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The USO’s OPERATION THRILLER has now begun. In the USO’s 69-year history, this is the first time the organization has sent authors to visit military personnel in a combat zone. Five members of the International Thriller Writers are participating: Steve Berry, Andy Harp, David Morrell, Douglas Preston and James Rollins. For the next week, each member will send a daily blog from the tour, starting with David Morrell writing about the crew’s visit to military hospitals in the Washington, D.C., area.
On Saturday, we were given the honor of spending time with wounded military personnel at the National Navy Medical Center and Walter Reed Army Medical Center. If there are any doubters about the quality of America’s youth, they need only to walk the halls of Bethesda and Walter Reed to be inspired by the courage and commitment of our combat veterans.
In an emotional six hours we visited with more than thirty of the wounded. Most were injured by IED explosions. Many were amputees, some with both legs missing. Almost all wanted to tell their vivid stories, as if they couldn’t believe what had happened, fulfilling a need to chase away the nightmare.
One Navy corpsman’s narrative was especially vivid — how his unit came under attack and he took shelter behind a wall, only to notice an IED planted on the other side. As he moved away from the bomb, someone stepped on a second device, detonating it. The corpsman was thrown 15 feet backward, landing in muddy water in a ditch. His next memory was of looking upward through the water and of feeling an amazing peace. Suddenly that peace was shattered as a member of hisunit yanked him from the water. “Check my femoral! Check my carotid!” he yelled, reaching into his medical kit to find a pressure bandage for a massive hole in his leg.
His story about the amazing peace he initially felt was told with frantic agitation, a stark contrast. Meanwhile his mother looked on with love and sorrow. In every room we encountered similar heartbreaking looks from parents, wives, sisters, girl friends, many of whom had traveled long distances to live near the hospital or in the rooms where the wounded are being treated. They knew without a moment’s hesitation the date on which the casualty occurred.
A wife told us that she and her husband would be going home in two and a half years. We assumed that she had made a mistake and meant two and a half months, but when questioned, she corrected us. “No, two and a half years. We won’t be going home until 2013.” Yet every wounded man wanted to rejoin his unit, even though many of them would be lucky to walk again. Moving from room to room, hearing their stories, hugging their loved one, we writers of invented action were humbled by meeting warriors who had lived the real thing, examples of heroism far beyond anything we could imagine.
God bless them all.
More reports to come.

Source:www.huffingtonpost.com

I need to begin this blog with a strong warning.
What you are about to see is a tragedy. Worse, it was a preventable tragedy. It is a story that puts a face on dogfighting. It is a story about one dog named Stallone.
This video will break your heart, and that doesn’t really say enough. Proceed carefully, but please proceed if you can — because from this achingly sad story it’s possible to do some good for untold thousands of dogs caught in the cruel teeth of dogfighting.
Stallone was one of hundreds of dogs rescued in July 2009 in the largest simultaneous raid of multiple dogfighting operations in the history of the United States. Following a lengthy investigation spurred by evidence collected by The Humane Society of Missouri, The Humane Society of the United States joined with officers from multiple federal and state law enforcement agencies in raids in Missouri, Mississippi, Nebraska, Illinois, Iowa, Texas, Oklahoma and Arkansas. Because of pending legal cases, this video only now can be made public.
You can see the video here.
You can help achieve something out of this achingly sad story with just the click of a mouse. We’ve entered the Pepsi Refresh project, and we could earn $250,000 to further our work on behalf of suffering animals like Stallone. Now through Nov. 30, we are asking for your votes to help put The HSUS in first place. You can vote twice a day — through the Pepsi Refresh website and via text message.
After voting, please also consider donating your Twitter or Facebook status to the project, sharing it on your Facebook wall, and forwarding it to friends via email. And to help keep the contest top of mind, we’ve created a daily email reminder to cast your votes, which you can sign up to receive here.
I conclude this blog the same way I started — with another warning: To dogfighters wherever you are. We will not rest until justice is served for the likes of Stallone and all his brother and sisters. He deserved better in life.
This post originally appeared on Pacelle’s blog, A Humane Nation.

Source:www.huffingtonpost.com

Economic times are tough. And, the winter months are coming. It’s a good time for global citizens, anti-poverty leaders and social entrepreneurs to stock up on reading material.
Whether a fact-filled economic history or a satiric novel, these ten books (listed alphabetically by author) about poverty, power and prosperity will provoke, inform and stimulate your thinking.
Bound Together by Nayan Chanda (Yale University Press, 2007). The subtitle, “How Traders, Preachers, Adventurers and Warriors Shaped Globalization,” hints at the breadth of the author’s reach. Love or hate globalization, this anthropological and economic history is a reminder that we are all, inescapably, global citizens.
Farewell to Alms by Gregory Clark (Princeton University Press, 2007). So many myths and mythologies surround our understanding about why some countries are rich and others poor. A provocative investigation into the cultural norms that impede economic development.
The Bottom Billion by Paul Collier (Oxford University Press, 2007). “Why the Poorest Countries Are Failing and What Can Be Done About It” reads the subtitle. A balanced, smart description and prescription on the big factors which anti-poverty activists need to know.
Portfolios of the Poor by Daryl Collins, Jonathan Murduch, Stuart Rutherford and Orlanda Ruthven (Princeton University Press, 2009). As the subtitle explains, learn about “how the world’s poor live on $2 a day.” This is a must-read bible for every social entrepreneur working on global poverty.
The Big Necessity by Rose George (Henry Holt & Company, 2008). Compelling and repelling, “the unmentionable world of human waste and why it matters” gets to the heart of the global public health challenge. A colonoscopy about changing the health, dignity and living conditions for three billion people.
The HIP Investor: Make Bigger Profits by Building a Better World by R. Paul Herman (John Wiley & Sons, 2010). Greed and good are the twin goals of this prescriptive book on social impact investing. Jam-packed with the perspective and tools needed for guilt-free stock market investing.
Last Orders at Harrods: An African Tale by Michael Holman (Little, Brown Book Group, 2008). Satiric novel about poverty and power. Humorous, readable, empathetic, but never paternalistic, portrayal of the poor.
Travels of a T-Shirt in the Global Economy by Pietra Rivoli (John Wiley & Sons, 2005). A readable expose about wasted taxpayer dollars and unfair market competition that simultaneously screws American consumers here and poor subsistence farmers overseas. The author documents the truth of H.L. Mencken’s acerbic wit: “Every decent person is ashamed of the government he lives under.” An issue worthy of Tea Party anti-big government hawks.
Poverty Capital by Ananya Roy (Routledge, 2010). Thoughtful, probing look at the economic development industry and its received wisdom. The popular microfinance movement is the book’s motif. The author thinks like an academic and writes like a poet.
50 Facts That Should Change the World by Jessica Williams (Disinformation Company, 2007). Jacob Harold at the Hewlett Foundation once told me, “Anger is a useful motivator for short-term social change; Love is more useful for long-term social change.” This book should make you angry enough to love a blog like this one.

Source:www.huffingtonpost.com

The little girl in the faded blue dress stood on a bare hillside in one of the most desperate slums in Africa, the mud-walled houses behind her packed so close together that their rusty tin roofs overlapped. She looked out across a steep ravine in Kibera, Kenya. A narrow, twisting open sewer cut along the red clay baseline. Off to the girl’s left, the mottled shanty rooftops looked like an old quilt, brown and gray after too many washings.
As the land climbed away from the little dirty waterway, it became grassy and green. And just far enough away to make them seem a little unreal you could see blocks of newly built apartment buildings, one trimmed in blue, another with red balconies.
The girl, Salome, 8 years old, a little small and a little thin for her age, murmured something to the girl beside her, Faith, age, 6, also in old clothing and worn sandals. A little boy translated. “They want to move to the better houses,” the boy said. He did, too.
Being poor and young in Africa does not mean that you cannot dream. But for millions upon millions of young Africans, the chances of the dreams coming true are pretty remote. There are too many people and not enough of all the things they need, not enough decent places to live, not enough schools and teachers, hospitals and doctors. If you get really sick you stand a good chance of dying.
Even the most basic things are missing in the Kibera slum on the edge of Nairobi. It is a very rare family that has even a single water faucet beside their mud-walled house. Most people buy jugs and buckets of water from slightly more well-off neighbors who put up storage tanks and buy in bulk from the city of Nairobi or simply steal city water from corroded municipal water lines. Very few people have toilets.
Wood smoke from cooking fires drifts down the dirt lanes in Kibera. Corn on the cob roasts on makeshift grills and chunks of meat and fish sizzle in pots of hot oil. Fat, indolent flies jitterbug in slow motion on the cooking food. The people with houses on the main dirt roads take advantage of their location and put out things to sell: flashlights, combs, nail clippers, shoes, old clothes, bunches of bananas, slabs of meat. The slum is a town, a very poor town.
The lack of sanitation makes diarrhea a constant. People just put up with it. Some develop immunities to the bacteria and parasites in the water and even in the air. Young children and pregnant women often do not do well. Around the world, about 2 million people, mostly children under 5 and young mothers, die each year from diarrhea and other diseases picked up from the only water available for them to drink. Many of the casualties come in places like Kibera and in distant villages where it is less crowded, but where there is no one to help when illness comes. At least in Kibera there are half a dozen clinics for a t least several hundred thousand people. The clinics often have no medicine or doctors, but nurses are usually around in the mornings.
At one of the clinics a nurse said that when there is no medicine on hand — which is most of the time — they write prescriptions for patients. Sometimes other clinics fill the prescriptions for free. But sometimes the only way to get medicine is to buy it.
“Many times, you don’t have money,” the nurse said. She seemed to be speaking from the heart and I decided that publishing her name might get her in trouble. “You have to decide, do I buy the medicine or do I buy food? You buy food.”
The little girl in the faded blue dress stood on the bare hillside, maybe a mile or so from the clinic. Four scrawny goats wobbled past her, taking care not to lose their footing on the steep, red clay. The goats came close to bumping into the girl, but she did not move. She may not have even noticed the goats.
She and her friend Faith had their eyes fixed on those new apartment buildings. The girls could only imagine what it would be like to live in the new clean buildings of cement and glass, each apartment with its own running water and toilet, each freshly painted with bright trim work. The girls did not speak. They just stood there for the longest time, so close yet so far.

