Most Popular Entries on HuffingtonPost http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/images/header/logo.gif http://www.huffingtonpost.com 193 70 http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/07/01/celebs-strip-down-on-twit_n_221685.html Wed, 01 Jul 2009 19:48:12 -0400
Twitter allows the subject more editorial control over the photos and no doubt gains them followers, though it lacks the chance element of a red carpet slip up. Sometimes the celeb are stripping for a good reason (Lance), and other times there seems to be no good reason (Lohan).

Click through for some of the clothing-light portraits that Katy Perry, Lenny Kravitz and more have posted on their Twitter feeds and decide if it was too much or just right.
PHOTOS:


Follow HuffPo Entertainment On Twitter! ]]> Katy Hall http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/07/04/american-flag-bikini-mome_n_225634.html Sat, 04 Jul 2009 09:00:53 -0400
The American flag has been painted on bathing suits, bikinis, and directly on skin like a bathing suit for decades. From movies to television to magazine spreads, below are the most famous iconic flag-as-bikini interpretations from the past several decades.

Good use of the flag or bad? YOU decide.

SLIDESHOW


Follow HuffPo Entertainment On Twitter! ]]> Katherine Thomson http://www.huffingtonpost.com/shannyn-moore/sarah-palin-resigns-as-al_b_225515.html Fri, 03 Jul 2009 15:18:42 -0400
UPDATE 8:02 PM EST

Sarah Palin's speech this morning rocked Alaskans and people around the country. Palin's predictability is her unpredictability. I'm seeing Alaskan flags on cars, in front of houses, some citizens expressing their own Independence Day. Other citizens are angry and playing the blame game; the bloggers, the MSM, Alaskan legislators, her family under attack, etc.

For weeks the rumors of a criminal investigation against the governor have been brewing. They are rumors, but are swirling fresh again with Palin's resignation. I'm holding my breath for the other "Naughty Monkey" to drop. Another theory for the resignation is that the Palins would have to disclose the book deal as well as other financial details as governor.

Sources say, the third in line for the governorship, Corrections Commissioner, Joe Schmidt, has declined to become Lieutenant Governor. There is no official word of who will become take Sean Parnell's position as he ascends to the governorship.

Andrea Mitchell of MSNBC is now claiming Palin has told some close to her that she is through with politics.

I have said Sarah Palin's political ambition combined with her intellect is like putting a jet engine on a golf cart; lots of horse power and no steering capabilities. Today she proved it.

Alaskans pride ourselves on our frontier spirit, but this isn't what we meant. There is much work ahead to put the drama behind us and carry on to the betterment of our state.

That's just how "mavericky" we are.

---

UPDATE 4:05 PM EST

Rumors of an "iceberg scandal" have been circulating.

Resignation is certainly out of character for Sarah Palin. Senator Mark Begich had a meeting with Sarah Palin two days ago with no mention of her leaving office. Palin's press secretary, David Murrow had posted on his Facebook page Wednesday, "David Murrow is considering life's ironies." He was hired less than a month ago. Yesterday he wrote, "There's gonna be some fireworks this weekend!"

Palin's father, Chuck Heath, told Fox News that he thought her resignation was due to the negativity from the media. According to Heath, the governor was unable to be effective while she was constantly having to defend herself against ethics complaints and the media.

You betcha!

---

ORIGINAL POST:

After Sarah Palin's Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Week she has announced she will be stepping down in a few weeks. In a press conference call this morning, Alaska's Governor Sarah Palin announced she will not run for re-election and is stepping down as governor.

She had a brief statement. She took no questions.

Her commissioners and Lt. Governor were with her at her home. Palin did not relinquish the reins of the state to the Lt. Governor while running for vice president.

Lt. Governor Sean Parnell will step in as governor at the end of the month. He was defeated by Congressman Don Young in the Republican primary last year.


---

WATCH PALIN'S RESIGNATION SPEECH:

]]> Shannyn Moore http://www.huffingtonpost.com/paul-begala/sarah-palin-turns-pro_b_225633.html Fri, 03 Jul 2009 22:35:07 -0400
As Hunter said, "When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro." Sarah Palin makes Mark Foley, the congressman who sent filthy emails to pages look almost normal. She makes David Vitter, the senator who was hanging out with hookers, look almost boring. She makes Larry Craig, caught hitting on a cop in a men's room, look almost stable. She makes John Ensign, the senator who was having an affair with a staffer, look almost humdrum (and compared to the rest of the GOP whack-jobs, he is). And she makes Mark Sanford, the governor with the Latin lover, look positively predictable.

It was an almost impossible mission, but in resigning from office with 17 months to go in her first term, Sarah Palin has made herself the bull goose loony of the GOP.

Let's stipulate that if there is some heretofore unknown personal, medical or family crisis, this was the right move. But Gov. Palin didn't say anything like that. Her statement was incoherent, bizarre and juvenile. The text, as posted on Gov. Palin's official website (here), uses 2,549 words and 18 exclamation points. Lincoln freed the slaves with 719 words and nary an exclamation; Mr. Jefferson declared our independence in 1,322 words and, again, no exclamation points. Nixon resigned the presidency in 1,796 words -- still no exclamation points. Gov. Palin capitalized words at random - whole words, like "TO," "HELP," and "AND," and the first letter of "Troops."

Gov. Palin's official announcement that she is resigning as chief executive of the great state of Alaska had all the depth and gravitas of a 13-year-old's review of the Jonas Brothers' album on Facebook. She even quoted her parents' refrigerator magnet. (Note to self: if one of my kids becomes governor, throw away the refrigerator magnet that says: "Murray's Oyster Bar: We Shuck Em, You Suck Em!") She put her son's name in quotations marks. Why? Who knows. She writes, "I promised efficiencies and effectiveness!?" Was she exclaiming or questioning? I get it: both! And I don't even know what to make of a sentence that reads:

*((Gotta put First Things First))*

Ponder the fact that Rupert Murdoch's Harper Collins publishing house is paying this, umm, writer $11 million for a book. Ponder that and say a prayer for Ms. Palin's editor.

I'm no latter-day Strunk & White, just a guy who was struck by Palin's spectacularly rambling and infantile prose. It bespeaks a rambling and infantile mind. But perhaps not. Perhaps this is all a ruse. Perhaps Gov. Palin wants us to believe she's an intellectual featherweight who is slightly shallower than an actor on High School Musical. Maybe she's trying to throw us off the trail.

