Psoriasis highjacked my life when I was only 7 years old, and it came with a vengeance. The condition covered nearly 90% of my body. At first, I wasn't ashamed of the disease, I continued to wear what I wanted. Eventually, psoriasis held a gun of shame to my mind, and by the age of 10 I was figuring out ways to lie and cover my condition.
Thereafter, psoriasis continued to hold me hostage for almost 2 decades. I tried to fight the negative thoughts, but eventually, I fell victim to a sort of chronic-illness Stockholm syndrome. It held my mind captive, controlling how I viewed myself, what I did, and how I spoke of it. The tiny voice which whispered on behalf of psoriasis told me I wasn't beautiful, gave demands on what I should and shouldn't do and ultimately made me feel bad about myself. To survive life I developed an inner alliance with the disease… If "it" told me I shouldn't wear something because I would be judged, I obliged… If "it" told me I should dodge certain places to avoid it from being seen, I listened.
Then one day I broke free. It was a gradual process which seemed to have happened overnight, but it didn't. It took a lot of time for me to find the courage, most of which was activated by the programs through the National Psoriasis Foundation. When I finally broke free from the shackles of humiliation psoriasis wrapped around my mind, I ran to a place of self-love, confidence, and inspiration — a place I've remained for the last 8 years.
You wear whatever you want and you aren't concerned about the people who may have something negative to say. For years I avoided anything which revealed my plaques. Although this continues to be somewhat of a struggle during a bad flare, I'm way more open to showing off my spots than I was two decades ago. Currently, I have a flare on my legs, but I'm still letting them hang out.
One of the reasons why I covered my psoriasis was because I was terrified of receiving or overhearing negative comments. Now I realize rude comments have nothing to do with me, but the character (or lack thereof) for the person saying it.
Many people who are no longer controlled by psoriasis love flaunting their flares because they see it has a great conversation starter to help educate someone unfamiliar with the condition.
I use to believe I was incapable of being loved or living freely with this disease. When I stopped allowing psoriasis to control my thoughts I found confidence in living my healthiest life with or without this disease. Confidence helped me with my relationships and how I treated myself.
When the shame is lifted you will find yourself being more open to talking about psoriasis with others. As I started to love myself more I began blogging, talking to friends and family, and sharing my story with the world.
When my psoriasis was at it's worse, I avoided the pool at all costs. But when you stop allowing psoriasis to stop you, you might find yourself hanging out by the pool more walking around in some swim trunks or swimsuits.
Many people living in shame with psoriasis avoid the spa. We are horrified by the idea of being rejected, discriminated against, or dealing with a rude encounter. But when psoriasis stops controlling you, you start to enjoy the extracurricular activities of life such as a massage or manicure.
I've heard of some who avoid taking pictures because they can't stand the sight of their disease. But when you start to gain control of how you view yourself, pictures become a way to show off your spots!


Working in concert with San Jose-based Whitney Polcyn Architects, CBT delivered an inventive new office space in a historic wharf building in Boston's emerging Innovation District. The design concept celebrates the original fabric of the existing brick and beam building by contrasting it with the new construction. Bold colors and generous use of glass activate and define workspaces to create a dialogue between new and old.
All offices are placed internally, allowing light from oversized windows to infiltrate deep into the space. Foldable partitions in the large executive briefing center create flexibility for gatherings or the creation of smaller spaces for meetings and collaborative work.
Design contributions included extensive design detailing to achieve the concept, and deep knowledge of incorporating new architecture and systems, and creatively addressing surface and material adjacencies in historic buildings. CBT provided due diligence, local resources and building code knowledge, and assistance in identification and selection of local subconsultants and contractors.


