Tuesday, September 29, 2009

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Abner Mikva Endorses David Hoffman For Obama's Old Senate Seat Top
Former Chicago inspector general David Hoffman picked up the endorsement of a venerable former judge and unveiled a transparency platform Tuesday in his bid for President Obama's former Senate seat. Retired federal judge, Congressman and Clinton White House counsel Abner Mikva announced his support for Hoffman in the Democratic U.S. Senate primary over rival candidates Alexi Giannoulias, the Illinois Treasurer, Cheryle Robinson Jackson, recently president of the Chicago Urban League, and attorney Jacob Meister. "It isn't easy to get an 83-year-old excited about a campaign," Mikva said in a video released by the Hoffman campaign. "But David Hoffman represents exactly what we want in government and public life. He brings the enthusiasm, the vigor, the cleanliness and spotless record that we need." Mikva compared Hoffman's campaign to Barack Obama's Senate and presidential runs, both of which he supported and both of which he said were against better-known and better-funded opponents. "I see a lot of similarities," Mikva said. "Barack was probably even a longer shot for both president and for senator than David is. But long shots do happen, and it's exciting and it restores confidence in the people's judgment." Mikva's endorsement comes just days after he declined to endorse a candidate in the contentious Democratic primary to replace Mark Kirk in the 10th Congressional District. Hoffman's transparency plans include posting his detailed daily Senate schedule, office budget and salaries online and revealing campaign bundlers in addition to individual donors. Watch Mikva's endorsement video: More on Senate Races
 
RJ Eskow: Why Would Anyone Call Their Book "Going Rogue"? Answer Below. Top
Why would Sarah Palin -- or anyone, for that matter -- write a book about themselves and call it "Going Rogue"? Granted, she's not exactly going to write it, but that begs the question: Why that name? Consider the Free Dictionary's definitions of the word "rogue": 1. An unprincipled, deceitful, and unreliable person; a scoundrel or rascal. 2. One who is playfully mischievous; a scamp. 3. A wandering beggar; a vagrant. 4. A vicious and solitary animal, especially an elephant that has separated itself from its herd. 5. An organism, especially a plant, that shows an undesirable variation from a standard. None of those seem too attractive, but those are the noun definitions. What if she's using it as an adjective? In that case it means: 1. Vicious and solitary. Used of an animal, especially an elephant. 2. Large, destructive, and anomalous or unpredictable: a rogue wave; a rogue tornado. 3. Operating outside normal or desirable controls: "How could a single rogue trader bring down an otherwise profitable and well-regarded institution?" transitive verb: 1. To defraud. 2. To remove (diseased or abnormal specimens) from a group of plants of the same variety. v.intr. To remove diseased or abnormal plants. Is the former Governor advertising herself as "playfully mischievous," the least derogatory of these terms? Or as "operating outside normal or desirable controls" -- the second least objectionable? The decision is still baffling. But we're not here today to dish out snark against Sarah Palin, or play what she would call a "gotcha" game. We've posed a question, and it has an answer. This, I believe, is the genuine reason she's given her book this name: She thinks she's living in a 1980's action movie. That's right. Not only Sarah Palin, but most of the American Right thinks they're living in a 1980s adventure flick. Here's a theory: Most people, especially people in public life, subconsciously write a 'script' for their lives and then behave accordingly. This isn't a phenomenon of the Right alone. I suspect Barack Obama has a script, although his seems based on a Presidential biography called something like The Conciliator or The Man Who Bridged The Divide. Ms. Palin and her cohort, on the other hand, are strictly eighties action/adventure. It's Red Dawn and Rambo sequels all the way. In fact, Going Roque sounds like a Rambo sequel, doesn't it? "Rogue": Edgy, independent, with just an hint of danger and a little bit of that Rush Hour vibe. Remember Rush Hour ? "Two cops who don't play by the rules." That's our Sarah, as seen in her resignation speech: Not a politician who took on great responsibility, then left the job before it was done. No. "A politician who doesn't play by the rules. " In other words, "rogue" is right-wing code for "freedom fighter." And it's too bad if the distinction between "freedom" and "unprincipled, deceitful, and unreliable" occasionally gets blurred. Anyone who saw Penn Gillette's appearance on Glenn Beck's show last March will understand. Viewers were treated to the sight of two clearly sedentary individuals romanticizing themselves by writing themselves into "rebel" roles, even as they mocked a report that examined the risk of right-wing terrorism. "... (A)s I read (Tom Paine's Common Sense )," said Beck, " I thought, my gosh, you write something like this today, you're immediately arrested." (Beck, a successful author and broadcaster, has never been arrested for political speech.) A little while later Jillette observes: "It's the bumper stickers they're afraid of, not the guns." (No, Penn -- it's the guns.) They spent the rest of the show interrogating each other to determine whether they were "domestic terrorists" or not. Ha-ha. Edgy. "Rogue," even. It's easy to picture either Penn Jillette and Glenn Beck writing a book called Going Rogue. Because standing up for your own economic self-interest is, you know, daring and brave. Just ask Sarah. A great many tea-party types love the rhetoric of rebellion because it makes them think they're heroes in a movie, too - heroes just like Sarah Palin and Glenn Beck and Penn Jillette. That's why so many of them bring their guns to town hall meetings. That's why I don't hate these protesters the way so many other people do: They seem like slaves to their own fantasies. But the problem with movies like that is that they turn violent. I can't feel too morally superior, though. Most of us have some sort of script in our heads, influencing us more than we realize. It takes serious mental discipline and self-reflection to turn those scripts off and see things as they really are. Even so, most of us wouldn't name our story Going Rogue . On the other hand, elephants go "rogue," and everybody knows elephants are Republican. The problem comes when our two movie heroes meet, like "Freddy vs. Jason" or "Alien vs. Predator." "Rogue vs. Conciliator"? I don't want to see how that one turns out. A Night Light The Sentinel Effect: Healthcare Blog Eskow and Associates More on Sarah Palin
 
Michael Russnow: Obama's Big Question: To Go or Not to Go, Copenhagen That is Top
To paraphrase William Shakespeare's renowned query, made more appropriate since it took place in Denmark, the big question is why there is so much furor posed in the Main Stream Media citing Obama's mostly Republican critics over the president's decision to help Chicago win its bid for the 2016 Summer Olympics? Obama's choice to attend the International Olympic Committee meeting in Copenhagen, in tandem with wife Michelle and prominent Chicago residents such as Oprah, is in line with other world leaders, such as Britain's prime minister Tony Blair who went much further to Singapore to secure London as the venue in 2012 and Russia's Vladimir Putin who flew an even greater distance to Guatemala when he successfully scored the 2014 Winter Olympics for the city of Sochi in his nation. It may well be that these government leaders upped the ante regarding the expectations of the IOC delegates and it seems a small price to pay considering the relatively scant time Obama will attend to Chicago's big pitch. Yet his Republican antagonists insist Obama's action will take time away from what they deem more significant undertakings, such as -- are you ready for a big laugh -- health care reform, which they have been sabotaging from the outset. They assert in their continuing and mostly lockstep reasoning that Obama is wasting time on such a "frivolous" enterprise rather than addressing the nuclear build-up in Iran, our economic quagmire and the continuing mess in Afghanistan. Indeed, Senator Christopher Bond (R-Missouri) found it "baffling that he (Obama) has time to go to be on (sic) Copenhagen, to be on the Letterman show and almost every other channel except the Food Channel and Fox, but he doesn't have time to talk to General McChrystal." In fact, as the White House points out, Obama regularly consults with McChrystal, the Afghanistan commander, but what do facts matter when the key agenda on the part of most Republican leaders is to run Obama down at every opportunity? Yet the newspapers (consider today's main story in the Los Angeles Times) and broadcast/cable programs, such as those hosted by Anderson Cooper and Lou Dobbs on CNN, Brian Williams on NBC, Charlie Gibson and Diane Sawyer on ABC, Katie Couric on CBS and Bill O'Reilly on Fox News have allowed what should have been a relatively apolitical and harmless action be debated as possible irresponsibility on the part of the president. And why? Obama is expected to be in Copenhagen for only several hours, and during the eight plus hours in the air to and from Washington he will be able to study reports and be in telephonic contact with everyone he needs, which is how he conducts much of his business in the first place. It's not as if he's suddenly taking a weekend holiday and will be spending the day cavorting at Tivoli Gardens, and another traveling to Funen Island, the home of Hans Christian Andersen. His critics make it appear that, even during his relatively brief trip abroad, he will be totally incommunicado from pleading requests for his time by heads of state, cabinet secretaries and congressional leaders. This brouhaha is nonsense and the only downside is if Chicago doesn't get the bid. Frankly, I'm not sure it will, considering the superior glamour of chief opponent Rio de Janeiro and the fact that South America has never hosted the games. And if that happens Obama will lose a bit of sparkle, but, as an advance warning to the Limbaugh fanatics and GOP doomsayers, I'd say so what? Obama is not a miracle maker and, hell, he will have tried. However, there's a stronger possibility that Chicago has little chance at all if he doesn't make the attempt. And during it all, he and the government will continue in any necessary actions. But this is a point the Republicans continuously deflect, because truth for them is lately in short supply. Michael Russnow's website is www.ramproductionsinternational.com More on Afghanistan
 