Naah. A lot of people thought that about George W. Bush. He couldn't be so block-headed, they said. He couldn't be as childish and churlish as he came off. Oh yes he could. And so, too, might Ms. Palin be as vapid and puerile as her inane statement suggests.

We will know. In the fullness of time (and I predict, not much time) we will know. Again and again in her statement, Gov. Palin returned to the nettlesome ethics inquiries that have been visited upon her since she signed on to be John McCain's running mate. No doubt they are annoying. But does anyone believe that's why she's resigning? No, there's more to this story. And Ms. Palin's resignation only increases the chances that we will all know the rest of the story soon. Or, as she might put it:

We will all KNOW the "rest of the Story" *((SOON!))* ]]> Paul Begala http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jermaine-dupri/michael-jackson-beyond-gr_b_224789.html Thu, 02 Jul 2009 10:55:27 -0400
It seems we're living in a world where people build you up just so they can break you down. No one has ever really come back to the level that got them there in the first place.

So I ask you, was there a stage left big enough for Mike to moonwalk on that would have satisfied the hunger of someone who is beyond great? Honestly, I don't think so. I said it plenty of times to every artist I've worked with: if I were to produce a record that sold over 40 million, you people would never see me again in that light. Cause, after all the applause, award winning and love comes the hate, in all forms, sizes and shapes, and you can only ignore it for so long before the competitor in you is awakened. After a while, that hate starts making you think it's possible to outdo what's already been done. Mike had already achieved something that no one else could. That was his destiny.

When the media first started reporting on his death I was in New York. The minute I heard the news I was on the plane LA. As soon as I touched down the coverage started blowing up, and in all those reports they talked about "Thriller" being the biggest-selling album ever, then jumped right to, "But after that, he could never seem to top that and his legal problems, etc, etc."

First off, no one; I repeat NO ONE, has topped that and never will!!! Even in death he's done something no other artist has done before: He broke records by being the first artist eva to sell 2.5 million downloaded songs, and counting! As of today, he owns the entire top nine positions on Billboard's Top Pop Catalog Albums chart. No artist living today can match that.

But back to my original point: This being a world-stopping moment, I got a chance to view this world I live in for what it really is. I've felt that pressure cooker that the public puts you through when you've achieved a certain level of success and no one gives you props for what you've already done. Instead, they say, "So, whatchu got for us now? What's next?"

Don't let that small mindset take away from what a great artist has already given us. No one can touch what he did. We were blessed to have someone with his incredible talent living among us. God put Mike here to do what he did and wasn't gonna allow the devil and his helpers to destroy something so beautiful. He put him on the biggest stage of all. The whole world loved Mike, and Mike gave that love for his fans back tenfold. No one, not even President Obama, can top that.

Quincy Jones said it all the other day in his tribute to Mike on a blog post for the Los Angeles Times.

"This blessed artist commanded the stage with the grace of an antelope, shattered recording industry records and broke down cultural boundaries around the world, yet remained the gentlest of souls. Michael Jackson was a different kind of entertainer. A man-child in many ways, he was beyond professional and dedicated. Evoking Fred Astaire, Sammy Davis Jr. and James Brown all at once, he'd work for hours, perfecting every kick, gesture and movement so that they came together precisely the way they were intended to. Together we shared the '80s, achieving heights that I can humbly say may never be reached again and reshaped the music business forever."

Beyond great is the place Mike holds in our hearts for eternity. It was part of God's plan.

Check out my new website, Global14.com. ]]> Jermaine Dupri http://www.huffingtonpost.com/geoffrey-dunn/the-real-story-behind-pal_b_225636.html Fri, 03 Jul 2009 22:49:12 -0400
Palin has absolutely zero interest in running the State of Alaska. She steadfastly refused to live in Juneau after her first year there, had the gall to charge the state for residing at her home in Wasilla 600 miles away, and she basically mailed in her performance as the state's top administrator during Alaska's most recent legislative session. She has alienated virtually all the key legislators in her own party -- that's right, Republicans -- and had failed to move any key legislation forward since her return to Alaska from the national campaign trail last November.

In fact, her bizarre appointment for Attorney General, Wayne Anthony Ross, was rejected nearly unanimously by the state legislature -- a first in Alaskan history. Even in respect to energy policy, her supposed bailiwick, she has been categorically ineffective. When I asked those in-the-know what role Palin had played in putting together the recent pipeline deal between TransCanada and Exxon, their response was simple: "None."

None. That about sums up Palin's accomplishments as Governor of the Last Frontier.

The evangelical right can wallow in denial all they want about Palin being victimized by liberals or Democrats or even George Soros (some illiterate wingnut recently tried to link me to him), but the fact is that most of the people with really bad things to say about Palin -- from John McCain's staff to conservatives in Alaska -- come from the Republican Party. The charges of a left-wing conspiracy are so ridiculous as to be absolutely absurd.

But then what coming from the Palin camp isn't?

Moreover, Palin was facing what would have been a hugely embarrassing veto override by the Alaska legislature at the beginning of the next session in January over her politically postured refusal to accept Federal stimulus funds. If this past legislative session was a setback for Palin, the upcoming session would have been an absolute public relations disaster -- hardly the proper entree for her presidential campaign.

My sources in Wasilla tell me that Palin's father, Chuck Heath, has spoken repeatedly about the "liberal press" and dreaded "bloggers" taking their toll on his daughter. I recently discovered an early, telling email by Palin complaining to her pal Meg Stapleton about something a blogger had written in the Anchorage Daily News and how significantly it bothered her -- "kind of makes my stomach turn over," she wrote. Palin can dish, but she can't take it. She's got a terribly thin skin. When I reported here less than a month ago that Palin had clearly lifted passages from an article by Newt Gingrich and Craig Shirley (whose name she didn't even bother to mention) she and her entourage went apoplectic. What she had done was blatantly obvious and she would have been tossed from any reputable college or university for such slipshod citation. Palin, and the sycophants with whom she surrounds herself, simply have no moral compass.

Some pundits have said that Palin's resignation is out of character. Hardly. Don't forget that she resigned from her last statewide office -- that as chair of the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission. Sarah Palin is a quitter. She fancies herself something else. But, in the end, she quit her position at AOGCC and she has now quit her governorship. That's two-for-two at the statewide level. In Wasilla, there was nearly a recall launched against her as mayor. Trouble and turbulence have followed her everywhere.

