Monday, June 22, 2009

Y! Alert: The Full Feed from HuffingtonPost.com

Yahoo! Alerts
My Alerts

The latest from The Full Feed from HuffingtonPost.com

Jen Grisanti: A Time For Belief Top
The journey from the corporate world to the private sector is a life affirming and worthwhile experience. It means going from a secure paycheck to relying on the belief that the universe will deliver. You learn more about yourself, your strengths and what you're really made of while traveling down this path. In the book, What Would Google Do? , Jeff Jarvis states, "We no longer need companies, institutions or government to organize us. We have the tools to organize ourselves. We can find each other and coalesce around political causes or bad companies or talent or business or ideas. We can share or sort our knowledge and behavior. We can communicate and come together in an instant. We also have new ethics and attitudes that spring from this new organization and change society in ways we cannot yet see, with openness, generosity, collaboration, efficiency. We are using the Internet's connective tissue to leap over borders..' What does all of this mean to you? It means that there is no better time to start -- to build something that is all yours and represents your beliefs, your knowledge and your values. It's about finding your niche and cultivating it. You can create something from scratch. You can apply what you loved about your job and market it in a way that appeals to the masses. You can do what you love for a living. It is about believing. My journey after being in the corporate world for over 15 years started with a course at Esalen in Big Sur called "Completions and Transitions" with Mary Goldenson, the author of, It's Time, No One's Coming to Save You . It was there that I was able to reconnect with myself, my core values and what I wanted in my life. Through many thought provoking exercises as well as being part of a great group, Mary helped me to see and believe that there was a way. After that trip, I analyzed the market. I researched everyone and anyone who was doing anything similar to what I wanted to do. I looked at my own experience and made sure that my work background supported my company concept. I tapped into my relationships and set up informational meetings. I found a phenomenal website designer in Suzie Roth of Suzie Roth Designs. She has been my saving grace in this whole experience. From here, I started developing a brand. This was one of the most rewarding parts of my journey. What message did I want to send out about my business? I came up with Developing From Within, my belief being that the stronger we are inside, the more access we will have to our stories which makes us stronger creatively. I am using my story to motivate you into believing. I've had so many people contact me wanting to get information on how they too can start their own businesses and redefine success on their terms. If this is right road for you, you can do it. The key is creating a niche that fits your background and work experience and then doing what it takes execute it with clear vision. The internet has been one of the most useful tools in my experience. Some of the websites that I find to be invaluable are; www.constantcontact.com, www.googleadwords.com, www.prwebdirect.com and www.summitconsulting.com. It is about focus, determination, courage, commitment to the process and discipline. Above all, belief in yourself is an ingredient you cannot do without. If you believe in this, anything can happen. Warmly, Jen
 
Bob Ostertag: How do you say "overcollection" in Farsi? Top
There is a bizarre disconnect between news coverage of internet surveillance and censorship in Iran and here in the US. To a certain point, this has some rational basis: after all, US citizens are not out in the street laying down their lives in defense of democracy. Here in the US, nine years ago we all stayed home and watched on TV while the Supreme Court handed a contested election to George W. Bush. Be that as it may, Americans need to take a deep breath and a look in the mirror, for the same technical surveillance capabilities being used and abused in Iran are being used - and abused - here at home. A lead article in today's Wall Street Journal reports on the Iranian government's web surveillance technologies, specifically a "monitoring center" installed last year within the government's telecom monopoly, provided to the theocratic state by the Finnish cell phone giant Nokia and the German electronics conglomerate Siemens AG. According to the WSJ , the technology enables the Iranian state to scan through vast amounts of electronic communications searching for particular keywords and the like. This is ominous, because it suggests that the Iranian authorities may have been tracking the identity of those who have been emailing and tweeting about opposition activities over the last week, and may now be in a position to begin picking these people off in a highly targeted way, if they are not doing so already. Incredibly, this lead story in this leading news publication also tells us "In the U.S., the National Security Agency has such capability, which was employed as part of the Bush administration's "Terrorist Surveillance Program." A White House official wouldn't comment on if or how this is being used under the Obama administration." Hello? That's it? Really? Ahem. Time to review what we know, and what we don't know, about internet surveillance in the US. In 2005, AT&T technician Mark Klein "blew the whistle" on the existence of a secret "monitoring center" at AT&T's facility located at 611 Folsom Street in San Francisco , where a complete copy of all the internet traffic AT&T receives at that center is diverted onto a separate fiber-optic cable which is connected to a room secretly run by the NSA. Subsequent lawsuits by the ACLU and the Electronic Frontier Foundation, as well as congressional hearings, have established that there are at least 15 to 20 other such "monitoring centers" at other AT&T facilities around the country and possibly more, and likely equivalents at other corporate facilities. All of which is completely unconstitutional and illegal. Unfortunately, much of the effort to find out exactly what happens in these "monitoring centers" was derailed last year when congress passed and President Bush signed the FISA Amendments Act (FISAAA), which gave the giant telecomms retroactive immunity for breaking the law in facilitating the illegal NSA surveillance. Then-candidate Barack Obama initially promised to join Wisconsin Senator Russ Feingold in a filibuster against the law, then reversed himself and voted for it, triggering intense dissent among his activist base. Obama defended his flip-flop arguing that the revised law would create a legal structure for ensuring that state surveillance of electronic communications was kept within constitutional bounds. Last April, less than a year after FISAAA was passed and only three months into Obama's term, the administration announced it had already "discovered" that the NSA has been - surprise surprise - engaging in "significant and systemic... overcollection" of domestic communications between Americans. In other words, the NSA was and is engaged in exactly what Obama had preposterously claimed the new law would prevent. Then just last month, a federal appeals court dismissed dozens of lawsuits challenging illegal domestic surveillance of American citizens, ruling that FISAAA gave the giant telecomms immunity from liability. Finally, at closed-door congressional hearings just a couple of weeks ago, NSA officials again asked forgiveness for "inadvertent overcollection" of surveillance on American citizens. The dismissal of the lawsuits brings to a screeching halt the related discovery efforts of the ACLU and EFF to learn exactly what happens in the secret monitoring centers the NSA runs across the country. This was actually one of the main arguments used against the FISAAA legislation last summer: that giving the corporations retroactive immunity would halt the discovery proceedings attached to lawsuits, that were our best shot at learning what goes on in those secret centers. As of a couple of weeks ago, this has come to pass in exactly the manner foreseen. Meanwhile, with a democratic insurrection exploding on the streets of Tehran, Nokia and Siemens AG are under extreme pressure to fess up and tell the world exactly what is in that monitoring center they built for the Iranian government. Which leaves you and I in the supremely ironic situation that we know less about the surveillance operations of our own government than we do about the surveillance operations of the theocratic Islamic regime in Tehran. I wonder if there is a word in Farsi for "overcollection." Fact is, there is no word for it in English either. "Overcollection" is not part of the English language. Google it and you will see that this word was actually born three months ago , birthed in the Obama administration's bumbling effort to explain away the new surveillance regime. One of the surest clues to the abuse of power is when state officials start inventing new words to describe their own actions. If you want to know more about what you and I don't know about what our government knows about us, visit the Electronic Frontier Foundation at http://www.eff.org . And remember, what you don't now can hurt you. More on Iranian Election
 
Man Allegedly Framed For Murder By Cop Awarded $21M Top
A federal jury has awarded $21 million to a man who sued a former Chicago Police officer, accusing the officer of framing him for murder, authorities said.
 
David Hernandez, Chicago Sports Webio Fugitive, Captured After Failed Suicide Attempt Top
CHICAGO (AP) -- A fugitive financier who helped launch a Chicago sports Web site and was charged in what prosecutors describe as an $11 million Ponzi scheme was captured Monday in central Illinois, police said. David Hernandez, 48, of Downers Grove, was found in a hotel guest room in Normal and taken to a hospital there "where he is receiving treatment for what appear to be self-inflicted injuries," Normal Police said in a statement. Officers were called to the hotel at about 10:50 a.m. "to check the welfare of a patron," police said. Hernandez was being held in Normal on a federal mail fraud warrant until he can be transferred to federal custody, police said. Hernandez was a key figure in launching "Chicago Sports Webio," an Internet radio site that presents sports figures and reporters and which featured Chicago sports commentator Mike North. Federal prosecutors charged Hernandez last week with using several companies to operate a Ponzi scheme in which investors contacted over the Internet were misled about the investments he was selling. It was not clear Monday if he'd retained an attorney. Ponzi scheme operators promise big returns but actually pay investors not out of money the venture has made but with money from other investors. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission also has filed a civil lawsuit in the case, accusing Hernandez of promising investors in Next Step Financial returns of 10 percent to 16 percent. The complaint said that beginning in February 2008, Hernandez solicited funds from at least 100 investors in at least 12 states through Next Step Financial Services. It said he misrepresented the company as a successful business that invested in payday loan stores when in fact it was out of business. It also said he lied to investors when he said their investments were insured. -ASSOCIATED PRESS
 
Jonathan Black: So Many Books, So Many Friends Top
It started innocently enough. An email from "Dan" read, "Hi, Jonathan. Let's connect on Goodreads and share recommendations about books," and there was a link to "goodreads.com." Wonderful, I thought, because like half the country, I've done time in a book group, but sharing is tough if you're a male. My first book group was all-men. It was centered in Hyde Park, home to the University of Chicago, and thus carried, at least in theory, a certain intellectual heft. We took pride in shunning run-of-the-mill fare. Not for us the latest Indian novel or pseudo-memoir of an abused future writer; instead we opted for meaty fare such as Garry Wills on Lincoln or an obscure Icelandic novel. The food tended toward straightforward masculine grub; no low-fat soups or fancy salads. We drank beer, not wine. But eventually we drifted apart. My wife's book group stayed late into the night, listening earnestly, capping each other's comments with sharp but respectful dissent (I know this from reports and from having snuck down the stairs to listen). But men, it seemed, weren't so great at discussion. We hopped from topic to topic. We lacked the talent to transition from books to personal experience, and soon stumbled into politics or wound up debating what to read next. The wife and I next joined a couples' group. There were bumpy moments at first, the feared, "I'd like to finish what I was saying, Harold." But soon, the occasional offhand snipe -- "That wasn't what you thought this morning at breakfast" or "What about when she took the boat to America, Lynn?" -- gave way to more polite exchanges. Cordiality trumped dissent. We were in it for the long haul. But still we floundered. Couples either presented an annoying united front or disagreed so sharply that their marriage, rather than the book, was of more urgent interest -- and became our topic of discussion in the car-ride home. And so it was that I greeted the invitation from Dan with a shiver of anticipation. It was scarcely diminished when I discovered that the Dan in question was not the Dan I thought (the pal from my men's group), but an author I'd met seven years before when I was editing a magazine. All the better. How nice that he remembered our long and promising lunch. Geographical distance had stalled our relationship, but now we were back as online chums. Or so I thought until I discovered that the "Hi, Jonathan" was the template greeting sent to every new Goodreads candidate. I discovered this after I signed onto Goodreads -- free, no fees required -- and opted to conscript some friends of my own. In the flush of literary networking, I followed the suggestion to tap my address book -- a sobering exercise. There were at least a dozen people on my "contacts" list whose names weren't even familiar. Others I hadn't talked to in years. One had sued me. Several were dead. Of the remainder, I had to consider who actually read books (fewer than I thought) and who might be offended at the presumption that I had books to recommend. But good news followed, of a sort. The next morning my Inbox was flooded. Replies ranged from, "Great to hear from you" and "Who knew you were such a techie!" to the less encouraging, "I do all my socializing on Facebook" and "Well, alright -- whatever it is." Most came with the pro forma: "Jonathan, Your friends list on Goodreads is growing -- you are now seeing what friends are reading." At first it was two friends, then six, then ten, then twelve. I clicked on several links ("See Arnie's profile") and found bare-bones utilitarian data: Home city, date of joining Goodreads. A few, already members, had pictures posted. The rest (myself included) had a silhouetted head-and-shoulders graphic that looked like a TV interview with a mob trial witness. Guilty I'd invited so many people to a party I wasn't attending, I wrote a quick paragraph about struggling through Neuromancer , my first venture into science fiction. To my surprise, one new friend wrote back -- about Dune , which I'd forgotten I'd read and loved a million years ago and couldn't remember a word of. Ducking this conversation, I picked another lapsed friend, clicked on his profile, saw he had 28 friends, clicked on one, and found myself reading about a fetching young Czech memoirist (she'd put up her picture) who herself had 45 friends and had read 117 books! I started reading her blog, finally pulled myself together and re-traced my steps to the Goodreads home page, which urged me to rank my bookshelf. I was invited to comment on others' reading and see who'd reviewed my reviews. Or I could write a book myself! (Thousands had). More new friends checked in. Many had somehow made friends with each other. The Dune fan wanted to chat about Dune. The original Dan was firing off hourly emails rating books he'd read and sending invites to his latest reading in Providence. I checked my watch, and was horrified to find I was late to pick up my kids at school. Back at my computer, I was invited to join the Goodreads newsletter. It was free, I was curious. Why not? The next day I found out why not. My first email-ed newsletter opened with, "Together, we're 2 million people who are passionate about books -- and that's a powerful agent for change." I pondered this briefly; I read books for many reasons, but effecting change is not one of them. Right below was a scarier summons: "Hop on the Twitter train and snyc up your Goodreads feed with your Twitter account," and the paragraph went on to provide a "hashtag." I was already lost. I scrolled down the page to author interviews with Elmore Leonard and Alexander McCall Smith and noticed, with alarm, that the vertical right-hand bar had scarcely budged. This was one heck of a newsletter. I took the "Never Ending Book Quiz ("Finish the 1984 quotation: "War is Peace, Freedom is Slavery, Ignorance is___") I considered joining Listopia and finding the members' vote for "Books for a Pandemic." I skimmed a few of the hundreds of Favorite Quotations ("So many books, so little time," was ascribed to Frank Zappa, ranked ninth with 8,756 votes) but passed on the chance to read "tons of pre-release books and reading-themed goodies." On page 14, I came across the "Goodreads Poetry Contest!" After exhortations to join two different Poetry groups, there followed the May winner. Granted, I am no judge of poetry and haven't written a poem myself since high school, but the 78-line "Jaybirds Feeding on Robins" gave me the urge to give it another try. In the "Movers & Shakers" section, I clicked on a random review of Genesis by Bernard Beckett, which I'd never heard of and of which "Charli" wrote, "After sitting there in stunned silence for about 10 minutes, I turned to the beginning and started over again." I knew how Charli felt. I, too, was stunned -- into exhaustion. I felt like the sorcerer's apprentice, caught up in a frenzy of sharing. Foolishly, I'd thought the whole idea of books was to provide a solitary pleasure, transport to a private realm inhabited only by myself and the author. Wasn't that why we read books -- to escape our narrow world? Granted, a bit of discussion now and then was fine. A recommendation here and there was welcome. But surely we were meant to spend more time reading books than creating lists and harvesting opinions. Confused, I sought an explanation from the person who'd devised this torture, and was soon on the phone with Otis Chandler. Chandler, the grandson of Los Angeles Times founder Otis Chandler, is a 28-year old software programmer and self-proclaimed "Book enthusiast" who came up with the idea in 2006 and now has 5 full-time employees (his wife, an English teacher, a "sales guy," and three programmers). From Chandler, I learned the site now has 2.1 million users. Authors happily consent to interviews. Goodreads has "working relationships" with several major publishers. Reviews are unedited. All content is "editable -- think of it as the Wikipedia model." The Trivia Quiz has over one million questions. The bulk of the revenue is advertising. A new feature will inform readers of the most popular books being published next month, "So many book review sections are shrinking or vanished," points out Chandler, "Goodreads helps you not just find books but helps you make the decision what to read, which is not an easy decision." Coincidentally, 2006 was the same year that John Hug, another social network veteran (from Real People), started Shelfari, which was soon bought by Amazon. The third big book networking site is the 4-year old LibraryThing, whose preview explains, "LibraryThing helps you create a library-quality catalog of your books. You can do all of them or just what you're reading now. And because everyone catalogs online, they also catalog together." I couldn't imagine creating a "library-quality catalog" of my books, whatever that was, let alone joining a catalog fest, online or anywhere else, and opted to join Shelfari. But in the time it took to sign up, I received three more emails from new Goodreads friends, none of whose names I knew. Dan had sent another Providence invite. My Dune pal wondered why I hadn't replied. I cast a wistful glance at my bedside table and the book I'd been reading, Jeff in Venice, Death in Varanasi . I'd loved the first 30 pages and was dying to get back to it. I just didn't think I'd have time.
 
