Monday, May 18, 2009

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Christian Avard: Dennis Perrin sounds off on Jon Stewart, Barack Obama, and "The Nation." Top
Now that we've passed the 100-day mark of the Obama administration, I wanted to check in with author and comedian Dennis Perrin. Last summer I interviewed Perrin for Huffington Post just after his new release Savage Mules: The Democrats and Endless War . Despite America's love affair with Obama, Perrin's still at it and the time couldn't be better. Despite Obama reinstating military tribunals, preventing more torture photos from being released, and no end in sight for the troops coming home from Iraq and Afghanistan, liberal bloggers and Democratic Party enthusiasts still rah-rah the president's outrageous policies. Perrin has a lot to say about that, including his latest piece at Huffington Post and a recent blog post about The Nation. It seems like you've taken some heat for your Jon Stewart story. What are they not getting about your post? Well, I like Jon Stewart. I like "The Daily Show." Some people seem to think I was bashing him on purest grounds or something, whether political or comedic. That wasn't the case at all. I understand what Stewart does and who he works for. I used to work for Comedy Central. Of course it wasn't as big then as it is now. But it is part of Viacom and it's part of a larger media conglomerate. Like any place else in the corporate media, there are some limits and unspoken assumptions about what is consider OK and what is considered taboo. But I think calling any president - with the exception of George W. Bush - you might get some elite liberals saying 'Well, you know, I didn't like Bush either. But calling him a war criminal is a little extreme.' I think Bush would be the only I could think of where an American comedian or satirist hosting a major comedy show could call him a war criminal and get away with it. Truman is loved by both liberals and conservatives. Stewart was really hitting not only a presidential legend but a towering bipartisan figure. I don't know if Stewart really believed going into it whether he thought Truman was a war criminal or if he did think think that, then maybe he should back pedal because he was going to get a lot of heat. I don't know what his thinking was really. Either way wouldn't surprise me. But it just goes to show the limits. I don't think Stewart he could have left it unsaid. Bill Maher said something a little less controversial after I left Politically Incorrect. A little after 9-11 he said "it's more cowardly to drop bombs from 30,000 feet than it is to crash a plane." Which I think is a rational statement. Whatever you think of people who crash planes - I don't think highly of them myself - I thought what Maher and Stewart said was accurate. I just think it comes down to perceptions and from reading some of these comments at Huffington Post - which are primarily pro-liberal and/or pro-Democratic more or less - there is still an overwhelming majority of people in the U.S. that don't see [Hiroshima and Nagasaki] as a war crime. In otherwords, Japan got what it deserved and it saved a million American lives, which nobody can really prove. It's interesting to see people so easily defend mass murder six decades later and it unsettles me in a way. It's like we've advanced and progressed in a lot of ways, but there's a lot of other ways where we're right where we were (with American exceptionalism and such). I don't think Stewart is challenging American exceptionalism. I think he makes fun of its excesses and other areas where it's obviously ridiculous. But when Stewart said Truman is a war criminal, I just think he got to the core of what the system really is and for a corporate financed satirist like Stewart you just can't make those kinds of insights and keep your job. He could have gotten away with it without apologizing. I don't think it would've hurt him terribly. But if he went on and pursued that line of questioning I don't think he'd stay long in the job. Stewart's apology reminded me of the time when John McCain went on "The Daily Show" in 2005. McCain emphatically stated that "Israel doesn't torture." Stewart, who is not afraid to speak his mind, didn't respond. That prompted Alison Weir, of If Americans Only Knew, to write an open letter to Stewart explaining there is documentary evidence that Israel tortures Palestinian prisoners. Your response? Oh, I mean anyone who follows the issue knows that's a given. You even have people like Alan Dershowitz openly defending Israeli torture. He acknowledges Israelis torture because he defends it. But the thing is with Stewart and Israel, is he actually did a great report during the siege of Gaza. It got passed around all over the blogosphere. It was a great piece and quite uncharacteristic. Because I think it was clear how aggressive and brutal Israel was on this "caged population" and there were Israelis sitting in lawn chairs watching the bombardment. What also surprised me was a lot of mainstream liberal outlets like Firedoglake and Glenn Greenwald were criticizing Israel and U.S. support of the siege on Gaza and I think that gave an opening. Many people in the elite press started asking questions about what Israel is doing to Gaza. So any time you have media questioning the official truth, that's where you can find openings in the debate. In the first Gulf War, there was a real split among American elites whether they should go to war with Saddam to secure Kuwait. They were all against the invasion of Kuwait, but they were split on what they should do. Leading up to the war, there were openings to debate the issue, even on national television. I think that was with the case of Jon Stewart and that great piece. But I think when you put Israel and torture together, that's tougher for a comedian to deal with because that gets to the core of something. Harry Truman being a war criminal is a core thing. Israeli torture is a core thing. It's one thing to make fun of perceived excesses. It's another thing to go after core elements and it's core elements that make up for what creates the excesses. Stewart at his best is operating on the outer margins to the degree that the corporate media allows those openings to be pursued. I know people who have worked with Stewart and they all say he's a great guy, nice, and down-to-earth. I'm sure of you got him in a bar, had a few drinks, and talked with off the record I'm sure he's a lot better on this stuff than what you see on television and there's an obvious reason for that. What it comes down to, then you have to wonder how much cognitive dissonance can someone ingest before they break? If they know one thing and can't express it or have to edit it or tone it down, how long can that go on? You've been tough on Barack Obama since he was nominated in Denver. Now that we're past the 100 days mark, what are some of Obama's major flaws his supporters aren't seeing or denying? Well, I took Obama at his word. There were certain things he said that I didn't think [he'd follow through] like transparency in government. I thought "yeah right." Anyone who hasn't been president before promised all kinds of wonderful things when they get in. But given how the system is set up and where the U.S. is at this moment in history is just not going to happen. But I took him at his word because as I saw him as the one who's going to fix the system after eight years of Republican excess. This is the role Carter and Clinton played after GOP rule. It's almost pre-programed in a matrix kind of way. Of course the advantage Obama has is that he's African-American. The cover that would give the U.S. was not unappreciated by media and political elites. I remember Ted Koppel saying "if Obama gets elected, that's going to show the world how we changed." Of course we haven't changed and the elites are changing their tactics because they can't go on with what those same tactics during the Bush years. Today I was reading some reactions to Obama agreeing to block the torture photos from Afghanistan and Iraq. Of course people were upset. But it was like what did you expect? This happens time and time again with anything Obama does that a lot of liberals don't like. It's like they're scratching their heads and wondering "where did this come from? This isn't the guy I voted for." Well, I don't know what you wanted to expect. There is a change in tone and style. I mean people were falling all over Obama at the White House Correspondents dinner. I think the thing is with liberals and Obama is that I don't believe there will be a significant liberal rebellion or mutiny against Obama. Not like there was in 1979-1980 when there was a Ted Kennedy challenge to Jimmy Carter. I mean you do have good critics going after him, like Glenn Greenwald and a handful of others doing great work on this. But I think overall those who are critical of him come 2010 and 2012, they'll be all ushered in under the tent to prevent president Romney or a president Palin or a president Joe the Plumber or whoever the hell gets the nomination and we're right back where we started. I think Obama knows this because there is no alternative to him from a progressive standpoint. So he can continue to do what he's doing, while soft-talking these people and knowing they're not going to challenge his rule. Glenn Greenwald reported the Obama administration threatened England to keep torture evidence concealed re: Binham Mohammed and he also reported on Obama's latest effort to conceal evidence of Bush era crimes . How is Obama hurting the state of the nation by preventing this information from coming forth? Well, the official excuse is it's being hidden from the Muslim world. But the Muslim world doesn't need more evidence of American torture and war crimes. They live it. This is aimed at preventing American citizens from seeing this stuff. I don't think people in Iraq or Afghanistan need more evidence. How much more do they need? There's always going to be that dogged minority searching for the truth but for the mass majority of people if you could keep it out of their minds, it makes sense. Obama is planning to expand these wars. He already has. So he needs public support. If these photos come out, it's going to get a lot of play, create a furor, and it's going to result in damage control and that's not where Obama wants to be right now, especially with his popularity figures and general lack of dissonance against his presidency. You've expressed some disappointment with The Nation recently. What has The Nation done that's gotten you so upset? I've been reading The Nation since 1983. The last great period The Nation had was during the mid to late 1980s. They were really good back then when it came to the Cold War, Central America, and they were a much more radical magazine back then because Victor Navasky was running it. Navasky liked to see a lot of different kinds of thought collide from Social Democrats to Marxists. Katrina vanden Heuvel is just a mainstream liberal elite. She's into policy recommendations and I think she's succeeded in making The Nation a respectable voice in the national debate. But to be a respectable voice in the national debate, you have to tone down your anger and criticisms. Since Obama came in, it's like they've became really mystical with him. They had an editorial about Obama's first 100 days and they were generally supportive. But they were worried what Afghanistan would do to Obama's presidency. In otherwords, his presidency was more important than Afghanistan or Afghan lives. So I thought "Ok. This really shows where The Nation's minds are right now." They've become a voluntary member of the state press. I know they wouldn't see themselves that way but I've read a lot of stuff in there where they really sound like they're in Obama's pocket. The other thing is, like a lot of liberals online believe, that if they protest kindly enough, then Obama will listen because he's got these good minded people pointing him in the right direction. If they really believe that then they're really naïve and they should not be running a political magazine in 2009. If they don't, then they're cynical manipulators. Neither one seems appealing or noble to me and I think The Nation has taken a real dive as a result. They also use to have a lot of great writers and their content has gotten really soft, centrist, and weak. There are some good writers still. I'm a big Jeremy Scahill fan. Once in a while Alexander Cockburn will cough up something interesting from the archives of his mind, but it's just become this primarily soft, white liberal organ now. I've always encouraged dissidence of any kind within the Democratic Party and I would like to see that. A lot of people say I'm a cynic, dead-ender, and a nihilist and I'm not. A lot of things come and go but the system remains and I realize how difficult it is to make in-roads. There are certain changes that do happen. They're incremental and they're important but one has to learn not to settle for that. I know there are a lot of people out there trying to affect change and I support them. If there's anything I can do to help it along, then I do. I was a big supporter of the Republic Window sit-in . I would like to see more of that. I would like to see more direct action but I knew early on in the Obama administration that it was just not going to happen. But I think hopefully as time goes on and he is shown to be who he really is, that will go away and people will get involved in a more direct way. I'd like to see that and I will support it but I just have serious doubts based on my experience. But I would like to be proved wrong. Check out Dennis Perrin at www.dennisperrin.blogspot.com More on Barack Obama
 
Dana Kennedy: GONZO CANNES: THE TOUGHEST 22-YEAR-OLD DIRECTOR AT THE FESTIVAL Top
How do you learn to make a movie good enough to be accepted at the Cannes Film Festival when you're only 22? If you're Dara van Dusen, whose 12-minute film, Malzonkowie (Significant Others,) was one of 17 chosen from more than 1500 for the prestigious student film competition at Cannes called Selection Cinefondation , you do it the hard way: You go to a film school in Poland, make movies in Polish - and get screamed at in Polish. Van Dusen rejected the idea of applying to film schools like NYU or UCLA after graduating from the Fieldston School at 18. "I'm just weird and different," she said over coffee on the Croisette. "I wanted to learn how to direct right away." Van Dusen, who is the granddaughter of actress Carroll Baker ( Babyface ) and Czech-born director Jack Garfein (who survived the Auschwitz concentration camp in Poland,) admired Polish directors like Roman Polanski and Agnieszka Holland - so she applied to their alma mater, the venerable Polish National Film School in Lodz. She didn't speak any Polish when she arrived in September 2004 for the week-long entrance exam. (You can't apply beforehand; you take the exam, and if accepted, start the next week.) The crux of the exam came when Van Dusen was ushered into a room with the school's board of professors, working Polish film directors called the Commission - and some Polish actors who didn't speak any English. "The professors were these old, chain-smoking guys," she said. "They gave me a one-sentence concept. You had 20 minutes to tell the actors how to act it and to rehearse before putting on the scene." Van Dusen calls the experience "surreal. None of the actors could understand me. I had them repeat lines in English after me and made crazy hand gestures. The Commission watches you the whole time. " When it was over, van Dusen stood onstage under a spotlight while the professors fired questions at her. "You can't see them and they start this mean critique of what you've just done. The opening question was, 'That was terrible. How do you expect us to like that?' I was terrified and shell-shocked. Later on I realized they wanted to see how you handled pressure." Van Dusen made the cut - and began her first year at the school, which for foreign students means studying Polish eight hours a day, five days a week. Even so, Van Dusen barely understood her teachers when she started her first year of actual studies. "It took another six months for me to be comfortable in Polish," she said. "I struggled making my first film that year. None of the technical guys understood English nor did they didn't like taking orders from a 19-year-old girl." Van Dusen made six short fiction films and two short non-fiction films by the time she graduated. The Lodz school is very traditional. Students make movies the old-fashioned way - on film with 35mm cameras. But she almost didn't get her diploma when she showed her graduating film - the same one ultimately be chosen for Cannes - and almost all of the school's professors hated it. "First you screen your film for the professors and they're talking and smoking and making rude comments the whole time." After that part was over, Van Dusen left the room while the professors spent an hour discussing her film. Then they called her back in. Van Dusen had to sit on a big, throne-like chair covered in red velvet and face the professors, seated behind a table. "I was quaking." Van Dusen's film, about a troubled young couple, is very stylized, she says. It took her three months to write it (in Polish), 10 days to shoot it and a month in post-production. But she says the Commission doesn't like anything stylized. "They were actually angry," remembers Van Dusen. "I mean, screaming. And you have to defend yourself. The first question I got asked after they saw my movie was, "Do you really think you deserve to be here?'" Fortunately, says Van Dusen, a key professor at the school liked her film. Without him, she said, she would have been kicked out, sans diploma, for sure. Not surprisingly, Van Dusen's film was not chosen by the school to submit to Cannes. Van Dusen did that on her own. When she got word that Cannes had accepted it, "I thought the worst was over and I could relax." But when she took the negative to a Lodz film lab to make a show print, they tore a piece of it by mistake. "That's when I kind of lost it," she said. The lab couldn't fix it and she sent it to Copenhagen and some other European labs with no luck. She'd already asked the Fondation director at Cannes for three extended deadlines when she finally found a place in London that repaired the print. "I got it to Cannes on the day of the my third extended deadline," she said. Her movie screens May 21. The first prize winner gets 15,000 euros ($20,240) and is guaranteed that his or her first feature film will be presented at the Cannes Film Festival. Win or lose, Van Dusen knows what lies in her future after her sojourn in Poland. "I just want to go home," she says. "I can't wait to make a film in English."
 
