All Global News on One Page

Just give me one more crack at the ol’ race track
-The Mills Brothers
As the son of a professional gambler, I spent a lot of my childhood at race tracks. Not particularly nice race tracks.
Dad would take us to the aging River Downs facility in Cincinnati during the day and to the even more aging Latonia race track in Northern Kentucky at night.
Lots of broken down men (outside of Pete Rose’s first wife, I can’t remember any women) betting on broken down

Our current discussion about public education offers two competing realities: those of the visionaries and their so-called reform ideas and the people who actually have to teach children each day.
There are teachers, of course, who find the time and energy to think about the long-term viability of what we do and how education overall could improve and there are those reformers who occasionally take pause from their visionary calculations to observe what is going on at a school or in a classroom–though not much it seems.
In his State of the Union, our president declared this generation’s “Sputnik moment” and called on young Americans to consider careers in teaching and there have been many subsequent calls for people young and old to heed that call. These appeals may have long-term logic but isn’t it just the slightest bit disingenuous to sound the call for Americans to become teachers just as the lay-off notices are being delivered?
It reminds me of a principal I once had. She was a visionary, always gushing with grand ideas for how our school could be better what our students could achieve and she truly did inspire many of us and kept us looking past the immediate disasters in which we were often immersed.
But she wasn’t very good at tackling those immediate disasters and so teachers and students often found ourselves groping for the teachable moments within the chaos.
One September a new science teacher went AWOL after two days of crowded classes in a sweltering room without adequate books or supplies — and the sub desk sent us a parade of inadequate replacements.
The classes of that now-unassigned science position descended into pandemonium as students, understanding the neglect being wrought upon them, became angry and unruly.

read full news from www.huffingtonpost.com

President Obama will be travelling through Latin America March 19-23, 2011 with stops in Brazil, Chile, and El Salvador. This is a region that has countries that are: major emitters, key players in global warming negotiations, taking action and ripe for further action, and on the front lines of the impacts of global warming. As he meets with leaders in South and Central America he has an important opportunity to advance action on global warming.
The Latin American region is an important source of carbon pollution accounting for around 12% of the world’s global warming pollution.* The majority of these emissions arise from the loss of tropical

Marketers are ready to spend money in 2011, buoyed by the economic turnaround that’s finally reaching the advertising business, said Shelly Lazarus in an exclusive interview with Beet.TV.
The chairman of Ogilvy & Mather spoke to Beet.TV at the Bloomberg Media Summit. She told us that clients are feeling “more optimistic about their business.” She added, “They’re asking more questions and taking more initiatives.”
They’re also boosting their budgets, including in online media and video, but she cautioned that budgets are still somewhat tentative and only being created on a monthly or quarterly basis, not a yearly basis yet.

read full news from www.huffingtonpost.com

St Patrick’s Day 2010 I received an excited Skype message from a friend of dark green political persuasion. “Check out this website!” he urged. “Greenpeace are going to hit Nestl for palm oil; it’s going to be ugly!”
I clicked on the URL he’d sent and sure enough, there was a website with a countdown to 12pm and a short message to “stay tuned.” There was no hint of what was to come. I had a couple of hours to wait and dutifully went back to the site from time to time, my anticipation building as the hour drew near.
Then 12pm came and yes, it was

This week Governor Scott Walker gave himself kudos for closing the gap between state employees and his brother who works in private industry. The governor recognized an inequality: state employees receive better benefits than most employees in private industry. He could have done one of two things to help solve this problem. He could have worked to make the situation better for his brother and others like him, or he could have worked to make the situation for state employees

In 1987, at the age of 16, I had some trouble taking a deep breath, my joints ached and I was getting frequent headaches. Luckily, a family friend and doctor suggested that I go see a pediatric rheumatologist at Columbia Presbyterian in New York City. After many scans, blood tests and the normal poking and prodding that comes with finding a needle in a haystack, I had a diagnosis.
My parents spoke to the doctor and then to me, and they simply said, “You have lupus.” I had never heard the word and didn’t know anything about what that meant to the rest of my

Last week I called my brother Leon, who lives in Jerusalem, to wish him a happy birthday. As soon as he answered the phone, I knew something was wrong.
“Is everything all right?” I asked.
“Not really,” he murmured in response. “I had to put Lyle to sleep.”
Named for the Texas country singer Lyle Lovett, the dog had been Leon’s companion in Israel since the time he made aliyah 15 years ago. I didn’t know quite what to say, other than, “I’m so

Opening The Huffington Post to scenes of political confrontation, revolution, earthquakes and meltdowns, I watch with awe and compassion as our planet heaves and reels with transformation — masses of people demanding reform, while others stagger from the terrifying impact of natural disaster.
Whether it’s one’s own world crashing down or others’ lives falling apart, one feels vulnerable. Can strengthening our connection to the calm, unchanging depths of our being through meditation bring steadiness and resilience in the face of change?
As a meditation teacher, I find that people are often drawn to turning inward during periods of personal crisis, seeking to anchor themselves. It’s not uncommon for someone to come and learn meditation after receiving a devastating medical diagnosis, while going through a divorce, after losing their job or when just feeling overwhelmed by

