Thursday, September 24, 2009

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Daley: FAA Violations At O'Hare 'Not Very Significant' Top
Mayor Daley today dismissed as "not very significant"--and not a threat to passenger safety -- violations at O'Hare Airport uncovered by the Federal Aviation Administration.
 
Johann Hari: Can We Finally Tell the Truth About Britain's Vile 'Queen Mother'? Top
It must be exhausting to be a monarchist, forever finding ways to pretend a family of cold, talentless snobs are better than the rest of us. They have to make gold out of mud. The system of monarchy - selecting a head of state solely because of the womb they passed through, and surrounding them with sycophants from the moment they emerge - produces warped and dim people, and demands we scrape before them. What's a poor monarchist to do? They can only lavish a thick cream of adjectives - 'dignity', 'charm', 'majesty' - over the Windsor family in the hope that some of us are fooled. This process corrupts even the most intelligent monarchists. A strange case study is the new authorized thousand-plus-page biography of Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon (the 'Queen Mother') by William Shawcross. He is a smart man: his study of the secret bombing of Cambodia by Henry Kissinger is extraordinary. Yet as a monarchist he has an impossible task. He has to present a cruel, bigoted snob who fleeced millions from the British tax-payer as a heroine fit to rule over us. His mind turns to mush. Before the real Bowes-Lyon is lost in a frenzy of royalist rimming, we should remember who she really was: more Imelda Marcos than the good fairy Glinda. By the time she died, Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon was treating the British Treasury - our tax-money - as her personal piggy bank, with her bills running way beyond the millions she was allotted every year. Even the ultra-Tory Chancellor Norman Lamont complained that "she far exceeds her Civil List and the Treasury gets very het up about it." She used the money to pay for eighty-three full-time staff, including four footmen, two pages, three chauffeurs (what do they do, split her into three parts for transportation?), a private secretary, an orderly, a housekeeper, five housemaids... the list goes on and on. She even insisted that it was a legitimate use of public funds to maintain a full-time 'Ascot office', whose job is to do nothing but keep a register of members of the Royal Enclosure and send them entry vouchers. She presented this spending - enough to open and run a new hospital that would save thousands of lives every year - as an act of selfless patriotism. Michael Mann, the former Dean of Windsor who knew her very well, explained: "She feels that Britain is Great Britain and that, therefore, ours must be no banana court. To lower standards [i.e., her spending on champagne, caviar and limos] is to denigrate the country and, insofar as high standards require big spending, so be it." When single mothers take 0.1 percent of this sum from the state, the same newspapers that laud Elizabeth as "the best of British" savage them as "scroungers." If they refused to pay tax - as Elizabeth did - they would have been put in prison. What did she do to earn these vast sums? Her parents were 'Lord' and 'Lady' Strathmore, and from birth she was waited on by a gaggle of servants including a butler, two footmen, five housemaids, a cook and numerous room maids. She grew up with four palaces at her disposal - but it wasn't enough. She was obsessed with "bloodlines", which she believed determined a person's worth, and wanted to marry into what she regarded as "the best" - the Windsor family. At first she tried to woo Edward Windsor, but when he wasn't interested, she settled for his stammering, highly strung younger brother, George. When Edward became King, she plotted to force his abdication so George could ascend and she could become 'Queen'. His "crime" was to fall in love with a divorcee - and one with such poor bloodlines! Once Edward was successfully toppled, Elizabeth insisted he and his wife Wallace be driven into exile and blanked by royal circles. (The couple had plenty of real flaws, but Elizabeth was blind to them: it was the American-ness and the ambition and the divorce that she loathed.) This was her way with any relatives who displeased her by showing vulnerability. When her cousins became mentally ill, they were locked in asylums and never seen again. Elizabeth's entry in Who's Who falsely announced they were dead. This icy ruthlessness startled people who met her. In 1939, French Prime Minister Edouard Daladier said she was "an excessively ambitious young woman who would be ready to sacrifice every other country in the world so that she might remain Queen." The most striking aspect to Shawcross' biography is that once she had contrived to marry, Elizabeth really didn't do anything else for the rest of her life except spend, spend, spend - our money. He has to pad out whole decades. She didn't even raise her own children: she would see them for an hour a day, and get them to chant: "We are not supposed to be normal. We are not supposed to be normal." But to be fair, she did do one more thing. In her spare time, she supported far right politics. She was a passionate defender of appeasing Adolf Hitler, lobbying behind the scenes to garner support for Neville Chamberlain. The reasons are plain: even fifty years later, she bragged to Woodrow Wyatt that she had "reservations about Jews." Once the war began, she was rebranded as a symbol of Britain's heroic resistance to the Nazis - but what did she actually do? Unlike everyone else, she didn't live on rations, but was fattened by pheasants and venison on the royal estates. She didn't stay in bombed-out London anything like as much as the myth suggests: she spent much of the war in Windsor, Norfolk and Scotland, far from the Nazi planes, surrounded by battalions of servants. Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon kept up her support for far-right politics throughout her life. She did everything she could to bolster the torturing white minority tyrannies in Rhodesia and South Africa, because - as the journalist Paul Callan, who knew her, put it - "She is not fond of black folk." Our beaming Queen Mum was Alf Garnett in a tiara. She believed Britain's class system reflected a natural hierarchy - and the people below her creamy upper tier were inferior. She told Woodrow Wyatt, "I hate that classlessness. It is so unreal." At first, she was appalled by the idea of her eldest daughter marrying Phillip Mountbatten, because his "bloodlines" weren't good enough: his family had fallen from power, so they weren't "really" royal. When Diana Spencer started hugging AIDS victims and lepers, Elizabeth was disgusted. When Diana started rebelling, Elizabeth announced to friends the girl was "schizophrenic", but she was bemused because Diana came from "a good family." The rest of us, by implication, come from "bad families", where you would expect schizophrenia and other lower-class disorders. The defenders of Elizabeth were left claiming that her drunken inactivity was itself an achievement. W.F. Deedes, the late Telegraph columnist, claimed that "in an increasingly earnest world, she teaches us all how to have fun, that life should not be all about learning, earning and resting. In a world where we have all become workaholics, there she is...grinning at racehorses. Bless her heart." He was in favour of the dole after all - provided it was worth three million pounds, and went to one single aristocrat. William Shawcross has won the favour of his fellow monarchists by taking this curdled life and presenting it as the best of British. It's the single most unpatriotic claim I've ever heard. If you don't think Britain can do better - far better - than this nasty leech and her stunted family, then you don't deserve to live in this Sceptred Isle. Johann Hari is a writer for the Independent. To read more of his articles, click here . You can email him at johann -at- johannhari.com To read an archive of Johann's articles about the Monarchy, click here .
 
Birther Billboards Spring Up In Colorado Top
According to billboard owner Phil Wolf, Denver's "birther boards" will go up mid-day today at Kipling and I-70 on the north side of frontage road. West-Denver commuters will be treated to compelling over-sized double-sided evidence that Americans love a distraction.
 
