NFL 2009 Standings & Scores

Drew Brees Saints QB

NFL 2009 Week 7 Preview: Pats & Bucs Meet in London Plus 3 Unbeatens in Action

The Patriots-Buccaneers’ meeting is the third regular-season game at Wembley Stadium.

Meanwhile, back home stateside, three of the remaining four unbeatens – Indianapolis (5-0), Minnesota (6-0)
and New Orleans (5-0) – will be in action. Denver (6-0) has a bye in Week 7 after a 34-23 win at San Diego on Monday night.

Talent & Athleticism Changing Game at Safety Position

Teams are looking to find players who can guard against the deep throws and disrupt receivers coming over the middle but also make the key tackles as the last line of defense. Among the checklist of things that teams look for in a safety are versatility, athleticism, toughness, speed and the ability to read and react to different offenses.

Execution is Key in Short-Yardage Situation

Every inch is earned in the NFL and a physical rushing attack is required to excel in short-yardage situations. NFL Network analyst and former All-Star running back Marshall Faulk knows the importance of executing on short-yardage opportunities. Faulk totaled 12,279 career rushing yards in 13 NFL seasons (1994-2006) and says finishing on short-yardage opportunities can be the difference in a team being a pretender or contender.

NFL 2009 Week 7 – Picks, Selections & Latest Line

ComicStripNation.com
http://www.ComicStripNation.com

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Your Favorite Comic Strips Online

Giants (5-0) Visit Saints (4-0) in Battle of Unbeatens

NFL 2009 Week 6 Preview

“This is certainly the game of the week,” says NFL Network analyst STEVE MARIUCCI of this Sunday’s showdown between the 5-0 New
York Giants and 4-0 New Orleans Saints.

Brett Favre

5 Undefeated Teams: Most Ever through 5 Weeks

NFL 2009 Week 6 Preview

Five teams – Denver, Indianapolis, Minnesota, New Orleans and the New York Giants – enter Week 6 without a loss, the most undefeated clubs through the first five weeks of a season in NFL history.
“This is the first time in my career to be 5-0,” says Vikings quarterback BRETT FAVRE. “I’m very proud of this team. It’s
important to start fast. But it’s not how you start, it’s how you finish.”

Year Two – The Second Time Around for NFL Players

NFL 2009 Week 6 Preview

“The growth of most players from year one to year two is phenomenal,” says former Dallas Cowboys vice president of player personnel (1960-1989) and NFL.com senior analyst GIL BRANDT

NFL 2009 Week 6 – Picks, Selections & Latest Line

Where the Wild Things Are

Where the Wild Things Are

Max Records & Catherine Keener in Where the Wild Things Are

Based on Maurice Sendak’s 338-word storybook, Spike Jonze’s film strikes minor chords and plaintive emotions where other directors would’ve gone for the throat. A boy (Max Records) coping with a household unsteadied by divorce sets sail for an island where the Wild Things wrestle with the same clique issues and hurt feelings the boy deals with back home.

Michael Sheen & Timothy Spall

The Damned United

Michael Sheen & Timothy Spall in The Damned United

This engaging film, a winner for soccer fans and soccer idiots alike, focuses on Brian Clough, one-time English footballer turned failed manager of the Leeds United club. Michael Sheen, who played David Frost in ‘Frost/Nixon,’ portrays Clough

Jamie Foxx & Gerard Butler

Law Abiding Citizen

Jamie Foxx & Gerard Butler in Law Abiding Citizen

Gerard Butler and Jamie Foxx star in this brutal, preposterous revenge fantasy that taps into a lot of fears about the American legal system. Butler plays a gadget-maker who survives the slaughter of his family and sets out to get even, and then some. Foxx is the politically ambitious Philadelphia prosecutor who lets one of the killers get off easy so the other will be executed.

Natalie Portman & Maggie Q

New York, I Love You

Natalie Portman & Maggie Q in ‘New York, I Love You’

The ongoing ‘Cities We Love’ project that began three years ago with ‘Paris, je t’aime’ continues its global exploration with ‘New York, I Love You.’ Eleven directors and 16 screenwriters contributed to the omnibus affair. I like the idea of the film more than the film itself; the batting average with the Paris project was a good deal higher. Nonetheless, this one provides some compensatory satisfactions

Couples Retreat

Vince Vaughn & Jason Bateman in Couples Retreat

Four couples on a tropical retreat think they’re in for umbrella drinks and beach time. They’re met instead with a stern regimen of ‘couples-whispering’ tactics. Though it boasts a good cast that also includes Jason Bateman, Kristen Bell and Jon Favreau, ‘Couples Retreat’ is pretty meager and more than a little depressing.

A Serious Man

Michael Stuhlbarg & Richard Kind in A Serious Man

Set in 1967 in the Minneapolis suburbs, ‘A Serious Man’ is a tart, brilliantly acted fable of life’s little cosmic difficulties, a Coen brothers comedy with a darker philosophical outlook than ‘No Country for Old Men’ but with a script rich in verbal wit.

Good Hair

Chris Rock & Paul Mooney in Good Hair

Comedian Chris Rock’s ‘Good Hair’ consists of two documentaries braided together, one enjoyable, the other enjoyable and provocative. Rock and a film crew covered the 2007 edition of the Bronner Bros. Hair Show in Atlanta and its climactic Hair Battle Royale

Free Style

Corbin Bleu & Penelope Ann Miller in Free Style

Corbin Bleu may have graduated from “High School Musical,” but he stays close to his Disney Channel roots in “Free Style,” a squeaky-clean sports flick about a poor kid with big dreams (and bigger hair) trying to make it in the motocross world.

7 Ways to Cut Thousands from your College Costs

by Kim Clark

Many students are ratcheting their budgets downward because of reduced incomes and financial aid. Nevertheless, college aid officers still see plenty of students appealing for aid for what the colleges call “lifestyle” expenses.

Secrets to Finding a Student Loan

by Kim Clark

The credit crunch and debacle on Wall Street have wiped out those easy-peasy $40,000 college loans that used to be all over late-night TV. And the feds are considering a dramatic consolidation of the educational lending industry that could reduce options still further. But no matter …

Is Student Debt Really a Problem?

by Kim Clark

Most college students and recent graduates are not saddled with oppressive educational loans, according to a report issued by the College Board. But the report also documented a surprising and troubling increase in the debt loads shouldered by students attending the lowest-cost schools of all — local, public community colleges

10 Things You Did Not Know About the Swine Flu

By Queenie Wong

Clinical Trials Are Testing Stem Cells as Heart Failure Treatment

Sarah Baldauf

The ongoing study is one of many clinical trials now testing the ability of heart failure patients’ own stem cells–which renew themselves and can develop into a range of cell types–to regenerate heart muscle and restore blood flow inside the heart tissue.

8 Tips Can Help Fight Ragweed Pollen Allergy

January W. Payne

No matter how long ragweed season lasts this year, experts suggest getting a jump-start on symptoms before you start to feel lousy. This should come as no surprise to people accustomed to dealing with seasonal allergy symptoms, but we offer eight refreshers for making this ragweed season as painless as possible.

Drug-Free Approaches to Managing ADHD

Megan Johnson

For decades, Ritalin and similar stimulants have reigned over other treatments for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, also known as ADHD or ADD. The meds are seemingly tried and true, with numerous studies backing their effectiveness. However, the latest results from the Multimodal Treatment Study of Children with ADHD found that stimulants’ effects wane over time. Here’s 9 Drug-Free Approaches to Managing ADHD …

Hamstrung! How to Prevent and Help Heal Hamstring Injuries

Katherine Hobson

This season, hamstring injuries have benched at least four members of the New York Mets. Then it got personal: my boyfriend started hobbling after one of our outdoor workouts, having suffered his own mild hamstring pull. What is this injury, anyway? And what makes everyone from pro athletes to weekend warriors susceptible to it?

Cap-and-Trade Will Reduce Global Warming and Create Jobs

John Podesta

New investments in the clean energy technologies of the future would slash global warming pollution and reduce the use of foreign oil while also creating jobs and increasing our economic competitiveness vis-à-vis China and other nations.

Cap-and-Trade Would Make the American Dream a Nightmare

William O’Keefe

In 1984, the late historian Barbara Tuchman wrote The March of Folly, in which she chronicled the phenomenon of governments pursuing policies directly at odds with their self-interest. Tuchman used the term “wooden-headedness” to describe the tendency of leaders to assess situations using preconceived notions while ignoring or rejecting any contrary signs. History may be repeating itself in Washington as they fight to pass a climate bill that most lawmakers have not read and even fewer understand. In spite of growing evidence …

Behind the Rage at Healthcare Town Hall Meetings

Kent Garber

This healthcare town hall was only nominally about healthcare. It was really about something else. It wasabout anger and fear. It was about a trenchant sense of disillusionment, resentment, and powerlessness.

Healthcare Is a Precious Commodity That Must Be Used Wisely

Michael D. Tanner

We tend to talk about healthcare in the philosophically abstract. ‘Is healthcare a right or a privilege?’ goes the refrain. In reality, it is neither. Healthcare is a commodity–and a finite one at that. There are only so many doctors, hospitals, and, most important, money to go around. After all, every dollar spent on healthcare is one not spent on education, infrastructure, or defense.

Healthcare Is In The Eye Of The Beholder,
And Should Be In The Hands Of The Patient

Laura Hershey

Expectations of medical treatment can run up against physicians’ opposing views and hospitals’ rules. In dozens of states, laws allow doctors to unilaterally deny lifesaving treatments that they deem ‘futile,’ even if the patient or a surrogate decision maker wants care continued. Some people actually advocate this, as a way to ration healthcare — limiting the resources available to sicker patients, to extend basic care to more healthy people

Healthcare Reform a Tough Sell in Town Halls Where Recession Has Hit Hardest

by Mary Kate Cary

Most adults alive today have seen an increase in healthcare costs over the last few decades, but they’ve also seen advances like MRIs, PET and CAT scans, cholesterol, cancer, diabetes, and heart medications for their loved ones; and a concurrent jump in our expected life spans. Unlike, say, monetary policy, healthcare is something about which most Americans have a very strong opinion.

Why Obama’s Failing Big on Healthcare Reform

Mortimer B. Zuckerman

Why does it cost the United States about $7,000 per person annually in our incomplete national healthcare system, while other major economic competitors provide universal coverage for about half that amount? The answer is quite simple: The federal government pays whatever the cost will be. Virtually every expert agrees that the root of our runaway health inflation is the fee-for-service approach.

Health Reform Fattens Big Insurance and Taxes the Young

by Bernadine Healy, M.D

Insurers agreed months ago to clean up at least some of their hated practices, such as denying insurance for prior illnesses and canceling coverage when someone gets sick. In return, they stand to get some colossal plums: a mandate not only that every American buy health insurance but that the mandated insurance be “comprehensive,” another word for expensive.