“Maybe I should cry for help
Maybe I should kill myself
Blame it on my ADD baby”
~ Awolnation, “Sail”
Those song lyrics aren’t exactly going to make you burst with fruit flavor, but they do indeed strike a chord and hit home. The same can be said for the entire debut album by rock/hip hop/dance band AWOLNation. “Megalithic Symphony,” which dropped Tuesday, features aforementioned first single “Sail” (killing it on alt-rock stations lately) and other tunes that drive home the words that open up the band’s prepared bio: they’re “mad as hell and he’s not going to take it anymore.”
AWOLNATION founder Aaron Bruno is definitely practicing the Howard Beal mantra with a little Holden Caulfield and “Happy Harry Hard-On” thrown in for good measure. Essentially, Bruno’s sick of the world we live in and is waging a war with his NATION against all that’s commercial and

New York City’s Department of Homeless Services’ Advantage program aims to assist families in making a permanent transition from shelter to self-sufficiency by providing a rent subsidy for one to two years once they leave shelter. To maintain their eligibility, Advantage program participants are required to work at least part time and contribute 30 percent of their gross monthly income toward rent in the first year, and if they qualify, 40 percent in the second year.
While receiving an Advantage subsidy is premised on a parent’s ability to obtain and retain a job, without at least a high school equivalency diploma (known as the General Education Development Exam or GED), the road to gainful employment and self-sufficiency will be riddled with potholes. Homeless parents — almost 50 percent of whom are high school dropouts — require tools, such as a GED, to solidly begin down the road to self-sufficiency.
While funding Advantage is clearly better than having no significant subsidy in place, the city’s housing policies must be linked to cost-effective investments in

To be honest, I didn’t have much of an opinion on Bradley Cooper as I walked into the theater to see Limitless, where Cooper plays a failing writer who is given a supply of a miracle drug that turns him into a better, smarter, more motivated version of himself. I had seen The A-Team (wasn’t crazy about it) and The Hangover (liked it more than I expected) and thought Cooper was good in both, where he showed a rare talent for playing smooth-talking handsome devils that you rooted for regardless of their questionable morals. Like most of America, I wisely skipped All About Steve and Case 39, and like most single straight guys not trying to score points with a date, I avoided Valentine’s Day.
While Cooper clearly has good looks, charm and charisma, I was not entirely convinced he could handle a leading

The last Taiwan slideshow was so well received that I have posted more pictures from Taiwan. This set includes many photos from the eastern part of the island including their mountains, hot springs, fish markets as well as a few more of their interesting warning signs.
Hope you enjoy these pictures of Taiwan’s beauty.
1 of 14
Cihou lighthouse on Cinjin Island, Kaoshuing
1 of 15
First Slide
Previous Slide
@
Nearby are incredible fish markets.
World’s Busiest Airports, As Listed By The Airports Council International (PHOTOS)
Japan Earthquake: Airports Closed, U.S.

read full news from www.huffingtonpost.com

The question of international intervention in Libya has, for perhaps the first time since the height of the Bush administration, placed some of the most well-respected U.S. foreign policy thought leaders on opposite sides of a debate over new, proactive military engagement in the Islamic World. On one side, those like Steve Clemons of the New America Foundation have argued that military intervention in Libya brings with it too many unknowns, will serve to place focus on foreign governments and forces instead of the Libyans themselves, and will leave Western nations responsible for another destabilized Arab nation. On the other side,

By now, you’ve heard all about the Kansas legislator who said it was a fine idea to hire gunmen to fly around in helicopters and shoot undocumented immigrants. Republican Virgil Peck made what he calls a “joke” during a public hearing on how to control the feral-pig population (like you, I was unaware that this was a huge problem in Kansas).
In any case, Peck has apologized for comparing immigrants to hogs, and while he was at it, for advocating that the state just start executing people it doesn’t like.
Of course, Peck’s comments are not in the smallest way indicative of the GOP’s hatred for Hispanics. As conservatives are quick to point out, that is all a liberal-media myth, and the Republican Party truly loves Hispanics. After all, you only joke about slaughtering people like vermin if you really respect them.
To be fair, it can’t be easy for Representative

