Tuesday, May 5, 2009

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Tony Newman: Yankee Pitcher's Mom Arrested for Meth: Should She Get Treatment or Prison? Top
Yankee pitcher Joba Chamberlain's mom, Jacqueline Standley, was arrested at her apartment this weekend for selling a small amount of methamphetamine to an undercover cop back in February. It breaks my heart to think of Joba Chamberlain's mom spending time behind bars for her drug problems. She is facing one to 50 years behind bars for one gram of meth. She has been open about her substance abuse and depression and she obviously needs treatment and help, not a cage, to deal with her addiction. Former Yankee great Daryl Strawberry has also been in the news recently talking about his substance abuse struggles. In a recent interview in the New York Times Magazine pegged to his book, Straw: Finding My Way , Strawberry opens up about his addiction. "I wasn't a criminal. That's what saddened me. Not being a criminal and going to jail because you have a substance abuse problem is really sad. It's sad that the system doesn't see that as the real issue." America likes to promote itself as the "home of the free" but, unfortunately, we have the embarrassing honor of being known as the incarceration nation. The U.S. has less than five percent of the world's population but almost 25 percent of the world's prison population, incarcerating more of its citizens per capita than any other country in the world. We lock up more people on drug charges than Western Europe locks up for everything and they have 100 million more people than we do. A government report released by the U.S. Justice Department found that 1 in 31 Americans was in prison or jail or on parole or probation last year. The way our country deals with drug abuse is the driving force to our incarceration problem. Because "tough on crime" politicians push for mandatory minimums and long incarceration for people with drug problems, states from New York to California are facing multi billion-dollar budget deficits. Governors and mayors are being forced to cut spending on everything from education to heath care, and are even shutting down popular prevention programs. We need to start offering treatment instead of incarceration for people like Ms. Standley. States could save hundreds of millions of dollars by doing away with these wasteful laws that lock up nonviolent people with drug convictions at a hefty price tag of $40,000 per year. We can't afford these ineffective and inhumane laws anymore! Substance abuse and the drug war touch almost every family in America, famous or not. Millions of people have a loved one behind bars on drug charges. Many millions more have struggled themselves or have a loved one who has dealt with addiction to illegal or legal drugs. By declaring a "war on drugs" we have declared a war on ourselves. We have to learn how to live with drugs, because they aren't going anywhere. The drug war has been waged over the last 30 years. We spend $40 billion a year and despite the decades of war, incarceration rates and money spent, drugs are as plentiful as ever and easily accessible. We have to accept that drugs have been around for thousands of years and will be here for thousands more. We need to educate people about the possible harm from drug use, offer compassion and treatment to people like Ms. Standley and Mr. Strawberry who have problems and leave in peace the people who are causing harm to no one. Tony Newman is the director of media relations at the Drug Policy Alliance .
 
Quinn To Legislature: Ethics Reform Before Summer Break Top
CHICAGO (AP) -- With less than a month left in the legislative session, Gov. Pat Quinn is still talking only in broad outlines about the ethics reforms he wants, refusing to say which ones he considers most important or how he plans to get them passed. Quinn said his Illinois Reform Commission has issued a "blue print" to fix what's wrong in the state, but he would not say Tuesday which of the reforms in the commission's 88-page report were the most important to pass. "I don't want to pick one area over another," Quinn said after addressing a Rotary luncheon at a downtown private club. Quinn appointed the commission to come up with a way to clean up state government in the wake of the scandal surrounding Rod Blagojevich, removed from office by lawmakers in January after his arrest on federal corruption charges. The reform commission has recommended everything from capping campaign donations and strengthening public records laws to term limits for legislative leaders. But those are just well-intentioned ideas until they're put into bills that lawmakers can vote on, said Rikeesha Phelon, a spokeswoman for state Senate President John Cullerton. "The governor has been very specific with President Cullerton regarding his priorities and the importance of getting real ethics reforms passed before May 31, but as of yesterday the Senate was still waiting for the commission to actually get these reform ideas into legislative form," she said. The measures also need legislative sponsors. Quinn said it will not be a problem to find people to step up. Commission chairman Patrick Collins, a former federal prosecutor who helped send former Gov. George Ryan to prison, did not immediately return a call for comment Tuesday. Collins and Cullerton were scheduled to meet later this week to talk about the legislative process, Phelon said. Quinn said previously that he wanted lawmakers to vote on all the proposals that came out of the reform commission. On Tuesday, he said voting on categories of reforms would be fine too. "I think it's sufficient as long as we get a specific, concrete vote on things that count and ideally get it passed," Quinn said. The governor said he had no serious disagreements with the commission's recommendations but there may be some "quibbles" about how best to accomplish some things. He did not elaborate. Lawmakers have chafed at the suggestion that they should quickly pass the reform commission's recommendations into law. Quinn tried to address that Tuesday. "I understand that we are in a democracy and I don't believe that any entity appointed by the governor should replace the Legislature. ... They take on oath of office, they are elected by the people of their districts, they have the ultimate word or voice on any kind of legislation. We should honor that," Quinn said. While Quinn keeps close his legislative strategy, he is working to keep up the drumbeat of reform. He told Tuesday's luncheon crowd that his priorities include getting a recall measure passed and moving the state to public financing for campaigns. He also wants citizens to be able to use binding referendums to enact reform measures when lawmakers do not. Quinn is optimistic that lawmakers will pass some ethics reform measures before the session concludes at the end of the month. "I think members of the Legislature, as we go through these next 26 days, will see that I mean business when it comes to reform, when it comes to balancing the budget, when it comes to jobs and we are not gonna let folks meander. We have to really focus on things that count now and in the future," he said. -ASSOCIATED PRESS
 
Mike Alvear: Is Effeminacy a Choice? Top
There's an undeniable pansy vortex in gay life. You fall into it with baggy jeans and climb out of it with spandex up the crack of your ass. How else can you explain my ex-boyfriend "Larry"? Closeted when I met him, he was popular, gorgeous, smart and athletic. He was the "be" to everyone's bop. Then he came out. Everybody he hung out with liked to do drag and camp it up. Suddenly, Larry started shaving his legs, wearing tight shorts and calling everyone "girl." He ripened into a fruit before my very eyes. One day he made me close my eyes and sit at the foot of his bed for a surprise. He pulled out a long black wig and a slinky Bob Mackie knockoff. And that was the end of that. Now, was Larry born with the desire to dress like Cher or did he just adapt to a culture that demanded it? I'm not the only one who has lost boyfriends to the culture's pansy vortex. My friend Gary dated this really cool guy who spoke four languages. He got sucked into the vortex and never came out. Now he lisps in four languages. So, what fuels the gay flame? On the one hand, there really are guys who come out of the womb complaining about the backlighting. But my feeling is that just as many learn to complain. I've always maintained that effeminacy is like obesity. Sometimes it's glandular, but mostly it's cultural. Whether you run in more masculine circles (the leather community, for example) or simply play team sports, there's no denying that effeminacy is a big part of the gay sensibility. You can't swing a cat in a bar without hitting a wig-wompin' drag queen, or hearing guys call each other girls. In gay life, camp is considered an art form and bitchy humor its paint. How much of this sensibility is driven by the naturally nelly versus the nurtured nelly is anyone's guess. If effeminacy were completely a function of nature, wouldn't all gay men need a wrist-bone implant? And if it were completely a matter of cultural re-education (falling into the pansy vortex) then why are there so many masculine gay guys? The question is especially important if you're an effeminate guy who wants to be more masculine. Here's a controversial column I wrote about making yourself more masculine. Why would effeminate gay guys write asking my advice on butching it up? Because the culture that celebrates effeminacy as a social ideal ridicules it as a sexual ideal. Even screaming queens don't want to torch their beds with the flames of other queens. Most effeminate guys are attracted to masculine guys (click here for proof). And that sets up an enormous dilemma because most masculine gay guys are NOT sexually attracted to them. Is it possible to become more masculine without compromising who you are? It depends on your view of effeminacy. Is it a choice?
 
Rabbi Irwin Kula: Digital Tombstone: Your Life on Twitter Top
Like many people, I have been engaged by Twitter -- it's a good way to keep in touch with busy friends and to connect with new people. The mundane updates and boredom-inspired reports on what people are having for lunch -- tuna sandwich, pickle, diet coke and apple for me -- fulfills some weird manifestation of our need to send out information about ourselves in order to feel real in the face of the post-modern ever-unstable self. This past week I had a Twitter revelation. A few months ago my mother died. She was an amazing woman who among her many accomplishments and talents raised six sons, each of whom, for years and years, spoke to every other brother once every few days. This past week, my brothers, my father, and I have been trading emails about the words to be engraved on my Mom's headstone. We were all on a conference call the other night sharing memories, laughing and crying, trying to get just the right words to describe my Mom, words that would endure as long as the stone lasted. The least wordy of my brothers complained that with everything we all wanted to say the headstone was going to look ridiculous. "We need to tweet the headstone!" I impulsively offered. We were all quiet. To tweet my Mom's life was unnerving, humbling and actually quite necessary. Capturing her memory in 140 characters? No amount of words could adequately describe my Mom and yet we needed to tweet her life. My mom use to say, "Get to the point already," and to tweet her headstone, we needed to heed her advice. I remember a philosophy class I took as an undergraduate. The requirement was to write a weekly response to a classic philosophical issue -- the mind-body problem, the problem of evil, if a tree falls in the forest and no one is there to hear it, does it make a sound -- in no more than 250 words. For some things words are inadequate. One mystic sage in the Talmud taught that the highest form of praise is silence -- clearly a profound truth on some level but not very helpful for our headstone challenge. We did discuss putting nothing on my mom's gravestone but her name -- but too weird, we decided. Well, I am pleased to report that I think Twitter has been a great practice, in the spiritual use of this term. Because of our experience controlling our word count, there was a lightness to our wrestling with every character to capture the life of the most important character in our life. My mom's headstone has 99 characters. Tweeting a headstone compels us to think about getting our sense of significance as human beings down to just a few characters. What an interesting exercise: How would we boil down the message of our own lives to just a few words? Obviously, there is a narcissistic quality to Twitter and yet at the same time, as it often is with powerful tools, Twitter invites us to think about the relationship between significance and triviality, between brevity and profundity. What would you write about yourself if you had to tweet your life to this point? How would your TwitObit read? Find me on Twitter (@irwinkula) and share your TwitObit. It's good practice as the NYT charges by the word, anyhow. Since my mother's death, I have woken up at sunrise to recite the Kaddish -- an ancient mourning meditation recited in a community of friends for 11 months. The other day I took a different route walking to synagogue and passed a blooming spring tree filled with birds. They were tweeting -- announcing the new day -- and I stopped to listen. Sometimes a Twitter can be sacred. More on Twitter
 
Jeff Tweedy Denies Lawsuit Claims Of Former Wilco Bandmate Top
CHICAGO (AP) -- The lead singer of Wilco is disputing the claims in a breach-of-contract lawsuit filed by a former band member who says he's owed royalties. Former Wilco member Jay Bennett says he deserves money from the band's 2002 documentary "I Am Trying to Break Your Heart." The film documents the making of Wilco's album "Yankee Hotel Foxtrot." In a statement Tuesday, Wilco's Jeff Tweedy says he doesn't know what the claims are based upon. He says he didn't produce the movie, has done nothing wrong and hopes the matter will be handled fairly. According to the suit, Bennett worked as a sound engineer and played instruments for the band from 1994 to 2001. The lawsuit was filed Monday in Cook County Circuit Court and asks for at least $50,000 in damages. -ASSOCIATED PRESS
 
Lanny Davis: The Specter Switch: The Incredible Shrinking Republican Party Top
"We are not losing blue states and shrinking as a party because we are not conservative enough. If we pursue a party that has no place for someone who agrees with me 70 percent of the time, that is based on an ideological purity test rather than a coalition test, then we are going to keep losing." -- Sen. Lindsay Graham, South Carolina Republican When I read Mr. Graham's comment last week regarding the switch to the Democratic Party by Sen. Arlen Specter, Pennsylvania Republican, I was reminded of one of my favorite movies from my pre-teen years, the 1957 movie classic, "The Incredible Shrinking Man." It's about a man who is exposed to a combination of radiation and insecticide and slowly begins to shrink. By the end of the movie, he has become so small that the his wife puts him in a cage to protect him from their house cat and then, at the end of the movie, he is tragically washed down the drain of his sink. The Republican Party cannot blame radiation and insecticide for its shrinkage. Sooner or later it will have to face up to the reality that its problems are not a result of bad political strategy or communications, the current most popular self-deluding rationalizations. Rather, the shrinkage is primarily due to two facts about the current Religious-Right dominated Republican Party: unpopular ideas and bad attitudes. First, polls show that the Religious Right's views on the social issues are not in accord with the views of growing majorities of moderate Republicans and independents, the key swing voters who decide general elections. Indeed, the recent ABC/ Washington Post poll showed a plurality of all Americans for the first time now support gay marriage. And second, these swing voters are increasingly alienated by the intolerance of the Religious Right and their insistence on 100 percent agreement on these social issues. As Sen. Olympia Snowe of Maine, one of the few remaining Republican moderates in the Senate, wrote last week after the Specter announcement: There is no plausible scenario under which Republicans can grow into a majority party while shrinking our ideological confines and continuing to retract into a regional party -- it was when we began to emphasize social issues to the detriment of our basic tenets that we encountered an electoral backlash. After Mr. Specter's switch, it looks likely that Pennsylvania Republicans will nominate in 2010 former Rep. Patrick J. Toomey, who is the very type of Republican who has most alienated moderates and independents and, thus, the least electable. Accordingly, Pennsylvania is a virtually certain Democratic pick-up in 2010, whether that Democrat is Mr. Specter or someone else. There is a vague déjà vu for me in seeing the right taking down a Republican lawmaker who voted 70 percent of the time with his party's Senate colleagues. I am reminded of how the Democratic left treated incumbent Sen. Joe Lieberman of Connecticut in 2006. Mr. Lieberman had voted with his fellow Democrats not 70 percent of the time, but 90 percent of the time. Yet he was opposed by the Democratic left and lost a close race for the party's nomination in the 2006 primary. But he went on to win as an independent in the general election by a substantial margin. While Mr. Lieberman offended many liberals by his support for the Iraq war, the fact is, on all the critical domestic litmus test issues, he had, indisputably, one of the most liberal voting records in the congress: pro-choice, pro-labor (including the so-called "card check" bill), pro-social spending programs, pro-environmental regulation, pro-civil rights and affirmative action, pro-women's rights and gay rights, and so on. And yet, despite this record, the left, particularly on the most hateful liberal blogs, continues to hate him and mischaracterize him as a conservative and are planning to oppose him again if he chooses to run again in 2010. MSNBC's Rachel Maddow, whose liberalism and intelligence I admire, rarely misses a chance to criticize Mr. Lieberman, sometimes with very personal overtones. But she never mentions or credits his liberal voting record, including his support for President Obama in the first 100 days. So once again we see the irony that the sanctimonious far right and the sanctimonious far left seem to have more in common than with their fellow conservatives and liberals, respectively. Clearly they agree that it is better to lose a general election and win a primary than to allow any variation from what they define as true conservatism or true liberalism. Meanwhile, back to the Senate's newest Democrat: Mr. Specter did not have an auspicious beginning in his career as a Democratic senator. His first major vote was cast against Mr. Obama's budget, which is a fundamental blueprint for the Obama presidency and his electoral mandate. That may not be a great start for Mr. Specter in the eyes of many Pennsylvania Democrats, who believe in Mr. Obama and want a senator they can rely on to support the core programs of the Obama administration. For this reason, it would be understandable if Mr. Specter has a Democratic primary opponent -- at the very least, to remind him of political accountability if he opposes a Democratic president on his fundamental priorities. I would not be surprised if that opponent is Rep. Joe Sestak, a retired Navy vice admiral who is a true liberal Democrat but also has national defense credentials and a centrist/consensus-building instinct. Mr. Sestak represents Pennsylvania's 7th District, in the suburbs and exurbs of Philadelphia. In 2006 he defeated a seemingly invulnerable and popular 10-term Republican, Rep. Curt Weldon, by a 12-point margin. In 2008 he expanded his margin, winning by 20 points. Mr. Sestak's congressional district is a microcosm not only of Pennsylvania but in large part of the nation -- moderate suburbs, exurban and rural conservatives, blue collar workers (from oil refineries and defense plants), and college towns and communities, such as those surrounding Swarthmore, Haverford, Villanova and Cheney. In a Democratic primary, Mr. Sestak has great appeal to the liberal base as well as centrist, national defense Democrats, even if the president keeps his word and campaigns for Mr. Specter in the Democratic Pennsylvania primary. I predict that if Mr. Sestak runs for the nomination against Mr. Specter -- and that is a big "if" in light of the Senator's endorsements by Mr. Obama and Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. -- Mr. Sestak will win the primary and go on to defeat Mr. Toomey by a landslide. You read it here first. Another prediction: the incredibly shrinking Republican Party will find a way to shrink even further, as it expends even more energy in an intra-party civil war between the far right and the far, far-right. The result: after the 2010 congressional elections, Democrats will have a filibuster-proof Senate majority with 62 or 63 members. Stay tuned. Lanny J. Davis, a Washington lawyer and former special counsel to President Clinton, served as a member of President Bush's Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board. He is the author of Scandal: How "Gotcha" Politics Is Destroying America. This article appeared in Mr. Davis' weekly column, " Purple Nation ," in the Washington Times. It also appeared in The Hill's Pundits Blog and on The Fox Forum . More on Arlen Specter
 
