Friday, October 2, 2009

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Rinku Sen: ACORN is the New Dirty Word Top
Over the last 18 months, conservatives have launched a nationwide assault on the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN), which is now peaking with widespread media coverage and Congressional action. This isn't the first time that the 37-year-old organization has been under attack. With chapters in more than half the 50 states, it is arguably the largest national network that consistently organizes truly poor people, the vast majority being immigrants and people of color. In that time, ACORN has helped communities organize for desperately needed changes, from living wage ordinances to policies that protect every child's right to a high quality education. In this time, ACORN has angered many a local politician and multinational corporation, and these folks would be perfectly happy not only to see ACORN go down, but also to deal a blow to poor people organizing for power. There are three major accusations against the group. First, that there is widespread financial corruption; second that they engage in massive voter fraud; and finally that they have too many different entities hiding their relationship to each other to get around legal limitations. As a natural outgrowth of its organizing, ACORN has provided critical services, including mortgage counseling, voter registration and tax preparation. These services were sometimes funded through federal government contracts, and it is those contracts that Congress is now threatening to end. The only hard fact is that there was embezzlement. Though problematic, it was addressed both within and outside of the organization. The rest is a mash-up of misinformation with a lot of red-baiting and race-baiting, as Peter Dreier, the Dr. E.P. Clapp Distinguished Professor of Politics, and director of the Urban & Environmental Policy Program at Occidental College in Los Angeles, and others have reported. These fabrications are designed to arouse distrust of collective action. The campaign against ACORN serves as an attack on organizing as a whole, which no community of color can afford not to do. We can see it from the denunciation of President Obama's background in community organizing to Glenn Beck's attacks on environmental leader Van Jones, cultural leader Yosi Sergeant and FCC Diversity Chief Mark Lloyd. This attack, like those, is a warning to anyone who adopts organizing as a social change strategy. Does ACORN need tighter internal controls? Certainly, and so do most community organizations, which are perpetually cash-strapped, in part because funders are never interested in funding "overhead" and "administration." If the search for "corruption" among community-based organizations gathers steam, I guarantee that any number of groups will be tied up in investigative hell for years. It's dangerous to imagine that once they're done with ACORN, the right won't come looking for that one mistake you made years ago that can be attached to a bunch of lies to discredit and take down your organization. Obviously, we should pay attention to our inner workings, whether someone is paying for that or not, but even the most rigorous internal scrutiny won't save us from a well-funded opposition that is willing to lie. The attack on ACORN isn't about fighting corruption. If it was, then dozens of corporations with federal contracts far larger than ACORN's would be under investigation now, or would already have been cut off. The anti-ACORN Senate bill implicates any government contractor that has fraudulent paperwork, or is accused of violating lobbying or campaign finance laws. That list includes Blackwater, the private security contractor that has been implicated in civilian deaths during the Iraq war. Florida Congressman Alan Grayson is collecting a list of such contractors. Of course, Congress could make ACORN obsolete by passing and enforcing laws that protect poor people from being pushed to the margins of society. Instead of paying ACORN to register voters, the federal government could actually punish voter suppression, which is largely directed at people of color and immigrants. It could adopt automatic voter registration systems that would be triggered by an 18th birthday or driver's license being issued. It could pass predatory lending laws that protect us from insane interest rates, and then ACORN wouldn't have to counsel its members about avoiding foreclosure. The assault on ACORN is an assault on community organizing. Organizing is essential to building the power of poor people, immigrants and people of color to protect their interests. This is the time to stand up for ACORN, not just to keep this vital part of our national infrastructure, but also to prevent the hate from tying up all of us. That's why we must demand that our election officials and media outlets stop this unwarranted campaign against the poor and people of color.
 
Amazon 1984 Settlement: High School Student Awarded $150,000 Top
Amazon.com Inc. has agreed to pay $150,000 to settle a federal lawsuit brought by a Michigan high school student and an California academic whose electronic copies of George Orwell's novel, 1984 were deleted from their Kindle devices in mid-July.
 
James Zogby: Obama's Next Middle East Challenge Top
With the dust having settled following President Obama's New York meetings with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, a sober assessment of what actually happened, and what may happen next, is in order. In the days following the bilateral meetings, the trilateral session and President Obama's speech to the General Assembly, reactions were predictable. The Israeli side, taking their cue from Netanyahu, crowed, while much of the Arab media both criticized Obama for "caving in" in the face of Israeli intransigence, and decried the humiliation of Abbas--who was seen as having been abandoned by the US on the critical issue of settlements. In the US, reactions varied, ranging from supporters of the White House who keyed in on Obama's "impatience" and "sense of urgency", to critics who termed the President's performance weak and indecisive. Several observations must be made: - The notion that Netanyahu won and Abbas lost may be right, but only because this was a widely shared perception which will, no doubt, have political consequences, at least in the short term. The hard-line right in Israel feels emboldened, as is evidenced by some of Netanyahu's own comments and the provocative behavior of some of his supporters. Similarly, the Palestinian Authority's hard-line opponents have also felt emboldened, stepping up their criticism of Abbas' leadership. - The claim that Obama "blinked" because Israel refused to accept a settlement freeze, thereby frustrating the President's efforts to elicit parallel confidence-building gestures from the Arab states, creating the positive environment that would have "kick started" negotiations, may also be true. But only to a degree. It can also be argued that the United States President was attempting to make the best of a bad situation by pressing forward with his three-way meeting in which he expressed his impatience and declared his determination to move forward to permanent status negotiations. How much worse would it have been, one might reasonably ask, had the President done nothing and appeared to be surrendering to a troubled impasse. - In this context, it is important to recall that in his public and private remarks Obama made clear his intention not just to move to "negotiations without preconditions" (which is what Netanyahu may have wanted), but to move to negotiations that would address "all outstanding issues" and be based on "the historical record of past negotiations" dealing with "permanent status issues: security, borders, refugees, and Jerusalem" (which is what Netanyahu clearly did not want). And, Obama did not forsake his position that "America does not accept the legitimacy of continued Israeli settlements". - This said, it appears that while Netanyahu can boast of emerging as "victor" from this round, it may be both short lived and "hollow". The negotiations he sought were to have been limited to security cooperation and economic peace. This is not what he will get. Instead, it was Obama who laid down firm markers for the content and direction of the next round. - The President's "impatience" and "sense of urgency" should also be noted, for two reasons. Time is not on the side of peacemaking. As long as Israel drags its feet and continues to establish "facts on the ground", a peace agreement becomes more difficult to achieve. And, given the continuing dangers posed by other regional concerns, delay makes moving toward a resolution of the conflict more necessary, and at the same time, more complicated. Because, as Obama continues to assert, a comprehensive regional peace is not just an Israeli and Arab concern, but a matter of US national security interests, he insists that he is redoubling his efforts to push his team to get negotiations underway in the coming weeks. For now, Mitchell will continue with US-Israel and US-Palestinian bilateral talks. As the President made clear, these intensive consultations will continue for but a short time. By mid-October, Mitchell is to report to Secretary of State Clinton, who, in turn will give a progress report to the President. Should the impasse remain, and that is the likely scenario, many believe that Obama will need to step forward making a long-awaited intervention--laying out a plan of his own. It is at this point that the mettle of the Obama Administration will truly be tested. The bottom line to all of this is that, as unsettling and confusing as the New York events may have been, they are but a step in a longer process, setting the stage for a more substantial challenge and, possibly, another showdown in the weeks ahead, where another setback will not be an option. More on Obama's Mideast Trip
 
Guy T. Saperstein: Obama Blows the Olympics Top
Losing the Olympics to Rio de Janeiro just shows that Dick Cheney, Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh and the Republicans have been right all along. Relying on reasoning, discussion and goodwill is just bullshit. What did the Obamas think the Olympic Committee was, the fucking United Nations General Assembly, or something? And what are we, some whiny little country like Brazil? Hell no! We're the Hegemon. Instead of sending Michelle and Barack to reason with those Socialist and Commie bastards on the Olympic Committee, we should have sent those 40,000 troops slated to go to Afghanistan to Copenhagen instead. You can bet that if the Olympic Committee members had needed to ask permission from our troops to get out of their hotel rooms or use the bathroom, they would have thought twice before rejecting Chicago as the 2016 Olympic site. And if our troops had just kicked down a few hotel room doors as examples of our nation's commitment to Olympic values, it would have been no contest. If we had sent our troops to Copenhagen, they'd already be halfway to Afghanistan. A twofer. Any country can be awarded the Olympics, but We Are the Hegemons. We don't need to rely on reason and goodwill, we could have taken the Olympics. The United States had a great opportunity to demonstrate our Dominance to the world. The chronically weak Democrats blew it. Dick Cheney in 2012. He'll take back the Olympics for all of us. More on United Nations
 
Marxist Teleprompters Attempt To Sabotage Glenn Beck Show Top
We'll leave you this Friday with this bit of video from our ace Media Monitoring friend Jon from News1News , which captures Glenn Beck reacting to a minor failure with his teleprompters. But why does Glenn Beck use these infernal devices, which were built to foment OLIGARHY! And why does Glenn Beck speak to his crew so snidely, saying in his best sarcastic dialect, "Prompter? Prompter please? Thank you! A little farther, prompter! There!" Probably because they're all in a union. Anyway, they get it fixed, so that Beck can clearly read where he's supposed to "PAUSE, GET TEARY" and "PAUSE, ACT INCREDULOUS" and "JUST GO AHEAD AND LOSE YOUR EVERLOVING MIND, ON THE TEEVEE." [Would you like to follow me on Twitter ? Because why not? Also, please send tips to tv@huffingtonpost.com -- learn more about our media monitoring project here .] More on Glenn Beck
 
Beyonce's Dad To Father A Lovechild? Top
TMZ has learned a woman has filed a paternity case against Beyonce's dad, Mathew Knowles. We've learned Alexsandra Wright filed the case in L.A. County Superior Court.
 
