Sunday, June 21, 2009

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Berlusconi Sex Scandal Could Topple Him Top
He has made no secret of his love of women but the sex scandal surrounding Silvio Berlusconi is now threatening to topple him, as more claims emerge of the systematic recruitment of young women paid to attend private parties at his homes in Rome and Sardinia. More on Silvio Berlusconi
 
Trevor Traina: Why is the press down on fathers? Top
American holidays are supposed to be about doing good and feeling good. Today is Father's Day: a classic feel-gooder. Nobody has to turn a year older. No religion is excluded. A large percentage of the adult population qualifies. Hallmark is happy. Tie and cologne sales are up. As a father of two I looked forward to celebrating my day today like other fathers. However, somehow the media did not get the memo. As I scanned all the papers, I though less about Norman Rockwell than about Norman Bates. There were stories about President Obama admonishing fathers to shape up. There were stories about President Obama's own father being AWOL. There were firsthand accounts of fathers and sons who grew up absent each other. The only thing that was missing was anything about normal fathers doing what normal fathers do. What is it with the media? Is there some mass conviction amongst that estate that a single chromosome marks the difference between being a good parent or not? Don't get me wrong here. I am not trying to say that men are great parents and women are not. I know a zillion great mothers. It is just that I know a zillion great fathers too. Most of the guys I know are in their 30s or 40s and kill themselves to get home early enough from work to do bath time or catch a soccer game. Nobody goes to the gym anymore after work. Forget about seeing a father of school-age kids on a weekend. He is at three games or on a school retreat or a swim lesson. Men now are as involved in their kid's lives as women are and the stereotype of the father who hasn't changed a diaper or met with a teacher is completely passé. The reality is that most fathers have that much more to do now. They are trying to balance all their previous responsibilities and all the new ones brought about by children. Just about everything other than parenting has fallen by the wayside. While I am sure that "deadbeat dads" still exist, I imagine that "deadbeat moms" do too. Instead of assuming guilt instead of innocence wherever a Y chromosome is present, let's consider saluting the millions of dads who have given up guy's nights and regular exercise and personal hobbies in order to accommodate the new expectations of fathers. Let's thank them for putting the needs of children and family before their own. Let's encourage them to take an hour or two to relax or do something for themselves. For the editors and reporters who flooded us today with negative examples and veiled accusations it is time to get with the times! You have blown it today but look on the bright side- in about a year you will have another shot at it.
 
Obama: US "Fully Prepared" For North Korea Missile Launch Top
WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama said the United States is "prepared for any contingencies" involving North Korea _ including the regime's reported threat to launch a long-range missile toward Hawaii. Japanese media have reported the North Koreans appear to be preparing for a long-range test near July 4. Defense Secretary Robert Gates has ordered additional protections for Hawaii in case a missile is launched over the Pacific Ocean. "This administration _ and our military is fully prepared for any contingencies," Obama said Friday during an interview with CBS News' Harry Smith, to be broadcast Monday on "The Early Show." "I don't want to speculate on hypotheticals," Obama said. "But I want ... to give assurances to the American people that the t's are crossed and the i's are dotted in terms of what might happen." The South Korean news network YTN reported Sunday that a U.S. Navy destroyer was tailing a North Korean ship, the Kang Nam, suspected of carrying illicit weapons toward Myanmar. A senior U.S. military official told The Associated Press on Friday that a Navy ship, the USS John S. McCain, was relatively close to the North Korean vessel but had no orders to intercept it and had not requested that authority. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitive issue of ship movements. The Navy ship, a guided missile destroyer, is named after the grandfather and father of Arizona Sen. John McCain. Both were admirals. Sen. McCain, who lost the 2008 presidential election to Obama, said Sunday that the U.S. should board even without North Korean permission if hard evidence shows it is carrying missiles or other cargo in violation of U.N. resolutions. "I think we should board it. It's going to contribute to the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction to rogue nations that pose a direct threat to the United States," McCain said on CBS' "Face the Nation." The Kang Nam is reportedly the first North Korean vessel to be tracked under new U.N. sanctions. Obama said Friday that those sanctions demonstrate "unity in the international community," including Russia and China. "What we're not going to do is to reward belligerence and provocation," Obama told CBS.
 