More importantly, there are rumors in Alaska that more Ethics Act charges are in the works and that there is also a more serious Federal investigation focusing on Palin during her tenure as mayor in Wasilla and the building of her home and a sports complex in Wasilla, long speculated to have been linked. It's the one very touchy subject whenever you bring it up in the MatSu Valley. As someone who is writing a book on Palin, I can attest to the fact that there are always rumors flying about her, not all of them true, but this seems like a real possibility, especially given the timing of her announcement today.

Palin also has a multi-million dollar book project for Rupert Murdoch that she needs to complete in time for a spring release. That's some serious cabbage, and there were grumblings in Alaska about the book deal as well. There will be other lucrative, high-visibility media options for her shortly down the road. Don't be surprised to hear of one of those popping up soon. This frees her up to reach for the gold ring without her minions being able to register any complaints. In that respect, it's a logical move.

A longtime Republican in Alaska who has known Palin since she ran for lieutenant governor in 2002 told me that Palin "enthusiastically embraced" her trip to Georgia last year in which she campaigned for Senator Saxby Chambliss. She sees herself doing that around the country in 2010, raising money for conservative Republicans and, by so doing, building support for a presidential candidacy in 2012. "She was absolutely adored in Georgia," said the GOP operative, "and she loved her role there --preaching her particular brand of conservatism to the already converted." And make no mistake about it: Sarah Palin is by far the biggest ticket item that GOP has in its dwindling catalog of candidates.




All of the recent public donnybrooks have taken their toll: First the article by Mark Purdum in Vanity Fair and then the even nastier revelations of emails leaked by the McCain campaign which showed her to be an utter liar regarding her husband Todd's membership in the Alaska Independent Party. Even the seemingly innocuous interview in Runner's World, with its bizarre, braggadocio boast of her having more endurance than Obama, revealed her penchant for duplicity at every turn: the assertion that an injury she had sustained while jogging in Arizona had been kept top-secret, a contention thoroughly disputed by the inimitable Mudflats.

One of my favorite lies spewed by Palin today in yet another poorly scripted speech was that she campaigned for governor "four years ago...," when she, in fact, ran for governor three years ago and held her position for little more than two-and-half years. It's the little lies she always tells, the twists of truth, the distortions. Four years sounds like nearly a full term; three feels incomplete. So why not just call it four?

For all her projected toughness, Palin loves to play the victim. "Political operatives descended on Alaska last August, digging for dirt," she whined, implying that her problems are from out-of-state (yet another big lie). "Over the past nine months I've been accused of all sorts of frivolous ethics violations..." It wasn't quite Richard Nixon's "Checker's Speech," but it was close. In her own awkward vernacular, the Governor was essentially saying to Alaska, "You won't have Sarah Palin to kick around any more."

Here's a little bit of Alaska inside talk for you. Those close to the governor have consistently indicated to me that they privately blame Mitt Romney & Co. as the source of a lot of the media hits on Palin. It may even be true. But with today's announcement, Palin will soon be on equal footing with Romney -- no longer saddled by statewide office and free to travel and maneuver however and wherever she damn well pleases. Today's statement was a great equalizer for 2012.

By being a lame duck, Palin would have exposed herself to more negative coverage, more public failure. By stepping down she allows herself to regroup, get out from under the microscope and re-emerge as a national figure without the constant strain of serving as governor.

Some news sources are claiming that Palin is stepping away from politics permanently; perhaps. But I didn't hear that today. What I heard were typical Palin code words that she has her ambitions set for higher office, for a national stage. Her shots at Obama's stimulus package were just one of many signals aimed directly at Washington.

So do not think for a moment that this is the last we will be hearing from Sarah Palin. The Federal Election Commission will soon be reporting how much money Palin's SarahPAC has raised over the past four months. You can bet that Palin has a lot of gas left in her tank. She is the gift that John McCain gave us that will not go away.

Award-winning investigative journalist and documentary filmmaker Geoffrey Dunn is at work on a book about Sarah Palin and her role in American politics, to be published by Macmillan/St. Martin's in 2010.
]]> Geoffrey Dunn http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/07/02/bar-refaeli-naked-on-a-be_n_224123.html Thu, 02 Jul 2009 16:12:52 -0400
Set to music and with no dialogue, the Israeli supermodel is naked and wrapped in a sheet as she lolls about in bed. The video was supposedly made to promote an art exhibition in her native country.


WATCH:


Follow HuffPo Entertainment On Twitter! ]]> Katherine Thomson http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/07/03/sarah-palin-out-of-politi_n_225619.html Fri, 03 Jul 2009 20:35:43 -0400
Speaking on MSNBC, Andrea Mitchell reported that, according to "people very close to Sarah Palin," she has "told her supporters that she is out of politics, period. She is fed up with politics. She doesn't like her life. She feels that she needs to raise her family. She's sick of the commute from Wasilla to the capital. And she really does not want to run for higher office, that this is not a case where she is stepping down in order to clear the way for a presidential run. In fact, she has told some of her biggest backers in the national Republican Party that they are free to choose other candidates for 2012, which of course opens new avenues for Mitt Romney, for Tim Pawlenty, for other potential candidates who are definitely in the running."

Here's video:



Meanwhile, Alaska-based reporter-blogger Shannyn Moore is hearing potentially more damaging revelations are to come. "For weeks the rumors of a criminal investigation against the governor have been brewing," she writes. She spoke of the rumors with MSNBC's David Shuster, saying the talk of a criminal probe into Palin has been circulating for six to eight weeks, and that today's press conference seemed to be Palin's effort at "damage control for news to come out later."

Moore also noted that it made little sense for Palin to resign now to prepare for a presidential run, especially considering she continued on as governor during the 2008 presidential campaign unlike Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, who both turned over power to their Lieutenant Governors when they were running for national office.



Writing for the Daily Beast, Max Blumenthal pinpointed a burgeoning story that may be the source of the rumblings in Alaska:

Many political observers in Alaska are fixated on rumors that federal investigators have been seizing paperwork from SBS in recent months, searching for evidence that Palin and her husband Todd steered lucrative contracts to the well-connected company in exchange for gifts like the construction of their home on pristine Lake Lucille in 2002. The home was built just two months before Palin began campaigning for governor, a job which would have provided her enhanced power to grant building contracts in the wide open state.

Filed by Nico Pitney ]]> Nico Pitney http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/07/02/colbert-tells-viewers-to_n_224628.html Thu, 02 Jul 2009 07:54:36 -0400
Stephen Colbert tipped his hat to Rep. Davis last night, applauding her decision, but worrying that she never rose above the rank of state representative because she developed the anti-motivating habit of eating. He called on Missourians to help her by denying her food whenever possible. That should give her her edge back.

