March 2008 Archives

Perhaps inspired by the Australian government's recent apology for its treatment of that countrie's native aboriginies, or possibly the orations of Barack Obama in which he admonished slavery as America's "original sin," or simply because it's about damn time, the Florida Legislature recently issued a formal apology on for its role in the slave trade that dates back to the mid-16th Century in that state.

Governor Charlie Crist, a Republican, said that the state "is sorry for the past transgressions and unfair treatment and in some cases just gross inequity as it exists toward members of the African-American community.'' And while the statement issued by the Legislature did not indicate reparations for living descendents of slaves, Crist said that he's open to the idea -- provided they can prove their lineage.

That's going to be tough, but at least the offer is on the table.

This gesture puts Florida in the company of Alabama, Maryland, North Carolina and Virginia -- all states that have issued formal apologies for slavery. In January, New Jersey became the first northern state to apologize for it.

Clearly this is a step in the right direction, and maybe racial equality is possible after all. But knowing the snail's pace at which progress like this occurs, I believe we need a lot more than nice words from important offices to bring about real change.

Unless actions follow words, an apology like this becomes mere lip service. And that's simply not enough.

If you're still not convinced that we're in a recession, this might change your mind. Fourteen states are already reporting record numbers of food stamp applicants, reports the New York Times, boosting the national total to 28 million people who will require the welfare. The projected value of the sum is $36 billion.

In order to receive food stamps, a family must report a near-poverty income, a figure that varies depending on how many people are in the family. A family of four that survives on $27,000 per year, for example, would qualify for the stamps, which have benefits of about $100 per month per person. A single person earning just over $10,000/year would also qualify.

In Michigan, one in eight residents currently receives food stamps, while in New York, one in ten does. In both states, the number has soared since the last recession in 2000.

The Food Stamp Program (FSP) began in back in the 1930s, but didn't take on its present form for another 30 years. In 1964, President Lyndon Johnson requested Congress to pass legislation making the FSP permanent, and later that year it did. In 1965, the number of recipients nationwide was just over half a million, costing a total of $75 million.

In the 44 years since, the program has grown stronger -- and more necessary -- each year. In the 1990s, the FSP started growing exponentially, and without it, many more Americans would be starving today than those that already are.

What does all this mean? A lot of things. It means we need the government's help to ensure that everyone can enjoy a healthy diet. It means those of us with jobs and decent incomes shouldn't balk at paying taxes, which fund programs like the FSP. It means that our current administration could be allocating a lot less money to certain causes (e.g. Iraq) and devoting it instead to feeding its own people. And most of all, it means that we're heading for some very lean times.

"An Eye For An Eye Makes The World Blind." Mahatma Ghandi

My motivation for taking the photograph "Execution Day," was to share, with people, the events that unfolded outside the gates of San Quentin Prison during the execution of Stanley "Tookie" Williams. Williams was one of the founding members of the South Central Los Angeles Street Gang, the Crips, and in 1981 was sentenced to death after being convicted of murdering four people.
He was executed at midnight on December 13, 2005.

Walking from my car to the entrance of the prison was unreal: blinding lights, cold weather, news cameras, motorcycles, cops, radios, helicopters, protesters, drums. Despite the commotion, what stood out to me were these two women, using their candle flames to stay warm, holding their signs:

"The Death Penalty is a Hate Crime."

"The Weak Can Never Forgive."

They were the first comforting sight I had seen all night.

Some common reasons for opposing the death penalty are: capital punishment is too expensive, methods used to kill inmates are tortuous, the death penalty is racist or the possibility of killing an innocent person makes it not worth it.

However, what these woman are saying is that the Death Penalty, itself, is hateful. Capital Punishment is an act of revenge, not of justice. What Capital Punishment does is say that it is okay to kill. By keeping the Death Penalty legal, our Government teaches us that under certain circumstance, people deserve to die. Our minds become conditioned to think and to accept the idea of a "justified death."

Feelings of wanting to execute someone, I believe, are rooted in the fear of what might happen if we let them live. Having thought about the death penalty and its impact of society, I cannot help but oppose it. Even if it means allowing a cold-blooded murderer to live. We must remember that allowing someone to live does not mean setting him or her free.

At this year's Greener Gadgets Design Competition in New York, the team of Zach Dwiel and Matt Meshulam walked away with the top prize for the EnerJar - a DIY power meter made from recycled and salvaged parts that accurately measures the power draw of electrical appliances. Sitting between any wall outlet and the appliance, the EnerJar helps users gain an understanding of their daily electricity use. Below, Zach Dwiel offers his insights into the creation of the EnerJar.

AWEARNESS: What was the initial inspiration for the EnerJar?

Zach: I was really curious how much energy all of the various electronics in my house were requiring. I don't like buying new, especially new electronics. I couldn't find any free designs online, so I proposed the idea to Matt, an electrical engineer who got a design up in no time. We wanted to make a few of them to distribute around freecycle so we designed it to be cheap, easy to use, and possible to build from as many salvaged and reused parts as possible. Matt found the Greener Gadgets competition and figured we should submit what we had, so we did.

AWEARNESS: You are making the design (both the schematics and source code) for the EnerJar available for free on the Internet. In what ways do you think "open source" thinking will accelerate the pace of green innovation?

Zach: Open source allows ideas and solutions to travel very quickly. This also means the solutions get refined quickly. I was just reading about how 20 or 30 years ago, you could get the design for the circuits to high quality guitar amplifiers by just giving them a call and asking for it. You are paying for them to put it all together and make it look nice. Embracing this openness is only going to help solve our problems more quickly and more thoroughly: green, sustainable and health problems just as much as any other.

AWEARNESS: In addition to using the EnerJar, what are some other relatively inexpensive and easy ways that people can reduce their environmental footprint?

