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Did I detect a note of jealousy at Guild Hall where the Q&A following the screening of Last Play at Shea? The documentary traces the demolition of the famed ball park and home of the Mets through the history of rock performed there, from a legendary Beatles concert back in the day to Paul McCartney’s joining Billy Joel for Shea’s last play.
Alec Baldwin, board member of the Hamptons International Film Festival and Hamptons resident at large lauded Billy Joel to the skies for his artistry, musicianship, and with a little help from the audience, for his menschlechkeit. Lorraine Bracco wanted to know how Joel survived Hicksville High, and the piano man talked about his interest in boosting the arts and music programs in public education. But then the true source of Baldwin’s envy came out-the gorgeous blond sitting in the back wearing a black fedora.
I saw you at a concert, said the 30 Rock star to the rock star. Your ex-wife Christie Brinkley was cheering you on. You would ask, hey Christie, where were we when I wrote this song? I don’t have that kind of relationship with my ex, where she would buy a ticket to see me. In fact, I have something like the Empire State Building shoved up my ass. To which Billy shouted out, hey Christie, did you really buy a ticket?
And it was not just a show of humility: it is safe to say that the evening proved there is always someone perceived as better, someone, in fact, to envy, and he lives nearby. Boasting about the invitation, the stars were off to Amagansett, to a party chez Sir Paul.
This post also appears on Gossip Central..

Source:www.huffingtonpost.com

One need not journey to the mountains of Afghanistan or Pakistan to discover evil. We have our own home-grown variety of dangerous extremism here in Florida. The Dove World Outreach Center in Gainesville, whose pastor Terry Jones has written a book called Islam is of the Devil, believes he is called by God to defeat non-Christians in general, and Muslims in specific.
Terry Jones has written a hate-filled book.
Fortunately his excessive ideas have not carried widely. The church, according to Voice of America, has about 50 members (VOA). Their web presence is far more ominous, with a Facebook page and an active website. With only 16 fans, the Facebook site is more lethal than meets the eye — as is the website. The church published an essay this week on-line an entitled “Ten Reasons to Burn a Koran.”
Photo taken from the Facebook page of “Islam is of the Devil.”
It states:
The book now has its own website with products.
The essay continues:
T-shirts on sale at the Dove World Outreach Center site.
In 1985 I co-founded Fundamentalists Anonymous to combat the Fundamentalist Mindset, a black-and-white way of thinking described by the Dove World Outreach Center above. Sadly, this church embraces this mindset to counter not only the excesses of Islam, but all of Islam. This is as dangerous and illogical as condemning Christianity because of the Dove World Outreach Center.
Sign posted by the Dove World Outreach Center in Gainesville, Florida.
On the Phil Donahue Show in 1985, I described this Fundamentalist Mindset for the first time on national television: A mindset that sees the world in black and white, right and wrong, good and evil. A mindset that cannot compromise. A mindset that is intrinsically unhealthy. This mindset creates extremism in any theology or worldview from Christianity, Buddhism, Hinduism, to atheism, Communism – any set of values that cannot accept gray. In short, Extremism.
The church’s extremist website essay ends defiantly:
We have fallen asleep since 9/11/01 and have been hoodwinked by the growth of a (for now) non violent Islam. Shall we give in to threats, then, and allow Islam to grow in America unopposed? We at Dove World Outreach Center will not, even if it costs us our lives. For those who support us, we say thank you for standing with us in courage. For those who oppose us, we say wake up and do not give in to the fear and lies!
Given the brouhaha about Muslims creating their own spaces of worship in lower Manhattan, near New York City Hall, it cannot be said that this anti-Islamic sentiment is an isolated case, however extreme. Throughout Europe and Canada laws exist regarding hate speech. Although I support the ACLU’s position on Freedom of Speech in this country, there has to be some way to protect my Muslim friends from this type of outrage. I remember the words of Martin Niemoller, If we do not stand up when they come for different groups, there will be no one left to stand up for us (saying).
I know the most difficult intellectual challenge to liberals and moderates like myself is being totally opposed to extremism. We are rightly afraid of becoming extremist ourselves. I have wrestled with this quandary since 1985 and find that if we cannot stand up against extremism, we will lose. Extremism won in Germany, was responsible for the Cultural Revolution, and the Killing Fields. The Dove World Outreach Center does not have this power, but the concept that ‘Islam is Evil’ is an ideology that can and has killed all over the world.
I do not know what the most appropriate response is to this growing Islamophobia in the United States — and in Europe — but I know this mindset is extremely dangerous. I call on minds loftier than mine to propose immediate solutions to this human crisis before the flames of hatred engulf us all.
This essay appears in Indonesian on The Jim Luce Stewardship Report (JLSR).
See also by Jim Luce:
Remembering My Battle Against Fundamentalists
I Asked: Is the Fundamentalist Mindset Diseased?
Muslims & Non-Muslims Hear about Terrorist Threat, Solutions at Harvard Club
Jim Luce on Extremism
Jim Luce on Peace, Conflict Resolution
Jim Luce on Islam and Islamic Issues

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Source:www.huffingtonpost.com

Nadia McCaffrey, who lives in Tracy, CA, knows the pain that most parents can only think of in fleeting terms. The magnitude of the loss is too great to even contemplate.
Six years ago, Sergeant Patrick McCaffrey, Nadia’s only child, was killed in Iraq. Tracy also possesses the highest per capita number of Iraq and Afghanistan war deaths in California.
It was reported this week that McCaffrey welcomed President Obama’s address formally announcing combat troop drawdown in Iraq. She has started a non-profit in her son’s name taking in vets suffering from posttraumatic stress and other injuries.
I wonder how McCaffrey feels about the piece recently written by Stanford professor and former New York Times Pulitzer Prize winning correspondent, Joel Brinkley, about Pashtun sexuality, which takes its name from a social science report sponsored by the Defense Department.
Brinkley wrote:
“For centuries, Afghan men have taken boys, roughly 9 to 15 years old, as lovers. Some research suggests that half the Pashtun tribal members in Kandahar and other southern towns are bacha baz, the term for an older man with a boy lover. Literally it means “boy player.” The men like to boast about it.
‘Having a boy has become a custom for us,’ Enayatullah, a 42-year-old in Baghlan province, told a Reuters reporter. ‘Whoever wants to show off should have a boy.’”
In Kandahar, weekly dance parties are a popular pastime. According Brinkley, “Young boys dress up as girls, wearing makeup and bells on their feet, and dance for a dozen or more leering middle-aged men who throw money at them and then take them home.” A recent State Department report called “dancing boys” a “widespread, culturally sanctioned form of male rape.”
Brinkley’s article was difficult to read in a single sitting. He writes of a phenomenon in Afghanistan that is much older than American democracy, and much more entrenched in the largest sector of the country’s population.
Is this why we’re sending men and women to Afghanistan?
Moreover, the Defense Department reported many of the Pashtun men who have young boys as sexual partner continue this practice after the men marry.
Politically speaking, the Pashtun are key to any of the United States’ preferred outcomes. The leadership of the Afghanistan government is Pashtun, including President Hamid Karzai. It is likely that whoever succeeds Karzai would also be Pashtun.
Pashtun pedophilia is only one problem among many for the United States in Afghanistan. Karzai is, at best, a quasi ally, more reminiscent of former South Vietnam President Ngo Dinh Diem than Nelson Mandela.
The Afghan president recently fired a senior prosecutor because he failed to block corruption investigations of the Karzai government.
The initial reason for the invasion–al-Qaeda–no long exists. CIA Director Leon Panetta issued a report in June stating that there were no more than 50-100 members of al-Qaeda within Afghanistan.
Somewhere the Afghanistan mission changed. Winning in Afghanistan is not among the options available; and the preferred outcomes all include Pashtun involvement.
President Obama has already decided to double down on this effort, which looks more like the United States’ perennial addictive behavior to commit militarily to nations that it knows very little about culturally.
And now there is the revelation that the population that we’ve hung our democratic hopes in Afghanistan–assuming those hopes can be articulated–is also engaged in systematic pedophilia. How can the president face a family whose son or daughter has made the ultimate sacrifice under such conditions?
I can accept different countries observe different customs. But I cannot accept that we must put our men and women in harm’s way for those customs generally considered deplorable by the American people.
Who, why and what are we fighting in Afghanistan? Surely, this requires a presidential address from the Oval Office to the American people sooner rather than later.
Is this why we’ve asked our soldiers to shed blood? Is Pashtun liberation the reason we’re demanding that our future generations sacrifice their treasure?
I’m sure that’s not what Nadia McCaffrey has in mind when she’s comes to the aid of veterans in the name of her fallen son.
Byron Williams is an Oakland pastor and syndicated columnist. He is the author of Strip Mall Patriotism: Moral Reflections of the Iraq War. E-mail him at byron@byronspeaks.com or visit his Web site byronspeaks.com

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Source:www.huffingtonpost.com

For the 128th time in our nation’s history, we celebrate Labor Day — with last visits to the neighborhood pool, picnics, and barbecues that signal the end of summer. Yet for women and their families, recognition of the American worker rings rather hollow in the face of pay inequity.
That’s because women across the country work just as hard their male counterparts do, yet they continue to receive less pay — just 77 cents on the dollar, on average. A day off is not the only compensation American women require or deserve; without equal pay, our Labor Day celebrations don’t ring true for many.
The 23-cent average difference between men’s and women’s pay isn’t simply about fairness. This long-standing pay disparity hurts our nation, too. With women increasingly assuming the role of sole breadwinner, equal pay is not just a matter of equity but the key to a family’s ability to make ends meet in a struggling economy and a critical factor in our nation’s efforts to work its way out of this recession. This serious problem needs immediate Senate action.
That Senate action is passing the Paycheck Fairness Act (S. 182), a bill that will provide a sorely needed update to the 1963 Equal Pay Act and help create a climate where pay discrimination isn’t tolerated. This critical bill, which passed the House in January 2009, will close loopholes and strengthen incentives to prevent pay discrimination, as well as bring the Equal Pay Act’s practices in line with other civil rights laws.
Fortunately, support for the Paycheck Fairness Act is growing. So are the number of co-sponsors of the bill. In a recent poll by the Paycheck Fairness Act Coalition, 84 percent of American voters expressed support for this new law to create more avenues for women to receive fair wages. President Barack Obama is also on board, having co-sponsored the bill as a senator. He has promised to sign the bill into law, calling the Paycheck Fairness Act a “common-sense bill.” In fact, passage of the bill is one of the key recommendations of his administration’s Equal Pay Enforcement Task Force, which he announced in his State of the Union address earlier this year.
We are closer than we have ever been to seeing this critical legislation enacted, which is why for the past three weeks AAUW members and coalition partners around the nation have been pushing hard to raise awareness about the pressing need for the Paycheck Fairness Act. We have hosted “Get It Done” (un)happy hours, sent letters to our senators, encouraged the men in our lives and families to speak up for fair pay (this is not a woman’s issue–it’s a family issue!), and used social media tools to get the message out.
Pay discrimination starts early — “the minute college grads throw their caps in the air,” as one economist observed. Research shows that over a 35-year career, the pay inequity shortfall in women’s earnings is about $210,000. While September 2 headlines about young, educated, childless women making more than men show that we are making progress, such studies also underscore the ongoing reality of pay discrimination. While the average American woman still earns 23 percent less than her male counterpart does, the gap is biggest among older women and smallest among younger women. Further, much of the improvement in the gender pay gap has not been the result of women’s pay increases but rather is due to men’s decreasing or stagnating wages in traditional jobs that don’t require a college degree, such as construction and manufacturing. That situation helps no one, least of all American families.
Earlier this year, AAUW and the National Partnership for Women and Families released some startling facts. In California, the nation’s most populous state, we learned that without the pay gap, working women and their families in that state could afford
54 more weeks of food bills (one year’s worth!),
Three more months of mortgage and utilities payments,
Six more months of rent,
Two more years of family health insurance premiums, and
2,000 additional gallons of gas.
It’s now up to the U.S. Senate to do the right thing for American families. It’s time for swift action on the Paycheck Fairness Act. If a vote on this bill is delayed until next year with a new Congress, we’re back to square one. The recovery of the American middle class begins and ends with well-paying jobs, but that can’t happen if women continue to earn less than they deserve for equal work.
As we honor our nation’s workers this Labor Day, what better way to laud them than to pay workers equally, regardless of gender? Help us convince the Senate to bring this bill up for a vote and pass the Paycheck Fairness Act this month.
American families have waited long enough.

