Monday, May 4, 2009

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State Treasurer Giannoulias Defends SUV Purchase Top
CHICAGO (AP) -- Illinois Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias (juh-NOO'-lee-as) is defending the decision to use money from a state college savings program to buy a $26,000 government vehicle . Giannoulias told reporters Monday that the 2008 Ford Escape Hybrid is a reasonable operating expense because it's used by marketers who work to bring people into the college savings program. The Chicago Tribune reported in Monday's newspaper that Giannoulias used the state's Bright Start fund to pay for the SUV. The program's investments lost $85 million last year. Giannoulias spokesman Scott Burnham told the newspaper that the cash for the SUV came from a fee paid to the treasurer's office by an investment firm that manages the fund. Giannoulias acknowledged he and others in the treasurer's office also use vehicle. -ASSOCIATED PRESS
 
Stocks surge; S&P 500 turns positive for 2009 Top
NEW YORK — Another big rally on Wall Street has given the Standard & Poor's 500 index a modest gain for the year. The S&P 500 index, the market barometer preferred by professional investors, is now up 0.5 percent for 2009. Many investments like mutual funds track or are measured against the S&P. Stocks advanced after the National Association of Realtors said pending U.S. home sales rose for the second straight month. And construction spending rose in March after five months of declines. According to preliminary calculations, the S&P 500 index is up nearly 30 at 907.24. The Dow Jones industrial average is up 214 at 8,427. The Nasdaq composite index is up 44 at 1,763. About five stocks rose for every one that fell on New York Stock Exchange, where volume came to 1.7 billion shares. THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below. NEW YORK (AP) _ Brightening news about the economy sent investors rushing into stocks Monday and put Wall Street close to break-even for the year. Gains in housing, financial and materials stocks pushed market indicators up by about 2 percent. The Dow Jones industrial average jumped 165 points, while the Standard & Poor's 500 index rose nearly 3 percent and came close to erasing its losses for 2009. Investors have been more upbeat about prospects for the economy for the last two months and Monday's reports bolstered the case that the economy's slide could be slowing. Two new economic nuggets added to demand for stocks. Pending U.S. home sales increased more than expected to post their second straight monthly gain, while construction spending rose unexpectedly in March after five straight decreases. The National Association of Realtors said its index of pending sales for previously occupied homes rose 3.2 percent to 84.6. That was well ahead of the 82.1 economists had been expecting and the second month of gains after the index hit a record low in January. Separately, the Commerce Department said construction spending rose 0.3 percent, the best showing since a similar increase last September. Economists surveyed by Thomson Reuters had expected spending to drop 1.5 percent. David Kelly, chief market strategist at JPMorgan Funds, said each piece of better-than-expected economic news is easing worries that the recession would worsen. "It's like watching the market's blood pressure come down," he said. "Every day that goes by without something bad happening is reducing the risk of an economic rebound getting derailed." In late afternoon trading, the Dow rose 164.07, or 2 percent, to 8,376.48. The blue chips had been up about 100 ahead of the reports. The Dow rose above the 8,400 mark for the first time since Jan. 28. The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 19.51, or 2.2 percent, to 897.03, its first move above 900 since Jan. 9. The index was about 1/3 of a percent from being flat for the year. The Nasdaq composite index rose 27.24, or 1.6 percent, to 1,746.44. The data on pending home sales touched off a rally in home builder stocks. KBR Inc. rose $1.23, or 7.7 percent, to $17.12, while Toll Brothers Inc. rose $1.17, or 6.1 percent, to $20.64. The market's enthusiasm will be put to several tests this week including the April employment report, one of the most closely watched economic indicators, which comes out on Friday. Another concern for the market is the release Thursday of the results of the government's "stress tests" on the 19 largest U.S. financial companies. Some analysts have worried in recent weeks that renewed anxiety about the state of the financial system could upend the market's powerful two-month advance, which has sent the S&P 500 index up 29.7 percent since March 9. But investors set aside some worries about big financial companies even as analysts predict that the tests _ designed to determine which banks would need more cash if the recession worsens _ will show that several banks need more capital. The market's spring rally was triggered by word from some of the nation's biggest banks that business conditions were improving, and has since been bolstered by those banks' better-than-expected earnings reports. The Financial Times reported Sunday that Citigroup Inc. and Bank of America Corp. are working on plans to raise more than $10 billion each as they negotiate with regulators over the findings of the stress tests. Citigroup declined to comment, and a Bank of America spokesman called the report "completely inaccurate." Citi rose 22 cents, or 7.4 percent, to $3.19, while Bank of America rose $1.50, or 17.2 percent, to $10.20. Investors shrugged off word that regulators told Wells Fargo & Co. to shore up its finances after the "stress tests" showed the bank would have trouble surviving a deeper recession. Wells Fargo is one of several banks that regulators will force to have larger capital buffers to protect them against possible future losses, according to two people familiar with the matter who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the process. Wells Fargo rose $4.07, or 20.8 percent, to $23.68. Beyond financials, material stocks rose as prices for silver and other metals jumped following a report by a Chinese business group that manufacturing in the country grew for a second month in April. In other trading, the Russell 2000 index of smaller companies rose 13.47, or 2.8 percent, to 500.45. About five stocks rose for every one that fell on the New York Stock Exchange, where volume came to 1.1 billion shares. The rally in stocks damped demand for the safety of government debt. That pushed the yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note up to 3.17 percent from 3.16 percent late Friday. The dollar was mixed against other major currencies, while gold prices rose. Light, sweet crude rose $1.27 to settle at $54.47 on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Overseas, Hong Kong's Hang Seng index jumped 5.5 percent. Germany's DAX rose 2.8 percent and France's CAC-40 gained 2.5 percent. Markets in Japan and London were closed for holidays.
 
Cinco De Mayo Recipes: VEGGIE DE MAYO! Top
What's a Cinco de Mayo party without some fabulous food? Being vegetarian doesn't mean giving up on some great appetizers, drinks and dishes to celebrate this Mexican holiday. Read on for some great dips, and even a Mexican-inspired dessert! More on Food
 
Cinco De Mayo: RECIPES THAT ARE SIMPLE AND GREAT Top
Tomorrow is Cinco de Mayo, the day Mexicans in Puebla celebrate their 1862 defeat of the French at the Battle of Puebla and the day Americans use as an excuse to eat salsa and drink copious amounts of Corona. It's the Mexican St. Patrick's Day, if you will.
 
GOP Group Gathers "Outside The Beltway" Ideas...Inside The Beltway Top
As part of the Republican Party's rebranding effort, House Minority Whip Eric Cantor (R-Va.) hosted a National Council for a New America event at a pizza shop over the weekend.
 
Mother Of Samantha Orobator, British Woman Facing Death In Laos, Pleads For Her Release Top
The mother of a pregnant British woman, who faces death by firing squad if she is convicted of drug smuggling in Laos, has pleaded for her release amid fears she will not receive a fair trial.
 
Electromagnetic Pollution: Are Cell Phones The Next Battle? Top
You've heard the rumors that cell phones cause cancer. You've seen those folks on the street holding their cell phones away from their head as though their phone's cancer is contagious. But where did these rumors get started? Are they based in any fact? If there is truth to the myth, will electromagnetic fields be the next battle in the war on pollution? Will we be talking about electro-friendly devices in the future the way we talk about carbon-friendly products now?
 
Padma Lakshmi: Baring My Heart for KCA Top
I recently noticed that that my posing nude for Allure 's May 2009 Nude Issue ranked high on the Huffington Post's most popular stories. While I assure you I had a fun time, it's bigger news for me to bare my heart, rather than my body. I'd like to share an issue with you in hopes that by baring what's important to me, we can focus on something I believe is important to the world, specifically AIDS in India. I am blessed to be involved, along with Iman, with Keep A Child Alive , an organization founded by Alicia Keys and Leigh Blake that provides life-saving anti-retroviral (ARV) care to clinics in Africa that serve HIV positive children and families who have been ravaged by the AIDS pandemic. Through my work with KCA I now realize how inexpensive it is to keep children and hope alive during this tragic situation. I came on board to bring attention to this issue as it explodes in India, my country of origin. If AIDS is no longer a death sentence in America, it is unconscionable that it be a death sentence anywhere else. Especially given the low cost of ARVs. It is morally indefensible to do nothing, when there are literally millions of children that could have happy lives except for their fate, being born HIV-positive. The government tells us that ARVs are available to all but the problem is access. Government hospitals have long waiting times and are often far away, costing some poverty stricken families a decision between food or transport. But the major issue that I want to help tackle is women widowed and flung out of the family into an uncertain future and HIV-positive children who are abandoned because the villagers are scared of AIDS. This is commonplace now. Innocent children spurned, lost, abandoned and traumatized. They need our care. Americans are lucky to be born here. Its just an accident of birth that wonderful people should be born where there are no resources for them. I wish that our leaders would come together as quickly about the pain of global poverty and AIDS as they came together over the financial markets. It's that empty place where the suffering of others and the scale of its enormity seems to be inconsequential. But being immune to another's suffering is never the right karma. Each of us when our lives are over will wonder, did I do enough? Was I a right minded person? Did I spend my blessings on the right things? There are a whopping 20 million or so readers signed on to the Huffington Post. If we each came together and donated to Keep A Child Alive, think of the difference it would make. So, please take a minute to use your cell phone for something better than business and get into the business of saving lives. TEXT THE WORD ALIVE TO 90999 AND DONATE $5 TO KCA. It's much more fulfilling than a naked picture of me! Padma Lakshmi is an actress, author, host of Bravo's Top Chef and Global Ambassador for Keep a Child Alive . More on HIV/AIDS
 
Lowell Peterson: Why We Care About Comedy Top
Why does the Writers Guild of America, East care about news and comedy? Because our members write both, sometimes for the same show. We represent the writers at the hottest TV comedy-variety shows - The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, The Colbert Report, the Late Show With David Letterman, Late Night With Jimmy Fallon, Saturday Night Live, Best Week Ever, and on and on. We also represent writers and other newsroom employees at ABC, CBS, and NBC, and the people who write Frontline, American Experience, American Masters, Nova, and other great programs on public TV. Oh, yes, and Sesame Street. In other words, our members write the television shows that make people laugh and make people think, from pre-school through their golden years. We thought folks inside the Beltway might benefit from a little writerly enlightenment, or at least some good jokes, so we have organized an event at Newseum including stand-up comedy routines and a panel discussion of politics, comedy and the news (and various combinations thereof). Polls indicate millions of Americans get their news from The Daily Show, The Colbert Report, and similar shows, so what better place to showcase writers from those shows than a museum dedicated to the more sober precincts of the news business? I want to caution people in advance: Do not expect the Party Line. Expect thoughtful dialogue. Our members are smart and engaged and they pay careful attention to politics, to government, and to the media. And, of course, they sometimes skewer sacred cattle. Lowell Peterson is the Executive Director of the Writers Guild of America, East. See the show "Writers Speak! A Potentially Regrettable Evening with WGA Comedy Writers," this Friday May 8th, 7:00 pm - 9:30 pm at Washington DC's Newseum. More WGA blogs about the event available here .
 
Linda Villarosa: For the Love of Blog, We Need Hard News Top
Yes, I was one of the 50 million people who downloaded Britain's Got Talent on YouTube to watch Susan Boyle sing her dear heart out. I laughed my ass off when Tina did Sarah and Amy did Hillary on Saturday Night Live , and I loved Jon Stewart's smart take-down of that Mad Money guy Jim Cramer. But when I first heard news of a deadly flu killing hundreds of people in Mexico, I didn't' go to YouTube, The Daily Show or Saturday Night Live to get the details. I read an AP story online. To see what's buzzing in my little corner of New York City, I read Only the Blog Knows Brooklyn. It's gossipy, often snarky and a lot of fun. A few weeks ago, I forwarded a post to my sister to let her know that director Nancy Meyers was shooting a movie up the street from us, so that she could pretend to be passing by Meryl Streep's trailer at the moment she stepped out. But when I found out about eight cases of swine flu in a school in Queens, New York, 12 miles from my home, I didn't read a neighborhood blog. I went to my doorstep and picked up my New York Times. My kids and I read the front page story--written by a team of reporters (some overseas)--to find out everything we needed to know. Over the next couple of days, I'm looking forward to hearing from Times reporter Gina Kolata, author of Flu: The Story of the Great Influenza Pandemic of 1918 and the Search for the Virus that Caused It and one of the country's foremost experts on the flu. She doesn't have a blog, so I'll read her story in the paper. Like many other authors, earlier this month, a tweet informed me that a so-called "glitch" had knocked most of Amazon's LGBT themed books off of its main product search. I found out that my own novel had been de-listed via a post on my Facebook wall. But when my neighbor--who'd been on vacation to Mexico the week before--asked me about swine flu symptoms, I referred her to CNN.com. Somebody did tweet me this joke: "The Centers for Disease Control said the symptoms of swine flu include fever, aches and an uncomfortable desire to roll in the mud." And I did learn from her Facebook feed that a friend from high school is having leftovers for dinner. I could definitely get some flu information from an online site that consolidates news stories. And I did. Daily Beast gave me a nice constellation of stories. It included a link to an old "Killer Bees" clip from Saturday Night Live that poked fun at a previous "health panic," 1974's invasion of African killer bees. But where did the Daily Beast get the informed, hard-core news stories posted on its site? The New York Times , AP, NPR. In the end, the swine flu may go the way of killer bees and other health scares, fueled by drama-queen journalists and skittish consumers. God willing, it'll be no more than a late-night TV punch line. But what if it's not? Can blogs, Jon Stewart, news consolidators, Saturday Night Live, Youtube, Facebook and Twitter replace "real" journalism? Not if our lives depend on it. Linda Villarosa is a writer and former New York Times health editor and reporter. Her novel "Passing for Black" came out last year. See her perform at "Writers Speak! A Potentially Regrettable Evening with WGA Comedy Writers," this Friday May 8th, 7:00 pm - 9:30 pm at Washington DC's Newseum. More WGA blogs about the event available here . More on Swine Flu
 
