Thursday, April 2, 2009

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Steve Ralls: Disrespecting the Troops, One Thousand Officers at at Time Top
Throughout their history, right-wing activists, when left with no facts to defend their case, have often turned to scare tactics to keep their crusades going. Whether it is "code red" terror alerts a few days before an election, or dire warnings about hurricanes seeking revenge for our pro-choice ways, the far right has long been fond of playing Jungian psychology to prey on ancient fears. That is certainly the case with one of the right-wing's darlings of the moment, Elaine Donnelly, who heads up the misleadingly named Center for Military Readiness. Donnelly, who rose to fame by maligning brave, patriotic women who sign up for service in the armed forces, has recently set her sights on another set of troops, and set out to malign gays. From warning - before a Congressional committee, no less - of the "inappropriate passive/aggressive actions common in the homosexual community" to repeatedly calling an Army command in Texas in an attempt to get a gay soldier fired, Donnelly has crossed lines of decency and respect again and again. In fact, Donnelly's attacks on women ( she recently said - you just can't make this up - that "to treat [women] equally would be unfair") and gays has become the subject of constant ridicule. Everyone from Jon Stewart to The Washington Post have lambasted her 18th century sensibilities. Yet, while it's easy to use her rhetoric as fodder for news media comedy, the furor she spews is also based on outrageous bigotry that is not just inherently anti-woman and anti-gay. It's anti-military, too. Which is why it's all the more perplexing why some of those who have worn our country's uniform have also signed on to her campaign of disregard and disrespect for our country's troops . . . and given her more fuel to fire up her campaign of irrational fears. Earlier this week, Donnelly released a list of 1,000 military officers - from a slew of 1-stars to a select few who wear 4 - to the Associated Press . The officers, who were surely recruited by Donnelly following a 2008 "secret meeting" she convened in Washington, urged President Obama to step back from his campaign promise to repeal "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," and keep the counter-productive ban on gay troops permanently in place. But if a picture is worth a thousand words, a thousand officers are surely worth a look at the big picture. And the picture Donnelly and her minions paint is neither pretty nor based on what's best for our country, our military or our troops, whether straight or gay. There is little doubt that Donnelly's newest salvo in her relentless public relations campaign is meant to scare President Obama and Congressional leaders into thinking that any move to lift the ban will result in a '93-esque debacle over gays in the military. By testing Obama's resolve with a group of military veterans who disagree with him, Donnelly is sending a clear message that she believes she can recreate the hysteria of the Clinton administration's early days and cause political pain for a new commander-in-chief without a military background. The truth, however, is that she can't, because even though a list of 1,000 officers might seem impressive, the number pales in comparison to the growing army of Americans, both military and civilian, who can see past manufactured fear. Of all the things we have learned since 1993, one of the most important is this: That heterosexual service members, by and large, do not buy into the gay panic press that Donnelly wants to push on the American people. And that when 'leaders' live up to their title, service members, both gay and straight, are inspired to see - and do - the right thing. "Besides being discriminatory to gays, the policy demeans all the heterosexual men and women who honorably serve our country by assuming that they, too, are driven by small-minded prejudice and bias," Rear Admiral John D. Hutson, Dean and President of Franklin Pierce Law Center , told me. "If they are told by 'leaders' that gays are unworthy to serve, they will act accordingly. On the other hand, if they are told that they are mature and disciplined and that gays will enhance, not undermine, unit cohesion, they will act according to that. We must display confidence in our soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines, and not presume they are too immature and ill-disciplined to accept gays in the military." That is to say, it's all about leadership. And as a new generation of military personnel begin to move up the ranks and take the helm of the armed forces - alongside a new generation of political leadership reflected in the current commander-in-chief - old stereotypes and prejudices are quickly falling away . . . even if officers of an older generation continue to push their anti-gay ways. Indeed, a quick look at the list supplied to the AP by Donnelly shows a few tell-tale things: There are very, very few women who endorse the gay ban, even though women continue to play more and more important roles throughout the ranks. And among the signatories on the list, one has had to apologize for suggesting African-American Marines were somehow less competent than whites, and the same one, in 1993, hand-delivered a virulent, anti-gay videotape, titled The Gay Agenda , to federal lawmakers considering then-President Clinton's proposal to lift the military's ban. Surely, those are not the "leaders" President Obama will look to for sound policy guidance . . . or the ones he will allow to bully and scare him into doing the wrong thing. In truth, Elaine Donnelly's list of 1,000 officers proves only one thing: That the more things change, the more the agents of intolerance will fight to keep them the same. But, as we did so proudly and patriotically in November, the American people can, once again, side-step the politics of fear and see the big picture again. Because, while 1,000 generals may paint one picture with inflammatory words, no amount of right-wing hysteria can, ultimately, cover up the truth. And not even 1,000 starred officers should be given the authority or stature to undermine, disrespect or dishonor the service of our lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or straight troops.
 
Karl Frisch: "Socialized" Medicine: Next Front in the Right's -isms Arms Race Top
An "-isms" arms race is under way in America. Turn on cable news or talk radio and you're likely to hear a conservative host, right-wing pundit, or Republican elected official accuse President Obama and the Democratic Congress of just about every "-ism" in the book. Socialism, Marxism, Leninism, fascism, Nazism, Stalinism, Maoism -- few, if any, "-isms" have been spared as the right escalates its daily verbal assault on the progressive agenda. In fact, according to a search of broadcasts on TVEyes.com, since Obama's inauguration in January, these terms and others like them have been thrown around on cable news at least 3,000 times. Add conservative talk radio and the nation's newspaper op-ed pages to the mix and watch that figure grow like a well-watered, limited edition Bill O'Reilly Chia Pet. Take the third most-listened-to radio voice in America, San Francisco's Michael Savage, who recently called Obama " a neo-Marxist fascist dictator in the making ." That's one of the kinder things Savage has said of the president during his daily three-hour hatefest. He's also claimed that the " radical left," including Obama, "dream[s]" of "Maoist revolution" with "death camps " and that Obama appointees " actually have almost the same exact policies as the Nazi Party did ." Then there's Fox News' "-ism" king, Sean Hannity, who has dubbed the United States under Obama the " United States of France " (bonus points for bringing up the dreaded French) and the president himself " commissar-in-chief ." Hannity, who hates to pass up an opportunity to advance GOP talking points, has even applauded congressional Republicans for finally using the " S-word ." He's also said the Obama administration " is on a mission to hijack capitalism in favor of collectivism. ... The Bolsheviks have already arrived ." He opened one recent show by declaring, " Day number 52 of the socialism that you've been waiting for ." At least he can count. Spelling, on the other hand, doesn't appear to be Hannity's strong suit. His Red-baiting blood runs so -- well, red, I guess, that his program recently misspelled " comrades " in on-air graphics. The same folks who've likened progressive policy initiatives to communism have gone on to accuse the president and other Democrats of " McCarthyism ." The bizarre nature of this historical comparison is apparently lost on those making the charge. It would be a bit like practicing magic days before kicking off a witch hunt. Hocus-pocus, indeed. No issue incurs the wrath of these modern-day Red hunters more than health-care reform. For more than 75 years , conservatives have smeared progressive attempts to reform our faltering health-care system as "socialized medicine." Let's get one thing straight. Anyone who argues that progressive health-care reform initiatives amount to "socialized medicine" is being disingenuous at best. At worst, they lack a basic understanding of what "socialized medicine" really is. Simply put, health-care reform that leaves the for-profit health insurance industry intact, reform that leaves doctors and other medical professionals free to offer their services outside of a government system, reform that leaves citizens free to choose a private health-care plan over a government plan simply can't be described honestly as "socialized medicine." As the Urban Institute put it last year, "socialized medicine involves government financing and direct provision of health care services," and therefore, progressive health-care reform proposals do not "fit this description." That is correct, of course, but that hasn't stopped conservatives from claiming otherwise for decades. Since the 1930s, conservatives have assailed at least 16 different progressive health-care reform initiatives as "socialized medicine" or as a step that would inevitably lead in that direction. What exactly has constituted "socialized medicine" to conservatives over the past seven-plus decades? How about Franklin Roosevelt's consideration of government health insurance when crafting the 1935 bill that created Social Security, or Lyndon Johnson's 1965 amendment to the Social Security Act establishing Medicare? Both raised the ire of conservatives, who were quick to run with the "socialized medicine" smear. In fact, back in 1964, Ronald Reagan, then stumping for GOP presidential candidate Barry Goldwater, said of Medicare, "Will you resist the temptation to get a government handout for your community? Realize that the doctor's fight against socialized medicine is your fight. We can't socialize the doctors without socializing the patients." Like Roosevelt and Johnson decades before him, Bill Clinton's health-care initiative in 1993 and 1994 and his work to create the State Children's Health Insurance Program in 1997 were attacked time and again as "socialized medicine." Pick a progressive president. Roosevelt, Truman, Kennedy, Johnson, Clinton, and now Obama -- they've all faced the stale "socialized medicine" routine from the right. Will it get any better in the weeks and months ahead as Congress debates the president's budget, which will reportedly seek to reform health care? I'm not holding my breath. My own political pessim-ism ? More like real-ism with an eye toward history. Karl Frisch is a senior fellow at Media Matters for America , a progressive media watchdog, research, and information center in Washington, D.C. Frisch also contributes to County Fair , a media blog featuring links to progressive media criticism from around the web as well as original commentary. You can follow him on Twitter and Facebook or sign-up to receive his columns by email. More on CNN
 
Voicemail Falls Completely Out Of Fashion Top
"Once upon a time, voice mail was useful," said Yen Cheong, 32, a book publicist in New York who has transitioned almost entirely to e-mail and text messaging. According to her calculation, it takes 7 to 10 steps to check a voice mail message versus zero to 3 for an e-mail. "If you left a message, I have to dial in, dial in my code," Ms. Cheong said. "Then I mess up and redial. Then once I hear the message, I need the phone number. I try to write it down, and then I have to rewind the message to hear it again," she added, feigning exhaustion.
 
6,000 Dolphins FOUND: Rare Dolphins Found Of Bangladesh Top
DHAKA, Bangladesh — Thousands of rare Irrawaddy dolphins have been found in Bangladeshi waters, a wildlife advocacy group said Wednesday, a hopeful sign for a vulnerable species found only in small numbers elsewhere. However, the newly discovered population is already threatened by climate change and fishing nets, the New York-based Wildlife Conservation Society said. Nearly 6,000 Irrawaddy dolphins, which are related to orcas or killer whales, were found living in freshwater regions of Bangladesh's Sundarbans mangrove forest and the adjacent waters of the Bay of Bengal, the Wildlife Conservation Society announced. Prior to this study the largest known populations of Irrawaddy dolphins numbered in the low hundreds or less, a news release from the group said. "This discovery gives us great hope that there is a future for Irrawaddy dolphins," said Brian D. Smith, the study's lead author. "Bangladesh clearly serves as an important sanctuary for Irrawaddy dolphins, and conservation in this region should be a top priority." The Irrawaddy dolphin grows to up to 8 feet (2.5 meters) in length and frequents large rivers, estuaries, and freshwater lagoons in south and southeast Asia. Scientists do not know exactly how many Irrawaddy dolphins remain. In 2008, they were listed as vulnerable in the International Union of Conservation of Nature's Red List based on population declines in known populations, according to the news release. The results of the study were made public Wednesday at the First International Conference on Marine Mammal Protected Areas in Maui, Hawaii. The news release did not say when the study was conducted but Bangladeshi researchers in the team said it was launched in 2004. Ainun Nishat, the Bangladesh head of International Union for Conservation of Nature, said the finding was an indication that "ecology in the area is not dead yet." "There is plenty of food, mainly fish, in the area for the dolphins to eat," said Nishat, who was not involved in the study. "What is now needed is to restrict fishing in the area to protect the dolphins." During the study, researchers encountered two dolphins that had become entangled and subsequently drowned in fishing nets _ a common occurrence, according to local fishermen. Rising sea levels caused by climate change also threaten the freshwater dolphins, the researchers said. Wildlife Conservation Society has asked Bangladeshi authorities to establish a sanctuary for the dolphins in the Sundarbans mangrove forest. "The sanctuary may take time," said Mohammad Jalilur Rahman, an official at the state-run Bangladesh Fisheries Research Institute. "But we are already motivating the fishermen not to harm the dolphins which get entangled in their nets." ___ On the Net: Wildlife Conservation Society: http://www.wcs.org More on Animals
 
