Tuesday, October 6, 2009

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Russ Baker: Something to Sleep On Top
The New York Times lead story yesterday describes how a series of private equity firms managed to repeatedly flip the venerable Simmons mattress company, earning themselves huge profits while the company became increasingly mired in debt and ultimately forced into bankruptcy and massive layoffs, with ordinary investors, employees, and company retirees taking a huge hit. I thought it would be worthwhile to have a further look at some of the players cited briefly in the article, so here is a bit more on the private equity kingpin Thomas H. Lee, typical of the masters of the universe who so affect our lives yet generally fly below the radar. First, the Times "nut graph": Simmons says it will soon file for bankruptcy protection, as part of an agreement by its current owners to sell the company -- the seventh time it has been sold in a little more than two decades -- all after being owned for short periods by a parade of different investment groups, known as private equity firms, which try to buy undervalued companies, mostly with borrowed money. For many of the company's investors, the sale will be a disaster. Its bondholders alone stand to lose more than $575 million. The company's downfall has also devastated employees like Noble Rogers, who worked for 22 years at Simmons, most of that time at a factory outside Atlanta. He is one of 1,000 employees -- more than one-quarter of the work force -- laid off last year. But Thomas H. Lee Partners of Boston has not only escaped unscathed, it has made a profit. The investment firm, which bought Simmons in 2003, has pocketed around $77 million in profit, even as the company's fortunes have declined. THL collected hundreds of millions of dollars from the company in the form of special dividends. It also paid itself millions more in fees, first for buying the company, then for helping run it. Last year, the firm even gave itself a small raise. Here's what Forbes had to say about Mr. Lee ( who was involved with acquiring Simmons but left his own firm prior to the unraveling), listed as #717 on its 2007 roster of "The World's Billionaires": Fortune: self made Source: leveraged buyouts Net Worth: $1.4 bil Marital Status: married, 5 children Education: Harvard University, Master of Business Administration Soft-spoken buyout titan had a tough fall in 2005: After taking Warner Music public with Edgar Bronfman Jr., flipped commodities outfit Refco. Refco quickly fell apart; then-chief executive Phillip Bennett charged with securities fraud, conspiracy. Company's assets bought up by London hedge fund Man Group. Lee claims he personally lost only $2 million. Harvard grad started investing with $150,000 inheritance 1974. Greatest hit: Snapple, bought for $135 million 1992, sold to Quaker Oats for $1.7 billion in 1994. Today invested in Dunkin' Donuts, Michael Foods. Left Thomas H. Lee Partners to start Thomas H. Lee Equity Partners last March; believed to have been forced out by partners, he says he wants a fresh start. Now leveraging connections with hedge fund managers with his Blue Star fund-of-funds outfit. How are people like Lee able to turn a $150,000 inheritance into $1.4 billion? Some of it is smarts, and hard work, and good information. But if the practices themselves might otherwise face the wrath of the people's representatives, it helps to have them on your side. Proving that the GOP is hardly the sole party of the moneyed, Lee's donations over the years seem to have been almost exclusively to Democrats--including many senators and House members. Among his most recent contributions are between $100,001 and $250,000 to the William J. Clinton Foundation, $28,500 to the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, and the maximum of $4,600 to the Obama Victory Fund. Though comparatively small sums for a wealthy man, they buy an awful lot of good will. So, too, does anything else that improves one's odor and influence. Lee, for example, sits on many civic and charitable boards, among them Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, The Museum of Modern Art, NYU Medical Center, The Rockefeller University and Whitney Museum of American Art, and the Executive Committee for Harvard University's Committee on University Resources. The Times article mentions the sense of betrayal felt by a longtime Simmons employee who has been laid off after 22 years, with two months' severance. But how often do we get a detailed look at the folks whose actions cause the pain? Very seldom indeed. More on Barack Obama
 
Alec Baldwin: Let the Philharmonic Play in Cuba Top
The New York Philharmonic will soon be departing for it's "Asian Horizons" international tour, with stops in Seoul, Tokyo, Hanoi, Singapore, Abu Dhabi and Al Ain. However, one destination that has, at least temporarily, been scratched from the Philharmonic's foreign schedule is Havana. The separate trip to Cuba, scheduled for the end of October, has been postponed due to U.S. Treasury Department regulations. Specifically, a contingent of Philharmonic benefactors, who were underwriting a portion of the trip to Havana, would be spending money in Cuba in violation of current U.S. law. The orchestra it self was permitted to go, but not the convoy of their financial benefactors. So the Philharmonic is free to bring its singular program of cultural exchange to the former North Vietnamese capital, a nation with whom we were at war with as late as 1975, that war having cost over 55,000 U.S. lives. But it is prohibited from doing so in Cuba because.....? As recently as Monday, October 5th, Senator Byron Dorgan (D-ND) spoke on the Senate floor to deride current regulations. "This is almost unbelievable what we are still doing with respect to travel policy with Cuba," Dorgan said. The political heritage of the Cuban American people notwithstanding, it is time for the embargo on U.S. travel to end. The people most responsible for the creation of this political reality are dead. Some of them long dead. Castro is in the last chords of his own life. Who, then, benefits from continuing this policy? The Cuban American community, who truly suffered the upheaval, savagery and indignation of losing their homeland to the Communists can never be compensated. One could never equate the current order as being the result of merely a "grudge." Yet, nothing can bring back their Cuba. It is gone. Even if Cuba had not been, as one friend once described to me, "embedded in amber" these past several decades, the rest of the world has moved on. There is, however, a New Cuba that can be reclaimed. Investment is paramount, no doubt. But a relationship with the rest of world may be needed first. The New York Philharmonic, one of the premiere classical music institutions in existence, cannot afford to knock on Cuba's door without financial support from its generous contributors, especially in these difficult economic times. Performing arts institutions like the Philharmonic have long understood the necessity for cultural projects like this. As much as our allies and potential allies want aid, food, and America's brand of political rhetoric in their ears, they also want something else. Like Ravel and Stravinsky and Beethoven and de Falla. The embargo on Cuban travel should be lifted, at the very least, for cultural projects like the one by the Philharmonic that was just delayed by the U.S. Treasury Department. If a hundred or so patrons accompany them as a means of facilitating the trip, they should be allowed to go, too. More on Cuba
 
Alan Dershowitz: The Hyposcrisy of "Universal Jurisdiction" Top
Last week, Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak--the former Dovish Prime Minister who offered the Palestinians a state on all of the Gaza Strip, 95% of the West Bank and a capital in East Jerusalem--was arrested when he set foot in Great Britain. (He was quickly released on grounds of diplomatic immunity because he was an official visitor.) And now Moshe Yaalon, an Israeli government minister and former Army Chief of Staff, was forced to cancel a trip he was scheduled to make in London on behalf of a charity, for fear that he too would be arrested. The charges against these two distinguished public officials is that they committed war crimes against Palestinian terrorists and civilians. Yaalon was accused in connection with the 2002 targeted killing of Salah Shehadeh, a notorious terrorist who was responsible for the deaths of hundreds of Israeli civilians and was planning the murders of hundreds of more. As a result of faulty intelligence the rocket that killed Shehadeh also killed several civilians who were nearby, including members of his own family. Barak is being accused of war crimes in connection with Israel's recent military effort to stop rockets from being fired at its civilians from the Gaza Strip. The British government and British prosecutors have not supported the arrest of Barak and Yaalon. Those demanding the arrest of these Israelis are hard-left political activists who are seeking to invoke so-called "universal jurisdiction" against those who they consider guilty of war crimes and genocide. They have absolutely zero interest in human rights, in the laws of war, or in preventing genocide. Indeed, many of them supported the Cambodian genocide and have refused to condemn the Rwanda and Darfur genocides. They would never dream of demanding the arrest of Hamas murderers who target Israeli schoolchildren for suicide bombings or rocket attacks. They are willfully misusing these concepts--human rights, universal jurisdiction--to serve their anti-Israel and anti-Western ideology. What they are doing undercuts the neutrality and value of these protections. If they were at all interested in human rights they would be going after the worst first--those who murder innocent civilians as part of a campaign of ethnic cleansing or genocide. But they are interested in Israel and Israel alone. That's why they demand boycotts and divestment only from the Jewish state and not from real human rights violators. Indeed, most of them would fervently reject to sanctions against Iran, North Korea, Libya, Venezuela, China, Zimbabwe, Syria or Saudi Arabia. It is disgraceful that Israeli leaders cannot walk the streets of London safely, while Hamas and Hezbollah leaders are honored and celebrated. The time has come for Israel to confront this issue directly and to take legal action to prevent radical Israel-haters from misusing decent laws to achieve indecent results. Just imagine what a trial would look like, if it were conducted fairly and objectively. The Israelis would be able to prove that their campaign of targeted assassinations of terrorists has worked effectively to reduce terrorism against Israeli citizens and others. Israel has inadvertently killed some civilians, but the ratio of deaths has been reduced to 1 civilian for every 28 terrorists. This is the best ratio of any country in the world that is fighting asymmetrical warfare against terrorists who hide behind civilians. It is far better than the ratio achieved by Great Britain and the United States in Iraq or Afghanistan, where both nations employ targeted killings of terrorist leaders. Recall that it was Great Britain that implemented a policy during the Second World War of targeting civilians in cities such as Dresden and that it was the United States that implemented the same policy in its firebombing of Tokyo. Indeed, it is fair to say that no country in modern history has ever been more protective of enemy civilians than Israel has been during its 75 year fight against terrorism. As Richard Kemp put it during the Gaza War: From my knowledge of the IDF and from the extent to which I have been following the current operation, I don't think there has ever been a time in the history of warfare when any army has made more efforts to reduce civilian casualties and deaths of innocent people than the IDF is doing today in Gaza. ... Hamas, the enemy they have been fighting, has been trained extensively by Iran and by Hezbollah, to fight among the people, to use the civilian population in Gaza as a human shield ... Hamas factor in the uses of the population as a major part of their defensive plan. So even though as I say, Israel, the IDF, has taken enormous steps...to reduce civilian casualties, it is impossible, it is impossible to stop that happening when the enemy has been using civilians as human shields. Recall that before Israel went into the Gaza Strip, nearly 10,000 rockets had been fired at its civilians from behind human shields. No nation is obliged, under international law, to accept the risks of catastrophic outcomes from these anti-personnel rockets. So let there be a legal proceeding--a fair one in an objective forum--in which Israel's policies are tested against those of other countries. The end result would be that Ehud Barak and Moshe Yaalon will be able to hold their heads up high and walk through the streets of any western city in the full knowledge that what they have done meets and indeed exceeds every standard of international law applicable to their conduct. More on Israel
 
Bruce Feiler: Moses vs. Jesus: Who is America's Prophet? Top
On July 4, 1776, immediately after passing the Declaration of Independence, the Continental Congress asked Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, and John Adams to design a seal for the new United States. Six weeks later they made their recommendation: Moses, leading the Israelites across the Red Sea. Three of the five drafters of the Declaration of Independence and three of the defining faces of the Revolution proposed that Moses be the face of the United States of America. In their eyes, Moses was our true founding father. Four years ago I set out looking at the role of Moses in American life . I sailed on Plymouth Harbor where the Pilgrims compared their journey to Moses; I climbed the tower of Independence Hall where the Liberty Bell was inscribed with a quote from Moses; I retraced the Underground Railroad where "Go Down, Moses" was the national anthem of slaves; and I donned the robe Charlton Heston wore in The Ten Commandments . One discovery surprised me most of all and reshaped my views of the culture wars of today: Moses has been more important to American history than Jesus. Of course, Jesus was influential in American life. The United States at its founding was 100 percent Christian and is 75 percent Christian today. But as important as Jesus was to Americans' private lives, he had far less influence than Moses on the great transformations of our public life. The themes of Jesus' life -- love, charity, poverty alleviation -- would not make the list of the defining impulses of Americans. The themes of Moses' life, by contrast -- social mobility, standing up to authority, balancing freedom and law, dreaming of a promised land -- would make any short list of America's defining traits. Moses was more important to the Puritans. On The Mayflower , the Pilgrims carried Bibles emblazoned with Moses; they called King James their pharaoh; and they proclaimed their mission to be as vital as "Moses and the Israelites when they went out of Egypt." Moses was more important during the Revolution. Thomas Paine called King George the "hardened, sullen-tempered pharaoh"; Benjamin Franklin used Moses to help pass the Constitution; and George Washington was called "America's Moses" for leading a beleaguered band of Colonists against the superpower of the day. When he died, two-thirds of the eulogies compared the "first conductor of the Jewish nation" to the "leader and father of the American nation." And Moses was more important during the Civil War. Slaves and Abolitionists rallied around Moses because he offered a precedent for escaping bondage; Harriet Tubman was so successful freeing slaves she was called "the Moses of her people." Southerners, meanwhile, invoked the story, too, noting that Moses invited slaves to the first Passover. It took America's most Bible-quoting president to unite the country. Abraham Lincoln quoted the Exodus at Gettysburg, and, even though he was shot on Good Friday, Lincoln was more often compared to Moses upon his death. Eulogizers cited his freeing of the slaves and the fact that, like Moses, he died short of the Promised Land. Not just American political events were shaped by Moses; American cultural figures were, too. The Statue of Liberty drew inspiration from the biblical prophet. The spikes of light around Lady Liberty's head and the tablet in her arms come from the moment when Moses comes down Mount Sinai with the Ten Commandments. Superman's backstory also comes from the superhero of the Torah. Both figures were born to a people facing annihilation, floated to safety in a small vessel, then picked up and raised by strangers, before being summoned to save humanity. Even Superman's original name, Kal-El, is Hebrew for "swift God." But it was Cecil B. DeMille who turned Moses into a hero of the Cold War. At the start of The Ten Commandments , which was released this week in 1956 and went on to become the fifth-highest-grossing film of all time, DeMille appeared on screen to tell viewers the movie was about freedom versus communism. And at the end of the film, Charlton Heston quotes the words of Moses on the Liberty Bell and mimics the pose of the Statue of Liberty. In recent years, Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama have all said they were inspired by Moses. As historian Allen Guelzo told me, "The story of Jesus is extremely important. What is surprising is how persistently important the story of Moses remains." Why? The answer, I believe, is that Moses represents the courage to leave oppression and create a better world. He embodies the American juggling act between freedom and law. And he encapsulates the desire to build a society that uplifts the downtrodden and nurtures the outsider. For years, the culture wars have debated whether America is a Christian country. That debate misses the point. It was white male Protestants who introduced Moses into the American narrative, and his presence made it easier for blacks, Jews, and women to eventually integrate into American society. Precisely because he was invoked by left and right, Republican and Democrat, Jew and Christian, Moses may be the one cultural figure who can remind Americans of our common heritage and help restore a national conversation in how we can become a "promised land" once again. More on Barack Obama
 
Jon Chattman: Daryl Hall & John Oates Interview, Part 2: Daryl Hall and the "War" with his Generation Top
"Two-headed monster" is what Daryl Hall and John Oates refer to themselves as, because it's everything they're not. Arguably the biggest music duo of all time have said they're able to coexist and churn out hits and perform because essentially -- they don't drive each other crazy and let each other do their own thing. Case in point last year alone -- Oates released a solo album while Hall continued his highly successful web series "Live From Daryl's House" (think Jon Favreau's "Dinner with Friends" for the music crowd.) Still, the two found time to tour together as they always do. Arguably, the duo are just as renowned today as they were in the 1970s and Max Headroom decades. There's no better example of this statement than the recent usage of their 1981 hit "You Make My Dreams Come True" in an instant classic dance sequence during the indie hit "500 Days of Summer." On October 13, that song and a ton more will be available via a box set entitled Do What You Want, Be What You Are . The impressive collection features singles, rarities, and live tracks that have never been heard before. I spoke to Hall recently and asked him about working with Oates, his aformentioned web series, and whether he feels he and Oates get the respect they so richly deserve. How long did the box set take to put together, and why was now a good time to release it? I always look my life as being sort of a circle or a series of circles. This is sort of the second completion of the circle. When I say completion I mean I'm not really working in the studio as much with John. I've sort of started a new circle with " Live from Daryl's House " and I think we started a circle more apart then together even though we're still working together. I think it was a good time to show sort of what we've done in the studio after all these years. It seemed appropriate. As far as how long it took -- awhile, man. It took weeks to sit down and really listen to every song in my life. which is a considerable body of work and really analyze it and figure out what it was that I felt was significant ... the songs that I thought showed our movement, our evolution and importance. Was it an adventure to narrow it all down to four discs? Yeah, I mean it was. I wouldn't say it was hard. I can edit myself pretty well but I will say the way it worked out, there wasn't one moment that I thought was significant and got left out. I mean there were songs I would've added but there weren't songs that I thought would've changed anybody's perception or anybody's enjoyment. I feel like it's pretty well edited and a complete body of work. How long did it take you to look through your vault of material? It initially started with Sony coming to me saying, "We want to do a box set, are you into it?" I went "yeah." They had some ideas and they sent me all these half-completed outtakes they happened to own and had access to. I listened to these things and I went "no." There was a reason this stuff wasn't ever on major records. First of all most of it was not finished, and second of all, some of it sucked. So I said forget about that "if you want to put things on there, I have things in my archives and John does too that we really like and really think are significant and acceptable." So there was a little bit of scrambling around, and pulling what we thought were the important things out that nobody's ever heard. The next step was just figuring out songs that maybe people forgot about -- the more obscure songs that I consider significant that weren't necessarily hits or anything like that but were important creatively. A lot of newer bands seem to be publicly saying how much of an influence you guys have been on their lives. Still, I get a sense you both don't get a lot of credit. What do you think of that? You're about the right age to have people say I'm the Bob Dylan of your generation. I think the lack of respect that you're referring to are people over the age of 45. The younger generation gives me more respect than I could ever hope for. I know "Saturday Night Live" dogged you a bit last year.. OK, let's use "Saturday Night Live" and Lorne Michaels, an example of the of the old guard. My own generation and I have always had a war. We fought old battles that I've long won. The old guard with the Lorne and Jann Wenner's of the world -- they were not on the same side as me. They reference different things. What they think is worthy of respect is very different than what I think is worthy of respect. I'm on the side of music. I just want to put that to bed. I get more respect than I ever need in life. How'd "Live from Daryl's House" come about? It initially started with the simple thought of me and T-Bone [Wolk] just sitting on my porch, playing music and people wouldn't be paying to hear it. Then I thought, I'm a transient person. I've been around the world -- why don't I throw everything into oppositeland and go to my cave -- my place that is the core of my life and not move for a change and have the world come to me. After that started thinking, a format slowly start emerging. My first thoughts were "why don't we have guests?" I'd been reading so many things about various new bands that were influenced by what it is that I do, and said "OK, I really want it to be new bands interacting with a veteran like me." That's really how it's evolved and I think that's the interesting thing about it. It's not normal performing. It's not an artist doing his or her act. It's a bunch of musicians getting together in their native habitat and playing and the audience is a fly on the wall. There's no fourth wall. I think it's a unique experience for audience the guests and us. Everybody smiles a lot. We do 12 shows a year. You and John still tour regularly - do you think you've avoided the rock & roll cliche in that you're two individual artists working together? That is the reason. This goes back to when we were kids. We said, "You're a songwriter, I'm a songwriter -- well work together but well share the stage. We're two different people." We never stand in each others way. I'm more prolific then John so I do more but I'm always doing things. There's room for everything in my life. It all seems to work out. Your songs are still played in heavy rotation, and I must say "You Make My Dreams..." fits in pretty damn well on the "500 Days of Summer" soundtrack ... That proves my point. When I was a kid I always looked up to people like BB King and Ray Charles - people of another generation that resonated heavy with kids. I always wanted to be one of those people and thank God I seemed to have pulled that off. I care more about that than just about anything. I think an artist's true worth comes through an inter -- generational thing -- when you go beyond your own time, and start influencing people in a greater way than just what surrounds you. Living history that's what I care about. Lastly, I have to ask. What do you make of the recent fascination with John Oates' mustache? Well, I don't know. What do you want me to make of it? I've got a sense of humor. I'm a funny guy. John Oates' mustache isn't that funny to me, but I haven't seen it in too many years. I think it's interesting -- that's the best way to put it. Whatever ... it all works for me. The funny thing for me is that he hasn't had it for over 15 years ... We sort of step out of time, man. Time doesn't seem to have any meaning to us. Read more here . More on SNL
 
