Kashmir: India and Pakistan's bitter dispute

Violent protests erupted this summer in India's Kashmir region, resulting in the worst bloodshed in a decade. Many of the demonstrators want independence from India, while New Delhi has always said the unrest is fueled by Pakistani-sponsored extremists. Here is a brief look at the dispute.
What is Kashmir?
Kashmir is a Himalayan region that borders India, Pakistan and China. Known for its majestic landscape, Kashmir has figured prominently in the history and legends of the Indian subcontinent. It was known as "paradise on Earth" and before the insurgency, Indians flocked to Kashmir for vacations and blockbuster Bollywood movies were filmed there.
On the Pakistani side, Kashmir includes the areas known as Azad (Free) Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan.
The territory under dispute lies in India's Kashmir Valley, separated from Pakistan by the 450-mile Line of Control. That area is part of the northern Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir.
Indian Kashmir is mostly Muslim; Jammu is Hindu. The city of Srinagar is the summer capital of the state while the city of Jammu, further south and much warmer, serves as the winter capital.
How did the trouble start?
Kashmir's suffering is rooted in the painful birth of the two South Asian nations.
India's Muslim leaders demanded a Muslim homeland as a condition for independence in 1947. The British relinquished their hold on the subcontinent, giving way to a predominantly Hindu India and a Muslim Pakistan.
Kashmir was free to accede to either nation. Maharaja Hari Singh, the ruler of the kingdom, initially chose to remain independent but eventually opted to join India, thereby handing key powers to the central government in New Delhi. In exchange, India guaranteed him military protection and vowed to hold a popular vote on the issue.
How dangerous is the situation?
The South Asian rivals have fought two of three wars over the territorial issue -- in 1947 and in 1965.
A third conflict between India and Pakistan erupted in 1999 after Pakistani-backed forces infiltrated Indian-controlled Kashmir in the Kargil area.
Both India and Pakistan have fired across the demarcating Line of Control. Such incidents have become common but India has so far refrained from incursions into Pakistani territory.
In 1998, both nations successfully tested nuclear weapons, raising the stakes in the Kashmir conflict and in turn, overall regional and global security.
What do India and Pakistan say about Kashmir?
Islamabad has always maintained that majority-Muslim Kashmir should have been a part of Pakistan. A United Nations' resolution adopted after the first war called for a referendum allowing the people of Kashmir to choose which country they wanted to join, but that vote for self-determination has never been held. Pakistan wants that referendum to take place.
India claims that Pakistan lends support to separatist groups fighting against government control and argues that a 1972 agreement -- signed after the Bangladesh war -- mandates a resolution to the Kashmir dispute through bilateral talks.
Neither country wants Kashmir to become an independent nation.
What is the separatist movement?
Over the years, India sent thousands of security forces to Kashmir, making it one of the most highly militarized areas of the world.
In 1989, militants began an armed uprising against New Delhi's control, taking up guns for the cause of independence. India accused its arch-rival Pakistan of fueling terrorism by sponsoring the armed insurgency.
Among the larger separatist groups are the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF), but it gave up guns for politics in 1994 and its power is believed to have declined. Key separatist groups now fall under the umbrella of the All Parties Hurriyat Conference, which has engaged in talks with the Indian government. The last time the two sides met was in 2006.
India claims that organizations designated as terrorist groups by the U.S. State Department are involved in Kashmir's violence. They include Lashkar-e-Tayyiba, which was blamed for the 2008 terrorist attacks in Mumbai, and Jaish-e-Mohammed, blamed for an attack on parliament in New Delhi.
What happened to the insurgency?
Tens of thousands of people have been killed in Kashmir since the insurgency took hold.
Parts of once-idyllic Srinagar now look apocalyptic -- buildings are riddled with bullet marks and roads and infrastructure have not been improved in years. Children have grown up not knowing the meaning of peace. The "paradise on Earth," many say, has turned to hell.
When talks between the Indian government and the All Parties Hurriyat Conference began in 2004, the bloodshed declined. But the problem was hardly resolved.
In a poll taken earlier this year by the London think tank Chatham House, most Kashmiris listed unemployment as the most significant problem plaguing their lives. Joblessness along with a sense of alienation from India has added to popular discontent.
How do Kashmiris feel about India?
The Chatham House poll last spring found that between 74 percent to 95 percent of residents of the mainly Muslim Kashmir Valley, where the conflict is centered, would vote for independence. In mostly Hindu Jammu, that support dropped to 1 percent.
What triggered the latest uptick in violence?
Discontent with India has never gone away and manifests itself repeatedly in street demonstrations.
Human rights groups say that India's Armed Forces Special Powers Act -- which gives security forces wide-ranging powers to shoot, arrest and search in battling a separatist insurgency -- further alienates Kashmiris.

In June, the death of a teenager hit by a teargas shell, triggered a series of violent protests. Since then, angry mobs have taken to the streets chanting: "Freedom."

Source: CNN

Election-year politics confound tax-cut extension plan

Democrats and Republicans both say they want Bush-era tax cuts extended this year for most, if not all Americans. Then why has it been so hard to make it happen?
The answer is election-year politics, with each party battling for any advantage in a climate of voter anger about politics-as-usual in Washington.
At issue is who will get credit for what is considered the most likely outcome -- the lower tax rates enacted in 2001 and 2003 getting extended permanently for Americans earning up to $250,000 per family or $200,000 as individuals.
Led by President Barack Obama, most Democrats favor that approach, which covers 98 percent of the taxpayers. They argue that including the wealthiest 2 percent of Americans would cost an additional $700 billion over 10 years that the nation cannot afford.
However, Republicans and some moderate Democrats argue the tax cuts should be extended to everyone to help continue the slow recovery from the economic recession. Otherwise, they say, the return of tax rates to higher levels of the 1990s would inhibit investment and growth.
Democrat leaders conceded last week that they lacked the votes to pass their proposal before upcoming congressional elections. They promised Sunday to bring the measure back up in Congress after the November 2 elections to force a vote before the tax cuts expire at the end of the year.

Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois, the second-ranking Democrat in the chamber, told CNN's "State of the Union" that the December 31 deadline to act would bring Democratic unity on the issue.
"Some Democrats would say, well, perhaps we would do it a little bit differently," Durbin said of the call for extending the tax cuts across-the-board. "But if that position doesn't prevail, and I don't think it will, then the ultimate choice is going to be whether or not we have the $250,000 income threshold for these tax cuts. And I think at that time we'll have the support of all the Democrats as well as some Republicans."
On the same program, independent Sen. Joe Lieberman of Connecticut, who sits with the Democratic caucus, outlined a compromise in which the tax cuts would get extended permanently for those below the $250,000 threshold while also staying in place for wealthy Americans for "a year or two."
"I hope we can do that," said Lieberman, who currently sides with Republicans on the issue. "It's easy enough to say that people who make a lot of money don't deserve a tax cut now, but the truth is, if you have more money, you spend more money, you invest more money. That's what we need to happen now to grow jobs in our economy."
Senior White House adviser David Axelrod insisted to the ABC program "This Week" that the Obama plan would pass this year.
"We're going to get that done," Axelrod said. "One way or the other, we're going to get it done."
Republicans remained adamant that the economy was too weak to raise taxes on anyone.
"There should be no higher priority for the Congress in the United States today than making sure that no American sees a tax increase in January of 2011," Rep. Mike Pence, R-Indiana, told the NBC program "Meet the Press."
House Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, told "Fox News Sunday" that Democrats were causing uncertainty over tax policy by "punting" the tax-cut extension issue until after the election, while Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky, refused to discuss a possible compromise.
"What might happen down the road is not the subject today," McConnell told the ABC program "The question is, do we want to raise taxes in the middle of a very, very tough economy? All the Republicans think that's a bad idea, and a substantial number of the Democrats think the same thing."
Democratic leaders, however, say it is Republicans delaying the issue by "holding hostage" the tax cuts for families making up to $250,000 a year in their insistence on also including the wealthiest Americans.

