Thursday, June 11, 2009

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Some Al Qaeda Fighters Moving To Yemen and Somalia Top
WASHINGTON American officials say they are seeing the first evidence that dozens of fighters with Al Qaeda, and a small handful of the terrorist group's leaders, are moving to Somalia and Yemen from their principal haven in Pakistan's tribal areas. In communications that are being watched carefully at the Pentagon, White House and Central Intelligence Agency, the terror groups in all three locations are now communicating more frequently, and apparently trying to coordinate their actions, the officials said.
 
Dr. Jon LaPook: Living With OCD Top
Obsessive Compulsive Disorder Can Be Devastating, But Highly Treatable "It's my OCD." I hear that on and off from friends and patients who half-jokingly use the term to describe overly careful behavior (such as double-checking to make sure the stove is off) but don't actually have obsessive-compulsive disorder. True OCD can be a devastating disease. Patients have intrusive, uncontrollable thoughts and severe anxiety centered around the need to perform repetitive rituals. They can be physical such as hand washing or mental such as counting. The behavior significantly interferes with normal daily activities and persists despite most patients being painfully aware that the obsessions or compulsions are not reasonable. OCD affects 2-3 percent of the world's population. We've seen characters with the disorder portrayed in television (e.g., Tony Shalhoub's Adrian Monk) and in film (e.g., Jack Nicholson's Melvin Udall in As Good As It Gets . Yet it's still associated with stigma, shame, and an alarming level of ignorance by many health professionals. On average, people look for help for more than nine years and visit three to four doctors before receiving the proper diagnosis. In an excellent review article on the subject, Dr. Michael A. Jenike, offers three helpful screening questions: "Do you have repetitive thoughts that make you anxious and that you cannot get rid of regardless of how hard you try?" "Do you keep things extremely clean or wash your hands frequently?" And "Do you check things to excess?" He suggests that answering "yes" to any of these questions should prompt an evaluation for possible OCD. Of course, these are just screening questions and keeping a spotless kitchen doesn't mean you have a disorder. For this week's CBS Doc Dot Com, I interviewed Jeff Bell , KCBS radio broadcaster and author of R ewind, Replay, Repeat: A Memoir of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder and When In Doubt, Make Belief: Life Lessons from OCD . He poignantly told me about the mental anguish associated with his illness, how it threatened to sabotage his career and personal life. His OCD focused on a fear of unintentionally harming others. He found himself unable to drive a car because every time he hit a bump he was afraid he had run somebody over; each time, he needed to get out and check. Even walking to work presented a challenge. He explained that a twig on the sidewalk could stop him in his tracks and fill him with what he knew were irrational thoughts but was powerless to control. Maybe somebody would be harmed by the twig if he didn't move it. But if he did move it then maybe somebody would be harmed who wouldn't have if he had just left it alone. Jeff Bell sought treatment and turned his life around. His message is that others can do the same. Highly successful approaches including cognitive-behavioral therapies and medication can help the majority of patients. But only those who ask for help. Extra Video: Treating OCD On The Road With OCD Resources for OCD include : The Obsessive Compulsive Foundation , The Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies , and this link .
 
