Sunday, June 21, 2009

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Craigslist killing suspect indicted by grand jury Top
BOSTON — A former medical student accused of killing a 25-year-old masseuse he met through Craigslist has been indicted by a grand jury. Philip Markoff's indictment on charges of first-degree murder and other crimes moves his case from district court to Superior Court, where he is scheduled to be arraigned Monday. The indictments were returned late Thursday and announced Sunday. He was indicted for the April 14 shooting of 25-year-old Julissa Brisman of New York, who advertised on the "exotic services" section of Craigslist at the Boston Marriott Copley Place hotel. He was also charged with the April 10 armed robbery of a 29-year-old Los Vegas woman at the Westin Copley Place hotel. The 23-year-old upstate New York native who had been living in Quincy is being held without bail after pleading not guilty in district court. Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel F. Conley said the grand jury reviewed dozens of exhibits, including Internet and telephone records, during a two-month investigation. "Contained in those records was a wealth of information, all of it pointing directly at the defendant," Conley said. Markoff, a second-year medical student at Boston University, was arrested April 20 on Interstate 95 while driving with his fiancee to Foxwoods Resort Casino in Connecticut. Defense attorney John Salsberg said Markoff would continue to plead not guilty. The indictment makes no mention of a Rhode Island warrant that accuses Markoff of pulling a gun on a stripper April 16 at a Holiday Inn Express in Warwick, R.I. Markoff faces assault and weapons charges in that case.
 
