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Back in 2009, when President Obama announced his political compromise plan for a “surge” in Afghanistan there were complaints from both “hawks” and “doves” alike. And so it came as no surprise that he would hear the same complaints this week as he announced the “beginning of the end” of the “surge”.
Hawks complained that the President’s targets of the imminent departure of 10,000 troops, followed by another 23,000, in a year’s time, are too many too soon. Senator John McCain (Republican- AZ), for example, expressed the concern “that the withdrawal plan…poses an unnecessary risk to the hard won gains that our troops have made thus far in Afghanistan and to the decisive progress that must still be made”. This view was echoed by Republican House Speaker John Boehner who announced that he would hold the President accountable for any setbacks resulting from the “pace and scope of the drawdown”.
Democrats, on the other hand, like Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (CA) and Congressman Barney Frank (MA) were

What a historic day!
I couldn’t be more thrilled that, thanks to extraordinary grassroots activism and the hard work of Governor Cuomo and so many committed organizations and elected officials, New York has once again led the way on equality.
Last night’s vote for marriage equality in NY was a true bipartisan effort with Democratic and Republican State Senators coming together to forge a pro-equality majority in support of the simple proposition that every New Yorker should be able to marry the person they love.
But our work is not done.
The fact is that once our LGBT friends and family are legally able to marry here in New York, the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) will prohibit them from enjoying over 1,000 federal rights and privileges that are afforded straight married couples.
That’s why earlier this year I joined Senator Feinstein and several of my Senate colleagues to co-sponsor the Respect for Marriage Act, a bill that will repeal the regressive and discriminatory DOMA.
It’s also why I’ve joined with Democracy For America to launch a national online campaign to rally support for repeal. For only once every legally married couple in the United States is treated equally under federal law can we fulfill the true meaning of marriage equality.
I hope you’ll join us.
The Defense of Marriage Act truly is

With all the rhetoric surrounding the Conservative government’s introduction of back to work legislation, it’s worth looking at previous government reaction to work stoppages at Canada Post.
There is a long history of troubled labour relations at the corporation, for example, there were some 19 strikes, lockouts and walkouts between 1965 and 1997, but major postal shutdowns are rare.
For instance, the last time this union went on a full scale strike was in the fall of 1997. At that time, the strike ended two weeks later after the Liberal government brought in back to work

Do you trust yourself to make the best decisions in your own interest when it comes to what you eat, what you drink, and all the various products that you buy on the market?
If so, you must be deluded.
Otherwise, why would the government and various groups of do-gooders want to prevent you from even seeing the name of some products for fear that you may not resist the urge to buy them?
That’s the logic supporting the many regulations that exist on products such as cigarettes, alcohol and fast food. True, these products may have some negative side effects, especially when consumed in large quantities. But they are still legal and you can buy them anytime you

When I was in high school, I used to watch SCTV. It was a sketch comedy show that happened in this made-up TV station in the fictional town of Melonville. Dave Thomas and Rick Moranis created two particular characters that gained a lot of attention: Bob and Doug Mackenzie. They represented everything stereotypically Canadian (or maybe what became stereotypically Canadian?): toques, beer, donuts and, of course, back

A 19-year-old charged with hacking the website of the UK Serious Organised Crime Agency has been diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome, a court has heard.

Ryan Cleary, from Wickford, Essex, was arrested as part of a Scotland Yard and FBI probe into online hacking group LulzSec.

His counsel told City of Westminster Magistrates' Court he suffers from the form of autism, along with agoraphobia.

He was granted bail, but remains in custody after prosecutors objected.

Ben Cooper, defending Mr Cleary, said he was concerned the alleged hacker would have to remain in custody over the weekend.

The court was told he is of high intelligence but has difficulty interacting with other

A quaint historical museum in Pin Point, Georgia, that is set to open this fall has become the target of an exhaustive ethics examination by the New York Times. Why would the Times devote almost 3,000 words to a community heritage museum? Pin Point, as it turns out, is also the birthplace of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, and it was Thomas who introduced Pin Point residents to his friend Harlan Crow, a Dallas real-estate tycoon and major conservative donor, who would ultimately fund the museum. According to some legal analysts, Thomas’s role in Crow’s decision to donate may have troubling ethical implications.
Supreme Court justice Clarence Thomas / Photo by Mark Wilson/Getty Images
Pin Point lies along the Gullah/Geechee Cultural Heritage Corridor designated by Congress, a passage of coastal fishing towns settled by the descendants of slaves. Algernon Varn, whose father ran the fishing cannery there, long hoped to save the site from development, but it wasn’t until he bumped into Thomas, who was in town promoting his memoir, that the project began to move