George Mitrovich: The Truth They Dare Not Speak Top
Since the Clinton administration I have repeatedly warned about the triumph of Wall Street and the defeat of Main Street, the destruction of the Middle Class and the dismemberment of the poor; acts of economic terrorism that undermine the very foundations of our democracy - for no democracy can long stand when the ratio of executive to workers pay is 344-1 (source, 15th annual Labor Day study issued by United for a Fair Economy). Five days before last November's election I predicted Barack Obama would be elected president -- and it wouldn't be close. He was and it wasn't. He came to the presidency on a rising tide of hope. For many Americans, but especially those of a certain generation, he brought an excitement unknown since John F. Kennedy. For young Americans, voting for the first time, he awoke a critical interest in the affairs of state. Fair-minded Americans knew following eight-years of George W. Bush Senator Obama would face some of the most intractable problems to ever confront a new president. From a shattered economy and a demoralized work force, from wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, from 50 million Americans without health care and failing schools, in these unprecedented circumstances, only those stunted in soul and shriveled in spirit would deny Mr. Obama their best wishes, prayers and support. Having greatly desired Mr. Obama and Mr. Biden's victory over Mr. McCain and Ms. Palin, believing the very fate of our republic was at risk, I have no desire to unjustly criticize the president -- especially given the daunting challenges he faces. Moreover, amid all these consuming difficulties, President Obama has demonstrated a rare intelligence and grace, a spirit of forgiveness and acceptance toward his political opponents that is simply striking (whether, in a Machiavellian world, it's working is another matter). Historians tell us it's difficult to judge a president in eight years, much less eight months. That's a given, but there is one area where it is possible to make a preliminary judgment; indeed, where it is imperative that judgment be made -- Mr. Obama's glaring failure to break decisively with the economic policies of his predecessors. Those failed policies, arising from misguided faith in free markets, a faith attributable largely to Milton Friedman and his disciple, Ronald Reagan, and thereafter embraced by Presidents Bush 41 and 43, and shamefully by Bill Clinton and his allies at the Democratic Leadership Council (DLC), led directly last fall to the near catastrophe collapse of the world's financial markets. There is wicked irony that those who championed "free markets," who prostrated themselves before the God of Capitalism, who proclaimed a new gospel that "greed is good," who prevailed upon a gullible public that Wall Street was infallible, while decrying Government interventionism as oppressive, that in the end, when the world stood on the abyss of financial ruin, the causation for which they bore direct responsibility, that in that moment of ultimate peril, they should turn to government as the means of their salvation -- and find it in a $1.7 trillion bailout! (To invoke "hypocrisy" in such a context only exposes the inadequacy of words to damn.) At the outset of his presidency, when he named Timothy Geithner as secretary of the Treasury and Larry Summers as his director of National Economic Policy, there was fear Mr. Obama would not take the drastic steps necessary to change market dynamics to reflect a new world of economic reality. That fear was well founded, for both Mr. Geithner and Mr. Summers, during Mr. Clinton's presidency, were at the very center of the policies that would evolve into the world's gravest economic threat since the Great Depression. There is nothing in either Mr. Geithner's or Mr. Summer's portfolios that would lead one to believe they understand the collapse of Main Street or the crumbling of Middle Class America. They are creatures of Wall Street, which is to say that they believe in its ability to make whole the economic ills of our society. In that belief they are mistaken -- and by that by belief this nation's future is now in danger, in ways not even approximated by the Great Depression. (Mr. Summers is famous for his two bottles of catsup theory of economics, which says that two bottles of catsup cost twice as much as one. Really? Wow.) But I worry no less about Ben Bernanke as head of the Federal Reserve. Yes, he's an improvement over Alan Greenspan, the follower of that terrible woman, Ayn Rand -- how could he not be better than Mr. Greenspan? -- but despite his impressive academic background at Princeton, he appears too dazzled by Wall Street to prove an effective counter; that he too, not unlike others, is victimized by a belief that in immense wealth are found individuals of superior intelligence and knowledge. But the test isn't their intelligence or wisdom, it is their moral centers -- and at their moral centers they have revealed a corruption so vast that even Christian charity is constrained to forgive. Recently at a conference of the Federal Reserve in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, Mr. Bernanke said the U.S. economy is on the "cusp of recovery." He added that economic activity both there and around the world "seems to be leveling out, and the economy is likely to start growing again." Based upon his summary view Wall Street rallied - and summery was the spirit of Americans that day. (Probably not.) Mr. Bernanke notwithstanding, the economy isn't coming back. This economy cannot come back, until such time as jobs are found for the millions of Americans out of work -- and I do not mean jobs at Wal-Mart or McDonald's. I mean jobs adequate to the income needs of the Middle Class; jobs that include money for mortgages and health care; money for clothes and college tuitions; money periodically for vacations and maybe a new car; money sufficient for contributions to church and charities -- and jobs that give the poor among us hope for a brighter future. Can anyone be found, anyone, inside the Obama administration or outside in the private sector, who's talking about jobs adequate to meet these needs? No one is talking about such jobs, because no one knows whether such jobs will ever again be available to the great bulk of our citizens. It is the truth they dare not speak. But this crisis is about more than jobs, for at its core is the vast income disparity that began under Mr. Reagan and has gown exponentially since. There is no moral justification for some people making millions while others labor in economic purgatory. Amid all of this the working class, men and women of quite courage and unsung heroism, the very foundation upon which America stands, the people who fought our wars, built our cities, educated our children, healed our sick, cared for our elderly, gave generously to people in need, that working class, saw real income decline and futures imperiled. And while they were losing real income they witnessed the wealthy and the privileged, those driven by insatiable greed and moral turpitude, driven to buy bigger houses, faster automobiles, sleeker private jets, not one or two but three or four vacation homes, designer clothes, cosmetic surgery and personal trainers, becoming in the process, the adoring objects of too many politicians of both major parties; a political class blinded by the glitz and glamour of those who bankrolled their campaigns; politicians who stupidly embraced the folly of equating wealth with wisdom, big bank accounts with ethical and moral values, and who, amid the stupor of their adoration, made the fatal mistake of allowing unregulated markets. If you have a shred of decency you cannot argue it is acceptable for executives to make 344 times that of the average American worker. You cannot argue it is acceptable that in 2007 50 hedge fund managers made 19,000 times more money than the rest of us. You cannot argue it is acceptable that two Bear Sterns executives were paid $45 and $25 million in bonuses, which otherwise divided among the firms 4,000 employees would have resulted in Christmas bonuses of $90,000. You cannot argue it is acceptable the fired chairman of failed Washington Mutual made $14 million, while his successor sells out to J.P. Morgan and receives $19 million in salary and severance pay for three weeks of work -- which Senator Bryon Dorgan of North Dakota says would take the average American worker at $50,000 a year 382 years to equal! Which the senator, in justifiable anger went on to say on the floor of the U.S. Senate, "Unbelievable. Absolutely unbelievable. But it is a hood ornament on a carnival of greed that has existed now for some while, unabated, in which people at the top have made massive quantities of money. Then the whole thing comes crashing down because they began creating exotic securities that were supported, in some cases, by worthless mortgages, placed by bad brokers and, in some cases, bad mortgage companies; sold up the chain to hedge funds and investments banks, all of them making massive quantities of money, and then it goes belly up and everybody wonders why." It matters not your politics or economic philosophy; whether you worship Adam Smith or John Maynard Keynes; whether you voted for Barack Obama or John McCain, the issue of income disparity threatens our democracy -- and it cannot be defended. And, if you are reading this and are a person of wealth and assume this isn't about you, it most assuredly is about you, because in the end this is about all of us - and the America we say we love. How do we fix the problem of income disparity? How do we bridge the economic divide? Do we take from the wealthy and give to the poor? That may have worked in Sherwood Forest and the mythical world of Robin Hood, but this is the real world and that can't happen -- nor should it. No, only a wise and vigilant government, one that understands the inherent danger of uncontrolled markets and man's insatiable greed, that commits itself to policies that strives for some form of income parity, only that form of government can effectively rescue us from the financial black hole into which we have fallen. The president, at whose desk the buck stops, has not yet made that commitment. Finally, in the September 21st issue of The New Yorker , James B. Stewart wrote about the battle to save America from the economic Armageddon that loomed. In was inside reporting at its best (even if one is left wondering who were his sources, if not the very people he quoted?). Following a meeting at the height of the economic meltdown, Mr. Stewart quotes President George W. Bush, as asking Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and Fed chairman Ben Bernanke. "How have we come to this point where we can't let an institution fail (AIG) without affecting the whole economy?" The Treasury secretary and the Federal Reserve chairman sought to explain to the president the market's massive failure. Then the president said: "Someday you guys are going to need to explain to me how we end up with a system like that. I know this is not the time to test them and put them through failure, but we're not doing something right if we're stuck with these miserable choices." You think? George Mitrovich is a San Diego civic leader. He can be reached at gmitro35@gmail.com . More on Barack Obama
 
Ebert: Put Olympics Effort Toward Derrion Albert's Memory Top
We have lost the Olympics bid. Perhaps this is our opportunity to win Derrion Albert's bid. He was an honor student, not a gang member, not a drop out. He was murdered by a crowd of thugs. More generally, he was murdered by a system that has failed our neighborhoods, our schools and our children.
 