Zach: Listing only ways that actually save you money: walk or bike more often (or try to live where this is possible next time you have an option); don't buy stuff you don't need; eat less meat (the average American's yearly meat consumption contributes as many greenhouse gases as his yearly vehicle use); turn off lights when you don't need them and use compact fluorescents; buy organic and local food, or better yet, from someone you know; see if your electric company will sell sustainable energy (I just found out that I could get wind power from mine here in Missouri). There are so many more. The important part is to have fun with it. This isn't masochism. It often saves you money.

AWEARNESS: What were some of the other highlights at the Greener Gadgets conference in New York?

Zach: Some of my favorites were the bamboo phone, 'no gadget', and eNutrition. The bamboo phone is cool - I love bamboo and biodegradable electronics would be a huge step forward in dealing with all of our e-waste. 'no gadget' speaks for itself. eNutrition is about distributing information which I love. It would be great to know, at the grocery store, which products on the shelf are the most sustainable or how far they traveled to get here, how much oil was required to build and transport it, or any other of a million different useful pieces of information. Right now, I get a list of the name of the ingredients, and an organic label (that doesn't mean a whole lot).

AWEARNESS: What are some of the other projects you are working on for 2008 and beyond?

Zach: I'm currently working on getting my Computer Science undergraduate degree at Washington University in St. Louis and looking for a summer job. I'd like to work on getting information out to people and make it even easier to share - I've got some website ideas, mostly dealing with 'semantic' and search technologies. I'm also starting a garden this spring and trying to write software for playing music.

[image: EnerJar]

Danielle Butin was an executive in the managed care business until she lost her job due to downsizing, but instead of wallowing in worry and despair, she used her knowledge of the system to make it better.

She knew that hospitals are also businesses, and as businesses, they often have contracts with their suppliers that mandate the sole use of, say, one brand of gauze or a specific kind of stretcher. It's just like how some restaurants carry only Coke products, while others offer those in the Pepsi family.

She knew that when a contract takes effect, everything the hospital uses that falls outside of the agreement has to be thrown out.

She also knew that the average hospital patient generates around 25 pounds of waste per day, just by lying there.

So she began a business of her own: Selling those unused and lightly used supplies to hospitals around the world that have neither contracts with medical suppliers nor the proper medical supplies period.

And she doesn't limit her queries to hospital executives. Waiting for a Jamba Juice at Whole Foods in Union Square, the Times reports, she asked a store manager if they would donate cooking supplies to her cause. After a wait -- while the question was posed to other managers, no doubt -- the answer came back "yes."

Butin's plan isn't entirely new: Initiatives like the Malawi Project and World Relief also send supplies and help to needy people, particularly in Africa. While each of those organizations operates with a Christian ideology, Butin's Afya Foundation is secular. But religion aside, all are essentially humanitarian. And when it comes to helping people get well, that's really all that matters.

In a revolutionary step towards cleaner air, the EPA announced that it will begin requiring 345 counties nationwide to improve their air quality.

With smog levels in large portions of Southern California -- particularly around Los Angeles -- and the Atlantic seaboard from Washington to New England far exceeding what the EPA considers healthy, officials hope these new restrictions will begin reducing the rate of heart and asthma attacks and other smog-induced health problems.

While the need for this might not surprise residents of LA, New York and Chicago -- all cities with notoriously bad air quality because of heavy traffic, dense populations and industrial factories -- those in more rural states like Indiana, Alabama and Oklahoma are no doubt in for a rude awakening once they realize the changes they'll need to make in order to meet the new standards.

City and state governments, too, will have to find ways of drumming up the $7.6 - $8.5 billion necessary to improve air quality, but according to the reports, that's nothing compared to the amount they'll save with healthier populations. The EPA said in a statement that the new standard will "yield health benefits valued between $2 billion and $19 billion."

AWEARNESS: For readers not already familiar with Rising Tide Capital, what types of services do you provide to disadvantaged inner-city entrepreneurs?

Alex: Rising Tide Capital is a non-profit organization based in Jersey City, NJ whose mission is to equip local entrepreneurs in distressed urban communities with the tools, skills, and resources they need to start and grow successful businesses. We do this by providing hands-on training in business management and planning to local start-up entrepreneurs through our signature initiative--The Community Business Academy. We then provide year-round consulting and advanced seminars to the graduates to guide them through their start-up and growth phases. Once our entrepreneurs are ready to seek business financing, we work with them to prepare their business plan and access the capital they need from our local micro-lending partners. Rising Tide Capital is dedicated to the economic empowerment of low-income communities through entrepreneurship because we know how many hard-working, talented men and women in our communities use business ownership as a way to increase their household income. Our vision is to harness this entrepreneurial energy and use it to transform lives, strengthen families, and grow thriving, vibrant communities from within.

AWEARNESS: What was your motivation or inspiration for launching Rising Tide Capital?

Alex: I co-founded Rising Tide Capital in 2004 with one of my Harvard classmates, Alfa Demmellash. We had been talking for many years about the concept of social entrepreneurship--the idea that you could use business principles to create lasting, sustainable change in the world. When we graduated in 2003, we wanted to find out how we could use our education to participate in addressing some of the sources of suffering we saw in the world. We were particularly interested in the work of Dr. Muhammad Yunus and his pioneering work in micro-finance through the Grameen Bank in Bangladesh. We wanted to see if we could bring his vision to the inner cities of America. Reading his autobiography Banker to the Poor made us realize that all you really need in order to change the world is a vision, the power to communicate it, and a passionate determination to pick yourself up over and over again for what you believe in. On a personal level, Alfa and I both believe that the purpose of life is to learn how to love, and that love is not just a feeling but an action you take in the world. And so, we are living what we believe.

AWEARNESS: What are some of the more inspiring stories of entrepreneurs you've already helped?