Andy Borowitz: In Bid to Stay Current, Ayatollah Joins MySpace Top
Hoping to reach out to his nation's millions of disaffected young people, Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei today announced that he has joined the social networking site MySpace. "If you can't beat them, join them," the Ayatollah said. "Having said that, we will also continue to beat them." The Ayatollah said that after initial reluctance he decided to join MySpace "because that's what all the kids are doing these days." But in his first day on the site, the Supreme Leader made few friends among Iran's young people, with most of his friend requests coming from obscure alternative bands based in Austin and Seattle. The Ayatollah also indicated that he has been perplexed by the identity of some of his friend requests: "Who on earth is 'Britney F****ed Vids?" Read more here . More on Britney Spears
 
Raymond J. Learsy: Boycott Iran's Oil Immediately Top
The outrage we are witnessing on television and over the airwaves is an abonimation to all fair minded people. To see the street beatings of innocents, the shooting of demonstrators, the silent march of millions has exposed the emptiness and extremism of the governing mullahs. How it will evolve is yet to be determined while the world watches and absorbs the tweets and internet blogs evidencing the use of brute power against the demonstrators. There is no doubt that the current Iranian government holds two trump cards. The first is guns, and a trained and disciplined coterie of government enforcers to turn on the dissidents. The second of course is the huge cash flow coming from the sales of oil. As Tom Friedman pointed out in today's New York Times" Op-ed "Bullets and Barrels", the mullahs have been using their oil income to "buy off huge swaths of the population with... subsidized food and gasoline. It's also used its crude to erect a vast military force-namely the Revolutionary Guard and the Basij militia-to keep itself in power". Well there is something that could be done immediately to show the world's solidarity with the courage of the demonstrators and to show its disgust with the behavior of the Iranian Government. We, the world, can stop buying Iranian oil. Though the United States does not currently import Iranian crude, the fungiblity of oil is such that our government espousing such a boycott would carry a meaningful impact. The cutoff of Iranian oil shipments through a buyer's boycott is entirely feasible in the structure of today's oil market. Inventories throughout the world are filled to overflowing, supertankers are loaded with 100's of millions barrels oil, lying at anchor at sea waiting for customers or storage on shore. Most tellingly is the production capability from other sources. Saudi Arabia alone has 4.5 million barrels daily crude production and shipping capability shut in and readily accessible. These 4.5 million/bbl daily production now sitting idle is more than twice the level of Iran's daily exports of some 2.1 million barrels/day. Without the income from oil, Iran's dictatorship will be increasingly vulnerable. It is long past time that the world draws the line on the political and ethical perversion imposed by those who control the supply of oil. It would be a significant step in breaking oil's grip on our future and an enormous gesture of support to Iran's brave people. Let the boycott begin as the world's answer to the murder of "Neda". More on Saudi Arabia
 
