Wednesday, April 1, 2009

Y! Alert: The Full Feed from HuffingtonPost.com

Yahoo! Alerts
My Alerts

The latest from The Full Feed from HuffingtonPost.com

Pedro C. Moreno: Report from Rio: Men and Boys in Gender Equality Top
"This is historic, for the first time men and women come together in this manner to work on women's issues" said Eva Njordfeld with Save the Children-Sweden in her opening remarks. She was addressing just hours ago the opening session of the Global Symposium on Engaging Men and Boys in Achieving Gender Equality taking place this week in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. After 3 years in the making, with an investment of half a million dollars, and organized by Promundo, UNFPA, MenEngage, White Ribbon Campaign, Instituto Papai and other organizations this forum has attracted close to 450 participants from 80 countries around the world. Presenters include the heads of UNIFEM, UNAIDS, representatives from the World Health Organization, the Brazilian Minister for Women's Policies and a video address by Ban Ki-moon, Secretary General of the United Nations. Photo by Francisco Aguayo, Promundo What is striking about this meeting is the number of men involved, accounting for at least half the attendants. A far cry compared to other gatherings on women, such as the Beijing Conference on Women in 1995, where women far outnumbered men and 99% of the attendants at my NGO workshop were women. And even compared to a meeting on rural women I attended just weeks ago in New York at the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women, where out of 70 attendants, there was only one man, me. Not only that men are here, but they are excited to be here, as active participants. Paul Hunt, the Canadian Ambassador to Brazil told me "we men are better men because of equality with women." A delegate from Bangladesh, Osman Goni Talukder, shared with me that he was proud to be the Deputy Chief at the Ministry of Women and Children Affairs in his country. Fatherhood and Men's Participation in the Lives of Children is being explored, together with plenaries and workshops with titles such as Dialogue with Women's Rights Movements, Including Men and Masculinities in Gender Equality Policies, Engaging Men to Prevent Violence against Women and Girls, and Youth Activism for Achieving Gender Equality. I asked Ms. Nilcea Freire, Minister for Women's Policies for Brazil how she thinks men can contribute to women's empowerment, and she simply told me "by sharing responsibilities at home so women can also have time to get involved in government and societal issues." It made sense to me. Ben, with EngageHealth in Tanzania, asked me what I was doing at this symposium. When I told him that I work so fathers can connect with their daughters and bring them back to school in India and other countries (see the Father and Daughter Alliance - FADA at www.GlobalFADA.org ), he opened his eyes wide and said: "Why didn't I think of it?" Related to this, Ms. Purnima Mane, Deputy Executive Director of UNFPA pointed out "as a daughter of an incredibly supportive father, without whom I would not be here today, I am delighted to see this meeting bringing together men and women" to work on this crucial issue and added that "men have an indispensable part to play." A Global Village has been set up, with a photo expo and tables where men and women share about organizations such as Voice Male (USA), a magazine exploring a new masculinity, Men's Resources International, Men for Gender Equality (Sweden), International Center for Research on Women, and the Center for Digital Storytelling. The effort has been financed by organizations as varied as CIDA, Ford Foundation, MacArthur Foundation, the Brazilian Health Ministry, Nike Foundation, Oxfam Novib, SIDA, and a host of UN agencies. The gathering promises to be a lively one. There are some discordant notes and opinions, which are normal for a global gathering of this kind, but by and large the collective sense seems to be one geared toward finding commonalities between men and women sharing a common cause. Ines Alberdi, Executive Director of UNIFEM stated that "there is no turning point; we must work together, men and women." She later told me: "Our task is difficult, but doable." On his part, Mr. Michel Sidibe, Executive Director for UNAIDS stated that "we have learned to ignore the fear in which women and girls live" adding that this is "not just another meeting, but a revolution in practice." The UN Secretary General put it this way "engaging men will finally help end violence against women." Key questions remain, however: how do we maintain the momentum, particularly among men? How do we convey to men, especially those in traditionally entrenched areas of inequality around the world, that it is also in their own interest to work for gender equality? One thing is for sure, whatever ends up enshrined in the global Call to Action being prepared for release this Friday (look for it at www.MenEngage.org ), it is clear that women and now men, at least those at this conference, will not put up anymore with inequality and violence against women and girls. More on Civil Rights
 
Frances Beinecke: Countdown to Copenhagen: Why the US Must Act At Home Top
width="130" height="36" align="right"> Yesterday marked the long-awaited release of the Waxman-Markey " discussion draft " of a clean energy and climate bill. I welcomed this development. After all, I have worked for more than a decade to prepare for the moment we find ourselves in: at last the president of America and the U.S. Congress are seriously grappling with how to curb global warming. It is gratifying to see, but I can't help but wonder: will they come to a resolution fast enough? The clock is ticking. In December, the international community will meet in Copenhagen to forge a new climate agreement to replace the Kyoto Protocol (click here to see how many days, minutes, seconds until the conference). Already this week, preliminary meetings began in Bonn (see my colleague Jake Schmidt's reports from Bonn here ). All parties agree that if the United States has not already taken significant steps at home to reduce its global warming pollution before Copenhagen begins, the international effort to stop climate change will be deeply undermined. I am concerned that time is running out. There is a lot of climate activity in Washington now, but is it moving fast enough? Is it headed in the right direction? The draft legislative language released by Reps. Waxman and Markey was a promising start, but can it get passed in time? Between now and the negotiations in Copenhagen, I am going to write regular posts about new climate action--at the White House, at the EPA, in Congress, and on the International Stage--and assess whether America is moving at the right pace. Today I want to describe a meeting I recently attended that underscored for me just how much is riding on the United States taking fast action. The meeting was with Minister Xie Zhenhua, the lead climate negotiator for China. Just like Secretary of State Hilary Clinton's trip to China to discuss global warming, the minister's presence in Washington was a welcome sign. He came to talk with the Obama administration, members of Congress, and UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon. I spoke with him at a meeting of the U.S. Climate Action Partnership. It was obvious from what Minister Xie told us that China is deeply engaged with climate policy. The minister outlined for us what China was willing to do, but stressed that it would need money for technology transfer and adaptation. But Minister Xie also made it very clear that the United States has to act first. He said the United States has to come to Copenhagen with a real commitment to lower our emissions at home in order for China to be willing to join an international framework. Most of us in the room agreed. After all, even though China recently surpassed the United States in global warming emissions, we still have the highest per capita emissions on the planet. America can and must take leadership on this issue, and international delegates like Minister Xie and visiting Washington to figure out if we actually will. Most of them are getting mixed messages. In his round of meetings, Minister Xie heard great things from the White House and great things from Henry Waxman, but he also heard a lot of resistance from some members of Congress. It's not going to be easy getting a climate bill through Congress by December. Yet we must avoid what happened in Kyoto, which is when the U.S. negotiators signed the treaty, but Congress failed to ratify it. The coming months will be critical to avoiding that kind of diplomatic debacle. We still have time to pass a U.S. climate law before Copenhagen--a move that will not only place us at the forefront of international climate leadership, but also create millions of jobs here at home. We just have to use the time we have wisely. This post originally appearef on NRDC's Switchboard blog . More on China
 
Brendan DeMelle: A Surprise Recusal and Promising Result in Paul Minor Appeal Hearing Top
A Quick Update Following Paul Minor's Appeal Hearing ( see here for background ) Paul Minor's appeal hearing in front of the 5th Circuit court this morning started off with an unexpected surprise. Shortly before the proceedings began, Priscilla Owen, one of the three judges hearing the appeal, announced her recusal. Owen, whom the New York Times has described as " guided by the hand of Karl Rove ," apparently took to heart Minor attorney Hiram Eastland's letter [PDF] asking Owen to recuse herself since Rove is being investigated by Congress and the Justice Department for his possible role in targeting Minor for indictment. Owen was replaced immediately by Judge Fortunato Benavides, a Clinton appointee, adding a measure of balance to the panel, which would've been an all-Republican panel with Owen present. The appeal hearing lasted just 30 minutes but produced several key indicators that appeared to favor Paul Minor's appeal. Led by Judge Will Garwood , a Reagan appointee, the panel asked very thoughtful questions and seemed very receptive to the arguments raised by Minor's attorneys and asked repeated, tough questions of the Justice Department attorney Elizabeth Collery. (Given the last minute announcement, Benavides had little time to review the details of the case, but still managed to pose tough questions and seemed to grasp the important 1st Amendment implications of Paul Minor's alleged bribery of judges through campaign contributions.) The toughest questions came from Catharina Haynes , President Bush's sixth and final nominee to the Fifth Circuit who was confirmed by the Senate last April. Haynes repeatedly asked Collery, the government attorney, to specifically explain "what is the deal" that the government alleges Paul Minor had with the judges whom he was accused of bribing. Haynes pointed out that, in order to qualify as an explicit quid pro quo bribe, there had to be an agreement between Minor and the judges on a specific result, and also pointed out that Judge Teel wasn't even a judge yet, he was simply running for the judgeship at the time Minor contributed to his campaign, so how could there be a specific official action offered by Teel to Minor in return when Minor couldn't possibly have had any cases pending before Teel. Asked again and again to supply a concrete example of what that crucial quid pro quo was, the DOJ attorney seemed to waffle badly, arguing (again, with "vague" charges as the New York Times described this case originally) that Minor's campaign contributions must've been meant as bribes for some "future decisions" in his favor from the Judges. Haynes, clearly understanding the requirement that there must be a specific official act in return for the contribution in order to constitute bribery, asked the DOJ attorney, "Don't you have to be able to articulate the deal?" Judge Garwood asked excellent questions as well, probing the government's understanding of the Supreme Court decision in McCormick v. United States pertaining to the required quid pro quo for charges involving bribery. The government's case against Minor teeters on the assertion that Minor received a specific, favorable result from the judges which both parties must have agreed upon prior to such a ruling to constitute bribery under federal law. By all indications, the DOJ failed to prove that today. The tough questioning and apparently skeptical looks from Judges Garwood and Haynes seemed to indicate that they were not persuaded by the government's arguments. Minor's attorney Abbe Lowell ended his argument by asking the panel to consider releasing Paul Minor while they deliberate the appeal, a request which Minor's legal team has repeatedly argued is required by law and which Owen had denied. Aside from the strong legal reasoning for the court to release him pending their decision, it would be morally spot on, allowing Paul the chance to spend time with his wife Sylvia before her imminent death from cancer. It all rests in the hands of this panel. Stay tuned for more details in a forthcoming post. More on Karl Rove
 
'Guiding Light' Canceled After 72 Years Top
NEW YORK — The soap opera "Guiding Light" is switching off after a 72-year run that predates television. CBS says the show will have its final episode in September. Like most daytime dramas, "Guiding Light" has suffered from declining ratings and CBS is looking for a lower-cost alternative to the hour of programming. The Guinness Book of World Records has cited it as the longest-running television drama. It began as a 15-minute serial on NBC Radio in January 1937 and debuted on CBS television in 1952, focusing on the Bauer family of Springfield. More on CBS
 
Obama Gives Queen Elizabeth An Ipod Top
President Obama gave Queen Elizabeth an iPod during their private meeting at Buckingham Palace, the BBC reports . "It contains footage of her state visit to the US in May 2007. The Queen has given the president a silver framed photograph of herself and her husband. The official picture is what she gives all visiting dignitaries." The gift exchange was closely watched, the Wall Street Journal reports , "ever since the British press took high exception to the modest presents the Obamas gave Gordon Brown and wife on their visit to the White House last month: a box set of DVDs, allegedly in the wrong format, and a couple of models of Marine One for the Brown boys." A slideshow of the Obamas meeting with the Queen: And video: Read all about the G-20 summit and Obama's European trip at HuffPost's G-20 BigNews page . More on Photo Galleries
 
Petraeus: Israel Might Attack Iran Top
The top U.S. commander in the Middle East, General David Petraeus, warned today that Israel might attack Iran to prevent it from developing nuclear weapons, Bloomberg reports . Army General David Petraeus told Congress that "the Israeli government may ultimately see itself so threatened by the prospect of an Iranian nuclear weapon that it would take preemptive military action to derail or delay it." While Iran insists its nuclear program is intended for peaceful power generation, Petraeus, the head of U.S. Central Command, said "Iranian officials have consistently failed to provide the assurances and transparency necessary for international acceptance and verification." Iran refuses to suspend uranium enrichment, in defiance of United Nations Security Council resolutions, and won't give international inspectors full access to its nuclear facilities. Petraeus' warning comes a day after Israel's new prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, threatened to force Iran to halt its nuclear weapons program if the United States did not do so first. In an interview conducted shortly before he was sworn in today as prime minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu laid down a challenge for Barack Obama. The American president, he said, must stop Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons--and quickly--or an imperiled Israel may be forced to attack Iran's nuclear facilities itself. Read more about Netanyahu's interview with the Atlantic here. More on Iran
 