Alex: We have about 41 of our graduates from the past year or so who are currently in business. Each one of them (and the 31 other graduates currently in the planning stage) has an amazing story of personal determination and strength in the face of adversity. I think I am most inspired by the incredible women we have worked with. There is a fabulous artist named Jusleine who just opened a greeting card business, and Kim who paints murals for children's day care centers, and Angela who has a computer repair company, and Ruthie who just opened a shoe store down the block from us. Additionally, we make a special emphasis on working with people in our community who are formerly incarcerated. About 20% of our graduates are formerly incarcerated persons. One in particular that stands out is a young African American man named Shawn whose urban fashion company, I think, has the potential to really make it big. He has had to overcome a lot of obstacles on the way, but he credits his time at Rising Tide Capital with giving him the focus he needs to take his company to the next level. If we can help him get there, I will be very, very proud.

AWEARNESS: Ever since Muhammad Yunus won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006, there's been tremendous enthusiasm about micro-lending arrangements for small businesses without access to typical sources of capital. What types of developments do you see happening in the micro-lending area over the next 12-24 months?

Alex: I think that we will see two major trends. The first is a consolidation in the field. Just like the mainstream financial world, the micro-finance world will benefit from efficiency and economies of scale and will increasingly see the largest micro-finance agencies consolidate their role in the market. Secondly, I think that the cutting edge right now is in the education and business development services side of the industry. One of the first things we learned when we established Rising Tide Capital was that a loan is just more debt unless you know how to use it. We hope to work with our local partners and with the national Association for Enterprise Opportunity to bring innovative, high-quality services to entrepreneurs who need more than just a loan to grow their business. At Rising Tide Capital, we believe that capital comes not just in the form of financing, but in the form of social connections and knowledge as well. We look forward to participating in the development of this side of our industry because that's where we see the biggest opportunity for innovation and value-added services in the future.

AWEARNESS: Who are some of the people that you particularly admire for their dedication to important social causes?

Alex: I think that Oprah Winfrey and Susan Taylor (founder of Essence Magazine) are particularly important examples of the way that individuals can inspire and educate people to make our world a better place. I also deeply admire Professor Cornel West and the work of Rev. Jim Wallis in the way they both understand the positive role religion can play in initiatives for social justice. However, the people I admire most are the many unsung heroes that are working today around the world on issues like sex trafficking, ex-offender recidivism, human rights, and restorative justice. I think the future will depend upon their efforts, and in the power of love and forgiveness to bring peace and reconciliation to our world.

[image: courtesy of Rising Tide Capital]

1. Illinois, Iowa, Indiana, Missouri, Arkansas, Kentucky, Tennessee, Ohio and Mississippi generate more than 75% of the nitrate and phosphorous that creates a dead zone in the Northern Gulf of Mexico the size of New Jersey.

2. A 2006 U. S. Supreme Court decision that ">weakened the Clean Water Act threatens the already scarce sources of water in the "desert region" formed by New Mexico, Arizona, Texas, Nevada and southern California.

3. Trace levels of pharmaceuticals, antibiotics, psychiatric drugs, sex hormones, pain medication, drugs for cholesterol and asthma, as well as veterinary drugs, have been found in drinking and fishing waters all across the country. Although it is not known what the long-term effects of these trace levels are in humans, scientists do blame them for the severe reproductive problems that are increasingly found in many types of fish.

4. Even though water levels in the Great Lakes region are rising in general, Lake Ontario is still about a foot-and-a-half lower than the all-time records set in 1952.

5. 2007 was the year Georgia went almost completely dry. So how does the state government try to deal with the water shortage? They go on to question the government's 1818 border survey saying that Tennessee owes them 1.1 miles of land, lake and millions more of water.

Saturday, March 22nd was World Water Day, designated as such back in 1992 at a United Nations conference in Rio de Janeiro in an effort to raise awareness on this most vital natural resource.

Yet for some reason, World Water Day failed to capture our hearts like Earth Day did back in 1970, and on through the decades to the late 0ughts. Indeed, every April, Earth Day comes around and almost everyone becomes an eco-conscious hippie for the day -- tie-dyes come out of the closet, stock brokers don their college Birkenstocks, and talk of "carbon footprints" and the "greenhouse effect" buzz through the warm spring air.

Then it's back to business.

World Water Day, meanwhile, asks us to ponder something a little more direct: How much water we consume, and how much there is to go around. It asks us to bear in mind that water consumption in the United States far exceeds that of any other country -- whether first world or developing. It asks us to think about the many thousands of gallons that go into producing the food we eat, the clothes we wear, and the work we do. In short, it wants to confront us with the ugly reality that we simply use way too much of the stuff.

Are you brave enough to find out exactly how much you use? At H2O Conserve, a new Website designed to help you calculate your "water footprint", you can. Through a simple click-through series of questions, the site determines roughly how many gallons of water you consume per day. And for most in the US, the figure will be astounding.

I consider myself a pretty eco-conscious person: I don't drive, I take short showers, I don't use my dishwasher, and I recycle everything I can. Nevertheless, my daily water consumption, according to H20 Conserve, comes to 1,088 gallons per day. Meanwhile, the average person in most African nations survives on less than five. Seems impossible, but that's my point: How many of us really know how much water we use?

As with everything, knowledge is power. And if we Americans are willing to know our water consumption, maybe we can begin using a lot less. I know I'm going to try.

Displacement is among the most discussed problems in the new urban renaissance. Among the socially conscious, the word is usually uttered in the same breath as "gentrification", while the more callous eschew any talk of it at all. Some view it as a social ill that we're all responsible for; others prefer to ignore it.