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My Ten Most Anticipated Movies of 2011
2011, aka The Nolan Off-Year. Christopher Nolan has been releasing a movie every other year since 2006, so while we wait for his 2012 Batman finale, The Dark Knight Rises, […]
2011, aka The Nolan Off-Year. Christopher Nolan has been releasing a movie every other year since 2006, so while we wait for his 2012 Batman finale, The Dark Knight Rises, we must first live through 2011. As it turns out, there are some pretty cool and interesting films on tap. 2010 was a very good year for movies (a big upgrade over the disappointing 2009), so let's see what you got, '11. If you had no idea what was coming out this year, well, that's one of the reasons you keep me around as a friend. I've done the homework for you. After digging through several lists of hundreds of movies coming out this year, here's what interests me and tickles my cinematic taste buds the most;
Looking at this camera only reinforces that I never want to shoot in 3D.
1. TRANSFORMERS: DARK OF THE MOON (July 1)
I can't believe I'm doing this after the disaster that was Revenge of the Fallen, but I can't help myself. The original was my most anticipated movie of 2007 and the sequel was my most anticipated movie of 2009. Michael Bay also had my most anticipated movie of 2001 in Pearl Harbor, so this is the 4th time he's topped this list. Despite his many flaws, he's like a drug I can't get enough of. Combine that with my childhood love for Transformers and I'll be right back in line for the midnight show, excited as shit to see giant fucking robots, explosions, and…an entire movie taking place at sunset (as per Bay's requirements). I'm still hesitant to believe Bay has learned his lessons from the second movie, but after reading THIS big piece about him on Collider, my fears began to subside. The only way you can fix a problem is to acknowledge its existence, and Bay admits to almost everything I hated about Revenge of the Fallen in that interview. Whether or not he's full of shit remains to be seen, but the way those guys described some of the footage they saw from Dark of the Moon got my geek antennae all warm and fuzzy again. The teaser trailer was really cool, and I think they spent more time on this one on the story, even though it is coming out just 2 years after the last film again (blame the greedy studio for that, not Bay). Bay also claims that this one will be darker, which is cool, but everyone says that after Dark Knight. Yes, they got rid of Megan Fox. No, I don't really care. They replaced her with a British Victoria's Secret model, so apparently Shia LaBeouf is just one irresistibly sexy bitch. I'm very interested to see what they'll do with Shockwave as the main villain, though I guess Megatron will still make an appearance. I don't know how that will work, but logic was never Michael Bay's strong suit. Bay shot some of the film in 3D, despite previously bashing the medium as a gimmick. This is probably so he can make more money off the premium ticket sales. Or is that being too cynical? See, I'm already bashing the thing and I haven't even seen it. But I am very excited about it! No, really! I know one thing they've done right already…they gave Optimus Prime his trailer! It better magically disappear in the movie just as it did in the cartoon. I'll be very upset if it actually serves some practical purpose. [IMDb – TRAILER]
BAM!!!
Yeah, Optimus and I are boys. What of it?
-As an aside, I dug through my old MySpace blog and found my Revenge of the Fallen review, which is probably the best, most entertaining movie review I've ever written. Forgive the small fonts, but whenever MySpace redesigned their site, they literally reduced the size of the blogs. It looked much better when I originally posted it. Check it out if you've forgotten just how ridonculous that movie is, and what a big mountain they have to climb to get the series back to where it was on the first film.
Still waiting for a moment like this in the live-action Transformers movies;
2. HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS: PART 2 (July 15)
Despite how disappointed and utterly confused I was by Part I, I still have faith that the series will end in spectacular fashion. This one will also likely by 2½ hours long, but most of it should be character-building action, which I'm all for. There isn't much else to say here, but apparently all the cool stuff in the trailer was from Part II. I will remain spoiler free until it comes out, so who lives and who dies and what happens should all be new to me come July. Interestingly enough, since this is a huge Warner Bros. release, we may also see the first teaser trailer for The Dark Knight Rises attached to it. Here's hoping. I don't care if it's just some Hans Zimmer Batmusic, the logo and the release date. Just give me something. P.S. Per my New Year's resolution, I will not be seeing Potter in 3D. [IMDb – TRAILER]
Spielberg on set.
3. WAR HORSE (December 28)
Unless it's called Tin-Tin, any Steven Spielberg-directed movie will make my top 5 most anticipated of any year. Unfortunately, the last taste in our mouths of Spielberg directing anything was Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, one of the most absurd movies I've ever seen. And it pains me to say that, but I have to be honest. This one is based off of Michael Morpurgo's book of the same name (which was later adapted to a stage play), and the story takes place during World War I (an underused time period in modern films), where a kid's beloved horse is sold into the British cavalry and sent into action. The horse ends up in the thick of things, being used on both sides of the war, and the kid, too young to enlist, sets out on his own to find the horse and bring it home. That appears to be a story right in Spielberg's wheelhouse, and I have every confidence he'll knock it out of the park. There are no big stars in the cast (the most recognizable one is Emily Watson, playing the boy's mother), and they did a huge search in the UK to cast the role of the boy, Albert. A kid named Jeremy Irvine eventually won the part. I'm very interested to see a trailer for this, but we likely won't get one til the summer. [IMDb – No trailer yet]
4. THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO (December 21)
I have no real reason to be so excited about this, other than the hype I've heard and the insane popularity of Stieg Larsson's books. I became hooked when David Fincher agreed to direct it, and then by the excellent cast they've put together. Fincher cast his Social Network star Rooney Mara in the coveted lead role of Lisbeth Salander. Then they cast the great Daniel Craig in the lead male role, Mikael Blomkvist, and we also get Robin Wright, Stellan Skarsgard, and Christopher Plummer. I heard an interview recently where Fincher admitted he was hesitant to get involved with another murder story, but that he was excited about the prospect of creating a movie franchise for adults. I'm so happy that Benjamin Button and Social Network have cemented Fincher's place as one of Hollywood's prestige directors (meaning he's one of the first people called when the best projects come up), even though his fans have known that since the mid-90's. By the time this opens in December, I probably still won't have read the books, but I will have seen all of the original Swedish movies, which are coming up soon on my Netflix list. It's interesting that the Lisbeth Salander of the Swedish movies, Noomi Rapace, is now being cast in some big mainstream American projects (one of which is coming up on this list). Needless to say, I'm interested to see what all the fuss is about. [IMDb – No trailer yet]
5. MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE – GHOST PROTOCOL (December 6)
A lot of people may disagree with me, but I think the Mission: Impossible films have gotten better and better each time out. This is usually the exact opposite of what happens with most Hollywood franchises. Though J.J. Abrams is not directing again, he's back in a producing capacity and was involved in coming up with the story, both of which are good things. The director this time is Brad Bird, and this marks his live-action directing debut (he previously did the fabulous The Iron Giant, and The Incredibles and Ratatouille for Pixar). Normally, I'd be skeptical of an animation director taking on a project like this as his live-action debut, but not in Bird's case. I think this was a smart choice, and I also like that Tom Cruise was humble enough to take part in a story that's supposedly set up to phase him out of the series. Jeremy Renner is Cruise's protégé in the film, and apparently if there's a 5th movie, Renner would become the star and Cruise's Ethan Hunt would be gone or reduced to a small part. Another very smart move I think. Not that I lack confidence in Cruise (I think I'm one of 15 people left in America who still love the guy as an actor), but in order for a franchise like this to continue, you've got to get new blood involved and turn over the lead role from time to time. Renner is überhot right now, and it was a wise casting choice. They seem to be borrowing a page from the Bond films, and that's not a bad formula to emulate (new leading men, new directors each time, etc.). Simon Pegg returns, which incites smiley faces everywhere. Also joining the cast are the beautiful Paula Patton and the excellent Anil Kapoor (of Slumdog Millionaire and 24: Season 8 fame). We don't know anything about the story, but some of it takes place in Dubai, and in the photo above, you'll see Tom Cruise doing stunts on the Burj Khalifa, the recently completed tallest building on Earth. I can't wait to see what they did with that. A few months ago photos came online (I couldn't find it again to post here) of Cruise literally sitting on the top of the tower. It was mindboggling. That dude has some balls. Should be f'n awesome. [IMDb – No trailer yet]
6. SUPER 8 (June 10)
J.J. Abrams' next directorial effort is shrouded in maximum secrecy, but we know it's a sci-fi movie in the vein of old-school Spielberg (who is a producer on this, but that could mean nothing). Or so we've been told. Regardless, after what Abrams did on Mission: Impossible 3 and Star Trek, I'd get in line to see him make a Barbie movie. You heard me. I really can't say much else about it. It seems to take place in the late 70'/early 80's and involves a creature or aliens on the loose. I know, that sounds like Cloverfield, but I'm assuming Abrams isn't gonna rip himself off. The cast includes my boy Kyle Chandler (Friday Night Lights) and a bunch of other white people. Watch the teaser trailer and see if you can make anything out of it. Just the fact that they've been able to keep it such a secret in this day and age is applause worthy. [IMDb – TRAILER]
7. SHERLOCK HOLMES 2 (December 16)
I simply adored the first movie. Turns out Guy Ritchie
was the perfect filmmaker to modernize the character, and they pulled it off with visual flair, clever action scenes, smart writing and terrific performances across the board. Almost all of the original cast and crew are back (though my girl Rachel McAdams has not been confirmed), and they add the aforementioned Noomi Rapace in the female lead, and Jared Harris as Professor Moriarty, Holmes' greatest foe. The introduction of Moriarty in the sequel reminds me of how Christopher Nolan saved The Joker for his second Batmovie. I'm not saying this sequel will be anything close to as good as Dark Knight, but I like the idea of bringing in your big gun villain after you've spent one movie setting up the world and your main characters. In that sense, there's great potential here, but in the end it will all depend on the writing. Robert Downey's comeback still amazes me. After Johnny Depp, he might be the second-biggest movie star in the world right now, and no other actor can say they're simultaneously carrying 2 franchises like he is. [IMDb – No trailer yet]
8. THE HANGOVER PART II (May 26)
I think the original was perhaps the best comedy of the 2000's. I'd have to do some digging to see what else would be on that list, but The Hangover has to be right up there. With its massive success, a sequel isn't surprising, but I have to admit, I was not keen on the idea of a sequel to this story. I mean, what could possibly bring these 4 characters together again, and what could they possibly be doing so that they'd end up in another set of such insane circumstances? After all, you have to up the ante for a sequel. I just thought (and might still think) that anything close to what they went through on the original happening AGAIN would be too much of a stretch. They haven't released a whole lot of info on the plot, but this one will supposedly follow what happens when the guys travel to Thailand for Stu's (Ed Helms) wedding. So they'll have to introduce whoever it is Stu is marrying (looks like she's played by Jamie Chung), and then international hijinks will ensue. Since they got the cast back, and since Todd Phillips is back, I'm psyched to see it regardless of whether or not I think it should have been made in the first place. The first one was mostly based in reality, and I just think if that kind of stuff happens to them again, you run the risk of making them all look cartoonish. But I'm open to being wrong. I'm also very curious to see all these cameos (Liam Neeson and Paul Giamatti have small parts, and even Bill Clinton shot a scene, which may be a first for a former President). [IMDb – No trailer yet]
9. THOR (May 6)
For some reason, I get the sense this will be hit or miss. Either it'll be very good or very disappointing. I have some confidence given Marvel's recent history and how they're tying these films together for The Avengers in 2012. We'll get some carryover from the Iron Man movies (Clark Gregg as Agent Coulson and maybe a Sam Jackson as Nick Fury cameo or some other surprises), and Chris Hemsworth looks pretty damn good as Thor. We've also got Anthony Hopkins, Natalie Portman, and relative newcomer Tom Hiddleston (who's also in War Horse) as Thor's brother, Loki. I admit I'll be going into this one pretty cold, as I've never read a Thor comic and know next to nothing about the mythology. So it'll be cool to experience some discovery of a new world. I'm curious how much of the film takes place in Asgard versus how much is on Earth. I like the trailer, and whatever the machine thingy they're fighting is looks pretty badass. It'll also be interesting to see what Kenneth Branagh brings to the table as director. He's certainly never done anything with this scope. Hopefully, he placed some of that Shakespearean gravitas on the film. If Marvel had total creative control of the project and didn't let him do at least some of his own thing, then you wonder why they'd hire him. [IMDb – TRAILER]
10. THE BEAVER (April 8 )
Though I don't think it'll make any money, I'm just hopeful Mel Gibson delivers the type of performance that allows him to stage a comeback in the industry (though you could argue he won't make that kind of comeback until something he's in does make money). I'd like to see a Michael Vick level turnaround, and based on how good the script for this thing supposedly was, I don't believe that's outside the realm of possibility. And I think under the steady hand of Jodie Foster in the director's chair, the circumstances are ideal for Gibson to turn in a great performance. But we'll see. I'm putting this in the top 10 because that's how much I love Gibson as an actor. I think he's a vital performer, and I want him back in the mix, both as an actor and perhaps even moreso as a director. Kudos to Summit for releasing the film. I'll reward them by buying a ticket to their next goofy Twilight movie later in the year. [IMDb – TRAILER]
10 RUNNERS UP (in A-B-C order):
THE ADJUSTMENT BUREAU (March 4) – A very interesting sci-fi premise in a real-world setting, based on a Philip K. Dick story (shocker). Matt Damon and the lovely Emily Blunt star, along with Mad Men's John Slattery. [IMDb – TRAILER]
BATTLE: LOS ANGELES (March 11) – This looks very cool, but at the same time I won't be surprised if it's a complete disaster. However, I love the way they're describing it, which is that it was shot Black Hawk Down-style from the perspective of a group of Marines as they fight off an alien invasion in LA. I'll see pretty much any alien invasion movie, but few of the filmmakers involved have done anything in the past that I've loved. I guess there's always a first time. I hope. The second trailer (which I've linked) is much better than the first one they released. [IMDb – TRAILER]
CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE FIRST AVENGER (July 22) – Here's another instance where I know nothing about the Marvel mythology. I'm also a little nervous that we haven't seen a trailer yet, and that it's kind of flying under the radar, even though it's an important release, particularly with regards to the Avengers movie. At first I was hesitant about Chris Evans as Steve Rogers/Captain America, but I've since been put at ease by some of the publicity photos. The cast around him is pretty strong (Hugo Weaving, Tommy Lee Jones, Stanley Tucci, Toby Jones), and Joe Johnston is a competent enough director. I'm reserving judgment, but they gotta show us something soon. I'm curious to see what kind of Captain America they present in this day and age. I'm surprised the PC Police didn't intervene and force them to rename him Captain Democracy or some shit like that. Something tells me this isn't destined to be a hit overseas. [IMDb – No trailer yet]
COWBOYS & ALIENS (July 29) – Yet another alien invasion story, though this one comes with a very cool twist. It takes place in the old west. I love westerns, and I love alien invasions. Put the two together…and I'm intrigued. You also gotta love that title, simple and to the point. I think Jon Favreau has proven himself to be a competent director of summer blockbusters (though I'd like to see some more 'vision' out of him), and with Daniel Craig as your lead, you can't go wrong. Then there's a grumpy Harrison Ford (who ALREADY WORKS AROUND THE CLOCK!!!), as well as Sam Rockwell, Paul Dano…and Olivia Wilde! Woot woot! Should be pretty neato, and whether it's good or bad, it'll be unique. [IMDb – TRAILER]
NO STRINGS ATTACHED vs. FRIENDS WITH BENEFITS (January 21 & July 22) – I just covered this in my New Year's post, but I also intend on seeing both movies. Aside from Ashton Kutcher, I'm a big fan of the actors involved, and it'll be interesting to compare the two films as well as seeing if the first one to come out (No Strings) affects the other's prospects at the box office. It looks like they're both gonna be R-rated, which is also a plus. It'll be good to see Natalie Portman doing something lighter, and I'll watch Mila Kunis in anything. Sort of reminds me of the "two movies with similar plot devices coming out within months of each other" situations we saw with Dante's Peak vs. Volcano, or Deep Impact vs. Armageddon in 1998. [IMDb & IMDb – See trailers in the previous post]
HANNA (April 8 ) – This movie looks like an absolute trip. Eric Bana plays the father of a 14-year old girl (the amazing Saoirse Ronan), who he's trained to be a cold-blooded killer. Then there's Cate Blanchett as a government agent who's been trying to track him down. It's directed by Joe Wright, who did an excellent job with Atonement. I'd have a hard time describing the plot, so just trust me and watch this trailer. Ronan looks like she could give Hit Girl a run for her money. Oh, and The Chemical Brothers did the score. Badass. [IMDb – TRAILER]
SUCKER PUNCH (March 25) – Zack Snyder, the king of slow motion, returns with this completely original, visually stunning, utterly awesome-looking action/fantasy. Forgive me, but I'm just gonna copy the plot summary straight from IMDb for ya; "A young girl is institutionalized by her wicked stepfather. Retreating to an alternative reality as a coping strategy, she envisions a plan which will help her escape from the facility." Snyder's got this whole scenario set up where we get this really cool looking fantasy dream world that looks part Inception, part Sin City, part 300 (all movies I love). I just think this looks fantastic, and because it's an original story, I'm rooting for it to succeed in the same way I rooted for Inception last year. This is easily one of the most fascinating films of 2011, and it's not gotten a lot of attention yet. The cast looks fantastic (both literally and figuratively), and I really wanna see how Emily Worthing does with her first big starring role. Girl is hawwwt! [IMDb – TRAILER]
OH, HAI Vanessa Hudgens!
MONEYBALL (September 23) – They've been trying to get this movie off the ground for years, and for a long time it had Steven Soderbergh attached to direct. Instead, we'll get Bennett Miller (Capote) directing, with Brad Pitt starring as Oakland A's GM Billy Beane. This is based on the acclaimed nonfiction Michael Lewis book about Beane's successful effort to build a winning team on a small market budget. Doesn't sound like a really good basis for a movie, does it? That's probably why it's been in development for about 5 years. However, in the end, we'll be getting a movie with a script that was worked on by both Aaron Sorkin and Steven Zaillian, two of the best writers in Hollywood (in fact, in my book, probably #1 and #2). We've also got Philip Seymour Hoffman as A's manager Art Howe, as well as Jonah Hill and Robin Wright. With the talent involved behind and in front of the camera, I have faith that they've turned this into a story worthy of being told on the big screen. I'm also looking forward to seeing a sports movie that doesn't require on-field drama to be compelling. And if you still think this sounds boring, consider that this time last year, few people thought a movie about the creation of Facebook would be worth a damn. [IMDb – No trailer yet]
SCREAM 4 (April 15) – I'm torn on this one. The original Scream movies (the last one came out in 2000 if you can believe it) are my all-time favorite horror series. That's saying something considering I'm not a big fan of horror movies in general. I fell in love with the brilliant, original Scream in 1996 at age 16 while working at a movie theater, and I loved both sequels. That said, if we're being honest, here we have another example of a sequel that probably didn't need to be made, but much like the Hangover followup, we've got the original creative team back in place. Wes Craven is at the helm, and series creator Kevin Williamson wrote the script. As such, I retain a glimmer of hope that there'll be some interesting new ideas here given the different world we live in now, both culturally and technologically. I kinda wish they'd rebooted it with a whole new cast, but Neve Campbell, David Arquette and Courteney Cox are also back. It's tough to tell from the teaser trailer who the main characters are, but a slew of actresses (Anna Paquin, Hayden Panettiere, Marley Shelton, Kristen Bell, and Friday Night Light's Aimee Teegarden) all make appearances, making me wonder who gets the Drew Barrymore/Jada Pinkett scene at the beginning of the film. They've been talking about making a 4th Scream for a decade, and now we have it. We'll see if it was worth the wait. Damn, I miss my Scream mask and black robe. Scaring the shit out of the girls on Halloween in 1997 is one of my fondest high school memories. [IMDb – TRAILER]
Mr. Scream rides the bus?
X-MEN: FIRST CLASS (June 3) – By the way, there's a new X-Men movie coming out this year. That's how bad Brett Ratner's X-Men: The Last Stand was and how much it decimated my passion for the franchise. It was so bad that I couldn't muster enough interest in this to put it in the top 10. And X-Men is easily my favorite comic series. It LOOKS like they'll be getting the series back on track here, rewinding the story back to a point where Professor X and Magneto were friends. Together, they discover their powers and fight off some great threat (which is unnamed to this point), and presumably at the end of the film they'll part ways, setting up the legendary rivalry. I really like this premise. And let's face it, after The Last Stand, there's nowhere to go but up. They brought in Matthew Vaughn to direct, who is hot off of Kick-Ass. We've also got two fine actors in James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender, playing Charles Xavier and Erik Lensherr respectively. Like I said, X-Men is my favorite comic series, and Magneto is my favorite comic book villain, so I have high hopes here. However, those hopes are still somewhat jaded after the bitter taste of excrement that remains in my mouth after The Last Stand. Have I mentioned how bad X-Men: The Last Stand was? [IMDb – No trailer yet]
-Why isn't Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides anywhere on this list? Because it didn't need to be made, and that's painfully clear when you watch that trailer, which I won't even link to.
-I still get confused trying to tell Green Hornet and Green Lantern apart. This much I know; the one with Ryan Reynolds in a green CGI suit looks incredibly dumb. And really, how many fucking comic book movies is this guy gonna be in? He's been in so many different comic storylines (Blade: Trinity, Wolverine, now this) that it feels like the universe is about to implode. The Seth Rogen green superhero movie looks okay, though there are way too many homophobic jokes in that trailer, are there not? How many times does the Asian dude say some variation of, "I'll go with you, but I'm not touching you." Just awkward. Though I'm very interested to see what Michel Gondry does with a big-budget effects movie like this, I'm not expecting it to be very good.
-I didn't see it, but I keep hearing last year's Valentine's Day was one of the worst romantic comedies ever made. Why do I mention this? You know why. Yes, they made a sequel. It's title? New Year's Eve. That deafening sound you just heard was every moviegoer in the country simultaneously sighing in disgust.
-Fox is going bonkers with origins stories this year. In addition to X-Men: First Class, we'll be getting Rise of the Apes, which, you guessed it, will set up the Planet of the Apes mythology. As if there was a great demand for that. I'm intrigued that they got James Franco, Frieda Pinto and Andy Serkis to star. Might be good, might be crapola.
–Adam Sandler's comedies continue to suck ass of late, but I have to admit, Just Go with It looks sort of funny, and it has a premise I can't remember seeing before. This will mark the screen debut of supermodel Brooklyn Decker, who I've been in love with for several years. Regardless of whether or not it's funny, just watching the trailer I can already see the ending coming from a mile away. Think he ends up with Jennifer Aniston? Spoiler alert!
-Even though I did not like Pineapple Express, the followup pairing of director David Gordon Green with actors James Franco & Danny McBride, Your Highness, does look hilarious. Natalie Portman, who's about to get an Oscar nomination for Black Swan, will be hot in 2011 as well, with this, No Strings Attached, Thor, and the very promising The Other Woman. Attagirl.
There you have it. Those are the movies I'll be keeping my eye on this year. Of course, several foreign films, documentaries, and indie films will end up in the mix (as they always do), but it's tough to predict what those will be at the beginning of the year. Last I checked, I don't have any tickets to this year's Sundance Film Festival. Enjoy your 2011 at the movies! And remember, we're only one year away from the epic 2012, where we'll get The Dark Knight Rises, a Zack Snyder-directed Superman, the third Daniel Craig Bond movie, The Hobbit: Part I, The Avengers, The Spider-Man reboot, the Star Trek sequel, and Steven Spielberg's Lincoln movie starring Daniel Day-Lewis.
P.S. Do me a favor, be a smart moviegoer, and see as few 3D movies this year as you can. I will be seeing NONE. In case you didn't know, everything that comes out 3D is also available to see in regular 2D as well. You don't HAVE to see everything in 3D just because they advertise the shit out of it being in 3D. Unless it's Avatar or a CG-animated movie, it probably ain't worth it. Tell Hollywood you're tired of paying an extra $3-5 for crappy post-converted 3D and you're on to their greedy tricks. Do it so that our best filmmakers don't feel they need to jump on board the bandwagon. When fucking Martin Scorsese
is shooting a 3D movie, you know things have gone too far.
Posted on January 6, 2011 5 By Biggie LISTS Posted in LISTS, MOVIES, TRAILERS Tagged #3D, battle: los angeles, captain america, christopher nolan, daniel craig, david fincher, harry potter, IMDb, j.j. abrams, martin scorsese, mel gibson, michael bay, mission: impossible, most anticipated movies, natalie portman, robert downey jr., scream 4, sherlock holmes, steven spielberg, sucker punch, super 8, the avengers, the beaver, the dark knight rises, the girl with the dragon tattoo, the hangover, thor, todd phillips, tom cruise, transformers, transformers: dark of the moon, war horse, x-men, zack snyder
Ipodman
Hmm… nice post!:) I agree that Thor is gonna be a huge hit or a miss… infact, Marvel is being very ambitous with their B-level characters, and as a comic book fan, I hope everything tuns out right
Chris Mo'land
January 7, 2011 at 12:45 AM Reply
1: What's your beef with Tin-Tin?
2: RE: 'The Hangover' – the best comedy of the decade was, without question, 'Anchorman'. If you disagree with this, well, I'm sorry, but it's not my fault you were dropped on the head so many times as a child.
3: So, the horrid 3rd X-Men sullies your anticipation for 'First Class' despite there are no returning players in front of or behind the camera, but the absolutely ABYSMAL 2nd Transformers somehow gets your vote even though it's still being made by the reprehensible Michael Bay. Cover up, sir, I do believe your bias is showing.
4: Seriously, no Tin-Tin love? On paper, it seems like a bonerific wet dream for you. A loved-world-wide adventure property. Spielberg in the chair, experimenting with cutting edge technology. Produced by Peter Jackson, giving the entirety of his WETA resources. A cast with the likes of Daniel Craig, Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, Toby Jones, and Andy Serkis. A script by British TV legend Stephen Moffat and Edgar fucking Wright, responsible for 3 of the most awesomely inventive comedies of the decade (Shaun Of The Dead, Hot Fuzz, and Scott Pilgrim, if you need reminding). A new and, given the scope of the material, likely-to-be epic John Williams score. I mean… come on, brotha.
With regards to Tin-Tin, yeah the people involved are great, but I can't muster any interest in this story. Nothing about the premise appeals to me in the least. Also, I'm not a fan of entirely mo-cap'd movies at. all. Right now, I think it's a colossal waste of time for everyone involved. I think John Williams is the greatest musician to ever live, but I can't find it in me to get excited about a Tin-Tin score any more than I can the Tin-Tin movie. On top of all that, it's called "Tintin". I don't care how popular the comics are/were, that's a retarded name. I hate saying it, I hate typing it. It just infuriates me that THIS, of all things, is what Peter Jackson and Steven Spielberg chose as their big collaboration.
Of course, I'll grind my teeth and go see it, but I won't be happy about it. And if I'm wrong and it's awesome, I'll be the first to admit it, after I poke my eyes out.
-You'll get no argument from me over the greatness of Anchorman. I just threw Hangover out there as an option. It'd definitely be top 5, as would Anchorman. I'd have to do some research to see what the other options would be. That could be a post all its own if I found the time to do it.
-Like I said, my enthusiasm for Dark of the Moon stems more from my lifelong love of Transformers, the power of which overrides my fears about what Bay will do to muck it up this time around. It comes down to the fact that I believe him when he says this one will be better. However, I won't be surprised one bit if that ends up not being the case.
The #1 ranking doesn't mean I think it'll be the best movie of the year, just that if, in a vacuum, every 2011 movie were finished, and I could see one right now, that'd be it.
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What is the abbreviation for Bai Chai's?
A: What does BAICHAI stand for?
BAICHAI stands for "Bai Chai's".
A: How to abbreviate "Bai Chai's"?
"Bai Chai's" can be abbreviated as BAICHAI.
A: What is the meaning of BAICHAI abbreviation?
The meaning of BAICHAI abbreviation is "Bai Chai's".
A: What is BAICHAI abbreviation?
One of the definitions of BAICHAI is "Bai Chai's".
A: What does BAICHAI mean?
BAICHAI as abbreviation means "Bai Chai's".
A: What is shorthand of Bai Chai's?
The most common shorthand of "Bai Chai's" is BAICHAI.
YLBI - Yong Li Bai Industrial Co.