Obama Not Overexposed, but Flaws in His Healthcare Reform Have Been

by Clark S. Judge

From network reporters to online commentators, the story of the day about White House communications is that President Obama getting overexposed. That’s why, media critics say, the President’s approval numbers have dropped so low and his healthcare package isn’t selling. But they are wrong. Something very different is happening, and it has to do not with style but with substance.

Obama Shines in Character Department: Despite falling job approval numbers

by Kenneth T. Walsh

Despite setbacks on the political front, President Obama is succeeding where many other politicians have failed — in the character department. He has become a role model for the kind of traditional values that Americans have long celebrated. For years, the Democrats have been criticized by conservatives for lacking “family values.” But today, it is Obama, a Democrat, who has emerged as the paragon of personal virtue, and even Republicans see it as a source of political strength.

Obama Not Overexposed, but Flaws in His Healthcare Reform Have Been

by Clark S. Judge

From network reporters to online commentators, the story of the day about White House communications is that President Obama getting overexposed. That’s why, media critics say, the President’s approval numbers have dropped so low and his healthcare package isn’t selling. But they are wrong. Something very different is happening, and it has to do not with style but with substance.

10 Best Places to Live for Pet Lovers

Kimberly Palmer

For the 4 in 10 American families that own at least one dog, choosing a place to live isn’t just about the humans in the family: They want their pets to be happy, too. Green spaces and good weather make pets — and their owners — happy.

General Motors: ‘Cash for Clunkers’ a Huge Success

Amanda Ruggeri

Not everyone supported the Senate’s passage of a bill that boosted “cash for clunkers” by $2 billion, effectively extending it through Labor Day. But it’s hard to argue that the program, which gives rebates to people who trade in old cars for more fuel-efficient vehicles, hasn’t made the auto industry happy. That’s true for General Motors …

General Motors: ‘Cash for Clunkers’ a Huge Success

Amanda Ruggeri

Not everyone supported the Senate’s passage of a bill that boosted “cash for clunkers” by $2 billion, effectively extending it through Labor Day. But it’s hard to argue that the program, which gives rebates to people who trade in old cars for more fuel-efficient vehicles, hasn’t made the auto industry happy. That’s true for General Motors …

Michael Leiter Works to Keep Tabs on Terrorists

Alex Kingsbury

In his current job as head of the National Counterterrorism Center, Michael Leiter is again in the business of interfering with the enemy. But instead of radar units in the former Yugoslavia or air defenses in Iraq, the adversary is global terrorist networks. And rather than scramble enemy communications, he is coming up with new strategies to match the new attitudes in the intelligence community.

Biofuel Technology and Performance Issues Could Slow Acceptance

Ari Axelrod

Biofuels are a conundrum. Their potential advantages are undeniable: reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, lessening of our dependency on imported oil, support of domestic agriculture. And they certainly have their supporters. The Obama administration repeatedly affirmed its backing of rapid development of alternative energy sources, including biofuels. Still, the hurdles are high.

Biofuel Technology and Performance Issues Could Slow Acceptance

Ari Axelrod

Biofuels are a conundrum. Their potential advantages are undeniable: reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, lessening of our dependency on imported oil, support of domestic agriculture. And they certainly have their supporters. The Obama administration repeatedly affirmed its backing of rapid development of alternative energy sources, including biofuels. Still, the hurdles are high.

The Diplomatic Myths and Illusions of the Middle East

by Robert Schlesinger

Incorrect preconceptions and misguided conventional wisdom hamper American policy in the Middle East, Dennis Ross and David Makovsky write in Myths, Illusions, and Peace: Finding a New Direction for America in the Middle East.

What Parents Do not Know About How Their Kids Use Facebook & MySpace

Nancy Shute

Parents of teenagers know how important texting and social networking sites like MySpace, Bebo, and Facebook are to the over-13 set. But if we think we know what our kids say and do on the sites, we’re kidding ourselves. My 13- and 14-year-old nephews kindly remind me more often than I’d like of my cluelessness, and a new survey confirms that I’m not the only parent who has no idea.

Should You Invest in Socially Responsible Funds

Kimberly Palmer

Socially responsible investing, often referred to as SRI, has grown so much over the past decade that the industry group Social Investment Forum estimates it accounts for 1 out of every 9 dollars that is professionally managed in the United States today. But some consumers hesitate to put their money into socially responsible funds. Here are questions and answers to help you decide if socially responsible investing is right for you.

How to Choose and Book Your Ideal Cruise Vacation

Kim Michele

Choosing and booking a cruise can be overwhelming if you’re not familiar with the industry and the destinations served. However, it doesn’t have to be. Here are a few tips to help you decide what you want from a cruise vacation, how to pick the best cruise line for you, and how to go about making your booking.

3 Ways to Avoid the Newest Travel ‘Gotcha’

Christopher Elliott

Kenneth Miller thought he had squirreled away more than 100,000 Delta Air Lines frequent flier miles, which he planned to use for a special 20th anniversary trip. He thought wrong. When he checked with the airline, it claimed he had no miles.

5 Secrets for Avoiding Sky-High Phone Bills on the Road

Christopher Elliott – The Travel Troubleshooter

When it comes to “gotcha” fees, the cellular phone industry makes travel companies look like rank amateurs. Take what happened to P. Morgan Brown when his wife decided to take a spur-of-the-moment vacation to Indonesia.

Charge This: 7 Tips for a Successful Credit Card Dispute

Christopher Elliott – The Travel Troubleshooter

Credit cards are not exactly what you’d call reliable. That’s because disputing a card charge is more of an art than a science. Here’s what you need to know in order to file a successful dispute.

‘No Waivers, No Favors’ Reaches New Highs

Christopher Elliott – The Travel Troubleshooter

The travel industry, hammered by the worst economic downturn in more than a generation, is taking a hard line in an effort to contain costs and preserve profits.

Branson Landing Trolley

Not Your Grandfather’s Branson

Suzi Parker

I have found the most unlikely of vacation spots: Branson, Missouri A town of 6,000 inhabitants nestled in the rolling Ozark Mountains, Branson has grown into one of the most popular tourist destinations in the country. Hard to believe, though, for people who like myself journeyed to this hamlet back in the 1970s to visit Silver Dollar City, then an old-time amusement park that peddled corn husk dolls and homemade candles made while you watched

Rome’s Spanish Steps

5 Family Hotels in Rome

Amie O’Shaughnessy

The biggest challenge in finding a family-friendly hotel in Rome (or any major European city) is figuring out which properties have separate areas for sleeping and/or rooms that can accommodate four or more people.

Basha Kill Vineyards

Basha Kill Vineyards, Sullivan County New York

Leo Jakobson

Wine aficionados planning a vineyard tour in New York will generally turn to the Hudson River Valley, Long Island or the Finger Lakes regions, where most of the state’s grapes are grown — excluding, of course, the huge Concord …

Chewton Glen Hotel

Top 10 English Country Manor Hotels

Jonathan Lerner

The English landscape is dotted with grand old houses in picturesque settings. Staying in one of these country house hotels on your England vacation puts you right in the glorious green countryside.

Matheran, India

Unwind, Vehicle Free in Matheran, India

Jonathan Lerner

Mumbai’s heat and blaring traffic can be wearing. When I went to Matheran, instead of horns and motors I heard drums and chants from distant villages, and the howls of monkeys

Grand Canyon

5 National Park Treasures to Visit Before You Die

Debbie K. Hardin

National parks exert a primeval pull on visitors from around the world, who come by the millions to drink in their natural wonders. There are 391 national parks in the United States. 5 National Parks to See Before You Die.

Alaskan Bear Watching

Taking the Kids to Alaska and Meeting Some Bears

Eileen Ogintz – Taking the Kids

Welcome to ‘bear camp,’ an outpost of the Kenai Peninsula fishing lodge Great Alaska International Adventure Vacations, where families come to hike, fish, raft and, of course, check out the bears.

Hawks Cay Spa

Taking the Kids and Myself to a Spa

Eileen Ogintz – Taking the Kids

Of course, my mom never took me to a spa — I don’t think she’s ever been to one herself — but I’ve taken my daughters to spas from the Caribbean to Colorado, from Arizona to Austria from the time they were young teens, and like others their age, they are perfectly at home getting facials and massages. It turns out they’ve got plenty of company

Ceiba Del Mar

Taking the Kids To Mexico Where You’ll Find Adventure, Culture, Beaches and Great Deals

Eileen Ogintz – Taking the Kids

We’re just an hour or so from Cancun, a few miles from Playa del Carmen, five miles off the highway along a bumpy road in Rio Secreto, a unique cave just opened to the public last year, after the owner of the land, Don Cleo, inadvertently discovered it while chasing one of his animals

Santiago Spain

Binging on Barnacles in Spain

Rick Steves

I’m tucked away in Santiago de Compostela, in the northwest corner of Spain. I have a three-part agenda: see pilgrims reach their goal in front of the cathedral, explore the market, and buy some barnacles in the seafood section — then have them cooked for me, on the spot, in a cafe.

Tasty Tuscan Cuisine

Tuning in to Tasty Italy

Rick Steves

Recently when I was in Tuscany, a region fiercely proud of its beef, I sunk my teeth into a carnivore’s dream come true. In a stony cellar, under one long, tough vault, I joined a local crowd for dinner.

Provence Markets

To Market, to Market in Provence

Rick Steves

Market days are an especially big deal throughout France especially in Provence. You can find an endless array of products at Provencal markets, from clothing to crafts, art to antiques, pates to picnic fare. Arles stands out among Provencal market towns

Seniors on the Go: Factory Tours — Still the Best Free Shows

Ed Perkins On Travel

If you’re a senior on a budget, you can’t beat free for admission to a visitor attraction. Despite the lousy economy you can still find factories that allow you to see how the stuff you buy is actually made. Admission to most is free and the fees are nominal at the few that do charge.

A Tale of Two Cards and Their Reward Programs

Ed Perkins On Travel

American Express and Diners Club have changed their “rewards” programs. By adding British Airways to its list of partner airlines, AmEx has clearly improved its already strong position. On the other hand, by devaluing its points, Diners seems to be headed in some other direction.

Fall & Winter Travel – What’s It Going to Be

Ed Perkins On Travel

A reporter recently asked me about the fall and winter travel outlook, and I suspect that question is on your mind, too. I see two main forces driving the current and future travel marketplace: The economy.

Websites for Traveling Women

Ed Perkins On Travel

Although most of the travel industry still thinks of travelers as traditional couples, an increasing number of women are traveling alone or with other women. Here’s a brief overview of web sites tailored toward women travellers …

Finding Those Great Fall Hotel Deals

Ed Perkins On Travel

Fall is traditionally the slowest travel season of the year. Despite good weather and lots of interesting activities in many popular destinations, people seem to have other things on their minds. Low occupancies are the norm for vacation centers. And, of course, this year’s dismal economic picture makes things worse than usual. Clearly, these factors mean lots of opportunities for travelers able to take advantage.

