The Full Feed from HuffingtonPost.comwebmaster@huffingtonpost.comCopyright 2007, HuffingtonPost.com, Inc.The Full Feed from HuffingtonPost.comGood old fashioned elbow grease.HuffPost Innovators Series: Shutterstock, Mobius Technologies, KOR Watertag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2010:/thenewswire//2.6638242010-07-29T19:40:56Z2010-07-29T19:43:16ZThe Huffington Post News Editorshttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/thenewswire/
In our latest edition of the HuffPost Innovators series, we're highlighting companies that have some creative solutions to problems big and small. One firm is dedicated to offering literally trillions of shopping options to buyers of men's shirts, and two of the firms are hoping that BP and the U.S. government will use their products to clean up the Gulf oil spill.
To submit an innovative entrepreneur, startup or established company, click "ADD A SLIDE" below and upload a short description and picture of the founder or business leader you'd like to nominate. (Note: Please skip the marketing jargon and keep your descriptions short.) If your story is compelling, a HuffPost staffer will contact you to learn more about your story.
(Check out the first and second editions of our Innovators series.)
Which company is the most innovative? Check out the latest edition of the HuffPost Innovators series below:
Stephen Schlesinger: Capturing the Birth of the UN on Filmtag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2010:/theblog//3.6639652010-07-29T19:40:13Z2010-07-29T19:40:13ZWhy has the story of the UN's founding never made it into the cinematic arena? The story of the UN's creation is an extraordinarily dramatic...Stephen Schlesingerhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/stephen-schlesinger/
Why has the story of the UN's founding never made it into the cinematic arena? The story of the UN's creation is an extraordinarily dramatic tale that would surely rivet people if they could view how the great leaders of the 1940s --- Roosevelt, Truman, Churchill, Stalin -- and their talented diplomats put it all together in the Spring of 1945 following the tragedies of two terrible world wars. Such a film should espcially interest Americans, as it was our government that, above all others, pushed hardest for its establishment. Today the UN's decisions affect millions of people, its peacekeeping missions are protecting thousands of lives, its health and development agencies are savings huge populations, its sanctions are constricting rogue states (like North Korea and Iran). Yet, for all of its notoriety, few people know where the organization came from, how it was born, and why it grew into so influential a body. Last fall, I was having drinks in New York with two documentary filmmakers, Romuald Sciorra, and Estelle Moser. We were discussing our favorite subject, the United Nations, and its latest doings. All three of us are longtime UN aficionados. I met both individuals a half-decade earlier through Harpers Magazine editor, Louis Lapham, who had put us together because of the publication of my book, "Act of Creation," about the 1945 San Francisco conference that created the UN. Later, I was interviewed for two of their films about the UN - in 2005, "At the Glass Building: Interviews with UN Secretaries-General," and in 2008, "Planet UN," about the world body's pioneering work at the beginning of the 21st century in development, human rights and peace. At one point my friends began musing about their possibly doing a documentary on my book. They said it would complete the series of films they had made about the UN. I was both flattered and intrigued. One reason I had written my study was to tell the unusual tale about the UN's origins, which I had found, to my surprise, was almost wholly unknown to many UN delegates as well as people in general - and specifically to remind Americans of the key role played by the US in founding the institution. I was also fascinated by the fact that the US had spied on all the other countries attending the San Francisco conference to learn what issues they would support or dispute. The idea of a film to spread the message of the UN's early beginnings to an even larger audience than I had gotten for my book seemed highly attractive. Soon we began to explore how we might start this project. We agreed that we should aim to do the movie for next year's 65th anniversary of the organization. Sciorra suggested that I should become one of the writers on the script, along with himself, since I was the expert on the subject. He and Moser considered how long the film should be - at first contemplating an hour in length but later expanding it to 90 minutes because of the unique series of dramas generated at the San Francisco meeting. The two also found interest at the Public Broadcasting System in broadcasting the documentary, which will be October 2011. Then we had to figure out what would our film cover? Basically we agreed that it would recount the almost operatic saga of how the UN came into being during the nine-week San Francisco event held in spring 1945. Most conferences are dull, technical and predictable. This one was anything but - full of larger-than-life personalities, iconic diplomats, spies, melodramatic confrontations, serious breakups and electrifying speeches. Often it appeared the conference would fail only to be revived at the last moment. Five thousand people attended, two thousand of them journalists who wrote about every angle of the event. The major intriguer behind the UN was Franklin Roosevelt. This was his legacy. He dispatched an extraordinary array of Americans to the meeting. The US delegates included Senator Arthur Vandenburg, the Republican expert on international affairs who months earlier had discarded isolationism in favor of multilateralism; Democratic Senator Tom Connally of Texas, the colorful head of the powerful Senate Foreign Relations Committee; and Harold Stassen, former governor of Minnesota and longtime presidential contender in the Republican Party. The legal adviser to the US mission was John Foster Dulles, who, eight years later, became President Eisenhower's secretary of state. There was Nelson Rockefeller, Roosevelt's assistant secretary for Latin American affairs, whose family bought the land for the UN headquarters and who went on to become governor of New York and Republican vice president of the US under Gerald Ford. Adlai Stevenson, twice the Democratic Party nominee for the presidency in the 1950s, headed communications for the US delegation. Alger Hiss, later accused of being a notorious Soviet spy, was temporary head of the UN during the conference. And one of the reporters at the event was a young journalist named John F. Kennedy, working for the Hearst news syndicate and, later, of course, president of the US.
