental measures, such as the relaxation of travel and remittances for Cuban-Americans visiting their homeland. These new policies are less than Latin American wants, but may be enough to keep Latin America engaged with the new president. Chavez will project two sides of his Bolivarian project: a positive abrazo to the newcomer combined with a declaration of independence for Latin America. Morales will glow with the Aymara [indigenous] presence long suppressed in continental relationships. If the atmosphere becomes friendly enough, he may hand Obama a coca leaf. That will be stepping into the shallow end of the pool, so to speak, the stage of superficial rapprochement. But the shallow will lead to the deep in the months and years ahead. Obama needs to create his own Latin American working group that engages with its counterparts to the South in a permanent roundtable dialogue where no issues are off the table. Unfortunately, social movements in America demanding a new course in Latin America have ebbed since the anti-WTO and anti-FTAA protests of the past decade and the solidarity movements that came before. Organized labor, the immigrant rights movement and environmentalists will have to come together with progressive Latinos to demand significant change towards the south. In the establishment center, Obama has some support to go further. The Council on Foreign Relations already approves the normalization of ties with Cuba and better relations with Venezuela and Bolivia. Julia Sweig of the CFR has been particularly good on Latin American issues, but was passed over for a post in the administration. On the right of the spectrum, Obama can be less worried than previous presidents about the Miami Cubans, whose stranglehold on U.S. foreign policy is fading with time. A greater threat to Obama will come from the neo-conservatives who want an aggressive approach to Venezuela. The Center for Security Policy already is demanding to know "who lost Latin America?' to Chavez and Venezuela, claiming they are a breeding ground for Islamic terrorists. This line of thinking parallels that of Lou Dobbs and Patrick Buchanan, who claim that America's jobs and national identity are threatened by immigration from the South. Their threat of right-wing populism could gain traction in the recession, but thus far seems to be a minority backlash. At the deeper end of the pool will be trade agreements. Obama promised to re-open NAFTA and opposed Bush's trade deal with Colombia. He now needs to clarify how far he intends to back away from his campaign pledge, a retreat which will upset Latin America and organized labor. Lula, who is considered a pragmatic leader, is not against the WTO or FTAA per se, but even he demands that power be shifted away from the "white-haired blue-eyed" Wall Street bankers who have plunged the continent into greater poverty. To the left of Lula are those led by Venezuela in ALBA, the Bolivarian alternative model, who are shaping a Latin American trade and currency bloc of their own. Obama will be under great pressure to accept a negotiated agreement more equitable to Latin America and distance himself from the wreckage left behind by the Bush administration and Wall Street. The deepest issue will be liberating the U.S., Mexico, Colombia and the whole continent from the nightmare of spreading military intervention under the pretext of drug wars. Hawks in Washington prefer is a politics of repression state-formation as a rival pole to Chavez' 21st century socialism. Plan Colombia and Plan Merida set in motion a dangerous U.S. military intervention in support of corrupt, authoritarian regimes, leading toward permanent U.S. bases and forward positioning in Latin America. Thomas Shannon, the key State Department official under both Bush and Obama, has described this approach as "armoring NAFTA." Branded as essential to protecting Americans from drugs and gangs, the result will be a toxic combination of privatization and militarization. This emergent policy, towards which the Obama administration is drifting, will require a powerful resistance from movements in both North and South if it is to be checked. Though only a first step, Hillary Clinton's acceptance of blame for American drug consumption and free-for-all U.S. weapons sales to Mexican traffickers must be the start of an imperative dialogue. The Calderon government's military offensive against the Mexican cartels, supported by the U.S., has resulted in 7-10,000 deaths in the past year alone. In Colombia, the U.S.-backed counterinsurgency has claimed 114, 000 lives, including 12,713 alleged "subversives" from 2002 to 2008, according to Colombian human rights sources. Latin American leaders are moving towards legalization, regulation and treatment strategies for drugs like marijuana, while Morales and others demand the legalization of coca. But the Pentagon model of "armoring NAFTA" is deepening, with typical gringo indifference to oblivious to Latin American perspectives. As the continental drift widens, a radical new analysis is emerging among many intellectuals and policy analysts in Latin America, one that views the U.S. as a declining superpower. In Venezuela, for example, I interviewed Gen. Alberto Mueller-Rojas, a close Chavez ally who now heads a Caracas policy institute of the Socialist Party. Over a three-hour discussion, the general explained why he thinks it pointless for the U.S. to worry about "losing" Latin America. "Latin America is already 'lost,'" he began. Besides the repeated democratic elections of left-center parties, internal economic, trade, financial and diplomatic exchanges are growing throughout the region. Technology transfer is increasing. Chinese, Iranian, Russian investments and military sales are expanding. The only remaining American base is Colombia, he said. Second, Central America is similar, he said. The FMLN will win in El Salvador, he correctly predicted. Honduras is the remaining U.S. base. Third, he claimed, "the Caribbean is lost to the U.S." Instead of the U.S. embargo isolating Cuba and intimidating the region, the reverse is true. Its Cuban policy has isolated the U.S. in the entire region. The general's proposal to Obama was to accept the geopolitical fact that "a multi-polar world exists already", through transnational forces which are more important than governments. "Technology conspires against empire", he asserted, because "it facilitates communications among people to achieve their needs to develop themselves." He was suggesting that the slogan "another world is possible" already is obsolete. Another world already exists, or is beginning to exist. "It is irreversible," he opined. In the general's perspective, all Obama needs to do is deal with reality. The U.S. is no longer the hegemon over Latin America. "If the geopolitical interest of the U.S. is to contain its competitors, that is no longer possible." Instead, the U.S. should learn the lesson that military strength must be replaced by politics: "We in Venezuela are willing to do politics, which is a process of negotiating explicitly." He added that Obama gives us "hope for normalizing relations with us, because we know he must please his base." Listening to this general share his long experiences, I wondered if he was underestimating the persuasive power of Obama's charisma combined with the low visibility of the Pentagon's counterinsurgencies. I also worried whether the American public might be stampeded to senseless war by fear of drug lords and terrorists at the border. The U.S. has been dismissed incorrectly as a "paper tiger" before. But the general's explanation made greater sense than the Beltway-centric view that the U.S. has been "losing" Latin America because the Bush administration became mired in Iraq. It remains to be seen if Obama can bend events to his liking by offering "a new beginning" or whether his task will be to retreat from unsustainable fantasies that Latin America continues to be America's backyard. Tom Hayden is the author of the forthcoming The Long Sixties, From 1960 to Barack Obama [Paradigm, August 2009]. He has made many trips to Latin America. More on Latin America
 