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Source:www.huffingtonpost.com

As the days get shorter and the last of the leaves fall, summer seems far away. But this week, hundreds of experts and educators are meeting in Indianapolis at the National Conference on Summer Learning to talk about what happens to too many kids over the summer — they slide backwards in their academic skills.
I remember summers as a time for swimming or sunbathing, holed up with a book, or I admit, watching television. Nowadays, many kids, particularly those whose parents have the resources, spend at least several weeks in enrichment camps, honing their artistic or athletic skills, or even advancing their academic ones. I sentenced my own 10 year old to two weeks of math camp last summer as a complement to the baseball, basketball, and tennis camps he prefers.
But for millions of kids, summer is a setback to school success. According to the National Summer Learning Association, the “summer slide” leaves students two months behind where they ended the year in reading and math. In fact, more than half of the achievement gap between lower- and higher-income youth can be explained by unequal access to summer learning opportunities.
The antidote is not necessarily more hours in the classroom. Summer is a chance for youth to do what time, physical, and curricular constraints don’t let them do during the regular school year.
An idea I’ve been promoting for a long time is to make the summer a time of service for young teens. Because of the critical nature of the middle-school years, I am convinced a focus on students undergoing this important transitional period may be as beneficial developmentally as it is practical.
Working families are often hard-pressed to pay for supervision for young teenagers during the summer, but government funding for child care programs focuses on younger age groups. Summer school is often only for those who are struggling, not those who want to expand their horizons. Federal law prohibits young teens from working, and older teens have the highest unemployment rate of any age group. As a result, most young people making the difficult transition from middle to high school have no organized activities during periods when they are out of school, and many are left unsupervised, at risk of engaging in potentially harmful activities.
The establishment of a “Summer of Service” rite for young Americans of all backgrounds could help them find a sense of purpose at a pivotal age, hone their civic engagement skills, and expose them to role models in the community. It might even help combat summer slide.
Imagine what such a rite might look like. At age 13, when young teens are leaving middle school for high school, they might spend four weeks of their summer engaged in an intensive service-learning project, working in teams led by older youths, young adults, or even community “elders.” This service would be an expectation but not a requirement, and community groups might offer options that would appeal to a wide range of interests.
I was pleased that a “Summer of Service” demonstration program was included in the Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act, thanks to the leadership of Innovations in Civic Participation. As a result, last summer young teens scoured beach picnic areas in Bradenton, Florida, for broken glass, transformed a vacant lot in Philadelphia into a community park, and launched a campaign in Alexandria, Virginia, to discourage disposing of medicines in the sewage system.
In Seattle, a team of youth, supervised by AmeriCorps members, became part of the city’s redevelopment of Othello Park, a hotbed of gang activity that kept residents away. In fact, most of the youth lived in the neighborhood but had never used the park. To discourage crime and make the landscape more welcoming, the youth cleared invasive blackberry bushes (which shielded spaces for criminals to congregate) and laid fresh mulch to protect native trees. They also provided feedback on the park’s redevelopment plan on ways to increase the park’s youth appeal.
Despite the backbreaking work performed by many young participants, all were interested in serving another season in the program. And the vast majority indicated that if they were not participating in SOS, they would be bored, watching television, or hanging out with friends.
While small, the Summer of Service program could be scaled up in the future to serve the needs of communities and young people across the United States. To help with summer slide, these programs could incorporate cross-age tutoring as an activity, where the youth read with younger kids, play math-related games, or work together on a service-learning activity.
Developing a national system to enable all young people to participate in service as a rite of passage would be possible if the system were built on the existing infrastructure of service and youth programs. It could be integrated into summer camps, community-based youth organizations, youth corps, AmeriCorps programs, or schools interested in service-learning.
Over time, a summer of service before high school could become a rite of passage — enabling young people to enter their teenage years with a positive experience that reinforces their connections to the community, enlivens their education, and strengthens their personal and civic values. At the same time, communities across America might find an important new resource in their own backyards — young people who are ready to serve, if only they are asked.

This Blogger’s Books from
The American Way to Change: How National Service and Volunteers Are Transforming America
by Shirley Sagawa
The Charismatic Organization: Eight Ways to Grow a Nonprofit that Builds Buzz, Delights Donors, and Energizes Employees
by Shirley Sagawa, Deborah Jospin

Source:www.huffingtonpost.com

Judy Gross, the wife of the USAID subcontractor Alan Gross detained by Cuba for nearly a year, is playing a more public role on his behalf.
On October 24th Reuters published an interview of Judy by Anthony Boadle which for the first time expressed their remorse for his actions and said he was “not clearly told the risks”, presumably by the prime contractor, Development Alternatives Incorporated (DAI).
This appeared to be a breakthrough after months of official spin that Alan was completely innocent. It followed the pattern of family members expressing regret for relatively minor infractions of local law by Americans arrested in North Korea, charged for political reasons with espionage and then released with the intervention of former Presidents Clinton and Carter.
The interview added more plausible explanation of why Gross is still being held than the red herring voiced by both Cuba solidarity and pro-embargo figures that it is to trade for one or more of the Cuban Five.
Judy also introduced an explanation of his actions that offered a face saving exit for both governments: blame DAI, a prototypical belt-way bandit staffed with former USAID personnel. Its income from USAID and other government contracts derives in part from farming work out to subcontractors and its self-protective spin on Alan’s case has not helped him.
Meanwhile, the Cubans are holding Gross hostage as an example of a foreigner who broke their laws, his wife said.
“If Alan thought something was going to happen to him in Cuba, he would not have done this. I feel he was not clearly told the risks,” she said.
An anonymous quote in the New York Times story the next day undermined the benefit of the Reuters interview:
A lawyer who represents Mrs. Gross said she wanted news of the letter to coincide with debates about Cuba — Latin America’s last Communist outpost — that are scheduled to begin Monday at the United Nations and in the European Union.
Like press releases from a Washington law firm which coincided with US-Cuba migration talks, it does not help generate sympathy in Cuba for Alan’s case to appear to throw sand in the wheels of a larger political process in order to pressure Havana.
However, reporter Ginger Thompson also added to our understanding of what is going on behind the scenes:
He was detained last December while traveling in Cuba as part of a semi-covert program of the United States Agency for International Development, the foreign assistance arm of the State Department, aimed at undermining the Cuban government.
American officials have acknowledged that Mr. Gross entered Cuba without the proper visa, and have said he was distributing satellite telephones to religious groups…
In an effort to win Mr. Gross’s release, administration officials and Congressional aides said USAID had quietly changed the way it administers its programs in Cuba, shifting the focus from those intent on “regime change” to those that support educational exchanges and the growth of small businesses.
The latest development is a November 7 letter by Judy Gross in the Miami Herald. Loyally she insists on Alan’s good intentions and omits any reference to remorse or inadequate warnings, but suggests creatively how resolution of his case could serve both countries.
It is hard to believe that the case of a 61-year-old American Jew and Cuban music aficionado may hold the key to the future of U.S.-Cuba relations.
I am not a foreign affairs expert, but I have learned recently that when it comes to the decades-old impasse between Washington and Havana, nothing should surprise us.
My husband, Alan P. Gross, was arrested in Cuba on Dec. 3, 2009, for bringing satellite equipment to the Jewish community…
Before this fateful trip, Alan had visited Cuba several times and never been in trouble. When Alan arrived in Havana, he declared to the Customs authorities what he was bringing into the country. Alan’s only wish was to help Cuba’s tiny Jewish community gain access to the Internet so that they could be in touch with each other and with Jews around the world…
It is clear to me that Alan is being held as a political pawn by two governments that refuse to change course in the way they relate to each other. I can understand Havana’s distaste for U.S. measures it considers interference in its internal affairs, but I can also appreciate the notion that the ability to communicate with one another is a basic human right…
This is my plea to Presidents Obama and Castro: Be different from your predecessors, change the tide of bilateral relations. I call on President Obama, in whom my husband believes so much, to not forget his pledge of a “new beginning” in relations with Cuba. And I call on President Castro to continue working on improving Cuba’s human rights record. To both, I beg: Do not make Alan’s case an excuse to fall further apart, but rather an example of a new era in U.S.-Cuba relations.
Washington has always held the key to Alan Gross’s release as there was never any doubt that undertaking a democracy program funded by USAID violated well established Cuban law. The question is whether the political will now exists to turn it.
President Carter or Clinton can be asked to help, or perhaps the First Lady could accompany Judy Gross to bring her husband home.