With this dazzling line-up, we are now working hard to capture the event, accessing a rich archive of newsreels, pictures, memoirs, biographies, State Department records, CIA and FBI documents and related materials to provide the complete details of the event. Though none of the original participants are alive today, we have many oral accounts by delegates and onlookers, which will give insiders' insights into the conclave. One of our biggest finds have been tapes of Stassen and Hiss reminiscing about their roles at the San Francisco conference, audio files that have never been broadcast before.
We will also interview outside experts. We intend to produce a film that illuminates for students, citizens and the world at large the remarkable epic of this organization's creation and the single-minded role that the US government played in bringing it to fruition.
Ex-QB Steve Grogan Slams Deceased Jack Tatumtag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2010:/thenewswire//2.6638742010-07-29T19:38:45Z2010-07-29T19:42:41ZThe Huffington Post News Editorshttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/thenewswire/
Jack Tatum, a former Pro Bowl safety for the Oakland Raiders, died on Tuesday at age 61. Nicknamed "The Assasin" (although he did not like the term), Tatum was one of the hardest hitters in the NFL and is known for a hit in a preseason game that paralyzed New England Patriots receiver Darryl Stingley.
Former Patriots quarterback Steve Grogan, the man who threw the pass to Stingley, said on 98.5 The Sports Hub in Boston that the hit still bothers him. In fact, he even said he didn't have anything nice to say about Tatum.
"Unfortunately Jack Tatum is one guy that I just can't find anything nice to say about," Grogan said. "Just the way he handles the whole situation"
Grogan went onto say that Tatum never apologized to Stingley. "But to never apologize to Darryl, to try to make money off the whole situation, never showing any regret or remorse. This is a man who wasn't a good person."
You can listen to the entire interview here.
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Rick Horowitz: Tonight's Big Story: Is It Newswordy?tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2010:/theblog//3.6635432010-07-29T19:34:22Z2010-07-29T19:34:20Z"This guy's trying to make history -- blow the cover off the war in Afghanistan and all that -- and he's going around calling himself 'WikiLeaks'?! He ought to be embarrassed!"Rick Horowitzhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/rick-horowitz/
[Under the heat of the studio lights...]
"I won't do it."
"Of course you'll do it."
"Two minutes to air."
"I mean it -- I won't do it."
"Of course you'll do it -- it's in the script. Your job is to read the script."
"But 'WikiLeaks'?! I actually have to say 'WikiLeaks'?!"
"That's their name."
"'WikiLeaks.'"
"That's their name -- you can't do the story without mentioning them. And you have to do the story."
"But -- "
"It's an important story."
"I'm not arguing about importantce -- I agree it's important. So why don't they have a name that sounds important, instead of -- "
"That's their call, OK? They can call themselves anything they want -- we're just here to report it."
"Ninety seconds to air."
"Aren't they embarrassed?"
"Excuse me?"
"Aren't they embarrassed? This guy's trying to make history -- blow the cover off the war in Afghanistan and all that -- and he's going around calling himself 'WikiLeaks'?! He ought to be embarrassed!"
"He isn't."
"Well, I'm embarrassed! I'm embarrassed for him, and I'm embarrassed for me!"
"Objection noted. Now, are you -- "
"'WikiLeaks.' Ridiculous."
"You used to say the same thing about Google, remember? You said nobody'd ever believe a network guy who said 'Google.'"
"As a verb! I was talking about using 'Google' as a -- "
"But now you say it all the time, right? Even as a verb. And -- "
"Sixty seconds to air."
" -- nobody bats an eyelash, am I right? You get used to it. Everybody gets used to it."
"And 'Yelp.' My kids are always telling me to go Yelp."
"So you -- "
"I don't even know what that means! 'Go Yelp.' I -- "
"Yelp helps you find where to -- "
"Did we run out of real words all of a sudden? I've been in this business all my life -- "
"And you're very, very good at it."
"Do you have any idea how it feels to tell people to 'Check out my Tweets'?"
"I -- "
"To 'Check out my Tweets on Twitter'? I'm an anchorman, damn it! I shouldn't have to say things like that!"
"I sympathize. I really do."
"I'm glad somebody does."
"Thirty seconds."
"No, I really do."
"Good."
"Of course, I'd sympathize even more if you weren't taking home that enormous paycheck every week."
"I earn that paycheck!"
"Not saying you don't. Just saying that part of what gets you the big bucks is occasionally doing something you don't like doing. Something that makes you uncomfortable."
"Got it."
"Fifteen seconds."
"Or even a little embarrassing."
"Got it."
"So we're OK?"
"Sure."
"Ten."
"You'll read it the way we wrote it? 'WikiLeaks' and all?"
"Sure."
"And you'll nail it, just like you always do."
"Sure."
"Excellent!"
"In five...four...three..."
"Yahoo."
"Yahoo?"
"The sound of a happy newsman."
"I love it when you're sarcastic."
Rick Horowitz is a syndicated columnist. You can write to him at rickhoro@execpc.com.
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Meredith Fineman: Fifty First (J)Dates: Picking your Pic(k) - A Primertag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2010:/theblog//3.6639572010-07-29T19:31:37Z2010-07-29T19:31:37ZSadly, far and away the most important part of an online dating profile is the photograph. I know, we want to pretend we aren't superficial...Meredith Finemanhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/meredith-fineman/
Sadly, far and away the most important part of an online dating profile is the photograph. I know, we want to pretend we aren't superficial here, or morbidly curious, but it's really really important. Which is why I thought I would give my four cents (my cents count more) about how to pick a profile photo.
