The latest from The Full Feed from HuffingtonPost.com
- Bob Cesca: With A Health Care Plan This Insane, Who Needs Wingnuts?
- John Wellington Ennis: Glenn Bleck's Diploma from University I Don't Remember
- Joe Territo: Johns Hopkins student from New Jersey kills intruder with samurai sword
- Lisa Kaas Boyle: Recycling Plastic: What a Waste
- Daniel Kessler: Carbon Offsets Are a CROC
- Kim Mance: Harry Potter Theme Park to Open Spring 2010: Video & Photo Virtual Tour
- Steve Rosenbaum: The Day The New York Times Stopped Coming
- Max and the Marginalized: What Is It We're Doing There Again?
- Dr. Susan Albers: Five Easy Ways to Eat More Mindfully at Work
- Sherry Moss: Granny Goes Flex
- Diane Francis: Oil and a never-ending recession
- Lindsay Beyerstein: Daily Pulse: Has Baucus Pulled Snowe's Trigger?
- Bradley Burston: Can There Be Such a Thing as an Israeli Hero?
- Robert Greenwald: Michael Moore's New Movie on Capitalism a Breakthrough
- Joanne Bamberger: Just Being Alive Will Soon Be a Pre-Existing Condition
- FDIC: Residential Credit Solutions Is PPIP's First Winning Bidder
- The World's Creepiest Matt Damon Interview (VIDEO)
- Egypt's Grand Mufti Ali Gomaa: Women Can Wear Trousers, But Stretch Pants Are "Unacceptable"
- Baucus Bill: Rockefeller Says Dem Senators Are Not Pleased
- Tom Cruise: I Was Never Asked For A Sex Refund (VIDEO)
- Jill Schlesinger: Baucus Health Care Plan: Bye-Bye Public Option
- Ramon Resa, MD: The Curse of Domestic Violence: A Cycle of Abuse from Father to Son
- Carter On Racism: White House Disagrees
- Patricia Handschiegel: New Power Girls: 20 Women Founders To Watch, Part I
- Lisa Napoli: I Am a Failure at Watching TV
- Rob Smart: From Fast Food Nation to Pro Food Ventures
- The Interactive Dan Brown Plot Generator
- Sotomayor Dances (Well!) At Noche Musical Celebration (VIDEO, POLL)
- Wayne Pacelle: International House of Pain for Egg-Laying Hens
- Sandy Grason: Mental Masturbation
- Deborah Tannen: The Secret Bond That Sisters Share
| Bob Cesca: With A Health Care Plan This Insane, Who Needs Wingnuts? | Top |
| There's one positive political aspect to this epic fight for healthcare reform. We now know for sure which congressional Democrats have to be vigorously challenged and defeated the next time they come up for re-election. The healthcare reform debate has forced the toxic slag to gurgle to the surface and consequently revealed a few Democratic senators who, at every turn in this process, have proved to be far more interested in protecting their own asses by way of protecting the asses of their bosses in the healthcare mafia. Suffice to say, Joe Lieberman has to be sending lots of "thank you" gift baskets and ponies and backrubs to the offices of Max Baucus and Kent Conrad. In fact, Baucus and Conrad -- the matchstick men of healthcare reform -- have been so insufferable, I almost forgot about Lieberman. Almost. In fact, apart from the Republicans from whom we expected outlandish lies and cartoonish behavior, Baucus and Conrad have been much more obstructionist and damaging to real healthcare reform, chiefly because they possess a disproportionate level of power in relation to the nine people in the upper Midwest they represent, and because their ideas would be laughable if they weren't so ineffectual and dangerous. To wit: Baucus Plan is just as craptastical as we all suspected it might be. First, Baucus' entire goal was to construct a bipartisan plan. Mission accomplished. Insofar as both parties hate it. Just as we predicted, Baucus tailored his plan to appeal to the Republicans who, as it turns out, don't support the plan anyway. Nobody anticipated the breach of the levees. For example, one of his concessions to the Republicans was tort reform language which not only won't work , but has also failed to bring in any Republicans (bad policy -- bad politics). Meanwhile, the bill is so diluted and bad that roughly half of the Democrats on the Finance Committee appear to be opposed to it. Good job, senator! Furthermore, as I described last week , there are individual mandates, but no public insurance option. Baucus included his buddy Conrad's pathetic co-ops which are destined to fail due to their limited bargaining power. The government subsidies in the Baucus Plan don't extend deep enough into the middle class in order to protect families from massive healthcare debt if a family-member becomes sick or injured. Put another way, mandates would imprison families and force them to buy insurance policies that could still bankrupt them if they actually need to use their insurance for an emergency situation like an accident or being diagnosed with cancer. The Baucus Plan also discriminates against low-income Americans . In one of the most awful provisions of the plan, the "free rider" provision, Baucus taxes business $400 for each hiree who qualifies for subsidies. So this tax incentivises businesses to not hire poor or disadvantaged workers. By the way, $400 doesn't seem like a lot until you read that it's actually "$400 multiplied by the total number of employees at the firm." The list goes on and on. By Max Baucus' own estimation, his plan carries a price tag of $880 billion over ten years. The press is tossing some very serious kudos and political cover his way because this is clearly less than the $1 trillion mark. It's also $20 billion less than the number President Obama mentioned in his address to Congress last week. And it's the Baucus Plan that many centrist Democrats -- the budget hawks and fiscal conservatives -- appear to prefer. Allow me to underline this again. The centrist Democrats prefer a bill that more closely resembles the Baucus Plan which will cost around $880 billion over ten years . Fiscal conservatives prefer this. Lawmakers who are worried about government spending appear to be supporting a plan that would cost around $880 billion. But wait. If the centrist Democrats were legitimately worried about government spending and deficits, they ought to be supporting the Kennedy Bill (the HELP Committee bill) instead, which, according to the CBO, clocks in at $611 billion over ten years , due in part to the inclusion of the public option. Unless we use backwards wingnut math , $611 billion is significantly less than $880 billion. So the incontrovertible reality is that the Kennedy Bill is the more fiscally conservative healthcare reform bill. So why aren't the self-proclaimed fiscal conservatives in the Democratic Party flocking to embrace it? The answers are obvious. One, the fiscal conservatives aren't always fiscally conservative (most of them voted for the Bush wars, the Bush tax cuts and the Bush Medicare Part-D blank check). And two, the Baucus Plan forces you and me to pay more cash to their contributors in the health insurance industry. This works out very nicely for senators like Max Baucus who, as Roy Sekoff pointed out, has pocketed millions in contributions from the healthcare industry . So how do the blue dogs and conservadems worm their way around the glaring inconsistency between their so-called "fiscal conservatism" and the cost of the Baucus Plan? Enter Senator Kent Conrad. Ryan Grim reported Tuesday that Conrad is changing the rules in the middle of the game in order give more weight to the Finance Committee bill and, in the process, "kneecapping" the bills with the public option -- the Kennedy Bill and the House bill. In short, Conrad has asked the CBO to use cost projections that span 20 years instead of the 10 year terms the office had been previously employing. This will make healthcare reform more difficult to pass because the cost projections will balloon and will be less accurate to predict over an unwieldy 20 year span -- especially the bills with the relatively new public insurance plan. Plus, due to the political stigma on the more liberal bills, the significantly larger price tags will hurt those bills the most, allowing more room for demagoguery. Put in medical terms, Conrad has infected all of the reform bills with a virus, and he's calculating that the perceived "fiscally conservative" bill will have a stronger chance of surviving the pandemic. He's willing to risk crushing the entire reform effort before he allows the Kennedy or House bills to become law. Yeah, and they say the House progressives are the troublemakers. That's rich. Nevertheless, the Baucus Plan is better than the current system . But that's kind of like saying, to paraphrase Larry David, it's the "good Hodgkins" -- cancerous, but not as deadly. Either way, their obvious and hackish corruption coupled with this awful plan has made it easy for us to pick the villains out of a lineup. We can be grateful for that, at least. Now it's just a matter of what we do with this stockpile of information. Bob Cesca's Awesome Blog! Go! More on Max Baucus | |
| John Wellington Ennis: Glenn Bleck's Diploma from University I Don't Remember | Top |
| Citing a university he could not remember, Glenn Beck claimed that over a million supporters turned out at his 9/12 D.C. march, despite every other official source and news outlet estimation of roughly 60,000. Here is some official-looking accreditation that shows that Glenn Beck's figures are more official. Other important documents can be found at www.johnennis.tv More on Glenn Beck | |
| Joe Territo: Johns Hopkins student from New Jersey kills intruder with samurai sword | Top |
| A Johns Hopkins student from Wall, N.J., killed a man who broke into his Baltimore garage with a samurai sword, according to a report in the Baltimore Sun . The intruder's hand was nearly severed - police described it as "hanging by a thread" - and he also suffered a severe cut to his upper body. Police said that their initial investigation found the man was killed by a single strike of the sword. The 49-year-old burglar was a repeat offender and had burglarized the home before he was inured and died at the scene, according to police. Read more by The Star-Ledger on NJ.com. | |
| Lisa Kaas Boyle: Recycling Plastic: What a Waste | Top |
| Our Toxic Burden from Plastics Every day, single-use plastics ("SUPs" bottles, bags, packaging, utensils, etc.) made from petrochemicals are thrown away in huge quantities after one use, but they will last virtually forever. SUPs are the largest component of landfills and ocean pollution. While Fresh Kills landfill in New York was once known as the planet's largest man-made structure, with a volume greater than the Great Wall of China and a height exceeding the Statue of Liberty, our oceans are now known to contain the world's largest dumps. These unintended landfills in our seas may cover millions of square miles and are composed of plastic waste circling and concentrating in the oceanic gyres. Even more disturbing than the quantity of this permanent plastic waste are its toxic qualities. Phthalates and bisphenol A (BPA), chemicals that are commonly found in plastic products, are known toxins. Recent scientific studies have connected exposure to these chemicals with altered hormone levels, reproductive effects, and increased incidence of chronic diseases, including cancer. Styrene, which may leach from expanded polystyrene or Styrofoam, is also linked to cancer, birth defects, organ failure and reproductive problems. These toxic petrochemicals are released during the entire lifecycle of plastic -- from production through use and disposal -- and appear to be inflicting terrible health consequences on wildlife and on us. Not only do plastics release chemicals used in their manufacture, they also act like sponges in the marine environment and accumulate toxic chemicals like PCBs and DDT from the surrounding water. Toxic plastic fragments have even entered our food chain as they are consumed by fish. Even more directly, plastic bottles, BPA-lined cans and "microwavable" containers are leaching their toxins into the food and drink they contain, serving consumers a potent petrochemical punch . Though the human petrochemical experiment occurs outside the laboratory, we know one thing for sure. Every one of our bodies contains a petrochemical burden. 