America party

Leah Shakdiel speaks in NY for 'Partners...'

Born in 1951, Leah Shakdiel is part of a rare breed from Israel of a "Modern Orthodox" (non-Haredi and Zionist) woman who is also a tireless progressive and campaigner for peace.  She was recently caught up in Israel's summer protest movement for social justice, serving as the volunteer chairperson of a ten-person "vision committee" to frame a succinct statement of the movement's ongoing agenda.

On the evening of Sept. 14,  Partners for Progressive Israel hosted (at a private home in Manhattan) a standing-room-only crowd, which was enthralled by her wise and witty talk on the nature of Israel's summer of protest and where this spontaneous eruption my lead Israel in the future. 

First, she mentioned three noxious streams dangerously coming together at the same time in Israel today:

    1.    A racist version of Judaism (and of Islam among Israel's neighbors), which must be countered by a humanistic approach to religion.

   2.    A mindset that justifies force and militarism (using Jewish victimhood in "Auschwitz" as an excuse); she argues for promoting a more positive sense of what it means to be a Jew, including among the non-religious majority of Israelis.

    3.    The business-oriented ideal of maximizing profit -- even at the expense of vital social values and interests.  For this reason, Israel's previously vaunted social safety net has been shredded and its much-prized high standard of education and health care are in precipitous decline.    

She extols how the protest movement now legitimizes people taking social issues seriously and expressing their views.  She also explained how compromises have had to be made to keep the movement going.  For example, her vision committee had to delete a reference to the "Hebrew prophets" from the 13th paragraph of Israel's Declaration of Independence (regrettably in her view), while quoting other words from that document, in order to keep Arab Israelis from walking out.  And instead of including a reference to the budgetary drain inflicted on Israel by subsidizing the settlements (which she would have favored), there was no mention of the Occupation.  But even among the many Likud and Shas voters -- usually right-wing on this issue, but who support the protests --  there was an attitude she described as neutral on whether or not there should be a Palestinian state, and a feeling that what transpires in September at the UN, or even the terror attacks that occurred in the summer, were not their main concerns, and should not divert from pressing for the revival of a 21st century version of the "welfare state." 

It's hard to say what all this may concretely achieve in Israel, but we are left with the following observations made by Ms. Shakdiel:  A half-million of Israel's seven million citizens (about 14% of the population) took to the streets.  This she says is not a vague "estimate" but an accurate measure stemming from the use of cell phone technology.  And there are very conscious ongoing efforts for the movement to embrace an inclusive view of "communities," instead of the previously separated ethnic, religious and geographic (center vs. periphery) "sectors" of the population.

Obama's Jewish Problem Isn't Messaging It Is The Message Itself

After the upset in New York's 9th District special election, where the Republican candidate took a reliable Democratic seat that Dems have held for almost nine decades, and many pointing to the Jewish vote in that district as the tipping point, along with other factors such as the economy.
Barack Obama has finally begun to understand that Obama has problem with the Jewish vote.

The New York Times explains what the Obama team plans to do about their Jewish problem:

Sensing trouble, the Obama campaign and Democratic Party leaders have mobilized to solidify the president’s standing with Jewish voters. The Democratic National Committee has established a Jewish outreach program. The campaign is singling out Jewish groups, donors and other supporters with calls and e-mails to counter the Republican narrative that Mr. Obama is hostile to Israel.

Among those efforts is a multi-page set of talking points circulated last Friday with the title, “President Obama’s Stance on Israel: Myths vs. Facts.” David Axelrod, a close Obama adviser, has sent e-mails to Jewish voters, pointing them to a speech by the Israeli defense minister, Ehud Barak, praising Mr. Obama and saying he had deepened the military cooperation between the United States and Israel.

The problem with this approach is Obama's inability to tell the difference between a messaging problem and his offensive handling of one of our closest allies in the Middle East, Israel.

It isn't and hasn't been that Obama or his team didn't explain his message well enough, the problem lies with the message itself which has been on public display since before Obama even took office.

WSJ carefully presents what the Jewish community has seen from Obama and his team since 2008:

• February 2008: When running for president, then-Sen. Obama told an audience in Cleveland: "There is a strain within the pro-Israel community that says unless you adopt an unwavering pro-Likud approach to Israel that you're anti-Israel." Likud had been out of power for two years when Mr. Obama made this statement. At the time the country was being led by the centrist Kadima government of Ehud Olmert, Tzipi Livni and Shimon Peres, and Prime Minister Olmert had been pursuing an unprecedented territorial compromise. As for Likud governments, it was under Likud that Israel made its largest territorial compromises—withdrawals from Sinai and Gaza.

• July 2009: Mr. Obama hosted American Jewish leaders at the White House, reportedly telling them that he sought to put "daylight" between America and Israel. "For eight years"—during the Bush administration—"there was no light between the United States and Israel, and nothing got accomplished," he declared.

Nothing? Prime Minister Ariel Sharon uprooted thousands of settlers from their homes in Gaza and the northern West Bank and deployed the Israeli army to forcibly relocate their fellow citizens. Mr. Sharon then resigned from the Likud Party to build a majority party based on a two-state consensus.

