The latest from The Full Feed from HuffingtonPost.com
- Obama Father's Day Treat: The Dairy Godmother Visited By Sasha, Malia And Obama For Treats (PHOTOS)
- Medvedev: Russia Ready For Deep Nuclear Arms Cuts
- Alan Rabinowitz: The Quest for One of the Most Elusive Cats in the World
- Yoani Sanchez: Is Cuba At War? And If So, Against Whom?
- New JibJab Obama Video: Obama Saves The Day (VIDEO)
- Lloyd Chapman: IT'S TIME TO END THE U.S. CHAMBER OF COMMERCE'S MASQUERADE AS SMALL BUSINESS ADVOCATES
| Obama Father's Day Treat: The Dairy Godmother Visited By Sasha, Malia And Obama For Treats (PHOTOS) | Top |
| ***SCROLL DOWN FOR PHOTOS*** ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP) — The first family was in the mood for something sweet _ something like vanilla custard, fudge and sprinkles. On a muggy Saturday just before Father's Day, President Barack Obama took Sasha, 8, and Malia, 10, to The Dairy Godmother, a frozen custard shop just outside Washington. The president snacked on vanilla custard with hot fudge and toasted almonds in a cup, said the shop's owner, Liz Davis. Sasha ordered a brownie sundae treat with vanilla custard, hot fudge and chocolate sprinkles. Malia walked out of the shop, eating the remains of a waffle cone with vanilla frozen custard. During his 15-minute stay, Obama also shook hands with customers and posed for pictures. Obama left the shop with some puppy treats for the family's dog, Bo. More on Barack Obama | |
| Medvedev: Russia Ready For Deep Nuclear Arms Cuts | Top |
| Russia is ready to dramatically cut its nuclear stockpiles in a new arms pact with the United States if Washington meets Russia's concerns over missile defence, President Dmitry Medvedev said on Saturday. "We are ready to reduce by several times the number of nuclear delivery vehicles compared with the START-1 pact," he told a news conference in Amsterdam. More on Russia | |
| Alan Rabinowitz: The Quest for One of the Most Elusive Cats in the World | Top |
| By Steve Winter The snow leopard is one of the most elusive cats in the world. As few as 3,500 of them may still roam the harsh, forbidding mountains of Central Asia. No one knows for sure. In 1999 my editor at National Geographic Magazine circulated an email asking for ideas on our "dream assignment". I remembered how my life had been touched when years before I had read George Schaller 's "Stones of Silence" and Peter Matthiessen's "The Snow Leopard". I chose snow leopards - and so began the quest. But how do you produce a story about a animal you may never see? Our answer: a six-month expedition into the Indian Himalayas armed with 14 "camera traps." When a snow leopard walked by it would break the infrared beam, fire the camera and take its own picture. High Camp Our seven-person team trekked into Hemis High Altitude National Park in mid-January, with packhorses ferrying our 60+ bags into base camp. I'm a steamy jungle kind of guy, so the first night in my tent when temperatures plummeted to 40-below was a bit of a shock. I'd dragged propane tent heaters with me from the States, but at 14,000 feet there wasn't enough oxygen to keep them burning. The cook gave me a bottle filled with boiling water to put in my sleeping bag, but by morning it was a solid block of ice. Welcome to winter in the Himalayas. Our camp was nestled in a valley surrounded by towering peaks. Visually it looks like you're on the moon. Day after day, we climbed those steep, rocky peaks hunting for clues that snow leopards were in the area, looking for places they'd marked territory or left a scented invitation for a possible mate. We discovered a trail with a series of markings: fresh tracks, patches of fur where a cat had rubbed on a rock, places where it had raked the ground with scratch marks or sprayed its scent. If it was a photogenic location, I would set one of my 14 camera traps. I'd compose the frame, light the scene with three flashes -- much like a movie set -- and hope that the actor would step onstage. Then the waiting game began. Would the cat walk by? Would it be shocked by the flashes? Getting the Shot In three days we got our first pictures, which gave us hope. But it was completely random. One camera captured just one snow leopard image in six months -- one of the best pictures. Another produced just two pictures. With no pictures for weeks on some cameras, and changing weather, we moved the cameras again and again, ultimately setting them up in 45 different locations. Conservation Snow leopards are still threatened by their only predator -- humans. Many cats are shot or poisoned by herders in retaliation for killing their goats, sheep, or yaks, the livestock they rely on for survival in a harsh environment. It's a problem across all 12 Central Asian countries where snow leopards live. The cats eat more livestock as their main prey -- wild sheep and goats -- disappear, hunted by local people or starved out by livestock. And