Thursday, August 20, 2009

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Dr. Irene S. Levine: How to put the kibosh on a friendship that seems doomed from the start Top
QUESTION Dear Irene, I'm in several professional organizations with a woman who is a very good person but drives me a little bonkers. She has asked me to meet her for dinner several times, but I have always begged off. This week, she caught me at a weak moment and I said, "yes." I have no problem spending an evening with her but don't want to encourage a one-on-one friendship. How can I avoid hurting her feelings and still maintain a relationship as colleagues rather than friends? Sincerely, Rhianna ANSWER Dear Rhianna, First, give her (and yourself) a chance. Even though this doesn't appear to be a case of love at first sight, there may be more to this woman than you are giving her credit for at a distance. Although you say it was a moment of weakness, something made you say "yes." Until you see how the one-on-one evolves (perhaps, by the time you've finished the entrée), keep the discussion on a professional footing. Don't talk too much about personal matters as opposed to business; your professional tie is what brought you together so that will seem perfectly appropriate and natural. You may find out that she's more interested in networking or partnering as opposed to making you a new friend. By the time you're up to coffee, if she is still grating on your nerves and makes overtures to get together for dinner again, be sure to let her know how busy and overextended you are with existing work obligations, family and friends. Since she is in your profession, you're likely to run in the same circles so you want to be tactful. Tell her how glad you are that you both took the time to have dinner together, finally, and that you look forward to the next time you see her at XYZ organization. It's always good to have an exit strategy when you enter an uncertain situation. Hope this one works for you. Best, Irene Have a question about female friendships? Send it to The Friendship Doctor . Irene S. Levine, PhD is a freelance journalist and author. She holds an appointment as a professor of psychiatry at the New York University School of Medicine and her book about female friendships, Best Friends Forever: Surviving a Breakup with Your Best Friend will be published by Overlook Press on September 20, 2009. She also blogs about female friendships at The Friendship Blog .
 
Dr. Elsbeth Meuth and Freddy Zental Weaver: Sexual Intelligence: One of the Keys to Fulfillment and Joy Top
Wow - thanks for all the comments to our last post on "Secrets to Lasting Intimacy: Ancient Tantric Wisdom ......." A multitude of different views on Tantra, sacred sexuality and the relevance of subtle human energy were offered and we appreciate your sharing of your views so much. The intent for our blog posts is to raise awareness of what's available when we learn from the ancient wisdoms and bring them into our modern life. Neo-Tantra, as it's called in the West, is a blend of ancient Eastern traditions (see writings by Tao Master Mantak Chia or Tantric Master Lama Yeshe ) as well as contemporary knowledge of quantum physics ( Amit Goswam, Ph.D. ), psychology ( Daniel Goleman ) and biology ( Candace Pert, Ph.D. ). To delve deeper into the awareness of human energy and particularly of sexual energy we want to introduce today the term of "sexual intelligence." Commonly we are familiar with intellectual intelligence that's measured by IQ or with emotional, kinesthetic and other kinds of intelligences as identified as "Multiple Intelligences" by Howard Gardner, PH.D . However, sexual intelligence isn't very well known and therefore not cultivated as a capacity. We at TantraNova (www.tantranova.com) refer to sexual intelligence as the development of consciousness as it relates to life force or sexual energy -- known in Sanskrit as Kundalini and in Taoism as chi). To get a better handle on this form of intelligence let's look first at human energy that is such an elusive phenomenon. Just as electrical energy is present for turning on the light bulb and infrared waves for connecting with each other by cell phone, human energy is ever present as long as we are alive. Traditionally we don't have a course about human energy in high-school or college. So let's discuss it here: At the core of all human energy is life force (sexual) energy which is the most powerful energy there is given that it brings forth life. Sexual energy has been used for procreation over the millennia, for recreation that became more available over the past 100 years with the onset of contraceptives and now we have become aware that we can use it for co-creation. It is the creative energy that fuels us in all areas of life like our health, well-being, relationships, career, work and family. Now here comes the question: How can you cultivate your sexual intelligence that implies a consciousness of your life force (sexual) energy experience? Simply put: Become aware of your subtle energy body on physical and emotional levels; learn to channel non-aroused and aroused energy throughout your body & being; and integrate your meditative with your sexual practice. The raising of sexual intelligence starts with each of us as an individual and then we can bring that consciousness to our relationships in daily life and in the intimate love making. To get started with becoming more aware of your inner energy flow experiment with this simple yet foundational practice: - Lie on your back on the floor or a mat - Exhale all the air, emptying yourself totally out until all air is gone - Then take in a deep breath and feel the rise of your belly, followed by the chest. - Visualize -- with your mind's attention and intention -- your breath moving all the way up to the top of your head - On the exhalation visualize sending the breath from the top of your head all the way down through your torso out of the base of your spine into the floor - Then again, take in a deep breath from the bottom of your spine all the way up to the top of your head. - On the exhalation visualize sending the breath from the top of your head all the way down through your torso out of the base of your spine into the floor - Continue in this pattern of breathing for 6 more breaths - Then continue breathing in your own rhythm while noticing how you feel right now - notice any sensations in your body, any energy movement, any tingling, just be present to yourself In a more advanced state a student who wants to cultivate his/her sexual intelligence can learn how to move aroused energy through the body from the bottom all the way up to the top, and from the top all the way down to the bottom. The aroused energy no longer resides only in the sexual center, or the second charka, it actually emanates throughout the body. This allows for the experience and greater sustainability of fulfillment and joy. Frequently this kind of experience is referred to as whole body orgasms, which opens up the possibility for multiple orgasms for both, men and women. At another time, we will discuss how sexual intelligence can be cultivated between two partners. Any question? Contact at us, either Dr. Elsbeth Meuth or Freddy Zental, at tantranova@tantranova.com. More on Yoga
 
Thomas Scheff: Mass Therapy for Depressed Soldiers Top
Worried about the high rates of depression and suicide, the Army is planning therapy for its 1.1 million soldiers . For many years I have been developing an approach for teaching college students (and my own therapy as well) that may fit the Army's problem exactly. I propose two basic causes of depression: Hidden emotions, and no secure bond with another person. These ideas lead to a practical self/other therapy for depression that might be effective for the Army. Temporary Lifting of Severe Depression Many years ago in England, I observed eighty initial interviews of elderly male patients admitted to a mental hospital. They were all deeply depressed in speech and manner. They were mostly outcasts without a secure bond. However, to my surprise, I saw moments in some of the interviews that were like miracles. The psychiatrists asked about half of the patients about their activity during WWII. For half of these, as they begin to describe their experience during the war, no matter what it was, their behavior and appearance underwent a dramatic change. Those who changed most sat up, raised their voice to a normal level instead of mumbling, held their head up and looked directly at the psychiatrist. The speed of talk picked up and became clear and coherent. Their facial expressions became lively and showed more color. Each of them seemed like a different, younger, person. The memory of the patients' earlier acceptance as valued members of their country under attack re-lived the feeling of a secure bond and generated pride. The pride, in turn, counteracted the shame part of their depression. Telling the psychiatrist about belonging to a community had been enough to remove the shame of being outcasts. Each question about WWII was a momentary invention of Positive Psychology. Many persons have had the experience of community as adults, but have forgotten. These persons, like the patients described above, need only be asked the right questions, or ask them themselves. It would appear that the deficit in these cases is not in the person, but in the social environment. In the rapid pace of modern societies, it is difficult to find a true confidant that is available when needed. Repression of Emotions and Gender Boys, more than girls, learn early that vulnerable feelings (love, grief, fear and shame) are seen as signs of weakness. In modern societies most boys learn to hide their vulnerable feelings in emotionless talk, withdrawal, or silence. In situations where this option seems unavailable, one may cover vulnerable feelings behind a display of hostility. Young boys, especially, learn in their families, and later, from their peers, to suppress emotions they actually feel by acting out anger whether they feel it or not. Vulnerable feelings are first hidden from others, and after many repetitions, even from self. In this latter stage, behavior becomes compulsive. When men face what they construe to be threatening situations, they may be compelled to silence , especially about their emotions. Even without threat, men seem to be more likely to silence than women. With their partners, most men don't talk freely about feelings of resentment, humiliation, embarrassment, rejection, loss and anxiety, or for that matter, joy, genuine pride and love. They seem to be backed up on a wide variety of intense feelings. Numbing out fear, particularly, is a catastrophe. Fear is an innate signal of danger that has survival value. When we see a car heading toward us on a collision course, genetic endowment has given us an immediate, automatic fear response: Wake up, your life is in danger! Much faster than thought, this reaction increases our chance of survival; repressing it is dangerous to self and others. Yet most men are trained to equate fear with cowardice. Numbing out fear and other emotions may be the main source of the high rates of depression in the mostly male U. S. Army. In order to avoid pain inflicted by others, we learn to repress our emotions. After thousands of curtailments, repression becomes habitual and out of consciousness. As we become more backed up with avoided emotions, we have the sense that experiencing them would be unbearably painful. In this way, avoidance leads to avoidance and finally silence in a self-perpetuating feedback loop. How can our soldiers escape this loop? I have been using exercises to deal with my own bouts of depression and those of my students: Best Moments, Gratitude Letters, and two exercises for finding and connecting with a confidant. I will describe them and their effectiveness in my next blog.
 
Greg Archer: Rolling With the Santa Cruz Derby Groms Top
I glommed onto the Santa Cruz Derby Groms this week--literally. The SCDG are a young posse of fast-rolling gals, an offshoot of the Santa Cruz Derby Girls , who've been a powerful force in the Northern California derby circuit for some time now. After slipping into some skates and what felt like a ton of padding, I interviewed several of these Derb-ettes--most under the age of 17. (Fierce!) Take a look:
 