Kamran Pasha: Bible and Guns: Why Soldiers Who Proselytize Strengthen Our Enemies Top
Many Americans have expressed shock at news that some U.S. soldiers have been seeking to use their positions of power in Iraq and Afghanistan to preach Christianity . But this does not come as news to Muslims, who have been long aware of these proselytizing efforts at the end of a gun. The Pentagon's General Order 1 prohibits American troops from attempting to convert people in foreign countries. Nonetheless, this activity has been rampant since the United States military first entered Afghanistan and Iraq. In this month's Harper's Magazine, Jeff Sharlet's article " Jesus killed Mohammed: The Crusade for a Christian Military" provides troubling insight into the efforts of fundamentalist Christian churches to turn our armed forces into a modern-day Knights Templar, fighting infidels on behalf of the Church. As a person of faith myself, I understand the urge to share spiritual witness. Both Christianity and Islam believe they have a message from God for all humanity, and as a result, believers in both traditions naturally seek to engage others and share their faith. And I have no problem entering into discussions and debate with others on matters of religion. Indeed, it is a healthy part of human discourse. For only through openly examining ideas and beliefs can we as human beings discover what feels spiritually true to us. And when our heart finds something it feels to be true, the urge to share that truth with others is natural and part of the human condition. But faith proffered at the end of a gun is not the same as spirited discourse between equals. American soldiers are in a position of power - lethal power - over the men, women and children in whose countries they are acting. When an armed man seeks to share his beliefs with you, it is not about spreading enlightenment, but about domination and control. To go into other countries with a rifle in one hand and a Bible in the other, can only create fear, resentment and backlash. Even worse, the image of the soldier-preacher fits directly into Al-Qaeda's meme that Americans are engaged in a new Crusade to destroy Islam. And to the extent that these fundamentalist churches are allowed to exert influence in our military, our enemies are proven right. Both Muslim extremists and their Christian counterparts seek to ignite a war of civilizations, a zero-sum game in which their ideology will ultimately destroy their adversaries completely. But I don't believe most Americans share that vision of Christianity, just like most Muslims don't seek to dominate and destroy other religions. And it is now up to people of good will, whatever their beliefs, to work together to prevent this clash of civilizations that the militants among us desire. The irony of these American churches' efforts to spread Christianity in the Muslim world is that Christianity has been part of the fabric of these nations for centuries. As I discuss in my new novel, Mother of the Believers , the Muslim conquest of the Middle East was supported by Christian groups like the Egyptian Copts, who had been oppressed by the Byzantine Church for doctrinal differences. The Muslim leaders guaranteed religious freedom for "the People of the Book," and as a result they were able to attract the support of Middle Eastern Christians who were being terrorized by their fellow believers. Indeed, when the Crusaders took Jerusalem in 1099, they massacred its Christian population, who were seen as traitors for living in friendship with their Muslim neighbors. In Iraq, an ancient Christian community has been in place for the past 2,000 years. And Iraqi Christians like former Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz rose to positions of power in Saddam's secular regime. With the destruction of Iraq's secular dictatorship by American forces, Muslim extremists have filled the power vacuum, and now Iraq's Christian community is undergoing terrible persecution. About a third of Iraq's 800,000 Christians are believed to have fled overseas since 2003. That's right - there were almost a million Christians already in Iraq under Saddam, part of a community that has lived in peace with its Muslim neighbors for over a thousand years. American Christians who supported the Iraq war as an End-Times battle to spread Christianity have ironically created an environment where Christianity is now disappearing from Iraq. The lesson of these tragic events is that faith is best shared through dialogue built on respect for those who differ from us. It can never be imposed through power, and if it is, it is not faith at all, but mind control. And efforts to control the hearts and minds of others will always fail. The Holy Qur'an says very clearly in Surah 2:256: "Let there be no compulsion in religion. Truth stands out clear from error." If what you believe is true, you don't need to use power or manipulation to convince others. So let us lay down our guns and embrace each other as brothers and sisters. The truth will win out in the end. It always does. Kamran Pasha is a Hollywood filmmaker and the author of Mother of the Believers , a novel on the birth of Islam as told by Prophet Muhammad's wife Aisha (Atria Books; April 2009). For more information please visit: http://www.kamranpasha.com More on Afghanistan
 
Lawrence Lessig: Banks think they "own" Congress? Wrong -- we're taking Congress back. Top
If you think special-interest influence in Congress perverts our public policy, last week saw an outrage that vindicates that belief entirely. Sen. Dick Durbin offered a bill that would allow families at risk of losing their homes -- but with an ability to pay their mortgage if their monthly rates were lower and extended over more years -- to legally get that option. The very banks that taxpayers kept alive with billions in bailouts had the audacity to spend millions lobbying Congress to oppose this bill. They also showered politicians with campaign contributions . The bill was defeated. Senator Durbin declared that banks "frankly own the place." Will you continue to support politicians who support this corrupt system? Or will you demand that any politician you donate to support reform? Please join Change Congress's political "donor strike" today. Thousands of people are telling members of Congress they won't get a dime from us unless they co-sponsor Senator Durbin's Fair Elections Now Act to overhaul congressional campaign financing. It would replace our broken system with citizen-funded elections, a hybrid of public funding and small-dollar donations. Already, our strike has withheld over $1.25 million from politicians (based on contributions last cycle). It's also been featured by ABC, NBC, the Associated Press, Politico, Huffington Post, and others. Now is the time to send politicians a message that we absolutely demand they change the system. Can you help take back Congress by joining the "donor strike" today? Then, please forward this post to your friends who may have missed last Friday's vote, or are looking for some constructive way to respond. Ask them to join the fight for reform. Together, we can fight back. We need to fight back. Thanks for helping to Change Congress.
 
Violence In The Streets Of Karachi Top
By Rani Singh Pakistan's major port city, Karachi, saw serious fighting last week. Ethnic tensions, car jackings, drugs and mafia gun running are not new to this town, the financial center and home to the Karachi Stock Exchange, but this kind of violence had reduced in tempo somewhat, for a while. At least 34 people were killed and 50 injured, according to Al Jazeera English. Karachi is a town where the mohajirs dominate. Mohajirs, meaning emigrants, are the ethnic group of Muslim Urdu-speakers who fled India at the time of Independence in 1947. They are, by and large, well educated and professional, and dominate too in the Sindh Province of Pakistan, one of the regions that Pakistan is divided up into. They were never fully accepted in Pakistan as true 'sons of the soil' and because they suffered discrimination, many of them formed themselves into a political party, the MQM, to argue for equal rights in education and employment. There are now MQM members of the Pakistani Parliament. Interestingly, former president Pervez Musharraf is a mohajir, from Karachi. The popular MQM leader is Altaf Hussain who is exiled in London, England. There are mohajir - dominated neighborhoods in Karachi, and I drove into them in an MQM Minister's car when I was on assignment and wanted to investigate. The MQM HQ is called Nine-Zero and I wanted to take a look at it one time. It was too dangerous to get out of our car and though it belonged to a respected female politician, if someone from another ethnic group or even the security forces wanted to take a pot shot at us, they could have. We had a driver and were all unarmed. We could have been fired on at any point. I was scared. With paramilitaries in their armored personnel carriers on every street corner and the streets completely empty in the Mohajir neighborhoods, I could feel a palpable tension in the air. The MQM are a political force in Pakistan, and Altaf Hussain can bring Karachi to a standstill if he gives the order, broadcasting by speakerphone to crowds of thousands of mohajirs assembled in Karachi, from his London base. He is charismatic and a highly skilled orator. I was invited to his wedding reception. The most famous pop stars of Pakistan came to sing for him. Now, with different groups living in Karachi, ethnic warfare can break out at any time. Given the conflict raging in other parts of Pakistan, this just makes things even more dangerous at a tense time for the country. Rani Singh is a broadcast journalist who has spent most of her career to date with the BBC, presenting, reporting and producing for its various television and radio outlets. Follow her blog here. This is part of HuffPost World's Spotlight On Pakistan. We are looking to build our network of people living in Pakistan who can help us understand what is happening there. These people will send us reports -- either snippets of information or full-length stories -- about how the political crisis affects life in Pakistan. If you are interested, this is an opportunity to have a continued conversation with Americans about what's happening in your country. If you would like to participate, please sign up here . Please follow HuffPost World on Facebook and Twitter. More on Pakistan
 
Meredith Haberfeld: CAREER CHANGE: 10 BIG STEPS TO A SUCCESSFUL CAREER TRANSITION Top
CAREER CHANGE: 10 BIG STEPS TO A SUCCESSFUL CAREER TRANSITION Whether you're facing being bumped out of your latest job, or bored to the screaming point by work that used to be gratifying, one way to stay ahead of the oft-unsettling see-saw of a career transition is having a SMART plan. Most of us find life transitions intimidating, especially on the work front. But now is actually a prime time to lean toward the next career adventure. Here are 10 important steps that will help get you where you want to be going: 1. Stay in reality : Some might say just follow your bliss, but in my experience that ends much better if you first have a well thought-out financial plan for your transition; including the time frame by which you want to be in your next job, and how long you can freely explore without running low on funds. Important: take the time to do the math up front. If you have six months worth of financial padding then the plan has to accommodate being situated in a new job where your basic life needs are taken care of in that amount of time. That's not to say you can't pursue a parallel path if your savings are insufficient, of course, but you may have to stick with your current employer or find an interim position that pays the bills while continuing to work toward your goal. 2. Hone in : Identify your top 5-8 most important VALUES in your work. Far, far too often people route their career paths based on either what they've done already or what they imagine various jobs to be like rather than on real personal agendas and desires. Once you are crystal clear what you'd love your career to be like and what you'd love your career to provide to you, only then can you really effectively hone in on the list of the handful of jobs/careers that are a match for your personal list of work values. How to go about this process:  a. Write out the elements you like in your previous work (e.g. being with people, exercising leadership, doing email, etc). b. What elements do you want in your career that you have not yet had in your day to day job or from your total experience of working? c. What elements do you want to not have in your next career? d. How much money are you committed to making? e. What's the legacy you want to leave? f. For each job you've ever enjoyed, write out: 1. what you loved about it 2. anything you didn't love about it g. For every single career you've thought of in the last 5 years, make a bulleted list defining what it is about each choice that interests you. (Don't worry about whether or not you have a PhD.  People think insularly. Your task here is to broaden your thinking.)  Examples: Veterinarian --the pleasure of healing, being with animals. Interior Designer --tapping into my artistic side, creating beautiful things and settings, working with people. All this work this leads you to a list of things you VALUE in your work life. Then go through this list and note the top 5-8 of them that are most important to you. Now you have your list of 'deal-breaker' VALUES that must be there for you in your next job. Then you can much more intelligently begin to brainstorm and begin a fact-hunting mission to develop a written list of the handful of jobs/careers that are an actual match for you (based on your personal and very YOU career values). 3. Soak up information like a sponge : Talk to everyone appropriate (which will be more people than you first imagine) about your interest in transitioning.  Most people are chasing a mirage, and far too often they make job choices based on fantasy thinking or simply on poor information. "Live research" allows you to hone in on the very real elements you want to move way from and gravitate to the ones that match your desires. Get the word out to the people you know about what you're interested in pursuing and ask them specifically who they know that would be useful for you to speak with. Find every opportunity to talk with people who are in the jobs or fields you're considering. This is one of the MOST CRITICAL elements of a successful career transition and the piece that is most often missing in a difficult one. Not only does this process refine your decision making, but the ancillary benefit is that the very individuals you reach out to for your "live research" become a critical part of your network that ultimately parlays you into your next job and career. 4. Talk to people : Get away from the computer! Through every phase of your entire transition, authentically cultivate relationships. This is the single most powerful force leading to successful job transitions. So much energy is thrown into reading job boards, blind resume submission, searching the web, etc. This can be a useful component , but overall, get away from the computer! Nurture and expand your network of people you know. This is not about "selling yourself", just be sincere, and get on their radar screen by fostering a genuine connection. Go to industry conferences, parties, cocktails, morning breakfasts; and create and develop relationships. Ask not what others can do for you, but what you can do for them. This reciprocity will have you be "top of mind" when the right opportunity presents itself. 5. The art of re-positioning yourself: If you're looking for a job in a new industry, spend time getting extremely clear about your "portable value". Know and be able to concisely communicate your unique worth and just how your skills will benefit your future industry and new employer. Practice succinctly articulating - in your 'elevator pitch', as well as your resume - how your distinctive talents, abilities, and accomplishments perfectly position you for what you're seeking to do. Every person's experience can be re-packaged to meet the demands of a new industry. Spending the time to do this succinctly makes an enormous difference between success and failure. 6. Find your ROI : When preparing to look for a job in a new industry, clarify and focus on the measurable contributions to the bottom-line result you've achieved for your former or current employers, and show how it can work anywhere. Explain your significant skills and how you're ready to out-compete even in another industry. Every time you are asked "What do you do or want to be doing?" answer this question instead, "Why should you pay my salary?" 7. Action : Daily action is required. Create a strategic plan for your transition; with daily, weekly, and monthly goals. Start with where you want to end up: figure out what you need to know about your new career, and what you need to do to get there. Build a pipeline of actions from there. Actions can be small; but be in daily motion. 8. Build in accountability : Get a partner to hold you to your plan and keep your word, without regard for disappointments or your mood. Ask people to champion you when you face set-backs, but to hold you accountable for sticking to your DAILY actions and driving yourself forward. Too often people get bogged down by disappointments and then buy into in the belief that the work world is too tough right now. Daily actions that stretch you, and maintaining accountability to your plan not only reduce overwhelm and anxiety, they're a powerful impetus to get you to your ultimate goal. 9. Momentum : There is an "effort equation" when starting something new; for example, for every 100 'units' of effort you put in, you can expect 1 result. As you gain momentum, this equation improves, to perhaps 1 result for only 50 'units' of effort in. This means...play...put the energy in. If you're impatient, you may get discouraged by not seeing the results as quickly as you want. But it is mathematical. Put the energy in, consistently, no matter what, and the results start flowing in. 10. Courage : When setting out to do something different you may have a crisis of confidence; a feeling like "I am a charlatan" or "There's no way I can pull this off!"  There is often a period of time when you are gaining credibility with yourself.  Have patience during this phase and know this period is finite. In the mean time, fake it. Don't be wishy-washy: when introducing yourself - statements like "I'm trying to be an author" or "I'm sort of working on becoming a therapist" sabotage you. Get in the habit of saying, "I'm a writer" or "I'm a chef". Once you get your feet under you for long enough, this turns to genuine confidence. A final note : The days of linear careers are over. Be pragmatic; take all your differing agendas into account, including how much you need to be making, what you love and hate doing, the legacy you want to leave, the transition time you have available for making a career move. When you finally free up your thinking and accept that reality and desire can be accounted for - you discover so much more is possible - and you get to real actionable answers. Now it becomes a matter of breaking up the transition into 'Lego pieces'; individual manageable blocks that build on one other to get you out of your head and into action. Meredith Haberfeld is an Executive and Life Coach and co-founder of www.meredithhaberfeld.com and www.instituteforcoaching.com More on Careers
 