Alex McCord: Looking For Work with a Knot in Your Stomach Top
Emotional, irrational, angry, panicked, and that's just the stock market. At least the dollar is up on the yen and there's a cup of steaming hot peppermint tea waiting to be drunk. It is so hard to know the right thing to do. This week I felt constantly yanked back and forth between the show that has swallowed up our lives, and our real lives -- sometimes with only murky gray areas separating them. Fear has been a big, shadowy monster creeping up behind me and lurking -- I've spent the week with a knot in my stomach similar to watching horror movies as a teenager and waiting with dread for the next bloodthirsty maniac to jump out and get me, except in this nightmare it also wants my husband, children, house, car, clothes, shoes and even the cats. Though said maniac might want to rethink the cats as they have a habit of intentionally missing the litterbox when strangers are around. Layoffs are everywhere. At school drop-off, more and more adults are no longer dressed for work at 8:30am but in jeans with no makeup. There are infinitely more moms and dads than nannies present and one mom shared her daily thought while getting dressed -- "If I'm not wearing a suit, everyone will think I've lost my job." At least I don't have to worry about that -- thanks to a little thing called reality show notoriety my layoff was not only whispered about by parents at dropoff, but also published in People , US Weekly , Life & Style , on Perez Hilton and even on NPR for god's sake. Who knew it would be such big news, but hey, it certainly took the pressure off having to tell people. This week I networked and I listened. There are friends and acquaintances within the fashion, PR and entertainment world with whom I've literally been trying to get together for over a year, but never could due to working 40-50 hours a week. It feels great to actually make a date with someone you really want to see, and maybe there's something in the water but I was surprised to hear optimism. One friend is about to start a new job by choice, another just found startup investors for a new product and a third received a huge grant to expand her business. This is inspiring -- even in this tough climate there is growth. I had some good meetings as well, mostly regarding opportunities spinning from the show. There's the licensing of a clothing line, a cosmetics company looking for a face, a product line looking for an ambassador, and commercial opportunities. I'd be lying to myself if the idea of getting back into acting hadn't crossed my mind. Frankly everything crossed my mind this week. Should I roast myself to the tune of the character from Season 1 by taking commercial roles as a pretentious housewife? Should I be the stunt-casting pretentious wannabe who gets murdered on Law & Order ? Should I package our parenting book together, as some have suggested, with a dry, tongue-in-cheek book about social climbing in the big, bad city? The problem is that I don't think I know how to or want to write that unless it's completely fictionalized. I'd love to play Lady Macbeth at Lincoln Center but somehow I think people who know me as a Real Housewife aren't ready for that, nor would it replace my income. While having these meetings, I continually begrudged the time, thinking that the time I was spending putting together press kits was better spent reading job listings and finding a job, any job. Yet that's the conundrum I'm in right now. If my family and I hadn't signed up to put our lives on television, these opportunities would not exist. If a few of them come together, I'll have replaced my income and be able to spend more time with my children. Certainly that would relieve stress. I hate it that right now I'm working from home on all these proposals but unable to focus because one of the lights of my life, my younger son, is on spring break and thinks that because Mommy is in the house it's play time. Another day or two of this and I'll turn into the Mom who leaves through the top door at 9 am and sneaks back in the basement door into the home office with strict instructions to keep him upstairs. I don't like dividing the house into kid and parent-seeking-work zones -- it feels very weird. Support from friends and even frenemies is helpful at best, amusing at worst. I had a call from an on-again, off-again pal who after some preamble asked me, "Alex, are you on medication? Sometimes that can help take the edge off. It always works for me." Without knowing it, she jolted me out of my self-absorbed state of pathos -- yes, things are challenging right now but I am not ready to ask my doctor for a prescription. Besides, I'd need to stop laughing first. Laughter in the face of adversity can be a good thing -- just ask the President! Is there anything positive going on at all? Yes, yes there is. Among other things I've been going through my graphic design portfolio and taking a moment to actually look at the work I've done over the past couple of years. When running around trying to meet deadlines with my hair on fire, it's rare that I'd ever go back and look at a project past the final edit. It's nice to look at my work with a [somewhat] detached eye and recognize that not only is it not heinous, it's actually rather good. Now if I can just fix my antiquated resume... More on Reality TV
 
Wednesday's Late Night Round-Up: Martha Stewart, Japanese Jimmy Fallon, And AIG's April Fools' Prank (VIDEO) Top
Jon Stewart took on the Republican reaction to Obama's budget last night with a montage of some extreme words from the right wing. Jimmy Fallon had a Japanese man stand in for him during the monologue as an April Fools' prank. Unfortunately, everyone thinks he's funnier than Fallon (even in another language) and Fallon has been replaced. Ha, you wish, April Fools. Jimmy Kimmel looked at Martha Stewart's famous sense of humor and David Letterman uncovered AIG's latest joke played on the American taxpayer. To see yesterday's round-up, click here . WATCH: More on Late Night Shows
 
Andy Borowitz: My April Fool's Prank on NPR Top
Yesterday, I impersonated University of Minnesota expert Davis Logsdon on WNYC, the NPR station in New York. After discussing the Madoff scandal, I revealed that the U.S. Treasury is also running an elaborate Ponzi scheme, selling worthless pieces of paper called "U.S. Treasuries" to unsuspecting investors. You can listen to the interview here . Andy Borowitz is a comedian and writer whose work appears in The New Yorker and The New York Times , and at his award-winning humor site, BorowitzReport.com . He is performing at the 92nd St. Y on April 30 at 8 PM with special guests Judy Gold, Hendrik Hertzberg, and Jonathan Alter. For tickets, go to 92y.org . More on Bernard Madoff
 
Michael Pertnoy and Michael Kleiman: The Last Survivor: A Genocide Happened Here Top
GPM Launch Introduction from Genocide Prevention Month on Vimeo . Jill Savitt, executive director of the Genocide Prevention Project introduces Genocide Prevention Month at the national launch in Washington, D.C. Watch the film and subsequent panel discussion at www.righteouspictures.com/gpm . It is officially Genocide Prevention Month - a month which is dedicated to honoring the memories of the six genocides that are commemorated throughout April by working to prevent future atrocities. In working on our film, The Last Survivor , over the course of the past two years, we have learned some incredible lessons. Lessons about hope, the power of human connection, and the void that is left in one's heart when one is separated from his family, her people, and everything he holds dear. We have also learned much about the power of democracy. Indeed, as we enter Genocide Prevention Month, it has become our firm belief that the tools of democracy remain our best hope in combating genocide and mass atrocity crimes both as they currently exist in Darfur, Congo, and elsewhere in the world, as well as a way of preventing future horrors. With that in mind, we can enter April with a sense of optimism. Despite the slaughter in Darfur that rages into its seventh year and the violence in Congo that continues for over a decade, we have seen young people both here in the United States and abroad using the power of democracy to insist that their voices be heard. In the United States, grassroots organizations have ensured that there is more awareness surrounding the issue of Darfur as it continues than there was around any previous genocide. The fact that it continues is not proof of failure, but simply a reminder that there is still much work to be done - more voices that need to be heard, more phone calls to make and letters to write to our representatives in government - but there is a sense of hope. The story of Adam and his B'nai Darfur Community in Israel is yet another reason to hope. Adam and his people fled dictatorship in Sudan and persecution in Egypt and found democracy in Israel. There, they refused to be intimidated by their status as visitor, asylum seeker, refugee, or any other label that might be given to them. They see themselves only as participants in a democracy who share the responsibility to speak. Their ability to organize themselves, to hold rallies and protests in the front yards of government buildings is indeed proof that in a true democracy we each have a voice. We need only find the courage to use it. But let us not grow complacent as keepers of the strongest democracy in the world. We must remember that with such status comes the responsibility to use that power to speak for those who do not enjoy the same powers of speech and action that are available to us here. And just as importantly, it is our responsibility to ensure that our democracy not only endures, but grows. In discussing these blogs and democracy as it relates to combating genocide with a friend, we were struck by a telling comment he made. We were talking about the very ideas put forth above - that genocide can be combated by good people who use their rights and responsibilities as citizens in democracy to stand up to those who preach destruction. "Yes," he said, "that's why something like that could never happen in this country." Not only can genocide happen here, it has. In her Pulitzer Prize winning book, "A Problem From Hell:" America and the Age of Genocide, Samantha Power considers the United States' historically muted response to genocide. Perhaps, she puts forth, our failure to respond to genocide abroad relates directly to the fact that we are the only nation to successfully carry out a genocide. Our nation, once home to a thriving population of Native Americans and their beautiful culture, is responsible for the slaughter of 19 million people between our arrival in this land and the mid-19th century. Not only were people killed, entire tribes were wiped out - removed forever from the forward movement of our collective human story. The riches and lessons of their magnificent history, culture, and values if not entirely erased, exist mostly between the borders of reservation land and the halls of museums. Indeed there is great danger in the common notion that genocide is something that happens "over there." Genocide has occurred on nearly every single continent on this Earth - from Africa to Europe, Asia, the Middle East, and North America. It has affected Jews, Christians, Muslims, Native Americans - all of us. Perhaps the most insightful comment we've heard about the Holocaust came from Hédi Fried during the magical day we spent with her at her country house. We sat with her in her pink bedroom looking out at her favorite tree and asked her what has become a staple question for us. Something we throw out to everyone we interview in hopes of gem like that which was given to us by Hédi. "What message do you have for young people like ourselves? What can we take from your experiences?" "Young people should I understand what I went through," Hédi told us, "because the Holocaust doesn't mean only the death of so many people - this is important to remember, yes. But what's also important to remember is how democracy dies if you don't work for it." When good people stop living up to the responsibilities that come with the privileges of democracy, the silence is filled by voices of intolerance and hate. Such a failure of democracy has happened many times throughout our history in every corner of our planet. Even here. Watch the 20-minute sneak preview of The Last Survivor NOW ! Share with your friends and family, host local screenings at community centers, schools, universities, and your home, and start a conversation in your own community about how you can work to fight genocide. More on Genocide
 
Earl Ofari Hutchinson: Madonna merits praise, not jeers Top
From Chicago Tribune April 2, 2009 First an outfit called Save the Children UK butted in and denounced Madonna for adopting Malawi orphan David Banda in 2006. Now another bunch has jumped into the adoption fray and branded her a "bully" for her plans to adopt another Malawi orphan. The Human Rights Consultative Committee pretty much rehashed the same tired complaint as Save the Children did three years back, that Madonna is using her wealth and star power to bypass Malawi's adoption procedures. Madonna ignored Save the Children back then with their silly bellyache and she'll likely do the same with the committee. The figures tell the grim tale of why she should. According to UN estimates, half of the 1 million Malawian children have lost a parent or both parents and half were because of AIDS. More than 13 percent of Malawi's 13 million people are poor, dirt poor and, not surprisingly, the majority of them are women. Malawi is hardly an aberration. More than 12 million children have lost one parent or are orphans in African nations. And given the rampant number of AIDS cases, and the warfare and poverty that plague many of these countries, the number of children who have lost one or both parents to AIDS will soar to nearly 20 million next year, according to the UN. Apart from a string of cramped, desperately underfunded and in many cases unsafe orphanages in sub-Saharan Africa, many of these children are doomed to live out their childhood in a caretaker existence. That's only the start of Africa's orphan misery. These children are still mostly unwanted anywhere else in the world. In 2008, 2,399 visas were issued to African children adopted by Americans last year, out of 17,438 adoptions from abroad, according to the State Department. Ethiopia, with a paltry 1,725 orphans taken in by Americans, was the only African country that cracked the Top 10 list in the 12-month period ending Sept. 30, 2008. Madonna has raised millions through her Raise Malawi Organization to fight poverty and disease in the country. She's made plans to build a school for young women there, and done more than any other U.S. celebrity to raise attention to the plight of Malawian orphans and women. She has put her money and name behind tackling one of the world's toughest problems and that's providing a better life for Africa's dispossessed children. For that she's piteously ragged on, sniped at and backbitten by media-chasing hounds and a handful of sanctimonious orphan relief groups. Why? Human rights and child protection groups claim Madonna tossed her money and celebrity around to bend Malawi's adoption laws to fast-track the adoption, and that the adoption is another celebrity publicity stunt. Both are falsehoods. She observed the rules in 2006 with the adoption of Banda, and Malawi's courts have granted her an interim adoption order. She also kicked in a lot of dollars to boost orphanage services in the country. As one of the world's best-known superstars, Madonna hardly needs to snatch an African child to grab camera action. The unstated, and more contemptible, reason that certain groups and individuals are upset about the adoption is the archaic notion that a white person, especially a wealthy white celebrity, is culturally clueless when it comes to raising a black child. What makes this notion mind-boggling is that the crisis is not just one in which African babies are shunned in America--African-American orphans are too. In 2006, there were more than a half-million children in foster care in America, according to the 2008 Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System Report. Nearly 32 percent were African-Americans and they stayed in foster-care homes on average a year longer than white children. Madonna did a huge service by using her star power to cast light on Malawi and Africa's orphan misery. You go, Madonna. Earl Ofari Hutchinson is an author and political analyst. His weekly radio show, "The Hutchinson Report," is streamed nationally on blogtalkradio.com More on Africa
 
Blagojevich Indictment Expected Later Today Top
CHICAGO — Faced with a looming deadline to indict ousted Ill. Gov. Rod Blagojevich, federal prosecutors in Chicago say there will be a court filing about a "significant criminal matter." The U.S. Attorney's office said it plans to issue a press release and court filing later Thursday. It did not say what case the filing pertained to. The office has been working on the indictment against Blagojevich that's expected as early as Thursday. The 52-year-old is accused of scheming to sell or trade President Barack Obama's former U.S. Senate seat. Blagojevich's publicist says he's not in Chicago. The family is apparently at Walt Disney World in Florida. More on Rod Blagojevich
 
Obama Notre Dame Speech: Cardinal George Rips Invitation As An 'Extreme Embarrassment' To Catholics Top
One of America's most prominent Catholics has joined the chorus slamming the University of Notre Dame for inviting President Obama to speak at the school's May 17 commencement. Cardinal Francis George, the archbishop of Chicago, called Obama's planned appearance an "extreme embarrassment" to Catholics while speaking at a recent conference hosted by the archdiocese's Respect Life office in Rosemont, according to a video his remarks on lifesitenews.com . "[T]he problem is in that you have a Catholic university - the flagship Catholic university - do something that brought extreme embarrassment to many, many people who are Catholic," George told the crowd. "So whatever else is clear, it is clear that Notre Dame didn't understand what it means to be Catholic when they issued this invitation." Though Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush all spoke at Notre Dame graduation ceremonies and the school has an established tradition of having the current president speak at its commencement, extending the invitation to Obama, who is pro-choice and recently overturned the ban on federal funding of embryonic stem cell research, has caused a fierce backlash among some Catholic groups . At least 13 Bishops, including John D'Arcy, whose diocese includes Notre Dame, said they will boycott the ceremony, according to lifesitenews.com . Republican lawmakers who graduated from Notre Dame have also criticized Obama's appearance. Notre Dame President the Rev. John Jenkins said that while the University disagrees with some of Obama's positions, it sees the commencement address as "a basis for further positive engagement." A school spokesman further supported Obama's appearance, telling the AP that he did not see any circumstances under which the school would rescind the invitation. Cardinal George did not call on Notre Dame to disinvite Obama, but he urged Catholics "to do what you are supposed to be doing: to call, to email, to write letters, to express what's in your heart about this: the embarrassment, the difficulties." More on Barack Obama
 