Maddisen K. Krown: Ask Maddisen - How to Free Yourself from Confusion Top
Dear Maddisen: Lately, I've had so much on my plate with caring for my family and my business, that I've been spinning into confusion and overwhelm, and feeling exhausted. I'm also worried about a few problems, anticipating others, and feel like there's a circus going on in my head! I'm pretty good with time management, but would love to know if you have any great tips for managing myself when I get like this! Many thanks, JM Dear JM, Thanks for your great question. I have a very simple technique to share that should help you release the confusion and overwhelm, and return you to a more peaceful state. Let's get to it now! Grab a piece of paper and a pencil, sit down, and follow these steps: STEP 1 - LIST EVERYTHING In a line-by-line format, write down everything that is on your mind, including to-do's, worries, problems, etc. For example: - Take Champion to vet for shots - Order Jinny's birthday present - I'm afraid Frank is binging on sugar again - I've skipped 2 cardio classes this week, and feel guilty - Deposit checks at credit union - Worried about Josh since V broke up with him - Set appointments with Chris and Samantha - Order business brochure refills - Book flight for NY - Why do we have algae growing in the pool? - Do we need to change pool service again? - Read 2 chapters for renewal exam - Grocery shop - Should I get botox? - Pick up dry cleaning STEP 2 - PRIORITIZE EVERYTHING Prioritize every item on the list, including problems and worries. For example: 3. Take Champion to vet for shots 4. Order Jinny's birthday present 12. I'm afraid Frank is binging on sugar again 10. I've skipped 2 cardio classes this week, and feel guilty 1. Deposit checks at credit union 11. Worried about Josh since V broke up with him 7. Set appointments with Chris and Samantha 6. Order business brochure refills 5. Book flight for NY 13. Why do we have algae growing in the pool? 14. Do we need to change pool service again? 9. Read 2 chapters for renewal exam 8. Grocery shop 15. Should I get botox? 2. Pick up dry cleaning Notice how you feel after you list everything and prioritize the list. First, writing everything down in a simple list format and seeing it all in front of your eyes will often times completely eliminate any confusion you were feeling. Second, prioritizing the list helps you clearly see and realize what is really important, what needs to get done, and what might need loving attention. When I first begin this exercise, I usually start off feeling serious and worried and overwhelmed; and by the time I'm putting numbers in front of items to prioritize them - I'm often giggling at or at least amused by myself and how I've over-magnified the immensity of everything before I did the exercise. When I'm done with the exercise, I usually feel clarity about the tasks I'd like to complete, and relief at the manageability of it all. Plus, I receive the benefit of bringing formerly unconscious worries to the surface so that I can address and heal them. Try this exercise and see what happens for you. Feel free to drop me an email at askmaddisen@krown.us , and let me know your results. JM, thank you for bringing this issue to the surface and into the light so that we could address it and provide a healing solution for you and all the readers. Even when we're busy, there's definitely time to carry out the two simple steps above - 1) list everything, and 2) prioritize the list. May we remove the circus from our heads and place it back on the stage where it belongs! Your Coach, Maddisen Submit your questions for "Ask Maddisen" to askmaddisen@krown.us . Let us hear your thoughts -- include your COMMENTS below. Copyright 2009 Maddisen K. Krown More on Lists
 
Ann Leary: Britain's National Health Service and the "Appreciation of Life" Top
I don't think that Britain asked to be involved in our national debate over healthcare reform, but comments from certain members of congress, such as Republican Paul Broun of Georgia who claims that the UK and Canada "don't have the appreciation of life as we do in our society, evidently," have put some Brits on the defensive about their National Health Service. I don't know what personal experience Congressman Broun has with the NHS, but I'd like to share ours. In March of 1990, my family became uninvited guests of the NHS. It wasn't our plan. My husband, Denis Leary, and I were young, broke and I was 6 months pregnant. We had been flown to London by the BBC because Denis, then an unknown comic, had been hired to appear on a television variety show called London Underground. We were supposed to stay for two nights but -- and I wish there was a daintier way to say this -- my water broke as we strolled down Oxford Street, the day after we arrived. Denis and I took a taxi to University College Hospital in central London and were immediately seen by an obstetrician and admitted. I was given an ultrasound and an amniocentesis test and it was confirmed that I was pregnant with a 26-week-old fetus. The doctor informed us that our baby's chances of survival were less than 50%, if he were to be born during the next few days. I would like Sarah Palin to rest assured that there was no "death panel" to determine whether or not our son was worth saving. On the contrary, I was placed in the maternity ward and received outstanding medical care from UCH's highly qualified and compassionate medical staff. I was given a series of injections of a steroid that had not yet been approved in the United States, but that helped my baby's lungs produce surfactant -- a substance that normally doesn't develop in human lungs until 32 weeks gestation. Because of these injections, my son, who was born at 28 weeks gestation, breathed on his own from birth, and was never placed on a ventilator. As non-citizens, we were not entitled to receive free services from the NHS, but nobody delayed our admission or emergency medical care to ask how we intended to pay. We had health insurance, but the doctors and nurses actually seemed slightly embarrassed when we brought this up and it was several weeks into my stay at the hospital before an administrator approached me to inquire about the insurance. He assured me that I would receive the same standard of care whether I was insured or not, but if I had insurance, they would like to be reimbursed, if that was possible. Of course we were happy to supply our insurance information and our carrier was more than happy to pay up (you'll see why in a minute). I was in the hospital for two weeks before delivering, had multiple ultrasounds, the amniocentesis, blood tests, medications and ultimately a caesarian delivery. Our son was in the neonatal intensive care unit for two months, the first weeks in a level one unit where he had 24-hour, one-on-one nursing care. After I recovered from my surgery, I was provided a room in the University College's student dormitory for a very minimal fee. I was given a hospital breast pump and was encouraged, daily, by the midwives and nurses, to keep my milk supply up. After our son's discharge from the hospital, he still wasn't healthy enough to travel by plane so we had a health professional come to our temporary home -- as they do to every home in Britain after a baby is born -- to see how we were doing. The "health visitor" taught me an infant message technique that she had learned at a seminar in Sweden that was known to improve the muscle development of preterm babies. She taught me how to hold our tiny baby in a way that soothed his colicky belly. She answered my frantic, new-mother questions. She hugged me, because I was a little teary, and so far from home. She gave me her card and told me to call her anytime. She told me where to take our baby for his first vaccinations. Later, she called me to check that our son had received them. Our bill? 10,000 British pounds. At some point we compared medical bills with an American couple that had had a 28-week preemie at around the same time. Their bill was in the hundreds of thousands of dollars. But more to the point than the cost of the care, was the value that was placed on our tiny son's life from the moment we walked, dazed and panic-stricken through the doors of University College Hospital. The goal of every person who attended to us, every moment that we were there, was to save this baby and offer him the best medicine had to offer. In some cases, such as with the steroid injections, this was better medicine than would have been available to us in the United States. I spent many weeks in the neonatal unit and saw many sad cases. Babies with severe birth defects. Babies who were born at 24 weeks gestatation, or even earlier. Some of these babies had been in the NICU for months and months. There was no "death panel" deciding the fate of these most vulnerable lives. No life was considered unworthy of the outstanding care that was being provided. I learned, during our time in the UK, that the British are very proud of the NHS and for good reason. How embarrassing, now, to have to watch our provincial leaders, in the government and the media, try to frighten American voters by making uninformed, extremely negative references to a healthcare system, that, in my experience, far outshines our own. Ann Leary is the author of the memoir, An Innocent, A Broad , (Morrow, 2004) which details her experiences with the NHS, as well as the novel Outtakes From a Marriage , (Shaye Areheart, 2008). More on England
 
Richard Zombeck: Ignorance Isn't Anti-American Top
The wingnuts from far right not only seem to be naive, or better yet selectively ignorant, when it comes to historical fact, but apparently have managed to develop super powers making them impervious to reality. The teabaggers had their tea parties to protest rising taxes, claiming they were doing it in honor of the original Boston Tea Party, which had very little to do with taxes or any rise in taxes, but that doesn't seem to matter to people like Glenn Beck and Michelle Malkin, who ginned viewers up to go out and make asses of themselves by throwing tea bags and calling themselves teabaggers. The tea party was American and by gosh the Teabaggers are real Americans and they do what Americans do. Like come out in clusters, sometimes nearing double digits, which Fox News reported as "massive crowds." They carry signs that say "Welcome to France" and "Is Obama French?" as if we were approaching the end of western civilization. These signs were held by people who had never been to France. If they had they would have seen the throngs of topless women walking the beaches, cheese lined streets, and wine fountains on every corner. They also forget that without the French , around the time of the Boston Tea Party, they never would have won the right to carry semi automatic weapons to rallies . Michelle Malkin appeared on Hannity last week, in part to pimp her new book, yapping about the "regal" democrats, hardball politics, and slam the government for making the same remarks she defended in past administrations. Hannity, in his Fox Newsy unbiased, innocent, and dejected way asks Malkin, "Is this the first time in our life time we've ever seen the government really attack people like this?" Malkin, dejected and aghast, responds with, "I think it is." Really? She can't think of a single instance when the government accused people of being anti-American? Is her knowledge or account of history that skewed that she can't shed a glimmer of truth on anything? Would it really be too much to ask for a little journalistic integrity? That rather than counting on your viewers being complete and total rubes, you show them a little respect and inform and educate them? A more accurate statement from Malkin would have been something along the lines of, "Yes John I do remember the government attacking people and I don't have to go to back to the dark ages of McCarthyism. Bush/Cheney did it all throughout the WMD fiasco. During WWII we had internment camps for people who ... well ... people who looked like me John. Michelle Bachman called all liberals anti- American on Hardball , and Palin's done it so many times it's not even worth mentioning. But usually they're attacking commies, tree huggers, and wimps. Not us and it hurts John. It really hurts." Malkin and her buddies on the right are defending and even inciting people to protest a bill that could help tens of millions of people. American people who drop at a rate of 18,000 every year because they don't have health care. Many of the same people who are protesting the bill could benefit from it . Malkin's right though, these people aren't un-American. They're uneducated, ignorant, and uninformed and that's completely American. More on Health Care
 
Lotta Alsén: Why Does Money Make Us Crazy? Top
People will readily imbibe a cocktail of slugs and worms if there's a remote chance of winning a few thousand dollars. Friends and partners, more often than not, become bitter enemies over a will, a contract or a perceived financial injustice. And people stay in jobs and relationships that are long past their due date because of financial reasons. Why does money make us crazy? Well, it's quite simple. Money represents survival. It's correlated to our first power, our base-line and our most primitive instinct. If something, or someone, threatens our survival, we will do what it takes to defend ourselves. Money also represents our sense of self-worth. People who have money are perceived as 'better' and more powerful than people with no money. In spiritual, non-profit and in a big number of women's circles, these salient truths are often shoved under the carpet, and especially making money is represented as a necessary evil, and another piece of evidence of a consumerist money-obsessed life-style. Even in prosperity circles, the underbelly of money is seldom recognized. Instead, the focus is on 'the laws of attraction', 'positive thinking', and on how to 'think yourself rich', forgetting that money represents a gigantic subconscious cobweb of attachments. There's no way we can shift our mindset before we acknowledge, and become more aware of our relationship with money and what it really means to us. It's similar to sex. The more we repress one of our most basic needs, the uglier it gets (think the Catholic church and sexual abuse). Our first step of liberation is to acknowledge that money is the equivalent of what our ancestors saw in a fallen prey - a few weeks, or months, of survival. As long as our minds and bodies are focused on survival, we are stuck at our lowest expression of our potential. If we want to be of more service to society, we have to acknowledge that we have to first learn the skills, tools and mindset of making money. For people seeking employment as a way to ensure money-making, it's a bit easier. They need to be sure they can package their skill sets, and passions in order to fit into a defined need by a presumptive employer, and thereby tap into an existing system. For those of us striking out on our own, as entrepreneurs or solopreneurs, it's more challenging. We need to find out what we are passionate about and can offer that other people value and are prepared to pay for. But we also need to create the system needed to package, market and distribute our offer. And above all, if we want to be financially successful, we need to figure out how we can leverage our offer. An example of this is to ask yourself: Should I start a coffee-shop (the dream of many women), which equals small leverage, or do I build a Starbucks (the dream of many men), which equals big leverage? Money makes us crazy because we know we need it to survive, and when our survival is threatened, logic and compassion flies out the window. This doesn't mean that money should be the focal point of our existence; to the contrary. It only addresses the most basic aspect of our humanity. Yet, unless we are incredibly enlightened, we can't move upwards until we've created a foundation to build on! Stay tuned the coming weeks for learning how to create this foundation! Lotta Alsén teaches women how to make money, step into their powers and change the world. She has a MSc in International Economics, is a serial entrepreneur, business & success coach and author. Read more at http://www.quickenings.com , or follow her blog at http://quickenings.typepad.com .
 