text:
Q: How to use only Airpod's microphone without stopping any music that is being played by other app? My application wants to access only Airpod's microphone (not speakers) but when I try to start recording from my app it turns of the music if it is playing. How can I only use Airpod's microphones. I dont want to stop any music that is being played by another application.
I tried to do the following. This code snippet can actually take input from Airpod's microphone but stops any other song that is being played.
try recordingSession.setCategory(.playAndRecord, mode: .measurement, options: .allowBluetooth)
try recordingSession.setActive(true)

audioRecorder = try AVAudioRecorder(url: audioFilename, settings: settings)
audioRecorder.delegate = self
audioRecorder.isMeteringEnabled = true
audioRecorder.prepareToRecord()
audioRecorder.record()

I dont want to stop any music that is being played by another application. I just want to use Airpod's microphones

A: Try this
try recordingSession.setCategory(.playAndRecord, mode: .measurement, options: [.allowBluetoothA2DP, .mixWithOthers])

And in you AppDelegate add this code snipped to didFinishLaunchingWithOptions
func application(_ application: UIApplication, didFinishLaunchingWithOptions launchOptions: [UIApplication.LaunchOptionsKey : Any]? = nil) -> Bool {

    try! AVAudioSession.sharedInstance().setCategory(AVAudioSession.Category.ambient, mode: AVAudioSession.Mode.default, options: AVAudioSession.CategoryOptions.mixWithOthers)

    return true
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


Jamaica is the fourth largest island country in the Caribbean, spanning 4250 sq. miles with a population of around 2.9 million people. It has attracts around 4.3 million tourists every year and the economy mainly depends on tourism and mining. Jamaica is considered as an upper middle economy country.
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STC JAPAN considers the following to be among the top selling Japanese Used Vehicles.
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With Jamaica's economy mainly dependent on the tourism, Toyota Hiace remains very popular among the people in Jamaica. Amongst the commercial vans Toyota Hiace Commuter is the most popular especially 1 KD diesel engine. Even though it falls in the expensive side but offers a great value for money. This engine is considered as one of the best in the world, with great fuel economy easy maintenance and long life.
Toyota Vitz is considered as one of the most successful vehicle in Japanese market, with its entire model maintaining their popularity across the globe. The hatch back vehicle is a perfect option for a family looking for low maintenance car. The standard features of the car includes air conditioning, for better control and handling of the car it is fitted with traction control system, electronic brake force distribution and electronic stability program. Moreover, the entertainment features in the car includes Radio CD with 6 Speakers. It also very well priced at 7,000 USD.
Our Happy Customers from Jamaica.
We hope that we were able to guide our customers and help them in their next purchase.