"I believe, when these Republican members return to their districts, they're going to have to explain to their constituents why they're holding up tax cuts for" families earning up to $250,000 a year, Axelrod told the ABC program. "And I think it's an untenable position to say, 'We're going to allow your taxes to go up on January 1st unless the president agrees to give tax cuts to millionaires and billionaires.' "

Source: CNN

Is the End Near for Basque Separatist Group ETA? Read more: http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2021333,00.html?hpt=C2#ixzz10gFghngo

Half a century of police pressure and court convictions has left the Basque separatist group ETA shrunken, battered and shaken by infighting, with the group's political representatives wrestling its militants for leadership of the movement. This internal division was highlighted most recently on Sept. 12, when ETA's fighters called for international mediation to help bring a close to their campaign of violence. Spain has been here before, and the fighting has always returned. But this time, the bickering between ETA and its political arm Batasuna is raising hopes that Basque terrorism, the longest-running armed struggle in the West, is nearing an end.
In its statement last week, ETA said it was willing to accept mediation from the signers of the Brussels Declaration, a group that includes four Nobel peace laureates, the Nelson Mandela Foundation and former Irish President Mary Robinson. The move follows a call by the Brussels Declaration signers in March that ETA declare a permanent and verifiable ceasefire, and that the Spanish government open peace negotiations to finally end more than 50 years of violent struggle for independence that has killed more than 825 people. And on Saturday, Batasuna released a statement, asking ETA for a "permanent, unilateral, and verifiable" ceasefire. (See what the Basque terrorists' cease-fire reveals.)
In response to ETA's Sept. 12 statement, Spanish and Basque political party leaders ruled out international arbitration, reiterating the government's insistence that the only option is an unconditional and permanent end to ETA's violence. "There are no shortcuts," said Spain's Vice President María Teresa Fernández de la Vega on Monday, referring to the widely accepted belief that ETA is just trying to buy time while it tries to reorganize.
Since its creation in 2001, Batasuna has supported the armed struggle for independence. Both the E.U. and the U.S. consider it to be a terrorist organization and Spain's Supreme Court outlawed the party in 2003. But recently, Batasuna has grown more assertive in standing up to ETA's insurgent arm, especially since December 2006, when the militants unilaterally broke a truce by bombing the parking lot of a newly opened airport terminal in Madrid and killing two people. The attack only served to undermine ETA's credibility and expose Batasuna to hostility from a Basque community already tiring of terrorism in its name. (See how ETA marked its 50th anniversary.)
According to observers, the fact that Batasuna is now siding with the government on the issue of ETA's disarmament — even if that risks prompting the militants to hit back with violence — is a sign that the group may be too fractured to exist much longer. "The difference this time is that the decision to renounce the armed struggle has been taken by Batasuna and it has decided to follow through regardless of the consequences," says Jon Abril, vice-coordinator of the pro-independence Aralar political group, which in 2001 broke ranks with ETA. "Even if it can't convince ETA to disarm, it seems clear Batasuna will follow the same road of Aralar," thus completely isolating the group from even its closest supporters.
On Tuesday, top Batasuna official Txelui Moreno said the party is committed to "a democratic process based exclusively on political and democratic means," and added that any other action would be against the group's mandate "which everyone must obey" — a veiled message to ETA militants.
Many are now asking how long it will take for ETA to give up its armed struggle. According to terrorism expert Ignacio Sánchez Cuenca, the government needs to negotiate with ETA — which would require the group to declare an unconditional and permanent ceasefire. If that were to happen, Batasuna and ETA would jointly try to negotiate their participation in the country's political rule, the freeing of ETA members from jail, and an increase in the already high degree of autonomy that the Basque Country enjoys under Spain's constitution. "States have to combine carrots and sticks," says Sánchez-Cuenca. "But Spain has schizophrenic policies on ETA. There are sticks with short phases of carrots." (See the meaning of the Spanish nation after the World Cup.)
The government so far has given no signs it's willing to negotiate. And it doesn't have any incentive to. Spaniards overwhelmingly oppose making any concession to ETA after the group on several occasions betrayed peace efforts with unannounced deadly attacks, while support for ETA in the Basque Country has dropped from 12% in 1981 to 3% in 2010.
Batasuna is hoping it can convince ETA to disarm. If not, the party would likely distance itself from its militant base to pursue a political solution, thus prolonging the slow, bloody defeat of ETA — the U.S. State Department's 2010 global terrorism report estimates ETA still has some 300 active militants; at its peak, membership was in the thousands.
But no matter what happens, analysts agree, ETA seems to be doomed. "If the government's pressure doesn't let up, in one or two years ETA will end up surrendering and dissolving," says Mikel Buesa, a terrorism-finance expert at the Universidad Complutense de Madrid whose brother was killed by ETA in 2000. (See more on ETA.)
In the more immediate future, the key issue is whether or not the Spanish courts allow Batasuna to take part in the next Basque municipal elections in May. So far, odds are against it. To even be considered, Batasuna would have to regroup under a different name and would have to not only renounce violence, but condemn it outright, something it has refused to do so far. "If the state or the judges don't allow Batasuna to take part in the next elections, ETA will break the truce. I think it's unavoidable," says Sánchez Cuenca. "ETA will go back to killing, but its death is still irreversible. The question is whether the government speeds up the process."


Source: Time

Chilean miners on surface 'also trapped,' by company's financial woesChilean miners on surface 'also trapped,' by company's financial woes

It's 7:55 a.m. and miner Javier Avarca arrives in the early morning chill to the San Jose mine in Chile to begin a 12-hour shift.
A 10-year veteran of the mine, Avarca and a handful of other men are not there to extract gold and copper. That was their old job until the collapse of the mine finished that work and put the mine's owner, the San Esteban Mining Co., in financial peril.
Instead, the crew has come to help pull 33 of their colleagues from the ground, who have been trapped in the mine's depths for 51 days. And even though Avarca and the other miners clock in on their way to the mine, they say they have no guarantee they will be paid.
The company has paid its workers' salaries for August and half of September. Miners above ground say it missed a promised bonus last week, and that they have no guarantee they will be paid going forward.
"We may be free," Avarca said, "but we are also trapped. Our hands are tied. You go to bed worrying what happens tomorrow, how will this all play out? How will you pay what you owe at the end of the month?"
Since the walls of the mine came crashing down, and 17 days later when all the missing miners were found alive and buried deep underground, the attention of the world has been focused on the effort to rescue the trapped men.
Read about Saturday's developments in mine rescue efforts
The buried miners have set a record for the most time anyone has survived trapped in a collapsed mine. NASA isolation experts say they plan to study the men's ordeal. A movie and books are reportedly in the works.

A veteran of the San Jose mine, Javier Arvarca is helping with the operation to rescue the 33 trapped miners.

Much less attention has been given to the 300 or so other mine employees whose lives were also upended by the cave-in.
Even before the collapse, miners say the San Esteban Mining Co. was in dire financial straits. Chilean government officials said since the cave-in the company's creditors have come looking for repayment and that the government itself will seek to be repaid for the huge sums spent to rescue the trapped miners.
The mine's assets were frozen Friday by a court in Santiago, AFP reported, while a mediator for San Esteban's creditors calculates what the company is worth. The San Esteban Mining Company did not return repeated CNN calls for comment.
Unlike employees above ground, the trapped miners are guaranteed to be paid.
Alejandro Pino, spokesman for the Association for the Rescue and Care of the Trapped Miners, an umbrella group of state and mine organizations responsible for the 33 miners' well-being, said the men underground will continue to receive their salaries.
Pino said Chilean workplace laws guarantee the men's salaries during the rescue. All 33 miners have signed documents -- delivered to mine's depths by a pulley system -- designating who in their families they want to receive their salaries during their confinement.
The miners underground have continued to work, helping to coordinate some of the drilling from below. Eventually, they will clear tons of rock that will fall into the mine from the excavation effort.
But there is little the government can do, Pino said, for the mine's other employees. "We can't help with this," he said. "The law doesn't permit us to intervene. They have to figure it out by other processes."
That could mean a lengthy court fight -- a thought that mine welder Mario Salazar dreads.
"We aren't asking for anyone to give us anything," he said. "We just want to be paid a severance, the money we are owed for our years of service and to be released from working for the company."
To be released from their contract with the mining company would be crucial, Salazar said. If they simply begin working somewhere else, he said, the mine could claim they do not owe them any form of severance. But as they wait for a resolution, Salazar doubts he and the other miners will be paid their salaries going forward.
On Wednesday, a group of miners returned to the San Esteban mine to protest, demanding the government weigh in on the question of their salaries. Miners said they have not received a promised bonus for Chile's Independence Day and have been given no indication they would be paid again at the end of the month.
"It's not clear how we will earn a living," miner Avarca said as he joined the protest. "We have kids in school, bills that need to be paid. It's weighing very heavily on us."
The miners are caught in a "Catch-22," said Andrew King, a national coordinator from the United Steelworkers union, who came to Chile to advise the workers. If they find work elsewhere they could be giving up their rights to a claim against San Esteban. But in the meantime there is no guarantee they will receive any payment from the financially-strapped company.