Kim Morgan: Reason 101 To Love Vince Vaughn: He Loves Country Music Top
Vince Vaughn loves Buck Owens. He likes Gram Parsons and the Burrito Brothers. He reveres the work of Robert Plant with Alison Krauss. He has stories about George Jones and Merle Haggard - current stories. He's hung with Willie Nelson. And he took the time to talk about all of this rather than simply discuss his newest movie, Couple's Retreat .  I've been a Vince Vaughn booster since his beginnings, and even defend him in Psycho , so I was more than happy to learn that this tall glass of water isn't just one of the most talented and funniest actors working, he also has incredibly good taste in music  -- and not just good taste but an impressive and extensive knowledge of music. And he thinks about it, he makes historical connections, he's moved by it. Here was our exchange while he was promoting his movie to a press round table, all started from a reporter's question about a scene involving an uptight British guy playing Guitar Hero and what they were listening to while filming. I love that he waxed so rhapsodic about such great music -- some of my favorite music. It makes one feel better about the world. Vince, acting naturally: Vaughn:  A lot of the English guys really like country music or old blues music, like The Stones always liked Buck Owens and they liked all the old blues singers. I always thought when English bands sang, you'd hear them talk and they sound very English and then they'd sing about honky-tonk. I always thought that there was a fascination on their end with cowboys and that. So I thought it was a funny backdrop, that it'd be unexpected to put him there. Then just with the dialogue we'd own that motif and Joseph Campbell's, like, "The Writer's Journey" or any sort of mythology type of quest. So this movie actually has two different structures. Just for us, on the day on the set we just started having fun, saying, "Let's really embrace this and make it really western like a gunfight because it's just ridiculous because it's 'Guitar Hero'. Lets really make it mythological -' like this is an unbelievable honesty that we're about go for'." Morgan: I don't think I've heard anyone go from Buck Owens to Joseph Campbell. Vaughn: Buck was one of my favorites... I think that a lot of people's musical history, like she mentioned, starts with Led Zeppelin and The Stones. To me, the thing that I liked about the tour that Robert Plant did with Alison Krauss was that he really went out of his way to talk about American roots music. They were trying to sound like the old Appalachian singers and a lot of the blues singers and that's really who their idols were. What was wonderful about that show is that they played a lot of those Led Zeppelin songs Appalachian style. It was really, really beautiful. I can't listen to a lot of the modern stuff because I've been so exposed to and so in love with a lot of the older storytellers and I've always said that I think that music is the highest art form. Music can take you the farthest and the fastest emotionally. There's sculpture, there's painting, there's acting, all these wonderful things -- but sound and song. You can be driving your car and that song comes on and you're like in tears depending on what it is. I think there's something that's happen in music, probably in all things, where when Buck or Johnny Cash, these guys, [when they] were coming up there weren't albums. Like, "Hey, I have to make a record. I'm gonna do this stuff ." They [all] really had some difficult life experiences. They were telling the stories of their lives through music. [And] there was no end game necessarily. And then of course, with Elvis and people started buying phonographs in order to listen to those records and it became a whole different thing. And now again, music is back to the '50's where it's singles. There's no longer albums. You buy one song, which is like what the '50's used to be...But like the murals in Belfast, in those neighborhoods, they would paint about the conflicts that they've gone through, both the Protestants and the Catholics. That was political. That came out of, like, "People were shooting my family and I want people to know that this isn't right." [Much like] a lot of those slave songs or plantation songs. [And] lBuck was from Texas - He ended up in Bakersfield but he came from Texas. Sherman, Texas is where he's from. Like "The Grapes of Wrath," they migrated for work and he ended up in Bakersfield. Morgan: And created their sound. Vaughn: Him and Merle Haggard. Merle Haggard is the only person in The Country Music Hall of Fame who was born and raised in California which is Bakersfield. Morgan: He's still alive, too. Vaughn: He is still alive. I heard a rumor that George Jones asked him to move next door to him and I think that would be interesting [ Yes that would be interesting ]. I loved George. He was great. But their songs came out of their life experiences and so there was such depth to them that it was unbelievable... I won't name some of the people that you have mentioned in those bands and all they want to talk about is Merle and Buck and a lot of the Chicago blues artists which was that early Chess Record stuff. I think Chuck Berry punched Keith Richards the first time he met him, like, 'That's for stealing my licks -' or something like that...But when you hear that stuff and a lot of people just really haven't heard a lot of the old stuff, when you hear the other stuff I kind of go, 'God, it kind of sounds like this.' But what I think always made the English bands better than a lot of the American bands was that they really started with where the music began. That's who they were trying to sound like. So when you start to look at [classic rock] bands, a lot of the times the band that they'll mention are more the English bands because they were really trying to sound like the Bakersfield sound. Morgan: Gram Parsons...   Vaughn: Gram Parsons and the Burrito Brothers. Morgan: Have you thought of doing a music biopic? You know a lot about it. Vaughn: I would play the guy in the front row who goes like this [starts clapping]... [He ends the interview with this] I'll tell you, Willie Nelson said this to me. He said, "What is the world's shortest fairy tale?" I said, "What?" He said, "A man asks him his sweetheart to marry him. She says no and they live happily ever after." [Vince laughs happily. This makes me happy. And we didn't even get to his take on Waylon Jennings]. There was so much more I wanted to ask him about music. I didn't query, but Vince has to own a Nudie suit. If he does, he should wear it proudly. Read more Kim Morgan at her site Sunset Gun .
 
Five Family Members Killed By 'Blunt Force Trauma': Sheriff Top
LINCOLN, Ill. — All five family members slain in their central Illinois home were killed by "blunt force trauma," a sheriff said Thursday, though he declined to provide other details, including whether authorities have recovered any weapons. Logan County Sheriff Steven Nichols reported the autopsy finding after some of his initial comments raised more questions about the killings, particularly his statement that deputies responded after a 911 call reporting possible shots fired. Nichols said Wednesday that none of the victims had been shot. Asked Thursday how one person might inflict deadly blunt force on five people, Nichols declined to comment. Investigators finished combing through the crime scene in the small town of Beason on Wednesday night – more than two days after the bodies were found, Nichols said. A state police trailer and other official vehicles that had been parked in front of the home for days were no longer there Thursday, and a main street that had been blocked off was open. "The forensic evidence in this case is significant," Nichols said. He said there were hundreds of fingerprints, blood samples and DNA evidence but didn't elaborate. Raymond "Rick" Gee, 46, and Ruth Gee, 39, were found dead in the home Monday with their children, 16-year-old Justina Constant, 14-year-old Dillen Constant and 11-year-old Austin Gee. The Gees' youngest daughter, a 3-year-old girl who survived the attack, was in critical but stable condition Thursday; her injuries also were caused by blunt force, Nichols said. A deputy has been assigned to the hospital but, contrary to published reports, no other family members have been placed in protective custody, he said. Nichols has not said when authorities believe the family was killed nor whether investigators have identified any suspects. The sheriff said authorities waited a day after the bodies were found to tell Beason residents to lock their doors because it wasn't immediately clear whether the slayings were a murder-suicide. "We had to know what we had, before we could make any decisions," he said. He added there was a heightened police presence in Beason, a town of a few hundred people about 140 miles southwest of Chicago, immediately after the discovery and residents were safe. Nichols asked the public Wednesday for help in finding a gray pickup, possibly a Ford that was painted only in primer, that was spotted in the area late Sunday. The head of the Logan County Emergency Management Agency, Dan Fulscher, said Thursday that the 911 call was made by someone who entered the house and saw bloody bodies "and very quickly got out of there." Area residents surmised something was amiss in the house long before the 911 call that Nichols said came in around 4:30 p.m. Monday. Jodie Duncan, the town's postmaster, said she usually saw the children every morning at her office, where they came to pick up the bus. "I asked one of the kids, 'Where are they? They said, 'They're not here and they always beat us here,'" she said Wednesday. Family friends said the Gees locked their front door but only to keep their 3-year-old daughter from leaving. And though they often left the back door unlocked so the child could get in and out of the yard, they had a protective dog. "It doesn't matter if the back door was open or not because their dog was very protective of their family," said Stormee Whitney, a 17-year-old friend of Justina Constant. That the sheriff and others were so tightlipped about the slayings did not bother Whitney's mother, Marjorie Wright. "They're not telling us anything ... so they can make sure that they catch these people that (did) this," Wright said. ___ Associated Press writers Christopher Wills in Lincoln and Don Babwin in Chicago contributed to this report.
 