Meg Whitman: "My Voting Record... Is Unacceptable" Top
DAVIS, Calif. � Republican gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman said Tuesday that it wasn't until she was a chief executive in Silicon Valley that she realized why she should vote after sitting out elections for decades. Whitman sought to explain her spotty voting record for the first time after delivering a speech to a Republican women's group. "I was focused on raising a family, on my husband's career, and we moved many, many times," she told reporters. "It is no excuse. My voting record, my registration record, is unacceptable." During the state GOP convention in Indian Wells last weekend, Whitman repeatedly refused to answer questions about her voting record after The Sacramento Bee reported that the former eBay CEO was not registered to vote before 2002 and there was no evidence she had ever registered as a Republican before 2007. She told delegates at the Republican convention last February that she had been registered as a decline-to-state voter since 1998. Whitman said Tuesday that while she doesn't remember saying it, "that was a mistake." Also Tuesday, Attorney General and former Gov. Jerry Brown took the first step toward a gubernatorial bid in 2010, filing paperwork with the secretary of state's office to form an exploratory committee. The filing allows Brown to collect up to $25,900 from individual donors for his potential Democratic gubernatorial bid, up from the $6,500 individuals can give him now as an officeholder. That limit hasn't hurt him so far. In July he reported having nearly $7.4 million in the bank, compared with just $1.2 million for his only other Democratic rival so far, San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom. Brown has repeatedly hinted at seeking the office he held from 1975 to 1983, but has so far remained coy. "If he chooses to run, this will make his campaign more able to compete and against a deep-pocketed Republican opponent," said Steve Glazer, a senior adviser to Brown. The wealthy potential GOP challengers include Whitman, a billionaire, and state Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner, a multimillionaire who also made his fortune in Silicon Valley. Former five-term Rep. Tom Campbell also is seeking the Republican nomination. Whitman, in seeking to explain her spotty voting and registration record Tuesday, said it was frustrating experiences with government she dealt with as chief executive of the online auction site eBay that inspired her to get involved in politics. "When I came to eBay, what I saw was the incredible difficulties that government created for small business ... inspired individuals who created business who got slapped down by taxation, by bureaucracy and regulation," she said. Whitman led eBay from 1998 to 2008. Whitman had repeatedly said at the weekend convention that she should have voted more often, but declined to answer questions then about her record, instead repeating a previously released apology in which she said there were no excuses for her failure to vote. Poizner has said Whitman should drop out of the race because Californians won't elect someone who didn't vote for most of her adult life. His spokesman, Jarrod Agen, said Tuesday's explanation is still unsufficient. "Too busy to make a single vote for 28 straight years? No one is buying that," Poizner spokesman Jarrod Agen said.
 
Huff TV: HuffPost Editor Roy Sekoff On Senate Dems Reaction To Public Option Loss (VIDEO) Top
HuffPost Editor Roy Sekoff went on "The Ed Show" Wednesday to discuss the defeat in the Senate Finance Committee of two public option amendments. Preceding Sekoff on the show, Democratic Senators Tom Harkin, Jay Rockefeller, Byron Dorgan, and Ben Cardin all struck optimistic notes, despite the failed votes. "They must have taken their happy pills," said Sekoff. "But make no mistake, this was not a good day for supporters of a strong public option." Sekoff did note a silver lining to the votes: "We finally know where Max Baucus stands: with the Republicans and with the insurance companies." WATCH: Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News , World News , and News about the Economy More on Video
 
Economic Collapse Spurs Growth of Homeless Tent Camps in U.S. (VIDEO) Top
The dire state of the economy and a record number of home foreclosures have spurred the growth of tent camps for the homeless, in cities such as Nashville and Seattle, by rivers and freeway underpasses. CNN interviews several of the tent camp's citizens, who recall the all-too familiar cycle of job loss, inability to pay rent, and ultimately, homelessness. Officials of cities such as Nashville tolerate the existence of such camps after public safety issues have been addressed, such as sanitation (portable toilets and a makeshift shower were added). Local churches and homeless organizations have pitched in to make the areas more livable, but many local shelters are over capacity and unable to take in more people. It is estimated that 3.5 million Americans are homeless. WATCH : Embedded video from CNN Video Embedded video from CNN Video
 