Andy Worthington: Who Are The Four Guantanamo Uighurs Sent To Bermuda? Top
While everyone was looking at a map, trying to work out exactly where Palau is, following the announcement on Tuesday that Guantánamo's 17 Uighur prisoners were to be resettled there, it now transpires that four of the men have been quietly flown to Bermuda instead. This is rather a surprise, to put it mildly. The Uighurs -- Muslims from China's oppressed Xinjiang province, who were cleared of being "enemy combatants" last year -- have, as I have reported at length, been in a disturbing legal limbo since Barack Obama took office, as the new administration repeatedly failed to find the necessary courage to do the right thing and resettle them in the United States (as ordered by District Court Judge Ricardo Urbina last October). Instead, senior officials cowered in the face of the poisonous -- and, to be honest, libelous -- venom spewed forth by Guantánamo's many defenders in Congress and in the right-wing media, who have popped up to trail around behind Dick Cheney like a zombie reenactment of the Pied Piper of Hamelin. Moreover, the administration also resorted to defending a ruling that overturned Judge Urbina's stout defense of Constitutional values, siding with Judge A. Raymond Randolph in the court of appeals and in a petition to the Supreme Court asking the highest court in the land not to look at the Uighurs' case. This was in spite of the fact that Judge Randolph, who would rather eat his own gavel than allow a judge to order the government to allow wrongly imprisoned men into the United States, defended every wayward proposal put his way by the Bush administration, only to see them all overturned by the Supreme Court. Why Bermuda? What's astonishing about the choice of Bermuda as the new home for four men from north western China is not its location -- it is, after all, not a million miles away from Cuba, and the Uighurs must be used to the climate by now -- but the fact that it is a British Overseas Territory. According to London's Times , the Foreign and Commonwealth Office reacted with ill-disguised fury to the news of the men's resettlement, because Bermuda, "Britain's oldest remaining dependency, is one of 14 overseas territories that come under the sovereignty of the United Kingdom, which retains direct responsibility for such matters as foreign policy and security." An FCO spokesman said, "We've underlined to the Bermuda Government that they should have consulted with the United Kingdom as to whether this falls within their competence or is a security issue, for which the Bermuda Government do not have delegated responsibility." He added, "We have made clear to the Bermuda Government the need for a security assessment, which we are now helping them to carry out, and we will decide on further steps as appropriate." According to the Times , potential conflict with China, which has made repeated demands for the return of the Uighurs, means that the Bermuda government "could now be forced to send them back to Cuba or risk a grave diplomatic crisis" -- although I must admit that it seems possible to me that the Uighurs' resettlement may actually have been negotiated between the governments of the U.S., the U.K. and Bermuda, and that the FCO's "fury" is actually a cover for a pretty watertight case of "plausible deniability." Before this apparent spat blew up, news of the men's unexpected move to Bermuda leaked out on Thursday morning, after the Uighurs' lawyers reported that the men had arrived in Bermuda shortly after 6 a.m., and were accompanied on a charter flight from Guantánamo by two of their lawyers, Sabin Willett and Susan Baker Manning. After disembarking, one of the men, Abdul Nasser, who, throughout his detention, was described by the Pentagon as Abdul Helil Mamut, thanked their new hosts for accepting them. "Growing up in communism," he said, "we always dreamed of living in peace and working in a free society like this one. Today you have let freedom ring." As a Justice Department press release explained, "These detainees, who were subject to release as a result of court orders, had been cleared for release by the prior administration, which determined they would no longer treat them as enemy combatants. The detainees were again cleared for release this year after review by the interagency Guantánamo Review Task Force," which, the press release noted, included "a threat evaluation." The DoJ also made a point of stating, "According to available information, these individuals did not travel to Afghanistan with the intent to take any hostile action against the United States." In a statement on the website of the Uighurs' lawyers, who had been tireless in promoting their clients' innocence, Sabin Willett wrote, "We are deeply grateful to the government and the people of Bermuda for this act of grace. Nations need good friends. When political opportunists blocked justice in our own country, Bermuda has reminded her old friend, America, what justice is." Susan Baker Manning, added, "These men should never have been at Guantánamo. They were picked up by mistake. And when the U.S. government realized its mistake, it continued to imprison them merely because they are refugees. We are grateful to Bermuda for this humanitarian act." The lawyers also explained that the men will probably have an easier time adapting to their new life than the five other Uighurs who were rehoused in Albania in 2006. Unlike Albania, Bermuda is a wealthy country, and, in addition, the men "have been approved to participate in Bermuda's guest worker program for foreigners." Who are the four Uighurs? So who are these men, whose proposed release into the United States caused such a virulent response? As the lawyers explained, in addition to Abdul Nasser, they are Huzaifa Parhat, Abdul Semet (identified by the Pentagon as Emam Abdulahat) and Jalal Jalaladin (identified by the Pentagon as Abdullah Abdulquadirakhun). Of the four, Parhat is the only one whose name was known outside Guantánamo. In his Combatant Status Review Tribunal (a one-sided military review board , convened to assess whether, on capture, he had been correctly designated as an "enemy combatant," who could be held without charge or trial), he explained that he arrived at the settlement in Afghanistan's Tora Bora mountains (where the Uighurs had been living until it was bombed by U.S. forces following the U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan) in May 2001, and refuted allegations that it was a facility operated by a militant group that was funded by Osama bin Laden and Taliban. He also made a heartfelt statement about the Uighurs' support for the United States, explaining that, "from the time of our great-grandparents centuries ago, we have never been against the United States and we do not want to be against the United States," and adding, "I can represent for 25 million Uighur people by saying that we will not do anything against the United States. We are willing to be united with the United States. I think that the United States understands the Uighur people much better than other people." In addition, he was one of several Uighur prisoners to mention threats made by Chinese interrogators who had been allowed to visit Guantánamo, and also to point out that he had had no contact whatsoever with any members of his family. However, Parhat's story is particularly significant, because last June, after the Supreme Court concluded years of stalling and legislative reversals on the part of the administration by ruling that the prisoners had constitutional habeas corpus rights , his case was finally reviewed by three judges in a U.S. District Court, who demolished the case against him (and, by extension, against the other Uighurs), by ruling as "invalid" the tribunal's decision that he was an "enemy combatant." The judges criticized the government for relying on flimsy and unsubstantiated allegations and associations (primarily to do with the alleged militant group), and in a memorable passage compared the government's argument that its evidence was reliable because it was mentioned in three different classified documents to a line from a nonsense poem by Lewis Carroll, the author of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland . This led the government to concede that it would "serve no purpose" to continue trying to prove that any of the Uighurs were "enemy combatants," and, in turn, led to Judge Ricardo Urbina's ruling last October that the Uighurs were to be released into the United States, when he stated, simply, "Because the Constitution prohibits indefinite detentions without cause, the continued detention is unlawful" -- although this, of course, was subsequently reversed by the appeals court judges with whom, since coming to power, the Obama administration has maintained an unhealthy judicial alliance. Abdul Semet told his tribunal that he left home "to escape from the torturing, darkness and suffering of the Chinese government," and "wanted to go to some other country to live in peace." He added, "The government, if they suspect us for anything, would torture and beat us, and fine us money. Lately, the young Uighurs would get caught just doing exercising. They would stop us and say it was not our culture, and put us in jail for it." He also explained, "For the females, if they have [more than] one child, they open them up and throw the baby in the trash." Speaking of the Uighurs' settlement in the Afghan mountains, he explained that he spent most of his time in "construction," mending the settlement's decrepit buildings, and indicated that he and his compatriots would have been happy to assist the United States if their home had not been bombed. "If the Americans went to Afghanistan and didn't bomb our camp," he said, "then we would be happy and support America; we would've stayed there continuously. The reason we went to Afghanistan doesn't mean we have a relationship with al-Qaeda or some other organization; we went there for peace and not to be turned back over to the Chinese." Jalal Jalaladin was one of several of the Uighur prisoners to explain that he ended up in the settlement because he had been thwarted in his attempts to get from Pakistan to Turkey to look for work, and where he also believed that the government would give him citizenship. He explained to his tribunal that he got no further than Kyrgyzstan, where he found a job in a bazaar, and that some locals then gave him an address in Pakistan, where a Uighur businessman told him about the settlement. As he was having difficulties getting a visa for Iran, he decided to go to there instead. And finally, Abdul Nasser gave an explanation about the "training" at the settlement that ought to make the fearful politicians and Conservative pundits in the United States ashamed. He explained that he had arrived at the settlement in June 2001, and that, during his time there -- until it was bombed -- he trained on the camp's one and only gun for no more than a few days. "I don't know if it was an AK-47," he said. "It was an old rifle, and I trained for a couple of days." Moreover, Abdul Nasser reinforced what another of the men, Abdulghappar (who is still held in Guantánamo ), had explained, when asked if it had ever been his intention to fight against the U.S. or its allies. "I have one point: a billion Chinese enemies, that is enough for me," Abdulghappar said. "Why would I get more enemies?" Abdul Nasser explained, "I went to the camp to train because the Chinese government was torturing my country, my people, and they could not do anything. I was trying to protect my country, my country's independence and my freedom. From international law, training is not illegal in order to protect your freedom and independence. I did it for my country." While waiting to see how Guantánamo's critics respond to this story of a young man training to protect his freedom and independence (which is something they should surely recognize), and while also wondering if Palau is still prepared to take the other 13 Uighurs (before June 25, presumably, when the Supreme Court is scheduled to meet to discuss whether the courts have any authority to order Guantánamo prisoners to be released into the U.S.), I'd like to wish these four men the best of luck in settling into their new home. For those of us who have studied the story of Guantánamo closely, it has actually been apparent all along that the Uighurs should never have been held at all, and that the Pentagon was only interested in them because of the intelligence that they thought they might provide about the activities of the Chinese government. Andy Worthington is the author of The Guantánamo Files: The Stories of the 774 Detainees in America's Illegal Prison (published by Pluto Press), and maintains a blog here . More on Barack Obama
 