Dr. Susan Corso: Susan Boyle: Kissed by an Angel Top
I have to take issue with Saturday's New York Times' article headline: Unlikely Singer is YouTube Sensation. Why the hell is she "unlikely?" Because she doesn't look like a star. So? Because she's 47? So? Because she's an unemployed spinster from Scotland? So? Susan Boyle isn't an unlikely anything. None of us are. Instead, she's a human being who's been kissed by an angel -- of song. And by the grace of divine order, we were privileged to receive her gift poured out for all the world to hear last Saturday night on Britain's Got Talent . By her own report, Miss Boyle has been singing since she was 12. If we do the math, that means she's been holding, thinking of, nurturing and growing her dream for 35 years. She's also been singing during that time -- when she could, where she could, when asked, and probably when not asked as well. Miss Boyle has sung in her local church for more than three decades, but she didn't pick a church song for her first worldwide venue. (I can't wait to hear her knock "Ave Maria" out of the park!) Instead, she chose a song about dead and dying dreams -- ALL THE WHILE holding out for her own dream of being a professional singer, in her own words, as good as "Elaine Paige." The conventional wisdom from her first Scottish television interview, from the BBC, and various other sources yammered on about how Miss Boyle is so inspiring because ... she's an underdog ... looks and age don't matter ... it's never too late ... she reminds us that we should never give up hope .... I hold a dissenting opinion. Susan Boyle is the exact right singer with the exact right song for our exact right time. Our world is falling apart. Our dreams, if we want to continue in the new world that's forming, must be different. We can't keep the same dreams, in the same forms, doing the same things to make them come true, when the environment for their becoming is drastically changed. We can't. We have to let life kill the dreams we dreamed, and let new dreams surface. Interestingly, the only other song I found online sung by the angel-kissed Miss Boyle was "Cry Me A River." Originally written for a film set in the 1920s for Ella Fitzgerald to sing, it was tossed out because, according to the song's author, Arthur Hamilton, "no one will believe a Negro knows the word 'plebian.'" I kid you not. I know the song from Streisand's debut album. Miss Boyle sings this depression-era song as though she was born to it. She, too, is one of the plebian, from Latin roots plebius , of the common people vis-à-vis the patrician people. The Times says, "Miss Boyle's apparently complete lack of formal training fits more purely into the archetypal talent-competition narrative: Unknown From Nowhere Reveals Extraordinary Gift and Stuns World." Let's take it apart idea by idea, shall we? Unknown: to whom? She took care of her mother all her life. Her mother knows her. Her church folk know her. Her brother knows her. Now we know her. Unknown, not so much. From nowhere: please? She told us where she was from, a small collection of quiet villages in Scotland. No one is from nowhere. Reveals: nope. She didn't reveal it. She received it, cared for it, used it as much as she could in as many venues as possible until that 35-year nourishment program sent her into a venue where she could pour it out, and Miss Boyle stinted nothing. She rained, she poured, she blessed us. Extraordinary Gift: I'll give you this one. Her gift, and a gift from the angel of song it is, is truly extraordinary. Stuns World: Well, certainly it stunned the three cynical judges of Britain's Got Talent. Piers Morgan said he gave her performance "the biggest yes in three seasons of the show." Amanda Holden said, "Definitely yes." And the arrogant Simon Cowell took credit for knowing what they were about to see in advance, adding (finally), "three yeses," and letting a tiny flash of his buried enthusiasm for talent peek through his cynicism before the clouds descended again. Was the world stunned, really? I don't think so. I think instead we were awed, delighted, overjoyed, reminded of who we are, blessed by this generous outpouring of song that was, to quote Amanda Holden again, "the biggest wake-up call ever." Wake up, rise, let the old dreams die. Keep nourishing the ones that do not go away. We, like Miss Boyle, will live to sing another day. Visit Susan Corso's website at www.susancorso.com . More on YouTube
 