Holder: Guantanamo Closing Might Be Made More Difficult By Lawmakers Top
More on Eric Holder
 
Ellen Sterling: Fanning The Flames Of Devotion Top
We've heard about the Deadheads who followed the Grateful Dead hither and yon. We've seen people line up for days before the opening of a new Star Wars film, before tickets to the World Series or Super Bowl go on sale or show up at a bookstore at midnight awaiting the release of a new book. If we've walked past the stage door of a theater after the curtain falls, we've probably seen throngs of people waiting for the star to emerge. Have you stood and waited, or traveled, yourself? If the answer to any of these questions is "yes," then you are acquainted with the world of fans. Fans come in all shapes and sizes, in all ages and from all backgrounds. There is, in short, no demographic profile of the "typical" fan because such an animal doesn't exist. Now, here in Las Vegas fandom probably plays a significant part in the economy. People come to town just to bet on the big game. When Jimmy Buffet plays the MGM Grand Garden Arena, the hotel is wall-to-wall parrotheads in full plumage. Just as I know people from the east coast who travel to Ireland to see U2 and New Jersey to see Bruuuuuuce, when a major act plays here, their fans come, too. When there's a title fight here, the place is jammed. If a British fighter is on the card against an American, the UK fans turn out in force. They jam the local "British pubs" and have even been known to boo our national anthem. Yes, there are lots of fans passing through Las Vegas. And, they can do some things the rest of us wouldn't do -- not because we don't have the nerve but because these things wouldn't occur to us. Take the guy in the photo above. He calls himself "Phantom Fett" (he clearly likes Star Wars, too) and he was dressed here for the Masquerade Ball that was held at The Venetian to kick off Phantom Fan Week. People who love Phantom: The Las Vegas Spectacular and all the other Phantom incarnations over the years, came here last month from just about every corner of the world to celebrate the show. The gentleman in costume here -- dressed in a replica of the Phantom's costume for the big masquerade ball scene -- is from Nebraska. Even for a fan from relatively close by (it's 1,000 miles or so from Nebraska to Las Vegas) the trip can be pricey -- hotel, transport, food and that costume -- and of course the price goes up exponentially the farther away one has to travel. Then there are the "Fanilows." These are Barry Manilow fans who will pay $1,000 for a front-row ticket to his show. They also get a meet-and-greet, photo with their star, a glass of champagne and the satisfaction of knowing that most of the money goes to his not-for-profit, the Manilow Fund for Health and Hope that supports grassroots educational and healthcare projects. And, last I checked, each fan is allowed one such ticket. Records are kept and no repeat buyers are allowed. If you find yourself at an Engelbert Humperdinck show, you'll find yourself surrounded by people who have been fans and have been following "Enge" (or "Humpy"), as they call him, for 40+ years. You have the same at a Tony Bennett show or when you see any of the legacy acts that pass through Las Vegas. Here, as it is a major destination, one might find people from almost anywhere one can imagine at a show paying tribute to the entertainer they love. Now, I'm a Tom Jones fan and I've gotten to know others who are each part of an eclectic group of women (and men) ranging in age from 18 to 80. There are some who have been buying Sir Tom Dom Perignon since way before he was a "Sir." Others have given him much more pricey gifts and, if you ask, they'll tell you they do it to "thank" him or "pay him back" for the years he's given on stage. (When Joe Calzaghe fights or Tom Jones sings, in fact, the city turns into a Welsh suburb, with flags waving and Welsh greetings and farewells being tossed around with abandon.) This brings us to the photo at left. That lady with the wonderful smile is named Portia. She lives on a farm in Indiana and is employed at a nearby prison. Clearly, she's a devoted Tom Jones fan. In August she asked him sign her shoulder and, as you can see in the inset at the top right of the picture, he did. The next day she went and had that signature tattooed. On the left of the photo is her horse. He's called "TJ" for short but his registered, or full, name is "Tom Jones Is A Real Stud." The late rooster, pictured below surrounded by admiring hens, was called Mr. Jones. (For the record, Portia says her husband just smiles at her fandom. He even occasionally goes to a show with her.) If you look it up in referemce books there are all sorts of attempts to explain such extreme fans. There are also constant reminders that the very word "fan" is a short form of "fanatic." But under normal circumstancesI don't believe any of that matters. What does matter is: 1. The fan, in his or her element, is happy. 2. As long as things are kept under control in a non-threatening situation, the performer, or athlete, or team, has to be happy that people care enough to be fans. 3. Here in Las Vegas even the economy wins. These days, that's an especially good thing.
 
Chanel Models Roll In The Hay: Spring-Summer 2010 Collection A Yee-Haw Or Yikes? (PHOTOS, POLL) Top
Karl Lagerfeld's favorite little fashion house on the prairie, Chanel, presented a rustic look at Paris Fashion Week earlier today. There were flowers, sheer shawls, a little bit of denim and even some tumbleweed. Which looks make you want to yell "Yee-haw!"? And which are deserving of "Yikes?" Saddle up and vote. Follow HuffPost Style on Twitter and become a fan of HuffPost Style on Facebook ! More on Fashion Week
 
Adam Hanft: Who Needs the Olympics? Consolation Reading for Chicago Lovers Top
The following appeared today in the Barnes & Noble Review . Who Needs the Olympics? Consolation Reading for Chicago Lovers Despite the continentally-correct judgment of the Olympicrats in Copenhagen, Chicago is an Olympian city when it comes to literature and the arts. And what better time than now to remind us? Here's a sampling of some of those triumphs of the sedentary, each of which required sweat, struggle, and, of course, the building of stadiums of the mind. The Adventures of Augie March Saul Bellow With its fire-breathing opening sentence - "I am an American Chicago born-Chicago, that somber city-and go at things as I have taught myself, free-style..." - Bellow declares he has arrived to create the alpha and omega (or, perhaps, the alepth-bet) of the American post-war novel. And when -- in that same paragraph -- the street-tutored Augie, Bellow's first-person instigator, writes "But a man's character is his fate, says Heraclitus," we're smacked with the joyous high/low collision that has wandered forward into the culture and become an aesthetic norm, influencing everyone from Jeff Koons to Quentin Tarrantino. Augie dominates, but Chicago itself is an omnipresent character, its unpredictable urban rumble a propulsive force for fate's caprice. The Second City Unscripted: Revolution and Revelation at the World-Famous Comedy Theater Mike Thomas Despite, or more likely because of, its invocation of urban inferiority -- borrowed from the title of a New Yorker article about Chicago by A.J. Liebling -- Second City has become an ongoing Manhattan Project for developing devastating comic weaponry since it was opened in 1959. Issuing forth from its laboratory, it seems, has been everyone who mocks anything: John Belushi, Chris Farley, Bill Murray, Tina Fey, Stephen Colbert. The author of this graceful new book, a Chicago Sun-Times staff writer, had the painful research task of interviews with Jerry Seinfeld, Robin Williams, Carl Reiner, Bill Cosby, Bob Newhart, and Jon Stewart. Indemnity Only Sara Paretsky Sara Paretsky, who writes the V.I Warshawski detective stories, could be the love child of Raymond Chandler and Dorothy Parker -- if they were also scholars. Paretsky has a Ph.D. in history from the University of Chicago; her dissertation was entitled "The Breakdown of Moral Philosophy in New England Before the Civil War" -- and an MBA. But she writes with a visceral, back-alley fluency. Indeed, there is something Mametian (David Mamet, another unmistakable Chicago voice, shows up later on our list) about the way this classic academic was drawn to the noir side of the tracks. If you haven't read her, start with her first novel, Indemnity Only, which introduces V.I. Populated with Chicago characters, ithas more local color than you'd fine at Pantone headquarters. Rules for Radicals Saul Alinsky Saul Alinksy is known as the founder of community organizing, which is an easy honor because there's not even a close second. Alinsky organized Chicago's "Back of the Yards" neighborhood in the 1930s, and never lost his fire or focus. He wrote and worked tirelessly to shift the power equation in the true progressive Chicago tradition that goes back to Clarence Darrow (who appears next.) In 1968, Alinsky personally offered Hillary Rodham Clinton a job, and after he died, his followers offered a position to a dreamer named Barack Obama. Discover Alinksy with his last book, Rules for Radicals, in the introduction to which he captures his life's work with a single sentence: "The Prince was written by Machiavelli for the Haves on how to hold power. Rules for Radicals is written for the Have-Nots on how to take it away." The Story of My Life Clarence Darrow Most people probably think he looked like Spencer Tracy; such is the cultural imprint of Inherit the Wind (which is, incidentally, now in a muscular revival in London starring Kevin Spacey and David Troughton.) Clarence Darrow made his reputation in Chicago -- where he once shared an office with Edgar Lee Masters -- and this book may be the first of what is now an established genre: the legal memoir. Insufficiently attended to, The Story of My Life includes the Woodworker's Conspiracy Case (which established the legal right of a union to strike), the Leopold and Loeb case, the Scottsboro civil rights case, and of course, the Scopes Circus...er, trial. Outrageous Acts and Everyday Rebellions Gloria Steinem What is Chicago without Hugh Marston Heffner, and what is Hef without the feminist backlash? In 1963, Gloria Steinem went undercover and worked at a Playboy Club on assignment for Show magazine. This collection includes the classic reportage piece that emerged from that deception, "I Was A Playboy Bunny." For a long time Steinem regretted the piece and the defining envelope it became. But in the introduction she writes, "Eventually, dawning feminism made me understand that reporting about the phony glamour and exploitative employment policies of the Playboy Club was a useful thing to do." One More Time: The Best of Mike Royko Mike Royko Bloggers, be afraid, be very afraid. Over thirty years, the legendary Mike Royko cranked out over 7,500 daily columns for three Chicago papers, the Tribune, the Daily News, and Sun-Times. His voice was pure Chicago, wickedly demotic, taking on elites with glee and joust. He freely created fictitious characters -- the most famous was Slats Grobnik -- as his doppelgangers. Royko made things happen. He once wrote a column, "A Faceless Man's Plea,'' that blasted the Veteran's Administration when it wouldn't pay for reconstructive surgery that would let a Vietnam vet chew his food. Soon after the column ran, the VA got out its checkbook. Steppenwolf Herman Hesse Hesse was never in Chicago. But his 1927 counterculture favorite -- a novel of alienation, transcendence, and garden-variety spiritual crisis -- made it there. In 1974, Rich Argosh, a high-school senior in Highland Park, was reading Steppenwolf when he approached Gary Sinise and Leslie Wilson about mounting a production of Paul Zindel's And Miss Reardon Drinks a Little. Out of the novelistic coincidence was born the name one of the nation's premier regional theaters, the birthing ground of John Malvokich, Joan Allen, Martha Plimpton, and, of course, August, Osage County. Glengarry Glen Ross David Mamet David Mamet's Gatling dialogue and sympathy-challenged characters are -- do you hear me, are you listening to the words I'm saying about these people, these people who don't giving a flying fucking broad jump about the Olympics -- worlds away from the pretty picture of lakeside Chicago that President Obama sketched in Copenhagen.. Or not. After all, the salesmen in Glengarry Glen Ross are in a primal struggle to close a lead. Just like Chicago was. Chicago, City on the Make Nelson Algren Manhattan has E.B.White's elegiac "This is New York"; Chicago has this thorned valentine from the less lyrical Nelson Algren. Algren, most famous for The Man With The Golden Arm, wrote this unblinking 12,000 word essay in 1951. "Once you've become a part of this particular patch..." he murmurs and growls "...you'll never love another. Like loving a woman with a broken nose, you may well find lovelier lovelies, but never a lovely so real." Algren locates the city's heart in the "nobodies nobody knows"; he drags himself to his half-busted Underwood "For all the poolroom tigers in checkered caps who've never seen a cow." A Steady Rain Keith Huff Managing editor of Orthopaedic Knowledge Online and unpaid resident playwright at the Chicago Dramatist's theater, Huff has been huffing along for the last quarter century. He's written more than 50 plays, but A Steady Rain makes up for all of them. It's about the friendship between two cops and a screwed-up police investigation. And it's rooted in the streets. The Wall Street Journal writes, "In a note at the start of the play, Huff specifies that the men should speak with Chicago accents." A Steady Rain just opened on Broadway with Daniel Craig and Hugh Jackman, making this the kind of story that feeds the fantasy furnace of writers everywhere. Studs Terkel: studsterkel.org Actor, playwright, jazz columnist, host of a groundbreaking TV show, Studs Place, host of a radio program from 1952 through 1997, and Pulitzer Prize-winning oral historian, Terkel, who died at 2008 at 96, was an irreplaceable piece of Chicago's sense of itself. Rather than any single book, this well-crafted website lets you enter his extraordinary life, a pretense-free celebration of American possibility. (Chicago lovers, what books are we missing? Tell us in the comments below.) Adam Hanft is a nationally known authority on consumer marketing, business strategy, and social trends, and the founder and CEO of Hanft Unlimited. He blogs for the Huffington Post, The Daily Beast, and Fast Company and is a frequent commentator on National Public Radio's Marketplace. He is the co-writer, with Faith Popcorn, of The Dictionary of the Future. You can follow him at twitter.com/hanft.
 
Adam Hanft: Gourmet Starved to Death Top
Seventy years of great photography and intimidating recipes have collapsed as fast as a badly architected boysenberry soufflé. Yesterday, Conde Nast announced it was yanking Gourmet off the stove. It was a needless death in our food-mad culture. The Food Channel sizzles. The gladiatorial combat of Iron Chef rivets. Locovore was the new word of the year. Michael Pollan writes best-sellers. Our president is an eating elitist who worries (or worried, at least) about the cost of arugula. As you would expect, there is much end-of-an-era keening and despair by foodies everywhere about the yawning void this leaves. And much opining about the grim future of the glossy mag. The first thing I'll say is let's not blame the executioner, although I concede it's easy to hate McKinsey, those bloodless consultants with no appreciation of aesthetics or tradition. And let's not just blame the Great Recession and the cratering of advertising pages. It's true that Gourmet has shrunk from its zaftig, glory days, Michael-Moore sized edition to more refugee-camp dimensions. But the seeds (heirloom, of course) for this were planted a long time ago. Planted by the failure of Conde Nast, who is essentially in the trend business, to have the faintest notion of where the macro-media trends were headed. Let's start with the hard-copy magazine. One of the legacy pricing issues that magazines have dumbly stuck with is that local advertising gets charged a premium. To put that in simple terms, if a national page in Gourmet costs $100, and you want to advertise only in New York -- which is ten percent of the U.S. -- Gourmet will charge you a lovely up-charge. So the local page might cost you $15 or $20. There's some logic for this; there are logistical costs involved in inserting an ad in only a portion of a print run. But there are devastating consequences. Food is largely local. People who read Gourmet are natural customers of neighborhood restaurants, local wine shops, local cheese mongers. But have you ever seen one of their ads in the magazine? By making it punishingly expensive for those advertisers, Gourmet limited itself to deep-pocketed, luxury national brands, and eliminated an entire revenue stream that could have helped sustain it in bad times. A strong local orientation would have also translated into local events. Special promotions with restaurants, wine-tastings, meets-and-greets with celebrity chefs. All of that would have been incremental revenue. And that revenue stream, by the way, would have naturally migrated to the web And that's the second huge failure that's responsible for Si dropping Gourmet into trash compactor. Their website is what people in the industry charitably call Web 1.0, meaning that it is essentially a one-way, digital version of the magazine. Even now, there aren't any meaningful, interactive, Web 2.0 tools and functionality. No blogs, no data feeds, no profound user-contributory mechanism, minimal video. Check out the site, while you still can, and you'll see what I mean. You'll be greeted by big, luscious, sexy photographs. The editors are trying to replicate the magazine experience, and that's dead wrong. Content-providers (hateful term, but clear) who succeed online do so because they are able to create experiences that take advantage of the medium. People who love food don't need to have half of their screen colonized by shots of sexualized pomegranates. They want lots of timely, useful, information - much of it local. They want to share ideas and recipes. Meanwhile, while Gourmet has been dozing, a vast and lively food ecosystem has exploded online, faster than early-spring asparagus - much of which could and should have been part of the Gourmet online presence. There's Chowhound, Eater.com, Yelp and hundreds of ferociously obsessive bloggers covering every inch of the restaurant and food world who have filled a void left by the 70 year-old dowager of delicacies. One of these bloggers, for example, is solely fixated on the nano-gauge need of finding lunch in a single part of Manhattan. I discovered MidtownLunch.com the other day, when I was walking across 52nd Street and noticed an intriguing, new take-out place called Barros Luco. A quick web search brought me to a site whose purview is delightfully narrow: "Finding lunch in the food wasteland of midtown Manhattan", which is where I learned that Barros Luco is a Chilean sandwich joint that's attempting to woo New York. That should have been a Gourmet search, a microcosm for a tragic macrocosm. This is a universal, old-media story. HuffingtonPost and TMZ and yes, The Daily Beast exists because the Michael's-lunching suits never got it. But even Time and Entertainment Weekly have roused themselves into more vital Internet brands than Gourmet. They've squandered their legacy with a dismal site that's static, boring and completely removed from the foodie dialogue. And with Ruth Reichel, they had a powerful, respected personality to drive it. So to anyone who was watching, the demise of Gourmet was perfectly predictable. It's a failure of imagination on both the print and the digital side. The press loves to report on the lavish spending habits that Conde Nast subvented, the first class travel, the town cars, the perks. While that was happening, the magazine itself was slowly starving to death.
 
