The latest from The Full Feed from HuffingtonPost.com
- Woman Who Swiped 12-Year-Old Girl's Ice Cream Money Turned In (WATCH SURVEILLANCE VIDEO)
- Helen Cordes: Buzz-free prom and Graduation Parties? Let's Create Substance ed That Actually Works
- Obama's Health Care Strategy Revealed
- Obama Open To Plan Requiring Everyone To Get Insurance
- Blagojevichs Turned Down By Several Charities, Ex-Governor Says (LISTEN)
- Chris Weigant: Senator Sessions, Judge Sotomayor, And Racism
- Brian Whetten: The Financial Industry: Who Can You Trust?
- Blackwater Guards Accused Of Killing Three Men, Hiding The Evidence In New Lawsuit
- Olympics Committee Preps For Final Pitch Before Deciding Vote
- Michael Henry Adams: Celebrating Homo-Harlem
- Timothy Cooper: Rock Out, With Your Locks Out
- Senate Guru: MN-Sen: I Don't Trust Tim Pawlenty
- Henry Henderson: BP Has a Deal It Hopes We Can't Refuse: benzene releases and refinery expansion plans...
- Mark Miller: A Kinder, Gentler Recession for Seniors?
- Bruno Vs. Eminem (And The Rest Of Today's Scritti Politti)
- Eric Shutt: Marketing a Media Renaissance: Media Bistro Circus
- Arianna Huffington: What I Learned About Dave Matthews, Ashton Kutcher, Queen Rania, Al Gore, and Myself By Checking Out the iGoogle Showcase
- Obama Girls Heading To Paris With Michelle
- Jaime Pozuelo-Monfort: Sachsterly
- Sunil Chacko: The Worldwide Rise of Chronic Diseases and Potential Nutritional Solutions
- City Council Clashes Over Parking Meter Deal, Passes Privatization Review
- Patrick Takahashi: A Pandemic Worse than the Swine Flu
- Jobless Rates In U.S. Cities Zoom Higher In April
- Michelle Obama Joins Push For Sotomayor
| Woman Who Swiped 12-Year-Old Girl's Ice Cream Money Turned In (WATCH SURVEILLANCE VIDEO) | Top |
| A woman who stole a 12-year-old girl's $20 bill from the counter of a Deerfield Baskin-Robbins last month was turned in by her husband Wednesday after a family friend recognized her from surveillance footage. Deerfield Deputy Police Chief Tom Keane told the Tribune the woman would not be charged but had agreed to pay the girl back. Investigators were unsure whether the May 15 theft, which was caught on camera, was deliberate or an accident. The footage (watch below) shows the woman grabbing her ice cream and the young girl's money from the counter and leaving the store. At the time, the girl whose money was taken told officers she had spoken with the woman about flavors and exchanged smiles, according the CBS 2 . Baskin-Robbins said last week that it planned to give the girl an ice cream party and a gift certificate. Watch the surveillance video: View more news videos at: | |
| Helen Cordes: Buzz-free prom and Graduation Parties? Let's Create Substance ed That Actually Works | Top |
| This prom and grad season, parents at high schools across the country poured hundreds of thousands of dollars--likely millions all told, with the typical party cost running from $10,000-$60,000 --and countless volunteer hours into posh post-prom and post-graduation parties designed to entice teens to forego alcohol and drugs for one evening. But does all the dough delegated to big-ticket giveaways (flat-screen TVs, mini-fridges and other lures to get kids to stay at the party), catered cuisine, elaborate party themes replete with magicians and DJs and over-the-top décor, and the free limos and buses that ferry teens to and fro make a dent in our nation's disturbing teen substance abuse rates? Probably not. Certainly, these efforts by parents and businesses is laudable and likely does prevent some drunk-driving injuries and deaths on prom and graduation nights, which is the prime focus of the "safe prom/graduation" movement (and which helps explain why insurance companies, liquor makers, and DUI lawyers are often major backers). But we can do a lot better, with a lot less money, if we did two simple things: Educate our children ourselves by telling the truth about the role of alcohol and drugs in our own lives, and demanding that our schools do the same, radically revamping substance abuse instruction into something that kids listen to instead of laughing at. Trying to save kids on prom and graduation night is grand, but what about giving them the skills to resist substance abuse and dependence the other 364 days of the year? With more effective alcohol and drug ed, perhaps we won't raise yet another generation of Americans who daily live out the ethos that you can't really have fun without a drink or doobie or downer. Our kids' substance resistance doesn't look too hopeful these days: Kids drink early (39% of 8th graders) and hearty (90% binge-drink), and they dig drugs. This recent snapshot shows 34% of 10th graders have done illegal drugs and by senior year, nearly half; by then one in seven students also abuses legal amphetamines, sedatives, and opiates. We really can change this. Our kids desperately need better guidance to resist alcohol and drug dependence, and every parent (and non-parent) desperately wants that outcome. As a society, we're already pouring huge expenditures into perceived solutions, from lavish "safe" parties to bloated federal initiatives such as DARE , the $1 billion leading school program roundly deemed a failure. We all know about the fallout from substance abuse: the increased incidence of date rape and bad sexual choices, the blown-off academics and skill-building, the risky, sometimes deadly behavior. Here's one way to visualize it: an estimated annual $53 million in everything from added accidents to treatment programs--and that's just for underage alcohol abuse, let alone the drugs. Why not make some meaningful changes now to alleviate all that pain and tragedy? *Here's an absolutely free solution: simply start telling the truth to your kids about why you drink and take any legal or illegal drugs. Also, let's acknowledge that we seem to enjoy our substances. When kids are surrounded--in their own houses and neighborhoods and in the media and ads--by adults who clearly dig drinking, drugs, and smoking, why would any of them buy the message of "No, no--not for you"? And how can kids abide drunk-driving screeds from 21-and-up adults who are responsible for 88% of drunk-driving fatalities ? The point here is not to stop all substance use, but be candid about why we turn to it so often. The idea is to teach kids to identify their feelings, and at least most of the time, act on them in more positive and healthy ways. Wouldn't it teach kids much more about problem-solving to say something like this: "I'm very frustrated and anxious because my boss got mad at me unfairly again and there was bad traffic on the way home. Yesterday, I dealt with it by having some beers, but today I'm going to try unwinding by taking a walk in the park with you. And I'll strategize more about finding a different job or viewing my job situation differently so I'm not frustrated so often." Sure, this interaction can sound naïve on its own, but every change has to begin somewhere and undertaken with the belief that it will pay off eventually--for both your kid and you. Picture what's possible: that truthful interactions can--and should--be a routine part of all household conversations, particularly as teens begin experiencing more and more of the adult world. Consider all the reasons people become dependent on alcohol and drugs: feelings of pain, sadness, insecurity, anxiety, and boredom, typically caused by some variation of problems with money, relationships, and jobs. Teens would be fascinated to hear about how we cope with these challenges, and would become so much better prepared for these issues if caring adults shared and explored together both problems and solutions. *When you have fun without substance use, make those occasions explicit and public. If we want kids to "party" (interesting how the term "to party" implies excessive substance use) and have a great time without alcohol and drugs, then we should do the same. For your next party, barbecue, or restaurant visit, skip the booze, and make sure your kids know you had a good time anyway. Do the same for everyday situations--again, it may seem awkward at first ("I had a great time at the dinner table with y'all, and I didn't have any wine!"), but how else can we demonstrate that life can be plenty fun without substances? *Acknowledge that what we're doing now isn't really working, and that we need better substance education immediately. Seniors at Boston's Saugus High got the drunk-driving works this spring: A fake drunk-driving accident with fake-blood-smeared actors and actual totaled cars was staged for their viewing, and at the school-sponsored post-prom harbor cruise party, bags were checked and breathalyzer tests given at entry. Yet an allegedly drunk Saugus senior hit two early-morning walkers on May 16th as he drove home from the cruise with friends, killing one woman and critically injuring another. We need to say out loud that the just-say-no abstinence approach doesn't work for most kids (and certainly not adults) and, more importantly, recognize that "harm reduction" tactics work just fine for kids of all ages on all kinds of issues, including difficult ones like sex . Take sweets: Virtually all parents (and health educators) themselves delight in desserts, but teach kids that we need to use sugar sparingly because of negative side effects. We can do something similar with alcohol and drugs: Acknowledge their allure while prescribing tactics to minimize their harm and find healthier (think substituting fresh fruit or a pleasing distraction for a persistent candy craving) alternatives. Harm reduction curriculum and parent materials are readily available, and we need to summon the courage to insist our schools adopt a more effective and realistic approach. If we're lucky, this prom and graduation season will pass with no further fatalities. But if we're smart, this prom season will mark the beginning of substance dependence education that makes a real difference for all our children. | |
| Obama's Health Care Strategy Revealed | Top |
| Sometime in the next few weeks, Congress and the White House will descend into the labyrinthine politics of comprehensive health care reform. For Barack Obama, this signals the end, in a sense, of the eventful prologue to his presidency. Impressive as they are, Obama's legislative victories to this point - most notably the $787 billion stimulus bill and a stunningly ambitious $3.6 trillion budget resolution - have been relatively easy lifts for a popular new president installed at a time of economic crisis and buffered by comfortable majorities in the House and Senate. | |
| Obama Open To Plan Requiring Everyone To Get Insurance | Top |
| President Obama said Wednesday that he was receptive to Congressional proposals that would require every American to have health insurance and that would force employers to offer health insurance to their employees. But he said there should be exemptions for people who cannot afford coverage and for small businesses in general. More on Barack Obama | |
| Blagojevichs Turned Down By Several Charities, Ex-Governor Says (LISTEN) | Top |
