Friday, June 19, 2009

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J. Bradley Jansen: A Way Out Of The Iranian Stalemate Top
Allowing a presidential run-off may be the best solution to the current Iranian crisis. Thankfully, the situation has avoided large-scale bloodshed thus far and the principle leaders seem to want to avert that scenario. The Iranian presidential election of June 12th has created a stalemate with an increasingly high potential for worsening violence. The key players seem to have backed themselves into a corner: the declared losers want the vote declared null and void while the establishment repeatedly reaffirms the proclaimed outcome. Everyone now suspects that what comes next is what usually happens when people without guns stand up to those with guns. As it stands now, the current President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was declared the winner in his race for re-election with a majority of the vote with opposition candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi coming in second with most of the rest of the vote. Mehdi Karroubi, a former reformist speaker of parliament and Mohsen Rezaei, a former senior commander in the elite revolutionary guards picked up the small remainder. Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei nearly immediately declared the incumbent president the winner. Despite widespread allegations of electoral fraud and other irregularities, there have been concerned denials of a rigged vote. Both sides of the standoff blame the other for any related violence and seem to groping for a peaceful resolution. Ahmadinejad has backed away from his "dust and dirt" remark that inflamed his detractors. Mousavi has assiduously tried to avoid a violent confrontation -- nor has he intimated he seeks to overthrow the Islamic Republic. On one hand, there is no easy way for Mousavi to claim power. Following the rules would not allow it. Ahmadinejad's supporters (a minority of whom are armed basij) would be justifiably incensed. That result would be paramount to a coup d'etat that many of Mousavi's supporters think they are protesting. On the other hand, Khamenei gave an incalcitrant speech at Friday's Mosque prayers standing firmly behind the election and President Ahmadinejad and dismissing the claims of the other contenders. However, his acknowledgment that there might be some irregularities. Even in long-running democratic republics with a history of well-run elections, there are widely-recognized problems. Not only is there is no shame in such an admission, but acknowledging it is another sign of a mature republic. For that much, Khamenei should be commended. He urged those who disagree to make challenges through legal means. Although dismissing the idea that any election issues would change the order of the election result, Khamenei readily acknowledged there could be significant problems but not enough to change Ahmadinejad's win -- even before the Guardian Council reports the results of its examination of the election complaints. Here is a road to a peaceful resolution of the impasse: The three reportedly losing candidates have presented the Iran's electoral watchdog the 12-member Council of Guardians with 646 specific formal complaints of irregularities. Guardian Council Spokesman Abbas Ali Kadkhodaei responded by inviting all three candidates disputing the results to meet with the entire council directly this weekend in order to present their case. Since the council's report would not come until after the following meeting, there is good reason to have missed the previously scheduled June 19th run-off. Khamenei could rightfully claim that he did not declare the need for one previously since, he thought, Ahmadinejad had won an outright majority. By declaring a new run-off between Ahmadinejad and Mousavi, Khamenei could uphold the law and will of the council while simultaneously assuaging the protesters. All Iran needs to move in a new direction is for the Guardian Council to uncover enough questionable votes to cast doubt on Ahmadinejad's absolute majority. If that happens, Khamenei has already laid the groundwork for a new path: Ahmadinejad's win was not sufficient to avoid a run-off. Following the law, there will then be a new election where Ahmadinejad and Mousavi would face off against each other one-on-one. The ruling elite does not need to back down from their claim that Ahmadinejad came in first. No one believes Mousavi got a majority of the vote in the first round of voting. The other two candidates must that the contest is now between the president and Mousavi. The ruling elite would then be able to fix the run-off election knowing what the consequences may be (not that anyone has proven that this one was fraudulent). While some might believe Karroubi could have come in second in the first round, I think he would recognized he has been eclipsed in the post-election response by Mousavi. The struggle now is between Mousavi and the current regime. Mousavi himself would be under great pressure to accept such an outcome. The Iranian people have witnessed a great public debate both before and after the election. No one can claim a monopoly of support. They deserve the opportunity to continue that debate in a formal, legal and peaceful manner. Allowing a second round of voting between the two top challengers is the right solution. J. Bradley Jansen is the director of the Center for Financial Privacy and Human Rights , part of the Liberty and Privacy Network, a Washington DC-based non-profit. More on Iranian Election
 
Francesca Biller-Safran: Fathers Matter "Now" More Than Ever Top
Fathers matter more than ever, and anyone who doubts their importance has inevitably endured life without one. Even feminist Gloria Steinem said, "Most American children suffer too much mother and too little father." The politically correct modern notion is that as long as a child is healthy and loved, it doesn't matter who they are raised and nurtured by. And of course if there is no father, any loving parent is integral for a child's well being. But the male influence in a child's life is invaluable, irreplaceable and necessary for most of us. There, I said it. As politically incorrect as it may sound, fathers are important, and it would do us all good to reflect on where we might be without the great male influence that our fathers have bestowed on our lives. While it is true that we all need the unique love and nurturing only a mother can give, we also need dads more than ever, and more of the old-fashioned kind. Thankfully, I grew up in an era when men were allowed to be fathers without being chastised for being too manly or strong. Many children today unfortunately miss out on the invaluable experience of loving, strong fathers who don't feel the need to apologize for being male, and all of the characteristics that come along with being so-- some of them wonderful, some so not, but most necessary for balance, tenacity and maturity. Former New York Governor Mario Cuomo said, "I talk and talk and talk, and I haven't taught people in 50 years what my father taught by example in one week." There are of course all sorts of fathers, some who have not earned the title. But for the most part, dads fill a special place in our lives that cannot be matched in quite any other way. Comedian Jerry Lewis had an interesting dad. Lewis said, "When I was a kid, I said to my father one afternoon, "Daddy, will you take me to the zoo?" He answered, "If the zoo wants you, let them come and get you." And Rodney Dangerfield lamented, "I was so ugly--my father carries around a picture of the kid who came with his wallet." My dad too carried with him a lot of acerbic wit, and often we couldn't tell if he was serious or not. I will never forget the feeling when he got home each day. As kids, we were excited by his arrival but also knew rules definitely were in strict order when he walked through the door. Call it child abuse, but we were not allowed to talk over him or my mother. When they spoke, it meant they actually had something to say and we should listen up. Fathers are like that. They show their love and strength largely through action and when they do have something to say, it is usually memorable, for fewer words are spoken with deliberate forethought. As children, we often don't realize the important roles they play in our lives because they stay in the background more than our mothers, although they often give a generation much of its strength, character and resilience through action, rather than words. Mark Twain said, "When I was a boy of fourteen, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have the old man around. But when I got to be twenty-one, I was astonished at how much he had learned in seven years." No doubt our appreciation of fathers can take a while to ferment; as they are more pragmatic and less vocal about how they feel about us, and as children we often mistake them for being not as loving as our mothers, with few "I Love You's spoken, but a lot of loving actions continually played. This article in no way suggests that millions of single mothers, aunts, grandmothers and other female caregivers have done amazing jobs in raising beautiful, strong boys into men, and with little help. And most women who raise boys alone do so not by choice but because of economic disparity or because husbands, boy friends or mere "sperm donors" have walked out on them no support. It is indeed this pragmatism that dads have that is so necessary for both boys and girls to grow up healthy and strong. For instance, fathers often encourage us to try something new, even when some moms warn we might get hurt emotionally or physically. It is that perfect mix of caution and grit we need in order to become well balanced adults. Fathers usually encourage us to take the training wheels off our bicycles as well as applying for that job we never think we could get. And when we fall off our bicycles and don't get that dream job; a simple pat answer of "You'll ace it next time, kid" is just what we need to hear. It also often our fathers we turn to for that extra emotional support we might need in a non-emotional fashion, assuring us things will work themselves out in the end with hard work, determination and chutzpah. "My father used to play with my brother and me in the yard," said baseball player Harmon Killebrew. "Mother would come out and say, "You're tearing up grass." "We're not raising grass," Dad would reply. "We're raising boys." For some fairness and historical perspective, if one were to do their research, as in all statistics, the good, the bad and the ugly can be found quite easily to prove just about any point. For example, here is a list of fatherless men who grew up infamous in the worst sense of the word: Adolph Hitler, Saddam Hussein, Charles Manson, John Wilkes Booth, Jack the Ripper, Billy the Kid and Lee Harvey Oswald. On the other hand, the following is a list of fatherless men who grew up to be prolific leaders and thinkers: Thomas Jefferson, Mark Twain, Aristotle, General Robert E Lee, William Jefferson Clinton, President Barack Obama, George Washington and Leonardo Da Vinci. I have to admit I was a little scared of my dad growing up when he got angry. Although he was inspiring, funny, and smart and seemed larger than life, when he got mad at us we knew he must have a reason and we always listened. These moments taught us a lot. Comedian and father Bill Cosby said, "Always end the name of your child with a vowel, so that when you yell, the name will carry." On a more serious note Cosby would be the first to admit that growing up without a father is no laughing matter. A recent poll shows that more than 70% of the U.S population thinks the most significant social problem in this country is that so many children grow up without fathers. "A house without a father is a challenge," writes Cosby in his book 'Fatherless Children.' "A neighborhood without fathers is a catastrophe, and that's just about what we have today. ... Why is the problem so grave? A mother can usually teach a daughter how to be a woman. But as much as mothers love their sons, they have difficulty showing a son how to be a man.... We can't speak honestly of black culture in America unless and until we honestly address the issue of the estrangement of fathers and their children." And statistics for both boys and girls prove this theory to be more fact than conjecture. For example, an adolescent white female growing up in an advantaged background is five times more likely to become a teen mother if she grows up without a father in the home. The picture is even grimmer for boys who grow up without dads present in the home. Psychiatrists say that many fatherless boys are motivated by "displaced anger." According to The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the National Center for Health statistics, fatherless children are at a dramatically greater risk of drug and alcohol abuse, mental illness, suicide, poor educational performance, teen pregnancy, and criminality. And in a study conducted by 'The Consortium for the Study of School Needs of Children from One Parent Families', children with fathers at home tend to do better in school, are less prone to depression and are more successful in relationships. Children from one-parent families achieve less and get into trouble more than children from two parent families. Nearly 80% of all rapists are reported to have grown up in fatherless homes. For both boys and girls, 90% of all homeless and runaway children are from fatherless homes as well as 75% of all adolescent patients in chemical abuse centers from homes without fathers. Sigmund Freud wrote, "I cannot think of any need in childhood as strong as the need for a father's protection." Now that we are all sobered about these figures- the good news is that fathers are beginning to get a better rap on a lot of fronts. The pendulum of public opinion is starting swing as well as rid a culture that suggests fathers are unimportant and valueless, which will prove valuable to the next generation of would-be fathers, mothers and their children. The politically incorrect notion that men don't matter in children's lives is beginning to be said out loud without much argument from either the pop-psyche culture and from those who claim that dads matter little in the lives of children. Similarly, the idea that men can only be "good fathers" if they act like women is also looked on as preposterous and counterproductive. The view that a strong male influence can be easily displaced or replaced is fortunately losing its ground with more women and men realizing the profundity of fathers as role models and teachers for all children and for the betterment of communities and society as a whole. The worst that can happen as we wake up from years of emasculating and ignoring the male father role as integral and necessary is that more children will one day be wish their own dads a "Happy Fathers Day" throughout their childhood years and beyond. More on Crime
 
Jake Colvin: Why Can We Visit Kim Jung Il but Not Old Havana? Top
Chances are, if you are an American citizen, you can pack your bags for a propaganda-filled tour of North Korea but you cannot order up a daiquiri at El Floridita , the bar Ernest Hemingway made famous in Old Havana. Cuba, it turns out, is the only country on earth that U.S. citizens are largely prohibited from visiting. Americans are free to travel to countries like Iran, North Korea and Sudan, assuming they can get a visa from their bad actor of choice, but cannot hop on a plane to Cuba thanks to U.S. sanctions. Perhaps it is time to rethink our approach and open Cuba to American tourists. There is no shortage of good reasons for allowing Americans to travel to Cuba. By far the best is that the United States should not be in the business of restricting the right of its citizens to choose where to travel. As President Reagan liked to say, America is the shining city on a hill and the world's eyes remain focused upon us. Limiting the freedom of American citizens in an effort to advance the cause of liberty in Cuba is an Orwellian anomaly in U.S. foreign policy that ought to be corrected immediately. We undermine the cause of freedom abroad when we restrict it here at home. Americans are extraordinary ambassadors to the world. Restricting travel to Cuba severely limits the positive impact Americans can have abroad through everyday activities and interactions. Travel promotes understanding, respect and shared values, which is good for Cubans and Americans alike. "Travel," observed Mark Twain, "is fatal to prejudice, bigotry and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on those accounts." Boost to ordinary Cubans, travel industry Travel by American citizens would directly benefit the Cuban people. American travelers would help put more money in the hands of ordinary Cubans who work in the hospitality industry in Cuba. While some tourist dollars would undoubtedly benefit the Castro regime, many more would help ordinary Cuban citizens provide for themselves and their families. From a business perspective, restoring tourist travel to Cuba would benefit U.S. airlines, cruise ships and tour operators and could create thousands of jobs in the travel industry immediately. Estimates suggest up to a million travelers could visit Cuba annually from the United States once restrictions are removed. Resuming travel to Cuba could potentially boost demand for certain American products like beef, soft drinks, wine and potato chips, which are permitted to be exported to Cuba under an exemption to U.S. sanctions. Current travel restrictions also place a tremendous burden on the same taxpayer dollars that are allocated to investigate al Qaeda and keep international terrorists and criminals out of the United States. A 2007 U.S. Government report concluded that inspections of travelers arriving from Cuba may strain efforts to keep out terrorists and criminals from entering the country. Eliminating the travel ban would allow the U.S. government to redeploy its resources to tackle more urgent pursuits. Send a positive signal internationally Finally, changing course on U.S. Cuba policy would boost America's image in the world, particularly in Latin America. Leaders of Argentina, Brazil and other nations have made clear to President Obama that a new U.S. approach to Cuba is a priority for the hemisphere. Removing travel restrictions is an easy way to send a positive signal internationally. Congress has introduced legislation known as the Freedom to Travel to Cuba Act, which would restore the ability of Americans to travel to Cuba. President Obama should make clear his support for this effort, and leaders in Congress should ensure that the legislation is voted on this year. Travel writer Bill Bryson once commented that, "I can't think of anything that excites a greater sense of childlike wonder than to be in a country where you are ignorant of almost everything." Decades of restrictions on travel to Cuba have left most Americans with little knowledge of the island, which sits just 90 miles from the shores of the United States. It is time to unlock the sense of wonder for American citizens and end the ban on travel to Cuba. This article is cross-posted at blog.opencuba.org. More on Travel
 