Elizabeth Hemmerdinger: Dr. Patricia Allen on Bio-Identical Hormone Viral Outbreaks Top
If I worked at the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) in Atlanta, I would ask to be put in charge of monitoring the financially and self-promotion-driven epidemics of "BIO-IDENTICAL HORMONE SURGE," a phenomenon that pops up about every 18 months. These epidemics are marked by short-term visibility with a new book, usually by the facially altered medical expert and former infomercial maven Suzanne Somers. The outbreak recurs when some women's media outlet decides to give a day, a week, a month to the odd idea that hormonal drugs compounded without oversight are not really drugs at all. The most recent outbreak occurred in the Oprah Media empire -- as noted in a much-discussed cover story in this week's Newsweek . Each time the epidemic occurs, you will hear the following mis-statements in the media: "There is great confusion over the term bio-identical hormones. Only those who take blood tests and then compound the individualized replacement of hormones that are just right for you can manage your menopausal symptoms." "In order to have the benefit of hormone therapy, blood or saliva tests are necessary -- both before starting and then throughout the therapy." In truth, there is NO confusion about the term bioidentical hormone therapy. And those "tests" may do little but cost lots of money and drive business to the practitioners who are part of this consortium. The North American Menopause Society and the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology state clearly that spending increasingly scarce health care dollars on tests to measure hormones in a menopausal woman's body is not only financial inappropriate, it will not affect treatment. Bioidentical hormones are those that chemically match those produced in the human body. How could this simple statement be confusing? But each time the epidemic occurs, the infectious agent who is promoting more business and more videos and more books always begins with this remark: "Bioidentical hormone therapy is confusing, and only someone who works with a compounding pharmacy can understand it." The infecting agents on the PR trail always point out that doctors who follow general guidelines for treatment of menopausal symptoms either refuse to listen to patients, or prescribe only Premarin ("IT COMES FROM A PREGNANT MARE'S URINE !" they scream) and a dreadful chemical form of progestin, known as Provera. The agents frighten women with floods of lists of side effects and potential bad outcome from hormone therapy. I don't know any gynecologist personally who still prescribes Premarin and Provera as the hormones of choice for management of menopause syndrome. The truth is that most gynecologists who care for women in the menopausal transition do work with their patients to evaluate what works best for each of them. It may be that hormone therapy is not the right choice for each woman. If the woman feels that she has symptoms that cannot be managed by non-hormonal therapy, then many doctors prescribe bioidentical horome therapy -- the type approved and monitored by the FDA, made by pharmaceutical firms and which come in varied strengths. There are patients for whom bio-identical hormone preparations that are commercially available are not right. The dose might need to be smaller or the patient could have an allergy to some part of the commercial product. Doctors who need to offer a compounded hormonal preparation can find a pharmacist who can create a hormonal prescription for women with these special needs. But the doctor and the patient need to be aware that there is no FDA oversight of any compounding pharmacy products, and that certainly hormone drugs are drugs with risk no matter if they are prepared by a commercial pharmaceutical firm or a compounding pharmacy. So why is Oprah spreading this epidemic? In January, Oprah outed herself as menopausal at 55. She used her enormous media strength in her television show and in her magazine to promote compounded bio-identical hormones with Suzanne Somers as her expert with a new book, Ageless. Gynecologists everywhere are grateful to Newsweek for the outstanding investigative journalism of Weston Kosova and Pat Wingert (co-author of Is It Hot in Here or Is It Me? A Complete Guide to Menopause ). The two award-winning reporters paint a sharp portrait of the chaos Oprah has encouraged. Women respect Oprah because she is a self-made survivor and one smart cookie. She makes interesting recommendations for books her viewers might read. She has thoughtful experts in exercise, diet and counseling. But she over-stepped in January, when she showcased Somers, spokeswoman for the compounded hormone drug industry. That day, Oprah relegated to the audience noted gynecologists and endocrinologists who had taken time from their work so as to be part of this national conversation. With the invited physicians hovering in the audience, Oprah featured on the dais Somers and the gynecologist Dr. Christiane Northrup, who has in recent years created a cottage industry of nurse practitioners who diagnose hormone deficiencies and prescribe compounded hormonal drugs. Thus were the pro-compounded drug shills, placed much closer to her, seen as clearly in line with Oprah's point of view. The important issue here is that these bio-identical hormone drugs, compounded in a non-regulated pharmacy, carry the same risk as bio-identical hormones produced by FDA-regulated pharmaceutical companies. In addition, women who choose to take compounded hormone therapy have no assurance that the dose or purity is what the pharmacist or doctor claims it to be. Most doctors felt that the Oprah show featuring Somers was outrageous. Many women in this country have counted on Oprah to introduce them to good books and weight-loss programs and psychological and fitness advice from reputable experts. We are just exhausted from the onslaught of every Suzanne Somers media appearance and next book that repeats the same infomercial with just another PR-driven title. It took Newsweek to speak for us, and we are really grateful for this unbiased and clear reporting. Patricia Yarberry Allen, director of the New York Menopause Center, is a gynecologist affiliated with New York-Presbyterian Hospital and a board certified fellow of the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology. The publisher, co-founder and president of the board of , Dr. Allen is a spokeswoman on women's health. She was the inaugural speaker for the Iris Cantor Lecture Series on Women's Health at the American Hospital in Paris. Dr. Allen has been interviewed by The New York Times, USA Today, regional newspapers and major television news programs on womens health issues and is a contributing editor for More magazine. (As a fellow WVFC member, I couldn't think of any more fitting use of this space than to hear hard facts from a physician who has been quietly fuming about this issue even before Newsweek broke the ice. -- EGH) More on Oprah
 
Derrick Rose Gang Sign Photo Controversy: Rose Calls It A Bad Joke Top
Chicago Bulls star Derrick Rose moved quickly to try to tamp down down a growing controversy over a photo circulating online of him flashing gang signs. In a statement released Thursday, shortly after the Chicago Tribune and other news outlets reported on the photo, Rose called the picture a bad joke made during his one year at the University of Memphis and strongly denied that he has ever been involved in gang activity. The full statement: Recently, a photo has been circulating on the Internet which appears to depict me flashing a gang sign. This photo of me was taken at a party I attended in Memphis while I was in school there, and was meant as a joke...a bad one, I now admit. I want to emphatically state, now and forever, that Derrick Rose is anti-gang, anti-drug, and anti-violence. I am not, nor have I ever been, affiliated with any gang and I can't speak loudly enough against gang violence, and the things that gangs represent. In posing for this picture, I am guilty of being young, naive and of using extremely poor judgment. I sincerely apologize to all my fans for my mistake. I pride myself on being a good citizen, and role model, that young people can look up to and I want to urge all my young fans to stay away from gangs and gang-related activities. In the picture, Rose was throwing signs for the Gangster Disciples Nation, a prominent Chicago gang with tens of thousands of members, according to the Tribune . The gang is a dominant presence in the Englewood neighborhood where Rose grew up.
 