| Your money is no good here. That's apparently what several charities told former Gov. Rod Blagojevich and his wife, Patti, when they were approached about entering a deal to share cash raised by Patti Blagojevich's appearance on "I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here." During a phone interview with WLS Radio's "Don Wade and Roma" Wednesday, the former governor said he thought the other charities were worried they would lose state funding if they teamed up with the Blagojevichs. "I think they're prudent in being concerned if they were to take our help they might get punished and penalized," Rod Blagojevich said. "They might lose state funding or not get more state funding or incur the wrath of some of those lawmakers like [Illinois House Speaker Mike] Madigan, for example, who is the type of guy who would take it out on them." Madigan's spokesman dismissed Blagojevich's claims to the Sun-Times as "just another piece of evidence of what a troubled and confused person the ex-governor is." The Tribune reported Tuesday that Bear Necessities Pediatric Cancer Foundation rejected Patti's reality show donation proposal. "With so much press going on about the governor, we want to be cautious," Bear Necessities spokeswoman Courtney Krupa told the Tribune . "We want to be a respectable organization and not hurt any of the people that support us and that we work with." Bear Necessities is affiliated with Children's Memorial Hospital. Rod Blagojevich is accused improperly soliciting a $50,000 campaign contribution from a Children's Memorial executive. More on Rod Blagojevich | |
| Chris Weigant: Senator Sessions, Judge Sotomayor, And Racism | Top |
| In all the hoopla over Judge Sonia Sotomayor being nominated to the Supreme Court, there is one interesting side story that the media is largely ignoring. His name is Senator Jeff Sessions, and he is now (after Arlen Specter's defection to the Democratic side of the aisle) the ranking minority member on the Senate Judiciary Committee (that's "minority" in the sense of Sessions being a Republican in a Democratic Senate, and not... you know, "minority"... since Sessions is a white male). And Sessions, as well as having a long enough term on the committee to be the ranking Republican, also has his own history with confirmation hearings before the same committee. Because he was the first of Ronald Reagan's judicial nominees to be rejected (before Bork, in other words), and he was rejected for perceived racial insensitivity. So it will be very interesting to see how he acts on Sonia Sotomayor's confirmation. From an article in The New Republic from 2002 (which is worth reading in full, to understand Sessions' unique position on the committee), here is a list of statements attributed to Jeff Sessions during his confirmation battle: Sessions called the NAACP and the ACLU "un-American" and "Communist-inspired." Further said these groups had "forced civil rights down the throats of people." Sessions called a white civil rights lawyer "a disgrace to his race" for litigating voting rights cases. During his confirmation hearing, called the Voting Rights Act of 1965 "a piece of intrusive legislation." Sessions told colleagues that he "used to think [the Ku Klux Klan] were OK," until he discovered some of them were "pot smokers," showing a rather strange set of priorities. A black former assistant U.S. Attorney who worked with Sessions said Sessions had called him "boy," and after hearing him chastise an assumably-white (the story doesn't say) secretary, Sessions told him to "be careful what you say to white folks." Sessions called Charles Pickering, a George W. Bush nominee who had in 1959 written a paper defending Mississippi's anti-miscegenation law, "a leader for racial harmony," and "courageous." Sessions also had a history of focusing like a laser beam on black voting fraud (while completely ignoring white voting fraud -- this in the Southern District of Alabama), which led him to prosecute "the Marion Three" for 14 ballots allegedly tampered with out of a total of 1.7 million votes cast in 1984. One of the three was a former aide to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. The three were acquitted after the jury spent only four hours deliberating the case. Sessions himself has always felt he was railroaded by the Senate Judiciary Committee. To charges of "gross insensitivity" on racial issues, he replied that the committee itself had been insensitive to the rights and reputation of judicial nominees. Sessions said that the statements attributed to him were when he was just joking. And he said, when he gained a seat on the same committee which had earlier rejected him as a judicial nominee, that it was a "great irony." Which is why it will be very interesting to see what Sessions has to say during Sotomayor's hearing, and how he will vote. On last week's Meet The Press , he answered moderator David Gregory's question about whether it was appropriate to call Sotomayor a racist and compare her to David Duke (but failed to mention Tom Tancredo comparing her to a member of the KKK, which Pat Leahy had to bring up later): I don't think I'm going to use any such words as that. I read her speech. I'm troubled by her speech. I think she has an opportunity to explain that. And I don't think we -- that I'm going to use such loaded words. People on the outside can say what they choose to say. Gregory also never mentions Sessions' history with the committee, and Sessions' own failed nomination as a judge (Gregory didn't do his homework, apparently). Later, when pressed on the point of whether conservatives should be using such terms to describe Sotomayor, Sessions answered: I would prefer that they not, but people have a free right to speak and say what they want and make the analogies that they want. This is an important thing. We should not demagogue race. It's an important issue in our culture and our country. We need to handle it with respect that it deserves and the care that it deserves. Now, in Sessions' defense, most of what he had to say was pretty mild when stacked up against the rantings of fellow Republicans Newt Gingrich and Rush Limbaugh and Tom Tancredo. He even had some words of praise for Sotomayor. But Sessions repeatedly called Sonia Sotomayor's use of the word "better" (which I wrote about yesterday ) "troubling." But what's more troubling to me is that the leading Republican on the committee which will hold her confirmation hearing has made outright racist statements in the past. Whether you believe Sotomayor's comment was "racist" or not, it's pretty hard to parse as a "joke" a white man calling a black colleague "boy" in Alabama, and telling him "be careful what you say to white folks." Or saying that -- as long as they weren't getting high, of course -- the KKK was "OK." Which I find troubling, myself. The mainstream media either (1) hasn't done the most basic of research on Sessions, or (2) is deliberately ignoring this side of the story. And either one of those is just as troubling as Sessions' own statements. Chris Weigant blogs at: ChrisWeigant.com More on Sonia Sotomayor | |
| Brian Whetten: The Financial Industry: Who Can You Trust? | Top |
| The financial industry is based on trust, and in the last year Wall Street has lost a ton of it. So what are we to do about this? In the face of all that's going on, who can you trust? The bad news is that large pieces of the industry aren't all that trustworthy. Not because they're liars or cheats (or at least not necessarily). But because so many people have bought into a series of lies -- a set of widely held myths that cause individual investors to lose hundreds of billions of dollars each year. The good news is that there's a terrific new book, The 12 Investment Myths by Jack Calhoun , that exposes many of these lies and gives terrific guidelines for knowing who to trust. It's short, simple, sweet and powerful. Ideally, it would be required reading for anyone with a 401(K) or stock portfolio. From 1987 - 2007, the average stock-fund investor made 4.5% per year, while the stock market's return (as measured by the S&P 500) was 11.81%. Why the huge difference? Because so many individual investors buy into these 12 myths. In particular, studies consistently show that a blind monkey throwing darts at a list of stocks would do better than the average mutual fund, yet much of the industry's profits are based on pretending this isn't true. Here are three key excerpts from the book, reprinted with the author's permission. MYTH 1: A Savvy Investor Should Be Able to Beat the Market FACT: Hope springs eternal for investors that they can find the market-beating guru to lead them to easy riches. But active managers have a nearly insurmountable hurdle to overcome due to the high costs associated with frequent trading. Those few managers who beat their benchmarks are usually flashes in the pan and don't sustain their winning ways for long. Investors who fall prey to the siren song of the market-beating guru usually end up experiencing only disappointment and lost potential earnings as they migrate from one high-flyer to another just as the managers are poised for a return to mediocre performance. SOLUTION: Learn to joyously accept the fact that the market is your friend to be embraced, not an enemy to be vanquished. Earning market rates-of-return is hardly accepting "average" returns, because historically the market beats more than 80% of active managers. MYTH 2: Brokerage Firms Are Built on a Client Service Model FACT: The big brokerage firms are not built on a client-service model; they are built on a product-distribution model. The endless, massive fines those firms keep incurring for violating their investors' best interests testify to this fact. Brokers who are compensated by the products they sell cannot claim to be objective and do not meet a fiduciary standard of care for their clients. SOLUTION: If you want to work with an advisor, find one who is an independent, fee-only Registered Investment Advisor. Such RIAs cannot accept commissions and act as fiduciaries for their clients, meaning they are required to put their clients' best interests ahead of their own. MYTH 3: It's All about Performance FACT: It is one of the great ironies of investing that the more you make investment decisions based on performance, the more likely you are to experience poor performance. The reality is that the performance of stocks, funds and managers is usually attributable to what market sectors have recently been in favor. Since those sectors cycle in and out of favor quickly and unpredictably, investors who chase returns usually miss the run-up and arrive just in time for the downturn. SOLUTION: Since you can't control which segments of the market are going to be hot going forward, select investment vehicles based on factors that you can control in the investment process: sales charges, expense ratios, and trading. Keeping such expenses to a minimum (or, in the case of sales charges, avoiding them altogether) is much more predictive of future success than chasing returns. The bottom line? If you want to know who to trust, a great start would be to learn these 12 myths and avoid those who buy into them. | |
| Blackwater Guards Accused Of Killing Three Men, Hiding The Evidence In New Lawsuit | Top |