Quinn Wants Vote On Income Tax Hike Wednesday Top
CHICAGO (AP) -- Gov. Pat Quinn wants lawmakers to vote Wednesday on an income tax increase while they're in Springfield working on the state budget. Quinn visited a Chicago training center for developmentally disabled adults on Friday to highlight cuts in human services programs he says will happen without more revenue from a tax increase. The governor has called a special session to get lawmakers back to work to avoid $9.2 billion in spending cuts. But so far there hasn't been enough support among lawmakers to pass Quinn's tax increase. Quinn wants a two-year, temporary boost that would raise the personal income tax rate to 4.5 percent from 3 percent. The Illinois House rejected that plan before adjourning the spring session earlier this month. The state Senate passed a higher, permanent increase. -ASSOCIATED PRESS
 
Mike Hegedus: ABC's 'New Normal' is Old, GMA Hires Babe.Tango anyone? Top
It's one of the oldest moves in television news: hire a babe. Melissa Rycroft, ex of 'The Bachelor' and 'Dancing with the Stars' on ABC is now a 'summer contributor' covering 'fun' stories for Good Morning America. You suppose that's what David Westin means by the 'new normal'? (BTW--is that anything like GE's 'green initiative that ends up on NBC News every year?) Now don't get me wrong, there's nothing the matter with hiring attractive folks to work on news broadcasts. In fact, it has been happening for decades now. Hmmmm. And where has that gotten us? We are decades into following the same basic television news formula and it's time for a change. Time for some new ideas. Local news in particular, with a few exceptions, is on the precipise of irrelevancy. And it is slowly being pushed over the edge by the very people who should be trying to pull it back from brink. The people working in it. But there's a simple problem. The only answer they know is: hire a babe. If not literally, then figuratively. Change the set. Get more graphics. Get less graphics. Pick up the pace. Slow down the pace. Stack it tight. Stack it lite. More promos. More teases. Less chit chat. More chit chat. Did I mention changing the set? Maybe we should hire a babe. They're tried it everywhere else, from the business channel to PBS. It has been interesting lately to watch the 'inside the beltway' moves taking place at a number of local stations, the movement of General Managers and News Directors in particular. To borrow a phrase, it's been allot like watching them move the chairs around on the deck of the Titanic. The 'logical and safe' choices have been made in every case. 14 and 18 years of 'news management experience' in a couple of instances. Now I'm sure these fine folks deserved the promotions and they'll come to their new jobs with all the verve and ideas they can muster. But will they bring anything new? And I mean more than trying to use Twitter in their newscasts. Goodness, that's old already. (So is NBCU's deal with Hallmark Cards. Gee that'll save the network Jeff.) Will they understand that over 90 per cent of the local news audience that was there 14 and 18 years ago when they started is gone--poof! Gone. Will they understand that they're competing with the other stations in their markets for the 7 or 8 per cent that's left? Will they understand that unless they figure out a way to become relevant to that missing 90 some odd per cent that the new set they're building will be seen by fewer people than watch a Broadway play--in person! Will they go looking for 'game changers'? People with different ideas who don't come from the usual places? Who don't have 18 years of 'news management experience', but who have ideas! Will they have the fortitude to try them? Be sure and let me know how it works out will ya? I'll be watching the new babe on GMA.
 
Jodi Jacobson: "Anonymous" Republican Senator Obstructs Resolution to Condemn Clinic Violence Top
Originally posted on RHRealityCheck.org -- News, commentary and community for reproductive health and justice. So much for agreeing on at least one basic premise in the debate about choice, reproductive rights, or even reproductive health. Yesterday, a Republican Senator used his power to put a "hold" on a Senate Resolution originally introduced by U.S. Senators Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), Barbara Boxer (D-CA), and Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) condemning violence against women's health providers, thereby blocking any vote on the resolution. Senators have the power to do this anonymously and with no explanation. This way, Republicans can get away with sorrowful expressions to the media on violence, but don't have to be put to the test of actually voting to denounce the violence against either Dr. Tiller or clinic workers generally. My use of the male pronoun here is deliberate: The odds are overwhelming it is a male Republican Senator, as Senator Snowe is a co-sponsor, and that leaves only three female Republicans, Murkowski, Hutchinson, and Collins. The resolution, written and intended to be non-controversial, condemned the use of violence against providers of women's health care services . This condemnation of violence is apparently too much for some Republicans to bear. "I realize that the issue of reproductive choice is divisive and that there are many heartfelt feelings on both sides of the aisle," said Senator Shaheen. "However, I was hopeful that, regardless of our differences of opinion on this sensitive issue, the Senate could come together and pass a resolution that rejects the use of violence against women's health care providers. It is a sad day when the elected leaders of the greatest Democracy on earth can't agree to protect those exercising their constitutional rights." Sad indeed. And i would add disgraceful. And telling. And honestly? I find it disgusting. What does this resolution say that is so controversial it can not be brought to a vote? The full text of Senate Resolution 187 (Condemning the use of violence against providers of health care services) reads as follows: Whereas Dr. George Tiller of Wichita, Kansas was shot to death at church on Sunday, May 31; Whereas there is a history of violence against providers of reproductive health care, as health care employees have suffered threats and hostility in order to provide crucial services to patients; Whereas the threat or use of force or physical obstruction has been used to injure, intimidate, or interfere with individuals seeking to obtain or provide health care services; and Whereas acts of violence are never an acceptable means of expression and always shall be condemned: Now, therefore, be it Resolved, That the Senate--- (1) Expresses great sympathy for the family, friends and patients of Dr. George Tiller; (2) Recognizes that acts of violence should never be used to prevent women from receiving reproductive health care; and (3) Condemns the use of violence as a means of resolving differences of opinion. Original co-sponsors of the resolution first introduced by Shaheen, Boxer, and Klobuchar included 43 additional Senators, including: Murray; Durbin; Dodd; Schumer; Lautenberg; Mikulski; Landrieu; Gillibrand; Harkin; Carper; Sanders; Kaufman; Wyden; Kerry; Lieberman; Tom Udall; Levin; Brown; Whitehouse; Burris; Mark Udall; Stabenow; Baucus; Cantwell; Bingaman; Inouye; Cardin; Specter; Johnson; Feingold; Leahy; Tester; Snowe; Begich; Akaka; Bennet; Feinstein; Warner; McCaskill; Reed; Kennedy, Lincoln; and Merkley. Republicans objected to the resolution from the start; urged its sponsors to eliminate references to reproductive health . "The resolution faced objection by some colleagues on the other side of the aisle, and the Senators were urged to eliminate references to women's reproductive health care in order to unanimously pass the resolution," stated a press release on the issue. "Everyone has the right to work for changes in the law, but there is no place for violence in any of our debates," said Boxer. "To assault a health care worker, a patient or anyone else because of a disagreement about an issue, regardless of how contentious, brings all of humanity down into a dark pit of violence." Klobuchar added: "As a former prosecutor I have seen how acts of violence can tear apart communities. No matter how heated the debate or how great our differences, violence is never the answer. Supporting a bipartisan bill that denounces the use of violence is basic common sense and we need to pass this without further delay." Last week, the U.S. House of Representatives unanimously passed a resolution condemning violence in places of worship. Shaheen, Boxer and Klobuchar were asked adopt the House language in the Senate, but decided to move forward with their resolution, as they feel condemning violence against women's health care providers and agreeing not to use violence as a means of resolving differences are not objectionable viewpoints. Well, apparently, they were wrong. Apparently,there is no common ground in the Senate on not using violence where women's health is concerned.   More on Women's Rights
 