Mike Callicrate: "Local": A Word Worth Saving! Top
In the newly released food film, Fresh , Russ Kremer proudly proclaims, "They [consumers] want my pigs...they want my product!" Russ is a long time hog farmer who decided that doing what is best for the hogs, as well as the people who eat his pork, is what matters, even though it's more work and more costly. The day that someone discovers the difference between the pork Russ produces from his family farm in Missouri, considered to be the ultimate in hog heaven, and the industrial factory farms of Smithfield, is a day to celebrate. It has been a long time coming. Since 1980, the struggles have been enormous with more than 90% of our hog farmers and more than 40% of our cattle operations being stomped out of business under the heavy foot of big factory farm conglomerates like Smithfield, Cargill and Tyson and their retail partners. These global corporations externalize enormous costs onto the public. With their abusive market power they buy livestock far below the cost of production. They don't pay a living wage to their workers. They use our land and water as an industrial sewer. Farmers and ranchers who care about the land, animals, food quality and the communities they live in can't compete on price because they pay the true cost of production. Today, thanks to valuable books like Fast Food Nation and Omnivore's Dilemma along with compelling and inspirational films such as Food Inc. and Fresh , many more people are making the discovery that good food from real farmers, who they actually know, can make a huge difference in their lives and communities. More and more people are voting with their forks to support a better food system, and even though the food they are eating costs more than the factory food, it is also more valuable. The food tastes better, is more satisfying and healthier. Also, they can know and trust the farmers and ranchers who grew it. Of course, the professional marketers for the industrial food companies are working to co-opt the new terms and messages. The multinationals have already stolen, misused and redefined words and phrases like natural, sustainable, organic, family farm and humanely-raised. Attempts to bring better food to the table have been frustrated and bankrupted by the power of big agribusiness, big food service and big retail. From the clean Colorado beef of Mel Coleman to the high quality, humanely raised pork of Bill Niman, to the independent produce growers of Colorado's Arkansas Valley, all such attempts to differentiate the better quality local food are attacked with false and misleading marketing. The only thing that remains of the once authentic and trustworthy brands of Coleman and Niman are their names -- the conscientious and devoted ranchers who launched these companies are no longer connected in any way. These " zombie " brands are a ghost of what they once stood for. These corporations are now trying to do the same with LOCAL. They simply repackage and dress up the same old products and sell them at cut-rate prices to deceived but excited buyers. Some of these disillusioned consumers will revert back to the same old factory food, and others will continue searching in hopes of finding food they can trust. It is time to put an end to the dishonesty that drives the industrial food system. Looking Local, Buying Global From Wendy's "Better than Fast Food" to Chipotle's "Food with Integrity" to Whole Foods "I'm A Local," eaters are being played for fools and family farmers and ranchers with better and healthier food alternatives can't find A FAIR MARKET. When the educated consumer starts demanding "local," the corporate marketing departments change the words on the packaging, but the inflexible, ravenous supply chain continues to get its low cost industrialized food from wherever in the world it is the cheapest. Without access to a fair market, family farmers sell what they can at local farmers markets -- generating far less than what is needed to make a living. Local food is even kept out of locally owned restaurants. Francisco Chavez, who works with Ranch Foods Direct and local growers to deliver meat and produce to Colorado Springs restaurants, watches the passing stream of much bigger corporate food service trucks and observes: "Sysco delivers cheap food from somewhere else and hauls the money away." This has always been true of chain restaurants, but national distributors like Sysco and U.S. Foods prevent local food from entering even independent restaurants. Locally owned eateries, best positioned to accommodate local suppliers with their advantages of on-site decision making, flexible menus, portion control management and pricing, have been trained too long to only consider one thing -- price. Most don't realize how dramatically food quality has declined under the industrial food system. They, too, often hide behind the false and misleading marketing provided by their food service company. They are persuaded with complimentary trips to fancy food shows where special offers are made, if they will commit to long-term exclusive deals -- a move intended to eliminate competition and the possibility that local suppliers will claim more of the market. Attractive labels, catchy family farm slogans, clean sounding names like Emerald Valley, the too-many-to-mention but essentially meaningless Angus beef brands, and local sounding, seemingly trustworthy names like Harris Ranch Beef , are misleading restaurants into buying the same old stuff in a new and prettier box. Food service companies certainly don't reveal what they are really doing -- feeding people junk while they gut the community. There is little difference in economic and social impact between a chain restaurant and a locally owned restaurant that buys everything out of the back of a Sysco or U.S. Foods truck. Controlling the market, mixing the message and confusing the eater The desire to buy local, know your farmer, and know where your food comes from, is the best opportunity yet to make meaningful improvements in our food system. So how does Big Food take advantage of "LOCAL" while blocking competition and the access needed by local farmers and ranchers to market to independently owned restaurants and retail food stores? One recent illustration is the actions of a major food service company doing business in Colorado. They are buying a token amount of local produce in Colorado and selling it below cost to their restaurant customers. Of course these full-line companies control the pricing of the many items they provide and are able to adjust to maximize profits. This is an unfair market-distorting practice. To some, this may look like a benevolent act, but it is purely a move to control the market. Shouldn't people who eat decide the winners and losers in the marketplace, rather than global corporations? Big retailers like Wal-Mart and Whole Foods know the marketing benefit of using local family farmers to enhance their image while they continue to sell cheap food and drive down prices paid to farmers. Supply and demand signals are being blocked. Consumers are unable to make good choices based on origin, quality and price. Family farmers are shut out of the local market while their picture hangs above the imported meat and produce. The new local and regional food systems we so desperately need will continue to die in their infancy unless fairness, transparency and truth in advertising are restored to the marketplace. It should be impossible for an establishment to proclaim itself "LOCAL" when serving farmed Asian seafood, Tyson chicken, beef from Brazilian corporate giant JBS, Mexican produce and Chinese garlic. Hope may have finally arrived A predatory marketplace, with powerful global corporations placing profits over ethics and integrity, has blocked family farmers and ranchers from connecting with local eaters for too long. This could change with U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack's launching of USDA's new " Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food " initiative. Secretary Vilsack says that rebuilding rural America is his number one priority. A big job, considering after the last 50 years of pillage by big agribusiness, rural America in many respects resembles the Gulf Coast after Hurricane Katrina. Perhaps Mr. Vilsack recognizes the enormous wealth-creating potential and critical food security benefits of local food from our own family farms and ranches. I know that Dudley Butler does. He is a long time independent cattleman and defender of fair and open markets. Mr. Butler was recently appointed to the potentially powerful position of administrator for GIPSA (Grain Inspection, Packers and Stockyards Administration), the agency within USDA charged with protecting competition in the marketplace - a job left unattended for decades. Mr. Butler said recently, "Corporations are like sharks, they swim and eat. That's what they do." Perhaps Mr. Vilsack and Mr. Butler, in acknowledging the need to regulate the shark-infested waters of our food system, will work with other agencies in the administration, from Health and Human Services to the Justice Department and the Federal Trade Commission, to create a healthier, more sustainable food system with good food from local family farms. I hope so. We desperately need a new close-to-home food model that eaters can trust and that better serves the economic, nutritional and health interests of our communities and our nation. But, we are going to need some industrial strength shark cages! Secretary Vilsack and Butler will also need protection from the aggressive and bloodthirsty DC sharks, known as corporate lobbyists, who intend to keep things the same. Mike Callicrate is an independent cattle producer, business entrepreneur and political activist, particularly outspoken in addressing the rural and social impacts of current economic trends. More on Local Food
 
Mark Konkol and Todd Fooks: Keeping Score in Chicago Episode 24: 'Big Iron' Tom Dart On Why He's A Thinkin' Man's Sheriff Top
The guy who takes on Craigslist and saves puppies, but won't put political ambition in front of his wife and five kids. Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart -- the most influential law man in America -- explains why he's out to solve social problems while locking up bad guys. Dart talks about why he's not running for higher office next year and that an eventual run for Chicago Mayor isn't out of the question. Plus KSIC's Olympic prediction: a 100 percent chance of a Chicago games in 2016. Obama wouldn't be headed to Copenhagen if this one wasn't already in the manilla envelope, er, bag. Fook and Konkol talk in-cab vomit fees, the return of presidential Chia pets and rock out another round of Speed Score.
 
Deborah Calla: A Beautiful Life Top
A Beautiful Life , a film that I produced and co-wrote with Wendy Hammond, opens on October 2nd in limited release and stars Jesse Garcia, Angela Sarafyan, Bai Ling, Dana Delany, and Debi Mazar. The film deals with sexual abuse, love and violence. I'm not going to give the plot away except to say it ends with hope, which is why I spent so many years of my life trying to make it. I understand this story.  I, like Maggie, the main character, am a survivor.  I know what made her run and I understand what made her hide and search for a better existence.     My wish is for this film to contribute to the continuing dialogue of how to better prevent abuse, as well as to protect and understand the survivors of sexual abuse.   We need to know abuse occurs in many forms and many times a day all over this country and it has no relationship to race, gender, religion or social status.  It happens among the rich and the poor.  It happens to Asians, Latinos, Caucasians, Native Americans, African Americans and we need to make it safe for victims to come forward without fear.  And we need to recognize it happens in many forms; within families, groups of friends or as a random crime.   There are many children, women and men that we never hear about because their cases are not as outlandish as Jaycee Dugard’s or involves celebrities like Samantha Geimer and Roman Polanski, but they have all suffered. Sexual assault and abuse is much more prevalent than we know or statistics show.   Speaking up is important. Learning to have a voice helps victims make the transition into survivors.  We need to know we are not alone. Overcoming the feelings of shame is a long process. It’s so strange that we are not only victims of others but we become victims of ourselves when we feel shame for a crime that was actually perpetrated against us.  Maybe we do so because those who perpetrate violence see us as objects and attempt to take away our humanity and leave us helpless, powerless and voiceless. I do worry about people who are abused who are silent and surrounded by others who continue to blame them for their role as “victims” and perpetrate another painful form of abuse: the malice of ignorance. Survivors of violent crimes deserve to be shielded and protected and not re-victimized. Our legal system - as it’s set up now - does just that exposing the victims of crimes to defense attorneys who are often more interested in winning a case than serving justice, but I don’t know what the answer is, as even the evil have a right to due process. So while we may discuss laws and human rights and the creation of this film, we as human beings can also make sure that we learn to look at a survivor of sexual assault or abuse with acceptance and empathy, and by doing that we will make a huge difference in their lives.  Believe me, I know. More on Roman Polanski
 