ZP Heller: The Perils of Predator Drones in Pakistan Top
The situation in Pakistan is deteriorating by the hour. This nuclear-armed nation already plagued by political and economic turmoil now faces a massive humanitarian crisis, as 500,000 people flee the Swat valley in the face of armed conflict between Pakistani authorities and Taliban extremists who have taken control. As President Obama prepares to meet with Pakistani President Asif Zardari and Afghan President Hamid Karzai tomorrow, the question becomes what the U.S. can do to prevent all-out war in Pakistan. An article in The New York Times today presents three potential strategies for the Obama administration to pursue in the coming weeks: 1) hasten the long-term strategy of retraining the Pakistani army to fight the counterinsurgency while upping nation-building efforts; 2) rely on more Predator drone strikes and covert ground attacks; and 3) make sure Pakistan's nuclear arsenal is secure from the extremist threat. While the Obama administration may have its back against the wall, authorizing more Predator drone attacks is a disastrous option that must be avoided at all cost. As David Kilcullen, the counterinsurgency expert who designed Gen. Petraeus's Iraqi surge, recently told the House Armed Services Committee, " We need to call off the drones ." This covert plan, first approved by Bush (and continued by Obama) to skirt Pakistan's refusal to allow U.S. troops into the country, uses unmanned aircraft remotely controlled by the CIA to hunt down suspected terrorists and insurgents. But as Kilcullen claimed, it's backfiring, prompting more Taliban extremists to take up arms against the U.S.-backed Pakistani government and driving them deeper into the country. Kilcullen explained: "Since 2006, we've killed 14 senior Al Qaeda leaders using drone strikes; in the same time period, we've killed 700 Pakistani civilians in the same area. The drone strikes are highly unpopular. They are deeply aggravating to the population. And they've given rise to a feeling of anger that coalesces the population around the extremists and leads to spikes of extremism. ... The current path that we are on is leading us to loss of Pakistani government control over its own population." In addition to the 700 innocent Pakistani civilians killed, the UN estimates drone strikes have displaced hundreds of thousands more people . One can only imagine the inordinate amount of chaos and devastation caused by more drone strikes, as they become a recruiting tool for Islamic militants spurred into action against the Pakistani government and U.S. interests. Micah Zenko of the Council on Foreign Relations wrote recently , "Using [drones] in response to a worsening situation has not only failed to achieve President Bush's or President Obama's goals, it has fueled anti-American animosity on the ground in Pakistan." What's more, drone attacks aren't even being used to target the al Qaeda terrorists who supported the 9/11 attacks. As Zenko noted, the majority of recent attacks have targeted the jihadist leader Baitullah Mehsud's network, which seeks to topple the Zardari government and allegedly had a hand in the assassination of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto. In other words, our government seems to be losing sight of the initial goal of these strikes in an effort to prop up the deeply corrupt, unpopular Zardari government. Zenko's conclusion is an important one to keep in mind. "By being forced to battle Al Qaeda and the Taliban with flying robots from above," he assessed, "US leaders are put in a position where they remain largely unaware or uninterested in the serious negative consequences that the strikes have on the ground in Pakistan. At the very least, US officials should be more forthcoming in defending the use of drones and therefore open their use up to public debate." That is the key here. We have to press for transparency and accountability before the Obama administration decides to expand drones attacks and costly covert operations that kill more innocent civilians, create more support for extremists, and push Pakistan into a war that could be prevented through non-military means. More on Barack Obama
 
Ecuadorians Sue Chevron For Dumping Oil (VIDEO) Top
"60 Minutes'" Scott Pelley went on another environmental adventure this week, this time to South America. Texaco -- now owned by Chevron -- made trouble in Ecuador for oil drilling practices that have endangered the homes and water supply of people living there: Generally two or three pits were carved out near the well site. Trouble is, when Texaco finished its drilling, the waste pits were abandoned by the hundreds and for decades. Now, the Ecuadorian people and Chevron are in a heated legal battle over $27 billion. Watch the full "60 Minutes" segment:
 
Michealene Cristini Risley: Wanted Dead or Alive: Robert Mugabe, President of Zimbabwe Top
There are days when I wish we were back in the 'Wild Wild West". THEME MUSIC PLEASE My boots scuff on the plank sidewalk as I move toward the "Last Chance Saloon." With one arm I push the swinging doors open and saunter into the saloon. There is a ruckus going on so I slide right up to the bar unnoticed. I could see someone approach me out of the corner of my eye, and stand at the farther end and wait. I slam the gold coins on the top of the bar, scraping them across beer droppings and mug rings to stop at this strangers' hands. Eye contact, head nod, and I move past him out to my horse. "Don't need to know no details, it just needs to be done." Of course, that fantasy doesn't make me much better than Mugabe himself. Unfortunately, I have long stopped thinking of that man as human in any form. Perhaps that is part of why the 'Old West has always intrigued me. At least in the movies, the bad guys always ate rope. The problem with Mugabe and Zimbabwe is that this movie, keeps going and the bad guys always win. This kind of powerlessness is so hard for me to live with--imagine the poor people in the center of this story. Unless Zimbabwe gets the attention of National and International leaders--a focused effort--we are powerless in the fight to get Mugabe out of office....dead or alive. Awhile back in a Huffington Post blog I wrote about the story of Jestina Mukoko: >http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michealene-cristini-risley/a-christmas-carol-in-zimb_b_152882.html . Last winter, a pajama clad Jestina is taken out of her home in the middle of the night by the Central Intelligence Organization or a.k.a. "THUGS". Her son, 15 at the time, runs out screaming to stop them. He is as powerless as any Zimbabwean has been for the last 30 years. The men who carried her out beat her with police issued rubber sticks and made her kneel in gravel. For kicks, sometimes the "Guards" would force her prone to lift her feet off the ground (like doing a sit up) while they punched her in the stomach. All the while sipping on their Zambezi beer and laughing. What a riot! The current Magistrate Catherine Chimanda has refused to entertain an application by defense council to oppose Jestina and the other 15 human rights people from going back to prison. Ms. Chimanda has long been knows as a "plant" or foot-soldier for Mugabe. She does what she is told, or else. How the President continues to keep hold of this almost-demolished land of inhumanity is by planting people in positions of power. It will take outside intervention and orchestrated effort to thwart his command. On March 3rd of this year, when I found out that Jestina had been released, I was ecstatic. I even twittered on it: Justina Mukako released from Zim prison! http://tinyurl.com/bknd5q I am back in the Saloon now, mulling over the situation as I sip a beer. Having seen Mugabe's torture chambers up-close, I still see the iron chains and feel the thousand screams from those hollowed rooms. I am fearful that additional screams will be added by Jestina and the other 15. I am twittering again: "Yep, an eye for an eye never looked so good."
 
David Ormsby: Giannoulias Public Relations, Blagojevich Déjà Vu Top
Illinois Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias on Monday stood before the same phalanx of Chicago news media and at the same podium in the State of Illinois Building where Rod Blagojevich had recently stood. Giannoulis stood there to defend the use of state money from a flailing college investment fund that his office manages to buy a $26,000 SUV for his office. Rod Blagojevich stood there to defend his appointment of Roland Burris to the U.S. Senate. Both attempted to defend the indefensible. Bad decisions. In Blagojevich's case, he had no choice. He had just appointed Burris to the scandal-tarred-and-feathered Senate seat formerly held by Barack Obama. Blagojevich had no "retrospect factor" available to justify his decision. He was in the here-and-now. And Blagojevich is undeniably a goof. In Giannoulias' case, he had a choice. He had a "retrospect factor." And Giannoulias is undeniably bright. He could have said the purchase of the vehicle was a "boneheaded move" and the absence of a vehicle-use log was an even more "boneheaded move." Admitting to boneheaded decisions has credibility with the press and public. We all make them. We move on. But no. Instead Giannoulias decided to aggravate his public relations problem. Like Blagojevich, Giannoulias attempted to defend a decision -- the SUV's purchase -- with the typical political patter of rationalizations. "What I think is important here to understand is that this is a vehicle used by Bright Start marketers to travel the state and talk about the program," Giannoulias said, as quoted by the Chicago Tribune 's Monique Garcia at his press conference . "I think it's something that over the long term would be a good investment." Blah, blah, blah. Giannnoulias' statement may indeed be true, but the public hears only platitudes. Giannoulias is talking to a deeply -- crater deep -- cynical Illinois public regarding its political leaders. And the public is always cynical regarding politicians and their government cars. Political PR 101. Giannoulias has received piss-poor public relations advice from his current handlers. The public is innately suspicious when politicians purchase cars with government money. They think they'll be tooling around town on the taxpayer dime, figuratively flipping them the bird. And Giannoulis defended the SUV purchase without any vehicle log to prove that its use was "all business" on behalf of the Bright Start college savings program, a program which has lost $85 million under controversial circumstances . Giannoulias, who has raised more than $1 million for an expected campaign for Burris' senate seat and has generated political momentum towards his political goal, is exacerbating a public relations fiasco. It's a fiasco because a boneheaded answer to a $26,000 SUV purchase may trump the $1 million campaign war chest and blunt the political momentum -- and perhaps derail it. And that's too bad. Giannoulias is no Blagojevich. This could have been avoided.
 
McCain Aide: Cantor Never On VP Short List, "Complete And Total Joke" Top
A source close to the McCain campaign is telling me that the story that Eric Cantor -- the "rising star" of the GOP -- came anywhere near to being John McCain's running mate in 2008 is bunk.
 
Rob Morrison: Daddy Diaries: Confessions of a Stay-at-Home Anchorman Top
Jackson Pollock said it's necessary for an artist to come face-to-face with himself. The great painter found the experience uncomfortable, yet inspiring. I agree to a certain extent. When I recently encountered my own countenance, I too was quite uncomfortable, yet it made for a hilarious story. I have a friend who works in the entertainment business. He recommended me for a small, news anchor role in a popular TV series. I've known news people who've done things like this before -- my old colleague Lester Holt has famously appeared in several films, including The Fugitive , with Harrison Ford. I, on the other hand, have no experience with acting. But one of the beautiful things about being "in between jobs" is you have plenty of time to try new things. I chuckled when I received the "Directors' Notes" in an email the night before the audition. The very first instruction read: "Delivery of dialogue should NOT be in the typical cheesy news anchor fashion." Ok, now I'm not naïve. I've seen Anchorman with Ron Burgundy. I can take the jokes. I actually think I'm more offended by the adjective "typical" than the informal adjective "cheesy." Is this how these entertainment folks have been talking about us news folks all this time? Nevertheless, not wanting to develop a Christian Bale type of reputation this early in my acting career, I decided to let this slight pass. I'd received no instructions regarding attire, so I dressed for the audition as if I was going to work: blue pinstripe suit, plaid dress shirt and a red tie (the color is a hint about which show it is). It's a standard anchor uniform. Frankly, I didn't even think twice about it. The phrase "straight out of central casting" didn't even occur to me...at the time. When I arrived at the casting studio (downtown, of course), I thought I'd stepped into an MTV reality show. It seemed everyone, male and female, was about 20 years younger than me and really, really beautiful. It was a flurry of headshots, skateboards and iPhones and I wondered if I was in the right place. It turns out there was another casting call underway for a commercial for shampoo or energy drinks or something. I ambled my creaky bones past the kids to Studio 2, where my audition was. There I found one woman, about 10 years my senior, sitting on a bench. I suddenly felt better about my age. Unsure at this point about what to do, I asked the woman for guidance. She looked at me as if I was a moron and said, "Sign the list and wait your turn." I did as I was told. Now, maybe I was eager to let her know this was my first time or perhaps I was just looking to release some nervous energy, but I then made the mistake of trying to engage this unfriendly stranger in small talk. "So, I guess you're an actor," I astutely observed. Again, she flashed the moron look. "What's that like?" I unwisely continued. "If you'll excuse me," she said tersely, "I have to familiarize myself with the material." "Oh, so that's what it's like," I finished sarcastically. Now this is when it got weird. Just then, a guy, presumably an actor (I was catching on), appeared from around the corner looking exactly like me. Then another. Then another. Dark suits, bright ties, glasses, the hair...the uniform! I felt like a cartoon character. In fact, one of them looked more like me than me. As we stood there looking at each other, it occurred to me that I was probably the only one freaking out at the sight of numerous doppelgangers. They do this all the time. I was trying to pull my head together when a young woman called my name. It was my turn. Inside Studio 2 were nothing more than a small table and chair, a small camera and some large cue cards with dialogue written in the worst handwriting I've ever seen. "When I say action, state your name and read through the dialogue," she said very quickly and businesslike. "We'll do it twice. Now, action!" Catching her completely off-guard, I informed her that I had made some changes to the copy. She froze. Incredulous. "What?" "Well it's poorly written and quite redundant." I said. "I just tightened it up." Copyediting, as I'm sure you know, is a standard part of the news business. Apparently, however, it's not so much part of the acting business. "You know," she explained less than calmly, "there are writers who get paid to do that and they're pretty sensitive about people changing their stuff. Why don't you just read the lines?" Again, I thought it was too soon in my young acting career to throw a Russell Crowe type tantrum, so I complied. I read through the material trying my damnedest not to be "cheesy," but wondering if it would be possible after so many years of being a "typical" news anchor. Perhaps the "cheese factor" would be too great to overcome. Either way, it was over quickly. I thanked the young lady, walked out of the room and wished all the other me's good luck. I left with a hell of a story, but with no idea if I have what it takes to play myself on TV. Stay tuned.
 