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Democrat activist Bill Press: Not appropriate for prayer and talk about God at "Sacred" Lincoln Memorial
A confused and confounded man -
Tuesday, August 31, 2010 | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Here's the campaign ad being run by Barney Frank's congressional opponent
His name is Sean Bielat. Young guy. Businessman. Marine. Barney Franks is in a very safe Democratic district. Too bad. But gotta love the ad.
Obama vs. Putin: Macho Time
From my correspondent Antoinette.
Go here - Mommy Life: Obama vs. Putin
Subhead: "Crap. We surrender."
Monday, August 30, 2010 | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Time magazine as "The last man standing".
Washington Post media writer Howard Kurtz had a good column this morning -
With the roof having fallen in on Newsweek (which is being sold to a 92-year-old business mogul) and U.S. News & World Report (which has mostly moved online), Stengel isn't just boasting when he says, "We've become a category of one." Time is a smaller magazine than when he took over four years ago, but its survival is no mean feat in such a toxic environment for print publications.
What's more, the constant drumbeat about the imminent death of newsmagazines -- building "since we were in short pants," Stengel says -- made the challenge especially tricky. And Time has done it mainly with serious journalism, moving away from the celebrity covers that were once a staple of the genre.
A cover story still has an impact: Time's recent "Is America Islamophobic?" helped broaden the "mosque" debate, and last week's "The Case Against Homeownership" was both contrarian and well-timed, given plummeting housing sales. (It "hit the zeitgeist," Stengel proclaims -- a bull's-eye in magazine-speak.)
The impact of such covers may not be as great as when Time asked "Is God Dead?" in 1966, but then again, media audiences everywhere are shrinking.
After being locked for decades in a Coke-Pepsi race, Time and Newsweek both decided to downsize. Time has shrunk its circulation from 4 million to 3.25 million, shedding giveaway or discounted circulation.
Both abandoned weekly news summaries, which in the digital age felt like an irrelevant throwback to the days of Henry Luce. Time adopted what Stengel calls "reported analysis," stories with a clear point of view -- often left of center -- that were rooted in shoe-leather work. Newsweek, which moved more sharply left, bet the ranch last year on more opinionated essays and columns -- and lost.
Buoyed by Time's recent success, Stengel uses a word not generally associated with plain old journalism: "We have the nirvana that people are looking for. We have a product that people actually like and are willing to pay for."
Well, we'll see. I wouldn't start doing an end zone dance.
Disabled policeman Steven McDonald addresses the crowd at the Mother Teresa anniversary protest outside the Empire State building.
You may have heard of the protest, set off by the owner of the building refusing to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Mother Teresa's birthday by lightingthe building in blue and white.
It's quite sandard for groups and businesses to apply to the building to use a particular lighting arrangement at the top, to celebrate certain events. Among other things they have recognized - the anniversary of the Chinese communist revolution, and the release ofthe Simpsons movie on home DVD.
They gave specious reasons for turning down the request, which was honored by buildings and bridges throughout the country (and abroad).
So I went to the one hour protest rally at 6pm last Thursday. Here's a picture of the crowd - about a thousand people - and a video of Steven McDonald's remarks.
Here are McDonald's remarks, which explain the whole thing ... Sorry the video is a bit shaky - small, handheld, and in a crowd.
NY Times editorialists and op ed page gettin' worried about Obama under-performance
Here's their weekend editorial, which of course blames Bush and the obstructionist Republicans, but also asks Obama to get his act together.
The NYT suggestions to the President - no surprise - higher taxes and more government programs.
If President Obama has a big economic initiative up his sleeve, as he hinted recently, now would be a good time to let the rest of us in on it.
And resident nobel prize winning economist (for work in international trade) and uber-democrat Paul Krugman, recognizes the reality of the situation, but also offers the same tired prescription.
This Is Not a Recovery
So, right diagnosis, wrong prescriptions.
Guest posting from my friend Theresa, attending yesterday's "Restoring Honor" rally
From Theresa.
Tom, I emailed you since I can send you a couple of -pictures of the crowd from one angle. There were definitely hundreds of thousands there...impressive.
Alveda was one of the best (and the singers) and of course the military who came up , did touched our hearts. The best part, I thought, was singing "Amazing Grace" together at the end.
It seemed to be a spiritual awakening event, which of course is good and it was certainly great to be there all together. The theme was "Faith, Hope & Charity" and the idea was that God is the center we all need to turn back to him both individually and as a nation whose principles were based on God. We all need to follow God's will no matte rhow how it is, and speak out for what is right etc...because America has core values and although we do not all agree on everything we should be together on that. Great theme..
They gave out awards for Faith, Hope & Charity. I guess maybe I would have like to have heard from the military that were there about their experience instead of some of the other stuff...or have a person give testimony to Faith, an other hope, another charity..I think it was too loose...I know Alcveda and I think her testimony to hope in healing would have moved and been a million times more powerful then what she did, but she was still one of the best. I (and I know a lot of others I spoke to) left feeling like something was missing...still, I am glad I went and certainly very grateful so many were there, and grateful to Glenn for doing it...hey, it was the 1st time..live and learn...and I am sure not everyone felt this way...
Here's video of Alveda King, who Theresa refenced at the rally yesterday - Martin Luther King's niece Alveda speaking at Beck's "Restoring Honor" rally today
Sunday, August 29, 2010 | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)
Two takes on yesterday's Washington "Restoring Honor" rally
Here's the NY Times -
At the Lincoln Memorial, a Call for Religious Rebirth
and AOL news Politics Daily
Glenn Beck 'Restoring Honor' Rally Draws Vast Crowd to National Mall
Martin Luther King's niece Alveda speaking at Beck's "Restoring Honor" rally today
I posted King's CS Monitor column earlier today here.
At the rally Alveda King introduced a number of people, and then spoke for five minutes.
Saturday, August 28, 2010 | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Martin Luther King's niece, Alveda King, on why she'll be speaking today at Glenn Beck's "Rally to Restore Honor"
UPDATE: Here is Alveda King speaking at the "Restoring Honor" rally. Martin Luther King's niece Alveda speaking at Beck's "Restoring Honor" rally today
Today is the 47th anniversary of MLK's "I Have a Dream" speech at the Lincoln Memorial.
"Americans are hungry to reclaim the symbols of our liberty ..."
Glenn Beck's "Rally to Restore Honor" this Saturday will give us that chance, and that's why I feel it's important for me to be there.
Before the words were out of Mr. Beck's mouth announcing the Aug. 28 rally, The New York Times noted that it would be at the same place and 47 years to the day since my Uncle Martin gave his "I Have a Dream Speech." When asked why he chose that date in particular, Beck said he had not realized its significance, but in thinking about it, he saw it is an auspicious day to rally for the honor of the American people. He has said, and he's right, that Martin Luther King didn't speak only for African-Americans. He spoke for all Americans, and his words still ring true.
The rally will be a celebration of who we are as a nation and a chance to stop for a moment, reflect, reorganize, and re-energize. It's a chance to think about character; both our character as a nation and our character as individuals.
Delineating ourselves as red state or blue, liberal or conservative, minority or majority, we have not quite reached the day when men and women are "judged not by the color of their skin but on the content of their character." We are still marching toward that day. As Uncle Martin said, "we cannot turn back."
The rally will also give America another chance to honor and thank the men and women in our armed forces for the dangers they face every day in our stead. Unless you have a loved one in Iraq or Afghanistan, it's too easy to forget that tens of thousands of Americans are far from the comforts of home, are directly in harm's way, facing an enemy who hates us precisely because we are free. And coming just days before the ninth anniversary of 9/11, the day that roused us from our complacency, we could use another wakeup call, one of our own devising.
Rasmussen poll: 57% oppose federal (taxpayer) funding of embryonic stem cell research
Only 33% of U.S. voters believe that taxpayer money should be spent on embryonic stem cell research, according to a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey.
Seventy-eight percent (78%) of Republicans and 62% of voters not affiliated with either major party oppose taxpayer funding of embryonic stem cell research. Fifty-five percent (55%) of Democrats favor such funding.
The Political Class is even more supportive of government funding of this kind of research. While 70% of Mainstream voters oppose taxpayer funding of stem cell research, 73% of the Political Class think it's a good idea.
But then Political Class voters are twice as likely as those in the Mainstream to say such research is not morally wrong.
Democratic Senator Bennett on the stimulus: "13 trillion in debt" and "nothing to show for it"
Of course, it did help to reconstruct the Appalachian Trail, going up Bear Mountain. Beautiful Walk up Bear Mountain yesterday
Here's the Senator, from Colorado:
"We have managed to acquire $13 trillion of debt on our balance sheet," he said. "In my view we have nothing to show for it. We haven't invested in our roads, our bridges, our waste-water systems, our sewer systems. We haven't even maintained the assets that our parents and grandparents built for us."
Friday, August 27, 2010 | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
"The world's most interesting man" on rollerblading
I wish I had a job like his ...
Rugby: the last-second winning score from the New Zealand/South Africa match
I already posted highlights from this game here, but thought this was worth putting up. Notice that Ma Nonu, who set it up, lost his shoe in breaking a tackle.
Thursday, August 26, 2010 | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
NY Times on Alaska Republican Senate primary: " ... a staggering blow to the G.O.P. establishment in the Beltway"
Great! I love it. The above is from the online headline in the NYT morning email today ... That's what I want - anti-establishment insurgent reformers.
Lisa Murkowski is the sitting Republican incumbent senator. The race is very close and if she does lose, she may go third party/independent.
In Alaska, Murkowski Trails Tea Party Upstart
Interview with Harvard 2010 valedictorian - as she enters a Dominican convent
Kathryn Jean Lopez of National Review conducts the interview. Coincidentally, they are both graduates of Dominican Academy in New York City.
The religious community Ms. Marks is joining is the Dominican Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist in Ann Arbor Michigan. Average age of the congregation is 26. they are an active/contemplative community - lots of prayer and work (teaching primarily).
Last February they were featured on Oprah and you can see a video here -http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CSa40PamMIU
Here's the interview -
God and Woman at Harvard
LOPEZ: Your call was not a sudden one. You explained to a Harvard publication that you've "always thought about being a nun." You grew up in Queens at the turn of the 21st century. How would you ever think of such a thing?
MARKS: Religious life is an institution thriving in our time and in our nation; go figure.
LOPEZ: Did you ever worry that it was a weird impulse?
MARKS: No.
LOPEZ: Is the countercultural nature of your call important? Especially now, in this culture, in your generation?
MARKS: Absolutely. Religious are called to witness by their life and garb to supernatural realities: God's existence, His immeasurable love for each person, and the fact that our duty and happiness lie in returning His love. This witness becomes increasingly important as a culture's materialism and corresponding distaste for the supernatural increase.
This lady is the cultural and political advisor to a number of my friends
UPDATE: Hah! My friend Nancy emailed me saying "she's no Harvard valedictorian", referencing the posting here.
Well, it only seems that way. This audio has been listened to on youtube about a million and a half times. Sent to me by my friend in the far west, Charlie.
And we all know people who think like this. Has to be heard to be believed.
Tea Party and Republican Party incompatibility?
Michael Gerson (former Bush chief speechwriter) has a regular column in the Washington Post.
I disagree with some of his thoughts - who wants to repeal social security? - but worth a quick read.
Why the Tea Party is toxic for the GOP
So the "summer of recovery" swelters on, with Democrats sun-blistered, pestered by bottle flies, sand in their swimsuits, water in their ears. Jobless claims increase, Republicans lead the generic congressional ballot, and George W. Bush is six points more popular than President Obama in "front-line" Democratic districts that are most vulnerable to a Republican takeover. Still, Democrats hug the hope that Obama is really the liberal Ronald Reagan -- but without wit, humor, an explainable ideology or an effective economic plan. Other than that, the resemblance is uncanny.
Yet the Republican Party suffers its own difficulty -- an untested ideology at the core of its appeal.
In the normal course of events, political movements begin as intellectual arguments, often conducted for years in serious books and journals. To study the Tea Party movement, future scholars will sift through the collected tweets of Sarah Palin. Without a history of clarifying, refining debates, Republicans need to ask three questions of candidates rising on the Tea Party wave:
First, do you believe that Social Security and Medicare are unconstitutional? ...
More on the trapped Chilean miners
First posted about this here.
2nd bore hole reaches 33 trapped in Chile mine
Wednesday, August 25, 2010 | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)
More in the Judge's ruling blocking federal funds for embryonic stem cell research
I posted about this a couple of days ago here.
Here's more on the ruling -
Stem cells, Life and the Law
In his ruling Monday, Judge Royce Lamberth of the U.S. District Court rejected the government's reasoning. Embryonic-stem-cell research "is clearly research in which an embryo is destroyed," since by definition it requires the destruction of human embryos. It makes no sense, the judge wrote, to claim that the destructive act and the experimentation on the resulting stem-cell lines are "separate and distinct 'pieces of research.'" The fact that embryonic-stem-cell research "involves multiple steps does not mean that each step is a separate 'piece of research' that may be federally funded, provided the step does not result in the destruction of an embryo." The judge issued a preliminary injunction halting all federal funding of embryonic-stem-cell research.
Judge Lamberth's interpretation of the Dickey-Wicker Amendment is certainly in line with the original intent of the authors of that amendment, and with the understanding of the members of Congress who originally voted for it in 1996, even if the Clinton administration's interpretation (which was then adopted by both the Bush and Obama administrations) is arguably reasonable in light of the meaning of the term "in which." When the decision is appealed, the Obama administration will no doubt challenge the judge's assertion of the unity of all stages of embryonic-stem-cell research. Is the judge right to conclude that any experimentation on embryonic stem cells is, in the eyes of the law, inseparable from a broader research project that implicates the destruction of an embryo? On the one hand, it is true that all research on embryonic stem cells was preceded by and is made possible by the destruction of an embryo; the two acts are morally entangled. It is certainly clear, moreover, that by offering taxpayer dollars for the research regardless of when the embryo was destroyed, the Obama policy (unlike the Bush policy) incentivizes new acts of embryo destruction.
Last laugh: Anti-semite, racist, Hitler had Jewish and African DNA
"Hitler's concern over his descent was not unjustified. He was apparently not "pure" or 'Ayran'."
It is not the first time that historians have suggested Hitler had Jewish ancestry.
His father, Alois, is thought to have been the illegitimate offspring of a maid called Maria Schickelgruber and a 19-year-old Jewish man called Frankenberger.
Well, that would explain it ...
Dos Equis "Most interesting man in the world" gives career advice
Wow, this guy is popular. I actually posted a spoof here three weeks ago.
Rugby: sixth Tri-nations match; South Africa vs. New Zealand
Played in South Africa in the same stadium the World Cup soccer final was playedi n - 94,000 spectators.
Two tries in the last three minutes
Chris Matthews hosts a little "discussion" about the Ground Zero mosque.
I saw a bit of this when I was in the gym last evening. As always on Matthews "Hardball" show, it's pretty much all about Chris Matthews. And if you watch all 8 minutes, you realize Matthews really hadn't done his homework on his two guests.
Who's the whacko here, the ex-policeman biker dude, or the self-proclaimed "lesbian, Jewish, socialist" (and why did she feel it necessary to bring up her sexual orientation and religion)?
Federal judge blocks government (taxpayer) funding of embryonic stem cell research
Every so often, a pleasant surprise ...
U.S. Chief District Court Judge Royce Lamberth in Washington ruled that government funding for embryonic stem-cell research was barred by a law that prohibits the use of federal money for research in which an embryo is destroyed.
A little Monday morning lightheartedness ...
From my friend Theresa, it's going around ...
Miners trapped for 33 days in Chile are found - but it may take months to get them out
But it may take months to rescue them
SANTIAGO, Chile (Aug. 22) -- Chile's president euphorically waved the note, written deep inside a collapsed mine, that his country waited 17 agonizing days to see: "All 33 of us are fine in the shelter," one of the trapped miners wrote in red letters.
The miners' survival after 17 days is very unusual, but now that they've made it this far, they should emerge OK, a leading U.S. mine safety expert told The Associated Press.
"The health risks in a copper and gold mine are pretty small if you have air, food and water," said Davitt McAteer, who was assistant secretary for mine safety and health at the U.S. Department of Labor under President Bill Clinton.
Beautiful walk up Bear Mountain yesterday
Having done the "approach work" a week ago, Quick walk - Bear Mountain Bridge and Park, Brigid and Jeanne Marie Gagnon joined me for the 1.6 mile walk up the newly laid out Appalachian Trail path to the top.