1. You must have a photo.
I know, you want people to judge you on your beautiful poem that is reminiscent of Tennyson and cleverly includes your love of cats playing pianos. We just want to see what you look like. I consider profiles without pictures to be burying the lead. When someone doesn't have a picture, it makes me think they have something to hide. I'm not saying looks are the only thing that matters, but they do play a large part, at least at first.
2. Have it only be of you.
Having someone else in your photo can be a lose/lose sitch. If it's a person of the same sex, the person looking at your profile will assume you're trying to look hotter standing next to your ugliest amigo, or that you're trying to become osmotically hot by standing next to your friend who resembles Javier Bardem (Hola, Javier. Si estas leyendo, llamame!)
It's just not going to fly either way. It's worse if it's with someone of the opposite sex, as if to say "I know I'm on a dating site but yes I did at one point in my existence have physical contact with the other species."
3. Include some parts of your body.
It's okay if the initial profile picture isn't a body shot. But you have to include at least one, if only for the reason that people will assume you have something to hide about your body (even if you don't and are shaped like Audrina Patridge. In which case you should most definitely include bikini shots. Shake what the plastic surgeon gave ya!)
The person you go out with is going to find out how you look physically anyway, so it's best not to deceive.
4. Do not wear sunglasses or have it be from far away.
These are both red flags. And if you look like an ant, I'm not having it. Too close is equally as bad. Boogerz.
5. Make it a recent photo.
It's very easy to tell that you're using a photo that was taken the night you peaked at Senior Prom. Sixteen years ago. (When you had Room 405 on reserve, with the key clinking in your pocket and you couldn't wait to show off your bra-removal ambidexterity.)
Make it a recent photo. Nobody wants to think they're going out with Ben Stiller but really they're ending up with Jerry.
Read More Fifty First (J)Dates!
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Debra Levine: Patrick Graham's Patch of Earthtag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2010:/theblog//3.6433102010-07-29T19:30:12Z2010-07-29T19:35:54ZDebra Levinehttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/debra-levine/
"My first memory of drawing was as a child and I remember people talking about me," said Irish artist Patrick Graham at a crowded art talk hosted by his long time representative, Jack Rutberg, at Rutberg's La Brea Avenue gallery.
Graham, born in Mullingar, County Westmeath, in 1943, was visiting Los Angeles from Dublin. He continued: "I remember going to find some chalk to draw on the sidewalk. I drew the pope. It was Pope Pius XII so you know how long ago that was. People came to my door and complained. So I started in controversy."
"I have an early memory of people asking me to do things I was surprised they couldn't do. I began to get a consciousness of slight differences. The next thing I remember is drawing cowboy hats and guns."
Graham described a world far from sunny southern California: "It was a very severe time in an immensely Catholic, strict religious environment. It was very oppressive. That's when I started my long life as a voyeur. I love looking. We guys found ways to look at things we were not meant to see."
"It was an oppressive, restrictive, censored environment. How could art flourish? There were no real materials and there was no real concept of art."
"[As a young art student I felt] The Irish are a repressed people," he said. "All that was left to us was shame. And being lost in someone else's definition of you. It was all we had as a race. That was the stuff I began to explore as an Irish visual artist."
"I went through a terrible time. If you can do it through a short cut, I'd advise it."
Graham's great harmonious canvas "Somewhere Jerusalem" (1996 oil and mixed media on canvas, 72 x 140 inches), pictured above and hanging imposingly in Rutberg's front room, "comes from a topographical map."
"We're all looking for our Jerusalem," said Graham. "If you find it, it's dead. It's about the search."
PATRICK GRAHAM fact of the matter | Jack Rutberg Fine Arts | 357 LaBrea Avenue, Los Angeles | through August 31
Sarah Ryley: Haitian Hospitals Awash With Supplies, Struggle to Pay Staff (Part 2)tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2010:/theblog//3.6636962010-07-29T19:28:29Z2010-07-29T19:31:53ZOrganizations seem unwilling to donate the one thing Haitian hospitals say they desperately need: Money that can be spent at their discretion, for things like salaries, fuel for the generator, and oxygen. Sarah Ryleyhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/sarah-ryley/
CARREFOUR, Haiti — Down a craggy pathway, past the open-air pews that line the emergency wing, to the right of a bright red shipping container packed with tents and toiletries that in five months has yet to be cracked open, is the Hopital Adventiste d'Haiti's "excess supply outpost."
Its two cavernous rooms are stacked to the ceiling with wheelchairs, walkers and sagging boxes that have, thanks to a dozen pre-med volunteers from Loma Linda University, just recently been arranged by theme. Among the stockpiles are three-dozen laryngoscopes, one-dozen disposable skin staplers, twenty-dozen tubes of diaper rash cream, a mountain of lovingly assembled personal hygiene kits, 3,500 hard hats, and a thousand-gallon box of dishrags.
"We have enough rubbing alcohol and peroxide to last us 20 years," said Nathan Lindsey, the hospital's assistant administrator.
In the months following the January 12 earthquake, donated medical equipment and supplies were shipped into Haiti by the container-full, overwhelming hospitals across this disaster-ravaged nation. Much of it will never get used, and even worse, the unopened boxes sometimes obstruct doctors from locating supplies they actually need to treat patients.
But organizations seem unwilling to donate the one thing Haitian hospitals say they desperately need: Money that can be spent at their discretion, for things like salaries, fuel for the generator, and oxygen.