Scott Dodd: NBA and NRDC Team Up for Green Week Top
My March Madness bracket is in shambles. This weekend's Final Four games will be a terrible reminder that -- for the first time I can remember -- I failed to pick even one team correctly. But at least I've got one reason to cheer for basketball this week: The NBA is going green . Green Week starts Thursday at NBA arenas around the country and continues through April 10. If you're in Denver, Charlotte or Chicago, your home team will even change its uniform colors to green -- a reminder that saving the environment is a team sport, and we all need to step up our game. This special week is the NBA's way of generating awareness and funding to preserve the environment. The league will hold auctions to support conservation, sponsor hands-on community service projects, and launch this public service announcement featuring NRDC Trustee Robert Redford : The league is also launching www.nba.com/green , featuring everything from tips for fans to interviews with NBA players about their efforts to support environmental protection. "NBA Green Week 2009 serves as a reminder to fans that we can all work to reduce our environmental footprint," said Kathleen Behrens, NBA's executive vice president of social responsibility and player programs. That's not all, though. Working with NRDC experts, the NBA is taking steps to become a more environmentally responsible organization year-round . The league recently purchased green energy credits to offset power usage for the 2009 All-Star Game and plans to do even more for next year's all-star event. And check out this list of 10 ways that individual NBA teams are going green. "The NBA's commitment to reduce its ecological impact and to help educate basketball fans worldwide about the importance of environmental protection confirms why this league is regarded as one of the world's most responsible sports organizations," said NRDC Senior Scientist Allen Hershkowitz . Allen has been working with businesses, sports teams, award shows -- even Broadway! -- for many years, helping them produce less waste, consume less energy, and use resources more efficiently , all in an effort to be more environmentally responsible. Last summer, he advised Major League Baseball on ways to green its All-Star Game here in New York City. (I helped him and other NRDC staffers collect recycling at the free Bon Jovi concert in Central Park.) Allen and other NRDC experts have also helped create the Greening Advisor , an online resource that can help any company be more efficient and ecologically responsible in its day-to-day operations. The best part is, going green can help businesses save money , too. So if you're an NBA fan, do your part and get involved during Green Week. And if you're a fan of the planet, you'll probably want to keep it going all year long. Related Links NBA's official press release for more details about how the NBA is going green NBA's green website for tips and to see how fans can get involved NRDC Greening Advisor for ways to help your business save money NRDC's Green Guides for more on healthy, environmentally conscious living This post also appears on NRDC's Switchboard blog . More on Green Living
 
Dr. Josh Dines and Dr. Rock Positano: Getting more aggressive with clavicle fractures... Top
On Lance Armstrong's way to becoming one of the greatest cyclists of all time, he has overcome many obstacles. This week he faces a new one: recovering from surgery for a broken clavicle. The clavicle, or collarbone, is the bone between one's sternum and scapula (or shoulder blade). It plays an important role in the function of the shoulder girdle and serves to protect major blood vessels and nerves. Clavicle fractures are very common injuries, accounting for about 5% of all fractures seen in emergency departments. They most frequently occur in the middle of the bone, and in adults, they usually result from forceful, direct impact to the bone. In Lance's case, falling off his bike in a pile up during the first stage of the Vuleta a Castilla y Leon race in Spain was enough to cause the fracture. This is actually a not-uncommon mechanism for these injuries, as cyclists can reach speeds greater than 25 miles per hour. If they flip over their handlebars and land directly on their clavicle, a tremendous amount of force is imparted to the bone. Clavicle fractures are extremely painful. Patients may present with swelling, tenderness, bruising and/or deformity of the bone. In severe cases, the break can lead to compromise of the underlying neurovascular structures or even of the lung, which can cause problems breathing. Diagnosis is confirmed with xrays. Although these fractures are very painful, the majority can successfully be treated with conservative measures, particularly non- and minimally-displaced fractures (meaning the pieces of bone haven't moved too far apart from one another). Patients are placed in a sling and given pain medications. Often they can return to training for sports at about 6 weeks after the injury. If one goes back before the bone heals, there is clearly an increased risk of re-fracture. Some of the indications for surgery include significant displacement of the bone ends such that they are tenting the skin, injury to the surrounding neurovascular structures, and fractures that come through the skin (or open fractures). Oftentimes, athletes are treated surgically to get them back to their sports more quickly. According to Dean Lorich, an orthopedic surgeon at The Hospital for Special Surgery and the Associate Director of the Orthopedic Trauma Service at NY Presbyterian Hospital, "Academically the reason to fix clavicle fractures is improved strength, endurance and cosmesis. The displaced clavicle can lead to significant shoulder asymmetry when healed (ie shortened shoulder) and large bump." Lorich adds that "patients treated operatively are some of the most grateful patients I have, as their pain and disability disappear almost immediately." Acutely, in most cases, he "prefers to use an intramedullary nail instead of a plate and screws, as it is done minimally invasively and almost never requires removal of the plate." If the break is more complicated, the use of intramedullary device doesn't work and a more involved procedure using a plate and screws is required. According to reports from Armstrong's manager, this is what was used in Lance's case. Typically, after surgery, these fractures heal well. The issue for Armstrong centers on how quickly he can return to riding. Even though he is not an overhead athlete, which would require significantly more range of motion in his shoulder before returning to activities such as throwing a baseball or serving a tennis ball, as a cyclist he still puts lots of stress through his shoulder girdle when he leans forward on the handlebars. One thing we know about Lance is that he has a remarkable ability to use setbacks as motivation to take his game to the next level. Hopefully this injury will have the same effect and we will see Lance competing at the highest level in the upcoming Tour de France. More on Sports
 
Chris Isaak: I Swear I Did Not Mean to Smash Those Pumpkins Top
Tonight on The Chris Isaak Hour -- my semi-professional music talk show for the Bio Channel -- I have the pleasure of hosting the Smashing Pumpkins. If you can ignore the host of the show and his fashion sense, it's one hell of an episode. When we filmed it a few months back, the band played great, and I felt like my interview with founding Pumpkins Billy Corgan and Jimmy Chamberlin was revealing and fascinating, at least to me. Unfortunately, in addition to screwing up my own relationships, I seem to have now gained the newfound ability to screw up other people's as well now? A week or so ago I heard that Jimmy was leaving Smashing Pumpkins, and Billy was announcing open auditions for a new drummer? Guy, was it something I said? I swear I did not mean to smash those Pumpkins. I'm a fan of the group's music, and Billy's book of poetry too. As you'll see, Billy is one bright, interesting and opinionated fellow and even though he spoke less than his former bandmate, Jimmy was very open about his own tough times with drugs and the way that he's turned his life around. On the surface, Billy and Jimmy seemed to be getting along fine, but there may have been some tension on set -- or even some annoyance with their goofy, ungrungy host. Watch and see for yourself. You'll see Billy show me that fantastic guitar lick to "1979" and hear the guys explain some of the tensions that can drive a band apart. So whether or not you're auditioning for Jimmy's spot behind the drums -- and those are big kick drum shoes to fill -- I hope you'll check out our little show. While you're at it, stick around next week when our guest for the hour is Yusuf, the brilliant Artist Formerly Known as Cat Stevens. Fortunately, he's a solo artist, so I don't think there's any way I'll break him up. Billy, Jimmy, this is my open plea: If it really is something I said -- or something that I didn't say -- please accept my apology and work things out. And if not, well then thanks for giving this chance to clear the air and cynically exploit your recent separation for promotional fun and profit.
 
Rob Perks: Fools on Mountaintop Top
When you look at the photo above what do you see? Some might see the classic image of  mountaintop removal -- a former Appalachian peak leveled and left lifeless by the most devastating and senseless stip mining method ever devised.  More of a moonscape than a mountain, really. Others, however, react positively to this picture.  To these people, mountaintop mining (note that they steadfastly refuse to refer to it as "removal") represents the full spectrum of economic benefits.  This extreme extractive method cheaply and efficiently removes meddlesome "overburden" (a.k.a., forests, plants, soil, etc.) to expose thin layers of coal that otherwise might not be easily accessible.  The coal provides power while the mining itself offers employment (albeit far fewer jobs than underground mining), corporate profits and tax revenue for the state coffers. Those opposed to mountaintop removal -- from concerned citizens in affected communities to local grassroots groups and national advocacy organizations --  have worked together tirelessly for years to expose the terrible economic and environmental consequences wrought by this reckless practice.  In recent years they have won battles in court (and in the court of public opinion) and now the Obama administration offers the hope that the fight to end mountaintop removal may soon be won. As a result, it seems those espousing the view that mountaintop mining is a benign and beneficial activity have decided that now is the time to form their own coalition.  Today seems like a particularly appropriate day to introduce you to this newly created entity: the  National Coalition on Mountaintop Mining .   Visit the website and you'll discover that the MTM Coalition is committed to "bringing you the truth about mountaintop mining," an activity which it defines as "simply coal mining that occurs at or near the topmost portion of a mountain."  You can even subscribe to the coalition's newsletter, with its perhaps unintentionally ironic slogan: "Clearing a Future for West Virginia." While mountaintop removal has been referred to as "strip mining on steroids," the MTM Coalition might call it "sterile surface mining."  What some label Appalachian Apocalypse , the MTM Coalition might say is really just (literally) "leveling" the playing field for economic development.   I wish I could say that this is really just an April Fools joke.  But this industry-funded, pro-mining decapitation group really exists.  Seriously. This post originally appeared on NRDC's Switchboard blog .
 
Maia Szalavitz: Is the Media Finally Getting it On Drug Policy? Top
I have been following drug policy for - eek--more than twenty years. While there have always been a few brave, high-profile journalists and pundits who dared to question the drug war, for the most part, the American press has been as gung-ho in cheering it on as our politicians. Now--with the Mexican drug war completely out of control, with Afghanistan supplying 90% of the world's opium and with an economy in collapse, the media has finally begun to seriously question our approach. In just the last week, Time , the LA Times , the NY Daily News, Denver Post, Orange County Register, Miami Herald and San Francisco Chronicl e have all called for a drug policy re-think--or for outright marijuana legalization. Day-in, day-out, for years, we've seen stories about arrests, about drug seizures, about addicts and treatment. But virtually all coverage just reinforces conventional wisdom: treatment stories tend to boost a particular method without looking at the data or lack of data supporting it, cops and dealer stories tend to hype the amount of drugs seized and rarely look into the long term impact of such busts. "Science" stories tend to conflate correlation and cause -- and fail to note contrary evidence. [In the instance of the linked story, if marijuana causes psychosis, why hasn't psychosis increased with the worldwide rise in marijuana use since the 60's?] And of course, every so often we get a big wave of stories about a dangerous, new drug that's more addictive than anything that preceded it which menaces our youth and calls for a crackdown. Those "drug menace" stories used to sell papers--but on the internet, it is trivially easy to search and find that while this year, methamphetamine is the most addictive and dangerous drug, last year, it was Oxycontin and ten years ago, the same was said of crack. Meanwhile, the last drug didn't addict all youth or collapse our society (bankers managed that all by themselves), so why should this one? For years, virtually every internet discussion of drug policy has been dominated by drug policy reformers and outright legalization advocates--but this growing sentiment amongst the most educated and connected went unreported. Maybe the MSM is finally waking up--they can no longer simply create and re-enforce conventional wisdom. When the facts about drugs are only a few clicks away, the propaganda loses its luster. Given that the vast majority of journalists have smoked pot and most have probably taken cocaine without significant problems, does it really make sense for them to go on carrying water for the drug warriors, worrying about "the children" and infantilizing their audiences by repeating myths that many must know themselves to be untrue? Will we finally dump the tired "gateway drug" nonsense about marijuana and the ridiculous "not your father's marijuana" idea that in the 60's and 70's marijuana wasn't dangerous and now it is? This is not at all to imply that marijuana has no risks or that addiction can't do terrible harm-- but it's time to put risks in context and look at whether the solutions cause more harm than the problem they're intended to solve. The media does still have significant power to shape policy and public opinion--it simply can no longer sustain myths. If it starts to turn on the drug war and raise questions about other policies that have been seen as untouchable despite utter failure, maybe people will start to trust it again, too. [hat tip to Tony Newman of DPA for the round-up of the current coverage]. More on Mexico's Drug War
 
