Friday, May 22, 2009

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Linda Fleming: First Death Under New Washington State Suicide Law Top
OLYMPIA, Wash. — A 66-year-old woman with terminal cancer has become the first person to die under Washington state's new assisted suicide law, an advocacy group said Friday. Linda Fleming, of Sequim, died Thursday night after taking drugs prescribed under the "Death with Dignity" law that took effect in March, said Compassion & Choices of Washington. The organization said Fleming was diagnosed last month with advanced pancreatic cancer. She would have had to have been diagnosed by two doctors as terminal in order to qualify for assisted suicide. The group said Fleming died at home with her family, her dog and her physician at her bedside. "The pain became unbearable, and it was only going to get worse," Fleming said in a statement released by the organization. A physician prescribed the medication, but under the law, patients must administer the drugs themselves. The new law was approved in November with nearly 60 percent of the vote. It is based on a 1997 Oregon measure, under which about 400 people have ended their lives. Under both states' laws, physicians and pharmacists are not required to write or fill lethal prescriptions if they are opposed to the law. Some hospitals have opted out of the law, which precludes their doctors from participating on hospital property. In December, a Montana district judge ruled that doctor-assisted suicides are legal. That decision, based on an individual lawsuit rather than a state law or voter initiative, is before the Montana Supreme Court. In Washington, any patient requesting fatal medication must be at least 18, declared competent and be a state resident. Two doctors would have to certify that the patient has a terminal condition and six months or less to live. The patient must also make two oral requests, 15 days apart, and make a written request witnessed by two people. As of Friday, the state Department of Health has received six forms from pharmacists saying they have dispensed the life-ending drugs. The state has also received five forms from an individual declaring a request for medication to "end my life in a humane and dignified manner." The Health Department will report annually on the ages, genders and illnesses of the people who file forms with the state, but the individual forms people complete are exempt from state open records laws. ___ On the Net: Center for Health Statistics, Death with Dignity Act: http://www.doh.wa.gov/dwda/formsreceived.htm Compassion & Choices of Washington: http://www.candcofwa.org
 
Hamptons Rentals Prices Way Down Due To Recession Top
The four-bedroom, three-bath contemporary in East Hampton always found a renter by spring. It was uncluttered, tastefully furnished, and had a heated pool overlooking the woods. In the past, tenants paid between $40,000 and $45,000 for the season. This year, its owner Michael Braverman started at $35,000, anticipating a bad year--but even then it didn't go. So in mid-May Braverman cut the asking to $25,000. "Slashed to recession level," his ad said.
 
Fred Whelan and Gladys Stone: Social Media to Get a Job? Top
It's no secret you need to get creative if you want to find a job in this market. You've probably done the standards: the networking thing, informational interviews and job sites. But what more can you do to stand out? Lots of people are using social media to get jobs. They are Twittering and YouTubing their way to employment. But how exactly are they doing that? Here are some of the ways they're using social media to land great jobs: 1. Twitter www.twitter.com - Twitter is a great way to quickly connect with people to tell them what you're doing and find out what they're doing. If you'd like to get a job at Apple, Twitter that! For example, Twitter "Looking for a job at Apple. Know anybody there - doesn't matter who." Even if no one answers you've put it out there on a large scale that you want to work at Apple. Follow tweets about what's going on at a particular company. For example, find out what a speaker might have just said at a conference about a business problem they're facing. Then send them an email and tell them how your background can solve that problem. 2. YouTube www.youtube.com - While YouTube has mostly fun videos of people doing everything but business - many companies post "How to's" or business presentations that can tell you a lot about what's going on in that company. Do an advanced search for news in a company you're interested in working for. After viewing the video, post a comment - or even better - a video response. A video response can be like a mini-ad for you. It will tell the viewer how you think and how you present yourself. People who appear in these company videos want to see who is saying what about their topic. This will give you an excellent chance to make them aware of you. And with a video response you can do it over and over until it looks just right. After posting the video response, wait a week and follow-up with them - either a call or email to let them know what you thought about their presentation. That will open doors for you. 3. LinkedIn www.linkedin.com LinkedIn is a great networking site and if you're not on it already - get on it! Fill out your profile completely - list your accomplishments under each job. Too many people just list the places they've worked, the years they were there and the title they held. They tend to leave out the good stuff - their accomplishments, which can trigger a response from a recruiter. Also, put your email address right on your profile. It makes it easier for recruiters to contact you. LinkedIn also has "Answers", a section which people use to get answers to questions they have. An easy way to raise your profile is to answers questions on LinkedIn to demonstrate your expertise. For example, recently there was a question that asked "What is the best & worst day to make a new product launch?" If that's your background, answer the question. It's an opportunity to show how you can add value. You can then follow-up with an email to the person asking how the product launch went. 4. Follow Blogs - Find someone who's blogging for a company you want to work for and make comments on their blogs. People who blog really appreciate comments and that will raise your profile with that person. 5. Create a Blog - Start your own blog about your job search. Make it fun and make it a point to talk about the companies that you're interested in. Tell people how you're going about your job search and the things you've come across. Diablo Cody, the woman who wrote Juno , got discovered by blogging. A producer enjoyed her daily blog and contacted her about writing a movie. Let your personality shine through and keep focused on what you're interested in - getting a job! These times call for creative measures. Be creative, have fun. Looking for a job doesn't have to seem like work. One woman who was determined to get a job at Twitter decided she would take matters into her own hands. She created a website with the URL Twittershouldhireme.com. Guess what? They did! Fred & Gladys Whelan Stone Executive Search and Coaching www.whelanstone.com Authors of "GOAL! Your 30 Day Career Plan for Business & Career Success" More on Twitter
 
John Ridley: The New York Times: Let it Fall Top
There's been much hand wringing over the decline and potential total implosion of the New York Times . But, really, is there any news organization that would benefit more from being wrested from its family control and given new ownership than the Times ? The so-called "paper of record" has been, since its inception, insular and incestuous, and has remained so by design. A nifty covenant drawn up in the mid-1980s guaranteed that the family's stock in the paper could only be traded within the "The Trust" for decades forward. This insured little opposition in January of 1992 when Arthur Sulzberger Jr. -- often called "Pinch," but rarely to his face -- became the 5th member of the Ochs/Sulzberger family to run the paper. And by all accounts, the least qualified. From poor strategic decisions (buying Abuzz.com in 1999 for $30 million only to shut it down, taking a nearly $23 million write down, a mere three years later) to lax oversight, Sulzberger has been to liberal nepotism as the Bush clan has been to the conservative kind. The issue isn't just that under Sulzberger's leadership the Times has occasionally gotten stories wrong. You can't have the world as your beat and not make mistakes. The issue is that the Times has built up a culture that prefers celebrity above journalistic ethics. How else could you explain a cycle of flawed reporting from its "best" writers? The Wen Ho Lee reporting. Howell Raines's crusade against Augusta. Jayson Blair. Rick Bragg (among others) doing the "toe touch." Judy Miller's WMD reporting. Judy Miller's Plame reporting (and her showy stint in jail. And, considering their close past, Pinch should have completely recused himself from another entanglement with Ms. Miller). The Kurt Eichenwald mess (did he finance kiddie porn?). Right on up to Dowd getting a pass on plagiarism and Friedman taking speaking fees from government agencies. In every instance there were editors and higher-ups aware that the reporting was suspect or going to print with minimal fact checking. And in every instance nothing was done until the scandal broke. Fox News may be a hack outfit, but they're up front with their bias. And despite their lowered bar of expectations, can you honestly name as many scandals of significance perpetrated by their "reporters" over a similar period of time? The Times would dearly and severely benefit from new leadership that was more responsive and responsible to their shareholders. In that regard, the paper cannot change hands quickly enough. For more perspective please visit That Minority Thing.com .
 
Stroger Vetoes Sales Tax Repeal, Again Top
As he previously promised, Cook County Board President Todd Stroger today vetoed the latest attempt by commissioners to rollback last year's sales tax increase.
 
Ricky Gervais Writes To President Obama About Paris Hilton (VIDEO) Top
In an interview airing tonight on the "Late Show" Ricky Gervais told Dave about a letter he wrote to President Obama begging him to take Paris Hilton back from England. Hilton was in London filming "Paris Hilton's British Best Friend," and she bought a place close to Gervais. The actor supposedly wrote to the president saying he knew Obama was punishing Britain for sending them Posh Spice. WATCH: Get HuffPost Comedy On Facebook and Twitter! More on David Letterman
 
Rachael Freed: Memories: Precious Legacies Top
In theory, Memorial Day is to honor the memories of those who sacrificed their lives in military service for our country. In practice, some visit cemeteries to plant flowers at graves of family, but typically we celebrate this long weekend, marking it by opening swimming pools and beginning the bar-b-q season. Or it's a marker of fashion change. Reform Rabbi Steven Heneson Moskowitz learned this from his religious school students: "One girl told the rabbi '... after Memorial Day one can wear white.' I had no idea what she was talking about. With complete unawareness of my social inadequacies, I asked, 'What do you mean you can wear white?' The girls became excited and animated. Here was a chance to teach their rabbi about fashion etiquette. 'After Memorial Day, you can wear white pants and carry a white pocketbook,' one girl explained. 'You can always wear a white shirt, but only after Memorial Day can you really wear white.' I was dumbfounded. I looked to the [women] ... teachers for help. 'Yes,' they nodded to me. 'It is true. After Memorial Day, you can wear white. But only until Labor Day.' 'Why?' I asked. One girl attempted to answer me. 'You just don't.' They all looked at each other and nodded. I was still perplexed. They were still certain." - Hadassah Magazine Extra 5/15/09 As a society, we value or are seduced away from our values by speed, by instant communication around the globe and ever-increasing computer bandwidths. We're so busy doing - persuaded that what we do will give us meaning. If we stop long enough to take a breath, which is the opportunity of a holi-day (holy day) we realize that what we really yearn for is intimacy, the real connections that tether us to earth and to each other. Our deepest connections and fondest memories may be bound up with those who are no longer living. Intimate connections are not limited to life. In a workshop I recently led, I asked participants to write a legacy letter to someone to make an amend or express a regret. After the workshop, a rather troubled-looking young woman approached me to say that she thought she'd done it 'wrong'. I assured her that every legacy letter is unique and there is no way to write it wrong, Did she want to share what she'd written? She explained that she'd written her letter to apologize to her father. I felt confused - what was 'wrong'? She continued, clarifying that her father was dead. I said, "No problem; now you know that death doesn't end relationships." She looked relieved...and then before she left, she reflected that she felt really good about what she'd written, and she believed she couldn't have told her father while he was alive. This experience reinforced my understanding that relationships don't end with death. That healing and transformation can happen when we simply stop, recall, reflect about, and reclaim our memories, honoring those no longer here in the flesh. One more thing before we get practical with some ideas for legacy writing to transform your weekend into a holi-day. Many years ago, when I was a practicing therapist, my former husband and I went to a professional dinner; we were seated with a couple we didn't know. As soon as we introduced ourselves, the men started to talk business, and I guess we did too. We began a conversation about our children. I no longer remember how it came up, but she mentioned that she'd lost a child in his first few weeks of life. I murmured some appropriate words of condolence, and then I asked her what his name was. She began to cry, hesitated, and through her tears she said his name was Alexander. She went on, still crying, to explain that she'd not said his name aloud since he'd been buried fifteen years earlier. She thanked me for asking, and giving her the opportunity to speak aloud the name of this beloved and lost baby, who was rarely spoken of, and never named. The very first legacy we receive at birth is our name. I quote here from chapter one "What's in a Name?" in my own book, Women's Lives, Women's Legacies: "Most of us take our name for granted, never fully exploring this essential part of our identity. Your name connects you to your family and ethnic group, to your heritage. It marks the place in the world where you belong. . . .your name connects you to the past. It speaks of memory, legacy, and immortality, of a special relationship with the person for whom you were named." From a legacy perspective, Memorial Day on the calendar provides us an opportunity to make the secular sacred, to name, remember, communicate with, and preserve memories of family members now gone. Some suggestions/action steps: 1. With your favorite pen and paper available, choose someone who's died who you want to remember today. He or she may be a veteran of a war (Iraq, Gulf, Viet Nam, Korea, WWII or earlier) or your parent or grandparent, a partner, a child. Choose someone whose memory you want to honor, someone who you cared about or loved, someone who was special in your life, someone who left legacies especially for you, perhaps someone for whom you were named. 2. Write the person's name and today's date at the top of your paper. 3. Take a few minutes to focus your thoughts on the person: reflect, remember, recall and jot notes as you do. 4. Next take no more than fifteen minutes to write a letter to the person or your memories about the person to capture and preserve your memories. 5. Consider sharing what you write with family or others who knew this person, perhaps making it part of the weekend's bar-b-q. Or consider inviting anyone at the pool party to share memories of or a legacy from a family member who has died. It may be the beginning of a family legacy book to preserve memories that can be read again and again, and added to each year. Take time to make this day a Memorial Day. May your Memorial Day be filled with the riches of memory as you remember your loved ones.
 