Christopher Herbert and Victoria Kataoka Rebuffet: Weekly Foreign Affairs Round-Up Top
The Week's Top Stories in Foreign Affairs : What to Make of Iran's Post-Election Uproar Facts: Incumbent Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was quickly declared the victor by an incredible two-thirds majority in Iran's recent elections, beating "reformist" candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi . Massive protests broke out in Tehran and reportedly across the country to contest the election results. 7 protesters were shot by security forces , thus prompting more protesting and mourning in a highly ritualized fashion on the street (many protests were silent with deep religious undertones). Mousavi demands a recount and his supporter former President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani is rumored to have stepped down from the Expediency Council in protest of the results. Iran enforced strict censorship of the media and expelled the majority of foreign correspondents. Supreme leader Ayatollah Khamenei addressed the nation in a prayer service on Friday , declaring the elections fair as determined by the Guardian Council (who will still convene to review the elections tomorrow and consider a partial recount) and vehemently decrying the recent protests as an affront to Iran's democracy. There are reports of arrests and crackdowns on protesters by the Revolutionary Guard, and the feared baseej could begin to lay a heavier hand if protests continue. SI Analysis: It is very difficult -- if not impossible -- to know what is going on in Iran. The public is out amassing in record numbers and there is great discontent . However the discontent seems to be diffuse and amorphous -- its source differing from one group to another -- and support for Mousavi more symbolic than substantive. Iranians seem to believe that their system is broken, especially the economy, but they seem unsure as to what or who could fix it. Western media would have us believe that a pro-Western democracy movement is rapidly moving across the country, bolstered by Twitter, free radio and satellite TV. (The US State Department did make a formal request to Twitter to forgo planned maintenance that would have shut down the site temporarily this week in light of its role in facilitation grassroots communication within Iran). However, there is more credible evidence to suggest that there is an internal power struggle currently underway pitting the conservative Ayatollah against the more reform-minded Rafsanjani and Mousavi. "Reform" in this case is to be understood very loosely as a slightly more modernist version of an Islamic revolutionary worldview (and some even suggest they would attempt to realize the revolution that never fully came) -- in other words, reform the system to preserve it . Whether Ahmadinejad or Mousavi is in power, there would be little change to Iran's regional or nuclear agenda (though Mousavi may be a more palatable interlocutor and his election would have allowed Iran to alter course on some issues without losing face). Mousavi and Rafsanjani are certainly manipulating the crowds to advance their ends. If protest continues, new elections will have to be called or massive oppression will have to ensue in order to quell the crowds. And it is possible that if the protests continue to gain momentum and if the intensity of the state crackdown increases (there is a reverse proportionality in that the harder the government cracks down, the stronger the opposition becomes), that the uprising could indeed grow and the agendas of the leadership will not be the only ones at hand, thus laying the grounds for a real revolution. Pakistan's Perpetual Peril s Facts: This week Pakistan's military stepped up its campaign against the Islamist insurgency within its borders. Strategy was expanded from primary activities in Swat Valley to additional counterinsurgency tactics in South Waziristan. After a series of aerial bombings by both Pakistani air force and coordinated US drones , the Pakistani army moved in on Friday for ground battles against Taliban forces. This comes as the Pakistani government announced that the campaign in Swat is nearing an end now that the Taliban was successfully routed there. SI Analysis: Though Pakistan is winning some battles against the Taliban, it has by no means won the war. Former cricket star and opposition Pakistani politician Imran Khan argued in Washington this week that the army offensive harms Pakistan in the long term and that the offensive "threatens Pakistan itself" . Indeed, the largest crisis now continues to be that of the estimated 3 million refugees who fled the Swat Valley and who are no on the verge of starvation . Many international organizations (the EU is providing $100 million ) and even some celebrities ( Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie gave $1 million) have joined the effort to provide relief to the refugees. The World Food Program has warned that the Taliban will now target international aid organizations in an attempt to prevent their activity and win desperate civilians back to their side. There is a silver lining, however, given the massive push against the Taliban, Pakistan has devoted less attention to its traditional enemy, India. Indian PM Singh and Pakistani President Zardari's meeting in Yekaterinburg this week helped to "thaw" ties a little. Furthermore, recent troop reductions in Kashmir (and redeployed to rebellious areas near Bangladesh ) might eventually bring some sort of reconciliation between Islamabad and New Delhi . SCO and BRIC Facts: This week, Russian President Dimitry Medvedev played host to both the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Summit and the first-ever BRIC summit. The SCO has been in formation for years and serves as a collective security body that counters NATO. It is comprised of Russia, China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan. Observer nations include India, Pakistan, Iran and Mongolia. Sri Lanka, Belarus and Afghanistan are marginally involved. This summit was a powerful one for the SCO, mainly because it proved to be a forum in which Medvedev encouraged Indian Prime Minister Manhoman Singh and Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari to meet for the first time since the aftermath of the November 2008 Mumbai terror attacks. The meeting between the two leaders suggested a potential thaw in relations. Russia also pledged with Pakistani and Afghan leadership to coordinate anti-terror policies, and reiterated its intention to be involved in Afghanistan - not on a military level, but on a state building/investment angle. It was the BRIC summit that brought more attention, however. Analysts are largely viewing the event as a counter to US hegemony . The summit produced a few declarations including: • A resolution on membership and participation in global institutions. BRIC's statement is as follows: "We are committed to advance the reform of international financial institutions so as to reflect changes in the world economy. The emerging and developing economies must have a greater voice" • Pledges to work together on issues pertaining to energy, food security, education and science. It remains to be seen if these nations can actually accomplish this. India and China in particular could benefit from energy and food partnerships • A declaration calling for a "more diversified international monetary system". This is basically a call for non dollar-based international reserve currency, and has been on Russia's agenda for quite some time. Incidentally, the dollar lost ground as BRIC made its declaration. SI Analysis : Although Russia was the most vocal player at these summits, China remains the real winner. Beijing pledged $10 billion in loans to Central Asian nations and reasserted itself as the dominant rising economy in the Eastern Hemisphere. It also forged or reasserted economic ties with Kyrgyzstan , Uzbekistan and Pakistan among others, while proving to be a quiet and dominant regional partner for all nations present. Although China used the forum to assert its strength, it remains to be seen whether the BRIC in particular will amount to a real political or economic bloc with actual power. Some analysts have called the summit a "farce" , citing issues as varied as Russia's horrendous economic state and disputes between China and India over controversial tariffs. Meanwhile, the US seemed largely unmoved by the summits, with the only substantial response coming from US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton who called for India and the US to "upgrade" their relationship . Netanyahu's Stance Facts : Last weekend, Israeli PM Benyamin Netanyahu laid out his vision for a demilitarized Palestinian state alongside Israel but demurred from calling for a halt to settlement activity and said that Palestinians must recognize Israel as a state of the Jewish people. Palestinians and the Arab world at large immediately and predictably guffawed . US President Obama said that Netanyahu's statement was a step in the right direction . US Secretary of State Clinton met with Israeli foreign minister Avigdor Lieberman in Washington, where the disagreement over Israeli settlement policy continued to be discussed. SI Analysis: There is continual movement on this issue and this is good. Though Netanyahu's speech was considered provocative and disingenuous by some, he actually gave as much as he was able to give in the present Israeli political climate . There is momentum for a peace process: US President Obama's Cairo speech, US Special Envoy George Mitchell's trip to the region, Middle East Peace Envoy Tony Blair's statements and the gearing up of Quartet negotiations, even former US President Carter's visit to Syria and Gaza. The Obama strategy here is to maintain momentum and dialogue and press both sides for progress. Hodge-Podge/Under-the-Radar Missile Defense SI Analysis: This week US Deputy Defense Secretary William Lynn told the Senate Armed Service Committee that the Obama administration is undecided on what to do with the Bush-era eastern European missile defense shield plan in Poland and the Czech Republic. This comes after a week of mixed messages from the Pentagon and the Russian Foreign Ministry expressing disagreements over missile defense. First, last week, US Defense Secretary Robert Gates had announced that the US would like to partner with Russia on the installations in Poland and the Czech Republic given Russia's evidently new found alarm over the Iranian nuclear program . Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov responded the following day with a statement rejecting any cooperation on missile defense if the US places a shield in eastern Europe . Lavrov went further to reject any ideas of a partnership on Russian soil. So, we are back where we began: there is uncertainty over the future of the Bush-era missile defense plans in eastern Europe, Russia continues to walk a consistent line on the limits of any potential partnerships, and Iran's nuclear program continues to develop. Obama and Russian President Medvedev are to meet in July to renegotiate the START 1 Treaty and discuss missile defense. One would hope that the two leaders come to a conclusive decision then about the issue. North Korea SI Analysis: Pyongyang continued to make noise this week amid its uncertain leadership succession confusion. The big news during the past several days was the continued planning by North Korea for another long range missile, this time allegedly aimed in the direction of Hawaii. Though any missile is expected to be too short-range to reach any of the main
 
Patricia DeGennaro: Israstine or Israel and Palestine: Tweeters Want to Know! Top
The Iranian challenge to the elections is capturing the media waves. All eyes are watching to see if the Ayatollah will be patient with the protesters or squash them like bugs. It is pretty apparent by the way the media prefers to cover the Twitter tweet rooms that no one is really interested in the substance of the issue. They just want to see the drama of social networking sites unfold. Unfortunately, while all this coverage of tweets goes on, the entire nation, and it seems the world has missed the meeting between Secretary of State Clinton and her Israeli counterpart Avigdor Lieberman. Despite the fact that Israel makes US headlines daily, one was hard-pressed to find a newspaper that covered it. Perhaps if they were tweeting instead of meeting it would have beat Iran as the main story. CNN did cover it briefly reminding us that Lieberman, a hardliner who immigrated to Israel from Russia, said and I quote, "no" to freezing settlements. Of course he and his boss Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu continually forget to mention that the US and the world deems these settlements illegal. US presidents from before Carter to Obama have stated that the Israeli act of continuing to populate the West Bank and confiscate Palestinian land is against US policy. The truth is that this is probably the first US president that is actively implementing that policy instead of just stating it through unintended rhetoric. In response, the American Congress, yes, the American Congress has been told by the pro-Israel lobby to "back off" and Israelis themselves are enthusiastically stirring up public sentiment against the Obama Administration. Newspapers are publishing stories and surveys that are denouncing American policy in the strongest terms. The Jerusalem Post printed a recent and unscientific poll stating that 69% of Israelis do not agree with freezing West Bank settlements. Definitely not a surprising outcome. No one likes being told what to do, especially Israelis. To make matters worse, Israelis are directly taking on Obama himself. His picture is carpeting billboards depicting him with an Arafat-like khafia and countless articles and blogs are calling him - oh yes - pro-Palestinian and you guessed it, anti-semitic. This is a disrespectful and absurd. I wonder what would happen if Americans started posting pictures of Bibi with devil ears and a Saddam-like mustache saying he was anti-American because he is against freezing settlements, which are unlawful in the first place. It is not going to happen here and should not be happening there. Nonetheless the propaganda ensues. Forget the fact that it is in the US and Israel's interest to engage the Arab world. I guess they forgot the US is still at war there and prefers to draw down its forces not build them up further. The bottom line here is that all the Israeli government was asked to do was freeze settlements. This is not an end to the Jewish state by any means and its reaction is also extremely unfair, not to mention unjustified. The United States has supported Israel since its declaration. The US has provided it with economic, military and various other types of monetary aid. From housing starts to $4 billion dollars in outright aid per year, Israel gets more than most ailing American communities. It is almost shocking that one Israeli in their right mind would think that any American president is pro-Palestinian or anti-semitic. This is especially true when one realizes that the US provides approximately $500 per Israeli citizen despite the fact that Israel is one of the fifty richest countries, has a per capita income of about $28,000 and has the third largest military in the world. And when Israel can't pay its loans to the US, thanks to the Cranston Amendment, the US does it for them. Obama is not asking for any of this to support to stop. Considering all of these facts, the very least the Israeli government can do is stop the settlements. Peace is not to be feared, it is to be embraced. Rest assured the US has no intention in letting Israel go it alone. As Obama said, "America's strong bonds with Israel are well known. This bond is unbreakable." It is however in both countries interest to move toward a peaceful solution with the Palestinians. Their situation must be recognized and addressed. The acknowledgment of "Palestinian aspiration for dignity, opportunity, and a state of their own" is way overdue. Moreover, the US has every right to want a better situation in the Middle East since it is also a major target of extremists throughout the region and the time is now. Although Clinton and Lieberman's meeting was swept under the rug, The New York Times did cover President Carter's trip to Gaza. Carter too realizes time is short and progress must be made and to do that one must talk to all parties not some. Thus, he visited Ismail Haniyah, who became Prime Minister after Hamas was elected freely and fairly as the leadership party for the Palestinians. In their meeting Haniyah stated that he would accept a Palestinian State in 1967 borders, which has been supported by countless United Nations resolutions and is a logical start. It is time for the Israeli leadership to grasp this opportunity. The parties can continue to argue over who is worse than whom or they can start moving one step at a time toward a greater Middle East peace. A peace that will give Israel security, relationships and legitimacy with Muslim nations everywhere, a Jewish state and countless other economic and political benefits. It will also finally give the Palestinians a state of their own. The alternative is the Israeli absorption of about 4 million Palestinians who in a democracy like Israel will deserve nothing less than equal treatment and rights. Well Misters Lieberman and Netanyahu, which do you prefer? We can tweet or meet, it is all up to you. More on Avigdor Lieberman
 
Richard Klass: "Tell Me How This Ends" Top
This question, posed by General David Petraeus in 2003 during the initial stages of the Iraq invasion, is the key question in Iran today. How will the extraordinary mass protest against the Iranian Presidential announced election outcome end? In a whimper? In a bang? The short answer is that no one knows. The better answer is that we may all know quite soon. The prayer sermon of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei at Tehran University today, Friday June 19th, laid down a gauntlet. He accepted, even praised as a blessing from God, the election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and. He ordered the protesters to cease their protesting and accept the results or be responsible for the violence to follow. The mass opposition wisely did not attend the speech in order to avoid violence. And they are unlikely to come out in large numbers tonight knowing that the thuggish Basji militia has been using the cover of darkness to attack, provoke and instigate violence. But tomorrow may tell the tale. The opposition is likely to hold a mass rally starting in the afternoon to react to Khamenei's speech and the result of the meeting of the Guardian Council with the protesting candidates. It is almost certain that the Council will do nothing to meet the opposition demands. The struggle in Iran is on two levels. The obvious one is on the streets where mass protests against the announced election results, brilliantly organized as a grass roots movement -- using cell phones, Twitter and other modern technological wizardry -- appears to have no known leadership. Mir Hossein Mousavi and other aggrieved presidential candidates appear to be symbols of the discontent, not leaders of the movement. It is unlikely that the protests would stop if Mousavi asked. The other level of conflict is among the clerics. There is a definite split among the top level of the clerics although any attempt to characterize the two camps in western parlance is sure to be misleading. But some clearly want to emphasize the first word and others the second of the nation's name: Islamic Republic. Suffice it to say that this is unprecedented and may present the greatest long term challenge to the current political structure. Now we come to some forks in the road. First, will the Basji be unleashed on the demonstrators during daylight marking a major escalation? Will the more disciplined Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) who has been given security responsibility for Tehran, be used instead of or in addition to the Basji to generate overwhelming force? And will there be funerals soon, in the Shia tradition, for the 8 or 13 or 21 students killed so far by the Basji? These could turn out to be very bloody. Will mass protests continue in other Iranian cities? And will the IRGC hold together or will some individuals or units refuse to fire on the protestors. I fear the answer to Gen. Petraeus question when applied to Iran is "badly" at least for now. The Supreme leader cannot be seen as weak, which allowing the demonstrations to continue would be. Failing to act could lead to his removal. The dissenting clerics will not challenge his authority yet because they know if they do it will strengthen Ahmadinejad and lead to a purge. So, once again, the dream of Iranians for democracy that has flourished since 1906 will be dashed. The most likely outcome is for suppression of the demonstrations and it will be bloody. I hope I am wrong. And the saddest point of all is that the United States can do nothing to stop the coming tragedy. But we should loudly condemn the violence when it comes and offer refuge to any who escape the country. And t the dream of a more representative and responsible government will not die and we have to devise a strategy to help it survive and succeed the next time. More on Iranian Election
 
Layoffs At The Art Institute Top
The Art Institute of Chicago has laid off 22 employees, or 3 percent of its staff, as part of a larger series of cost-cutting measures. More on Layoffs
 
Devon Cone: World Refugee Day (SLIDESHOW) Top
Tomorrow on June 20th the world will celebrate and acknowledge World Refugee Day. This is a day to remember all of the refugees worldwide who have been displaced due to conflict in their own countries. One of the longest and most brutal conflicts in our time has been the collapse of the Somali government and the chaos that has ensued. The conflict in Somalia has displaced millions of people and left millions more trapped in their own country without assistance. Dadaab refugee camp is now the largest refugee camp in the world and houses some 280,000 refugees. Most of these refugees are from Somalia, but there are also others who have fled violence in Ethiopia, Eritrea, Sudan, Uganda and the Congo. I have had the opportunity to spend some time working in Dadaab and the challenges that the people there face are overwhelming. As overwhelming as it is, there are also many people and organizations working to improve the situation there. Most importantly, however, are the refugees themselves who have an inner strength and ingenuity that we celebrate tomorrow. These photos are just a reflection of what it is like in Dadaab. More on Somalia
 