| The families of three men killed in Iraq sued Blackwater yesterday, alleging that company employees wrongfully killed the men and then destroyed documents to hide the evidence. The private military company, now known as Xe, faces civil action in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District in Virginia. The suit, which seeks unspecified damages, alleges that on Feb. 7, 2007, heavily armed Xe-Blackwater employees shot the three men, who worked as security guards for the Iraqi Media Network. Sabah Salman Hassoon, Azhar Abdullah Ali, and Nibrass Mohammed Dawood were killed in front of approximately 20 other Xe-Blackwater employees and although company supervisors were alerted, the shootings were not reported, according to the complaint. Not only did the company fail to report the shootings, claim the plaintiffs, but also actively covered up the incident by "refusing to identify the shooters to Iraqi authorities and destroying documents and other evidence relating to this and other Xe-Blackwater shootings." This is the latest in a string of lawsuits filed against the company since the start of the Iraq War, including suits by both Iraqi and U.S. families accusing the company of fraud and negligence, among other charges. The plaintiffs in the recent case claim that Xe-Blackwater continues to operate a company in Iraq called Falcon though company officials have denied any connection to Falcon in the past. Xe spokeswoman Anne Tyrrell told Huffington Post that she was unfamiliar with the case. According to the lawsuit, Hassoon, Ali and Dawood were manning their posts at the Iraqi Media Network across from the Iraqi Justice Ministry. After escorting a U.S. diplomat to a meeting at the ministry, Xe-Blackwater "shooters" took up positions on the roof and fired at Dawood for "no reason," according to the lawsuit. When Ali and Hassoon ran to the guard's assistance, they also came under fire. The document goes on to say that the Iraqi Army commander at the site, Captain Ahmed Thamir Abood, questioned the Xe-Blackwater employees at the time of the shootings, but the employees "joked amongst themselves, giving contradictory statements regarding to whom the captain should speak." The lawsuit alleges that "Xe-Blackwater management refused to fire or discipline mercenaries who murdered innocent Iraqis," and accuses the company of war crimes. Read the complaint here, courtesy of Courthouse News Service : Blackwater-1 - More on Blackwater | |
| Olympics Committee Preps For Final Pitch Before Deciding Vote | Top |
| Chicago's Olympic bid team is preparing for its last tuneup presentation to the International Olympic Committee before the vote to award the 2016 Summer Games in October. More on Olympics | |
| Michael Henry Adams: Celebrating Homo-Harlem | Top |
| Young, black, gay: in Akron, Ohio, what a lifeline learning from books, by Faith Berry, David Levering Lewis, and Jervis Anderson, that Langston Hughes had also been gay. If the most important aspect of history is being able to go back in time to discover oneself, for the marginalized---for blacks, Latinos, gays, women and others---heretofore, such searching has usually been a relative challenge. Speedily, the world changes. For the first time the United States selected a black man to become President. Yet in the same election, in California, disproportionately, African Americans helped pass a ballot initiative meant to curtail the civil rights of fellow citizens. They were not motivated solely out of mean-spiritedness or hate, any more than the Dutch capitalists of long ago who sold Africans into slavery. Neither were English pioneers displacing "Indians," nor those Germans who facilitated the persecution of Jews always, inherently evil. Provided the proper circumstances, indulging a widespread ignorance of each other or our irrational fear of difference, any and all of us might willingly act just as prejudicially. Fashionable Harlem Entertainer Gladys Bentley and artist Prentiss Taylor, ca 1935 . "Gays", Colin Powell has insisted, for instance, "wrongly try to compare themselves to blacks. Their mistake is that we don't choose the color of our skin...", he said. Harlem's popular YW and YMCA's, ca 1937 With arguments often eerily reminiscent of old rationales for black oppression, gays and lesbians remain openly, legally and even, 'righteously', discriminated against. For gay or lesbian African Americans then, knowing ourselves, making ourselves and our extraordinary history known to others, as much as with blacks in general, becomes a key component to liberation. The film festival, Homo-Harlem: A Cinematic Retrospective Friday, June 19th-Saturday, June 27th, sponsored by the Maysles Institute Cinema at 343 Malcolm X Boulevard in the Harlem section of New York City, 212-582-6050, is overdue recognition of this distinguished accomplishment. Who today remembers Ebony Magazine's elegant and passionately heterosexual Society editor, Gerri Major? A formidable Chicagoan, she first blazed onto the New York scene in the early 1920's, as Geraldyn Dismond. Through breezy columns documenting Harlem high-life in the Inter-State Tattler and as a radio personality, she captivated a large segment of the nation's hardworking black masses. With great flair Mrs. Dismond reliably revealed to her audience both high-jinks and heartbreak in a black world they might otherwise have hardly suspected of existing. Never was this truer than February 22, 1929. That was only the second occasion on which she reported the all-black Hamilton Lodge Odd Fellows' benefit fancy dress ball. This was an outré annual spectacle which Geraldyn Dismond maintained had been going on for over 50 years! "The greatest joy in life is to be able to express one's inner self. The second greatest joy is to be able to mingle with one's kind. The third greatest joy is to receive the plaudits of one's fellows. And thereby hangs the success of the Hamilton Lodge dances which for sixty-one years have thrilled and entertained the most blasé of New York... gowns of all descriptions, jewels, feathers and beauty beyond words. But above and over all, a spirit of abandon, hilarity and camaraderie that fired the imagination and made for a true fiesta. Of course, a costume ball can be a very tame thing, but when all the exquisitely gowned women on the floor are men and a number of the smartest men are women, ah then, we have something over which to thrill and grow round-eyed...Never no wells of loneliness in Harlem..." Unbeknownst to most Dismond fans, many of the celebrated "spectators," whether black or white, at this spirited frolic -semi-public figures like Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney or Harold Jackman, called the 'handsomest man in Harlem', who appeared to the world to be mere amused bystanders, of unimpeachable "respectability" -- were themselves "in the life." So, if it's true that lesbians and gay men have always played a prominent role in the advancement of Harlem's cultural life, apart from occasionally dressing up, or mildly ridiculing those who did, just what was the nature of their involvement and what was its extent or impact? It all started just before the "Jazz Age," the exuberant and decadent "Roaring Twenties". This was a period like none before. As disillusioned by the "Great War's" racial bias and useless carnage as by the Volstead Act's hypocrisy, young Americans, ripe for rebellion, ready for a good time, headed to Harlem. Those like them have come ever since. Blacks came here to live in our own distinct city within a city, "as big as Rome," the "largest Colored settlement in the world." Using local slang for the policy that even in Black Harlem restricted "Negros" to theatre balconies; novelist Carl Van Vechten dubbed the community "Nigger Heaven". Carl Van Vechten, with Glenn Carrington at Yale in the 1950's For Gay, but twice married Van Vechten, Harlem became a neatly compartmentalized home away from home. Most whites, however, at first were only "slumming," venturing uptown in hot pursuit of "a marvelous dark continent a dangerous jungle" of drink, drugs, sex and music. Or as critics often said of them, tourists "come to Harlem in order to give their morals a vacation." Nonetheless, between drinks and dances, some Blacks and Whites, artists or intellectuals, students and socialites, started a fashion for non-clandestine interaction, a nascent form of racial equality and integration. Determining that there was nothing more subversive, self-satisfying, or fun, they defiantly became friends and lovers. Boasting an attitude of tolerance, progressive politics, and an appreciation for novelty, amongst this coterie of high achievers Homo-Harlem evolved and flourished. Making Harlem into a kind of hub of the universe, or as dance impresario Lincoln Kirstein said, "an arrondissement of Paris," a long list of eminent downtowners sought and often found, over the decades, in uptown's shadows "the only authentic elegance in America." How fortunate it's been to have Homo-Harlem's past related to me by some of the very people who lived it. At first even I asked, why would 85 or 90-year-olds fear revealing who they are? What trauma makes someone still reticent regarding the story of friends and companions long dead? Until one realizes how by being themselves, many were entrapped and arrested; how others, unknowing, frequently contracted STDs, largely because of their era's bigotry, such caution is hard to understand. But, knowing is everything. So it's knowledge that provides patience when an informant says of yesterday's intelligence, "I never said that." Only sure awareness of mortality, not just of themselves, but of any possible memory of an all-important aspect of who they were, causes some to relent. Laying bare their life "in the life, photographer Marvin P. Smith, Singer David Wilson, organist David Fontaine, concert pianist Jonathan Brice , singer Freddie Hamilton, dancers Walter Nicks and Joe Nash, postal administrator Warren Stevens, architect Philip Johnson, social worker Sophie Johnson Charles, and many, many others presented me with a wonderful gift to help inform future generations. Their message is that it's OK to be yourself -- put another way is, that it's all right and possibly even beneficial -- for non-Gay people to know, admire, or love gays and lesbians too. The accomplished lives and often intriguing exploits of Homo-Harlem's denizens remain highly amorphous to most. If Jules Bledsoe, Harlem's great operatic star is all-but forgotten, then imagine the even more obscure fate his youthful conquest, Robert Lee Grey, a lowly Pullman porter who thanks to exposure to this sophisticate aspired to a Columbia University education. No movie exists to explain a threatening letter from an irate Bledsoe to the Amsterdam News's mischief-making gay columnist Bill Chase. None illuminates the importance of bon vivant Glenn Carrington's role in New York's intellectual life, or that of philosopher-educator Alain LeRoy Locke, poet Countee Cullen, novelists Wallace Thurman or Dorothy West , performers Georgette Harvey , Jimmie Daniels , Caroll Boyd and Bobby Short , businesswoman Rose Morgan, sculptor Richmond Barthe, clergymen like Willard W. Munroe or Preston Washington, or tennis champion Althea Gibson , and their friends and sometimes lovers, including Joe Louis , Billie D. Williams or Sammy Davis, Jr. The far-reaching impact of documenting lives like theirs, however, is abundantly illustrated by the varied film tributes in the series. They feature poets Audre Lorde and Langston Hughes, writer James Baldwin, social justice activist Bayard Rustin, composer Billy Strayhorn , and living legend Storme DeLarverie , whose courageous stand at the Stonewall Bar, 40 years ago, literally helped set in motion the entire Gay Pride Movement. Brother to Brother, a feature film that distorts the life of Renaissance man, Richard Bruce Nugent, by novice movie maker Rodney Evans, is also included. "Because this unflattering portrayal is all many young people will ever learn about Nugent, Evan's effort is unfortunate, though still important," explains the festivals curator. Extraordinary, but more ordinary Gays and Lesbians play a part as well in the festival. The tremendous value of highlighting the cultural contributions of our history in its entirety is best demonstrated by my meeting Marvin Smith in 1996. "There were twin photographers in Harlem, from the 30's on," I was told, "One was "Straight", the other Gay, but the Gay one died." Just hearing Marvin once, in his documentary M&M SMITH: For Posterity's Sake, made by Heather Lyons and aired by PBS, I had known. "Thank you, my dear," was all he'd said, before it was certain that the Gay twin, a true voice of Homo-Harlem, was very much alive. | |