Mark Pasetsky: Can the Celebrity Weeklies Be Saved? Top
Crisis! Drama! Shocker! These are all words that you would find on the cover of any celebrity weekly. But, sadly, they all adequately describe the current state of the celebrity weekly category. While many insiders would point to the recession for the decline in readership, as well as distribution problems and forced price hikes, those are all excuses and lame ones at best. In fact, these types of magazines should be thriving as most escapist forms of entertainment, like going to the movies, do during tough economic times. That begs the question what is wrong with the celebrity weekly category? There are three big reasons why the category is in a crisis and the celebrity weekly bubble has burst. Reason 1: Too many staffers doing one job function Walk into any major celebrity weekly and you'll see a staff of 50 or more individuals working in separate departments, including editors, writers, photo editors, creatives and PR executives. That's the first problem. You have all these individuals doing separate jobs. To survive and prosper creatively, it's time for celebrity weekly magazines to either train their existing staff or hire new staff who can "multi-task." Instead of having separate departments, magazines should have staffers who can handle all the functions of the magazine - from writing, editing to selecting photos and designing the page - for both the magazine and the Web site. And, yes, the new editors of the future will also handle promoting their content. Not only will you see an improved editorial product, you'll see a major reduction in fixed costs. Reason 2: Ignoring the success of celebrity blogs! Celebrity weeklies are really good at ripping off each other when it comes to layouts and features. But, for some reason, they have felt less compelled to study and imitate the success of blogs. Most blogs that cover celebrities have succeeded because they have a strong point-of-view. Why don't we see more of that in the celebrity weekly magazines? It would be nice to see a magazine present the typical voice of a blogger throughout its pages. Or, you can assign various writers to head up individual blog sections that present a point-of-view that stays consistent on a week-to-week basis. I must point out that a snarky voice is not the way to go. While it has worked for some sites, that tone is not the future. A positive and upbeat approach combined with the writer's "supportive" opinion of the celebrity is a formula for keeping readers coming back to these publications. Why? The readers love the stars they're reading about and consistently reject content that takes down their idols. Reason 3: Too much text! Magazines like In Touch and Us Magazine reinvented the category by introducing a much heavier focus on photos within the pages of their magazines. This approach distinguished In Touch and Us from category leader People Magazine. Readers clearly enjoyed this approach because sales skyrocketed. The problem? The number of photos used by In Touch and Us Magazine are not enough in 2009. In fact, even those magazines are too text-heavy. My recommendation to any one of the celebrity weeklies, which includes In Touch, Us, Star, Life & Style and OK!, is to become as photo-driven as humanly possible. I would go as far as 90 percent photos with 10 percent text. The text would be used for the big cover story and the captions to accompany the photos throughout the magazine. Drop any thought of a consistent format. Let the photos of the week tell the story. A hyper photo-driven magazine could take one of the also ran celebrity weeklies into a new stratosphere when it comes to sales on the newsstand. Plus, it would clearly differentiate it from the rest of the category, which is a key to success in attracting new readers as well as advertisers. Most importantly, it would make these magazines a value-add experience to what readers are finding online 24/7. Bottom Line: Those that continue to operate like it's 1999 instead of 2009 will eventually be closing their magazines down - blaming everybody but themselves! The savvy publisher that follows my advice stands to benefit on many fronts. They will have smaller staffs creating more vibrant visual experiences for the readers and ultimately securing more newsstand/subscription readers as well as advertisers. While some may see this approach as risky, I believe it's a big opportunity to reinvigorate the category. Now, which magazine will go for it? More on Magazines
 
TripAdvisor Polls: Paris Voted Europe's Most Overrated City, London The Worst-Dresse Top
Holidaymakers, be warned: London has the worst food, Paris is the most overrated and Brussels is the most boring, according to a survey of what travelers think about European cities. In the poll of nearly 2,400 travelers, by website TripAdvisor (www.tripadvisor.com), the British capital was voted the dirtiest in Europe, home to the worst-dressed people and the most expensive.
 
Stimulus Could Cause Job Losses In Ohio Top
The Buckeye Institute used Warren County as the backdrop for a news conference on a new study that concludes the $787 billion federal stimulus bill could cost Ohio up to 91,000 jobs. Warren County commissioners recently made national headlines by rejecting a $373,000 stimulus grant to buy new hybrid buses, with Republican Mike Kilburn calling the stimulus "filthy money." Follow stimulus spending in your state! More on Stimulus Package
 
Michele Bachmann: Obama Led Spending "Orgy," Government "Spent Its Wad" (VIDEO) Top
Rep. Michele Bachmann is on a roll. Less than a week after suggesting a link between the swine flu outbreak and Democratic control of the U.S. government, the Minnesota Republican penetrated a heretofore unseen zone of weirdness and accused the Obama administration of premature fiscal ejaculation. On Saturday, May 2, Bachmann delivered a rally speech in which she said the administration had engaged in an "orgy" of spending and that the government "spent its wad" too early. The previous administration, she noted, hadn't spent its wad until early August. "During the last 100 days we have seen an orgy. It would make any local smorgasbord embarrassed," Bachmann said. She then told the crowd that April 26 was National Debt Day, which conservatives commemorate as the moment government spending outpaces revenue. As Bachmann explains, "The government spent its wad by April 26. Every dime government spends after April 26 throughout the rest of this fiscal year is borrowed money." WATCH (orgy talk starts at 3:30): Get HuffPost Politics On Facebook and Twitter! More on Michele Bachmann
 
Michele Kayal: James Beard Awards: Crazy for Kebob? Top
The culinary world will award its Oscars tonight and who wins -- or doesn't -- will tell us whether America's food establishment is ready to elevate the Melting Pot to soufflé status. As in other years, the 2009 James Beard Award nominees include an impressive showing of chefs doing unapologetically ethnic food: Vikram Sunderman turns out delicate palak chaat at Washington, D.C.'s award-winning Indian restaurant Rasika; at Philadelphia's Zahav, Israeli-born chef Michael Solomonov adds grace notes of allspice to raw ground lamb; and Thai chef Arun Sampanthavivat upscales lemongrass and yellow bean paste for Chicago tables. I hope this year at least one of them wins. In the past, "ethnic" winners have tended to be safe or hyphenated choices: the bold Italian cuisine of superstar chef Mario Batali; the Asian-accented dishes of New York's David Chang; the French-California offerings of San Francisco's Traci Des Jardins. Why have the awards shied away from the overtly ethnic? Maybe these chefs weren't the best in their category. Maybe there were political or cultural undertones that influence the way we think of these cuisines. Or maybe the American palate just can't fully commit to flavors like tamarind and zatar. Let's remember that spaghetti was once considered "ethnic" food. And that even the most adventurous American diners took a while to accept raw tuna -- or any tuna outside the can -- as part of a meal. It's been said that you eat first with your eyes. But people also eat with their hearts and minds. And the way you feel about a particular culture or people will influence what you believe about -- and what you taste in -- their food. Maybe its time for the Beards to take a cue from the other Oscars and honor their own Slumdog Millionaires. To graduate unvarnished cuisines like Indian and Middle Eastern from the strip mall into the canon. To make palak chaat and kibbe naya the new pasta primavera. And to move the country forward from who we've been to who we are. More on Slumdog Millionaire
 
Peter Diamandis: Guest Blogger, Dwayne Spradlin: The Effects of Implementing an Open Innovation Culture Top
Leading up to the incentive2innovate conference on June 8 + 9 at the United Nations in New York, Peter Diamandis and X PRIZE Foundation will feature guest bloggers that will be presenting at i2i. For more information on the i2i program and for registration, visit www.incentive2innovate.com Every day new proof points confirm that adopting an "open" innovation culture delivers better innovations, faster cycle times, and improved economics. Many forward-thinking organizations embraced "open" in past good economic times and have created sustainable competitive advantage for themselves. These organizations moved cultural and political mountains to make this happen and for them "open" innovation will pay enormous dividends in today's down economy. But what about all the other organizations that must now think differently in order to survive? They continue to cling to dated ideas that they must invent, control, and own every aspect of their existence. They have erected legal, cultural, and political roadblocks to engaging the rest of the world in their businesses and are now paying the price. They desperately need "open" innovation, but are reacting to this economic crisis by "hunkering down" and will miss the opportunity to embrace change. Therein lies the challenge: they must learn to be "open" during a time when their business has the least will to think differently. The reality is that organizations do not change until they are forced to do so. We are faced with unparalleled opportunity and need to rethink and reengineer the fundamentals of our businesses. Smart organizations will use this crisis as a catalyst to drive institutional change. "Open" innovation embodies the notion that in the new economy, marketplaces are emerging for ideas that will fundamentally challenge the conventional thinking in areas that include ideation, research, product development, collaboration, and even intellectual property. Businesses that act now will emerge stronger in more ways than one. In this new world, organizations don't seek to limit the number of minds focused on a problem to a select few, instead they enlist thousands or millions with a passion to make a difference. Diversity of thought and access to vast networks of qualified minds becomes the valuable currency, replacing the closed monolithic approaches that define many of today's organizations. This "Open Innovation" reaches outside of the four walls and attracts everyone eager to participate in advancing the cause - solving the problem. Imagine a time when FEMA seeking immediately implementable solutions for housing after a hurricane, Los Angeles seeks new approaches to reducing traffic congestion or a corporation undertaking to design and deliver to market better products designed by scientists, entrepreneurs, and even their existing customers - none of whom may work for them. Open innovation marketplaces will literally be the clearing houses for connecting myriads of needs to literally millions of creative, inventive, and "uniquely prepared" minds and organizations from all over the world. At InnoCentive, we are committed to being at the forefront of this change. Our partners post Challenges in a wide range of areas including life sciences, chemistry, applied materials, business, engineering, mathematics, computer science, and food science. Through our pavilions, we focus on areas of global importance like clean technology, renewable energy, global health, and public policy. With a firmly held belief that incentives hold the key to harnessing and focusing the vast collective talent pools available worldwide, we will drive innovation everywhere there is the potential to make a difference. Dwayne Spradlin is the President and Chief Executive Officer of InnoCentive. Founded in 2001, InnoCentive connects companies, academic institutions, public sector and non-profit organizations, all hungry for breakthrough innovation, with a global network of more than 160,000 of the world's brightest minds on the world's first Open Innovation Marketplace™ .
 
