Saturday, September 12, 2009

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Tea Party Protester: "We Think The Muslims Are Moving In And Taking Over" (VIDEO) Top
A protester at Saturday's Tea Party on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. made clear that she was afraid, saying "We are losing our country, we think the Muslim's are moving in and taking over." NBC Nightly News interviewed the woman, who was surrounded by fellow protesters as she made the remarks. Her name was not used. Participants at the event, billed "March on Washington" by its organizers, rallied against President Obama's health care plan and what they say is out-of-control spending. WATCH Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News , World News , and News about the Economy More on Health Care
 
Rachel Strugatz: Reem Acra's Office: See What's Inside (PHOTOS) Top
Reem Acra is the Beirut-born designer responsible for the striking red strapless dress worn by Jill Biden to the Inaugural Balls. Since launching her eponymous label in 1996, Acra's bridal gowns and evening wear have become perennial favorites with celebrities such as Halle Berry, Angelina Jolie, Beyoncé, Olivia Wilde, Katherine Heigl, and Eva Longoria. Reem Acra in her office Photos by Brandon Perlman With the help of a live-in seamstress that helped bring her designs to fruition, Acra has been designing dresses since she was a little girl. After relocating to the United States in 1983, she studied at both the Fashion Institute of Technology and then at ESMOD International Fashion University Group in Paris before returning back to New York to open her own design house. Her gowns are both lavish and glamorous without being over the top, and it's clear why Acra's designs have become red carpet mainstays at the Emmy's, the Golden Globes, and the Oscars. Her fashion-forward take on traditional style results in dresses appropriate for twenty-something starlets to politicians' wives. In the midst of frantically preparing for her upcoming Spring 2010 show, which takes place on Sunday, Reem sat down and shared her inspirations, her philosophy on dressing from day to night, and even sketched a dress on the spot. Rachel Strugatz: Describe your personal style Reem Acra: My personal style is a mixture of classical and modern. My style definitely has a sense of humor and I like to always be dressed from the office and ready to go out. I wear pieces that can be casual and then dressed up for an event. RS: Tell us what you're wearing from head-to-toe RA: I'm wearing a new skirt from my Spring 2010 collection, a Jil Sander t-shirt, a black draped cropped sweater, and a red patent belt from my collection. A touch of color - like this red belt - is always good. I'm also wearing Sergio Rossi satin peep-toe platform pumps - they are black with a navy blue platform and heel. RS: What are your must-have items? RA: Necklaces and the belts from my collections - I have to have belts. There are patent, fabric, and some of the belts are beaded too. Another must-have for me is always being neat and organized. I also can't live without Altoid Smalls and my Sony Cyber Shot digital camera, and my dog Loulou goes everywhere with me. RS: What inspires you? RA: I'm inspired by everything from fabric swatches, to people, to cities, to traveling, to art, to architecture - anything still or moving. The city is filled with things that are inspiring, but it really starts with the fabric. My fall collection is Greek Goddess inspired, but in a modern way. It came about because I was having dinner with a friend, talking about a Greek statue that he owned. I had him email me a picture of the sculpture and I asked if I could use it as my muse. The trick is how you translate and the fabrics worked well because they were muted. 5 Things About Reem... 1. Her favorite movie is Slumdog Millionaire 2. She takes ballroom dancing lessons four times a week 3. The last book she read was Madame Bovary 4. She is an accomplished painter (but gave it up a long time ago) and has a passion for interior decorating 5. She is fluent in three languages In Reem's Office... Pink Alessi Timer -- "In case people stay too long in my office during meetings." Framed Photo of Her Mother -- "This is from the 40's. It's one of the only ones we can find. She influenced me and taught me how to buy fabrics. She was always well dressed." Butler and Chef Wine Holders -- " I keep my brushes in here because I like to keep my girl things in here." Black Lacquered Wood Desk -- "My brother Max made my desk. It's a masterpiece like a piano. Everybody who comes in my office loves my desk." Writing Instrument Holder -- "I use black felt pens and Sharpie's when I'm sketching something larger. Never leave a pen around me -- It will be gone." Red Chinese Box -- "This is a very interesting box, it's so unusual." Roger Vivier Flats -- "These are one of my favorite pairs of shoes." Lulu Guinness "Don't Forget" Satin Bag -- "I love bags and little bags within bags. Everything is contained." Little Girl's Dress -- "I designed this when I was eight." Altoid Smalls -- "They are small and have a better effect than the bigger ones." Prada Tortoiseshell Sunglasses -- "I can't go out without them." Red Boxes -- "They are essential. It's archives of pictures, videos, and CD's. After every collection, anything related to the show - the program, show DVD, and the invitation-- goes in a box." Rachel Strugatz can be contacted at rachel.strugatz@gmail.com. Follow HuffPost Style on Twitter and become a fan of HuffPost Style on Facebook ! More on Fashion Week
 
Rachel Farris: Dare Devils: Governor Rick Perry and the Texas Death Panel Top
I've chosen to ignore most of the health care rhetoric. I know what I believe--the health care industry is so clearly broken that a thousand monkeys typing explanations of benefits could come up with that conclusion--and I'm sick of hearing Republicans argue otherwise. But on the subject of death panels, which Sarah Palin dropped into her recent Wall Street Journal op-ed with a wink , like a twelve-year old flashing a passing car--"Dare me, guys?"--I find the conservative argument bordering on the edge of delusional. Republicans like Sarah Palin need to stop playing truth or dare with people's lives. Since when do conservatives care about anyone dying? With the exception of their fetish for protecting a few eggs produced by women's ovaries every twenty-eight days, the Republican Party has historically shown zero regard for whether anyone lives or dies. People die every day, buried with medical bills and coughing blood from their graves. The slaughter of Iraqis is neither shocking nor awesome. Immigrants scrambling across the border are not deserving of a life in this country, legal or otherwise. Former Republican Party of Texas vice chairman David Barton, now enjoying an appointment by the Texas Board of Education, has so little regard for a human's life that he wants to strike Cesar Chavez from the history books . In Barton's "expert" review of Texas schools' social studies curriculum, he says Chavez "lacks the stature, impact and overall contributions of others." He forgot to add, "Who are white" after that statement. But the most disturbing representation of a life lost was the one sentenced to Cameron Todd Willingham, who in 1991 lost his three children in a house fire in Corsicana, Texas and was sentenced to death after refusing a plea-bargain for life in prison. The New Yorker recently took an in-depth look at the case, asking, "Did Texas execute an innocent man?" Willingham, who maintained his innocence up to his death, spent twelve years in prison going through the government's appeals process. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, whose presiding judge is conservative Sharon "We Close at 5 O'Clock" Keller , "was known for upholding convictions when overwhelming exculpatory evidence came to light." The court denied Willingham of his writ of habeas corpus and a month before his execution, his file landed on the desk of Dr. Gerald Hurst, an Austin scientist and fire investigator who began reviewing the case. Hurst's report, which concluded there was "no evidence of arson," (a conclusion which has since been reached by three additional investigations) was sent to Governor Rick Perry and the Board of Pardons and Paroles along with Willingham's appeal for clemency. The board members are not required to review any submitted materials, and "usually don't debate a case in person." Instead, they cast their votes by fax--a process which, the New Yorker article states, "has become known as 'death by fax.'" Even more troubling: "Between 1976 and 2004, when Willingham filed his petition, the State of Texas had approved only one application for clemency from a prisoner on death row." It is, in fact, Texas's own death panel. Health care reform at best will offer an alternative to the people who need it the most, stymie medical costs, and create change within an industry that has been allowed to run rampant. At worst, it would be symbolic proof that the option can be supported and improved from there. In either case, it is not going to create a government panel to put people to death. We already have one. "The only statement I want to make is that I am an innocent man convicted of a crime I did not commit. I have been persecuted for twelve years for something I did not do. From God's dust I came and to dust I will return, so the Earth shall become my throne." - Cameron Todd Willingham's final statement, February 17, 2004 More on Health Care
 
