Sunday, May 31, 2009

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How The Banks Plotted To Fight Off Regulatory Overhaul Top
As the financial crisis entered one of its darkest phases in October, a handful of the nation's largest banks began holding daily telephone sessions. Murmurs were already emanating from Washington about the need for a wide-ranging regulatory overhaul, and Wall Street executives girded for a fight. More on The Bailouts
 
Krugman: Reagan And His Advisers Were Prime Villains Behind The Financial Mess We're In Top
"This bill is the most important legislation for financial institutions in the last 50 years. It provides a long-term solution for troubled thrift institutions. ... All in all, I think we hit the jackpot." So declared Ronald Reagan in 1982, as he signed the Garn-St. Germain Depository Institutions Act.
 
William Bradley: Terminating The Darkness: Hope Floats, But Anxiety Remains Top
Terminator Salvation is a dark fable of the future, a much better war movie than science fiction film. Is the era of the dark comic book movie fable coming to an end? Or is it more a matter of a spate of seemingly underperforming dark would-be blockbusters? Terminator Salvation , the blockbuster reboot of the Terminator franchise , is, as they say in Hollywood, underperforming. That means it's not making as much money as expected. This comes on the heels of Watchmen , the heavily anticipated comic book classic which proved too dark and geeky, and Wolverine , the origin tale of the most popular of the X-Men characters that is actually quite popular but falls short of the last two X-Men pictures. Both movies grossed over $100 million in domestic box office -- with Wolverine over $170 million -- and Terminator Salvation will, too. For most movies, this would be a massive triumph. But not for very expensive pictures such as these, meant to be tent poles for their studios into the future. (Which Wolverine probably manages to continue, though the film is not well-regarded.) Are the dark fables done for? Probably not, because the darkness is still to be seen in every direction. And the theme of unease with human/machine convergence certainly isn't going away. That will only intensify as technology is more intrusive and integrated into our lives and as artificial intelligence at last becomes a reality. In the Terminator films, humanity becomes so dependent on technology that it is nearly destroyed by it. Watchmen 's most powerful superhero, Dr. Manhattan, originally to have been played many years ago by Arnold Schwarzenegger, is a physicist given such extraordinary powers over space and time by a nuclear accident that he becomes dangerously detached from humanity. In the X-Men series, the powerful mutant Wolverine becomes near invincible with extraordinary body modifications. All quite relevant themes. T2 3-D , at $60 million in 1996 the most expensive mini-sequel in history, was produced for the Universal Studios amusement parks. Still, this doesn't seem the right moment for the grim flicks. It is the moment for the rebooted Star Trek , that optimistic thrill ride in which people master the tech and work as a team, which is now the most popular movie of the year in America, just a few years after the franchise dating back to the 1960s seemed dead in the water. More about the Starship Lens Flare and the Great Rambaldi Artifact Adventure another time. There's a row of movie posters at my local theater. On the far left, a poster for Terminator Salvation , proclaiming "The End Begins." On the far right, a poster for Star Trek , proclaiming "The Future Begins." The Obama era is about hope, as the Trekkie-in-chief has managed to mention on more than a few occasions, and hope is what people are looking for in rugged times. Terminator Salvation has a great look, with convincing action sequences, but seems on the choppy side, with missing scenes of needed motivation and depth. Nevertheless, it is actually good at what it really is, which is a war movie. It's a better war movie than science fiction movie. Christian Bale is effective as John Connor, the prophesied leader of the human resistance against the machines, first targeted, then repeatedly saved by Schwarzenegger's iconic killer robot. He doesn't bring the flash and charm of Bruce Wayne to this role, which leavens the darkness of the rebooted Batman franchise. But then, there aren't many parties or Lamborghinis in this blasted-out dystopia that the Skynet artificial intelligence has made of the world. "I'll be back." The first three Terminator films all have two things the fourth film lacks: A strong narrative throughline and a central iconic figure (Schwarzenegger). The new film -- set in the future war the earlier films hinted at -- would seem to be setting up the prophesied human resistance leader John Connor as that central icon. (Schwarzenegger being essentially unavailable due to his little day job as governor of California.) With Bale, hot off The Dark Knight in the role, that's the audience's expectation. Which makes sense, as the first three films turn on the struggle to stop terminators sent from the future into the present day from preventing John Connor's existence into that future. But the film introduces another character played by Sam Worthington as a dual lead. Worthington, who stars in original Terminator director James Cameron's forthcoming scific extravaganza Avatar , is Australian, befitting Hollywood's frequent practice of picking a guy from the land down under when more testosterone than generally found in the LA actor corps is needed for a more masculine leading role. He delivers, though the accent slips a bit here and there. But his character isn't really explained. And the big reveal of his character -- that he is a cyborg who believes he is human -- in one of those, ah, fascinating marketing decisions, is given away in trailers for the movie, robbing the picture of suspense. Marcus is a more sophisticated cyborg than what we've seen, being a human/machine hybrid who believes he human. But how has he come to exist at a point in the saga at which Schwarzenegger's iconic T-800 is still in prototype mode? As Bale's John Connor told us in the trailers, "This isn't the future my mother told me about." In the film, he listens repeatedly to tapes left him by late mother, Sarah Connor, which gives Linda Hamilton, who starred in the first two films as a young waitress forced to retool herself as a guerilla fighter, the opportunity to appear again in voice-over. But though the question is posed repeatedly, it's never explained, at least not in the footage seen in the theatrical release. So the audience is left with stuttering iconography and very incomplete science fiction. But director McG delivers a lot of impressive hard-core action, in what is essentially a successful, if decidedly grim, war movie. And composer Danny Elfman delivers a fine score, though one not nearly so iconic as his classic Batman score of 20 years ago. Is it possible that Arnold Schwarzenegger had a more musical conception for a Terminator film? The Terminator films have always been dark, but in the past they've been leavened by humor, mostly provided by Schwarzenegger. The whole concept is outrageous and amusing in its essentially lunatic premise; namely, that robots keep coming back from the future, and they look and sound like Arnold Schwarzenegger. Schwarzenegger, who talks about how "the terminator loves his shades," is well aware of the undercurrent of amusing unreality. When does a killer robot from the future care about looking cool in his sunglasses? When it's a movie star having fun while at the same time selling the hyper-realism with the voice and the impassive affect. Schwarzenegger is in the movie in a brief but telling cameo. He caused a flicker of excitement among fanboys around the world in April when he told me that he'd decided to allow his image to be used in the film via CGI. "They're really looking for where one of the leads runs into a room and he all of a sudden sees the future terminators, because it's kind of a prequel," he noted. "So it's like the future terminator. Then he runs, then he gets thrown around, and then he goes into another room, where there are some other terminator things." The part of Schwarzenegger's T-800 prototype was performed in live-action filming by former Mister Austria Roland Kickinger, who played the bodybuilding era Schwarzenegger in the cable movie See Arnold Run . Through CGI, Industrial Light & Magic was able to place Schwarzenegger's 1984 Terminator image in the action. The dark tales may be in eclipse for now, relatively speaking -- keeping in mind that Terminator Salvation is over $90 million in domestic box office, already one of the higher grosses of the year, after its second weekend -- but they're part of a rich mosaic of sagas. A mosaic that will only be added to as we become more and more dependent on technology, increasingly merging with it. In 2001 , the HAL 9000 supercomputer proves most troublesome. Before the Terminator films of 1984, 1991, and 2003, there was 1968's 2001: A Space Odyssey , in which a powerful computer becomes sentient and sabotages the crew it serves. 1970's Colossus: The Forbin Project , in which a supercomputer designed to run the country's nuclear arsenal decides to run the country as well. Then there was the original Battlestar Galactica TV series in 1978, in which "Cylon" robots warred with humanity. And before both, two Harlan Ellison-penned tales of time-traveling cyborgs and soldiers for The Outer Limits in the early '60s, which Cameron acknowledged as partial inspirations for The Terminator . Increasingly today, we have more interaction with our computers than with other people, perhaps beginning to lose the full range of emotion as our experiences become increasingly mediated. It may well be that the the more mediated and technologized, we become, the more detached and inhuman we are. Not that so-called "social media" like Twitter and Facebook and MySpace are yet creating a hive mind like that of the Borg, introduced by Star Trek in the late 1980s. Nor do we yet live in an utterly false reality like that in the Matrix series of films. And yet ... The Borg were terrifying in their inhumanity and and arrogance, motivated by power in an ever-expanding and consuming quest to achieve "perfection" through the acquisition and integration of technology, overcoming the weakness of flesh. That was clear, and chilling, in the last hit movie in the Star Trek franchise before the current reboot, Star Trek: First Contact . The reimagined Battlestar Galactica TV series explored these themes and more in detail. But then there are the humanoid machines that want to be more like people. Data on Star Trek: The Next Generation . The cylons in the recent Battlestar Galactica series, reimagined by Star Trek: First Contact co-author Ron Moore, and the forthcoming Caprica prequel series, who strive to become more like humans after nearly wiping out the race. Even some of the terminators, though not so much. Ironically, the Terminator version seen for the past two seasons on the small screen, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles , delivered a much more sophisticated rendition of artificial intelligence than the new movie, delving into the boundaries and mergings between human and machine in ways only hinted at in Terminator Salvation. That show, recently canceled, also suffered from a dour atmosphere and, unlike the film, didn't have the budget to blow things up all that often. Still, it was thought-provoking in ways that episodic television can be and feature films increasingly are not. You can check things during the day on my site, New West Notes ... www.newwestnotes.com.
 