Bupe: Drug Researcher Carrie Johns Dies Of Apparent Overdose, Boyfriend Faces Drug Charges Top
BALTIMORE — A neuroscientist who studied the effects of drugs on the brain is dead of an apparent overdose and her live-in boyfriend, who did similar research, is facing drug charges, Baltimore police said Tuesday. Carrie E. Johns, 29, who had a Ph.D. in physiology and pharmacology, died Sunday night, shortly after she injected herself with a solution containing the narcotic painkiller buprenorphine, according to charging documents. Buprenorphine, known as bupe, is frequently used as a heroin substitute to treat recovering addicts. Johns' boyfriend, Clinton B. McCracken, told police that he obtained the drug from an online pharmacy in the Philippines, the documents show. "The irony there is that these were individuals who were highly trained in the area of pharmacology, and they were ordering illegal, unregulated drugs from another country for recreational use," said police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi. McCracken, a 32-year-old native of Canada, has not been charged in Johns' death but faces several drug charges. Police said they found a variety of drugs in the couple's row home, including nearly three dozen marijuana plants and indoor growing equipment. McCracken is free on bail, according to the Baltimore state's attorney's office. He did not return a phone message. Johns and McCracken were both postdoctoral research fellows in the anatomy and neurobiology department at the University of Maryland School of Medicine. They performed laboratory research and did not treat patients, the school said in a statement. In a lengthy statement to police, McCracken said he had been buying drugs online and using them recreationally for the past few years. The drugs were shipped to the United States inside toys and trinkets, he said. McCracken claimed that he received pills that contained buprenorphine, dissolved them in water and prepared a solution that Johns injected with a syringe, the documents show. Johns immediately began having trouble breathing. She had a history of asthma, and McCracken gave her an inhaler, then called 911, the documents show. She later died at a hospital. McCracken told police he had planned to inject himself with the solution but did not. "The defendant stated that he thought they could control the morphine and buprenorphine," Officer Dawnyell Taylor wrote in the report. "He stated that no one ever got hurt using those drugs, it must have been the batch of pills that was bad." Bupe abuse is rare in the United States, said Dr. Donald Jasinski, chief of chemical dependency at Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center. Baltimore's health department has attributed one overdose death to bupe in the last two years. A massive dose of bupe would be required to cause respiratory failure, but intravenous use of opiates can sometimes trigger a reaction that causes fluid to build up in the lungs, Jasinski said. He said the tablets obtained by McCracken may have been contaminated with another substance or may not have contained bupe at all. An autopsy is being conducted to determine the cause of death, said Guglielmi. He said federal investigators would likely question McCracken about how he obtained the drugs but that police believe Johns' death was an accident. McCracken and Johns received Ph.D.'s from Wake Forest University. Johns has published articles detailing the effects of cocaine, amphetamines and alcohol on the brains of mice and monkeys. (This version CORRECTS Corrects name of medical school; other minor edits. ADDS photo link.) More on Philippines
 
Dan Mirvish: Sarah Palin Book that's Twice as Rogue-y, Half the Price, 2 Weeks Earlier! Top
By now everyone's heard that Sarah Palin's 400 page book Going Rogue: An American Life is coming out November 17. But as it turns out, scandalous political pundit Martin Eisenstadt has his own book about Sarah Palin coming out exactly two weeks earlier, it costs half the price, and it is reportedly at least twice as "rogue-y." Eisenstadt writes this on his blog today : Am I shocked that Sarah Palin's book Going Rogue: An American Life is coming out November 17th? No. As I warned on July 4 of this year, it's no surprise that Palin is concerned about upcoming revelations about her in mine and other books that are coming out soon. ... But too bad for her, she missed it by two weeks. You see, my book about Sarah Palin is coming out exactly two weeks before hers: on November 3, to be exact. And at less than half the price of her fancy hardcover edition! And here's the best part: I guarantee that my book will be at least twice as rogue-y as hers. My simple calculation puts that at a total of eight times the value of Gov. Palin's book. In this economic climate, that's truly a bargain. Trust me, if you want unfettered stories about Sarah Palin's commanding grasp of geography, her $150,000 wardrobe and a prosaic description of the smooth, white small of her naked backside, then you're going to want to buy a copy of I Am Martin Eisenstadt: One Man's (Wildly Inappropriate) Adventures with the Last Republicans from Faber & Faber (Farrar, Straus, Giroux). Now, to be clear, my book is not just about Sarah Palin. Far from it. As I say in my video promo for the book, it is a mystery, a thriller, a campaign tell-all that stretches from the dark oedipal days of Watergate, to the sexually charged days of Iran-Contra, to the sweaty campaign buses of Joe the Plumber and Meghan McCain. And did I mention the Somali pirates? When all's said and done, it'll be a hell of lot more fun to read than Sarah Palin's ill-timed book! Now then, I'm one of the few journalists working today who's read the early galleys of Eisenstadt's book (let's just say I have a mole at Farrar, Straus, Giroux), and without giving anything away (yet), suffice it to say that it is as promised: a very funny history of Republican ineptitude over the last 40 years, and a bitter satire of media foibles along the way. Here is the video for his book that he mentioned: [Full disclosure: There are those who would argue that I am actually one of the co-creators of "Martin Eisenstadt" and co-author of his upcoming book. Eisenstadt, though, has always disputed this point .] More on Sarah Palin
 
Dr. Johnny Benjamin: NCAA Title, Tim Tebow and Proper Concussion Management -- The Nation is Watching Top
The University of Florida Gator Football team has won 2 of the last 3 NCAA National Championships and is currently 4-0 and ranked number one in the polls.  Many experts and casual observers will agree that Heisman trophy winning quarterback Tim Tebow is the catalyst to the current UF football machine. I am from Texas and have lived in Florida for over the last decade, so football is in my blood.  It is little exaggeration to suggest that Tim Tebow is the most popular person in the state.  In a head to head poll (held within the state) this college senior would challenge fellow Florida resident Tiger Woods.  I know this statement will be considered heresy by those that live outside of the ‘Sunshine State’ but I promise you that most Floridians will agree. Now during the beginning of the SEC Conference schedule and a hunt for a third NCAA championship, Tim Tebow a living, Florida football legend has gone down to a serious concussion.  Tebow was already playing with a significant viral respiratory illness that prompted him and several teammates to be flown separately to the weekend match up against the University of Kentucky.  The viral respiratory illness or flu may not seem like a big deal but as physicians we know that it may cause a potentially serious swelling of the brain that further confounds the concussion picture. Tim Tebow underwent a CT scan of his brain and was hospitalized overnight for observation.  That’s the easy part.  The difficult question to answer is- When is it safe to allow Mr. Tebow to return to competition? The proper timing of clearing a contact athlete (any athlete for that matter) for competition and further contact is truly one of the most difficult dilemmas that commonly face sports physicians.  Why? It’s pretty simple.  Medical science does not understand enough about concussions.  We still do not fully understand what transpires in the brain.  We know what the symptoms are but we do not understand the physiology of the injury.  Also, there are no definitive tests to evaluate the severity of the injury or document adequate recovery.  The CT scan that was performed on Tebow merely documented that it was not another type of injury, primarily a bleed on the brain that may necessitate surgical decompression.  Currently, a MRI provides little additional information. The current guidelines require that all symptoms be relieved before considering a return to play.  Hyper-competitive athletes will often minimize or flat out lie about the severity of their symptoms in order to ‘get back out there’. Neurocognitive testing is the current state of the art tool that we may use to help in determining the proper timing of a return to contact.  It is not definitive and therefore considered another guideline certainly not a rule. If the team’s medical staff keeps the star player out too long influential boosters complain, championship aspirations and millions of dollars for the athletic department go down the drain as the losses mount.  If the player returns too soon, especially younger athletes with developing brains, catastrophic results may follow.  And you wonder where our (orthopedic surgeons) premature gray hair comes from.     More on Sports
 