Arjuna Ardagh: I Have Met the Future of the Internet Top
I have met the future of the Internet, and trust me, it's very, very cool. The way that you recognize a particularly cool idea is that as soon as you hear it you wonder how you could ever have lived without it. Believe it or not, 15 years ago, nobody had email. What? Yes, it's true. When I tell my kids that, they stare at the ceiling, wondering when their dad is going to stop making stuff up. No email? How could anyone possibly live without email? That's like...living without a cell phone or a computer. Don't be an idiot, dad. Just imagine, if you wanted to get a message to somebody you had to phone them, which could be quite costly if it was long distance. Or imagine this: type or write a letter, put it in an envelope, and mail it with a stamp. Remember those? So that's the thing about a really good idea; once you hear it, once you get it, once you integrate it, you wonder how you could have ever lived without it. Like I said, I've met the future of the Internet. And once you hear it, once you get it, once it starts to flow in your veins, the only questions that remains is, how could we have ever lived without it? The future of the Internet lives just North of San Francisco in Marin County. He's 48 years old, wears wire-rimmed spectacles, drives a BMW and his name is Brooks Cole. Brooks is one of those people who doesn't just think outside the box now and then. He's taken the entire box apart and, through some mixture of origami and voodoo, turned it into a paper swan. The current state of the Internet is dominated by searches that create lists. For example, if you want a restaurant in LA, typing in the search string "restaurants + Los Angeles" will bring up nearly 10 million results, all neatly arranged into one million pages. Sixty-seven percent of people who do a web-search like this never look past the first page. But the things that is most ridiculous thing about this process, which becomes obvious as soon as you are introduced to an alternative, is that everybody gets the same results. A business man visiting from Tokyo, a truck driver passing through from San Diego North on I-5, a teenage taking his girlfriend out before a movie, they are all going to get the same results for "restaurant + Los Angeles." Life itself is not like that. If I want to go out to eat in Los Angeles, I am going to call my friend Tinker Lindsey, who I have known for 35 years, and lives in Hollywood. She knows me, knows what I like to eat, knows my budget, knows that my diet is pretty healthy, and she knows the kind of person that I am. If I call her and say, "I need a place to eat in Los Angeles," she is going to come right back and say, "Arjuna, I know the perfect place. It might be a bit of a drive, but you've just got to go to Pietro's, in Santa Monica. It is so you." She might come up with two or three backup suggestions, but almost certainly those suggestions will be appropriate and relevant to me. The difference between search results and the recommendation of a friend is that your friend relies upon countless pieces of information about you -- in this case gathered over 35 years -- to predict, with accuracy, what will please you. Brooks Cole, with his partner and self-taught mathematical savant Dave Fisk, has invented an algorithm whereby the "Holo Discovery Engine" keeps a privacy-protected profile of you, which allows it to make intelligent and relevant suggestions, instead of generating irrelevant, impersonal lists. But that is just the beginning. The other break-through which Brooks has innovated, and which also, once recognized, leaves you intolerant of anything less, is that it breaks free of the constraints of closed pages. I don't know if you have ever noticed this, but life itself is not constrained to pages. Wherever you are right now, notice that you are hearing sounds, notice that you can see the colors and textures and movements. Can you turn the page on all that? If you look far enough to the left do you get to the edge of the page? Of course not. Life is a continuum, a process of discovery where everything is connected to everything else. So whatever you focus on becomes the center of your universe in that moment, and invites you to further exploration. Holo's user interface, which is not just a browser, but a cross-device interface that can work on any platform, allows you to move seamlessly from one point of reference to another without ever having to change the page. Just like life. Listening to "Norwegian Wood" by The Beatles, for example, might lead you to explore other songs on that album, other songs by The Beatles, or other songs that made it to the top 10 in 1965. It might lead you to movies with that song on its soundtrack, or to other artists who had also recorded that song. Or -- in a web of interconnection which defies logic but mimics human intelligence -- it might lead you to other things that have the same atmosphere or quality. Brooks's algorithm is the closest thing that artificial intelligence has come to so far in the direction of true "bio-mimicry." It works the same way that the brain does, by creating significance, meaning and relevance out of seemingly discordant pieces of information. And this is where the future of technology becomes not just cool, not just efficient, but actually translucent. In 1965 Marshall McLuhan coined the term "The Medium is Message." In other words, the way that information is presented to you is as important as the information itself. The future of the web is not only about more information available at faster speeds, but about the way that information is accessed, so that underlying patterns of relevance naturally emerge. Brooks's technology allows you to directly experience the ways in which everything is the center of everything else, the ways in which seemingly separate things are waves arising out of an ocean of connectivity. The future of the Internet is not only about the advancements of human technology, it's about the advancement of human consciousness. Not only in our subjective experience, but on our computer screens as well, we are moving from a world dominated by separation and consumption, to one dominated by interconnectedness and contribution. I have met the future of the Internet. And now I can hardly wait for tomorrow to be here. Go visit Brooks Cole's website and works . Subscribers to The Translucent View will receive an MP3 download of an interview I did with Brooks Cole. Not Yet a subscriber? Subscribe now
 
Donald Fehr To Retire As Head Of Baseball Players' Union Top
NEW YORK — Donald Fehr is retiring as head of the baseball players' association after more than a quarter-century in charge of the powerful labor union. Fehr, who turns 61 next month, said Monday he will retire no later than the end of March. Subject to approval by the union's executive board, he will be succeeded by union general counsel Michael Weiner, his longtime heir apparent. Weiner will head negotiations heading into the expiration of the current labor contract in December 2011. "I have no hesitancy in recommending to the players that he be given the opportunity to do this job," Fehr said. A clerk to a federal judge who became the top lawyer to pioneering union head Marvin Miller in August 1977, Fehr took over as acting executive director on Dec. 8, 1983. That was 2 1/2 weeks after players fired Kenneth Moffett, the former mediator who had succeeded Miller following a 50-day strike in 1981, Fehr led players through a two-day strike in 1985, then was voted executive director on a full-time basis that December. His early years in charge were defined by management's conspiracy against free agents. The union successfully charged management with conspiring against free agents following the 1985, 1986 and 1987 seasons in violation of the labor contract and settled the cases for $280 million. When he first assumed the top job 26 years ago, the average salary was $289,000. It had risen to $2.9 million by last year. But while players made tremendous economic gains and fended off management's repeated attempts to obtain a salary cap, he has been criticized by some for not agreeing to drug testing until August 2002. He presided over three work stoppages during his time in charge, with the brief 1985 strike followed by a 32-day lockout in 1990 and a 7 1/2-month strike in 1994-95 that wiped out the World Series for the first time in 90 years. That stoppage ended only when the National Labor Relations Board, at the union's behest, obtained an injunction to restore work rules from U.S. District Judge Sonia Sotomayor, nominated last month by President Barack Obama for the Supreme Court. There has been labor peace since then, with the current collective bargaining agreement running through the 2011 season, and Fehr developed a businesslike if not warm relationship with Bud Selig, baseball's commissioner since 1992. A bookworm happier to discuss the latest essay in Scientific American rather than baseball, Fehr led a casual union in which he showed up to work most days in jeans and sneakers, keeping a jacket and tie in an office closet in case he needed to go on television. He was working at the law firm of Jolley, Moran, Walsh, Hager & Gordon in Kansas City, Mo., after clerking for a federal judge when Miller and Dick Moss, then the union's general counsel, needed a lawyer to help defend the owners' appeal of the Andy Messersmith-Dave McNally case, in which arbitrator Peter Seitz overturned the reserve clause. Fehr had been working on cases involving the steelworkers. "It was really all an accident," Fehr said in 1985. "Marvin and Dick both came out of the steelworkers, so they went to our firm. Originally, someone else was going to handle it. But I was eventually asked to do their work." When Moss quit the union to become an agent, Fehr was hired by Miller as Moss' replacement. "I had become fascinated with baseball labor-management relations during the Messersmith case and decided to take the job and move to New York," Fehr said. Weiner, the longtime No. 3 official, has been with the players' union since September 1988 and has been its general counsel since February 2004. The No. 2 official is Gene Orza, the union's chief operating officer.
 
Dee Mosbacher: No Drinking, No Drugs, No Lesbians: How Homophobia Still Rules in Sports Top
Five years ago, I decided to make a documentary about homophobia in sports. Although a few professional sports icons, like Billie Jean King and Martina Navratilova had come out as lesbians, I wanted to understand why athletes seemed to feel being out was unsafe when lesbian and gay visibility was increasing everywhere else. In 2005, WNBA star Sheryl Swoopes became the first basketball player to come out of the closet. Later that year, an outstanding Division I basketball player, Jennifer Harris, was thrown off her college team because her coach believed that Harris was a lesbian. When Harris decided to sue the coach, athletic department, and university, she became the focus of the new documentary I co-produced and directed with Fawn Yacker, Training Rules . Jennifer Harris was a premed student and a very good player at Penn State University. She would have been the leading scorer on her team at the beginning of her junior year. Instead, after the last game of her sophomore year season, she was cut from the team by Coach Rene Portland, who had a long history of discriminating against any player she suspected might be lesbian. Penn State settled the Harris case, but that didn't bring an end to homophobia in women's sports, nor is Penn State the only school that has allowed such practices--far from it. And so far there is only one out lesbian who is the head women's basketball coach of a Division I school. Unlike men's basketball, where concern about a player's sexuality is rarely addressed, it's common practice in women's athletics to raise the specter of lesbian players and coaches. You would think this has changed, since five states recently extended marriage rights to same-sex couples. But with the prospect of losing their scholarships and being cut from their teams, very few student athletes feel safe enough to come out. Clearly, we still have a long way to go. Training Rules is a painful reminder that homophobia still exists in women's sports. The Penn State players featured in the film represent many others throughout the world of college athletics whose careers have been terminated because of homophobia. It's time to level the playing field. All athletes deserve to compete unencumbered by the fear of discrimination based on sexual orientation.
 
Beth Smith, Golfer Chris Smith's Wife, Killed In Crash Top
ANGOLA, Ind. — The commissioner of the PGA Tour is confirming that the wife of PGA Tour golfer Chris Smith was killed and two of his children were critically injured in a weekend accident in northern Indiana. PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem said Monday that everyone's thoughts and prayers were with the Smith family. Beth Smith was killed in Sunday's crash on Interstate 69, near Angola. Authorities say a sport utility vehicle carrying Smith and the two children collided with a Greyhound bus. The bus was carrying members of the London, Ontario, Silverbacks football team. In all, 11 other people were taken to area hospitals and 11 more were treated at the scene. THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below. ANGOLA, Ind. (AP) _ A coroner said Monday he was still trying to identify the person killed in a fiery weekend crash that critically injured two children of PGA Tour golfer Chris Smith and hurt several members of the London (Ontario) Silverbacks football team, including its owner. Smith's wife, Beth Smith, was killed in Sunday's crash, according to The News-Sentinel newspaper in nearby Fort Wayne. Authorities said Monday they could not immediately confirm the report. Steuben County Coroner Rodney Snyder said he was working to identify a badly burned body recovered from the crash site. The sheriff's department said the victim was a passenger in the front seat of a sport utility vehicle that smashed head-on into a Greyhound bus carrying members of the semipro team. Smith's children, 16-year-old Abigail and 12-year-old Cameron, remained hospitalized Monday in critical condition, according to Fort Wayne's Lutheran Hospital. Brian Rice, manager of the Rock Hollow Golf Club in Peru that is owned by the golfer, confirmed that Smith's children were injured but could not confirm whether Beth Smith was killed. Authorities said the crash occurred about 11:35 a.m. Sunday on Interstate 69 when the SUV carrying the Smiths went out of control and the driver overcorrected. The SUV crossed the median and collided with the bus. Police said Abigail Smith was driving at the time of crash. Silverbacks owner Alan Lazar suffered internal and head injuries and was listed in stable condition Monday at Fort Wayne's Parkview Hospital. Eleven other passengers were taken to Cameron Hospital in Angola and 11 more were treated at the scene, police said. An Indiana National Guard unit returning to Fort Wayne from drills in Michigan arrived at the site minutes after the crash and helped the injured, Angola Fire Department spokesman T.R. Hagerty said. Chris Smith, 40, of Peru, Ind., made the PGA Tour in 1995 and won the 2002 Buick Classic. He has been a part-time PGA player in recent years and has been in only three 2009 PGA Tour events, missing the cut in this month's St. Jude Classic and finishing 13th at the Puerto Rico Open in March. More on Sports
 
Lost Baby Sea Lion Rescued On Freeway Top
OAKLAND, Calif. — A baby sea lion has been rescued after wandering onto a busy San Francisco Bay area freeway. Drivers on I-880 started calling authorities early Monday morning after spotting the creature waddling along the center divider near the Oakland Coliseum. California Highway Patrol Officer Peter Van Eckhardt said the sea lion may have come from a San Francisco Bay estuary nearby. The pup was taken to the Marine Mammal Center in Marine County, where spokesman Jim Oswald said the animal is active and alert but malnourished. A male sea lion was found on another highway in May, but died from malnourishment. More on Animals
 
Top 8 Famous Refugees (SLIDESHOW) Top
June 20th was World Refugee Day. Here's our list of some of the most famous refugees ever. Know of other famous refugees? Leave your suggestions in the comments section below. Get HuffPost World On Facebook and Twitter! More on Photo Galleries
 
DOJ: AIPAC Case Witness Asked To Fake Suicide Top
Two people asked a Pentagon official cooperating with prosecutors in an investigation into the American Israel Public Affairs Committee to fake his own death to avoid testifying against two pro-Israel lobbyists charged in the case, according to the Justice Department. Pentagon analyst Lawrence Franklin pled guilty in October 2005 to participating in a conspiracy with AIPAC officials Steven Rosen and Keith Weissman to obtain and distribute classified information. The Justice Department dropped the case against Rosen and Weissman last month as a trial approached.
 