Former SEC Chair Cox Undermined Enforcement Efforts Top
The five enforcement officials caught a morning Acela train bound for Washington. Based at the New York office of the Securities and Exchange Commission, the team was seeking agency approval to impose tens of millions of dollars in fines on a drug company, Biovail, which had allegedly used the crash of a truck hauling depression medicine to cover up financial losses.
 
Stewart Acuff: YouTube video clip of Little Rock rally for Employee Free Choice Act Top
The "Turn Around Arkansas" coalition held a 24-hour vigil for the Employee Free Choice Act on Wednesday, May 27. The vigil began at Senator Blanche Lincoln's office in Little Rock where workers delivered hundreds of letters in support of the Employee Free Choice Act. Arkansas' two Senators have already received more than 14,000 similar letters. Similar vigils were also held at the District offices of Arkansas's congressional delegation in Fayetteville, Jonesboro, El Dorado and Texarkana. The vigil wrapped up with a rally at the Arkansas State House.
 
Government Motors: US Will Own 60% Of GM Top
WASHINGTON — General Motors, the humbled auto giant that has been part of American life for more than 100 years, will file for bankruptcy protection on Monday in a deal that will give taxpayers a 60 percent ownership stake and expand the government's reach into big business. It would be the largest industrial bankruptcy in U.S. history, and the fourth-largest overall. In addition, a GM bankruptcy would be unprecedented as the federal government would pump billions more into the company. Underscoring the government's extraordinary role, President Barack Obama planned to announce his support for GM's restructuring strategy at a midday appearance at the White House, much as he did in April when Chrysler sought court protection. GM president and CEO Fritz Henderson planned to hold a news conference in New York immediately following Obama's announcement. Administration officials said late Sunday the federal government would pump $30 billion dollars into GM as it makes its way through bankruptcy court. That's besides the $20 billion in taxpayers' money that the Treasury already lent to the automaker. The $30 billion is to help GM through the Chapter 11 proceeding and move it through its restructuring plan. It doesn't have the money to run the business right now. The money would come from what remains of the $700 billion rescue fund for the financial sector. The officials, speaking on condition of anonymity in advance of Obama's public remarks, said the administration expects the court process to last 60 to 90 days. If successful, GM will emerge as a leaner company with a smaller work force, fewer plants and a trimmed dealership force. The company will stick with its four core brands _ Chevrolet, Cadillac, Buick and GMC _ and jettison four others. The company plans to cut 21,000 employees, about 34 percent of its work force, and reduce the number of dealers by 2,600. "There is still plenty of pain to go around, but I'm confident this is far better than the alternative," Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., said Sunday after being briefed about the developments by the president. "It's a new beginning, it's a rebirth, it's a new General Motors." The government's ownership stake and huge financial injection represents yet another remarkable intervention into the American private sector. The Treasury has stepped in to help banks, it has taken majority ownership in insurance conglomerate American International Group and it has guided Chrysler through bankruptcy protection proceedings. Despite its sizable ownership, administration officials said the government intends to stay out of day-to-day management decisions. It says it intends to shed its ownership stakes "as soon as practicable." The day to day operations will be carried out by GM's management. But a majority of the board of directors will change and the administration will have a hand in helping select them. "Our goal is to promote strong and viable companies that can quickly be profitable and contribute to economic growth and jobs without government involvement," a fact sheet issued by the White House and the Treasury Department said. Still, it was Obama who ordered the firing of former GM CEO Richard Wagoner a month ago. And it was the Obama administration that instructed GM to trim itself to a point that it could break even by selling 10 million cars a year. It's current break even point is 16 million cars. Even as the White House stressed that it would run the day-to-day operation of the car company, the arrangement was fraught with potential conflicts. The Obama administration has proposed tougher fuel efficiency requirements that GM will need to abide by and has pumped billions into the auto company's lending arm and assured consumers that it will backstop GM warranties. GM plans to name turnaround executive Al Koch to serve as its chief restructuring officer to help the company through bankruptcy protection, said a person familiar with the matter. The person, who spoke on condition of anonymity, was not authorized to speak about the appointment publicly. Koch, a managing director with AlixPartners LLP, is a veteran turnaround specialist who helped Kmart Corp. through its Chapter 11 reorganization. He will lead the separation of the automaker's assets into a "New GM" and the remaining parts of the company that will form "Old GM." Koch will lead the management team that winds down the "Old GM" company once the automaker emerges from bankruptcy. A majority of the Detroit automaker's unsecured bondholders have accepted a deal viewed as crucial to reorganization, and Germany agreed to loan $2 billion to GM's German unit, Opel, as part of its acquisition by a Canadian auto parts supplier. The moves don't change much for GM, but better prepare it for a bankruptcy protection filing, said Rebecca Lindland, an auto analyst for the consulting firm IHS Global Insight. "The more agreements GM has with its interests, the better the bankruptcy is going to go," she said. "It's not a game changer at all." It would be the largest industrial bankruptcy in U.S. history, and the fourth-largest overall. In addition, a GM bankruptcy would be unprecedented as the federal government would pump billions more into the company, and take a 72.5 percent interest in the automaker. On Sunday a group of large, institutional bondholders, representing 54 percent of GM bondholders, agreed to exchange their unsecured bonds for a 10 percent stake in a newly restructured company, plus warrants to purchase a greater share later. They had balked at an earlier offer, that gave them 10 percent of the company without the warrants. Beyond the bankruptcy announcement Monday, GM is expected to reveal 14 plants it intends to close and name the buyer of its Hummer division. One of those plants, however, will reopen as a new small car factory. The decision to build the new car in the United States appears to address previous labor and congressional concerns that GM was considering importing a small car from its plants in China. By building the car in the U.S., the share of U.S. produced cars for U.S. sale will increase from 66 percent to more than 70 percent. In Germany on Sunday, the government agreed to loan GM's Opel unit $2.1 billion, a move necessary for Magna International Inc. to acquire the company. The Canadian auto parts supplier Magna will take a 20 percent stake in Opel and Russian-owned Sberbank will take a 35 percent, giving the two businesses a majority. GM retains 35 percent of Opel, with the remaining 10 percent going to employees. The German funds are available to Opel immediately, as it attempts to shield itself from cuts if GM files for bankruptcy protection. Opel employs 25,000 people in Germany, nearly half of GM Europe's work force. Under the deal, four factories in Germany would stay open saving jobs. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, who was traveling to China, followed the developments closely. The Treasury on Thursday offered bondholders 10 percent of a newly formed GM's stock, plus warrants to buy 15 percent more to erase the debt. Last week, GM withdrew an offer of 10 percent equity after only 15 percent of the thousands of bondholders signed up. The current 54 percent acceptance represents only $14.6 billion, but by lining up support in advance of a bankruptcy protection filing, GM is likely to find it easier to persuade a judge to apply terms of the sweetened offer to the rest of its unsecured debt. It could also help the automaker get through the court process more quickly, said Robert Gordon, head of the corporate restructuring and bankruptcy group at Clark Hill PLC in Detroit. The company made a huge stride toward restructuring Friday when the United Auto Workers union agreed to a cost-cutting deal. GM's fate and the federal government's intervention was scrutinized on several Sunday morning talk shows. "I think the government auto bailout was a big mistake," said Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., on CNN's "State of the Union" program. "We could have let these companies go through the bankruptcy process much earlier." In a typical Chapter 11 bankruptcy case, the company files a plan of reorganization that must be voted on by creditors. In each class of creditors, the plan would have to be approved by holders of two-thirds of the claims and a majority of the number of individual creditors who vote. But the GM case is anything but ordinary, and it appears the company will sell some or all of its assets to a new entity that would become the new GM, rather than submit a plan to reorganize the old company. GM's stock tumbled to the lowest price in the company's 100-year history on Friday, closing at just 75 cents after trading as low as 74 cents. In a Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization, the shares would become virtually worthless. ___ AP Auto Writers Kimberly S. Johnson and Tom Krisher in Detroit and AP Business Writer Harry Weber in Atlanta contributed to this report.
 