#battleoftheboroughs: Battle Of The Boroughs Breaks Out On Twitter Top
People all across the city are taking to Twitter to proclaim their love for their borough, and talk trash about the other four. The topic #battleoftheboroughs is a top trend on the site and shows no signs of slowing down. Keep checking back for more information on the trend, and watch the battle unfold below. More on Twitter
 
Rob Perks: Coal Baron Don Blankenship's Crazy Talk on Climate Change Top
"Turn on more lights, burn more coal."       -- Don Blankenship Don Blankenship is the CEO of Massey Energy, the largest coal producer in Appalachia and the most notorious perpetrator of mountaintop removal  mining.  Mr. Blankenship, known as "the scariest polluter in America," makes millions of dollars overseeing the destruction of America's oldest mountains in the region where he himself was born.  Perhaps Blankenship's extreme wealth  is why  Forbes magazine decided to interview him.  But what shines through more than anything is Blankenship's extreme anti-environmental worldview.  In short, it may come as no surprise to learn that this unabashed coal baron adamantly opposes any regulation intended to protect clean air and water, let alone to address climate change -- the existence of which Don steadfastly refuses to believe.    If you can stomach it, read the full interview which was published yesterday.  But I've chosen to excerpt Blankenship's answers and to provide a succinct rebuttal -- or reality check.  Don on climate policy:  I don't know how we let the enviros and the humanitarians off the hook, that they continue to stymie the development of other countries.  You've got people dying of preventable disease every day, and yet we're getting ready to spend billions of dollars on climate change. The irony is as thick as coal dust.  In essence, Blankenship is defending the destruction of Appalachia's environment and justifying the poisoning of local residents by trying to argue that the dirty coal reaped (raped?) from America's oldest mountain range is fueling progress in other countries.  He clearly has no qualms about how mountaintop removal is harming the health of his fellow Americans living in the coalfields.  Consider this: coal processing leaves behind billions of gallons of toxic waste -- called "sludge" -- that includes selenium , as well as other dangerous chemicals.  This toxic stew is typically "stored" in unlined earthen structures called slurry dams or injected underground, often into abandoned underground coal mines.  These toxins seep into the ground water of nearby communities.  A recent blockbuster  story by the New York Times detailed the dangers of drinking water in Appalachia that is polluted by mining waste.  The article profiled West Virginia, Blankenship's native state, where people try to avoid any contact with tap water, which causes painful rashes and scabs and dissolves childrens' teeth.  Tests there show alarming levels of lead, nickel, arsenic and other contaminants that federal regulators say could contribute to cancer and damage the kidneys and nervous system.  Maybe Don should travel to the town of Prenter Hollow, where a health survey found that  98% of adults interviewed in the area have gallbladder disease .  And don't forget that coal mining costs Appalachians five times more  in early deaths as the industry provides to the region in jobs, taxes and other economic benefits.   Don on cutting carbon pollution:  I think it's all a hoax and a Ponzi scheme.  I can't find any logic to the fact that the climate is actually changing any more because of man than it would without man.    Denial ain't just a river fast-drying up in Egypt.  It's ridiculous these days to take any global warming skeptic seriously.  I mean, who are you gonna believe, Don Blankenship or your lying eyes?  (Pull on your high-waters and watch out for melting glaciers.)  Put aside the motives of a man who makes his living off an industry that profits at the planet's expense.  The debate over climate change is over and the science is indisputable.  Just last week new  analysis by climate scientists  reveals that global temperatures are now expected to rise by 6.3 degrees Fahrenheit by the end of the century.  This rapid warming trend is far faster than the forecast just two years ago by the Nobel Prize-winning U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.  In fact, the predicted increase is nearly double what scientists say is the upper limit of warming the world can afford in order to avert catastrophic climate change.  I hereby invoke John McEnroe to respectfully counter Big Coal's biggest booster: "You cannot be serious!" Don on Forbes ranking West Virginia at the bottom of the list of greenest states : You've constantly got hyperbole in the press, and you've got the government trying, because of their belief in climate change, to drive up the costs and increase the bad press, so it's really hard to overcome it.  I find it odd that the environmental movement says that the area [West Virginia] has to be protected as one of the most pristine ... diversified forests in the world.  We've been mining there for 110 years, and if we didn't destroy it under the previous laws, we certainly aren't going to destroy it under the current ones. Whoa.  For a man who hails from Appalachia, he sure is disconnected from the region's heritage, which is based on a every mountaineer's deep-seated love of and respect for the land.  In short, this area of the country is known as one of the most biologically diverse places in the world -- rich in lush forests, teaming with wildlife, and brimming with some of the cleanest waterways in America.  Clearly, underground mining is not the most benign activity but it pales in comparison to the devastation caused by using explosives and heavy machinery to flatten entire mountain peaks and then dump the waste into waterways.  As West Virginia biologist Ben Stout explains :  It's a complete change, from one of the most diverse and productive forest ecosystems on the planet to a grassland that's nowhere to be found naturally in the southern Appalachians.  Whole lineages, like the mayflies, are basically disappearing because they can't tolerate the conditions.  Migratory birds from South America, their breeding places are rapidly disappearing from southern West Virginia.  And as Appalachian native Jeff Biggers adds : The abuse of the land has always gone hand in hand with the abuse of the people ... Mountaintop removal is not simply about 'minimizing the adverse environmental impacts' or the fact that the practice has destroyed 500 extraordinary mountains and over a million acres of hardwood deciduous forests in our nation's carbon sink of Appalachia.  It has also ripped out the roots of one of our nation's vital mountain cultures -- the very arena of so much social change and innovation that has shaped our country -- and effectively removed important chapters of the Appalachian and American experience from our memory.   You can never go home again, Don, mainly because you're hell-bent on wiping away any trace of it. Don on the benefits of coal:  [T]he only way this country can be energy independent or actually even have homeland security is to turn to coal.  We have more coal than the Middle East has in oil.  Coal can create the wealth in this country that funds the Manhattan Project on the next generation of energy.  But as long as we're wasting such huge amounts of money on renewables and nonsense...we're not going to have those funds. If America is the Saudia Arabia of coal, then I'm the George Clooney of the environmental movement.  The fact is, the supply of coal is dwindling faster than most people realize -- particularly here in the U.S.  Regardless, all fossil fuel will run out sooner than later whereas clean power generated from the wind, sun and geothermal won't ever run out, nor will it cook the planet.  And as for supposed wealth generated by coal, why is it that Appalachian coalfied counties are among the poorest in the nation?  According to a study by West Virginia University researcher Michael Hendryx, "Coal-mining economies are weaker than the rest of the state, weaker than the rest of the region, and weaker than the rest of the nation."  The study revealed that the coal industry generates a little more than $8 billion a year in economic benefits for the Appalachian region, yet it costs $42 billion a year.  With the U.S. Senate about to take up clean energy and climate legislation, the pressure will be intense to dirty up the bill in ways that benefit the fossil fools crowd.  But the urgency of the climate crisis means that we simply cannot afford the same old dirty business as usual.  We must break the stranglehold that has allowed Big Coal (as well as Big Oil and the Nuke Boys) to dictate America's energy policy.  Such stale, short-sighted energy policies will hurt our economy and our environment and leave all of us stuck paying too much to heat our homes and to fill our tanks. However, investments in renewable energy alternatives will pay dividends in the creation of new jobs, cuts in our energy bills, and a decrease in oil dependence. More jobs, less pollution and greater energy security.  That's common-sense, not nonsense.   This post originally appeared on NRDC's Switchboard blog . More on Climate Change
 
