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Dallas, Texas (CNN) -- Two men were arrested and charged Sunday in connection with a string of deliberately set church fires in east Texas, authorities said.
Jason Robert Bourque, 19, and Daniel George McAllister, 21, were charged with one count of arson each in a February 8 fire set at the Dover Baptist Church in Tyler, Texas, according to the state Department of Public Safety. Authorities say they believe the men are connected to nine other church fires that have been set in the area since January 1.
Bourque and McAllister also are suspects in the attempted break-ins at three separate churches earlier this month, said Steve McCraw, director of the public safety department.
A federal law enforcement source told CNN that multiple pieces of evidence have been linked to one of the suspects through DNA and that many of the fires were ignited the same way.
"East Texans can rest easier tonight," McCraw said at a news conference announcing the arrests.
He called the arsons "despicable and cowardly acts."
A call to a tip hot line led to the arrests, according to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, which was offering a $25,000 reward for information about the fires.
Investigators were first made aware of the suspects about two weeks ago and had been trying to build a case against them since then, ATF Special Agent Thomas Crowley said.
Authorities have been interviewing them since their arrest but there's still no information on motive, Crowley said.
Authorities on February 12 released sketches of three people sought in connection with the fires. On Sunday, officials said that those "persons of interest" are not related to this weekend's arrests.
An 11th church arson in Temple, Texas, is not related to the other 10, said Robert Champion of the ATF in Dallas, Texas. Earlier this month, authorities said they were trying to determine whether the Temple fire was connected to the others.
CNN's Ed Lavandera contributed to this report. | [
"what evidence linked one of the suspects?",
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"who was charged with arson?"
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] | NEW: Call to a tip hot line led to the arrests, ATF says .
NEW: Source: Evidence linked to one of the suspects through DNA .
Two men charged with arson in connection with one Texas church fire .
Men are suspects in nine other church fires in east Texas, authorities say . |
Dangjin, South Korea (CNN) -- Steelmakers are known to be one of the worst polluters in manufacturing, but South Korea's newest plant claims it is designed to go green.
Hyundai Steel's Dangjin plant, which sits an hour and a half south of Seoul on the west coast, is the youngest steel plant in the world and has adopted new technologies to ensure it stand out from others.
By simply enclosing storage and transport routes for raw material, they are able to prevent dust particles from entering the surrounding areas.
The facility, which includes 35 kilometers (21 miles) of conveyor belts fully enclosed and state-of-the-art storage domes, cost Hyundai Steel roughly $5.5 billion to build. The two blast furnaces produce eight million tons of steel a year.
It is no small investment, but the steelmaker believes it will earn its way back in no time.
"With the encapsulated storage system, we minimize loss of raw material so that may be $20 million a year (that we are saving)," said Hyundai Steel's senior executive vice president Cho Won-suk.
Other steelmakers lose roughly 0.5% in raw materials annually by keeping them in the open, subjecting the material to rain and wind, according to Hyundai.
The idea is simple but conventional players elsewhere see it as a large investment that would require a new layout for the steel plant.
Hyundai's Dangjin plant, which blew in its blast furnace at the beginning of last year, was designed to accommodate the green system from the beginning.
Dangjin also boasts its recycling byproducts emitted during the process of burning and melting raw materials. The company says it recycles 100% of its byproducts which supplies 80% of the operation energy at the plant.
"The byproduct gas contains energy and has some value. For example, it contains carbon monoxide, hydrogen and methane, so the byproduct gas can be utilized for heating up furnaces in the plant," vice president Cho said.
To make sure Hyundai is meeting its standards as a green steelmaker, it monitors its emission output around the clock which is not only reported to the government but is also open to the public.
The steelmaker keeps its pollution levels below half of the government's regulations, according to Hyundai's technical research center manager, Park Eung-yeul.
Its tight relationship with its sister companies, Hyundai Motor and Hyundai Construction, is also enhancing its efforts to become more green.
Not only does Hyundai Steel supply car parts to Hyundai Motor, the old cars at the end of their cycle come back to the steelmaker as scrap metal to be melted down and used once again. The rougher steel produced from scrap metal can then be used at construction sites.
Despite these efforts, tackling CO2 emissions remains an ongoing challenge.
But the company's dedicated task force team continue the drive towards producing environmentally-friendly energy and removing the obstacles in the way of even cleaner steel production. | [
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"How much did the plant cost to build?",
"Which company is reducing emissions at its steel plant in Dangjin, South Korea?",
"Does the company recycle?",
"Who says it recycles all of its byproducts and monitors its emissions 24 hours a day?",
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] | Hyundai is reducing emissions at its steel plant in Dangjin, South Korea .
Facility which includes 35 kilometers of conveyor belts cost around $5.5 billion to build .
Plant has enclosed its storage and transport routes to limit dust entering surrounding area .
Company says it recycles all of its byproducts and monitors its emissions 24 hours a day . |
Decatur, Georgia (CNN) -- LaShonda Durden had just given birth to her second child. She was two weeks back from maternity leave when her supervisor called her into her office.
"You need to be trying to find other employment," her manager said.
A bereavement coordinator and chaplain at an Atlanta, Georgia-area hospice, Durden suddenly found herself coping with the grief of being unemployed. Sixteen months later, she's still out of work.
"It's a vicious cycle," she says.
Durden is not alone. She is among the 16.5 percent unemployed African-Americans -- almost twice the rate of unemployment for whites. The figure was included in a new report released Wednesday on the state of black America by the National Urban League.
The report presents other sobering statistics on the nation's racial divide on economics, education, health, civic engagement and social justice. Among them:
The median household income for blacks stands at $34,218; for whites, it's $55,530. Less than half of blacks own a home compared to three quarters of white families. Blacks are more than three times as likely to live in poverty.
In addition, black-owned businesses represent a paltry 5 percent of privately owned companies, and the study says more are needed to help spur job growth in minority communities.
The Obama administration, the study suggests, has taken measures to improve the gap between whites and blacks, although it says more is needed. The report says legislation needs to focus on minority job training, tax incentives and extensions for unemployment benefits.
Andrew Grant-Thomas, the deputy director of the Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race and Ethnicity, says he believes the statistics for unemployed black Americans is far greater than what's being reported. The figures don't include people not actively seeking employment or people with higher education degrees forced to take jobs for which they're overqualified.
"The disparities are definitely huge and that number understates the size of the disparity," he says. "You want to take that number and double it."
"This recession is even bigger than Katrina hitting New Orleans," he adds. "Yes, everyone got hit, but not everyone was hit equally as hard -- and shouldn't we invest in those hit the hardest?"
The faces of the statistics
On Tuesday, Durden went to Java DeLight Cafe, in a predominantly African-American suburb of Atlanta. She goes there to network and search for jobs via the Internet over its WiFi connection.
The cafe is owned and operated by Patricia Setzer, an African-American who opened the establishment in 2008. She says she can relate to many of her customers. Days after she opened her business, her husband was laid off. It took him eight months to find a new job. "We literally just went without for awhile," she says.
Setzer hopes her cafe can serve as a networking hub. She calls it "the cultural meeting place." If her regular customers don't return for weeks, she wonders if they've succumbed to hard times: "When they're not here, I'm thinking about them."
"We want people to come here and meet and enjoy themselves," Setzer says.
To that end, she's organizing a job club at her cafe -- a place to host unemployed Americans (of any ethnicity) and give them hands on training, from resume help to how to dress for interviews. Barbers and hair stylists will be on hand for those who need fresh cuts.
As a business owner, Setzer is a minority in a minority: Just 5.2 percent of small businesses in the U.S. are black-owned.
"We're all struggling, whether you're white, black or green," says Setzer as she flips turkey patties. "You've just got to hold on."
On this day, Diane Ridley Roberts, president of a management consulting firm, worked from her laptop inside the cafe. Unlike other businesses that aren't hiring, she says she's | [
"What salary differences have blacks to whites?"
] | [
[
"almost twice the rate of unemployment for"
]
] | National Urban League report focuses on state of black America .
African-American unemployment is double rate of whites, report finds .
Median household income for blacks stands at $34,218; for whites, it's $55,530 .
"The disparities are definitely huge," expert says . |
Decatur, Georgia (CNN) -- Given all their country and people have been through, between political upheavals, human rights abuses, hurricanes, abject poverty and last week's earthquake, "If Haitians were constantly questioning their faith, they would all be atheists."
These words came from the Rev. Eric Hill as he prepared to lead Haitian Mass Sunday at Saints Peter and Paul Catholic Church in Decatur, Georgia.
Some of the 100 Haitian parishioners who gathered raised their hands to the heavens in praise, grateful their loved ones had been found. Others bowed their heads and clenched their hands for those lost, still missing and all who suffered. One woman wept out of guilt because she -- a U.S. citizen -- had been able to leave her devastated homeland a day after the quake, while so many were left behind.
Their unshaken faith and devotion to God is the same sort that's played out in other houses of worship, in living rooms and on the torn-up streets of Haiti.
Are you in Haiti and safe? Share your story, photos with CNN iReport
Carmella Delerme of Miami, Florida, said her mother clung to her Bible for days, reading psalms over and over again, as they waited for word on the whereabouts and condition of Delerme's sister and other relatives.
When her sister, who was in Haiti on a missionary trip with their Seventh-day Adventist Church, called late Thursday, Delerme said, "I went straight to church and prayed and prayed and prayed. We continue to pray for those who are lost and still in need."
On the streets of Port-au-Prince, with many of their churches crumbled, people have gathered to worship and sing Catholic and Protestant hymns.
"That's the soundscape of the country right now," said Elizabeth McAlister, a professor of religion and anthropologist of Haiti who teaches at Wesleyan University in Connecticut. "It's the business of religion to create meaning out of chaos. ... Tragically, the business of religion is getting a lot of trade today."
See complete coverage of Haiti earthquake
It's often said that 80 percent of Haitians are Catholic, although other estimates range from 55 percent to 85 percent. McAlister, who puts her best estimate at 70 percent, said getting a proper census in Haiti to nail down numbers is impossible. But between Protestant denominations and Catholicism, it is without doubt a majority Christian country, she said.
Weaved in, however, are the nuances that come with the country's troubled history.
Colonized by the French, the land then known as Saint-Domingue emerged as one of the wealthiest colonies of the 18th century. It's flourishing sugar production and aggressive deforestation was achieved on the backs of half a million African slaves. They brought with them their own belief systems, rooted in West and Central African traditions.
Haitian Vodou, often misunderstood and branded with stereotypes, has its own ceremonies and rituals meant to honor spirits, or loas. These spirits, seen as intermediaries with God and links to ancestors, can be called upon for help. And for practicing Christians, especially Catholics who can view saints as they would spirits, the two systems do not have to be mutually exclusive.
Not everyone is necessarily practicing Vodou, commonly anglicized as Voodoo, but McAlister said the Afro-Creole Haitian traditions are usually kept alive and the ancestral spirits are inherited by at least one member of every family.
Haitian-born Leslie Desmangles remembered being hurt as a boy by the words of Christian missionaries who misunderstood and demonized his peoples' traditions. Theirs were sentiments much like those uttered last week by televangelist Pat Robertson who said the Haitian people are "cursed" because they "swore a pact with the devil" to get out from under French rule.
Robertson's comments were "insensitive, theologically unsound and loaded with racial connotations," said Desmangles, a professor of religion and international studies at Trinity College in Connecticut.
In the Decatur church Sunday, the priest reminded his congregants that theirs is an all-loving God, not a vindictive one.
Their God | [
"What is often misunderstood?",
"What does the Priest comment?",
"What does the priest say about haitians?",
"Where is their faith being seen?"
] | [
[
"Haitian Vodou,"
],
[
"\"If Haitians were constantly questioning their faith, they would all be atheists.\""
],
[
"\"If"
],
[
"houses of worship, in living rooms and on the torn-up streets of Haiti."
]
] | Haitians would be atheists if they questioned faith, given all they've seen, priest says .
Instead belief in God remains unshaken, as seen in churches, homes and on streets .
Haitian Vodou, often misunderstood, is part of people's rich history .
Their God is all-loving, not vindictive, priest says in answer to Pat Robertson . |
Denver (CNN) -- Raymond Davis, who was charged with killing two men in Pakistan as a CIA contractor but was later released, was arrested Saturday after a fistfight at a shopping center in Colorado, authorities said.
Davis was charged with misdemeanor assault and disorderly conduct after allegedly getting into a fight over a parking space at a suburban Denver mall, according to Lt. Glenn Peitzmeier of the Douglas County Sheriff's Office.
The incident at the Highlands Ranch Town Center began as an argument between 37-year-old Davis and 50-year-old Jeff Maes and then turned physical, Peitzmeier said.
Davis was released after posting $1,750 bond, Peitzmeier said.
Davis' wife, Rebecca, declined a CNN request for comment.
Davis was charged with killing two men in Lahore, Pakistan, in January. He was released in March after compensation was paid to their families.
U.S. officials originally said Davis was a diplomat and tried to claim diplomatic immunity but then revealed that he was a CIA contractor.
Davis said he killed the two men in self-defense, though Lahore authorities called the case "clear-cut murder." | [
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"WHat is he charged with",
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"when was he arrested",
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] | [
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] | Raymond Davis is charged with misdemeanor assault, a sheriff's official says .
Davis is accused of getting into a fistfight over a parking spot at a mall, the official says .
Davis was arrested in January on charges he killed two men in Lahore, Pakistan .
U.S. officials originally said Davis was a diplomat, but later revealed he was a CIA contractor . |
Denver, Colorado (CNN) -- During emergency drills at Deer Creek Middle School, teacher David Benke used to tell his students that if anything ever happened, he wanted to be able to "do something about it."
When he saw a man shooting at students as they were leaving the Littleton, Colorado, school on Tuesday, "What was going through my mind," Benke said, "was that I promised."
Benke tackled the gunman, who had shot and wounded two students, and with the help of another teacher and some bus drivers, was able to hold him until police arrived.
"I noticed that he was working a bolt-action rifle," he said. "I noticed that and realized that I had time to get him before he could chamber another round."
Still, Benke told reporters Wednesday, "it bothers me that I was a little bit late. It bothers me that he got the second shot off" and struck a second student.
Authorities identified the suspect as Bruco Strongeagle Eastwood, 32.
Eastwood, who police said had been a student at the school in the 1990s, was charged with two counts of attempted first-degree murder. He appeared in court via video link from jail Wednesday morning. CNN affiliate KUSA reported a judge ordered him held on $1 million bond.
If he does post bond, the court ordered that he have no contact with anyone under 18 and said he must seek mental health treatment, KUSA reported. It also said that if he posts bond, he cannot possess alcohol, drugs or firearms and must be monitored by GPS.
The affiliate said Eastwood's next court appearance is March 2.
Authorities released no information about a motive in the shooting, saying the case was still under investigation.
Deer Creek is two miles from Columbine High School, site of one of the deadliest school shootings in U.S. history, where 12 students and one teacher were killed in 1999. The two gunmen, both Columbine students, then turned their guns on themselves.
The students wounded Tuesday, a boy and a girl, were taken to Littleton Hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, a sheriff's office spokeswoman said. Principal Rob Hoover said one is doing well and the other was "progressing well" but was still hospitalized.
Both students were eighth-graders, the school district said. KUSA reported one was Reagan Weber, who was treated and released from Littleton Adventist Hospital.
The other, Matthew Thieu, was in serious condition at Children's Hospital. In a written statement, his mother expressed gratitude for the outpouring of support, but asked for privacy as she focuses on his recovery. She said her son was recovering from a fractured rib and a lung injury.
Eastwood's father, War Eagle Eastwood, told KUSA that his son had struggled with mental illness, was behind on bills and couldn't hold a job because of his "not really knowing what he's doing half the time." His son, who heard voices, tried to seek help, he said, but had no money to pay for it.
Bruco Eastwood had been cooperative with investigators, said Jefferson County sheriff's spokeswoman Jacki Kelley. Eastwood had been living with his father for about five years, and was unemployed other than working as "kind of a ranch hand" for his father, she said. He had been attending a community college attempting to get his GED.
The rifle used belonged to Eastwood's father, she said. Authorities found additional rounds around the school property.
School officials could not give many details to reporters Wednesday because of an ongoing police investigation, but Hoover said the suspect had come inside the school earlier and signed in. "We know he did that much, but then we know he left, and that was all we knew at that point."
Assistant Principal Becky Brown told reporters she ran outside after hearing "the pop" and saw Benke tackle the suspect. "When I saw Dr. Benke and the look on his face, I knew that we needed to help, | [
"How much is Eastwood's bail?",
"What did the teacher promise?",
"Who did David Benke tackle?",
"who tackled the gunman?",
"When did this happen?",
"where did the shooting take place?"
] | [
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"$1 million bond."
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],
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] | Teacher says he promised students he'd protect them if something happened .
David Benke tackled gunman, but says he wishes he'd done it earlier .
Suspect Bruco Strongeagle Eastwood, 32, held on $1 million bail .
Shooting takes place two miles from Columbine High School, scene of 1999 rampage . |
Detroit (CNN) -- The judge in the federal trial of alleged "underwear bomber" Umar Farouk AbdulMutallab refused Tuesday to prevent the prosecution from calling the device he allegedly carried a "bomb."
U.S. District Judge Nancy Edmunds also refused to exclude a photo of AbdulMutallab's burned genitals from the evidence.
Before the prosecution began its opening statement, defense standby counsel Anthony Chambers asked that the prosecutors not be allowed to use the words "explosive device" or "bomb" during the trial. It's up to the jury to decide whether the device AbdulMutallab was carrying was a bomb, Chambers argued.
"I'm going to deny that motion," responded Edmunds. "It makes no sense whatsoever."
As for the photo, the judge said it did not seem "unusually prejudicial."
AbdulMutallab, accused of trying to detonate an explosive device in his underwear aboard a Christmas 2009 flight to Detroit, has said he will represent himself.
The prosecution delivered a 90-minute opening statement. The defense said it would reserve the right to give an opening statement at a later point in the trial in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan. At one point, AbdulMutallab joined the attorneys for a sidebar with the judge.
While at previous court appearances AbdulMutallab has had outbursts -- including yelling "Osama's alive," a reference to Osama bin Laden, according to a court official -- he remained calm Tuesday. AbdulMutallab wore a traditional African gown, gray with gold-colored braiding.
AbdulMutallab was indicted on charges including attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction, conspiracy to commit an act of terrorism, and possession of a firearm or destructive device in furtherance of an act of violence.
He has pleaded not guilty to the charges.
He was a passenger on Northwest Airlines Flight 253 en route from the Netherlands to Detroit on Christmas Day 2009.
U.S. officials say the terror group al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula was behind the alleged bombing attempt.
Jonathan Tukel, chief of the National Security Unit for the U.S. Attorney's Office in the Eastern District of Michigan, laid out details of the flight in his opening statement.
Passengers were from 26 different countries, most of them American and Dutch, he said. "Everyone had someplace to be. All but one." Pointing to AbdulMutallab, Tukel said, "His sole reason for being on Flight 253 was to kill all of the passengers and himself. He thought he'd end up in heaven."
After taking numerous trips to the bathroom, AbdulMutallab went back to the bathroom about an hour before the plane was to land, "to purify himself to die," Tukel said. AbdulMutallab did not eat or drink on the plane, a fast that was part of ritual purification, Tukel said.
A witness testified that AbdulMutallab was in the bathroom for about 15 to 20 minutes, which seemed long to the passenger, Tukel said.
When AbdulMutallab returned to his seat, he pulled a blanket over his head, "pushed the plunger on the bomb and prepared to die," Tukel said.
Passengers heard a loud noise, which sounded like a firecracker, Tukel said. AbdulMutallab became enveloped in a fireball which then spread to the wall and carpeting of the plane, yet he remained in his seat "expressionless, completely blank," Tukel said.
Four passengers helped subdue him and tried to put out the fire, Tukel said, and AbdulMutallab was escorted up to first class.
When a flight attendant asked him what he had in his pockets, he called it "an explosive device," Tukel said.
Tukel added that AbdulMutallab was very verbal and spoke with many people, including some on the flight and officials once the flight landed.
The prosecution also called its first witness Tuesday, Michael Zantow, who was on the flight one row behind AbdulMutallab. Zantow, a 20-year veteran of the Army, was among those who tried to restrain the defendant.
Within a minute of the loud sound on the plane, a passenger said to AbdulMutallab, "Hey man, your pants are on fire! | [
"who joins the attorneys",
"What witness said a passenger yelled something",
"what does the prosecutor say of Abdulmutallab?",
"what did the witness says?",
"What person thought they would end up in heaven",
"What adult remained calm throughout"
] | [
[
"AbdulMutallab"
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[
"Michael Zantow,"
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[
"\"His sole reason for being on Flight 253 was to kill all of the passengers and himself. He thought he'd end up in heaven.\""
],
[
"that AbdulMutallab was in the bathroom for about 15 to 20 minutes,"
],
[
"AbdulMutallab,"
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[
"AbdulMutallab"
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] | NEW: "He thought he'd end up in heaven," the prosecutor says of AbdulMutallab .
NEW: A witness testifies that another passenger yelled, "Hey man, your pants are on fire!"
NEW: AbdulMutallab joins attorneys for a sidebar with the judge .
NEW: AbdulMutallab remained calm through the proceedings . |
Detroit, Michigan (CNN) -- Six men appeared in federal court Thursday, a day after they were arrested in raids targeting an African-American Muslim group that the FBI said sought to establish an Islamic state in the United States. Luqman Ameen Abdullah, the alleged leader of the African-American Muslim converts, was fatally shot during one of Wednesday's raids in the Detroit area after he fired at law enforcement agents who were trying to arrest him and four other suspects. An FBI dog was also killed. Authorities say Abdullah was the imam at a Detroit mosque where he preached offensive jihad, including violence against the U.S. government and law enforcement. A criminal complaint states that he repeatedly told three confidential informants he would never be taken alive, saying "If they're coming to get me, I'll just strap a bomb on and blow up everybody." Abdullah was one of 11 men charged Tuesday with conspiracy to commit federal crimes, including theft from interstate shipments, mail fraud to obtain the proceeds of arson, illegal possession and sale of firearms, and tampering with motor vehicle identification numbers, the FBI said in a news release. Eight suspects were in custody, including one man already in prison on an unrelated charge and another man who was arrested on Wednesday and added to the charging sheet, U.S. Attorney spokeswoman Susan Plochinski said Thursday. An additional suspect was taken into custody in Canada on Thursday, an FBI statement said. Two men remain at large. Mujahid Carswell, aka Mujahid Abdullah, was taken into custody in Windsor, Ontario, Canada, by Canadian authorities Thursday afternoon, the FBI said. According to the federal criminal complaint, Carswell, 30, is the eldest son of Abdullah, who was killed in the raid Wednesday. Canadian Border Patrol is holding him on immigration violations, the FBI said. Of the six suspects who appeared Thursday afternoon in court, Abdullah Beard was ordered held without bail; and Muhammad Abdul Salaam's bail decision was delayed, as was that for Gary Laverne Porter, a 38-year teacher who was arrested at an area school. Ali Abdul Raqib was given a $10,000 unsecured bond; Abdul Saboor was given a $100,000 bond, despite a prosecution request that he be held without bond. Another man, Acie Pusha, who was arrested Wednesday, was described by the prosecutor as "minimally involved" and given a $10,000 bond. The FBI criminal complaint says the group held target practice in a mosque basement, blowing holes in concrete walls. It includes references to possible attacks on the government, including Detroit's federal building and the FBI. There is also discussion about causing trouble at the 2006 Super Bowl in Detroit. But the men were not arrested for any of that. Two law enforcement sources said the information about possible attacks was included in the charging document to add "context for the crimes they're charged with, the purpose of the group." "They had to earn money for their mosque and the Ummah," one of the sources said. "And the purpose of Ummah was to set up a separatist state." Ummah refers to the nationwide group to which the suspects belonged, according to the complaint. It's a group made up of mostly African-American members, including some who converted to Islam while in prison. Ummah is led by Jamil Abdullah al-Amin -- formerly known as H. Rap Brown -- a 1960s radical and former member of the Black Panthers who once said "violence was as American as cherry pie." He is serving a life sentence in Colorado's Supermax prison for killing two Georgia police officers. Andrew Arena, the FBI special agent in charge of the investigation, contacted local imams and civil rights leaders in Detroit during Wednesday's operation "to bridge any gaps that could possible come over this," FBI spokeswoman Sandra Berchtold said. "He'd rather they hear it from him," she added. "We have a good relationship with the community and we want to keep it that way." In the 43-page criminal complaint filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court in the Eastern District of Michigan | [
"How many were arrested?",
"Who did the group leader fire at?",
"How many appeared in federal court Thursday?",
"What did the FBI say?",
"What do law enforcement sources say Ummah seeks to do?",
"Who was fatally shot?"
] | [
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"Six"
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[
"Abdullah was one of 11 men charged Tuesday with conspiracy to commit federal crimes, including theft from interstate shipments,"
],
[
"set up a separatist state.\""
],
[
"Luqman Ameen Abdullah,"
]
] | NEW: Six appear in federal court Thursday, a day after they were arrested in raids .
Alleged group leader was fatally shot Wednesday after firing at law enforcement agents .
FBI says men were members of Ummah, led by former H. Rap Brown .
Law enforcement sources say Ummah seeks to set up Islamic state in U.S. |
Dhaka, Bangladesh (CNN) -- Thousands of anti-riot police were in the streets of Bangladesh's capital city Thursday as the opposition alliance launched a day-long general strike in protest of a fuel price hike.