Lesley M. M. Blume: Let's Bring Back: The Earliest Supermodels Top
Tonight Vogue and the MET Costume Institute will co-host their annual gala, considered by many to be fashion's most glamorous event. This year's theme - "Model as Muse" - seems like a fairly unimaginative concept for a fashion event, until you remember that popular actresses have been elbowing models off magazine covers in recent years. When asked to name a supermodel, most people would conjure up Linda ("We don't wake up for less than $10,000 a day") Evangelista, maid-assaulter Naomi Campbell, and the lovely model-turned-yogi Christy Turlington, who reigned supreme in the 1980s and 90s, along with Claudia Schiffer and Cindy Crawford. Watching some of these creatures in fashion documentary Unzipped (1994) - especially Evangelista, whose piercing, nasal voice could be made into a weapon of sorts -- makes me long for days when models made their impressions silently on paper, not running around in menacing, Alaïa-clad packs. Despite popular perception, the supermodel phenomenon did not begin (or end) with the trio named above; it largely began in the late 1940s with Dorian Leigh and her sister Suzy Parker, the first model to earn $100,000 per year. These ladies, along with Lisa Fonssagrives (pictured below) were the first to make modeling big business - to this day, modeling is one of the few industries in which women regularly out-earn their male counterparts, often by significant margins. This special edition of Let's Bring Back ... , my recurring column that celebrates personae and rituals from past eras, will look at some of the most prominent models of the twentieth century. Some, like Fonssagrives, have faded from public memory, while others, like Twiggy, have reinvented themselves as contemporary pop figures. These ladies epitomized the styles of their times. While each eventually became a celebrity in her own right, it was a very different sort of celebrity -- a far cry from bratty variety that emerged during the Supermodel Era of the 80s and 90s. One really can't imagine Suzy Parker beaning her maid in the head with a cellphone. Models are meant to showcase someone else's creativity, which is something that seems to have been forgotten in recent years. If a model is lucky, she'll usher in a new era with her aesthetic. Without further ado, Let's Bring Back ... five ladies who did precisely that. 1. Lisa Fonssagrives British Vogue , August 1940 and Vogue , 1960 Born Lisa Bernstone in Sweden in 1911, Fonssagrives studied ballet until she married photographer Fernand Fonssagrives and gave up dancing to model. At first, she modeled hats, but soon a Vogue cover followed, with Fonssagrives posing as each letter in the magazine's title (see above). She became a regular cover model for Vogue and Bazaar ; in 1949, Time magazine called her "the million dollar baby" in a cover-story feature. Eventually she divorced Fernand and married famed photographer Irving Penn. Widely credited with being one of the world's first supermodels, Fonssagrives once humbly described herself as a "good clothes hanger." 2. Veruschka Veruschka in YSL by Rubaretlli 1968; Courtesy of the Costume Institute Not only was Veruschka unstoppably gorgeous, she also gets snaps for having one of the world's longest birthnames: Vera Gottliebe Anna Gräfin von Lehndorff-Steinort. Born in 1939 in East Prussia, Veruschka's father was executed for participating in an assassination attempt against Hitler; she was five years old at the time. As a model, Veruschka helped move fashion away from the prim, highly-structured styles of the 1950s and into the realm of unbridled, bed-head sexuality of the 1960s. In the mid-60s, she wore nothing but body paint to a shoot, which became a calling-card of sorts for her. In one shoot in Kenya, on which she collaborated with artist Salvador Dalí and photographer Peter Beard, Veruschka covered herself entirely with black paint to resemble the "surreal" plants in the landscape -- and the natives who lived there. 3. Jean Shrimpton Jean Shrimpton by David Bailey, 1964; Courtesy of the Costume Institute Born in 1942 in England, "the Shrimp" was one of the original gamines and an icon of Swinging Sixties London. By the age of 18, she had already graced the covers of the major fashion and lifestyle mags. Some credit Shrimpton with starting the original mini-skirt craze in 1965, when she wore an above-knee white shift dress to the Victoria Derby race in Melbourne, causing a scandal/sensation. Incidentally, now she owns a ramshackle seaside hotel in Cornwall called the Abbey, which is one of the most charming places I've ever been. 4. Twiggy On the covers of French Vogue and Newsweek in 1967 Her birth name was Lesley Hornby; she became known as Twiggy for obvious reasons. At age sixteen and weighing an estimated 90 pounds, in 1966 she became England's most popular model and the mod postergirl around the world. With her short-haired androgynous look, Twiggy revolutionized the concept of high-fashion. By 1967, Mattel had released a 'Twiggy' doll. The original waif, Twiggy foreshadowed the success of equally-bony icon Kate Moss. She retired from modeling after only four years. Today's audiences likely know Twiggy as a former judge on America's Next Top Model . 5. Iman On the covers of Italian Vogue and Italian Cosmopolitan in 1980 Born in 1955 in Mogadisha, Somalia, Iman was 'discovered' by photographer Peter Beard twenty years later and became one of the first black women to rise to supermodel status (along with under-credited model Donyale Luna - who, in 1966, became the first African American model to grace an edition of Vogue ). Throughout the 1980s, Iman modeled for Calvin Klein, Donna Karan, and Yves Saint Laurent, whom she inspired to create an "Africa Queen" collection." Her success paved the road for other black supermodels such as Campbell, Tyra Banks, and today's runway darling, Chanel Iman. In 1994, Iman launched an eponymous cosmetics line marketed to women of color. She is famously married to David Bowie. With special thanks to Patrick O'Connell and Nancy Chilton. More on Fashion
 
Georgia leads the nation in bank failures Top
GIBSON, Ga. — The banner above FirstCity Bank still reads "Celebrating 100 Years of Service," but the 690 residents of this rural community aren't in the mood _ not since government regulators locked the door, emptied the vault and closed the only bank within nearly 20 miles. Georgia leads the nation in bank failures, with nine banks shut down in the past year. Still, few in tiny Glascock County suspected the financial meltdown driven by toxic real-estate loans would scuttle the place they deposited paychecks earned from sawmills and row-crop farming, their local lender for buying tractors and pickup trucks. "We need a bank, definitely," says 70-year-old Charles Usry, who fits cars with new brakes and tires at his small auto parts store across Main Street from the now-empty FirstCity. "If you don't have a bank, eventually people are going to go somewhere else. The towns are going to die." Eleven Georgia banks, most surrounding Atlanta, have been shuttered by regulators, followed by nine in California and four in Florida. Experts predict more could be closed in Georgia in the future. But what propelled Georgia to No. 1 in bank failures is complicated. Experts say it's a combination of an antiquated state law that favored a plethora of smaller community banks over multi-branch giants; a population explosion in metro Atlanta that fueled massive suburban real estate development and a crush of new banks formed to cash in on the Atlanta boom shortly before the market tanked. First, Georgia is home to a huge number of state and federally chartered banks. At the end of 2008, Georgia had 334 banks. That's more than California, which has nearly four times Georgia's population, or Florida, which has twice as many people. Only five states _ Texas, Illinois, Minnesota, Iowa and Kansas _ have more banks than Georgia, according to the FDIC. What these states had in common, until the mid-1990s, was some of the nation's most restrictive laws on branch banking. Georgia, for example, prohibited banks from opening branches across county lines until 1996. The law shielded local banks from worrying about competition from out-of-town rivals. It also guaranteed that Georgia, with a whopping 159 counties, would have a correspondingly large number of banks. "It was really a belief that local banking was the best banking and you did not want to have the big city banks dictating the amount of credit available to small town and rural America," said Steve Verdier, director of congressional relations for the Independent Community Bankers of America. Even after interstate giants such as Bank of America, SunTrust and Wachovia could expand freely across Georgia, growth in Atlanta's suburbs spurred the opening of new banks looking to profit from loans to real-estate developers. Metro Atlanta had three of the nation's 10 fastest growing counties of the 1990s. Because of that growth, about half the state's banks ended up clustered around Atlanta, said Joe Brannen, president and CEO of the Georgia Bankers Association. "Georgia is a tad unique in that we don't have five or 10 big metropolitan areas. We've got one real big one," Brannen said. "We haven't enjoyed the statewide growth in population that Florida or California have." Georgia's diversity of small banks was an asset when the economy was strong, with consumers benefiting from competitive rates and broader sources of credit, said James Verbrugge, a professor emeritus of finance at the University of Georgia's Terry College of Business. It became a liability when the bottom fell out of the housing market and smaller banks had less capital to weather the crisis. "If the development comes to a screeching halt and even half of your loan portfolio is concentrated in that one basket, then you're in trouble," Verbrugge said. With the financial meltdown centered on Atlanta, nobody in Gibson expected to feel the fallout in tiny Glascock County, which has the third-smallest population of any in Georgia. But bad loans took a toll there, too, after the bank was sold to new owners who moved its headquarters to the Atlanta area. The town's bank was founded in 1905 as the Bank of Gibson. It survived two world wars and the Great Depression under the local ownership of Erasmus Eggleston Griffin Sr. and two succeeding generations _ until family members with a controlling interest opted to sell the bank in 2000. Then, it was renamed FirstCity. When FirstCity closed, residents felt it immediately. Customers' ATM cards no longer worked. Outstanding checks were worthless. Until the FDIC issued checks the next week for the insured amount of residents accounts, people were left with nothing but the cash in their pockets. Audra Mason, who styles hair at a salon two blocks from the bank, had several customers cancel haircut appointments because they didn't have cash to pay her. Jennie Veazey, a cook at a local diner, got her boss to pay her in cash until she received checks and a new ATM card for her new account. Hazel Bedingfield, 79, fretted over the 24-mile trip to claim her Social Security payment from Thomson, where the FDIC re-routed direct deposits for government checks to a new account at a SunTrust Bank in a nearby county. "It does gall you," Bedingfield said. "Just because we're a little bitty county doesn't mean we don't need a bank. It wasn't our fault." Faltering loans played a role in the demise of FirstCity, said Robert E. Maloney Jr., the bank's attorney. The bank had $24.6 million in nonperforming loans in 2008, meaning no payments had been made for 90 days or more, and a loss of $8.3 million last year. "Smaller banks make loans to people that can't get loans at larger banks," Maloney said. "Did we put our eggs too much in the real estate development market? Obviously we did." Anthony Griswell, chairman of the Glascock County Commission, said he's confident another bank will move into Gibson. Residents, meanwhile, are moving money to banks outside the county. Judy McDonald, a retired county employee, said she and her husband opened two accounts _ with different banks. "We weren't going to go through that mess again," McDonald said.
 
Jasmine Boussem: The Curious Case of Sumner Redstone Top
Ever since I returned on Wednesday from the Milken Global Conference, I have had the inescapable conviction that I am truly a privileged person. It seems that I have actually been in the presence of history's first immortal human. With a packed room in attendance, Sumner Redstone was being interviewed by no-less-a- personage than the world's foremost celebrity host, Larry King. Regardless of the question posed by his interviewer, himself no stranger to longevity, Redstone consistently circled back to the topic of his own immortality. "I have no intention of ever retiring, or of dying," he said. "I'm 'The Curious Case of Mr. Redstone.'" Since nobody swore me to secrecy, here it is: Sumner Redstone's diet tips for anyone who intends, as he clearly does, to live forever. "I eat all the antioxidants I can get until 12 every day. That includes Goji berries, Green Machine smoothie and tomato juice. I usually skip lunch because I am so full from my breakfast. For dinner I eat fish every night without fail. And to top it off, I drink a shot of vodka every night." "Why?" you may ask, as did Larry. "Because it's a wonderful antioxidant" he said, "but they don't want to tell you because they are afraid you will abuse it." Who knew vodka was so good for your health? He also mentioned that his great physique is due to a 90-minute daily workout. "I work out everyday no matter what, I am very disciplined," he bragged. The conversation was classic Larry King light banter, sharpened slightly by moments of his trademark gentle sarcasm, and punctuated by manifestations of Redstone's profoundly delusional state. When Larry king asked him how old he was, he announced that he was 65. Larry gently persisted. "Come on tell the truth, I am 75 so you can't be 65." Redstone, who is known to be 85, maintained with a straight face that he was 65, to which Larry responded, "Then you don't look that great for your age!" Like the great interviewer he is, Larry knows when he has a guest who will hang himself over and over, so he kept paying out rope, leading him on with mock innocence "So if I was to do your eulogy, what should I say? Should I simply say: He lied? " "The people who fear dying are people who are going to die. I'm not going to die. I'm going to live forever," said Redstone." I feel as if I was 20," he said, "in every way, even sexually." I would like to add a personal note here, and just say that I instinctively have some serious doubts about that little piece of braggadocio. Though Redstone seemed completely serious, there were moments when he may have been indulging in facetious self-mockery. Larry asked him about his relationship with his employees, and his answer is hard to interpret. "I treat everyone like family." Given the state of his family affairs, this might be more admission than self congratulation. In any case, his employees should get used to him, since he is apparently going to be in charge forever. I know what you are thinking: In many religions, that is the definition of God. During the Q & A part of the discussion, almost every time a woman would ask a question, he would first ask whether or not she was married, and if she was, he would just use it to confirm his stated theory that all the attractive women are married. Perhaps Redstone is one of those people who have used their intellect to create clever mechanisms for believing whatever they want to, and blinding themselves to inconvenient facts pointing to the contrary. More on Sumner Redstone
 
RACCOON ROUNDWORM: Blinds NYC Teen In One Eye, Causes Brain Damage In Infant Top
NEW YORK — A rare disease transmitted through contact with raccoon feces has left a New York City teenager blind in one eye and an infant brain damaged. The city's Department of Health warns parents to be on the alert for raccoon roundworm, which can cause nausea, nerve damage and even death. It says fewer than 30 cases have been reported in medical literature. Health department spokeswoman Sally Slavinski says parents should supervise children to keep them from eating raccoon feces. Droppings should be picked up using gloves and disposable bags and put in the trash. The worms lay eggs in the feces; they hatch after being ingested and travel through the body. The teenager lost sight in one eye in January. The infant has been hospitalized since suffering seizures and spinal problems last October. They're from Brooklyn. More on Animals
 
Michael Pento: Sorry Ben, You Don't Control Long Term Rates Top
It is disappointing to discover that the Harvard- and M.I.T.-educated Ben Bernanke did not learn while attending school that long-term interest rates must be set by the free market. Belatedly, the Chairman of the Federal Reserve is about to learn this valuable and costly lesson because these rates cannot be manipulated lower by any central bank for a great length of time. On March 18th, the Federal Reserve committed to buying up to $300 billion in long-term Treasuries over the ensuing six months. After that announcement, the market initially celebrated and interest rates immediately fell on the 10-year note from 3.02% to 2.51%. But less than two months later, rates have spiked up to 3.17%, 66 bps higher than the reaction low on the day of the announcement. That jump in rates places into jeopardy the nascent recovery in the market and economy because so much of Washington's planned "healing" is predicated on halting the fall in real estate prices, which have implications for consumers' and banks' balance sheets. Thirty-year fixed mortgages, which had fallen to a recent low of 4.625%, now face the pressure of a rising 10 year note, which has a direct impact on newly-minted mortgages (as opposed to LIBOR rates which affect ARMs). The recent rise in Treasuries has created an incredibly important standoff between Mr. Bernanke and the bond vigilantes whose clients demand a real return on their investments. You see, rates on the long end of the curve are primarily concerned with inflation; if inflation is expected to increase, rates must eventually reflect this by moving higher. I realize that today many are mistaking the deleveraging processes seen in stocks and real estate prices as deflation but as long as the Fed continues to monetize Treasury debt, the money supply will continue to increase dramatically and deflation in the long run will be off the table. So just how realistic is the current level of Treasuries? As noted in my commentary written in October 2008 entitled "The Debt vs. Interest Rate Conundrum", the 46 year average constant yield for the 10 year note was 7.04%. The yield rose above 3% in June of 1958 and did not drop below that rate until November of 2008! Back in 1958 the monetary base was just $38 billion and the gross Federal debt was only $279 billion (60% of GDP). Today, base money has grown to $1.7 trillion--with more than half of that amount having been added just since last Autumn-- and the National debt has skyrocketed to $11.2 trillion (80% of GDP). Therefore, from both an economic and historic perspective the yield on the Ten year note is unnaturally and unsustainably low. Some may also say that today's low rates are justified given the fact that Consumer Price Index increased just .1% for all of 2008. But when you look at the first three months of 2009, the CPI is already rising at a 2.2% annual rate; clearly, traders in the bond market are beginning to realize that deflation will not be our next major concern. This, when you think about it, is completely justified given the tremendous increase in debt and money supply, which are the progenitors to rising inflation. So how high will the Fed allow long-term rates to rise and how much money will they print in an attempt to stem that increase? Ben Bernanke may be surprised to learn that the more Treasuries he buys, the lower their prices will go. After all, printing money is the definition of inflation and investors simply cannot tolerate a negative return on their money for very long. Will the Federal Reserve abandon its dangerous current course and let our economy experience a painful, but much needed recession or will it persist in its belief that long-term rates are under its dominion? Unfortunately, it seems clear that instead of capitulating to the bond market's clear signals and reversing course, Bernanke will continue down this path. Indeed, if long-term rates go much higher from here--and it is pathetic to think our economy can't stand a 10-year Treasury rate of much over 3%-- don't be surprised if the Fed soon announces additional commitments to purchase even more government debt in a futile attempt to keep Treasury yields artificially low and to sustain the "recovery" now supposedly in progress. And that, unfortunately, spells disaster for both an inflationary outcome and the viability of our debt-laden and credit-dependent economy in the not-too-distant future. The market will not be fooled by this game indefinitely, as the 10-year yield is already hinting. *Tired of paying fees while your account value plummets? Learn about our new performance-based pricing. Michael Pento is the Chief Economist for Delta Global Advisors and a contributor to greenfaucet.com More on Interest Rates
 