Ellen Sterling: If Las Vegas Is A Foodie's Heaven, Raku Is One of the Pearly Gates Top
Because I really didn't know and I like the metaphor, I looked it up and there are 12 Pearly Gates into heaven. And since just about everyone I've ever taken to eat in Raku says it's "heavenly" (except the guys who say some variation of "great"), I thought I'd tell you about it and about going there with my friend Melinda. I first went to the restaurant a few months ago on assignment for Luxury Las Vegas, the beautiful locals magazine that should really be read by everyone who lives and visits here, as it is always chock-full of good stuff about the city. Anyway, we -- Beth Schwartz the editor, Jim Decker the photographer and I, the writer -- fell in love with it and have gone since. (At that first visit, Beth and I were particularly struck by the green tea salt and the seven kinds of homemade soy sauce, each for use with a different food.) I've celebrated a few special occasions there and have brought several people. All say they want to go back. Now, this is not the only terrific restaurant in the city. If we didn't know Las Vegas had arrived as a restaurant center anyway, we'd know because this season of Top Chef is being done here. We'd also know by the proliferation of restaurants owned by star chefs and the fact that these celebrity chefs are often seen dining locally in restaurants where other people run the kitchen. Awhile ago, I saw Top Chef co-host Tom Colicchio dining at Raku. (Emeril Lagasse is opening another restaurant tomorrow that I'll tell you about. It's especially interesting because it's part of a sports book.) Okay, Raku is a terrific restaurant but, as noted, there are lots of those here. What makes this so special? First, the price points are eminently reasonable. Second, the size -- which will expand from miniscule (seating 31 people) to small (seating maybe a couple of dozen more) makes the service very personal. Third, you'll eat Japanese food like you probably never have before. There is no sushi at Raku. But there's homemade tofu and specialties you can only get in Japan. Chef Mitsou Endo, opened Raku in 2008 after serving as head chef at restaurants in New York and Las Vegas. Together with his manager, the very gracious Rie Warner, Chef Endo has created an environment where everyone is welcome and everyone knows the food will be superb. But, again, there are lots of great restaurants here with lots of great food. So why write about Raku? I'll tell you why. Last night's dinner at Raku with my friend Melinda was unlike any other dinner I've ever experienced. It was truly memorable and that wasn't solely because of the restaurant but greatly because of Melinda's reaction to it. First, let me tell you about Melinda. She's beautiful, smart and funny. A N'Orleans native, she's got the southern charm thing down pat. She's lived in many places -- including Japan -- and is sophisticated. Her job with a hotel in Las Vegas puts her in contact with people from all over the world. And, of course, we've been out to dinner many times. So, we're sitting there. I'd asked that they bring us a sampling -- small tastes of what they offer. We began with Popeye salad -- spinach with bacon, onions, mushrooms and scrumptious dressing. Then, in no particular order, we were served chicken wrapped in bacon, chicken wrapped in its own skin, beef with wasabi, enoki, deep-fried tofu (delicious and I do not ordinarily care for tofu in any form) asparagus two ways that were each luscious and that amazing veggie shown in the inset of the photo of Chef Endo above. That is, clearly, corn. At first glimpse it looks like a slice of corn on the cob. But, look closely. Chef Endo has somehow managed to remove the cob in an operation that he keeps secret, but I'd imagine is like coring a pineapple. He then fills the corn with mashed potatoes and the delightful dish pictured here is what you get. That is, if not singular, then highly unusual. And delicious. Eating at Raku, if you didn't know it before, you learn that the Japanese often use bacon and paté in their cooking. Always something really new to discover. Our discovery of the evening was matsutake mushrooms. These are the Japanese version of truffles only they (1) taste better and (2) have an amazing scent like a floral bouquet. Although they grow in other parts of the world, these are a real delicacy in Japan and can sell there for up to $2,000 a kilogram (2.2 pounds). Rie brought a taste to our table and it was a transformative moment. I'll no longer make the blanket statement, "I really don't like mushrooms." Now, back to Melinda. If you've gotten an idea of how much I enjoyed the meal last night and I've been there before, you can only imagine the response (and she said I could use her name in this article) on Melinda's part. Well, maybe you can't. So I'll tell you. There I sat, eating, chatting, savoring the food and my first taste (thanks to Melinda) of sparkling sake. We were quiet for a moment when, all of a sudden, I realized that across the table my ladylike friend (well, an earthy lady) was making the kind of noises one imagines you'd hear through the wall in a no-tell motel. "Oh, my God!!!" "That's so good!!!" "Ummm!!!" "Ohhh!!!" I've never heard anything like that in a restaurant and I guess I just paused and stared. I don't think other patrons heard her, but it was something. Melinda realized why I was staring and emitted a slight gasp. Putting her hand over her mouth she laughed and said -- not at all embarrassed -- "Was I doing that? You know, people tell me I make noises like that when I really like food. But I haven't done that in a long, long time." She didn't stop. And I didn't care. You see it's been a little while since something I've done -- in this case merely suggesting a restaurant -- elicited that reaction from anyone. So, when you're in Las Vegas, you really should make a reservation (which is necessary) and try Raku.
 
Robert Greenwald: The Generals and Obama. With Friends Like These..... Top
"There they go now, marching off to war again Smiling proudly, with their heads in the clouds See them smile now, marching off in lines." - Oingo Boingo The military has decided it needs more troops in Afghanistan (didn't see that one coming did ya?). News flash: The military always decides it needs more troops in wartime and they are routinely, and sadly, supported by Washington D.C. think tanks and weaker elected officials. The President , to his credit, has decided he needs to rethink Afghanistan. Now the Beltway games begin. Now begin the leaks, the announcements that troops are in danger. The unverifiable rumor passes from the generals to the neo-cons to Condi Rice to Joe Lieberman. Never mind that these same " experts " insisted we needed war with Iraq or we would all die in a mushroom cloud. They were wrong then, they are wrong now. But now we have a chance to stop this from turning into further tragedy. The President is asking questions. Members of the House are standing up and saying no. Senator Feingold is asking for troop withdrawal. And most important, the public is taking action. They are saying no more! No more escalation, no more destabilization, no more cost, no more civilian deaths, and no more American casualties! But remember, the public said no to Iraq and it took years to end the war. It's easy to get into war, hard to get out. The time to act is now. Join us at Rethink Afghanistan and take action. Organize a grassroots screening , send a letter to your representative, write a letter to the editor. Watch the film ! Stop the War! This is a real time documentary , for real time solutions.
 
Jeremy Scahill: To the Dems Who Voted to 'Defund ACORN:' Where is the Defund Blackwater Act? Top
Democrats joined Republicans in voting to "Defund ACORN," yet have done nothing to stop Blackwater's ongoing taxpayer funded crusade in Iraq and Afghanistan. Republican Congressional leaders are continuing their witch-hunt against ACORN, the grassroots community group dedicated to helping poor and working class people. This campaign now unfortunately has gained bi-partisan legislative support in the form of the Defund ACORN Act of 2009 which has now passed the House and Senate. As Ryan Grim at Huffington Post has pointed out , the legislation "could plausibly defund the entire military-industrial complex:" The congressional legislation intended to defund ACORN, passed with broad bipartisan support, is written so broadly that it applies to "any organization" that has been charged with breaking federal or state election laws, lobbying disclosure laws, campaign finance laws or filing fraudulent paperwork with any federal or state agency. It also applies to any of the employees, contractors or other folks affiliated with a group charged with any of those things. According to the Project on Oversight and Government Reform, this legislation could potentially eliminate a virtual Who's Who of war contractors including Lockheed Martin, Boeing and KBR to other corporations such as AT&T, FedEx and Dell. Perhaps one of the most jarring comparisons here is the fact that ACORN is now being attacked while the Obama administration continues to contract with Blackwater, the favorite mercenary company of the Bush administration, which is headed by Erik Prince, who was a major donor to Republican causes and campaigns, including those of some of the Defund ACORN bill's sponsors, including Indiana Republican Mike Pence, one of the key figures in hunting down Van Jones. Prince, of course, was recently described by a former employee as a man who "views himself as a Christian crusader tasked with eliminating Muslims and the Islamic faith from the globe," and that Prince's companies "encouraged and rewarded the destruction of Iraqi life." At present Blackwater has a $217 million security contract through the State Department in Iraq which was just extended by the Obama administration indefinitely. It holds a $210 million State Department "security" contract in Afghanistan that runs through 2011 and another multi-million dollar contract with the Defense Department for "training" in Kabul. All of this is on top of Blackwater's clandestine work for the CIA, including continued work on the drone bombing campaign in Pakistan and Afghanistan. This also does not take into account Blackwater's lucrative domestic work training law enforcement and military forces inside the US at the company's compounds in North Carolina, California and Illinois, nor the private "security" work it does for entities like the International Republican Institute, nor the work it does in training "Faith Based Organizations." It also does not include the contracts doled out to Erik Prince's private CIA called Total Intelligence Solutions, which works for foreign governments and Fortune 500 corporations. Then there is this fact: Blackwater was paid over $73 million for its federally-funded, no bid-security contracts with the Department of Homeland Security in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, billing taxpayers $950 per man per day, a spending decision the Bush administration called "the best value to the government." ACORN, meanwhile, only helped poor people who were suffering as a result of the government's total and complete failure to respond to Katrina. Meanwhile, a recent federal audit of Blackwater, compiled by the State Department and the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction, suggests the company may have to repay some $55 million to the government for allegedly failing to meet the terms of just one federal contract in Iraq, which, it is important to note, is $2 million more than the total money allotted by the federal government to ACORN over the past 15 years . (The company also cannot account for one federally funded "deep fat fryer" in Iraq, according to the audit). Overall, Blackwater has raked in well over $1 billion since 2003 in security contracts alone--all of which were kicked off by a fat no-bid contract to guard L Paul Bremer. Let's also remember that Blackwater was estimated in Congressional hearings in 2007 to earn some 90% of its revenue from the federal government and Prince refused to disclose his salary, but said it was over $1 million. Blackwater has been or is being investigated by the US Congress, the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms, the Justice Department and the IRS, among other agencies, for a range of issues from arms smuggling to manslaughter to tax evasion. One of its operatives pleaded guilty to killing an innocent, unarmed Iraqi civilian, while five others have been indicted on manslaughter and other charges over the 2007 Nisour Square massacre during which 17 Iraqi civilians were gunned down. The company is also facing a slew of civil lawsuits alleging war crimes and extrajudicial killings in Iraq. Here is a question for those Democratic lawmakers that voted in support of the Defund ACORN Act: How do you justify making this a major league legislative priority while Blackwater continues to be armed and dangerous across the globe on the US government payroll? Where is the Defund Blackwater Act? Read more from Jeremy Scahill on RebelReports . More on Blackwater
 
Brian Todd, CNN Reporter, Tear Gassed While Covering Protesters At G-20 Summit In Pittsburgh (VIDEO) Top
CNN reporter Brian Todd got tear gassed while covering the protests at the Group of 20 summit in Pittsburgh. According to the AP, several hundred protesters marched in opposition to the summit but did not have a city permit for the demonstration. The police also deployed some kind of sonic device as extremely high-pitched sirens can be heard in the video. Read more about the protests here . Watch the report from Brian Todd below. Embedded video from CNN Video Send us tips! Write us at tv@huffingtonpost.com if you see any newsworthy or notable TV moments. Read more about our media monitoring project here and click here to join the Media Monitors team.
 