Maria Rodale: Recipe: It's Applesauce Season Top
Right now is the perfect time to head to a farmer's market or orchard and buy lots and lots of apples. Sure, you can make pie with them, but applesauce is healthier, easier to freeze, and yummiful. Plus, it's really easy to make. My kids love it. I love it, too--especially with plain Greek yogurt and a bit of maple syrup! The best apples for sauce are the ones that are tart, and too mangled to make good regular eating. Once, Eve and I found an old apple tree on our property from which we got a giant basket of the ugliest apples you ever saw--but it made the best sauce! Here is my recipe for applesauce: Maria's Applesauce Ingredients: 4 cups water 24 (or so) apples Juice of ½ lemon 6 whole cloves 2 sticks cinnamon ½ cup sugar (optional) Directions: 1. Put about 2 inches of water in the bottom of a saucepan (4 cups or so). Put the pan on the stovetop and turn the burner on low. 2. Peel the apples, cut them into pieces, and add them to the water. Make sure to cut out any bad spots! 3. Squeeze the juice of half a lemon into the mix to stop the apples from turning brown. 4. Add the cloves and cinnamon. 5. Cook on medium to low heat until the apples turn to mush--maybe a half hour to an hour. 6. Taste. If it's too tart, add sugar. 7. Pick out the cloves and cinnamon, and serve! If you want to freeze it, put the applesauce in a container and stick it in the freezer. It tastes just as great when you thaw it.
 
Will Rogers: Climate Change: Congress Should Support Role of Forests to Fight Climate Change Top
By Will Rogers This week the Senate is taking its turn discussing climate-change legislation. Sens. Boxer and Kerry have introduced their version of a bill to create a comprehensive program to address climate change. Any final climate legislation should include support for programs that reward America's forest owners for taking steps to capture atmospheric greenhouse gases. This makes sense for slowing climate change, and for growing the economy of rural America. As we have learned, the build-up of carbon dioxide in our atmosphere is the main cause of climate change. Carbon dioxide acts like a glass in a greenhouse roof, allowing sunlight in, but also trapping the heat created from sunlight radiating off the earth. The more carbon dioxide we have in the atmosphere, the more heat is trapped. According to scientists, U.S. forests absorb and store 10 percent of the carbon dioxide emitted annually by smokestacks, cars, and other sources. And a report by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency says that figure could be doubled to 20 percent - if our forests are managed well. That doubling, in turn, would be equal to switching every passenger car in the United States to a hybrid, says a recent article by researchers at Duke University. How we do achieve that goal? One big step would be to provide financial incentives for private forest owners to capture and store more carbon on America's hundreds of millions of acres of private forestlands. Opportunities to capture more carbon range from adopting management techniques that increase overall timber stand volume to placing land under a permanent conservation easement that assures it will never be developed--protecting both carbon already stored in those lands and the potential for future carbon sequestration. Climate legislation can provide these financial incentives in two ways. First, forest owners who can demonstrate and quantify real, additional, permanent, and verifiable carbon absorption in their lands should be able to sell those extra reductions as "offsets" to utilities and other businesses that emit carbon. That capability is at the heart of "cap and trade" legislation, which is designed to drive these kinds of market-based solutions to reduce carbon emissions. Second, climate legislation should establish a supplemental incentives program to reward forest owners who cannot affordably measure carbon emission reductions to support offsets, but are still willing to take specified steps to increase carbon storage on their lands. This will ensure that even smaller scale landowners can be part of the solution. The great news is that the discussion draft released by Senators Boxer and Kerry includes both a robust forest offsets program and a supplemental incentives program. If the final climate bill follows this lead, we will bring our forests into play as a major emissions reduction tool that puts Americans to work in the woods. More on Climate Change
 
Tim Ellis: Why Do Conservatives Hate America? Top
The news that Rio has been chosen to host the 2016 Olympics, while disappointing for American patriots, could hardly be considered unexpected. No South American city has ever hosted the international competition; by contrast, the United States hosted the Summer Olympics as recently as 1996, in Atlanta. Chicago and the United States made one of the strongest bids our nation has ever presented, but as John McCain well knows, it's hard to stand in the way of history being made. Of course, John McCain also knows all too well that no matter how noble the cause, there are people willing to cheapen it for political gain. In case you missed the, er, "controversy," Barack Obama - who, as you may be aware, is the President of the United States, and is consequently tasked with representing our nation to the world - took it upon himself to do just that, and represent our bid before the IOC to bring the Olympics back to the United States. In other words, we have the duly elected leader of the United States coupling with representatives from the third largest city in the United States seeking to bring a massive infusion of prestige, capital, and tourism into... the United States. Who could be against that? As it turns out, a small but vocal percentage of the United States. Let's go over that again - conservatives are opposed to bringing the Olympics to an American city because Barack Obama, the President of the United States, wants to support an American city in trying to land the Olympics. Now, I can remember a not-so-distant time when speaking out against the President was considered treason, something no Real American would ever consider. I can even remember a time when President George W. Bush went before the Chicago Bid Committee and U.S. Olympic Committee to declare - wait for it - that " this country supports your bid, strongly ." All of a sudden, people are cheering in their offices when the United States fails to achieve its goals? I had been going to write "this situation put conservatives in the odd position of rooting against America," but the simple fact is, that isn't odd for conservatives at all. Today's conservative disdain for the United States is not an isolated incident. They have managed to "love" America so much that they've reset the whole scale, and now hate the country in a constant misguided quest to "love" it better than everybody else. They are like the husband who beats his wife because he "cares" about her, except they also don't want the wife voting or getting an education. This is the same attitude that drives the conservative zeal for cutting taxes. The United States, they claim, is the best country in the world, and apparently the best way to show that is by not giving it the means to do anything . Taxes are the method by which civilization is paid for; they are an investment in our nation, an investment that conservatives are simply not interested in making. What kind of "patriot" won't invest in America? That must be love. The logical conclusion of this attitude can be seen in the secessionist leanings of even mainstream conservative voices such as Governer Rick Perry and Sarah Palin. Conservatives have spent the last 8 years telling us to "love it or leave it"; now, all of a sudden, they claim to be able to do both. Nothing says you love your country like taking your piece of it and leaving. On the other hand, at least the secessionists are being honest - there are still conservatives who are running for government positions on a platform of hating the American government. Look, conservatives. I'm not asking you to change your ways. You're free to go on thinking the United States is evil - it's not even treason, no matter how satisfying it would have been to turn that around on you. I'm just looking for some honest answers. So just lay it on me straight - why do you hate America so much? More on Barack Obama
 
Modiba: Huun Huur Tu Enters The Electronic Age With Newest Album Eternal With Carmen Rizzo Top
This is HuffPost World's regular feature that highlights interesting musicians and musical trends around the world. Know of a great musician doing ground-breaking work outside the United States? Send us your ideas for bands to profile or up-and-coming musicians to follow. Please fill out this survey form. By Ian Merkel Tuvan throat singing. From the hinterlands of Siberia. Produced in Los Angeles. And finally, experienced in Minneapolis. Huun Huur Tu's newest release Eternal with Carmen Rizzo certainly jumbles notions of place, but their recent performance at the Cedar Cultural Center demonstrated a sensibility that often goes amiss when bands attempt to express themselves electronically for the first time. The coming together of Huun Huur Tu, a group of Tuvan musicians largely inspired by Tibetan-style Buddhism, nomadism, and the steppe which they inhabit, and Carmen Rizzo, a producer who has worked with the likes of Seal, is nothing if not unexpected. The idea of Huun Huur Tu coming to Los Angeles to produce an album would be commonplace, but the group had actually never heard Carmen Rizzo's interpretation of their music until they began their tour in Taiwan. Huun Huur Tu did their best to collaborate with Carmen Rizzo by sending back and forth MP3 files, but according to their publicist Rock Paper Scissors, they "had to travel four hours over barely improved roads in the Tuvan hinterlands to get to an internet café and listen to a file." It is all the marvel that their collaboration sounds as organic as it does. The stage at the Cedar was one of the more unusual that I have seen with equal representation of orchestral strings, Tuvan traditional instruments, and modern electronic equipment. Violins accompanied the igil, a horse-hair fiddle, the shoor, a vertical flute, and the bowed byzanche (pictured below). But Macbooks, too, made their presence felt on stage, and after the individual members of Huun Huur Tu had shown their prowess as throat singing virtuosos, the backdrop transformed from that of the Tuvan steppe to lights that would be equally appropriate for Animal Collective. Carmen Rizzo ultimately came to impose himself in the production, but certainly not without ambiguity. At the same time that Huun Huur Tu brought us back to Siberia with percussion that could be mistaken for nothing other than a trotting horse and vocal bird calls, the sounds that these "traditional" musicians made sometimes came across as strikingly futuristic in comparison to those made by Rizzo. In this way not only was our notion of place reestablished, but the entire time continuum of sound was put into question. Rizzo may have the modern means for producing music, but he uses them to highlight the cultural landscape of his companions rather than artificially mix them into a western prototype. Huun Huur Tu's newest collaboration is much more than a superficial attempt to distinguish themselves within the music industry. It is a sincere rapprochement of modern technology with sounds that privilege reflection over disruption. And although, as English speakers, we may not pick up on the subtly of Tuvan folklore and spirituality, it suits us well here in the Minnesota prairie. Read more Global Music Corner stories here. Get HuffPost World On Facebook and Twitter!
 
