Tuesday, September 29, 2009

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Erica Heinz: Take a Cigarette Breath Top
I've always said that smoking is the American meditation. (Maybe the European one, too?) Taking a moment for yourself, focusing completely on your breath, noticing all the little sensations in your lungs, skin, and brain -- isn't that what meditation is all about? Yes, you could choose nicer companions than tar and ammonia. But let's not neglect the little health routine that you've learned from smoking. The pattern is a long, slow inhale through pursed lips, and a long, deep exhale with a relaxed open mouth. That's a breath you'd learn in yoga. Pursed lip breathing is done to reduce anxiety. It restricts the flow of air and thus slows your breathing, heartbeat, and mind. It's a "cooling" breath. It also requires the use of your diaphragm (the often-underused breathing muscle across the base of your ribs). Extended exhalations are considered cleansing. They clear your lungs of stale air more completely. If you're really exhaling, the belly draws up and in and gives your digestive organs a little massage, too. (If you've got a lungful of smoke, you're probably going to exhale completely). Breathing through the mouth is often a fuller, deeper breath, which relaxes the torso and the face. Breathing through the nose just gives you a filter... but that's why you've got your cigarette! (Ok, you can inhale through the nose if you really want to be strict about it). Put it all together and you've got the Cigarette Breath. It's a perfect relaxation trick for anyone (except children under the age of eighteen), and especially for smokers stuck in a meeting/airport/closed-off place. Just pretend you're smoking a cigarette. It helps. More on Yoga
 
John Knefel: Has Iran Already Nuked Us!? Top
Friday morning's newspaper headlines sure were exciting, weren't they?!?!?!?! The New York Times' headline screamed : Iran Is Warned Over Nuclear 'Deception' The Washington Post cried : Iran Admits Second Nuclear Enrichment Site Oh no ! Drudge took the predictably sober approach and whispered: CAUGHT BY SURPRISE: IRAN BUILDING SECOND NUKE PLANT [ital. in original] ACK! Why, I think we might already be at war with fucking Iran! Or close at least! The Times dutifully contemplated that, "After months of talking about the need for engagement, Mr. Obama appears to have made a leap toward viewing tough new sanctions against Iran as an inevitability ."[emphasis added.] Fellatio-enthusiast Thomas Friedman wrote this week that we [America!] should threaten Iran with immediate sanctions and the possibility that "Israel might do something crazy." Wow, his compassion for all those Iranian protesters everyone loved a few months ago just leaps off the page. And it makes me wonder what Obama and Friedman talked about when they played Golf the other day . The Post ledes by raising the prospect of sanctions as well. "President Obama and the leaders of France and Britain blasted Iran's construction of a previously unacknowledged uranium enrichment facility and demanded Friday that Tehran immediately fulfill its obligations under international law or risk the imposition of harsh new sanctions." It sure sounds like the media is congealing around this new meme like the unthinking wad of lard that they are. And thankfully, the same horrifying tactics that gave us Catastrophe Iraq! are on full display yet again, for fun. After reporting that Iran sent a letter to the International Atomic Energy Agency informing them of the existence of the Plant, Politico goes on to say: ""A very cursory admission to the IAEA years after the commencement of construction of the facility whose use is undeniable does not constitute living up to its obligations," an American official said."[emphasis added.] OOOOOOO!!!!!!! That's so scary, guys! An anonymous source is claiming with certainty that a new enemy can/will/already has killed us all! That sounds like a slam dunk case, right there. Others have joined Friedman's calls for more human sacrifice to please the God of American Stability. Meat-puppet David Ignatious--who writes about politics with as much insight as John Madden does about Proust--spent his column telling his readers that we are in a scary new cold war, but he and his anonymous insider friends are seriously doing their best to keep us safe, guys. Ignatious writes: So why didn't the Obama administration lay down an even stronger marker in response to this breakout -- by threatening, say, to intercept ships at sea that it believed were carrying parts for the Iranian nuclear program? The answer, explained the senior official in a telephone interview, is that the U.S. wants to preserve consensus among its allies for much harsher sanctions, even as it heads toward a face-to-face negotiating meeting with the Iranians on Oct. 1.The U.S. has privately communicated with the Iranians in recent days that it wants those talks to go forward, the senior official said. Asking why Ignatious granted anonymity to that senior official is like asking why banks rip people off--no matter how despicable we may find that practice, that's what they think their job is. But let's back up just a little. Ignatious nobly wonders why the US didn't "intercept ships at sea that it believed were carrying parts for the Iranian nuclear program." That is really a remarkable sentence because it highlights, in a nutshell, how our punditry class thinks, which is to say they are blood-thirsty war-mongers, no matter how banal their demeanor appears. What meat-puppet Ignatious is describing is an act of war. You know, bang bang. Look at how casually he posits this question, the consequences of which would undoubtedly lead to massive civilian suffering and death, both American and Iranian. Yet to Ignatious, it seems odd that America didn't strike first. For a historical account of how familiar all this Iran scare-mongering is, go here . Watch out for a ratcheting up of the scary Iran meme this weekend on the Gas-bag Happy Hour with George Stephanopolous , or on This Week with Dickheads . I won't be watching them, but if anything happens let me know if you want to. More on Thomas Friedman
 
Samoa Earthquake Triggers Tsunami, Kills At Least 14 (VIDEO) Top
UPDATE: PAGO PAGO, American Samoa - Officials in American Samoa say at least 14 people were killed when a tsunami swept ashore in the South Pacific country after a powerful earthquake hit nearby. Mase Akapo, a meteorologist for the National Weather Service, says the deaths occurred in four different villages on the main island of Tutuila, with six in the western area of Leone. An unspecified number of people also were killed in neighboring Samoa. The earthquake had a magnitude of up to 8.3 as it struck between Samoa and American Samoa around dawn Tuesday, sending terrified residents fleeing for higher ground. FROM EARLIER : PAGO PAGO, American Samoa (AP) - A powerful earthquake with a magnitude of up to 8.3 struck in the South Pacific between Samoa and American Samoa around dawn Tuesday, sending terrified residents fleeing for higher ground as a tsunami swept ashore, flattening at least one village. There were no immediate reports of fatalities. The quake hit at 6:48 a.m. Tuesday (1748 GMT) midway between the two island groups. In Apia, families reported shaking that lasted for up to three minutes. The U.S. Geological Service, which estimated the magnitude at 8.0, said the quake struck 20 miles (35 kilometers) below the ocean floor, 120 miles (190 kilometers) from American Samoa and 125 miles (200 kilometers) from Samoa, with a 5.6-magnitude aftershock 20 minutes later. Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News , World News , and News about the Economy The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center put the quake's magnitude at 8.3 and issued a general alert for the South Pacific region, from American Samoa to New Zealand. It said there were indications a tsunami wave could be "destructive" along some coastlines. Several hours away from the epicenter, Hawaii was put under a tsunami watch, with five emergency centers opened as a precaution. New Zealander Graeme Ansell said the beach village of Sau Sau Beach Fale was leveled. "It was very quick. The whole village has been wiped out," Ansell told National Radio from a hill near Samoa's capital, Apia. "There's not a building standing. We've all clambered up hills, and one of our party has a broken leg. There will be people in a great lot of need 'round here." A five-foot tsunami wave swept into Pago Pago, capital of American Samoa, shortly after the earthquake, sending sea water surging inland about 100 yards (meters) before receding, leaving some cars and debris stuck in mud. Electricity outages were reported, and telephone lines were jammed. The staff of the port ran to higher ground, and police soon came by, telling residents to get inland. Several students were seen ransacking a gas station/convenience store. In Fagatogo, water reached the waterfront town's meeting field and covered portions of the main highway, which also was plagued by rock slides. In Samoa, the powerful quake jolted people awake. "It was pretty strong; it was long and lasted at least two minutes," one resident told local radio. "It's the strongest I have felt, and we ran outside. You could see all the trees and houses were shaking," he said. Sulili Dusi told New Zealand's National Radio that "everything dropped on the floor and we thought the house was going to go down as well. Thank God, it didn't." Along with neighbors, they fled to high ground. She said the tsunami hit the south side of the island, and some "cars have been taken." She did not elaborate, but added "we just thank God no life has been taken yet." Another resident, Dean Phillips, said the southern coast of Upolu island had been struck by the tsunami. "The police are sending everybody up to high ground," he said. Local media said they had reports of some landslides in the Solosolo region of the main Samoan island of Upolu and damage to plantations in the countryside outside Apia. There were no immediate reports of injury or serious damage from local emergency services, but people reported cracks in some homes and items tossed from shelves. The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center in Honolulu issued a tsunami warning for numerous islands in the Pacific, including the Samoas, the Cook Islands, Tonga, Fiji, New Zealand, French Polynesia and Palmyra Island. The center posted a tsunami watch for Hawaii, Vanuatu, the Marshall Islands, Solomon Island, Johnston Island, New Caledonia, Papua New Guinea, Wake Island, Midway Island and Pitcairn. In New Zealand, a tsunami alert was issued by national Civil Defense, and the nation's national emergency center was activated. ___ Associated Press writer Keni Lesi contributed to this report from Apia, Samoa. Get HuffPost World On Facebook and Twitter! More on Natural Disasters
 
James Degorski Found Guilty In Brown's Chicken Murders Top
James Degorski, the second of two men charged in the infamous 1993 Palatine Brown's Chicken Massacre has been convicted of all counts by a Cook County Jury. Jurors began their deliberations Tuesday morning and came back with the guilty verdict after just a few short hours.
 
John Petro: Waste Not Want Not: City Living is the Way to a Wealthier Nation Top
In Green Metropolis , a new book that has been getting a lot of attention lately, cities are held up as models of environmental sustainability. While this may seem counterintuitive to some, residents of dense cities have a much smaller environmental impact that those living in suburban or rural areas. The fact is: city residents use less gasoline, electricity, water, and land than the average American. A city's small environmental footprint can be traced back to one characteristic: density. Density allows residents to travel shorter distances to their daily destinations, thereby using less energy. Because distances are shorter, it becomes possible (and pleasant) to walk or bike. Because of the higher concentration of people and jobs, mass transit becomes practical and efficient (and driving becomes less practical and efficient). Dense apartment buildings are less wasteful than suburban McMansions, which tend to use much more energy and water. Lastly, dense cities use much less land, bringing farms closer to the city center and allowing us to set aside more land for natural habitat and recreation. But in communities across the country, density is basically outlawed. In most cases, developers are only allowed to build single-family homes on large lots. Conservative pundits may argue that suburbanization is solely the reflection of individual choice, but in reality people don't have much of a choice--apartment buildings just aren't allowed by law in most communities. From an environmental perspective it is important that we are able to embrace density as the country continues to grow. Most of the buildings that will exist in 25 years haven't been built yet . If we continue to develop in the same wasteful way we will have to work all that much harder just to achieve the same standard of living. Put another way, if we can build more efficient communities--communities that use less energy and land--we will have much more wealth to devote to other things that make us happy and healthy. But how do we overcome the socially ingrained opposition to density? Or, to flip the question on its head, how do we challenge the idea that there is only one version of the American Dream, one that is surrounded by a white picket fence? We need only to think back to last year's presidential election, when Sarah Palin argued that small-town residents were the real Americans, while city dwellers on the coasts were perceived as some sort of alien species. In an interview, David Owen, the author of Green Metropolis, was asked how we can change the way Americans consume energy. Owen states that we will have to "make driving distasteful in one way or another" in order to get people to start taking public transit or their bike. But this is hardly a way to get people to support density. Since the automobile will be with us for a very long time to come, the important thing is to get people to choose to use the train or to walk to the store, even if they have a car available. Part of the trick will be to get people--especially families--back into cities where their carbon footprint will be smaller. Speaking about New York City, Kaid Benfield says that we must "address perceptions of inferior public school quality and a lack of public safety, which diminish the city's ability to attract and retain residents to its efficient lifestyle." Cities have been making progress on this front, New York City's crime rate is the lowest since records have been kept in the 1960's, but the perceptions remain (never mind that you are more likely to be killed in a car accident in Houston than murdered in New York City by someone you don't know). Over at the blog The Urbanophile, Aaron Renn says that the environmental argument will not be enough to shift population growth from suburbs into cities. "Much of the call to return to cities is based on doom and gloom. If we don't all radically change our lifestyles the planet will end or some such... we've got to take a different path to create a new, positive aspirational narrative about the good life in America, one based around urban living, that we can convince a large number of people to buy into." But cities have the deck stacked against them. The urban crime wave that began in the 1960's and culminated in the mid 1990's was largely the result of the nation's abysmal policies toward African-Americans--from slavery to segregation to racial discrimination--that set the stage for urban unrest. The same circumstances, coupled with massive federal investments in automobile infrastructure, led to white flight, depopulation, and the erosion of city tax bases. In addition, cities must contend with federal policies that favor the suburbs. Urban economist Ed Glaeser argues : "Cities shouldn't have to face a policy deck stacked against urban living. Urban firms and residents shouldn't have to pay a disproportionate share of the taxes needed to care for disadvantaged Americans. Suburbanites shouldn't get a free pass on the environmental damage created by a car-based lifestyle." Other federal policies, from the mortgage interest rate deduction to the imbalance between highway funding and mass transit funding, put cities at a distinct disadvantage. But despite these disadvantages, the country's most productive areas are in cities. Another strategy to reduce the country's excessive energy consumption is to make our new and existing suburbs more like cities. This means embracing the principles of smart growth and transit-oriented development. The key is to provide a variety of housing options, commercial space, and public amenities located around rapid transit stations. Directly adjacent to the transit station, densities are very high. But as you move away from the station, densities are gradually reduced. If you want a single-family home, you will have to trade off proximity to the transit station. But of course, cities and suburbs first have to reform their zoning laws to allow this type of development to occur, and federal transportation dollars have to be there to support the construction of rapid transit systems. But the gains in productivity and efficiency will be worth the effort. A less wasteful nation is a wealthier nation.
 