Follow John McAuliff on Twitter:
www.twitter.com/cubaaction

Source:www.huffingtonpost.com

The Borowitz Report has obtained an advance copy of former President George W. Bush’s memoir, entitled I Can Has Prezidensy. Here are some highlights:
The book contains a “Where’s Waldo?” foldout section with WMDs.
Bush says the biggest disappointment of his eight years in office was learning there was no Santa Claus
The book’s appendix includes a series of connect-the-dot drawings Bush was unable to complete
Bush on the unfinished business of his Presidency: “I never did learn how that neat story about the goat ended.”
Bush’s memoir is a quick read, since 95% of it has been redacted by Dick Cheney
Six months after the book’s publication there will be an English-language version
In other news, former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin blasted President Obama for meeting with Indians: “This isn’t Thanksgiving.” Continue reading here.
The Los Angeles Times says Andy Borowitz has “one of the funniest Twitter feeds around.” Follow Andy on Twitter here.

This Blogger’s Books from
The Borowitz Report: The Big Book of Shockers
by Andy Borowitz
The Republican Playbook
by Andy Borowitz

Follow Andy Borowitz on Twitter:
www.twitter.com/BorowitzReport

Source:www.huffingtonpost.com

As the Indian/South Asian community has grown over the recent years, its arts have gained a foothold on the New York cultural scene — especially through its diverse cinema available through many DVD shops, theaters, film organizations and on-going film festivals. Throughout the fall, South Asian film festivals have not only proliferated but have carved out a solid niche in New York’s festival calendar.
Four festivals (and lots of other events for that matter) have taken place — or will — in recent months that showcase South Asian cinema or films from the South Asian diaspora. Of the four, I View Film Festival 2010, was the eye-opener — no pun intended. Running from September 18th-26th, 2010, this fest’s third edition essentially kicked off the season; it screened over 25 features and docs, first at Asia Society, then in the Tribeca Film Center and Big Cinemas on East 60th St.
Backed by the transnational arts and human rights organization Engendered, whose larger cultural mission is focused on exploring the complex realities of gender and sexuality in the South Asian Diaspora, the fest showcased provocative film fare that challenged expectations about South Asian cinema and South Asian culture in general.
Based in New York, Engendered presents this annual four-part festival to bring together the best in contemporary South Asian performance, music, visual arts, and film. Both a political and aesthetic festival, Engendered uses the arts to “create change and promote social justice by initiating public dialogue around women’s issues, gender inequity, sexual orientation, and minority and health rights.”
Given the conservative nature of both traditional Hindu and Muslim culture, it provided a chance to peer into the mainstream society and how those on the margins — whether they be of a gay or transgressive nature — have to manage to survive within it.
Discussions and panels with key cast members, film personalities, and academics followed emphasizing a critical dialogue was integral to the festival. This effort brought together a body of bold and contemporary cinematic work that provides a new lens with which to view South Asian cinema. The opening film, director Onir’s I Am, in its North-American Premiere, detailed four stories of people coping with alternate sexualities in modern India. [Pictured left: famed director Mira Nair and protege director Mahreen Jabbar at I-View]
Another highlight of this festival was a special NY Premiere screening of Bhutto, the critically acclaimed Sundance documentary, which I got to see. The doc detailed the rise, fall and ultimately, assassination of the Benazir Bhutto — the first woman to held a Muslim nation. The panel afterwards prompted some controversial interplay about her role in Pakistani society and politics.
Nearly a month later, the first Himalaya Film Festival — a European transplant — took place at the Village-based Quad Cinema from Friday, October 22 – 28, 2010. Offering films from India and Bhutan, Nepal, and Tibet, it focused on those countries the lie above India’s mountainous northern border. The fest’s 31 films, highlighted breathtaking images of these four countries, their dramatic landscapes, fascinating scenes of everyday life, a sense of heart-warming people, cultural gems and colorful festivals.
The festival celebrated the hearty people of the Himalayan region their culture, nature and politics: it was a virtual opportunity to experience what inspires the people living on top of the world.
A week later, The South Asian International Film Festival (SAIFF) took place at the SVA theater from October 27 – Nov 2, 2010. Dedicated to spotlighting South Asian/Indian filmmakers in the U.S and those who seek greater visibility and distribution, the fest — now in its 7th year — was founded to support the many emerging filmmakers and the overall under-representation of Indian cinema in a capital that is recognized by the world as the birthplace of independent filmmaking.
It exhibited films from South Asia (India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, and Nepal) and from the Indian Diaspora. With a focus on dynamic, visionary cinema, SAIFF annually offers exposure for new filmmakers and an unparallel experiences for attendees. In past years they had shown such breakthrough films as Ramchand Pakistani. For more information, visit: www.saiff.org.
Closing out the fall season will be the Mahindra Indo-American Arts Council (MIAAC) Film Festival the longstanding stalwart now enjoying its 10th anniversary. Scheduled for November 10-14, 2010, at various venues throughout the city, it has been New York City’s premier Indian film festival having had the New York debuts of such acclaimed films as Danny Boyle’s Oscar-winning Slumdog Millionaire (which garnered critical and commercial success worldwide), critically respected Indian filmmaker Deepa Mehta’s Heaven on Earth and many others.
In addition, both the Film Society of Lincoln Center and MoMA have presented many features, docs, and shorts from and about the Indian subcontinent. And there is The Big Cinemas a recently Manhattan theater house (239 East 59th St. between 3rd and 2nd Av.) primarily dedicated to screening first and second-run South Asian films.

Source:www.huffingtonpost.com

Google at Frankfurt Book Fair. Sue Frause photo.
Flying over the holidays? If so, good news for Wi-Fi in the sky users.
Google Chrome has teamed up with AirTran Airways, Delta and Virgin America to offer free Gogo Inflight Wi-Fi on all domestic flights between Nov. 20, 2010 and Jan. 2, 2011. All you need is a Wi-Fi enabled laptop or mobile device.
If you haven’t tried Chrome yet, you can download it here.

Follow Sue Frause on Twitter:
www.twitter.com/suefrause

Source:www.huffingtonpost.com

On a Saturday night in late October, the Indonesian Embassy in Washington hosted a special screening of the movie “Eat Pray Love,” in which Julia Roberts’s character spends time in Bali coping with heartache. This light-hearted diplomatic foray will no doubt be used to draw attention to the more attractive realities of contemporary Indonesia–its landscape, its food, its cultural richness.
Over the previous week, however, a rather different movie about Indonesia has garnered some attention in Washington. The grainy, jerky 10-minute video, taken on a mobile phone, shows two men from Indonesia’s easternmost province of Papua being horribly tortured by members of the Indonesian military. The elder of the two men screams in pain as the soldiers repeatedly burn his genitals with a smoldering piece of wood; the younger man bears a look of abject terror as a large knife is shifted from his throat to his face. No attractive realities of contemporary Indonesia are on display here, and Indonesian authorities have admitted the video is not a work of fiction.
As President Barack Obama embarks on his much-awaited visit to Jakarta, it’s the 10-minute grainy video, not the Hollywood blockbuster, that merits his attention.
The administration’s public rhetoric to date has borne a closer resemblance to the “Eat Pray Love” version of Indonesia. The Pentagon, after resuming assistance to the notoriously abusive Indonesian special forces, announced before the Papua torture video came to light that not only has the Indonesian military “undertaken several critical institutional reforms,” it has also “made great strides in institutionalizing human rights training.” Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and the National Security Council have in recent months publicly extolled Indonesia’s democratic virtues, but had precious little to say about Indonesia’s ugly side.
To be sure, the Indonesia of today would have been all but unthinkable two decades ago. Since emerging from dictatorship in 1998, Indonesia has had peaceful transfers of power through democratic elections. It has multiple political parties, and dozens of press outlets and non-governmental organizations.
But push through some of the rhetoric, and some significant problems persist. Gains in freedom of expression have been compromised by a spate of criminal defamation cases, some of which entail officials suing citizens who have done nothing more than criticize them. Indonesia’s enhanced regional standing has yet to translate into vigorous diplomacy that challenges ASEAN’s safety blanket of “non-interference.” And, in a country known for its pluralism and tolerance, religious intolerance appears to be on the rise, with a spate of attacks on Christian churches, threats by a government minister to ban the Ahmadi religious community, and Koran burnings.
Impunity for members of the security forces may be the most significant failure of Indonesia’s transition to date. No justice has been done for widespread atrocities committed in plain sight of the United Nations–and the world– during the UN-brokered referendum in East Timor in 1999. Families of student leaders “disappeared” in the late 1990s have yet to see anyone held criminally responsible in a civilian court. Few even contemplate looking further back to the countless abuses that accompanied Suharto’s more than three decades of authoritarian rule.
In the past two weeks, the Indonesian government has pledged a military investigation into the Papua video. But it is precisely such investigations of the military by the military– lacking independence, impartiality, and transparency–that have contributed to impunity. It is this reality that gives soldiers the sense they can commit gross abuses, film it, and get away with it. Moreover, after admitting that the perpetrators in the video were indeed soldiers, and pledging to swiftly investigate and prosecute, it became clear last week that no such steps had in fact been taken. Those who tortured continue to serve with impunity.
Worst of all, while I was debating whether to attend the Embassy’s screening, an email–with yet another video that appears to show soldiers mistreating captives–made the decision for me.
The Obama administration is right to praise the steps Indonesia has taken, but it does no one any good to pursue a public line about Indonesia that sounds like the stuff of Hollywood. When the administration has acknowledged some of these problems, it has done so reluctantly, and rarely in public. Helping Indonesia truly become what the administration describes–entrenching a judicial system that holds all wrongdoers to account, holding the military genuinely accountable to civilian authorities, and vigorously defending the rights of its most vulnerable citizens–requires that those problems continue to share top billing.