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention wants to study autism as a possible clinical outcome of immunization, as part of its newly adopted 5-year research agenda for vaccine safety, the agency said on its website.
The CDC will also study mitochondrial dysfunction and the potential risk for post-vaccine “neurological deterioration,” and convene an expert panel on the feasibility of studying health outcomes such as autism among vaccinated and unvaccinated children.
The CDC move comes one month after the federal government’s leading autism body, the Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee (IACC) announced a shift in research priorities toward environmental triggers for autism, which the IACC said could include toxins, biological agents and “adverse events following immunization.”
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Immunization Safety Office Scientific Agenda indentified the need to research “Neurodevelopmental disorders, including autism spectrum disorder (ASD)” as a possible clinical outcome of vaccination.
The plan also seeks to deternine if the mercury-based preservative thimerosal is associated with increased risk for “clinically important tics or Tourette syndrome.” The CDC cited one study (Thompson, NEJM, 2007), which “found that increasing exposure to mercury from birth to age 7 months was associated with motor and phonic tics in boys,” and added that “an association between exposure to thimerosal and tics was found in two earlier studies (Andrews, Pediatrics, 2004; Verstraeten, Pediatrics, 2003).”
And, noting that the IACC federal autism panel “suggested several studies including vaccinated versus unvaccinated children to determine if there are differences in health outcomes,” the CDC said it will convene an “external expert committee to offer guidance on the feasibility of conducting such studies and additional studies related to the immunization schedule, including studies that may indicate if multiple vaccinations increase risk for immune system disorders.”
Meanwhile, the IACC has signaled a major shift in research priorities into the causes of autism, moving away from purely genetic studies in favor of investigating the interaction between genes and environmental factors, which it said could include toxins, biological agents and vaccines.
The IACC, among other things, helps direct millions of federal dollars into autism research. Until now, the IACC new strategic plan noted, “the majority of this funding (was) directed toward the identification of genetic risk factors (with) less funding and attention toward environmental research.”
A number of environmental factors are now being researched, the IACC noted, adding that, “Recent studies suggest that factors such as parental age and exposure to infections, toxins, and other biological agents may confer environmental risk.

read full news from www.huffingtonpost.com

In the midst of crisis in Libya and the Middle East, the confused aftermath of the earthquake in Japan, and a budget battle in Washington, President Barack Obama arrives in Brazil Saturday for a short trip to Latin America that will also take him to Chile and El Salvador. Is this really a good use of the president’s time? Absolutely; with a sluggish recovery at home and the region increasingly looking to China and others to diversify economic and political ties, now is the time to show that the United States is a willing partner that takes seriously the region’s concerns as opposed to nations that just take the region’s commodities.
Brazil is a key to success. Obama’s travel to Brasilia offers an early opportunity to explore a substantive and expansive common agenda barely three months after the inauguration of the new Brazilian president. The personal histories and paths to their respective nations’ presidencies — Obama as the first African American president, Dilma Rousseff as a former revolutionary and Brazil’s first woman president — offer a unique opportunity to forge a personal relationship between leaders that can drive the overall bilateral and even regional

The continued deterioration of conditions on the ground in Libya, Bahrain, and Yemen has led to increased discussion of war crimes and the potential consequences. It is important to remember that not every act of oppression or violence is automatically a war crime, even when it occurs under circumstances that for all intents and purposes look like combat to those caught in its midst.
That is not to diminish the seriousness of human rights violations or the effects of domestic or international criminal conduct, but only an offense that is in violation of international humanitarian law — commonly called the laws of war — is a war crime.
In the aftermath of World War II, nations agreed to a set of standards that constitute the laws of war and spelled them out in the Geneva Conventions and their additional protocols. The laws governing international armed conflicts – armed hostilities between two or more State parties — are more extensive than the rules that apply to non-international armed conflicts within a state, like a civil war or a

You’ve all heard that a picture’s worth a thousand words. Turns out, if a Republican state senator in Florida gets his way, a picture of a farm might also be worth 30 years in prison. Senator Jim Norman (R-Tampa) recently introduced SB 1246 in the state Senate which makes it a felony of the first degree for anyone who:
“… photographs, video records, or otherwise produces images or pictorial records, digital or otherwise, at or of a farm or other property where legitimate agriculture operations are being conducted without the written consent of the owner, or an authorized representative of the

Last year while walking along Beverly Road I noticed a large gathering on one of the many gigantic porches that line this street. This neighborhood is a Brooklyn anomaly: roughly four streets by three avenues of colonial style (and size) mansions plopped down between Flatbush and Prospect Park, at the apex of Southern Brooklyn before entering the long stretch of brick-built, Orthodox Jewish-dominated neighborhoods that spread to the feet of Coney Island. Founded in 1899 and today known as Prospect Park South, this urban project conjured by developer Dean Alvord became the blueprint for the modern suburb. It’s so shocking simply because the area is a chunk of Flatbush turned into plantation-style homes, each at least 3,500 square feet large, surrounded by aisles of bodegas and hair supply stores and the virtual parking lot otherwise known as West Indian Flatbush Ave.
On that large, winding porch stood three dozen or so men donned in dark black suits sporting slicked hair, three generations of rugged men wielding cigarettes and weathered

At the stroke of midnight tonight — Friday, March 18th, Cindarella’s coach might have turned back into a pumpkin and the White House could have shut down the government. But fairy tales are true to form, and so we have a Continuing Resolution that lets everyone live happily ever after — at least for 3 weeks.
Regardless of how this next chapter of the budget morality tale ends, the moral of the story is the same: we all need a bit of magic in our lives or a handsome prince with a glass slipper. Reality is just too hard. Watching Washington wrestle with how to cut another swatch from the national budget cloth is getting darn