Richard P. Wenzel: The Return of Swine Flu -- A Death in the U.S. and Uncertainty Top
The latest "influenza" to visit itself upon the citizens of the world reminds us that epidemics are part of the natural interaction of people and microbes throughout civilization. Yet each time we react as though we have discovered something new. The only really new things are our surprise and consistent inability to recall all of the lessons from prior visitations. In September 1976, when my colleagues and I reported two patients in Virginia with Swine flu, it may have added some concern that the original cluster at Fort Dix had spread beyond New Jersey. Yet the 230 cases among trainees at the army base with 13 severe illnesses and one death in February 1976 had already alarmed the country. In fact, by March of that year, President Gerald Ford announced federal funding for a national vaccination program. Subsequently, there were two unexpected outcomes: The Swine flu epidemic never materialized, and the vaccine unexpectedly caused a 7-fold increase in a neurological side effect leading to weakness and paralysis, the Guillian Barre Syndrome. A shakeup at CDC followed, and for years the public's willingness to accept vaccines was diminished. Those who boldly predict the outcome of influenza do so at their own peril. The 2009 Swine flu outbreak that began in Mexico is different. Cases have developed in countries on at least five continents over a brief time period. The key mystery is why 160 deaths have been reported in Mexico. Sadly, the U.S. reported its first death in a 23-month-old Mexican toddler visiting in Texas. First let's look at the meaning of the deaths in context of the expected mortality rates. In the 1918-19 Avian flu pandemic, the mortality was 2.5% -- 25 times the rate we see with the seasonal arrival of flu each year of one in a thousand or 0.1%. If the 160 deaths in Mexico are truly related to swine flu and the disease is very virulent -- for example with a very high 1% mortality -- the real number of cases must be 16,000 -- not the 2,500 currently reported. On the other hand, if the new Swine flu is acting more like our seasonal flu, the real number of cases in Mexico is 160,000, 0.1% of which accounts for the 160 deaths. Whatever the true virulence of this Swine flu virus and its case mortality rate, the reported number of cases is grossly understated in Mexico. This also implies that the epidemic there is probably several months in duration. The first death in the U.S. among 64 cases, which is also the first death globally outside of Mexico among 100 or more cases, is difficult to put into perspective with any confidence -- especially since the baby came from Mexico. The death of a baby in the U.S. is tragic, but each year we see 36,000 deaths from influenza in our country. Influenza is always serious -- even without an exotic strain from another country. We cannot at this time predict the mortality of the Swine flu outbreak, but only put in a range of 0.1% of cases to something higher such as 0.5% (seen in the 1957 "Asian" flu and 1968 "Hong Kong" flu pandemics). A 1% mortality may be worst case scenario and seems unlikely. If more deaths are occurring in Mexico than the rest of the world, why would this happen? In both the U.S. and Mexico the same virus is attacking the same age cohort -- young adults. Then any big differences would be ascribed to differences in patients. Is it possible that patients in Mexico have co-infection with a second virus? Do they have high rates of secondary bacterial pneumonia with Staphylococcus aureus or Pneumococcus? Is the particulate air pollution in Mexico City damaging airways and lungs causing more disease? Do patients have an unusually robust immune response to the virus -- the so-called cytokine storm? We do not know the answers to any of these questions, but the key point is this: CDC in concert with health authorities in Mexico should perform sophisticated viral and bacterial studies, and pathology analyses on patients with severe disease and on patients who have died. Our understanding of how to manage this viral infection will be enhanced with such information. As we prepare ourselves in the U.S. for more illnesses and more deaths from the new Swine flu, it is the uncertainty that is especially challenging. Knowing the cause of severe illnesses and deaths and the true mortality will be of critical importance. Dr. Wenzel is the former President of the International Society for Infectious Diseases and Chairman of the Department of Internal Medicine at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, VA. More on Swine Flu
 
Thaddeus McCotter, GOP Leadership Member, Rejects New Republican Policy Group Top
House Republican Policy Committee Chairman Thaddeus McCotter (Mich.) said on Friday that he chose not to join senior Republicans in establishing a new policy development group because he believes it could undermine House efforts to hone a stronger GOP identity.
 
Bill Chameides: Weeds in the Garden: Spraying May Be Harmful to Your Health Top
Throughout much of the U.S. of A., spring has sprung. Here in North Carolina, lawns are lush and verdant and blooms are everywhere. But with the good stuff comes those pesky weeds. What's a gardener to do? Many Americans attack their weeds by spraying. Zap those guys with a chemical, kick back, and relax -- another weekend chore taken care of, right? Problem. I for one am not all that relaxed around most of those sprays. Do You Know What's in your Herbicide? By far the most popular herbicide is glyphosate -- every year Americans use more than 100 million tons [pdf] of the stuff. Introduced in 1974, glyphosate is now found in 63 pesticide formulations registered in the United States. The most common over-the-counter products are Roundup and Rodeo. Before running to the store for that bottle of glyphosate, consider the following. EPA Has Second Thoughts About Glyphosate In past posts I have noted that there are myriad chemicals in the marketplace whose effect on the environment and human health are not well characterized. Apparently the new folks at the Environmental Protection Agency are concerned about this. On April 15, 2009, EPA announced it will begin screening 67 herbicides and insecticides (for both active and/or inert ingredients) as possible endocrine disruptors . EPA will eventually expand the testing to cover all pesticides. In its announcement EPA was careful to note that "the list was developed on the basis of exposure potential and should not be construed as a list of known or likely endocrine disruptors." For those of us concerned about introducing such chemicals into the environment without a full understanding of their effects, this is welcome news. But there are nagging questions: Are EPA's proposed testing procedures adequate? Once testing begins, it will take a couple of years to find out if any chemicals are officially labeled as endocrine disruptors. Can we afford to wait that long given the scientific studies already linking significant health impacts to chemicals like glyphosate? (See here , here , and here .) So while we wait for the results of EPA's mandated tests, caveat emptor. To which I'd add, buyer be aware : before purchasing your next bottle of spray-on weed zapper I suggest checking out EPA's list [pdf] of 67 pesticides. And forewarned that if your favorite weed-killer happens to be Roundup or Rodeo, their active ingredient, glyphosate, is on the list. And It's Not Just the Active Ingredients Fighting weeds like the taraxacum officinale (aka dandelion) is an annual American ritual. But some ways of fighting might just be better than others. (Elizabeth A. Sellers/NBII.Gov) All pesticides are a mixture of an active ingredient (the registered pesticide) with other chemicals such as solvents, surfactants, and emulsifiers -- the so-called inert ingredients. Because these are considered trade secrets, pesticide manufacturers are not required to list them on the label. But don't be misled by that innocent appellation. Inert ingredients, which can comprise as much as 99 percent of a pesticide's formulation, are often highly toxic chemicals that can be more hazardous than the active ingredient or can act synergistically to form a more toxic brew when formulated as the pesticide. Roundup is a case in point . While lab experiments have shown that glyphosate on its own has interfered with gene activity in human placental cells, it is even more toxic when formulated as Roundup. The reason for this, researchers suspect , is that the inert ingredients act to enhance the toxic effect of glyphosate. So what's a gardener to do? Hold on one second (or scroll to the last paragraph). There's one other biggie worth mentioning here. Not Just a Problem for Our Lawns -- Roundup's on the Farm A great boon for Monsanto, Roundup's manufacturer, was the development in 1996 of so-called Roundup Ready crops. Simply put, these hybrids are crops that are engineered to resist the poison glyphosate. So planting Roundup Ready crops allows farmers to slather large amounts of the pesticide on them to kill weeds without damaging the crops themselves. In 2008 more than 90 percent of U.S. soybean crops were Roundup Ready and more than 60 percent of our corn and cotton acreage was Roundup Ready. Between 1996 and 2007 the use of glyphosate for just these three crops [pdf] went from 25 million pounds to more than 135 million pounds. But while the use of Roundup on American farms has skyrocketed, there are at least three important caveats to note. Its efficacy is not all that clear (see here , here , and here ); There is evidence that some weeds are developing a resistance to glyphosate and that weeds with higher glyphosate-resistance are becoming more plentiful (see here and here ); As weed resistance increases , more Roundup is required to maintain crops, reducing the profitability of Roundup Ready cropping systems and increasing the load of pesticides entering our soil, surface waters, and groundwater. In an interesting twist, just as species diversity promotes ecosystem health, here too pest management diversity and crop rotation seem to be the key to the effectiveness of Roundup Ready cropping systems.  So What To Do? Simple Solutions to Consider For Your Lawn - I would hardly call myself a gardener but I do get out in the yard from time to time, mostly to fight the weeds. I don't spray. What I do is pull, and sometimes I even get lucky in my backyard tug-of-war and get the roots. (And sometimes a poison ivy rash on my arms bears witness to the fight.) The agriculture department also has some good tips for fighting weeds. Regarding Your Fruit and Veggies - And what about those Roundup Ready crops? Are they loaded with an extra dollop of glyphosate? Should we be concerned? (See EPA's Reregistration Eligibility Decision , page 35, and this paper on weed control in Argentina.) I don't know about you, but to me the organic food counter is looking more inviting all the time. Further Reading EPA's Endocrine Disruptor Screening Program Statistically Speaking: Lawns by the Numbers - A look at how the American love affair with lawns impacts more than just our wallets. Dr. Bill Chameides is the dean of Duke's Nicholas School of the Environment and a member of the National Academy of Sciences. He blogs regularly at theGreenGrok.com .
 
Stimulus Blunted By State Budget Shortfalls: Study Top
A new report finds that a keystone of the Obama administration's effort to end the recession -- the $787 billion stimulus package -- will be significantly hampered by budget shortfalls in state and local governments, and that another round of stimulus spending might be necessary to counteract the housing crash. The report ( PDF ) by the Center for Economic and Policy Research says that state and local budget deficits to the tune of $100 billion a year will offset the stimulative effect of the president's American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Stimulus dollars used to cover deficits will have no stimulative effect, and the benefit of stimulus money well-spent will be offset if states increase taxes or decrease spending to close budget gaps, the report says. State budget shortfalls "are bigger than anticipated because the downturn's steeper," said the report's author, Dean Baker, in an interview with the Huffington Post. "The downdraft is greater so the net effect of the stimulus ends up being less." According to the report, the "net impact of government actions on the economy will be limited and will be a full magnitude of order smaller than the size of the $2.1 trillion demand shortfall created by the collapse of the housing bubble. The falloff in demand could be as much as 15 times the net average annual stimulus implied by ARRA and could leave the U.S. with a net impact as low as 1.1 to 0.7 percent of GDP for 2009 and 2010 respectively." In March, the Congressional Budget Office estimated that the stimulus bill would increase GDP "between 1.4 percent and 3.8 percent by the fourth quarter of 2009" and "between 1.1 percent and 3.4 percent by the fourth quarter of 2010." Baker said that considering the political difficulty of securing a bigger stimulus package, he doesn't necessarily fault the Obama administration for the size of the ARRA. But he doesn't understand why officials are trying to hearten Americans with talk of economic "green shoots." "The best thing you can say is the rate of decline is going to slow," Baker said. "If you add up the fall-off of consumption, the fall off of construction in the residential and non residential sectors, that sum is almost ten times as large as the sum coming from the government." Economists and even businesses have long argued that the stimulus is too small. "We've been in I-told-you-so territory for a long time," Baker said, adding that the nation will likely take another firm step into ITYST when the Department of Labor releases its unemployment statistics for the month of April. Get HuffPost Politics On Facebook and Twitter! More on Stimulus Package
 
Glenn Beck Inks Deal For Three Books Top
NEW YORK — Glenn Beck loves the publishing game. The conservative commentator and best-selling author has reached an agreement with Simon & Schuster for a series of books _ fiction and nonfiction, for young and for old, in a variety of formats _ the publisher announced Monday. As part of the deal, Beck will accept a smaller advance, but also will receive part of the profits, an arrangement Simon & Schuster has used previously with Stephen King. Beck has three books planned for this year, including "Arguing With Idiots," a nonfiction hardcover book; an audiobook called "America's March to Socialism"; and an e-book/paperback channeling of Thomas Paine, "Glenn Beck's Common Sense."
 