"Eventually many of these men will have to start over," King said, "with the stigma of coming from the San Jose mine."

Source: CNN

Secret Jewish heritage converts neo-Nazi

Pawel sits in the synagogue learning the Torah, praying and getting advice from his rabbi.
He appears to be enjoying a happy life married to his childhood sweetheart and the mother of his two children.
But he and Ola have traveled further than most -- from hate-filled neo-Nazism through the shock and anger of learning their heritage was Jewish to taking their place in the synagogue as Orthodox Jews.
They met at school in Poland's capital, Warsaw, when they were 12, but as their teen years passed Pawel first and then Ola grew into the neo-Nazi scene.

At 18 they married and a few years later Ola was nagged by a conversation with her mother that she barely remembered -- something about Jewish roots.
She found her answer at the Jewish Historical Institute, which says it has collections documenting 10 centuries of Jewish experience in Poland.
While there she said she felt compelled to also check Pawel's family history -- and he too came from a Jewish background.
"Something told me to... It was unbelievable -- it turned out that we had Jewish roots. It was a shock. I didn't expect to find out that I had a Jewish husband," she said.
"I didn't know how to tell him. I loved him even if he was a punk or skinhead, if he beat people up or not. It was a time in Poland when this movement was very intense."
Reeling from the news, she had to return home to her neo-Nazi husband and tell him of their Jewish heritage.
There were 350,000 Jews in Poland after World War II -- about 10 percent of the Jewish population before the war.
In the 25 years after WWII ended the overwhelming majority left to escape persecution by the Soviet-controlled government.
For those who stayed, their Jewish heritage was hidden often even from their own children.
It provided a culture where anti-Semitism could thrive and in 1980s Poland, Pawel was embracing the hate festering in the concrete tower blocks of Warsaw.
When Ola brought home the documents to show Pawel his own history, he rushed to confront his parents, and they told him the family secret.
"I was a nationalist 100 percent. Back then when we were skinheads it was all about white power and I believed Poland was only for Poles. That Jews were the biggest plague and the worst evil of this world. At least in Poland it was thought this way as at the time anything that was bad was the fault of the Jews..." he said.
"Emotions, it is difficult to describe how I felt when I found out I was Jewish... my first thought was what am I going to tell people? What am I going to tell the boys? Should I admit it or not? I was angry, sad, scared, unsure."
Over time, Pawel's anger and confusion subsided and he approached Chief Rabbi of Poland Michael Schudrich.
Speaking in the synagogue where he now worships, Pawel said: "The mirror was a big problem. I couldn't look at myself. I saw a Jew. I hated the person in the mirror then I grew accustomed to it, came to terms with it somehow.
"I came here to the rabbi and said, "listen, they are telling me I'm a Jew, I have this document in my hand, my mom and dad have said something. Who is this Jew and what is it? Help me because I am going to lose my mind otherwise.'"
In the years that followed they became friends with the chief rabbi and he has been a mentor to them.
Pawel, now 33, said: "I'm not saying that I don't have regrets but it's not something that I walk around and lash myself over... I feel sorry for those that I beat up... but I don't hold a grudge against myself. The people who I hurt can hold a grudge against me."
Today, they're active members of the Jewish community in Warsaw. Pawel is studying to work in a slaughterhouse killing animals according to the Jewish Kosher requirement and Ola is working in the synagogue's kitchen as a kosher supervisor."
Schudrich said: "The fact that they were skinheads actually increased the amount of respect I have for them. That they could've been where they were, understood that that was not the right way, then embraced rather than run away the fact that they were part of the people who they used to hate."

"I think also it says on a personal level, never write somebody off. Where they may be 10 years ago doesn't have to be where they are today. And the human being has this unlimited capability of changing and sometimes even for the better."

How to make your cell phone greener

Cell phones have become one of the most ubiquitous hallmarks of life in the 21st century, but they aren't necessarily good for the environment.
First of all, there are the materials. From plastics to the rare, powdery precious metal tantalum (mined primarily in Central Africa, where it's become implicated in local exploitation and violence and is now known as a conflict mineral), cell phone materials present a variety of environmental and even human rights issues.
Then there's energy use. Smartphones are especially notorious energy hogs, with most models rarely getting more than a day of usage without some pretty drastic energy-saving strategies.
In addition to the power needed to charge any cell phone (smart or otherwise), there's also the power required to transmit calls, text/media messages and data across wireless carrier networks. Plus, all wireless networks transmit a large volume of "signaling traffic" to help route calls and data to customers.
All of this electricity consumption adds up to greenhouse gas emissions. Earlier this summer, the UK Guardian's Green Living Blog discussed the carbon footprint of cell phones and their usage:
"The footprint of your mobile phone use is overwhelmingly determined by the simple question of how often you use it.
"One estimate for the emissions caused by manufacturing the phone itself is just 16 kilograms of carbon dioxide emissions (CO2e), [similar to the carbon footprint of about] 1 kg of beef.
"If you include the power it consumes over two typical years [of use,] that figure rises to 22 kg. But the footprint of the energy required to transmit your calls across the network is about three times all of this put together -- taking us to a best estimate of 94 kg CO2e over the life of the phone (47 kg per year)."
Aware that cell phones have an eco image problem, nearly all cell phone manufacturers, U.S. wireless carriers and office supply or electronics vendors now offer recycling programs (both in-store and mail-in) where they'll take back your used phone for free and recycle the materials as much as possible.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency provides links to many vendor-sponsored programs.
Find electronics recycling programs in your state
Keeping your used cell phones out of landfills is one important way to green your cell phone use. But green is the color of money, too. You can make money by selling your used cell phone for reuse, either directly (such as via Craigslist or eBay) or through a service.
An even greener (and generally cheaper) option is to buy a used cell phone rather than a new one. If you don't absolutely need all the latest features, you can probably get a good price on a model in good condition that's a year or less old.
If you simply must have a brand new cell phone, there are several new models that claim to be greener than most. Samsung's Blue Earth feature phone, slated for a U.S. launch later this year, features a built-in solar panel for charging. (See MobileBurn review.) And several phones, like the LG Remarq, tout that they (or their packaging) are made of recycled or recyclable materials.
This summer, CNET published a comparison chart of some leading green phones.
Also this summer, the UK wireless carrier O2 presented its first eco ratings of popular mobile phones. This effort proved controversial because Apple (maker of the iPhone) and Research in Motion (maker of the world's most popular smartphone, the BlackBerry) declined to participate.
However, ThinkQ reported that RIM says it will participate next year. And Greenbiz.com questioned why several smartphones made it onto O2's eco-friendly phone list.
Back in the U.S., it may soon get easier to tell which cell phones are really green. UL Environment Inc. (part of Underwriters Laboratories) is designing its initial sustainability standards for cell phones. The draft standards are due out in late 2010.

In the meantime, when using your cell phone, keep in mind that texting is your most energy-efficient (and thus eco-friendly) communication option. Or if possible, call from an old-fashioned land line instead -- that uses far less power to transmit calls.

Source: CNN

So you wanna be a YouTube star?

He is the king of clicks, the biggest star in the most powerful media platform to emerge in recent years. But unless your date of birth hovers near the year 1990, you've probably never heard of him.
Shane Dawson, a 22-year-old college dropout from California, is a YouTube superstar and the epitome of the new era of Do-It-Yourself celebrity. He produces three videos a week for YouTube from his Los Angeles area home. Uploads of his videos approach half a billion views a year.
"I thought I'd be on TV and movies - that's what I really wanted - and I can't believe I didn't need to do that," said Dawson on finding fame and an outlet for his comedy on YouTube. "I did it on my own with just me and my camera. That's very, very weird."
And very rare. With 12 hours of video uploaded on YouTube every minute - and the volume on the rise - scoring a devoted clicking audience online is difficult. "Your odds are like winning the lottery, and its getting worse all the time," said David Burch, communications director for TubeMogul Inc., an online video analysis firm.
Companies are finding increasing success capturing a commercial audience via YouTube. Videos produced by companies captured nearly 5 percent of YouTube's daily top 100 in February - up from 0.4 percent in October 2009, Burch said. And companies are digging deeper to find their niche audience through YouTubers. "You're seeing girls doing cosmetic how-to videos getting sponsorships from cosmetic companies," Burch said. "These girls drop a video and get 3 million views a weeks - that's a lot."
But the odds of individuals making real money on YouTube remain long. TubeMogul estimates that only 15 independent YouTube acts make more than $100,000 a year from banner advertisements on their videos, and only two acts make more than $200,000 a year. Dawson is estimated by TubeMogul to be the top earner with an estimated $295,000 in revenues a year. (Dawson and his manager declined to discuss or confirm his YouTube earnings.)
"These YouTube celebrities are making some great content resonating with a very young audience where the advertising revenues aren't as high," Burch said.
And still a legion of Dawson wannabes pour more content onto YouTube each day. CNN asked Dawson and TubeMogul's Burch to share their tips on how to be an online video star.