Dennis Tang: The Banana Republic of NY Public Schools Top
Here in New York City, we are living in a banana republic known as Bloomberg Inc. This sad reality is most apparent when it comes to our public schools. Our Board of Education, which the Mayor decided to rename the Panel on Educational Policy, perhaps to demonstrate its irrelevance, was called into session on Thursday, with only one hour's public notice, to rubberstamp a school budget that contained $400 million in cuts to our schools. Hours later, the City Council approved a capital budget for school construction that is widely acknowledged to be inadequate to alleviate the massive overcrowding and excessive class sizes that are common in the schools of this city. These are the very conditions that six years ago, our state's highest court declared deprived the city's children of their constitutional right to an adequate education. The Court ordered the state to provide more funding to our schools, which started in 2007; but instead of lowering class sizes, classes took their largest jump upward this fall in ten years. Chancellor Joel Klein has repeatedly announced that he has no intention of reducing class size, despite the state mandate to do so, and has been repeatedly cited for misusing hundreds of millions of dollars meant for this purpose, as reported in audits by the State Comptroller and the State Education Department. Indeed, if he has his way, Klein recently announced, he would shrink the teaching force by 30 percent, forcing class sizes to increase even further. Only two of the top twenty executives at the Department of Educator are educators, while the rest are former lawyers and management consultants. Instead, the Mayor's decisions are influenced by a small group of billionaires, including Eli Broad, Bill Gates, Rupert Murdoch, and Mort Zuckerman, none of whom would ever consider sending their own children to a New York City public school. While these moguls continually praise Klein's leadership, even though he has allowed class sizes to remain at thirty or more for hundreds of thousands of students, they themselves send their children, as did Bloomberg and Klein, to private schools where no classes are larger than fifteen. The mayor and the chancellor have repeatedly expressed disdain for public school parents and have systematically stripped them of their collective and individual rights to have a voice in how their children are educated. And instead of the shrinking the bureaucracy, as the Mayor has claimed, each year the headcount at the headquarters of the Department of Education grows larger - with individual salaries levels hat far outstrip any other city department. But, you may say, aren't the Mayor and the Chancellor doing a great job? Haven't test scores gone up; haven't graduation rates risen? Not exactly. As revealed in a new book, NYC Schools Under Bloomberg/Klein: What Parents, Teachers and Policymakers Need to Know, while state test scores have improved, these are widely believed to be inflated - with questions repeated from year to year and the scoring made far easier. Furthermore, other urban areas in the state have made virtually the same progress, without adopting the same schemes for running their schools. Results on the more reliable national assessment called the NAEP have been mostly flat - and in some areas, such as 8th grade reading, NYC has made less progress over the last six years than any other large urban school district in the country. While graduation rates have improved, this is because the Regents high school exit- exams have become easier, and the practice of "credit recovery" has become more widespread, in which students can get receive credit for courses they have failed by attending a weekend session or completing a project that might take them a couple of hours. Moreover, as graduation rates have risen, so have discharge rates - with thousands of students leaving our high schools each year without a diploma, yet never counted as dropouts - indeed never counted at all. The higher the discharge rate, the higher the graduation rate by definition, since all these students are removed from the denominator for the purpose of calculating the graduation rate. The rate and number of students discharged in their first year of high school has doubled over the past seven years- and though the administration claims that this is a result of students moving in greater numbers outside the city and more transfers to parochial and private schools, there is no evidence of this in the census data nor in the parochial school enrollment data. Several categories of students who are defined as discharges according to the city's accountability system would be defined as dropouts, according to the federal government. And community groups report sharp increases in the number of students being "pushed out" of high school to GED programs, before they have reached the age in which this can legally occur. Despite poll numbers that consistently say the public would prefer the Mayor to share power with the City Council, or that an independent board should run the schools, the Assembly recently renewed unilateral mayoral control with no checks and balances. This was despite weeks of hearings during which droves of parents expressed their disillusionment with the current state of our schools, and legislators made clear that they were not fooled by the skewed statistics coming out the Department of Education's massive public relations operation. Why? Two different explanations have been offered by insiders. One is that Speaker Sheldon Silver, who rules the New York State Assembly with the proverbial iron fist in a velvet glove, wanted to avoid facing harsh criticism from the editorial boards of our three daily papers, all of which are controlled by friends of the Mayor and which have been carrying on a daily drumbeat that unmitigated Mayoral control with no checks and balances must be renewed - or else our schools will face ruin. Another possible explanation is that Silver, himself something of an autocrat, has a natural affinity with one-man rule, and in the end, decided it would be easier to deal with another autocrat than with a more democratic and inclusive system of governance. What is clear is that the mayor has used his vast money, power and influence to silence many of his potential critics, inside and outside the Department of Education. As recently discussed in City Limits magazine, the fear and loathing that Bloomberg inspires, who also happens to be New York's wealthiest billionaire, is truly remarkable: In preparing this article, City Limits spoke with former and current DOE staffers and cabinet members, former and current school principals, academics, and critics on the left and right of the political spectrum, nearly all of whom requested anonymity out of concern for possible detrimental consequences for speaking candidly on the record on a sensitive issue. "The incredible concentration of political and financial power leaves no room for dissent or difference," said one person. Many expressed worry that their schools might suffer or their programs might be jeopardized, given the depth and reach of Bloomberg-funded civic and philanthropic projects citywide. The mayor's broad and deep connections across political, financial, social and philanthropic networks limit comments to those kept off the record - and, critics say, strongly influence largely favorable coverage in the mainstream media. A similar phenomenon was noted when the Mayor managed to overturn term limits - allowing him to run for re-election for a third time, despite widespread dissent and even anger among ordinary New Yorkers. His political operatives managed to strong arm many community and advocacy groups to back his efforts, or to stifle their discontent, by using the threat of withdrawing city funds or millions of Bloomberg's own personal donations. All the editorial boards stepped in line to support his elimination of term limits - despite two different occasions on which the voters had decidedly expressed their opposition to extending term limits. Indeed, the same NY Times editorial board which supported Bloomberg's collusion with the City Council to overturn term limits without allowing New Yorkers an opportunity to express their opinion, a few months later denounced Huge Chavez for having the nerve to propose a referendum so that the voters of Venezuela could decide whether Chavez could run for a third term . In the case of Bloomberg, of course, the ruling class reserved the right to keep one of its own in office - and the voters be damned. The Mayor's political and personal connections have been used in a similar way to buttress his campaign to retain control over the public schools. He and his allies in the business community have funded fake grassroots groups to lobby the state legislature. One of his allies in the business world, former Chancellor Harold Levy, persuaded his Connecticut hedge fund to donate $500,000 to Reverend Al Sharpton, funneling the money from a 501C3 first, and then into Sharpton's pockets, helping Sharpton to pay off his back taxes and escape prosecution by the feds, with the understanding that Sharpton would then join forces with the Chancellor Klein in a bogus organization called the Education Equality Project. Last week, it looked like a good government group called the Citizens Union was about to release a position paper on governance, calling for fixed terms on the Board of Education. If these were adopted, the Mayor couldn't fire his appointees at will as he had a few years ago in order to push through grade retention policies In an unprecedented intrusion into local politics the likes of which even the Bush administration never attempted, Bloomberg persuaded Arne Duncan, the US Secretary of Education, to write a letter to the Citizens Union, arguing that preventing the Mayor from firing his own appointees would somehow prevent further "progress" in the NYC public schools. So where does this leave us? The issue of dictatorial Mayoral control is not yet finally decided, and in ten days the current system will expire unless renewed by the State Legislature. Meanwhile, the State Senate is in chaos and locked into a 31 - 31 deadlock between the two parties. It would be ironic if the State Senate's disarray allowed a more democratic system to emerge, to fulfill the need for a governance system with real checks and balances- but don't bet on it. The Mayor is already the largest contributor to the State Republican Party. It would not be surprising if a man this rich and powerful makes some back room deals to ensure that his chokehold on the public schools remains for years to come. -- Leonie Haimson is a public school parent and Executive Director of Class Size Matters, as well as the founder of the NYC Public School Parent blog. She is also one of the contributors to a recent book, NYC Schools Under Bloomberg/Klein: What Parents, Teachers and Policymakers Need to Know, available at Lulu.com.
 