In the same meeting with Jewish leaders, Mr. Obama told the group that Israel would need "to engage in serious self-reflection." This statement stunned the Americans in attendance: Israeli society is many things, but lacking in self-reflection isn't one of them. It's impossible to envision the president delivering a similar lecture to Muslim leaders.

September 2009: In his first address to the U.N. General Assembly, President Obama devoted five paragraphs to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, during which he declared (to loud applause) that "America does not accept the legitimacy of continued Israeli settlements." He went on to draw a connection between rocket attacks on Israeli civilians with living conditions in Gaza. There was not a single unconditional criticism of Palestinian terrorism.

• March 2010: During Vice President Joe Biden's visit to Israel, a Jerusalem municipal office announced plans for new construction in a part of Jerusalem. The president launched an unprecedented weeks-long offensive against Israel. Mr. Biden very publicly departed Israel.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton berated Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on a now-infamous 45-minute phone call, telling him that Israel had "harmed the bilateral relationship." (The State Department triumphantly shared details of the call with the press.) The Israeli ambassador was dressed-down at the State Department, Mr. Obama's Middle East envoy canceled his trip to Israel, and the U.S. joined the European condemnation of Israel.

Moments after Mr. Biden concluded his visit to the West Bank, the Palestinian Authority held a ceremony to honor Dalal Mughrabi, who led one of the deadliest Palestinian terror attacks in history: the so-called Coastal Road Massacre that killed 38, including 13 children and an American. The Obama administration was silent. But that same day, on ABC, Mr. Axelrod called Israel's planned construction of apartments in its own capital an "insult" and an "affront" to the United States. Press Secretary Robert Gibbs went on Fox News to accuse Mr. Netanyahu of "weakening trust" between the two countries.

Ten days later, Mr. Netanyahu traveled to Washington to mend fences but was snubbed at a White House meeting with President Obama—no photo op, no joint statement, and he was sent out through a side door.

• April 2010: Mr. Netanyahu pulled out of the Obama-sponsored Washington summit on nuclear proliferation after it became clear that Turkey and Egypt intended to use the occasion to condemn the Israeli nuclear program, and Mr. Obama would not intervene.

• March 2011: Mr. Obama returned to his habit of urging Israelis to engage in self-reflection, inviting Jewish community leaders to the White House and instructing them to "search your souls" about Israel's dedication to peace.

• May 2011: The State Department issued a press release declaring that the department's No. 2 official, James Steinberg, would be visiting "Israel, Jerusalem, and the West Bank." In other words, Jerusalem is not part of Israel. Later in the month, only hours before Mr. Netanyahu departed from Israel to Washington, Mr. Obama delivered his Arab Spring speech, which focused on a demand that Israel return to its indefensible pre-1967 borders with land swaps.

There is no doubt that the majority of the Jewish vote will go to Democrats in 2012, they are reliably Democrats, but a 10 to 15 percent drop could very well damage Obama's chances in his bid for reelection when added to the economy and unemployment problems he faces around the country and the drop of support for Obama in every other demographic across the board.

Ben Smith at The Politico provides some insight from Jeff Ballabon, a media executive and Republican figure who's been involved for years in pulling Orthodox Jewish to the GOP and in very hawkish Israel politics, whom he ran into at Bob Turner's victory party:

All the distinguishing characteristics aside, the numbers in NY9 were so extraordinary that the lame "a majority of Jews will always vote for the Democrat" spin by Schumer and DWS is just beside the point. The point is that there suddenly is a significant (at least 10-15%, maybe more) swing in play in the overall Jewish population in Florida and elsewhere. The point is that they suddenly need to raise a ton more cash to fight in a whole bunch of new places And the point is that their leader's approach to the economy has left less cash available and fewer people willing to give it.

As far as what actually drove yesterday's numbers, Jews (Orthodox and otherwise) are as fed up by President Obama's handling of the economy as is every group in America. Layered on top for us is the one-two punch of his abysmal treatment of Israel and, in particular for the frum [more observant] community, the shock over New York's strident move to change the definition of marriage. All three contributed to an incredible upset for Obama and the Democrats, but it's clear that any two of them would have been enough.

Finally, the other thing that's changed is that nobody is afraid of being called a racist anymore. The guy is just not working out and even people who still like him know it. In fact everyone seems to know he's in the wrong job, except for him. You could almost feel sympathy for the guy, if you weren't so wrapped up in the misery of your own financial meltdown while being forced to watch him pontificate and point fingers between his golf outings and extravagant vacations.

Representative Eliot L. Engel, Democrat of New York, confirms:

“For a while now, I’ve been hearing from my constituents a lot of dissatisfaction with the statements on Israel that have been coming from the president and the administration,” said Representative Eliot L. Engel, Democrat of New York. “He’ll still get a majority of Jewish votes, but I would not be surprised to see that drop 10 to 20 points.”