2010 OLYMPIC TORCH: Vancouver Torch "Looks Like A Joint" Top
VANCOUVER, British Columbia (Reuters) - Organizers of the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver are taking the mellow approach to suggestions that their planned Olympic torch looks like a marijuana cigarette. More on Canada
 
Josh Dorner: House GOP on Energy: All Hat, No Cattle Top
As a fellow blogger wrote today, the minority on the House Energy & Commerce led by "Smokey Joe" Barton of Texas (R-Big Oil) turned out to be all hat and no cattle when it came to stopping the comprehensive clean energy jobs plan that passed the committee 33-25 last evening. But that of course didn't stop them from raising a ruckus in the meantime. With energy perhaps the only issue Dick Cheney hasn't come out of the woodwork to address, Barton and his fellow conservatives on the committee (save Mary Bono Mack of California, the sole Republican who voted for the plan) are picking up the slack when it comes to continuing the push for the Big Oil, Dirty Coal, and nuke-driven Dick Cheney energy policy. The "week in fruitloopery," as Grist's Dave Roberts christened it, began in earnest last Friday when the Republicans cooked up 450 poison pill amendments to stall the committee markup process. Joe Barton then went on tv to declare that E&C Chairman Waxman "didn't have the nuts" to pass his clean energy plan. Moving from poker to the puerile, Barton then declared that round about today we'd see who had whom by the nuts. Apparently eager to top his previous performances during hearings on the clean energy plan, Barton took to the airwaves on C-SPAN earlier this week to share some pearls of wisdom. He first said we shouldn't regulate carbon dioxide because it's in "it's in your Coca-Cola, you're Dr. Pepper, your Perrier water." (Who knew they had such elitist pretensions as Perrier in the Lone Star state?) He then upped the ante further when he said that because CO2 is natural, well, "you can't regulate God. Not even the Democratic majority in the US Congress can regulate God." These and other comments combined to result in Barton somehow managing to sound even crazier than the Washignton Journal callers--no small feat as anyone who has watched 5 minutes of C-SPAN can tell you. Barton was joined by some of the usual suspects in his crusade to derail the markup, including Rep. John 'clean energy legislation is worse than 9/11 and both wars' Shimkus (R-Peabody Coal). Shimkus echoed Barton's sentiments, saying that CO2 couldn't possibly be toxic, as we breathe it out. Duh! In the confusion around the adoption of the GOP's new strategy of pretending to be on the side of people instead of polluting mega-corporations, the memo (and yes, there really was a memo ) apparently didn't make it to Shimkus who proudly declared "corporate titans are my friends." Other haters included Rep. Steve Scalise (R-LA), who compared national energy efficiency standards for appliances to a "global warming gestapo." Mmmmkay, I was unaware that depriving your space heater of the right to run up your electricity bill was an assault on liberty, but whatever. There were laughs of another kind when the speed reader the Democrats hired in case Barton made them read the entire 900+ page bill aloud (not that that's ever happened with a global warming bill or anything) was brought out for comedic effect yesterday. Brought back some treasured childhood memories of that Micro Machines dude. Finally, after the bill passed last night, Joe Barton had a little pity party for himself, declaring that "it's not a lot of fun" for conservatives to lose over and over again. Speak for yourself Smokey Joe! More on Dick Cheney
 
Drew Peterson Tried To Hire Hitman To Kill Third Wife: Prosecutor Top
JOLIET, Ill. (AP) -- Drew Peterson tried to hire someone to kill his third wife because he thought a pending divorce settlement would financially ruin him, then just months later she was found drowned in her bathtub with a gash to the back of her head, prosecutors said Friday. Will County State's Attorney James Glagow, who made the allegation at a hearing over a request to reduce Peterson's $20 million bond, told the judge that Peterson offered someone $25,000 to kill Kathleen Savio. Judge Carla J. Alessio-Policandriotes refused to reduce the bond for the suburban ex-cop, who is charged with first-degree murder in Savio's 2004 death. Peterson also is a suspect in the 2007 disappearance of his fourth wife, Stacy Peterson. He has maintained his innocence in Savio's death and Stacy Peterson's disappearance. Glasgow said Peterson told a fellow police officer in late 2003 that he would be financially ruined by a pending divorce, and his life would be easier "if she was just dead." Glasgow said Savio's body was found in her bathtub three weeks later. Peterson hung his head as he left Friday's hearing, and got into a van to go back to jail. Glasgow told the judge that Peterson was a flight risk because he knew how to disappear and understood the seriousness of the charges. Peterson attorney Joel Brodsky said he wanted the judge to reduce his client's bond to under $500,000, arguing that since police named Peterson a suspect in Stacy Peterson's disappearance in late 2007, he has traveled to such places as Mexico, California and Florida without ever trying to flee. Brodsky said that he had heard talk about Peterson hiring someone to kill Savio, but said it was "nothing substantive." He added that they would investigate the prosecutor's allegations on the murder plot. -ASSOCIATED PRESS
 
Mancow Muller, Conservative Radio Host, Gets Waterboarded: "Absolutely Torture" (VIDEO) Top
Following in the footsteps of Christopher Hitchens and Mike Guy of Playboy, conservative Chicago radio shock-jock Eric 'Mancow' Muller decided to submit himself to a round of waterboarding on-air Friday, in this instance in order to prove that it is, in fact, not torture. Turns out, however, things didn't quite go as planned for Muller, reports NBCChicago : With a Chicago Fire Department paramedic on hand, Mancow was placed on a 7-foot long table, his legs were elevated, and his feet were tied up. Turns out the stunt wasn't so funny. Witnesses said Muller thrashed on the table, and even instantly threw the toy cow he was holding as his emergency tool to signify when he wanted the experiment to stop. He only lasted 6 or 7 seconds. And the verdict: "It's way worse than I thought it would be," Muller said. And though he was somewhat loathe to admit, he found it to be "absolutely torture." View more news videos at: http://www.nbcchicago.com/video .
 
Mike Lux: Economic Good News and Bad News Top
Given the nature of the terrible problems George W. Bush has left us, I remain thankful every day that someone rational and intelligent like Barack Obama is our President (can you imagine McCain or Bush trying to manage all this? Oh, wait, we just had eight years of that). Thanks to Obama's leadership and strong action, there is actually some good news to report on the economy: we've gone from triple red alert, every day in a panic crisis to some measure of day to day stability. That is a good thing, and Obama should get an enormous amount of credit for it. The fact that there is any good economic news at all is a huge relief after all the horrible news of the last nine months. The question now is whether we can go from stabilizing the economy to actually improving it, and whether the improvement that does happen translates into real benefits in the economic conditions for most Americans. A Washington Post story with a very positive spin about how the economy is getting better quoted. Anil Kashyap, an economist at the University of Chicago, saying this: "The feeling is that for now we've avoided the Great Depression. But the real economy is still in pretty bad shape." The good news is that President Obama's steady leadership and aggressive intervention seems to have stabilized the economy and returned confidence to our economic institutions. He deserves credit for that, and is getting it for the American public. But the bad news is still extremely bad; if unemployment stays incredibly high or even climbs higher, if home prices don't start coming back, if wages don't start climbing again, if health care costs and grocery prices stay high, if start-up businesses still are having trouble getting loans -- if all of this continues for a long time to come, we are all in very deep trouble. The American people know how deep our problems are, and will be patient for awhile. They clearly appreciate how Obama has handled things so far. But the Obama team needs to understand how important it is to deliver on tangible things that create jobs and make the economic condition of middle-class people better. Given how awful things were on January 20, the President deserves a great deal of credit for keeping our entire economic system from sliding into another Great Depression. That achievement won't be enough to sustain him, though, if the real economy doesn't start to get better. The President needs to be focused like a laser beam long-term economic issues that will ultimately decide the fate of his Presidency: creating jobs, increasing middle-class incomes, solving the health care crisis. If the country sees him fighting for these things, and making real progress, he will be re-elected in a landslide and set the stage for a long-term progressive majority. Cross-posted at OpenLeft.com More on Barack Obama
 
Clay Aiken: Adam Lambert Singing "Awful" And "Frightening" Top
NEW YORK — Clay Aiken is no fan of Adam Lambert. The "American Idol" also-ran has blasted this season's runner-up on his Web site, mocking Lambert's rendition of "Ring of Fire" as "contrived," "awful" and "slightly frightening." According to Aiken, he tunes into the show about once a season _ and this year, he caught Lambert's take on Johnny Cash and thought his ears would bleed. But wait _ there's more. Aiken aims his vitriol on "Idol" itself. He thinks the series showed bias for Lambert over eventual champ Kris Allen and has focused on "slick productions and polished contestants" rather than raw talent. Aiken lost out to Ruben Studdard in 2003. He's since released several albums, appeared on Broadway and publicly confirmed he's gay. More on American Idol
 
Mexico City Earthquake Hits 5.7 On Richter Scale Top
MEXICO CITY — A strong earthquake swayed skyscrapers in Mexico City and rattled colonial buildings in neighboring Puebla state Friday, sending frightened people into the streets. There were no immediate reports of injuries or damage. The U.S. Geological Survey said the quake had a magnitude of 5.7 and was centered 90 miles (140 kilometers) southeast of the capital in Puebla. The Mexican seismological service measured it at 5.9. Mexico City office worker Mariana Rodriguez, 20, was in a 19th-floor bathroom when she felt her building sway. "I saw in the mirror that everything was moving," she said. "The soap even fell down. We were really nervous, but they didn't let us leave the building." But many did run outside across the metropolis of 20 million, and waited several minutes before returning indoors. The capital has lived through powerful earthquakes, including one in 1985 that killed as many as 10,000 people. Others immediately got on Facebook and Twitter to tell friends and family they were OK. Some said cell their phone service was knocked out. Friday's earthquake was stronger and closer to the capital than one that hit last month. But Bruce Tresgrave of the U.S. Geological Survey said it was 35 miles (56 kilometers) below ground _ deeper than normal _ and thus unlikely to cause major damage. Mexican TV network Televisa said there were no immediate reports of injuries or damage in Mexico City or at its epicenter in Puebla. More on Mexico
 