Palin's Legal Debt Is More Than $500,000 As She Spars With Critics Over Ethics Complaints Top
ANCHORAGE, Alaska — Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin says her political enemies are abusing state law with a flurry of frivolous ethics complaints against her, putting her more than $500,000 in legal debt. Those filing the grievances _ there have been at least 18 cases so far _ say it's their legal right to hold the Republican governor accountable for what they see as abuses of power. The truth is probably somewhere in between. "Are Alaskans outraged, or at least tired of this yet _ another frivolous ethics charge by a political blogger?" Palin asked in one statement. Most of the complaints have been filed since last August, when GOP presidential candidate John McCain picked Palin as his running mate. And most have been denied. Palin's office has called the multiple dismissals "mounting evidence that accusations of wrongdoing by the governor lack merit and have been politically or personally motivated." Even some of Palin's critics question the validity of some of the complaints, and her supporters have waged a weeklong Webathon to raise money for a legal defense fund set up for the governor, ringing up more than $109,000 by day seven, Sunday. But the number of filings may also reflect a broader awareness of ethics law in Alaska, where any citizen can send in any number of complaints. Some say they're taking Palin up on her own challenge to Alaska voters. "She said she was going to be open, transparent and wanted people to hold her accountable," said Kim Chatman, an Eagle River resident whose complaint against Palin is among the few still pending. "I took her for her word." All the complaints have been brought by Alaskans, except for one filed by Washington-based Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics alleging the $150,000-plus designer wardrobe the Republican Party bought to outfit Palin in her national quest violated the Federal Election Campaign Act. That complaint was dismissed. One complaint, in which the Alaska Personnel Board found no wrongdoing, concluded with the governor agreeing to pay the state $10,000 for trips taken by her children _ money that is due Tuesday. Another complaint, filed by Democratic blogger Linda Kellen Biegel, said Palin wore a jacket that promoted the sponsor of her husband's snowmobile racing team. That complaint, dismissed June 2, prompted Palin's statement about "frivolous" ethics charges. Elected in 2006, Palin enjoyed an unprecedented 18-month honeymoon with Alaska residents and lawmakers alike until last July, when she fired Walt Monegan, the state's popular public safety commissioner. Monegan believed he was terminated over his refusal to let go a state trooper who was involved in a contentious divorce with Palin's sister. Palin cited budgetary disagreements. State lawmakers investigated, ultimately concluding the governor broke an ethics law that prohibits public officials from using their office for personal gain, although the firing itself was considered lawful since Monegan was an at-will employee. Days after being named McCain's running mate, Palin said the legislative probe had become too political and filed a "self disclosure" with the Alaska Personnel Board, whose three members are appointed by the governor. The day before the presidential election, that investigation concluded that Palin violated no ethics laws. Palin was wrong to publicly criticize the complaints before the appropriate government body _ the personnel board in most cases _ had a chance to analyze them, said Gregg Erickson, a Juneau economist and longtime watcher of Alaska politics. That's simply bad politics, he said. "She rises to the bait fairly quickly when they troll these things by her," he said. "I think it's a weakness." Chatman said she voted for Palin to be governor, but now sees her as unethical, sacrificing the state's interest to advance her national ambitions. Palin is widely believed to be considering a 2012 presidential run. Chatman's complaint alleges Palin is misusing the governor's office for personal gain by securing unwarranted benefits and receiving improper gifts through the Alaska Fund Trust, which was established by supporters in April to help Palin pay her legal bills. Alaska law mandates that ethics grievances remain confidential unless a public accusation is filed or the accused person agrees in writing to make it public. However, most complainants have ignored this requirement and have publicly discussed their grievances without any legal consequences. "Why is confidentiality so important? So the process does not become a forum for partisan attacks, headline seekers and disgruntled wing-nuts," Palin attorney Thomas Van Flein said in an e-mail. "This is exactly the type of political gamesmanship the confidentiality clause was intended to prevent." Chatman said she spoke with an attorney and learned she wouldn't breach confidentiality if she talked about her grievance before filing it in late April. She said she did just that, based on a lack of trust in the Palin administration. "I thought it would be swept under the carpet if the public didn't know about it," she said. More on Sarah Palin
 
Bruno In Berlin: Dons Pink Bodysuit With Nipples And A Penis (PHOTOS) Top
Sacha Baron Cohen's Bruno continued his ridiculous costume streak through Europe on Sunday in Germany, donning a pink bodysuit (complete with fake nipples, penis and pubic hair) for photos at the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin. He has already been to London , Paris , Madrid and Amsterdam in similarly absurd ensembles. PHOTOS: Follow HuffPo Entertainment On Twitter! More on Sacha Baron Cohen
 