Pamela Redmond Satran: Baby Names: Ten Underrated Beauties Top
There are some names that, even now, after writing so much about the subject, I hear and think, "Wow, that's a great name. I wonder why people don't use that one more often?" Sometimes, the answer is that a name was just too popular too recently for parents to appreciate its intrinsic wonderfulness: the lush biblical Deborah is one that might fit in this category, though I didn't include it in my ten examples. Other times, a name carries an unappealing association for enough people to keep it from becoming popular. And there are a dozen other reasons why a perfectly wonderful name just might not make it big - which can be good news for the parent in search of a name that's both top-notch and undiscovered. Here, ten names we think are underrated right now: BARNABY - This name scores high by virtue of feeling both energetic and classical, a rarity among boys' names. The medieval English form of an ancient Aramaic name that means "son of the prophet" or "son of encouragement," Barnabas was given as a surname to a biblical missionary named Joseph. BRIDGET - The original Brighid was the ancient Irish goddess of poetry, fire, and wisdom, and the name in its many versions has been born by a host of saints, servants, and one extremely curvaceous French actress. An Irish immigrant maid was commonly called a "Bridget," an epithet that caused many young women to change their names to something more acceptable, like Bertha. But today, the original Bridget or Brigitte or Brigid or Birgitta is much more appealing. DINAH - The Old Testament Dinah - pronounced dye-nah - was the daughter of Jacob and Leah whose story was popularized by the novel "The Red Tent." The beauty of this classical name was obscured by so many similar and more popular versions: Dena and Deena and Diane and Diana. But Dinah, if you can get people to say it properly, remains a relatively undiscovered gem. GREGORY - Gregory is one of those names that, like Deborah, was so popular in recent decades that parents tend to bypass it now: It peaked in 1962 and remained in the Top 50 through the late 1980s, though now it's down to number 223. Greek for "vigilant" or "a watchman," Gregory remains a name that's both strong and friendly. The highly respectable name of popes and saints, it also carries the earthy short form Greg. MARGARET - Margaret was so widely used for so long - it remained in the Top 25 from 1880 well into the 1950s - that it came to be seen as one of those quintessential old lady names, but not in a good way. Greek for "pearl," Margaret has a rich, classic feel and was the name of many queens and saints. Another plus: a raft of great nicknames, from older choices like Peggy, Meg, and Maggie to new spins such as Maisie or Molly. The French Marguerite is very fashionable. OLYMPIA - Why has Olivia achieved mega-popularity while Olympia has languished? The mythological connection might be a negative, or is it something about that "limp" sound? Whatever: It's a name of champions and the fewer people that realize that, the better it will be for the selective few discerning enough to choose it. REUBEN - The sandwich connection may be what's holding back this Old Testament name from catching up with mega-popular brothers like Jacob and Benjamin. The stylishness of sister Ruby may give this name a boost. It's a treasure for adventurous yet classical-minded namers....and it can even work for girls. ROY - This name that means king has a mid-century cool-guy feel, thanks to Roy Orbison and Roy Rogers. It's short, it's simple, yet it stands out: What more could you want from a boy's name? The next Ray. TABITHA - Forever Samantha's daughter on Bewitched, this exotic choice from the New Testament never became as popular as her mother. Like Keziah or Lydia, Tabitha is that rare Biblical girls' name that remains distinctive yet feels totally appropriate for modern life. The nickname Tabby is cute, but the name really blossoms in its full form. THOMAS - Thomas is not exactly an underused name, but it is an underrated one. So plain as to fade into the background, Thomas and Tom are masculine names that manage to be at once soft and strong, modern and traditional. Originally used only for priests, Thomas is Aramaic for "twin" and comes attached to many appealing figures, including Thomas Edison and Jefferson, Tom Sawyer and Hanks. Pamela Redmond Satran is the coauthor of ten baby-naming guides, including Beyond Ava & Aiden, due out next month, and a developer of nameberry .
 
Brooke Astor: Charlene Marshall A "Bitch" Top
Philanthropist Brooke Astor hated her daughter-in-law so much that she told her doctor she would rather spend Christmas with her two dogs over "that bitch," according to testimony today in Manhattan court.
 
White House Aide: "We Love MSNBC" Top
Ever wonder what administration officials think of MSNBC, the cable home of Chris Matthews, Keith Olbermann and Rachel Maddow? White House adviser Kareem Dale answers the question. "At the White House, as we always like to say, we love MSNBC." The (clearly prepared) remark comes at about 1:55 of this clip: More on MSNBC
 
Bil Browning: That old house across the street Top
(Crossposted from The Bilerico Project ) If you follow me on Twitter , you know I spent most of last Thursday morning and early afternoon watching them demolish the abandoned house across the street. I tweeted the play-by-play and sent pictures too. Here's a small slideshow of the event. The house was over 100 years old and was once the nicest house on the street. The family who built it also built our home for their son; after they'd passed on, he moved into the bigger house that was just torn down. He died without heirs two years ago and the house sat vacant and abandoned since - left to termites, rats, raccoons and the occasional drug addict. Even though the elderly owner and I only spoke a handful of times, his and his family's lives have become inextricably entwined in my family's - and it's a lesson the LGBT community knows only too well. A Little Neighborhood Background Let me be clear: I am not the neighborhood historian. I just know bits and pieces that I've picked up over time. While some Indy neighborhoods have well documented histories, our neighborhood is always one of those listed but without information . The elderly gentleman's family built the recently demolished house and ours. He lived in our home with his wife and sons. At various times he was a teacher, a blacksmith and a leather worker. He is always described as an odd scholarly fellow; he was a packrat too and never threw anything away. When his parents died (and apparently his sons had moved on) , he moved into the bigger house across the street. Our back yard has a ton of bricks less than a foot below the grass from when he lived here; there was a forge in the middle of the yard and we still find odd half-melted drippings of metal and chunks of partially burned coal. We've pulled enough bricks out of our small back yard that we put in a brick sidewalk with them. When he sold our house, the buyers had to spend a long time hauling away all of the stuff stored in it. Almost every room had tons of crap in it - metal working leftovers, leather working tools, sheets of moldering and rotting leather, bricks, liquor bottles and general trash. When we recently had some insulation work done, I had to crawl into the attic and crawlspace. I pulled out at least 7 trashbags worth of empty booze bottles that had been hidden away for decades. After He Died After he moved into the other house, his packrat ways continued. After he died, his only remaining relative had the house emptied. The rooms were stacked floor to ceiling with only small walkways through the rooms. It took four semi-truck loads, three dumpsters, a dozen moving vans and several car trips to empty the place. Antique furniture, boxes of books, trash, and other odds and ends all made the trip to auction. While the home looked rather dilapidated from the outside, inside was much worse. Gone was its former glory as the nicest house on the street. Termites had invaded long ago; the floors and walls were infested and mostly rotten. Other animals like bats, raccoons and rats had set up shop in rooms full of nesting places in the accumulated debris. In one second story room the floor was so weak from the strain of decades of stacked heavy antique furniture that walking on it was dangerous. One of the floors on the first level had a hole in it that would drop you into the basement. The roof over the pantry leaked so badly you could see the rainwater flowing down the shelves like a waterfall; he continued to keep his food there. Moldy boxes and containers from years long past were hauled out to the trash. He left the home to a hospice worker who helped him in his last days. The guy would bring him meals and check in on him once a day. Since the elderly gentleman was cantankerous and independent, he would refuse any further help. The hospice worker didn't want the house, couldn't afford the house, and ended up burdened with the responsibility of cleaning it up ASAP or facing large fines. And so began a long period of legal battles between the city and the hospice worker. The house was condemned by the Health Department and boarded up. Notices went up in the neighborhood to warn that the rats would be seeking a new home and to keep an eye out. Drug addicts broke in several times and vandals and scavengers tore out what remained of the home's former life as an upscale dwelling. The walls were ripped open to get to copper wiring. The ornate marble fireplace was removed. Woodwork and ornamentation were also lost. Finally after several hearings and tens of thousands of dollars worth of fines, the hospice worker and the city reached a settlement. He gave them the house in exchange for forgiveness of the fines he couldn't pay on a house he didn't want to start with. Finally, last week the house was demolished. Connecting the Dots As I sit here writing this post in what was the elderly gentleman's library (now our living room) , I'm reminded of the connections between our families. The fireplace flu is missing an antique knob that he "had to take;" he promised to find it in that big ramshackle house across the street, but never did. When I find a big chunk of twisted melted ore in the backyard or another brick hiding under the grass, I wonder what the house looked like back then. One of his friends put graffiti in our garage; "So-and-so 1952" is still written on the inside wall and I fantasize who the person was and how his life turned out. I look at the big cement bricks that forms our basement walls with 1902 stamped into them or the old oil tank still standing in one corner. Everywhere you look there's the impact the gentleman and his family made on our home. We've made some major repairs to the house. When we moved in, our monthly gas bill was over $400. After new windows, insulation and plugging all of the many drafts and leaks we've lowered it dramatically (our last bill as for $68!!) . We've pulled up a sidewalk, planted grass and flowers, redone the drainage around the house and made other minor improvements. We've put our mark on the home too. But right before they demolished the house across the street, a few of us went in for one last look around the place. Hanging over the fireplace was a huge antique mirror. One of the neighbor ladies - who grew up in the neighborhood - told us that the mirror had hung over that fireplace for as long as she could remember; she's well over 50 years old herself. The salvage men who were taking out the last remnants still worth anything asked me if I'd like to have it as a memento of the family's connection to our house. The mirror came home with me and will probably be hung over our fireplace. I was the last person to walk out the door of the house before it was demolished. A Story LGBT People Know The story of this man and the homes is one the LGBT community knows only too well. We've lived through the ups and downs of fortune. We've come out proudly as ourselves - shiny and new - and we've also been downtrodden after years of abuse and neglect. We've experienced glory and shame as a community. As the neighborhood lived the trials and tribulations of his family and their houses, so has America stood by and watched as we've struggled for acceptance and equality. But neither the neighborhood nor the American public stepped in to truly assist when things went sour. As HIV and AIDS tore through the LGBT community like wildfire, America stood idly by tacitly condoning the destruction of "perverts" and "faggots." As the gentleman's family's fortunes declined and madness took him, the neighborhood turned a blind eye to his struggles. While most of the neighborhood bears some mark of the street's largest builder (they also built two other homes on the street that they sold automatically) , no one stopped to think of the history and culture they brought with them or the damage done by their loss. And while our community has been attacked, murdered, raped, and left to die of disease without even the comfort of a helping hand other than our own family, I'm left to ruminate on the similarities between the situations. I took the mirror to remind me to reflect occasionally on our path through life. The elderly gentleman's family - his mother and father, siblings, and his sons too - all saw themselves reflected in the glass. It recorded their lives and deaths without addition of agendas or motives; it simply was the display of emotions, aging and events. Now it can catch the minuscule details of our lives as it did theirs; the story lives on inside of its silent hardness - caught up in witnessing but never speaking. I refuse to allow the mirror to simply reflect our lives in this home. Instead of merely being a reflection of the things we've done here, I want the story to live larger. I want the story to be told and remarked upon. I want the larger neighborhood - society - to see not just a mirrored image of our struggles and lives, but the larger picture of how we shape our streets, our cities and our country. Perhaps by honoring our deceased neighbor by installing the mirror in our home, I can find the courage to continue holding up the mirror to the larger American psyche. Will we stand quietly watching over but never giving up the secrets or will we break the pattern and honor the contributions made in the past? Only time will tell.
 
Big-Screen Kindle Could Save Tons, Earn Tons Top
I've been seeing more and more Kindles on the trains lately, and maybe it's just because I'm about to move a ton of books yet again, but it seems like a better and better idea. Then, of course, I see HuffPost Media linking to the New York Times' piece about Amazon wanting to go big(ger) : But it is Amazon, maker of the Kindle, that appears to be first in line to try throwing an electronic life preserver to old-media companies. As early as this week, according to people briefed on the online retailer's plans, Amazon will introduce a larger version of its Kindle wireless device tailored for displaying newspapers, magazines and perhaps textbooks. But ZDNet thinks Amazon has its eyes on a different prize. And it's a much more financially rewarding prize : The reality: If Amazon is going to save the newspaper and magazine industry it will just be a side effect on the way to tackling a much bigger market: The college textbook industry, which carries some meaty margins. It's times like this that I like to go back to old posts by environmental blogs -- stuff from when they were originally excited about Kindle and other e-readers : Digital books have their advantages and their disadvantages. The good news is that they completely eliminate the need for shipping, they don't take up warehouse space and they are almost entirely resource free. No trees die, no fossil fuels or chemicals are used in their creation. They're infinitely reproducible for free. Of course, the intellectual property rights of the authors must be maintained, and I'm sure Amazon has a plan for digital rights management that will be fairly annoying. Also, ebooks are not flippable, you can't just flip through pages. You can, however, search the entire text of a book instantly. Try that with a paperback. Now, multiply that by HUGE textbooks, most of which are replaced yearly, and sprinkle in some newspapers and magazines. The paper and fossil fuel savings could be huge (not to mention the profits).
 