ABC Cancels 'Samantha Who' Top
ABC has canceled the Christina Applegate starrer "Samantha Who." Show, which had been expected to return, got caught up in this year's belt-tightening trend at the networks. According to an insider close to the show, decision to scrap "Samantha" came down to numbers. The show couldn't slash it budget deep enough to make a third-season pickup work, they said. More on ABC
 
Obama, Netanyahu Meeting: Obama Says Israel Must Stop Expanding Settlements Top
President Barack Obama, meeting at the White House with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, says he told the prime minister that Israel must stop expanding Jewish settlements in the West Bank. Earlier the Israeli prime minister had signaled he may resist the president's pressure to support Palestinian statehood as the two leaders tried on Monday to tackle an array of Mideast issues. More on Barack Obama
 
Gas Prices: Chicago Has Nation's Most Expensive Gas Top
CHICAGO (AP) -- Chicago has the highest price for gasoline in the U.S., at $2.63 a gallon, according to the national Lundberg Survey of fuel prices. The price of gasoline in the U.S. jumped 25 cents a gallon during the past three weeks, but remains well below prices from a year ago, according to the survey, released Sunday. Analyst Trilby Lundberg says the average U.S. price of regular-grade gasoline was $2.30 a gallon Friday, when the survey was completed. That's up from $2.05 a gallon recorded on April 24, but $1.49 a gallon cheaper than at this time last year. The lowest price for gasoline in the U.S. was found in Phoenix, at $1.99 a gallon. -ASSOCIATED PRESS More on Gas & Oil
 
Nathan Hegedus: Dick Cheney: The Quintessential Villain of the American West Top
Dick Cheney is a black hat-wearing bad guy straight out of the Old West. But he is not of the West in the way he pretends -- the long-past Wyoming childhood, the simple black and white tough talk, the hunting with and wounding of other rich cowboys. He is not a lone villain or even a leader of a rogue gang. He is not symbolically riding the range and terrorizing the good citizens of Americaville from his undisclosed location. All that is schlock, an image -- yes, even the bad stuff -- that serves mostly, at this point, to infuriate the left. I can hear liberals screaming right now, "Old West?!? He was the CEO of Halliburton; he lived in Washington DC for decades; he is the ultimate Beltway insider!" Yes! Yes! Yes! That is the point. The Old West was not about cowboys and bootstraps, a lone rancher or hunter exposed to the elements or brave settlers battling hostile Indians or a heroic man standing alone at high noon on Main Street waiting to draw his gun. That is all a cultural overlay -- hard-earned and authentic for the relative few who actually lived it -- but for the most part, it serves better as an advertising campaign for dude ranches. No, the story of the American West is of industrial might and brute military force, projected from the settled East towards the unsettled West, making a select few rich, empowering big government, leaving most of the rest to chase a dream manufactured in dime store westerns, John Wayne movie and comical photo ops of George W. Bush clearing brush on his "ranch." Don't get me wrong, I love the myth. I was raised on the myth, and I liked prospecting for fake 49er gold in my California school yard, even if artisanal gold mining and charmingly scruffy prospectors quickly led to industrial strip mining and to big holes in the earth that inspire more existential dread than 19th century charm (take a drive between beautiful old Bisbee, Arizona and the mine next door if you want the best example). The dream of the West has inspired greatness. But for every wagon train that made it unaided across the wilderness, there have been thousands of workers beholden to the railroads, the mining companies, big oil, timber, and, finally, defense contractors. These behemoths gobbled up land and lives, lobbying their way to power in Washington, ruling over Western cities like personal fiefdoms (for the best take I know on the myth of California, which is essentially the myth of the West, read Joan Didion's book, Where I Was From ). And what made all this possible in the end? The strategic and often brutal use of the U.S. Army to pacify the Native Americans and keep the rabble in line. Sound familiar? This is Dick Cheney's version of the West, spewing crap about self-reliance while enriching big business, casually defending brutality to further the power politics of the United States. Cheney is from Wyoming, which is 48 percent owned by the federal government -- more than 30 million acres ripped out of the hands of private enterprise, if you want to look at it that way (I do not). His father was a federal employee; he has been a federal employee for most of his life. The big industries in Wyoming these days? Tourism in national parks and... coal, natural gas and oil extraction. So do not think of him as any character in a typical Western, bound by a private code of honor, for good or evil. He is more the Iago-like quartermaster at an Army outpost filling the ear of the spectacularly weak commander. He is the bureaucrat always on the telegraph to headquarters, refusing supplies to his enemies, passing off disease-ridden blankets to defeated Native Americans. Now, of course, the post has a new commander, and Dick got discharged. So he wanders aimlessly from saloon to saloon, drinking too much sarsaparilla, blabbering on and annoying soldiers, cowboys and townsfolk alike. But he is not done. He will get off the sarsaparilla, find a new undisclosed location in Wyoming or Texas or Washington DC and get back to the business of the West, now the business of Halliburton, of Iraq, of oil exploration in pristine wildernesses. For sadly, in both the Old West and the new West, the big boys in the smoke-filled rooms always need a Dick Cheney. He is the face of faceless corporations, the embodiment of secret decisions made in smoke-filled rooms. After he sobers up and stops talking, the spiritual descendants of the railroad barons will seek out this quiet bureaucratic strongman so they can continue to gobble up land, consolidate power and keep the little guy in line. More on GOP
 
Paul Hilder: Why Israelis Trust Obama More Than Bibi Netanyahu Top
The Washington face-off between President Obama and Benjamin "Bibi" Netanyahu, prime minister of the new right-wing Israeli government, represents the first chapter in a new era. It could yet go either way. On the surface, smiles and handshakes are de rigeur. Meanwhile, everyone is asking what's going on behind the scenes. New Israeli foreign minister Avigdor Lieberman was in no doubt - he said recently to a Russian newspaper that the US "accepts all Israel's decisions": Obama will do as he's told. US National Security Adviser James Jones and the President's chief of staff Rahm Emanuel reportedly have a different take. In the words of The Economist, "What may be Israel's most intransigent government ever elected is scared stiff that an American administration may squeeze it until its pips squeak." Beyond the politicking, questions of what ordinary Israelis and Palestinians want, and who they trust, are just as crucial in determining whether peace is possible. So last week we asked them - in representative public opinion polls specially commissioned for global citizens' network Avaaz. The results of these new polls were striking - so much so that they inspired us to make a TV ad called "Leadership", addressed to President Obama and opening with Lieberman's incendiary statement quoted above. Running on US television networks this week, the ad centres on what people in the region told us in those polls. For starters, Israelis trust Obama as a leader far more than their own prime minister Bibi Netanyahu -- with 59% of Israelis calling the US President trustworthy, and only 31% saying this of Bibi. What is more, 65% of Israelis - that's almost two in three - want President Obama to get actively involved to help solve the conflict, as do 70% of Palestinians. That amounts to a stunning vote of confidence from people in the region for Obama to take a lead for Middle East peace. It seems to be linked to Israelis' and Palestinians' doubts about their own leaders' ability to bring peace when they're left alone together - doubts which are very understandable when you take even a glance at the record. It used to be a point of principle for US negotiators like Dennis Ross that "We can't want peace more than the parties". But most ordinary Israelis and Palestinians desperately want a peace based on two states. It is their politicians who are failing to knuckle down and deliver it - which is why the people's hopes for leadership, and peace, now seem to rest more with Obama. Two recent polls in the US, by James Zogby of Americans at large and by JStreet of American Jews, found similar results supporting forceful leadership by Obama for peace. Thousands of people have donated to our ad to show the President that people in the region, in the US and around the world will back him if he takes the lead. It calls for him to advance a bold Obama Plan for Middle East peace, instead of endorsing just more dead-end talks between failing leaders. Here is the ad: Will Obama listen, or will he let Bibi and other regional politicians lead him by the nose? The omens are promising - but still unclear. One thing is for sure: we can't afford to fail. As King Abdullah of Jordan said last week, it's now a simple choice between more war or peace in the Middle East. Israelis and Palestinians are crying out for someone to change the game. Yet if Middle East peace is a US interest, it is US citizens who will need to stand up and be counted, and US politicians and policymakers who will need to steel their nerves, to engage all the parties - and, finally, to lead. More on Avigdor Lieberman
 
Lee Camp: WATCH: Ten Easy Steps to Using Water Boarding for Good, Not Evil Top
 
Jamie Reidy: Not The Breast Man for The Job Top
I might need to turn in my Guy Card. At the very least I need a dose of testosterone, STAT! What a bad way to start the week. I just spent way too much time analyzing the photos of 23 famous "enhanced" women . (To think my ultra-conservative Dad wonders why I blog at HuffPo!) Sadly, I only correctly identified two sets of boobs: Pamela Anderson and Posh Spice. I probably shouldn't even get credit for Pam's; recognizing hers is the equivalent of getting 200 points on the SATs for signing your name. Like reading Playboy , though, I gleaned some interesting facts from this. Carmen Electra "regrets" ratcheting up her rack. Riiiight. Like it's your smile that's earned you all those movie roles, baby . Some celebs qualify the work they've had done. "I admit I got small implants." As if those are somehow less fake. Mariah Carey's bra manufacturer really should hire a new marketing firm. Is it fair to the other Ms. USA candidates that Carrie Prejean has fakies? To me, that provides her with more of an edge than a left fielder using steroids. The Ms. USA board needs to draw the line someplace. Dye jobs, hair extensions and fake fingernails are okay, but boosted boobs should not be. And I am available if a "hands on" examination is required. Hopefully, i'd be able to tell the difference. I may never get over my lousy performance on this test. My girlfriend would approve of my batting .086, but I doubt I'll get the evite for the next Guys Night Out. Pfft. I've always been more of a Leg Man, anyway. At least that's what I'm telling myself. More on Miss California
 
Dr. Susan Corso: Tortured By Torture Top
Anyone else both pro and con on the ongoing torture prosecution debate? Maybe I'm just tormented by my own Libran capabilities, but I can see both sides, can't you? The facts seem pretty clear to me. The United States tortured political prisoners. The United States doesn't do this sort of thing. The United States has to do something about the torture that was done in its name. There are those who think the actual perpetrators ought to be prosecuted. There are those who think that those ordering the perpetrators ought to be prosecuted. There are those who think we are doomed to repeat the past if we do not prosecute. Authorities both within the United States and outside the United States have proven that torture doesn't work. The Obama Administration is falling every once in a while on one or the other side of the fence. On the one hand, they want to put the past behind them. On the other hand, there are squeaky wheels calling for action. What's a citizen to do? I think the real problem isn't whether to prosecute or not, or whom to prosecute or not. The real problem is that we, the American people, are suffering from our own collective psyche being tortured by torture. All people carry what the psychologists call an idealized self-image within. So do collectives. Our collective idealized self-image says that our country doesn't torture people, but we did, and we do and we have, so there's a major cognitive dissonance happening here in America, a collective scarecrow indicating a double message that's causing our psychic static. It says, torture went that-a-way, and it's left us doing double-takes. Often when I tussle with the social realities of our time, I go to the Oxford English Dictionary, the very best source for etymology in English. The word torture comes from Latin roots that mean twisting as in torque, and herein I see a glimmer of a solution to our prosecution dilemma. What we are all trying to do is take a twisted history and square it with our idealized self-image as a country. And we're failing at it. Deplorably. Torture is twisted behavior. The idea that hurting someone should, would, or could produce the truth from them is absurd. But no matter, we did it. Or, more properly, persons representing 'we the people' ordered torture, and others who were ordered so to do carried it out. No matter what shape we attempt to twist our collective consciousness into, torture is wrong. It denies that all beings are sacred beings. However, we also share a collective belief that those who do not understand history are doomed to repeat it. Here's the net/net: let 'we the people' call for a historical task force to both investigate and publish exactly what happened, to whom and when, via what mechanisms. Then let's learn from our mistakes and declare a national day of mourning for our bad behavior. Let's forgive ourselves, forgive the victims, forgive the perpetrators, and get out of the torture business once and for all. Visit Susan Corso's website at www.susancorso.com. More on Barack Obama
 
Leslie Goldman: A Picture Worth 1000 words Top
Like many people, Starbucks is my home office. The walls of my favorite 'Bux are often decorated with brightly colored artwork for sale, with tags that read Arts of Life. I knew Arts of Life was a nonprofit group that helps adults with developmental disabilities to explore the world of art, but I'd never met one of the actual artists ... until last week. Allow me to introduce Dave Ray Krueger, 46, artist and musician (posing in the photo below with a fellow artist's work). How did you get involved in art? My mom used to teach me how to paint when I was a baby. We started with pictures, coloring inside the pictures. My mother used to paint and teach me to do sculptures. So you've been involved in art your whole life? Yes! My brother, Gary, was an artist, too. What was it like the first time you saw your artwork hanging in Starbucks? I liked it. I think it was fascinating. I was devastated. (Me: "In a good way?" Dave: "Yes.") I was surprised my paintings went up. I was so excited to see my painting the first time. I want to learn how do magazines, newspapers, TV. I make my own comic books, too. Have you sold any of your paintings? Yes! I sold two of my comics and two of my paintings - Tornado Shocker and Rocketman Saves Christmas . What do you like to draw? Anything that comes to my head. I like big windows, different shapes and sizes. Easter Eggs in a basket with a bunny rabbit. What inspires you? I'm inspired by God. God gave me the wisdom to do painting. My mother's an angel know and I want to be like my mom, an angel. What do people say when they see your work? They are surprised with what I've accomplished. Everybody says I do good work with my painting. I get credit for each comic and each painting. I'm making a lot of money now. Have you made any friends through Arts of Life? I've got two amigos - Mike and Steve. What's your next project? I'm going to paint something on Memorial Day. Maybe go out, have a barbecue. And paint that. A painting about anything in Chicago. Maybe a Water Tower or Sears Roebuck. And you're in charge of media relations for Arts of Life, correct? I talk to reporters, yes I do. Just like anybody. They've even made me a tour guide. Do you have a website? Yes. It's http://www.artsoflife.org/artists/david-krueger/ I'm in a band, too - the Arts of Life band. (His newest song is a still-untitled number about Obama and ending the violence in Pakistan.) Arts of Life's Summer Exhibition is June 20 at 2010 W. Carroll in Chicago from 6-9pm. The Arts of Life band will play. Be sure to check out their web site to view all artists' work.
 