Rockies' Jorge De La Rosa's Injured Groin Will Keep Him Out Of First Round Top
PHILADELPHIA — Sixteen-game winner Jorge De La Rosa will miss Colorado's first-round playoff series against Philadelphia because of an injured left groin. The left-hander left his last start Saturday night after hurting himself. He was scheduled to test his groin in a bullpen session Tuesday, but that was canceled. "Our medical people had been working on him over the last couple days and his groin is about the same as it was when we had to remove him from the game Saturday night in Los Angeles," Rockies manager Jim Tracy said. De La Rosa led the majors with 16 wins after June 1. He lost his first six decisions, and finished 16-9 with a 4.38 ERA. If the Rockies beat the defending World Series champion Phillies, De La Rosa could return for the NLCS. "I think that's definitely a viable possibility," Tracy said. Ubaldo Jimenez (15-12) will pitch Game 1 against the Phillies on Wednesday. Aaron Cook (11-6) is scheduled to start Game 2. Tracy gave Jason Hammel (10-8) the nod for Game 3 over All-Star Jason Marquis (15-13). "Jason Hammel has stepped up and has pitched extremely well during the course of the second half of the season," Tracy said. "He has been a guy that in big games against ones and twos in other club's rotations, has not only won games but has put us in a position to win some of these games that he was not involved in the decision." Marquis will pitch out of the bullpen in the first three games. The right-hander was 4-7 with a 4.56 ERA in the second half after going 11-6 with a 3.65 ERA in the first half. "I think the first two-thirds of the season were exceptional," Tracy said. "Right now he's not throwing the ball quite in the same manner. And to ignore a guy that has thrown the ball as well as Jason Hammel has thrown it since the All-Star break, I really feel is doing ourselves a disservice."
 
Bethenny Frankel To Jon Gosselin: 'Get Your Crap Together' Top
Bethenny Frankel of The Real Housewives of New York City is not shy about her opinions -- and now she's giving her advice to Jon Gosselin. "I think you're defeated. You need to pull yourself up from your bootstraps and get back to your kids and get your crap together," Frankel tells the embattled reality TV dad on The Insider in a segment they taped together to air Tuesday. "You need to pull it together." More on The Real Housewives
 
Holder Worried Lawmakers Will Make Gitmo Closing Difficult Top
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Chloe Spencer: Depression Alert: Reading This Post May Just Help Save a Life Top
Depression. It's a serious illness, but also one of the most common ones out there. Everyone will at some point in his or her life be affected by depression, either their own or someone else's, according to Australian Government statistics (depression statistics in Australia are comparable to those of the US and UK). It's the kind of illness you can't always see; a person may seem happy when you are talking to them, even after knowing them for a while, but depression is something most people keep swept well under the rug from many people in their lives. Sometimes depression doesn't affect an individual 24/7, but is triggered by an incident that recently happened, which can lead to breakdowns and often suicidal thoughts and actions. These types of things are often kept private by the victim, so it's hard to know if someone you know or if a loved one has depression. If you haven't noticed anything major, there might be underlying issues and incidents you don't know about, and the best way to find out is by sitting down and talking with them. Ask how he or she is doing -- but be aware, most people will say they are just fine at first, but you need to dig a little deeper. People with depression need someone to talk to about it, and will eventually open up and appreciatively talk about it with a concerned friend or loved one. Another way to tell if your son or daughter may be suffering from depression is by spotting scars from cutting. For those who don't know, cutting has become almost a fad for depressed kids and teens. By cutting their wrists or other parts of their body, they are supposedly taking away the emotional pain by replacing it with a distraction of physical pain. But for the most part, kids get this idea of cutting from peers and movies and such, or do it to get attention, label themselves "emo," or just to get noticed as being depressed by someone, which in that case it's a desperate cry for help and attention to their feelings. If you notice scars on your kids' wrists, arms, or legs, or they're constantly wearing long sleeves or pants, maybe during hot weather or you're suspicious of them avoiding you seeing their arms or legs, sit down and talk to your kid. Maybe start off by asking how school is going, and how their friend situation is. Friends are one of the biggest factors to being happy in a teen's life. If they're getting bullied or are having trouble with friends at school, it may be causing them to get very depressed without you knowing. What some adults forget is how the littlest things in life when you're a pre-teen and teenager are about 10 times bigger to you at the time. A breakup with a boyfriend or girlfriend might feel like the end of the world, or a parents' divorce might feel like your fault and that you're not loved anymore. Talking with your kid about how life has so much more to it after you get past that stage, and how all this high school stuff won't matter anymore once you're in college, is very important. It was a very strong factor for me personally whenever I felt like life was horrible or hopeless. It's almost as if teens have blinders on from the big picture when their suffering from depression. It's only the here and now that matters, and it feels like it will go on forever. Depression is so common today it's frightening. And so is the amount of depressed teens that commit suicide -- 15%. Be aware of all your friends and family, because they may be suffering from severe depression, and it's just bottled up inside them and invisible to others. They may just need someone, even just one person alone, to reach out and show them how much they care about them.
 
Bailed-Out Banks Act Before Pay Czar Announcement Top
WASHINGTON — Several firms that received large taxpayer bailouts have adjusted executive compensation to trim cash payouts before the Obama administration's pay czar issues new rules. Some fear those rules will go too far, preventing them from attracting the talent they need to remain competitive. Company officials and lobbyists say Bank of America Corp., Citigroup Inc., GMAC Financial Services Inc. and others are reworking their pay plans to ensure compensation reflects executive performance. They are giving executives more of their compensation in stock and stock options, and spreading pay over a longer period. And they are adopting plans to recapture some pay when bets go bad. Kenneth Feinberg, the Treasury Department's special master for executive compensation, is expected by next week to announce compensation guidelines for the top 75 earners at the seven firms that received the most taxpayer money. His rules are expected to include some of the same measures companies already have adopted. The companies acted without government guidance after watching lavish pay packages encourage excessive risk-taking, and after bonus payments sparked public and congressional outrage. "The threat of failure and the ghosts of the companies that failed are incentive enough," said Scott Talbott, a lobbyist with the Financial Services Roundtable. Talbott's group represents several of the firms Feinberg is overseeing, including Bank of America, Citigroup and GMAC. Some analysts and industry officials fear Feinberg's limits will reflect political outrage rather than focus on reining in risk. Compensation consultant Mark Borges, a principal with Compensia Inc., said the information could give other banks not subject to the rules "a roadmap" for luring away top performers. That could threaten their ability to "pull themselves out of their current dilemma," he added. Feinberg did not respond to requests for comment. But a Treasury spokesman said Feinberg's work will help ensure that companies strike the right balance around their need to compensate employees competitively and protect taxpayer dollars. "Obviously, we all have a shared interest in ensuring that those companies can return to profitability as soon as possible so that taxpayers can recoup their investment," Treasury spokesman Andrew Williams said in a statement. Feinberg also is reviewing pay practices at American International Group Inc., General Motors, Chrysler and Chrysler Financial. The changes are not limited to those on Feinberg's list. JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. also are compensating senior employees with more stock and less cash, according to an industry official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to speak for the companies. "Once one institution defects and does the right thing, it creates enormous pressure in terms of industry best practices for everyone else to adjust," the official said. Citigroup has restructured pay packages to base more of them on slow-vesting stock options and stock grants based on employees' performance, company filings show. These changes apply to a large number of sales people, traders and others – not just to the 75 whose pay packages Feinberg is overseeing. General Motors "made a number of adjustments" to executive compensation late last year, including suspending all bonuses, said spokesman Tom Wilkinson. Any outstanding restricted stock or stock option awards would have been wiped out in bankruptcy, he added. Chrysler Financial spokeswoman Amber Gowan said the company's pay already is performance-based, and that "Chrysler Financial's compensation levels are within the competitive range of those employees in similar roles at similar entities within the financial services industry." GMAC spokeswoman Gina Proia said that firm has been working to align workers' pay with long-term shareholder value. She referred to the company's 2008 annual report, which said the top four employees voluntarily declined their bonuses and its bonus pool for the 25 highest-paid workers was reduced by 40 percent. Referring to concerns that too-strict decisions by Feinberg could hamper banks as they strive to right themselves, she said GMAC is "trying to strike the balance of being able to retain key talent as we execute the turnaround." Bank of America spokesman Scott Silvestri said the company is still working with Feinberg, and believes its future compensation practices "will be very much in line with his guidance." Officials from GM, Chrysler, Chrysler Financial and AIG would not comment on their compensation plans. _____ Bernard reported from New York. AP Economics Writer Martin Crutsinger in Washington and AP Business Writer Stevenson Jacobs in New York contributed to this report. More on Banks
 
Mike Castle To Seek Biden's Former Senate Seat Top
WILMINGTON, Del. — Republican U.S. Rep. Michael Castle announced Tuesday he will run for the U.S. Senate seat Democrat Joe Biden left to become vice president. Castle's decision sets up a possible 2010 race against Biden's son, Delaware Attorney General Beau Biden, who is weighing a bid for the Democratic nomination but has not announced his political plans. Republican Party leaders have encouraged centrists such as Castle to run, hoping to win back voters and regain control of the Senate. In May, key Republican senators jumped behind the Senate candidacy of Gov. Charlie Crist of Florida even though another well-established GOP candidate had stronger conservative credentials. Castle, 70, is a two-term former governor, the lone Delaware member of the U.S. House and longest serving congressman in state history. He has never lost a political race since being elected to the state House in 1966. He said he expects Beau Biden to run and is confident he can win what could be one of the most closely watched matchups in next year's midterm elections. "Once I crossed the line, I realized this is a good decision," Castle told The Associated Press in an exclusive interview during a train ride to Washington after announcing his decision. Now in his ninth term in the House, Castle has carved out a reputation as a leader of Republican centrists, a fiscal conservative and social moderate unafraid to go against the party line. He has bucked the GOP's positions on abortion and the budget, for example, as well as on energy policy and the environment. He said he had been thinking about the Senate race since it became clear that Biden would become vice president, but only made up his mind recently after discussing it with his wife. "We need the strongest and most experienced leadership we can find in this country today," Castle told a news conference near the Wilmington train station. Beau Biden has not announced his plans. The 40-year-old returned home last week with his National Guard unit after a yearlong deployment to Iraq. He declined to say Tuesday when he would announce his political intentions. "I just got back from Iraq, and I'm spending time with my family and getting back to work," he told The Associated Press. Castle said he respected both Bidens and was aware that the younger Biden could be a strong opponent, particularly with the backing of his political family. Biden likewise said Castle is a good and decent man who has served the state well. The seat is currently held by longtime Biden aide and confidante Ted Kaufman, who was appointed by then Gov.-Ruth Ann Minner. But Kaufman has said repeatedly that he will not run in 2010. Just weeks before the 2006 election, Castle was hospitalized for several days after suffering a small stroke, but he said Tuesday that he was left unaffected by it. He won re-election in 2006 and 2008 by comfortable margins. ___ On the Net: U.S. Rep. Mike Castle: http://www.castle.house.gov
 
BOOKER PRIZE WINNER: Hilary Mantel, Wolf Hall Top
LONDON — A tale of political intrigue set during the reign of King Henry VIII won the prestigious Man Booker prize for fiction Tuesday. Hilary Mantel's "Wolf Hall" scooped the 50,000-pound ($80,000) prize. Mantel's novel charts the upheaval caused by the king's desire to marry Anne Boleyn, as seen through the eyes of royal adviser Thomas Cromwell. Mantel's novel beat stiff competition from a shortlist that included previous Booker winners A.S. Byatt and J.M. Coetzee. Mantel told a London audience that winning the Booker Prize was like being in a train crash. "At this moment I am happily flying through the air," she said. The chairman of the Booker prize judges, James Naughtie, said the decision to give "Wolf Hall" the award was "based on the sheer bigness of the book. The boldness of its narrative, its scene setting ... The extraordinary way that Hilary Mantel has created what one of the judges has said was a contemporary novel, a modern novel, which happens to be set in the 16th century." Set during the reign of Henry VIII, Hilary Mantel's "Wolf Hall" charts the chaos caused by the king's longing for a male heir – a desire that led him to leave his first wife, Catherine of Aragon, for Anne Boleyn. The Vatican's refusal to annul the marriage led the king to reject the authority of the pope and install himself as head of the Church of England. The book centers on royal adviser Thomas Cromwell, depicted as a ruthless but compelling polymath straining against the certainties of his age. Mantel said Cromwell was the king's "chief fixer, spin doctor, propagandist for one of the most eventful decades of English history." "He was a blacksmith's son who ended up Earl of Essex," Mantel told the BBC. "So how did he do it? That's the question driving the book." The Guardian newspaper said Mantel "persuasively depicts this beefy pen-pusher and backstairs maneuverer as one of the most appealing – and, in his own way, enlightened – characters of the period." The Times of London called "Wolf Hall" a "wonderful and intelligently imagined retelling of a familiar tale from an unfamiliar angle – one that makes the drama unfolding nearly five centuries ago look new again, and shocking again, too." Both reviewers said they were disappointed to put the book down. Mantel said it's no surprise we remain fascinated by the time of Henry VIII, recently depicted in TV series "The Tudors" and films like "The Other Boleyn Girl." She said the period "has everything. It has sex and melodrama, betrayal seduction and violent death. What more could you hope for?" Mantel, 57, is a former social worker and film critic who has written short stories, the memoir "Giving Up the Ghost" and novels including 2005's "Beyond Black," which was shortlisted for a Commonwealth Writers' Prize and the Orange Prize for Fiction. She spent five years writing Wolf Hall and is currently working on a sequel. A Booker win all but guarantees a a big surge in sales. Last year's winner, Aravind Adiga's "The White Tiger," has sold more than half a million copies and been translated into 30 languages. Janine Cook, Waterstone's fiction buyer, noted that Mantel's work was already its best-selling work of all the books on the shortlist, calling it a "perfect winner." The shortlisted works included Coetzee's "Summertime," the third in a series of fictionalized memoirs that see a young English biographer working on a book about a dead writer named John Coetzee. The five other finalists were Byatt's "The Children's Book," Adam Foulds' "The Quickening Maze," Simon Mawer's "The Glass Room" and Sarah Waters' "The Little Stranger." The prize is open to novels in English by writers from Britain, Ireland or the Commonwealth of former British colonies. Apart from South African Coetzee, all this year's finalists were British. ___ On the Net: http://www.themanbookerprize.com
 
iPhone VoIP To Run On AT&T: Will Allow Google Voice, Skype On 3G Network Top
WASHINGTON — AT&T Inc. said late Tuesday that it will begin allowing iPhone owners to use Internet calling services on its wireless network. The phone giant, the exclusive wireless provider for Apple Inc.'s iPhone, previously allowed Internet calling services to work on the popular device only over Wi-Fi connections. Those connections generally have limited mobility and therefore present less of a competitive threat to AT&T's core wireless calling business. The move comes amid a Federal Communications Commission inquiry into competition in the wireless industry. Among other things, that inquiry will examine handset exclusivity deals, such as AT&T's agreement with Apple giving AT&T exclusive access to the iPhone. It also comes ahead of an FCC vote scheduled for later this month on "network neutrality" rules, which would prohibit broadband providers from favoring or discriminating against certain types of Internet traffic flowing over their lines. FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski, one of three Democrats on the commission, wants to impose net neutrality rules to ensure that broadband providers don't abuse their power over Internet access to favor their own services or harm competitors. His plan has alarmed wireless carriers because it would apply these rules across different types of broadband networks, including wireless networks. AT&T said late Tuesday that it has informed Apple and the FCC that "it has taken the steps necessary" to enable Voice over Internet Protocol – or VOIP – services on the iPhone over its 3G wireless network. AT&T said it made the decision "after evaluating our customers' expectations and use of the device compared to dozens of others we offer." The company already allows subscribers to make Internet calls using its 3G network over other wireless devices. Apple welcomed the announcement. "We are very happy that AT&T is now supporting VOIP applications," said Apple spokeswoman Natalie Kerris. "We will be amending our developer agreements to get VOIP apps on the App Store and in customers' hands as soon as possible." ___ Jessica Mintz in Seattle contributed to this story. More on iPhone
 
Pepsi "Gay Rights" Ban: Religious Group Advocates Banning Company Over "Religious Advocacy" Top
A group that advocates "traditional family values" claims it has the signatures of 500,000 people who have pledged to boycott Pepsi over what it says are the company's activities promoting gay rights.
 