93% of us have BPA in our bodies . Even babies in the womb are dosed with these toxins as demonstrated in a shocking study on industrial chemicals, pollutants and pesticides in umbilical cord blood. Furthermore, a study showed that 80% of babies in the United States were exposed to measureble levels of at least nine different phthalate metabolite . The likely source: their baby "care" products. A Cynical Strategy: Why the American Chemical Council Spends Millions Promoting Plastic Recycling The American Chemical Council (ACC) spends millions to defend the chemicals produced by their members to make plastics. They have hired the same advisors who defended the tobacco industry to formulate a strategy to promote and defend the petrochemical industry. If measured by the difficulty in passing legislation to curtail SUPs, and the positive press generated on the issue of plastic recycling, the strategy seems to be working. At the center of ACC's strategy is its promotion of recycling as the solution to plastic pollution. This band-aid approach allows the industry to look environmental while continuing with business as usual, making SUPs out of virgin -- not recycled -- petrochemicals. The ACC knows well that only 5-7% of plastics are recycled, and that this figure will probably not grow substantially. However, SUPs, the majority of plastics, are not designed to be recycled. Instead, SUPs are designed and promoted to be used on the go, and to be dumped whenever and wherever their contents are consumed. Even if SUPs are discarded into a recycling container, they are often contaminated by food waste and rendered unsuitable for recycling, or made of a type of plastic that have no recycling infrastructure. Spending relatively little on promoting recycling plastics offers a big public relations payoff with no real threat to an industry that earns billions pushing SUPs as the foundation of our throw-away consumer culture. The ACC also knows that even if more plastics are recycled, there is not a big market for recycled plastic. It is usually cheaper for manufacturers to use virgin petrochemical material. Furthermore, the downgraded recycled by-product is routinely sent overseas to China, where it may also end up in a dump or incinerated, after the most recyclable fraction is "cherry picked" out. In short, recycling will never put the ACC members out of business. All along Southern California beaches, the ACC is promoting recycling with slick advertisements adhered to trash -- not recycling -- cans. The ad covering the trash cans shows a young girl happily drinking from a plastic water bottle. The text reads: "Plastics. Too Valuable to Waste. Recycle." The cans are routinely overflowing with SUPs. The rest of the SUPs can be found left behind in the sand and blowing around the parking lot if not already washing into the waves. However, the insidious part of ACC's promotion is that trash cans are trash cans -- the contents of which are destined for eternal resting in the landfill -- and are not the city's designated recycling bins. Apparently, the plastic the trash cans contain is not valuable enough to the ACC to warrant the effort of recovery because the SUPs in these trash cans are not collected by the ACC for recycling. Furthermore, the ACC has lobbied against bottle bills that would add a few cents to each plastic bottle to encourage returns and recycling efforts. Petrochemical Companies in Battle Formation The ACC must continue to sell the possibility, however remote, of cleaning up the maritime mess created by plastics, or face the ultimate consequence: legislative bans, environmental lawsuits and consumer boycotts that may turn off the lucrative petrochemical pumps putting out the source of the pollution. A challenge to the chemical industry's way of doing business is brewing in California where the Green Chemistry Initiative , signed by Governor Schwarzenegger in 2008, directs the Department of Toxic Substances Control to reduce toxics going into our oceans, including those from plastics, with biodegradable, non-toxic substitutes for these plastics on the agenda. But do not expect the ACC to back away from petrochemicals without a fight. Each year the chemical industry produces about 6 billion pounds of BPA alone, generating at least $6 billion in sales. As preeminent endocrine researcher Dr . Frederick vom Saal observed : "If information [about toxics in plastic] had been known at the time that this chemical was first put into commerce, it would not have been put into commerce....But because it already is in commerce, and chemical industries have a huge stake in maintaining their market share using this chemical, how do they now respond to evidence that it really is not a chemical that you would want your baby to be exposed to? We're still in the attack phase." REFUSE SUPs: Make less REFUSE We have all been schooled in the following "three R" sustainability plan: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. Not many people know that these three tenets are meant to be practiced in that order as well -- with recycling as only the final recourse. The ACC is effectively marketing to shift the order of the three R's to place Recycling first because Reducing and Reusing curtail their profits. Instead of following the ACC's "plastic recycling plan," a different strategy should be implemented by the public that designates a new number-one priority to the R's of sustainability: Refuse SUPs. Thus, in order to put the use of plastics in their proper place, and to reduce the negative impacts of plastic pollution on the environment and human health, the most sustainable strategy is the following, in order of priority: 1. REFUSE single-use plastics. Instead, bring your own shopping and produce bags to the market. Use reusable bottles. Bring your own containers for take-out or ask for non-plastic disposable packaging. 2. REDUCE waste. Choose products with the least plastic packaging. Cut back on plastic disposable goods like razors, straws, cups, plates and silverware. 3. REUSE preferably nontoxic containers and goods to make less waste. 4. RECYCLE plastics as a last option, after exhausting the first three options. | |
| Daniel Kessler: Carbon Offsets Are a CROC | Top |
| Sometimes it's better to laugh than cry, and believe me, the reality that we might rely on carbon offsets as a primary means to reduce our global warming emissions is enough to make me weep. The situation is so absurd that Greenpeace this week launched thecroc.org , a satirical look at how carbon offsets could undermine both U.S. legislation and the U.N. climate negotiations by giving big polluters a giant loophole to continue dirty business as usual. Carbon offsets often do not deliver promised results. Offsets from forest projects are especially unreliable because the deforestation they are supposed to stop in one area can easily move elsewhere. The use of these sorts of offsets would not only give big polluters a giant loophole, it could actually increase global warming pollution. In addition, as carbon credits are paid for and traded under a new cap and trade system, low-quality offsets threaten to corrupt those new markets. Cheap offsets could literally act as "sub-prime" carbon credits, creating huge financial risks. This risk was demonstrated yet again this week when the U.N. actually shut down SGS UK, one of the world's leading carbon offset accreditation firms , after it was unable to show that its staff had thoroughly vetted offset projects. The SGS embarrassment was a blow to backers of offset schemes and it should be a wake up call to policymakers as they work to craft new climate agreements both here and internationally. The ACES bill that cleared the House earlier this year has up to 2 billion tons of offsets available per year. Because the situation is so ridiculous, Greenpeace had a bit of fun and developed CROC, a fake government agency that confers the benefits of carbon offsets to the average citizen. Users can get credit for doing some good for the environment, which they can use to do some thing bad to it, just like corporate polluters do. Check out the PSA above and follow CROC on Twitter ! More on Twitter | |
| Kim Mance: Harry Potter Theme Park to Open Spring 2010: Video & Photo Virtual Tour | Top |
| Universal Orlando Resort , and Warner Bros. today revealed first-ever details about the incredible scope of The Wizarding World of Harry Potter . Universal also announced that beginning spring 2010, its theme park will be open for all dedicated Potterphiles to make a vacation pilgrimage. Among the tantalizing tidbits revealed, the resort gave a list of featured locations, as well as a virtual fly through of the park (see video below). Galavanting Travel News & Reviews Video: preview of The Wizarding World of Harry Potter theme park & interviews with Harry Potter movie cast members Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint and Emma Watson . Hogwarts Castle. (Photo: Universal) And after entering the front archway of Hogsmeade to the immensity of Hogwarts castle, The Wizarding World of Harry Potter travelers will find a magical assortment of attractions. At the entrance of Hogsmeade, billowing steam and an iconic whistle signal the arrival of the Hogwarts Express into Hogsmeade station. Hogsmeade. (Photo: Universal) Across the way is Zonko’s, a joke shop with a collection of tricks and jokes, including Extendable Ears, Boxing Telescopes and Sneakoscopes. Honeydukes is next door and full of treats like Chocolate Frogs and Bertie Bott’s Every-Flavour Beans. Honeydukes. (Photo: Universal) The Three Broomsticks and adjacent Hog’s Head pub will feature traditional British fare and drinks including Butterbeer and pumpkin juice. Across from the Three Broomsticks is The Owlery, where owls roost and await their next delivery. Three Broomsticks. (Photo: Universal) The Owl Post sends letters with a certified Hogsmeade postmark and sells official stamps from The Wizarding World of Harry Potter. Ollivanders wand shop is an incredible interactive experience where the wand chooses the wizard. Completing Hogsmeade is Dervish and Banges, the magical instruments and equipment shop featuring Quidditch equipment, Triwizard apparel, Spectrespecs and Remembralls. Ollivanders Wand Shop. (Photo: Universal ) The first attraction, Dragon Challenge, features a twin high-speed roller coaster with many iconic elements from the Triwizard Tournament. Next is Flight of the Hippogriff, a family coaster simulating a Hippogriff training flight over the grounds of Hogwarts castle. Flight of the Hippogriff. (Photo: Universal) Located in Hogwarts castle, Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey is a thrilling new state-of-the-art attraction that uses entirely new technology to bring the magic, characters and stories of Harry Potter to life in ways never before experienced. Hogwarts Castle. (Photo: Universal) Before exiting back into Hogsmeade, Filch’s Emporium of Confiscated Goods is full of Ministry of Magic and magical creatures merchandise, Omnioculars, and even remote control Golden Snitches. There’s no doubt many memories will be made in the new park, and it looks as though there’s enough magic to go around — luckily they’re able to reveal it, even to us Muggles. Cross-posted at GoGalavanting.com (HARRY POTTER, characters, names and related indicia are trademarks of and © Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. Harry Potter Publishing Rights © JKR.) More on Travel | |
| Steve Rosenbaum: The Day The New York Times Stopped Coming | Top |
