Friday, April 10, 2009

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Tesla Roadster's Range Surprises Onlookers At Car Rally Top
This year's all-electric entrants included a Ruf-modified Porsche 911 and a handful of Mitsubishi iMiEVs but it was the Tesla that stole the e-car laurels by managing to get cross the finishing line with an indicated 61km (38 miles) of juice left in the battery pack. That would give the Roadster a theoretical maximum touring range of nearly 280 miles -- 36 miles more than Tesla itself reckons the car will cover on a charge. If the numbers stand up to official scrutiny, Tesla will hold the world record for the longest distance travelled by a production electric car on a single charge. More on Cars
 
Hundreds Of Infants May Have Been Exposed To Tuberculosis: Tribune Top
Public health professionals are investigating the potential exposure from tuberculosis to hundreds of newborn infants and children at three Chicago area hospitals from a Northwestern University doctor-in-training, sources close to the investigation and the Chicago Department of Public Health told the Tribune this afternoon. More on Health
 
Indian Fireworks Factory Fire Kills 23 Top
NEW DELHI — An Indian news agency says a blaze at a fireworks factory has killed at least 23 workers and injured 48 others in western India. The Press Trust of India news agency quotes Yogesh Pawar, a medical officer, as saying the injured are being treated at a hospital near Jalgaon, a town in western Maharashtra state. Pawar puts the death toll at 23. More on India
 
The Piven Principle: Watch Your Fish And Mercury Intake! Top
It might sound like Jeremy Piven is telling a fish story. The actor known for playing uber-agent Ari on "Entourage" blamed mercury poisoning from eating too much fish for his sudden exit from the Broadway play "Speed-the-Plow" in December. Now Piven is defending himself against a grievance complaint filed by the play's producers who _ like some other observers _ are dubious of the I-ate-too-much-fish claim. Medical researchers say it's possible Piven's case _ which heads to arbitration in June _ could hold water. Mercury can indeed pose a serious health threat to people who eat too much fish and seafood. But before you swear off sushi, consider the caveats. Fish, on balance, is recommended by doctors because it is high in protein and heart-healthy omega-3 fatty acids. Mercury levels in fish are typically minute, and they vary among different types of fish. And unless you're eating catch from polluted waters, you usually have to eat an awful lot of fish for quite a while before showing signs of mercury poisoning. "For the vast majority of people, it's not a real issue, because the vast majority of people don't eat fish more than once a week," says Dr. Michael Gochfeld, professor of environmental and occupational medicine at the Robert Wood Johnson Medical School. "It's for those people that we call the high-end consumers that we're most concerned with." Piven, 43, has disputed reports that he was overeating sushi, but he also told The New York Times that he had been eating fish twice a day for 20 years. Medical experts say adults who eat that much seafood can indeed risk mercury poisoning. Mercury occurs naturally in the atmosphere and humans pump even more of it into the air through pollution. When it lands on lakes, rivers and oceans, mercury can be transformed by microorganisms into a more toxic form called methylmercury. That's the danger for seafood eaters. Trace amounts of methylmercury can build up in fish and shellfish. And it can build up in the animals that eat those fish, including humans, who then can experience neurological problems. Symptoms can include tingling sensations around fingertips, toes and lips, a lack of coordination, vision problems and trouble articulating words. In extreme cases, mercury poisoning can cripple, kill and cause birth defects. Health officials are most concerned about the danger to developing brains and nervous systems and issue strict consumption recommendations for children, pregnant women and women of childbearing age. But all adults are advised to watch their seafood consumption. The Institute of Medicine of the National Academies recommended several years ago that healthy adult men who consume more than two servings of seafood a week eat different varieties of fish to lessen risks of loading up on a single contaminant. The rule of thumb is the lower on the food chain, the lower the mercury level. Salmon and flounder will tend to have lower levels than larger predators, such as shark and swordfish. Eating sushi can be a concern because bluefin and other sushi-grade tuna tend to be bigger fish. But again, it's a matter of how much you eat. A piece of sushi could have less than half an ounce of tuna, according to Gochfeld. Eat a few pieces a week, there is likely no issue. Eat 20 pieces of sushi per meal multiple times a week, there could be a problems. While people will sometimes point to the sushi-loving Japanese as proof of the food's safety, Gochfeld says that people in Japan consume a wide variety of seafood, including fish lower on the food chain, such as herring and sprat. "Sushi is a special treat. It's eaten once a month," he said. "It's not something that has become a staple as it has become for some people in this country." Former New York Mayor Ed Koch says he learned the risks of eating high-on-the-seafood chain several years ago when he started eating swordfish belly three or four times a week. Koch showed no symptoms but had his blood tested as a precaution after being told of the potential dangers of mercury. The results: blood levels more than seven times normal. The lesson here is moderation. People tend to get mercury poisoning through chronic exposure to small doses over long periods, says Shawn Gerstenberger of the School of Public Health at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. "We, as human beings, tend to get a little excessive and too much of anything can be harmful to you," Gerstenberger says. It's not clear if Piven was loading up on the swordfish, too. His spokeswoman, Samantha Mast, says Piven would not say more about the situation. Piven has said he started to feel sluggish and sleepy during rehearsals for the play last fall. The actor has said he eventually passed out at home and had to drop out from the play. He claims to have had six times the normal limit of mercury. The story drew snickers. Even "Speed-the-Plow" playwright David Mamet joked that Piven planned to leave show business to pursue a career as a thermometer. Others suggested Piven's real indulgence was not seafood but nightlife. The producers say they have requested information on Piven's "alleged illness," including medical records and documentation of Piven's activities during and after the run of the show. Mast says Piven has been fish-free for months, which is the right move. It can take many months, but mercury levels in the body decrease over time. Koch, for instance, says it took about a year to get his levels down (he still eats swordfish, but only about once a month). Piven is getting better, too, and is filming another season of "Entourage." "He still isn't 100 percent," Mast says, "yet he's still on his way to recovery." More on Jeremy Piven
 
Josh Dorner: April's Climate Fool: Marc Morano Top
The most denying-est denier of all, Marc Morano , former flak to Senator James Inhofe launched a new denialist website this week called Climate Depot (and no, I won't link to it). It promises to give climate the ol' "fair and balanced" treatment, which apparently means the usual denialist dreck mixed in with headlines about Gywneth Paltrow, Hannah Montana, sheep farts, and, of course, lots of about the brave exploits of Mr. Morano himself (including a swashbuckling confrontation of Al Gore at 37,000' that Mr. Gore says he "has no memory of"). (A quick survey of the Green section on Huffington Post as I write this finds no items on sheep farts or Hannah Montana, though one does spy an item on PETA's sexiest vegetarians near the bottom of the page.) Thankfully you and I, the taxpayers of this country, are no longer paying Morano $134,000 to spew his "lies, mistruths, and half-truths," as your correspondent recently called Morano's organized campaign of disinformation. Who is paying the bill for all of this (including an even bigger salary)? Why, " The Committee for a Constructive Tomorrow ." The New York Times notes that, like most other elements of the vast climate denial apparatus, CFACT has received funding from ExxonMobil and Richard Mellon Scaife, the living embodiment and progenitor of the Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy . Morano himself is of course no stranger to vast right-wing conspiracies, having been the first "reporter" to give credence to the charges against John Kerry made by the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth. (I'll leave it to Joe Romm to discuss why today's New York Times profile of Morano, while exposing him as a huckster, is still outrageous.) The new site promises to be "eco-news on steroids." And what are some of the side effects of steroids? "Researchers report that users may suffer from paranoid jealousy, extreme irritability, delusions, and impaired judgment stemming from feelings of invincibility. " Sounds about right. More on Climate Change
 
LEUKEMIA GENE Discovered Top
(Vocus) April 8, 2009 -- Researchers have identified a gene that controls the rapid production and differentiation of the stem cells that produce all blood cell types -- a discovery that could eventually open the door to more streamlined treatments for leukemia and other blood cancers, in which blood cells proliferate out of control. Additionally, in investigating the mechanisms of this gene, the scientists uncovered evidence that could lead to a protocol for bone marrow transplants that could boost the chance of a cure in some patients. The research, led by Emmanuelle Passegué, PhD, of the University of California, San Francisco, demonstrates that the JunB gene is at the center of a complex network of molecular and environmental signals that regulate the proliferation and differentiation of hematopoietic stem cells, the multipotent, self-renewing cells that give rise to all blood cell types. In the study published April 7, 2009, in the journal Cancer Cell, Passegué's team studied the behavior of JunB-deficient HSCs in both the culture dish and when transplanted into mice. In every case in which engraftment of the HSCs occurred in the mice, the scientists noted a progressive expansion of the myeloid lineage, which constitutes a type of mature white blood cell that fights infection. This expansion led by 6 to 12 months post-transplantation to the development of a myeloproliferative disease, which can evolve to leukemia. The finding indicated that the proliferating JunB-deficient HSCs causes leukemia. Like traffic lights, which limit speed, direct the flow of vehicles and prevent accidents, JunB curtails both the rate at which HSCs are proliferating and the rate of differentiation toward the myeloid lineage that ultimately results in leukemia. The striking analogy inspired the image for the cover of Cancer Cell's April 7 issue. Without JunB, HSCs lose their ability to respond to signals from the protein receptors Notch and TGF-beta, which reside on the cells' surface and play critical roles in determining cell fate. "By uncovering this mechanism, we might one day be able to determine the difference between normal HSCs and leukemic stem cells in gene regulatory networks. This could allow us to develop more targeted therapies. These kinds of therapeutic applications are still down the road, but they can happen very quickly in the blood/leukemia field," says Passegué. Passegué's study represents a turnabout from other research, which has demonstrated that mutated HSC that cause leukemia burn out at a faster rate than normal HSCs. In contrast, this study shows that JunB does not effect the cells' potential for unlimited self-renewal. The researchers demonstrated this by treating both JunB-deficient mice and control mice with the powerful chemotherapy drug 5-FU, which was given to deplete regenerating HSCs. As expected, JunB-deficient mice consistently displayed higher levels of myeloid lineage than the control group, indicating constant regeneration of a myeloproliferative disease from JunB-deficient HSCs that persisted after treatment. When researchers compared survival rates of the animals during several cycles of treatment, they found little difference between the two groups, indicating that JunB-deficient HSCs do not exhaust faster than the control HSCs. In tracking the differences between the JunB-deficient mice and the control group, it became apparent to the researchers that purity of HSCs was a key factor in determining the success of engraftment. Initially, the scientists were struck by the disparity in engraftment between the JunB-deficient HSCs and the control HSCs. But with the use of SLAM cells, a highly purified HSC population, they found that the two groups displayed in fact identical engraftment. This finding may have important ramifications for patients undergoing bone marrow transplants, for leukemia, lymphoma, multiple myeloma and certain cancers. "Currently, patients undergoing bone marrow transplants may not be getting enough of the quiescent transplanted HSCs that are optimal for successful engraftment," says Passegué. Using a highly purified HSC population could be more beneficial." Senior author Passegué and first author Marianne Santaguida, PhD, are from the Eli and Edythe Broad Center of Regeneration Medicine and Stem Cell Research at UCSF. Co-authors from the same center are Koen Schepers, PhD, and Bryan King. Other co-authors are Benjamin Braun, MD, PhD, and Amit Sabnis, MD, of the UCSF Department of Pediatrics; E. Camilla Forsberg, PhD, of the Institute for Biology of Stem Cells at University of California, Santa Cruz, and Joanne Attema, PhD, of the Institute for Experimental Medical Science at Lund University, Sweden. Research was funded by grants from the Concern Foundation, UCSF Research Evaluation and Allocation Committee and the NIH. UCSF is a leading university dedicated to promoting health worldwide through advanced biomedical research, graduate-level education in the life sciences and health professions, and excellence in patient care. For further information, visit http://www.ucsf.edu. For more information about the Eli and Edythe Broad Center of Regeneration Medicine and Stem Cell Research at UCSF, see http://irm.ucsf.edu/.
 