James Warren: This Week in Magazines: An Homage to Awful State Legislators Top
Citizens across America, especially New York and Illinois, must read the July Texas Monthly so they can be reassured that their state legislators aren't the biggest idiots.   For the 19th time, the arguably best regional magazine unveils its annual" The Best and Worst Legislators. " This will give instant pause to fans of impeached Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich's political soap opera, and observers who somehow think "pay-to-play" is in endemic to Illinois, as well as to those following the utter chaos in the New York legislature, where Jack Bauer may be needed to figure out which nincompoops are in charge of the state senate.   "The Eight-First Legislature was like "Seinfeld": a show about nothing. It achieved nothing, other than an endless succession of dying bills, forlorn hopes, and bitter recrimination in the closing days," writes the magazine, in a line perhaps of some cheer to libertarians, wary of virtually any government action at all.   There's the social conservative Republican who tried to cut all funding for the unit that oversees state ethics laws; the Democrat who treats her committee vice chairman "like a leper by not allowing him to occupy the customary seat" next to her;  the Democrat who "seemed to be suffering from parliamentary post-traumatic stress disorder" and killed a bill to honor an Austin policewoman killed in the line of duty because the sponsor was holding up one of his bills; the Democrat who ran an opponent against his own aunt because she stood between him and control of a school board; the state senator who seeks revenge against the Houston Rodeo because it booked alternative Latin music, not the Tejano bands he prefers; and the lady who opposes a shield law for the media because it would give journalists, she said, more rights than the pope.   There's more, as well as a sidebar on "furniture," namely those lawmakers who are the least consequential. In some ways, one exits this piece with some sympathy for this cadre since, well, at least they did no real harm.   Elsewhere, the issue commemorates the 40 th anniversary of our landing on the moon with " Walking on the Moon ," a very Houston-based compendium of interviews with key players, including Christ Kraft, the flight director, Gene Kranz, the chief of the flight control division, and astronauts Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong. If you're too young to recall and appreciate this momentous event, this does underscore an astonishing, quickly-executed feat inspired by President Kennedy, as well as informing one as to how much we really did not know as we crossed our fingers and headed to the Moon.   ---Elizabeth Kolbert"s "The Catastrophist" in June 29 New Yorker is a different take on government science, profiling controversial James Hansen, the director of NASA's New York-based Goddard Institute for Space Studies, who's been arguing that global warming is not just real but a dramatically growing hazard we must take more seriously. But one does come away both impressed by him and perhaps understanding his own suspicion that the Obama administration has reason not to fully embrace him or his claims.    "Hansen argues that politicians willfully misunderstand climate science; it could be argued that Hansen just as willfully misunderstands politics," writes Kolbert, who has reported convincingly in these same pages about the reality of global warming. "In order to stabilize carbon-dioxide levels in the atmosphere, annual global emissions would have to be cut by something on the order of three-quarters. In order to draw them down, agricultural and forestry practices would have to change dramatically as well. So far, at least, there is no evidence that any nation is willing to take anything approaching the necessary steps. On the contrary, almost all the trend lines point in the opposite direction. Just because the world desperately needs a solution that satisfies both the scientific and the political constraints doesn't mean one necessarily exists."   This issue also has estimable Connie Bruck's "Angelo's Ashes" (nice headline, guys), a profile of Angelo Mozilo, son of a Bronx butcher who built Countrywide Financial Corp. into a giant and, partly fueled by a bonafide desire to lower barriers to  home ownership, got caught in the predatory lending scandals. When the housing bubble burst, he was in big trouble , and, as she details, the problems were exacerbated by ego, ambition for market share, emails at variance with various relevant public statements and changes in internal stock sales rules at Countrywide which made him very wealthy, and somewhat inappropriately so.  This is a good job.   ---Just in case you inexplicably haven't been thinking of Thomas Jefferson of late, June 29 Newsweek 's letter from the editor assures us that Jefferson keeps coming to mind as the drama in Iran unfolds. The events there seem to be a chapter in the very Jeffersonian story of the death of theocracy, or rule by clerics, and the gradual separation of church and state. In one of the last letters of his life, in 1826, Jefferson said this of the Declaration of Independence: "May it be to the world what I believe it will be, (to some parts sooner, to others later, but finally to all,) the signal of arousing men to burst the chains, under which monkish ignorance and superstition had persuaded them to bind themselves.   When it comes to separation of church and state, or lack of, Jefferson might have been interested in " Christian Soldiers ," the magazine's website look at one distinctly religious trend in the U.S. military. Writes Kathryn Joyce: The effort is an example of what critics call a growing culture of militarized Christianity in the armed forces. It is influenced in part by changes in outlook among the various branches' 2,900 chaplains, who are sworn to serve all soldiers, regardless of religion, with a respectful, religiously pluralistic approach. However, with an estimated two thirds of all current chaplains affiliated with evangelical and Pentecostal denominations, which often prioritize conversion and evangelizing, and a marked decline in chaplains from Catholic and mainstream Protestant churches, this ideal is suffering. Historian Anne C. Loveland attributes the shift to the Vietnam War, when many liberal churches opposed to the war supplied fewer chaplains, creating a vacuum filled by conservative churches. This imbalance was exacerbated by regulation revisions in the 1980s that helped create hundreds of new "endorsing agencies" that brought a flood of evangelical chaplains into the military and by the simple fact that evangelical and Pentecostal churches are the fastest-growing in the U.S. ---Quick, who's the United Nations secretary general?     