Iceland Is New Front In Whale Wars Top
With Japan's whale hunt in stormy southern seas wrapped for the season, the battle over efforts by a handful of countries to expand whale hunts has shifted to Iceland. There, Greenpeace filmmakers caught video of a whaling vessel hauling two fin whales to the pier for processing. The environmental group is trying to force the new Iceland government to cancel the whaling quota set by the previous government, which collapsed amid the financial crisis. The quota would allow the killing of 150 fin whales and more than 100 minke whales each year for five seasons. So far, the new government has said it would not cancel this year's hunt. More on Iceland
 
Gibbs: We Don't Have The Votes For Immigration Reform Top
The votes aren't there for the Obama administration to achieve its desired immigration reform, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said Friday. More on Immigration
 
ZP Heller: Helping Afghan Refugees as US Bombs Continue to Fall Top
Since 2001, the US Air Force has dropped nearly 31 million pounds (14,049 metric tons) of bombs on Afghanistan. The UN estimates that US airstrikes alone accounted for 64 percent of the 828 Afghan civilians killed last year. Those numbers practically scream the need to abandon conventional warfare tactics in Afghanistan and dramatically shift US foreign policy to incorporate a more humanitarian approach. Instead, we're seeing the horrific images from IDP camps: refugees who have lost loved ones; parents so desperate they would rather sell their children than watch them starve; children scarred both physically and psychologically. These are the survivors, forced to endure the bleak aftermath of airstrikes as the US escalates this war. The front page story in the LA Times today examines the US military's seemingly impossible task of reducing the number of civilian casualties in airstrikes like the one that killed up to 140 people in Farah province on May 4. The civilians casualties from that attack, we know from a preliminary investigative report, died because a series of military errors. Had the Afghan forces being trained by the US military not ignored warnings about entering a Farah village, they wouldn't have been ambushed by insurgents, prompting the Marines to call for a strike. And had the pilot of an aircraft not lost site of his target, or had those commanders rethought the need to send in a B-1 bomber strike at a point when those Afghan forces weren't under direct attack, the high number of civilian casualties could have been avoided. Yet as our highly skilled military revisits protocols for conducting air strikes to minimize mistakes like these in the future, these casualties are the inevitable consequences of conventional warfare. We've heard Gen. McChrystal tell Congress that reducing civilian casualties is "essential to our credibility." We've heard Adm. Mullen claim we need to do "absolutely everything to make sure civilian casualties are eliminated, if possible, or certainly minimized in every situation." But such rhetoric is appallingly disingenuous while Congress simultaneously approves $106 billion in wartime spending with relatively little in the way of economic aid, or when we learn that over a month after the Farah attacks, US commanders have not specified how exactly they plan to reduce the civilian casualties of this war. Instead of thinking of alternatives to a dangerously flawed military strategy, US commanders are trying to control the narrative about civilian casualties. As Gareth Porter reported this week , Generals Petraeus, McChrystal and others are attempting to win the public relations war. "There are growing indications," Porter claimed, "that [McChrystal's] command is preparing to deal with the issue primarily by seeking to shift the blame to the Taliban through more and better propaganda operations and by using more high-tech drone intelligence aircraft to increase battlefield surveillance rather than by curbing the main direct cause of civilian casualties." We may not be able to convince our military leaders to abandon their reliance upon airstrikes, but we certainly can take action to help Afghan victims and change US foreign policy. You can directly help the refugees in these IDP camps by contributing to the Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan (RAWA) through The Afghan Women's Mission . RAWA not only provides emergency relief, but in general they also help Afghans visit doctors and educate women and children to ensure women's rights are respected in Afghan society. Then you can become a Peacemaker , receiving up-to-the-minute information through Brave New Foundation's new mobile alert system whenever there are Afghan civilian casualties, and calling our government to let them know you protest the current foreign policy that continues to militarize and regional political problem. More on Barack Obama
 
Apple Stock Up 60 Percent Since Jobs' Departure Top
June 19 (Bloomberg) -- Apple Inc. shares have climbed 63 percent since Chief Executive Officer Steve Jobs went on medical leave, signaling investors are confident the maker of the iPhone can succeed without its co-founder at the helm. Get HuffPost Business On Facebook and Twitter !
 
Iran Election Live-Blogging (Friday June 19) Top
This is the archive of my Iran election live-blogging from Friday, June 19. For the latest updates, click here . 4:48 PM ET -- "All those close to Mousavi have been arrested." Via Jeremy, Mousavi's international spokesman Mohsen Makhmalbaf writes for the UK Guardian : I have been given the ­responsibility of telling the world what is happening in Iran. The office of Mir Hossein Mousavi, who the Iranian people truly want as their leader, has asked me to do so. They have asked me to tell how Mousavi's headquarters was wrecked by plainclothes police officers. To tell how the commanders of the revolutionary guard ordered him to stay silent. To urge people to take to the streets because Mousavi could not do so directly. All those close to Mousavi have been arrested, and his contact with the outside world has been restricted. People rely on word of mouth, because their mobile phones and the internet have been closed down. That they continue to gather shows they want something more than an election. They want freedom, and if they are not granted it we will be faced with another revolution. Thirty years ago we supported each other. When police used tear gas, fires would be lit to neutralise its effects. People would set their own cars on fire to save others. Since then, the government has tried to separate people from one other. What we lost was our togetherness, and in the past month we have found that again. All the armed forces in Iran are only enough to repress one city, not the whole country. The people are like drops of water coming together in a sea. 4:26 PM ET -- Rep. Howard Berman calls. My cell phone rang this afternoon and, unexpectedly, it was the office of the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Democrat Howard Berman, who cosponsored the Iran resolution that passed today. Berman made three points that I thought were important to note: 1) He said he was completely supportive of the way President Obama has handled the Iran crisis, and that his resolution was in no way meant to undermine the White House or pressure it to act any differently. "I think the president is setting exactly the right tone on several different levels," he said. 2) I asked if he had talked to anyone in Iran or who knew the thinking of Mousavi's camp about whether they actually wanted this resolution. He said, "I reached out to a number of people, progressives, in the Iranian-American community and among academics, and people who, like me, support the administration's policy toward Iran." In the context of what this resolution said -- i.e., no mention of terrorism or the nuclear issue or fraud or Mousavi -- "they thought it was a good idea," he said. 3) I asked if he foresaw any additional congressional actions on Iran. He said no. "We have said what we've said. And my view now is the principle of 'do no harm.' Stay out of this." 4:22 PM ET -- U.S. Senate joins the House in passing Iran resolution. I haven't seen the vote count yet but it may have been a unanimous voice vote. Update: Yes, it was a voice vote. 4:16 PM ET -- "Maybe I will be one of the people who is going to get killed." A blog post in Persian, translated by the NIAC . "I will participate in the demonstrations tomorrow. Maybe they will turn violent. Maybe I will be one of the people who is going to get killed. I'm listening to all my favorite music. I even want to dance to a few songs. I always wanted to have very narrow eyebrows. Yes, maybe I will go to the salon before I go tomorrow! There are a few great movie scenes that I also have to see. I should drop by the library, too. It's worth to read the poems of Forough and Shamloo again. All family pictures have to be reviewed, too. I have to call my friends as well to say goodbye. All I have are two bookshelves which I told my family who should receive them. I'm two units away from getting my bachelors degree but who cares about that. My mind is very chaotic. I wrote these random sentences for the next generation so they know we were not just emotional and under peer pressure. So they know that we did everything we could to create a better future for them. So they know that our ancestors surrendered to Arabs and Mongols but did not surrender to despotism. This note is dedicated to tomorrow's children..." 4:10 PM ET -- A letter from Tehran. An Iranian-American friend translates a letter from a 30-year-old female architect in Iran, written yesterday. The events of the last couple of days have been so moving that I haven't be able to digest it all yet. Life was already fast and hectic enough in Tehran where we wouldn't have time to get to everything, now after 3 PM everything comes to a halt and based on a collective agreement, we all leave our houses or daily routines and head towards downtown without any transportation! Believe me that every day we leave the house, we are not sure if we will make it back. Some of us like me and my family and our close friends who are among the crowd every day worry even more and each night after the rally we keep calling each other to make sure everyone is back home safe and sound. During the rallies we see such variety of bitter and sweet incidents that it gives us material to think about for months to come. We come across small kids, men and women over 75 years old, people from all walks of life. Today I saw a blind young man accompanied by his father, many people with broken limbs, blued eyes, and many who carry the pictures of those killed in the events which breaks your heart. Many people distribute drinks and refreshments to protestors, some wave hands from the windows of their houses showing their green ribbons, and all of this, in an unbelievable moving silence. Remember when in middle school as a composition homework, we had to write about "Imagine you could see the seed of people's hearts." Today these green ribbons have become those seeds. When you see them you get energized, and feel that you are all one. Cheating these people is worse than any crime and it is such a loss to waste all this hope and energy. I hope we make something good out of it. I have to add that what you and other Iranians outside of Iran are doing to support us is really warming our hearts. We are sure what you are doing is very effective. When they ask all foreign reporters to leave the country and when all of the communication channels are disconnected, it is your voice that takes our voice to the outside world. Many criticize us and wonder what does Mr. Mousavi have that is so special? They argue that after all he is one of the many in that corrupt system of the Islamic Republic and will never act against it. My argument is that this is not about Mousavi, but about people realizing that they are not followers like a herd of sheep that goes anywhere it is summoned to go. They will know that the individual will does matter and that their actions can be effective and can speak louder than any specific person; this to me is the most important aspect of these events. Now either Mousavi or anyone else who will end up in power, they will have the understanding of what people want and what they are capable of, and how they can voice their requests. This is the significant and important step and now that Mousavi has chosen to go ahead, we will support him. I had so much to tell! It is so good talk to each other. 3:12 PM ET -- Obama: "The world Is watching." President Obama comments on Khamenei's speech in a new interview with CBS News' Harry Smith: "And I'm very concerned based on some of the tenor -- and tone of the statements that have been made -- that the government of Iran recognize that the world is watching. And how they approach and deal with people who are, through peaceful means, trying to be heard will, I think, send a pretty clear signal to the international community about what Iran is and -- and is not." Watch CBS Videos Online 2:58 PM ET -- Who's afraid of Khamenei? Not Karoubi, apparently . Defeated presidential candidate Mehdi Karoubi called on Friday for Iran's election result to be cancelled, hours after Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei endorsed the victory of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. In an open letter which will be delivered to the country's highest legislative body, the Guardian Council, on Saturday, Karoubi said: "Accept the Iranian nation's will by cancelling the vote and guarantee the establishment's survival." The letter was published on Karoubi's website. 2:53 PM ET -- "Basiji Hunting." Steve Clemons posts an email describing a new trend : By the way, two nights ago I went out to see a few things ... as the general crowds spread into their homes militia style Mousavi supporters were out on the streets 'Basiji hunting'. Their resolve is no less than these thugs -- they after hunting them down. They use their phones, their childhood friends, their intimate knowledge of their districts and neighbours to plan their attacks -- they're organised and they're supported by their community so they have little fear. They create the havoc they're after, ambush the thugs, use their Cocktail Molotovs, disperse and re-assemble elsewhere and then start again - and the door of every house is open to them as safe harbour -- they're community-connected. The Basiji's are not. These are not the students in the dorms, they're the street young -- they know the ways better than most thugs - and these young, a surprising number of them girls, are becoming more agile in their ways as each night passes on. 2:43 PM ET -- BBC enlisting new satellites to broadcast in Iran. Those crafty Brits ! The BBC is using two extra satellites to broadcast its Farsi-language service after days of jamming it blamed on Iran. The British state-run news organization said the move was meant to help it reach its Iranian audience as the crisis over their country's disputed election deepens. It is also a challenge to Iran's religious government, which has accused foreign broadcasters of stirring unrest, singling out the BBC in particular. "This is an important time for Iran," BBC World Service Director Peter Horrocks said in a statement. "We hope that by adding more ways to access BBC Persian television, Farsi-speaking audiences can get the high quality news, analysis and debate they clearly desire." 2:41 PM ET -- White House responds to Khamenei's speech. 2:24 PM ET -- Vandalizing for the state. The first 50 seconds or so show security officials apparently vandalizing an office. From the sounds of the accents, an Iranian-American writes, this appears to be in northern Iran. 2:18 PM ET -- Britain's Channel 4 News. They've had some of the best television coverage since this began. Here's their latest, on Khamenei's speech: 2:02 PM ET -- Intensity building for tomorrow. Lots of reports on Twitter, backed by contacts in Iran, say the "Allahu Akbar!" chants are already booming in Tehran tonight. Meanwhile, an Iranian American friend notes that the National Front Party -- the party that was formed under overthrown Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddeq -- releases a statement calling tomorrow's rally a 'destiny-maker for the people of Iran.' 1:50 PM ET -- Mousavi's art. Via Sahil Kapur , "A believer that art plays a secondary role to political engagement, Mousavi once wrote that 'the paint brush will never take the place of the communal struggle for freedom. It must be said that the expressive work of any painter or artist will not minimize the need to perform his social responsibilities. Yet it is within the scope of these responsibilities that his art can provide a vision for a way of living in an alternative future.'" Some of his paintings below -- more here : 1:25 PM ET -- Another must read from Roger Cohen. It will be a sad day when his visa expires. His writing has been some of the best from the ground . Iran has sought independence and some form of democracy for over a century. It now has the former but this election has clarified, for an overwhelmingly young population, the Islamic Republic's utter denial of the latter. The feeling in the crowd seems to be: today or never, all together and heave! A man holds his mobile
 