The nub of the problem, Mr. Engel said, is that Mr. Obama tends to blame Israel and the Palestinians equally for the impasse in the Middle East — an equivalence many Jewish voters find objectionable. He said this visceral reaction prevented Jews from giving the president credit for the positive aspects of his policy.

Obama has a Jewish problem and his campaign, using all his White House resources, cannot undo his actual record (now that he has one) and they can claim he has been misrepresented all they want, but Obama's own speeches, his own actions and his administration's own record over the last 2 1/2 years, is what he will be judged on.

What Democrats and especially Barack Obama doesn't seem to understand is that it isn't a messaging problem at all, it is the message itself that is unpopular.

Until they get that basic concept through their thick skulls, they are going to continue to lose support.

Update- Additional note: I am not Orthodox nor even a practicing Jew, but I am an American-Jew and I see Obama's actions against Israel as offensive, not so much in a personal way, but offensive towards Israel.

Cartoon at the top by Jerry Holbert, via Townhall.

Rick Perry on Social Security, Immigration, HPV Decision and More

TIME has published and interview with Governor Rick Perry that deals with the Middle East, Social Security, his controversial HPV vaccine decision, immigration and other questions.

SOCIAL SECURITY

But you know there’s concern that you use controversial rhetoric, like calling Social Security a “Ponzi scheme.”

There may be someone who is an established Republican who circulates in the cocktail circuit that would find some of my rhetoric to be inflammatory or what have you, but I’m really talking to the American citizen out there. I think American citizens are just tired of this political correctness and politicians who are tiptoeing around important issues. They want a decisive leader. I’m comfortable that the rhetoric I have used was both descriptive and spot on. Calling Social Security a Ponzi scheme has been used for years. I don’t think people should be surprised that terminology would be used.

No one gets confused about the point I was making, that we have a system that is now broken. We need to make sure that those on Social Security today — and those approaching it — know without a doubt it will be in place. It will not go away. We’ll have a transitional period for those in mid-career as they’re planning for their retirement. And our young people should be given some options. I don’t know what all of those options need to be yet, but they know instinctively that the program that is there today is not going to be there for them unless there are changes made.

I don’t get particularly concerned that I need to back off from my factual statement that Social Security, as it is structured today, is broken. If you want to call it a Ponzi scheme, if you want to say it’s a criminal enterprise, if you just want to say it’s broken –they all get to the same point. We need, as a country, to have an adult conversation. Don’t try to scare the senior citizens and those who are on Social Security that it’s somehow going to go away with the mean, old heartless Republican.

ISRAEL/PALESTINIAN STATE ISSUE

Do you believe there should be a Palestinian state?

I certainly have some concerns. The first step in any peaceful negotiation for a two-state solution for the Palestinians is to recognize the right of Israel’s existence. They have to denounce terrorism in both word and deed. And they have to sit down and negotiate with Israel directly. Anything short of that is a non-starter in my opinion.

IMMIGRATION

You were attacked by your Republican rivals in Monday’s debate for making in-state college tuition available to some illegal immigrants. What is your assessment of the immigration debate in this country?

The issue of education and in-state tuition is a state issue. It’s not a federal issue, and it shouldn’t be a federal issue. If you don’t like that in Arizona, if you don’t like that in Massachusetts, that’s your call. But in the state of Texas, we made the decision that on in-state tuition for young people — and frankly we don’t care what the sound of their last name is — we’re going to help them to become contributing members of society.

The bigger issue is that you’re never going to have a conversation that is anything more than an intellectual exercise about immigration until you secure the border. That is what we must focus on as a country. I do not agree that building a 1,800-mile barrier is thoughtful. It’s an easy answer. I think it’s a cop out for anyone who’s actually been on the border. It’s like building a wall from Bangor, Maine to Miami, Florida. What does work is strategic fencing in your metropolitan areas, having the boots on the ground. We are woefully understaffed on that border.

We have the technology. Predator drones are being flown in United States air space as we speak. Why not fly those from Brownsville, Texas, to El Paso and to Tijuana and back and use that real-time information for local law enforcement, our state law enforcement and our federal counterparts? That’s how you thoughtfully secure that border, and then you can have a discussion about what type of immigration reform we want to consider as a country. But not until then. Too many times, we’ve been told, if we’ll just pass this immigration reform then we’ll secure the border. And it hasn’t happened.

HPV VACCINE DECISION

Even if you regret the way you implemented it, do you still think that a mandatory HPV vaccine for teenage girls is good public policy?

I think anything that a state can do to fight cancer is a wise and a thoughtful approach. Did I make an error in how I went about this? Yes, I’ve readily admitted that I shouldn’t have used an executive order. I should have had an opt-in and I should have worked through the legislative process. We work for the people of the state, not the other way around. When they say, we don’t want to go there, we’re not going there. But should we be looking of ways to conquer all of these different cancers that are out there? Absolutely. And I’ll tell you what I am not ashamed of: I have spent the better point of my public service life trying to defend life and find cures for diseases that are impacting millions of people in our country.