Source:www.huffingtonpost.com

My name is Renata, and I have a confession to make: I’m unemployed.
I lost my job early last year, becoming part of the country’s 9.6 percent unemployment rate, and I’ve been a statistic ever since. This past year, I’ve learned when you lose your job you may very well lose your mind too. While millions of jobless Americans get resume tips, what we really need is awareness of the struggle we are about to stare down.
I experienced something that I’ve come to identify as “the five stages of unemployment,” a playful-yet-serious incarnation of psychiatrist Elizabeth Kubler-Ross’ famed explanation of the five stages of grief. The jobless blues can be crippling and embody a similar loss of control at first. Then they eventually — and hopefully — lead to acceptance.
Denial. Apart from carrying the contents of our desks out of the office, a job loss often doesn’t feel like a bonafide job loss. The initial week or two may even have been fun. We get to sleep late and watch all of the daytime television that we want, not realizing what total poison it may be. We don’t admit to ourselves that our foreheads have been branded unwittingly with a capital “U” that won’t wash off.
Last summer, Gretchen Sodergren, 32, a corporate retail planner, got a call from her boss telling her, “This is the last paycheck this Friday.” Having worked from home, she was confused for weeks, asking herself, “What just happened here?” Sodergren became what she called, “The Coupon Lady,” clipping coupons to save money. As her bills accumulated, she learned to make macaroni dinners last for days and downgraded to drinking Miller Lite out of cans. Financial anxiety is the surest way to snap out of the denial. The length of this stage varies for everyone, but is always followed by its ugly stepsister, the second stage of unemployment: repetition.
Repetition. I call this stage “one long Groundhog Day of rejection.” I spent endless days in blue Calvin Klein pajama pants and a pink shirt emblazoned with a picture of an angry chocolate chip cookie character and the moniker, “One Tough Cookie.” The slogan was ironic because, even though I sent my resume to everyone I knew, only to learn that most of them were also looking for work, I was falling apart. While worker bees buzzed outside my window on their daily commute, I turned to “Ellen” and “Oprah” to drown them out. I felt paralyzed by my inability to contribute to the world around me.
By day, I hung out with Raymond and John, the doormen at my Murray Hill apartment building in midtown Manhattan, and bonded with the Hispanic housekeepers, while I did laundry in the basement. By night I begged my friends to go get drinks so I could actually leave my apartment. I cursed necessary tasks like calling the unemployment office.
I wallowed my way right into stage three: Self-Improvement. The need for self-improvement sets in when even you become so disgusted with yourself and your appearance that you channel your frustration into exercise or grooming and wardrobe upgrades. Some months after losing her job, Sodergren, the corporate retail planner who suffered from denial threw away her stained white “Miami Beach” sweatshirt and the ill-fitting, light blue Old Navy pajama pants that she wore just about every day last year. “I actually convinced myself that because they matched it was somehow an outfit,” she says.
Rob Nagel, an Indianapolis college admissions director who was unemployed for most of last year, walked his dogs Boss and Chick at Wadsworth, a local dog park, and rode his Gary Fisher mountain bike regularly because, he says, “Let’s face it. Mountain biking is free.” He lost 20 pounds. “People say that it’s a great opportunity to change career paths and all that stuff, but the only thing that really gave me sanity was exercise,” says Nagel.
Rachel Stein, 28, a public relations manager in San Francisco, dealt with her unemployment last year by waking up early and packing her days with job searches and long walks. “I gave myself a routine,” she says. “I knew how important that was.” This past January, Stein launched a website, “Tales from the Recently Laid Off.”
But even discipline and all the exercise in the world can’t stave off the cruelest of the stages: Desperation. This is when all of the things that you previously shunned – like your mother’s well-intentioned-but-reaching job advice – suddenly don’t seem so ridiculous. You start actually entertaining them. Yikes. This is accompanied by a complete swallowing of your pride.
Last spring, Michael Gargiulo, an unemployed freelance television producer in New York, got a call from his mother telling him that there was a news anchor with the same name on NBC4. She urged him to reach out to the “other Gargiulo” for a job. Initially, he resisted but after several months unemployed he sent “the other Gargiulo” an email explaining their many similarities – both work in broadcasting and both are from Brooklyn – and punctuated the email with a subtle plea, “In these tough economic times, us Michael Gargiulos have to stick together.” To Gargiulo’s surprise, the newscaster emailed him back the next day offering his home phone number and words of encouragement. Later, Gargiulo launched a Facebook fan page, “Michael Gargiulo Unemployed Genius,” to help navigate the job search because he says, “You have to have a little humor or you will go insane.”
The final stage of unemployment is actually a road that forks into two possible choices, Surliness or Self-Help. Surliness happens when your frustration bubbles to the surface and you lash out. After getting a flurry of emails from Career Builder, an employment website, Nagel, the Indianapolis college admissions director who took up mountain biking, sent the website an email, “STOP F*CKING SENDING ME EMAILS.” He received a response threatening to ban him from the site and scolding, “I feel sorry for you however, because your temper & attitude is most likely why you can’t hold down a job! We suggest a good therapist to find out why your [sic] so angry at the world! We wouldn’t want a foul mouth like you working for us anyway!” Despite his desperation, Nagel was more amused than upset.
Seeking help involves relying on support services or just deciding to be productive and determined rather than symbolically flipping unemployment the bird. Last November, Jayan Kalathil, an unemployed public affairs manager at MTV Networks published the book, “Generation Change,” taking on the task of self-branding and promotion to try and break back into the job market. “I think the biggest lesson I’ve learned,” he says, “is to say yes to different opportunities, invitations and everything that comes my way, something that I wasn’t as open to before I lost my job.”
Early last year, Terry Drula began a support group in Westford, Mass., the St. Catherine of Alexandria Faith Works Unemployment Support Group, with ten members attending monthly meetings. About 25 members now attend. Drula says the group, comprised of a revolving door of chemical engineers, designers, software and marketing professionals, encourages members to identify career strengths and lets them network over coffee and cookies. It also organizes job search presentations to provide tools for reemployment. “There is a heck of a lot of quality people out there without jobs,” says Drula.
As if losing your job isn’t bad enough, it seems as if unemployment may now actually kill you. Robert Leahy, director of the American Institute for Cognitive Therapy in New York and the author of the forthcoming book, Beat the Blues Before They Beat You, says that according to recent scientific studies, there is a strong link between unemployment and increased mortality rates, because of issues like increased stress, depression-related substance abuse and suicide. “Unemployment feeds into our worry, our pessimism, and is a major health problem,” he says. Leahy says after returning to work, the psychological effects that his patients suffer — like shame and isolation — don’t readily go away. Leahy encourages people to volunteer, exercise and restructure their daily routine and to avoid over-identifying themselves with their jobs. “What you do is part of who you are,” he says, but job seekers, “need to identify themselves as spouses, friends, fathers, mothers,” and other roles.
In truth, many jobseekers say that they wouldn’t attend a support group meeting unless they were forced to attend, but there can be some merit to those measures. “Support systems can be very helpful if they go beyond complaining,” Leahy says.
However jobseekers stay afloat despite the tidal wave of injured self-worth that threatens to crest over their heads daily, it is acceptance that most helps. This comes only after hitting bottom, though no one tells you that, either. And it looks different for everyone. For Sodergren, the “Coupon Lady,” bottom came when she tearfully realized she couldn’t even afford a $24.99 pair of shoes.
For Stein, author of the blog, “Tales from the Recently Laid Off,” it came when she looked hard at the other folks vying for the same food service job she was considering. “It went from ‘I can’t believe I’m applying for this’ to ‘I can’t believe I’m competing for this,’” she admits.
For me, hitting bottom came as I changed diapers and cleaned up Juicy Juice drink box spills while babysitting some of New York City’s privileged tots. I escaped the blues only after a total life overhaul. I went back to school and changed cities. Be warned: This method isn’t for everyone.
Jobseekers can’t always convince their friends and family to understand their situation, but they can let go of their frustration while holding onto hope. Finding that peace will make things better. “I stopped blaming myself,” says Kalathil, author of “Generation Change,” “and understood that this is the nature of how things are right now. You never know what’s going to happen from day to day, so I just stay networking and stay optimistic because that sense of optimism is what gets you through it.”
Still looking for work, I don’t wear my “One Tough Cookie” T-shirt anymore. I live it.

Source:www.huffingtonpost.com

At Wesleyan University this year the first day of the semester is also Labor Day, which has certainly caused grumbling among some of us who have to show up for class on Monday rather than enjoying the last long weekend of summer. And of course it’s not just a matter of showing up Monday. Syllabi need final preparation, lectures must be written, and advisees are looking for guidance.
But on this Labor Day all of us working in higher education should remember those who won’t have to report this week at all because there aren’t enough jobs. With official unemployment stubbornly remaining between 9% and 10%, there are many around us who are suffering from the poverty and despair of not being able to find work. Bob Herbert’s column in the New York Times on September 4 underscores the plight of a group of custodians recently laid off from their jobs at a luxury office building in Los Angeles. Closer to home for me, the Middletown food bank Amazing Grace reports a red alert because of the low level of supplies on their shelves. Right here at Wesleyan, we have made a small number of position reductions over the last 18 months. Each job is personal as well as institutional, and each position elimination was painful.
As students plan their courses for the fall, and as faculty plan their curricula, how should we connect the reality of labor and unemployment to the broad liberal learning we so value? It can be done very specifically, as with history courses that focus on poverty, economic classes that deal with job creation, and sociology seminars that examine the impact of job loss on families. And we can make the connection more generally by thinking through how a liberal arts education is related to how one will support oneself. As I have said many times now in various venues, I believe a liberal education has never been more relevant to work in the world than it is today. This has little to do with the specific choice of concentration by an undergraduate. I was recently talking to a Wesleyan parent who told me that in interviewing over a thousand people for jobs over the years he has never asked what somebody majored in during college. Instead, he has been looking for the ability to think creatively and critically, to imagine possibilities and to solve problems. This is the kind of ability cultivated by liberal learning. A liberal arts education is not the only kind that develops these capacities, but it is a crucial one.
A liberal education teaches that rigor and innovation, far from being in tension with one another, can often go hand in hand. Patience and diligence — practice and method — are qualities developed across a liberal arts curriculum. The American pragmatists celebrated inquiry as a mode of experience, and teachers and students today continue to believe that we must reflexively look back on our own inquiries to assess the learning process and whether the results are relevant to life beyond the specific questions being pursued. Self-criticism need not be mere navel-gazing. The practical is not the enemy of the true.
For years I have been telling students and their families that an undergraduate education should help students to discover what they love to do, and to get better at it. I’ve recently realized that it is important to emphasize a third goal: to develop the capacity to share what one loves to do (and has gotten a little better at) with others. This third goal, let’s call it “engagement,” connects what one has learned with what one can do with the communities of which one is a part.
The liberal education that our students begin on Labor Day doesn’t promise a specific kind of job, but it does promise to expand one’s possibilities for meaningful work after graduation. Learning to learn also means learning to work, to engage with others in getting things done, creating opportunities and solving problems. Engaging with others also means being aware when we can be helpful to those in need, those who may not have the same opportunities we are enjoying while at the university.
My hope for Labor Day and the beginning of the semester is that through study and engagement we will eventually learn to create more jobs so that the perils and anxieties that mark this year’s holiday won’t become permanent parts of our economy and culture.