T. Boone Pickens: Wind Power Finally Getting Its Due Top
Earlier this month I made a point of going to WINDPOWER 2009, the world's largest conference on wind energy. Yes, it was in the Windy City, but the truth is it's not always in Chicago. Next year's conference will be here in Dallas and you need to put it on your calendar. A decade ago you could have packed everyone who showed up at an event like this in a pint-sized 7-11. Those days are gone. Last year, attendance at this event topped 13,000. This year? More than 23,000. And it wasn't just exhibitors (though there were close to 2,000 of them there as well). The roster of key policymakers who participated at WINDPOWER 2009 was impressive, including Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, Energy Secretary Steven Chu, and FERC Chairman Jon Wellinghof. All of them echoed the statements made by President Obama that alternative energy and renewables are important elements in this administration's energy plan. That's not just sound energy policy but it's good for the economy as well. Business is booming in the wind energy sector, and you know who is most keenly aware of that? America's governors. Over the last year as I've been promoting the Pickens Plan, I've met wind state governors such as Brian Schweitzer of Montana, Bill Richardson of New Mexico, and Jon Huntsman of Utah. Back when she was Governor of Kansas, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius hosted the very first Pickens Plan Town Hall Meeting in Topeka. But what really stood out was the governors who attended WINDPOWER in Chicago were not from traditional wind power states. They were from Michigan, Wisconsin, Iowa, Ohio, and of course, Illinois. If you take a look at the Energy Department's wind map, you'll see that these states are not in the Wind Corridor, which runs the length of the Great Plains from the Texas Panhandle to the Canadian border. Yet, they are profiting from wind energy, thanks to the enormous number of job that are being created to manufacture turbines and other equipment, build infrastructure, and improve efficiency. These states have a vested interest in wind energy. We all do. Right now there are wind farms and manufacturing facilities in 48 out of 50 states. While our country is fighting its way out of a recession, this industry and others in the burgeoning green economy are bright spots, creating permanent, good-paying jobs, putting people to work, and helping America cement its status as a global leader in the energy industry. This is one of the basic principles of the Pickens Plan, and it goes straight to the heart of what I've been talking about since I launched the plan last July. Right here in America, we've got plenty of energy waiting to be tapped. The only problem is that for the last four decades we haven't had the leadership to harness it or develop it or drill for it. Instead, we took the easy way out. Cheap imported oil became the crutch that everyone leaned on, only now we know it's not cheap anymore. Last year, as our economy stalled, we spent $475 billion on imported oil. Can you believe that? I can't. Half a trillion dollars. The greatest transfer of wealth in recorded history. And to make matters worse we still haven't learned our lesson. According to figures just released, our trade deficit on oil imports widened in March for the first time in eight months. We're still importing more than two-thirds of the oil we consume, and that's got to stop. The purpose of the Pickens Plan was to put a lot of ideas on the table in order to help our country develop the energy plan it so desperately needs and deserves. Wind energy is one of the best, and if you don't believe me come to Dallas next year and see for yourself at WINDPOWER 2010. More on Kathleen Sebelius
 
The Sportsman's Daily: Kobe Pummels Vanessa as Post-Game Encounter Goes Off Script Top
LOS ANGELES, CA (Sportsman's Daily Wire Service) -- After Game 1 at the Staples Center, a triumphant Kobe Bryant left the floor and headed under the stands to the locker room where Vanessa Bryant and the couple's two children waited, providing viewers at home with a warm Hallmark moment. It was a scene the Bryants have enacted a number of times before, and while scripted down to Vanessa's bionic smile, it's been a demonstrable pr asset, seeming to humanize the aloof, self-absorbed, hard-to-like superstar. But things took a horrible turn when a fuming Kobe stormed off the court after a gut-wrenching 106-103 loss to the Cavaliers. There, as usual, Vanessa was in place under the stands, her two adorable daughters in tow, waiting to play out the by now familiar scene, when in a fit of anger Kobe turned and caught Vanessa flush on the jaw with a right cross. Stunned, she began to wobble and wilt, when Kobe, sensing a knockout, rained down a flurry of vicious rights and lefts - scoring on close to 90% of his punches. Three Lakers and two Staples Center security guards had to pull Kobe off the by now thoroughly battered and bleeding Vanessa, and lead him into the locker room where he proceeded to berate his teammates. "You want some of that?" a still enraged Kobe screamed. "You want some of that, you gutless bitches? Get the fuck out of my sight. All of you! I hate playing with a bunch of fucking losers." Vanessa meanwhile was being treated by the Lakers' team doctor Gary Viti, as she suffered multiple contusions about the head and face, and might have broken an eye socket. Dr. Viti insisted that she be taken to the hospital for further examination and treatment, but she refused, demanding to hold a press conference instead. "I just want people to know what kind of man Kobe Bryant really is," said a defiant Vanessa Bryant, shielding her puffy eyes behind her designer sun glasses. "I've forgiven him in the past. But this time he's taken it too far." Ms. Bryant paused to slide her $2 million dollar ring off her pretty little finger, placing it down on the podium for dramatic effect. "This will cost." An hour and a half after the game, Kobe had finally calmed down. A reporter tentatively asked him how Vanessa was faring. "Who?" he sweetly asked, as it was clear Kobe had no recollection of the vicious beating he'd just recently administered. When he was told what had happened, Kobe's features melted, his shock gradually given way to despair, then calculation as he began doing sums in his head. "Shit. This is going to be expensive." Kobe went silent for several seconds, then excused himself to call Sol, his personal jeweler, Miriam, his personal travel planner, and Serena, Vanessa's personal shopper. When reminded that his two young daughters witnessed the horrific beat down, Kobe shook his head and sighed. "Looks like we'll be spending some time at Chucky Cheese, the Apple Store and a couple of weeks at Disney World. Imagine if we don't win this thing and we bump into LeBron at Tomorrowland. Man, how embarrassing will that be?'
 
Mancow Waterboarded (VIDEO): Conservative Radio Host Say It's Torture Top
Erich "Mancow" Muller, a Chicago-based conservative radio host, recently decided to silence critics of waterboarding once and for all . He would undergo the procedure himself, and then he would be able to confidently convince others that it is not, in fact, torture. Or so he thought. Instead, Muller came out convinced. "It is way worse than I thought it would be, and that's no joke," Mancow said. "It is such an odd feeling to have water poured down your nose with your head back... It was instantaneous... and I don't want to say this: absolutely torture." "I wanted to prove it wasn't torture," Mancow said. "They cut off our heads, we put water on their face... I got voted to do this but I really thought 'I'm going to laugh this off.' " Here's video of Muller getting waterboarded: View more news videos at: http://www.nbcmiami.com/video . And here's his conclusion: View more news videos at: http://www.nbcmiami.com/video . Christopher Hitchens underwent nearly the same experiment last year . He, too, concluded that waterboarding is torture. More on Harsh Interrogations
 
Plane With Roland Burris, Desiree Rogers Makes Emergency Landing Top
Senator Roland Burris and White House social secretary Desiree Rogers were on a United Airlines flight from Washington to Chicago Friday that had to make an emergency landing in Pittsburgh. From the AP: A spokesman says a plane carrying U.S. Sen. Roland Burris made an unscheduled landing in Pittsburgh after pilots reported mechanical problems. Burris spokesman Jim O'Connor said Burris reported hearing a bang when they took off from Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport. Then, there were loud noises in the cabin before the plane got "shaky and turbulent." O'Connor said pilots told passengers there was a hydraulic failure and that they would have to land in Pittsburgh. The senator was unhurt but he said passengers were shaken up, according to O'Connor. Burris was headed to Chicago after attending a bill signing ceremony at the White House. O'Connor said White House social secretary Desiree Rogers was also a passenger on the plane. A call to United Airlines was not immediately returned. Burris and other passengers were expected to arrive in Chicago later in the day. Burris apparently helped out in the aftermath, escorting an elderly woman off the plane to the emergency vehicles waiting on the tarmac, a passenger told NBC Chicago . That same passenger said Rogers didn't even realize it was a real emergency until she saw the firetrucks on the ground.
 
Cenk Uygur: Col. Wilkerson: "Cheney Kept Some Things From the President" Top
We interviewed Col. Lawrence Wilkerson, the former Chief of Staff to Colin Powell, on The Young Turks and he had some very interesting things to say. Including: "Cheney was co-president. I'd go further than that and say that for national security issues and other critical issues Cheney was the President." "I found the incredible arrogance and lack of humility of the Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld, to be stunning almost right off the bat." Referring to the decision to abuse detainees: "I don't think there's any question it goes to Cheney. I'm increasingly of a mind that a lot of it goes to Cheney and stops there. Not just because of the president's disinclination to do detail, but I also think that Cheney kept some things from the president. Lawrence Wilkerson: They should have what I would call reference authority. In other words, they should be able to turn it over to the appropriate authorities for prosecution, and a recommendation should be rendered with that if they believe laws were broken and they believe the proper authorities ought to take action. Cenk Uygur: Dick Cheney seems to have an equivocal answer on Face the Nation when asked, "Did the president know about this abuse?" and he said, "Well I think he should have known" or something along those lines. Is there some chance that Dick Cheney just flat out gave the orders and didn't tell the president? Lawrence Wilkerson: Absolutely! In my mind I have no problem believing that. I have no problem at all believing that. You can watch the whole interview and read the transcript here: http://www.theyoungturks.com/story/2009/5/21/9482/37294/Enough/Lawrence-Wilkerson-Denounces-Bush-Administration Watch The Young Turks on You Tube More on Harsh Interrogations
 
Cindy McCain Sports New Bob At Naval Academy Graduation (PHOTOS) Top
Cindy McCain, who was famous for her long blond locks, debuted a new bob at the US Naval Academy graduation ceremony on Friday. The Arizona senator's wife appeared to have cut off approximately 6 inches of hair. As she watched her son John McCain IV graduate, she wore a ruffled pink dress with matching bolero jacket, a string of oversized pearls, and a straw hat to block the sun. Also in attendance: Roberta, the senator's feisty 97-year-old mother ( watch her give a tour of her apartment and talk stilettos here ), daughter Bridget, and, of course, Senator John McCain himself. See photos below. *Follow Huffington Post Style on Twitter and become a fan of Huffington Post Style on Facebook * More on Cindy McCain
 
The Greenest How-To In The World: Gardening On Your Bike Top
Two topics that are old standbys here at HuffPost Green: gardening and bikes. What happens when they get together via a DIY project? The greenest thing in the world! Check this out: Bicycle Window Box- For the transient gardener. - More DIY How To Projects More on Bike Culture
 