Melissa Silverstein: Casi Divas- Interview with Director Issa Lopez Top
Casi Divas tells the story of four very different women vying in a contest to become the next big telenovela star.  It is a story infused with dreams of changing your life and desires for celebrity and success but if you think it is all gloss you will miss the real point of the film. This film manages to do what so many others miss — it manages to tell important stories and be entertaining.  Francisca (Maya Zapata) is a poor Indian woman from Oaxaca who deals with race issues in the Mexican culture; Ximena Lizarraga (Ana Layevska) is a rich girl who has remade her body to fit into the culture but is miserable and really, really hungry; Catalina (Diana Garcia) works in the factories of Ciudad Juarez and uses her platform to raise awareness about young girls who continue to go missing in her community; and Yesenia (Daniela Schmidt) is struggling with issues of gender identity. Film opens tomorrow in San Diego, Miami, NY and LA. Mexican Writer and Director Issa Lopez answered some questions for Women & Hollywood Women & Hollywood: Why were you drawn to writing and directing this story? Issa Lopez: Two things were immediately very interesting to me. First, this global obsession with celebrity that plagues us. As if the simple fact of being on a screen, any screen, could wipe away all of our worries. This need to become public, and being massively recognized, accepted, admired. As if the only true proof of our existence could be through celebrity. Second, the chance to portray the radically different ways to be a woman in Mexico. The radically different struggles that women face in a maddeningly contrasting nation. And the very different motives that can lay behind this search for the spotlight. From finding love, to survival. W&H: You manage to make a fun story and infuse it with many important political issues including issues of weight, class, gender and race as well as the important topic of young women who are kidnapped.  Why was it important to include these elements and how were you able to keep it light while making sure that people really also thought about important issues? IL: This was the main challenge in Casi Divas . From the start, the producer of the film, Gabriel Ripstein, and I, realized that if we were going to talk about young women in Mexico, we had to address these huge, vital issues. And in that case, could we bring such serious business to the Mexican middle class, pop consuming culture that goes for Hollywood fare, romantic comedies and telenovelas? Because that is your movie ticket buyer in Mexico. Could we make these things the subject of coffee talk? We had to. Because it is increasingly urgent to bring back the eye of that Mexican and Latino middle class, that decision making group, to look back into these issues. And the one way to do it, was to make it… entertaining. And engaging. And fun. Without taking the finger out of the wound. The way that I describe this movie, is a cake with a blade inside. It was a constant fear, and a very fine line to tread. So we worked carefully together on the script, on the casting, on the general tone to keep this very fine balance between fun and content. W&H: How did you get started in directing? IL: I attended film school and directing was my primary passion from the beginning. I had to learn to direct – writing has always been natural to me. But after film school I had to write telenovelas. Very few films were made in Mexico. Slowly and very painfully I squeezed myself into film making, in the beginning as a writer. I was successful as a writer, but I wanted to direct and it was very hard to convince an industry that has  accepted and labeled you as a writer, (or as anything, for that matter) that you can be something else. It’s funny that these days it’s quite hard for me to sell a script without committing to direct it, too. W&H: This is a film done by a studio clearly trying to break into the spanish speaking market.  What is the goal for the film in the US? IL: I think we ended up with a movie that addresses Latino issues but also universal issues. We’ve had very powerful responses from latino and non-latino audiences. Right now, it’s core target is the latino community. But celebrity obsession, media manipulation, women abuse, racism, and above all, women dreaming, can appeal to all audiences, I believe. W&H: What are you doing next? IL: I am both writing a comedy for the US, and a comedy for Mexico, with Gabriel Ripstein, with whom I worked on Divas . The one for the US is about men. The one for Mexico, about women. Let’s see which one moves faster! W&H: What type of advice would you offer a female writer and director in the business? IL: To be incredibly stubborn. If you are doing this it is because you believe you have something to say. And if that’s the case, stay put until you’ve said it. Film info: Casi Divas
 
Gadi Ben-Yehuda: More Than a New Web Site: What Gov2.0 Is (and Isn't) Top
Last summer, I was interviewed by the CTO of Washington, DC, (yes, that CTO ) for a position in his office. The city was planning a major overhaul of their entire Web property and they were looking for someone who would work solely on planning and strategy. I joined DC's OCTO in October 2008, and since then, I've devoted most of my time to thinking and writing about the current and future state of what is commonly called "Gov2.0" and how to apply it as we ready our new site. I have many peers in the field. One of them, Dr. Mark Drapeau, writes the blog Cheeky Fresh and is the prolific twitterer cheeky_geeky . He wrote a post last December on Mashable asking others to help come up with an alternative way of talking about Gov2.0. He asked : Why might Government 2.0 need to be rebranded? The main reason, particularly with the election of Barack Obama, is that gradually the public will have a wider appreciation for, and adopt greater use of, social technologies. Inasmuch as that pertains to government and the public sector, it would be useful to have a simple brand that encompasses the ideal of making government work better through use of social technologies. Like Mark, I'd like to hit the reset button on the term "Gov2.0." It's used as a shorthand by federal, state, and local governments who are adopting new approaches, hiring a new generation of government workers and leaders, and using new technologies and methods to serve and engage their constituents. But it's tied too closely to Web 2.0, so it makes all our advances sound like nothing more than a new skin for an old site. And nothing could be further from the truth. When I talk to others who work at the intersection of government and the Web, everyone uses the term "Gov 2.0," with some degree of fudging. Does it mean having a blog? Being on Facebook? Or just publishing your office's phone number on a Web site? That's why I've started using the term "G21," which better defines -- and thus helps us accomplish -- our mission. And it's exactly as many syllables as "Gov 2.0" The government of the 21st century (G21) breaks from that of the 20th, 19th, and even 18th, even as it acknowledges them, and, more importantly, helps us understand that government change is predicated as much on an evolving polity as on advancing technology (a truth that the term "Gov 2.0" at best ignores and at worst obscures). But whether we call it Gov 2.0 or G21, here are why I think are the three main issues that we're facing at the intersection Government and Information Technology: The technological changes that have altered every facet of society--social, economic, educational, etc; The polity's new demands on governments that those technologies enable; and How governments can fulfill citizens' needs by using those technologies. In upcoming posts, I'll explore each of these issues. I'd also like to respond to reader's impressions about what Gov2.0 (excuse me, G21) is or answer any questions left in the comments.
 
Hagit Ofran: Partial Freeze On Israeli Settlements Reason To Be Cautiously Optimistic Top
President Obama, following his meeting with President Mubarak, said yesterday : "There has been movement in the right direction" referring to the reports in the Israeli media that the government of Israel agreed to freeze construction in the settlements and not to issue new construction-tenders until the end of 2009. On one hand, we should be happy, because such a freeze proves that even an extreme right wing government cannot ignore the White House and run wild and build in the territories without limits. But on the other hand, the tenders which the government is freezing, are only a small part of the construction in the territories. On the ground there are several projects under construction in the settlements. So let us try and understand: What does "freezing new tenders" mean? About 40 percent of the construction in the settlements in the last few years was initiated by the government; the rest was done privately. Currently, 40 percent percent of the public construction is carried out through tenders. When the government initiates a large construction project it sells it by tender, or bidding, in which it offers the building rights to the highest bidder. The rest of the construction is done without bidding. The last tender for new construction in the settlements and East Jerusalem was nine months ago, in November 2008. Ultimately, even if the government freezes all new tenders, it only applies to part of 40 percent of the construction. The rest is not stopped. What is the situation on the ground now? According to the Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics , at the end of March 2009 (before the Netanyahu government took office) there were 3,073 housing units under construction in the settlements, not including construction in East Jerusalem. Even if some of those buildings have been completed by now, this still means that a couple of thousands of housing units are under construction at this moment. The government has not frozen this construction. It is very hard to know if there is a freeze on other new projects. In many cases the settlers can rely on old permits they were given. There are about 45,000 housing units in the settlements that can theoretically be built on the basis of old building plans that were approved in the past (practically, some of them are not relevant for execution and sometimes additional permits are needed besides approval of the building plan). It looks as if the government has for the meantime chosen a passive freeze, namely, merely avoiding initiating new projects. But in order to really prevent construction in the settlements an active freeze is needed , which is a stop of construction that has already begun and a halt on projects that were approved in the past but have not been carried out yet. So, should we be optimistic? As someone who lives in Israel and sees her future here in Israel I have no choice but to be optimistic and always look for the opportunity even when it seems dim. But even pessimists are allowed to be at least a little encouraged. President Obama is trying to bring the sides to start negotiations on a permanent status agreement, in order to finally put an end to the conflict and arrive at a two state solution. In order to begin the process, both sides need to show willingness and seriousness. On the Israeli side this means to stop building in the settlements (because ultimately as part of the two-state solution we will have to evacuate them). The Netanyahu government has a paradox: On one hand it is the most right wing government Israel has had in many years. The cabinet ministers compete with each other on who will say something more extreme. On the day after the report on the freeze of tenders was published, three cabinet ministers visited the site of the settlement of Homesh , near Nablus, which was evacuated by Israel in the Disengagement, and declared that the settlement should be rebuilt. It is hard to believe that anybody in the Israeli mainstream is really interested in rebuilding the evacuated settlement. The extreme statements were meant only to attract attention. On the other hand, it has been four months since the government was established and not a single new tender has been published, nor do we know of the approval of any new plans ( except one ). Netanyahu knows that none of the right-wing ministers in his government have any alternatives. If they decide to quit the coalition he will bring Kadima into his government and all those ministers will remain without influence. Therefore, despite the extreme statements, Netanyahu is definitely vulnerable to pressure and his coalition is pretty stable. Therefore, even though there is not a real freeze yet, I am cautiously optimistic. Hagit Ofran is the director of "Settlement Watch"- a Peace Now Project Monitoring Settlement Expansion in the West Bank. Get HuffPost World On Facebook and Twitter! More on Israel
 