Johann Hari: The Strange Problem of Space Junk - And How It Threatens Our Way of Life Top
In 1965, the American astronaut Edward White dropped a glove, and ever since it has been orbiting the earth at 17,000 miles per hour. This sounds like a quirky Trivial Pursuit answer -- what is the deadliest garment in history? -- but it could be about to give us all a galactic slap in the face. That glove is now joined by so much space trash that scientists are warning it could be poised to take out the satellites we depend on every day -- and trap us here on a heating earth. In just fifty years of exploring space, humans have left 600,000 pieces of rubbish in space, all circling us at super-speed. When it is whirring so fast, a one millimetre fleck of paint hits you as hard as a .22 caliber bullet fired at point blank range. A hard-boiled pea is as dangerous as a 400-lb safe smacking into you at 60mph. And a chunk of metal the size of a tennis ball is as explosive as 25 sticks of dynamite. We are adding to this junk faster than ever before. There is no international agreement to not leave trash in the skies -- and all nations are being reckless. The International Association for the Advancement of Space Safety warns that at the current rate, the volume of Star Drek will increase fivefold in the next decade. More flights leave more rubbish, and more countries test their fancy new weapons systems by blowing up old satellites -- and creating new torrents of trash. This creates a minor danger, and a major danger. There is a small risk that this rubbish will smack into human beings when minor amounts of it re-enter the earth's atmosphere. For example, in March 2007, the wreckage of a Soviet spy satellite nearly crashed into a passenger plane over the Pacific . But only one woman has ever been hit by space junk: Lottie Williams from Oklahoma was smacked in the shoulder by a charred piece of space-rocket. She was not injured. But there is a greater danger that an unstoppable chain reaction will begin: the rubbish will crash into other pieces of rubbish, causing it to shatter into smaller chunks that will then crash into each other -- and on, and on, until the earth is circled by a haze of unpassable metal debris that remains there for millennia. There are (contested) fears that the process began in February this year, when an old Russian satellite crashed into a US satellite high above Siberia. Dr Marshall Kaplan at John Hopkins University's Applied Phyiscs Laboratory says that we face a "coming catastrophic disaster. If we don't clean up this mess in the next 20 years, we're going to lose our access to space." Vladimir Solovyov, Russia's Space Mission Control chief, agrees. He warns: "The clouds of debris pose a serious danger... to earth-tracking and communications satellites." What would it mean? The super-speed of our globalized world is dependent on satellites. If they are taken out by a barrage of 17,000 mph rubbish, you can say goodbye to your mobile phones, GPS, and weather forecasts -- and we'll be needing them in this century. We will be trapped here, unable to explore space. Hubble telescope bubble, toil and trouble. What can we do now? There are some proposals for removing the rubbish, like creating a series of lasers that would sweep the trash back into our atmosphere, where it would mostly burn up. But they are regarded as of dubious scientific plausibility, and a long way off. The most urgent task is to stop adding to the rubbish -- but the twenty governments that have access to space are refusing to do it. They will not agree a binding deal; they don't want to tell each other where their spy satellites are, or to agree not to blow them up when they feel like it, to test their flashy new weaponry. This wall of garbage orbiting us all seems like a symbol of the great dilemmas facing humanity in the twenty-first century. We have become capable of the most stunning technological breakthroughs -- but we are sabotaging them by proving ourselves incapable of the most basic forms of self-restraint. At the moment of victory, we regress. The achievements of our frontal lobes are undermined by the backwardness of our adrenal glands. This story is being played out, with mild variations, again and again, in this century. We have dramatically improved human health -- yet now seem poised to cook it under a thick blanket of our own carbon emissions. We have made it possible to fish and farm more efficiently than ever -- so we do it till we have taken all the fish and destroyed all the soil. It doesn't have to be like this. We can restrain ourselves to save our satellites, and our ecosystem. Individuals restrain themselves all the time; why can't we do it collectively? The only alternative is to become a species who heroically reach for the stars -- only to smack into a wall of our own trash. Johann Hari is a writer for the Independent. To read more of his articles, click here or here. You can email him at johann -at- johannhari.com
 
Govt. Could Buy Security Vests For Holocaust Museum Officers: Union Official Top
Contributing Reporting By Sam Stein An executive official at the union representing security officers at the National Holocaust Museum said that he expected the federal government to purchase security vests for personnel working at the site, following the shooting of an officer on Wednesday. Kerry C. Lacey, International Vice President of Region 6 of Security, Police and Fire Professionals of America (SPFPA), told the Huffington Post that he was set to have a call with the private security firm in charge of museum operations on Friday to discuss, among other things, measures to improve the safety of on-site officers. One area of focus is likely to be security vests. Union officials had requested that Wackenhut Services, Inc (WSI), the company that employs the Holocaust Museum security guards, supply the officials with the protective gear. The request was denied. Going forward, Lacey said that he expected the federal government to intervene, "There could be a chance that [the government] buys these vests and requires that they are warn," he said. "They'd make a request to WSI. If the client... buys them, they will be required to wear them. In the close future I think [the government] will probably require them." When this will take place and which government entity would make the purchase is not entirely clear. The Department of Homeland Security does not have authority over security operations at the museum, a DHS official confirmed. An email to Wackenhut requesting clarification on this matter was not immediately returned. Asked if the firm would require security guards to wear protective vests following Wednesday's shooting, Susan Pitcher, an official with Wackenhut, did not offer an affirmative answer. "All of our security guards at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum were in their prescribed uniforms, arms and equipment as per the contract specifications," she said, declining to comment further. The shooting of the Holocaust Museum security guard Stephen Tyrone Johns by James Van Bunn has sparked an angry response from labor officials who note that, during contract negotiations two years ago , SPFPA had pressed Wackenhut to issue bulletproof vests for personnel. Had that request been met, they say, the killing at the facilities on Wednesday could have been avoided. As for future requirements, Lacey said, "This is all subject to negotiations," including issues of liability should security officers be provided with the vests and refuse or simply not choose to wear them. In addition to pressing for the protective gear, SPFPA will be launching a fundraising drive on Friday on behalf of the victim's family, with the international union matching donations made by its local affiliates.
 
Matt Littman: Why Would Anyone Want to Be Governor of California? Top
When you climb to the very top of your profession, it should be a cause for celebration. After all, you have reached the pinnacle of your chosen career. Whether you are running Disney, Northrop-Grumman or the Los Angeles Lakers, when you become the number one executive, you can take a moment to sit back and bask in the glory of a career path well chosen. But then there are those who reach the very heights of their profession, only to find that their new gig means that their career is actually over. They've mercilessly climbed to the top but, when they look down to see whose shoulders they are standing upon, they find nothing beneath them save for a long, swift descent. As examples, look to the top jobs at General Motors and the Los Angeles Clippers. Governor of California was once the former: a job of power and prestige, and if the person played their cards right, a place on the national stage. Ronald Reagan took advantage of the renown that came with the job, and went onto become a popular two-term President of the United States. But now the Governor of California job has proven to be the latter; once you reach Sacramento, your career is actually dead upon your arrival to the Governor's mansion. Let us recall that former Governor Gray Davis was unceremoniously recalled as Governor, replaced by a movie-star action hero with no political experience, and Davis has barely made a peep since. Has he entered the Governor relocation program? Even Eliot Spitzer, the former Governor of New York who was caught with a hooker, has more of a political future than Davis (Spitzer's poll ratings are higher than those of David Patterson, the current Governor). Arnold Schwarzenegger, the Governator, came into office as a strongman and will leave office with his tail between his legs. Term limited, a couple of years ago many thought Arnold would run for the Senate, but given the disastrous state of California's economy, Arnold is not likely to run for any office ever again. He won't be back. That's one Democrat who is perceived to have failed, and one Republican. The California Governor's office: no matter your political persuasion, the job is a killer. By now, it is readily apparent that the problem is not with our Governors but with our system of governance. The California way, much of which was instituted after Reagan left office, is set up for failure. Prop 13 puts limits on needed property taxes, the income tax puts too much emphasis on the top 1% to pay all of our bills, a 2/3 vote of the state government is needed to pass a budget, we have a ballot system that enables any wealthy person with an idea to get his initiative on the ballot, and, finally, there is redistricting, which allows for ideologues to enter the government and remain intractable, rather than allowing in moderates who can get the job done. A few states have one of the aforementioned problems; no state has all of these problems. The initiative process was meant to give power to the people. I'm a person -- I don't want that much power. Prop 13 is great, if you are a homeowner who has owned your house for a long time and your property value has sky rocketed. Unfortunately, Prop 13 means you're often getting something (higher home value) for nothing (same taxes). The income tax puts too much emphasis on the wealthiest Californians to pay all of our bills. If their income goes down, as it has in this recession, our state suffers, to the point where we are $475 million behind May's tax revenue estimates. It is illogical to put so much emphasis on one tax and one group of people. A little diversity makes sense. The idea of lowering the sales tax and spreading it out to other items seems logical. The 2/3 vote needed to pass fiscal measures is inane. Who came up with this idea? Hey, here's a thought: the next time your state Senator runs for reelection, they only get elected if they get more than 67% of the vote. You know why your state Senator won't agree to that? Because it's a dumb idea. The nutty redistricting that occurs every decade means that our Congressional and Assembly districts are so contorted that they look like a line trod by Nick Nolte at a DUI checkpoint. We end up with liberals and conservatives who cannot compromise and, politically, have no reason to do so because they are in "safe" seats. It is time to make a change in the way our state is governed. There is talk of Constitutional Conventions. There is talk of changes to the laws. But these changes may never occur, because they take strong political will. And even if they do occur, how long will it be until a 2/3 vote on budget matters is no longer necessary? How long will be it until the state can be governed effectively? The truth is, these changes may take years. We now have several people running for Governor, and they all want to run a state that is near bankruptcy with no positive news on the horizon. It's not like trying to pilot the Titanic away from the iceberg; it's like asking to steer the Titanic after it hit the iceberg. Why do Jerry Brown, Tom Campbell, Meg Whitman, Gavin Newsom and a cast to be named later want this job? If I were hosting a debate, my question would be along the lines of the one Jay Leno famously asked Hugh Grant. "What are you thinking?" Except in that case Hugh Grant, like Eliot Spitzer, was caught with a hooker. Grant's career thrived after that episode. The next leader of our state should be so lucky as to be caught picking up a prostitute -- that appears to be a better career path than the dead-end job of Governor of California. More on Jay Leno
 