Sarah O'Leary: If You Want Sales, Don't Discount Marketing Top
"You know, the first place to cut is marketing." The devaluing of marketing seems an acceptable mantra during challenging economic times, as if strategies that promote sales are expendable sprinkles on top of the corporate cake. In truth, the lack of effective marketing destabilizes brands and can lead to dead silence at the register. The time to be committed to the consumer sell, from the corporate campus to Wall Street to Main Street, is even more critical when the financial climate is tenuous. If you doubt the importance of consumer marketing, ask some simple questions: When consumers don't know about or care about a product/service, does it sell? If consumers know about a product yet no one is persuaded to buy it, does it sell? When the retailer doesn't support a product, will it move from shelf to shopping cart? Lastly, if a company doesn't want to invest in the sell, why would it bother producing it or should potential shareholders consider investing in it? No product sells itself. Without the support of targeted, strategic marketing, the best of corporate intentions may be wasted efforts. Not always within the cross hairs of Wall Street analysts, a corporation's marketing initiatives are crucial when weighing the validity of potential investments in the company. It is imperative that marketing plans be consistently scrutinized by seasoned experts. Like most other professions, smart marketers can see the strengths and limitations of fellow marketers' plans. This understanding is tantamount to successful analysis, and the need for such expertise should not be taken lightly. Analyzing marketing strategy is a not a trip to the shallow end, but a deep dive by trained professionals. The questions asked by investors and shareholders must go beyond who is the new CMO or what will be the next hot ad campaign. It's not simply the percentages of spend in general terms, nor is it just past results and a broad stroke glimpse into the future. It's a constant, comprehensive study, not something that simply needs to be considered at quarterly or annual meetings. If a publicly traded corporation loses a factory to fire, stock prices would fall accordingly. However, if a corporation wastes $100 million on a bad ad campaign, average investors may not realize it because of the way information is presented to them. It is, most certainly, difficult to quantify many forms of advertising and marketing. However, it is not impossible to measure a great deal of it. Expert vigilance is key to successful investment, as it is critical to protecting the investor's profit. At the beginning of the Recession, I spoke with an old friend who was working on the marketing business for a publicly traded cruise line. One of the cruise line leaders, citing the economy and his personal perspective regarding the expendability of advertising and promotion, canceled all of the line's advertising and promotional efforts. He was convinced, it seemed, that the company would magically generate sales with even less support than the lean initiatives that had been in place. Instead, the strategy (or lack there of) severed much of the company's exposure in the marketplace and arguably cost the company sales in an already tough economy. Surprisingly, no one seemed to question of the move. Most likely, it was because no one on Wall Street or those holding shares even knew the move was made. You don't need to be an economic scholar to understand the basics of supply and demand. If a consumer product falls in the retail forest and no one cares, the register won't make a sound. And in this economy, we need to make as much smart noise as possible.
 
CBS Wins First Week Of TV Season On Strength Of "NCIS" Top
NEW YORK — CBS began the fall season with a bang, winning the first week overall, scoring the top-rated program and premiering the most-watched new show, according to Nielsen ratings figures released Tuesday. CBS' veteran hit "NCIS" took the No. 1 spot, with its spinoff, "NCIS: Los Angeles," debuting in the runner-up position. Another new CBS drama, "The Good Wife," got a warm viewer welcome with a 15th-place ranking. ABC's new Wednesday comedies "Modern Family" and "Cougar Town" did well, ranking 20th and 23rd, respectively, while that network's new thriller "FlashForward" nabbed 21st place with its premiere. Other than football, NBC's top performers were its new hospital drama "Mercy" and long-running cop drama "Law & Order: SVU," which shared 38th place in viewer rankings. Meanwhile, the infant season claimed its first victim among the new fall crop: The neglected melodrama "The Beautiful Life: TBL" was axed by the CW after just two airings. For the week in prime time, CBS led with 11.77 million viewers (7.3 household rating, 12 share), with runner-up ABC averaging 11.04 million viewers (7.1 rating, 12 share). NBC was a distant third place with 7.56 million viewers (4.8 rating, 8 share), just ahead of Fox with 7.35 million viewers (4.3 rating, 7 share). The CW had 2.17 million viewers (1.5 rating, 2 share), My Network TV had 1.36 million (0.9 rating, 1 share), and ION Television had 630,000 (0.4 rating, 1 share). Among the Spanish-language networks, Univision led with 3.66 million (1.9 rating, 3 share), Telemundo had 880,000 (0.5 rating, 1 share), and Azteca had 200,000 (0.1 rating, 0 share). Among the evening newscasts, NBC's "Nightly News" held its customary lead with 7.72 million viewers (5.2 household rating, 11 share), followed by ABC's "World News" with 7.27 million viewers (4.9 rating, 10 share). The "CBS Evening News" had 5.54 million viewers (3.8 rating, 8 share). A ratings point represents 1,149,000 households, or 1 percent of the nation's estimated 114.9 million TV homes. The share is the percentage of in-use televisions tuned to a given show. For the week of Sept. 21-27, the top 10 shows, their networks and viewerships: "NCIS," CBS, 20.60 million; "NCIS: Los Angeles," CBS, 18.73 million; "Dancing with the Stars" (Monday), ABC, 17.79 million; NFL Football (Sunday): Indianapolis at Arizona, NBC, 17.47 million; "House," Fox, 17.16 million; "Grey's Anatomy," ABC, 17.03 million; "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation," CBS, 16.01 million; "Criminal Minds," CBS, 15.84 million; "Dancing with the Stars" (Tuesday), ABC, 15.367 million; "Dancing with the Stars" (Wednesday), ABC, 15.356 million. ___ ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Co. CBS is owned by CBS Corp. CW is a joint venture of Warner Bros. Entertainment and CBS Corp. Fox and My Network TV are units of News Corp. NBC and Telemundo are owned by General Electric Co. ION Television is owned by ION Media Networks. TeleFutura is a division of Univision. Azteca America is a wholly owned subsidiary of TV Azteca S.A. de C.V. ___ On the Net: Nielsen: http://www.nielsenmedia.com More on CBS
 
Nelson Supported Reconciliation For Bush Tax Cuts, But Not Health Care Top
Now that Sen. Ben Nelson, (D-Neb.) has definitively stated that he opposes the use of reconciliation to pass health care reform, it's worth noting that on at least two previous occasions the Nebraska Democrat had no qualms supporting the budgetary procedure as a means of passing legislation. On May 26, 2001, Nelson was one of a dozen Democrats to support president George W. Bush's Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001: the massive tax cut package that defined the administration's plans for job growth. The bill was passed using reconciliation -- meaning it wasn't subject to a Democratic filibuster -- and received the support of 58 Senators. Two years later, Bush had introduced a second tax-cut package, this one entitled The Jobs and Growth Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2003. That too was passed through reconciliation with Nelson's vote proving even more critical . The Nebraskan was one of only two Democrats to back the measure, giving it exactly the 50 votes needed to become law (Vice President Dick Cheney voted yea to break the impasse). There is genuine debate over what exactly reconciliation can be used for. But what's clear is that it can (or should) only be applied to topics with direct budgetary implications. So Nelson's office -- which did not immediately return a request for comment -- could make the case that the procedural maneuver is fair game for tax cuts but not health care. And yet his unwillingness to consider using reconciliation for even the budget-impacting portions of health care reform will likely further irritate members of his own party who certainly remember the senator's votes on the Bush tax cuts. Get HuffPost Politics On Facebook and Twitter!
 
Majority Of Chicagoans, Americans Want Olympics: Chicago 2016 Poll Top
Chicago 2016 CEO Patrick Ryan said a poll conducted last week shows 72 percent of Chicagoans back bringing the Games to the city while 84 percent of Americans support the Games. More on Olympics
 
Daniel Krotz: Off My Nut in Johannesburg Top
I am sitting in the airport in Johannesburg waiting for a flight to Atlanta. The wait is interminable, as is all waiting these days. I feel like beating myself about the head and shoulders with my briefcase. Maybe I'll knock myself unconscious and stay knocked out until I land in Georgia. Oh joy! But I resist. The guy sitting across from me -- reading a Suspicious Paperback -- might think I'm off my nut and hail the police. It's probably time to call in the dogs, to call it a day. Truth be known, I've lost interest in money, and in work, and I have become a lot more interested in time. Sitting in the Joburg airport is an uninteresting use of time, and it cost a lot of money to be here, uninterested. People always say that time is money, but I think they might be wrong. Everyone, I think -- yes, everyone, dear heart -- must reach some point when they've got more money than time. Money and time are not the same things, no matter what they say, and it would be a shame for either of us to die packing pickled peppers for Mr. Piper if we didn't have to. One interesting thing about time is its dual nature, that it is simultaneously relative and absolute. An example of time's relativity is when you need a toilet really...really...fast... and the sheer joy of finally finding a nice clean one when you can't possibly wait another second. Time crawls. Time flies. And then it doesn't do either. An example of the absolute quality of time is when you never need a toilet again. (But, maybe that's about us and not about time. Who knows?) So here I am, more and more conscious of time. Particularly of how little there is of it, and of how absurd it is to waste a minute of it. Spending time and spending money in the air conditioned nightmare of an airport, waiting for a fifteen hour ride in an aluminum tube, is a crazy thing to do if you don't have to. The Suspicious Paperback the guy is reading is Dan Brown's new stew. "What a waste of time" I think. Then I think, "What the heck, it's his time. He gets to do what he wants with it. Mind your own business." But what "my own business" is it that I should mind? I've got a list of business as long as my arm that I'm supposed to mind, but nothing on it inspires interest or, more to the point, anxiety. So what if the roof on the house is leaking or that the Senator from Tyson is now the Chair of the Agricultural Committee? My roof and Blanche Lincoln are both forms without substance. I suppose I can fix the roof. If that's how I want to spend my time. All the holy books say that the end of time is the beginning of time. The physicist Stephen Hawking says that time is a figure eight, infinitely looping around and around and around. And a kid I know who attends a local High School doesn't know what time it is. "It's a quarter to four," I tell him when he asked for the time. "I don't do quarters," he said. "Is it almost four, or is it almost three?" "It's almost four," I said, "depending on how you feel about what happens at four. Four could be a long time from now, or almost right on top of you, depending, of course. Three will never be almost again, unless you're a Hawking fan. In which case, come back in six hundred and twenty six years and we'll review the matter." There are a number of reasons why this kid doesn't buy books from me. That I am an unlikable, sour old geezer is the least among them. If I'm not working and not minding my business how will I spend my time? Maybe I'll drive back and forth between my home in Berryville, Arkansas and the airport in Fayetteville. I'll go forty miles an hour -- like a genuine retired person -- and watch all the Whizzbangs behind me with planes to catch go off their nuts. And laugh and laugh. Anyway, if you hear that I'm sitting in Johannesburg again next year at this time, I hope you will throw a net over me and send me off to wherever they keep the crazy people in Arkansas. (I am not talking about the State Legislature or the editorial office of the Arkansas Democrat Gazette -- I mean the State Bin.) More on Books
 
9/12 Movement: "Send Congress A Pink Slip" Top
The 9/12 movement showed up in large numbers (somewhere between 12 and 80 squillion, I'm told), but Congress, they say, still has not received the memo. The new site SendCongressAPinkSlip.com wants you to do just that, send them a message that you want less government spending, no public health care option, no cap-and-trade legislation, and generally less government involvement in the lives of Americans. And when they say "Send Congress A Pink Slip," it's not a metaphor. You can, for the price of $29.95, send them an actual pink slip . From the WorldNetDaily Superstore: The "pink slip" each official will get is a reminder that they work for the taxpayers. Each is individually printed with the sender's contact information under the closing salutation "Signed, Your Employer:". The warning lists four key issues that are deemed unacceptable to program participants: government health care cap and trade "hate crimes" any more spending "If you vote for any of these, your real pink slip will be issued in the next election," it warns. Here's what it looks like: Agree or disagree? Should we vote them all out and start over?
 
Yankee Stadium Bowl Game? Big East And Big 12 To Face Off In The Bronx Top
NEW YORK — A college football bowl game will be played at Yankee Stadium starting in 2010. The New York Yankees have scheduled a news conference Wednesday to announce the details. The game is expected to match teams from the Big East and Big 12 conferences. The Yankees have already signed a deal with Army for the service academy to play four games over the next five seasons at the new $1.5 billion dollar stadium, starting next year against Notre Dame.
 
Funniest Colorado Rockies Commercial (VIDEOS, VOTE) Top
With all the Rockies fighting for a playoff spot, we decided to take a look at past Rockies commercials that air each year before the season begins. Do you think these guys are funny, or should they stick to their day job and just play ball? Vote for your favorite Rockies commercial. Follow HuffPost Denver on Twitter and become a fan of HuffPost Denver on Facebook !
 