There are other questions and answers covered, so head over to TIME and read the rest.

Other Perry news

According to RCP's 2012 Republican Presidential Nomination average, Rick Perry is still leader of the GOP pack with a double digit lead on over all the other Republican candidates. RCP uses the latest polling from a variety of organizations to obtain that average.

Breakdown of Perry's lead on 9/15/11 (This number changes as new polls come and get added it to RCP's averages) I am excluding Sarah Palin because she is not a declared candidate.

Perry - 30.9%
Romney - 19.9%
Paul - 9.3%
Bachmann - 7.1%
Gingrich - 5.1%
Cain - 4.7%
Santorum - 2.7%
Huntsman - 1.4%


Related Perry News

NYTs' The Caucus with "Making the Grade? Perry Says He Didn’t."

Quinnipiac University with "PERRY BLOSSOMS AS BACHMANN WILTS IN VIRGINIA GOP RACE."

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The radical alternative to austerity

Today, the Guardian carried another one of their moanfests. This time, their target was Milliband and his lukewarm attitude to the trade union movement. The Guardian wanted " no more 'distancing' or posturing." They argued that the UK "urgently needs a radical alternative to austerity."

I read through the article searching for further information on this radical alternative demanded in the opening paragraph. My search did not yield much. It was only in the second to last paragraph that I found the following tantalizing sentence "We urgently need a more radical and stimulative alternative to cuts.

And then, nothing.



Let me step in where the Guardian and other leftists fear to tread. I will try an outline a radical and stimulative alternative to the "fiscal barbarism" of the coalition.

Lets start with a realistic assessment of our current difficulties. The UK economy is not growing. In fact, it looks increasingly likely that it is again slipping into recession. Unemployment is rising. Inflation has remained above the central bank target for almost 5 years. Real wages are declining. Asset prices, including property prices, are weakening. We have an external deficit, and if you add up all the debts and the economy it comes to about four times national income. The banking system is screwed and the private sector is starved of credit. Did I miss anything out?

Yes, I missed out something very important. I did not mention the U.K.'s current fiscal position. The radical alternative, if it is about anything at all, is about an alternative fiscal strategy. Again, it helps to talk plainly about the current situation. Last year, government spending accounted for about 47 percent of GDP, while revenues were only 37 percent. By the end of this fiscal year, gross general government debt is likely to be 80 percent of GDP. Government indebtedness has doubled in the space of four short years, and we haven't even added in the costs of the banking crisis.Those debts sit on the balance sheet of the Bank of England.

So this is the background that the radical alternative to austerity needs to confront. A stimulus package normally means increasing expenditures or reducing taxes. It follows therefore that this alternative strategy means a much larger fiscal deficit. Going forward, it also means that the coalition's deficit reduction plan will be abandoned. It follows that the radical and stimulative alternative to cuts must mean much a higher government debt level.

For how long can the government run double-digit deficits without running into a crisis? Based on recent international experience, there appears to be two answers. If you are a large global power like the US or Japan with an internationally important currency like dollars or yen, the answer appears to be that you can run up debt levels well above 140 percent of GDP. This is the current debt stock of Japan. The US is somewhat lower, but seems determined to get there as quickly as possible.

If you are a small European economy, the threshold is much lower. Based on the recent experiences of Greece, Ireland, Portugal, Italy and Spain, countries run into trouble when the debt level reaches anywhere between 90 and 120 percent of GDP. Once a country in the danger zone, bondholders start to panic and stop lending.

So, where would you put Britain? Are we one of the global players? Or are we one of the European minions?

If you think we're one of the minions, then another round of stimulus looks extremely risky. While the UK fiscal numbers are bad, government debt levels are just below the danger zone. It is also clear that two or three more years of double-digit deficits and we will have a debt ratio well above 100 percent of GDP.

To be fair, proponents of the radical alternative have a riposte. They argue that another round of stimulus will boost GDP growth dramatically. Nominal GDP will grow faster than nominal public debt; and the debt to GDP ratio will fall, In other words, the UK will enter a virtuous circle of improving fiscal indicators and rapid economic growth.

Are there any good reasons for thinking that the fiscal stimulus will lead to a surge in growth? The strongest argument is that unemployment levels are rather high at the moment. Presumably, all that spare capacity could be quickly re-employed leading to a surge in economic activity.

Sadly, the most recent experience of fiscal stimulus, which followed the financial crisis of 2007, doesn't offer much hope for an emerging virtuous circle. The UK economy contracted by around five percent of GDP, despite huge tax cuts and massive increases expenditure. The post-recession recovery was extremely feeble.

The best thing you can say about the radical alternative to austerity is that it looks like a highly speculative and risky strategy. Either you have to believe that the fiscal stimulus will provoke an economic miracle of extremely rapid growth or you have to believe that the bond markets will be exceptionally tolerant of a debt to GDP ratio well in excess of 100 percent of GDP.