A recent exception was at Port-au-Prince's largest general hospital, Hopital de l'Universite d'Etat. Its roughly 1,800 employees went on strike because they hadn't been paid since the earthquake, and people died as a result, prompting the American Red Cross to make a rare cash donation of $3.8 million toward salaries.
Still, all of the five Haitian hospitals that responded to questions from this reporter, including Adventiste, said that while they are awash with donated supplies, they struggle to pay basic operational expenses to keep their institutions afloat.
These hospitals were admittedly operating on a shoestring before the earthquake. But the Haitian government's six-month mandate that all medical care be free — during a time when thousands of people required expensive operations — put hospitals under so much financial strain that some simply went bankrupt, while others were forced to cut corners wherever they could.
Six months later, still struggling
"What we are able to pay now is about a quarter of what it was before the earthquake," said Lindsey.
On paper, Lindsey said Adventiste has a staff of around 100, but in actuality far fewer come in on a daily basis. Usually, only one Haitian doctor is on duty at the 70-bed facility.
"You can't just schedule people for work and demand things from them if they're not getting paid," said Lindsey. "And when we need gas for the generator, we have to pay cash to the people with the gas. We can't just say, 'Oh but we're providing this great service.' They say, 'No, the gas cost me money so you've got to buy it from me.'"
Dr. Thea James, a board member of the non-profit Unified for Global Healing, which brought 24 doctors, nurses and social workers to Adventiste for two weeks this month, said, "It's been kind of a crescendo, there were barely any doctors when we got here so the patients didn't bother to come. Word got out, and our [patient encounter] census has really grown exponentially."
In the emergency department, the group's census grew from 26 people on the first day to 107 patients on the last day.
"Before the earthquake, there used to be a normal volume of patients. Now there are too many for us to care for without the help of foreigners," said Dr. Erwine Dina Jeune, one of the few Haitian doctors at Adventiste.
Juene said she did get paid after the earthquake, but only works at the hospital part-time because she makes most of her money from her private practice clients.
Father Jean Bapiste Geordani, founder of the badly damaged Hopital Saint Francois de Salle in Port-au-Prince, said his medical staff "is patient because [they are] conscious of the difficult situation," but that he is oftentimes unable to pay even half of their $12,100 in monthly wages.
Monthly salaries range from $300 for a nurse or lab technician, to $1,000 for the medical director — comparable to the cost of a plane ticket from the United States, or a fraction of the roughly $5,000 price of shipping one container of worth of supplies.
"To a large extent, donors are reluctant to contribute to ongoing costs. So many programs are concerned about beginning to pay salaries when they don't know what the long-term plan would be to continue paying those salaries," said Louise Ivers, the clinical director for Partners in Health in Haiti, which facilitated the $3.8 million donation to Hopital de l'Universite d'Etat.
"It's a lot easier for people to donate materials and supplies, and although those things are very welcome, there's no point in having stuff if you don't have people to use the stuff," she said.
The benefits of autonomous resources
Critics of the current system of philanthropy claim that the result is a system of hospitals dependant upon the supplies foreigners decide to donate and how many foreign volunteers are able to fly in that week; versus the more autonomous model of a hospital making purchases based on need, and hiring a local staff familiar with the local diseases.
"It's a frustrating situation because we know what our needs are," said Lindsey.
While he said many of the donations are useful — such as the new prosthetic lab that's been trapped at the port for months — the cash equivalent would have been more appreciated in some cases.
For example, Adventiste received boxes of heavy coats and IV pumps, which would leave an unattended patient dead when the electricity goes out, a frequent occurrence. Then there's that bright red shipping container parked in the yard.
Charmaine Lewis, the medical director of the rural Centre de Sante St. Vincent de Paul, said they received a pallet of advanced algebra textbooks written in English, when they can't even afford chalk.
In other instances, donors will send hospitals equipment without training the staff to use it, as was the case with an ultrasound machine shipped to Adventiste.
Ultrasound machines can quickly diagnose life-threatening emergencies like an aortic aneurysm or internal hemorrhage. But the use of the technology in emergency rooms is a relatively new phenomenon, even in the United States, said Dr. James, who is also an assistant professor of emergency medicine at Boston Medical Center.
"Although we have provided ultrasound training to general practitioners in Haiti and Jamaica in the past, this is not a skill that generalists receive in their medical training," she said. "Dr. Jeune was eager to learn about emergency department ultrasound, and Dr. Richard Zaidner, an emergency medicine resident at Boston Medical Center, was delighted to teach her."
Ideally, Lindsey said he wishes more foreign doctors would work in partnership with the Haitian staff, versus the in isolation of them, which can be demoralizing and counter-productive.
"Our local staff is spread thin and I think the foreign volunteers are necessary right now to ensure quality of care. But given more resources to have more local staff on board full-time would alleviate a lot of problems," he said. "Then the expat involvement would be more in a teaching and support aspect, versus more direct patient care."
Dr. James pointed out that foreign doctors learn a lot from their trips to tropical and impoverished countries like Haiti, where the doctors tend to be more skilled in physical examination because they don't have as much technology to rely on, and are presented with a whole slew of ailments that are never seen in the United States.
"I told the team to make working together with the Haitian staff our daily mantra and I asked them to pose their questions to our Haitian colleagues before asking me or one of our nurses anything," she said.
That mantra paid off when she was about to transfer a patient, who had all the symptoms of an acute abdomen and ruptured appendix, to a hospital with a general surgeon. But the Haitian doctor on staff immediately recognized the symptoms as typhoid and, effectively, prescribed antibiotics.