Roy Ulrich: What It Will Take to Win the Healthcare Debate Top
In a speech to a joint session of Congress on health care Wednesday night, President Obama briefly alluded to the age-old argument between the individual's desire for freedom and the need for security. He noted there has been a healthy skepticism of the federal government since the nation's founding. On occasion, in reaction to the destructive excesses of this or that Gilded Age, progressives have been able to overcome our natural Jeffersonian inclination to prefer limited government. It is only when levees burst, markets crash, or regulators fail us that there usually comes a brief burst of progressive action. That was what happened in 1933 when Social Security was enacted. In 1993, the Clinton health care plan was undone by a series of ads featuring "Harry and Louise" who convinced each other that the federal government shouldn't play any role in the nation's health care system. That strategy worked then and the Republicans hope it can work again. They continue to parrot consultant Frank Luntz's line that the Democrats want nothing less than to accomplish a government takeover of health care. We should be clear that the opponents of genuine reform have no comprehensive alternative they can claim as their own. Aligned with the private insurance carriers, their real goal is to maintain the status quo. Their real fear is the realization of a decades-old Democratic dream: low-cost, universal health care. They realize that should this dream come true, they will remain out of power for many years to come. The anti-government crowd, embodied by Ronald Reagan, rode into Washington in 1981. At his first inaugural address on the steps of the nation's capitol, he said, "Government is not the solution to our problems; it's the problem." Today, all too many Americans believe that to their very core. According to data compiled by the Pew Research Center, an astounding 62% of Americans believe that when the government runs a program, it is usually inefficient and wasteful. That's what did in "Hillary care" in 1993. The outcome of the health care debate taking place in Congress today will determine if the 28-year conservative stranglehold on Washington is finally nearing an end. There are two things holding us back as we stand on the precipice of enacting genuine health care reform, that is, one that includes a public plan as one among others. First, from 2000-2008, the Bush Administration showed us that it had little interest and limited ability to actually govern. In fact, the monumental incompetence of Bush and his cronies will make the job more difficult, for they failed in ways that have undermined Americans' confidence in the ability of government to solve the country's most pressing problems. Second, when we speak -- as the President did the other night -- of our willingness to come to the aid of others in need, most people think of individual or organized charity or other acts of kindness. Alternatively, one thinks of "individual" giving and selflessness in times of a national emergency, as was the case with the nation's response to the destruction of the Twin Towers in New York City in 2001. "Government action" -- other than a military response -- is not the first words that come to most people's lips at such times. Nor is it clear, as the President maintained on Wednesday, that most people think government should step in when someone is in need of a helping hand. Not yet, at least. Here, then, are suggestions for the President's next speech if he really wants to change public attitudes on the proper role and size of government in American life. He should remind us that it was the government of the United States that substantially reduced the number of elderly in poverty, landed a man on the moon, helped conquer fascism, built interstate highways, made loans to homebuyers and students, insured bank deposits, and led the most successful anti-smoking campaign in the history of the planet. And it continues such diverse tasks as making certain that unsafe drugs don't reach the market and providing financial assistance to victims of natural disasters. In truth, most Americans are slightly schizophrenic about their views of government. They rightly hate red tape, bureaucracy, and waste, but they want the airlines they fly, the products they use, and the food they eat to be safe. Henceforth, liberal Democrats in Congress and the President need to go on the offensive and ask those who want to keep the public option out of health care overhaul a few questions: Do we want the Consumer Product Safety Commission to continue to inspect for lead in imported Chinese toys? Do we want the Food and Drug Administration to check for E. coli and salmonella in the food we eat? Do we really need an Environmental Protection Agency? This is far more effective strategy than simply denying that the proposed healthcare plan amounts to a government takeover. Finally, the President and liberal Democrats in Congress need to remind all Americans that government has a role to play in the struggle between the people and the powerful, in this case the powerful healthcare industry. In 1941, President Roosevelt described the Democrats as "a party which believes that, as new conditions and problems arise beyond the power of men and women to meet as individuals, it becomes the duty of government itself to find new remedies with which to beat them." Nothing has really changed since then. _____ The writer is a researcher at Demos, a New York based think tank.
 
Gerald Sindell: Why Start With The Perfect? Top
You're third in line for takeoff, finally ready to depart for La Guardia and get to your lunch meeting in Chicago. The pilot comes on the P.A. for a last-minute cheery message: "Thanks for your patience. We hope to make it up once we're in the air and get you to O'Hare on time. Or at least someplace not too far from there. We're thinking maybe Gary or Indianapolis. As the President says, we shouldn't make the perfect the enemy of the essential. So wish us luck." What if that were acceptable? What if we never got where we were hoping to go, and it was okay? What are the implications when President Obama tells us that part of his philosophy is, "We shouldn't make the perfect the enemy of the essential?" Sounds reasonable, in a way. Don't want to be a perfectionist about everything. Wouldn't be realistic. Never get anything done. Got to compromise, make a deal. Make progress of some kind. I'm not so sure about throwing the perfect overboard. I keep wondering how can we ever know what really is essential unless we first know what the perfect looks like? Sure, when you're going 500 miles per hour in an aluminum can at 30,000 feet, essential is you land in one piece, somewhere. But when you're on the ground planning a trip, maybe the perfect includes getting all the way to your destination. You want to know why this country is so confused about how to move forward on health care? One reason is, no one has given us a vision of what the perfect looks like. Without the perfect, we're not even heading to Chicago and putting up with the reality that we might land in Cleveland. Obama's vision for health care still feels to lots of people as if we're just lifting off with no clear vision of where we hope to land. Would you really want your team to design anything without first making the effort to get a clear picture of what the perfect might be? If we don't attempt to imagine what the perfect is, let ourselves dream and reach for the stars, then we are giving up our greatest gift as human beings before we even start. Without a destiny that we can see and dream about and hope for, what is to guide our efforts? The journey of progress will be vastly longer if we don't know where we're going. What if Frank Gehry had listened to that board member (whom I'm certain existed), the one who said, "Now, don't go all crazy Frank," and never asked himself what the Disney Concert Hall should be like if he could create exactly what we wanted? What would I like the outcome to be of my open heart surgery? What kind of achievements would you like to have in your life? Do you want to start by thinking about all the compromises you're going to have to make, or do you want to imagine what you want to do, first? Now that I've won you over (at least for a moment) to the notion that we should try to imagine what perfect would look like, let me invite you join me in imagining what would a perfect health care system be like? I, for one, would toss in the principles that everyone would have the health care they wanted and needed. People would be educated about healthy choices, and the obesity rates would decline. Money in the system would go to caregivers. Overhead would be kept at a minimum. Compensation for doctors would incentivized quality outcomes. We would shift from a sickness to a wellness system. That's top of mind for me. What about you? You can add your own thoughts, or turn this upside down. But whatever the discussion, we need to be able to hold up for ourselves a clear well defined picture of where we'd like to be someday. Many people feel the perfect is, "Single Payer." But I think whether that's it or not, we need to see how it would actually be in reality. Maybe we even to imagine what would happen if the healthcare insurance industry were downsized or shut down. I have no trouble seeing it, by the way. I just imagine decommissioning old coal-fired electricity generating plants. Same thing. Whatever our vision of the perfect is we will be, finally, ready to design our compromises with "political reality" (which means working with those Stakeholders Who Are So Large That No One Can Say Their Name). And most important, look at those compromises and determine whether they allow us to remain aligned with our vision of the perfect, or if they take us farther off track. Without that clear picture of where we want to go, we will never get closer to it. With that vision of the perfect, we'll always know what's left to be done. That's what leaders are for, by the way. To inspire us with a vision of the ideal, and then make the incremental steps that move us comfortably yet inexorably, forward.
 