What is the downside of the radical alternative? It would be a disorderly fiscal adjustment very much like we have recently witnessed in southern Europe. One day, we would wake up and find that nobody wants to hold UK government debt. Either we would have to go cap in hand to the Chinese government or the EU or we would have to cut that 10 percent of GDP fiscal deficit more or less immediately. This would be true fiscal barbarism. We would experience cruel expenditure cuts and horrifying hikes in taxation. Benefits would be slashed, the National Health Service would be decimated, and schools would be starved of cash.

And when all this was happening, we would doubtless wish that we could go back to the autumn of 2011 and continue with the difficult path of fiscal adjustment proposed by the coalition.

The definition of insanity

Merkel on the Greek debt problem

Click on the picture for a larger version.

Live webinar: Accessibility Updates for Docs, Sites and Calendar

Posted by Naomi Black, Technical Program Manager, Accessibility

Earlier this year, members of the blind community shared a powerful message with us about the importance of accessibility. On the Official Google Blog today, we announced some accessibility enhancements to our products, including new keyboard shortcuts and improved screen reader support in Google Docs, Google Sites and Google Calendar. For blind students and employees who rely on assistive technologies to access the web, we hope these improvements will make it easier to use our products.

To answer your questions and discuss how today’s product updates affect blind users in businesses, governments and schools using Google Apps, we’d like to invite our enterprise customers to join us for a webinar on September 21.

Accessibility Updates for Docs, Sites and Calendar
Wednesday, September 21, 2011
12:00pm-1:00pm PT
Sign up here

To learn more about accessibility features in Google Apps, please visit our help center. For information more generally about using Google products with screen readers, how to send us feedback and how to track our progress, visit google.com/accessibility.

Kenneth M. Campbell on Covenant or Testament? Heb. 9: 16, 17 Reconsidered

The following article is now available on-line in PDF. Please visit the latest additions page for the link:

Kenneth M. Campbell, "Covenant or Testament? Heb. 9: 16, 17 Reconsidered," Evangelical Quarterly 44.2 (April-June 1972): 107-111.

My thanks to the author for his kind permission.

Alan Arnette's Kilimanjaro Climb Begins

Last week I posted a video of Alan Arnette sharing his gear for Kilimanjaro with the rest of us. At the time, Alan was busy preparing to leave for Africa, where he would be climbing that mountain, which is the sixth of his Seven Summits for Alzheimer's expedition. After spending a few days in Europe, Alan arrived in Tanzania a few days ago and began his Kili climb in ernest today. He also started blogging about his adventure, giving us all the opportunity to follow along as he heads to the Roof of Africa over the next few days.

Today's entry is a brief one, but brings back quite a few memories for me. When climbing Kilimanjaro you actually pass through five different climate zones on the way to the summit, and today Alan hiked through the Could Forest. In his update, he notes that it felt more like Costa Rica or Hawaii than Africa, and when I did this leg a few years back, I thought the same. It was warm and humid and it didn't take long for me shirt to get soaked in sweat. That shirt wouldn't dry until I returned to Arusha at the end of the climb.

Alan his trekking the Machame Route, which is considered one of the more challenging, but scenic. I took the same route when I was there, and as he describes the trail, I can remember it well. It was a steep ascent, gaining more than 3800 feet of altitude on the first day, but by the time you're finished, you've arrived at camp, which sits on the edge of the next climate zone, an alpine marshland. Alan will hike through that tomorrow.

For anyone considering a Kilimanjaro trek, you'll definitely want to follow along with Alan's blog over the next few days. I'm sure he'll be posting regular updates on his progress, and he'll likely be sharing lots of information from the trail. It could also be insightful for those considering the adventure, as it is more challenging than what some would lead you to believe. That said, it is also amazingly beautiful and one of the top treks in the world.

Alan was more fortunate than I was on my first day on Kili. I didn't see any wildlife of note that day, but he reports that his team was shadowed by Blue Monkeys at one point. I had to wait until I was on safari to see the wildlife, and if you're going to Tanzania to do Kili, you owe it to yourself to stay a few days longer to visit the Serengeti as well. It is one of my favorite places in the world, easily living up to, and exceeding, all expectations.

Ultrarunner Sets New Record Across Great Smokey Mountain National Park

An ultrarunner, who also happens to be a park ranger, set a new record for running across the Great Smokey Mountain National Park a few months back, when he ran the section of the Appalachian Trail, which crosses that region. According to this story, from the Knoxville News, 26-year old David Worth covered the 72-mile distance in 14 hours, 50 minutes, and 22 seconds.

Worth actually made his record breaking run back on May 19, but this story of his epic run is just now starting to leak out. He began his journey on the North Carolina side of the national park before dawn and then proceeded to run west. He took a break at about 12:40 in the afternoon, in the parking lot of Newfound Gap, the halfway point of the run, where he ate three boiled potatoes, before he hit the trail once again. Just after 7 PM that evening, he reached the finish line at Davenport Gap, where the AT exits the Great Smokey Mountain National Park.