Joe Cirincione: A New Start for US-Russian Relations Top
The US and Russian presidents released in London today a remarkable statement that breaks from the stale mumbo jumbo of the past and details an ambitious work plan for a new relationship between the two countries--starting with the goal of a nuclear-free world. Compare this statement to the 2006 Bush-Putin statement . The latter is almost claustrophobic in its fixation on minor details and export control restraints. Obama and Medvedev pound the reset button, establishing "a substantive agenda for Russian and the United States" and promising, "now it is time to get down to business and translate our warm words into actual achievements." First and very interesting is the frame of their nuclear discussion. Rather than beginning, as did almost all Bush-era statements, with warnings of the threat of new nations getting nuclear arms, its focus is on their own arsenals and their own obligations. Upfront is a significant commitment to achieving a nuclear free world, consistent with Obama's repeated statements . They restore arms control and conflict resolution to central policy roles. They have committed to a new treaty (to replace the expiring START agreement) by the end of the year and want a report from their negotiators by July. These guys are not fooling around. There is no mention of numbers, but that is reasonable. They will have to talk before committing to a specific number lower than the existing 2002 SORT agreement of 1700-2200 strategic deployed warheads. The number of 1500 deployed strategic warheads has been widely mentioned. But many believe this would be a way station on the way to the next treaty that would bring in all nuclear weapons, deployed and non-deployed, strategic and tactical, and cut down to 500 to 1000 total warheads for each nation. Nuclear Numbers Just to keep all this is perspective, here is the best estimate of total US and Russian nuclear weapons today. The existing treaties just cover the long-range warheads on missiles, bombers and submarines. A future treaty could cover all weapons and mandate their verified dismantlement, not just storage. US Strategic Deployed: 2200 Non-strategic: 500 Reserve: 2500 Stored awaiting dismantlement: 4200 TOTAL: 9400 Russia Strategic Deployed: ~2800 Non-strategic: ~2050 Reserve/Stored: ~8150 TOTAL: ~13000 Getting Real on Missile Defense Obaman and Medvedev clearly want to work out a compromise on anti-missile systems in Europe. Obama recognizes that the weapons Bush was rushing to deploy do not really work and Medvedev seems to acknowledge that they there are ways to deploy systems that would not threaten Russia. This is the beginning of a cooperative approach base, as they say, "on joint threat assessments of missile challenges and threats." Some in the Obama administration seem to want to keep playing games with this. Helene Cooper reports in The New York Times , that some do not want the administration "to give up on the missile shield until it gets something from Russia in return [like] more cooperation...on Iran." Obama should reject such juvenile posturing. The Bush plan would deploy weapons that do not work against a threat that does not exist with money we do not have. There is no shield; there is no trade. The sooner we start working on cooperative efforts to address the real threats from Iran, the better. Test Ban Finally, there is some real news on efforts to stop all global tests of nuclear weapons. Both nations in the statement pledge to bring the the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban treaty into force. Russia has ratified it, Bush refused to, Obama now promises to make it so. This was a Obama pledge during the campaign. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in her January 13 confirmation hearing promised to seek Senate ratification of the test ban, but this may be the first public commitment by Obama to do so since becoming president. This could be the beginning of a serious administration effort, though he doesn't explicitly promise to do so this year. More to come when President Obama speaks this Sunday in Prague in what is billed as a major speech on nuclear policy. Stay tuned. More on Barack Obama
 
Palin Attorney General Pick Angers Native Alaskans Top
Alaska Native leaders are angry at Gov. Sarah Palin's appointment of Wayne Anthony Ross to be the state's next attorney general, but it's unlikely that will stop the Legislature from confirming him to the job in two weeks. More on Sarah Palin
 
Blackberry App Store Launched Top
Research In Motion launched the official BlackBerry App World application store today, giving BlackBerry owners an easy way to download new applications for their phones. Users can download the new store at mobile.blackberry.com or blackberry.com/appworld. BlackBerry owners have been able to download third-party applications for years, both directly from manufacturers' sites and from stores like Handango. But since the iPhone grabbed the global imagination, competing smartphone providers have announced desires to create centralized stores that appear on every phone.
 
Dunkin' Donuts Pulls Franchise From Muslim Who Refuses To Sell Pork Top
An Arab-American owner of a Chicago-area Dunkin' Donuts store has to give up his franchise after he lost his long-running legal battle with the restaurant chain over his religious objections to selling pork products. More on Religion
 
Diane Tucker: Ben & Jerry's Cloning Hoax Backfires Top
Ben & Jerry lied and I'm pretty *issed about it. The company's owners -- I assume their names are Ben and Jerry -- or did they lie about that, too? -- created a fake website devoted to the glories of cloned milk, in a bogus effort to discourage cloned milk. The ice cream folks said they had always meant to reveal the truth about CycloneDairy.com on April Fool's Day, but bloggers William K. Wolfrum and Vance Lehmkuhl outed the hoax earlier this week through good sleuthing, so we'll never really know. Today the Cyclone Dairy site says, "Just kidding about Cyclone Dairy. NOT kidding about clones in our food." Yesterday, the Cyclone Dairy site said: Q. Are there any ethical issues about cloning? A. No. Don't get me wrong, I'm not for cloning cows. But to scare monger like this (Ben & Jerry's called it a "joke" and said they were "testing the waters") by creating advertising from a pretend dairy that produces its milk from cloned cows is a sophomoric way to influence the conversation. Very little about CycloneDairy.com looked like satire -- and by not being genuinely funny, the site even failed to attract attention on behalf of anti-cloners. (Note to Ben & Jerry's creative team: writing comedy is a lot harder than it looks. The Daily Show just makes it look easy.) Why do I care about any of this? I've said it before : with newspapers going the way of the buggy whip, journalism is migrating to the internet and it's important readers can trust what they read -- at the very least from companies like Ben & Jerry's that position themselves as honest and concerned about our welfare. To read about Wolfrum's other internet detective work, read this , this , and this . If we're going to clone anything, we ought to clone Wolfrum.
 
Queen Elizabeth's Little Purse: What's It For? (PHOTOS, POLL) Top
Her Royal Highness Queen Elizabeth II is quite possibly the only woman in the world who would wear a purse while taking a meeting in her home. And she undoubtedly has handlers who would be willing to carry it. So we, in the words of Carrie Bradshaw, got to thinking...what does she wear it for? See pictures and weigh in below. Or offer alternate suggestions in comments. *Follow Huffington Post Style on Twitter and become a fan of Huffington Post Style on Facebook *
 
Deepak Chopra: Why the God Delusion Won't Go Away Top
A Baltimore mother accused of joining a cult and starving her child says she was acting on her religious beliefs. What's the difference between extreme religious conviction and delusion? Between a religion and a cult? Children believe that their mothers love them. The proof they have is the same as the proof of God - a subjective feeling. The fact that God is subjective doesn't make the deity unreal, but it radically shifts the burden of proof. All subjective states are personal and therefore impossible to verify objectively. There is no way to tell if two people looking at a daffodil see the same shade of yellow, much less that they are referring to the same thing when they use the word "God." Even brain scans provide nothing more than a rough location for where such thoughts occur, nothing about their validity. Skeptics make hay out of this situation. In his wildly popular book The God Delusion, Richard Dawkins marshaled the force of science against God almost entirely by making one point over and over: God can't be objectively verified. He didn't seem to realize that the point itself is pointless. Beauty, truth, love, morality, ethics, and every other aspect of our inner life cannot be verified by science, either. Shifting the burden of proof to the inner world leaves scientific measurement behind, but it doesn't make beauty, truth, morality, and the rest false. If I find Picasso beautiful and you don't, our disagreement isn't a matter of who's right and who's wrong. Each person's consciousness is a domain of personal experience that relies on itself. Having a right to your own opinion, however bizarre, is the same as asserting your own awareness. Of course, the inner and outer world blend, and therefore they sometimes come to blows. Society tends to be happy with organized religion but unhappy with cults (even though organized religion can be defined as a cult with a large following). There's not much debate on the spiritual side when either one breaks the law. Pedophile priests in the Catholic Church are prosecuted, as the members of the One Mind Ministries will be if they participated in starving a child. As for whether any of them are delusional, we refer to psychiatrists to make that determination on a medical basis. Here again skeptics have a field day. They see no difference between thinking that Christ rose from the dead and thinking that a poor starved child in Baltimore can do the same. But they overplay their hand (Dawkins being particularly egregious) by lumping all spiritual experiences together. Many of the greatest figures in history have had profound spiritual experiences without being delusional. Their experiences have done more to shape human destiny than any other force besides war. To call Socrates, Gandhi, Martin Luther King, and Buddha hopelessly deluded because an academic pedant like Richard Dawkins feels superior to them is absurd. What this all amounts to is that religion is entangled with the best and worst of human behavior. It is probably unique that way. In the name of loving God devotees have inflicted untold violence and composed the most beautiful poetry and music. It may be past time to radically reform organized religion or even dispense with it altogether (as I tend to believe). But the reason won't be to cleanse the world of delusion. The reason will be that a better, more fulfilled spirituality wants to be born. Published in the Washington Post More on Religion
 
Nobody Wants To Be In Charge Of Coal Mining In China Top
BEIJING — Position open: Mayor of Chinese coal mining city notorious for frequent fatal accidents and heavy pollution. Prospective candidates: None. State media reports on Wednesday said the jobs of mayor and Communist Party boss in the northern city of Linfen have gone unfilled for more than six months because no one wants the potentially career-killing positions. The former incumbents were fired after a mining accident last September that killed 270 people. Replacements have yet to be found from within the local government and attempts to recruit candidates from outside the area have so far failed, the China Daily and other newspapers reported. "The ideal candidates must be willing to risk their political career," it said. Job tenure will likely last only until the next accident, China Daily said. Asked about the reports, an official at Linfen's government propaganda office said new leaders were expected "soon." "It's not as serious as media reported," said the man, who refused to give his name as is common among Chinese bureaucrats. Despite the axing of numerous officials, changes in political leadership at the local level have done little to curb the carnage in China's mining industry, the world's deadliest. Most accidents are blamed on corruption, poor regulation, and cutting corners on safety to feed the growing economy's insatiable demand for coal. More on Energy
 
More Natural Resource Conflicts To Come (AUDIO) Top
Competition for natural resoures often lies at the heart of human conflict, from oil and water in the Middle East to contested coltan in the Democratic Republic of Congo. In today's economic environment, the demand for some resources may be declining, but the importance of who controls natural resources like oil and water -- and how they control -- is of pressing importance as supplies of these resources dwindle. This proves particularly true for developing countries, where the right decisions can lead to a strong infrastructure and international influence, and the wrong decisions can lead to social strife, war or environmental destruction. Worldfocus.org's weekly radio show explored the state of natural resource use, opportunities and dangers for resource-rich developing countries and the role played by the U.S. in this global issue. Worldfocus anchor Martin Savidge hosted a panel of guests. Dave Burdick is the green editor of The Huffington Post. He follows energy, environment and green lifestyle stories. He has also been a reporter, a stand-up comedian and a copywriter for the United States' only accredited, Buddhist-inspired university. Michael Cohen is a professor of international affairs and director of the graduate program in international affairs at the New School University. From 1972 to 1999, he worked at the World Bank and was responsible for much of its urban policy development. He has worked in over 55 countries, published several books on urban development and has advised governments, U.N. Habitat, non-governmental organizations and academic institutions around the world. Alf Hornborg is an anthropologist and professor of human ecology at the University of Lund, Sweden. His research has largely focused on cultural and political dimensions of human-environmental relations in past and present societies. He is the author of "The Power of the Machine" (2001) and lead editor of "Rethinking Environmental History" (2007) and "The World System and the Earth System" (2007). More on Congo
 
Philip Slater: The Blindness of Individualism Top
Our individualistic ideology has spawned absurdities in every field of American endeavor, from sports and the arts to corporate finance and the war on terror. Consider, for example, our policy of dropping bombs on terrorist leaders. This is based on the premise that terrorist networks are rigid bureaucracies that will collapse in confusion if you kill the boss--a policy about as effective as cutting the head off a dandelion. The military, who are organized in a rigid authoritarian hierarchy, don't seem to understand that terrorists are organized in loose networks. In accordance with the sacred military tradition of preparing for ancient wars, the American and Israeli generals seem to envision themselves as modern Pizarros, and fondly believe that once they've eliminated the top man, resistance will crumble. Instead, like a hydra, each dead leader (usually accompanied by 20 or 30 civilians) spawns a dozen more. It's ironic that a supposedly democratic nation, born out of guerilla warfare, should be so clueless about networks. Our individualistic ideology has also led to our fatal reliance on individual stars in sports. We send collections of big stars to international competitions where they're routed by 'inferior' talents who understand the meaning of teamwork. We're always surprised when a group of young nobodies wins a pennant or a superbowl--they're called a 'Cinderella team', but actually, it's just because they are a team, not just a collection of hot dogs. Egomaniacs like Terrell Owens and Manny Ramirez are never the assets to their teams that their talents would seem to ensure, mainly because they're a destructive influence on every team they've been with. Small wonder the hot dog is a national symbol today. We've forgotten the gift of spontaneous cooperation that made us great. Studies show that Americans tend to overestimate their abilities, the Chinese to underestimate theirs--an ill omen for the future. Perhaps this overestimating tendency is why our nation has been visited with such a plague of aspiring artists with little ability. When asked what they want to be, many adolescents can only say, "I want to be famous". And, indeed, we live in a culture in which it's possible to achieve celebrity status with no discernible talent. There are wannabe singers who have managers and a complete promotional package who can't carry a tune or read a note, and wannabe bands where the star is the one who knows four chords. 'Conceptual art' is the rage today for the same reason--less and less need or willingness to develop a skill of any kind. This is not to say that there aren't hundreds of serious musicians and other artists in America--people who care about their art, who are willing to study, who recognize other talents and are willing to learn from them. But the ratio of ego to ability, of promotion to talent, is at a dangerous high. Having an inflated ego is not incompatible with talent. There have been great artists who were desperate for attention and loved the limelight. And there have been even greater artists who never sought attention and died unknown. The vital element is the ratio of self-love to love of the art itself. Those who care about their art devote themselves to it, and admire other great artists. They're always learning, seeking to master their craft, and will learn from anyone who has something to teach. The fake artist has no interest in his craft, just wants to be admired. Hates anyone who's truly talented, doesn't want to learn, wants to be adulated just for showing up. It seems counter-intuitive that the inhabitants of a major democracy could be so allergic to the welfare of the group. Put any large number of people together and the average American individualist immediately feels antagonism toward them. Such Americans are closet monarchists. They worship individual celebrities who do nothing and are nothing. To them, any individual opposed by a crowd is automatically lovable. If Hitler had been captured and paraded in front of angry, yelling American troops he would have immediately become a tragic hero to the average Ayn Rand-worshipping American. The Obama election was a strong collective effort, and seems to suggest that our ability to cooperate to achieve goals hasn't been entirely lost. Whether the trend will spread to the average celebrity-doting individualistic couch potato remains to be seen. (In his inauguration speech, President Obama talked of a new way of doing things. To understand the cultural paradigm shift that engendered this change--the change that both the neo-cons and the Taliban have resisted so fiercely, see my latest book, THE CHRYSALIS EFFECT: THE METAMORPHOSIS OF GLOBAL CULTURE). More on Sports
 