Senate Guru: Are Some Top Republicans Conceding Obama's Second Term? Top
{ First, a cheap plug for my blog Senate Guru . } Any list of potential 2012 Republican Presidential candidates can be broken down into the die-hard wingnuts & wingnut-wannabes (Sarah Palin, Newt Gingrich, Mike Huckabee, Mark Sanford, Mitt Romney) and the relatively ("relatively" being, well, a relative term) moderate Republicans (Charlie Crist, Jon Huntsman, Tim Pawlenty). The wingnuts are going full-wingnut, especially since the tea parties. But a funny thing happened to the relative moderates on the list. Maybe it's the right-wing purification the GOP has lately undergone, but it looks like the relative moderates are conceding that President Obama will win a second term, and are instead focused on preparing for 2016. (Perhaps, seeing the Republican Party's unabated hard drift further to the right in the wake of Election Day '08, the relative moderates have also given up on someone who is not a wingnut winning the GOP Presidential nomination in 2012, which also effectively cedes a second term to President Obama.) Just look at the events of the last week. Charlie Crist, who had voiced emphatic support for President Obama's economic stimulus bill, opted to run for Senate out of Florida in 2010 rather than re-election to the Governor's office. In addition to allowing Crist to eject himself from the budget ditch into which he has driven Florida's state economy, this allows Crist to build his national portfolio. And, oh, by the way, should Crist win the Senate seat, his term would expire in 2016. Jon Huntsman Jr., who governed conservative Utah but voiced support for not-so-right-wing-friendly policies like same-sex civil unions , has seen his name included more frequently in these discussions of potential Republican Presidental candidates. Just a few days ago, though, he went from potential Obama opponent to Obama employee effectively as he accepted President Obama's nomination to serve as Ambassador to China. After establishing his domestic executive resume as Governor of Utah, Huntsman can now shore up his international affairs bona fides in one of the most critically important roles in our nation's diplomatic corps. As it's unlikely that Huntsman would serve in the Obama Administration for a short period of time and then turn around and run against him in 2012, it seems more likely that he is setting himself up for 2016, seeing President Obama as "too popular to fail" in 2012. Tim Pawlenty was given an opportunity to earn some post-partisan cred by serving as a moderating force against Norm Coleman's endless appeals in MN-Sen. Pawlenty could have shown some spine regarding the seating of Senator-elect Al Franken, perhaps urging Coleman to concede should he lose his appeal before the state Supreme Court so that Minnesota could again enjoy its full Senate delegation. Rather, Pawlenty provided only wishy-washy answers in order to stay in the far-right-wing's good graces, possibly seeking the political table scraps of again being mentioned as a possible running mate in 2012, thereby surrendering membership in this club. With Obama-Biden ostensibly set to be the Democratic ticket in 2012, and with Vice President Biden turning 74 in 2016 (making a Biden Presidential candidacy in 2016 less than guaranteed), there is no clear Democratic favorite in 2016. By taking steps that both work with the Obama Administration and likely take themselves out of the 2012 sweepstakes (in which the GOP will likely go further right than any time in recent memory), Crist and Huntsman as setting themselves up to be the post-partisan successor to President Obama in 2016. Such moves effectively concede that Crist and Huntsman expect President Obama to win a second term and Republicans' further-rightward pull to fail in 2012. More on Barack Obama
 
Denis Campbell: Wait, Wait and the Party of Psychotic No! Top
The Republican Party needs an intervention. When a comedy news quiz show makes them apoplectic with rage, I worry that their stressors to try and remain relevant -- big movie trailer voice here -- "in a world where only 20% of the people identify with them ..." are overloaded to the breaking point. As a recent mini-stroke survivor, I've become evangelical about diet, exercise and reducing stress. While I've lost 50 pounds since November, exercise and run four-to-six times weekly and, being on a strict, medically supervised program at 51, feel fitter and healthier than at any other time in my life. By contrast, Republicans are overloading on Cheetos, moose burgers and Red Bull. They need to seriously chill. Headlines abound with them lining up to defeat President Obama's as yet-unnamed Supreme Court Nominee to replace David Souter. Former vice president Dick Cheney will not shut up over torture, thus creating the impression he is either completely deranged or embarking on a defence strategy so brazen as to actually think he has backed Team Obama into a corner, daring them to prosecute him. While I normally enjoy indulging the paranoid fantasies of the American right, this could be a sign an intervention may be needed. The right wing blog newsbusters.org burst a vein behind their eyes yesterday when Obama senior advisor David Axelrod joked that he was not involved in the Obama family selection of Bo the dog until the final three. His vote was to name the dog Miss California -- she of the "opposite marriage" pageant blunder who is now more famous than any 10 major policy Administration announcements. The actual Miss USA pageant winner -- quick can you name her? The answer is at the end of the post and you need more than just the state. No Googling! -- seems to be in the Witness Protection Program because of the headline-grabbing Carrie Prejean. Her globally covered press conference this week with "The Donald" was broadcast live around the world as we all clung to the edge of our seats worrying if the poor thing would keep her title. Was it ever really in doubt? Trump loves attention and on Larry King Live he boasted of the new pageant contract with NBC and the fact that the next Miss California pageant won a national cable television contract for the first time ever. As graduates of his PR school understand his philosophy is "call me anything you want, just spell the name T-R-U-M-P." Prejean was thrown into the deep end of the pool by Perez Hilton three weeks ago and, like a true media Jedi Knight, she learned how to use the medium. She's even learned a trick or two from politicians. The excuse, "the deceitful cameraman caught my titties in a sudden burst of wind" was classic political doublespeak. Divert attention from your own behavior and call out the media or opposition in a giant plot. Democratic Plot Exposed! Axelrod's quiz answer evoked hilarious laughter, a sheepish grin from the Puckish bad boy and complete outrage from the right! Let's look at what exactly they are so upset about. National Public Radio has a weekly quiz show in Chicago called Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me . Every Sunday morning the podcast arrives in my iTunes mailbox and I spend an hour on the treadmill at the gym laughing at the brilliant writing built around the week's news headlines. This week, the program took a road trip to the campus of George Washington University. Wait, Wait opened a Twitter account recently @waitwait and asked for questions from their audience for Axelrod in advance. This show is ubiquitous in Chicago, so much so that even Senator Obama was a guest answering questions from host Peter Sagal. Show announcer Carl Kassell has become an iconic cult hero as call-in players compete weekly to win public radio's prize of prizes, Carl's voice giving the welcome recording on their home answering machine -- something I am still seeking if only they would call Wales and let me play. Carl is the perfect radio foil for Peter as he reads limericks, creates news category questions, participates in the weekly News Quiz "Who's Carl this Time?" and other bits of news frivolity. The program has singularly re-ignited the comedy careers of Paula Poundstone, Mo Rocca, P.J. O'Rourke, Roy Blount, Jr., Tom Bodett and others as frequent celebrity guest panelists. So here's how bad the Axelrod drama actually was! Peter Sagal, host: So, let's take the President's dog. Obviously, that was focus-grouped, you really wanted to appeal to the Portuguese-American community with the choice. Seriously, do you, is it part of your job to worry about that, how things will play politically. How they'll look, how they should be framed? David Axelrod, White House Senior Advisor: I only, I only got called in for the final three on the dog. Sagal: Really? Axelrod: I wasn't there at the beginning of the process. Sagal: Seriously, were you consulted? Axelrod: I was not consulted. Sagal: Really? Axelrod: I was not consulted. Sagal: Really? Axelrod: Yeah. Mo Rocca: But who were the other two? Were there really two others? Axelrod: One was Miss California. (Audience applause and laughter) Sagal: Dude, you just lost the carelessly topless demographic for 2012. It was this that sent the right wing blogosphere nuts. Here's a word of advice: Republicans, if your party ever wants to come in from w-a-a-y out of the wilderness, you need to lighten up, suck it up and shut the hell up for at least a few weeks while you figure out your strategy or your numbers will drop to the teens. While that prospect would normally excite most progressives, I want the benefit of two-party debate and discussion like in the good old days of 25 years ago when we had something called a political middle ground. Wait, wait. Oh. Did you know the answer to who is the reigning Miss USA? She is Kristen Dalton of North Carolina. More on GOP
 
Danny Groner: Kobe Doin' Work Sends the Right Message Top
Spike Lee couldn't have picked a better day to debut his original ESPN documentary, Kobe Doin' Work . Saturday night turned out to be the eve of Game 7 between Kobe's Los Angeles Lakers and the visiting Houston Rockets. While the movie's scheduling likely took place weeks in advance, you couldn't have written a better backdrop for the movie's first airing. The film provides an up-close look at what Bryant thinks about and considers during an NBA game. Lee captured footage and audio from a game that the Lakers played against rival San Antonio Spurs late last season. Bryant offers narration and vivid explanation over video of the game, describing what was going through his mind during even the most minor moments of the game. During the film, Bryant expresses a range of emotions from joy to pain to glory to frustration. Critics of the movie claim that Bryant was mostly pandering to the camera for the sake of his image. It's true that his narration can border on a false modesty on occasion; but the film's best scenes come from the unequivocal times that we witness Bryant's intensity translating into emotion on the court. As Bryant speaks about the grittiness of veteran NBA players, you watch moments from the game where Bryant falls prey to veterans' savvy moves. After being whistled for a charging foul, Bryant is visibly irritated that he didn't hold back his momentum better. His narration here adds to what we can already see on his face: "You know that's what he was going to do," he narrates. "And then I blew it." And therein is the appeal of this film. Bryant does not attempt to reinterpret things or to prefer narrating the clips that make him seem more heroic. Instead, he spends much of the movie describing his shortcomings and miscues. He speaks often about how preparation if the foundation of the game, but also how difficult it is to execute and defend against traps or moves you even expect. The times when Bryant misses a shot or turns the ball over are the most revealing moments in the film if only because you get to hear the star say "My bad." Once you've accepted that Bryant's game is not flawless, then you're ready to digest the movie's larger messages. There's a scene where, late into the San Antonio game, Bryant calls for the ball at the top of the key. Kobe haters may argue that this is also another call for attention. And they'd be right. Only that play doesn't end with Bryant weaving through the defense himself. Rather, he winds up finding an open teammate who drains the shot. Bryant explains that since the Spurs were forced to focus more on him, they left a Laker with a better opportunity. This movie is chock full of examples of Bryant creating chances for teammates. He has evidently warmed up to the leadership role on this team, a team that, even he admits, once lacked the right personnel to win a championship. Bryant obviously believes that his current teammates are capable of contributing and delivering. He spends an inordinate amount of time on the court high-fiving his teammates and suggesting ways they can find openings to score. These are lessons in teamwork and leadership that Bryant acknowledges he's learned in recent years. But they're not new lessons by any means. They are the same, basic tenets of the game that we try to educate the youth with to orient their basketball styles and choices around selfless play. Yet, when Bryant, an elite player, discusses how these missing facets of his game were what was holding him back, some people are quick to dismiss his comments as insincere, self-promoting propaganda. Even if Bryant's approach and intentions for this film aren't entirely sound, the message is one we should believe in. For all of those young kids growing up worshiping Bryant's talent and ability to score, let them listen to Bryant talk about how learning to trust his teammates was what propelled him to find more success and happiness on the court. Just like Spike Lee lets Bryant's play exemplify his spoken word in the film, Bryant demonstrated yesterday how valuable that message of teamwork is for him. A day after the film aired, the Lakers routed the Rockets to advance to the Conference finals. Bryant scored 14 points, third most on the team, while playing just 33 minutes. He also led his team in assists.
 
Jon Soltz: It's Official: Bush Admin Saw Iraq As Religious War Top
When I signed up to serve in the United States Army, I did so because I wanted to serve my country. I wanted to - if called - put my life on the line to defend her, and all she stands for. We who served take an oath to defend this nation and its Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic. As a Jew, one of the most important principles to me in our Constitution is religious freedom. Steeped in the history of colonization of America by those who were persecuted for their worship, tolerance of all religions and not putting one ahead of another, is a core principle I would die for. Little did I know that while I was preparing to go to Iraq, the Bush administration was using Bible passages (both Old and New Testaments) on cover sheets of security reports, emblazoned on top of pictures of our armed forces. The implication was clear - this was a religious war, and our troops were fighting for the God of the Bible. GQ has a bunch of these cover sheets , hand delivered by Donald Rumsfeld to the White House. Again and again, security updates were adorned with bible passages. "Open the gates that the righteous nation may enter, the nation that keeps faith (Isaiah 26:2)." "Behold, the eye of the LORD is on those who fear Him, On those who hope for His loving kindness, To Deliver their soul from death. (Psalm 33:16-19)." "Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. (Ephesians 6:13)." Again and again, no one at the White House seemed to object and demand the practice end, as the reports with biblical quotes kept coming and coming. We know that the Bush administration launched the war based on flimsy and false intelligence, and used torture to try to falsely link Iraq to 9/11. But, what we now know is that in the opening days of the war in Iraq, even the flimsy intelligence took a backseat to the idea that this was a Biblical fight between the forces of good (those who worship the God of the Old and New Testaments) against those who worship the God that is chronicled in the Koran. It doesn't just offend me as a Jew that I was apparently fighting for the New Testament in the eyes of the Bush Administration. And it doesn't just offend me as an American that they thought it proper to engage our troops in what they obviously saw as a religious crusade. As someone who still has friends over in Iraq and Afghanistan, it boils my blood to think that insurgents and terrorists now have something else to show around as "proof" that America is "fighting a war on Islam." Rumsfeld and those at the Pentagon (as well as the White House) had to know that there was a possibility that these would come out, and only exacerbate the religious and cultural misunderstandings about the United States in the region. And yet, they didn't care. This kind of message from the top trickled down, allowing some troops to feel comfortable in presenting themselves as Holy Warriors, and expressing that in areas where that kind of message hurts more than helps. Earlier this month, it was revealed that some troops were handing out Bibles in Afghanistan, written in Pashto and Dari. A chaplain told some troops that their job was to "hunt people for Jesus." When Colin Powell endorsed Barack Obama for the Presidency, he made a point of raising the photo of the grieving mother of Kareem Rashad Sultan Khan at his grave at Arlington Cemetery. Khan - a Muslim - died for this country, in Iraq. He didn't die for the Bible. He wasn't even fighting for the Bible. He wasn't "hunting people for Jesus." If anything, brave men and women like Khan should serve as examples to the Muslim world that we don't fight religious wars. Yet, now the long arm of the Bush administration has reached from the past into the present, again. We need to investigate how widespread this notion that we were in a religious war spread, and how far it trickled down. And, most of all, the President and Secretary of Defense must make clear to our forces that it is a false notion, and any actions based on it must stop now. Crossposted at VetVoice.com More on Colin Powell
 