News of this study caught my eye recently, with its recommendations for a highly efficient line of treatment for older adults with insomnia. Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh tested a treatment known as Brief Behavioral Therapy Intervention (BBTI). BBTI is just what it sounds like: a short-term, highly targeted course of counseling, targeted at changing a person’s behaviors. I’ve written about the effectiveness of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) in treating insomnia and in many cases it can be as effective as drug therapy — and last

Breakfast is often touted to be the most important meal of the day. Your mother may have told you that, but if you’re like many people, you skip it anyway. Recent research now backs up your mother’s advice. The conclusion of researchers at the University of Missouri who studied the topic is that people who eat a balanced breakfast, especially one high in protein, experience less hunger throughout the

We all need to move our bodies every day. Period. Running, walking, spinning, biking … whatever your choice is, you’ve got to do

A special series profiling trailblazers in energy innovation and champions of the environment. See previous stories here.
Annemarie Goedmakers grew up in the center of Amsterdam not far from the storied Anne Frank House and was just three when her grandmother died of brain cancer. In the years that followed, she dreamt of becoming a scientist and professor in cancer research. “Everybody told me that I looked after

New York has become the sixth and most populous US state to allow same-sex marriage.

The Republican-controlled state senate voted 33-29 for a bill that had earlier been approved by the lower house, which has a Democratic majority.

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo quickly signed the bill into law. Gay weddings are expected to start within 30

Good Lord, how often is it the New York state legislature makes you proud?
The Republican-controlled state Senate voted 32-29 late Friday night to bring gay marriage to New York. The vote came after a long, messy week in which the Republicans fretted endlessly about whether Hasidic florists would be forced to provide flowers to gay weddings, but in the end, they came through and actually did something that was cutting edge and at least a little bit brave. Can’t remember the last time that happened.
There was that time in 1970 – I wasn’t actually here, but I’ve been told – that the lawmakers passed a groundbreaking abortion rights law. The bill seemed doomed to lose on a tie vote in the House until George Michaels, who represented a conservative upstate district, rose and announced, near tears, that he was voting

Co-authored by Janos Marton
New York City’s campaign finance system, often lauded as the best in the nation, has a secret. It’s under attack.
On the heels of last year’s devastating Citizens United decision that opened the floodgates for more corporate spending in elections, the United States Supreme Court may be about to severely curtail the role of public financing in elections. The case, McComish v. Bennett, involves a challenge to Arizona’s public financing system, specifically a provision granting “trigger funding” to participating candidates facing well-funded

Alleged gang boss James "Whitey" Bulger has returned to his home city of Boston to appear in federal court, following his arrest in California.

Mr Bulger is accused of committing 19 murders. He asked for a public defender, but prosecutors objected, citing large sums of money found at his Santa Monica home.

A ruling has not yet been made on the 81-year-old's request.

He was on the FBI's "Ten Most Wanted" list and spent 16 years on the run.

Mr Bulger, who was arrested on Thursday, is accused of involvement in 19 murders as well as running the Winter Hill gang in the Boston area in the 1970s and

If you have ever been pregnant then you will understand the trials and tribulations I am about to write. When you first find out you have a life growing inside of you, you feel scared. Scared about the type of mother you will be and maybe, “how in the world is my body going to do this?” Or, maybe not? Maybe you first feel joy and then the reality sinks in as the weeks pass and the doctor visits became a little more overwhelming, then maybe you feel a little fear. Thankfully here in the States we have a support system of knowledgeable people, from our friends who know it all, our family who knows best, and our team of medical experts who keep it real.
Photo by Vivian Glyck
The pregnant women in the Ugandan villages are often adolescent girls who should be worried about tomorrow’s spelling test or having silly talks with their

Ellen Lambert is Executive Vice President of the Merck Company Foundation, which has contributed more than $560 million to support social health and wellness initiatives since 1957. She also champions the pharmaceutical company’s robust pro bono service efforts. Ellen and I chatted this week about how art can be applied to philanthropy, how hunger became one of Merck’s signature issues, and how to accessorize with a Six Sigma green belt.
I am planning a sabbatical and struggling with what to do. If you had two months to explore, generate new ideas, and refresh, how would you spend them?
I’d look at hunger and survival and water