Tim Giago: How will universal health care affect Native Americans? Top
By Tim Giago (Nanwica Kciji) © 2009 Native Sun News June 22, 2009 Health care in America is a failing proposition. An estimated 47 million Americans do not have health insurance. And yet Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius calls the health care of Native Americans a "historic failure." What about health care in the rest of America? The new head of the Indian Health Service, Dr. Yvette Roubideaux, was not as harsh. She said, "It's clear that there's a call for change and improvement in the Indian Health Care Service, and it's also clear the IHS has been significantly under-funded for many years. The staff of Indian Health Service has been doing the best it can with limited resources, and in some cases they are providing excellent quality of care with limited resources." Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.), the man in the Senate leading the way, said that Congress will pass comprehensive and meaningful health care legislation this year. He compared the legislation as the most sweeping since the New Deal of Franklin Delano Roosevelt. "It's gonna pass. It's gonna happen. There's no doubt about it," he said. The efforts to introduce universal health care can be traced to the days of Woodrow Wilson and more recently to the political fiasco during the Bill Clinton administration in 1993 and 1994. The most powerful opposition to universal health care can be found in the medical profession and the insurance companies. They present a formidable lobby on Capitol Hill. Those Americans opposed to it compare it to Canada's or Britain's health care systems, which they say are nothing but socialized medicine. The Indian Health Care system, deemed a "historic failure" by Sebelius, has also been labeled as socialized medicine, and the fact that she would label it as a failure does not place much faith in an even larger universal health care system. It just seems that every time the federal government takes total control over anything, failure is almost assured. Watch out General Motors. Key senate committees will begin writing legislation this month. President Barack Obama expects to have a bill on his desk by the end of the year, and he is confident that universal health care will become the law of the land. If this legislation passes, how will it impact the Indian Health Service? If all Americans are provided health insurance, will that include Native Americans? How will it affect the Indian hospitals in urban areas and out on the Indian reservations? President Obama has called for an increase in funds for Indian health care of 13 percent in Fiscal Year 2010. This would bring the largest funding increase in 20 years to the Indian Health Service. Will the introduction of universal health care change any of this? There is not a Native American alive today who has not witnessed the many shortcomings of the Indian Health Service, but as Dr. Roubideaux has said, most of the failures were due to an extreme shortage of funds. An article in Time magazine asks some important questions. Will there be a big, new government system? How can a nation already deeply in debt afford healthcare reform too? Can we really cover everyone? And if so, what will be covered? How will we bring down the costs? With a deficit nearing $1 trillion dollars, this last question is very relevant. I believe Secretary Sebelius and Dr. Roubideaux are stepping into a situation that, for the first time in the history of the Indian Health Service, will be dramatically swayed by what is happening on the national scene. Fighting for funding every year for the Indian Health Service was a given. It was an ongoing battle that never changed, and the IHS was often the loser. But with universal health coverage looming on the horizon, the funds now available will become even more stretched because the federal government will be looking for ways and means to cover health care for everyone, not just the Indians. Some experts predict the cost of universal health care will be somewhere around $1.5 trillion. Drastic budget cuts in other areas will have to occur in order to free up more money to cover the costs. As I asked earlier, how will that affect the Indian Health Service? This brings us full circle to the old saying, "If you think the government can solve all of our problems ask an Indian." (Tim Giago, an Oglala Lakota, is the publisher of Native Sun News. He was the founder and first president of the Native American Journalists Association, the 1985 recipient of the H. L. Mencken Award, and a Nieman Fellow at Harvard with the Class of 1991. He can be reached at editor@nsweekly.com)
 
David Duchovny And Tea Leoni "Still in Love' Top
David Duchovny and Téa Leoni looked like the picture perfect family on June 14 as they frolicked on the Malibu beach with their two kids, smiling and playing in the water. The couple has shown a united front and no discord since they announced their separation last fall after Duchovny voluntarily entered rehab for sex addiction. Sources tell PEOPLE the couple remains close for the sake of their children Madeline, 10, and Kyd, 7.
 
Obama Gives First-Ever Interview By US President To Pakistani Media: "We Have No Intention Of Sending US Troops Into Pakistan" Top
WASHINGTON: US President Barack Obama, in an exclusive interview to Dawn, has said that he believes the Pakistani state is strong enough to win the military offensive against the extremists.
 