David Ormsby: Illinois Senate Democrats Talk Ethics Record to New Media, Push Back on Old Media Complaints Top
Illinois Senate Democrats are pushing back--gently--but pushing back nonetheless against some Illinois newspaper editorial board claims that the legislature is an obstacle to Illinois political reform. As part of that push back, and under the shadow of the Collins Commission public relations wave machine, several Democratic senators hosted an exclusive, blogger-only discussion on May 14 to update the new media on reform progress and, more importantly, to provide historical context and practical challenges to legislating reform. Though light on details, Senators Don Harmon (D-Oak Park), Jeff Schoenberg (D-Evanston) and Kwame Raoul (D-Chicago) gave bloggers a useful political science lesson on Illinois political reform--a lesson that stressed state political reform initiatives began long before Patrick Collins and crew rolled into Springfield. With the backdrop of editorial boards blaring their reform horns and exhorting the legislature to act, Harmon dryly noted that the legislature has already acted. Harmon pointed to the comprehensive state pension reform that "did not get the appropriate attention in the mainstream media." A state pension board provided a nest of financial corruption under former Gov. Rod Blagojevich via Stuart Levine and others. And Senate Democrats helped create the fix. It was Schoenberg's legislation, SB 364 , that cleaned house. The law kicked out the multiple existing pension board members, bans non-investment professionals--a.k.a. lobbyists--from greasing the wheels between investment houses and state pension boards, and tightens other ethics screws. This is a big deal. And Quinn signed it into law on April 3--59 days after the bill was introduced and more than a month before Patrick Collins even released his report. That's warp speed in legislative years. Schoenberg noted that he had toiled for 15 years until he successfully secured procurement reform at the Illinois Toll Highway Authority. But he got it done. Raoul also provided a useful history lesson on another reform topic: public financing of elections. Raoul noted that the Collins report includes a recommendation to provide public financing for Illinois Supreme Court elections. Great idea. And Raoul introduced legislation two years ago. He reintroduced the same bill, SB 2144 , earlier this year, months before the Collins report. Raoul also noted his predecessor, Barack Obama, had sponsored the same legislation, SB 1415 , in 2005. Other Senate sponsors included Schoenberg and John Cullerton, among others,. What did Chicago newspapers editorialize at the time at the time on the Obama bill? Nothing. Couldn't be bothered. And so on. Finally, Harmon said--and Cullerton confirmed earlier in the day--that Senate Democrats will back campaign contributions caps, but they are unlikely to copy the federal limits of $2,400 per candidate as recommended by Collins. Harmon and the other senators--who observe that the federal limits hardly seem to have limited special interest influence in D.C.--want to prevent morphing state lawmakers into fund-raising machines that crowd out constituent demands and lawmaking from their schedules, a reality that Collins overlooks. Finally, Harmon reminded the bloggers - for all the editorial commentary criticizing the legislature on ethics - there has been no lawmaker subject FBI to inquiry or subpoena or taint from the Blagojevich scandals. What Harmon left unsaid was that a certain Chicago newspaper critical of the legislature can make no similar claim. More on Barack Obama
 
Anant Goenka: Indian Elections: The Gift of Stability -- to the People, by the People Top
The people of India have spoken loud and clear and they have given themselves the gift of stability, and the victory of development over communalism and petty regional dogma. Three hours after counting commenced, the Indian National Congress (INC) clearly began to emerge as the single-largest party and the incumbent Congress-led coalition, the United Progressive Alliance took a comfortable lead of over 250 seats and counting: just a few seats short of the magic number of 272 seats in the Indian parliament and a gap of over 50 from the closest opposition -- the National Democratic Alliance (NDA). In my humble opinion the Congress, in practice, is not as secular as it claims to be and similarly the BJP is not as communal as people believe. But the fact that India has nationally supported one party in such strength, shows India's desire for stability and indicates the first, concrete step the country has taken away from communalism and divisive politics towards a politics of development; the emergence of a healthy, matured state of coalition governance. And this will reflect in the second largest national party -- the Bharatiya Janta Party's (BJP) conduct as the parliamentary leader of the opposition and in its next election campaign as well. This year the party was tied down by the old folk -- it was unclear whether it was embracing the Hindutva card or promoting itself as a secular organization. President Rajnath Singh's leadership was uninspiring and the party's prime ministerial candidate, 82-year-old Lal Krishna Advani, campaigned to fulfill his life's dream; he was far from the favorite of partymen and non-Congress supporters. The defeat will only have a positive outcome for the BJP as the old will retire and make way for the younger and more able leaders. And specifically for Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi -- the champion of industry and Hindutva -- this loss will only strengthen people's demand for him to emerge as the party's leader and prime ministerial candidate. And even as the saffron leader will aim to move into 7 Racecourse Road, there will not be a loud and obnoxious campaign on the basis of Hindutva, but for development instead. His name and face will send a silent call to the Hindu voters and the progress of Gujarat will warrant him to campaign on the vote of economic growth and industrial progress. And similarly, after Congress' dynastical next-in-line, Rahul Gandhi will step into Dr. Manmohan Singh's shoes, the economic progress made by his stable government this term, will be the foundation of his campaign. India is a complicated democracy that survives as an island in a sea of political instability and undemocratic regimes. The country is divided by thousands of religions, castes and communities and politicians have always struggled to campaign based on policies and ideologies over religious and communal identities. The results of this election are the first step away from that direction. The third and fourth fronts, coalitions of smaller regional parties, which were expected to provide the UPA and NDA a challenge this election, will only reduce in size. Instead, parties will join hands and have larger, steady coalitions instead. India wants a coalition that can act fast, progressively and not be bogged down by the whims of ideologically opposing parties like the one we saw last year, which supported the ruling coalition from outside and opposed its every move while threatening to topple the government. As pundits pick their brains to determine the cause of this huge victory for the Congress, its important to remember that the victory is not that of one political party but of every political organization in India including the BJP, which will now be forced to reinvent itself and emerge as a true national contender to the Congress' dynasty, making the way for two strong and opposing sides and for a healthy democracy.
 
Bill Clinton: U.N. Special Envoy To Haiti Top
Former U.S. President Bill Clinton will be named a U.N. special envoy on Haiti this week, sources close to the United Nations tell The Cable. The announcement is expected to be made as early as Tuesday. More on Bill Clinton
 
John Conyers: Obama "Becoming Conservative Now That He's Got The Job" Top
U.S. Rep. John Conyers, the Detroit Democrat who chairs the House Judiciary Committee, says it is time to repeal the 16-year-old ban on openly gay service members in the U.S. military. The controversial policy has become an issue for the White House since President Obama took office in January. During the 2008 campaign, Obama had promised to end the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy, but recently, the president has appeared to be backing off that statement.
 
Jenni Schaefer: Dating Real People (After An Eating Disorder) Top
Now that Ed (insider nickname for "eating disorder") and I are no longer together, I am dating real people. As dysfunctional as my relationship was with Ed, at least dating him felt familiar and reliable. Sometimes what is bad (i.e. Ed) can actually feel safe and comfortable, simply because it is familiar. Ed was predictable. Sure, he threw the occasional curve ball, but for the most part, I knew what he wanted. He wanted control of my life and would do anything to get it. Real guys are not as predictable, and I find this quite challenging. I have been talking a lot lately with friends and family about navigating the unchartered waters of dating. Dating is about gathering information, not necessarily spilling it. I have definitely struggled with giving out too much information -- my deepest thoughts, secrets, and fears -- too soon. I used to wear the same thing on all of my first dates. I wore a scarlet letter. Unlike in Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter , my scarlet letter was not an "A" for adultery, but a "T" for trauma. I wore my scarlet letter like a badge to represent any past trauma and life struggles. We tend to air out our dirty laundry like this in an attempt to see if the other person will still like us. I am learning that time is a huge factor in getting to know someone and that the dirty laundry will come out naturally, over time. We don't have to put our dirty socks on the table before the food has even arrived on the first date! When things do come out naturally, I am beginning to understand that I need to be responsible for my own past. I have heard it said about relationships, "It's okay to have baggage, just make sure you carry your own bags." In the past, I have not carried my own bags very well, and in fact, I have expected guys to pick them up for me. One guy I dated actually told me, "You are a big, big, big red flag!" No, he was not saying that I was fat. He was saying that he needed to steer clear of dating me. And, at the time, he was right. I am also discovering that dating is about being real, not accommodating and nice. I am no longer co-dependent on first dates -- or seconds or thirds. I am true to myself. For so long, the men I dated didn't get to know the real Jenni because I hid behind who I thought each one of them wanted me to be. Metamorphosing like this was hard work -- I won't do it anymore. I like to laugh, so I laugh. I am a little quirky, so I am a little quirky. I am learning to take my time and not rush into anything. These days, I try to get to know a man slowly and avoid immediately putting him on a pedestal, believing that he is Mr. Right and can do no wrong before I even know his last name. As I take things more slowly, I am trying to enjoy the process and realize that I don't have to "do" anything. Yet another problem that I have had with dating is feeling like I always have to do something. If he does this, I have to do that. If he does that, I have to do this. The truth is that I don't have to do anything except be myself and trust the process. If it doesn't work out with someone, I will learn something for the next time around. When I first broke up with Ed, I did not have many expectations from men. Compared to Ed, every man was a step up. Today, I do have expectations from men and from myself. I expect people to treat me with respect, and I expect to treat others the same way. I respect myself. Dating in this healthy way is actually helping me to get to know myself better. I am having more fun along the way. Join me on this blog (become a fan above!) as I share more of my journey. More on Relationships
 