Colbert went on to wag his finger at Fox News for identifying Mark Sanford as a Democrat in their chyron. He understands that it is a natural response to assume anything bad that happens is the fault of a liberal, but agrees with Peggy Noonan that we should all be blaming one liberal in particular: Bill Clinton.

WATCH:

The Colbert ReportMon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c]]> Alex Leo http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/07/02/shepard-smith-gets-annoye_n_224652.html Thu, 02 Jul 2009 08:29:01 -0400
WATCH:



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]]> Nick Graham http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/07/02/unemployment-rate-hits-95_n_224640.html Thu, 02 Jul 2009 08:55:20 -0400
Heidi Shierholz, an economist with the Economic Policy Institute, said that the loss of 6.5 million jobs since the start of the recession combined with the growth of the workforce means that the gains of the previous business cycle have been completely blown away.

"This is the only recession since the Great Depression to wipe out all jobs growth from the previous business cycle, a devastating benchmark for the workers of this country and a testament to both the enormity of the current crisis and to the extreme weakness of jobs growth from 2000-2007," said Shierholz in a statement.

The ranks of the long-term unemployed -- people out of work for 27 weeks or more -- grew by 433,000 in June to a total of 4.4 million. Three in 10 of the unemployed are now long-term unemployed. The collapse of the housing industry contributes to their plight.

"We know right now because of the housing crisis that people can't move to find another job," Shierholz said. "People that in previous recessions may have been able to relocate to find another job can't now."

The Huffington Post has been profiling people who've been out of work for long periods of time. Marvin Bohn of Ohio hasn't worked for a year and has been paying for his meds out-of-pocket. Steve Dittmann of Kansas said of the unemployed life, "I feel like I'm on the other side of a Plexiglass wall looking in."

A broader measure of labor underutilization that accounts for people who've stopped looking for work hit 16.5% in June, a 0.1 percentage point increase.

"In June, there were large decreases in manufacturing, construction, and professional and business services," said Bureau of Labor Statistics Commissioner Keith Hall in a statement. "Together, these three sectors have accounted for nearly three-quarters of the jobs lost since the recession began.

Many economists have predicted that even when the recession is technically over with the economy beginning to expand, there will be a "jobless recovery" as unemployment hovers in the double-digits.

HuffPost readers: Have you joined the ranks of the long-term unemployed? Tell us about it -- email arthur@huffingtonpost.com. ]]> Arthur Delaney http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/07/03/iran-uprising-blogging-fr_n_225333.html Fri, 03 Jul 2009 02:17:04 -0400
11:45 AM ET, July 4th -- Mousavi a U.S. agent, should face trial, editorial claims. Hossein Shariatmadari, the Editor-in-Chief of hardline newspaper Kayhan, called Mousavi a U.S. agent and said he should face trial for 'committing crimes against the nation' in an editorial published Saturday, the AP reports.

While hard-line figures had previously demanded Mir Hossein Mousavi be prosecuted for describing Iran's June 12 elections fraudulent and leading demonstrations afterward, the editorial was the first public declaration that the opposition leader was a foreign agent.

7:48 PM ET -- Grand Ayatollah Sanei releases another statement supporting demonstrators. A reader writes, "You may have seen this statement from Grand Ayatollah Yousof Sanei -- an Iranian scholar, renowned theologian and Islamic philosopher. He is known as a senior reformist cleric and a Grand Marja (source) of Shia Islam. He is particularly noteworthy for issuing a fatwa in which he declared suicide bombing as haram and a 'terrorist act.' ... Sanei retired as the head of the Guardian Council in 1988 and has not held any political office since."

An English version was posted on his website:

HIS EXCELLENCY GRAND AYATOLLAH SAANEI'S SYMPATHY WITH THE FAMILIES OF THE VICTIMS OF THE RECENT DISASTERS


While extending my sincere condolences to the families of the victims of the recent tragedies, and wishing a speedy recovery for the injured, particularly for our precious and devoted student body in Esfahan, Shiraz, Tehran, and other cities, who have stood up for their rights and have of late protested against the ambiguities surrounding the election results, seeking clarification which is indeed their right, I hereby express my grave sorrow and grief at the detestable incidents as have taken place and also express my aversion to those who had a hand in those disasters and tragedies. I hope that the wishes of the people will be fulfilled and their demands will be met by those responsible in the system, whose foremost duty should be the protection of people's life and property.

7:45 PM ET -- U2 goes Green. Via reader Jashar, U2 performed last night in Barcelona and played their hit "Sunday Bloody Sunday" -- about British troops who shot and killed civil rights marchers in Ireland -- as green light covered the stage and Farsi lyrics ran across the screens.

A commenter on U2's website described the scene:

First up, the previous song outros with a beautiful lilting vocal piece by (we discover) Iranian-born singer Sussan Deyhim. Then as the rhythmic opening bars of 'Sunday' arrive, the overhead spherical screens turn a luminous shade of green as farsi script script scrolls into sight.



7:40 PM ET -- Iran state media: West 'regretting' its stance. This analysis is...interesting. From Press TV:

A senior Iranian dignitary says Western powers are regretting the inappropriate stance they adopted in the wake of the June 12 presidential election.


"Western countries have now realized their stance on the Iranian elections was undoubtedly out of line," head of the Iranian Parliament's National Security and Foreign Policy Commission Alaeddin Boroujerdi said on Friday.

Boroujerdi said British Foreign Secretary David Miliband's recent telephone conversation with his Iranian counterpart Manouchehr Mottaki shows that political heavyweights in Europe are retracting their wrong claims on Iran.

"After three weeks of resentment, [European countries] have a long way to go before rebuilding trust with Iran," said Boroujerdi.

7:38 PM ET -- "My fellow schoolmate." The Revolutionary Road blog has posted a really wonderful video of a student demonstration that reportedly took place in the last few days at Kashan University. The students "form chains and sing 'Yare dabestani' -- 'My Fellow Schoolmate' -- a classic revolutionary song that every Iranian around knows by heart."

Watch it all (and read the song lyrics) here.



7:33 PM ET -- "Ten days of anguish, abuse inside Tehran's prison archipelago." The Los Angeles Times publishes another account of the brutal violence facing people swept up by the Basij:

Ali-Reza said he was near Tehran's Fatemi Square on June 13, a day of riots and unrest just after the election, when he spotted the plainclothes Basiji fighters beating a man "in a very bad way," he said.