Steve Parker: Biggest-ever Toyota recall announced; 3.8 million cars and trucks Top
Toyota has announced the largest recall of vehicles in its US history. According to the Associated Press, "Toyota says it will recall 3.8 million vehicles in the United States to address problems with a removable floor mat that could interfere with the vehicle's accelerator and cause a crash. The company says it will be the largest recall in its history. Owners could learn about the safety campaign as early as next week. 2004 Prius Toyota and the government warned owners of Toyota and Lexus vehicles about safety problems tied to the removable floor mats. They say the mats could interfere with the vehicle's accelerator and cause a crash. The recall will affect 2007-2010 model year Toyota Camry, 2005-2010 Toyota Avalon, 2004-2009 Toyota Prius, 2005-2010 Tacoma, 2007-2010 Toyota Tundra, 2007-2010 Lexus ES350 and 2006-2010 Lexus IS250 and IS350. Owners should take out the floor mats on the driver's side and not replace them. Toyota's previously largest recall was about 900,000 vehicles in 2005 to fix a steering issue." (end AP quote) Lexus IS250 at the 2008 Paris Auto Show Automotive News also reported: "NHTSA said it issued the warning because of continued reports of vehicles accelerating rapidly after drivers released the accelerator. "This is an urgent matter," U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said in the statement. "We strongly urge owners of these vehicles to remove mats or other obstacles that could lead to unintended acceleration." The reported acceleration problems appeared to be related to with unsecured mats, the configuration of the accelerator pedal and the process for shutting off engines in some vehicles that have keyless ignitions. Toyota recalled in September 2007 an all-weather floor mat from some 2007 and 2008 Lexus ES 350 and Toyota Camry vehicles because of similar problems, NHTSA said." (end Automotive News quote) It's not clear if Toyota and Lexus dealers will replace or retrofit the removed floor mats. Lexus RX This recall comes on the heels of another large Toyota recall announced last month, when the company launched a voluntary Safety Recall with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) involving approximately 95,700 Toyota and Scion vehicles sold in the United State for a problem affecting vehicles in cold-weather parts of the country which could cause increased braking distances. Recalls are the bane of all carmakers; they are embarrassing, expensive and often remain in the public's consciousness for a long time. In a recall done in concert with or at the order of the government, all owners of the affected vehicles must be contacted by the carmaker, an expensive proposition in itself, and all repair work must be done by authorized dealers at no cost whatsoever to the consumer. Carmakers often issue "TSBs" or Technical Service Bulletins to their dealer repair departments which list defects the manufacturer has found with vehicles, but which have not risen, at that point, to the level of necessitating an official recall. 2007 Toyota Camry These TSBs are sometimes called "secret recalls" because the manufacturer does not have to make the information available to all affected vehicle owners nor fix the problem for free when a vehicle with the problem comes in for service. Owners usually don't know about these TSBs and the carmaker does not have to contact owners with TSB information. If an owner does not report the specific problem described in the TSB when bringing a vehicle in for service, the dealer does not have to inform the owner or make that specific repair. This floor mat recall is a bit unusual because owners are being asked to "make the fix" right away and on their own; this tell us the government considers the problem an immediate and important safety risk. In most instances of recalls, we recommend calling an authorized dealer to check on whether or not your car is part of the recall, and, if it is, to make an appointment with the dealer so the bug can be fixed in reasonably fast time. As with all recalls, the vehicle owner pays nothing for the service performed by the dealer and the dealer can not ask for any payment. Full recall and TSB information for all cars and trucks sold in the US is available at the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's website, www.NHTSA.gov. More on Cars
 
Bernie Kerik Trial: No Talk Of 9/11 Allowed By Ex-Police Commissioner's Defense Top
WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. — The terror attack on the World Trade Center, which made New York City's police commissioner a national figure, cannot be brought up by the defense at his corruption trial, a federal judge ruled Tuesday. "This is not about 9/11," Judge Stephen Robinson said at a pretrial conference. He said the attack was irrelevant to allegations that former Commissioner Bernard Kerik accepted apartment renovations from a construction company in exchange for recommending the company for city contracts. The government had requested that the defense not be allowed to bring up 9/11, apparently because it would prejudice jurors in Kerik's favor. Kerik received heavy publicity, much of it glowing, for his actions after terrorist-controlled jetliners brought down the trade center on Sept. 11, 2001. The judge said defense lawyers may mention that Kerik was commissioner in 2001 and that he received much attention, but may not specifically mention the attack. Robinson also said he would also consider case-by-case whether witnesses can mention 9/11; for example, he said, a witness may want to say that Kerik's performance after the attack was the reason he was considered for head of Homeland Security. Kerik's trial is scheduled to start next month. He has pleaded not guilty. Robinson spent much of the hearing criticizing Kerik and his lawyers for an e-mail that he said was submitted to The Washington Times for publication by Anthony Modafferi, an Oakland, N.J., lawyer who is the trustee of Kerik's legal defense fund. The judge said the article, which was not published, contained some information that was supposed to be under seal and some inaccurate information. He said Modafferi was Kerik's "propagandist and chief fund raiser" and suggested Kerik was feeding him information "for those two purposes." "You are providing information to what would loosely be called, and charitably, a loose cannon," the judge said. He warned Kerik he could be jailed for inappropriate behavior and demanded an affidavit spelling out his connection to Modafferi. Defense lawyer Barry Berke told the judge that Kerik was unaware of the e-mail. He said Kerik had retained Modafferi for legal advice – but not in writing and not for pay. The judge said Modafferi should appear in court if he's part of the defense team. On the legal defense fund's Internet site, Modafferi writes that Kerik "is the victim of a carefully orchestrated campaign of vilification and harassment by government prosecutors." The judge told the lawyers that since former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who was Kerik's boss, "may become an issue," he was disclosing that he had been hired by Giuliani as a prosecutor when Giuliani was U.S. attorney in Manhattan. He also said he had received a solicitation to give money for Kerik's defense, probably because of his Giuliani connection. "I didn't make any donation," the judge said. More on Rudy Giuliani
 
Mike Lux: Public Option Stays Very Much Alive Top
Today we lost two amendment votes in the Senate Finance Committee on the public option, one offered by Sen. Rockefeller (8 ayes, 15 nays), and one by Sen. Schumer (10 ayes, 13 nays). Traditional media outlets everywhere are reporting this is a massive defeat for the public option, but I don't see it that way- in fact quite the opposite. I have said before (most recently here ) that the Senate Finance Committee was conservative, in fact the most conservative committee makeup in the Senate, and that we would be likely to lose these votes: With numbers like this, and with the entire Democratic base mobilized intensely around the issue, you would have to be politically tone deaf as a Democrat to oppose this, but this is the Senate Finance Committee, so public option advocates are likely to lose these votes. The question, though, will be the margin. On a committee this conservative, far more conservative than the Senate as a whole, if we only get seven votes for the public option amendments, that would have to be considered a major political victory, and a sign that the public option can definitely get a majority vote on the floor. So getting 10 votes on this is promising for those of us who believe a public option is essential. Baucus, Conrad, Lincoln, Carper, and Bill Nelson are five of the ten most conservative Dems in the Senate, and on the Schumer amendment, even two of them went with us. President Obama is for it, a majority in the House is for it, and the whip count we're running at OpenLeft.com shows that 51 Democrats are in favor of it. And today Tom Harkin confirmed that our whip count is right: "I have polled senators, and the vast majority of Democrats -- maybe approaching 50 -- support a public option," Harkin said told the liberal "Bill Press Radio Show." "So why shouldn't we have a public option? We have the votes. "I believe we'll have the 60 votes, now that we have the new senator from Massachusetts, to at least get it on the Senate floor," Harkin later added. "But once we cross that hurdle, we only need 51 votes for the public option. And I believe there are, comfortably, 51 votes for a public option." Will all this evidence, the public option will only be hard to beat if Democratic leaders decide they don't want to do it.
 
Mort Rosenblum: American In Worldland: Have-It-Your-Way Truth Top
TUCSON, Arizona - Cocooned in our delusional state of exception, we Americans have achieved what eludes only the scariest of despotic states: We have obliterated truth. When reality bites, we defang it. We stretch our most basic principles to accommodate profit and personal convenience. We soften ugly words so "torture" can equate to a bad hair day. Voltaire noted centuries ago that a witty remark proves nothing. Yet today, a bon mot - a sound bite - elbows aside thoughtful informed analysis and facts observed firsthand. For expatriates (no, not ex-patriots) like me, visiting home from the real world is like plunging down Alice's rabbit hole. What passes for truth is mirrors and weird pharmacopoeia. Phrases like "home-cooked" or "farm-fresh" are obvious enough fibs. Misrepresentation is part of our culture, expected and accepted. But big lies and half-truths are something else. Barry Goodfield, an Arizona-based conflict negotiator and psychotherapist, is among countless veteran world watchers who are deeply worried by this. No one can assess truth without knowing how others perceive reality, he says. But few Americans ask questions. Most decide what they think is true and judge others accordingly. "Arrogance and ignorance," Goodfield concludes, "are the worst possible combination." The Internet offers us solid sources and wise comment from everywhere. It also allows us to respond. And so with everybody talking and not many listening, we believe what suits us. Our nanosecond attention spans make us easy prey to flimflam, political or corporate. Artful manipulation replaces genuine grassroots movements with Astroturf. At home, health care is the most obvious case. Nearly every nation, whether left or right, regards not dying unnecessarily as a basic human right. Yet even Americans in desperate need believe publicly funded medicine is socialism. If this life-and-death domestic issue is so easily obscured, consider trends and events beyond our line of sight that affect us all far more profoundly than doctor bills. Endless "media" debate is mostly about business models. The real issue is that we are losing our eyes and ears abroad. We have lost touch with the realities that underlie truth. As a nation, we are rooted in the ideal of doing the right thing. But that requires knowing what the right thing is. We destroy societies to save them, demonizing or glorifying with little thought to vital complexity. Iraq is not "over." As in Vietnam, we are removing ourselves from the mess we made. Barack Obama's looming Afghan quagmire is already eroding global goodwill that we have not seen since the early days of John F. Kennedy. Hardly anyone familiar with Afghanistan believes that foreign troops, in any number, can remake the society that turned back Genghis Khan, Alexander, the British, and the Russians. Carl Levin, the Michigan Democrat who heads the Senate Armed Services Committee, says Afghans clamor for more U.S. forces to push back the hated Taliban. But reporters who live the story daily tell me that if the Talibs tempered their extremism a bit, they would win any fair election by a landslide. Mostly, Afghans want some stability. Outsiders can make a difference but only with a nuanced understanding of the players and the problems. In the end, Afghans themselves must shape their own controlled chaos. Yet most of us look at this imponderable puzzle as an exercise in image management, a matter of PR and branding. When pictures showed American contractors partying in Kabul, a Fox News military commentator said they weren't "helpful" because foreigners might think they were U.S. troops. Those "foreigners," many of whom have a firm grasp on truth, draw few distinctions between soldiers and mercenaries who are deployed under the same flag. A powerful military is a blunt instrument, better suited to pushing Humpty Dumpty off the wall than to cleaning up afterward. Whatever its intention, it ends up brutal and deadly. We saw this in Vietnam, but to a fresh generation that is ancient history. We would have seen it more plainly in Iraq had we not let the Pentagon and news executives restrict our view. After millions dead and billions squandered, too many Americans now see war not as hell but rather as an aseptic game of electronic Risk played from a safe distance. In Vietnam, editors demanded free movement for reporters and photographers whose job was to brief citizens on what was happening in their name. They were as essential as medics. In Iraq, journalists are "embedded" with U.S. forces. Now, Stars and Stripes reveals, they are vetted by The Rendon Group to weed out "negative" reporters in favor of dupes and sympathizers. Despite severe newsroom cutbacks, plenty of gutsy journalists are out there eager to bring reality into American homes. But hard truths are inconvenient. We are deprived of Al Jazeera in English while many flock to Fox. Even mainline sources like The Associated Press can face uphill battles when they oppose government stonewalling. AP recently pictured a dying soldier despite pleas from his family and Pentagon. Photo editor Santiago Lyon, once among the best of war photographers, told an interviewer why: "This photo was key to understanding what happened that day in Afghanistan because it shows the very real and terrible and awful effects of war." Censor shocking photos? We should require, as prerequisite to voting, that every U.S. citizen see the worst of them, eyes taped open a la Clockwork Orange. Would it shock our children to see other people's children seared to a blackened crisp or blasted into fragments? Most likely it would, but that is the plain truth. Should National Public Radio find more emotive synonyms for torture, as some suggest? Why is that even a question? Henry Giroux, in a perspicacious essay for Truthout, borrowed as an epilogue a quote from Hannah Arendt: Lies are often much more plausible, more appealing to reason, than reality, since the liar has the great advantage of knowing beforehand what the audience wishes or expects to hear. Wide acceptance of deceit, Giroux writes, suggests "a troubling form of infantilization and depoliticization." In the smug surroundings of a Phoenix mall, Goodfield makes the point in smaller words. As reporting dwindles and schools dumb down, he says, authorities ask citizens for blind faith. Government and big business alike prefer that people not look beyond our borders. We will pay an ever heavier price, he adds, as our kids grow up thinking we are all okay in our separate universe and don't have to worry about anyone else. "The more you deprive people of information," Goodfield concludes, "the more you drive them toward dictatorship." Is this inconceivable in our bastion of representative democracy? Probably, but think it over. In despotic states, managed truth fools only some. What with satellites and the Internet, people who care can watch reality from just about anywhere. And despots fall. Our blindness is voluntary. In an overheating world, literally and figuratively, complacent citizens shape whatever reality suits them best. That scares the slats out of me. More on Foreign Policy
 