Stewart Nusbaumer: Launching Woodstock -- the Film Festival! Top
I squeeze into the narrow, packed bar. Slipping and weaving and twisting through the crowd, passing muffled orange lights under the long bar, dim red lights high above, a large wall poster proclaiming "Woodstock Film Festival." This is the launch party of the Woodstock Film Festival, held in the Catskill Mountains but launch partied on Manhattan's Lower East Side, at Libation Bar. Reaching the rear of the jammed room, I climb a tight staircase to a spacious mezzanine. Sitting in a booth wearing a short blue dress, her shapely legs crossed, her face glowing natural beauty, her eyes, well, sort of uneven and crooked -- but electrifying! "Move closer, so we can hear each other" she says in a soft voice laced with true grit. I quickly slide over, but not too close. Having recently returned from 5 months of writing in Afghanistan, where women evidently don't exist, my behavior is still a little erratic. Lucy Liu, know from her roles in the films Charlie's Angles as the crime-fighting, yet beautiful Alex Munday; in Kill Bill as the villainous, yet beautiful O-Ren Ishii; in the television series Alley McBeal as a vicious animal, yet beautiful Ling Woo. Yet, what brought us together closely in this booth is not beautiful. The documentary REDLIGHT , which she narrates and produced, with her hand in the editing, is about the sexploitation of children. The film focuses on several young Cambodian victims and two women working to save their lives. Its heart wrenching! "People think slavery is something in the past. We have to make them understand it is happening today. I want audiences to be as horrified and outraged as I was," her hand touches my shoulder. "First, they need to know this exists. Second, it is something we can change. Awareness -- education is a key -- then enforcing the laws that exist." A graduate of New York's highly competitive Stuyvesant High School, graduate of the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, United Nation's Ambassador for UNICEF, Lucy Liu is no Hollywood bubble-head. She understands the causes are many and complex including abject poverty and psychological trauma and devaluing young females. "Yes, it's going to take a long time. But we have to begin now." Wiggling and twisting myself to the bar, music thumping and voices roaring, when grabbing a vodka-soda I meet ruffled white hair, fiery blue eyed Richard Kroehling: "Science fiction has caught up with reality ... technology is catching up with prophesy ... change is transforming everything," he rattles off. "Come see my film, 2B . "I will," shouting back as I work the maze to the other side of the room. "There are a number of things that set the Woodstock Film Festival apart from other festivals," says Meira Blaustein, the director and co-founder of the festival. "It has the unique combination of showcasing some of the best contemporary independent film every year with a very high number of the most interesting and important industry members and filmmakers in attendance. And this happens in Woodstock, an intimate, friendly and casual environment with a long history of artistic appreciation." With dark bangs and large eyes and attractive face, Meira slight resembles Ura Thurman in Pulp Fiction , but she lacks the whacked on drugs look. "Another ingredient that sets this festival apart is our sidebars. One is called 'Exposure,' films that deal with political, environmental and social issues. 'Focus on Music' -- that's really unique, -- adds another dimension that sets the Woodstock Film Festival apart." The kick off film is, appropriately, Woodstock: Now and Then , directed and produced by Barbara Kopple. An opening night highlight is The Messenger , directed by Oren Moveman, and featuring Woody Harrison and Ben Forster. There will be the World Premiere of REDLIGHT , the documentary narrated and produced by Lucy Liu. There will be 150 films, shorts, animations, panels - ranging from music in film to the changing face of independent filmmaking to the exponential technological change reshaping our future - there will be concerts and other events in Woodstock and several neighboring towns. On closing night will be Up in the Air , starring George Clooney and Vera Farmiga. "Woodstock the town plays a key role," Meira Blaustein says after getting a refill, "it's close to metropolitan New York a mecca of independent films, it has bucolic beauty, a sense of a get-a-way, the foliage, art galleries. Some people go hiking. This is a unique and beautiful film festival, there are very few of them." Being the 10th anniversary of the Woodstock Film Festival, I ask her how it has changed. "In many ways, but the heart has stayed the same: love of filmmaking and love of filmmakers. The festival has certainly grown in statue, now its considered a very important festival on the circuit. But the size cannot explode because we are in small venues and small towns. Nor is it our interest to become a gigantic film festival. We want to become a great film festival, that has great films with great participants. We want people inspired, feel empowered, careers launched, careers developed, where everyone learns something and benefits." Weaving through the crowd, I bump into two animators, twins Joy and Noelle. It's not the first time I've bumped into twins in a bar. Demonstrating my full knowledge of animation films, I ask, "Are they all funny food for kiddies' brains?" Noelle flashes a gentle mother's look of piety. Joy suggests nicely that I want to check out some animations at Woodstock. After noting her gracious advice, I weave, twist to the rear ... pull myself up the narrow stairs ... slip into a booth with Ben Foster. The man has an intensity that sobers you up fast. "Reading the script, I was taken by how simple, how spare it was," his eyes are sharp, his stare steady. Those tattoos are real. With Woody Harrelson, they form a "Causality Notification Team" that inform next to kin of the death of their loved ones. There are many films about the horrors of war, many films about the horrible grieving at home, but never a film about the exact point when the horror is delivered to the instantly traumatized loved ones at home. It is a great film. "It's not overly political, Ben says. "What I want are people to have empathy for our soldiers, regardless of their political perspective." More on Ben Foster from the festival - I'm now downstairs at the bar, which is currently floating somewhere the hundred miles between Manhattan's Lower East Side and the small Catskill Mountain village of Woodstock. Bars always move minds faster than bodies. See your body at Woodstock! For more information on the Woodstock Film Festival, http://www.woodstockfilmfestival.com/ Stewart will be blogging from the Woodstock Film Festival. You can email him at SNusbaumer@gmial.com
 
Kevin Powell: While Leaders Meet, American Tourists Detained and Forgotten Top
By Kevin Powell As the General Assembly of the United Nations opens in New York, the G-20 convenes in Pittsburgh, and the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation Annual Legislative Conference unfolds in Washington, just beneath the radar is a mini-international crisis that many leaders, so it seems, are simply ignoring. On Friday, September 4, 2009, approximately a dozen Brooklyn, New York tourists aboard Carnival Cruises docked at the twin-island nation of Antigua and Barbuda. According to six of the tourists from the twelve in the original traveling group, what should have been a simple taxi ride to sight-see turned into a dispute over the fare. "We were initially told the ride was $50, which we were fine with," the group said in a statement. Instead, they continue, "The driver hiked the fare to $100 at the conclusion of the ride, and when we refused to pay that amount, he drove us to the police station." The six say that the mostly young and female group was beaten by plainclothes men and women and uniformed police officers, who then turned around and arrested half the group for assaulting said officers, among other charges. Three weeks later the Antigua 6, as they've come to be known, remain holed up in a foreign country as a trial that is hugely slanted against them drags, with no conclusion in sight. The six detainees are four young women and two young men and all are of either American or Caribbean heritage. And they are not "thugs" as has been reported on blogs and in various news accounts. They are the best we have to offer in America: Rachel Henry, age 27, certified chef, fashion and runway model; Shoshannah Henry, age 24, singer-songwriter, law school student; Dolores Lalanne, age 25, social worker; Nancy Lalanne, age 22, licensed practical nurse; Joshua Jackson, age 25, crew chief for international airline, customer service representative for utilities company; and Mike Pierre-Paul, age 25, licensed practical nurse. A number of thorny issues are raised by this detainment of American tourists: One, why hasn't the Obama administration stepped in, at a higher level, to settle a dispute that should have been over in a matter of days? Second, what, precisely, are the politicians in these Americans' home districts doing to help? I am especially referring to the two New York state Senators and those Congressional members in whose communities these young people reside? I cannot imagine the late Senator Ted Kennedy having this happen to taxpayers in his beloved Massachusetts and him not putting his staffers all over this. Finally, what does it say about our nation if our citizens can save their money for a vacation, as these folks did, make that journey, and the moment they are in international terrain with unsavory cab drivers (the cab driver in question was not even registered with the local taxi association) they are subjected to extortion, and worse, if they dare resist the profit-before-people mindset of a tiny nation that needs tourism dollars to survive and thrive? Is there any protection for American travelers, or are we simply on our own? Unsettling, too, is the relative silence of Carnival Cruises. To date, the Americans' loved ones have not so much as received a phone call or a letter of support from this cruise giant. Never mind that Micky Arison and his family have built a massive fortune off the backs of working Americans who save their pennies for these once in a lifetime jaunts from island to island. While I certainly commend Nicole Theriot, Consul General to the U.S. Embassy in Barbados for spending a good deal of time in Antigua trying to help these Americans, she is now gone, and the young people remain detained. Nearly a year ago, we implored young Americans like the Antigua 6 to get out and vote, and they did, in record numbers. A year later it seems no one wants to hear their voices, nor aid them in their time of need, as they miss school, work, and their families back home. Be it the General Assembly, the G-20, the Congressional Black Caucus, or President Obama himself, someone must step up and demand justice and an immediate end to this sad debacle. Kevin Powell is a writer, activist, and author of 10 books, including his latest, Open Letters to America . Reach him at contact@kevinpowell.net More on G-20 Summit
 