| So, Saturday was an average day. A plain ordinary morning. I went to the door, and it wasn't there. The Times was missing. My first thought, a neighbor had taken it. That used to happen when the guy who walked naked in front of his apartment lived down the hall, but he's long gone. Then I glanced up and down, sure enough - the Times was missing from all the doors in the hall. Gone. Now, this had been coming for a few days - first it was late, then it was down in the lobby to be grabbed as I left for work. There was some issue with the building and delivery. And as if in slow motion, the Times moved further and further away from my door. Now, it is gone. So, I didn't want to be a baby. After all, I've got a computer. Well, the truth is my family has a lot of computers. We've got iPhones with the Times app on them. We've got laptops. We've got a desktop or three. So, what's the big deal? Ink on dead trees or zeros and ones. Same thing, right? So, I tried not to care. I just decided I'd pour myself a cup of coffee and read it online. Okay, sure. No problem. But I couldn't do it in quite the same way. I clicked, and flipped, and glanced, and read. But my eyes glazed over. I could 'browse' but I couldn't read. Kind of like the way you flip through magazines at the newsstand. Furtive glances on pages that you didn't pay for. But reading? No way could I read in the same way. The next day, the danger passed. The paper arrived on my doorstep. And, to test my theory, I read yesterday's paper. Wow, there's so much in there that I didn't get from my browsing online. More depth. New stories (or so it seemed). More 'engagement' - a word the Web uses all the time. Now maybe this is just a story of old habits dying hard. Maybe a generation that grows up on the iPhone and the laptop will have the same warm fuzzy feeling toward the paper at the door that I do. Maybe. Or maybe not. I've always believed that the Times would be the Times - whatever the medium that delivered it. And in fact, I believed that the new digital Times would be better. More room, more depth, more video, more community, more good things. But then, I had a day without the Times . Now, I'm not so sure. Originally Posted on "MediaBizBloggers" at Steve Rosenbaum - MediaBizBloggers . | |
| Max and the Marginalized: What Is It We're Doing There Again? | Top |
| Enjoy our new song about escalation in Afghanistan, the changing rationales for it, and the absence of a consensus on what winning really looks like. The footage is from Brave New Films' excellent Rethink Afghanistan series. What Is It We're Doing There Again? [download the mp3] Do you remember when the bomber first flew over? With a mission and a target square in its eye Before they asked for twice as many soldiers Before we'd have to see 1300 die When circumstances dip into a downswing The $, days and the deaths keep ticking up A laundry list of motives ever growing The more I hear the less that they're enough Do you know what success, it ought to look like in the end What do you do when the fight, it don't go nothing like you planned Tell me what it is we're doing there again Victory, it will always prove elusive With the vagaries of when, why and how So who can blame us if we've grown a bit dismissive Another day another rationale Do you know what success, it ought to look like in the end What do we do with this long list of beginnings without ends Tell me what it is we're doing there again If it still makes sense, here in the present tense it has to be worth reexamining The caskets all come home filled with blood and bone Sacrificed to flimsy reasoning How many will we send before this is at its end Tell me what it is we're doing there again -- Max and the Marginalized are a political band from LA with a liberal bent. They record a lot of songs and play a lot of shows. facebook.com/maxandthemarginalized twitter.com/maxandthemarginalized More on Afghanistan | |
| Dr. Susan Albers: Five Easy Ways to Eat More Mindfully at Work | Top |
| Do you mindlessly snack on M&M's at your desk? Perhaps you munch nervously on chocolate before an important meeting with your boss. Or, maybe you have a habit of typing on your computer and snacking at the same time. People who eat a pretty healthy diet at home sometimes find it a bit more of a challenge at work. Temptation comes in all sizes, such as candy or soft drinks in vending machines, takeout or convenient fast food, snacks in desk drawers. In fact, you may also be unconsciously following bad habits of co-workers. If you have have a stressful job (as many of us do!), you are more likely to engage in emotional mindless eating. When you are stressed out, your cortisol levels, or the hormones in your body related to stress, are elevated. So, you begin to crave food (sugar, fat, and salt). You can naturally bring those cortisol levels into balance through calorie-free relaxation techniques. Given that we spend the majority of our time at our jobs, it's worth taking a closer look at your eating habits at work. Here are some tips to help you curb mindless eating: Five Tips for Eating Mindfully at Work (for more, see www.eatingmindfully.com ): 1. Avoid Multitasking. When you eat, just eat. It's tempting to eat while you work, talk on the phone or answer an e-mail. But according to research, this can actually interfere with mindful eating, or eating enough to satisfy your hunger without going overboard. A 2001 study by French researchers France Bellisle and Anne-Marie Dalix found that women who were distracted by a task versus those who just focused on their meal ate 15 percent more (72 additional calories) and enjoyed their food less. Pay close attention to your food. 2. Keep Food Out of Sight. If you can see it, you are more likely to want to eat it, even if you aren't hungry. In a 2006 study, researchers from Cornell University examined how many pieces of candy office workers ate when a candy dish was nearby. They found that people ate more candies when they were visible and easily accessible. The opposite is true as well. You are more likely to eat healthy foods if they are placed in a convenient location. 3. Sit Down. It sounds simple enough but too often we eat standing over a desk or while walking. You will pay much more attention to how much food you eat when you focus on it. Commit to eating only while you are sitting. 4. Leave Evidence. Leave a food trail. Keep the candy bar wrapper on your desk. Don't throw away the baggie once you are finished with the bag of pretzels. Keeping physical evidence or reminders helps you to be more mindful of what you eat. 5. Like It, Love It Principle. When people begin to be more mindful of what they eat, they cut out the foods they don't really like. An example of eating mediocre food -- taking a bite of a store bought muffin at a morning meeting or eating a cookie that you don't really like at an office party. Mindful eaters begin to distinguish between foods they really love and enjoy and the food that is mediocre. They may eat dessert, but they are choosy about what they feel is worth their time to eat. By the author of Eating Mindfully and 50 Ways to Soothe Yourself Without Food. | |
| Sherry Moss: Granny Goes Flex | Top |
| Anne Tobas is 55 years of age but says she doesn't feel a day over 21. She recently challenged her 32-year-old son to the 50-yard dash and whipped his behind! Anne is not your typical grandmother. With her grown daughter and her 5-year-old grandson, Darius, sharing a home and a lifestyle with her, Anne is having the time of her life! Her typical day consists of fielding customer service calls from timeshare owners who'd like to exchange their vacation slots for alternate destinations. Most of the time, she does this from 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. and then leaves to pick up Darius from kindergarten. "Nana" then takes care of Darius' every need in the afternoon from going to the park to scheduling play dates and trips to the museum. Darius' active imagination and inquisitive nature keep Nana on her toes. Darius' mother wakes him up in the morning, makes his breakfast and takes him to school. She is able to share his mornings with him but then commutes to "the city" (NY) for the afternoon shift at her full-time office job. Anne says that her flexible job gives her and her daughter peace of mind. "If I was in the city working and Darius needed me, I wouldn't easily be able to go and get him right away. And the corporate world would look down on me for leaving work early. My daughter and I have arranged things so that we have the peace of mind that Darius is safe and has a family member available should he need one of us." Anne is able to choose her schedule each week and may exchange her shift if she is unable to work. This is all made possible through a leading virtual business services provider called Arise Virtual Solutions Inc., which enables people to work from home, using their computers to become part of the customer service networks of Fortune 500 companies. At-home agents like Anne establish their own corporations and contract with Arise to provide customer service, technical support and sales services to large, well-known corporations. As long as they maintain adequate performance metrics (such as revenues, coverage, punctuality), they may continue to service the corporations which outsource their call center operations to Arise. With the use of sophisticated call routing technology, Arise is able to route calls to agents during their pre-selected hours, wherever they may live. Arise currently has more than 9,000 independent contractors in all of the 50 states and 750 plus working in the United Kingdom. The average age of the agents is between 34 and 50 years and over 65% are female. More than forty percent are college educated, and earning levels can reach $25 per hour, based on the level of expertise required and results of interactions with customers. Before Anne's daughter and grandson came to live with her, Anne worked in the banquet billing department of the Hyatt Corporation. Before that, she was a reservations manager at the Holiday Inn in Miami. Anne says that working for Arise is very similar to her former jobs, except that she has flexibility in her work hours and can work from home. Her daughter laughs and says, "My mother gets paid for doing what she loves best....talking!" A native of Trinidad, her sing-song accent is immediately engaging and soothing to any telephone client with whom she speaks. While she's doing the same kind of customer-service work that she did in her previous jobs, her current work differs in some important ways. First, she has the flexibility to work from home and to set her own hours. She can work as much or as little as she wants, within reason. She can also hire others to work for her. Currently, Anne has one employee who works part-time and volunteers when she's not working. The flexibility and owner status do require an investment. Because the Arise at-home agents operate their own businesses, Arise does not offer healthcare or other typical employee-type benefits such as paid time off. According to Jared Fletcher, Vice President, Strategic Sourcing & VSC Operations at Arise Virtual Solutions Inc., "Given that all of our agents are established business owners, we do not offer benefits such as healthcare and paid time off. Our agents come to Arise because they understand the benefits of being an entrepreneur versus an employee. The flexibility and advantages of owning your own corporation in many cases exceeds the benefits of being a part-time or full-time employee. Our at-home agents understand how to capitalize on the opportunity of owning their own corporations." Anne is quick to point out a couple of other major advantages. First, she does not have to fight the traffic to commute to the city from her Brooklyn home. And second, she can work in her pajamas if she wants. This certainly cuts down on business wardrobe costs, and, according to Anne, these benefits help to make up for the fact that she does not have healthcare benefits. For both parties, Arise and Anne, this seems to be an ideal arrangement. According to Jared Fletcher, "Anne is a high-performing agent within the Arise community and continuously provides top-level service to the client she represents." According to Anne, "When my grandbaby came along, somebody had to have flexible hours. My daughter works the evening shift in a New York office and somebody had to take care of Darius after school. Darius will get his first take home assignment this week, and he and Nana are looking forward to doing homework together for the first time! Arise gave me the opportunity to work at a job that I do well and also be with my precious grandbaby." Sherry Moss is a Professor of Organizational Studies at Wake Forest University and a co-founder of www.HomeBy3.com. She and her business partners, Kevin Cain and Barb Egenhofer, have created a niche online job board which offers free job postings to organizations wishing to advertise flex-jobs to attract formerly-professional stay-at-home moms and other individuals who'd like to work flexibly. To learn more about HomeBy3, visit www.HomeBy3.com or email Sherry at sherry.moss@HomeBy3.com. We would love to hear your stories of how you or your organization are taking advantage of work flexibility. | |