Regardless of where you stand, the fact remains that when a "bad" neighborhood gets cleaned up, thousands of people often have nowhere to go. As the once mean streets of America's big cities metamorphose into boutique-lined rows of uber-expensive condos, what becomes of the people who've always called those streets home?

These days, you have to be earning big bucks to rent an apartment almost anywhere in New York's five boroughs -- even Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn, the locale of Do The Right Thing, Spike Lee's first great film about socio-racial unrest among Brooklyn's poor.

But not everyone's earning big bucks -- far from it.

In an attempt to resolve this problem, the Housing Authority in Washington D.C. is trying something new: After tearing down old, decrepit housing projects, the Authority is replacing them with new buildings intended to house diverse residents -- working class people, middle-income professionals, and the poor people who had lived in the area before. With the help of government subsidies, this plan represents a viable way to keep our cities from simply turning into suburbs.\

Dead U. S. troops: 4,000

Wounded soldiers: 29,000 U.S. soldiers wounded
(45 percent of them so seriously they haven't returned to duty)

Iraqi civilians killed: 89,867

Number of internally displaced Iraqis: 2.4 million

Number of Iraqi refugees living in adjacent countries: 2.5 million

Number of Iraqi refugees that are children: 2 million

Cost of war per day: $411 million

Cost of war per second: $5,000

Cost of war per Iraqi: $4,988

Cost of war per U.S. resident: $121,000

Cost of a barrel of crude oil at the start of the war: $25

Cost of barrel of crude oil today: $101.84

Number of U.S. Senators who voted for the war: 77

Number of U.S. Senators who voted against it: 23

Number of U.S. Presidential Candidates who favored war: 2

Number of U.S. Presidential Candidates who were against the war: 1

Image Credit: Liza Sabater with statistics taken from icasualties.org

This clip shows Senator Clinton blatantly misrepesenting a trip she took to war-torn Bosnia 12 years ago. In a recent press conference on the differing accounts of her arrival, Clinton repeated her claim that her convoy had arrived via an "evasive maneuver", that there was no greeting ceremony, and that they were instructed to run directly from the plane to the cars that would transport them from the airport.

It'll be interesting to see if this becomes the Swift Boat that sinks Clinton's campaign. I doubt that it will. But I wonder how such a lie would affect Obama's campaign. My guess is it would destroy it.

Going green these days means more than dressing for St. Patrick's Day. A recent visit to the New York Auto Show found every major car dealer showing off a hybrid of one sort or another, all designed to cater to the growing number of drivers looking for a hedge against increasing gas prices. Watching the March Madness NCAA basketball tournament, I noticed a Chevron oil company commercial positioning themselves as eco-friendly, taking a page from the BP playbook which has been working this angle for years.

But leave it to the entrpreneurs like Richard Branson to see dollar signs while the rest of us grow more tight fisted each day. According to the NYT, which sent reporter Andrew Ross Sorkin to cover the exclusive conclave on Necker Island in the British Virgin Islands, Branson pulled together a mini summit that attracted the likes of former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, Larry Page (Google), Jimmy Wales (Wikipedia) and venture capitalist and founder of Sun Microsystems Vinod Khosla.

Talk ranged from the practicality of electric-powered cars to how much money would have to be invested in biofuels to reduce the price of crude to $35 a barrel, a prospect Mr. Khosla said he considered "totally realistic."

If Thomas Friedman of the New York Times wasn't off writing a book, he'd probably be pointing out in his column how the rising gas prices weren't such a bad thing after all. As an advocate of higher gas taxes as a means to cut down on consumption, he would be applauding recent developments. Branson's guest moguls enjoying the facilities at Branson's private island see the same opportunity. The rising prices have made it more practical to invest in emerging technologies which have the potential to evolve into multi million dollar businesses and cut into our energy consumption at the same time. Hey, the elusive win win we've all been looking for!

In another positive development, New York State's Governor David Paterson has declared his support for Mayor Mike Bloomberg's controversial congestion pricing proposal which would charge drivers $8 to get into the heart of Manhattan. I wonder how much more work would be getting done in Albany if Paterson didn't have to be spending so much time defending himself from charges of sexual misconduct.

[Photo of Branson and the gang by Andrew Ross Sorkin/New York Times]

Pointing to the media frenzy over the Eliot Spitzer scandal, Kenneth Cole questioned the integrity of journalists in the mainstream media

Actor Alan Cumming weighed in with his views on how to end the myth of the Ugly American

Sean Posey shared a disturbing photo from a grassroots community protest against a local polluter

David Alm warned that many Americans may be unwittingly ingesting prescription drugs without even knowing it

Liza Sabater instructed readers on how to do the Superdelegate Tango

Filmmaker Sam Slovick uploaded a video clip that featured the efforts of an LA cop battling drugs on Skid Row

Marc Schiller pointed to a provocative video clip from the BBC about the emergence of shanty towns in America

Law school is expensive. Very expensive. In fact, the only way most people can justify the cost is by anticipating the six figures they'll make immediately upon graduation, provided they take the corporate route. Meanwhile, the vast need for public service lawyers is left unmet. How can a middling, $40,000 salary job compete with the mega multi-national firms?

Maybe by easing the financial burden on law students, proposes Harvard Law School dean Elena Kagan: The HLS announced on March 18th that it will waive the tuition for any third-year law student who commits to a five-year stint in public service following graduation.

While saving $41,500 might not sound very impressive when you consider the loss in potential income by NOT going the corporate route (in New York, corporate firms are currently offering a standard $160,000/year to first-year associates), the Harvard proposal might still work.

Why? Because a lot of people apply to law school because they don't know what else to do, or because they want to do some good for the world. The corporate firms attract them simply because of the massive debt they'll have incurred.

Everyone I know who either went to law school or is currently in law school (the number grows every year) says they don't intend to practice corporate law any longer than it takes them to pay off their loans. At that point, they have all kinds of goals -- including public service.