Source:www.huffingtonpost.com

Her Majesty Queen Rania of Jordan and Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa joined hundreds of teen girls at a rally in Los Angeles on Friday to raise awareness and funds to help adolescent girls in developing countries around the world.
They told me that they wanted to make girls in other countries happier. They wrote letters to their sisters, telling them to stay strong. And they met a Queen.
The Marlborough School gym was buzzing on Friday afternoon with teen and pre-teen girls from 20 area middle and high schools. Arriving from public, private, and charter schools in the Los Angeles area, these girls joined together to kick off the Girl Up “Unite for Girls Tour,” launching a movement of girl power across the country to help their peers in developing countries.
“I was shocked when I learned that some girls in developing countries are in arranged marriages as early as 4 or 5 years old. I think that is so terrible. That shouldn’t be happening anywhere,” said Ann Marie, a senior at Marlborough School, in an interview with me at the rally. “It’s great that Girl Up is aware of this, and is encouraging other girls to get involved and help change this.”
Girl Up, a campaign of the United Nations Foundation, was developed to give American girls the opportunity to express their compassion for adolescent girls in the developing world. These programs provide girls the ability to go to school, see a doctor, access clean water, and stay safe from violence.
I was really impressed with the depth of connection the girls at the rally were making with their peers living thousands of miles away. These girls were truly moved by what they were learning and felt wholeheartedly that they could make a difference.
“We are so proud that the United Nations Foundation has launched Girl Up to give girls in America an opportunity to become global leaders themselves, and then in the meantime be supporting their sisters overseas,” said Elizabeth McKee Gore, Executive Director of the United Nations Foundation, in an interview with me before the rally. “Just in the short two months since we’ve launched this campaign we’ve already seen over 5,000 girls step up and say they want to lead by already donating their time, their money, and their voice.”
Take Olivia, for example, an 11-year-old girl from Larchmont Charter in Los Angeles, who told me she was shy. But when I asked her what she was most excited by at the event, she lit up and said: “I am excited about seeing what I can do to make these girls in other countries happier.” She then added, “I want them to know that I will do the best I can to make things different for them.”
At the rally, the girls traveled through an interactive display, with a passport in hand, to learn about what girls their same age are going through in Malawi, Guatemala, Liberia, and Ethiopia, and how they can support them.
At one station, girls were invited to write letters to their peers in Liberia. Audrey, a ninth grader at Marlborough School, told me: “I wrote a letter to a girl in Liberia and told her not to lose hope and to stay strong because, while she might be going through really hard times, if she stays strong she will be able to get through it.”
As many of these girls may not get to go overseas to learn firsthand what it is really like for their peers, the Unite for Girls Tour aims to raise their awareness by bringing them information that is otherwise is not part of their everyday curriculum.
For example, at another station, Sarah, a junior at Notre Dame Academy, learned that a girl her age in Malawi can’t go to school because she can’t afford a school uniform. When Sarah learned that she could give five dollars to help this girl in Malawi get a uniform, and that this in effect, could change her life, Sarah gave what Girl Up calls a “High Five.” She donated five dollars.
These small moments before the main event gave me such great hope for the possibilities and potential that the Girl Up campaign has to offer.
Then things got even more energized. The buzz grew louder. Girl Up Global Advocate, Her Majesty Queen Rania of Jordan, arrived at the rally.
Dressed in white, looking radiant and like the powerful feminine leader that she is, Queen Rania took the stage: “I know I’ve got the right crowd to talk to about a crisis that is unraveling in our world today. It’s a crisis affecting million of girls — girls your age — and how they are robbed of their rights, their dignity, and their futures every single day.” She explained: “I want to talk to you about how you can reach out and help raise them up.”
Queen Rania: Are you ready to help?
The girls: “YES!”
Queen Rania says that when a girl is educated, it has cascading effects. “If we can give girls even the smallest chance, girls can make the biggest change.”
Queen Rania invited girls to visit GirlUp.org, and do the following:
1.Take five minutes to learn about the issues that girls face in the developing world.
2.Share five facts through your social networks: Tweet, Facebook, and blog.
3.Send the Girl Up campaign’s Manifesto to five people, asking for their support.
4.Give $5 or more to provide school supplies or a doctor check-up for a girl.
5.Host a Girl Up fundraiser to raise money for the Girl Up campaign.
“If we give these girls here in the United States a chance to give back, to donate, to use their voice, or just go to their school and say ‘I care about this,’ we might see a new generation of what we are calling “Philanthro-Teens,” said Elizabeth McKee Gore.
The Unite for Girls Tour will be visiting cities across the United States to educate and energize girls to take action in support of their sisters overseas.
I keep thinking of what Jules, a senior at Marlborough School, said to me when I asked her what message she wanted to impart to girls her age in developing countries: “I want them to know that we are the same, and we are not as far from them as they may think.”
To support the Girl Up campaign and learn more, go to GirlUp.org.
All photos by Howard Pasamanick (except final photo by Tabby Biddle).

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President Obama, in his address to the Indian Parliament, announced that the US would support India’s bid for a permanent seat on the UN Security Council. This represents a significant public recognition by the world’s only superpower that India — not only as the globe’s largest democracy, but also a military power which has supplied troops to UN peacekeeping missions and also an emerging economic power — should now be accorded a perch on the Council which decides all on war and peace matters for the planet.
The only other nation which the US has backed for such an honor is Japan. But the American advocacy really is only symbolic. For India to achieve this long-sought goal, just like Japan, it must pass through a series of formidable hurdles.
First, it must gain the approval of the other four nations (China, Russia, France and Great Britain) that currently have permanent seats on the Council, any of whom can cast a veto against status changes on the Council. And it is well-known that China, the only Asian nation with permanent standing, has reservations about its neighboring Asian states gaining a presence on the Council and would likely at this time block the entries of both India and Japan.
Second, even the US backing has its own hedge. Obama, in his speech, said that he first wanted a “reformed” Security Council that includes India. But what does Washington mean by “reformed.” Probably it means that, before India’s request should be acted upon, the Council’s membership must be expanded to at least 21 or 22 countries. And there also may be other changes that the US will insist on.
In addition, there is the question of whether India, if it does get voted onto the Security Council, gets the seat with a veto or without one. The five permanent members will have a say in that decision — and the issue will be whether India would accept a spot sans the veto.
Finally, the newest criteria for permanent membership is whether a country can, as Obama stated in his speech, show that “with increased power comes with increased responsibility.” In other words, a nation must be able to look beyond its own narrow interests to the broader needs of the world if it wants to serve on the Council.
For India, that test actually comes right now because it is just beginning a term on the Council as one of the ten rotating two-year members. Its participation for the next 24 months could be a trial run for whether it can perform as a “responsible” party. But, meantime, India’s dreams of an early promotion to “superpower” status on the Council remain just that for the moment — dreams.

