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Happy Monday everyone, here’s my Top 5 for June 20, 2011 from Len Berman at www.ThatsSports.com.
1. Quick Hits
22-year old Rory McIlroy from Northern Island won the U.S. Open in a romp, shooting a record 16-under par 268. He won by a whopping eight shots.
Wimbledon is underway.
Who needs interleague play? The owners, that’s

The quote of the month goes to Mark DiCamillo, director of the Field Poll, which is out with a poll that shows Arnold Schwarzenegger with a 75% disapproval rating among voters and with 90% of Los Angeles residents rejecting him.
DiCamillo told the San Francisco Chronicle: “He was going to be a … politician who really appealed to independent voters and who would reach across party lines,” DiCamillo said. The new poll shows that Schwarzenegger has “achieved the 'post-partisan' status.”
Republicans, Democrats, independents, Californians of all walks of life curse their former governor. What's made Arnold's reign so disappointing is not that he betrayed his wife, but that he betrayed voters and their

Somebody notify Kermit: Being green just got a little easier. That’s what happens when the all-powerful will of the universe taps test pilot Hal Jordan (Ryan Reynolds) to be its latest defender, and a dying alien bequeaths him a ring that turns him into the Green Lantern, a mighty force for good with a bitchin’ emerald wardrobe and the ability conjure anything that can be imagined into reality.
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We have entered the age of Endless Conversations — thoughts, messages, links, photos, video, SMS — all carried along in the massive social river — to be discovered, shared, commented upon, curated, stored, analyzed, and more.
The good news for those embroiled in the social media scandal-du jour (read Anthony Weiner) is that the conversation will literally float down the river sooner than later.
But for brands and their agencies, this concept of Conversation Marketing is not new. Seeking the “voice of the customer” has been a priority since the 1980s and there is a long history of VOC initiatives in the annals of corporations all across the

As politics too often demonstrates, the line between truth and fiction is a fragile one. In Road to Nowhere, a director (Tygh Runyan) casts an unknown actress (Shannyn Sossamon) in his latest project, a Southern noir film based on a true story, little realizing that the woman’s past connects her directly to the crime being reenacted. Using a fractured narrative approach, leaping from on-set intrigue to film-within-the-film double-dealing, director Monte Hellman weaves a tale that examines the intersections between the professional liars of the average film crew, and those who lie out of greed, fear, or just pure survival.
Hellman directed Two Lane Blacktop back in 1971, possibly the ballsiest and simultaneously most soulful subversion of the road movie ever, and hasn’t missed a step here.
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As my doctoral dissertation deals with Sri Lankan Tamil activism in Canada, I was asked by a few people why I had not yet weighed in on the recent Channel 4 documentary, Sri Lanka’s Killing Fields, which in conjunction with the United Nations Report released in March, provides a devastating account of war crimes committed by both Sri Lankan government forces and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).
My answer often was that I had not yet gotten over my moment of sheer speechlessness. What is left to say that has not already been said by clips of bound Tiger rebels being summarily executed, or passing shots of Sinhala soldiers tossing dead bodies onto the back of trucks, or merciless video of screaming Tamil civilians running from bunker to bunker as shells fell nearby, or recordings from cameras stalking the hollow cries of a mother clutching the tiny body of her bleeding child. No, there was nothing to be

It’s hardly news to say that it has been a grim season for environmentalists and their allies in Washington. Republicans control the debate, and Democrats are on the defensive. That’s not necessarily the case in the states, however, where people keep working and organizing. Perhaps the most promising news comes out of New York, where a groundbreaking energy efficiency financing program is on the verge of

There is already a body of films devoted to the plight of undocumented immigrants, going all the way back to El Norte (1983) and, in recent years, including Crossing Over (2009), The Visitor (2007) and Under the Same Moon (2007).
To which can be added, near the top of the list, the new A Better Life, opening Friday (6/24/11) in limited release. Directed by Chris Weitz (About a Boy, The Golden Compass), the film is a wrenching tale of the increasingly futile quest for the American dream by immigrants hoping for opportunities beyond what they would find at home.
In this case, it’s Carlos (Demian Bichir, so scarily seductive as Esteban in Weeds). Carlos lives in a humble house in the barrio in Los Angeles. He spends his days working for a lawn service owned by his pal,

The US Supreme Court has ruled that a group of women claiming discrimination against US retail giant Wal-Mart may not seek a class action lawsuit.

The court ruled that women who said they were paid less because of their gender must pursue legal action individually.

Plaintiffs had sought to unite more than a million women in their effort.