Ajay Singh Chaudhary: Learning From Iran Top
The images and words coming out of Iran over the past week resonate strongly with those of us who have spent years pouring over and trying to understand similar images and words which flooded out of Iran 30 years earlier. They have an even greater significance for the millions of Iranians who vividly remember the last time disparate coalitions of millions hastily assembled and crammed into Azadi Square to face down a dictator. The events of today spark memories of the last time Iranians gathered on rooftops to chant Allahu Akbar (God is Great) in order to remind a violent and repressive government that standards, ideals and powers exist far beyond it's grasp. In recent days voices in the US have been calling on the Obama administration with increasing tenor to take a more active role in today's Iranian crisis and to both openly and unwaveringly side with the opposition movement as it bravely protests in the streets of Iran. Thankfully, the President and his aides have ignored such calls and have sided instead with a more politically prudent camp which understands that American officials need to keep a firm distance from this internal Iranian situation. If we turn to the last century we see that American administrations toppled a democratically elected Iranian government in 1953, subsequently supported a ruthless dictator in the Shah for nearly three decades, and then armed, encouraged and backed Saddam Hussein in the bloody Iran-Iraq War. Ironically, the latter of these served to empower and entrench the most radical elements of the Revolution in the new Islamic Republic. The only thing to be gained from an official American blessing today is an association with this long and sordid history. However, what even those prudent and pragmatic observers have missed is that not only is this emerging story from Iran not really about America in any significant way but that we, Americans and others, have something to learn from it as well. Both this administration and the last one have endorsed the notion that freedom is a universal human norm, not an exclusively American one, and that the democratic struggle is one shared among all peoples. But part of endorsing a universal value or idea is realizing that our voice, our ideals, our dreams are but one small component in a human story that by its very definition is continually unfolding in new, different and ever changing directions. As these directions take divergent paths and even contradict one another they help to elucidate the original idea. This is the only process by which any form of universal concept makes sense. This notion should not surprise Americans, particularly right now. Take the example of Gandhi, a man who held profoundly divergent ideas about humanity, politics, economics, God and the role of religion from our own. Had some of our civil rights leaders of the last century not looked to his example it is highly doubtful that today we would be celebrating the election of our first African-American President, regardless of political affiliation. Had other civil rights leaders of the last century not looked to more radical third-world religious and national liberation ideologues then it might not have happened at all. The Islamic Revolution introduced dimensions to political discourse that so confused the standard 'Left-Right' political spectrum that even today many political scientists talk themselves dizzy trying to comfortably categorize it in familiar terms. Many simply ignore both the remarkable diversity of thought that comprised these revolutionary forces and incongruous historical elements. Instead they should be adapting their own ideas and language to the fact that there is much to be learned for our own understandings of freedom, democracy and politics from the ideologues and events that led to and compromised the Islamic Revolution. Certainly, the very same can be said for the events of today. On Thursday we witnessed rallies of mourning for martyrs of the last week's protests -- a process which exhibits another familiar pattern from the revolution of 1978/79. As I write now we are seeing disturbing images of widespread violence from pro-government militias and riot police against peaceful protestors. Whether or not today's rallies will happen and more broadly, whether or not this movement will be successful -- and even what success might look like -- remains uncertain. What is not uncertain is that the challenge of a popular 20th century Iranian Islamist philosopher like Ali Shariati that the unity of humanity, the unity of existence and the unity of God "bestows upon man" an "independence and dignity" which "impels Man to revolt against all lying powers, all the humiliating fetters of fear and of greed," remains as powerful today as it did in the last century. To Shariati that is the definition of "submission to Him alone" who he calls "the supreme norm of all being." These words, nearly 50 years old now, may not be the ones echoing on the streets of Tehran today where you are far more likely to hear the words of contemporary thinkers like Abdolkarim Soroush or Mohsen Kadivar or, of course, non-Islamic and non-Iranian thinkers as well. But their power as just one example of what we can learn from the ongoing Iranian struggle for democracy and freedom remains. We can recognize these ideas, find corollaries and similarities in some of our own, but their particular arrangement, focus and nuance leads us into areas of thought we hadn't previously encountered. These and dozens more from thinkers like Shariati -- and from his staunch opponents and allies in that 20th century struggle -- represent untold lessons and commentary in just one part of the human story of democratic struggle and freedom. Similarly, we can already learn profound lessons from the actions and ideas of today's new movement. Few of us will soon forget the images of thousands upon thousands of Iranian opposition supporters peacefully and silently advancing through the streets of Tehran. This provides new answers to both the pragmatic and conceptual problems of equating a democratic mass with an angry mob. The Iranian people are rightly wary of destructive social chaos and mass violence after fighting two revolutions, resisting forty years of the Shah's dictatorship and eight years of war with Iraq. They are trying to show through their words, actions and silences how real, lasting and meaningful change can also take place through the struggle of peaceful protest and not only through the radical violence of revolution; but they have also shown, and continue to show, their resilience and willingness to resist in the face of harsh crackdowns and suppression of speech. The processes and arenas through which the events of this week have unfolded -- the twittering, the social networks, the circumventing of local censorship by the international electronic exchange of information -- all serve to palpably underline the increasingly anachronistic approach of thinking in purely national or even cultural borders. The idea of something universal may be impossible to define, but today Iranians are demonstrating the possible practical manifestations of just such ideas through both their actions and these exchanges and dialogues. If there is one form of help we can and definitely should provide for the Iranian people, it is ensuring that these international and electronic channels remain open and available in order to maintain ongoing exchanges and foster productive dialogues. And if there is a message that we should be sending to those people risking their lives in the streets of cities all across Iran, it is certainly not that the American administration supports them or, heaven forbid, is 'behind them.' It is that today, the streets of Iran again, after more than a century of revolutions, are teaching us and the world about democracy and freedom in ways that we have not yet understood and that we, and the world, eagerly await the lesson. So let us sit back for a moment and see if we can't learn a thing or two. More on Iranian Election
 
Russell Simmons: America's Prayer Top
Two weeks ago, the President of the United States of America made a statement to the Muslim world in Cairo, Egypt on behalf of many of us. Last week, he sat down for an interview for a Pakistani television station, the first time a U.S. President has done a one-on-one interview for any media outlet in Pakistan. This is how we fight terrorism; by promoting dialogue from a place of love and kindness. And now in Iran, we are witnessing its people standing up because they no longer want to live in a country with a leader who promotes hate! They have stood up because they want to be counted! They have stood up because they want to be heard!They have stood up because they want to connect with the rest of the world! And they have stood up because they want reform! I have grown to learn that the world is 100% what you make it...that is the essence of the science of all of the holy books; a collective consciousness that we all go through life seeking. We journey through life trying to cleanse our thoughts, so our prayers will be answered. If we harbor hate in our hearts, then it will take much longer to reach that level of consciousness. The people in Iran have put their lives on the line to reach this level of connectivity with each other and with the rest of the world. I know, in his heart, the President stands with the people of Iran. And let us not kid ourselves, that speech in Cairo two weeks ago by the President gave support to those in Iran who were ready to revolt. Yet they take the streets not with arms or weapons, but with peace signs and green headbands. A lot of people have said that the President has been too silent on this issue, however he already said it all. In Cairo. So in the spirit of collective consciousness, let's follow closely the events in Iran, as we have become the messengers of truth for our brothers and sisters who want to keep standing up! More on Barack Obama
 
David Finkle: Holden Caulfield at 60? No Way, Says J. D. Salinger Top
The only book my mother ever forbade me to read was J. D. Salinger's best-seller, The Catcher in the Rye . She gave no reason for banning it. I'm not even certain she ever really read it. My guess is she heard from friends it was "dirty." Her dictum was particularly strange in light of the books I was reading at the time -- in 1951 or 1952 I wasn't yet a teenager -- about which she had no similar negative reaction. I had graduated from Howard Garis's Buddy Boy series and was gleefully plowing through best-selling historical romances like Zoé Oldenbourg's The Cornerstone and Annemarie Selinko's Desirée . Yet, in the midst of this, Mom nixed The Catcher in the Rye ! But never mind, I sneaked it into the house and read it anyway. And still I couldn't figure out on what grounds it had been grounded. Nor was I sure some years later when my prep-school housemaster, an English teacher, read it to us seniors over a series of nights. The only thing that occurred to me then is that the word "turd" is included. Mr. Pynchon did blush when he read the (offending?) sentence. I bring this up now because of the literary furor-in-a-teapot over 60 Years Later: Coming Through the Rye by a 33-year-old Swede calling himself J. D. California. Actually named Fredrik Colting, the audacious author describes his -- um -- appropriation as "An Unauthorized Fictional Examination of the Relationship Between J. D. Salinger and his Most Famous Character." That character is, needless to say, Holden Caulfield. Since I have a special place in my avid-reader's heart for Holden Caulfield -- referred to in Colting's tome as Mr. C. -- I feel obligated to speak up on Salinger's behalf and on behalf of those who think he's overreacting to this odd homage. My dander has been especially gotten up by an article in this past Sunday's New York Times Week in Review where Jennifer Schuessler reports with what I can only call raging schadenfreude that young readers today "just don't like Holden as much as they used to. What once seemed like courageous truth-telling now strikes many of them as 'weird,' 'whiny' and 'immature.'" Schuessler's implication is that contemporary adolescents aren't at all "weird," "whiny" and "immature." I'm willing to concede many aren't, but I'm equally certain that some of them are -- and therefore aren't necessarily the best judge of lasting literary value. I speak as someone who's taught literature to youngsters. I particularly recall one 17-year-old reader who said to me when asked why she hadn't finished Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice , "Why should I read a book by a feminist dyke?" The only lesson to be cleaned here is that though human nature doesn't change, tastes do. When The Catcher in the Rye was published in 1951, Salinger pinioned the zeitgeist with an accuracy that enticed thousands, if not millions. But nowadays the dialogue and attitudes he ascribes to Holden don't predominate. Today's teenagers don't employ Holden's "phony"-"lousy" lexicon. Their catchwords run to "awesome" and "like." This only means that 50 years from now, a Schuessler counterpart will be dissing today's bestsellers (Schuessler plugs the Harry Potter books) in the manner that The Catcher in the Rye is rated toast now. Isn't it easy to jettison something by ignoring the context in which it was composed? Conversely, there's Salinger's current defense of the Holden Caulfield he imagined and evidently never -- for every legitimate novelist's reasons -- thought to follow past his book's final page. It's pertinent, however, to remember this is the Salinger who stopped biographer Ian Hamilton's verbatim quoting for In Search of J. D. Salinger from the books and shorts stories. That volume was only released after Hamilton paraphrased everything he'd included according to copyright law's "fair use" provision. Remember, too, that this is the Salinger who had Holden Caulfield say his only wish was to be a catcher in the rye -- to be a man who saved children from recklessly falling over the edge of a cliff they hadn't seen. This is the Salinger whose work can be read as a paean to the young and an unconscious repudiation of aging. That's right. Studied from a certain perspective, Salinger -- who's avoided being seen in public for several decades -- considers the only true sin to be growing old. It's not surprising he doesn't like the idea of a 76-year-old Holden Caulfield paraded before the reading public. Salinger might be better off taking the view of James M. Cain, the author of The Postman Always Rings Twice , Mildred Pierce and several other hot 1940s chart items. Cain, asked once how he felt about what Hollywood had done to his books, said, "Hollywood hasn't done anything to my books. There they all are, up on the shelf." The Catcher in the Rye will be up on the shelf and intact long after J. D. California's 60 Years Later -- which has already been published in England but is temporarily under a restraining order here -- has had its day.
 
Ethiopian Troops Back In Somalia Top
With or without an international mandate, Ethiopian forces have entered Somali territory to back up a fast-failing Somali government. More on Somalia
 
Two Trains Collide On Metro's Red Line In Washington, D.C. Top
WASHINGTON — At least one person was killed Monday in a rush-hour collision between two Metro transit trains in northeast Washington. A number of other passengers were severely injured, said District of Columbia fire spokesman Alan Etter, in what he describes as a "mass casualty event." He said crews were cutting apart the trains to get people out. The collision happened about 5 p.m. EDT _ the height of the city's rush hour _ on the Metro system's red line near the Washington-Maryland border. Officials said it was too early to determine what caused the crash.
 
Egyptian Diplomats Are Biggest NYC Parking Ticket Deadbeats Top
Who knows what's more eternal about Egypt - the pyramids or its unpaid parking tickets? While cash-strapped city drivers gripe at the sight of $115 tickets on their windshields, Egypt once again leads the deadbeat list of nations with diplomats who think they can park anywhere with impunity.
 