Obama Defends Venezuela Position At Americas Summit Top
PORT-OF-SPAIN, Trinidad — President Barack Obama on Sunday suggested Cuba release its political prisoners and strongly defended his highly publicized handshakes with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez at the end of overseas trip that he said heralded a new start in U.S. ties with Latin America. At a closing news conference at the Summit of the Americas, Obama said the recent exchanges with Cuba and Venezuela provide "an opportunity for frank dialogue on a range of issues, including critical issues of democracy and human rights throughout the hemisphere." And yet, he quickly added, "The test for all of us is not simply words but also deeds." Earlier this week, the Obama administration lifted restrictions on Cuban-Americans who want to travel and send money to their island homeland and freed U.S. telecommunications companies to seek business there. Havana responded, saying it was open to talks on issues including human rights _ a topic long held off-limits. Obama suggested Cuba could further respond by releasing political prisoners and cutting fees on the money that Cuban-Americans send back to their families in the communist nation. The president's greeting of Venezuela's Chavez drew quick condemnation from Republicans back home, but Obama brushed that aside. He said Venezuela has a defense budget about one-six hundredth the size of the United States', and owns Citgo, the oil company. "It's hard to believe we are endangering the strategic interests of the United States" by talking with Chavez, Obama said. The trip was Obama's first presidential journey to the region, and he said the meeting of heads of state had the potential to create greater progress on economic progress, climate control and immigration. As he did on a recent trip to Europe, Obama stressed in Latin America that the United States is a willing partner, "inclined to listen and not just talk," in trying to advance national interests. "We recognize that other countries have good ideas, too, and we want to hear them," he said, adding that the fact that an idea comes "from a small country, like Costa Rica," should not diminish its potential benefit. Besides the discussion about Cuba, which was not invited to the summit, his trip was dominated by images of his handshakes with Chavez, the leftist president of Venezuela who once likened former President George W. Bush to the devil. Chavez approached Secretary of State Hillary Clinton during the summit and said he was restoring his nation's ambassador in Washington, voicing hopes for a new era in relations. The Venezuelan leader told reporters he will propose Roy Chaderton, his current ambassador to the Organization of American States, as the country's new representative in a move toward improving strained ties with Washington. Chavez, an ally of Cuba, a U.S. nemesis, expelled the U.S. ambassador to Venezuela, Patrick Duddy, in September in solidarity with leftist Bolivian President Evo Morales, who ordered out the top U.S. diplomat in his country. Obama welcomed the remarks from both Chavez and Cuban President Raul Castro. Reminded that he had once favored lifting the U.S. trade embargo against Cuba, Obama sidestepped. "The policy we've had in place for 50 years has not worked," he told reporters. "The Cuban people are not free." He said freedom of speech and freedom of religions are important "and not something to be brushed aside." Back in Washington, both Democrats and Republicans said Sunday that they wanted to see actions, not just rhetoric, from Cuba. "Release the prisoners and we'll talk to you. ... Put up or shut up," said Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C. "I think we're taking the right steps, and I think the ball is now clearly in Cuba's court," said Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo. "They need to respond and say what they're willing to do." Former Central Intelligence Director Michael Hayden, an official in the Bush administration, expressed caution about any changes in U.S. relations with Venezuela. "Here's a case where I would watch for behavior, not for rhetoric, and the behavior of President Chavez over the past years has been downright horrendous _ both internationally and with regard to what he's done internally inside Venezuela." Central American leaders who met with Obama said they pressed him on immigration reform. They also said that Obama promised to consider providing better advance notice when the U.S. deports dangerous criminals back to their nations. Even Nicaragua President Daniel Ortega, a critic of U.S. policy, said he found Obama receptive to dealing with the issues raised. Ortega said Obama "is the president of an empire" that has rules the president cannot change. Nevertheless, Ortega said: "I want to believe that he's inclined, that he's got the will." Hayden, Graham and McCaskill spoke on "Fox News Sunday." More on Venezuela
 
Magda Abu-Fadil: Rima Maktabi: Al Arabiya's Stunning, Substantive War-Tried Anchor Top
Fearless, dedicated, yet emotional about conflicts ripping into her country, Rima Maktabi knows when to suppress tears and get on with her job as a professional journalist. "So many times I cried when I interviewed the displaced Lebanese from south Lebanon, and many nights I suffered from physical pains due to stress," she said of reporting Israel's July 2006 war on Lebanon and sleeping with refugees. Despite hating the war, Maktabi never editorialized on the air. She acknowledged feelings affected journalists seeing their people being slaughtered, but believes detachment brings reporters closer to "the truth.'' She also finds it less difficult and hazardous for journalists covering wars in their own countries because they know the terrain, can mingle with the people, and speak the language. Rima Maktabi covers Israel's July 2006 war on Lebanon (Al Arabiya) "The more familiar one is with the land, the geography and the people, the faster and more accurate the coverage," she noted. So what makes a good war correspondent? Those who get close to the people, she said, despite being startled by missiles and war flames. "(In) times of war, phones and means of communication may be cut, sources try to mislead journalists, rumors spread fast, and live TV coverage requires immediate information which might be wrong," she said of reporters' need not to lose sight of accuracy in the fog of battle. Maktabi could have stayed away that summer, or in 2007, when the Lebanese army fought protracted month-long bloody battles with "Fateh Al Islam" in Lebanon's north, where the terrorists were holed up, but she decided to witness and report. There's steely determination in the style, substance and modus operandi of this prime time news anchor at Dubai-based, Saudi-owned Al Arabyia (www.alarabiya.net) satellite channel, out to prove that looks aren't everything. She has been presenting and co-producing a daily news hour in Arabic called "Al Thamina (8:00) KSA" since June 2008 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OB4_2yT0EoQ) , but it's a hard slog and a quantum leap for the attractive one-time weather girl, whose understated beauty landed her as a game show host, before she turned to news, all at Lebanon's Future TV station. The 32-year-old Maktabi was initially criticized for not being in full command of the Arabic language -- her college studies were in English -- and that her claim to fame was "a pretty face" when she began at the pan-Arab Al Arabiya. Weather girl, game show host, anchor Maktabi (Al Arabiya) What helped was a decade's worth of work at Future TV, where she started in 1996 as a teenager, and her later transformation into a writer, reporter, news anchor and occasional field correspondent. Dedicated viewers followed Maktabi's career shift and became big fans, with admirers blogging about her, or posting romantic videos singing her praises as "the bird of journalism." (http://www.youtube.com/results?search_type=&search_query=%D8%B1%D9%8A%D9%85%D8%A7+%D9%85%D9%83%D8%AA%D8%A8%D9%8A&aq=f) . As a news anchor, she's seen the big picture and interviewed decision makers and analysts from Iraq, Lebanon, Palestine, Jordan, Algeria, and the U.S., to name a few. She has covered breaking news, Arab summits, a Lebanese presidential election, and done a memorial program on the fall of Baghdad. But it's the people on the street in Lebanon who inspired her. The most touching dialogue was with Lebanese journalist Samir Kassir on a debate show for Lebanese youth she hosted on Future TV in 2005. Kassir was assassinated a month later, leaving the station with the last live interview of him. "I felt proud and guilty: proud to have interviewed a thinker and journalist of his kind and caliber; guilty because I pushed Kassir in my questions to speak his mind, which he did freely and courageously," Maktabi lamented. At that time, speaking with that tone was high risk, and the reward for free words was blood, she added, recalling the spate of assassinations gripping Lebanon, that included mentor Gebran Tueni, publisher of the daily An-Nahar , who, like Kassir, was blown up in his car a few months later. When anchoring the news, Maktabi stands in front of large interactive screens talking, walking about, pressing buttons, and dealing with fast moving visuals, much like counterparts at CNN , Fox , the BBC or SkyNews . Does this draw a larger audience or do viewers find it distracting? "I think the video wall presentation in "8 o'clock KSA" (17:00 GMT) involves the audience more in the news," she argued, providing her with a wide range of elements by using graphics, video rushes, and strong content. It has also improved ratings from the news hour's pre-May 2008 launch. Maktabi anchors prime time newscast on Al Arabiya (Abu-Fadil) But remote interviews have risks, Maktabi admitted, notably when sources lie or mislead. So advance research and knowing the topic well is paramount, and if she doubts a tip or a report, she does not air it. "I simply tell the audience that I need to confirm certain breaking news or that I am not sure," she said. The insistence on high professional standards comes from a hard-driving former reporter/college professor in Lebanon who saw potential in the undergraduate juggling studies and game show hosting, and who encouraged Maktabi to pursue an MA in international affairs to be on firmer ground as a well-rounded journalist. What keeps her going is a never-ending search for knowledge - something she hopes will take her back to academia for a PhD in media or politics, or another MA in business or management. Becoming a university professor is also an option. But anchoring and reporting are still Maktabi's passions. As is print, where a brief stint alongside TV in Lebanon, first gave her a taste for traditional journalism and a desire to be a columnist. Off-camera Maktabi works the phones (Abu-Fadil) She answers messages from young people or students who need advice and morale boosts but only responds to fans with emails of gratitude. Asked where she saw herself in 5-10 years, Maktabi replied: "In a kitchen cooking for five kids, my kids. Just a joke. Ask me in 10 years." More on CNN
 