Source:www.huffingtonpost.com

The Ministry of Indoctrination
This past week Ethiopia’s Ministry of Education issued a “directive” effectively outlawing distance learning (or education programs that are not delivered in the traditional university classroom or campus) throughout the country. According to reports, the directive of the Ministry’s Higher Education Relevance and Quality Agency (HERQA) prohibits enrollment of new students in all distance education programs. It also creates a monopoly for state-controlled universities to administer the disciplines of law and teaching. There are said to be 64 private institutions serving some 75,000 students throughout the country that are impacted by the directive.
The reason for the sudden and radical change in policy is said to be concern for educational quality. Ministry spokesman Abera Abate painted all private distance learning institutions in the country with a broad brush by categorically condemning them as scams and diploma mills. “When the purpose is collecting money, it is not a good purpose. The only issue some universities have is collecting money.” Of course, the directive does not apply just to “some” universities whose “purpose is collecting money”; it applies to all distance education providers in the country.
The response from the various private educational service providers was swift. Wondwosen Tamrat, president of St Mary’s College and former chairman of the General Assembly of the Ethiopian Private Higher Education Institutions Association (EPHEIA) described the directive as “ridiculous. The [regime's] inability to enforce the quality standards already set should not lead to these kind of measures… We have participated in the legal education reform programs, and our college issues a biannual law journal…In fact, in this area, it is public institutions that are suffering from a shortage of human resources, rather than the private sector.” According to Tamrat, “two-thirds of the students [in his university] are in the distance education division…If you are not offering this program, it would mean we would be losing what we have been working for the last 11 years. We have 140 distance education centers all around the country. We have people in all of these centers. We would be losing these.” Tamrat expects to layoff of more than 800 of his 1,200 employees.
Molla Tsegaye, president of Admas University College, expressed surprise and dismay for the complete lack of consultations in drafting the directive: “We did not expect this. As stakeholders in the sector, we should have been consulted before all this.” Mihreteab Workineh, vice chairman of the 50-member EPHEIA was outraged: “Our association sternly objects to this. It is not about public or private institutions, the concern for quality is our concern too. That is why we have already devised an audit mechanism to ensure quality education by private institutions.”
It may be recalled that in August 2009, the regime issued a directive which prohibited university “students graduating in the year 2008-2009 from all governmental higher learning institutions from collecting their academic credentials including the student copy until they find jobs which enable them to refund the cost sharing expenses utilized at the universities.” The Ministry of Education described that effort as a “new scheme the government might be able to raise back those expenses and handle human resources going abroad.”[1]
Higher Education Proclamation No. 650/2009
Wholesale elimination of private distance learning programs by “directive”, or more accurately bureaucratic fiat, is a flagrant violation of Higher Education Proclamation No. 650/2009. Under this Proclamation, the Ministry of Education and its sub-agencies have the authority to regulate and “revoke accreditation” of a private institution which fails to meet statutory criteria on a case-by-case basis following a fact-finding and appeals process. They have no legal authority to impose a summary wholesale ban of distance learning or other educational programs provided by private institutions. The Proclamation requires the Ministry to give such institutions a notice of deficiency and adequate time to correct the deficiency before taking de-accreditation action. The Ministry bears the burden of proof in showing that a particular private institution is in violation of the Proclamation in a fact-finding process that comports with standards of due process. A private institution has the right to appeal an adverse decision by the Ministry before it becomes final.
Higher Education Proclamation No. 650/2009, section 71 et seq., provides the statutory basis for the regulation and governance of higher education in Ethiopia. The Proclamation aims to ensure “accountability” and requires private institutions to “ensure the minimum curricula quality standards,… maintain a readily accessible list of accredited study programmes… and submit detailed plans on education, research and training on a five-yearly basis,…”
Section 77 of the Proclamation provides that accreditation issued to a private institution “shall be valid for three years from the date of its issuance,” subject to renewal unless there is good cause for denying or withdrawing accreditation. A private institution may lose its accreditation and be legally prevented from providing educational services under section 81 of the Proclamation for three reasons:
The Agency may revoke the accreditation of a private institution on any one of the following grounds: a) where it is found that the accreditation has been given on the basis of false information; b) where the institution fails to rectify defects within the time fixed in the warning given by the Agency for failure to satisfy the required standards or for contravening the provisions of this Proclamation, any other relevant law or regulations or directives issued for the implementation of this Proclamation. c) where the institution is dissolved or ceases its operations.
Section 82 of the Proclamation further provides appellate procedures to review “revocation of accreditation”:
The HERQA “directive” which de-accredits and bans all distance education programs provided by private institutions is demonstrably violative of the process specified in the Proclamation. First, section 81 authorizes HERQA to act against private institutions on a case-by-case basis. Second, HERQA can act against a particular institution only after it has made specific factual findings of violations of the Proclamation or other law and “given a warning” to the institution. Third, if HERQA does find specific deficiencies, it can only act to de-accredit only if the institution “fails to rectify defects within the time fixed in the warning given by the Agency…” Fourth, any HERQA’s de-accreditation decision is stayed or suspended until the particular institution is given the “the right to be heard before the final decision is given on the appeal (Section 82).” All of these mandatory requirements of the Proclamation were ignored or disregarded by HERQA when the directive was issued.
By summarily mandating a ban on all private distance education, HERQA has acted ultra vires (beyond their legal powers and authority) in flagrant violation of Proclamation 650. Article 40 of the Ethiopian Constitution guarantees the “right of every Ethiopian citizen to own private property,” which it defines it as “any property, both corporeal and incorporeal, produced by the labour, creativity or capital of an Ethiopian citizen, associations of Ethiopian nationals endowed with legal personality by law…” To enforce the arbitrary and capricious “directive” unconstitutionally deprives the property rights of the owners and operators of private distance education programs without due process of law.
The Politicization of Higher Education in Ethiopia
Many of my regular readers are aware of my interest in Ethiopian higher education. In February 2008, I wrote a commentary entitled “Tyranny in the Academy”[2] on the state of academic freedom at the Mekelle Law School following the dismissal of Professor Abigail Salisbury. She had published a commentary which painted a chilling portrait of fear and loathing at that law school. I observed: “The recent history of academic freedom and free intellectual inquiry in Ethiopian higher education is deeply scarred by political interference, political correctness, arbitrary purges of professors, harassment and persecution of faculty and students, and general intellectual repression.”
The Salisbury episode, the regime’s “new scheme” introduced last August to hold the diplomas of university graduates hostage,[3] and the current directive and other facts reinforce my belief that higher education is overly politicized and manipulated in Ethiopia to ensure the domination and control of the dictatorship. The regime’s approach to higher education reminds me of a passage in Dr. Carter G. Woodson book, The Mis-Education of the Negro (1933). Dr. Woodson argued that the greatest danger and challenge for the African-Americans of his day was the risk of indoctrination in the form of education:
The ruling regime in Ethiopia today is hell-bent to use higher education as a tool of indoctrination for a new breed of ideologues and party hacks that will support it blindly and unquestioningly.
Throwing Out the Baby With the Bath Water
For the past three decades, distance learning has been a valuable educational delivery form even in the most industrialized countries. Today many of the most prestigious universities in the world, including Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Stanford, UC Berkeley and Oxford, offer diverse distance learning courses and programs in a variety of settings. They maintain educational quality, program integrity and legitimacy through regional and national accreditation agencies that maintain and enforce rigorous pedagogical standards. High quality standards make the issue of “on site” versus distance learning unimportant. The question is no longer how students learn but what they actually do learn from their courses and programs. In quality distance programs, the course work and requirements are the same as the campus-based programs; the only difference is the method of content delivery.
If the aim of the regime in Ethiopia is to ensure high quality of educational content, the proper remedy is to enforce rigorous quality standards as mandated by Proclamation 650, and not to shut down each and every distance learning program in the country. By express declaration, the fundamental purpose of the Proclamation is to ensure “accountability” and “quality” and weed out the diploma mills and flight-by-night operations from the educational marketplace so that they will not victimize students with phony “degrees”. But the problem of quality control is entirely the regime’s. In a piece entitled, “Internal Quality Care Policy in Ethiopian Universities: Opportunities and Challenges,” Zenawi Zerihun W. Yohannes of Mekelle University in Ethiopia observed: “What is commonly employed in the higher learning institutions in Ethiopia as a way of checking quality is setting minimum standards on the educational process, such as the qualification of the academic staff, the organization of the curriculum, and other resources although differences in implementation and utilization are reported.”
It defies reason to argue that all private distance education providers in Ethiopia are diploma mills only “interested in money” and therefore deserve to be shut down collectively by disallowing them from enrolling new students. If these institutions are providing education and training to 75,000 students, they must be doing something right. Otherwise, they would have gone bankrupt for lack of students long before a directive is issued to wipe them out. The real question is why the regime has now decided to throw the baby out with the bath water.
What is Good for the Goose is Good for the Gander
It is ironic that the very people who now have decided to throw out the baby with the bath water are themselves graduates of distance learning programs. Dictator-in-chief Meles Zenawi reportedly obtained a graduate degree from The Open University (OU) in England, a reputable distance learning institution founded and funded by the British Government, while presumably carrying on the affairs of state. OU has an “open entry policy” where traditional admissions requirements are suspended for students to take undergraduate and graduate courses. It is also said that many of the top leaders of the dictatorship obtained degrees and certification from various distance learning programs in academic and non-academic areas such as “transformational leadership”.
It has been argued by some that the ban on distance learning in the country is motivated by petty concerns of the regime leaders that wide access to such programs could somehow cheapen their own distance learning diplomas and degrees. I have seen no evidence to support this view. But the real question for me is a much simpler one: If distance education is good enough for Zenawi and Company, should it not be good enough for the average Ethiopian seeking to improve his/her lot in life? It seems only fair that what is good for the goose should be good for the gander. It is also wise to remember that those who live in glass houses should be careful not to throw stones. Blanket condemnation of the country’s private distance education could invite unwanted attention and scrutiny on the distance education programs the regime leaders claim to have attended to obtain their diplomas and certifications.
The World Bank Says More Distance Learning Institutions for Ethiopia
The World Bank has emphasized the great need for a network of “tertiary educational” institutions (e.g. private colleges, technical and vocational training institutes, distance learning centers, etc.,) to help support the “production of the higher-order capacity” necessary for Ethiopia’s development. In a 2003 sector study entitled “Higher Education Development for Ethiopia”, the World Bank recommended
expansion of private tertiary institutions be more actively encouraged in order to make the burden of higher education expansion borne by government more bearable. A near term goal might be to double the share of private enrollments from the current 21% to 40% by 2010. To help achieve this goal, the Bank team recommends that Government provide stronger incentives for the expansion of private tertiary education (e.g., access to land, more generous customs exemptions for the importation of educational materials) and also extend quality-enhancing support to private institutions identified as needing improvement (e.g., participation in the National Pedagogical Resources Center, leadership and management training, creation of a fund for remedial actions). Consistent with the recent Higher Education Proclamation, the Bank team recommends that structured quality assurance and accreditation activities be put in place to protect the public from fraudulent and questionable quality providers that may emerge in the midst of rapid private expansion. (Italics added.)
Seven years ago the World Bank recommended, “A near term goal might be to double the share of private enrollments from the current 21% to 40% by 2010.” In 2010, Zenawi has decided to reduce private enrollments to zero!
The solution for any educational quality problems that may exist in the distance educational sector in Ethiopia is not to drop a blanket ban on all private institutions, but to create a rigorous quality control process that will ensure the weeding out of diploma mills and fly-by-night operations. As Yohannes of Mekele University noted, the problem is that the regime’s notions of educational quality do not go beyond “setting minimum standards on the educational process, such as the qualification of the academic staff, the organization of the curriculum, and other resources.” It is unfair and a violation of Proclamation 650 to impose collective punishment on all private institutions providing distance learning services for the regulatory failures of the regime or to presumably weed out a few bad operators.
Indoctri-Nation, Not Education
One of the largest operators of private distance learning programs has argued that “the growth of private universities in Ethiopia has contributed to a five-fold increase in the country’s gross higher education enrollment ratio” and has increased the college enrollment rate from “one percent of Ethiopians a decade ago to 5.1 percent today”. If these data are accurate, the private institutions deserve praise not condemnation and excommunication from the field of higher education.
I believe the regime has a long term strategy to use the universities as breeding grounds for its ideologues and hatcheries for the thousands of loyal and dependent bureaucrats they need to sustain their domination and rule. The monopoly created for the state in the disciplines of law and teaching (which I will predict will gradually include other disciplines in the future) is a clear indication of the trend to gradually create a cadre of “educated” elites to serve the next generation of dictators to come. It is a well-established fact that the regime has used teachers, particularly in the rural areas, extensively as party recruiters, enforcers and representatives by providing them financial and other incentives. By ensuring access to these disciplines only to ruling party members and supporters, the regime hopes to extend its tentacles to every part of the country. State-certified teachers who are ruling party members could be used to play a decisive role in legitimizing the regime and in indoctrinating the youth in the regime’s ideology. The fact that teachers are viewed respectfully in rural areas as “educated” persons gives them special advantages in influencing and manipulating not only the young at an early age but also in playing a far larger political role in the community. The politicized role of teachers in the May 2010 election amply testifies to that fact.
Similarly, by monopolizing the law discipline, the regime could regulate the training of lawyers and judges who will administer “justice” in the country. Instead of training lawyers committed to the Constitution, the rule of law, principles of universal justice and ethical standards, graduates of state-monopoly law schools will largely be party hacks, hirelings and lackeys with ultimate loyalty to the dictator-in-chief. Simply stated, the regime will be able to control two of the most important professions that have the greatest impact on the lives of the people. I will predict that the current trend in tightening control over higher education will continue because it is a central element of the regime’s strategy to use higher education as a way of transforming the decades-old bureaucracy and re-creating government in its own image. The regime believes that the only way it can continue to rule indefinitely is by creating its own robotic jackbooted-army of “educated” elites marching in lockstep throughout the bureaucracy to the orders of the dictator-in-chief. It is an exquisitely diabolical strategy, but unlikely to work.
The regime’s thinking on higher education is simple: Indoctrinate, indoctrinate and indoctrinate some more until you forge an Indoctri-Nation. It is wise to remember Dr. Woodson’s words:
When you control a man’s thinking you do not have to worry about his actions. You do not have to tell him not to stand here or go yonder. He will find his proper place and will stay in it. You do not need to send him to the back door. He will go without being told. In fact, if there is no back door, he will cut one for his special benefit. His education makes it necessary…
That’s why I would recommend to anyone concerned about educational injustice in Ethiopia to read Paulo Freire’s Pedagogy (teaching) of the Oppressed.
FREE BIRTUKAN MIDEKSSA AND ALL POLTICAL PRISONERS IN ETHIOPIA..
[1] http://www.ethiomedia.com/adroit/2740.html
[2] http://almariamforthedefense.blogspot.com/2008/02/tyany-in-academy.html
[3] http://www.ethiomedia.com/adroit/2740.html

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I’m generally suspicious of national stereotypes but a new CD recording of cello and piano works by Russian composers illuminates and gives life to the concept known as the “Russian soul.” The recording by Chicago-based Cedille Records brings together cellist Wendy Warner and pianist Irina Nuzova in a collection by Rachmaninov, Prokofiev, Scriabin and Schnittke. But it’s the opening work by a composer I had never heard of, Nikolai Miaskovsky (1881-1950) that was the real headliner for me.
Miaskovsky, who served on the faculty of the Moscow Conservatory from 1921 until his death, composed 27 symphonies, however he never won the fame of his contemporaries, Rachmaninov, Prokofiev and Shostakovich. His work is little performed today. But from the first notes of his Sonata No. 2 for Cello and Piano, Op 81, which opens this CD, one is struck by the lyrical beauty and deep melancholy of the piece which seems to express something quintessentially Russian. It’s simply a gorgeous and moving piece of music that has never before been recorded on American soil by an American artist by an American label. How exciting to discover a new landmark of late Russian romanticism, which alone is worth the price of this recording!
The very useful program notes which accompany this CD includes an essay by the pianist, Nuzova who grew up in Russia but moved to the United States as a teenager to escape anti-Semitism. The sonata, she says, has a pervasive, nostalgic quality that is subtle and subdued in its expression. Nuzova says the music reminds her of a poem by Konstantin Balmont (1867-1942) called “Wordlessness” and she includes an English translation.
Let me just quotes one stanza:
“The reeds are unstirring, the sedge doesnn’t quiver.
Deep quiet. And wordlessness, utterly peaceful.
The meadows spread out faraway and forever.
In everything – weariness, muteness and bleakness.”
The poem is a perfect fit for the music.
Cellist Wendy Warner, also has a Russian connection. As a student at the Curtis Institute in Philadelphia, she had the rare opportunity to learn from the legendary Russian virtuoso and human rights activist Mstislav Rostropovich.
She and Nuzova, both strikingly attractive in the cover photo, meld together seamlessly in this CD. They also give us a witty, minor-key minuet by Schnittke, a Prokofiev transcription from “Cinderella,” an encore piece by Scriabin and Rachmaninov’s sprawling Cello Sonata, which to my mind is not one of his most inspired creations but which is delivered with utter conviction and intensity.
Cedille has been around for 20 years, devoted to showcasing classical artists from the Chicago area. We must be thankful to the company for bringing us two undiscovered gems – the Miaskovsky and the beautiful poem by Bal’mont.

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We are now fully through the looking glass here in the state that has become synonymous with reactionary fear-mongering and institutionalized intolerance. To wit:
Our sitting governor gets stumped during the “introductions” portion of a televised debate, winds up righting herself with the glorious phrase, “I have did everything I could do,” and then proceeds to storm out of a post-debate media session when the questions get too hard. The federal government has sued our swaggering Sheriff Joe Arpaio for failing to comply with information requests pertinent to a wider investigation over his Kafkaesque policies and practices. And State Sen. Russell Pearce, sponsor of the infamous SB 1070, continues to prattle on about “anchor babies” and the need to abolish the 14th Amendment to save the republic.
This might all be funny if it wasn’t indicative of a pattern that is being emulated in other states.
Even after her gut-wrenching and now legendary “pregnant pause” during the debate, Jan Brewer still leads her Democratic rival Terry Goddard by double-digits in the polls largely due to the mere fact that she signed SB 1070 into law. No wonder candidates for high office from Florida to California (both states with significant Hispanic populations) are parroting this strategy and explicitly running on an anti-immigrant platform. From the Eastern Seaboard to the Rust Belt, states are looking to imitate Arizona’s “zero tolerance” approach to immigration (an apt phrasing if ever there was one). Even on a popular train route across the northern U.S., which doesn’t cross any borders, passengers are subjected to routine “where are your papers?” inquiries based largely on their outward appearance.
The truly remarkable thing about this metastasizing xenophobia is that it is based entirely on empirical falsehoods, by most respectable accounts.
Illegal immigration in the U.S. has been sharply declining over the past decade. Violence on the U.S. side of the border with Mexico has likewise been steadily dropping. Crime rates among immigrant communities are on par with or lower than those with similar demographics. Immigrants (legal and illegal alike) put more into the public coffers than they take out through social services. Obviously we can play these sorts of “lies, damn lies, and statistics” games indefinitely, going back and forth citing studies and sources to support divergent positions. But this type of “battle of the experts” bantering gets us nowhere productive, and misses the larger points that most need our attention.
Before speaking to some of those “bigger picture” issues, a few more salient lessons from the desert are in order before they wash up on your local shores.
It turns out that the governor’s inner circle of advisors includes a number with various personal and professional stakes in the prison-expanding revenues likely to be generated by the influx of immigrant detainees yielded by SB 1070. The governor is guided by lobbyists and close operatives of the Corrections Corporation of America, which capitalizes to the tune of millions per month on warehousing transferred undocumented individuals. While the racialized nature of “breathing while brown” laws is obvious, equally so is the financially interlocking character of the legislative parties involved and their pecuniary interests. It is likely that similarly dubious connections exist whenever race-baiting politicians fan the flames of ignorance and persecution.
Another intriguing wrinkle from the annals of Arizona is the blatant hijacking of the Green Party ballot line, ostensibly by Republican operatives with a stake in siphoning votes from Democrats in contested districts and generally gumming up the electoral works with more platforms for their narrow ideology. Under a quirk in Arizona law that allows individuals to appear on the general ballot if they receive even a single vote (their own, perhaps) in an open primary without an official minor party nominee, Republicans managed to place stealth candidates on the roster in a number of contests around the state. Knowing that some left-leaning voters will choose the Green candidate without further inspecting their actual views and values, this could be sufficient to tip the balance in close races toward the Republicans. And under the state’s Clean Elections law, these calculating efforts even wind up being funded by the taxpayers.
I suspect that some of these tales may resonate with themes prevalent in your area. Or soon will.
The tack of “blaming the victim” and passing the scapegoating buck down to the lower rungs of the social ladder is a tried-and-true political ploy. In a time when powerful interests have been consolidating their reign through various forms of legal chicanery and open financial thievery, we are likely to see (and have in fact seen) a rise in overt xenophobia to deflect our outrage from the robber barons to the huddled masses. Sociologists sometimes call this a “moral panic” when it reaches widespread levels of knee-jerk persecution of “the other” — but it might more aptly be called an “immoral panic” since its architects are happy to advance their entrepreneurial interests at the expense of vulnerable segments of the populations. Most horrifyingly, this tack sometimes comes with bloodshed, hate crimes, and other forms of victimization in its wake.
You may be tempted to buy into the notion that “illegal immigrants” and other “undesirables” are the source of all our social ills and economic woes. Perhaps your fear in these uncertain times motivates a subtle embrace of such notions. The sensationalization of crimes by people of color — while the crimes of the well-to-do go far less reported — contributes to an air of demonization. The power elite are largely hidden from view and immune from direct contestation, whereas the poor migrant worker or “welfare queen” in our midst can be slurred in polite company without much fear of societal repercussions. Political uncertainty and (in particular) economic anxiety need an outlet, and the construction of the dangerous “other” as a lightning rod for these purposes is part and parcel of the Machiavellian playbook.
In this light, it can plausibly be argued that Arizona has stepped to the national fore of the immigration debate precisely because it is also within hailing distance of ground zero for the financial meltdown. Rampant foreclosures, major property devaluations, teeming unemployment, the erosion of public healthcare, a race-to-the-bottom education system, firewall tax increases of last resort — and only the prisons as a tangible growth industry. This, then, is the “Arizona Model” of imposed austerity, public sphere evisceration, scapegoating, and prison profiteering. Is this a trial balloon, on a statewide scale, for a rightwing power grab par excellence? Not to trespass upon another state’s image, but: if they can make it here, can they make it anywhere?
Take heed friends, lest you find that as goes Arizona, so goes the rest of the nation.