Bruno's Butt Lands On Eminem At MTV Movie Awards (VIDEO) Top
( AP article , SCROLL for video/photos) LOS ANGELES � Eminem apparently has flown the coop from the MTV Movie Awards after a close encounter with Sacha Baron Cohen. In character as flamboyant fashion reporter "Bruno," Baron Cohen flew in above Sunday's award show audience on a wire _ and in a pair of feathery white wings and his rear end mostly exposed. But the comedian crashed into an overhead obstacle, and he was lowered into the audience _ right into Eminem's lap, his bare hindquarters in the rapper's face. Eminem seemed visibly upset at the mishap. Or was it a joke he was in on? The rapper stormed out with his entourage in tow _ and cameras rolling. In 2002, Sparks flew when the rapper was interviewed by Triumph the Insult Comic Dog at the MTV Video Music Awards. WATCH (scroll for pics if down): Bruno And Eminem Get Intimate - MTV Movie Awards by TheDlisted More on Video
 
Susan Boyle At The Priory: RUSHED To Clinic Following Saturday's Loss Top
Following a crushing defeat on Britain's Got Talent, Susan Boyle was admitted to a private clinic in London Sunday for treatment of exhaustion, according to Britain's Daily Mail. Police were summoned to Boyle's hotel in the British capital, where the Scottish singing sensation exhibited symptoms of "emotional breakdown" following the show's Saturday finale, the paper reports. "We were called about 6 p.m. on Sunday to a central London hotel to doctors assessing a woman under the Mental Health Act," a police spokesperson tells the paper. More on Susan Boyle
 
Jack Hidary: General Rick Sanchez calls for War Crimes Truth Commission Top
In front of a packed audience tonight at the Times theater in New York City, General Ricardo Sanchez, the former commander of all coalition forces in Iraq, called for a truth commission to get to the bottom of of the abuses and torture which occurred there. The General described the failures at all levels of civilian and military command that led to the abuses in Iraq, "and that is why I support the formation of a truth commission." I interviewed General Sanchez after the event and asked him to elaborate on why we needed such a commission. "For the American people to really know what happened, " he replied, "...this was an institutional failure, a personal failure on the part of many...." "If we do not find out what happened," continued the General, "then we are doomed to repeat it." I interviewed Rachel Maddow as well asking her if a truth commission is indeed a political possibility. "We have to rescue our institutions and restore faith in them," she responded. "With every passing day we are hemmoraging moral energy." The event tonight was moderated by Rachel Maddow and featured General Sanchez, Vince Warren, exec director of the Center for Constitutional Rights and Ron Suskind, the author and reporter. The event tonight also featured Liev Schreiber, John Leguizamo and other actors who portrayed various characters from the topics at hand. I interviewed Rachel Maddow as well after the event asking her if a truth commission is indeed a political possibility. "We have to rescue our institutions and restore faith in them," she responded. "With every passing day we are hemmoraging moral energy [as Ron Suskind had been discussing]." I asked her what she thought of General Sanchez coming out with an open call for a truth commission. "He is not shirking the discussion, he wants to be part of it." After the event, I also interviewed Vince Warren, the executive director of the Center for Consitional Rights. On the panel, he took issue with General Sanchez's call for a truth commission if that meant amnesty for those involved in violations of the Geneva Convention and other laws. Vince took a different view than General Sanchez of a truth commission on Iraqi abuses. Vince stated that "any commission that promises blanket amnesty to those who violated the law we could not support." He said that the case of the truth commission in South Africa was different as that country was going through a change in form of government. I interviewed Liev Schreiber after the event as well. Senator Patrick Leahy has called for a truth commission on the abuses in Iraq and set up a website to collect online signatures in support of the framework - www.BushTruthCommission.com. More than 113,000 people have signed so far since the site's launch in February of this year. Tonight is the first time a senior military officer from the Iraqi theater has also called for a truth commission. More on War Crimes
 