Text of OBAMA'S NOTRE DAME SPEECH Top
Below is the text of President Obama's Notre Dame commencement speech, as prepared for delivery. Full video is below. Thank you, Father Jenkins for that generous introduction. You are doing an outstanding job as president of this fine institution, and your continued and courageous commitment to honest, thoughtful dialogue is an inspiration to us all. Good afternoon Father Hesburgh, Notre Dame trustees, faculty, family, friends, and the class of 2009. I am honored to be here today, and grateful to all of you for allowing me to be part of your graduation. I want to thank you for this honorary degree. I know it has not been without controversy. I don't know if you're aware of this, but these honorary degrees are apparently pretty hard to come by. So far I'm only 1 for 2 as President. Father Hesburgh is 150 for 150. I guess that's better. Father Ted, after the ceremony, maybe you can give me some pointers on how to boost my average. I also want to congratulate the class of 2009 for all your accomplishments. And since this is Notre Dame, I mean both in the classroom and in the competitive arena. We all know about this university's proud and storied football team, but I also hear that Notre Dame holds the largest outdoor 5-on-5 basketball tournament in the world - Bookstore Basketball. Now this excites me. I want to congratulate the winners of this year's tournament, a team by the name of "Hallelujah Holla Back." Well done. Though I have to say, I am personally disappointed that the "Barack O'Ballers" didn't pull it out. Next year, if you need a 6'2" forward with a decent jumper, you know where I live. Every one of you should be proud of what you have achieved at this institution. One hundred and sixty three classes of Notre Dame graduates have sat where you are today. Some were here during years that simply rolled into the next without much notice or fanfare - periods of relative peace and prosperity that required little by way of sacrifice or struggle. You, however, are not getting off that easy. Your class has come of age at a moment of great consequence for our nation and the world - a rare inflection point in history where the size and scope of the challenges before us require that we remake our world to renew its promise; that we align our deepest values and commitments to the demands of a new age. It is a privilege and a responsibility afforded to few generations - and a task that you are now called to fulfill. This is the generation that must find a path back to prosperity and decide how we respond to a global economy that left millions behind even before this crisis hit - an economy where greed and short-term thinking were too often rewarded at the expense of fairness, and diligence, and an honest day's work. We must decide how to save God's creation from a changing climate that threatens to destroy it. We must seek peace at a time when there are those who will stop at nothing to do us harm, and when weapons in the hands of a few can destroy the many. And we must find a way to reconcile our ever-shrinking world with its ever-growing diversity - diversity of thought, of culture, and of belief. In short, we must find a way to live together as one human family. It is this last challenge that I'd like to talk about today. For the major threats we face in the 21st century - whether it's global recession or violent extremism; the spread of nuclear weapons or pandemic disease - do not discriminate. They do not recognize borders. They do not see color. They do not target specific ethnic groups. Moreover, no one person, or religion, or nation can meet these challenges alone. Our very survival has never required greater cooperation and understanding among all people from all places than at this moment in history. Unfortunately, finding that common ground - recognizing that our fates are tied up, as Dr. King said, in a "single garment of destiny" - is not easy. Part of the problem, of course, lies in the imperfections of man - our selfishness, our pride, our stubbornness, our acquisitiveness, our insecurities, our egos; all the cruelties large and small that those of us in the Christian tradition understand to be rooted in original sin. We too often seek advantage over others. We cling to outworn prejudice and fear those who are unfamiliar. Too many of us view life only through the lens of immediate self-interest and crass materialism; in which the world is necessarily a zero-sum game. The strong too often dominate the weak, and too many of those with wealth and with power find all manner of justification for their own privilege in the face of poverty and injustice. And so, for all our technology and scientific advances, we see around the globe violence and want and strife that would seem sadly familiar to those in ancient times. We know these things; and hopefully one of the benefits of the wonderful education you have received is that you have had time to consider these wrongs in the world, and grown determined, each in your own way, to right them. And yet, one of the vexing things for those of us interested in promoting greater understanding and cooperation among people is the discovery that even bringing together persons of good will, men and women of principle and purpose, can be difficult. The soldier and the lawyer may both love this country with equal passion, and yet reach very different conclusions on the specific steps needed to protect us from harm. The gay activist and the evangelical pastor may both deplore the ravages of HIV/AIDS, but find themselves unable to bridge the cultural divide that might unite their efforts. Those who speak out against stem cell research may be rooted in admirable conviction about the sacredness of life, but so are the parents of a child with juvenile diabetes who are convinced that their son's or daughter's hardships can be relieved. The question, then, is how do we work through these conflicts? Is it possible for us to join hands in common effort? As citizens of a vibrant and varied democracy, how do we engage in vigorous debate? How does each of us remain firm in our principles, and fight for what we consider right, without demonizing those with just as strongly held convictions on the other side? Nowhere do these questions come up more powerfully than on the issue of abortion. As I considered the controversy surrounding my visit here, I was reminded of an encounter I had during my Senate campaign, one that I describe in a book I wrote called The Audacity of Hope. A few days after I won the Democratic nomination, I received an email from a doctor who told me that while he voted for me in the primary, he had a serious concern that might prevent him from voting for me in the general election. He described himself as a Christian who was strongly pro-life, but that's not what was preventing him from voting for me. What bothered the doctor was an entry that my campaign staff had posted on my website - an entry that said I would fight "right-wing ideologues who want to take away a woman's right to choose." The doctor said that he had assumed I was a reasonable person, but that if I truly believed that every pro-life individual was simply an ideologue who wanted to inflict suffering on women, then I was not very reasonable. He wrote, "I do not ask at this point that you oppose abortion, only that you speak about this issue in fair-minded words." Fair-minded words. After I read the doctor's letter, I wrote back to him and thanked him. I didn't change my position, but I did tell my staff to change the words on my website. And I said a prayer that night that I might extend the same presumption of good faith to others that the doctor had extended to me. Because when we do that - when we open our hearts and our minds to those who may not think like we do or believe what we do - that's when we discover at least the possibility of common ground. That's when we begin to say, "Maybe we won't agree on abortion, but we can still agree that this is a heart-wrenching decision for any woman to make, with both moral and spiritual dimensions. So let's work together to reduce the number of women seeking abortions by reducing unintended pregnancies, and making adoption more available, and providing care and support for women who do carry their child to term. Let's honor the conscience of those who disagree with abortion, and draft a sensible conscience clause, and make sure that all of our health care policies are grounded in clear ethics and sound science, as well as respect for the equality of women." Understand - I do not suggest that the debate surrounding abortion can or should go away. No matter how much we may want to fudge it - indeed, while we know that the views of most Americans on the subject are complex and even contradictory - the fact is that at some level, the views of the two camps are irreconcilable. Each side will continue to make its case to the public with passion and conviction. But surely we can do so without reducing those with differing views to caricature. Open hearts. Open minds. Fair-minded words. It's a way of life that has always been the Notre Dame tradition. Father Hesburgh has long spoken of this institution as both a lighthouse and a crossroads. The lighthouse that stands apart, shining with the wisdom of the Catholic tradition, while the crossroads is where "...differences of culture and religion and conviction can co-exist with friendship, civility, hospitality, and especially love." And I want to join him and Father Jenkins in saying how inspired I am by the maturity and responsibility with which this class has approached the debate surrounding today's ceremony. This tradition of cooperation and understanding is one that I learned in my own life many years ago - also with the help of the Catholic Church. I was not raised in a particularly religious household, but my mother instilled in me a sense of service and empathy that eventually led me to become a community organizer after I graduated college. A group of Catholic churches in Chicago helped fund an organization known as the Developing Communities Project, and we worked to lift up South Side neighborhoods that had been devastated when the local steel plant closed. It was quite an eclectic crew. Catholic and Protestant churches. Jewish and African-American organizers. Working-class black and white and Hispanic residents. All of us with different experiences. All of us with different beliefs. But all of us learned to work side by side because all of us saw in these neighborhoods other human beings who needed our help - to find jobs and improve schools. We were bound together in the service of others. And something else happened during the time I spent in those neighborhoods. Perhaps because the church folks I worked with were so welcoming and understanding; perhaps because they invited me to their services and sang with me from their hymnals; perhaps because I witnessed all of the good works their faith inspired them to perform, I found myself drawn - not just to work with the church, but to be in the church. It was through this service that I was brought to Christ. At the time, Cardinal Joseph Bernardin was the Archbishop of Chicago. For those of you too young to have known him, he was a kind and good and wise man. A saintly man. I can still remember him speaking at one of the first organizing meetings I attended on the South Side. He stood as both a lighthouse and a crossroads - unafraid to speak his mind on moral issues ranging from poverty, AIDS, and abortion to the death penalty and nuclear war. And yet, he was congenial and gentle in his persuasion, always trying to bring people together; always trying to find common ground. Just before he died, a reporter asked Cardinal Bernardin about this approach to his ministry. And he said, "You can't really get on with preaching the Gospel until you've touched minds and hearts." My heart and mind were touched by the words and deeds of the men and women I worked alongside with in Chicago. And I'd like to think that we touched the hearts and minds of the neighborhood families whose lives we helped change. For this, I believe, is our highest calling. You are about to enter the next phase of your life at a time of great uncertainty. You will be called upon to help restore a free market that is also fair to all who are willing to work; to seek new sources of energy that can save our planet; to give future generations the same chance that you had to receive an extraordinary education. And whether as a person drawn to public service, or someone who simply insists on being an active citizen, you will be exposed to more opinions and ideas broadcast through more means of communications than have ever existed before. You will hear talking heads scream on cable, read blogs that claim definitive knowledge, and watch politicians pretend to know what they're talking about. Occasionally, you may also have the great fortune of seeing important issues debated by well-intentioned, brilliant minds. In fact, I suspect that many of you will be among those bright stars. In this world of competing claims about what is right and what is true, have confidence in the values with which you've been raised and educated. Be unafraid to speak your mind when those values are at stake. Hold firm to your faith and allow it to guide you on your journey. Stand as a lighthouse. But remember too that the ultimate irony of faith is that it necessarily admits doubt. It is the belief in things not seen. It is beyond our capacity as human beings to know with certainty what God has planned for us or what He asks of us, and those of us who believe must trust that His wisdom is greater than our own. This doubt should not push us away from our faith. But it should humble us. It should temper our passions, and cause us to be wary of self-righteousness. It should compel us to remain open, and curious, and eager to continue the moral and spiritual debate that began for so many of you within the walls of Notre Dame. And within our vast democracy, this doubt should remind us to persuade through reason, through an appeal whenever we can to universal rather than parochial principles, and most of all through an abiding example of good works, charity, kindness, and service that moves hearts and minds. For if there is one law that we can be most certain of, it is the law that binds people of all faiths and no faith together. It is no coincidence that it exists in Christianity and Judaism; in Islam and Hinduism; in Buddhism and humanism. It is, of course, the Golden Rule - the call to treat one another as we wish to be treated. The call to love. To serve. To do what we can to make a difference in the lives of those with whom we share the same brief moment on this Earth. So many of you at Notre Dame - by the last count, upwards of 80% -- have lived this law of love through the service you've performed at schools and hospitals; international relief agencies and local charities. That is incredibly impressive, and a powerful testament to this institution. Now you must carry the tradition forward. Make it a way of life. Because when you serve, it doesn't just improve your community, it makes you a part of your community. It breaks down walls. It fosters cooperation. And when that happens - when people set aside their differences to work in common effort toward a common good; when they struggle together, and sacrifice together, and learn from one another - all things are possible.
 
Mike Smith: David Plouffe: Just Wanted Obama Campaign to be "Credible" Top
"Hillary Clinton was the strongest candidate our party had put forward in a decade," began David Plouffe, campaign manager for Obama for President. "Barack Obama offered an improbably candidacy. We had a full appreciation of her and we defied convention wisdom." Plouffe lead a discussion on promoting diversity in Advertising -- political or otherwise -- at the American Association of Advertising Agencies (4A's) conference in New York this week. Moderated by CNBC host Donny Deutsch, the 4A's has collaborated with Howard University and the Center for Advertising Excellence to talk about a crippling issue of the lack of diversity in the ad business. "Young people are truly color blind," said Plouffe, "so we ran a non-race-based campaign." The campaign and constituents knew the country wanted change. After a successful fundraising quarter and then the win in the Iowa Caucus, Plouffe thought: "This election mattered to people. We thought, 'wow' this is actually happening." Donny Deutsch peppered Plouffe with insight questions. The owner of the $2.5 billings agency Deutsch and host of a new CNBC offering, The Entrepreneurs , is really a great interviewer. Deutsch had worked on the Clinton campaign in 1992, and believes the Obama speech on race in America was a turning point for voter acceptance in 2008. Still, he believed the Hillary Clinton campaign was a juggernaut. "Most people thought Obama would be a non-candidate," said the campaign manager. "Our goal was to put up a credible campaign." Calling political campaigning a "sequential set of contests," he added there seemed to be a focus on winning one state at a time. "We were a gathering storm," said Plouffe. Deutsch segued deftly. He introduced two political campaign vets Cornell Belcher and Clifford Franklin, who had worked on polling and integrated marketing respectively for Obama. Finally, half way into the program on diversity, two black guys were involved! It was not lost on me, nor the crowd of perhaps 150 industry HR and executive leaders that the two main attractions were "white dudes." "The new electorate is only 55% white but is also black and brown," said Pollster Belcher. "This is your new marketplace. Corporate American needs to re-set." He added the challenge for the ad industry is to see how Brands fit into this re-set. "If you don't re-set right now, your Brand is going to get left behind." Cliff Franklin was hysterical in pointing up the ironies: "Flat is the new growth," in our economy. "We need some diversity of thought in advertising. Some of you are hip, and some are just not!" He said the Madison Ave. ad industry should take a lesson and create a model for Brand Ambassadors at the grassroots level. His final advice on building a career in advertising, "just get people that win." Nancy Hill, president of the 4A's, took a moment to congratulate the industry for financial support for the Center for Advertising Excellence. She also thanked ad execs for turning-out in force to the first of Howard's John J. Johnson school of communications symposiums and fundraisers for CEA. Chuck Porter, chairman and CEO of Crispin, Porter + Bogusky, and the newly elected vice chair of the 4A's said his number one motivation in taking the chairman posting next year is a full industry press on diversity. Not just for the "minority outreach" or multicultural grassroots divisions, but at the highest agency ownership levels. Plouffe advised: "Don't hire just to reach black folks." More on Obama Election Day
 
STEVEN HUTCHISON, Iraq Soldier, Dead At AGE 60 Top
PHOENIX — A 60-year-old Vietnam War veteran killed by a roadside bomb in Iraq has become the oldest Army soldier to die in that conflict, the military said Thursday. Maj. Steven Hutchison, of Scottsdale, Ariz., served in Vietnam and wanted to re-enlist immediately after the 9/11 terror attacks, but his wife was against it, his brother said. Richard Hutchison told The Associated Press on Thursday that when she died, "a part of him died" so he signed up in July 2007 at age 59. "He was very devoted to the service and to his country," Richard Hutchison said. He described him as a great big brother and friend. "I didn't want him to go," he said through tears, adding that he loved his brother "so much." The Pentagon said Steven Hutchison was killed in Iraq on Sunday. Army spokesman Lt. Col. Nathan Banks said Thursday that Hutchison was the oldest Army soldier killed in Iraq. An Associated Press database of soldiers killed in Iraq and Afghanistan shows that Hutchison is the oldest member of any service branch killed since the wars broke out. Hutchison served in Afghanistan for a year before deploying to Iraq in October, heading a 12-soldier team that trained the Iraqi military, his brother said. Later, he was assigned to help secure Iraq's southern border. Hutchinson, who grew up in California, taught psychology at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles on and off between 1988 and 1996, and lectured and taught at two other colleges, according to school records. He then worked at a health care corporation in Arizona before retiring and re-entering the service, his brother said. He was part of the 2nd Battalion, 34th Armor Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division at Fort Riley, Kan. ___ On the Net: Department of Defense: http://www.defenselink.mil More on Iraq
 
Adam Green: VIDEO: Norm Coleman Confronted by Local Progressives Top
Yesterday in Minnesota, Norm Coleman thought he was being greeted by supporters outside a local Republican event. But instead, Coleman came face-to-face with the fact that his insistence on being a sore loser has raised over $90,000 to help progressives defeat Republicans in 2010 -- thanks to the " Dollar a Day to Make Norm Go Away " campaign launched recently by the Progressive Change Campaign Committee and Howard Dean's Democracy for America. It's all caught on video -- check it out. And if you aren't among the thousands of progressives who have joined the "Dollar a Day" campaign, you can do so at NormDollar.com . Thanks to Amanda Becker, the awesome Minneapolis editor who crunched this video out on short notice. And to Gail Cerridwen, Jim Bootz, John Mallo, Cheryl Larson, and John Mallo's puppy who all played important roles in the making of this video. (Sorry, puppy was off-camera.) More on Al Franken
 
Huckabee Poem Calls On Pelosi To Step Down Top
Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee (R) penned a poem for his website in which the potential 2012 presidential candidate calls on House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) to resign. More on Nancy Pelosi
 
Marty Kaplan: It's Tough Love Time for Obama Top
First I worried that Obama was foolhardy to put Goldman Sachs alumni and other Wall Street geniuses in charge of fixing the mess that they'd made in the first place. But then I bought the pragmatic argument that these masters of the universe were the only people with enough inside experience to understand the derivatives con game well enough to shut it down. Then I was afraid that Obama was naïve to court Republicans who kept stiffing him on vote after party-line vote. But then I convinced myself that a majority of Americans wanted him to persist at bipartisanship even though House Republicans unanimously preferred warfare to finding common ground, and that being gracious to kneejerk obstructionists gave him enough political cover to get enough Republican Senators to block a Republican filibuster. Then I thought Obama and his Justice Department were being wussy to oppose calls for hearings about torture and for giving a pass to the supine Bush appointees who concocted a "legal" rationale for waterboarding. But then I bowed to the notion that health care and energy and the rest of the reform agenda would die if torture took up all the oxygen in Washington. Then I was troubled that we were ramping up in Afghanistan without an exit strategy, and that rendition and military commissions would continue, and that withholding promised torture photos would lead to the very enemy propaganda victory that the policy reversal was meant to avoid. But then I had to acknowledge the national security and realpolitik props it was winning him from columnists, from the military establishment and from Republicans, and the political upside of being willing to alienate civil libertarians like me. Then I was concerned that the single-payer option doesn't have a seat at the Administration's health policy table, and that the White House didn't lobby the Hill for an interest-rate cap on usurious credit card companies, and that giving laborers a reasonable chance to organize their workplaces isn't a legislative priority, and that ending "don't ask, don't tell" has become don't-go-there. But when I recalled that Obama has already reversed Bush's ban on stem cells, and cancelled Bush's last-minute rule permitting mountaintop mining waste to be dumped near streams, and signed a law extending the statute of limitations on equal-pay lawsuits, I remembered how hostile the last White House was to just about everything I believe in. Throughout the campaign, candidate Obama refused to take the advice I shouted at my television. During the debates, when I pleaded with him to counterpunch at McCain more aggressively, he instead kept calmly saying, "I agree with John...." When I urged him to respond ferociously to Sarah Palin's poisonous charge that he was "pallin' around with terrorists," he coolly ignored me. When I begged him to replace his let's-look-forward-not-backward rhetoric with a promise to hold Bush lawbreakers accountable, it seemed like he didn't even hear me. And since his strategy clearly worked, it turned out to be a good thing that he blew me off. I don't think that President Obama is in a policy bubble, that he's not doing what I want him to do because there's no one in the White House forcefully making my case to him. On the contrary, I'm pretty sure that in every decision he makes, the political, moral and policy pros and cons are all starkly in front of him. Nor is it plausible to me that he lacks the smarts and values to know the right thing, or the courage to do the right thing, or that he's become a captive of the Washington insider/corporate media establishment, or that he's a bait-and-switch President who ran as a Democrat but governs as a post-partisan. On the other hand, I don't have to agree with Obama all the time. In fact, it's my responsibility to be loud and clear when he lets me down. During the Bush years, I was astonished by the ability of Republicans to walk in lockstep, to justify everything the Administration did, to bend themselves into a pretzel in order to claim that night is day and black is white. On the Hill, among the interest groups, in the right-wing echo chamber, there was no lie too blatant or hypocrisy too appalling to be saluted as sweet reason. Obama doesn't get that kind of treatment, nor should he. There's no reason his supporters on the left should suck it up and defend him when we disagree with him. Tough love for him is a sign of respect. Sure, vocal dissent runs the risk of propagating a media meme: "Obama's in trouble with his base, but where are they going to go?" But so what if criticism plays into that narrative? After eight years of dissent being demonized as unpatriotic, it's a relief to be mixing it up again. This is my column from The Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles . You can read more of my columns here , and e-mail me there if you'd like.
 