Kim Morgan: God's Lonely (Funny) Man: "Observe and Report" Top
In 1980, Robert Kolker published his influential work of film criticism, A Cinema of Loneliness , a bible for many of film students who were fascinated by the grittiness and artistry of '70s cinema and by the subsequent changes that happened to the pictures we really grew up with: the blockbusters and comedies of the '80s. I always remember staring at the front cover of my red paperback edition. It featured Robert De Niro's Travis Bickle, head downcast, his confused, rage-filled, ticking time-bomb character tightly wound with hands stuffed in pockets, his precise, military fit frame braving the dirty, sleazy, mean streets of New York. He was frightening, but oddly appealing. This was alienation. This was isolation. This was "God's lonely man." But for younger viewers, this was a distant memory. Not only in the movies, but also in the real world. Though this may sound like a strange question (and not a query one should summon): Where had all the Travis Bickles gone? Read my interview with Jody Hill here. Quick answer? The shopping mall. And if you get behind Jody Hill's subversive, hilarious, weirdly poignant and almost horrifyingly timely Observe and Report , you'll see Travis, not only as a power-hungry security guard in the form of a schlubbier Seth Rogen, but also as a regular Joe consumer. He might be traversing the food court or staring at the ice skaters in the center rink or wondering if he can afford a flat-screen TV while making his mortgage payment, but he's there, facing down all of that cheaply made fast food, recycled air and overpriced merchandise. He's killing time and, to become even more of a downer here, he's killing his soul. Yes, he's killing his soul at Cinnabon. It's funny and yet it's not. Such is the power of Observe and Report , a movie that tips its hat to movies like Taxi Driver and The King of Comedy , but remains an animal all its own. Hill's study of a delusional, deranged head of mall security could only exist now. And, as funny as it is, it's going to get to people who are feeling faceless, disenfranchised and empty. With all of cinema's syrupy bromances, mean, shock humor comedies, and Judd Apatow life lessons to either catch an easy, gross-out laugh or lift one's spirit, emboldening one to finally grow up, Observe and Report reveals how complicated this really is. But again, I repeat, Observe and Report is a comedy. I think... Seth Rogen, in his greatest, most daring performance to date, plays Ronnie Barnhardt, an overbearing and delusional head of security at Forest Ridge Mall. He's all bluster, a true toughie and occasional racist (occasional?), but also a bully who's not-so-secretly lonely and most definitely effed up. Like many a misfit, he still lives at home, in this case with his sweet but severely alcoholic mother (Celia Weston), a woman who hilariously passes out on the floor only to be, in a moment of almost shocking tenderness, blanketed by her loving, burly son. Harboring an obvious crush on the mall hottie, a blond, bosomy makeup-counter sales clerk (Anna Faris), he patrols the grounds like a mini-fascist, with all of the other guards under his well-respected command. But they seem to be the only people who respect him. Enter the perfect perpetrator, a flasher who shows his goods to screaming ladies in the parking lot and, in a braver, more disgustingly hilarious move, directly inside the mall. Ronnie is obsessed with catching this guy, and understandably so (in real life, flashers aren't as funny and innocent as they seem and are usually one step away from serious sexual predator), but to the point of ridiculous outrage. After the mall is robbed, a real police officer comes on the scene: the handsome, hard-boiled Detective Harrison (Ray Liotta), who would like to be anywhere but that mall, especially with Ronnie hovering. He's dragged into the flasher situation, and, thereby, in Ronnie's eyes, oversteps his jurisdiction. This is his case, and no way is Harrison going to take the glory, no matter how little Harrison actually cares. Through the presence of Harrison we learn what Ronnie really aspires to be: a cop. And his attempts to become one are both amusing and pathetic. With shades of serial killer intensity (how many serial killers want to be security guards or cops?), Ronnie goes through training with an almost admirable determination and handles a particularly dangerous situation involving violent drug offenders (which features a terrific cameo by Hill muse Danny McBride) with hysterically violent efficiency (the scene is weirdly inspiring -- and you realize how much you're rooting for this demented man). He really could be a cop. Only he's nuts. This is his greatest tragedy, which, in Hill's transgressive, intelligent hands, is surprisingly crushing. How we grow to like this character is the picture's clever trick, and thanks to Rogen's potent performance and Hill's powerful dose of pitch black humor dusted with glimmers of humanity, we really do care. No matter how his date with Faris ends up (I won't reveal that here). However, there are those who will hate this movie. Hate it . But, good. People are really talking/arguing/dissecting Hill's picture - it's clearly affecting people. While driving past the movie's posters and spying Rogen's now ubiquitous mug hogging the frame, I can't help but think of what the more unsuspecting viewer (not movie critic) who stumbles into this studio comedy will think. Without reading a review or even watching a preview (which reveals some of the picture's darkness, though not much), if such a viewer believes he or she is getting another generic Paul Blart: Mall Cop or an Apatow-infused Rogen charmer, they're in for quite a shock. There's no family friendly moment, there's no obvious redemption leading to a healing psychological breakthrough, there's no supportive friend like...Paul Rudd (some of us wish we had a Paul Rudd in our life). Instead there's Michael Pena offering brotherly love by aiming at innocent bystanders and shooting up smack in the bathroom. I can't remember the last time I saw heroin in a mainstream comedy (if ever), and I never realized I needed to see it until now. It's freakishly funny while strangely realistic and familiar. Amidst laughing, I felt an odd relief from this sick moment. I mean, if there's ever a place where one needs to self-medicate, it's at the soul-sucking mall. (I wonder what Robert Kolker would have to say about that). Which makes this movie all the more shocking than, say, (and I admire the following examples) that junkie epic  Trainspotting , and a lot more subversive than anything Michael Haneke hatches up. Because Observe and Report isn't playing at your local art house. No, it's playing right in the belly of the beast: at the mall. Read my interview with Jody Hill here. Read more Kim Morgan at Sunset Gun and Pretty Poison .
 
Sophia A. Nelson: Black. Female. Accomplished. No Longer Attacked. Top
Last summer I wrote an op-ed for the Washington Post titled, "Black. Female. Accomplished. Attacked ," in which I addressed the New Yorker Magazine's controversial and offensive depiction of Michelle Obama as a gun-touting, afro-wearing, fist-bumping Angela Davis 60's radical. The magazine cover generated great outrage among many Americans, but black women found it particularly offensive since it employed the worst stereotypes of us found in our American pop culture; the ultra ethnic (afro wearing), aggressive, angry, radical, controlling, and overbearing black woman. At the time, Michelle Obama was a very controversial candidate's wife who was seen as outspoken and strident and a political liability. She was attacked for writing a candid thesis on race at Princeton University, and for saying that "for the first time as an American she was really proud of her country." At the time, she had not yet had her 2008 Democratic Convention make-over (e.g. the soft blue pastel dress, perfectly coiffed hair, and warm speech emphasizing her husband as a man and her love of family.) That moment seems to have transformed her from the straight talking, tough, sister-girl from the South side of Chicago, to the more demure figure. It was the beginnings of the Jackie-Kennedy-meets-Laura-Bush kind of First Lady we now today. But this was not just some typical political makeover: Michelle Obama's approval ratings are now in the stratosphere -- 76% according to Gallup before the Europe trip. She seems to have won the hearts of Americans, and now Europeans, across both racial and political lines. As someone who listens to conservative talk radio from time to time, even the most conservative of radio-personalities now embrace her as a "great first lady and great mom." Consider also the following from CNN's cranky Jack Cafferty "My Crush on Michelle Obama": I think I am developing a crush on America's first lady. Michelle Obama is more compelling than her husband. He's good, but she's utterly fascinating. Mrs. Obama has blown away the stale air in a White House musty from eight years of the Bushes. It's like the sun came out and a fresh spring breeze began wafting through the open windows. It's the people's house, and Michelle Obama totally gets it. So much so that she has taken to inviting people in from the streets to see her home. Nice touch -- one completely lacking in her recent predecessors. Why the dramatic shift in public opinion? In the last two and a half months, Mrs. Obama has had the unique opportunity to single-handedly correct and contradict a litany of tired stereotypes about black women. She has do it by showing how to successfully hold down a career and nurture a family at the same time; by being beautiful and compassionate. By showing that we not what people tell us we are -- loud, angry, intimidating, overbearing, etc. We are not a group of women who shake their booties on BET videos and who have their babies out of wedlock with various different men as the fathers. Obama has done more than just become America's first black first lady. She has softened the edges for all professional black women. She has exposed the country to the "other" side of sisters. She has quietly shown black men that having a strong black woman at your side is an asset, not the albatross that so many brothers seem to think it is. She has gracefully demonstrated that the qualities that matter in a relationship have little to do with physical characteristics, social standing or material wealth, and everything to do with the honesty, loyalty and respect that people have for each other. And that's why she is the most popular woman on the planet right now. More on Michelle Obama
 
Dave Arneson, Dungeons & Dragons Co-Creator, Dies At 61 Top
Dave Arneson, co-creator of Dungeons & Dragons, the role-playing game that spawned a hugely successful franchise of animated movies and computer games, has died at the age of 61. Arneson's death from cancer in St. Paul, Minnesota on Tuesday was reported by Wizards of the Coast, a subsidiary of toymaker Hasbro Inc. that publishes the role-playing game.
 
Blog For The Environment -- It's Working Top
Leading the charge? You guessed it--young bloggers. They're largely responsible for dominating the search returns that debunk coal's PR machine. Essentially, we have the tools, the willpower, and we can make a real difference--just by blogging. Which is more important now than ever: this is a pivotal moment in the green movement, and big, polluting industries like coal and oil still have the lion's share of the resources, and they're not going to go quietly into the night as clean energy technologies start honing in on their market share. So we're going to need every last one of you web-savvy environmentalists to spread the good green word. More on Green Living
 
Democratic Senators Question If Obama Is Doing Enough To Change Wall Street Top
Not long ago, a group of skeptical Democratic senators met at the White House with President Obama, his chief economic adviser, Larry Summers, and Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner. The six senators--most of them centrists, joined by one left-leaning independent, Vermont's Bernie Sanders--said that while they supported Obama, they were worried. The financial reform policies the president was pursuing were not going far enough, they told him, and the people Obama was choosing as his regulators were not going to change things fundamentally enough. His appointed officials and nominees were products of the very system that brought us all this economic grief; they would tinker with the system but in the end leave Wall Street, and its practices, mostly intact, the senators suggested politely. In addition to Sanders, the senators at the meeting were Maria Cantwell, Byron Dorgan, Dianne Feinstein, Carl Levin and Jim Webb. That March 23 gathering, the details of which have gone largely unreported until now, was just a minor flare-up in a larger battle for the future--one that may already be lost. With the financial markets seeming to stabilize in recent weeks, major Wall Street players are digging in against fundamental changes. And while it clearly wants to install serious supervision, the Obama administration--along with other key authorities like the New York Fed--appears willing to stand back while Wall Street resurrects much of the ultracomplex global trading system that helped lead to the worst financial collapse since the Depression.
 
Peter Davis, Paper Magazine Editor, Couldn't Get Into Paper's Own Packed "Beautiful People" Party Top
To say that Paper Magazine's Beautiful People Party at Hiro last night was crowded is an understatement. Over 4,000 people rsvp'd and, if you weren't at the doors at 8pm sharp, you weren't getting in. Case in point...Paper Magazine Editor Peter Davis. He had literally just flown in from India. Keith Lissner and I showed up an hour late to the party and found Peter with his hot new boyfriend (a student at Parsons), unable to get past the door.
 