Maggie Van Ostrand: God Sues Congress Top
In a one-off interview with God (sorry, no photographers were permitted), this reporter had the privilege of learning His plan to file lawsuits against individual members of Congress and clergy. Though I could actually not see Him, I knew He was there because fish and wine were on the table next to his iPhone. My exclusive interview follows: Reporter : Thank you for agreeing to this interview, Lord. I realize Your time is taken up by earth's many other problems, like starvation, poverty, war, pestilence; you name it, we've got it. GOD : How many times do I have to say it: Nothing is more important than Truth. Woe to hypocrites and liars. Reporter : How did you reach a decision to sue, and on what grounds will your lawsuit be based? GOD : Ah, a two-parter. That's just like the media to exaggerate even a simple question. I decided to sue when My communications to humans were ignored by the few whose personal agendas were believed by the many. Charges are malfeasance, misrepresentation, inciting a riot, unfair business practices, intolerance, verbal hate crimes, treason, and tampering with My 10 Commandments. George Carlin was My only exception to that last charge. Reporter : Exactly how did you communicate your wishes? GOD : Conscience, dear boy, conscience. It escapes even Me that some humans know they're doing wrong, and do it anyway. What, they can't read a Bible? Take that pair of fellows, Anderson of Arizona and Drake of California. They call themselves pastors and yet they ask me to kill the President of the United States? This is a personal affront. Did they think I was kidding when I said 'Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.' I even put it in writing, for Heaven's sake. And they call themselves Baptists? Where I live, we have millions of Baptists, one of my most loving religions. We took a vote and not one Baptist wants people moving in who create dissention, fear and hatred. Machiavelli came up with "Divide and ye govern," so we might wonder if these dissidents wish to align themselves with someone whose very name means cunning and deceitful. Perhaps I should not have given humans Power of Choice without further vetting. Reporter : Are any other humans actually named in your proposed lawsuit? GOD : There are a few in South Carolina who need to study the Commandments. Joe Wilson and Jim DeMint broke the Ninth many times over; Mark Sanford broke One, Three, Seven, and Nine and he's still in office. I would include Graham, but there's no Commandment against uppityness; if there were, I would have sued Georgia's Westmoreland long ago. My Commandments are more than the plot of a DeMille movie. Why do you think I suggested Charlton Heston as Moses? Because Heston's voice is exactly like the real Moses' and, as I said before, truth is urgently important to Me. You know how My family hates hypocrites. We've talked about it often enough. Reporter : I see by the hologram of Your iPhone calendar that You've got an appointment in a few minutes to moderate a debate between the Coast Guard and CNN. Before you leave, Lord, is there anything else you want to say? GOD : Yes. Humans who do not pay attention and mend their ways should familiarize themselves with the word SMITE. Even I have a limit on irk. Reporter : One more question, Lord, if You don't mind. What is the name of the attorney representing You in this lawsuit? GOD : I've had to put an ad on Craig's List because I couldn't find any lawyers where I live. ### More on Mark Sanford
 
Tim Gunn Swoons Over Christian Siriano: "He's This Generation's Marc Jacobs" Top
NEW YORK — Designers from "Project Runway" have come and gone – sadly, mostly gone. But Christian Siriano has shown he plans to stay. Siriano's spring 2010 collection shown Saturday was his third at Mercedes Benz Fashion Week following his stint on the reality show, and in that time he's made his way to the windows of Saks Fifth Avenue and to the shoe aisles of Payless. The collection was a lush take on Mediterranean travel, concluding with three intricate ball gowns that elicited spontaneous applause from a crowd that included actresses Mena Suvari and Tori Spelling and model Alessandra Ambrosio. A satin-faced organza strapless gown in blush, elegantly draped and with a beaded bodice, cried out for a red carpet. "I feel like a proud dad," said Tim Gunn, the "Project Runway" mentor. He said he knew Siriano would be a standout from the competition, and thinks he's evolved into something more: "I believe he's this generation's Marc Jacobs. I do." Some of Siriano's most striking pieces were made from a fabric print created using an aerial photograph of the Italian coast line – "flipped, modified, repeated and saturated with Volcanic and Oceanic colors," as Siriano described in his notes. The result was a richly intricate pattern that looked almost animalistic rendered in reds and orange and like a deep ocean cartography in blues. Siriano is a natural showman, so wearability seems beside the point. But his weakest moments came when he strived for it – as in a fitted khaki funnel neck dress with blue piping – and when he totally ignored it, as in an ocean print body suit that was unflattering on the model, who looked famished even by model standards. But he showed a capacity to wow with some of his tamer pieces in shades of blush, nude and khaki – there was elegant draping, delicate pleating and gathered flounces at the shoulders and hips, two body parts getting a lot of attention at Fashion Week. Also meant to be wearable: the sky-high shoes for his third Payless line with a curved, pointed heel and sometimes upturned toe. Just don't try walking too far. It wouldn't be fierce. Nina Garcia, a "Project Runway" judge and fashion director of Marie Claire, said she agreed with Gunn's assessment of the designer, calling Siriano "pretty amazing." "Go to the Saks Fifth Avenue third floor and you'll see him among all the big designers. So clearly it's not just us who think that way but I think also the retailers," she said. "Christian had just fearlessness about him, he just kept pushing the envelope. At the end of the day you have to have that to make it." More on Fashion Week
 