Robert J. Elisberg: The Problems of Barack Obama Top
Barack Obama came into office on the winds of change and with an enthusiasm of hope. While traditionally most new presidents are given a 100-day "honeymoon," Mr. Obama was not granted that luxury because America has not been granted that luxury. Challenging times demand excellence from the start. As such, he's come under a far more critical microscope than most presidents have been allowed upon their inauguration. The result is that, for all that has been done and still-high popularity, not everything has gone well. There have been gaffes, stumbles even. Indeed, there have at times been issues that even his greatest supporters criticize. No president is immune from rebuke. To be fair, therefore, beyond the initial praise and optimism, one must also look at the flaws of a new president. And to be fair - since no one lives in a vacuum - one should compare those flaws to other presidents, to best understand the fullest perspective. And the most fair comparison, of course, is when conditions are as equal as possible, which is why it's often best to make that comparison with a president's immediate predecessor, in this case former President George W. Bush. So, let's do that, shall we? Of course, Mr. Bush had eight years in office, while Mr. Obama is still in the weeks. But we can only deal with the reality we have. Here then are the Top 10 criticisms that thus far have been leveled against President Barack Obama, some by his adversaries, others by his supporters, several by both.. 1. Didn't stop bailout money from being used as huge bonuses by failed companies. 2. Pushed through massive $787 billion spending bailout that risks nationalizing banks, as opposed to making just greater tax cuts 3. Announced troop withdrawals in a slower timetable than he said he'd hoped to during the election campaign. 4. Offered a budget of deficit spending to bolster the economy, rather than continue the tax cuts that created the deficit. 5. Nominated several members for his cabinet who later had to withdraw. 6. With much-more pressing concerns, did interviews on the comedy-variety "Tonight Show," Univision's Latin music awards, as well as "60 Minutes," and presented his NCAA tournament bracket on ESPN. 7. Uses a teleprompter far too often, even when delivering small announcements, creating a less spontaneous and more distant demeanor. 8. Has spread himself too thin, dealing with the Iraq War, health care, global warming and stem cell research, rather than only the economy. 9. Made an awkward joke about the Special Olympics at his own expense, and laughed with self-described "gallows humor" at the bleak corner he was painted in having to making unpopular bailouts. 10. Hasn't turned around America's greatest economic crisis since the Great Depression in his first 10 weeks in office. Your list might vary, of course. However, to anyone looking at Barack Obama through rose-colored glasses, it is an eye-opening catalog of flaws. Hardly the portrait of a man many had come to believe could do no wrong. Compare it next to the Top Ten criticisms of the presidency of George Bush. Your list might vary. Of course. 1. Lied about the existence of WMDs, which got the United States involved in a war that has cost 4,200 American lives and hundreds of thousands of Iraqi lives, and is estimated to finally cost three trillion dollars. 2. Sanctioned torture, and illegally wiretapped private American citizens without warrants. 3. Ignored warnings of Hurricane Katrina, taking days to deal with the disaster as New Orleans got wiped from the map, ultimately underfunding its recovery. 4. Started office with a $128 billion budget surplus and left with a $1.3 trillion deficit. 5. Politicized the impartial Justice Department, hiring and firing U.S. Attorneys based solely on political beliefs and pursuing cases for political retribution. 6. Ignored warnings of an impending attack by Osama bin Laden, prior to America being attacked, ultimately costing 3,000 lives. 7. Politicized science by having political appointees rewrite the findings of scientific reports, and regularly diminishing that branch of knowledge, most notably global warming and stem cell research. 8. Underfunded education. Underfunded environmental protections. Underfunded national port security - and attempted to sell off port management to the government of Dubai. 9. Removed regulatory banking protections and oversaw the collapse of the United States economic system. 10. Took the near-total world support for America following 9/11 and ultimately destroyed all that goodwill, making the nation a pariah in much of the world's eyes. In the end, it's so easy to see why Republican cries of outrage and their 172-0 votes against the early Obama Administration are not only more than justified, but are serious, honest concerns by those nobly willing to stand-up and voice protest whenever they see a wrong, no matter what it may be. Democrats, of course, have never had a problem criticizing anyone, including themselves. Indeed, eating their own is a fine tradition of the Democratic Party. Sometimes it's justified, sometimes it's not. But challenging one's own is what keeps a party and a nation vibrant. It is a lesson Republicans have never seemed to learn. If they did, we not only might not be dealing with most of these horrific problems today - we might not even be dealing with a Democratic president.
 
The Media Consortium: Weekly Immigration Wire: Resurrecting a Failed War on Drugs Immigration NewsLadder Top
by Nezua, TMC MediaWire Blogger In 2008, a disturbing trend developed in mainstream media regarding Mexico. While Mexico's President Felipe Calderón began his aggression against the Cartels roughly two years ago, the resulting uptick in violence was of no real interest to mainstream media. But when the U.S. Joint Forces Command report Joint Operating Environment (JOE 2008) was issued in November, 2008, and declared Mexico and Pakistan nations in danger of a "rapid and sudden collapse," mainstream news outlets and certain politicians began broadcasting fears of violence spilling over into the US. Coverage quickly snowballed into a cycle of reporting grounded in unsubstantiated fear, which led to calls to further militarize the border. Democracy Now! highlights how President Obama's readiness to deploy the National Guard to the border is directly linked to the sensationalized mainstream coverage. In an interview with host Amy Goodman, Laura Carlsen, director of the Mexico City-based Americas Policy Program for the Center for International Policy, says: When we started to look at some of these articles talking about spillover of Mexican violence into the United States, what we found is that there’s no evidence of that whatsoever at this point. ... In the case of using statistics, like there’s a lot of talk about the number of kidnappings in Phoenix, it turns out that many times those statistics are spurious, and they have no backup. They’ve been invented, or they’ve been twisted in many cases. This is a real warning sign for us, because when we see an exaggerated threat assessment, as we’re seeing right now in terms of spillover of Mexican violence to the United States, it’s generally a prelude to militarization. And it is: Truthdig reports on "a crime-fighting operation targeting Mexican drug cartels on a scale not seen since the battles against the US mafia" in F.B.I. Runs for the Border. The War on Drugs has returned, via aid/force packages like Plan Mérida that simply recycle failed plans (like Plan Colombia ). Under increased militarization, drug production actually goes up, as does the body count, but the seizure of drugs decreases. In the interests of full disclosure, the increasing exploitation of the Mexican people and militarization of border towns like Ciudad Juarez and El Paso—my father's birthplace—affect me on a deeply personal level. My father was the first of Herreras in my family to be born here. I am a citizen. He makes sure to remind me that my abuela (grandmother) gained her green card legally. I read of harm done to people like my grandmother—legal and undocumented and citizens alike—in jails teeming with neglect and hatred and it disturbs me. Immigration must be discussed as a human, not military issue. In the below video from GritTV, Rosa Clemente, Immigration Campaign Director for Amnesty International USA, talks about the lack of response from the Obama Administration on immigration, even though ICE is predicting 400,000 arrests in 2009 and our 2009 budget allots 6.1 billion to the construction of new prisons. How many of those prisons will be detention centers? Opponents of immigration reform (and often immigrants themselves) often imply that they really do adore legal immigrants. Joshua Holland makes it clear how very tenuous that line is in AlterNet's I Married an Illegal Immigrant . Holland writes that "the difference between legal and illegal is often a matter of simple chronology rather than a reflection of the character of the person in question." Disguising undocumented "aliens" as an unwanted, criminal horde, rather than productive members of our own society runs counter to American ideals of freedom and equality. It becomes easier to simply lock down the border and take a harsher stance, even if many of those who migrate were displaced by our own government's actions in the first place . The Drug War model is a failed method of dealing with immigration, even though Obama seems intent to resurrect it. Writing for The Progressive , Yolanda Chávez Leyva says: For more than twenty years, those of us who live on the border have witnessed the increasing militarization of the border. The border wall is a daily reminder of this, as are the helicopters that fly over our neighborhoods, the checkpoints manned by the Border Patrol and local law enforcement, as well as the daily harassment of citizens who happen to have darker skin. We are frequently the target of various “wars” —against undocumented migration, against terrorism and now against drugs. I am tired of living in a war zone. The model of “war” has not worked, and it will not work. President Felipe Calderón—who Democracy Now! reports was elected in "the most controversial election in Mexican history"—is spoken of glowingly by our politicians, who are full of praise for his violence against the Cartels. Elena Shore details some of this language for New America Media. Going back to Lauren Carlsen's interview with Democracy Now!: "It's completely unacceptable to ask a society to accept higher levels of violence as a sign that we are winning the drug war." She's right. We will never "win" the "drug war." The body count is growing. More prisons are being built. People of color are the primary victims. And now, President Obama talks of sending the military down to meet Mexico's military at the border. But what about the people caught in the middle? What about the people suffering in ICE's custody today? What about the 400,000 more that ICE plans to capture in 2009? We need better solutions than more guns and more soldiers. Militarization simply leads to more violence. This post features links to the best independent, progressive reporting about immigration. Visit Immigration.NewsLadder.net for a complete list of articles on immigration, or follow us on Twitter . And for the best progressive reporting on critical economy and health issues, check out Economy.NewsLadder.net and Healthcare.NewsLadder.net . This is a project of The Media Consortium , a network of 50 leading independent media outlets, and was created by NewsLadder . More on Barack Obama
 