| Diane Francis: Oil and a never-ending recession | Top |
| The turmoil since August 2007 has not been blamed directly on oil prices but there's a link. "The US has experienced six recessions since 1972. At least five of these were associated with oil prices. In every case, when oil consumption in the US reached 4% percent of GDP, the U.S. went into recession. Right now, 4% of GDP is US$80 a barrel oil. So my current view is that if the oil price exceeds US$80, then expect the U.S. to fall back into recession," wrote Steven Kopits, managing director for U.K.-based energy-consulting and -research firm Douglas-Westwood LLC in New York. Kopits is a poster boy on all the "peak oil" websites and doomsayer blogs, but his metric on the link between recessions and oil price is interesting. If Kopits is correct, so much for "green shoots". They will be trampled under foot over and over again unless there is a sudden spike upwards in GDP growth disproportionally more so than oil price increases.Here is the roller-coaster cycle he points out: Higher oil prices mean recessions, recessions mean less consumption then lower oil prices which leads to less exploration and supply which leads to higher oil prices and recession again. Solutions? Stop driving The reality suggests that there are only two antidotes to this vicious cycle. Gradual price increases mitigate the negative effect of oil price increases. Recessions follow jumps of 50% within one year. The Saudis and OPEC plus other producers would have to play a role in modulating prices. Or else consuming nations must reduce consumption dramatically through legislation, taxation and rationing. Or crude oil expenditures should not exceed 4% of GDP and this must be mandated by governments. Here are some other Kopits' views affecting oil and economic conditions: Kopits on supply: "If I dispassionately just look at the numbers, the oil supply has not improved that much since the 4th quarter of 2004. And I don't see anything on the horizon that makes it appear that we're going to break out into a really new level of production that's far different than what we have today." Kopits on demand: "Consumption will tend to grow faster in developing economies for two reasons. First, by their nature, developing economies should grow faster than mature ones, and this has been generally true of east Asia and strikingly so in the case of China. So faster economic growth means faster growth in demand for oil. Further, oil consumption growth follows an "S"-curve. At low levels of GDP, oil demand growth is quite slow. Once a country has reached middle class income levels, per capita oil consumption stabilizes. However, in the middle, as a country becomes middle class, oil demand growth can be explosive. Take South Korea, for example. South Korean per capita oil consumption peaked in 1996; however, in the previous 12 years, the country's consumption increased nearly fourfold. China is now firmly on the S-curve. Based on South Korean experience, we would expect Chinese oil demand to stabilize at around 50 mbpd around 2032-2035." (China currently 8 million per day, US 20 million, Japan 5 million). Kopits on price: "If you have a flat--or heaven help us, declining--supply of oil, then the emerging and fast-growing economies will have no choice but to start bidding away the oil from the advanced or slow-growing economies. That is consistent with what we've seen in the data starting in about 2006. For China to grow, it will have to take away the oil of Japan, the US and Europe, just as it has in the last three years." More on The Recession | |
| Lindsay Beyerstein: Daily Pulse: Has Baucus Pulled Snowe's Trigger? | Top |
| Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine), perhaps the only moderate Republican on the Senate Finance Committee, predicted that the committee's forthcoming bill will not include a public option with a trigger. (Note that even if the Finance Committee's bill doesn't include a public option, one could still be added later in the legislative process, with or without a trigger.) Still, the lack of a trigger in the Senate bill would be strange, says Steve Benen of the Washington Monthly, because the trigger was Snowe's idea . A public option with a trigger is a compromise whereby a public system would only come into effect if private insurers failed to cut costs within a certain number of years. The alternative would be for the Finance Committee to pass a bill with no public option at all. To progressives, adopting the "wait and see" approach is like giving Bernie Madoff another five years to run his Ponzi scheme, just to make absolutely sure he's a crook. On the other hand, if the trigger is written fairly, we can be confident that we'll get a public option eventually, given the insurers dismal track record for cost control and the lack of competition. A triggered public option may also appeal to moderates looking for political cover. It lets them say "the public option if necessary, but not necessarily the public option." If costs come down on their own, the public option won't kick in. If the Baucus bill doesn't include a trigger, should we declare the idea DOA? Not necessarily, Benen explains: So, what's up? Is Snowe moving away from her own idea? Is the trigger done for? Not really. I did some digging on this earlier and it seems Snowe's comments were only in the context of the Finance Committee bill, which was never likely to have a trigger anyway. Snowe brought up the idea as far back as the spring, and encouraged the Gang of Six members to consider it, but her Republican colleagues rejected it out of hand. No matter what the Finance Committee agreed to, the trigger wasn't going to be part of the equation. But the idea may yet gain traction, because the Finance Committee bill isn't the be-all, end-all version of the reform legislation. More to the point, the White House is going to have a hand in the process, and if Snowe wants a trigger, and she's the 60th vote, it may yet happen, Meanwhile, Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) announced that a strong public option would pass by Christmas. Harkin chairs the Senate Health Education Labor and Pensions Committee (HELP), so he's in a good position to make that prediction. As chair, Harkin vows to carry on the legacy of his predecessor Sen. Ted Kennedy (D- Mass). Harkin's Senate HELP Committee provides a liberal counterbalance to Sen. Max Baucus's (D-Mont) more conservative Finance Committee. This post features links to the best independent, progressive reporting about health care and is free to reprint. Visit Healthcare.newsladder.net for a complete list of articles on health care affordability, health care laws, and health care controversy. For the best progressive reporting on the Economy, and Immigration, check out Economy.Newsladder.net and Immigration.Newsladder.net . This is a project of The Media Consortium , a network of 50 leading independent media outlets, and created by NewsLadder . More on Max Baucus | |
| Bradley Burston: Can There Be Such a Thing as an Israeli Hero? | Top |
| In Israel, where vitriolic self-criticism is the norm, we have become accustomed to living without heroes. As statesmen, our once-admired military leaders have often proven to be inept, corrupt, narrow of vision, devious of execution. There are exceptions, of course, none more exceptional than astronaut Ilan Ramon, who lost his life in the last flight of the Columbia space shuttle nearly seven years ago. Another might have been Ramon's son Asaf, a young pilot who had set out to follow in the footsteps of his father, and who was killed in a training accident this week. Can there be such a thing as an Israeli hero? Much of the world appears to have come to believe that there cannot. Many molders of opinion, whether journalists, human rights activists, or present or former world leaders, indicate with unequivocal conviction that Israelis -- and, in particular, all Israelis in uniform -- have lost their right to be considered extraordinary human beings. There is an element of racism in this, especially in the implication that Israelis as a whole are so belligerent, brutal and insensitive to Palestinians, they have lost their very humanity -- if, in fact, it ever was humanity to begin with. Following Asaf Ramon's fatal crash, a Haaretz reader from Switzerland wrote in response, "Every Israeli should learn from him how to crush your head on some Hebron rock. Your war and death cult ist [sic] simply disgusting." There is a sense that the transgressions of Israelis are so grave that they have lost their right to grieve over their own very real tragedies. At the same time, there is a sense that Israelis have also lost all right to take pride in themselves, in their accomplishments, or even to believe in their own future. On the far left, in Israel and across the world, there is a sense that the only heroes among the Jews are those who function as patriots exclusively of the Palestinian cause -- those who believe that the Palestinians have every right to a state, but that the Jews, if they ever had such a right, have long since shown themselves morally unworthy. The Jewish far right has also made a mockery of the word hero, exalting those who shoot innocent Arabs and burn their crops, battle IDF soldiers and brand them Nazis. Perhaps the time has come to ask, as the Talmud asks, "Who is a true hero?" The sage Ben Zoma responds that the true hero is the person who succeeds in conquering the basest of impulses, the worst of human instincts. In an age of quietly tyrannical political correctness and instant-messaging, the complex heroism of individual Israelis may have no place. Israelis themselves have by and large learned to hide it, to dismiss it, to denigrate it. Three days before Asaf Ramon was killed, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, under pressure from his Likud to put on a display of toughness, told party leaders, "We have proved time and again that we are willing to make concessions for peace, but we won't delude ourselves -- we are not willing to be freierim ." The word Netanyahu used, a word for which the English translation "suckers" is an anemic equivalent at best, is at the heart of the secret heroism of Israelis. There is no small element of tragedy in the circumstance that hardline Israelis are often so desperate to act so as to avoid "coming out a freier" that in the end, they cause themselves, their loved ones, and their country tremendous harm. And there is no small element of irony in the fact that the most truly heroic of Israelis fit precisely the mantle of "freier." People who give of themselves for the sake of others, people willing to do the work when no one else is, people of genuine honor, profound and silent self-esteem, people who see moral complexity without allowing themselves to be paralyzed by cynicism or