China Outlines Plan To Lead World In Electric Cars Top
Senior Chinese officials outlined on Friday how they aimed to turn their country into the world's largest producer of electric cars, including a focus on consumer choice rather than corporate subsidies. More on China
 
Political Peeps: Easter Treats Take Over D.C.! (SLIDESHOW) Top
Peeps! They're amazing. You can nuke them , shoot them , squish them , they'll always survive. According to NPR they have myriad uses: "Some become art, some become pets, and some are tortured as mad scientists try to discover what a Peep's breaking point is." We also hear they make great travel companions , which makes sense cause they're always smiling. This brings us to our favorite part of peeps: Dressing them up (or down) to gently mock the world of politics. Throughout the years, great minds have dedicated themselves to the humor of peeps. They are inherently funny (food stuffs with faces often are) but it takes care and wit to make them gut-busting. The following slideshow gives you a taste of political peep dioramas people have designed in the past few years for competitions or just for kicks. Click on the links below the images to find more! More on Photo Galleries
 
2 Killed In Henry Ford Community College Shooting Top
DEARBORN, Mich. — Two students were killed Friday in an apparent murder-suicide at a community college, police said. The bodies of 28-year-old man and 20 year-old woman were discovered in a room at a Henry Ford Community College building after police responded to an emergency call of a gunshot on campus, said Dearborn Deputy Police Chief Gregg Brighton. As officers entered the MacKenzie Fine Arts Center, they heard another gunshot, Brighton said. The man used a shotgun to kill the woman and then turned the gun on himself, he said. Brighton declined to release their names but said they took at least one class together, which had met earlier in the day Friday. The school, which has about 17,000 commuter students, sent alerts through an e-mail and cell phone system and locked down the campus, said Marjorie Swan, Henry Ford's vice president/controller. "Nothing like this has ever occurred on campus," Swan said. She said the school west of Detroit wasn't as busy as usual because the shooting happened on Good Friday. Christian Plonka, a 12-year-old who attends a theater program in the building, said he heard "one gunshot, and I saw someone getting pulled back into the room they were in." Plonka and other students in the program ran into a parking lot at the adjacent University of Michigan-Dearborn campus, where they waited until police allowed them to leave. Earlier Friday, a 19-year-old gunman wounded three people at a vocational training college in Athens, Greece, before killing himself, authorities said. The shootings came a week after a man walked into the American Civic Association center in Binghamton, N.Y., and killed 14 people before turning the gun on himself.
 
Pelosi Calls For More Transparency From Fed (VIDEO) Top
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), upping congressional pressure on the Federal Reserve, wants the Fed to disclose and post online information related to its lending and borrowing practices. Pelosi made the comment on Wednesday in an interview with the Daily Show's Jon Stewart, but the banter made it difficult to be certain she was referring to the Fed. Through a spokeswoman, Pelosi confirmed to the Huffington Post she was referring to the Fed when she made her remark. "I think we should ask them to put it on the Internet like they've done with the recovery package and the budget and the rest," she said Wednesday. The Daily Show With Jon Stewart M - Th 11p / 10c Nancy Pelosi thedailyshow.com Daily Show Full Episodes Economic Crisis Political Humor Congress steps gently when it comes to Fed authority, but the legislative body is showing increasing signs of agitation with the Fed, which pushes hundreds of billions of dollars into the economy with no oversight. Also on Wednesday, Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank (D-Mass.) called for the GAO to have more authority to investigate the Fed. Before recess, Pelosi said the House would address "Fed authority" when it returned. In the Senate, Bernie Sanders, an independent from Vermont, is pushing for an amendment to the budget resolution, putting the Senate on the record opposed to Fed secrecy, into the final budget package. Get HuffPost Politics on Facebook , or follow us on Twitter . More on Nancy Pelosi
 
Greg Mitchell: 6 years Ago: "Stuff Happens," Rumsfeld Said, Amid Chaos in Iraq Top
On a terrible day for the U.S. in Iraq on this Good Friday -- with 5 U.S. soldiers blown up and killed and the latest report on American military suicides there -- it may be apt to recall and reprint the now infamous remarks of Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld six years ago after the liberation of Baghdad. Besides celebrations, rioting and robbery broke out six years ago today. Rumsfeld, the next day, referred to the "catastrophic success" of the invasion, noted that "freedom's untidy" and most famously, declared, "Stuff happens!" Here is an edited version of his remarks at a press conference on April 11, 2003. * RUMSFELD: The scenes we've witnessed in Baghdad and other free Iraqi cities belie the widespread early commentary suggesting that Iraqis were ambivalent or even opposed to the coalition's arrival in their country. I think it's fair to say that they were not ambivalent or opposed, but they were understandably frightened of the regime of Saddam Hussein and the retaliation or retribution that they could have suffered. And now, as their fear of the former Iraqi dictator lessens, the true sentiments of a large majority, I believe, of the Iraqi people are surfacing. And I think it's increasingly clear that most welcome coalition forces and see them not as invaders or occupiers, but as liberators.... Rumsfeld: Charlie? Q: Mr. Secretary, you spoke of the television pictures that went around the world earlier of Iraqis welcoming U.S. forces with open arms. But now television pictures are showing looting and other signs of lawlessness. Are you, sir, concerned that what's being reported from the region as anarchy in Baghdad and other cities might wash away the goodwill the United States has built? And, are U.S. troops capable of or inclined to be police forces in Iraq? Rumsfeld: Well, I think the way to think about that is that if you go from a repressive regime that has -- it's a police state, where people are murdered and imprisoned by the tens of thousands -- and then you go to something other than that -- a liberated Iraq -- that you go through a transition period. And in every country, in my adult lifetime, that's had the wonderful opportunity to do that, to move from a repressed dictatorial regime to something that's freer, we've seen in that transition period there is untidiness, and there's no question but that that's not anyone's choice. On the other hand, if you think of those pictures, very often the pictures are pictures of people going into the symbols of the regime -- into the palaces, into the boats, and into the Ba'ath Party headquarters, and into the places that have been part of that repression. And, while no one condones looting, on the other hand, one can understand the pent-up feelings that may result from decades of repression and people who have had members of their family killed by that regime, for them to be taking their feelings out on that regime. With respect to the second part of your question, we do feel an obligation to assist in providing security, and the coalition forces are doing that. They're patrolling in various cities. Where they see looting, they're stopping it, and they will be doing so. The second step, of course, is to not do that on a permanent basis but, rather, to find Iraqis who can assist in providing police support in those cities and various types of stabilizing and security assistance, and we're in the process of doing that.... Let me say one other thing. The images you are seeing on television you are seeing over, and over, and over, and it's the same picture of some person walking out of some building with a vase, and you see it 20 times, and you think, "My goodness, were there that many vases?" (Laughter.) "Is it possible that there were that many vases in the whole country?" Q: Do you think that the words "anarchy" and "lawlessness" are ill-chosen -- Rumsfeld: Absolutely. I picked up a newspaper today and I couldn't believe it. I read eight headlines that talked about chaos, violence, unrest. And it just was Henny Penny -- "The sky is falling." I've never seen anything like it! And here is a country that's being liberated, here are people who are going from being repressed and held under the thumb of a vicious dictator, and they're free. And all this newspaper could do, with eight or 10 headlines, they showed a man bleeding, a civilian, who they claimed we had shot -- one thing after another. It's just unbelievable how people can take that away from what is happening in that country! Do I think those words are unrepresentative? Yes... Q: I think the question is, if you -- if a foreign military force came into your neighborhood and did away with the police, and left you at the mercy of criminals, how long would you feel liberated? Rumsfeld: Well, that's a fair question. First of all, the foreign military force came into their neighborhood and did not do away with any police. There may have been some police who fled, because the people didn't like them, and because they'd been doing things to the people in the local community that the people wanted to have a word with them about. But we haven't gone in and done away with any police. In fact, we're looking for police in those villages and towns who can, in fact, assist in providing order, to the extent there are people who can do it in a manner that's consistent with our values. Q: Given how predictable the lack of law and order was, as you said, from past conflicts, was there part of General Franks' plan to deal with it? And -- Rumsfeld: Of course. Q: Well, what is it? Rumsfeld: This is fascinating. This is just fascinating. From the very beginning, we were convinced that we would succeed, and that means that that regime would end. And we were convinced that as we went from the end of that regime to something other than that regime, there would be a period of transition. And, you cannot do everything instantaneously; it's never been done, everything instantaneously. We did, however, recognize that there was at least a chance of catastrophic success, if you will, to reverse the phrase, that you could in a given place or places have a victory that occurred well before reasonable people might have expected it, and that we needed to be ready for that; we needed to be ready with medicine, with food, with water. And, we have been. And, you say, "Well, what was it in the plan?" The plan is a complex set of conclusions or ideas that then have a whole series of alternative excursions that one can do, depending on what happens. And, they have been doing that as they've been going along. And, they've been doing a darn good job. Q: Yes, but Mr. Secretary, I'm asking about what plan was there to restore law and order? Rumsfeld: Well, let's just take a city. Take the port city, Umm Qasr -- what the plan was. Well, the British went in, they built a pipeline bringing water in from Kuwait; they cleared the mine of ports (sic); they brought ships in with food; they've been providing security. In fact, they've done such a lousy job, that the city has gone from 15,000 to 40,000. Now think of that. Why would people vote with their feet and go into this place that's so bad? The reason they're going in is because they're food, there's water, there's medicine and there's jobs. That's why. The British have done a fantastic job. They've done an excellent job. And, does that mean you couldn't go in there and take a television camera or get a still photographer and take a picture of something that was imperfect, untidy? I could do that in any city in America. Think what's happened in our cities when we've had riots, and problems, and looting. Stuff happens! But in terms of what's going on in that country, it is a fundamental misunderstanding to see those images over, and over, and over again of some boy walking out with a vase and say, "Oh, my goodness, you didn't have a plan." That's nonsense. They know what they're doing, and they're doing a terrific job. Andm it's untidy, and freedom's untidy, and free people are free to make mistakes and commit crimes and do bad things. They're also free to live their lives and do wonderful things, and that's what's going to happen here. More on Iraq
 
CNN Runs With The Sausages, Kyra Phillips Cracks A Joke (VIDEO) Top
CNN's Kyra Phillips couldn't help but laugh while covering a sausage run in Milwaukee Friday afternoon. The sausage run marked the Milwaukee Brewers' home opener, held today, in which they went up against the Chicago Cubs. "Folks, I remember when this video came in live about 8 years ago and I had absolutely no idea what was going on," she said, "but actually this is very serious in Milwaukee, Wisconsin....It's a very big deal here, I don't want you to laugh." Of course she did just that while narrating: "The Polish sausage has already handed off the baton to the Bratwurst...now the Italian sausage has taken the lead. Now we're just waiting to see if it passes off to the hot dog or the chorizo. Phillips closed the segment with a joke. "And we can just imagine that all the dogs here on opening day have very tight buns," she cracked. Watch;
 