Jim David: The September 12 March Against Sanity Top
I didn't go to the conservative March on Washington this weekend, but I have an idea of the hyperbolic, hysterical atmosphere, since I attended a huge anti-abortion march in Washington in the mid-90s. I will never forget the feeling of being surrounded by people who would beat the crap out of me if they could get away with it. Approximately 300,000 anti-abortion protesters were assembled, most of them mad. They carried pictures of aborted fetuses. A huge clear balloon enclosing a pink fetus balloon floated over the crowd. An effigy of Bill Clinton was hung from a wooden pole and beaten, like a pinata. A man in priest garb who resembled Patty Duke's father held a sign reading, "Chastity, Not Promiscuity." A clown passed out "Stop Abortion Now" buttons, while making animal balloons for kids and accepting donations in a hat. A fat, middle-aged woman wearing a pink tracksuit and a fanny pack, looking like she hailed from a middle school lunchroom kitchen, said, "Way-yul, ah oughta go home and put on muh clown suit, make me some money! Heh, heh, heh." The whole crowd looked incredibly like the residents of Waynesville, North Carolina, a low-income and extremely right-wing hamlet near my hometown of Asheville. None of the Christians I was raised with would be caught dead at this gathering. These people were what my mom called "That holy-roller bunch from out in the country." Then a young man passing out "Keep Abortion Legal" buttons passed by me. I said, "Excuse me, aren't you taking your life into your hands here?" He said, "It's OK, I know Tae Kwon Do if it gets dicey. Want a button?" A middle-aged woman, her face twisted in a mask of rage and fury, marched up and started yelling at him. A quick shouting match ensued a foot from my face, and I said, "Whoa, keep it down, folks. Let's agree to disagree." "THIS MAN IS A MURDERER!" the woman said, jabbing her finger at the guy. "HE'S PARTICIPATING IN GENOCIDE! HE DOESN'T CARE HOW MANY BABIES ARE KILLED!!!" I said, "Come on, you don't even know him," thinking I could actually reason with this screaming harpy. She turned on me, spitting, "DON'T YOU THINK LIFE IS PRECIOUS?" I said, "Well, I think it's cute." She didn't get the joke. "ARE YOU ANTI-FAMILY??" "I'm anti your family." The woman screamed, "WHAT IF YOUR MOTHER HAD ABORTED YOU? WHAT IF YOUR MOTHER HAD ABORTED YOU?" I took a deep breath and said, "Well, then, madam, we would be mercifully spared this boring conversation." I recall that day -- and the nervous, almost pornographic feeling of anger and rage in the air -- as I watch coverage of the September 12 march on Washington against government waste, health reform, all things Obama, and sanity in general. The same hyperbole appears on the same homemade signs, but this time it's more threatening, and blatantly racist: "We came unarmed...this time." "Impeach the Muslim Marxist." "Pelosi -- you keep the Fascism, I'll keep the freedom." "Get out your guns -- you'll need them." "Keep your black hands off my white body." The anti-abortion people would protest no matter who was in the White House. But isn't it ironic the September 12 protesters stayed quietly at home while the Republicans were in power, doing the very things they accuse Obama of, with much less finesse? The people who sat idly by while helping to enable the crisis are horrified at what someone is doing to try to halt the crisis. The party of personal responsibility has become the party of no personal responsibility. Now that she presidential shoes are on the other feet, deficit-spending conservatives have magically transformed back into fiscal conservatives, vehemently against adding more debt when they previously had no problem adding more debt, driving us into the ditch we currently occupy. The crowd yammers on about "mortgaging our kids' future" after 8 years of supporting policies that long ago mortgaged our kids' future. WHAT? ANOTHER TRILLION DOLLARS? they gasp. Gee, where were they when Bush was handing out money like condoms at a sex club? The national debt was ten trillion dollars before the Obamas even toured the White House. And, thanks to the bottomless pit that is Iraq, it will go up another trillion if not one additional federal dollar is used to buy a Twizzler. What really steams these protesters is 1) they are not in power, 2) they blew the last 8 years and need somewhere to direct their rage, 3) the president is actually trying to follow through the promises he made in the campaign, 4) the president is a black guy, and 5) they couldn't define "Marxism" or "Fascism" if you held a gun to their head, which in this crowd could happen. And lo and behold, people who couldn't tell supply-side economics from home economics are suddenly experts in the nuances of health care finance. I'm all for protest. I'm all for Marching On Washington, and I plan to do it soon, in the National March for Equality on October 11. But when I march, I will know what I am talking about a lot more than the people in Washington on September 12 did. More on Tax Day Tea Parties
 
Annie Le: Bloody Clothes Found In Search For Yale Grad Student, According to Reports Top
NEW HAVEN, Conn. — Potential evidence has been seized from the building where a Yale University graduate student was last seen before she vanished days ahead of her wedding, authorities said Saturday. Items that could be evidence are being analyzed but none has yet been associated with Annie Le, FBI spokeswoman Kim Mertz said at a news conference. "I will categorically say a body has not been found," Mertz said. "Items that could potentially be evidence have been seized. None have yet been associated with Annie Le at this time." Reports from NBC News and others indicated that bloody clothes had been found. Mertz would not confirm reports that items found included bloody clothing. MSNBC : A police source told NBC News that investigators had recovered bloody clothes from a laboratory building in which Le was last seen on Tuesday. The New Haven Register and the Yale Daily News reported on their Web sites that the clothes were found in a ceiling space. Le was last seen Tuesday at a university laboratory. She swiped her identification card to enter the building Tuesday morning, but authorities have found no record of her leaving, despite some 75 surveillance cameras that cover the complex. Authorities said they still have not determined whether Le's disappearance is a criminal case. "We don't know where she is. We don't know what happened to her," Yale spokesman Tom Conroy said. "We don't know if a crime was committed or not." Investigators, having already gone through the videos once, continued to review the surveillance tapes frame-by-frame Saturday to see if they overlooked Le, who could have changed into a laboratory coat or other clothes before leaving the building. Mertz said the review included video enhancement being conducted by state police. "I do not know that it's definitive that she has left the building at this point," Mertz said. On Saturday, investigators took what appeared to be blueprints to the building. FBI agents were also spotted questioning a man outside the lab. When they finished talking, the man got in the front seat of the unmarked car and an FBI agent got in the back seat. The car then drove away. Yale is offering a $10,000 reward for information leading to Le's whereabouts. Le, who's of Asian descent, stands 4-foot-11 and weighs 90 pounds. Her purse, cell phone, credit cards and money were found in her office. Officials say there's no evidence of foul play. Le, originally from Placerville, Calif., was set to get married Sunday at the North Ritz Club in Syosset, N.Y., on the north shore of Long Island. Workers at the club say the wedding was canceled Friday. Police say Le's fiance, Jonathan Widawsky, a Columbia University graduate student, is not a suspect and is assisting with the investigation. At Le's apartment building across town, hopes for Le's safe return waned. "I feel bad what happened to her," said Anna Beth Funk, who lives across the street from Le's apartment. "It broke my heart hearing she was about to get married because I love being married and it must be so hard for her fiance." Wesleyan University professor Charles Lemert, who also lives across the street, said Le always took time to talk to his 11-year-old daughter. "I wish more than anything this could be solved and turn into some kind of misunderstanding, but it seems bleak," he said. More on Crime
 