Going Rogue And Other Cheesy Political Book Covers (PHOTOS) Top
The cover of Sarah Palin's forthcoming book Going Rogue was made public today. In honor of the inspirational photograph of the ex-governor, here are some other milestones in contrived political book jackets. More on Photo Galleries
 
Anthony Papa: Here Is Your Chance to Help End the Failed War on Drugs Top
Everyday we read national headlines about the war on drugs. More and more elected officials are saying the war on drugs is not working and that we need to consider alternatives. There are stories about states like California considering taxing and regulating marijuana. There is coverage about drug prohibition in Mexico leading to a war zone where thousands of people are being killed every year. There are front page stories about countries from Portugal to Argentina to Mexico decriminalizing small amounts of drugs because they realize that they can't incarcerate their way out of addiction. It is one thing to read about it, but it is another to jump in and try to come up with solutions to the failed war on drugs. From November 12-14, a wide range of advocates, doctors, lawyers, activists, treatment providers, law enforcement, students, educators, and formerly incarcerated people will converge for the biennial International Drug Policy Reform Conference in Albuquerque, New Mexico , where it was previously held in 2001. The conference returns to New Mexico because the state is a beacon of reform, recently passing innovative medical marijuana legislation and the nation's first Good Samaritan law to prevent fatal overdoses. The conference comes at a crucial time: more people than ever grasp the need for our drug policy to shift from criminalization to a public health model. The viability of major reforms is increasing day by day, making now a pivotal moment for exploring alternatives to our nation's ineffective and damaging lock-'em-up drug laws. This year's conference will cover a range of topics, chief among them marijuana legalization. In this new political climate, meaningful reform of marijuana laws is closer on the horizon than ever. Thanks to decades of grassroots activism, combined with the harsh realities of the ongoing economic crisis, the national debate is finally turning in favor of the taxation and regulation of marijuana. In one of the key panels at the conference an array of experts will propose possible regulatory schemes and discuss their potential effectiveness. Holding the conference in Albuquerque gives us a unique opportunity to examine the intersection of immigration policy and drug policy reform, as well as drug war violence on both sides of the border. Drug policy movers and shakers also plan to push the envelope by discussing innovations that have been successfully implemented in other countries: services like prescribing heroin to people who suffer from addiction to allow them to lead normal lives, or providing supervised injection facilities to protect people who use drugs from disease and lethal overdose. Our nation's drug policy should be based on reason, compassion, health and human rights, but to do so will take a great deal of strategizing and organizing. Anyone who believes the drug war does more harm than good is encouraged to attend November's conference. As usual, it will be a high-energy, can't-miss event, where even the strangest of bedfellows can find much to agree on. Join us in New Mexico! For more info: http://www.reformconference.org/
 
Drew Peterson's Bad Day: Judge Upholds Hearsay Law, Denies Motion To Move Trial Top
JOLIET, Ill. — An Illinois judge has ruled that prosecutors can introduce statements made by former police officer's Drew Peterson's now-deceased ex-wife at his trial. Will County Judge Stephen White ruled against Peterson's attorneys Friday in their attempt to get the state's so-called "hearsay" law declared unconstitutional. He also denied a request by the former Bolingbrook officer's attorneys to have the trial moved. Peterson has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder in the 2004 death of his third wife, Kathleen Savio. He is also a suspect in the 2007 disappearance of his fourth wife, Stacy Peterson. He has denied wrongdoing. State's Attorney James Glasgow has said the hearsay law would allow Savio to "testify from the grave."
 
Irving Picard Sues Madoff Family For Almost $200M Top
NEW YORK — Bernard Madoff's brother, sons and a niece used the family finance business like a "piggy bank," a court-appointed trustee charged Friday as he demanded in a lawsuit that they return almost $200 million in money to be distributed to cheated investors. The trustee, Irving Picard, sought $198.7 million from Madoff's brother, Peter, who had worked at Madoff's Manhattan investment company since 1965, and sons, Mark and Andrew. Also sued was Shana D. Madoff, Bernard Madoff's niece and Peter Madoff's daughter. Lawyers for the Madoff's brother and sons did not immediately return a phone call for comment. A message for comment left at Shana Madoff's East Hampton home was not immediately returned. Lawyers for Picard said in papers filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Manhattan that Madoff's family-run business "was operated as if it were the family piggy bank." They said each of the family members withdrew huge sums of money to fund personal business ventures and to pay for expenses ranging from multimillion dollar homes, cars and boats to monthly credit card charges for restaurants, vacations and clothing. The lawyers said $141 million identified as fraudulent proceeds were received by the family members in the six years before Madoff surrendered and revealed his plot last December while at least $58 million was received in the last two years. Peter Madoff was the company's senior managing director and chief compliance officer while Mark and Andrew shared the title of co-director of trading. Mark had worked with his father at the company since 1986 while Andrew had been there since 1988. Shana Madoff, a lawyer, had worked there since 1995 as compliance counsel and in-house counsel, the court papers said. The lawyers for Picard said the family members frequently held themselves out to be business and securities regulatory compliance managers and principals of Madoff's company. "Yet the family members were completely derelict in these duties and responsibilities," they wrote. "As a result, they either failed to detect or failed to stop the fraud, thereby enabling and facilitating the Ponzi scheme," the papers said. "Simply put, if the family members had been doing their jobs – honestly and faithfully – the Madoff Ponzi scheme might never have succeeded, or continued for so long." Madoff is serving a 150-year prison sentence after admitting losing billions of dollars for thousands of clients during his half century career. More on Bernard Madoff
 
Robert Joe Halderman, Letterman's Alleged Extortionist: Colleagues Describe Him As "Arrogant," "Rogue," "Womanizer" Top
Stunned colleagues Friday described veteran CBS News producer Joe Halderman--who was arrested outside the network's West 57th Street offices Thursday in the alleged scheme to blackmail David Letterman--as a rogue and a womanizer, a lover of literature, a "smart fratboy," a swashbuckling journalist and an occasional barroom brawler who distinguished himself in dangerous war zones and occasionally displayed a certain reckless streak. More on David Letterman
 
Irene Monroe: Black Queers Are Tying the Knot Top
More and more lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer people of African descent are marrying. An idea that was once thought of as anathema to black queer identity, marriage, in our LGBTQ communities, is being celebrated and on the rise. And many of us are now proudly walking down the aisle to tie the knot. "Is it no longer a white thing?" Jeff Nelson, a white gay resident of Cambridge asked me as I was dashing off to perform the nuptials of two lesbians of color -- Gigi DeRosa and Fulani Butler of Roxbury -- on September 20. With black local pastors in Greater Boston and beyond still ranting and raving that their reasons for opposing same-sex marriage are prophylactic to combat the epidemic level of fatherlessness in black communities nationwide, and to stem the demise of the nuclear black family, what makes us still forge forward with this act? And with many of our family members not in attendance at our nuptials, for reasons ranging from shame to religious indoctrination, what message are LGBTQ Americans of African descent hearing now about same-sex marriage that we didn't hear before? The reason for the shift comes both nationally and locally. On the national front, civil rights leaders of the 60's such as the late Coretta Scott King, Representative John Lewis, NAACP Chair Julian bond, and Reverend Al Sharpton publicly offer their support for same-sex marriage. As a matter of fact, John Lewis filed a friend-of-the court brief in the Massachusetts case that led to our state becoming the first in the country to legalize marriage equality. And, during a June 12, 2007 Capitol Hill ceremony commemorating the 40th anniversary of Loving v. Virginia, the landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision that struck down anti-miscegenation laws -- that was sponsored by several straight and queer civil rights organizations across the country -- the Legal Defense & Educational Fund of the NAACP released a historic statement in support of marriage equality explaining why the struggle for same-sex marriage is indeed a civil rights struggle: "It is undeniable that the experience of African Americans differs in many important ways from that of gay men and lesbians; among other things, the legacy of slavery and segregation is profound. But differences in historical experiences should not preclude the application of constitutional provisions to gay men and lesbians who are denied the right to marry the person of their choice." At this commemoration, Mildred Loving, the icon for marriage equality also spoke out in support of same-sex marriage, stating, "I am not a political person, but I am proud that Richard's and my name is on a court case that can help reinforce the love, the commitment, the fairness, and the family that so many people, black or white, young or old, gay or straight, seek in life. I support the freedom to marry for all. That's what Loving -- and loving -- are all about." These public endorsements of same-sex marriage by key African American national figures and organizations helped shift the tide. On the local front, there was a confluence of ongoing factors that has had and continues to have a profound impact on how LGBTQ communities of color now think about same-sex marriage. In 2005 when Lee Swislow, Executive Director of Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders (GLAD), a white organization that framed the marriage debate in Massachusetts, reached out to communities of color, inviting a dialogue for an inclusive re-framing of the marriage debate, the collective anger and frustration that LGBTQ communities of color collective felt toward the organization began to dissipate. Also, having an African American governor Deval Patrick, whose daughter is gay, speaking in support of same-sex marriage helped those in our communities of color know that our state and governor are including us in the struggle for marriage equality. While speaking in support of marriage equality, Patrick told members of the Legislature in 2006 that, "This is likely the greatest civil rights battle of our lifetime. It is fundamentally wrong to discriminate against gay and lesbian citizens. It is as wrong to write discrimination into our historic state constitution. The next and last constitutional convention is rapidly approaching. We must be organized to stop this discriminatory amendment, and prevent it from reaching an uncertain public referendum. I pledge to do what I can to build on that momentum, so that our Constitution will continue to stand for liberty and freedom, and not discrimination." In 2008, Dave Wilson, an African American gay male, and one of the seven same-sex plaintiff couples who won the right to legally marry in the landmark case Goodridge v. the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, became the board president of MassEquality. His appointment was resoundingly applauded throughout black queer communities. And, with the National Black Justice Coalition's publication "Jumping the Broom: A Black Perspective on Same-Gender Marriage" as an outreach tool to the black community, Wilson was instrumental in having the organization conduct town hall meetings and public forums throughout Greater Boston. While same-sex marriage is still not the most pressing issue in black queer communities here and nationwide, these efforts nonetheless generated discussions among us and in our communities in the context of our families and lives that matters. More on Gay Marriage
 