Cubs Sale To Ricketts Family Unanimously Approved By MLB Owners Top
CHICAGO (AP)--Major League baseball owners have unanimously approved the sale of the Chicago Cubs from Tribune Co. to the Ricketts family. More on Sports
 
Dana Ullman: How to Create Your Own Pandemic: Infectious Creativity Used by Big Pharma Top
Even though deaths from influenza have not increased at all in the past 20 years, have you noticed how much fear and anxiety the media has created about the common flu recently?  And even though the number of people getting the flu vaccine has increased tremendously in the past 20 years, the number and percentage of people getting the flu has not decreased in the past 20 years. [1]   Why, oh, why then, is the media so obsessed with the flu?  The answer is simple:  Big Pharma is wonderfully creative in marketing this pandemic.  But fret not, with a little instruction, you too can learn to create your own pandemic…here’s some history and some suggestions to make you successful…   Just prior to Donald Rumsfeld becoming Bush’s Secretary of Defense, he was the Chairman of the Board of Gilead Sciences, the company that created Tamiflu.  Rumsfeld and his associates seem to be as (in)effective in fighting viruses as they are terrorists, but this doesn’t stop them from making a buck or two (or more).  In fact, according to Marcia Angell, MD, (the former editor of the New England Journal of Medicine), the top 10 drug manufacturers in the Fortune 500 made more profit in 2002 than the remaining 490 (!) companies combined. [2] The medical industrial complex can whip the butt of the military industrial complex easily.  The “good” news about Tamiflu is that research shows that it will reduce a person’s symptoms of the flu by ONE day (isn’t that worth the $1.89 billion in sales that are expected in 2009?).  The fact that there is no evidence that Tamiflu will cure the H1N1 flu or even reduce its symptoms in a significant way seems to be a perfect fit for what was the “Bush Doctrine.”  The diagnosis and prognosis of a “Western medical disease” (what might be called a “WMD”) seems to be based on faulty medical intelligence or simply selective medical intelligence.  Tamiflu does have a tendency to cause various side-effects, but side-effects (and collateral damage) are simply the price that we have to pay for health (or war).  Some of the side effects from Tamiflu include suicide--but only if you're a child; delirium--but heck, if you're delirious, you might not even know it; convulsions--but you might learn some new dance steps; hepatitis and liver disease, but maybe it's good "exercise" for the liver; asthma and allergy symptoms--it is so good for you that it takes your breathe away!  Sadly and predictably, using Tamiflu for treating the common flu will tend to increase the chances of creating super-viruses that will become immune to anti-viral drugs.  It is almost as though this drug has the capacity to create thousands (or millions) of “terrorist cells” that could threaten the body (and the body politic). It is no surprise that former Secretary of State George Schultz is another member on the Board of Directors of Gilead Sciences, and business analysts have asserted that no other drug company had such a cozy relationship with the Bush Administration as this company (now, give me that look of "big surprise!").   So...do not miss the boat.  Create your own infectious disease pandemic and media scare!  Just fill out the below questionnaire, and you can create the next disease that will be feared by all...you might even get a chance to NAME this disease...or better, get it named after YOU!...and if you are really smart, you'll pre-invest into the drug company that will successfully be able to treat one or two symptoms of the disease, even though some people may die from the drug's side effects. And by the way...whether the swine flu or bird flu ever becomes a reality or not (or whether YOUR disease ever becomes a reality or not), you can claim with confidence that it was your concerns that helped PREVENT the pandemic.  You win either way!  PICK AN ANIMAL AND A VIRULENT SOUNDING INFECTIOUS AGENT FOR YOUR NEW PANDEMIC: a) cow prions b) tortoise bacteria c) duck virus d) swine fungus e) mosquito parasite f) gerbil worm g) fruit bat turds CHOOSE AN INFECTION METHOD: a) you touched or petted an infected animal b) you eat meat or ate something that the infected animal once touched c) you tied your shoes, but the laces had touched the ground in which the diseased animal walked d) you had unprotected sex with nurses e) you had unprotected sex with gerbils CHOOSE A PART OF THE ANIMAL THAT IS PARTICULARLY DISEASED a) cow brains b) tortoise feet c) pig tail d) duck liver e) dog tongues f) bat blood   HOW DO YOUR VICTIMS DIE? a) Dehydration from chronic urination b) Eyes protrude out of their sockets with profuse bleeding c) Head explosion d) Throat constriction e) Skin melting   SPEED OF THE DISEASE: a) Slow, agonizing deaths with a protruding tongue b) Slow and gentle progression into the night (with poetic dreams) c) Rapid progression of the disease with fear and loathing d) Rapid progression of the disease with mental confusion and other stuff (you'll hardly even know that you're sick!)   CHOOSE A TRAGIC, INNOCENT FIRST CARRIER: a) Pregnant women b) Katey Couric c) Kittens d) Virgins e) Paris Hilton CONSTRUCT A WORST-CASE SCENARIO WITH A POSITIVE SPIN ON IT: a) Disease creates fear about any type of exchanging bodily fluids, making "Become a master of your own domain" the new public health slogan. b) Disease shrivels breasts, creating depression for men and women, but makes a bundle for plastic surgeons. c) Disease only kills the 1st born...but because new research has confirmed that terrorists are primarily 1st born children (they have early training on their younger siblings), terrorism disappears. d) Disease smites the God-fearing Christians; people learn to love God.   THE MAGIC BULLET (with minor side effect): a) Anti-viral  (grows hair on your palms...making being a master of your own domain easier to take) b) Anti-fungal (reduces athletes foot too but creates web feet) c) Anti-worm (creates acidic urine that kills earthworms in soils, destroying ability to compost food, but gives companies that manufacture fertilizers a major boost) d) A herb (causes garlic breath) e) A homeopathic medicine (doctors assert that it was an MD who discovered homeopathy in the first place, so they insist that they invented it) CONGRATULATIONS! YOU'VE JUST CREATED: a) A pandemic of fear and damnation b) A pandemic of vaccine-related diseases c) A pandemic of new drug sales for a disease that doesn't exist yet but that could occur at any time d) A pandemic of cosmic and comic proportions   NOW, YOU HAVE TO GIVE THIS NEW DISEASE A GOOD NAME. MATCH YOUR ANIMAL AND ITS BODY PART TO ONE OF THE FOLLOWING: Pox Bubonic Ebola Wasting disease Blood Plague Immunodeficiency Auto-immune disorder Immuno-confused Iatrogenic Idiopathic   POTENTIAL NAMES: a) cow prions pox b) duck virus plague c) duck virus wasting disease d) fruit bat auto-immune disorder To add fuel to the fire, make certain to announce that there are presently inadequate amounts of the drug you need for treatment.  This is very important because it gives people the real sense that they are being left out...and that they MUST have this drug (whether it works or not...and whether the disease is real or not!). AND NOW...THE BEST PART:  YOU CAN CREATE YOUR OWN VACCINE FOR THIS THEORETICAL DISEASE.   Please know that you do not even have to prove that your vaccine works.  Tom Jefferson, MD, (ya gotta love THAT name!) is considered the world’s leading authority on influenza vaccinations.  He has authored ten reviews for the Cochrane Collaboration , which is the most respected international center that evaluates medical research.  Dr. Jefferson has asserted, “There is no evidence whatsoever that seasonal influenza vaccines have any effect, especially in the elderly and young children   No evidence of reduced [number of] cases, deaths, complications.”  And now that the World Health Organization (WHO) has just changed its definition of the word “pandemic,” almost any new disease has the potential of becoming a pandemic.  A new (or old) disease simply needs one more death per year than is “normal,” and if we can simply get one death per continent, we’re in business!   [1] Jefferson T. Mistaken identity: seasonal influenza versus influenza-like illness. Clinical Evidence. 2009.  http://clinicalevidence.bmj.com/ceweb/resources/editors-letter-full.jsp?src=editorsletter_intro#REF3 [2] Angell, Marcia.  The Truth about Drug Companies. New York: Random House, 2004, p. 11. (Dr. Angell is the former editor of the famed New England Journal of Medicine and is presently a professor at Harvard Medical School.)
 
Yoani Sanchez: This Illusion Of Paradise Is Killing Us Top
I search, without success, for a bottle of detergent to wash the glasses smeared with grease and fingerprints, which don't yield to water and the dishcloth. Looking for the soapy liquid, I have walked part of Havana today, as the television announcers call on us to strengthen our hygiene before the advance of H1N1. The alert occasioned by the epidemic, however, has not caused the shops to lower the price of cleaning products, not even the cost of simple soap which is the equivalent of the wages for a full day's work. Instead, the opposite has happened. The collapse in imports has been most notable in those that are used to bathe and disinfect. The voice of the announcer calls on us to wash our hands often, use handkerchiefs when we sneeze and maintain good personal hygiene, but the reality forces us into filth. We lack face masks, running water in many houses, the simple possession of vitamin C to strengthen the organism, and cleanliness in public places. Thus, the so-called "swine flu" has fertile ground to reproduce. While it advances through our neighborhoods, the official media maintain their reserve and don't mention the closed schools, the quarantined sites and the full hospitals. This illusion of paradise is killing us. This wanting it to appear that we live better and that our statistics put us at the world average, cannot manage to hide the fragility of our society in the face of an epidemic that requires material resources in the hands of citizens. If soaping the body and having a bit of alcohol to sterilize the hands become luxuries, how can we stop the pandemic that is already upon us? If the September ration of soap never even reached the rationed market, how is it possible that on TV they call for hygiene without referring to the material resources to accomplish it. Is it that they haven't noticed before that we are sinking into the dirt? They have to face the ravages of conjunctivitis, diarrhea, and the viruses to figure out that sanitation is not only a white coat and a stethoscope, but starts in the streets, with collecting the garbage, with showers in the houses and with a mother who cannot wash the plate her child will eat off. Yoani's blog, Generation Y , can be read here in English translation. More on Cuba
 
Irasema Garza: A Losing Proposition -- How Immigration Enforcement Hurts Women and Communities Top
As Lou Dobbs continues to fan the flames of anti-immigrant rhetoric, the American public is increasingly buying into a flawed premise: immigrants are criminals and local law enforcement must enforce immigration laws.  The effects of this rhetorical myth are devastating.  Communities all over the United States are sacrificing public safety as law enforcement officers take on the duties of immigration agents, instead of making sure communities are protected against violent crime.  Unmentioned and overlooked are immigrant women -- including victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, and exploitation -- who can no longer turn to their local police for protection. The crux of the problem is the 287(g) program , initially implemented under the Bush Administration, which creates partnerships between the Department of Homeland Security and local law enforcement agencies and authorizes local agencies to perform duties historically handled by trained immigration officers.  Advocacy groups have criticized the arrangement for increasing racial profiling and targeting those immigrants with no criminal records or minor trafficking infractions for immigration enforcement.  Many local law enforcement agencies have also taken issue with program for its lack of oversight, among other flaws.     Nevertheless, on July 10, 2009 Secretary Napolitano announced an expansion of the 287(g) program , largely ignoring critics’ concerns.  As a follow up to a letter signed by over 500 agencies urging President Obama to terminate the 287(g) program, the Congressional Hispanic Caucus earlier this week wrote a letter to President Obama requesting the same action.  The letter cites the concerns over profiling and oversight, articulating the dangers of the current arrangement. Immigrant women, in particular, make unsettling compromises in light of 287(g) programs. As every new 287(g) Memorandum of Agreement is signed, another immigrant victim of domestic violence stays another day in an abusive relationship, too scared to call the police for fear that she will be deported.  A teenage immigrant girl wants to report a sexual assault by her employer but fears that local law enforcement will detain her, rather than prosecute the perpetrator.  Some employers even abuse and exploit immigrant women in the workplace, knowing that these programs scare women from taking a stand against such abuse.  Expansion of the 287(g) program will expose even more immigrant women to crime victimization, leaving them no option but to endure.  In the case of ongoing exploitation and abuse at home or at work, it is no secret that such exposure can be fatal.     Moreover, the program undermines the primary mission of law enforcement agencies: to keep communities safe. A number of municipalities, initially attracted to the program because it brought access to national crime databases and fiscal support, have soured on the collaboration. Just this week, Framingham, Massachusetts Chief of Police Steven Carl explained, “It doesn’t benefit the police department to engage in deportation and immigration enforcement. We’re done.” While police are trying to build a relationship of trust and communication, the immigration enforcement activities breed fear and mistrust. The program’s very existence communicates to immigrant victims of violence and crime that the criminal justice system does not protect them, and enables perpetrators to escape responsibility. Immigrant women, who are 40 percent more likely to face violence than the national average, are especially vulnerable. As we celebrate the 15th anniversary of the Violence against Women Act and mark the beginning of national Domestic Violence Awareness Month, it is startling that the plight of immigrant women living under 287(g) programs is so easily overlooked or dismissed. While the Obama Administration considers solutions for the complicated issue of immigration, it should consider that this particular program is harming immigrant women far more than it is helping anyone else.  Learn more about positive policies for expanding safety for immigrant women and communities at www.LegalMomentum.org . More on Immigration
 
Obama: Afghan Debate Must Be Honest About Possible Choices Top
WASHINGTON — An administration official says President Barack Obama told lawmakers from both parties that he will be rigorous and deliberate in his review of Afghanistan but understands the urgency of righting the flagging war. The administration official says Obama also told lawmakers on Tuesday that he wants a discussion about the United States' next moves in Afghanistan to be honest and the debate should not be based on false choices between doubling down or leaving the war-weary country. The administration official spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the president's private deliberations with 18 lawmakers who visited with him in the White House. The official says Obama briefed leaders from both parties on progress in targeting al-Qaida and working with the Pakistani government to dismantle terrorists' safe havens there. THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below. WASHINGTON (AP) – The top Senate Democrat says lawmakers of both parties assured President Barack Obama on Tuesday that they will rally behind whatever decision he makes on Afghanistan. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said that both Democrats and Republicans told the president, basically, "Whatever decision you make, we'll support it." The comment came after Senate and House leaders of both parties met with Obama at the White House to discuss his war review. Top Senate Republican Mitch McConnell put it differently. In his words: "I think Republicans will be able to make the decisions for themselves." But he did say a significant number of Republicans would back Obama's next move if U.S. military commanders from the region are truly on board. More on Afghanistan
 
Gerald Sindell: The Best Porn in Print: R.I.P. Gourmet Magazine Top
My heartfelt condolences to Ruth Reichl and all the other employees and freelancers who made Gourmet Magazine the most-waited for package in our mailbox every month. We have been subscribers, with occasional time off, since the 60s, when few of us would venture to actually cook any of the insanely complex recipes. Now, I wasn't the actual subscriber to Gourmet . The person of record was my mate. At the time, I was very serious about being serious about everything and dwelling on food seemed to me to be about as distinctive an occupation for a serious person as thinking about sex. In my mind at the time, if everyone did it, i.e. eat food or have sex, then it was a lower activity compared to making movies and discussing Important Ideas. In other words, Gourmet was pornography. Fortunately, over the years, it has remained pornography. What changed, I guess, was my feelings about food. I have always enjoyed good food, and now I can even talk about it for a few minutes without feeling guilty. So now that S.I. Newhouse has protected his fragile billions by shutting down the principal source of pornography in our household, I am forced to ask myself, "What have we lost?" For one thing, I will never undergo another challenge as I faced some years ago when I decided I would cook the Complete Gourmet Thanksgiving (We'll call it CGT for short). That year was the year of the incredible boneless turkey. I needed to go to Chinatown in Los Angeles and buy a huge cleaver with which I would be able to decimate an uncooked turkey carcass, necessary for some brew that was part of the CGT. I also needed to buy the nastiest knife I have ever owned -- a boning knife, necessary for removing the skeleton of the turkey before it was cooked and without its permission. The boning knife would turn on me several years later, inflicting the only major cut I have ever received cooking. Fortunately, I don't cook that much. I still own the knife, but I keep my eye on it, of that you can be certain. Now here's the terrible part about that boned, stuffed, CGT turkey. Twenty guests. Out comes the turkey. Being sans bone, it cuts like a roast. Fast! Put said turkey on plates. Guests go silent in that creepy way they'll do once in a while as they devour the main course. CGT turkey vanishes in 2 minutes flat. Two days work for two minutes of eating. And worse, there were requests to make it again the next year, and the year after that. Not until I bought a smoker was I able to obliterate the CGT boneless turkey memory. Yeah, yeah, yeah: I know I can go online and get recipes, and there are a lot of food blogs out there. But the fact is, I like my porn once a month and on shiny pages. I can't believe a million subscribers wasn't enough to keep Gourmet going. Is nothing sacred? And you Playboy readers: Lookout. More on Food
 
