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Hillary Clinton: Mideast Peace Talks May Be 'The Last Chance For A Very Long Time'
WASHINGTON — Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton sought to inject urgency into Israeli-Palestinian peace talks Friday, warning the negotiations may be "the last chance for a very long time" to reach an agreement.
In an unusual joint interview with Israeli and Palestinian television broadcasters a day after she presided over the launch of the first direct talks in two years, Clinton said the rise of Iranian-backed extremist ideology in the Middle East is a major reason why time is short.
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Tennessee Mosque Site Arson: Authorities Offer Reward For Information
MURFREESBORO, Tenn. — Federal investigators have decided a suspicious fire that damaged construction equipment at the site of a future mosque in Tennessee was arson.
U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives agent Steven Gerido said Friday that lab tests confirmed an accelerant was used in the fire early Saturday in Murfreesboro.
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Yoani Sanchez: The Unbearable Roundness of A Golden Ball
As if cutting a cake before it is even baked, our government has extended to 99 years the right of foreign investors to use our land. Pieces of this nation will pass into the hands of those who hold foreign passports; meanwhile local entrepreneurs are granted the use of agricultural land, in usufruct, for a mere ten years. The Official Gazette speaks of the "real estate business" when we all know that land -- our land -- is not available to Cubans who would like to acquire a small sliver on which to build.
Another recent surprise has been the announcement of the creation of several golf courses throughout the island. With the objective of promoting classy tourism, they will open the greens and manicured lawns, surrounded by luxurious amenities. When I told a friend about the coming of these expanses for entertainment, the first thing she asked me was with what water are they planning to maintain the green freshness of the grass. She lives in a neighborhood where such provisions only come twice a week, and to her, the thought of water pumps spraying the precious liquid between one hole and another is a painful one. You'll have to get used to it, my friend, because the abyss between the dispossessed citizens and those who come from abroad with bulging wallets...
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Camilla Fox: Compassionate Conservation ~ Bridging the Divide Between Animal Welfare & Conservation
Blogging in from Oxford, England from the Compassionate Conservation Conference- a ground-breaking International Symposium on animal welfare in conservation practice. The Symposium, sponsored by the Wildlife Conservation Research Unit (WildCRU) and the Born Free Foundation, has brought together scientists and practitioners from a range of disciplines to debate animal welfare issues in conservation, look for practical outcomes and promote a dialogue between the two disciplines that are often perceived as mutually exclusive
The Symposium is organized around the following themes:
⢠Animal welfare in field conservation
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Cheryl Carlesimo: A World of Sauces for Labor Day
A World of Sauces for Labor Day
Without labor nothing prospers. Sophocles
As Labor Day approaches, with the last big grilling feasts of the year, I can't help but think about my favorite part of a mixed grill - the sauce you put on top! Every country seems to have its own take on this critical accompaniment and they're all delicious. My dear friend Nestor Almendros, the great Cuban cameraman, used to tell me that the only reason I wanted to go to a Cuban restaurant was to eat the Argentinean chimichurri sauce which I managed to finish bowls of with the appetizers. And the Italians have their delicious green sauce or Salsa Verde which goes with meat or fish, depending on how you make it, and completes every platter of grilled food for my family. The French aioli is an acquired taste but if you are making bouillabaisse, there's nothing like it. And here in the United States, we have an exhaustive list of barbeque grilling sauces. My family favored a Texas barbeque version that my mother said came from John Wayne's recipe files. I don't know about that, but it is mighty good.
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U.S. Withholding Aid To Mexico Over Human-Rights Abuses
The Obama administration is withholding $26 million in aid to Mexico, recommending that the government give more power to its human rights commission and crack down on abusive soldiers.
In a report released Friday, the State Department said the Mexican government, which is mired in a violent battle with powerful drug cartels, has met human rights requirements to receive $36 million in previously withheld funds that are part of a $1.4 billion Merida Initiative.
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Eric Ehrmann: Affirmative Action Divides Brazil as Election Nears
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Jan Brewer Admits She Was Wrong About Beheading Claims
PHOENIX — Gov. Jan Brewer rose to national fame defending the state's immigration law and warning of rising violence along the U.S.-Mexico border, including a claim that headless bodies were turning up in the Arizona desert.
But the claim has come back to haunt her after her stammering debate performance in which she failed to back it up and ignored repeated questions on the issue from a scrum of reporters.
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Bill Lichtenstein: U.S. Jobs: Good News Is No News To Fox and Glenn Beck
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Wayne Pacelle: After Long Chase, Florida Bans Cruel Fox and Coyote Pens
On Wednesday, culminating a more than yearlong effort, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) outlawed fox and coyote pens, the gruesome practice of releasing a fox or coyote inside a pen to be chased and often torn apart by dogs. The Humane Society of the United States has long been campaigning to end this abusive practice, and we have made a major advance with the new policy in Florida that will save countless foxes and coyotes from this form of staged animal combat.
The process of "penning" begins with the trapping of wild foxes and coyotes. The animals are then packed into cramped cages and sometimes trucked long distances without food or water. When they reach their destination they are released one by one, bewildered, into an enclosure and forced to run for their lives. Dogs may chase the fenced-in wildlife for hours, to the point of exhaustion, but no matter the size of the enclosure there is no escape.