Margaret Martin: L.A. Gangs Save Lives Top
What happens when inner-city kids from low-income homes converge in non-school hours? Conventional wisdom suggests gang involvement, violence, petty theft, vandalism, and drug and alcohol use, for starters. Harmony Project, an LA-based non-profit is turning conventional wisdom on its head. Over the past eight years, thousands of the most vulnerable kids in Los Angeles have committed their non-school hours to learning to play a musical instrument in Harmony Project youth orchestras and jazz ensembles. Hundreds more fill waiting lists for a chance to receive an instrument and begin lessons. Harmony Project youth orchestras and jazz ensembles are "youth gangs" with a difference. They save lives. "If I wasn't involved in music I wouldn't be in the high school I am in now. I ... would seriously be in the streets and like gang banging or, you know, getting involved in stuff I shouldn't be getting involved in. And music is an amazing thing, because when I'm frustrated, or angry,... I play it and it really helps me." -- Harmony Project Student I founded the Harmony Project after I observed hard-core L.A. gang-bangers, wearing full gang regalia, stop at a sidewalk market in Hollywood to listen to a tiny little kid playing Dvorak and Brahms on a 1/10-sized violin. When, after 8 or 10 minutes, the gang members put their hands in their pockets and, without speaking to one another, gently placed their money in the little kid's violin case, I received the most powerful lesson I didn't learn in graduate school. Those gang members were teaching me that they would rather be doing what that little kid was doing, than what they were doing. But they never had the chance. I knew, in that moment, that making quality arts education accessible to every child had to become a big part of my public health work. "When I'm stressed out, I just lie down with my violin and pluck it. It really calms me down." Harmony Project Student I started Harmony Project in 2001 with 36 kids and a $9,000 check from the Rotary Club of Hollywood. Today the Harmony Project provides instruments and year-round music lessons to more than seven hundred children who rehearse in three full-time youth orchestras, three choirs, and several smaller ensembles. Two more youth orchestras will be formed this year. The program is tuition-free, based on family income. Partnerships with the Los Angeles Philharmonic Association, Los Angeles City College, and the Los Angeles Unified School District's 'Beyond the Bell' (after-school) branch help Harmony Project stretch donor dollars and reach more kids. Harmony Project students work with professional musicians and receive college credit for their youth orchestra and choir participation through L.A. City College - despite being elementary, middle-school and high school students. What's more, Harmony Project students don't drop out of school. School enrollment is required, and Harmony Project students turn in their school reports every semester. This matters to us because Los Angeles has a drop-out rate that hovers around 50% (and is even higher for the minority kids that make up most of Harmony Project's enrollment) - and the L.A. Times recently estimated that each student who drops out of school ends up costing the city at least $200,000! "You can't have an orchestra without a violin, or you can't have an orchestra without a cello. Like, every-body needs to take part. It sounds beautifully." Harmony Project Student So, what happens when inner-city kids from low-income homes converge in non-school hours? Harmony Project has shown that thousands would rather learn to make music together than make trouble - if they just had the chance. Named one of the 50-best arts-based non-profits in the nation by the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities in both 2008 and 2009, Harmony Project needs additional support to sustain and grow its programs during this economic recession. We also need support to provide lessons to the hundreds of at-risk kids currently on Harmony Project waiting lists. Annual costs per student run about $1,000, and include the loan of a musical instrument and two 16-week semesters, an 8-week summer program, youth orchestra and/or choir participation, and parent support services. Compared with the cost of dropping out, or of arraigning and incarcerating one juvenile for a year - the discipline, accountability and task persistence that Harmony Project students develop, and the fact that Harmony Project's student-musicians become respected role models in their neighborhoods - make Harmony Project a high-value program worthy of the national acclaim it has garnered. "Working in the orchestra helped me work better - and tolerate." -- Harmony Project Student I hope the Obama administration takes note. My dream is to help replicate the success of the Harmony Project in inner cities throughout the country. "When you practice an instrument, you have to do it consistently. You can't just do it once and then expect it to be perfect overnight. You have to keep doing it. Same thing with school. If you just study one night it's not going to help you get an A on that test next week." -- Harmony Project Student Tax-deductible donations can be made on-line at: www.harmony-project.org . Musical instruments are always welcomed and can be turned into tax deductions. Send instruments to: Harmony Project, 817 Vine Street, Suite 212, Los Angeles, CA 90038. To get involved or offer other kinds of support, please call: 323.462.4311 or send me an email at: margaret@harmony-project.org.
 
Darfur Makes Omar al-Bashir Obama's Most Dangerous African Foe Top
Presidents don't get to choose their first foreign policy crisis. It usually chooses them. For President Clinton, it was the killing of 18 U.S. soldiers in Mogadishu. For President Bush, it came when a U.S. EP-3 military plane collided with a Chinese fighter pilot, forcing the American crew to land on the Chinese island of Hainan. Many think that President Obama's first crisis came last month in the unlikely form of Somali pirates. (Actually, pirates have been patrolling those waters longer than there have been American presidents and they will likely be there hundreds of years from now.) More on Darfur
 
Genocide Prevention Rather Than Response Gains Favor In Policy Circles Top
Last week, the United Nations Security Council traveled to Ethiopia, Rwanda, Congo and Liberia to discuss Africa's hotspots -- areas that are threatened by genocide and mass atrocities. In a report on preventing genocide, former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and former Secretary of Defense William Cohen make the case for why preventing and responding to genocide and mass atrocities is in the moral and strategic interests of the United States. The 140 page report lays out 34 recommendations to point out a choice between doing nothing and embarking on large-scale military interventions. A recent trip I took to the Great Lakes region of Africa dramatically illustrated why this "blueprint" should be taken seriously, and why U.S. leadership is so important in this area. In the dirt courtyard outside the United Nations-funded hospital wing, in the war-affected border city of Goma in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, I met Jean Paul, his tiny legs barely holding up his small torso. Inside the white stucco building, other children from the nearby displacement camp were not so lucky as they clung for life, skin hanging off their bones. Jean Paul, who had the most endearing brown eyes, managed to muster enough energy to lift his little hand to give me the internationally recognized high five. Although he appeared to be on the road to recovery, this child of war, who looked to be no more than two years old, held up five fingers when I asked him his age. Jean Paul, a vivid reminder of the consequences of the horrific human toll exacted by mass atrocities and genocide inflicted by man, may also be a reminder of humanity's capacity to prevent such episodes; episodes in which tens of millions have lost their lives over the last century. I have seen it before in Darfur, Bosnia, Afghanistan, Kosovo and most recently Rwanda and Congo, the direct assault on human values through systematic massacres, forced displacements, mass rapes and the plundering and destruction of homes, wells, crops, livestock and assets meant to sustain life. I know how these horrific acts destroy lives and livelihoods. But these most heinous crimes, genocide and mass atrocities, also threaten U.S. national interests, and we must be better prepared to prevent them. In Rwanda today significant problems persist, but with assistance from the U.S. and other international donors, the country has worked hard to recover from one of the most brutal massacres of modern times. While vigilance is required to prevent repetition of the past violence in Rwanda, neighboring Congo, a huge country where the Rwandan genocide sparked successive wars involving 7 neighboring countries and resulting in an estimated 5.4 million deaths in the last ten years, needs worldwide attention to help end the reoccurring violence. Evidence of the spillover effects of the Rwanda genocide were nowhere more apparent than in the displaced persons camps just outside of Goma in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo where Jean Paul lives - camps that the U.S. and other international donors have been supporting since 1994. While aid to Rwanda and Congo supports many important reconciliation and emergency relief projects, early preventive action would surely have been less expensive and could have saved hundreds of thousands of lives. There's a pattern. We know from past examples that genocide and mass atrocities in one country fuel threats in other weak and corrupt states, and can prompt the type of long term conflicts that know no boundaries. In Rwanda, with refugee flows spreading to Congo and beyond, the international community, including the U.S. was called on to absorb and assist displaced people, provide support for a massive and ongoing humanitarian relief effort. The longer we wait the more exorbitant the price tag. In Bosnia alone, the U.S. invested an estimated $15 billion to support peacekeeping forces in the years since we belatedly intervened to stop the atrocities. What's needed in these cases is early, high-level attention, facilitated by standing institutional mechanisms within our own government, and then strong international partnerships that can form the basis for effective and coordinated action. We need a comprehensive prevention approach that begins with early warning mechanisms, and involves early action to address high-risk situations, timely diplomatic responses to emerging crises, and greater preparedness to employ military options when those are required. The genocide prevention report clearly lays out a way forward, starting with the recommendation to create an interagency Atrocity Prevention Committee to analyze threats of genocide and mass atrocities and that warning of these threatened acts be an automatic trigger of policy review. Moreover, the report calls of an investment of $250 million - less than a dollar for every American each year -- in new funds for crisis prevention and response. We know that the long-lasting consequences of genocide and mass atrocities are enormous. Reconciliation after the fact is possible and essential, but if we shift our focus to prevention rather than response, lives and livelihoods will be saved and threats to our national interest will be mitigated. But, as the Genocide Task Force report emphasizes, for it to work, leadership is the indispensable ingredient. Leadership from the president, Congress, and the American people --, nothing is more central to preventing genocide and mass atrocities. Time is not on the side of Jean Paul. We owe it to him and the millions like him, to make genocide prevention a priority, now. John Heffernan , Director of the Genocide Prevention Initiative at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, was on the Executive Committee of the Genocide Prevention Task Force. For pictures of John's recent trip to Rwanda and Congo, go here . Get HuffPost World On Facebook and Twitter! More on Genocide
 
Cheney V. Cheney On How To Pronounce "Cheney" (VIDEO) Top
OH NOES! On this "Day Of Assessing The Fallout" of yesterday's "Day Of Cheney Straight Up Givin' A Speech The Same Day As Obama, IT'S ON!" I nearly forgot to mention the biggest piece of leftover controversy: how does Dick Cheney pronounce his last name? If you're like me, you are constantly bedeviled by the way Chris Matthews is always saying "Chee-knee." It's so annoying! And, yet, I've been led to believe that Matthews is right, and that Dick Cheney merely tolerates the mispronunciation -- strange behavior from someone who tortures strangers and shoots his good friends in the face! But today, MSNBC's Willie Geist summoned up the courage to ask Liz Cheney about this matter: GEIST: We need to set the record straight on something. Chris Matthews says it's pronounced "Chee-ney" and the family pronounces it that way. Liz Chaney, how do you pronounce your last name? LIZ CHENEY: I pronounce it Chay-ney. And it has been quite sometime, maybe ever since Chris Matthews was at any Cheney family events. GEIST: He doesn't get those invitations? All right, there it is, Chris. Sorry, it's Chay-ney. That's a good burn on Chris Matthews, and we applaud Liz Cheney for it. Nevertheless, it seems that Liz had directly contradicted another noted expert on the matter: her mother, Lynne Cheney. How sharper than a serpent's tooth it is to have a child who can't pronounce her own last name, and junk! On the October 16, 2007, Dianne Rehm Show, Lynne Cheney tells the story of how she went to a Cheney family reunion needing to know how to pronounce the name, so she subjected "Uncle Arv" to some enhanced interrogation techniques to get the answer: [WATCH] REHM: Correct my pronunciation. You just pronounced it "Chee-ney." LYNN CHENEY: That's very interesting. It is "Chee-ney." People say Chay-ney, and I tell a story about going to a family reunion with Dick and wanting myself - I was not born with this name - wanting myself to be sure I had the pronunciation right, so I asked his oldest living relative, a fellow named Uncle Arv, how to pronounce it and I hate to say this about my dear husband but he has some eccentric relatives. Uncle Arv runs around with this little dog jumping up and down. So I said Uncle Arv is it "Chee-ney" or is it Chaney. And he said, my dear, it's "Chee-ney." And I said, Uncle Arv, thank you so much and I wanted to get away and this little dog was jumping up and down and I said, Uncle Arv, what kind of dog is that? And he said, my dear, it's a "bay-gle." REHM: So you pronounce it at this point as "Chee-ney"? CHENEY: Yes, and Dick's family always has said "Chee-ney." Most people say Cheney, I think it's out of politeness. They think it sounds better maybe. There are some family members who say Cheney, but for us it's always been Chee-ney. People just don't hear it. That's very interesting that you caught it. And Uncle Arv? You never see him in public anymore, do you? That's because the whole experience destroyed him, probably! Just for fun, here's a video of intrepid Washington Times reporter Liz Glover talking to Bob Schieffer about this nonsense. Schieffer says that it's "Chee-knee" and it is some traditional pronunciation among people from Wyoming: [WATCH] So how is the name pronounced? And who is right? Daughter Liz? Mom Lynne? Bob Schieffer? And will no one speak up for Uncle Arv? Anyone? I guess the big takeaway here is that you just cannot trust any of these people about anything. [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 Chris Matthews
 