AARP Travel Program Not Much New for 2009

Ed Perkins On Travel

Some suppliers still offer discounts to AARP members – mainly for hotels and rental cars. The details have changed a bit since my last summer update, but the basic conclusions remains: Many of AARP’s discounts are also available to travelers of any age through AAA, credit cards, or other organizations. Still, if you’re 50 or over, AARP is useful as a fallback position to be used when you can’t find a better deal.

Personal Finance

A Tale of Two Cards and Their Reward Programs

Ed Perkins On Travel

American Express and Diners Club have changed their “rewards” programs. By adding British Airways to its list of partner airlines, AmEx has clearly improved its already strong position. On the other hand, by devaluing its points, Diners seems to be headed in some other direction.

Lifestyle-Women

Websites for Traveling Women

Ed Perkins On Travel

Although most of the travel industry still thinks of travelers as traditional couples, an increasing number of women are traveling alone or with other women. Here’s a brief overview of web sites tailored toward women travellers …

Internet

Websites for Traveling Women

Ed Perkins On Travel

Although most of the travel industry still thinks of travelers as traditional couples, an increasing number of women are traveling alone or with other women. Here’s a brief overview of web sites tailored toward women travellers …

Real Estate

Ask the Real Estate Lawyer – September 6, 2009

By Ilyce Glink and Samuel J. Tamkin

Ask the Real Estate Lawyer – August 30, 2009

By Ilyce Glink and Samuel J. Tamkin

Ask the Real Estate Lawyer – August 23, 2009

By Ilyce Glink and Samuel J. Tamkin

Ask the Real Estate Lawyer – August 16, 2009

By Ilyce Glink and Samuel J. Tamkin

Ask the Real Estate Lawyer – August 9, 2009

By Ilyce Glink and Samuel J. Tamkin

Real Estate Matters: Financial Questions and Answers – September 5, 2009

By Ilyce Glink

Real Estate Matters: Financial Questions and Answers – August 29, 2009

By Ilyce Glink

Real Estate Matters: Financial Questions and Answers – August 22, 2009

By Ilyce Glink

Real Estate Matters: Financial Questions and Answers – August 15, 2009

By Ilyce Glink

Real Estate Matters: Financial Questions and Answers – August 8, 2009

By Ilyce Glink

Loan Modification Mess: Are Lenders Dragging Their Feet

By Ilyce Glink

Once a mortgage is more than 90 days delinquent, few homeowners are able to catch up on their payments. That’s why loan modifications originally targeted those homeowners who had fallen so far behind.

Vacation Homes: Rent or Buy

By Ilyce Glink

There’s an American mythology about vacation homeownership. There are images of idyllic afternoons by the lake or swimming pool, small towns with farmers’ markets on Saturdays, and lazy summer evenings roasting marshmallows and watching fireflies.

Real Estate Deals Must Be in Writing to Be Enforceable

By Ilyce Glink

Real estate deals must be in writing to be enforceable. Usually, when a real estate broker takes an earnest money check, the buyer has signed a purchase and sale agreement (or purchase contract).

Craigslist Apartment Rental Scam

By Ilyce Glink

The FBI released a scam alert recently announcing that Nigerian scam artists had been placing phony ads for rental property online, most notably in Craigslist.

Home Decor

Banquette Seating

Banquette Seating Maximizes Efficiency and Comfort

By Rita St. Clair

Don’t assume that an attractive design featured in a magazine can be applied only in a space of similar dimensions. Good ideas can often be adapted to rooms much larger or smaller than the original. Functional issues may have to be addressed of course, trickier — and crucial — is the question of scale

Opaque Glass Panels

Sliding Opaque-Glass Panels Are Attractive and Functional for Modern Interior

By Rita St. Clair

The designs associated with the Arts and Crafts movement and with architects such as Frank Lloyd Wright have powerfully influenced the look of the modern American interior. So it’s important to realize that Wright’s work and the Arts and Crafts style in California were themselves shaped by Japanese design.

Winebar

Turn Antique Furniture into Unique Fixtures

By Rita St. Clair

Design schools never include “investment” in the lexicon they teach their students, but they should. Good interior design not only produces visual pleasure, it also enhances the value of a home by adding structural improvements and high-quality fixtures. And for homeowners seeking a return on the money they put into their homes, the art and antiques they buy will do better these days than the equity of the real estate itself.

Leafy Plants & poolside landscaping

Poolside Landscaping Should Emphasize Ease and Beauty

By Sean Conway

A backyard pool is a great place to relax in the summer heat, but it can present landscaping challenges.
Planting trees and shrubs too close to the pool should be avoided since they will block sunlight, not to mention deposit leaves and other debris in the pool. A similar caveat applies to planting grass close to the edge of a pool. It may look pleasing, but every time the grass is mowed the clippings invariably end up in the water.

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Healthcare

What is the Actual Number of Americans Without Health Insurance

Bonnie Erbe

The number of Americans without health insurance the Obama administration and Democrats have used for more than a
year now ranges between 40 million and 46 million — at the upper end, that would be somewhere between 1 in 6 and 1 in 7 Americans.
So, how many Americans are truly uninsured?

Domestic
+ Family

America’s 10 Best Places to Grow Up

Luke Mullins

Low crime, strong schools, green spaces, and fun activities are key ingredients for a happy childhood.
So we dug into our database of 2,000 different places all across the country and pinpointed the locales that met these criteria.
We then examined these communities more closely to determine which places offered the best combination …

Politics

Frustrated Baby Boomers Alienated from the Political Debate

by Mary Kate Cary

There’s a big disconnect in politics right now. The older baby boomers, the ones in their 50s and 60s, are increasingly
left out of the political discourse. That crowd is part of the biggest demographic segment of our population — more than a quarter of our
citizens. They’re dismayed that their local newspaper — if it still exists — places more emphasis on obituaries and local real estate news.
Any national news is buried somewhere far from the front page. They feel like they can’t get issue-oriented policy news anymore and are …

Economy
+Auto I

Maybe Cash For Clunkers Helped The Economy After All

Matthew Bandyk

Daniel Gross at Slate makes the case that the evidence is in, and cash-for-clunkers gets a pretty good return as
stimulus: If we use Taylor’s estimate, about 250,000 extra cars were purchased (40 percent of 625,000). And if each cost $29,000, those
sales generated about $7.3 billion in revenue in the space of a few weeks. That’s a pretty good return on $2.6 billion in government
spending.
+ Auto I
BX

Auto Dealers: Cash for Clunkers a Needed Boost

Amanda Ruggeri

John McEleney is the chair of the Virginia-based National Automobile Dealers Association, which represents more than 90
percent of new-car dealers nationwide and lobbied hard for the program. He recently spoke about how dealers have been reacting to the program
and what the problem was with reimbursements.

Beware of False Hopes on the Economy

Mortimer B. Zuckerman

Is there light at the end of this very long tunnel of a recession? Government spokespeople, keen to encourage
confidence, say there is (their metaphor is “green shoots”). Many private business people concur. Let’s do a reality check …

Swine Flu ??
Home

Obama Advisers: Swine Flu Could Infect Nearly Half of U.S. Population

By Queenie Wong

President Obama’s science advisers warned recently that swine flu could infect nearly half the U.S. population this fall and winter and
cause up to 90,000 deaths, mostly in kids and young adults. The estimate is double the deaths normally associated with the seasonal flu.

+ Kids Health
+Parenting
+ Family
BX

What Parents Should Know About Swine Flu Shots

Nancy Shute

The questions I asked at my daughter’s well-child doctor visit this week were not happy ones: They were all about what to do if the swine flu pandemic gets much worse this fall and she becomes sick. I left the pediatrician’s office just as worried.

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Health
+Ailments

9 Safe Ways to Help Cure Insomnia

January W. Payne

Insomnia — difficulty falling or staying asleep — can wreak havoc on people’s lives. And with the coroner’s finding that Michael Jackson died from a lethal dose of the anesthesia medication propofol (Diprivan), which the pop star reportedly received routinely because of his chronic inability to sleep, it’s a good time to revisit safe ways to help cure insomnia.
+Ailments

7 Things That Make Sleep Apnea Worse

Lindsay Lyon

More than 12 million Americans have obstructive sleep apnea, the most common form of sleep-disordered breathing and many are unaware, according to the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI).
Untreated, sleep apnea has been linked to high blood pressure, heart disease, stroke, memory loss, obesity, parasomnias, and insulin resistance, a precursor to type 2 diabetes

+ Drugs
+ Merck
+ Pharma
BX

Gardasil Side Effects Tough to Monitor

Deborah Kotz

Gardasil, the vaccine that protects against the cervical-cancer-causing human papillomavirus, got a bit of a smack-down from two studies published in the Journal of the American Medical Associationdetailing safety risks associated with …

Foods Surprisingly High in Added Sugar

Sarah Baldauf

Added sugars, which are sprinkled on and processed into packaged foods and beverages, have become all too common in the American diet, says the American Heart Association. The group argues that sugar bingeing is helping drive the uptick in metabolic changes in the American population, including the exploding obesity rate, and has now recommended an upper limit on daily consumption …

Why You Should Think Twice Before Using Alli or Other Weight Loss Aids

Deborah Kotz

When it comes to losing weight, we’d all love that quick fix: a pill, shake, heck, even surgery to ease our efforts. Unfortunately, weight-loss aids — even when approved by the Food and Drug Administration — come with risks as well as benefits.

+Aging

8 Facts to Know About Palliative Care: Misconceptions abound

Sarah Baldauf

The term “palliative care” often conjures tones of a death knell, but the reality of what such services provide — and when they can and should be recruited — might be surprising. While death might ultimately become a part of the conversation, recruiting such care is not just about dying.

+ Education

School Lunches Go Vegetarian

Zach Miners

A new nationwide survey by the School Nutrition Association says almost 2 out of 3 U.S. schools now offer vegetarian fare for lunch on a regular basis. That’s a 40 percent increase since 2003, the first year veggie meals were tallied by the nonprofit group.
However, rising prices are hitting districts hard …

————
Technology
+Education
BX

An Amazon Kindle for Every Student

Zach Miners

Forget better standards, merit pay for teachers, or rebuilding the crumbling infrastructure of America’s aging schools. No, if we really want to fix the U.S. education system, we must start with Kindles. Thomas Z. Freedman, the primary author of the paper, writes that having a “Kindle in every backpack” (the title of the proposal) is not just an educational gimmick but could improve education quality and save money

+Education
BX

Technology as Our Teacher

Mortimer B. Zuckerman

How can average teachers become better teachers? The secretary’s special funding could make a crucial difference by financing a national program exploiting the electronic miracles of the Internet and video. We could escape geography by using the technology to have the best teachers appear in hundreds of thousands of disparate classrooms. This is a force multiplier.