Madoff Scandal: SEC Charges Cohmad Securities, Chais With Fraud Top
WASHINGTON — Federal regulators on Monday charged a New York brokerage firm said to be secretly controlled by Bernard Madoff and a prominent California investment adviser with securities fraud, accusing them of funneling billions of dollars from investors into Madoff's Ponzi scheme. The Securities and Exchange Commission announced civil fraud charges against Cohmad Securities Corp., its chairman, Maurice "Sonny" Cohn, his daughter, Chief Operating Officer Marcia Cohn, and vice president and broker Robert Jaffe. Named in a second SEC lawsuit was investment adviser Stanley Chais, a longtime Beverly Hills philanthropist, who allegedly oversaw three funds that invested all of their assets _ nearly $1 billion _ with Madoff. They were crucial to the success of Madoff's $50 billion fraud scheme, targeting affluent yet financially unsophisticated investors by burnishing the impression that one could only be accepted as an investor with Madoff with special access and as a favor, the regulators said. Cohmad and Chais were said to have gained nearly all their revenue from introducing investors to Madoff in a well-oiled marketing operation. Jaffe and Chais, through their attorneys, disputed the SEC's allegations. Madoff co-owned and secretly controlled New York-based Cohmad and used it to procure a steady stream of funds for his multibillion-dollar fraud, the SEC said. Cohmad's main office was in the Lipstick Building on Manhattan's Third Avenue _ the same address as Madoff's investment and securities brokerage firms. While channeling billions in investor funds to Madoff, the associates together collected several hundred million dollars in fees from the now-disgraced money manager, the SEC alleged. The agency's lawsuits were filed in federal court in Manhattan. One accuses Cohmad, the Cohns and Jaffe of actively marketing Madoff's funds to prospective investors "while knowingly or recklessly disregarding" facts that indicated he was running a fraud. A second suit alleges that Chais committed fraud by misrepresenting his role in managing the three funds' assets and providing account statements to investors that he should have known were false. The SEC is seeking injunctions against the defendants as well as unspecified civil fines and restitution of allegedly ill-gotten profits. "Madoff cultivated an air of exclusivity by pretending that he was too successful to trouble himself with marketing to new investors," SEC Enforcement Director Robert Khuzami said in a statement. "In fact, he needed a constant inflow of funds to sustain his fraud, and used his secret control of Cohmad to obtain them." Also Monday, the court-appointed trustee overseeing the liquidation of Madoff's assets said he had filed a complaint in bankruptcy court in Manhattan against Cohmad. It alleges that Madoff's firm paid Cohmad more than $100 million for recruiting unsuspecting investors to infuse the Ponzi scheme with billions of dollars. Trustee Irving Picard has filed similar complaints against other big money managers _ including Chais _ and investors in recent months in an aggressive, far-reaching bid to retrieve funds to pay off thousands of claims from cheated Madoff clients. Chais has denied any wrongdoing. "Although Madoff stated he was operating alone, our investigation has yielded significant evidence that, in fact, a variety of other people helped Madoff prey on innocent victims," David Sheehan, a lawyer for Picard, said in a statement. Chais has portrayed himself for the past 40 years as an investment "wizard," who managed hundreds of millions of dollars of investor funds in the three partnerships, according to the SEC. In truth, he was little more than a middleman who merely turned over all of the funds' assets to Madoff while charging the funds more than $250 million in fees, the agency said. Since the early 1970s, Chais was one of the biggest "feeders" of funds to Madoff, the SEC said. Chais's attorney, Eugene Licker, said Chais "is solely a victim and has faith that the judicial system will allow him to fight these reckless charges and restore his hard-earned good name." The SEC's allegations "paint a distorted and false picture of Stanley Chais, borrowing liberally from baseless allegations by private plaintiffs trying to benefit themselves," Licker said in a statement. "Like so many others, Mr. Chais was blindsided and victimized by Bernard Madoff's unprecedented and pervasive fraud." Attorneys for the Cohns didn't immediately return a telephone call seeking comment. Maurice Cohn, 78, lives in Manhasset, N.Y.; Marcia Cohn, 49, is a resident of New York City. Jaffe, 65, who lives in Palm Beach, Fla., previously headed Cohmad's Boston office. His lawyers, Stanley Arkin, Howard Kaplan and Peter Pope, said in a statement that the SEC's suit "smacks of impulsiveness and efforts at self-justification." "It is unfair, baseless in the law, and is inaccurate in its understanding of the facts and of Mr. Jaffe," they said. Madoff, 71, has been jailed since March, when he pleaded guilty to securities fraud, perjury and other charges. He admitted stealing billions of dollars from some investors to pay fraudulent profits to others. He faces up to 150 years in prison and is scheduled to be sentenced next week in Manhattan federal court. The thousands of investors who lost money included ordinary people, Hollywood celebrities and scores of famous names in business and sports _ as well as big hedge funds, international banks and charities in the U.S., Europe and Asia. Massachusetts' secretary of state, William Galvin, has had Cohmad's registration as a securities broker revoked, saying the firm had refused to provide information about its connections to Madoff. Cohmad was fined $100,000. Cohmad has denied Galvin's claim that it appeared to have received more than $67 million from Madoff's investment firm in "account supervision" fees from 2000 to 2008, representing a large share of Cohmad's income. __ Associated Press writer Tom Hays in New York contributed to this report. More on Bernard Madoff
 
Karen Salmansohn: Laugh Your Way Through This Financial Crisis Top
There's a famous expression: "It only hurts when I laugh." I'm a believer it should be rewritten: "It only hurts when I can't laugh." For me laughter is the best therapy for difficult times. Laughter lightens up my emotional load-then swoops in as "enlightenment aid"-- helping me to see ways out of supposedly blocked situations. I know there are many people who might say today's financial crisis is no laughing matter -- that there's absolutely nothing funny about our regulatory failures, sovereign defaults, asset-liability mismatches, subprime mortgage problems, and bankrupt banks. To which I say: Hahaha! I believe -- now more than ever -- we need to guffaw it up over our economic challenges! Finding humor in our financial pain is exactly what we need right now to motivate us to want to face the truth about where we're at -- and face the truth about what we need to do to improve our precarious economic situation. I think we need to laugh our way out of our banking crisis instead of whine and cry our way out of it! Enter Minyanville . And what an entrance Minyanville has made! Minyanville, conceived in the aftermath of the September 11th tragedy, won an Emmy Award last year for new approaches to financial and business reporting and is widely known for it's intelligent content, global community and entertaining critters, the first such time the Wall Street bull and bear have been branded. You know that expression: "A picture says a thousands words." I'm a believer it should be rewritten: "A viral video is worth a few million words -- and a few million loyally hooked viewers." I've included links below to Minyanville's wildly popular viral videos and a brief sampling of their written content so you can see why I'm hooked as one of the millions of "Minyans" around the world! Minyanville's hilarious videos, featuring Hoofy the bull and Boo the bear -- feel like the wacky offspring of Walt Disney sharing a few margaritas with Wall Street -- and then doing together what Wall Street has done to mainstream America. In reality, these critters are the brainchild of founder and CEO Todd Harrison, a Wall Street veteran who left a high profile perch as president of a $400 million hedge fund to effect positive change through financial understanding. What started as a "company of one" evolved into a mission laced with passion and purpose. Kevin Wassong, Minyanville president and the former CEO of digital@jwt , joined in 2005 and, in Todd's words, turned "a seven-figure hobby into a media franchise." Others, including Charlie Mangano (former head of global brand management at Merrill Lynch), Tom Eggers (former CEO of Dreyfus), Kevin Depew, Laurie Peterson, Jon Schwartz, Justin Rohrlich and Bill Meehan are among the staff of almost 30 full-time employees and 40 contributing "professors." I purposefully listed a few names here, not only because I'd love to applaud these talented people for what they've done but also because "appreciation and gratitude" are among Minyanville's core operating philosophies. Minyanville runs its day-to-day operation with an instantly felt "We Are Family" spirit -- a loving energy which is evident in the air during a day at their office and continues into the night at their regularly scheduled staff outings and community events to benefit children. I immediately sensed the feisty family ethos the moment I walked through their midtown doors and was led by a series of energetic employees to the office of Todd Harrison. Todd (aka: Toddo) greeted me in jeans and sneakers -- a drastic dress code difference from a renowned Wall Street career that led him from a seven-year stint at Morgan Stanley to several well-known hedge funds. He looked entirely more relaxed -- but every bit as focused -- as when he traded billions of dollars worth of stock. In 2000, at the young age of 31, Todd was named president of the legendary Cramer Berkowitz hedge fund. He continued on that track until 9/11, when he suddenly found himself running from the smoke of the burning towers -- and he continued to run after enduring tremendous personal and professional challenges, eventually finding himself at the helm of both Minyanville and the Ruby Peck Foundation for Children's Education, which he started in memory of his beloved grandfather. Todd's story is one of virtue, faith, tenacity and inspirational transformation. In fact, he recently released the first few chapters of an 18-part eBook series entitled Memoirs of a Minyan , which discusses the false idolatry of money as we edge into this age of austerity. According to Kevin Wassong, Todd's business partner and best friend of 22 years, "Todd's much different than he was back in his hedge fund hay days. Back then, he was mostly known as a raucous, money loving party boy. Nowadays Todd's a contemplative, philosophical, people loving leader, a charismatically warm guy who at times is Buddha-like in his spirituality." "The purpose of the journey is the journey itself," Todd told me in his office that day as he offered me a bag of Minyanville chocolate chip cookies to nibble on. "As painful as they were, I'm glad I forced to endure those tremendous obstacles. After being conditioned to believe success could be found in a bottom line or bank account, they woke me up to the realization that net-worth isn't self-worth and the difference between having fun and being happy." Todd then quoted Lou Manheim, in the movie Wall Street : "Man looks in the abyss, there's nothing staring back at him. At that moment, man finds his character. And that is what keeps him out of the abyss." "Man, I love that quote," Todd shared enthusiastically, a twinkle gleaming in his sparkling eyes. "Let me tell you, Karen, I'm grateful for the challenges I've faced and even appreciate the people who tried to knock me down. The greatest wisdom is bred as a function of pain and the definition of professional nirvana is to do what you love with people you respect while serving the greater good. You can palpably feel Todd's passion for Minyanville emanating from the computer screen when you tool around the site. Minyanville is full of playful liveliness, good humor and an excited "let's-get-real" eagerness to share important information to help people live financially empowered lives. The Minyanville content offering spans from the ABC's to 401(k)'s, which includes www.minyanland.com, a massive multi-player online game for children, to a plethora of daily long-form articles, the Buzz & Banter, a real-time subscription service and a host of premium products and services. "My vision for Minyanville is to demystify finance and provide the tools necessary for the entire societal spectrum to laugh while they learn and enjoy the journey as they do" Todd said as he swiveled in his chair. In my opinion, he's well on his way. With such wittily written yet incredibly helpful content, it's no wonder that Minyanville readers are almost cult-like in their following, proudly proclaiming themselves "Minyans" and priding themselves as being part of this necessary social solution. Its no surprise Minyanville has such a strong following. It's about time somebody created a trusted choice for a business voice, a place for people to come to be informed about our world's harsh economic truth -- but delivered with feisty humor, making reality a lot more palatable. "People are so thirsty for the truth, in the absence of water they'll drink the sand." Harrison said before we concluded our meeting, "But they don't drink the sand because they're thirsty, they drink the sand because they know the difference." There's a famous expression: "Time is money." I'm a believer it should be rewritten: "Time spent on Minyanville is the most fun time you can spend figuring out how the hell to make the most of your money." Minyanville's Related Stories and Videos: http://www.minyanville.com/audiovideo/660/ http://www.minyanville.com/articles/10/1/2007/index/a/14299 http://www.minyanville.com/articles//9/17/2008/index/a/18996 http://www.minyanville.com/articles/8/2/2006/index/a/10892 http://www.minyanville.com/audiovideo/673/1/ http://www.minyanville.com/audiovideo/31/34/ http://www.minyanville.com/articles//12/8/2008/index/a/20251 http://www.minyanville.com/articles/index/a/23134 More on Financial Crisis
 
Mexico Day-Care Fire: 7 Officials Arrested Top
Prosecutors in Mexico have arrested seven regional officials over the deaths of 47 children in a fire at a day-care centre earlier this month. More on Mexico
 
Farid Tuhbatullin: Reaching Out to Turkmenistan Top
Most people in the West look polite but puzzled when I mention Turkmenistan. They may remember that it is a former Soviet land in Central Asia and that it has substantial energy reserves, or that it borders Afghanistan, where Europe and the US have significant interests. These factors are providing us with an opportunity to negotiate for human rights for my homeland because the foreign minister, Rashid Meredov, is to meet with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Monday. We know they will talk about energy but hope they will talk about human rights as well. As the Soviet era ended, Turkmenistan gained independence -- but not personal freedom. Under our former dictator, Saparmurat Niazov, there was a cult of personality that demanded absolute loyalty. His ways were menacing enough that the West was not comfortable moving nearer. Working for human rights there led me to jail and persecution and to exile in Austria, where I continue my work. When Niazov died nearly two years ago, a new president, Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov, took power, promising reforms. The West would like to believe that he has carried out his promises, but the changes have been mostly cosmetic. In fact, all of their actions remind me of joggers on a treadmill. They're putting in effort, their legs are moving, but they aren't going anywhere. You can listen to announcements from the Turkmen authorities about mass prison pardons, about the introduction of the internet, about educational reform, etc. But what came of it? How much has the overall situation changed? Have the conditions been put in place to ensure that these steps will not just be "running in place," that they will lead to consistent movement forward? There have been some legal reforms, a few people have been allowed to travel abroad, and a handful of political prisoners, who should never have been jailed in the first place, have been freed. But Turkmenistan remains one of the most repressive countries in the world. It needs to fully break with the repressive practices of the Niazov era, and its international partners need to say so. Independent nongovernmental organizations and media cannot operate openly, if at all in Turkmenistan. Independent activists and journalists are frequently subjected to threats and harassment by security services.There are burdensome requirements for the registration of nongovernmental groups. The only independent group that has been registered in the last two years is an association of gardeners. The UN Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief, who visited Turkmenistan in September 2008, said in her report that although there had been much improvement, the government still imposed worrying restrictions on religion and that religious individuals and communities remained under "close scrutiny" and "still face a number of difficulties." At least the authorities permitted that visit. A number of other UN requests to look at human rights-related conditions in Turkmenistan have been rebuffed, and international human rights groups are not welcome. Local groups are still persecuted. One of the positive steps taken by the Turkmen government in 2007 was the abolition of the system of special permits previously required for residents of Turkmenistan who wished to travel in border areas of Turkmenistan. But reports persist that dozens of people continue to face arbitrary restrictions on travel abroad. While these individuals have not received any official explanation, it appears that they were banned because of civic activism or their status as relatives of exiled civic and political activists. About 20 people believed to have been imprisoned for political reasons were pardoned in 2007. But pardons in 2008 and 2009 included only one person imprisoned on politically motivated charges. An unknown number of people remain imprisoned on political charges, and the government has given no indication that it would undertake a nationwide, transparent review to identify these cases and to free these prisoners. Turkmenistan has the internet now, but under a state monopoly, keeping it from being a "window onto the world." Although the new draft of the constitution talks about the possibility of having non-state, private educational institutions, the legal mechanisms for this have not been worked out. There is no competition in the political sphere. This is not just because the predecessor of the current president "cleared" the political field, getting rid of opponents one way or another, but also because there is no provision for competing political parties! What kind of competition can there be for a country's sole political party under such conditions? Perhaps Turkmenistan's leaders like "running in place" that imitates real movement forward because it suits their purposes. But it doesn't help Turkmenistan's people. We are hoping that Secretary Clinton will think of us and of the rights that Americans take for granted and that the people of Turkmenistan yearn for when she talks with our foreign minister. We hope she will remind him that respecting human rights and political freedoms is part of the deal of closer ties with the West. More on United Nations
 