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It’s an odd story in a way. One day a Texas gal from a ranching family falls in love with the ocean. She loves being in the water and the underwater world, and she has a life-changing 45-minute underwater encounter with a Cephalopod about the size of her thumb. Octopi are Cephalopods and scientists think they could be smarter than we are; some fringy researchers believe Cephalopods might be aliens from outer space or divine beings. Anyway, if you’re going to hang around with a Cephalopod for 45 minutes, you’re probably going to have what the Texan called “a seminal moment.” It changed her life.
Over a span of thirty-five years, her above- water and underwater journey has taken her from the Texas Panhandle to Micronesia to Polynesia and the Caribbean, to work on coastal management, economic development, and research. Now she is a digital activist working to save our seas. Her name is Charlotte Vick, and she’s the curator of the Explore the Ocean layer in Google Earth.
To understand what Google Ocean is, you download Google Earth, a free application that runs on your computer and allows you to fly over the globe like Superman or Wonder Woman. It’s pretty hard to describe without actually experiencing it, but it gets a little stranger when you dive in and fly under the water, kind of like Aquaman. Once you’re swimming around in your virtual sea you find, embedded right in the water, videos and images and articles that have been contributed by the likes of National Geographic, Lindblad Expeditions, The Cousteau Society and Dr.Sylvia Earle.
This is turbocharged armchair traveling, powered by the collective knowledge of the world’s best ocean scientists and explorers.
Google Earth is “part of Google’s mission to organize the world’s knowledge and make it universally accessible,” Charlotte said in an interview with me.
I’m thinking that sounds impossible and cocky. Thing is, though, it’s happening, and with Google Ocean, happening in a way that is reinventing media. Giants in the nature film industry like MacGillivary Freeman Films are posting in Google Ocean, and also small-time but knowledgeable naturalists with flip cams.
“It’s taking the storytelling of people who have been in the water and are fairly bursting with stories about what’s important to pay attention to in the ocean. You’re giving them an outlet to do that,” said Charlotte. It’s a global experience on your desktop, one you can’t be part of without appreciating the value of the oceans. I think it could turn everyone into a digital activist. It’s essential that everyone in the world realize that their very lives depend on keeping the oceans healthy.
Healthy oceans produce oxygen for us to breathe. The oxygen is produced by phytoplankton, bacteria and other tiny ocean creatures who make life on Earth possible for you and me.
Here’s a digital experience that puts you in touch with the natural world, helps you appreciate some of the tiniest beings on the planet who produce the oxygen we breathe, and encounter the dedicated work of a Texan from the Panhandle who discovered a love for the ocean. What Charlotte Vick is doing resonates with me for another reason though, and probably the same reason her work resonates with other natural-science filmmakers. She’s taking what scientists do and turning it into a story everyone can relate to. By the way, Charlotte told me that ocean scientist Sylvia Earle also had an encounter with an octopus — and this one’s on video.

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Members of Mt. Desolation are already established in respective well-regarded, successful bands. One would think that would be enough for each of them, but it’s not. No, they want more…more! (I slam my fist on the table.) I’m kidding on the tone, but probably not the story.
Mt. Desolation is the side project of Tim Rice-Oxley and Jesse Quin of Keane, which features members of Noah & The Whale, Killes, The Long Winters, and Mumford & Sons’ Jessica Staveley Taylor, Fimbo, John-William Scott and Phil Renna). The alt-somewhat country-band just dropped their debut album, and it’s the antithesis of its first single “Bitter Pill.” See what I did there? Anyway, I caught up with Quin, who taps the bass and percussion with Keane, and asked him exactly what this project means for him and, most importantly um, my dad. Read on…
How’d you come up with the band name?
It come from a Jack Kerouac book called The Dharma Bums. If you haven’t read it, I strongly suggest you do. It’s beautiful.
I haven’t, but may. Isn’t it enough for each of you to be in one successful band? How dare you attempt and succeed in another one?
We’re only doing it for the money. And women. And fame. So far it’s not working out.
What does this band offer you that Keane cant?
Tim and I are friends with a fair few really great musicians and I guess the main reason for doing Mt. Desolation was to get a chance to get all those people in one place and try and record something. It was really nice just to hang out, let alone actually finish a whole album.
Well said. Are you each fans of your respective bands?
Tim and I are massive fans of every musician on the record and all their various bands and projects. Whether they’re fans of Keane is another question. I’d like to hope they are but I wouldn’t hold it against them if they weren’t. Although, I’d probably burn their band’s records in public. And tell everyone that they were satanists.
And you’d be justified in saying so. Is this a side project or in your eyes just as important as Keane?
Everything musical we do is a valuable learning experience and a great pleasure but I think I speak for both of us when I say that our first love will always be Keane.
If I could ask you the question I should have asked first but didn’t, how did you form Mt. Desolation in the first place?
We were having a few beers at a pub in Dublin one night when we on tour with Keane. I think we were talking about country music for some reason and how fun it would be to make a whole album live with all our friends in one day. It turned out both of us already had a couple of country sounding songs hidden away in the vaults so that made the whole thing seem like it might actually be doable.
What has the experience been like to play the album live?
So much fun. It’s exciting being a baby band and playing to small crowds who don’t particularly know your music, it feels like you have to work even harder for them to enjoy the show. It’s a lot more tiring than normal touring traveling everywhere in a little van instead of a tour bus is great but means lots of early starts which usually follow late nights. And setting/packing up our own gear has reminded us just how amazing the Keane crew are. Loading the van at the end of the night feels great because you know you’re work is done and you can go for a beer.
Unrelated to anything, will you write a song about my dad?
That depends. Will he write one about us in exchange? And will he want a cut of the publishing when our one becomes a global phenomenon?
You bet he will! Anyways, I have to cut this interview short. Lastly, where do you find the time to write songs for this band on top of your other one?
We just steal them from other bands. Actually, I think we’re probably just workaholics. Writing music is quite addictive.

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Fossil fuels have powered human growth and ingenuity for centuries. Now that we’re reaching the end of cheap and abundant energy, we’re in for an exciting ride. While there’s a real risk of falling off a cliff, there’s still time to control our transition to a post-carbon future.
And now, for your viewing and sharing pleasure we bring you 300 YEARS OF FOSSIL FUELED GROWTH IN 5 MINUTES:

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Battered at home by last week’s Republican landslide, President Barack Obama headed to India to seek solace in foreign policy.
The president’s state visit also marked the continuation of President George W. Bush’s entente with the rising Asian power. After six decades of hostility and distrust, the United States and India appear set on a course of warm relations and strategic cooperation.
One million talented Indians already live in the United States, with many more to come. They already play an important fundraising role in US politics.
The catalyst for US-Indian amity was the 9/11 attacks that shocked the US and India into an alliance of convenience against foes in the Muslim world. But the looming threat of China also played a key role. To Republican strategists, the most obvious way to contain China’s growing power was to build up its great rival India as a counterweight.
India is now the latest international Klondike. Its $1,070 trillion economy, freed of oppressive government regulations know as the “license Raj,” is booming at over 8% annual growth While the US has a mostly negative image around the globe, it is wildly popular in India.
US arms makers and high-tech industries are salivating at the thought of entering India’s market. India’s rapidly expanding military forces need modern equipment and replacement for aging Soviet-supplied weapons systems. America’s military-industrial-financial complex pushed Bush hard to make nice to India and pry open its formerly sealed gates. The pressure continued on Obama who dutifully continued Bush’s Indian policies.
However, some perspective is in order. The GDP of 1.2-billion person India is still only half that of Italy. Forty percent of India’s 1.2 billion people subsist below even that nation’s dire poverty level. Almost half have no indoor plumbing. Childhood malnutrition and child labor are rampant. India’s evil caste system remains entrenched in spite of government efforts to uproot it, a racist system that condemns darker skinned Indians to a life of penury and servitude.
While the western media fulminates against Taliban’s or Iran’s treatment of women, a leading British medical journal reports an estimated 40,000 Indian women are burned alive each year by their in-laws to grab their dowries. Infanticide of female children is endemic. But few in the west seem to care.
India is a giant with feet of clay. A senior western diplomat in unhealthy Delhi told me that at any given time, half his staff is ill with serious maladies. India is plagued by grave health and environmental problems.
India is really two nations: modern, dynamic, high-tech urban India of about 100 million, and antique, timeless rural Mother India of 1.1 billion souls. The two are often in conflict and uneasily coexist. Per capita income is about $1,050, up 10% in 2010. By contrast, per capita income in rival China is three times higher – provided we believe Beijing’s statistics.
To China’s annoyance, President Obama proclaimed in Delhi that India should have a permanent seat on the UN Security Council. India is becoming a great power and deserves a seat among the world’s big boys. But so do Germany, Japan, Turkey and Brazil.
India and its people, long disparaged by British racist jokes, are delighted to be called equals by the great powers. In fact, nuclear-armed India sees itself very much as regional hegemon of the entire Indian Ocean extending from East Africa to Australia.
The Bush administration’s deal with Delhi to sanctify and facilitate India’s nuclear weapons programs was thought at the time a clever move. But it dismayed the rest of the world, made a mockery of non-proliferation, and outraged the entire Muslim world, which has been blasting the US for hypocrisy by threatening war against Iran, which is under UN nuclear inspection, while playing nuclear footsie with India, which rejected all UN inspection.
India’s leaders are no fools and will not be easily pushed or bribed into a stronger anti-China and anti-Iran stance by Washington – unless doing so suits Delhi. India needs oil from the Gulf even more than the US and is expanding its naval power to assure its supply lines.
Delhi maintains cool but correct relations with Beijing, but behind the wintry, trans-Himalayan smiles lies growing rivalry over Chinese-occupied Tibet, Indian-ruled Ladakh and Kashmir, their long, poorly demarcated Himalayan border (another gift of the British Empire), strategic Burma, and their intensifying nuclear and naval rivalry.
India claims China is trying to surround it, using Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, and Burma. The two Asian superpowers have been locked in a strategic and conventional arms race for a decade. In 1999, this writer postulated that the two giants would one day clash over their contested borders.*
India will follow its own strategic and diplomatic interests – which are not synonymous with those of the United States.
Delhi has a long record of clever diplomacy that has isolated Pakistan and kept the world and UN out of the burning Kashmir problem, where 40,000-80,000 Kashmiris have died in a long independence struggle against Indian rule.
But the United States is now slowly being drawn into the dangerous Kashmir dispute – which trigged the 2008 terror bombing in Mumbai. Just look, for example, at the embarrassing revelations that one of the men involved in the 2008 Mumbai massacre was working for the US Drug Enforcement Agency.
The more Washington backs and arms India, the more its relations with China will deteriorate. Japan is also quietly building up India against China, to Beijing’s mounting anger.
The US could even be drawn into an India-China regional conflict. So caution is advised to US diplomats as they charge into the murky, tangled, poorly understood geopolitics of South and East Asia.
We also wonder if President Obama was briefed on India’s growing strategic arsenal. India has been steadily developing a family of long-ranged intercontinental ballistic missiles that can carry nuclear warheads behind the cover of space-launcher vehicles
Delhi already has enough medium-ranged Agni-series missiles to cover potential foe China. Why then is Delhi spending billions to develop a reported 12,000 km ICBM whose only targets could be North America, Europe or Australia?
India is also developing nuclear submarines and subs armed with nuclear-armed cruise missiles capable of striking distant targets, as well as the powerful BrahMos anti-ship missile whose primary function is to attack aircraft carriers and large warships. Only the US Navy operates such large vessels in the Indian Ocean. India is also intent on building more aircraft carriers to project power.
The US and India appear destined to become rivals for Mideast and Central Asian oil and influence. There is no guarantee that today’s bonhomie between Delhi and Washington will be permanent. Great powers have their special interests -and no permanent friends or enemies.
Euphoria over the new US-Indian love-in should not cloud our judgment of South Asia’s realities, nor make us believe we can cajol India into becoming a regional policeman for US interests.
Meanwhile, Pakistan, Washington’s vital ally in the failing Afghan War, is seething with ill-concealed fury over Obama’s Delhi love-in and his claim that India has an important role to play in Afghanistan.
South Asia is a minefield. Caution, and more caution, is advised.
*”War at the Top of the World,” Eric Margolis, Routledge New York; Rolly Books New Delhi.
Copyright Eric S. Margolis 2010