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Yahoo and Vizio are endrunning the competition so far in TV Widgets – Race is early – Apple’s iTV and Google TV steaming into port
Even as 3d television is getting all the headlines today, flat screen TVs with internet connectivity are spreading across the market with amazing speed. Who will control the software platform for this new world?
Yahoo is cutting deals right and left for its TV Widgets. Yahoo has cut deals to carry its TV Widgets with Samsung, Sony, LG and Vizo. Now it is adding additoinal makers: China’s Hisense, ViewSonic, MIPS Technologies and Sigma Designs.
Vizio has one of the more interesting offerings. Their apps bar and their mobile-phone like remote with flip keyboard make it one of the more usable platforms for combining internet and tv experiences.
Check out the VX552XVT review on CNET.com
According to CNET, Yahoo and other apps are much faster on Vizio platforms than native Yahoo Widgets. Vizio has also thrown in Rhapsody and many other non-Yahoo widgets.
Steve Jobs does not want to be left out of this party so is relaunching AppleTV as iTV. But will a separate box ever be as successful as built-in functionality? I think now. Apple should cut deals immediately with TV makers or just come out with its own set. Consumers outside of the early adopter geek set cannot install yet another box to save themselves.
Yahoo TV Widgets
Check out the great chart on internet TV platformsin this article from Broadcast Engineering.
Let’s hope this spells the final deathknell for traditional IPTV. IPTV despite billions of dollars of investment has never really taken off. There are some small successes in Europe, but it is not a scalable solution.
The big question is what will mass scale internet connected TVs combined with open widgets do to traditional distribution models. Once penetration reaches 20 million homes, we wil begin to see the pillars shake. Then at 50 million homes, the grand old parthenon will finally come down.

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I’m experiencing that familiar and inevitable “back to school” feeling.
No matter how many years pass since the end of my formal education, I still get the same sensation every time September rolls around.
Part of it comes from seeing my own kids off for another academic year, which always makes me sad.
It’s not all bad, though. This annual moment of transition actually serves as a useful reminder for us parents that much as we might like to hold onto our children, ultimately they must progress and make their way on their own…as must we all.
So, on the plus side, this date on the calendar signifies fresh starts and new possibilities, a renewed desire to explore and express our own distinct talents in more effective and (hopefully) beneficial ways.
And just where do we learn to strive in this way? From our parents, certainly- but also in school.
The ultimate formative experience in my life, school was where I first began to recognize what I was good at, and where I might fit in. It shaped my friends, my interests, my career, my entire outlook.
School was also where I found my first mentors, those rare teachers who made learning fun and exciting. These were virtually the first adults outside my family that I connected with in a truly personal and meaningful way. You knew these people appreciated you for yourself, not because they happened to share your blood or like your parents. Throughout my life, these few, very special human beings have never really left me.
Given the profound significance of education in our lives, it’s no surprise there’s no shortage of movies on the subject. So now, I humbly submit ten of my own favorite films about school, learning, and those mostly noble souls who teach.
Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1939)- Told mainly in flashbacks, “Chips” traces the life of a beloved schoolmaster who serves over fifty years in an English public school. Reminiscing about his personal life and long career, the shy, unassuming Mr. Chipping (Robert Donat) also recalls his unexpected courtship and marriage to his stunning and spirited wife Katherine (Greer Garson). A nostalgic paean to Old England and a deeply affecting story of honorable service, “Chips” succeeds admirably, mainly due to British actor Donat’s touching performance. Donat broke the Oscar sweep of “Gone With The Wind” in 1939, stealing the Best Actor statuette from under Clark Gable’s nose (and ears). In addition, beautiful English ingnue Garson became an overnight star in the small but pivotal role of Chips’s enchanting wife. Though sentimental by today’s standards, this is a grand and moving classic for the ages.
The Browning Version (1951)- On the eve of his retirement from an all-boys boarding school where he is widely despised, ailing classics teacher Andrew Crocker-Harris (Michael Redgrave) realizes that he has failed to communicate his enthusiasm and the depth of his passions in the classroom. Scorned by his wife, Millie (Jean Kent), who’s openly cavorting with popular science instructor Hunter (Nigel Patrick), Crocker-Harris appears stoically resigned to a cheerless existence. But a guileless act of kindness eventually changes him in ways no one quite expected. Anthony Asquith’s mournful, absorbing ensemble drama was adapted by Terence Rattigan from his own play. Redgrave, in one of his greatest screen performances, is magnificent, communicating both the unrelenting severity and turbulent inner sadness of Crocker-Harris-who keeps a stiff upper lip about Millie’s infidelities, the headmaster’s disrespect for his years of service, and his own failed ambitions. With a stirring turn by young Brian Smith as Taplow, Crocker-Harris’s chipper, well-meaning student, “Browning” is an outstanding drama about suffering and redemption that will stay with you long after the gut-wrenching graduation speech.
To Sir, With Love (1967)- In this triumphant urban drama, Sidney Poitier plays Mark Thackeray, a determined teacher out of his element in a tough London high school. Initially facing apathy and resistance from his students, Thackeray ditches the lesson plan and speaks directly to their inner characters, transforming his unruly charges into hopeful–and grateful–young people. Made the same year as “In the Heat of the Night” and “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner”, James Clavell’s marvelous film-a huge hit in 1967-succeeds largely because of its lead actor. Shattering age-old stereotypes about race in all his roles, Sidney Poitier exuded nobility, strength, intelligence, and humility. Never with a chip on his shoulder, never self-pitying, he commands respect-Thackeray’s students call him “Sir”-showing anger only when provoked by others’ ignorance. “To Sir With Love” is a lasting testament to that impressive strength of character, and a demonstration of how it can be cultivated in others.
The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (1969)- Blindly devoted to her pupils and fiercely determined to imbue her gray 1930′s Edinburgh surroundings with passion and color, Scottish schoolmarm Miss Brodie (Maggie Smith) is very much her own person-a spirited, eccentric freethinker given to divulging her personal life and politics in the classroom. But she soon runs afoul of the rigid headmistress (Celia Johnson), who’s determined to see Brodie out the door of her exclusive girls’ school. English actress Smith captivated viewers in 1969 with her Oscar-winning portrayal of the title character in director Ronald Neame’s outstanding film. Based on a novel by Muriel Spark, this hit film doesn’t shy from presenting Brodie’s misguided enthusiasm for Mussolini, nor her affair with a married man (real-life hubby Robert Stephens). A poignant character study of a woman whose incomplete life and untamed spirit combine to blur her judgment, the movie is a fabulous showcase for Maggie Smith’s dazzling talent.
The Paper Chase (1973)- Like most of his peers, brilliant first-year Harvard law student James Hart (Timothy Bottoms) lives in fear and awe of crusty, demanding, no-nonsense Professor Kingsfield (John Houseman). Seeking his favor and respect prove challenging to this ambitious attorney-in-training, and things get even more complicated when Hart falls for Kingsfield’s daughter, Susan (Lindsay Wagner). At a time of heightened competitiveness in academia, James Bridges’s “Chase” makes for relevant as well as highly pleasurable viewing. Set in one of the most demanding environments–Harvard Law School–the film portrays learning at its most intense, where the depth and breadth of the curriculum represents a marathon, testing the brain and body’s endurance. Timothy Bottoms is wonderful as the student who may be in over his head, but Oscar winner John Houseman, as the remote, brilliant law professor who strikes terror in his charges, is the real reason this film scores a solid A.
Animal House (1978)- At Pennsylvania’s Faber College, stiff-shirted Dean Wormer (John Vernon) is fed up with the raucous antics of Delta House, an anarchic, thoroughly debauched fraternity with no sense of decency, decorum or, apparently, brains. So he hatches a plan to strip the Deltas, who are led by a group of seniors including Otter (Tim Matheson) and John “Bluto” Blutarsky (John Belushi), of their credentials, enlisting the help of their hated, upper-crusty rivals at Omega House. The original “party animal” teen movie (despite its “R” rating), John Landis’s outrageous feature-length prank has enough gross-out humor, slapstick yucks, and all-night beer chugging to put a drunken smile on anyone’s face. Matheson and co-stars James Widdoes, Peter Riegert, and Bruce McGill bring sheer lunacy to their roles as leaders of a riotous frat house for rejects, losers, and academic failures. But it’s Belushi’s gonzo portrayal of Bluto that remains iconic, and helped make the former “SNL” cast member a big-time comic star. Irreverent, subversive, and totally inappropriate, “Animal House” depicts the college experience most of us never had, but kind of wish we did. Watch for Kevin Bacon in a small early role as a young pledge.
Au Revoir, Les Enfants (1987)- In director Louis Malle’s semi-autobiographical masterpiece, young Julien (Gaspard Manesse) dislikes the Catholic boarding school he’s forced to attend by his mother (Francine Racette), but she reasonably insists that war-torn, Nazi-occupied Paris is no place for children. Indeed, the horrors of the conflict remain at a safe distance until the arrival of new student Jean Bonnet (Rafael Fejto) who carries a dangerous secret. Julien and Jean gradually become close friends, so that when the war finally does intrude on their cloistered environment, the lives of both boys are changed forever. Director Louis Malle’s masterpiece is a subtly drawn, wrenching tale of childhood innocence lost to the madness of war. Malle expertly evokes this nightmarish period in his country’s history, and teases pitch-perfect performances out of both juvenile leads, as their relationship evolves from one of mistrust to friendship. The film’s deeply felt, highly personal quality resonates, as we discern that Julien is based on Malle himself as a boy. Among the supporting cast, Racette excels as Julien’s affectionate but distracted mother, while both Francois Berleand and Philippe Morier-Genoud shine as the priests who run the school. A moving and important film for the ages.
Stand and Deliver (1988)- Based on real-life events, this inspirational drama concerns Jaime Escalante (Edward James Olmos), an Hispanic math instructor who institutes an advanced-placement calculus course in an under-resourced East L.A. public school. With a mix of humor and tough love, Escalante pushes a motley group of barrio kids to excel beyond their wildest dreams. Superbly directed by Ramon Menndez for PBS’s American Playhouse, “Stand” is a cut above most motivational storytelling, because it bypasses sentimentality in favor of a more complex, authentic tone. Olmos is a marvel as Escalante, a brilliant but idiosyncratic educator, and he deservedly nabbed an Oscar nomination. Among a dynamic supporting cast, Lou Diamond Phillips also impresses as the troubled youth who faces a choice between gang life and academic glory.
Election (1999)- Tracy Enid Flick (Reese Witherspoon), a compulsively anal, unapologetically driven high school student, runs for class president of her Nebraska high school, while teacher Jim McAllister (Matthew Broderick), unable to help himself, consistently works to undermine her. Alexander Payne’s smart, savage, satirical battle of wits stands out starkly from the standard run of bland contemporary comedies. Witherspoon is priceless as the cloyingly perfect schoolgirl everyone loves to hate, and Broderick also scores as the counselor who’s instinctively compelled to pop her bubble. Payne, who won an Oscar nod for his screenplay and would go on to helm the critically acclaimed “About Schmidt” (2002) and “Sideways” (2004), puts his prodigious talent on full display here, actually drawing inspiration from Budd Schulberg’s “What Makes Sammy Run?”, a landmark 1950′s TV production about a slimy, ruthless Hollywood player. This comic sleeper certainly wins my vote.
To Be and To Have (2002)- Shot in a one-room schoolhouse in rural France, this priceless documentary portrays the magical innocence of children and the loving dedication of one teacher, Georges Lopez. Set to retire after 35 years, Lopez instructs, engages, and inspires several grades of schoolchildren in the course of a school year, touching all their lives. Any parents out there should quickly lay their hands on Nicolas Philibert’s sublime “To Be,” an intimate and heartwarming study of hands-on education in a tiny classroom. What would be a daunting task for most of us is, for Georges Lopez, the application of a natural gift to a highly rewarding purpose. Georges’s innate connection with the twelve children under his care is humbling, and the wistful expression on his face at the end of the school term will put tears in your eyes. An indelible film experience.
For over 2,100 outstanding films on DVD, visit www.bestmoviesbyfarr.com
To see John’s videos for WNET-Channel 13, go to www.reel13.org