EXCLUSIVE EXCERPT FROM 'RENEGADE' - Obama On Clinton Pick: "I'm Not Begging Her To Take This Job" Top
In an exclusive excerpt from Newsweek Senior White House correspondent Richard Wolffe's new book, "Renegade: The Making of a President," Wolffe details the internal debates within the Obama camp over whether to select Hillary Clinton as secretary of state. Wolffe will discuss his new book on NBC's "Today" show on Monday morning. Of all his transition choices, none was easier to make, or more complex to execute, than Hillary Clinton as secretary of state. Obama had long wanted his former rival on his team, no matter what his friends and aides said about her aggressive campaign... His staff opposed the idea for the most part, arguing that Clinton would never be truly loyal. But Obama was willing to leave the primaries behind, including his own strong feelings at the time. "I don't hold grudges," he told his aides. "I don't worry about the past. I'm concerned about what happens now. If she can help me and Bill Clinton isn't too much of a liability, we should seriously look at this." ... Obama was under no illusion about the legacy of the long primary season. During one transition meeting, Obama said he wanted to offer Clinton the diplomatic job. "I'm really interested in pursuing this, but I know she has some hard feelings coming out of this campaign." Emanuel and John Podesta, the former Clinton official who ran the transition, assured Obama that she was over those hard feelings now. Obama smiled and said, "Believe me. She's not over it yet." His decision to offer her the job of secretary of state came surprisingly early. Well before the end of the primaries, when his staff and friends still felt hostile to her, Obama decided that Clinton possessed the qualities to carry his diplomacy to the rest of the world. "We actually thought during the primary, when we were pretty sure we were going to win, that she could end up being a very effective secretary of state," he told me later. "I felt that she was disciplined, that she was precise, that she was smart as a whip, and that she would present a really strong image to the world...I had that mapped out." Recruiting and managing a team of rivals would not be easy, and Clinton came with her own set of issues. Chief among them was her campaign debt, which she wanted eliminated before she took the job of secretary of state. Would the president-elect go out and help her to do so? "I'm not begging her to take this job," Obama told his senior aides. "If she wants it, I could help. But I'm not willing to go out in these difficult economic times to do a flashy fundraiser in California." As it happened, plenty of people in the Senate were begging Obama to offer Clinton the job. Obama's aides believed that many Senate Democrats thought Clinton had extended her presidential campaign far beyond the point where she had lost the election. Her negative advertising wasted Democratic money, threatened to undermine the party's nominee, and suggested that she was disloyal to the party. They were unwilling to offer the junior New York senator a position ahead of her lowly rank, and she stood little chance of becoming majority leader. "There was a lot of encouragement from inside the Senate to get her into this job," said one senior Obama aide. "They wanted her out of there." ... As for controlling the uncontrollable Bill Clinton, Obama's aides drew up a series of checks on his fundraising for both Clinton Global Initiative and his work on HIV/AIDS across the world. But they really counted on Hillary to be the ultimate safeguard - against both her husband and her own ambition. "It's in her interests to keep him in line," warned one senior Obama aide. Others in Obama's inner circle said the president-elect believed Clinton needed to demonstrate that she was a team player and to shape her own career and legacy. "There are plenty who don't trust her and think she still harbors something," said another senior adviser. "It's still potentially problematic down the road. Barack's thinking on this is that it's not in her interests to mess with us. She can't win that fight internally and she's smart enough that she won't want that fight publicly." Several weeks into the administration, even Clinton's internal critics believed the relationship was a success. "They have both worked really hard at it," said one senior White House official. "There's a natural affinity and respect that ironically grew out of being opponents. You get to know someone really well after all that."
 
EXCLUSIVE EXCERPT FROM 'RENEGADE': Obama On Clinton Pick: "I'm Not Begging Her To Take This Job" Top
In an exclusive excerpt from Newsweek Senior White House correspondent Richard Wolffe's new book, "Renegade: The Making of a President," Wolffe details the internal debates within the Obama camp over whether to select Hillary Clinton as secretary of state. Wolffe will discuss his new book on NBC's "Today" show on Monday morning. Of all his transition choices, none was easier to make, or more complex to execute, than Hillary Clinton as secretary of state. Obama had long wanted his former rival on his team, no matter what his friends and aides said about her aggressive campaign... His staff opposed the idea for the most part, arguing that Clinton would never be truly loyal. But Obama was willing to leave the primaries behind, including his own strong feelings at the time. "I don't hold grudges," he told his aides. "I don't worry about the past. I'm concerned about what happens now. If she can help me and Bill Clinton isn't too much of a liability, we should seriously look at this." ... Obama was under no illusion about the legacy of the long primary season. During one transition meeting, Obama said he wanted to offer Clinton the diplomatic job. "I'm really interested in pursuing this, but I know she has some hard feelings coming out of this campaign." Emanuel and John Podesta, the former Clinton official who ran the transition, assured Obama that she was over those hard feelings now. Obama smiled and said, "Believe me. She's not over it yet." His decision to offer her the job of secretary of state came surprisingly early. Well before the end of the primaries, when his staff and friends still felt hostile to her, Obama decided that Clinton possessed the qualities to carry his diplomacy to the rest of the world. "We actually thought during the primary, when we were pretty sure we were going to win, that she could end up being a very effective secretary of state," he told me later. "I felt that she was disciplined, that she was precise, that she was smart as a whip, and that she would present a really strong image to the world...I had that mapped out." Recruiting and managing a team of rivals would not be easy, and Clinton came with her own set of issues. Chief among them was her campaign debt, which she wanted eliminated before she took the job of secretary of state. Would the president-elect go out and help her to do so? "I'm not begging her to take this job," Obama told his senior aides. "If she wants it, I could help. But I'm not willing to go out in these difficult economic times to do a flashy fundraiser in California." As it happened, plenty of people in the Senate were begging Obama to offer Clinton the job. Obama's aides believed that many Senate Democrats thought Clinton had extended her presidential campaign far beyond the point where she had lost the election. Her negative advertising wasted Democratic money, threatened to undermine the party's nominee, and suggested that she was disloyal to the party. They were unwilling to offer the junior New York senator a position ahead of her lowly rank, and she stood little chance of becoming majority leader. "There was a lot of encouragement from inside the Senate to get her into this job," said one senior Obama aide. "They wanted her out of there." ... As for controlling the uncontrollable Bill Clinton, Obama's aides drew up a series of checks on his fundraising for both Clinton Global Initiative and his work on HIV/AIDS across the world. But they really counted on Hillary to be the ultimate safeguard - against both her husband and her own ambition. "It's in her interests to keep him in line," warned one senior Obama aide. Others in Obama's inner circle said the president-elect believed Clinton needed to demonstrate that she was a team player and to shape her own career and legacy. "There are plenty who don't trust her and think she still harbors something," said another senior adviser. "It's still potentially problematic down the road. Barack's thinking on this is that it's not in her interests to mess with us. She can't win that fight internally and she's smart enough that she won't want that fight publicly." Several weeks into the administration, even Clinton's internal critics believed the relationship was a success. "They have both worked really hard at it," said one senior White House official. "There's a natural affinity and respect that ironically grew out of being opponents. You get to know someone really well after all that."
 