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*SEE PHOTOS BELOW*
This is the fourth installment in a series of posts on mosques as seen through the eyes of some of the great novelists, poets, and journalists of the last three centuries. See the third installment.
Having a vast ocean between them, American writers of the 18th and 19th centuries couldn’t easily share in their European cousins’ fashionable romance with North Africa and the Levant. Even when Americans began to travel to Muslim lands, from the start they displayed a more diverse response to Islam and its mosques, which over the course of a century graduated from the crude to the reverent.
Should scholars wish to settle the debate over whether the author of The Adventures of Hukleberry Finn had racist inclinations, they need look no further than Mark Twain’s travel journal of 1869. For Innocents Abroad is the record of a man clearly more enamored with the donkeys of Egypt than with Muslims in general. It’s a prejudice that disinclines Twain from the great mosques he encounters in Turkey, Palestine, and Egypt.
On Jerusalem’s Dome of the Rock, Twain is characteristically pithy:
Yet even Twain defers wit to humanity when he distinguishes himself from his company of Christian pilgrims hailing from New England, the American South, and the Mississippi Valley — though it’s difficult to discern if his final pronouncement is ironic or consensual.
In Nain, where Christ raised the widow’s son to life… A little mosque stands upon the spot which tradition says was occupied by the widow’s dwelling. Two or three aged Arabs sat about its door. We entered, and the pilgrims broke specimens from the foundation walls, though they had to touch, and even step, upon the “praying carpets” to do it. It was almost the same as breaking pieces from the hearts of those old Arabs. To step rudely upon the sacred praying mats, with booted feet — a thing not done by any Arab — was to inflict pain upon men who had not offended us in any way. Suppose a party of armed foreigners were to enter a village church in America and break ornaments from the altar railings for curiosities, and climb up and walk upon the Bible and the pulpit cushions? However, the cases are different. One is the profanation of a temple of our faith — the other only the profanation of a pagan one.
The response to mosques gradually refines as Americans grow increasingly cosmopolitan. In Morocco, Edith Wharton’s 1917 memoir of her travels to Rabat, Sal, Fez, and Meknes, while steeped in aesthetics lost to Twain, also betrays a mind altogether more regimented for exporting the American enthusiasm for Manifest Destiny — the belief in the taking of territory that “lay waiting” for colonization by those “most capable” of seeing its unlimited potential. Upon her arrival in Tangier, Wharton notes satisfactorily:
Three years ago Christians were being massacred in the streets of Sal… Now, thanks to one of the greatest of colonial administrators, the country, at least in the French zone, is as safe and open as the opposite shore of Spain… Until a year or two ago, the precincts around Moulay Idriss and El Kairouiyin were horm, that is, cut off from the unbeliever. Heavy beams of wood barred the end of each souk, shutting off the sanctuaries, and the Christian could only conjecture what lay beyond. Now he knows in part; for, though the beams have not been lowered, all comers may pass under them to the lanes about the mosques, and even pause a moment in their open doorways. Farther one may not go, for the shrines of Morocco are still closed to unbelievers; but whoever knows… or has stood under the arches of the Great Mosque of Kairouan [see Slideshow], can reconstruct something of the hidden beauties of western Africa.
Although Wharton can catch sight of only the ruins of mosques, or the exteriors of those in use, her commentary assumes an authority of discrimination. Her judgments on the surface ring out admiring tones, yet absent any description of the culture and the people who produced and inhabit the mosques and madrasas (Muslim colleges and student lodgings) of which she writes, her commentary assumes the formal yet discreetly Eurocentric language of early 20th-century modernism that represses local values and beliefs in favor of abstract qualities. In Marrakech she writes:
It is difficult, in describing the architecture of Morocco, to avoid producing an impression of monotony. The ground plan of mosques and medrasas is always practically the same, and the same elements, few in number and endlessly repeated, make up the materials and the form of the ornament. The effect upon the eye is not monotonous, for a patient art has infinitely varied the combinations of pattern and the juxtapositions of color; while the depth of undercutting of the stucco, and the treatment of the bronze doors and of the carved cedar corbels, necessarily varies with the periods which produced them.
Nearly forty years later, Paul Bowles counters Wharton’s arch formalism in Spider’s House, a novel that gauges the disruptive effects that European colonialisms, and their successors the Nationalists, had brought on Moroccans by using the mosque as his symbolic standard of past and present, and that has been made to alienate his lead character, Amar, from his father.
Amar was astonished. He had taken it for granted that since the arrival of the French soldiers many years ago, his father had never gone outside the walls of the Medina… Ever since he could remember, the schedule of his father’s life had been the same, had consisted of the five trips a day he made to the mosque, together with the hours he spent in conversation at the shops of friends en route to and from the mosque… When his father went out into the street he had only the mosque, the Koran, the other old men in his mind. It was the immutable world of law, the written word, unchanging beneficence, but it was in some way wrinkled and dried up…
Amar had never formed the habit of going to a mosque and praying. For all but the well-to-do, life had become an anarchic, helter-skelter business, with people leaving their families and going off to other cities to work, or entering the army where they are sure to eat. Since it is far more sinful to pray irregularly than not to pray at all, they had merely abandoned the idea of attempting to live like their elders, and trusted that in His all-embracing wisdom Allah would understand and forgive. But often Amar was not sure; perhaps the French had been sent as a test of the Moslem’s faith…
Although Elijah Muhammad and his Nation of Islam introduced the first significant American variation of Islam, it would be his apostate, Malcolm X, who ironically brought Islam to the doorstep of white America. In 1964, when Malcom Little, now calling himself El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz, embarked on his spiritual journey through the Middle East and West Africa, it was on his pilgrimage (or Hajj) to Al-Masjid al-Haram, the great mosque of Mecca [see Slideshow], that he first encountered throngs of people of all complexions mingling together. “The feeling hit me,” he wrote in his autobiography, “that there really wasn’t any color problem here. The effect was as though I had just stepped out of a prison.”
In the grip of his great epiphany of universal respect and brotherhood Malcom at once voids his belief in black separatism.
“My vocabulary cannot describe the new mosque that was being built around the Kaaba… a huge black stone house in the middle… being circumambulated by thousands upon thousands of praying pilgrims, both sexes, and every size, shape, color, and race in the world… My feeling here in the House of God was numbness… America needs to understand Islam, because this is the one religion that erases the race problem from its society.”
Next week: The Honeymoon Is Over.
Hagia Sophia, 360 CE (Christian); 1453 (Muslim)
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Converted in 1453 by the Ottoman Turks into a mosque, since 1934 the Hagia Sophia has been secularized and opened to the public as a museum.
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This morning I printed out 60 pages of my new novel to read for the first time on paper. I sharpened a pencil, cleared some space at the kitchen table, made a cup of tea, sat down, and read what I have so far.
Why today? I’m not sure. It just felt right.
And what’s the big deal about paper? Things look different on paper. They just do. You can read something a hundred times on the screen, but when you read it on paper, it has a different rhythm, a different sound. Your eye catches different things, and it feels somehow more real.
The sharpened pencil was important, too. I’m a big fan of pens — red ones especially, and really fantastic black ones — but there’s nothing like a sharp #2 pencil — the way it glides across the page, the smell of the lead, the fact that you can erase it.
I don’t love my first page, and that’s a problem. That “not love” stayed with me until about page three, when I felt the story really got rolling. I was reading along thinking it was pretty great, and then I hit a patch that went by too fast. I wrote a bunch of sentences in the margin, ran out of room, turned the page over and wrote on the back. I did that several times around page 30, and again towards page 60.
Now that stack of marked-up pages is sitting here on my desk waiting for me to enter the changes I made. I know from experience that I will change far more than I scratched out in the margins. Something about going from screen to paper and back to screen shakes things loose — makes me see where things can be strengthened and improved. It’s a part of the writing process I really like — that self translation process. Some of my best writing is done in this way.
Although I don’t love my first page, I feel very good about the story. Perhaps that’s why I printed it out today: I knew I would like what I saw.
There are many fine writers who depend on this “self translation” method of writing and editing. Here are a few, which will lead you to many more:
Tracy Chevalier writes longhand and transfers her work to the computer every day.
Michael Ondaatje edits by literally cutting and pasting his longhand.
Don Dillio uses a typewriter for first drafts.