Lloyd Chapman: A Crystal Ball Look at New SBA Administrator Karen Mills' First Month Top
New Administrator of the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) Karen Mills' first weeks in office will be easily predictable. My guess is that Mills will most likely ignore the seven years of federal investigations that found hundreds of billions of dollars in federal small business contracts actually went to Fortune 500 firms and thousands of other large businesses. She will ignore recommendations and investigations from the SBA's own Office of Inspector General (OIG) such as Report 5-15, which stated, "One of the most important challenges facing the Small Business Administration and the entire Federal government today is that large businesses are receiving small business procurement awards and agencies are receiving credit for these awards." ( http://www.sba.gov/IG/05-15.pdf ) Since 2003, there have been more than a dozen federal investigations, which have found fraud, abuse, loopholes and a lack of oversight in federal small business contracting programs. Like her predecessors, she will fail to make even the simplest and most reasonable effort to stop large businesses from taking federal contracts meant for the small businesses that create over 97 percent of all new jobs in America. She will probably keep all of the SBA executives that have spent the last eight years lying to Congress, the American people and the media about rampant fraud and abuse in federal small business contracting programs. SBA executives that should be prosecuted for creating false and misleading media campaigns regarding the proven diversion of federal small business contracts to large corporations will keep their jobs. Even after a series of federal and private investigations, which found hundreds of billions of dollars in federal small business contracts actually went to many of the largest companies in the world, these individuals attempted to claim the diversion of small business contracts to large corporations was a "myth" and the result of "miscoding." ( http://www.asbl.com/documents/sbamythvfact.pdf ) Administrator Mills' primary mission will likely be the diversion of even more federal small business contracts to firms controlled by her wealthy friends and colleagues in the venture capital industry. The same wealthy venture capitalists that contributed millions of dollars to President Obama's campaign. Some might even view Mills' appointment to head the SBA as a political pay back for millions of dollars in campaign contributions to President Obama. The National Venture Capital Association (NVCA) has spent several years lobbying the most powerful Democrats in Congress. During that time period, the NVCA focused its contributions on the House and Senate Small Business Committees. When I say lobbying, I mean the kind of lobbying where the organization fed millions of dollars in contributions to members of Congress, which will likely result in legislation that will make wealthy venture capitalists even wealthier. I predict that Mills' public speeches, statements and press releases will focus on attempting to convince the public that the most pressing issue facing small businesses in America is the NVCA's favorite code words for hijacking billions of dollars in federal small business contracts, "increasing access to capital" for small businesses. Unfortunately, Karen Mills is unlikely to take any significant actions to address the real problems facing hardworking small businesses struggling to compete against many of the nation's top defense contractors for even the smallest government small business contracts for goods and services. She will likely bring the SBA solutions for "problems" that are non-existent for 99 percent of small businesses. Solutions that will include phrases like "angel investors," the ever popular, "increasing access to capital," and the latest phrase for wealthy investors looking to dominate government small business contracting programs, "investing in America." More on Barack Obama
 
Killer Tuberculosis Epidemic Threatens The World: UN Top
The world is on the cusp of an explosion of drug-resistant tuberculosis cases that could deluge hospitals and leave physicians fighting a nearly untreatable malady with little help from modern drugs, global experts said Wednesday. More on United Nations
 
Ryan Reynolds: The Canadian Club Scene Top
This month marks the beginning of the annual Canadian Seal Hunt. The seals are hunted for their pelts which can fetch up to 33 dollars each. The mammals are also used to make beauty products and essential oils. If you ever want to explore the outer edges of terror, go to Northern Canada. It's a vast, frozen world of jeopardy and instability--pitting man against nature in a desperate, hammerlock struggle for survival. This is exactly why Northern Canada is home to the world's most elite hunters. The average Northern Canadian Male is born with an innate connection to nature and a catalog of keen, natural born, hunting techniques. Although not scientifically proven, he also possesses the strength of at least one ordinary man. Besides a handful of brave men and women, the North is home to a multitude of lethal, and decidedly carnivorous polar bears, grizzlies, wolves and big cats. All of which are formidable, but absolutely nothing... NOTHING on this great, green, spinning shit-nugget is more malevolent and deeply underestimated than one particular creature in the region: Yes, the blood thirsty, baby seal. Confronting these menacing assassins of the ice is no small feat. In the "kill or be killed" world of Seal Clubbing, there are but only a few ways to overpower such wicked beasts. The best and most preferable way is of course, napalm. Currently, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police force refuses to sanction this activity based on scientific research that suggests it's "insane." So for now methods must remain traditional. And the Royal Canadian Mounted Police must remain, funless. The second best way to club a baby seal is to, well, use a club or "baton." This technique is seemingly simple to the dis-educated, but there are in fact subtleties involved. A kind of inexplicable nuance handed down from generation to generation. Not everybody can do it. Here's how it works: approach the creature from the front, maintaining plenty of eye contact. Raise the baton about shoulder height and strike the mammal hard across the face or head (or as hard as you and your son or daughter are able). Now watch closely, to ensure all the innocence has exited the carcass. (And watch your children grow up before your very eyes!) Although it's not recommended for beginners, you may also lure the creature to your baton by whistling, smiling or juggling fresh fish. An alternative - and markedly slower method - includes snuggling with the offending seal until it dies of old age. Despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary, I think we can all agree that unspeakable suffering has occurred at the hands (flippers) of these sinister white snow devils. Most recently - in fact just now - they've been coined, " the white-fanged dispensers of death ." Little is known of their feeding habits, although it's widely speculated among seal clubbing spokespeople that human toddler brains are the preferred source of nutrition. And cod. As a counter measure, once a year Canadian hunters will selflessly enter an arena of unbridled peril. Broader dangers of the seal hunt include: accidentally clubbing one's own shin, chapped lips, having to get up early, thirstiness, and the all too common: red snowball fight. It's important to note that an enormous amount of the nation's troops are stationed overseas. So what's to stop a caravan of mercenary infant seals from slogging upon Washington to systematically disable the Capitol's infrastructure? And who'll stop this mincing, white cloud of bloodlust from moving West, to snack upon the ankles and toes of innocent Californians as they socklessly wander their gardens in fluorescent Crocs? That's right, I'm talkin' to me. In the elite world of professional seal clubbing it's easy to rush to judgment without considering the facts. Animal rights activists and a vast army of unwashed liberal hippies feel compelled to voice their single-sided disapproval. But have they ever risked "it all" for something they believe in? Have they ever heard the call to defend decency and civility? Most important, I'm willing to bet these sanctimonious finger waggers have never experienced the sublime rapture of a mouth watering popsicle, made from frozen seal tears. So before you start tossing around weighty words like, "cruel" and "pointless" and "unthinkable," you may want to try one of those popsicles made from frozen seal tears because they're really really delicious. More delicious than the ones made from panda tears or dolphin tears or other things that cry all the time. More on Canada
 
Obama Muzzling Press Corps? Asks NY Times Top
Is President Obama trying to muzzle his press corps? The standard form during "joint press availabilities" -- bureaucratic lingo for press conferences where leaders from two different countries stand next to each other and take questions from reporters -- is that each official's press corps gets the same number of questions. More on G-20 Summit
 
Obama Meets Queen Elizabeth II At Buckingham Palace (SLIDESHOW) (VIDEO) Top
LONDON - President Barack Obama arrived at Buckingham Palace Wednesday evening for a private meeting with Queen Elizabeth II. Several thousand well-wishers crowded the traffic circle in front of the gated palace on Wednesday to cheer and wave as the limousine carrying Obama and first lady Michelle Obama rolled past. Obama arrived at Buchkingham Palace at around 5:30pm London time and was scheduled to attend a dinner with G-20 leaders later in the evening. See a slideshow of the Obamas meeting with the Queen. Scroll down for video of the event. Read more on Michelle's new hairdo and the outfit she wore to meet the Queen. Read all about the G-20 summit and Obama's European trip at HuffPost's G-20 BigNews page . More on Barack Obama
 
Kimberly Caldwell: Kimberly Caldwell's Lowdown On Last Nights "American Idol" Top
By Kimberly Caldwell, Co-host of TV Guide Network's "Idol Tonight" airing Wednesdays at 8 p.m. ET/PT Wow! What a killer week! Top 40 week makes me so jealous. Well, Anoop transformed into a tiger starting off the show. Paula said last week she wanted to see more confidence and he definitely brought that. Unfortunately, the judges thought it was a messy, wannabe version of Usher and Simon even said it gave him a headache! Ouch! I do disagree with Anoop's banter with the judges after his performance because the judges are just doing their job...which is to judge. I would suggest just taking it and walking away next time. Megan was up next looking as radiant as ever! This girl could not be any more stunning. The judges, once again, were very harsh and told Megan she was in trouble. We will have to see if America agrees. Then Mr. Gokey! God bless him. It was simple and emotionally powerful. Paula was right when she said he leaves us wanting more. Simon gave Danny major props and said it was his best performance so far. Go Danny! The youngster, Allison stepped up to the mic, with guitar in hand, in a very crazy ensemble, and as usual, nailed it. The outfit was definitely distracting but I don't think she is in any danger. Love her! Scottie was up next with his keys. It looked like he had a mini makeover, all trimmed up with his black leather jacket. I think we finally got to see the Scott we all originally fell in love with. He's a smart man to do Billy Joel. Beautiful! Surrounded by the idol fans, Matt proved he is a true artist. I mean, this guy has it going on. I was shocked by the judge's comments. Shocked! What? I really felt satisfied as a viewer and I hope America is on his side this week. Lil stood center stage with a brand new diva look and belted out a ballad. This girl has major chops. Effortless! Simon said it was old fashioned, but she cried tears of joy seeing her sweet babies in the audience. Adam played that funky music! He is ridiculous! And I mean that in the best way possible. How does he hit those notes? He was compared to the greats in the industry by the judges and deserved all the love and props he received. His new hairstyle is so sleek too. He is a star...period! Kris Allen wrapped up the night with his own take on "Ain't No Sunshine When She's Gone." It was brilliant! He is really coming up strong in this competition. I think all together it was a very successful night for the top 9 and seeing another one of them go home will be a real downer because they are all so talented this year! But, that just means we are one step closer to crowning our new idol! Woohoo! More on American Idol
 
Michelle Obama Debuts New Hairdo, Wears Black And White For Meeting With Queen (PHOTOS) Top
Another meeting, another outfit for Michelle Obama! For her and her husband's highly anticipated "private audience" with Queen Elizabeth on Wednesday afternoon, Michelle Obama took an understated approach, donning a black and white ensemble and debuting a never-before-seen hairstyle. See what Michelle Obama wore to travel on Tuesday or see what she wore for her visit to 10 Downing Street on Wednesday. *Follow Huffington Post Style on Twitter and become a fan of Huffington Post Style on Facebook * SLIDESHOW: More on Michelle Obama Style
 
Afghan Militant Attack: 17 Die Top
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan — Four Taliban suicide bombers disguised in army uniforms detonated a car bomb and stormed a government office Wednesday, killing 13 people. The assault highlighted the increasingly deadly tactics that Taliban militants are learning from al-Qaida, an expert said. The multi-pronged raid mirrored an attack in Kabul in February when militants assaulted three government buildings simultaneously, killing 20. Wednesday's attack on Kandahar's provincial council office killed seven civilians and six police officers, President Hamid Karzai's office said. Ahmad Wali Karzai, the head of the council and President Karzai's brother, said the attack came during a meeting of tribal leaders. He said 17 people were wounded. The attack began just before noon, when a suicide bomber in a vehicle full of explosives blew himself up at the office gates, opening the way for three other attackers in Afghan army uniforms and AK-47s to storm the building, Ahmad Wali Karzai said. He told The Associated Press he was the target of the attack; he did not say how he knew he was the target. Gen. David Petraeus, the top U.S. general in the Mideast, said Wednesday that the Taliban and other insurgents are growing stronger and that the U.S. military will fight "relentlessly and aggressively" against extremists in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Al-Qaida and Pakistani militants are teaching advanced skills to the Taliban, and al-Qaida operatives are embedding with Taliban forces to "plus-up their capabilities," said Bruce Hoffman, a terrorism expert at Georgetown University. "They're graduating from, in essence, rural guerrilla warfare to sophisticated urban operations," Hoffman said. "It's skill sets that you're not going to acquire on your own. It takes tutoring and mentoring. "So I think overall that this is a reflection of the Afghan Taliban's skill set really being enhanced, both with their symbiotic relationship with jihadi elements across the border in Pakistan and with al-Qaida." The Kandahar assault comes amid a burst of violence in Afghanistan, where some 60 militants have died in battles the last three days. President Barack Obama _ who is deploying an additional 21,000 U.S. forces to bolster the record 38,000 already in the country _ has said the U.S. will increase its focus on the "increasingly perilous" situation here. After the car bomb explosion, three militants wearing suicide vests and carrying assault rifles entered the Kandahar compound, said Interior Ministry spokesman Zemeri Bashary. Police killed two of the attackers and the third one blew himself up, he said. A fourth bomber died in the car bomb, bringing the overall death toll to at least 17. Among those killed were the province's education director and its deputy health director, Ahmad Wali Karzai said. The president's brother said he left the council office about five minutes before the attack and was not harmed. Qari Yousef Ahmadi, a Taliban spokesman, claimed responsibility for the assault and said the target was the provincial compound. The Kandahar attack came as the Interior Ministry announced that Afghan police and coalition forces killed 31 militants in a neighboring province, the second large battle in the Afghan south in two days. The fight took place in three villages in the Kajaki region of Helmand on Tuesday. Kajaki is the site of a U.S.-funded dam that provides hydroelectric power to much of southern Afghanistan. The dam is protected by British troops in an area surrounded by hostile militants. The Afghan government admits it has little control in that part of Helmand, the world's largest opium poppy-growing region. In Uruzgan province on Monday, Afghan and foreign troops killed 30 Taliban fighters, police said. Militant attacks have grown increasingly deadly the last three years, and insurgents now control wide swaths of countryside where Afghan and international forces don't have enough manpower to maintain a permanent presence. ___ Associated Press reporter Jason Straziuso reported from Kabul. More on Afghanistan
 