Volume, volume, volume
Monday for Dawson is spent uploading his new videos and scripting for the week ahead. Tuesday he collects props and builds sets, if necessary. Wednesday is spent filming, Thursdays editing, Fridays mapping out his second channel video, Saturday is for mopping up unfinished work and on Sunday he picks costumes, themes and dance moves for his weekly "Ask Shane" video.
As a result, Dawson doesn't sleep much depite the protestations from his manager to get more rest. But his consistent volume of new videos has helped Dawson succeed where many major companies have failed.
"A lot of companies went into the YouTube frontier a year-and-a-half or two years ago, but what they didn't have was frequency," Burch said. "You have to update at least once a week, preferably more."
A video posted on YouTube gets half its views in the first two weeks its online, Burch said.

Love it, or leave it
Dawson began shooting videos with his brother when he was 10 years old. As an overweight teenager, he dreamed of a career in Hollywood as an actor and wrote one-act plays for his high school drama class. "I've always been doing videos," Dawson said.
His avocation turned into a profession two years ago after an incident that otherwise would be an Internet 2.0 cautionary tale: He and others were fired from a weight-loss center in August 2008 for a video he posted online that was shot in the workplace.
"I didn't think it was so bad, but someone didn't think it was funny," Dawson recalls. "I laugh about it now, but it was probably the most depressing time of my life. I had so much guilt, and got six people fired."
Although he had posted videos to YouTube infrequently since 2005, his dismissal caused him to focus full-time on his videos to earn a living. "I was out of work and couldn't collect unemployment because I was fired," he said.
Because the odds of success are so small, the labor has to be its own reward before it reaps financial dividends, said Burch of TubeMogul. "If you don't love doing this without making money, give it up," Burch said.

Dare to be different
Dawson's videos feature a stable of characters he impersonates. The content leans to the raunchy and straddles the lines of taste (such as a parody of "Twilight" that has a vampire drinking menstrual blood).
"It's easy to say what these people are doing is so stupid, so asinine," Burch said. "Anyone over 30 probably hasn't heard of these top acts. But it's mostly young kids, and they're resonating with kids."
Dawson started his YouTube career video blogging - or vlogging, talking directly to the camera and making self-deprecating observations about his life. "The first sketch I did was from me having fun at three in the morning, wearing wigs and doing this character for my mom as a phone sex operator," Dawson recalls.
"It doubled the number of views and people started subscribing to me - I didn't even know what 'subscribing' was." Now Dawson has nearly four million subscribers to his three YouTube channels who receive notifications on their YouTube homepage of new videos released.
"It sounds super cliché, but staying true to yourself and what you are works," Dawson said. "People bitch about my videos being too raunchy or whatever, but I'm just making videos for myself. Make the videos that you want to watch, don't think about who is going to be upset or offended."

Stay close to your audience
Like other YouTube successes, Dawson has a wide presence on social networking sites like FaceBook and Twitter. In the early days, Dawson responded to everyone who posted to his MySpace page, "but that got harder after I had 100,000 subscribers."
Still he elicits and shares feedback from his viewers. Ironically, one of the best ways to reach him these days is through snail mail. "I have a P.O. Box that I get about 50 letters a day that my mom picks up, and a lot of weird gifts I like to show on my videos," he said.
"You have to be open ... it's about letting people into your life," Dawson said.

YouTube sensations like Dawson "build an audience one member at a time; they will answer email one person at a time," Burch of TubeMogul said. "They really engage their audience by making a personal connection."

Source: CNN

Low risk, low return: 'Wall Street: Money Never SleepsLow risk, low return: 'Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps'

"Everybody needs money -- that's why they call it money!"
That's a line from David Mamet's film "Heist" spoken by actor Danny DeVito as Mickey Bergman and not dialogue from Michael Douglas as Gordon Gekko in "Wall Street 2: Money Never Sleeps." But what a partnership those two characters would have made! Everybody needs money, and more of it.
The original "Wall Street" was a sizable hit for its day -- in 1987, $43 million still cut it -- and Douglas won an Academy Award for his portrayal of corporate raider Gekko.
Based on, or at least inspired by, convicted insider trader Ivan Boesky and "junk bond king" Michael Milken, Gekko was supposed to be the villain of the piece, and both he and his impressionable protégé Bud Fox (played by Charlie Sheen) ended the movie heading off to jail. "Probably the best thing that could happen to you," Bud's old man wisely remarked.
Gekko became a cultural touchstone. His provocative catchphrase, "Greed is good" might have been shocking during its time, but it became a mantra for a new breed of Wall Street trader.
Twenty-three years later Gekko is out of the slammer in the Oliver Stone directed "Wall Street 2: Money Never Sleeps" (in real life, Milken was sentenced to 10 years and served less than two) and he meets another bright young prospect keen to glean: Jake (played by Shia LaBeouf).
Jake's pet project is fusion technology, green energy. But when his investment firm goes belly up and his boss steps in front of a subway train in the first wave of the 2008 meltdown, he swears to pay back in kind the ruthless banker he holds responsible. That would be Bretton James, an old Gekko foe, played by Josh Brolin (who appeared as George W. Bush in another Oliver Stone film, "W.")
In this case the enemy of my enemy is not only my friend, he's also Gekko's putative son-in-law -- Jake is engaged to Gordon's estranged daughter, Winnie (portrayed by Carey Mulligan).
The schematics are bald -- they often are with Stone -- but the new film's domestic and family scenes tend to be more convincingly written and performed than Charlie Sheen's dust-ups with his dad and Daryl Hannah's Darien in the original film. Mulligan and LaBeouf flesh out their characters' relationship with warmth and skill, yet it's easy to see why Jake would risk going behind her back to pick her father's brains.
In what is essentially a supporting role, Michael Douglas is smooth, compellingly savvy and teasingly ambiguous.
Is he truly seeking redemption and reconciliation with Winnie, or is he just playing the angles to get back in the game? We're never quite sure and perhaps the writers aren't either, because the movie doesn't seem to make up its mind on that point. The book he's busy touting is called "Is Greed Good?" and that question mark is left hanging there, even as he chuckles at the dim prospects of "the NINJA generation: No Income, No Job or Assets."
It takes Stone and screenwriters Allan Loeb and Stephen Schiff too long to get their ducks in a row, and while the current economic crisis gives "Money Never Sleeps" plenty of raw data to chew over -- the film is another installment in Stone's ongoing modern American history project -- it never matches the giddy dynamics of the wheeler-dealing that made the first "Wall Street" such an eye-opener (a tall order, admittedly).
Stone occasionally splits the screen into three to drum up some urgency, throws cable TV pundits on the fire and even tosses in a few personal cameos of himself. In an odd, almost nostalgic move, David Byrne contributes several songs from his recent record with Brian Eno, "Everything That Happens Will Happen Today."
None of this compensates for the movie's dumbed-down, sentimental conclusion, or the depressing realization that Stone, considered one of America's foremost conspiracy theorists, has allowed himself to be out-flanked by the real power brokers, or inured to corruption. He's forgotten the first and most basic rule: Follow the money.

The angry young man who wrote "Platoon" and "Scarface" might have taken them head-on, but today's masters of the universe get a pass, while Stone stands by, smiling gnomically, blowing bubbles.