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Don’t write off Barack Obama just yet. He may be politically wounded, but he’s far from politically dead
In fact, despite his skidding approval numbers, the furor over his inability to resolve the jobs mess and the whipping he took in the mid-term elections, leading a number of political pundits to predict he’ll be a one-term president, lo and behold, Obama has emerged as the odds-on favorite to recapture the White House in 2012.
That’s the assessment of the United Kingdom’s William Hill, one of the world’s largest and most influential bookmakers. After a week of brisk betting on the U.S.’s 2012 presidential outcome following the recent elections, the bookmaker has established Obama as the man to beat and rates him as even money to reign again for another four years.
What makes this outlook especially noteworthy is that Obama is now the top dog and by no means an underdog.
What’s more, William Hill boasts a pretty imposing record in picking winners in the U.S. presidential sweepstakes. “We normally get it right,” says Rupert Adams, director of the bookmaker’s media operations, who tells me the firm’s favorites win about 80% to 90% of the time.
The national election, of course, is still two years away and the unexpected, such as a deep economic downturn or another attack on American shores, could easily alter the course of events and the favorites can always change. But as of now, Adams says, no potential candidate comes even close to Obama in the betting odds.
Indicative of this, Obama’s closest rival in the betting on who will win the 2012 presidential race is distant runner-up Mitt Romney at 7 to 1.
Following Romney, three names are quoted at 14 to 1: Sarah Palin, Indiana governor Mitch Daniels and South Dakota senator John Thune.
Speaking of Romney and Palin, some Wall Streeters are abuzz with an unusual bet made between a top official of a buyout firm and one of the country’s wealthiest hedge fund managers. In brief, one is wagering Romney will be the Republican standard-bearer in 2012; the other is saying it will be Palin. If either fails to run, the bet, which was made last Saturday, is null and void.
The loser provides the winner with an all expense-paid 10-day summer vacation for he and his family in the Hamptons at a cost not to exceed $200,000. One participant in the bet, which has I.R.S. ramifications, confirmed the wager on the promise of anonymity for both names.
Rounding out the odds on William Hill’s list of presidential candidates are Mike Huckabee at 18 to 1; Hillary Clinton, 22 to 1; Newt Gingrich and Minnesota governor Tim Pawlentry, both at 25 to 1; Missisippi governor Haley Barbour, Joe Biden and Louisiana governor Bobby Jindall, each quoted at 33 to 1; Ron Paul, 50 to 1; Mike Bloomberg, 100 to 1; and American pop singer Lady Gaga, 500 to 1.
Another obvious question: who will be the G.O.P.’s presidential nominee?
Here again, for those political bettors, William Hill has come up with a list of names and their odds.
Romney takes the top spot at 11 to 4 (meaning you put up $4 to win $11 for a total return of $15). Palin takes second spot at 5 to 1, followed by Thune, 6 to 1, Daniels, 13 to 2, Pawlenty, 8 to 1, and Gingrich and Huckabee, 10 to 1.
Rounding out this group are Barbour, 14 to 1, Indiana Congressman Mike Pence, 16 to 1, and Jindall, 22 to 1.
If you figure you know the answer and you’re temped to bet a few bucks at William Hill, forget it if you have an American address. It’s illegal.
What do you think? E-mail me at Dandordan@aol.com.

Source:www.huffingtonpost.com

No matter what could have or should have occurred during the midterm elections, the past few months have pointed us toward an inescapable political truth: it is time to take back our tea.
We cannot let reactionary forces, who for the longest time didn’t even know their nickname was a reference to a rather novel expression of intimacy, continue to gain even the slightest hold on the voting public by associating themselves with a soothing hot beverage.
The only solution is for the Democrats to have their own demented, irrational splinter group; and be it hereby known that it has arrived.
Let those other crazies make spurious, knee-jerk associations with an act of rebellion by our early colonists in 1773. You have to figure the tea on that boat in Boston Harbor back then was Earl Grey, or maybe English Breakfast. Caffeinated to say the least. But we are nearing the millennium shift of 2012. We are a more evolved people. We watch Oprah and do yoga and read The Power of Now. And boy are we pissed off and ready to kick some butt, New Age style.
We are the Herbal Tea Party!
And here is our ten-point manifesto:
The Chamomile Constitution Provision
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Requires the constitutionality of each bill presented in Congress to be judged by how well it utilizes the law of attraction principles as outlined in The Secret.
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James Napoli is an author and humorist. More of his comedy content for the Web can be seen here.

This Blogger’s Books from
The Official Dictionary of Sarcasm: A Lexicon for Those of Us Who Are Better and Smarter Than the Rest of You
by James Napoli
Big Bad Ass Book of Dreams
by James Napoli, Klaus Vollmar

Source:www.huffingtonpost.com

We’ve been hearing a lot these days about the value of going to college and the question of if it’s worth it. A chapter in my upcoming book, “The Real Cost of Living,” addresses this question in depth, considering personal as well as financial costs, but as I mention there, sometimes the money, (the cost), is the last thing considered. Sometimes, going for a college education means having a reason to live another day.
This past weekend at the YWCA Young Women & Money Conference in Oakland, California, I had the honor of being the keynote speaker and talking one-on-one with some amazing women. I spent the most time with a woman I’ll call “Anne”. ‘Anne’ approached me, holding back tears. She had just fled her abusive husband who, she discovered, had been trying to kill her and her children by slowly poisoning them. They had slept for years with dressers slid up against doors, never knowing what day would be their last. Finally, after becoming very sick and realizing what it could be, she packed up her 19 and 17 year old and left. Now, Anne lives out of her car.
As I started asking questions to try to discover the best way to help, Anne revealed some amazing things. She goes to school full time for her college degree all while also working full time. Her daughter does the same while her son tries to finish high school so he can go to college as well. Every dime Anne has goes to paying for school. With the rest, she can afford to buy only bread and junk food (which, as we know, is cheaper than healthier options) and she is now both malnourished and obese.
Anne graduates in May. And she’s terrified. School keeps her sane and gives her a reason to live. Getting a master’s degree is her next step–an expensive step. I talked to her about her options, including working full time for a while and holding off on her master’s degree until her personal life is more stable and her health back on track. You may be thinking, how could she possibly be thinking of going to graduate school when she lives out of her car? Because education is saving her life. Getting an education is a matter of life and death for her–without it, she’d succumb to her guilt and depression, as she told me. The only things worth more than an education to her are her children, and their education.
Though I’ve never been at such a dire crossroads, I know what it’s like to feel that school is a Godsend. Years ago, when I got accepted to Columbia University’s Teacher’s College for graduate studies was the same year I filed for divorce. We were together six months before the papers were filed and there were no children (thank the Lord), but, I was left incredibly distraught. To be a divorcee before the age of 30 is not a designation anyone would like to have.
But graduate school was a dream of mine bigger than anything a man or relationship could provide. It filled me up with soul-sustaining pride and joy. It kept me sane, focused and glad I was alive, even while inside, all I felt was despair. Growing up, education, to my mother, (who came to Manhattan from the Dominican Republic when she was 15), as to many immigrants, was the most important thing in life. It was a privilege, a blessing to have and especially for her female children, an option that we were the first to have in her family, in their history–ever.
The discussion of whether or not college is worthwhile is definitely a privileged conversation. The idea of college for my daughter is surely going to be very different from what college and graduate school meant to me. So as we discuss ‘cost’ vs. ‘return’ on college, let’s continue to remember that for many Americans and many immigrants, a college education can not only change a life, but save a life. And that is another, worthy conversation to have.