Georgia DNR
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Labor Day History: 11 Facts You Need To Know
Yes, Monday is a federal holiday in the United States, but Labor Day is much more than that.
Labor Day has a rich history centered around workers. This year, it has particular meaning as hundreds of thousands Americans try to get back to work. The latest jobless rate numbers show that unemployment went up from 9.5 to 9.6 percent in August.
Check out these Labor Day facts below and vote on those you find most interesting and surprising. Share your own in the comments and let us know what Labor Day means to you.
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Akbar Ahmed: An Appeal by an Islamic scholar to Grand Ayatollah Khamene'i of Iran
The following is a personal appeal by Ambassador Akbar Ahmed to the Supreme Leader of Iran, Grand Ayatollah Ali Hoseyni KhÄmene'i, to show Islamic compassion during Ramadan, the month of fasting, and free the three young American hikers who have been held in Iran for over a year. The appeal comes in advance of the Night of Power, which falls in the last days of the month. It is the time when Muslims are called to show special mercy and kindness. Ambassador Ahmed delivered this appeal, the first on behalf of the hikers by an Islamic scholar, to the senior most Iranian diplomat in Washington, D.C. last week.
The following is the text of the letter:
Shane Snow: How to Become an Internet Land Baron
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AP Issues Standards Memo: 'Combat In Iraq Is Not Over'
At some point in the last two weeks, you may have been told by someone in the news that combat operations in Iraq were over, and that the last combat troop had left the country. Well, the Associated Press is not having any of it, and in a memo from their standards editor, Tom Kent, the law in this regard has been laid down, in no uncertain terms: "To begin with, combat in Iraq is not over, and we should not uncritically repeat suggestions that it is, even if they come from senior officials."
If you recall, on August 18, 2010, NBC broadcast their world news exclusive report that the War in Iraq was over, and that the "last U.S. combat troops have pulled out of Iraq." The story got wall-to-wall coverage on MSNBC, Rachel Maddow reported from the Green Zone, and correspondent Richard Engel got to take a ride on a tank. And all of this exclusive coverage was possible because the Pentagon giftwrapped the story for them. Here's Brian Stelter of the New York Times:
Asked how the NBC broadcast constituted "an official Pentagon announcement," Steve Capus, the president of NBC News, said the broadcast was such a declaration because "the announcement that the last Stryker brigade was leaving Iraq had not been made" by the military.Read More...
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Jon Chattman: Band on the Rise: Get to Know 'The Drums'
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Glenn Beck's Ten Commandments
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Mark Fiore is a Pulitzer Prize-winning editorial cartoonist and animator whose work has appeared in the Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, the San Francisco Examiner, and dozens of other publications. He is an active member of the American Association of Editorial Cartoonists, and has a website featuring his work.
Pat Tillman's War
Pat Tillman's family says "fuck" a lot. And who can blame them? Pat's youngest brother, at the memorial service for the fallen NFL-star-turned-soldier, follows Maria Shriver's "Pat is with God now" rhetoric with, "Pat would want me to say this: He's not with God, he's fucking dead." A year later, Pat Tillman Sr. writes a blistering letter to the military brass who continued to stonewall the investigation into his son's death signed, "Fuck you…and yours." Such is the seething flavor of director Amir Bar-Lev's The Tillman Story (open today at select theaters), which paints a striking portrait of Pat Tillman's devoted and outraged family's search for the truth behind his death in eastern Afghanistan in April 2004.
The footage and documentation do perhaps more than either Tillman book (one by his mother, the other by Jon Krakauer, telling Tillman's wife's story) to walk through the life and death of the country's highest profile war-fighter. For not only do we get the emotions and efforts of the entire clan (Krakauer didn't speak with his mom, for example) but we see what unfolded in pictures, whether it's home video of Pat's Ranger outfit, rugged footage taken the day after he was killed, or evidence of the reams of redacted documents his mother pored over for years—only to be served up an anemic congressional oversight hearing.
Tony Blair's Big Lie of Omission
In his new (self-serving, of course) memoir, former British Prime Minister Tony Blair praises George W. Bush as a man of "genuine integrity and as much political courage as any leader I have ever met." Yet Blair leaves out of the 700-page tome any mention of a meeting he had with Bush in which the US president proposed a plan to trigger the Iraq war through outright deceit.
The early media coverage of Blair's book, A Journey: My Political Life, has zeroed in on his complex and dramatic relationship with Gordon Brown, his onetime political soulmate. (Blair writes about him as one would an ex-lover.) Yet Blair devotes a serious chunk to defending his decision to partner up with Bush for the Iraq war. "I can't regret the decision to go to war," he writes. "…I can say that never did I guess the nightmare that unfolded." He adds, "I have often reflected as to whether I was wrong. I ask you to reflect as to whether I may have been right."
David Wild: "The Immigrant Song": A Playlist For Arizona Governor Jan Brewer
My family and I vacationed in Arizona a few years back. We had a great time hanging around a beautiful resort in Scottsdale, hiking in some gorgeous mountains, attending a Phoenix Suns game, and even dining at my own spiritual home, Alice Cooperstown.
For the time being, however, we have absolutely no plans of going back to Arizona, Now after seeing some of Governor Jan Brewer's mind-blowing meltdown performance during her debate with Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard, I'm now frankly a little frightened for the good people of Arizona -- and yes, there are lots of them there too.
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