—————
Personal Finance
BX

5 First Steps to Deal With Debt

Kirk Shinkle

If your credit card’s monthly minimum payment is starting to look more like your old balance or you’re not answering the phone for fear of another call from a creditor, it’s time to take drastic action. As thousands of Americans are finding out during this recession, personal debt can become a nightmare

Travel
+ Wireless
+Airline
BX

Allowing Cellphones In-Flight Would Make Air Travel Even Worse

Peter DeFazio

With airline customer satisfaction at an all-time low, this is not the moment to consider making airplane travel even more torturous by allowing in-flight cellphone conversations. After arriving hours early at the airport and often after waiting for a delayed, or even canceled, flight, what could make air travel worse?

+ Wireless
+Airline
BX

If Europe Can Handle In-Flight Cellphone Use, So Can America

Carl Biersack

Despite predictions that in-flight cellphone usage would lead to Armageddon, the global rollout has been just the opposite. In 20 months of global usage, there has not been one reported incident or problem. In fact, 93 percent of passengers who flew on an in-flight communication-equipped aircraft want all jets so equipped. So why not U.S. carriers?

Careers
+ HR

Tips for Dealing With Age Discrimination

Emily Brandon

Under the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967, it’s illegal to discriminate against anyone age 40 or older in the workplace with regard to hiring, layoffs, promotions, pay, and benefits. Here’s what you should do if you think age is playing a role in your workplace woes

+ Education
BX

New Path to a Career in Education

Jessica Calefati

Since it began in 2002, the little-known Broad Residency has placed more than 130 participants in 32 of the nation’s largest urban school districts. There, they have led efforts to overhaul budgeting processes, revamp human resources departments, and make the purchase of textbooks and supplies more efficient. Interest in the program is starting to skyrocket, perhaps because of President Barack Obama’s advocacy of public service and school reform.

Education

College Education Concerns in the 21st Century
(c) M. Ryder

BX

Turning Two Years Into Four

Carol Frey

Can’t come up with the money for four years at a traditional college? What if you could take the same courses far more cheaply, experience life on a residential campus, and transfer smoothly after two years to complete your bachelor’s degree at the university you thought you couldn’t afford? That’s the attraction of many community colleges.

BX

The Challenge for Black Colleges

Kim Clark

The downturn that has forced cutbacks at some of the nation’s richest colleges is endangering survival of some of the poorest, including some historically black colleges and universities. But alumni, professors, and outside analysts say that the better-funded HBCUs’ experience weathering hard times and helping students whom other schools have shut out may boost their appeal

BX

First-rate Colleges Not as Selective as the Top Universities

Diane Cole

A truth that college applicants all too often forget: Beyond the small roster of nationally renowned schools lie many that aren’t household names but have first-rate programs and strong reputations.

BX

Different Paths to a College Degree

Carol Frey

Unemployment has changed many a kitchen-table conversation about college. One of the best ways to ensure a job is to have a bachelor’s degree. But a college education is now more difficult for many families to afford. That means many students are on the prowl for bargain bachelor’s degrees–and some are finding them in nontraditional programs such as three-year bachelor’s degree programs, online education, and work colleges.

BX

Unified Admissions, Affordable Loans and ‘Gap Years’ — Might Help American Colleges

Thomas K. Grose

While many foreign models won’t work in the States there are some practices, mainly cherry-picked from Britain, that would be welcome additions: a less punishing student loan program; more encouragement for students to follow the British tradition of taking a ‘gap year’ break before starting college; and, of course, a central admissions process

BX

SAT Offers Level Playing Field in College Admissions process

Gaston Caperton

The SAT is the most widely used and most heavily researched college admissions test in the country.
In combination with other data, such as a student’s grade-point average, college application essays, and letters of recommendation,
the SAT has proven to be a valid, fair, and reliable data tool for college admissions. All of the available research supports this point.

BX

Students are More than SAT Scores and Numbers in College Admissions Process

Jill Tiefenthaler

The accepted framework for college admissions is showing rust at the joints and no longer supports the right parts of the educational enterprise. It is time to rethink college admissions, and particularly the role of standardized testing. With only marginal predictive value for performance in college, standardized scores do nothing to suggest what a student might contribute to the character and vitality of an intellectual community.

BX

Dreaded Financial Aid Form will be Easier to Fill Out Next Year

Kim Clark

Applying for financial aid is about to get a little less annoying, and loan repayment will get more affordable for some students, thanks to recent initiatives from the U.S. Department of Education.

+ Personal Finance
BX

Casting the Widest Possible Net: College Tuition Assistance & Financial Aid

Kim Clark

Back when jobs were plentiful, investments were growing nicely, and borrowing was easy students and parents could generally cobble together
the $18,000 or so cost of a year at a public university using some variation of the oft-recommended “thirds” strategy: one third from
savings, one third from debt, and one third out of the family paychecks. But how can they scrape together tuition money now that the
bear market has wiped out savings, banks are scared to make loans, and layoffs have eliminated millions of high-paying jobs? Simple …

+ Personal Finance
BX

Serious Tracking to Hunt Down Cheapest Student Loans

Kim Clark

One of the most surprising results of the turmoil in the lending markets is how students’ loan options have diverged from parents’. Here are the keys both should bear in mind

+ Personal Finance
BX

Calculating the Hidden Costs of College

Kimberly Palmer

Forget the meal plan and new computer — those college costs pale in comparison with the unexpected school expenses that add up each
month, from vitamins to stave off exam-season colds to formal wear for the next big Saturday night soiree. Here are 13 often-overlooked
items that you might want to budget for, along with their estimated costs …

BX

Regional Agreements allow Hefty Discount for Students from Nearby States

Nikki Schwab

Out of State at In-State Tuition Rates. In many areas, regional tuitiion rate agreements for public state colleges and universities
allow a hefty discount for students from nearby states. But you have to know where to look …

BX

The Real Secret of College Admissions

David L. Marcus

I’m a volunteer interviewer for my alma mater, Brown University. I know the hard statistics: Only 1 out of 10 of those I meet will be admitted. I’ve come to see the admissions process as a game whose stakes really are not that high. While screening these applicants for the past couple of years, I was writing a book about the college quest. I became convinced that rejection is frequently a blessing.

+ Careers
+Healthcare

Healthcare Giving Students Opportunity to Pay their Way through College

by Steven Yaccino

Many students are expected to lean on the healthcare industry for employment this year as the part-time job market
sinks even further south. Lucky for them, a deluge of aging baby boomers drives one of the healthiest industries today. Seven of the 20
fastest-growing occupations are related to healthcare, according to government data.

+ Internet Features
BX

Students & Professors use Twitter to Communicate Inside & Outside the Classroom

by Zach Miners

Though Twitter might not be quite as popular among students as Facebook or MySpace, a growing cadre of professors and administrators are embracing it and using it to introduce their classes to a different kind of communication and networking — one that doesn’t involve “poking” friends or posting your results from quizzes and polls.

+ Economy
BX

Budget Cuts Hit Nation’s Public Colleges Hard, Even as Demand for Well-educated Workforce Soars

Kim Clark

The recession, state budget cuts, and hidebound bureaucracies are endangering some of the most important foundations of the American dream — the low-cost, high-quality public colleges created to provide anyone with smarts and diligence the training needed to succeed.

Women’s Colleges have had to Broaden their Appeal and Support

Jessica Calefati

According to one study, just 3 percent of collegebound women will even consider attending a women’s college. Yet on many traditional coeducational
campuses across the country, female students now outnumber their male peers. Some argue that this combination of factors demonstrates that women’s
colleges are obsolete, some think otherwise …

Best Tech for the Collegebound

David LaGesse

At the top of every college student’s list are the modern tools of campus life, the technology that gets students through their academics and
socializing. We’ve scanned five key categories of tech for collegiates. While these can be used for entertainment, the emphasis is on work and
communications.

Here Comes the NFL

NFL 2009 Week 1

Every last player, coach and fan is ready! The NFL returns this week and it’s time to “Own the Moment.” That means
the next four months will be packed with the sizzle and suspense that comes only with the National Football League. And then come the
playoffs! Everybody is ready for the unique unpredictability of the NFL. And every team enters the new season with hope.

Team-by-Team Review of the NFL’s Starting Quarterbacks

NFL 2009 Week 1

Quarterbacks throughout the league find themselves in the spotlight as the NFL begins the new season, all hoping to
lead their teams to a berth in Super Bowl XLIV on February 7 at Dolphin Stadium in South Florida. Following is a team-by-team look at the
NFL’s starting quarterbacks heading into NFL 2009 Week 1.

Picks, Selections & Latest Line

Team-by-Team Review of the NFL’s Starting Quarterbacks

NFL 2009 Week 1

Quarterbacks throughout the league find themselves in the spotlight as the NFL begins the new season, all hoping to
lead their teams to a berth in Super Bowl XLIV on February 7 at Dolphin Stadium in South Florida. Following is a team-by-team look at the
NFL’s starting quarterbacks heading into NFL 2009 Week 1.

• 
  Best NFL Records, Past 10 Years
• 
  New Rules for NFL 2009 Season
• 
  Notable NFL Players who Switched Teams this Offseason
• 
  NFL 2009: Teams Strength of Schedule
• 
  NFL 2009: Travel Miles – Preseason and Regular Season
• 
  NFL 2009: Best Quarterback Performances Past & Present
• 
  NFL 2009: Cowboys Open New Stadium
• 
  Pro Football America’s Favorite Sport by Far
• 
  NFL TV has New Look this Season
• 
  NFL International Series United Kingdom – Buccaneers vs. Patriots
• 
  NFL Football Milestones
• 
  NFL Celebrates 50th Anniversary of AFL
• 
  140 Years Ago: First Football Game – Rutgers vs. Princeton
• 
  Green Bay Packers Celebrate 90th Season
• 
  Ernie Nevers Oldest Standing NFL Records
• 
  Pittsburgh Steelers Aim to Repeat
• 
  Arizona Cardinals Look to Build on Last Year’s Success
• 
  Wild, Wild, Wildcat Offense
• 
  Flexibility on Defense: The 3-4 Formation
• 
  Turnover Differential – Key to Victory in the NFL
• 
  On Offense – Running the Ball Ensures Victory in NFL
• 
  Tandem Backfields – Good Things Come in Pairs
• 
  Sack Attack
• 
  Fourth-and-One Offense
• 
  Peyton Manning Continues to Place Himself among NFL All-Time Greats
• 
  Player Milestones on the Horizon
• 
  La Dainian Tomlinson – L.T. Closes in on More TD Records
• 
  Successful Rookie QBs – Matt Ryan & Joe Flacco
• 
  Three Stellar Rookie Runningbacks
• 
  Quarterbacks with Most Wins in Their First Five Seasons
• 
  Three of Kind in Arizona – Larry Fitzgerald, Anquan Boldin, Steve Breaston
• 
  Double-Trouble Running Backs Can Hurt You Two Ways
• 
  Big Play Excitement
• 
  Protecting the Quarterback
• 
  NFL’s Best All Purpose Players
• 
  Small Wide Receivers Make Big Contributions
• 
  Quarterbacks of the Future
• 
  Active Statistical Leaders Heading into 2009 Season
• 
  70th Anniversary of First Televised NFL Game
• 
  Monday Night Football Celebrates 40th Season
• 
  25 Years Since Dan Marino’s 5,084 Passing Yards Single Season Record
• 
  10th Anniversary of Instant Replay

Steelers & Titans Kickoff NFL 2009

NFL 2009 Kickoff Weekend

The NFL kicks off its 2009 season when the Super Bowl XLIII champion PITTSBURGH STEELERS host the TENNESSEE TITANS on
NBC at 8:30 PM ET. Continuing a tradition that started in 2004, the previous year’s Super Bowl winner hosts the NFL Thursday night season
Kickoff the following September. This year’s Kickoff Weekend features …

Jail Behind Him, Will a New Michael Vick Finally Emerge

Steve Dale

The majority of fans contended their disgust with Michael Vick. Yet, I wonder how many season ticket holders would actually cancel, and how many would turn off their TVs on Sunday afternoons. I argue, it’s a sad reality that there may be an increase in seats filled and TV ratings might shoot up, especially if the team signing Vick has little else to offer.