Wal-Mart denied the accusation and said female employees across the US had no grounds for a class

Over the past 200 years or so, many of the world’s conflicts have developed around a little-known debate in economic theory. The outcome of this argument has had an impact equal to that of a major war. As an educator, I find it one of the most important but difficult concepts to teach to students, but let me take a shot at explaining it to adults.
The issue is valuation, what something is worth. The debate started in 1776 with the publication of Adam Smith’s landmark book The Wealth of Nations (it was a pivotal year on this side of the Atlantic as

Well, if you know anything about me, the thing to know is that summer is my favorite season of all. I would be happy with All Summer All Of The Time! And music is one of my favorite ways of feeling it. I’m so excited because this summer I already have tickets to see Kenny Chesney, Keith Urban, and Sugarland. There is nothing quite like sweating and dancing under the stars on a hot summer night to super-loud live music.
Here are my top 10 songs that make me feel like summer all year round, but especially when it’s here…here at last!
1: “Summertime,” Kenny

This weekend, the New York State Senate prepares for its final scheduled day of the current legislative session, unsure if a compromise can be reached between its Republican leader and Democratic governor Andrew Cuomo on the issue of same-sex marriage. There is, however, hope for a compromise — one borne out by a close reading of the bill, and Republicans’ objections to it.
Now, it is doubtless true, as others have observed, the real issue here is electoral politics: if the Republicans anger their conservative base by supporting marriage equality, the base may rebel, and the party’s razor-thin margin in the Senate could be lost. At the very least, incumbents could face costly primary battles from the Right. So I do not mean to navely believe that principle, rather than politics, is the central

“Who gets what, when and how?” once was acknowledged as being the essence of politics. It still is — we just do not talk about it candidly. Questions of skewed income distribution somehow are deemed inappropriate for polite company. That includes political parties, Congress, executive agencies, the media, and — yes — even the ‘intelligensia’ in the foundations, in the think tanks, in the

If you haven’t gotten much of a raise lately, it’s probably because the extra money that might have been put in your paycheck instead went to your health insurer if you are enrolled in an employer-sponsored plan.
Many Americans haven’t seen a pay increase of any kind because their employers can’t both increase their wages and also continue offering decent health care coverage. It has become an either-or for people like Zeke Zalaski, a factory worker in Bristol, Connecticut, who hasn’t had a raise in years.
I met Zalaski during a stop at the state capitol in Hartford last year. He wasn’t there lobbying for legislation that would create a state-run “public option,” as many others were that day. Unlike those citizen lobbyists, Zalaski was actually able to vote for the public

It’s normal to fantasize about a “better” version of yourself. As more heroic, smarter, powerful, successful, generous, kinder than you are. (Or more cutthroat or vengeful than you are.) These fantasies can serve as ideals of who we want to become — and thus can be blueprints, showing us how to get from how we are now to who we want to be in the future.
At this time of year particularly, who among us has not fantasized about having a great “summer body”? Does this fantasy serve as a blueprint for how to get there? Almost invariably not. That’s because for most people the ideal of a summer body is as attainable as becoming

Einstein famously said that we cannot solve problems with the same level of perception that created them. We have to step up to a higher and more inclusive level of seeing what is going on in order to understand and solve great challenges. Certainly climate disruption represents one of the greatest tests humanity has ever faced because it is a much higher level problem than the actions which have created it: countless local actions (driving cars, running factories, etc.) have produced global consequences that respect no national boundaries and that imperil our collective future.
Here is how James Speth, former head of the Council on Environmental Quality and a top Washington policy maker, describes the up-leveling of perception required: “I used to think the top environmental problems facing the world were global warming, environmental degradation, and eco-system collapse.. but I was

Last week Cyndi and I found ourselves in Hamburg, with a two day respite between teaching yoga/meditation workshops in Berlin and Copenhagen. What a beautiful and wonderful city!
Hamburg is one of the biggest ports in the world (seventh to be precise) and is also a major center of commerce and culture. One of the highlights of our stay there was a boat tour of the docks, which gave us a close up view of the industrial shipping operation. Having never seen this setting before, I found the magnitude of it to be truly mind-boggling.
Even in this day of rapid fire information transfer and worldwide high speed air travel, there is really no other way to conduct the transfer of large scale goods around the

Unfortunately, when we hear about Sudan these days, it is usually about the escalating crises between North and South Sudan and in Darfur. But as we pause to recognize the millions of refugees around the world today on World Refugee Day, we also want to point out that all is not gloom and doom. There are ways we all can get involved to make a difference in the lives of those forcibly uprooted from their homes in Sudan.
In refugee camps for people driven from their homes by the violence in Darfur, the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, and other aid agencies barely receive enough funds to provide food, water, medicine and shelter for the refugees. Quality education often is a luxury that cannot be