Peggy Drexler: The buyers' market for role models Top
With every family photo op, Barack Obama cements his place as role model-in-chief, telling young boys everywhere that you can be the leader of the free world and a father. But there is huge gulf between "can-be", and "will be." While Obama is an object lesson in possibility, real role models are centered in reality - right there, right now, showing boys what it means to be a man. Unfortunately, they have a lot of competition from the role models, packaged for consumption by sports and media, whose object lessons have nothing to do with traits like responsibility, achievement and caring. An involved and loving father in the home can easily win that competition. But what about when the father is not involved, not loving or not in the home at all? What then for the boys? The question has recently taken on some demographic urgency with the news of an all-time high in the number of single women giving birth -- just under 40 percent of all births in 2007. The increase cuts across racial lines, and it is mainly women in their 20s and 30s, not teens. We can torture the numbers and factor in the variables. But they work out to the inescapable fact that the lives of more boys will not include a father - a male role model - on site. The right will point to the surge in single-mother births as another slick spot on the downward slope of our communal road to hell. Boys - they argue without nuance, qualification or appreciation for the elastic definition of "family" - need a man in the house. Period. Nobody will argue the importance of a good father. But neither can one argue that marriage makes a father good. The continuum fatherhood is a decidedly untidy line. If a role model for boys isn't sleeping just down the hall, then where is he? Teachers and role models One obvious answer is male teachers. But like most obvious answers, things get a little less so when you start digging. There is no definitive research that says male teachers improve the academic achievement of boys, or that they enhance a young man's masculine social development. Even if a statistically compelling case could be made for the power of male teachers as role models, the base-line numbers do not work in favor of the argument. The latest data from the National Center for Education Statistics shows that just a quarter of the nations public school teachers are men. In the primary grades - where lessons in masculinity resonate in life-shaping ways - 2004 Federal data puts the number at just 16 percent. Blame low salaries, constant fear that a simple hug could be misconstrued in career-killing ways, and the stereotypes that teaching - particularly in the primary grades - is "women's work." Boys find a way Even with the continuing growth numbers of boys without in-home role models and the dearth of education-centered alternatives to fill that gap, we may be leaving one important element out of our calculation. That is the boys themselves. In researching my last book, Raising Boys Without Men; How Maverick Moms are Creating the Next Generation of Exceptional Men, I had the chance to get close to many sons of single mothers. I saw first hand that they find their own role male models. They might be coaches, ministers, youth leaders, relatives, neighbors or friends. And when those connections are made, they are likely to be made of stronger stuff than simply ending up in the same classroom. Every family and every boy is different. But in my observation, boys who were exposed to the widest array of male influences are the most likely to find the influences that had personal meaning in their lives - influences that, just like fathers, help them see what kind of men they want to be. The demand for role models might exceed the supply. But they are there. The job for all single mothers is to put their sons in a position to find them.
 
Tom D'Antoni: IRAN AND THE DEATH OF MSNBC AS A NEWS SOURCE Top
While the world was watching the conflict in Iran, MSNBC was showing you cop video and convicts. When they did bother to take a stab at it, they offered the usual political hacks arguing and vomiting talking points. OK, they bill themselves as "The Place for Politics." They never said they were a source of news. But they disgraced themselves this weekend by ignoring the biggest story in the world. And when I turned them on this morning, I compared the beet-faced Joe Scarborough and his meanness to the voice of a ninteeen year-old Iranian woman live on CNN who had been beaten and was in the middle of a war. All of a sudden MSNBC fell off the map. Even Fox was better. Even Fox. CNN won hands-down. No competition. No attempt at competition from MSNBC. Yes, I'll watch Rachel Maddow tonight and skip through the endless anti-Republican snark. Many progressives are avoiding Keith Olbermann altogether because there is no news on his program, just endless coverage of what the Republican party is doing, clips of Rush Limbaugh and Dick Cheney like any of that was relevant to anyone in the real world. Many folks have laughed at CNN's use of social media over the past few months. Indeed those who did and who also criticized Twitter for being trivial have egg on their faces today. But none more than MSNBC. More on CNN
 
Gov. Paterson Won't Budge On Special Senate Session Top
ALBANY, N.Y. -- Gov. Paterson is refusing the New York Senate's request to delay ordering a special session for one more day as senators try to negotiate a power sharing deal to break a two-week impasse in the chamber. Paterson is ordering senators to stay in Albany on Tuesday and likely for several more days to take legislative action that's required by the end of the month. The Democratic governor also says he'll require additional special sessions to consider bills on reforms, fiscal controls and legalization of same-sex marriage. Although senators must attend special sessions, they aren't required to vote. Democrats and a Republican-led coalition, split 31-31 in the chamber, continue to work Monday on a power sharing arrangement. The power-sharing deal would involve rotating presidents of the Senate and create two equal floor leaders instead of a single majority leader.
 
Kimberly Krautter: The "Just Say NO-Bama Campaign" Part 2: Diplomacy is Neither Timid Nor an Apology Top
In the branding biz, there is no greater measure of success than when your name or tag line becomes part of the cultural lexicon: We FedEx a package, even if it's sent UPS. We Twitter, even if using another micro-blog service. To this end, Nancy Reagan must be so proud (or mortified) that her famous "Just Say No" campaign has become the core conservative message strategy. Since the day our President was sworn into office six months ago, the "Just Say NO-Bama" campaign has been a consistent and increasingly strident drumbeat. In fact, it started with his inauguration. Due to Chief Justice Roberts' slip of the tongue while administering the oath of office, the very legitimacy of his Presidency was challenged. So set the seriously petty tone of a very organized campaign to counter the President at every possible turn. As a public relations strategist, I'm all for a well-orchestrated communications campaign -- within the confines of truth and responsibility. Yet, this past week, conservatives have overreached in a manner that shows their arrogance, exposes serious gaps in their knowledge of history and endangers the courageous Iranian people they claim to support. Simply stated, when uber-cold warriors Henry Kissinger and Zbigniew Brzezinski -- from opposing parties -- agree with the President's posture, then the critics need to back off. Even Pat Buchanan agrees for goodness sakes! And so does George Wll. I don't think they should be silent -- far be it for me to deny the right of speech or to critique -- but the right wingers certainly need to be more circumspect. After all, these men, as Brzezinski told Fareed Zakaria on CNN yesterday, "were up to [their] ears trying to steer and manipulate" the downfall of Communist and other authoritarian regimes. They were architects of America's checkered history with such actions that conservatives now purport to cite as proof of Obama's timidity. In particular, Congressman Mike Pence's now oft repeated attempt to conjure Ronald Reagan with his reference to the Berlin Wall proves his ignorance of history. And, since the radical right wingers put him up front as their spokesperson on the matter, it shows their ignorance as well. At the time of his famous utterance (1987), Reagan was challenging Gorbachev to take the ball the final ten yards into the end zone after the Soviet Secretary General (not Reagan) had significantly softened the USSR's grip on its satellite states under his reforms. It was a very Gipper-esque moment yet one that was heavier on symbolism than revolution. As impressive as that speech was (and I remember tearing up with pride) it was not a call to arms. Rather, it was an expression of support for the organic changes engineered by the people of Eastern Europe over a long period of time. Yes, there is no doubt that the people of the Eastern Bloc were inspired by the freedoms enjoyed by West, but it was the internal foments for change more than anything else that gave rise to the social revolution achieved in the 1980s and 1990s. In fact, historians argue that the potential for that change was very likely forestalled by decades because of serious tactical mistakes made by the West and the U.S in the first half of the Cold War. It is as if Pence, John McCain and company believe that a more amplified institutional condemnation of the Iranian government is the best and perhaps only means of showing support for the Iranian protesters. They ignore the hard lessons Eisenhower learned during the Hungarian revolt in 1956. At that time the U.S. administration's strident, continuous pledges that the U.S. will meet tyranny and liberate captive nations was called upon by the Hungarian people who dared to rise against their Soviet oppressors. Our bluster was realized as a bluff, and the Soviets summarily crushed the revolt there and solidified its iron grip on Central Europe. I have pledged to be as balanced as possible in my criticisms with this column. In the interest of equal time, the left wingers are getting it wrong on Iran too. Just this morning on CNN, Julie Menin of the Democratic Women's Campaign Forum cited the 1956 Hungarian Uprising as an example of the kind of support America should give to the Iranian people. Seriously... note to Pence, Menin and wing nuts everywhere. If you're going to cite history, please use more than Wikipedia for background research or at least click on the bibliography provided at the end of the articles. Hence, Pence, Menin, McCain et. al. are getting it wrong when it comes to what's happening with the Iranian people. They call President Obama's response to the incredibly fluid interactions inside Iran "timid" and say that it is part of his "apology" tour. They say the President's refusal to be baited into coming out more forcefully against the Iranian regime is a failure that denies the Iranian freedom fighters a show of American support. If we lived in 1995 and not 2009, that argument might have some validity (although it would still be a stretch), but the global outpouring of support by the people of the U.S. and the world for the people of Iran via cell phones, Twitter and the Internet leaves them with absolutely no doubt that that we are with them. Therefore, it is incumbent upon the President to tow a more delicate political line with a grip on history and a long view to the future. I daresay if President Obama had come out with a more fist-pumping "vive la revolution" statement, the Just Say NO-Bama brigade would have used that as proof that he is too immature for the office. Instead, his rhetoric has been measured and cautious, far more in line with President Bush 41 during the Polish Solidarity movement, another organic uprising that led to real and lasting change. At that time President Bush was excoriated for not taking a harder line of support for the Polish workers' revolt. Instead, he "responded with little apparent excitement and with rather guarded statements," according to Thomas Friedman of the New York Times in 1989. Bush's position on Poland was best summed up by his national security advisor Brent Scowcroft, "Only Poles can see that they succeed." And so they did. Why would we -- and especially the NO-Bamas -- want anything less for the Iranian people? First of all, despite the urgings of a percentage of the Iranian nationals living in the U.S., their compatriots inside Iran have not asked for U.S. or other Western support other than a desire that our media continue to report their story. These brave men and women (and especially the women) want the reforms to be by, for and of Iranians for the future of Iran. This is what should make us all proud as this is what the American example of Liberty is all about. And, this is what Diplomacy versus egotistical saber rattling can achieve. More on Iran
 
Medvedev's Africa Trip Expected To Focus On Accessing African Resources Top
President Dmitry Medvedev is embarking Tuesday on a four-day African tour, beginning with a visit to Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak before moving on to Nigeria, Namibia and Angola. More on Russia
 
Mona Sarika: The Uprising in Tehran Top
The streets of Tehran reverberated with chants of "Allah O Akbar (God is Great). Thousands of supporters of Mir Hossein Mousavi, the self proclaimed 'conservative reformist' had gathered to protest President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's disputed election victory, demanding that the results be annulled. Wearing a traditional long black chador, a 22-year-old protester said, "We are very angry and fed up with all the cheating and lies." Her brother holding a placard that read, 'Where is my vote' calls the election results as "simply fraud"! Both of them spoke on the condition of anonymity said they felt cheated, when they learned about the result. Behrouz, (who wished to be identified only by his first name fearing government reprisals) wearing a green shirt in support of Mousavi took a day off from work to attend the rally. He bitterly retorted, "It is shameful. Iran will cease to exist as a republic, if they don't announce a new election." The streets of Tehran have witnessed the most violent election protests in the last few days. The landslide victory of Ahmadinejad has shocked the Moussavi camp especially as pre-election polls had shown him to be in a strong lead. Ahmid Tehrani, the Iranian editor of Global Voices told me "he was shocked to see that that some official sites had declared Ahmdinejad's victory with 65 percent of votes before counting had even started." Iranians are convinced that polls were heavily rigged and falsified to ensure Ahmadinejad remains in power. Kourosh Ziabari says "the difference of eleven million votes between the two is unjustifiable and unbelievable." Senior authorities in Iran have acknowledged a discrepancy of three million votes out of the forty million cast so far. Fariborz adds, "Some provinces have 120 to 150 percent votes, with no explanation of these extra votes." It is alleged that the Basij militia and revolutionary guards voted more than one time with multiple IDs. Kamran Adl explains, "The way the elections were run, the speed of counting the ballots and the way government was prepared to deal with the opposition suggests fraud." The last time Iranians protested on a mass scale against the government was during the 1979 Islamic revolution. Shahrazad describes this political crisis as a new era for all Iranians. "The atmosphere here is completely new pre- and post elections. The freedom for showing advertisements and organizing rallies, the very frank and uncensored debates, usage of colors were all unheard of in the previous elections. For the first time in the history of an Islamic Republic, protesters are being shown on state TV, signaling the change in Iran." People like Shahrazad who voted for Ahmadinejad feels the election result was fair. She dismissed the allegations that elections were rigged and thinks that the other side is only exaggerating. Ahmadinejad enjoys an enormous support from the low-income workers, conservative students and countryside dwellers. But Reza Fiyouzat differs, "Ahmadinejad is hated by many Iranians just like George W Bush was and Mousavi mirrors Obama". He was referring to Mousavi's campaign slogan 'Elections for Change. Iranians like Kourosh Ziabari, feel that Mr Mousavi is the most competent, and qualified person to administer the country given his brilliant background of eight years as a Prime Minister. Saeed Valadbaygee highlights another important reason for supporting Mousavi, "because they do not want Ahmadinejad to rule using Islamic fascist and Hezbollah forces." When asked about their reaction to the planned recount, most Iranians are skeptical. Farid Pouya said, "You can not trust the same people who were supposed to organize a 'fair' election." Mohammad Khatibi also doubts the effect of the recount. He thinks that the vote wasn't actually counted but rather made up and fed out. He feels that as the vote is considered illegitimate then recounting more illegitimate paperwork will lead to the same result. As Mousavi mentioned that, 'a rerun of the elections (with correct monitoring and no hiccups) is needed and wanted by the Iranians. "There will be no change in the sovereignty of the Islamic republic, even with a recount" says Saeed Valadbaygee This explains why the offer of a limited recount has failed to quell the protesting in Iran. All the people I have spoken to, firmly believe that these protests will have an impact on the eventual outcome. As Hamid Shahhosaini said, "The election results have created a common ground for Iranians to voice their frustration with the current government." They regard this movement as, "the beginning of something bigger; something they had always hoped for, when people would stand for their rights and question the actions of the authorities." The people have even defied the orders of their Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei to halt the uprising. Saeed Valadbaygee confidently says, "This movement is going to bring this regime to its knees and break the back of the political Islamic movement internationally." These protests have shown that Iranians love their freedom and denounce dictatorship. Kamran Adl proudly calls these protests as, 'a big step towards the democracy'. The next few days in Iran are very crucial as they will mark a turning point in its history. The coming days will reveal whether Mir Hossein Mousavi's supporters will succeed in challenging Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's officially-declared victory or will the authorities be able to suppress the dissent? Whatever happens, it seems unlikely that Iran will remain the same. As Shahrazad rightly said, "Regardless of who comes to power, Iran is changing." More on Iran
 