So maybe Harvard's offer will make it a little easier for some of its graduates to say no thanks when big-money recruiters start sending gifts and inviting them to $300 dinners.

And maybe other schools will follow Harvard's lead, and the public service sector will get a much-needed influx of talented young JDs.

Our Constitution supposedly guarantees every American due process, a presumption of innocence and the right to a speedy trial. But apparently this may be the case in the courtroom, but not necessarily in the news room.

Regardless of how one feels, as to the reported actions of our governor, Governor Spitzer was accused, tried, and swiftly sentenced by the court of public opinion in less then 48 hours (less time then it takes most Americans to find a lawyer).

My company once ran an ad saying, "It's the media's right to print whatever they see fit. . . it's our right not to buy it." That said, it's just not that easy anymore.

It doesn't matter how one responds personally when the often unverified stories become universally accepted as fact by the community, because "it was in the paper" or "on the news".

I think what the New York Times did to Republican Presidential candidate, John McCain in trying to expose an unconfirmed romantic relationship with a female lobbyist was inexcusable, and proved that the pull of the pervasive tabloid culture is apparently too much for most in the news business to resist. The world of journalism has adopted a "leap before you look" culture.

Last August, there was a savage triple murder in the quiet town of Cheshire, Connecticut. The murderers were deviant drug addicts, and the entire town was shocked, and in fear. When the TV crews showed up in the quiet town the next day, neither the police or the surviving husband were giving interviews, so in an effort to find a story, they spoke to a local gun dealer who was anxious to advise whoever would listen that: business was booming. The media wasn't analyzing or informing, they were fueling the paranoia.

Or consider our economy today - from a bear market to Bear Stearns -- and consider how the press can intensify a panic. When I was in London a few months ago, there was a run on a local bank. The electronic media only interviewed the people waiting on line to withdraw their life savings. The individuals that weren't worried were home and less available and harder to access, so only one side of the story was told, and again paranoia was fueled and prevailed.

What compounds this circumstance, as we all know, is that perception usually precedes and/or becomes reality.

So if one looks closely at what happened to Governor Spitzer and ask:

Was the victim/adversary worthy? Most feel yes.

Deserving? Probably

But is either questionably really relevant . . . you tell me.

It is certainly interesting to note that; due process, presumption of innocence and the constitution lost another one, and we can chalk one more up for commercialized tabloid journalism.

But the real question now is; who will be their next target, and will the press next time be able to render as extraordinary and effective a blow in as short a period of time as their last one?

(Will it sell as many papers and do as much for ratings as the last? Stay tuned. Or, better yet, don't.)

That's my story and I'm sticking to it (for now).

[Image: NY Post]

GOOD Magazine: On Skid Row, Part 3 - Drugs

Andrew Smith was my first contact in terms of police command staff on Skid Row. He was a captain who had revamped the 911 system in L.A. He did a stellar job and was hand-picked to work at Central Division. He's the face of a new kind of law enforcement. A new policing paradigm. He was open and forthcoming. He shot from the hip, no one was scrutinizing his communication with me. He gave me access and showed me the inner workings of the department. He showed me when and where the drugs were happening on Skid Row. What they were doing about it and the immense progress they were making.

Choc Nitty and Six Reasons were crack dealers. They'd commute from Watts, then return after they'd made their money. Both had been arrested and had Christian conversion experiences. When I first met them, they thought I was a cop setting them up. That was about five years ago. I see them both and talk to them all the time. I know their families and friends. They are in a continuing struggle with one foot in the gutter and one on higher ground. What's going on with them and Watts and South L.A., the fact that there's no financial infrastructure there, is directly related to some of the problems on Skid Row.

I know it's really hard to be objective and to look at the bigger picture at the best of times, and right now in the midst of the maelstrom of the presidential election whirlwind it is nigh impossible to see beyond the nitpicking of the differences in Obama and Clinton's health plans, or whether he or she would be the most awake and sprightly when that much talked about red telephone goes off at four in the morning. (Incidentally, why do red telephones always go off in the dead of night? Don't terrorists and crazy foreign despots sleep like normal people?)

However, I would like to take a moment to caution you about something that has been looming larger in my thoughts the longer this endless campaign has gone on. (And it does seem to have begun in medieval times. Remember when Hillary announced her candidacy? I don't think I was born).

The issue is this: I travel abroad a lot. I am indeed a foreigner (or an alien of extraordinary ability in immigration speak) and I have noticed not just the huge amount of resentment and anger against the United States from the rest of the world, but also the way that US citizens have begun to feel anxious when they travel overseas, some close friends of mine even admitting to not speaking in certain situations for fear of being thought ill of or verbally abused at the very least.

Now I happen to think that the US government under the command of President Bush deserves every bit of the derision and frustration and anger about its actions, primarily from its attack on Iraq and the lies it told to justify that action, and then the consequent disaster for all concerned the war has been. BUT, I think it so sad that the citizens of this country, especially those who disagree with their leaders' actions, should have to be victimized to the point where they are ashamed to even open their mouths when they are away from home. It is a terrible situation for any country to be in.

And now here's my point: Obama, to the world (as well as to the States), represents a new broom, conciliation, a move away from the corruption and lies and arrogance that America has come to be characterized by.

Hillary, I fear, as great as she is, represents the old guard.

Everyone knows we need change at home, but please don't forget we need a change abroad in the way America is viewed.

In an effort to resolve the long-standing dilemma of why people with different ethnicities face different health problems, the National Institutes of Health has founded a research center to investigate the link between health and race. The center will be housed at the National Human Genome Research Institute, a government organization based in Bethesda, Maryland, and directed by Charles N. Rotimi, a Nigerian-born medical doctor and research scientist who received his training here in the US.