Lisa Daily: Jon & Kate Plus 8: Why am I Defending Kate? Top
If you've been out of the country on safari for the last few weeks and have missed out on the latest reality show scandal, let me catch you up. Jon and Kate Gosselin, of TLC's reality show, Jon & Kate Plus 8, are a couple with eight children: twin 8-year old girls, and 5-year old sextuplets (three boys, three girls) and a reality show that follows every tantrum, toxic argument, and tooth fairy moment. Cameras have been trailing the family for five seasons. So far, it's seemed like a pretty good gig, at least from the outside. The kids seem pretty happy. The Gosselins just moved into a million-dollar home. The family has received goodies ranging from free trips to Disney and Hawaii, to teeth whitening, tummy tucks and hair plugs for mom and dad. Then, a few weeks ago it appeared that superdad Jon might be having an affair with a 23-year old third-grade teacher named Deanna Hummel, when photographers spotted them coming out of a bar together at 2:30 in the morning. Before long, Deanna's brother not only confirmed the affair, but US Weekly also obtained video of Jon leaving Deanna's house at 7:30 am, walk-of-shame style, on March 13, a full month before the bar photos emerged. What followed has been six weeks of US Weekly and People magazine covers, an appearance on the Today show and a Jon & Kate Plus 8 season premier so scandalicious that it drew nearly 10 million viewers dying to find out what would happen next. Both Jon and Kate have talked publicly about the stress of living in a fishbowl, and having the paparazzi following them around. The media and public response has been a lot of "well, wah-wah, you knew what you were getting into when you signed that TV contract." *On a personal note, I have been on national television every week for nearly three years in relative obscurity, and I would be completely shocked if some photographer started digging through my garbage or following me to the grocery store. So the idea that the Gosselins might be overwhelmed or feel surprised by the paparazzi's interest in their everyday lives actually seems pretty reasonable to me. Even Mitch Albom weighed in his Detroit Free-Press column, "Now, forget for a moment, the sheer audacity of a woman whose family gets paid, reportedly, $75,000 an episode to let cameras follow them around all day, to act surprised that gossip magazines follow her around as well. What did she think? They were making home movies?" (Ironically, this was a 650-word column in which Albom discusses why discussing Jon & Kate is a waste of time. But hey, he's funny, so we'll let him slide on this one.) After more than a month of media coverage, it seems to me that Jon is getting the better end of the deal: The angle on Jon is that he cheated. But oddly enough, the brunt of the media fire has been on Kate; how difficult it has been for poor Jon to be married to Kate, whether or not Kate is a terrible mother, and why her trendy haircut and French manicures are proof that she is a selfish, shallow excuse for a human being. She's been accused of having an affair with her bodyguard. Of being a perfectionist task-master. Of berating Jon on his paunch, his lack of attention to detail, and his hairline. She's been accused of being publicity-hungry, freebie-hungry and money-hungry. And now, the AP is reporting that the Pennsylvania Department of Labor is investigating whether the hit reality show "Jon & Kate Plus 8" is complying with child labor laws. This week's US WEEKLY headline is "INSIDE JON'S PRISON." A couple weeks ago, it was "MOM TO MONSTER" Personally, I feel that using your kids for a reality show is, well, exploitative. I can't fathom a situation in which I would make that choice. But I also have a pretty hard time imagining what my life might be like if I had eight children. Or how desperate/panicky/fearful I might feel as a mother if I had to worry about how I might feed, clothe, provide health care for, and pay for college for eight kids spanning just three years in age. I don't believe I'd make the same reality-show decision that Kate did, but I'm not facing her same reality: supporting eight children and a husband who is an unemployed college dropout. Here's why I am defending Kate: Yes, she barks orders to Jon. Probably she loves getting stuff for free (and good gawd, who doesn't?) Maybe, she even loves being famous. (The jury is still out on that one.) Jon doesn't seem particularly happy to be doing the show, and Kate has said in interviews that Jon doesn't really know what he wants to do. He's doesn't seem inclined to finish college, even though they now have the means for him to do so. He hasn't warmed to any particular profession other than "TV dad", even though his TLC producers could probably hook him up with a variety of instant opportunities. Kate has written two books, and works regularly as a paid speaker. She was, in fact, out of town on a speaking gig while Jon was picking up girls at the Chill Lounge. Originally, Jon & Kate booked speaking engagements together, but according to Kate, Jon didn't care much for the work, and told her he'd rather she do it alone. The tabloids are chiding her for traveling on book tour for 21 days out of the last month, but it seems that most media accounts are oblivious to the fact that she's WORKING. She works, Jon is (supposedly) home to take care of the kids. I have to wonder, if Jon was a Manager at a Widget Corporation traveling every week for work while Kate was home with the kids, would he be painted as a monster? Probably not. As for the berating Jon in public and on TV, well, I think Kate should work on that. I'd be happy to send her some pointers on getting her husband to take out the trash without chipping away at his manhood. Frankly, Kate snaps at Jon sometimes - but honestly, what mother among us hasn't yelled at least once at her shell-shocked husband to run downstairs for washcloths and the throw-up bucket, while rocking a feverish toddler doused in vomit? I also understand that feeling experienced by mothers everywhere, being completely exasperated because you have 67 things that need to be done yesterday on your to-do list (frequently accomplished simultaneously while nursing, fighting a nervous breakdown, and/or baking cookies for tomorrow's school bake sale) only to find your husband sitting on the couch mindlessly watching basketball after he's forgotten or done a half-assed job at the one (bleeping) thing you've asked him to do. Now imagine you have 8 kids instead of 3. But while the media and much of the public outcry has been "poor Jon, poor Jon" I keep wondering if any other woman wouldn't do the same thing in Kate's shoes? A friend of mine has five children, and she runs a pretty tight ship. I think Kate is probably the way she is because if she doesn't take charge, no one else will. If my husband seemed incapable, or unwilling to provide for our family, I'd do whatever I needed to do to make that happen. Even if it made me look like a bitch on national TV. I understand that many in the public and the media see Kate as a Martha Stewart Mom type of character - berating her husband, trotting her kids out like show dogs, and stocking up on all the free goodies she can get her hands on. But I wonder if Kate & Jon aren't just an overblown example of a classic mommy-daddy dynamic. Dad likes to be Mr. Fun Guy, so he feeds the kids cotton candy for dinner or ignores bedtime without thinking of the consequences or realizing that his irresponsibility sets mom up to always be the heavy for enforcing necessary boundaries, ensuring proper vegetable consumption and making sure everybody gets regular dental care. I see a woman carrying a pretty big burden on her own, socking away as much cash for her family as she can during a recession, while the cameras are still pointed at her fifteen minutes of fame. I don't agree with all of the choices she's made, but I think she might just be doing the best that she can. Lisa Daily is the author of HOW TO DATE LIKE A GROWN-UP and STOP GETTING DUMPED! Read her love, relationships & dating advice blog at www.DatingExpert.tv Follow Lisa on Twitter More on Jon & Kate Plus 8
 