The strike, occurring all over the country, paralyzed daily life as road communications were heavily disrupted and schools and business establishments remained closed on Thursday, the last working day of the week.
The usually busy streets of the capital, Dhaka, looked almost deserted as most means of public and private transportation remained off the roads.
The opposition group Bangladesh Nationalist Party and its allies, mostly Islamic parties, called the strike after the government raised the price of petroleum fuels and compressed national gas on Sunday.
Dhaka's police chief, Benazir Ahmed, said his department deployed 13,000 policemen alone in the capital to break up any opposition protests, and the home ministry also initiated mobile courts to try protesters summarily on the streets.
Police said that the strike was mostly peaceful apart from a few incidents of violence, but the opposition parties said the police and the ruling party men beat up their activists wherever they had tried to bring out a procession.
Police said they had arrested some 200 people from different parts of the country, but the opposition claimed that the number was at least 400.
The BNP acting secretary general, Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, said, "The government has increased fuel prices at a time when people's suffering has already peaked due to high inflation." But the government said it was an "issueless" strike.
The general secretary of the ruling Awami League, Syed Ashraful Islam, said it was illogical as the prices of fuel oils were still lower in Bangladesh (a liter of gasoline costs US$ 1.06) than in the international market.
"If the prices of fuel oils increase in the global market in the future, the government will increase the prices again because the government will need to pay huge subsidies otherwise," he added.
The fuel price hike, the second such rise in four months, triggered protests also by transport owners. | [
"what was the general strike in protest of",
"how many dhaka police were in the streets",
"how many officers were put on the street?",
"in what city did this take place",
"Dhaka police put how many officers in the streets?",
"who were protesting?",
"what was the opposition claim regarding the protesters",
"what was the opposition alliance protesting",
"how many were arrested?"
] | [
[
"fuel price hike."
],
[
"Thousands"
],
[
"13,000 policemen"
],
[
"Dhaka, Bangladesh"
],
[
"13,000"
],
[
"Bangladesh Nationalist Party and its allies, mostly Islamic parties,"
],
[
"the police and the ruling party men beat up their activists"
],
[
"fuel price hike."
],
[
"200 people"
]
] | Dhaka police put 13,000 officers in the streets in that one city, police chief says .
The usually busy streets of Dhaka looked almost deserted of people, vehicles .
The opposition alliance launched the day-long general strike to protest an increase in fuel prices .
The opposition claims at least 400 protesters were arrested . |
Dhaka, Bangladesh (CNN) -- U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urged global leaders Monday to launch a multibillion-dollar climate fund agreed to last year in Cancun, Mexico.
The U.N. chief made the call as he attended a conference of climate vulnerable countries held here in the Bangladesh capital.
Representatives from 20 countries attended the ministerial level meeting inaugurated by Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
Ban said, "We are in the middle of a serious economic crisis. But even in these difficult times, we cannot afford delay. We cannot ask the poorest and the most vulnerable to bear the costs."
"The Green Climate Fund needs to be launched in Durban. An empty shell is not sufficient," he said.
"Governments must lead the way to catalyze the $100 billion dollars per annum from public and private sources that was pledged to 2020," he said.
He urged the governments to find a compromise on the Kyoto Protocol on climate change at a Durban climate conference and to make a broader comprehensive climate agreement possible in the future.
"Durban must complete what was agreed last year in Cancun," he said at the Climate Vulnerable Forum-2011.
The two-day CVF conference began Sunday, aiming to reach consensus on various climate issues and an agreement to work together at the 17th Conference of the Parties (COP-17) to be held in Durban, South Africa, beginning November 28.
Ban said adaptation must be a priority for all countries, but especially the most vulnerable. "They need help with resources and technology," he said.
The conference of the alliance of the 26 most vulnerable countries to climate change, ended with the adoption of a 14-point Dhaka Ministerial Declaration.
Bangladesh Prime Minister Hasina expressed her frustration over a slow and inadequate progress of United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) process to confront the daunting challenges of climate change, and she called for setting criteria to prioritize vulnerable countries based on their risks and lack of coping capacities.
"We see no evidence of direct and easy access to funds and technology, and conditions and criteria seem to favor countries that have greater capacities... most vulnerable countries are failing to access whatever support that are being realized," she said.
The CVF members expressed their determination to stand indivisible to face causes, consequences and collateral effects of climate change in their declaration.
They reiterated firm resolve to work collectively with the other Parties to the UNFCCC towards limiting foreseeable global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, peaking global green house gas emissions by 2015.
Briefing reporters after the conference, the Bangladesh state minister for environment and forests, Dr. Hasan Mahmud, said, "We have decided to raise our voice together on various contentious issues in Durban".
The declaration said climate change induced displacement of people has become a major concern, and the relocation and rehabilitation of those people is putting enormous pressure on infrastructures and service facilities, as well as causing tremendous social stresses.
It said migration is a viable adaptation strategy to manage risks during displacement and relocation and affected populations should be offered enhanced options leading to a dignified and diversified livelihood.
The Climate Vulnerable Forum was founded at the initiative of the Maldives in 2009 and 26 countries, mostly from the group called the Least Developed Countries, have joined the forum so far.
The CVF members include Antigua, Barbuda, Bangladesh, Barbados, Bhutan, Costa Rica, Ethiopia, Ghana, Grenada, Guyana, Kenya, Kiribati, Liberia, Maldives, Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Nepal, Philippines, Rwanda, Saint Lucia, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tanzania, Timor-Leste, Tuvalu, Vanuatu and Vietnam. | [
"Where is the important meeting to be held?",
"An important world-wide climate change meeting is coming up where?",
"What have the ministers agreed?",
"What are these nations?",
"How many ministers are coming?",
"Where are the ministers from?"
] | [
[
"Durban, South Africa,"
],
[
"Durban, South Africa,"
],
[
"multibillion-dollar climate fund"
],
[
"most vulnerable countries to climate change,"
],
[
"Representatives from 20 countries"
],
[
"20 countries"
]
] | The ministers come from nations considered most vulnerable to climate change .
An important world-wide climate change meeting is coming up in South Africa .
The ministers agreed to stand united on a number of climate issues . |
Dixon, Illinois (CNN) -- William Heirens, the "Lipstick Killer," is believed to be the longest-serving inmate in the United States. He turns 81 on November 15. Diabetes has ravaged his body, but his mind is sharp. "Bill's never allowed himself to be institutionalized," said Dolores Kennedy, his long-time friend and advocate. "He's kept himself focused on the positives." The days are spent mostly watching television and reading magazines. Using a wheelchair and sharing a cell with a roommate in the health unit of Dixon Correctional Center, he still yearns for a chance at freedom. It is something he has not tasted since 1946. Heirens has been locked behind bars and walls for 63 years, making inmate C06103 the longest-serving prisoner in Illinois history, state officials say. According to Steven Drizin, the legal director of the Center on Wrongful Convictions at Northwestern University, Heirens "has served longer than anyone in the U.S. that I can find." He was put away a year after the end of World War II. It is a dubious record, but fitting for the man dubbed the Lipstick Killer, whose crime spree remains among the most infamous in the history of Chicago, the city of Capone and Leopold and Loeb. The scar-faced gangster and the thrill-kill pair are long gone. Heirens, however, has not slipped into the past. He lives in the present and hopes for a future outside prison. Supporters have championed his cause, convinced that he is innocent, or arguing that he has been rehabilitated, a model inmate who has served his sentence. "Pray for my release," he wrote in a letter dated October 11. "There is no reason to keep this man behind bars," said Drizin. "He meets all the criteria for parole." While Drizin, who has represented Heirens since 2001, and others passionately plead for his release and prepare to re-petition the state parole board that has consistently refused to free Heirens, others are convinced he is a manipulative murderer. "He was the bogeyman," said Betty Finn of the man convicted of strangling her sister. "I don't think you need to feel sorry for him. He chose his life and he chose his actions." Josephine Ross was the first victim. The 43-year-old was found stabbed to death in her apartment. She was killed on June 5, 1945. In December, police discovered the body of Frances Brown in her bathroom. She was stabbed through the neck and shot in the head. The killer left a message on the wall. It said, "for heavens sake catch me before I kill more I cannot control myself." It was scrawled in red lipstick. The press seized on the detail. The headlines would soon scream of the Lipstick Killer. Four weeks later, an intruder used a ladder to enter the second-floor window of Suzanne Degnan's bedroom. The killer approached the sleeping 6-year-old girl and abducted her. "I was old enough to know everything that happened and remember the looks on my parents' faces," Finn said of the crime against her younger sister. "Can you imagine as a child to have this happen? Can you imagine going to bed at night and all of a sudden your sister is not in her bed?" There would be a ransom note demanding $20,000. But there would also be the horrific discovery of Suzanne's severed head in a sewer. Other body parts were found within days. Chicago was gripped in fear. Scores of people were questioned, but the investigation dragged on for months without a break. One, however, came in June, when two police officers confronted a burglar near the Degnan home. The young thief was a 17-year-old student at the University of Chicago. His name was William Heirens, and police soon became convinced he was the killer. Drizin said Heirens was subjected to days of brutal interrogation. He also was beaten and given sodium pentothal | [
"who is the longest serving US prison inmate?",
"what age is he?",
"How long have they been behind bars?",
"How long has he been behind bars?",
"Who is the longest-serving prison innate in the US?"
] | [
[
"William Heirens,"
],
[
"81"
],
[
"63 years,"
],
[
"63 years,"
],
[
"William Heirens,"
]
] | William Heirens may be the longest-serving prison innate in the United States .
He has been behind bars for 63 years .
At 81, Heirens is diabetic and uses a wheelchair .
He says his 1946 confession to the "Lipstick Murders" was coerced . |
Douglas Khayat is a psychologist for the international medical humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders//Medicins Sans Frontieres (MSF), working in Complexo do Alemao, one of the poorest and most violent favelas in Rio de Janeiro. RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil -- An estimated 150,000 people live in Complexo do Alemao, where armed groups fight for turf, and fighting between police forces and ruling groups leave thousands of people trapped by violence. Complexo do Alemao, a poor area of Rio de Janeiro controlled by armed drug-dealers There are no private or public health facilities inside Alemao and not even government ambulances enter. In this extremely violent corner of the world, residents live with a great deal of psychological trauma. In recognition of this trauma, Doctors Without Borders offers psychological support, in addition to the medical services we provide to the community in the favela. The people who call Alemao home live under a vow of silence, the unspoken code of survival that dictates that no one discuss what goes on inside the community particularly the violent episodes they endure or witness. Killings, beating, threats, expulsions, regular exposure to heavy weapons, and other forms of abuse, are all carried out by the armed groups that control the drug trafficking, imposing their own set of rules. See images of life in the favelas » Since October 2007, Doctors Without Borders psychologists have conducted 2,000 consultations for 1,000 different patients. For 85 percent of patients, suffering was directly related to violence. They have either been directly affected by combat, experienced the trauma of witnessing extreme violence, have had family members killed or tortured. The symptoms we mostly see are anxiety disorders, depression, psychosomatic conditions, and learning and behavior problems in children. When police enter the area, fighting often breaks out with armed groups. The state of fear created by these groups creates an environment in which psychological disorders multiply. Some get used to living this way, but others do not, particularly children. See a report on healthcare in Brazil » The needs are incredible, so are the stories. Last year a middle-aged man arrived at our project asking to see a psychologist. Two years earlier he suffered a series of tragic events that resulted in persistent insomnia and anxiety that almost ruined his family. He was crossing a football field holding hands with a female friend, not his wife, when suddenly a armored police car entered the community and began shooting. Everything happened in a matter of seconds. His girlfriend told him she was wounded. The shooting became so bad that he had to leave her to find shelter. She died and he could not stop blaming himself for leaving her in the middle of the field. It made his marriage hell. It started to affect his work and he began to have terrible nightmares. He started to drink a lot. But our treatment with him went really well. We helped him reevaluate others facets of his life and things started to get better, his marriage, his work. People around him reacted to his new attitude, and his life began to improve. The population trusts us because we live the same day-to-day routine they live. Our project is the only health facility inside Complexo do Alemao. During the day, we are exposed to the same environment as the residents. This experience in the same environment helps to develop a bond with our patients. For me as a Brazilian, as a middle class carioca (from Rio de Janeiro), it is difficult to experience this aspect of my country. I've grown angrier about the conditions in my city and country after doing this work. At the same time, it has been and continues to be a life changing experience, a possibility to dive into my country's soul and play an important part of people's lives. | [
"Who describes life in one of Brazil's most violent favelas?",
"What provides the only medical/psychiatric help in the region?",
"who are the providers of help in the region?",
"How many consultations have psychologists given?",
"who is describing the most violent favelas?"
] | [
[
"Douglas Khayat"
],
[
"Doctors Without Borders"
],
[
"Doctors Without Borders"
],
[
"2,000"
],
[
"Douglas Khayat"
]
] | Dr. Douglas Khayat describes life in one of Brazil's most violent favelas .
Psychologists have so far given 2,000 consultations for traumatized locals .
Doctors Without Borders provide the only medical/psychiatric help in the region . |
Driftwood, Texas (CNN) -- Texas Gov. Rick Perry won his state's Republican gubernatorial primary outright on Tuesday, avoiding a potentially costly runoff election against Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison.
Hutchison called Perry to concede the race after returns indicated that the governor was cruising toward a resounding victory in the closely-watched primary.
"Now we must unite," she said. "We must win Texas for Republicans."
Perry's win ended a yearlong intra-party fight that was billed from the start as a clash of Texas political titans but ended with a whimper as Hutchison struggled to fight a tide of anti-Washington sentiment among conservatives.
The governor cast his victory as a warning shot to Washington in the mold of recent GOP wins in the Virginia and New Jersey governor's races and the Massachusetts special Senate election.
"I think the message is pretty clear," Perry told supporters at his election night party near Austin. "Conservatism has never been stronger than it is today."
Perry said the message to Washington was simple: "Quit spending all the money," he said. "Stop trying to take over our lives and our businesses."
He added: "Stop messing with Texas!"
Perry, the longest serving governor in Texas history, is seeking a third full term in Austin. His opponent in the general election will be Democrat Bill White, the former Houston mayor who dispatched six opponents in the Democratic primary.
With nearly two-thirds of precincts reporting, Perry maintained a 20-point lead over Hutchison and appeared to be on pace to cross the crucial 50 percent mark needed to avoid a six-week runoff election against the three-term senator, who began her gubernatorial bid as the prohibitive frontrunner but stumbled as Perry's campaign cast her as a big-spending Washington insider.
GOP activist Debra Medina, a conservative with strong support among Tea Party activists, looked to be headed for a third place finish.
White, the popular former three-term mayor of Houston, the country's fourth-largest city, predicted that Perry will try to nationalize the race and tie him to unpopular Democratic agenda items in Washington.
"He'll run against President Obama," White said in an interview. "That's probably for his own political career. I think he wants to run for president. I'm just running for the people of Texas. It shouldn't be about a party or who's doing what to whom in Washington." | [
"Who won the Texas gubernatorial GOP primary?",
"Where is Perry the governor of?",
"What is White's former position?",
"Who is the longest-serving governor in Texas history?",
"Who did Perry defeat?",
"Who did the incumbent defeat?",
"Who will Perry face in the general election?"
] | [
[
"Gov. Rick Perry"
],
[
"Texas"
],
[
"Houston mayor"
],
[
"Perry,"
],
[
"Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison."
],
[
"Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison."
],
[
"Bill White,"
]
] | Incumbent Rick Perry defeats Kay Bailey Hutchinson in Texas gubernatorial GOP primary .
Perry will face ex-Houston Mayor Bill White in general election .
Perry is longest-serving governor in Texas history . |
Dubai, United Arab Emirates (CNN) -- Another person has been added to the list of suspects in the January killing of a Hamas leader in a Dubai hotel, bringing the number of identified suspects to 27, two sources told CNN on Monday.
Twenty-six of the 27 were carrying European and Australian passports, authorities have said. The sources, an official familiar with the investigation and a police source, did not say which nation issued the passport the suspect used.
Mahmoud al-Mabhouh, a founding member of Hamas' military wing, was found dead January 20 in his Dubai hotel room. Police believe he was slain the night before, allegedly by the secretive Israeli foreign intelligence unit Mossad.
Earlier Monday, sources in Dubai said two of the suspects ultimately entered the United States after al-Mabhouh's death, confirming a story originally reported by the Wall Street Journal. But a national security source in the United States cast doubt on that report.
Federal authorities ran the two names -- Roy Allen Cannon and Evan Dennings -- through databases and found no indication that anyone with those names or using those names entered the United States after the Dubai killing, the U.S. source said.
The Dubai sources said the suspect identified as Dennings, carrying an Irish passport, went to Zurich, Switzerland, immediately after the slaying, then entered the United States on January 21. The suspect identified as Cannon entered the United States on a British passport on February 14, the sources said.
Both should have been required to provide fingerprints and a picture upon arrival in America, the sources said.
On Sunday, Dubai's police chief said he is "100 percent sure" that the secretive Israeli foreign intelligence unit Mossad is behind al-Mabhouh's death.
"The Mossad needs to be ashamed of its actions," said Lt. Gen. Dahi Khalfan Tamim. "They sent 26, 27 persons to assassinate one man who was involved in the capturing and killing of two Israeli soldiers."
Hamas has said al-Mabhouh was behind the 1989 deaths.
Israel has a stated policy on security matters of neither confirming nor denying involvement. Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, however, told Israel Army Radio earlier this month, "There is certainly no reason to think that the Mossad and not some other intelligence agency of another country operated there."
Lieberman has also said only "media reports" link Israel to the slaying.
Asked about the case Saturday by CNN's Christiane Amanpour, Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak repeatedly declined to comment.
Earlier Sunday, police said toxicology results showed that al-Mabhouh was injected with succinylcholine, a drug used to relax muscles during surgery or as an anesthetic, before he was suffocated. Signs indicated that al-Mabhouh resisted as he was being suffocated, police said.
Family members were told earlier that police had found blood on a pillow. Authorities have also said the killers left some of al-Mabhouh's medication next to him in an apparent effort to make the death appear natural.
But "the medication left next to him in the room has nothing to do with the killing," Tamim said Sunday.
However, authorities have recovered evidence including DNA, he said. "The DNA evidence is quite important and will help us with the investigation."
The 27 suspects are believed to have acquired false passports to travel to Dubai for the killing, then scattered to several far-flung locations afterward.
Tamim said Sunday not all the suspects have fraudulent passports -- "We know some of the names are real."
The total of 27 does not include two Palestinians previously arrested in Jordan and returned to Dubai. Tamim said one is not believed to be directly involved in al-Mabhouh's death, but "he is wanted by one of the Palestinian factions in the Palestinian territories and he is sentenced to death and that's why we will extradite him." He declined to discuss anything about the other Palestinian.
Twelve of the suspects used British passports, police said. Six suspects used Irish passports, four used French passports, three used Australian and one used | [
"Who was killed?",
"What did the media reports link?",
"How many people were added to the suspect list?",
"What does Israel say?",
"How many of the suspects entered the USA after death?",
"Who said they are \"100% sure\" Israeli unit is behind Hamas slaying?",
"What did the Dubai police chief say?",
"What was he 100% sure of?",
"What person was added to list of suspects in Hamas killing?"
] | [
[
"a Hamas leader"
],
[
"Israel to the slaying."
],
[
"Another person"
],
[
"\"There is certainly no reason to think that the Mossad and not some other intelligence agency of another country operated there.\""
],
[
"two"
],
[
"Dubai's police chief"
],
[
"\"100 percent sure\""
],
[
"the secretive Israeli foreign intelligence unit Mossad is behind al-Mabhouh's death."
],
[
"Roy Allen Cannon"
]
] | 27th person added to list of suspects in killing of Hamas leader in Dubai hotel .
Dubai police chief "100 percent" sure Israeli intel unit is behind Hamas slaying .
Israel says only media reports link it to killing and there's no reason to blame Mossad .
Sources: Two of the suspects ultimately entered the United States after death . |
Dubai, United Arab Emirates (CNN) -- Australia warned Israel Thursday of a possible diplomatic rift if Israel condoned the use of fraudulent Australian passports in the killing of a Hamas leader.
Israel's ambassador was given the warning after it was learned that three Australian passports were used by members of an alleged assassination crew connected to the recent slaying of a Hamas leader in a Dubai hotel room, Australia's Foreign Minister Stephen Smith said Thursday.
"I made it crystal clear to the ambassador that if the results of that investigation cause us to come to the conclusion that the abuse of Australian passports was in any way sponsored or condoned by Israeli officials, then Australia would not regard that as the act of a friend, "Smith said Thursday. " We would not regard that as the act of a friend."
The stern statement from Smith is part of the growing international diplomatic tiff stemming from the January 20 killing of Mahmoud al-Mabhouh, a founding member of Hamas' military wing.
Al-Mabhouh was found dead in his hotel room January 20. Police believe he was killed the night before and suspect the Mossad, the secretive Israeli foreign intelligence unit, was behind his slaying.
A total of 26 suspects have been identified by Dubai police. The suspects are believed to have acquired faulty passports to arrive in Dubai for the killing and then fled to other far-flung locations, police said.
The 26 named suspects do not include two Palestinians previously arrested in Jordan and returned to the UAE.
Twelve of the suspects used British passports, police said. Six suspects used Irish passports and four suspects used French passports. Along with the three suspects who used Australian passports, another suspect used a German passport .
The European Union this week condemned the use of false EU passports in connection with the al-Mabhouh slaying.
Authorities have not said how he died, al-Mabhouh's family was told there were signs of electric shocks on his legs, behind his ears, on his genitals and over his heart. Blood on a pillow led police to believe he was suffocated, the family was told. The killers left some of al-Mabhouh's medicine next to his bed in an apparent effort to suggest his death was not suspicious, police said.
Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman has said only "media reports" link Israel to al-Mabhouh's death.
CNN's Roya Shadravan contributed to this report. | [
"How many people were involved in killing of Mahmoud al-Mabhouh?",
"Which passports were used by the members?",
"What nationality were the passports used by members of the alleged assassination crew?",
"What were used by members of alleged assassination crew?",
"Who was found dead?",
"When was Al-Mabhouh found dead?",
"When was Al-Mabhouh was found dead in his hotel room?",
"On what date was Al-Mabhouh found dead?"
] | [
[
"26"
],
[
"fraudulent Australian"
],
[
"Australian"
],
[
"three Australian passports"
],
[
"Mahmoud al-Mabhouh,"
],
[
"January 20."
],
[
"January 20."
],
[
"January 20."
]
] | Australian passports used by members of alleged assassination crew .
Police say 26 people involved in killing of Hamas figure Mahmoud al-Mabhouh .
Al-Mabhouh was found dead in his hotel room January 20 . |
Dubai, United Arab Emirates (CNN) -- Mourners buried a senior Hamas militant Friday after his recent death in Dubai -- a death Hamas calls an "assassination." Mahmoud al-Mabhouh died in Dubai on January 20, said Izzat al Rishq, a Hamas member based in Syria. Al-Mabhouh was a founding member of the military wing of Hamas, which blamed Israel for his death. "We hold the enemy responsible for the assassination of Mahmoud Mabhouh," the militant wing said in an online statement. "The enemy will not escape punishment." It said Al-Mabhouh was responsible for capturing two Israeli soldiers during the first intifada and named the pair: Sgt. Avi Sasportas and Cpl. Ilan Saadon The Israeli Foreign Ministry said Sasportas was kidnapped on Feb. 16, 1989 and shot to death. His body was found in May 1989. The ministry said the same Hamas terror cell that kidnapped Sasportas abducted Saadon on May 3, 1989. Saadon's body was discovered in 1996. Government officials in Israel declined to comment on the militant wing's statement. One official in Dubai told CNN that al-Mabhouh died of natural causes. But the Emirates News Agency said authorities determined that the man was killed and were working with Interpol to hunt down alleged perpetrators thought to be part of a "criminal gang," some of whom have European passports. Hamas said it is investigating the death and that it would publish details "in a timely manner." Al-Mabhouh's brother, Fayek al-Mabhouh, said that preliminary results of Hamas' investigation show he was killed by electrocution and strangulation with a piece of cloth. Fayek said his brother had survived other assassination attempts. The Emirates News Agency report quoted a security source saying the gang had been tracking the victim. Al-Mabhouh had lived in Syria for about 20 years. He traveled from Syria to Dubai on January 19 and died the next day, Hamas officials in Gaza said. It's not clear why he traveled to Dubai, but Fayek al-Mabhouh said his brother arrived at a Dubai hotel in charge of the Hamas mission. His body was returned to Damascus on Thursday night and was buried after Friday prayers, Hamas officials in Gaza said. CNN's Kevin Flower, Saad Abedine, Caroline Faraj, and Talal Abu Rahma contributed to this report | [
"Who died in Dubai on January 20?",
"When did Mahmoud al-Mabhouh die?",
"Who does Hamas blame for al-Mabhouh's death?",
"What did the Official's in Dubai tell CNN was the cause of his death?",
"What did the official in Dubai tell CNN?",
"What is the cause of Mahmoud al-Mabhouh's death?",
"When was Mahmoud al-Mabhouh buried?",
"What did al-Mabhouh die of?"
] | [
[
"Mahmoud al-Mabhouh"
],
[
"January 20,"
],
[
"Israel"
],
[
"natural"
],
[
"al-Mabhouh died of natural causes."
],
[
"\"assassination.\""
],
[
"Friday"
],
[
"electrocution"
]
] | Mahmoud al-Mabhouh buried Friday after his death in Dubai on January 20 .