Senate Guru: MN-Sen: Who Sits on the Minnesota Supreme Court Top
{ Originally posted at my blog Senate Guru . } It was announced this week that the Minnesota Supreme Court's Chief Justice Eric J. Magnuson and Justice G. Barry Anderson will recuse themselves from any appeal before the state Supreme Court regarding the Minnesota Senate race. They are, quite responsibly, doing this because they served on the statewide Canvassing Board earlier in the post-election process. The Minnesota Independent's Paul Demko offers the following political analysis of the recusals: The absence of Magnuson and Anderson from any appeal deliberations is potentially another blow to Norm Coleman's (already slim) prospects at prevailing in the state courts. Both justices were appointed by Republican governors. That naturally got me thinking, who else sits on the Minnesota Supreme Court? The Court has seven members. Currently, Justices are elected in staggered, non-partisan elections to six-year terms, unless a vacancy occurs in the middle of a term (in which case, a gubernatorial appointment occurs). In addition to the two recusing themselves, there are Justice Alan C. Page, Justice Paul H. Anderson, Justice Helen M. Meyer, Justice Lorie Skjerven Gildea, Justice Christopher J. Dietzen. What do we know about the possible partisan leanings of these five Justices? Justice Christopher J. Dietzen has the clearest partisan background of any of the Justices, and he appears to lean Republican (emphasis added by me): He was appointed to the court by Governor Tim Pawlenty after the resignation of Justice Sam Hanson. Before joining the Supreme Court, Dietzen served as a judge on the Minnesota Court of Appeals from 2004-2008. He was likewise appointed to that judgship by Governor Pawlenty, and then elected to it in 2006. ... Dietzen also served as an attorney for Pawlenty during his gubernatorial campaign in 2002. So, Republican Gov. Tim Pawlenty's campaign lawyer is one of the five judges that will decide Republican Norm Coleman's appeal. Nothing wrong with that. Although Justice Lorie Skjerven Gildea didn't work (so far as I know) as a campaign lawyer for a Republican statewide candidate for office in Minnesota, she was also appointed to the state Supreme Court by Republican Gov. Pawlenty . Also, Gildea's husband, Andy, is " a top staffer in the Minnesota House Republican Caucus ." So, that's two out of five appointed by Republican Pawlenty. Justice Paul H. Anderson was appointed to the Court in 1994 by Republican former Gov. Arne Carlson. This Minnesota Public Radio story describes Anderson as "active in Republican politics." Justice Helen M. Meyer was a Jesse Ventura appointee . Justice Alan C. Page was never appointed; he was first elected to an open seat on the state Supreme Court in 1992. However, in the mid-80's, he was appointed to multiple roles in the state Attorney General's office under Democratic then-Attorney General Hubert "Skip" Humphrey III. Further, Page's name was raised early in the 2006 cycle as a possible Democratic candidate for Senate, coincidentally. So that's how the judges who will rule on Republican Norm Coleman's appeal break down. Three are Republican appointees (at least two of whom have been active in Republican politics, and the third of whom has a spouse who is a top staffer for state Republicans). One is an independent appointee, for whom I am unable to find indications of partisan leanings. And just one of the five appears to be Democratically-inclined. Does this mean that I expect the three Republicans to rule in Coleman's favor? Absolutely not. Given how professionally run the entire post-election process has been and how devoid of partisanship the Canvassing Board members and three-judge panel members appear to have been, I am hopeful that the appeal before the state Supreme Court will similarly proceed with neither passion nor prejudice (nor partisan agenda). That said, if/when Norm Coleman loses his appeal before the state Supreme Court, Republicans won't be able to suggest that Coleman didn't get a fair hearing on partisan grounds. And, when Republican blowhards suggest that Senator-elect Al Franken is "stealing" their Senate seat away from them, this will stand as yet another reason that they are full of it. More on Al Franken
 
Nato Green: Gay Marriage in Iowa? Come on, San Francisco! Top
As a San Franciscan, I am outraged that we've been out-gayed by Iowa and Vermont. Iowa! Iowa is all corn and no hole, for crying out loud. Take it in: the center of gay liberation is now Iowa. Not a huge surprise, as they elected Tom Vilsack Governor, and he has "sack" in his name. Vermont gayified via a gubernatorial veto over-ride, which is the legislative equivalent of the Iron Lotus from Blades of Glory . With Vermont surfing the lavender wave, perhaps the sequel to Milk will be Syrup ? We've been asleep at the wheel, San Francisco. I can't live with the shame. I was raised among gays. I'm the Tarzan of gays. I'm crunk for marriage equality even though I'm not gay, though I do own ramekins. My earliest memories are of attending what were called Gay Freedom Day Parades, before they were sponsored by AT&T and United Airlines. I'm disappointed we let it come to this. Aren't we supposed to be the Gay Capital? I'm dreading the next issue of Jane , and right after the article about how to plan my Secure Lesbian Retirement, reading about how Halloween in the Castro has moved to Dubuque until further notice. Yikes. I may have to go to Vermont to campaign against gay marriage there, just so we can keep our mojo. Let's focus, San Francisco! The way to reclaim our stature in the gayousie will be if we repeal Prop 8 at the ballot box, once and for all -- no courts, no inchoate boycotts of Utah, no Mormon-tax-exempt-status-revoking, and no gratuitous blaming of black people. We must unleash San Francisco Values in all their bedazzled glory on the unsuspecting California electorate to prove to ourselves, the nation and The Nation , that marriage equality can enjoy majority support. A decisive ballot triumph will force anti-gay marriage enthusiasts to find another parade to rain on or, if we're lucky, become ironic and retro, like hipsters who pretend to like bluegrass. In the immortal words Martin Luther King, Jr. probably stole from another dude, "The arc of history is long and blah blah blah." On the other hand, every time we advance gay marriage through the judicial branch, it provokes yet another round of denunciations of "activist judges," right-wing mongering, and Rovian referenda gambits. For all the indignation about activist judges, I keep hoping to see California Chief Justice Ron George sporting an "I Gavel for Abortions" button or a tie-dyed hemp robe, but no such luck. Beating them at the ballot fair and square is the nail in the coffin of all that. We'd just have to get over the smug satisfaction all liberals inherently derive from being ideologically pure yet socially marginal. It's hard to get too snotty about being countercultural when even obese evangelicals at an exurban Appelbee's are voting our way. We in San Francisco secretly like that gay marriage is illegal. It makes us edgy and subversive. But if it's going to be legal in Iowa then maybe gay marriage isn't cool anymore. Maybe it jumped the shark. Like how we all stop liking obscure rock bands when they "sell out" by making an "album" and selling their "t-shirts" at Hot Topic. Winning such an election will be hard for us San Franciscans. For starters, we may have to wake up before 10am occasionally. We may need to fit persuading regular voters into our busy schedule of Burning Man decompression parties, Yelp, and sad documentaries. If it's not worth it to win marriage equality, to unite to spite the right, it's definitely worth it to stop the insurgent Iowan and Vermontian hubris and salvage our street cred among freaks. To quote the distinguished political consultant Jon-Luc Picard: "The. Line. Must. Be. Drawn. Here!" Nato Green is a San Francisco-based comedian. More on Satire
 
Alisa Surkis: Rolling with the Changes: Egg Roll Redux Top
On Monday, my wife, Colleen and I will bring our daughters Ella, 6, and Zelda, 2, to the White House to participate in the annual Easter Egg Roll. We've been to the Egg Roll before, but this year is different. This year we, and other gay and lesbian families, are being welcomed onto the White House lawn as invited guests. It's quite a change. Four years ago Margaret Spellings, the Secretary of Education at the time, strong-armed PBS into pulling an episode of Postcards from Buster , a kids' program highlighting cultural and geographic diversity through the exploration of the lives of real children. Diversity was all well and good until this particular episode introduced a family with two moms -- something to which Spellings felt young children should not be exposed. As lesbians, Colleen and I had watched as our community became a favorite wedge issue. As mothers, though, we were not prepared to have the head of our nation's educational system sending the message that our daughter should keep her family in the closet. We'd grown complacent over the years of attacks on our community, but now they were messing with Ella, and that was not okay. We wanted Ella, and all kids from LGBT families, to feel that they could be open about and proud of their families, and that is where the Egg Roll came in. We realized that organizing a group of our families to attend as a visible group would not only be a wonderful experience for our kids, but would be a great way to introduce our families to people who had heard about us more than seen us, and for some of whom I think we were not quite real. With Family Equality Council (then called Family Pride) spearheading the effort, about 100 gay and lesbian families walked onto the White House lawn in the spring of 2006, sporting rainbow leis. There we were -- undeniably real, rather wet, very happy to be there, and showing up for millions to see everywhere from local newspapers and the Internet to the evening news and CNN. A lot has changed in the last few years. We now have a Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan, who has expressed his commitment to making schools safe for every student, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity/expression. Marriage equality is spreading throughout New England and making its way into the heartland. There is obviously still a long way to go, and the passage of Proposition 8 will surely not be the last setback that we face. I've heard people complain that the invitation extended to the gay and lesbian families by the Obama administration is just a symbolic gesture, but symbols are powerful. This one sends the message that at the very highest levels, our families are acknowledged and appreciated as part of the diversity of families that make this country great. Sure, I wish that the administration was spearheading the repeal of DOMA and DADT. I wish that President Obama was speaking out in favor of marriage equality. But I think it's a bit of a chicken and egg issue. Does society change in response to the signals sent by legislative changes, or do changes in people's attitudes push forward legislation? I think it's a little bit of chicken and a little bit of egg, and this Monday is a day to celebrate the egg (roll).
 
Nancy Shevell, Paul McCartney Girlfriend, Playing Hooky From Transit Job Top
NEW YORK — Nancy Shevell beamed for hundreds of cameras in London's Leicester Square, a green silk jacket on one arm and Paul McCartney on the other. The 49-year-old trucking heiress dazzled on the red carpet at a movie premiere with the ex-Beatle, her boyfriend of 18 months. Two days later, Shevell shielded herself behind a colleague, turning away from cameras recording a Metropolitan Transportation Authority meeting where she cast a vote to raise city subway fares 25 percent. Few who have seen Shevell photographed in Israel, Antigua and at the Grammy Awards with McCartney know of her other life as an executive at a New Jersey trucking company and board member of the nation's largest mass transit agency. But her public and behind-the-scene personas have collided more and more since the socialite began seeing McCartney in the Hamptons in late 2007. Since January 2008, Shevell has missed four full board meetings, more than any voting member, according to MTA meeting minutes reviewed by The Associated Press. She attended one Finance Committee meeting in the past year, and has 26 absences total, according to the agency's records. Shevell skipped an MTA committee meeting approving a controversial fare hike the day she walked the red carpet in London. Since early 2008, the unpaid appointee has the worst attendance of any voting board member, sometimes missing meetings to travel around the world with McCartney. "It is significant. The whole point of the board is to be a check and balance on the MTA's staff work. You've got to be physically present to do that," said Gene Russianoff, a New York City transit advocate. If members can't show up for meetings, he said, "they should resign." But celebrity observers aren't surprised that Shevell's former private life is taking a back seat to the 66-year-old McCartney. "Who can blame her?" said Peter Castro, deputy managing editor of People magazine. "How many of us would be happy at an MTA meeting versus stepping out onto the red carpet at a Grammy event with a living Beatle?" Shevell _ who didn't return messages seeking comment left at her offices and at the MTA _ is the vice president for administration of New England Motor Freight Inc., an Elizabeth, N.J., trucking company serving the Northeast and owned by her father, Myron P. Shevell. She was married for over 20 years to attorney Bruce Blakeman, a close friend to former Gov. George Pataki, who appointed her to the MTA board. Barbara Walters is her cousin. But Shevell's public profile barely existed before photographs appeared in late 2007 of her and McCartney in the Hamptons on Long Island, where McCartney long vacationed with his wife Linda, who died from breast cancer in 1998. "Nobody knew who she was," said Hamptons scene chronicler Steven Gaines, the co-author of "The Love You Make: An Insider's Story of The Beatles." "She's like 25,000 other accomplished women out here in the Hamptons." Since then, she's become a red-carpet staple, appearing at the March 23 premiere of "The Boat That Rocked" in London, fashion shows by McCartney's daughter Stella, the Grammys and McCartney concerts around the world. The public has largely embraced the love story, especially McCartney fans disillusioned by the ex-Beatle's bitter breakup from his second wife, Heather Mills, said Castro. "Any person coming after that is going to get a lot of attention and scrutiny, because it's a soap opera," he said. "They seem to be really in love and just tremendously pleased with each other." Shevell hasn't given up her work or her unpaid seat on the MTA, the agency that oversees subways and buses for over 8 million New York City riders, regional rails to the suburbs, and bridges and tunnels. Pataki appointed her in 2001 to a term that expires in 2011. She's one of 16 full board members _ seven others either are nonvoting members or combine for one vote. She sits on five committees and chairs one overseeing the agency's $10 billion in capital construction projects. Most meet every month or so. On Sept. 24, 2008, she missed a 7-6 MTA vote to have city emergency vehicles pay tolls on bridges and tunnels. She was photographed in Israel with McCartney on that day. On March 23, when the Finance Committee approved raising a one-way subway ride to $2.50 and major service cuts, Shevell was at the London premiere of "The Boat That Rocked." She attended the full MTA meeting March 25, delivering a report on capital construction contracts and explaining her vote for the fare hike as a last resort after state lawmakers failed to come up with enough aid for the cash-strapped agency. "We do have the responsibility to maintain a safe, high-quality transportation system. Regretfully, without the deserved government funding, we are left no choice. ... And we do plead with those in Albany to do the right thing," she said. The MTA defended Shevell's board service in a statement this week. "MTA board members are volunteers who serve without compensation and spend countless hours each month attending meetings and analyzing background materials," the statement said. "Nancy Shevell has been an active board member since her appointment in 2001." Russianoff, staff attorney for the NYPIRG Straphangers Campaign, said Shevell seems informed and effective at the meetings she attends. "I would give her higher marks than average, when she exercises her responsibilities," he said, "but you know, does she have the time?" MTA board member Andrew Albert, who sits near Shevell at meetings, wondered if attention to McCartney's girlfriend could help commuters by calling attention to transit's financial woes. "It just means there's a few more cameras in the room" at meetings, he said. Albert said Shevell's relationship with McCartney hasn't changed her performance at the MTA. "I think she's great," Albert said. "When she's there, she's conscientious and cares. ... If she's happy, that's great. She'll decide when she can't do it anymore." More on Paul McCartney
 