Connie Culp, Nation's First Face Transplant Patient, Shows Face (PHOTOS) Top
AP: CLEVELAND — Five years ago, a shotgun blast left a ghastly hole where the middle of her face had been. Five months ago, she received a new face from a dead woman. Connie Culp stepped forward Tuesday to show off the results of the nation's first face transplant, and her new look was a far cry from the puckered, noseless sight that made children run away in horror. Culp's expressions are still a bit wooden, but she can talk, smile, smell and taste her food again. Her speech is at times a little tough to understand. Her face is bloated and squarish, and her skin droops in big folds that doctors plan to pare away as her circulation improves and her nerves grow, animating her new muscles. Scroll down for photos But Culp had nothing but praise for those who made her new face possible. "I guess I'm the one you came to see today," the 46-year-old Ohio woman said at a news conference at the Cleveland Clinic, where the groundbreaking operation was performed. But "I think it's more important that you focus on the donor family that made it so I could have this person's face." Up until Tuesday, Culp's identity and how she came to be disfigured were a secret. Culp's husband, Thomas, shot her in 2004, then turned the gun on himself. He went to prison for seven years. His wife was left clinging to life. The blast shattered her nose, cheeks, the roof of her mouth and an eye. Hundreds of fragments of shotgun pellet and bone splinters were embedded in her face. She needed a tube into her windpipe to breathe. Only her upper eyelids, forehead, lower lip and chin were left. A plastic surgeon at the Cleveland Clinic, Dr. Risal Djohan, got a look at her injuries two months later. "He told me he didn't think, he wasn't sure, if he could fix me, but he'd try," Culp recalled. She endured 30 operations to try to fix her face. Doctors took parts of her ribs to make cheekbones and fashioned an upper jaw from one of her leg bones. She had countless skin grafts from her thighs. Still, she was left unable to eat solid food, breathe on her own, or smell. Then, on Dec. 10, in a 22-hour operation, Dr. Maria Siemionow led a team of doctors who replaced 80 percent of Culp's face with bone, muscles, nerves, skin and blood vessels from another woman who had just died. It was the fourth face transplant in the world, though the others were not as extensive. "Here I am, five years later. He did what he said _ I got me my nose," Culp said of Djohan, laughing. In January, she was able to eat pizza, chicken and hamburgers for the first time in years. She loves to have cookies with a cup of coffee, Siemionow said. No information has been released about the donor or how she died, but her family members were moved when they saw before-and-after pictures of Culp, Siemionow said. Culp said she wants to help foster acceptance of those who have suffered burns and other disfiguring injuries. "When somebody has a disfigurement and don't look as pretty as you do, don't judge them, because you never know what happened to them," she said. "Don't judge people who don't look the same as you do. Because you never know. One day it might be all taken away." It's a role she has already practiced, said clinic psychiatrist Dr. Kathy Coffman. Once while shopping, "she heard a little kid say, `You said there were no real monsters, mommy, and there's one right there,'" Coffman said. Culp stopped and said, "I'm not a monster. I'm a person who was shot," and pulled out her driver's license to show the child what she used to look like, the psychiatrist said. Culp, who is from the small town of Unionport, near the Pennsylvania line, told her doctors she just wants to blend back into society. She has a son and a daughter who live near her, and two preschooler grandsons. Before she was shot, she and her husband ran a painting and contracting business, and she did everything from hanging drywall to a little plumbing, Coffman said. Culp left the hospital Feb. 5 and has returned for periodic follow-up care. She has suffered only one mild rejection episode that was controlled with a single dose of steroid medicines, her doctors said. She must take immune-suppressing drugs for the rest of her life, but her dosage has been greatly reduced and she needs only a few pills a day. The clinic expects to absorb the cost of the transplant because it was experimental, doctors said. Siemionow estimated it at $250,000 to $300,000. That is less than the $1 million that other surgeons estimate it costs them to treat other severely disfigured people through dozens of separate operations, she said. Also at the Cleveland Clinic is Charla Nash of Stamford, Conn., who was attacked by a friend's chimpanzee in February. She lost her hands, nose, lips and eyelids, and will be blind, doctors said. Clinic officials said it is premature to discuss the possibility of a face transplant for her. In April, doctors at Harvard-affiliated Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston performed the nation's second face transplant, on a man disfigured in a freak accident. It was the world's seventh such operation. The first, in 2005, was performed in France on Isabelle Dinoire, a woman who had been mauled by her dog. ___ On the Net: Cleveland Clinic: http://www.clevelandclinic.org/face
 
How Tax Havens Helped Create The Financial Crisis Top
Banks employ large teams of highly paid people to devise transactions mainly for the purpose of avoiding tax. These activities seem to be far more profitable than the humdrum business of managing payments and channelling savings towards investment. Why?
 
Rabbi Abraham Cooper: But is it Anti-Semitic? Top
Give Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad credit. He makes no bones about his hatred of Israel. In his latest attack, reported in YNET, he warned: "Just as (Israel) was created, it can be dismantled." Denying Israel's legitimacy, he charged that "for 60 years, they have told lies and tried to defraud nations in order to create the germ called the Zionist regime" and added, "Zionism contributes nothing other than aggression, mass murder, terror and threats." At the Durban 2009 anti-racism UN Conference in Geneva, Ahmadinejad's threats and denigration of the Holocaust led to a walkout and/or boycott of most European nations, the US and Canada. But that did not top some of his 180-strong entourage from also publicly castigating Israel as a Nazi, apartheid regime, with even Holocaust survivor and Nobel Peace Lauraete Elie Wiesel verbally attacked as a " Zionazi ." Never mind the mental gymnastics needed for Iranian Holocaust deniers to accuse Israel of being Nazis -- casting victims as victimizers is a powerful, emotive and effective propaganda tool. The "Israel as Nazi" canard was first introduced by the Soviet Union's propaganda machine four decades ago to curry favor with Arab states who were trying to do away with Israel long before the question of a Palestinian state was ever raised. In 2009, it has gained new traction and believers far beyond the Mullah-controlled Iran. It was the mantra of pro-Hamas demonstrators from London to Los Angeles, and was delivered to thousands of emails near you ever since the Israeli incursion into Gaza last winter. Now, two students at UC Santa Barbara have raised their voices in protest after their Sociology Professor sent them an unsolicited digital visual hate spam comparing Israelis to Nazis. Many critics, myself among them, have labeled that email anti-Semitic. But when exactly does critique morph into hate? Human rights icon Natan Sharansky points to 3 "D"s to help identify when legitimate criticism crosses over to anti-Semitism: Double Standard , Deligitimization and Demonization . The cut and paste visual hit job characterizing Israel and Israelis as Nazi-like not only denigrates the 6 million Jewish victims of the Nazi genocide, but also clearly meets the standards of each of the 3 "D"s. All this has led Sol Lieber, an 85 year old survivor of the Warsaw Ghetto uprising and the Majdanek and Auschwitz Death Camps to offer to pay for this professor to travel with him to Auschwitz to (re)learn the differences between the Holocaust Kingdom and the Palestinian/Israel conflict. For the rest us, this much should be clear: There is nothing wrong with criticizing Israeli policies; quite the contrary, as the Middle East's only democracy, Israel's actions generate healthy debate and even denunciation every day from within and without its borders. But those who knowingly choose to mis-characterize Israel's self-defense as "Nazi" are factually and historically wrong and morally repugnant. More on Israel
 
Richard Valeriani: News Update Top
President Barack Obama completes 100 days in office. Never have so many pundidiots talked so much for so little a stretch of time. If all the 100-days so-called analysis were laid end-to-end, Obama's term would go back to 1776. Consensus: Bo has a very high approval rating. But we can be thankful that's all behind us. No!!!! Wait!!!! CBS News is going to do the next 100 days. White House says they hope CBS gets to do the next 300 days. Heh, heh. SpongeBob SquarePants celebrates 10th anniversary. Christian Right Kooks still trying to out him. "Lost" observes 100th episode. And still nobody knows what the hell is going on. Justice Souter resigns from Supreme Court. Too bad he's not a role model for Clarence Thomas. Diversity advocates point out there are no Hispanics on court, nor midgets, Muslims, or recovering alcoholics. Take note, Mr. Obama. Republican leaders charge Obama speaking in "code" when talking about Souter's replacement. Better than Republicans speaking in tongues. Arlen Specter switches to Democratic Party, acknowledging that he would probably not win Republican primary contest. First duty of a politician is to get elected. But can he win Democratic primary? Not by announcing he won't be a "loyal Democrat." Republicans gearing up to figure out how to keep Norm Coleman's challenge to election results going until 2014. Even so, Al Franken writing jokes for inaugural Senate address. Chrysler declares bankruptcy. Where's Lee Iacocca when we need him? Decision leaves company controlled by Fiat, UAW and US Government. Good luck. Obama urges Americans to buy American-made cars. Sir, may we ask if that includes Toyota, Nissan and Honda? But certainly not Pontiac, which is being muscled out of the market. Improbable longshot Mine That Bird wins Kentucky Derby. How did he do it? Mine That Bird flu. (Groan). Fortunately for horse racing, this year the trainer had a broken leg instead of a horse. For first time ever, Kentucky Derby called by a British race caller. At least it wasn't outsourced to India. Pork Industry demands name change for swine flu since it has nothing to do with pigs. OK, how about Bankers' Flu? Or financial institution CEO's flu? Egypt orders slaughter of pigs anyway although WHO says it's totally unnecessary. Egypt is predominantly Muslim country, Muslims don't eat pork, pigs mostly raised by Christians. So much for swine flu being non-political. First cases of swine flu reported in Mexico. New meaning to Montezuma's revenge? China quarantines Mexicans in China. Mexico threatens to retaliate by making Chinese restaurants in Mexico serve Mooshu Pork wrapped in tortillas. Obama announces proposed crackdown on offshore tax havens, which reportedly enable US corporations to evade billions of dollars in taxes. Republicans react negatively. So what's new? Newt Gingrich has Poped . That's right, Poped It's not what you think. It means he's converted to Catholicism. Catholic hierarchy overlooks two divorces, just as it overlooks so many other things. Meghan McCain, John's daughter, says Republicans are scared "sh.tless" by changing political environment. Wrong, Meghan. Most Republicans are still full of sh.t. More on Arlen Specter
 
Brooklyn Decker: What to Wear to the Met Ball? Top
When I found out I had been invited to the annual Met Ball, I was, well quite frankly, a little shocked. You have to understand, the annual Costume Institute Met Ball is the event of the year for all fashion insiders. Now don't get me wrong, I can hold my own in a fashion crowd, it is my business after all, but let's face it, I'm an All-American girl who loves sports and may be considered the furthest thing from "uber-chic fashion muse". Anyway, the second you would mention the event to someone, they would immediately gasp and start to ask if they could hide under my potentially enormous ball gown just so they could get a glimpse of the ultra exclusive inside. Well, this led me to my first dilemma: I had to be prepared for the question, "Who are you wearing?" And I mean, really well prepared; this is the Met Ball after all. Now, this question had my agents buzzing: "Let's do anti-glam...let's go with super cool...just make sure boobs aren't hanging out!" At this point, I finally said "Guys, let's just throw on a dress and have a good time, I think I may have something in my closet." This of course was met with gasps of horror from my fashion loving modeling agents. If I remember correctly, someone patted my hand and said "Now Brooklyn, we will take care of this, don't you worry." Well, they called Vogue and somehow Derek Lam and I were paired up together. This was pretty exciting for me because as he is a fresh American designer whose style actually suits me really well, and I know he was excited to work with me as well (always a nice ego boost.) which led to fitting time! I went in to meet Derek about a week before the big day and we went through every conceivable type of dress: short, long, yellow, blue, you name it. Finally I stumbled into this embellished pant/tank combo... a jumpsuit, if you will, that really just looked comfortable and cool. I tried it on and it was a perfect fit. I had found my outfit. I excitedly called my agency "I found it! It's black and sequined, it has pants," at which the conversation came to a screeching halt and on the other end of the phone I hear "Pants?? You're wearing pants to the Met Ball?!," and almost inaudibly, whispers in the background "she's wearing pants , yes pants." After some internal discussion and circulating a photo of the outfit amongst my agency, everyone approved. Then it was time for the jewelry. My agent was thinking about jewelry designers and thought "Hey, you're an All-American girl, showing up on the arm of a hot American fashion designer; let's get you dripping in Tiffany diamonds." Well who was I to argue? Later that day, I walked into the Fifth Avenue store and was told "Walk around the floors, pick whatever you want, we'll deliver it to you." Really? This is my job?? Did I hit the Life Jackpot or what? After a quick decision on my bling, I was all set to go. As the day of the Met arrived, all of the sudden the nerves came. I started questioning everything I was wearing (Pants, really?!) and the importance of the whole event hit me all at once. I just had to tell myself "You were invited, people want you there. Worst case scenario, you'll get to people watch and wander the Metropolitan Museum at night." I have to admit, my ensemble was worth way more than I was comfortable with (at one point one of my bracelets just fell off and thank goodness Derek was there to scoop it up and put it right back into place... thank you insurance). I went to the Carlyle to meet Derek and the rest of our table. Liya Kebede was also dressed by Derek so we were all sharing a table at the event. Liya is one of the "new generation" supermodels. She's an Ethiopian stunner who is remarkably graceful and will be best known for her incredible humanitarian efforts. It really was humbling to be surrounded by these people. Everyone joined in on a champagne toast to celebrate the night and get rid of the jitters (I stuck with water) and we were on our way to walk red carpet. Derek and I took a long look at the notorious red carpet, a grand staircase into the Metropolitan's main lobby where flashbulbs popped from all angles. I really do think it is designed to make us all more vulnerable and capture that humiliating trip-over-your-gown-up-the-stairs shot. I immediately wished I had joined in on the champagne toast earlier. We stepped out of the car, Derek grabbed my arm and said "Don't worry just stick with me, I've done this a few times." Did I mention I love Derek Lam? He was my savior that night. As designer and model-muse, we walked up the carpet together and it couldn't have been better. It was actually fun! We then were led to the receiving line where Marc Jacobs, Kate Moss, and Justin Timberlake and the legendary Anna Wintour awaited us (in case you've been living under a rock for the past two decades, Anna is the editor-in-chief of American Vogue; I'm not comparing her to God by any means, but she is the omniscient one when it comes to fashion). She welcomed each person and complimented me on my outfit (thank you Derek) and much to my surprise, congratulated me on my recent marriage. My head was spinning with everything that had happened so far. The festivities were well on their way and this was my time to take everything in. We walked through the exhibit, which particularly struck a chord with me since I'm a model. The exhibit covered the evolution of models and fashion from the 1930's to present day. There were vintage Vogue covers, old Sports Illustrated Swimsuit covers, clothing worn by all the top models, and iconic photographs captured by the great fashion photographers. Richard Avedon, Helmut Newton, Steven Meisel...the list goes on. One of my favorite elements in the exhibit was the music dedicated to the individual decades complete with light shows and songs specific to that time. Booming over the speakers was everything from The Who's "My Generation" to Nirvana's "Smells like Teen Spirit". I couldn't help but sing along and be impressed by the amount of thought and detail put into each aspect of this presentation. After the exhibit, it was onto cocktails. This is when it started to get interesting... Everyone you can possibly imagine was at the event. Elizabeth Hurley was practically sweeping the floor with her amazingly long train, her husband following behind making sure no one stepped on the couture creation. All the supermodels past and present were in attendance - Iman, Shalom Harlow, Amber Valetta, Kate Moss, Gisele, the list could go on for days. Designers, photographers, musicians. It was truly amazing. Not only that, but everyone was decked out in their finest. The great thing about the Met Ball is that even if you don't like someone's fashion choice, they still deserve applause for really going for it and taking a chance with their fashion choices (ahem, Madonna). Everyone was just glittering and it was sight to see. Last but not least, the dinner and performance. The whole room was buzzing with anticipation of who the performer would be. Some thought Justin Timberlake since he was a host, others thought Rihanna. Well, I must say, the introduction of the performer blew me away more than anything else. The head of the Metropolitan Museum finished his welcome speech and said "Now to bring out a man who needs no introduction, Bono" I think I lost my breath for a second. He came out and spoke about fashion muses, how models spark creativity in both music and design, and even managed to throw in a few jokes. It was amazing. It only gets better as he then introduces Kanye West. Never have I seen lanky supermodels grinding down with the conservative Upper East Siders...quite a sight to see. Kanye started on his second to last song and all the sudden, from back stage, we hear a familiar female voice...and on walks Rihanna! The crowd went wild. Really, the whole room was alive for this special performance. As much as we enjoyed it, I can only imagine it from their perspective since it was undoubtedly the most beautiful crowd they've ever played for. It was memorable for everyone in attendance. It's hard to top that kind of an evening, but I was on my way. I was co-hosting an after party with Modelinia that benefited OrphanAid Africa at 1OAK. I was joined by the beautiful Margherita Missoni, Arlenis Sosa, Joy Bryant, Hillary Rhoda and Rachel Roy as my co-hosts and a bevy of model guests including Coco Rocha, Isabeli Fontana, Ali Stephens and Chanel Iman. After my model-muse duties were over at 2 in the morning, I was off to bed to get enough rest so I could be alive and rested on my shoot the next day. 9:00 AM call time... ahhh, back to reality. More on Fashion
 