Hamas says al-Mabhouh was assassinated, blames Israel for death .
Official in Dubai told CNN that al-Mabhouh died of natural causes . |
Dubai, United Arab Emirates (CNN) -- Police announced 15 new suspects in the January killing of a Hamas leader at a Dubai hotel, bringing to 26 the number of people suspected of involvement in his death. Authorities previously had released a list of 11 suspects in the killing of Mahmoud al-Mabhouh, a founding member of Hamas' military wing. Al-Mabhouh was found dead in his hotel room January 20. Police believe he was killed the night before and suspect the Mossad, the secretive Israeli foreign intelligence unit, was behind his killing. Among the new suspects are six more people who allegedly used British passports in the commission of the crime, four others using Irish passports, two other French passport holders and three people, including a woman, traveling on Australian passports, police said in a statement Wednesday. The total number of suspects using British passports is now at 12, police said, along with six Irish passport holders and four French passport holders. Another suspect using a German passport was announced earlier this month. The three Australian passports are new. "Friendly nations who have been assisting in this investigation have indicated to the police in Dubai that the passports were issued in an illegal and fraudulent manner, adding that the pictures on the travel documents did not correspond to the original owners," the police statement said. Dubai authorities have informed Australia of the possible use of the three Australian passports, Australian Foreign Minister Stephen Smith said Thursday (Wednesday ET) in a statement to Parliament. The passports were issued in 2003 to Joshua Bruce, Adam Korman and Nicole McCabe, he said, adding that Australian officials have been cooperating with Dubai authorities. "The Australian government is very gravely concerned that these Australian passports appear to have been used fraudulently," he said. Preliminary analysis shows that the passports "appear to have been duplicated or altered," he said. "At this stage, Australian officials have no information, no information to suggest that the three Australian passport holders were involved in any way, other than as victims of passport or identity fraud." He said he had told the Israeli ambassador to Australia, Yuval Rotem, that Australia expected Israeli authorities "to cooperate fully and transparently with the Australian Federal Police investigation into this matter." The European Union earlier this week said it "strongly condemns" the use of false EU passports in connection with al-Mabhouh's slaying. Officials have said the passports are not fake or forged but were authentic passports meant for other people. While authorities have not said how he died, al-Mabhouh's family was told there were signs of electric shocks on his legs, behind his ears, on his genitals and over his heart. Blood on a pillow led police to believe he was suffocated, the family was told. The killers left some of al-Mabhouh's medicine next to his bed in an apparent effort to suggest his death was not suspicious, police said. Police said Wednesday they have traced the suspects' travel routes and their destinations before and after al-Mabhouh's death. "The suspects gathered in Dubai and dispersed to various locations before pairing up again in different teams and heading off to other destinations," the statement said. The Australians, for instance, are believed to have departed Dubai in a boat for Iran. Police released a diagram showing the travel routes. The suspects are believed to have departed Dubai for places including Paris, Hong Kong and Rome following al-Mabhouh's death. In addition, police said in a statement that 14 of the suspects used credit cards issued by MetaBank, based in the U.S. state of Iowa, to book hotel rooms and pay for air travel. Payoneer, an online payment distribution service, issues the types of cards the suspects are said to have used through MetaBank. Someone "loads" the cards by paying Payoneer, which then contacts MetaBank to issue the card, according to Payoneer. "We are aware of the news reports," Mary Kae Marinac, a spokeswoman for Payoneer, said Wednesday. "We are cooperating with [MetaBank] and | [
"What do police say about MetaBank?",
"Who do Australian officials cooperate with?",
"who say MetaBank issued credit cards to suspects; company?",
"Who issued credit cards to suspects?",
"Who does senior Hamas leader believe is behind killing?"
] | [
[
"14 of the suspects used credit cards issued by"
],
[
"Dubai authorities."
],
[
"police"
],
[
"MetaBank,"
],
[
"Mossad,"
]
] | NEW: Australian officials cooperate with Dubai authorities over passports .
NEW: Police say MetaBank issued credit cards to suspects; company says it's investigating .
NEW: Senior Hamas leader reported to say he believes Israel is behind killing .
Dubai police name 15 new suspects in murder of Hamas official . |
Duncan, Oklahoma (CNN) -- Justin Boyles lay in bed, exhausted and depressed. His 385-pound body sank into the mattress with each breath he took. I have diabetes, he thought in disbelief.
His 6-year-old daughter, Autumn, crawled on top of the king-sized comforter and stared at him with bright blue eyes.
"Daddy, will you get up and play?"
"No, baby, I'm tired."
She sat back to think. Her mom had tried to explain why Justin was so sad, but Autumn didn't really understand diabetes or its dangerous implications.
"Daddy, are you ever going to be healthy enough to ride a bike with me?"
The question broke Justin's heart. Tears started to roll down his face. "Yes, very soon. I promise," he said.
"Do you pinky promise?" she asked, holding out her tiny finger.
Justin looped his last digit around hers and made the decision to change his life.
All kinds of excuses
Shanon and Justin Boyles were high school sweethearts. The first time they hung out at 16, Justin took Shanon to church. He was smart, polite and made her laugh -- three qualities that helped Shanon overlook his size.
"As long as I can remember, I've been overweight," Justin says. "I remember as a child coming home after school and having a stack of cookies and a giant glass of milk every day."
In high school Justin weighed close to 250 pounds; he was considered obese even at 6 feet 1. As an adult he lived on fast food and spent most of his nights as a security guard sitting down. He'd eat dinner at work -- frozen burritos, burgers and fries -- then stop off at Taco Bell on the way home for the advertised fourth meal.
"I was really kind of in my own little hole, and I didn't want to get out or do anything," he says.
Shanon became worried. Any time their extended family tried to get together for a birthday party or holiday, Justin refused to go.
"He would have all kinds of excuses," she says. "He was really depressed. He was down on himself real bad."
Most concerning was his lack of time with Autumn, who got upset when her father wouldn't play outside.
"She loves him. He's her hero," Shanon says. "I [knew] why he was feeling that way... but there was nothing I could do about it."
Small steps for a big change
Since his diagnosis with type 2 diabetes in March -- and his pinky promise to Autumn -- Justin has lost more than 65 pounds. He walks around his neighborhood whenever he can and makes sure to do the little things like taking the stairs and returning his shopping cart. The family is also eating better with more vegetables, leaner meats and less sugar. For example, at dinner Justin usually eats a spinach leaf salad with tuna or baked chicken with broccoli. Shanon joins in; she's lost 20 pounds in less than six months on the new diet.
The family recently took a trip to the Oklahoma State Fair and walked around all day, something they never would have done last year.
"I no longer lay in bed thinking that my weight is just too much to overcome," Justin says. "I enjoy being out with family and friends and having a good time."
He only weighs in once a month to avoid becoming obsessed with the numbers on the scale. He hopes to get down to 200 pounds, a weight at which his doctor said he would probably be able to go off his medications.
"I just want him to be healthy and happy. I don't care what weight he's at," Shanon says.
The couple raised more than $7,500 for the American Diabetes Association's "Step Out: Walk to Stop Diabetes" in Oklahoma City on September 14. Their team wore matching black T | [
"How many pounds has dropped boyles?",
"When did he learn he had diabetes?",
"How much money boyles raised?",
"He has lost more than how much?",
"How much pounds Boyles did lost?",
"What amount of money did he raise?"
] | [
[
"65"
],
[
"March"
],
[
"$7,500"
],
[
"65 pounds."
],
[
"more than 65"
],
[
"$7,500"
]
] | Justin Boyles learned he had type 2 diabetes in March 2011 .
Since making a promise to his daughter, Boyles has lost more than 65 pounds .
Boyles raised $7,500 for the American Diabetes Association's "Step Out: Walk to Stop Diabetes" |
Durham, North Carolina (CNN) -- To define someone as a looter is not simply to describe him, or her, through an act, it is to make a moral judgment. It is to characterize the person as lawless and criminal. It connotes someone who is without self-restraint; an animal; wanton and depraved.
It is a description that is void of empathy for someone who is consciously or subconsciously viewed as "the other." Tragically, it fits into the stereotype that many have about people of African descent, be they African-Americans or Haitian-Americans.
The news media have to stop describing starving Haitians who are simply trying to survive the earthquake and aftershocks that took their homes, their loved ones, and all their possessions by this highly derogatory term.
It's a lesson they should have learned covering the devastation wrought by Hurricane Katrina. I remember the news accounts then that described black residents of New Orleans as "looters," but used benign words to describe white residents engaged in the same action: taking things.
Academics have found repeated instances of this in media content analyses after disasters. One example, widely disseminated on the web post-Katrina, juxtaposed an Associated Press photo that showed a young black man wading through chest-high water "after looting a grocery store" (said the caption), with an AFP/Getty photo of a white woman in the same position, although the caption this time described her "finding" food "from a local grocery store."
It is time to put this practice to rest.
Put yourself in the position of the average Haitian in Port-au-Prince. One minute you were going about your business, the next minute the earth shook and literally your world crumbled all around you. But you were one of the lucky ones, you survived the earthquake. Injured? Yes. But alive.
Your first thought is to cry out for your family, especially your kids. But most of your family is buried under a rubble pile somewhere. You had four children but only one survived the earthquake. You have spent the last few days, along with your fellow survivors, digging through the rubble trying to find them.
It is now a week after the earthquake, and you have eaten little or nothing. You are hungry and thirsty, and while you hear rumors of aid coming, you have not seen any evidence of it.
You have not heard from the president and indeed you've heard rumors that his wife is dead. Perhaps he left the country; you would too, if you could. There is no police presence at all. No governmental authority to provide support. There are no markets.
The only money you have are the few gourdes (Haitian dollars) that you have in your pockets. The rest of your money is in the safe place you always kept it -- but it is now buried with your food. The banks are not open. There is no one to borrow from; they are all in the same boat as you. There are no functioning institutions.
You have family in the United States and they are desperately trying to get you some help. They have contacted all of the big aid agencies, but those agencies have issues of their own. Some have lost staff members. They are doing the best they can, but they have no idea that you exist and you have no way of finding them. The roads are impassable, and they can't get clearance from whoever is in charge of the airport to land their planes, which bring much needed supplies.
They're afraid to go anywhere without security because they've heard that the people are becoming restless. Indeed, though you do not know this, the U.S. military is also worried that citizens will get violent and start stealing. The United Nations is waiting for more troops, and the doctors have stopped treating patients because of those same fears: violence, looting.
Under normal circumstances you would not think of taking food without paying for it. You are what other Haitians would call "bien eleve" | [
"What does Charles say calling the victims looters does?"
] | [
[
"characterize the person as lawless and criminal."
]
] | Guy-Uriel Charles says calling some Haiti quake victims looters advances a racial stereotype .
He says even after Katrina criticism, media are quick to buy into this characterization .
He describes the desperate circumstances that might lead a victim to take food .
Charles: Reasons for taking matter, especially in a disaster . |
During CNN's "Going Green: Green Light for Business" coverage, we've asked businesses to tell us how they balance the imperative for profit with environmental concerns. First up is the co-founder of Hong Kong-based DIAZ Fine Jewelry, Salina Khan Fuchigami, whose business packages cubic zirconia diamonds in an environmental wrapping. Growing up surrounded by generations of jewelry wearing tradition, I was drawn to the brilliance and transparency of diamonds from an early age. Later, it was the fact that diamonds are a unique resource, evoking beauty and eternal love that lead me to found DIAZ Fine Jewelry. Salina Khan Fuchigami co-founded DIAZ Fine Jewelry with her husband Takashi. However, as I began to learn beyond the basics and beauty of diamonds, I began to discover the many environmental and ethical issues related to them. And the once simple wish to create a line of exquisite diamond jewelry grew into a mission -- to create an ecologically and ethically correct jewelry brand. I was one of many who were understandably concerned to learn that jewelry they had as a symbol of love may have come at a terrible human and environmental cost. Although the social and ethical issues associated with conflict diamonds were the impetus at the core of the DIAZ philosophy, the serious environmental impacts of the diamond industry could not be ignored. There's an undeniable link between the degradation of our global environment and consumer culture. The trouble is that these days, things are so nicely packaged, presented and displayed that we hardly ever question how the raw materials used to produce the goods are extracted and processed. We rarely think of how it all affects the environment and humankind. It's impossible to assess exactly how much devastation one single diamond could have caused before it was cut, polished, set and sold at a high-end retailer. It's hard to imagine what a diamond mine looks like by looking at the "stunning sparklers" that are neatly displayed in shop windows. Somewhere along the way it became irrelevant to question the true cost of the stones. Diamond mining practices are not without huge ecological impacts. Whether extracted from a large-scale diamond mine using modern, clinical mining methods, or through small-scale artisanal alluvial diamond digging, the diamond industry faces environmental challenges just as with any mineral extraction. Land disturbance, which involves the shifting of large quantities of soil from the earth, is interlinked with issues of waste and water pollution as well as huge impacts on biodiversity. Through my company, I knew I could offer an alternative to mined-diamond jewelry of equal beauty and quality -- using lab-created jewels and meticulous craftsmanship -- jewelry that evoked beauty and eternal love, and that was truly transparent. As with any environmental or ethical issue, education, knowledge and action are the keys to ending unnecessary harm. So, as the business grew, we made sure each of our customers received an info-leaflet with every purchase. We began donating proceeds from our sales to grassroots organizations that ran mine-reclamation projects promoting organic farming and biodiversity in mining towns in Sierra Leone, a country devastated by civil war that was fueled by diamonds and now has a landscape scarred by indiscriminate alluvial diamond mining. We began monitoring the working conditions at our workshop, and looking for more sustainable methods of packaging and delivering our jewelry. We found that our customers were happy to be a part of a solution and not the problem. The economic downturn, combined with an increasing awareness of the ecological and ethical facts surrounding diamonds, has meant an increase in customers who appreciate affordable luxury without any attached guilt. There's no doubt that the choices we make and the actions we take today affect the fate of our planet and in turn our well being. With shifting consumer behavior and a changing economic and environmental climate, the time has come where being environmentally conscious is an imperative for all individuals and businesses alike. | [
"What does Salina Khan Fuchigami use",
"What has cnn asked businesses to do?",
"Who has asked businesses to explain their green concepts",
"What does khan fuchigami say?",
"What does jeweler Salina Khan Fuchigami use instead of diamonds?",
"What did the CNN get asked to explain?",
"What does the jeweller do?"
] | [
[
"lab-created jewels"
],
[
"tell us how"
],
[
"CNN's"
],
[
"Growing up surrounded by generations of jewelry wearing tradition, I was drawn to the brilliance and transparency of diamonds from an early age. Later, it was the fact that diamonds are a unique resource, evoking beauty and eternal love that lead me to found DIAZ Fine Jewelry."
],
[
"cubic zirconia"
],
[
"they balance the imperative for profit with environmental concerns."
],
[
"packages cubic zirconia diamonds in an environmental wrapping."
]
] | Jet Republic has teamed up with ClimateCare to become carbon neutral .
Airline chose fleet of Learjet 60 XR partly because of its fuel efficiency .
Aviation industry is responsible for 3.5 percent of global carbon emissions .
Breeze: Airline industry unfairly criticized for failing to address climate change . |
During CNN's "Going Green: Green Light for Business" coverage, we've asked businesses to tell us how they balance the imperative for profit with environmental concerns. Jonathan Breeze, the CEO of Jet Republic, tells CNN how he's working to create a carbon neutral airline. LONDON, England -- The aviation industry is often perceived as one of the bad guys in the climate change debate. As a mode of transport, flying is regarded as being particularly polluting because of the amount of fuel used at high altitude. And, it is estimated to be responsible for around 3.5 percent of global greenhouse emissions. Jet Republic CEO Jonathan Breeze says it would be a mistake to let green initiatives in the airline industry fall by the wayside. The sector's reputation was damaged further when it was excluded from the targets outlined in the Kyoto agreement, which was interpreted by some as an example of its disregard for the climate change issue. This is unfair because the industry has taken great strides to reduce its environmental impact. For example, over the last 30 years, it has achieved a 60 percent improvement in fuel efficiency. There is a great deal of research being undertaken by manufacturers into more efficient technologies and alternative fuels, while the Single European Sky initiative aims to improve flight planning across Europe to rationalize the amount of time an aircraft is in the sky. Practically everything we do in our everyday lives has a carbon cost attached to it, but aviation is an element that we believe has come in for an undue level of criticism, when in fact it is arguably working harder than most industries to address the issue of climate change. The reaction to this criticism from governments has been taxation. But making a special case of aviation fails to address the wider issues. Aviation fuel is carbon taxed, but why is this tax not applied on other types of fuel such as electricity and gas? The additional revenue that would be generated could be ploughed back into green energy schemes and help deliver heightened efficiencies that our industry is already investigating. Punitive taxation, which is driving up the cost of air travel, will ultimately end up being absorbed by the operator or by passengers. This, coupled with the current economic downturn, represents a significant threat to progress in the aviation industry as it could lead to a stifling of innovation and development. Meeting the challenge of climate change costs money -- modernizing fleets with more efficient aircraft comes at a price. As an industry which has been hit hard by the downturn, some of these initiatives could fall by the wayside. To allow this to happen would be a grave mistake. We identified climate change as one area where we wanted to set the standard in the industry, and as a new entrant to the market we have been able to build a commitment to carbon neutrality into the heart of our business operations. It was a consideration in our choice of the Learjet 60 XR as the model of aircraft in our 110 strong fleet. The 60 XR is the most fuel-efficient midsize aircraft in the world, something it achieves by being built with light and strong modern materials, and flying higher and faster than other aircraft. It's a perfect example of a win-win solution. We burn less fuel; our customers enjoy lower pricing. Aircraft positioning is another important consideration that has an impact on the amount of fuel consumed; our fleet is based all across Europe, to reflect where our clients are. The positions of our aircraft are carefully planned and managed so that the number of "over flights" -- that is legs where the aircraft is empty -- are kept to an absolute minimum. We wanted to be 100 percent carbon neutral from launch so we partnered with ClimateCare, one of Europe's most experienced providers of carbon offsets, where each project is rigorously audited and monitored for quality. By comparison, under the European emissions trading scheme, which doesn't take effect until 2012, commercial airlines will only have to offset 15 percent of the carbon emissions they create. With the impact of aviation on climate change being widely reported, people are more conscious than ever about | [
"Who teamed up?",
"Which industry was unfairly criticized?",
"Who teamed up with Climate Care?",
"What is aviation industry responsible for?",
"What percent of global carbon emissions is the airline industry responsible for?",
"whom did they team up with"
] | [
[
"ClimateCare,"
],
[
"The aviation"
],
[
"Jet Republic"
],
[
"around 3.5 percent of global greenhouse emissions."
],
[
"3.5"
],
[
"ClimateCare, one of Europe's most experienced providers of carbon offsets,"
]
] | Jet Republic has teamed up with ClimateCare to become carbon neutral .
Airline chose fleet of Learjet 60 XR partly because of its fuel efficiency .
Aviation industry is responsible for 3.5 percent of global carbon emissions .
Breeze: Airline industry unfairly criticized for failing to address climate change . |
Dutch Harbor, ALASKA (CNN) -- In Dutch Harbor the smell of fish wafting from the docks and the canneries is the smell of money. And lately, the town has smelled a lot less fishy. High seas high jinx: Tobias gives his shipmate Hanns a haircut at sea using a sail bag as a barber cape. Over fishing, new quota systems and changes in expected weather patterns have all played a role in changing the face of this once swashbuckling Alaskan town, fishermen say. "Last summer we thought that pollock fishing was over for good, it was so bad. Time to turn out the lights and go home. But then they cut the quotas by 30 percent and now there are some small signs of more small fish, so maybe they are coming back," said Guy Collins, who coordinates with fishing captains who unload their catch at the Unisea docks in Dutch Harbor. "The fishermen have to go further north toward Russia now to get the fish that are near the ice. It used to be the boats would go out 100 miles, now they go out 500. It could be partly due to temperature change and weather patterns." Dutch Harbor saw a revival in popularity with the reality show The Deadliest Catch, but even the high-fiving enthusiasm of the deck hands on the TV show can't match what the town was like in the glory days. "Those were the days, in the mid 1980's, there was booze, drugs and partying. You had lines of coke going down the bar and no one said anything," says Byron Singley, captain of the 24-ton fishing boat the Nancy Allen. "People were making big money and spending it as fast as it came in. I earned $78,000 as a deckhand the first year I was here but I can't remember where it went. Those days are long gone." Aboard the Silent Sound, as we sail north through the Bering Sea, we're finding other things are not quite like they used to be. For starters, we've been becalmed for much of the trip when we were expecting to encounter strong winds on the Gulf of Alaska and Bering Sea. We have motored nearly half of our 2,300 miles so far. More importantly, the ice we were bracing ourselves for may not be where we expected to find it. While this is good news for the expedition from a sailing perspective, it's less attractive for wildlife such as polar bears, seals and walruses that use the ice as a platform for hunting, mating and migration. "The present extent of northern sea ice is very similar to the extents at this time in 2008 and in 2007. It is close to values seen also in 1995 and 1990. It is about five per cent below the long-term average of 12.2m square kilometers," said Dr Humfrey Melling, a research scientist with the Institute of Ocean Sciences near Victoria, British Columbia. September 2007 was the first time that the Northwest Passage was open water from end to end. An ice forecast issued by the Canadian Ice Service on July 1 showed earlier than normal break up in many key areas in the Western Arctic. "In the Western Arctic region, the breakup pattern is one to three weeks early in many coastal areas and by as much as one month in isolated areas," the report said. But we're still some 400 miles from the Arctic Circle and a month from entering the heart of the Northwest Passage, which gives the Arctic plenty of time to surprise us. | [
"Team aims to discover how climate change has affected?",
"What is the name of the ship?",
"Where was it discovered how the fishing quota was transforming the community?"
] | [
[
"weather patterns"
],
[
"Nancy Allen."
],
[
"Dutch Harbor."
]
] | Team aims to discover how climate change has affected Arctic and Inuit people .
At Dutch Harbor, Alaska, discovered how fishing quota transforming community .
Unexpected calm weather on trip so far despite sailing "Deadliest Catch" seas .
Read the first ship's log from the crew of the Silent Sound . |
EDGEWATER, New Jersey (CNN) -- People steadily file into movie theater No. 4, but they're not carrying buckets of popcorn or soda -- instead, it's Bibles and coffee. Worshippers sing at Joy Christian Fellowship, which meets at Edgewater Multiplex Cinemas in New Jersey. The sign above the double door announces "The Proposal," the latest Sandra Bullock movie, but there's no romantic comedy playing on the screen -- instead, the lyrics to a Christian song fade in and out to the beat of the music: "We are here because of you, because of you." On this Sunday morning, the approximately 200 people on hand aren't here to watch a movie but to worship God. Some stand stoically as they sing, others sway back and forth with eyes closed, a few have their hands raised toward the ceiling. At the front of the theater below the screen is a six-piece rock band that continues to sing, "Oh, beautiful sound. The joy of heaven here." And it's here -- at Edgewater Multiplex Cinemas -- where Joy Christian Fellowship has been meeting for the past two years. "It's not a traditional church setting," said Danny Han, Joy Christian's senior pastor, "but we turn this theater auditorium into a worship place." Reclining cushioned seats take the place of pews; the movie screen stands in for stained glass windows. An entertainment venue has turned out to be an unconventional yet conveniently popular religious venue, attracting a new crowd of worshippers deterred by the traditional church setting. About 200 churches are renting theater space under a one-year contract with National CineMedia, a nationwide multiplex cinema chain. That's an increase from three churches six years ago. "The economy has had clearly a positive impact," said Kurt Hall, the CEO of National CineMedia, about the trend of Sunday theater rentals, "as churches have found it more difficult to raise money to build their own buildings." It's an alternative not only for small start-up churches that cannot afford space but also for large churches seeking to set up multiple locations. The movie theater offers a perfect setting: comfortable seats, state-of-the-art audio-visual technology, central air, ample parking, and prime locations. Joy Christian Fellowship leases two theaters from National Amusements, another multiplex cinemas chain, at $1,000 for 3 1/2 hours each Sunday. National CineMedia has "Worship Solutions" packages with negotiable rates. But what may have started as a practical and economical solution has surprisingly become a spiritual solution for boosting church attendance. Only about four in 10 Americans say they attend religious services at least once a week, according to surveys conducted in recent years by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life. In Indianapolis, Indiana, the Rev. Ethan Maple decided that since people weren't filling the church pews, he would go to them. In March he started The Movie Theater Church. "We're reaching out to those who have no religious background and also people who have been hurt by the traditional church setting," Maple said. His vision is not to build a physical church but to build a church community in a comfortable and unintimidating place. "Everyone's gone to see a movie, and going to a theater to see worship is not a huge jump." Courtney Gonzales said he had been in and out of churches all his life before he came to The Movie Theater Church. "I really hadn't had a permanent church home and was always feeling sort of disconnected," he said, adding he was raised in a Catholic family but did not relate to the rituals. "I never really felt anything was getting through to me." As soon as he walked into the movie theater, Gonzales said, he immediately connected. "I just felt comfortable, unlike when I had been at other churches." Congregation members eat popcorn and drink soda while worshipping. The offering is collected in popcorn buckets. "Sunday best" is often sneakers | [
"Who does the idea appeal to?"
] | [
[
"\"We're reaching out to those who have no religious background"
]
] | Idea appeals to small start-ups, big churches seeking to set up multiple locations .
At one cinema-based church, Easter attendance was up threefold from year before .
Pastor: Staying in a movie theater risks sending message that you won't stick around .