Carolynn Carreño: R.I.P. Hotel Caesars Top
In honor of the Caesar Hotel, where the Caesar salad was invented, which died today ... With its ornate facade (what is this style called?), and a sort of museum to trajes de luces ,--which translates "suits of lights," the shimmering, adorned outfits that bullfighters wear--in the lobby, the Hotel Caesars somehow managed to be, to the end, a remnant of Old Tijuana. I remember going there with my dad, who had a restaurant across the street, and who, when he first moved to Tijuana from Acapulco in the 1950s, used to work as a waiter at the Caesar Hotel and toss the salads table side himself. I love that Tijuana. I love that salad. And even when the restaurant renamed itself the Caesar Sports Bar & Grill and hung a row of track lights and televisions, they still turned out one of the best Caesar Salads I have ever eaten. I wish I knew the secret. Is it the fake Parmesan cheese that comes out of a can? The hot dog mustard? Why did the drug lords have to go and ruin everything? Pinche greed. This is an old post introducing an older letter. But the story of the Caesar is older still, so it is all still current. Sort of. * * * This is a letter I wrote a few years ago (March, 2004, to be exact) to the editor of The Los Angeles Times in response to a small round-up their intrepid reporter, Leslee Komaiko, had done on Caesar salads. I think it may be the single most important thing I have ever written. Why is it so important? Because it is so good -- not the writing, silly, the salad! And because sometimes leaving well enough alone is the best idea by far--and I think that in the current climate of foams and Food, Inc. we need to remember that simple fact. The Whole Caesar Story I wanted to comment on Leslee Komaiko's Caesar salad bit in Restaurant Journal ("Render Unto Caesar That Which is Leafy," Feb 25). I have strong opinions about the Caesar Salad and know a little about it as a result of my being from Tijuana, my dad having owned a Caesar-serving steakhouse there in the 1960's, and my having done research in Tijuana, as a freelance food writer, for various food stories. I too have noticed a lot of whole-leaf Caesars (WLCs) out there [that's what Komaiko's story was about], and as far as I'm concerned, this is good news. These simple, whole-leaf Caesars are a welcome respite from all those whacked-out reinvented Caesars. Copious amounts of garlic and the ubiquitous sliced breast of chicken aside, I've seen offenses from jalapeño polenta croutons to a salad of dandelion greens, arugula and mâche with caviar "Caesar" dressing and watermelon "croutons." But the main reason I get that heart-swelling sensation every time I see a well-executed whole-leaf Caesar is because, contrary to the idea stated in the article--that it's "an affront to muck with the classic"--the WLC is not only the better Caesar, it is the classic Caesar. At the Caesar Hotel in Tijuana [which last I saw had sadly changed its name to the Caesar Sports Bar & Grill], where it was invented, the salad is served whole leaf, as it always was. At my dad's restaurant, El Bodegon de Guillermo, which was across the street from the Caesar Hotel, he served it whole leaf. And the recipe that [Mexican culinary authority] Diana Kennedy gave me for the salad, which she got from its inventor, Caesar Cardini, when she met him in Mexico City some 40 years or more ago, calls for the hearts of romaine leaves to be whole. As for the fact that you have to use a knife and fork, well, the salad is intended to be eaten--or at least you have the option to eat it--with your fingers. Simple and straightforward as the Caesar is, there are tricks to making a good one. Start with sweet romaine lettuce and be wiling to throw out more than your good conscience allows: Chuck all the outer dark leaves and cut off all floppy dark green ends of even the inner romaine leaves. What you're left with will be only the crispy, light green hearts of the romaine, which stand up to the heavy dressing. Use key lime (a.k.a Mexican lime) juice in place of the lemon juice, of course use fresh eggs (not mayo) and good Parmesan. Mash and whisk the dressing in a big, wooden salad bowl to which you'll then add those light, crispy romaine leaves and croutons and, yes, toss. The only other piece of advice for making a good Caesar is: Do not lay those dead canned fish on the salad. Traditionally the dead fish go onto the croutons. Nowadays, even at the hotel in Tijuana, the anchovies are mashed into the dressing (rather than on the crouton). But no self-respecting Caesar making chef would ever lay the things on the lettuce. May the table side tossing of the classic whole-leaf hearts of romaine Caesar begin. Again. Original Caesar Salad From the Caesar Hotel on Avenída Revolución, Tijuana 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil 2 garlic cloves, crushed 16 three-eight inch slices baguette 4 teaspoons anchovy paste 1 to 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar 2 tablespoons fresh juice of limes (preferably Mexican or Key limes) 1 one-minute coddled egg Dash of Worcestershire Sauce 1/3 cup garlic-infused olive oil [skeptical about this only because there are so few good ones] 1/2 cup finely grated Parmesan cheese [If I were writing this recipe, I would write, "6 tablespoons grated Parm, plus a wedge for grating cheese over the finished salad] 1/4 teaspoon salt 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper 3 heads romaine lettuce leaves, trimmed mercilessly, washed, drained, and chilled 1. To make the croutons, heat the olive oil and garlic in a skillet. Spread anchovy paste on one side of each baguette slice. Place the slices paste side down in hot oil and cook for 30 to 40 seconds, then turn and toast the other side. Place them on paper towels to drain and continue until you've fried up all the croutons. [Here I would tell you to buy one of Nancy Silverton's books that have her recipe for torn croutons.] 2. Stir together the vinegar, lime juice, coddled egg and Worcestershire sauce in a big wooden salad bowl. [I seem to remember DK and my dad and the waiter at the Caesar hotel adding mustard and Tobasco at this point. I'll have to find the old Diana Kennedy recipe.] Then add the garlic-infused olive oil in a thin stead stream, whisking constantly to form an emulsion. Stir in 6 tablespoons of the Parmesan cheese, salt and pepper. Add the romaine leaves and croutons and toss until the lettuce is coated with the dressing. To serve, divide the salad among 4 chilled plates and sprinkle with the remaining Parmesan. [Alternatively, grate a nice thin layer dusting of Parm over the salads, like freshly fallen snow...]
 