ASU Official: We'll Consider Giving Obama A Degree When He's Out Of Office Top
Arizona State University's decision to not award Barack Obama and honorary degree despite his role delivering the university's commencement address has left a lot of people puzzled and posing questions: Is politics at play? How will this be resolved? Why would the university invite him in the first place? Well, here, apparently are some answers. A reader sends over a response she received from Emily Dalton Smith, the director of communication at the Office of the Provost. The university, it seems, has recently decided to stop giving honorary degrees to major donors or sitting politicians. But the best line comes near the end: "We will be delighted to consider him for an honorary degree once he leaves office at the end of his presidency," Dalton Smith writes. Mind you, they won't give him the degree once his time in office is over. They will "consider him" for it. Multiple calls and an email to Dalton Smith went unreturned. HERE IS THE EMAIL: Dear xxxxxxxxxxxx, We have tremendous respect for President Obama, and that is why we invited him to speak at our graduation ceremony. We are honored that he accepted our invitation, and that we will be the first university in the nation to host him for a commencement ceremony. In recent years, we have determined not to give honorary degrees to sitting politicians or major donors, but to do so based on an individual's body of work. While President Obama has already achieved remarkable success--including becoming the first African-American president--his greatest work is yet to come. We will be delighted to consider him for an honorary degree once he leaves office at the end of his presidency. Sincerely, Emily Dalton Smith Director of Communication Office of the Provost Arizona State University More on Barack Obama
 
AG Madigan Questions Income Tax Hike, Previews Governor Race Theme Top
Attorney General Lisa Madigan, who could run for Illinois governor next year, is raising questions about Gov. Pat Quinn's proposed income tax increase to help fill an $11.5 billion budget hole. Madigan says tough economic times makes it "very difficult" to up the tax burden on Illinois residents and says the state budget should be cut before the state considers an income tax increase. Madigan and Quinn spoke to reporters after an unrelated Friday news conference. Quinn has proposed a 50 percent increase in the income tax rate to help cover the deficit that he says is too big to be erased through budget cuts. Madigan's father is the powerful Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan and he has enormous sway over whether Quinn's proposed income tax increase goes anywhere. Friday was not the first time Madigan has cast doubt on Quinn's tax hike proposal. In early March, Madigan told the Aurora Beacon News that "I think this economy makes it almost impossible to place an income tax increase on people." Progress Illinois ' Josh Kalven noted at the time that Madigan's words meant "the first battle line is drawn" in the 2010 gubernatorial race. Though other politicians have expressed support for Quinn's plan, with Sen. Durbin saying Quinn 'has no choice' in the face of the state's massive deficit, Madigan appears to be staking out her opposition in advance of a possible run against the governor. The potential rivals were amicable at Friday's joint news conference, according to Chicago Public Radio 's Mike Rhee . Asked about Quinn's performance, Madigan said "things are going much better" compared to under Blagojevich, while Quinn said both he and Madigan believe in working for the common good. Their appearance came a day after each testified at a hearing of the Illinois Reform Commission , which Quinn created to help clean up government in the wake of the Blagojevich scandal. Quinn urged the commission to adopt campaign finance limits and-- in a statement that raised eyebrows given his less than stellar fundraising record-- suggested that candidates donate their existing campaign funds to charity to create a level playing field for next year's election. Quinn had $83,512 in his campaign fund at the end of the year, while Madigan had almost $3.5 million.
 
Michael Steele Laughs Off The Recession: "Malls Are Just As Packed" Top
This morning, GOP chairman Micheal Steele guest-hosted Bill Bennett's talk radio show. During the program, one caller said he could "debate" whether or not the U.S. is currently in the midst of an economic crisis. Steele laughed in agreement and claimed that "[t]he malls are just as packed on Saturday." More on Michael Steele
 
SOLAR-POWERED CITY In Florida! Top
A release from real estate developer Kitson & Partners declares the first "solar powered city": * * * * * First Solar-Powered City to Fuel Clean Industry, Economic Recovery Historic agreement will power Babcock Ranch, FL, help create 20,000 jobs in "living laboratory" for clean economy WASHINGTON, April 9 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Real estate developer Kitson & Partners today announced a landmark agreement with electric utility Florida Power & Light to build the world's largest solar photovoltaic power plant at Babcock Ranch, Florida - making it the world's first city powered by solar energy. With Congress debating energy policy and the economy shedding jobs at a record pace, the Kitson-FPL deal will start the city on a path to create 20,000 permanent jobs. The 17,000-acre city of Babcock Ranch will consume less power than the proposed FPL on-site solar facilities will produce, allowing it to become the first city on earth powered by zero-emission solar energy. The city of Babcock Ranch will also be home to an integrated "smart grid" that will provide greater efficiencies and allow residents and businesses to monitor and control their energy consumption. All commercial buildings and homes in the new city will be certified as energy-efficient and constructed according to Florida Green Building Council standards. The City of Babcock Ranch is also a model of conservation: over half of its 17,000 acres will be permanently protected as greenways and open space, and the city is adjacent to the 73,000-acre Babcock Ranch Preserve. The Babcock Ranch Preserve was created by the largest-ever completed conservation purchase by the state of Florida, facilitated by Kitson & Partners. Kitson & Partners is also launching a new website for Babcock Ranch at www.babcockranchflorida.com. "I believe clean energy and sustainable development are the future of the American economy," said Syd Kitson, chairman and CEO of Kitson & Partners, the Palm Beach Gardens, Florida-based developer of the city. "Babcock Ranch will be a living laboratory for companies, workers and families ready to reap the rewards of innovation. No other place in America will be home to such a concentration of new jobs and technologies, energy-saving advances and global economic leadership. I could not be more enthusiastic to be a part of this major step toward economic recovery and a sustainable future." A recent study conducted by independent research firm Fishkind & Associates found that the city of Babcock Ranch will generate 20,000 permanent jobs across a wide range of industries and income levels, including education, retail, service industries, high technology, administration and manufacturing. Thousands of additional temporary jobs will be created in construction and related fields over the next 20 years. The city of Babcock Ranch will ultimately include 6 million square feet of retail, commercial, office, civic and light industrial space. The entire city will be wireless-internet enabled and an ultra-high-capacity digital pipeline will support the use of current and emerging technologies. Subject to State of Florida approvals, groundbreaking on the FPL solar facility is targeted for late 2009, with construction of the city center targeted for mid-2010 and construction of the first residential and commercial buildings targeted for late 2010. Florida Power & Light Company Chief Development Officer Eric Silagy joined Kitson and others at the announcement. "We are extremely excited to build one of the world's largest solar photovoltaic projects once the state legislative and regulatory authorities have taken the actions that would be required for us to move forward," said Silagy. "FPL has secured the necessary land, local zoning and transmission access for a 75 megawatt project and could move forward with construction as early as the end of the year pending such approvals. We believe large-scale solar projects like Babcock Ranch can yield significant environmental benefits to the people of Florida, create sustainable job growth and stimulate the local economy. With the continued support of Governor Crist, the Florida Legislature and the Public Service Commission, FPL is prepared to do much more in the coming years to build projects like Babcock Ranch and grow Florida's renewable energy industry." Representative Tom Rooney (R-FL), in whose district Babcock Ranch is located, joined in praising Kitson & Partners for spurring economic growth in the region. "This historic announcement will help make Florida the leader in research, development and implementation of renewable energy technologies," said Rep. Rooney. "I am extremely pleased that this project will be coming to Babcock Ranch, right in the heart of the 16th Congressional District. This investment will spur growth and create jobs in our community. We all know fossil fuels will not last forever and we must start developing more alternative and renewable forms of energy. I look forward to working with all parties on this project, and this is truly a great day for Southwest Florida." "America is not going to create new jobs, lower energy prices and beat our international competitors by thinking small and doing more of the same," CEO Syd Kitson said. "The smart money is on renewable energy like the sun and wind, efficient materials that cut energy costs and dynamic companies that are innovating. We are building Babcock Ranch as a home base for America's future." "Audubon has supported the concept behind Babcock Ranch since day one because of Kitson & Partners' dedication to conservation," said National Audubon Society COO Bob Perciasepe. "Kitson & Partners have taken on great challenges to preserve an uninterrupted portion of the Florida landscape, and demonstrated that Babcock Ranch will be able to function like no other modern city - in balance with the natural world around it." A native landscaping program will cultivate plants and other crops on-site for landscaping use within Babcock Ranch, reducing the demand for water and eliminating the need to ship these products in from far-away locations. The city layout is also designed with over 40 miles of walkable paths and bikeable streets, to create a short, green commute to work. "There is an urgent need for the private sector, electric utilities and government at every level to recognize and address the causes and impacts of climate change," said Richard Moss, Vice President and Managing Director for Climate Change at the World Wildlife Fund. "Renewable energy, smart grid technology, and energy efficiency are crucial to this effort. Under Governor Crist's leadership, the State of Florida has been a leader in encouraging these technologies by establishing aggressive greenhouse gas reduction targets, including pursuing a statewide Renewable Portfolio Standard and a carbon cap-and-trade program. We are proud of our partnership with Florida Power & Light as a World Wildlife Fund PowerSwitch partner and their strong commitments to combating climate change. We are encouraged to see these commitments continue and expand as part of the Babcock Ranch project." Kate Johnson, National Clean Energy Representative for the Sierra Club, stressed the project's potential to influence other U.S. cities. "Now is the time to rethink how we can make development work for everyone," said Johnson. "Babcock Ranch has the potential of showing America that you can have a vibrant, prosperous community without sacrificing Florida's clean air and water. Our common fight against climate change will require exactly this kind of large-scale commitment to clean technology and sustainable development. We are proud to support Babcock Ranch as it leads the way in this new direction." Babcock Ranch will also feature sustainable water management and conservation; street lamps designed to reduce light pollution; electric car chargers; and green roofs that reduce energy loss. SOURCE Kitson & Partners
 
Disgrasian: Thank You, Rep. Betty Brown Top
Dear Betty, Girl, we gotta hand it to you. You are one badass motherfucker when it comes to bringing people together. We can't tell you how many people wrote in Thursday all hepped up about you saying before the Texas House of Representatives Election Committee that Asian-Americans should get names that are easier for real-Americans to "deal with" so that we can retain our right to vote. Not only did our Asian readers (or "our citizens," as you call them) write in to complain, but our white, black, Latino, bi-racial, bi-curious, gay, straight, and every other color of the rainbow-brethren did, too. You could seriously give Barack Obama--who should also get a name that's easier to deal with, don't you think?--a run for his money in the "unifying people" category. But we're not writing to chasten you today, we're writing to thank you. Because you've actually done us a great service. For one thing, you've made the Republican Party look baaaaad. In an age where the GOP is desperately trying to rebrand itself as a more inclusive and, like, fun party , you're a soft-spoken, gently-coiffed, silvery reminder that it's not. For another, you've driven a whole new group of voters with annoyingly difficult names to the Democrats, people who might have voted for you once upon a time but who have been fleeing your party in droves for the last 20 years because they've just found the Democratic party easier to "deal with." Which is unfortunate for you and yours since Asian-Americans are the fastest-growing minority group in the country (Need a transliteration? We're taking over everything ). Thank you for reminding us, too, that voter rights aren't something we can take for granted, and that we can't rely on lawmakers like you to, say, actually make laws that ensure those rights. So we need to make sure our vote counts--first and foremost--by voting people like you, with your easy-to-deal-with-names and your hard-too-fathom-ignorance, right out of office. with gratitude, DISGRASIAN p.s. How awesome is Ramey Ko , the nice, articulate, good English-speaking Asian gentleman who testified before you and the House Elections Committee? Did you learn his difficult name? You should, because you're going to be working for him someday. To write Rep. Betty Brown your own thank you-note, click here.
 