Christal Smith: Prisoner of the State No More- A Tiananmen Era Memoir Surfaces Top
Tell all memoirs by Chinese Communist Party leaders are simply unheard of. That's why the discovery of secret journals kept by former Premier Zhao Ziyang are particularly extraordinary. Zhao was not only the primary architect of the financial reforms that led to China's current global economic status, he was also the sole voice urging restraint in the use of violence against protesters in Tiananmen Square twenty years ago this month. Because of that, he spent his last years under house arrest. His recently discovered journals, smuggled out on cassette tapes, now allow for unprecedented insights into the workings of the Chinese government and an opportunity for a new generation to ponder his conclusions that for China to thrive economic growth must be tempered with democracy. It's fitting that on the 20th anniversary of the massacre he couldn't prevent, his voice is heard once again. And that's largely due to the work of journalist Adi Ignatius. Prisoner of the State was released last month prompting TIME magazine to conclude "Zhao may be more dangerous in death than he was in life." CS: Why are these memoirs such an important find? AI: It had always been assumed that after Zhao lost his position in the party, and spent the last 16 years of life under house arrest, that he had never really had his final say. And it was assumed he was too broken and bitter or under such tight surveillance that he would have not recorded a memoir-- let alone got it out of the country. He secretly recorded 30 hours of tape and what that does is interject Zhao's voice back into the dialogue in China about what can be in society; what is the role of political reform in terms of developing the economy; in terms of dealing with corruption, in terms of improving people's quality of life? It will be interesting for many Chinese to suddenly realize this point of view was not only out there but held by someone at the highest levels of power. And I think its confirmation in many ways-a valuable confirmation-of some of what we could only guess was happening behind the scenes. China is different now, there is no emperor but still the paradox of Deng Xiaopingism -economic reform but no political liberty--that was set in stone and that is still what informs the leadership today. CS: How did you get involved with their publication? IA: Several people helped Zhao smuggle the tapes he recorded out of Beijing to Hong Kong through very complicated routes that still can't be talked about. The person in Hong Kong who pulled it all together was Bao Pu whose father Bao Tong was Zhao's top aide and who continues to live in Beijing under his own form of house arrest. So Bao Pu brought me in a couple years ago because he wanted a western journalist who could help could polish the translation and write accompanying material that set this memoir in context for readers. So we shared this secret for a couple of years before it finally broke a month ago. CS: Why did you choose to release this in May? AI: It would have been impossible to have produced this any earlier. It really took 4 years after Zhao's death to get everything together and organized and translated. Once we realized it was ready we thought that the 20th anniversary of Tiananmen would be a good time. CS: What has been the reaction--if any--from the Chinese government? IA: The Chinese language version has been published in Hong Kong and has been an incredible sell out--there's a virtual paper shortage because of demand for this book. Copies will make their way to the mainland more and more. On the internet-to extent that people can have these discussions safely- they are starting to happen. The people who need to know about this will learn about it; either they will get a copy or there will be translated versions online and Zhao's ideas will trickle to China and add to the debate people are having. Officially the government steered clear so far and I would guess they don't want to create publicity for it. CS: As tell-all memoirs go there aren't many sensationalist revelations or shocking passages, at least not for the Western reader who might expect a bit more intrigue and controversy? IA: I guess that's fair enough. What concerns the Chinese government the most is that Zhao is essentially arguing that there was no need to bring in the troops and to kill-at the very least-hundreds in Beijing. And that in a sense would pull at the legitimacy of the current government which is a successor government to the people who carried out Tiananmen and that booted Zhao out of office. What also concerns the Chinese is what the book says about the role of Deng Xiaoping . Deng still has an unnaturally high place in the government's legitimacy. People who have read it say that Zhao was really the architect of the reforms we credit Deng for. Obviously they both were critical. But any hint that it was more Zhao then Deng triggers protest in Beijing. The current generation of leaders really does owe its jobs to Deng's master plan for succession so anything that pulls at his stature, at his legitimacy, really does concern the government. And we've already seen some statements from Beijing that concern that part. CS: Like? IA: The main comment I've seen so far was a lengthy editorial that didn't attack the book head on but it attacked the western media's reaction suggesting that the western media wants dramatic change in China; wants the party toppled; wants democracy overnight --that it's some hidden agenda. So instead of going after the memoirs directly they are imagining sort of a foreign plot and that's the argument so far rather than go after the book itself. CS: What is the threat of giving Zhao more credit; especially at this late juncture? IA: The main argument is the political and economic system in China -the deal is we will let you get rich but we will not let you have a role in politics and we will not let you question the state. During Tiananmen, Zhao was arguing for a softer response and for political reform because that is the way to develop an economy and to deal with problems like corruption. The government ended up deciding economic liberalization: yes; political liberalization: no. And that is the Deng model. Deng set that agenda and he picked the current generation of leaders so if you question him you are questioning the system that exists in China now. CS: What was your initial reaction when first found out these journals even existed? AI: I was shocked-- it was incredible. I assumed China had succeeded in [erasing] him from anyone's consciousness-- he had been kept in his home for most of those final 16 years, unable to meet others, unable to publish. And it seemed sad that this brilliant innovative pragmatic thinker had been suddenly silenced and even Chinese people do not realize his contribution since he had been disappeared for so long. So when I heard snippets from the tape he recorded and realized this was the real deal I was amazed. I was thrilled that from the grave he would have the last word. It's exciting for China to have this voice re-injected in the dialogue about China and about its future. CS: What would Zhao say if could see this book out now? AI: He would be thrilled! A lot of what's incredible is the story of how it came to be that Zhao-under house arrest- was secretly recording all this material of 30 plus hours. He was using no high tech equipment- just taping over cassettes he had in the house--mostly children's music and opera. He never gave explicit instructions on what he wanted to happen with these tapes but the intent was clearly to create a public document. His family who has confirmed this is real also feel this is what needed to happen and they are happy as well. I feel fortunate to have been brought into this. If I do nothing else in my life this is probably the best thing I've ever done. Click here to hear Adi Ignatius reading a passage from Prisoner of the State about the lead up to Zhao's realization on June 4th, 1989, that despite his efforts, "a tragedy to shock the world" was happening after all. Listen to the interview, originally aired on The Tibet Connection . Adi Ignatius covered China for The Wall Street Journal during the Zhao Ziyang era. More on Tiananmen Square
 
Francesca Biller-Safran: A Dad's Male Influence Important for Us All 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 Harmon Killebrew, and American baseball player. "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, Marl 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.
 