Phil Bronstein: The G-20 summit: The New Macho comes out swinging Top
George Bush on the flight deck in a snug fighter pilot suit was decent theater. Just not the theater of the actual war. But it's the rough-and-tough, no nonsense swagger of John Wayne/Ronald Reagan that seems to be bathing world leader contestants in its orange sunset Western macho glow. What happened to the Sensitive Man? "Obama to Automakers: It's My Way or the Highway," reads a Reuters headline . He may not have told GM to drop dead, but he definitely insisted they drop down. He actually fired a CEO, prompting questions on cable blab: can he actually do that? (Yes he can! Ready! Fire! Aim!) But it's not just Mr. Obama. Nicolas Sarkozy, the President of France, the international standard bearer of subtlety and sophistication, has threatened to walk out of the G-20, adding , "No agreement is secured. I know by experience that we will need to fight until the last minute." Is he channeling Kruschev? Obama and Brown seem to have called his school-yard bully bluff with the diplomatic equivalent of an "Oh yeah?" "Yeah!" says Sarkozy's second, Germany's Angela Merkel. It's an economic rumble, fight by the monkey bars at 3 p.m. Be there or be square. Then there's Sudan's leader, Omar al-Bashir, who flipped the bird to war crimes charges over Darfur from the International Criminal Court. President al-Bashir went out and threw himself a street party, then jetted to Qatar to be swaddled in the protective burnoose of the Arab League. What war crimes? The last one who tried that schtick was Slobodan Milosevic and he keeled over dead trying to defend himself. But Mr. al-Bashir is acting like those steely Somali pirates with their endless chutzpah. But despite Vice President Biden begging a softer and kinder approach from G-20 protestors, and the protestors themselves civily having tea outside the Bank of London, even First Ladies got into the "Quien Es Mas Macho?" mood. "G-20 fashion smackdown" reads an LATimes.com headline . "Obama vs. Brown vs. Bruni-Sarkozy." Hey! No contest there. Which of their countries threw off the shackles of empire and who is now the wife of the world's most powerful man? Golda Meir, Margaret Thatcher and Indira Ghandi would be proud. For more, read Bronstein at Large . More on G-20 Summit
 
Michael Hais and Morley Winograd: The Overhaul of the Domestic Auto Industry and Its Parallels with the Republicans' Problem Top
With President Barack Obama's announcement later this morning, the current debate over whether to save our domestic auto industry has revealed some starkly different views about the future of manufacturing in America among economists, elected officials and corporate executives. There are many disagreements about solutions to the Big Three's current financial difficulties, but the more fundamental debate is whether the industry should bend to the will of the government's and taxpayers' priorities or serve only the needs of the companies' customers and their shareholders. Detroit had an opportunity -- nearly 10 years ago to the date -- to change. To understand the globalizing world around it, to understand that consumers' priorities and values -- especially those of the rising Millennial Generation -- were changing drastically. While some may think it's a leap to compare an overhaul of Detroit with an overhaul of the discredited Republican Party , the similarities are there: But when the government becomes a major stockholder in private enterprises, the brand becomes political. And as General Motors learned to its regret, when a company's brand is as damaged as badly as the Republican Party's is now, the chances of it prevailing in any debate about the automotive industry's future is greatly diminished. Very aware of the public tsunami of anger over AIG bonuses, Wall Street excesses and public perception of corruption and lack of accountability, President Obama is not in a forgiving mood. He has made clear the domestic automobile industry has to be seen as a contributor in ending America's dependence on foreign oil and improving our environment to secure his support. Almost exactly ten years since the debate at the Detroit airport, as a price for its financial support, the federal government will in fact be telling at least General Motors which vehicles to produce for its customers. Given that arrangement, both parties to this newest partnership need to find "win-win" solutions for the industry's future that match the optimism and civic spirit of the Millennial generation who will have to pay for the results of their decisions. The last time the industry seriously engaged in such a debate was during the Clinton Administration and the companies' failure to effectively respond to Vice President Al Gore's offer to partner with them in producing more environmentally sensitive products gives substance to President Obama's charge last week that their current difficulties were caused by executive "mismanagement" in the past. Attempts to nudge Detroit into producing more fuel-efficient vehicles have been going on since the 1973-4 Arab Oil embargo, which led Congress to establish Corporate Average Fuel Efficiency (CAFÉ) standards for cars and light trucks. The original fuel efficiency target was for cars to meet an average of 27.5 miles per gallon (mpg) by 1985. On Earth Day, 1992, candidate Bill Clinton proposed to raise that standard even further to 45 mpg if he were elected President. When Al Gore was asked to join the ticket, auto industry executives, terrified at the prospect that the man who had called for the abolition of the internal combustion engine might become Vice President, implored the leadership of the United Automobile Workers (UAW) to meet with the candidates and bring them to their senses. The lobbying effort worked. Clinton agreed to delay the adoption of higher CAFÉ standards until it could be proven that such goals were attainable. This formulation opened the door for what came to be known as the Partnership for a New Generation of Vehicles or PNGV. Reluctantly supported by the Big Three, PNGV provided approximately a quarter of a billion dollars in government research funds to demonstrate the feasibility of producing a midsize sedan that could get 80 mpg. Often called "the moon shot of the 90s," each car company was to make a prototype of such a vehicle by the politically convenient year of 2000 and begin mass production by 2004. After a few years of technological research, the partnership settled on the combination of a hybrid gasoline and electric powered propulsion system as the most promising approach. But by 1997, the car companies began to resist expending their resources to develop even a prototype for such a vehicle. Vice President Gore, who had been in charge of the PNGV program since its inception, decided to meet with the Big Three CEOs to make sure they did not forget their past commitments. The answer from Detroit was emphatic: profits were coming from SUVs and heavy-duty trucks, not cars. Gore countered that argument by offering to trade the administration's support for tougher regulations on the permissible amount of sulfur content in the diesel fuels that would power some of the new hybrid SUVs, if the car companies would join in expanding the scope of the PNGV plan to include SUVs, the very product they said the marketplace was asking for. Gore suggested each company produce a concept SUV by 2002 and three production prototypes by 2006, capable of getting 80 mpg. He also suggested they advance the mass production goal for cars to 2002 by deploying a 60 mpg five passenger sedan in 2002 rather than waiting for an 80 mpg version in 2004. Ford's Peter Pestillo and his UAW ally, Steve Yokich, quickly replied, "no way." Pestillo maintained, "We need much more time than that to make them cost competitive." Not all of the auto executives were blind to the challenge. General Motors' Vice-Chairman, Harry Pearce had been the driving force behind GM's ill-fated EV1 electric car experiment. And William Clay "Bill" Ford, Jr., great grandson of the company's founder and Chairman of its Board of Directors envisioned building a 21st century version of the Model T that would be environmentally friendly as well as inexpensive. Gore asked the companies to respond to his suggestions by September 1998, the fifth anniversary of PNGV. But it wasn't until May of 1999, that the auto company CEOs joined the Vice President to settle the issue of SUVs and PNGV. Gore began the meeting, held in a back room at the Detroit airport, by suggesting that developing these products could enhance the industry's image as well as each company's individual brands. Ford's Pestillo asked for still more time to consider the idea: "While we love the progress we are making in PNGV as it's currently constituted, it's not yet clear to us that the technologies we have been working on apply to the design of an SUV." But Pearce used the platform (basic body design) issue raised by Ford to make Gore's point. He sketched a future auto industry where the line between cars and trucks would not be as clear, describing what we know today as "crossovers". It might therefore be wrong, he suggested, for PNGV to be limited to just one platform. Gore took the opening and suggested the companies think about what such an announcement might mean to the industry's image and their individual brands. "It's not just the substance of the issue you need to consider. You also need to think about the symbolism of the decision. Putting SUVs into the PNGV project would change the public's perception of where you are going in the future." When Pestillo attempted to return to his original arguments, he was overridden on the spot. GM said, "If you will include lean burn technology (for diesel SUV's) into the project that might work." Gore responded, "Let's work on this as a package." Recognizing the breakthrough they had just achieved, the participants began to think about what the future might look like if they formed a true partnership -- not too dissimilar from what is being contemplated now under the terms of the automotive industry loan. Gore said he would put his personal reputation behind such an agreement, which the press would think of as a "Nixon goes to China" event, garnering the auto industry a great deal of positive press. But when it came time for the true test of their commitment to this new partnership, the autos blinked. The Vice President suggested they sign off on a press release, conveniently drawn up before the meeting started, announcing the inclusion of SUVs in an expanded PNGV project. The CEOs argued for a less definitive announcement stating that they would address the issue of highly fuel efficient SUVs within the context of the PNGV partnership, but not commit to any specific goals for their production. This less-than-definitive agreement barely made it to page B4 of the Wall Street Journal the next day and was generally ignored by the public the participants were hoping to impress. Unfortunately for America, General Motors then decided to go in almost the opposite direction. Rick Wagoner, who became General Motors' CEO in June 2000, chose to pursue an SUV-centered strategy that won big profits for a brief period. Since then, however, GM stock has plunged 95%, from $60 per share to just under $4 today. General Motors, which has lost $70 billion since 2005, has seen its market share cut in half. Seven years after the fateful auto summit with Al Gore, when asked what decision he most regretted, Wagoner told Motor Trend magazine, "ending the EV1 electric car program and not putting the right resources into PNGV. It didn't affect profitability but it did affect image." [emphasis added]. His lack of commitment to the type of automobile industry that PNGV envisioned ultimately led to his downfall with the Obama Administration now demanding his resignation as part their plan to save GM. The importance of a company's public image or brand value has never been greater than in this new civic era, where the lines between democratic decision-making and private sector planning are becoming increasingly blurred. The organizing cry of Boomer feminists was "the personal is political." The paragraph from above bears repeating: But when the government becomes a major stockholder in private enterprises, the brand becomes political. And as General Motors learned to its regret, when a company's brand is as damaged as badly as the Republican Party's is now, the chances of it prevailing in any debate about the automotive industry's future is greatly diminished. Very aware of the public tsunami of anger over AIG bonuses, Wall Street excesses and public perception of corruption and lack of accountability, President Obama is not in a forgiving mood. He has made clear the domestic automobile industry has to be seen as a contributor in ending America's dependence on foreign oil and improving our environment to secure his support. Almost exactly ten years since the debate at the Detroit airport, as a price for its financial support, the federal government will in fact be telling at least General Motors which vehicles to produce for its customers. Given that arrangement, both parties to this newest partnership need to find "win-win" solutions for the industry's future that match the optimism and civic spirit of the Millennial generation who will have to pay for the results of their decisions. Cross-posted at the NDN Blog . Note: Morley Winograd and Mike Hais, NDN Fellows, are co-authors of the critically acclaimed Millennial Makeover: MySpace, YouTube, & the Future of American Politics . Winograd and Hais also have a long history with Detroit and Michigan. Winograd lived there for 50 years and was Chairman of the Michigan Democratic Party from 1973 to 1979. Winograd later served in Washington, DC, as Senior Policy Advisor to Vice President Gore, during which time he witnessed the events described in the essay below. Prior to joining Frank N. Magid Associates in 1983, Hais was a political pollster for Democrats in Michigan and an Assistant Professor of Political Science at the University of Detroit. More on Barack Obama
 
Bill Donius: Healthcare costs versus value: Where's the Beef? Top
We spend nearly $2.5 trillion per year on health care in this country. That equates to 15% of GDP or approximately $8,000 per person. In fact, our country spends the 3rd most in the world on health care. Are we getting the appropriate value in exchange for this expense? The U.S. is ranked 37th in the world for the overall quality of our health care. Hence, the disconnect in the cost versus value chain. It certainly makes sense for the Obama administration to take a comprehensive look at health care to attempt to figure out how and where we are getting short changed. Costs have steadily increased over the past decades to a dangerously high level today. Fewer employees are insured each year further complicating the problem. Both big and small companies face difficult choices. As a former corporate CEO, I wrestled with the issue over the past decade. Double digit health insurance cost increases are not sustainable in a tough economy Particularly disturbing is the issue of value received versus value paid- where's the beef? Let's get to the bottom of this issue before we hit 20% of GDP! More on Health
 
Don McNay: Fix the airlines instead of bailing out Wall Street Top
Coming in from London Flying in a big airliner Chickens flying everywhere around the plane could we ever feel much finer? -Arlo Guthrie There was a time in my life when I loved to fly. I didn't care where I was going. I just liked being on a plane. Not now. People have been trying to pinpoint events that lead to the economic crisis. Some look to President Clinton allowing banks and insurance companies to merge in 1999. Others go back to the deregulation frenzy of the Reagan administration. I take it back even further, to when President Carter deregulated the airline industry. That was followed by President Reagan firing the air traffic controllers. Air transportation has been on a slippery slope since then. During the regulated era pricing and routes were regulated so airlines competed with amenities and customer service. You don't see that anymore. I used to be a frequent business flyer. I'm not now. It is just too painful. In recent years, I went to Bermuda while my clothes went to Atlanta. I spent four hours in Baltimore proving I wasn't a terrorist. My crime was buying one way tickets on different airlines. My last flight was crammed in a middle seat from Seattle to Louisville. The one before that stranded me in Memphis and said it would be at least three more days. I like Elvis but not that much. I found a rental car and drove home. It seems like everyone is having the same horrible experiences. The world of flying changed after September 11, 2001. Safety became more important than passenger comfort. Many airlines marched into bankruptcy. Airlines started cutting back on "extras". First they took the lettuce off the sandwich. Then they stopped giving you a sandwich at all. Recently they decided that luggage was "extra" too. There has to be a way to make the airlines safe without putting the passengers through hell. In his recent book, Hot, Flat and Crowded, Tom Friedman described his experience of flying from a dated and overcrowded airport in New York to an ultramodern airport in Singapore. He said, "We felt like we had just flown from The Flintstones to The Jetsons." I wouldn't use cartoons to describe my recent flying experiences. My descriptive language turns up in the comedy of Lenny Bruce, Chris Rock and Richard Pryor. I liked being served Omaha steaks and California wines, (in coach) but I can live without them. I can't live without the ability to get from there from here. I live outside of Lexington, Kentucky. I can easily drive to Cincinnati, Louisville and Knoxville and sometimes flown from Indianapolis and Dayton. Even with several airports, I can't do what I used to do: Get to a meeting and know I will get back. I used to schedule an out of town trip then meetings the next day. Now I can't. I am not sure if I will get back or if I will get home exhausted and stressed. When I started my business in 1982, I treated Mark McCormick's What They Don't Teach You at Harvard Business School as my business bible. McCormick said the best way to do business was to get in front of a client, face to face. He advised to do whatever it took but see them in person. I did that for years. I was an elite flyer on three different airlines. I could fly from Cincinnati to Los Angeles, meet a client for lunch and be home that night. I flew to Washington every couple of weeks. Now I drive every couple of months. Even with email, phones, and video, it is not the same thing. The same inability to see clients has hurt thousands of business people. And the economy is suffering for it. The government is committed to spending trillions of dollars. They need to ask what an investment in the future is and what is bailing out mistakes of the past. Spending money on the airline system is a little of both. Don McNay, CLU, ChFC, MSFS, CSSC is the founder of McNay Settlement Group in Richmond, Kentucky. He is the author of Son of a Son of a Gambler: Winners, Losers and What to Do When You When The Lottery. You can write to Don at don@donmcnay.com or read his award winning, syndicated column at www.donmcnay.com. McNay is Treasurer for the National Society of Newspaper Columnists and a lifetime member of the Million Dollar Round Table. More on Travel
 