Here Comes the NFL

Every last player, coach and fan is ready! The NFL returns this week and it’s time to “Own the Moment.” That means the next four months will be packed with the sizzle and suspense that comes only with the National Football League. And then come the playoffs! Everybody is ready for the unique unpredictability of the NFL. And every team enters the new season with hope.

MORE >>

Here Comes the NFL

Under COBRA, Act Quickly to Retain Health Plan After Job Loss

Kathy Kristof

If you’ve lost your job, you need to act fast to maintain adequate health insurance. You have to decide, within 60 days of your separation, whether you want to stay on your former employer’s plan through COBRA.

Job-Winning Tactics for Phone Interviews

Joyce Lain Kennedy – Careers Now

Nowadays it seems that about 90 percent of the initial job interview is done via phone — questions asked to see if you make the cut for the in-person interview. I hardly ever get any further than the phone interview

Job Search: Pulling Out All the Stops

Joyce Lain Kennedy – Careers Now

Recent Bureau of Labor Statistics data reveals that less than one job opening exists for every five seekers. Clearly, the time has come to pull out all the stops in your search and begin thinking outside the box.

Investors Near Retirement Age Face Big Challenges

Mark Miller – Retire Smart

New data shows just how steep a climb older investors face in attempting to recover from the market crash. It appears that younger retirement investors are faring much better than those near retirement age in bouncing back from last year’s market crash.

Avoid These Personal Investing & Financial Gaffes

Andrew Leckey

People want to read about how to make money, not how to avoid losing money. The depth of this recession, however, makes capital preservation every bit as important as positioning yourself to make money as the economy improves. Investors typically make mistakes during this murky in-between economic period.

How to Check Your Life Insurer’s Health

Kathy Kristof

If you want to know why it’s important to know the health of your life insurance company, ask Vince Watson. His daughter, Katie, was left severely disabled and in need of 24-hour care. The life insurance policy that was supposed to pay for Katie’s care for the rest of her life. But less than a decade later, the insurance company failed and the Watsons learned a hard lesson about the limits on life insurance company guaranty funds.

Choose an Investment Professional Carefully

Andrew Leckey

When it comes to selecting an investment professional, trust is a relative term. Many investors understandably feel a need for additional
help in navigating today’s volatile markets and economy. That means carefully checking out individual securities brokers or financial
planners to find those who merit their confidence.

If Retirement Planning Is a Game Show, Most Couples Are Failing

Mark Miller – Retire Smart

The Fidelity Investments Couples Retirement Survey results should be embarrassing for anyone age 45 to 72 who is married (the range of ages studied). It seems husbands and wives are doing a remarkably poor job of communicating, managing and planning for retirement.

Immediate Annuities Offer Security, But Tread Carefully

Humberto Cruz – Savings Game

An immediate or income annuity is an insurance product that turns a lump sum premium into lifetime income. Many people
hate giving up their principal to an insurance company, and immediate annuities had been slow to catch on. But amid the stock market
meltdown.

Aston Martin DB9 Volante & Rolls-Royce Phantom

Test Drive by Jim Mateja

Aston Martin DB9 Volante

What better than a pair of once-in-a-lifetime machines: the Aston Martin DB9 Volante and the Rolls-Royce Phantom.

The 2009 DB9 Volante (convertible) tops $200,000 after options. The link to James Bond is standard. But that’s a
bargain compared with the $380,000 base price on the 2009.5 Rolls-Royce Phantom we piloted. The 6.75-liter, 453-h.p. V-12 is potent and
impressive and so silent that we committed the cardinal sin of trying to restart an idling car …

 

Auto Review Toyota Prius

Test Drive by Jim Mateja

The Toyota Prius that debuted in the U.S. in the 2001 model year has become the nation’s best-selling hybrid.

But with Chevrolet, Saturn, Ford, Mercury and Honda now in the game, Prius needs more than just high gas prices to keep folks interested.

Perhaps the 50 m.p.g. city/48 m.p.g. highway rating in Gen III will do it. That’s a sizable gain from the industry leading 48/45 for 2009.
It also delivers a 600-mile range …

 

Academy Awards Expand Oscar Best Picture Nominations to 10

Timothy M. Gray

And the winner is… well, actually there are lots of winners with the decision to broaden the best-picture Oscar race to 10 films. The board’s
decision to double the category to 10 nominees “may make it more interesting and less cloistered,” said Academy of Motion Picture Arts &
Sciences president Sid Ganis at a press conference Wednesday morning.

Strawberry Rhubarb Almond Crumble Dessert Recipe

Wolfgang Puck

One of my favorite things to do with fresh berries is to prepare a crumble. This classic dessert is made by tossing the fruit with a
little sugar and sweet spices; spreading it in a baking dish; scattering on a hand-crumbled mixture of flour, other grains, or nuts,
sugar and butter; then baking the whole thing until the juices are syrupy and bubbly and the topping turns brown and crunchy.

Salad Nicoise, A Colorful Summertime Salad Recipe

Diane Rossen Worthington

This classic Provencal salad is said to originate in the city of Nice, France. It can be served on a bed of lettuce with the vegetables grouped together along with the eggs, tuna and black olives.

Shrimp and Salad Greens Recipe

Bev Bennett

Shrimp is delicious in a simple salad of greens and an Asian-influenced salad dressing. Nuts bring a lively texture to the dish.

Salt and Pepper Shrimp: Sweet, Salty, Crisp — the Perfect Shrimp Recipe

Anne Willan

Occasionally an ideal recipe comes along, and here is one of them. Salt and pepper shrimp need only a skillet (well, two actually) and tongs for turning. They can be cooked indoors or outside on the grill. Any shrimp will do, large or small

Mocktails: Making Memorable Non-Alcoholic Drinks

Jenn Garbee

You’ve hosted dozens of summer barbecues without giving the non-alcoholic beverages a second thought. However,
serving powdered lemonade again this year suddenly sounds like a bad idea. The good news is making memorable mocktails — cocktails
without the power — is even easier than shaking up spiked drinks. Without the spirit, you’re dealing with one less flavor wild card.
It’s easier still if you approach them as gussied up versions of lemon and limeade.

Corn, Leek and Chorizo Gratin Recipe

Betty Rosbottom

This Corn, Leek and Chorizo Gratin Recipe is delectable as a summer staple. Diced chorizo, the slightly spicy Spanish sausage, fresh corn
kernels, and chopped leeks are sauteed. This dish makes a fine side to such main courses as barbecued chicken, grilled steaks, or sauteed
pork chops.

Talk About an Air Strip

by Dave Barry

For some reason, my traveling party had been singled out by the security people for a near-proctological level of scrutiny. This surprised me, because my party consisted of me, my wife and our 20-month-old daughter. I cannot imagine terrorists getting anything done if they were traveling with a baby

The Class-Conscious Diet

by Dave Barry

My favorite part of The New York Times is a weekly section that reports on things that trendy New Yorkers are doing. This section is called Sunday Styles, because it would be rude to come right out and call it Rich Twits on Parade.

Born to Lose

by Andy Rooney

I’m a world-class loser. There are very few people better at losing things than I am. I was getting into bed and I thought to myself, “Maybe losing stuff would make a column.” So I scribbled some notes about it on a piece of paper, turned out the lights and went to sleep …

Summer Vacation: It’s That Time of Year, Again

by Andy Rooney

Looking forward to a good time is one of the pleasures of life, and it’s that time of the year for me. It’s just before my summer vacation. Looking forward to a vacation can often be better than the vacation itself.

School’s Over Way Too Soon, Literally

by Ana Veciana-Suarez

These days, though, pushing for a longer school year is akin to asking the boss for a pay raise. Chances are I’ll get laughed right out the recessionary door. School districts around the country have cut programs and laid off teachers. How are we going to fund an initiative that obviously will require more money

New Initiatives Tout Value of Microchipping Pets

By Steve Dale

A microchip is a permanent form of identification; it’s the size of a grain of rice and is implanted just under a pet’s skin by a veterinarian. Estimates are that somewhere around half of all dogs in the U.S. are microchipped, yet less then 10 percent of cats have chips.

Tick Numbers Climbing, Even in Urban Areas

By Steve Dale

Ticks, and the diseases they transmit, are now in all 50 states. And experts concur that their numbers are rising. Dr. Dwight Bowman, a veterinary parisitologist at Cornell University, says that a general increase in wildlife numbers — including deer, wild turkey, raccoon and other animals — intersecting with suburbia likely has the most impact

Michael Jackson, Gone Too Soon

Leonard Pitts Jr.

Sometimes, death is lightning from a clear blue sky, a car that runs the red light, ice-cold water dumped on you from behind. That’s how it was last week when Michael Jackson died.

Michael Jackson: ‘Thriller’ Was Greatest Triumph, Greatest Tragedy

Leonard Pitts Jr.

I got to interview Michael Jackson only once, at the family home in Encino, Calif. I remember Jackson did not walk about the place so much as haunt it, slumping from room to room as a great weight rested upon his sparrow shoulders.

Michael Jackson’s Creative Self-Destruction

Clarence Page

Which was your favorite Michael Jackson? News that the “King of Pop” had died at age 50 might well have felt more shocking had he not shocked us so often in the past. He shocked the world in a good way back when he was a kid.