Advent Pharmaceuticals: FDA Bars Company From Marketing Cold Medicines Top
WASHINGTON — Federal regulators have secured a court order barring a New Jersey pharmaceutical company from distributing more than 50 unapproved cough and cold medicines. The Food and Drug Administration said Friday that East Windsor, N.J.-based Advent Pharmaceuticals continued to market the medications despite prior warnings from regulators. The company also failed to correct numerous manufacturing problems identified by FDA inspectors. Drug manufacturers in the U.S. are required to submit their products to the FDA for premarket approval to guarantee they are safe and effective. The unapproved products marketed by Advent and its subsidiary Neilgen Pharmaceuticals include: BP Allergy Junior Suspension, RE All 12 Suspension and many others. Neilgen, which also does business as Unigen Pharmaceuticals, is based in Westminster, Md. "Consumers in possession of these products should discontinue using them and discuss FDA-approved treatments with their health care professional," the FDA said in a statement. Company executives Bharat Patel and Pragna Patel agreed to destroy their inventory of unapproved drugs, under a consent degree handed down in the U.S. District Court of Maryland. The agreement also bars the executives from manufacturing any new drugs without FDA approval and requires them to hire outside consultants to assess their operations before resuming production. Company leaders did not immediately respond to calls for comment Friday afternoon. Friday's action comes the same week the FDA ordered a number of medical device manufacturers to submit data on products that were never approved. The devices, which range from pacemaker generators to dental implants, were released to market before the 1976 law which gave FDA authority to regulate new devices.
 
5 Ways To Monitor Energy And Money Use Top
We all know we need to use less energy to save money. But we work best with goals -- how much energy, exactly, should we save? Easier to work in dollars, right? Well, Michael Graham Richard over at Planet Green reports that there's an easy conversion : Eric Drexler, a great scientist and engineer who also recently started blogging, noticed something interesting about the average electricity rate in the US ($0.115 per kilowatt-hour): One watt for one year costs one dollar. Why is this interesting? Because most of us aren't really good at estimating our energy usage and what part of our electricity bill comes from what. So, armed with that knowledge, here's how to get started monitoring the speed at which money and energy are leaving your home. Coolest ways to monitor your energy use: KILL-A-WATT and KILL-A-WATT EZ Plug it in, plug your appliances into it and do some math (or don't, with the EZ model) -- and you'll know how many watts you're using. TWEET-A-WATT Monitor energy use from afar! Maybe you want to spy on your roommates to make sure they don't crank the A/C while you're out of town. Or maybe you're less crazy and you just wonder about natural fluctuations during the day. Either way, combining Kill-A-Watt and Twitter can keep you posted on your appliances' energy draw. THE METER READER Where Kill-A-Watt reports on energy use of specific appliances, the Meter Reader (runs about $200) will monitor your whole home's energy use. WATTSON An incredibly cool (and immodest, if you watch the video ) device that monitors home energy use via your home's energy meter. It's like the Meter Reader, but looks much cooler -- and it knows it. TATTLETALE HOUSE This is not for your average consumer, but it's pretty incredible. When this house uses too much energy, the whole world knows -- because big, illuminated orbs outside the house will glow red! More on Earth Day
 
Kids Marital Satisfaction Study: Children DECREASE Satisfaction Top
Parents all know that children make it harder to do some of the most enjoyable adult things. Bluntly put, kids can get between you. Now scientists have attached some numbers to the situation. An eight-year study of 218 couples found 90 percent experienced a decrease in marital satisfaction once the first child was born. "Couples who do not have children also show diminished marital quality over time," says Scott Stanley, research professor of psychology at University of Denver. "However, having a baby accelerates the deterioration, especially seen during periods of adjustment right after the birth of a child."
 
Aldo Civico: Catholics vs. Barack Obama. Not good to promote life. Top
Can a culture of life be affirmed by intolerance? As a Catholic, I have been asking myself this question again recently as a result of the controversy that arose around the invitation Notre Dame University extended to president Barack Obama. In a letter to the president of the university, ten Holy Cross priests have asked to reconsider the invitation. "Failure to do so--they wrote--will damage the integrity of the institution." The president of the American Bishop Conference, cardinal Francis George , echoed the protest and declared that the invitation to Obama was "an extreme embarrassment" to Catholics. An university alumni wrote: Notre Dame will never again get another donation dime out of me. They have betrayed what they have stood for all these decades and I no longer recognize them as a school of moral certainty or principle. The degree of intolerance that many Catholics are demonstrating against Obama is striking. Between 1871 and 1878 Chancellor Otto von Bismarck of the German Empire waged a culture war against the influence of the Catholic Church. Today it is often the other way around, and the Catholic Church, or at least certain radical sectors, appears to be engaged in a fearless fight against modernity. I wonder if promoting intolerance and shutting the doors of dialogue is an appropriate (and effective) way to affirm a culture of life. Intolerance is violent by definition, especially when professed in the name of values such as life. Love should be synonymous with life and those favoring a culture of life certainly agree with this definition. But intolerance promotes hate, the opposite of love, and thus becomes the expression of a culture of death that promotes the politics of hate. It is exactly this kind of culture that President Obama is trying to reverse both domestically and abroad. This does certainly not mean that the Catholic Church should not express its differences with President Obama. But the way Catholics do so matters, because form is substance. John R. Quinn , archbishop emeritus of San Francisco, poses Catholics some questions worth considering: What if the president is forced to back out of his appearance at Notre Dame either because he withdraws or the university withdraws its invitation? If this happens, will that further the pro-life effort in our country? If the president is forced to withdraw, will that increase cooperation between the Catholic Church and the Administration, or will it create mounting tensions and deepening hostility? Will it enhance the mission of the church? Will it be used to link the church with racist and other extremist elements in our country? Will it be used to paint the bishops as supporters of one political part over another? And archbishop Quinn added: "We must weigh very seriously the consequences if the American bishops are seen as the agents of the public embarrassment of the newly elected president by forcing him to withdraw from an appearance at a distinguished Catholics university." The catechism of the Catholic Church affirms that the Church and the state "serve the personal and social vocation of the same human being." President Barack Obama has made dialogue (including talking to the enemy) and reconciliation the principles of his politics of change. In reaching out to the other and in searching for unity in diversity, the Catholic Church should not lag behind a secular leader. Otherwise, turning into a champion of intolerance, the Church will become the first impediment to the promotion of a culture of life. More on Barack Obama
 
Spiritual Seekers Drawn To Egyptian Sacred Sites Top
More on Travel
 
Moldovan President Calls For Recount Top
CHISINAU, Moldova — Moldova's Communist president called Friday for a recount of ballots in last weekend's parliamentary elections in an effort to restore stability in a country rocked by riots and claims of voting fraud. President Vladimir Voronin, who has recently maintained closer ties with Russia than the European Union, said the recount would prove to skeptics that his governing Communist Party fairly won Sunday's election in the former Soviet republic. "The elections were democratic and free," Voronin said in a statement. "I want a full and transparent recount," he told reporters. Later, the president met with the U.S. Ambassador Asif J. Chaudhry and promised to have a "constructive dialogue" with opposition parties, Voronin's press office said. Anti-communist protesters who claimed the election was rigged stormed parliament and the president's office in Chisinau on Tuesday in riots that left more than 90 injured and led to 200 arrests. Anti-communist protesters who claimed the election was rigged stormed parliament and the president's office in Chisinau on Tuesday in riots that left more than 90 injured and led to 200 arrests. Official results said the Communists won about 50 percent of the votes in the election, which international observers declared fair. That result would allow the Communists to maintain their control of parliament, but probably need the support of another party to win enough votes in the new parliament to hold onto the presidency. "I call on the Constitutional Court to wholly recount the votes," Voronin said, without saying when that should happen. The president said he believes the recount will "become an important argument for political stability, peace and mutual trust in the Republic of Moldova." The 68-year-old president _ who is barred by the Constitution from seeking a third term as president _ visited his ransacked office on Friday, standing near graffiti saying "Resignation Communists!" and an image of the Communist hammer and a sickle with a line drawn through it. Speaking in Russian to journalists, he once again accused opposition parties and neighboring Romania of trying to use the riots to overthrow his government. He claimed the Romanian Embassy, whose ambassador he expelled this week, helped Moldovan students living in Romania to travel home and vote in the election, knowing that most students would vote for the pro-European opposition. Romania has denied involvement, and opposition parties have said the riots were spontaneous. Meanwhile, about 200 protesters urging the Communist government to resign held a rally Friday in the capital. The protesters _ mostly students _ shouted "Down with the Communists!" and "Resignation!" "It's good that the youth have woken up," said Timofte Croitaru, an 82-year-old retiree joining the protest. "My pension doesn't cover my living costs." Opponents blame the Communists for low living standards and for preventing the country from forming closer ties with the European Union. Moldova, with a population of 4.1 million, remains one of Europe's poorest nations with an average monthly salary of $350. The protesters said they wanted a peaceful rally. Some carried flowers, while others waved Moldovan and Romanian flags. The two neighboring countries are linked through language and history but have followed different paths since the collapse of the Soviet Union. Romania looked West and joined the European Union in 2007, while Moldova's communist government has stronger ties with Russia. Moldova was part of Romania until it was occupied by Soviet forces during World War II. It declared independence in 1991 in the aftermath of the Soviet breakup. Meanwhile, Romanian public television, TVR, called for the immediate release of its Chisinau correspondent, Doru Dendiu, who was detained with another Romanian journalist by police on Friday. Both were later freed, Romanian Agerpres news agency said. Also, Moldovan journalist Rodica Mahu of the anti-government Jurnal de Chisinau was taken into custody Friday by police for questioning about allegedly planning an attack on the government building, but later released, she said. Paris-based Reporters Without Borders said it was "very disturbed" that Moldovan authorities have been arresting Romanian and Moldovan journalists and "even using violence against them," as they cover the unrest. ___ Associated Press Writer Alison Mutler in Bucharest contributed to this report.
 