It was great. In my post last week, I was wrong in saying the southwest side of the A.T. was also being re-done. It is only the northeast portion, and it is still not completed. But what is done is marvelous.
Herewith, lots of pictures - the walk up starts on the paved path next to the sign and rises over 1,100 feet - so pretty steep.
A cool mushroom!
About halfway up, we came to a little assembly/construction area, and Brigid took this picture of some carved steps, waiting to be put down ...
A few yards away, I started chatting to this fellow - who asked me what I thought of the Trail. I said "I think it's amazing". Turns out I was talking to Ed Walsh, the Project Manager for the entire upgrade to the Trail, including carving and installing the steps, etc. Everything we had walked over had been laid down in the past four years. There had been an article in the A.T. Journal, in the May-June 2009 issue which I had read, about the upgrade and about Ed Walsh.
We had a nice ten minute chat. It seems to me there ought to be a Discovery Channel or National Geographic special about all of this great work ...
At this point we'd covered a little over half the distance, and about two-thirds of the rise.The rest of the Trail to the top has not been re-configured. Note Jeanne Marie's garbage bag. I had started moaning a few minutes earlier about litter, so she and Brigid started policing the Trail!
At the top! Brigid took all of these - don't know any of the people.
Appropriate; me next to a garbage bin.
The whole walk, including dawdling around, and talking to Ed Walsh, took less then 90 minutes. We had craftily pre-planted Jeanne Marie's SUV at the top, so we then drove down, picked up our car, and were home just after 12 noon.
More to follow; I took a little video and will post it.
In Poland, they take strength-training pretty seriously
Good heavens! Check this out.
Can't embed the six minute video, so hit the link.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_SPRtIImYJg
The vice president assures Democrats that they'll do well in the coming election
I suppose Biden has to put a sunny face on things, in the same way that Karl Rove did in 2006 before those elections.
"On November 3 . . . there will be in Washington, D.C., a Democratic majority in the House and a Democratic majority in the Senate," Biden said to the Democratic National Committee. And, he said, Democrats will do better than expected in gubernatorial races, too.
"If it weren't illegal, I'd make book on it," Biden quipped.
The vice president said voters' anger and frustration was understandable, given persistently high unemployment and a sluggish recovery. But he also expressed confidence that they would stick with President Obama because "the choice is between Democrats and the Republican tea party. It's between Democrats and the party of repeal and repeat."
Can you imagine ... a world without lawyers?
How would we get by?
Krauthammer on the Ground Zero mosque
The title is "Moral myopia at Ground Zero". I've already posted his prior column here Krauthammer on the Ground Zero Mosque: "America is a free country where you can build whatever you want -- but not anywhere."
Here's the latest and it's exactly right.
No one disputes the right to build; the whole debate is about the propriety, the decency of doing so.
It takes no courage whatsoever to bask in the applause of a Muslim audience as you promise to stand stoutly for their right to build a mosque, giving the unmistakable impression that you endorse the idea. What takes courage is to then respectfully ask that audience to reflect upon the wisdom of the project and to consider whether the imam's alleged goal of interfaith understanding might not be better achieved by accepting the New York governor's offer to help find another site.
Where the president flagged, however, the liberal intelligentsia stepped in with gusto, penning dozens of pro-mosque articles characterized by a frenzied unanimity, little resort to argument and a singular difficulty dealing with analogies.
Archbishop Dolan on the Ground Zero mosque
He offers to mediate.
"My major prayer is that what has turned into somewhat of a divisive issue might develop into an occasion of very civil, rational, loving, respectful discussion," he stressed.
"I think the governor's initiative is welcome," Archbishop Dolan said. "Both of what they (he and Mayor Bloomberg) are trying to do is bring people together to look into this problem."
The prelate then cited the example of Pope John Paul II, who advised a group of sisters in 1993 to move from their convent at the former Auschwitz death camp after protests from Jewish leaders.
"He's the one who said, 'Let's keep the idea, and maybe move the address,' " the archbishop said. "It worked there; might work here."
"Those who wonder about the wisdom of the situation of the mosque, near such a wounded site, ask what I think are some legitimate questions that I think deserve attention," he added.
Construction workers say they won't work on Ground Zero mosque
From the NY Daily News
They won't build it! Hardhats vow not to work on controversial mosque near Ground Zero
The grass-roots movement is gaining momentum on the Internet. One construction worker created the "Hard Hat Pledge" on his blog and asked others to vow not to work on the project if it stays on Park Place.
"Thousands of people are signing up from all over the country," said creator Andy Sullivan, a construction worker from Brooklyn. "People who sell glass, steel, lumber, insurance. They are all refusing to do work if they build there."
"Hopefully, this will be a tool to get them to move it," he said. "I got a problem with this ostentatious building looming over Ground Zero."
L.V. Spina, a Manhattan construction worker who created anti-mosque stickers that some workers are slapping on their hardhats, said he would "rather pick cans and bottles out of trash cans" than build the Islamic center near Ground Zero.
"But if they moved it somewhere else, we would put up a prime building for these people," he said. "Hell, you could do it next to my house in Rockaway Beach, I would be fine with it. But I'm not fine with it where blood has been spilled."
Best-selling t-shirt on Martha's Vineyard
As the President vacation's there ...
When my son saw my payslip
Got this response.
Americans who think Obama is a Christian: 34%
10% of DEMOCRATS think he's Islamic.
The WaPo article - all over the news yesterday -
...results, from a new Pew Research Center survey, were drawn from interviews done before the president's comments about the construction of an Islamic cultural center near Ground Zero, and they suggest that there could be serious political danger for the White House as the debate continues.
Again, who cares? Obama thinks HE'S God anyway.
The latest on Alzheimer's research and treatment
A good article from the NY Times health section.
... over the years, researchers say, what has become known as the amyloid hypothesis — the notion that overproduction or reduced clearance of amyloid beta is a cause of the disease and blocking amyloid beta could stop it — dominated their thinking.
"It is a conundrum," Dr. Katz said. "We all hope to get to the point in our understanding of the disease process where everyone in the field says: 'Look. We know it now. Amyloid causes Alzheimer's, and we have drugs that decrease amyloid.' But we are not there yet."
"If you think Bristol-Myers Squibb is going out on a limb, this is going farther," Dr. Aisen said. If blocking amyloid beta and slowing brain atrophy are not accepted as sufficient evidence that a drug works, a study with normal 70-year-olds could end up taking 10 to 15 years to show an effect on the actual symptoms of Alzheimer's.
The last U.S. combat unit leaves Iraq
UPDATE: The Washington Post has really excellent coverage - Operation Iraqi Freedom ends as last combat soldiers leave Baghdad
Silver remembrance bracelets to honor fallen comrades and tattoos that speak of loss and sacrifice are among the visible signs of the toll this conflict has taken on a generation of volunteer warriors.
His fourth and final deployment was cathartic, Hitchcock said, because he believes he is leaving behind a safer country with a large and proficient army. "I think the fact that we stuck it out a few extra years to help their forces take control of their country" is important, he said. "That helps you hold your head up high as you leave and know that you made a difference."
From the Wall St. Journal -
For these troops of the 4th Stryker Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division, it was a moment of relief fraught with symbolism. Seven years and five months after the U.S.-led invasion, the last American combat brigade was leaving Iraq, as President Obama's Aug. 31 deadline for ending U.S. combat operations there neared.
When 18-year-old Spc. Luke Dill first rolled into Iraq as part of the U.S. invasion, his Humvee was so vulnerable to bombs that the troops lined its floor with flak jackets.
Now 25 and a staff sergeant after two tours of duty, he rode out of Iraq this week in a Stryker, an eight-wheeled behemoth encrusted with armor and add-ons to ward off grenades and other projectiles.
"It's something I'm going to be proud of for the rest of my life — the fact that I came in on the initial push and now I'm leaving with the last of the combat units," he said.
There are still 50,000 American troops in support roles in Iraq.
The NY Times had this -
Civilians to Take U.S. Lead After Military Leaves Iraq
By October 2011, the State Department will assume responsibility for training the Iraqi police, a task that will largely be carried out by contractors. With no American soldiers to defuse sectarian tensions in northern Iraq, it will be up to American diplomats in two new $100 million outposts to head off potential confrontations between the Iraqi Army and Kurdish pesh merga forces.
To protect the civilians in a country that is still home to insurgents with Al Qaeda and Iranian-backed militias, the State Department is planning to more than double its private security guards, up to as many as 7,000, according to administration officials who disclosed new details of the plan. Defending five fortified compounds across the country, the security contractors would operate radars to warn of enemy rocket attacks, search for roadside bombs, fly reconnaissance drones and even staff quick reaction forces to aid civilians in distress, the officials said.
Hearing loss among teenagers is getting worse
Music + earbuds?
From the Washington Post -
The prevalence of hearing loss increased from 14.9 percent in the 1988-94 period to 19.5 percent in the 2005-06 period, a rise of about 31 percent, the researchers reported Tuesday in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
The majority of hearing loss was slight, but the prevalence of mild or worse hearing loss increased 77 percent. One in 20 children in this age group had mild or worse hearing loss, according to the most recent survey. High-frequency hearing loss was more common than that in low frequencies. Most of the time the loss was in one ear. Girls were much less likely than boys to have lost some hearing.
Church in Sayville, traces it's roots back to one of my namesakes, the Apostle Thomas
Let's here it for Thomas!
WEST SAYVILLE, N.Y. — Without doubt, many more people line the sidewalks to see the St. Patrick's Day Parade in Manhattan than to watch the St. Mary Malankara Indian Orthodox Church's annual Assumption Day Parade, which began here on Sunday with the usual blowing of the kumbu horn and the dancing of the koladi by the congregation's teenage girls, dressed in saris and banging sticks
Howard Dean gets it right about the Ground Zero mosque.
The former head of the Democratic National Committee and governor of Vermont.
From WABC radio:
...former Democratic presidential candidate Howard Dean is calling the Ground Zero mosque proposal a "real affront to people who lost their lives" in the 9/11 terror attack. Supporting efforts to move the Islamic community center, Dean tells 77 WABC's David Goodman, "That site doesn't belong to any particular religion; it belongs to all Americans and all faiths."
Go here for audio - Howard Dean: Mosque 'an affront'
Yes we can! But should we?
Jon Stewart on the President and the mosque -
After eight decades, and an abuse lawsuit, a man returns to the Catholic church
The Louisville native has reconciled with the Roman Catholic Church after being away from it for more than 80 years.
In the end, O'Bryan reconciled with the church because of the actions of a priest — the same reason he said he left in the first place.
O'Bryan, now 89 and living in northern California, was one of three plaintiffs who sued the Vatican in 2004, alleging that the headquarters of the Roman Catholic Church had orchestrated a cover-up of sexual abuse through centuries of secret policies. He said he was sexually abused by a Louisville priest in 1928.
That lawsuit effectively ended on Monday when the plaintiffs asked the court to dismiss their case. They conceded they faced insurmountable legal obstacles, including the Vatican's status as a sovereign nation, which made it immune to most lawsuits, and the limited evidence on how bishops handled abuse cases decades ago.
But even as that lawsuit proceeded, O'Bryan was finding his way back to church.
In January, his wife of 52 years, Grace, was dying, he said. She was an Irish-American from Boston's deeply Catholic culture, but had herself been long estranged from the church. However, she asked for last rites. the Rev. Louis Nichols, a local priest, came and performed them, then did the funeral Mass.
"I saw how compassionate he was and how caring he was," O'Bryan said. So O'Bryan called Nichols for a follow-up appointment, and "I've been going to church ever since."
Avoiding health problems at the gym
Some of this is obvious - but worth a read. With a couple of examples - things can go bad fast.
Recreational athletes as well as participants in organized sports are prone to fungal, viral and bacterial skin infections. Sweat, abrasion and direct or indirect contact with the lesions and secretions of others combine to make every athlete's skin vulnerable to a host of problems. While MRSA may be the most serious skin infection, athlete's foot, jock itch, boils, impetigo, herpes simplex and ringworm, among others, are not exactly fun or attractive.
Tuesday morning wake-up item: Hottest toy of 2010
With thanks to my friend Bernadette for enlightening me on this -
When it comes to college education, is the adage "you get what you pay for", true?
Here's a Washington Post column that says, not really. And in fact, as the Faranda college search has been underway for a year (Joe will be a senior at Fordham Prep), I agree.
It is generally true that you get what you pay for, but not necessarily when it comes to higher education. A study scheduled for release Monday about the value of a college education, at least when it comes to the basics, has found the opposite to be true in most cases. Forget Harvard and think Lamar.
Indeed, the Texas university, where tuition runs about $7,000 per year (Harvard's is $38,000) earns an A to Harvard's D based on an analysis of the universities' commitment to core subjects deemed essential to a well-rounded, competitive education.
In other words, Lamar requires courses that Harvard apparently considers of lesser value. These include six of the seven subject areas used in the study to gauge an institution's commitment to general education: composition, literature, foreign language at the intermediate level, U.S. government or history, economics, mathematics, and natural or physical science.
Harvard has comprehensive requirements for only two of these subjects -- composition and science.
The study was conducted by the nonprofit American Council of Trustees and Alumni (ACTA) to help parents and students determine where they might get the best bang for their buck. It was timed to coincide with the release of U.S. News and World Report's annual evaluation of the "best" colleges and universities, which is based primarily on various statistical data, reputation and prestige.
ACTA focused its efforts on requirements as a measure of what an institution actually delivers.
Hit the link above and read the whole, very interesting article.
Limousine liberal Mort Zuckerman on "The End of American Optimism"
Zuckerman - big Obama supporter in the last election - can't bring himself to actually place the blame for the "New Normal" and other excuses for the woeful economic policies of the Administration.
I've posted other regrets Zuckerman has expressed, like this one Another major Obama supporter dismayed: "He's Done Everything Wrong" and this one "Never get on the wrong side of a billionaire"
So where's the dismay for the woeful healthcare reform, or the phoney "stimulus?" Not in this WSJ op ed. just a bunch of platitudes.
Zuckerman should man up and admit that he, Mort Zuckerman, was wrong.
The End of American Optimism
Good start to Monday - "Asking for Directions"
From humor consultant Ellen
Very funny ...
"Taxpayers don't look at taxes the way the people who spend the tax money do."
That's the first line of a good, sensible essay by Debra Saunders -
Take the battle over the extension of the "Bush tax cuts." Americans to Washington: They were tax cuts in 2001 and 2003. If Washington allows all or parts of the "Bush tax cuts" to expire at the end of the year, the result won't be to not cut taxes, as Beltway lingo and President Obama suggest, but to raise taxes.
New York Times columnist Paul Krugman laid out the situation as a choice between (a) "asking the richest 2 percent or so of Americans to go back to paying the tax rates they paid during the Clinton-era boom" and (b) "allowing the nation's foundations to crumble."
But I think Karl Rove got it right when he wrote in his recent book, "Courage and Consequence," that many Democrats "would rather have high taxes and a lower standard of living than low taxes and a higher standard of living."
I don't have the knee-jerk reaction against ending some of the Bush tax cuts that many Republicans have. For one thing, rich people elected Obama, so let them pay higher taxes. Besides, elections have consequences, and voters need to feel those consequences. (The Bush-era deficits, with increased government spending and lower taxes, allowed people to have it both ways for too long.)
But this is no time to be pure. With the new jobless numbers out and the economic recovery teetering, this is simply the wrong time to raise taxes. The smart move for Obama would be to announce that he'll start raising taxes when the economy shapes up, stop proposing stimulus packages because they don't create private-sector jobs and stick to that plan. That would rally the country.
And while he's at it and Democrats are talking about the need for sacrifice, maybe when the economy's strength revives, they could look beyond squeezing the rich and instead begin trimming some of those odious "Bush tax cuts" for the middle class. Geithner says it's irresponsible to let the Bush tax rates continue, as that adds $700 billion to the deficit over 10 years. Well, what about the middle-class part of the package? It adds $2.4 trillion to the deficit.
Meanwhile, Republican talk-show hosts are in la-la land. They keep talking about the magic of the Reagan tax cuts. It's time to start living in the present, guys. Last year's annual deficit was $1.4 trillion. If you cut taxes but you don't cut spending, you make the debt bigger.
For my part, I don't want to hear another conservative pundit call for more tax cuts until there's a closure of the gap between what Washington takes in and what it promises and spends. If that day never comes, well, someone has to pay for the party.