Language is another advantage local doctors have over foreign volunteers.
For example, a Creole-speaking nurse working in Adventiste's pediatric ward accidentally administered 40 milliliters of fluid per hour through an IV to a 1.6-pound premature baby, versus four milliliters as prescribed by the doctor, because of a mistranslation. The mistake, had it not been noticed, could have "drowned" the baby.
Currently, to communicate with the Haitian staff and patients, the foreign volunteers depend on translators, who may or may not get paid a regular salary of around $2 per day.
At this time it appears undecided whether major organizations will be willing to give more direct funding to Haitian hospitals.
"We are looking at ongoing, long-term support to hospitals. That might involve direct funding, it might not," said Matthew Cochrane, a spokesman for the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies who is working in Haiti.
"One of the issues that has to be considered is sustainability. Direct funding by an agency might not be the most sustainable solution," he said.
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Sen. Fritz Hollings: The bottom line in Afghanistantag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2010:/theblog//3.6639442010-07-29T19:23:31Z2010-07-29T19:23:31ZAt last! The best excuse for the mistaken "war" in Afghanistan is "nation building." Rick Stengel, editor of Time, finally identified nation building as the...Sen. Fritz Hollingshttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/sen-ernest-frederick-hollings/
At last! The best excuse for the mistaken "war" in Afghanistan is "nation building." Rick Stengel, editor of Time, finally identified nation building as the strategy or goal this morning on "Morning Joe" (7/29/10). Defending Time's cover article of the wonderful rights given some women in Afghanistan during the past nine years and insisting that we couldn't leave now for fear that they would go back to selling their daughters, Stengel gave approval to the policy of nation building or force feeding democracy in Afghanistan. This morning's argument never got to the bottom line question: "Can you ask GIs to give their lives for nation building?" My answer is no. When we failed to commit the troops in August of 2004, I stated in the United States Senate that the effort in Afghanistan was no longer worth the life of an additional GI. And we ought to get out. President Eisenhower noted that democracy was not a hundred yard dash but an endurance contest. Bottom line: We can't ask GIs to get killed as we endure for democracy in Afghanistan.
After nine years the counterinsurgency strategy or nation building strategy is for a Marine not to instantly return fire coming from a row of houses as he moves forward. He is supposed to stop and call headquarters to get permission to return fire - all the time praying that he doesn't get killed while headquarters makes up its mind. GIs and Marines are taught for war - to continue going forward under fire. We're killing less civilians, but more GIs, under this strategy. But we're ruining our armed forces. Killing is the policy of the Pentagon. Bottom line -- we shouldn't change Dale Carnegie's field manual of "lavishing praise" to make friends to "getting killed" to make friends.
Stengel assumes that Afghanistan is now a democracy, and extending women's rights for a few more years will stabilize the country. We've already given up the North. We've already given up trying to change most of the warlords, and are only nation building in the populace South. We could stay in Afghanistan ten more years, giving women their rights, and the warlords and culture would immediately take over when we left. We can't understand that we're trying to change a culture in Afghanistan. I learned sixty-seven years ago liberating Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia that more valued in the Muslim world than freedom and democracy is tribe and religion. After sixty-seven years, Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia have yet to opt for democracy. Nor have any of the other Muslim countries. The only exception, Turkey, is constantly having its democracy restored by the military. Bottom line: You can't ask GIs to die to force feed democracy; you can't ask GIs to get killed to force feed a cultural change.
Everything in Afghanistan is corrupt. The election was corrupt, the President is corrupt, the warlords are corrupt, the Taliban is corrupt, and we are corrupt. We've had Karsai's brother, a warlord in Kandahar on the CIA payroll and still bribe to get our convoys through. Bottom line: You can't ask GIs to get killed waiting for Afghanistan to go honest.
General Petraeus can write all the books on counterinsurgency he wants, but for counterinsurgency to work it takes time, money and casualties. The United States will take the time; the United States will borrow the money, but the United States will not take the casualties to make counterinsurgency work. Nor should we. I can see the thousands of Chinese spilling over the Yalu River in the Korean War. We withdrew to the 38th Parallel where we could take the casualties and get a peace agreement. After ten years in Vietnam, we proved that more were willing to die for communism than were willing to die for democracy. We killed more Vietnamese than we suffered casualties, but we properly withdrew. I have been to Hanoi and the people are happy. I saw the lake where John McCain landed, his old French prison, and that evening I walked around the streets unescorted, unprotected, which I wouldn't dare do in parts of Washington, D. C. We can't get it through our heads that there is a better way to influence people than employing the military to spread freedom and democracy. Spreading democracy in Afghanistan, we have created as much terrorism and terrorists as we have eliminated. The build and destroy policy in Vietnam changed in Afghanistan to kill and make friends. We now call it counterinsurgency. Bottom line: We are not willing to take, and we shouldn't be willing to take, the casualties necessary for counterinsurgency to work in Afghanistan.
We are now arguing about whether a certain date next year for withdrawal was a good strategy or not. It doesn't make any difference. Earlier this year we withdrew from a valley that we had been trying to take for five years. The Taliban took over. The Taliban had victory. The United States wasn't willing to take the necessary casualties for victory. So the Taliban already knew, as they have known each day, that they were willing to take more casualties than the United States. After all, they were fighting for their country, and we were fighting for a country thousands of miles away. We learned in Charlie Wilson's war that Afghans do not like foreigners and were willing to fight to the last man against foreigners in their country. Bottom line: There's no education in the second kick of a mule.