Swat Valley: Pakistanis Flee As Peace Deal Collapses Top
MINGORA, Pakistan — Black-turbaned Taliban militants seized government buildings, laid mines and fought security forces Tuesday in the Swat Valley, as fear of a major operation led thousands to pack their belongings on their heads and backs, cram aboard buses and flee the northwestern region. The collapse of a 3-month-old truce with the Taliban means Pakistan will now have to fight to regain control of the Swat Valley, testing the ability of its stretched military and the resolve of civilian leaders who until recently were insisting the insurgents could be partners in peace. The government feared the refugee exodus could reach 500,000. The developments brought Islamabad's faltering campaign against militancy into sharp focus as President Asif Ali Zardari was preparing for talks Wednesday in Washington with President Barack Obama and Afghan President Hamid Karzai on how best to counter an increasingly overlapping spectrum of extremist groups behind surging violence in the neighboring countries. The Obama administration hopes to build a strong and lasting regional alliance, linking success in Afghanistan with security in Pakistan. Toward that end, the administration is encouraging Pakistan to confront _ not make peace with _ the Taliban and other militants. "These violent extremists need to be confronted head on," State Department spokesman Robert Wood said. "We will be supportive." Fearing that war could consume the region, thousands fled the main Swat town of Mingora on Tuesday, witnesses said. Refugees clambered onto the roofs of buses after seats and floors filled up. Children and adults alike carried belongings on their heads and backs. "I do not have any destination. I only have an aim _ to escape from here," said Afzal Khan, 65, who was waiting for a bus with his wife and nine children. "It is like doomsday here. It is like hell." Shafi Ullah, a student, said the whole town was fleeing. "Can you hear the explosions? Can you hear the gunshots?" he said, pointing to a part of town where fighting was continuing. It is far from certain that the Pakistani public has the stomach for a long battle in Swat. Given that the militants have had time to rest and reinforce their positions in the three months since the truce took effect, any operation would involve fierce fighting in an urban setting and almost certainly cause significant civilian casualties and damage to property. In recent days, however, there have been signs of a turn in mood against the Taliban. Many commentators now say the movement's true nature was exposed by its refusal to go along with the peace deal despite the government's best efforts. Pakistan agreed to a truce in the valley and surrounding districts in February after two years of fighting with militants who had beheaded political opponents and burned scores of girls schools in their campaign to implement a harsh brand of Islam modeled on their counterparts in Afghanistan. As part of the agreement, the government imposed Islamic law last month in the hope that insurgents would lay down their arms _ something they did not do. Last week, the Taliban moved from their stronghold in the valley into Buner, a district just 60 miles from the capital. That caused alarm at home and abroad. The army responded with an offensive it says has killed more than 100 militants and was "progressing smoothly" Tuesday, according to a brief statement. Fighting, which had been rising in Swat in recent days, escalated Tuesday in Mingora and the neighboring town of Saidu Sharif, according to Associated Press reporters in the towns and an army statement. There were no immediate reports of casualties. Militants wearing turbans were deployed on most streets and on high buildings in Mingora, and security forces were barricaded in their bases. Khushal Khan, the top administrator in Swat, said insurgents were laying mines in the town to hinder any army advance. Late Tuesday, several dozen militants surrounded a police residential compound and an adjoining station in Saidu Sharif after occupying the offices of the police chief and the civil administration, said an officer who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the information. "The limited forces inside the police building cannot survive for long unless the militants are engaged from outside," he said from inside the station. "We are in war conditions and need reinforcements and supplies." Mian Iftikhar Hussain, the information minister for the North West Frontier Province, said up to 500,000 people were expected to flee the valley. Swat is already struggling to house half a million people driven there by fighting from other northwestern regions over the last year. Hussain said authorities were releasing emergency funds and preparing six new refugee camps to house them. Neither the military nor the central government was available to comment Tuesday on whether a fully fledged offensive was planned in the valley. Before the peace deal, the militants were estimated to have about 4,000 well trained and heavily armed fighters in the valley. It is unclear how many security forces are already stationed there. Under the terms of the truce, the army was not required to pull out of the region. Taliban spokesman Muslim Khan said the militants were in control of "90 percent" of the valley. He said they were merely responding to what he called army violations of the deal _ attacking insurgents and adding troops. He accused the government of caving to U.S. pressure in moving into Buner to counter the Taliban. "Everything will be OK once our rulers stop bowing before America," Muslim Khan, the Taliban spokesman, told AP by cell phone, adding that the peace deal had "been dead" since the operation in Buner. The United States and other Western nations have opposed the peace deal with the Swat Taliban, warning that other deals had broken down and given the militants time to regroup. Pakistan has waged several offensives in the border region against al-Qaida and Taliban militants in recent years. Most have ended inconclusively or with peace deals amid public anger over civilian casualties and distaste for taking on fellow Muslims. The army has long focused on the threat posed by longtime rival India and is not used to the demands of guerrilla warfare. ___ Associated Press writer Riaz Khan in Peshawar and Ashraf Khan in Karachi contributed to this report. An AP reporter in Mingora who was not identified for security reasons contributed to this report. More on Pakistan
 
David Roberts: Will Tackling Climate Change Involve "Lifestyle Change"? Top
grist.org Brad Plumer has a nice little video over at TNR today, playing off Oregon governor Ted Kulongoski's comment that meeting our climate goals will mean cutting back on consumption and consumerism -- that is, it will require the dread "lifestyle changes." Brad notes that efficiency and renewable power don't necessarily force any lifestyle changes. (A vacuum cleaner that uses less electricity, and gets its electricity from wind power, is still a vacuum cleaner -- you still vacuum with it.) There may be some, particularly in transportation (smaller cars), but a low-carbon America will look a lot like a high-carbon America, lifestyle-wise. That's good as far as it goes. But I'd add two important points: 1. It is true that we can make serious emission reductions without impacting the lifestyle of the average American at all. We could get emissions down quite a bit just by matching the carbon productivity (tons of CO2 emitted per unit of GDP) of Japan or the state of California. Let's say 20%, or even 30%, in the next couple decades. Remember, though, to really get where we need to go we need to get as close as possible to carbon neutral by 2080 . That's close to 100% reductions. That means not just boosting renewables a little but virtually eliminating fossil fuels. And because renewables will never be able to provide the sheer concentrated quantities fossil fuels provided, we're going to have to figure out how to diffuse and decentralize our energy system and radically increase the intelligence with which we use energy. Power will have to be harvested virtually everywhere, stored by virtually everything, managed by ubiquitous IT. People will have to live closer together in communities served by transit. Land will have to be used more intelligently; carbon sinks will have to be cultivated. All this will mean changes in the way Americans live. But ... 2. Americans are always changing their lifestyles. In just my living memory, shopping has moved to the web, interpersonal communication has become ubiquitous, urbanization has accelerated, newspapers have all but died, etc. etc. Lifestyles are never static. It's just that people don't tend to notice lifestyle changes as such because they happen gradually. What people fear are not lifestyle changes but abrupt decreases in quality of life . People fear losing what they've got. That's what the "lifestyle change" debate is code for in the green space. So it's worth emphasizing: 3. Changing to a low-carbon economy could increase our quality of life. Living in cities well-served by transit is quite pleasant, as I can testify having just returned from Barcelona and Paris. Raising a garden, or eating healthy, locally grown food is pleasant. Eliminating your electricity bills is pleasant, as is being aware of and in control of your personal power consumption. Getting rid of your car is pleasant. Etc. Point is, quality of life is not , contra Republicans, intrinsically attached to fossil fuel use. It's not even intrinsically attached to material plenty. It's not attached to ownership. It's what we do, what's available for our use, and most of all our connections to family, friends, and community that make for a good life. So, I really feel like Kulongoski and folks like him are not being very helpful. It's fine to acknowledge that shifting to a low-carbon economy will involve big changes, but there's no reason to feed the fear that those changes will be disruptive and unpleasant. They needn't be. More on Climate Change
 
Michelle Obama's 'Sesame Street' Appearance: "I'm On A High" (PHOTOS) Top
Michelle Obama arrived in New York on Tuesday afternoon, where she spoke at the UN while wearing the same Tracy Feith dress she wore to the National Prayer Service the day after the inauguration. Photos below. She will address the Time 100 dinner in New York on Tuesday night. The first lady also revealed that she taped "Sesame Street" today, saying the appearance was "probably the best thing I've done at the White House." Air date to be announced. Pool Report Amy Chozick The Wall Street Journal. FLOTUS visited the United States Mission to the United Nations on Tuesday afternoon to deliver brief remarks and thank long-term government employees. She stood behind a heavy wooden podium emblazoned with the UN seal, three flags behind her, and spoke for about five minutes to the roughly 150 employees of the U.S. Mission in New York. U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice introduced the first lady. "It is a great honor to welcome the First Lady of the United States," Rice said. "The folks gathered here are truly the foot soldiers on the front lines of the new administration." She called the group "tireless, talented and tremendously dedicated" and said they are "making the change in our foreign policy real every day." Rice then went on to praise the first lady. "You insist on reminding people that your extraordinary life is rooted in the ordinary women that surrounded you," Rice said. "We love your style, your warmth, your brilliance." She called FLOTUS "wicked smart" and said she had a gift of UNICEF children's books, light-up pens and soccer-related stuff to Sasha and Malia. "Because they don't have enough," Mrs. Obama interrupted in the background. "I am thrilled to be here," FLOTUS said, wearing a black print dress with three-quarter length sleeves by Tracy Feith. She talked about a Tuesday visit to Sesame Street where she talked about healthy eating and nutrition. "I never thought I'd be on Sesame Street with Elmo and Big Bird and I was thrilled. I'm still thrilled. I'm on a high. I think it's probably the best thing I've done at the White House." FLOTUS thanked Rice and called her a "trusted advisor and friend to the president." She returned the compliment and said Rice is "wicked smart." Obama told the crowd she has been trying to get to know her new neighbors in Washington. This is Mrs. Obama's first visit to New York since she became first lady and her 10th visit to a government agency. The list of agency visits is as follows: Education, HUD, Interior, Agriculture, Transportation, EPA, State, DHS, Office of Personnel Management. FLOTUS told the crowd that her "goal is to hit all of them." Her mission, she says, is to put a spotlight on the nation's employees who may feel underappreciated. 40 long-time U.N. employees sat to the left of the stage. These included Ivan Ferber who has worked at the U.S. Mission to the U.N. for 47 years. "Longer than I've been alive," Obama said, as she thanked Mr. Ferber. Other honored employees included: Bruce Rashkow who has worked at the USUN for 38 years and Raymond Boneski who has worked there for 36 years. FLOTUS talked about her recent meetings with schoolchildren in DC and read a letter sent to POTUS by Jack Turner, a first grader and son of Scott Turner, a USUN employee. "Dear Mr. Obama, Can you come to New York?" the letter read. "People are doing bad stuff in New York." FLOTUS joked that Jack has the potential to become the next NYC police commissioner. Obama told another story about the time Ambassador Rice's 11-year-old son-visiting his mom's office during take-your-child-to-work day-threw away his ice cream so that he would make a good first impression on the South African ambassador. "That's diplomacy right there, for an 11-year-old to dump his ice cream," Obama said. FLOTUS said people who work at state agencies are willing to "sacrifice and roll up their sleeves" and cited the H1N1 virus. "We know now we cannot wall ourselves off from issues that are challenging our neighbors," she said. "We are rooting for you and we need you, so thank you so much," Obama said. After the remarks, FLOTUS posed for photos in an eight-floor foyer with employees. Mass. Sen. John Kerry's sister, Margaret "Peggy" Kerry, works for the U.S. Mission to the U.N. and was in attendance. "I think it's great" that the first lady is here, she told reporters. "She made the rounds in Washington and now she's in New York." More about the U.S. Mission to the U.N. (from the mission's website): In 1947 the United States Mission was created by the United Nations Participation Act to assist the President and the Department of State in conducting U.S. policy at the U.N. An important function of this Mission is to keep the Department of State informed of events at the United Nations. Mission officers report on meetings and make recommendations to the State Department as to what course of action the U.S. should pursue in the world organization. The information is also relayed to overseas American Embassies which have an interest in particular items under U.N. consideration. USUN is also a link between the U.S. Government and the U.N. Secretariat, headed by Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. Almost all U.N. member nations maintain missions in NYC. According to the website, the current U.S. Mission to the U.N. at 140 East 45th Street (between Third and Lexington Avenues) is temporary while permanent offices are being rebuilt across the street from the U.N. headquarters on 1st Avenue. Endit. More on Michelle Obama Style
 
Sen. Bernie Sanders: Voices from Vermont and America on Credit Card Rip-Offs Top
On April 24, 2009, I sent an email to my Senate mailing list, the " Bernie Buzz ". My request: Send me detailed information about how credit card companies are treating you and your family. Three days later, I had almost 1,000 responses . Yesterday, I distributed a booklet to my Senate colleagues which reprinted a small number of them, demonstrating in often-heartbreaking manner the extraordinary greed and callousness of some of the largest financial institutions in our country. I have also read some of these testimonials on the floor of the Senate. I hope you will take a minute to read these stories from Vermont and the nation. They offer a window into the outrageous behavior of credit card companies, and why we need fundamental reform of the industry. Here are a few examples: I want to know why consumers are not protected in any way from these predatory lenders who were bailed out with my taxpayer dollars and then turn around and raises my interest rate from 7 percent to 27 percent because of "difficult economic times" for the credit industry. This is outrageous! I have not missed a payment and my credit rating is in the high 800's. How can they keep getting away with this? Donna, Neptune, New Jersey If any of these credit card companies have received any bailout money, I think it is outrageous that they are allowed to get away with their capricious rate hikes. I hope congress steps in and stops these practices before the Federal Reserve restrictions kick in next year. Don, Miami, Florida I own and operated a summer business in excess of 43 years. My business credit card was with Avanta at 7.9 percent for years. Last year my payment jumped about $400 per month - I thought there was fraud involved. Upon checking I found my interest had been raised from 7.9 to 28.8 percent. I always paid more than the minimum and always on time. When Avanta was contacted and asked why, I was told it's a floating interest. I asked to speak to a manager and was advised that's the way it was and they could do nothing to lower it. I got a line of credit loan from the credit union at 1 percent over prime, paid them off and shut down my business. After 43 years of business, it took usury to shut me down. I am seventy five years old and a vet. Go get them Bernie, it's time we had honesty in the banking system. Walter, Poultney, Vermont I have personally had 3 separate credit cards raise the APR to 29.99 percent - when I have paid my bills on time (Citicard, Chase and BofA). Then just last billing cycle, another card I am in perfect standing with doubled my APR - no apparent reason (Chase). I am shocked and livid by these absolutely criminal APRs. This should not be allowed and I believe the APRs should not only be capped, but that there should be a civil lawsuit where they are charged huge fines for pursuing such practices. Jennifer, Los Angeles, California I live in a small town in Vermont. I feel that the credit card companies need to have a ceiling on interest rates and fees. They are stealing from us. We pay for the bailout and we pay the interest increases. They must think we are stupid. Anne, Brattleboro, Vermont We have had the problem with credit cards lowering credit limits with no warning and increasing interest rates for no reason other than "we raised the rates on everyone". We are trying to get our cards paid off but it is extremely difficult when the interest rates are constantly being raised and fees added all the time. One of our cards went from 9.9 percent to 19 percent, another from 12.9 percent to 27 percent. Many have clauses that if you are one day late the rate will go up to 30+ percent, even if your late payment was on a different card. And these are the same banks that have gotten billions of our tax dollars in bailouts! Ellen, Stillwater, Minnesota In my view, when credit card companies charge 25 or 30 percent interest rates they are not engaged in the business of "making credit available" to their customers. They are involved in extortion and loan-sharking. This is especially true at a time when the taxpayers of this country have provided many hundreds of billions of dollars to bail out Wall Street and when the Federal Reserve is making zero interest loans to these very same companies. I support legislation which will increase disclosure and transparency. But that's not enough! In order to protect the American people and our small businesses, we must pass a national usury law and place a cap on interest rates. I have proposed legislation that would emulate the regulations that credit unions live under - a 15 percent maximum interest rate (which currently can go up to 18 percent under exceptional circumstances). If credit unions can grow and prosper with a 15 percent cap, so can banks. To send the senator your own credit card testimonial, click here . To read Sen. Sanders' booklet, click here . More on The Bailouts
 