David Doniger: "First Read" of the Waxman-Markey Energy and Climate Discussion Draft Top
Congressmen Henry Waxman and Ed Markey today released their long-awaited "discussion draft" of the American Clean Energy and Security Act - a bold starting point for passing comprehensive energy and climate legislation through Congress this year. Release of the draft starts an eight-week sprint to negotiate and adopt a bill in the House Energy and Commerce Committee, which Rep. Waxman chairs.  Waxman and Markey (head of the key Subcommittee on Health and the Environment) have pledged to complete work on a bill by Memorial Day.  Speaker Nancy Pelosi has promised action by the full House of Representatives later this year. The draft bill draws heavily on recommendations of the U.S. Climate Action Partnership, the business-environmental coalition that supports enacting climate legislation this year.  It is also consistent with the legislative principles announced last week by the labor-environmental Blue-Green Alliance.  NRDC is a member of both groups. Here's our first read of the details of this important and bold draft legislation, compiled with the help of NRDC's crack team of energy and climate experts.  First, some top-line observations: The draft combines standards and incentives for rapidly deploying clean energy and energy efficiency technologies with firm economy-wide limits on the carbon pollution that is driving global warming.  Investments in clean energy and energy efficiency will help power our economic recovery, cut consumers' energy bills, create good-paying green jobs, and lower the cost of meeting carbon limits.  A steadily declining cap on carbon pollution will enable America to lead again in world-wide efforts to avoid the worst effects of global warming.  While the 648-page draft provides detailed proposals on most issues, it is deliberately open-ended on how to distribute the valuable emissions "allowances" that polluters must have at the end of each year to cover their global warming emissions.  How many will be given away, and with what performance conditions?  How many will be auctioned, and how will the revenue be used?  Congressmen Waxman and Markey have left these key questions for discussion and negotiation with other members of their committee.  As a member of both USCAP and the Blue-Green Alliance, NRDC believes it is critical that the formula for distributing allowances must lead not to private windfalls but to achieving public objectives.  The Waxman-Markey draft opens the door to using the value of the allowances for a wide range of critical needs - supporting investments in the clean energy economy, protecting consumers (especially low-income consumers), dealing with unavoidable climate change impacts, and doing our part to achieve international cooperation against global warming.  Now let's dive deeper into the details.  The bill has four titles:  Clean Energy, Energy Efficiency, Reducing Global Warming Pollution, and Transitioning to a Clean Energy Economy.  Highlights of each section: Title I - Clean Energy Renewable energy standard . The draft requires an increasing percentage of electricity sold by utilities to come from renewable sources, reaching 25 percent by 2025. Broad coverage. Includes retail electric utility service providers -investor-owned, municipals, rural cooperatives - who sell at least 1 million megawatt-hours of electricity each year. Compliance flexibility. Allows utilities to meet their obligations by buying, selling, and trading federal Renewable Energy Credits (RECs).   Extra credit for distributed resources. Provides three times the amount of RECs for electricity generated by distributed renewable sources such as solar photovoltaics. Protects state RPSs. The bill provides that the federal RES will not interfere with individual states RPSs and associated policies.  Critical lands and habitat protections. Certain resources, such as old-growth and mature forests, are excluded in order to protect critical lands and habitats.   Governor's petition. Governors may petition to reduce a utility's RES requirement by up to 20 percent in any given year if all entities in the state subject to the Energy Efficiency Resource Standard (EERS) established by Title II of the draft bill are in compliance that year. Carbon capture and storage . The draft bill creates an integrated program modeled on USCAP recommendations to assure new coal plants will employ carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology to cut their global warming pollution.   CCS safety regulations and demonstrations. EPA is to issue CCS regulations to safeguard health and environment and prevent atmospheric releases from underground reservoirs. DOE and FERC are to study CO2 pipeline needs and barriers. A Carbon Storage Research Corporation is tasked with the research and development of new CCS technologies and some early demonstrations, financed through a small "wires charge" on existing fossil generation.   CCS deployment incentives.  A 10 year carbon intensity assessment program is established to provide $1-1.1 billion annually for research, development, and demonstration of carbon capture and storage technology. Additionally, a larger scale performance-based deployment program is authorized that would reward companies based on the volumes of CO2 captured, with higher levels of compensation provided for early projects and higher capture rates. Coal-fired power plant standards. New coal-fired power plants have to emit less than 1,100 pounds of CO2 per MWh if permitted after 2015, less than 800 pounds of CO2 per MWh if permitted after 2020. Plants permitted between 2009 and 2015 have to comply withthe 1,100 pounds limit within 4 years of start-up if certain targets for operational CCS capacity are met.   Clean fuels and vehicles . The draft encourages clean vehicles and fuels through a mixture of incentives and standards - promoting energy security and curbing global warming by minimizing our reliance on oil.   Low carbon fuel standard. The draft bill improves on the existing renewable fuels standard through 2022 with safeguards against dirtier fuels. The bill then phases in a low carbon fuel standard (LCFS) to cut the lifecycle emissions intensity of transportation fuels by five percent in 2023 and 10 percent in 2030.    Plug-in Electric Vehicle Deployment. The draft requires electric utilities to plan for an electric vehicle infrastructure, including charging stations and battery exchanges. It directs the Energy Department to develop a large-scale plug-in hybrid vehicle program in selected regions. It also provides financial support for domestic production of plug-in hybrids vehicles, supporting assembly plant retooling and domestic battery production.   Passenger car standards. The draft bill directs the President to use existing statutory authority to set vehicle performance standards for light-duty vehicles, to the extent practicable, harmonizing fuel economy standards set by NHTSA and greenhouse gas emissions standards set by EPA and California. Standards have to achieve at least as much emissions reductions as would California's standards, and California's authority to set future standards is preserved. EPA is also directed to set greenhouse gas standards for heavy-duty vehicles, marine vessels, locomotives, and other vehicles. The bill also authorizes EPA's SmartWay program to improve passenger and goods transport.   State Energy and Environment Deployment ("SEED") Fund . The draft creates a fund for managing federal financial assistance to states related to clean energy, energy efficiency and climate change, including appropriations for weatherization assistance, State Energy Program funds, and recovery bill funds. Smart grid and electricity transmission . The draft bill encourages deployment of a smart grid, with measures to reduce utility peak loads. It also seeks to develop home appliances with the capability to interact with the smart grid. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission is directed to reform regional planning to modernize the electric grid and provide for new transmission lines to carry electricity generated from renewable sources. Transmission needs assessments must take into account both demand and supply options. Federal renewable energy purchases . The draft authorizes federal agencies to sign contracts of as long as 30 years for purchase of renewable energy. Title II - Energy Efficiency Building energy efficiency . The draft calls for a 30 percent improvement in the next version of widely-used model energy codes for new commercial buildings  (ASHRAE) and homes (IECC), and a 50 percent improvement after 2016. The Energy Secretary is authorized to adjust the code if these organizations don't. States have to adopt them within one year, and then show compliance to receive certain funds. The bill would allow states to implement nationally-consistent energy retrofit programs for residential and commercial buildings, with the rules set by EPA and money handled by DOE. Both programs would be performance-based, meaning that greater energy savings reap larger incentives. A rebate program is created to purchase and destroy certain pre-1976 manufactured housing and replace it with EnergyStar manufactured homes. The draft also creates a building energy performance labeling program. Lighting and appliances . The draft sets efficiency standards for outdoor lighting and portable light fixtures, and for water dispensers, hot food cabinets, and spas. More far-reaching changes are made to the DOE appliance energy standard-setting process to strengthen future standards for products already regulated. The draft establishes a "best-in-class" appliance deployment program, with incentives to retailers and a prize ("golden carrot") program for manufacturers of super-efficient appliances. Early retirement bounties also have been added. Transportation efficiency . The draft bill changes the direction of transportation planning and investment by requiring regions to set greenhouse gas emission reduction goals, revising them every four years; investing in public transportation, technology and other measures to reduce emissions; making regional plans available to the public via the internet; and authorizing a competitive grant program for regions implementing these plans. Energy efficiency resource standard . The draft bill requires natural gas and electric utilities to accomplish energy savings equal to 10 and 15percent, respectively, of their sales by 2020. Eligible energy savings include end-use customer savings, increased distribution efficiency, savings attributable to combined heat and power, and savings achieved through efficiency codes and standards. Industrial energy efficiency . The draft authorizes DOE to make awards for innovative energy recovery methods, such as efficient motors, combined heat and power, and process engineering. The awards can be as much as one fourth the value of the energy projected to be recovered or generated during the first 5 years of a facility's operation.    Title III - Reducing Global Warming Pollution Economy-wide emission reduction goals . The draft bill places firm limits on emissions of carbon dioxide and other designated heat-trapping pollutants. Targets are based on USCAP recommendations: Year        Reduction below 2005 levels 2012                  3% 2020                20% 2030                42% 2050                83% Supplemental reductions . Emissions are reduced further through international agreements to slow tropical deforestation (which accounts for a fifth of global carbon emissions), funded by auctioning a fraction of the emissions allowances. Criteria are included to set declining rates of deforestation as the baseline for supplemental emission reductions. By 2020, the goal is to achieve supplemental annual emission reductions equal to 10 percent of U.S. 2005 emission levels.  Scientific review . The National Academy of Sciences is tasked to review the targets periodically in light of the best available science, and the President is to recommend program changes to Congress.  Firm pollution limits on covered sources . Sources representing about 85 percent of U.S. carbon emissions are covered by a firm limit - a cap - on their emissions. Electric generating units and fuel refiners and importers are covered starting in 2012, major industrial emitters in 2014, and natural gas local distribution companies in 2016.   Cost control . The draft bill includes cost-control provisions, mostly modeled on USCAP recommendations:  Emissions trading and banking - proven tools for lowering costs developed in the acid rain program and other programs.  Emissions offsets - reductions achieved from domestic and foreign sources outside the cap - provide further cost control. Offsets are allowed in amounts of up to two billion tons per year. The draft bill seeks to assure that offsets are high-quality and produce environmental progress as well as cost-reduction.   An Offsets Integrity Advisory Board is created to help assure that reductions are real, enforceable, and would not have happened anyway. Effective agreements are required with other countries to assure international offset quality. When offsets are used, firms must turn in 1.25 tons of credits for each ton of emissions from covered sources they wish to offset. Strategic reserve - A pool of emissions allowances is established to address the potential for spikes in carbon prices. Allowances are to be auctioned from the strategic reserve if allowances prices reach double the value predicted by EPA in the early years, or double their historical price once the program has been in operation for three years. The strategic reserve pool would be funded using 1% of allowances from 2012-2019, 2% from 2020-2029, and 3% thereafter. There would be limits on how much of the reserve pool can be drawn down in any one year. Ways are provided to supplement the strategic reserve with international offsets.  Carbon market regulation - The draft bill gives the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission responsibilities to protect against market manipulation. Key requirements include limiting any emitting company to holding no more than 110 percent of its prior year's emissions, and limiting any person from holding more than 10 percent of the allowances issued for any one year, or more than 20 percent of the allowances soled in any one auction. Similar limits are placed on derivatives. Disposition of allowances . The draft bill creates a skeletal
 
Dick Armey Fighting Obama On Health Care Reform Top
Roughly 15 years after he helped lead the charge against Hillary Clinton's attempt to revamp the health care system, former Majority Leader Dick Armey finds himself once again in fierce opposition to a White House's reform effort. On Wednesday, the group FreedomWorks, which Armey chairs , launched a major campaign against what it deemed to be the "secret socialized medicine provision" in President Barack Obama's budget. Pointing to the hundreds of billions in funds allotted for a "down payment" on health care reform, FreedomWorks warned that : "this money would no doubt be used to centralize health care decisions with bureaucrats in Washington and expand bankrupt entitlements programs." "Knowing that it will be hard to socialize medicine, Congress is seeking to avoid a debate by inserting language in the budget bill to circumvent traditional debating procedures in order to sneak government-run healthcare through Congress." It is a different type of opposition effort from the one Armey helped spearhead from inside government -- in which he famously deployed confusing, Byzantine-like charts to underscore the bureaucratic growth inherent in Clinton's plan. Nevertheless, there is historical symmetry. FreedomWorks will be robocalling its member list, as well as launching a lobbying campaign to fight the inclusion of the health care reserve fund in the budget and the use of reconciliation to pass reform. The targets included Blue Dog Democrats in the House and moderates in the Senate. Names listed include Democratic Sens. Jeff Bingaman (NM), Byron Dorgan (ND), Kent Conrad (ND), Tim Johnson (SD), Ben Nelson (NE), Claire McCaskill (MO), Blanche Lincoln (AR), Mark Pryor (AR), and Jim Webb (VA).
 
G-20 Leaders To Give $1 Trillion To IMF Top
Prime Minister Gordon Brown says leaders at the G-20 summit have agreed to give $1 trillion to the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank to help struggling nations around the world. Brown also says the 20 countries at the summit will enact common policies to crack down on tax havens, regulate hedge funds, and rebuild trust in the financial system to "prevent a crisis such as this from happening again." More on G-20 Summit
 
Hank Greenberg: AIG Should Return Money Top
April 2 (Bloomberg) -- Banks that benefited from the bailout of American International Group Inc. should return some of the cash the firms got in exchange for stakes in a recapitalized insurer, said former Chief Executive Officer Maurice "Hank" Greenberg. The U.S. rescue of AIG, which has been revised three times since September and ballooned to $182.5 billion, is a "failed approach" that can be replaced by using private capital, Greenberg said in prepared testimony to lawmakers. Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Societe Generale SA and Deutsche Bank AG led banks that got about $50 billion from New York-based AIG last year amid its rescue to retire credit-default swaps.
 
G-20 Leaders Goof Around During Photo-Op (SLIDESHOW) Top
The G-20 summit isn't all serious talk about the global financial crisis, regulation and IMF funding. World leaders managed to yuck it up a bit this morning during their group photo. Check out the boys... and girls... of the G-20 goofing around. For more information on what the leaders decided on after the photo-op, read below from the AP or go to HuffPost's G-20 BigNews Page : LONDON - Prime Minister Gordon Brown says leaders at the G-20 summit have agreed to give $1 trillion to the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank to help struggling nations around the world. Brown also says the 20 countries at the summit will enact common policies to crack down on tax havens, regulate hedge funds, and rebuild trust in the financial system to "prevent a crisis such as this from happening again." He says the G-20 nations will also give emerging powers a greater say in the world economy. Brown did not outline any new fiscal measures but says that the stimulus packages already announced by major nations have already been the biggest in history. More on G-20 Summit
 