Robert Kuttner: A Real Pecora Commission Top
In 1932 through 1934 the Senate Banking Committee, led by its Chief Counsel Ferdinand Pecora, ferreted out the deeper fraud and corruption that led to the Crash of 1929 and the Great Depression. The Pecora Committee's findings helped change the political mood, and laid the groundwork for the sweeping financial reforms of Roosevelt's New Deal. Roosevelt himself often conferred with Pecora, encouraged him, and depended on Pecora's work to build the public support for reform. He appointed Pecora to one of the newly created results of his handiwork, the Securities and Exchange Commission, though Pecora was disappointed not to be its chairman. President Obama has now signed legislation, The Fraud Enforcement and Recovery Act of 2009 , which among other things creates an investigative commission inspired by Pecora. The new Financial Markets Commission has a sweeping mandate, including subpoena powers, to investigate all the causes of the collapse. The list is as comprehensive as one could wish for. FUNCTIONS OF THE COMMISSION.--The functions of the Commission are-- (1) to examine the causes of the current financial and economic crisis in the United States, specifically the role of-- (A) fraud and abuse in the financial sector, including fraud and abuse towards consumers in the mortgage sector; (B) Federal and State financial regulators, including the extent to which they enforced, or failed to enforce statutory, regulatory, or supervisory requirements; (C) the global imbalance of savings, international capital flows, and fiscal imbalances of various governments; (D) monetary policy and the availability and terms of credit; (E) accounting practices, including, mark-to-market and fair value rules, and treatment of off-balance sheet vehicles; (F) tax treatment of financial products and investments; (G) capital requirements and regulations on leverage and liquidity, including the capital structures of regulated and non-regulated financial entities; (H) credit rating agencies in the financial system, including, reliance on credit ratings by financial institutions and Federal financial regulators, the use of credit ratings in financial regulation, and the use of credit ratings in the securitization markets; (I) lending practices and securitization, including the originate-to-distribute model for extending credit and transferring risk; (J) affiliations between insured depository institutions and securities, insurance, and other types of nonbanking companies; (K) the concept that certain institutions are ''too-big-to-fail'' and its impact on market expectations; (L) corporate governance, including the impact of company conversions from partnerships to corporations; (M) compensation structures; (N) changes in compensation for employees of financial companies, as compared to compensation for others with similar skill sets in the labor market; (O) the legal and regulatory structure of the United States housing market; (P) derivatives and unregulated financial products and practices, including credit default swaps; (Q) short-selling; (R) financial institution reliance on numerical models, including risk models and credit ratings; (S) the legal and regulatory structure governing financial institutions, including the extent to which the structure creates the opportunity for financial institutions to engage in regulatory arbitrage; (T) the legal and regulatory structure governing investor and mortgagor protection; (U) financial institutions and government-sponsored enterprises; and (V) the quality of due diligence undertaken by financial institutions; (2) to examine the causes of the collapse of each major financial institution that failed (including institutions that were acquired to prevent their failure) or was likely to have failed if not for the receipt of exceptional Government assistance from the Secretary of the Treasury during the period beginning in August 2007 through April 2009; It's hard to improve on that. Whether the commission carries out this mandate, Pecora-style, will depend entirely on who its chair and members are, and whether they hire a tough staff. The ten commission members are to be appointed, three by the Speaker of the House, three by the Senate Majority Leader, and two each by their Republican counterparts. The Staff Director is to be hired jointly by the Chair (a Democrat) and the Vice-Chair (a Republican). Interestingly, none are to be appointed by the White House, and President Obama has already issued a signing statement reserving the right to invoke executive privilege in cases where materials or testimony from the executive branch are requested under subpoena. To get a flavor of what the original Pecora Committee did, consider this observation from Donald A. Ritchie, associate senate historian, in his study, "The Pecora Wall Street Expose"" With the power of the subpoena, his staff would descend upon a banker or broker, and go through is records, file drawer by file drawer, page by page, selecting and photostating documents. Staff lawyers and accountants would assemble this material to reconstruct motivations, discrepancies, delinquencies, and frauds involved. They drew a multitude of charts, tracing every event and statistic. After narrowing down the documentation, they outlined the subject's transactions in chronological narrative on letter-sized sheets with citations in the margins to specific documents which could prove each assertion. Will the new Financial Markets Commission be this diligent in exposing the facts and kindling public demands for sweeping reform? You can be sure that House Speaker Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid will be getting friendly calls urging them not to make appointments that will embarrass the administration. Three names have surfaced in the financial press as possible chairs, supposedly based on leaks from the Democratic leadership: Paul Volcker , 81, the former Fed Chairman, Arthur Levitt, Jr. , 78, SEC Chairman during the Clinton era, and retired Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor , 79. Volcker, an honest conservative, has turned against financial deregulation in recent years, and Levitt was a reasonably tough SEC chair, who bucked (and sometimes buckled) in the face of intense Congressional pressure from both parties not to crack down on abuses. Levitt now advises one of the most powerful private equity companies, the Carlyle Group, not exactly a constituency for tough reform. Here are two better names: * Paul Sarbanes , the retired Senate Banking Committee chairman. Sarbanes, a well-liked senator with admirers in both parties was both highly expert, incorruptable, and tough. In the fight to get what became the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, cracking down on accounting fraud, he showed real leadership. Sarbanes, now a vigorous 76, stepped down in 2006. * Harvey Goldschmid , probably the most expert and public-minded SEC commissioner in recent decades. Goldschmid, 69, is now a law professor at Columbia. He was seriously considered by President Obama to chair the SEC, but was passed over in favor of the somewhat weaker Mary Schapiro. It is important that this investigation be conducted not by a figurehead, but by one with the knowledge, passion, and predisposition to build the public case for sweeping reform, and without fear or favor. Some Republicans, such as Richard Shelby, the ranking minority member on the Senate Banking Committee, are as disgusted with the Wall Street corruption as progressive Democrats are, though that does not describe the minority leaders in either house, Sen. Mitch McConnell and Rep. John Boehner, who will make the Republican appointments. This could be one of those rare, historic commissions that changes the course of history -- or it could be window-dressing. Stay tuned. Robert Kuttner is co-editor of The American Prospect and a senior fellow at Demos www.demos.org. His recent book is " Obama's Challenge: America's Economic Crisis and the Power of a Transformative Presidency ".
 