Mona Sarika: Jubilation in Pakistan Top
With the resounding victory of the Pakistani Cricket Team in the 20/20 World Cup Final cricket match in London, the streets of Karachi erupted with titanic jubilation. It was an unprecedented day of celebration for the people of Pakistan throughout the world. This win will go down in history as one of the most sensational triumphs, delivered when it mattered most especially since Pakistan is facing burgeoning problems. The sense of jubilation was evident throughout the corners of Pakistan. Thousands of people poured into the streets of Karachi waving Pakistani flags, lighting crackers, whistling, singing and chanting slogans of, "Pakistan Zindabad" (Long live Pakistan). Middle aged Shaukat Jung, a lifelong cricket aficionado said, "this is a miracle, and my country desperately needed this victory." He was referring to the current humanitarian crisis and chaos in Pakistan. The triumphant performance of Pakistan has given them a reason to be in high spirits and some long awaited joy. Fans of the Pakistani Cricket team can always look back with nostalgia at this year. A beaming cricket fan, Sadaff described this victory as, "an outstanding game and a fantastic victory. It is a chance for us to pat ourselves on the back. "She added "We feel redeemed. Instead of anger and disillusionment, there was joy and celebration." Ahmed sounding emotional said, "This is awesome, absolutely mind blowing. My heart is swelling with pride." For Pakistanis cricket is like a glue that binds them all together. It acts as a common faith that overrides regional differences of language and culture. As much as the people of Pakistan love cricket, it gave them little to cheer after the recent events. The unfortunate assault on Sri Lankan cricketers in Lahore became a source of great embarrassment for the country. The disappointment of losing the right to host the World Cup 2011 and the subsequent boycott by other international cricket teams was too much to bear. This victory has given Pakistanis something to cheer about after a long time. This triumph goes beyond cricket. It has become a source of national pride and has boosted the morale of its people. The country's mood has visibly soared. Javed, a cab driver said, "The win is like a balm to our wounded souls. After a long time Pakistan is making newspaper headlines for all the right reasons." "I am proud to be a Pakistani" said Naaz, a middle aged woman who was sitting in a Pakistani Cafe celebrating the victory. "Even though I don't know anything about cricket, I'm excited. and proud." Rameej Raja, former Pakistani cricketer said, "It's a major turnaround in a sense that over the last six to eight months whatever has happened in Pakistan has sent wrong messages to the world" The jubilant faces of these people clearly exemplified the spirit of the Pakistanis who have not had any major wins for over a year All the hoopla and celebrations, has given Pakistanis some momentary respite, a chance to forget the gloomy situation even for a day. Let's uncork the champagne and celebrate with them. More on Pakistan
 
Susan Morgan: Obama's Darfur Promise Top
During the campaign, when asked about the genocide in Darfur, Candidate Obama said , "We can't say 'never again' and then allow it to happen again. And, as President of the United States, I don't intend to abandon people or turn a blind eye to slaughter." The candidate also spoke of "ratcheting up sanctions" and "organizing the European Union to be a part of those sanctions." His campaign's policy paper, titled the "Obama-Biden Plan," stated, "As president, Obama will take immediate steps to end the genocide in Darfur by increasing pressure on the Sudanese and pressure the government to halt the killing and stop impeding the deployment of a robust international force." Fast forward to June 2009. Thus far, President Obama and his Administration have displayed no "immediate" response to the Darfur crisis or any willingness to "pressure" the Sudanese government. Instead we have seen stalls, delays and a very worrisome conciliatory tone in the U.S. response to the ongoing genocide in Darfur. According to a recent article in the Washington Post , Obama's Special Envoy to Sudan, retired Air Force Maj. Gen. J. Scott Gration, has advocated easing some American sanctions and upgrading U.S. diplomatic relations with Sudan's government to induce cooperation. Many Darfur activists, whose votes for Obama were influenced by his impassioned statements about the responsibility to act in the face of genocide, feel betrayed. Darfuris, who named babies after Obama and waited hopefully for him to take office, feel understandably abandoned . Concern amongst grassroots activists (aka voters) as well as amongst the Darfuri refugees reached its peak this week due to comments made by Special Envoy Gration. During his first press conference , Gration not only contradicted both the President's and U.S. Ambassador to the U.N.'s assessment of the crisis in Darfur as an "ongoing genocide" but also the facts when he stated that the aid levels have returned to nearly 100% of their previous levels before the forced expulsion of 13 foreign aid groups by the Government of Sudan. In fact, according to John Holmes , the U.N.'s emergency relief coordinator, the new aid workers "have not yet replaced, and cannot easily or rapidly replace, the capacity and skills lost." Gration's description of the crisis as the "remnants of genocide" was also disproven in the latest report by U.N. human rights investigator, Sima Samar, covering from last August to her visit to Sudan earlier this month. This report accused Sudanese forces of continuing to carry out land and air attacks against civilians in Darfur, in violation of the world body's resolutions during the reported period. She cited reports that Sudan's security forces have arrested and tortured human rights activists and aid workers. As if to underscore the points made in the report, on the day it was issued, members of the government's National Congress Party (NCP) brutally attacked female students from Darfur who had convened a meeting in the dormitory at the University of Khartoum to discuss crimes of the government against the people of Darfur. Female NCP supporters accompanied by male security agents disguised in female attire attacked the Darfuri female students with iron bars, bats, and knives. Many were seriously injured . Some grassroots activist leaders together with Darfuri leaders in IDP camps are calling for Gration's replacement. In a letter to President Obama, Martina Knee, a member of the Executive Committee of the San Francisco Bay Area Darfur Coalition writes: "Since the appointment of General Gration, the Government of Sudan has bombed Darfuri villages and Chad, sentenced over 100 Darfuris to death after unfair trials, censored its media, and arrested and detained human rights activists in unknown locations. His approach to Sudan has emboldened this genocidal regime who he treats as rational actors. He ignores the 20-year history of tyranny, slaughter and broken agreements." Whether Gration's statements represent a dramatic shift in the Administration's policy or were merely careless or misinformed, they indicate clearly that Obama's attention to the Darfur crisis is missing. It is hard to imagine such a serious misstep taking place in a press conference held by George Mitchell on the Middle East or by Richard Holbrooke on Afghanistan. Instead, when it comes to the Administration's response to the first genocide of the 21st century, the usually well-oiled machine seems to need a mechanical overhaul . Five months into his presidency, the people of Darfur have waited long enough for Barack Obama to keep the promises of his candidacy. Victims of genocide deserve the immediate and direct involvement of the President himself. Many may argue correctly that the President has other pressing issues before him and cannot possibly engage with them all immediately. However, in his own words "ongoing genocide" carries with it the "moral imperative" to act. The facts speak for themselves. Government of Sudan (GoS) planes are bombing defenseless Darfuri refugees in camps in Chad and its own citizens in IDP camps in Darfur. More than three months after the GoS expelled 13 foreign aid groups from the country, 1.5 million people are still waiting for adequate food, water, sanitation and medical care to be restored. Efforts to convene a civil society conference on Darfur with the aim of building what its organizers call "a mandate for peace" were derailed by the GoS. The GoS executed nine men on April 1, who may have been innocent of the crimes for which they were convicted. Over 70 more men await a similar fate. Their confessions were reported to have been extracted under torture. Five months after the inauguration, the U.S. State Department, still hasn't completed its lengthy review or unveiled its long-awaited Sudan policy. And the Special Envoy, a man with no prior experience with Sudan or diplomacy, seems to be marching to his own conciliatory tune. This disarray in policy could not come at a worse time. The Chief Prosecutor for the International Criminal Court has warned that a decision by the Court is imminent on whether to add a genocide charge against Sudan's president Omer al Bashir to the other already approved charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity. According to experts at the Enough Project, "many fear the response from Khartoum, which could result in either a government seeking retribution or a government emboldened. As one source put it: 'I read this as a warning to the international community to get prepared.'" Yet we are not prepared. President Obama -- it is time for you to step in. You must lead the United States and the international community to ensure peace in Darfur and in all of Sudan. You made a promise to the people of Darfur and to the many American voters who care about them. Please keep it. Otherwise, as you said during the campaign, it will be "a stain on all our souls." More on Darfur
 
Sen. Dick Durbin: Support a Public Option Top
Nearly 50 million Americans -- one-in-six of our fellow citizens -- lack health insurance. And even those families lucky enough to have health insurance have seen their premiums triple in the past decade, now paying an average of $16,000 per year and rising rapidly. In short, America's health care system is in a crisis, and it's time to do something about it. Congress is currently working on new reform legislation that will make quality health care available and affordable for all Americans. But we know the forces of the status quo will battle us every step of the way. So we're asking for your help, today, to get this critical legislation passed. Please sign our online petition at www.CitizensForAPublicOption.com today -- and circulate it to your friends -- and show your support of Congress' work to reform America's health care system now! The whole reason for health insurance in the first place is to spread costs among as large a group of people as possible, so we all pay a reasonable amount for quality health care and don't get stuck with an enormous bill if we get sick. Unfortunately, that's not how our system works anymore. Now, private insurance companies have been able to cherry-pick the healthy customers they want -- denying coverage to people who are most in need while charging exorbitant premiums to other folks with "pre-existing conditions." That's not right. It's time for private insurers to treat Americans fairly. That's why, as part of any health care reform plan, we support a public health insurance option that would foster greater competition in the marketplace. If you're happy with your current insurance plan, you could keep it. But a public option would create more choices for consumers -- and lead to lower costs and better quality for all. Plus, a public option would allow you to always keep your insurance, even if you lose or change your job. Please sign our online petition at www.CitizensForAPublicOption.com today -- and circulate it to your friends -- and show your support of Congress' work to reform America's health care system now! At a time when our country is struggling to pull itself out of a severe recession, we can't let our health care system continue to be an anchor dragging down our nation's economy. We'll take this petition to our colleagues, to show them the strong grassroots support for reforming America's health care system now -- including creating a public insurance option. More than 33,000 people have already signed our online petition since we launched it on Friday -- but we'd love to have your support as well. With private insurance lobbyists roaming the Capitol, trying to stop real health care reform, the time to act is now. We need you to make your voice heard. Please stand with us: Sign our online petition now -- and help us pass strong health care reform legislation this summer!
 
White House: 10 Percent Unemployment Within Months Top
WASHINGTON — The White House says double-digit unemployment is coming sooner than previously acknowledged. White House spokesman Robert Gibbs says the president expects the nation will reach 10 percent unemployment within the next few months. In an interview with Bloomberg last week, President Barack Obama said he expected the nation to reach 10 percent unemployment sometime this year. The current unemployment rate reached a 25-year high of 9.4 percent in May. While many analysts expect the recession to end by late summer, they warn that unemployment will stay high into next year.
 
Phil Bronstein: Twitter Can't Cure Cancer! But the Right Pro-Am Mix is the Future of Journalism Top
All Twitter needed this last week was for Ashton Kutcher to be named the compromise president of Iran. Then the perfect circle of social networking, information gathering, and real-world events would have been balled up tighter than a Microsoft intellectual property-rights case. But in actual life, the news gathering nexus of old and new has been stumbling and lost down alleyways of wrong questions and masturbatory debates among journalists and other media specialists. CNN, the original cable news outlet, had been both viciously caned by Twitheads via a Twitter scarlet hashtag for not doing its job, then partially redeemed by endlessly featuring Tweets from Iran like a hopped-up carnival barker at a sideshow, terrified that the bearded lady would end up being more popular than the main tent elephants. The power of Twitter manifested. But, as Fredricka Whitfield noted Sunday on CNN, "we're getting a lot of information from social networking. At the same time, we're working very hard with our specialists to make sure we verify this information." OK, that's reasonable. What followed was a specialist, Dubai bureau chief Samson Desta, giving his own eyewitness account of very limited geography street action in Tehran. Which was as separate from verifying the larger Iranian Twitter stream as two siblings meeting for the first time 50 years after their birth; there's a connection, but it ain't profound. New York Times executive editor Bill Keller, parachuting into Tehran for the first time to a slightly warmer welcome that he got on "The Daily Show," wrote lots of front page stories but hardly mentioned the social networking phenomenon. On "This Week with George Stephanopoulos" Sunday, Mr. Keller went beyond his own observations. "I'm no expert on Iranian politics," he sad, "but..." and went on to offer his opinion, presumably unscathed by a single tweet. His paper did write a lot about the otherworldly phenomenon of Twitter , but still at arms' length as though it were a strange insect. The is/isn't discussions aren't useless, but in deifying or demonizing Twitter, they usually miss an opportunity to find the right recipe where all this new stuff and more traditional skills can interact to everyone's benefit (unless you've just stolen an election .) Look, Twitter can't cure cancer. But it's certainly part of the genetic makeup of a future vaccine to combat the transitional disease affecting professional journalism. Like any chemical/medical mystery though, it needs some magical combination to unlock the door. HuffPo's Nico Pitney, live-blogging time line with feeds from Twitter, YouTube, AP, the wires, Web sites, etc., making clear the sourcing in each case, comes close. It's not perfect, but it's more than just show-off aggregation or the kind of gawking and pointing at the new kid that's happened with Twitter in much of more traditional media. And media consultant/journalist Jeff Jarvis actually cautioned within the body of a Twitter-Iran string that some information had not been confirmed. Jeff, that's a service to an emerging new world reporting order equal to several lectures at CUNY . Let's first concede that the underlying Iran dynamic isn't new. In China after Tiananmen Square and in the Philippines when I covered the slow-motion fall of Ferdinand Marcos over several years, the Twitter and YouTube precursors were FAXes and smuggled western video cassettes of non-censored news stories from the West. I met more new friends (and enemies) in the outlying jungles of Southern Mindanao holding a wrinkled photocopy of one of my stories than I had San Francisco readers of those same pieces at the old Examiner. But Twitter, along with a variety of other social media, certainly provides new equipment for tapping into action, scene, and emotion that we ought to be incorporating with journalism's "experts" rather than immunizing ourselves by pointing out what's right or wrong about these vastly expanded sources. This is how it's been with the media and Twitter over the Iranian upheaval: New vs. old battles. See! say the champions of broad digital news collection , you dinosaurs are way too slow and narrow. We're fast and furious and a big fire hose of personal experience. No, no! demurs MSM like CNN. We're evolving. See, we're using Twitter, endlessly on big, fancy new touch screens. We even have whole staffers dedicated to monitoring the stuff. But that's mostly just a lot of pointing , not clicking. Voracious debates on almost every forum about the strengths vs. drawbacks of Twitter as a valuable news tool, now that we can't really ignore it. Pro: It's immediate, it's from the source , it evades censorship, and it gives a dramatic and rolling view of motion and emotion. Con: It's also hard to verify, easily accessible to manipulation and disinformation, only gets at emotion and not facts, and reflects disproportionately small number of Iranians, most of whom would have been in the streets -- or not -- without it. Is Twitter the new and better AP, the future of crowd-sourced news gathering ? Wrong question. Is it a flawed electronic bulletin board only momentarily diverted from self-absorbed, shorthand musings into a component of the Iranian counter-revolution? Also wrong question. The right question is: what are the correct ingredients in addition to Twitter and YouTube, and what is the right recipe for journalists to paint a better picture, give voice to the most number of (real) people affected and vastly expand our old school capabilities as messengers? I'm the last one to figure that out. But all these tech geniuses with their armies of engineers and array of creative start-ups -- most of them claiming the higher ground desire to do social good -- ought to be able to huddle with those of us who have on-the-ground experience vetting information and weaving the narrative to come up with the real answer. The whole story depends on it. More on Iranian Election
 