Richard Walden: Cuba, the Low-Hanging Fruit for Obama, Braces for Change Top
I must admit, after 15 years of providing humanitarian aid to Cuba and going hat in hand to Washington, D.C. to apply for annual Department of the Treasury and bi-annual Department of Commerce licenses to "Trade With The Enemy" by sending free medical supplies to pediatric hospitals, I am feeling almost optimistic that things may be approaching denouement. On April 8th, the Cuban-American National Foundation, for decades an implacable foe of any positive contact with Cuba's government and from whose former ranks a number of despicable policies and politicians arose, released a 14-page report advocating positive interaction with Cuba. While the report's focus was the Cuban people and not the government of Raul Castro, the Foundation now recognizes clearly that the US Trade Embargo of Cuba, set up in 1961, has failed to dislodge the Cuban Government nor change its policies. While claiming its new position is people-centered, the National Foundation would be the first to know that no contacts with the Cuban people are likely to occur without at least tacit approval of the Cuban Government. The second reason to celebrate April 8th as a signal moment in US-Cuba relations was the 11-count federal indictment of Luis Posada Carriles, who with his partner, the as-yet unindicted Dr. Orlando Bosch, embodies the word "terrorist". Posada Carriles was indicted for orchestrating a sometimes lethal bombing campaign against civilian targets in Havana in the vain hope that havoc caused by such violent acts would lead to civil unrest and regime change in Cuba. He was also indicted for lying to US officials about his background. An earlier indictment and incarceration of Posada Carriles in Panama for his roles in the 1976 bombing of a Cuban airliner causing the deaths of over 100 people as well as planning the assassination of Fidel Castro while he was attending a regional summit conference led to his escape to the US as supporters in Miami alledgedly bribed outgoing Panamanian president Miriam Moscoso to surreptitiously release him on her last day in office. She, too, escaped to Miami, to avoid her own justice system for arranging Posada Carriles' escape in return for a generous bribe. That Posada Carriles was not indicted by the Bush Administration after his escape from Panama can be directly traced to the Cuban-American congressional delegation from Florida and its powerful contributors who have given generously to generations of American politicians from both parties. While under indictment in Venezuela and Cuba, prior US administrations have repeatedly refused extradition requests from those governments. Hopefully, the Obama Justice Department will throw the book at Posada Carriles and revisit the role of Dr. Bosch, who freely and publicly admits to hundreds of terrorist acts against Cuba. [see the excellent documentary, "Tell Me Cuba", which features a long and startling interview with Dr. Bosch]. Following the arrival in Washington, D.C. on April 6th of a 6-member delegation from the Congressional Black Caucus which visited the Castro brothers in Havana and reported on their openness to engage the U.S. without preconditions, it's time to move ahead. Changing U.S. policy towards Cuba is the low-hanging fruit on President Obama's foreign policy agenda . The likelihood of dramatic change in the decades-long impasses in Israel/Palestine, Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, India/Pakistan, nuclear disarmament and global warming is very low--but changing our Cuba policy can be accomplished, even unilaterally, at the stroke of a pen...or, bilaterally, with Cuban government involvement. The Win-Win for the U.S. is not just in removing a shameful policy which has grievously harmed many Cubans over a half-century, but in winning the hearts and minds of hundreds of millions of people in Latin America who expect that the Obama Administration will put forth a clear-eyed vision of the world without the petty intra-ethnic or tribal disputes that have driven US policy towards Cuba for so long. More on Cuba
 
Federal budget deficit sets March record $192.3B Top
WASHINGTON — The Treasury Department said Friday that the budget deficit soared to $192.3 billion in March, and is near $1 trillion just halfway through the budget year, as costs of the financial bailout and recession mount. Last month's deficit, a record for March, was significantly higher than the $150 billion that economists expected. The deficit already totals $956.8 billion for the first six months of the budget year, also a record for that period. The Obama administration projects the deficit for the entire year will hit $1.75 trillion. A deficit at that level would nearly quadruple the previous annual record of $454.8 billion set last year. The March deficit was four times the size of the imbalance in the same month last year. Nearly $300 billion provided to the nation's banks and other companies to cope with the most severe financial crisis in seven decades has pushed government spending higher. The Treasury report said that through the end of March, $293.4 billion had been provided to support companies through the $700 billion bailout fund Congress passed last October. That support has been provided primarily to banks, although insurance giant American International Group Inc. and auto companies General Motors Corp. and Chrysler LLC also have received assistance. Besides the bailout fund, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac received $46 billion last month, bringing the total assistance provided to the mortgage finance companies to $59.8 billion since October. The government took control of both last September after they had suffered billions of dollars in losses on mortgage loans. Through the first six months of the budget year that began Oct. 1, tax revenues have totaled $989.8 billion, down 13.6 percent from the year-ago period. The government's receipts have been reduced sharply by the recession, which is shaping up to be the longest of the post World War II period. The downturn began in December 2007. Government outlays totaled $1.95 trillion through March, 33.4 percent higher than the year-ago period. Besides higher payments for the financial rescue, the government is paying more in such areas as unemployment benefits and food stamps.
 
Linda Hirshman: Newspaper Boy: Announcing Ross Douthat Watch Top
In a week or so, the Atlantic magazine wunderkind, the 29-year-old conservative blogger Ross Douthat will start his career as a regular columnist for the New York Times . The announcement of his appointment caused a flurry in the blogosphere. Conservatives generally praised the selection; some liberal writers did, too . Other liberals were pretty critical , both of Douthat and of their liberal colleagues for lauding what they called a very bad choice. For or against, it is clear that Douthat's opinions in the newspaper of record are going to matter in interesting ways. Douthat is not the usual apparatchik, like Bill Kristol, simply phoning in the latest Republican talking points. He has a distinctive point of view -- that the Republican Party should reconstruct itself as the party of the white working class through restoring traditional sexual mores -- and a set of rhetorical techniques designed to make his message sound palatable even to the Times ' generally liberal readership. Although no newspaper is in a position to guarantee a year's tenure, let alone life tenure, since he's not yet thirty, Douthat may be pulling the discourse rightward from his high perch for a very long time. The Chief Justice John Roberts of punditry. Accordingly, starting today, the Huffington Post will carry "Ross Douthat Watch," a feature dedicated to analyzing Douthat's columns and alerting the Post's readership to the meaning and effect of his opinions and proposals for the future of the society. Douthat Watch 1 Who Is Ross Douthat And What Is He Doing In The Most Expensive Meme Estate In America? Douthat came from New Haven, Connecticut, son of a very successful plaintiff's trial lawyer and a mostly stay-at-home mom. At seventeen, his entire family converted to Roman Catholicism. He describes his other conversion -- to conservatism -- initially as a youthful rebellion. After attending private high school, he went to Harvard, where he ran the conservative paper and wrote a conservative column for the Crimson , which activities catapulted him into an internship at the Atlantic . His first book, Privilege: Harvard and the Education of the Ruling Class (2005), decried the elitism, wealth and resume obsession of the other students at his elite college. In an interview in the New York Observer , he reported that he had been concerned about becoming a writer decrying obsession with wealth and status at Harvard, because he is obsessed with wealth and status, as Harvard defines it: "You know that your peers who go off and do consulting or Web design-or back then it was Silicon Valley-are going to be making, for the foreseeable future, twice as much money as you are, and living lifestyles twice as affluent as you are. . . But there are professions that are very respectable if you're a kid at Harvard, and writing is clearly one of them-because even though it doesn't have the financial rewards of some of the others, it does have the recognition and fame aspect." After several years of blogging and writing at the Atlantic , Douthat co-wrote (with Reihan Salam) Grand New Party (2008), an extended argument for realigning the Republican Party: "How the Republicans Can Win the Working Class and Save the American Dream." As fellow Times columnist David Brooks put it , "Douthat and Salam argue that the Republicans rode to the majority because of support from the Reagan Democrats, and if the party has a future, it will be because it understands the dreams and tribulations of working-class Americans." Although GNP eschews any specific racial references, Reagan Democrats were, overwhelmingly, both white and male . GNP does not recommend the usual working class bromides of progressive income taxation, union organization or universal health care. The primary organizing theory of GNP is that the working class fell because of the decline of the stable, heterosexual nuclear family. The policy proposals in GNP are mostly directed to promoting [heterosexual] marriage and encouraging the heterosexual married to have children and then for a parent (in social context, mothers) to stay home with them. During his years blogging around, Douthat published a range of opinions, including opposition to the candidacy of Barack Obama , women's abortion rights , stem-cell research , and artificial birth control, as well as support for the candidacy of Sarah Palin, the 42nd President of the United States being " mobbed up ," and the dominance of one religious viewpoint for social peace .
 
Reporter David Schultz Harassed, Robbed By Veterans Affairs Official Top
A troubling story has emerged this week regarding what many are calling unprovoked harassment and robbery of WAMU 88.5's David Schultz, an NPR-affiliate reporter, by a federal official at a Veterans Affairs Medical Center forum. The official -- an internal communications specialist named Gloria Hairston -- is said to have interrupted Schultz's interview with a veteran about the inadequacies of VA medical treatment. Hairston demanded that Schultz cease the interview and turn over all of his recording equipment. When Schultz refused, Hairston sicced armed police on him. WTOP's Mark Segraves has more details of the incident: "She said I wouldn't be allowed to leave," Schultz tells WTOP. At first he refused. But after being surrounded by armed police officers who stood between him and the exit, he looked for a compromise. "I became worried that I was going to get arrested," Schultz says. Schultz convinced Hairston that all she really needed to confiscate was the memory card to his recorder, rather than all of his equipment. While this was going on, many of the veterans from the meeting had come out to watch the confrontation. One of those veterans, an amputee in a wheelchair, approached Schultz and asked him for his phone number. "I started to give it to him and then the woman {Hairston} became irate, she said you can't give him your phone number. You have to give me all of your equipment or I'm going to get ugly. She used the phrase 'get ugly,'" Schultz says, It is not yet clear what exactly Hairston meant when she threatened to "get ugly." And as it turns out, according to the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press (RCFP) , Schultz was able to complete the interview the next day. More from the RCFP: Since the veteran Schultz had interviewed gave him his telephone number, Schultz said, he was able to finish up the talk with the patient the following day; Schultz's story aired on WAMU on Wednesday. Roberts, spokeswoman for the VA, said the reporter "took advantage of the patient" in approaching him for an interview, causing "total disorientation." In addition, she said, Schultz did not identify himself as a reporter. Schultz maintains that he told the interviewee and VA officials he was a reporter. Schultz's tape will be returned if the patient signs the consent form, Roberts said. The VA is willing to accommodate media requests, she said, "but [WAMU journalists] just refuse to talk with us about the consent form process." What's the VA trying to hide? According to 56 year-old Tommie Canady, the veteran who Schultz was interviewing when Hairston entered the picture, the issue is race. From Schultz's WAMU reporting: A former soldier from Prince George's County is accusing the Veterans Affairs Hospital in Washington of mistreating him and other minority veterans. Tommie Canady is admitted to the hospital several times a year for treatment of a terminal pancreatic disease and he claims the care he receives is atrocious. On two occasions, he says the same nurse administered an overdose of morphine to him and is still working at the VA. He says he's alive because he's developed a high tolerance to pain medication. He also says he's been denied disability benefits because he is black. ABC's Jake Tapper has also been following the story, and highlights the same pertinent questions: why did Gloria Hairston get ugly? And what is the VA Medical Center trying to hide? From Jake Tapper: "What I mostly feel bad about is Mr. Canady," Schultz told WTOP-AM radio here in DC. "He was trying to tell his story, he has an amazing story and he was denied a chance to tell his story to the media because of these tactics." He added that "the story is not about me versus the hospital. It's about why is the hospital taking these measures to prevent Mr. Canady from speaking. What are they trying to hide?"
 