Roberta Lee: Underlying Conditions That Add to Flu Worries--Chronic Stress Top
This past week, New York City's Health Commissioner, Dr. Thomas R. Frieden, announced a laundry list of medical conditions that aggravate the effects of swine flu and leave you more vulnerable. Many of these diseases are well known to all: diabetes, asthma, heart disease, lung problems, possibly obesity and a weakened immune system. Other factors not mentioned that are also potential risks include pregnancy, being very young (less than 2 years of age) and being over 65 years of age. About 50% of hospitalizations globally and 70 % of those in the US with swine flu seem to involve individuals suffering from underlying conditions. Conventional prevention - washing hands, containing exposure if you're ill and taking antiviral medications - makes good sense. As a primary care physician, I advise my patients to employ all these precautionary measures but I also screen them for something I feel is more predisposing than most of the conditions listed by the Health Commissioner: chronic stress. American's are faced with stress from all quarters - financial stress is the most obvious, but our lifestyle is a mélange of stress producing events. Virtually every person with a job is facing greater expectations in terms of work hours needed to keep up with deadline and communication through computers, blackberries and cell phones has hurled us into a frenzied pace that leaves our nervous system's frayed. According to the American Psychological Association's (APA) survey done in 2008, half of Americans surveyed reported that their stress level increased over the year with one third rating their stress as extreme. Furthermore, the stress experienced was severe enough to impact the ability of roughly 30% of those queried to make decisions and get things done. Respondents of both sexes reported that work and money were the most common reasons for their stress, but women were more significantly impacted and they reported more emotional and physical symptoms. Despite widespread awareness (80%) of the negative health impact of stress, less than half - only 47% -- did exercise to manage their stress . Time with family was greatly impacted by work demands - 56% reported that work interfered with their family and home responsibilities. And, close to sixty percent stated that they would be uncomfortable seeking professional advice to help manage their stress or stress related problems. Mounting scientific evidence demonstrates that stress has an impact on health at even a cellular level. For the last several decades, research conducted by Dr. Elizabeth Blackburn, professor of biology and physiology in the Biochemistry and Biopphysics Department at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) and her colleagues has shown that at a cellular level stress accelerates the aging process. Furthermore, this year in the Journal, Brain, Behavior and Immunity, the lead author, Dr. Aoife O'Donnovan,, Visiting Scholar at UCSF and co-authors ( including Dr Blackburn) released a short communication indicating that pessimism similarly accelerates biological aging at the cellular level. Dr. Kiecolt-Glasser, of The Ohio State University College of Medicine, demonstrated in1996 that chronic stress negatively impacts our body's immune responses to influenza (flu) infections and influenza vaccination responses. In other words, people who are chronically stressed are less able to effectively fight viral infections when they are exposed to them and less efficient in raising the body's capacity to protect itself if given a vaccine such as a flu shot. In subsequent studies even healthy adults (medical students under chronic stress) exhibited similar results. From these studies its seems reasonable to conclude that chronic stress can be a significant obstacle to mounting our best body's healing response to Swine flu ( H1N1). But there is more - if stress negatively impacts our immunity, are there other factors that can positively reverse these unwanted responses? The answer is complicated, yet the message is still hopeful. In 2002, a study published by the Gerontological Society of America demonstrated that those adults aged 62 years or older who moderately exercised twenty minutes three times a week, ate a healthy diet and had a predominant mood of optimism mounted greater immune responses against the flu vaccine. Though this was a modest study of fifty-six adults, the conclusions showed that positive lifestyle factors can be linked with improved immune responses and, even more importantly, this was shown to be true in an elderly population--an age group that is typically more vulnerable to serious consequences. As a pragmatic response to these research findings, I recommend that my patients take the following steps to boost their immunity and improve their general health: 1. Make time for modest exercise at least three times a week for thirty minutes. Track your distance by purchasing a pedometer, walk briskly and aim for an ultimate goal of 10,000 steps a day 2. Eat well. Fill your diet with fruits and vegetables lightly cooked and fresh as you can bear. Omit processed foods and highly fatty foods. 3. Socialize to boost your mood. See a friend at least once a week or, at a minimum, give them a call and have a nice, long chat. 4. Take a break during the day for at least 10- 15 minutes. Remove yourself from your workplace and walk outside the building. This will break the potential for a full day of work-related mental fatigue. 5. Enhance your relaxation response by finding something that gives you the sense of being on vacation for at least 10 minutes a day. Listen to music, do a breath exercise, take a relaxing bath, meditate, read a book or find something to smile about... If you're not even sure you know how to relax, consider purchasing a biofeedback machine such as the Stresseraser® or Emwave®to help you "get into the zone" of relaxation. Use it for 10 - 20 minutes daily to so your body can experience the relaxation response. This will boost your natural restorative responses to stress. 6. Chronic stress has an insidious effect on our resilience to many things, including viral illnesses. Unfortunately, the first thing most of us tell ourselves is that we don't have the time to exercise, meditate, take a bath or call a friend. However, there has never been a better time to change this way of thinking, as your life might depend upon it. It's not the work which kills people, it's the worry. It's not the revolution that destroys machinery it's the friction. -- Henry Ward Beecher More on Swine Flu
 
Alan M. Webber: Fellow GM Co-CEOs, Let Me Tell You Why I've Called This Meeting! Top
I've never wanted to own General Motors, but for at least the last 20 years I've wanted to run it. Ever since I worked as a special assistant to the U.S. Secretary of Transportation during the Chrysler bailout, and went on to co-author a book on the U.S. auto industry's vulnerabilities in global competition, I've known I could do a better job of running GM than the same old corporate insiders. Now, thanks to Barack Obama, I'm going to get my chance! Well, actually, we'll all be called on to run GM, at least for a while. But I figure with my experience and background, some of my ideas might gain more traction. So based on my 20 years of back seat driving, and a few rules culled from my new book, "Rules of Thumb: 52 Truths for Winning at Business Without Losing Your Self," here's what I'd do as one of the new co-CEOs of GM. Start with Rule #6: If you want to see with fresh eyes, reframe the picture. As co-CEO of GM, I'd start by remembering the wisdom of Ted Levitt's classic HBR article, "Marketing Myopia." Ted argued that railroads lost out because they still thought they were in the train business, when they should have seen they were in the transportation business. I trace GM's downfall to a statement by one of its top executives more than a decade ago. "We're not in the business of making cars," he said. "We're in the business of making money." Turns out, if you can't make good cars, you won't be in the money-making business either. Now it's not even enough for GM to be in the car business--that's a commodity. As co-CEO, I'd argue that we need to be in the sustainable transportation business. That means we need to offer our customers a variety of transportation solutions, all of which not only provide motion, but also promise real social value. No more "what's good for GM is good for America--and vice versa." Our new slogan is, "GM is going to get good at whatever is good for our future." And that means services as well as products, community investment as well as transportation investment, and workplace democracy as well as corporate profitability. The corollary to this is Rule #22: Learn to see the world through the eyes of your customer. It's plain to see by GM's shrinking market share that our car company has lost touch with the American consumer. So as co-CEO, my first act will be to use the web to launch a national conversation with us--the co-owners and co-CEOs (and prospective customers) of our car company. Great companies know how to listen more and talk less; how to create a dialog with their customers, rather than insist on a know-it-all monolog. A national town hall on the web, followed by regional webinars will connect the new GM with its waiting-to-be-wooed customer base. And finally Rule #21: Great leaders answer Tom Peters' great question: "How can I capture the world's imagination." GM under my leadership will aspire to a return to greatness. It's not enough to survive or even to return to profitability. Now that we're bankrupt, with new co-owners and new co-CEOs, we've got to play for higher stakes. My aim as co-CEO will be to create transportation products and services that are in touch with the times and in search of the future. This is the perfect time to take big risks and to tackle iconic projects. My GM is going to learn the hard lessons of our fall from grace--and embrace the opportunity to rebound to new heights. If we reframe our mission, reconnect with our customers, and refocus on higher aspirations, I'm sure we can build GM into the most sustainable, most humane, and most successful transportation company in the world! Now, my fellow CEOs, let's go to work!
 
North Korea May Launch Intercontinental Missile Top
SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea could this month test-fire a long-range missile designed to strike U.S. territory and may also be gearing up for skirmishes with the South around their disputed sea border, South Korean news reports said on Monday. More on North Korea
 