Joan Williams: Health Care? Let's Do It for Charlie Top
William and Debra Trujillo worked at the Jim Bridger Power Plant in Sweetwater County, Wyoming. Together they had been with PacificCorp, the company that owns the plant, for 28 years. Then their son Charlie got a brain tumor, which metastasized to his spine. Things looked up for a while, but Charlie relapsed. Eleven days after Charlie's relapse, PacifiCorp opened up an investigation into "time theft" by the Trujillos, applying rules that were not applied to other workers. Notably, the company checked the Trujillos' time sheets against the security gate log of entries and exits, ignoring the fact that workers often "piggybacked" -- failed to show their badges at the gate, following after someone who had -- and had done so for years without comment by the company. Based largely on the security gate data, the Trujillos were charged with claiming they had worked when they hadn't. PacifiCorp fired both of them abruptly, ignoring the progressive discipline system it applied to other employees. Why? The answer is key to the current health care debate. A court found evidence that PacificCorps fired the Trujillos to avoid paying for their son's medical care. PacifiCorp, one of the West's leading utilities, was self-insured. Charlie's medical costs were so high they had caused the company's premiums to spike. Indeed, during the period when Charlie was dying, the company's health care costs were so high it sought a utility rate increase to cover them. The Trujillos' story is not unique. Although federal law makes it illegal to fire someone to avoid paying for health coverage, employers do it -- usually offering some trumped-up excuse. The Center for WorkLife Law tracks these cases. In another, a leasing assistant was fired after telling her employer she had a high risk pregnancy. Her company abandoned established practice, conducting early performance assessments and extending her probationary period, although neither procedure was applied to other employees. In a third case, Ernst & Young took over a company and re-hired every single employee -- except for the mother of a daughter with cystic fibrosis. We need to pay more attention to real stories like these, and less to phantom fears of death panels and socialization. The Trujillos' story dramatizes why our current system is unsustainable. How did PacifiCorp respond to the health care crisis of its long-time employees? It fired them and hired a lawyer to defend that decision. Then the Trujillos hired a lawyer to fight the company. A lot of money was spent, none of it on delivering quality care. We've all heard the estimate that 31% of health care dollars are spent on administrative costs. That estimate doesn't even count costs like these. All the handwringing about the costs of change is pretty silly. The Trujillos' story shows that we already are paying many of the costs that ignite people's fears. We pay those costs today as higher utility rates. Or higher hospital bills, as I saw when I took my toddler to the emergency room at Children's Hospital in Washington, D.C. I did not feel I was saving money because most people there needed basic primary care, but lacked the health insurance that would allow them to take their sick kids to the (much cheaper) doctor's office. Reform would solve this problem. The Trujillos' story also punctuates the perverse incentives built into the current system, which leaves employers with choices no better than workers'. Why should PacifiCorp be stuck with the high coast of Charlie's health care? And if such a large company was still too small to spread the costs of Charlie's care, how about the millions of small businesses? We need larger pools of risk, which is another thing reform promises. Look, I'm not a health care expert. I don't have all the answers. But what I see is a system that both hobbles our economy and causes otherwise decent people to override their most basic human instincts to respect others' right to live, and die, with dignity. I keep reading that opponents of change are not as passionate and not as mobilized as proponents are, but read my lips: You folks in Washington better get cracking. Do it for Charlie, do it for his parents, or do it for voters like me. You don't have to get it perfect, but you'd better not blow this chance like you did the last one. If you do, you'll hear from us. More on Health Care
 
Hillary Rettig: Speed as an Antidote to Writer's Block Top
Greed may not be good, but speed sure is. It was only when I got into this line of work that I understood the meaning of the axiom "He who hesitates is lost." Procrastination -- the fear-based inner force that wants you not to complete your projects -- will latch onto any feelings of uncertainty or hesitation and amplify them until you can no longer do your work. One method for beating procrastination, therefore, is to practice a Zen-like detachment from your work. You want to, at the appointed time, glide emotionlessly over to your desk and sit down and commence work. Just commence, without drama or hesitation. Emotionless? you ask. What about having good feelings, like excitement? Isn't it good to be excited over one's work ? Well, yes, but the problem with excitement is that it often linked to the expectation that you're going to have a fantastic (<- perfectionist!) writing session - and then, if you don't, the excitement is quickly replaced by despair. That's an addictive cycle that ignores Flaubert's dictum that "success must be a consequence and never a goal," and feeds your perfectionism. Instead of riding up and down the emotional roller coaster, therefore, practice Zen detachment. Your work should simply be your work: something you do. It's OK to feel pride, satisfaction, and even joy, in your writing achievements -- and once you relate to your work in the proper way you should start to rack up a lot of achievements. But that kind of authentic self-appreciation shouldn't be confused with the high of an addictive emotional cycle. Zen practitioners would probably say that the more precise aim is to be attached to your work but not to any particular outcome from it. Let's talk more about speed. Productive people write quickly in three senses: (1) They write without much distraction. They don't, for instance, stop to check their emails or text messages every few words or paragraphs. They don't even stop to look something up - although they might make a quick note of it so that they don't forget to look it up later. But rather than interrupt their flow, they will leave a hole in the manuscript and just keep writing. In contrast, people who are underproductive write in fits and starts, which is not only problematic in terms of time use but constantly interrupts the creative flow. (2) Fast writers also work relentlessly to simplify their writing (and other) tasks, so they can get them done fast and move onto something else. They don't sacrifice quality, but -- and this is important -- they make a judgment as to what level of quality is required for each task. (As opposed to perfectionists, who often assume they need to achieve the maximum level of quality in all aspects of every job.) When they sit down to a project, they reflexively ask questions such as these: What parts can I eliminate? How can I simplify the remaining parts? What resources do I have that can help me finish? Whom can I enlist to help me? This is yet another case where mentors are crucial, because they can help you answer those questions. Simplifying projects is very important not just because simplifying in itself saves time, but also because you're less likely to be afraid of, and therefore procrastinate on, simple projects compared with complex ones. It's easy for even adept non-procrastinators to fall into the perfectionist trap of overcomplicating their work. Recently, I was working on a query letter for a book I'm writing with a coauthor. (A query letter is what authors send to agents asking for representation.) My coauthor is kind of glamorous, so I initially thought I would include photos and his biography with the query, to strengthen the pitch. But those were holding the project up, and eventually I realized that the letter would be fine without them -- plus, if the agent does indicate interest we will be more motivated to provide the rest. For a more trivial example, it took me years to break the habit of writing formal salutations and closings on a lot of my emails. It's not so much about saving time -- although as someone who places a high value on time, and who sends a lot of emails, the accrued time savings is meaningful -- it's the head space. By eliminating the unnecessary, I am better able to focus on the important. (3) Finally, fast writers share their drafts. Perfectionists hold onto their drafts forever, while non-perfectionists send them out quickly for feedback. "I think the middle section is weak," they might write in their cover note, "what do you think? Can you see a way to improve it?" Whereas the perfectionist would rather die than send something out with a weak middle section, and so they hold onto the piece, compulsively revising it -- or, not touching it -- for weeks, months, or maybe years. Practice writing fast; practice pruning (or eliminating) tasks; practice relaxing your quality standards; and practice showing your work early and often. Those are habits that will pay off hugely in terms of saved time and increased productivity.
 
William Bradley: Iranian Crisis: Progress, Problems Top
There was some good progress in Thursday's international negotiation sessions with Iran on its nuclear program. But anyone who imagines the problem is solved is quite delusional. Let's focus first on the positive from Geneva. Contrary to much posturing by Iran and its advocates around the world, the Tehran regime's envoy did discuss its very controversial nuclear program with the representatives of the United States, Britain, France, China, Russia, Germany, and the European Union. President Barack Obama said that Iran has two weeks to follow through on beginning commitments made in Thursday's negotiations in Geneva. Not only did Iran discuss its nuclear program -- and its previously secret nuclear facility next to a Revolutionary Guards military base outside Qom -- it agreed to prompt inspections of the underground facility by officials of the International Atomic Energy Agency. This pleased IAEA chief Mohammed ElBaradei, who said during the week that Iran has been "outside the law" with regard to its nuclear program in general and especially this previously secret facility. Iran had agreed to notify the IAEA when it begins construction of nuclear facilities, but then reneged on the agreement, as ElBaradei and others have lately noted. And Iran's nuclear program is in violation of United Nations Security Council resolutions, as Russian President Dmitri Medvedev forcefully pointed out last weekend. So on Thursday, Iran agreed to allow IAEA inspectors into the previously undisclosed nuclear facility. Participants in Thursday's nuclear negotiations with Iran gathered in a villa in Geneva, Switzerland. Iran also said that it would send nuclear materials needed for medical purposes to Russia and France for further nuclear enrichment. Which may establish a good precedent. And Iran agreed to meet again this month to further discuss its nuclear program. All this was in stark contrast to the long-range missile launches on the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur and various denials of any intent to discuss its nuclear program, accompanied by red-hot rhetorical promises of the end of Israel, that emanated from the Iranian regime during the run-up to the sessions in Geneva. Of course, as I noted in my preview piece here on the Huffington Post on Wednesday, Iran also put out some vague statements that suggested it would discuss its nuclear program, albeit in a backdoor way. As it happens, the discussion came through the front door. So all this is good progress, a promising sign, especially since peace is better than war, and that is likely what Iran would have gotten from Israel had it completely stonewalled in the Geneva talks. Should nuclear negotiations with Iran fail, the Obama Administration plans strict sanctions on Iran's energy, telecommunications, and finance sectors. Before proceeding further, let's look at why that might be. Israel is a very small country. And its actions are at times quite problematic. As we see in the current negotiations over Palestine with the Obama Administration, which wants Israel to stop ongoing West Bank settlements by religious fundamentalists. Or anyone else, for that matter. But, with regard to Israel, as the old joke goes, just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they're not out to get you. Israel is the only nation with nuclear weapons in the Middle East. It has those weapons because it might otherwise be over-run by its many enemies in the region. And Israelis believe that an Iran with nuclear weapons is a game-changer. Iran, though oil-rich, is not a rich country. In large part because the Islamic fundamentalist revolution effected by the Ayatollah Khomeini caused a brain drain, especially amongst those with technical expertise. That's why Iran is vulnerable with regard to gasoline, much of which it must import due to its lack of refinery capacity. But Iran is a populous country, with some 75 million people. Israel is a small country, with only seven million people. It's not likely that Israel would survive a nuclear war. Which, while a prospect that I'm sure would make some readers very happy, is obviously unacceptable to any American administration. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad leads a crowd in a chant of "Death to Israel!" Iran, whose leaders' rhetoric often suggests a messianic and apocalyptic point of view and encourages weekly chants of "Death to Israel," might survive a nuclear war. So Israel is, not surprisingly, deeply opposed to Iran becoming a nuclear power. As are, actually, many Arab nations, which do not want to see an ascendant Persian power in the Middle East. Should Iran acquire nuclear weapons, some Arab nations will want them, too. And the world's biggest powder keg becomes all the more potentially explosive. But let's go back to the positive. After early signs of bombastic defiance, Iran is now openly discussing its nuclear program with the Western powers and Russia and China. And Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu, according to the Israeli press, is content for now for the diplomatic process to unfold. But President Barack Obama, who has long advocated diplomatic engagement with Iran, even though his Democratic primary opponent Hillary Clinton and Republican general election opponent John McCain were harshly critical of him for it, says that his patience is not endless. In fact, his patience seems to run out around New Year's Eve. Which brings us to some problems. Keeping in mind that this negotiation, which Iran has delayed, as it was to have been completed by the end of September, is in a very early stage. It's great that Iran is going to finally allow IAEA inspectors in to the Revolutionary Guards-protected facility outside Qom. But it isn't complete and is not in operation. We don't really know what's going on in that facility until it's operational. It's also great that Iran has agreed to have further nuclear enrichment for medical isotopes done by Russia and France. But the details have to be worked out. And is that the extent of further enrichment activities? Indeed, with regard to inspections, the previously secret facility outside Qom is only one. To be certain that Iran is not moving further towards developing nuclear weapons, Iran will have to take its leash off IAEA inspectors and allow anytime inspections in all its facilities. And we will need to be sure that we are aware of all Iranian nuclear facilities. Thursday's negotiations in Geneva were a promising start. But only that. You can check things during the day on my site, New West Notes ... www.newwestnotes.com. More on Barack Obama
 