Among the riddles that Rotimi hopes to resolve is why drugs used to treat hypertension and diabetes are substantially less effective in blacks than they are in whites.

But this isn't the only effort afoot.

A team of researchers at the University of Chicago conducted a study last year analyzing 9,000 genes in 180 people -- half of whom were white, half from Nigeria.

According to the BBC, the team found major racial differences in 5% of those genes, meaning that medications designed to combat diseases or infections that afflict those genes may affect only one ethnic group. Or they might affect each ethnic group differently, and with varying degrees of success.

It's a good thing that Dr. Rotimi, the University of Chicago team, and others are finally getting to the bottom of something that probably should have been studied long ago. You might say this merely reflects one of those subtle forms of racism that will become more apparent with time, causing future generations to shake their heads in dismay over the ignorance of their forebears.

The Associated Press recently investigated water supplies across the US and found trace amounts of prescription drugs, according to news reports last week. At least 41 million Americans are currently consuming these drugs every time they drink from the tap, and though the amounts are not enough to cause immediate harm, scientists are concerned about the long-term effects on human health.

How does this happen, you wonder? It's pretty simple. People take drugs, and then use the bathroom. The waste water is treated, sent to reservoirs and natural repositories like rivers and lakes, and then cleansed and treated once again for consumption. At no point in this process is the water cleansed of drug residue.

Alarmingly, this is old news. Six years ago, in April 2002, a team of research scientists at Johns Hopkins University released a report indicating that unintentional consumption of even small amounts of prescription drugs -- as well as non-prescription meds like ibuprofen -- is a serious matter. In response, the Environmental Protection Agency awarded the team $525,000 to study the potential problems.

First of all, why are we still reporting this as news, and second, whatever happened to that study?

Below are some key points from the AP's report:

• Officials in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, said testing there discovered 56 pharmaceuticals or byproducts in treated drinking water, including medicines for pain, infection, high cholesterol, asthma, epilepsy, mental illness and heart problems. Sixty-three pharmaceuticals or byproducts were found in the city's watersheds.

• The drinking water for Washington, D.C., and surrounding areas tested positive for six pharmaceuticals.

There are rumors that I am a shameless Puerto Rican who never misses a moment to wave her Latina membership card. Well ... that may be true. Especially when it involves artists from all over the Spanish-speaking world putting together a concert to celebrate Peace among three Latin American countries that were on the brink of war, all in one week's time.

Colombia's recent bombing of a camp of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) that was on Ecuadorian soil, sparked an international conflict involving not only the two countries but Venezuela, Brazil, Nicaragua, France, Spain and Switzerland.

Here's what was at stake: Colombia has accused both Ecuador and Venezuela of not only harboring "international terrorists" that want to bring down their government but also aiding and abetting them. Ecuador and Venezuela, along with the rest of Latin America, consider FARC an insurgent guerrilla army and as such, a domestic problem for Colombia that ought not involve any other countries in the region. So when Colombia bombed Ecuador after an alleged attack by the FARC from Ecuadorian soil, Ecuador made it clear, along with a delegation of diplomats from Spain, France and Switzerland, that the Colombian government knew they were brokering the release of FARC hostages at the time of the attack:

According to Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa, the attack--which killed 24 people, including Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) leader and diplomat Raul Reyes--spiked efforts to release French-Colombian politician Ingrid Betancourt and 11 other FARC hostages.

French diplomats say they were negotiating with Reyes with the full knowledge of the Colombian government. "In the framework of the efforts that we--Spain, Switzerland, France--were making, we had contacts with Raul Reyes," French foreign ministry spokeswoman Pascale Andreani told Reuters, "and I can tell you the Colombians were aware of it."

Brazil immediately jumped into the fray, demanding Colombia's apology and (along with all the countries of the region) force all parties to go to the Dominican Republic to sign a peace agreement.

What effect can a single US dollar have in providing clean drinking water to the world's poor?

UNICEF estimates that a dollar can provide a child with 40 days of clean drinking water.

So beginning today through Saturday, March 22, over 300 restaurants in New York City and hundreds more across the country, are asking customers to donate a minimum of $1 to pay for the tap water they would normally get for free. Each dollar raised will be used to fund clean drinking water in countries that don't have it.

The Tap Project is a nationwide campaign launched by UNICEF to coincide with World Water Week. You can learn more about it, as well as find a participating restaurant near you, by clicking here.

After 9/11, America turned into a 1984-esque police state almost overnight. Suddenly we were more closely watched than ever before. Air travel became an epic ordeal. New York City launched its "Eyes of New York" campaign, eliciting all manner of reports ranging from the valid to the inane.

In addition, the banks started monitoring their customers' transactions more closely. If an account holder generally deposited, say, $3,000 per month into his savings account, and one month came along and deposited $300,000, he would be red-flagged and possibly investigated.

This is basically what happened last summer, when Eliot Spitzer's banking activity through North Fork started showing some irregularities. But for months following North Fork's initial response, the report merely sat in an enormous Treasury Department database in Detroit.

It wasn't until HSBC filed an unrelated report last fall about suspicious transactions with two shell companies that authorities discovered the North Fork report on Spitzer.

The shell companies under investigation were allegedly connected to the Emperor's Club prostitution service that Spitzer used for his extra-curricular rendezvous. Because the smoking gun was buried in that bureaucratic maze in Detroit, however, the Spitzer connection might never have been made if HSBC had not filed its report, prompting the whole investigation.

You might call the whole thing poetic justice: Spitzer had attacked both North Fork and HSBC for their questionable lending practices during his time as New York's attorney general, potentially making both banks more inclined to nail him than if he'd ignored their misdeeds.

So the twist of Spitzer's fate is even more twisted than originally thought: Not only did he betray his persona as a warrior against bad ethics and corruption; in the end, he was slain by one of the Goliaths he went after while that persona still carried some weight.