seduced by simplicity. Ilan Ramon was a hero not despite his complexity but, in many respects, because of it. In an interview he gave soon after returning as one of eight Israel Air Force pilots who bombed the Iraqi nuclear reactor in 1981 -- an interview which was released to the public only many years later -- he said: You go around on the street just like any person, and you come upon the people of the Land of Israel -- shoving, yelling, and all manner of things of that sort -- you know what you're headed for, and you often ask yourself, are you willing to give everything you've got for these people, because you live among these people. Of course, in the end, you do give, because you give not because of all these people, but because of the people close to you. On Monday, as preparations were underway for the burial of Asaf Ramon beside his father's grave, Netanyahu's voice on Army Radio was that of a different man, the very human brother of an army officer and fellow member of a commando unit, who gave his life in 1976 leading a mission to rescue 100 hostages held in Entebbe, Uganda. Netanyahu's voice was that of another kind of silent Israeli hero, a member of a family who has lost a loved one. His voice was that of the Israeli who knows most intimately, that it is the freier who, in the end, is responsible both for Israel's survival and for its moral compass. For many years I wore the uniform of the IDF with pride, specifically because of the heroic freiers with whom I served. I learned that for every story making world headlines, and justifiably so, in which IDF men are accused of undue violence against Palestinians, there are easily scores of unreported incidents in which IDF commanders, enlisted men and reservists, marshaling their creativity and their individuality and their humanity, have aided and refrained from injuring Palestinian civilians, often endangering their own lives in the process. But the secret heroism of Israelis is by no means confined to the military. Large numbers of Israelis work tirelessly, heroically, to help pave the way to a common future with the Palestinians. Many Israelis have opened their hearts to helping refugees from foreign genocides. Their stories go largely unnoticed abroad, in no small part because it takes work to make a people long marketed as villains, into flesh and blood fellow humans. This is the truth. It is politically incorrect in the extreme. It muddies the colors of cardboard ideology and blanket support for one angelic side over the diabolical. In a post-modern world, many of Israel's true heroes may have no place. Abroad, extremists of the right and left are often singled out for recognition as heroes, while the people who simply get up in the morning and keep the state safe are dismissed as fence-sitters or dupes. In a post-modern world, we have come to believe that self-defense, self-esteem, compassion, love of country and love of peace are issues of the left and the right. It is the true hero, though, who realizes that all of these together are parts of the same whole, the conquest of our lowest impulses for the sake of our best version of a reflection of the heavens. It may be all too true, that the best of us go young. I have spoken with Palestinians who say the same thing. For those of us left to grieve, there is a constant impulse to give in to revenge, to fury, to callousness. Heroism may be nothing more than defying all of these, and seeking, in our feeble way, to follow the example of our best and our lost. The full post was written for Haaretz.com . More on Israel | |
| Robert Greenwald: Michael Moore's New Movie on Capitalism a Breakthrough | Top |
| Who would have thought that the 21st century challenge to capitalism would come in the form of a rip-roaring funny and emotionally moving film? Michael has done it. Last night I attended the Los Angeles premiere of Michael Moore's latest film, "Capitalism: A Love Story." What an incredible piece of work. Michael has taken on the very fundamental assumptions of capitalism and he has made it clear that we can and should do better. Not just with a particular individual or corporation -- no, he has gone after the way the system works. It is funny. And moving. Michael's ability to balance tone is an achievement he gets far too little credit for. I can think of few others who can move from an astute analysis of how the system works and for whom right into a rip-your-heart-out profile of one of the daily tragedies of unfettered capitalism to a comedic moment that leaves the entire audience roaring. And most critically, as Michael makes clear, it is not enough to just watch the movie, now we all have to do something! Start by seeing the movie, then get out and kick some ass. | |
| Joanne Bamberger: Just Being Alive Will Soon Be a Pre-Existing Condition | Top |
| Domestic violence isn't a subject I talk about much, but it's something I feel very strongly about because I have a very personal connection to the topic. I was a victim of domestic abuse . Many, many years ago I was married for a very short time when I was an incredibly young (19) and stupid college student (while 19 might be a good age for some to marry, it was not a good age for me). I was smart enough, however, to get out of that very brief marriage quickly before I suffered too many injuries. But it was scary -- I had bruises from being pushed down stairs and I was anxious about lying to cover up why there was a big hole in the wall (where my ex-husband kicked it in in a rage), among other things. When he pulled a butcher knife on me when I said I was leaving, I really knew it was the right choice to save my life. But I was terrified that he would come after me and hurt me more. He tried, but I was lucky that I had friends who sheltered me and kept me safe, even when I had to go to work. I recovered from the few physical injuries I suffered without any medical attention. But a lot of women aren't so lucky. So when I read a report this week from the SEIU that a variety of states allow insurance companies to refuse to pay for treatment of injuries suffered as a result of domestic violence because they are deemed a pre-exisiting condition, I pretty much lost it. Some states make it illegal for an insurance company to do that, but there are still eight states and the District of Columbia that permit insurance companies who cover individuals there to carve that out as something not deemed worthy of coverage. I knew decades ago, as many women still know today, that you can get all the protective orders you want, but depending on where you live police are slow to enforce them or take them seriously. So if a woman (or, I'm assuming, even a child) who suffers a black eye or a broken arm or worse because it's not the first instance of domestic abuse, certain insurance companies won't pay for it? If that fact alone isn't a call to action, I don't know what is. The President has said he wants health care reform and he's claimed he wants to put issues that impact women and girls in the forefront. When she spoke at Netroots Nation, Presidential advisor Valerie Jarrett, who chairs the White House Council on Women & Girls, answered my Twitter question about whether the goals of the Council were still a priority, assuring us that Barack Obama would keep pushing for those goals and that the Council's work was on the front-burner. Two of the Council's stated goals are: Working hand-in-hand with the Vice President, the Justice Department's Office of Violence Against Women and other government officials [will] find new ways to prevent violence against women, at home and abroad. Finally, the critical work of the Council will be to help build healthy families and improve women's health care. Call me crazy, but I don't think either of those things can be accomplished if you've got insurance companies trying to eke out bigger profits on the backs of abused women. So many people who are against health care reform want to keep the current system, claiming that a public option will result in rationing. But if denying a beaten woman coverage doesn't amount to rationing, what is it? Some insurers have made the calculated financial ( not medical) decision that if you are a woman who can't get out of an abusive relationship, you don't deserve medical treatment if your husband beats you. Before I experienced it, I thought there was no excuse for not getting out -- how could anyone stay? But it's a complicated issue, many times made harder by threats against other people, including children. Or you think it's only going to happen once -- it was an accident, it was something that will never happen again. And then it does. I am one of the most fortunate women in the world -- I got out before things got too bad. I scraped together enough money on my then-$120 a week salary to pay for a divorce and got out. I found a job in another state, but I looked over my shoulder for years, never wanting to let down my guard just in case he found out where I was. Many years later, I met Mr. PunditMom who is the best of all possible husbands (even though I do complain sometimes that he doesn't do his share of the laundry). But I shudder to think about what might have happened if my ex-husband had been able to get to me, notwithstanding all my best efforts to prevent him from hitting me again -- or worse. And if he had, how would I have paid for my medical care if my insurance company had turned its back? If domestic violence is a pre-existing condition , what's next? If I get a sinus infection this winter that the first round of antibiotics doesn't clear up, is the next prescription not covered? If it's OK for some insurance companies to promote and cover prescriptions or other treatments so men can "perform" when the moment is right , why isn't there a governmental push right now to make sure abused women can get medical treatment? I wish I could believe there was some answer other than money. But I don't think there is. Joanne Bamberger is the founder of the political blog, PunditMom . She also writes about politics through the lens of motherhood at BlogHer , where she is a Contributing Editor, MomsRising and MOMocrats . She is at work on a book about political and activist mothers (Bright Sky Press, Fall 2010). More on Barack Obama | |
| FDIC: Residential Credit Solutions Is PPIP's First Winning Bidder | Top |
| WASHINGTON — The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. on Wednesday named the first winning bidder under a test of the government's program to back private purchases of toxic mortgage assets and get them off banks' balance sheets. Fort Worth, Texas-based Residential Credit Solutions Inc. is paying $64.2 million for a 50 percent stake in a new company that will have about $1.3 billion in home mortgages from the failed Franklin Bank. The FDIC took over Houston-based Franklin Bank in November. Under the test sale to RCS, the new company will issue a note for $727.8 million to the FDIC. Twelve groups of companies had bid on the assets, the agency said. The program is part of the government's public-private partnership to guarantee private investors' purchases of toxic assets to help banks raise new capital, get credit flowing and aid the economic recovery. The sale is part of the government's so-called Public-Private Investment Program, announced in March by the FDIC, Treasury Department and Federal Reserve as one of the financial recovery measures. The backing for the private investors' purchases is coming from the $700 billion federal bailout fund, with the government matching private investors dollar for dollar and sharing any profits equally. The FDIC said it will analyze the results of the RCS-Franklin Bank sale to determine whether the same process could be used to get toxic assets off the balance sheets of banks that are still open and functioning, as opposed to failed banks. Officials have said that the PPIP will aim to relieve banks of up to $40 billion worth of soured investments tied to mortgages. The FDIC pilot sale involved actual mortgage loans rather than the related securities. The closing of the RCS sale is expected later this month, the FDIC said, after which the company will manage the portfolio and service the loans under guidelines for modifying distressed mortgages. RCS is a large mortgage servicing company that deals in modifications for troubled home borrowers. The company had no immediate comment Wednesday afternoon. | |