Remembering My Michael Jackson

Liz Smith

Here’s how I want to remember Michael — not as the mega-star, not as Wacko Jacko, but as a lovely boy
whom I got to know a bit during the filming of “The Wiz” when he was 16. He was shy — surprisingly so, for somebody who was
already a show biz veteran, and a star. His solo “Off the Wall” and “Thriller” albums were just around the corner. He was
still the brilliant lead singer of the Jackson Five — a group that never would have gotten off the ground had it not been
for Michael’s unique talents.

Gardening – Not Too Late to Plant Vegetables

Cultivating Life by Sean Conway

If you’re just realizing that summer is here and you never got around to planting a vegetable garden, don’t despair. While it may be too late to plant cool season crops such as peas, lettuce and broccoli, it is still not too late to plant heat-loving vegetables.

Gardening – Clay, the Unsung Mineral Beneath Your Feet

Cultivating Life by Sean Conway

The amount of clay in our soil has a lot to do with how well the soil drains, and how well plants will
grow in it. Most soils are composed of sand, silt, clay and organic matter. Good garden soil contains a balance of these
components, but when there is an overabundance of one or the other, many plants simply will not grow — or grow well — in it.

Why Paint When You Can Give the House a Good Wash

Ask the Builder – Tim Carter

Painting the exterior of a home can be very expensive, and sometimes it’s not necessary. I’ll gladly
share my exterior cleaning house tips. It might save you thousands of dollars.

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

Emma, Watson, Daniel Radcliffe & Rupert Grint

This meticulously atmospheric, wonderfully acted Potter adventure lands happily — broodingly, but
happily — near the top of the series heap. As the concerns of novelist J.K. Rowling’s characters gravitate toward matters
of the heart and the hormones, the Potter films are leaving childhood behind.

500 Days of Summer

Joseph Gordon-Levitt & Zooey Deschanel in 500 Days of Summer

Joseph Gordon-Levitt plays L.A. greeting-card writer Tom, whose heart gets kicked around by free-spirited co-worker Summer (Zooey Deschanel). As Tom sifts through memories of his time with Summer, the movie clicks onto different days, out of order, letting us eavesdrop on one vignette or conversation or argument after another. “Days” plays some fun structural mind games, Deschanel is captivating, and the film has an easygoing, inquisitive spirit.

The Hurt Locker

Jeremy Renner & Anthony Mackie in The Hurt Locker

The Hurt Locker

Vivid, assured and extremely suspenseful, director Kathryn Bigelow’s latest (and strongest) film takes
moviegoers by the collar and throws them headlong into one horrifying life-and-death situation after another. Jeremy Renner
plays a soldier in Iraq running toward the explosives while everyone else is ducking and covering.

Time will tell if this politically neutral war movie is a classic, but it’s certainly a formidable experience

 

Bruno

Sacha Baron Cohen & Gustaf Hammarsten in Bruno

Extraordinarily raunchy, occasionally funny, Bruno takes everything Borat did so well three years ago
and pushes it further, swapping one primary target for another. But comic nerve has little to do with sheer excess. The
fashionista at the center of Bruno” is a pretty tedious fellow …

I Love You Beth Cooper

Hayden Panettiere & Paul Rust in I Love You Beth Cooper

Provides so few laughs, I nearly wandered out of the theater midway to go look for some somewhere.
Columbus strains to set up sight gags. You may wince, but it’s not a ha-ha wince. Both as written and acted, Denis quickly
becomes a tedious motormouth, not helped by Columbus’ uncertain pacing, with big, blobby pauses clogging up the plot machinery.

Blood: The Last Vampire

Gianna & Allison Miller in Blood: The Last Vampire

A beautiful half-human, half-vampire government agent (played by one-named South Korean star Gianna)
hunts demons in Japan with her American schoolgirl sidekick during the Vietnam War. If you’re going “huh?” already, just wait. …

Feel the Spirit

Rick Steves

For years, I’ve believed that anyone who enjoys getting close to God should pack their spirituality
along with them in their travels. Here are some experiences in Europe that spiritual people — from conservative Catholics
to Buddhists to tree-huggers to Methodists to curious European bus drivers who’ve never thought about this while on a tour
before — would enjoy.

Taking the Kids – Seeing More Than the Typical Sites in New York City

Eileen Ogintz

Visitors to New York have their pick of world-class iconic sites — Museum of Natural History, Metropolitan Museum of Art, two new Major League baseball stadiums, Empire State Building and Central Park. But there is a lot more to New York especially for the kids

Taking the Kids – Shaun White at Skateboard Camp in the Cayman Islands

Eileen Ogintz

It’s vacation and the teens are awake and ready to roll before 8 a.m.! The 22-year-old White has come down to Grand Cayman, his parents and sister in tow, to inaugurate Skate Cayman an 11-week summer program

The Case Against (Some) ETFs

By Kirk Shinkle

Touted as a revolution in transparency, cost, and access to exotic investments, ETFs are now being slammed
for inefficiencies, hidden fees, and opaque structures. Some experts argue that ETFs are just the latest means for investment advisers
to hoist flawed products on unsuspecting customers. …

5 Funds That Are Off to a Fast Start in 2009

By Katy Marquardt

Categorywise, large growth, midsized growth, and small growth funds have fared the best so far this year (although small
companies have led the rally over the past three months). But not all of the top performing funds fall into one of those categories. Here’s a
look at some of the front-runners among diversified U.S. stock funds … But beware …

After the Housing Crisis

By Ilyce Glink

Much has changed in the world of real estate over the past 18 months — new tax credits, tax deductions,
and tax laws relating to short sales and foreclosures. New rules relating to appraisals, mortgages and home equity loans. And
there are new entities to oversee and manage the crisis. Despite these changes, some key parts of the home buying process
haven’t changed at all. Here is a list of things that have remained constant through the tumult …

10 Most Dollar-Discounted Housing Markets

By Luke Mullins

As the historic real estate bust continues to gut home prices throughout the country, property owners everywhere
are scrambling to attract buyers. For some home sellers, that might mean chipping in for closing costs; others might try to sweeten the
deal by handing out perks, like a free parking spot. But for many homeowners, the most efficient way to sell a home in a depressed market
is to simply drop the listing price.

Entrepreneur: Why You Should Outsource Domestic Chores Now

Kimberly Palmer

Outsourcing chores by hiring a cleaning service or personal assistant might sound like the kind of splurge that a
recession-era budget would quickly eliminate. But outsourcing certain household tasks can end up saving so much time and energy that the
cost is well worth it — as long as you use your newly freed-up time wisely.

10 Great Places for Entrepreneurs to Retire: Jump in Start-ups Led by Baby Boomers

Emily Brandon

Entrepreneurs never really retire. Contrary to the stereotype of 20-somethings starting Web-based businesses in their
basements, it’s actually the baby boomers who best embody the entrepreneurial spirit.

Entrepreneur: 6 Tips for Starting a Small Business After Age 50

Emily Brandon

Starting a business is difficult at any age. Here are some tips to help baby boomer start-ups boom: Tap your network.
Use your experience. Find start-up funds

Cyberwar Is the New Atomic Age

Mike McConnell Interview

A level of vulnerability has been introduced into our way of life that is unprecedented. We now have a smaller connected globe where information can be moved in seconds, where information managed by computer networks — which runs our utilities, our transportation, our banking and communications — can be exploited or attacked in seconds from a remote location overseas

All-in-One PCs Take Aim at the Kitchen

Most PC-savvy Americans keep their address books, calendars, and notes on computers. But not the family address book
and calendar, which stick stubbornly to corkboard and paper in a corner of a busy kitchen. PC Manufacturers like Dell, Hewlett-Packard, Averatec, Asus,
Acer, and others are aiming new desktop models at the kitchen, or whichever crowded room is the center of a busy household. They’re pitching
relatively inexpensive all-in-one computers that bring added power to Mom’s calendar while not taking much more space than the paper version.

Obama Administration Launches Technology Spending Tracker

by Nikki Schwab

In this year’s budget, 72 billion tax dollars were budgeted for IT projects. And today, the Obama White House unveiled a way for citizens to
keep track of it.

Things to Avoid When Trying to Cut Health Costs

Kimberly Lankford – Kiplinger Personal Finance

Everyone’s looking for ways to trim expenses including ways to reduce healthcare and health-insurance costs. However, people have been making big mistakes in an attempt to save money. Avoid the following pitfalls, which can actually end up costing you more money

Day of Reckoning at Hand for Health Insurers

by Robyn Blumner

President Obama and the Democratically-led Congress are rolling up their sleeves, sharpening pencils and trying to deliver health-care changes that cover many more people, provide a safety net for the rest of us and won’t bankrupt our nation the way the current system most assuredly will

America’s Hospitals Can’t Afford Healthcare Cuts

by Rich Umbdenstock

Rich Umbdenstock is president and CEO of the American Hospital Association.
We must not lose sight of the fact that we will need good healthcare policy changes — not just payment cuts — if we hope to find long-term
solutions to the healthcare challenges vexing America: 46 million uninsured, an aging population, an epidemic of obesity and chronic disease
and the need for a more coordinated system of care.

Uwe Reinhardt: Plain Talk on Healthcare Reform

by Bernadine Healy M.D.

If there were a Straight Talk Express for health economists, Princeton professor Uwe Reinhardt would be the engineer. Born in Germany and raised in Canada, Professor Reinhardt has personally experienced medical systems in different countries. Over the past 25 years, he has become a critical voice in the debate about reforming America’s healthcare system.

Healthcare Reform Estimates Have Democrats on Defensive

by Kent Garber

The inciting spark was the Congressional Budget Office’s released of preliminary estimates on the costs of the
two main Senate bills. Kennedy’s was tagged at $1 trillion. The other, being developed by Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, would
cost $1.6 trillion.

Antacids Not Meant to be Used as Long-Term Treatment for Acid Reflux

Taking antacids for as long as you have can cause long-term side effects. Treatment for acid reflux has advanced considerably over the last 20 years. I recommend you talk with your doctor about …

Atril Fibrillation Treatment Involves Reducing Risk of Stroke

Stephen Hammill M.D., Cardiovascular Diseases, Mayo Clinic

Atrial fibrillation is an irregular heart rhythm that involves the upper heart chambers (atria). factors such as high blood pressure, diabetes and obesity can increase the risk of atrial fibrillation. Treatment usually involves a combination of lifestyle changes, medication and, in some cases, surgery or catheter ablation.

By the Way, Doctor: Can Ginkgo Biloba Slow Dementia

Anthony Komaroff, M.D. – Harvard Health Letters

Ginkgo is prescribed in many parts of the world as a memory remedy and is readily available in the United States as an over-the-counter herbal supplement. It does have some antioxidant properties

Weight Loss Drugs & Diet Pills Have Many Drawbacks

Mary Pickett, M.D.