Lionel: The Genius of Glenn Beck Top
"I'm a rodeo clown," says Glenn Beck. No, this man's a genius. And, no, Glenn, you're no rodeo clown. The rodeo clown causes a diversion when a bull threatens a downed rider. The rodeo clown's not the star. The circus clown is a more apt description. You're a clown, and I say that with all due respect. The New York Times reports it. "Fox News's Mad, Apocalyptic, Tearful Rising Star." Genius. "While Mr. O'Reilly, the 8 p.m. host, paints himself as the outsider and Mr. Hannity, at 9, is more consistently ideological, Mr. Beck presents himself as a revivalist in a troubled land." Translation: characters. Shtick. Professional wrestling. All heel, no babyface. And get ready, you will see a surge of "conservative" talk like you've never seen. A Democratic House and Senate and a Black President?! Their worst nightmare converts to media overkill. Enter Beck. His masterful creation of this crazed, lachrymating doomsayer is brilliant. And only he can do it. You have to dispossess your self of self-dignity and restraint in order to pull this con off. O'Reilly comes close when he loses it. Remember his piece with Barney Frank? Jeremy Glick? But, even then Bill doesn't channel his inner maniac and close the nut deal. Beck does it in spades. Even Hannity can't come close. Sean's trying to act even professorial compared to these guys. He's a political future to think of. Mark my words. But Glenn Beck does it all. I saw his genius in that classic post hemorrhoid surgery YouTube piece. God only knows what the hell that was about, but I watched it and all the while kept muttering "Beck is a genius." Self-respect and dignity be damned! When it comes to great television, this is the character to watch. Why? Because nightly (or "afternoonly") millions tune in to watch what this maniac's going to say? And mania sells. Exhibit A: CNBC, the Faux-nancial News Channel. Jim Cramer, Erin Burnett, Mark Haines, Rick Santelli and now the ouster, er, resignation of Dylan Ratigan. Wow. So much for staid, boring financial prognosticating. Remember the grandfatherly Louis Rukeyser? He wouldn't last a minute today. Look, it's about who can scream the loudest, who can make a YouTube moment, who can get Robert Gibbs to mention them from a White House press conference, who can get mentioned period. Oh, and don't worry if you're right or wrong. Just get mentioned and have a meltdown. It's called "Pulling a Cramer." This fellow is never watched for his predictions but mostly to see when he breaks down or reverts to that creepy delivery of his. And nobody does that better than Glenn Beck. So I have a question. Why isn't there a . . . here's that label coming . . . progressive or liberal that can scream, holler and lose it on command? Olbermann comes to mind, but that self-respect thing gets in the way. He also wants to be respected for what he says, and in this business you have to decide whether you want respect or ratings. The two don't coexist. Keep it simple and grandiose. Take Paul Krugman. Please. I watched him Sunday with George Stephanopoulos and thought to myself, why does one of the smartest people in the world of economics, a Nobel laureate and Princeton prof always look like he was just startled from a sound sleep. He's quiet, cerebral, thoughtful . . . and would be killed in any ratings game by none other than Glenn Beck. Think of it, you and I would find the show fascinating, but we're the minority. What does that say about a country who cares not to watch and listen to a most learned economist during what may be the worst economic straits since the Depression but instead tunes into an autodidact (at best) who warns of socialism? Beck's that guy in the subway, ranting and raving about something. It's an unfocused passion that is watchable. So is "Animal Acts Gone Bad." But TV is about watching, not teaching. And these guys are geniuses at getting us to watch. And speaking of genius, how Rush Limbaugh pulled off that CPAC bit, baiting Michael Steele and stealing free advertising for his show . . . BRAVO! Faux News will enjoy their highest ratings ever. Mark my words. They were down for a bit after the inauguration and 44's victory, but they're back. Bitter and better than ever. As Hunter S. Thompson noted, "When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro." More on Jim Cramer
 
Sara Avant Stover: Unplug and Recharge: Lighten Up In 6 Easy Steps Top
I have fond memories of April Fool's Day. Filling the sugar jar with salt and sewing the feet of my father's pajamas shut were two of my favorite ways to celebrate as a child. No doubt, hiccup-inducing laughter (an endearing quality that I inherited from my grandmother) always ensued. As an adult, for better or for worse, I can go days, or even weeks, when things get really dire, that I don't laugh. I'm a serious gal, I admit it; but I know that giggling girlishness still lingers in me somewhere. Surely I am not alone. I don't see many of you laughing in the post office, grocery store or airport. How often are silliness and playfulness emphasized in your daily to do's? Learn to set aside time regularly for laughter therapy. I watch reruns of Friends and Seinfeld, or a zany film like Meet the Parents. Lately, episodes of The Inappropriate Yoga Guy also do the trick. Find what floats your boat. In recent years "Laughter Yoga" has soared in popularity around the world. While it might seem a little dorky, it works. With this technique you can truly alter your mood in only a couple of minutes. Here's how: 1. Find a private space (lock your door, close your blinds). Yes, there is something wrong with the fact that other people might think you are crazy if they see you laughing! 2. Lie down with your knees bent and feet flat on the floor. 3. Set a timer for 1 minute. Over time work up to 2 minutes. 4. Close your eyes and lift your feet up. Start peddling your legs like you are riding a bicycle. 5. Start laughing. Fake it 'til you make it. Keep laughing. Pretty soon it will be the real thing. 6. Stop when the timer goes off, or you may just wish to lie there, chuckling to yourself. More on Happiness
 
Obama Meets Queen Elizabeth II Top
LONDON — On the eve of a global economic summit, President Barack Obama promised world leaders he would listen, not lecture, as they seek a common fix to the financial crisis. "We can only meet this challenge together," he said Wednesday as the U.S. and Russia spoke on the summit sidelines about nuclear warhead reduction. The flurry of diplomacy came as Obama stepped on the world stage for the first time as president, aiming to shore up both America's economy and its reputation across the globe. He met with British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and Chinese President Hu Jintao _ and promptly accepted invitations to visit Russia in July and China sometime in the second half of the year. Thousands of protesters converged on central London to rally against the economic summit. In the most dominant development, Obama and Medvedev announced talks to limit the number of nuclear warheads, the first major negotiations in years over what Obama called the "gravest threat to humanity." Meanwhile, speaking directly to anxious families back home, Obama sought to restore consumer confidence and encourage people to think about spending now to help their future. "Basing decisions around fear is not the right way to go," he said. "We are going to get through this difficult time." The president also disputed criticism that the United States was feuding with other nations about the need to pump more money into economic stimulus policies. "I am absolutely confident that this meeting will reflect enormous consensus about the need to work in concert to deal with these problems," Obama said. Obama prodded nations to spur growth and work together on regulatory reform, and not fall into the kind of protectionism and other mistakes that helped fuel the Great Depression. "That is a mistake that we cannot afford to repeat," Obama said during a news conference with Brown, the British leader. Brown, too, sought to play up consensus. "We are within a few hours, I think, of agreeing a global plan for economic recovery and reform," he said. On Russia, the White House said the U.S. and its former Cold War foe are determined to reduce the number of nuclear warheads but have not settled on a specific number. "I think people on both sides of the Atlantic understand that as much as the constant cloud _ the threat of nuclear warfare _ has receded since the Cold War, that the presence of these deadly weapons, their proliferation, the possibility of them finding their way into the hands of terrorists continues to be the gravest threat to humanity," Obama said. The discussion centers on a replacement of the dying 1991 Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, which limited the world's two largest nuclear arsenals. START expires Dec. 5. Both nations say they want to have a new agreement in place before then. Earlier Wednesday, Obama acknowledged strained relations between the two nations but says the time has come to emphasize areas where they can work together. Obama also gave focus to China. The White House said Obama and Hu agreed to "intensify coordination and cooperation on global economic and financial issues." As economic leaders, the United States and China say they want to work together to address the economic crisis. Officials in both Russia and China have called for a new global currency to end the dollar's dominance, although it's unlikely that the idea will gain immediate traction. Obama's talks with Hu were sure to address Beijing's concerns about the safety of its position as Washington's biggest foreign creditor, with about $1 trillion in U.S. government debt. For the U.S., there are fears that any Chinese flight away from those investments would erode the U.S. ability to spend more on recession-fighting. The G-20 meetings open with a working dinner Wednesday night and continue throughout Thursday. Before the summit even opened, divisions emerged among nations' leaders. French President Nicolas Sarkozy has expressed dissatisfaction with how the summit has been shaping up and warned he would rather risk a public dispute than accept a vague consensus or a "false compromise." Brown said he was confident Sarkozy would still be at the table when the dinner was complete. In London, Obama also met with Brown's main rival _ David Cameron, the leader of Britain's opposition Conservative Party. During the early evening hours, he and first lady Michelle Obama headed to Buckingham Palace for an audience with Queen Elizabeth II. Thousands of well-wishers gathered in front of the palace to wave as the presidential limo passed. More on G-20 Summit
 
Obama Sent "Blunt, Personal Letter" To SC Gov. Over Stimulus: Palmetto Scoop Top
According to an unconfirmed report from a local conservative publication, The Palmetto Scoop , President Obama sent a "very blunt, personal letter" to South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford, telling the governor that his state may lose all its federal stimulus money if Sanford does not apply for the cash before the deadline. The correspondence reportedly states that roughly $700 million in discretionary stimulus money allocated for South Carolina will be revoked on Friday if Sanford declines to accept the funds and that, by law, no alternative options can be accepted. Sanford had previously requested to use stimulus funds to pay down his state's debts, but Obama declined the proposal. State lawmakers worry that Stanford's proposal could put some 4,700 jobs at risk. The White House ruled that only the governor has the authority to reject or accept the funds. White House budget chief Peter Orszag (OHR'-zag) says there is no provision in the stimulus law for state lawmakers to accept that money without approval by the governor. South Carolina's Republican governor, Mark Sanford, has said he may decline more than $700 million in stimulus money because the White House won't let him spend the money to pay down his state's debt. The issue may end up in the courts as a "constitutional standoff" however, according to state Attorney General Henry McMaster. . If a lawsuit is filed to resolve the standoff, a court could enjoin the spending of the stimulus money while the case proceeds, McMaster said.
 
'Hell Hole' Documentary Reveals Heinous Conditions In Zimbabwean Prisons Top
JOHANNESBURG — Newly released images that provide a rare look inside a Zimbabwean prison show emaciated inmates too weak to stand and eating as if they can barely bring food to their mouths. Human rights activists and former prisoners have spoken of horrifying conditions in the country's jails and prisons but there has been little firsthand evidence available. Producer Godknows Nare spent four months on the behind-the-walls documentary, training insiders to capture the footage. His work, "Hell Hole," aired Tuesday on SABC, the South African state broadcaster, and was being syndicated internationally by Associated Press Television News Wednesday. Nare said he hoped the footage would persuade Zimbabwe's new coalition government and the international community to step in to help. "Just hearsay, without visual proof, is not enough to change people's minds," he said. Attempts to reach the Zimbabwe Cabinet minister in charge of prisons Wednesday were not immediately successful. In one scene from "Hell Hole," a man stands shirtless in a prison yard, his ribs and pelvic bone shockingly prominent until he pulls on a ragged T-shirt. In other scenes, emaciated prisoners, wasting away because of vitamin deficiencies, according to SABC, are shown on mats in cells furnished with only blankets and the thin mattresses. Nare said prison menus have been reduced to daily bowls of corn porridge, which the inmates are shown eating slowly, as if they barely have the energy to bring the food to their mouths. The Associated Press could not independently determine if the prisoners' ailments were caused by the jail conditions or by an illness or malnutrition they were suffering before being incarcerated. Annah Y. Moyo, a Zimbabwean lawyer who works with the Southern African Center for Survivors of Torture, said conditions in Zimbabwean prisons were "a form of torture." Moyo, who was not involved in making the documentary, said Zimbabwe's soaring inflation and shortages of basic goods have made it difficult to supply prisons. But she said corruption also played a role, with prison officials taking food that should go to prisoners and selling it on the black market. And she said there was a political aspect, with security officials making sure political activists know of the prison conditions. "Everyone knows that if you're sent to prison, your chances of coming out alive are slim," Moyo said in an interview Tuesday. "It's quite a complex situation. You cannot classify it as only economic or political." Lack of medical care in jails and prisons also has been an issue, with concern that cholera, at epidemic levels among free Zimbabweans, would take an even higher toll in crowded cells. Last year, the Zimbabwean civic group Women of Zimbabwe Arise dedicated a report on the collapse of the country's health system to one of its leaders, Thembelani Lunga. The group said she died after being jailed for four days in Bulawayo Central Police Station, where she was denied access to AIDS medication. Earlier this month, Roy Bennett, a former opposition politician who is now part of the unity government, spoke about harsh jail conditions he endured for a month before being granted bail in an arms case. He said prisoners survive on one meal a day and are given salty water. Bennett, noticeably thinner after his jailing, told reporters five people died during his incarceration and it took authorities 24 to 48 hours to collect the bodies. Bennett's Movement for Democratic Change joined longtime President Robert Mugabe's ZANU-PF in a unity government in February. The arms accusations against Bennett, which his party says are trumped up for political reasons, are evidence of the difficulties the new governing partners will have putting political tension and violence behind them and turning their energies to rebuilding the country. More on Zimbabwe
 