One big drawback: Setting up and breaking down sanctuary weekly is a lot of work . |
EDINBURGH, Scotland -- Hibernian have named former striker Mixu Paatelainen as their new manager in succession to John Collins -- who resigned last month in frustration at the lack of funds available to buy new players. Paatelainen was a popular playing figure in the distinctive green of Hibernian. The Finn, who enjoyed two playing spells with the Scottish Premier League club, joins from Finnish side TPS Turku. The 40-year-old, who also played for Dundee United, Aberdeen, St Johnstone and St Mirren in Scotland -- as well as Bolton and Wolverhampton in England, confirmed he is relishing the challenge of his new job. "I am very happy to take up this opportunity," Paatelainen said. "Everyone knows of my great affection for this club and I believe my desire to see teams play exciting, attacking and intelligent football fits well with the club's philosophy. "I will bring energy, hard-work and leadership to the squad. I am also committed to working with players, as individuals and groups, to help them to improve. "If I can help one player improve, the team is better. If I can help all players improve, we are much better." Capped 70 times by Finland, Paatelainen helped Turku finish third in the Veikkausliiga last year. Compensation for his release has been agreed. His two playing stints with Hibernian were from 1998-2001 and 2002-2003, either side of a spell with French side Strasbourg. Paatelainen may know some of the Hibernian players who have come through the youth set-up, having been involved in coaching of the club's youngsters during his second playing spell. Hibernian chairman Rod Petrie said: "We are delighted Mixu has agreed to take up the challenge and opportunity of managing Hibernian. We are convinced that he was the strongest candidate, and he impressed us a great deal during his interview. "He has a clear vision of the type of football he wants to play, has strong ideas on man-management and demonstrates excellent leadership qualities. I am sure he will further enhance his growing reputation." E-mail to a friend | [
"What is the name of the club?",
"When did John Collins resign?",
"Who was a popular figgure?",
"Whom will he replace?",
"Whom did Finn Mixu replace?",
"Who is the new manager of Scottish club Hibernian",
"Who will appoint new manager?",
"What country is the club located in?"
] | [
[
"Scottish Premier League"
],
[
"last month"
],
[
"Paatelainen"
],
[
"John Collins"
],
[
"John Collins"
],
[
"Mixu Paatelainen"
],
[
"Hibernian"
],
[
"Scotland"
]
] | Scottish club Hibernian appoint Finn Mixu Paatelainen as their new manager .
The 40-year-old replaces John Collins, who resigned from his post last month .
Paatelainen was a popular figure during two different playing spells with Hibs . |
EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE, California (CNN) -- Space shuttle Atlantis landed Sunday at Edwards Air Force Base after rainy weather in Florida precluded a landing at Kennedy Space Center. The space shuttle Atlantis touches down at Edwards AFB on Sunday. The shuttle touched down at 8:39 a.m. PT at Edwards, about 100 miles north of Los Angeles, California. Within seven to 10 days, the shuttle will be transported from California to Florida on the back of a modified 747 jumbo jet, NASA said in a statement. Atlantis' next flight is scheduled for November. Rainy weather postponed the shuttle landing both Friday and Saturday. NASA had said that Atlantis conceivably could have remained in space until Monday, but wanted to land the shuttle Sunday. Watch Atlantis land at Edwards Air Force Base » Weather conditions in Florida were better Sunday than Saturday, NASA officials said, but atmospheric conditions were still too unstable for a landing at Kennedy. It was the 53rd time the shuttle has landed at Edwards, NASA officials said. In the early days of the space shuttle program, Edwards was its primary landing site. Shuttles have landed 70 times at Kennedy Space Center, NASA said, and once at White Sands Space Harbor in New Mexico. Atlantis launched May 11 for NASA's final repair visit to the Hubble Space Telescope. Shuttle astronauts conducted five spacewalks during the mission to perform routine repairs and replace key instruments, in what has been called one of the most ambitious space repair efforts ever attempted. Hubble was released back into orbit Tuesday morning. The telescope was rejuvenated with instruments designed to improve its capabilities by as much as 70 times, while extending its lifetime through at least 2014, according to the NASA statement. "This is not the end of the story but the beginning of another chapter of discovery by Hubble," Ed Weiler, associate administrator for science at NASA headquarters, said in the statement. "Hubble will be more powerful than ever, continue to surprise, enlighten and inspire us all, and pave the way for the next generation of observatories." Hubble, which has been in space for nearly two decades, can capture clear images that telescopes on Earth cannot, partly because it does not have to gaze through murky atmospheres. CNN's John Couwels and Alan Duke contributed to this report. | [
"Where did the shuttle land?",
"What was the reason the shuttle did not land in Florida as planned?",
"What stopped the scheduled landing in Florida?",
"What time did the shuttle land?",
"What was the name of the shuttle to be used in the final Hubble repair mission?",
"What does \"repair mission mean\"?"
] | [
[
"Edwards Air Force"
],
[
"Rainy weather"
],
[
"Rainy weather"
],
[
"8:39 a.m."
],
[
"Atlantis"
],
[
"to perform routine repairs and replace key instruments,"
]
] | NEW: Repair mission means "another chapter of discovery by Hubble," official says .
Shuttle lands smoothly at 8:39 a.m. PT at Edwards AFB in California .
Bad weather scuttled scheduled landing attempts in Florida on Friday and Saturday .
Atlantis launched May 11 for NASA's final repair visit to the Hubble Space Telescope . |
EDWARDSVILLE, Illinois (CNN) -- A man suspected of bludgeoning eight people to death is a methamphetamine addict with a history of fighting with police, an investigator said as the suspected spree killer made his first court appearance. Suspected spree killer Nicholas Troy Sheley, 28, did not enter a plea during his first court appearance. Nicholas T. Sheley, 28, is being held on $1 million bail in one slaying as police and prosecutors prepare additional charges in connection with a week-long killing spree in two states. Sheley, 28, appeared in an Illinois courtroom on Wednesday via closed-circuit television, but did not enter a plea. He was charged with first-degree murder in the death of Ronald Randall, 65, whose body was found behind a grocery story in Galesburg. Other charges include aggravated battery, vehicle hijacking and vehicle theft. Watch Sheley's perp walk » Sheley, who wore a green-and-white striped jail jumpsuit, said little except to answer "yes, sir," to a series of questions from Judge Edward Ferguson. Authorities say Sheley's alleged burst of violence spanned 300 miles until he gave up without a fight when police confronted him as he smoked outside a bar in Granite City, Illinois, on Tuesday night. Map: See where the bodies were found » Additional charges are being filed in a second Illinois county which encompasses two other towns where police believe Sheley killed five people, authorities said. Authorities also suspect Sheley in connection with the slayings of an Arkansas couple in Festus, Missouri. All eight victims, which include a child, died from blunt-force trauma to the head, officials said. Sheley's capture ended an intensive manhunt, which included a $25,000 reward offer. Sheley had stopped at Bindy's bar, a popular cop bar in a Granite City shopping center. Two patrons who recognized him from news reports called police. Bar owner Bill Watson told CNN Sheley came in, drank a glass of water and went to the restroom. When he returned from the restroom, Sheley asked for a lighter but was told he had to go outside to smoke. He was outside smoking when authorities arrived and arrested him. As bar patrons celebrated Sheley's arrest, a family member of one of the victims called and thanked them for their assistance, Watson said. "It really hit home and made us realize really what this guy was all about," Watson said. New of Sheley's capture calmed nerves in small towns from the Chicago to St. Louis areas. Police conducting a welfare check Sunday at an apartment in Rock Falls, Illinois, found four people dead, including the child. Sheley was a "known associate" to at least one of the Rock Falls victims, state police said. Rock Falls is across the Rock River from Sterling; both are in Whiteside County. The following day, Monday, authorities found Randall's body in Galesburg, about 80 miles south of Rock Falls, and obtained an arrest warrant naming Sheley. The couple found dead in Festus, Missouri, a St. Louis suburb, was in town for a graduation, authorities said, and were last seen at a Comfort Inn there. Sheley is not believed to have had a prior relationship with the couple, police said. During the hunt for Sheley, the St. Louis County Police Department issued a bulletin describing him as an "extremely dangerous" methamphetamine addict. "He has stated to his ex-wife that he has more killing to do," the bulletin said. According to a Tuesday affidavit by FBI Special Agent Susan Hanson, Sheley invaded a home in Sterling, Illinois -- just a mile from Rock Falls -- on June 14. A woman inside the home told police the man was Sheley, it says. Sheley then took off to Iowa where he made a phone call in Sterling on Saturday and then went to Missouri, according to the affidavit. A gas station attendant in Galesburg, less than 60 miles from where the call was placed near Davenport, Iowa, told police | [
"Of what did the eight victims die?",
"When did the killings take place?",
"Did Nicholas T. Sheley enter a plea?",
"Where did the killings take place?"
] | [
[
"bludgeoning"
],
[
"June 14."
],
[
"not"
],
[
"EDWARDSVILLE, Illinois"
]
] | NEW: Suspected spree killer described as meth addict .
Nicholas T. Sheley, 28, did not enter a plea at first court appearance .
Police say ex-con tied to eight killings over past week in Illinois, Missouri .
All eight victims died of blunt-force trauma to head, authorities say . |
EL DORADO HILLS, California (CNN) -- The attorney for Nancy Garrido, charged in the Jaycee Lee Dugard abduction case, expressed concern Wednesday that intense media coverage may prejudice his client's ability to get a fair trial.
Phillip Garrido and his wife in 1988, shortly after his release from jail for rape.
"There have been some misstatements made in the media, and possibly very innocent misstatements like, you know, 'She's charged with 29 counts, she was there, therefore she must be culpable,' " Gilbert Maines told CNN's "American Morning" on Wednesday.
"That's good speculation, but any good prosecutor will tell you that they can't prosecute and convict on speculation.
"The media can do that, but the prosecutor can't." Watch Maines talk about Nancy Garrido's case »
Nancy and Phillip Garrido have been charged in connection with the kidnapping and rape of Dugard, 29, who police say was abducted by the Garridos in 1991 at age 11. Dugard grew up in a backyard compound of tents and outbuildings, and gave birth to two daughters, now 11 and 15, fathered by Garrido during her captivity, police said.
The Garridos were arrested last week and have pleaded not guilty. Philip Garrido is a registered sex offender.
Maines said his client has been charged with "about half" of the 29 counts against the couple. He said he has discussed "what she says happened." He would not elaborate, citing attorney-client privilege. But, he added, he is still "trying to establish a line of communication" with his client.
"We are in the process of formulating any defense that we have, or that we may have," he said. "We are still in the process of investigating this entire thing."
Maines said he was not aware of the case before he was appointed by the court to represent Nancy Garrido.
"I'm sure you understand that this is a horrendous thing for her," Maines said. "I mean I realize it's horrendous for Jaycee and her parents and the children, but my concern right now is that my client get a fair trial."
He said that he is still working on getting his client to "confide in me and talk to me so I can formulate any defense that is available." | [
"Who says media coverage has included \"misstatements ... speculation\"?",
"Who was abducted?",
"Who says the case is \"horrendous\"?",
"What does her attorney say?",
"Who faces charges?",
"Who is the case horrendous for?"
] | [
[
"Gilbert Maines"
],
[
"Jaycee Lee Dugard"
],
[
"Maines"
],
[
"intense media coverage may prejudice his client's ability to get a fair trial."
],
[
"Nancy Garrido,"
],
[
"Jaycee and her parents and the children,"
]
] | Nancy Garrido faces charges with her husband in abduction of Jaycee Lee Dugard .
Her attorney says media coverage has included "misstatements ... speculation"
Attorney Gilbert Maines says he's working on getting Nancy Garrido to confide in him .
Maines says the case is "horrendous" for Nancy Garrido as well as the victims . |
EL PASO, Texas (CNN) -- CNN Hero Maria Ruiz has been changing the lives of children and their families in Juarez, Mexico, for more than 12 years. But lately, it's been Ruiz's own life that's been changing. Crews prepare to demolish Maria Ruiz's home as part of ABC's "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition." In November, "CNN Heroes: An All-Star Tribute" honored Ruiz for crossing the Texas border to Juarez several times a week to deliver food, clothing and toys to impoverished children and their families. Months later, Ruiz and her family received another surprise, courtesy of ABC's "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition." Ruiz, her husband and their two children were sent on a five-day vacation to the Bahamas while thousands of volunteers built the family a custom-designed home. "When Ty Pennington came to our home and said, 'Ruiz family, come on out,' we all just ran out and couldn't believe that we were chosen," Ruiz said. "It's a blessing to us, but we weren't expecting all of this at all, and it has been overwhelming." Pennington is the host of "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition," which selected Ruiz and her family from thousands of applicants throughout Texas. Pennington said the idea was to give Ruiz what she needed most: the tools to do more. Watch Ruiz and her family react to their new home » In addition to bringing supplies to the people of Juarez, Ruiz and her family are completing construction of a complex there, which includes a community kitchen, an orphanage and a trade school. Read more about Ruiz's work In order to devote their time to the Juarez community, the family put construction of their own home on hold in 1996, Ruiz said, leaving many parts unfinished. They were also using much of their living space as a warehouse for all of the donations for the Juarez families, she said. "A home is somewhere you can go after a long day's work and relax and where the family can get together and be able to sit down and talk about our day," Ruiz said. "When we had the things in the living room, we couldn't do that there." Upon returning from the Bahamas, Ruiz and her family were surrounded by thousands of volunteers and community members who blocked them from seeing the changes by the show's large bus. After chanting the show's coined phrase -- "Move that bus!" -- Ruiz and her family were introduced to their new home. "For us, it is a new beginning, and it's going to change our lives," Ruiz said. With her new home, Ruiz will be able to continue -- and even expand -- her family's work for those in need. According to Executive Producer Anthony Dominici, both an additional kitchen and storage space were built in the new home for Ruiz. And "through the generosity of the community," enough donations of food, clothes and toys were collected to fill a 20-foot shipping container and a 16-foot cube truck -- including more than 75,000 cans of food, Dominici said. "That's the whole point here," Pennington said. "To give her what she needs to make her life easier to literally spread dreams and hope to people who have absolutely none of either one of those." For Ruiz, it's about teaching young minds so they can in turn give back to their community. "If you teach them and train them as a child and they go out and do the same, we would live in a much better world." "CNN Heroes: An All-Star Tribute" introduced Ruiz to the world when it premiered on Thanksgiving on the global networks of CNN. Actress Selena Gomez introduced and presented Ruiz with her CNN Hero award. Each of the top 10 CNN Heroes also received $25,000. Watch Ruiz accept her CNN Hero Award » Nominations for 2009 CNN Heroes opened January 1 and can be submitted at www | [
"how many volunteers",
"Who had honored Ruiz?",
"What did thousands of volunteers do?",
"Who honored Maria Ruiz?",
"what was rebuilt",
"What had taken a back seat to her charitable work?"
] | [
[
"thousands"
],
[
"\"CNN Heroes: An All-Star Tribute\""
],
[
"built the family a custom-designed home."
],
[
"\"CNN Heroes: An All-Star Tribute\""
],
[
"Maria Ruiz's home"
],
[
"Maria Ruiz"
]
] | Thousands of volunteers rebuilt CNN Hero Maria Ruiz's home for ABC show .
CNN had honored Ruiz for bringing food and supplies to poor children in Mexico .
Finishing construction on her home had taken a back seat to her charitable work .
New home will be revealed March 15 on "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" |
EL PASO, Texas (CNN) -- Marina Diaz knows each day could be her last when she leaves for school each morning. Marina Diaz and Alejandro Caballero cross a U.S.-Mexico border checkpoint on the way to school each day. But that doesn't stop her from making the trip from her home on the dusty outskirts of Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, a key battleground in Mexico's drug wars, to El Paso, Texas, where she attends high school. From the moment she catches a bus to downtown Juarez, she is mindful of her surroundings. This is a city that saw 1,600 homicides last year. She warily watches the federal soldiers patrolling the streets. Diaz, 18, finally relaxes after she clears customs at a border checkpoint and passes the "Welcome to Texas!" sign greeting pedestrians at the intersection of El Paso Street and 6th Avenue in downtown El Paso. From there, it's another five minutes to the Lydia Patterson Institute. She is not the only student making the trip across the border each day. In fact, most of the students in the school do it: About 70 percent of the institute's 459 students live in Juarez. Some are American citizens with Mexican parents; others are Mexican citizens who carry a student visa to any one of three U.S.-Mexico border checkpoints in El Paso that serve tens of thousands of students, white-collar workers and day laborers each day. Students describe their lives and daily challenges » When she gets to the school each morning, Diaz changes out of her jogging pants and into her uniform skirt. "Because of the people over there, I don't feel comfortable with the men and stuff, so I wear pants," she explains. "You definitely see a difference here. The streets, they are more clean here than they are in Juarez, and I think the people respect you a little more. You don't have to worry about people giving you trouble." El Paso, population 734,000, has long enjoyed the benefits of strong community ties with its industrial sister city of approximately 1.5 million. But the violence and insecurity created by the war between the Mexican government and the drug cartels has strained that relationship. For students at Lydia Patterson, who live in Juarez and cross the bridge each weekday, the small, United Methodist preparatory school has become a safe haven in the months since drug-related violence in Juarez has intensified. "My school is a home for me because I have teachers and they treat me like parents," says Hazel Barrera, 18. "Here, they take care of us and they make us feel comfortable and safe." Lydia Patterson's faculty and administrators -- many of whom are graduates of the school, and also reside in Juarez -- say the school's mission is very much the same as it was when it was founded nearly 100 years ago as a sanctuary for Mexican families fleeing the violence of the Mexican Revolution. "Our students are exceptional, and I always tell them I respect them and I admire their courage because they're living through this horrible time," says the school's president, Socorro Brito de Anda. Watch de Anda talk about how cartel violence affects her school » "There are some students who've had some very horrifying experiences, and we have to be there for them," she says. "Make them feel safe is mainly what we want to do here, make them feel that there's a place where they can go to school and concentrate on school without having to worry about their safety." Despite the Spartan aesthetic of the school grounds, which occupies a city block in downtown El Paso, most students might agree that Lydia Patterson lives up to de Anda's standards. Hazel Barrera and other Lydia Patterson students help clean the school to pay for their scholarships. By 7:30 a.m., the cafeteria is buzzing with chatter in English and Spanish of students who come in early for free breakfast. In the open-air courtyard that divides a pair of red-brick, two-story buildings of classrooms, students sit alone and | [
"What event were families fleeing from that the school provided sanctuary for?",
"What percentage of Lydia Patterson Institute's students commute from Mexico?",
"What percentage of the institute's students commute from Mexico?",
"How many new students have been admitted?h",
"What percentage of students commute?",
"It was founded as a sanctuary for families fleeing what?"
] | [
[
"Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, a key battleground in Mexico's drug wars,"
],
[
"70 percent"
],
[
"70 percent"
],
[
"459"
],
[
"About 70 percent"
],
[
"the violence of the Mexican Revolution."
]
] | 70 percent of Lydia Patterson Institute's students commute from Mexico .
Students, parents say school provides sense of security in contrast to Juarez, Mexico .
Lydia Patterson Institute has admitted 25 new students from Mexico this year .
School founded as sanctuary for families fleeing Mexican Revolution . |
EL PASO, Texas (CNN) -- Sitting in high school, math and history lessons never captured Danny Santos' imagination. The drug-fueled streets of the Texas-Mexico border provided his education, and he was an excellent student. Danny Santos, 21, works two part-time jobs and still doesn't make as much as he did as a drug mule. Santos says he became one of the thousands of American and Mexican teenagers recruited into the dangerous world of drug smuggling. "I didn't care. I had no conscience," Santos said at a boxing gym in El Paso, Texas. "You're young, and you're naïve, and you think it's easy." Santos' journey into the underworld of teenage drug smuggling offers a glimpse into how drug cartels lure teenagers into doing their dirty work. US. Customs and Border Protection officials in El Paso and San Diego report that in recent months, they've seen a rise in the number of juvenile drug smugglers getting busted at border checkpoints. They're often called mules. These teenagers are usually hired only to smuggle drug loads across the border. It's a short drive or walk that offers quick cash but can carry serious consequences. Watch how teens get drugs across the border » Drug cartels "just need someone who can legitimately cross the border," said Bill Molaski, the El Paso Port Director for U.S. Customs and Border Protection. As an American, Santos could freely cross the El Paso-Juarez border and not raise suspicion. At age 15, Santos says, he met "a guy" at a party who introduced him to drug kingpins in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico. "You start off as a driver," Santos said. "People feel like they can trust you, then you move up to something bigger." Two weeks later, he got a $4,000 job offer to drive his first load of marijuana across a bridge into El Paso. It was the beginning of a four-year smuggling career. "I can't say I wasn't nervous," Santos said. "You kind of project yourself into another time of happiness or joy. ... You just have to forget you have something illegal in the car." In all, Santos says, he earned $50,000 making about 20 mule runs, driving right through heavily guarded border checkpoints. Santos, who is now 21, says he was arrested once but spent only a few days in jail. He said charges were dropped. Because he was younger than 18 when he was arrested, and juvenile cases are sealed, CNN could not confirm his story through court records. Young smugglers don't fit a stereotype. Several sources said that both American and Mexican teens are lured into the work. Teenage boys and girls alike are involved. Many smugglers come from middle-class families. "There's a lot of money in the trade, a lot of inducement for a lot of young people to get involved," El Paso County Attorney Jose Rodriguez said. His office is responsible for prosecuting juvenile smugglers. Federal and state authorities say drug cartels recruit young smugglers from schools. Depending on the size of the drug load that's being smuggled, a kid can be paid a couple hundred dollars up to $5,000. Mexican officials say cartels have placed classified advertisements in Mexican newspapers with cryptic messages offering young people a job with good salary and benefits. A phone number is included in the ad. The officials say a cartel member sets up a meeting to determine whether the kid is up to the job. But Rodriguez offers a chilling reason why teenagers should avoid the lure of easy money. "We had a kid here who lost a load and had some of his toes chopped off," Rodriguez said. Santos says he got out of the smuggling business two years ago. Now he spends every day training at a boxing gym in El Paso. Boxing and smuggling can both be vicious worlds, but at least boxing is legal. However, it's a slow climb to | [
"What did he make?",
"How much did Danny Santos make>",
"Where did he smuggle drugs?",
"What does he do now?"
] | [
[
"$50,000"
],
[
"$50,000"
],
[
"into El Paso."
],
[
"spends every day training at a boxing gym"
]
] | Danny Santos, 21, says he made $50,000 in four years as a drug mule .
Santos smuggled drugs across U.S. border from Juarez, Mexico .
He was arrested once, as a juvenile, but said charges were dropped .
Santos now works two part-time jobs as trains as a boxer . |
EL PASO, Texas (CNN) -- The cell phone rang as Jorge Aguirre walked to a friend's funeral in Juarez, Mexico, last November -- a funeral for a fellow journalist who, Aguirre says, was assassinated for the critical stories he wrote. Mexican federal police recently began patrolling Ciudad Juarez, just across the border from El Paso, Texas. When he answered the phone, Aguirre heard a profanity-laced threat. "They told me I was next," Aguirre told CNN. "I thought they were going to kill me right there." Aguirre immediately gathered up his family and darted across the border into El Paso, Texas. He hasn't returned to Juarez since that day. Aguirre is seeking asylum in the United States, and he's part of a growing trend among Mexican citizens looking to escape the violence and corruption of their homeland. Watch journalists met with death threats » According to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, an agency that falls under the Department of Homeland Security, the number of Mexican nationals requesting asylum in the United States based on "credible fear" has gone up every year since 2003, even as the overall number of "credible fear" asylum cases remains steady. In 2003, the USCIS reported 54 asylum cases from Mexican citizens. In 2008, that number reached 312. But asylum requests based on fear of violence aren't easy cases to make. Last year, the United States approved less than half of those cases. "Whether they're fleeing extortionists or potential kidnappers or they're leaving because of the drug cartels, it tells you there are definitely problems in Mexico right now," said El Paso Mayor John Cook. Those seeking asylum come from every walk of life. There are journalists, entrepreneurs and even law enforcement officials, including three police chiefs. For Raymond Cobos, the sheriff in Luna County, New Mexico, this is the most disturbing revelation. Just across the Mexican border is a dusty, far-flung outpost called Palomas, a speck of a town that's a popular path for drug trafficking and human smuggling. It's also been the site of wild gunbattles between cops and the cartels. The cartels outgunned the police force, and the police chief disappeared and sought asylum in the United States. It's not clear where his case stands or where the police chief is today. "I don't know what I would do. It's pretty hard to fight that type of situation by yourself -- if you're in an environment that you don't know from one day to the next if someone's going to knock on your door and blast your family away," Cobos said. Emilio Gutierrez is another journalist hiding in El Paso. He wrote stories critical of the Mexican government for a small newspaper in the northern Mexico state of Chihuahua, which shares a border with Texas and New Mexico. Watch cops say U.S. teens were cartel hit men » Last May, Gutierrez says men dressed in Mexican military fatigues raided his home in the middle of the night. He was told they were looking for drugs and weapons. A month later, a friend called, frantically urging him to hide. Gutierrez grabbed his family, drove to El Paso and requested asylum. He spent seven months in a U.S. jail as his case moved through the immigration system. He's recently been allowed to leave the jail while his request is pending. He's now in hiding in El Paso. "The fear never ends," Gutierrez told CNN. "We're scared for our families that are still on the other side, and we're scared for ourselves." Gutierrez and Aguirre offer a chilling perspective on everyday life in areas of Mexico that are consumed with violence and corruption. They describe a situation that has left ordinary citizens unable to trust anyone in positions of authority. "Thousands of families are in danger of being killed," Aguirre said. "They're vulnerable because they can't go to the police for help because that might get them killed." | [
"What journalist is in danger because of his stories?",
"Where are Mexicans seeking asylum?",
"Who has disappeared near Palomas, Mexico?",
"What was the journalist told?",
"What happened to the police chief?",
"Who is seeking asylum in the US?",
"What is the name of the police chief who is missing?"