Bob Woodruff: Waging the Battle at Home Top
As we honor the brave men and women who defended our country throughout history, our thoughts will also be with our troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the 35,000 here at home who have been physically injured since those conflicts began. This Memorial Day, we should extend that honor to those who have sustained the hidden injuries of war. Today, the wounds we see are often coupled with the ones we cannot. According to a RAND report, some 300,000 U.S. troops are suffering from major depression or post-traumatic stress; 320,000 have sustained traumatic brain injuries. Most troops wounded in combat are surviving their injuries. They fought our country's battles. Now they fight their own. Returning from combat to civilian life, many face intense cognitive and psychological issues, fall into substance abuse, experience depression and anxiety. A growing number are severely rent burdened, 500,000 paying more than 50% of their income on rent. Their own personal struggles reveal the larger social issues like suicide and homelessness our nation will be required to address. We must redouble our efforts to return our heroes home to the assistance they need to reintegrate into society. We can do this in three ways. First, education. More than raising flags, we must raise awareness about the physical and psychological wounds of war, and what's required for injured service members and their families to have successful futures. We've started talking about the tough issues. But we need everyone to lend an ear. From the halls of government, to community center bulletin boards, to online chat rooms, we must work through every channel to foster an open dialogue that empowers communities nationwide to take action. Second, investment. We need more money, and proven places to put it. Financial needs during recovery often exceed what the government is currently structured to provide, forcing those who give up their jobs to be the primary caregiver to bear an undue financial burden. We must move beyond deliberations and pilot programs and compensate those who care for our heroes. Funding is also needed for transitional periods for treatment and rehabilitation, as well as gaps between active duty pay and VA benefits not covered by the DOD or VA. Outside these funding disparities lay larger questions over where precious dollars should be spent, and who should spend them. Local charities have been highly effective in meeting needs government alone can't meet. One built a state of the art Warrior and Family Support Center in (city/state) so injured service members and their families have a place for respite and recreation during their long rehabilitation. Another in (city/state) is helping seriously injured soldiers in remote locations adapt their homes with accommodations for therapeutic treatment. In New York City, one group is building residences for homeless and low-income veterans, while another is training campus professionals to help student veterans deal with trauma and move on to productive college experiences. Together, enterprising communities across the country are showing our injured soldiers the impact they can still have and helping them lead full lives. Third, collaboration: The government and private sector must work together to identify, fund and replicate innovative programs like these to serve unmet needs, fill the gaps where government falls short and make existing programs better. To do this well, we must bridge the chasm between the public and private sector, sharing information across civilian and military cultures and political lines to find solutions. Changes in the Department of Defense and new leadership in the VA under General Shinseki are promising, but incomplete steps. The DOD's new Wounded Warrior programs within each armed services branch will help us better address the needs the wounded in the acute phases of treatment and provide much needed non-medical support to families. But departmental funding to track and support injured service members for the long term is still lacking. As our troops come home, we will need fresh ideas, and the broadest level of collaboration, to solve the complex issues related to the return of service members from combat to civilian life. As we consider those who risked their lives to protect the freedoms we enjoy, we should consider this: Memorial Day shouldn't end when the last picnic is over. More than a holiday, it's an enduring symbol of the responsibility we share to ensure that "support our troops" -- including those with hidden injuries -- isn't just a slogan. When the general orders for Memorial Day were drawn up, it was written that the people should in their own way arrange such fitting services and testimonials of respect as circumstances may permit. The best memorial we could build to America's veterans is a homefront ready to support them. Bob Woodruff is a reporter with ABC News and a founder of The Bob Woodruff Foundation, which provides resources and support to injured service members, veterans and their families. Seriously injured by a roadside bomb while reporting in Iraq, he has returned to the air and covers a variety of issues from around the globe. To donate to the military through his Foundation, click on www.remind.org .
 
Craig and Marc Kielburger: Lack of Votes, Lack of Water Top
Surmaal used to be an enthusiastic student in his third-grade classroom. That was before his father passed away. Now, the 12-year-old is head of his household in the village of Lai, India. But, while he is shouldering an adult's responsibilities, Surmaal is still a child. That made him too young to vote in the country's recent elections. His concerns went largely unnoticed. For Surmaal and his family, getting water from the village hand pump is of vital importance. There are wells closer to his home but water depletion has caused them run dry. So, Surmaal traverses two hills with the heavy buckets. Like most people in the town, Surmaal would love to see those wells put back into use. That way, he could attend school again. But, without a vote, it is not a high political priority. Water gets overshadowed by the economy and national defense. By ignoring this issue which is affecting India's most vulnerable populations, the world's largest democracy isn't really addressing its nation's challenges. "It's baffling that something so fundamental to people's lives is way down the list of political priorities for all countries," says Tom Palakudiyil, head of Asia region at WaterAid. "There is a huge amount of loss by not giving water and sanitation the attention it needs." The coordination India's election is nothing short of extraordinary. It's a feat that involves thousands of candidates, five phases of voting and polling stations that eliminate geographic barriers for country's 700 million eligible voters. That's incredible coordination, but something that doesn't translate to water. India still lacks sanitation facilities for about 700 million people. On top of that, 200 million don't have access to drinking water. Those that do have no guarantee it is actually safe. Still, water tends to get overlooked. "Within the cities are where the affluent voters are, water is not such an issue," says Palakudiyil. "This issue touches the poor families. That's a vast number but it doesn't automatically translate into political dialogue." The problem is that those being affected the most are not among the eligible voters - the children like Surmaal. Surmaal is not alone in missing school to bring water to his mother and younger sisters. Millions like him perform the same chores each day. All are at risk of water-borne illnesses like typhoid, dysentery and diarrhea. In fact, one in nine children will die before their fifth birthday largely due to illnesses like this. But, it doesn't have to be this way. The solutions to India's water problems are within grasp. It just takes a coordinated effort to actually make it happen. "Where people have systematically gone about taking actions to regenerate water in a region, after two or three years of community efforts, there is greenery and wells start to hold water again," says Palakudiyil. "If the communities come together, we can improve the water and keep it safe." While a move towards better water infrastructure is more long-term, there are options to help alleviate the water shortage now. The communities in which Palakudiyil works have been able to conserve water through rainwater harvesting and educational efforts. As well, point-of-use water purification tablets can eliminate the risk of disease through contaminated water. Currently, these tablets are not widely available. But, through increased distribution efforts, these effective and inexpensive treatments could be sold at shops and kiosks in towns across the country. "If the communities come together, we can improve the water situation and keep it safe," says Palkudiyil. These solutions are doable. We just need the political will to stand up for those, like Surmaal, who don't have a vote. India successfully coordinated an election involving 700 million participants. Now, it needs to put that effort into bringing them water.
 
Dozens Of Brooklyn Schoolchildren Injured In Freak Grate Collapse Top
The freak collapse of a metal grate injured more than 30 Brooklyn schoolgirls posing for a class photo, police said. The terrified children, ages 10-12, plummeted about 15 feet into a shaft below. The girls were posing outside the Yeshivat Shaare Torah in the Kensington section of Brooklyn when the accident occurred. The Daily News interviewed two of the victims: "We were standing on this thing, and it started shaking and we fell down," Rachel Lalo, 11, who had a small scrape on her chin, said before she was lifted onto a stretcher. "A lot of the girls were crying. It was very scary." Ruthie Levy, 11, described the terrifying moments before the grate suddenly dropped from under her feet. "I heard it shaking and a lot of people were trying to jump up," Levy said. "They were in the air. They were trying to get off, but it fell...We fell on top of each other." The grate is the in front of school, and teachers were able to reach the stricken children through basement windows, the Daily News said. Emergency vehicles converged on the school and rushed the injured children to nearby hospitals.
 