Obama Rose Garden News Conference Scheduled For Tuesday Top
WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama has scheduled his first Rose Garden news conference. The White House on Monday said Obama would take questions from reporters at 12:30 p.m. on Tuesday. Obama has previously engaged in formal news conferences during prime-time television hours and on international trips. This would be his first extended questioning in the White House's Rose Garden. White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said Obama would open the session with remarks on health care reform, energy legislation and Iran's disputed elections. THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below. WASHINGTON (AP) _ President Barack Obama has scheduled his first Rose Garden news conference. The White House on Monday said Obama would take questions from reporters at 12:30 p.m. on Tuesday. Obama has previously taken formal questions from reporters in the East Room and during international trips. This would be his first formal questioning in the White House's Rose Garden.
 
Amnesty International: Iran: Release Human Rights Lawyer Abdolfattah Soltani Top
By Zahir Janmohamed , Advocacy Director, Middle East and North Africa at Amnesty International USA. Abdolfattah Soltani was arrested at his office in central Tehran, at around four in the afternoon, on 16 June by four plainclothes security officials. The officials, who did not have a search warrant, a summons or arrest warrant, carried out a search of his office. They confiscated his files, his briefcase, his computers and his mobile phone before taking him away. Abdolfattah Soltani is a member of the Center for the Defense of Human Rights which Nobel Peace Prize laureate, Shirin Ebadi and many other leading human rights activists founded in 2002. It was forcibly closed in December 2008 shortly before the center was to hold an event commemorating the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). The CHRD, whose members continue to work under the name of the center, has three stated roles: reporting violations of human rights in Iran; providing free legal representation to political prisoners; and supporting the families of political prisoners. Abdolfattah Soltani represented the cases of prisoner of conscience Akbar Ganji, an investigative reporter who uncovered the still unpunished complicity of various government officials in the murder of intellectuals and journalists in the 1990s, and the family of Zahra Kazemi,an Iranian-Canadian journalist who died in custody in Evin prison in July 2003. In Zahra Kazemi's case, a Ministry of Intelligence official was tried and acquitted of her 'semi-intentional' murder. Hehad been considered a scapegoat for a senior judicial figure, and following the acquittal, Kazemi's family, represented by Abdolfattah Soltani, appealed to the Supreme Court, to launch a newinvestigation into her death in custody. Mr. Soltani was arrested in 2005 and spent 219 days in detention, of which 43 were in solitary confinement. In July 2006 he was sentenced to five years' imprisonment by Branch 26 of the Revolutionary Court for "disclosing confidential documents," for which he received a sentence of four years; and one year's imprisonment for "propaganda against the system." The evidential basis for the charges brought against Abdolfattah Soltani was reportedly not made clear in the charge sheet or by the prosecution during the trial. According to reports, the verdict was issued with neither Abdolfattah Soltani nor his lawyers being summoned to court to hear it, and they were not given a copy of the verdict. Of his trial and the verdict, he said, "Neither me nor my lawyers were called for the court session mentioned in the verdict. We were unable to defend my case because we never saw the main evidence listed in the indictment." Abdolfattah Soltani has stated "my crime is accepting political cases including cases of journalists, students, and two nuclear defendants, otherwise, I did not break the law. They are trying to treat me in a way so that no other lawyer would accept political cases." To take action on his case, click here More on Iran
 
Joel B. Schwartzberg: "Student Loan Sinkhole?" Garners Huge Response Top
One of the most compelling and touching NOW on PBS programs of the year received an enormous and historic response from our audience. The topic was how massive student loan debts are sinking American dreams and causing a national economic headache, but the focus was the tragic and heroic story of a single mother in Baltimore trying to dig herself out of a $70,000 student loan debt. While many blamed the young woman for her own dilemma, there was also an outpouring of support, empathy, and commiseration. What would you do if -- as a college-educated young mother -- you lost your job, had debt collectors calling you incessantly, and was just evicted from your home? Before you make assumptions, I urge you to watch the program . At NOW Online : Personal student loan stories from across the nation New federal credit loan repayment options , and how you can take advantage of them. Selections from our email correspondence with Sallie Mae about their response to our report More on Bankruptcy
 
Michelle Obama Announces "United We Serve" Top
Today, First lady Obama announced the kick-off of United We Serve, the administration's nation-wide summer of service initiative that aims to expand the impact of existing organizations and encourage Americans to develop DIY service projects. Michelle Obama, who described service as "near and dear to [her] heart" encouraged everyone to head over to serve.gov to turn great ideas into successful service projects. For community service opportunities in your neighborhood, checkout what Arianna calls a "craigslist for service" by going to AllForGood.org . The fist lady said that the president is calling on all Americans to volunteer in local community service projects across the country as a means of revitalizing the economy and our national morale. "United we Serve" officially kicks off today and ends on September 11th, the National Day of Service and Remembrance. WATCH: In the video below, Obama urges Americans to help their local communities by volunteering at a homeless shelter, reading to kids at a local library, or getting involved in other projects. "We can rebuild our schools, but we need people to be mentors and tutors in those schools," Obama said in the video. "We can modernize our health care system, but we need volunteers in our hospitals and communities to help care for the sick and help people lead healthier lives. We can invest in clean energy, but we need people to use energy-efficient products in their homes and train for the green jobs of the future." WATCH: More on Barack Obama
 
Folklore Festivals & An Unhappy Slow Loris: HuffPost's Caption Contest! Top
Armenian young women dressed with their national costumes perform during the annual three-day international folklore festival in the town of Varna east of the Bulgarian capital Sofia, Sunday, June, 21, 2009. FRIDAY'S FAVORITES: THURSDAY'S WINNER: Prom night in Candy Land. By oggiedoggie. More on Caption Contest
 
Perez Hilton Called Will.i.am A "F*gg*t" Pre-Fight Top
TORONTO — Police have charged the tour manager of the Black Eyed Peas with assault after he allegedly punched celebrity blogger Perez Hilton outside a Toronto nightclub. Hilton said he got into an argument with band members Fergie and will.i.am at the Cobra nightclub early Monday morning and was punched outside by Polo Molina, the band's tour manager. They were at the club following a Sunday night video awards show. Molina turned himself in and has been charged with assaulting Hilton, Toronto Police Constable Tony Vella said. Molina is due in court Aug. 5. Hilton, whose real name is Mario Lavandeira, complained about the incident on the microblogging site Twitter. He tweeted at 4 a.m.: "I am bleeding. Please, I need to file a police report. No joke." Hilton, who is openly gay, said in interview with The Associated Press that he called will.i.am a "faggot," a gay slur, inside the club after the musician told the blogger not to write about his band on his Web site. "He was like 'You need to respect me.' He was in my face. He was obviously trying to intimidate me and scare me," Hilton said. "I was like 'I don't need to respect you. I don't respect you and I did say this, and I knew that it would be the worst thing I could possibly say to him because he was acting the way he was. I said 'You know what, I don't respect you and you're gay and stop being such a faggot.'" Will.i.am said in a video posting on dipdive.com that he came to Hilton with respect and was called a "faggot." Hilton, who was at the club with Lady Gaga, said he then left the club and was punched from behind. The pop stars and the blogger were among celebrities in Toronto for the MuchMusic Video Awards on Sunday night. A spokeswoman for the Black Eyed Peas declined comment.
 
Johnny Depp As Mad Hatter, Helena Bonham Carter's Red Queen And Anne Hathaway's White Queen: FIRST LOOK (PHOTOS) Top
The Tim Burton 3-D flick doesn't come out till spring 2010, but film fans now have their first look at Johnny Depp as the Mad Hatter, Anne Hathaway as the White Queen and Helena Bonham Carter as the Red Queen from the upcoming "Alice in Wonderland." The lead role of Alice will be played by 19-year-old unknown Mia Wasikowska from Australia. PHOTOS: Follow HuffPo Entertainment On Twitter!
 
Lady Gaga's Breasts Shoot Fireworks (PHOTO, VIDEO) Top
Lady Gaga hit the stage with pyrotechnics shooting from her breasts at the MuchMusic Video Awards in Toronto on Sunday night. After her electrifying performance she won best international video artist award for her hit song 'Poker Face.' Here is a photo, or scroll down to watch her whole performance. WATCH: (Fireworks at the very end) Follow HuffPo Entertainment On Twitter! More on Video
 
18 Tips To Green Your Pest Control Top
There are many eco-friendly ways to approach pest control, whether the problem is slugs on your patio or a snake in the pool. We no longer have to rely on harsh chemicals to enjoy the summer. More on Green Living
 
Rabbi Shmuley Boteach: Spectator of the Free World: Obama and Iran Top
Of all the sins for which a leader can be guilty, few are as egregious as the simple refusal to lead. Watching President Obama's at first deafening silence and then weak and hyper-cautious words on Iran has been disappointing and painful. Our President must decide if he will serve as leader or spectator of the free world. This time no one is asking an American President to send in troops. No one is suggesting the deployment of laser-guided bombs. All it takes is a forthright statement from the leader of the free world: "The people of the United States support the people of Iran in their legitimate quest for democracy and freedom and will hold accountable any and all parties responsible for the bloodshed of non-violent demonstrators." Pretty easy, right? Our President doesn't think so. As he put it, "It is not productive, given the history of U.S.-Iranian relations, to be seen as meddling." Wait a minute. Was our President seriously comparing the 1953 CIA-inspired coup of the democratically-elected government of Prime Minister Mohammed Mosaddeq to an organic uprising of the Iranian people against a sham election and a supreme 'religious' leader who threatened to kill them if they protest? And if the President is right and has no right to meddle, then why is he pressuring Iran not to develop nuclear weapons? Of course we meddle. It's our job to meddle. That's what leadership of the world entails unless President Obama seriously believes that place America occupies on the global stage is akin to Denmark or Madagascar. Meddling is only wrong when it serves a country's selfish, imperial purposes. But when its purpose is to save life and uphold liberty it is not only permitted but obligatory. Plenty of countries rightly 'meddled' in the affairs of the United States when they saw black children being blown down by powerful water hoses and attacked by dogs at civil rights marches. Martin Luther King invited them to meddle, which is why he repeatedly said, "The world is watching," a phrase which President Obama is now using against Iran. The United State ought to be meddling in Sudan to stop the Janjaweed militias from slaughtering innocent Africans. We ought to be meddling in Myanmar to free the courageous Aung Yun Suu Kwi. President Clinton has apologized numerous times that he did not meddle in Rwanda when 800,000 innocent people were hacked to death and we call the generation that meddled in Europe during the Second World War, 'the greatest generation.' For that matter, I am grateful to the France of the late eighteenth century for agreeing to meddle in Britain's internal affairs when they tried to brutally crush an uprising of colonists overseas. Without their meddling the United States might have been stillborn. President Obama's advisers justify the President's silence saying that if the US President were to speak out it would be used by the Mullahs as evidence that the uprising in Iran was Western-inspired. Come on. They're going to scapegoat the Great Satan anyway. But how does that absolve us from doing the right thing? Indeed, it was Dr. King who passionately rejected this argument of 'outside agitator' when it was used against him by eight white Alabama clergymen who accused him of fomenting hatred in their state when King lived in Georgia. In his memorable "Letter from Birmingham Jail" he said, "I am cognizant of the interrelatedness of all communities and states. I cannot sit idly by in Atlanta and not be concerned about what happens in Birmingham. Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly. Never again can we afford to live with the narrow, provincial "outside agitator" idea." Forty-six years ago another young charismatic President went to the very symbol of Soviet Oppression in Berlin and directly inserted himself into Soviet affairs by identifying himself with the people who were risking their lives for liberty. "All free men, wherever they may live, are citizens of Berlin, and, therefore, as a free man, I take pride in the words "Ich bin ein Berliner." With every passing day I grow more concerned about what might be termed 'The Obama Doctrine.' What is it? As best as I can discern, it is a preservation of the status quo. As Obama himself put it, "America does not presume to know what is best for everyone." Really? We don't presume to know that elections are better than dictatorships? We don't presume to know that women being beaten in the streets for showing an elbow is brutal and refusing to let them ride a bicycle is a form of gender apartheid? Rarely before has an American president spoken out so forcefully in favor of moral relativism. So much for the Declaration of Independence which was written by Thomas Jefferson as a universal proclamation of human liberty asserting that freedom is an 'inalienable' right possessed by each of G-d's children. President Obama possesses the potential for greatness. He has the intelligence, charisma, and above all oratorical gifts to be an outstanding leader. But it will all hinge on moral courage. He seems too cautious, too afraid of upsetting people, too much a believer in his own popularity to ever risk being unpopular. Moses was just another spoiled Egyptian prince until the day he chanced upon an Israelite slave being beaten. The Bible relates, "And he looked this way and that way and saw there was no man. Then he smote the Egyptian." When Moses saw there was none but him to address this moral outrage, he sacrificed his cushy position in Egyptian society and acted to right a wrong. At that moment he became instantly unpopular in Egyptian society but he also become an audacious leader. It should be noted that the great liberator and lawgiver could not give a public speech. He was a stutterer whose mouthpiece was his brother Aaron. But then, real leadership does not involve having the best mouth but rather the most courageous heart. Rabbi Shmuley Boteach's newest book, The Blessing of Enough: Rejecting Material Greed, Embracing Spiritual Hunger will be out in July. He is the founder of This World: The Values Network." *Follow Shmuley on TWITTER! http://www.twitter.com/RabbiShmuley *Shmuley's on Facebook! http://tinyurl.com/facebook-shmuley *Buy Rabbi Shmuley's newest book The Kosher Sutra at http://tinyurl.com/koshersutra *Join the national "Turn Friday Night Into Family Night" initiative. Go to www.FridayisFamily.com . *See Shmuley on the web at www.Shmuley.com More on Iranian Election
 