| The World's Creepiest Matt Damon Interview (VIDEO) | Top |
| Matt Damon sat down with Matt Zaller of the "National Lampoon" recently, which is a mistake celebrities sometimes make. Either he stones his subjects , or strips or does something else weird that makes them intentionally uncomfortable. In this case Zaller played the super fan, telling Damon it's fate that they're both named Matt and wearing a shirt of the two of them photoshopped together. That was a little strange, but the interview didn't enter the realm of the creepy until Zaller played a song he had written and performed for the star. WATCH: Get HuffPost Comedy On Facebook and Twitter! More on Funny Videos | |
| Egypt's Grand Mufti Ali Gomaa: Women Can Wear Trousers, But Stretch Pants Are "Unacceptable" | Top |
| CAIRO — Egypt's top Islamic authority defended women's rights to wear trousers in public following a high profile court case in neighboring Sudan were women were flogged for dressing in pants, the local press reported Wednesday. Grand Mufti Ali Gomaa said in response to a question during a public lecture that trousers covering women's bodies are permitted, though they should be loose and not see through. He specified that "stretch" pants were in particular unacceptable. Gomaa described the question as "strange and weird" and smiled as he responded. He is the top religious authority of Egypt and appointed by the government. Sudan caused a stir when it flogged 10 women for wearing trousers. One woman, Lubna Hussein contested penalty and was let off with a fine for public indecency in a trial that garnered international attention. Ever since her arrest in July, the 43-year-old Hussein used her case to draw attention to Sudan's indecency law, which allows flogging as a punishment for any acts or clothing that is seen as offending morals. The law follows a strict interpretation of Islamic laws. Human rights campaigners criticize the law as vague. Egypt also has vaguely worded indecency laws that can be widely applied, but women are given quite a bit of leeway in their attire. Unlike Sudan, no moral police is entrusted with implementing the law. While the vast majority of Egyptian women wear headscarves and loose flowing robes, Western style dress, including trousers, is also quite common. More on Egypt | |
| Baucus Bill: Rockefeller Says Dem Senators Are Not Pleased | Top |
| The health care bill that Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.) unveiled Wednesday has no room for legislative error. Democratic Sen. Jay Rockefeller's declaration a day earlier that he would oppose the measure in its current form gives the chairman a one-vote margin on the Finance Committee, which includes 13 Democrats and ten Republicans. On the House side, the Baucus proposal falls very, very short. Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-N.Y.), who has become something of a spokesman for House progressives opposed to any bill without a public option, quickly convened reporters to respond to the Baucus offering and declared it "dead on arrival." And Rockefeller (D-W.V.) said he has company in his reservations in the Senate. "A lot of them have come up to me and thanked me because I said what they're thinking. And because I sit next to Baucus and am senior, my saying it, I think, was good leverage and helpful and made it easier on people," Rockefeller told the Huffington Post. Opposition on the committee might come from an unlikely source: Florida Democrat Bill Nelson. Nelson represents a large population of senior citizens who are nervous about proposed cuts to the Medicare Advantage program. While it's mostly a boondoggle, offers little benefit to seniors and costs on average 14 percent more than standard Medicare plans, seniors are attached to it. Politically speaking, it's perilous for a Florida politician whenever the words "cut" and "Medicare" are found in the same sentence, regardless of the details. Nelson, a Finance Committee member, told the Huffington Post he plans to offer an amendment that would grandfather in -- an apt term, come to think of it -- those currently enrolled. "It's the right thing to do," Nelson said. "Don't cut our senior citizens something that they already have." Democrats have calculated that cutting Medicare Advantage could save $156.3 billion over the next ten years, according to a July Congressional Budget Office estimate. Grandfathering in grandma and grandpa would save billions in the long-term, but over the crucial ten-year window would do little to save money, meaning tax hikes, fees or cuts would be needed elsewhere. How it would work isn't quite clear, either, because the proposed cuts don't end the program but rather reduce the reimbursement rate to make it closer to standard Medicare. And if the amendment fails, will Nelson vote for the bill anyway? "I can't answer that yet," Nelson said. He's up for reelection in 2012. If the finance bill moves through committee, it'll be merged with a more generous health committee package which includes a public health insurance option. If there is no public option in the bill that hits the floor, said Sen. Roland Burris (R-Ill.), he'll vote against it. "I will oppose any bill that does not have a public option," Burris told the Huffington Post. How firm is that commitment? "I would oppose any bill that doesn't have a public option," he repeated. "Now, if they tell me they're going to work it out in conference, I'll have to think about that." In other words, Burris may offer his vote for a weaker bill if promised by leadership that it will be strengthened in negotiations with the House. Burris was appointed amid much controversy by disgraced former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich. At the end of his career and facing the end of his term next year, he has little to lose. He has so far been a reliable Democratic vote. If he begins to act independently, he'll be one more vote Senate leaders will need to fight for. Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) also said he was unsure he could support a Baucus-like bill on the Senate floor. "To me, it's got to have a public option. This is giving too much to the insurance industry to start off, and you don't negotiate that way," he said. "If I vote for a bill without a public option it has to have very strong language in other places, and I think Baucus probably falls short on that." The several months that Baucus' Gang of Six spent in pursuit of a bipartisan bill were a waste of time, he said, because the GOP has no plans on cooperating. "The Senate and the president to some extent have been like a child looking for a unicorn. I don't see it," he said. "The Senate is [often called] the cooling saucer of our democracy. It's starting to seem more like the meat locker of our democracy." Baucus, however, said he was confident. "I know this bill can pass," he told reporters. "I think that certainly by the time the Finance Committee in this room votes on final passage of health care reform there will be Republican support." Jeff Muskus contributed reporting Get HuffPost Politics On Facebook and Twitter! More on Health Care | |
| Tom Cruise: I Was Never Asked For A Sex Refund (VIDEO) | Top |
| Sex with Tom Cruise is....a good investment? On his show Tuesday night, Jay Leno peppered Cruise with a series of sexual questions, starting by asking whether he has ever been to a strip club. "Actually I never have been, ever," Cruise said. Sorry to disappoint you." Cameron Diaz, his costar in the upcoming movie 'Witchita,' added, "It's kind of hard to be Tom Cruise and go to a strip club." Leno dismissed him a liar then moved on to the next question: "I know you're a pilot, what are you better at - flying or sex?" "You know what, I don't know," said Cruise. "I try to excel in all areas and I've never been asked for a refund, so I don't know." WATCH: Get HuffPost Entertainment On Facebook and Twitter! More on Jay Leno | |
| Jill Schlesinger: Baucus Health Care Plan: Bye-Bye Public Option | Top |
| The wait is over: the Senate Finance Committee's formal health care bill has finally arrived! Chairman Max Baucus unveiled the Senate version, "America's Healthy Future Act of 2009," which sounds eerily like a breakfast cereal. The 10-year $856 billion Senate plan is a $44 billion savings from the number President Obama quoted last week in his prime time health reform speech . Here's my first impression of what you need to know about the new bill: What's in : extend health insurance to tens of millions of Americans not now covered; creation of a network of nonprofit health insurance cooperatives; limits on nasty insurance company practices. What's out : the public option What's changed : employers with more than 50 full-time workers would pay a $400 fee for each employee if they don't offer health insurance. The fee would be triggered if any employees apply for federal tax credits to buy coverage. This is a significant reduction from the House bill that would penalize companies up to 8% of payroll if they didn't offer insurance. What's not clear : Who's going to pay and whether or not the plan will add " one dime " to the deficit. Image by Flickr User ernstl , CC 2.0 More on Max Baucus | |
| Ramon Resa, MD: The Curse of Domestic Violence: A Cycle of Abuse from Father to Son | Top |
| Recently, the Santa Fe New Mexican mentioned how the current economy is causing a rise in the number of cases of domestic violence. Of course, domestic violence abounds no matter the state of the economy. We will always need to take steps in the hope of recognizing and preventing domestic violence. Unfortunately, I am no stranger to domestic violence. I grew up where spousal abuse was very common. My sister's violent husband murdered my brother and sister. When she attempted to break away, he took after her and killed both, in front of their respective children. Her two kids ended up with no father or mother. My aunt ran off in the middle of the night, leaving her seven children in the hands of her abusive husband. It was that or be beaten to death. You can guess how they turned out, but on the other hand, she would have been killed if she had stayed. Another aunt finally left her husband for the same reason, but she took her five kids with her. They lived in fear of his reprisal until the day he died of alcoholism. Yet another relative was constantly driven to seek shelter with her family whenever her husband took to beating her. We, young boys, were the barrier between her and her gang banger husband. In my current position as a pediatrician, domestic violence is a situation I have to deal with on a regular basis. One family that illustrates the horrible consequences of violence comes to mind readily: One mother came into my office with her kids trailing behind, all huddled together. It was obvious she had suffered another beating, and the kids had been witnesses. No matter how many times her husband was arrested, upon his release, he would proceed to beat her and threaten to kill her if she reported him again. One day she came in happy and looked ten years younger. He was back in jail for another crime and wouldn't be out for years. She thought her troubles were over. Well, she was wrong. Her son stabbed her to death when she tried to prevent him from hurting his girlfriend. He, like many other children from abusive homes, learned to mimic the ways of his father . Too many children learn to settle disputes with their fists rather than with rational discussion. How can boys raised in this type of environment learn any differently? It is nice to say we have to show them or teach them by example, but what example can we use? Celebrities are almost nothing but poor role models , and the children obviously don't have any at home. The sad simple fact is that kids raised in dysfunctional households are at risk of becoming abusers themselves. The only thing we can do is seek to identify these at-risk kids as early as possible, looking for warning signs such as the use of violence to resolve issues or evidence of domestic violence among parents. Then, we do the best we can for the children by reporting the violence and supporting and volunteering for organizations that work with at-risk kids. The Big Brothers/Big Sisters organization has shown that one-on-one mentoring leads to a significant decrease in future drug and alcohol abuse as well as keeping children out of jail. If programs such as these are widely supported, we might succeed in reducing the incidence of domestic violence. More on Health | |