Source: CNN

Titanic 100th cruises spark buzz, debate

The frigid waters of the North Atlantic aren't among the most prominent cruise destinations, but that may change as the world remembers one of the worst maritime disasters in history.
At least two cruises are planned in the spring of 2012 to coincide with the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic, with both touting special activities, lectures and memorials to commemorate the tragic voyage.
Organizers insist it's a learning opportunity and a way to remember the victims, but some critics have called the trips tasteless and dubbed them "disaster voyeurism."
Still, both voyages are attracting interest as Titanic -- the subject of countless books and movies -- continues to fascinate.
"There's a magic about Titanic that transcends reality," said Carolyn Spencer Brown, editor of CruiseCritic.com, a website that features cruise reviews.
"Perhaps what makes it special is that its story, and that of the passengers who didn't survive their journeys, never did have a satisfying conclusion. And so that's why the ship continues to live on."
The Titanic Memorial Cruise on the Balmoral will retrace the doomed ship's original itinerary, departing from Southampton, England; passing by Cherbourg, on the French coast; and calling into the Irish port of Cobh before sailing across the Atlantic Ocean to the sinking site.
Once there, a memorial service will be held at 2:20 a.m. on April 15, 2012 -- exactly a century after Titanic sank.
The ship will take 1,309 passengers on the trip, the same number of people who were on the Titanic.
More than 30 relatives of Titanic survivors and victims will be on board, said Miles Morgan, managing director of the cruise. He wasn't surprised the voyage has almost sold out, despite the grim occasion.
"An awful lot of the people are simply just really interested in the Titanic and everything about it and to them it's the opportunity of a lifetime to do something very, very different," Morgan said.
Sailing from the U.S.
Meanwhile, Voyages! Titanic 2012 is a cruise that's set to depart on the Azamara Journey from Boston, Massachusetts, on April 9, 2012.
The ship will take up to 680 passengers to Halifax, Nova Scotia -- which received many of the Titanic victims -- and then sail to the sinking site. It too will hold a memorial service on the anniversary to honor "that fateful day in history."
An expedition ship with a remotely operated diving vehicle will follow along so that, weather permitting, passengers will be able to see live images from the wreck, said organizer Bill Willard.
"There are people who have studied and researched and read and want to know as much as they can about what happened that night and about the people who were on board. This is their chance to touch something real about Titanic, to be at the site," Willard said.
Both cruises will recreate some of the menus featured on Titanic, and both anticipate that some passengers will dress up in fashions of the era.
Critics say a fun vacation is no way to commemorate a disaster in which more than 1,500 people died.
"There seems to be something rather tasteless about the whole affair," wrote Luke Turner, a British blogger. "This Titanic cruise ... smacks of disaster voyeurism."
'Fresh memory of loss'
In a forum discussion on CruiseCritic.com, a poster recently slammed passengers for planning to dress up and "party" on the somber anniversary.
The member, identified as "dd714," wrote that his wife's great-grandfather died in the disaster.
"Who will be taking a memorial plunge in the 30 degree Atlantic ocean at the place where he met his death 98 years ago to experience what was described by survivors as 'a thousand knives going into the body?' " the poster wrote last month.
"This Titanic relative will NOT be attending, and I only ask when you put on your Jack and Rose costumes [from the "Titanic" movie] and drink your martinis, to remember that it is still a fresh memory of loss to many families."
But Morgan countered that the victims' relatives who have booked his cruise consider it a wonderful opportunity to commemorate their loved ones.
Nothing about the cruises is in poor taste, Willard added.

"We're not doing this to be gaudy or to be crass, we're doing it with respect and reverence and keeping in mind the moment and the occasion that we're there for," Willard said.

Source: CNN

Chilean hospital prepares for the arrival of 33 trapped miners

Military choppers are on standby to swoop into the heliport. Motorcycle police are on alert to escort a fleet of ambulances. And a throng of electric beds with crisp white sheets stand vacant and ready.
This is part of the contingency plan to rush 33 trapped miners from the spot where many hope they will be pulled out of the earth to a hospital in Copiapo, the nearest town to the collapsed San Jose gold and copper mine.
"We've been ready since Day One of this disaster," said Hernan Rojas, director of Copiapo Regional Hospital. "We expected injured miners to start coming in soon after the collapse, but this has dragged out."
Government rescue coordinator Andre Sougarret said by the end of this week, he will commission the construction of three cage-like capsules that will haul the miners back to the surface.
The government forecasts a rescue in early November. However, speculation is growing that a rescue could come much sooner, as three drills work around the clock to punch a man-size shaft through half a mile of rock into the cavern where the 33 men have been holed up since the August 5 cave-in.
President Sebastian Pinera, during a visit to the mine Sunday, fueled anticipation when he told media, "We don't know when, but it will be much sooner than you expect."
At the publicly funded Copiapo Regional Hospital, Rojas is fine-tuning his emergency response teams.
"We will be ready from the moment they extract the miners," he said. "They will come out one-by-one, and we will get communication that the miners are on their way. At that stage, we activate our internal plan."
As he strolled around a recently completed "special care unit," Rojas described how the freed miners would first be examined at a field hospital set up at the mine.
"There's going to be a field hospital. I don't know exactly what functions it will have, but there will be triage system to identify the most complex cases," he said.
Once triage is complete, the plan calls for flying the men aboard military helicopters to a heliport at the Chilean Army's 23rd Infantry Regiment based in Copiapo. That flight could take 15 or 20 minutes.
The heliport is about 300 meters from the hospital. The journey through the streets is about 800 meters.
Rojas said police would seal the streets, and motorcycles would escort ambulances to the emergency department of the hospital.
"The alarm will be raised. The hospital goes on alert, and the patients will be brought in via the emergencies department, which is open 24 hours," Rojas said.
The hospital director said some of the miners might not need special monitoring. Such miners would be accommodated in wards on the second and fourth floors. But there is space for up to 10 of the men to be interned in the newly inaugurated special care unit -- a unit intended for closely monitoring patients except those with life-threatening conditions.
"Don't look at this as a bed -- consider it a patient unit," Rojas said proudly as he showed CNN around the special care unit Wednesday. Green lights blinked on a series of buttons on the foot of the bed, and instructions for lowering and raising appeared in three languages on the bed frame.
If any of the miners' lives appear to be in danger, they will be taken directly to the intensive care unit once extracted, Rojas said. So far there's no indication that will be necessary, but Rojas said his team is prepared with traumatologists, brain surgeons and ophthalmologists.
"People ask, 'They've been so long underground, could their eyesight be damaged?' I don't know the answer right now," Rojas said.
He said the core team in the 10-bed special care unit would consist of a staff nurse and three paramedics per shift plus a doctor making rounds. Specialists would visit the miners in that unit on an as-needed basis.
If any of the miners refuse hospital treatment in favor of simply trying to head home with their loved ones, they will be dissuaded, Rojas said.
"That will be the basic task of the frontline medical team up at the mine. The people from mental health and the psychologists will have to use their charm on the miners to persuade them to get checked over before they discharge them," Rojas said.
The special care unit at Copiapo Regional Hospital still smells of fresh green paint. White sheets are covered with rolls of clear plastic to stop dust settling. Heart monitors are off, and suction pumps and oxygen lines remain silent.
This ward has never been used before. It was completed two months before the San Jose mine caved in.
With their hospital located in the heart of one of Chile's major mining regions, staff members at the Copiapo facility have treated miners from accidents before. But none of the accidents have attracted this level of worldwide attention.
"We're used to treating the local people and not making much noise or fuss about it. But this is different," Rojas said.
As he showed off pristine white forms to record the miners' vital signs and other medical notes, Rojas fidgeted in his suit pockets.
"The only thing I'm still missing is the pen," he said.

And, of course, 33 would-be patients who remain trapped half a mile underground.