| Timothy Cooper: Rock Out, With Your Locks Out | Top |
| If Bob Marley and U2 ever had a chance to record a song together, I'm pretty sure that rasta-rock is the direction their respective guitar strings would have roamed. But thankfully for Mojo Morgan, the creation of this genre lies in his gifted hands. Born in Brooklyn, New York, and raised primarily in Springfield, Massachusetts, Morgan was born into a reggae music monarchy. His father, Denroy Morgan, ascended to fame in 1981 with his hit song, "I'll Do Anything For You." Although the elder Morgan had several hits throughout his illustrious career, "I'll Do Anything...." reached Gold status, thus establishing his name as a reggae brand and paving the way for his talented offspring to show and prove their skills on the national stage. And they did just that, as Mojo and his four siblings would form the quintet, Morgan Heritage. After being signed to MCA Records after their legendary performance at the Reggae Sunsplash Festival in Jamaica, the group released their debut album, "Miracles," in 1994 to much acclaim. Morgan Heritage has continued to be recognized for their world touring and successful recording career over the last 15 years, with their unique vision of music enabling their status as international icons. Backed with the sustained success of his family name and an innovative task at hand, Mojo Morgan has recently released his debut solo album, "got Mojo?," on Gedion Soldiers/Keynote Records. As Morgan prepares for a fall tour, the album continues to gain recognition independently and abroad, with his single, "Tonight," being used as the underscore for a Nike Women promo campaign. With his album serving as the palette from which he mixes his harmonious colors, Morgan's rasta-rock takes its infusion from the likes of Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, Tupac Shakur and the Notorious B.I.G., as he bleeds all of those plentiful shades into one. What was your first introduction to music? Growing up, it was my dad, Biggie Smalls, Tupac, Tracy Chapman, Hootie and the Blowfish, Alanis Morissette, Nirvana, and Jimi Hendrix. Eric Clapton had the biggest influence on me, musically. My first intro to music was watching my dad with his band, the Black Eagles. I remember dancing in his rehearsal one day and the next thing I know, I was at the Beacon Theatre and on the cover of Jet Magazine with him doing the same dance from that rehearsal. When many people hear your name, they consider you a part of music royalty. How was it coming up under you father's tutelage? It makes it easier for me to be looked at as music royalty, but it makes it harder [for me] if I fail. So, the pressure is on and I'm up for the challenge. Our father prepared us for this moment and we won't let him down. It was cool just to have a father like Denroy Morgan; now being in a group that had more international success than our already successful father, it's truly a blessing that I am grateful for everyday. As a young man who has been in the business since you were a child, talk a little on how the music business has changed over the years. Are artists suffering or benefiting from the current state of the business? Growing up in the industry, I noticed the major record companies started following the lead of independent labels since the early 90's. Now with the internet, fans have access to all the music they want for free. So, that hurts record sales; but if you have a kick-ass show, it also gives a boost to live concert tickets. So, technology has become a double edged sword. You were born in and spent a significant amount of time in Brooklyn -- a place that exposed you to a healthy mix of reggae music and hip-hop. How are the two genres different and how are they alike? Reggae is a slower beat than hip-hop, [to me] that's how they differ. Hip-hop today mostly speaks about the material side of life, and reggae speaks about the more spiritual things in life. At the end of the day, they are both speaking about life; so that makes them very compatible. You've just released your debut album, "got Mojo?" Talk a little about the album and your experience recording as a solo artist for the first time. The solo debut is an EP that chronicles my journey in which I make the transition from roots reggae music to alternative rock. Doing this as a solo artist was enlightening, empowering, and a learning experience all at the same time. You are creating a genre called rasta-rock. How did your mesh of rock and reggae come about? Rasta-Rock is conscious fun; Rasta represents the consciousness and rock represents the fun element in my music. It came about because of my multi-cultural musical upbringing. I grew up on Top 40 radio in New England, urban radio in New York and Jamaican music from my parents. What do you think about the current state of reggae music? In recent years, we've seen names like Elephant Man and Sean Paul top the charts, but the genre seems to be in a quiet mode. Is this a perfect time for you to make your mark as a solo artist? I think it is perfect timing for something new out of the Jamaican music scene. There hasn't been an artist with a conscious statement to submerge onto the mainstream in quite some time now. It's long overdue. Your lead single, "Tonight," was used in a promotional ad for Nike. How did that come about? When Nike received my record from their marketing company, they thought the record would fit well with their program. I was happy to be a part of uplifting and motivating young women to live a healthier lifestyle. After creating rasta-rock, what's on tap creatively for you in the future? Creatively, I would like to collaborate with other alternative rock artists. Live on tour and in the studio. For more on Mojo Morgan and his rasta-rock, visit www.myspace.com/mrmojomorgan and www.giantstep.net/artists. | |
| Senate Guru: MN-Sen: I Don't Trust Tim Pawlenty | Top |
| { Originally posted at my blog Senate Guru .} Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty has been making the rounds on cable news today, no doubt working to raise in his profile for 2012 in the wake of his decision not to run for re-election in 2010. During these interviews, he has suggested that he would not delay the seating of Minnesota's next Senator. Election law experts appear unanimous that the Minnesota Supreme Court will affirm the victory of Senator-elect Al Franken . The reason I don't trust Pawlenty is that he is leaving himself too much wiggle room. Watch the exchange in the video below, from Pawlenty's appearance today on Fox News: You know, Neil, if the Minnesota Supreme Court says, 'You sign the certificate' -- and there's not an appeal or some other contrary direction from a federal court -- you know, that's my duty. Now take into account this report from MinnPost.com's Eric Black back in April: In a series of email exchanges with Pawlenty's spokester, Brian McClung, I sought to clarify what level of discretion the guv was claiming over the issuance of the certificate. At first, McClung pointed out that there is no deadline in the law for the issuance of the certificate after the conclusion of the Contest Court process and state Supreme Court appeal . It sounded as if Pawlenty was claiming the right to indefinitely postpone the certificate. Superficially, Pawlenty is telling us not to worry, that he's happy to sign on the dotted line. But he also throws in the caveat "and there's not an appeal or some other contrary direction from a federal court" which makes me wonder. Having watched the state Supreme Court's proceedings on June 1 when they heard oral arguments from both campaigns, I have a very positive impression of the Court and of the Justices' attention to detail. Expecting that they affirm Senator-elect Franken's victory, it would be proper of them to include an order for Pawlenty, in his role as Governor, to prepare and sign an election certificate. But, given that his staff has noted that there's no time requirement attached, Pawlenty could very easily slow walk the certificate while Republican Norm Coleman seeks a stay or an injunction on the certificate from a federal court in advance of a federal appeal. University of Minnesota's Professor Larry Jacobs explains : But Jacobs still sees wiggle room here. "Signing it -- and how quickly you sign it -- those are two different things," Jacobs explained. "If Norm indicates that he's going to be filing in federal court, the Governor may just say, 'you know, I am gonna sign it, I'm just waiting to hear from my legal counsel that this is appropriate.'" Further, if the state Supreme Court affirms Senator-elect Franken's victory but doesn't add in the explicit order to Pawlenty to prepare and sign the election certificate, then who knows!? At the very least, Pawlenty's reassuring words are not all that reassuring, nor should they be given the wiggle room those words leave for Pawlenty. Of course, if Pawlenty deliberately obstructs and delays after the state Supreme Court rules in Senator-elect Franken's favor, the U.S. Senate is still empowered to seat Senator-elect Franken (and Pawlenty's delay would likely give Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid the political impetus to move forward with Senator-elect Franken's seating), but that move still faces the threat of filibuster from Republicans. If that were to happen, Democrats would likely need a couple of Republicans to buck their Party in the name of supporting the democratic process. Hopefully this issue will be moot, but it's never too early for Democrats to reach out to more responsible Republicans like Olympia Snowe and Dick Lugar about their willingness to support Senator-elect Franken's seating should the eventuality arise. More on Al Franken | |