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MILWAUKEE. — For many Americans Lavern and Shirley remain the enduring icons of the city of Milwaukee. Barack Obama was a teenager when the sitcom about two independent young women working in a beer factory was a popular hit in the late 1970s. But the sad truth about Milwaukee is that Lavern and Shirley don’t work here any more.
After 30 years of deindustrialization, Milwaukee is a shell of its former self and the Great Recession has left the city reeling. Into this mix on Monday, steps President Obama, here to celebrate Labor Day in a city where labor is on the rack
Jobs Situation Disastrous
The job situation in city and across the great state of Wisconsin is disastrous. 796,000 people in the Milwaukee area are out of work. A statewide jobs report indicates that one in five jobs were lost since the recession began in 2007. A quarter of black workers are unemployed, numbers not rivalled since the Great Depression.
The assault on wages continues as profitable companies squeeze even more concessions of their workforce. Marching in the Labor Day parade with President this year are the 140 remaining members of United Electrical Local 111. This will be the last march Labor Day march for this 73 year-old local. It was founded in 1937 and at it’s height represented some 6,5000 Allen-Bradley employees. But the company (now called Rockwell) is intent on moving production overseas and contracting out the remaining tasks to nonunionized workers even though it tripled its global profits in 2009.
Milwaukee’s flagship manufacturer, Harley-Davidson, is threatening to move out of its longtime home in the Milwaukee are to Kansas City, Missouri. Even though the firm was profiled recently in the Wall Street Journal for its “soaring profits,” Harley wants to carve $50 million dollars of its payroll off the backs of its 2, 000 workers. The company slogan “the road starts here” is not as inspiring when it is the low road of cut wages and benefits.
What does Milwaukee need? “Massive investment in the economy,” says Wisconsin AFL-CIO president David Newby who will welcome President Obama to the Milwaukee Labor Fest on Monday.
“The private sector is sitting on 1.8 trillion in cash reserves. They are not investing it to modernize production facilities or hire new workers. In the absence of private-sector investment we need another large infusion of public-sector funds to prime the pump, to get people back to work, leading productive lives, paying taxes and by doing so reducing the deficit,” says Newby.
Foreclosures and Personal Bankruptcy on the Rise
Two years after the financial crisis began, foreclosures and personal bankruptcies are on an uptick. Milwaukee is seeing a steady rate of about 500 foreclosures a month, while in Wisconsin as a whole, August filings jumped 14% from this time last year. These are not families taking a loss on pricey investment homes; these are families that are being forced out of their modest homes and communities in a daily tragedy that is spreading well into the middleclass outer-ring suburbs.
In a sign of more trouble in the future, a growing number of Wisconsin homeowners had trouble staying current on their mortgage payments in the second quarter than earlier this year. Plus, bankruptcy filings in Wisconsin rose 16% during the first half of this year.
What does Milwaukee need? The answer is simple says Bethany Sanchez, Director of the Metropolitan Milwaukee Fair lending Program, with homes in foreclosure or simply underwater “Wisconsin families need a principle reduction on their mortgages” she says flatly.
According to Sanchez, HAMP, which is the federal government’s flagship program for helping distressed homeowners “has simply not been effective. There are no sticks and not enough carrots to force servicers to do something meaningful.” Tragically many people get foreclosed upon while their loan modification is being review under HAMP, something that is supposedly not allowed. In Milwaukee, the big bad banks are US Bank, Deutche Bank and Wells Fargo, all institutions bailed out by governments and taxpayers, but doing nothing to help citizens in distress.
“The Only Answer is the Federal Government”
Like the majority of states, Wisconsin’s state government is also reeling. The worst recession since the 1930s has caused the steepest decline in state tax receipts on record. As a result, even after making very deep cuts, states continue to face large budget gaps. The state of Wisconsin is facing a $2.5 billion dollar budget gap for the coming year and this is on top of already steep cuts it has made.
When the private sector is not doing the job and the state has its hands tied by a balanced budget amendment, “the only answer is the federal government, “says UW Madison economist Laura Dresser.
But isn’t the federal government broke? Where are they going to get the money?
“Lets start with the Bush tax cuts,” says Dresser. The Bush tax cuts enacted in 2001 and 2003 disproportionately benefit the wealthy and are set to expire in December 31, 2010.
President Obama has proposed extending the cuts for individuals making less $200,000, but allowing them to expire for the wealthiest Americans. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that letting the tax cuts expire would generate some $700 billion over the next decade. Others, like AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka, think Obama can do more by “making Wall Street pay” for the disaster it caused with a modest tax on high-speed, high-volume trading.
But as Laverne and Shirley would tell the president: The only way to get “on the track now” is to make smart federal investments in Milwaukee and cities like it across the country. The President has many bold options to get the economy moving again. The question is if he has the courage to pursue them or if on Labor Day he will announce another weak proposal with little chance of success.

Source:www.huffingtonpost.com

At the dining table, get comfortable with common etiquette Do’s and Don’ts…
Do wait until everyone is seated and served to begin eating or until your host gives the okay.
Do take small portions when serving yourself. You can always have seconds.
Do leave your napkin on your chair if you leave the table in between courses so no one will see the stains. The napkin is placed loosely to the left of the plate at the end of the meal.
Do take small bites when eating.
Men: Do tuck your necktie in between the second and third buttons of your shirt to avoid spills.
Do remember that salt and pepper travel together, even if your neighbor asks for one or the other.
Do try a little bit of everything to be polite unless you have food allergies, but never be shy about letting your host know if you’re allergic to something!
Do pass foods, bread, salt, and pepper to the right.
Do serve food from the right and clear from the left.
Do keep dinner conversation pleasant. Avoid topics that might make anyone feel uncomfortable.
Do remember your posture at the table. Straight versus slumped, please!
Don’t place items on the table that are not part of the meal, such as keys, purses, and cell phones.
Don’t wave utensils around while eating or you could injure your neighbor.
Don’t rest your elbows on the table except when there is no food in front of you or between courses.
Don’t chew or talk with your mouth open at any time.
Don’t mix foods on your plate unless they’re meant to go together, like ingredients in a stew.
Don’t reach across the table for anything. Instead, ask for it to be passed.
Don’t pick or floss your teeth at the table or in public.
Don’t use salt or pepper until you first take a bite of food. It may already have the perfect amount of seasoning.
Don’t lean back in your chair or you could break both the chair and your back.
Don’t speak in a loud voice at the table.
Don’t push your plate away no matter how anxious you might be. Wait until it is cleared by a waiter.
Dining What-If’s?
Good etiquette requires being able to handle yourself in any sticky situation.
So What If? . . .
You drop a utensil on the floor. Don’t pick it up and use it but ask for another.
You spill something on somebody. Ask the waiter for help, as the spill might be in a “compromising” location.
You have to sneeze. Turn your head to sneeze, but don’t use your napkin. If sneezing persists, excuse yourself to the restroom.
You want seconds. Never request seconds, but accept them graciously if offered.
You have to use the restroom. Excuse yourself without telling everyone where you’re going.
You want French fries but they’re not offered. Never ask for foods that are not offered by your host.
You don’t know when to put your napkin on your lap. The napkin goes on your lap the minute you’re seated, without exception!
You have bones or olive pits to remove from your mouth. They are removed in the same manner as they went in: with your fingers!
You don’t know where to put used sugar packets. On the edge of the dinner or butter plate.
You finish dinner early. Wait patiently for others to finish before leaving the table.
A bug pops out of your food. Ask for another dish without making a scene.
Your guest is late. If a guest has not arrived at the restaurant after twenty minutes, it’s okay to leave or eat without them.
You need to make a phone call. Never leave the table for more than a few minutes.
You have a visitor to the table. Get up and greet the visitor, although it’s not necessary to introduce him or her to your guests.
Lisa Mirza Grotts is a recognized etiquette expert and the author of A Traveler’s Passport to Etiquette. She is a former director of protocol for the City & County of San Francisco and the founder of The AML Group (www.AMLGroup.com), certified etiquette and protocol consultants. Her clients range from Cornell University and Microsoft to Nordstrom, KPMG and Stanford Hospital. She has been quoted by The Sunday Times, InStyle Magazine, the San Francisco Chronicle, USA Today and the Los Angeles Times. She has appeared on various radio and television stations, such as ABC, CBS, and Fox News. To learn more about Lisa, follow her on www.Twitter.com/LisaGrotts and www.Facebook.com/LisaGrotts.

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Source:www.huffingtonpost.com

On June 19, Ibio Efrn Caicedo, a teacher and trade union activist in Colombia, was murdered. He was the seventh unionized teacher killed this year in that country’s Antioquia region.
Caicedo’s murder was hardly an anomaly. More than 100 union activists were killed in 2009, according to a report released this summer by the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC). This represents a 30 percent rise over 2008, and reflects an increasingly aggressive stance toward labor organizing in a global economy still reeling from the collapse of financial markets two years ago.
As Americans mark Labor Day amidst a seemingly endless economic downturn, our national focus is understandably on the hard times faced by workers in this country. But as the preeminent world power, our moral obligations do not end at our borders.
Sadly, the U.S. too often turns a blind eye to the harassment, torture and killing of union activists, sending the wrong message to allies and opponents alike.
The ominous uptick in violence against union activists underscores the often overlooked relationship between human rights and workers rights. The right to collective bargaining is enshrined in numerous international covenants, including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. While human rights and workers rights are not always synonymous, it is no coincidence that some of the nations with the most egregious record of human rights violations are also guilty of mercilessly persecuting labor activists.
A case in point is Colombia. Nearly half of the union activists murdered in 2009 lost their lives in this country, which has long been singled out by human rights organizations for its rampant kidnappings, beatings, torture and killings. Though much of the public attention has rightfully focused on the torture and murder of union activists at Coca-Cola plants in Columbia, labor leaders representing everyone from teachers to oil workers have also been targeted in the world’s most dangerous place to be a union supporter.
In Guatemala, another country with an ugly history of human rights atrocities, violence against labor activists has skyrocketed, with 12 union leaders killed last year alone. “Trade unions find themselves under siege, with murders, death threats, detentions and torture becoming the daily lot of their members,” stated the ITUC report.
While Latin America has the worst record of violence against labor activists, the persecution of workers rights leaders extends to all corners of the globe. The ITUC report singles out Iran, Honduras, Pakistan, South Korea, Turkey, Zimbabwe, Egypt and the Russian Federation, among other countries.
Many of the nations on this list, including Columbia, are close U.S. allies, undermining our standing as a champion of human rights. Our standing is further eroded by the free trade agreement with Columbia for which the administration is seeking congressional ratification. If nothing else, the debate over that agreement should engender a deeper discussion about where workers rights fits into the broader American framework of support for human rights.
The need for such an examination is highlighted by the fact, more than 60 years after its establishment, the U.S. has never ratified the United Nations International Labor Organization Convention on the Right to Organize and Collective Bargaining. Though adoption of this convention does not guarantee adherence to international workplace standards — violence against workers has occurred in many of the countries that have signed it — the United States’ failure to embrace this basic code of conduct undermines American credibility as a defender of universal labor protections.
The consequences of our lack of interest in international labor standards can be seen, right here in Los Angeles, in the torture survivors who come here from places such as El Salvador, where in the 1980s the American-supported right-wing regime persecuted union leaders who later were granted asylum in this country. More recently, the U.S. has provided significant military aid to the government of Colombia despite its abysmal record on labor rights, even as some congressional leaders have fought to condition trade treaties on better treatment of that nation’s union activists.
The U.S. would be better served by speaking and acting unambiguously about the importance of respecting the human rights of working people, and condemning violence against labor activists wherever it occurs. Such clarity will not end the abuse of those who stand up for basic dignity in the workplace, but it will make it harder for their tormentors to act with impunity, and reinforce the notion that workers rights are inseparable from human rights.
Julie Gutman is executive director of the Program for Torture Victims and former senior labor advisor to L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa.

Source:www.huffingtonpost.com

Cancer!
If you haven’t had it, the prospect terrifies you. If you have had it, it can unnerve and shatter you. Yet the dreaded disease may have an unexpected effect. It can ultimately change your life for the better. Indeed, in some ways, it was the best thing that’s ever happened to me.
Michael Douglas recently told talk-show host David Letterman that he has “stage-four” cancer. Douglas sounded positive, upbeat, brave, optimistic, and candid. Usually, a “stage-four” diagnosis is a death sentence, because the cancer has metastasized (spread) to vital organs like the liver, lungs, or brain. The survival rate for stage-four cancer is usually zero to four percent–a “survival rate” misleadingly based on a five-year time line. But in advanced-stage cases of tongue, tonsil, or throat cancer, even stage-four cancer is quite curable.
What may seem ironic and counterintuitive is that for many of us, cancer can have a silver lining. At the risk of utter banality, it can intensify the joy, awe, and wonder of being alive.
Since we are all going to die, the important discovery–after the terror of a cancer diagnosis, especially a later-stage diagnosis, has subsided a bit–is to realize that facing the prospect of your own death makes life far more delicious than you ever could have imagined. What’s even more important is that you are grateful to discover that being brave and keeping your dignity makes you feel serene and proud of an inner strength you never knew you possessed.
Nearly 12 years ago, I had asymptomatic colon cancer, discovered during a routine sigmoidoscopy. The tumor was removed almost immediately. I was told not to worry. It was most likely a stage-one tumor. At worst, a stage two. (Both have excellent survival rates.) A few days later, my surgeon appeared in my hospital room with a somber look. He began by telling me that this was the worst part of being a doctor–having to tell me that my cancer was a stage three. (Stage three meant that it had spread into the lymphatic system, which, with colon cancer, meant that my survival rate wasn’t particularly good.)
I wore a continuous infusion chemo-pack for six weeks, followed by weekly chemotherapy and radiation. Then at the end of a year of hell (my white-cell blood count, as expected, was low) I almost died from the kind of pneumonia that killed Jim Henson. Next came years of “follow-ups”–CAT scans, PET scans, MRIs, and colonoscopies – after which I’d hold my breath as I awaited the results.
I knew a recurrence was essentially a death sentence, because it would have meant the cancer had spread to my liver, lungs, and/or brain. (On one occasion, there was a huge spike in a tumor-marker test, which my oncologist described as “worrisome,” a word that still makes me cringe whenever I hear it to this day. The spike turned out to be a “sadistic” false positive.)
I discovered that my reaction to all of this turmoil was something I had least expected. I kept my cool. I didn’t collapse onto the floor into a puddle. I kept playing tennis every day (against doctor’s orders); in fact, I played the best tennis of my life while wearing my continuous-infusion chemo pack. I kept working on the Great American Novel; I continued to be a good husband, father, and friend. In other words, I worked hard at living a normal life. I didn’t want my family and friends to be more upset than they already were, so I always smiled, never complained, and made absolutely sure that no one ever knew how shitty the chemo was making me feel. It was as exhausting as it was exhilarating. I was able to do something that I never would have thought possible, and this entire journey made me feel more alive. But my response was hardly unique. To my amazement, every single fellow cancer patient I met at the clinic where I endured my weekly intravenous chemo infusions was just as brave, friendly, and upbeat as I.
What I discovered is that cancer would never defeat me, even if, in the end, it ended my life.
Michael Douglas has so much to be proud of, especially the way he is handling this terrifying experience. And he has so much to be thankful for, most of all–and this is the important part–the love of his family, friends, and all of those who wish for him the very best.
Gary S. Chafetz is the author of The Perfect Villain: John McCain and the Demonization of Lobbyist Jack Abramoff.