But let's just imagine something: What if Spitzer hadn't launched those investigations against the banks? Would he have never been caught? And instead of considering North Fork and HSBC agents of justice that brought a corrupt politician to his knees, would we instead be thinking of them as corrupt for the very reasons that Spitzer did?

Does Spitzer's fate invalidate all the good he did as the "sheriff of Wall Street"?

The situation illustrates how the whole notion of "right" and "wrong" is based on whose crime is more recent -- or simply more sensational -- and, of course, who wins in the end.

I captured this image during a grass roots community protest against a highly polluting power plant in San Francisco. The Evans Ave. PG&E plant dated back to the twenties and was considered by the community to be partially responsible for the abnormally high cases of asthma in the area. Organized protests by environmental groups and community members were a regular occurrence in front of the plant.

The Evans Ave. PG&E power plant was located in the Bayview section of San Francisco. The Bayview is an environmentally distressed neighborhood, home to many polluters and the former Hunter's Point Naval Station now a federal Superfund toxic waste site. Community activists had been trying to get the Evans Ave. plant closed since the mid 90's, without success.

This photograph was taken in the spring of 2006 and was published in the San Francisco Sentinel. The demonstration took place in the middle of a terrible rainstorm. However, it was impressive to see how many people came out despite the inclement weather. Less than a year later the plant was closed.

Photography can make a difference, a big difference in environmental issues and causes. Visual images can inform and move people to action. Photographers are becoming increasingly involved in documenting environmental movements and protests. Documenting global warming through photography has become an especially potent reminder of critical problems we face on this planet. I myself am proud to have been involved, in a small way, in working to publicize community and environmental action in my city.

During a week that saw a once-proud New York political figure unexpectedly fall from grace, Kenneth Cole asked whether accountability has gone out of style in public life

Actor Joey Pantoliano discussed the trauma of war and its impact on the mental health of men and women in the military

KT Tunstall shared her views on ways to bring greater awareness to the problems of AIDS and homelessness

David Alm exposed gaps in the mainstream media's coverage of the news and speculated about the possible miscounting of America's homeless population

Marc Schiller linked to the work of a French photographer who is honoring the strength and vulnerability of women in Africa

Liza Sabater investigated reports that our neighbor to the North might be tampering with U.S. election results

Kenneth Cole employee Evan Greenberg shared news of an exciting new prize competition that could produce the first 100 mpg automobile

There's been some interesting developments in the fight against AIDS. Here's a quick list :

1. Drugs cut HIV transmission via breast-feeding - Los Angeles Times
The controversy of allowing HIV/AIDS infected new mothers to nurse their newborns continues. Of course, transmission is at issue, yet so is survival in areas of extreme poverty and unsanitary conditions. That's why in 2002 even the British Medical Journal recommended breastfeeding since it increased the chances of survival for all babies given that infant formula has a stronger probability of increasing the rate of death due to other diseases. The practice has been to give medication to the baby of an HIV/AIDS mother if the child was born infected as well. This new study seems to indicate that all babies born of infected mothers ought to get the medication since the chances of non-infected baby of contracting the disease later is cut by half.

2. Monkey Gene That Blocks AIDS Viruses Evolved More Than Once
Harvard Medical School researchers have found a gene in an Asian monkey that may have evolved as protection against AIDS/HIV. This suggests that AIDS may not be a modern disease and may have afflicted primates (and maybe humans) in some evolutionary past.

3. House Panel OKs Increase for Bush's HIV-AIDS Program
After seven years of having the extreme right in this country forcefully tie "morality" based clauses to funding HIV/AIDS programs around the world, the U. S. House of Representatives finally approves a measure that not only removes the demagoguery from the funding, but triples the amount of money given worldwide.

Chalk one to lactivists, evolutionists and reproductive rights champions all around the world.

Shivani Sud, whose interest in cancer research began 11 years ago, when she was six and a relative developed a brain tumor, identified patients at risk for tumor recurrence and proposed potential treatments for her top-winning presentation.

She created a model that analyzes the specific "molecular signatures" of tumors from patients with stage-II colon cancer, and used that information to predict the rate of recurrence.

Here's a podcast of the awards ceremony, which also features the contest's other top winners.

With ideas like this, the millennial generation just might disprove the longstanding belief that you can't cure cancer.

What do you have to lose? Fill out a form, submit some basic information to the government, and in a few short months you could be fully covered!

That's the deal being offered to the 600,000 uninsured residents of Oregon right now in an effort to begin solving what has become a national crisis. Currently 16 percent of the US population lives without health insurance.

The odds are pretty good, by a lottery's standards: about one in one hundred. The state says it has enough funds to insure 24,000 people, but 17,000 of them are already guaranteed coverage because they were on a previous plan that covered 132,000 people before budget cuts reduced that number to 17,000.

That leaves 7,000 spots. And originally, the program was meant for low-income people and those who do not qualify for Medicade or Medicare. But since more than 130,000 people in the state meet those criteria, and it's impossible to prioritize illnesses, officials have deemed an open lottery the best solution. The plan is still intended for those who truly cannot afford their own policies, but doesn't that describe just about everyone who isn't insured? Insurance is expensive, and if your job doesn't pay it for you, that probably means you're also not making a whole lot of money.

It might sound simplistic and naive, but seriously, why can't we just allocate some of that $12 billion we're spending in Iraq every month to covering our own population?

To solve a problem, first you have to know the problem's scope. That's the idea behind an initiative to count the homeless begun three years ago by Philip F. Mangano, the Bush administration's homelessness czar. The New York Times reports that the nationwide estimate of homeless people on any given night is around 750,000, 20% of whom are "chronically homeless." The others may be people who've been turned out by a scorned spouse or lover, are sobering up from a bender, or simply mistaken for homeless by the rather unscientific tallying process.