Kelly O'Reilly: Rockstar Crafts: the new face of the DIY life. Top
As illuminated earlier this year by the fascinating book and subsequent documentary , Handmade Nation , the world of DIY crafting is undergoing a timely revolution. It's a movement that's thrived in meccas like Brooklyn, San Francisco, Portland, OR and elsewhere for many years, but with thrift going mainstream, it's well worth it to jump on the bandwagon of the craft movement's current generation. Under the umbrella of not belonging to your grandmother, home economics came back with a vengeance with the late, great Domino magazine's young and resourceful decorating guides and the popular, multi-city tour of the Renegade Craft Fair , as well as under luminaries like Diana Rupp, founder and hands-on owner of New York's make workshop http://www.makeworkshop.com and author of Sew Everything Workshop . Combining her skilled hand at the sewing machine with a network of creative craftspeople in fields ranging from soap-making to letterpress and an approachable hipster air, she's bringing in newbies to make things for themselves. This once uncommon yearning to live off one's own handiwork could become a tradition as durable as the handmade goods themselves, and happening during the information age, there is a world of resources out there to make cool, crazy or conventional crafts. CRAFT The project-based how-to guidebook recently brought their entire enterprise online for a loyal following of resourceful crafters who go above and beyond the requisite popsicle-stick birdhouse to share readers' crafts like Crafsquatch's RSS Pillow and the Crocheted Groom's Bow-tie as part of craft's DIY Wedding Month . It's fresh, funky and down-home for modernity. ReadyMade Offering "instructions for everyday life," ReadyMade is another example of a newer, slightly sweeter version of This Old House . If Martha Stewart were Barbie, ReadyMade would be her Skipper, offering resources and step-by-step projects on crafting, building, cooking, organizing, entertaining and more. It's a cool thing. The blogosphere could be credited with constructing the snowball of today's stylishly simple home economics. Behind benchmarks like Design*Sponge , decor8 , swissmiss , Black*Eiffel , A Cup of Jo and the haystack needle , a charming parade of design, entertaining and general eye candy-offering daily musings have built up a close-knit community of beautifully home-spun lives. Wedding blogs like snippet & ink and Once Wed have certainly styled the everyday bride in a way that's inspiring for anyone trying to curate her day, whether it's the Big One or not. I'll be interested to follow this powerful community as it pulls in people to go back to basics, in a way that's really anything but.
 
Matthew DeBord: U.S. Open Golf: Hell for the Fans, Great for the Players Top
The U.S. Open is back at the Bethpage Black course on Long Island for the second time. It last hosted the tournament in 2002, in the aftermath of 9/11. Tiger Woods won (naturally), re-christening the U.S. Open the "people's championship" because it had been staged not on a country club layout, but on a well-trod (yet still very challenging) public venue. This year, things have been...well, soggy. By Sunday, much of the field was still finishing their third round, and the United States Golf Association was already planning to stretch the tournament into Monday, for the second year in a row (last year's Open was decided in an epic Monday playoff between Rocco Mediate and eventual winner...Tiger Woods!). Ricky Barnes, a brash young player who has struggled over the years to achieve top-caliber form, was the unlikely leader. His closest serious pursuers were Retief Goosen, a two-time Open winner; a resurgent David Duval; former Masters champ Mike Weir; and Phil Mickelson, who's having a remarkably good Open given that his wife, Amy, was recently diagnosed with breast cancer. Woods was far back of the lead. Obviously, anything can happen. Or not. In fact, the 2009 Open is already looking to be something of a bust. For fans, it's been an ordeal of stopped play and weather delays. When you add to this the nature of the event itself, it becomes easy to appreciate the easier drama of the Masters and even the Players Championship. U.S. Open courses are already difficult, and for the national championship, the USGA makes them harder. The goal is to make even par a benchmark for scoring. Clearly, this means that relatively conservative play is rewarded. Courses are usually long, with narrow fairways, penal rough, and rock-hard, fast greens (when it isn't raining, that is). Players don't so much contend as hang on for dear life. When Mickelson barely lost his last, best bid for an Open trophy, he had a one shot lead going in to the 72nd hole in 2006 and just couldn't keep it together. Even Woods just edged his way into a playoff with Mediate last year by making birdie on the 18th hole. So generally, what fans are presented with is four days of plodding, make-no-mistakes play with maybe a few moments of theatrics hear and there, usually toward the end when somebody needs to take a risk win. I've never liked watching the Open, and I've done it via TV and on the course (although the one year I covered the Open live, it was held at Shinnecock, on Long Island's East End, where the physical beauty of the course and its surroundings made up for how foolish the USGA setup made the players look). Last year's Mediate-Woods duel was great theater, but the last Open I can remember enjoying as a fan was in 1999, when Payne Stewart, soon to die in a freak aircraft accident, went toe-to-toe with Mickelson, winning on the final hole. Players, on the other hand, totally groove on the U.S. Open. And not because it's fun. It's torture, an ordeal, the test of tests. But as Mickelson himself has put is, the Open is great for players because it allows them to evaluate their games and their competitive instincts under the greatest pressure imaginable in golf. You can make a few mistakes at a U.S. Open and still win, but the margin for error is much narrower than at any other event. Flamboyant, cocky players don't always do very well at U.S. Opens. Their natural venue is the Masters, with is risk-reward laden back nine. Creative players also don't find the typical Open to their liking--they do better at British Opens, on links courses, where there are often two or three ways to play every shot. No, the players who thrive at the U.S. Open are capable of steady, unflinching play. Woods ran away with his first Open, at Pebble Beach in 2000, but his next two were grinding affairs. Jack Nicklaus won his Opens by subduing courses with iron discipline. Of course, every so often someone will go nuts at an Open and really light things up. Johnny Miller did this in 1973 at Oakmont, a brutal layout, shooting a final-round 63, the lowest ever, to win. But this kind of performance is few and far between. The players don't particularly want things to change. Much of the year, they play on scoring-friendly courses that reward constant attack, rather than course and game management. But once you get to the PGA Tour, it's pretty clear you can make birdies on a consistent basis. To prove that you're among the best, you need to show that you can make pars under extreme duress. So, in the end, a bummer for the fans. But remember as you're watching a soaked Bethpage torment the players who have arrived to compete that while they may look as if they're dying, they're truly thrilling to the contest. Fans might choose to change the channel or go home early, but the players don't want to be anyplace else.
 