Read more commentary by Senator Hollings at www.citizensforacompetitiveamerica.com.
Mark Horvath: State of Utah Will End Homelessnesstag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2010:/theblog//3.6566902010-07-29T19:19:27Z2010-07-29T19:19:57ZI met a wonderful woman at a senior homeless facility that was recently opened by State of Utah. Marian was homeless in Reno, then lived in a shelter, before going into the new facility.Mark Horvathhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/mark-horvath/
I recently met a wonderful woman at a senior homeless facility that was recently opened by the state of Utah. Marian was homeless in Reno, then lived in a shelter, before going into the new facility.
Some say we are soon to see a "Silver Tsunami." I am so glad people in Utah are actually taking action. This hits close to home for many -- me included.
I am not speaking negatively in my life, I am simply being real. I am 49 and I don't have a 401k, equity in a house, savings and right now no income. I know I have been close to homeless for the last two years. But as I get older, homelessness is a very real reality. I don't trip on it too much. Besides, I'll just move to Salt Lake City.
Last year, the state of Utah invited me to visit. I mean, you must be doing something right to get a state government to notice you. But then again, Utah's homeless services is so cutting edge that it makes sense they'd support InvisiblePeople.tv. In the interview below when I asked Matthew Minkevitch to give advice to other homeless service providers he said "embrace change." If you hear nothing else, please hear that.
I love visiting here, and I genuinely think the world of Lloyd Pendleton. The man basically came out of retirement to champion a ten year plan to end homelessness that I believe will work. Watch this interview with Lloyd and Matthew. It's great stuff. I cannot help but leave Utah thinking that homelessness can be solved.
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Cute Gym Clothes For Looking Stylish While You Sweattag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2010:/thenewswire//2.6639422010-07-29T19:19:15Z2010-07-29T19:27:18ZThe Huffington Post News Editorshttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/thenewswire/
We all know that working out can be a total pain. After a long day at the office or a late-night of carousing with friends, the morning motivation to hit the gym is usually nowhere to be found. But what if you had an awesome outfit and some really stellar gym-rat gear to inspire you while chiseling those abs? Whether you're headed for a dip in the pool or a date with the Downward Dog, we've got some seriously inspiring goodies to push you through the gym doors. With stuff this cool, the gym is bound to feel like home in no time.
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Jilly Gagnon: Diverse Perspectives in Mayor Bloomberg's Officetag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2010:/theblog//3.6519742010-07-29T19:18:22Z2010-07-29T19:18:48ZMy fellow New Yorkers: I write to you today because it has recently come to my attention that certain concerns have arisen about the diversity.Jilly Gagnonhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/jilly-gagnon/
"Despite a pledge he made when he took office to make diversity a hallmark of his administration, Mr. Bloomberg has consistently surrounded himself with a predominantly white and male coterie of key policy makers, according to an analysis of personnel data by The New York Times." -- The New York Times
From: The Mayor's Office
Re: Diversity
My fellow New Yorkers,
I write to you today because it has recently come to my attention that certain concerns have arisen about the diversity, or perceived lack thereof, of those aides, policy makers, advisors, personal assistants, assistants to the personal assistants, drivers, window-washers, interns, and all other staff I have hired during my tenure in office.
Apparently Miguel, on the janitorial staff, had been trying to bring this issue to my attention for some time now, but I'll be honest - I can't understand his "Mexinglish." Staffers have told me that his family is actually from Canada, and that he's third generation-American, but frankly I'd be willing to bet they're having the same "lost in translation" problem I am.
Anyway, the point is that this misconception about the makeup of my office couldn't be further from the truth! If you want to see diversity, look no further than my inner circle of advisors; they're as multi-colored a bunch as you could ever hope to find!
By "multi-colored," of course I refer in a literal sense to the fact that what our eyes perceive as "white" is in fact a combination of all the colors in the spectrum.
Take Bill Collins, for example. That guy has brought such a different life-experience to this office. Do you know that he went to a public school growing up? Or that his home, even now, only has two bathrooms? For the first two years he worked with me, Bill summered on the Jersey Shore. I'm not joking! And he didn't even use "summer" as a verb!
Or what about Phil Carson? When he was at Princeton, he often protested the Vietnam War right alongside black people! Seriously, he spent hours of every occasional weekend right next to them. Could have reached out and touched them.
I have it on pretty good authority that he may even have slept with a black once. That sort of perspective is something we don't take for granted in this office - in fact, once Phil secured his severance package from Morgan Stanley, I'm proud to say that we actively sought it ought. Come to think of it, she might have been Brazilian, but the point remains the same.
And Rich Fellows, why, he'll wear a pink polo out on the golf course without even blinking! Honest-to-goodness, pink! I can personally testify that having him around has really opened my eyes to a worldview, and a shade of salmon, that I'd never before experienced.
My good friend and longtime colleague Tony DiSalvo is, as I'm sure you can guess, Italian. Well, a few generations back on his father's side, that is. You know, as I do, that a background like that is pretty much exactly the same as if he were black. If you don't believe me, just take a look at the tan he gets after a week's yachting vacation.
Tony's never risen above a certain level here, of course, but that's only because we can't trust his sneaky ways; it has nothing to do with his race. Nothing wopso-sorry, sorry, whatsoever.
And Frank Williams...well, Frank is a pretty cut-and-dried upper-class WASP, but who's to say that isn't a different point of view, too?
