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Earlier this week, Al Jazeera* revealed the Palestine Papers — 1600 internal documents that give a behind-the-scenes look at Israeli-Palestinian negotiations. Since then, Middle East analysts, observers, and op-ed writers have been talking about the usual doomsday scenarios: the collapse of the peace process, a Hamas takeover of the West Bank, war, or (gasp!) a bi-national, one-state solution.
Of course, no one can predict the future. What we can discuss is possible outcomes:
1)The so-called collapse of the so-called peace process — this happened a long time ago. The Palestine Papers just confirm what any man on the street in Tel Aviv or Ramallah could have told

It certainly feels like the national spotlight is on higher education. And to the general public, it may even appear that we are marching bravely toward meeting the country’s needs for higher education in the 21st century. But are we? Many faculty on college campuses around the country are not convinced.
Recognizing the need for a highly educated workforce to ensure the country’s global competitiveness, President Obama, for instance, set an ambitious goal for the nation — to have the highest percentage of college graduates of any country in the world by 2020. At the state level, a number of state governors have committed to increasing graduate rates in their public colleges and universities as their part in this national

My second morning at Davos was a blast — literally — as a small explosion broke a few windows at the 4-star Posthotel Morosani, a heavily guarded (as is everything here) 19th century hotel in town. I didn’t hear or feel the blast, which the authorities described as “a firecracker,” but the conversational shockwave that rolled across the Congress Centre was potent. An Italian activist going by the online handle “Revolutionary Perspective” claimed responsibility, posting a message online: “We have attacked the Hotels Morosani with pyrotechnics and sugar.” Terrorists with a sweet tooth? Anti-globalists who dig a nice fireworks display? Fittingly, the Morosani was later the scene of a session entitled “Criminals Without Borders.”
Before the sugary firecracker made headlines, I co-hosted an early morning breakfast at the Hotel Seehof, along with Facebook’s Sheryl Sandberg, in honor of Somaly Mam, a truly remarkable Cambodian woman who was sold into a brothel at age 12, was a sex slave for 10 years, raped and abused on a daily basis, saw her best friend murdered in front of her, then finally escaped and now runs a foundation committed to saving others from sexual slavery. Despite this wrenching life history, Somaly radiates a sense of joy and vibrancy that fills any room she’s

Lisa and I pulled off Highway A 92 at the foothills of Spain’s snow-capped Sierra Nevada Mountains and headed east on a rural route into a sparse and unforgiving landscape. Within just a few kilometers, we saw signs emblazoned with “Mini Hollywood.” We had arrived in the land of the spaghetti Western; we later learned that movies such as the early Clint Eastwood vehicles For a Few Dollars More and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly were filmed in this vast dusty plain.
As we traversed the winding road deeper into the Tabernas desert, our heads moved in unison from left to right and back again, as we scanned the landscape. We took in scenery that included a dilapidated building branded “The Roadhouse,” the hard scrabble remains of old gravel pits, a circle of empty open-air jeeps painted in camouflage colors, and a string of steel electric towers that stretched out to the horizon. Lisa and I exchanged glances and an unspoken “Uh-oh, what have we gotten ourselves into?”
Just as we began to wonder if we had perhaps embarked down a seemingly endless road to nowhere, we saw the promised sign for Lucainena de la

Cairo is burning. So is Egypt. Twitter is exploding. Everyone seems to have an opinion — many who have never even been to Egypt, but feel a strong sense of solidarity with the most remarkable revolution in a generation,

I was not shocked on Sunday night as I watched Governor Ed Rendell call Leslie Stahl of 60 Minutes a “simpleton and an idiot.” This frustration often occurs when an individual attempts to justify an unjustifiable position.
The governor was attempting to explain that the increase of gambling venues in Pennsylvania did not have a direct correlation to an increase of problem gamblers in his state. The governor went on to suggest that in the absence of gambling facilities in his state that “those people (problem gamblers) would lose their money anyway.”
His position is not supported by the literature. Proximity studies from around the country confirm that “the presence of a gambling facility within 50 miles roughly doubles the prevalence of problem and pathological gamblers.” (National Opinion Research Center – Gambling Impact and Behavior Study, Report to the National Gambling Impact Study Commission, April 1, 1999).
Many argue that the number of people who suffer adverse affects because of problem gambling is a small percentage of the total gambling

The uprising in Tunisia has shown alarming power, spreading to Egypt and igniting bloody anti-government protests.
Sparked by rising food prices and the self-immolation of a poor street vendor, the Tunisian revolt was spurred by ordinary citizens with democratic ideals.
However, the country was already known for its relatively secular rule, rejection of militant Islam and reforms of women’s rights. The latter were exemplary in comparison with regional neighbours such as Saudi Arabia, where ousted president Zine El Abedine Ben Ali fled. Can robust women’s rights be preserved following the Jasmine Revolution?
After gaining independence from France in 1956, Tunisia was strengthened by a central government not reliant on tribal loyalties and patriarchy, reducing the role of male kin in marriage, and fostering the development of women’s equality in marriage, divorce and child custody. Reforms were facilitated by the government’s use of ijtihad, a critical approach to the interpretation of Islamic