Mandela Endorses Jacob Zuma At Massive Election Rally Top
JOHANNESBURG, April 19 -- Pollsters and analysts predict a clean sweep for the ruling African National Congress when this nation goes to the polls on Wednesday. But just in case, the party pulled out an electoral trump card at a massive rally Sunday: Nelson Mandela. More on South Africa
 
Auschwitz Tattoos Reunite Lost Inmates Top
JERUSALEM — As terrified teenagers 65 years ago, Menachem Sholowicz and Anshel Sieradzki stood in line together in Auschwitz, having serial numbers tattooed on their arms. Sholowicz was B-14594; Sieradzki was B-14595. The two Polish Jews had never met, they never spoke and they were quickly separated. Each survived the Nazi death camp, moved to Israel, married, and became grandfathers. They didn't meet again until a few weeks ago, having stumbled upon each other through the Internet. Late in life, the two men speak daily, suddenly partners who share their darkest traumas. "We are blood brothers," said Sieradzki, 81. "The moment I meet someone who was there with me, who went through what I went though, who saw what I saw, who felt what I felt _ at that moment we are brothers." The twist of fate doesn't end there. Two brothers who were with them in the tattooist's line have made contact since hearing of their story. One of the brothers joined them for a reunion on Sunday at Israel's Holocaust memorial Yad Vashem. With tears in their eyes, the three embraced warmly and caught up on painful memories in Hebrew and in Yiddish. "This is my victory," Sieradzki said. The meeting came a day before Israel marks its annual Holocaust remembrance day beginning Monday night, commemorating the 6 million Jews murdered in World War II. The four survivors, with the consecutive serial numbers, are among hundreds of thousands of survivors who poured into Israel at the birth of the Jewish state. An estimated 250,000 are still alive in Israel, carrying the physical and emotional scars of that era. "It is never forgotten, not for a moment," Sieradzki said. "It's like an infected sore deep inside that hurts every time it is exposed." The unlikely reconnection began when Sholowicz's daughter found a Web site that detailed Sieradzki's odyssey from Auschwitz to Israel. It struck her as eerily similar to her father's. All the same elements were there _ being separated from parents and siblings and never seeing them again, searching for scraps of bread to eat in the Polish ghettos, surviving the selection process of Dr. Josef Mengele, the infamous Auschwitz camp doctor who decided who would live and who would die. They endured Nazi death marches to two other camps in which any emaciated prisoner who fell behind was shot in the head. Later, both moved to Israel, fought in its 1948 war of independence, and made careers in its military industry. Still, the two men never met and the name Sieradzki on the Web site didn't ring a bell. Then Sholowicz, 80, saw the man's number and he froze. "I rolled up my sleeve and sure enough _ I stood exactly ahead of him in line at Auschwitz," he said. The discovery "was a moment of great emotion, great excitement. We went through it all together. We are like two parallel lines that never met." He called Sieradzki the next day. They recently met halfway between their homes in Haifa and Jerusalem, and a photo of them and their tattoos appeared in an Israeli newspaper. Sieradzki says it is astounding that both survived the Holocaust and lived this long. In Auschwitz, "I used to think about getting through the moment, the hour, at most the day," he said. "I didn't think about the next day, because I didn't think I was going to live to see the next day." He can never forget arriving at Auschwitz and seeing Mengele, who with a flick of a thumb decided fates. Those too old, too young, or too ill were sent to the gas chambers and the crematoria. Those fit enough to work were stripped, shaved and tattooed and then forced into labor. He never noticed the others in line with him. "At that moment, everyone was busy with their own thoughts," he said. "I don't remember who was in front of me and who was behind me." In an even more unlikely development, Sieradzki recently discovered who stood behind him in line for tattoos _ Shaul Zawadzki and his older brother Yaakov, serial numbers B-14596 and B-14597. They too survived Auschwitz and made it to Israel. "It's unfathomable that something like this could happen. I'm still in shock," a shaking Yaakov Zawadzki, 82, said at Sunday's reunion. He said his brother could not make the meeting both because he had to care for his ailing wife and because he could not bear the emotional burden of bringing up the old memories. Like many survivors, Sieradzki, who in Israel took on the Hebrew name Asher Aud, also kept silent for more than half a century. Only when he returned to Poland in the early 1990s did he open up. He founded an organization of the former residents of his hometown of Zdunska Wola and resurrected the Jewish cemetery there. The organization's Web site is what first drew the attention of Sholowicz's daughter. "I felt like I was closing a circle," Sieradzki said of visiting Poland. "If God kept me alive to tell of what happened, then it was worth staying alive." Now that story includes a new chapter he shares with three others, bound together forever by the numbers inked deep into their arms. "Our fate was to be together either in life or in death," Sholowicz said. "Now we have life." ___ On the Net: http://www.zchor.org/zdunska.htm More on Genocide
 