Daniel Bruno Sanz: Cuba at a Crossroads Top
TO THE HONORABLE BARACK OBAMA, 44TH PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES ON THE OCCASION OF HIS UPCOMING SPEECH AT THE FIFTH SUMMIT OF THE AMERICAS, PORT-OF-SPAIN, TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO, 17 APRIL 2009 Dear Mr. President, On May 25, 1965, in Lewiston, Maine, Mohammed Ali defeated Sonny Liston in the first round by TKO. As Ali stood over Liston in triumph, photographer Neil Leifer captured one of the most iconic moments in sports history. 40 years later, this image was matted, framed and prominently displayed in your new Senate office suite. Now, perhaps it has accompanied you to the White House. Ali was ahead of his time, a man of principles who speaks his mind. Ali is a thinking man's boxer. Less powerful than Liston, Frazier and Foreman, he understood how to unnerve his opponents before a bout. In his prime, Ali was controversial. He retired his Anglo name, rejected Christianity and went to jail for refusal to serve in Vietnam. They called him un-American and he was stripped of his boxing titles. He lost millions in revenue. He was an American dissident. Today, he is an American hero. He opened the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games. He is your hero. In 1996 and 98 Ali traveled to Cuba with medicine supplies blacklisted by the US embargo. He did it because he understood that American conglomerates dominate the pharmaceutical and medical fields worldwide. He also knows that even if food and medicine were exempted from the embargo, the financial carnage the embargo leaves in its wake leaves Cubans like his friend Teofilo Stevenson, unable to buy. Olympic gold medallist Stevenson, dubbed the Cuban Ali because of likeness and similarities, turned down Don King's offer of five million dollars to go pro in 1976 because he would have to defect from Cuba to accept it. Mohammed Ali, a UN ambassador for peace, has called on the United States to end the embargo on Cuba. The UN General Assembly has condemned the US embargo on Cuba every year since 1992 and demanded the US "take the necessary steps to repeal or invalidate" it. In 2000 and '01, this Resolution passed 167 to 3 with three abstentions. In 2002, it passed 173 votes to three, with four nations abstaining. In 2003, only two nations voted with the US. In its 2002 report, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations condemned the embargo as "the main cause of malnutrition in Cuba." UNICEF has condemned the embargo. UNESCO condemned the embargo, saying it "violates the rights of the Cuban people." The United Nations Population Fund condemned the embargo for deterioration of Cuban living standards. The World Health Organization condemned the embargo for its "very significant negative impact on the overall performance of the national economy" which "compromises the quality of life of the population, specifically the children, the elderly and the infirm." It notes that the embargo increases the cost of milk for children by 600% and puts medical equipment out of reach. Amnesty International condemned the embargo because it "helped undermine the enjoyment of key civil and political rights in Cuba by fueling a climate in which the fundamental rights of freedom of association, expression and assembly are routinely denied." The US embargo against Cuba is described as "the longest and most severe set of trade sanctions ever imposed on any one nation" by international health organizations. Mr. President, it is not a coincidence that the embargo is nearly 50 years old and Fidel Castro holds the world record for non-inherited longevity in power. Mr. President, during the election campaign you said that, as president, you would stand before the UN General Assembly to let the world know that "America is back." Now is the time, and I know of no better way to do it, than to boldly announce that the US will heed the call made every year to drop the embargo on Cuba. Unable to dislodge Castro, the ever-frustrated embargo on Cuba has metastasized into an absurd, unsustainable policy at odds with who we are. Doomed to failure because of its unilateral nature, the embargo has become an ersatz blockade. On February 28, 2004, James Sabzali, a Canadian citizen, was charged with 75 counts of violating a 1917 US law - the "Trading with the Enemy Act" and one count of conspiracy. He was convicted of selling water purification supplies to Cuba - mostly from Canada, but also from the United States, in violation of the embargo. He grossed US $3 million in sales. A laughable sum for business. Sabzali, a Canadian, ended up with an criminal record for violating American law even though he lived in another country when he sold goods to Cuba. When he visited the US, he was charged with smuggling, taken to court, given a year's probation and fined $10,000. The hapless Sabzali spent three years in the US under strict travel restrictions, including 14 months when forced to wear an electronic monitoring bracelet and restricted to no more than an hour drive from his home - even to visit his wife and children back in Canada. The irony is that the extended family of Osama bin Laden was allowed by the Bush White House and State Department to leave the US immediately after 9/11 on private jets even as the FAA ordered all aircraft grounded. American intelligence never got the chance to question the bin Ladens about the attack on the WTC and Pentagon. I think you will agree, Mr. President, that safe drinking water is a human right. Certainly, had a water borne epidemic appeared, proponents of the embargo would have seized upon it as proof of Castro's disregard for human life. At the same time, they zealously condemn businessmen like Sabzali, whose crime was to sell Cubans the wherewithal to provide clean water, defeating the US embargo. What is it about Cuba that Gives Embargo Proponents the Fits? Is it Fidel Castro? At 82, Castro is a shadow of a man. Unable to speak in public, he is reduced to photo ops with visiting dignitaries (last call for photos with Fidel!) and quaint reflections in Granma, Cuba's daily rag. Cuba's Gross Domestic Product is smaller than the GDP of the Bronx and its army is the same size as the New York City Police Department. Fidel, Raul and the Cuban government certainly don't have the military or economic might to challenge the United States. Words are all they have left and their ideology is in tatters. Nationalism and defiance are all that remain. Could it be Because Castro Corrupts the Minds of Men? Castro has no corporate public relations mouthpiece to compete for influence in the media outside Cuba, no entertainment empire to shape values and perceptions of young people, no recording industry or marketing gurus to shape public opinion outside Cuba about anything. But when Oliver Stone, Kevin Costner or Naomi Campbell does lunch with Castro, the embargo crowd goes ballistic. Could it be Because Cuba will cost Americans their Jobs? With the exception of sunshine in December, Cuba doesn't produce anything of value that could threaten US market share of world trade if the embargo were lifted. Actually the balance of trade would be far in our favor. Cuba has little of importance to sell but needs everything, and that alone is why the embargo has been able to persist for so long. Cuban music has found a comfortable but obscure cultural niche that's unlikely to compete with MTV or BET. Cuba's peasant cuisine (rice and beans) won't lure Americans away Boston Market and Popeye's. Could it be Because Cuba is a One Party, Totalitarian and Communist Police State with Political Prisoners? In spite of all the embargo rhetoric about the need to punish Castro for being a dictator and a stain on human rights, the truth is that US foreign policy is un-burdened with such trifles. Republican and Democratic presidents and congress-people alike have advocated cruel dictators, hard-line Communists, petro-monarchs and rude oligarchs.... and won accolades for doing so. Remember Nixon and Mao? Truman and Tito? Rumsfeld and Saddam Hussein? Constructive Engagement in South Africa, when Thatcher and Reagan said Mandela was a terrorist? What about support for Batista in Cuba, Ceausescu in Romania, Videla in Argentina, Pinochet in Chile, Diem in South Viet Nam, Marcos in the Philippines, Trujillo in the Dominican Republic, Somoza (our son of a b) in Nicaragua, (Blowtorch Bob) d'Aubisson in El Salvador, Noriega the drug dealer in Panama, Papa and Baby Doc in Haiti, Musharif in Pakistan, the sadistic Shah of Iran, a series of death-squad military juntas in Guatemala, kleptomaniac Mobuto Sese Seko in Zaire, bin Laden and the Taliban in Afghanistan (Reagan and Sylvester Stallone thought they were freedom fighters)... the list of despots tolerated and encouraged by Washington is quite extensive and includes Cuba's former dictator himself, General Batista. What makes Cuba under the Castros worthy of unique treatment now? 35 years after 55,000 Americans were killed to keep the dominos from falling in south-east Asia, and when that failed, an economic embargo applied to make sure the Communists never recovered after being bombed back to the stone age, Nike has three footwear factories and Dominoes pizzas are falling on dinner tables in Vietnam, a one party, totalitarian Communist state. Is it Because Cuba is Atheist, Denies Freedom of Religious Choice and Thought? In 1992 the Cuban constitution dropped references to atheism. Catholicism, Santeria and Judaism are openly and freely practiced. Prominent churches on Havana's key 5th Avenue are open for worship seven days a week. In 1998 Pope John Paul, credited with bringing Communism down in Poland, met with Castro in Havana and stated that the US embargo is "monstrously immoral." Jimmy Carter, outspoken on human rights issues everywhere, visited Cuba in 2002 and called for the embargo to be lifted. In 2003, Mikhail Gorbachev condemned the embargo in a Washington Post editorial "The Last Relic of the Cold War." Mr. President, it is inconceivable that, against the better judgment of these men, the embargo could have value as a tool to change Cuba for the better. Could it be Because Castro Nationalized American Property Without Compensation? Compensation claims in Cuba by nationals of Canada, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, Spain and France were resolved long ago. The disruption of ties between the US and Cuba, codified by the embargo, makes a compensation plan impossible and, using circuitous logic, serves as justification to continue the embargo. Complicating matters further, losses sustained by Cuba as a result of the embargo give Cuba a claim for damages and impede its ability to pay. Mr. President, Cuba's automotive fleet is the oldest in the world, a rolling museum. 60,000 specimens of battered, pre-1960 Detroit muscle and chrome roam the island, lost in a time warp. Maintained by home made spare parts, infinite patience and strong will, the ancient fleet has become a source of pride and a tourist attraction. It is also a metaphor for Cuba's political system and US policy. They all belong to another era. The ancient fleet, Cuba's political system and the US embargo are all obsolete. Now is the time, Mr. President, to drive us in a new direction. Now is the time for change we can believe in. DANIEL BRUNO SANZ This essay is the introduction to Cuba at a Crossroads, a new scholarly book about Cuba. Daniel Bruno Sanz is an author and educator. He writes on financial and foreign policy affairs. Eighteen months before the November 2008 election he predicted the recession and used econometrics to predict Obama's victory in Why Obama Will Win in 2008 & 2012. He encourages criticism of his essays and welcomes inquiries at Brunoceo@gmail.com His website is DanielBrunoSanz.com More on Cuba
 
Art Brodsky: VA Owes Reporter Apology for Its Shameful Behavior Top
When he was in the Army, the current secretary of Veterans Affairs, Gen. Eric Shinseki (USA ret.), no doubt had occasion to read the riot act to subordinate officers. It's time for him to get into command mode again, and the subjects this time are his incompetent public relations staff, which created an embarrassing nightmare for an Administration dedicated to transparency and openness. Last week, David Schultz, a reporter for WAMU-FM, a public radio outlet in Washington, D.C., went to cover a public forum on care for minority veterans. For the April 7 meeting, Schultz, a new, part-time reporter, had with him a recorder, headphones and a microphone. (Even with that gear, he was accused of not identifying himself as a reporter.) After listening to vets speak to a packed room in public about the care they were being given, Schultz wanted to interview one of them, Tommie Canady, 56, who has a terminal pancreatic disease and who said he has been denied benefits and had poor care. According to a number of reports , VA staff said Schultz would need a waiver from the patient in order to do an interview, and here's where it got ugly. VA public relations officials demanded his microphone, headphones and recorder. They brought four armed, uniformed guards to enforce the order and wouldn't let Schultz leave. Schultz called his editor, who advised him to give up the recorder's storage card to the VA and then get out, figuring the event shouldn't escalate and that the radio station would get the card back. Here's how Schultz initially described the confrontation. Eventually, Schultz went around the VA PR machine and got the story, interviewing Canady on the phone . So far, the VA had declined comment on the story and the storage card remains with the agency. How can we put this gently: Unacceptable. Ridiculous. Insulting. Heaven knows, the VA is under a great deal of pressure these days, with an aging veteran population on the one hand, and the demands of a six-year (and counting) war on the other. Even so, this incident is low-hanging fruit and Shinseki should deal with it forthwith. Start with the concept that the vets in the hospital were there as a result of defending freedom of speech and of the press, and it's not the duty of the VA flacks (and I'm a flack in my day-job) to interfere with that. Calling the cops to keep a reporter from leaving the building until he turns over a storage card is beyond sanity. This wasn't a top-secret briefing the reporter had infiltrated. It was a public meeting. Announced by a news release. WAMU's news director, Jim Asendio said he tried to hand-deliver a letter to the VA on April 9, but they wouldn't accept it. Today (April 10), a courier is taking over a letter from station management, which may find its way to the executive suites. The letter says in part: "WAMU and its owner, American University, take this matter extremely seriously. Our reporter was subjected to an unlawful detention against his will, a search of our recording equipment without any probable cause, and the seizure of our sound recording medium. Mr. Schultz's newsgathering activities and the product of his work not only are protected by the First Amendment, but he was attending a public meeting at which the VA had encouraged public discussion on the treatment it gives to minority veterans. It is inconceivable that any interest of government, let alone the Department of Veterans Affairs' desire to plan its press strategy, would ever justify the clearly unconstitutional behavior of its staff and uniformed officers". Asendio told us he has heard that the agency is willing to release the flash card if the station signs a release. It doesn't matter what the release says. The station shouldn't sign it. What should happen is that Shinseki should invite Schultz and Asendio to the department, return the card and apologize. And the PR people who were idiots enough to have perpetrated this assault should be sent away to learn how their jobs should really be done. Then Schultz can get back to doing the important work of covering vets' health care - not covering it up as the VA was trying in its clumsy way to do. More on Eric Shinseki
 

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