| Henry Henderson: BP Has a Deal It Hopes We Can't Refuse: benzene releases and refinery expansion plans... | Top |
| "Hey, you got a nice business here. It would be a shame if something were to happen to it..." In films and TV, that's usually what the young toughs or Outfit guys say to the hardworking shopkeeper before they shatter a display full of very valuable objects and demand protection money. Not sure why, but this image keeps coming to mind when I look at BP's messaging around the admission that, for the past six years , their refinery in Whiting, Indiana has been releasing illegal volumes of the carcinogen benzene; and that's why they really, really need to expand operations at the plant. Yesterday, BP acknowledged in connection with the public release of US EPA charges against the company , that the Whiting refinery has been releasing dangerous levels of the cancer-causing pollutant benzene, in violation of federal Clean Air Act, for the past six years. Benzene is highly toxic, and the Clean Air Act sets strict levels for the chemical, beyond which the public health and safety are threatened. The US EPA dutifully cited the company for violating these health standards, thereby adding to the list of serious charges made against BP at the Whiting Refinery regarding violations of federal environmental laws ranging from air pollution linked to asthma, heart disease and premature deaths, to unpermitted construction activity. This passage in today's Chicago Tribune is particularly problematic: BP spokesman Scott Dean said the company has shut down the equipment that released benzene. He said the miscue shows why the company needs to modernize the Whiting plant, built in 1889 by John D. Rockefeller's Standard Oil Co. Nice cities you got there in Gary, Hammond, and Chicago. It would be a shame if something happened to 'em. Better let us have our massive and controversial refinery expansion cuz we'd hate to see things stay the same, or....get worse... That's the offer "we can't refuse" that BP seems to be proposing: to fix the current health threatening pollution, they need to increase their refinery operations to refine even dirtier petroleum. Does that make any sense? To bolster its case, BP leaves the impression that the refinery hasn't been upgraded since the 19th century. This is obviously not true. The refinery has been worked on repeatedly; in fact, they were cited by the USEPA for violations in 2007 that stemmed largely from doing this work without a permit. Looking at current and past behavior, and the plan for an expansion project that fails to account for multiple areas of increased pollution, the "deal" sounds more like a threat than a solution. Don Corleone would recognize the play, so would a street crew looking for protection money. The problem is that unlike fiction, where an avenger would swoop in to establish justice and put an end to the threat, citizens in our region are on our own. The Indiana Department of Environmental Management (IDEM) has done everything possible to usher along BP's project, from awarding shockingly lax pollution permits, to rushing truncated public hearings. And IDEM spokespeople had no answer as to why the toxic emissions had not been found in the agency's routine inspections of the facility. I have to admit that I have significant interest in this. Most personally, my family and I live near the refinery---on most days we can see the smoke stacks of the refinery hugging the shore of southern Lake Michigan. We are in the direct air and water sheds of the plant. Release of toxic chemicals from the facility feel and are a bit personal. Professionally, I am also concerned. NRDC is challenging the aforementioned expansion of the refinery based on our technical and legal analyses that indicate that the planned expansion will add significant pollution to the region beyond what is already being released from the plant. We were already especially concerned about increases in volatile organic compound releases as a result of the proposed expansion, including benzene, which contribute to the extreme, unhealthy ozone levels in the lower Lake Michigan airshed. Learning that the present refinery operations appear to violate existing regulations set to protect the public health and safety makes the inadequacies of the expansion plans all the more important from our point of view. And the cavalier response from BP is worrying. According to the Gary Post-Tribune the company says the emissions did not result in harm to human health or the environment. "There's no evidence of anything," [a BP spokesman] said... The obvious question repeats itself: if current operations of the refinery result in serious violations of laws that protect human health and safety, and damage the environment, why should the company be allowed to expand refinery operations to accept even dirtier crude than it currently treats, and increase the pollution from the facility? We feel that no public exposure to a known carcinogen is acceptable. And if the Avengers aren't coming to fix the situation, maybe this is a job for our Perry Masons as we continue our long-standing legal fight over the expansion. This post originally appeared on NRDC's Switchboard blog . | |
| Mark Miller: A Kinder, Gentler Recession for Seniors? | Top |
| Is the Great Recession bypassing seniors? That's the conclusion drawn by a new study looking at the downturn's impact on different age groups . But I'm not buying it. The Pew Research Center poll reports that Americans over age 65 are less likely to have been forced to cut their spending by the downturn than middle-aged people. Fewer seniors report sharp declines in retirement portfolios than other age groups and are more likely to express overall satisfaction with their financial situations. I can't argue with the Pew reports, since the findings simply reflect what people are telling pollsters. But polls only answer the questions that you ask. In this case, the questions generated headlines claiming the recession has been "kinder and gentler" for seniors--and that misses a bigger emerging picture that's much less positive. No doubt, people on the cusp of retirement are in bad shape. Pew notes that Americans age 50-64 are near their peak earning power and net worth, and will need to tap their retirement funds soon--in many cases, before the market fully bounces back. The poll shows this group has been most likely to lose money in stocks or retirement accounts, and has suffered big losses. They're also the most likely to say they won't have sufficient funds to live on in retirement; nearly half of those who are still working say they're considering delaying retirement. Meanwhile young adults are least likely to say they've been crushed by the stock market, mainly since they don't have as much money invested. About 70 percent of 18-29 year- olds report that they haven't lost money on investments, and 45 percent of 30-49-year-olds say the same. But they're four times more likely than older people to say they have had trouble securing affordable medical care. And they're far more likely to have experienced a job layoff. Still--a recession that has been "kinder and gentler" to people over 65? Dig into Pew's data and a more complex picture emerges. Yes, Americans over 65 were least likely to lose money in the market; that's because some have pulled their money out of stocks as they entered the de-cumulation phase of their financial lives. But beyond the markets, even Pew's own data shows: More than a third of seniors have cut their household spending in the past year. Nearly 40 percent say the recession has caused stress in their families. A majority (56 percent) say the recession "probably will make it harder for them to take care of their financial needs in retirement." And that's just the information contained in the poll. Widen the lens a bit beyond Pew's questions and other troubling indicators come into view. Even with Medicare and Medicaid, the health care security net for older Americans is fraying. Out-of-pocket retiree health costs have jumped 50 percent since 2002, mainly reflecting higher Medicare premiums, over-the-counter medications, dental care and long-term care expenses. Meanwhile, millions of retirees are losing employer-paid health benefits as corporations retrench (see: bankrupt Detroit automakers). Many experts believe pension funds will be the next shoe to drop. Defined benefit pensions provide income to about 23 percent of seniors; the recession has increased the risk that more plans will be terminated due to business failures. When that happens to private sector employers, the Pension Benefit Guarantee Corporation (PBGC) usually takes over the plan liabilities, but pension recipients almost always take a haircut on benefits. How serious is the trend? Over the past six months, the PBGC's deficit from guaranteeing pensions tripled to $33.5 billion, a record high. The picture is just as gruesome--and perhaps worse--for public pension plans sponsored by many state and local governments; for years, sponsors have starved these plans for cash and now face multi-billion dollar holes. Then there's the frozen market for real estate --the most important financial asset for most seniors after Social Security. Many have built up substantial equity in their homes that they expected to tap in retirement; others will just want to sell and move to retirement housing. In many parts of the country, the current market has made it very difficult for seniors to sell when the time comes to move for health or lifestyle reasons. Reverse mortgages offer a solution for extracting equity in some cases, although the fees on these loans can be prohibitively high. A "kinder and gentler" recession for seniors? Maybe, compared with other age groups--but it's certainly no picnic. More on Retirement | |
| Bruno Vs. Eminem (And The Rest Of Today's Scritti Politti) | Top |