As the Adventure Journal, who linked me to this story, points out, Worth averaged more than a 12-minute mile while on his run. Any runner will tell you that that isn't incredibly fast. But what is impressive is that he managed to keep running, across often difficult sections of trail, for nearly 15 hours. That is quite a display of endurance to say the least. Still, at that pace, he did manage to break the old record, held by Jon Lawler, by more than an hour.

Worth says he isn't done with the AT yet and would like to give it another go to see if he can shave even more time off his record. In August, he also ran a series of interconnected trails in the park that covered about 44 miles in length, which he completed in 10 hours, 3 minutes, 41 seconds. Those trails were almost entirely up or down mountains however, which was a very different experience than the one that he had in May.

Reading this guy's story makes me want to hit the trail myself.

Warren Miller's LIke There's No Tomorrow

If there is one sure sign that winter is not as far off as we think, it is the arrival of a new ski video courtesy of Warren Miller. His latest, entitled Like There's No Tomorrow, will be the 62nd film he has made, and will feature Johnny Moseley, amongst other ski and snowboarding pros, celebrating the fact that winter is just around the corner. Here's the trailer for the film.

NY Special Election: Turner's Victory Speech and Weprin's Concession Statement

Video below is of Bob Turner's victory speech:



Partial text from video above, via Gothamist.

"We have lit one candle today. It’s going to be a bonfire pretty soon. We’ve been asked by the people of this district to send a message to Washington — and I hope they hear it loud and clear: Mr. President, we are on the wrong track. We've had it with your irresponsible fiscal policy which endangers the entire economy and every one of our social safety nets. We have had it with your treatment of Israel... We are unhappy. I am the messenger. Heed us."

Text of David Weprin's statement on his concession to Bob Turner in NY-9, Via NYDailyNews.

I just called Bob Turner to congratulate him on a well-fought campaign. He will now have the honor of representing Brooklyn and Queens in Congress, and I hope that he will work every day to represent all of the diverse communities that make up the 9th Congressional district.

I’m incredibly proud of the campaign that we ran, and incredibly grateful to the countless volunteers who worked day after day to bring our message to voters. In doing so we raised the profile of issues like Medicare, Sohttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifcial Security, and tax relief for working families – issues that will be of critical importance for the next Congress.

Though we may not have won, our work is far from over. The challenges that face our nation are many, and I will continue to work with all of my supporters to ensure that middle class New Yorkers have a real voice in our city, our state, and our country.

Related:

Ridiculous NY-09 spin: “It's a very difficult district for Democrats”

Associated Press Changing Headlines To Protect Barack Obama?

For Democrats, It's 2010 All Over Again

Twin defeats spark Democratic fears

Revenge of the Jews?

After Turner Earthquake in Weiner District, Democrats' Civil War Against Obama Begins

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Associated Press Changing Headlines To Protect Barack Obama?

Annoyance alert

Last night I wrote about the New York 9th District special election where Republican Bob Turner won the congressional seat formerly held by Anthony Weiner over his Democratic opponent Assemblyman David I. Weprin.

I linked to a piece from Seattlepi, written by the Associated Press, which headlined "GOP Wins in NY House Race, Seen as Obama Rebuke," only now the headline has been changed on that site and on the ABC News site which ran the same article written by AP writer Beth Fouhy.

Now both pieces are titled "GOP Upset Win in NY Portends Challenge for Obama."

Sites that originally linked to those pieces, like Memeorandum, used the original headlines.

The url to the Seattlepi piece also reflects the original headline with : http://www.seattlepi.com/news/article/GOP-wins-in-NY-House-race-seen-as-Obama-rebuke-2167085.php

(Once saved on some platforms, even if the piece hasn't been published, the url will reflect the original headline, but the piece above was published and quoted from)


In the article, it still says "Turner's win was a rebuke to President Barack Obama, who won the district by 11 points in 2008 but has seen his popularity slide in New York and nationally amid high unemployment and a weak economy."

I see no mention, nor explanation as to why the headline was changed and why change it to begin with when the story supports the original headline in the first place?

To protect Barack Obama from those that look at headlines but do not always read the entire stories?

Did someone at the AP decide that using the word rebuke against Obama in the headline, was too harsh? Too critical of him?

Sometimes people, like I did last night, link to certain words in their writing to reflect a headline in another story, so it would be nice if once a story is published long enough to be quoted or have their headlines quoted, the outlets allowing the change in headlines make some sort of note reflecting the change.

[Update] Kudos to Yahoo News who kept the original headline to the same AP article written by the same person.

Disclaimer: I have changed headlines before when one needed correcting, or because of a spelling error, I have added updates to the end of a headline but once I have hit publish and then change the whole headline, whether it is to correct it or whatever reason, I note so at the end of the piece.

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Gear Box: Sierra Designs Jive Jacket

Summer may not have officially slipped away just yet, but its days are certainly numbered. The changing of the season will bring a rainbow of colors to the trees, not to mention cooler temperatures and crisp fall air. While that won't slow down our outdoor adventures of course, it will change the clothing we wear while out on the trail and add to our packs. During the warmer months of summer we can often get away with lightweight gear and a simple rain jacket, but as temperatures drop, we'll need something more substantial.