Darryle Pollack: Emotional Education Top
I don't need to do back-to- school shopping any more -- but I still sense the educational expectations and emotions that arise every September. Even without Obama's speech, the start of a school year summons up strong feelings. The first day photo op. Proud parents, sweet smiles, sharp pencils. For most parents, the feelings are positive: Pride. Hope. Freedom. Sometimes the feelings are not as positive: If you just sent your kid off to school or college for the first time and you're worried. If your kid has a teacher you don't like -- or is in a school you don't like -- or is put into the wrong reading group. I feel your pain. I wish I could spare you the emotional wear and tear and just say it will all work out in the end--because probably it will. I also wish I could go back and spare my former self some of the drama. It started from the moment my first child was born when my dad started discussing where she'd someday go to college. I didn't buy into this ridiculousness. (But as an alum, I was thinking Yale.) My daughter's education began at 6 weeks. ( I would have started sooner but I had a very rough delivery). We joined a mommy and me class nearby--to check out the school's potential as a learning institution. That was the first of many schools Alli attended -- we're talking double digits. And that was before kindergarten -- when the real nightmare started (a.k.a. private school applications). At the time we lived in Los Angeles. Problem one is that we weren't in a position to donate a building. Problem two is that there were way too many kids and way too many schools and way too many choices for someone like me -- who felt I had to do it absolutely right. I was so intense and so invested in this process, I felt as if my entire life -- and hers -- depended on her getting into the "right" school. Only she didn't. She didn't get into a single school we applied to. I could feel the gate to Yale slam shut. I won't even get into how a parent feels when your kid is rejected from anything, much less at such a tender age. Alli was 5, happily oblivious that her future success was swirling down the drain. The grownup was the one who cried. At the one school I desperately wanted her to attend, Alli was on the waiting list -- along with several other kids we knew. This was a tiny school -- with space for 11 girls in kindergarten. Several siblings were automatically admitted, so god knows how many desperate parents wanted those remaining few spaces. I hate to make light of something serious--but it was a little like waiting for someone to get hurt so you could get their donated organs. I grasped onto that one sliver of hope, pulled myself together and went into the school -- where I requested an audience with the director. My goal was to convince her that in the event one of the lucky little girls holding the brass ring decided to let go, the very first child to come off the waiting list should be mine. Sitting in the director's office pleading my my case, I did something I would not recommend to parents in the same situation. Maybe I shouldn't even mention it -- this is not one of my prouder moments. I cried. I said I wasn't proud of it. I spent the next couple months checking out every public and private school within the Los Angeles county limits. And then over the summer we got a call and Alli did end up at that very school where fortunately the administration had the vision not to punish a child because of the lunacy of a parent. Years later, the same experience was repeated -- different school, different city, different ending. (That time I didn't use the water works.) I have to admit it hurt a little less in the second go-around. Time -- and having breast cancer -- helped put things in perspective. For the schools it was always a numbers game . For me it was always emotional. It took a lot of years and lot of tears until I finally shut down the drama department. I'm over the angst. Both my kids' educations are ongoing--and I've been educated, too. I've learned to go with the flow and not to get all emotional about it. Even though Alli never did go to Yale. I wish life came with a lesson plan. I wish 5 year olds never had to be rejected from anything. I wish all kids could get the education their parents hope they will get. But even when they don't, there is something to be learned -- if not in school, then from the experience. Mostly to enjoy those precious moments in September and every moment possible the rest of the year. And keep tissues handy.
 
Robert David Jaffee: 100 Is the New 70 Top
Just hours after the AP reported that the number of Japanese centenarians has doubled in the past six years, Gertrude Baines of Los Angeles, the oldest person in the world at 115, passed away. Ms. Baines claimed that the secret to her long life was no drinking, no smoking and no fooling around. It is not known whether other women have adhered to that formula, but, according to the AP, women constitute more than 86% of the 40,000 Japanese to hit the century mark. If 70 is the new 40, then perhaps 100 is the new 70. Even if a modern-day Sarai is unlikely to find an Abram with whom to mate, it appears that the frequency of centenarians has increased since Sherwin B. Nuland wrote in his 1993 book, How We Die , "In developed countries, only one in ten thousand people lives beyond the age of one hundred." In an annual report, the Japanese Health and Welfare Ministry named Sept. 21 as a national holiday to commemorate the elderly. Coincidentally, on Sept. 21, my grandmother, Gertrude Podrat (Gertrude must have been a grand old name around the turn of the last century), will turn 101. Last year, she became the third member of her family to reach 100, following her late sisters, Bertha and Ann. She joined a club that has become increasingly populous in recent times, and not only among Japanese. The Seventh-Day Adventists of Loma Linda, Cal., also have a high concentration of centenarians. Some have cited their religious devotion, but their strict diet, typically vegetarian, and prohibition against alcohol probably have just as much to do with it. Sardinia too has a high percentage of 100 year olds. That the farmers there grow and eat their own food, drink homemade wine and milk from their own cows, and work the land every day could account for their longevity. Last year, at her 100th birthday party in Providence, R.I., where she has lived for roughly 75 years, my grandmother showed few signs of slowing down. The party was held at a trendy French restaurant, Rue de L'Espoir, not far from the Brown University campus. A short profile of her may help to illustrate the qualities needed to make it to 100. Stylish as always, Grandma Gitty sported a pink and black motif -- black trousers and black top to go along with pink, decorative beads and a pink cashmere shawl around her shoulders. While she was a little hard of hearing and asked me to repeat certain questions, she answered quite decisively when I inquired if she had gotten a letter from President Bush, "No. And I don't want one." For as long as I can remember, my grandmother has been a light eater, good advice perhaps for all of us. At her birthday, she nibbled at lobster crepe and then had a bit of chocolate cake, with the word Petunia, a nod to her love of flowers, scripted on top. She has not been able to indulge that love since she moved to an assisted living facility about five years ago. Good genes no doubt have played a major role in the longevity of my grandmother and her sisters, but active reading may have something to do with it too. A few years ago, when my wife and I visited Grandma Gitty, she was reading The New Yorker . That week's cartoon cover featured a number of African women holding books on their heads, instead of jugs of water, as they descended a staircase from an Egyptian-looking palace. The caption was "Arcane Pleasures." Grandma Gitty asked me what the word "arcane" meant. That was the only indication that her cognitive powers had slightly diminished. But she did know the meaning of the word, and when I told her, she said, "That's right." Amusingly, at her 100th birthday party, she told me that she no longer reads The New Yorker . "I'm tired of it," she said. Irrespective of her reading preferences, my grandmother still conjures up the arcane air of an Egyptian queen. Over the years, she has reminded me of Cleopatra, not least for the strength of character it has taken to endure more than 30 years without my grandfather, Bernard Podrat, who owned a textile business in Providence and passed away in 1976. Besides that strength, Grandma Gitty also has a coquettishness about her like that of Cleopatra. I suspect that most centenarians share such a zest for life. In the early 1980s, my mother, Ina, set up my grandmother with Dan Lipton, a New Yorker. They dated for several years, and I remember Grandma Gitty smiling as he squeezed her and called her sweetheart. He wanted to marry her, but she declined. I heard different reasons for her refusal: he wasn't tall enough, he hadn't gone to college, he was after her money. I didn't believe any of them. When my grandmother uttered those statements, she was just being a character and possibly still thinking of my grandfather. In the summer of 1986, I bumped into Mr. Lipton in Washington Square Park. He was seated on a green, slatted bench and wearing a beret. I mentioned my grandmother, and he spoke glowingly of her. Shortly thereafter, I asked her about him. True to her cantankerous spirit, she said, "Oh, I thought he was dead." Then, like Cleopatra, interrogating her messenger, she added, "How did he look?" Clearly, she was still interested in him. Since then, she may have had other beaus, though I have not heard of any. In fact, at her 100th birthday, she told me that when it comes to attracting men, "I've lost the knack, kid." Last year, as Grandma's birthday party concluded, she did not want to sit on a bench outside the restaurant; instead, she stood sturdily as she awaited my parents' SUV. I helped her into the backseat, and my mother, her oldest daughter, fastened the safety belt. Then I kissed Grandma Gitty on the forehead and said, "Age cannot wither her, nor custom stale her infinite variety." Providence's own Cleopatra giggled and smiled, still a coquette at 100.
 