Faisal J. Abbas: How Religions Were United by 'Faith Fighter' Top
It was both ironic and interesting to see how a video game titled 'Faith Fighter' , where players control characters that are meant to represent: Jesus, Mohammed, Buddha, God and the Hindu god Ganesh and fight in a one-on-one competition, managed to bring followers of different religions and beliefs together in just a matter of days. The game has caused a lot of controversy ever since the London free morning daily, Metro , published a story last Monday and a poll on its website asking if the game should be banned. I followed this up by an Arabic version of the story for Asharq Al Awsat the very next day. This resulted in a series of complaints to the developer, most prominently from the Saudi-based Organization of the Islamic Conference (OTIC), which issued a statement expressing its concern calling the game "incendiary" and "offensive to both Muslims and Christians." The OTIC's statement is said to be the reason behind Molleindustria's decision to remove 'Faith Fighter'. However, despite many sensational headlines that insisted that the Islamic organization 'forced' Molleindustria to remove the game, the decision was completely a choice by the Italy based company, according to its own website, which doesn't mention anything about 'force', 'threats' or anything else except the mentioned statement. In addition, it wasn't only Muslims or those who are meant to be representing them (or should I say, us!) that complained about the content of 'Faith Fighter'. The same Metro story for example quotes spokespersons representing other faiths, such Douglas Miller, pastor of the Link Church in Birmingham (England), who said 'This game is going out of its way to upset people and I think it should be taken off the internet'. For his part, Brian Appleyard, former chairman of the Buddhist Society in the UK, said that the game was an 'offensive futile project'. This was followed by harsh criticism on many websites and online religious forums The game eventually was removed by Molleindustria, which stressed it was 'misunderstood' all long. I got in touch with the Italy based company, and according to the comments published in my Asharq Al Awsat's story , the game was conceived originally a few years ago as a response to the Danish cartoon (the controversy that outraged the Muslim world in 2005 with the publishing of cartoons depicting the Prophet Mohammed). "We didn't like that one-way Islamophobic satire so we decided to create a satirical game that makes fun of all the religions, because all beliefs can be used to incite hatred," the spokesperson added in an email statement. Molleindustria refused to apologize to anyone who may have been offended, and insisted this whole issue was all a misunderstanding. However, it must be fascinating to see that believers of different faiths were united to stop a 'blasphemous' (though virtual) 'Street Fighter II'-style online game, while the very same people probably are continuing to engage in 'mortal combat' in real life! Well... now that the job is done and the faiths of the world are finally united, somebody might want to check what is up with the freedom of speech lobbyists... they seem to be pretty upset about what has happened. I guess when it comes to religion vs. freedom of expression... the game will never be 'over'! More on Saudi Arabia
 
American Airlines Crew, Passengers Detained In Japan Over Flu Concerns Top
Two American Airlines flight attendants and at least 35 passengers have been detained in Japan over concerns about swine flu, according to a spokesman for the union that represents the airline's pilots. Allied Pilots Association spokesman Sam Mayer said the passengers and flight attendants from flight 169 were taken to a quarantine facility near the airport. More on Swine Flu
 
Elisabeth Hasselbeck: "I'm Definitely Not Paying Attention To My Pregnancy" Top
"I'm definitely not paying attention to my pregnancy," Hasselbeck confessed to PEOPLE at the Lilly Pulitzer launch of A Color Cause Thursday in New York City to benefit children with Epidermolysis Bullosa, a rare skin disease. "That won't be true for the child [when it arrives]. But now, when you have two kids running around you're not the pregnant person you were before."
 
White House Expecting Banks Will Need More Money, But Not From Government Top
The Obama White House acknowledged on Monday that the forthcoming stress test reports on the nation's largest banks will likely reveal that several of them remain under financial duress and with toxic assets still on their books. But the White House added that it felt confident, at this juncture, that they would not need to turn to Congress to get the funds needed to prop up those still-struggling institutions. "There undoubtedly will be banks that need more capital," spokesman Robert Gibbs said of the stress tests results, likely to be revealed on Thursday. "There have been banks in the past few weeks that have sought more capital. We believe, and the banks believe, that the first and best to get that is through the private sector. The administration doesn't believe that we need to go to Congress right now looking for more money." Gibbs stressed during his briefing with reporters that banks should be able to raise the money they will need "either from private means or the selling of some assets." To this point it has been reported that Bank of America and Citiigroup both will need an additional $10 billion in financial support. The former is already launching efforts to raise the needed capital through private means, in an effort to make it through the stress test. Gibbs also insisted that the public and regulators would be "pleased with the amount of transparency with which these tests" will be conducted and released. On this front, he finds himself in disagreement with the TARP's chief watchdog Elizabeth Warren, who has been decidedly unimpressed with the transparency of the process. When asked whether the reason the president would not be going to Congress for more money at this point was because the legislative body simply wouldn't give it to him, Gibbs acknowledged that he did not "doubt that this is unpopular." "It is unpopular here," he added. "The president didn't come here to, as he said, to run auto companies and bail out banks. But I think what is important about this process is getting a genuine understanding of what is out there." Get HuffPost Politics On Facebook and Twitter! More on Economy
 
Diane Dimond: Killer Classifieds Top
Jim Buckmaster must think we're stupid. He's the C.E.O. of Craigslist the popular and controversial internet classified ad site. Faced with another major public relations disaster, this time the murder of a young woman who reportedly hooked up with her killer via Craigslist, all Buckmaster had to say was, "I would not describe any section of our site as 'sex related.'" He admits Craigslist does feature an "erotic services" section but, he says, it was not designed to offer more than "legitimate escort services, sensual massage or exotic dancers." What does he think "erotic service" leads to - a game of paddy cake? In case you've been on a different planet lately Craigslist is a worldwide internet site featuring millions of ads on everything from "Jobs, housing, goods, services, romance, local activities, advice - just about anything, really." The most recent story has to do with the brutal beating and shooting death of 25 year old Julissa Brisman in a luxury Boston hotel room. That's where police say she met medical school student Phillip Markoff, now dubbed the Craigslist killer. At this writing Markoff is charged with Brisman's murder and is wanted in connection with the kidnapping and assault of at least two other women he met through the same site. Let me set the record straight. Craigslist includes ads for sex, lots of ads for sex. So either Mr. Buckmaster doesn't know his own product or he's parsing words to an extent that would put Bill Clinton to shame. Besides the erotic services section there's a whole "Personals" section with subtitles such as: Women seek men, women seek women, men seeking men. Just what does Buckmaster think these people are seeking - a ping pong partner? Suzy Spencer, a bestselling author who's researching a book on sexual trends in America, tells me the Craigslist "Casual Encounters" section is also sexually oriented. "It's where men and women go specifically to find partners for spur of the moment, no strings attached sex, not a date for dinner and a movie. I know. It's where I've found many of my (book's) sources, and they've told me in minute detail about the sex they had with partners they found via Craigslist." Look, I'm not blaming Craigslist for this young woman's murder. But you'd think its corporate culture might include the acceptance of some responsibility, maybe even a public admission, that their site has been a facilitator for predators on the prowl. Supporters of the site have said it's actually a good thing Markoff turned to Craigslist because police were able to follow the computer clues right to his doorstep. I say there's never much good news when someone has been murdered. The complaints about Craigslist and sex ads aren't new. Last year 40 State Attorneys General put pressure on the company and forced Craigslist to take steps to tone down its salacious postings. In March 2008 Craigslist began requiring all those who placed erotic ads to supply a telephone number, thinking that would be a deterrent. It wasn't. In November 2008 the company agreed to charge erotic service advertisers a small credit card fee which could go to identify them. Craigslist, then put in the uncomfortable position of both running and profiting from the erotic ads, declared the money would go to charities fighting human trafficking and child exploitation. That was nice. Not much changed, however, as thousands of the scandalous ads continued to crop up on the site. Just last month Tom Dart, Sheriff of Cook County, Illinois filed a federal lawsuit against Craigslist or as he called it, "the largest source of prostitution in America." A veteran social worker source of mine in Oakland, California agrees with the Sheriff. She says Craigslist continues to be a major path of income for young girls she works with. Some of them brag that they were as young as 12 when they began to tap Craigslist classifieds whenever they needed to make some cold hard cash. For the men who responded - that was felony statutory rape. CEO Buckmaster insists most of his site's classifieds are for furniture, appliances, jobs and legitimate services. Only about, "one percent of ads posted on Craigslist are in the erotic services section," he says. So, a question. If they constitute that small a contribution to Craigslist and the site makes no money from them why not take the high road and refuse to run them? Who among us wouldn't applaud that course of action? Wouldn't that be a better public relations move than insisting Craigslist is not culpable in any way? I wonder what Craig himself thinks about all this. Yes, the site's founder, Craig Newman, still works there as its iconic head and customer service representative. I wonder if he's totally proud of what his corporate creation has become. > Diane Dimond's weekly columns can be found on her web site www.DianeDimond.net Daily posts are found on www.TrueSlant.com/dianedimond
 
Tom Morris: The End of Philosophy? Top
Columnist David Brooks recently wrote an essay on moral judgment in the New York Times with the cleverly ambiguous title, "The End of Philosophy." Unfortunately, it has caused some casual readers to nod their heads in satisfied agreement that the demise of this hoary tradition of abstract reasoning, from togas to tweed jackets, is finally upon us. But it seems to me that this is not the thrust of the title, or the essay at all. In the end, it is the quite different, purposive sense of "end" - as objective, or target - that's operative. In this sense, the end of philosophy is its point, its rationale, or its reason for being. The end, or purposive goal, of philosophy is to understand the world, and the human adventure in it, in the most conceptually clear, comprehensive, and deeply practical way possible. There have always been two strands to philosophy as an enterprise: the theoretical side, which has dominated our colleges and universities now for decades, and the practical side, which flourished in the ancient world, and throughout the centuries until recently. For the practical side, philosophy is not so much the speculative business of puzzling over the world and drawing a few conclusions, as it is an imminently useful endeavor of seeking to get our bearings and wisely steer our way forward through life. After all, the word "philosophy" is just, etymologically, "the love of wisdom" - admittedly not something you'd easily guess from quick visits to philosophy classrooms around the country. But for most of its history, the life of philosophy has consisted not just in endless talk and argument about esoteric topics at the periphery of life, but also in a real search for personal understanding of a sort that can truly matter to the living of a good life, both individually, and collectively. Philosophy is ultimately about living well. Brooks rightly points out that many philosophers in the modern world may have been approaching their enterprise in a fundamentally unhelpful way. To say that the main tool of philosophy is reason is not to imply that the sole source of philosophical understanding is some elusive thing accessible only to the mind. Reasoned argument is important, logic is crucial, and the postulation of theories and principles is unavoidable in the philosophic quest, but taking seriously the full range of human experience is just as important, and indeed necessary. Philosophy cannot, for example, afford to hide away in armchair cogitation and ignore the best results of the natural sciences. But neither can it simply, like a faithful and well-trained dog, trot along one pace behind science, held tight by a fashionable leash to its latest results. Philosophy has its own proper concerns: What is a good life? What is success? How can we best live together? What is of ultimate value? What are the illusions that trap us, and that keep us from the freedom and happiness we most deeply desire? Nothing from a lab will ever answer these genuine and practical human concerns. And these are, of course, merely a few examples of the distinctive topics of philosophy. Brooks sees, from recent developments in cognitive science and evolutionary psychology, some important new avenues and ideas for understanding the moral life. I wholeheartedly agree. Moral decision-making, for instance, isn't paradigmatically, as many philosophers of the past seem to have supposed, the deduction of specific actions from abstract and general principles. It's a more complex and organic process, based on a rich and multifaceted history of attention, valuation, habit, and wisdom, or often a lack thereof. Brooks says that moral judgments, rather than being philosophical deductions, "are rapid intuitive decisions and involve the emotion-processing parts of the brain." And this seems very often to be true. Moral decision-making sometimes happens very quickly through intuition, and is often influenced by emotion. But there are also times when our intuitions are weak, or aren't clear, or in fact conflict. And whether all the emotions impinging on a decision ought to be affirmed, and acted on, is not a question we wisely let the emotions themselves always settle. What else is needed? That is a philosophic, and not a scientific, issue. Understanding emotions and intuitions, rather than particular philosophical theories and principles, as central to the moral life may be a marked improvement in several ways. But this shift of our attention, prompted science, would signal the demise of philosophy itself as an important and useful human enterprise only if it were inherently invested in one, never particularly persuasive, picture of human thought and action that is being eroded. And it isn't. Philosophy as an enterprise is never tied to just one way of thinking. It's an ongoing quest to find all the best ways of thinking. I understand the end or purpose of philosophy to be a good life, made possible by wisdom. Anything that advances us in this quest enhances the philosophical adventure, rather than detracting from it, or threatening it. It's hard to see how the results of the sciences could ever replace this endeavor. Brooks seems to acknowledge this in the end when he points out the apparent inability of the scientific models we have to give us a full explanation and understanding of such things as our "feelings of awe, transcendence, patriotism, joy and self-sacrifice" as well as our fundamental intuition and sense of "individual responsibility." About such things, philosophy has much of interest to say. Brooks rightly points out that there is a famous gap in our experience between principle and practice that much modern philosophy seems blithely to ignore. If philosophy promised us improved practices, but could give us only impotent principles, that would indeed be a problem. Intellectually grasping philosophical propositions about life does not necessarily translate into living better. We've long known that. But philosophers have not just announced abstract principles, hoping that progress would ensue. They have grappled with questions about the cultivation of virtue, and about what it takes to convey real wisdom in such a way as to make a discernible difference in daily life. As Aristotle pointed out long ago, our aim is not just to understand goodness, but to embody it. And if that is so, if the overall enterprise of philosophy is ultimately a practical one having to do with the understanding and proper guidance of human life and society into something truly great, or at least much better than what we would otherwise be likely to experience, then we can welcome the breakup of unhelpful paradigms from the past and celebrate the ways in which we can now partner with new developments in science to see things anew, and perhaps do new things as well. The job of philosophy begins afresh with each individual life. And the tools of its trade are expanding, with no clear end in sight.
 