] | [
[
"Jorge Aguirre"
],
[
"in the United States,"
],
[
"the police chief"
],
[
"next,\""
],
[
"disappeared and sought asylum in the United States."
],
[
"Jorge Aguirre"
],
[
"Jorge Aguirre"
]
] | Number of Mexicans seeking asylum in U.S. on the rise .
Journalist says his stories have put him in harm's way: "They told me I was next"
Police chief from nearby Palomas, Mexico, has disappeared amid violence . |
ELDORADO, Texas (CNN) -- Ambulances rolled into a Texas ranch that's home to members of a polygamist sect, as authorities continued their search Saturday night for possible victims of physical and sexual abuse. Authorities are seeking Dale Barlow, 50, seen in a mugshot from a 2005 arrest on child sex charges. The emergency vehicles were called for as investigators prepared to search the group's temple, law enforcement officials said. The sect is a rogue branch of the Mormon church, which forbids nonbelievers from entering its temples. Authorities wanted medical backup "in case they're involved in sensitive areas that could escalate into a negative reaction," a law enforcement source said. A police helicopter also had begun circling the ranch Saturday night. Earlier, dozens more children and young women were removed from the compound. A total of 183 people, including 137 children, have been taken away since law enforcement officers raided the compound Thursday night, said Marleigh Meisner, a spokeswoman for the Texas Child Protective Services Division. The children -- most of them girls -- were being interviewed by special investigators, she said. "We're trying to find out if they're safe," she explained. "We need to know if they have been abused or neglected." Eighteen of the girls have been taken into state custody. Authorities believe that they "had been abused or were at immediate risk of future abuse," said Child Protective Services spokesman Darrell Azar. The others were taken to a nearby civic center. Meisner described them as doing "remarkably well." Watch a report on the latest developments » Authorities continue to search the 1,900-acre YFZ ranch, occupied by followers of imprisoned polygamist sect leader Warren Jeffs, and at least one man is being sought by police. According to the search warrant, authorities are looking for Dale Barlow, 50, whom they suspect of having married and fathered a child with a 16-year-old girl. Watch an Eldorado neighbor talk about the raid » Law enforcement agencies raided the ranch Thursday night after receiving a report Monday that a 16-year-old girl had been "sexually and physically abused," Azar said. Watch buses take girls from compound » The warrant cited an "immediate need" for authorities to have access to the 16-year-old and an 8-month-old child with either the last name of Barlow or the girl's last name. It instructs law enforcement officers to look for any records showing that Barlow and the girl were married and any evidence of them having a child. Barlow is in Arizona and does not know his accuser, his probation officer told The Salt Lake Tribune. "He said the authorities had called him [in Colorado City, Arizona], and some girl had accused him of assaulting her, and he didn't even know who she was," Bill Loader said. Barlow pleaded no contest last year to conspiracy to commit sexual conduct with a minor, The Associated Press reported. He was ordered to register as a sex offender for three years, according to the AP. His lawyer in that case told the AP he had not spoken to Barlow in a year. Jeffs, the 52-year-old leader and "prophet" of the 10,000-member church, was convicted in Utah last year and sentenced to 10 years on two counts of being an accomplice to rape, charges related to a marriage he performed in 2001. He faces trial in Arizona on eight charges of sexual conduct with a minor, incest and conspiracy. Jeffs' Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints bought the land near Eldorado four years ago and built the ranch, which they call the YFZ Ranch. The letters are said to refer to the words Yearning for Zion. It is home to as many as 400 members who relocated from their Arizona and Utah compounds. State and local law enforcement agencies set up roadblocks around the ranch Thursday evening, preventing journalists from seeing what was happening on the property, according to Randy Mankin, editor of the Eldorado Success weekly newspaper. "This came totally out of | [
"What is search of the temple expected to turn up?",
"Where is Jeffs in jail awaiting trial?",
"What is the number of children removed from ranch?",
"In which state is Jeffs jailed while awaiting trial?",
"How many children were removed?",
"What is the number of people removed from ranch?",
"How many children were removed from the ranch?",
"How many people were removed?",
"How many years was Jeffs sentenced to prison last year?",
"What state jail is Jeffs waiting trial in?"
] | [
[
"possible victims of physical and sexual abuse."
],
[
"Texas"
],
[
"137"
],
[
"Arizona"
],
[
"137"
],
[
"183"
],
[
"137"
],
[
"183"
],
[
"10"
],
[
"Utah"
]
] | NEW: Ambulances called in as investigators prepare to search temple .
Number of people removed from ranch grows to 183, including 137 children .
Authorities served search, arrest warrants to members of polygamist sect .
Jeffs in Arizona jail awaiting trial; sentenced to 10 years in prison last year . |
ESTERO, Florida (CNN) -- Alana and Joe Consolo should have had the excitement of a young couple enjoying their first house, but the South Florida pair was walking through it recently with a healthy dose of fear.
Alana and Joe Consolo tour their Florida house after it was gutted because of concerns about the drywall.
They've been caught in a maelstrom of headline news events that would make your head spin. Both were laid off as the economy soured. The nation's housing crisis cut their Florida house's value in half.
And now their home's interior is being rebuilt because it contained Chinese-made drywall that they say has made them sick.
The Consolos are among homeowners in several states who allege Chinese drywall has emitted corrosive gases they believe have given them headaches and upper respiratory problems and caused household systems such as air-conditioning units to fail.
"I'm holding back tears," Alana Consolo said as she walked through the house, which is in the middle of the reconstruction project. "I have chills and I'm angry -- really, really angry -- and really sad, too."
The Consolos moved into the home in Estero, near Fort Myers, less than three years ago. But they moved out six weeks ago, and even though it's being rebuilt, they doubt they'll return there to live because they've yet to be convinced they'd be healthy.
"The last time that we saw the house in this condition," Alana said, looking at the gutted interior, "we came in excited, holding our hands, planning on where we were going to put our [baby] room for our new family." Watch the Consolos tour the gutted home »
Concerns about Chinese-made drywall emerged in Florida last year but by now have spread to other states. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission said it's investigating complaints in Florida, Virginia, Alabama, Louisiana, Washington and North Carolina. And class-action lawsuits are lining up against Chinese manufacturers as well as suppliers and builders.
The Florida Department of Health said complaints it received -- more than 180 as of Thursday -- generally involve homes built between 2004 and 2007, around the time that a building boom and post-hurricane reconstruction caused a U.S. drywall shortage and spurred imports from China.
A study done for the Florida department by private laboratory Unified Engineering Inc. found that samples of certain Chinese drywall gave off a sulfurous odor from "volatile sulfur compounds" when exposed to extreme heat and moisture. It also found that vapors "in the residential atmosphere created a corrosive environment in the presence of moisture," according to Unified's report.
But state and federal officials said they're still testing to determine whether the drywall poses health risks.
The Consolos, who now have a 4-month-old daughter, said they first noticed a problem in December when their smoke detectors kept going off inexplicably. An inspection revealed that copper wiring inside the house had turned black.
And the couple said they suffered from headaches and upper respiratory problems while living in the house. So they moved out.
Now the house, which had Chinese-made drywall, has been stripped. The builder, Lennar Homes, is footing the bill for the reconstruction and a nearby rental house for the Consolos.
Moving out came at a trying time for the family.
Both were laid off about a year ago by Countrywide Bank, where they were mortgage loan originators. Joe Consolo is now a restaurant manager.
Also, the nation's housing crisis hit their home. Purchased for $528,000, it has recently been appraised for $280,000. Trying to get out from under a bad investment, they went to their bank to do a short sale.
"The value had decreased so much, we were throwing money out the window," Alana Consolo said.
Two offers for $250,000 and $255,000 were rejected. So, they made a business decision: They stopped paying their mortgage and declared bankruptcy.
The Consolos are now three months behind in their payments. They're not sure yet if | [
"What state do the homeowners live in?",
"Where is the family living?",
"who said Chinese drywall made them sick",
"What made Florida couple sick?",
"who was real angry",
"Where are the family living now?",
"who was living in a different home at builder's expense",
"What emotion is the homeowner feeling?",
"What made them leave their home?"
] | [
[
"Florida"
],
[
"Estero, near Fort Myers,"
],
[
"Alana and Joe Consolo"
],
[
"Chinese-made drywall"
],
[
"Alana Consolo"
],
[
"nearby rental house"
],
[
"Alana and Joe Consolo"
],
[
"healthy dose of fear."
],
[
"drywall"
]
] | Florida couple's house being revamped; they say Chinese drywall made them sick .
Drywall concerns came after layoffs, home devaluation .
Family living in different home at builder's expense while theirs is fixed .
Homeowner says she's "really, really angry" |
East Rutherford, New Jersey (CNN) -- From nuclear weapons to human rights, the image of Iran is quite negative in America. But with little fanfare, one Iranian man has won hearts and cheers battling Americans on the court in basketball arenas around the country.
Hamed Haddadi is the NBA's first Iranian basketball player. At 7-foot-2, Haddadi began playing for Tennessee's Memphis Grizzlies in August 2008. His final game of this season was set for Wednesday night in Oklahoma City.
Despite U.S.-Iran tensions in the political arena, any strains appear absent with teammates and fans alike.
"It seems like he's the most popular Grizzly. When we go on the road ... he has a lot of support from a lot of people, a lot of people come out to watch him and watch us play," said teammate Mike Conley, who accompanied Haddadi to a "kebab fest."
The kebab fest was held in Las Vegas in 2009. Haddadi was accompanied by Conley and fellow Grizzly Hakim Warrick to a Persian restaurant. The event served to introduce the teammates to Persian food. Grizzlies' forward Rudy Gay turned the tables when he took Haddadi for a taste of American ribs at a Memphis restaurant.
It wasn't as easy getting permission to play in the United States. Current U.S. sanctions on Iran prohibit "a person or organization in the United States from engaging in business dealings with Iranian nationals," stated the NBA legal counsel.
The NBA had to apply to the U.S. government for a license that granted Haddadi permission to play for the NBA.
The reception has been positive courtside. But problems arose from game announcers once.
Ralph Lawler and Mike Smith, L.A. Clippers announcers on local Fox Sports, were suspended for a game for insensitive comments about Haddadi. When the Grizzlies faced the Clippers, the two joked about the Iranian center.
"You're sure it's not Borat's older brother?" said Smith. "If they ever make a movie about Haddadi, I'm going to get Sacha Baron Cohen to play the part."
Mayar Zokaei, Haddadi's Iranian-American manager, said the Iranian basketball player has brought lots of media attention to the middle-of-the-standings Grizzlies.
"He's gotten more press then any of his teammates this year and the past couple of years just for the sole reason that he's Iranian-American," said Zokaei. "Iranian playing basketball in America ... that's rare. [There aren't many]) Iranians doing anything in bona fide sports arenas in the U.S."
Haddadi faces big challenges. One is speaking and learning English.
Furthermore, his family is almost 7,000 miles away in Iran. The political turmoil back home is something he can't control. He worries about his family.
"It affects him because he misses them, he's not able to keep up to date with them because he's so busy ... he's always concerned about their well-being and such," said Zokaei.
Off the court, Haddadi has been working to bridge the gap between Iranian-Americans and basketball. Haddadi was at the forefront of creating the Hamed Haddadi Javanan Foundation. The charity organization aims to award college scholarships to student athletes.
The foundation has not been his only initiative.
In 2009, with Los Angeles Lakers forward Ron Artest and manager Zokaei, Haddadi hosted a weekend basketball camp for 100 children.
The camp was held on the campus of California State University at Northridge and was aimed mainly at the Iranian-American community.
Haddadi's team did not make the NBA playoffs, which start within the week. His next test on the court -- playing for Iran against the United States in the world championships in September in Turkey. Haddadi and teammate Rudy Gay agree the United States will win.
"Tell you the truth ... we can't beat the United States you know," said Haddadi. "We're [The U.S.] gonna win, of course," boasted Gay.
But his two years in America have been a personal victory for Haddadi, who just | [
"what did the nba apply for",
"when did he join the Grizzlies?",
"Who had to apply to the US Government?",
"Which team did he play for",
"Who began playing for Tennessee's Memphis Grizzlies in 2008?",
"What bridge has he been trying to gap?",
"Who did they have to apply for license from?",
"what sport does he play?",
"which country is he from"
] | [
[
"a license that granted Haddadi permission to play"
],
[
"August 2008."
],
[
"NBA"
],
[
"Tennessee's Memphis Grizzlies"
],
[
"Hamed Haddadi"
],
[
"between Iranian-Americans and basketball."
],
[
"U.S. government"
],
[
"basketball"
],
[
"Iranian"
]
] | Hamed Haddadi began playing for Tennessee's Memphis Grizzlies in August 2008 .
Despite U.S.-Iran tensions, strains appear absent with teammates, fans alike .
NBA had to apply to the U.S. government for a license to let Haddadi play .
He's been trying to bridge gap between Iranian-Americans and basketball . |
Editor's Note: Al Vivian is president & CEO of BASIC Diversity, Inc., a 35-year-old consultancy that specializes in diminishing cross-cultural biases that has worked with clients such as Coca-Cola, Ford, Kroger, McDonald's, the National Security Agency and CNN. He is also an adviser to the United States Army for diversity and cultural affairs. Al Vivian says Eric Holder was right to urge Americans to confront diversity issues now. FAYETTEVILLE, Georgia (CNN) -- Privilege can be a dangerous thing. It releases you from the task of thinking about things that others must. I am an African-American male and I am privileged. Not on race; but on gender, education, religion, income and many other areas. As a man, my authority and intellect are not second-guessed. As a Christian, my moral code is not questioned, nor am I subject to post-September 11 profiling. I have privilege in these areas, and I realize that this privilege creates blind spots. An advantage to any group creates a corresponding disadvantage to all others Recently Attorney General Eric Holder made some statements concerning America's need to confront its racial history, and the need for Americans to engage in cross-racial dialogue. Holder's comments offended some and motivated others, not uncommon when dealing with the touchy issue of race. On confronting our history he said: "To get to the heart of this country, one must examine its racial soul. ... in things racial we have always been and continue to be, in too many ways, essentially a nation of cowards. " Concerning cross-racial dialogue he opined: "If we are to make progress in this area, we must ... have frank conversations about the racial matters that continue to divide us." In a recent interview, President Obama responded by saying, America has made "enormous progress, and we shouldn't lose sight of that ... I think it's fair to say that if I had been advising my attorney general, we would have used different language." The president went on to say, "I think what solves racial tensions is fixing the economy, putting people to work, making sure people have health care, ensuring that every kid is learning out here." They were both right; but they were addressing two different things. Obama was talking about fixing the economy to ease racial tensions. Holder was talking about overcoming our fears to dialogue and confronting racial privilege so that we can eliminate inequities that cause the racial tensions. Additionally, Holder was not saying that progress had not been made. He was saying that there is much yet to be done in order to fully engage and leverage the abilities of all of the nation's human capital. Elaborating on history, we must acknowledge that whites have been the benefactors of centuries of history that included half-truths that socially affirmed them to the detriment of all others. Addressing this privilege will take extreme courage, for there will be many loud dissenting voices. For example, there has never been a discussion in America about whether we should or should not celebrate a White History Month. That would be an irrelevant waste of time, because white history has been the basis of practically all that we have been taught. Being able to sit in a classroom and open history books that positively portray a plethora of people that resemble you has been, and continues to be, the exclusive historical privilege of whites. This privilege psychologically and economically benefits every member at every level of the advantaged category so profoundly that its members never have to question their place in society. And that place is on top: the expected and accepted norm. If you are white, consider how different life might be for you now if you had grown up from meager beginnings, while simultaneously being denigrated by a society that had denied equal access to you, your parents and every member of your race during every prior generation. This is the history of black America that Holder is saying we must understand to truly know the heart of America. History is history, and | [
"Who is Al Vivian?",
"Who has racial privilege in the U.S. ?",
"what race have had a longstanding racial privilege in the U.S. according to Al Vivian?",
"Who said\"Privilege creates blind spots that conceal the harm they do\"?",
"Who made the nation of cowards speech?",
"What creates blind spots?"
] | [
[
"is president & CEO of BASIC Diversity, Inc.,"
],
[
"of whites."
],
[
"whites"
],
[
"Attorney General Eric Holder"
],
[
"Attorney General Eric Holder"
],
[
"this privilege"
]
] | Al Vivian: Privilege creates blind spots that conceal the harm they do .
He says whites have had a longstanding racial privilege in the U.S.
Vivian: History has largely been written from perspective of white Americans .
Holder was right to make his "nation of cowards" speech and urge dialogue . |
Editor's Note: Alfred Liggins is chief executive officer of Radio One Inc. and chairman of TV One LLC. The companies are aimed at an audience of African-American and urban consumers, and they own 53 radio stations in 16 cities, a cable network and a variety of Web sites. Liggins personally has contributed to Barack Obama's campaign. Alfred Liggins says the black population in America has grown increasingly diverse. (CNN) -- If you think African-Americans will come out in greater numbers than ever before to vote for Barack Obama, you're probably right. If you think you know how they'll vote in the almost 500 House, Senate and gubernatorial races, you could be in for a surprise. Although politicians and their advertising gurus often speak to Black America as a collective, homogeneous group, the black population is anything but a monolith. In the past decade, the more than 40 million strong black population in America has become increasingly diverse: economically, socially, technologically and even philosophically. In the final push toward Election Day, as politicians and political hopefuls seek to penetrate this community, they may no longer understand to whom they are speaking. Are they addressing blacks or African-Americans? Is racial prejudice as important an issue today as affording a college education for their kids or taking care of an aging parent? iReport.com: Black college cancels class to vote Radio One, the country's largest broadcasting company primarily targeting African-Americans, recently commissioned a study to uncover Black America today. How do they identify themselves? What do they care about? How are they influenced? What is most important to them? Interestingly, the study found that 42 percent of those polled actually prefer to be called black (these are more likely to be more affluent) compared with 44 percent who choose to be described as African-American. And yes, it would be misguided to assume that dropping a Martin Luther King Jr. quote into a speech and focusing on America's history of racial inequality is the sure way to sway black voters when one-third of blacks, particularly younger people, believe that there is actually too much focus on past oppression. And as insulting as it is to assume that all women vote for female candidates, it is equally inaccurate and offensive to say that blacks simply cast their ballots for people of color. Like all Americans, black folks vote on the issues they care about, and today those issues are less likely to be linked to race than they are to the economy, health care, education and a whole spectrum of social issues. As Georgetown University sociology professor Michael Eric Dyson recently said, "black people don't vote for candidates just because they are black. If Clarence Thomas ran for president, he would get five black votes." Given Black America's extreme diversity today (the study identified 11 specific groups) it is easy to misunderstand who they are and how they can be reached. Yes, discrimination and racial issues are still incredibly important, particularly to middle-age and older blacks. But the younger populations are more concerned about starting their own businesses, paying for their education, taking care of their children and creating a better work/life balance. So how do politicians penetrate the multiple segments of Black America? In 1992, when Bill Clinton wooed African-Americans in church, he understood how to effectively reach that population. But that was before social networking sites attracted millions of teenage and young black adults. Now that the digital divide has faded, with roughly the same percentage of blacks online as the general population, ignoring black Web sites and social networking sites would be a big mistake. Although the history of black oppression in America is not the radioactive issue it once was, trust in the community -- whom blacks trust -- is still paramount. Of all institutions, they are least likely to trust credit card companies but also remain seriously wary of the mainstream media and tend to trust black media more than traditional media outlets. It has been almost a century and a half since blacks in America won the right to vote. It | [
"What demographic has become more diverse?",
"What population has become more diverse?",
"What population numbers 40 million?",
"How large is the American black community?",
"What did Alfred Liggins say has become of the black population?",
"What did Liggins say about America's black population?"
] | [
[
"black population in America"
],
[
"black"
],
[
"in America"
],
[
"more than 40 million"
],
[
"grown increasingly diverse."
],
[
"has grown increasingly diverse."
]
] | Alfred Liggins: America's black population has become more diverse .
40 million population represents many different social, economic viewpoints, he says .
Liggins: Discrimination still key issue, but other concerns have emerged .
Liggins says politicians need to know that past appeals to race are outdated . |
Editor's Note: Award-winning journalist and best-selling author Carl Bernstein, best known for his reporting work with Bob Woodward about the Watergate scandal, serves as a political analyst for CNN. Most recently, Bernstein wrote "A Woman in Charge: The Life of Hillary Rodham Clinton," a detailed portrait of the junior senator from New York and former Democratic presidential candidate. Carl Bernstein says Republicans returned to old themes, including patriotism, to attack Democrats. (CNN) -- Democrats take note: the Republican convention was resolutely on-message Tuesday night, sounding old themes and buzzwords that have worked for the GOP in the past. It's those same themes that John McCain, who once rejected the approach, has now embraced as the only way to the White House. "The Angry Left," "Liberals," "The Media," -- the familiar litany of right-wing Republican demons -- rocked the house in St. Paul, Minnesota. The message: McCain, Sarah Palin and the Republicans are the true party of patriotism, as if the Democrats aren't. In the repetitious theme of the evening, the Republicans would "Put Country First," as if the Democrats wouldn't. The Democrats' first response to the evening, in a statement from the Obama campaign about the GOP's failure to address economic problems in the country, said nothing -- perhaps at its peril -- about the real Republican message. The theme was first sounded by actor Robert Duvall in the short film he narrated; followed by speaker after speaker and later interspersed in filmed tributes to Ronald Reagan and to a Navy Seal hero who died in Iraq. That is the theme invoked as the motif of John McCain's life. Perhaps the most extreme example of the implication that the Republicans have a lock on patriotism and "Putting Country First" came in video footage of a first-responder going underwater to rescue occupants of a car that plummeted in the Minneapolis bridge collapse. (No word at the convention about problems of infrastructure in the country -- just people (apparently only Republicans) who would "Put Country First." Meanwhile, consistent with the demonizing subtext of this theme, President Bush attacked (rather incongruously, but with plenty of antecedents in Republican history) "The Angry Left" -- perhaps an attempt to stigmatize those who would question Sarah Palin's credentials. A quick video tribute to Ronald Reagan referred to "the media [who] despised him." Former Sen. Fred Thompson pounded Barack Obama as "the most liberal" presidential candidate in history, and brought the convention to its feet. He also warned of losing the Supreme Court to the Democrats and "liberalism" (to delirious applause). Thompson said McCain's pick of Palin had thrown the Democrats' "friends in the media into a state of panic" (pandemonium in the hall). John McCain, in a different time in his life (i.e. running against George W. Bush for the Republican nomination in 2000), specifically rejected this approach. He courted and charmed the dreaded "media" monolith and enunciated a post-partisan vision (yet definitely consistent with conservative orthodoxy on many big questions). McCain also railed against the culture wars that his party and campaign are now intent on stoking as the way to victory. (Remember, only months ago, when the promise of this election was that there were two nominees who understood the enduring damage of the culture wars to the country and its political system?) Will the Republican message on display last night work? It was essential to George W. Bush's defeat of John Kerry and pulled Bush to parity with Al Gore in 2000. George H.W. Bush relied on the approach in 1988. Bill Clinton recognized the strategy, addressed it substantively and forthrightly and buried it. The McCain campaign and the Republican Party of 2008 are betting that Barack Obama won't be nimble enough to repeat Clinton's feat, and that they have found the formula (including putting Palin on the ticket at a moment when the election seemed to be eluding them) to victory. The opinions expressed in | [
"who did bush attack",
"The angry left was attacked by who at the convention",
"Who now embraces the GOP theme whilst previously rejecting them",
"Who attacked The Angry Left at the convention?",
"when was the GOP convention?",
"What does Bernstein claim McCain rejected?",
"What is the theme at Tuesday's GOP convention?"
] | [
[
"\"The Angry Left\""
],
[
"President Bush"
],
[
"John McCain,"
],
[
"President Bush"
],
[
"Tuesday night,"
],
[
"the approach,"
],
[
"\"Put Country First,\""
]
] | Tuesday's themes at GOP convention dealt with patriotism, "Putting Country First"
President Bush attacked "The Angry Left" at convention .
Bernstein: McCain once rejected old GOP themes, now embraces them . |
Editor's Note: Barry Eichengreen is George C. Pardee and Helen N. Pardee Professor of Economics and Political Science at the University of California, Berkeley. He is the author of "Golden Fetters: the Gold Standard and the Great Depression, 1919-1939."
Barry Eichengreen says strong action should be taken to stop the financial crisis from getting worse.
BERKELEY, California (CNN) -- Every time the economy and stock market turn down, financial historians get predictable calls from reporters.
Could this be the start of another Great Depression? Could "it" possibly happen again? My stock answer has always been no.
The Great Depression resulted from a series of economic and financial shocks -- the end of a housing bubble in 1926 and the end of a high-tech bubble in 1929 -- but also from truly breathtaking neglect and incompetence on the part of policymakers.
It couldn't happen again precisely because policymakers know this history. Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke is a student of the Great Depression. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson remembers the mistakes of Andrew Mellon, Herbert Hoover's treasury secretary.