Frances Beinecke: Just What the Doctor Ordered: Clean Energy, Public Health, and Climate Change Top
Six years ago, the only people I talked to about global warming were other environmentalists. Now it is the top of the agenda for everyone from corporate CEOs to national security hawks. Last week, another sector joined in the growing chorus to confront the climate crisis: public health. The Lancet, one of the world's most prestigious medical journals, just released a report along with the University College London that calls climate change "the biggest global health threat of the 21st century." That makes it bigger than AIDS, bigger than malaria, and bigger than pandemic flu. And that's why the authors are calling for an international public health advocacy movement dedicated specifically to curbing global warming. The doctors' prescription is clear: low-carbon living will generate major health benefits. The link between global warming and human health was brought home to me last summer when I traveled through the Arctic Ocean on an expedition to see the signs of global warming up close. As I expected, there were several climate scientists on the ship as well as US lawmakers and environmental leaders. But I was surprised to discover that the director of the Center for Disease Control was also onboard. Health officials at the highest levels are beginning to take global warming very seriously. The Lancet report indicates why. Its findings include: • Extreme heat waves will cause more deaths; in 2003, Europe got a hint of this when up to 70,000 extra deaths were linked to intense heat waves across the continent. • Changes patterns of infections and insect-born disease will threaten could have devastating impacts on human health. • Reduced water and food availability will lead to malnutrition and diarrheal disease, which can be deadly in impoverished communities. • Within the next 20 years, declining crop yields--brought on by climate change--could increase food insecurity. And by 2100, half of the world's people could face severe food scarcity, as rising temperatures take their toll on farmers' crops. The Lancet makes it clear that these impacts will land disproportionately hard on the poorest among us. This includes the victims of the Darfur genocide, the millions of people living in the flood plains of Bangladesh, and the inhabitants of Lagos, Mumbai, and other low-lying cities who are too poor to move away from rising seas. These looming realities give a moral urgency to stopping global warming. The climate crisis was caused by humans, and I believe we can solve it as well. But at the same time we are fighting to put low-carbon solutions in place, we also have to pay close attention to ways human health is already being endangered. NRDC's Global Warming & Health Project is fast at work on this. As my colleague, Dr. Kim Knowlton points on in her recent post , NRDC reports have already charted future changes in unhealthy ground-level smog, elevated heat-related deaths, and changing climate-ozone-pollen patterns. You can find overviews of this work at the NRDC's Global Warming and Health website . And as you read NRDC's information and the Lancet findings, remember that we can stave off the worst of these health problems by reducing our global warming pollution. The clean energy bill that is moving through the House right now is just what the doctor ordered. More on Darfur
 
Poll: Pelosi Gets More Support Than CIA In Dispute Top
Greg Sargent highlights a Rasmussen poll today that indicates that after several days of the media flogging Nancy Pelosi's inept press conference and the attendant spat with the Central Intelligence Agency that ensued, public opinion remains more or less split, with a slight edge going to the Speaker of the House: How likely is it that the CIA misled Pelosi about the use of waterboarding when interrogating prisoners? 20% Very likely 23% Somewhat likely 19% Not very likely 22% Not at all likely 16% Not sure As Sargent notes: Strikingly, this is almost completely at odds with the way the traditional news orgs have covered this dispute . Most have focused almost entirely on the doubts the competing claims of Pelosi and the CIA cast on Pelosi's credibility, with very few giving anywhere near the same level of scrutiny to the ways in which the CIA's credibility is now in question. I'd say, for the time being, keep watching for any shifts in these numbers. And, more importantly, keep watching for whether the amplification of this sideshow tamps down or increases the widespread agitation for investigations into torture . To that end, Matt Yglesias has an excellent piece in today's Daily Beast , in which he maintains that while the GOP's focus on Pelosi has been a classic news-cycle victory, it's likely to increase the likelihood of the outcome they don't want - full-blown investigations: Various conservative commentators have expressed their hope that gunning for Pelosi will blunt progressive calls for a "truth commission" to thoroughly investigate what really happened on Bush's trip to the "dark side". Fox's Neil Cavuto said we might be in a "Mexican standoff" wherein Pelosi would agree to drop the idea of investigations to prevent herself from attracting scrutiny. Steven Hayes, Dick Cheney's official biographer, said, "Democrats who have been so enthusiastic about truth commissions have to be stopping and saying, OK, wait a second." What conservatives are missing here is that this is a fight they were winning before they started gunning for Pelosi. Their best ally in this fight was Barack Obama, whose desire to "move forward" rather than focusing on the past had been the subject of much consternation. Had conservatives simply reached out to grab the hand that was being extended to them, they could have gotten what they wanted. But in their zeal to score a tactical win, the right has made a truth commission more likely not less likely. An oft-ignored part of the Pelosi-CIA story is that despite being touched - and potentially threatened - by this controversy, Pelosi has continued to strongly advocate for a Truth Commission. And as Yglesias points out, "by suggesting that Pelosi could be a target of an investigation, conservatives have helped cleanse the idea of the odor of victor's justice." RELATED: Poll: More Say It's Likely That CIA Misled Pelosi About Torture [The Plum Line] GOP's Torture Tricks Backfire [The Daily Beast] [Would you like to follow me on Twitter ? Because why not? Also, please send tips to tv@huffingtonpost.com -- learn more about our media monitoring project here .] More on Nancy Pelosi
 
Madeleine M. Kunin: China Journal, May 16, 2009: Terra-Cotta Soldiers, Islam, and Pollution Top
China Journal, May 16, 2009 We have been tourists for the last two days, traveling from Guangzhou to Xi-an, site of the capital of China for 1,300 years for 13 dynasties and known as the city of Kings and Emperors. Crowded two and a half hour flight; we were the only Westerners on board. Tourism has grown tremendously here since the discovery of the Terra-Cotta soldiers, in 1974 (the site was opened in 1979). Whatever photographs one may have seen of this site, they cannot convey the enormous scope of this terra-cotta army, which was constructed between 2221 and 2006 BC. Pit #1 is the size of two football fields. At one end, there are rows of reconstructed soldiers, some as high as eight feet, (averaging 6–7 feet) divided by clay barriers. Behind them are the remains of broken soldiers, and behind them are the covered soldiers, not yet unearthed. All the soldiers, chariots and horses were destroyed when a marauding army of angry farmers, tired of being taxed, rebelled against the Emperor and burned the wooden roof, which covered the army. The roof collapsed breaking everything into millions of pieces. It is expected that 6,000 pottery soldiers and horses will eventually be unearthed there. This is a real army, with weapons, officers, and guards—ready for battle. The Emperor wanted to be sure that he would be fully prepared to remain victorious in the afterlife. The soldiers were discovered by a farmer who was digging a deep well during a drought and came upon some fragments. He immediately reported his discovery to the government (legend had it that a curse would fall on anyone who revealed this site) who treats him like a national monument. He is now 80 years old and can not read or write, but learned to write his name and shows up at the site from time to time. We were lucky enough to meet him and he signed his name in the souvenir book, an unassuming, quiet man. The sign next to him said, "no photos." What to make of this eighth wonder of the world? Emperor Qin may have been the first, but not the last to create a huge military-industrial complex. Some 7,000 workers and craftsmen labored for 37 years to build this huge construction site which contains two other pits and an untouched mausoleum which looks like a mountain—all for the afterlife. Farmers paid an 80% tax and each family had to provide a man to work for to the Emperor. No wonder they rebelled. The Emperor was an egomaniac, so much so that he searched for a magical elixir to enable him to live forever. Unfortunately, he thought he discovered it—a blend of mercury, gold and jade dust. It killed him at the age of 50 while he was touring his kingdom. He is credited with uniting China with a single alphabet and currency. The effect of entering this archeological site is magical. The figures, each one with a different facial expression, come to life. Every detail of their armor, shoelaces, hairstyles, and scarves is cast and carved with perfect detail. Those who are still partially buried seem to be waking up from a long dream, their heads rising from the clay blanket in which they seem to be wrapped. The bodies of the warriors and horse were cast, but the heads were chiseled and added last. The models were thought to be their fellow workers. Some have wry smiles, others are proud; none look afraid. The archers, both standing and sitting, are caught in mid-motion, ready to release their crossbows. They were originally painted in bright colors, but even now, in their light brown clay (unique in China, taken from a river-bed) they seem alive, monumental and powerful. Such a crazy idea, to put all that wealth and energy into a tomb for the afterlife, and yet, that idea is now a gargantuan work of art that gives us a clue of a civilization that existed almost 5,000 years ago. China, which has been so quick to tear down the old and build up the new, no matter what the social or environmental cost, recognized this treasure for what it is—a link to a great past. There are a series of photographs of world leaders who have visited the site, including Bill, Hillary, and Chelsea Clinton, who came here in 1998. They were given the privilege of entering the pit and standing between the soldiers. Entry is usually restricted to archeologists who painstakingly search for each tiny shard to put it in the right place. The result is, ironically, an afterlife, if not for the Emperor, then for the soldiers themselves. Our next stop was to a Moslem neighborhood and a revered Mosque, which looked more Chinese than Muslim. I had not expected to see this blend of the ancient Arab world and Chinese cultures here. To get there we went through narrow streets lined with a bustling market, women in head scarves turning large walnuts in a round metal pot with salt to increase the flavor, sticky rice sold from push carts, leeche nuts, dates, pyramids of ripe fruit, and all sorts of kites made a pattern of beautiful colors. As we wended our way to the mosque, parts of which go back to the opening of the Silk Road, men wearing white round hats were leaving from prayer. Moslems form the biggest minority population in China and they seem to have religious freedom. Only Moslems could go inside the prayer hall, which looked just like a typical ancient Chinese building except for an Arabic sign over the door, and which can hold 700 people. We just caught a glimpse of the brightly colored prayer rugs lining the floor. Our next stop was the Xi-an museum and the Big Wild Goose pagoda, surrounded by a peaceful garden and filled with sweet smells, a refuge from the smog filled city. Xi-an, unlike Guangzhou, has preserved some of its character—there are two cities, one inside the wall and the other outside. The inner city has made an effort at historic preservation requiring that buildings inside the wall retain a Chinese character. The extent of building outside the wall was only made clear to me when we went to the airport and saw a new "high technology" center that had sprung up just a few years ago—one high-rise after another—apartment buildings and offices seemed to multiply like tall rabbits. The extent of pollution is evident here as well. I thought it might be better in this part of China—if it is, the difference is barely noticeable—no stars. Paul Krugman's visit to China, which coincided with ours, focused on the rapid increase in green house gas emissions here and the disastrous consequences. China is not likely to change its policy soon. Four hundred new cars are registered every day in Xi-an, a city of 8 million, our guide told us. Yesterday's headline in the English language China Daily read, "China Stance on Climate Talks Firm, Nation urges rich countries to cut gas emission by up to 40%." Discouraging news. China claims it is a developing nation and has the right to continue to develop full speed ahead. This is the position they are taking to the UN Conference on climate change in Copenhagen in December. How they can be blind to the destruction this is causing is hard to understand. The paper today announced a visit by Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner in June. Describing Chinese-American relations, the heading read, "Two grasshoppers by one string." Interesting what stories make it into the Chinese press. Three columns, half a page long, were filled with a picture of President Obama giving a diploma to a blond graduate at Arizona State with the full story about how the university did not think he had yet completed a body of work. Lunch was a special treat; an imperial dumpling banquet. Amazing small dumplings, some shaped like chickens, some like flowers, and one delicious one in the shape of a walnut, filled with sweet chopped nuts. They were works of art for the eye and the palate. It will be hard to go to a Chinese restaurant in the US after tasting the food here. Lots of fresh vegetables, intricately spiced flavors, all delicate and delicious. Our guide told us that southern Chinese food is different from northern, where we are now. She said with distaste that it is known in southern China, they eat everything with four legs, except the table and chairs. "We never eat cats and dogs," she said. The Chinese are superstitious—mostly about luck, happiness, death, and fortune. There is no fourteenth floor in buildings. Instead in our hotel there was a floor marked 13A. Four is an unlucky number because it sounds like death. The best number is 8, which means big fortune, 6 means happiness and 9 longevity. Our Xi-an guide told us we were going to modern China by going to Beijing. Modern is just five to six hundred years ago. Xi-an, on the other hand, is 5,000 years old. We were reminded of its age when we went to the Xi-an Forest of Stone museum "which is like a book" and holds several thousand stone tablets, going back to Confucius. Our guide told us several times that the Chinese do not revere him because of his religion but as a philosopher. The final stop before lunch and the ride to the airport was at a jade museum. Xi-an is known for its special jade from the riverbed. Jade has been valued for thousands of years, it is the connection between God and nature, water and mountains, and helps "keep away evil," the museum guide told us. It seems we believed him because my husband bought me a beautiful translucent jade bracelet. This was originally posted at Chelsea Green . Madeleine M. Kunin is the former Governor of Vermont and was the state's first woman governor. She served as Ambassador to Switzerland for President Clinton, and was on the three-person panel that chose Al Gore to be Clinton's VP. She is the author of Pearls, Politics, and Power: How Women Can Win and Lead from Chelsea Green Publishing .
 
The World In Photos: May 18, 2009 Top
This is the HuffPost's selection of photos of today's news and events from every corner of the globe. This HuffPost World feature is available Monday through Friday. Get HuffPost World On Facebook and Twitter! More on Sri Lanka
 
LA Considering Following Chicago's Lead On Parking Meters Top
While at least some members of Los Angeles's City Council look at Chicago's parking meter mess and see . . . a mess, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa looks at Chicago's parking meter mess and sees . . . money.
 