In case you missed it, the Thiel Foundation, founded by Peter Thiel of PayPal fame, just announced the first batch of winners for its “20 Under 20″ fellowship program to pay students to drop out of college for two years to pursue entrepreneurial ideas.
Any number of people have criticized this venture for encouraging kids to drop out of college. Personally, while I think it would be terrible thing if this sort of thing becomes too hip and causes deluded average kids who think the next Google is locked inside their heads to drop out and ruin their educations, it appears that the group chosen is sufficiently elite that a) they may well actually do something useful and b) will succeed no matter what.
Nonetheless, I still think this program is a bad idea, and unlikely to achieve its intended purpose of enhancing innovation in the U.S. (My apologies to the foundation if its purpose is otherwise.) Why? Because its essential strategy consists in smoothing the path of individual geniuses, and this is simply not where the bottleneck to innovation lies in America today.
It’s easy to be distracted by the glamorous entrepreneurs who appear on the covers of business magazines into thinking that they are the sole essence of innovation. Obviously, what they do is important, and I hope they continue to do

If we think about the energy future and imagine the energy that will someday power the homes of our children and of their children, we know it will not be fossil fuels. Maybe it will be some high tech variant of nuclear power, but my view is that it will be some form of solar power. Here in New York, our city government is considering placing solar cells over our now closed garbage dumps. Last week, Mireya Navarro reported in the New York Times on a new City University of New York study of the potential for using New York’s rooftops for solar

The growing anti-Semitic images and caricatures associated with the attempt to ban circumcision in San Francisco are disturbing. These include the highly inflammatory “Foreskin Man” comic, depicting a superhero saving innocent boys from evil circumcisers, which the Jerusalem Post reported to have been produced by Matthew Hess, “one of the central backers of the anti-circumcision measures.” Indeed, the attempt to ban circumcision in San Francisco smacks of a nefarious campaign on the part of the ban’s organizers to portray circumcision as genital mutilation that gives the lie that Judaism and Jewish practice would ever harm a child. I debated Lloyd Schofield, the main man behind the ban, on CNN. I later respectfully asked him to debate me in public where we would have more time and, after he penned a friendly email which curiously implied that there is not much difference between our two positions, he suddenly declined.
But if the case against circumcision is so clear-cut, and it is a grievous assault on a harmless infant, then why decline the debate? Perhaps it is because the organizers know that in any debate their attempt to correlate the excising of the male foreskin with the removal of the female clitoris — a point they have repeatedly made — will be shown up to be a malicious and absurd

Airbus' appearance at the Paris Air Show has been blighted by misfortune, with two key planes damaged.

The wing tip of its demonstration A380 superjumbo struck a building at Le Bourguet airport venue during taxiing.

Gearbox problems have stopped its A400M military transporter from performing a scheduled aerial display, although it will still take part in a fly-past.

It left Boeing able to steal the limelight on the first day of the show with its new, lengthened 747-8 jumbo.

The US rival said it had already received 17 orders for the enlarged plane from two as yet unnamed customers, one of them for 15 planes.

The firm also claimed the first confirmed deal of the show: an order for six 777 planes worth $1.7bn (£1.1bn) from Qatar Airways.
Eco-plane
Despite its bad luck at the opening, Airbus is expected to put in a strong showing at this year's show with a string of orders expected for its new low-emission A320neo plane.

The medium-haul 150-seater planes are a redesign of the traditional A320 that cuts emissions by 15%, reducing clients' carbon footprints and their fuel

On August 13, 1941, Canada’s chief press censor sat down at his desk and typed a memo to the head of military intelligence.
The two men had just come from a rancorous meeting. The military wanted a tougher censorship system. The censors, backed by the federal government of William Lyon Mackenzie King, were opposed.
This was a time of total war.
France had fallen. The Netherlands, Belgium, Denmark, Norway, Czechoslovakia, Austria, Yugoslavia, Albania and Greece were under the Nazi

A special series profiling trailblazers in energy innovation and champions of the environment. See previous stories here.
“In high school I was quite convinced that I would be a civil rights attorney,” Carol Browner remembers. “I always wanted to do things to change the world.” Growing up with two college-professor parents, who were both active in the 1960′s and 70′s anti-war and civil rights movements, clearly made its mark on this young, purposeful woman who would one day become the longest-serving Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator in history. Browner “saw their commitment to social change and social justice” and set out to volunteer at the migrant farm worker camps near her family’s home in South