North Korea, Iran Working Together To Develop Missiles, Says US General Top
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Iran and North Korea are working together to develop ballistic missiles and have made significant progress, the head of the Pentagon's Missile Defense Agency said on Thursday. More on North Korea
 
Sarah Palin "Today" Show Interview With Matt Lauer Friday Top
Alaska Governor Sarah Palin will be sitting down for a live interview with Matt Lauer on the "Today" show Friday in which she is expected to discuss her thoughts on the future of the GOP, and, even better, her recent feud with David Letterman over jokes he made about her and her family on his show Monday. Palin will be speaking from Texas, NBC says. More on Today Show
 
Brad Pitt Used To Fight Speeding In Russia Top
MOSCOW — Brad Pitt is accustomed to stopping passersby in their tracks. The Hollywood heartthrob's next job is slowing traffic in Siberia _ or so Russian traffic police hope. A Russian newspaper reports that cardboard cutouts of Pitt dressed as a traffic cop have been placed by the most dangerous intersections in the city of Omsk. It's the latest move by authorities in their endless battle against speeding. Traffic accidents in Russia are among the highest in Europe. The campaign seems to be working. Omsk officials say accidents are down as star-struck drivers ease off the gas to gaze at the unusual image. The paper, Argumenty i Fakty, quotes Dmitry Ziryanov, a local official who came up with the idea as saying Pitt is "kind of like a colleague for us." More on Brad Pitt
 
IRS Weighs Tax On Use Of Work Cellphones Top
WASHINGTON -- The IRS is weighing a proposal to deem one-quarter of employees' use of work cellphones as personal use and therefore subject to tax as a fringe benefit.
 
Jonathan Littman: How To Dig Your Office Cave Top
Why a fresh approach to designing your personal workspace nourishes your talents and ambitions and increases your productivity. Jobs and pay are being cut and slashed like the Brazilian rainforest, opportunities for advancement vanishing like the Polar ice cap. What's a smart worker to do? Dig a Cave. Maybe two. Cave Dwelling protected our distant forebears from the elements, offering safety from Saber Tooth Tigers, along with opportunities for creative outlets, like cave painting. Modern workers need Caves too. You're probably crammed into cookie cutter cubes or shoehorned into a bullpen, with little sanctuary from corporate predators. If you're lucky enough to have a door and an office -- odds are it's barely big enough to turn around in. In I Hate People! , the book I co-wrote with Marc Hershon, we found overwhelming evidence that workers are under attack. Recent studies have proven conclusively that open office plans injure productivity. Interruptions are out of control. Our book describes the primitives wrecking your day: Minute Man , who just wants a minute of your day, and another minute; Know-It-None , who knocks you off task by pelting you with inane facts they've picked up from stray blogs. Or the more subtle, pervasive threat: the vast herds of corporate Sheeple that spread out in every direction, men and women who "love meetings" and only "perform approved work tasks." To escape these office oafs, Dig your Cave to create a safe place to do what you never seem to have enough time for today -- actually getting your work done. 1. Give Your Cave Personality Reject the lame recruiters who advise stripping your office or cube of all that is you. We've visited some of the coolest companies on the planet -- Google, Pixar and IDEO. These companies value workers who celebrate their achievements and interests -- whether work related or passions or hobbies. At the design strategy firm IDEO it's perfectly acceptable to have a sail, bike or surfboard over your cube. Collections of exotic products are considered normal. The key is to imagine that your cube or office is your tree fort or secret clubhouse. Fill it with things and images that inspire and support your work and passions. Maybe the office Spreadsheet (the resident stickler for the rules) won't let you hang a surfboard, but good Caves reflect their Cave dweller's personality. Introduce design and touches of color that embody your personal brand. This is not about spending money - it's about caring about the place where you spend a large chunk of your life. 2. Respect Your Cave's Privacy There's a reason CEOs have offices with doors and guard dogs (executive assistants) to keep intruders at bay. They need to get an enormous amount of work done, and if they frittered away the day with visitors and phone calls and e-mails, they'd just be treading water. Unless your career goal is to captain the office softball team, make certain that your Cave clearly communicates that you are someone with a lot of work to do. That means shutting your door, or putting up subtle notices that you value concentrated work. We have our own line of Productivity Tools, including the I Hate People! Do Not Disturb sign. But if that's too in your face, consider pinning up Jean-Paul Sartre's tried and true saying, "Hell is other people." Many wise Cave dwellers who lack real doors often install curtains made out of fashionable fabric, clear beads, or old computer chips. Sometimes these barriers are see-thru, sometimes they are not. The key is to reduce the chance that Minute Man or Know-It-None will make your day go down the drain with interruptions. Out of Sight = Out of Mind. Headphones never hurt. You don't even have to be listening to anything. 3. Dig Caves Wherever You Go Hundreds of thousands of people laid off in recent months know digging a Cave is key to getting back on your feet. But a Cave is not a desk in your bedroom. Whether you just got fired or wish to avoid ending up in the bread lines, it's essential that you become a serial Cave digger. And not only in your "official" office. Find that Starbucks or cafe or library where you can get stuff done. Tip generously and snag the power table with a plug and room to stretch out. If you've lived in the cubes so long that you can't imagine working without constant interruptions, a busy cafe may be a good fit. Libraries are often better suited to Cave denizens looking to finish a report or brainstorm. Oh, and even those with a Corporate Cave need the Home Cave. That's where what you really need is protection from that well-intentioned threat to a modern Cave dweller. The individual most likely to shatter your impending creative breakthrough with a demand that you wash your damn coffee mug or pick up your foul underwear. Yes, your significant other. Basements, attics, garages and dusty backyard sheds highly recommended. Do Not Disturb signs essential. Before leaving home ground and entering Home Cave announce in a friendly voice, "I am going to the Cave. Happy to help out with dishes and housework after I put in three hours." "Love you!" Jonathan Littman is the co-author of the new book I HATE PEOPLE! (Little, Brown and Company; June 2009) with Marc Hershon. A Contributing Editor at Playboy, Jonathan is the co-author of the best selling Art of Innovation.
 