| Carter On Racism: White House Disagrees | Top |
| WASHINGTON — The White House says President Barack Obama doesn't believe he's being criticized because of his race. Spokesman Robert Gibbs said Wednesday that Obama – the nation's first black president – doesn't think that criticism of his policies is "based on the color of his skin." Gibbs was asked about the topic following comments on Tuesday by former President Jimmy Carter. Carter said that Rep. Joe Wilson's outburst during Obama's speech to Congress last week was "based on racism." Carter also said "There is an inherent feeling among many in this country that an African-American should not be president." Gibbs says some people have disagreements with some of Obama's decisions but that those concerns were not because of his race. | |
| Patricia Handschiegel: New Power Girls: 20 Women Founders To Watch, Part I | Top |
| Former Google exec and Power Girl Julia Kung takes a seat at a New York Fashion Week panel and party event Monday night sponsored by Moxsie.com . As she does, the room is filled with more than 250 people nabbing treats from Cosabella , hard copies of the popular book Note to Self and more, including many of the top fashion bloggers on the web (many of which were first spotted on my former company, Stylediary.net). A day later, designer Betsey Johnson is honored at a dinner and cocktail reception with a Lifetime Achievement Award. All week long, bloggers and style setters alike are weaving in and out of the AMEX fashion week suite, which overlooks the runway in Bryant Park. As the city crackles with excitement from the dozens of parties and shows, no greater is there a reminder of Power Girls than Fashion Week. Countless successful women appear to be everywhere. Across the country, two women entrepreneurs compete in the coveted TechCrunch50 event in San Francisco. There couldn't be a better time to unveil our list for the 20 top women-owned companies to watch than this one. Over the past ten days, Meghan and I have scoured countless submissions and tapped dozens of companies that are on our radar to create a list of those we'll regularly cover on our newly launched New Power Girls daily blog site. A sister-project to the series here on Huffington Post, Newpowergirls.com is a bit like Mashable , Paid Content or TechCrunch , except our focus is all female. This week, we're unveiling the first ten of our Top 20 list here, and we'll be writing up short profiles on each of the companies listed in the coming two weeks to give readers the 411 on them. Here are the first ten to watch! 1. Blogher, www.blogher.com 2. Ning, www.ning.com 3. Huffington Post, www.thehuffingtonpost.com 4. Blurb, www.blurb.com 5. Budgetfashionista, www.thebudgetfashionista.com 6. Divine Caroline, www.divinecaroline.com 7. Design Milk, www.design-milk.com 8. Paige Adams Gellar, www.paigepremiumdenim.com 9. Candace Nelson, www.sprinkles.com 10. Ivanka Trump, www.ivankatrumpcollection.com See what Meghan and Patricia have to say about the list here . Be sure to check out profiles on all companies in the coming two weeks on TheNewPowerGirls.com | |
| Lisa Napoli: I Am a Failure at Watching TV | Top |
| Words I don't believe I have uttered before: "I am going home to watch TV." I left dinner with friends in Santa Monica so I could be in place for the start of Leno. My friend P. expressed distress at the content of that statement. "You don't LIKE the guy, do you?" and I knew from the tone of it that if I said that I did, my stock would fall. I neither like nor dislike Leno (although I have always been intrigued by his long and happy marriage.) Years ago I had a crush on Letterman, in fact. What mattered last night was I just wanted to participate in this exciting TV debut, since I could. Since I finally bit the bullet and got a TV. L. was interested in a different topic of conversation. Racism is becoming more of a problem, she said. I said I didn't think it was any worse a problem than it ever had been, but simply that the media were reflecting (bellowing) the problem at the moment. The whole 'You Lie' business and tea parties and the aftermath, etc. All of this is another reason I haven't missed watching the 'news' all these years. All that shouting, and much of it zeroed in on incidents, not substance. Bickering is better for TV than details. Earlier in the day, I'd spent a few minutes watching Chris Matthews as he dressed down Blago for contradicting himself, and then wished him well with his new book and bade him goodbye. If only our other interpersonal conflicts resolved themselves with a commercial break and a kind farewell. Seeing Blago, live, shocked me. Since I hadn't had a TV during his whole debacle, I'd never heard him speak, only knew him for his hair and the surrounding mess. For some reason, I found myself thinking about the worst moments I had in my career on television, where I was relegated to reading viewer emails on the Ollie North/Paul Begala show during the chad debacle. And having to pretend it was fun. Anyway, back to Leno. I got home and got into position, ready to watch history. The TV flickered in the background as I read a bit of this fantastic Oscar Wao book everyone's been telling me to read. America's Got Talent, more faux drama, the judges upbraiding the contestants. I could tell what they were saying without even hearing them. For some reason, I picked up the computer and saw that my friend Brian Stelter had been blogging Leno for the NY Times . I found myself less interested in Kanye West's recent transgression than I had been hours before. Maybe that's why, knowing it was in store, I nodded off. I woke up with a start at 11:15pm and hadn't seen one frame of the new show, after all. I'm a failure as a TV viewer. But I'm going to force myself to keep trying. More on Jay Leno | |
| Rob Smart: From Fast Food Nation to Pro Food Ventures | Top |
| In 2001, Houghton Mifflin Company published a book by Eric Schlosser titled Fast Food Nation -The Dark Side of the All-American Meal . Much like the work of Upton Sinclair in his 1906 title The Jungle , Mr. Schlosser, an award-winning investigative journalist exposed how the explosive growth of fast food in America had "hastened the malling of our landscape, widened the chasm between rich and poor, fueled an epidemic of obesity, and propelled American cultural imperialism abroad." For a handful of people, this book provided enough incentive to act, but nowhere near the critical mass needed to show up on most radar screens. That started to change with Michael Pollan's The Omnivore's Dilemma , published in 2006 and the 2009 release of Food, Inc. , a food documentary incorporating much of the work of Schlosser and Pollan. Still, unless you were seeking out information on America's industrial food system, and specifically how it was negatively impacting health, regional economies, and the environment or global trade, you probably had no idea that there were significant problems with America's abundant food system. TIME Magazine changed that with its August 21, 2009 cover story titled Getting Real About the High Price of Cheap Food . TIME brought the story of industrial food to mainstream America through its 40 million readers and Web users worldwide. As America's most trusted new source, it shifted the balance of the debate about our need to reform our food system toward the sustainable food advocates that have been waging a noble, but slow campaign. Here are some highlights from TIME describing how ripe the time is for innovations in how we grow, sell and prepare food in America: "...our energy-intensive food system uses 19% of U.S. fossil fuels, more than any other sector of the economy." "And perhaps worst of all, our food is increasingly bad for us, even dangerous." "...obesity adds $147 billion a year to our doctor bills." "With the exhaustion of the soil, the impact of global warming and the inevitably rising price of oil -- which will affect everything from fertilizer to supermarket electricity bills -- our industrial style of food production will end sooner or later." "...quantity of fertilizer is flat-out scary: more than 10 million tons for corn alone -- and nearly 23 million for all crops." "...about 70% of antimicrobial drugs used in America are given not to people but to animals, which means we're breeding more of those deadly organisms every day." When you consider this was presented to at least 40 million Americans, a vast majority who don't know where their food comes from, you get a sense of how this single article will likely impact the evolution of sustainable food. The TIME article's author specifically states, "So what will it take for sustainable food production to spread? It's clear that scaling up must begin with a sort of scaling down -- a distributed system of many local or regional food producers as opposed to just a few massive ones." As sustainable food discussions move into the mainstream, so will the opportunities for entrepreneurs and existing companies to bring to market innovative approaches to selling higher quality, healthier foods to increasing percentages of consumers, businesses and institutions. As these companies grow, they have an increasingly realistic chance to break the near death grip that industrial food has put on America's food system. There are already examples of sustainable food innovations throughout the food chain, from Will Allen's Growing Power to an alliance between Good Natured Family Farms and Ball Food Stores, to name a few. Early pioneers, with dirt on their hands, lessons learned and progress made, played a critical role in blazing trails for new ventures. Some of those companies have grown dramatically, e.g., Green Mountain Coffee Roasters (NASDAQ: GMCR; market cap of ~$2.5 billion). Others have been acquired by larger companies, e.g., Stonyfield Yogurt (acquired by Groupe Danone), Ben & Jerry's (Unilever), Burt's Bees (The Clorox Company). Still others have remained independent. The next wave of ProFood start-ups will have the advantage of leveraging the many lessons learned by these pioneers. Unlike earlier sustainable food entrepreneurs, this next-generation will also have the benefit of a growing number of mission-driven investors showing up sustainable food conferences, e.g., Slow Money Alliance and New Seed Advisors , looking to drive sustainable food forward. | |
| The Interactive Dan Brown Plot Generator | Top |
| For those of you who can't wait another moment for Dan Brown's next blockbuster, Slate has your fix: an interactive Dan Brown plot generator that takes a city and a shadowy organization and spits out the plot of the next volume in the Robert Langdon chronicles. | |
| Sotomayor Dances (Well!) At Noche Musical Celebration (VIDEO, POLL) | Top |