We can be confident, I always answered, that there will not be another Great Depression because policymakers have read financial histories like mine. At least that was my line until recently. Now I have stopped taking reporters' calls.
The first thing that made the Great Depression great, of course, was the Fed's failure to act. It basically stood by as the banking system and the economy collapsed around it. This time, in contrast, the Fed can hardly be criticized for inaction. Not only has it cut rates, but it has rolled out one new unprecedented initiative after another.
Unfortunately, it has reacted more than acted. First, it provided funds to the commercial banks. Then, it targeted broker-dealers. Now, it is desperately propping up the commercial paper market. All the while however, the problem has been infecting new parts of the financial system.
One thing that restrained the Fed in the 1930s was the fear that rate cuts might cause capital to flee to other countries and the dollar to crash. The danger was that the same liquidity that the Fed poured in through the top of the bucket might just leak back out through these holes in the bottom.
There was a solution: coordinated rate cuts here and in Europe. Unfortunately, central bankers couldn't agree on what was needed. The result was further instability.
That central banks have learned this lesson of history and now see the need for coordinated action is at least one ground for hope. The problem is that they have already used their bullets. iReport.com: What lessons have your family passed down from the Great Depression?
U.S. Treasury bill rates have essentially fallen to zero, and the Fed's policy interest rates are only slightly above that level. Central banks are out of ammunition. This is no longer a problem they can solve by themselves.
What is needed now is Treasury action to address what has morphed into a global banking crisis. Between 1930 and 1933, not just the U.S. but also Europe and Latin America experienced rolling banking crises.
When Austria took desperate measures to prop up its banking system, its banking crisis only shifted to Germany. When Germany did the same, the crisis spread to the United States.
This was beggar-thy-neighbor policy at its worst. We have seen some disturbing evidence of the same in recent weeks, as when Ireland unilaterally guaranteed all bank deposits and thereby sucked funds out of the British banking system.
G7 leaders, when they meet in Washington at the end of this week, need to explain exactly how they will address this aspect of the problem. They need to commit money to recapitalizing their banking systems -- now, and not next week.
The U.K., which has just announced a $50 billion plan for bank recapitalization, has shown how this can be done in a matter of days. But a coordinated initiative will require the U.S. to put up a considerably larger sum.
My recommendation would be to abandon the idea of reverse auctions for toxic assets and | [
"Who made serious mistakes?",
"What historical event does this person say we should learn from?",
"Mistakes were made during what time?",
"Events are overtaking the resources of what banks?",
"Who knows the lessions of the Depression?"
] | [
[
"Andrew Mellon,"
],
[
"The Great Depression"
],
[
"Great Depression."
],
[
"Central"
],
[
"central banks"
]
] | Eichengreen: Serious mistakes were made by policy makers in Depression .
Today's leaders know the lessons of the Depression, he says .
Still, events are rapidly overtaking the resources of the central banks, he says .
Eichengreen: The problem can't wait until Inauguration Day to be solved . |
Editor's Note: CNN.com has a business partnership with CareerBuilder.com, which serves as the exclusive provider of job listings and services to CNN.com. This article first appeared in September 2005.
(CareerBuilder.com) -- Are skyrocketing gasoline prices cursing your commute? Wondering why you're driving to work only to spend your hard-earned dollars to get you there and back? Perhaps telecommuting is the answer.
Telecommuting is changing the way we work. An estimated 10 percent of today's workforce works from home and remains on the company payroll. And a recent study commissioned by Bell Atlantic estimates that 2 million American businesses support some kind of telecommuting program.
Employees who telecommute largely report that they are happier with their jobs and more satisfied with their personal lives. A survey by the Information Technology Association of America even found that 36 percent of respondents would choose telecommuting over a pay raise.
Increased quality of life sits at the top of the list of employee benefits along with reduced stress levels, greater flexibility and increased productivity. And contrary to the popular "out of sight, out of mind" misconception that telecommuting will take you off the fast track, a study of 17,000 telecommuters by the U.S. Small Business Administration (Myths and Realities of Working at Home) found that teleworkers receive a higher proportion of promotions than their stay-at-work counterparts.
Employers in turn benefit from reduced real estate costs and absenteeism, increased productivity, morale and employer turnover costs. In addition, many find that telecommuting seems to encourage certain entrepreneurial qualities in their employees, including drive, self-discipline, self-reliance and improved judgment.
There are benefits to the community as well: reduced fossil fuel consumption and traffic congestion which lead to cleaner air and safer neighborhoods. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, if an additional 10 percent of the nation's workforce would telecommute just one day a week, Americans would avoid the frustration of driving 24.4 million miles, breathe air with 13,000 tons less air pollution and conserve more than 1.2 million gallons of fuel each week.
Are you a candidate for telecommuting? Certain jobs such as writers, salespersons, accountants, programmers, graphic artists, researchers, engineers, architects and public relations professionals lend themselves to telecommuting better than others.
You also need to have the right personal qualities. For example, do you have the self-discipline to work from home under minimal supervision? Does your boss perceive you as a self-starter who can work independently? Are you a proven performer? Well-organized? A good time-manager?
If the answers are yes, you may want to propose a telecommuting arrangement with your employer. To do so successfully, follow the same principles you would in a job interview. Focus on the benefits of telecommuting to the company, not the benefits to you. State only that telecommuting will make you more productive and efficient, be a better use of the time you currently spend on the road, make your boss's life easier -- whatever benefits you come up with that focus on the employer's needs, not yours.
Outline in writing your job description and assure your boss that you'll meet your responsibilities. Emphasize that you know what needs to be done and that telecommuting won't significantly change that. You may even want to include a table that shows which of your job functions will be accomplished off-site, which will be performed in the traditional workplace and which can be done at either location. Describe how you will handle key relationships with other team members.
Think about yourself the same way you would if you were looking for a new job. What is your unique selling proposition? How are you an asset to your employer, and what do you do better then anyone else in your company? By effectively communicating your value to your employer, you'll be better able to sell your boss on the idea of letting you telework. E-mail to a friend
Copyright CareerBuilder.com 2009. All rights reserved. The information contained in this article may not be published, broadcast or otherwise distributed without the prior written authority
Kate Lorenz is the article and advice editor for CareerBuilder.com | [
"How many of today's workforce telecommutes from home?",
"What does 2 million American businesses support?",
"What is the percent of today's workforce?",
"How many people would choose telecommuting over a pay raise?",
"How many million?"
] | [
[
"10 percent"
],
[
"some kind of telecommuting program."
],
[
"10"
],
[
"36 percent"
],
[
"2"
]
] | An estimated 10 percent of today's workforce telecommutes from home .
2 million American businesses support some kind of telecommuting program .
Survey: 36 percent would choose telecommuting over a pay raise . |
Editor's Note: CNNU is following two student teams from the University of Southern California as they work to improve the quality of life in India. The student teams will be writing about their experiences for CNNU throughout the summer. Check back regularly for updates on their work. CNNU first introduced the Oral Cancer Awareness Team. It now introduces the Water and Health Team. The views expressed in this article are not necessarily those of CNN or its affiliates. Students visited slums to obtain data on the history of health and access to water in each household. (CNN) -- The World Health Organization reports that 88 percent of the 1.8 million deaths resulting from diarrhea can be attributed to unsafe water or inadequate hygiene or sanitation. Unfortunately, a significant population in the city of Hubli, India, fall victim to these causes, and they are not even aware of the cause. The University of Southern California Hubli Water and Health Team is spending this summer implementing a project model that will improve these statistics in the community. The team of six students, visiting from the University of Southern California, will guide a pilot project in the under-served community of S.M. Krishna Nagar. Over the course of the next year, the Team will employ local college students to maintain the program and monitor the efficiency of the water purification technology. And by subsidizing the cost for those living within S.M Krishna Nagar, the Team will be providing state-of-the-art purification systems at affordable prices, creating an important sense of ownership and empowerment for the people. The team also plans to build awareness within the local community about the need to drink purified water. While the source of water currently received by the Hubli-Dharwad Municipal Corporation is filtered, sewage leakage and the poor management of waste often contaminates drinking water on its way into the homes. This means that while the water from these pipes or the bore wells may look clean, it can be hazardous to drink. To compound the issue, even water contained in holding tanks on vehicles that visit the community is by no means guaranteed to be of sufficient, purified quality. The tanks carrying the water are rarely cleaned and the taps through which the water is dispersed may easily be contaminated. Families must be aware that the water they are provided is harmful to their health and provides a catalyst for breeding mosquitoes carrying malaria and other transferable diseases. Local reports have proven this, and communities in the past have fallen victim to water-related illnesses as a result of their consumption of unclean water. The USC Hubli Water and Health Team team hopes to shed light on this threatening issue, as confronting the challenge of dirty drinking water is a "gateway" step towards achieving measured, sustainable improvements in a wide array of serious health related issues. Through education at key points of community influence and the measured introduction of new technologies that encourage responsibility over simply charity, the Team will use its time in Hubli to affect change that is both scalable and sustainable. | [
"where did the students go",
"What is one of the top 3 cancers in India?",
"Who did the students employ?",
"Who did students employ to maintain their program and monitor its efficiency?",
"From which University did students come from to go to India?"
] | [
[
"India."
],
[
"Oral"
],
[
"local college students"
],
[
"local college"
],
[
"of Southern California"
]
] | Students from University of Southern California go to India to improve quality of life .
Team provides innovative water treatment measures to stop disease .
Other team teaches how to prevent oral cancer, one of top 3 cancers in India .
Students employ locals to maintain program and monitor efficiency over next year . |
Editor's Note: Daniel J. Mitchell is a senior fellow at the Cato Institute, a libertarian public policy research foundation. He formerly worked at The Heritage Foundation and as an economist for Republican Sen. Bob Packwood and the Senate Finance Committee. He also served on the 1988 Bush-Quayle transition team. Daniel Mitchell says an auto bailout would subsidize bad management and reward inflexible unions. (CNN) -- General Motors, Ford, Chrysler and the United Auto Workers union are pouring millions of dollars into a lobbying campaign for a taxpayer bailout. The money devoted to influence peddling in Washington would be better spent on improving quality and finding ways to reduce a bloated cost structure, but both management and UAW have decided that fleecing taxpayers is a better option. A taxpayer bailout would be a terrible mistake. It would subsidize the shoddy management practices of the corporate bureaucrats at General Motors, Ford and Chrysler, and it would reward the intransigent union bosses who have made the synonymous with inflexible and anti-competitive work rules. Perhaps most important, though, is that a bailout would be bad for the long-term health of the American auto industry. It would discriminate against the 113,000 Americans who have highly-coveted jobs building cars for Nissan, BMW and other auto companies that happen to be headquartered in other nations. These companies demonstrate that it is possible to build cars in America and make money. Putting them at a competitive disadvantage with handouts for the U.S.-headquartered companies would be highly unjust. A bailout also would be bad for General Motors, Ford and Chrysler. The so-called Big Three desperately need to fundamentally restructure their practices. More specifically, the car companies need to endure some short-term pain in order to restore long-term viability. But that won't happen if politicians raid the treasury. Getting access to taxpayer money would be akin to giving an alcoholic the key to a liquor cabinet. It also would be bad for American taxpayers and the American economy. For instance: • A bailout will hurt the overall economy by misallocating resources. When politicians grant special favors to a certain industry or a particular union, such decisions necessarily mean that market forces are being replaced by special-interest deal-making. This type of interference with free markets is why nations such as France, Germany and Japan tend to grow more slowly and enjoy less prosperity. But if America goes down this same path of government intervention, it is inevitable that we will suffer the same fate of stagnation and higher unemployment. • A bailout will encourage other industries to seek taxpayer handouts. The Wall Street bailout was a disaster in many ways, most notably as measured by the weak stock market and economic volatility. But another negative aspect of the bailout is that other industries have now decided that it is OK to stick their snouts in the public trough, as well. First Wall Street's high fliers get a bailout. Now the inefficient management and union at the Big Three want a handout. Who will be next in line to pillage taxpayers? Giving handouts in exchange for political support is akin to getting high. Once politicians decide they like the buzz of campaign contributions, they'll turn into junkies with ordinary Americans footing the bill. • A bailout is a perverse transfer from poor taxpayers to rich taxpayers. America's Founding Fathers surely never envisaged that the federal government would take money from one group of Americans and give it to another group. Yet much of the federal budget is devoted to redistribution programs. Bailouts are a particularly bizarre form of redistribution, however, because the corporate bureaucrats at the Big Three are among the very richest Americans. The UAW bosses make extravagant salaries, as well, and even regular union workers make an average total compensation including benefits of approximately $70 per hour, far higher than the average American. The government should not be in the business of giving unearned wealth to any group of citizens, but surely liberals and conservatives both can agree that politicians should not be taking money from middle class taxpayers and giving it to upper-middle class and rich taxpayers. Advocates oftentimes admit that bailouts are not | [
"what did daniel bailing say about bailout?",
"Who does Mitchell say would receive unfair treatment in the deal?",
"what would companies do for companies?",
"what did mitchell say about auto execs, workers and unions?",
"Who is making statements about the auto industry bailout?"
] | [
[
"would subsidize bad management and reward inflexible unions."
],
[
"113,000 Americans"
],
[
"demonstrate that it is possible to build cars in America and make money."
],
[
"bailout would subsidize bad management"
],
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"Daniel Mitchell"
]
] | Daniel Mitchell: Bailing out the Big Three would reward shoddy management .
A bailout would be unfair to other auto companies making cars in the U.S., he says .
Mitchell says auto execs, workers and unions are overpaid .
Bankruptcy would let the companies streamline their operations, Mitchell says . |
Editor's Note: David Hawkins is Director of Public Policy and Research for the National Association for College Admission Counseling, a nonprofit organization that represents more than 11,000 high school counselors and college admission officers from across the country. He was the author of a report last month by the organization's commission on the use of standardized tests. David Hawkins says test scores shouldn't be used to rank college quality ARLINGTON, Virginia (CNN) -- A recent controversy at Baylor University has brought new attention to the widespread misuse of standardized college admission tests to rank the quality of America's colleges and universities. The SAT and ACT have achieved nearly iconic status in America and throughout the world. As the late author and scholar Stephen Jay Gould noted, the tests are viewed by many as "abstruse and mysterious," with powerful effects on public policy, social mobility, and even individual identity. Misuse of test scores as college ranking criteria creates undue pressure on admission offices to pursue increasingly high test scores and fuels the tests' disproportionate influence. Last June, Baylor University encouraged its already admitted first-year students to retake the SAT. The reward for students who retook the test was $300 in bookstore credits. Students who increased their score by more than 50 points got a $1,000 merit aid scholarship. If enough students retook the SAT and increased their scores, the gains might be enough to move Baylor up the rankings list. The scarce financial resources allocated for this plan are too badly needed elsewhere, particularly among low-income students in rural and urban areas around the country, to spend on an effort to raise a college's SAT profile. A Baylor spokesman told The Associated Press Thursday that the university "goofed" and would likely end the incentives. It's critical to understand that high SAT and ACT scores alone do not equate to merit. Last month, our organization's Commission on the Use of Standardized Tests in Undergraduate Admission issued a report calling for change in the way everyone involved in college admissions uses the tests. Test misuses feed the public perception that the scores are the most influential factor in college admission. For the past 15 years, National Association for College Admission Counseling (NACAC) research has shown that students' grades in high school, particularly grades in college preparatory courses, are by far the most important consideration in college admission decisions. One of the most pressing problems regarding the SAT and ACT scores is their misuse in the U.S. News and World Report college rankings formula. The SAT and ACT were designed to provide information about a student to colleges and universities and were never meant to be measures of college quality. Accordingly, the commission encouraged U.S. News and World Report to eliminate test scores as a measure of institutional quality. The U.S. News ranking formula includes a "student selectivity" score that constitutes 15 percent of a college's overall rank. SAT or ACT scores of enrollees make up 50 percent of the student selectivity score. In response to the NACAC report, U.S. News and World Report said, "As long as standardized tests play an integral role in the college admissions process, U.S. News will use them as part of our ranking methodology." The situation at Baylor is a reminder of the inflated value assigned to the SAT and ACT in higher education. The fervor surrounding the rankings, as well as the lengths to which colleges go to increase them, are unfortunate distractions in higher education and admissions. The impression students and families get from the rankings is that higher test scores mean higher quality colleges. To borrow a phrase familiar to admission deans, many colleges recruit great students and then graduate great students. Is that because of the institution, or the students? Some credit undoubtedly should go to both. But is a college of lower quality because its students' SAT scores are lower than those of students at another college? Generally speaking, the ability of admission tests to predict success in higher education is much more limited than most people think. Colleges most often determine the utility of admission test scores by assessing how well they predict first-year grades. Colleges are wrong to | [
"what about the importance of grades",
"what did hawkins say"
] | [
[
"in college preparatory courses, are by far the most important consideration in college admission decisions."
],
[
"test scores shouldn't be used to rank college quality"
]
] | David Hawkins: Admission tests are wrongly used to rank college quality .
Hawkins says Baylor University's incentives for test scores are a mistake .
Grades are much more important than test scores in admissions decisions, he says .
Hawkins: U.S. News should drop SAT and ACT scores in rankings . |
Editor's Note: Donna Brazile, a Democratic strategist, is chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee's Voting Rights Institute and founder of Brazile & Associates, a political consulting firm. She was the campaign manager for the Al Gore-Joe Lieberman ticket in 2000 and wrote "Cooking with Grease." Donna Brazile says Barack Obama's inauguration is a huge milestone in the fight for equal rights WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Today Barack Obama will be sworn in as the 44th president of the United States of America. This is the day for which so many prayed, so many marched and so many more sacrificed. This is a day of jubilation and celebration. This is the day to rejoice and recommit ourselves to restoring the American dream for us all. Barack Obama's election offers our country the opportunity to open a new chapter that will allow us to turn the corner on past prejudices and racial politics. When Sen. Obama announced his candidacy for president in 2007, most people, black and white, thought it would be, at best, an interesting sideshow. After Obama's victories in the early primaries, there came the controversial videos of the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, broadcasting a racial divisiveness that cast even greater doubt on an Obama candidacy. But the senator moved quickly to reassure people that Wright's jaundiced view of America did not reflect his own. Americans wanted to move beyond racial categorization and the politics of division. Obama understood that. And so did the voters. But African-Americans didn't believe it. Seventy-one percent of black voters had never thought a black candidate for president would get elected in their lifetime, according to a national poll released in November by CNN/Opinion Research Corp. Yet 59 percent of white respondents said they had thought it was possible. Obama did not just win the caucuses in Iowa -- a state with a white population of more than 94 percent -- he resoundingly captured it. Other primary victories, once thought improbable, soon followed. These included Georgia, and Virginia, the former seat of the Confederacy. On Election Day, Obama won a higher percentage of the white vote than John Kerry did in 2004, though he did not get a majority of whites. Unlike other black presidential candidates before him, Obama did not run as "the black candidate." He ran as a Democratic candidate, a U.S. senator from Illinois, and a progressive. And America, by larger margins than in previous recent elections, voted for the progressive Democratic U.S. senator from Illinois who happened to be biracial. For too long, race has been the stain on the American fabric. As Secretary Condoleezza Rice reminded us, race has been our "nation's birth defect." At times during the long primary and general election, race became a subtle distraction -- but the American people rejected it and it was never the primary issue. Nor was it the primary issue for Americans who voted for Barack Obama. The vast majority of those who voted for and against Obama did so based on the content of his political prescriptions and platform -- not the color of his skin. A lot of lessons were taught November 4. Obama's election revealed the possibility of three new truths for African-Americans: White America may not be as racist as African-Americans thought they were; a solution to our country's lingering racial problem may eventually be found; and the Rev. Martin Luther King's dream that one day all people will be judged by the content of their character rather than the color of their skin is alive and within reach. Obama's election has inspired 6 in 10 blacks to forecast better race relations in the United States. "A majority of blacks now believe that a solution to the country's racial problems will eventually be found," said CNN polling director Keating Holland. "In every previous poll on this topic dating back to 1993, black respondents had always said that racial problems were a permanent part of the American landscape. Even in the most recent polls taken last week, a majority of African-Americans said that a solution to the country | [
"What did Brazile say hardly anyone did two years ago?",
"Obama ran as a what?",
"What did Donna Brazile say?",
"What did Brazile say Obama ran as?",
"What didn't Obama run as in the election?",
"What did Donna Brazile say about Obama's inauguration?"
] | [
[
"Barack Obama's inauguration is a huge milestone in the fight for equal rights"
],
[
"a Democratic candidate,"
],
[
"Barack Obama's inauguration is a huge milestone in the fight for equal rights"
],
[
"as a Democratic candidate, a U.S. senator from Illinois, and a progressive."
],
[
"\"the black candidate.\""
],
[
"is a huge milestone in the fight for equal rights"
]
] | Donna Brazile: Obama's inauguration is a time for rejoicing and rededication .
Brazile: Hardly anyone took Obama seriously as a candidate two years ago .
Brazile: He didn't run as an African-American candidate but as a Democrat .
Brazile: We are perhaps ready to achieve what Lincoln and the Rev. King fought for . |
Editor's Note: Drew Westen, Ph.D., is professor of psychology and psychiatry at Emory University, founder of Westen Strategies, and author of "The Political Brain: The Role of Emotion in Deciding the Fate of the Nation." He has been a consultant or adviser to several candidates and organizations, including the AFL-CIO, and has informally advised the Obama campaign.
Drew Westen says Democrats realized you need more than position papers to sway the voters.
ATLANTA, Georgia (CNN) -- A single factor never produces a complex event like the historic election of Barack Obama. But when the final post-mortem on the election of 2008 is someday written, it will no doubt include at least three.
First, John McCain started with three strikes against him. Those strikes happen to be the three strongest predictors that enter into the equations used by political scientists to predict who will win an election: an unpopular incumbent president (in this case, the most unpopular in the history of polling), an economic downturn (in this case an understatement), and an unpopular war.
In some ways, McCain lost the presidency twice to George W. Bush. In the 2000 South Carolina primary, McCain was defeated by what have been generously referred to as "dirty tricks;" and in the two-year run-up to the 2008 election, he allied himself with Bush and his policies to win his party's nomination (even referring to Bush as "one of our greatest presidents"), which was his undoing with independent voters in the general election.
Second, whether McCain rues the day he chose Sarah Palin (who moved from the asset to the liability column around the same time Lehman Brothers did), Palin no doubt rues the day she chose to become a small-town mayor instead of a community organizer.
It was precisely the extraordinary capacity to organize people that allowed Obama and his chief advisers to bring such unprecedented numbers of people to the polls.
Not only was this the first election in recent memory in which Democrats outgunned Republicans with their get-out-the-vote efforts, but it was the first time since Eisenhower recognized the potential value of television as a medium for advertising over 50 years ago that Democrats have led Republicans in technology.
From the moment I met Obama's media wizard, Scott Goodstein, 18 months ago, I realized Obama would have a tremendous advantage on that front, but I didn't realize by how much.
But then there's that other major factor: For the first time since Bill Clinton, the Democrats chose a candidate with both the general intelligence to govern and the emotional and political intelligence to win.
And they finally abandoned the approach to campaigning that has been their downfall for generations: peppering voters with facts, figures, and policy positions and assuming they will see what a rational choice the candidate is.
We don't choose any of the important people in our lives that way, whether spouses or presidents. Obama beat McCain the same way he beat Hillary Clinton: by out-inspiring them, boxing them into the role of the candidate against hope, and defining himself as the candidate who represents change.
And in the last few weeks of the campaign, Obama finally began to control the four stories that matter in an election:
1. the story you tell about your yourself (that he was the candidate of change, fleshing out what he meant by change);
2. the story you tell about your opponent (that McCain was four more years of Bush);
3. the story the other candidate is telling about himself (McCain the maverick, which Obama countered by citing McCain's proud proclamation that he had voted with Bush over 90 percent of the time and parrying, "That's not a maverick, that's a sidekick"); and
4. the story McCain was telling about Obama (that he lacked the experience and judgment to lead, which Obama countered with his steadiness in the face of the Wall Street meltdown and his strong, steady performances in the debates).
Elections are won by | [
"Who had the technological edge?",
"What did Westen say about Democrats?",
"Which former or current president was described as unpopular?",
"What organization, etc., is Drew Westen with?",
"What did Drew Westen say about McCain?",
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] | [
[
"Barack Obama."
],
[
"realized you need more than position papers to sway the voters."
],
[
"George W. Bush."
],
[
"Emory University,"
],
[
"started with three strikes against him."
],
[
"Democrats"
]
] | Drew Westen: McCain was burdened by bad economy, Bush unpopularity .
Democrats had technological edge for first time in decades, Westen says .
Westen says Democrats learned you can't win with position papers, statistics .
They dealt with people's fears, mostly about the economy, Westen says . |
Editor's Note: For more than two decades, world-renowned photojournalist Peter Turnley has covered nearly every significant news event and world conflict in Bosnia, Rwanda, Chechnya, Haiti, Indonesia, Afghanistan, Kosovo and Iraq. His photographs have graced the covers of Newsweek, National Geographic, Le Monde, Le Figaro and The London Sunday Times.
Peter Turnley took this photo of an Obama supporter on Inauguration Day.
NEW YORK (CNN) -- On Sunday morning, I boarded a bus in Brooklyn with a group of approximately 40 citizens from New York, all African-American, each of whom would not have missed for almost anything the inauguration of President Barack Obama.