Dana Ullman: The Questionable Efficacy of Flu Vaccines...and the Pandemic that wasn't... Top
Evidence to date suggests that the “ H1N1 flu is not a major threat ,” and there is little evidence that flu vaccines are effective in preventing the flu, so says Tom Jefferson, MD, arguably the world’s leading expert on influenza vaccines. Dr. Jefferson has authored 10 reviews of research on the influenza vaccine for the Cochrane Collaboration , which is a widely recognized leading international science institution that evaluates clinical research.  Jefferson notes that Australia has just completed its wintertime, and only 131 deaths related to the flu occurred this year.  Because Australia’s population is 22 million people, this death rate is not significant.  One does not need to predict the future when the future has already happened somewhere else.  Jefferson’s previous detailed analyses of flu vaccines show very little efficacy in providing real health benefits.  Jefferson’s team asserted strongly, “There is not enough evidence to decide whether routine vaccination to prevent influenza in healthy adults is effective.” [1]   Jefferson’s research confirmed that flu vaccination did reduce slightly the number of adults experiencing confirmed influenza, but there were increased numbers of adults experiencing “influenza-like illness” (its symptoms are similar to the flu, though are presumably causes by other viruses, not the flu viruses).   The bottom line is that the number of adults needing to go to the hospital or take time off work did not change between those adults giving the flu vaccine and those who did not. Although the media commonly promotes the flu vaccine for children, Jefferson and his research group summarized their investigation on this subject by asserting, “National policies for the vaccination of healthy young children are based on very little evidence.” [2]   They expressed strongest concern about the lack of efficacy and safety of flu vaccination of infants two years of age and under.  They did note that the flu vaccine is effective in reducing the flu in children over two years of age, but they found little evidence that the flu vaccine was even effective in reducing school absences.  Further, they found “no convincing evidence that vaccines can reduce mortality, hospital admissions, serious complications and community transmission of influenza.” The strongest evidence of benefit to the flu vaccine is in the elderly. [3]  However, the researchers found that the benefits to the elderly were “modest.”  In fact, the number of flu-related deaths in elderly Americans has actually increased steadily during the past 33-year-period despite the fact that there has been a large increase in flu vaccinations for this population.  Only 20% of all elderly Americans had a flu shot in 1980, compared with 65% in 2001.  Jefferson expresses some considerable surprise at how few studies have been conducted on the elderly, especially recently.  He notes, “Only five randomly controlled trials have been carried out in elderly people, of which only one was carried out in the past 2 decades using vaccines available today.” [4] Dr. Jefferson’s team noted that the benefits of the flu vaccine for the elderly are “consistently below those usually quoted for (national policy) decision or economic model making.”    What about the H1N1 Vaccination? Jefferson had some particularly harsh words about the safety and efficacy of this vaccination. The FDA recently announced the approval of four (!) H1N1 vaccines.  And Dr. Jefferson has expressed serious alarm about the “evidence” for the safety and efficacy of these vaccines: 1)      The study was tiny, only 240 adults. The authors made reassuring statements about Guillain–Barré syndrome (GBS), which is ridiculous because GBS occurs in one out of 750,000 to 1 million vaccinations, and this study only had 240 participants; 2)      One-third of these volunteers had side effects that resembled influenza-like illness (fevers, headaches, sore throats, etc.), so they were vaccinating to prevent symptoms that they were causing; 3)      There was no placebo arm in the study, yet there’s no ethical excuse for not having a placebo arm because these are experimental vaccines; and 4)      The description of what additive substances were in the vaccine was unclear. We know that there is thimerosal [mercury] in this H1N1 vaccine, but its manufacturer did not say whether there are additional substances like aluminum, which can be found in many other vaccines. We just don’t know. And they are advising this vaccine for pregnant women and children over six months of age!   Is There Really a Pandemic? Something “fishy” seems to be going on at the World Health Organization (WHO).  WHO has declared a “flu pandemic,” in part because they changed their definition of the word “pandemic” in May, 2009.    The earlier version defined pandemic as: “An influenza pandemic occurs when a new influenza virus appears against which the human population has no immunity, resulting in epidemics worldwide with enormous numbers of deaths and illness [emphasis in the original document].”  The NEW definition of pandemic was changed to: “A disease epidemic occurs when there are more cases of that disease than normal. A pandemic is a worldwide epidemic of a disease. An influenza pandemic may occur when a new influenza virus appears against which the human population has no immunity.” Because flu viruses change on a regular basis, the WHO will declare a new “pandemic” when simply one more death than the “normal” is observed.  Big Pharma “warn” people about the yearly possible pandemic, pumping more fear into the hearts and minds of the susceptible and gullible public. When Jefferson was asked about the “flu pandemic,” he responded directly:  “this pandemic really is a commercial operation.” In light of some recent efforts to make the H1N1 vaccination “mandatory,” it seems that Big Pharma’s commercial operations have become so successful that they have successfully lobbied politicians to require health and medical workers to get the H1N1 vaccine.  Big Pharma’s efforts have been so successful that they have almost successfully fooled other scientists to think that it is “unethical” to conduct a placebo-controlled trial due to the (incorrect) assumption that flu vaccines are effective.  Even Big Media whose coffers are filled with Big Pharma’s advertising are not immune to this influence.  Isn’t it a bit strange that the research of Tom Jefferson and his team have been virtually ignored by Big Media, despite the fact that their research has been published in the BMJ (British Medical Journal), the Lancet, the Cochrane Database, and other high-impact scientific journals.  One would hope that the media and government would follow the research rather than the money.    NOTE OF DISCLOSURE:  Although many colleagues in the field of homeopathic medicines are critical of vaccination, a greater number have a similar perspective that I do, that is, they (we) believe that each person and each vaccination has to be evaluated individually and in light of long-term community health.  In this light, I should not be determined to be either pro-vaccination or anti-vaccination in over-simplistic terms.  Further, because the very “father of immunology,” Emil Adolph von Behring, directly pointed to the origins of immunizations to homeopathy, we homeopaths do not have anything fundamentally against this utilization of the underlying principle of homeopathy, the use of small doses of whatever may cause illness in order to catalyze immune response.  When von Behring was asked about the origins of immunology, he responded, "(B)y what technical term could we more appropriately speak of this influence than by Hahnemann's word "homeopathy" (Von Behring, 1906).           [1] Demicheli V, Di Pietrantonj C, Jefferson T, Rivetti A, Rivetti D. Vaccines for preventing influenza in healthy adults. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2007, Issue 2. Art. No.: CD001269. DOI:10.1002/14651858.CD001269.pub3. [2] Jefferson T, Rivetti A, Harnden A, Di Pietrantonj C, Demicheli V. Vaccines for preventing influenza in healthy children. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2008, Issue 2. Art. No.: CD004879. DOI:10.1002/14651858.CD004879.pub3. [3] Rivetti D, Jefferson T, Thomas RE, Rudin M, Rivetti A, Di Pietrantonj C, Demicheli V. Vaccines for preventing influenza in the elderly. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2006, Issue 3. Art. No.: CD004876. DOI:10.1002/14651858.CD004876.pub2. [4] Jefferson T. Mistaken identity: seasonal influenza versus influenza-like illness. Clinical Evidence. 2009.  http://clinicalevidence.bmj.com/ceweb/resources/editors-letter-full.jsp?src=editorsletter_intro#REF3 Other useful reference:  Jefferson T. The prevention of seasonal influenza — policy versus evidence. BMJ 2006;333:912–915.  More on Swine Flu
 
Sheikh Yusuf Mohammad Siad, Somali Minister, Kidnapped In Uganda Top
Somalia's state minister for defence has been kidnapped in the Ugandan capital, according to relatives and government sources. More on Somalia
 
BJ Gallagher: Celebrities Behaving Badly Top
"If you can't be a good example, then you'll just have to serve as a horrible warning," wrote English mystery writer Catherine Aird. I love the way revelations about celebrities' personal lives give us all an opportunity to explore, discuss, and learn about important issues. "You're as sick as your secrets" therapists tell us -- and each time a famous person's secret comes to light, we have a chance to consider our own secrets. Who knows? Perhaps we can get a little healthier, both individually and collectively. Mackenzie Phillips' is shining a light on the painful issue of family incest. Her new memoir, High on Arrival, details the excesses and debauchery of a life of sex, drugs, rock & roll - and reveals how her father, "Mamas and Papas" singer John Phillips, initiated a ten-year sexual relationship with his young daughter. Roman Polansky's arrest reminds us that sexual predators come in many guises: the sleaze ball creep, the boy next door, the trusted priest, the popular coach, the distinguished political leader, and yes, the creative genius. David Letterman's current troubles are a cautionary tale of the dangers of fishing from the company pier. He's giving us an education about what's sexual harassment and what isn't. And we see - in living color - the fallout from a workplace romance gone bad. John Edward's ongoing, painful, public twisting in the wind illustrates - once again - that the cover-up is always a bigger sin than the transgression. Sadly, he's going down in history as just another liar hoisted by his own petard. Michael Vick's arrest, trial, conviction, and jail time for dog fighting has done much to heighten our awareness of the ubiquitous problem of animal cruelty. Dog fighting, cock fighting, cat hoarding, puppy mills, and more - Vick brings renewed attention to an old problem. Michael Jackson's untimely death reminded us that power and money can buy you doctors and drugs - but it can also buy you accidental death. We've seen this movie so many times before - with Anna Nicole, Elvis, Marilyn, Janis, Belushi - the list is a long one. Bernie Madoff's astounding Ponzi scheme provides a glimpse into the financial heart of darkness beating in the chest of more than a few titans of Wall Street. The "greed is good" mantra doesn't die easily - recession or not. Sociologists tell us that deviance plays a positive role for society. Deviance shows us what happens with you cross certain boundaries - as well as what and where those boundaries are. Deviance reminds us of cause and effect - the law of karma is alive and well. We see - up close and personal - that you really do reap as you sow. It may take awhile for misdeeds to catch up to you, but they almost inevitably do. So, what can we learn from famous people behaving badly? First, the human mind's capacity for denial is powerful. Most, if not all these transgressors undoubtedly rationalized their behavior in order to continue it. They are con artists who conned us into believing their public persona - and most of all, they conned themselves. Second, power, prestige, fame, and money are intoxicating. Mixed together, they are a powerful cocktail that lowers moral inhibitions and frees one from the constraints of conscience. These people are LUI - Living Under the Influence. Third, Henry Kissinger was right when he said, "power is the ultimate aphrodisiac." There will always be plenty of women who are drawn to power like moths to a flame. That power may be political, financial, intellectual, social, musical, artistic, etc. Remember, Monica Lewinsky told friends she was "going to Washington to get my presidential kneepads." Rielle Hunter sought out John Edwards to tell him, "You're hot." It is not easy for a man to resist such a crime of opportunity. Fourth, who among us has not behaved badly? Or, who among us would not behave badly, given the opportunity? It's easy for us to jump right in as judge, jury, and executioner - but I wonder if any of us are as pure and righteous as we'd like to believe we are. Perhaps our time and energy would be better spent cleaning our own houses, rather than telling others how to live. Fifth, one of the hallmarks of wisdom is the ability to learn from others' experiences. If we are wise, we will view celebrities' scandals as learning opportunities. Instead of finger-wagging and clucking admonishments, we would be smart to look for what we might learn from others' misdeeds. And finally, we can practice compassion for the ne'er-do-wells among us. Bad behavior is often driven by deep-seated insecurity, self-loathing, fear, and/or a profound longing to be loved. Every great spiritual tradition teaches the value of compassion. That doesn't mean that we don't people accountable for their bad behavior - but it does mean that we must always extend the hope of forgiveness and redemption. Years ago I saw a marquee in front of a church in North Carolina that read: "Those who deserve love least, need it the most." Amen. More on Roman Polanski
 
Protect NYC'S Carriage Horses (PETITION) Top
New York City is considering a bill, Intro. 653, that some believe will severely compromise the care of the city's carriage horses since it takes away authority from the city, the police department and the ASPCA to maintain the health and well-being of these often overworked animals. The ASPCA's Human Law Enforcement agents duties currently include monitoring horses and their drivers out in the field and enforcing the rules and regulations regarding the treatment, housing and medical care of horses in the city. The bill restricts the authority of the ASPCA when it comes to inspecting carriage horse stables. Sign the petition here to show your opposition. The signature tally is currently at 9570, with the ultimate goal being 40,000 signatures.
 
BOOKER PRIZE WINNER: Hilary Mantel, Wolf Hall Top
Set in England in the 1520s, Henry VIII is on the throne, but has no heir. Cardinal Wolsey is his chief advisor, charged with securing the divorce the pope refuses to grant. Into this atmosphere of distrust and need comes Thomas Cromwell, first as Wolsey's clerk, and later his successor.
 
Charles Karel Bouley: Why Is Obama Firing Dan Choi? Top
"I don't know why President Barack Obama is firing me, I want to do my job, I want to do my duty," Lt. Dan Choi recently wondered aloud while waiting to go off to an event on 9/11. This 28-year-old Korean American was at Ground Zero on this Sept. 11, a long way away from his native Anaheim, CA but just miles from where he found himself on Sept. 11, 2001. I was talking to Choi for a cover feature in the Orange County and Long Beach Blade for part of their National Coming Out Day issue. My conversation with him came to mind again while at Politifact.com and noticing that one of the 330 promises President Obama hasn't gotten to yet is the repeal of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell." Like everything else in this country, it appears to be slow-tracked on the priority list, with Americans ready and willing to serve being asked to leave. Americans like Choi. "I was at West Point on Sept. 11, 2001," he recalled, having gone there after graduating from Tustin High School in Tustin, CA. "We thought we were going to get hit, that we were a target. I remember someone left a message on a phone machine and they thought it was in Arabic. I was one of the very few that was even studying Arabic, so I translated it. I was so nervous but it turned out to be just someone leaving a simple message for a cadet," he said with anxiety and frustration in his voice. Yes, Choi was in West Point prior to Sept. 11, 2001. He is the son of a Korean immigrant, a conservative man who himself served in his country's military. "I was born in Orange County, CA to a Southern Baptist minister and his wife, a nurse, who came from South Korea, so coming out was simply not on my mind," he said with a mixture of sincerity but a true sense for the eventual irony of it all. "Gay, straight, I didn't know or care, my only formidable relationship was to be the military in my mind, service to my country and making my family proud," he reflected. Serve his country he did (and does). After graduating with the class of 2003 with an Arabic Language and Environmental Engineering Degree, well, the bio on his website tracks his journey best: Attended Infantry Officer Basic (Ft. Benning, GA), Airborne, Air Assault, Ranger, Scout Leader Courses. Served as platoon leader, company executive officer, battalion and brigade staff officer, Iraqi Arabic language instructor, civil-military and reconstruction engineer serving in 10th Mountain Division (Ft. Drum, NY) and South Baghdad, Iraq (مثلث الموت The Triangle of Death). Infantry platoon leader in New York Army National Guard. Student at Harvard University Extension School. Any resumé with a deployment to the "Triangle of Death" on it would seem to meet any true-blooded American's standard for patriotic service to one's country. Choi provided a crucial bridge to the language barrier experienced by countless troops in Iraq; a barrier that has cost both American and Iraqi lives through misunderstanding and inability to communicate. Upon return he jumped right in to more training for future deployments, learning and advancing as fast as he could. But his service and forward motion would all come crashing down when the institution he pledged his service to would seek to expel him. His crime? Living up to one code while breaking another policy. "The military has a very specific code, and we take that very seriously at West Point. That code tells me that I must be honest, that to lie to a superior, to a fellow brother soldier, to my country or to myself dishonors me and my country," he recalled with pride in his voice. "I had never thought about being out, or coming out. But once I met someone and began understanding what a real relationship meant, what caring for someone in an open, honest and loving way was really all about, the idea of being asked to conceal that seemed a violation of the very code I swore to uphold." As part of his coming out process, Choi began talking to other West Point graduates who were also gay and this led to him founding Knights Out GLBT Graduates of West Point. "We put out a press release about the group, and a few of the blogs picked it up. Then, the producers of the Rachel Maddow show called and asked if I'd be on the March 19, 2009 show. I said I would not thinking it was that big of a deal. I didn't watch cable news, I was too busy being a soldier and thought that was the way it was. "I did the show, and on it I stated 'I am gay.' Right then we had technical problems and my sound went out. It was like a big plot, like I had been cut off. I hadn't been, but they brought me back on the next day. There were a lot more viewers and I didn't know it at the time but it's turned out to be a very big deal," he said. The coming out process is a complex and unique experience. There's no roadmap, no time frame. For Choi it happened in his late 20's, and took the catalyst of a relationship. But why come out in the military? "Don't ask, don't tell presents the ultimate rebuking of all the honor principals we are taught. It says in order to serve you must lie, in order to be out front, you must hide. It goes against the very ethics on which the military is built, on which it relies," he stated. "After the show I was warned by my GLBT friends to watch my back. I couldn't believe it, they were truly afraid for me. But everyone in my division, my subordinates and superiors were fine. Those that saw it said they supported me and even those who didn't, once they found out welcomed the honesty and spoke of the ridiculousness of the policy. Time passed and I thought it was not going to be an issue. Then, I got a letter that the Army was offended enough to fire me, to kick me out. Not my division, but the entire Army over us. It was amazing," he recalled. Of course, coming out to his family was equally as challenging. "I came out to my family in January of this year, so it's all still very new. There's been a lot of challenges with my family but it's a process. I'm still not that comfortable in the community. When I was in Orange County I sang with the Gay Men's Chorus and that was incredible but a little odd at first. And the gay bar scene and that, well, it's all very new to me," he added. Professionally the Army told Choi he could go away and probably be honorably discharged or he could fight. Being a soldier, he chose the latter. "I remember I spoke Arabic at my hearing, after presenting petitions signed by thousands of supporters and letters from my superiors and subordinates supporting me. They had to ask for a translator, a translation, and that proved my point. I told them, 'Before I came in to this hearing I saw a sign that says no soldier stands alone, and that's why I'm here, I'm trying to make sure my brothers and sisters in Iraq and other places are not alone, why won't you let me?'" His poignant point fell on deaf ears and while as of this writing he is still an active soldier, he has been recommended for discharge, something the Commander in Chief could halt. "Barack Obama is my Commander in Chief and as such could do what he wants in this case. He says he's against the policy. Then why is he firing me? He could stop this, for me, and the thousands like me. Each time a member of the GLBT community is discharged, we get rid of them just as Al Quaeda on the battle field or any other enemy would. They can no longer serve their nation, their country, and it's such a waste. Obama should stop this, now." While he's using his new found fame to raise awareness to the policy it's his honesty and love of the code of honor that drove him to come out in a very public way: a way for which he has paid a price. "But if this is what it takes to make sure the Democrats get rid of this ridiculous policy that robs our military of much needed, talented men and women then so be it. I never intended it to be this way, but now, I can't imagine being anything but honest about who I am and can't fathom a military that would want me to be anything less." To read more about coming out stories go to the Orange County Blade To hear the interview with Choi or other Karel Show Interviews, Go to the Podcast More on Barack Obama
 