Kanye West Puts On Stay In School Show For CPS Students Top
CHICAGO (AP) -- Hip-hop artist Kanye West returned to his hometown Thursday amid thunderous applause and 3,000 teenagers chanting his name during a private concert for Chicago public school students who improved their grades and attendance. The event was put on by The Kanye West Foundation, a nonprofit working to decrease dropout rates and improve literacy. The organization was co-founded by his mother, Donda West, who died in November 2007. She had worked in higher education for 31 years. Before the concert began, Kanye West said he sees his mother's "dream coming true." The Grammy Award-winning artist acknowledged that they didn't always agree, noting she wasn't fond of his first album's title, 2004's "College Dropout." His three later albums reached platinum status. The concert was the foundation's first event since his mother died. Shortly before taking the stage at the Chicago Theatre, he had a message for students: "Take every opportunity you have to make your life as successful as possible." Chicago has a nearly 50 percent dropout rate. Foundation CEO Joseph Collins and school district officials said the concert could help reduce those numbers by raising awareness and getting students motivated. A concert held later Thursday benefited the foundation. Students from six schools attended the concert, which was "all the buzz" a day earlier, said Chicago Public Schools chief Ron Huberman. He said the students were "heroes" at their schools, and thanked West for his performance. Marvin Brown, a 16-year-old student at Paul Robeson High School, said when he saw the poster for the concert three weeks ago, he immediately started working toward earning himself a seat. "I applied myself and worked hard," he said. "I'm just so happy to see Kanye West!" -ASSOCIATED PRESS More on Video
 
Boehner: 'We're Digging Ourselves Out Of A Deep Hole' Top
House GOP leader Rep. John Boehner, R-Ohio, invited me to his "smoke-filled room" in the Capitol this afternoon.
 
Ellen Sterling: The Spirit of Django: Alive and Well in Las Vegas (And Lots of Other Places, Too) Top
Every once in awhile entertainment will come to Las Vegas that has long-time residents saying "It's vintage Vegas," meaning that it reminds them of the time before corporate-think ruled the stages here. It was a time when shows weren't pre-packaged; when entertainment could go on into the wee hours. It was a time when there was always something to see, do and/or hear. Nowadays, unless you go to one of the theaters or showrooms on the Strip, that isn't the case. Late night entertainment is a rarity here. Musicians don't usually get to strut their stuff the way they used to. To be fair, Stations Casinos does offer this kind of music and so does the Palms. But late-late? No. Now, in an effort to keep body and soul apart, I do public relations work in addition to writing. Occasionally I've done PR for a Las Vegas institution called the Bootlegger Bistro. The Bootlegger is one of the now-rare restaurants that is not a hotel coffee shop that is open 24/7. And it has nightly entertainment. No cover charge. Just go, eat and enjoy. Anyway, for the past few months the Bootlegger's been hosting a series called "Midnight Music." The idea was to give some of the many amazing musicians who come here to back up Strip headliners the opportunity to do their own music in a casual setting. Because they all work early in the evening, the shows begin at midnight. First up was Herman Matthews & Friends. Matthews is the drummer for Tom Jones and the "Friends" are most of Jones' band. Brandon Fields, sax player for Barry Manilow, also played with his "Friends." John Abraham, who plays with Cirque du Soleil did the Bootlegger as did Jimmy McIntosh, who plays in the local production of Jersey Boys. And Las Vegas favorites Brad Cordle and Tim Scott -- the Cordle Scott Band -- have played (and they all will again). The music is always great and, since I've come to know some of the musicians, I love going. But last Friday night was a revelation. The band was Hot Club of Las Vegas, a gypsy jazz group inspired by guitarist Django Reinhardt ("Django" is Romany for "I awake" and was his nickname) and violinist Stéphane Grappelli who, during the 1930s came together to with two other musicians to form the "Quintette du Hot Club de France." Today, there are "Hot Clubs" around the world, including San Francisco, Phoenix, Detroit, London and, even, Renaux (that's "Reno" to the rest of us). And, there's the Hot Club of Las Vegas. They were the band at the Bootlegger last Friday night. Accompanied by singer Carol Linnea Johnson and violinist Adriana Thurber, they did it all -- old stuff, new stuff, stuff in between, but all of it "Djazz" inspired by Django. The group is led by Mundo Juillerat, a self-proclaimed "flyin' Hawaiian" who learned music by going as a small child with the women his family to the hula studio where, instead of being outside doing what other kids were doing, he'd watch and listen to practice. He began on the ukelele. "When I was five," he recalls, "I would sneak into the studio and play it. I got caught and, then, I got taught. I began playing acoustic guitar and toe'iti (Tahitian word for a log drum)." When his parents moved to the mainland, Mundo stayed behind and built a music career. He came here and began to build his career. His day job is in the orchestra of Le Rêve at the Wynn.He married into a musical family and his gypsy jazz group is gaining ever more recognition. He explains, "Gypsy jazz with Django, who was in love with American swing and Louis Armstrong. He tried to play that kind of music and he tried to listen to it whenever he could. He infused the Parisian ¾ musette with American music, flamenco and the gypsy harmony that he grew up with. Plus, he worked in a dance band at night so that became part of his music." I am not a student of jazz. Frankly -- and forgive me -- I find it somewhat dissonant and disorganized and have never figured out if that's deliberate or now. My taste runs more toward rock 'n' roll, show tunes and, even, older country and folk music. I like swing and Dixie. And this music combines them all. When I went to hear Hot Club of Las Vegas it was, indeed, a revelation. It's jazz, but it has a definite melody. I'm afraid I lack the musical vocabulary to convey it properly, but I -- along with the friends who came with me -- were blown away. We realized we'd heard Django in the soundtrack of Chocolat and there's word that Johnny Depp will portray him in a biopic. So, even if you cannot get to see this band in person, check out their music, Django's music or, if there is one, a hot club group near you. Or, you can wait for the movie. But, you know what, don't wait -- wherever you are, you should seek out this music today.
 