Public Option Headed For Vote Tomorrow Top
The public option is headed for a vote in the Senate Finance Committee on Friday. Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.) lamented on a conference call Thursday evening that the debate Friday would be the first time that the committee, since it began negotiating health care reform months ago, would be debating the public option. "We're going to have a full blown debate in the Finance Committee," said Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), a backer of the public option. While it may be an "underdog," Schumer said, "don't count it out." The bill in its present form, written by Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) in consultation with three Republicans and two Democrats on the committee, offers health care cooperatives as an alternative. Proponents argue that a public health insurance option is needed to lower government costs and to expand coverage. By competing with private insurance companies, the public alternative can drive down premiums that private plans with monopolistic dominance now charge. "I'd like to make a prediction," said Schumer. "The health care bill that will be signed into law by the president will have a good, strong, robust public option." President Obama supports a public option and in the House, conservative Democratic opposition to the public option is fading, leaving the Senate as the remaining obstacle. More on Max Baucus
 
Brandon Mendelson: Oh Noes, You're Outrage: Hating On The Family Guy Critics Top
Let’s walk through the following blog post. The excerpts are from “ Family Guy Hacks A Cat To Death: Humor Or Repugnance? ” “That’s it. I’m not going to sit here any longer and do nothing but jaw with supporters of Family Guy on my Hub”‘ If you don’t want to jaw with them, why don’t you just delete the comments or block the users? Why does everyone think a blog is a democracy?  Its not. “I’ve just sent this letter to People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) through media channels and intend to follow up to ensure that action is taken.” Really? Granted, PETA freaks over everything ( just ask the president ), but it’s a cartoon . A. Car. Tooooooon. Out of everything to be offended with on Family Guy ( how about that joke with Meg, the hot dogs, and the New York Knicks? ) you’re upset about Peter killing a cat?   Stewie beating the crap out of Brian  was ok? Hmm. Brutal violence. Questionably racist hot dogs. No? Not offended? But an anoynmous cat? Oh NOES, YOU’RE OUTRAGE! “As a leading blogger on the number one internet publishing platform HubPages, I have railed against Seth MacFarlane and Fox Network’s Family Guy for unethical and repugnant subject matter which has no right to be shown on the public airwaves of the nation. Whoa. A  leading  blogger? Sorry dude,  unless you’re on this list , the only thing you’re leading is a trail of smoked bullshit. I’ll give you that Hubpages has a lot of traffic, but if you’re a leading blogger, wouldn’t you need to appear on, oh I don’t know,  on the first twenty pages  or so of the best Hubspot authors? Oh, and number one Internet publishing platform? Hmmm. Blogger. Wordpress. Typepad. Even Live Journal is ranked higher than Hubpages on Alexa. “However, in the episode of Family Guy aired last night, April 19, 2009, this following scene completely left me disgusted, nauseated and revolted:” Wait. I thought, “I have railed against Seth MacFarlane and Fox Network’s Family Guy for unethical and repugnant subject matter which has no right to be shown on the public airwaves of the nation”. So  why are you still watching it? “ “As a lifelong animal lover I cannot possibly imagine the effect that this scene can have on children, showing one of their cartoon heroes savagely killing and desecrating the corpse of a household pet.” Dude.  I taught in the ghetto . If you think what kids see on Family Guy is going to have an adverse effect on them, you’re a fool. I find no redeeming social value to a young impressionable child channel surfing and watching what to all outward appearances is a fun kiddie cartoon and ending up viewing a man mutilating a household pet or a half naked woman trying to have sex with a tied-up dog, whether the dog is anthropomorphosized or not. Television broadcasts not on PBS require social value? I realize  Kim Kardashian is hot,  but where’s the social value in Keeping Up With The Kardashians ? I’m pretty sure Family Guy airs at 9pm. It’s not 10pm, which is when it should air if you want to split hairs concerning content that airs according to the FCC guidelines, but I like how you assume: 1) Kids are retarded. They’re not. 2) That kids are watching the show on television.  They’re not ,  they’re watching on Hulu . AND if their parents are responsible, the family computer is downstairs, not in the bedroom, where an adult is around if needed if not present as the kids are watching these shows. “I see no reason why the public airwaves must feature content which not only  promotes  felonies, pornography, bestiality, animal mutilation, and other forms of horrific violent nihilism, but wraps them in a cartoon format to specifically appeal to young people.” You know  The Flintstones when they aired promoted cigarettes , not to mention sexism, right? And that was outright  promotion , Family Guy , The Simpsons , Married With Children , I could go on, but that is all satire meant for entertainment. If you can’t deal with it, you can tune out the “public” airwaves in favor of any number of alternatives. I hear that Internets is awesome. “I have been advocating that Fox remove Family Guy from the broadcast airwaves, and either put it on an XXX rated satellite channel which is for adults only, or package it in a DVD format and sell it in adult stores. If Family Guy is on the public airwaves which are administered by the FCC on behalf of the people of the United States, then it needs to be removed immediately as pornography.” Yes.  He said that. “PETA has a long history of activism against television broadcasters who promote animal cruelty. From Reuters on August 15, 2007 with regards to a Gaza TV station airing footage of a cat being swung by his tail: “It’s shocking and sickening,” said Martin Mersereau, manager of the domestic animal abuse division of U.S.-based People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA).” Huh. An actual person swinging a cat around violently registers a response from PETA. Whoa. I am now freaking out! If PETA took this level of action with a single television station in a very small market and audience, I hereby formally request that your agency act immediately and forcefully against a television program promoting the massacre of a household pet viewed last night by millions of Americans. I’m failing to see the quantum leap here. PETA responded to a program featuring actual people abusing actual cats in the name of education. I won’t debate the merits of Palestinian Television  (this clip says it all ), but you want them to freak out on a fictional person, abusing a fictional cat, in a cartoon, because you’re offended? Listen, no one cares what I think. That’s why I’m posting this on my blog and not answering this on television or in the news. No one cares what this author thinks either. All because we’re all social publishers doesn’t mean people care about what we have to say. Quite honestly, I’m tired of folks like this. Bullies. You remember bullies? That’s what they’re being right now. A loud, stupid, bully who is trying to grind their axe against a cartoon, and to what end? Let’s say the author has their way and Fox suddenly caved and pulled Family Guy off the air. Then what? They’ll find something else to be outraged with. And then something else. And then something else. In most cases, this would be an assumption on my part, but for people like them, this has been the course of action for  years  now. All these idiots all worked up thinking what they say matters suddenly because they’ve found other idiots who share their myopic opinions. For all the good social publishing has brought to us, these people represent the worst kind of evil. The kind our young men and women go overseas to fight against. No sir, I call bullshit on this author, their misdirected anger, and the kind of America he and his friends would leave us with. Enough is enough and I’m tired of the stupids dictating what we can and can’t do or watch. If we don’t stand up to bullies like this, it won’t end until bland, stale programming, not targeted to anyone in particular, airs on every single channel, on every time of night, on every website  around the world . What. Did you think they would stop with America? We will all live in a place where we dress the
 
Jonathan Handel: SAG Moderates Win NY & Everywhere Else Top
According to unofficial sources, and as SAGWatch is reporting, SAG moderates have won every open NY Board seat that was up, and all the regional seats that were up as well. Hollywood results are not in yet (expected in 1.5 hrs or so), but all the seats up in Hollywood are hardline Membership First - thus, they can only lose more seats, or hold Hollywood numbers at best. Presidential and Secretary results are expected in 1.5 hrs also, but the NY and RBD (regional) results don't bode well for MF, especially since two hardline presidential candidates (Anne-Marie Johnson and Seymour Cassel) are splitting the hardline vote. The interesting question will be whether moderate Unite for Strength candidate Ken Howard achieves a vote total greater than the sum of Johnson and Cassel. If not, the hardliners can be expected to declare a moral victory, and the signal to AFTRA may be that SAG has still not turned a corner sufficient to realistically talk about merger. Indeed, unless Howard gets well over 60% of the vote, AFTRA may still be gun shy, since 60% is the threshold needing to approve merger. SAG has failed twice in the last decade to achieve that threshold, and AFTRA leaders have indicated that they won't discuss merger unless the signals from SAG are more favorable than they have been. Either way, management should remember that moderates as well as hardliners have indicated that they will be ready to seek a strike authorization during the next negotiations if necessary, as I reported recently. It's going to take flexible negotiations by management to avoid a meltdown in 2010 (early negotiations start Oct. 1, 2010,just a year away) and 2011. More later. More on Labor
 
Colorado Policy Center Poll: More Than Half Of Coloradans Believe TABOR Should Be Repealed Top
Nearly half of Colorado voters think the state is off on the wrong track, although those in the Denver area are more positive, according to a new poll commissioned by the Colorado Policy Institute. And a majority thinks that the Taxpayer Bill of Rights (TABOR), which requires tax increases to be approved by voters, should be repealed.
 