Source: CNN

Why the Devil doesn't buy Prada online

The Devil might wear Prada, but until recently he would have had a devil of a time buying it direct from the fashion company's website.
Prada, like many leading purveyors of designer clothing and luxury goods, until two months ago had avoided selling its products direct via the Internet. Even now it just sells accessories, not clothes.
The Italian fashion house isn't alone. Marc Jacobs, the American label owned by French luxury conglomerate LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton, is only this week taking its first tentative steps into online retailing.
Prior to the re-launch of the Marc Jacobs website, the company's online presence was used only to sell the brand's exclusivity, with images of glitzy gear but no electronic shopping basket in which to bundle it.
Other labels, such as shoe designer Jimmy Choo and German fashion house Hugo Boss, are selling direct online, but it's a recent trend.
So why is that, while they may lead the world when it comes to couture, many of the world's top designers are unfashionably late when it comes to e-commerce?
"Whether or not to sell online -- it's been a big debate for many years now," luxury goods analyst Marshall Cooper, CEO of LuxuryBrandNetwork.com told CNN.
"Luxury brands obtain premium prices by creating an aura around their products. On the web, it's much harder to create this aura."
Kerry Potter, contributing editor to glossy monthly fashion magazine Elle, says there has been suspicion of the internet among many established fashion houses largely due to a fear of image erosion.
"They've all been very slow to get with the program," she said, adding that a number of issues were now forcing many to change their opinion of the web.
Not least is the stellar success of independent retailers such as Net-a-porter.com, a website that learned from the mistakes of earlier failed online designer retail ventures to corner a huge slice of the market.
Net-a-porter, which offers clothing and accessories from more than 300 big name luxury brands, was launched in a backroom in London by former magazine editor Natalie Massenet in 2000.
Massenet says she spotted a gap in the market in which fashion magazines were telling consumers what -- but not where -- to buy.
"So by creating a site that does both, we think the place where the time-starved consumer gets her fashion news will also be the place where she chooses to shop," she told Fortune magazine.
Business boomed. In the year to January 2010, the site pulled in a reported $187 million. Three months later, Massenet sold her stake to Swiss luxury goods group Richemont for an estimated $78 million.
With the global economic downturn snapping at the hemlines of even the most exclusive designers, such online revenue figures have been a wake- up call.
"It's a lost opportunity more than anything," says LuxuryBrandNetwork's Cooper. "The web has become such a force in people's lives -- especially for people under 40, there is now a recognition that it cannot be ignored."
According to Potter, the shift towards online retailing is a recognition by the once dictatorial fashion industry that it is facing a "democratization," partly driven by the Internet.
She said moves by designers such as Burberry to broadcast catwalk shows on their websites, thus granting access to even the most casual fashionistas, was a tacit acknowledgement of this.
"They have had to accept that they can't rely on the same tiny slice of customers that they used to."
Added Potter, another factor is the global spread of demand, often to places where there is no access to boutiques catering to the style- conscious wealthy.
But she says, not all the impetus for change is external. Louis Vuitton -- one of the most world's most counterfeited fashion labels -- is putting the squeeze on fakes by e-selling direct, while at other labels, younger web-savvy designers are actively pushing moves online.
"A lot of fashion houses are being run by old designers who do not understand the internet. But if you look at newer, emerging labels and designers -- some are being run by women in their 30s who understand that women do not necessarily have time to spend several hours in stores looking at dresses."
So must designer labels resign themselves to losing their mystique by retailing online? Not necessarily, according to Cooper.
"I think they can protect their brand if their web presence complements their offline strategy."
Whether they can or not, it seems with Marc Jacobs now resolutely on board, e-commerce is now as inescapable a trend for the fashion industry as aviator jackets this season.

Said Potter: "What Marc Jacobs does, everyone follows."

Source: CNN

Senate halts 'don't ask, don't tell' repeal

In a graphic example of election-year politics at work, a defense bill that would repeal the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy got blocked Tuesday in the U.S. Senate by a Republican-led filibuster.
The bill stalled on a 56-43 vote, four short of the 60 votes needed to overcome the Republican opposition. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nevada, changed his vote to "no" as a tactical move, allowing him to bring the measure up later.
Reid and other Democrats accused Republicans of stalling the National Defense Authorization Act, which traditionally passes with bipartisan support, to undermine the "don't ask, don't tell" repeal and an immigration provision offering a path to citizenship for students and soldiers who are children of illegal immigrants.
Republicans countered that Democrats were trying to use defense policy act that authorizes $725 billion in military spending to force through provisions popular with their political base ahead of the November 2 congressional elections.
White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs expressed disappointment at the vote but said "we'll keep trying" to get Congress to approve the repeal of the "don't ask, don't tell" policy barring openly gay and lesbian soldiers from the military.
A federal judge recently ruled that the "don't ask, don't tell" policy was unconstitutional, and the uncertainty of congressional action after Tuesday's vote further complicated the issue.
The Human Rights Campaign, a gay rights advocacy group, said in response to the vote that the Justice Department should let the court ruling stand instead of filing an appeal.

"We still have a fighting chance to repeal DADT through congressional action, but in the meantime, the best interests of our men and women in uniform -- as well as the country -- are served by doing everything we can do to get rid of this discriminatory law," said Joe Solmonese, the group's president.
Debate on the defense bill was rancorous in the run-up to the vote. Republicans accused Reid of trying to prevent them from proposing amendments to the bill and criticized his plan to tack on the immigration provision, known as the DREAM Act.
"I've never seen such a cynical use of the needs of the men and women of the military," said GOP Sen. John McCain of Arizona, the top Republican on the Armed Services Committee, calling the expanded bill "a cynical act for political reasons as the election nears to try to salvage what appears to be a losing campaign."
Reid countered that the Republican opposition was a blow to gay and lesbian Americans, as well as those born to illegal immigrants, who want to serve their country.
"The Defense Department¹s strategic plan explicitly states that passage of the DREAM Act is critical to helping the military shape and maintain a mission-ready all-volunteer force," Reid said in a statement.
McCain and other Republicans "should know better than anyone that patriots who step up to serve our grateful nation should be offered a path to citizenship, and that anyone who volunteers to serve should be welcomed regardless of their sexual orientation," Reid's statement said.
Republican opponents included some GOP senators who favor lifting the Pentagon's requirement that gays and lesbians keep their sexuality a secret.
However, they expressed concern that Democratic leaders could limit GOP amendments to the broader National Defense Authorization Act that includes the "don't ask, don't tell" provision.
Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the chamber's top Republican, proposed an agreement for the chamber to consider 20 amendments on a rotating basis, but none could include adding the DREAM Act to the bill.
Reid rejected the proposal, saying such an agreement was too great a departure from how the Senate normally conducted its business. Another of the chamber's Democratic leaders, Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois, said McConnell's proposal was intended to "stop the DREAM Act."
With 59 seats in the chamber, Senate Democrats and their allies needed at least one Republican vote to reach the 60 needed to overcome a GOP filibuster.
However, none of the moderate Republicans who in the past have voted with Democrats crossed the aisle this time.
"I find myself on the horns of a dilemma," Sen. Susan Collins of Maine said before the vote.
Collins explained that she supported repeal of the "don't ask, don't tell" policy but "cannot vote to proceed to this bill under a situation that is going to shut down debate and preclude Republican amendments."
She called for an agreement that guarantees "full and open debate," adding: "Now is not the time to play politics simply because an election is looming in a few weeks."
On Monday, pop star Lady Gaga held a rally to call on both Collins and fellow Maine Republican Sen. Olympia Snowe to join Democrats in overcoming the expected GOP filibuster attempt.
Both Snowe and Collins oppose the "don't ask, don't tell" policy, and Collins was the sole Republican vote in the Senate Armed Services Committee in support of getting rid of it.
However, both joined the GOP filibuster after Reid refused to change his approach.
Reid had said he wanted the Senate to take up the bill now, but no final vote would take place until after the November 2 elections. He rejected the GOP calls for an agreement on how the amendment process would proceed, citing what he called a pattern of Republicans obstructing debate on important policies.
The legislation, which is a broad defense policy bill, would rescind "don't ask, don't tell" after the Pentagon completes a review of the repeal's impact on the military.
The review is due in December and would serve as the basis for certification by the president, defense secretary and chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff that the military could handle repealing the policy.
On Tuesday, the general nominated to head the Marine Corps told a Senate committee that he believes responses from Marines on repealing the "don't ask, don't tell" policy have been mostly negative so far.
Gen. James Amos said he had heard that at Marine bases and in Marines' responses to an online survey, the feeling "is predominantly negative." He added, however, "I don't know that as a fact."
In written answers to the Senate Armed Services Committee, Amos said he opposes repeal of the "don't ask, don't tell" policy now because it could disrupt cohesion due to "significant change during a period of extended combat operations." At the same time, Amos made clear that he would oversee a repeal if ordered to do so.
"The Marine Corps is probably one of the most faithful services you have in our country," Amos said. "And if the law is changed by Congress and signed by the president of the United States, the Marine Corps will get in step and do it smartly."
Many Republicans complain that Congress should not step in until after that military review is completed.
McCain, the top Republican on the Armed Services Committee, said that approving a repeal provision before finishing the review process would amount to an insult to military personnel.
"The most fundamental thing we could do to honor the sacrifice of our troops is to take the time to hear their views," McCain said Tuesday.
McCain also cited statements by the heads of the four military branches opposing congressional action on the issue before the review process is completed.
Democrats noted that Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Adm. Mike Mullen, the Joint Chiefs chairman, have said publicly that they support repealing "don't ask, don't tell."

The military has working groups looking at how to implement the change if ordered. The groups are looking at issues such as housing to entitlements and even personal displays of affection.