Michael Likosky: P3s: Larry Summers' Progressivism? Top
A couple days ago, I posted something here on the Howard Dean/Stephen Goldsmith joint effort to promote excellent P3s. I received many follow-ups off-line wondering whether, given the deservedly controversial character of P3s, they were a good idea for America. Where did P3s come from? Are they just Reaganomics painted with the warm bipartisan glow of accountability and grassroots activism? Can P3s be progressive? In 1988, Lawrence Summers, then a 34 year-old Harvard University Professor, was an adviser of Governor Michael Dukakis in his run for president against Vice President George H. W. Bush. Summers, described himself as an 'eclectic Keynesian'. P3s were at the heart of this approach. In an interview with Financial World in 1988, Summers stated his convictions: 'I believe in "leveraged liberalism"'. He went on to explain how, in an era of budget constraints, we could 'achieve social objectives with minimal government spending.' This wasn't however just any privatization. The idea was that government should not tell the private sector how to run public works through service contracts. Rather, the 'ideas have to bubble up rather than bubble down.' In other words, the government is not there to raise investment dollars. Instead, Summers argued: 'Government money should only go where substantial sums of private money are available.' With the financial crisis and budget deficits, this off-balance sheet solution to creating public works has come back into fashion. The language of leveraged liberalism pervades our new approach to creating public goods. There is nothing necessarily wrong with this. However, the tail should not wag the dog. P3s themselves are not inherently progressive. Many so-called successes have shut citizens out of decision-making processes, been rife with insider dealings, undermined worker job security, displaced large numbers of people without adequate compensation, been economic disasters, produced projects that privatize benefits while under-producing public goods. Not all projects have done this, of course. Many have promoted progressive goals. However, more often than not, projects have produced public goods because of effective community-driven campaigns. Project planners have dragged their feet and done much screaming to resist change. To paraphrase Frederick Douglass, P3s, from Illinois to Kuala Lumpur, have conceded nothing without demand. The yardstick of P3 progressivism must be based upon actual practice.
 
National Review Cover Story On "The Beauty Of Drilling" To Be A Disappointment Top
Oh, the delights of the National Review 's cover stories! Earlier this month, I think we all enjoyed ourselves immensely when the magazine, in their record-our-thoughtfulness-for-all-posterity way, designed a cover for their Sonia Sotomayor cover story that oddly depicted her as an Asian . It was a cunning stratagem! Do something glancingly racist, wait for the response you intended to draw to roll in, and then spout your grandiose indignance all over the place. It truly was something close to brilliance, and it went just the way the magazine drew it up. When I heard about this week's cover story, even though it was for vastly different reasons and context, I was nevertheless excited all over again! Until I actually saw the cover. What a letdown! See, I was originally under the impression that the story was titled, "The Beauty of Drilling Jonah Goldberg From An Oil Platform." Sadly, not so. In fairness, that's precisely the sort of story that only the National Review can tell. [Hat tip: Josh Glasstetter!] [Would you like to follow me on Twitter ? Because why not? Also, please send tips to tv@huffingtonpost.com -- learn more about our media monitoring project here .] More on Sonia Sotomayor
 
Josh Sugarmann: 90 Percent of Mexican Crime Guns Come From U.S., Says GAO Top
A new study released by the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) reveals that "Over 90 percent of the firearms seized in Mexico and traced over the last 3 years have come from the United States" and that "the firearms seized in Mexico have been increasingly more powerful and lethal in recent years." So much for NRA chief Wayne LaPierre's oft-repeated claim that Mexican gun traffickers don't bother to "trifle with paperwork at U.S. gun stores." But how about the NRA's argument that the trace data shouldn't be relied upon since not every seized gun is traced through the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) eTrace system (ignoring the inconvenient fact that not all crime guns here in the good old U.S. of A are traced either). The report finds: "While the eTrace data only represents data from gun trace requests submitted from seizures in Mexico and not all the guns seized, it is currently the only systematic data available, and the conclusions from its use that the majority of firearms seized and traced originated in the United States were consistent with conclusions reached by U.S. and Mexican government and law enforcement officals involved personally in combating arms trafficking to Mexico." After explaining the bureaucratic and technical obstacles faced by the Mexican government in ramping up its tracing efforts (noting that some of the same type of "bureaucratic and resource challenges faced in Mexico" are also faced in the U.S.) the study reiterates that: Consistent with the results of eTrace data, U.S. law enforcement officials who had worked on arms trafficking in Mexico and along the U.S.-Mexican border told us their experience and observations corroborated that most of the firearms in Mexico had originated in the United States. Furthermore, U.S. and Mexican government and law enforcement officials also stated this scenario seemed most likely, given the ease of acquiring firearms in the United States; specifically, they told us they saw no reason why the drug cartels would go through the difficulty of acquiring a gun somewhere else in the world and tranporting it to Mexico when it is so easy for them to do so from the United States. Well, who are you going to believe? The law enforcement personnel who actually face down drug and gun traffickers on the U.S.-Mexico border, or Mr. LaPierre, who spends his time traveling I-66 between the NRA's headquarters and the studios of Fox News. And what about LaPierre's assertions that Mexico's drug cartels actually spurn the military style weaponry freely available in the U.S. civilian market and instead purchase full-auto machine guns on "the transnational black market. " The GAO study finds that: there have been some examples of military grade firearms recovered in Mexico. Some of these recovered firearms, ATF officials noted, were guns commercially available in the United States that were altered to make them more lethal. For instance, AK-type and AR-15 type semiautomatic rifles have been altered to make them fully automatic, like machine guns used by the U.S. and Mexican militaries. Seventy machine guns were submitted for tracing to ATF beween fiscal year 2004 and fiscal year 2008, which represents a small percentage, 0.30 percent, of the total number of 23,159. That's 0.30 percent. Will these new facts have any effect on the NRA? Of course not. Why would they? Facts don't matter to the gun lobby. In fact, it's information that they fear the most (e.g. Tiahrt Amendment). The goal of the NRA and its gun industry partners is to sell as many guns as possible--regardless of where they end up or how they're used. More dollars for the industry. More potential supporters for the NRA. And if it means you're going to end up with a de facto border war on America's southern flank, well, that's the "price of freedom." Will these new facts have any effect on the Obama Admininistration, which with the stroke of a pen could use its executive powers to strictly enforce existing restrictions on the import of "non-sporting" weapons such as AK-47 and PS90 assault rifles (a ban--separate from the now-expired 1994 federal assault weapons ban--first imposed by the George H.W. Bush Administration, tightened up by the Clinton Administration in the wake of gun industry efforts to evade it, and abandoned by the George W. Bush Administration). That remains to be seen. More on Mexico
 
Adam Luna: Mainstreaming Extremism: What's the American Cause National Conference Cooking Up? Top
Yesterday, I spoke on a panel convened by Media Matters for America to discuss how hate rhetoric has infiltrated the traditional media and become acceptable talking points for conservative politicians. Eric Boehlert, from Media Matters for America , moderated and I was joined by Heidi Beirich from the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), Nancy Keenan from NARAL Pro-Choice America , Clarissa Martinez from the National Council of La Raza and Nancy Zirkin from the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights . For those of us who cover immigration issues and deal with the extremists all the time, none of this is new . Nor is the fact that so-called "legitimate" spokespersons deliver hate-filled messages that show up in angry faxes to Congress, the Ku Klux Klan and even Minuteman leader Shawna Forde -- accused of gunning down a 9 year old Latina girl. A who's who of well known racists and right wing strategists are gathering at the Ritz Carlton Hotel on Saturday, June 20, 2009 in McLean, VA. Pat Buchanan and his sister, Bay, will host the American Cause National Conference , with the ironic theme: "Building the New Majority." All the folks who've been leading the race-based attacks on Judge Sotomayor will be there. According to American Cause : "The conference features top conservative activists, intellectuals, and politicians, who will argue that principled conservative opposition to Barack Obama is key if the Republican Party is to become a majority party once again." In reality, the meeting provides a forum for white nationalists to strategize with members of the traditional media and "mainstream" conservative politicians. To get the full picture, check out a new background report by my organization, America's Voice, which exposes the event. Some of the guest list: Tony Blankley, Tom Tancredo, Ward Connerly (leader of the fight against Affirmative Action), John Hostettler, Ken Blackwell, Richard Scott (leader in the GOP campaign against healthcare reform), Peter Brimelow and more. Our new report highlights the conference speakers starting with Peter Brimelow. Brimelow runs VDARE.com , an online journal that SPLC considers a "hate site" and describes Brimelow as a "racial nationalist." VDARE.com regularly features blatantly extreme authors including Jared Taylor who described African Americans as "incapable of sustaining" civilization after Hurricane Katrina. Tom Tancredo will be there -- leader of the anti-immigrant crusade and frequent commentator on nearly every network as a legitimate voice in the immigration debate. But in the last couple of weeks Tancredo showed his true colors in a racial attacks in the wake of the Sotomayor nomination. He burst back onto the scene when he called the National Council of La Raza: "the Latino KKK without the hoods or the nooses." Marcus Epstein works for both American Cause and the PAC of Tom Tancredo and is a frequent contributor to VDARE.com. In December of 2006, Epstein, in a VDARE.com post titled, "Tom Tancredo vs. Third World Miami, 'Capital Of Latin America,'" wrote: Diversity can be good in moderation -- if what is being brought in is desirable. Most Americans don't mind a little ethnic food, some Asian math whizzes, or a few Mariachi dancers -- as long as these trends do not overwhelm the dominant culture. And, in the same post, he added, "Even the Cuban immigrants, still preponderantly white, law-abiding, Republican-voting, affable people are not desirable if they don't assimilate." Of late, Epste­in has been in the news because of a hate crime assault on an African American woman, for which he is awaiting sentencing. Incidentally, Epstein admitted no wrong. From the U.S. Attorney's factual proffer : On July 7, 2007, at approximately 7:15 p.m. at Jefferson and M Street, Northwest, in Washington, D.C., defendant was walking down the street making offensive remarks when he encountered the complainant, Ms. [REDACTED], who is African-American. The defendant uttered, "Nigger," as he delivered a karate chop to Ms. [REDACTED]'s head. Finally, Pat Buchanan is arguably the most mainstreamed of all attendees, laughing it up with journalists who conveniently ignore his unvarnished anti-semitism and disturbing racial views against African Americans, Latinos and others. Just last week, in one of his many racially tinged attacks on Sotomayor, Buchanan longed for the days when bigotry was simple, stating, "One prefers the old bigotry. At least it was honest, and not, as Abraham Lincoln observed, adulterated "with the base alloy of hypocrisy." Media Matters noted : "Keep in mind, Buchanan is writing about the early 1970s. The "old bigotry" he prefers is segregation, if not slavery." There's an old saying: show me who you're friends are and I'll tell you who you are. Journalists should give gatherings like the American Cause conference extra scrutiny and take note of who their guests and "experts" pal around with. The connections aren't hard and it's past time that responsible journalists stop inviting the extreme into the mainstream.
 
'Magic Fingers Vibrating Bed' Inventor Dies At 92 Top
MIAMI — The inventor of the "Magic Fingers Vibrating Bed," which brought weary travelers 15 minutes of "tingling relaxation and ease" for a quarter in hotel rooms across America during its heyday as a pop culture icon in the 1960s and '70s, has died. He was 92. John Joseph Houghtaling died Wednesday at his home in Fort Pierce, his son Paul Houghtaling said Friday in a telephone interview. Tinkering in the basement of his New Jersey home, Houghtaling invented the "Magic Fingers" machine in 1958. The device was mounted onto beds, and a quarter bought 15 minutes of "tingling relaxation and ease," according to its label. "Put in a quarter, turn out the light, Magic Fingers makes ya feel all right," Jimmy Buffett sang in "This Hotel Room." Kitschy and titillating, Magic Fingers remained a staple of American pop culture even after the device began disappearing from motels. The vibrations triggered a beer explosion in the movie "Planes, Trains and Automobiles," and FBI agents Mulder and Scully relaxed to the pulsations in an episode of "The X Files." Fox's News Channel's Brit Hume sang the Buffett lyric to former President George W. Bush and his father in a January interview when they mentioned a vibrating chair in the Oval Office. In a 1963 New York Times profile, Houghtaling (pronounced HUFF-tay-ling) said he was selling beds with a built-in vibrating mechanism when he realized during a repair job it would be much cheaper to create something that would attach to the outside of an existing bed. "After ripping away the frills, I found that it was the vibrator that counted, not the bed," he recalled. "Magic Fingers was born then and there." He moved the company to Miami in 1968 and remained its president until he retired in the 1980s, when the rights to the device were sold. The current owners still sell the machines for home use. After he retired, Houghtaling continued to invent and sell coin-operated machines, such as scales and pulse-checking devices. Magic Fingers was a family business from the beginning, said Paul Houghtaling, who lives in Alexandria, Va. His oldest brother remembers working on the machine in the family basement in New Jersey, and all four of the inventor's sons worked for the company in high school and college. "I crawled under an awful lot of beds and installed an awful lot of Magic Fingers and collected an awful lot of quarters," Paul Houghtaling said. He still has a Magic Fingers on his bed, he said, much like the ones the family had at home _ set with timers, not coin-operated like the ones they encountered in motels. "Believe it or not, we would put quarters in it, too," Paul Houghtaling said. "It was cool as a kid to know your father's invention was all over the country." In its heyday, there were about 175 Magic Fingers franchise dealers across the country, and the gadgets collected about $6,000 to $7,000 a month in quarters, Houghtaling's son said. By the late 1970s, the dealers complained they spent more money to repair the devices that thieves broke open. Houghtaling developed a debit card-like system for the machines to replace the coin slots, but the idea never took off. "He was trying to move it to a cashless mechanism so people wouldn't have any reason to break into them," his son said. "Unfortunately, it was kind of ahead of its time." Houghtaling was born Nov. 14, 1916, in Kansas City, Mo. He liked to say he barely made it out of high school, his son said, and he never went to college. He joined the Army Air Corps during World War II and flew 20 combat missions. He is survived by his four sons and a daughter.
 