Shawn Amos: Michael Jackson and Skinny Guy Chic Top
Michael Jackson 's autopsy results were made public earlier this week and everyone is shocked that he was "fairly healthy." For me, the biggest shock was that he weighed 136 pounds. Yeah, that's skinny but not scary skinny. My money was on 120 pounds. The coroner's report confirmed Jackson's weight was within an "acceptable" range for his 5' 9" frame. I know the plight of the skinny dude. I'm 6 feet tall and weigh 142 pounds. I get the same flak that Jackson got. Folks presume I either have anorexia, tapeworm, or am a member of the Calorie Restriction Society (check it out; it kinda makes sense). Being a skinny dude is a heavy cross to bear. Jackson knew it all too well which is why he diverted attention by maiming his face. That King of Pop was tricky. If they're talking about your freaky face, then no one will mention your scrawny body. I should have thought of that when I was getting my skinny ass kicked in high school. GALLERY: Skinny guy chic Skinny dudes will always get the last laugh, though. Sure, we might get beat up in a bar fight but we have one thing going of us. WE'RE NOT FAT! This is a fat country. America could use more skinny dudes. We rock harder, get more chicks, and only need one airplane seat in coach. You won't see us on "The Biggest Loser" because we're too busy on stage. Skinny dudes get to be in rock bands or call themselves the King of Pop. So stand tall, my skinny brothers. The next time some Overeaters Anonymous drop out gives you grief, tell 'em you're thin like Michael Jackson. It's an exclusive club. A way of life. He died fairly healthy and so will you. As long as you stay away from the Propofol. Iggy Pop My wife has a theory, which apparently is held sacred by many females: everyone needs to choose between their butt or their face. Put on some pounds and safe the face. Keep the butt lean and sacrifice looking gaunt as you reach your upper years. Iggy chose the butt. He's 62, skinny, scary, and cool.   Mick Jagger My wife has another theory: skinny dudes who are also ugly get better with age. When you're skinny, ugly, and twenty it's just short of tragic. Ugly and 66? People think you're a funky-looking 50 year old who's in good shape. And Mick Jagger is in good shape.   Richard Ashcroft Both of the wife's rules apply here but I can't say anything for two reasons. First of all, Ashcroft is too damn cool to disrespect. I'd break my nose and drop ten pounds if it would put me halfway in his orbit. Plus, he's my wife's Facebook friend and I don't want get in the way of that mess.   Michael Hutchence INXS ' late leader was skinny chic to the end. Could a dude over 145 pounds move anywhere nearly sublimely? Or get away with wearing a pair of plaid pants? I rest my case.   Nic Cester Jet 's lead singer is another skinny Aussie like Hutchence. Like so many skinny dudes, he uses bellbottoms to hide his popsicle stick legs. Skinny dudes can never wear shorts.   Follow me on Twitter More on Michael Jackson
 
Ralph Needs, Ohio Man, Is Beaten During Home Invasion And Then Shot 4 Days Later Top
GROVEPORT, Ohio — An 80-year-old Ohio man is recovering from a week in which he was beaten during a home invasion and then shot while trying to learn about guns. Ralph Needs said he wouldn't want anyone else to experience what he's been through. He was tied up and pistol-whipped when at least three intruders broke into his Columbus area home on Sept. 20. Needs' nose was broken and his pickup truck, a computer and credit cards were taken. Four days later, Needs was shot in the hand during a self-defense lesson. A 9 mm pistol went off as one of his sons was loading it. Groveport police said it was an accident, so there will be no charges. No one has been arrested in the assault, but one person was charged in connection with the stolen computer, now recovered. ___ Information from: The Columbus Dispatch, http://www.dispatch.com
 
Steve Clemons: Giving Aaron Schock a Pass on Honduras and DeMint Top
Congressman Aaron Schock is a highly reasonable, intelligent, balanced Republican Member of Congress -- and though I have only met him twice, I was impressed with how he conducted his conversations and views in DC cocktail policy chatter -- particularly at an MSNBC party where Rachel Maddow was tending the bar. Yesterday, Schock was on my mind as I listened intently to Senators Lindsey Graham and John McCain lay out the parameters of what reasonable governance would look like from a responsible, conservative perch -- and was impressed with Senator McCain's repeated statements that he wanted to help President Obama succeed -- and would differ from him in some areas -- but would be solidly with him on others. Lindsey Graham said that "Barack Obama was born in Hawaii, is not a Muslim, and is a good man -- and those that are saying otherwise are just 'crazy'." Graham went on to say that he also meant no insult to Muslims in any way and that if Obama was a Muslim, he would still support him; he just wanted to make it clear that there is nothing sane about arguing that President Obama is not in line with his self-proclaimed faith of Christianity. These two Senators were speaking at the powerhouse conference titled " First Draft of History " sponsored by the Atlantic Monthly , Newseum, and Aspen Institute -- and hearing them made me think of Aaron Schock who may be the Republican Party's best chance reviving a kind of reasonable, pragmatic leadership among its youngest and most effective Members. Schock is now the youngest member of the US House of Representatives. But I was disheartened to learn that he has agreed to go today with Senator Jim DeMint down to investigate the Honduras situation. Wait, strike that. Schock may be doing real investigating -- while Senator DeMint is siding with others in a foreign government -- a coup-installed government -- against the Government of the United States. He is working hard there as an elected US government official to actively undermine American policy. I suspect that Congressman Schock is going down to check out what is real and what is not in the mess of the Honduras coup and its aftermath -- but Jim DeMint is going down to "meddle" in the situation and to encourage the coup leaders to stand strong against the White House and the US Department of State. Senator DeMint has behaved from the beginning as if he has a dog in the race down in Honduras, and it is not the one that the US government feels comfortable supporting at the moment. None of Honduras' neighbors do either. It is extremely rare that a Chairman of a Committee on which a US Senator works would move to block a resource allocation that would allow that Member to fly somewhere within the jurisdiction of that Committee -- but Senator John Kerry blocked DeMint's plans to go and commiserate with wealthy businessmen who had recently had visas revoked by the US government and to encourage them to stand strong against the US government. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell intervened and arranged a Department of Defense secured plane to take the Senator and several House Members to Honduras -- thus reversing John Kerry's action. I am currently looking into how exactly Senator McConnell secured agreement from the Department of Defense, part of the Obama-controlled Executive Branch, to provide the plane. Senator John Kerry's rationale for rejecting Jim DeMint's request for resources for the Honduras trip was that DeMint has blocked consideration of two key Obama Latin America foreign policy appointments. One of these is the current Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs Thomas Shannon is the President's pick to serve as US Ambassador to Brazil -- and the other is Georgetown Professor Arturo Valenzuela who is slated to succeed Shannon as Assistant Secretary for the same region. DeMint has argued quite transparently on his Senate website and from the floor of the Senate Chamber that he believes that the real democrats in Honduras or the ones that through out the ousted President Manuel Zelaya, who has snuck back into Honduras and is sleeping on a couch inside the Brazilian Embassy. Many think that Zelaya over-reached in his role as President and tried to force the extension of his term and powers in extra-constitutional ways. The Honduran Supreme Court ruled against Zelaya's course -- but a military coup that expelled the President is also extra-legal, and received condemnation from the entire raft of Latin American neighbors and the United States. One informed Latin America policy expert confided that despite all of this, the Obama team handled badly the Honduras coup, and should have had this issue resolved in a week. But this person confidentially stated that there is a lack of depth on the President's team -- crippled by the complicating factor that Assistant Secretary Shannon is keeping quiet during his confirmation purgatory -- and there is no successor in his role because of DeMint's block. But the story is bigger than Obama appointees. DeMint seems to be focused on undermining US government policy by commiserating with foreign nationals abroad. I respect Senator DeMint's right to speak his mind and conscience from the floor of the Senate, on his blog, on twitter, wherever he likes -- but there is something extremely wrong about a US Senator conspiring with government officials of another nation as well as wealthy supporters of a coup against the applied policies of the United States. Jim DeMint made the decision to go to Honduras just as de facto Honduran president Roberto Micheletti began to issue signals that he was willing to work out an arrangement on the ousted President and to negotiate something with the United States and other regional stakeholders. Aaron Schock should learn what he can but he needs to be careful of jumping on any bandwagons. I'll never forget when former US Senator Fred Thompson was on a trip to Malaysia sponsored by a Senate-cleared non-profit foundation, but once there -- Thompson felt extremely uncomfortable with the tone of the meetings and the way the political views of the delegation were being co-opted by the hosts and by the Malaysian government and business officials Thompson and others were meeting. Thompson bluntly said, "This doesn't feel right." And then he got up, picked up his materials, and flew immediately back to the United States. Congressman Schock is someone Independents, Republicans and open-minded Dems should want to get to know in future years -- so this post is meant to encourage him to keep his powder dry. Agitating against US government policy while abroad is not a career-booster in either political party. -- Steve Clemons publishes the popular political blog, The Washington Note More on Honduras Coup
 