Susan Harrow: A Nudity Experiment: Are You Comfortable Naked? Top
I'm not. Last week I performed an experiment. I took off my clothes at my friend Zillie's house in front of her and her 15 year old daughter. Why? Because I want to feel completely unencumbered by my body.  I asked permission, of course. And wore good underwear. Zillie, being a good sport, said, "Sure, in the kitchen while I cook up the meat." So we poured ourselves a glass of good red wine, seared some flesh, and heated up the room. I remember reading about a man in a Tantric workshop who was crippled, yet, when he took off his clothes in front of the group with no artifice everyone saw him as luminous and beautiful. This is what I had in mind for me, in the kitchen. No strip tease, no attitude, no artifice. I wanted to be relaxed and easy, like I am at home in front of my partner, Will, in bright daylight. At first Zillie and her daughter didn't really look. Then they glanced in my direction once in a while. Then finally they drank me in bit by bit. No one said anything about a particular part. No one threw up. I had wanted to walk around, but I found myself rooted behind the table and chairs. That's as comfortable as I could get. But I did it. The next morning I told my sweetie, Will, what I had done and his reaction was not what I'd hoped for. "You don't just go to other people's houses and strip off all your clothes." He was furious. I was deeply disappointed. He wouldn't speak to me. I let him be while he thought things out.  That night, before bedtime, we talked. Will said he felt it was a breach of our intimacy and that I had shared something that was meant just for us. For me it was a daring investigation into how I see and live with my body, a personal test. "What's next?" Will said. "Nude hot-tubbing with the guys just to see if you can do it? Lady Godiva-ing around your Aikido Dojo?" I can understand his point of view. And by the end of our talk I think he understood mine. I don't feel the need to escalate. It was a mini milestone for me. For the moment I feel complete. Susan Harrow is the author of Sell Yourself Without Selling Your Soul . She runs a Media Consultancy where she helps everyone from Fortune 500 CEOs to celebrity chefs, entrepreneurs to authors grow their businesses through media coaching and the power of PR. For more information please contact Susan .
 
Obama Administration May Issue Historic Order On Declassification Of National Security Records Top
In what would be a significant break with precedent, the Obama administration may be about to issue an order ruling that national security information cannot remain classified indefinitely. Specifically, a draft of an administration executive order states that all records should be automatically declassified after no more than 50 years; records that identify a confidential human intelligence source would be declassified after no more than 75 years, according to the Federation of American Scientists' Secrecy News blog . According to Secrecy News, the draft is subject to revision, has yet to be sent to the White House for review and approval and is being closely guarded: Release of the "highly deliberative draft" executive order was specifically denied by National Security Advisory Gen. James L. Jones in a September 2, 2009 letter [obtained by the blog.] In the letter, Jones states: "I believe that we have an historic opportunity to refine the existing Order now and to begin planning a classification system of the future that promotes innovation and deals more effectively with the challenge of classified digital data." The draft also includes the establishment of a National Declassification Center "to facilitate interagency review of historical records", training of classification officials in order to avoid overclassification and a requirement to "identify by name those who derivatively classify information originally classified by others in order to improve accountability". The order does include some elements that do not seem conducive to transparency, affirming that "no agency may declassify information that originated in another agency... without the consent of the originating agency", it fails to include a "declassification database" to facilitate access to declassified records and it continues to grant veto authority over declassification decisions to the CIA. Read the draft order: FASdraft -
 
Nebraska Power Co-Ops Sue Colorado Electric Provider Top
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) -- Five western Nebraska public power cooperatives are accusing a Colorado-based electric provider of grossly overcharging them for electricity. The utilities also claim in a lawsuit that Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association Inc., as well as its president and several board members, are holding its Nebraska members captive by demanding they pay $220 million to buy out their Tri-State contracts. Chimney Rock Public Power District of Bayard, Midwest Electric Cooperative Corp. of Grant, Northwest Rural Public Power District of Hay Springs, Panhandle Rural Electric Membership Association of Alliance and Roosevelt Public Power District of Mitchell filed the lawsuit Monday in U.S. District Court in North Platte. The utilities helped form Westminster, Colo.-based Tri-State with other rural electric cooperatives in 1952. Tri-State has grown substantially since then, now serving 44 electric cooperatives in Colorado, Wyoming, New Mexico and western Nebraska. The western Nebraska cooperatives "no longer enjoy the mutual benefit that led them each to come together with other rural distribution entities ... Rather, (they) are now captive in an increasingly intolerable situation that Tri-State simply refuses to acknowledge, let alone correct," the lawsuit says. The co-ops claim they are charged twice what it costs Tri-State to acquire electricity -- costs that must be passed on to Nebraska consumers. They say Tri-State uses a "postage stamp" rate methodology, in which it charges all of its members the same rates. That rate system is unfair, the lawsuit says, because it essentially forces the Nebraska members to subsidize capital investments in other, more populated states. Tri-State general manager Ken Anderson said in a statement released Tuesday that the rate system reflects the direct cost of service to meet members' power load requirements and the association's financial goals. "Tri-State's wholesale rate is nondiscriminatory, cost-based and competitive in the marketplace we serve," Anderson said. The lawsuit also accuses Tri-State president and board chairman Harold "Hub" Thompson of taking action to keep the Nebraska members from leaving Tri-State by putting an exorbitant price tag on their efforts to buy out their contracts -- which are set to run through 2050. "We believe all of our members continue to receive value, and contribute value, to the association, including the five Nebraska members, and that as a cooperative, we are stronger together than apart," Thompson said in Tri-State's statement. The Nebraska utilities are asking the court to find, among other things, that Tri-State breached its contracts with them. They seek unspecified damages, as well as court costs and attorneys' fees. Nebraska is the only state in the nation in which all electricity is provided by public power districts, and the state prides itself on maintaining relatively low electricity rates.
 
Bruce Nilles: Today: National Day of Action Against Coal Top
This post was co-written by Kathleen Ridihalgh, Senior Representative for the Sierra Club's Northwest Region The first three days of this week are seeing a slew of activities taking on coal. We have events in 25 states to counter the coal industry and cheer on clean energy investments. It's all part of our National Day of Action, and there are events happening across the nation, including rallies, public hearings, coal deliveries to polluters, press conferences, brown bag lunches, coal tours, and town hall meetings. Our Campuses Beyond Coal campaign is holding photo petition events on a dozen campuses nationwide, calling on campus administrators to shut down old, dirty coal plants polluting those universities and the neighboring towns. These events are all sending one message from coast to coast - coal is dirty business, and we need clean energy. You should check the website to learn more about these creative events and see if there are any taking place near you. As we watch activists in these states work together for clean energy, we want to highlight a few states taking steps in the right direction that we hope other states will emulate. The Governors of Washington (Chris Gregoire), Oregon (Ted Kulongoski) and Montana (Brian Schweitzer) have all committed their states to meeting climate goals and investing in a clean energy future. Now these three governors can continue to lead the way and take another tangible action within the region that will make significant progress towards meeting those goals: Directing the Northwest Power and Planning Conservation Council's (NWPCC - the region's official power planning agency) latest power plan to phase out coal by 2020, assign a responsible cost to carbon pollution, and maintain high energy efficiency goals. This may be the one action they can take that is solely under their power to deliver. And they can do it today. This would get the region on a path to reducing the emissions from our electricity by 77% and ensure a safer, cleaner, more reliable energy portfolio overall. NWPCC has even stated that "serious efforts to reduce or even stabilize CO2 production beyond 2005 will likely require replacing existing coal-fired power plants with low CO2-emitting resources." Washington's Gregoire and Oregon's Kulongoski have made real progress and paved the way for meeting the climate challenge. The 6th Power Plan is an excellent opportunity for Montana Governor Brian Schweitzer to demonstrate a true commitment to meeting the scientific goals for climate change. This step with the NWPCC would mesh well with the states' actions thus far:   All three states signed onto strong carbon pollution reductions through the Western Climate Initiative , committing to at least a 15 percent reduction in carbon pollution from 2005 levels by 2020. They are a part of the Western Governor's Association climate resolution that urges a national policy to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. But this action with the NWPCC is something they can do in the Northwest to show the rest of the world that there is a better way. We urge the governors to stay true to their vision now with the NWPCC Power Plan -- they should improve the current plan by maintaining maximum energy efficiency goals, putting a price on carbon emissions, and stating, as a goal, the plan to move the region off coal power by 2020. This would be the single most important step they can take to have any real chance of meeting their states goals and making real their personal commitment to this important issue. If you're in the Seattle area, you can help promote this idea of moving the region off coal at a rally on Wednesday night . Otherwise, be sure to find any National Day of Action events near you. The NWPCC is also having hearings throughout the northwest where you can make your voice heard for a Coal-Free northwest: Seattle, Wednesday, Sept 30. Missoula, Tuesday, October 13.   (Contact Brad Hash for information: brad.hash@sierraclub.org ) Portland, Wednesday, October 14. Though it has spent millions on 'clean' coal advertising, the truth is that the coal industry has for years actively fought against cleaning up the existing fleet of over 500 coal-fired power plants, some of them dating back to the Eisenhower Administration. The industry must stop trying to block common sense regulations and policies that will protect communities and the environment. Rather than seeing these efforts as a threat to jobs and the economy, such regulations are the path forward to protect people's livelihoods. Strong regulations put us on a path to cleaner technology that boosts economic growth, creates jobs and protects the planet.  We didn't use to have a choice about how to power America. Today we can do better.  It's time to clean up pollution from coal and build the clean energy economy.
 
Deborah Plummer: When Agreeing to Disagree is Not Good Enough Top
I watched Oprah's interview with Jay-Z on Friday's show where they discussed the use of the N-word. Oprah vehemently hates the use of the word (as I do). Jay-Z experiences a different and new reality for the use of the word that strips the power of any hateful impact by making it a term of endearment (which I totally understand). Oprah respectfully stated that she and Jay-Z would have to agree to disagree. I have heard the phrase, "we'll just agree to disagree," used a lot in diversity sessions and most of the time its use is a conversation stopper. Sometimes the conversation needs to stop, but, for the most part, if we don't continue past the prickly aspects of discussing differences we will never reach new levels of knowing and understanding. Going deeper than agreeing to disagree is an especially important competency in a global context. In order to successfully navigate our increasingly multicultural world, new skill sets and ways of knowing are required that extend beyond the mere co-existence of ideas in the same space. Just as passive observers do not receive the full benefit of an interactive, participative world-wide web (web 2.0), individuals must be transformed from ethnocentric worldviews and myopic thinking (Self 1.0) to individuals with pluralistic worldviews and layered, nuance thinking styles (Self 2.0). Agreeing to disagree may not be good enough for us to evolve as people and live effectively in a global society. I am not suggesting that we have to compromise our principles or values. I am suggesting that we allow multiple realities to influence and inform our personal frameworks so that we continue to grow individually and collectively as a society. When we agree to disagree we acknowledge that the other reality exists without accepting that reality or participating in that reality. Thus, we remain static in our encapsulated worldview. When we hold multiple realities we allow other realities to inform our decision-making and transform our understanding of who we are. We change and grow. I still do not like the use of the N-word and never use it myself. Yet, I no longer cringe when I hear it used by others -- typically those of a younger generation. I now resist the urge to give history lessons and instead of getting angry, I embrace the reality that I now live in a world where that term can be used in friendship, in endearment, or even as an expression of calling out someone for acting badly. I can be totally in agreement for that kind of freedom.
 
Jennifer Evans Gardner: Time for a No Kid-Food Revolt Top
Why are we so fat? That's easy, you say. We're fat because we are lazy; because popping through the Taco Bell drive-thru for some Supreme action is so much easier than going home to cook a well-balanced meal. Okay, that's fine for you -- maybe you don't have that many good years left anyway. But what about your kids? It's no secret that childhood obesity is at an all-time high, the numbers being close to our national deficit last time I checked. It's also no secret that our government still can't manage to give schools sufficient funds to create healthy school lunches. Fatty, processed and mysterious are so much more cost effective. Thank God for Alice Waters and her Edible Education movement, which is already changing the lives of many children. But other than pack healthy lunches, make sure they get sufficient exercise and cook whole foods at home, what can we do for our children? Here's one suggestion: abolish kid food. I'm serious. With our children's health at stake, I think it's high time for a "no kid-food" revolt. Don't make it. Don't order it off the kiddie menu. Just say no. What's wrong with us that we can suddenly only feed our toddlers chicken nuggets in the shape of dinosaurs? It wasn't always like this. At the California State Railroad Museum in Sacramento, all the dining car menus from as far back as the 20's are displayed as silent proof. Guess what was on the "kiddie menu" back in grandpa's day? No chicken nuggets, pizza or even mac 'n cheese. Instead, there were tiny portions of roast chicken, lamb chops, pureed celery root, braised carrots and salads. When did we stop feeding our children real food, and start feeding them 900-calorie "kiddie meals?" And what would happen if we all just started requesting mini-portions of the "real food" on restaurant menus? Full disclosure: I teach kids to cook. My motto has always been, "no kid food," choosing instead to teach children ages 5-11 how to make dishes like salt-crusted striped bass with lemon-herb vinaigrette, Salade Nicoise and Clementine souffle (sugar in moderation isn't evil; high fructose corn syrup is). I believe that if kids help cook it, they'll at least taste it, so through cooking, we can develop young palates. It works. I have seen six year-olds who eat only "white food" devour this dish in front of their parents' astonished eyes. The truth is most kids would rather eat pizza than Brussels sprouts -- who wouldn't? It's up to us to find a way to introduce real food to them, which I choose to do through cooking. In the end, we should feed our children food that will make them strong, give them energy, and help them grow up to make this world a better place. So give it a try. Once a week, drag your offspring away from the kiddie menu and into the kitchen for some hands-on family cooking. Because once they cook something like chicken en papillote, they won't be able to resist just one little taste. And before long, they might even stop asking for those little dinosaurs.
 