Craig and Marc Kielburger: Former Skinhead Battles Racism With Hockey Top
The last thing we expected from Frank Meeink was a new appreciation for hockey. Movie buffs may know him as Derek Vinyard, Edward Norton's neo-Nazi character in American History X. The 1998 film was loosely based on Meeink's life. Loosely, Meeink told us at the Reconciliation Forum in Washington, D.C. The real-life version has no cathartic moment or dramatic ending. The true story begins after the credits. Oddly enough, it involves hockey. Meeink grew up in Philadelphia watching the Flyers. The games were his escape. At home, Meeink was abused by his step-father. At school, he was beaten up for being the only white kid. "Imagine you shook a pop bottle for 13 years," he said. "But I could always watch the Flyers." But hockey wasn't enough and the 13-year-old found another escape - a hate group. Using the Bible, the leaders taught Meeink the impossibilities of an inter-racial society. Meeink explains he didn't fully understand. But, they made sense based on his life experience. Plus, the leaders had cars, girls and respect. Meeink wanted that - and an outlet for his frustration. "It's hard to describe how good it felt to beat someone," he said. "It just felt so good to release that anger." By 18, Meeink became a leader. He got tattoos displaying his ideology including a swastika on his neck. Then, the violence caught up with him. Meeink was sent to prison for assault and kidnapping. Looking to pass long days in the Illinois prison, Meeink met some African-American ball hockey players. Meeink says "you couldn't find anyone more racist than me." But, he loved the game and needed the escape. Through his skill, the other skinheads believed he was "representing" their colour. But, Meeink soon found unexpected commonality. Meeink began speaking with the players after games. The topic always turned to girls. The skinheads were primarily lifers whose wives and girlfriends were gone. Like Meeink, the African-American players were serving shorter sentences. They too had girlfriends on the outside. After games, the egos broke down as they analyzed every word of love letters and anxiously awaited new ones. Upon release, Meeink returned to Philadelphia. He met with old friends but found his belief system rocked by jail. He saw holes in his ideology and found himself disillusioned by the racist cause. Confused, he turned back to hockey. In his neighbourhood, the rundown rinks were a gathering place. With players dressed head-to-toe in gear, skin colour wasn't visible - only ability. He saw small guys show off. He saw big guys you normally wouldn't mess with unable to maneuver. "These guys would step on the ice and crash in a minute," he said. Thinking back to the prison love letters and ball hockey, Meeink saw his chance to break down egos and help others learn from his mistakes. Starting in Philadelphia and now in Des Moines, Iowa, Meeink founded Harmony Through Hockey. The program teaches children teamwork, athleticism and tolerance. Kids come from all races and backgrounds. Most have never played so they begin at the same level. They learn teamwork and improve together. Meeink gives them off-ice assignments like doing something nice for someone without saying anything and telling a teammate three things you like about them. Using positive attitudes and camaraderie, Meeink eliminates what he felt as a child - hate. Through self-esteem and bonds with teammates from different backgrounds, the kids see the holes in hateful ideology sooner. "They will all fall on their little butts but that knocks the ego right out," says Meeink. That's a good thing. Falling is what he says offered salvation. "You hear about some people giving their lives to hockey," he says. "Well for me, hockey owes me nothing and I owe it everything." More on Sports
 
Nestle Cookie Dough Recalled Top
NEW YORK — Federal authorities are investigating a new outbreak of a bacteria-triggered illness, this time related to a sweet treat treasured by the heartbroken and children-at-heart _ packaged raw cookie dough. The federal Centers for Disease Control said its preliminary investigation shows "a strong association" between eating raw refrigerated cookie dough made by Nestle and the illnesses of 65 people in 29 states whose lab results have turned up E. coli bacteria since March. About 25 of those people have been hospitalized, but no one has died. E. coli is a potentially deadly bacterium that can cause bloody diarrhea, dehydration and, in the most severe cases, kidney failure. Nestle USA voluntarily recalled all of its Toll House refrigerated cookie dough products after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration advised consumers to throw away any Nestle Toll House cookie dough products in their homes and asked retailers, restaurateurs and other foodservice operations not to sell or serve any of the refrigerated cookie dough products. Customers also can return any recalled product where they bought it for a full refund. The recall does not affect other Toll House products, including ice cream that contains raw Toll House dough. FDA spokesman Michael Herndon said officials were confident that Nestle refrigerated dough products caused the outbreak. "This has been a very quickly moving situation," said Roz O'Hearn, spokeswoman for Nestle's baking division, adding the company took action within 24 hours of learning of the problem. Spokeswoman Laurie MacDonald for Nestle USA in Glendale, Calif., a unit of Switzerland-based Nestle SA, said the company has temporarily stopped making the refrigerated dough products while the FDA investigates its factory. "We hope to resume production as soon as possible," she said. Nestle holds a 41 percent share of the prepared cookie dough market. The recall includes refrigerated cookie bar dough, cookie dough tubs, cookie dough tubes, limited edition cookie dough items, seasonal cookie dough and Ultimates cookie bar dough. Nestle said about 300,000 cases of Nestle Toll House cookie dough are affected by the recall, which covers chocolate chip dough, gingerbread, sugar, peanut butter dough and other varieties. The FDA said consumers should not try to cook the dough, even though it would be safe to eat if cooked, because the bacteria could move to their hands and to countertops and other cooking surfaces. Raw cookie dough is so popular that it has spawned more than 40 groups on Facebook, complete with postings that read like love notes. Stacey Oyler, a 33-year-old San Francisco resident, called it her "secret indulgence" _ a treat that became irresistible when she was pregnant with her second child last August. She said she still indulges occasionally. "I love the combination of the salt and sweet," she said. "You can't get that from a piece of chocolate." But no raw cookie is necessarily safe. The eggs in Nestle Toll House's dough are pasteurized, which eliminates most of the risk of salmonella infection from raw eggs. But other ingredients could contain pathogens or bacteria, and the company warns in product labels not to eat the dough raw. Several recent food recalls have been related to bacterial contamination, including a salmonella outbreak last winter traced to a peanut company that sickened more than 600 people and that was blamed for at least nine deaths. A separate outbreak of salmonella last year linked to jalapeno peppers from Mexico led 1,400 people to become ill. Sarah Klein, staff attorney in the food safety group at consumer advocacy group Center for Science in the Public Interest, called the cookie dough news disheartening. "Unfortunately, I don't think that people who have been working in food safety for years can be surprised at this point and sadly, I don't think the American people are surprised either," Klein said. ___ AP Business Writer Michelle Chapman contributed to this report.
 
Shareholders Ask Judge To Freeze Scrushy's Assets Top
MONTGOMERY, Ala — Attorneys have asked an Alabama judge to freeze the assets of former HealthSouth CEO Richard Scrushy so they can begin collecting a nearly $2.9 billion judgment against him. An attorney for HealthSouth shareholders said the motion was filed Friday asking Jefferson County Circuit Judge Allwin Horn to stop Scrushy from hiding assets while the case is being appealed. Scrushy's attorneys have said they plan to appeal the judgment by Horn to the Alabama Supreme Court. Scrushy was ordered Thursday to pay nearly $2.9 billion to shareholders who sued over a massive accounting fraud that nearly sent the rehabilitation chain into bankruptcy.
 
Swine Flu Wedding: Sick Chicago Couple Tie Knot In Surgical Masks Top
HIGHLAND PARK, Ill. — The bride wore white _ and a face mask. A Chicago couple married in surgical masks and latex gloves Sunday after learning less than 48 hours before that they both had swine flu. Ilana Jackson and Jeremy Fierstien went ahead with the ceremony after doctors assured them guests wouldn't be at serious risk. But to be sure, the 26-year-olds kept a 10-foot distance from family and friends at all times, even walking around the gathering instead of down the aisle at a Highland Park synagogue. Jackson says they'd joked about swine flu after both experienced vomiting, achy limbs and fever. But they never thought they really had it. She says the circumstances were unfortunate but that they took it in stride. More on Swine Flu
 
Bear Hangs Out Near Homes, TV News Gets Ridiculous Top
You have to see this bear video to believe it. More on Video
 
House Democrats "Anxious To Take On" Health Care Reform Opponents Top
The Democratic Party showed on Friday what it's capable of when led by the majority of its members rather than its conservative wing. In stark contrast to Senate Democrats, who spent the week backpedaling on reform, unified House Democrats unveiled a draft health care overhaul bill jointly endorsed by three powerful committee chairmen. Henry Waxman, Charlie Rangel and George Miller, chairs of the Energy & Commerce, Ways & Means and Education & Labor Committees, announced the result of six months of negotiations. The sight of three united committee chairmen in the turf-conscious House is a historically rare one. Where the Senate Finance Committee's outline of a bill didn't include a public health insurance option for people to buy into, the House version includes a robust public plan that would operate nationally and compete with private insurers on a level playing field to keep them honest. The public plan would be self-sustaining and not subsidized by the federal government, although an upfront infusion of capital would be needed. It would initially be tied to Medicare reimbursement rates, to capitalize on the existing infrastructure, but would evolve into a separate plan that paid higher rates. Participation by doctors would be voluntary. Rangel described the public plan as "the best of Medicaid, best of Medicare, then kick it up a notch." The chairmen estimated the plan would cover 95 percent of Americans. While the Senate has cowered from the debate over a public option in the face of Republican and conservative Democratic opposition, Rangel said he relishes the battle. "I'm anxious to take on those people who oppose a public option," he said. He'll have public opinion on his side. A recent poll showed 3 out of 4 people want a public plan as part of health care reform. "We've got the momentum." Waxman told the Huffington Post after the press conference that the public plan is "essential," when asked if reform was possible without it. "I think it's essential to the reform as outlined by the president and as the three congressional committees have set forth. I'm not gonna say nothing's off the table, because we have a lot of ideas on the table that many of us don't agree with. But from my point of view, I think it makes the health care system work to have competition, which means public choice for those who are seeking health coverage." And, said Miller, it's what the president, who was elected in a landslide, campaigned on. The draft, he said, tries to "put language to what President Obama campaigned on in front of the American people." Conservative Democrats in the Senate, however, have sided with the insurance industry, which put out a statement against the House plan while the press conference was still going on. "We understand. We've read all the different positions in the Senate," said Miller. "We've had discussions back and forth, but we continue to believe this is an important, important component of real health care reform." The three committees will hold hearings on the bill next week, with the hope of bringing it to the floor the week after the July 4th recess. Senate Democrats have been set back by higher-than-expected cost estimates that have come back from the Congressional Budget Office, although the Senate plans were submitted without the public option, which is intended to reduce costs in the long run. The House version will be expensive. It includes an effort to close the so-called "doughnut hole" in Medicare prescription drug coverage, which would be costly but would go a long way toward obtaining the support of seniors, who are less inclined to back a public option, according to a recent poll. They already have a public plan. Doctors, too, get a wet kiss in the plan from Democrats, a proposal to permanently fix the "sustainable growth rate" payment system. The current public reimbursement system requires doctors to continuously lobby Congress to prevent automatic rate cuts. Members of Congress fill their coffers as a result of that lobbying and have never let the threat of a rate cut take effect. So, in effect, permanently fixing it won't cost more money but the budget office, which pretends the fix won't be made each year, will count it as an expensive provision. (Got that?) The move by the House Friday was an effort to reassert itself. "I'm only speaking for the House. We feel very good about this," Miller told HuffPost after the presser. Waxman dismissed the Senate fumbling. "I'm not getting alarmed by the legislative process," he said. "The Senate Finance Committee can't pass a bill into law without us. We can't pass one without the Senate. And we can't, either of us, do it together without the president." Ultimately, the final negotiations will go on in a conference committee between the two chambers, and Miller said his body hopes to take the fight there. "We hope to take it to conference committee," he said. If the conference committee emerged with a public plan intact, it would force Senate Republicans and conservative Democrats to take a stand for or against health care reform. "What we had today was a good start, because the three committees are not competing. They're starting off together. We're on our way," said Waxman, raising his fist as he entered an elevator. "There's no stopping us now!" Ryan Grim's book, This Is Your Country On Drugs: The Secret History of Getting High in America , is now on sale Get HuffPost Politics On Facebook and Twitter!
 