Marc Dreier On 60 Minutes: Why I Defrauded Investors Out Of $400 MILLION Top
Some men buy sports cars, some men cheat on their wives. But, during his mid-life crisis Marc Dreier decided to defraud investors of $400 million. In a 60 Minutes segment to air Sunday, Dreier sat down for his first interview after being sentenced to 20 years in prison for an enormous -- if not quite Madoff-ian -- fraud that began in 2004. From 2004 until 2008, Dreier sold $700 million fake promissory notes and stole some $45 million from his client's escrow accounts, according to this new Vanity Fair piece. Here, he recounts his reasoning to CBS : "I was very disappointed in my life. I guess some people would say maybe a lot of men reach a so-called midlife crisis. I was 52," he tells Kroft. "I felt that I wanted my life to be more successful than it was and I saw this as the opportunity to do that in a very, obviously, shortsighted, foolish and selfish way. I had never done anything illegal before...but I remember being at a place in my life where I was perhaps desperate to better myself and to make a place for myself," says Dreier. Not surprisingly, his victims aren't buying it. WATCH a preview of Sunday's segment: Watch CBS News Videos Online Get HuffPost Business On Facebook and Twitter !
 
Beth Arnold: Letter From Paris: The Sound of American Outrage Top
Listening to this roaring American furor over Roman Polanski needing to get what he deserves reminds me of the enormous public outcry about Janet Jackson's "wardrobe malfunction" on the Super Bowl halftime show a few years ago. Ohmygod, Americans caught a glimpse of a bare breast. The horror...the horror... There is an entry in Wikipedia to record the public atrocity. The incident was called Nipplegate--and the outraged public, the press coverage, and the barking of the watchdogs went on and on and on. "As God as my witness," a matronly Scarlett O'Hara might have proclaimed, "America will get its decency back again." I am rolling my eyes, while another show of Desperate Anything is played on the television. It is most assuredly true that Roman Polanski should not have raped a 13-year-old girl. (Neither should Jerry Lee Lewis have had sex--and married--a 13-year-old who was also his first cousin once-removed. Was she the one who died and everyone thought he murdered?) It is also true that justice should've been served a long time ago. But who is seeking justice here--and why--and why now? There is plenty of speculation about this, and I doubt the most accurate reason is any of those being publicly touted. The law is the law is the law. Oh, really? Many people believe O.J. Simpson murdered his wife and Ron Goldman, and he walked out of an American courtroom scot-free. The person who might possibly like for justice to be served the most is the victim herself, but here was her reaction in January. From the MailOnline : Samantha Geimer, now 45, lashed out at prosecutors in LA, accusing them of victimising her again with their focus on the lurid details of her ordeal. Yesterday she filed a legal declaration asking that the charge against Polanski be dismissed in the interest of saving her from further trauma as the case is publicised anew. 'True as they may be, the continued publication of those details causes harm to me, my beloved husband, my three children and my mother,' she said. 'I have become a victim of the actions of the district attorney.' ....Ms Geimer said she believes prosecutors are reciting sexually explicit details of the case to distract from their office's own failure to handle the case properly 31 years ago. Apparently, Ms. Geimer wants shed of the angry mob that wants Polanski publicly hung. But if there's one thing Americans like, it's the sound of their moral outrage. Beth Arnold lives and writes in Paris. To see more of her work, go to www.betharnold.com . More on Roman Polanski
 
Joanna Dolgoff, M.D.: In the Era of Health Reform, Child Obesity Is as Bad as Ever Top
As Congress continues to fine-tune its health care plan, the cost of the obesity epidemic, in terms of both human life and dollars, is becoming more evident and severe. The doubling of the obesity rate between 1987 and today accounts for nearly thirty percent of the rise in health care spending seen in recent years. Obesity related spending averages $1400 more per year for an obese person than for a normal-weight individual. And overall obesity-related health care spending has reached 147 billion dollars per year, according to an article published by the Journal of Health Affairs in July 2009. It is clear that the obesity epidemic is more than a social issue; it is a medical crisis. It is not only adults who are affected. The number of overweight children and teens has continued to rise in the past two decades. According to the Center for Disease Control, this generation will be the first generation to die younger than its parents. Many parents are rightly concerned about their children's health. Taking early action is vital. Being overweight may lead to several health problems such as: heart disease, high cholesterol, high triglycerides, high blood pressure, type II diabetes, asthma, sleep apnea, social judgment and psychosocial risks, gall-bladder disease, osteoarthritis, metabolic syndrome, early puberty, gastro-intestinal diseases, gout, liver disease. In the last two decades, doctors have been finding cases of what used to be "adult" diseases in overweight teenagers and children as young as age 6. Type II Diabetes used to be called "Adult Onset" Diabetes. The name has recently changed to Type II diabetes due to the large number of children developing what used to be an exclusively adult problem. Being overweight is the single strongest risk factor for Type 2 Diabetes. An adult diagnosed with Type II Diabetes may require kidney dialysis or have a heart attack in their 60s or 70s whereas a teen diagnosed with Type II Diabetes may develop these problems in their 30s or 40s. New research indicates that childhood obesity itself may shorten one's life span, even if that person is not obese as an adult. It is imperative to recognize and treat childhood overweight as soon as possible in order to maximize life span. Abnormal changes in the heart (i.e. clogging of the arteries) have been documented in healthy children as young as age 5. The evidence overwhelmingly shows that obese children do become obese adults. 75% of children who are overweight between the ages of 12 and 18 remain obese as adults. And half of overweight children age 6-11 become obese adults. Further, if a child is overweight before age 8, he/she is more likely to be severely obese as an adult. Weight loss can reverse many of the health risks of being overweight. Weight reduction can also increase self-esteem and reduce stress and anxiety. It is very important to work with a physician when placing any child on a weight loss plan. It is not safe for a child to be on a diet unless medically supervised. Studies have shown that if not monitored closely, a child's growth can be affected. A physician must be watching every step of the way to ensure that the child's height and growth is continuing at a normal rate. A pediatric specialist is also important because unlike adults, children have different nutritional and caloric needs at each stage of development. Child weight loss programs cannot be "one size fits all". They must be continually modified. Other studies have shown that do-it-yourself plans tend to backfire and cause weight gain. If a child is going to lose weight, he/she must do it safely. It is easier to lose weight and sustain weight loss in children before they enter puberty. During puberty, hormonal changes cause weight gain and make weight loss more difficult. There are also changes in the brain areas that control appetite. Most important, the body's weight "set point" is determined at puberty- making significant weight loss (or gain) much more difficult. Once a person's set point is determined, if that person loses weight, the body responds by lowering resting metabolism and increasing hunger. It is preparing itself for starvation and will do anything it can to regain those lost pounds. This is why most people who lose weight wind up gaining it back. Before the set point is determined, these responses do not happen. A child can lose weight without inciting this "starvation" response. Parents should act as soon as possible, while they have the best chance of making an impact. Parents have more influence on the behavior of younger children than older children and dietary habits in elementary school children are less firmly set. There is also more opportunity for physical activity during the younger years. By the time children become teenagers, they are often resistant to family centered treatment. Here are some things parents can do to be positive role models and keep kids healthy: Make it a whole family effort: Healthy eating habits should be learned by all members of the family, even if they are thin. Take action early on; start with prevention. It is easier to maintain a healthy weight than it is to lose weight. Be realistic; do not expect dramatic results overnight. The goal is to reduce the rate of weight gain while allowing normal growth and development. Encourage healthy eating habits. Remove calorie-rich temptations from the house. Look for ways to make favorite dishes healthier. Avoid the "clean plate" theory. Help kids stay active and reduce the amount of sedentary time. During your child's yearly physical ask for a complete medical exam from your doctor including blood work of cholesterol (if this not already completed) to assess any medical risks. Ask your doctor if your child is considered overweight or obese and make healthy changes right away. More on Health
 
Sarah Haskins: Target Women: How To Get Hot Chicks Top
Hey dudes. Ever wondered how to improve your dating life? Maybe it's time you watched a few commercials and saw how mini-burgers can make a MAJOR change. You can check out a new "Target Women" segment every Thursday on "infoMania" at 10 p.m. ET/PT on Current TV and Current.com . More on Advertising
 
Zandile Blay: Lust List: Google My Touch Phone Top
By now, you've seen the television ads: L.A Lakers coach Phil Jackson, actress and View co-host, Whoopi Goldberg and entrepreneur and Motorcycle Mania host, Jesse James, all touting T-Mobile's new myTouch phone. Paid endorsement or not, that such a motley crew could represent one phone is pretty random - but that's the point. The myTouch is designed as one phone to suit a myriad of tastes. Similar to the iPhone the myTouch offers hundreds - maybe even thousands - of applications. Unlike the iPhone though, these applications are geared not solely towards convenience, but towards personalities and passion. (Case in point: For fashionistas like myself the is the ShopSavvy application which makes shopping easier by comparing prices for products across the country and the web.) For the fitness fanatic, the sports guru or the food enthusiast and beyond there are applications, screen savers and more that can be tailored specifically to your tastes. The added value here is the deep integration of Google services from email to browser to calendar (which I personally can't live without.) Unlike the G-1 Google phone which came before it, the myTouch features an all touch screen keyboard and is smaller, sleeker and chicer. Thus, it can slip as easily into a Chanel 2.5 quilted bag as it could the backpocket of your Levi's. It's available right now for $199 with a contract. Log on to www.t-mobilemytouch.com to learn more. Read more from Zandile on her daily fashion blog The Blay Report .
 