Mexico Anti-Abortion Laws On The Rise Top
MEXICO CITY, May 22 (IPS) - In the last 13 months, 12 of Mexico's 32 states have approved amendments to their state constitutions defining a fertilised human egg as a person with a right to legal protection, and seven other state parliaments are taking steps in the same direction. Non-governmental organisations (NGOs) say it is a massive conservative reaction to a law decriminalising abortion up to 12 weeks' gestation that went into force in the Mexican capital in April 2007. The law was upheld in August 2008 by the Supreme Court, which ruled that it did not violate the Mexican constitution. Behind the wave of reforms of state constitutions, according to critics, is a pact between the hierarchy of the Mexican Catholic Church and the leadership of the most traditional political parties to curb social movements advocating the legalisation of abortion. "I have no direct evidence, but we have repeatedly heard allegations" that such a pact exists, María Mejía, head of Catholics for the Right to Decide (CDD), told IPS. According to María Luisa Sánchez, director of the Information Group on Reproductive Choice (GIRE), what is happening is a kind of "revenge" on the part of conservative groups. "These reforms are absurd and put women at risk," she told IPS. The states where constitutions have been reformed are governed by President Felipe Calderón's conservative National Action Party (PAN) or by the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), which ruled Mexico for seven decades. The amendments of the state constitutions have not, so far, been accompanied by changes to the regional criminal codes, which for the most part allow abortion in the case of rape or danger to the mother's life. But the possibility remains that the criminal codes will be brought into line with the constitutional reforms, Mejía said. Mexico is a federal nation in which each state has its own constitution and criminal code, although these cannot run counter to the national constitution and criminal code. In this country of over 107 million people, an estimated 880,000 abortions are carried out annually, according to a study presented in 2008 by the Colegio de México, the Mexico office of the Population Council and the Guttmacher Institute in the United States. The study found that an average of 33 abortions a year are performed for every 1,000 women between the ages of 15 and 44. This figure is higher than the average reported for developing countries, which is 29 abortions a year per 1,000 women of reproductive age. Most abortions are performed clandestinely, even in cases where they are legal, because the authorities and public health centres put up such barriers that the right to therapeutic abortion under certain circumstances becomes non-existent. A PAN lawmaker for the central state of Querétaro, Fernando Urbiola, told IPS that the recent reforms of the state constitutions "are simply due to the need to be consistent with the principle of defending human life, which begins at conception." In Querétaro, which is governed by the PAN, Urbiola chairs the Commission on the Family in the state parliament, and is promoting a modification of the state constitution so that it will protect the fertilised egg from the time of conception. The change could be approved before the end of the year. Urbiola argues that "unborn children" urgently need legal protection, on a par with any other person, until death. In his view, the wave of reforms will also close the door to euthanasia and recognise men's right to keep alive the eggs they fertilise. GIRE's Sánchez said that her group is coordinating a series of demonstrations with women's movements in the various states, to urge the Supreme Court to rule on the wave of constitutional changes in the states. "We hope that the Supreme Court will take up the issue again and give more weight to the right of women to decide about their lives and bodies. The Court must hold another debate and ratify its earlier ruling," said Sánchez. In the August 2008 ruling, in response to a lawsuit arguing that the decriminalisation of abortion in the capital, governed by the leftwing Democratic Revolution Party (PRD), was unconstitutional, the Supreme Court ruled that the law did not violate the constitution. The Supreme Court verdict was repudiated by the hierarchy of the Catholic Church and other conservative sectors. However, the Calderón administration accepted the decision, although it had previously demanded, through the Attorney-General's Office, that the Mexico City law be repealed. Now GIRE is asking the Attorney-General's Office to take up the issue again, this time to bring a suit before the Supreme Court alleging the unconstitutionality of the reforms against abortion approved by the states. According to Mexican law, the Supreme Court deals with cases at the request of the Attorney-General's Office or the state National Human Rights Commission, or on its own initiative. Mejía, of Catholics for the Right to Decide, also wants the Supreme Court to deal with the issue, but she recognised that this is very unlikely to happen in the short or medium term. Since April 2007, when abortion in the first three months of pregnancy was decriminalised in Mexico City, just over 20,000 women have exercised this right in public health centres. Nearly 80 percent of them were from the capital. According to official statistics, 47 percent of the women who requested an abortion in Mexico City were between the ages of 18 and 24, and 21 percent were aged 25 to 29. Nearly seven percent were under 18, and the remainder were over 30. The great majority of the women who had abortions said they were Catholic, like 90 percent of Mexicans. Mejía and Sánchez both said that it is illogical for only some women in Mexico to have the right to an abortion, and called for the same rights to be available for all women. Furthermore, they both said that abortion should be removed from the criminal codes and should be dealt with instead as a public health issue. No woman is happy to make the decision to have an abortion and no woman seeks an abortion for pleasure, which is "something conservatives just don't understand," and that is why they close the doors to women and their rights, and even worse, threaten them with imprisonment, Mejía said. The state criminal codes lay down different penalties for women who have abortions, except for victims of rape or when the mother's life is endangered. In some cases, foetal malformation is also accepted as a legal reason for abortion. In the state of Veracruz, for example, abortion carries a prison sentence of six months to four years; in Jalisco it is four months to one year, in Guanajuato from six months to three years, and in Baja California Sur from two months to two years. Studies indicate that clandestine abortions are the fourth or fifth cause of death among Mexican women, and that obtaining permission for an abortion is complicated and, in many cases, impossible. After the August 2008 Supreme Court resolution, GIRE legal adviser Pedro Morales called on state legislators to move from "prohibitive and punitive regimes on abortion to permissive laws compatible with the fundamental rights of women." Instead, 12 states moved in the opposite direction and made it even more difficult to get a legal abortion, and another seven states may soon follow suit. Read more from Inter Press Service . 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Hal Rubenstein: Dressed For Success: "Idolizing" a Wardrobe Top
As the confetti fell atop a crowd on its feet inside the Nokia Theater, Simon Cowell wasn't standing. Kris Allen was blushing gratefully, yet barely coherent. Adam Lambert , however, was bear-hugging semi-finalist Allison Iraheta and sporting the same I-so-belong-up-here grin he's been beaming since the competition began. Why wouldn't he? American Idol needed Adam to triumph more than Adam needed to hear Ryan Seacrest call out his name. As arguably -- and I will happily take on all comers here -- the most talented contestant the number one series has presented in eight seasons, Idol could have used a win by Adam to bolster both its talent-vaulting validity as well as prove a crosses-all-demographics appeal. Instead, the show can place Adam on the roster headed up by Jennifer Hudson and Chris Daughtry as one of the off-center ones that got away, and it can add Kris to the growing list of Southerners (six out of eight) who have crossed the finish line in first. So, could the black and glistening guyliner, the crystal cage shoulder pads, the inky Kelly Osborne bangs, the shiny Dolce Gabbana and Just Cavalli suits, the black Versace shirt and fingernails, the Congregation of Forgotten Saints necklaces, the multiple bike chains under the floor length Sweeney Todd walking cloak and the endless parade of python and Romper Stomper boots been a factor? You think? The immutable fact is that the TV's most-watched competition is not named Rock 'n' Roll Idol , So, You Think You Can Sing , or David Bowie's Apprentice . On the contrary, the victor is supposed to be someone as American as.... (Fill in the blank). Of course, there are stadiums full of young Americans wearing similar, if less theatrical, versions of Adam Lambert's onstage wardrobe. Except, evidently, they're not watching. And they're not voting. The viewers who do and then dial, however, most likely live down the street from a real sweetheart of a guy who looks -- maybe not sounds -- but probably dresses just like Kris Allen. As one girlfriend squealed to me one Wednesday morning-after an early-in-the-elimination singathon. "I could just eat him with a spoon." Taking nothing away from Allen's surprisingly soulful talent (he would rightfully have bested a final against Jordan Sparks, Taylor Hicks, Ruben Studdard and possibly even David Cook, and his taken on Kanye West's "Heartless" was sensational), Allen's adorable modesty was most often cloaked in clothes that could conceivably have come right from his closet via the local mall. It's hard to imagine him eager to strip off the Calvin Klein white T's, Reiss and Joe's jeans, PF Flyers and Converse sneakers, INC and H&M shirts, or J. Lindeberg suit (Lindeberg also designs Justin Timberlake's William Rast clothing line) that he flung his guitar strap over once he walked offstage. In fact, when Simon criticized one of Allen's performances as coming off as if he was the guy in the dorm room down the hall crooning on his guitar, he unwittingly nailed the source of the singer's appeal and success. Because, unlike Simon, Kara, Paula and Randy, the rest of us judging American Idol , aren't sitting in a theater. We're curled up at home, in our den, bed or living rooms. Which one -- Adam or Kris -- do you think most people would feel more comfortable inviting over to hang out? It's to Lambert's credit that, having admitted to watching the show every season, the deliberate plotting of his performance trajectory went only as far as an occasional use of makeup remover, donning of suit and tie, or brushing his hair back into a classic pompadour (which revealed a startling matinee idol handsomeness), but no further. If Lambert really wanted to have played the game "their" way, he might have been better off in mid-season reverting to his natural blonde hair and freckled complexion. But why yield completely when the final verdict no longer matters that much to a career? By remaining raven-haired, nailed and cloaked, Lambert garnered an Entertainment Weekly cover, websites almost crashing in blogolades, and what will now, in retaliation; likely evolve into a gleefully rabid fan base. Guess what color they'll wear to his first solo tour? As for Kris Allen, he is without doubt, as Rosie O'Donnell would say "a cutie-patootie" as well as, according to Idol's stylist Michael Siggins, "a basic jeans and T-shirt kind of guy". And whether Simon likes it or not, that's what most of us in America have on when we're right down the hall, or just down the street, plugged into our iPods, listening to music, and having a great time. More on InStyle.com See how Kris Allen and Adam Lambert's styles have evolved this season. Check out the stunning style transformations of former Idols like Carrie Underwood. Victoria Beckham and son Romeo were among the stars at Wednesday night's Idol finale. More on American Idol
 
Sarah Haskins: Target Women: Laundry Top
Why are women always doing laundry? Because of years of inculcated gender roles? Oh no. There's a dirty little secret - we're addicted to it. Laundry is the ladies' drug of choice. We just can't stop. Sarah Haskins explores this secret addiction in her latest segment, "Target Women: Laundry." You can check out other "Target Women" segments every Thursday night during "infoMania" at 10 p.m. ET/PT and online at Current.com. More on Advertising
 
John McQuaid: The Cheney Campaign Top
Dick Cheney's campaign of retroactive self-justification, culminating in his AEI speech , is bizarre, and not just for its historical footnote-worthiness, its political thuggery, or its graceless, hectoring tone. What's strangest is that long after the policies he champions were cast aside by his own administration, and the Republican Party repudiated at the polls, he is still able to hijack an important issue with a campaign of pure rhetorical cant. Let's be clear: Cheney is not making an argument about what anti-terrorism policies work best. A genuine argument would engage the difficult issues at hand, asking "what is the best way to fight terrorism?" It would marshal facts to support its positions. It would not be layered with half-truths and bursting with straw men. It would endeavor to convince skeptics. Perhaps there are arguments to be made that "enhanced interrogation techniques" are the most effective ways to elicit information, that illegally warehousing and "disappearing" terrorist suspects is the most effective way to handle them, and that only virtually unlimited executive power can guarantee security. But I have never heard such arguments from Cheney or his supporters. Instead, all we get are angry, contemptuous assertions. Cheney is, by his own account, self-evidently right. His speech did not acknowledge that he or his Bush administrations had committed a single error. It did not acknowledge that principled people might disagree. The only source of disagreement would be the weakness, arrogance and naivete of his critics, including President Obama . But of course this has almost nothing to do with the real world of devising policies to combat terrorism. The Bush White House itself abandoned torture when it became clear it wasn't very useful, was probably illegal, and was terribly damaging politically and strategically. If another 9/11 does occur, American officials will think twice before torturing again. And even if they go ahead and do it, what do you think will happen? Almost certainly a rerun of the same disaster that happened the first time. Cheney's "comprehensive strategy," as he calls it, wasn't very strategic: it was series of ad hoc fishing expeditions accompanied by public bluster that got us mostly grief. It was incoherent, an anti-strategy, one man's fantasy about imposing his will on a dangerous world. (Maybe there were some successes that can be attributed solely to Cheney's post 9/11 decisions - who knows? But to figure that out we need some kind of truth commission to evaluate the record.) Cheney's demagoguery is nothing new in American politics. But what's striking is the deference and credibility it's granted by the media-political world. You'd think that there is an actual debate going on, that Obama and Cheney represent two positions with equal weight that Americans have to choose between. Today's Washington Post is symptomatic: the print edition features a banner headline: "In Dueling Speeches, a National Security Debate." The main story hits the familiar beats: "Presidential scholars could not recall another moment when consecutive administrations intersected so early and in such a public way." Okay, but framing it this way ignores the content of the speeches, and recent history. Obama, whatever you may think of his recent compromises on the terrorism front, is at least wrestling with real issues (as this Post editorial correctly points out ) attempting to create a legal framework for terrorism suspects. Cheney's statements, meanwhile, should be treated with skepticism, as he has a record of brazenly uttering untruths in service to a political agenda marked by its determined detachment from reality. Do his words really deserve the respect, with its implication of importance and legitimacy, that they're getting? Besides embellishing a legacy, the current Cheney campaign seems aimed at one thing: setting up Obama for the stab-in-the-back treatment in the event of another terror attack. Please. Terrorism is a serious problem. It requires real strategic thinking. Such posturing may be catnip to the press, but it's virtually irrelevant to the world we live in, and unhelpful to the hard work of protecting us. More on Barack Obama
 
Pop Your Blue Collar: The Case For Working With Your Hands Top
The television show "Deadliest Catch" depicts commercial crab fishermen in the Bering Sea. Another, "Dirty Jobs," shows all kinds of grueling work; one episode featured a guy who inseminates turkeys for a living. The weird fascination of these shows must lie partly in the fact that such confrontations with material reality have become exotically unfamiliar. Many of us do work that feels more surreal than real. Working in an office, you often find it difficult to see any tangible result from your efforts. What exactly have you accomplished at the end of any given day? Where the chain of cause and effect is opaque and responsibility diffuse, the experience of individual agency can be elusive. "Dilbert," "The Office" and similar portrayals of cubicle life attest to the dark absurdism with which many Americans have come to view their white-collar jobs. Is there a more "real" alternative (short of inseminating turkeys)? High-school shop-class programs were widely dismantled in the 1990s as educators prepared students to become "knowledge workers." The imperative of the last 20 years to round up every warm body and send it to college, then to the cubicle, was tied to a vision of the future in which we somehow take leave of material reality and glide about in a pure information economy. This has not come to pass. To begin with, such work often feels more enervating than gliding. More fundamentally, now as ever, somebody has to actually do things: fix our cars, unclog our toilets, build our houses. More on Careers
 