Source:www.huffingtonpost.com

As the Park51 community center and mosque project near Ground Zero is painted as an issue of the rights and future of the American Muslim community, Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf has been challenged to demonstrate that he is a moderate voice for Islam. By portraying the mosque issue as one of American Muslim rights the community is forced to align itself with an Imam who may not represent our true center.
I first met Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf in 2002 at his NYC apartment where a group of young Muslim professionals had gathered for a study circle. After the events of 9/11 many Muslims in NYC were struggling to find their place within American society. Imam Feisal and his wife Daisy Khan filled the void and continue to create venues for Muslims to meet and discuss their faith without prejudice. This work is exemplified by the projects undertaken through their American Society of Muslim Advancement (formerly the American Sufi Muslim Association), the Muslim Leaders of Tomorrow Project (MLT), the Cordoba Initiative, the Listening to Islam documentary, and the Women’s Islamic Initiative in Spirituality and Equality, amongst others. I, along with many other Muslims, have been privileged to be part of some of these programs.
The inclusive spirit however has its shortcomings as well. At the first MLT gathering in 2004,we contemplated Islam’s stance on homosexuality, the status of women in the legal code, and what it meant to be a progressive or modern American Muslim. While important, and soul-searching, questions were raised there was little offered to guide the perplexed and Imam Feisal does not necessarily bear the “Islamic” credentials to successfully engage those within the faith: he is not an Islamic scholar.
This point was exemplified in 2005. As the War on Terror in full-swing, Imam Feisal became more an international figure. His book What’s Right with Islam: A New Vision for Muslims and the West was published, and his interfaith work began to be supported the US State Department. In the televised Doha Debates, it was Imam Feisal arguing that the War on Terror was not a War on Islam, while Mustafa Ceric, the grand Mufti of Bosnia, argued the opposite. The apparent discrepancy in stature might have been lost for the non-Muslim audience, but not for its Muslim one. On one side an Imam from a small mosque in New York City, and on the other a grand Mufti who represented an entire nation.
The Doha debate demonstrates a critical failing in championing Imam Feisal as a voice to speak to the Muslim world. The Imam, unlike his father, and his opponent at the Doha Debates, is not a formally trained Islamic cleric, nor is he a university-trained Islamic studies expert. Thus, both within the Muslim world and in the American Muslim context, one struggles to properly assess Imam Feisal’s place.
In 2007, the RAND Corporation issued a report entitled “Building Moderate Muslim Networks”. The policy paper urges the United States government to ally itself with moderate Muslims. RAND argued that capable partners would found within “Sufis.” Since Imam Feisal’s trips to the Middle East are at times sponsored by the State Department, as noted by a recent NY Times article, it seems that RAND was heard. However, Imam Feisal may be on the fringe of the American Muslim fold in several important ways. Firstly, most American Muslims do not consider themselves Sufis, and if they do the belong to those Sufi orders which are backed by Islamic seminaries across the globe and tied closely to the Sunni Islamic schools of law. These orders such as the Naqshabandi, Chisti, Shadhili, Ba-Alawi, and Muhammadiyya are organizational giants with histories dating back hundreds of years. Imam Feisal’s Nur Ashki Jerrahi Sufi order is less than a few decades old and does not allay itself with an Islamic legal tradition. If the idea is to have the Imam spur change his limited traction within the Muslim tradition posed an obstacle.
Imam Feisal’s greatest strength is his ability to engage people from other religious traditions and foster interfaith collaboration. One of the aims of his work is to foster Abrahamic ethics with Christian and Jewish groups. While the Imam’s accomplishments in this arena are many, it is curious to note that he is not on the roster of mainstream Muslim interfaith programs. The Islamic Society of North America (ISNA), arguably the largest civic organization representing American Muslims, is heavily involved in interfaith dialogue. Yet, Imam Feisal is rarely seen at their events and is not part of the initiatives through ISNA’s Office for Interfaith and Community Alliances. Similarly, Imam Feisal is not part of many university-based interfaith initiatives either. Nazareth College recently inaugurated the Center for Interfaith Study and Dialogue and tabbed Muhammad Shafiq, a former Imam and author of Interfaith Dialogue: A Guide for Muslims, as its director. Imam Feisal is conspicuously absent from this group as well. Imam Feisal’s absence is in part due to the perception that he is not representative of the Muslim middle. As organizations attempt to foster dialogue between the center groups within each religious group he may be perceived as a little removed.
As the Park51 project near Ground Zero has become painted as an issue of religious freedom, American Muslims are confronted with championing the cause of a man who may not accurately represent them. While Imam Feisal is in the middle of the debate, he may not necessarily be at the center of the Muslim tradition.
Dr. Padela is a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Clinical Scholar and Islamic bioethics researcher at the University of Michigan, a fellow at the Institute for Social Policy & Understanding, and a Visiting Fellow at the Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies in the UK. His opinions here are his own and do not reflect those of his sponsoring organizations.

Source:www.huffingtonpost.com

Welcome to the worst Labor Day in the memory of most Americans. Organized labor is down to about 7 percent of the private work force. Members of non-organized labor — most of the rest of us — are unemployed, underemployed or underwater. The Labor Department reported on Friday that just 67,000 new private-sector jobs were created in August, which, when added to the loss of public-sector (mostly temporary Census worker jobs) resulted in a net loss of over 50,000 jobs for the month. But at least 125,000 net new jobs are needed to keep up with the growth of the potential work force.
Face it: The national economy isn’t escaping the gravitational pull of the Great Recession. None of the standard booster rockets are working. Near-zero short-term interest rates from the Fed, almost record-low borrowing costs in the bond market, a giant stimulus package, along with tax credits for small businesses that hire the long-term unemployed have all failed to do enough.
That’s because the real problem has to do with the structure of the economy, not the business cycle. No booster rocket can work unless consumers are able, at some point, to keep the economy moving on their own. But consumers no longer have the purchasing power to buy the goods and services they produce as workers; for some time now, their means haven’t kept up with what the growing economy could and should have been able to provide them.
The Origin of the Crisis
This crisis began decades ago when a new wave of technology — things like satellite communications, container ships, computers and eventually the Internet — made it cheaper for American employers to use low-wage labor abroad or labor-replacing software here at home than to continue paying the typical worker a middle-class wage. Even though the American economy kept growing, hourly wages flattened. The median male worker earns less today, adjusted for inflation, than he did 30 years ago.
But for years American families kept spending as if their incomes were keeping pace with overall economic growth. And their spending fueled continued growth. How did families manage this trick? First, women streamed into the paid work force. By the late 1990s, more than 60 percent of mothers with young children worked outside the home (in 1966, only 24 percent did).
Second, everyone put in more hours. What families didn’t receive in wage increases they made up for in work increases. By the mid-2000s, the typical male worker was putting in roughly 100 hours more each year than two decades before, and the typical female worker about 200 hours more.
When American families couldn’t squeeze any more income out of these two coping mechanisms, they embarked on a third: going ever deeper into debt. This seemed painless — as long as home prices were soaring. From 2002 to 2007, American households extracted $2.3 trillion from their homes.
Eventually, of course, the debt bubble burst — and with it, the last coping mechanism. Now we’re left to deal with the underlying problem that we’ve avoided for decades. Even if nearly everyone was employed, the vast middle class still wouldn’t have enough money to buy what the economy is capable of producing.
Where have all the economic gains gone? Mostly to the top. The economists Emmanuel Saez and Thomas Piketty examined tax returns from 1913 to 2008. They discovered an interesting pattern. In the late 1970s, the richest 1 percent of American families took in about 9 percent of the nation’s total income; by 2007, the top 1 percent took in 23.5 percent of total income.
It’s no coincidence that the last time income was this concentrated was in 1928. I do not mean to suggest that such astonishing consolidations of income at the top directly cause sharp economic declines. The connection is more subtle.
The rich spend a much smaller proportion of their incomes than the rest of us. So when they get a disproportionate share of total income, the economy is robbed of the demand it needs to keep growing and creating jobs.
What’s more, the rich don’t necessarily invest their earnings and savings in the American economy; they send them anywhere around the globe where they’ll summon the highest returns — sometimes that’s here, but often it’s the Cayman Islands, China or elsewhere. The rich also put their money into assets most likely to attract other big investors (commodities, stocks, dot-coms or real estate), which can become wildly inflated as a result.
Meanwhile, as the economy grows, the vast majority in the middle naturally want to live better. Their consequent spending fuels continued growth and creates enough jobs for almost everyone, at least for a time. But because this situation can’t be sustained, at some point — 1929 and 2008 offer ready examples — the bill comes due.
What We Learned and Didn’t Learn From the Great Depression of the 1930s
This time around, policymakers had knowledge their counterparts didn’t have in 1929; they knew they could avoid immediate financial calamity by flooding the economy with money. But, paradoxically, averting another Great Depression-like calamity removed political pressure for more fundamental reform. We’re left instead with a long and seemingly endless Great Jobs Recession.
The Great Depression and its aftermath demonstrate that there is only one way back to full recovery: through more widely shared prosperity. In the 1930s, the American economy was completely restructured. New Deal measures — Social Security, a 40-hour work week with time-and-a-half overtime, unemployment insurance, the right to form unions and bargain collectively, the minimum wage — leveled the playing field.
In the decades after World War II, legislation like the G.I. Bill, a vast expansion of public higher education and civil rights and voting rights laws further reduced economic inequality. Much of this was paid for with a 70 percent to 90 percent marginal income tax on the highest incomes. And as America’s middle class shared more of the economy’s gains, it was able to buy more of the goods and services the economy could provide. The result: rapid growth and more jobs.
By contrast, little has been done since 2008 to widen the circle of prosperity. Health-care reform is an important step forward but it’s not nearly enough.
What Else Should Be Done
What else could be done to raise wages and thereby spur the economy? I don’t pretend to have all the answers but some initiatives seem worthwhile.
[Pause for a commercial announcement. These points, and others, are developed at length in my upcoming book, Aftershock: The Next Economy and America's Future, out in two weeks from Alfred Knopf.]
We might consider, for example, extending the earned income tax credit all the way up through the middle class, and paying for it with a tax on carbon. The carbon tax would raise the prices of goods and services especially dependent on carbon-based fuels, which is appropriate given that the social costs of carbon-based fuels should be included in their prices. Consider how much our society now spends on such things as foreign wars designed to secure our sources of oil, as well as oil cleanups. But the wage subsidies would more than make up for these price rises, at least for most Americans in the middle and below.
Another step would be to exempt the first $20,000 of income from payroll taxes and paying for it with a payroll tax on incomes over $250,000. This, too, seems reasonable, given that under current law only the first $106,000 of income is subject to the Social Security portion of the payroll tax – a particularly regressive system. Most higher-income people, who get good medical care, live longer and collect far more in Social Security benefits, than do lower-income people.
In the longer term, Americans must be better prepared to succeed in the global, high-tech economy. Early childhood education should be more widely available, paid for by a small 0.5 percent fee on all financial transactions. Public universities should be free; in return, graduates would then be required to pay back 10 percent of their first 10 years of full-time income.
Another step: workers who lose their jobs and have to settle for positions that pay less could qualify for “earnings insurance” that would pay half the salary difference for two years; such a program would probably prove less expensive than extended unemployment benefits.
These measures would not enlarge the budget deficit because they would be paid for. In fact, such moves would help reduce the long-term deficits by getting more Americans back to work and the economy growing again.
Here’s the point. Policies that generate more widely shared prosperity lead to stronger and more sustainable economic growth — and that’s good for everyone.
The rich are better off with a smaller percentage of a fast-growing economy than a larger share of an economy that’s barely moving. That’s the Labor Day lesson we learned decades ago; until we remember it again, we’ll be stuck in the Great Recession.
This post originally appeared at RobertReich.org.

Source:www.huffingtonpost.com

“You give these answers to Reverend Big Mouth and you tell him that God says he’s a phony…Personally tell him to shut up.” God (George Burns) telling Jerry (John Denver) what to say to a particular evangelical preacher (Oh, God, 1977)
“I have a big fat mouth sometimes and I say things.” Glenn Beck (Fox News Sunday)
Screenwriter legend, Larry Gelbart, taught me that in the hands of a good comedy writer what is acceptable as gospel to so many can be hysterical satire to many more. After Beck’s religious Restoring Honor rally I can only believe that Larry’s in heaven already running lines with George Burns.
Oh (My) God (2010)
Backstage at his Restoring Honor rally, Glenn Beck wipes his brow, accepting congratulations from admirers, some of whom were related to those who had actually read about Martin Luther King’s “I have a dream” speech 47 years before.
Humming “The Battle Hymn of the Republic,” Beck retreats to the nearby bathroom to relieve himself. As he washes his hands a black bathroom attendant hands him a towel.
Attendant: Mr. Beck, that was quite uplifting.
Beck: Pshaw. Only God Himself can be uplifting. I am not God. I am only the humble human being God has chosen to speak for him.
Beck pulls out a $25 Goldline coin.
Beck: Do you have change for a hundred?
Attendant: It’s a $25 coin.
Beck: Yes, but I bought it for $75 and there’s a possibility with the volatile world economic situation, gold could be your best investment.
Attendant: That’s alright. I’m here to serve and I ask nothing in return other than your eternal gratitude.
Beck: Deal. Hey, you’re black, right?
Attendant: I am as you see me.
Beck: Whatever. Would you mind coming out to the dais and standing behind me? As pale as I am I tend to blend into the white steps of the memorial. It makes it harder for my followers to see me. I could use as much color as possible behind me
Attendant: Would you mind if I ask you a question first?
Beck: Go ahead.
Attendant: How do you know that it was God who has spoken to you?
Beck: Who do you think got those geese to come to my rally and do a fly over?
Attendant: My son. Those geese didn’t come to your rally. They were leaving it.
Beck: And exactly how do you know that?
Attendant: Do you know why you never see geese grazing on dairy farm land?
Beck: Why?
Attendant: They’re allergic to bull shit.
Beck: And why is that?
Attendant: I made them that way.
Beck: What do you mean, “you made them that way”?
Attendant: Did you ever see “Bruce Almighty”?
Beck: You’re saying you’re Jim Carey?
Attendant: Guess again.
Beck: Wait a minute. You’re not telling me you’re God?
Attendant: That is for you to decide.
Beck: Yeah, right. And I guess you can prove it?
Attendant: You mean you want to see some kind of parlor trick?
Beck: You just want me to take your word?
Attendant: You seem to be okay with others taking your word. Are you more trustworthy than God?
Beck: I don’t have to be. I’m on Fox.
Attendant: Okay. How’s this?
The attendant reaches into Beck’s ear and pulls out a nickel.
Beck: Big deal. My uncle can do that with a quarter.
Attendant: Can your uncle do this?
The attendant reaches into the back of Beck’s pants.
Beck: Hey!!!
With a mighty yank, the attendant pulls out a large chalkboard, much to the discomfort of Beck,
Beck: Are you crazy!?
Attendant: You pull conspiracies out of your butt. I figure I’d check what else is up there.
Rubbing his rear, it begins to hit Beck that this guy isn’t your typical bathroom attendant.
Attendant: You want me to see what else you’ve got up there?
Beck: No, no, no. I believe you. I guess you could be God. I just expected you to look a little more like Charleston Heston or maybe, Roger Ailes; something white and Republican.
God: I am what I am and that is what I am.
Beck: Wow. You actually came to my rally. Just like I said. Hey. I hope I’m not over-reaching here, but do you think the next time I make myself cry you can make my tears look like blood? Let Olbermann try to make a joke out of that.
God: The bleeding eyes thing is really more of a Robert Rodriguez stunt. If you want, I kill the first born of every speaker here today who has lied? That’ll get their attention.
Beck: Um. I don’t think that’s really what I’m looking for. By the way, did I mention that I didn’t actually hold George Washington’s speech?
God: I know.
Beck: Hey. What about you just coming out and saying something. Maybe give us your blessing.
God: Should I tell them that when you found yourself $600,000 short for the rally you prayed to Me for the money and “Within two days, without telling anyone about it, $600,000 came in”"
Beck: Actually, that would be perfect.
God: I don’t send money because people pray for it. I’m God, not Powerball. Why don’t you just tell them what I tell you. You seem to be very good at that.
Beck: Great. Let me get a pen.
God. Don’t bother. I’ll just use the blackboard.
A picture of President Obama appears on the blackboard. A line from Obama materializes slowly connecting to a picture of Jeremiah Wright which connects to a picture of slaves hanging a white slave owner.
God: First of all, that thing about Obama being a racist who has a deep seated hatred for white people…
Beck: I might have been stretching a bit there.
God: You also said that the President’s religious belief is a perversion of the gospel of Jesus Christ as most Christians know it. You saying that, in itself, is a perversion of my Son’s gospel.
Beck: I got this big mouth…
God: You don’t promote religion by demeaning another’s beliefs. That would be the very opposite of what you said to those 87,000 people.
Beck: Michelle Bachman said there were over a million.
God: I created Michelle for comic relief, not calculating attendance.
Another line on the blackboard appears from Obama and connects with a picture of Hitler.
God: Then you compared Obama to Hitler.
Beck: Gotcha there. I never said he was Hitler. I just said that he was just doing the same things Hitler did.
A Fox News logo appears on the board. A line from the logo connects to a picture of a Jew in a concentration camp.
God: Then you compared Obama’s treatment of Fox News to Jews being sent to concentration camps.
Beck: Well, that one is on the money. You more than anyone should know that Obama has got to dream about exterminating Fox News.
God: What is in one’s dreams is their business. Using religion to attack another, is no more holy than killing 3,000 innocent people in the name of Me.
Intermission
Award-winning TV Writer, Steve Young, is the author of “Great Failures of the Extremely Successful” (greatfailure.com) and blogs at the appropriately properly name SteveYoungonpolitics.com