A year ago in honor of Data Privacy Day, I wrote “How to Keep Your Privacy Private: Data Privacy Day 2010,” and called out the need to protect our personal and families’ privacy, with emphasis on investing the necessary time to protect your privacy. One year later, that advice continues to remain valid and, in fact, more important than ever. As more and more of our societal interaction has included an online component, we must ensure that we are paying attention every time we hit that “enter” key.
What’s changed from 2010 to 2011? More and more of us have migrated successfully to the myriad of social networks that are euphemistically pounding at our front door. Joining in the barrage of invites to join this or that entity, we’ve seen the larger online social network sites (in the English-speaking world: Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and Foursquare) capturing the largest audiences and become the new places where we begin our

No matter how many plugs he pulls or cables he cuts, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak is not going to completely suppress information flowing within his country or between Egypt and the rest of the world. Information has a way of slipping out and despite an apparent Internet blackout, some people have been able to Tweet and post updates to Facebook, Tagged.com and other sites.
In an email, a Facebook spokesperson told me that they “saw a significant drop off in traffic (from Egypt) today, ” but that “we still see some.” Tagged.com, a San Francisco based social networking site with 200,000 active members in Egypt, reports that traffic is lower than usual but not down completely. We have also seen some Tweets out of the

Twenty-five years ago, on January 28, 1986, I sat in an AP English class at Killeen High School, outside of Fort Hood, Texas. This was back in the days when people drove Pontiac Fieros and MTV actually played music videos. To have a television in a classroom — particularly one hooked up to cable — was no small matter.
In our class, we were lucky — we actually had such a television. And, as fate would have it, our teacher broke us away our studies around 10:30 that morning (Central time) to watch the Space Shuttle Challenger carry fellow teacher Christa McAuliffe into space on mission STS-51L.
The rest, of course, was not English, or even necessarily science, but

Those of us in the freshman class elected to Congress in November arrived with a specific objective — getting our economy moving again. However, our goal cannot be mere recovery.
The American people deserve and expect policies that will lead to an economy and job market stronger, more vibrant, and more prosperous than before. To achieve this, we need a renewed focus on sustaining and growing manufacturing — one that centers on rewarding innovation and fostering entrepreneurship, and that ties those great American strengths to a great

Everyone in business today is in a frenzy to “use social media to grow their business”.
Ugh.
Hate to disappoint, but Facebook, Twitter, blogs and other social media tools are not magical. They’re communication tools and communication is hard

With his State of the Union address, President Obama delivered an important message that Congress and the American people need to hear: our nation’s leaders must pass legislation that creates American jobs now.
America, our shining city on a hill, has been blessed with great fortune in our proud past, but as the President noted, every generation faces new challenges and new opportunities. We must be bold and forward looking, never forgetting that America’s prosperity has always relied on hard work, solid education, and well-maintained infrastructure. We’re a nation that has always thrived when we’ve built things – the light bulb, the automobile, the Internet, and the GPS. We need to build things

“Leading the cleantech revolution,” or “Leveraging the intellectual property of our major research universities” — such hopeful and visionary statements are just a sampling of various mantras that have echoed the chambers of Midwestern capitals and filled the pages of local newspapers for the past several years. In the face of the recent economic despair that has besieged the regional economy, numerous Midwestern politicians, economic developers and regional venture capitalists have been, somewhat counter-intuitively, touting the notion that Midwest states like Michigan actually present excellent, yet overlooked, venture capital investment opportunities (including yours truly, as I did in “America’s Midwest: Cashless Chasm or The Valley of Opportunity?”).
Skeptics (which predominantly include frustrated Midwesterners, some business journalists and dismissive coastal venture capitalists) have generally disregarded such optimistic economic proclamations as desperate political hand-waving and hopeful, yet hollow hype to win votes, mollify the economically depressed and justify their own existence. I can understand why one would be doubtful — it is easy to be negative these days. But today, I write to tell you that the skeptics and defeatists look to be wrong, and we have some early evidence to prove

As we prepare for Pro Bowl Sunday, you’ll hear me and my fellow NFL all-stars thank our teammates and coaches for their support throughout the season. It is a priority for me, as I’m interviewed this week, to emphasize that individual achievements are not usually attained without the dedication of a group of people working together to succeed. As someone who relies on others to reach my goals on the field, I know that having a strong team is essential to success.
It’s no different with