I wish we had a diet pill that could help people lose weight easily. None of the medicines on the market are worth using, if you ask me

Health, Nutrition & Diet: Getting Out the Gluten

Harvard Health Letters

Gluten seems to be the food ingredient non grata these days. Bakers are coming up with recipes for gluten-free cupcakes and baguettes.
Anheuser-Busch sells Redbridge, a gluten-free beer made from sorghum. By some estimates, the sales of gluten-free foods have tripled
since 2004. Gluten-free food has become more popular partly because doctors are diagnosing more cases of celiac disease, an autoimmune
disorder whose symptoms are triggered by gluten, the protein content in wheat, barley, rye …

Summer Safety: 8 Reasons Kids End up in the ER & How to Prevent It

Sarah Baldauf

Summer has arrived. And for all its pleasant, warm-weather pastimes — pool parties, barbeques, bicycling, and more — an emergency department near you is feeling the usual seasonal spike in children’s unintended injuries. No wonder summer is known in the medical business as trauma season.

Power of Positive Thinking Is Psychology’s Latest Focus

Lindsay Lyon

Positive psychology itself is a relatively nascent field. Formally founded a decade ago by the
University of Pennsylvania’s Martin Seligman, its emphasis on what goes right with people was a sea-change from psychology’s
traditional preoccupation with what goes wrong — from depression and anxiety to mental illness of all flavors. …

How Positive Psychology Can Increase Your Happiness

Lindsay Lyon

You can thank your parents — in part — for how happy you are; roughly half of human happiness is
genetically determined. Another 10 percent comes from your life circumstances, like how happy you are with where you live.
according to longtime happiness researcher Sonja Lyubomirsky, a professor of psychology.

Positive Emotional Psychology: Daily Diet of Positive Emotions

Lindsay Lyon

Joy. Interest. Love. Serenity. Awe. Amusement. Pride. Such positive emotions, fleeting feelings that
last just seconds or minutes, are the subject of Barbara Fredrickson’s research, a professor of psychology at the University
of North Carolina-Chapel Hill.

Positive Psychology in Your Relationships

Lindsay Lyon

By studying hundreds of couples, Shelly Gable has found that when romantic partners disclose positive
news, how the other reacts matters — a lot. In fact, partners’ reactions to each other’s good news can better predict the
quality of a relationship–and whether it will endure — than can partners’ reactions to bad news.

Drinking Coffee May Be Good for You

January W. Payne

Despite past concerns about coffee, tea, and other sources of caffeine being detrimental to health, recent research suggests that regular coffee consumption may reduce the risk of health conditions such as type 2 diabetes, Parkinson’s disease, and liver cancer–and regular coffee drinkers might even live longer.

Exercise Boosts Your Brainpower; Intensity May Matter

Katherine Hobson

In an attempt to hang on to your cognitive function as you age, you may do crossword puzzles, join a book club, or keep up friendships to stay connected. But to do all you can to maintain your mental abilities, you really should be exercising.

Teens Who Think They’ll Die Young Take More Risks

Teenagers tend to wildly overestimate the odds of dying young, and teenagers who think they’ll be dead before age 35 are far more likely to
abuse drugs, attempt suicide, get arrested, or contract HIV. Scientists have known for quite a while that teenagers tend to think that an early death is much more likely than the infinitesimally
small risk it really is.

Shot at Universal Flu Vaccine: Protection from swine flu, bird flu & other viruses

By Nancy Shute

Wayne Marasco is no doubt the only Harvard medical researcher who abandoned a successful construction firm, Waymar Roofing and
Siding, to become an immunologist. The man with the unorthodox history recently made a striking discovery: a human antibody that attacks a
newfound vulnerability in flu viruses.

3 Tips for Boosting Your Fitness as You Age: One Triathlete’s Advice

by Katherine Hobson

It’s easy to think that athletic improvement after age 40 is something reserved for those who can afford to spend the time and money it takes to
train full time. Debi Bernardes, a swimming and triathlon coach in King George, Va., was asked what she’s done to keep
improving after three decades of competition. Here’s what she thinks makes a difference, plus how you can apply it to your own training.

Anthony Atala: Grinding Out New Organs One at a Time

Megan Johnson

Anthony Atala was the first to build a functioning organ from scratch — a bladder made cell by cell — and put it into a patient, a child
whose own bladder was congenitally deformed. Since that breakthrough a decade ago, the 50-year-old pediatric urologist, director of Wake Forest University’s
Institute for Regenerative Medicine, has moved on to cobbling up bones, heart valves, muscles, and some 20 other body parts.

Jean Bennett and Albert Maguire: Gene Therapy to Reverse Near-Blindness

Deborah Kotz

The partners have restored much of the vision in patients who have a rare genetic form of severely impaired eyesight called Leber’s
congenital amaurosis, in which a mutated gene prevents the retina from manufacturing a nutrient vital to eye health. The technique
eventually could be tried to treat macular degeneration.

Fear of Crowds. When You Need Help for Anxiety

Deborah Kotz

Certain people find the feeling of a crowd pressing in on them to be extremely stressful. When such a feeling causes a panic attack, that’s a sign of the anxiety condition claustrophobia. Feeling panicked by the mere presence of strangers is a condition known as agoraphobia

5 Lessons From the Nation’s Obesity Report Card

Katherine Hobson

We’re still getting fatter, albeit at a slightly slower rate. That’s the chief takeaway from a yearly report on the U.S. obesity epidemic, which found that rates of obesity rose in 23 states (last year, rates rose in 37 states). Almost two thirds of states now have adult obesity rates above 25 percent, according to the report

Discovery Channel explains Nitty-Gritty of Dirty Jobs

Liz Wolgemuth

Throughout the course of the Discovery Channel show “Dirty Jobs”, Mike Rowe, 47, has parachuted into incredibly dirty jobs,
including coal miner, shrimper, and even skull cleaner, paying tribute to the value and integrity of manual laborers as he sloshes around in
knee-high nastiness right beside them. A recent interview with Mike Rowe about Dirty Jobs …

America’s New Energy Dependency: China’s Metals

by Kent Garber

America’s Clean-energy economy needs rare-earth metals to succeed and China has a near monopoly.
In 2007, a standoff unfolded between China and several American companies. China was threatening to withhold supplies that keep refiners
in business. A worried State Department intervened. Because the metals come almost exclusively from China, if the government had not acted,
sources say, oil refineries could have been forced to shut down, possibly triggering shortages across the country.

Addressing China’s Fear Of North Korean Collapse

Joseph S. Nye Jr. Interview

It is by now a cliche to say that greater pressure from China can force North Korea to change. The problem is that China has two objectives: They want a de-nuclearized North Korea, but they also want a North Korea that doesn’t collapse into chaos on their borders. The consequence of these cross-purposes is that the Chinese have been reluctant to use the leverage they have

Europe: Battle Over the Burqa

by William Pfaff

Since President Barack Obama in his recent Cairo speech made a tut-tutting remark about countries that restricted wearing religious garb in school, the controversy over the Muslim burqa has resumed in Europe

Afghan Presidential Candidate Takes a Page From Obama’s Playbook

by Anna Mulrine

Presidential candidate Ashraf Ghani, the leading challenger to incumbent Hamid Karzai, has embarked on an Internet fundraising campaign modeled on that run by President Obama.

Obama Presses Israel on Settlements

by William Pfaff

The Obama administration’s confrontation with Israel over its colonies inside the Palestine territories began as a test of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s willingness to enter serious negotiations on a Middle Eastern settlement.

‘W’ is For Withdrawal

by Robert C. Koehler

National Sovereignty Day, the day U.S. troops withdrew from Iraqi cities. Sorry, but Iraq is still America’s sovereign lackey: broken and smoldering. Some 130,000 U.S. troops remain in the country, withdrawn for the most part to the permanent bases we’ve built over the last six years. The country’s infrastructure is shattered, and shocking bursts of violence remain a common occurrence

U.S. Troops Leave Iraqi Cities, but Unsettled Issues Remain

by William Pfaff

If all goes correctly, when this column is read American troops will be gone from the cities of Iraq. Then the calculation must begin as to whether some half-million to million lives lost, and the infrastructure and social structure of Baghdad, and much of the rest of the Iraqi nation, ruined, have served some good purpose.

Violence Spikes as U.S. Troops Withdraw From Iraq’s Cities

by Alex Kingsbury

Militants in Iraq staged a series of bomb and machine gun attacks in the past ten days that left more than 250 dead and the country on edge. Increased carnage as the U.S. forces prepare to depart was not unexpected, American and Iraqi officials say.

Attacks on U.S. Soldiers Show Iraq Is Not Yet Safe

by Anna Mulrine

U.S. combat troops officially withdrew from all Iraqi cities this week, and the Iraqi government declared a national holiday to commemorate the event. But with the celebration came a stark reminder that the war in Iraq continues for U.S. troops and that the country is far from safe.

ALBA Bloc Leaders’ Main Obsession: Indefinite Rule

Andres Oppenheimer

It’s hard to keep cool while watching the dismantling of democracy in Venezuela, Ecuador, Bolivia, Nicaragua and Honduras. When
the presidents of these countries met in Venezuela, for a special ALBA bloc summit — the Venezuelan-led alliance of mostly radical leftist
countries — it was hard not to see the group as a society of mutual support for self-perpetuation in power.

Chile Should Tout Its Passage to First World

Andres Oppenheimer

By the end of this year, Chile is likely to become the first South American country to join the exclusive club of the world’s 30 richest countries.

Obama’s Iran “Crisis”

by Jules Witcover

Rather than leaping in with breast-beating bravado of the sort too often associated with his departed predecessor, Obama has responded with measured and gradually escalated criticism of the Tehran regime’s repressive measures to deal with the street protests of the recent election.
This controlled reaction, not surprisingly, has been met with overheated squawks from conservative Republican hard-liners

Missing Our Moment in Iran

by Victor Davis Hanson

Last month, hundreds of thousands of Iranians took to the streets to protest a rigged presidential election. Our president was extremely cautious in his initial criticism of the Iranian government’s fierce crackdown against the protestors. At first, President Obama said that the United States — given our history in Iran — should not be “meddling” in

Iran: Death to Election Fraud

by Rick Steves

Last year, while in Iran producing a documentary for public television, I observed freedom-loving people patiently making do under a repressive regime. Today, the relatively peaceful Iran I experienced is in turmoil.

Iran Election Mess Is Just a Reflection of Global Human Failings

by Louis René Beres

Today’s dramatic Iranian instability is more a specific symptom of general civilizational fragility than an isolated disease. Beneath
the surface, all world politics readily reveals a distinctly common disorder. This is the incapacity of human beings to find both meaning
and identity as individuals, within themselves.