Darya Pino: 10 Reasons To Never Eat Free Food Top
Most people's eyes light up if free food is mentioned. But using "free" as an excuse to eat junk food is nothing to be proud of. We are excited by the concept of free food because we perceive it as having value. But cheap, mass-produced food isn't worth much in health, taste or even satisfaction. Although we believe we are getting a great deal, foods typically offered as free don't even fulfill our most basic nutritional (or emotional) needs. Thus one of the most important lessons I've learned in my twelve years of higher education is: Just because it's free doesn't mean you have to eat it. On occasion someone will offer you high quality food at no cost, but these times are few and far between. More often you will find yourself wading through a sea of donuts, pizza, cookies and other junk food. Your best bet is skipping the empty calories all together when attending meetings, seminars and other public events. 10 Reasons To Never Eat Free Food 1. It's cheap. You may be inclined to think that cheap food is a good deal, but if you take a minute to think about what you're really getting you find it is not the value you may have thought. Cheap food means you are getting low quality, mass-produced calories made from industrial processes. Isn't that the stuff we want to avoid? 2. It's flavorless. The right combinations of sugar, fat and salt, pretty easily deceive your brain, as these ingredients can strongly activate your neural reward pathways. But if you try and focus on the true flavor of food and eat mindfully, you quickly notice the tastelessness of industrial food. 3. It's bad for you. Evidence is mounting that processed foods are the cause of most "diseases of civilization" such as heart disease, diabetes and cancer. When you wolf down a few of those Costco brownie bites at happy hour, you are contributing directly to your likelihood of developing these chronic diseases. Is that value? 4. You aren't saving money. You may tell yourself that this free meal will keep you from eating later, but there's a good chance you will eat again anyway. Processed foods do not satisfy you, but actually stimulate your appetite and strengthen future cravings. Also, if you factor in your future health care costs, what you save by eating that $2 slice of pizza starts to seem rather trivial. 5. You'll feel gross later. Junk food makes you feel bad, both physically and mentally. If someone offered you a free headache, would you take it? 6. It screws up your metabolism. Highly refined foods create rapid insulin spikes that induce insulin resistance over the next few hours, making your next meal more fattening. If you make a habit of eating cheap abundant food, this condition will become chronic and may develop into type 2 diabetes. What a bargain! 7. You'll gain weight. With insulin resistance comes weight gain, and with time you will gain more weight eating fewer calories. Unfortunately, people aren't often giving away free plus-sized jeans. 8. You're eating empty calories. When you submit to eating cheap food, you are also choosing not to eat nutritious food. Choosing a diet rich in vitamins and other essential nutrients may be the single biggest factor in determining your risk for disease and overall longevity. Luckily, local, seasonal foods taste way better than anything your co-workers can pour out of a plastic bag. 9. You don't need it. Chances are you get plenty of calories in your typical day. So why do we feel like we need to eat junk food just because it is free? Healthy food does not have to be very expensive. 10. It isn't worth it. The truth is free junk food isn't really free. Even if processed foods don't cost you money, they still cost you your health, happiness and sense of well-being. Let us know what you think about free food and how it impacts your health. Darya is a scientist, foodie and advocate of local, seasonal foods. For more healthy eating tips visit her blog Summer Tomato . You can also connect with Darya on Twitter @summertomato and Facebook . More on Food
 
Arjuna Ardagh: Perfect Imperfection -- A Vision of a Translucent World Top
Here is a passage from my 2005 Bestseller, "The Translucent Revolution." In 1990 Vaclav Havel, the playwright who became president of the Czech Republic in 1993, told a joint session of the U.S. Congress, "Without a global revolution in the sphere of human consciousness, nothing will change for the better . . . and the catastrophe towards which this world is headed -- the ecological, social, demographic, or general breakdown of civilization -- will be unavoidable." We live at a pivotal time in human history. The dominant Iago trance state has never been so pervasive: economically, environmentally, politically, in the expression of religious fundamentalism -- you name it; we have never been poised so perilously on the edge of the cliff. Read back over the list of Iago qualities defined in chapter 1; they define the state of today's world. Certainly there has been greater cruelty, inequality and imperialism in our history, but it has always been localized to a despotic regime here or an invasion there. Hitler, Genghis Khan and Stalin may have yearned for global domination, but their insanity was isolated. Today the Iago cancer has become systemic rather than localized. The dominant paradigm affects everyone, perpetrator and victim alike. We are all in this together. At the same time, every writer, teacher, researcher and translucent on-the-street I have spoken with is aware of a countervailing "emerging paradigm," with the potential to transform every sphere of life in every part of the world. The birth pangs of Homo lucidus may sometimes cause us to yearn for the familiar, but for most people it is too late. The head of the new human being has pushed through, and its first cries are already in the air. We are riding the crest of a worldwide wave whose consequences are unimaginable, and which holds perhaps the only real basis for optimism for our planet and its inhabitants. We can sense the possibility of a quality of life that has seldom been dreamed of. If we fail to take advantage of this opportunity, our present habits may well destroy us. As a boy, I loved James Bond movies. Don't groan, it's a guy thing. The plot always followed the same basic template. A "bad guy," usually very rich, greedy and slightly mad, has malicious intentions to take over the world, causing widespread destruction in the process. Every one was a man, as I recall, with a name like Dr. No or Goldfinger. He usually heads up some sort of global clandestine corporation, often with a benevolent facade. His operatives are dark, inhuman and robotic. And then there is Bond: suave, centered in his body, living totally in the moment and free of fear. He is humorous, even in the face of death, and brings a lust for life to every situation. Again and again, against all odds, Bond will save the world. Its usually a race against time. Will Dr. Destruction detonate his mother of all bombs and turn us all into plasma, or will James single-handedly wrestle hundreds of meanies to the ground and save the day? Bond always comes through, with seconds to spare, and the movie ends with yet another liaison with the goddess of the day. Dozens of movies in the last decades have had the same theme: Indiana Jones, Superman, even Austin Powers. In one way these far-fetched scenarios have prepared us for the situation we face at the start of this new millennium. The threat to our world's stability comes from a collective expression of greed, most pointedly embodied by global corporations, which put profit before integrity. Like Bond, translucents are heavily outnumbered. But also like Bond, they are sleek, sexy, cool-headed, humorous and increasingly activated toward social change. So here we sit, on the edge of our seats, at the last and most gripping act of the movie. Will we see life as we know it irreparably mutilated by corporate greed and fundamentalists bent on proving themselves right and the enemy-of-the-month wrong? Or are we finally at the dawn of a collective shift into sanity? No point in twiddling our thumbs in anticipation, the final pages of the script are still being written, and you and I have been handed the job of finishing it off. To read more about a radically different way of looking at awakening pick up your very own copy of Translucent Revolution today.
 
CHUCK KNOBLAUCH: Former Yankees Player Charged With Assaulting Common-Law Wife Top
HOUSTON (AP)--Former major leaguer Chuck Knoblauch has been charged with assaulting his common-law wife. A judge set Knoblauch's bond at $10,000 after he appeared in court Tuesday. According to a criminal complaint, Knoblauch's wife told police he hit her in the face and then choked her at their Houston home on Friday. Knoblauch's attorney did not immediately return a telephone call Tuesday. The 41-year-old former infielder is a Houston native and a four-time All-Star who played for the New York Yankees, Minnesota Twins and Kansas City Royals from 1991-02. Knoblauch was one of more than 80 players who were accused of using performance-enhancing drugs in the 2007 Mitchell Report on baseball's steroids era. Knoblauch later acknowledged using performance enhancers. More on Baseball
 
Leon T. Hadar: It's the Balance of Power, Stupid! Top
Washington Needs to Adjust to the New Global Reality Historians agree that Britain's rise as a pre-eminent global power came as a response to changing circumstances and not as a part of a grand master plan; Britain, it has been said, stumbled into an empire. But the converse was also true: the dismantling of the British Empire wasn't a linear process involving a manageable and steady decline in its military and economic power; instead it had a haphazard muddling through quality. British leaders weren't aware that Rule Britannia was already history even after the fat lady had sung that it was over. Indeed, Prime Minister Winston Churchill who had led his nation into an impressive military victory in World War II, confident that the defeat of Nazi Germany would help save the British Empire, failed to recognize that the enormous military and economic costs of the war had actually created the conditions for the liquidation of the empire, starting with the withdrawal from Palestine and the "loss" of India after the war. But while the sun was setting on the British Empire, members of its political elite continued to live under the illusion that their nation had remained a paramount global power. If you traveled in a time machine to London 1949 and attended a debate in the British Parliament, browsed through the pages of the Times or listened to a BBC news program you would come across numerous references to Britain as a Great or "superpower,"; a term that was applied to the United States and the Soviet Union after World War II. And if you encountered diplomats in His and (after 1953) Her Majesty's Diplomatic Service and bankers in the City of London, you wouldn't be surprised if they continued to behave as though the world was still their domain to rule. It was the humiliating abandonment of the Anglo-French invasion of Suez in collusion with Israel in 1956 that proved to be the turning point in Britain's retreat from empire and ensured that London would never again attempt global military action without first securing the acquiescence of Washington. The time lag between the effective end of the British Empire and the recognition that indeed it was all over, proved to be quite lengthy. The concept of "recognition lag" is familiar to economists. It refers to the time lag between when an actual economic shock, such as a sudden boom or bust, occurs and when it is recognized by economists, central bankers and the government, like when officials signal a recession in the economy several months after it has actually begun. And just like changes in economic conditions, changes in the global status and power of nations, are not always immediately apparent, especially to the politicians and the generals who yield that power and to the journalists who cover them. That the elites continue to share such misconceptions about their nation's ability to exert global influence has less to do with the power of inertia and more with the vested interests they have in maintaining the status-quo that could be threatened by challenges at home and abroad. While no one is comparing the global political, economic and military status of the United States to that of Great Britain after World War II, there is an eerie resemblance between the resistance of officials, lawmakers and pundits in London 1949 and that of their contemporary counterparts in Washington 2009 to adjust their nation's foreign policies to the changing global balance of power. That may explain why so many members of the U.S. foreign policy establishment seem to be so depressed in face of the Obama Administration's current difficulties in dictating global developments, ranging from the military quagmires in Iraq and Afghanistan, Iran's nuclear aspirations and the deadlocked Israel/Palestine peace process to the stalled negotiations on global trade liberalization (the Doha Round), the efforts to reach an international agreement on climate change and the global financial imbalances between the U.S. and China. Where is U.S. leadership on this or that global policy issue? Why can't the Obama Administration "do something" to resolve this or that international crisis? As expected, neoconservative critics depict President Barack Obama as an idealistic peacenik, if not a 1930's-style appeaser. They blame the perceived erosion in U.S.' ability to call the shots around the world on Obama's alleged failure to stand-up to Russia (by abandoning the missile shield program in Eastern Europe), to Iran (by trying to engage it), to Venezuela (by shaking hands with Hugo Chavez) and to Al Qaeda (by overturning torture practices), and on his supposed betrayal of allies (Israel, Georgia, Poland, the Czech Republic). Not to mention Obama's refusal to launch new crusades against Islamofascism, to promote the Freedom Agenda in the Greater Middle East and to annoy the commies in Beijing on a regular basis. That's rich coming from the guys at the Weekly Standard and the American Enterprise Institute (AEI). After all, it was the mess that the Bush administration, guided by these neoconservatives, had made in the Greater Middle East -- where US military power was overstretched to the maximum, and where American policies helped strengthen Iran and its surrogates in Iraq, Lebanon and Palestine -- coupled with the dramatic loss of American financial resources, that has produced a long-term transformation in the balance of power in the Middle East and worldwide, and has significantly eroded Washington's geo-strategic and geo-economic clout. In fact, the increasing wariness of the American public regarding new US military interventions, as a consequence of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the expanding U.S. deficits would have made it difficult even for a President John McCain to promote an aggressive U.S. policy in the Middle East and elsewhere. That Obama finds it so difficult to press Israel's Benjamin Netanyahu, Iran's Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Afghanistan's Hamid Karzai to change their policies may have to do with the fact that unlike many of the elites in Washington, the above and other foreign leaders have succeeded in deconstructing the current geo-strategic reality and recognized that the global balance of power has been shifting and that U.S. ability to exert its diplomatic and military leverage over them has been constrained. Let's hope that these changes will also be recognized in Washington as soon as possible, and that unlike the leaders of the British Empire, those in charge of Pax Americana will have enough time to readjust to the new global reality. More on Afghanistan
 