Donna Fish: The Ever Expanding Umbilical Cord, or Tweens and Independence Top
Boy did I love having infants, and boy do I love that my kids are now more independent and can get around on their own! With two teenagers and one 10 year old who is beginning to ask to walk to school on her own this year, I am really feeling my freedom! But while I might love the extra freedom I am getting from the care and feeding of my kids, some mothers hate it. So we have to acknowledge that the process our kids go through in separating from us; emotionally and physically, is both back and forth, and involves not just their emotional head set, but ours as well. That is why as I was contemplating writing this piece on tweens and independence, I began to think about how vital a role our own feelings about their independence plays. You see it I think, practically from birth. There are Moms who are happily (or not so happily but attempting it anyhow), to 'Ferber-ize' their kids, while there are others who prefer the Family Bed. This to say, that we need to factor in our own feelings and perhaps, anxieties about our kids' growing independence. Our feelings and attitudes will affect how they take these developmental steps. The other thing to consider is where you live, and how much independence is even reasonable or doable. I have to say that this is where living in NYC comes in so handily. By virtue of a fantastic public transportation system, most kids by 7th and certainly 8th grade, are taking buses if not subways, and sometimes taxis, by themselves or with friends. This gives them tremendous independence and the ability to develop a profound sense of mastery and competence. So, a couple of tips and things to consider when your 5th and 6th grader starts to ask to walk to school on their own, or go to the mall by themselves: 1) By the age of 10, or 11, most kids are wishing for some independence. This is more the norm. If you are terribly anxious about this, try to contain it and not show your child. This will make them more frightened and interfere with their ability to become more competent. Take baby steps and start with very short distances. 2) That being said, check out your own child's level of maturity and responsibility. You can test them out in small ways. You can start with your 5th or usually 6th graders walking to school with other friends. Follow them the first time to see how they do, (you can tell them and do it very inobtrusively,). This will help them to remember the rules you teach them and give you a chance to observe how they do. 3) Clear and simple rules help. Small kids can't be seen by cars and should not jaywalk by any means. Even if no cars are coming! Kids these ages can't yet cognitively judge distances and how far cars are and can approach yet and absolutely need to follow the traffic signals. (In NYC all adults jaywalk and our kids do it when they are with it so it is very important to teach them differently and tell them why.) 4) Cell phones are key here. If you can't afford one, figure out a way that they call you when they arrive at their destination. Stay in touch so they know that you are within calling distance and can be connected. 5) 7th and 8th graders start to want to go further distances by themselves and are more mature to handle this. Many kids in this age range begin to take buses to after school activities by themselves, if it is not too complicated, and even subways. This depends on your kid. Don't push it if they are too nervous, but feel them out on their readiness. There can be a lot of peer pressure towards more independence, which is not necessarily a bad thing. It can help your child feel more comfortable as they travel in a group, or with a friend or two, and it can help you feel that they are not alone. Always give them a way to blame you though, if they are uncomfortable that their friends are doing something or trying to go somewhere alone and they are not quite ready for it. Tell them over and over that they can say "Mom won't let me do that yet and I will get into trouble" even if you do let them. This will help them save face and come in handy whenever they are in peer pressure situations and are feeling uncomfortable. So enjoy these nail biting times and know that their independence means some extra freedom for you! Happy Independence Days! For more info on tweens, visit www.tweenparent.com and to visit me, go to: www.donnafish.com
 
Designers Respond To Recession With Comfy Clothes Top
NEW YORK — Since the economic downturn began, fashion designers have brought us plenty of hard-edged looks: rock-star leather, gladiator shoes, '80s-style shoulder pads. The message was clear enough – fashion was preparing us for battle. But for spring 2010, designers seem to be asking instead: Who wants a hug? A softer, easier look dominated as New York Fashion Week entered its third day on Saturday. The look was, if not comfortable, at least less armor-like. At Adam, the soothing cream-and-beige palette was jazzed up just a bit with copper discs and seashells, and the heart of the Lacoste collection were easy, breezy apres-beach styles. There were also several vibrant and optimistic looks: Lacoste sent models out for a finale in bright, sunshine yellow, from sunglasses to slip-on flats. Georges Chakra presented a series of candy-colored dresses. But such a sunny disposition seemed a little out of place at the Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week tents, where the audience was still in almost all black, shod in gladiator sandals or studded boots. Lay down your armor? The crowd says, not yet. LACOSTE Fashion Week is all about what's new, what's next, but that doesn't mean the basics should get bashed. Lacoste creative director Christophe Lemaire sent out a spring collection that was cheerful, youthful and wearable – nothing wrong with that. Starting off with tennis whites (with the distinctive sound of balls being hit on a court as the soundtrack), most styles were cut long and lean, including the polo shirts, but there was an adorable bouncy white skirt that easily could go from the court to cocktails. The heart of the collection was the easy, beachy clothes that were inspired by 1920s photos of Jacques-Henri Lartigue, who "captured a generation of leisure for whom life was simple, sporty and chic." CYNTHIA ROWLEY The "show" began at Cynthia Rowley's spring collection preview before the first model was seen. Just seconds before the "abandoned ballroom"-themed outfits began their parade on Friday, a giant drop-cloth was released from above and floated down to cover the runway. That set the stage for an ivory tank dress with a shredded canvas belt and a neckline dotted with "bleeding" black paint, a slashed-ribbon dress made of a similar ivory canvas, and a nubby double-breasted linen jacket with matte-sequin evening tap pants. Two duos of peplum tops that protrude from the hip, paired with too-pouffy evening shorts and silk trousers, were just too much fabric. That attention to the hip seems to be an emerging trend at New York Fashion Week, as is unconventional, tweaked floral prints, which Rowley also offered. Instead of cutesy, precious flowers, the prints here were blurred like they were caught in the rain. ADAM Adam Lippes' spring collection continued the season's move toward an easier, more elegant silhouette. The clothes also had a feeling of luxury – even if it was understated – something that had largely been missing from fashion the last season or two. The cream ostrich feather skirt with wood and shell embroidery certainly made a statement, but paired with a simple linen tank, struck the right balance. A gray silk trench oozed sophistication. An interpretation of a floral print had sharper lines than one typically expects from girlie flowers, but that gave it a modern feel and kept with the idea of a season of transition. Lippes adopted the draped pants and shorts that are emerging as a trend, but their ability to appeal to women who don't want to draw attention to their hips is still up for debate. With a slouchy blazer, it might work; with a crinkly tunic, it's just too much fabric bunched around the middle. CHRISTIAN SIRIANO Designers from "Project Runway" have come and gone – sadly, mostly gone. But Christian Siriano has shown he plans to stay. Siriano's spring 2010 collection was his third following his stint on the reality show, and in that time he's made his way to the windows of Saks Fifth Avenue and to the shoe aisles of Payless. The collection was a lush take on Mediterranean travel, concluding with three intricate ball gowns that elicited spontaneous applause from a crowd that included actresses Mena Suvari and Tori Spelling and model Alessandra Ambrosio. "I feel like a proud dad," said Tim Gunn, the "Project Runway" mentor. He said he knew Siriano would be a standout from the competition, and thinks he's evolved into something more: "I believe he's this generation's Marc Jacobs. I do." Some of Siriano's most striking pieces were made from a fabric print created using an aerial photograph of the Italian coast line – "flipped, modified, repeated and saturated with Volcanic and Oceanic colors," as Siriano described in his notes. The result was a richly intricate pattern that looked almost animalistic rendered in reds and orange and like a deep ocean cartography in blues. Siriano is a natural showman, so wearability seems beside the point. But his weakest moments came when he strived for it – as in a fitted khaki funnel neck dress with blue piping – and when he totally ignored it, as in an ocean print body suit that was unflattering on the model, who looked famished even by model standards. GEORGES CHAKRA Georges Chakra's starlet fans don't want downer dresses, so he doesn't put them on the runway. The spring collection of his ready-to-wear Edition label has splash, flash and color. Gown after gown was embellished with jeweled necklines, elaborate pleating details and skinny silver belts. The silhouettes alternated between flowing, draped frocks that would glide down a red carpet, or fitted dresses that would show off a tiny waist. Chakra occasionally showed restraint, and that paid off with a sophisticated, body-hugging black dress with insets of satin and tulle, and a white chiffon dress with vertical waves of fabric creating an even longer, leaner shape. The candy-colored dresses, especially the pink ones, seemed a little out of place. So far the season has resisted anything too showy or flamboyant – until now. ERIN WASSON They say you should do what you know, and model-turned-fashion designer Erin Wasson knows what tall, slim young women wear. The catwalkers that dart in and out of the Bryant Park tents are often in jeans, micro shorts, tissuelike T-shirts and leather jackets, and that's just what Wasson, for the line Wasson X RVCA, put on the runway Friday night. Wasson, best known as a face of Maybelline, sent out a parade of shirts that alternately bared the midriff or the back, jeans with cutout sides, T-shirt dresses and studded minis. Almost everything seemed to hug the body and bare quite a bit of leg. Some of the pieces seemed inspired by Native Americans, complete with fringe, and others had a harder-edged vibe – think a loose sweater with strategic holes or a mesh top-and-bottom ensemble with slashes in the fabric. ___ Associated Press writer Lisa Tolin contributed to this report. More on Fashion Week
 