"Do not beat him!" he protested to the Basijis.

But instead of laying off, the militiamen came after him. "They started to follow me," he said. "I ran and changed my direction, but in a dead-end street they caught me."

He said they began pummeling him. "The started to beat and beat and beat me, with their batons, feet and cables."

They stuffed him into a van with other young men and women and took them to a holding cell near Horr Square, where they were all beaten for more than two hours, he said.

"You voted for Mousavi," one of the Basijis told them, according to Ali-Reza. "Beating you is our right. We can even kill you."

The violence continued for days.

1:27 PM ET -- The Nation's cover story: "Iran's Green Wave." It is absolutely worth going over and reading Robert Dreyfuss' complete cover story in this week's Nation magazine. He was in Iran for the election and its aftermath, and has a wealth of interesting details. Here's a taste:

[T]here was the Obama factor. Countless Iranians watched his June 4 Cairo speech, and its transcript was parsed word by word. By offering to respect Iran rather than locating it in the "axis of evil," Obama appealed to secular nationalists, activists seeking greater individual freedom and businessmen hungering for an end to the sanctions strangling Iran's economy. Nearly everyone I spoke with during the ten days I was in Iran brought up Obama, whether I asked or not. At a frenzied Moussavi rally in the city of Karaj, west of the capital, I met a campaign organizer, Hojatolislam Akbar Hamidi, 48, a distinguished cleric who's known Moussavi for more than twenty years. "I listened to Obama's speech, and it made me very happy," he told me. "But we're afraid that some Iranian authorities do not understand the positive message of Obama." In interviews at polling places on election day, dozens of voters praised Obama's opening to Iran. At a Tehran mosque where hundreds of people were lined up to vote, several dozen crowded around as I asked an older woman why she supported Moussavi. When I suggested, "Perhaps Moussavi and Obama might meet someday soon?" the crowd, translating for one another, erupted in cheers, laughter and thumbs-up signs.


More prosaically, many plugged-in Iranians told me that nearly the entirety of Iran's business class is fed up with Ahmadinejad's bellicose rhetoric, and they want to put an end to sanctions. Saeed Laylaz, an economist and former official at the Ministry of Industry, said that as a result of sanctions critical sectors of the economy--including computers and information technology, oil and natural gas, and civil aviation--are suffering badly. "Ahmadinejad's is the first right-wing government since the revolution, and it has been a catastrophe," he said. "You cannot run the government with populism. You need experts. You need technocrats. You need planners." (Laylaz was arrested days after the election; he's still in detention.) To get a sense of what the business community thinks, during election week I attended a forum packed with executives at the offices of Etelaat, a liberal newspaper, where eight former ministers of oil, industry and mining slammed the government over its incompetence. Later, at Moussavi's campaign office, one of them, Mohammad Reza Nematzadeh, who was minister of industry under Khatami, told me that he'd put his business on hold to travel across the country working for Moussavi. "I'm a businessman, and I've been reluctant to get into politics," he told me over several cups of tea. "It's the desire of most of us in the business community to rebuild relations with the United States," he said. "It doesn't mean that we have to give up our independence or our dignity."

Besides reformists, students, women and businessmen, Khamenei and Ahmadinejad are losing their core constituency: the clergy. And given that Iran is a state run by the priestly class, that might prove their undoing. I spoke to a dozen or so clerics, from low- to mid-ranking mullahs to a few who'd attained the rank of hojatolislam, just below ayatollah. There are hundreds of thousands of mullahs in Iran, perhaps a hundred or more who have attained the rank of ayatollah, and just two dozen or so who have developed sufficient reputation and following to be called grand ayatollah. And more and more of them, including many grand ayatollahs, have joined the opposition. "After the television debates with Ahmadinejad, a large number of mullahs who'd been undecided went over to Moussavi," one hojatolislam told me. They were offended, he said, by Ahmadinejad's insulting attitude toward Moussavi--particularly his rhetorical assault on his wife, Rahnavard, whom he accused of falsifying her academic credentials--and his accusations against Rafsanjani and Khatami. "A president should be polite," the cleric told me. "Impolite behavior and ugliness cannot be accepted."

1:21 PM ET -- Friday prayers. Some images from today.

Iran's head of the Guardian Council Ahmad Janati delivers his speech at the weekly Friday prayers sermon in Tehran University on June 3, 2009. The powerful Iranian cleric said that some local British embassy staff will be put on trial for allegedly stoking post-election unrest, a move set to plunge already strained ties to a new low.







1:11 PM ET -- New video. Via reader Jenny, this video was uploaded today, but the date of the events is unclear. Given the smaller crowd sizes, it seems very likely to have been filmed at least a few days after the massive demonstration on Saturday.

What's curious is that this video was apparently aired by Iran's state media (notice the PressTV logo). Also, throughout much of the footage, one can hear what sounds to be a photo camera clicking -- perhaps someone capturing images of the people in the streets.

(Warning: some intense images, including a militiaman trying to run over a demonstrator with his motorcycle.)



1:08 PM ET -- Report: U.S. to block Iran sanctions at G8. "The United States is opposed to enacting a new set of financial sanctions against Iran that are due to be discussed in the G8 summit next week, diplomatic officials in New York reported Friday. According to officials, sanctions against Iran are expected to top the G8's agenda. Sources are also predicting a pointed debate between the heads of the industrialized nations over an appropriate response to Iranian authorities' suppression of reformist demonstrations in Iran led by Mir Hossein Mousavi and other Iranian opposition leaders. "

12:49 PM ET -- Iran views: Quiet but not normal. The BBC publishes three first-person accounts from Iranians. One describes being beaten at the hands of Basij paramilitaries and the climate of fear around Internet use. Another offers this observation:

Most of the shouting from the rooftops at night has been coming from the rich and middle class areas of Tehran. There's much less, if any, from the poor areas.


On Monday I was in Niavaran Park, a very expensive area. I heard people shouting 'Allahu Akbar' as you wouldn't believe!

Afterwards I wondered if it's because the rich have satellites and can watch foreign TV, so they are influenced by that. But the poor don't have satellites and just watch the normal government TV.

12:47 PM ET -- Dalton on Iran. The tireless Steve Clemons posts an interview he conducted with Sir Richard Dalton, the UK ambassador to Iran from 2002-06.

Clemons writes, "Despite Dalton's clear concerns about the unprecedented eruption we have seen recently in Iran, he believes that engagement with Iran's regime should be a top priority."