I have been a photojournalist for the past 25 years and have had the incredible opportunity to witness many of modern history's defining moments: the fall of the Berlin Wall and the end of communism in Eastern Europe in 1989, the end of apartheid in South Africa and Nelson Mandela walking out of prison in 1991, and most of the world's conflicts of the past three decades. This moment means 'everything is possible' »
When our bus pulled into Maryland on the eve of the inauguration, I knew after hearing the words of my fellow passengers, in some sense fellow pilgrims, that I was in the midst of a moment of history like maybe no other I had ever witnessed -- certainly in terms of its historic magnitude, and certainly not in America.
It is the words of these passengers, and those of many others that I have met in the past two days, that are representative to some degree of what this moment means. Read more on the AC360 blog. | [
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] | [
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"the inauguration of President Barack Obama."
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"Peter Turnley"
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"a group of approximately 40 citizens from New York,"
]
] | Photographer Peter Turnley covered President Barack Obama's inauguration .
He traveled by bus with 40 African-Americans from Brooklyn, New York .
Moment was like no other "in terms of its historic magnitude," Turnley says . |
Editor's Note: Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter is founder of The Carter Center, a not-for-profit organization that seeks to "prevent and resolve conflicts, enhance freedom and democracy, and improve health." Read more on human rights defenders: http://www.cartercenter.org/homepage.html
Jimmy Carter says closing Guantanamo Bay and ending torture would send a strong message.
ATLANTA, Georgia (CNN) -- It has been heartening to witness the outpouring of worldwide enthusiasm over the election of Barack Obama as the next president of the United States, a transformational moment for our country.
Our incoming president has huge challenges ahead of him, and he will undoubtedly reach out to other world leaders to help address the most difficult problems. A high priority will be the restoration of human rights, which have been badly eroded in recent years.
President-elect Obama has reiterated his decision to close Guantánamo Bay detention center and end U.S.-sponsored torture. Also under discussion is the establishment by the U.S. government of an independent commission to examine the actions that led to these shameful policies and practices.
Together, these steps would signal a renewed commitment to the cause of universal human rights long championed by the United States. As this year marks the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the reassertion of these fundamental rights is necessary.
While the U.S. government has much work to do in this regard, there will have to be a concerted international effort to achieve meaningful protection of human rights, even as the issue of security continues to demand our attention.
The American people and our courts have rejected the proposition that some people's rights can be suspended arbitrarily; to do so violates the very core of our democracy. Hopefully, those working to establish democratic practices and institutions worldwide will seize upon this development and convince their own fellow citizens that democracy and human rights are worth the struggle.
The international community, including a newly energized United States, should move swiftly and decisively to support the local heroes who risk much to advance this cause.
Human rights defenders from throughout the world are participating in our annual conference at The Carter Center this week to share the challenges they face, and to decide how the international community can best support their efforts.
For years, these activists have told us that when the United States engaged in torture and indefinite detention, their decades of struggle for rights began to erode. Dictators who had felt pressure from the United States to improve rights were suddenly off the hook. With new leadership in Washington, a clear and principled message on the centrality of human rights can help set a new tone.
Too often, the international community has failed to respond to emerging crises, partly because voices of the oppressed are missing in policy discussions. Had the international community heeded the warning of human rights defenders in the former Yugoslavia, Rwanda, Darfur, and the Democratic Republic of Congo, more robust and coordinated diplomacy and even limited intervention may have averted these crises.
Catastrophic conditions exist in Congo, Zimbabwe, Sudan, Myanmar, Afghanistan and elsewhere and will require unprecedented cooperation to resolve. It is time to embrace the idea that when human beings are systematically abused, international peace and security are inherently threatened.
In such situations, the global community should spare no effort to help societies in distress. Crises like these can be assuaged before they escalate if there is determined global leadership and cooperation.
Human rights defenders are on the frontlines of this battle, and we must protect them when they face danger because of their work. We must do a better job of listening to their diagnoses of issues and be receptive to their proposed solutions.
And we must strengthen their voices and help to protect them in a collective, undeniable commitment to create the world of peace and freedom that many of us enjoy and we all desire.
The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Jimmy Carter. | [
"What prison does Obama want to close?",
"What event was Carter praising?",
"What ex-President was quoted?",
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"What did Jimmy Carter say?",
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"What would the message to dictators be about?",
"What did Carter say closing Guantanamo would do?",
"What promise did Obama make about Guantanamo Base?",
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] | [
[
"Guantanamo Bay"
],
[
"closing Guantanamo Bay"
],
[
"Jimmy Carter"
],
[
"closing Guantanamo Bay"
],
[
"closing Guantanamo Bay and ending torture would send a strong message."
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[
"President-elect Obama"
],
[
"centrality of human rights"
],
[
"send a strong message."
],
[
"close Guantánamo Bay"
],
[
"end U.S.-sponsored"
]
] | Jimmy Carter: It's heartening to see world enthusiasm over Obama's election .
New president has pledged to close Guantánamo and end torture, he says .
Carter: These steps would signal renewed U.S. support for human rights .
He says U.S. is vital in sending message to dictators about human rights . |
Editor's Note: In an exclusive series this week on "Campbell Brown," the FBI has unveiled three additions to its list of the Ten Most Wanted Fugitives. The FBI says Semion Mogilevich has been involved in arms trafficking, prostitution, extortion and murder for hire. NEWTOWN, Pennsylvania (CNN) -- Semion Mogilevich may be the most powerful man you've never heard of. The FBI says Mogilevich, a Russian mobster, has been involved in arms trafficking, prostitution, extortion and murder for hire. "He has access to so much, including funding, including other criminal organizations, that he can, with a telephone call and order, affect the global economy," said FBI Supervisory Special Agent Peter Kowenhoven. Mogilevich's alleged brutality, financial savvy and international influence have earned him a slot on the FBI's Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list, though he has lived and operated from Moscow, Russia, for years. Watch CNN report on Mogilevich » "He's a big man. He's a very powerful man," FBI Special Agent Mike Dixon said. "I think more powerful than a John Gotti would be, because he has the ability to influence nations. Gotti never reached that stature." He is accused of swindling Canadian and U.S. investors out of $150 million in a complex international financial scheme. It centered on a firm called YBM, which purportedly made magnets at a factory in Hungary. Authorities say the scheme involved preparing bogus financial books and records, lying to Securities and Exchange Commission officials, offering bribes to accountants and inflating stock values of YBM, which was headquartered in Newtown, Pennsylvania. In a raid in 1998, FBI agents found a treasure trove of documents -- purchase orders, invoices, shipping orders, even technical drawings -- everything a legitimate business would produce. But there was one thing missing. "There were no magnets," Dixon said. It was all a sham, investigators say. "In essence, what his companies were doing was moving money through bank accounts in Budapest and countries throughout the world and reporting these to the investment community as purchases of raw materials and sales of magnets," Dixon said. And because the company was publicly traded, anyone owning the stock would have made a lot of money. "And of course Mogilevich controlled large, large blocks of stock from the outset, and he made a substantial amount of money in this process," Dixon said. Investors lost millions into the pockets of Mogilevich and his associates. He and his associates were indicted in 2003 on 45 counts of racketeering, securities fraud, wire fraud, mail fraud and money laundering. Russian authorities arrested him last year on tax fraud charges, but because the United States does not have an extradition treaty with Russia, he remained beyond the reach of U.S. law enforcement. He is now free on bail. The FBI believes Mogilevich moved on after YBM and began manipulating international energy markets, giving him a large influence on other nations. Dixon noted that Mogilevich had control or influence over companies involved in natural gas disputes between Russia and Ukraine. Authorities say Mogilevich, who has an economics degree from Ukraine, is known for his ruthless nature but also for his business acumen, which led to his nickname "the Brainy Don." "He has a very sophisticated, well-educated, loyal group of associates that he works with," Dixon said. "He hires top-notch consultants, attorneys, risk management firms to assist him and protect him in his criminal ventures." Louise Shelley, an organized crime expert from George Mason University, says Mogilevich is a new kind of criminal. "The major criminal organizations in Russia have not only tapped into people with economics degrees," Shelley said. "They've tapped into people with PHDs in finance and statistics who assist them." The FBI hopes Mogilevich will eventually travel to a country that has an extradition treaty with the U.S. But, in case he doesn't, his wanted poster will be distributed all over Russia. | [
"What does the FBI believe?",
"What makes Semion Mogilevich dangerous?",
"What is Semion Mogilevich accused of?",
"What makes Mogilevich dangerous?",
"What is Semion Mogilevich known for?",
"What is the mobster known for?",
"What is Mogilevich accused of?"
] | [
[
"Mogilevich moved on after YBM and began manipulating international energy markets, giving him a large influence on other nations."
],
[
"has been involved in arms trafficking, prostitution, extortion and murder for hire."
],
[
"swindling Canadian and U.S. investors out of $150 million"
],
[
"arms trafficking, prostitution, extortion and murder for hire."
],
[
"arms trafficking, prostitution, extortion and murder"
],
[
"arms trafficking, prostitution, extortion and murder"
],
[
"arms trafficking, prostitution, extortion and murder for hire."
]
] | Semion Mogilevich accused of taking U.S., Canadian investors for $150 million .
FBI believes he moved on to manipulating international energy markets .
FBI: Mogilevich's business degree, large influence on nations make him dangerous .
Alleged Russian mobster known for his ruthlessness, power, business acumen . |
Editor's Note: In our Behind the Scenes series, CNN correspondents share their experiences in covering news and analyze the stories behind the events. CNN's Senior Vatican Analyst John L. Allen Jr. is following the pope during his U.S. trip. Pope Benedict XVI asked pilgrims in St. Peter's Square on Sunday to pray for the success of his U.S. trip. NEW YORK (CNN) -- The official motto of Pope Benedict XVI's April 15-20 visit to the United States, the first of his papacy, is "Christ our Hope." Based on the frequency with which papal spokespersons have struck a different note, however, its unofficial motto might well be, "This is not a political event." Here's a typical example from early April: "The pope is not coming to get mixed up in the local political process," said Italian Archbishop Pietro Sambi, the pope's ambassador to America, in an interview with the National Catholic Reporter. "His presence is about something more universal and, at the same time, more personal." Fear that Benedict's visit might be read through the lens of party politics reflects a key fact of electoral life in America: The "Catholic vote" matters. To take the most obvious example, if a few heavily Catholic counties in Ohio had gone the other way in 2004, pundits would today be handicapping the re-election of President John Kerry. America's almost 70 million Catholics, representing a quarter of the country's population, are diverse and divided. They don't all agree with official church positions, and although Catholics were once reliable Democrats, today they're not clearly aligned with either party. That's a key reason why states with large Catholic populations, such as Ohio, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Florida, are considered crucial battlegrounds. Already in the 2008 race, Catholics have made themselves felt. On the Democratic side, they're the biggest single reason Sen. Hillary Clinton is still afloat. So far, the more Catholic a state, the better Clinton has done. With her back to the wall not long ago in Ohio and Texas, Clinton decisively outpolled Sen. Barack Obama among Catholic Democrats. In Ohio, Clinton won the Catholic vote by a margin of 63 percent to 36, while in Texas it was 62 percent to 38. Clinton is now hoping that Catholics will come through for her again in Pennsylvania's April 22 primary. The state's 3.87 million Catholics represent more than 30 percent of the population, and Clinton is clinging to a lead despite Pennsylvania Sen. Robert Casey's endorsement of Obama. Casey is a hero to pro-life Catholic Democrats, and his backing is apparently helping Obama narrow the gap. Clinton does better than Obama among Latinos, who are disproportionately Catholic. She's also winning Catholic "Reagan Democrats," meaning socially conservative blue-collar voters. Obama's recent gaffe, telling a crowd in San Francisco, California, that small-town Americans were "clinging to guns or religion" out of economic frustration, may help cement that advantage. Once the Democrats settle on a candidate, the Catholic vote seems wide open in November. Sen. John McCain, the presumptive Republican nominee, appeals to many Catholics because he's pro-life and has a moderate stance on immigration. Yet his willingness to remain in Iraq for "100 years" is at odds with the church's opposition to the war. Either Clinton or Obama could make a strong appeal to Catholics on peace-and-justice issues, yet both are out of sync with Catholic teaching on issues such as abortion, stem-cell research and gay rights. Both sides are expected to court Catholics aggressively. The McCain campaign recently formed a "National Catholics for McCain Committee" led by former Kansas Sen. Sam Brownback and former Oklahoma Gov. Frank Keating, along with a "who's who" of prominent Catholic conservatives. Obama has his own "National Catholic Advisory Council," led by Casey and former Indiana Rep. Tim Roemer, both pro-life Democrats. Clinton likewise has top-drawer Catholic advisers. Pope Benedict's trip is | [
"In what year was the close Ohio vote?",
"What was Obama's gaffe?",
"What did the papal representatives stress?"
] | [
[
"2004,"
],
[
"telling a crowd in San Francisco, California, that small-town Americans were \"clinging to guns or religion\" out of economic frustration,"
],
[
"pope is not coming to get mixed up in the local political process,\""
]
] | Papal representatives stress Benedict's U.S. trip is "not a political event"
But Catholic vote still matters in U.S. politics, as 2004's close Ohio vote showed .
Obama's "guns and religion" gaffe may help Clinton with blue-collar Catholics .
Once Democrats settle on a candidate, Catholic vote seems wide open in November . |
Editor's Note: Jack R. Nerad is Executive Editorial Director for Kelley Blue Book and kbb.com, and co-host of "America on the Road," heard on more than 300 radio stations. In the 1980s he served as Editor of Motor Trend magazine. Nerad is the author of "The Complete Idiot's Guide to Hybrid and Alternative Fuel Vehicles," published recently by Alpha Books.
Jack Nerad says bankruptcy would drive car buyers away from GM and imperil suppliers.
(CNN) -- The events of the past week have been unprecedented in the auto industry and in the annals of American business.
As the events have unfolded, there is the strong implication from the administration's automotive task force that Chapter 11 bankruptcy, followed by restructuring and "cleansing" of General Motors' balance sheet, is a potential scenario in the ongoing efforts to keep the giant automaker alive.
GM's new chief executive, Fritz Henderson, acknowledged as much on CNN Sunday. "You can't rule options off the table. So you basically say we will spend time to try to get it [done] outside of bankruptcy. But if we can't, we're not going to compromise our goals. We're going to get it done inside our bankruptcy. Our preferred approach is still to do it outside, but you can't rule out going in."
Over the past few weeks pundits of all stripes have appeared on financial news networks suggesting that entering Chapter 11 is GM's only way to future viability. "Get on with it," they say, and save us the agony.
It is the only way, they argue, General Motors can get relief from its immediate cash-flow issues, tear up or substantially modify its union contracts, dump unnecessary brands, close plants and "right-size" its operations. But those pundits who propose Chapter 11 fail to acknowledge that General Motors is a consumer-facing company whose success or failure is in the hands of millions of average Americans.
This group will decide to buy or not buy General Motors vehicles based on what they know, hear and even feel about GM's future. As talk of imminent bankruptcy swirls in the press, the news they hear about General Motors certainly is not reassuring, as they consider which brand to buy.
How does that manifest itself in the car-buying public? We at Kelley Blue Book asked 500 potential new-vehicle buyers a string of related questions that yield answers to that multi-billion dollar question. Their response is telling.
Asked "How likely would you be to buy a car from General Motors if they were to go bankrupt," 42.1 percent of new-vehicle buyers said they were either "not at all likely" or "not very likely" to do so.
Even with a warranty guarantee from the federal government, consumers are not very enthusiastic about considering a GM purchase. Such a guarantee only moves the needle about three percentage points with 39.8 percent saying they were either "not at all likely" or "not very likely" to purchase a GM vehicle in such a situation.
Asked, "How likely would you be to buy a car from General Motors if they were allowed to keep operating but had to renegotiate their contracts and agreements with suppliers and laborers?" the responses changed. Given that scenario, only 31.6 percent of new-vehicle buyers said they were either "not at all likely" or "not very likely" to purchase a GM vehicle, and they were out-numbered by the 41.5 percent who said they were either "very likely" or "extremely likely" to do so.
While one must keep in mind that consumers don't always do what they say they are going to do, the import of this is clear: Bankruptcy puts a damper on consumer confidence and vehicle demand.
There are other reasons to question the wisdom of a Chapter 11 filing as well. Beyond its potentially chilling effect on consumer demand, there is a domino effect on the supplier community.
Many GM vendors have operated for years on ever-declining, razor-thin | [
"What will bankruptcy do to GM?",
"what is bankrupcy used for",
"what will reduce sale of gm cars?",
"Who is Jack Nerad?",
"what did nerad say",
"what did some argue?",
"did nerad talk about bankrupcy"
] | [
[
"drive car buyers away from"
],
[
"allowed to keep operating"
],
[
"bankruptcy"
],
[
"Executive Editorial Director for Kelley Blue Book and kbb.com, and co-host"
],
[
"bankruptcy would drive car buyers away from GM and imperil suppliers."
],
[
"It is the only way,"
],
[
"says bankruptcy would drive car buyers away from GM and imperil suppliers."
]
] | Jack Nerad: Some argue that a quick bankruptcy is best course for GM .
He says bankruptcy will reduce sale of GM cars, even with government warranty .
Nerad says GM suppliers could be driven into bankruptcy by such a move .
He says bankruptcy is being used as a hammer for GM to get concessions . |
Editor's Note: Join Roland S. Martin for his weekly sound-off segment on CNN.com Live at 11:10 a.m. Wednesday. If you're passionate about politics, he wants to hear from you. A nationally syndicated columnist and Chicago-based radio host, he is the author of "Listening to the Spirit Within: 50 Perspectives on Faith" and "Speak, Brother! A Black Man's View of America." Please visit his Web site. Roland Martin says Americans need to rise above issues of race, age and gender when they vote. (CNN) -- One of the most intriguing conversations I had at either the Democratic or Republican convention was with a white labor leader from Ohio. I can't remember his name, but he made it clear that he is going all around the Rust Belt state looking his white union brothers and sisters in the eye and essentially shaming them into supporting Sen. Barack Obama for president. No, he's not saying vote for the black man for president because he's black. He said he's telling them that it's shameful that as Democrats, they agree with him on various political issues, but because of his skin color, they are refusing to cast ballots for him. "We have gone to our black brothers and sisters for years to support our [white] candidates, and it's wrong for us to stand here and not support one of their own, even though we're Democrats," he barked. There is nothing more in-your-face than to hear someone speak truthfully to the inherent racism that is at play in this election. For all the talk about inclusion and the historic nature of this campaign, the true tribal feelings of so many people will come into play, whether we want to admit it or not. We are seeing remarkable bias playing strongly in this election. Exit-polling data in the primaries showed some evidence of bias when it came to age, race and gender, but the great concern is whether people are as honest in talking to pollsters as they are in the voting booth. Because Sen. John McCain is 72 and would be the oldest person to be sworn in as president, there is a lot of dialogue about how old this white guy is, and how wrong it is that he's running. Age questions also have been raised about the 47-year-old black guy from Chicago and whether he is too young and inexperienced to lead. While there is a lot of talk and excitement surrounding Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin being named as the first woman on a Republican ticket, and what that may mean in terms of widespread female support coming the way of McCain-Palin, there are some voices who refuse to vote for a woman. We've also seen a number of prominent women -- including Washington Post columnist Sally Quinn and radio talk show host Dr. Laura Schlessinger -- who have questioned whether the 44-year-old white mother of five children should be vice president, considering she has five children, including a special needs child. It's wonderful to talk about the economy, immigration, the war in Iraq, health care and education, but we can't be naïve to the reality that when voters go into that voting booth, they will, as one person told me during an interview, "vote with their tribe." That was one of the arguments we heard during the Democratic primaries when Obama enjoyed overwhelming support from African-Americans -- to the tune of 90-plus percent -- while Sen. Hillary Clinton had major female support, largely white, in the range of 65 to 70 percent. So what do we do when it comes to our tendency to follow group identification? 1. Stop dancing around the topic. When you watch TV and hear folks talk about Wal-Mart moms or small, rural towns, they are talking about white Americans. These catch phrases never include African-Americans or Hispanics 2. Confront bias where it is. Ask your friends, neighbors, co-workers and church members who they are voting for. When they give you the "I really can't | [
"what do they need to do",
"Who said to stop dancing around the topics of race, age and gender?",
"What did Roland Martin says about people?",
"what did martin say",
"what are the issues"
] | [
[
"rise above issues of race, age and gender when"
],
[
"Roland Martin"
],
[
"Americans need to rise above issues of race, age and gender when they vote."
],
[
"Americans need to rise above issues of race, age and gender when they vote."
],
[
"race, age and gender"
]
] | Roland Martin says people talk about issues but conceal their biases .
Martin: Race, age, gender issues affect support for Obama, McCain, Palin .
Americans need to be open about how "tribal" concerns influence them, he says .
Martin: Let's stop dancing around the topics of race, age and gender . |
Editor's Note: Lucas A. Powe Jr. is a professor of constitutional law at The University of Texas and the author of the recently published book, "The Supreme Court and the American Elite, 1789-2008." He clerked for Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas. Lucas Powe Jr. says it's not a surprise that justices voted 5-4 in favor of the New Haven firefighters. AUSTIN, Texas (CNN) -- Monday, in the much anticipated New Haven, Connecticut, firefighters' case, the Supreme Court reversed an opinion joined by Judge Sonia Sotomayor, President Obama's Supreme Court nominee. The reversal was expected and is not the first time an appointee has been reversed by the court he was about to join. Indeed, two of Chief Justice Warren Burger's opinions for the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals were reversed in 1969, the year he joined the court. One was Watts v. United States, in which the defendant had been convicted for threatening the life of the president. By a 5-4 vote, the Supreme Court reversed, holding that Watts' supposed threats were really nothing but hyperbole. The decision came down one month before President Nixon nominated Burger. More significantly, after Burger had been confirmed, the Court reversed him again, this time in a major case -- Powell v. McCormack. The House had refused to seat Harlem, New York, Democratic Rep. Adam Clayton Powell after he won yet another election. The reasons for the House's action were misappropriation of public funds and abuse of process in state courts to avoid paying a judgment. Burger wrote that federal courts could not decide Powell's case because the issue was nonjusticiable -- that is, not appropriate for a judicial resolution because issues of membership in Congress were exclusively committed to Congress. When the case reached the Supreme Court, a lengthy opinion by Chief Justice Earl Warren held that courts could rule in such a case and that a House of Congress could only exclude someone if that person did not meet the qualifications, age, citizenship and residence requirements set forth in the Constitution. There was but a single dissent. The reversal of Sotomayor was expected because a majority of the current court are Republicans who believe governmental decisions should be made on a color-blind basis. Beginning with the presidency of Ronald Reagan, Republicans have taken aim at affirmative action, and the Republican justices have concurred. Only once in the past 15 years has the Republican majority voted in favor of minorities in an affirmative action case. That came in 2003, when the court upheld the affirmative action program at the University of Michigan Law School. That case, however, was profoundly influenced by an amicus brief signed by 45 retired admirals and generals (plus former Defense Secretary William Cohen) stating that affirmative action was essential at the Service Academies in order to create a diverse officer corps in order to ensure necessary military cohesiveness. When asked about the military brief, Solicitor General Theodore Olson stated that he had not thought about the consequences of ending affirmative action at the Service Academies. That was enough for Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, a Republican, who switched from her normal skepticism of affirmative action to sustain the law school program. Nevertheless, four Republican justices -- William Rehnquist, Antonin Scalia, Anthony Kennedy and Clarence Thomas -- voted to invalidate the program. With John Roberts replacing Rehnquist and Samuel Alito replacing O'Connor, the court acquired a majority that appears more concerned about discrimination against whites than about racial equality in American society. Thus just two years ago in cases out of Seattle, Washington, and Louisville, Kentucky, the Republican majority invalidated school assignment plans that the school districts themselves had decided were appropriate to prevent resegregation. With those cases as background, the majority's sympathy for the plight of Frank Ricci, who studied so hard for the New Haven promotion examination, was easily predictable. But so was the fact that the four dissenters in the Seattle and Louisville cases -- John Paul Stevens, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen Breyer and the now-retired David Souter -- would side with the city in its concern that the results of the test left no African- | [
"What did Powe say about Justices?",
"what was reversed?",
"What has been reversed?",
"what was not a surprise",
"The ruling in favor of who was not a surprise?"
] | [
[
"voted 5-4 in favor of the New Haven firefighters."
],
[
"New Haven, Connecticut, firefighters' case,"
],
[
"an opinion joined by Judge Sonia Sotomayor,"
],
[
"that justices voted 5-4 in favor of the New Haven firefighters."
],
[
"the New Haven firefighters."
]
] | Powe: Two Warren Burger rulings were reversed as he was about to join court .
He says ruling in favor of New Haven firefighters was not a surprise .
He says Sotomayor is not out of the mainstream since 4 justices were on her side .