| Alex Balk notes that the not everyone was pleased by the stunt pulled by Sascha Baron Cohen and Eminem at the MTV Movie Awards this past weekend. Stella Foster of the Chicago Sun-Times was agog and aghast : Quite frankly, why would anyone want someone else's coconuts in their face . .. especially in public? The crowd was laughing ... I wasn't! For my part, MTV's nod to the burgeoning "Tea Party" movement was unexpected, but nevertheless of the moment. Still, I understand Foster's reservations. Just look at what happened! I think it's fair to say that if Dick Cheney had seen that, seven years ago, he'd want to do that to some Iraqis, too! Weathervanin' With Mickey Kaus : Alex Pareene catches Slate's Kaus all a-flip and a-flop on who's to blame for GM's failings. One second, he seems aware that these spoilt fish have, as per usual, rotted from the head. Days later, he's griefing at auto-workers for daring to call themselves skilled or demanding to paid a decent wage. As we learned yesterday , GM's problem is simply a matter of consumers NOT EVEN WANTING TO SPEND EVEN A FEW HOURS INSIDE ONE OF THEIR TERRIBLE CARS. I'm guessing that consumers would remain unmoved if they found out that the machines were manufactured by poorer, less skilled workers. But, yeah, I'll admit it -- that's just a guess! If You Read Just One Plan To Battle Pirates With Lasers : THIS ONE! THIS ONE! THIS ONE! Here's Some Deep Perspective On The Virginia Gubernatorial Race : Via Pygmalion In A Blanket : Would you, dear reader, believe that there was once a Mexican restaurant in Arlington called El Sombrero that delivered orders of chips and salsa in a sombrero? Silly, but believable, right? How about if the chips were scattered around the brim and the salsa bowl was nestled into the top? Okay, sure. But what if I told you the entire appetizer arrived at your table on the head of a midget? No one ever believes me. And so begins a rather compelling explanation of why Brian Moran is not going to be the Democratic nominee for Governor in Virginia. Stuck In The Middle With You : Apparently, Osama bin Laden's not the only person dropping their new diss track in the wake of President Barack Obama's trip overseas. [Would you like to follow me on Twitter ? Because why not? Also, please send tips to tv@huffingtonpost.com -- learn more about our media monitoring project here .] More on Barack Obama | |
| Eric Shutt: Marketing a Media Renaissance: Media Bistro Circus | Top |
| Media Bistro Circus kicked off this week at New York City's Times Center - social media moguls in tow. Event organizers drew an elite force of digital marketing experts to project "how customer behavior is evolving around technology, [and] explore emerging trends and business models that will shape marketing, PR & advertising in years to come." The end game in digital marketing trends is all but digital for the social media crew, showcasing digitally driven media campaigns aimed at influencing material personal experience. Like Jumping. In Art Museums. Creating a PR campaign for New York's MoMa art museum, TAXI Innovation Director and former CEO of Happy Corp Doug Jaeger teamed up with Allison Reimus of the Jumping In Art Museums blog to shine a spotlight on New York's art culture that jumped off the page for art fans - and the media. Blending digital and material experience was key to creating the MoMa campaign that crowd sourced stories and photos of art enthusiasts jumping throughout the museum - attracting prominent nightlife photographer Nicky Digital - and a slew of media placements, from the New York Times to the New York Post . "It's a story about authenticity," says Jaeger. "The media value is in creating an engaging experience people want to share." The museum's marketing campaign attracted attention and attendance from a desirable demographic of younger art-goers that may have skipped the experience otherwise. For Valeria Maltoni of ConversationAgent.com , the keys to a successful online social media strategy are personal relationships and meaningful conversations. Follow her on Twitter and you wont get her own personal updates. Instead, Maltoni shares content she thinks will make her micro media outlet an online destination. With over 8,000 Twitter followers, it seems to be working. She suggests the online places many marketers want to hold brand conversations may not be the digital spaces in which consumers will listen. She recalls a friend's comment, "don't pitch me on Facebook, it's my haven of sanity." Maltoni says social media conversation needs to be unstructured, transparent, inclusive, authentic, vibrant, and interactive - recommending Katie Paine's work in measuring the impact of online conversations. "Actions speak louder than advertising," says Garry Schmitt, VP of Experience Planning at Razorfish - suggesting material experience beats web-based space for effective branding efforts. Barbie's 50th birthday bash by Razorfish is focused on just that - all things material - from lipstick to Las Vegas vacations. Sure, Barbie (the person, not the product) is facebooking, and tweeting, and blogging - about her top five fave vacation destinations and the products she hearts the most. What was the last book Barbie bought from sponsor Amazon.com? She's reading it poolside , at Palms. Barbie's brand new digital persona has netted Mattel an increase in Barbie sales of 18% - and jump in stock values of 15%, says Schmidt - estimating the product campaign has reached over two billion people worldwide. Digital word of mouth marketing is the sole focus for Fanscape CEO and co-founder Larry Weintraub. A recent Fanscape campaign contest for GameStop offered fans of Guitar Hero the chance to appear as a character in the video game itself. Weintraub estimates that 70% of participants in the contest were users that Fanscape reached out to directly. "I don't see a future with two or three social networks," he says, "it's a future with two or three hundred thousand social networks." When social media skeptics challenge the new media's value, Valeria Maltoni has her answer. "What was the ROI on the old boys clubs or on the golf course?" she asks. It seems the social spaces of yesterday are being replaced by a new blend of digital pixels and material places. As marketers continue learning to better balance the potential of social media with the practical aspects of product sales, we'll soon find ourselves jumping in art museums with Barbie to the background music of some dude jamming to Journey on Guitar Hero. Ready or not - get set to jump in. Learn more about Media Bistro, events, jobs and more at mediabistro.com . | |
| Arianna Huffington: What I Learned About Dave Matthews, Ashton Kutcher, Queen Rania, Al Gore, and Myself By Checking Out the iGoogle Showcase | Top |
| Dave Matthews loves to look at photographs of monkeys. Rachael Ray is a huge movie buff. Ashton Kutcher is a terrible speller. Queen Rania is crazy about Twitter. And The Good, the Bad and the Ugly is one of Donald Trump's all-time favorite films. How do I know all this? I just finished surfing around Google's new iGoogle Showcase, a feature that allows you to check out the home pages of people from the worlds of entertainment, media, business, fashion, sports, politics, and more. It's a fun way to see what gadgets they like -- and see if you want to add them to your own iGoogle home page. Google asked me to be a part of the Showcase feature. So you can check out my iGoogle page here . You won't be surprised to see that my top pick is the HuffPost gadget. But it's not just because it's my baby. Our tech team worked closely with Google to create a gadget that gives users a terrific feel for our fast-paced, constantly-refreshing, interactive approach to delivering news and opinion. You can flip through all our content areas quickly, getting the top news of the moment -- delivered with the signature HuffPost attitude and style. The gadget also expands so you can see more HuffPost without leaving your iGoogle page. Add the HuffPost gadget to your iGoogle page by clicking here . Here's what it looks like: It's a great way to keep up with the Huffington Post at a glance -- as, come to think of it, is our amazing iPhone app. If you don't have our iPhone app yet, it's been picking up great reviews and doing tons of traffic. Add the iPhone app here . If you add my page, here's what you'll get -- and why: Theme: Sunrise in Greece. It's in my DNA. Gadgets: HuffPost: It rocks! Digg: It's always fun -- and edifying -- to see what the digg community is digging and sharing. My Google Book Search: A great way to find books, old and new. The New York Times News: The Times continues to be a must-read source for news and information -- and the tabs make for easy access to the latest headlines. iLike: I love working, driving, working out, hiking, etc, etc, etc to music. BBC News UK Edition: Having lived in England, I find it useful to see how the news is being viewed on the other side of the Atlantic. Flixster Movies: Useful, easy to use -- all the movie info you want in one place. Zen Meditation Chimes: I meditate every day, and I love the sound of these chimes. So check out the Showcase , add the HuffPost gadget , see why Dave Matthews loves those monkey pics, and let me know what you think. More on Google | |
| Obama Girls Heading To Paris With Michelle | Top |
| Malia and Sasha Obama will fly with the first lady to France on Friday to join President Obama for a family weekend in Paris, a White House official said on Wednesday. | |
| Jaime Pozuelo-Monfort: Sachsterly | Top |
| The world of the twenty-first century is a world of feasible priorities. The world of the twenty-first century is the world of cornucopia and utopia, the world where the History of Tomorrow has to be explored, the world of creative construction. For years I read the work of the best development economists of our time. I read "The End of Poverty". I read "The bottom billion". I read "The White Man's Burden". I came to the conclusion that my favorite economist is Mr. Sachsterly, a fictitious academic that embraces the best ideas of Mr. Sachs and Mr. Easterly. Obama said that the debate is not smaller or bigger government, but smarter government. Perhaps the debate should not be whether or not we need more or less aid. We need smarter aid. Perhaps we need to leave the words philanthropy and charity behind and embrace the word investment. The end of poverty is closer than we think. The rescue of the bottom billion is only a reality if Mr. Sachs and Mr. Easterly put their outstanding intellectual skills to work instead of trying to win a debate that academics will perpetuate so long as they exist. The universe of ideas is much wider than we think. For years we have lived constrained to right and left, to conservative and progressive thinking. The best prototypes are hybrids and Mr Sachsterly is my favorite. Reading Dambisa Moyo's Dead Aid I realize that academics and policy makers are dead. Aid will never die, so long as academics do not cease to exist. Aid ought to be redefined. Perhaps aid and capitalism should be redefined altogether, and Mr. Sachsterly has the answer. The future of the world is in the South. Without the South the West will be unable to sustain economic growth and take care of aging populations. We left the Washington Consensus behind. What remains? "It remains for us now, if we do not wish to perish, to set aside the ancient prejudices and build the Earth" (Pierre Teilhard de Chardin). Ms. Moyo stresses the importance of microfinance and Hernando de Soto's insightful theories on formalizing the informal economy. Ms. Moyo looks back and reviews the success behind the implementation and delivery of the Marshall Plan. Why isn't a Marshall Plan for Africa feasible today? Why cannot the successes put forth by the American and French visionaries of the 1940s and 1950s be replicated in today's environment? We undermine our own ability to change the path of our own history and fate. Bruce Bueno de Mesquita of New York University is the Next Nostradamus. He should be asked why a Marshall Plan for Africa will not take off. It is perhaps time to replicate the structural features that made the Marshall Plan a successful outcome. Perhaps Mr. Sachsterly could play the role of John Maynard Keynes. Perhaps Mr. Obama could play the role of President Harry S Truman. Where are thou men and women of political stature? Where are thou visionaries of our time? We need individuals of such high caliber as General Marshall, George Kennan, Jean Monnet and Robert Schuman. Europeans owe big time to the Americans that rescued the old continent from Nazism, the devastation of World War II and the threat of the expansion of Soviet communism. It is time Mr. Sachsterly. It is time to become men and women of political stature, to reach the caliber of the visionaries of the 1940s and 1950s. It is time to say why not, to dream awake, to scream the urgency of our time. It is time to say we dare therefore we exist, to never give up. Let's start dreaming of a better world. It is only possible today. Let's not be afraid of moving forward, leaving the fears of the baby boomers behind. The next stop is Africa and I do not wish to miss it. More on Poverty | |