Youth Radio -- Youth Media International: State Revisits Foster Care Age Limit Top
Originally published on Youthradio.org , the premier source for youth generated news throughout the globe. By: Rachel Krantz For most teenagers, turning 18 might mean being allowed to vote, or owning a credit card. For youth in the foster care system in California, turning 18 means an end to government support, and often homelessness. The problem is so great in California that 40% of people living in homeless shelters are former foster care youth . Changing the age of emancipation out of the foster care system from 18 to 21 is just one of the many recommendations put forth this month by the California Blue Ribbon Commission on Children in Foster Care. Other recommendations include "reduc[ing] the disproportionate number of African-American and American Indians in the Child welfare system" as well as making sure "children and parents have an opportunity to be present and heard in court". Bill AB12 is now in the California Senate and seeks to extend the age of emancipation in the state. Proponents of the bill, which is endorsed by the Blue Ribbon Commission, believe that federal funding could provide the state with up to $70 million dollars a year in order to continue helping foster youth past age 18. Lanette Scott aged out of foster care seven years ago, but still remembers how difficult the adjustment was. "My college didn't understand that during breaks I didn't have a family to go back to. That made it a struggle to finish school. I had to petition for them to let me stay on campus during vacations." Read Entire Story.... Youth Radio/Youth Media International (YMI) is youth-driven converged media production company that delivers the best youth news, culture and undiscovered talent to a cross section of audiences. To read more youth news from around the globe and explore high quality audio and video features, visit Youthradio.org
 
Progressive Ideas Network: You Want Reform? Will You Take Revolution? Top
Greg Colvin, author, "The Progressive Trinity" Cross-posted at ourfuture.org We have been told this is our moment And so we come to the table With our pent-up agenda, Eager to load our cafeteria trays, While the raging, wounded bull Standing in the doorway Could be ours for the taking And all our people could be fed. It is time to ask ourselves, Are we progressives for Sentimental and marketing reasons? Or do we deeply understand The world's present predicament And our opportunity to fix it? Friends, there are words we need to know And use openly, fearlessly: Finance capital, oligarchy, And revolution. Progressive means having the undaunted character To pursue reform through the existing system, But to be willing and able When a crisis gives us the chance, Perhaps once in our lifetimes, To be revolutionaries and change things utterly. Revolution could mean a fundamental shift In the balance of power between the people, Represented by our democratically-elected government, And the oligarchy of wealth led by the finance capitalists. Without it, leaving the oligarchy in place, Our reforms are at best mild and temporary, At worst dead on arrival. With it, the heavy hand of finance capital in check, The prospects for reform for the rest of us Are vastly improved. Sons born after Japan surrendered, Daughters born after Nixon resigned, Our country is ready for you To take this matter in hand. The finance capitalists: Also known as Wall Street, The big banks, The economic royalists, The elite of the power elite. Titans whose money is made From money itself. These are the people that Bill Moyers, Simon Johnson, Dean Baker, Naomi Klein, and Richard Posner Have been trying to tell us about. They sit astride the global business system, The dominant institution On the planet In this century. They form an oligarchy of wealth More powerful than any nation Or government. They shape the choices and Dictate the terms that Mere public servants must follow. They blackmail us with threats Of worse financial ruin If they don't get their way. Claim to be too big to fail. Do what they can get away with. They demand to be protected from The dynamics of free enterprise and competition, That would reward honesty and care with success, Recklessness and fraud with failure. They have angered the public On all sides, With their bailouts and Bonuses and attitude of Entitlement to hard-earned Taxpayer money. These titans caused this economic meltdown, Yet expect to remain in charge of the recovery. They expect -- and get -- Supreme deference. They have committed crimes For which they should be prosecuted. They have built a financial sector in our country Twice as big as it ought to be, As Kevin Phillips, George Soros, and others have told us. They are planning, even now, To re-enrich themselves, Buy up the devalued assets, Of those they frightened Out of the marketplace. These oligarchs are the largest bloc of donors To congressional election campaigns. With the power to block most of the reforms Obama has proposed for Student loans, Foreclosure relief, Individual bankruptcy, And anything else that touches their empire. They "own this place," Says Senator Richard Durbin. They have us hooked on borrowing and spending On things, When we should be saving and sustaining Our spirits. Today, they are in the news, Their sins and stupidities For all to see. We will learn their dismal science. Take them on. Pull out all the stops. Break them up into smaller units, Under new and stronger anti-trust laws To curb their monopoly power. Hold them accountable To their own stockholders, and To the republic that gave them life. Make them prove their drugs aren't toxic Before they go to market. Regulate them down to their socks. Bring them to heel. Revolution, according to Gary Hart, requires 1. a crisis (yep), 2. a charismatic leader (uh huh), and 3. a manifesto (uh....working on that). Don't worry, Aunt Betty. It will not mean A violent overthrow of the government. We will prove Marx wrong on that. It will be a peaceful uprising of democratic power That breaks the grip of the dictatorship of wealth And lets our freely-elected officials Govern our republic. This time, the pitchforks are symbolic. The anger and commitment is real. The weapons are the ones we've used Since Montgomery and Selma, Since McCarthy in New Hampshire, Since Watergate, Since Obama in Iowa. The revolution will not be televised as Gil Scott-Heron sang, (before Al Gore invented the internet). Don't start it without me Says Jesse Ventura, surfing, Living off the grid in Baja. Revolution is about remaking our social contract For the twenty-first century. It is a word many of us Grew up believing in And do not fear. Progressive is not a station on the political dial Between liberal and conservative, Left and right, but A restless voice calling us To transform our society. Progressive is not a substitute for the word liberal. We answer to liberal because we are inclined To trust in the goodness of human nature. We differ with the conservative doctrine That mistrusts and fears the people, As Jefferson said. They say, "Sink or swim." We say, "We are all in this together." We are liberal, and more. We are here to resolve the paradoxes of left and right. We are for the upward movement of bold policies To resolve old partisan debates About immigration, Global warming, How we get our energy, Health care, Progressive taxation, Foreign affairs, All of that, And place our nation on a new footing With the consent of the governed And a decent respect for the rest of the world. A joinder of people of good faith, Broader than we ever imagined, Liberals to trust, Conservatives to verify. We are linked by history to Our brave progressive ancestors At the dawn of the twentieth century, Who busted the trusts, Ended child labor, Enacted the 8-hour day, Established national parks, Gave women the right to vote, And tried to institute a mixed system of government That the industrial class could not always dominate. Now, it is our turn to talk and make Our revolution. It may escape our grasp, though, If we do not start to seize it Before the Dow hits 10,000 again. The revolution will not be right back after a message About a white tornado, white lightning, or white people. You will not have to worry about a dove in your Bedroom, a tiger in your tank, or the giant in your toilet bowl. The revolution will not go better with Coke. The revolution will not fight the germs that may cause bad breath. The revolution will put you in the driver's seat. -- Gil Scott-Heron, The Revolution Will Not Be Televised
 
Leslie Hatfield: Green Food Movement Sparks Controversy on Campus and Off Top
Last weekend, before a packed house at Baltimore's Enoch Pratt Library, Michael Pollan declared the recent surge in activist work and interest in food politics a "movement." As usual, Pollan had a lot of great things to say that night, but this piece stood out to me. Friends and colleagues and I have been talking about the local/sustainable/good food movement for years, but many writers have been reticent to pronounce it that, so it was exciting that he would venture out onto that limb, even if he qualified it, and rightfully so, as many smaller movements (toward food security movement, food safety, labor rights and so on). Pollan went on to talk about how much of this movement is happening amongst youths on college campuses, another great point because, though there are food activists as young as fourth graders (who, in Wisconsin, recently attempted an "Eat-In" to protest school lunches ), becoming politically active is something of a rite of passage for college students. There are tons of student groups doing amazing work on all of the food fronts, including the Real Food Challenge (see their video below, hat tip to Good Farm Movement ) and the Student Farmworker Alliance . Slow Food also has chapters on many college campuses, and UNC Chapel Hill is home to FLO Food , as is UC Berkeley to the Society for Agriculture and Food Ecology ( SAFE ), which was founded by perhaps the country's most prolific and well known young farmer/activist, Severine von Tscharner Fleming, the head of the Greenhorns. During my own undergrad years at The Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington, which spanned from fall 1995 to fall of (ahem) 2004, I was assigned to read Eric Schlosser's Fast Food Nation . At the time, I'd been an on-again, off-again vegetarian for years, was growing my second garden and was hip to the idea of voting with my fork. I'd also waited tables throughout my college career, and was troubled by things like the fact that the waterfront restaurant where I worked sold crab from India. It would be five or so more years before I really started working on food issues, but had I never read that book, I'd have missed out on a valuable resource, one that confirmed a lot of my worries about our food system. On the other side of the Cascade Mountains from Evergreen, Pollan's more contemporary book, The Omnivore's Dilemna , is the current subject of controversy at Washington State University, where it has been pulled from the school's "common reading" program. Just out on paperback, the bestseller is in the tradition of Schlosser's Fast Food Nation , and has no doubt had as much or more impact on Americans' eating habits. So it makes sense that a university with a large college of agriculture might come under political fire for assigning such a book, the possibility of which was the subject of this article in yesterday's Chronicle of Higher Education . "Because this book deals with the food we eat today, it is likely to engender lively discussion and even disagreement," wrote one professor who had recommended it to the committee. "But discussion and disagreement are the bread and butter of academic discourse." But it seems that discussion will not happen--at least not over The Omnivore's Dilemma as a common-reading selection. Michael Pollan's hard-hitting examination of industrial agriculture and the American diet has been dropped as the program's text. This wouldn't be the first time big food, which gives to many of the country's leading agriculture programs (at South Dakota State University, where Monsanto Board member David Chicoine's recent appointment as university president is raising eyebrows, Monsanto has given around $400,000 for research grants and services over the past year or so), has thrown its moneyed weight around on campus. Just yesterday, Slow Food USA Blog reported that Virginia Tech Dining Services (VTDS), ranked #1 in campus food by the Princeton Review, was being pressured by agribusiness lobbying groups like the Virginia Farm Bureau to quit sourcing cage-free, locally produced eggs, and last year, Burger King hired unlicensed private detectives to spy on the Student Farmworker Alliance , the partner group of the Coalition of Immokalee Workers, when the labor group focused its boycotting strategy on the industry giant. Of course, students aren't the only food activists, nor are these the only groups to be targeted by big food. Just this week, Monsanto launched a counter campaign against the eye-opening new Participant film, Food Inc (in theaters June 12), proclaiming it biased and one-sided, after refusing to be interviewed for the film. But at a time when schools are scrambling for money, and they are -- earlier this month, WSU announced major budget cuts including to the agricultural research and extension departments -- educators may feel less inclined to rock the funding boat. I'm not saying that WSU is directly funded by agribusiness -- my hunch is that corporate funding is mostly funneled through government groups anyway -- but the fact that much of WSU's research tends toward the biotechnical suggests a conflict of interest here. To be fair, WSU is also home to an organic program, but the controversy over Pollan's book clearly points to a fight over the hearts and minds of today's academics, tomorrow's farmers and potential activists. At the least, to pull Pollan's book from the common reading program may deny students the chance to debate his ideas. As this year's seniors head for the graduation platform, here's hoping that next year's incoming freshmen, at WSU and elsewhere (but especially at state-funded institutions), get a chance to partake in that "bread and butter of academic discourse," even when it might upset the proverbial apple cart. Originally posted on The Green Fork .
 