Have you ever had one of those mornings where no matter how hard you try, you cannot pick out an outfit? You just stand there as the minutes tick by, staring at a closet full of clothes, and now, instead of thinking of what to wear, you are staring off into space worrying about being late. Well, I definitely have. And, I am sure, if you are above the age of seven, you have, too — at least once.
Well, I am not an expert, but I do have a possible resolution. After arriving late too many times not because I overslept, but because I could not pick out a suitable outfit, I was determined to take

Big Coal has redefined the word “cheap” as keeping the profits and passing your true costs onto society.
The domination of this 19th-century fuel in America’s energy production is based on extracting an abundant mineral and refusing to pay for its terrible consequences to the rest of society’s health and economy.
A new report by the National Academy of Sciences found the national cost of treating health damages from the country’s 500 coal-fired power plants to be $62 billion each year.
Another report by Physicians for Social Responsibility tells us that coal pollutants — such as particulate matter, soot, smog, arsenic and mercury — can damage all major body organ systems and contribute to four of the five major causes of death in the U.S.
According to the American Lung Association, each year, pollution from coal plants causes 24,000 premature deaths, 21,000 hospitalizations and 38,000 heart attacks.
And for us Hispanics, the consequences are even worse. Eighty percent of us live in the counties with the worst air quality. According to a LULAC study, 39 percent of us live dangerously close to a coal plant. And especially in communities of Mexican and Puerto Rican descent, asthma is considered an epidemic.
“It’s not fair for our people to have to suffer the consequences of this pollution,” says Rose Gmez, a volunteer for the Pilsen Environmental Rights Reformation Organization, a community group fighting two very old coal plants in their South Chicago barrio.
The plants — called Fisk and Crawford, owned by Midwestern Generation — are more than 40 years old and claim to be exempt from having to modernize their equipment to reduce their toxic

President Obama on Tuesday called on all members of Congress to post their schedules online so their constituents would know who they’re meeting with.
Montanans won’t find this suggestion radical. On my first day as their Senator, I became the first member of Congress to post my daily public schedule on my website. I update it every day.
Accountability goes hand-in-hand with transparency–and Washington needs more of both. That’s why I introduced two bills this week to boost accountability and shine more sunlight on

Last spring, a congressional staffer introduced me to a new expression. She said, “Our job is to make business succeed.”
My message to her had been that careers in science and technology were threatened as our economy de-industrialized. As manufacturing work goes to low-wage countries, the engineering and R&D jobs will go, too. American engineers and technical workers will have fewer opportunities for career

Jeffrey Williams confided in me that he has become numb to people staring at him when he walks down the street. He is so captivating and free in his self-expression, that you can’t help but feel magnetized towards him.

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The 1600 documents chronicling negotiations between Palestinians and Israelis, published last week by Al-Jazeera and the Guardian, have been greeted around the world as testimony to the hopelessness of peace talks in the Middle East, the helplessness of the Palestinians and the heartlessness of Israelis. This was the gist of the Guardian’s own editorial:
M.J. Rosenberg, a former editor of the Near East Report, despaired here in the Huffington Post that the documents demonstrated that “clearly nothing less than a complete Palestinian surrender to Israel’s right to every last inch of historic Palestine will ever be acceptable to the Likudniks and religious fanatics who control Israel’s government.” Nadia Hijab, a Senior Fellow at the Institute for Palestine Studies, blogged for CNN that “as the leaks expose, the Israelis have absolutely no interest in stopping their relentless colonization of occupied Palestinian land.” Rashid Khalid, the Edward Said Professor of Arab Studies at Columbia, told Pacifica radio that the cache of transcripts “seriously casts into doubt the idea that Israel would accept anything but complete capitulation by the Palestinians to absolutely everything they’re demanding on every front.” Israel’s foreign minister, Avigdor Leiberman, saw in the papers a similar lesson, its polarity reversed: “Even the most left-wing government of Olmert and [then Foreign Minister Tzippi] Livni did not manage to reach a peace agreement, despite the many concessions,” Ergo, the Palestinians were never serious about peace. Around the world, pundits and politicians took the papers as proof that the Middle East peace process was, and is, a

Yesterday the West Virginia House of Delegates plugged what Associated Press news editor Brian Farkas called a “weasel hole.” In doing so the elected officials by a unanimous vote asserted their rights as the people’s representatives over a West Virginia Supreme Court corrupted by money and power. They delegates said that from now on the five justices cannot claim an exemption from the state’s Freedom of Information Laws.
If there is one man who deserves credit for this important legislation that now must pass the West Virginia Senate, it is Hugh Caperton, who, for the past thirteen years, has been fighting a legal struggle against Massey Energy, the largest coal company in the state, and its CEO, Don Blankenship.
Massey Energy drove Caperton’s small mine into bankruptcy in

Pleas were made via YouTube for the public to record their experiences on 24 July 2010. Afterwards, Macdonald was literally swamped with submissions.
In total he received 450,000 hours of footage, sent from 192 countries.
“We had a big team of researchers watching the clips,” he says. “They gave them all a one-to-five star