| Sunil Chacko: The Worldwide Rise of Chronic Diseases and Potential Nutritional Solutions | Top |
| The majority of deaths today, worldwide, are due to chronic, non-communicable diseases 60% of deaths in the world are due to chronic diseases comprising heart diseases, cancers, stroke, diabetes, and chronic respiratory diseases. The World Health Organization expects chronic diseases to rise to epidemic proportions by around 2025. Already, 80% of chronic diseases are in lower & middle-income countries where age-adjusted death rates from cardiovascular diseases are continuing to increase, and impacting younger age groups. Yet, chronic diseases are relatively neglected by national and international agencies and they do not feature in the Millennium Development Goals, or the priorities of major foundations like the Gates Foundation . Tobacco control may be an exception to that neglect, in certain instances. Infectious diseases, currently the major focus of multilateral agencies and foundations, cause about 30% of worldwide deaths and will continue to decline. Demographic and epidemiological transitions and the shortage of effective prevention programs are fueling the rise of chronic diseases, and the productive age groups (15-59) are the worst affected, perpetuating the cycle of poverty for families and nations. Funding decisions are based on demographic data that don't capture the seriousness of the problem Yet, for funding decisions, no mix of economic and demographic factors is being used by major donor agencies, including development banks. Rather, just demographic data, in particular the individual line items in the international classification of diseases are ranked using the disability-adjusted years of potential life lost (DALY) demographic calculation. And, chronic diseases as a group, requiring collective preventive action, are not aggregated in that particular estimate. Beyond that, the demographic estimates are based on extrapolations of sample survey data that are years old, and very unreliable in many countries and sub-regions. Preventive HIV/AIDS public health programs saved many lives Long before antiretrovirals could be tested in clinical trials and approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) against HIV/AIDS, concerted public health measures were able to slow the growth rate of the epidemic in the US even in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The same impact could be possible worldwide today for other chronic diseases. Nevertheless, it remains a disturbing fact that preventive public health programs on HIV/AIDS were only introduced about a decade later in developing countries while bets were placed in the meantime solely on HIV vaccine development against a highly mutating organism. Success can be replicated for chronic non-communicable diseases prevention On chronic non-communicable diseases, beyond the prevention programs that focus on behavioral change, such as using less salt to combat hypertension, more exercise and less sugar against diabetes, and avoidance of known carcinogens in cigarette smoke, there has been the growth in recent years of attention to nutritional solutions to combat chronic, and indeed infectious, diseases. In the post-war era as it rose from the ashes, Japan, for instance, made effective use of food and nutrition in addition to chemical medicines to eradicate or control most infectious diseases that continue to be scourges of many least-developed countries. Again, worldwide, there generally has been relative neglect of food and nutrition since the 1970s, which has become all too apparent with the food price crisis of this decade. Nutritional factors can help One of the few programs actively working on the area of functional foods to combat chronic and infectious diseases has been the Canadian-government sponsored Advanced Food and Materials Network (AFMnet) . Its Chief Research Officer, Prof. Rickey Yada of the University of Guelph, is credited with advancing the goal of adding value to Canadian food, as Canada is a major grain, fish, meat, fruit and vegetables supplier to the world. There are some nutritional factors such as Omega 3 Fatty Acids from fish oils with proven value in chronic diseases. The most compelling evidence for the cardiovascular benefit provided by omega-3 fatty acids comes from 3 large controlled trials of 32,000 participants randomized to receive omega-3 fatty acid supplements containing docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) and eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) with controls. These trials showed reductions in cardiovascular events of 19% to 45%. The findings suggest that intake of omega-3 fatty acids, whether from dietary sources or fish oil supplements, should be increased, especially in those with -- or at risk for -- coronary artery disease. In most parts of the world, there is little prospect for angioplasty or coronary artery bypass surgery given the financial cost and human resource constraints, and hence preventive measures and medications, where accessible, will be the protocol to manage ischemic heart diseases for at least 90% of the world's 7 billion population. Combination therapy with omega-3 fatty acids and a statin is a safe and effective way to improve lipid levels and cardiovascular prognosis beyond the benefits provided by statin therapy alone. Statin-like activity is seen in certain soy peptides. Other functional foods with promise are also in the process of being thoroughly analyzed in the laboratory and in the field. For instance, different fish peptides have value in diabetes/metabolic syndrome and as angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE)-inhibitors in hypertension control . The Council for Responsible Nutrition is an industry organization of the supplements industry dedicated to enhanced quality, and its Vice President for scientific and regulatory affairs, Dr. Douglas Mackay, emphasized the importance of non-oxidized fish oils, and indeed of non-oxidized vegetable oils. Although in the industrial countries, that has become less of an issue, there are anecdotal reports of near-rancid (oxidized or hydrolyzed) fats and oils being sold in some developing countries with little regulatory oversight. The need for education and surveillance are indicated to ensure the quality of nutraceuticals and supplements sold around the world. The serious epidemics of heart disease and cancers underway in developing countries will necessitate a nutritional solution beyond "strengthening health services" and drawing on the epidemiological evidence that Japanese, Canadians and Scandinavians who are among those who live off the oceans, live the longest in the world . Indeed, the World Health Organization has just confirmed this fact once again. But there has to be greater research into what precisely it is that Japanese, Canadians, the Scandinavians and others do right that can be learned from. The Mediterranean diet and other traditional menus have been written about extensively, and are believed to have been carefully selected over centuries to promote good health -- but as Dr. Walter Willett points out, "people eat what they can grow, gather, kill or buy, and their choices are dictated by weather, geology, geography, economics and even politics." Further, Willett emphasizes that "diets that seem to be good for people whose days are full of hard physical labor aren't necessarily good for people who toil at the desk all day." To assess the functional value of food, the pharmaceutical model used in clinical trials, and epidemiological studies of population cohorts have proven very inadequate. Something in between those two polar opposites is needed. A step in the right direction is the certification and labeling system in place for functional foods in Japan, which has the most advanced designation system at present for the health function benefits of food. Functional foods are recognized as a distinct category within the Japanese food supply: they are distinguished from foods simply fortified with vitamins or minerals or from dietary supplements and are called "Foods for Specified Health Use" or "FOSHU." The designation has proven value as an attraction for the Japanese population that today enjoys the longest lifespan. Similar certification, however, generally does not exist in most countries. The value of fresh fruits and vegetables has been highlighted in the "healthy eating pyramid," the US Department of Agriculture's "food pyramid" and indeed in every food & nutrition recommendation (see here and here and here ). They are known to have preventive value in chronic diseases, especially cancers. But the essence of what it is within vegetables that is preventing certain chronic diseases is still largely unknown -- for instance, is it lycopene in tomatoes or a combination of phytochemicals or phytonutrients within the tomato? And, there is much yet to be learned about the modus operandi of antioxidants and other components of fruits. Prevention is the key In a nutshell, preventing chronic diseases requires a great deal of multi-factorial training, innovation, research and action, because treating them once they arise is so costly in human and financial terms, for people, governments and indeed the economy. Ramping up prevention programs, worldwide, is the need of the hour. More on Health | |
| City Council Clashes Over Parking Meter Deal, Passes Privatization Review | Top |
| Under fire for giving quickie approval to the problem-plagued parking meter privatization that raised rates sky-high, the City Council agreed today to insulate itself from future criticism -- by slowing down asset sales. | |
| Patrick Takahashi: A Pandemic Worse than the Swine Flu | Top |