Kevin Grandia: Iraq and Afghanistan War Vets Denounce 'Energy Citizens' Campaign As "Oil Dependence Tour" Top
Operation Free , a coalition of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans and national security organizations, today slammed the ‘Energy Citizens’ Astroturf campaign orchestrated by the American Petroleum Institute and other Big Oil interests as a detriment to America’s energy security. “Veterans understand the connection between energy security, climate change and national security,” said Jon Powers, Chief Operating Officer of the Truman National Security Project and an Iraq war vet. Describing climate change as a “threat multiplier” for the armed forces, Powers denounced the ‘Energy Citizens’ campaign, stating that Big Oil does not have America’s best interests at heart.  “Veterans do not want to see America’s national security in the hands of Big Oil,” said Powers during the press teleconference today. Maine State Representative Alex Cornell du Houx, an Iraq war vet, said the ‘Energy Citizens’ campaign is “limiting meaningful debate on a serious national security issue,” and “watering down” the critical message that veterans and clean energy advocates have for Congress, which is to act immediately to address climate change in the interest of national security.  Rep. Cornell du Houx described witnessing long lines of cars and truck waiting for gasoline and diesel while on patrol in Iraq, and said he “never wanted to see the U.S. become even close to that dependent on oil.” Drew Sloan, an Iraq and Afghanistan vet and former employee at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory and Rocky Mountain Institute, called the United States’ slow response to the threat of climate change “death by a thousand self-inflicted cuts.”  Using an analogy from the battlefield, Sloan called the climate crisis “a wound that will become increasingly difficult to heal” unless America acts fast to address it. Sloan denounced ‘Energy Citizens’ and other oil and coal industry Astroturfing as “lies and misleading innuendo,” and described an unstable future in which American soldiers could lose their lives fighting wars over dwindling resources. Iraq and Afghanistan vet Scott Holcomb, a part-time Professor at Georgia Tech, talked about the “lesson that all vets learn at a gut level - that tomorrow is never promised,” and related it to the need to make energy security a national priority.  “Soldiers will not have to go fight in resource wars if we act now,” he said.  “The more we can diversify our energy supplies and create domestic renewable sources, the better off we will be,” said Holcomb. A group of roughly one hundred Operation Free veterans plans to visit Washington on September 9-10 for a day of action and meetings with Congress to relay the national security imperative of addressing climate change.  Veterans are also working within their local communities on what Powers described as “a real grassroots effort.” He said that many veterans “continue to protect America when we get out of the service,” and that the group’s work to raise support for action on climate change is “another form of strengthening America.”   “We don’t have the money that Big Oil does to bus people around.  This is a genuine grassroots effort,” said Powers. More on Climate Change
 
Julie Farby: Hey Kids, It's Comedy Hour With Barney And Rush! Top
Aww, snap! Someone just got served! Big bad Barney Frank doesn't like being interrupted. And he certainly doesn't like having his town hall discussion disrupted so that some seemingly normal looking woman who's actually bat crazy can ask him pressing, substantive health care reform questions like, "Why are you supporting this Nazi policy?" while holding up a tasteful Obama equals Hitler sign. Which is precisely why Barry very calmly answers this young gal's query by calling her approach, "vile, contemptible nonsense" and responding with his own question, "On what planet do you spend most of your time?"   He then decides not to humor this idiot lady with a legitimate answer because "Trying to have a conversation with you would be like arguing with a dining room table." And being the reasonable person that he is, Barney really doesn't see any point in trying to talk sense into an inanimate object with racist tendencies. Fair enough. But not everyone thinks this dining room table got a fair shake from old Barney. Sure, Rush Limbaugh thinks "it's fabulous and fantastic, and hilarious that a woman shows up at a Barney Frank town hall meeting with an Obama-as-Hitler poster and this Nazi stuff, in his district. I mean, this is unreal." "But the killer for me was, here's Barney Frank saying, 'What planet do you live on?' to this woman. Isn't it an established fact that Barney Frank himself spends of his time living around Uranus?" HAHAHAHAHAHA!!! Get it?? No, not because he's Jewish but because he's a GAY (gasp!). LOL! Hilarious. And to think it only took Rushy three scrapped drafts, 200 revisions, a trough of dark roast coffee, twenty cans of Red Bull, five large pizzas, two double bacon cheeseburgers, 10 cigars, and three bottles of his usual hydrocodone-oxycodone cocktail to come up with it! Looks like it's SHOWTIME at the Apollo for someone... More on Health Care
 
Samuel S. Epstein: A Global Model for Health Care Top
Imagine a world in which even the remotest inhabitants have access to good health care. That's the vision of Health for Humanity , an international, not-for-profit, Baha'i-inspired organization based in Wilmette, IL. Health for Humanity is founded upon the conviction that humankind constitutes one global family with a common heritage and a collective destiny. The central principles which guide Health for Humanity's mission are inspired by the teachings of the Baha'i Faith. "Before we can make any progress to address the development challenges in our world, we have to first acknowledge that we are all members of one human family and that the welfare of each of us affects us all," says Dr. May Khadem, assistant professor of clinical ophthalmology at Northwestern University's Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago ophthalmologist, lifelong Baha'i and founding director of Health for Humanity Health for Humanity was conceived 17 years ago on January 19th, 1992. On that cold Chicago winter Sunday, about twenty physicians gathered together to make decisions about an initiative many had been discussing for several years. That original group was passionate, unified, and shared an incredibly inspiring vision of an organization that would create effective models for health development that successfully combined best practices with a firm ethical foundation based on universal human values. Their first project was initiated that year at the Albania University Eye Center. The project's goal was to reduce blindness in Albania by improving the capacity for modern eye services, with particular focus on cataract surgery and retina services. Health for Humanity strives to build the capacity of local partners to improve the health of their populations, while providing opportunities for service for its volunteers. Health for Humanity members are from diverse ethnic, religious and professional backgrounds and membership is open to anyone interested in the Health for Humanity mission. "We were embarked on a different and unique pathway to improve the outcomes of health development by focusing not only on what we do, but how we do it. We might think of what we do as the breadth of our activities based on approaches guided by scientific evidence. How we do it has more to do with the depth of our strategies and the core values we employ. Seventeen years later there is a renewed dedication to explore the depth and learn more about and share the new evolving strategies based on ethics, core human values, and service, in addition to utilizing the best practices espoused by the World Health Organization and the community of non-governmental health development organizations" affirms Khadem. Health for Humanity works through partnerships with local institutions to identify health problems and implement effective value based interventions through service-oriented leadership training. This unique blend of science and values is Health for Humanity's distinctive contribution to health development. Health for Humanity projects fall under two program areas: technical training and health systems enrichment. The technical training program offers surgical training, clinical training, lectures in various medical specialties, and sponsorship of medical fellowships. Health for Humanity's health systems enrichment program is meant to reinforce and build on the effects of the technical training program. As health care professionals are trained in advanced medical techniques, they acquire skills to facilitate knowledge dissemination, group discussion, and consensus building. Health for Humanity s Values-based Leadership curriculum is the cornerstone of this program and works to encourage the examination of leadership models that incorporate ethical frameworks as a means of improving technical capacity and patient care. During the last year, Health for Humanity's medical volunteers instructed over 270 doctors and provided over 30 specialized surgical trainings in general cataract surgery, oculoplastics surgery and treatment, pediatric rehabilitation, general pediatrics, psychiatry, HIV/AIDS prevention, mental health issues, pediatric cardiology, and diabetes prevention. Health for Humanity also sponsored fellowships for two Mongolian physicians so that they may have the skills necessary to establish an eye bank and to offer the most modern glaucoma treatments. Additionally training was provided in the field of Values-Based Leadership for health care professionals. Health for Humanity's current projects include working with healthcare providers in Mongolia to help prevent avoidable blindness, in China to improve the quality of life for children with disabilities, and with hospitals in China and Mongolia to improve their continuing medical education programs. Recently, after 17 years Dr. Khadem stepped down as its volunteer executive director. Her passion and commitment carved an illustrious history of successful international partnerships. While her contributions are considerable they can be perhaps best summed up by a quote from the head surgical nurse in ophthalmology, Vincenc Gjergji, whom Dr. Khadem worked with in Albania for 13 years. "I thank you that you gave us value. It helped us to appreciate ourselves... For me the moral leadership workshop was the most helpful. This was the first time that we had anything like this in our clinic... After that, I changed my style of communication with those under me. They saw a difference in me and they liked it. It changed them too. They work differently now. The way we organize our work changed completely... We never used to prepare the patients for surgery. We never said anything to them. Now we explain to the patients what kind of surgery they are having and for what reason. The patients feel much better and the nurses feel much better. We talk to patients now... We appreciate so much everything you did for us. You gave us a new vision of ourselves and it is only growing as we learn more..." Health for Humanity envisions a world in which all members of the human family, even in the most remote regions, have the resources and educational opportunities to address the health challenges of their communities and is then able to shoulder the leadership for their own progress. These values, found in all cultures, nations, and faiths are what unite humanity into one family and constitute the essence of humanity's common heritage and future. For more information on Health for Humanity on how to become a volunteer or to make a contribution visit www.healthforhumanity.org Samuel S. Epstein, M.D. is professor emeritus of Environmental and Occupational Medicine at the University of Illinois at Chicago School of Public Health; Chairman of the Cancer Prevention Coalition ; The Albert Schweitzer Golden Grand Medalist for International Contributions to Cancer Prevention; and author of over 200 scientific articles and 15 books on the causes and prevention of cancer, including the groundbreaking The Politics of Cancer (1979), and five books on cosmetics and personal care products, including Toxic Beauty (2009).
 
Richard Ravitch Appointment Rejected By Appellate Division Top
NEW YORK — A state appeals court has ruled that New York Gov. David Paterson's appointment of a lieutenant governor was unlawful. A Brooklyn-based appellate panel on Thursday upheld a constitutional challenge brought by the state Senate's minority leader. On July 8, the Democratic governor tapped longtime government adviser Richard Ravitch for the post in a bid to break up a Senate leadership logjam. Paterson says state law allowed the appointment. Senate Republican leader Dean Skelos says the state constitution did not. The court says no state law or constitutional provision allows the lieutenant governor's post to be filled by anything but an election. More on GOP
 
SC Powerball ticket wins $259.9 million jackpot Top
COLUMBIA, S.C. — Someone who bought a Powerball ticket in South Carolina is $259.9 million richer. The single winning ticket for Wednesday's drawing was sold at a gas station and convenience store next to a Walmart in Columbia, but no one had come forward to claim the prize by Thursday afternoon. "I hope it's one of my regulars," said Amber Baldwin, assistant manager at the Murphy USA store in Columbia. "At this point it could be anyone." Lottery officials said the ticket matched all the winning numbers for the mid-week drawing: 14, 24, 31, 43 and 51. The Powerball was 27 and the multiplier was 5. The Powerball jackpot is the largest ever won with a ticket bought in South Carolina, which has the nation's fourth-highest state unemployment rate. Lottery officials said there's a good chance the winner could live in the state. "Because of this location ... because so many of our local residents shop at Wal-Mart and because there is a simple path from Wal-Mart to Murphy, we are just so hopeful that this is a lucky South Carolinian or several lucky South Carolinians," said state Education Lottery Executive Director Paula Harper Bethea. People shuffling in and out of the store where the ticket was sold was also optimistic. Some called relatives from their cell phones to see if they had the winning ticket. Others, like 60-year-old retired mall worker Laura Myers, concluded that they'd better start playing. "I come here all the time," said Myers, who bought gas and a ticket Thursday. "It could have been me." Lottery officials hope the winner will come forward within the required 180 days. If not, the money will be divided among the states that operate Powerball. The game is now played in 30 states, the District of Columbia and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
 