Paul David Walker: The National Parks: America's Best Idea Top
As I watched this masterpiece by Ken Burns on PBS my heart was touched at a deep level. As John Muir was quoted, "Without wilderness we risk losing our souls;" I wanted to cancel all my business appointments and drive out into "The Wild." John Muir was a master of pattern recognition. He created high levels of productivity in early American factories, and later built his wife's farm into a masterpiece of agriculture. But he could not resist what Emerson called, "The Great Intelligence." He was constantly drawn deep into nature to experience the ultimate pattern. He said, "Nature is an interrelated joyous web of being." Ken Burns shows how when he was away from "The Wild" he would wither, as we all do when we separate ourselves from this "joyous being." He talked continuously about the views and vistas of creation and how getting lost in man's ideas about God seem so shallow compared to God's creations that reach out to us everyday, if we would only see. Continuous connection to this life force is the answer to our sorrows. Ken Burns' work reminds me of an old Tibetan story. A man lived his whole life in a cabin on top of a great mountain. The cabin had no windows or doors; he could only see the darkness. But one day he sees a thin ray of light coming through a crack in a wall that is weakening after decades of wind. He is filled with joy and wonders where this light is coming from. He is drawn to the light and pushes against the wall to see more, and after years of struggle, the walls fall down and the ceiling is blown away by the wind, and suddenly he sees "The View" from the top of this beautiful mountain. It seems many of us have built walls of fear around our lives as we struggle to survive in our world. "The View" is not far away, all we have to do is let down our walls. Thank you Ken Burns for reminding us to preserve "The Wild" and to venture out into the "joyous web of being" that surrounds us. More on Green Living
 
Chip Conley: JdV > GDP? Sarkozy Stimulates Sarcasm Top
As the world's leaders descended on the burg of Pitts, that rascal Sarkozy handed out a French-made pair of 3-D glasses. Upon the one-year anniversary of the financial meltdown, the French president suggested that we've been evaluating the financial world with one eye closed and have been distracted by the "cult of statistics" that traditional economists feed us. Now that his Nobel-winning duet of economists (Joseph Stiglitz and Amartya Sen) have delivered their report that suggests France adopt a "Joie de Vivre" index, this conservative president has started sounding like a leftist or at least someone who spends a little too much time reading Sartre in Left Bank cafes. And, of course, the conventionally wise around the world chortled about how naïve this diminutive president could be since happiness and joie de vivre aren't really measurable. In fact, for most economists, if you can't measure something accurately, it ain't real. Maybe that's why economists are such a glum bunch. What is the recipe for success for a country? We've been worshiping at the altar of Gross Domestic Product for nearly a half-century, yet one observer recently suggested, "If we all put bars on our windows and buy face masks to deal with pollution, guess what? GDP goes up. That doesn't mean we are better off." In 1968, Robert Kennedy suggested that GDP "counts napalm and nuclear warheads" and, yet, here we are forty years later, just starting to ask the blasphemous question of "what is real?" Economist Joseph Stiglitz suggests, "What we measure affects what we do. If we have the wrong measures, we will strive for the wrong things." There was a time when having a chicken in every pot and two cars in every garage was our real measurement of success in this country, but maybe it's become our measure of excess in the past few decades. First, Bhutan...now, France. Are we on the verge of a great revolution in which political leaders redefine what's real and what's measurable? Forty national governments are studying or adapting Bhutan's Gross National Happiness Index to imagine how they could create the conditions for their people to have greater well-being. As Sarkozy says, "If leisure has no accounting value because it's essentially full of non-market activities like sport or culture, we put productivity above human fulfillment." Take it from a Frenchman, they know their leisure! Well, I know something about Joie de Vivre, myself, as it's the impractical name I chose for my company twenty-three years ago. Our mission statement ("creating opportunities to celebrate the joy of life") sounds straight out of the French socialist playbook, yet this mantra has allowed us to grow into the country's second largest boutique hotel company. Miraculously, making employees and customers happy creates beaucoup bucks for our hotel investors (although less so in times like these). And, we measure all kinds of things that our traditional hotelier counterparts don't typically fathom: our employees' sense of meaning and connection in the workplace, the number of employees who take sabbaticals (all our salaried employees get a one-month paid sabbatical every three years), our customers' sense of feeling they are in their perfect habitat in our hotels, and the amount of money we raise for grassroots community organizations. If you were president, what key metrics would you try to evaluate to determine whether you were leading a successful country? Here's some of my suggestions, but I look forward to reading yours: • % of High School Grads who go to College • % of the Population that volunteer their time or donate financially to non-profits • Commute time (obviously, with higher rankings for shorter commutes) • Legal immigration demand (this has historically been an important measure of America's greatness) • Capacity for innovation (either through measuring patents or the like) • Of Hours Worked/GDP (our productivity is at the expense of our leisure) Chip Conley is the Founder and CEO of Joie de Vivre Hospitality and the author of PEAK: How Great Companies Get Their Mojo From Maslow. More on France
 
Sam Gustin: The 'Kill Obama?' Facebook Poll Is No Joke for the Secret Service Top
The creator of the Facebook third-party application at the center of a Secret Service investigation is Jesse Farmer, a computer programmer and entrepreneur living in Palo Alto, California, DailyFinance has learned . The Secret Service is investigating after someone posted a poll using an application created by Farmer asking, "Should Obama be killed?" The possible answers were "no," "maybe," yes," and "yes if he cuts my health care." Facebook quickly yanked the poll Monday -- and the Secret Service may be quickly yanking some moron out of bed early this morning. Early Tuesday, Farmer posted the following to his Twittter account. "Life TODO: [X] Have a phone conversation with an agent from the US Secret Service." To be clear, Farmer is not the person who created the poll, but rather the creator of the third-party application used to create the poll. "The conversation with the SS was fine," Farmer tweeted. "If the goal was to resolve the issue + inform the SS, the way it went down was suboptimal." Farmer did not immediately return a request for comment. "We worked with Facebook to have the poll taken down, and we're investigating further," Secret Service spokesman Edwin Donovan told DailyFinance. "We can't discount anything. We have to take this seriously." Indeed. And most likely, the first thing they did was ask Facebook and the third-party application developer to turn over the IP address of the user who posted the offensive poll. With that information in hand, agents would be able to locate the computer on which the poll was created and perhaps even the person who created it. Read the rest of this post at DailyFinance.com More on Facebook
 