Giles Slade: Alaska's Walruses High and Dry: (1st of 5) Top
The Pacific Walrus inhabits the regions of the Chukchi Sea around the Bering Strait. Like the Polar Bear, Pacific Walruses are a pagophilic (ice-loving) species whose livelihood and well-being depend on sea ice as a platform from which they dive to the ocean floor of the continental shelf to retrieve the benthic (bottom dwelling) creatures -like clams and mussels- that sustain them. Walrus calves also use the sea ice as a floating platform on which they rest between dives because they are not strong enough to swim or dive continuously. Except during their seasonal migration, Walruses rarely come ashore. They do not and cannot live on land. Their great adaptation is their ability to dive up to a sea bed up to 600' below the ice on which they spend most of their lives. In 2007, lack of sea ice drove herds of Pacific Walruses onto the shores of Alaska and Siberia. At Port Schmidt, Russia as many as 4,000 creatures out of a herd of about 30,000 were trampled to death on a rocky shoreline typical of the Bering Strait. That same year many more exhausted calves drowned when the sea ice disappeared under them leaving them to swim to safety far away from shore. No one knows exactly how many Pacific Walruses are now left in the wild. An aerial survey in 1990 put the entire population at about 201,000 animals. But a recent preliminary estimate by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service alarmingly counted only about 15,000 animals. This year, summer sea ice is at its second lowest level since monitoring first began in 1979. Already near Barrow, Alaska 3,500 Pacific Walruses have come ashore. It's not known how many calves have already died at sea this year but the number must be extensive. The Obama administration is considering whether or not to identify the Pacific Walrus as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act. The current administration offered this legal protection to the Polar Bear six months ago reversing a decision by the Bush administration to deny legal protection to Polar Bears. The world's Arctic Bear Population has now dwindled by about 25% leaving less than 20,000 animals throughout the entire Pan-arctic region. Unless the U.S. Fish and Wildlife service revises its figures soon, Pacific Walruses now face an even worse cataclysm than our Polar Bears. I write about the human migrations that will result from future environmental collapse of our continent in my forthcoming book, North American Ark, but most people, I believe, already share a vague sense of some overwhelming danger that hovers slightly beyond the horizon. This sense is sharpened by immanent species extinctions like those of the Polar Bear and Pacific Walrus. My main point is that climate change is very real and is already causing disastrous, irreversible and extensive environmental change right here in North America. A phenomenon called 'Arctic Acceleration' whereby the polar regions heat up more quickly than earth's more densely populated mid latitudes, means that so far the most extensive climate changes have occurred in the polar regions, far away from our population centers, and out of our limited sphere of awareness. -This will not always be the case. Thousands of miles to the south, a multi-year drought is drying Mexico and California into Melba toast while wildfires burn the entire length of the west coast from Los Angeles to Sitka. It's time to realize that climate change is here and is not only impacting the unlucky inhabitants of the developing world in places like Bangladesh and Tuvalu, but it is also changing the quality of life and our future choices right here in North America. Tomorrow I'll write about methane seeps... More on Climate Change
 