Source:www.huffingtonpost.com

Songwriter Kara DioGuardi has become the latest member of the American Idol judging panel to quit this year.
DioGuardi, who has written for singers including Kylie Minogue, said being on the show was “an amazing experience”.
Simon Cowell quit the programme in May to concentrate on a US version of UK show The X Factor while comedienne Ellen DeGeneres left in July.
Jennifer Lopez and Areosmith's Steven Tyler have been linked with vacant positions on the panel.
“I felt like I won the lottery when I joined American Idol two years ago but I feel like now is the best time to leave,” DioGuardi said in a statement.
Of the original judges, only record producer Randy Jackson remains.
It is not clear whether the next season of the show will have a panel of three or four judges.
May's finale was the lowest rated since the first series in 2002 with 24.2m tuning in to see former paint salesman Lee DeWyze take the crown.
But the programme remains the most-watched TV show in the US.

Source:BBC

On Labor Day we honor work and workers. But what happens when the job market is in such turmoil that the very idea of stable, sustaining employment begins to evaporate before our eyes? What happens when the degradation of the contemporary workplace makes a mockery of the idea of “honoring” work? What happens when we Americans can no longer measure our value — or even feel very human — based on our paid work? Where is our self-worth to be centered and nurtured in this unsettling new world?
Wonkish ones like me often think of the employment challenge in aggregated terms: we read the business press or tune to NPR’s “Marketplace” to hear blips of this and that: new jobless claims, new figures on the “99-ers”: the long-term jobless who’ve already burned through 99 weeks of unemployment compensation, new data on older workers delaying retirement or coming out of retirement. It’s reported in the same dispassionate way as new numbers on consumer confidence, manufacturers’ inventories, etc. Politicians may try to put a bit more heart into it, but it still mainly comes out as blah blah blah.
Of course it’s not blah blah blah at all for the human beings who are struggling. Really struggling, when there are six workers in line for every available opening and when none of the old rules seems to apply.
Those old rules were:
1.Get yourself good training or a good education as your ticket to a good job;
2.Show your loyalty and receive ever-increasing responsibility and compensation;
3.Expect to enjoy a middle-class lifestyle and self-respect by applying yourself;
4.Expect to retire before age 70 in a degree of comfort and security.
These rules, of course, bear little relation to the realities of the contemporary workplace and job market. I meet college-age youngsters all the time who either can’t get the training or the college classes they need to get (oversubscribed classes, rising fees, etc.) or who find that having the credential makes no real difference: they end up in junk jobs anyway.
As for loyalty and dedication: there may be some employers who still recognize and reward these traits, but the majority of companies are run by bean counters who couldn’t care less — and who do not hesitate to cut the compensation and benefits of long-term workers for the company’s short-term benefit.
And expecting to enjoy a middle-class lifestyle? We are rapidly hurtling into a new social space without that stable middle: a future with well-compensated elites at the top and a seriously undercompensated majority of drones at the bottom, slinging our food and drinks and changing our sheets in the hospitality and health care industries, temping in call centers, or trying to piece together a living from multiple short-hour jobs in retail.
The almost-retired and wannabe-retired are in the weirdest and must frustrating bind of all: they are told they should keep working in order to have enough in their golden years, yet employers take full advantage of the super-tight job market to discriminate against and exploit them when they do seek to keep working.
I want to stay focused on the specific hurts experienced by people who have internalized the rules, which all come down to one rule: in America you are on your own — it’s you against the world — so if you fail it means you are defective in some way.
How many religious leaders (pastors, priests, rabbis, imams) have discovered people within their faith communities who are just keeping up appearances: getting up, getting dressed and going out to hunt for a job (or even fake going to a job they no longer have) as though it is still a “normal” world out there?
How many have talked to young people who are consumed by anxiety over the winner-take-all challenge they see in front them–or distressed by the amount they are borrowing for an education that may still not give them any real earning power? How many counsel women workers who know perfectly well that they are paid less and getting fewer promotions than males doing comparable jobs–but who suck it up every day because “that’s just the way it is”? How many hear the anguish of workers in their 50s and 60s who can’t cope with the demands of the brave new workplace or with the outright viciousness of the brave new personnel managers?
I won’t even mention the absolute social and psychological catastrophe created by record-high unemployment and underemployment within communities of color — a catastrophe eloquently evoked by Bob Herbert and too few others. Pastors serving these communities have to dig really deep for faith resources strong enough to sustain their people’s hope and courage.
Religious leaders cannot avoid taking their pastoral responsibility seriously during a terrifying time like this. I want to suggest that this responsibility includes not just one-on-one counseling but also the creation of a different kind of worker support group than the conventional type that concerns itself with buffing up resumes and “trying to keep a positive outlook.”
Serious religious leaders can and should sponsor open-ended conversations in safe-space environments: environments in which people can speak freely about their fears and frustrations — and their anger about an economy and an economic discourse that shuts them out, that treats their shattered lives as collateral damage as the prerogatives of investors increasingly trump the needs of workers. Serious religious leaders should actually counsel their parishioners against adopting the “think positive” mentality that shuts out pain and hurt and that perpetuates the idea that if you aren’t doing well in America, there must be something wrong with you. (These days I advise my clergy colleagues to read Barbara Ehrenreich’s Bright Sided in order to understand Satan’s wiles in greater depth.)
Many congregational leaders are wary of wading into politics by raising questions about a jobless “recovery” or about the scandal of our top corporations sitting on over $2 trillion in cash while refusing to hire new people and continuing to slash the pay and benefits of existing staff.
The best thing these faith leaders can do now is not the least bit “political,” but it is revolutionary: They can tell their traumatized community members this essential truth: Your value as a child of God is infinitely more important than your employability “value” in a badly degraded labor market — and yes, if you are angry about what that market is dishing out, you have every right to be angry. Because this situation really stinks — and you don’t.

Source:www.huffingtonpost.com

The New York Times thinks so.
In a recent lead editorial entitled “President Abbas and Peace Talks,” ostensibly about the Palestinian leader, the paper couldn’t resist the temptation to take a swipe – or two or three – at Netanyahu. It could barely contain its rage, suspicion, and doubt about the Israeli prime minister. But, then again, that’s par for the course.
Go figure.
Since taking office, Netanyahu has moved his Likud Party squarely into the two-state camp. That’s no mean feat. The party fiercely resisted the idea since its inception. Indeed, previous Likud leaders Ariel Sharon and Ehud Olmert had to leave in order to stake out more centrist positions. Netanyahu has taken the party – at least important segments of it – with him in this historic turnaround both for him and his faction.
He has also removed dozens of security checkpoints on the West Bank, permitting freer movement of people and goods, and helped encourage the dramatic growth spurt in the Palestinian economy.
And he did what no predecessor ever had, agreeing to a temporary freeze on all new construction in West Bank Jewish settlements. Done at the behest of President Obama, this was intended as a goodwill gesture to help restart peace talks with the Palestinians. The domestic political price that had to be paid didn’t stop Netanyahu.
Meanwhile, he is juggling some staggering challenges.
First, when he assumed office in 2009, he faced a new U.S. administration that sent decidedly mixed signals about its attitude toward Israel. Indeed, many speculated that an early goal was to rejigger the Israeli government, perhaps removing Netanyahu in the process. Given the outsized role of America in Israel’s life, the bilateral issue alone kept Netanyahu rather busy.
Second, thanks to Israel’s outdated electoral laws, he has an awkward, time-consuming coalition that seeks to pull him in various, often contradictory, directions. While a different government make-up may be desirable, that has eluded Netanyahu to date.
Third, Iran is moving relentlessly toward the nuclear goal line, posing an unprecedented threat to Israel’s security. Any Israeli leader would be equally preoccupied with this menace and how to deal with it.
Fourth, Iran’s proxies, Hamas and Hezbollah, are gaining in military strength. Both sit on Israel’s borders, and both are preparing themselves for new rounds of conflict with Israel, which, in their minds, has no right to exist. Hamas, in fact, has already stepped up deadly acts of terror in response to the resumption of Israeli-Palestinian peace talks.
And fifth, Syria is flexing its muscles once again, seeking advanced Russian weaponry and casting a long shadow on neighboring Lebanon’s affairs.
Moreover, Netanyahu presides over a country that has grown more skeptical of peace prospects over the past decade. That does not suggest any decline in the yearning for peace, only greater doubt that it can be achieved.
Three events in particular explain this attitudinal change.
There was the dramatic offer by Prime Minister Ehud Barak, in 2000, with the full support of President Bill Clinton, for a two-state settlement. The result? A Palestinian “intifada” that killed more than one thousand Israelis. In proportional terms, that would be the equivalent of 40,000 American fatalities.
There was the Israeli withdrawal from the security zone in southern Lebanon, also in 2000. The result? Hezbollah filled the vacuum, brought weaponry closer to the border, and triggered the 2006 war.
And then there was the Israeli withdrawal from Gaza in 2005, giving local residents the first chance in their history to govern themselves. The result? Hamas took over, kicked out the Palestinian Authority in a bloody civil war, smuggled in heavy weapons, and fired thousands of missiles and mortars at Israel.
All this said, Netanyahu is serious about the direct peace talks launched a few days ago in Washington.
If the Times doesn’t think so, the paper may be the victim of its own journalistic blinders. It seems unwilling – or unable – to recognize that a political leader like Netanyahu can prove a dynamic, not a static, figure.
But then again, the paper – and many others as well – were slow to see how Ariel Sharon changed. Today, he’s viewed as a practically heroic figure for having confronted Israeli settlers in Gaza – the very settlers he encouraged to move there in the first place – and ordering the full withdrawal of Israeli soldiers and settlers from Gaza. Indeed, he had to create a new political party to carry out this policy.
Go back and read how Sharon was repeatedly derided as a “warmonger,” “bulldozer,” “hard-liner,” and “right-wing extremist” after he took office as prime minister in 2001 – even as the changes in his outlook became noticeable to anyone who cared to look.
Too many editorial boards, ivory towers, and foreign ministries, however, were too invested in the image of the “old” Sharon to grasp the changes before their very eyes.
And the same principle applied to the Obama administration when confronted, in March 2009, with the reality of Netanyahu as Israel’s prime minister. He was viewed – and found wanting – through the prism of his first term as Israel’s leader a decade earlier.
Only recently has the administration come to realize that not only is Netanyahu’s position in Israel quite secure, but also that he has matured as a leader, charted a centrist path, and resolved – whatever the odds of success – to seek a peace accord with the Palestinian Authority.
No less importantly, if any Israeli leader can achieve an agreement today, Netanyahu is a pretty good bet for the role.
Given the Israeli public’s understandable skepticism about the chances for genuine peace with the Palestinians, it takes someone like Netanyahu – with his distinguished military background, hawkish views on security, and, as he likes to put it, lack of naivet about the region – to give it a try. And if progress in the talks should entail further Israeli sacrifices, the deal will need to be sold to the Israeli people, another job tailor-made for him.
“The Jewish people is no stranger in our homeland, the land of our forefathers,” Netanyahu said in Washington last week. “But we recognize that another people share this land with us. And I came here today to find a historic compromise that will enable both peoples to live in peace, security and dignity.”
The words of a “master manipulator”?
Hardly.
The only manipulators here, sad to say, are those editorial writers at the Times who came up with the phrase.