Dan Brown: The Single Best, Most Indispensable Essay on Reforming Education Top
Rethink your assumptions! Ronald Wolk, founder and longtime editor of Education Week , has published the single best, most indispensable essay on reforming education that I have read. On the 25th anniversary of the five-alarm "Nation At Risk" report, Wolk weighs in that America has not addressed the fundamental issues that assail our schools and perpetuate American students' "rising tide of mediocrity." Instead of making meaningful reforms, Wolk argues that we "misdiagnosed the problem" and instead made wrongheaded assumptions that have amounted to endless hand-wringing and little progress. He boils the misdiagnosis down to five assumptions, which I have reprinted here. Beneath each, I have paraphrased Wolk's explanations and included some observations of my own. Assumption #1: The best way to improve student performance and close achievement gaps is to establish rigorous content standards and a core curriculum for all schools--preferably on a national basis. No! The "get tough" advocates for better schools via higher standards miss the point that standards, while a useful framework of expectations and educational objective, are only that. They don't compensate for "the conventional school model that is incapable of meeting them." We can't administer high expectations via the "just do it" model. Standards are necessary, but using them as the centerpiece to a national reform movement is misbegotten. Assumption #2: Standardized-test scores are an accurate measure of student learning and should be used to determine promotion and graduation. I don't know a person who works closely with students who truly believes this, yet testing continues to cement itself as a dominating fixture in schools. Tests in isolation just don't provide an accurate measure of a living human being. The overemphasis on testing comes at a heavy price. Valuable classroom time and enormous amounts of money are wasted. Kids don't excel. Students at risk are particularly shortchanged by the mechanistic testing game, and are pushed out the dropout door more quickly. Performance-based assessments paint a much more complete picture of a student's abilities and achievement. Wolk nails it, "Except in school, people are judged by their work and their behavior. Few of the business and political leaders who advocate widespread use of standardized testing have taken a standardized test since leaving college." Assumption #3: We need to put highly qualified teachers in every classroom to assure educational excellence. This is admirable, but not feasible. Since we need millions of teachers, it's not practical to expect them all to be top-notch. Consider that our society treats teachers like subprofessionals, pays them unimpressively, and offers few opportunities for advancement, and it seems hopeless. Teach For America is admirably attacking this issue, but remember that TFA's scalability is limited and that it constitutes less than 0.2 percent of all active teachers. We need to address the drawbacks from teaching and re-imagine the role of a teacher as "an adviser, someone who helps students manage their own education." DC Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee made the cover of Time Magazine for her battle against "bad teachers." But what about the crucial work of recruiting, training, and retaining good teachers? It won't come from paying bonuses for high test scores. Wolk argues the human angle, "Creating opportunities for teachers to work together, to teach in teams, to share in professional development, and to be more involved in educational decision-making are ways to bring out the best in teachers." Assumption #4: The United States should require all students to take algebra in the 8th grade and higher-order math in high school in order to increase the number of scientists and engineers in this country and thus make us more competitive in the global economy. No! Calculus in 12th grade is not for everyone. We can farm more scientists and engineers by "find[ing] ways to awaken and nourish a passion for those subjects well before high school, and then offer students every opportunity to pursue their interest as far as they wish." It won't happen by forcing advanced high school math on every teenager in America. Assumption #5: The student-dropout rate can be reduced by ending social promotion, funding dropout-prevention programs, and raising the mandatory attendance age. When an unacceptably high number of students continue to leave school before graduation, it does no one any good to criminalize them or to repeat empty mantras like "stay in school." Students drop out mentally long before they stop physically attending school. Wolk explains, "Dropping out of school is not an impulsive decision. The process begins long before high school, often by the 4th or 5th grade, when courses begin to be content-heavy and students can no longer get by with the ability to 'decode' English, but must be able to understand what they read." We need to understand what pushes these young people out the door, and we need to provide more substantive intervention to more students sooner. ***** Ronald Wolk has provided a concise wakeup call on an issue whose policy is too often dominated by superficial talking points (Accountability! Data! Standards!). His analysis must be part of our national discourse on how to improve America's schools. What do you think of his five assumptions? Read the whole essay here . (It requires a free registration to log in.) Dan Brown is a teacher and the author of The Great Expectations School: A Rookie Year in the New Blackboard Jungle , a memoir of his first year in a Bronx classroom.
 
Bakari Kitwana: OPINION: The President's Racial Politics Top
With the national euphoria of inauguration, the multi-billion dollar corporate bailouts, and even the historic economic stimulus all recent memories, one untold story of the early days of Barack Obama's presidency remains-the advent of a concise, bold and fearless new racial politics. "Subverting race," Jabari Asim, editor of the Crisis magazine, calls it in his important new book What Obama Means . And President Obama's uncanny knack for it takes on even greater significance post election-not simply avoiding the predicable knee-jerk behavior of traditional politics that for too long has governed race business, but advancing a more enlightened, informed and balanced racial outlook that shifts the debate at the same time. It's a new racial politics for a US president that, if maintained and amplified in the days ahead, will fly in the face of Barack Obama's predecessors. Although there have been other sightings (Attorney General Eric Holder's statement in February that when it comes to race, America "is a nation of cowards," for example), mostly this new racial politics has come in the form of Obama's foreign policy overtures: toward European leaders as partners we actually respect, and the recognition of Iran, Korea, Cuba and others as sovereign nations with their own national interests. Of course there was also President Obama's strike back at the handshake backlash: "It's unlikely that as a consequence of me shaking hands or having a polite conversation with Mr. Chavez that we are endangering the strategic interests of the United States." A New York Times/ CBS poll released last week hints that something is afoot. Its chief finding was that Americans across race since the election of Barack Obama were more optimistic about race relations. 66 percent surveyed last month said race relations are good, compared to 53 percent who said the same nearly a year ago. The right, which has long advocated the old racial politics at home and abroad, especially when dealing with non-Western (read: black and brown) leaders, has spent much of the last three months struggling for a response. This has meant rifling through their well-worn playbook and hurling literal sticks and stones like "dictators," "national security," and "anti-Americanism." All seem desperate attempts to maintain a global racial politics perfected during the Bush years, especially when one of the "dictators" in question is the democratically elected leader of his country. What else could have pushed former Vice President Dick Cheney to make more prominently positioned media appearances in a week than during most of the last eight years? "He has gone to Europe, for example, and seemed to apologize profusely," Cheney said expressing his disdain for the new president's way of engaging world leaders , "and then to Mexico, and apologized there...Both our friends and our foes will be quick to take advantage of a situation if they think they're dealing with a weak president or one who is not going to stand up and aggressively defend America's interests." Newt Gingrich, the Republican presidential hopeful in-waiting, added to this in his April 21st appearance on Fox News : "If the president recently bowed to the Saudi King, he has been friendly to the Iranians . . . he basically backed off his threat to the North Koreans, he has made life easier for the Castro dictatorship in Cuba, why not be friendly with Hugo Chavez? It sends a terrible signal . . . to how the administration regards dictators." From Cheney and Gingrich right on down the food chain, these proclamations parallel the stuff of the slave codes of the 18th and 19th centuries, those laws enacted to govern behavior between whites and blacks in order to ensure that white supremacy wouldn't be a matter of chance. If both are as fixated on symbols as their comments suggest, are these metaphoric calls for the return to the good old days? Luckily for the future of the country, Americans across the board aren't buying in. The same New York Times / CBS poll referenced above found Barack Obama's job approval rating (68 percent) to be higher than any recent US President. Such support is fortunate, as President Obama attempts to swing the pendulum on race. It turns out that the "change we can believe in" includes a change in racial politics after all. Who knew? To be sure, as is the case of any social transformation, real progress is going to take the effort of everyday people. And that will require organizations like the NAACP, Urban League, and emerging activists of the younger generation to get out of the proverbial deer-in-the-headlights awe of having elected the first Black president. Instead, now is the time to begin to supplement these new day efforts. Bakari Kitwana is the CEO of Rap Sessions and the author of Why White Kids Love Hip-Hop: Wankstas, Wiggers, Wannabes and The New Reality of Race in America. He is a regular contributor to NewsOne.com . More on GOP
 
Avery Corman: Arlen Specter Weighs New York Senate Bid Top
Having switched parties, Senator Arlen Specter is considering switching states. A Pennsylvania inside political operative revealed Specter's alternate plan should he run into early difficulty winning a Pennsylvania primary next year for the Senate seat on the Democratic side. "The Senator loves New York," the insider said. "He recently attended a bar mitzvah at Tavern on the Green and he's seen The Lion King twice." Specter switched parties the last week in April saying, "I am not prepared to have my 29-year record in the United States Senate decided by the Republican primary electorate -- not prepared to have that record decided by that jury." One Democratic Party wag said, "Well, that's the way it works in America, it's called the election process. But if he wants to slide over to our side, we'll take him." However, Specter has run into immediate difficulties. After it was reported out of the White House that Specter assured President Obama he would be a loyal Democrat and supported the President's agenda, Specter went on national television with David Gregory and denied saying any such thing. "Not a problem," said the Pennsylvania insider, "being dogmatic is out and reversing positions is Specter's strength." As to the difficulties in New York State of winning a Democratic Party primary for the United States Senate, the insider said, "Who is he going to be up against, that woman who replaced Hillary? Nobody knows who she is. Andrew Cuomo? Specter has been a senator for nearly as long as Cuomo has been a grownup." "Specter knows how to campaign," the insider continued. "Obama won by saying it was a time for change. Specter can win in New York by saying it's a time for flexibility. Flexibility -- Arlen Specter is a Houdini at that." More on Arlen Specter
 
Steven Weber: Seen But Not Heard Top
Why no hearings to divine the truth behind this country's practice of torture? Why, really? Is it because Team Obama realizes that almost any high profile political event will, in the hands of an unrestrained media, become the next OJ super-trial-style reality show, full of daily misleading headlines and salacious gossip rife with revelations both profound and inane; speculation about the sexual preferences of hunky bailiffs; the color and subsequent significance of a) Senator Leahy's tie, b) David Addington's cravat or c) Condi Rice's chastity brooch? Or that even if and when pertinent details emerge about the culpability of the formerly untouchable neo-con artists Rummy, Dick and W (the Manny, Moe and Jack of capitalisto-fascism), details which would irrefutably confirm what the thinking majority of the Earth knows all too well---that they and their ilk bilked, highjacked and scuttled America---it won't make all that much difference because really: do we want to upset the entire apple cart at a time when all those apples are rotten and flavorless and the cart itself is spindly and its construction was outsourced to a country with no regulations about toxicity in the paint or the minimum age of the laborers or their uncompensated friction burns and severed digits from their dangerous proximity to the perpetually running conveyor belt which churns out the carts? Hmm? It's a pretty spectacle when justice is waylaid to make room for pop convenience, but one which we have gotten used to. Gone are the days of the televised, spin-free hearings, riveting for their unfiltered truth which can often result in tedium, a quality which is verboten in our current version of culture. C-Span has cornered the niche in that respect, one so narrow as to be relegated to the back shelves behind the neglected, dusty bottles of Brioski in our otherwise fully stocked media market. But along with the televised tedium came galvanizing truths which served to remind the sitcom-sated public of their own mortality and morality---the fundamental underlying elements in the preservation of America's promise of justice for all. What emerged from the HUAC, Watergate, even the tragically impotent Iran-Contra hearings was not only a template for what would decades later devolve into the perverse format known as "infotainment" but an unfiltered examination of issues germane to the nation's character in a forum where the spectators at home were free to judge for themselves. It's that last aspect---the freedom to judge---which, aside from texted votes for or against various potential idols, models and biggest losers, is the most endangered of species. The colossal sleight of hand employed by the media is, as purposeful misdirection goes, as effective as Slidini's though not nearly as charming. Twisting our heads in the direction of panic-inducing puffed-up pseudo pandemics and away from the relative humdrum which defines our occasional civic duty is television's specialty and could severely impact the effectiveness of any public trial which would rightly and salubriously expose the architects of America's downfall for all to see. Much of President Obama's power and appeal derives at least from the feeling that the public is a newly aware and reactivated force for change. In their hands popular support would provide motivation to entities reluctant to engage the reliably low-aiming media machine which would inevitably render the effectiveness of such hearings as futile. And yet, almost more than any of its antecedents, a hearing to define what history will no doubt look on impartially as the time when this nation's highest office was more blatantly misused and abused by any administration which preceded it, will provide the way back, however painful, toward the dignity and progress so grossly trampled upon by BushCo. Money, as G.B. Shaw said, is not made in the light. But it's in the light---even in the flickering of a plasma screen---where justice needs to be served
 
Intentional Oil Spill Defendants Plead Guilty Top
BRADFORD, Pa. — A northwestern Pennsylvania man has pleaded guilty to intentionally releasing thousands of gallons of oil into two streams because he was upset with his former employer. Twenty-two-year-old Christopher Horton, of Bradford, pleaded guilty Monday. He faces at least three years in jail, but a McKean County judge may allow him to serve that sentence in a boot camp. Last week, Horton's father, Andrew, pleaded guilty to his role in the August spill in the Allegheny National Forest. McKean County prosecutors say Christopher Horton damaged oil storage tanks owned by his former employer, Snyder Brothers. The spill killed an unknown number of fish, reptiles and amphibians. The Hortons say they had been drinking and didn't anticipate the damage. ___ Information from: The Bradford Era, http://www.bradfordera.com
 
Phil Bronstein: Shouldn't That Be His Royal Highness, the "Addled Lord of Print?" Top
When great satire can't make it anymore in the printed newspaper world, that's not so funny here in the belly of The Chronicle and at other publications. The Onion, which blew into San Francisco a few years ago with its hilarious headlines and endless news parodies -- there was a big party then and an ominous reminder that MSM hadn't exactly cornered the fun market -- is closing its SF and LA print editions , victim of the same newspaper home wrecking that's quickly corroding its straight-man counterparts. Just when we needed more laughs, not fewer. Especially after Warren Buffett said he would not buy a newspaper "at any price" and Presidential Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said about newspaper pain and suffering , "I don't know what, in all honesty, government can do about it." Thanks, we wouldn't take your money anyway, Bob. And it was barely 10 seconds after even just the rumor that Amazon would introduce a bigger-screen, newspaper content-friendlier Kindle -- an attempt at "throwing an electronic life preserver to old-media companies," according to TechCrunch -- that the nattering and relentless offensive line charged in for the tackle. Not gonna work, was essentially the ornery punditry. Not soon enough, not revolutionary enough, not enough, period, to resurrect old habits. "It's a pass (the industry) won't catch," said the same TechCrunch. But crunchgear, as opposed to TechCrunch, says the improved Kindle means large papers and magazines "will win." I wish I were that sure about even a few things in life. There are more of these reader devices coming to market, some as thin as a few magazine pages. Foldability and color are ahead. Whoever turns out to be right, there's no escaping the severe turbulence of the moment and, as the motivational speakers like to say, the opportunities. Things are bumpy enough that even Valleywag's normally trenchant and witty Owen Thomas called me in a post yesterday slamming the new Kindle both a "digital chieftain" and one of the "addled lords of print." Wow. Addled may be fair comment, but digital chieftain and lord of print at the same time? There's hardly enough royal bunting to cover all that. Even from those commanding heights of power, I still have no answers . But here's an idea: In Chicago, a 15-year-old kid dressed up like a police officer and went out on patrol (he eventually got busted). A few months later, he put on a suit and apparently looked enough like an adult that an auto dealership let him take one of their cars out for a test drive. He crashed it. But it got me thinking: maybe we can just dress up as a successful business and get by. That may be what's happening in San Diego, where a Beverly Hills investment firm called Platinum Equity has bought the drowning San Diego Union-Tribune. Sounds impressive. How can you not feel good about that? So there, Mr. Papers-Unsafe-At-Any-Speed Buffett! I've never had a platinum credit card but they look pretty cool (though carbon is now more hip). Platinum the company is, according to a Union-Tribune story , a turnaround specialist. Some serious turning is good, but we should avoid spinning. And in case you believe that newspapers are doomed, here's the latest from the New York Times, where a five percent wage cut and the possible closure of its Boston Globe this week didn't seem to be quite enough. A Q&A with Times president Scott Heekin-Canedy was reprinted on Jim Romenesko's media blog with this headline: "NYTer: The Future Format of News? It's Your Choice." So that's great that the paper of record is thinking about letting readers decide how they want to get their information. Just in time to get ahead of that trend. Teenagers, start your engines. More on Newspapers
 