Well, it's South Korea's Ban Ki-moon and, knock on wood, July 6 Nation includes " Ban's Way ," Barbara Crossette's helpful update on what this low-profile fellow is up to. In fact, he's doing a lot and, she writes, "feels most comfortable and useful in the role of global noodge and pivotal player among nations and nongovernmental actors." She notes that he's actually been pretty tough and nervy, such as dealing with the Israeli-Palestinian mess, proving to apparently be the first international personage to see the damage in Gaza after recent Israeli attacks. He'll apparently spend a big chunk of the rest of 2009 trying to bring feuding parties in line for a global agreement on carbon emissions. Good luck.   ---July Popular Mechanics is terrific with "25 Bold Ideas," a looking at what hotshot scientists and engineers say are quick fixes or longer-term ideas to deal with some of these challenges: turning trash into power; fix crumbling pipes with sinuous robots; using unused highways (mostly medians) to support elevated roadways to ease road congestion; breeding super rice to feed the world, including flood-tolerant rice already developed by one California genetic engineer; building homes not needing furaces; creating a "Lilliputian robot doctor," or combing diagnostic imaging with very targeted drug delivery while precisely navigating a patient's digestive track.   ---No surprise, July Cosmopolitan offers a "Naughty Q&A," namely answering "every dirty thing you want to know--in 20 words or less,"  including the best position for shower sex and, "Are there any wild  techniques I can pass along to my guy while he's giving me oral?" But  it also profiles young women who are merely showering in the shower in "Why They're Still Virgins." This suggest that it's their abstinence so far is not necessarily tied to religious or moral  reasons, or perhaps being prudes, but may simply be not having met the right fellow. "Yet holding out can put a girl in a weird gray zone, creating awkwardness when guys (and even other women) learn their status," the magazine claims. This prompts musings from seven women, several of whom claim it's a function of bad luck so far in finding a guy.   ---July Redbook , which is among the many to follow the Cosmo lead toward explicit bedroom counsel, and  thus gets reader evaluations of various sex toys and techniques, does have its more vanilla offerings, including its beauty director checking out the men's aisle with her husband and finding the right cologne, after shave, shampoo, and deodorant. Elsewhere, Jada Pinkett Smith talks about life with husband, Will, in a benign profile-interview clearly tied to her new cable TV show, "HawthoRNe,"  while Gabrielle Anwar (a single mother of three) stars in a modeling spread leaving little doubt why viewers of cable's hot "Burn Notice" are agog over her.   ---July Good Housekeeping revives a parenting stalwart, "Lying to Your Kids," answering questions about when honesty isn't necessarily the best policy. The toughest challenge may be dealing with questions of  truly scary events and figuring out what children really want, or need,  to know about them. For example, if it involves a school shooting, and is not directly tied to a child's life, one expert here claims to seriously consider not saying anything, especially if the child is not yet in kindergarten.   ---July Vogue 's "The Spectrum's Ends" proclaims that the fashion pendulum "is swinging from a very discreet extreme to its polar opposite: the downright daring." It presents new handiwork from Luis Vuitton, Ralph Lauren, Chanel, Miu Miu, John Galliano, Lavin, Prada, Rodarte, Marc Jacobs, Proenza Schouler, Calvin Klein and Balenciaga to bolster an argument that extravagance is gone but gives way to a "search for a new aesthetic" in which a desire to spend less money but still be distinctly provocative are melding.  Oh, one also finds a full-page ad with Brooke Shields touting "the first and only  FDA approved prescription treatment for inadequate or not enough lashes"  and one full-page ad with Brooke Shields touting sunscreen lotion. Does one put the lotion on the lashes while at the beach?   --And this week's Journey to the Obscure takes us to the Body Image and "The relation between women's body esteem and friendships with gay men" by Canadian academics Nancy H. Bartlett, Heather M. Patterson, Doug P. VanderLaan and Paul L. Vasey.   In sum:   Women who associate with gay men are often portrayed as physically unattractive and lacking in both self-confidence and attention from straight men. However, many women report enhanced self-esteem and feelings of attractiveness as a result of attention from their gay friends. It is well established that body esteem can be negatively impacted by certain peer processes, yet there is a dearth of quantitative research on positive peer influences on women's body esteem. We tested two hypotheses: (a) women with gay male friends have poor body esteem and are rejected by heterosexual men, and (b) more contact with gay men is positively related to body esteem. Participants were 154 heterosexual women, who completed measures of their friendships with gay men, straight men and women, body esteem, relationship involvement and break-ups. Results supported the hypothesis that women's body esteem, specifically feelings of sexual attractiveness, is positively associated with friendships with gay men.   I won't leave you totally hanging. Near the end, the authors tell us:   It is certainly possible that women who are drawn to the friendship of gay men do not conform to the ''heterosexual ideal'' of beauty, and do not receive positive attention from straight men. However, this does not necessarily mean that such women are unattractive. It would be interesting to know whether gay men perceive female beauty differently than do straight men, perhaps seeing beauty in a woman that straight men may not perceive as particularly beautiful. This would be a fascinating line of inquiry for future research. More on Magazines
 