text:
PHOTO NATION DEBUT
Harpswell, Me.
By Kim Phillips-Fein and Our Readers
The photographs by Eugene Richards prove the old adage that a picture is worth 1,000 words ["War Is Personal," March 27]. His poignant text, in under 1,000 words, served to heighten the impact of his soul-searing photographs. These few photos jarred me as no bombed-out car or rows of sheet-draped bodies in Iraq could. Too bad the mainstream media don't show more of the 16,000 wounded as they confront their "almost dead" bodies. That kind of photojournalism gets our attention and perhaps would quicken the return of more whole troops!
HARRIET RICHARDS (no relation)
LEAVING STEPFORD…
Melrose Park, Pa.
Katha Pollitt's eloquent tribute to Betty Friedan ["Subject to Debate," Feb. 27] reminds us how much courage it took for Friedan to stand up for women in the early 1960s. More than twenty years earlier Friedan spoke out for another unpopular cause. She was a freshman at Smith College in 1938, when Hitler unleashed the Kristallnacht pogrom. Smith president William Allen Neilson urged the students to sign a petition asking President Roosevelt to let German Jewish girls enter the United States outside immigration quotas, to enroll at Smith. "A number of girls spoke against it, about not wanting any more Jews at Smith," Friedan wrote in her memoir, Life So Far. There were four older, well-to-do Jewish girls in her dorm. "I expected them to speak up, but they didn't. Finally, despite being only a freshman from Peoria, I spoke, urging that we open our doors to those girls fleeing persecution." Sadly, the petition was rejected by a large margin.
RAFAEL MEDOFF
In response to Katha Pollitt's recent columns and her moving remarks on Betty Friedan, I write to add another perspective on the question of whether middle-class women are running away from careers into domesticity. Women of my generation and class who are putting careers on hold to devote themselves to family are not rejecting feminism. They are exhausted. Raising children while maintaining a career is incredibly draining, especially for women who do not have involved (or any) partners, flexible work schedules or affordable daycare. Even for those of us who do, balancing work and family is too much. The kids can't be sent back, but the careers can, so domesticity wins. Some of us coming of age in the 1980s took Friedan and other second wavers too literally, believing we could, and should, "have it all." As one second waver recently put it: "We said you could be anything, not everything."
TRACEY RIZZO
If Katha Pollitt is going to teach that class on the bad old days again, she needs details to get through to her students. Things like: In the 1960s the classifieds were divided into Help Wanted, Male; Help Wanted, Female; and Help Wanted, Colored. There were med schools and law schools that wouldn't consider female applicants, and people who argued that women couldn't read the news on TV because it wouldn't sound serious. A 1973 "self-help" book: How to Help Your Husband Get Ahead, by Mrs. Dale Carnegie.
KATHARINE W. RYLAARSDAM
LABOR'S GIANT COCKROACH?
Gregor Samsa awoke one morning to find himself transformed into a giant insect. Somewhat similarly, in "Labor Pains" [March 6] I found myself transformed into David Horowitz. Corruption! Corruption! Corruption! It's all Fitch can talk about, complains reviewer Kim Phillips-Fein. Doesn't Fitch realize he's undermining the labor movement?
Evidently my book Solidarity for Sale contains a lot about the murky origins, arrested development and bad consequences of America's fiefdom model of unionism. Corruption does turn up a lot. Upton Sinclair's The Jungle dwelt a lot on corrupt meat. His strategy was to use rotten beef to illustrate what was wrong with industrial capitalism. Mine is to try to use union corruption to explain what has gone wrong with American unionism. And beyond that, the advent of American exceptionalism.
My aim was not, as claims Phillips-Fein, to answer the rather dated question, How come there is no socialism in America? but instead to ask, How come American capitalism became the wildest, the most exploitive, most unequal variant in the industrialized world–lacking national healthcare, a minimum vacation law or protections against arbitrary firing?
Phillips-Fein claims I blame labor's troubles on the inception of the AFL in 1885. In fact, I show the origin far earlier. Both European and American unions share a common ancestor: the closed model of monopoly unionism. Despite challenges from the Knights of Labor, the IWW and the early CIO, US unionism never got much beyond a primitive protection system. The AFL union boss who could control a territory protected his clients from the employer and the employer from the members. Eventually all three parties came under the protection of the organized crime boss. The upshot today is 20,000 petty, rent-seeking institutions buttressed by the nineteenth-century instruments of closed shop, exclusive bargaining and dues check-off.
Plainly, not all 20,000 are corrupt. It's also plain, though, that our unions can't grow, organize, strike, keep the pension and benefit funds from disappearing or advance a common progressive political agenda. Phillips-Fein doesn't really dispute this. Her point is the customary claim of official labor's defenders that it's all the employers' fault. But is it really the fault of big capital that most US unions side with corporate interests in opposing a single-payer health system? Solidarity for Sale shows how it follows from the logic of the fiefdom model.
In Europe labor movements led by Catholic, Communist and Socialist parties built national organizations that brought something like social democracy without relying on nineteenth-century mechanisms of forced unionism. They all have national healthcare systems. What the unions in Europe don't have is a mob problem, not even in Italy.
Is my solution then to take away the mechanisms of forced unionism? Phillips-Fein says it is. But it isn't. In fact, I say exactly the opposite: "The point is not to demand that old arthritic AFL unions throw away their crutches," the conclusion states, "but rather to show that unions can be built on a voluntary basis." What turns off more people to the labor movement? Denial, distortion and repetition of tired formulas? Or having the courage to confront unpleasant facts and face up to the need for painful changes?
The stakes are nothing less than our continued existence. There's a growing recognition that the left can't recover without a coast-to-coast revival of labor. But as the Los Angeles model of "progressive unionism" dissolves into the dust and disgrace of plea bargaining and the FBI raids the offices of the New York Central Labor Council, it's clear too that such a labor revival can't come from the inside out or the top down. Left adversaries–including Terence Powderly, Eugene Debs, W.E.B. Du Bois, William "Big Bill" Haywood, Dorothy Day and the late Herbert Hill–all insisted on the need for full-scale structural reform of America's fiefdom model of labor unionism. Solidarity for Sale seeks to revive this critical tradition.
ROBERT FITCH
PHILLIPS-FEIN REPLIES
In his letter Robert Fitch performs his own act of metamorphosis: I become labor's "official defender," while he manages to carry the mantle of every great left radical and critic of labor in US history. I agree that unions are in a state of crisis. And, as I said in my initial review, corruption is part of the problem; far from denying that corruption exists or saying we shouldn't talk about it, I pointed readers to several other books on the topic. But in my opinion, Fitch's analytic reliance on the "fiefdom model," whose widespread applicability to the labor movement he does not demonstrate, greatly weakens his book. That model has nothing to say about unions that grew out of social movements–like the hospital workers' union, Local 1199, which was led by leftists and which developed in tandem with the civil rights movement. It forces him to ignore times when unions have given support to a broader progressive politics, as when the UAW helped organize the 1963 March on Washington and sent bail money to the civil rights protesters locked in Birmingham jails, or the support that unions give today to living-wage campaigns across the country. Relying on a vision of unions as monopolies, Fitch claims that the periods of growth in US labor history came when unions "competed" for workers, but in fact it's not clear that "competition," instead of improved legal and political conditions, was responsible for the expansion of unions in the Progressive Era and the 1930s and '40s. Fitch argues that the fragmented, localized structure of unions is to blame for the desperate predicament of working-class Americans, but his book does not help us understand how and why this structure, to the extent that it exists, came into being. He says little about the role of business attacks on unions in shaping the labor movement, either in the early years or today, when European unions no less than US ones must confront a climate of mounting hostility.
All these examples are complex: to understand how unions have dealt with race, for example, we must look both at the long history of racism in American labor and the support of unions like the UAW for the civil rights movement. But that's my point: History is complicated. Fitch could have used his voluminous research to write a book that really shed light on the history of union corruption, assessing its influence on the development of labor and the reasons unions have proved susceptible to it. Instead, he wrote a one-note history, relying on the rhetoric of "monopoly unionism," also beloved by the right, in which mob infiltration and the failure of unions to broadly support national healthcare stem from an identical source.
Finally, I'm not sure what to make of Fitch's claim that I misstate his attitude toward union shops. He writes that to revive labor, "the prime features that have to be scrapped are all those features that preempt consent: compulsory membership, exclusive representation, closed shop, 'union security.'" He may mean that he doesn't support right-to-work laws but instead envisions reborn unions that eschew these policies. But he argues that union shops are "despotic," that they create conditions that breed corruption and that they destroy the ability of labor to effectively organize and represent members. I understand why he wants to distinguish his position from that of right-to-work proponents–who usually argue that they don't object to good unions, even though the objective of the businesses that fund right-to-work efforts is to keep wages and benefits down by weakening all unions. But his assumptions, language and analytic framework are all very close to theirs.
KIM PHILLIPS-FEIN
Kim Phillips-FeinKim Phillips-Fein is the author of Invisible Hands: The Businessmen's Crusade Against the New Deal and Fear City: The New York City Fiscal Crisis and the Rise of the Age of Austerity.
Our ReadersLetters submitted by our readers are read and published in the magazine.