Follow Carmen Wong Ulrich on Twitter:
www.twitter.com/@powerwomentv

Source:www.huffingtonpost.com

Squash, both summer and winter varieties, comes in many shapes and sizes. Some are plain; some are fancy. Some have brilliant colored skins; others have artful shapes, but all are delicious, good for you and easy to prepare.
Just about everyone can get zucchini and yellow squash year round. The prime growing season is May to August, that’s why they are called summer squash. They cook up fast and are very versatile, even raw in salads.
When buying zucchini, look for moist stems and slightly prickly but shiny skin as freshness indicators. Purchase them small, no more than 6 inches long. These have less seeds and are more delicate in texture and taste. Yellow squash should be firm and smooth with no indentations or brown spots. Store zucchini and yellow squash in the lettuce crisper, and use within 3 or 4 days. They are both great just sauted quickly with onion, garlic and a bit of red pepper flakes.
Winter squash are round, elongated, scalloped. pear, and turban shaped with flesh that ranges from golden-yellow to brilliant orange. Most winter squash are vine-type plants whose fruits are harvested when they are mature. They take longer to reach maturity than summer squash (3 months or more) and are best harvested once fall arrives. They can be stored for months in a cool place, and that’s where they get their name “winter” squash. Avoid cooking with jack o-lantern pumpkins; carve them, and decorate with them, but eating them will leave you disappointed because they are tough and bland. If you want to cook with pumpkin choose sugar pumpkins for pies, muffins and quick breads.
Butternut squash is readily available in supermarkets. This is a more watery squash and tastes somewhat similar to sweet potatoes. It has a bulbous end and pale, creamy skin, with a choice, fine-textured, deep-orange flesh and a sweet, nutty flavor. The deeper the orange color the riper, drier and sweeter the squash will be. Butternut is perfect for oven baking. Try filling the cavity with a meat loaf mixture for a complete meal, or cut the squash into chunks and add to stews instead of potatoes. It makes a great tasting creamed soup when pureed too!
A relative newcomer to the squash family is Delicata. It’s an heirloom variety also called sweet potato, peanut squash, and Bohemian squash. It was originally introduced by the Peter Henderson Company of New York City in 1894, and was popular through the 1920s. Then it fell into obscurity for about seventy-five years, possibly because of its thinner, more tender skin, which isn’t suited to transportation over thousands of miles and long storage.
In general when purchasing squash, remember to allow about 1/3 pound per person. One pound of winter squash yields about 2 cups of cooked, and mashed squash. One cup of mashed squash provides 80 calories, 2 grams protein, 1 gram fat, 18 grams carbohydrates, with riboflavin, iron, and vitamins A and C.
And don’t just cook with squash. Gather them up, plain and fancy, and use them as decorations to welcome fall.

This Blogger’s Books from
Ciao Italia Five-Ingredient Favorites: Quick and Delicious Recipes from an Italian Kitchen
by Mary Ann Esposito
Ciao Italia Slow and Easy: Casseroles, Braises, Lasagne, and Stews from an Italian Kitchen
by Mary Ann Esposito

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A big challenge to turning Americans on to the idea of action to support the human rights of Palestinians is that the situation appears to many as a) far away and b) totally hopeless. Try to talk up the issue, and you are likely to get a look that says, “Why should I pay more attention to something that is far away and totally hopeless? I already have enough opportunities to feel angry, depressed, and powerless.”
Since this is the case, it’s clearly a good thing if an appeal to action in support of Palestinian rights is a) something that is obviously doable by the person asked and b) comes along with a plausible story for how taking the suggested action will help make the world a better place.
While it won’t solve all the problems of human beings on Earth, I claim that going to see the documentary “Budrus,” about the successful nonviolent resistance of Palestinians and Israelis against the route of the Israeli “separation barrier” and its confiscation of Palestinian land in the West Bank village of Budrus, is an action that is within the reach of most literate Americans; and furthermore I claim that I have a plausible story for how this action would help make the world a better place.
1. This is a feasible action.
The film, which a Washington Post reviewer called “riveting” and “a sure-fire crowd-pleaser,” and former AIPAC staffer M.J. Rosenberg called a “totally engaging” story of “regular people” who “take their fate into their own hands,” is starting to be shown throughout the United States. In the next two months, scheduled screenings include: Washington DC, through November 11; Chicago, starting November 19; Minneapolis, November 26; Palm Beach, December 1;
Boston, December 3; Seattle, December 17.
Tens of millions of Americans live within 50 miles of one of the aforementioned cities; if you happen to be one of them, going to see this movie in the next two months is almost certainly a feasible action for you.
Furthermore, if you don’t happen to live in or near a city whether there is a screening already scheduled in the next several months, there are still two things that you can feasibly do. One requires just the tiniest smidgen of initiative: you could keep an eye out for when the film is scheduled to show near you. The second requires a slightly higher level of engagement: you could ask yourself, is there a movie theater within 50 miles of me that sometimes shows low-budget movies that have won all kinds of awards? If there is, you could contact that theater and ask them to show it.
2. I have a plausible story that seeing this movie will contribute to making the world a better place.
If many Americans see this movie, it could lead to concrete changes in U.S. policy that would lead to real improvement in the ability of Palestinians in the West Bank to free themselves from the occupation by nonviolent action.
Today, Palestinians and Israelis are using nonviolent resistance to try to defeat the occupation in several villages in the West Bank. But these efforts are much less effective than they could be because they receive very little attention in the US. In particular, when the Israeli occupation authorities repress these efforts, it generates no comment in the US media or by the US government. This gives the Israeli occupation authorities a freer hand for repression. And when Palestinians and Israelis see that repression of nonviolent protest generates no U.S. response, that weakens the political case for nonviolent action.
Two months ago, an Israeli military court convicted Abdallah Abu Rahmah of “incitement” for organizing nonviolent protests in Bilin similar to those shown in the movie Budrus, as Ayed Morrar and Ronit Avni of the movie have noted. Abu Rahmah was sentenced to a year in prison.
As I noted at the time of the conviction, while the European Union protested, the U.S. was silent – not just the U.S. government, but also the U.S. media. Of course, the fact that the U.S. media didn’t report this event contributed significantly to the fact that the U.S. government didn’t feel compelled to respond to it.
Part of the reason that the U.S. media doesn’t cover these developments is that for most of the U.S. news-consuming public, these developments don’t have context. Of course, this is a vicious circle: the U.S. media doesn’t report much on events in the West Bank, as a result of which most Americans don’t have context, which in turn discourages the U.S. media from reporting on events in the West Bank.
But this vicious circle can be broken. The main political purpose of the Gaza Freedom Flotilla was to call world attention to the Israeli blockade of Gaza. When the Israeli military attacked the flotilla, it was a world-historical event. The flotilla generated press attention to the blockade, but more is true: the renewed press attention to the blockade established context that resulted in increased press coverage of the blockade that made little or no reference to the flotilla. Once the story of the blockade was out, a journalist could write a follow-up story about the blockade that stood a good chance of being printed.
And that’s what Budrus could do: establish context for an American audience, so that when an Abdullah Abu Rahmah is convicted for protesting, the U.S. media reports on it and the U.S. government feels compelled to respond.
That would be a big change in the world.
But even if Budrus doesn’t result in this world-historical change, it is likely to result in a smaller change that would still be worth your while.
If you have been following this issue over, say, the last twenty-five years, you know that there are images of Palestinians and Israelis that are constantly promoted to obstruct people from effectively advocating constructive actions to bring about a just peace: All Palestinians support violence. All Israelis support the occupation. Palestinians and Israelis can never cooperate or live in peace.
As claims about objective reality, these images are lies. But these images retain tremendous power. The situation is far outside the experience of most Americans, and that makes it easier to lie about it and get away with it.
If you watch this movie, you’ll be vaccinated against these lies forever.
Furthermore, you’ll gain a new superpower: the ability to effortlessly kill these lies on contact. Everyone knows that if someone claims that all Jews are greedy, all you have to do is to produce one example of a Jew who is not greedy and you vanquish their claim. After you see this movie, if someone says: “Palestinians support violence,” you’ll be able to say: “in Budrus, Palestinians used nonviolence.” If someone says: “Israelis support the occupation,” you’ll be able to say: “in Budrus, Israelis helped defeat the occupation.” If someone says, “Palestinians and Israelis will always be at war,” you’ll be able to say, “in Budrus, Palestinians and Israelis cooperated to defeat the confiscation of Palestinian land.”
Wouldn’t the acquisition of that superpower be worth the price of one movie ticket?

Follow Robert Naiman on Twitter:
www.twitter.com/naiman

Source:www.huffingtonpost.com

We recently completed harvest season at Bedell Cellars, an artisanal winery on the North Fork of Long Island. During harvest season throughout the world, grapes are picked, pressed, and fermented into wine. This is the most exciting time of year to work at a winery, even though the days are especially long and hard. I’ve created a photo slide show from October 7th, the day we harvested the Merlot grapes that will be the foundation for our top red wine, a blend called Muse. Our 2007 Muse recently received 91 points from Wine Spectator, the highest rating the publication has given a red wine from Long Island.
Aerial View
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Yo-Ho-Ho And A Snifter Of Rum: Sipping Rums To Enjoy Without Paper Umbrellas
2011 Food And Restaurant Trends: Do You Agree With These Predictions?
My Visit To Spice Market Doha
Spices Chefs Love to Use
Must Be Jelly: Yeaworth’s The Blob
Beaches: Bergman’s The Seventh Seal & the Wellfleet Oyster Festival
For a little context, here’s a bird’s eye view of one of our vineyard sites, surrounded by the waters of Peconic Bay. Long Island is blessed with long, warm summers. At the same time, the maritime influence moderates temperatures, with cool ocean breezes and sandy soil imparting a distinctive saline minerality flavor to the wines.
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Source:www.huffingtonpost.com