Cristina Page: The Murder of Dr. Tiller, a Foreshadowing Top
For those who would like to think today's murder in church of Dr. George Tiller, an abortion provider, is an isolated incident, here's the horrifying news: You are wrong. The pattern is clear and frightening. In March 1993, three months into the administration of our first pro-choice president, Bill Clinton, abortion provider Dr. David Gunn was murdered in Pensacola, Florida. That was the beginning of what would become a five-fold increase in violence against abortion providers throughout the Clinton years. Today's assassination of Dr. George Tiller comes 5 months into the term of our second pro-choice president. For anyone who would like to believe that this is a statistical anomaly, a coincidence that doesn't portend anything, again, you are wrong. During the entire Bush administration, from 2000-2008 there were no murders. During the Clinton era, between 1994-2000 there were 6 abortion providers and clinic staff murdered, and 17 attempted murders of abortion providers. There were 12 bombings or arsons during the Clinton years. During the Bush administration, not only were there no murders, there were no attempted murders. There was one clinic bombing during the Bush years. One can only conclude that like terrorist sleeper cells, these extremists have now been set in motion. Indeed the evidence is already there. The chatter, the threats, the hate-filled rhetoric are abundant. In the last year of the Bush administration there were 396 harassing calls to abortion clinics. In just the first four months of the Obama administration that number has jumped to 1401. And so the execution of Tiller, 67, is not only tragic but ominous. He was born into an era when being an abortion provider meant saving women's lives. And the cold-blooded murder in church and in front of his wife of this stalwart defender of women rights and beloved physician, comes as a message for others, as well as tragic deja vu. Battered women are at greatest danger of being killed by their abusers when they are most strong -- that is, when they muster the courage to leave. The same phenomenon may be true in the abusive political abortion debate. The pro-choice movement, specifically our abortion providers, are in the greatest danger of violence when we take power. When the anti-abortion movement loses power, their most extreme elements appear to move to the fore and take control. The murder of Dr. Tiller suggests that violence against abortion providers may be far more linked to the power, or lack thereof, anti-abortion groups have politically than to laws designed to increase penalties against such acts. History has another disturbing lesson for us. The escalation of anti-abortion rhetoric plays a direct role in instigating violence. When anti-abortion groups ratchet up the rhetoric, they know exactly what they're doing and the results it will have. Even if they maintain deniability, as Operation Rescue recently did saying, in effect, we wanted Tiller gone, but didn't want him murdered, they have inflamed the rhetoric. And suddenly people Like Dr. Tiller's murderer become inspired. Eleanor Bader, author of Targets of Hatred: Anti-Abortion Terrorism , in an article in March for RHRealityCheck.org about clinics bracing for an uptick in violence after the election of Obama wrote, "immediately after Obama's election, Douglas Johnson, Legislative Director of the National Right to Life Committee, called him a "hardcore pro-abortion president." The American Life League dubbed him "one of the most radical pro-abortion politicians ever," and Father Frank Pavone of Priests for Life warned that Obama will "force Americans to pay for the killing of innocents." Americans United for Life, the Family Research Council and Operation Save America quickly joined the chorus." Bader interviewed clinic staff -- many seeing a direct relationship between the pro-choice victory in November and increased aggression against them and their patients. Claire Keyes, of Allegheny Reproductive Health in Pittsburgh, explained: Right after the election we saw a small upsurge in anti-abortion activity. But since the inauguration, things have gotten measurably worse. There's been an increase in picketing by students from Franciscan University in Ohio. On Saturdays there are 60-plus protesters and there's been an increase in screaming and aggression. We don't have a parking lot so people park on the street. The antis have surrounded cars, trapping the women inside, and in several cases the antis jumped into vehicles and touched or grabbed at them. The police were called but so far they don't seem to be responding appropriately. Bader also quotes Elizabeth Barnes, Executive Director of the Philadelphia Women's Center, who explained, "When the pendulum swung in the direction of protecting women's rights, we expected something. The way the antis are reacting has changed, they're taking more liberties, pressing the boundaries of legal, civil protest." Many in the pro-choice movement believed that the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) law, passed in 1994 in response to Gunn's murder, was responsible for reigning in violence against abortion providers. Clearly that is not the case. Based on statistics on violence against abortion providers compiled by the National Abortion Federation, even after the passage of FACE in 1994, there was still considerable violence and threats against clinic personnel, including six murders. As appears clear, the pro-choice movement has looked through rose-colored glasses, assuming or hoping that legalities can restrain terrorists. In fact, it didn't abate after FACE, as we've seen. It was not until a comforting anti-abortion president did they calm down and stop the murder, bombing and harassment spree. As we are witnessing now, Bush policies resulted in a surge in abortions. That has failed to inspire introspection from anti-abortion groups. That Clinton presided over the most dramatic decline in abortion rates in the recorded history of our country left them unmoved. That Obama has assigned his senior-most staff to the task of finding ways to reduce the need for abortion has not protected clinics nor providers nor Obama. Holder and his Justice Department should take note of the chatter and move aggressively against this form of domestic terrorism. The hate-filled rhetoric against Obama from the anti-abortion movement is at unprecedented levels, even for this reflexively inflammatory group. They refer to him as the "Most Pro-Abortion President Ever" ignoring the fact that he is the first to extend an olive branch in hopes that together we can make abortion more rare. Anti-abortion groups will put out carefully worded press statements condemning the murder of Dr. Tiller, as became routine for them during the Clinton years. But unless the rhetoric they choose from now on becomes careful too -- they may be the enablers of murder and terror.
 
Osel Hita Torres, Boy Chosen By Dalai Lama As Reincarnation Of Spritual Leader, Turns Back On Buddhist Order Top
As a toddler, he was put on a throne and worshipped as by monks who treated him like a god. But the boy chosen by the Dalai Lama as a reincarnation of a spiritual leader has caused consternation �" and some embarrassment �" for Tibetan Buddhists by turning his back on the order that had such high hopes for him.
 
Guantanamo: The Xbox Game, Starring Former Detainee Moazzam Begg Top
Begg, from Birmingham, was captured by the CIA and thrown in jail at Guantanamo Bay in 2003. The 41-year-old, who was released in 2005, will now feature as himself in the game for Microsoft's Xbox 360. More on Guantánamo Bay
 
Congress Keeps Expense Reports Off The Internet Top
WASHINGTON -- Lawmakers have demanded greater openness from companies receiving government bailouts but have yet to release online or electronic versions of their own office expenditures -- including taxpayer-funded tabs for leased cars, staff retreats at hotels and lessons for staffers in punctuation and BlackBerry use.
 
Kate Gosselin And Kids Film At The Beach - Without Jon Top
Kate Gosselin took a beach vacation this week if that's what you call taking eight kids to North Carolina without help from her husband while cameras rolled for their reality show. Gosselin spent time with her 8-year-old twins and her sextuplets, who turned 5 on May 5, on Bald Head Island, N.C., a resort town that features upscale cottages, a golf course and lighthouse with the only modes of transportation being golf carts and bicycles. The brood, along with a nanny, stayed in a rental cottage while they shot scenes for their reality show. More on Jon & Kate Plus 8
 
Scott Roeder Held As "Person Of Interest" In Probe Of Dr. George Tiller's Murder Top
The man detained by Kansas police as a "person of interest" in their probe of the murder of abortion doctor George Tiller has been identified as Scott Roeder. Johnson County sheriff's spokesman Tom Erickson told the AP that Roeder has not been charged in the slaying and was expected to be taken to Wichita for questioning. KSHB-TV reports: Johnson County Sheriff's deputies stopped Scott Roeder on I-35 between the two main Gardner exits around 1:30 p.m. He surrendered without incident. Deputies did not find any weapons on him... According to Phannestiel, Roeder is on temporary hold for Sedgwick County at the Johnson County New Century Detention Center near Gardner. Roeder is considered a person of interest at this time. In 2007, someone named Scott Roeder posted the following on the Website of anti-abortion group Operation Rescue : Bleass everyone for attending and praying in May to bring justice to Tiller and the closing of his death camp. Sometime soon, would it be feasible to organize as many people as possible to attend Tillers church (inside, not just outside) to have much more of a presence and possibly ask questions of the Pastor, Deacons, Elders and members while there? Doesn't seem like it would hurt anything but bring more attention to Tiller.
 

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