Ian Welsh: Big Brother is Watching Top
More panopticon news raises the specter of not having any privacy left. First America follows in the Brits footsteps by keeping DNA on file from people who were arrested but not convicted. Next, Britain 1) The mobile calls, emails and website visits of every person in Britain will be stored for a year under sweeping new powers which came into force this month. The new powers will for the first time place a legal duty on internet providers to store private data. 2) What really troubles him is the automatic numberplate recognition (ANPR) system implemented by the police across the country to track vehicle tax evaders and criminals, but also potentially to record where you've been. Currently it can only be accessed by the police and intelligence services, and you can't yet do it in real time - when that moment comes, it will be truly dangerous, says Campbell. The system does pose a threat to sources' anonymity, agrees Leigh: if you assume that CCTV is watching any public journey, the only way left to meet is through a private journey in your car So. Closed circuit TV (CCTV watches everything in public transit (and most public spaces in Britain) and license plate scanners track where you're traveling. Anyone with access to those two databases can, in theory, track where you are. Leigh is right about real time being a threat, the other half of the threat is recognition software which is able to reliably identify individuals and scan records, whether in real time or not. Once this occurs (and it will), combined wtih ubiquitous CCTV, and it is virtually everywhere in Britain and spreading the US, from the second you step out of the door, to the moment you return there will be a record of everything you've done in public spaces, and since most privately owned stores, malls, offices and so on tend to have CCTV, basically you will be under surveillance everywhere you go outside your house. Even inside your house is not completely off bounds, since shades don't protect against infra-red and so. Add this to the tracking everyone you phone, everyone you email, everyone you chat with and every website you visit, and there really isn't very much that you do which governments, and any major corporation which can get access to the databases, won't know. If they want to track you in real time, they can do so, and there will be very little you can do to stop it. Privacy is very swiftly becoming a thing of the past. For whatever reason, Britain has led the way (something else the wonderful Tony "middle way" Blair has to take responsibility for starting), but the new government hasn't stopped it, and other nations are following suit, albeit at a slower pace. Universal surveillance is the first step towards a Big Brother state. Folks may scoff at the possibility, but as America's founders understood, only people who don't care about their liberties put this much power into the hands of government. Power such as this will be used, and eventually someone will succumb to the temptation to use it to its full potential. In the meantime, after seeing the last eight years, those who are tempted to say "but if you've done nothing wrong, you have nothing to fear", might want to think again. As for myself, my business is my business, and no business of some government bureaucrat, whether George Bush or Barack Obama is President.
 
Roxana Saberi: Iran President Urges Full Defense For US Reporter Top
TEHRAN,Iran — President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said an American journalist sentenced to eight years in prison on charges of spying for the U.S. should be allowed to offer a full defense at her appeal, the state news agency reported Sunday. The statement came a day after Iran announced the conviction and sentence for Roxana Saberi, a 31-year-old dual American-Iranian citizen. It was the first time Iran has found an American journalist guilty of espionage, and her lawyer said he will appeal. Ahmadinejad instructed chief Tehran prosecutor Saeed Mortazavi to personally ensure that "suspects be given all their rights to defend themselves" against the charges. "Prepare for the court proceedings ... to observe and apply justice precisely," the IRNA state news agency quoted the president as saying. Saberi's case has been an irritant in U.S.-Iran relations at a time when President Barack Obama is offering to start a dialogue to break a 30-year-old diplomatic deadlock. A few days before her sentence was announced, Ahmadinejad gave the clearest signal yet that Iran too was ready for a new relationship with the U.S. The White House said Saturday that Obama was "deeply disappointed" by Saberi's conviction. The U.S. has called the charges baseless and said Iran would gain U.S. good will if it "responded in a positive way" to the case. Iran has released few details about the charges. Saberi was arrested in late January and initially accused of working without press credentials. But earlier this month, an Iranian judge leveled a far more serious allegation that she was passing classified information to U.S. intelligence services. She told her father in a phone conversation that she was arrested after buying a bottle of wine. Her father said she had been working on a book about the culture and people of Iran, and hoped to finish it and return to the United States this year. The Fargo, North Dakota native had been living in Iran for six years and had worked as a freelance reporter for several news organizations including National Public Radio and the British Broadcasting Corp. Because Saberi's father is Iranian, she received Iranian citizenship. Her father, Reza Saberi, is in Iran and has said his daughter was not allowed a proper defense during her one-day trial behind closed doors a week ago. He said no evidence has been made public, and his daughter was tricked into making incriminating statements by officials who told her they would free her if she did. He told CNN on Sunday her trial only lasted about 15 minutes. "The trial of course was not a real trial," her father told CNN. "A few minutes until the trial, she still didn't know there was a trial," he added. "It was a mock trial." On Saturday, the father told NPR that his daughter was convicted Wednesday, two days after she appeared for trial. He said the court waited until Saturday to inform lawyers of its decision. Her father was not allowed into the courtroom to see his daughter, whom he described as "quite depressed." Saberi's case has been a point of friction between the U.S. and Iran at a time when Obama has said he wants to engage in talks on Tehran's nuclear program and other issues _ a departure from the tough talk of the Bush administration. One Iranian analyst said Ahmadinejad's comments were politically motivated and Iran could be using Saberi's case to gain leverage with the United States as it seeks better relations. "Iran can use Saberi's case as a bargaining card in possible negotiations with the U.S.," said analyst Saeed Leilaz. The United States severed diplomatic relations with Iran after its 1979 Islamic revolution and takeover of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran. Relations deteriorated further under the former President George W. Bush, who labeled Iran as part of the so-called "Axis of Evil" along with Saddam Hussein's Iraq and North Korea. Iran has been mostly lukewarm to the Obama administration's overtures until Ahmadinejad's comment last week that he was ready for a new start. But Iran's judiciary is dominated by hard-liners, who some analysts say are trying to derail efforts to improve U.S.-Iran relations. Saberi's conviction comes about two months ahead of key presidential elections in June that are pitting hard-liners against reformists who support better relations with the United States. Ahmadinejad is seeking re-election, but the hard-liner's popularity has waned as Iran's economy struggles with high-inflation and unemployment. Ahmadinejad also urged the chief Tehran prosecutor to allow jailed Canadian-Iranian blogger Hossein Derakhshan the right to fully defend himself. Derakhshan, who has made trips to Israel and blogged in both English and Farsi, has been in prison since November on charges of insulting religious figures. He helped ignite the blog boom in Iran in 2001 by posting simple instructions online on how to create sites in Farsi. There was no immediate response from the prosecutor, and under Iranian law, the president has no direct authority over the judiciary. More on Iran
 