Elon James White: Thats What's Wrong with Black People Top
If you happen to have perused the latest Rolling Stone you might have come across an interesting comment by celebrated Black academic Dr. Cornell West: That's not my calling. Yeah, brother, you find me in a crack house before you find me in the White House. I'll go into the crack house before I ever go that far inside. Dr. West was answering a question about whether he would ever accept a position in the Obama adminstration's White House. On the surface this might seem like the rebel response. No, he won't join the institution that is holding down Black people across the land. He is a free thinker who will not be bound by a country who still doesn't take the plight of all of its citizens seriously. Or you could see this for what it is. Sheer lunacy. Dr. West is a part of a group of Black intelligentsia that sees it as their job to step up and police President Obama on his dealings on Blackness. West, Tavis Smiley, Michael Eric Dyson and others see themselves as the voice of the Black plight and will not allow Obama to ignore the very people that got him into office! With constant cries for racially charged fixes for issues within the black community, they stand at the sidelines with their noses held in disgust at his lack of true understanding, or better yet, lack of actual caring about the issues of, as Dyson keeps yelling, the people who put him in office. Here's a question: If Dr. West was offered a position in the Obama administration, why in holy hell would he not take it? Why would he turn down a direct line to the powers that be? Why would he rather do his work from a crack house than from the power base of our government? Why would he chose his current place in lieu of a position of actual power and ability to influence and change the issues that he so emphatically claims need the direct attention of higher government? There isn't a good answer. Just like Dyson's recent rant on Obama "playing Black people," this is just as ridiculous. Dyson spoke of how he has not been invited to the White House despite being the first prominent Black person to endorse Obama. He is clearly upset at not being offered a seat at the very same table that he proceeds to criticize at length. He even went so far as to reprimand Obama for not mentioning Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s name in a speech: Obama's usage of "a young preacher from Georgia" bothered him. Yes. Obama didn't say King's name. Does Dyson think he tried to trick America? That everyone would assume he was speaking of some other "preacher from Georgia"? Perhaps some spiritual leader from Russia! That's what people probably thought. No one would think MLK. He is willing to sacrifice the interests of African-Americans in deference to a conception of universalism because it won't offend white people. --Michael Eric Dyson via Youtube.com Could someone explain to me at exactly what point my interests were sacrificed? The fact that Obama hasn't stepped up to the podium and yelled, "Blackity Black Black. We gots ta get some black ish handled! " means he's some how sacrificed my interests? A lot of people asked what would happen if America ever had a Black President. Answer? We don't know yet . It has only been a few months. Black people have neither been ignored nor suddenly revered by anyone. Perhaps instead of being so quick to throw around "Drinking the Kool-Aid" as everyone loves to say, maybe we should just deal with issues as they come. Perhaps give the man, I dunno, maybe a year or two in office before we start talking about his sacrificing of Black interests. Maybe the people sacrificing Black interest are the self-anointed saviors of it in the first place. More on Barack Obama
 
Weekly Standard May Have Been Museum Shooter Target Top
FBI agents visited the offices of the conservative Weekly Standard magazine yesterday after a shooting at the Holocaust Memorial Museum and told employees they'd found the magazine's address
 
Zahra Rahnavard: Iranians Anoint Their 'Michelle Obama' Top
By Tom Fenton Never underestimate the power of a woman or the influence of the media. In Tehran, the local press has already dubbed Zahra Rahnavard "the Iranian Michelle Obama." Rahnavard, a 64-year-old political scientist and sculptress who heads a university, has made an impact on Iranian politics. If Iran finally opens up to the world and buries the axe with America, she may even deserve some of the credit. Rahnavard is not running for office in Iran's presidential election. The clerics who screen potential candidates have eliminated all women. But she is nevertheless one of the most powerful campaigners in this important election and the most valuable asset of the leading opposition candidate, Mir-Hossein Mousavi, who is her husband. In a country where the wives of politicians are traditionally invisible, she is seen everywhere at her husband's side, often addressing campaign rallies herself. At a recent meeting in Tehran she told the crowd, "We must change the laws that do not give women equal treatment." The audience, many of them young women, chanted "Rahnavard, Rahnavard! Equality between men and women!" Women were at the forefront of the Islamic Revolution that toppled the Shah of Iran in 1979. They voluntarily put on the head scarves and all-enveloping black chadors as a symbol of opposition to the old regime. Now, three decades later, young women pull back their scarves and, like Rahnavard, use cosmetics and bright colored materials. She has won over women and young people by denouncing the police campaigns against "immodestly" dressed women and the arrests of feminist campaigners under the current administration of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who is better known in the West as a serial holocaust denier. Her husband, who is also an accomplished artist as well as an architect, was an early revolutionary who became prime minister during the 1980-88 war between Iran and Iraq and has now mellowed into pragmatism. Like his wife, Mousavi seeks to reconcile the values of the Islamic Revolution with openness to the modern world. He favors dialogue with the Obama administration and negotiations over Iran's nuclear program. The other leading candidates have noticed Rahnavard's ability to energize voters and have started to bring along their own wives. Press reports say even President Ahmadinejad's wife has been glimpsed on the campaign trail. But the celebrity couple is undoubtedly Zahra Rahnavard and Mir-Hossein Mousavi. If Zahra becomes the Iranian equivalent of First Lady, the country that President George. W. Bush denounced as a member of the Axis of Evil may never be the same. As I said, never underestimate the power of a woman or the influence or the media. Nor the soft power of the Obama phenomenon, which the media have propagated throughout the Middle East. Politicians in other countries (such as Lebanon, where a pro-American coalition has just won a parliamentary election) may find that being anti-American is no longer an automatic vote winner. Read more from GlobalPost. More on Iran
 
Rahul Sonnad: Coming Soon: A New Web - It's Global, Mobile and as Transformational as the World Wide Web Top
What happens when a mobile device combines the capabilities of web browsing along with accurate location awareness? It's bound to create a new medium that will completely transform the way consumers find information and the way businesses interact with their customers. And it's coming sooner, and faster, than you might imagine. In the 1990s, the introduction of the World Wide Web forever changed the way we create, access and navigate information. It allowed anyone to publish information for little marginal cost and allowed users to easily consume information from anywhere in the world. This spurred an exponential surge in content, and search engines soon enabled rapid navigation of the massive volume of information flooding online. In the process, many consumer activities and large industries were transformed virtually overnight. However, the World Wide Web was built for someone sitting behind a computer and as such, it has never really understood or cared too much about where its users were located. With the recent emergence of the iPhone - and now other smartphones - browsing to the World Wide Web from a mobile device is now quite workable, yet most attempts to create local mobile browsing experiences have faltered. This may be explained partially because the technology has only very recently matured sufficiently, but to a large extent, the problem may be more of a classic issue of learning how to unlock the groundbreaking capabilities of a new device experience. As Joe Wikert has noted, "The first TV shows were basically radio programs on the television -- until someone realized that TV was a whole new medium." Similarly, at present most mobile sites and iPhone content applications are really just the World Wide Web on your phone, which is very convenient, and in a properly-cached application format, pleasantly quick. Yet it's quickly becoming apparent that location-aware mobile browsing devices will soon offer a new medium of their own. Location technologies on phones that can accurately pinpoint you to within a few feet are starting to enable scenarios unprecedented for an Internet device. Your experience at any location is largely determined by the information available to you while you are there, and correctly architected, services on this medium will help you to discover an almost unimaginable new world of contextually relevant information and experiences. Imagine the scenarios for various locations. What information would be relevant and useful? At a beach: How are the rip currents? When is the surf coming in? What kinds of animals are in the tide pools? At the airport: Are there weather delays? What time are the departures? At the video store: What are the best rated new releases? When will a movie be available to rent? All of this information will be just a click or two away - pre-aggregated, and pre-packaged. No need for the information desk, no finding a display monitor, no searching for flyers, no looking up websites. And beyond the obvious information, a whole new world of details you wouldn't normally think to associate with a location will be revealed: At the Sun Trust Tower in Atlanta: Did you know that peregrine falcons nest atop? On the Cal State Northridge Library steps: Did you know the Star Trek Drill scene was filmed here? These scenarios are not science fiction. All the foundational pieces are in place. And very soon businesses and content publishers will start to first subtly and then radically reorganize their information and marketing messages so that they can be discovered contextually by location, time, and even humidity and temperature - a key factor for not only Haagen-Dazs stores' future promotional efforts but also for fire danger level alerts. The commercial implications of this information will be transformative. The proliferation of location enabled devices such as GPS equipped smart phones provides an opportunity for businesses and organization to dramatically improve the quality of your experience by changing the way their information is created, organized, broadcast, and navigated. Just as the late 90's created a land rush for business to move onto the World Wide Web, within the next three years every major location-based business will create mobile experiences for their properties. These will be automatically accessed on-site, allowing patrons to navigate all the information relevant to their products and services. Hotels will publish the meetings and the rooms they are in, along with the gym class schedule for the day, and the details on the complementary happy hour event. And if it's a major hotel chain, they're not going to stop there. All the information that a concierge normally gives out will be just a couple of clicks away - a special offer at the spa, which just had a few cancellations, will be visible throughout the property. Navigate next door to the convention space, and the schedule, exhibitors, and evening events planned for tomorrow's trade show will also be neatly displayed. No search needed. No keywords. No typing. The content will be optimized for this new medium - the "Global Mobile Web", which is destined to accompany the fastest device adoption rate in the history of technology. With growth from effectively zero devices early 2008 to 10 million now to over 100 million in two years - in just the US alone - the impact on society will be far-reaching. It took the World Wide Web almost ten years to see that kind of user adoption. As locations become densely embedded with contextual information, the Global Mobile Web will enable users to move beyond browsing the internet to essentially browsing the real world itself. And while this Global Mobile Web - that fits comfortably in the palm of your hand - may at first seem small compared to the World Wide Web, it will soon cast a very large net as the majority of internet devices - billions of mobile phones - turn towards it as their primary source for location-aware information. More on iPhone
 