Source:www.huffingtonpost.com

As Labor Day arrives and with it the unofficial end of summer, it’s almost time to put the white linen pants back in the closet and stick the grill in the garage for another eight months or so. And what better way to mark the end of summer than with a pitcher of margaritas? The margarita is a light, refreshing and potent cocktail that can cool down the most sweltering days and tame the most savage thirst. Of course, margaritas are delicious year-round, but something about them says “summer” to me, even when I’m drinking one in February. One thing I particularly love about margaritas is how easy they are to make — all you need is fresh-squeezed lime juice, the tequila of your choice, and triple sec.
When I mention that third ingredient to friends, I get a lot of “Huh?”s and “What’s that?”s. Well, triple sec also goes by the name of curaao. What’s the difference between curaao and triple sec? After intensive research, I can tell you definitively that… I’m not sure. What I do know is that both curaao and triple sec are orange liqueur, a vital and under-appreciated ingredient in one of the world’s most popular cocktails.
Which triple sec you use in your margs should not be taken lightly, any more than your choice of tequila. My ideal margarita recipe is three parts tequila to two parts triple sec to one part lime juice. That means triple sec is fully one-third of of the drink. A good triple sec will temper the sourness of the lime juice and smooth out the fire of the tequila, while at the same time adding its own depth and complexity to the drink. A bad one will add little more than sugar and some kind of (usually artificial-tasting) orange flavor.
There are literally dozens of orange liqueurs on the market, be they triple secs or curaaos or otherwise named. Here are a few of my favorites, all of which make a fine margarita and are also tasty for sipping on their own.
COINTREAU (80 proof, or 40% alcohol by volume). For decades, Cointreau was to orange liqueurs what Kleenex is to facial tissues — the most recognized brand in its field. It’s still often referred to by name in cocktail recipes. But now that it’s facing stiff competition from old rivals and upstarts alike, how does it hold up? Well, it’s still pretty damn good. It’s got a beautiful sweet aroma of candied orange peel, and a heavy, forceful flavor that can stand up to the other ingredients in a ‘rita. It starts off sweet, but as it coats the tongue, the bitterness of the orange peel is unfurled, along with burnt sugar undertones and a little spicy kick. It finishes off long and lingering, with moderate alcoholic heat. Cointreau is a class act all the way, and you could do a hell of a lot worse by your margarita.
COMBIER (80 proof) & ROYAL COMBIER (76 proof). Combier is the world’s oldest triple sec, and it’s still going strong 176 years after Jean-Baptiste Combier first whipped up a batch in a small village in France. Combier is also currently the hippest triple sec among in-the-know bartenders and amateur mixologists, and with good reason — Combier (the original recipe) and Royal Combier have distinct flavor profiles, but they both make a damn good margarita.
L’Original Combier, as it’s now known, has a luscious and beautiful caramel/orange peel nose that’s not overpowering but not subtle either. On first blush, it’s almost candy sweet, but it really opens up with a nice balance of fruit, bitter orange peel and spice. It’s got a thick mouth feel. Yes, it’s sweet, but sipped neat it’s addictive and in a marg, it hits all the right notes.
Royal Combier takes the original Combier recipe and blends it with cognac and spices like nutmeg and cinnamon, making it a more complex and less exclusively orangey liqueur than L’Original. The cognac subdues the brightness of the orange and also adds a bit more alcoholic burn. It’s like a trombone compared to a trumpet – a little heavier, but it swings in its own groovy way. And like its sibling, Royal Combier is great in a margarita. In fact, the darker flavors make this perfect for an autumnal ‘rita… or two. (Do I hear three?)
SOLERNO (80 proof). Solerno is actually a blood orange liqueur, made in Sicily from Italian blood oranges and lemons. Solerno has been my go-to brand all summer; maybe it’s because of the gorgeous bottle? But you could stick this stuff in a Tupperware container and it would still taste great. It’s got a light, fruity scent, and the flavor is also comparatively light, with more of a citrus vibe than orange specifically — which I believe comes from the lemons. It tastes very fresh, with a light alcoholic burn at the finish and a slight sour aftertaste. I thought a liqueur this light would get overwhelmed in a margarita, but Solerno holds its own, really blending beautifully with the lime juice and rounding out even harsher tequilas. It’s also my favorite orange liqueur for sipping, hands-down.
GRAND MARNIER (80 proof). One of these liqueurs is not like the other, and just from looking at them it’s easy to tell which. All of the above-mentioned triple secs are distilled using neutral spirits (Royal Combier does add cognac later on), which gives them a clear appearance. Grand Marnier, on the other hand, uses a blend of cognacs and aged in French oak casks, giving it a golden amber color.
On the nose, Grand Marnier is very rich and dense, much more like a brandy than a liqueur. On the tongue, the candied orange peel/marmalade flavor opens up into lots of spice, and a pleasant alcoholic burn. You can really taste the sugars in this one, as well as the winey elements of the cognacs. In a nutshell, this stuff is delicious, and it makes for a unique margarita as well. If Royal Combier is perfect for an autumnal marg, then Grand Marnier is perfect for when you need a margarita fix in the dead of winter. Margaritas by the fire… now that’s an idea I can get behind.
OTHER NOTABLE ORANGES: There are plenty of other orange liqueurs/triple secs currently making waves which I either haven’t tried or haven’t got much to say about. Among the most noteworthy are Gran Gala (“Italy’s answer to Grand Marnier”), Patron Citronge (made by the folks who make Patron tequila) and Leopold Bros. American Orange Liqueur.
If you’re on a tight budget, there are plenty of cheap triple secs out there, most notably Bols. You get what you pay for — it’s not nearly as complex or refined as the orange liqueurs I’ve mentioned above — but it’s very popular and widely used in less hoity-toity bars. Think of Bols as the Budweiser of triple secs.
TEQUILA: I was going to lay off this area completely, because there are so many great tequilas and there’s so much to say about each one. But I felt compelled to mention Tequila Avion Silver, which is, bar none (so far), the best blanco (unaged) tequila I’ve ever had. Avion is making a big splash because it’s been prominently featured in the plot line of Entourage this season. Whether or not you’ve ever seen the show (I haven’t), you should believe the hype about this tequila. I find that blanco tequilas are best for using in mixed drinks like margaritas, where their bouyant flavor shines through, rather than sipping neat, when they can be a little harsh and/or overly sweet. But Avion is gorgeous, dry and super-smooth with prominent grassy notes, almost like a reposado. It’s beautiful for sipping or in a margarita. If you see it in your local liquor store (I believe right now it’s only available in New York, New Jersey and California), buy a bottle immediately.
DON’T TRY THIS AT HOME. While I was digging up all my orange liqueurs, I also came across a bottle of Orangerie, an orange-infused Scotch whisky from the good folks at Compass Box. It makes for a damn good sipping whisky on its own — the dry, light whisky blends beautifully with the bitter orange zest. So I figured, hell, why not try it in a margarita in place of triple sec? Alas, the experiment failed; if tequila and Scotch can mingle harmoniously in a cocktail, it’s not a margarita. But Orangerie has its place — preferably in a glass, neat or with an ice cube, and unsullied by tequila or lime juice.
LIME JUICE & MARGARITA MISCELLANY: All you need to remember about lime juice is this — if you’re using bottled lime juice (like Rose’s) instead of fresh-squeezed, you are committing a federal crime against Cocktail Nation, not to mention making a lousy margarita. Salting the rim of the glass is optional, depending on your taste. Glasses should ideally be chilled before use. And margaritas, since they combine spirits with fruit juice, should always be shaken, not stirred.
Love triple sec but don’t convinced that the margarita is a shorts-and-T-shirt drink exclusively? Well, I disagree, but… for a great cooler weather cocktail, try a Sidecar. It replaces tequila and lime juice with brandy (cognac) and lemon juice, and salt for the rim of the glass with sugar. The traditional recipe calls for equal parts cognac, triple sec and lemon juice, shaken and strained into a cocktail glass. I prefer to lower the lemon juice quotient and up the cognac so it’s the same ratio as a margarita — three parts cognac, two parts triple sec, one part lemon juice. You’ve got all fall to tinker with it as you please.

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Source:www.huffingtonpost.com

“Hit em! Take him down — harder! Knock him out.”
Are you among crazed spectators at a boxing match? Far from it — these comments are coming from “normal” parents at middle school or high school football games around the country. Worse yet, they may even be thrown around at Pee Wee Youth football games on Saturday mornings.
As a neurologist who specializes in brain injury and more importantly as a father and grandfather who has witnessed this phenomenon, I have a “dog in this fight.”
Helmet to Helmet
Just log on to YouTube and search “Helmet on Helmet” and you will find an alarming number of videos with even more disturbing comments from the viewers. The video I find the most disturbing is titled “Big Football Hit — Helmet to Helmet,” that shows two eight-year-olds in full football gear running toward each other, colliding and dramatically knocking one to the ground after a vicious helmet-to-helmet hit. You can hear the one boy crying and the shock in the videographer’s voice.
As bad as that visual is, check out the comments of the people who have enthusiastically viewed this clip: “I hope my kid hits like this” and “nobody cries in football.” One has to wonder if the coach who designed the drill and the people commenting lack the judgment of responsible adults or merely the knowledge?
Living in the Texas Hill Country and working in San Antonio, I see, up close, the “religion” of football. Early on, I said my son would never play football and then found myself transformed into a crazed parent, watching practice and screaming with the 15,000 fans who pack a typical game. I sheepishly admit that my only appointment television show is “Friday Night Lights,” justifying it as an intelligent show with a mature story line.
But, what is the risk of this family-oriented, team and character-building experience? I tell my son that every time I see my six-year-old grandson with another bump on his head that we are changing the list of colleges that he may be able to attend. We have to ask, what is the risk of letting our children participate in contact sports and what can be done to protect them?
CHRONIC TRAUMATIC ENCEPHALOPATHY (CTE)
In the last year, there has been great interest in protecting NFL players from brain injury and its long-term consequence, Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE). CTE is the result of multiple traumatic brain hits or concussions. It has been estimated that a college lineman experiences over 1,000 subconcussive head hits in an average season. Most people are unaware that a lineman in the three-point stance is the most vulnerable of all the players to a brain injury. CTE leads to early dementia, depression and personality changes.
ESPN, the Wall Street Journal and others have recently reported the findings of Dr. Ann McKee at Boston University. She found abnormal proteins in the spinal cords of three football players with ALS ( Lou Gehrig Disease) and repeated head injuries. The NFL has given Boston University one million dollars to study the problem. But, what about our children?
Although the population of NFL players is important, there are only 1,900 active NFL players each season. There are more than 3 million children playing football at the youth level and 1.2 million more playing high school football. This doesn’t even begin to count the number of kids playing soccer (heading the ball) and hockey (body checking). We have to ask whether we are taking adequate steps to protect our children – to change not just the equipment but the rules so that we reduce the chances of the players experiencing traumatic brain injuries.
It took data and deaths to force Congress and the NFL to act. What will it take to shift the warrior culture and parental mania of youth sports? Will the death of an 18-year-old high school football player who already showed signs of CTE be enough? The answers are coming in and “sports” enthusiasts may not like the answers, but parents had best pay attention and become advocates for their children.
A 2010 study in the Journal of the American Medical Association looked at the injury rate in youth hockey (11-12-year-olds) in Canadian leagues that allowed body checking and those that did not. Body checking was associated with 45-81 percent of the injuries and concussions were the most common injury. In the U.S., body checking is introduced at ages 11-12 years while some leagues wisely restrict it until ages 15-16. When body checking is allowed, there is a three-fold increase in all game-related injuries and concussions. As would be expected, the younger brain is immature and more susceptible to injury. Lighter and smaller players were also more likely to be injured. I can hear the father yelling at his fallen son, “Come on buddy, shake it off.”
If Teddy Roosevelt was able to change the rules in college football and reduce the number of injuries, we should be able to protect our children. I am not a coach, sports expert, or biomechanics engineer, but as a neurologist, I see the end result of what can only be termed neglect for the safety of our youth. Would you go so far to call it abuse?
What Need to Be Done
In this Time.com article, Sean Gregory, outlined areas that needed change, pointing out at the same time, that these are huge hurdles to overcome.
Change the rules: The evidence from Canada on body checking in hockey is clear. Similar analogies in USA football should also be clear, such as tackling and blocking. Take the head out of the game.
Change the equipment: Improvements are being made in helmets but at the same time, they may give the false impression that the head can now be safely used as a weapon.
Training and trainers: Big schools and organizations are more likely to have certified athletic trainers who understand the rules for when a player can return to play after a concussion. But, the majority of schools do not have certified trainers and most youth activities are lead by well-meaning parents with little or no training in the area of preventing sports injury or proper practice techniques.
Change the culture: This may be the most difficult step, for without it, coaches and parents will not be willing to change a game they frequently compare to combat. Will they deprive themselves of living vicariously through their children- even at the risk of serious injury?
As I write this, I am at our cabin in Idaho, not too far from Yellowstone Park. We have an increasing number of bear attacks because people foolishly approach a bear, thinking it is safe to get that close-up picture. I recently read the following analogy” If people are in the ocean and hear someone yell “shark” they race out of the water. If someone yells “bear” in Yellowstone, everyone races to get a close-up photograph.” They have not been properly educated on the dangers of close encounters with a bear.
The same is true for youth sports and brain injuries. There is a bear out there and people need to be educated and the rules need to be changed. Videos like those on YouTube should be relabeled as “Dangerous to Your Child’s Health.” Our children are getting injured and dying — it is time to wake up.

Source:www.huffingtonpost.com

If you receive a terminal diagnosis, you may be shocked or not, but one thing is very clear, you have some important decisions to make. Others can advise you and/or express their concerns, but ultimately it is you, and only you, who must decide what course of action to take. Do you want to try anything and everything available, both conventional and unconventional? Or, is your inclination to seek hospice or some other form of palliative care? Or, somewhere in between? The decision is yours.
Remember that everyone who expresses a point of view on what you should or should not do has a vested interest. Loved ones may feel strongly about a course of action other than the one you choose. It is also important to recognize that doctors are in the business of saving and preserving lives and, unfortunately, are focused on avoiding malpractice lawsuits as well. As a result, many doctors view the option of palliative care or hospice as a personal and professional failure and therefore do not introduce this option readily. Instead, most doctors are inclined to pursue ongoing medical treatment to slow the progression of the disease.
Here are several things to keep in mind when talking to doctors about a terminal diagnosis.
Before going to the appointment, remind yourself that this is your body, your life that you will be talking about. You have a right to your own point of view and your own beliefs and preferences regarding the end of your life’s journey.
Make a list of everything you want to discuss with the doctor ahead of time — all your questions and concerns.
If you haven’t already done so, be sure to appoint a Health Care Proxy to take charge of honoring your wishes if and when you are not able to advocate for yourself. If possible, have that person with you when you talk to your doctor. If they are not available, be sure to have someone else with you who can provide emotional support, take notes and help you to remember everything you wanted to discuss with the doctor as well as what the doctor has to say.
Take charge of the conversation. DO NOT let the dynamic be that of a one way conversation between a demi-god doctor and his or her patient. Doctors are neither gods nor magicians.
Before discussing what the doctor can or cannot do for you, take the time to share with him or her your personal beliefs and values about death and dying. If you have a Healthcare Proxy, Living Will and/or have filled out a Five Wishes form, provide your doctor with copies and review them together. This is your opportunity to inform your doctor of what kind of medical support and procedures you do and do not want and under what circumstances.
If you haven’t already done so, legally document your wishes using the above mentioned forms. Be sure your documentation is in accordance with the laws of the state in which you live. Go to your state government website to get current forms. If you are interested in using the Five Wishes form, be sure it is legally recognized in your State. You might find this website helpful.
Your doctor is an essential resource for you for both information and treatment. Ask your doctor to review your prognosis and the alternative forms of treatment available. For each protocol, ask the doctor to explain the risks, benefits, side effects of treatment and the probabilities of success or failure as well as a definition of what success or failure would look like and the probable time line.
Throughout your discussion, remember there is no such thing as a dumb question and you are entitled to whatever it takes for you to feel well informed to make a decision that is right for you.
Take your time. The doctor may be busy, but this is your turn and your life and you deserve your doctor’s full attention.
If your doctor does not bring up the topic of hospice or palliative care, do so yourself. Ask your doctor to explain his or her point of view of these services as well as what he or she believes would be your probable future should you choose to forgo further medical treatment and seek immediate palliative care.
If you need more time to make a decision, honor that. Don’t let anyone rush you. Once you have made up your mind about how aggressive or not you want your treatment to be, tell you doctor and be sure you have his or her full support of your choice. If not, you may need to find another doctor. If your choice is to go the route of hospice or palliative care, ask your doctor for a referral. Palliative care is not a death sentence. It is a matter of foregoing further medical attempts to prolong the duration of one’s life through medical interventions. At the same time, it is surrendering into the care of professionals who are dedicated to providing you and your loved ones with comfort and support for the remainder of your life’s journey. I often refer to my personal experience with hospice when my mother was dying as that of being abducted by angels. It was an extraordinary blessing. I only wish we had chosen that path sooner.
It is remarkable how many people with a terminal diagnosis report a heightened sense of being alive for the remainder of their journey. It is my wish that those of you facing a terminal diagnosis embrace your journey, using your remaining time to share yourself with your loved ones and to bring peace, balance and completion to your life.
Please feel free to leave a comment below, or contact me at judithjohnson@hvc.rr.com
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Source:www.huffingtonpost.com