Andy Kroll: Shut Out: How the Cost of Higher Education Is Dividing Our Country Top
Crossposted with TomDispatch.com A few months ago, Bobby Stapleton, a 21-year-old student at the University of Michigan, received a phone call from his younger brother. The good news came first: a senior in high school, he, too, had been accepted by the university, the fourth sibling in his family to have the opportunity to make the move to Ann Arbor from rural Hemlock, Michigan. Then came the bad news: his brother had no intention of telling their parents, because as Bobby put it, "He knew the money just wasn't there anymore, and that it wasn't realistic." The financial crisis had plunged the Stapleton family into severe debt. At this point, paying Michigan's modest (by college standards) $11,000 tuition for another child appeared unlikely. As his younger brother told their younger sister, Bobby recalled, "Things were just going to have to be different for the two of them." Since that moment, Bobby and his older sisters have tirelessly searched for a way to change that fate. He has sought advice from older relatives who attended the university, met with members of its financial aid office, and explained his brother's situation to officials at the Michigan Education Trust , a statewide tuition payment program; all this in addition to a full class schedule and a dormitory dining-hall job that often keeps him at work until one or two in the morning. Still, Bobby wasn't about to give up. "I can truly say that being part of this university is one of the best things that's ever happened to me." He was, he swore, going to do everything he could to make sure that his brother and sister had that same opportunity. Engines of Inequality Welcome to the other crisis spreading quietly across the country: the crisis of college affordability. Talk to enough students and families on a college campus like the University of Michigan, where I'm a student, and you'll hear plenty of stories like Bobby Stapleton's -- of families scraping by in increasingly tough times as tuition bills rise, of students working second and third jobs, of newly minted graduates staggering into an ever more jobless world under the weight of tens of thousands of dollars in student-loan debt. This crisis has been a long time coming, but bad times have brought it into clearer focus. In the past several decades, the cost of higher education has climbed at an astounding pace -- faster than the Consumer Price Index, faster even than the cost of medical care. Over the past 30 years, the average cost of college tuition, fees, and room and board has increased nearly 100%, from $7,857 in 1977-1978 to $15,665 in 2007-2008 (in constant 2006-2007 dollars). Median household income, on the other hand, has risen a mere 18% over that same period, from about $42,500 to just over $50,000. College costs, in other words, have gone up at more than five times the rate of incomes. Simply to ensure that a child attends a four-year public university, a family in the country's lowest-income bracket now has to pay, on average, 55% of total income (up from 39% in 2000); for a middle-income family, the average is 25% (up from 18% in 2000); and for an upper-income family, 9% (up from 7%), according to " Measuring Up 2008 : The National Report Card on Higher Education" by the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education. Similar figures hold for four-year private schools: In Missouri and Texas, almost 70% of family income is needed to pay college expenses for a four-year private school, after financial aid is included; in New York and Pennsylvania, it's nearly 90%. Over the same decades, colleges and universities have stepped up competition for affluent students. As a result, many institutions have actually increased the amount of aid they pay out to higher-income students, and done so at a far faster rate than for lower-income students who obviously need it more. "Engines of Inequality," a 2006 report by The Education Trust, a national education advocacy and policy organization, found that state flagship universities and a group of other major research universities spent $257 million in 2003 on financial aid for students from families earning more than $100,000 a year. Those same universities spent only $171 million on aid to students from families who made less than $20,000 a year. Similarly, between 1995 and 2003, according to the report, grant aid from the same public universities to students from families making $80,000 or more increased 533%, while grant aid to families making less than $40,000 increased only 120%. "Indeed, the highest achieving students from high-income families -- those who earned top grades, completed the full battery of college prep courses, and took AP courses as well -- are nearly four times more likely than low-income students with exactly the same level of academic accomplishment to end up in a highly selective university," the report concluded. The current financial meltdown, of course, only exacerbates this crisis in college affordability. With the national unemployment rate now at 8.1 percent and climbing -- 12% in hard-hit Michigan -- those still holding onto jobs often face scaled-back hours. Meanwhile, states weigh ever more severe cuts to education funding, universities watch as donations drop, and the largest university endowments record losses in the billions. Officials at Harvard University, with its higher-education-leading endowment valued at $36.9 billion, reported in December that they anticipate losses of 30%, or over $11 billion, this fiscal year. Here at the University of Michigan, the financial crisis and its educational twin, the crisis of college affordability, are palpable. On a recent Saturday, I shared a couch at the campus union with Rachel Long, a sophomore and first-generation college student from Romeo, Michigan. The description she offered me of her "school" life was typical these days. Long constantly juggles studying for her environmental studies program and helping her parents pay for her education. She already works spare hours at a local ice cream parlor and is considering teaching at a test prep center as well. Whatever it takes, she told me, to help her mom, a hairdresser, and dad, an electrician, pay for her future. "It weighs on my mind when I'm at work, or studying," she said. "I just see the numbers in my bank account decreasing and tuition prices increasing." The longer this crisis continues, the more our four-year public and private colleges are likely to be transformed into "gated communities of higher education" (in the phrase of Richard Vedder, director of the Center for College Affordability and Productivity) and engines of inequality. Meanwhile, for those priced out of the four-year college market, the job of education will be left to public community colleges with fast growing student bodies, the least funding, and the fewest class offerings, as well as overcrowded classrooms and faculties stretched to the breaking point. How did college, once seen as an increasingly democratic path to advancement, become so expensive? A Squeeze Play in Higher Education At the heart of the modern American Dream has been access to affordable higher education. The G.I. Bill, passed in 1944, helped instill this belief by giving returning World War II veterans unprecedented amounts of financial aid for college and spurring one of the most prosperous eras in the past century. In 1972, the federal government broke new educational ground by creating the non-repayable Pell Grant, awarded solely on the basis of a student's income and the amount of money his or her family could contribute to college costs. The Pell Grant advanced what the G.I. Bill had begun, greatly expanding access to colleges and universities for low-income individuals and families who otherwise couldn't afford it. From the later 1970s on, however, the access promised by the G.I. Bill and the Pell Grant has slowly slipped away. Published in 2008 before the full force of the economic meltdown had hit, the "Measuring Up 2008" report graded states on the affordability of their colleges and universities based on the percentage of family income needed to pay for college, strategies available to increase affordability, and how much loan debt students take on. The result? It gave failing grades to a whopping 49 of the 50 states. With a "C-," California was the sole exception. Colleges and universities have also undergone a dramatic shift in the kinds of financial aid they give out. Grants have been largely replaced by student loans issued by governments and private lenders. In the decade between the 1997-1998 and 2007-2008 academic years, student loans more than doubled -- from $41 billion to $85 billion -- and the number of students taking out those loans soared from 4,100,000 to 6,111,000, according to "Measuring Up 2008." Between the 1992-1993 and 2003-2004 academic years, student borrowing rose by 89%, from an average of $3,884 to $7,336 per year. Meanwhile, grant aid lagged, increasing only 57% from $3,545 per year to $5,565, while the Pell Grant lost much of its purchasing power: In 1979, it paid for 75% of the cost of attending a four-year public college or university; today, only about 30%. As with the Michigan Alternative Student Loan Program , state governments, facing budget deficits in the hundreds of millions of dollars, have only deepened the affordability crisis by slashing or suspending lending programs. At the same time, hard-pressed public and private colleges are raising tuition costs. Not surprisingly, hardest hit by the crisis are those who can least afford college to begin with, low-income families for whom the financial burden of education has increased fastest. According to "Measuring Up 2008," the lower-middle class and lowest income groups have seen the largest increases in percentages of income needed to pay college costs -- more than three to four times the increases experienced by higher income groups. Even as access to college is dwindling, opinion polls indicate that more Americans believe a college education is essential to a successful, productive life, and that those without a degree will be left behind. Recent unemployment figures reflect that. Only 4.1% of those with a bachelor's degree or higher are, according to the latest data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, unemployed at the moment. An August 2008 poll by the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education found that the percentage of Americans who believe that "a college education is necessary for a person to be successful in today's work world" increased from 31% in 2000 to 50% in 2007. More than 60% of those polled believe, however, that "many people who are qualified don't have the opportunity to go to college," and that college expenses are increasing at an equal or faster rate than health care in this country. This is especially true among black and Hispanic parents, the poll found. Between hopes and grim realities, students and families find themselves caught, as the poll's authors put it, in a higher education "squeeze play." Leveling the Playing Field How, then, to make college affordable again? With the education funding in the Obama administration's stimulus package and the proposed fiscal 2010 budget now before Congress, the Obama administration has made addressing the cost of higher education a national issue -- at the very moment when it also threatens to become a national scandal. Included in the two pieces of legislation are increases in the maximum value of Pell Grants and tuition tax credits, as well as programs to make aid more available to more colleges, and to create a $2.5 billion program to increase support for access to, and completion of, college (with a needed focus on low-income students). The crisis of college affordability is too severe, however, for reinvestment at the federal level alone to make the difference. Need-based financial aid programs -- for instance, the University of Michigan's community college transfer program, which focuses on increasing access for high achieving, lower-income students at community colleges -- are no less crucial. Indeed, as more students enroll in less expensive, open admissions two-year colleges, hoping later to transfer to a four-year college, investing in this educational pipeline will increase affordability and accessibility for lower-income students. What higher education leaders could also try, says Don Heller, director of the Center for the Study of Higher Education at Penn State University, is more convincingly selling their message for increased education funding to state and federal lawmakers. "We need to try to sell the message that investments in post-secondary education don't just reap private returns for individuals but also social returns, or societal benefits," Heller said. "We need to do more to get that message out about societal returns. We need to reach the key people." Speaking of reaching key people, when next I ran into Bobby Stapleton at a campus coffee shop, he was far more confident that his younger brother would make it to Ann Arbor. In the previous month, his parents' financial situation had improved, making it more likely that they could contribute toward tuition costs, and the state had finally agreed to come up with some financial assistance as well. So his younger brother might just slip through the "squeeze" and into college. If, however, a serious, comprehensive effort isn't soon launched to address the mounting cost of higher education, Americans might emerge from economic disaster with their college and university system looking unrecognizably different and staggering numbers of potential students shut out of an education -- and a dream.
 
Anonymous Hold Put On Obama's Iraq Ambassador Top
WASHINGTON — A Senate confirmation vote on President Barack Obama's choice to be the next U.S. ambassador to Iraq will likely be delayed due objections of at least one lawmaker, congressional aides said Wednesday. The Obama administration had hoped the Senate would vote on Christopher Hill's nomination to the critical post this week along with several other ambassadorial appointments, but three aides familiar with the matter said it was now unlikely action on Hill would occur before the Senate goes into recess Friday. The aides spoke on condition of anonymity because sensitive negotiations over Hill's nomination are still ongoing. They said votes still were expected by Thursday on six other nominees who, like Hill, won Senate Foreign Relations Committee approval on Tuesday. The others, including Obama's choice for ambassador to Afghanistan, Lt. Gen. Karl Eikenberry, were expected to receive unanimous consent from the Senate this week, the aides said. But the nomination of Hill, whose lack of diplomatic experience in the Middle East led some Republicans to question his suitability for the Baghdad post, has been opposed by Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kan., who accuses the veteran diplomat of misleading him when he served as the Bush administration's chief negotiator with North Korea. Any senator can place an anonymous hold on a presidential nomination and block the process, but it was not clear on Wednesday if Brownback had done so in Hill's case. Brownback's office did not immediately return phone calls seeking comment. One congressional aide said Brownback had in fact placed a hold on Hill but the senator was expected to lift it after negotiations with the Obama administration and Senate leaders in which they agreed to hold four hours of debate on the nomination and then a vote in which Hill was expected to be overwhelmingly approved. The aides said allowing such a debate would make it nearly impossible for the Senate, which is wrapped up in budget matters, to act on Hill's nomination before the recess.
 
Embryo Adoption Bill Georgia Senate's SHOCKING Move Top
Georgia Senate has approved the nation's first embryo adoption bill - Option of Adoption Act (HB 388), legislation which would allow for embryos to be formally adopted, offering the same legal rights to adoption as human beings, in accordance with Georgia adoption laws. According to the bill, en embryo is an individual fertilized egg of human species, from the single-cell stage to 8 - week development (source). While the HB388 allows for adoption of the embryo, it fails to grant it its own rights. It does however, ask for a change to the definition of the word "child" to include human embryo. It also asks for the adoption to be no longer carried out as a form of contract or property law.
 
Obama Breaks Up 'Heated' Spat Between Sarkozy, Hu Jintao Top
According to a source inside the room, President Obama just played peacemaker in a spat between French President Nicolas Sarkozy and Hu Jintao, President of the People's Republic of China. More on G-20 Summit
 
Bruce Wilson: Media Gives Palin's Strange New Global Christianity a Pass Top
At least one mainstream media journalist did get it: Laurie Goodstein. In her October 25, 2008 NYT story titled October 25, 2008. YouTube Videos Draw Attention to Palin's Faith , Goodstein quoted me, ' Bruce Wilson, a researcher for Talk2Action, a Web site that tracks religious groups, said: "One of the imperatives of the movement is to achieve worldly power, including political control. Then you can more effectively drive out the demons. The ultimate goal is to purify the earth." ' In her piece Laurie Goodstein accurately pegged the nature of Palin's religious associations: "Ms. Palin has had long associations with religious leaders who practice a particularly assertive and urgent brand of Pentecostalism known as "spiritual warfare." Its adherents believe that demonic forces can colonize specific geographic areas and individuals, and that "spiritual warriors" must "battle" them to assert God's control, using prayer and evangelism. The movement's fixation on demons, its aggressiveness and its leaders' claims to exalted spiritual authority have troubled even some Pentecostal Christians. Ms. Palin delivered an enthusiastic graduation speech for a class of young spiritual warriors in June at the Wasilla Assembly of God, the church in which she was raised. " Miracle healing ? Raising the dead ? - Those are among the practices promoted at Sarah Palin's key church, the Wasilla Assembly of God. And, during the 2008 election, video surfaced showing a late 2005 ceremony from the church in which Kenyan evangelist Bishop Thomas Muthee blessed Sarah Palin against "every form of witchcraft." Witchcraft ? It sounded a bit weird or perhaps medieval . And, why had the African evangelist traveled to Alaska in the first place ? Mainstream media didn't think to ask. In my new piece, Fighting Demons, Raising the Dead, Taking Over the World , published by Religion Dispatches, I describe Sarah Palin's strange new Christianity, which is rapidly becoming the face of the new, globalizing Christian right. [ Below: Thomas Muthee proposes Christian takeover of seven key sectors of society, then anoints Sarah Palin. Meet the New Apostolics. They're coming your way. ] Sarah Palin is in the same radical new stream of Christianity as is Ted Haggard. As I wrote in my Religion Dispatches story, In 1996 a team from Ted Haggard's New Life Church flew to Mali and began furtively anointing entire towns with cooking oil. The strangeness of it gripped Dutch missionary René Holvast, who later wrote: "It was confusing and produced a growing uneasiness. It did not seem to fit our current evangelical theological and anthropological textbooks." The team from Haggard's church was a forerunner in a missionary wave that has washed over the world since the early 1990s, bringing what Holvast calls a 'new paradigm.' René Holvast has theological training, but his perplexed reaction was similar to that of Alix Spiegel, a radio journalist who went to Ted Haggard's New Life Church in 1997 to do a story for This American Life. As I told Bill Berkowitz, for an interview entitled The New Christianity: What the Mainstream Media Has Missed that's also just appeared in Religion Dispatches, Sarah Palin is, broadly speaking, in the emerging postdenominational movement, which by 2000 encompassed 385 million Christians and is vastly different from the faith as it has been practiced in recent centuries. We identified Palin as in a majority tendency of postdenominationalism known as the neocharismatic movement, or the "Third Wave." Evangelical missionary reference work World Christian Trends calls the Third Wave "a new and disturbingly different" kind of Christianity whose members "can accurately be called radical Christians with some pentecostal /charismatic parallels" and which has, as one of the distinctive characteristics of Third Wave Christian ministry, a heavy emphasis on healing miracles including raising the dead--an emphasis promoted from the pulpit in sermons at Palin's most central church, the Wasilla Assembly of God. We also found extensive evidence that Palin is in a religious movement founded in 2001 that has coalesced out of Third Wave Christianity; the New Apostolic Reformation (NAR). The NAR is bent on radically reinventing Christianity, and is fast becoming the vanguard of the global Christian Right. As I'll be describing in upcoming Religion Dispatches installments, Sarah Palin's novel new Christianity is rapidly moving to achieve dominance in the GOP, but few Democrats appear aware that Palin's rapidly growing new Christianity even exists. Because of that, there exists the danger that the Democratic Party will be blindsided in the 2012 presidential election, as the New Apostolic Reformation / Third Wave Christianity gambit - of peeling away ethnic constituencies that have traditionally voted for the Democratic Party - comes into play. [ If you like this story you can recommend it on Digg: here and here . Thanks for your support. ] **** [ below: early September 2008 depicts exotic style of Palin's Third Wave Christianity ] Palin's Churches, Thomas Muthee, Witchcraft and The Third Wave from Bruce Wilson on Vimeo . [ below: another overview of the New Apostolic Reformation ] [ video, below: Julie Meyers, Joyce Meyer's daughter, shouts, "The lord tells me 'It's about number TWO. It's about number TWO... Ohio will tip the scales for JUSTICE... OHIO will be given the golden KEY to tip the scale for JUSTICE... It's the year for the DEBORAHS to AWAKE. Julies and Joyce Meyer are Third Wave Christians ] [ Below: Rick Warren is a Third Wave Christian who top NAR leaders claim is in their movement ] [ below: Sandy Simpson and Mike Oppenheimer talk about Ted Haggard's participation in the NAR] ] [ below: Palin's prayer-group leader Mary Glazier proposes forced religious cleansing of "The Land" so that unbelievers who will not convert to NAR Christianity are "displaced". ] [ below: Palin's Churches and The Holy Laughter Anointing. As Rodney Howard-Browne declares, "We will not back down... if it means death, then SO BE IT" ] More on Sarah Palin
 
Mark-To-Market Accounting Changes Made Top
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- U.S. accounting rulemakers on Thursday agreed to make adjustments to a proposal to change mark-to-market accounting rules concerning when transactions would be considered distressed. The Financial Accounting Standards Board said its proposed changes would take effect in the second quarter for most U.S. companies, but early adoption would be allowed for most companies' first quarter.
 