Dave Hill: "The Birds" in Review: A Review of "The Birds" Top
Last night I watched "The Birds," the popular Alfred Hitchcock film in which a bunch of birds are total dicks to every human in sight for no apparent reason other than the fact that they are birds and they have been putting up with people's bullshit for way too long now. The movie stars Tippi Hedren, an uptight superfox who manages to look totally bangable even when she is being attacked by birds, has just been attacked by birds, or is just standing there wondering whether or not she is about to be attacked by birds. Despite being totally bangable, however, it should be noted that Tippi Hedren wears pretty much the same green outfit through pretty much the whole movie while those around her enjoy multiple wardrobe changes throughout the film, all of which can only mean one thing- Tippi Hedren is a skank. The movie "The Birds" starts off in a pet store where Rod Taylor, who has also been on "Murder, She Wrote," is seriously thinking about buying some birds when he runs into Tippi Hedren, who is a total bitch to him. And even though she is a total bitch you can tell they both want to bang each other regardless of whether or not they are going to have their asses handed to them by a shitload of irritable birds later in the movie. In hopes of getting banged by Rod, Tippi later shows up at Rod's mother's house in the town of Bodega Bay, which is a totally made up name if you ask me. Along the way, she runs into Suzanne Pleshette, who is easily as bangable as Tippi Hedren and has the good sense to change up her outfit every once in a while so we all know she is not a total ho. Suzanne and Tippi end up sitting around smoking and drinking together and the viewer is led to believe there is a seriously good chance they are about to lez out but it turns out the movie was made in 1963 so the odds of them lezzing out isn't really very good at all. You can tell they were thinking about it though. After Suzanne and Tippi end up not lezzing out, the birds, mentioned earlier, start going totally apeshit on everyone in the town and it is awesome. At first they just start pecking at people just to keep them on their toes but once they get a taste of some old guy's eyeballs it's pretty much game on and they start attacking everyone in sight like it's some sort of fucking contest or something. They even kill Suzanne Pleshette and she is one of the biggest stars in the movie. To her credit though, Suzanne Pleshette still looks totally bangable even after being killed by those a-hole birds. After Suzanne dies, Tippi, Rod, and Jessica Tandy, whom you no doubt remember from such films as "Driving Miss Daisy" and "Fried Green Tomatoes", end up trapped inside a house together with some annoying little girl who is supposedly Rod's sister even though there is about a 30-year age difference between them and Jessica Tandy would have to have had some sort of super vagina to crank out both of them in a single lifetime. Anyway, Rod boards up all the windows but that's still not enough to stop those fucking birds from opening up the biggest can of bird-based whup-ass on them I have ever seen. Once the birds finally decide to stop their full-on avian assault and take a breather, everyone instantly assumes it's safe to go outside again, so they jump into their car and take Tippi to the hospital because she is bleeding all over the place and making a mess of the car. At this point in the movie she can do little else besides stare off into the distance looking like a totally bangable superfox who is also a skank. That's how badly those birds kicked her ass. In the last scene in the movie, Rod, Tippi, Jessica, and the annoying little girl drive off into the sunset while all the birds just sit there watching them, comfortable in the knowledge that if Tippi Hedren even thinks about coming back to that house again they will fuck her shit up so fast it's not even fucking funny. Run, don't walk, to see this movie. Dave Hill
 
Afghans Say The Country Needs More Afghan Forces, Not U.S. Troops Top
In the Helmand River Valley, where more American troops have shed their blood this year than anywhere else, the police chief has a simple message to the Obama administration as it debates whether to send more troops to Afghanistan. More on Afghanistan
 
Generals: Dick Cheney, Liz Cheney Are Scaremongering Top
About a dozen retired generals and admirals, trying to add momentum to President Barack Obama's effort to close the Guantanamo Bay military prison, are accusing former Vice President Dick Cheney and his daughter Liz of scaremongering about the dangers of closing it. "It's up to all of us to say these arguments advanced by Cheney and his acolytes are nonsense and that really what they're doing is undermining our national security by delaying the date at which Guantanamo is closed," retired Brig. Gen. James Cullen, a former chief judge of the Army's Court of Criminal Appeals, told POLITICO Tuesday. More on Guantánamo Bay
 
Katherine Gustafson: Lucky Number: 13 Good News Items for Girls and Women Top
Last week, while I was in New York covering the annual Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) meeting for Tonic , I got a bee in my bonnet about the issue of the day; the importance of empowering women and girls . "It's the issue of the century!" I proclaimed to whomever would listen. "Nicholas Kristof says so!" His new book on women's issues, " Half the Sky ," was a big subject of conversation, and he and his co-author (and wife) Sheryl WuDunn were the toast of the town. I delved into the topic in an article for Tonic, which gave me the opportunity to talk to some amazing women's rights advocates, including anti-sex-trafficking activist Ruchira Gupta and founder and CEO of Women for Women International Zainab Salbi . Now that I'm home, I can't get this issue off my mind, so today I am bringing you a recap of some of the great progress on girls' and women's issues that took place over the CGI week. All members of CGI are required to make some kind of commitment toward bettering our world, and this year 13 of those commitments involve investing in the Earth's female half. Here are a few choice picks: * Pharmaceutical giants Merck and Qiagen have launched a new project to prevent cervical cancer by providing at least 1.5 million girls and 1.5 million women access to HPV vaccines and HPV DNA tests. * Sustainable Health Enterprises will make sure one million girls and women in Africa get access to cheap, environmentally friendly sanitary pads and education on health and hygiene by 2012. * Plan USA and partners are taking on a three-year project to train 140 adolescent Ghanaian girls in journalism and media production to help them speak out against gender discrimination. * Goldman Sachs will collaborate with partners to give female entrepreneurs in Peru education in business and access to capital with which to expand their businesses. * Hathay Bunano will work with partners to create 22 handicraft production facilities and training centers in Bangladesh to help 2,000 poor women climb out of poverty. * Women for Women International has committed to help 103,000 female survivors of war gain more productive livelihoods over the next three years. More on Women's Rights
 
Polar Bear Knut Smacked On First Date Top
And, in polar bear terms, that first date was a resounding success, especially for Knut: It was his first encounter ever with another polar bear. Indeed, Knut was "completely surprised and astounded" to see another bear in his enclosure, said zookeeper Heiner Klos. More on Animals
 
Srinivasan Pillay: Methods Man: How Do You Become What You Want? Top
Education has made us a method driven society. When we know how to do things, we can replicate this procedure and create things without the worry of not being able to do it. We live in a time of "how." "Do-It-Yourself kits," "Eat This Not That," "Seven Spiritual Laws" -- all of these method manuals are anxiety diffusers that give us directions and instructions about how to get where we want to go. On a literal level, Do-It-Yourself kits save us tons of time, and reading about dietary and spiritual guidance is amazing. When one develops expertise in an area, one wants to share it as simply as one can. So whittling it down to a method manual seems like an effective vehicle for doing so. And it is -- as long as we don't allow ourselves to be stuck in the method. I was struck by a recent video that I saw of the philosopher Krishnamurti, where he strongly emphasizes that the "how" of things is destructive to human creativity. I both agree and disagree. I think that if we use method manuals to inspire ideas in ourselves, they work well, and if we don't take them as instruction manuals but as food for thought, we will do much better. If all we did was follow method manuals in life, we would be left with nothing more than exoskeletons for thoughts. A client of mine who was often invited to speak at prominent academic meetings at business schools once said to me, "As soon as I see people writing down what I am saying and "tuning out" to the tone of what I am saying, I know that I am losing my audience. My message is not 'do what I do' it is actually 'do what you want to do, the way I did.'" Method manuals, when they are written from the heart, convey the power of authenticity. They move us to greater heights because they allow us to tap into our own power. But when we adopt them without consideration for who we are, all we are is followers under the rule of a dictator. I think that most experts strive to reach the part of you that wants to grow and then leave you to figure out your own way. Krishnamurti's argument is that if we live in the "how" of things, then we are living in the past. We are taking a former method and we ignore any new discoveries that we can make. We have masterfully minimized the conditions to live this way. Imagine if you had a home delivery of your multimedia system and were left to set this up on your own? Or if someone dropped your cooking range off and wished you the best? Imagine if you hired someone to clean your gutters in the fall, and he or she said: "Hmm ... I think I can figure this out." For one, I would be without sound, a stove top and living in a leaky house ... unless I decided to do these things myself which I don't immediately imagine I could. Here is where the trap lies. While there is some immediate reality to the relative impossibility of putting my range together electrically without electrocuting myself and the entire neighborhood, there are certain situations in which we might actually be better off doing things ourselves. For example, it would behoove us to think of how we want to choose our careers, or how we want to dress, or how we think that we can find our freedom, or how we want to find love. The ways and instructions that exist out there are valuable if we use them as tools to stimulate our own imaginations. (Yes, yes, I know -- many people wish that men would follow the method manual for driving directions!). So here are some ideas (not rules) to ask yourself some questions: 1. Are you creating self-limiting beliefs for the things you most want out of life? 2. When was the last time you felt like you were the creator of something (other than that night of passion that you wanted to forget)? 3. What if after the next guide book you read, you said: "I like how he or she does it. How would I fit this into my own way?" Essentially, you can buy the wool, but you can knit the garment. You can get the electrician to fix your stove, but you can experiment with cooking. You can read all the books you want, but nobody, not even experts, can live your life for you. You are the expert of your own life. The rest of us are out there to help you get to your expert self. If you are interested in understanding applications of brain science to personal or professional career or other changes, you may consider the workshop: The Neuroscience of Change and Transformation: Executive Coaching Tools for Embracing a New Era
 
RNC's Spanish Press Release For Hispanic Heritage Month Riddled With Errors Top
Today, the Republican National Committee (RNC) released a statement from Chairman Michael Steele announcing the release of a new video in celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month. However, though the press release emphasizes the Republican Party's "commitment to the Hispanic community," apparently that commitment does not include hiring a qualified Spanish translator. The Spanish translation of Steele's statement is riddled with embarrassing typos and errors. Even Yahoo's automatic online translator, Babel Fish, produces better results. A quick revision highlights the multitude of glaring errors:
 
Robert L. Borosage: Obama and China: Vandalism or Vision Top
"Vandalism" screams the cover of the Economist, depicting Obama leaving an ice pick in the tire of free trade. (No racial overtones there; after all, as the president explained, he was black before he was elected.). When the president imposed tariffs on Chinese tire imports, following the ruling of the independent International Trade Commission, the free trade establishment went ballistic. David Rockefeller took to the op ed pages to warn of the threat of surrendering to the protectionist instincts of his union allies. Editorialists from the Wash ington Post to the New York Times sternly rebuked the president for deviating from the free trade gospel. Surely, the heavens will tremble; trade wars impend; the apocalypse of Depression era Smoot Hawley tariffs are sure to descend upon us. Nonsense. Obama isn't descending into the old trade debate. Remarkably, he has added another explosive issue to his already crowded agenda: that of transforming America's global economic strategy. At the G-20 meetings in Pittsburgh, he succeeded in gaining international approval - including that of the Chinese - for a continuing review of the unsustainable imbalances in the global economy. The decision on Chinese tires may just be the president suggesting that he may put some teeth into digesting that change. Like health care, climate change, and financial reform, the challenge is inescapable. America can't go back to borrowing $2 billion a day from abroad to act as the world's consumer. Americans can't go back to spending more than they make, maxing out credit cards, treating their homes as an ATM machine. Those days are over. That means, as the President has said, the US must spend less and invest more. We must produce more at home, and export more. If that is the case, then inevitably the surplus countries, the mercantilist nations that have used export led growth to drive their economies - China, Germany, Japan and others - also have to change course. They have to save less and spend more, import more and export less. If they don't generate increased demand while the US cuts back, then the recession will return with a vengeance. This entails wrenching changes in public policy and private attitudes. But what's clear is that the old imbalances were and are a constant peril, supplying the kerosene for the contagion that laid waste to the global economy. At Pittsburgh, President Obama insisted that the leaders of the world's major economies make this a centerpiece of their agenda. He exacted an agreement -- despite the stated skepticism of Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel and China's leaders -- on a framework for "strong, sustainable and balanced growth." The G-20 countries agreed to set priorities, report annually on their own domestic policies, and monitor one another, with the IMF serving as an independent goad. Cynics dismissed the agreement as toothless. There's no enforcement mechanism except naming and shaming (which hasn't exactly proved effective in dealing with China). The IMF has been warning about these imbalances for years to no effect. China and Germany vigorously resist any external questioning of their national economic policies. Merkel dismissed global imbalances as an "ersatz" issue. Tu Jianhua, director general for international trade in the Chinese commerce ministry, tweaked the West, noting that "I'm not sure that one country's leader calling another to import more represents market practices." The G-20 couldn't even get a murmur concerning currency manipulation (a central Chinese strategy) in the document. The cynicism may be deserved. But here's where the Obama decision on tire tariffs has bite. As the free trade zealots admit, tire imports barely register on US-China trade accounts. The decision is important for its symbolism, not its substance. That's why the free trade lobby howls about protectionism. But the president may well have moved beyond the screamers to an adult discussion. He's telling the Chinese, these staggering imbalances can't continue. We should both adjust, preferably in a coordinated fashion. But the US is serious about changing the game. If we can't do that cooperatively, then we'll find a way to do it independently. Now this is a dance that makes the tango look demure. The US is the world's largest debtor. We're telling our leading banker that we're changing our wastrel ways, so they'll need to find a different way to prosper. But the US is hardly in a position to dictate policy to the Chinese. They've already sent tremors through the bond market by raising doubts about the US finances. Will Obama succeed? It's hard to know, for this transformation will require major reconstructive surgery to economies at home and abroad, compared to which health care reform is a mere face lift. In the short term, consumers, sobered by their losses in the Great Recession, are tightening their belts on their own. Savings by US households have soared to four times the rate of 2008 before the financial collapse. Chinese exports are down 23% from last August. But once the economy recovers and people go back to work, Americans may well go back to borrowing and spending. And we know that Wall Street has already reopened the casino. One thing is clear. As in health care, energy, and financial reform, Obama has once more addressed an inescapable challenge that his predecessors ignored. He has once more aroused the ire of one of the most powerful lobbies -- in this case, the global corporations and the free trade zealots that have dug this country into a deep hole. Once more, he has done so cautiously, in small steps, ready to compromise, hoping not to offend. Once more, he's invited Americans - -and the world - into an adult conversation about what is to be done. And once more, he's likely to be greeted by hysteria and insult, graphically illustrated by the Economist's disreputable cover. More on G-20 Summit
 