Anne Dunev: Three Weeks to Thinner Thighs: Exercise Optional! Top
Without starving yourself, without diet pills or gimmicks, even without exercise, it is possible to have thinner, smoother thighs in three weeks. That is plenty of time to get in shape for swimsuit season. The rules must be followed strictly and will require some change in your diet. There is no free lunch, after all. The good news is that, not only will you lose inches; you will feel better and look better. You will be able to follow this regimen any time you want to lose a few inches or a few pounds. Or you can make these rules part of your life-style and continue to lose weight and improve your health long-term. There are 10 rules to follow. 1) Drink two glasses of good water (filtered, or spring water) every morning when you first get up, before you do anything else. 2) Drink at least eight more glasses of water throughout the day. Drink an extra glass of water for every cup of coffee, black or green tea that you consume. One cup of coffee or black or green tea per day. Herbal tea is allowed in any amount. No other beverages are allowed. 3) Eliminate all grains, except for ½ cup of brown rice allowed per day. That means no bread, oat products, cakes or pastries, or pasta of any kind. No corn or soy products, including tofu. Read food labels!! 4) Eliminate all sugar or sugar products, except for whole fruit. Stevia is allowed. Stevia is made from a South American plant and is considered a herb. It tastes sweet, but contains no sugar and no calories. Avoid all artificial sweeteners, including Splenda. No corn syrup or high fructose corn syrup. No alcohol of any kind. 5) Eat four servings of protein per day. A serving is 3-4 ounces (about the size of your fist). Eggs, chicken, fish and meat poached, broiled or grilled allowed. 6) Eat unlimited amounts of vegetables, steamed or raw. 7) Eat half as much fruit as vegetables. For example, if you eat 6 cups of vegetables, eat 3 cups of fruit. No juice allowed, only whole fruit. 8) Eat two tablespoons of oil per day, made into salad dressing, or over vegetables or fish/chicken/meat . Virgin olive oil, raw coconut oil, unrefined nut oils, or flax seed oil only. Vinegar or lemon juice may be added to the oil for salad dressing. Herbs and spices may be used for flavoring. You may use a sprinkle of sea salt-be very sparing. No butter or mayonnaise. No nuts or nut butters. 9) Avoid all dairy products--milk, cheese, yogurt, cream. The exception is whey protein, which you can use, along with water and fruit, to make protein shakes. You may also use egg white protein powder. If you need the smoothie sweeter, use Stevia. For a frosty smoothie, add ice. 10) Enjoy what you are eating. This is a "real food" regimen and your body will thank you. The processed, chemical foods most Americans eat are an invitation to chronic disease, so this is an opportunity for your body to get much-needed nutrients. Try to eat organic food, if possible. Eat often; do not let yourself get hungry. This regimen will keep your blood sugar stable so that you will feel satisfied, as long as you eat every 3 hours. This program is not about calories. Eat until you are satisfied, sticking to the allowed foods. Keep a log of all that you eat and take note of your energy and moods. If you notice that your energy dips at certain times of day, have a snack ready so your blood sugar does not dip. You may find that you are not as tired in the afternoon when you stop eating bread for lunch! Try lettuce wraps to substitute for sandwiches. Many delis and restaurants will make lettuce wraps, if you ask. Mustard is okay, but no ketchup, as it contains sugar. Measure your waist and thighs before you start. Then measure every week. You should notice that your thighs will not only shrink, but will become smoother. This is a great way to eliminate some cellulite. Although exercise is optional, you will increase the results if you do exercise. Walking as briskly as possible for 30-45 minutes four to five times a week will help. Yoga, Pilates and other forms of stretching are also good choices. You may add fish oil supplements and pro-biotics. I don't recommend synthetic or "horse pill" type multi-vitamins. Many do not even break down in the body, but make a great liner for a septic tank. (Just ask someone in the business.) Look for food source vitamins if you decide to supplement. At the end of three weeks, you will be less bloated, thinner and feel better in general. Your palate will change and you will have fewer cravings. If you want to continue to lose weight and inches, you can stay on this regimen for as long as you like. If you want to maintain, use this regimen as your base. Then have occasional indulgences. Pick one day per week to have pasta, or bread or dessert. If you fall off the wagon for any reason during the three weeks, start this regimen again the following day. Remember it takes about three days to lose the craving for sweets. The good news is that the longer you avoid sugar, the less you will crave it. You will need to plan ahead and carry food with you during the day when you are away from home so that you don't find yourself starving and the only food available is donuts or fast food. This sounds more difficult than it is. Many people have told me they did not think there was any way they could follow this and were surprised to find how good they felt. Other benefits were skin blemishes clearing up and better sleep. Good luck and let me know how you do! More on Food
 
Robert Weissman: What if the Obama Administration Treated Detroit like Wall Street? Top
What if the Obama administration treated the auto industry like Wall Street? There'd be no talk of potential bankruptcy, no firing of executives, no demands to shed failing subsidiaries, no demands for honest accounting, no insistence that creditors share some of the companies' pain. And we certainly wouldn't hear about re-writing contracts, heretofore described as sacrosanct. Instead, we'd be hearing about a scheme to get private sector players "now sitting on the sidelines" to invest in absorbing the auto industry's excess capacity. We'd see the Treasury Department announcing a Public-Private Investment Plan to tap hedge funds' pools of capital and expertise to create demand for autos that GM and Chrysler could manufacture but are presently unable to sell at a satisfactory price. These excess cars would be called "legacy assets" (the euphemism for failing mortgage-related securities, more widely called "toxic"). If the plan really paralleled Treasury Secretary's Timothy Geithner's proposal for dealing with Wall Street's toxic assets, it would "incentivize" the hedge funds to buy up hundreds of thousands or millions of cars, and hold them for later sale, when the overall economy improves. The idea would be that the private investors may be willing to pay a price below the list price, but above the price at which GM and Chrysler could actually sell their excess cars right now -- a price high enough to help GM and Chrysler. What would be the incentive for the private investors to take this gamble? The government would offer to contribute $13 for every dollar contributed by the hedge funds. Thus, an investor could spend $1 billion to buy cars -- bought well below sticker price -- while paying only $71 million out of pocket. With that kind of deal, it's possible the private investors would pay enough to help GM and Chrysler. In doing so, they would be taking on enormous risk -- they would be betting that they someday could sell the cars for more than $1 billion -- but if they couldn't ... well, taxpayers would bear all of the losses except for the $71 million. Does this sound crazy? It is. The Treasury plan for the banks' toxic assets is impossibly complex, but its core feature is a massive, disguised taxpayer subsidy to Wall Street ( Jeffrey Sachs of Columbia University roughly estimates the giveaway component as $276 billion, based on realistic assumptions about the risks embedded in buying the assets). The Geithner plan for the banks contrasts starkly with the very tough and hard-headed approach taken by the Obama administration to the automakers. The administration's response to the automakers is deeply flawed. It should be faulted for continuing to d emand still-more givebacks from unionized workers ; for focusing too much on short-to-medium term results and not enough on investments in fuel efficiency and transformative technologies; and for threatening the use of bankruptcy, a move which would undermine efforts to direct the companies to major investments in R&D and sustainable technologies. These are very major problems. But the overall approach is right in asserting: If the taxpayers are going to provide tens of billions in supports, then they have the right to make demands on the beneficiaries. They should demand the firing of CEOs who drove firms into insolvency. They should demand specific plans for transformation. They should demand creditors accept some of the cost of insolvency. Why the tough love for Detroit and kid gloves for Wall Street? You can make up whatever story you like about the systemic importance of the financial sector as compared to auto manufacturing, but it is utterly uncompelling -- especially as we move out of the phase of acute crisis and into chronic economic downturn. There's just no escaping that Wall Street has bought its gentle treatment through a long-term investment in Washington , the effect of which goes far beyond any specific policy. At the Treasury Department, they understand the point of view of Wall Street -- there is a unity of culture between top officials at Treasury and Wall Street, not least because the decision makers at Treasury so often come from Wall Street. Treasury Department officials can't imagine themselves in the shoes of auto executives, let alone auto workers. The administration's plan for the auto industry is deeply flawed, but at least it has the right attitude. Quick consideration of what it would like if the government treated Detroit like Wall Street shows how ridiculous the idea is. What everyone should be asking is, What would it look like if the government treated Wall Street like Detroit? And, why isn't that happening? More on Timothy Geithner
 
Bank Rescue 2.0: Treasury Could Dump Toxic Assets Online Top
The Treasury Department is not ruling out (though, not endorsing either) a novel proposal floated in small circles of tech/finance experts: to post Wall Street's toxic assets online, so any American with an Internet connection has the chance assess their value. "Treasury hasn't endorsed or rejected the idea," said an official at the Department. Economists and activists are intrigued by the plan, some speaking highly of it. They argue that an online index could boost the government's efforts to purge banks of their dead weight, and open up a process that is currently expected to be highly secretive and overseen by just a handful of Wall Street's most powerful firms. "An economist would generally tell you that more information is good, and that this would help us with the price discovery process, or someone will use this in a way no one thought of," said University of Oregon economics professor Mark Thoma. "In the end it probably won't do much harm and could do some good." Discussion of such a proposal should be considered, as the Treasury official added, in the context of greater efforts to pursue transparency, including posting investment contracts for future transactions, instituting rules to limit the influence of lobbyists in the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act, and launching on Tuesday the website FinancialStability.gov. Unlike those steps, the idea to post toxic assets on the web is still in formative stages. Still, experts say it's not difficult to conceive. Toxic assets are already digitized, so putting them on the web wouldn't be hugely labor intensive. "I think it would be totally feasible," said Dean Baker, co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research. "They have everything there. None of this should be secret information. So the expense involved would be to hire competent people with basic computer skills to post it online." The benefits, Baker and others note, are also quite easy to predict. More eyes would result in a more honest assessment of an asset's worth, regardless of whether the public was offered the right to bid on these assets (which, currently, it is not). "Generally speaking economists believe that more public information, openness and transparency make markets work better," said Chris Carroll, a professor of economics at John Hopkins University. "Even if it is information that already exists online," he noted, "if it were organized in a way that can be easier to understand, that can be useful as well." There are some potential downsides. One worry is that private or proprietary information would be spread over the Internet for anyone to see. Another, Thoma said, "is that you can confuse people more than you can help them." Posting the assets online could result in "eyes focusing on one particular place. And if that is not the right direction, it could reinforce that downward trajectory." In short: one asset deemed to be below its current market value could lead to a perception that all the assets are similarly worthless. In this environment, says Matthew Richardson, a professor of finance at New York University, banks have "an incentive to keep the market opaque." With the goal being to get the assets off the book as quickly as possible, debate over the quality of these assets, let alone the possibility that they are determined to be much worse than imagined could prove problematic. "The government has laid out essentially free leverage to investors," said Richardson of Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner's public-private hybrid plan for purchasing these assets. "So if the prices are too low, the banks are going to try and hold on to the assets unless the government forces them to sell them... If they are too high then they will go and sell them." That said, Richardson considers the idea of posting toxic assets online one that, while "a little gimmicky" could "work pretty well." His chief concern with the current system is that banks will "cherry pick" which assets it puts up for auction. Getting them all on the web would effectively eliminate that concern. As for the complexity of the assets -- some of which range in the thousands of pages with complex mortgages packaged together in trusts - causing confusion among the masses, Richardson makes a valid point. "I don't even think the people who bought [these assets] knew what was in them," he said. Indeed, while Dennis Kneale, a co-anchor of Power Lunch on CNBC, said he is worried about people being overwhelmed by all the data, he believes that when it comes to evaluating and even bidding on these assets, "millions would be vastly better than six" (the number of hedge funds he predicts will be allowed to participate in Geithner's program). As such, Kneale has a proposal that he believes will achieve all the upsides of greater involvement in the toxic-relief effort while avoiding some of the risks. Called " The Rob Plan ," it utilizes Exchange Traded Funds - essentially, a basket of min-funds - to take the toxicity out of the banks and while encouraging more market activity. The banks pick out their very worst mortgage-backed securities, which threaten some of them with insolvency if they were to mark down this securitized garbage to reflect its true lack of tradable value in this fretful market. Let's say the scariest bad stuff has a combined on-the-books value of $1 trillion. All of it goes into a joint central fund, run by a quasi-governmental entity. In return the fund hands out ETFs to the banks, proportionate to the sums they had put in. The feds then pay the banks a 4 percent annual dividend on the ETFs. This would cost taxpayers $40 billion a year on $1 trillion in bad assets--and pump that sum into the banks that were the sickest from all those silly derivatives. So the banks' balance sheets suddenly have been freed of the scary bad stuff, and in its place are the ETFs, which produce real income (the dividend). Instantly that shores up their capital and adds to their cash flow, letting them boost their lending elsewhere. More on Timothy Geithner
 
10 Steps To Outsmart Sibling Rivalry Top
Not so very long ago, my daughter's passions included her Elmo doll, her art projects, and an unfortunate activity she referred to as "the buzz." With her arms wrapped tightly around the wobbly form of her baby brother, she would open her mouth as wide as possible and lick his head until he cried. I wondered if these two small creatures who shared my womb, albeit two years and eight months apart, would ever truly enjoy each other's company. Four years later, my children adore each other. And abhor each other. But my children aren't the first to engage in a little sibling rivalry (and I am not the first parent who's had to deal with it). Here are 10 simple steps to help us, as parents, lessen the impact of sibling rivalry.
 