Hollywood And Washington, D.C. Are Very Much Alike Top
In yesterday's Los Angeles Times , John Horn and Tina Daunt wrote about the extent to which the Hollywood community is terribly out of touch with the rest of the country on the matter of Roman Polanski. Their article is worth reading just to experience the pancreas-curdling, sanctimonious bilge that issues from the snackhole of Harvey Weinstein. But what's even nicer about this piece is that at some later date, they can refile it as a broad criticism of the Beltway media elite without making more than a few cosmetic changes. This could save print media, maybe! You can only imagine how paragraphs like this resonate with me: "The split between what the rest of the world thinks about Polanski and what Hollywood thinks about Polanski is quite remarkable," said film historian David Thomson. "It proves what an old-fashioned and provincial club Hollywood is. People look after their own." Seriously. The only difference between their provincial club and ours is that most people finds theirs to be prettier. Take a look at this paragraph. You'll see what I'm talking about: When Mel Gibson launched into an anti-Semitic screed following his 2006 arrest on suspicion of driving under the influence, hardly any Hollywood leaders -- agent Ari Emanuel and Sony studio chief Amy Pascal among the few exceptions -- publicly rebuked the actor. The criticism of Hollywood at the time was that in a business contingent on relationships and currying favor with the powerful, no one was willing to denounce such a prominent artist. Just make the following changes: --"Mel Gibson" to "the Bush administration" --"launched into an anti-Semitic screed...of driving under the influence" becomes "launched a pointless, expensive, and detrimental war in Iraq." --"Hollywood leaders" becomes "Beltway media professionals" --"actor" becomes "President" --"Hollywood" becomes "Washington" --"artist" becomes "politician" ...and voila! It's all just as true as the original! The only thing I'm missing are suitable replacements for Ari Emanuel and Amy Pascal. I guess Hollywood is two up on us in the "ability to make a lick of damn sense every once in a while" category. [Would you like to follow me on Twitter ? Because why not? Also, please send tips to tv@huffingtonpost.com -- learn more about our media monitoring project here .] More on Roman Polanski
 
Steven Altman's Widow Sues Liberty Helicopters Over Hudson Crash Top
PHILADELPHIA — The widow of the small-plane pilot killed in a collision with a helicopter over the Hudson River between New York and New Jersey has filed a wrongful-death lawsuit accusing the helicopter operators of operating an aerial "bumper car." The Aug. 8 crash killed nine people aboard the two aircraft, including pilot Steven Altman, of Ambler, Pa. The federal lawsuit filed this week in Philadelphia by Pamela Altman seeks more than $1.3 million in damages. Pamela Altman sued tour company Liberty Helicopters, helicopter owner Meridian Consulting I Corp., manufacturer American Eurocopter and several of their insurers. Her suit charges that Liberty and Meridian have a "horrid history of accidents" and that American Eurocopter failed to equip the helicopter with sufficient safety equipment. The crash also killed Altman's brother and nephew, along with the helicopter pilot and five Italian tourists. According to the suit, Steven Altman asked the control tower in Teterboro, N.J., for permission to fly at 3,500 feet to avoid "the free-for-all of air traffic, including helicopter bumper-car operation of Meridian defendants" flying lower over the Hudson. Instead, the controller handed off responsibility for the plane to nearby Newark Liberty International Airport and resumed bantering on the phone with an acquaintance about a cat, the suit said, citing previously publicized tower transcripts. The helicopter soon ascended toward Altman's plane from a blind spot behind the aircraft, Pamela Altman's lawyer said. A message left with Liberty Helicopters was not immediately returned, while a working phone number for Meridian could not be found. The family also plans to sue the Federal Aviation Administration, which employed the controller, and a supervisor who had allegedly left on an unauthorized errand, lawyer Arthur Wolk said. "You can't work traffic and have a personal telephone call," Wolk said Friday. "This is life-or-death stuff." Both tower employees remain on paid leave, a Federal Aviation Administration spokeswoman said. Brenda Reuland, spokeswoman for American Eurocopter, said the company would not comment while the National Transportation Safety Board investigation continued. Similar lawsuits are expected to be filed soon over the deaths of Daniel Altman, 49, of Dresher and his 15-year-old son, Douglas, according to Wolk. Steven Altman, who had three children, owned Altman Management Co., part of a family real-estate business.
 
Uninsured And Sick, Student Begged For His Life Top
Freddie Effinger started feeling what he called a "bizarre pain" in his upper thigh during the summer of 2007, just before his third year at the University of Alabama law school. After a scan, his doctors told him it was probably some sort of mass, nothing serious, and that they would remove it surgically in September. Effinger, then 23, didn't have insurance. His parents' policy dropped him after college, and he had figured he could coast through three years of law school and land a job with benefits before suffering any catastrophic illness or injury. ("Superman Complex," he calls it.) The operation to remove the mass would only cost him about $1,200. But when they operated, Effinger's doctors discovered something more serious. "The tumor was the same size as my hand," Effinger told the Huffington Post. "And directly underneath that tumor was another tumor, and further down my leg was another tumor." The following month, an oncologist told Effinger he had advanced stage lymphoma . The oncologist told him that his chemotherapy could cost tens of thousands of dollars per session, and that he would need 12 sessions. Effinger panicked. "My mom's a schoolteacher and my dad's a juvenile detention officer," Effinger said. "They're good people, but that's not going to happen." Effinger scrambled for insurance. He said he was told that the school's health plan for students wouldn't have adequately covered chemotherapy treatment at the nearby University of Alabama at Birmingham Hospital. He had no luck on the private insurance market outside the university. "After making a couple calls explaining the situation, it was pretty much discussions of blackout periods and 'We wouldn't be able to do it,'" he said. "And it was frustrating and frightening." Meanwhile, his leg hurt more and more. He was afraid the cancer would spread. Staff at the hospital, St. Vincent's East in Birmingham, Ala., came up with a solution. "I spoke to someone at the hospital and they mentioned there's a certain number of patients a year they grant charity to," he said. He was eligible because he had zero income. He was indigent. "They called me that later that day and told me they would grant me 100 percent charity. I broke down in tears. Somebody told me they were going to let me live. It was an amazing feeling." Effinger finished up chemo and got married in July 2008. He even managed to finish law school on time and score a job with an employment law firm in Birmingham. But Effinger is still on the hook for about $9,000 for other parts of his treatment. (That's on top of $100,000 in student loan debt, but, he said, "at least the student loan people are being cool" by comparison; debt collectors harassed him over the medical bills.) His credit is wrecked. And the warm, fuzzy feeling Effinger got from the kindness at the hospital was tempered by the realization that he had to beg to survive, that he owed his life to charity and had added considerably to his debt all the same. He's become an advocate for health insurance reform, going door to door for Organizing for America . "I'm a pretty humble guy, but it's really demoralizing to have to beg a hospital for your life, to be to be able to be treated for this thing you just found out that you had," he said. "I don't just have a right to be healthy? I have to beg for it? I have to show that I am poor? It's frustrating. It's embarrassing. It's really unacceptable." More on Bearing Witness 2.0
 
The Muppets Try To Make Friends In Ramallah Top
This season's episodes of "Shara'a Simsim," the Palestinian version of the global "Sesame Street" franchise, were filmed in a satellite campus of Al-Quds University, a ramshackle four-story concrete structure that houses the school's media department and a small local television station. The building sits in an upscale neighborhood on the outskirts of the West Bank city of Ramallah, not far from the edge of the Israeli settlement Psagot. Like many structures on the West Bank, the Al-Quds building seems to be simultaneously under construction and decaying into a ruin. Some walls are pocked with bullet holes, from when the Israeli Army occupied the building for 19 days in 2001, during the second intifada. In another life, the building was a hotel, and the balconies out front where TV crews and students take smoking breaks overlook the crumbling shell of its swimming pool. More on Sesame Street
 
Angelina And Brad In Syria To Shine Light On Iraqi Refugees Top
DAMASCUS, Syria — Angelina Jolie met with Iraqi refugees in Syria on Friday and urged the world not to forget the plight of those among them who cannot return home because of the trauma they suffered and the country's instability. Jolie visited Syria in her role as a goodwill ambassador for the United Nations' refugee agency, UNHCR, and was accompanied by her partner, Brad Pitt, the agency said. Tens of thousands of Iraqi refugees have returned home from Syria and other neighboring countries over the past year, but many more are unable or unwilling to return to a country still shaken by violence. "Most Iraqi refugees cannot return to Iraq in view of the severe trauma they experienced there, the uncertainty linked to the coming Iraqi elections, the security issues and the lack of basic services," a UNHCR statement quoted Jolie as saying. "They will, therefore, be in need of continued support from the international community." She was referring to Iraqi parliamentary elections scheduled for Jan. 16. It was the Academy Award-winning actress' second visit to Syria in two years. On Friday, she visited Damascus' poorest suburbs where she was welcomed by two Iraqi families. She also discussed the Iraqi refugee crisis with Syrian President Bashar Assad and his wife, Asma, UNHCR said. UNHCR estimates that more than 4.2 million Iraqis have left their homes since the beginning of the conflict in 2003. To date, 215,000 Iraqi refugees are registered with UNHCR in Syria, the majority of whom are dependent on food and other material support. The actress has worked with UNHCR since early 2001. In 2007, a foundation set up by Jolie and Pitt donated $1 million to help those affected by the conflict in Sudan's Darfur region and neighboring Chad. Jolie has visited Iraq three times. Her last trip was in July, when she visited a settlement for displaced Iraqis in northwest Baghdad. More on Angelina Jolie
 

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