Michael Brune: Worst Job in the World: Defending Chevron Top
Watching Chevron get skewered on 60 Minutes last night had me thinking what an awful job it must be to fight against cleaning up oil spills in the Amazon that are making people sick. And that led me to think of my first encounter with Chevron CEO David O'Reilly. It was at Chevron's annual shareholder meeting in April 2007. If you've ever attended a corporate shareholder meeting, you know that they can be either so boring your head hurts, or a great opportunity to see how a corporation is led. This was a little of both. At the time, Chevron was struggling (still is, as indicated by the 60 Minutes piece) to defend itself in a landmark lawsuit brought by 30,000 impoverished residents from the rainforests in Ecuador. For several decades, oil operations by Texaco (since acquired by Chevron) and its partners dumped billions of gallons of oil and toxic waste directly into the Amazon watershed or in leaky pits. The contaminated area covers more than 3,000 square miles, and is one of the largest environmental disasters in history -- larger than the Exxon Valdez spill -- affecting a fragile ecosystem and thousands of indigenous families. Chevron has also been implicated in other environmental and human rights violations in Burma, the Philippines, Nigeria and the United States. I was there to advance a shareholder resolution that would help the company prevent these catastrophes in the future by adopting a code of ethics for its environmental and human rights performance. Chevron was opposed. I was joined at the meeting by Atossa Soltani, the founder and director of Amazon Watch, who has led the campaign against Chevron , and Humberto Piaguaje and Guillermo Grefa, two indigenous leaders from Ecuador, who had traveled by foot, boat, bus and plane straight from the rainforest to confront Mr. O'Reilly directly. After being surrounded and frisked by more than a dozen scowling security guards, we were led into the meeting, held in a windowless room at Chevron's headquarters in San Ramon, California. It began with a series of presentations by Chevron's senior executives about the company's growth, future exploration plans, etc. Chevron CEO David O'Reilly joyfully reminded shareholders that the company had recently announced record profits, and that prospects for the company were better than ever. No mention was made of any controversies in Ecuador, Nigeria, or any other environmental issues. That's why we were there. Dressed in his traditional native clothing and ceremonial headdress, Mr. Piaguaje, from the Secoya tribe, informed Mr. O'Reilly, "Our struggle is not for money. We want you to give us back our lives. We want you to let us live in peace and harmony with nature. We want you to repair the damage so that our children do not have to continue suffering." O'Reilly quickly dismissed any notion that his company had responsibility in the matter, which is Chevron's undying legal strategy. As William Langewiesche accounts in his brilliant article " Jungle Law " in Vanity Fair : [Chevron] denies that the judge is fair, denies that the plaintiffs have legitimate complaints, denies that their soil and water samples are meaningful, denies that the methods the company used to extract oil in the past were substandard, denies that it contaminated the forest, denies that the forest is contaminated, denies that there is a link between the drinking water and high rates of cancer, leukemia, birth defects, and skin disease, denies that unusual health problems have been demonstrated -- and, for added measure, denies that it bears responsibility for any environmental damage that might after all be found to exist. That sounds like a lot of denial, if you ask me. When it came my time to speak, I used my allotted three minutes to make Chevron an offer. Copying the words from Chevron's ad campaign, I asked O'Reilly, "Will you join us? Please, join the campaign to clean up Ecuador." I told him and his board members that it was clear that seeing Chevron neglect sick families in Ecuador couldn't possibly help employee morale, and it wouldn't increase investor confidence to see that these scandals threatened the company's reputation throughout Latin America and around the world. Much better, I suggested, for Chevron to lead the way in the industry by adopting a smart, 21st-century policy on human rights and the environment. O'Reilly quickly brushed off my appeal and barreled through the rest of the agenda, opposing other resolutions to promote worker safety and fair executive pay. It became apparent that Chevron's senior staff would survive another meeting without being held accountable for their actions. This wouldn't do. As the last shareholder finished his question about stock dividends, I stepped behind him to have another go at it. "Hello again, Mr. O'Reilly. Michael Brune, from Rainforest Action Network. I have one more question." "Go ahead, Mr. Brune." "Mr. O'Reilly, is this really the best that you can do?" You could hear a pin drop. I waited. When O'Reilly looked about ready to fill the silence, I spoke again to remind him and his board members that climate change wasn't going away by itself, that environmental awareness was growing and that through the internet, communities resisting Chevron would unite around the world. I told them that Chevron would eventually lose its social license to operate if it did not adapt to a changing world. O'Reilly smiled, shuffled his notes, and gave another non-answer from his prepared remarks. Two years later, an unlikely transnational coalition is in fact putting Chevron on the defensive for exploiting the Ecuadorian people. Chevron is under withering criticism from the coalition as well as from last night's 60 Minutes episode, a Washington Post story last week, a Wall St. Journal story in early April, and much more. Joining in are communities in Canada faced with poisoned watersheds in Canada's tar sands , critics of Chevron's new legal executive -- who formerly developed the Bush legal strategy to defend torture , Chevron's neighbors in Northern California -- and others. Still, the company refuses to accept responsibility. It's becoming clear that this is a company, and an industry, desperately in need of regulation. Congress, are you listening? More on Climate Change
 
The Parking Ticket Geek: The Expired Meter Helps Protect Drivers Against Broken Meters Top
Despite the fact that, according to Chicago municipal code, you cannot be ticketed for parking at a broken meter, in many cases, motorists are still receiving tickets for this. Now, most parking enforcement agents and police know this rule and follow the law. However, obviously, some ticket writers (hint, SERCO) do not and others have no problem overlooking the law to slap an improper ticket on your windshield. In order to protect Chicago motorists from getting ticketed for parking at an inoperable meter, the Expired Meter staff have designed a handy-dandy flier to help our readers prevent getting ticketed for parking at a meter that's out of order. This flier reminds ticket writers of what the municipal code says in regards to parking at a non-working meter. 9-64-190 Parking meter zones - Regulations ...It is not a violation of this section to park a vehicle at a zone or space served by a meter that does not function properly... Just download the Broken Meter flier , and print out one or more of these reminders to keep with you in your vehicle, along with a role of tape (preferably 2" packing tape). If you locate and park at a broken meter, tape one of these fliers to the head of the non-working meter you're at. If the Pay & Display unit is broken, slap this on the unit on the front to alert all the drivers of the problem and put one on your dashboard and/or windshield. Although, technically, you're supposed to know to walk down the street and use another unit. The only problem with this is, by the time you put on your hiking boots to go on your excursion into the unknown to locate another unit and you find your way back to your vehicle, you may have a bright orange surprise on your windshield. IMPORTANT : Make sure you do NOT cover up the digital readout or the coin slot, so the PEA or cop or whomever ticket writer, can verify the meter is NOT in working order. And don't be a dick and slap these fliers on working meters!!! This is for legitimately broken parking meters. If you're a jerk and use it on a working meter, I encourage the ticket writer to write you two tickets instead of one. Download the Broken Meter flier PDF right here. Check out The Expired Meter for even more information and advice about parking, fighting parking tickets and red light tickets in Chicago.
 
Swiss Guard May Allow Women After 500-Year Ban Top
After more than five centuries protecting popes, the Swiss Guard may consider opening the ranks of the world's smallest army to women, its commander said Tuesday. "I can imagine them for one role or another. Certainly we can think about this," Daniel Anrig, who took over the post late last year, told Italian television program "Studio Aperto." More on The Pope
 
USDA Offers $50M In Help Converting Farms To Organic Top
Farmers will have three weeks to apply for $50 million in land stewardship funding to help pay the cost of converting to organic production, said the U.S. Agriculture Department on Tuesday.
 
Berlusconi Scolded By Catholic Church For Wandering Eye Top
Times Online reports that the Catholic Church is the latest to scold Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi for his interest in young, beautiful women. Avvenire , the Italian Catholic daily, reprimanded the Prime Minister for his "self-declared weakness for actresses in the bloom of youth", and called on the 72-year-old billionaire to control himself. ... "We know that a man of the Government is judged by what he achieves, for his programmes and for the quality of the laws that he contributes to passing," it said. "But neither should the quality of a leader, his style and his values be inconsequential - they cannot be. We ask that the Prime Minister be more sober, sombre and a mirror of the country's soul." Berlusconi is in the hot-seat after his wife, Veronica Lario, attacked him for his roving eye and threatened him with divorce. AFP reports that both have chosen the lawyers who will represent them in divorce proceedings. Berlusconi has denied the suggestion made by his wife that he had a relationship with a teenager, the AP reports. In a statement last week, Lario voiced public outrage over media reports that Berlusconi's political party was lining up TV showgirls and starlets as European Parliament candidates. She also lashed out at the premier's attendance at the 18th birthday party of Noemi Letizia, claiming he had never come to the coming-out parties of his own children. Berlusconi said any suggestion that he had a relationship with Letizia was a "lie." "If there was anything spicy or less than clean in the relationship between the premier and a woman younger than 18, wouldn't it seem crazy for the premier to go to a public function and be photographed all over the place?" Berlusconi asked on "Porta a Porta." Letizia has been quoted as saying she calls Berlusconi "papi" or "Daddy" and has been photographed sporting a gold and diamond necklace the premier reportedly gave her as a birthday gift. See HuffPost's Silvio Berlusconi Big News Page. Keep in touch with Huffington Post World on Facebook and Twitter . More on Silvio Berlusconi
 
South Carolina Court Halts Thousands Of Home Foreclosure Sales Top
COLUMBIA, S.C. — South Carolina's highest court on Tuesday temporarily stopped thousands of pending foreclosure sales in the state to give homeowners more time to take advantage of a new federal program to help them refinance mortgages. The injunction _ which mortgage experts said appeared to be the nation's first court-ordered stop for an entire state _ prevents judges in South Carolina from finalizing foreclosure sales on properties guaranteed by Freddie Mac, Fannie Mae or any other mortgage company that has signed on to a federal assistance program. RealtyTrac Inc., a foreclosure listing firm, says the ruling could affect 5,000 South Carolina homes facing foreclosure. The ruling was in response to a request from a Columbia attorney representing Fannie Mae, who had argued that it was necessary to keep homeowners who might be eligible for federal assistance from being shut out of the process. "Absent the injunction, mortgagors eligible for relief ... could be denied their right to participate because their property was sold at the foreclosure sale," lawyer Ronald Scott wrote in his three-page motion. "This qualifies as irreparable injury for which the court should provide redress in the form of a temporary injunction." Fannie Mae said the ruling was necessary because of a South Carolina law meant to ensure that foreclosures sales are conducted in a timely fashion. Under the law, judges can cancel a foreclosure case and start over if the sale is delayed for too long. The company argues that South Carolina's law gives lenders an incentive to speed up foreclosure cases because of the threat the process could be restarted, which would cost lenders more money. "This ruling will allow us the flexibility to evaluate problematic mortgages in the state for possible eligibility for the (Obama) Administration's modification program and reduce the overall borrower and company costs associated with the foreclosure process," Fannie Mae said in a statement. The Obama administration announced a plan in March to provide $75 billion in incentives for the mortgage industry to modify loans to help borrowers avoid foreclosure. Freddie and Fannie also rolled out a refinancing program for homeowners who owe up to 5 percent more than current total value of their home with an application deadline of June 2010. Scott had asked the court to address about 1,000 South Carolina homes facing foreclosure and backed by Fannie Mae loans. But in her order, state Supreme Court Chief Justice Jean Toal expanded the stoppage to foreclosures backed either by Fannie or Freddie _ together, the government-controlled companies own or guarantee almost 31 million mortgages, more than half of all U.S. home loans _ or any other lender who has agreed to participate under the Obama administration's plan. Toal also set a May 15 deadline for plaintiffs in foreclosure actions to notify other parties if the loan is subject to modification under the federal program. If it is, those foreclosure proceedings will remain on hold. But if not, the sale can go forward. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac had suspended foreclosure sales through the end of March to evaluate whether borrowers could qualify for the Obama program. A spokesman for Freddie Mac, Brad German, said Tuesday the South Carolina ruling was the first he'd heard of in the country by a court with statewide jurisdiction. "We're not aware of anything like this, anywhere else," German said. Nationally, the number of homes facing foreclosure grew 24 percent in the first three months of this year from a year earlier. The total in 2008 was 2.3 million households that received foreclosure filings. In South Carolina, more than 13,700 homes are in some stage of foreclosure, according to RealtyTrac Inc., a foreclosure listing service in Irvine, Calif. RealtyTrac spokesman Daren Blomquist also said the ruling appeared to be a first. "There have been some piecemeal things, but nothing that broad statewide," Blomquist said. ___ Associated Press Writers Katrina A. Goggins and Alan Zibel contributed to this report. Zibel contributed from Washington. ___ On the Net: Making Home Affordable program: http://www.makinghomeaffordable.gov
 
Craig Newmark: Keeping yourself safe online: a really good video Top
Hey, we have some pretty good tips about online safety , but check out this video:
 
Avital Binshtock: How To Green Your Shopping Habits Top
Shopping is an activity so ingrained into our society that we often do it thoughtlessly, automatically, or hurriedly. By paying more attention to how we shop and what we buy, however, we can make a difference for the planet. With that in mind, here are four tips about how to green your shopping habits. 1. Clothes: When it comes to buying clothes, the greenest - and often hippest - purchases are vintage . For great finds, shop at used-clothes boutiques , online stores , or at prominent antique shows like Massachusetts's Brimfield , New York's Manhattan Vintage , or California's Vintage Fashion Expo . If you have to buy new, look for eco-friendly materials like organic cotton , hemp , or recycled anything . Buy classic styles (not trends!) so that your purchase doesn't, in a year, end up in the landfill. And make sure your choices are well-made and durable so they don't fall apart after only a few months of wear. 2. Food: Did you know that a third of households' total environmental impact is related to food and drink consumption ? To help reduce the footprint of the foods you buy, there are a few things you can do when at the grocery store. First, avoid the deli, since more than a third of all U.S. fossil fuels go toward producing meat , and since animal agriculture is highly correlated with pollution and natural-resource depletion . Also, be willing to shop in the organic section , since fewer pesticides and other polluting chemicals are used to produce the items sold there. Look, too, for where a product was produced, and when. Buying local and seasonal reduces the miles your food had to be shipped to get to your shopping cart. Examine whether what you're considering buying is overpackaged ; if it is, leave it in the store as a statement of disapproval that'll hit corporations' bottom lines. Finally, bring your own reusable shopping bags to prevent disposable plastic or paper bags from ending up where they shouldn't . 3. Home: When we buy for our homes, we generally prioritize what will look, feel, or function best. But if we instead prioritized the environment, we wouldn't be in as deep a crisis as we're in. Check out Sierra Club Green Home for education and advice about greening every aspect of your home, from bedding to lighting to microwaves . Think green when buying furniture too, by buying pieces that are vintage, made of certified wood or reclaimed materials, or locally made. When going for large appliances, opt for those with the Energy Star label . 4. Gifts: It's easy to be profligate when shopping for gifts. After all, we want to show the person for whom we're purchasing how much we care about them and that we wouldn't hold back when doing something nice for them. But in the long run, prodigal buying for those we love will hurt not only them, but us too, along with all of Earth's other living things. So how to green your gift-giving ? Well, say Mother's Day is coming up . Consider shopping online (thus saving the fuel emissions of driving to the mall ) for a symbolic gift that will also help Mother Earth, like the Sierra Club's "Sponsor a Wild Place Gift," which, for $25, gets mom a certificate that lets her know that a wilderness spot is more protected because of her, plus a cuddly version of an endangered species. Another green benefit? You can skimp on the wrapping . More on Fashion
 
Politico Playbook Reports On Marriage Of Rahm's Yoga Instructor Top
Waiting in my inbox this morning was today's edition of Politico playbook, from Mike Allen, which, by the way I love, love, love unapologetically because it's like ABC News's "The Note" with the pretentiousness removed and a manic, beat poetry attitude added. On a regular basis, you should be reading it instead of any creation of Mark Halperin's. But today, my email brief contained perhaps the most random Capitol Hill story ever considered for inclusion in the Playbook email's subject line, which reads as follows: "Politico Playbook, presented by Starbucks: Obama calls Hatch to reassure him on Court pick - Oprah to toast at TIME 100 gala tonight -- Press pans Obama tax plan - Greenspan's new toy -- Quinn Bradley engaged to Rahm's yoga instructor ." Emphasis mine, because HUH, WHAT NOW? ENGAGED - Quinn Bradlee, 27, son of Ben and Sally, and author of "A Different Life," to Pary Williamson, a yoga instructor he met Jan. 12 on the recommendation of her student Maureen Dowd. Quinn tells us he proposed over the phone at 11:30 p.m. Sunday after they'd been in a fight, and he told her his life wasn't the same when they were apart. Pary's students include: Rahm Emanuel, David Gregory, Maureen Orth and Katharine Weymouth. Wow. Okay. I had no idea this was the sort of thing to which attention needed to paid. But in the interest of bringing this to the next level of absurdity, I spoke to Washington Times reporter and Bikram yoga studio owner Liz Glover , and asked her what this all meant for Washington, DC's political yoga scene. Glover replied: "Wow. I'm not sure it will have much of an impact considering most yoga instructors have no idea who any of those people are. Most are more interested in chakras than current events. But now that I know that MoDo, Rahm, and David Gregory practice I'll be all over them. Rahm's turned me down for interviews twice so maybe I should take a different approach and ask him to come take a yoga class. Stephanopoulos is a yogi. Maybe that's why they're so tight." [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 Rahm Emanuel
 
Dodd Ridicules "Genius" In White House Who Won't Investigate Bush (VIDEO) Top
Sen. Chris Dodd took some noticeably hard shots at the White House in a recent interview with Connecticut bloggers, ridiculing the Obama officials who decided to release documents showing the Bush administration authorized torture without having the political will to follow up with an investigation or prosecution. "I don't know who the genius was in the room that night when they were discussing this," the Connecticut Democrat said of the four torture documents declassified by the Obama White House. "But if you are going to make the decision to release the documents, I presume every one of us here would the have a follow up question, which is: Well, what are you going to do about it? And if the answer is nothing, we are just going to release the documents.... Some of us in the room would say, 'Well wait a minute, you have a problem. If you are going to release them then you are going to have to answer the next question, what are you going to do with them?'" Dodd said that he definitively believed waterboarding to be torture and added that if "people did do something illegal it ought to be pursued." He did not have a preferred avenue for pursuing investigations into the matter, though spoke somewhat favorably of Sen. Patrick Leahy's proposal for an independent body to handle the matter. But it was his comments aimed at the president that were the most biting. Though Obama noted that his hands were tied when it came to the document release -- his White House had to comply with a Freedom of Information Act request from the ACLU -- the fact that the president remains un-eager to pursue potential illegal activity struck Dodd as antithetical to basic American principles. "I know people don't want to go back, because it is uncomfortable. The president has said I want to look forward," he said. "You know my father was a prosecutor at the Nuremberg trials. They were not a popular idea.... Nuremberg became a symbol of who we were. Even these thugs got a lawyer, even these thugs got a trial despite their acts. And so we became a symbol of jurisprudence and the rule of law." "Not to prosecute people or pursue them when these acts occur is, in a sense, to invite them again," Dodd concluded. The remarks of the Connecticut Democrat, who finds himself in a tough reelection contest heading into 2010, undoubtedly appealed to the group of progressive bloggers whom he was addressing. Whether former Vice President Dick Cheney would be caught in the center of an investigation, Dodd replied: "You gotta go where you gotta go." WATCH: Get HuffPost Politics On Facebook and Twitter!
 