Opposition to the PROTECT IP Act — Hollywood-supported legislation intended to reduce content piracy and block counterfeit goods — is growing among the tech community, with a letter blasting the bill released Thursday by more than fifty venture capitalists from forty firms that have funded many top Internet companies.
Also speaking out in recent weeks against the law is a completely different constituency: groups concerned that the broadly-drafted act would endanger U.S. consumers’ access to lower-priced prescription drugs from Canadian and other foreign pharmacies.
In contrast, Hollywood trade associations and unions support the legislation, as do drug companies.
Details: The Hollywood Reporter.
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Check out my new book “Hollywood on Strike!,” available on Amazon (also in a Kindle edition). Subscribe to my blog (jhandel.com)

for more about
entertainment law and
digital media
law.

Check out my
residuals
chart there

The Philadelphia Inquirer’s year-long investigation into violence in the city’s schools documents the way that assaults and chronic disorder cripple efforts to improve student performance. It is hard to tell which told the more tragic story — the Inquirer’s recent series or its special reports in 2007 after a teacher suffered a broken neck.
The Inquirer cited Edison High School, one of the city’s 19 “persistently dangerous schools,” where a cellphone camera documented the “explosive violence that all too often engulfs Philadelphia public schools, traumatizing students and teachers and stifling learning.”
To comply with NCLB, Edison was required to devise an action plan to enhance safety. Its plan was:
Goal 1: Installation of cameras.
Goal 2: Improve school climate.
Goal 3: Student mentoring/peer mediation.
Another school’s plan was specific enough to address tardiness by doing the following:
Have posters and policy printed up and posted
Inform staff, parents and students of policy and procedure
Aquire [sic] shirts for sell
The plan also misspelled the school’s name.
These school plans are “thin,” said a retired principal, “because people are filling out and documenting what they need to please the district and the government.”
Fels High School, where more than seven percent of students experience a violent incident, listed the school’s goal as reducing the number of violent incidents by 10 percent. Fels hopes to “reduce the numbers of students running randomly in packs throughout the building,”
The same culture of compliance was demonstrated the last time the Inquirer documented rampant disorder and

An American marine crouches, knee to the ground, weapon lowered but ready.

To his left flank, there is a line of trees. He is in the Taliban heartland of southern Afghanistan.

All looks quiet, but there is tension in the air, as if the fighting could break out once more.

This is only a painting by American war artist Michael Fay.

But it could sum up the fears of many in the US military that President Barack Obama is pulling out his troops too quickly from Afghanistan, sacrificing any gains they have made on the battlefield.

It is a concern Mr Fay, a former US marine himself, shares.

He has spent much of the past decade documenting the lives of US troops in pencil and paint.

That was not the original

Well, it’s certainly been an eventful couple of weeks, hasn’t it?
We’re back on our regular weekly schedule here after returning home from our second trip this month (this one to Netroots Nation), after which I can firmly conclude that flying, these days, sucks. Big time. Sigh.
Personal travel observations aside, though, plenty has been happening elsewhere in the political world while all the Lefties were having fun in Minneapolis. So much has been happening that I’m bound to miss at least one or two of them, for which I apologize in

There is a dearth of historical stories on black life in Southern California. Those that do exist focus on entertainment, crime, or sports. But looking back, one might wonder — what was every day life like for black Angelenos thirty or forty years ago? Where, and how, did they live, work, and play?
There have always been more stories written for and about the communities west and north of downtown. South and East

While entering the institution of marriage voluntarily seems to be losing its luster amongst opposite-sex couples — many same-sex couples are red-hot for equal access to it, given its germane economic benefits.
President Obama, in a speech to LGBT donors in New York June 23, spoke of supporting equal rights for same-sex couples, but he did not use the word marriage in that comment. Instead, he made it clear he believes marriages are a right administered by the states. He neglected to acknowledge, however, that the federal government does in fact recognize these marriages through a wide range of financial and other benefits.
The right to civil union vs. marriage is treacherous

It’s tough to get ahead in the US without a postsecondary degree (e.g., associate, bachelor’s or higher). This fact is proven by degree: income and unemployment rates (see chart). A bachelor’s degree equates to an extra $14,000/year over an associate degree and equates to 1.6% lower unemployment. Yet, achieving these degrees comes at a steep price for the student and the