Octomom: I Gained 138 Pounds During Pregnancy, Kate Gosselin's Tummy Tuck Is A Publicity Stunt Top
Fox's incredibly dispiriting two-hour special , 'Octomom: The Incredible Unseen Footage,' aired Wednesday night and basically made the Gosselins look like the Brady Bunch. In case you missed it, we learned that Nadya Suleman has not had sex in nine years, she lives in fear of her children being snatched, her 2-year-old calls her 'Bitch' and none of her 14 children wanted to wish her a Happy Mother's Day. She also gained 138 pounds during her latest pregnancy and has a weird fixation with bikini pictures of Kate Gosselin, who she said got a tummy tuck so that people would take pictures of her. Suleman, on the other hand, would have us believe that she hates the cameras. "Honestly, I'm not as attention seeking, probably never, it's just my opinion, but some people are desperate for attention," she said. In the clip below, Suleman covers her babies with a blanket then rushes to apply makeup as the unwanted paparazzi chase her. WATCH: You can watch the entire episode here. Get HuffPost Entertainment On Facebook and Twitter! More on Nadya Suleman
 
Yes She Can! 59% Of HuffPost Readers Say Michelle Obama "Absolutely" Has The Right To Wear Shorts (PHOTOS) Top
When we asked readers on Monday whether it was appropriate for the first lady to wear shorts on Air Force One, nearly 13,000 opinions poured in. In response to the question, "Does Michelle Obama have the right to bare legs?" 59% of readers voted "Absolutely," while 25% believed it was fine, but suggested she wear longer shorts next time. Only 17% said that shorts are inappropriate for a first lady. Here are the final results: PHOTOS: If you still have an opinion you'd like to share, please do so in the comments below. Follow HuffPost Style on Twitter and become a fan of HuffPost Style on Facebook ! More on Photo Galleries
 
Jeff Rivera: Young Hollywood: Former American Idol Star, Brooke White (VIDEO) Top
I had the opportunity and pleasure to meet former American Idol star, Brooke White . She was incredibly bubbly and insanely talented. I had no idea what to expect when I met her but her bubbly personality quickly warmed me up to her. She even gave me a one-on-one personal concert before her performance at Barnes and Noble in Manhattan. She's a self-taught pianist, guitarist and her voice will blow you away. If you haven't heard her new single, Radio, Radio go out and get it. It's one of those songs you can't get out of your head. I would have to say that Ms. Brooke White deserves every bit of success she has earned. Jeff Rivera is an entertainment reporter who blogs about Young Hollywood . He is also the author of the novel, Forever My Lady (Grand Central Publishing). For more celebrity interviews, visit: www.JeffRivera.com More on American Idol
 
Patrick Kane Pleads Not Guilty, Free Without Bail Top
Chicago Blackhawks star forward Patrick Kane and his cousin have pleaded not guilty to misdemeanor charges that they beat up a cab driver over a fare. More on Sports
 
Ed Sayres: The Road Ahead for Michael Vick Top
After careful consideration, we have decided to speak out now about Michael Vick because of the special circumstances involving the ASPCA. Several months ago, Mr. Vick's PR representatives approached the ASPCA to help educate America about the heinous act of dog fighting following his release from prison. We were the first animal welfare organization given the opportunity to work with Mr. Vick but immediately turned him down due to the unique knowledge we had of his indescribable and barbaric acts of animal cruelty where he and his associates savagely electrocuted and beat dogs to death after they lost their brutal fights. The ASPCA's general consultation and our specific role in processing the forensic evidence in this case were key elements that resulted in Mr. Vick and the three other defendants all pleading guilty to felony crimes. As such, this organization and I personally have seen the acts of cruelty committed by Mr. Vick first hand -- acts so heinous that the public has never laid witness to them. And now that Mr. Vick has spoken out for the first time since his release from prison, the ASPCA wants to make clear why this organization chose not to partner with him in his supposed rehabilitation efforts. We are simply not convinced that Mr. Vick has demonstrated compassion toward animals as living beings or the necessary remorse for his criminal actions against them. 60 Minutes provided a convicted criminal a national platform to selfishly focus on his own recovery when, in fact, the animals, the victims who cannot speak for themselves, should have received the attention. CBS did a grave disservice to the animal welfare community by failing to show the ugly truth of Mr. Vick's actions and the horrors of dog fighting and animal cruelty in this country. The continued attention paid to Mr. Vick is only reinforcing that criminal behavior does not destroy fame and fortune. The ASPCA works every day to prevent animal cruelty, in the absence of tougher, more consistent laws and lack of education and awareness. We serve as the animals' voice, as millions of animals suffer alone and in silence because they cannot speak out against their perpetrators. When a crime against animals is committed, the ASPCA's priorities are to build a sound case that results in successful prosecution of the perpetrators, as well as the rehabilitation of the victims. Our direct involvement in the Vick case yielded success in both areas, and in fact, we work every day to ensure perpetrators like him are behind bars. Although Mr. Vick has served his time and is now entitled to employment, the ASPCA was strongly against him being able to immediately re-join the NFL, to play alongside highly paid elite athletes who are looked upon as our heroes and role models. Today, it is difficult to see him in the uniform of a Philadelphia Eagle because of the startling lack of judgment and moral character he has demonstrated over the past several years. It is questionable whether he will have any credibility as an educator on the dog fighting issue. The ASPCA welcomes a national conversation on animal cruelty and especially dog fighting, but questions Mr. Vick's ability to lead it. The ASPCA will heighten its efforts to bring this national travesty to the surface through meaningful education and discussion that brings the hard, cold sickening reality of a fight into stark relief for those who might wonder why all the fuss about a dog fight. A true national discussion would focus not on one man and his crimes, but on a nation that allows dog fighting to happen every day without a national outcry. This is where the ASPCA will focus its energies in the coming months. Mr. Vick has indeed been given another chance to play football with the Philadelphia Eagles. It is important to state that the ASPCA is extremely disappointed that owner Jeff Lurie hired him for his team before it was clear that Mr. Vick has truly developed a sense of compassion for his victims, the animals whose lives were taken by him. The ASPCA believes in second chances -- in redemption -- but that second chance has to be earned through contrition, conversion to the cause of animal welfare and finally, through hard work. Mr. Vick has only now begun his journey toward a second chance. It will be a long and hard road for him, and while we wish him well, we also want to remind the nation that the work of ridding the nation of dog fighting is as compelling a story as one man's path to redemption. Let's not forget to focus on the animals, the crimes that are still being committed every day in the United States. What are we, as a nation, going to do about that? How are we going to express our outrage long past the first time Mr. Vick takes the field in Philadelphia? Compassion for animals is the hallmark of the ASPCA and the ultimate message that we hope is gleaned from this horrific story. While this case has garnered the national spotlight because of Mr. Vick's notoriety, it is the end result that will matter most. Will Mr. Vick have learned something -- and taken the opportunity he has been granted to impart to his legion of fans the importance of compassion toward animals? Certainly, only time will offer us an answer -- but we will be watching.
 
Release Of Abdel Baset al-Megrahi, Lockerbie Bomber, A "Mistake": Says Obama (SLIDESHOW) Top
EDINBURGH, Scotland (AP) — Scotland freed the terminally ill Lockerbie bomber on compassionate grounds Thursday, letting the Libyan go home to die despite American pleas to show no mercy for the man responsible for the 1988 attack that killed 270 people. U.S. President Barack Obama declared the decision to release Abdel Baset al-Megrahi "a mistake," and said he should be placed under house arrest on his return to Libya, rather the feted with a hero's welcome. Al-Megrahi, 57, left Scotland's Greenock Prison and flew to Libya on an Airbus sent to Glasgow Airport, still insisting he was innocent. "We have been in contact with the Scottish government indicating that we objected to this," Obama said in an interview from the White House with Philadelphia-based radio talk show host Michael Smerconish. "And we thought it was a mistake." Obama said his administration had called on Libya to ensure that al-Megrahi is "not welcomed back in some way, but instead should be under house arrest." Announcing the release, Scotland's justice secretary insisted freeing the Pan Am Flight 103 bomber was an expression of the Scottish people's humanity -- a decision rejected by many in the U.S. "I think it's appalling, disgusting and so sickening I can hardly find words to describe it," said Susan Cohen, of Cape May Court House, New Jersey, whose 20-year-old daughter Theodora died in the attack. "This isn't about compassionate release. This is part of give-Gadhafi-what-he-wants-so-we-can-have-the-oil." Some men outside the prison made obscene gestures as al-Megrahi's prison van drove by toward the airport. Al-Megrahi, who had served only eight years of his life sentence, was recently given only months to live after being diagnosed with advanced prostate cancer. Scottish Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill said although al-Megrahi had not shown compassion to his victims -- many of whom were American college students flying home to New York for Christmas -- MacAskill was motivated by Scottish values to show mercy. "Some hurts can never heal, some scars can never fade," MacAskill said. "Those who have been bereaved cannot be expected to forget, let alone forgive ... However, Mr. al-Megrahi now faces a sentence imposed by a higher power." Al-Megrahi was convicted in 2001 of taking part in the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 on Dec. 21, 1988. He was sentenced to life in prison. The airliner exploded over Scotland and all 259 people aboard and 11 on the ground died when it crashed into the town of Lockerbie. The former Libyan intelligence officer was sentenced to serve a minimum of 27 years in a Scottish prison for Britain's deadliest terrorist attack. But a 2007 review of his case found grounds for an appeal of his conviction, and many in Britain believe he is innocent. In a statement following his release, al-Megrahi protested his innocence. "I say in the clearest possible terms, which I hope every person in every land will hear -- all of this I have had to endure for something that I did not do," he said. Al-Megrahi's conviction was largely based on the testimony of a shopkeeper who identified him as having bought a man's shirt in his store in Malta. Scraps of the garment were later found wrapped around a timing device discovered in the wreckage of the airliner. Critics of al-Megrahi's conviction question the reliability of the store owner's evidence. In his statement, al-Megrahi said he believed the truth behind the Lockerbie bombing may now never be known. "I had most to gain and nothing to lose about the whole truth coming out -- until my diagnosis of cancer," he said, referring to an appeal against his conviction that he dropped in order to be freed. "To those victims' relatives who can bear to hear me say this, they continue to have my sincere sympathy for the unimaginable loss that they have suffered." MacAskill said he stood by al-Megrahi's conviction for "the worst terrorist atrocity ever committed on U.K. soil." He said he had ruled out sending the bomber back to Libya under a prisoner-transfer agreement, saying the U.S. victims had been given assurances that al-Megrahi would serve out his sentence in Scotland. But he said that as a prisoner given less than three months to live by doctors, al-Megrahi was eligible for compassionate release. Compassionate release is an established feature of the British and Scottish judicial systems when a prisoner is near death. According to officials, there have been 30 requests for release on compassionate grounds in Scotland over the last decade, 23 of which were approved. Scotland, which is part of Britain, has a separate legal system. "I don't understand how the Scots can show compassion. It's an utter insult and utterly disgusting," said Kara Weipz, of Mount Laurel, New Jersey, whose 20-year-old brother Richard Monetti was on board Flight 103. "It's horrible. I don't show compassion for someone who showed no remorse." Al-Megrahi's return will be a landmark event in Libya. His countrymen see him as an innocent victim scapegoated by the West in a campaign to turn their country into an international pariah. Many will also view his release as a moral victory for their country. He will arrive Thursday night at Meetiga military airport on the outskirts of Tripoli, the Libyan capital. A few hundred Libyan youths prepared to greet him, with Libyan songs blaring in the background. Some were dressed in T-shirts bearing al-Megrahi's picture and carried placards with his image. Others carried rolled up Libyan flags or miniature blue-and-white Scottish flags. "I'm happy" about his release, said Mohammed, one of the youth group members who would only give his first name. It was not immediately clear whether al-Megrahi would be taken to meet Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi or go directly to a hospital for medical care. Gadhafi engineered a rapprochement with his former critics following the Sept. 11 attacks. He renounced terrorism, dismantled Libya's secret nuclear program, accepted his government's responsibility for the Lockerbie bombing and paid compensation to the victims' families. Western energy companies -- including Britain's BP PLC -- have moved into Libya in an effort to tap the country's vast oil and gas wealth. Gadhafi lobbied hard for the return of al-Megrahi, an issue which took on an added sense of urgency when al-Megrahi was diagnosed with cancer last year. Al-Megrahi was a well-known figure in the Scottish community near his prison, receiving regular treatment at the hospital and visited often by his wife and children, who lived in Scotland for several years. Briton Jim Swire, whose daughter Flora died on Flight 103, welcomed the Libyan's release, saying many questions remained about what led to the bomb that exploded in the cargo hold. "I think he should be able to go straight home to his family and spend his last days there," Swire told the BBC. "I don't believe for a moment this man was involved in the way he was found to be involved." Among the Lockerbie victims was John Mulroy, the AP's director of international communication, who died along with five members of his family. ____ Associated Press Writers Tarek El-Tablawy in Tripoli, Libya, Geoff Mulvihill in Mount Laurel, New Jersey, Shawn Marsh in Trenton, New Jersey, Meera Selva in London, Matthew Lee in Washington, Jessica M. Pasko in Albany, New York, Jim Hannah in Dayton, Ohio, and Robert Burns, in Washington, contributed to this report. More on Photo Galleries
 