Chip Conley: Outsourcing the Government to Wal-Mart Top
Admit it. We are in uncharted territory. We're spending more than a trillion dollars to prop up an economy that was overly-stimulated during the dot-com bubble and then propped-up again by the Fed during the real estate bubble. When Republicans are talking about nationalizing banks and the Obama administration is taking a more expansive role in virtually every industry, we have to recognize that our next bubble may be the viability of our government. We can't afford to have that bubble burst. In fact, the Chinese, our biggest offshore "pusher" that have helped facilitate our consumption and borrowing addiction, have warned us. They've asked us to tame our government-sanctioned stimulus sensibilities for fear of piling on the future America's debt burden. You know when the largest Communist country in the world is educating the U.S. on the risks of too much government intervention and debt that we've crossed some sort of line that only Ayn Rand would have imagined a generation or two ago. So, within the context of this new version of the New Deal landscape, let me propose a blasphemous concept. Given the huge logistical exercise that the Obama administration will be conducting in health care, environmental, infrastructure, and virtually every other policy matter, why not learn from the masters of how to make big things work better: Wal-Mart? This resilient and entrepreneurial company has pranced across the planet creating annual revenues that surpass most mid-size countries' annual GDP. Of course, Wal-Mart and McDonald's were the only two American companies that experienced growth in their 2008 stock prices in this new survivalist economy, so they may be the right role model for these trying times. Yes, I know you hate Wal-Mart. So, do many Americans. In fact, between 2000 and 2005, the company's stock price dropped more than 25%, partly due to the fact that almost 10% of Wal-Mart consumers had stopped shopping there due to the company's well-documented reputation of being socially-irresponsible (or for the conservatives in the crowd, at least severely politically incorrect). But, this company has remade itself in some truly impressive ways...partly out of necessity. But, ultimately, Wal-Mart is a brilliant case study of how a behemoth can do well by doing good and do that with the kind of speed that Barack and his team need. Exhibit A: Health Care. While Wal-Mart still trails many of its competitive retailers in terms of the health care benefits it provides employees, it has made large-scale changes such that the percentage of employees covered is 15% higher today than it was in 2006 (at the same time that most companies are going in the opposite direction by reducing benefits in this recession). It helps to be the world's largest self-insured employer, but this fact means that the company has innovated in all kinds of ways that would be deeply instructional to the U.S. government: hundreds of in-store health clinics have recently opened which are meant to provide affordable access which saves big money for local government public health facilities, $4 generic drug prescription programs have saved over $1 billion for customers and employees, a $20 per month catastrophic care program for employees, an investment in digitalized and secure medical records (one of Obama's most well-received health proposals) for its employees and retirees, a contract with the Mayo Clinic to provide all transplants for Wal-Mart employees as a means of a single source approach to reducing the costs associated with these expensive procedures, and a "Life With Baby" education program aimed at reducing the rate of premature births and early infant diseases for employees. Whether its making health care more affordable and accessible or revolutionizing some of the systems associated with this slightly-archaic industry, Wal-Mart's best practices are noteworthy for the White House. Exhibit B: Environmental. Prior to 2005, Wal-Mart was appropriately scolded for its passivity with respect to how it was reducing its environmental footprint as the world's largest company. While today no one would mistake Wal-Mart for Patagonia or any other eco-focused retailer, it's remarkable what changes have been made in such a short time based upon the company's collaboration with a variety of environmental organizations. Wal-Mart created its own environmental standards - since there weren't any federal standards to rely upon - regarding eco-packaging and they imposed these on Procter & Gamble, General Electric, and even the folks who make the Radio Flyer wagon (you may have heard the much-told story of how a Wal-Mart employee saw how much waste occurred when they unpacked their child's gift, which gave this employee the incentive to recommend changes to their Wal-Mart superiors). Additionally, they created a supplier index and eco-rating system that they rolled across all of their product categories. With the largest private trucking fleet in the world, the company is changing the design of these trucks to create 25% better fuel efficiency which will save Wal-Mart $500 million annually by 2020. And, they've made great efforts to provide more eco-friendly products for their customers such that they now sell more than 100 million fluorescent bulbs annually. We have a lot to learn from Wal-Mart. Through no contractual obligation, Wal-Mart employees were elbow-to-elbow assisting Katrina victims faster than feeble FEMA due to some independent decision-making by local store managers. Within a couple of days, the senior leaders of Wal-Mart made the kind of decisive decisions sorely lacking in the Bush White House. They committed 1,500 truckloads of free merchandise, food for 100,000 meals, job security for all displaced Wal-Mart workers in the area, and they contributed $20 million in donated cash to the efforts. And for those who think a Wal-Mart job is a dead-end experience, realize that the company has a well-respected career development program that promotes line level workers quickly such that two-thirds of all Wal-Mart managers are elevated hourly employees. You may not like Wal-Mart, but the vast majority of their employees do seem to be committed to the company and every single employee has the potential to earn a quarterly bonus based upon store performance. Yes, I know that Wal-Mart deserves to be the corporate piñata for a variety of other business strategies and tactics and their commitment to many of these new-found practices may seem to be as much bottom-line and reputation-driven than a new-found religion (and, I'm not sure that the ratio of Prius' to Hummers in their headquarters parking lot has escalated any faster than any other American corporate giant). But, what the Obama administration needs to succeed today isn't more politically-correct zealots. What it needs is an efficiency expert that can implement logistics very quickly on a grand scale as Barack's agenda is vast and the stakes are high. The last time I checked the U.S. government wasn't all that good at efficiency, logistics, or speed (although I will say that our government has gotten much better in these areas during the past decade). Don't be surprised if we're going to be "bending toward Bentonville" in these next few survival-driven years. If you need a little proof that Wal-Mart's reputation is making a comeback, take the case of Wal-Mart.com's signage in the bastion of liberalism, San Francisco. My college fraternity brother was President of Wal-Mart.com a couple of years ago. He told me about how his employees were occasionally embarrassed to tell their friends in the Bay Area (where Wal-Mart.com is headquartered) that they worked for the company. And, for potential sabotage reasons and to limit their exposure in this geographic hot bed of political protest, Wal-Mart.com chose for years to downplay their Bay Area office building signage presence. So, given Wal-Mart's recent "coming out" as a good corporate citizen, I guess I shouldn't be surprised that the other day when I was driving to the San Francisco airport, there was a huge sign on a bayside office building proclaiming Wal-Mart.com was headquartered in that building. For those of you who are still having a hard-time digesting the idea of Barack being mentored by Bentonville, would you consider a joint venture with Wal-Mart, instead of an outsourcing or consulting contract? I can certainly think of better investments for the U.S. government (and all of us who "invest" in our government) than A.I.G. Chip Conley is the Founder and CEO of Joie de Vivre Hospitality and the author of PEAK: How Great Companies Get Their Mojo From Maslow. More on Barack Obama
 
Jim Lichtman: Liars, Cheats May Suffer 'Ethics Disorder' Top
WASHINGTON, D.C. - In a stunning announcement on the steps of the Capitol today, scientists from four leading research centers believe they have found a direct link between the ethics scandals of the last five years - perhaps five decades - and a chemical imbalance in the brain. The new disease, which scientists are calling "Involuntary Ethics Disorder," affects that portion of the brain where moral cognitive function takes place. Dr. U.R. Stuck, senior marketing chief at the Public Parody Center for the Advancement of Newly Discovered Dysfunctional Diseases said, "Much like Tourette's syndrome, 'I.E.D.' concerns a chemical imbalance in the brain that causes hundreds, perhaps even thousands of individuals to lie, steal and cheat while completely convinced that they have done nothing wrong." The study was based on a series of nationwide interviews and blood tests of more than 522 CEOs, politicians, athletes and others involved in one or more ethics-related transgressions. The research was funded by the group Special Ways of Finding Excuses , a nondenominational, political/corporate action committee based in the Cayman Islands. The findings show the little-studied disorder is much more common than previously thought. "It seems to be particularly demonstrative in that segment of society involving money, power and professional sporting events," Dr. Stuck said. "We have documented an abnormally large percentage of IEDs in and around Washington, D.C., Wall Street and major league baseball events around the country." Defense attorneys for convicted Enron honcho Jeff Skilling commented, "We never thought of this before. It's a whole new ball game for us in the appeal process." In a similar statement, former Louisiana Representative William Jefferson said, "It makes perfect sense. And all this time, people thought I was only interested in the money." Following the announcement by Mr. Skilling's lawyers, attorneys for WorldCom's Bernard Ebbers, Tyco's Dennis Kozlowski, and former Senator Larry Craig announced that they are all in the process of filing new appeals. However, the news is not so good for others. Author and ethics specialist Jim Lichtman is reported to have lost a number of new and potential clients as a direct result of the study. "Everybody's cancelled on me! I had contracts with a whole host of Wall Street companies," Lichtman cried. "But rather than sign up for much-needed ethics training, now they're all waiting around for some magic pill they can take. I've had to return almost $1 million in deposits. It's disgusting!" In a related story, a small fight broke out shortly after the announcement between the "road rage" people and the "ethics rage" scientists - each one claiming the acronym "I.E.D." A group of Marines, on leave from Iraq, joined the fracas claiming "I.E.D." should be exclusive to military usage regarding the deadly "Improvised Explosive Device." However, car manufacturer Toyota has weighed in saying those other terms infringe on their right to use "Integrated Electric Drive" for their Prius hybrid electric car. The study has yet to determine the exact cause of the disorder. "It could be genetic," Dr. Stuck says, "but there's strong evidence to suggest that it is transmitted from person to person, much like the Bird Flu. If that's the case, we could be looking at a whole new pandemic." Dr. Stuck advises anyone with a predisposition for prevarication, rationalization, creative accounting or an inflated batting average to avoid contact with individuals who are known liars and cheaters, at least until all the evidence has been closely examined. Jim Lichtman's highly ethical commentaries can usually be found at www.ethicsStupid.com on other days, as well as April 1st.
 
Jim Selman: Back to the Rhythm: 'Inventuring' in Africa Top
I am returning from an experience I didn't expect to have. I have just come back from being on a two-week safari in Tanzania with Richard Leider and a group of 7 other men between 55 and 70. Richard is a consultant, author and leader in the field of "Positive Aging" and has been leading groups to Africa for many years. We were going on both an adventure and what he calls an "inventure" -- a deep and reflective journey into the questions of "Who am I?" and "What do I want to do with the rest of my life?" Our guide was a man named Daudi (swahili for David) Peterson, who grew up in Tanzania and runs an extraordinary organization called Dorobo Safaris. His operation isn't the biggest, but for my money it is in a league of its own in terms of its vision and impact on customers. Of course, we saw plenty of animals. Daudi and his staff are world-class experts on animals, birds and most of the plants and trees, not to mention the history of the country and, most importantly, the culture of the indigenous people. They often lead educational trips for students from North America and Europe. Our trip was divided between about 75% walking and camping and 25% viewing from Land Rovers. I won't belabor the travelogue aspects of the trip. What was special is Dorobo's commitment to social justice for the native people and preserving the environment for future generations. In many ways, their work is similar to that of the Pachamama Alliance that is working to preserve and empower the culture of the Achuar and other indigenous people in Ecuador and other regions of South America. The two groups we spent time with in Tanzania were the Hadza tribe and the Maasai tribe. The Hadza are one of the oldest hunter-gatherer societies remaining, and there are only a few thousand left. They are also the only society that has no record of famine in their oral history. These people live very much as they have over the past few thousand years. They hunt game with crude poison arrows and survive on roots or government-provided maize. While the Hadza wear mostly missionary-provided Western second-hand clothing, they still build thatched huts and migrate frequently to follow game. Only about 10% of their historical homelands remain protected due to population pressures from other tribes. The question is what can we learn from these people? They live by consensus, have gender equality and little or no conflict. They live as a community of people in every sense of the term. In times when we in the West are starving for community (and may very well starve without community), it is worth pausing and seeing where we came from and some of what we've lost over the millennia. The Maasai are much more numerous and have a pastoral society based on owning herds of cattle, sheep and goats. These are the people we normally see in pictures, dressed in brightly colored traditional wraps, carrying spears, and with both men and women adorned with distinctive jewelry. The Maasai do not eat meat except in a ceremonial context, move frequently and struggle constantly to find water for their livestock. These people are a bit more conscious and connected to modern times (some even have cell phones), but they also survive as a community and their lives are still lived in mostly traditional ways. All of us were deeply moved by the dignity of these tribes and the serenity with which they inhabit the vast plains and mountains of Tanzania. We did not romanticize them or believe we would want to live their lives. But we did find in their cultures and in our many conversations with them, a common thread of humanity and community that called for peaceful co-existence, shared admiration and respect, and, most of all, for mutual learning from each other. These people's lives are changing and much of their culture could be on the 'endangered culture' list. What we can hope and commit to is that they will have the opportunity to participate in the changes that are happening and have some control over their own destiny. Each person on our tour recognized that the distance between these people and ourselves was not a great as we had imagined. We not only learned about nature, wildlife and indigenous people: we learned about ourselves. We got "Back to the Rhythm" (the theme of the trip) and experienced profound humility and the privilege of being alive in the context of the vastness of East Africa, the place where the human animal first evolved. We are returning to our lives in North America with a deeper understanding of our roots and a much stronger appreciation of how precious life can be. 2009 Jim Selman. All rights reserved. More on Africa
 