12:42 PM ET -- New UN watchdog: no hard evidence Iran seeking nukes. Some provocative comments from the new IAEA chief: "The incoming head of the U.N.'s nuclear watchdog said Friday he did not see any hard evidence that Iran was trying to gain the ability to develop nuclear weapons. 'I don't see any evidence in IAEA official documents about this,' Yukiya Amano told Reuters in his first direct comment on Iran's nuclear program since his election, when asked whether he believed Iran was seeking a nuclear weapons capability."

12:11 PM ET -- EU summons all Iranian ambassadors in coordinated protest. Tensions are definitely rising.

The EU decided today to summon all Iranian ambassadors in capitals across Europe in a co-ordinated protest over the detention of UK embassy staff. The move came after a senior cleric said some of the staff accused of inciting protests following last month's disputed presidential election would be put on trial.


The head of Iran's guardian council, Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati, said the detained staff members had "made confessions" in connection with the unrest.

The surprise move by the council, Iran's top legislative body, will cause relations between London and Tehran to deteriorate further after tit-for-tat diplomatic expulsions last week.

10:01 AM ET -- Iran cleric says British embassy staff to stand trial. The New York Times reports:

Brushing aside British and European efforts to seek the release of local British Embassy staff members held in Tehran, the Iranian authorities indicated Friday that they plannedto put some of them on trial -- a move that deepened a diplomatic crisis and could provoke the withdrawal of ambassadors.


In London, the Foreign Office said it was urgently checking reports that the Iranian authorities planned to put two of its local employees on trial. Nine staff members were seized after the unrest sparked by Iran's disputed presidential elections on June 12.

Hours after the Iranian threat, the European Union seemed to hold back from an out-and-out showdown, resolving to summon Iranian ambassadors in all 27 countries to send "a strong message of protest against the detention of British Embassy local staff and to demand their immediate release," a European diplomat said, speaking in return for anonymity.

Other measures -- such as a ban on issuing visas to Iranian travelers and a pullout of European ambassadors -- would be considered depending on how the crisis unfolded, the diplomat said.

9:35 AM ET -- "In possible signal to Iran, Israel sends sub through Suez canal." The Jerusalem Post, which tends towards sensationalism, offers this report:

After a long hiatus, the Israeli Navy has returned to sailing through the Suez Canal, recently sending one of its advanced Dolphin-class submarines through the waterway to participate in naval maneuvers off the Eilat coast in the Red Sea.


IDF sources said the decision to allow navy vessels to sail through the canal was made recently and was a definite "change of policy" within the service. In 2005, then OC Navy Adm. David Ben-Bashat decided to stop sending Israeli ships through the canal due to growing threats in the area.

In the run-up to Iran's election, there was ample reporting that the Netanyahu-led government in Israel saw an Ahmadinejad victory as the optimal scenario -- he was a better bogeyman to use to rally international support. Since the Green uprising, the commentary from Israeli analysts has been far more divided (many now see Mousavi as a far better option), and there have been demonstrations by ordinary Israelis in support of Iran's reformists.

Yet the rhetoric from Netanyahu and Avigdor Lieberman continues to seemingly be aimed at injecting Israel into the debate in Iran (both Israeli leaders have, for instance, openly endorsed Mousavi). These are displays of support that only serve to strengthen Ahmadinejad's hand domestically.

UPDATE: Here's Israeli Ambassador Michael Oren discussing Iran with The Atlantic's Jeffrey Goldberg yesterday at the Aspen Ideas Festival (Iran section starts at 3:00):



9:31 AM ET -- Blogger who claimed Ahmadinejad had Jewish roots reportedly arrested. "The Iranian blogger who claimed President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has Jewish roots is being detained by the authorities after he was arrested along with 150 university students earlier this week, according to sources in Teheran. Dr. Mehdi Khazali, who reportedly participated in several recent opposition demonstrations, was reportedly summoned to a special court convened for religious figures, detained and transferred to an unknown location."

3:51 AM ET -- Jordan shuts down Press TV? Sara writes, "According to BBC Persian, Al-Alam has written to the network news offices in Amman ordering the state offices of the English-language Iranian television network of Press TV to be shut down." More Press TV discussion below.

3:43 AM ET -- Ahmadinejad 'facing diplomatic isolation.' The Los Angeles Times' term -- "diplomatic isolation" -- may be too strong for what we've seen thus far. A dozen or so countries have recognized Ahmadinejad'd victory, and even the U.S. provided visas to Iranian officials who visited the UN in New York last week. But as the Times notes today, Ahmadinejad's diplomatic treatment has certainly undergone a significant change since his tainted "victory" in last month's election:

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev publicly greeted Ahmadinejad at a recent meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, but did not grant him a private meeting as he had the leaders of Pakistan and Afghanistan. In Belarus, the Iranian leader was met not by President Alexander Lukashenko, but by the speaker of the upper house of parliament.


A similar pattern has emerged in the Middle East, where Arab regimes have long been wary of Iran's ambitions. Authorities in Jordan withdrew licenses for two Iranian news organizations this week and the sultan of Oman reportedly canceled a trip to Tehran following the unrest after Iran's June 12 election.

Snubs and slights in the diplomatic world are common, sometimes almost imperceptible. But as long as Ahmadinejad remains in power, with the support of Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, there are concerns about how the messy fallout over his reelection will influence diplomacy regarding Iran's nuclear program, regional stature and relations with the U.S. and Europe.

3:40 AM ET -- "Your breath smells of Allah-o Akbar." A great cartoon via Tehran Bureau, which reports on Iranians' daily battles to keep their satellite dishes.

Basij militiaman to driver: "Your breath smells of Allah o Akbar." The chant of Allah o Akbar, which helped bring down the Shah 30 years ago, is now being chanted every night in protest of the current government.



3:32 AM ET -- Don't negotiate. There has been a notable swing in the pendulum among centrist and progressive Iran analysts -- Trita Parsi (in the call mentioned below), NYT columnist Roger Cohen, and Fareed Zakaria all now advocate a relative freeze in negotiations with Iran. Zakaria explained his position in a new interview with CNN:

CNN: Is this from a position of weakness, because the West has so few options?


Zakaria: Not really, because while it might seem like the West has few options, in reality, Iran has fewer. Its economy is doing badly, the regime is facing its greatest challenge since its founding, and its proxies in Lebanon, Iraq and elsewhere are all faring worse than it had expected. Let the supreme leader and President Ahmadinejad figure out what they should do first. Time might not be on their side.