Alan Gottlieb: Tough Questions, No Answers Top
Questions sparked by three EdNews Colorado stories last week are rattling around in my head today. I don't have any answers at the moment. Perhaps some of you do. If so, please send them my way. The sad and bewildering tale of the Cesar Chavez Schools Network raises the first questions. As reported in thorough and compelling fashion by Nancy Mitchell, the network, which started as a single Pueblo school in 2000, has gone from a feel-good story about high-poverty schools beating the odds to a tangled tale with hints of cronyism and blatant self-interest spiced with paranoia. The bizarre actions of the Chavez board last week brings to the surface a larger question about charter school governing boards. While I'm a proponent of charters, and their ability to operate independently of a school district, I wonder whether some sort of checks and balances regarding board composition would be wise. At present, individuals or organizations vying to start charters assemble a board. Usually, the board is put in place to support the application, and then, with some tweaks, becomes the governing board once the charter is approved. This works well, in theory at least, because those selected presumably have the best interests of the school and its students at heart. But what happens when a board is packed with cronies, and the interests of board members or the school's leader takes precedence over the good of the school and its children? Should the body that authorizes a charter -- be it the school district or the Charter School Institute, get a seat or two on the board? Not to tip the balance, but to place a differing perspective on the board? I can hear my friends over the Colorado League of Charter Schools howling at this question. I'm eager to hear their response. The second question on my mind resulted from the first forum for candidates running for Denver school board. It was held last week in northeast Denver. Five candidates attended; two were no-shows. Answers to questions ranged from thoughtful to superficial. Distinctions between serious and not-so-serious candidates became clear. But those distinctions might not matter much in the end, because two circumstances converge to make this election more unpredictable than most. The first is that this is the "off-est" of off-year elections. No other offices are up for election, and no ballot measures of any consequence. So, on Denver's ballot at least, it's school board races and almost nothing else. As a result, voter turnout will likely be miniscule. And to complicate matters, it's a mail-only election. No polling places. No voting booths. Just you and your ballot, which should arrive with all the bills and junk mail around Oct. 15. This is an important election, with the future of Denver Public Schools hanging in the balance. Yet, odds are, few people will cast a ballot. And traditional get-out-the-vote efforts may not work in an election where the only option is to vote by mail. Is this the best way to decide who gets on the Denver school board? Would it be better to hold school board elections only during higher-turnout cycles? Is mail-only a wise course? And, of course, the big, underlying question: Should school boards be elected at all? Or is an appointed board preferable? Finally, Julie Poppen's fascinating story about overcrowding at Metropolitan State College of Denver raised a host of questions. While the concept of an open admissions four-year college is noble, does it make sense in the current environment? If not, how does the school decide who gets in? Does even raising such questions undermine Metro State's mission? And this, of course, pushes a question back to the K-12 system: How is it that you produce so many high school graduates who aren't ready to do freshman-level work at Metro, or anywhere else? Answers, anyone?
 
The Beginning Of The End For The Public Option Top
Today, the Senate Finance Committee rebuffed two amendments to include the public option in its health care reform bill. The first amendment, offered by Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.) went down 15-8. The second, put forward by Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), failed to pass by a 13-10 vote. So, now what? Is the public option dead? Will the fight go on? Yesterday, Democratic consultant Peter Feld assayed today's committee machinations and warned : "Spoiler alert: the public option goes down in a ritual sacrifice of which this is step one." Want to bet he's wrong? I'd advise against it, after seeing Schumer appear on Hardball this afternoon. Host Chris Matthews introduced Schumer as "a strong champion of the public option," but failed to make much note of the many buckets of water he was hauling on Senator Max Baucus' (D-Mont.) behalf. Schumer began with the good news: sure, the public option failed in the Senate Finance Committee, but once the bill is out in the Senate, it will fare better. Why? Because, according to Schumer, the "most difficult terrain for the public option" is the finance committee because it's "more conservative than the Senate Democrats as a whole, and the Senate Democrats as a whole are more conservative than the House and the conference." "This was really good news for us!" Schumer enthused, apparently unaware that Max Baucus and Blanche Lincoln and Kent Conrad do not suddenly become entirely different people just because they've entered a different room. But that's Schumer's outlook! Everything's going to get REALLY AWESOME now, and hopefully your concept of "really awesome" is a public option "trigger!" "There may be some adjustments and tweaks we have to make," Schumer said. HINT HINT. Watch Sen. Schumer's appearance on Hardball: Elsewhere, Schumer was just out there, deflecting heat from Baucus, who apparently hasn't figured out how to do that by sewing together a thick sheet of insulation out of the thousands of dollars he's earned from the health care lobby. Chris Matthews showed Schumer this ad , which savages Baucus. In it, Montana resident Bing Perrine describes the extent to which he's ended up in crippling six-figure debt from treatment of a congenital heart defect and a lack of health insurance. In the ad, Perrine makes his point very clear: "Senator Baucus, when you take millions of dollars from health and insurance interests that oppose reform and oppose giving families like mine the choice of a public option, I have to ask: whose side are you on?" WATCH: This ad -- which, really, Baucus should be confronted with, on the teevee -- draws Schumer's blithest tsk-tsk: "It's hurting us. And I wish they wouldn't do it." But how does this ad hurt? The ad actually points out the precise reason the public option is foundering: a lot of well-financed special interests are purchasing legislation that eliminates it. That is why the public option is struggling to live. There is no other reason. But Schumer, who has himself raised $1.65 million from the financial services sector , would rather pretend that he lives in a world where all of that money isn't having any sort of impact on lawmaking, and in which pointing that out is hurtful. What's helping? Schumer says that the polling is what matters: "A New York Times survey found 65% of the public are for [the public option]." WOO! Of course, as anyone who's followed this issue knows, the first and easiest thing that gets dismissed in the health care debate is the popularity of the public option. I'm not sure why these poll numbers matter now, except as a means of getting Schumer out of this conversation. And really, Baucus couldn't ask for a better Gunga Dun than a man who'll say this on his behalf: SCHUMER: What we have to do is show Max Baucus that we have the votes. Today he said he likes the public option. If he thought there were 60 votes on the floor of the Senate he'd be for it. This is a mind-blowing example of anti-logic. Surely Chuck Schumer knows that Baucus would be one of those 60 votes . Surely he understands that Kent Conrad and Blanche Lincoln, who also voted against the public option -- voted against his amendment! -- are also two of those 60 votes. I really don't think Schumer should be allowed to come on teevee and not make sense to the extent he's not making sense. By his thinking, Max Baucus "likes the public option," but Max Baucus is playing a wait-and-see game to see if it will gain the support of Max Baucus. If Max Baucus ends up supporting the public option, then Max Baucus can add his support. Schumer, by the way, didn't even attempt to explain why Tom Carper wouldn't vote for the Rockefeller amendment. At least Max Baucus and Kent Conrad can claim to be from competitive districts. As the Washington Independent 's Dave Weigel points out today , Carper won his seat by over 40 points. But that's how the public option is going to die. A bunch of Democrats will vote it down because their seats are too vulnerable. Then, a bunch of Democrats will vote it down because their seats are too safe. The health care industry will have spent its money wisely, and Bing Perrine will hopefully have enough bake sales to pay to fix his heart, so he doesn't die. Circle of life! [Would you like to follow me on Twitter ? Because why not? Also, please send tips to tv@huffingtonpost.com -- learn more about our media monitoring project here .] More on Max Baucus
 
US To Send Home Thousands More Troops From Iraq Top
WASHINGTON — The top general in Iraq is sending home 4,000 more U.S. troops by the end of October as the American military winds down the six-year war. Army Gen. Ray Odierno said in remarks prepared for a congressional hearing Wednesday that the number of U.S. soldiers in Iraq will total about 120,000 over the next month. He said that will mean about 4,000 fewer troops than are in Iraq now – about the size of an Army brigade. "As we go forward, we will thin our lines across Iraq in order to reduce the risk and sustain stability through a deliberate transition of responsibilities to the Iraqi security forces," Odierno said in a statement he was to deliver before the House Armed Services Committee. A copy of the testimony was obtained Tuesday by The Associated Press. A Defense Department official confirmed Odierno planned to announce at the House hearing that he is reducing the number of brigades in Iraq, as has been long expected. In his eight-page statement, Odierno cited data showing that the monthly number of attacks in Iraq have dramatically dropped over the last two years – from more than 4,000 in August 2007 to about 600 last month. He also said that far fewer al-Qaida and foreign fighters remain in Iraq, and most of those who are left are criminals and disenfranchised Iraqis who have been recruited by what Odierno described as a "small ideological core" of insurgents. Despite cautious optimism, Odierno's outlook of the nation he called an enduring U.S. interest was far from rosy. He predicted several looming problems as U.S. troops prepare to end combat missions by September 2010 and leave Iraq at the end of 2011. They include: _A pair of truck bombings Aug. 19 at Iraq's finance and foreign ministries, which killed about 100 people in Baghdad, revealed "a clear security lapse," Odierno said. _Iraqi officials have yet to agree on a system of government that is accepted across what Odierno described as ethnic, sectarian and regional lines. He described a power struggle between provincial officials and Baghdad and said long-standing tensions continue to stall progress between Arabs and Kurds. As the January elections approach, military officials have identified Arab-Kurd tensions as one of the top concerns for potential violence, especially in contested territories in the oil-rich north that each side claims as its own. Still, Odierno said the darkest days of the Iraq war seem to be long gone, citing failed efforts by extremists still seeking to destabilize the nation. "The overwhelming majority of the Iraqi people have rejected extremism," Odierno said. "We see no indications of a return to the sectarian violence that plagued Iraq in 2006-2007." _Although Iraqi leaders had planned to find government jobs for all members of a group known as Sons of Iraq who helped curb the insurgency, "we do not believe they will meet this timeline," Odierno said. "We continue to monitor the progress of this program very closely." Iraq's government promised to open thousands of police and military jobs, dominated by Shiites, to the Sons of Iraq, who are mostly Sunni. But the government has been accused by Sunnis of dragging its feet on integrating the jobs. Odierno, however, said 23,000 former Sons of Iraq have begun working in government jobs since 2008, and 5,000 more will start next month.
 