Yoani Sanchez: Elsewhere It's Called "Stealing" But In Cuba We Call It "Resolving" Top
An uncertain summer awaits us, where they announce power cuts, higher prices and where there is even a prediction of an emigration stampede. Many Cubans, however, faced with the dilemma of solving their daily problems or trying to change something, prefer to concentrate on personal survival. They organize an escape from the national borders, evade the laws or, what amounts to the same thing, turn to crime. There are not only those who climb through the window of a warehouse at night or grab the backpack of an innocent tourist, but also the warehouseman who alters invoices or the custodian who breaks the seal of the container he is protecting. There is a socially accepted way of breaking the law that consists of stealing from the State. It includes the waiter who adds to the prices or introduces goods into the restaurant the he purchased to sell as if they were "of the house" and the shopkeeper who changes the list of customers at the ration market so he will have leftover goods. The line of illegality also extends to the hotel desk clerk who, in cahoots with the manager, rents a room off the register, the taxi driver who makes a trip without turning on the meter, or the lathe operator who produces a piece "outside" the production plan. The customs officer who lets prohibited objects through, the police who don't impose a fine, the housing official who speeds up an application, the teacher who raises a grade, and the inspector who becomes blind to the violations he should report. The walls of the bubble that protect the speeches are strengthened by the profits from these "misdeeds," but they also discourage public protest. The fruits of so many illegalities end up on the counters of foreign currency shops, they are exchanged for the rechargeable lamps that will light some houses this summer. Meanwhile, outside, who cares that the blackout reigns. Yoani's blog, Generation Y , can be read here in English translation. More on Cuba
 
Marcia G. Yerman: A Fatherless Father's Day Top
Fifty-two days ago, my father was alive. When he got sick with pneumonia in March, we thought he would be okay even though the changes of the last years were evident. At 92, his intellectual curiosity continued unabated. He actively monitored political events via the New York Times and MSNBC. In the final month of his life he railed against Dick Cheney, calling him "a son-of-a-bitch." Playing bridge continued to be an integral part of his schedule, although he expressed concern about memory issues. A hair-raising trip to the hospital, via ambulance, led to a week of intensive treatment with antibiotics. Our family was told that it would be best for him to follow up with several weeks in "rehabilitation," where he would get therapy to restore the body strength he had lost while being sedentary. The facility had an excellent staff, but it felt too much like the model familiar to me from ten years of visiting my grandmother in a nursing home. The aides were attentive, but there was no way around the image of residents sitting in the hallway in a line to nowhere. Although my father was older than most of the people there, the staff immediately recognized that he was on the ball. During his stay he would see, if not acknowledge, the woman who was always parked by the nurse's station with a large stuffed dog on her lap. From his room, it was impossible not to hear the screaming three doors down imploring, "Help me, help me!" One day as I passed by, I backed up and in response to her pleas inquired, "Can I help you?" She was totally befuddled. She slowly responded, "I forgot what I wanted." Along with my sister and brother, we set up a schedule to bring my father every evening meal so that he could eat it in the large, upstairs solarium. The dining room was small and depressing. One night, after his dinner, we sat and talked about the day's events. He got very quiet. As if saying "no" silently, he shook his head slowly from side to side. "What is it Dad?" I asked him. "Nothing," he said. I pressed him. "Tell me Dad. What is it?" He looked at me and said evenly, "I want to go home and die in my chair." I swallowed hard. It wasn't the first time he had spoken about having lived long enough. He had witnessed and been formed by major events of 20th Century American history - the Great Depression and the bombing of Pearl Harbor. He served as a Major with the Flying Tigers during World War II. My father achieved substantial success in business, was involved in local politics, and participated in his religious community. He had despaired throughout George W. Bush's administration, and rejoiced in the election of Barack Obama. "Don't you want to see Philip graduate from high school?" I asked him. Knowing of his devotion to my son, who would be turning 15 in August, I thought that would strike a chord. I had used a similar tactic when I challenged him to be around for the Bar Mitzvah. Now I was pulling the "grandson" card out of my hat again, the way a magician resorts to the proverbial white rabbit. "Philip has his whole life ahead of him," my father said. Then he added, "I've spent enough time with my family." I wasn't sure if I should take that personally. After our conversation, I panicked that something might happen to him while he was "in there." It didn't. He came home four days later, and being in his own environment made a tremendous difference. But it didn't last long. In little over ninety-six hours, he was back in the emergency room. As a result of the intensive doses of antibiotics that had been administered, he now had Clostridium difficile. I would read about it soon after in the Times Science section. My experience consisted of gloves and gowns, and an "isolation" room at the end of the floor. It was far more visceral than the stats in the article. It was the beginning of the end. My gratitude that my father had been able to rally the first time we rushed him to New York Presbyterian, just blocks away, turned into horror at what the subsequent scenarios would bring. I rationalized that it was a chance for his children to give back to him, as he had always given to us. We were never going to be able to take care of him financially. He had the handle on that. But we were able to give to him in a way that he probably could not have accepted when he was well. Returning home to his apartment for the second time, he was exhausted. We had no idea of what to expect. We gave a definitive "no" to going back to rehab. He needed 24/7 attention. We hired two shifts of wonderful caregivers, and did the rest ourselves. He made it through Passover and my Mother's birthday. Then one Saturday night after eating, he decided he didn't want to sit in the living room anymore. He retired to his bed, permanently. The meds his physician had been prescribing were making him sick. On Monday, the doctor agreed that hospice would be the best solution - as my Father was "actively dying." We all had a chance to have private time with him before he lost consciousness late Wednesday morning. He died the following day at 2:48 p.m. The funeral and week of mourning gave way to a crazy month of packing and dismantling the home he had made for himself in the after my Mother died. Thirty days and 12 hours from the date of his death, his sole surviving sister died. In a "déjà vu all over again" flash, I went down to Maryland for her funeral. Now it's June, and the work of closing down his life is over. I have space to wonder why I feel so disoriented, evaluate my status as an orphan, and try to figure out the nuances of my relationship with my father. This will be my first Father's Day without my father. I'll have plenty of time to think about it. Technorati Profile
 