Beekeeping In New York (Though Illegal) Grows In Popularity Top
Beekeeping in New York is illegal, and though it's almost impossible to keep a bee colony a secret, the number of New Yorkers taking the risk is growing: beehives are popping up in various neighborhoods, and seem particularly popular in Brooklyn, say those who track beekeeping.
 
Bankers' Pay Soars As Firms Aim To Halt Talent Exodus Top
Wall Street names that have been among the most buffeted in recent months - Merrill Lynch, UBS and Citigroup - are hiking pay for their top investment bankers in an attempt to stop an exodus of talent.
 
4-Story Brooklyn Building Collapses Top
A four-story Brooklyn building recently cited for a long crack in its facade dramatically collapsed this afternoon, stunning onlookers and spurring the evacuation of five nearby buildings.
 
Donald Rumsfeld Finally Opens Up: Slams The Media, Still Rages At Rice And Powell Top
For a few months after his departure as Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld occupied a suite of government-provided transition offices in a high-rise building in Rosslyn, Virginia, up the Potomac River a short way from the Pentagon. There he began sorting his papers for a memoir and charting his next course.
 
Craigslist killing suspect indicted by grand jury Top
BOSTON — A former medical student accused of killing a 25-year-old masseuse he met through Craigslist has been indicted by a grand jury. Philip Markoff's indictment on charges of first-degree murder and other crimes moves his case from district court to Superior Court, where he is scheduled to be arraigned Monday. The indictments were returned late Thursday and announced Sunday. He was indicted for the April 14 shooting of 25-year-old Julissa Brisman of New York, who advertised on the "exotic services" section of Craigslist at the Boston Marriott Copley Place hotel. He was also charged with the April 10 armed robbery of a 29-year-old Las Vegas woman at the Westin Copley Place hotel. The 23-year-old upstate New York native who had been living in Quincy is being held without bail after pleading not guilty in district court. Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel F. Conley said the grand jury reviewed dozens of exhibits, including Internet and telephone records, during a two-month investigation. "Contained in those records was a wealth of information, all of it pointing directly at the defendant," Conley said. Markoff, a second-year medical student at Boston University, was arrested April 20 on Interstate 95 while driving with his fiancee to Foxwoods Resort Casino in Connecticut. Defense attorney John Salsberg said Markoff would continue to plead not guilty. The indictment makes no mention of a Rhode Island warrant that accuses Markoff of pulling a gun on a stripper April 16 at a Holiday Inn Express in Warwick, R.I. Markoff faces assault and weapons charges in that case.
 

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