Banks Aim To Kill Consumer Protection Agency -- With GOP Help Top
If you doubt that U.S. banks long to return to the days of impotent regulation, you need only look at one of the financial sector's top legislative priorities: killing a proposed new agency that would be dedicated solely to protecting consumers' financial interests. The Obama administration is asking Congress to create a new Consumer Financial Protection Agency to regulate consumer financial products ranging from credit cards to mortgages, and to simplify disclosure about them all. More on Banks
 
Christopher Brauchli: Life Insurance -- Bankers' New Best Friend Top
A power has risen up in the government greater than the people themselves, consisting of many and various and powerful interests, combined into one mass, and held together by the cohesive power of the vast surplus in the banks. John C. Calhoun, Speech from 1836 The fun has not gone out of banking after all. Following the disastrous fall of 2008, conventional wisdom had it that many of the things that made banking fun, like amazing bonuses and fascinating (if not understood) financial instruments were going to follow the dinosaur into extinction. That, of course, did not happen. Bonuses are as big as ever and a recent announcement discloses that a new financial instrument that is far more interesting than a bundle of mortgages is about to hit the market. It involves life insurance. For years life insurance was thought of as something to provide cash following its owner's death to be used for a variety of purposes ranging from the payment of taxes to providing funds for young families to replace the lost earnings of the parent who died. As families grew older, in many cases the need for life insurance diminished. Owners of those policies took advantage of the cash value in the policy and accepted that amount from the company in lieu of keeping the policy in force. Since the cash value the policy holder received was much less than what the company would have to pay were the policy in force at the policy holder's death, the insurance company was delighted to redeem the policy for its cash value instead of its face value. Unfortunately for the insurance companies, a greedy group of people sprang up who said to policy holders that getting cash value from the life insurance policy was a rip-off. They offered to buy the policies for more than their cash value. The purchasers figured out how long the insured was likely to live and, adding in the policy proceeds payable at death, came up with a price they were willing to pay the insured. The insured, who no longer wanted the insurance, was delighted to have more than the cash value of the policy to spend before death. Sensing a good thing, Wall Street has figured out how to turn this practice into something that is even better than the collateralized debt obligations based on mortgages. (Those would have been a win-win situation for everyone if the unimaginable and unimagined had not occurred.) This latest financial instrument is a guaranteed win-win almost for sure. Here is how it works: Assume that one thousand very old people all have $1 million life insurance polices with low cash values. Those people would not be tempted to cash in their policies for the cash value. Along comes a bank and agrees to pay each of them $700,000 for the policy. It names itself the beneficiary, begins paying the premiums and bundles the 1000 policies into a $700 million bond called "Death Pays" and sells interests in the bond to investors. If all the insureds die within 30 days, the investors will be thrilled because Death Pays will now be worth $1 billion, an increase in value for the investors of $300 million in 30 days. If, however, all the insureds take the money they got from selling their policies and go on a tour sponsored by AARP to a spa that has a treatment that gives them an additional 30 years of life, the holders of "Death Pays" will be less than thrilled. (Were that to happen the issuer of "Death Pays" bonds might hire hit men to accelerate events that would cause the policies to mature but that brings with it a completely different set of problems that are beyond the scope of this column to examine.) Life insurance companies are not terribly happy with the idea that their policies will remain in force instead of being sold for cash value. If this new idea catches on, more and more of their policies will be bought and kept in force until the happy day the insured dies. Indeed, Kathleen Tillwitz, a senior vice-president at a firm that is rating nine proposals for life-insurance securitizations from private investors told the New York Times that "our phones have been ringing off the hook with inquiries." An investment banker not authorized to speak to the NYT (or other media) who spoke to the NYT said: "We're hoping to get a herd stampeding after the first offering." Some analysts say that this is a wonderful new product since death is not related to the rise and fall of stocks. They are right, unless a dramatic fall in the stock market is accompanied by falls from window ledges as happened during the Great Depression. If that were to happen the amounts owed by the companies on the life insurance policies could exceed the insurance companies' ability to pay, thus causing their insolvency and the need for a government bailout. Thanks to the sophistication of those constructing these new investments, that almost certainly will never happen. Christopher Brauchli can be e-mailed at brauchli.56@post.harvard.edu . For political commentary see his web page at http://humanraceandothersports.com More on Banks
 
Early Childhood Education: Key to Fixing Our Economy Top
MOUNTAIN VILLAGE - "When you look at a house you may not see its foundation. But that's what holds it up. And if the foundation of a house is cracked, you have to fix it - even if it means skimping on other things," BusinessWeek Chief Economist Michael Mandel told the group of businesspeople, political leaders and authorities on finance and education gathered for this week's Third Annual Economic Summit on Early Childhood Investment, co-sponsored by the Telluride Foundation and the Partnership for America's Economic Success.
 
Lieberman: Afghanistan Could Turn Into Post-WWII Germany Being Overrun By Nazis Top
One of the chief proponents for increasing U.S. force levels in Afghanistan argued on Thursday that to pursue any lesser strategy would be the equivalent of appeasing a theoretical rebirth of Nazism in the aftermath of World War II. Senator Joseph Lieberman (I-CT), one of Congress' most hawkish members, made the odd historical analogy during an interview with Fox News' Neil Cavuto. Urging President Barack Obama to follow the advice of his military commanders on the ground - who have called for an additional 40,000 U.S. troops -- the Independent-Democrat dismissed the notion that there was any parallel between the Afghan war (now in its eight year) and Vietnam. "Unlike Vietnam," said Lieberman. "Afghanistan is a place from which America was attacked on 9/11. And if we pull out or try a strategy that doesn't work, those who attacked us will regain that country. That is unthinkable." "It's more like, and I hate to use the analogy, it is like the Second World War," he went on. "Shortly after it was over, if the Nazis began to form again and tried to take back Germany from a new democratic government, what would we have done? We would not have stood by and let it happen!" In politics, the general rule is to stay away from Nazi analogies, even those based on a dark historical hypothetical. But this isn't the first time that the neoconservative crowd has raised the specter of appeasement to pressure Obama. In the months before the election, then-President Bush appeared before the Israeli Parliament and subtly accused the then-candidate of embracing the "false comfort of appeasement" when it came to terrorism or rogue regimes. Get HuffPost Politics On Facebook and Twitter!
 
Mikko Alanne: Meat the Truth Top
This is not another doom and gloom piece about how eating meat is destroying the planet, I promise. But Ecorazzi senior editor Michael Parrish DuDell's recent blog about environmentalists partying with beef tartar got me thinking: If people know about the massive global damage caused by meat production, why is making a change so difficult? Is it because people don't care? Is it because it's too difficult to give up meat? I'd argue it's neither. It's simply because we all think: it's just me and my burger, what's the difference? Well, instead of more stark statistics and guilt, I thought I'd try something different: inspirational facts on the difference you could be making. The source for the following list is Marianne Thieme's amazing documentary, Meat the Truth , a quirky, unauthorized sequel of sorts to the more famed An Inconvenient Truth . You can watch an abbreviated version of the film here . Here's what Marianne's research team found it would mean if all Americans left meat off their plates for just one day. Or two. And so on. I suggest you print out this list and put in on your fridge door, you might just get inspired: If all Americans did not eat meat for one day a week, they would save 99.6 megatons of greenhouse gas emissions. This would be the equivalent of removing 46 million round trip flights between Los Angeles and New York, or taking 19.2 million cars off the road for a full year. If everyone in the US did not eat meat for two days a week, they would save 199 megatons of greenhouse gas emissions. This would have the same effect as replacing ALL household appliances in the US with energy efficient ones. If all Americans did not eat meat for three days a week, they would save almost 300 megatons of greenhouse gas emissions. This would have a greater impact on the climate than replacing all US cars with Toyota Priuses. If everyone in the US did not eat meat for four days a week, they would save 398 megatons of greenhouse gas emissions. This would be the carbon savings equivalent of cutting the use of all electricity, gas, oil, petroleum, and kerosene in the United States in half. If all Americans abstained from eating meat for five days a week, they would save 498 megatons of greenhouse gas emissions. This would result in the carbon savings equivalent of planting 13 billion trees and letting them grow for ten years. If all Americans did not eat meat for six days a week, they would save nearly 600 megatons of greenhouse gas emissions. This would be the equivalent of eliminating the total electricity use of all households in the United States. And finally: If everyone in the United States ate a vegetarian diet for seven days, they would save around 700 megatons of greenhouse gas emissions. That would be the same as removing all the cars off the roads in the US. Need another reason? I thought not. And if you're one of those people who still feels I'm just trying come between you and your burger, I say: not at all. Just eat a veggie burger. At least once a week. More on Airlines
 