Climbers and backpackers looking for an excellent shell to keep them warm and dry in the months ahead need look no further than the Jive Jacket from Sierra Designs. Built to take on the worst weather conditions, the Jive is a perfect addition to any gear closet and great companion on any adventure where the weather could turn bad.

The first thing I noticed about the Jive was how incredibly light it is. Weighing in at just 15 ounces, it's hard to believe that a jacket this light can perform as well as it does. Even better, the shell packs down to an incredibly small size as well, which means it doesn't take up much room in your pack either. That combination of attributes means that you won't have any excuses for setting out on a hike without bringing the Jive along.

The jacket uses lightweight, yet breathable, fabrics to keep you comfortably dry while on the move and in a variety of conditions. Of course, these days most gear manufacturers boast about their breathable fabrics in all of their marketing materials, but few actually live up to the hype. I was pleasantly surprised to find that Sierra Design's Cocona Xcelerator fabrics more than met my expectations in this regard, allowing moisture to exit the jacket, while preventing rain from getting in. Integrated pit vents under each arm further aid in keeping you cool in a variety of weather conditions.

You only need to pull on the Jive one time to realize that a great deal of thought went into the design of the jacket. For instance, two spacious chest pockets are within easy reach, even while wearing a pack, and an interior pocket helps to keep your most important items secure and dry. High quality, heavy duty, waterproof zippers abound and the adjustable cuffs and hem help you to adjust the fit as needed. Throw in a helmet-compatible hood, and what appears to be bomb-proof build quality, and you have a product that gets nearly everything right. The jacket even looks great, both on the trail or while kicking it around town after your adventure is done.

The Jive does seem to run a little large, so keep that in mind when sizing. The extra space does come in handy when using the jacket as part of a layering system however. This isn't a knock on the jacket in anyway, just something that should be pointed out for potential buyers.

The Jive is a fantastic rain jacket, and thanks to its high level of breathability, it is more versatile than most competing products. Sierra Designs has a real winner with this jacket, and I'm incredibly impressed with the entire package. I have a feeling that this is one piece of gear that I'll be using for a long time to come.

MSRP: $279

Climbing Legend Walter Bonatti Has Passed Away

The mountaineering community lost one of its living legends last night when Italian climber Walter Bonatti passed away at the age of 81. He is best remembered for pioneering new routes in the Alps, Patagonia and the Himalaya.

Among Bonatti's more famous accomplishments were the solo winter ascent of the Matterhorn's North Face and first ascents on the Southwest Pillar of Aiguille du Dru and the Grand Capucin. Other notable climbs include Gasherbrum IV, Rondoy North, and multiple summits of the Grandes Jorasses.

Bonatti played a pivotal role in the first ascent of K2 as well, although it took decades for him to get the recognition he deserved. Working in support of Lino Lacedelli and Achille Compagnoni, Bonatti helped establish and stock the high camps on the mountain in preparation for the eventual summit bid. On that successful attemp, Lacedelli and Compagnoni ran out of oxygen and accused Bonatti of using it while he was at Camp IX, an accusation that Bonatti vehemently denied, as he didn't even have a regulator or oxygen mask with him at that point of the climb. That expedition took place in 1954 and it took until 2008 for Bonatti to be officially cleared of the accusations and get the credit he deserved.

An active, daring, and visionary climber, Bonatti wrote numerous books on mountaineering and inspired a generation of climbers that followed him. He quietly passed away in Rome leaving his widow Rossana Podesta behind.

Godspeed Walter.

Visit to the Queens Branch

A few weeks ago, as many NYC residence battened down the hatches in anticipation of Hurricane Irene, GA Project Manager, Nicole Myers, spent two days at the main GA branch in Queens along with a professional photographer. The purpose of the trip was to talk to a few borrowers, sit in on some of the meetings and try to capture, in pictures and words, how the branches run.

The atmosphere of the Queens branch was hectic due to the heavy traffic of borrowers who had brought their children with them as they waited for new loans. One by one, borrowers would meet with loan officers, receive loans and hand over their blue ledgers so their balance could be updated. Despite the crowded space, the GA Credit Officers were very excited because it had been their most successful week to date.


One GA borrower who was interviewed had recently joined the program and talked about the importance of credit history and savings which she now had for the first time. Her fear of default fees and high interest rates prevented her from having a bank account or credit card but her loan from GA had given her the financial flexibility to start a business.

Nicole had hoped to meet a borrower who lived nearby so that she might ask to see her business. She lucked out in meeting Lucia, who ran a cosmetics business out of her basement. The next day Nicole was able to catch a small meeting in Lucia's house and witnessed first hand how borrowers help each other. Even though the other three members of her group also sold cosmetics, they worked together to find profitable parts of the neighborhood where each would have success.

There was also a new member of the group at the meeting, who was invited in when a former member left. Now a full group, the women seemed to share a bond both in business and in their personal lives, as each worked to send money back to their families in Mexico in the hope of improving their lives and one day bringing them to the US.