California May Release Immigrant Inmates To Save Money Top
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — With California slipping into a financial sinkhole, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is proposing to save more than $180 million by cutting short the sentences of thousands of immigrants in the state's prisons and turning them over to federal authorities for deportation. The idea faces certain hurdles _ for one thing, commuting some sentences will require court approval _ and immigration authorities warn that a mass release of inmates from California and other states could swamp the federal system, which is already at capacity. But Schwarzenegger spokeswoman Lisa Page said: "Every dollar not spent to house an undocumented immigrant inmate is a dollar that can be spent on health care services and education and other important programs to Californians. These inmates are the federal government's responsibility and California taxpayers shouldn't be paying the bill." In recent years, other states have struck agreements with federal authorities to deport some inmates before their sentences were up, but those releases were done on a much smaller scale than what California is proposing. The state's plan would involve as many as 19,000 inmates. Those among them who committed sex offenses or violent crimes would not be eligible for early release, Page said Friday. Nearly 65,000 immigrants _ most of them in the U.S. illegally _ are serving time in the U.S. for state crimes. Once immigrants have done their time in state prison, the federal government takes custody of most of them and begins deportation proceedings against them, either because they are illegal immigrants or because they committed crimes while in the U.S. legally. The government reimburses states for some of the expenses involved in imprisoning immigrants, but states say the money is not nearly enough to cover their costs. Schwarzenegger is proposing to commute the sentences of thousands of immigrants and transfer them to federal custody over the next 12 months to help close a state budget gap projected at more than $24 billion. The savings would be a pittance for California _ just $182 million if all 19,000 inmates now being held for immigration authorities were released _ but Schwarzenegger is looking to save every dime he can. He already has proposed eliminating health care for poor children. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokeswoman Virginia Kice said the 33,000 federal detention cells across the country already are full, and immigration judges could be overloaded if the number of deportation cases balloons. California Corrections spokesman Seth Unger said that to avoid overwhelming the federal system, the state would keep its inmates behind bars until their deportation hearings were over and their appeals exhausted. In that way, they could be deported almost immediately after being turned over to federal authorities. Since more than 70 percent of California's immigrant inmates are from Mexico, deporting them would typically involve putting them on a bus. Officials in other states, including Oregon and Washington, are considering similar moves. "The fiscal realities that Florida and California and other states are facing will probably put great pressure on trying to reduce the prison population," said Michael Ramage, general counsel for the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. "Why should the state be saddled with the expense of having to provide a place for these people to be incarcerated while they wait to be deported?" Most of these released inmates are unlikely to serve additional time once they are home. That is one reason governors of some states are not about to follow Schwarzenegger's example. "That's just not happening here in Texas," said Katherine Cesinger, a spokeswoman for Republican Gov. Rick Perry. Officials with the Mexican consulate in Sacramento expressed concern that thousands of ex-convicts could be deported to Mexico. "In the event that this happens, we will make sure that it takes place in an orderly and safe manner, and that the rights of all deportees, regardless of their migratory status, are observed and respected unconditionally," Consul General Carlos Gonzalez Gutierrez said. Schwarzenegger can single-handedly commute the sentences of 3,200 of them who were convicted of nonviolent, non-sexual offenses. Releasing more serious and repeat offenders early requires approval from the state Supreme Court. For weeks, the Schwarzenegger administration left open the possibility that violent and sex offenders could be released too. But on Friday, in response to inquiries from The Associated Press, Schwarzenegger's spokeswoman said the governor has ruled that out. Schwarzenegger's proposal was prompted in part by President Barack Obama's May budget proposal to end the $400 million program that pays states and counties for holding illegal immigrants behind bars _ a program that California officials say reimburses only about 12 percent of the state's costs. U.S. Justice Department spokeswoman Melissa Schwartz said the Obama administration wants to divert the money to border security and immigration enforcement.
 
Jacob Heilbrunn: Obama Has It Right On Iran--and The Right Doesn't Top
Over the past few days, President Obama has been pummeled by the right for supposedly appeasing the regime in Iran. Robert Kagan has accused Obama of being "objectively" on the side of the mullahs, while Charles Krauthammer detects a president "afraid to take sides between the head-breaking, women-shackling exporters of terror--and the people in the street yearning to breathe free." Don't believe a word of it. The truth is that Obama has correctly followed a prudent course of allowing the protests to build in Iran, while scrupulously refraining from giving the mullahs a convenient fig-leaf for the crackdown that may well be coming. There is a fine line between supporting and inciting the demonstrators, and Obama has not overstepped it. What's more, America doesn't have a history in Iran. It has a rap sheet, dating back to the CIA's engineering of the 1953 coup that established a pro-American government led by the Shah. So Obama's statement today warning the Iranian leadership that the "world is watching" hit the appropriate note. Not intervening. But watching. Should the Iranian authorities resort to force, they could trigger upheaval that might bring themselves down in the chaos. At a minimum, they will permanently discredit themselves. What no one knows, however, is the extent to which the regime will go to try and defend its power and privileges, but it could be very, very far. The analogy with Eastern Europe in 1989 doesn't quite work. The Warsaw pact countries were led by old, doddering leaders who had relied upon the Soviet Union to prop them up. Iran is different. It has been seeking to expand its influence in the Arab world, much to the fear of Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and other countries. For now, power is in the streets with the courageous demonstrators who are demonstrating that the regime has lost what legitimacy it ever commanded. Contrary to the dreams of Krauthammer and Co., however, America does not have the ability to determine events in Iran. More important than what America does is what it does not do. Iran is too important to posture for cheap political gain. Obama understands that. His critics don't.
 
Giles Slade: Hello, Iran Top
Blessings and Peace upon the courageous people of Persia from your devoted admirers in democracies around the world. It's my impression today that the leaders of your current government are now quite worried, but also quite eager to stop appearing indecisive. They have outlawed your demonstrations, but haven't officially prevented them yet. Still, at night you are chased through the streets of Tehran by militia members on motorcycles who beat you bloody with batons before dragging the wounded away in trucks. Your communications with the outside world are cut. Universities are attacked. Students are beaten and arrested. During the public demonstrations a few of you were killed selectively. Of course, this is a cowardly strategy intended to discourage all of you from organizing and continuing to meet, and yet -in courage and hope- you persist. Those of us watching from other countries wish that, in your place, we would also have your courage, your strength. Injustice and arrogance are powerful catalysts, aren't they? Today, if you can, take a little time to discuss what it is that you want for your country at the deepest level. Will a new election satisfy your craving for justice? Is there a way to prevent all this from happening again? The Shah was overthrown because Iranians wanted to be free. But today, Iran shouts to the world that it still wants freedom. The Revolution that overthrew Shahanshah possessed a light that was passed from an older generation of Iranians to this new generation. It is a genuinely holy light that requires no witnesses. Those of you who feel it today know that it is the desire for hope and freedom that lives and passes across generations. It cannot be lost and it cannot be extinguished. If you do not achieve freedom now, in 2009, the light will simply remain inside you and your children waiting for its moment of opportunity. Yesterday, the BBC tasked two satellites to deliver uncensored news to your televisions. You will know that Ayatollah Khomenei has now claimed that there is no hope for another election, that Ahmadinejad's victory is total, that there was no election fraud and that they will crack down soon if you do not stop demonstrating. Please be careful. As I said, your unelected Supreme Leader may be trying to intimidate you because he is worried and frightened. He would he like to destroy your hope by threatening your physical safety if you choose to continue to demonstrate. If you agree with me, you may also recognize these tactics as the naked face of dictatorship. Fear and the threat of force are the everyday hammer and nails of totalitarian state control. This is not the freedom that Iranians sought when they forced Shahanshah from his throne. Without freedom there can be no democracy. Even honest elections under a system that sometimes threatens its own people cannot be democratic. No one can tell you you are free to vote when they hold a gun to your head or when they threaten the lives of your children because they choose to demonstrate peacefully and publicly. For all its imperfections, democracy is the least imperfect system because it begins with a respect for the will of the people. The people can still be wrong, of course, but no one can interfere with their right to be wrong. American was completely wrong about George W. Bush, but without that mistake Barack Obama would never have been elected. The freedom to make mistakes and to learn from them is a fundamental human right. Iranians were right to overthrow the Shah, but many people must be asking themselves today if they were also right to empower the Supreme Leader and the Guardian Council. In order to preserve freedom, many democracies have found it necessary to separate religion from politics. Because a democratic state serves the will of its people, its purposes often differ from those of religion. The separation of church and state is a good, founding principle for democracy. It leaves a nation free to find its own destiny. Today, Iran has once again decided what its destiny will be. All that is in doubt is when that goal will be achieved. When will the light that lives inside Iranians finally show itself to the rest of the world? Kemal Attaturk once wrote: "it takes man a long time to accomplish what Allah has decreed." -Doesn't it just? Email questions and comments to gilesslade@hotmail.com . More on Iranian Election
 
Judge Samuel Kent Impeached By House Top
WASHINGTON — The House on Friday impeached a federal judge imprisoned for lying about sexual assaults of two women, in the first such vote since impeaching former President Bill Clinton a decade ago. The impeachment of U.S. District Judge Samuel Kent of Texas sets up a trial in the Senate. Kent is the first federal judge impeached in 20 years. The House approved four articles of impeachment against Kent accusing him of sexually assaulting two female employees and lying to judicial investigators and Justice Department officials. All four articles passed unanimously. "The conduct at issue here is both shocking and shameful," Michigan Democratic Rep. John Conyers, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, said at the start of the debate. Kent, 59, entered a federal prison in Massachusetts on Monday to serve a 33-month sentence. He pleaded guilty last month to lying to judicial investigators about sexual assaults of two female employees. Kent is refusing to resign until next year so he can continue to draw his $174,000 a year salary. If he is convicted of the impeachment charges in the Senate, he will be forced off the bench. When contacted for comment, Kent's lawyer, Dick DeGuerin, cited an earlier statement in which he said Kent's troubles might be enough for impeachment in the House but would not produced conviction in the Senate. Texas Rep. Lamar Smith, the top Republican on the House Judiciary Committee, said he was not unsympathetic to Kent, who has said he has suffered depression since his first wife's death and had problems with alcohol abuse. But Smith said Kent does not have the right to continue as a federal judge and collect his salary. "It is now time for justice: justice for the American people who have been exploited by a judge who violated his oath of office," Smith said. Rep. Alcee Hastings, D-Florida, sat in the chamber early in the debate. Hastings was acquitted of bribery charges as a federal judge, but later impeached by the House in 1988. The Senate convicted him on similar impeachment charges. The Senate found Clinton not guilty on his impeachment charges. As part of his plea bargain, Kent admitted that he tried to force Cathy McBroom, his former case manager, into unwanted sex acts in 2003 and 2007, and did the same with Donna Wilkerson, his secretary, from 2004 through at least 2005. The Associated Press does not normally name alleged victims of sexual abuse. But McBroom's lawyer and her family have used her name publicly in discussing the case. Wilkerson knew her lawyer gave her name to reporters during Kent's trial. Both women also testified before the House committee. He must participate alcohol-abuse program while in prison. He also was fined $1,000 and ordered to pay $6,550 in restitution to the secretary and case manager whose complaints resulted in the first sex abuse case ever against a sitting federal judge. Kent was nominated to the bench by President George H.W. Bush and has served since 1990. ___ On the Net: House: http://www.house.gov
 