Chinese Pro-Smoking Policy Persists Despite Controversy Top
A regulation urging civil servants to smoke local cigarettes has not been banned despite nationwide controversy, according to the local authority yesterday. More on China
 
Katie Halper: An Insider's (AKA Commie Jew's) Perspective on Pete Seeger's Birthday Concert! Top
Run into first friend, Mercedes, whose mother is in the New York City Labor Chorus. Mercedes tells me her mother Rona says " Joan Baez is a doll." On escalator I run into a friend from Camp Kinderland #1. In seating area I run into two more friends from Kinderland (#2,#3). Wonder if I will run into my aunt, uncle, cousin, other cousin and other cousin's son. Show starts. Native American Indian Cultural Alliance . I'm nervous that Pete will be a no show and is using concert to highlight the exploitation of Native Americans a la Marlon Brando at the 1973 Oscars. The Cougar! John Mellencamp sings If I Had a Hammer . Then he introduces a song he wrote, which he said was inspired by Pete. I was sure it was Hurts So Good but it wasn't. It was A Ride Back Home Billy Bragg says "these are weird times when a labor union can own a car company." He sings, and is funny and has great stage presence. And a totally hot British accent. Is he single? (Billy, if you're reading this, I don't mind that you have to travel and you're a musician. We can work on that. The important thing is communication. And you're obviously good at that. Plus I think we're meant to be because you pass my litmus test, proficiency in singing The Internationale, which very few men do these days. It's sad but true.) Emmylou Harris makes the by now nauseatingly played out and saccharinized Water is Wide beautiful again. Joan Baez really IS a doll. She's also a MILF and a FILF (a folk-singer...) Bring Em Home sung by Tao Rodriguez-Seeger et all is pretty amazing. Uplifting and at the same time totally tragic. Very emotional. Rufus Wainwright's fedora is totally eclipsed by Tim Robbins' NPR ponytail. Nonetheless, they sing a beautiful version of Michael Row Your Boat Ashore. Intermission. I run into four more friends from camp (that makes 7). Run into two more (now we're at 9.) Norm Lear presents Happy Birthday letter from Obama to Pete. Writing is nice. Coming would have been nicer. I'm bummed that Malia and Sasha aren't here. Pete Seeger leads entire audience in an a capella version of Amazing Grace. He explains "there's no wrong note as long as you're singing." I think he means "as long as you're singing, not too loudly." Cameo by Oscar the Grouch. Richie Havens looks and sounds amazing. Such great cheekbones. Sings Freedom/ Motherless Child. which he finishes with a martial arts jump kick. He also kind of gracefully drop kicks his guitar. Not sure what that move is called. Or if it is a move. I get confused when someone I think is my mother's cousin comes to the stage. It's actually Arlo Guthrie . But I text my cousin "Arlo Guthrie = Cousin Jackie." Before I hit send I get a text from my cousin "how much does Arlo Guthrie look like Cousin Jackie." Peggy Seeger reads a sweet letter to her brother. But first she thanks all the people working backstage who we can't see and the crowd goes wild. (You know you're at a lefty folk concert when the invisible and unthanked workers get the loudest applause.) Ben Harper sings with his mother and aunt (the oldest chick magnet trick in the world. Older than dog walking or being great with kids.) Bruce Springsteen waxes very poetic and eloquent about Pete. When The Boss asked the Sege to sing This Land is YourLand and asked him which verses he wanted to sing, Pete said all of them. "He sings all the verses, all the time.... Especially the ones we'd like to leave out in the history of our people." Calls Pete a stealth dagger through the heart of what this country thinks of itself. Says he's like a grandfather "if your grandfather is gonna kick your ass." The Boss (not a very union-friendly name) sings The Ghost of with Tom Morello, who, incidentally, is the great nephew of Jomo Kenyatta, Kenya's first president. On way out I run into two more Kinderland friends. (that's 11.) Run into cousins. My cousin's five year-old son asks "when are they doing this again?" Good question! Ray, Ian, in High Fidelity | Movies & TV | SPIKE.com More on Video
 
National Zoo In DC Using Stimulus Funds Despite Ban Top
Soyono the Sumatran tiger will get her enclosure spruced up under the federal stimulus bill. So will Luke the Lion. But forget about Miss B., the old world rabbit at the Philadelphia Zoo. The polar bears in Providence? Left out in the cold. The economic stimulus law explicitly bans state and local governments from spending stimulus money on zoos. But it makes no mention of the National Zoo in Washington, D.C., where Luke and Soyono live. More on Stimulus Package
 
DirecTV, Liberty Media Detail Spinoff Plans Top
DirecTV Group Inc., the nation's largest satellite TV provider, said Monday it will be combined with the entertainment unit of Liberty Media Corp. and spun off into a separately traded company. The deal will give DirecTV assets that would enhance the offerings of its satellite TV operations: regional sports networks in Seattle, Denver and Pittsburgh as well as a 65 percent stake in the Game Show Network and FUN Technologies, a provider of online sports games and information. It also whittles the controlling stake held by media mogul John Malone, who heads Englewood, Colo.-based Liberty Media, to 24 percent in the new company from 48 percent. He will remain as chairman of DirecTV, as the board and top executive ranks will stay intact. "Since its inception, DirecTV has been controlled by other corporate entities. For the first time, DirecTV's shareholders will control its future," said Chase Carey, chief executive of DirecTV, in a conference call with analysts. DirecTV once was a business within the Hughes Electronics unit of General Motors Corp. News Corp. took control in 2003, and then DirecTV fell into Liberty Media's sway in February 2008. Back then, Liberty Media swapped its stake in News Corp. plus cash for a controlling stake in DirecTV and the three regional sports networks. The latest deal is expected to close in the fourth quarter. DirecTV expects to incur an estimated $300 million to $400 million charge as a result. Shares of El Segundo, Calif.-based DirecTV were down $1.02, more than 4 percent, to $23.55 in midday trading. Liberty Entertainment was up 83 cents, or 3.4 percent, to $25.16. Murray Arenson, senior analyst at Janco Partners in Denver, said the deal simplifies the equity structure at DirecTV and gives it added flexibility to enter partnerships with other companies. "It's a good deal," he said. DirecTV has done well even in this recession as consumers opt to stay home for entertainment. It has focused on the most creditworthy customers who value their TV programming more than they want to get a good deal. DirecTV's next quarterly earnings report is Thursday. The new company will have $30 million in cash and $2 billion of debt. It also will have access to $650 million in funding through a term loan facility. The new DirecTV will have two classes of stock. One will have one vote per share while the other holds 15 votes per share. Malone, his wife and associated trusts will hold DirecTV shares that give them 24 percent voting control in the new company. Liberty Media has traded as three separate tracking stocks that represent its holdings in interactive, entertainment and other businesses. For this deal, Liberty Entertainment will be separated from Liberty Media, and then DirecTV will be merged into Liberty Entertainment to form a new company under the DirecTV name. The rest of the entertainment unit not included in the spin-off will operate under the name Liberty Starz. Once the deal closes, holders of the Liberty entertainment tracking stock will get one class A share of the new company for each share they hold. In addition, the tracking stock's class A holders will get 0.1 share of the new company's class A stock for each share while the class B owners will get 0.1 class B shares. ___ AP Technology Writer Barbara Ortutay in New York contributed to this report. (This version CORRECTS share-exchange ratio and ownership stake)
 
Cinco De Mayo: 5 Fun Ways To Celebrate Top
While not the official Mexican Independence Day, which falls on September 16, Cinco de Mayo might just be the quintessential celebration of freedom for Mexicans the world over. After the 1846 war with America, Mexico went through a difficult economic period, which was further weighed down by a civil war that lasted from 1858 to 1861. To supplement a deflated economy, Mexico borrowed vast sums of money from England, Spain and France. In 1862, all three European powers came to collect. Mexico offered vouchers, England and Spain accepted and went home; France invaded. Under Napoleon III, French troops moved inland from shore, trying to make their way to Mexico City. But before they could get to the capital, they were stopped at the state of Puebla. This is where, on May 5 of 1862, the comparatively small, outnumbered and out-armed Mexican army defeated the then super power that was France. Mexico City subsequently fell to French rule less than a year later, but this hasn't spoiled the fun or the significance of that victory. The Mexican men who fought at Puebla defied the odds, and Cinco de Mayo celebrates their bravery and determination. Usually the festivities include Mexican food; think quesadilla and Mole Poblano, Mexican music like mariachi, parades, piñatas and firework. And, of course, plenty of margaritas and cerveza. Here are five fun ways to join in on the festivities. 1) Dress up and fight it out. In places like Puebla and Mexico City, people re-enact the battle. Men dress as French and Mexican soldiers and generals, and women wear the clothing of the soldaderas, who not only cooked for and looked after the soldiers in wartime but also fought alongside them. Mexican soldiers carry machetes and old gun-powder rifles while the French soldiers carry bags with wine bottles sticking out. (Because that is what you really need on a battlefield.) Rumor has it that in some of these staged battles, actual casualties do occur, but more commonly, fruit is used as ammunition, so beware of flying food. - A group of actors reenact the Battle of Puebla to commemorate their defeat over the French Army, in Mexico City on May 5, 2008. - AFP/Getty Images 2) Speaking of food. Mexicans take great pride in their well-catered shindigs. Go beyond the fast-food tacos and burritos that most folks are familiar with and make yourself a Mole. Legend has it that two non-cooking nuns from Puebla were surprised by a visitor. They used a molcajete (mortar and pestle) to grind every ingredient they could find -- including tomato, chocolate and chillies -- then simmered the concoction until it thickened to a sauce. Mole Poblano is a staple dish in Mexican cuisine, and traditionally served in Puebla on Cinco de Mayo. 3) Rock out. If cooking is not your thing, break out the booze and start a jam session. The Mexican community on the Cayman Islands holds an annual Cinco de Mayo air-guitar competition. Evidently, aside from the date, the only thing related to Mexico and Mexican culture at the air-guitar competition is that Corona is on special. - Lisa Nadal dances with members of the Mexico International Mariachi band while they attend 'Florida - Mexico Cinco de Mayo Celebration: an Exchange of Cultures,' May 5, 2004 in Miami Beach, Florida. - Getty Images 4) Make your way to a festival. One of the largest Cinco de Mayo festivals is in Portland, Oregon. Founded in the 1980s through a partnership with Portland's sister city of Guadalajara, Mexico, the festival is held over a long weekend. People actually travel from Guadalajara to Portland, bringing authentic Mexican mariachi music and folkloric dancing to the American local, attracting more than 300,000 people each year. But the celebrations that take place in Denver, Colorado, at Civic Park are by far the most extensive. The festival attracts more than 350 vendors and features three stages of live entertainment and a green chilli cook-off. So do as Mexican's do and find a fiesta in your barrio. 5) Take to the skies. The Canadians celebrate Cinco de Mayo in a very small, but extremely unique way. The Abbotsford Skydive Centre in Vancouver hosts an annual Cinco de Mayo skydiving "boogie," complete with an air show, live music and food, as well as tandem skydiving lessons. What better way to celebrate freedom then to jump from a plane and plunge back to earth at death-defying speed. Keep in touch with Huffington Post World on Facebook and Twitter . More on Mexico
 
MTV Movie Award Nominees 2009: Slumdog Leads, Faces Twilight - WILL THE KIDS COME? Top
NEW YORK — It's "Twilight" versus "Slumdog Millionaire" at this year's MTV Movie Awards. The vampire blockbuster and Oscar-winning Indian romance have six nominations each, including best movie, MTV announced Monday. "Slumdog" star Dev Patel and "Twilight" vampire Robert Pattinson are both nominated for the male breakthrough performance award. The other contenders are Ben Barnes ("The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian"), Bobb'e J. Thompson ("Role Models") and Pattinson's "Twilight" co-star Taylor Lautner. Mark Burnett, who produces the freewheeling ceremony, said either film has a great chance of winning best picture. "Twilight" has "certainly touched a part of America and young girls are totally in love with what the movie stands for and (with) romance," Burnett said in an interview. "And, on the other hand, I have to say, all of my kids loved `Slumdog Millionaire.' There's just something so uplifting about what that movie stands for." Other nominated films include "Iron Man," "The Dark Knight" and "High School Musical 3: Senior Year." Kate Winslet, who won an Oscar for her dramatic role in "The Reader," is up for best female performance, along with Angelina Jolie ("Wanted"), Anne Hathaway ("Bride Wars"), Kristen Stewart ("Twilight") and Taraji P. Henson ("The Curious Case of Benjamin Button"). Nominees for best male performance are Christian Bale ("The Dark Knight"), Robert Downey Jr. ("Iron Man"), Shia LaBeouf ("Eagle Eye"), Vin Diesel ("Fast & Furious") and "High School Musical" heartthrob Zac Efron. Efron's co-star (and girlfriend) Vanessa Hudgens will challenge Miley Cyrus for the breakthrough performance female award. Their competition includes "Slumdog" beauty Freida Pinto and Ashley Tisdale, another "HSM" star. The golden popcorn trophy for best kiss _ one of the event's signature unconventional categories _ could be handed to one of six big-screen duos, including Efron and Hudgens, Pinto and Patel, Stewart and Pattinson, or Sean Penn and James Franco, who co-starred in "Milk." Ledger, who won a posthumous Oscar for his menacing performance as the Joker in "The Dark Knight," is also nominated in the best villain category. MTV usually introduces a new category or two each year: This year, a golden popcorn will be awarded to the "best song from a movie." The nominees are Cyrus' "The Climb" (from the new "Hannah Montana" film); the "Twilight" song "Decode" by Paramore; the "Slumdog" anthem "Jai Ho"; and the Bruce Springsteen ballad "The Wrestler" from the movie starring Mickey Rourke. Votes can be cast online at MTV's Web site through May 27 for all categories except best movie. MTV said voting in that category remains open until May 31, when the show will air live from the Gibson Amphitheatre in Universal City, Calif. "Saturday Night Live" star Andy Samberg is the host. Burnett said the key to a successful movie-awards show is to let awkward moments pan out. Among last year's highlights: Franco and Seth Rogen pulled out a bag of fake marijuana on stage. "I will tell you right now _ there are three big things" that are part of the show, Burnett said. "I would say personally in my three years of producing the MTV Movie Awards live, the biggest thing that I can think of is going to be happening this year." ___ On the Net: http://www.MovieAwards.MTV.com More on Slumdog Millionaire
 
Japan's Suicide Rate Rising In Economic Slump Top
The first indications of a life that has been lost appear within a hundred yards of entering the forest. Scattered across mossy tree roots are a man's shirt, boxer shorts and trousers. More on Japan
 

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1 comment:

  1. FrancesOctober 16, 2012 at 8:48 PM

    Even if you consider yourself as an experts already in the field of real estate, you should still equip yourself with the knowledge from the Marble Falls real estate website if ever you plan to invest within that area.

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