Ann Coulter Falls For Fake April Fool's Story Top
God knows that in an Ann Coulter article suggesting that "being named 'Gavin Newsom' should be grounds for dismissal," and that UC-Berkeley's academic mission is "turning out graduates who hate America," it seems redundant to point out the author got something factually incorrect. But, somehow, someone from Media Matters had enough eagle-eyed clarity and intestinal fortitude to wade through Coulter's latest harangue and pick out an instance of her falling for an April Fools Day joke. It comes in a paragraph buried deep within Coulter's piece: If Obama can tell GM and Chrysler that their participation in NASCAR is an "unnecessary expenditure," isn't having public schools force students to follow Muslim rituals, recite Islamic prayers and plan "jihads" also an "unnecessary expenditure"? Are all those school condom purchases considered "necessary expenditures"? As it turns out, that whole thing about President Obama ordering GM and Chrysler out of NASCAR is all a part of an April Fools Day hoax pulled by Car And Driver Magazine. That post has since been removed, but here's a screenshot of what it looked like , just before it was taken down. According to USA Today, Car And Drive eventually "apologized for 'going too far' while noting the magazine 'has a proud tradition of irreverent editorial and we amplify that each year with our April Fool's Day joke.'" In Coulter's defense, I think that Car And Driver 's reputation for April Fools japery isn't as widely known as they perhaps think it is. Naturally, one wonders if this revelation will even matter to Coulter, since an Obama-hates-NASCAR message is something she can just go right on asserting in her credibility-free haunts without fear of being called out for it. At the same time, it was April Fools Day, and there but for the grace of God and/or talented colleagues go everybody else. In three hundred and sixty-four days, we'll all, once again, be at risk of this sort of thing. [Would you like to follow me on Twitter ? Because why not? Also, please send tips to tv@huffingtonpost.com -- learn more about our media monitoring project here .] More on Barack Obama
 
Wall Street extends rally as economic hopes rise Top
NEW YORK — Wall Street is extending its rally as it grows more optimistic that the economy is on the mend. The major indexes jumped more than 2 percent Thursday, and the Dow Jones industrials rose more than 200 points, as the world's finance leaders met in London to discuss efforts to fix the global economy. The G-20 ministers plan to give the International Monetary Fund $500 billion, and create stricter rules for hedge funds. Bank stocks got an especially big boost when the Financial Accounting Standards Board relaxed rules forcing banks to value their assets at current prices. The change should help banks reduce losses. And the Commerce Department revealed a large increase in February factory orders, following Wednesday's better-than-expected readings on pending home sales, manufacturing activity and auto sales. There's a growing sense on Wall Street that the economy, at least stateside, might be bottoming out. "The market mindset is: OK, we're not in a tailspin," said Jack A. Ablin, chief investment officer at Harris Private Bank. Since a nearly 12-year low on March 9, the Dow is up about 19 percent. The market has managed to shrug off data showing that the job market remains extremely weak. On Thursday, the Labor Department reported a surprisingly large rise in last week's jobless claims, and on Wednesday, data from a research group showed a bigger-than-expected March decline in private sector employment. Economists predict that Friday's report will show a loss of 654,000 jobs in March. "It could be a replay of last month, where we expected terrible, we got terrible, and were relieved it wasn't worse," Ablin said. In midmorning trading, the Dow rose 209.39, or 2.7 percent, to 7,970.99. Broader stock indicators also advanced. The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 24.43, or 3 percent, to 835.51. The Nasdaq composite index rose 45, or 2.9 percent, to 1,596.60. The Dow Jones Total Stock Market index, which reflects nearly all stocks traded in the United States, has gained 20.2 percent _ or $1.6 trillion _ since March 9. Analysts are quick to point out, however, that stocks are still well below their October 2007 record highs, and that market rebounds are typically volatile. Investors got a taste of volatility on Monday, when stocks dropped sharply as the Obama administration raised the possibility of a U.S. automaker bankruptcy. In addition to a potentially bad jobs report on Friday, the release of first-quarter earnings in the coming weeks could threaten the rally. The market is bracing for dismal results from companies across nearly all industries, but might get thwarted if executives say business conditions are still deteriorating. Government bond prices slipped Thursday. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note, which moves opposite its price, rose to 2.70 percent from 2.66 percent late Wednesday. The yield on the three-month T-bill, considered one of the safest investments, was flat at 0.21 percent. Crude oil rose $3.33 to $51.72 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The dollar was mostly lower against other major currencies. Gold fell. Overseas, Japan's Nikkei stock average rose 4.4 percent. In afternoon trading, Britain's FTSE 100 rose 2.9 percent, Germany's DAX index rose 4.2 percent, and France's CAC-40 rose 3.5 percent. ___ On the Net: New York Stock Exchange: http://www.nyse.com Nasdaq Stock Market: http://www.nasdaq.com More on Financial Crisis
 
Tim DeChristopher, Land Auction Prankster, Charged With Felonies Top
Salt Lake City -- A college student was charged with two federal felonies Wednesday for what he contends were acts of civil disobedience -- making false bids to run up auction prices on oil and gas parcels on public land near Utah's national parks. At the Dec. 19 lease sale, Tim DeChristopher grabbed a bidder's paddle, drove up prices and won 22,000 acres of land for $1.79 million, an amount he later said he didn't have the means or intention to pay. He isn't affiliated with any major environmental group but has said that he infiltrated the auction as a protest. He made no apologies Wednesday for obstructing the lease of land in Utah's red-rock country.
 
Huff TV: Arianna On ABC's "Topline": Watch Her Live At 12pm EST Top
Arianna on ABC News's "Topline" at 12pm EST. WATCH IT LIVE HERE .
 
4 Things You Didn't Know About Holistic Healing Top
If natural medicine still sounds too alternative for you, here are four things that may help mainstream the concept for you. It's not so "out there" In addition to the 38 percent of all adults in the United States who have tried natural medicine, nearly 12 percent of children have used complementary and alternative (CAM) therapies. Veterinarians use it on pets, too. "It's not just the fringe anymore," says Donald B. Levy, MD, medical director of the Osher Clinical Center for Complementary and Integrative Medical Therapies at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston. More on Health
 
John R. Bohrer: Glenn Beck's Set Designs and Sci-Fi Hero Dreams Top
Glenn Beck's no longer bluffing. A few months ago, around the launch of his Fox News Channel program, he did a creepy segment with a somber rant bordering on hysteria... yeah, like that's any help narrowing it down. OK, but this one was different because throughout his speech, an odd close-up of his eyes loomed overhead or with him in split-screen. To which people said, "Uh, what? " Beck replied that the segment was something he wanted to do "because, quite honestly, we don't look each other in the eye anymore." No. Quite honestly, you were doing it to imitate the totalitarian imagery that George Orwell and Ray Bradbury did so well. The intimidating screens for monitoring, the floating eyes -- it was immediately clear what he was doing. That he gave a lame excuse instead of admitting it isn't that big of a deal. People make lame excuses all the time. What's really weird is that now he's pointing the finger at the Obama administration and declaring they're "marching us to a brand of nonviolent fascism ." "Or to put it another way, they're marching us toward 1984 . Big Brother." So, Beck finally owns up to the real inspiration for his set design. Not some desire to tell it straight to the American people, but -- quite honestly, as Glenn would say -- to command the machines of his sci-fi fantasies. Last night, Beck performed his fascism spiel from the bottom of a movie-screen with gigantic, slow-moving images of the government officials who dominate him in his imagination. 'Fascists, all,' Beck's monitors say. For what? For employing a Keynesian economic model? Orwell and Bradbury wrote what they did with concern toward censorship and civil liberties. No matter to Beck, who makes himself appear small in the presence of our supposed oppressors, like he is the hero who has valiantly broken into their control room and only has a minute to tell you -- and the world -- to rise up, to throw off your chains. Quick, before it's too late... Keep dreaming, Glenn.
 
Lessons From The Great Depression Top
AT a time when life in America is beginning to resemble a roller-coaster ride on the way down and everyone is trying to find ways to save money, it may be instructive -- both in terms of offering helpful hints and putting things in perspective -- to look at how people ran their households during the Great Depression. Back then there was little money for food, let alone new curtains, but people found ways to cope. Backyard gardens were cultivated not because of a sudden itch to eat locally grown produce, but out of necessity; homeowners did their own repairs and found ingenious ways to make their homes functional and attractive.
 
Taliban Easing Beard, Burqa And Bollywood Rules Top
The Taliban, whose extreme interpretation of Sharia law and its harsh punishments made Afghanistan one of world's most repressive and reviled regimes, have agreed to soften their position on such things as beards and burqas as part of a trade-off in negotiations with the Afghan government. Afghanistan is increasingly the focus of international diplomatic attention following a major international conference in The Hague this week. It will surface on the fringes of the G20 summit and dominate this week's Nato meeting in Strasbourg. Hillary Clinton, the US Secretary of State, floated the idea of talking to "moderate" Taliban at the Hague conference, saying that those who gave up "extremism" would be granted an "honourable form of reconciliation". Publicly, a Taliban spokesman yesterday rejected the American offer, describing it as "a lunatic idea". But preliminary talks between President Hamid Karzai's government and Taliban insurgents are already under way, and appear to have yielded a significant shift away from the Taliban's past obsession with repressive rules and punishments governing personal behaviour. The Taliban are now prepared to commit themselves to refraining from banning girls' education, beating up taxi drivers for listening to Bollywood music, or measuring the length of mens' beards, according to representatives of the Islamist movement. Burqas worn by women in public would be "strongly recommended" but not compulsory. The undertakings have been confirmed by Mullah Abdul Salaam Zaeef, who was the Taliban's ambassador to Pakistan in the late 1990s, and who has been part of a Saudi-sponsored peace initiative. The initiative also comes, according to former senior members of the movement, at a time when the Taliban are intensely apprehensive about the immediate future with an impending military and diplomatic offensive by the Obama administration. According to Christoph Hörstel, a German analyst of Afghan affairs, Mullah Zaeef has confirmed that the Taliban are no longer insisting that their members should form the government. Instead, they would agree to rule by religious scholars and technocrats who meet with their approval following a national loya jirga, or community meeting, attended by public figures. The demand for a loya jirga could be met as early as next month if President Karzai convenes a meeting of elders to determine who should rule when his term officially ends on 21 May. The Independent revealed earlier this year that the new head of Saudi intelligence, Prince Muqrin Abdulaziz al Saud has taken personal charge of organising a dialogue between the Karzai government and the Islamists. The Saudis are also said to have been reassured by the Obama administration that the US was not following a purely military solution but would welcome establishing contacts with some strands of the insurgency. Mrs Clinton reiterated this message this week. Although the new stance shows a shift in the Taliban posture, some demands are certain to be rejected by both President Karzai's government and the Americans. They include the stipulation that all foreign forces should withdraw from Afghanistan within six months. According to a former Taliban minister, however, some of the more aggressive demands are for "internal consumption" within the radical Muslim groups involved in the insurgency in Afghanistan and Pakistan, and the Taliban negotiators would be content, for the time being, with gestures such as removing from a UN blacklist the names of some senior figures in the insurgency. The Islamist group want a guarantee of safe conduct for Mullah Mutassim and others in Taliban delegations. "But there are others, people like me who are no longer part of the Taliban and people who have been helping with the peace process who are still on the blacklist. We believed our names would be lifted from the blacklist, but that has not happened." Banned by the Taliban: Cassettes, kites and schools for girls Televisions, pop music and kite flying were banned at the height of the Taliban's rule between 1996 and 2001. Women were only allowed outside with a male relative, men's beards had to be long enough to exceed a fist clasped at the chin, and anyone who broke the rules risked being beaten - or worse. Public executions - stonings, shootings and hangings - were held in football stadiums and on street corners. Gangs of "morality police" would patrol the streets in pick-up trucks looking for any signs of secularism. Television sets were rounded up and smashed. Cassette tapes were strung up on telegraph poles as a warning. Music with instruments was banned. Images of people and animals were officially outlawed. Girls' schools were closed and women were only allowed to work in their homes. Starving widows weren't even allowed out to beg. Today Taliban rule where it prevails, such as in Wardak, remains brutal but inconsistent. Some men are spared the need for fist-length beards, if they travel to Kabul. Read more from The Independent ------ Keep in touch with Huffington Post World on Facebook and Twitter . More on Afghanistan
 
Lee Stranahan: Watch: 5 Benefits To Legal Weed (& The 1 Big Thing Stopping It) Top
Judge Jim Gray isn't the bleary eyed stereotype of an advocate for the decriminalization of marijuana. Gray, who has never tried the drug, is a former attorney in the Navy JAG Crops, prosecutor, and a Judge in conservative Orange Country, California. Judge Gray isn't in favor ending the War On Drugs in spite of that experience. He's a passionate spokesman for drug policy reform BECAUSE of his experience in law enforement. In this exclusive interview, Judge Gray lists five immediate benefits of of AB 390 , The Marijuana Control, Regulation, and Education Act. The state assembly bill was introduced by Tom Ammiano a Democrat from San Francisco that would decriminalize the sale, production and use of marijuana for adults in California. Judge Gray also discusses the dangerous addiction that many government agencies have to the funding made available to them by the drug war. (Sidenote: This is an eight minute video. I'm personally so sick of souindbite journalism that reduces every issue to 10 seconds argument chunks that I want to scream - so this ain't that. It's a person explaining a position in depth. God bless the internet.) If you're interested in more detail on how the War On Drugs is really a War On Children, Judge Gray's experience as a judge and prosecutor shown him both the futility and cruelty of prohibition. More on Video
 