David Vines: Demonstrating for Freedom Top
As mass protesting and violence continue to rage through the streets of Tehran, Iranian-Americans and sympathizers from around the New York area gathered at the United Nations this past Saturday to demonstrate on behalf of Iranian freedom. The pouring rain did not stop over 500 people from showing up at the protest, many of them donning green to show their support for reform candidate, Mir-Hossein Mousavi. While some protesters attended in an effort to do what they could to support freedom and democracy, for others, like a woman who wished only to be identified as Fahimeh, it was much more personal. "All my family is there, and right now everyone is in the street," she proudly stated. While contact with family members has proven to be a challenge for her and most other demonstrators, many of them are still finding ways to contact their friends and loved ones. Even though a few said they know how to use Facebook and Twitter, the majority of the demonstrators were able to stay in touch over the phone, despite cell phone service being shoddy at best in the divided nation. It was clear that all those who attended this UN rally had similar goals and visions regarding the political future of Iran. Green flags were waved proudly and chants of "Khamenei, Khamenei, shame on you, shame on you," rang throughout the crowd in an effort to condemn Iran's Supreme Leader. However, there was no consensus among the crowd regarding how the United States has acted since the Iranian protests broke out. "I think President Obama handled it very well so far," said Mehdi Noorbaksh, a political scientist at Harrisburg University, and one of the organizers of this event. "America does not have a very good credibility anymore because of the coup in 1953," Noorkbaksh continued, "so definitely, we are very satisfied with his reaction so far." Others, such as Faramarz Etesan, were more critical about the United States' lack of involvement. "They do nothing, not any action, they do, just silence." Etesan has been living in the US for twenty-five years, but almost all of his family, including his brother, sisters, and mother are still in Iran. He was not of the belief that one election, even if it turned out in his favor, was enough to change the direction of his country. "Whether it is Ahmadinejad or Mousavi, the regime is what has to go," he declared. There was however, a consensus that no matter how the United States acted, real change would have to come internally. A man named Kaveh, who supported President Obama's handling of the situation, summed it up best. "If change is going to happen, it will have to come from inside Iran. We are a proud nation and we will do it by ourselves." This day at the United Nations was one to show support for freedom and democracy in Iran, and to express solidarity for those who had perished during the post-election protests. While specific political opinions of the protesters did vary, it was clear that what they all wanted was freedom and safety for their loved ones back in their home country. Click below for audio from the protest: More on Iran
 
Rob Kall: Congress Finally Votes for Impeachment... But... Top
They finally did it, voted for impeachment. On page 12 of section A, in a one paragraph "article, the NY Times reports that the US house of representatives has voted to impeach. Sorry. We're not talking about Bush or Cheney or anyone else related to them -- not John Yoo, not Donald Rumsfeld or Scooter Libby or Karl Rove... No. They unanimously voted to impeach a Texas judge who was convicted of sexual abuse of two women. The Times very briefly explained, "The House unanimously approved four impeachment articles to remove the judge, Samuel B. Kent, from the bench in Federal District Court in Galveston, Tex." Okay. It's bad to engage in sexual abuse. But it's a bit ironic that this august body could unanimously deal with a sex crime but not with massive war crimes against humanity. And how about that NY Times , boldly reporting an impeachment on page 12 of section A, in one paragraph. How noble of them. I guess impeachment is such an everyday occurrence they feel it is not worth mentioning. Now the senate will prosecute the case against this judge, who uses his bi-polar and depressive illness as his defense. Ironic that sexual misbehavior is treated worth than torture, murder, lies that lead to war, illegal spying... no, not ironic, insane . What defense do the unanimous members of the house have? Feh! crossposted from OpEdNews.com More on Dick Cheney
 
Andy Borowitz: Jon Gosselin Seeks Condo Board Friendly to Douchebags Top
Reality star Jon Gosselin, who has been looking for a New York apartment in recent days, has given the following marching orders to his realtor: find a condo board that is friendly to douchebags. But "easier said then done" says real estate expert Evelyn Leforte, who has specialized in finding condos for dickwads and buttholes in Manhattan for over thirty years. "There are certainly some neighborhoods, like Tribeca, where an asswipe like Jon Gosselin would feel right at home," says Ms. Leforte. "But a lot of those buildings have waiting lists a mile long - that's just how many cocksuckers there are out there." Mr. Gosselin may have hoped that with cutbacks on Wall Street, many mofos would be putting their apartments on the market, but "that has not been the case," she says. "A lot of these people figure if they hang in there long enough, sooner or later the government will give them a bailout," she said. "Douchebags." Andy Borowitz performs live at 92Y Tribeca July 2 at 9 PM - tickets here . More on Real Estate
 
Lauren Rose Linett: Is He a Barack or a Bill? Top
After five fabulous dates my new love interest was leaving town for a few days and he said he would call to say good bye the night before his departure. The call never came, but in the morning I found he had sent me an email which read "I didn't have time to call, but I will be thinking of you while I am gone." I immediately thought of our new president and one of our former top dogs. Had I not used some self-control I would have replied to his email with this: "Barack Obama would have found time to call Michelle. Are you busier than him? Bill Clinton most definitely would not have had the time to call Hillary. So what kind of a man are you -- a Barack or a Bill?" The underlying reason for my man's lack of manners remains a mystery. Was he working on health care reform or was he playing with a Monica? I'll never know. The real question here is whether I should I continue with my probable Bill or keep looking for my better-half Barack. B and B are both attractive, intelligent, successful and charming as is my man. Maybe one slip-up doesn't make him a Bill, but in the early stages of a relationship a man is telling you who he is, and ladies, we need to listen. My man had time to call. He didn't want to call. He is a Bill. I said bye bye Bill; I'm going to keep looking for my Barack. More on Barack Obama
 
Josh Sugarmann: Gunmakers Now Last Unregulated Industry Top
President Obama's signing of a bill granting the federal Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulatory authority over the tobacco industry now leaves the gun industry as the last American industry not regulated for health and safety. Let me repeat. Guns are now the only consumer product manufactured in America not regulated by a federal agency for health and safety. Household consumer products ( except for guns and ammunition) are regulated by the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC). Airplanes? The Federal Aviation Adminstration (FAA). Motor vehicles? The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). Pesticides and toxic chemicals? The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Food, drugs--and now tobacco? The Food and Drug Administration. Health and safety regulatory powers commonly include the authority to set design standards, recall dangerous or defective products, and require reporting from manufacturers. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), the default "regulator" of guns in our nation, has no such powers. ATF is currently empowered only to oversee commerce in guns. The bottom line is that under federal law, if you make a gun that is 50 caliber or less, is not fully automatic, and (in the case of long guns) meets specific barrel length requirements, manufacturers are free to make what sells--even if the market is U.S. street gangs or Mexican drug trafficking organizations. If the gun happens to blow up in a consumer's hand or go off when you drop it (e.g., the Ruger Blackhawk) because of a manufacturing defect, don't count on ATF recalling it. They can't. If a manufacturer develops a handgun for the civilian market that can pierce the bullet-resistent vests worn by law enforcement (e.g., the Smith & Wesson Model 500 50 caliber revolver) or down an aircraft on take-off or landing (e.g., the Barrett 50 BMG sniper rifle as seen below) there's nothing ATF can do about it. When presented with guns' unique niche in the pantheon of consumer products, the industry and its cheerleaders like the National Rifle Association (NRA) and the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF) go into a well-practiced spiel of how in fact they're actually the most regulated industry in America--citing dealer and manufacturer licensing, the minimal paperwork necessary to buy a gun under federal law, the Brady background check all buyers must go through to purchase a weapon from a licensed dealer, and the fact that ATF is allowed to check a dealer's sales records once a year (a privilege the agency has the manpower to employ on a far less frequent basis). Yet these are sales standards, not product safety standards. ATF lacks any of the health and safety authority that is routinely granted--and usually expected by the American public--for other consumer products. Imagine if there were no FAA and National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) to oversee air safety. Would the public tolerate it if 100 Boeing 777s crashed every year? Of course not. But that would result in the same loss of life as the 30,000 Americans who are killed year in and and year out by guns. In fact, the arguments the gun industry makes today to fend off meaningful regulation mirror those made in the past made by another industry "regulated" by ATF--yes, the tobacco industry. If ATF authority over a given product equaled true health and safety regulation, there wouldn't have been a need for the bill signed today. And as the gun industry continues to exploit its unique status with increasingly lethal military style weapons for the civilian market, this disparity can only become more evident. More on Mexico
 
Michael Sigman: 'Civilization' and its Disc Contents Top
The best Father's Day tribute I can think of is to reflect not too seriously on one of my dad's not-too-serious songs. When he got home from World War II -- where he won a Bronze Star I only discovered after his death in 2000 -- my father, Carl Sigman, picked up his songwriting career in earnest. And as is so often the case in life, a failure produced a turning point. He and his partner Bob Hilliard were doing well writing special material for New York's renowned hot spot the Copacabana. But their song "Civilization" -- a send up of the post-War rush to modernization -- was rejected out of hand. They were given no reason, but perhaps the song's refrain -- "Bongo, bongo, bongo I don't want to leave the Congo /Oh no no no no no/ Bingle, bangle, bungle I'm so happy in the jungle/ I refuse to go" -- was simply too much for the Copa's swells. Undaunted, the writers featured "Civilization" in Angel in the Wings , a Broadway revue of their songs which ran for 308 performances at the Coronet Theatre during 1947-48. Elaine Stritch performed the show-stopper in her debut on the Great White Way. (A half-century later she reprised it -- with the original comical choreography -- in her long-running autobiographical one-woman show At Liberty. ) "Civilization" was a smash. The inimitable Louis Prima's version made the Top 10 for eight weeks in 1947. (Louis had another Sigman/Hilliard hit that year with the deadpan "Thousand Islands Song" -- "I left the one I love on one of the Thousand Islands; unfortunately, I can't remember which one.") Bing Crosby, Glenn Miller, Woody Herman, Jack Smith and Ray McKinley were among the many who covered it. But it was the call-and-response cut by Danny Kaye and the Andrews Sisters that soared to No. 1 on Your Hit Parade later that year, phony African accents and all. Meanwhile, my mom, while still a teenager, had landed a job as Louis Prima's gal Friday. She became an expert at forging his signature on autographs -- sorry, kids! -- and taking, in addition to dictation, his bets on the ponies. One day, a certain songwriter came by the Brill Building with more prospective hits for Louis; he left with a crush on the gal Friday. One thing led to another, and I can say with reasonable certainty that if it weren't for Louis, I would never have been born. "Civilization" has stayed alive through the decades, both as an artifact of its era and as an all-purpose satire of modernity. In 1979, Dyan Cannon and some cute jungle animals surveyed it on The Muppet Show , which now runs perpetually in syndication and on YouTube. It's on the radio as Jeremy Irons' Humbert Humbert chauffeurs his prepubescent obsession around in the 1997 remake of Lolita . It's featured in the iconic 2008 video game Fallout 3. Frank Sinatra sang it, on the radio, in a performance that survives to this day on bootleg recordings. And who can forget the smooth, mellow rendition by Svend Asmussen's Orkester favored by my friend the great Gregg Geller (discoverer of Elvis Costello, Nick Lowe, John Hiatt et al)? www.whatsontv.co.uk/youtube/search/svend%20asmussen/video/K9UHYm5PzCI/1 Never one to be outdone, Louis updated "Civilization" in 1965, with sax by the late, legendary Sam Butera and some improv about golf clubs and drive-in movies. One of my favorite versions, it can be heard 24/7 on Prima aficionado Art Fein's fine website, www.sofein.com . Art comments, "Prima veering into 'Twist & Shout' at the end of 'Civilization' is a mindblower!" Though "Civilization" -- a spot-on emblem of its time -- might be faulted for political incorrectness in today's terms, a playful attitude will reward the listener with plenty of smiles and maybe even a few belly laughs. In fact, I've recently been in touch with my friend Gabriel, who lives in Capetown and is mounting a revival of Angel in the Wings . He tells me something that would bring joy and astonishment to my dad, who had a hard time believing his songs would have a lasting impact: people all over Africa -- black and white -- still greet each other with the salutation, "Bongo, Bongo, Bongo."
 
Stephen Baldwin QUITS "I'm A Celebrity" Top
NEW YORK — Another celebrity has bailed out of the Costa Rican jungle set of "I'm a Celebrity ... Get Me Out of Here!" Stephen Baldwin says he exited the NBC show over the weekend because he received more than 125 insect bites in eight days. In a statement, he says the bites were so bad he had an extreme allergic reaction that caused him to lose sleep and 22 pounds. The actor says he will continue to work on behalf of his chosen charity LOVE 146, which fights child sex slavery and exploitation. "I'm a Celebrity" ends on Wednesday. ___ On the Net: http://www.nbc.com/im-a-celebrity/
 
Final Day Of The 109th US Open (SLIDESHOW) Top
After a rain-soaked weekend, the US Open came to a close on Monday at Bethpage Black on Long Island with Lucas Glover winning his first major title. See Our US Open Slideshow: More on Photo Galleries
 

CREATE MORE ALERTS:

Auctions - Find out when new auctions are posted

Horoscopes - Receive your daily horoscope

Music - Get the newest Album Releases, Playlists and more

News - Only the news you want, delivered!

Stocks - Stay connected to the market with price quotes and more

Weather - Get today's weather conditions




You received this email because you subscribed to Yahoo! Alerts. Use this link to unsubscribe from this alert. To change your communications preferences for other Yahoo! business lines, please visit your Marketing Preferences. To learn more about Yahoo!'s use of personal information, including the use of web beacons in HTML-based email, please read our Privacy Policy. Yahoo! is located at 701 First Avenue, Sunnyvale, CA 94089.
Posted by at

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)