Louise McCready: Robert Sietsema and Sarah DiGregorio at the Second Annual Village Voice Choice Eats Top
If, as a double-chinned, buffet-loving nine-year-old, I had suddenly chocked on a King Size Nutrageous, and seen a glimpse of my own personal fat kid heaven, last night's Second Annual Village Voice Choice Eats would have been it. A half hour before the doors opened, the line of ticket-holders dreaming about Sara Jenkins' porchetta sandwich in close proximity to Salumeria Rosi's mortadella and Christina Tosi's compost cookie snaked around the block. If, like Robert Sietsema and Sarah DiGregorio, you consider yourself ahead of the mainstream food cognoscenti, you would have been happy to see favorite neighborhood spots such as AM-Thai Chili Basil Kitchen , Braai , and Mumbai Xpress. Before the feeding herds entered the Armory, I had a chance to chat with the two Village Voice restaurant critics about Staten Island's beaches, what it's like to have the best job in the world, and why Top Chef food intentionally doesn't look good. LM: Other than the obvious effects of the recession on the food industry: better service for diners, chefs who must be more creative with what they have, and some restaurants closing, what else do you foresee happening in the food industry because of the economic downturn? SD: Rents are inevitably going to down. Hopefully that will have a positive effect and mean that small restaurateurs without a juggernaut generating a lot of money and people standing behind them will have a chance to open. Hopefully that's one of the long term effects. RS" I think people will be seeking more fundamental dining experiences. They're not going to be so concerned with $15 cocktails and all the different kinds of amuse bouches. Rather they're going to focus on the entrees, they're going to want to go to restaurants over and over again, and they're going to go to cheaper restaurants. Restaurants are going to be more important to them than just some place that they'll read about in a blog and go off to be the first person there. There will be a shakeout of restaurants that don't offer both excellent food and some concept of value too. One of the things that these places have in common is that a lot of them are way below the radar of the food press. A lot of these places are run by immigrants, who are bringing their food here, primarily for an immigrant audience, but it has been discovered by the likes of us, who love to eat food and meet new people. What this mainly displays is how much immigration there has been and how good the food cooked by the immigrants is. Plus, there are a few hipster places here, and places that we just like. It basically more than anything reflects our taste in food. LM: Which is your favorite borough for food? SD: Queens. RS: Just to be contrary, let me say the Bronx. Next to Staten Island, the Bronx is the most underexposed borough. But there are amazing things wherever you go. I encourage people to just get on a random subway some time, go to a random stop, go out and look for food. I swear you're going to find something really fast. The food in New York is better than it's ever been in history before, and more amazing. SD: People should go out to Staten Island. There is some amazing Sri Lankan food. RS: Italian—athe Italian restaurants. The best Vietnamese restaurants in town are in Staten Island. Not to mention beautiful beaches. We sound like we're selling Staten Island. SD: We just want to keep it from reverting back to New Jersey. I know that everyone there wants to be part of New Jersey. LM: With the local, organic, and sustainable movements, I've heard discussed that ingredients are the new chef. Do you think in any sense we're seeing an end to the era of the celebrity chef as people start to care more about where their food is coming from? RS: I would say the celebrity chef à la Top Chef is going away because the quintessential fact about Top Chef is you could never taste what they're making and most of the stuff looks awful. Great chefs have always known that the ingredients are number one. You could be completely untalented and go out and buy three ingredients and you could be the best chef in the world. It's like taking photographs. Anyone can take a great photograph. Any chef can cook a great meal but first he or she has to understand that ingredients are number one. SD: Top Chef may go away but I disagree a little bit. I think that one of the reasons people like it so much is because the food is so disgusting, they feel, 'I could do that'. 'I could be on that show.' I think that's one of the attractions. RS: Maybe it's the democratization of chefdom. LM: Which is more fun to review, a restaurant you hate or a restaurant you love? RS: I almost never review restaurants that I hate because I never want to eat a bad bite of food in my life, and I believe you can pretty much avoid that. With a lot of the restaurants we review, we wouldn't want to do a bad review anyway. What does it look like for a journalist to kick a ma and a pa in the chops? SD: No, I would never do a bad review of a small family restaurant. There are times though when a big restaurant that's been hyped a lot comes along. You go with an open mind, but when you're paying a lot and there's a situation where the emperor has no clothes, then you do feel pretty good about writing a bad review because you're preventing other people from wasting their money. RS: Right. It's natural to hold restaurants to higher standards that charge an arm and a leg. If you have to pay $100 for your dinner, it better well be a good restaurant. LM: What's the most surprising meal or dish you came across last year? RS: I recently ate at a place called Mustang Fatali Grill from a little tiny part of Napal. I ordered this thing that was made of buckwheat starch and it looked like a poodle when it came—a brown poodle. It came with all these little dishes like an Indian meal. I loved the buckwheat starch, and I loved the way it looked, and I loved caressing it. LM: What was the texture like? RS: Like thick whipped potatoes or something, but rising in little peaks like a dog. It was a dog of starch. SD: I just ate at one of the restaurants here, Dirt Candy. It's a vegetarian restaurant. I often cook vegetarian meals. I like vegetarian food very much but a lot of times at restaurants it can not be as exciting—unless it's Indian vegetarian which I love—but the portabella mousse at Dirt Candy is ridiculous. It comes in a little, beige cube and it kind of jiggles. It's so rich you almost cannot believe it. It's like mushrooms times a thousand plus cream in this wonderful texture. It's really delicious. LM: Do they have any here? SD: I'm not sure if they're serving it here tonight. I hope so. It's really good. It's surprising that it tastes so wonderful. [Note: They did, and while I hoped it wasn't as good as Sarah described, I, too, was shocked. By far the best vegetarian sample there, and one of the best vegetarian dishes I've ever had.] LM: Some restaurant critics complain that reviewing restaurants for a long time takes the fun out of going out. Do either of you agree? RS: Only if the reviewers want their identity to be known. Being a restaurant reviewer is a strange job because here you may have certain notoriety, and yet if no one recognizes you, are you really famous? So most critics have ways of making the restaurateurs know who they are by their behavior or by using their own credit cards. Even today you never know the pretenses under which restaurants are reviewed. A lot of bloggers—and even restaurant critics—catch free food, and when you get free food and you're recognized at a restaurant, what you say about the food is totally untrustworthy. Being anonymous is important to us and when you're anonymous you get to enjoy food just like normal people. There is nothing worse than being recognized as a critic and plied with free food that you don't want. We work for a publication that pays for our food. Why would we want to get free food? SD: It is pretty wonderful because you can go out with friends whose opinion you trust and whose company you enjoy. It never gets boring to me. RS: It's the greatest job in the world. It really is. I can't believe I've got it. LM: How do you maintain your anonymity? RS: No, never. I am friends with a few chefs who I knew before I was a critic, but I tried to keep that to a minimum. The critics who are recognized are the critics who, with the possible exception of Frank Bruni, want to be recognized. I'm not going to mention any particular critics, but they want to be recognized because it feeds their little microscopic egos. SD: It also helps to not be very well known. No one's looking for me. LM: Anything you won't eat? Have you come across anything? RS: I won't eat human flesh. SD: Have you come across it? RS: Not that I know of. After speaking with Robert and Sarah I decided to hit the booths to beat the mob. I almost forgot I was in New York, the trans-fat-free land of posted caloric counts as I watched people wearing bibs reading, "Don't worry I'm wearing elastic pants!" scarf down their forty-fifth sample of cheesy grits (Smoke Joint) or lasagna (Max). Last night's event ranks among the few places I've ever been where people were more interested in the food than the booze. As I walked by Roberta's stand, one gentleman reminded his friend, "Don't fill up on bread!" Granted he was referring to Levain boules, but in this environment, with limited stomach capacity, I understood his exhortation. As the plastic cups, plates, and utensils and paper napkins started to pile up in front of the Slow Food booth, I briefly wondered, 'Is all this disposability environmentally sound?' But then I was caught up in the waves of frenzied feeding, and last remember wishing more restaurants had brought dessert. More on Food
 
CBOT Traders Indicted For Fraud Top
Two Chicago Board of Trade floor traders have been indicted on fraud charges for allegedly engaging in noncompetitive trades that allowed them to pocket more than $2 million that should have gone to customers, the U.S. attorney's office in Chicago said today.
 
Kumi Naidoo: Yes We Can, Yes We Must, and Yes We Will Top
Today, the leaders of the world's 20 largest economies are meeting in London. While the G20 constitutes a significant expansion from the unrepresentative G8 cartel, we must recognise that the majority of countries in the world, where the poor reside in large numbers are excluded. We must also acknowledge that the G20 runs the risk of undermining the United Nations and that the UN has a process regarding the global financial crisis. There is a clear differential of power within the G20. Barack Obama, the President of the United States, though the new kid on the G20 bloc must be reminded that many of us around the world supported his candidacy in a variety of different ways. We danced in the streets from Kenya to Indonesia when he was elected. Because when he said "Yes We Can" we did not understand this to mean only for the American people or only for the most powerful. However, we need to send a message to Obama and the G20 that when we have a perfect storm: a convergence of a financial crisis, a climate crisis, a passive genocide inspired by the poverty crisis, gender inequality crisis - we must go much further and say: YES WE CAN, YES WE MUST AND YES WE WILL. The most powerful have had the ability to transform the wretched existence of hundreds of millions of the world's people but they did not. Instead they chose to celebrate jobless growth that deepened inequality and contributed to a climate catastrophe that exacerbated poverty for those that have been least responsible for creating it. As we and fellow activists have been saying since International Women's Day, the connection between the financial, fuel, food and climate change crises and the feminization of poverty are blatant. We painfully know that women working in manufacturing industries are most likely to be laid off in both rich and poor nations. We know the world's most marginalised are suffering more acutely than the rest of us and so we must ensure that women and girls, the poor, those living with disabilities, indigenous peoples and other marginalised groups, do not slip into greater anguish. The most powerful should not and cannot seek "solutions" which are the very ones that got us into the mess in the first place. Hu Jintao, the Chinese leader should remind himself and his colleagues at the G20 that the Chinese character for "crisis" and "opportunity" is the same. They need to recognise that a "good" crisis is a terrible thing to squander. The Global Call to Action Against Poverty (GCAP- www.whiteband.org) has made it clear what the G20 communiqué needs to promise: 1. End global poverty and inequality 2. Create decent work and public services for all 3. Build a Green Economy 4. Ensure democratic governance of the global economy 5. Accelerate the recent promises on trade, debt cancellation and for better and more aid 6. Ensure the poor do not pay for the folly of the richest 7. Address the food and energy crises simultaneously The G20 must ensure that states stick to previous aid commitments by creating a viable and appropriate rescue package, without ridiculous conditions, for the poor and ensure that this package includes provisions that deal with the aforementioned areas. Sylvia Borren, one of the co-chairs of GCAP, has correctly lambasted the close to ten trillion dollars in bailouts and stimulus packages as an upside down pyramid. It's the people at the top who've benefitted from most of the resources while people at the bottom have got a pittance. This is unacceptable. Many citizens around the world do not have faith in the G20 to deliver much based on their performance to date. They have been betrayed far too many times by the G8 with their empty promises that get forgotten even before the figurative ink dries on their verbose, environmentally unfriendly sets of commitments. Most ordinary people are not holding their breath in anticipation that this G20 will solve the mess we are in since they have long lost faith in the most powerful to deliver justice. If they fail to deliver with courage and conviction the demands that citizens have been pushing for then they will push more and more citizens onto the streets. Last Saturday at the PutPeopleFirst rally in London for Jobs, Justice and Climate I witnessed the seeds of this civil discontent. Time and patience is running out for the oppressed, poor and marginalised people. Should the G20 leaders choose to ignore this growing frustration, desperation and anger, they will do so at their own peril. Kumi Naidoo Co-Chair, Global call to Action Against Poverty (GCAP) More on Barack Obama
 
Madoff's Luxury Yacht "Bull" Seized By U.S. Marshals In Florida Top
MIAMI — Jailed financier Bernard Madoff's (MAY'-doff) 55-foot luxury yacht and a smaller vessel have been seized by U.S Marshals in Florida. The boats were taken Wednesday from two different marinas. Marshals' spokesman Barry Golden says the yacht named "Bull" is a 1969 Rybovich and was "extremely well kept." A a 24-foot motor boat belonging to Madoff also was seized. Madoff is in jail pending sentencing for pleading guilty to charges he swindled billions from investors in what could be the biggest scam in Wall Street history. He faces a maximum sentence of 150 years behind bars. Court documents show Madoff and his wife had $823 million in assets at the end of last year _ including the boats. More on Bernard Madoff
 
Reed Krakoff's Mansion: Back On Market For $52 Million Top
Reed Krakoff's massive mansion is back from the dead. Three and a half years since 115 East 70th Street was bought for $17 million, and two and a half years since it was gutted by an early-morning three-alarm blaze that injured a firefighter, the Coach president's townhouse has quietly become available, according to a source. More on Real Estate
 
Governors Control Stimulus Money, White House Says Top
WASHINGTON — The Obama administration has released the first round of school dollars from the economic stimulus package. Education Secretary Arne Duncan made the announcement Wednesday at Doswell Brooks Elementary School in the Maryland suburbs, just outside of Washington. However, loopholes created by Congress could let states and school districts spend the money on other things, such as playground equipment or new construction. The White House has stymied efforts by lawmakers in South Carolina to accept that state's share of $48.6 billion made available under the stimulus law to help states cope with their budgets and keep teachers employed. South Carolina Republican Gov. Mark Sanford has said he may decline more than $700 million because the White House won't let him spend the money to pay down his state's debt. In a letter to Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., the White House said there was no provision in the stimulus law for a state legislature to accept that money without approval by the governor. In its letter, obtained by The Associated Press, the White House Office of Management Budget urged Congress to change the law. "It would be an unfortunate (and we believe an unintended) policy outcome if the children of South Carolina were to be deprived of their share of federal stimulus dollars ... because the governor chooses not to apply for stimulus funds," OMB Director Peter Orszag wrote Tuesday. The administration made available half of the dollars for federal programs that fund kindergarten through 12th grade and special education. In addition, Duncan will provide applications for states to get money from a special fund to stabilize state and local budgets. President Barack Obama says the stimulus law will save teachers' jobs, although there is no estimate of how many jobs will be rescued. Nationwide, about 294,000 teachers _ 9 percent _ may face layoffs because of state budget cuts. THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below. WASHINGTON (AP) _ The first round of school dollars from the economic stimulus law is going to states this week. To mark the occasion, Education Secretary Arne Duncan on Wednesday is visiting first- and fifth-grade classes at Doswell Brooks Elementary School in Capitol Heights in the Maryland suburbs of Washington. Public schools will get an unprecedented amount of money _ double the education budget under President George W. Bush _ from the stimulus law over the next two years. On Wednesday, the administration is making available half of the dollars for federal programs that fund kindergarten through 12th grade and special education. In addition, Duncan will provide applications for states to get money from a special fund to stabilize state and local budgets. President Barack Obama says the stimulus will save teachers' jobs, although there is no estimate of how many jobs will be rescued. Nationwide, about 294,000 teachers _ 9 percent _ may face layoffs because of state budget cuts, according to a University of Washington study. Duncan said last week he will "come down like a ton of bricks" and withhold the second round of funds from anyone who defies Obama's wishes. At the same time, the administration wants to do more than save teachers' jobs. Obama wants to transform the federal government's role in education. His administration views the stimulus bill as a once-in-a-lifetime chance to put lasting reforms in place. In their applications, states must show improvement in teacher quality, data systems, academic standards and tests and supporting struggling schools. States and districts will also have a chance to compete for money from a $5 billion fund solely for these kinds of innovations. Previous education secretaries had a fraction of that, about $16 million a year, to distribute for their own priorities. ___ Associated Press Writer Jim Davenport contributed to this story from Columbia, S.C. More on Sarah Palin
 

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)