Jamie Lee Curtis: Pay Attention Top
"Pay Attention" I was told, at 6am by our guide, Agung Rai as we walked through the rice fields of Ubud, Indonesia. In the excitement of travel and acclimating to a new place and reality you can always miss things. "Listen" he said... and the words of Joni Mitchell's Woodstock "And we've got to get ourselves back to the garden" came to my mind as I heard water, birds, roosters, ducks and dogs. It all starts with the waters systems, from 300 BC, that rival any engineering feat I have ever seen, and then you add the villagers who farm the rice which sustains them, whose children see every day where their sustenance comes from, who take great pride in their homes, constantly cleaning, brooming and honoring their family temples... (from mud huts to more elaborate stone compounds) watching their mothers and fathers and grandparents working the soil, flooding the paddies, feeding their ducks in the paddies on the leftover rice from the previous harvest and then naturally fertilizing the paddies with the duck droppings, then flooding, pulling and plowing this fertile wet soil with the cows that they don't kill because they work to help make the rice, to the painstaking planting of individual rice clusters, (imagine hair plugs) and then the natural dance of growth and defense from nature's predators to the harvest and drying and then and only then eating. Add the myriad offerings, ceremonies, festivals and celebrations and what you get is family. They celebrate birth, a three month old's first time where their feet touch the ground, harvests, rice, weddings and yes, death. They pray in silence so that everyone is welcome to pray to whomever they want to. When they cut down a tree, they plant a new one to honor the one cut down. They work in small community units, Bangars... remember the political jokes levied about Obama's community organizing background... Agung Rai talked about our Western belief in reality, Sakala. He spoke of his belief in Niskala, the unseen, the intangible and then he dropped the big one..." When things are bad, share with others." "Pay Attention" he said. As I stood at the highest point in the farmland of Indonesia watching the sun come up there in the distance were the cell towers. Dotted every visual ten feet and of course forever ruining the vista. The buzz and drone of the motorbikes which are ubiquitous in Bali and the trash which was what I brought back as my "How am I changed by my trip and what am I going to do differently?" After seeing the amount of trash I decided (I know better late than never) to not buy anymore plastic bottles of water, drinks etc." I asked him about why there was such attention to home village beauty and care and such widespread trash and plastic and he said: "You have to teach the young people one thing at a time." The pulls away from that culture is even happening in the villages of Bali. "Pay Attention... Life, is not mathematical," he said. Back here at home I am seeing his words play out every day. Iran's nascent revolution is not mathematical. Jon and Kate-is-enough and the obscenity that is children on reality TV is not mathematical. Raising children is not mathematical. Being married is not mathematical. Even rice, simple rice and how it is farmed is not mathematical. It is intangible. Unknown... Our children need to see us all work hard. To take care of our home environments and the environment around us. Obama's message of family unity and gardening is fundamental to continuing these village legacies. Hilary Clinton wrote: It Takes a Village. I was lucky enough to see this first hand, only because of the generosity of Agung Rai's time and patience and deep love for what he understands IS the fundamental connection we all make. Families. Working together. Interconnected. Interdependent. Natural. Beautiful. Breathtaking. PAY ATTENTION! In the book that I wrote about the constant competition that our children face every day; Is There Really a Human Race? a mother answers her son's query with these words. Sometimes it's better not to go fast. There are beautiful sights to be seen when you're last. Shouldn't it be that you just try your best and that's more important than beating the rest? Shouldn't it be looking back at the end that you judge your own race by the help that you lend? So, take what's inside you and make big, bold choices and for those who can't speak for themselves, use bold voices and make friends and love well, bring art to this place and make the world better for the whole human race. Agung Rai runs a foundation to bring village children into art classes and offers them free of charge. If you get a chance and are in Ubud, Indonesia check out ARMA, The Agung Rai Museum of Art and take a tour with Agung Rai into the heart of the art... the farms and villages and rice fields where the water flows and the art begins.
 
House Impeaches Federal Judge For Lying About Sexual Assaults Top
WASHINGTON — The House on Friday impeached a federal judge imprisoned for lying about sexual assaults of two women, in the first such vote since impeaching former President Bill Clinton a decade ago. The impeachment of U.S. District Judge Samuel Kent of Texas sets up a trial in the Senate. Kent is the first federal judge impeached in 20 years. The House approved four articles of impeachment against Kent accusing him of sexually assaulting two female employees and lying to judicial investigators and Justice Department officials. All four articles passed unanimously. "The conduct at issue here is both shocking and shameful," Michigan Democratic Rep. John Conyers, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, said at the start of the debate. Kent, 59, entered a federal prison in Massachusetts on Monday to serve a 33-month sentence. He pleaded guilty last month to lying to judicial investigators about sexual assaults of two female employees. Kent is refusing to resign until next year so he can continue to draw his $174,000 a year salary. If he is convicted of the impeachment charges in the Senate, he will be forced off the bench. When contacted for comment, Kent's lawyer, Dick DeGuerin, cited an earlier statement in which he said Kent's troubles might be enough for impeachment in the House but would not produced conviction in the Senate. Texas Rep. Lamar Smith, the top Republican on the House Judiciary Committee, said he was not unsympathetic to Kent, who has said he has suffered depression since his first wife's death and had problems with alcohol abuse. But Smith said Kent does not have the right to continue as a federal judge and collect his salary. "It is now time for justice: justice for the American people who have been exploited by a judge who violated his oath of office," Smith said. Rep. Alcee Hastings, D-Florida, sat in the chamber early in the debate. Hastings was acquitted of bribery charges as a federal judge, but later impeached by the House in 1988. The Senate convicted him on similar impeachment charges. The Senate found Clinton not guilty on his impeachment charges. As part of his plea bargain, Kent admitted that he tried to force Cathy McBroom, his former case manager, into unwanted sex acts in 2003 and 2007, and did the same with Donna Wilkerson, his secretary, from 2004 through at least 2005. The Associated Press does not normally name alleged victims of sexual abuse. But McBroom's lawyer and her family have used her name publicly in discussing the case. Wilkerson knew her lawyer gave her name to reporters during Kent's trial. Both women also testified before the House committee. He must participate alcohol-abuse program while in prison. He also was fined $1,000 and ordered to pay $6,550 in restitution to the secretary and case manager whose complaints resulted in the first sex abuse case ever against a sitting federal judge. Kent was nominated to the bench by President George H.W. Bush and has served since 1990. ___ On the Net: House: http://www.house.gov
 
Patrick Sauer: In Which I Extend An Olive Branch to White Supremacists Top
I was recently listening to a Fresh Air interview with Chip Berlet , a senior analyst for the independent think tank Political Research Associates (PRA) who has spent 25 years tracking extremist hate groups. I was taken aback when Bertlet told Terry Gross "there have been nine murders since the inauguration connected to the White Supremacy conspiracy theories." The Holocaust Museum killing, the Pittsburgh police murders and the shooting of Dr. Tiller were front-page news, but I was unaware of the ugly events in Brockton and along the Arizonan border. ( A nine-year-old girl? Good Lord.) Couple Bertlet's report "Toxic to Democracy" with the Department of Homeland Security's April release on the rise of right-wing extremism, and it appears to be heady times for violent white supremacists. Coincidentally, I found out that I too had been the discussion amongst the Hitler-loving crowd. I've decided to do something about it. I bought a semi-automatic Glock 9mm. Bring it. Okay, that's just a Dirty Harry fantasy. I don't even know if that's a real gun, since most of my firearm knowledge is based on The Wire. No, what I've decided to do, in true liberal peace-and-love fashion, is to reach out to my Caucasian brothers and sisters. I want to start a dialogue, bridge the gap, and find common ground. In the words of Danny Vineyard in American History X (possibly quoting some guy named Lincoln), "We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained, it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic cords of memory will swell when again touched as surely they will be by the better angels of our nature." A quick back-story: When the website Jewcy.com launched a few years ago, I wrote a piece entitled " The Connoisseur's Guide to Internet Anti-Semitism. " It's self-explanatory, but go ahead and take a few minutes to peruse it so we're on the same page. I'll wait. One website I gave 4-stars to is the Vanguard News Network, a compendium of all things hate. At the time I wrote, "The anger permeating from the site is intimidating and I don't want to end up suiting up for the wrong squad in the upcoming race war." (And that still holds true, angry white people!) A couple of months ago, I was Googling around and found that the Jewcy piece, and more specifically, its author, had been the focus a hot-button VGG message board discussion. Unsettling? Yes. But once I stopped cowering, changed my boxers, and crawled from under my bed, I decided to engage the message board posters, albeit from the friendlier online confines of the Huffington Post. Here are a selection of actual posts (names were changed when used) and my responses to their questions, thoughts, comments, rants and declarations of personal harm to a man who gets squeamish witnessing the violence in Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!! I realize that this may be a lost cause, but I believe it is only through an extension of the olive branch that we can come together as a people, a brotherhood united as one in directing our collective anger where it belongs...at the French. #1) Stan: Plane ticket to Billings: $68 Cab ride to this jackass' house: $14 Beating him until he calls me Jebus: Priceless I like what you did there, Stan. Using a well-known advertising credit card campaign puts all of us television watchers on the same footing. Unfortunately, I don't live in Billings anymore, so it would be a waste of your money. A travel aside: I'm not sure what ticket broker you're using, but $68 is a steal. Do you still go to a travel agent, or was that from Orbitz? Also, I wouldn't rely on the taxi trade in the Magic City, it's notoriously unreliable. If you'd like to visit me, I naturally moved to New (Jew!) York City. My father still lives in B-Town and has the same name, so please don't mix us up. If you can find me in Manhattan, I'll call you Jebus right off the bat, and then take you out for a slice and an egg cream. Please be aware Stan, Dr. Sauer is a graying older pediatrician who brings white babies into the world and cares for them, so giving him an Edward Norton-style curb-stomping could hinder Montana recruitment efforts for years to come. #2) Yankee Jim: The guy's actually kinda funny...in a pathetic sort of way. Thanks, Jim. Kinda pathetically funny beats "race-traiting scumbag nigger-loving' homo" any day of the week! I think we have some common ground to work with here, although as a Mets fan, we probably shouldn't watch the Subway Series together. LOL! #3) Anonymous: "... I work in the media..." Yes Pat, and if you want to continue to do so, in the brief time that's left for your master, you better continue such bias and narrow coverage of White Nationalism. Otherwise, say bye-bye BMW, Corporate American Express card and $300 dinners with trendy bisexual Pilipino girls -- it'll be the Burger King management training center for you, a SEARS card, a used Jetta, along with just a decent middle class White girl (!!!!). Well anonymous, I think you'll be pleasantly surprised to learn that the "trendy bisexual Pilipino girls" never looked my way, so I opted for a middle class White girl who used to work at SEARS (!!!!). Who was it? I think it was Upton Sinclair. He said 'Its hard get a man to understand something, when he's being paid not to understand it'. Funny Anonymous, I would never have though to link my future position at Burger King with the author of The Jungle. Sinclair is a good choice though, and the exact quote you're looking for is, "it's hard to get a man to understand something when his salary depends on his not understanding it." We should start an Upton Sinclair book club; I'd love to get your thoughts on his numerous unsuccessful bids for higher office as a member of the Socialist Party. #4) Oy Ze Hate: FUCK YOU PAT! You're just another urinalist in the [K]ikez media toilet. And when the jew goez... so do yew! Urinalist! Yew got me good there. I'm going to use that one, But I'm no plagiarist Oy Ze Hate. You'll get full credit. Now if you'll excuse me, I just got a text from Rahm Emanuel and it's time for my afternoon pee. #5) Anonymous: Notice how the schmuck calls his seeking the "finest WHITE WHINES" on the Internet"? Doesn't that seem to lend legitimacy to all the hateful lies we tell? We're just whining, instead of taking our demise like like him. Whine whitey whine. The reds are coming to get you. The RED SWINE....We're honored, blogboy. Thanks for all the attention. From one blogboy to another, don't mention it. Although, the use of the word schmuck tells me there's some Hebrew floating through your blood. Your RED blood. You're secret safe with me, Comrade. #6) Banjo Billy: (:rolleyes) Pretty cheesy.......BUT........That article would def be enough to make someone interested in coming here and checking us out. These Antis never catch on to the fact that all he is doing is sending folks here who will see how intelligent our arguments are. What an asswipe. Perhaps, Mr. Banjo, directing "Antis" to your "intelligent arguments" was my surreptitious goal in the first place? You ever think of that or is my duplicity blowing your white-hooded head as we speak? (Note: That wasn't my goal, but I hate being labeled an "asswipe" without due diligence.) #7) Aherne: This Shabbas Goy is merely kissing Jewish ass in order to sell one of his screenplays to the kikes. This hits too close to home. Moving right along.... #8) Brutus: I find his ancestry odd, to say the least. How could anyone be Irish with a German (that is JEWISH) name (meaning "bitter"). As other fellow goys, he's trying to appear he's one of us and everything he says is just "constructive criticism". Jews need such people to legitimate their own claims and then argue they come from our own camp. Do you notice how in his article he always bows down to authority. He never says we are wrong, merely he's trying to keep the distance from a losing side. I guess this is all that he understands about our struggle: a couple of losers pissing against the wind. What a schmuck!!! Again with the schmuck? Bist meshegah? Chamoyer du ainer! Hock mir nisht en chinik! #9) Rounder: What most of these types underestimate is the globally growing rage. They don't understand that when White Nationalists do indeed take over, that they themselves will be summarily executed for their public statements against us...They are more apt to listen to their frightened wives who are more concerned with having food on the table today, then the real possibility that their children will be slaughtered by the beasts tomorrow. Right now, they have income, homes and football. If they join us, they will put all of that in jeopardy. . Wait! What? White Supremacists don't like football? Well, duh. No wonder you're movement remains in the shadows. Americans love football! I love football! In fact, I think "slaughtered by the beasts tomorrow" should be the new tagline for Sunday Night Football . How great would that sound coming out of John Madden's voice? #10.) Playfair: How pathetic is a Goy when they are not of Jewish blood and write for a place called JEWCY.com. I would be hard pressed to believe that a site so obviously Jewish would hire an Irish man....This clown is a Kike plain and simple. The jig is up. Now that I've been exposed, it's time to stop living a lie, to dump out the Jameson and pour a glass of Manischewitz. I hate to leave it like this, though. I feel like we're making progress. So right-wing extremists, whenever you're ready to come together, I'll be waiting with open arms. Or, if you prefer, one arm in a Seig Heil! salute. Whatever you prefer. I leave you with one final thought, my gift to you in hopes of bringing us together as one. "Ain't no party like the Neo-Nazi party, because the Neo-Nazi party don't stop." (Happy Hitler courtesy of Jewcy.com) More on Barack Obama
 

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