3:30 AM ET -- Digg. I try to post these Digg solicitations fairly regularly, and readers have been so supportive. Having Iran news featured on social networks really helps remind people that the uprising continues and still needs their attention. If you'd like to support this post, click here. Thanks.

3:28 AM ET -- Trita Parsi on the Iranian opposition: Nothing is over. Spencer Ackerman reviews a press call that keen Iran analyst Trita Parsi held today:

Parsi further explained, in response to Matt Duss of the Center for American Progress, that the critical constituency would be conservative clerics who feel threatened by Ahmadinejad's consolidation of power. In an irony from the perspective of the American debate about Iran -- which conflates reformism with secularism -- the clerics see Ahmadinejad "as a dangerous element, quite correctly, who tries to undermine the clergy as a whole." That might compel some of them to resist Ahmadinejad, or to place pressure on Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei to find some compromise with the opposition.


But if a compromise can't be found, then the opposition enters a new phase, having to face a choice between accepting Ahmadinejad and moving to a more radical position. "There are people loyal to the system, who don't want to bring the system down but at the same time believe the system is quite imperfect [and wish to] ensure the system changes through peaceful means," Parsi said. If they fail, "then we face a significantly more radical movement in Iran, with more bloodshed than we've seen."

3:17 AM ET -- Some bad news, and some great news. First the bad: Freegate, an organization formed to help Chinese get around web censors, has cut Iran's access by 75 percent due to the high costs.

The much better news: the excellent Tor Project is still seeing major growth in Iran connections -- but as they explain, the project is always in need of donations.

Meanwhile, there are multiple efforts around the world right now to establish serious funding to help ordinary Iranians break through the government's Internet wall. I'll post details here as soon as they're available.

3:14 AM ET -- Swedish PM speaks on Iran. As readers know, Sweden assumed the presidency of the EU on Wednesday. Video via reader Heather:



3:02 AM ET -- Press TV rep claims network is "impartial." Via reader Heather, the BBC aired a debate on Wednesday between a senior staffer of Iran's state-backed network Press TV and British journalist Martin Bright. At the onset, the BBC noted that Britain's communication department is reviewing Press TV's broadcasting license.

To be honest, the debate is a bit unsatisfying, since neither the BBC host nor Bright seemed to do much research before the segment. But the fact that this propaganda outlet is increasingly coming under scrutiny is certainly good news.



2:45 AM ET -- Charges sought for Mousavi carry 10 year prison sentence. "Iran's embattled opposition leader, Mirhossein Mousavi, faces a new threat after the Basiji militia accused him of 'offences against the state' and 'disturbing the nation's security', charges which carry a sentence of 10 years' imprisonment."

2:40 AM ET -- Imprisoning an innocent, severely disabled man. Tehran Broadcast publishes an emotional plea for the release of Saeed Hajarian, "a prominent reformist theorist, [who] survived an attempted assassination in March 2000, at the peak of the conflicts between conservatives and reformists in Iran, and has subsequently become severely disabled."

An excerpt from the piece, directed at Hajarian's interrogators:

What did you tell Saeed? How did you ask him to talk? Saeed?


He can't talk. I have seen Saeed. When he wants to talk he has to concentrate all his afflicted and sick body to utter a word. Don't tell him to talk; he can't talk. When he was able to talk, he wasn't talking either. Outside the prison, when he met his friends, he was barely talking. Now what do you expect from him? Him who hardly can speak and even forcing himself is still not able to utter a word.

You have been putting your one hand on his afflicted shoulder and have been pressuring his weak body and have been telling him, "Tell me you were trying to do 'Green Revolution,' Tell me..." Meanwhile, you have been making a fist with the other hand to punch his face. Move away your hand. HE CANNOT TALK!

I had visited Saeed Hajarian when he was at "City Council". With numerous surgeries they had kept him alive and he was still not able to have control over his face and his hands. With great effort, he said," Seyed, I read your piece and I laughed. It's been a while since I've laughed." I was glad I was able to give a smile to his afflicted heart, but I was upset that this smile might have made him suffer more pain in his body. A body which suffered for freedom and was injured for knowing.



2:28 AM ET -- Programming note. I'll be on C-SPAN's Washington Journal this morning at 8AM ET.

2:25 AM ET -- Doctor who tried to save Neda responds to Iran propaganda. A reader helpfully sent along this link to the blog of Arash Hejazi, the doctor who attempted to save Neda's life, subsequently fled to London, and now is being attacked in state media by Iranian officials. The reader provided a nearly full translation of the blog post:

After my interview on June 25th, 2009, regarding my personal account of the brutal killing of Neda Agha Soltan, I read the news of my arrest warrant by the government of Iran.


As I mentioned in the interview, I was expecting such as action from a government, which is founded on lies and deceit. I was expecting them to deny my statements. This government, instead of bringing justice to the murders of this innocent girl and others and accepting their responsibilities, tries to blame individuals and organizations, which have done nothing wrong.

They have put pressure on my friends and family who have done nothing. They have harassed my father who is 70 years and a university professor.

I did what every human would have done in my situation. I tried to save a victim. When the government tried to cover up the details, I testified what I witnessed.

I have lived my life so that I would have no regret. I was one of the first physicians who went to Bam after the earthquake so that I could be near the victims who had no hope. However this time, this victim was not the victim of a natural disaster.

I am a writer and from my essays and stories, you will realize that I have always been a human rights advocate and I have paid the price.

I have always tired to live honestly and do not betray my principles.

I believe what I did regarding Neda was the right things. I believe that if I have to pay the price, so be it, but I reserve the right to defend my honor.

God is my witness that I told the truth.

This lie questions the entire principles of this government. A government which questions the events of WWII, claims that there is freedom of speech in Iran, claims that there is no censorship, states that there are no political prisoners and that each individual enjoys full rights including regarding their sex, religion and race.

In the past 20 days, the world has come to realize that these are false claims. I know that the world will not believe these new lies and know that this physician has do nothing except following his principles and coming to the help of people who need help and stating the truth.

Neda was not the only victim. Are all the other victims the result of Western conspiracy?

I am only a witness. Why are they pursuing the witness and not the killers? Is there enough bloodshed? Should I have been silent regarding this horrible crime? Is this the message that we want to send to the future generations?

I believe that all the citizens of the world will support me and thousands of other Iranians who have been beaten, murdered and imprisoned, in order to achieve freedom and join the rest of the free people.