David A. Love: There Should Be More Pro Athletes Like Tracy McGrady Top
Tracy McGrady , shooting guard for the Houston Rockets, recently changed his jersey number from number 1 to number 3. The number 3 stands for a three-point program to stop the genocide in the Darfur region of Sudan, which has already claimed 300,000 lives: peace, protection and punishment. McGrady is a pro basketball player-turned-human rights activist. He visited refugee camps in the troubled region with members of the Enough Project . And he has decided to devote time off the court to humanitarian efforts, including a sister city program that links middle schools, high schools, colleges, and universities in the U.S. with schools in the Darfuri refugee camps. A documentary film called 3 Points , which is available for online viewing, discusses McGrady’s journey to the refugee camps. Recently, on the Rachel Maddow show, he had this to say: I don’t live on the Earth just to live to walk it, I live on here to make a difference, and I’ve done a lot of things in the community of Houston and Florida, within the states, but I wanted to something more on a global level, and this is huge. I mean, it was a no brainer for me. Especially when once I got over there and saw how bad it was, you know, you can’t come back and not do anything. At a time when many athletes seem to receive attention only when they find trouble, this is a rare and welcome piece of news. To be sure, there are other stars out there, citizen-athletes who are doing their part and making a difference. Society needs to hear more about them. And there is a long history of people who stuck out their neck for political and social causes that were important to them. For example, Paul Robeson fought against racism and fascism, and for workers' rights and social justice. Bill Russell of the Boston Celtics was a civil rights advocate who participated in the 1963 March on Washington. Muhammad Ali was a conscientious objector to the war in Vietnam, and was arrested, convicted and stripped of his boxing title for refusing to serve in the military. The Supreme Court later overturned his conviction. And during the 1968 Olympic Games in Mexico City, African-American athletes Tommie Smith and John Carlos raised their black-gloved fists -- a symbol of “Black power” -- when they received their medals. Rarely these days do we see such bold statements and actions from our professional athletes. Perhaps it speaks to a past era, when people in the spotlight viewed themselves as representatives of their community. Perhaps it speaks to a present fear of lucrative corporate endorsements being cancelled if one “rocks the boat” and speaks out. “After all,” the argument goes, “if they’re giving you all of that big money to play ball, why mess it all up?” Such a mentality reminds me of the gladiator in ancient Rome, who risked bodily injury for the entertainment of the crowd. That gladiator fought and died at the behest of Caesar, who, in turn, benefitted politically from the games, and used the spectacles to divert public attention from the nation’s problems. Perhaps it is unrealistic to expect everyone, or every athlete for that matter, to be a leader like Tracy McGrady. At the same time, people who are in the public eye are role models, whether they like it or not. Their stature, their exposure, and in some cases their wealth, provide them a unique opportunity to reach down and pull others up. They can influence young minds to do positive things, if only by example. And they can shape public opinion by giving badly needed exposure to important issues. And in some cases, as with McGrady, they can motivate their own peers to get involved in causes greater than themselves. I salute Tracy McGrady and others who have dared to exhibit leadership off the court and off the field as well as on it. They challenge all of us to do better. David A. Love is an Editorial Board member of BlackCommentator.com , and a contributor to the Progressive Media Project . He is a writer and human rights advocate based in Philadelphia, and a graduate of Harvard College and the University of Pennsylvania Law School. His blog is davidalove.com . More on Sports
 
Rep. Edolphus Towns: Are We Ready for a Flu Pandemic? Top
With the height of the flu season quickly approaching and our children heading back into the classroom, I recently led a full Committee hearing to examine the Obama Administration's Flu Vaccine program. I wanted to hear from the individuals who are responsible for implementing the vaccine plan about its likely effectiveness in the event of an outbreak. The heads of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the National Institute of Allergy and Infections Diseases, along with the Deputy Commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, testified before the committee I chair, the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, about the Administration's vaccine plan and their diagnosis of the anticipated severity of the H1N1 virus. Dr. Thomas Frieden, the CDC Director testified that his agency is actively preparing for the ongoing flu pandemic, and in addition, the agency developed a voluntary national vaccination campaign to protect the American people from the virus. Dr. Frieden stressed that the H1N1 vaccination, which is the best means to protect against this flu, has been approved and is in production. He also noted that the CDC would work extensively with State and Local health officials to ensure that adequate resources (vaccines?) are available. Dr. Anthony Fauci, the Director of the National Institute for Allergy and Infections Diseases, testified that we are still in the early stages of understanding the H1N1 virus, and that the virus may change in the future. However, he pointed out that the tireless efforts of the National Institute of Health (NIH) and Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) are giving researchers and scientists a significant leg up in responding to a future pandemic, however it unfolds, and that the country will be ready in the event of an outbreak. Highlighting the FDA's role in addressing the nation's pandemic flu preparedness, Dr. Jesse Goodman, the Acting Chief Scientist and Deputy Commissioner for Scientific and Medical Programs, asserted that the FDA is prepared to work hand in hand with HHS and CDC to mobilize the emergency public health response in the event of an outbreak. Dr. Goodman also pointed out that while challenges remain, the initial results of the H1N1 vaccine development have been "gratifying." We still have challenges to overcome before our nation is fully prepared for a flu pandemic. The Administration must be prepared and ready work with our State and Local governments to develop a comprehensive strategy to administer enough vaccines to those with the greatest risk of exposure. No matter how much we try, the current - or an even more virulent - flu strain might eventually spread to large portions of the population. Because of this, it is critical that we keep focused on steps to keep key public health agencies ready to respond. While we are hopeful for a mild flu season, I encourage all Americans to be vigilant and take the appropriate precautionary measures to avoid contracting or spreading the flu. At the same time, I will continue to monitor the Administration's vaccination plans because ensuring the well-being of the American people is my greatest responsibility. More on Swine Flu
 
Levi Johnston's Playgirl Work Out: Six Days A Week Top
Levi Johnston is getting reading to pose for Playgirl in a few weeks, and he's making sure his body is ready to be bared for the shoot. Levi's lawyer Rex Butler tells Us , "He is in the gym six days a week for the next three weeks." Butler also said that the issue should be out before the end of the year. Chances are it will feature his Alaskan butt, as previously Johnston told TMZ that he wasn't sure if he would show "the front or the back." In August he said he would pose naked for the right price. "It depends on the money, man. It's gotta be right for that." No word how much he's collecting from Playgirl . The nudie shoot isn't all Levi has going on. He's filmed an ad for nuts , too. More on Levi Johnston
 
Boing Boing And Ralph Lauren Clash Over Image Of Emaciated Model Top
There's a great blogosphere-battle brewing between website Boing Boing and clothier Ralph Lauren over an advertisement featuring a Ralph Lauren-clad woman photoshopped to impossible thinness. The gauntlet was thrown when a Boing Boing blogger reproduced the ad with this succinct critique : "Dude, her head's bigger than her pelvis." Instead of addressing this disturbing, and accurate, criticism, Ralph Lauren responded by accusing Boing Boing of copyright infringement for reprinting the ad. Even though , As Boing Boing points out , this is "classic fair use: a reproduction 'for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting.'" Happily, Boing Boing will not be cowed by Ralph Lauren's threat, as co-editor Cory Doctorow makes clear: So, instead of responding to their legal threat by suppressing our criticism of their marketing images, we're gonna mock them. Hence this post. Other strategies for battling Ralph Lauren Doctorow plans to employ include: reproducing the ad with the original criticism, publishing Ralph Lauren's legal threats and offering "nourishing soup and sandwiches to [their] models."
 
North Dakota Dems Pass Resolution Backing Public Plan, Alert Sen. Conrad Top
In a move that seems designed to push Sen. Kent Conrad (D-ND) on health care reform, the North Dakota Democratic Party voted two weeks ago to make the public option for insurance coverage a stated objective of its platform. At a little-noticed policy committee meeting on September 19, state Democratic officials passed a resolution affirming their commitment to "universal single payer health care legislation." As a fallback option, the resolution read, the officials supported the creation of a government-run plan for insurance. In an effort to apply the pressure to their representatives in Congress, the party also sent letters to the offices of Democratic Sens. Kent Conrad and Byron Dorgan, as well as Rep. Earl Porneroy, alerting them to the passed resolution. The letter from Joe Aronson, executive director of the North Dakota Democrats, reads as follows: On April 4, 2008, the Democratic-NPL Party met in Grand Forks for its biennial State Convention. During the Convention, the party adopted a platform and resolutions... Under the 'National' Issues' heading, item number 27, the party called 'upon Congress to enact universal single payer health care legislation.' I write to remind the delegation that this is your state party's official position on healthcare reform. The resolution adopted by the Policy Committee on September 19, 2009, included an amendment that authorized me to request that if you do not support the party's official 2008 resolution preference, we would respectfully ask that you consider support a 'public option' On behalf of the Democratic-NPL Party, I thank you for your consideration. A member of the North Dakota Democratic Party said that the resolution was a statement of principle on health care reform that reflected the overwhelming consensus among Democrats in the state. "No one voted against it," said Chad Nodland, who sits on the executive committee for the state party. "And by the end of the meeting there were probably 60 to 75 people still there." But the resolution also seems like a clear effort to exert pressure on North Dakota's congressional delegation. Conrad remains one of the highest-profile holdouts on the public option, insisting that the provision does not have the votes to pass the Senate and makes for bad policy. His obstinacy is frustrating Democrats in his home state. "I don't understand the votes that have gone on," said Nodland, in reference to the debate in the Senate Finance Committee. "What I'm saying is, I can't put together what I've watched with what has been explained to me. I'm frustrated. I wish that what we were seeing were different [from Conrad] than what we've been seeing." This is the second time that state party Democrats have put the pressure on a senior senator from that state to back the public option. This past weekend, the Nebraska Democratic Party passed a resolution making the provision a part of their platform -- in a vote that seemed designed to serve notice to Sen. Ben Nelson, (D-Neb.) Read the North Dakota Democratic Party's letter to Sen. Conrad: nddems - Get HuffPost Politics On Facebook and Twitter!
 
"There's A Map For That": New Verizon Ad Mocks AT&T (VIDEO) Top
*See video below* The wireless wars are getting uglier. Verizon Wireless just released a snarky new ad that knocks AT&T's spotty service -- and this time, it's personal. The new commercial chirpily touts Verizon's coverage with a refrain that mocks the iPhone's "There's an app for that" catchphrase: "If you want to know why your 3G coverage works so well on Verizon Wireless," says the narrator, "There's a map for that." Ouch. WATCH: Maybe Verizon will start being more civil once it's got the Android under its belt.
 
Guinea Rapes, Killings Cause "Deep Outrage", Says U.S. State Dept Top
WASHINGTON (Reuters) The United States has "conveyed deep outrage" to the government of Guinea over a violent military crackdown on a protest rally last month in which more than 150 people were killed, the State Department said on Tuesday. More on Africa
 
John Zogby: Decision Day For Democrats: Poll Shows Path to Healthcare Reform Top
By S. Ward Casscells, MD and John Zogby As regular chroniclers of American opinion on health care reform, we got a shock, and then a surprise, from our Sept. 28-30 poll (for details see today's issue of the journal Health Affairs ). Support for the health care reform bill that has been most discussed and praised by President Obama -- the moderate bill being debated this week and next in the Senate Finance Committee, chaired by Max Baucus (D, MT) -- is only 27%, with 59% opposed and 14% undecided. Even among Democrats, only half support, and a third oppose. Only one in 25 Republicans, and a quarter of independents, support the bill. Support is higher among women than men, and a bit lower among seniors. Now the surprise: We asked which of 10 proposed amendments would change people's minds: "replacement of the proposed cooperatives by a 'public option' (government-run health insurance for those without other coverage); "inclusion of a 'trigger option' that would establish a public option only if private insurers do not offer affordable coverage"; "malpractice reforms (independent medical reviews, mediation; limits on non-economic damages); "elimination of the 'individual mandate' which makes every employee buy insurance, with assistance for those who cannot afford the premiums." And so on. Despite suggestions that Americans were either tired of the health care issue or did not consider it to be enough of a priority, we found that people would read the long description of the bill, then wade through 10 amendments. Even after months of off-putting rhetoric by an over-heated, over-publicized few on both sides, Americans do indeed care about this health care debate. Moreover, they sent a clear message: Only one proposed amendment raises support for the bill to even: malpractice reform. The second biggest boost was from eliminating the individual mandate, and third: adding a public option. Quite a few oppose the bill only because it lacks a public option. Most supporters of the current bill can live with replacing the cooperatives with a new government-run Medicare-like option. (Another surprise: Americans did not just vote the party ticket: Some responses were clustered, but there were many clusters and combinations. Americans are not so much polarized as arrayed in numerous camps.) Together, the three amendments would increase support to the mid-50s, as would the combination of tort reform and a public option, while tort reform and elimination of the individual mandate yields a slim plurality of support. We also calculated the impact of 1) just eliminating the individual mandate (ignoring the fact that this would require an employer mandate and/or inducements to purchase insurance, which would inflate the Congressional Budget Office's estimate of the bill's cost); and 2) adding the public option. This yielded a slim majority. Earlier this week the Senate Finance Committee moved in two half-steps: easing the individual mandate (exempting those for whom the least expensive policy would exceed 8% of adjusted gross income, and delaying the penalty and cutting it in half); and allowing states to use federal subsidies to initiate public options. If we guesstimate that these steps are half as successful in winning back public support as the two amendments we polled, we now estimate the bill is supported by only in two in five Americans. But tort reform alone -- which would be a big concession to Republicans -- yields essentially equal numbers of supporters and opponents, and majority support could be earned by adding to tort reform either a Democratic amendment -- the public option -- or a second (largely Republican) amendment: eliminating the individual mandate (which would increase costs). This is the fork in the road for the Senate's Democratic leaders: they must choose between the tort lawyers and a health care bill that could re-unite a country that has turned against the present bill. It appears the President Obama got the same message from his private polling when he offered a modest test of tort reform in his address before Congress. But the biggest lesson from the long, arduous debate in Congress and town halls is this: the public is the adult in the room and are pointing the way to consensus on health care reform. John Zogby is President and CEO of Zogby International, and most recently the author of "The Way We'll Be: The Zogby Report on the Transformation of the American Dream (Random House). 

 S. Ward Casscells, MD is the Tyson Distinguished Professor of Medicine and Public Health, V P for External Affairs and Public Policy at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, Senior Scholar at the Texas Heart Institute, and from April 2007 to May 2009 served as Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs.
 