then there's the poachers who kill the cats for their luxurious pelts (worth at least $600 on the black market) or their bones, which are still used in traditional Asian medicine (the bones can fetch a whopping $5,000 or more)! Community-based conservation programs that put money in the pockets of local people are making a difference. Panthera , the world's largest big cat conservation organization, is funding programs to sell local handicrafts in the U.S., vaccinate livestock herds, and bring foreign trekkers to stay in villager's homes -- as long as the villagers sign a contract that they won't kill snow leopards. Because the cats live in such a forbidding environment -- and are so rarely seen by humans -- there are huge holes in our knowledge of this mysterious cat. Like what their range is, how many kittens are born in the wild, what they do when they meet up in those mountains. Less is known about the snow leopard than any of the big cats, but Panthera has recently launched the first-ever range-wide research and conservation project for this species. Each of my images of this ghostly cat was a gift , a collaboration between the snow leopard, local naturalists and myself. Learn more about t Panthera's Snow Leopard Conservation Program About Stever Winter Internationally renowned, award winning wildlife photographer and explorer Steve Winter has been named Director of Media at Panthera, the premier global organization dedicated to assuring the future of the world's wild cats and their landscapes. Winter's appointment comes on the heels of his Wildlife Photographer of the Year Award from the BBC and the Museum of Natural History in London, which he received in November for his photographs of the elusive snow leopard. Most recently, Winter was honored with first prize for best nature story for his snow leopard images during the 52nd Annual World Press Photo Awards in Amsterdam- the world's premier photojournalism awards. | |
| Yoani Sanchez: Is Cuba At War? And If So, Against Whom? | Top |
| This post is one in a weekly series in which I am introducing the writings of the wider Cuban blogosphere to Huffington Post Readers. Are We On Red Alert? By: Claudia Cadelo The poster is glued to the window of "The Polynesian" restaurant in the basement of the "Habana Libre" hotel. I think it shows clearly the objectives the Cuban government has for us. It's one of the most extreme public signs I've read and I think marks a new sentiment in the so-called "Battle of Ideas." The militaristic and alarming tone of its statements make me wonder if we're at war and against whom; where does it come from, the philosophy that tells me that I, as a citizen, must destroy, kill, annihilate, sacrifice, die, command, direct and obey? It reminds me of the documentaries I've seen of the 1960s where people were shouting, "To the Wall!" and Cubans were arrested by other Cubans, like scum. Maybe it's a little sad for all those who still hope for changes, to see that these are the new reforms that are planned; and despite its proven failure, this is still the "New Man" of the Cuban Revolution. I transcribe here the entire text of the poster, in case you can't read it from the photo: Fighting Philosophy of Our People - The words surrender and defeat are completely erased from our revolutionary terminology. - A revolutionary must surrender to the enemy and continue to fight until death if necessary. - Every revolutionary should think, particularly when he is isolated, "The revolution is me!" And continue the fight without waiting for guidance from others. - We will have to defend every inch of our soil. - To cause the greatest possible number of casualties on the active enemy forces is our main goal. - Keep the fighting spirit, for huge and painful sacrifices are required to win the day. - The final victory will be ours, through the difficult circumstances in which the fight takes place. - In every military and political leader at any level, in every soldier, every man in the village, there is a potential Commander-in-Chief who knows what to do, and in each particular situation each one may become his own Commander-in-Chief. - A fighter is like a powerful army and no cause will be lost. - Create the belief that people will never be ruled by any foreign power nor by the counterrevolution. Claudia Cadelo is a twenty-five year old French teacher living in Havana. Her blog, Octavo Cerco , can be read here in English Translation . More on Cuba | |
| New JibJab Obama Video: Obama Saves The Day (VIDEO) | Top |
| During the White House Radio and Television Correspondents' Dinner last night, JibJab, the creators behind the wildly popular videos lampooning the 2008 presidential race, premiered their latest video. It's called "He's Barack Obama: He's Come to Save the Day." The cartoon depicts a superhero Obama saving the country in all manner of ways. Check it out below. More on Barack Obama | |