Chris Gunn: Obama Administration Rhetoric Inconsistent with Small Business Policies Top
The American Small Business League posted the following press release today: Petaluma, California -- On Tuesday, the Obama Administration released a press release outlining increased efforts to include small businesses in the economic recovery, and federal contracting programs. Despite mentioning the significant impact of small businesses on our nation's economy, any mention of President Obama's February 2008 campaign promise to end the diversion of federal small business contracts to corporate giants was conspicuously absent from the release. In February of 2008 President Obama stated, "It is time to end the diversion of federal small business contracts to corporate giants." Since 2003, over 15 federal investigations have found that a lion's share of government small business contracts actually go to Fortune 500 firms and thousands of large businesses around the world. In 2005, the Small Business Administration Office of Inspector General (SBA OIG) referred to the diversion of federal small business contracts to large corporations as, "One of the most important challenges facing the Small Business Administration and the entire Federal government today." The American Small Business League (ASBL) estimates that during the first six months of the Obama Administration, over $50 billion in federal small business contracts were awarded to clearly large businesses. Critics of the Obama Administration's small business policies point to the fact that not only has President Obama not made good on his campaign promise to end the diversion of federal small business contracts to corporate giants, but thus far his administration has failed to follow-though on a majority of its promises to the small business community. To date, the Obama Administration has failed to: restore the SBA's budget, restore the SBA administrator to a cabinet level position, stop the pentagon from dismantling programs for minority owned firms and implement the 5 percent set-aside program for women-owned firms. Finally, the administration appears to be backing new legislation that will divert even more small business contracts to some of the nation's wealthiest venture capitalists. Of the funds allocated as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, approximately 1 percent has actually gone to America's 27 million small businesses. "It is reprehensible that President Obama would make these statements about his support for small businesses when he has done nothing to stop the daily diversion of up to $400 million in federal small business contracts to corporate giants around the world," ASBL President Lloyd Chapman said. "The administration's press release appears to be is just another public relations ploy. If President Obama really wants to do something for small businesses, he'll make good on his campaign promise to stop the diversion of federal small business contracts to corporate giants by publicly supporting legislation such as H.R. 2568, the Fairness and Transparency in Contracting Act of 2009." More on Barack Obama
 
New Poll: 77 Percent Support "Choice" Of Public Option Top
More than three out of every four Americans feel it is important to have a "choice" between a government-run health care insurance option and private coverage, according to a public opinion poll released on Thursday. A new study by SurveyUSA puts support for a public option at a robust 77 percent, one percentage point higher than where it stood in June. But the numbers tell another story, as well. Earlier in the week, after pollsters for NBC dropped the word "choice" from their question on a public option, they found that only 43 percent of the public were in favor of "creating a public health care plan administered by the federal government that would compete directly with private health insurance companies." Opponents of the president's agenda jumped on the findings as evidence that backing for the public option was dropping. Proponents responded by arguing that NBC's tinkering with the language of the question (which it had also done in its July survey) had contributed to the drop in favorability for a public plan. SurveyUSA's poll, which was commissioned by the progressive group MoveOn.org, a proponent of the public plan, gives credence to those critiques. While arguments about what type of language best describe the public option persist --"choice" is considered a trigger word that everyone naturally supports -- it seems clear that the framing of the provision goes a long way toward determining its popularity. In asking its question SurveyUSA used the same exact words that NBC/Wall Street Journal had used when conducting its June 2009 survey . That one that found 76 percent approval for the public option: "In any health care proposal, how important do you feel it is to give people a choice of both a public plan administered by the federal government and a private plan for their health insurance--extremely important, quite important, not that important, or not at all important?" To ensure that its respondent pool was composed of people from similar demographics and political mindsets, SurveyUSA asked respondents a question pulled directly from NBC's August survey. The results were nearly identical. Read a description of the president's health care plan, 51 percent of Survey USA respondents said they "favored" the approach, while 43 percent opposed it. In the NBC poll, 53 percent of respondents said they favored the president's plan, 43 percent said they opposed it.
 
Pittsburgh mom says daughter bulled into anorexia Top
PITTSBURGH — A woman has filed what experts believe is a first-of-its-kind lawsuit against the Pittsburgh Public Schools, claiming her daughter developed anorexia because male students bullied the girl about her weight, forcing her to leave the district. But those experts – including the head of the National Eating Disorders Association – say linking bullying to anorexia is oversimplification, at best. "With eating disorders, we say you're born with a gun and life pulls the trigger," said Lynn Grefe, chief executive officer of Seattle-based NEDA, who has never heard of a school being sued over such a scenario. Generally, people who develop anorexia already have issues with anxiety, obsessive-compulsive or perfectionist behavior. Bullying could trigger anorexia in those people but not others who are taunted about their weight, Grefe said. "The person's often a real high achiever, and if you put those people in a situation and then their world comes crashing down, they get triggered," Grefe said. That's essentially what's described in the 10-page federal lawsuit Pittsburgh attorney Edward Olds filed Friday on behalf of an unnamed woman whose middle-school sixth-grader began to be bullied 2006-07 by three boys who called her "fat." The girl was in a program for gifted students, made straight A's and was active in community and volunteer programs, the lawsuit said. The lawsuit contends a guidance counselor did nothing to stop the bullying. The next year, in seventh grade, two other boys joined in the daily harassment. "Some other students tried to shame the boys about the conduct. However, no faculty member or other school official intervened," the lawsuit said. By February 2008, the girl entered an inpatient treatment program for anorexia nervosa because "her weight was dangerously low." The girl's mother contends school officials harassed her when she tried to home-school the girl, who now attends private school. The woman's attorney didn't return calls for comment and a school attorney says only that he'll vigorously defend the district. Although experts say they've never heard of a lawsuit alleging that anorexia resulted from school bullying, suits over school-based bullying are not new. The lawsuit contends the school's alleged failure to protect the girl violates Title IX, an antidiscrimination law affecting any school that receives federal funding. Title IX has most often been cited in lawsuits about disparities in the number of athletic opportunities and scholarships afforded to male and female athletes. But the U.S. Supreme Court says peer-on-peer gender harassment also violates Title IX if the school should have stopped the abuse and a student lost an educational opportunity as a result, said Tom Hutton, senior staff attorney for the National School Boards Association. Hutton has never seen a suit claiming school bullying caused anorexia, though Title IX bullying suits are becoming more common. "But I wouldn't say I've seen a tidal wave of them," he said. Dr. Alberto Goldwaser, a forensic psychiatrist and expert witness on mental illnesses from New York University, cautioned against linking bullying directly to anorexia. Goldwaser says adolescent girls with high-achieving, perfectionist tendencies are prime candidates for the disorder. "But we cannot say that anorexia is caused by bullying or brain issues or mother-daughter relationships or any one thing," Goldwaser said. Yet another legal expert said that focusing on the girl's anorexia misses the point of bullying lawsuits. "Very often it's nervous orders of different kinds that are alleged in these lawsuits," said Bruce Ledewitz, a Duquesne University law professor. That this girl developed anorexia "is completely incidental." The issue, instead, is whether the bullying "deprives the victim of an educational opportunity. That's the language that's been used in these suits all along." More on Wellness
 
Yoani Sanchez: This is Cuba: We Can't Even Post A Scrap Of Paper Saying "Puppies For Sale" Top
The paper was recently stuck on a wall in Tulipan Street: "I unblock cell phones," it said, and gave the phone number of the shrewd technician. More and more frequently, you see ads offering puppies for sale, auto parts, or offering the services of someone who repairs kitchens or polishes floors in your home. They've been placed by the more daring in the informal market for services, trades and offers, upon which we all depend. A stream of businesses that lack legal spaces where they can spread out, but who manage to show their merchandise with as much or more effectiveness than the official trade. These little handwritten cards remind me of the workplaces and schools outside of Cuba where I was fascinated by the bulletin boards crammed with requests and offers. One, "cheap lodging," "someone who wants to buy a laptop," or a trip that needs "new riders to pay for the transport," were some of the classifieds that I saw posted on them. None of this can be read on the boring walls, covered with political slogans, that appear in the Cuban universities, factories or businesses. The students and workers are not authorized to have a physical space to post a little paper asking for a book, a computer part, or a room to rent. Nor are there any sites like that for the rest of the populations, just as there are no local radio or television channels that devote brief minutes to informing about trades or lost objects. To me, not allowing these boards is one of the most visible signs of control over all kinds of spontaneous organization or interaction among citizens. Their absence is a real shame, because these columns or boards stuffed with ads energize a city and give life to schools, offices and shops. But instead of that, posting the smallest card to "sell this thing" or "buy that other thing" continues to be, here, an act of transgression, an action that you must do clandestinely in one night, on a wall--in shadow--while no one sees. Here is a sample of some virtual bulletin boards, which we cannot have in the real world: http://www.revolico.com and http://www.cu.clasificados.st Yoani's blog, Generation Y , can be read here in English Translation. More on Cuba
 