Army Of Paid Bloggers Suddenly Promoting Online Payday Loans Top
Last week the blogosphere showered love on a website that offers no-hassle payday loans online. Over a dozen individual bloggers posted items singing the praises of paydayloansmania.com. Just a spontaneous outpouring of collective love for a fab website . At PaydayLoansMania.com, "Nobody will ask you for what purposes you need your payday loan, and your credit history will not be taken into account while granting you a credit," one blogger writes. "It can be a life saver that also provides easiest advanced cash online," says another . "Pay Day loans in the month of May, it sounds almost poetic," waxes a third . It sounds more like a paycheck for the blogger. The poet and his entourage are participating in a viral marketing scheme whereby they get paid to chat up a product. IZEA, the company behind payperpost.com, a lead innovator of the marketing method, calls the business model "sponsored conversations." The Federal Trade Commission is considering updating its guidelines to indicate that the commission expects these kinds of testimonials to come with conspicuous disclosure of the paid relationship. Most of the blogs that endorsed paydayloansmania.com in the last few days have a sidebar that discloses that the blogger is getting paid per post. The poet's blog specifically says he's working for www.payperpost.com. The blog posts represent the meet-up of new frontiers in advertising and lending. Once you follow the a link to paydayloansmania.com, you're in what one lending lobby spokesman calls "the Wild West." Forget about disclosure. "Online payday lenders are the same or worse than regular payday lenders," said Kathleen Day, a spokeswoman for the Center for Responsible Lending, in an interview with the Huffington Post. "The problem is that they're even harder to track." The Huffington Post had no luck tracking down anyone from paydayloansmania.com. The website provides no contact information. A registration check revealed a nonworking phone number and a street address in Albuquerque, New Mexico. A note to the listed email address was not returned. While the Center for Responsible Lending considers online payday lenders essentially the same as their brick-and-mortar counterparts, Steven Schlein, a spokesman for the Community Financial Services Association -- a payday lending trade group -- calls online lending "the Wild West" of the industry. "Storefront companies make online loans but they adhere to state regulations," Schlein told the Huffington Post. "It's kinda weird that [paydayloansmania.com] doesn't have a rate sheet and just starts asking for your personal information." The Online Lenders Alliance, which formed in 2005 to "protect the industry against potential damage caused by inept lenders," said paydayloansmania.com is not a member. Evasiveness is part of the business model for some online lenders. The state government of California has been unable to crack down on online payday lenders because "many of these Internet lenders... say they are Indian-owned businesses, linked to sovereign Indian nations and immune from state regulation," reported the Los Angeles Times . "A lot of online payday lenders are operating out of Costa Rica," said Schlein. "How is the state of New York or Massachusetts going to go after them?" But if you need a hassle-free loan, hey, take it from blogopinionz and visit paydayloansmania.com: "Aside from the hassle free payday loan service that they are offering, their service doesn't have hidden fees." Get HuffPost Politics On Facebook and Twitter!
 
Ryan Haydon and Stefani Piermattei: The Bachelorette Liveblog Top
Join us tonight at 9 pm ET for the two hour premiere of The Bachelorette. Bachelorette - May 18th More on ABC
 
Earl Ofari Hutchinson: Obama Really Had No Choice on Torture Pictures Top
The most telling thing about President Obama's response to Army General Ray Odierno's impassioned plea to him not to release the eye popping photos showing torture of Iraqi prisoners was not that he gave in to the general. It was what he said to the general when he made the decision. Said the general, "It must have been a hard decision," Obama "No, it wasn't at all." This was not hyperbole to appease a fawning, jittery, military hard nosed general. Nor was it a chronic case of backsliding, flip-flopping, or betrayal of principle. It was simply President Obama recognizing that he's a young, untested, and perceived liberal Democrat, and therefore widely suspect that he'll be a namby pamby on national security and military toughness. These aren't simply politically volatile issues. They're the political Achilles Heel of Democrats. Democratic presidents and presidential candidates starting with Clinton have done everything they could to wrap a protective guard around that heel. To do that they had to snatch a page from the GOP playbook that requires them to talk tough on national security and military preparedness. In countless speeches and private talks during the 2000 presidential campaign, Clinton sternly warned the Democrats that if they want to grab the White House they must seize the national security and defense issues from the Republicans. That meant doing and saying nothing that stirs public sensibilities and fears on the war on terrorism and about Democratic military softness. At times, it meant trying to out Bush Bush on the GOP's stock issue of the war on terrorism and national security. Democratic presidential contenders Al Gore and John Kerry took Clinton's advice to heart with disastrous results. They both tried to strike the tough guy pose. Kerry even said at one point that he'd launch preemptive strikes against terrorists wherever they were and that he would launch search and destroy missions to ferret out Osama and Al-Qaeda. That fooled absolutely no one. Endless polls showed that the voters repeatedly gave Bush huge percentage margins over Kerry when asked who they thought would do a better job in the anti-terror war. Kerry didn't get it. He kept slamming Bush as being, weak and ineffective in fighting terrorism. He touted his military credentials as a Vietnam combat vet to supposedly prove that he would and could be every bit if not more the hardliner on terrorism than Bush. During the campaign, Obama with only slight stylistic tweaks pretty much followed the same script as Kerry. He really had no choice. He was viciously baited on the sound of his name, slandered and lied about as a Muslim, and pounded for allegedly not wearing an American flag in his lapel and not hoisting his hand to his heart when the national anthem was played. In the minds of many suspicious Americans, that typed him as inherently questionable on being a stalwart tough guy on terrorism and national defense, and worse unpatriotic. These were all attack points during the campaign for variously McCain, Sarah Palin, the Republican National Committee, and legions of GOP hit bloggers. McCain waved his credentials as Bush did as the man who you'd want to be in the driver's seat to safeguard national security. The not so subtle message was that Obama wasn't that man. The polls backed up McCain on that claim. Most found that nearly half of Americans said that Obama was not hard nosed enough on national security and McCain was. That of course, raised hackles among Team Obama and they took great pains to assert their military preparedness credentials. Once in office, liberals grumbled that Obama backpedaled on his promises to totally dismantle the most odious of Bush's torture policies and that included hauling Bush officials accused of condoning torture and illegal wiretapping into a court docket. The failure to fully reverse Bush torture policies had nothing to do with Obama's merely putting pragmatism over principle, especially since a federal judge had already ordered the photos released. The photos have been widely circulated on the web. More importantly, America's enemies are certainly well aware of and have experienced first hand the full brunt of CIA and military dirty tactics. Obama's refusal to release the photos was simply another instance of a moderate Democratic president under the intense glare of the military and GOP looking glass doing the politically expedient and necessary thing and that's to kiss the obligatory ring of national security and military toughness. It's also reconfirmation of the time tested political truism in American presidential politics that moderate Democrats always run to the political left in the early stages of a campaign. They then move quickly to the center or even rightward once in the White House. Obama can't be branded a backslider, betrayer, or flip flopper for trying to do what all moderate Democrats have done and will continue to do. And that's to damp down suspicions that they can't be military tough guys too. Earl Ofari Hutchinson is an author and political analyst. His weekly radio show, "The Hutchinson Report" can be heard on weekly in Los Angeles on KTYM Radio 1460 AM and nationally on blogtalkradio.com More on GOP
 
Katie Couric Writes USA Today Op-Ed To Advocate For Children Of The Recession Top
But the real gut-wrenching stories of the economic downturn reach well beyond the offices of Wall Street or the corridors of power in Washington. You see, the collateral damage of this recession is felt by our smallest, and weakest, citizens -- our children. It's felt by a 5-year-old girl with swollen, bloody feet. More on CBS
 
Dr. Eric Braverman: Is Better Sex Just a Supplement Away? Top
One of the most important ways that you can continue to look, feel, and live younger occurs when you have a vibrant and active sex life. Once you lose the interest--or ability--to enjoy sex, almost everyone ages very quickly, and often prematurely. Youthfulness is identified with high sexual activity, so no matter what age we are at we should be experiencing a life full of intimacy, touch, and love. However, as we get older, this is not always the case. When your brain is at peak health, you will want to experience the joys of sex all the time. But when your brain is experiencing a chemical deficiency, sex won't seem so enticing and the physical act will leave you lacking. Therefore, maintaining a younger brain is the only way to keep a younger, sexually active body and as well as a creative and loving mind. The four phases of sex can be directly correlated to the four primary brain chemicals: • Desire and libido is created in the brain by dopamine; when you are low on dopamine your energy for and interest in sex wanes, as well as your performance • Arousal is initiated by acetylcholine; when cognitive functioning and internal moisture goes awry and your acetylcholine becomes depleted, you will not be able to focus on sex, let alone maintain your attention and stimulation. • GABA is your "get started" brain chemical. It controls your anxiety; you will not be able to achieve an orgasm if you are tense. • Resolution is related to serotonin. If serotonin becomes depleted, your timing is off. You're either coming to the party too early or too late. The Fix: Oxytocin Supplements That Enhance Sexual Desire The core elements of my approach include early and innovative diagnostics, so that you can identify if you are experiencing problems relating to sex before symptoms occur. Then, you can enhance your particular brain chemical deficiencies through exercise, choosing the right foods and nutrients (and avoiding the wrong ones, like coffee, soda, and salt), as well as taking medications to resolve specific issues. All of these suggestions are detailed in my book, YOUNGER YOU. Yet even a balanced brain can still use a little help when it comes to sex. That's why I recommend bioidentical hormones as part of my protocol. It's simply a fact that as we age, our hormonal output diminishes. Decreases in these hormones affect all of the systems in the body and the brain, but none are more noticeable than the ones related to sex. Menopause, and its male counterpart, andropause, occur as the hormones estrogen, progesterone, and testosterone decline. The good news is that these decreases are completely reversible. If you can boost these same hormones in their most natural forms, along with other important ones early enough, the symptoms and conditions related to their decline will disappear, creating a younger you full of vigorous health. The latest research is also showing that both men and women can supplement the hormone oxytocin for enhancing sexual function and desire. Often referred to as "the happy hormone," oxytocin is released during birthing and breastfeeding. It is also released when we are hugging, touching, and during orgasm. In the brain, oxytocin plays an integral role in bonding, and may be involved in the formation of loving relationships. In the body, it causes contractions in the uterus, and the penis. Women who are deficient in oxytocin may have difficulty with sexual arousal and will not be able to achieve multiple orgasms. Men who are deficient will lack the desire to be touched, as well as the ability to orgasm. Oxytocin supplementation has been common practice in hospital settings for dozens of years. Pitocin, the drug given to birthing mothers to increase contractions, is a synthetic form of oxytocin. However, prescribing a naturally compounded version that is more similar to the hormone we produce for increased sexual enjoyment is relatively new. Oxytocin is one of the most potent stimulators for both men and women. It will increase sexual arousal, increase penile erection, and increase frequency of orgasm. The results I have seen in my office are astounding. One woman told me that within a few days of treatment "sex felt the way it used to." Aside from the physical aspect of sex, the emotional aspect is enhanced as well. My patients relay that they have experienced increases in romantic attachment, and believe that they are forming closer, more romantic relationships with their partners. Discuss this option with your doctor to see if it is right for you and your current state of health. Sometimes these conversations can be uncomfortable, but rest assured, your doctor should be willing to talk to you about your sex life in the most professional terms. If not, it might be time to find a doctor who cares about treating all of your needs. More on Sex
 
Louisiana School Shooting: Student Shoots Himself In The Head After Firing At Teacher Top
LAROSE, La. — Authorities say a student shot himself in the head at a Louisiana middle school after he fired at a teacher and missed. Lafourche Parish Sheriff Craig Webre says the 15-year-old student fired one shot Monday inside a classroom at Larose-Cut Off Middle School. He then went into a bathroom and shot himself. Sgt. Lesley Peters, a sheriff's spokeswoman, says the student is in critical condition at a hospital in nearby Galliano. His name has not been released. Webre says the school about 45 miles southwest of New Orleans has been locked down. He says the students were being taken to a nearby VFW hall. The shooting is still under investigation. (This version CORRECTS that student shot himself in bathroom, not behind stairwell.) More on School Shootings
 
Meet The Men Behind DC's 'Dos Top
Rahm Emanuel was in the other day for a $50 haircut. White House staffers Desiree Rogers, Valerie Jarrett and Jen Psaki have all been in recently. ABC's Jake Tapper is a regular, as are the BBC's Katy Kay, MSNBC's Savannah Guthrie, George W. Bush's Ambassador of Protocol Nancy Brinker, former Laura Bush chief of staff Anita McBride and lobbyist Linda Daschle.
 
Weekend Late Night Round-Up: Tony Danza, Dick Cheney, Viagra And More! (VIDEO) Top
Jay Leno put Miss California's assertion that the wind blew open her vest, causing topless photos of her to be taken, to the test by placing a similarly dressed model in front of a high-powered wind machine. Let's just say she's full of crap. Speaking of people full of crap, Dick Cheney continued to be the butt of jokes this weekend with Bill Maher saying: "Dick Cheney will not shut the f*** up. He's all over he's on Fox News, he's on "Face the Nation," he's on every radio show. Today he was on "Oprah" complaining John Edwards cheated on him. Remember the good old days when the guy who got tortured did the talking?" To see last weekend's round up, click here. WATCH: Get HuffPost Comedy On Facebook and Twitter! More on Late Night Shows
 