Guide To Raising Generous Children Top
If parents want to raise generous children, what works? Years of looking into which youth experiences best predict giving by adults offer some clues. Independent Sector, a group of major nonprofit organizations, found the activities below the most closely linked to adult generosity. They're in only rough rank order because respondents could name multiple activities. More on The Giving Life
 
Bruce Kluger & David Slavin: Just When You Thought It Was Safe Top
He's baaaa-aaack! Up from the primordial ooze from whence he sprang--and fresh from an extended vacay at Club Med Hades (wake- and water-boarding included!)--comes Dick Cheney, aka Dick the Impaler, our grumbling, bumbling, behated former Presi...er...Vice President. Did you honestly think His Dickness would go gently into that good night? This guy doesn't do gentle. His idea of relaxation is putting his gardener on the rack for messing up the hedges. Apparently, "Minister of Discipline" at the McLean Country Club wasn't a big enough challenge for the man. Now he has a mission: to shout from the rooftops (or the Fox News Channel, or any other network with an empty chair and a clip-on mike) about something that's been near and dear to his damaged heart for more than seven years: harsh interrogation methods (or what you liberal pansies out there call "torture"). Have you heard Dick's new theme song? "I'd Like To Teach The World To Scream." Well, we hate to say we told you so, but...we told you so. More than a year ago, we uncovered Dick's passion for punishment in our prescient yet somehow underappreciated faux-children's book, Young Dick Cheney: Great American (AlterNet Books), an often shocking, frequently touching, clearly unauthorized biography of the most powerful Dick ever to inhabit the Vice Presidency. If you don't think this investigative childhood memoir of the Marquis de Dick hit the nail on the head (or, as Dick would prefer, into the head), check out this passage from Chapter 16 of the book: Within weeks of their election to the student government, President Donny and Vice President Dick instituted a new disciplinary system. Students with behavioral problems were no longer sent to the cafeteria after the dismissal bell, but instead were relocated to a small shack behind a drainage ditch, half a mile away. "Yessiree, we're calling it Detention-o Bay," Donny announced to the student body, as Dick slipped him index cards with the speech written on them. "But I don't want you to think of Detno as a place of punishment. Golly, no--it's a place of fairness. A hall of justice, where honor, tradition and nipple-electrodes come together!" Spooky, isn't it? Not only is Young Dick Cheney: Great American packed with (hilarious) anecdotal evidence of the former Veep's creepiness; it also includes the inside scoop on Dick's mysterious heart ailment; the sneaky antics of his wily crony, Scooter; and startlingly intimate revelations about Young Dick's high school sweetheart, Lynne, that'll have you squirming in your seat. Or barfing. Get your copy of Young Dick Cheney: Great American , right here or here or here (the latter at AlterNet Books' special Economic Crisis Sale price of $9.00). Or get two copies--one for yourself, and one for your favorite torturer. But whatever you do, just get the damn book . We don't want to have to tell you we told you so again. To read more about the explosive Young Dick Cheney: Great American , click on the images below.... More on Dick Cheney
 
Solar Plane Crosses Alps To Trippy Music (VIDEO) Top
Michael Graham Richard of Treehugger sent over some awesome video of a solar plane crossing the Alps -- here's what he has to say: We've written a few times about the Sunseeker II solar airplane , and how it was the first solar plane to cross the Alps . We had some breathtaking photos , but now we have video! WATCH: Alps Crossing from Solar Flight on Vimeo . More on Video
 
Obama, Jack McCain Embrace At US Naval Academy Graduation (SLIDESHOW) Top
President Obama promised members of the graduating class at the US Naval Academy Friday that they would never have to fight an unnecessary war. "I will only send you into harm's way when it is absolutely necessary, and with the strategy, the well-defined goals, the equipment and the support that you need to get the job done," said the Commander-in-Chief. One member of the President's audience was Senator John McCain. McCain and his family were at the event to see their oldest son Jack graduate. Jack and Obama shared a moment on stage while Mrs. McCain cheered her son on after he received his diploma. SEE THE SLIDESHOW: More on Photo Galleries
 
Wild Manhattan Car Chase Leaves Woman Seriously Injured Top
A bloodied, drug-addled man eluded cops in a crazed 20-block car chase -- in which he hit the same pedestrian twice -- before finally getting tackled by a police officer. More on New York
 
Abu Ghraib Ties To Gitmo Shown By DOJ Memos Top
Yesterday, in his remarks at the American Enterprise Institute, former Vice President Dick Cheney protested that everyone had Abu Ghraib all wrong ! In public discussion of these matters, there has been a strange and sometimes willful attempt to conflate what happened at Abu Ghraib with the top-secret program of enhanced interrogations. At Abu Ghraib, a few sadistic prison guards abused inmates in violation of American law, military regulation, and simple decency. For the harm they did to Iraqi prisoners and to America's cause, they deserved and received Army justice. And it takes a deeply unfair cast of mind to equate the disgraces of Abu Ghraib with the lawful, skillful, and entirely honorable work of CIA personnel trained to deal with a few malevolent men. But maybe there has been a "willful attempt to conflate what happened at Abu Ghraib with the top-secret program of enhanced interrogations," precisely because the two things are infinitely conflatable! Dan Froomkin takes on the issue in a report on Nieman Watchdog today and finds that Cheney's words just don't comport to observable reality: A bipartisan report from the Senate Armed Services Committee released in December definitively concluded that the administration's repeated explanations of the abuse of detainees in U.S. custody at Guantanamo, Abu Ghraib and elsewhere was a pack of lies. "The abuse of detainees in U.S. custody cannot simply be attributed to the actions of 'a few bad apples' acting on their own," the report found. "The fact is that senior officials in the United States government solicited information on how to use aggressive techniques, redefined the law to create the appearance of their legality, and authorized their use against detainees." Similarly, in his book "The Torture Team," [Phillipe] Sands documents how the Pentagon initially tried to blame officers at Guantanamo for the brutal interrogation regime there. As Sands wrote in this Vanity Fair excerpt, Bush administration officials insisted that "techniques were not imposed or encouraged by Washington, which had merely reacted to a request from below." They even maintained that the legal justification was initiated there as well. "It was not the result of legal positions taken by politically appointed lawyers in the upper echelons of the administration, and certainly not the Justice Department." But, Sands wrote: "The real story, pieced together from many hours of interviews with most of the people involved in the decisions about interrogation, goes something like this: [The February 2002 memo in which Bush exempted war-on-terror detainees from the Geneva Conventions] was not a case of following the logic of the law but rather was designed to give effect to a prior decision to take the gloves off and allow coercive interrogation; it deliberately created a legal black hole into which the detainees were meant to fall. The new interrogation techniques did not arise spontaneously from the field but came about as a direct result of intense pressure and input from Rumsfeld's office. The Yoo-Bybee Memo was not simply some theoretical document, an academic exercise in blue-sky hypothesizing, but rather played a crucial role in giving those at the top the confidence to put pressure on those at the bottom. And the practices employed at Guantánamo led to abuses at Abu Ghraib. "The fingerprints of the most senior lawyers in the administration were all over the design and implementation of the abusive interrogation policies. Addington, Bybee, Gonzales, Haynes, and Yoo became, in effect, a torture team of lawyers, freeing the administration from the constraints of all international rules prohibiting abuse." It's important to note that President Barack Obama's decision to not release the most recent spate of detainee photos, is one that will preserve the disinformation spread by his predecessor:: The White House disinformation campaign has been so successful, however, that Abu Ghraib is still widely seen as an isolated incident - and not as the result of public policy decisions. That's the biggest reason why President Obama's recent decision to fight the court-ordered release of more prison-abuse photos was such a blow to accountability...The photos Obama is now trying to keep secret are said to depict prisoner abuse very much like that at Abu Ghraib - but at several other locations, including Guantanamo. Froomkin's piece is the eighth in a series of stories on this matter , so don't just make do with these excerpts. MORE: Establishing the connection between the Bush White House and Abu Ghraib [Nieman Watchdog] [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 .] Get HuffPost Politics On Facebook and Twitter! More on Dick Cheney
 
Somalia Fighting Escalates In Capital Mogadishu Top
MOGADISHU, Somalia — Hundreds of government soldiers attacked Islamic insurgents across the Somali capital amid heavy artillery shelling Friday, battling along streets strewn with bodies as they tried to regain lost ground. The U.N.-backed government, which held just a few blocks of Mogadishu before the fighting erupted early in the day, claimed it had taken rebel-controlled areas, but the insurgents said they repelled the attacks. One Somali reported a busload of fleeing civilians was hit by gunfire, and others told of seeing many casualties. At least 22 people were dead and more than 150 wounded across the city, residents, medical officials and an independent radio station said. "We are running out of beds ... we cannot cope," said Ali Adde, deputy director of the Medina Hospital, where more than 100 casualties were brought. Some of the patients were being treated outside in hastily erected tents after the hospital ran out of room, he said. The government offensive followed a few days' lull after Islamic insurgents staged a major attack in Mogadishu. Despite successes, the insurgents failed to gain control of key installations like the airport and presidential palace, which are guarded by African Union peacekeepers. The Islamic fighters also had been expanding their hold on territory in central Somalia taken from clan militias allied to the government. But the militants halted when neighboring Ethiopia moved several columns of troops over the border to secure key towns. Ethiopia, which helped government troops drive Islamic militiamen out of the capital late in 2006, worries about the insurgents' links to rebel groups on its own soil. Regional leaders issued a hurried statement Friday in support of the beleaguered U.N.-backed government, which took advantage of the calm in recent days to resupply and regroup its troops before launching Friday's assault. Both sides fired mortars, rocket-propelled grenades and missiles mounted on trucks into residential areas. Gunmen with belts of ammunition wound around their skinny chests crouched behind shell-pocked buildings, ignoring bodies in the streets. A man cradled a wounded child, blood streaming from its face onto his white shirt while two more hurriedly trundled a body down the road on a cart, a scarf draped over its head. Another man stared vacantly, his lower jaw torn away by shrapnel or a bullet. "The gunfire is pounding our village like thunder. This is a nightmare," said Mohamed Haji Tohow from southern Mogadishu. "May God save us." Among the dead was journalist Abdirisaq Warsame Mohamed of the independent radio station Shabelle Media Network. His editor said he was hit by a stray bullet on his way to work. The U.N. said some 49,000 people had fled the capital, and the humanitarian situation was dire. Many families camped out under trees or by the side of roads, sheltered by nothing more than a few scraps of plastic, without access to food or water. Mark Schroeder, an analyst at Stratfor, an international intelligence company, said he did not expect Somalia's fighting to end soon. Two insurgent groups have cobbled together an alliance seeking to overthrow the weak government and its allied militias. But Schroeder said even if that occurred the nationalist aims of the leader of the Islamic Party and the jihadist ideology of the al-Shabab militia would likely lead to conflict between the nominal allies. "The Islamists can be united as long as they have a common enemy," he said. In addition, Ethiopia and the United States are keen to prevent Islamic forces from coming into power in Somalia, Schroeder said. They are particularly opposed to the al-Shabab militia, which has publicly stated its support for al-Qaida and received endorsement from Osama bin Laden in a video. "The fight is far from over," Schroeder said. He noted Somalia's new president, Sheik Sharif Sheik Ahmed, has a personal rivalry with Sheik Hassan Dahir Aweys, an Islamist leader who arrived in Mogadishu a month ago after two years of exile in Eritrea. Ahmed and Aweys, who come from the same clan, once fought alongside each other against the previous administration and its Ethiopian allies. But Ahmed signed a peace deal, clearing the way for him to become president, and Aweys now regards him as a traitor. There is also a rivalry between Ethiopia and Eritrea, which is supporting Aweys. Eritrea, which broke away from Ethiopia after a long, bitter war, is eager to weaken its archenemy any way it can. Somalis have not known peace for a generation, ever since warlords overthrew a socialist dictator in 1991. Clan militias turned on each other seeking revenge for brutality of his rule, and in the intervening years criminal militias and pirates have built business empires out of the chaos. ___ Associated Press writer Katharine Houreld in Nairobi, Kenya, contributed to this report. More on Somalia
 

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