Robert Creamer: Growing Momentum for Public Option Top
In a surprising vote Tuesday, ten Democrats voted to add a public option to the most conservative of the five health insurance reform bills working their way through Congress. That's just two votes short of passage. This robust support for the public option -- in what most observers consider the most conservative committee in the Senate -- signals a sea change in Congressional opinion toward the public option. The odds are now very high that some form of public health insurance option will be included on the final bill when it emerges from a House-Senate Conference Committee later this fall and is ultimately passed by Congress. The three bills that have passed House Committees, and the Senate Health Committee bill, all contain a public option. And increasingly it appears that the strongest form of public option will come out of the House. In the midst of the right-wing, town hall onslaught last August, the pundits -- public option opponents -- all but declared a public option dead and buried. This narrative was amplified by the private insurance industry that doesn't want to compete against a not-for-profit public health insurance program focused on providing health insurance instead of maximizing the ever-ballooning profits of Wall Street investors and the salaries of CEOs that take home tens of millions. The big private insurance companies don't want to change the status quo that has allowed a few big players to corner the market in most markets. An AMA survey, released in late January, gives a score gauging the concentration of the commercial market for 314 metropolitan statistical areas. The report showed 94% had commercial markets that were "highly concentrated" by standards set by the Federal Trade Commission and Justice Department. A Robert Woods Johnson Report indicates that over the last ten years wages have gone up 29%, health insurance rates have gone up 120% and the profits of the private health insurance industry have gone up 428%. No wonder they don't want competition. So why the resurgent Congressional support for a strong public option? There are three reasons: 1). First and foremost, voters' support for a public health insurance option is as strong as ever. All of the right-wing talk about a "government takeover" has not fooled voters who are forced every day to deal with the stranglehold that the private insurance industry has on their health care. Last weekend's New York Times poll showed that 65% of all voters support giving Americans the choice of a public option and only 26% oppose it. More importantly, the public option is also popular in swing Congressional districts. The firm of Anzeloni Liszt just released the results of a poll it conducted in 91 Blue Dog, Rural Caucus and Frontline districts. The poll found that 54% of the voters in these battleground districts support the choice of a public option. And the poll also found that the voters in these districts want reform and want it this year. The polling report says: "Overall, 58% of voters believe the health care system is in need of major reform or a complete overhaul, and almost 59% are concerned that Congress will not take action on health care reform this year. The risks of inaction to Democrats in swing districts increases if voters perceive opposition stems from ties to the insurance industry, as 74% are concerned that the health insurance industry will have too much influence over reform." Those kinds of polling results get the attention of Members of Congress. 2). Members of Congress have begun to realize that they will have to live with the consequences of what they pass for years to come . And what the voters will care about in the future will not be slogans or ideology. Once the program is passed, the voters will care most about one thing: affordability. All of the health insurance reform bills contain mandates that every American buy health insurance or pay a fine. All the bills allow relief for hardship cases, but most people -- or their companies -- will have to buy health insurance. Members of Congress are beginning to realize that if they are requiring the voters to buy insurance, it has to be affordable. The public option is an extremely powerful tool to assure affordability. First, its presence in the market place will drive down the prices of premiums for private insurance. That, of course, is why the private insurance companies hate it. Insurance companies aren't seriously worried they will be forced out of business. They just don't want to cut their prices and profits. Second, the Congressional Budget Office has found that it will save the Government huge amounts in subsidy monies that it would otherwise have to pay to make more expensive for-profit plans affordable. The most robust version of the public option saves over $100 billion over ten years. If you don't have a public option, Congress' only choice is either to cut subsidies that are the major means of providing affordability -- or they must raise more revenues. Given the massive need for affordability, and reluctance of many to raise taxes, the public option is looking better and better to many swing Democrats. 3) Finally, they have begun to realize that the public option helps protect them from potential political harm when they vote to support a health insurance mandate . Anzeloni and Liszt make clear in their polling report that in swing districts: It's wrong to think about the public option in isolation from other elements of reform. Forcing an individual mandate without a public option is a clear political loser (34% Favor / 60% Oppose), and only becomes more palatable when a public option is offered in competition with the private sector (50% Favor / 46% Oppose)" Turns out that a public option provides a political inoculation against backlash to a mandate. That's because people have no stomach for being herded into the arms of private insurance industry like sheep to the slaughter. They want to know that if the government is going to require them to get health insurance, that it also provides the choice of a not-for-profit public plan -- that they are not left at the mercy of private insurance CEOs. Here's the bottom line: the odds are better by the day that before the holidays President Obama will sign a health insurance reform bill that for the first time provides Americans universal health insurance coverage -- and includes the choice of a robust public option. Robert Creamer is a longtime political organizer and strategist, and author of the recent book: Stand Up Straight: How Progressives Can Win, available on Amazon.com .
 
Piers Fawkes: Bicycle Beats Helicopter Top
Being the business hub of South America and one of the largest cities in the world has its bitter side: São Paulo has been drowning in a sea of automobiles (6 million and counting) for quite some time, and the future doesn't show any signs of improvement. Insufficient buses and subway lines, together with private vehicles mostly with single occupants, compose a scenario of daily chaos, with frequently over 80kms (50mi) of traffic jams in the main avenues. This car-centric urban transport model is showing signs of exhaustion. The average São Paulo inhabitant spends almost three hours a day stuck in traffic jams. That's about 15 hours a week - or almost 2 working days. Apart from the economic and psychological damages, let alone the carbon footprint, this situation is a true hindrance for the city's development and for the well-being of the people who live in it. It was in this scenario that the São Paulo Intermodal Challenge was held. The challenge was simple: to get from point A to point B as quickly as possible - during rush hour - using the mode of transportation of your choice. The goal was to raise awareness regarding a number of alternatives to cars, and to promote the World Carless Day, by proving that avoiding traffic - and its consequences - might just be a matter of choice. The means of transportation chosen ranged from cars, bikes, motorbikes, and a helicopter to buses, metro, their own feet and even a wheelchair. Contrary to all forecasts, a biker won the challenge, with a total time of 22 minutes - more than 10 minutes faster than the person on the helicopter, who spent a total of 33 minutes and 30 seconds between going to the heliport, waiting for takeoff clearance, flying and landing. The car came way behind, with a total time of 1:22- slower than the runner, who took 1:06, the bus (1:11) and just 10 minutes faster than the person who chose to walk the whole path (1:32). To read more, visit PSFK (this article was contributed by Mauricio Soares) More on Brazil
 
Reporter Uses "SNL" Word "Strategery" In White House Briefing (VIDEO) Top
A reporter used a word coined by "Saturday Night Live" to mock President Bush in the White House briefing Tuesday. "From the standpoint of leverage or strategery," the reporter said as her colleagues in the briefing room began to laugh, "how do you..." She was cut off by Press Secretary Robert Gibbs, who said, "I love it how a 'Saturday Night Live' word has entered into the lexicon." Then, in a clear reference to "SNL" newbie Jenny Slate, who dropped an F-bomb on Saturday's season premiere, Gibbs joked, "I'm gonna curse in a minute." WATCH: The word "strategery" was coined in 2000 for an "SNL" sketch about a presidential debate between George Bush and Al Gore, meant to mock Bush's inability to pronounce certain words. Watch an excerpt from that sketch:
 
Betwa Sharma: Rugby Dreams Top
Every summer, when Chandrika Gaipai returns home, she describes a rugby ball to her mother. "It looks like a dinosaur's egg," she says. Gaipai enlightens her tribal settlement by drawing elaborate sketches in the dust about the game. "There is no television here so my people can't even imagine it," clarifies the 14 year-old rugby player who belongs to the Ho tribe. The students of the Kalinga Institute of Social Sciences (KISS) in Bhubaneshwar, the capital of Orissa, are described as the "poorest of the poor". They come from tribes living deep in the forests with little access to education, health care and clean drinking water. Many institutions in the region are named after Kalinga, an ancient kingdom devastated by Ashoka the Great in the third century BC, which moved a remorse-stricken emperor to embrace Buddhism. The school is not, however, famed for providing free education and medical facilities from the kindergarten to the postgraduate level for thousands of tribal children. KISS made headlines when its boys' team started winning international rugby tournaments. "Running and tackling was a chance to do something new," says Baleshwar Chhitaranjan of the Murmur tribe, explaining why he chose to play rugby in a cricket-crazed country. But even Chhitaranjan, 14, did not imagine the media storm that would follow the sweeping victories abroad. "It feels really good," he puts it simply. The extraordinary success of a band of tribal boys at a novel game tickled the nation. The extensive coverage in national dailies and local papers also generated popular interest in the sport. "I believe that more Indians now know about rugby after KISS, at least in Orissa," says Debasis Rout, a sports teacher. Unlike most schools in India, KISS takes women's sports seriously. Rugby practice is scheduled twice a day, except on Sundays, for the three teams of under-11, under-14 and under-19, which are supervised by three coaches. After a few months practice, their girls' team debuted in the national championship. A senior player, Sunamane Mandange, 18, recounts how it felt to play against real opponents for the first time. "I was very scared but after the first tackle it gets easier," she says, smiling shyly. "You never imagine yourself doing something and then you're doing it," chimes in her 19-year-old teammate, Heramani Kisku. "Now we're gearing up for this season." The girls' team, however, has not been catapulted into stardom. The main constraint for them is the limited openings available for playing against another side. There are around 22 women teams in the country, which face each other once or twice a year. "We want to play in London just like our brothers (boy's team)," says Gaipai, the captain. "But right now we play against each other most of the time." Opportunities abroad are also rare. In the wake of the Commonwealth Games in New Delhi, the Indian government has engaged two foreign coaches to train the men's national rugby team. But there is no similar category for women at the Games, next October. A coach, Rudrakesh Jena, predicts some changes. The Indian Rugby Football Union, for instance, is planning to dispatch "Rugby Development Officers" in Orissa schools to introduce the game for all students. "We might see more rugby for girls in this state," he says. Already, external agencies are sponsoring underprivileged children to play rugby overseas. While Jena wants rugby developed in a well-ordered manner in all its techniques, the coach also sees the game as fulfilling another purpose. "These children have nothing," he says. "Rugby has given them a platform to learn and enjoy life." Sports are a big part of the privately-run school, which provides for the education and health care of 50,000 children from 62 tribes, 13 of which are called "primitive tribes." "My dream is to inculcate sports in the tribal areas," says Achutananda Samanta, the founder of the institution. "These tribal children do so fantastically at games because they have been so deprived and they value their one chance." To absorb more students, the new plan is to build more KISS branches in remote corners of the countryside. Already, the number of candidates is exceeding the school's resources. This year, 2000 children were selected from 10,000 applications. The "neediest" are admitted to become "first generation learners". Despite the monetary crunch, sports at KISS continue to receive vigorous attention. The latest investment has been the hiring of a foreign coach who trains the girls. An opera major, Brian Wolf, played rugby at Bard College in upstate New York. A curious play of events brought the 27-year-old coach to the action in Bhubaneshwar. "I wanted to do something meaningful with my life," he says. "The best part is seeing the kids really get into it and feel good about themselves." Fortified by a few words of Hindi, "achha hai" (that's good) and "jaldi" (fast), Wolf leads a rag-tag group of girls below the age of 11 for a spirited practice of "Tag Rugby." Peals of laughter spring from the young players taking their first steps into the game by swiping off colorful ribbons instead of tackling each other to the ground. After passing out from school, a few intend to pursue the game. While Mandange aspires to make rugby a mainstream sport in India, her friend, Kisku, wants to become a coach in the school of her tribal village. "Many girls don't do well in studies and drop out", she says. "Games will keep them in school so they won't get married off." Gaipai dreams of opening another KISS-type place. Brushing aside her friends teasing that running a school will leave her no time for rugby, she declares, "I'll find a way to play everyday." Evening practice.... Girl's team lunch
 
Cute/Ridiculous Animal Thing Of The Day: No Treats From Obama (VIDEO) Top
Why does this adorable dog hate Barack Obama? His owner seems to like Barack Obama. The majority of the country seems to like Barack Obama. Is it possible this pup has been attending tea parties in his spare time? Were the Hitler comparisons overwhelming and now he can't bring himself to eat an Obama treat? WATCH: See More Cute Animal Videos Here ! More on Cute Animal Videos
 