Andy Sernovitz: Why It's Wrong to Pay for Blog Coverage Top
It's a bad idea to pay for blog coverage. You're going to humiliate yourself and your company. You're going to get in legal trouble. And it just doesn't work. On The Media 's Bob Garfield and I talked this morning about the most important issue in the world of blogging: ethics. Specifically, we talked about what happens when marketers pay for placement in blogs. Here's what you need to know: Advertising is OK. Most media are supported by ads, and it's ok to have a blog supported by ads. The difference between advertising and sleaze is disclosure . It all comes down to properly saying , "And now, a word from our sponsor." If you say something is paid for, or write "Advertisement" on the top of it, everyone knows that it's not editorial. The problem comes in when you don't give proper disclosure, or try to hide it. The FTC agrees, and says that you need to make your disclosure clear to the average reader. Disclosure isn't sticky. This is the heart of the problem with disclosure on blogs and social media. Even if the original post mentions that it was paid for, that disclosure is unlikely to get repeated on Facebook, Twitter, or by anyone who reposts the paid story. Every paid blog post unleashes a torrent of blogosphere pollution. Future readers of the reposted articles have no idea that they are reading coverage of a paid ad. Hear me (and the FTC): If you pay for blog coverage, you are responsible for the subsequent deceptive posts that are generated. Trust is a one-time thing. You don't get a second change to be honest. Here's my advice: Bloggers: There's no reason to go here. It only takes one missed disclosure statement to ruin your reputation forever. Feel free to take advertising, but when you sell your editorial, you are forever tainted. Readers: Zero tolerance is the only option. Boycott any blogger or Twitterer who writes paid posts. Un-friend them on Facebook. Friends don't sell out their friends. Marketers: Don't pay for blog posts. Ever. There's no ethical or safe way to do it. It only takes one blogger who forgets to post the disclosure to humiliate your company, launch a PR scandal , permanently damage your brand, and have the FTC knocking at your door. On top of that, it generates embarrassingly bad advertising that doesn't work. It's not worth the risk (and it's wrong). So here's my disclosure: I run a group called the Blog Council which has a free Disclosure Best Practices Toolkit that you can use to learn how to do it the right way, and we're having a conference on the topic.
 
Tim Giago: April; A Month of Tears, Tragedy and Happiness Top
In April of 1921 Vaudevillian entertainer Al Jolson stood on the stage in Jolson's 59th Street Theatre in New York City in blackface in the production of the Broadway musical Bombo, and he sang, "Though April showers may come your way, they bring the flowers that bloom in May." At that time April became the month of hope and dreams. But before Jolson's song of April, the month took some ominous turns. On April 20, 1889, Adolph Hitler was born and between his life and death, millions would die in World War 2. More than 6 million Jews would die in the concentration camps in what Hitler proclaimed as the Final Solution. On April 15, 1912 the luxury liner Titanic struck an iceberg in the Atlantic Ocean and sank taking 1,517 passengers to the bottom with it. It was in April 1968 when Robert F. Kennedy made his historic visit to the Holy Rosary Mission Indian boarding school on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, just a few months before he was assassinated in California. On April 19, 1995 an Army veteran named Timothy McVeigh calmly walked away from the Ryder Truck he had parked in front of the Alfred Murrah federal building and the truck exploded nearly destroying the building and taking the lives of 168 people. And on April 20, 1999, Hitler's birthday, two high school boys, Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris, walked into the classrooms at Columbine High School and took the lives of 12 students, one teacher and then turned the guns on themselves. In all 15 people died that day. Something else happened on April 4, 1981 that helps me to round out things that happened in that month that held different meanings. On April 4 a group of Native Americans from the American Indian Movement occupied a small plot of land called Victoria Creek Canyon and changed the name to Yellow Thunder Camp in honor of Raymond Yellow Thunder, the Lakota man killed in Gordon, Nebraska by locals. On the evening that AIM took over the grounds at Yellow Thunder Camp the skies above Rapid City took on colors of red, pink and purple that I have never seen before or since. The entire sky above this city lit up for nearly 30 minutes. Members of AIM looked upon this as a sign that Wakan Tanka (Great Spirit) was with them. That same evening in a hospital bed at the Rapid City Regional Hospital, a tiny Lakota woman named Lupe breathed her last breath. When I looked out of the windows at the hospital and saw the brilliant hues of colors in the skies I thought, "There goes the spirit of my mother." In April of 1992, I got a phone call from my cousin "Buzzy" telling me to hurry home because my brother Tony, the man we called "Tuna the Bass" was in the same Regional Hospital and in dire straits. I was a Nieman Fellow at Harvard at the time and I rushed out to Logan International Airport in Boston and caught the first available flight home. I was too late. My brother passed away before my plane could reach Rapid City. I found it ironic in 2001 when I saw on the news that one of the hijacked planes that crashed into the Twin Towers in New York City took off from the same airport where I boarded the plane in an effort to make it home before my brother's death. From that day on, April has been a month of anxiety to me. My angst about the month "that brings May flowers" was pushed to the forefront when on April 6, 2006, my lovely daughter Roberta died in a terrible pickup crash in Albuquerque, N.M. She was only 34 and had just begun to find real purpose in her life. But April can also bring good things because every month of every year has had its good happenings and bad. For example, it was in the month of August when two atom bombs destroyed the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki on the island of Japan marking the first and last time that atomic weapons have ever taken the lives of human beings. It was on April 22, 1996 that I went on a blind date to celebrate the birthday of Karla Anderson, one of my employees at the Albuquerque office of my newspaper, Indian Country Today, and met, Jackie, the woman who would become my wife. Although it took several years for us to figure out that we should spend the rest of our lives together, we still celebrate April 22 as the very special day in our lives. Karla Anderson still lives and works in Albuquerque with her husband Bob, and every year we hoist a glass of wine and wish her a very Happy Birthday. So I guess, even though I traveled a very circuitous route to tell you about the bad and the good of April, I tried to make it a historical trip for you. And by the way, when I was young man, one April day in 1951, I was sitting on the porch with my teenage girlfriend at her home in North Rapid listening to the rain splatter on the roof above us, and through the open window, on her radio, the voice of Al Jolson wafted through the air; "So if it's raining, have no regrets, it isn't raining rain you know, it's raining violets." (Tim Giago, Oglala Lakota, is editor and publisher of the weekly Native Sun News and he can be reached at editor@nsweekly.com or by writing him at; 1000 Cambell St. Suite 1A, Rapid City, SD 57701)
 