Iran Election Twitters In a Revolution

by Mary Kate Cary

It was a battle to show who could best harness the only real news source on the ground — the new social media — to
report fast, accurate, and insightful information. Cable and network news lost both the battle and the war. Two of the journalists who won
were Andrew Sullivan, a political blogger for the old-line magazine Atlantic Monthly, and Nico Pitney of the younger Huffington Post.
Sullivan and Pitney looked at the gold mine of information sitting on the new social media platform and, with two staffers, jumped in.
Sullivan and his staff cut and pasted the most interesting, useful, and profound tweets into a document he called “Live-Tweeting the
Revolution,” updated every few minutes.

Iranian Protests a Direct Challenge to Khamenei

by Anna Mulrine

“Flexing muscle on the streets after the election is not right,” warned Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, in the days before the
bloodshed. “If they don’t stop, the consequences of the chaos would be their responsibility.”
Those consequences included casualties that resulted from the worst upheaval in Tehran in 30 years, as well as mass arrests last week, with
more than 600 protesters jailed …

Obama’s Hidden Business Tax Increase

by Matthew Bandyk

Obama’s proposal would require companies to account for their inventories on a first-in-first-out (FIFO) basis rather
than a last-in-first-out (LIFO) one — an eye-glazing change that’s highly significant. In an era of rising costs, to assume that you’re
selling your oldest inventory rather than your newest increases reported profits and thus taxes, even though nothing real has changed. If
inflation turns worse, as many analysts predict, FIFO would force companies to pay real taxes on phantom profits as the value of goods gets
inflated while they sit in inventory.

On Terror ‘No-Fly’ List, But Still Buying Guns

Clarence Page

For gun purchasers, should “no-fly” mean “no buy?” People on the government’s terrorist watch list tried to buy guns almost 1,000 times in the last five years, a federal study finds. In nine out of 10 cases, federal authorities let them do it, the report finds, because there was no legal way to stop them. And that appears to be OK with the gun lobby

Sotomayor Leaves a Fan Wondering

Clarence Page

The case of Ricci v. DeStefano sounds like countless other police and firefighter discrimination cases across the country.
What makes this one different is its intersection with Judge Sonia Sotomayor, current Supreme Court nominee. That’s why I am eager to hear Judge Sotomayor face the questions that surely will come up about the Ricci case during her confirmation hearing

God Bless This Honorable Court

Paul Greenberg

In a case out of New Haven, Conn., a bare majority of the court ruled that a group of firefighters who passed the test for promotion should indeed be promoted. How remarkable. Especially in these strange times of groupthink and sociospeak.

Court Was Right to Douse ‘Disparate Impact’ Fire

Robyn Blumner

When race is involved no case is minor, but Ricci v. DeStefano gained blockbuster status after the Supreme Court nomination of Judge Sonia Sotomayor. She was part of an appellate panel that threw out the claims of the 18 white firefighters, one of whom is Hispanic, who lost out on promotions due to the city’s actions

5 Things to Know About the Employee Free Choice Act

Liz Wolgemuth

The heated debate over the merits of the Employee Free Choice Act is particularly poignant for both union leaders and business interests, as it plays out during a recession that has ransacked corporate profits but sharpened the perception of high times that excluded workers in favor of shareholders and executives.

Yucca Mountain: Harry Reid Declares Nevada Nuclear Containment Facility Dead

Robert Bryce

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has declared that Yucca Mountain, the site in Nevada where the federal government has been planning to store high-level radioactive waste, is “never going to open.” Reid may be right. President Obama’s 2010 budget nearly zeroes out federal funding for the waste site.

Immigration Reform Now Moves to Center Stage

Nikki Schwab and Paul Bedard

It has been delayed twice and is flying in under the healthcare debate, but the president and a select group of lawmakers
are finally talking about immigration reform.

Break Political Traffic Jam on Transportation Overhaul

Joshua Schank and Matthew Dallek

Any transportation project, including the infamous “Bridge to Nowhere” in Alaska, creates jobs.
However, transportation has become a policy orphan amid the healthcare tsunami that’s overwhelmed the news coverage of Obama’s
America. Thus, stalling all the economic benefits that flow from enacting a revitalized transportation policy.

Supreme Court: Strip Search of 13-Year-Old Unconstitutional

by Zach Miners

In a decision that could have significant implications for school administrators’ ability to keep their campuses safe, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled, 8 to 1, this week that the strip search of a 13-year-old Arizona girl by school officials who were looking for prescription-strength drugs violated her constitutional rights.

Political History of the Stars & Stripes

by Andrew Burt

The history of the American flag is the story of a nation struggling to find its identity, Woden Teachout argues in her new book,
Capture the Flag: A Political History of American Patriotism. Teachout, a professor of graduate studies in history and culture at the online Union
Institute and University, recently spoke about the evolving meaning of the flag in American culture.

We’ve Gone From Saving Wall Street in Order to Save Main Street to Just Saving Wall Street

Arianna Huffington

Remember how, when taxpayers were being asked to fork over billions of dollars to bail out Wall Street, we were told it
was essential to saving Main Street? Well, in just a few months, we’ve gone from saving the banks in order to save the economy
to just saving the banks. It’s the opposite of mission creep.

Lobbyists on a Roll: Gutting Reform on Banking, Energy, and Health Care

Arianna Huffington

Remember all that change Americans voted for in November? Well, there’s been a change in the plans for change. The detour has come courtesy of a familiar nemesis: DC lobbyists who, this year alone, have watered-down, gutted or out-and-out killed ambitious plans for reforming Wall Street, energy and health care.

Suddenly Democrats have 60 Filibuster-Proof Senate Votes and No More Excuses

by Bill Press

It took 239 days, but the Minnesota Supreme Court finally declared Al Franken the winner over Norm Coleman. And suddenly Democrats have 60 votes in the Senate — and no more excuses. For six months, we’ve heard nothing but complaining from Democrats: Our hands are tied, they insisted

Obama’s Honduras Predicament

by Cal Thomas

President Obama immediately “meddles” in the affairs of Honduras, denouncing a military coup, the intent of which is to preserve the country’s constitution, but when it comes to Iran’s fraudulent election and the violent repression of demonstrators who wanted their votes counted, the president initially vacillates and equivocates. Are we expected to accept this as a consistent foreign policy

Pork: It’s for Everyone, Including Obama

by Jonah Goldberg

More and more, it seems the Obama administration has just that attitude toward the economic crisis: doling out pork for as long as possible.

A Letter to Sarah Palin

by Jonah Goldberg

Dear Governor Palin, You’re blowing it. We haven’t met, but you might remember I was one of the first columnists to tout you for John McCain’s running mate. There’s a reason why the left and much of the media establishment hated you from day one.

Ghosts of 1994 Loom for Obama and Democrats

by Robert Schlesinger

Everywhere I look, I see the ghosts of 1994. There’s the young Democratic president with an ambitious agenda, seemingly intent on doing it all at once. The Democratic president faces a Republican Party thirsting for a return to power.

Sanford’s Argentina Affair
Please Cry For Me, Argentina

by Bill Press

Governor Mark Sanford’s fall from grace may be the most bizarre of all. When Lt. Governor Andre Bauer first reported his absence from the state, Sanford had already been missing in action for five days, over Father’s Day weekend. He told no one where he was going. He left no one in charge. He did not phone or email. And nobody knew where he was. Not his staff. Not the Lt. Governor. Not even his wife and kids.

Governor Mark Sanford’s Argentina Affair
‘I Made a Mistake’ Excuse Getting Flimsier

by Leonard Pitts Jr.

Next time some politician goes before the cameras with his figurative pants down around his metaphoric ankles and says, “I made a mistake,” let’s form a mob and drag him from the podium. You bring the lanterns, I’ll bring the pitchforks. South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford is, of course, the latest.

Governor Mark Sanford’s Argentina Affair
Spare Us the Bedroom Farce

by Mary Sanchez

Forgive me if I find the travails of South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford tedious. I could have been spared his rambling, weird mea culpa of adultery, and the media’s inevitable rehashing of the Democrat-vs.-Republican scorecard of personal peccadilloes. Can the nation finally move on from its fascination with the sexual dalliances of officials

Governor Mark Sanford’s Argentina Affair
Of Shame, Folly & True Grit

by Paul Greenberg

“Affair took S.C. governor away,” said the headline in the paper. Indeed it did — far, far away, and not just geographically. Mark Sanford is now in a whole different place, social and political and personal.

Governor Mark Sanford’s Argentina Affair
Lesson on Character and Power

by Linda J. Killian

It’s no big surprise that yet another political figure has been involved in an affair or sexual indiscretion. But as someone who has known Mark Sanford since he was elected to Congress in 1994 as part of the class that gave House Republicans their historic majority, I must admit to being shocked. And I wasn’t the only one.

Future Of The Federal Reserve – Exclusive Conversation With Ron Paul

by Matthew Bandyk

The person in Congress with perhaps the most unconventional point of view on these issues in American politics is
Congressman and former presidential candidate Ron Paul (R-TX), a longtime critic of the very institution of the Fed and fractional reserve
banking. He recently sponsored a bill that would audit the Fed.

Obama Won’t Procrastinate His Push for Change

by Kenneth T. Walsh

Some say President Obama’s focus on healthcare, energy, and overhauling the financial system is too much at once.
His critics have a point. Obama’s challenge to the status quo may be causing too many powerful forces to line up against him, including
the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, members of the medical establishment, the conservative power structure in Washington, and Rush Limbaugh and
his cohorts in the punditocracy of the right. If Obama fails to overcome them, his credibility could be shattered, and his dreams of change
could evaporate.

HBO’s Shouting Fire Is More Congratulatory Than Analytical on Free Speech Issues

by Andrew J. Rotherhamis

Despite frequent admonitions from our political leaders to do so, it sure is proving hard to move past the last eight years. Add to the
retrospectives Oscar-nominated director Liz Garbus’ Shouting Fire: Stories from the Edge of Free Speech. Through accounts of flashpoints
since 9/11 about the freedoms Americans enjoy under the First Amendment, the documentary film is intended as a sobering check-in on what’s
happening on the ragged edge of free-speech debates.

Strategists Worry Obama’s Popularity is Dropping

by Kenneth T. Walsh

President Obama is heading into stormy waters. His healthcare plans have stalled on Capitol Hill; he is being faulted
for a shaky response to the post-election violence in Iran; his job-approval ratings are dropping; and confidence in his handling of the
economy is ebbing. The warning signs are enough to worry Democratic strategists that Obama may be sinking into a trough that will sap his
influence just when he needs it most.

Obama Criticized as Mr. Nice Guy Toward Iran, Congress

by Kenneth T. Walsh

Critics argue President Obama is too conciliatory in dealing with Iran, Republicans, and other adversaries.
Barack Obama is an accommodating and engaging fellow who aims to please. And this was important during the campaign, when likability counted
for so much in courting voters. Now, however, it could actually be a problem for him as commander in chief.
The question is whether his “politics of nice” is appropriate in a sharply divided capital and a dangerous world.

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