Byron Williams: Obama Must Renege on Tax Promise if We Want Universal Health Care Top
By the end of 2009 I predict President Barack Obama will sign something that will be touted as health care reform. Whether that something will be classified as universal health care, is yet to be determined. With a bipartisan coalition of three former Senate majority leaders making their way to Capitol Hill pitching Congress to pass health care legislation, there is unprecedented momentum in the air. Bob Dole, who led the opposition against former President Bill Clinton's failed health care plan, is now advocating to get something passed this year. Howard Baker compared the current health care debate to the seminal moment when Congress passed civil rights legislation in the 1960s. And Tom Daschle urged that the bill have bipartisan support. But questions linger. Can there be a public plan that competes directly with the existing private companies? If so, does that create a climate of unfair competition? Where members of Congress come down on these questions depend on their political philosophy be it liberal, moderate, or conservative. The other issue is cost. It's hard to believe Congress can pass an effective piece of legislation given the size and scope of what's initially estimated. The preliminary discussions for a health care bill that does more than tinker around the edges is in the range of $1 trillion to $1.5 trillion over 10 years. The identified $300 billion in cuts to Medicare merely scratches the surface. This reality raises an additional question: Will the politics of the issue allow for the fruition universal health care? Most experts agree universal health care cannot be achieved unless employer benefits are taxed. But to merely tax the rich doesn't reach the requisite dollars for a comprehensive plan. Therefore, the president would also need to tax middle-class workers. But this goes against one of the president's campaign pledges. It is common knowledge, especially among his opponents, that candidate Obama promised not to raise taxes on the middle class. Proponents of universal health care should welcome the contrarian questions; it is the only way to avoid being under the illusion their position is immune from its own set of downsides that require difficult choices. But there is also a bitter irony to the health care debate. Why is it on matters of life we are justifiably cautious, but on matters of death we are much more cavalier? Imagine if the run up to the Iraq invasion and occupation was carried out in a similar manner to the ongoing health care debate. What if there was a legitimate attempt to have a bipartisan consensus -- as the former Senate Majority Leaders advocated for health care reform -- that did not shy away from asking the tough questions on Iraq? According to the National Priorities Project, by the end of FY 2009, the cost for Iraq and Afghanistan will exceed $907 billion -- an amount that in less than 10 years rivals the anticipated cost for universal health care. Iraq as a stand-alone is expected to exceed $700 billion this year. We're bleeding money that leads to carnage and it is hardly mentioned. But many of those who gave bombastic speeches on the Senate floor that jettisoned our young men and women into harm's way are now concerned about the cost to ensure that all Americans have access to health care. Tough choices notwithstanding, the questions raised about health care come down to political will. Do Congress and the president have the will to make this potentially groundbreaking legislation law? If so, tough choices can't be avoided. Universal health care will probably not result in an equitable system. And raising taxes only on the rich won't get it done. The president must go to the American people and courageously explain why he must renege on his campaign pledge -- that the view from the campaign trail as the Democratic Party's presidential nominee is very different from the one in the Oval Office that must transcend political affiliation. If the president fails to do this, we may have reform, but it will not be universal health care. To fully appreciate the different emphasis we place on matters of life and death, in the time required to read this column we dedicated roughly $800,000 to our war efforts. Byron Williams is an Oakland pastor and syndicated columnist and blog-talk radio host. He is the author of Strip Mall Patriotism: Moral Reflections of the Iraq War. E-mail him at byron@byronspeaks.com or visit his website: byronspeaks.com More on Barack Obama
 

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