Can't believe what you went through, and how you came out of it being so brave and an amazing strong person.
It's amazingly written, incredibly heartbreaking and a must-read. Its a cautionary tale that every person should read.
Would highly, 100% recommend this book to everyone and anyone. This story of survival is emotional, real and an actual conspiracy theory in real life. Worth the money, and will definitely be a countless read.
Gripping. Couldn't set it down!
Read the book in one sitting. A real page turner!
I have been watching Brittani on YouTube for a good 5/6 years now, always commenting on her videos about 'Nyan Cat' how I loved BLT. I actually came back to watching her videos due to the I'm Engaged and Pregnant video and was instantly reconnected with Brittani. Watching those snippets of her relationship in comparison to reading the truth hurts so much because I hurt for Brittani. However, her fearlessness and courage to stand up for herself, her mother and her son shows me and everyone who will read this that Brittani is amazing and never deserved to have gone through what she did. I devoured this book in one day, so morbidly fascinated with how cruel this person was and so deeply upset for it also. It is written with raw intensity that makes you ache for what she went through. The detail in describing the wonderful experiences she had as well as the awful horrific ones made me cry. Brittani is talented, wonderful, and oh-so deserving of happiness. I'm glad she is on the road to recovering and I know, for sure, Rex has the best mother ever. Definitely will recommend.