Michael Steele On Letterman: "Time To Turn The Channel" Top
Republican National Committee chairman Michael Steele has suggested tuning out David Letterman over his jokes about Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin. Letterman made a Top 10 list out of Palin's recent trip to New York in which he described her look as "slutty flight attendant" and made a joke about her daughter getting knocked at a baseball game. Palin responded by calling the late night host " pathetic " and his jokes "disgusting" and "sexually perverted." She said Letterman was particularly wrong to make a sexual joke about her 14-year-old daughter, Willow. Letterman responded that Bristol Palin, not Willow, was the target of the joke. "Am I guilty of poor taste?" he said. "Yes. Did I suggest that it was OK for her 14-year-old daughter to be having promiscuous sex? No." Steele wasn't impressed. "Letterman's joke about Sarah and Todd Palin's daughter was thoughtless and tacky," Steele said in a statement to The Hill . "I saw his explanation for the joke, but sometimes the easiest thing to do is simply say 'I'm sorry.'" "When Letterman starts making tasteless jokes about kids, it's time to turn the channel," he added. Todd Herman, who runs new media for the Republican National Committee , tweeted in response, "Steele suggests boycott of Letterman. New RNC chairman, NOW!" Get HuffPost Politics On Facebook and Twitter! More on Michael Steele
 
Patricia Zohn: Culture Zohn: Pianissimo from Renzo Piano: The New Modern Wing at the Art Institute of Chicago Top
The Art Institute of Chicago's New Modern Wing Architects all over the world are extremely jealous of Renzo Piano . If he weren't such a nice guy, there would probably be an AIA contract out on him. As it is, Piano keeps getting the great museum jobs and cities keep getting very nice places to look at art. But Chicago has them beat. Even though I absolutely love the undulating green roofs of the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco which remind me of the developing breasts on a young girl and the elegant minimalism of the Menil Collection in Houston, the Modern Wing addition to the Art Institute of Chicago is one of those spaces that makes you catch your breath. View of Chicago Skyline from the new Modern Wing Yet Piano, known originally for his collaboration with Richard Rogers on the Centre Pompidou design, softspoken and charming, has gone on to become this generation's architectural Starbucks. Not that Starbucks. Not the one you think of as ubiquitous, expensive and annoying. No, I mean the original one where we felt like a little bit of Europe had descended on our corner, where we learned communing with people over something as simple as coffee was pretty terrific. The quality of Piano's work is occasionally affected by regime changes, shrinking budgets and city restrictions, and maybe also a little bit because he has been so busy. But Chicago has come out in its stealth, second-city style and unveiled a total winner. Griffin Court All you have to do is walk into the white light filled central Griffin Courtyard and understand everything about Piano: the space is all about light, a long turbine-style hall that reminds just a tad of the much darker Tate Modern but which instead pours out on a large clerestory glass view of ... Frank Gehry's titanium bandshell. What other architect would give pride of place to another man's work?! Yet the space is an architectural folly of its own, an echo of the very times when we could afford to have a show-off building that did nothing really functional but be beautiful. All the galleries are behind doors or in reveals, so the space is just that -- a wingless, grounded airplane that soars by its own merits. The most extraordinary galleries are the ones that give onto the Millennium Park and the art in those galleries, carefully chosen to be able to withstand the stunning view (only slightly obscured by shades) indeed holds up: Richter, Stella, Agnes Martin, Ryman. Instead of making huge galleries that confound the viewer so that you don't know where to turn first, the decision was taken to make small, intimate galleries that make you see the art in context, next to other artists that may have informed the work, or been influenced by it. And instead of telling you how to look, it's hung so that you make that discovery yourself. Of course the curators had a big hand in this and I take nothing away from their excellent work. But Piano has been listening to them. This museum has a great deal in common with the San Francisco Academy of Sciences roofline, but because of the all white, and the light and the elegant refined construction material, you feel like you're in a white circus tent, with thin metal guy wires ready to take you up to the top so you can spin around a little. Or, if you prefer a more grounded image, a bit like a Calder -- all wire and spit and polish and smiles. The simplicity and restraint is just so refreshing! The "flying carpet" roof My favorite spaces besides the Griffin court: the Pritzker garden, an elegant flying-carpeted covered space with natural plant material and lime green chairs and the undulating walking bridge that deposits you on the second floor. (Check the website in coming weeks for images of these spaces not available at post time). People who have the luxury of living in Chicago can return to take in their favorites but I had to look had the art at the same time as the building. Had is a poor word choice. The permanent collection of the Art Institute is so strong, and looks so beautiful against these white walls that you are very jealous that you don't live in this city and can commune with these works (and the Gehry bandshell and the marvelous Louise Nevelson-encrusted Harris Concert Hall) more often. Some favorites: An early, colorful Jackson Pollock Jackson Pollock A lush Paul Delvaux Paul Delvaux A pensive Matisse Henri Matisse A Picabia that could have been painted today Francis Picabia And a Richter in an end gallery that makes you think this lady descending the staircase could be just outside the door Gerhard Richter The Modern addition says "Look at me, don't take your eyes off me!", yet lets you look away. This is an architectural hat trick by one of the few starchitects who is not arrogant, who is willing to share the glory with the important stuff hanging on the walls. All images courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago
 

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