Mitchell Beer: Not So Fast: Don't Write Off Canada's Single-Payer Health System Top
When free-market alarmists who oppose U.S. health care reform storm Congress with their horror stories about Canada's public health insurance system, I don't know which system they're talking about. It can't be the one that saved my daughter's life, keeps our family out of bankruptcy, or delivers a more consistent standard of care and higher life expectancy than the private system in the U.S., at lower cost per capita and as a share of gross domestic product (GDP) . In May, 1996, just a few weeks after her second birthday, our daughter was in the midst of her first serious asthma attack. She was too young to tell us what was wrong. We didn't yet understand what we were looking at. When she couldn't stop wheezing and wouldn't stop crying, my wife suggested taking her to the hospital. I'll never forget that ride. Rachel's head was lolling back in her car seat, and her eyes were rolling back in her head. By the time we reached the Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario (CHEO), her blood oxygen was dangerously low, at about 80 percent, and she was turning blue. Karen carried Rachel into the emergency room while I parked the car. By the time I caught up with them, just a few minutes later, a medical team had assessed the situation, grabbed Rachel, and rushed her to the resuscitation room, where she received the oxygen, cortisone, and Ventolin that saved her life. Nothing about this story should be extraordinary. The system responded just the way it's supposed to -- efficiently, compassionately, and with all due haste. Just two things were missing: the supposedly endless delays that are touted as legendary whenever the U.S. Congress debates Canadian health care, and the private insurance coverage that would have been our price of admission if we'd been living 500 miles to the south. Detractors of Canada's single-payer system, up to and apparently including Senate Finance Chair Max Baucus (D-MT) , don't seem to realize that sound health care backstops a sound economy. As far back as the early 1990s, before it became a mark of shame to be the chair of Chrysler Corporation, Lee Iacocca understood the private health care costs that have now crippled the U.S. auto industry. "We save maybe 15, 20 percent by building a car in Canada because the Canadian government's paying that 15 percent for workers' health insurance," Iacocca told AARP's online magazine earlier this year. "The United States has the most expensive health care in the world," he said, "and we don't have the best record, whether it's infant mortality or whatever. We're just not there with the rest of the world." Decades earlier, United Auto Workers (UAW) President Walter Reuther fought for federal health insurance for all. But GM's Charlie Wilson and other titans of industry "fought Reuther tooth and nail," according to the Huffington Post's Robert Creamer. "They believed that these programs would undermine the 'private market,'" Creamer wrote last November . "To head him off, they offered a program of employer-based health and pension benefits. Sixty years later, those privately funded health and pension benefits have become an economic albatross." And for what it's worth, it's doubtful that my small business, The Conference Publishers , would be celebrating its 25th anniversary this fall if we'd had to cover our employees' private health care costs -- or if I'd had to make the drastic job choices that would have been needed to finance our family's intermittent health problems. You'd think I'd be used to it by now, but I get the same sense of startled unreality whenever I hear about someone in the U.S. losing their health care when they lose their job...or being grateful to work overtime hours at an impossibly low wage because health care is part of the package. I've heard of people postponing retirement to hold their benefits, delaying life-saving treatment because they don't know how they'll pay for it. And then I hear U.S. politicians of all stripes rule out a practical, proven alternative, never bothering to explore the details behind the label. None of this is to suggest that the Canadian health system is perfect. We wrestle with long wait times. We have a shortage of family physicians, especially in rural areas. Health conditions in Aboriginal communities are often appalling. We've been slow to adopt health promotion and disease prevention measures that save lives and money. We've equivocated on tobacco control and dithered on harm reduction. Our system still hasn't accepted the overwhelming evidence that a supervised injection site in Vancouver's Downtown East Side is a resounding success. And our governments have spent decades underfunding public health programs that define their success by the illness and injuries they prevent -- with the inevitable result that the system is most visible when it fails. But two things are true about these limitations. The difficulties our system faces are not unique to Canada. And some of our biggest challenges result from a sustained effort to fund European-style health care on a tax system shaped in part by political and fiscal trends in the United States. Since that first scary ride to the hospital, we've learned how to keep Rachel's asthma under control. When she runs into problems, we read the signs and bring her in for treatment before it's an emergency. Sometimes, as a result, we have to wait minutes or hours to see a doctor. And on occasion, while we're waiting, we hear other parents mutter about the inefficiency, the stupidity, the annoying unfairness of a public health system. That's when we tell them about a little girl with her blood oxygen at 80 percent, her head lolling back in her car seat and her eyes rolling back in her head. We remind them that they'd be more hesitant to seek care if they knew it would cost them thousands of dollars, that health care of any kind might be beyond their reach in a private system if they didn't have a job. And from personal experience, we assure them that if they've been asked to wait, it's because someone else's need is even more urgent. No health system is flawless. But ours is far better than the caricatures that roll out across the United States, whenever your country seems to have a serious shot at health care reform.
 
Jerry Zezima: Sole Mates Top
Even though I have a feminine side, which I'm usually sitting on, I am proud to say that I'm the very model of the modern, middle-age man. In fact, I am so secure in my masculinity that I recently helped get a fundraiser off on the right foot, followed by the left, when I went to a beauty salon for a dueling pedicure with my wife. The event, which raised money for the Scoliosis Association, was held at Charmed Salon & Spa in Miller Place, N.Y., where I get my hair cut. While Sue gets pedicures all the time, this was only the second time I had gotten one. The first time was in 2006, when I was father of the bride and wanted my feet to feel good when I walked my older daughter, Katie, down the aisle. It worked: I didn't fall on my face. When Sue and I arrived at the catered affair, which featured vendors who were donating their services, salon owner Maria Vieira introduced us to Nicole McConnach, a licensed and very nice pedicurist who didn't know what she was getting herself into. That was obvious when I showed Nicole my tan, navy and white argyles and said, "I'm not wearing socks. The doctor thinks this rash will clear up in a few days. Still want to give me a pedicure?" Sue, Maria and Nicole simultaneously rolled their eyes. Before going in the back to the private pedicure room, Nicole asked what color nail polish I wanted. "Well," I said, "the beach season is coming up and I want to look good when I dig my toes into the sand. I'd also like to impress the fish when I'm in the water. How about red?" "Clear," suggested Nicole, who said guys shouldn't wear red, which Sue picked, or even black, which is considered a hot color. "I guess red would attract sharks," I noted. "And black would make me look like I had some sort of foot disease. Clear it is." The well-appointed pedicure room contained two plush chairs and all kinds of lotions, towels and equipment -- except, curiously, a gas mask, which I figured Nicole would need when I removed my shoes and the aforementioned hosiery. As Sue and I settled into our respective chairs, rolled up our pant legs and stuck our bare tootsies into small whirlpool tubs that were filled with hot water and mint-scented foot soak, Nicole asked who wanted to go first. "Me!" chirped my sole mate. "You can save the worst for last," I told Nicole. "You have very pretty and delicate feet," Nicole said to Sue, who wears a size 6 shoe. "Wait until you see Jerry's," replied Sue, who thinks I have the ugliest feet on earth. "My shoes ought to come with oars," I said, noting that I'm a size 11. "My feet look like two huge Limburger cheeses with really long toes." When Nicole finished giving Sue the deluxe treatment, capped with an application of bright red nail polish, she turned her attention to me. "Your feet aren't so bad," Nicole said as she examined them. "I've seen worse." After Nicole applied lotion to my toes, she pushed back the cuticles with something that looked like a surgical instrument. "What do you call that thing?" I asked. "A cuticle pusher," Nicole answered. "It's all very simple." She said that most men don't understand why women love to pamper themselves by getting pedicures, adding: "Usually, guys pamper themselves by buying more expensive beer." After applying an exfoliant to my feet and calves, Nicole started buffing and rubbing until I exploded in a paroxysm of giggles that must have made the people out front wonder what the heck was going on. "You're ticklish," said Nicole, giggling herself. The rest of my pedicure was so heavenly that I vowed not to wait until my younger daughter, Lauren, gets married to have another one. After Nicole applied clear polish to my nails, I walked out front wearing the largest flip-flops in the salon to show off my glowingly pink feet. "They look beautiful," Sue admitted. For a donation of $10 each, Sue and I helped raise nearly $1,000 for the Scoliosis Association. The fundraiser was so successful that Maria is hoping to have a benefit for breast cancer in October. "I'll be there," I promised. "And this time, I'm going to put the 'man' in manicure."
 
Supreme Court Hands Medical Marijuana Major Victory Top
The U.S. Supreme Court handed medical marijuana patients and advocates a resounding victory on Monday, refusing to hear a case brought by San Diego County, which has long chafed at implementing statewide medical marijuana laws. The state of California, in an effort to systematize the 1996 voter-approved initiative, required localities to implement identification card programs for patients with doctor approval in 2004. Such ID cards are required to enter medical marijuana shops in California and can be shown to police officers who find patients in possession of marijuana. San Diego County, however, argued that the federal ban on marijuana trumps the state law, meaning they are not required to follow the state law. The county filed suit in 2006. Both the San Diego Superior Court and the Fourth District Court of Appeals rejected the argument, which was followed by the California Supreme Court's refusal to review the case in 2008. The San Diego Board of Supervisors voted to appeal to the Supreme Court. "The courts have made clear that federal law does not preempt California's medical marijuana law and that local officials must comply with that law," said Joe Elford, chief counsel with Americans for Safe Access (ASA), a national medical marijuana advocacy group with a large presence in California. "No longer will local officials be able to hide behind federal law and resist upholding California's medical marijuana law." It is not the job, in other words, of local cops or municipalities to enforce federal laws. In fact, the federal government has never made such an argument. The California counties acted on their own. The Supreme Court ruling, following the Obama administration's decision not to raid medical marijuana clubs acting in accordance with state law, removes one of the last barriers to full implementation of the state law. ASA has now given notice to 10 conservative holdout counties (Colusa, Madera, Mariposa, Modoc, Mono, San Bernardino, San Diego, Solano, Stanislaus, and Sutter) of their legal obligation to implement the ID card program. In January 2009, ASA, something of an industry trade group, filed a lawsuit in January against Solano County for its refusal to implement the state ID card program. ASA was joined by the ACLU Drug Law Reform Project in assisting the California Attorney General in the case against San Diego. San Bernardino teamed with San Diego. "The Supreme Court and the lower courts in California have blown away the myth that federal law somehow prevents states from legalizing medical marijuana," said Rob Kampia, executive director for the Marijuana Policy Project. Thirteen states have laws that allow certain folks to use medical marijuana if their doctor recommends it. Illinois, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New Jersey and New York are currently considering medical marijuana bills in their state legislatures. Ryan Grim is the author of the forthcoming book This Is Your Country On Drugs: The Secret History of Getting High in America Get HuffPost Politics On Facebook and Twitter! More on Supreme Court
 
Michael Wolff: David Geffen Loves the Times--and Murdoch Top
Well, David Geffen and the New York Times . I would be remiss if I did not point out that the odd couple of the American media business these days is David Geffen and that other would-be owner of the Times , Rupert Murdoch. Geffen and Murdoch were brought together by Murdoch's wife, Wendi. The relationship blossomed not least of all because most of the other people in Wendi's circle were lefties and glamour pusses. Geffen, is, too, a lefty and glamour puss, but, also, a billionaire with a relentless focus on media business talk. Murdoch likes nothing better than to talk, without respite, about the media business, and to do it most of all with other billionaires-- even gay ("poofters" in Murdoch lingo) former rock impresarios (Murdoch is not exactly your rock type). The two billionaires speak now a few times a week. Often, they check in with each other every day. Geffen is a great source of gossip for Murdoch--reliable gossip, in Murdoch's estimation; Murdoch is a great source of less-than-reliable gossip for Geffen. As important, Murdoch and Geffen may be the last men in America still interested in newspapers--certainly they are the two richest men in America still interested in newspapers. Continue reading on newser.com
 
Do The Cannes-Cannes: What Makes The Festival's Fashion Unique Top
Nothing like a trip abroad to broaden fashion horizons. And nowhere is forward fashion thinking more favorably looked upon, and sometimes forgiven, than in France. "Here in Cannes," said the Italian fashion designer Roberto Cavalli, "it's all more open and lively: it's more like actresses take real control of their own style, and building up their own character. For me, this is very inspiring, because there is nothing that I love more than a woman with a strong personality." More on Fashion
 
Rachel Fleischer: Without A Home - The Day I Met Joby Top
One of the first people I met while filming on the streets was Joby. It was a Saturday afternoon. I was driving around North Hollywood looking for homeless people to interview. This was becoming my routine. Off of Riverside Blvd, around Lankershim on a tiny little dead end road, I spotted three people gathered around a curb. I pulled over. I was already neglecting one of the rules I had created to keep myself safe: stay on a major street where you are visible to others. Joby, his friend Valerie and another friend of theirs, George, who was a Vietnam veteran, were excited to share their stories with me. I eagerly set up my camera and sat down on the pavement to begin the interview. Joby promptly offered me his jacket to sit on. I told him I was okay, that I didn't mind the pavement. A true gentleman, he insisted I take it, and of course I did. As they alternated between tears and laughter, Joby, Valerie and George shared their stories with me. George who was in his mid 60's, was the oldest of the three. He had few words that day. He had just lost his son in a motorcycle accident a few days earlier. They all seemed heartbroken over the loss. Valerie and Joby told me that they were both artists. Of course I inquired to see if they had any artwork lying around that they could show me. They explained that it was all gone, lost along the way. As one who deeply believes in arts' healing powers, I was saddened and frustrated by this information. I asked them if they had any materials to draw with. "No!" they replied in unison. So I told them I would buy them sketchbooks so they could begin to draw again. Then it occurred to me, here are these people who have so little and are so overwhelmed in life, by an array of problems I cannot begin to fathom, and on top of it all, they can't even properly express themselves with the artistic gifts they've been given. I had never thought about it like this before. All of these homeless people out there -- how many gifts, skills, talents, ideas, and inventions are being malnourished or simply going to waste, because for whatever reason, these people have been allowed to fall through the cracks of our society? And it's not only them who suffer from such a loss, for we too suffer in unimaginable ways, when we are deprived of such talents. After our initial conversation, we set a date and time to meet again. I had more questions, I wanted to do more filming and I was intent on bringing them proper sketchbooks and pens to draw with. We were to meet again in the same spot, the next day at 3pm. The following day I arrived with a big white bag from Aaron Brothers art supply store. I had brought sketchbooks and I splurged on nice pens for them. This time I was greeted by Joby, Valerie and Alex, Valerie's boyfriend. Joby and Valerie were grateful for their sketchbooks. They wanted to take me back to the place they were temporarily calling home. I contemplated whether or not this was a good idea for a few minutes and I asked Valerie if she would be coming too. I didn't want them to think that I didn't trust them, but I also thought it would be smart to have a woman there just in case. Joby and Alex both had wild looks in their eyes led me to have my doubts but also lured me in. Even though my mother would not approve of my decision, I felt like I had no choice. Valerie said she would come and I figured what the hell... Joby lovingly took my hand and escorted me back down the narrow dirt path beside the freeway where I would temporarily disappear from the world I knew. I had already cultivated a kind of trust with him and felt intuitively that he would not harm me. As I was walking down the path my girlish arachnophobia kicked in and overshadowed my other fears. I soon found I was more nervous about poison ivy and scary spiders jumping out at me than anything truly awful happening. With my camera in one hand, and my other hand interlocked with Joby's, he guided me through the uneven terrain, helping me to keep my balance. With each step, I rambled on about my fear of brown recluses, and it was in this very vulnerable, pure, almost child-like moment, that Joby became my protector. Home sweet home was their red tarped tent (featured in the video below). Equipped with a little seating area and some of their belongings cluttered in various spots. It was really quite lovely for what it was. We hung out a bit more and kept talking, I continued filming. It was kind of like stopping by a friend's place on a Sunday afternoon, casual and with no pressure to say or do anything, just be. They talked amongst themselves while I sat there observing this new and thrilling side of life being revealed to me. They were gracious hosts and treated me as if I were just one of the gang. I must say it felt nice to be included. The short distance I traversed on that path, took me directly into their world. With a bit of fear and a lot of curiosity, I momentarily left behind the world I was comfortable in, in search of a connection to these people I had felt for so long but could not understand. There was nothing earth shattering or startling about what I saw or learned that day -- just three friends enjoying a lazy Sunday afternoon together. Perhaps what was most extraordinary was simply the reminder that all people will make a home for themselves wherever they are on this earth. There is something inherently human about home. The Day I Met Joby from Rachel Fleischer on Vimeo . Clip courtesy of Without A Home , music by Jacques Brautbar For more information about the movie Without A Home , please visit our Facebook page More on The Giving Life
 

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