Jim Wallis: Jack Kemp: Bleeding-Heart Conservative Top
In 1965, in a last minute move, the American Football League switched its All-Star game from New Orleans to Houston. In New Orleans, black football players had been denied entry to restaurants and taxi cabs because of the color of their skin and had begun a boycott in protest. A star quarterback, who was also the founder and president of the AFL players union, named Jack Kemp, refused to sit idly by in the face of racism, supported the boycott, and helped to get the game moved. Former football player Ernie Ladd told The Washington Post, "The only white who would take a stand was Jack Kemp. He made it known he wasn't for that type of activity." Jack Kemp thought racism was both stupid and wrong , and consistently stood up against it when few other white celebrities or leaders did. From both the sporting and political worlds, he and Bill Bradley stand out in that commitment--one a Republican and one a Democrat. Jack Kemp died on Saturday at the age of 73, and he will be remembered and missed by many. He served from 1971 to 1989 as a congressman from New York and for four years after that as President George H. W. Bush's Housing and Urban Development Secretary. Kemp was a fervent believer in "supply side economics," which I just as fervently oppose. But you do not have to agree with all of Jack Kemp's economic policies to be impressed and inspired with his life and leadership. He championed what some called "bleeding-heart conservatism," and for his work on civil rights he was often hailed as a true Lincoln-style Republican. Jack Kemp was one of very few white politicians held in high esteem by many African Americans, and one of the very few Republicans of his era who was trusted by the black community. He was strict in his adherence to conservative principles but often found common ground with veteran housing advocates working with and on behalf of those stuck in failed urban housing projects. His commitment to the principles of economic opportunity for the poor, and ownership and investment in blighted neighborhoods, made him a practical and pragmatic ally for those committed to transforming urban neighborhoods. I had a few good conversations with Jack Kemp, and he was always very positive about the work we were trying to do on poverty and racism. He was less a partisan politician than a principled one. I thank God for Jack Kemp, perhaps one of the earliest pioneers of "compassionate conservatism." In his passing, I pray that his legacy would increase -- both of finding common ground with those with whom he disagreed on many things and of increasing opportunity for all of God's children. Jack will be remembered as both a lesson and an example for political leaders of the future. Jim Wallis is the author of The Great Awakening , Editor-in-Chief of Sojourners and blogs at www.godspolitics.com . Click here to get e-mail updates from Jim Wallis More on Poverty
 
Bunny Ranch Brothel Wants Drew Peterson On Reality Show After Striking Out With Blago Top
Drew Peterson's next television appearance could be on HBO's reality show about life inside a Nevada brothel, WBBM Newsradio 780 reports . In an attempt to drum up publicity for his Moonlite Bunny Ranch, owner Dennis Hof invited impeached former governor and aspiring reality TV star Rod Blagojevich to appear on "Cathouse," the HBO show about life inside the legal prostitution palace. Blagojevich declined, so Hof set his sights on former suburban cop Drew Peterson, who shares a publicist with Blago . Hof's rationale for pursuing Peterson: "You know, I think I might as well just stay in that Chicago area. I think I'm going to go after Drew Peterson. He doesn't have an old lady now; at least they can't find her. He might as well be on my show and have some fun with the girls." Peterson is an official suspect in the disappearance of his fourth wife, Stacy Peterson , and was recently sued by the family of his third wife, Kathleen Savio, for wrongful death in connection with her 2004 drowning. More on WTF
 
Rick Nahmias: Food Forward Shares Low Hanging Fruit...and then Some Top
I've never thought of myself as a community organizer of any kind. But, a few months ago, having grown tired of seeing wasted fruit from my neighbors trees littering the yards and sidewalks of my neighborhood, and frustrated with the knowledge that in the last year alone food pantries across the nation have seen an over forty-percent up tick, I acted. I formed a grassroots all-volunteer effort that's since been named Food Forward. Its mission: to simultaneously alleviate urban hunger while fostering community interaction at a local level. In a nutshell, myself and a growing corps of Angelinos venture out weekly to glean people's excess fruit and donate 100% of it to local food pantries. Though many know that LA's multi-million person bedroom community, the San Fernando Valley (home of "The Brady Bunch" and infamous Sherman Oaks Galleria) used to be endless fruit and nut orchards, few realize thousands of those trees planted decades ago which survived hideous strip malls and suburban sprawl each still bear upwards of a quarter ton of fruit annually. Unfortunately, most of this massive bounty falls to the ground and rots or is absconded with by a variety of well-fed rodents. I started this as a neighborhood project with zero experience. I'd get on my bike, and when I'd see someone with a tree, I'd stop and talk to them, saying something along the lines of, "Hi, we're Food Forward, this is what we do...Would you be interested in letting us empty your tree and get a charitable tax deduction in the bargain?" After a pick, each harvesting between 300-600 pounds of fruit in just a few hours, we drop the fruit at our main receiving partner: SOVA Food Pantry, a non-sectarian project of Los Angeles Jewish Family Services based in Van Nuys which services upwards of 7,700 clients a month at its three LA area locations. In a short three months we've harvested over 10,000 lbs of fruit - all of it going to the hungry in our city. Within a month of beginning our work together SOVA and Food Forward were approached by a homeowner in Chatsworth with over 300 orange trees on his and his husband's property, and the idea for "The Big Pick" was born. In early March, thanks to a viral net campaign on Facebook, Craigslist and the likes that brought my network together with food-friendly groups like Slow Food LA, over sixty volunteers convened at a four-acre estate on a picture perfect Sunday. We shared a potluck picnic and by day's end had harvested nearly 5,000 pounds of Valencia oranges. (We are currently laying plans for our next Big Pick, an event we hope to hold quarterly.) If you ask Fred Summers, SOVA's Operation Manager, he's convinced of the need for a program like this: "Many of the people we see who are living on low incomes have very poor diets. Not just that they don't have enough food, but they're eating the wrong foods." The added fresh oranges, grapefruit, lemons and tangerines that make up the bulk of Food Forward's weekly harvests are exactly the healthy boost pantry clients are in need of. Though Food Forward is not the first group to approach the concept of urban fruit gleaning (San Jose and Portland, Oregon have very active programs), we see the San Fernando Valley as an important untapped gleaning resource due to its early history as commercial citrus orchards which dates back to the 1880s and 90s. Though keeping up with maintaining a group of this sort is no small task, I hope this is just the beginning. With the new corps of volunteers who came together for "The Big Pick," we've added weekday "sunset" picks and expanded the group's geography to include Burbank, Hollywood, Pasadena and beyond. As summer approaches we're on the hunt for stone fruit, avocados, and the likes. It's been a win-win and though the work is shared by a great group of volunteers, I guess I can feel OK with adding yet another hyphen to my title: community organizer. If you'd like to join us on a pick, small or large, sign up to have your mature fruit trees gleaned, or want to learn how you can start your own group, please visit us at: www.foodforward.org . Rick Nahmias is a photographer, writer, filmmaker, and community organizer who lives in Los Angeles.
 
Mexicans Hurt By Swine Flu Prejudice Top
MEXICO CITY -- China holds 70 healthy Mexicans in forced isolation. Paris airport baggage handlers refuse to touch suitcases from Mexican planes. Mexican soccer star Carlos Vela scores a goal in the English premiership but teammates shy away from hugging him. More on Swine Flu
 
AIG Bonuses For 2008 Four Times Greater Than Previously Disclosed Top
AIG now says it paid out more than $454 million in bonuses to its employees for work performed in 2008.
 
Mike Pence Uses Bogus Numbers To Raise "Tax Hike" Alarm Top
Media Monitor Susan flags a segment from this afternoon's coverage on MSNBC. In it, Congressman Mike Pence (R-Ind.) appeared, holding forth with Andrea Mitchell on his objections to cap and trade legislation. I honestly don't know where Mitchell's head was at, but Pence was allowed to make a bunch of claims that deserved parrying: MITCHELL: Joining us now live from Capitol Hill, Indiana Republican, Congressman Mike Pence, Chairman of the House Republican Conference, serves on the Foreign Affairs Committee. Thanks so much for joining us. What are your objections to the current proposals you're seeing on the Hill from the Democratic side? PENCE: Well, we just believe that the so-called cap and trade bill that's being moved behind closed doors on Capitol Hill amounts to nothing short of a national energy tax. According to some independent estimates, the average American household could see their energy costs go up by more than $3,000 per year. We heard testimony today at an energy summit hosted by House Republicans that this national energy tax could literally cost millions of American jobs in the next 20 years. And we just believe there's a better way we can achieve a cleaner environment. See, the first thing I'd have done is ask Pence to cite the source of this so-called independent estimate, because we've heard about this $3,000-per-household tax increase figure before -- from a widely reported-on instance of an MIT scientist's work being badly mishandled by GOP politicians. And if the "independent" studies Pence cites are actually this MIT study, or relate to it in some way, I'd like to know about it! From Talking Points Memo, April 2, 2009, by Brian Beutler : I just got off the phone with John Reilly--the M.I.T. scientist whose study of the costs of cap-and-trade legislation has been badly abused by House Republicans--and he gave me a complete rundown of his unfortunate involvement in climate change politics. Here's a brief timeline of events: * April, 2007: Reilly and several coauthors release a paper titled "Assessment of U.S. Cap-and-Trade Proposals, which estimates early annual revenues from such legislation would run $366 billion * Sometime between April, 2007 and March, 2009: House Republicans get a hold of his paper, divide $366 billion by the number of households in America, and conclude, erroneously, that the quotient ($3,128) will be the average cost per home. * March, 2009: Republicans begin using this number in press releases, citing Reilly's study * Shortly thereafter: The Obama administration gets in touch with Dr. Reilly and asks him to explain his study and the number--he corrects the record. From there, there are further instances of Reilly having to explain, again and again, that he never said any such thing about the per household cost of the cap and trade proposal. And I have to wonder if maybe this continues to happen because people like Andrea Mitchell refuse to challenge these erroneous contentions. And Mitchell doesn't here, with Pence, either, moving on to matters of process in lieu of matters of fact and eventually changing the subject entirely. And what can one say? She could have also challenged the validity of asserting the factual basis of anything that issued forth from this Echo Chamber Summit on Some Stuff We'll Say About Cap And Trade. She could have also asked if Pence really, really had "a better way we can achieve a cleaner environment," or if that was going to be like the House GOP's "budget" -- twenty pages of news-cycle-winning clip art and bromides. Anyway, maybe Mitchell learned to play dumb in front of people who misuse the work of scientists from Fred Hiatt . [WATCH.] [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 Barack Obama
 
Carne Ross: On Arlen Specter's Defection to the Democrats Top
I have been pondering Arlen Specter's defection to the Democrats. The only plausible explanation of his behavior is that he is, in fact, an anarchist. Only someone dedicated to the destruction of democracy would act in such a manner. Consider the facts. He serves the Republican party for x years, latterly serving, with scant public complaint, the most incompetent and right-wing Administration in at least a generation. Only when his own reelection in Pennsylvania is threatened does he defect, when the Republicans are in disarray and descending the polls like a bootless mountaineer on a scree slope. Those who voted for him in Pennsylvania have every right to feel outraged. Having voted Republican, they must now watch him side with the opposition for the remainder of his senatorial term. Meanwhile, those Democrats who worked against him in the recent elections will be forced by their leadership to accept him. Those Democrats who celebrated this defection, as many have done in a somewhat tasteless manner, have successfully reconfirmed the scepticism of many that politics is not about people, but about Washington. Their naked ambition to achieve the magical filibuster-proof 60 votes serves a similar disillusioning purpose. Consider the British example - of how not to do it. Here, the idiosyncracies of the electoral system invariably produce large majorities for the governing party, currently Labour. What it doesn't produce is healthy political discussion of legislation nor, as you would thus expect, good policy. The childish behavior of parliamentarians at the Punch and Judy show known as Prime Minister's questions (you can view it on C-Span) is entertaining, but the British parliamentary experience is not otherwise to be emulated. Even if the Democrats are the winner, the clear loser is belief in congressional politics, and thus in democracy as currently formulated. Barack Obama implores voters to rediscover their faith in politics and bravo to that, but episodes like this serve precisely the contrary effect, as he - at least secretly - must know. Specter's selfish act, and the Democrats' ill-judged hurrah for it, instead only deepens the chasm between voters and their representatives. The deeper that chasm, the more alternatives, like a politics without parties, indeed without government, look appealing. That's why there are convincing grounds to suspect that Specter is, in fact, an anarchist. More on Arlen Specter
 
Specter: Norm Coleman Should Be Seated Top
Pennsylvania senator Arlen Specter has been showing his independence consistently since switching to the Democratic side of the aisle. But his latest display of unorthodox thinking is particularly eye-opening. In an interview with the New York Times Magazine , the newly minted Democrat said he thinks Republican Norm Coleman should win his Senate recount court battle against Al Franken in Minnesota. "There's still time for the Minnesota courts to do justice and declare Norm Coleman the winner," Specter said, when asked how he felt about the lack of Jewish Republicans in the Senate. Q: With your departure from the Republican Party, there are no more Jewish Republicans in the Senate. Do you care about that? A: I sure do. There's still time for the Minnesota courts to do justice and declare Norm Coleman the winner. Specter's defection was particularly impactful because, assuming Al Franken is eventually seated, the move gives Democrats a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate. Now the senator seems to be saying he does not want that to happen -- unless he was being sarcastic. Even Republicans have admitted that they expect Franken to prevail. The full interview will be published this weekend. Get HuffPost Politics On Facebook and Twitter! More on Arlen Specter
 