Source: CNN

Men allege sexual coercion by prominent Atlanta pastor

Two Georgia men have filed suit claiming that prominent Atlanta pastor Eddie Long coerced them into sex.
The suits, filed Tuesday in DeKalb County, Georgia, allege that Long used his position as a spiritual authority and bishop to coerce young male members and employees of his New Birth Missionary Baptist Church into sex.
"Defendant Long has a pattern and practice of singling out a select group of young male church members and using his authority as Bishop over them to ultimately bring them to a point of engaging in a sexual relationship," the suits allege.
Long is considered one of the nation's top black preachers.
The pastor took one plaintiff, Anthony Flagg, 21, on overnight trips to a half-dozen American cities in recent years, Flagg's suit alleges.
"Long shared a bedroom and engaged in intimate sexual contact with plaintiff Flagg including kissing, massaging, masturbating of plaintiff Flagg by defendant Long and oral sexual contact," the suit says.
Long took the other plaintiff, Maurice Murray Robinson, 20, to Auckland, New Zealand, in October 2008 for his 19th birthday and engaged in oral sex with him, Robinson's suit alleges.
"Following the New Zealand Trip, Defendant Long regularly engaged in sexual touching, and other sexual acts with Plaintiff Robinson," Robinson's suit alleges.
Long spokesman Art Franklin said Tuesday that "we categorically deny the allegations."
"It is very unfortunate that someone has taken this course of action," he said. "Our law firm will be able to respond once attorneys have had an opportunity to review the lawsuit."
Both plaintiffs said the pastor, his church and church employees gave them cash and lavish gifts that ranged from cars to college tuition.
The suits also said that Long framed the sexual relationships as religious in nature.
"Defendant Long would use Holy Scripture to discuss and justify the intimate relationship between himself and Plaintiff Robinson," Robinson's suit alleges.

The suits are seeking unspecified amounts of punitive damages from Long on various counts, ranging from negligence to breach of fiduciary duty.

Source: CNN

President Barack Obama's top economic adviser is going back to Harvard University at year's end, the White House announced Tuesday after hints of a shakeup of the administration's team. Larry Summers, the former Treasury secretary who led Obama's National Economic Council, will return to academia at the end of 2010, the White House announced. In a written statement on the move, Obama praised Summers for his "brilliance, experience and judgment." "Over the past two years, he has helped guide us from the depths of the worst recession since the 1930s to renewed growth," Obama said. "And while we have much work ahead to repair the damage done by the recession, we are on a better path thanks in no small measure to Larry's wise counsel." Summers, who was Harvard's president from 2001 to 2006, said he will miss the White House and the "daily challenges of economic policymaking," but was looking forward to teaching again. His departure is the third high-profile exit from the president's economic team since the beginning of summer, and it comes as the administration grapples with poor reviews of its policies after a deep recession that has unemployment at nearly 10 percent. Congressional elections are six weeks away, and a CNN-Opinion Research Corp. poll conducted in early September found nearly 60 percent of Americans disapproved of the administration's handling of the economy. Fewer than 20 percent had a positive view of conditions, the survey found. The National Bureau of Economic Research reported Monday that the recession that began in December 2007 officially ended in June 2009. But growth has been sluggish, unemployment currently stands at 9.6 percent and economists are debating whether the U.S. economy is headed for another downturn. A White House official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Summers had committed to serving only one year. Obama asked him to stay on for a second in late 2009. But Harvard has a "strict" two-year leave policy for professors, so Summers agreed "with the understanding that he would return in time for the spring semester of 2011," the official said. Summers served as Treasury secretary at the end of the Clinton administration and was the department's No. 2 official in the mid-1990s. He was criticized by conservatives for his role in the Obama administration's economic stimulus package and its bailout of automakers General Motors and Chrysler, while some of the administration's liberal supporters accused him of watering down needed reforms in the wake of the financial crisis that erupted in 2008. He was rarely seen among the cadre of White House and Treasury staffers who helped lobby for the recent overhaul of financial regulations, although he was involved behind the scenes, said lobbyists and congressional aides. When he did address the issue publicly, it was often in response to criticism of his role in the Clinton administration. Summers ran Treasury during the repeal of the Glass-Steagall Act that allowed commercial banks to get involved in investment banking, which some say contributed to the financial crisis. And he is also accused by some critics of ignoring a push for tougher regulation of derivatives by Brooksley Born, who had been the former head of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. In a forum on the business news channel CNBC on Monday, Obama said Summers and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner "have done an outstanding job, as have my whole economic team." But he added, "They've been at it for two years, and they're going to have a whole range of decisions about family that will factor into this, as well." Asked Tuesday whether the answer signaled a shakeup of the administration's economic team, Obama spokesman Robert Gibbs told reporters, "It's not for me to comment on or to make decisions for individuals that decide again they're going to go back to doing what they were doing before." Tuesday's announcement follows the July departure of Budget Director Peter Orszag and the exit earlier this month of former Council of Economic Advisers chief Christina Romer. Romer, a leading supporter of health care reform and the president's stimulus plan, was replaced by Austan Goolsbee, a trusted voice for Obama since the 2008 presidential campaign. Senior administration officials noted at the time that the never-shy Goolsbee has previously clashed with Summers in private over policy, but the officials said that those discussions were spirited but also professional.

President Barack Obama's top economic adviser is going back to Harvard University at year's end, the White House announced Tuesday after hints of a shakeup of the administration's team.
Larry Summers, the former Treasury secretary who led Obama's National Economic Council, will return to academia at the end of 2010, the White House announced. In a written statement on the move, Obama praised Summers for his "brilliance, experience and judgment."
"Over the past two years, he has helped guide us from the depths of the worst recession since the 1930s to renewed growth," Obama said. "And while we have much work ahead to repair the damage done by the recession, we are on a better path thanks in no small measure to Larry's wise counsel."
Summers, who was Harvard's president from 2001 to 2006, said he will miss the White House and the "daily challenges of economic policymaking," but was looking forward to teaching again. His departure is the third high-profile exit from the president's economic team since the beginning of summer, and it comes as the administration grapples with poor reviews of its policies after a deep recession that has unemployment at nearly 10 percent.
Congressional elections are six weeks away, and a CNN-Opinion Research Corp. poll conducted in early September found nearly 60 percent of Americans disapproved of the administration's handling of the economy. Fewer than 20 percent had a positive view of conditions, the survey found.
The National Bureau of Economic Research reported Monday that the recession that began in December 2007 officially ended in June 2009. But growth has been sluggish, unemployment currently stands at 9.6 percent and economists are debating whether the U.S. economy is headed for another downturn.
A White House official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Summers had committed to serving only one year. Obama asked him to stay on for a second in late 2009. But Harvard has a "strict" two-year leave policy for professors, so Summers agreed "with the understanding that he would return in time for the spring semester of 2011," the official said.
Summers served as Treasury secretary at the end of the Clinton administration and was the department's No. 2 official in the mid-1990s. He was criticized by conservatives for his role in the Obama administration's economic stimulus package and its bailout of automakers General Motors and Chrysler, while some of the administration's liberal supporters accused him of watering down needed reforms in the wake of the financial crisis that erupted in 2008.
He was rarely seen among the cadre of White House and Treasury staffers who helped lobby for the recent overhaul of financial regulations, although he was involved behind the scenes, said lobbyists and congressional aides. When he did address the issue publicly, it was often in response to criticism of his role in the Clinton administration.
Summers ran Treasury during the repeal of the Glass-Steagall Act that allowed commercial banks to get involved in investment banking, which some say contributed to the financial crisis. And he is also accused by some critics of ignoring a push for tougher regulation of derivatives by Brooksley Born, who had been the former head of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.
In a forum on the business news channel CNBC on Monday, Obama said Summers and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner "have done an outstanding job, as have my whole economic team." But he added, "They've been at it for two years, and they're going to have a whole range of decisions about family that will factor into this, as well."
Asked Tuesday whether the answer signaled a shakeup of the administration's economic team, Obama spokesman Robert Gibbs told reporters, "It's not for me to comment on or to make decisions for individuals that decide again they're going to go back to doing what they were doing before."
Tuesday's announcement follows the July departure of Budget Director Peter Orszag and the exit earlier this month of former Council of Economic Advisers chief Christina Romer.

Romer, a leading supporter of health care reform and the president's stimulus plan, was replaced by Austan Goolsbee, a trusted voice for Obama since the 2008 presidential campaign. Senior administration officials noted at the time that the never-shy Goolsbee has previously clashed with Summers in private over policy, but the officials said that those discussions were spirited but also professional. 