| *SCROLL DOWN FOR VIDEO* Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor, who danced and sang karaoke last week , showed off some fancy footwork at last night's National Hispanic Foundation for the Arts' "Noche Musical." Watch as Sonia boogies with her dancing partner, actor Esai Morales. There's a few mambo steps, some spins, a short hustle, and a bunch of clapping and snapping. Now, that's what we call getting jiggy with it, justice-style. Read more about the event at WashingtonLife.com . WATCH: Follow HuffPost Style on Twitter and become a fan of HuffPost Style on Facebook ! More on Sonia Sotomayor | |
| Wayne Pacelle: International House of Pain for Egg-Laying Hens | Top |
| The HSUS has a long track record of successful work with food companies on developing forward-thinking animal welfare policies--advancements that result in meaningful improvements for animals such as ending the use of extreme confinement systems like battery cages and gestation crates . Animal welfare should be part of the Corporate Social Responsibility portfolio for any major corporation, and increasingly, companies are heeding the call. Sometimes, our attempts at positive dialogue with a company break down and our last resort is a public campaign. While we always prefer to work cooperatively with businesses, on occasion even years of dialogue can yield no benefit for animals and it becomes necessary to publicly call on a company to do the right thing. That's why today we're launching a national campaign urging IHOP to start switching some of its eggs away from battery cage confinement to cage-free --a modest step that many of the company's competitors have already taken. Despite more than two years of private discussions, IHOP refuses to change the fact that all of the eggs it uses come from hens confined in cages so small they can't even spread their wings. To make this matter even more urgent, yesterday IHOP's primary egg supplier, Michael Foods, was the subject of a gut-wrenching undercover exposé documenting egregious animal cruelty and severe food safety concerns. The animal protection organization that conducted the investigation, Compassion Over Killing , videotaped hens forced to live in cages with the decomposing corpses of their cage-mates, sick and injured hens, live and dead hens stuck in their cage's wires, and disturbingly filthy conditions. The cruelties that the investigation exposes are tragically nothing new at Michael Foods. A 2006 HSUS investigation of another Michael Foods factory farm documented similar cruelty, including live hens confined in cages with corpses, hens trapped in cage wires, sick and injured hens, and more. Battery cages are so inhumane they've even been banned in IHOP's home state of California (phase-out date of 2015), thanks to Proposition 2's landslide passage last November. Please contact IHOP today and ask the company to take a modest, commonsense step in the right direction by simply starting to move away from battery cage eggs. More on Animals | |
| Sandy Grason: Mental Masturbation | Top |
| Is Your Brain Getting Off, but You're Getting Nowhere? How to Break the Addiction Right about now, you're either laughing and nodding in recognition or you are completely offended. If you are the former, read on -- I've got an "a-ha" for you. If you are the latter, well, what can I say -- I'm sorry I've offended you, but we're all adults here. I never thought I'd be writing anything with the word masturbation in it either. I can't remember the first time I used this term, but I actually thought I made it up. It perfectly describes a state I used to get into (and still sometimes do) with friends where we spend ridiculous amounts of time analyzing ourselves, the world, our thought patterns and trying to 'figure out our lives', hoping to have some big revelation that will solve everything. As I sat down to write this article, I googled "mental masturbation" and guess what -- it's in the Urban Dictionary! There are about 10 definitions, but this is the perfect one for the purposes of this article: (for more amusement, go read the other definitions esp. the sample conversations ) Mental Masturbation "The act of engaging in useless yet intellectually stimulating conversation, usually as an excuse to avoid taking constructive action in your life." Here's the part that's really interesting to me "usually as an excuse to avoid taking constructive action in your life." That was the revelation I had a few years ago. I was spending hours on the phone with friends talking about my life, my business, projects I was really attracted to and what was holding me back from my ideal scene. We shared quotes from books we were reading, knowledge picked up from gurus and we came up with insights about what it would take to have a major breakthrough. I would finally press "end call", hundreds of minutes later, my ear burning red and hot, letting out a deep, exhausted but deliciously satisfied 'ahhhhhh' and think, "That was great, I'm so excited about all of these new ideas and I can't wait to get started on them." Just then, my husband would walk in the door or it was time to go pick up the kids from school, my "work day" was over and what had I really accomplished? Nothing. Nada. Zero. Zip. That's right. I spent countless hours having these amazing, intellectually stimulating conversations but I wasn't taking any action. Mental masturbation. Here's my theory: You can become addicted to the "a-ha!" moment. When the light bulb goes off as you find the perfect website that promises to answer all of your questions, sit in a seminar with the latest guru, listen to an audio program or read a new book - it's like an orgasm. It feels soooooo good. You've figured "it" out, the missing link, the nugget of knowledge that will make everything fall into place, your life will make sense, the world will finally recognize your greatness and your bank account will triple. Ahhhhhhh, that feels good. When you put the book down, return to your office or try to get back to your life's work, it feels boring. You don't feel that same energy, the high is gone. So you go in search of the next "a-ha" moment, the next intellectual orgasm. You can break out of this cycle. You can stop sabotaging yourself when you realize that it's just your brain, doing it's busy, monkey-mind stuff that keeps you searching for the next high. I'd like to make a distinction here: let's differentiate Masterminding, what Napoleon Hill refers to as two or more gathered together working toward a definite purpose, in the spirit of harmony- which is an amazing tool to increase your results and add rocket fuel to your business and your life from mental masturbation. You'll know you're addicted to the intellectual high, if you're having lots of great, stimulating conversations but your business isn't growing or your life seems strangely unsatisfying. Here's what to do: If you can plug into the ideas and projects that are right in front of you today, create your own urgency and excitement instead of waiting for your brain to get turned on. If you can turn yourself on about your life right now, that's when you'll find your magic G-spot. (G= Greatness, Gorgeous & Grateful) I've got some tips for you next time on how to break your addiction to mental masturbation, stop avoiding taking constructive action and turn yourself ON in your business and your life. Grrrrrrrrrrr, baby! | |
| Deborah Tannen: The Secret Bond That Sisters Share | Top |
| Cecile stood up, straightened her back, and stretched her arms out wide, dramatizing how her older sister had always protected her. Then she said: "Sometimes when we talk on the phone, we run out of things to say, but we don't hang up. We put the phones down but keep the line open; just knowing the other is there is a comfort, like hugging a cat." I knew immediately that I'd use these two images in You Were Always Mom's Favorite! , the book I was writing about sisters: the open phone line represented the ineffable connection between sisters, and the older sister's protectiveness was a reminder of the crucial role that birth order plays throughout sisters' lives. But several months later, when I asked Cecile about her sister, she replied, "I don't know. I'm not speaking to her." I was stunned -- and wondered how I could honestly use Cecile's example. Then I realized: a cat doesn't always want to be hugged. The emotions stirred by sisters are so visceral, they can swoop low as readily as they can soar. I would keep Cecile in my book, to capture that truth. Among the over one hundred women I interviewed, for every paean to an older sister who was protective and devoted, I heard one described as "bossy" or "judgmental." And for every younger sister praised as a delightful "blithe spirit," one was resented for failing to do her share of work. This combination of praise and complaint are two sides of the same coin-privileges and liabilities built into birth-order positions (though they aren't the same in all families, and much of what I found is true of brothers as well). No wonder adult youngest sisters sometimes sit back and let older ones do the work. They may hesitate for fear they'll be told they're doing things wrong -- as they often were in childhood and may continue to be when they're with older sisters. And no wonder oldest sisters as adults can come across as judgmental and bossy-growing up, they usually did know better, and many were expected to tell younger ones what to do. Being oldest comes with privileges like staying up later, sitting in the front seat next to Mom, and starring in far more baby pictures. In her novel Harriet and Isabella , Patricia O'Brien quotes Harriet Beecher Stowe: "The first child is pure poetry. The rest are prose." Many children who are not first-born sense this. Some spend the rest of their lives trying to achieve poetry. And sometimes they succeed so spectacularly that their first-born sisters spend the rest of their lives wondering how they got reduced to prose. There's nothing wrong with prose -- unless it's compared to the majesty of poetry. Comparison is a liability for all sisters. We all at times wish for things we don't have -- possessions, achievements, or opportunities. But we miss them more if a sibling got them. Seeing what your sister has is enough to make you want that very thing. No matter how much parents try to treat children equally, kids spot differences. "She got blue and I got pink," a woman recalls, "so I wanted blue." It had nothing to do with the inherent value of blue or pink; it was about green -- as in, The grass is always greener in your sister's yard. There is one gift, though, that all sisters possess in equal measure- having a sister. Though spouses may divorce and lovers may split, sisters are sisters forever. She's someone with whom you can laugh and be silly like when you were kids; who still sees in you the child you were; who shares your past and your memories of it. And anything a sister says carries meaning from all the conversations you've had before. That's why a word from a sister can start you laughing-or send you into a tailspin. I cited that insight when I wrote about Cecile. But the example didn't end that way. Before the book went to press, Cecile called to say that after more than a year, she was speaking to her sister again, and they were again hanging out together with the phone line open. The year they didn't speak had not severed the connection between them. Quite the opposite, it was because of the depth of her feelings for her sister that she could have been so hurt that she cut off communication. Yet she must have known, even when the phone line between them was temporarily disconnected, that her sister was still there. No less than the solace of keeping each other company across an open phone line, that year of silence was an eloquent testament to the sisters' enduring connection. Deborah Tannen is professor of linguistics at Georgetown University, and author of many books, including the just-published You Were Always Mom's Favorite!, from which this essay is adapted. | |
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