| Five billion are killed by a virus. Sound familiar? Think the reaction to swine flu. The 1995 science fiction film starring Bruce Willis and Brad Pitt called 12 MONKEYS identifies a terror group implicated in this plot. This was a red herring (diverted attention). Willis failed in his return from the future and doomsday was not prevented. It occurred to me that our current imagined pandemic might well be the modern day equivalent. Again, we are focused on the wrong target. Maybe there is a lesson to be learned. As a starter, let us review where we are on this subject. RJ Eskow provided in HuffPo an excellent summary, entitled, The Meaning of Swine Flu, the Universe, and Everything . If you read through the comments and trace some of the references, you can take a comedic pathway leading to Jeff Horwich's Don't Cough on Me Alejandro (sung to Don't Cry for me Argentina) , a satire found in Face Book. Also, too, you just can't skip another HuffPo posting, this one in the Comedy section, by Juliet Jeske, on Congresswoman Michele Bachmann's Guide to the Swine Flu . You will then be trapped into yet another Comedy HuffPo, this one by Will Menaker , on CongressBorat Bachmann, from Minnesota, always in the top ten among states in educational achievement and well being (health). Yet, funny, but they produce a Governor Jesse Ventura and can't extricate themselves from the continuing farce with Al Franken, known as their senatorial race. But I digress. You might think that I am making a joke of the swine flu, for my April 24 posting was entitled, Benefits of the Swine Flu Scare , followed on May 5 with Cinco de Mayo and the Swine Flu . But no, my message is deeper, for these seeds of hysteria provide clues about our future. You can wonder about how we got ourselves into this dilemmic mode: on the one hand, we have something that will almost never happen (a serious swine flu epidemic), while on the other, there is death, worried mothers and panic. Let's first look at the reality. You can go to my Chapter 2 of SIMPLE SOLUTIONS for Humanity (see box on the right) or Planet Earth and Humanity , where hard numbers are provided. To summarize: 1. The regular flu kills one in a thousand, while the swine flu seems closer to one in a hundred. That previous avian flu of a decade ago has a 60% mortality rate, but it is not all that contagious. The fear is that the swine flu will morph into a more dangerous form. The potential of this happening is very low, and, in any case, it is appearing that all 50 or so variations might turn out to be treatable with one vaccine. So, certainly, continue the vigilance and spend my tax dollars to develop a common vaccine, but don't close down countries and schools, and, by the way, tourists can safely return to Mexico and Hawaii. 2. The numbers are embarrassingly obvious. Since the so-called epidemic was announced only a little more than a month ago, we have had about 500 cases and 3 deaths a day. I wouldn't want to be one of those statistics, but consider that a million people daily contract some form of flu and at least a thousand die, every day, usually from complications (heart, pneumonia, etc.). This terrifying swine flu is thus hardly detectable noise. I might further add that traffic fatalities number 3000/day, but we drive on. Why, then, has the world, epitomized by the World Health Organization (which can best be appreciated if you know the internal workings of the United Nations), gone bonkers over the swine flu? I would like to speculate on the reason. I think it has to do with our political way of life influenced by the world wide web (WWW), as sensitized by the terroristic act of September 11, 2001. Add the palpable need to cover your rear. First came airport security. From all reports, the vast funds allocated and the time we waste have not made us any safer . Yet, the great majority of the public likes it . Of course this is symptomatic of our world today where most believe in the afterlife but have doubts about evolution and global warming. In particular, the masses are supersensitized to any threat. So when you mix in the World Wide Media (WWM) and WWW, the reaction can be instantaneous and overwhelming. I early recognized the power of this medium, so thought that the Huffington Post would be an ideal vehicle to share my thoughts, for the instant feedback feature of these virtual portals, in my mind, would provide power to the people, replacing protest marches. Clearly, I have not learned how to galvanize action because my 52 HuffPostings have influenced few, if any. Part of this failure I ascribe to the fact that I tend to focus on Peak Oil, Global Warming and related topics. There is no threat of early death in my articles. Swine flu, though, conjures dark images of your mortality. The communications industry, like CNN, saturates air time on such issues because they know people will watch. The WWW picks it up and decision-makers are hopelessly influenced. The cascading circle of information gains a life of its own. The truth is that the truly dangerous virus is not the swine flu, but the medium itself. The pandemic is this resultant overreaction. My simple solution is to jump on the bandwagon and complete THE VENUS SYNDROME: The Novel. ( In the box on the right, click on SIMPLE SOLUTIONS for Planet Earth, and go to the Free Preview .) Taking a cue from this posting, if compelling logic does not work for global warming, perhaps fear might. More on Al Franken | |
| Jobless Rates In U.S. Cities Zoom Higher In April | Top |
| The weak labor market is hurting U.S. cities -- centers of many industries and large housing markets -- with 93 metropolitan areas registering an unemployment rate of at least 10 percent in April, according to Labor Department data released on Wednesday. | |
| Michelle Obama Joins Push For Sotomayor | Top |
| WASHINGTON — The White House dispatched first lady Michelle Obama to defend Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor on Wednesday, part of a broad offensive to humanize the judge that came as former GOP House Speaker Newt Gingrich backed off his harsh criticism of her as a racist. Mrs. Obama told students at a high school graduation that Sotomayor is "more than ready" to be a justice and compared the judge's life story of humble beginnings and high achievement to the paths taken by her husband and herself. Sotomayor, who grew up in a New York City housing project and went on to Princeton and Yale universities, "says she still looks over her shoulder and wonders if she measures up," Mrs. Obama said at Howard University, chiming in on Sotomayor's behalf as her husband began a Mideast trip. It was a subtle but pointed counter to Republicans who have cited Sotomayor's speeches and writings about how her background affects her work as a judge to question whether she would let her personal biases interfere with her judicial decisions. Hours earlier, Gingrich told supporters in a letter that he shouldn't have called Sotomayor a racist, adding that the word had been "perhaps too strong and direct." But he said the 2001 speech that prompted his remark, in which Sotomayor said she hoped the rulings of a "wise Latina" would be better than those of a white male without similar experiences, was still unacceptable. Gingrich conceded that Sotomayor's rulings have "shown more caution and moderation" than her speeches and writings, but he said the 2001 comments "reveal a betrayal of a fundamental principle of the American system _ that everyone is equal before the law." Sotomayor, 54, would be the first Hispanic and the third woman to serve on the high court. Gingrich's comments and similar ones by radio host Rush Limbaugh _ who on Wednesday said Sotomayor would bring "racism" and "bigotry" to the court _ have enraged Sotomayor's backers and caused problems for GOP figures who have been pushing to bring more diversity to the party. Hispanic groups began a political push to force Republicans to denounce harshly worded criticism of Sotomayor, warning that their votes could depend on it. "These gross mischaracterizations of Judge Sotomayor coupled with the deafening silence of the Republican leadership are leaving many within our community with a disturbing picture of the Republican Party. Much hangs in the balance, including our votes," said Janet Murguia, the president and CEO of the National Council of La Raza. The White House, working with Democratic senators, hit back at GOP charges that Sotomayor would be an activist who legislates from the bench or a justice who allows her personal bias to interfere in legal decisions. Officials circulated talking points calling Sotomayor "a nonideological and restrained judge," citing conservatives who have praised her approach. Wendy Long of the conservative Judicial Confirmation Network, a group leading the opposition to Sotomayor's confirmation, called the document "the biggest piece of fiction writing I have ever seen." At the same time, Democratic senators circulated a 1994 speech in which Sotomayor spoke about how personal characteristics could affect judging, which Republicans never criticized during the 1997 debate on her confirmation to a federal appeals court _ proof, the Democrats said, that conservatives are trying to politicize Sotomayor's nomination. In 1994, Sotomayor said, "I would hope that a wise woman with the richness of her experiences would, more often than not, reach a better conclusion" than a wise man. "What is better?" she said. "I ... hope that better will mean a more compassionate, caring conclusion." "No one made an issue out of Judge Sotomayor's comments the last time the Senate confirmed her for the federal bench, because everyone understood what she meant and knew her respect for the rule of law was unquestionable," said Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., Sotomayor's home-state senator and her sponsor during the confirmation process. Sotomayor returned to Capitol Hill on Wednesday for a second day of meetings with senators, staying mostly mum in public. She has used the visits to reassure Republicans and Democrats alike in private that while her background has shaped her worldview, she believes in following the law and wouldn't let her life experiences inappropriately influence her judgments. But many Republicans sounded unconvinced. "When I look at her ideology, record and philosophy, I'm deeply troubled," said Sen. Lindsey O. Graham, R-S.C., a member of the Judiciary Committee, after meeting with Sotomayor on Wednesday. Graham said it's not fair to call the judge a racist, but that she has to prove to senators and the public "that, if they found themselves in litigation with a Latina woman ... that she would give you a fair shake." Sotomayor visited nine Republicans and Democrats as the leaders of the Judiciary Committee met separately but reached no deal on when her confirmation hearings should begin. Sen. Patrick J. Leahy, D-Vt., the Judiciary Committee chairman, wants the process to begin next month, with the goal of holding a confirmation vote before Congress leaves in early August for a monthlong summer vacation. He's negotiating with the top Republican on the committee, Sen. Jeff Sessions of Alabama, who says he'd rather go slower in delving into Sotomayor's voluminous record of rulings during her 17 years as a federal judge, with hearings set for September. Obama is pushing for a quicker timetable, hoping to spare Sotomayor the potential pitfalls of a drawn-out public debate on her confirmation during the customary August news lull. He also wants her seated in time to participate in discussions at the high court in September on which cases to hear when the session begins in October. Associated Press writer Ann Sanner contributed to this report. More on Sonia Sotomayor | |
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