James Degorski Found Guilty In Brown's Chicken Murders Top
CHICAGO — A former handyman was convicted Tuesday in the slayings of seven people whose bodies were found in a walk-in freezer and cooler at a suburban Chicago fast food restaurant 16 years ago. James Degorski, 37, showed no emotion as the verdict against him was read. Jurors who deliberated for about two hours after a nearly monthlong trial must now decide whether Degorski is eligible for the death penalty and whether it should be imposed. About 20 of the victims' family members, some of whom held hands and cried when the verdict was announced, left the courthouse without commenting to reporters after being told by the judge that doing so would preclude them from testifying at Degorski's sentencing hearing, which was set to begin Wednesday. Prosecutors claimed Degorski shot and stabbed two owners and five employees of the Brown's Chicken and Pasta restaurant in Palatine in 1993 "because he wanted to do something big." His conviction came despite a lack of physical evidence linking him to the crime. Public defender Mark Levitt noted that in closing arguments earlier Tuesday. "The prosecution has been scrambling," Levitt said. "They can appeal to your emotions, because we all have emotions. They can appeal to your senses, but what they're lacking is evidence." Prosecutors told jurors that Degorski had told many people about the killings. "The testimony corroborates the evidence," said Assistant Cook County State's Attorney Tom Biesty. Juan Luna, a high school friend of Degorski, also was convicted of the crime in 2007 and sentenced to life in prison. Luna was a former employee of the restaurant who told authorities he thought it would be an easy target at closing time. The robbery netted less than $2,000. Prosecutors said the men shot and stabbed restaurant owners Richard Ehlenfeldt, 50, his wife Lynn, 49, and five of their employees: Michael Castro, 16; Rico Solis, 17; Marcus Nellsen, 31; Thomas Mennes, 32; Guadalupe Maldonado, 46. In Luna's case, investigators had a wealth of physical evidence, including a palm print and DNA that put him at the crime scene. Luna also gave a lengthy videotaped statement to police in which he implicated himself and Degorski. A brief statement from Degorski after his arrest was far less detailed, and prosecutors had to rely on the testimony of witnesses – including Degorski's former girlfriend – who said both men confessed their roles just after the crime. Degorski and Luna were arrested in May 2002 after Anne Lockett, came forward to police. Lockett, who became one of the prosecution's star witnesses, testified that the motive for the killings was partly curiosity, saying Luna wanted to know what it was like to kill someone and Degorski agreed to help. Luna himself told authorities Degorski had ordered him to watch Lynn Ehlenfeldt during the attack. Luna allegedly admitted he "got caught up in it" and cut her throat. But he claimed Degorski shot and killed everyone else. The bodies were found early on Jan. 9, 1993. Authorities recalled there being so many bodies that one of the first officers on the scene couldn't initially tell the number of victims. Lockett testified it took her a decade to come forward because Degorski and Luna had threatened to kill her. Defense attorney Levitt pressed Lockett in cross examination about heavy drug abuse in her teens, when she dated Degorski, and Lockett acknowledged having spent much of her time high and drunk. Defense attorneys had focused during trial on false confessions obtained from other suspects, trying to raise doubts about whether Degorski's own 2002 confession was coerced. And they sought to counter portrayals of their client as a cold-blooded killer. One of Degorski's former neighbors testified that Degorski was a "peaceful, considerate and nonviolent person" when she and her siblings knew him in 1993. "We looked up to him," 25-year-old Jessica Mogilinski testified.
 
Toyota, Lexus Mat Recall: 3.8 Million Vehicles Recalled Over Floor Mats Top
WASHINGTON — Toyota Motor Corp. said Tuesday it will recall 3.8 million vehicles in the United States, the company's largest-ever U.S. recall, to address problems with a removable floor mat that could cause accelerators to get stuck and lead to a crash. The recall will involve popular models such as the Toyota Camry, the top-selling passenger car in America, and the Toyota Prius, the best-selling gas-electric hybrid. Toyota said it was still working with officials with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to find a remedy to fix the problem and said owners could be notified about the recall as early as next week. Toyota spokesman Irv Miller said until the company finds a fix, owners should take out the removable floor mat on the driver's side and not replace it. "A stuck open accelerator pedal may result in very high vehicle speeds and make it difficult to stop a vehicle, which could cause a crash, serious injury or death," Miller said. Toyota and the government issued separate warnings to owners of Toyota and Lexus vehicles about the safety problems tied to the floor mats. "This is an urgent matter," Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said in a statement. "For everyone's sake, we strongly urge owners of these vehicles to remove mats or other obstacles that could lead to unintended acceleration." The recall will affect 2007-2010 model year Toyota Camry, 2005-2010 Toyota Avalon, 2004-2009 Toyota Prius, 2005-2010 Tacoma, 2007-2010 Toyota Tundra, 2007-2010 Lexus ES350 and 2006-2010 Lexus IS250 and IS350. Toyota's previously largest U.S. recall was about 900,000 vehicles in 2005 to fix a steering issue. The company declined to say how many complaints it had received about the accelerator issue. NHTSA said it had received reports of 102 incidents in which the accelerator may have become stuck on the Toyota vehicles involved. The Japanese automaker warned owners that if they think their vehicle is accelerating out of control, they should check to see whether their floor mat is under the pedal. If a driver can't remove the floor mat, Toyota advises drivers to step on the brake pedal with both feet until the vehicle slows and then try to put it into neutral and switch the ignition to accessory power. For vehicles with engine start/stop buttons, Toyota said the engine can be shut off by holding the button down for three seconds. The safety concern was prompted by a fiery crash in California that killed four family members in August near San Diego. The crash killed California Highway Patrol Officer Mark Saylor, 45, and three others on State Route 125 in Santee. The runaway car was traveling at more than 120 mph when it hit a sport utility vehicle, launched off an embankment, rolled several times and burst into flames. In mid-September, Toyota ordered 1,400 Toyota and Lexus dealers nationwide to ensure that each new, used and loaner vehicles had the proper floor mats and that the mats were properly secured. In September 2007, Toyota recalled an accessory all-weather floor mat sold for use in some 2007 and 2008 model year Lexus ES 350 and Toyota Camry vehicles because of similar problems. For more information, consumers can contact the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's hotline at (888) 327-4236, Toyota at (800) 331-4331 or Lexus at (800) 255-3987. ___ On the Net: Toyota Motor Corp.: http://www.toyota.com Lexus: . http://www.lexus.com More on Cars
 
Pro-Polanski Hollywood Bands Together To Protest Arrest Top
Actors and actresses from Harrison Ford to Debra Winger have reportedly joined the growing throng of liberal celebrities calling for Polanski to be released following his arrest in Switzerland last week. Studio kingpin Harvey Weinstein says he is leading the charge and "e-mailing everybody I know" to push for the swift release of his friend, whom he calls a "humanist" who has been the victim of a gross "miscarriage of justice" for more than three decades. More on Roman Polanski
 

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