text:
Volkswagen Malaysia offers festive Joy to the Less-Fortunate
Following the acquisition of the Peugeot brand, new sole distributors Berjaya Auto Alliance is currently embarking on a customer update program to ensure Peugeot customers a better ownership experience. Previously, Peugeot was handled by Nasim, a subsidiary of the Naza Group. Fast forward to 2021, the Lion brand baton is assumed by Berjaya Auto Alliance who intends to improve holistically from the brand management to after-sales.
In the past, Peugeot owners have been rather dissatisfied with the after-sales rendered by the former distributor. It was not just due to high service and maintenance costs but poor response rate and many delayed deliveries. All that is about to change for the better with Berjaya Alliance Auto, thanks to its proven track record. The management at Berjaya All. Auto has long been involved with the Mazda marque (Bermaz Motor) in Malaysia. In recent years, Mazda Malaysia has been recognized for its impeccable customer satisfaction by J.D. Power for several consecutive years. Therefore, the Peugeot brand should be in good hands for existing as well as new owners.
Current Peugeot owners are required to update their details at the official Peugeot webpage, www.peugeot.com.my. Once entered, tab the click here to update button to submit. Owners are required to provide proof of their vehicle registration card, service and warranty booklets during registration. Rest assured, all information collected are protected by Personal Data Protection Act (PDPA) law of Malaysia. Successful owner registrations will receive important service reminders, warranty periods, service campaigns, news and other support details.
For further information, visit the official webpage or email customersupport@baasb.com.my. The call center number is 03-7627 8818, reachable Mondays to Fridays, 8.30 am – 6.00 pm.
In this article:Peugeot, Customer, Service
Lexus LC 500 Covertible lands in Malaysia
Fresh from its recent local debut, the newest Lexus LC 500 Coupe is now joined by the LC 500 Convertible. The LC 500 range...


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Turning off a light just became a much smaller task. A team of researchers has developed the world's smallest optical switch, which uses just a single atom to control the flow of light.
Developed by a team from ETH Zurich, the device is surprisingly simple. A platinum pad sits just below a shaped silver pad. Apply a voltage, and a single silver atom moves from the top of plate into the gap between the two plates. That creates a short circuit between the two metals allowing electricity to flow between them, which in turn stops light being able to pass. Lose the voltage, and light can pass once more.
By adding fibre optic guides at each side of the device, the team can create a device capable of modulating light that's 1,000 times smaller than any such device in the past. In fact, the piece of hardware itself is smaller than the wavelength — at 1.55 micrometres — of the laser light that it switches. The research is published in Nano Letters.