Tom Alderman: The Un-Reality of Reality TV - A BOOK REVIEW Top
GET REAL , by Donald E. Westlake Genre: Comic Caper Print: 288 pages Audio: 7 hrs and 4 mins Narrator: William Dufris Publisher: Grand Central Publishing Audio Edition: Audible.com only COMMENT "Reality shows do not solve society's problems. They don't even consider society's problems. Reality is escapist entertainment at its most pure and mindless" - Doug Fairkeep, fictitious TV show producer to his writer on why the on-screen story can't actually be real. It takes the wonderfully off-centered mind of Donald E. Westlake to nudge the whole notion of reality TV into such absurdity that it comes across, well, real. Here's the set-up: "Get Real," the TV show that shows you real people doing real things, hires real criminals to plot and execute a real crime. While this may be the producer's first mistake in judgment, the second one is hiring John Dortmunder and his uncommonly, common gang as the series burglary regulars. For the uninitiated, Dortmunder and company first appeared in print in 1970 with The Hot Rock, a soft comedy caper, later made into a movie starring Robert Redford as Dortmunder, with George Segal and Ron Liebman. Redford was actually the wrong casting for the gang's leader since Dortmunder's more gloom than glamour. The rest of the gang is classic archetypes: the big, ugly muscle guy, the sharpie with the line of patter, the testy driver, the innocent kid, and the melancholic, mastermind, Dortmunder - house number casting today would be Adam Sandler. The reason Get Real is so appealing, along with many of Westlake's thirteen others in the series, is you get to root for the robbers, not the cops. These are not Robin Hood's merry band stealing from the rich and giving to the poor. They're more like bowling league regulars, stealing from the rich and keeping it mostly for themselves - and not always successfully, which only adds to their appeal. Initially, the gang's reluctant to star in a TV show - incarceration being the main concern, which flips to fear of cancellation after they're offered $20,000 a piece, plus per diem, and an assurance their faces would be blurred on screen. Being Dortmunder and company, the boys figure a way to turn the creatively un-real TV show into a very real burglary with the ratings-at-any-cost producers as the suckers. You'll get a kick out of Westlake's ability to make the likeable criminals the honorable ones, and the commercial TV people, the reprobates. The audio edition's narrator, William Dufris, adds considerable entertainment to the story gliding smoothly and effectively among the various accents of male and female voices ranging from base to treble. BOTTOM LIN E Westlake fans will cheer and lament, this being the last of Dortmunder as the author died last year. Newcomers who like to savor soft comedy in the vein of the old The Lavender Hill Mob, will find entertainment delight in Get Real and many of the others in the series. More on Reality TV
 
Nandini Oomman: Obama, Clinton: Elevating Women's Issues but Not Global Development? Top
President Obama and Secretary of State Clinton deserve high marks for their efforts to promote enhanced rights and opportunities for women in developing countries. Clinton's persistent focus on raising women's issues in every African country she visited last week add oomph to early and commendable policy steps by the White House and the State Department ( here , here , here ). But something important is missing: a clear, strong, overarching American agenda for global economic growth and development. This is the opposite of what the development community might have expected from reading Obama campaign position papers . Indeed, thoughtful advocates for the centrality of gender in development had expressed concern about the seeming neglect of women's issues (see here & here ), rightly urging that these should be a key element of U.S. foreign assistance. Now, with the election dust long settled, the administration is providing plenty of rhetoric about female empowerment but has yet to take meaningful steps to offer a coordinated global development strategy -- or to put in place the necessary apparatus to implement one (see the increasingly bizarre failure to name an administrator to head USAID ). Although individual foreign aid programs, such as the MCC and PEPFAR may have good gender policies, at least in the case of PEPFAR practice often falls short. A CGD study and policy brief that I co-authored show much more needs to be done at PEPFAR to translate good policy into action and real returns on the ground. This is true not only for improved conditions for women, but also for broad-based economic growth and poverty reduction. Meanwhile, the administration appears to be tackling the development in a piecemeal fashion; through separate pronouncements on global health , food security and women's rights . While all three initiatives are commendable and necessary, its not yet clear how the administration would fit these together into a coordinated global development strategy. Secretary Clinton noted in her address on foreign policy last month "Our development agenda will also focus on women as drivers of economic growth and social stability." I have devoted my career to improved conditions for women, mainly because I am convinced that they are central to successful development. I'm also strongly in favor of investing in global health and food security. But I worry that by raising these single issue causes in the absence of a coherent development agenda they won't amount to much and will come tumbling down. More on Poverty
 
John Kenagy: Co-ops, the Unconventional and Healthcare Innovation Top
The healthcare reform debate moved into a new phase over the weekend when Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said a public insurance option was "not the essential element" of any overhaul, and non-profit cooperatives could also fulfill the White House goal of creating more competition on insurance. So, what's a co-op? Now the pundits on all sides of the spectrum are in a frenzy of prognostication and analysis. The result, so far, is much like the rest of this healthcare debate - it depends on whom you talk (or listen) to. The answer varies from: 'They don't make any difference,' to 'they are a great idea' or 'they are a terrible idea.' Pick your poison. Perhaps, as Mr. Shakespeare said, it's just more "Sound and fury, signifying nothing." There certainly has been no lack of sound and fury lately as healthcare reform bumps its way through our polarized political system. But there could be something here and, personally, I am intrigued. Here's three reasons why. My 40 years experience as a physician, healthcare executive, academic scholar, advisor, and most importantly, a patient, leads me to believe healthcare reform will be driven by organizations that can, from the start, focus on just one thing - getting patients exactly what they need at continually lower cost. Secondly, that focus will have one defining, transformational result - patients will receive much more care, for much less cost. Third, counterintuitive to conventional wisdom, the advantage of co-operatives is that there are not many co-operatives in existence. That's an advantage because there are no well-defined, widespread models to copy and implement. Therefore, we won't be tempted to put a bunch of experts in a room with the charge of designing and implementing "the co-op reform." "But, wait," you say. "That's not good, that's bad! We have to have lots of best practices and big companies to copy and implement!" That is the conventional wisdom, "not enough to copy, too small a sample, it's just Group Health in Seattle and a few others; no dice for co-ops." That's why conventional wisdom is conventional. As a Visiting Scholar at Harvard Business School, I studied those few companies that successfully innovated and transformed their industries. One thing all those companies had in common was that they were all unconventional. Secondly, those companies and the innovations that powered them were not designed and implemented; they were made through rapid cycles of test, validate and improve. As readers of my past columns know, I believe our current dilemma is the direct result of all the past "solutions" we have implemented in healthcare over the last 30 years. The culprit in this dilemma is not a shortage of money, bad planning or too many mean-spirited people. Rather it is our antiquated approach to change in healthcare. We commonly institute change by gathering lots of data, analyzing it carefully, having lots of meetings and then implementing expert decisions back down on the point-of-care. Data up/implement down. Unfortunately data up/implement down starts to fail when complexity and the speed of change increase. It's not that the experts in the meeting rooms are not smart. Rather it's that they can't get enough data up fast enough, to analyze and implement quick enough, to keep up with what's happening now. Viewed in this light, our current system is not broken or dysfunctional. In fact, it's perfectly designed to deliver exactly what it delivers, less care at more cost. To get the transformational performance that will deliver much more care at much lower cost, we will have to do something different. Fortunately, "something different" is not rocket science. It is the focus of my forthcoming book, Designed to Adapt: Leading Healthcare in Challenging Times , available this September from Second River Healthcare Press. Instead of moving information to decision-makers in meeting rooms, the transformation of healthcare will be led by organizations that create new critical-thinking skills and develop and coordinate state-of-art decision making where the information is, close to the patient at the point of care. The methods, skills and tools that deliver on this promise are called "adaptive design," and they have been tested and validated in many healthcare organizations over the past 12 years. Adaptive design is a combination of the strategy of disruptive innovation, with the knowledge management methods of a few great companies, like Intel and Toyota, who adapted and prospered when others failed to change. Here are some adaptive design healthcare results of more care at less cost: A Massachusetts hospital increased surgical volume by 16 percent while decreasing surgical staff overtime by 14 percent. A Minnesota hospital nursing unit won the award for most improved patient satisfaction in a 17-hospital system as they simultaneously generated $1.7 million in savings to the hospital. A Colorado hospital pharmacy made it simpler for patients to get the medications they needed while decreasing drug costs by $1.9 million. That's getting much more for much less. The methods that created these results are available, we just need a flexible framework upon which to build. Perhaps the co-operative model offers that opportunity. What's the co-op advantage? - There aren't very many of them so we will have to make them! And that's the only way to produce the transformational results that will get patients exactly what they need at continually lower cost. And without those results, we won't fix healthcare. Dr. John Kenagy is a former Visiting Scholar at Harvard Business School and the author of the forthcoming book Designed to Adapt: Leading Healthcare in Challenging Times (Second River Healthcare Press, 2009)
 
Top 15 Most Powerful Women In Business (PHOTOS) Top
Today, Forbes released its list of the 100 most powerful women in the world. Inspired by Forbes' list, we decided to come up with our own account of the most powerful women currently working in business. These CEOs and directors of mega-companies have managed to break through the glass ceiling and now rank as some of the most powerful business leaders in the world, male or female. While we won't take issue with Forbes' list, we'll leave the exact rankings up to you. We've ordered the below list to coincide with Forbes' rankings, but we've removed most of the female politicians from the Forbes' rankings, including former German Chancelor Angela Merkel, who was ranked as the most powerful woman in the world. Check out our PHOTOS and VOTE for the most powerful woman in business. Get HuffPost Business On Facebook and Twitter !
 