Lucia told Nicole that she would ideally like to set up an eveningcare center for children and salon store, so that mothers could come and get dressed for a night out while dropping off their children all in one spot. This is a great example of how GA borrowers create and adjust their businesses based on the needs of their community.

We wish Lucia and all the members of her group success and look forward to updating you with more news and pictures from the branch soon!

New York 9th District Special Election: Republican Bob Turner Takes Seat Formerly Held By Anthony Weiner

New York's special election to replace Anthony Weiner has been called for the Republican candidate Bob Turner, beating out the Democratic candidate Assemblyman David I. Weprin who just a few short weeks ago was expected to win easily.

A stunning upset.

NYT:

A little-known Republican businessman from Queens, channeling voter discontent with President Obama into an upset, won election to Congress on Tuesday from the heavily Democratic district in New York City last represented by Anthony D. Weiner.

The Republican, Bob Turner, a retired cable television executive, defeated Assemblyman David I. Weprin, the scion of a prominent Democratic family in Queens, in a nationally watched special election.

Wapo:

Businessman Bob Turner (R) defeated state Assemblyman David Weprin (D) in the special election for the House seat held by former New York Rep. Anthony Weiner (D).

Turner’s victory is regarded as an upset given the Democratic history of the 9th district, which takes in portions of Brooklyn and Queens, as well as the fact that President Obama carried the seat by 11 points in 2008.

“New Yorkers put Washington Democrats on notice that voters are losing confidence in a President whose policies assault job-creators and affront Israel,” said National Republican Congressional Committee Chairman Pete Sessions (R-Texas) in a statement after Turner’s win.

Headlines are hailing this as an "Obama Rebuke and said to have shaken city Democrats.
[Update] Obama Rebuke link in previous sentence leads to a headline by AP that has now been changed to a headline without the word rebuke in it. Is this AP trying to protect Obama? [End update]

Panicked Democrats, realizing that they had somehow snatched defeat from the jaws of victory, made a frantic, last-ditch effort to stave off a loss, but failed.

Earlier today, seeing the impending loss coming, the White House started spinning to explain the loss and point fingers elsewhere.

No doubt we will see Liberals tomorrow spinning madly....

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What does the UK economy need now? More credit creation and a state owned bank.

The world is slipping into another financial crisis. Greece looks ever more likely to default, while Italy and Spain may soon be shut out of financial markets. Interest rates in advanced economies are close to zero. Budget deficits have exploded and governments dare not try another stimulus. Today's crisis is very different from the one emerged during the frightening summer of 2007, not least because Policymakers have no room for manoeuvre.

Nevertheless, there are a brave few who are ready to offer a way out the trap. One such courageous soul is Adam Posen, external member of the monetary policy committee of the Bank of England. In a recent speech, he passionately argued for further actions to tackle the renewed risks of a double dip recession and a further financial crisis.

Posen has a smooth way with words. According to him, the advanced economies are not confronted with policy ineffectiveness. No, the enemy of the global economy is "policy defeatism". What is the antidote to defeatism? Credit creation.

Here again, the choice of words is crucial. At the heart of every financial institution is a balance sheet. If a credit is created, then so is a debt. Mr Pozen could have just as easily said that what the world needs now is more debt creation. However, given that UK households, businesses and public sector are drowning in debt, that terminology doesn't sound so reassuring.

The advocates of a further round of QE, like Posen, face another presentational difficulty. The UK economy has already enjoyed a massive injection of central bank debt creation. The results have been rather disappointing. The economy has barely grown. Inflation has stabilised at around 5 percent while earnings growth is barely two percent.  Unemployment remains high, and asset prices are falling.

There are no soothing words that can paint over these difficulties. Instead, Posen adopts a different approach. The results of the first round of quantitative easing were very much as he had anticipated. Given the magnitude of the initial financial crisis, quantitative easing could never have returned the UK economy to its pre-crisis growth trajectory.The first rounds of QE prevented the economy from falling into an historically unprecedented depression. And the conclusion? The UK needs a further round of central bank debt creation in the order of £50 billion.

Pozen doesn't stop there. UK also needs a special public institution that will lend to small businesses. The idea is that a state-owned bank could neatly avoid the pitfalls of our current dysfunctional credit system. Instead of bankers pursuing profits, we would have honest civil servants determining who gets credit and who does not. Social need not private profit would determine the allocation of credit.

Posen describes his scheme is a good version of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Playing with words can only partially obscure a truly awful idea. Describing a proposed state-owned bank as a "good version" of two financial disasters doesn't exactly provide a coherent argument.

It is hard to say how politicians in Whitehall will react to this kind of quasi-socialist policy advice. While George Osborne has his faults, he is unlikely to snort this kind of nonsense up his nostrils. So far, Mr Osborne has tried to establish a modicum of fiscal stability for the UK. It will be a long journey, but at least the coalition is walking in the right direction. Labour's absurd VAT cut was rescinded and the painful process of reducing government expenditure is underway. It is hard to see how further public sector debt creation and a state-owned bank fit into that stategy.