Max Fraad Wolff: Skewed Recovery Top
As consensus builds for economic recovery, mass anger is building in lock-step. Consumer sentiment surveys show that the public does feel better about the economy. Stock and bond markets have been celebrating, here and abroad, since March. Public officials have been speaking of the rebound for at least three months. Our national GDP - broad value of final goods and services sold in America - will grow in the third quarter of 2009. Interest rates on corporate debt and US government debt and mortgage rates are low. Corporate profits have rebounded on rising productivity, falling dollars and rising sentiment. However, unemployment and poverty are on the rise and foreclosures continue. The real economic situation for the least affluent 80% of Americans continues to deteriorate amidst the recovery. This discrepancy is creating anger and opposition that is exploding in unlikely places, debates and attitudes. It is one ingredient driving the anger at tea parties, health policy meetings, protests and proclamations. Why is our "recovery" so skewed? There are many complex answers to this vital question. One answer is our reliance on monetary policies that were focused on addressing the financial crisis. This is one element of the structural economic decline that is battering American fortunes. We have a structural economic crisis and a financial crisis. These two different elements of the great recession have been confused and conflated by analysts, policy makers and public perception. This created excess focus on financial matters by most. Angry masses see the recession as purely financial. This is false. Policy makers have rushed to address the financial crisis. This is near sighted. Monetary policies have dominated our policy response. We have addressed one of our afflictions and left the greater economic problems under-appreciated and unaddressed. This makes our recovery very fragile and skewed. Monetary policies have provided over $11.5 trillion of assistance to our monetary/financial sectors since March 2007. The rules for remaining financial institutions have been re-written many times over the last 18 months. New access, support and assistance have been provided with each leg down. The Federal Reserve has led this process. You can see this leadership in the $1.2 trillion (approximately 150%) increase in the Federal Reserve balance sheet. The FDIC, the Treasury Department, Congress and two White Houses have been deeply involved. You already know this, and it has been exhaustively reported. What no one seems to have discussed is how this response skews our "recovery." Our leading responses to the crisis have been to slash interest rates and provide trillions in assistance to our financial institutions. This makes sense but betrays the structural problem. We are a society that lives on debt and speculation. Our houses are ever more owned by investors. 2007 was the last year Americans owned more than 50% of their homes. Today, America owns 43% of its housing stock, and creditors own the other 57%. We have $10.4 trillion in mortgage debt and $2.5 trillion in consumer debt. Every month 350,000 American houses are being seized by creditors. These numbers hint at the real problem. We are dependent on the financial sector. This is result of our structural economic problem. We have been over-consuming for 15 years. American wages, salaries and savings have not been enough. We have been borrowing and speculating for the difference. The world has joined the game with global financial deregulation and market integration. Real recovery will take time, and has not been attempted. Instead, we have been working and spending to put Humpty Dumpty back together again. We have been straining to jump start the financial machine that has enabled a debt-and-speculation economy. This skews the recovery. Low interest rates and enabling policies for lenders have succeeded in buoying our surviving firms. They borrow cheaply from the Fed, markets and the public. Safe investments offer very low yields, but they can borrow for even less. This pushes up earnings. Even more essential, government programs buy and assure safe assets. The Federal Reserve has purchased $700 billion in mortgage backed securities and plans another $500-$600 billion in purchases over the next year. The Federal Government's Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have purchased over 75% of the mortgages and mortgage backed securities sold in the first 6 months of 2009. The Federal Reserve has also been buying US Treasury Debt. This drops the returns on safe assets. People re-enter more risky markets and start speculating again. This is done by design to drop the price on mortgages. Thus, our policy response helps people with good credit get cheap mortgages. We are also providing assistance to financial institutions and returns to speculators. We are making vast sums of money available and make the returns on safe assets very low. You don't need me to tell you what this creates. This drives money into riskier and riskier investments. Look at stocks, particularly in the developing world. This skews our recovery. The job market continues to be very weak and it is clear that it will be several years before we create the 7 million jobs lost, let alone the backlog of missing jobs that we need. Our population growth suggests we need 125,000 new jobs a month just to standstill. Weak job markets mean stagnant wages and rising productivity. It is hard to get wage increases and easy to be over worked in understaffed workplaces when fear runs high. People with bad or questionable credit don't get those new lower borrowing rates. Today's cheaper mortgages are hard to get for many and out of the question for those in trouble. The rapid rise in asset prices does nothing fast and direct for the mass of Americans who own few of the assets. What is owned is squirreled away in battered retirement accounts. The stagnation in the US economy, falling dollars and falling debt flow make foreign markets and enterprises more essential. This directs attention, new employment and excitement to other nations. All of this shrinks the future importance of the lower 80% of Americans in global business terms. Our recovery is fragile and has left behind many. This is rarely discussed and even more rarely understood. In the absence of discussion and understanding, anger simmers and erupts in odd places, times and ways. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ i 25 September 2009 Bloomberg News. Bloomberg estimates $11.6trillion in total assistance to the financial system.http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=ahys015DzWXc ii The Federal Reserve releases its balance sheet every Thursday. http://federalreserve.gov/releases/h41/Current/ iii 13 August 2009, Freddie Mac. Chart Source. http://www.freddiemac.com/corporate/company_profile/pdf/fm_housing_crisis.pdf More on Economy
 
Mike Papantonio: Our Frenzied Focus on Fox Top
For several years, I've received e-mails urging me not to sit in as a lonely progressive voice on the Fox News network. My usual response is that Roger Ailes, the brains behind Fox, doesn't care whether I show up or not. My empty chair would not change a single element of Fox's business plan. Fox angers progressives because other than their slogan of "Fair and Balanced," there are no disguises. Unlike ABC, CBS, and NBC, they don't hide who they are. We become angry because we believe Ailes is breaking some illusory rules about objectivity. But there are no rules. Romanticizing about the days of Ed Murrow and Walter Cronkite moves us far away from the realities of political TV in 2009. Think about this: Is it probable that Ailes doesn't recognize that his big draw, Glenn Beck, is only one conspiracy story away from Thorazine and a padded cell? Of course not. Ailes understands what other TV executives miss. He remembers that P.T. Barnum built his business around high-wire acts and circus freaks. Secondly, he understands that the bent crazy wheel is bound to get most of the grease. Like it or not, Ailes understands the cable vision business. One explanation I have heard about his Fox formula is that he built a network for people who read at least one newspaper daily but still might believe that WWF wrestling matches are unstaged and that the blood splattered in a cage match is real. It is a formula that has enabled Ailes to body slam competitors because there is only room for one cable channel to develop that strategy. He got there first. Ailes morphed news into weird entertainment. Progressives focus their anger on Ailes while the fraud taking place with the national networks is overwhelming. Taxpayers don't own Ailes' cable infrastructure, but they do own the public airways that put billions into the banks for ABC, NBC, and CBS. Here's cause for progressive anger. ABC allows Mark Halpern to coordinate national news broadcasts on ABC's taxpayer-owned airways. Halpern for decades has been the Goebbels go-to boy for America's fringe conservative right. On publicly owned airways, he has launched far more reactionary babble than crazy boy Beck. ABC just travels under the radar. Media watchdog Media Matters has shown that for years wildly conservative voices at places like CBS, NBC, and ABC Sunday talk shows consistently overwhelm progressive voices. To put that in perspective, those networks average 20 million daily viewers to Fox's 3 million. So who does the most damage? We should also consider this fact before we waste too much anger on Ailes' business plan. ABC syndicates Rush Limbaugh, Mark Levin, and almost every other right wing trash talker on the airways. Again, unlike Ailes' cable infrastructure, those are taxpayer-owned airways. The key to being a progressive talking head on Fox is to understand that you probably won't change a single viewer's political opinion. So don't take it too seriously. Just jump in the cage. Try to splatter more of their blood than your own and recognize that the damage done to political dialogue at Fox is dwarfed by the right bent babble of the news departments of the national networks. More on NBC
 
Darin Murphy: The Deaths of "Lucy in the Sky" and "Sexy Sadie": A Tale of Two Women Top
Two female icons from the 1960's passed away last week, Lucy O'Donnell Vodden and Susan Atkins. These two women didn't know about one another, and the only common thread they share is that their stories intersect with that of the Beatles. This is where their similarities end. The rest is pure contrast. The former lived in Britain and the latter in California. One would help to inspire the Beatles' music; the other would help to pervert it. One would remain an enigma whose legend mystified millions, while the other became a high profile murderer who horrified millions more. In 1966, Lucy O'Donnell was attending the Heath House Infants School in the London suburb of Weybridge. One of her classmates was a very young Julian Lennon. It is not known exactly what attracted Julian to Lucy, but it was clear, as Julian himself admits, that he carried an affection for her at the tender age of three-and-a-half years. This would inspire Julian to make a watercolor painting of his friend, which he took home and showed to his father, John Lennon. Although clearly an advanced piece of work for a three-year-old, the piece was typical of young children, who don't yet grasp the concept of gravity and tend to draw their subjects floating in air. This subject in particular had diamond-shaped eyes, and Julian described her to his father as "Lucy in the sky." As soon as the phrase reached John's ears, the song practically wrote itself, and Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds was treated with an elaborate production style that would make it a standout track on the following summer's smash album, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band . Unfortunately, the song would be banned by the BBC, and by several American radio stations, because it was widely assumed to be a blatant reference to LSD, a drug that was blamed for influencing and empowering a subversive counterculture. It wasn't true, and it was not the last time that an innocent Beatles lyric would be woefully misinterpreted. While Sgt. Pepper dominated the charts in the summer of 1967, Susan Atkins was living in San Francisco -- a high school dropout with an arrest record who worked odd jobs, including strip dancing, to stay afloat. Left homeless after police raided her crash pad, she was invited by her friend Charlie Manson to go on the road with him and his group of idyllic followers. Charlie had only recently been released from prison and had in fact spent over half his life in correctional institutions. He created an alias for Ms. Atkins: Sadie Mae Glutz. By the following summer, Charlie and his followers were living at the Spahn Movie Ranch in the Santa Susana Mountains, about forty minutes outside of Los Angeles. Initially, for Atkins, life at the ranch was mostly about songs, drugs and group sex (which led to a child she would later give up). Then, in 1969, Charlie heard The Beatles (aka The White Album) and everything changed. He believed that the album's lyrics were a transatlantic message aimed directly at him, which, combined with certain Bible verses, outlined a blueprint for an Armageddon from which he would deliver all mankind. All he needed were willing participants who would follow his orders and ignite it for him, and Sadie was among those willing to oblige. Almost overnight, peace and love gave way to auto theft, armed robbery and murder, and by the end of the summer of '69, nine people in and around Los Angeles were brutally slain. The indictment and trial of Manson, Atkins and their accomplices was a media feeding frenzy that set the standard for all sensationalized cases that have come since. And the defendants ate up every second of the attention. After two years of sociopathic dogma from Charlie, Sadie and her cohorts were ready to spew it all back to the court and the cameras. They let themselves become America's bogeymen, compounding the horror and fear that had already gripped the nation by achieving a sick level of cult hero status. Back in England, Lucy would seek none of the publicity that surely would have come her way for being the subject of one of the most famous rock songs of all time. The small handful of friends she bothered to tell didn't buy it, choosing instead to embrace the LSD myth. Embarrassed at not really knowing what the acid thing was all about, she kept her mouth shut and lived a normal, anonymous life. She had no misconceptions about who she was -- not some walking muse at age three, just a childhood friend of a boy that happened to be the son of a legend. And there she remained, thoroughly grounded in reality and humility until her death. Her last years were made more bearable by the reappearance of her old classmate Julian, who reached out regularly to her with gifts and moral support. But Susan never really found herself. Having embraced Christian fundamentalism -- and two marriages -- in order to break free from Manson's grip, Atkins spent her life as a follower. Her life ended with bitter rejection and scorn. Therein lies the tragedy. The Beatles, through words and deeds, presented a generation of young souls with a simple challenge: To find their authentic selves, discover their potential, cultivate love, and live in peace. Lucy succeeded where Sadie failed.
 
Boy Bling: Are Men With Earrings Gorgeous Or Gross? (PHOTOS, POLL) Top
Boy bling is back in as earrings have been adorning the lobes of stylish men. This season, designer Marc Jacobs accessorized with huge diamond studs and Rag & Bone sent male models down the runway wearing small gems. A blogger for The Moment noticed the trend is already in stores: After that I did some research and discovered that more and more youth-accessible stores are now carrying men's earrings. The old emo standbys, Hot Topic and Spencer's, have a few men's styles, but the real motherlode is the Topman store in SoHo. The men's jewelry section offers probably 40 or 50 different varieties, from dangling daggers to an Eiffel Tower and a neon pink star. Check out these men who are all ears and tell us which studs are gorgeous...and which might be gross: Follow HuffPost Style on Twitter and become a fan of HuffPost Style on Facebook !
 
Joe Territo: Radio DJ Diane Prior's Husband Pleads Guilty to Simple Assault Top
John Paragano, the estranged husband of New York Radio DJ Diane Prior, today pleaded guilty of pushing her while in an argument two years ago at their former Chester, N.J., home. Paragamo is a 43-year-old former Union Township, N.J., Municipal Court judge. He pleaded guilty to a disorderly-persons offense for pushing Prior, bruising her knee, in a domestic dispute at their home in 2007. Read all of the details in this real-time news report from The Star-Ledger on NJ.com . More on Crime
 

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