The point is, not only is this rainbow-coalition my first-string of advisors, (except for Tony, of course) I weigh all their opinions equally; no one group gets more or less of a say than any other.
Except of course Laurie Tokenlady; I listen to her equally when it's possible, but we all know that there's at least a week every month during which it would just be ridiculous of me to take anything she says seriously. Sometimes, just to be safe, I give it two weeks.
Frankly, that's for Laurie's benefit as much as my own; I'm sure she would be appalled to think that I was running a city this size based on the addled, bloating-induced ramblings of her lady-time. Besides, the rest of the time I allow her to speak up even when she hasn't been spoken to. Sometimes I even listen.
I hope that has quelled any concerns about the diversity of my staff. Let me take this opportunity to mention that the mayor's office will be hiring soon; I'm sure you can guess that I'd welcome applications from any sort of race, gender, religious or ethnic group.
I'll probably end up hiring a white male this time around, though. After all - they're barely represented in this office!
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Mike Elk: Too Big Not to Organize - SEIU-International Coalition Try to Unionize the Bankstag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2010:/theblog//3.6639402010-07-29T19:18:10Z2010-07-29T19:32:44ZThrough the blare of screeching feedback from portable translation headsets and microphones, unionized bank workers from Brazil, England, Chile, Germany, and Uruguay are encouraging American...Mike Elkhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/mike-elk/
Through the blare of screeching feedback from portable translation headsets and microphones, unionized bank workers from Brazil, England, Chile, Germany, and Uruguay are encouraging American workers to undertake an unprecedented campaign against a common enemy: Grupo Santander, the global banking giant which last year took control of Sovereign Bank.
The largest bank in the Euro-zone, where it is based, Santander is the world's eighth largest banking company by market capitalization. While the company is very good at generating profits around the world (it's the world's fourth largest bank by profits), this international meeting is focusing on something else: how the bank's new U.S. branches might become as unionized as branches in Europe and Latin America.
Santander bank branches are on average 75-percent unionized outside the United States, according to UNI Global Union Finance Director Oliver Roethig because most other industrialized nations have unionized banking sectors. In the United States, however, less than 1 percent of all front-office bank workers are organized. In fact, the unionized janitors working for contractors that clean Sovereign Bank's headquarters in Boston, Mass., often make more than the bank tellers and personal bankers, whose average wage is $10-$12 dollars per hour, despite individually producing millions of dollars in profits for the bank each year.
But the financial sector, at the center of the U.S. economy, has never been unionized. The international workers and local leaders of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) and Communication Workers of America (CWA) gathered in July to use the clout of global union federations like the UNI Global Union to give labor a foothold in Santander's Sovereign operations, and potentially organize the industry from there. If Santander employees are heavily unionized overseas, and corporate profits are so robust, then why shouldn't American workers also join a union?
Bank reform from the inside
Santander has already responded to the organizing campaign, labor activists say, firing three Boston Sovereign workers in June for organizing activities--Steve Crowley, Janice DeJusi and Gary Rozenas. Crowley, who had worked at Sovereign for 30 years, was honored by the bank this spring for being a top seller, but was fired a week after signing a letter about office problems following Santander's acquisition of the bank. DeJusi and Rozenas were fired after talking to colleagues about forming a union, according to Andy Kerr of CWA.
Santander has denied discriminating against employees for union activity, saying Sovereign Bank adheres to all U.S. labor laws. A Sovereign spokesperson did not respond to requests for comment on union-busting allegations.
When Santander acquired Sovereign, it immediately laid off 23 percent of its new subsidiary's workers. The company cut pay, slashed hours and doubled the cost of healthcare for workers. Sovereign workers knew they had to do something, so they approached SEIU last spring to help them organize.
But why would SEIU, which has risen to prominence during the last 25 years in part by organizing janitors, be interested in organizing bank workers?
"Well, it started out in the 1980s; we would organize a building [where janitors worked]... and find out that the management firm that owned the building was really owned by a pension fund, which was owned by an investment firm, which was ultimately owned by a bank," says Stephen Lerner, the brainchild of SEIU's Justice for Janitors campaign and now director of SEIU's Banking and Finance Campaign. "This began a thirty-year process in which we began to discover how much power the big banks have."
The theory is that if workers gain some control over the banks through the power of unions and the ability to strike, they could have a chokehold on one of the economy's key sectors. "Our members are facing layoffs as a result of the economic crisis caused by the banks," says Lerner. They "are screaming out to do something against the banks...scamming them with outrageous bank fees and sub-prime loans."
The large corporations at the center of the subprime mortgage meltdown, such as Countrywide, often based pay for personal bankers on selling risky products. "The more money I sold you and the higher the rate, the more money I made," said Donna Feener, a former Bank of America employee who worked in the company's credit card balance transfer department. "The more outrageous fees and the higher interest loans they can sign you up for, the more workers who have a base salary of only about $10 an hour make."
To read the rest of this story please go here. Its an exclusive indepth look at the launch of an ambitious campaign that has the potential to reshape organized labor's economic and political power - please go to In These Times where I am contributing editor. (Sorry to give a teaser link, but I work for a non-profit and we need to keep the doors open somehow)
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Anne Rice: 'I Quit Being A Christian'tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2010:/thenewswire//2.6639152010-07-29T19:15:54Z2010-07-29T19:15:40ZThe Huffington Post News Editorshttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/thenewswire/
Anne Rice, the bestselling novelist most popularly known for "Interview with the Vampire" and her other creepy vampire novels, announced on Wednesday via Facebook that she has officially renounced Christianity. It's a bold move for the author who has become well-known for her vehement religiosity; the majority of her frequent tweets are related to religion in some way. The author has also recently launched a new series of novels about angels, which debuted in October 2009 with "Angel Time."