Deepak Bhargava: Sick of It Top
Two hundred people led by Take Action Minnesota marched to the front doors of the UnitedHealth Group headquarters on Tuesday, one of the largest private insurance companies in the country. The marchers, who like health care reform advocates at 150 similar events across the country that day, came with one message as they gathered in a circle around the front door: "Sick of it." UnitedHealth Group and other private insurance companies have perfected the art of how to make the most money and take care of the least amount of people, and America is sick and tired of it. We're sick and tired of paying escalating health care premiums and not getting covered for the care we need when we need it. Take the heart wrenching story of 16-year-old Codi Nicole Alexander of Gaithersburg, MD. In August, she was hit by an SUV while riding her bicycle. She was crossing in a sidewalk and wearing a helmet. Despite the helmet, she sustained severe brain injuries and eventually died. How did the insurance companies respond to this tragedy? By seizing money from the auto insurance companies that otherwise would have paid her funeral, burial plot and other associated expenses. This family's gift from the Blue Cross Blue Shield after years of paying premiums and in the face of horrible tragedy: a bill for deductibles, out of pocket expenses and a funeral. This family's nightmare is just one of many. We're sick and tired of insurance companies denying health care coverage because of pre-existing conditions. Consider the case of Dian Bolling of Roanoke, VA whose first child was born with a half of a heart and has had to undergo multiple surgeries through out childhood. In addition, all three of her children were born with Fragile X, a genetic syndrome similar to Autism. After years of fighting with health insurance over their children's care, Dian's husband was unceremoniously let go from his job. This left them with no insurance and medical bills that bankrupted them. They still don't have family insurance because of their children's pre-existing condition. It's clear to the majority of Americans we need reform. Despite the many heart breaking stories like these, insurance companies are spending millions to fight reform and keep things exactly the way they are. As the Senate Finance Committee continues to mark up its bill, we need to remember people like Codi Nicole and Dian. We cannot allow special interests to get in the way of thoughtful legislating at a time when we need it most. True health care reform must be affordable, provide good benefits, end medical bankruptcy and create a public health insurance option to prevent private insurance companies from continuing the treatment Codi and Dian received. As we speak, Congress is considering amendments that are bought and paid for by the private insurance. Senator Jon Kyl, for instance, proposes to protect the ability of insurance companies to discriminate based on pre-existing conditions, health status, and gender and allows insurance companies to drop the policies of enrollees when they get sick. Senator Chuck Grassley proposes eliminating even moderate assistance for the middle class, forcing families to continue to pay exorbitant private insurance costs. Senator Hatch wants to eliminate access to care for the lowest-income Americans. The health reform advocates who marched outside the UnitedHealth Group carried 744 green balloons with dollar signs on them. That's one balloon for each $1 million in stock options UnitedHealth Group's chief executive received. Even more, the $1.4 million dollars being spent by the insurance lobby in the halls of Congress EVERY DAY is distorting this debate and taking our eyes off what this is really about: people who are being victimized by the profit incentive. It's time for Congress to listen to real people and implement real reform because America is sick of it.
 
Pamela W. Barnes: Women Unite to Achieve the Millennium Development Goals Top
As the CEO of the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation, I was honored to attend the Important Dinner for Women last night in New York City. Co-hosted by Wendi Murdoch, Queen Rania of Jordan, and Indra Nooyi, CEO of PepsiCo, this event brought together hundreds of women from around the globe who are committed to achieving the United Nations' Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) - a blueprint for meeting the needs of the world's poorest people by 2015. Several of the MDGs - including safeguarding maternal and child health and combating HIV/AIDS - are particularly relevant to the welfare of women and their children around the world. The dinner highlighted Goal 5, which seeks to reduce maternal deaths by 75% by 2015. In response to the challenge issued by the co-hosts of the dinner, the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation has pledged to work with its partners and other stakeholders to reach 15 million pregnant women with services to prevent mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT) of HIV in many of the world's most vulnerable countries between now and 2013. In the developed world, we have made HIV testing for pregnant women - and PMTCT services for those who test positive - a routine practice to protect the health of both mother and baby. In doing so, we've been able to reduce the risk of HIV transmission from mother to child to just 2% in the United States. Yet around the world, a majority of women who need HIV testing and PMTCT services still do not receive them. This of course puts the health of countless mothers in jeopardy - and also leads to 1,000 preventable pediatric HIV infections every day in countries already so hard hit by other public health challenges. The Foundation works in many countries facing the devastating impact of HIV/AIDS to support and strengthen local health infrastructures, and provide services through antenatal clinics to safeguard the lives of mothers and children. By striving to provide universal access to HIV testing and PMTCT to pregnant women, we can make great strides in improving maternal and child health overall, not to mention fighting the spread of HIV. Twenty years ago, Elizabeth Glaser realized the moment had come to change attitudes, demand action, and give a voice to mothers and children living with HIV and AIDS in the United States, where the pandemic was devastating millions of lives, ultimately taking the life of her daughter, Ariel. Now is a new moment of action to achieve the Millennium Development Goals - to affect and change the lives of the women and children around the world who need our commitment the most. The Foundation has launched the Join The Moment initiative to finish the work that Elizabeth started, and to speed us toward the goal of eradicating pediatric AIDS. Join us today. Participate. Advocate. Donate. Watch this video about the Foundation's commitment to achieving the MDGs:
 
Eugene Volokh: Free Speech and Funeral Picketing: Top
The Fourth Circuit has just reversed — in Snyder v. Phelps — the $5 million intentional infliction of emotional distress / invasion of privacy verdict against the Phelpsians (that's the "God Hates Fags" group) who picketed the funeral of a slain soldier. The court essentially concluded that, at least where speech on matters of public concern is involved (see pp. 25-26), the First Amendment precludes liability based on "statements on matters of public concern that fail to contain a 'provably false factual connotation'" (see pp. 16-20). This applies not just to libel liability, but also liability for intentional infliction of emotional distress and intrusion upon seclusion (the specific form of invasion of privacy alleged here). If the speech fits within "one of the categorical exclusions from First Amendment protection, such as those for obscenity or ' fighting words '" (p. 18 n.12) it might be actionable. But if it's outside those exceptions, then it can't form the basis for an intentional infliction of emotional distress or intrusion upon seclusion lawsuit — regardless of whether it's "offensive and shocking," or whether it constitutes "intentional, reckless, or extreme and outrageous conduct causing ... severe emotional distress" (p. 23). I think the court was quite right, for the reasons I gave in my earlier criticisms of the district court's allowing the verdict. In particular, the decision helps forestall similar liability for other allegedly outrageously offensive speech, such as display of the Mohammed cartoons (or other restrictions on such speech, such as campus speech codes' being applied to punish display of the cartoons). The court did leave open the possibility that some content-neutral restrictions on funeral picketing may be imposed (p. 32), but it didn't discuss this in detail. For more on that, see here . One of the three panel members, Judge Shedd, didn't reach the First Amendment issue, but concluded that (1) there wasn't intrusion upon seclusion under Maryland law because the protest was in a public place, and not even very near the funeral (p. 40), (2) the protest was not "extreme and outrageous" enough for purposes of the emotional distress tort because it was "confined to a public area under supervision and regulation of local law enforcement and did not disrupt the church service." Thanks to How Appealing for the pointer.
 
Roseanne Colletti: Doggie Cam Top
Let's admit it, our dogs are our children with less backtalk. Our own personal canines are always glad to see us, we don't have to worry about their friends or more importantly who they marry, unless of course we're breeders, then we care a lot. That being said watching your dog on the web while you're at work seems like a no brainer for entertainment. After all if parents installed nanny cam to make sure the babysitter wasn't ignoring or worse, beating up on the kids, then why wouldn't any caring pet owner want to make sure Fido or Fifi is safe and sound at the doggie day care center. This brings me to a recent encounter with dog owner Alfonso Quirzo. He reluctantly leaves Bruno, a 9-month-old Brussels Griffon at The Paw Stop each day before work in lower Manhattan.( thepawstop.com ) Believe me, this is no dive; there is air-conditioning, a doggie play set, even a television in the communal room. And there are two of those, one for little bitty dogs and another for the big ones. What makes this place special, though not as special as a few years ago when there were fewer of them with a web cam set up, is the internet connection allowing pet owners to view their little dears. Staffer Michelle Areton says clients really like to log on to the store's website and watch the doggie doin's during the day. "They come in to pick up their dogs at the end of the day and may remark "I couldn't see him or her on the camera. I guess he was out of range," quips Michelle. Blake Wallizer, President of Denver based onlinedoggie.com says use of such cameras and online streaming is becoming a necessity for pet care providers rather than a luxury feature. Wallizer's company supplies and services such doggie cam owners. "People want to know that their canine incarcerated at a care center for most of the day is actually enjoying a healthy experience," he says. Of course, the dogs don't know they're on camera and their beloved owner can peek in at any time. The four-footed woofers just go about the business of acting like dogs. When Alfonso remarked that he learned a lot about Bruno that he didn't know before because of watching on the web cam, I only wondered how much do you really need to know about a dog? After all, your best friend doesn't have to declare a major, write a job description, or even fill a sale quota. The critter just has to lick your face when you come home and not remind you of all the things you screwed up for the day. What owners like Alonso really seems to want is a connection with that little creature that warms your heart, makes you smile and feel loved and valued. "I got to see the lady dog he was focused on," says Alonso. If he wasn't able to observe over the web, he might never have known Bruno had a crush. It may seem kind of silly to a non-pet owner, but it's doggone powerful stuff when it's your dog and you're away from it a lot. (If you want to read more of my stories and catch up on celebrity gossip, check out GossipGram on nbcnewyork.com ) More on Dogs
 

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