Saree Makdisi: Last Straw for the Palestinian "Authority"? Top
If there were any lingering doubts concerning the status and integrity of the Palestinian National Authority -- and its so-called President, Mahmoud Abbas ("so-called" because his term of office, such as it was, expired almost a year ago) -- they were surely dispelled once and for all by its decision to drop its support for a UN resolution that would have referred the Goldstone Report on Israel's post-Christmas 2008 attack on Gaza to the UN Security Council. The 575-page Report of the UN Fact-Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict , which was led by South African judge Richard Goldstone, confirmed the already densely documented reports published by human rights organizations, including Amnesty International. Those reports had, in turn, systematically confirmed Palestinian claims that Israel had, for example, recklessly and indiscriminately used white phosphorous on the packed residential districts of Gaza; indiscriminately targeted civilian objects including UN schools (as documented by the widely circulated -- other than in the US -- photographs of an Israeli phosphorous strike on a UN school in Gaza); used Palestinian civilians as human shields; and collectively punished the population of Gaza by imposing on them a suffocating siege, cutting off vital supplies of food, medicine, and fuel (not just during the recent assault and on to this day, but, to a greater or lesser extent, since 2005, and even, arguably, since 1991, when the Israelis first methodically sealed off the hapless territory from the outside world). The Amnesty report, published in July, found that "hundreds of civilians were killed in attacks carried out using high-precision weapons -- air-delivered bombs and missiles, and tank shells. Others, including women and children, were shot at short range when posing no threat to the lives of the Israeli soldiers. Aerial bombardments launched from Israeli F-16 combat aircraft targeted and destroyed civilian homes without warning, killing and injuring scores of their inhabitants, often while they slept. Children playing on the roofs of their homes or in the street and other civilians going about their daily business, as well as medical staff attending the wounded were killed in broad daylight by Hellfire and other highly accurate missiles launched from helicopters and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), or drones, and by precision projectiles fired from tanks." The Goldstone report (though it remarkably reserves its strongest language for Palestinian rocket attacks that killed 3 Israeli civilians, compared to the 1,400 Palestinians killed in Gaza, the vast majority civilians, and a third of them children) reiterates many of the same conclusions, and reports on case after case where Israeli forces launched "intentional attacks against the civilian population and civilian objects," including "the shooting of civilians while they were trying to leave their homes to walk to a safer place, waving white flags and, in some of the cases, following an injunction from the Israeli forces to do so. The facts gathered by the Mission indicate that all the [latter] attacks occurred under circumstances in which the Israeli forces were in control of the area and had previously entered into contact with or at least observed the persons they subsequently attacked, so that they must have been aware of their civilian status." These incidents -- all of which constitute war crimes -- indicate, according to the Goldstone report, "that the instructions given to the Israeli forces moving into Gaza provided for a low threshold for the use of lethal fire against the civilian population." Indeed, among its other findings, the Goldstone report corroborates the well-documented reports (all of them summarily dismissed by the Israeli army, which considers itself " the most moral army in the world ") that Israeli soldiers themselves admitted to the brutality of the bombardment of Gaza, and left behind them -- as unmistakable evidence of their officially-encouraged attitude towards Palestinians -- both racist slogans (e.g., "We came to annihilate you; Death to the Arabs; Kahane was right; No tolerance, we came to liquidate") and human feces smeared on the walls of the Palestinian homes they looted and vandalized. "You feel like an infantile little kid with a magnifying glass looking at ants, burning them," one Israeli soldier confessed of the prevailing Israeli army attitude toward the Palestinians of Gaza, which was fueled in part by the proclamations of the army's rabbinical corps, which compared Palestinians to the biblical Philistines and urged that Israeli soldiers "show no mercy." None of the conclusions of all these reports ought to come as a surprise. The Israeli army itself had openly proclaimed , months before the bombing even started, that its strategy in both Lebanon and Palestine has been premised since 2006 on the sweeping and indiscriminate use of massive firepower: the so-called "Dahiyeh Doctrine," referring to the Dahiyeh, or southern suburb of Beirut, which the Israelis razed to the ground in their 2006 war on Lebanon, as they also did to many villages in the south of that country. "We will wield disproportionate power against every village from which shots are fired on Israel, and cause immense damage and destruction," one Israeli general (Gadi Eisenkot) announced -- with contemptuous disregard for the law of war. "From our perspective, these are military bases," he added. "This isn't a suggestion. This is a plan that has already been authorized." Other than planning for -- and attempting (to its own satisfaction at least) to legitimate -- the massive and necessarily indiscriminate use of force, the Israeli military legal establishment had specifically authorized premeditated attacks, such as the one that killed dozens of unarmed Gaza policemen parading in their graduation ceremony, with which Israel kicked off its bombardment on 27 December 2008, that inherently involved manifest violations of the principles of proportionality and discrimination that are the pillars of international humanitarian law. Moreover, not only the Amnesty and Goldstone reports but Israeli commanders themselves openly said that overwhelming and indiscriminate force was used -- deliberately, and in a premeditated fashion -- again, in total disregard for the principles of proportionality and discrimination. "At the start of the ground offensive, senior command decided to avoid endangering the lives of soldiers, even at the price of seriously harming the civilian population," one Israeli media report revealed . "This is why the IDF [Israeli army] made use of massive force during its advance in the Strip. As a Golani brigade commander explained, if there is any concern that a house is booby-trapped, even if it is filled with civilians, it should be targeted and hit, to ensure that it is not mined -- only then should it be approached. Without going into the moral aspects, such fighting tactics explain why there were no instances in which there was a need to assault homes where Hamas fighters were holed up." Ultimately, all that these inquiries, including Goldstone's, have done is merely to confirm Israel's own (repeatedly flaunted) contempt for international humanitarian law. Needless to say, from the beginning, Israel utterly refused to cooperate with the Goldstone inquiry, dismissing it -- as it has dismissed all previous attempts to investigate its conduct or to hold it accountable to the principles of international humanitarian law -- as "unfair" and "unbalanced" (as though there were anything "balanced" about the conflict between the sheer force of an occupying power and an essentially defenseless occupied people). Among the many previous investigative commissions which Israel has either summarily dismissed or refused to cooperate with are the investigation led by Archbishop Desmond Tutu into the Israeli killing of 19 members of a Palestinian family in Gaza in 2008; the commission appointed by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan in 2002 to investigate the indiscriminate destruction of civilian areas in the Israeli assault on Jenin refugee camp that spring (the actions of which a separate investigation , by Amnesty International, found amounted "to grave breaches of the Fourth Geneva Convention and are war crimes"); and the UN investigation of the Israeli artillery massacre of over a hundred Lebanese civilians huddling in a shelter at a UN compound in Qana, Lebanon in 1995, which found that "it is unlikely that the shelling of the United Nations compound was the result of gross technical and/or procedural errors," as the Israeli army said at the time -- as, indeed, it always says is the case when its soldiers kill dozens of civilians: not once has Israel actually held any of its officers or soldiers accountable for such crimes. In all previous cases, Israel's adamant refusal to be held accountable to the law has been upheld by the US, and the Obama administration proved that it had no intention of breaking that particular tradition this time either. Nevertheless, as Professor Richard Falk (the UN's Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights Situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territories) points out , the Goldstone report could have provided a basis for referring Israel's conduct durng the war in Gaza to the International Criminal Court or other international courts, or to the establishment of a war crimes tribunal along the lines of those established after the catastrophes of Bosnia and Rwanda. That would have been the best way to finally hold Israel accountable for its grave breaches of international humanitarian law, its war crimes, and its crimes against humanity (not least the sealing off an entire civilian population from the outside world, denying it the ability to flee to safety, and then subjecting that same, defenseless, shelterless population -- most of it composed of children -- to an indiscriminate round-the-clock bombardment). The process of referral depended, however, on obtaining a vote within the UN to have the Goldstone report referred to the Security Council for further deliberation, the creation of a war crimes tribunal, and so on. And all of that depended in turn on the support of Palestinian diplomats appointed by and accountable to Mahmoud Abbas. But it is now clear that the Palestinian team representing Mahmoud Abbas at the UN (for they certainly do not represent the Palestinian people) has, on his instructions, dropped its support for the resolution that might have set the legal machinery of the international judicial system in motion. Other states can hardly be expected to stand up to US pressure and support a resolution on behalf of Palestinian rights that the Palestinian delegation itself is unwilling to support -- why should Venezuela or Nigeria or Pakistan be more Palestinian than the Palestinians? Reports have been circulating in the Arab, Israeli and European media that Abbas and his associates may have been prompted to take this extraordinary action because Israel had been threatening , had they continued with their support of the UN resolution, to withhold its release of a share of the radio spectrum that would have allowed the creation of a new Palestinian mobile phone company, Wataniyya: the product of a joint venture between Qatari investors and the Palestine Investment Fund, to which Abbas himself and one of his wealthy sons have personal connections. Palestinians have suggested that simple corruption and cronyism may have motivated Abbas's decision. The PA and the circle of officials attached to it have certainly had their share of corruption charges -- most shockingly, perhaps, when Ahmed Qureia, then the so-called Prime Minister of the PA (again, "so-called" because Prime Ministers usually have countries to govern, and the PA is anything but a country), was accused of selling cement to the Israelis to build their wall in the West Bank. The corruption of the PA and the narrow circle of Fateh party officials running it, clinging to it, and benefiting from it, is one of the main reasons why Fateh was swept from office in the 2006 Palestinian elections in favor of Hamas: most people then were voting against Fateh and its corruption and general hopelessness, rather than for Hamas (which had, and has, little to offer other than simply not being Fateh: a credit which goes only so far). It's possible, of course, that corruption and cronyism were not the motivating factors for Abbas's decision to withdraw Palestinian support for the Goldstone report. There are two other possibilities. One of these is simple incompetence: that Abbas and his associates are so lacking in intelligence, imagination and political skill that they just bungled the whole affair. This is certainly not out of the question: Abbas himself is an extraordinarily unprepossessing and profoundly compromised man, and his circle of associates -- including men like Mohammad Dahlan and Saeb Ereikat -- hardly inspire any more confidence than Abbas himself. Quite apart from their sheer disregard for Palestinian suffering in Gaza (seeking redress for which ought to be their main priority), it ought to be clear that a party to a negotiation that wantonly throws a rarely-held card out of the window while attempting (or at least claiming) to negotiate is, to put it mildly, not qualified to negotiate in the first place, let alone to claim to "lead" a defiant and unvanquished people like the Palestinians. If the Ramallah leadership is really as hopelessly incompetent as this scenario would have it, that's reason enough for their removal from office, if not the dissolution of the PA itself. (It's difficult, though, to "dismiss from office" someone like Abbas who is not
 
Loveland Ski Area WIll Be First To Open On October 7 (VIDEO, VOTE) Top
Ski season is upon us. Loveland Ski Area will win the race to be the first resort to open in Colorado this season when it starts its lifts on October 7 at 9:00. From CBS4 Denver: Officials at Loveland Ski Area say they will be first ski area in North America to open this season when Chair 1 starts up at 9 a.m. on Wednesday, the earliest for the ski area in 40 years... Loveland will open with an 18-inch base on the opening day run, which includes three trails totaling over a mile in length. See Loveland's official announcement below: Vote for the best--and most gimmicky--ski deals the state has to offer.
 
Eric Holder: NYC Terror Plot Was One Of Most Serious Since 9/11 Top
WASHINGTON — Attorney General Eric Holder said Tuesday the alleged terror plot disrupted in New York was "one of the most serious in the United States since Sept. 11, 2001" – but he gave no indication when more arrests might be made. In a question-and-answer session with reporters, Holder said prosecutors will bring all those involved in the plot to justice. "There are people both in this country and also abroad who are committed to harming the American people and they're actively plotting to do so," Holder said. So far, one suspect, Colorado shuttle bus driver Najibullah Zazi, has been charged with conspiring to detonate bombs in the United States. Zazi, who has denied any terrorist plotting, is being held without bond. Two other suspects, Zazi's father and a New York imam, have been charged with lying to investigators. Court papers alleged that Zazi was plotting to build a homemade bomb, and law enforcement officials have said they feared such a bomb or bombs would be used to attack New York commuter trains. The case came to light after Zazi drove from his Colorado home to New York days before the anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks, prompting agents and police officers to conduct early morning raids on New York apartments looking for evidence of bomb-making activity. Holder offered no new details of the investigation, but said the case has shown counterterrorism agencies succeeded in disrupting the plot. More on Eric Holder
 
Bruce Nilles: Coal is Too Dirty Even for Colleges Top
That's the first ad of our new campaign targeting the world of higher education: Coal is too dirty - even for college. Did you know that many of our country's colleges and universities - places that are supposed to be a source of higher-education and leadership - get their electricity by burning coal? And sometimes those coal-fired power plants are even on the campuses? I think many of us look back in disbelief at some of the things we did in college. We're seeing that same sense of disbelief from current college students when they learn that their campuses are still powered by coal. This ad launches a campaign that will use print and online advertising (two more video ads to come) to highlight that some things are just too dirty, even for college. The ads play off stereotypically "dirty" college behavior, becoming progressively more "dirty" throughout the series. Though college life allows for leniency in the socially acceptable, coal still crosses the line.  The ad campaign targets schools in 11 states which currently rely on coal power. Indiana University-Bloomington Indiana University of Pennsylvania Lewis and Clark Ohio University Penn State University SUNY-Binghamton University of Colorado - Boulder University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill University of Georgia University of Iowa University of Minnesota-Twin Cities University of Missouri-Columbia University of North Dakota University of Southern California University of Washington Virginia Tech Washington University-St. Louis If you attend one of these schools, you can sign a petition asking your university president to kick coal off your campus - the list and the petition are on this website: http://www.2dirty4college.com/  The Campuses Beyond Coal Campaign is working nationwide to wean all campuses off of coal-generated electricity and replace it with clean energy options. With organizers on the ground in several of the more than 60 campuses with on-site coal plants the Campaign is working to help universities achieve the zero carbon emissions targets set forth in the Presidents Climate Commitment. We released a report last month to support the campaign: " Breaking Coal's Grip on Our Future: Moving Campuses Beyond Coal. " It highlights many of the problems facing coal dependent schools and the solutions available. We know students want a cleaner, healthier future, and so they're organizing on campuses coast-to-coast to make that vision a reality. The ad campaign will run through the end of October, with the remaining two videos to be released in the next few weeks. It's time to kick coal off campus!
 
Diane Dimond: Polanski Punishment Should Fit the Crime - Period Top
Don't be distracted by the recent debate over whether fugitive movie director Roman Polanski should return to America and do time for sex crimes. Don't let ill-informed daytime talk show hostesses convince you it wasn't really a crime. Don't get distracted by Hollywood types who claim the deed was done more than 30 years ago and poor Polanski has been through enough in his life. After all, they argue, Polanski lost family in the Holocaust and his pregnant wife, Sharon Tate, was brutally murdered by Charlie Manson's gang. Don't let the media convince you that angry prosecutors, stung by an HBO documentary on the case, suddenly sprang to life to go after a case they'd abandoned. That's been proven to be malarkey and structured around a former DA who now he admitted he lied about influencing the judge in the original case. All of that is beside the point. This case boils down to a few simple questions: Is rape okay if the perpetrator is famous? Is it okay for a 44 year old man to feed drugs and drink to a 13 year old girl and have sex with her? Should all be forgiven if the man involved has won accolades, like say, an Academy Award? How about NO, NO and NO! So why are so many people, from TV gabber Whoopi Goldberg who said it wasn't "rape rape" since Polanski pleaded guilty to only "unlawful sex with a minor" to tainted actor Woody Allen and on to movie mega-producer Harvey Weinstein, who said he's "calling on every film-maker we can to help fix this terrible situation," all about forgiving and forgetting what Polanski did? I can't imagine why. Sex with a minor is rape - period. What if it were their 13 year old child drugged and demeaned by a 44 year old man? Would a sexual attack on their youngster be excused if the attacker was a famous creative type? For those who would ask, "Well why did her mother let her go alone to actor Jack Nicholson home (the scene of the crime) for a solo photo shoot?" - don't give it a second thought, that's just more obfuscation. Do I think her mother was smart about it? I do not but that's not the point. Some facts you may not have known: The 1977 "photo session" was not a spur of the moment event during which Mr. Polanski simply lost his head. This was the second time Polanski requested to photograph this particular 13 year old girl. The first time he convinced her to go topless so he asked her back again to arouse himself and see what else he could get her to do. This second meeting was pre-meditated, done with criminal intent in my book. Polanski lured this child again and when she complained of having an asthma attack from the steam in the hot tub he'd cajoled her into and asked to be taken home his answer was to give her booze, a Quaalude and direct her to a nearby bedroom where he anally raped her. For goodness sakes don't buy that distracting argument that the girl somehow consented to the sex because a 13 year old cannot give informed consent and it doesn't matter that the victim, now a 40-something mother of three, desires the case be dropped. It isn't up to the victim and besides we now learn she took a half million dollars to buy her silence. No wonder she wants it to go away. This case was filed on behalf of the people of the State of California vs. Roman Polanski and it is the state that calls the shots. The only outstanding question right now should be why Roman Polanski fled the United States 32 years ago and denied justice for the child in the first place. He'd pleaded guilty to the crime and ran away like a coward. I don't care how many of Polanski's peers come forward to discuss how dismayed they are by the decision to finally pluck Polanski from his cushy life and put him behind bars. HE RAPED A CHILD. No one gets a pass on a crime like this. Not the guy next door and not the guy who just happened to direct movies like Rosemary's Baby, Chinatown or The Pianist. I saw an old video clip on the CBS Early Show this week in which a young looking Roman Polanski demurely shrugged his shoulders and with a crooked smile admitted, "Well, I like young girls ... I suppose most men do." Yes, Roman, I suppose you're right but most adult men realize it is a crime to interact sexually with them! Your cavalier attitude when asked about the crime makes me wonder how many other unsuspecting girls you despoiled in your smarmy career. As the mother of a daughter I'm outraged that what Polanski did doesn't matter to some people. I'm aghast that once again a celebrity is thought to deserve a pass. I'm disgusted that some actors and Polanski's fellow film industry luminaries are circulating a petition for his immediate release from prison. Shame on them. Diane Dimond can be reached through her official web site www.DianeDimond.net More on Roman Polanski
 
Axelrod, Roger Ailes Met Two Weeks Ago Top
At a time of tension between their organizations, White House senior adviser David Axelrod met with Fox News chairman and chief executive officer Roger Ailes two weeks ago, sources tell POLITICO. The two met privately in Manhattan during the president's visit to the United Nations. More on David Axelrod
 
Eric Holder: New York-Denver Terror Plot Was Most Serious Since 9-11 Top
WASHINGTON — Attorney General Eric Holder said Tuesday the alleged terror plot disrupted in New York was "one of the most serious in the United States since Sept. 11, 2001" – but he gave no indication when more arrests might be made. In a question-and-answer session with reporters, Holder said prosecutors will bring all those involved in the plot to justice. "There are people both in this country and also abroad who are committed to harming the American people and they're actively plotting to do so," Holder said. So far, one suspect, Colorado shuttle bus driver Najibullah Zazi, has been charged with conspiring to detonate bombs in the United States. Zazi, who has denied any terrorist plotting, is being held without bond. Two other suspects, Zazi's father and a New York imam, have been charged with lying to investigators. Court papers alleged that Zazi was plotting to build a homemade bomb, and law enforcement officials have said they feared such a bomb or bombs would be used to attack New York commuter trains. The case came to light after Zazi drove from his Colorado home to New York days before the anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks, prompting agents and police officers to conduct early morning raids on New York apartments looking for evidence of bomb-making activity. Holder offered no new details of the investigation, but said the case has shown counterterrorism agencies succeeded in disrupting the plot. More on Eric Holder
 
Gov. David Paterson Offers Jay-Z Critical Endorsement Top
One thing I have to give New York Governor David Paterson is that he gets hip-hop right more often than not. Today, according to New York Magazine 's Vulture blog , Paterson -- citing his September 11th benefit concert at Madison Square Garden -- endorsed MTV's decision to name Jay-Z the "Hottest MC In The Game," and hey, in the context of his role of New York's chief executive, that's just good statesmanship. WATCH: Jay-Z performs "Empire State of Mind" at MSG Back in May of 2008, Paterson demonstrated a similar judiciousness by extending a full pardon to Slick Rick . At the time, I made the obvious joke . In a related matter, I join Vulture's Lane Brown in despairing of Rick Ross's high placement on this MTV list. And Raekwon way down at #10? Ridiculous! [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 .]
 