I am proud of myself for being a part of this movement. I have done something that every honest human being would have done. This is my crime and this is why they are threatening me.

CLICK HERE FOR LIVE-BLOGGING ARCHIVES

Useful Resources

Translations: TehranBroadcast.com | Translate4Iran
Helping Iranians use the web: Tor Project (English & Farsi)IranHelp.org (Farsi)
Demonstrations: Facebook | WhyWeProtest
Activism: Avaaz.org | National Iranian American Council ]]> Nico Pitney http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/07/02/obama-im-annoyed-by-the-s_n_225062.html Thu, 02 Jul 2009 15:01:25 -0400
In an interview with The Associated Press on Thursday, Obama was asked to reveal a White House secret, and he dished about the pie. Obama says the pastry chef makes "the best pie I have ever tasted, and that has caused big problems with Michelle and I."

The president said he and the first lady are "having to figure out how to resist ordering pie every night."

Obama also came clean about one of his pet peeves _ the "shine police." The president says that before his interviews, aides "constantly want to powder my nose and forehead, and it's never enough."

He finds that _ in his words _ "quite irritating."]]> Anya Strzemien http://www.huffingtonpost.com/andrew-kimbrell/the-obama-organic-family_b_224398.html Wed, 01 Jul 2009 18:48:09 -0400
Unfortunately, something happened on the way to the realization of the First Lady's good intentions. Recently the National Park Service discovered that the White House lawn, where the garden was planted, contains highly elevated levels of lead -- 93 parts per million. It's enough lead for anyone planning to have children pick vegetables in that garden or eat produce from it to reconsider their plans: lead is highly toxic to children's developing organs and brain functions -- however, it's below the 400 ppm the EPA suggests is a threat to human health.

What caused this alarming contamination of the White House lawn? Some news outlets speculated that residue from lead paint might have caused the toxicity. However an article running on Mother Jones online has a more probable explanation. During the 1990s, the Clintons agreed to have the South Lawn of the White House "fertilized" with ComPRO, a commercially available "compost made from a nearby wastewater plant's solid effluent, a.k.a. sewage sludge."

So, the White House lawn became a highly visible example of a little-known, widely conducted practice, "land application." This means disposing of sewage sludge by spraying it over public lands, including parks, and also on an untold number of acres of farmland where our food is grown. Sadly, it's completely legal under current, grossly inadequate EPA rules.

Apparently, the spreading of sewage sludge at the White House was a public relations ploy by the Environmental Protection Agency and, no doubt, the sludge industry to convince the public that using sludge in gardens and farms is as safe as using normal compost. The promotion didn't stop there; as part of its PR effort, EPA offered a $150,000 prize to the winner of a contest to re-brand sludge with a more benign sounding name. The chosen euphemism?: "biosolid". It's a term the agency and the industry consistently use to hide the reality of what sludge is.

So what is sludge, really? A stinking, sticky, dark-grey to black paste, it's everything homeowners, hospitals and industries put down their toilets and drains. Every material-turned-waste that our society produces (including prescription drugs and the sweepings of slaughterhouses), and that wastewater treatment plants are capable of removing from sewage, becomes sludge. The end product is a concentrated mass of heavy metals and carcinogenic, teratogenic, and hormone-disrupting chemicals, replete with antibiotic-resistant bacteria. There are some 80,000 to 90,000 industrial chemicals, including a host of dioxin-like deadly substances, which are allowed to be present in sludge under current EPA rules. What's worse, there's no way of knowing which toxic chemicals and heavy metals are entering the wastewater stream at any given time or in what concentrations. Sludge is always an unknown quantity, and therefore, assessing whether sludge is safe to use for growing food, is -- in practice -- impossible.

Farmers who care about what they grow know this, and -- despite the best efforts of government and the sludge industry -- growing food in sewage sludge is prohibited under the federal organic regulations. Still, sludge is still widely used as a cheap alternative to fertilizer, and unless you're buying organic produce, it's impossible to know if the food you eat was grown in it.

Remarkably, the EPA creators of the sludge program claim they didn't anticipate any health problems to be associated with spraying sludge near people's homes or on their food. They assumed that natural conditions would disperse the toxins, and that bad bacteria would die as they naturally do in rich, aerobic soil and in compost. But sewage sludge is not soil; no matter how you treat it, it will never have the characteristics, either physical or biological, that make good soil and good compost so effective at killing human pathogens. It's toxic, and it lays there for years, still toxic.

So when people living or working in the vicinity of sludged fields and when diary cows and other farm animals grazing on sludged land have gotten sick from heavy metal, chemical or pathogen based maladies, the EPA has either ignored, denied or, in some cases, even fraudulently covered it up. However it's getting harder for the agency to ignore the toll of sludged land as we see increasing reports in adjacent communities of elevated levels of cancer or deaths believed to be related to sludge exposure. In some areas where sludge has been heavily used, whole families are evincing the same symptoms: sores in their nasal passages, chronic staph infections, crippling headaches and sinus troubles. Yet -- despite the mounting evidence -- EPA wants to continue to promote sludge as a benign alternative to fertilizer.

The Obamas may be the newest sludge victims. Certainly Michelle Obama's hopes of having a truly organic garden and healthy vegetables for her own children and other children who visit the White House have been dashed. The impact on their lives is symbolic; it's not just the Obamas under threat, it's all of us. Municipalities around the country have jumped on the bandwagon to sell their "biosolids" to sludge companies, a convenient solution to profitably rid themselves of hazardous waste. Over the last several years, we have all become unwilling guinea pigs, testing the safety of foods raised on sewage-sludged land. We're also unknowing guinea pigs, since none of this produce is labeled to show how it was grown.

What can you do about this? Buying certified organic produce raised under rules that forbid this practice is a safe start. Next, let's urge the EPA to place a permanent ban on "land application" of sewage sludge; our foods should never be grown in hazardous waste. And in the best spirit of NIMBY, the Obamas, after removing that contaminated soil from their lawn, should be the first family to push the EPA to halt the sludging of our public lands and farmlands. ]]> Andrew Kimbrell http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/07/02/cankle-awareness-month-in_n_224738.html Thu, 02 Jul 2009 09:49:24 -0400
Cankle Awareness Month is in July - Forget swine flu. A cankle pandemic is sweeping the nation, according to Gold's Gym.

Read the original story here:

GET THE LATEST NEWS & TRENDS by following HuffPost at HuffTrends on Twitter ]]> Fred McCoy