Bicing: Barcelona's Communal Bicycle Program Has Transformed The City (VIDEO) Top
By Elizabeth Khuri Chandler with additional reporting by Kirsten Dirksen On an unusually hot afternoon this spring, the streets of Barcelona are filled with bicyclist commuters -- university students zipping down wide avenues, business men in slim-cut suits, and the elderly, navigating a busy intersection on two shaky wheels. Many of these users have just picked up the sport thanks to the city's Bicing program, which after only two years, has evolved from a novelty to a force of change, affecting the flow of traffic across the entire city. While the United States continues to dither with small-scale programs in Washington DC, San Francisco, New York and Denver (Denver has 50 bikes, DC has a program & SF says they'll have a pilot program), Europe has nailed down the shared-bike program cold. France's Vélib, with 20,000 bikes, may be the world's largest initiative, but Barcelona's Bicing is touted as one of the most successful. WATCH: The underpinnings of the program have less to do with environmental sustainability and more to do with the flow of people. "The Bicing project is a consequence of the mobility policy of the city--its effects on traffic, and as also as sustainable element inside of the mobility of the city," Ramon Ferreiro, an official with Bicing, says. Bicing is Barcelona's way to pacify traffic, prioritize walkers and bicyclists. From an urban planning perspective, the city is ideal for a shared bike program. A pleasant climate, flat roads, and crowded center make the project palatable to urban dwellers. Haritz Ferrando of the Bicycle Club of Catalonia adds that the density-factor is the number one criteria for success. People want to grab a bike for short trips and local errands he explains. Even before the program began, Barcelona had a robust bicycling community and lanes installed on major arteries to support two-wheeled travelers. In 1995, nearly 30,000 people were commuting to work everyday by bicycle, Ferreiro says. The city also had a successful model to follow from nearby France. Early adopter programs, such as the "white bike" program in Amsterdam in 1968, fizzled out because bikes were stolen for personal use. A small program in Rennes, France, in 1998, first used electronic tags on the bicycles, but it wasn't until 2005 when the city of Lyon adopted the same tagging method and attracted 15,000 users in less than three months, that other cities took notice. Barcelonans pay a yearly fee of 30 Euros to receive a personalized and magnetized smart card, which allows them to remove a bike from a mechanized dock. The first half-hour is free and each additional 30 minutes are 30 cents. Credit card information is stored online and members can return bikes at lock stations all over the city. When the Barcelona first instituted the program in 2006 with 1,500 bikes and 100 different docking points, the program was a success but fueled a rash of complaints. Car owners were annoyed that parking spaces were removed for bike racks, and pedestrians were not thrilled about sharing narrow sidewalks with bikers. The city reviewed their program and realized that they would need additional road improvements. In fact, the infrastructure for the biking program is what seems to be thrusting the city's traffic policy into the future. In addition to creating 80 miles of bike lanes, enlarging sidewalks and bus lanes, they've taken the controversial step of lowering speed limits throughout the city. In the inner areas, the speed is 18 miles per hour and on basic roads leading into the city, the maximum speed is 31 miles per hour. Today, the landscape of the city is entirely different from what it was two years ago. More than 6,000 bicycles are on the streets, with 375 docking stations throughout the city. It's not uncommon to see vans redistributing bikes throughout the city and taking them off the road for servicing. Ferreiro says that the new model recognizes the hierarchy of transport. That's not to say that they've banished cars to the suburbs, but the city has been able to reduce the number of cars coming into Barcelona by 15 percent. And the bikers love it. "This system is a good system," law student Grecia Borja says. "If you're in a bad mood and you don't want to take the bicycle you can take the transport and if you want to make a little bit of exercise you put your card in there and take a bike." Even an idealistic light, the program is not cheap. At more than 13 million dollars a year, Bicing is financed through parking fees, member's dues, and a partnership with sponsor Clear Channel. Unlike Paris and Lyon, which support their bike programs through advertising, the city pays for a large portion of their program. But Ferreiro argues that even though Bicing is expensive, the program has been revolutionary. "Space has to be shared," Ferreiro says, "Cities will have to evolve toward a model that is more sustainable, more environmental model and more friendly toward people. I imagine some day there will be residential areas where children can play on the streets." Meanwhile, the rest of Europe continues to volley forward: Pamplona, Spain; Rennes, France; Düsseldorf, Germany and Rome (Roma'n'Bike) have programs. And it begs the question, would the US ever take on a bike-sharing program on a massive scale? At least a few cities are beginning to think differently about the priority of cars their centers. New York has announced plans to turn a portion of Broadway Ave. into a pedestrian zone in Midtown Manhattan, and San Francisco is currently considering similar measures for thoroughfare Market Street. As for a large-scale bike program, we're still waiting. Here's hoping for a hot, flat and crowded city with 10 million to burn. Keep in touch with Huffington Post World on Facebook and Twitter . More on Europe
 
Katie Couric: In Riyadh, Saudi Arabia Top
CBS Evening News anchor and managing editor Katie Couric is accompanying Secretary of Defense Robert Gates on a five-day overseas trip to several undisclosed countries. She is currently in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Look for her reports next week on the Evening News and on 60 Minutes. We had a pretty turbulent flight to Riyadh, perhaps because it's 107 degrees! Before we left Cairo, Secretary Gates met with Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak. He later told me they covered a lot of ground. Secretary Gates has known Mubarak for 20 years, so he said in a way it's nice not having to start at square one. Part of the reason the Sec Def is visiting Cairo and Riyadh is to alleviate any concerns that the Obama administration's overture to Iran will affect the relationship with traditional U.S. allies. He also wants Saudi Arabia, which has a strong relationship with Pakistan, to exert its influence in that country where things have been pretty dicey lately. So far the trip has been great. It's fun to be back working with people from the Pentagon, even though the personnel there has turned over many times since I covered the beat in 1989. The journalists on the trip are friendly and interesting to talk to, including Al, who's worked for VOA for 33 years. I misidentified him yesterday as working for CBS Radio. Blame it on the jet lag! I interviewed most of them on my Flip camera. I'm sure they all think I'm bizarre! The interviews will appear later on CBSNews.com and my YouTube channel, as soon as I can upload them and get them back to our home office on West 57th Street. Heading to the Souk, where I'm told I will have to wear my abaya if I don't want to be harassed. I'm thinking about not wearing it and catching the encounter on my Flip, but maybe that's not such a great idea! This post originally appeared at CBSNews.com. More on Saudi Arabia
 
Shu Kim: What to Do When You Get Laid-Off Top
As former Lehman Brothers colleagues, we understand how debilitating being laid-off can feel. We worked in Lehman Brothers' Real Estate Group for over a decade and if it weren't for the financial crisis, we may have worked there for another decade. Lehman Brothers gave us the constant thrill of working on high-profile deals, the security of a good salary, and the prestige of being associated with a blue chip name, and with top caliber colleagues and clients. What it didn't give us was the time to consider what we really are about. In this light, being laid-off from Lehman Brothers was a gift. It forced us to think hard about what would truly make us happy professionally. That introspection led us to start our own web-based company, Shustir.com, that would redirect our talents and resources into something meaningful -- giving back to the community we understood most. Shustir.com is an interactive marketplace that features the small businesses and entrepreneurs who characterize our local neighborhoods and communities, giving them power to more effectively market themselves on the web, at no cost. In these economic times, when every dollar spent is a thought twice, Shustir is also a place where consumers get to know the small business owners close to home and beyond, and spend their dollars where they count. Needless to say, we are very proud of Shustir.com, but our purpose here is to share some of the invaluable lessons we learned along the way to professional reinvention. Our advice stems from taking the time to do the personal work necessary to take a long, hard look in the mirror, and truthfully determine what will be most rewarding for you professionally, now and longer term. Let's begin... 1) Stay Positive, Don't Rush No matter how cliché this seems, keep a positive mindset. Know that your employment status has little to do with performance and more with economic circumstances beyond your control. With that comes a likelihood that there may not be much happening at work (as you traditionally knew it) these days to fully utilize your skills, much less challenge you. Therefore, jumping right back into the workforce -- that is, looking for a job that resembles your prior one -- may not be the best solution. If you were declared redundant at your former company, you are likely to be declared so again at a competing company, assuming the job opportunity even exists. 2) Take That Vacation Depending on your financial circumstances, this may be either the first or last thing you are considering. Regardless, take it. Be it a week, a few months or even a year, give yourself the gift of time to do the things that you've been meaning to do. Travel to another country or explore your neighborhood, visit distant family, spend time with your kids, exercise, or dabble in your dormant talents. You may be surprised how in these moments of ease and peace, you really start discovering what you're about -- the foundation to determining what type of job or occupation will make you happiest. It can mark breaking from "a job that found you" to authoring your own next chapter. 3) Reinvent Yourself Take the liberty to reinvent yourself. It's not jargon. It's critical, because the very ways we work are quickly changing. Larger forces like technology, the environment, our economic systems are changing the game. You need to adapt to find your productive place in the new world order, and that may mean some radical rethinking. If the "old jobs" just aren't out there any longer, what to do? Create your own. Consider starting your own business that builds on your talents, skill sets and interests. Entrepreneurship has never been simpler, fueled by enabling and accessible technology accessible to most of us. Even if you don't wind up hanging out a shingle, the exercise of creating a business plan will give you crystal clarity into what job or profession best suits you next. 4) Always be Lunching Whether starting your own business or looking for a new job, connect like crazy with people you know. Most people would call this networking, but we opt to call it lunching. Getting together over a meal or drinks is more effective networking, combining the personal with the professional in ways that invite real opening-up on both sides. Make lunch your new job. Over a nice meal, you'll find project leads, expand contacts, discover niche markets that you might cater to, and test your business ideas. You'll build vital relationships, and discover you're not alone. Don't ever underestimate the power of human connection, especially now. Some of our best work developing Shustir.com happened during lunches with the right people. 5) Engage the Experts Executive search firms and headhunters generally had a poor reputation (mostly unearned) - until recently. People are discovering how these resources can not only power a job search, but also serve as an ad-hoc career coach, or even life coach. Some of the better ones provide counsel on how to best position yourself, recommend alternative paths to consider, and give you a realistic sense of compensation in today's market. Choose your resource wisely, and before meeting with them, do your own homework, clearly identifying, at least in general terms, what your next career must provide to enrich you personally and financially, both near and long term. More on The Recession
 
Creditors May Have Pushed For Chrysler Bankruptcy To Rake In Bailout Cash Top
The White House, auto executives and union representatives were all able to come to an agreement last week to keep Chrysler out of bankruptcy. But the car company's creditors -- Wall Street banks and hedge funds -- refused repeated compromises and drove the company under. The refusal doomed a major American auto company to bankruptcy, but it may have been a smart business move for the lenders. Many of the Wall Street firms holding Chrysler bonds may also own credit default swaps that they bought to hedge their bets. These swaps, which are essentially like an insurance policy on the bonds should Chrysler default, were likely mostly issued by AIG. AIG, thanks to the government bailout, has paid off bonds in the past at 100 cents on the dollar. Under the deal they would have had to accept with Chrysler, the bondholders would have received as little as 30 cents on the dollar, for example. Why take 30 or 35 cents on the dollar from Chrysler when you can get the whole buck from the American taxpayer? "The basic story is very simple," says economist Dean Baker of the liberal-leaning Center for Economic and Policy Research. "If they hold credit default swaps on the bonds, they're totally happy with them defaulting." In what would rank as one of the great scams of this financial crisis, government bailouts may be colliding. Wall Street may be raking in taxpayer dollars through AIG and returning the favor by driving the auto industry into bankruptcy. Are they? Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.), who has been closely tracking the AIG bailout, wants to find out. Last week, he met with Neal Barofsky, special inspector general for the Troubled Assets Relief Program (TARP), and asked him to look into it. Barofsky was intrigued. "He seemed open to looking into the bondholder issue when we met last week, and I am hopeful that he will be able to shed some light on this issue if he deems it worthwhile," says Cummings. He followed up with a letter to Barofsky on Tuesday, outlining his concerns and formally requesting an investigation. "While differing accounts exist as to how the actual negotiations played out, the fact remains that Chrysler was not able to reach an agreement with its creditors to the $6.9 billion," writes Cummings. "As an issuer of credit default swaps, it is plausible that AIG had issued swaps on the debt of the American auto companies. We know that the collateral calls and threat of payouts triggered by an AIG bankruptcy forced the federal government to commit up to $182.5 billion to the insurance giant. We also know that many holders of AIG credit default swaps were apparently compensated at 100 percent of par value in order to retire the swaps they held and enable the purchase of the underlying securities (the counterparty payments). Finally, the recipients of the counterparty payments in some cases were the same firms that held auto industry debt." He goes on: "These circumstances could create tremendous potential for abuse of government assistance to AIG. Knowing that AIG swap counterparties have previously been paid with government funds without being compelled to take any discount or "haircut", if auto creditors had purchased swaps on their debt, they may have had a perverse incentive to allow Chrysler to fail. By not negotiating down the claims or accepting a debt-for-equity arrangement, the auto creditors could collect any credit default swap payments triggered by a Chrysler bankruptcy. Essentially, these creditors could stand to potentially benefit more from a Chrysler bankruptcy than from a restructuring out of court." If the creditors negotiated a settlement outside of bankruptcy, the swap payoff becomes ambiguous, "but it's much clearer if you're in bankruptcy," says Baker. Instead of negotiating against itself, the White House could have told creditors that AIG wouldn't be honoring Chrysler swaps in bankruptcy, says Baker. Of course, the creditors could sue AIG to recover the money. But without further taxpayer injections into AIG, even by winning in court the creditors would find very little blood to squeeze out of that dying turnip. Cummings has five questions for Barofsky to look into: 1. Did AIG issue credit default swaps on debt securities of automobile companies? 2. Did creditors to GM or Chrysler hold credit default swaps on the debt? If so, were these AIG-issued swaps? 3. How many creditors to the auto companies also received payments as AIG counterparties? 4. What obligations are owed by the swap issuers to the holders of auto debt in the event of a bankruptcy or other default event? 5. What was the extent of the potential for abuse of taxpayer funds based on the scenario laid out above? Read the whole letter: May 5, 2009 The Honorable Neil M. Barofsky Office of the Special Inspector General for the Troubled Assets Relief Program 1500 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Suite 1064 Washington, DC 20220 Dear Inspector General Barofsky: Thank you for your work investigating the American International Group, Inc. (AIG) counterparty payments. I appreciate the update you provided me on this audit on April 28. As we discussed, I am also concerned by the circumstances surrounding the current efforts to resuscitate the American automobile industry. The Department of the Treasury and the Federal Reserve have provided billions of dollars in working capital for General Motors (GM) and Chrysler LLC (Chrysler) while the two firms pursue financial restructuring solutions. While the assistance to Chrysler terminated at the end of April, GM has approximately three weeks left to complete its restructuring before the working capital ends. The Chrysler situation was particularly troubling. The company had some $10 billion in outstanding debt that was due to the United Auto Workers Retiree Health Plan. Chrysler and the union were able to negotiate an agreement that modified worker contracts and gave the union an equity position in the restructured auto company. However, in addition to the contributions owed to the union health plan, Chrysler also carried additional debt in the amount of $6.9 billion. Creditors included JPMorgan Chase & Co., The Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Citigroup Inc., Morgan Stanley, and several smaller banks and hedge funds. Perella Weinberg Partners, Oppenheimer and Stairway Capital Management have been identified thus far as hedge fund creditors. As you are well aware, Chrysler recently filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, though a deal is ostensibly in place to merge Chrysler with the Italian automaker Fiat SpA, pending court approval. Until the filing occurred, eleventh hour hopes persisted that Chrysler could reach an agreement with the creditors that provided the $6.9 billion. While differing accounts exist as to how the actual negotiations played out, the fact remains that Chrysler was not able to reach an agreement with its creditors to the $6.9 billion. As an issuer of credit default swaps, it is plausible that AIG had issued swaps on the debt of the American auto companies. We know that the collateral calls and threat of payouts triggered by an AIG bankruptcy forced the federal government to commit up to $182.5 billion to the insurance giant. We also know that many holders of AIG credit default swaps were apparently compensated at 100 percent of par value in order to retire the swaps they held and enable the purchase of the underlying securities (the counterparty payments). Finally, the recipients of the counterparty payments in some cases were the same firms that held auto industry debt. The Wall Street Journal ran a story on April 30, 2009 detailing the objections identified by some creditors: Bank-debt holders, many of them hedge funds or distressed debt funds, voted against the latest deal for various reasons, ranging from financial interests to philosophical ones. Some said their funds had bigger positions in Ford Motor Co. or General Motors Corp. and could benefit by a Chrysler bankruptcy and the production capacity that may eliminate. Some funds may also have credit-default swaps on Chrysler bank debt that pay out in the event of a bankruptcy[1]. These circumstances could create tremendous potential for abuse of government assistance to AIG. Knowing that AIG swap counterparties have previously been paid with government funds without being compelled to take any discount or "haircut", if auto creditors had purchased swaps on their debt, they may have had a perverse incentive to allow Chrysler to fail. By not negotiating down the claims or accepting a debt-for-equity arrangement, the auto creditors could collect any credit default swap payments triggered by a Chrysler bankruptcy. Essentially, these creditors could stand to potentially benefit more from a Chrysler bankruptcy than from a restructuring out of court. While the issues were described in the context of the Chrysler bankruptcy, I believe that potential conflicts could have existed regarding the debt of each Chrysler and GM. Accordingly, I respectfully request that you address the following questions: 1. Did AIG issue credit default swaps on debt securities of automobile companies? 2. Did creditors to GM or Chrysler hold credit default swaps on the debt? If so, were these AIG-issued swaps? 3. How many creditors to the auto companies also received payments as AIG counterparties? 4. What obligations are owed by the swap issuers to the holders of auto debt in the event of a bankruptcy or other default event? 5. What was the extent of the potential for abuse of taxpayer funds based on the scenario laid out above? Thank you for your continued advocacy on behalf of the American taxpayers and for your examination of these issues. Please contact Martin Levine in my office...with any questions. Sincerely, Elijah E. Cummings Member of Congress Ryan Grim is the author of the forthcoming book This Is Your Country On Drugs: The Secret History of Getting High in America
 

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