Paul Abrams: Jumpstarting Jobs: The Lost Lesson of the Great Depression Top
Great Depressions do not have single causes. As John Kenneth Galbraith pointed out in "The Great Crash: 1929", a key cause of the 1930s Depression was the severe contraction of consumption, due to a negative wealth effect, lost wages, and a destruction of confidence. The stimulus package was designed to address that problem in today's economic crisis, and the argument among those who acknowledge economic history is whether it is sufficient or correctly targeted. Thus, the first lesson of the Great Depression was learned--without any Republican support, a massive stimulus was passed. Although it is far too early to judge its effects--it took Reagan 2 years (!) before unemployment began declining from 9.7%, a fact Democrats ought to throw back against Republican complaints the stimulus they opposed but whose money they accept is not working--it is unarguable that the tax cut portion is not increasing consumption but helping middle class families repair their personal balance sheets. On the other hand, cash-for-clunkers and tax credits for first-time homebuyers demonstrates that short-term benefits can stimulate behaviors desirable for the economy even in devastating economic times. In that same volume, Galbraith identified another major cause of the Great Depression: the rich hoarding rather than nvesting their money. Just as Galbraith observed in1930s, investors and investment funds today are saving and hoarding. Venture capital firms are also hoarding their cash to do follow-on investments in their current portfolio and to protect against inability to raise their next funds. This "investment deficit" is the forgotten lesson of the Great Depression. To jumpstart jobs, we need to remember it. Relying upon the success of the two consumer based short-term incentives mentioned above, the best way of doing that is a targeted, 12-month limited, capital gains tax rate of zero for new direct investment in companies with 100% of their workforces in the United States. The tax reduction should be limited to investments made within 12 months so that capital has to flow quickly in order to qualify. That will spur job growth especially in young or new businesses who have been trimming their plans because of lack of sufficient capital. It should be limited to new direct investment--e.g., newly issued stock or debt by companies--so that the money goes to companies and not other investors who decide to sell their shares. It should be limited to investments in companies that have, and maintain, a 100% US workforce--because the purpose is to grow US jobs. What is the effect of this proposal on the deficit? Because an investment must be held one-year to qualify for capital gains lower rates, the impact on the deficit in year 1 is zero; indeed, with job growth, the tax revenues from a now-employed worker and the reduction in unemployment payments will provide a net plus to federal revenues. In year 2 and beyond, the budget impact will be measured by the reduction in revenues due to capital gains taxes not realized from the qualified investments that would have been made anyhow minus the increased revenues from newly-employed workers and the reduction in unemployment payments that no longer have to be paid. Nor is this is an invitation to reckless investing because there is no benefit of a zero tax on capital gains unless the investment actually produces a gain. The disastrous Bush Administration dumped in President Obama's lap the most severe economic crisis since the Great Depression of the 1930s. The Obama and Federal Reserve policies have, at least, prevented the crisis from reaching the depths of the 1930s Depression by learning the key lesson that massive government spending and liquidity were required antidotes. The forgotten lesson of that calamity is the need to reduce hoarding of money by the rich, and to put that cash into investments, in order to trigger new hiring, reduce unemployment and begin a virtuous cycle of new jobs, less unemployment payments and more tax revenues from working people. The "Jumpstarting Jobs" proposal provides a short-term benefit to trigger an outpouring of new investment that goes directly to companies that have and maintain a 100% US workforce. Additional incentives, such as a tax credit for businesses that hire a US worker, as originally proposed by the President but removed from the stimulus, would provide further encouragement for businesses to use that money for new hires. Recovering from this crisis requires we learn and act upon all the key lessons of past economic calamities. Disclosure: I am an investor and partner in a venture capital fund. Most of the fund's money is already invested (in companies with a 100% US workforce that are pushing back the frontiers of medical science) and so would not benefit directly in a major way from this proposal. It would indirectly benefit from an general sustained uptick in the economy especially one that rebuilds the strong middle class we had before Reagan and the Bushes undermined it
 
Ira Chernus: Obama Trapped Behind Wall of Mideast Containment Top
Cross-posted with Tomdispatch.com Damn the Iranians and full speed ahead. That was the U.S. policy in the Middle East. But the waters have proved treacherous, with torpedoes everywhere. Despite an initial hopeful sit-down with Iranian negotiators, this won't be the October the White House wanted on the foreign policy front. By now, Barack Obama was supposed to have announced -- with ruffles and flourishes -- the beginning of Middle East peace talks, leading to a final status agreement by 2012. But something didn't happen. Israel didn't heed Obama's demand to stop all settlement expansion in the West Bank. So Obama didn't stick to that demand, settling instead for a temporary freeze after a spate of new building. The Palestinians, buoyed by Obama's initial strong stance on the settlements, refused to negotiate until Israel stopped all construction. Other Arab nations didn't offer Israel nearly as many concessions as the U.S. administration was demanding. Undermined by all that didn't happen, the president had nothing of substance to announce. What went wrong? The heart of the problem was not Israel's supposed power over U.S. policy. The U.S. still has plenty of leverage over the Israelis and everyone else in the region. Israeli columnist Nahum Barnea is right : "Everyone depends on America, its money, its military aid, and its moves vis-à-vis Iran." But it is precisely those U.S. moves, meant to contain the power of Iran, that are the main stumbling block on the path to a U.S.-brokered two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The Middle East is a textbook example of the perils of containment. The Ghost Of Cold War Past If Obama's troubles keep him awake late at night, he may hear the ghostly voices of past presidents echoing down the White House hallways -- Bill Clinton saying, "I tried to get the Israelis and Palestinians together, too. It's a bitch," or Dwight D. Eisenhower recalling (as he once wrote to a friend) that he felt "forced to give constant attention... to problems that defy solution." The loudest voice of all, though, may come from the ghost of the Cold War, whose spirit of containment still haunts the White House and shapes foreign policy decisions every day. The drive for containment of "the commies" created problems that defied solution. After all, containment meant maintaining total control over the global chess board, always making exactly the right move at exactly the right time. The task was, quite literally, a mission impossible. Eisenhower revealed why when, resorting to the imagery of his era, he described the American "wall of containment" to his National Security Council as a "free world dike" holding back the rising "red tide." When that dike got "leaky," he said, the U.S. had to "put a finger in" rather than "let the whole structure be washed away." As any high school physics student knows, plugging that dike with your finger merely increases the pressure somewhere else, inevitably leading to yet another crack. In other words, containment turned the U.S. into Sisyphus, laboring at a task that never ends. As Obama and his advisors make policy for "the greater Middle East" -- that huge swath of mostly Muslim lands from Somalia to Pakistan -- they are guided by a regional version of containment, with Iran as its object. The longer the Israelis occupy Palestine, the more Iranian leaders profit by riding a wave of anti-Israeli fervor throughout the area. Hence, the big push for a negotiated peace. Yet the first move in that push -- the demand that Israel freeze settlement expansion -- set off a whole new series of stresses and strains. After all, the U.S. relies on Israel as a major weapon in its Iranian containment policy. It also relies on that weapon being under U.S. control, so that just the right pressure can be exerted on the Iranian leadership by making just the right threatening gestures to Teheran at just the right moment (without, of course, letting the Israelis actually act upon those threats, which would create chaos and mayhem in the region). When the administration's freeze demand triggered right-wing outrage in Israel, Netanyahu turned his threats on Washington: If the demand persisted, it could bring down his government, he claimed, leaving no one holding the trigger on the necessary weapon of containment or (even worse) running the risk that some crazy leader might grab the weapon and actually pull the trigger. So the U.S. backed off a total freeze and, according to one Israeli report , promised to deal with "Iran first... The Palestinians will have to wait their turn and pass the time in empty talks until Iran is restrained." But the U.S. moves to shore up the Israeli part of its containment wall only created a new crisis elsewhere -- in this case, with the West Bank Palestinian government headed by Mahmoud Abbas. His appointed role is to make his Fatah-led regime strong enough to keep Hamas out of power and out of any negotiations, since Hamas is seen as a proxy for Iran. Whether that perception is accurate hardly matters to policymakers. In the game of containment, perceptions are the realities that matter most. In the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, perceptions are the most important realities, too. As recent research shows, majorities on both sides are not as concerned about gaining substantive political and economic advantages as they are about inflicting symbolic defeats on the other side. Anything that looks like a victory, especially in intangible matters of prestige and pride, is a victory. If Abbas accedes to U.S. demands to negotiate at a moment when Israel is rebuffing the U.S. on the freeze, he will look like a loser. That will make him a loser and so, by default, Hamas will be the obvious winner. Abbas has already created that impression in some circles simply by agreeing to meet with Obama and Netanyahu, offering the Israeli leader a "tentative handshake" at the U.N. "The whole process has lost [Abbas] a lot of credibility with the Palestinian people," said veteran Palestinian diplomat Hanan Ashrawi. "For Palestinians it's very important that our leadership not constantly be the one to give in." "How will anyone from now on take him seriously?" another Palestinian official asked . To answer that question Abbas, the designated agent of U.S. interests in Palestine, only has to look at other leaders who have been assigned the same role: Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and Afghan President Hamid Karzai . They have both been holding on to power by publicly rebuffing the U.S., thus laying claim to independence and turning anti-American sentiment in their countries to their advantage. Why shouldn't Abbas do the same? The Obama administration might be tempted to buy further concessions from Abbas by strengthening the hand of General Keith Dayton, who oversees the training of the Palestinian security forces that keep Hamas suppressed on the West Bank. However, what many Palestinians scornfully call "the Dayton government" is already unpopular. Giving it more power could easily boost the political fortunes of Hamas. So the U.S. has to stand by, watching Abbas stiffen his spine and negotiate with Hamas, while hoping he doesn't emulate al-Maliki's game of cozying up to the Iranians as a counterweight to the Americans. The Perils Of Perception Beyond backing off the settlement freeze, the administration also offered another concession to the Israelis. They leaned on Abbas to defer a draft proposal at the U.N. Human Rights Council that would have endorsed the recommendations of the Goldstone report, which found evidence of Israeli war crimes in last winter's attack on Gaza. Israel desperately wants U.S. help in hanging onto its image as an oppressed, blameless victim. For the same reason, the U.S. also encouraged Arab states to join the proposed peace talks, rather than making it simply a one-on-one Israeli-Palestinian affair. Here's how the Israeli paper Haaretz summed up recent remarks on the subject by Defense Minister Ehud Barak: "In negotiations with the Palestinians, Israel is the 'only one that can give. The Palestinians are the underdog and the talks are asymmetrical.' But in regional talks... it becomes clear that Israel is the isolated party." To the Obama administration, however, regional talks fall into another category: promoting a regional containment policy against Iran. Containing Iran, in fact, is the one goal the Israelis, the Fatah-led rump Palestinian Authority, and all the major Arab states might have in common. According to Obama Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, the U.S. message is: "If you don't engage in the process of making peace, you give Hamas and Hezbollah and Iran, who are enemies of the peace process, and vocal opponents of it, a veto." If the U.S. had the kind of total control that containment theory requires, it would, indeed, use such peace talks to strengthen a region-wide anti-Iranian alliance. But the leaders of the major Arab states run up against the same problem that Abbas faces: domestic publics, wary of any pro-American moves, might be swayed into seeing Iran as their champion. So the Arab states have offered few concessions indeed, which the Israelis then point to as yet more "proof" that they are surrounded by enemies on all sides and can't afford to give up one more thing. When Washington leans on the Arab states, it highlights Iran's purported nuclear weapons program as the number one threat. And Arab leaders might be happy enough to go along, were it not for the obvious image problem: How can they say with straight faces that they are banding together to stop an imagined Iranian nuclear menace, while sitting down to negotiate with an Israel that has at least 100 -- perhaps 200 or more -- very real nuclear weapons? Even the increasingly hawkish Ehud Barak admits that Iran's nuclear program is not an "existential issue" because "Israel is strong." Every time the U.S. warns about Iran's nuclear program, it merely calls more attention in the region to Israel's ignored and unacknowledged nuclear arsenal. Then Arab leaders feel forced to take a tougher public stand against Israel's nukes because their people want to see Israel firmly contained. And in the game of containment, where image is reality, the first rule is: Always show resolve. That's the prevailing rule in Washington, too. On the same day that Obama met Netanyahu and Abbas at the U.N., his hometown newspaper, the Washington Post , chastised him editorially for "Wavering on Afghanistan." When containment prevails, firmness is required. No waverers need apply. (Extra fingers are, however, useful.) The president gets the message. Last week, when the Iranians surprised the world with significant concessions at their first meeting with American negotiators in Geneva, the New York Times urged Obama to "push Iran's leaders hard" and "be ready to impose tough sanctions if Iran resists." But he was a step ahead, having already declared : "We are prepared to move towards increased pressure." Times reporter Helene Cooper saw that as "the exact opposite of what a White House usually does... Instead of painting lukewarm concessions as major breakthroughs... officials were treating a potentially major breakthrough as if it were a suspicious package." But this was, in fact, an exact echo of what a Cold War White House usually did. In those superpower stand-off days, endless negotiations, with each side making offers deflected by the suspicions and stern rebuffs of the other, actually fueled the ritual of containment. In reality, Obama's troubles are not caused primarily by "the bad guys," nor by Israel's supposed power or that of the domestic "Israeli lobby," nor even, as some critics charge, his own tendency to vacillate. Instead, he's trapped in the conundrum that's built into U.S. containment strategy in the Middle East. No matter what other nations do or don't do, everything that looks like it might be a solution only turns out to create new problems. The U.S. will keep on pursuing Middle East peace. Obama will keep getting intense pressure from the hawks at home to capitulate to every Israeli demand. He will certainly look for maneuvering room. And the rising influence of the Jewish peace lobby will give him more room than his predecessors had. But even a peace movement strong enough to offset the "pro-Israel" right might not offer room enough as long as the overriding aim of U.S. Middle Eastern policy is to make Iran say uncle; that is, to make its leaders accept the image of a humbled, overawed loser. If the administration sticks to that approach, no move to cut through the Gordian Knot of Israeli-Palestinian relations will truly work, not with Obama and his team trapped behind a wall of containment. President Obama and his advisors will, instead, live in terror of the image of Iran that the U.S. has had such a hand in creating. Like Eisenhower and all the Cold War presidents after him and all their advisors, they will remain endlessly plagued by problems that defy solution. The recent Iranian concessions offer the president the beginning of a way out, a chance to make good on his own message to the United Nations: "The future does not belong to fear... All of us must decide whether we are serious about peace." Now he and his administration, too, must decide if they are serious. They would do well to modify the old mantra of Bill Clinton's 1992 campaign for president and put it everywhere: It's the Iranians, stupid. If they can rid themselves of their Cold War-style Iranian obsession, another path is possible. If they make the two-state solution an end in
 
Alana B. Elias Kornfeld: How We Unplug & Recharge Top
Sometimes, we just need to unplug. No speeding to meditation class. No updating Facebook profiles. No furious recitations of positive affirmations or stuffing healthy food into our mouths too fast. No compulsively -- okay, obsessively -- thumbing through iPhones, BlackBerries and health journals. Yes, stimulation is all around us -- in our pockets, on our beds, constant, clickable companions. And, yes, it's all moving at such warp speed that we can't help but try and keep up -- raise your hand if you've checked your Blackberry during yoga class! Still, there's a reason why most everything has an off button--and if it doesn't we can make up our own. So in honor of "In Praise of Slowness: How a Worldwide Movement is Challenging the Cult of Speed," Arianna's inaugural book club pick, we asked HuffPost's Living bloggers to tell us how they slow down. That is, when they do slow down. Which is all the time, right? Dr. Alex Benzer , Author, Tao of Dating for Women, Tao of Dating For Men: For the most part, I keep the onslaught of extraneous information at bay by circumscribing my online time. Then, for a quick local unplug, I go to yoga class. When breathing and not falling down become your top priorities, you pretty much obliterate all the stuff in your head that doesn't matter. Running works, too. But the ultimate unplug is travel. I go somewhere the gizmos just plain don't work and commune directly with the Earth and the people on it. Sedona was good for that, as was my jaunt through the Baltic states. Gail Lynne Goodwin , Ambassador of Inspiration, InspireMeToday.com: To unplug, I head to the wilderness where I don't have cell coverage, as my iPhone goes with me most places. To totally unplug you'll find me in a forest where I can breathe in the fresh mountain air, or on the bow of a sailboat in the Caribbean with the salt spray on my face. When circumstances don't allow for either, closing my eyes and going there for 15 minutes in my mind works for a quick refresher too. Gretchen Rubin , Writer working on The Happiness Project--an account of the year she spent test-driving every conceivable principle about how to be happy: I re-read my favorite books from childhood. The Secret Garden, A Wrinkle in Time, To Kill a Mockingbird, Little Women, Peter Pan...they get better each time I read them. All the best reading is re-reading, and there's something particularly comforting about returning to the books that I read as a child Alison Rose Levy , Health journalist, coach, and advocate: As a health, psychology, and spirituality writer, I should probably claim to meditate, levitate, or ruminate, but in truth, I usually do one of three things: take a walk by the shady stream near home, lie down and take a nap with tabby twins, Tilly and Teek, or yes, I confess it, call Mom or one of my circle of five close ones. And there is of course, Leverage, the Timothy Hutton TV show featuring a team that helps the people and foils the bad guys. I'm addicted to it. Srinivasan PIllay , Certified master coach, psychiatrist, brain imaging researcher and speaker: I think that the key to unplugging and recharging is to be "juiced" long enough to have to do this as little as possible. great friends and family, meditation, inspiring work, a night out, doing something creative like writing music and staying connected with people around shared experiences keeps the juices flowing and the need for unplugging to a minimum. still, when this need does occur (apart from sleep), i make sure that my life is not in "balance" but in harmony with the forces that keep me feeling "alive", because i am much more likely to feel like i need to unplug from "balance" than inspiration. i once took a "horse and carriage" ride with a tourist friend who was visiting and was shocked to see how differently i noticed the stores, people, sidewalks and dust particles in the air. when i look at the crevices in the skin of loved ones in whom time has etched a memory in the form of character, i am unplugged from my static illusions and recharged by a sensation of the meaning of life without time in recognizing the illusion of form. to me, unplugging and recharging is an indication that my senses are overloaded. i head for the hills beyond the senses where passion, love and spirits roam. Julia Moulden , New Radical: how we earn our living can become the way we give back: How do I unwind? My bio says it all, "Julia kayaks as often as possible on Georgian Bay". Georgian Bay is a place as far, far away from the work world as I can get - but is still within easy driving distance of my home. It's part of the Great Lakes, off Lake Huron. I particularly like to paddle out of Killarney, the most beautiful place in the world. What's so great about Killarney? It's beyond the reach of Blackberries and cell phones. Killarney Provincial Park is where the Group of Seven did much of their painting. It's where the skull of the earth peeks through (pink granite reaches out into the clear waters of the bay). And, even at peak season, it's far from the madding crowd. Life is slow in Killarney. I sleep a lot. Read. Eat way too much home-cooked food. Hike the La Cloche range. Sail, especially under the stars. And paddle. What I don't do is check email or voice mail, or even think too much about what's going on in the busy, busy places I've left behind. Heather Cabot , Mom blogger: A run in the park always re-energizes my mind and my soul. But it is taking time to really focus on my children, away from the distractions of technology, that really makes me feel alive. My own mom reminds me all the time that being a mother of young kids forces you to slow down and be present. When you are reading a story or giving the kids a bath or making cookies with them or even just dancing around the living room, you have to unplug from the rest of the world. It is one of those delightful, unexpected gifts of motherhood. Drew Pinsky, M.D. , Addiction medicine specialist, host of the popular radio show Loveline and the star of the VH1 hit Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew and its spin-off Sober House: It isn't easy. As a physician, even when I unplug from my technological matrix I still feel compelled to check in with some patients or allow access from team members at the hospital. So in the past the only time I could really unplug was in the air! Now with the advent of inflight Wifi my compulsions drag me back to my tablets, phones and other paraphenalia of my drug of choice - information. Perhaps in a more reflective moment I might consider that connectedness is really what I seek. And, in fact, real connectedness is that which we share with those we love. The rest is just so much chatter. This is why I follow my wife, Susan's, good counsel to take regular family vacations, spend time with the ones I love especially where I cannot be reached. Or at least if I should attempt to practice my addiction it would be all but impossible. Ashley Koff R.D. , Registered dietitian (R.D.), named LA's Best Nutritionist three years running: I'm learning to fly fish. I have seen folks out there with their blackberries and phones, but because I can be a little clumsy, I always put mine in the wet bag and as a result get to enjoy some unplugged time. What's more, many of the places I've gone fishing don't even get service - it's pretty powerful to be in parts of the US (as well as the rest of the world) and not get service. It reminds me of where we've come and where we may be headed. I like being unplugged and recharging. I see my world just a little bit differently, and hopefully that helps me to help others see the possibility too. More on Unplug And Recharge
 

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