Kenneth Thorpe: Massachusetts is Not the Only Health Reform Model Top
As discussion continues on the President's budget and whether the nation can afford to take on health care reform, a number of experts -- and two of the nation's leading newspapers -- have suggested that we look to Massachusetts as the nation's test case. These critics point to the cost growth which has occurred under Massachusetts' new universal health care system as a demonstration for why the nation should proceed cautiously with its own reforms. But if we are looking for lessons, there are other "real world" examples that we can consider. A state just across Massachusetts' Northern border took a different road to reform -- and one that is actually much closer to the route proposed by President Obama and Senate leaders such as Max Baucus. In May 2006, a month after Massachusetts passed its own health care legislation, Vermont also enacted a sweeping set of health reforms. Whereas Massachusetts chose to make universal coverage its initial goal, Vermont's primary focus was to make health care more affordable and at the same time expand coverage. While it is still too early to pass judgment on either state, there are three core elements that have Vermont showing early signs of promise, and which could be replicated at a national level: Health care legislation must be bipartisan and have something "in it" for everyone. Vermont's health reform program was solidly bipartisan -- enacted by a Republican governor and a Democratic legislature. Key to the reform's political success was the recognition by both sides that the debate would need to be refocused on broader systemic ills, like cost and quality, rather than solely on the contentious and politically-charged issues, like coverage and payment. At the time reform was being debated, the vast majority of Vermonters -- and almost all voters in the state -- had health insurance, so policymakers had to communicate what these people would get out of reform, other than a higher tax bill, and the answer was lower health care costs. Health care legislation must be comprehensive. Vermont passed comprehensive legislation to modernize chronic care delivery models, create a statewide health IT platform, implement effective efforts to prevent disease and build a new insurance program for the uninsured (Catamount Health). By 2010, an estimated 96 percent of Vermont residents will have health insurance coverage. Health care legislation must address cost, which means getting a handle on the root cause of spending. For years now, many of the health reform proposals that have been introduced in this country have failed to control the root of increases in spending. More than anything, that root cause is that Americans are in poor health -- and many of their chronic health problems are preventable. Recognition of these "unhealthy truths" helped to shape the types of policy solutions proposed in Vermont during the 2006 debate. Controlling chronic conditions through prevention and disease management featured prominently in Vermont's plan to make health care more affordable. Less than three years have passed since both these states passed their health care reform plans, which is not enough time to pronounce either effort as a success or failure. In addition, Massachusetts has created a state commission to figure out how to control costs, which may yet yield improvements. What we can pull from both efforts is that in addition to moving to universal coverage, passing fundamental reform nationally will require legislation designed to reduce the growth in spending, provide high-quality, efficient medical and preventive care for all Americans, and roll out community level resources and support that make it easier for Americans to lead healthy, active lives. And for the critics, this means acknowledging what was done right as well as pointing out what was done wrong. Ken Thorpe, Ph.D., is Executive Director of the Partnership to Fight Chronic Disease, and Chair of the Department of Health Policy and Management at the Rollins School of Public Health at Emory University. Dr. Thorpe served as Deputy Assistant Secretary of Policy at HHS under the Clinton Administration in the early 1990s.
 
Medvedev: 'Super Currency' Should Replace Dollar Top
So much for that fresh start. Barely 24 hours after announcing that Russia and the United States would cooperate on a host of long-simmering issues, Russia President Dmitri A. Medvedev re-proposed a Russian idea that the United States had thought it had batted away: starting a new basket of strong regional currencies to replace the dollar as the world's reserve currency. More on Russia
 
Dodd's Numbers Tank But Dems Not Yet Too Nervous Top
Poll numbers out on Thursday provide another bad chapter in what has become an awful few months for Sen. Chris Dodd. The long-serving Connecticut Democrat woke this morning to find himself trailing one of his potential Republican challengers in 2010 by a 16 percent point margin. The Quinnipiac University poll , which places Rep. Rob Simmons at the vaunted 50 percent line to Dodd's 34, seems to be an outlier in some respects. Just a few weeks ago, the two were essentially tied , and last week, the Senator found himself ahead . Nevertheless, the numbers are bound to spur even more talk that Dodd is, in essence, a dead man walking, his ties to the insurance giant AIG proving politically toxic. That said, in state and nationally, Dodd's backers aren't sweating -- at least profusely -- just yet. Noting the other polls and the distance until the actual election, one high-ranking strategist offered a three-point rebuttal to the doomsayers. "One, there's massive room to grow among Democrats, which will be easy to get back for a guy like Dodd. They will eventually come home and that will dramatically change the dynamic. Two, the poll is about AIG -- of course people are going to have negative reactions this close to it. And three, don't forget the impending nasty Republican primary. These three guys will spend the year tearing each other down." A senior Connecticut Democratic aide, meanwhile, noted that Dodd was just now getting his campaign apparatus off the ground and, as such, "couldn't get ahead" of any of the damaging story lines. "He'll be fine," the aide added. "I think the bleeding has been stopped." Indeed, as argued by another national Democrat with a stake in the race, Thursday's poll actually showed a lot of room for growth for the Senator. Asked, for example, who was to blame the controversial AIG bonuses, 28 percent said President George W. Bush, seven percent said President Barack Obama and 27 percent said Dodd. His point: "This is a Democratic state." Once the story line moves away from AIG, Dodd's numbers will rise. In the end, it is historical symmetry as much as electoral ignominy that Dodd is hoping to avoid. His father, Thomas Dodd, ended a long and illustrious career (which included playing a key prosecutorial role in the Nuremberg Trials) under a cloud of ethics scandal. Censured by the Senate in 1967 for using campaign funds for personal purposes and hampered by health issues, he decided to run for re-election in 1970 only after the primary had ended, as an Independent. He lost, taking under a quarter of the vote, and died shortly thereafter. Chris Dodd devoted a book and a portion of his career to repairing that legacy, even making it a component of his presidential candidacy. Now, several decades later, he is trying to avoid a similar fate. Get HuffPost Politics on Facebook , or follow us on Twitter .
 
Top 10 Most Stylish Protesters Of All Time Top
Russell Brand's appearance at the G20 protests today brought a sartorial edge to the event, as he exercised his democratic rights in trademark man leggings and a natty jacket. Brand's outfit may have distinguished him from the traditional hoodie and combat trousers look favoured by agitators, but he's not the first to march in style. Here's our top ten fashionable protesters.
 
EX-AIG CEO Maurice Greenberg Says AIG Problems Not His Fault, Bailout Failed Top
Maurice Greenberg said he was not responsible for problems at American International Group since they occurred after he left, the Wall Street Journal reported citing an interview with the former chief of the company. Greenberg, who left as the company's chief executive in 2005 following an accounting scandal, is scheduled to appear before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform on Thursday.
 
Medvedev-Obama Meeting A Win For Russia: Analysis Top
MOSCOW — President Dmitry Medvedev's first meeting with Barack Obama brought Russia a shot of prestige, upbeat headlines about nuclear-arms cuts and a powerful signal that Moscow has the ear of the new U.S. president. The price tag for Russia so far: virtually zero. Medvedev's talks with Obama set a constructive new tone after years of growing acrimony between the U.S. and an assertive Russia. Their joint vow to reduce the two biggest nuclear arsenals on the planet cast a softer light on Russia, which has worried Europe with recent natural-gas supply cutoffs and threats to put missiles on its borders. Obama pledged to support Moscow's World Trade Organization membership bid, which could help end what Russia sees as the embarrassment of being the largest economy outside the WTO. Obama also said he would seek U.S. ratification of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, something Moscow has long wanted from Washington. And in a nod to the Kremlin's self-image as a chief guardian of global security, Obama also acknowledged Russia's proposal for a new trans-Atlantic security arrangement _ a key Medvedev initiative that the Bush administration pointedly ignored. Medvedev pleased Obama by joining the U.S. in calling for clarity from Iran on its nuclear program and warning North Korea against a planned rocket launch. In the past, Russia has cast the U.S. as part of the problem on the Korean peninsula, and backed Iranian denials that it is seeking nuclear weapons. But at least publicly, Medvedev made no commitment to increase pressure on Iran. He did not promise to support harsher sanctions in the U.N. Security Council over Iran's nuclear activities or rule out further weapons sales to Tehran. His signal of support for the U.S. effort in Afghanistan was also short on detail. He did not say Moscow would press Kyrgyzstan to call off its eviction of American forces from an important air base, for instance, or help the U.S. find a new Central Asian staging area for Afghan operations. The was no sign of a Russian retreat on the divisive issues that dragged ties to a post-Cold War low last year. Moscow remains adamantly opposed to the potential deployment of a missile shield in Eastern Europe, and is likely to use he issue as leverage in the talks the presidents agreed to set in motion on a replacement for the START I nuclear arms treaty. Russia also opposed any further eastward expansion of NATO, and remains starkly at odds with the U.S. on Georgia following its war with the ex-Soviet republic last August. The Kremlin has made clear it will not consider U.S. calls to retract its recognition of South Ossetia and Abkhazia or withdraw forces from the separatist regions at the heart of the war. The main ingredient in Russia's recipe for success was the same as in the era of Soviet-American superpower summits: its nuclear arsenal. By trumpeting efforts to reach a new nuclear arms reduction deal before the last major Cold War pact expires in December, Russia reminded the world _ as well as the audience at home _ of the might that still sets it apart. "The leaders of two major world powers," was how the state-run newspaper Rossiiskaya Gazeta described Obama and Medvedev in its front-page story Thursday about the meeting, which it deemed "quite successful." Thursday's G-20 summit, meanwhile, allowed Russia to avoid appearing too cozy with the United States, which the Kremlin has cast as the culprit behind everything from the war with Georgia to the global financial crisis. On the main morning news show on state-run Rossiya television, the anchor played up Medvedev's meeting with the Chinese leader and stressed that Russia wants to reform the global financial system while the U.S. thinks it can be fixed. He emphasized European opposition to U.S. economic proposals, which he said amounted to "switching on the money-printing presses." ______ Moscow correspondent Steve Gutterman has covered Russia since 2002. More on Russia
 
Chavez: Gitmo Detainees Can Come Here Top
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has said he is prepared to receive detainees held by the US military at the Guantanamo Bay camp in Cuba. More on Venezuela
 
Obama, Hu Agree To 'US-China Strategic Economic Dialogue' (VIDEO) Top
President Obama's first day in London for the G-20 Summit made for what appears to have been a productive foreign relations binge, of sorts, whereby the president accepted invitations and entered agreements with both Russian President Medvedev and Chinese President Hu. While the outcome of the Medvedev meeting was somewhat unexpected, Obama's meeting with Hu Jintao has long been anticipated, with many calling the summit 'G-2' rather than G-20. From the AP: Obama accepted an invitation to visit Beijing this year and the two leaders agreed to create a new U.S.-China Strategic Economic Dialogue, said a senior American official who briefed reporters in London. The official said Obama agreed during the meeting [Wednesday] on the need to change the International Monetary Fund to give China and other developing countries an "an appropriate role" but the two leaders did not discuss details. A bigger voice in managing the world's finances is a key Chinese demand, and Beijing has suggested its contribution to global bailout efforts will be contingent on receiving it. "The presidents agreed that the strong links between China and the U.S. economies have been a great mutual benefit, both in terms of trade and investment, and they were eager to build on that," said the official, who talked on condition of anonymity in line with U.S. government policy. However, though the US and Chinese economies are inextricably linked, the Chinese have recently grown more dissatisfied with this long-held arrangement. Last week, China's central bank governor Zhou Xiaochuan published a paper calling for a new global currency to replace the dollar. Moreover, as the Financial Times notes, China is using the momentum from Mr. Zhou's proposal to flex more economic muscles in London this week. From the Financial Times : Meanwhile, ahead of the summit, China has established Rmb650bn ($95bn, €72bn, £66bn) worth of currency swaps with Indonesia, Belarus, Malaysia, Argentina, Hong Kong and South Korea - all of which indicate a more confident diplomacy and a larger future role in international finance for the Chinese currency. The more assertive stance also reflects anger building in China about criticism that its large current account surplus and reserves helped create the crisis and the realisation that its huge holdings of US bonds give it little direct leverage over US policy. "In my 16 years of covering China I have never seen the country approach an international forum in such a proactive way," says Dong Tao, economist at Credit Suisse. "China has traditionally been passive on the international stage, being a listener rather than an opinion leader, but this time it's different. China wants to make sure [its] voice is being heard." As the AFP reports , Presidents Obama and Hu also addressed the growing specter of protectionism around the world that, though mutually feared, is also becoming increasingly practiced by most of the G-20 states. Despite G-20 nations' pledge at the last conference in November 2008, a World Bank report [PDF] has found that 17 of the 20 nations have collectively imposed 47 varying protectionist measures since that time. The Economist lists some examples: Indonesia has specified that certain categories of goods, such as clothes, shoes and toys, may be imported through only five ports. Argentina has imposed discretionary licensing requirements on car parts, textiles, televisions, toys, shoes and leather goods; licences for all these used to be granted automatically. Some countries have imposed outright import bans, often justified by a tightening of safety rules or by environmental concerns. For example, China has stopped imports of a wide range of European food and drink, including Irish pork, Italian brandy and Spanish dairy products. The Indian government has banned Chinese toys. And here is Presidents Obama and Hu's joint statement to the press. [WATCH:] More on China
 

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