Steve Rosenbaum: The Untold Susan Boyle Story Top
Ok, by now you've heard the story of Susan Boyle, the British churchlady/spinster who wowed the crowd at Britian's Got Talent. If you haven't - then take a minute and look at the clip to understand the pure power of what an unexpected talent can do. The clip is here: http://www.susan-boyle.com/video/Susan-Boyle-on-Britain-Got-Tale But the Susan Boyle story has a lot more going on than just the music phenomenon, thought that's interesting to be sure. Take, for example, the story of Paul Wood. Paul Wood is a construction worker in London, who's got the bug for building video networks on the web in his spare time. So on Saturday night in London last week Wood decided on a lark that this Susan Boyle woman he read about might 'take off' when Britain's Got Talent would be broadcast. He'd seen her in the auditions and decided to take a risk. He bought the URL Susan-Boyle.com and Sunday night - moments after the broadcast - he had a fan site for her up on line. What Wood didn't know and couldn't know was that some how Susan Boyle connected with a wide variety of people in a deep and powerful way. Why is that? First, you need to see the clip to understand. We can spend a sec and try and psycho-analyze the public: For some, the music is what it's all about. For others, it's the ugly duckling who spreads her wings. And then, it may just be given the economy, with people feeling so beaten up, that watching an underdog totally triumph was just too hard to resist. It hardly matters. She totally owned the gig - and now she's a rocket. And the best part? This isn't some contrived media event from the pop-culture factory. This is real. Susan-Boyle.com has created a pop-up destination where people can connect, share stories, record videos, and watch Susan Boyle's video experience. It is a feel good site with most comments gushing with enthusiasm and support. There is something that feels good about watching a community grow organically around such a positive media moment and personality. We just don't have enough of this stuff these days. Four days later he has a website that is getting close to a million page views a day and has over 12,000 registered members. The Wall Street Journal reports here that the site's fast growing traffic is the #1 site for Susan-Boyle fans worldwide, providing a unique mix of network clips, user-submitted video testimonials, and a live twitter stream of Susan Boyle fans that updates round the clock from a fast growing worldwide fan base. It is also worth pointing out, that only in the technologically adept world we live in could such an event be possible. Millions of people flocking to a virtual destination and forming a "flash mob" style community - never meeting each other, but finding a real outlet to come together and share in the moment. Who says technology is making us numb to personal interaction? http://www.susan-boyle.com/video/my-thoughts-about-Susan-Boyle http://www.susan-boyle.com/video/In-Response-to-Susan-Boyles-AMA http://www.susan-boyle.com/video/Susan-Boyle-I-am-dreaming-a-pea Here are just a few of the more than 4,000 comments posted to the site: top gear dave said: "I am a married man of 46 with three kids not normally given to moments of emotional outburts but while watching this delightful lady performing tears streamed down my face. It was definitely a moment when the meek inherited the earth." bookwoman said: Hope as well as talent beam from this video and this woman. And oh, we need both so much. We should be ashamed of the cynicism most of us wallow in, expecting talent only from glitzy packages. I am thrill, touched and grateful for Susan Boyle. God Bless her! U.S.A. fan said: I love her. She represents all the underdogs of the world. She is wonderful. Dr. Bob said: Thanks,Susan... for ringing the bell of believeability for those like yourself who keep on believeing in their dreams. i am happy for you and for your success. God loves you and so do I. torchman25 said: susan boyle, thank you for sharing your beautiful voice to the bankrupt state of california. thank God for the internet! Cheron said: It's 2am here in Saskatoon Canada and I happened upon this video....feelin g all down and freaken sad because its my 59th birthday this day I heard Susan Boyles audition and I smiled the hugest smile....life has hope again because one lady out of nowhere had a dream come true!! If you haven't had enough, go visit the site and watch a couple videos, hang out with other unlikely fans and witness a neat moment in media history.
 