Source: CNN

Fired teacher fights to clear name after 'hit' allegation

To this day, Randolph Forde experiences a small panic attack whenever the local news comes on the television.
The former Georgia high school special education teacher was arrested in October on allegations that he offered money to one student to kill another. The story appeared on the local TV news before making national and international headlines, casting Forde as a man with an bizarre vendetta against a student he suspected of being gay.
Forde vehemently denied the allegations, and in May, a grand jury in Clayton County found there was not evidence to indict him on terroristic threat charges. But the media frenzy that accompanied the sensational allegations continues to haunt him.
"It's silly, but I just get this nervousness -- I'm afraid my face is going to show up again" on the television screen, he said. "I don't know why, but that's my natural response. I get nervous. Just being exposed like that really shook me up."
It's not just television news. Google his name and dozens of pages pop up, filled with headlines such as this one: "Teacher Accused of Trying to Put Hit on Student." The sources vary from major news sites, including CNN.com, to blogs, personal websites and chat forums.
Among the first 12 pages of Google hits, only two go beyond the initial allegations and provide a glimpse into what has become of Forde: "Teacher cleared in threat case wants apology, job back," and "Randolph Forde just wants his name back."
As a result of the allegations, Forde lost his teaching job at Mundy's Mill High School, and, he claims, his reputation. And now, thanks to the internet, he fears he may never be able to rehabilitate his name fully.
"I'm unemployed and my name is smeared all over the world," he said. "I took 15 exams to become a teacher, I have three masters' degrees and now they're worthless. You think to yourself, at least they can never take away your degree, but ... you cannot use it if your name means nothing."
The rejection letters Forde has received do not allude to the allegations or to the pages of internet search results that his name turns up. But he is convinced that potential employers may have come across them and been influenced by them.
If his suspicions were correct, he wouldn't be alone in his predicament. Online reputation management has been a growing enterprise since the explosion of social media, which allows the exchange of information and stories -- true and untrue -- faster than ever, said online reputation management consultant Andy Beal.
"It's impossible to entirely scrub your name or misdeeds from the digital landscape. When negative content about you begins to dominate Google, the trick becomes how to balance it with enough positive content to push the bad stuff down the list," Beal said, the founder ofTrackur.com, which monitors clients' online reputations.
Forde said he has not been able to afford the services of someone such as Beal, choosing to rebuild his reputation the old-fashioned way.
He has unsuccessfully applied for jobs in Washington and New York, where he last lived and held a job as a senior personnel administrator in the State Education Department before his move to Georgia. He has also thrown out lines on jobs in Maryland, where he hopes to relocate with his wife and 5-year-old son.
Forde even tried to get his old job back at Mundy's Mill High School after learning that the position had been posted on the Clayton County school district's job site.
On a typical summer day in July, with the temperature approaching triple digits, Forde donned a crisp black suit and tie and drove to a job fair at the Clayton County Professional Learning Center in Jonesboro.
With him as always was his son, Emanuel, who has become his sidekick since Forde lost his job in January.
"That's been the one good thing about this situation, spending more time with him," Forde said as he stood by his car, preparing to enter the building. He smiled as the young boy pulled at his arm. "We go everywhere together."
Forde explained he was hopeful for the first time in months. He was carrying a leather binder with copies of his résumé, degrees and teaching certificates. His wife had taped a note on his car keys that read, "I'm proud of you."
He made it as far as the front door, where the chief human resources officer of Clayton County schools stopped him.
The tone of the conversation was hushed, yet stern. The man told Forde, "I checked you out" before the job fair, and discovered that Forde did not have the "clear renewable certificate" required to teach in Clayton County.
Forde attempted to argue that the school board was responsible for his not having the certificate. He said he was in the process of obtaining the certification when he was fired from his job. He had finished the coursework, but the school system had not submitted the paperwork necessary for him to be certified, he said.
But a Clayton County schools spokesman disputed Forde's claim.
"He did not complete the work necessary to complete the program that would allow him to move forward and become certified," spokesman Charles White said. "You have to complete the program first and that would be the gateway to move toward certification."
Forde wasn't the only person turned away from the job fair, White added. Around 25 people were denied entry that day for not having proper credentials for the job.
And so Forde's search for a job and a purpose continues. He spends his days perusing online job sites and working a book about his ordeal while he looks after his son.
"I'm the only person in this situation that really lost. Everyone else has moved on. My story, when you put in the big picture, I'm just another guy that got screwed," he said.
Regardless of what Forde says or what the grand jury decided, an attorney for the teen at the heart of the allegations said the boy stands by his story.
A friend of the teen's testified at a Clayton County school board hearing in December 2009. The boy said Forde approached him on October 9 on the school bus and asked him to carry out a hit for $50, according to hearing documents. The teen testified that as the bus pulled away, Forde held up a piece of paper with his friend's name on it, implying that he was the target.
Also at the school board hearing, the accuser said the teacher had made him uncomfortable before the alleged bus incident, when Forde asked him if he was gay.
The testimony led to Forde's dismissal for misconduct, without unemployment benefits. But the decision to deny benefits was later set aside by the state Department of Labor, which found that the school board failed to "carry the burden of proof" to show Forde questioned a student's sexuality or suggested a hit on him, according to documents from the appeals hearing.
Forde fervently denies ever questioning the student's sexuality or suggesting a hit, and appears visibly upsets at the mere mention of the allegations. His voice quickens, the tone rises.
"I don't want to relive a situation and give voice to something that didn't happen to mess up my name more. That kid was misbehaving and I took him out of the classroom. I corrected him. I never asked that kid if he was gay," he said.
Eventually, he sighs and catches his breath. He pauses a moment to gather his thoughts.
"Every single day I wake up, I feel like I'm losing, and I don't know what I'm gonna do next. I don't know what to do with my life."

Source: CNN

Cardinal Newman: The man behind the pope's visit

On Sunday Pope Benedict XVI will conduct an open-air beatification Mass for the English cardinal John Henry Newman.

The Mass at Birmingham's Cofton Park is the centerpiece of his UK visit, yet the majority of British people know little about the cardinal or the significant role he played in the spread of Catholicism.

Who is Cardinal Newman and why is he being beatified?

Born John Henry Newman in 1801, he was an English priest who converted to Catholicism and was eventually made a cardinal by Rome.

He headed a movement of theologians to bring the Anglican Church back to its papal roots and was a famous author in Victorian Britain. Pope Benedict XVI is thought to be a long-time fan of his writings.

This is not the reason for his beatification, however. The Vatican's decision follows a long investigation into a supposed miracle that a deacon in Boston claimed to have experienced after offering a prayer to Newman.

Why is Pope Benedict such a fan?

Cardinal Newman is seen by Catholics as a great spiritual thinker and reformer. He led a movement of Anglicans, known as the Oxford Movement, whose aim was to return the Church of England to its Catholic roots.

He converted at the age of 44, and was made a cardinal by Pope Leo XIII. His most well-known work, the Apologia, was a memoir of his spiritual journey and is considered by critics as one of the great autobiographies of its time. His writings won him popularity and critical success -- the Irish writer James Joyce called him "the greatest of English prose writers."

Benedict meanwhile delivered a paper on Newman 25 years ago comparing him with Socrates and Thomas More, an English statesman who was executed by Henry VIII for refusing to recognize the king's legitimacy as the head of the church.

What does it mean if someone is beatified?

A person is beatified -- or made blessed -- only after it has been proved that a miracle can be attributed to them following a petition by someone in need.

What happened in the case of Cardinal Newman?

The petition came from a deacon in Boston who believes that the dead priest cured him from crippling back pain.

Doctors told Jack Sullivan in 2000 he would have to quit his religious studies to undergo surgery. He was watching a television show about Cardinal Newman and at the end there was an appeal asking anyone who had prayed to the cardinal and experienced a miracle to get in touch.

Sullivan offered a prayer asking Newman to help him walk again so that he could return to his studies. The next day he says the pain had gone. After investigating the deacon's petition over several years, the Vatican decided it was valid.

How does the Vatican judge who should be a saint?

A person who is beatified is given the title "Blessed." It is one of the steps in the canonization process by which someone is eventually recognized as a saint.

In order for this to happen, a second miracle must be recorded and verified. There is also a long investigation headed by the Vatican's Congregation for the Causes of Saints. Throughout, a Vatican official called the "general promoter of the faith," or devil's advocate, raises objections and doubts which must be resolved by the other priests.

As part of the canonization, the Church sometimes even digs up the remains of the candidate. For example, the body of Pope John XXIII, who died in 1963, was exhumed when he was beatified. According to the Vatican, the body was found to be unusually well preserved.

Source: CNN