| Lloyd Chapman: IT'S TIME TO END THE U.S. CHAMBER OF COMMERCE'S MASQUERADE AS SMALL BUSINESS ADVOCATES | Top |
| A recent post on the U.S Chamber of Commerce website titled, "Business United or Business Divided - What's at Stake?" is one of the best examples you could find of typical U.S. Chamber propaganda. As he did in our heated exchange on CNBC, Chamber spokesman Giovanni Coratolo struggles to piece together a series of outright lies, blatant fabrications and misdirection to try and attack me and cover up the U.S Chamber's actual pro Fortune 500 and anti-small business track record. (http://www.chamberpost.com/2009/06/business-united-or-business-divided-whats-at-stake.html) If you haven't seen our debate on CNBC, you can find it on YouTube under, "ASBL President Lloyd Chapman spars with U.S. Chamber of Commerce." I hope _I get a chance to finish our debate on national television sometime soon. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZWtLshGVEss) Let me focus on Giovanni's statement referring to the annual diversion of over $100 billion a year in federal small business contracts to corporate giants as a "niche issue" that will "impact only a small sliver of the business community." The truth is, no issue affecting American small businesses has been the subject of more federal investigations and more stories in the mainstream media than the diversion of federal small business contracts to Fortune 500 firms and thousands of other large businesses. Since 2003, there have been over a dozen federal investigations on the issue and hundreds of stories. Every major newspaper in the country has reported on the problem along with major television networks like ABC, CBS and CNN. In Report 5-15, the Small Business Administration (SBA) Office of Inspector General stated, "One of the biggest challenges facing the Small Business Administration and the entire Federal government today is that large businesses are receiving federal small business awards..." (http://www.asbl.com/documents/05-15.pdf) In February of 2008, President Obama acknowledged the magnitude of the problem when he released the statement, "It is time to end the diversion of federal small business contracts to corporate giants." (http://www.barackobama.com/2008/02/26/the_american_small_business_le.php) As opposed to the U.S. Chamber's position that this is a "niche issue" that will impact "only a small sliver of the business community," this issue has negatively impacted every man, woman and child in America. You don't have to be an economist to understand the diversion of over $100 billion a year from the middle class, year after year will have a devastating negative impact on the national economy. The U.S Chamber claims to have 3 million members, 96% with less than 100 employees and 5% of those firms do business with the government. That comes out to 144,000 U.S Chamber members that are small businesses being negatively impacted by this issue. Now let's look at what the U.S. Chamber has done over the last seven years to address what the SBA Inspector General referred to as one of the largest challenges facing the SBA and "the entire federal government today." NOTHING! No lobbying, no press conference, no press releases, no blog posts, no legislation, no lawsuits, no newspaper stories, no radio interviews, nothing on their website! Why wouldn't the organization that claims to be the most powerful voice for small business in American lift a finger to address a problem that is impacting millions of small businesses, including 144,000 of their own members? Because the Fortune 500 firms that are receiving the lion's share of all federal small business contracts are some of the most powerful members of the U.S. Chamber. Dozens of Fortune 500 firms that are currently receiving billions of dollars in federal small business contracts serve on the Board of Directors of the U.S. Chamber. Take a look at stories on this issue from the Associated Press, the New York Times and the Washington Post. Take a look at the investigative stories by ABC, CBS and CNN. (AP, http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/05/07/politics/main552758.shtml; NYT, http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/06/business/06sba.html; WaPo, http://www.asbl.com/showmedia.php?id=1179; ABC, http://www.asbl.com/abc_evening_news.wmv; CBS, http://www.asbl.com/cbs.wmv; CNN, http://www.asbl.com/showmedia.php?id=1170) Now take a look at the list of firms that belong to the U.S. Chamber and serve on their board. Many Fortune 500 firms on the U.S. Chamber board have received federal small business contracts. (http://www.uschamber.com/about/board/all.htm) Small businesses in America need to quit listening to what the U.S Chamber says and start to watch what they do. You will quickly realize they are no friend to American's 27 million small businesses. More on Small Business | |
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