Chip Berlet: Healthcare, Right-Wing Populism, & Civil Society Top
The aggressive public protests against Obama’s healthcare plan are an example of right-wing populism, a type of mass movement that periodically sweeps across the United States. Since the late 1800s, right-wing populist movements led primarily by angry White men have demonized and scapegoated people of color, immigrants, Jews, and other marginalized groups. Populism on the right does not necessarily represent the policies or practices of traditional conservatism or economic libertarianism. In right-wing populist movements, anger, fear, and resentment are often mobilized by cynical rightist political elites as part of an orchestrated response in defense of unfair power, wealth, or privilege (and sometimes all three). This does not mean, however, that the individual persons currently disrupting the town meetings have no right to participate in the public square. Calling these protestors 'extremists' or 'wingnuts'; suggesting they are only Astroturf or mere puppets of elite rightist spinmasters; or demanding they be silenced; undercuts basic concepts of the democratic process. Democracy is not a spectator sport and it can get loud and boisterous. Protestors and dissidents have a right to demand answers from elected officials, but they have no right to be bullies or attempt to silence their opposition. No matter what our political viewpoint, we all have a stake in ensuring that these public events are not marred by intimidation and mob rule. People need to stand up and defend democracy. Anger and shouting are part of the chaos of real democratic struggles over policy. People who support a government role in providing health care need to step up. We need to be focusing our anger and doing some shouting ourselves. Not to disrupt, not to shout other people down, but to show Democrats that they need to develop some backbone. People who support serious reform of healthcare in our country need to attend town halls and public meetings, contact their elected officials, and rally their neighbors and to get involved in the public square. We need to be in the streets and suites raising a ruckus. We are being out-organized. At the same time, being aware of how historic right-wing populism has played out in ways that promote scapegoating of immigrants, people of color, Jews and other targets is vital to protect the democratic process. The right-wing populism movement is dangerous and the people in it are scared, fed with misinformation and lies by right-wing demagogues, and genuinely scared. The individual people and the rightist movement are two different things. Anyone who has spent more than a few weeks as a community organize knows that you don’t belittle or attack scared and anxious people at public events. This is a difficult balancing act, but a necessary skill set for those who want to defend and extend democracy as a system built on informed consent. In the short run, people scheduling public meetings need to set the ground rules for participation up front, and enforce them with courtesy and without political bias. In the long run, the Obama administration and the Democratic Party need to learn how to rebut false and misleading statements and beliefs without name-calling; calmly rebuke those national figures spreading the misinformation as harming civil society; and develop strong and clear arguments to defend their proposed programs. These are the Three R’s of Civil Society: Rebut, Rebuke, Re-Affirm. The tendencies found within right-wing populism are toxic to democracy. The solution is not to short-circuit the democratic process, but to ensure that questions are fully answered and all voices are heard. While keeping our eyes on the prize of universal quality health care for all, we must also prevent right-wing populism as a social movement from spinning out of control and into more violence. This is what happened in the mid-1990s when the Patriot and Militia movements—the most recent prior examples of mass right-wing populism—helped spread conspiracy theories and false allegations about President Clinton and blocked his policy initiatives. As anger and resentment spread through the heartland, fed by media demagogues and opportunistic politicians, Timothy McVeigh and his accomplices blew up the federal building in Oklahoma City, resulting in 168 deaths, in a failed attempt to provoke an insurrection from the right. Since the Inauguration of Barack Obama as President, there have been nine murders tied to White supremacist ideology laced with conspiracy theories. It is already happening here. Decent people across the political spectrum need to take action to preserve pluralist civil society. More Resources:  HuffPost: Barney Frank Slams LaRouchite Fascism at Healthcare Meeting http://www.huffingtonpost.com/chip-berlet/barney-frank-slams-larouc_b_263700.html HuffPost: Rightists Call Obama & FDR Socialist Traitors http://www.huffingtonpost.com/chip-berlet/why-rightists-call-obama_b_171195.html HuffPost: Bigotry, Demonizing Rhetoric, and Right-Wing Violence http://www.publiceye.org/right_wing_populism/index.html Report:  Toxic to Democracy: Conspiracy Theories, Demonization, and Scapegoating http://www.publiceye.org/conspire/toxic2democracy/index.html Web Collection: Explaining the social science dynamics: Right-Wing Populism, the Patriot Movement, and Organized White Supremacy http://www.publiceye.org/right_wing_populism/index.html Book: Right-Wing Populism in America: Too Close for Comfort http://www.publiceye.org/tooclose/index.html  p.s. If the LaRouchites show up, give them the Barney Frank response. Vicious right-wing neofascist thugs with a 35 year record of disruption and smears are an exception to the 3R rule. Chip Berlet is senior analyst of Political Research Associates, co-author (with Matthew N. Lyons) of Right-Wing Populism in America: Too Close for Comfort , and author of the recent report, Toxic to Democracy: Conspiracy Theories, Demonization, and Scapegoating . More on Health Care
 
Ernest Cook: Fighting Sprawl Through the Ballot Box Top
Sustaining life on Earth in all its diversity depends on preserving an ecologically viable web of wild places and waterways--not just in the wilderness but also where people live. But for all the environmental reasons to rein in sprawl and conserve land and water, there are very human ones, too. Who hasn't felt the profound sense of loss when a favorite patch of woods, a local farm, or the stream where you played as a child is altered beyond recognition? As Tony Hiss says in The Experience of Place , the sights and sounds of our surroundings mold our understanding of the world. Our relationship with the places we know, he writes, is "almost a continuum with all we see and think." Perhaps that is one reason that on Election Day 2008, even amid the economic wreckage, so many people were willing to increase their taxes a little to preserve the landscapes where they live. Around the country--in both rural, Republican-leaning areas and in the more urbanized Democratic strongholds--voters approved $7.3 billion in new public funding for open space and parks, passing 63 of 89 local and state conservation referendums. Land acquisition projects increasingly require multiple sources of money, combining donations from land trusts, conservation groups and private individuals with funding from various government sources. Around the country, there is a growing wave of local activism to generate public conservation funding through the voter initiative process. To help these community advocates preserve what they love best about their communities, we have created an online portal of tools, information and advice for passing conservation voter initiatives--the Conservation Campaign Toolkit, at www.conservationcampaign.org.. The Conservation Campaign is the only national organization that focuses solely on political action to gain public funding for conservation. Since it was founded by The Trust for Public Land in 2000, the Conservation Campaign has supported more than 250 successful conservation funding initiatives around the country, helping to generate billions of dollars for land conservation. The Toolkit draws on lessons learned by these local campaigns as well as the expertise of field staff from the Conservation Campaign and The Trust for Public Land. The recession has made it even more challenging to raise new public revenue for land conservation. But it also presents us with a tremendous opportunity, as development slows and land prices drop, to preserve the landscapes that sustain us in so many ways: farms that supply local produce, lands that absorb and filter the water supply, mountain views that are the backdrop to daily life, forests and lakes we escape to for recreation, parks and town centers that that bind communities together. For the Earth, and for future generations, it's an opportunity we can't afford to pass up.
 
Rep. John Conyers: Karl Rove, Rupert Murdoch and Media Bias Top
In today's Wall Street Journal, Karl Rove says that I - and others - owe him an apology for allegations that have been made about him during the course of the House Judiciary Committee's investigation into the dismissal of United States Attorneys and related issues about the politicization of the Department of Justice. Mr. Rove's self-serving assertions on this subject are simply inconsistent with the documents that the Judiciary Committee recently released and his claims have been discredited by the analysis of the documents and reporting on these matters by credible news outlets across the country. Anyone interested in the truth can read the documents for themselves ( here ) or the reporting on these matters from papers large -- Washington Post ( here ) and New York Times ( here ) - and small - Kansas City Star ( here ). Mr. Rove's points are largely a repeat of his prior discredited statements, and the purpose of this post is not to rehash Mr. Rove's rehash. What may be of broader interest is the apparent editorial decision of the Wall Street Journal to prominently feature Mr. Rove's self-serving assertions in its editorial pages, while burying and redacting the original story documenting the facts contained in these documents. On the day after the documents were released, the Journal's print edition relegated the story to its "News in Brief" section, running an item of six sentences -- 193 words (by way of contrast, the next story in the same section about a college basketball coach impregnating a woman was eight paragraphs and 248 words). Nothing in the Journal's print coverage of the Committee's release quotes from any of the documents or from any Democrat or investigator about the specific evidence contained therein, even though the Journal used its apparently precious space to report that the Justice Department and White House declined to comment. (To be fair to the reporter, a longer piece appeared in the online edition). At the same time, the print piece helpfully includes Mr. Rove's full day-is-night quote asserting that the documents "show politics played no role in the Bush Administration's removal of U.S. attorneys" and other false assertions. And - in lieu of any quotes - it includes the assertion (also helpful to Mr. Rove) that "it remains far from certain whether the...documents released....contain information that would help prosecutors" without any further support or explanation, while omitting the reporter's online analysis of the numerous specific documents and facts that, in the reporter's words posted only online "appeared to bolster allegations that David Iglesias . . . was fired for partisan reasons." In contrast to the Journal's miserly allocation of column width for reporting on the document release, today's opinion piece by Mr. Rove is 13 paragraphs and 968 words long. It is featured in all formats of the paper. The point is not that I feel slighted. I have been a public official for more than 40 years and I have taken my fair share of shots from the media, and have seen worthy issues ignored before. The point is that the collective result of the Wall Street Journal's editorial decisions are that its readers are left unaware of the basic facts. So, for example, when Mr, Rove claims that all he did with complaints from New Mexico Republicans about United States Attorney Iglesias's unwillingness to prosecute Democrats for the purpose of providing an electoral advantage for Republicans was "pass them to the appropriate officials...to determine if they were accurate and weigh them appropriately," Journal readers are left unaware that testimony from White House Counsel Harriet Miers and emails from others contradict Mr. Rove. In the Committee documents, Ms. Miers describes an "agitated" Mr. Rove calling her from the road in new Mexico saying that something had to be done about Mr. Iglesias. Ms. Miers could not rule out that Mr. Rove expressly demanded that Mr. Iglesias should be fired. An email from a Rove deputy to Mr. Rove asked why Iglesias was "shy about doing his job on Madrid." Patsy Madrid was a Democratic Congressional candidate at the time. When Rupert Murdoch acquired the Journal, substantial concerns were raised about the number of media properties he owned and the right wing bias of his news ventures. Many questioned whether the Wall Street Journal would become just another New York Post or, worse, Fox News. While the Journal's editorial page had been conservative for some time, the news division had been largely balanced and thorough. (Indeed, the reporter's online piece is balanced and thorough.) Many wondered whether Murdoch would put his right wing slant on the news pages as well. The Journal's handling of this chapter of the USA scandal seems to bring that question to a head -- is it a sign that the editorial staff of the Journal's news division -- or at least its editing -- has taken on Murdoch's right-wing bias? It is certainly true that editorial judgments are made for many reasons and that mistakes are made in the crush of time and, for the sake, of the many accomplished journalists who work at the Journal, I hope that this was simply a mistake. But there is reason to worry. And with respect to the Journal's coverage and commentary on this particular matter, one thing at least is clear. If anyone is owed an apology, it is the Journal's readers who depend on the Journal for fair and accurate coverage of the news.
 
Sol LeWitt Mural To Be Unveiled In Columbus Circle Subway Station Top
At the 59th Street-Columbus Circle stop, long-suffering riders (gee, that sounds personal, doesn't it?) are now getting a sneak peek at the most important aesthetic dividend of the four-year renovation project: an enormous, joyously vibrant mural designed by the artist Sol LeWitt before his death in 2007.
 

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