Rice declared on her Facebook account that she is "an outsider" in the Christian community:
I refuse to be anti-gay. I refuse to be anti-feminist. I refuse to be anti-artificial birth control. I refuse to be anti-Democrat. I refuse to be anti-secular humanism. I refuse to be anti-science. I refuse to be anti-life.
Rice affirmed that though she has decided to leave the Christian institution, she "remain[s] committed to Christ as always."
(via GalleyCat)
Marcia Reynolds: The Fine Art of Assertivenesstag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2010:/theblog//3.6600812010-07-29T19:14:00Z2010-07-29T19:14:48ZAlthough I might be called names regardless of my conduct, I get better results and earn more respect when I am diplomatically assertive.Marcia Reynoldshttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/marcia-reynolds/
Good leaders and business owners have learned the power of developing traits that might not match what is typically defined by gender. Unfortunately, this isn't always honored and encouraged, especially for women. There seems to be more receptiveness to men being collaborative, sensitive and nurturing than we allow women to be assertive, decisive and competitive.
I'm not blaming men; women call other women names, too. Anyone who holds onto stereotypes and blocks change is at fault. That is an issue for a future post. Here, I want to talk about female assertiveness. I believe there are ways to be effectively assertive regardless if people like us for it or not.
I remember a great piece of advice a man told me as I was starting my working life in my twenties, "Sometimes you have to be a bitch." Maybe when I'm called this, I should take it as a compliment. Surely there have been times in my career when living up to this moniker served me well. And I know many famous and powerful women who have accomplished great things that have been called this name.
However, since the time I was given this advice, I learned that there is a fine art to being assertive. Although I might be called names regardless of my conduct, I get better results and earn more respect when I am diplomatically assertive. Some people even quit calling me names. Therefore, I would like to share what I learned about being effectively assertive. We may not stop the name-calling, but we might change the world.
My moment of truth came when I was the Manager of Training in a multinational company. I was passionately describing to my boss the virtue of my grand idea and my frustration with the executive team for not "getting it." He took my hand, patted it and said, "Dear, you can quit fighting now. You've made it." Although I didn't care for how he told me, he wisely forced me to look at the difference between forcing my point of view and persuading people to listen to my ideas.
The "pit bull" approach worked to help me be a great individual contributor, which earned me recognition and promotions. In the long run, it didn't help me make the changes I wanted to see in my company and community. There is a difference between being seen as strong-willed and being seen as powerful by my peers, the people I need to support my campaigns to make a difference.
Although men and women will be called different names when they are being assertive, these tips are useful for both genders:
1. Although you are passionate about your beliefs, allow people to disagree. Hear them out. You may have a great argument that will shut them down. Yet shutting them down doesn't build the alignment you need for change. Listen for the fears behind their doubts and the beliefs behind their stories. When you name their worries and acknowledge their beliefs, they feel "seen" and more likely to hear your answer to their concerns and the reasons why you have an alternative viewpoint. Disagreement is needed for smart decision-making. Demanding your point of view keeps you in the dark. You need to make firm decisions. And you need to define to your dissenters how you considered their opinions when making your choice.
2. Once you understand their perspective and concerns, seek the common ground. Tell them, "I can see why you believe the way you do. I am concerned about that too. I want for the same things as you do. My solutions are different than yours because I came to believe something new from these particular experiences..."
3. Choose to lead a revolution instead of a rebellion. Rebellions focus on complaining and blame. You come off as self-righteous even when you feel passionately right about what you see is wrong. Revolution is about inspiring people to come together to create something new. You build on hope and possibility. Of course, you need to be careful about stating the time frames for change so people are not disappointed and lose trust in your promises.
4. Let them call you names. There will always be people who find fault with authority. There will always be people who are intimidated by strength, especially in women. There will always be people who don't want to be accountable for their lives so they want to spend their time looking for what they can attack in other people's words or personalities. Don't give in by mirroring their behaviors. Let them call you whatever they like.
Being effectively assertive doesn't mean backing down. It means you know how to present what you believe in a way that others will hear, understand and hopefully, align with your thinking. When enough of us model this behavior, the name-calling might stop, or not. But at least you will be more effective in leading the changes you want to see.
Marcia Reynolds, PsyD is an executive coach who delivers leadership programs around the world. Read the reviews for her latest book, Wander Woman: How High-Achieving Women Find Contentment and Direction.
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Poll: California Governor's, Senate Races Remain Closetag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2010:/thenewswire//2.6639242010-07-29T19:11:39Z2010-07-29T19:14:04ZThe Huffington Post News Editorshttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/thenewswire/
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — A new poll shows Californians are split between the Democratic and Republican candidates in the contests for governor and U.S. Senate.
And a large number of voters are still undecided in both races.
The Public Policy Institute of California poll released Wednesday shows 37 percent of likely voters support Democrat Jerry Brown for governor while 34 percent support Republican Meg Whitman. Nearly one in four voters are undecided.
It also shows 39 percent of likely voters support Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer while 34 percent support Republican challenger Carly Fiorina, with 22 percent undecided.
The poll surveyed 2,502 California residents from July 6 to July 20 and has a margin of error of 2 percentage points.
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