Unscientific to a fault. According to an NPR interview last May with Mangano, the estimate is closer to 2 million, with a chronically homeless rate of 10%.

Such a discrepancy is easy to understand when you consider the methods in place, not to mention the difficulty of identifying someone as homeless. In January, 60 volunteers banded together to count the homeless population of northern Kentucky. They tallied just over 2,000 homeless people in several counties. But who's to say that some of those homeless people weren't merely college students?

This might sound like a joke, but the Times article describes exactly such a case during a recent counting night in New Haven, Connecticut.

Once, when I was working at a fairly expensive Manhattan restaurant, I spotted a man sauntering letharigically toward the bathroom whom I instantly took for homeless. After all, this restaurant catered mainly to financial executives and "ladies who lunch." By comparison, this guy just seemed homeless. He was huge, with ratty-looking, oversized camouflage pants, a black t-shirt that draped over his massive build, and an enormous, disheveled head of hair. I remember thinking, this is awkward... is anyone going to say something? Of course, I was at work, so I was more inclined to worry about such things -- and despite our usual clientele, it wasn't uncommon for pan-handlers, drug addicts, and crazy people to filter in off the streets, whom the managers would swiftly -- but politely -- usher to the door.

It turns out he wasn't a homeless man, but the drummer for very successful band. (I mean, with a few notable exceptions, how often can you instantly identify the drummer of a band?) I hadn't seen him in the restaurant until that moment simply because he had requested a secluded table to conduct a business meeting. Needless to say, I felt like an idiot.

But it proves that appearances can be deceiving. Let's hope the 4,000 communities participating in this nationwide count are more discerning than I was on that embarrassing day back in 2003. An accurate number could mean the beginning of some real measures to help get the unknown number of homeless men, women, teenagers, and children off the streets for good.

Last week, the Icelandic pop star Bjork ended a show in Shanghai with "Declare Independence", a song she wrote for the Faroe Islands and Greenland, urging those countries to follow Iceland's lead and break away from Denmark.

The song itself is innocuous enough, but when she began chanting "Tibet! Tibet!" towards the end, audience members were aghast. The reactions since Sunday have ranged from supportive to hostile, even though most reports are coming from Western sources.

Chinese media are forbidden to discuss the matter, presumably hoping it will just go away. The little bits of news that have leaked through, however, are that Bjork will be banned from performing in China if she does it again, and that the Chinese public's "feelings were hurt" by her gesture.

Tibet has been under Chinese control for 58 years, and unlike much of the Western world, the Chinese government does not view this as problematic. Rather, it views Tibet as part of China, and any claims to the contrary -- i.e. that Tibet is being oppressed and held against its will -- as derisive and wrong.

In the West, liberal media like the Guardian are sympathetic to Bjork's sentiment, while more conservative outlets like FoxNews indicate a clear bias, calling it an "outburst."

Bjork claims that she is not a political person, and maybe she isn't. But aesthetics and politics are not mutually exclusive, and the two often bleed together. This is a telling example, don't you think?

A major issue remains, however, and that is how to care for the families of our military, who are not being offered the same psychological services but yet who are also suffering due to the stress of deployment and extended separation as well as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Civilian parents are not equipped with the necessary skills and tools to explain to young children, how and why their other parent suffers from PTSD, lost a limb or their life while in combat.

Mental illness carries a tremendous stigma in civilian life. In the military, stigma, barriers to access and negative attitudes about mental health care treatment often prevent a lot of people from seeking help.This extends to the family, which is increasingly in crisis. Our military and their families deserve better mental health care treatment. They deserve access to child psychologists. They deserve our help.

In the first part of her Q&A with the AWEARNESS Blog, KT Tunstall discussed her commitment to saving the environment. In this second part of the Q&A, she takes a wider look at two important social issues within the U.S. that deserve greater attention: HIV/AIDS and homelessness.

AWEARNESS: Who do you think are the most inspiring role models for social justice?

KT: Tony Benn, Martin Luther King Jr., Al Gore, Bono, Bill Hicks, Patti Smith, Mark Thomas...the list is a long one.

AWEARNESS: How do you think public understanding of HIV/AIDS has changed over the past decade? Has HIV/AIDS brought any change into your life?

KT: It now seems widely understood that HIV and AIDS are not limited to or spread by the gay community. Also, it seems there is a greater awareness of how dire the situation is in Africa. I remember when Freddy Mercury died, and was so shocked that he had died so young. That was when I realized AIDS/HIV was such a threat. Annie Lennox asked me to sing on her single 'Sing', a record to raise awareness of African women's plight against the disease, and I was keen to help.

AWEARNESS: How can the average person become an advocate for change when it comes to HIV/AIDS?

KT: By making sure that stereotypes and prejudices are overcome within communities.

AWEARNESS: What are some of your favorite organizations that are attempting to eliminate poverty and/or homelessness?

KT: The British magazine The Big Issue. Also, small community-led projects that help the homeless within their own town or city.

AWEARNESS: What role, if any, should fashion brands play in providing clothing for the poor?

KT: Any help in any way possible is of course good. However, the priority should perhaps be to tackle the roots of the problem and find a way to rehabilitate homeless people so they can become part of their community.

AWEARNESS: What steps, if any, do you think that individuals at the grassroots should be taking to reduce homelessness in America?

KT: Ignorance is possibly the biggest enemy of the homeless: an enormous percentage of these people suffer from mental health problems. If someone had a broken leg, you would help them. But mental health problems can be frightening and hard to deal with. It's also tied up very closely with drug addiction, so I would say get involved with a local project to try and help those less fortunate.

[image: KT Tunstall at the launch of Global Cool]