Dr. Peter Breggin: Michael Savage: Irrepressible Canary in Freedom's Mineshaft Top
Michael Savage, an independent syndicated radio commentator, has been severed from KNEW, the important San Francisco outlet for his Savage Nation. The station issued a terse statement: "Here's your no-spin direct answer; we have decided to go in a different philosophical and ideological direction, featuring more contemporary content and more local information. The Savage Nation does not fit into that vision." Notice that the decision was based on a combination of philosophy and ideology with the need for greater local community focus. As everyone should know, this is the latest incarnation of the Fairness Doctrine. This station has voluntarily taken the kind of suppressive action that some would enforce through the federal government. Michael's popularity is not at issue. He's on 250 stations and his audience continues to grow larger as Conservative talk radio grows in strength and popularity. Not long ago, Michael was excluded from Great Britain as a terrorist threat. Michael is an independent man. He's a rugged individualist at a time when many people would like to turn such a person into an anachronism. He is independent and extremely outspoken, at times offending both the left and the right. He is being targeted because he, perhaps above all others, stands for independence in talk radio; and because neither Progressives nor Conservatives are likely to come to his defense. In 2007 Michael was named the recipient of the TALKERS Magazine Freedom of Speech Award for 2007 "For being the first major conservative radio talk show host to criticize President George W. Bush on his policies and encourage hosts of all political ideologies to remain independent of partisan loyalties." We need this kind of man on the air. Although their politics are very divergent, both Arianna Huffington and Michael Savage have given me a voice--Arianna as a founding blogger on Huffingtonpost and Michael as a regularly scheduled participant on his syndicated radio talk radio show. How is it that such politically contrasting individuals have invited me to join their media projects? Arianna and Michael share many of my views that are critical of the psychopharmaceutical complex, especially the widespread diagnosing and drugging of America's children. But many public figures express sympathy for my concerns without daring to invite me in their public activities. As a psychiatric reformer, I've made powerful enemies in the pharmaceutical industry, the government, and organized psychiatry. Arianna and Michael not only want to stop the psychiatric abuse of our children, they are among the most independent and fearless leaders in public discourse in America. Both believe in individualism and both refuse to cow tow to the kind of powerful interest groups that would like to silence me. The attack on Michael is the cutting edge assault on freedom of speech for independent and courageous political analysts. As a psychiatrist who has spoken truth to authority, I know firsthand the effects of intimidation and have seen the spread of effect resulting from attacks on me. When other individuals see a leader being attacked, it has a chilling effect on them. Even if the leader isn't knocked off, others nonetheless feel frightened into submission. They get wind of the attack and it sinks right into that place in the unconscious where so many folks feel frightened and helpless about their lives. Those who might otherwise speak up for the first time will remain silent. They will rationalize and they will make excuses for shutting up, and will not realize that they are responding to the sight of one of their fellow creature under assault. We must get this tactic of psychological intimidation out into the open and resist it whenever it surfaces. Michael is blowing the whistle on the obliteration of individualism in America. Michael is a very loud canary freedom's mineshaft. Michael is David against the Goliath state. Whatever metaphor we use, Michael Savage is the first big fish to be snagged in the fairness doctrine net that masquerades as expanding local coverage. In additional to political or ideological considerations, Michael was allegedly thrown off the station on the grounds of providing more local coverage. But the people have voted and continued to vote on their preferences by turning to nationally syndicated radio broadcasters for their entertainment and information. Especially at this time of conflict and crisis, Americans want much more than local information. The left and the right, as well as independents, are displaying renewed interest in the future of our nation. More and more, people identify their personal fate with the fate of the nation. People are no longer satisfied with the top of the hour news report. Everyone across the political spectrum should stand up for Michael and for freedom in the media. For some, he's a thorn in the side. Some will feel more comfortable without him. But if we let this happen to Michael savage, eventually it can happen to any one of us--they will come for you and me. If not now, then in the future, all of us will be at risk. Perhaps you think the world would be a better place without Michael Savage. You are entitled to your opinion. His ten million listeners on 250 stations indicate that many others have a different opinion. Perhaps you identify with current efforts to stifle the vigor of rightwing talk radio. But keep in mind what America is about--freedom. Remember the First Amendment that guarantees freedom of speech. And if these seemingly abstract principles don't move you to stand up for Michael Savage, consider this practical consequence. As demonstrated by today's rally in Washington, DC, we are already in the midst of a Conservative revival in response to President Obama's progressive policies. What if Conservatives take over the Congress and the Presidency, even for a short time in the future? Do you want to set a precedent for federal control over talk radio and eventually over television and the Internet as well? Do you want to establish a precedent and the apparatus whereby whoever holds political power also dominates the media? Let's not abandon freedom at this critical time. Support Michael Savage and freedom of speech!
 
Linda Bergthold: Fired Up and Ready to Go! A Tale of Two Cities Top
Today there were two crowds fired up and ready to go about health reform. One crowd was in Washington D.C. and the other was in Minneapolis at the Target Center . But although there were thousands of citizens at each place, the tone could not have been more different. In Washington, crowds were angry. They carried ugly signs of the President as the "joker" or Hitler . At least one 65 year-old was demanding that the government stay out of his health care, even though he clearly had Medicare, a government, single-payer program. The message was anti-government, anti-Obama, anti-health reform, anti- just about everything. The rally was organized by Glenn Beck (the oft-given to crying or confusing "cavalry" with "calvary" Fox News host) and his 9-12 project , along with Freedom Works , a right-wing corporate lobbying organization headed up by former Rep. Dick Armey. In Minneapolis, the 15,000 or so Minnesotans were happy and cheered the President has he leaped onto the stage and, in campaign mode, began to explain his health reform plan. Obama was in rare form. He made jokes, teased the crowd for possibly watching "So you think you can dance" instead of his speech to a Joint Session of Congress Wednesday night, and then proceeded to give more or less the same speech with a few embellishments. At the end of Obama's speech, he re-told (at his staff's insistence he said) the original "Fired up and Ready to Go" story he told so often during the campaign. This time, though, the story had a lot more detail, from how he ended up in Greenwood, South Carolina in the first place (he promised he would go in exchange for support from the Congressional representative from that area), to how tired he was (exhausted from Iowa campaigning), to how bad the weather was (he got drenched on his way to the car) to the long ride to Greenwood (it's an hour and a half from anywhere), and to his arrival at the small field house in Greenwood where only 20 people awaited him. He confessed to feeling grumpy, tired, out of sorts -- that is, until he heard a loud voice behind him -- "Fired up!" It came from a small older woman, dressed in her Sunday best, who was grinning from ear to ear when he turned to look at her. "Fired up?" she said. The 20 person crowd shouted back, "Ready to go!" And she returned, "Fired up!" and they replied, "Ready to go." Obama said he was completely upstaged by this feisty local councilwoman, who is known not only for her chanting but her work on the side as a private detective! As he listened to their chanting that day, he felt a renewed sense of energy and enthusiasm. it was a turning point for him, and as he told the story in Minnesota today, clearly a turning point in this "health reform campaign." There are about 75 days between now and Thanksgiving. By Thanksgiving, we will know if there will be health reform legislation or not. More on Barack Obama
 
Paula Duffy: Michael Jordan Can't Let Go of Old Hurts During HOF Speech Top
It's hard to listen to a filthy-rich man complain about the price of tickets for his enshrinement in his sport's hall of fame. But that, among other cringe-worthy moments is exactly what Michael Jordan did. Friday's ceremony in Springfield, Mass., inducting not just MJ but also C. Vivian Stringer, Jerry Sloan, John Stockton and David Robinson, was reportedly moved to a larger venue to accommodate the number of people who wanted to watch it all. And Jordan duly noted that the price seemed four times higher than he remembered, just in time for him to have to purchase a whole host of them for his family and friends. Uncomfortable as much of the speech made me, I was riveted to the screen. Jordan doesn't often put himself in positions to be candid when the greater public is listening. What we see is mostly golf course video, shots of him attending Bobcats games and some red carpet appearances. This was a whole heck of a lot more entertaining. As I noted on my Twitter page, he seemed to be settling old scores despite the fact that all former foes have been vanquished. If he didn't think they had submitted, then he made sure that happened. If he knew it then this was mere gloating or a gift to those of us who have never heard the unapologetic and competitive Jordan. Either way you look at it, the video of the speech is must-see entertainment. If you want to see video of the other inductees' remarks I suggest you pick either Stockton's or David Robinson's to watch and compare with MJ's. NBA.com video segments can be found, here The contrast is stark because the personalities are vastly different but also due to the tone they each struck in their remarks. Whether The Admiral or Stockton are truly at this seemingly peaceful place, I can't be certain. But what I do know is that they used their spotlight moment to reflect, give thanks, enlighten us about the journey and bask in the glow. I think Jordan thought he was doing just that, but in his own way.
 

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