Earth Day 2009: Obama Energy Chief Lays Out Climate Doomsday Scenario Top
Days before Earth Day 2009, President Obama's Energy Secretary Steven Chu gave a press briefing at the "Summit of the Americas" in Trinidad and Tobago where he laid out the potentially disastrous consequences if the world community doesn't unite to combat climate change. Chu, who won the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1997, detailed several of the most dramatic impacts that global warming could have, such as several island nations being submerged. We've posted the transcript below -- take a look: * * * * * SECRETARY CHU: Well, I had no discussions in this summit meeting on the issue as to whether the climate is really changing or what are potential economic consequences. Now, in full candor, I haven't talked with representatives from Venezuela yet, but I think they're -- in terms of discussing whether the climate is changing or whether humans have caused it, I think for the most part this debate is over. It's something -- yes, it's changing; that's a demonstrable fact. If one looks at the latest IPCC reports, there's very, very convincing evidence -- very high probability it was caused predominantly by greenhouse gas emissions. And what is not known with certainty is what are the range of effects that might happen, and -- because that, quite frankly, also depends on what the world does. But let me just say that there are certainly a reasonable probability that -- I'm sure the people in this room have heard this -- that in the last IPCC report, the 2007 report, they said that it's going to be somewhere between two and four -- two and a half, four and a half -- I'm not sure of the exact numbers -- degrees Centigrade change. And so let me remind you that the Earth has already warmed up by about 0.8 degrees Centigrade; that the experts acknowledge that there is another 1 degree Centigrade already built into the system, even if humans stopped carbon emissions today flat. That's because we put enough greenhouse gases up into the atmosphere, the sun continues to warm up the Earth, and until you reach a new equilibrium or the heat from the Earth then reaches the equilibrium -- what's coming in and what's getting reflected back -- there's 1 degree change already; that there's a reasonable probability we can go above 4 degrees Centigrade to 5 and 6 more. That means we have a -- there's a reasonable probability, and certainly in business-as-usual scenario, we can go to 5 or 6 degrees Centigrade. Now, what does that mean? The last ice age, we were 6 degrees Centigrade colder than we are today -- a very different world. Okay, only 6 degrees Centigrade means, in North America, ice sheet from Canada down to Pennsylvania, Ohio -- year round in ice. So imagine a world 6 degrees warmer. It's not going to recognize geographical boundaries. It's not going to recognize anything. So agriculture regions today will be wiped out. Yes, there are parts of Canada will be -- can grow more food, but, you know, the other thing is, the Earth is spherical and the sun hits at an angle up north. So there are going to be huge consequences if we go up to that 4, 5, 6 degrees. Q How long would it take? SECRETARY CHU: We're talking about that temperature in -- by the end of this century. And the other thing is, you stick that carbon in the atmosphere, it cycles around, but it's up there for a couple hundred years. Okay, so you've just bought a couple hundred years of this effect. So -- and that could have dramatic consequences on the world, but especially the more vulnerable people in the world. Q Secretary Chu, so did any of the leaders, especially from this part of the world, talk about the specific concerns about rising ocean levels? SECRETARY CHU: Yes, very much so. I think the Caribbean countries face rising oceans and they face increase in the severity of hurricanes. This is something that is very, very scary to all of us; that if you consider what has been happening, especially in the polar regions in the north, and you look at the predictions of the IPCC beginning in 1990, this is something they didn't do so well. It's melting considerably faster than anyone predicted ten years ago. So we are terribly afraid there will be an increase in temperature if the ice in the Antarctica and Greenland melt. This is bad news. If Greenland melts -- it's two or three kilometers thick -- we're looking at a seven-meter sea level rise around the world. Some island states will disappear. So there was specific -- at the lunch today, there was specific discussion represented from the island states that this is of great concern, and the island states in the world represent -- I remember this number -- one-half of 1 percent of the carbon emissions in the world. And they will -- some of them will disappear. So this is pretty serious business. More on Earth Day
 
Summers Finds Area of Agreement With Paul Krugman (VIDEO) Top
The White House chief economic adviser, Larry Summers, finally found a point of agreement with Nobel Prize winning economist Paul Krugman: the belief that the economy remains in a precarious despite slight signs of improvement. Appearing on NBC's Meet the Press, Summers was asked about the New York Time's columnist's warning that the public should not consider current signs of an economic turnaround to be proof that the recovery has worked. "You know, I disagree with Paul about a lot of things, but he is right to be raising cautions," said Summers. "That's why, when I just spoke about the economy, I said that after a period when, when everything was negative, there was now some mixture in the indicators. We don't know what, we don't know, we can't know with certainty what's going to happen next, and there certainly are real risks ahead." Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News , World News , and News about the Economy The remarks fell in-line with the generally cautious rhetoric of Summers' Meet the Press appearance. Outlining a new economic structure for the nation, the former Clinton Treasury Secretary described a financial system built on better regulation and a new ethos guiding how the American consumer saves and spends. "Individuals are going to have to save more," he said. "That's why savings incentives are so important. That's why we need to do things to stop the marketing of credit in ways that addicts people to it, so that our households are again saving, and families are again preparing to send kids to college, for their retirement, and so forth." In one of the more playful moments of the interview, Summers was asked about the series of tea party protests that occurred this past week in opposition to the Obama administration's tax policies. "You know, I don't know that much about politics," Summers said, "but I've been surprised by these tea parties a bit. The President is the one proposing cutting taxes on virtually all Americans, so I'm not sure who these tea parties see as being King George." More on Larry Summers
 

CREATE MORE ALERTS:

Auctions - Find out when new auctions are posted

Horoscopes - Receive your daily horoscope

Music - Get the newest Album Releases, Playlists and more

News - Only the news you want, delivered!

Stocks - Stay connected to the market with price quotes and more

Weather - Get today's weather conditions




You received this email because you subscribed to Yahoo! Alerts. Use this link to unsubscribe from this alert. To change your communications preferences for other Yahoo! business lines, please visit your Marketing Preferences. To learn more about Yahoo!'s use of personal information, including the use of web beacons in HTML-based email, please read our Privacy Policy. Yahoo! is located at 701 First Avenue, Sunnyvale, CA 94089.
Posted by at

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)