Powe: Justices named by GOP presidents generally oppose affirmative action . |
Editor's Note: Reese Witherspoon, the Academy Award-winning actress, is honorary chairman of the Avon Foundation and is employed by Avon Products as its global ambassador. Reese Witherspoon says she wants to banish the myth that young women are not at risk for breast cancer. (CNN) -- Every three minutes in the United States, a woman is diagnosed with breast cancer. As a woman, a mother, and a daughter, I find that statistic terrifying. I was never naïve about breast cancer, but hearing this statistic put it all into perspective. Women close to me have battled the disease and are now soldiers in the greater fight against it. But the moment I heard "every three minutes," I felt vulnerable and scared as I realized that anyone is susceptible. The only way for me to ease my fears was to take action. I needed to educate myself and others on this disease. As the Honorary Chair for the Avon Foundation, I had resources at my fingertips. I had access to an entire organization that is dedicated to giving back to women and educating people. So I started asking, "What do I need to know?" It was through that curiosity that I found out the most important fact in breast cancer: Early detection saves lives. According to the Avon Foundation Breast Cancer Crusade, there is a 97 percent five-year survival rate when breast cancer is caught before it spreads to other parts of the body. When breast cancer first develops, there are usually no symptoms, which is why women need to perform self-exams regularly and contact their doctor upon noticing even the smallest change. Of course talking about breast cancer and breast health is a personal thing. I too am a private person but encourage all women to break through their reservations and talk to their doctors and physicians. We must also banish the myth that young women are not at risk for breast cancer. At the Avon Walk in Washington, I met young survivors who were diagnosed in their 20s, an age when most women are graduating from college and just starting their lives as full adults. Watch Reese and Larry at the Avon Walk » Women in their 20s and 30s should have a clinical breast exam by a health professional at least once every three years and women 40 and older should have an exam every year. I am passionate about fighting this devastating disease. I fight for my mother, myself, my children and future generations of women, so one day we will not have to be afraid of breast cancer. I began my fight by learning important first steps in breast cancer detection, and will not end my fight until every woman can stand together saying we are breast cancer free. More than anything else, I have faith -- faith we will find a cure. I saw this commitment in the faces of the women in Washington -- in the faces of the women walking and the women and men who stood on the sidelines encouraging the 3,500 participants to the finish line. I was cheering right along with them, screaming for action to find a cure. Avon's next walk will take place in New York City on October 4 and 5. | [
"What did the Oscar winning actress say?",
"What did the actress say about the disease?",
"How did the statistic make Witherspoon feel?",
"Who are not exempt from the disease?",
"What did the actress win?",
"What statistic made Witherspoon \"vulnerable\" and \"scared\"?",
"What does Witherspoon emphasize?",
"What did Witherspoon emphasize the importance of?",
"Who won an Oscar?",
"What did Witherspoon emphasize?",
"Who are not exempt from the disease?",
"What made Witherspoon feel \"vulnerable\" and \"scared\"?",
"What disease affects young women?",
"What did Reese Witherspoon feel?",
"What did she feel?",
"Who is the actress?",
"Who said that young women are not exempt from the disease?",
"What made Witherspoon uncomfortable?"
] | [
[
"banish the myth that young women are not at risk for breast cancer."
],
[
"she wants to banish the myth that young women are not at risk for breast cancer."
],
[
"vulnerable and scared"
],
[
"young women"
],
[
"Academy Award-winning"
],
[
"\"every three minutes,\""
],
[
"says she wants to banish the myth that young women are not at risk for breast cancer."
],
[
"first steps in breast cancer detection,"
],
[
"Reese Witherspoon,"
],
[
"banish the myth that young women are not at risk for breast cancer."
],
[
"young women"
],
[
"breast cancer,"
],
[
"breast cancer."
],
[
"vulnerable and scared"
],
[
"vulnerable and scared"
],
[
"Reese Witherspoon,"
],
[
"Reese Witherspoon"
],
[
"\"every three minutes,\""
]
] | "Every three minutes" statistic made Witherspoon feel "vulnerable" and "scared"
Oscar-winning actress: Young women are not exempt from the disease .
Witherspoon emphasizes importance of early detection and regular screenings . |
Editor's Note: Rep. Jason Chaffetz, a Republican, represents the Third District of Utah in Congress and is writing a regular series of reports for CNN.com on his freshman year. For his bio, read here. For a Democratic freshman's view, read here.
Jason Chaffetz says he's saving money by sleeping on a cot in his office, but there are downsides.
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- I do something a bit different than most members of Congress. I sleep in my office on a cot. A few months ago, I was speaking with a current member of Congress and he said he slept in his office. Awesome!
We are paid well, but the cost of caring for two households and supporting a family of five is high. I thought this would be a great way to save $1,500 per month. Besides, I work late into the night and usually arise about 5:30 a.m. No need to waste time commuting and spending money on a place where I don't intend to be spending much time. I came here to work, not sleep. Watch video of Jason Chaffetz' life in Congress »
So I bought a cot at Smiths grocery store and carried it on a plane to Washington. I sleep in the closet by the door to the outside hall. The cot itself is fairly comfy. Best thing is there is no bar in the middle, so my back is doing quite well.
The only downside is what is happening outside. The cleaning crew obviously works throughout the night. They do a great job, but they have a Zamboni-like machine (the kind you see on ice rinks) that cleans the hallways. It has a horn and they use it! It makes an obnoxious beeping sound that you hear on trucks that are backing up, and it definitely keeps me up at night.
At 12:52 a.m. during the first week, the "Capitol Early Warning System" was tested.
It works!
Even though I sleep in my office, I do shower. The House has a gym. I pay $240 to use the facilities. Typically I head down first thing in the morning to wash up and work out in the evening.
I thought it would be like a nice golf club or certainly as "lavish" as a Gold's Gym. Not so much. It's nice, but it's more like a high school gym with the small narrow lockers from the 1950s.
I locker next to Jose Serrano (D-New York). On the political spectrum we are probably as far apart as possible. Yet, just in our gym clothes we get along great. He's a nice guy and he offered a wealth of perspective and suggestions to a freshman.
Aside from the routine details of settling in, the first weeks of my term have been filled with surreal moments. Never did I think I would be seated just yards away from one of the most historic presidential inaugurations in the history of our country.
To watch firsthand as President Bush peacefully transitioned the presidency to Barack Obama was a surreal and inspiring moment. My most vivid memory of the moment was watching the two men embrace after the oath of office (the first one). It's part of what makes this country so strong and so marvelous.
In many ways, my own election reflected the miracle of this country. With no paid staff, no polling, no campaign office, no free meals for potential voters and no debt, I took on a 12-year Republican incumbent and won by a 20 percent margin (I ate one of our own) despite being outspent by $600,000 through the primary election.
On January 6, 2009, I, too, raised my right hand and was administered the oath of office. With my 15-year old son, Max, by my side, tears flowed down my face. The emotion of the moment was overwhelming. The history of the House of Representatives, my desire to be the very best representative I can possibly be, the massive amount of people counting on us to do what is right, and the opportunity | [
"Where did Chaffetz decide to sleep to save money?",
"For what reason did Jason Chaffee sleep in his House office?",
"Chaffetz is in what year at college?"
] | [
[
"sleeping on a cot in his office,"
],
[
"Chaffetz says he's saving money by sleeping on a cot in"
],
[
"freshman"
]
] | Jason Chaffetz: I decided to sleep in my House office to save money .
He says his freshman year is starting off well as he bonds with colleagues .
Chaffetz: We need to reduce spending, so I voted against stimulus bill .
He says worst part of the job is being separated from his family in Utah . |
Editor's Note: Republican strategist Alex Castellanos was a campaign consultant for Mitt Romney's presidential campaign and has worked on more than half a dozen presidential campaigns. Castellanos is a partner in National Media Inc., a political and public affairs consulting firm that specializes in advertising. Alex Castellanos says stimulus bill is a cover for a bold plan for government to rule key parts of private sector. (CNN) -- Two Congressmen walk into a bar to watch President Obama's first prime-time press conference. The Democrat says to the Republican.... D: Just watch the president tonight and you'll see how to get this economy back on track. Monopolies. R: Monopolies? D: Monopolies so big they will shame Parker Brothers and make them put the board game in a bigger box. Monopolies so huge, they'll make railroad tycoon Cornelius Vanderbilt look like a push-cart operator. R: Why monopolies? D: In these desperate times, we can't afford to let Americans choose inefficient cars or wasteful health care. We can't let innovation run wild on Wall Street or Main Street. We have to make sure Americans are secure in their health care and jobs, their incomes and energy. To serve the greater good, we have to organize America's economy so it achieves the best possible ends for all Americans. We can't leave that to chance. Who knows what might happen if individual Americans make those choices in a free market and organize themselves? R: A little less freedom, a lot more organization, all for the collective good? D: My friend, we need a directed economy, where we limit people's choices to those that serve the best social ends. Our nation's development is best controlled by monopolies, not some atomistic economy where Americans are free to make almost any choice and organize bottom-up, according to their own whims. That means, big, honking, all-powerful monopolies. R: But during the campaign, Obama talked about change, fueling "bottom-up prosperity." This sounds like the same old, top-down, industrial-age stuff Democrats have been pitching for years. D: You betcha! Bottom-up campaign rhetoric just ran into the top-down Democratic establishment from Washington. Guess who won. We're going to create monopolies in the biggest sectors of the economy, starting with banking and financial services. Even after the meltdown, that's still the largest stock market sector, 16 percent of the S&P. R: Follow the money. D: Exactly. With massive regulation, caps on pay and restrictions on risk and competition, we can turn the entire financial sector into a cross between a public utility and the DMV. R: And then? D: We'll create an energy monopoly that would make J. D. Rockefeller look like a gas station attendant. If it has anything to do with energy, we will control it, plan it and direct it. You are going to love your windmill. R: I'm not feeling so good. D: That's next. A health care monopoly alone will organize another 16 percent of the economy. Choice and diversity are great, but not so much in health care. We'll throw in $20 billion at the start for paperless health records. Data, my friend, is power. You know where we will go: Cost controls. Restricted formularies. Nancy Pelosi can be your doctor. You don't need a lot of choice. Just a good choice. Or a good-enough choice. Cough for me. R: Watch that. I'm leaving. D: Now that you mention it, we can't forget the good old American auto industry. To borrow from Henry Ford, consumers can pick any color car they want, as long as it is green. R: Who are you going to get to run these monopolies? You are dealing with increasingly complex economic networks. How are you going to coordinate the sophisticated relationships, the subtle interests and ever-changing needs of millions | [
"Who said bill is being used as cover?",
"what is being used as a cover?",
"Is Alex Castellanos a Democrat or Republican?",
"Who is Alex Castellanos?"
] | [
[
"Alex Castellanos"
],
[
"stimulus bill"
],
[
"strategist"
],
[
"Republican strategist"
]
] | Alex Castellanos: Democrats think we can't let the free market rule economy .
He says Democrats are trying to micro-manage the crucial finance sector .
Castellanos says they also want to make key decisions for health care .
He says stimulus bill is being used as cover for introducing bigger government . |
Editor's Note: Republican strategist Alex Castellanos was a former campaign consultant for Mitt Romney's presidential campaign and has worked on more than half a dozen presidential campaigns. Castellanos is a partner in National Media Inc., a political and public affairs consulting firm that specializes in advertising. He has produced many Republican political ads and has clients such as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Alex Castellanos says Barack Obama's change theme has buckled to "top-down liberalism." (CNN) -- In theater, they say the second act is the hardest to write. It requires relentless focus and discipline. The writer must give himself fearlessly to one central idea and never waver, though temptation is the opposite: There are many paths a story can take. So it is in politics, as Barack Obama's campaign is learning. The clear campaign of change ran into trouble in Act II when it was tasked with explaining what change actually meant. Obama, as they say in show business, "ran out of script." The wind in his sails stalled in the hot calm of August and he has yet to recover. After John McCain's improbable resuscitation to seize the GOP nomination, the Arizona senator's top aides briefed him about his exacting challenge: He would go into the conventions trailing Obama by at least 8 percentage points and then battle back through the fall to parity. Yet, as cooler days and hotter rhetoric mark the start of the fall finale, it is Obama who finds himself clawing back, forced to attack, launching uncharacteristic partisan and personal attacks against a McCain who has "lost track" of and is "confused" about how many houses he owns. How did the soaring campaign of change become grinding politics-as-usual and crash so thunderously to earth? The Obama campaign's clear message in the primaries was a bottom-up, organic populism that cast voters themselves as the agents of change. "We are the change we have been waiting for," Obama told his supporters during the primaries. In return, they sang, "Yes we can." This heady mix of populism and change swelled his campaign into a cause. In marketing terms, it is called "voter as hero." Obama empowered his supporters, telling them they, not the old political establishment, could achieve anything. Bottom-up politics is one thing, however. Bottom-up government, another. When Barack Obama became the nominee of the national Democratic establishment, the candidate of hope ran into political reality: His party's canons of governing are the opposite of change. Barack Obama may believe "change doesn't come from the top down, it comes from the bottom up," but the leadership of his party doesn't. The national Democratic establishment, from the Daily Kos and MoveOn.org to Pelosi and Reid in Congress, still believe in top-down big-government from Washington, especially if they get to run the factory. Politically, they are industrial-age dinosaurs They believe the era of big government is back, not over. They would keep money and power in their hands, not devolve it to the average American. That was not something the Denver Democrats were eager to confess. Instead, they advocated a sly European-style socialism that would not speak its intent. "Decent, quality health care as a fundamental right and not a privilege," the Democrats offered during the first night of their convention. A big-government health-care factory run by Washington? That's change? Why not the same for food, clothing and shelter? But relax, Joe Lunchbucket, an even bigger public-sector industrial plant will impose no cost on your family. Obama's party promises not to tax you, just business -- the people who sell you your groceries and gasoline and sign your paychecks. As Fred Thompson noted in his GOP convention speech, "They won't take any water out of your side of the bucket. Just the other side." This is not "voter as hero" but, instead, "voter as victim." | [
"What did Castellanos say Obama's message was?",
"Obama's campaign taken over by what?",
"What does Alex Castellanos say about Obama's message?",
"Who said Obama's message was populism?",
"Whose message is Alex talking about?"
] | [
[
"\"top-down liberalism.\""
],
[
"\"top-down liberalism.\""
],
[
"\"top-down liberalism.\""
],
[
"Alex Castellanos"
],
[
"Barack Obama's"
]
] | Alex Castellanos: Obama's message was populism and bottom-up change .
Obama campaign taken over by Democratic establishment, he says .
Castellanos: Democratic party champions big government and opposes change .
"Yes we can" turned into "Yes Washington can," Castellanos says . |
Editor's Note: Sarah Bliss is a writer for the Tufts Daily, the leading news source for Tufts University. This article was brought to CNN.com by UWIRE, the leading provider of student-generated content. UWIRE aims to identify and promote the brightest young content creators and deliver their work to a larger audience via professional media partners such as CNN.com. Visit UWIRE.com to learn more. SUNY at Canton in New York has provided a designated "pet wing," home to a variety of animals. (UWIRE) -- As university residence halls seek to transition into more homey environments -- with additions like full kitchens and single-stall bathrooms -- pet ownership is still forbidden for the majority of dorm residents. But several universities, including MIT, have now added some pets to the "acceptable" list of dorm possessions. According to a recent article published by The Boston Globe, students at MIT who reside in four of the school's 11 undergraduate dormitories can bring cats with them to school, thanks to a policy implemented several years ago in an effort to curb students from housing forbidden animals. Other schools have jumped on the four-footed bandwagon: Stephen's College, a women's college in Columbia, Missouri, allows for many household pets, including dogs, provided that they are vaccinated and under forty pounds. And the SUNY at Canton in New York has provided a designated "pet wing," home to a variety of small caged animals and cats since 1996. While animal companionship is largely viewed as a welcome addition to family homes, there are many roadblocks that have deterred Tufts from altering its pet policy. "We don't have a policy that allows for dogs or cats or ferrets or monkeys -- you name it -- and ... the main reason is so many people have allergic reactions to animal dander," Dean of Student Affairs Bruce Reitman said. "It's one thing in a family, where everyone agrees that this is what they want and no one has an allergic reaction to the animal. But in a residence hall, where there is no such communication or agreement, it's hard and people are affected." While Tufts students are currently not permitted to have more than a small fish tank in the dorm setting -- in addition to service animals -- this has not always been the case. During a failed experiment that ended around a decade ago, faculty members, residence directors and graduate teaching assistants were allowed to own pets in an attempt to encourage residence. "We were trying to entice [people]to come live in the halls, and ... they wouldn't come unless you allowed the pets," Reitman said. "In order to pragmatically get [them] to come in, we said 'Okay, let's do this.' Then people said, 'No, this isn't fair, I can't live here.' Not many students complained, but enough did." According to Dr. Margaret Higham, medical director of Health Services, the prevalence of allergies and asthma on campus would make a more lenient pet policy problematic. In addition, dorm cleanliness would be noticeably impaired by the allowance of pets, she said. "Pets need to be taken care of ... Litter boxes need to be cleaned daily," Higham said. "The dorm rooms were not built with the need to ventilate for that type of situation. And what about fleas? Once they are introduced, they would spread rapidly through all of the furniture. I do not see students being able to care for animals adequately in the dorm setting." Even without canines currently roaming the quad, there has been a modest history of animal neglect that calls into question a student's ability to provide for an animal properly. "I think some fraternities in recent years did have animals," Reitman said. "There were concerns or complaints when spring break came along, because there is this animal, not cared for ...the animal activists came in here and said, 'That's no way to treat an animal,'" Reitman said. "A residence facility -- be it a sorority, | [
"What were the concerns given by a school dean?",
"What are some of the reasons for concerns?",
"What animal can students bring to MIT?",
"What are concerns about pets in dorms?",
"What college now allows cats?",
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"What is now acceptable in some dorms?",
"What can students at MIT bring?",
"What is being added to the list of dorm possesions?",
"What was one school dean concerned about?",
"What are some universities adding to the list of acceptible dorm possessions?"
] | [
[
"the main reason is so many people have allergic reactions to animal dander,\" Dean of Student Affairs Bruce Reitman said. \"It's one thing in a family, where everyone agrees that this is what they want and no one has an allergic reaction to the animal. But in a residence hall, where there is no such communication or agreement, it's hard and people are affected.\""
],
[
"many people have allergic reactions to animal dander,\""
],
[
"cats"
],
[
"allergic reaction to the animal."
],
[
"Tufts University."
],
[
"pets"
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[
"pets"
],
[
"cats"
],
[
"some pets"
],
[
"many people have allergic reactions to animal dander,\""
],
[
"pets"
]
] | Some universities adding pets to "acceptable" list of dorm possessions .
Students at MIT can bring cats, according to Boston Globe article .
Allergens, fleas, mess listed as reasons for concern by one school dean .
I feel students have too much going on to take care of a pet, student says . |
Editor's Note: The following story contains spoilers regarding the show "House." If you'd rather not know what happens, stop reading now. Kal Penn, left, with Peter Jacobson on "House," is joining the Obama White House. LOS ANGELES, California (CNN) -- When Dr. Lawrence Kutner killed himself on the latest episode of "House: MD," it was the beginning of a new career for actor Kal Penn. The demise of Penn's character cleared the way for the actor to move on to another "House," the White House. Penn, 31, will be an associate director for the Obama administration's Office of Public Liaison. "It seemed like something I would enjoy doing," Penn said. "I figured it was something to do." He's not retiring from acting, just pursuing a longtime desire for public service that was rekindled when he campaigned for Barack Obama's election, Penn said. Penn played a teen terrorist on Fox's "24" before joining the network's "House" two years ago. He's also known as Kumar Patel in the "Harold & Kumar" movie series. The White House job likely ends his Kumar roles, he said. In fact, he will not consider any acting jobs until he leaves the Obama administration, he said. Penn will take a big pay cut to work for the government, but he has committed to at least one or two years in the job, he said. His focus will be as a liaison for the arts community and the Asian-American community, he said. He filled a similar role in the Obama presidential campaign, he said. "We want to make sure that everyone's concerns are heard and they are familiar with the president's plans and proposals," he said. Penn said he spoke briefly with Obama after the election about "trying to find the right fit" for him in the administration. He said he has bittersweet emotions as he leaves Hollywood to search for an apartment in Washington next week. The writers' decision to have Dr. Kutner commit suicide ensures Penn will not return to the show, although he said he leaves on good terms. He felt "more than a little bit of shock and loss" to learn that his character would die in his final episode. Even though he spoke no lines in the episode -- and only his legs are seen when his body is found -- he was on the set for the filming, he said. CNN's KJ Matthews contributed to this story. | [
"What actor is going to join the white house?",
"Actor said working on campaign last year re-ignited desire for what service?",
"What re-ignited his desire for public service?",
"What re-ignited his desire?",
"What will Penn become part of?",
"Penn will become part of which Office?",
"What office is Penn joining?",
"What is Penn joining?"
] | [
[
"Kal Penn,"
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[
"public"
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[
"Barack Obama's election,"
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[
"was rekindled when he campaigned for Barack Obama's election,"
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[
"the Obama White House."
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[
"of Public Liaison."
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[
"Public Liaison."
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[
"the Obama White House."
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] | "House" actor Kal Penn is leaving the show to join the Obama White House .
Penn will become part of Office of Public Liaison .
Actor says working on campaign last year re-ignited desire for public service . |
Editor's Note: The staff at CNN.com has recently been intrigued by the journalism of VICE, an independent media company and Web site based in Brooklyn, New York. VBS.TV is Vice's broadband television network. The reports, which are produced solely by VICE, reflect a very transparent approach to journalism, where viewers are taken along on every step of the reporting process. We believe this unique reporting approach is worthy of sharing with our CNN.com readers.
Brooklyn, New York (VBS.TV) -- Based on the sheer volume of bodies, Hajj should not work. As the world's largest pilgrimage and one of the Five Pillars of Islam, each year about 3 million people cram themselves into the relatively small holy city of Mecca, Saudi Arabia, to offer up this, the holiest of Islamic rites. In late 2008, I accompanied my parents on Hajj and managed to sneak a VBS video camera past state security and capture the trip as we saw it. The scene was insane, beyond what I could have ever imagined.
Over a four-day period, Mecca's population is more than doubled, with legions of devout Muslims making their way shoulder to shoulder through the dozen rituals that comprise Hajj. If it weren't for the solemn and religious underpinnings, it would be an unnerving assembly of human beings for such a concentrated space -- like what Woodstock might have been, but less annoying and without the hippies, drugs, and Carlos Santana.
Many Hajj rites have been dramatized in movies and elsewhere, but it is essentially a highly choreographed succession of religious tasks: circling the Ka'bah at the center of Masjid Al-Haram (the Grand Mosque), Sa`I (pacing between two holy sites), the famous Stoning of the Devil, loads of deep prayer and meditation. The point is to purge believers of sins and free them for the next chapter in their lives. It is required that each Muslim of means make the trip at least once.
See part two of Mecca Diaries at VBS.TV
Given the number of pilgrims and the extremely short span of time Hajj covers, it is virtually impossible to make the journey without the help of a tour group. There are dozens of agencies available to help usher visitors through the masses and ensure that all the requisite rituals are met.
But even with their guidance, completing all the tasks, navigating the various holy sites, and sticking to the hurried itinerary is extremely challenging. Compound the situation with several million people of every economic class and comfort from 100-plus countries across the globe -- many lined up asleep on the side of the road, praying on hilltops, and making their way to and from holy sites -- and it's no surprise that some pilgrims can't complete all the rituals.
But despite this monumental challenge, the bottom line was that doing the Hajj was amazing. It took us to another plane of existence, it forced a detachment from our lives, and it was unlike anything I've ever experienced. | [
"How many people too part in the pilgrimage?",
"What year did Suroosh Alvi go and shoot footage?",
"How many take part in the world's largest annual pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia?",
"How many people took part in the pilgrimage?"
] | [
[
"about 3 million"
],
[
"2008,"
],
[
"3 million people"
],
[
"3 million"
]
] | VBS.TV visits home for elderly prostitutes in sketchy Mexico City neighborhood .
Twenty-three women who are 60 or older live in the facility .
Crew attended bittersweet Mother's Day party with residents . |
Editor's Note: The staff at CNN.com has recently been intrigued by the journalism of VICE, an independent media company and Web site based in Brooklyn, New York. VBS.TV is Vice's broadband television network. The reports, which are produced solely by VICE, reflect a very transparent approach to journalism, where viewers are taken along on every step of the reporting process. We believe this unique reporting approach is worthy of sharing with our CNN.com readers.
Brooklyn, New York (VBS.TV) -- Colombian tailor Miguel Caballero specializes in making garments that enable the wearer to get shot at point-blank range with nary an injury besides, maybe, a bruised ego. At-high-risk-of-catching-a-bullet demographics, such as rappers and politicians all over the world, rely on Miguel's handiwork. And, lucky me, when I was recently in Bogota for VBS.TV covering a few stories, I had the chance to visit Miguel's shop, learn about his protective clothing, and get shot in the gut by him. Seriously.
Upon arriving at Miguel's warehouse one sunny morning, I received a guided tour from a friendly office assistant. It all seemed totally benign -- sweet middle aged ladies stitching together jackets and blazers, smiling at me as I walked by. I could've been at American Apparel's Southern California warehouse.
But when I sat down with Miguel and he got into the whole spiel about why he made the type of clothing he did, nervousness started to set in. Was this guy seriously going to put a thin jacket on me and then shoot me with a real live handgun? The man is running a multimillion-dollar international business. Is he really so confident in his wares that he's going to risk it all by potentially killing a novice American journalist on camera?
The answer was yes. But first he had to finish telling me about himself.
Miguel explained his business model to me, and it was hard to dispute the logic. The world's an increasingly dangerous place for political leaders and citizens alike. Miguel is simply combining the need for safety with the natural desire to look good.
Watch more videos from around the globe on VBS.TV
And judging by his success, I'm not the only one who gets it. There were rumors that President Obama wore some of Miguel's goods during his inauguration. Plus, look at the automobile industry. Not long ago, Hummers were the province of soldiers in combat. Today, they're a staple of suburban strip malls. How long until Miguel's pieces follow suit?
By this point, Miguel seemed very determined to prove the reliability of his products to me. I figured it would be somewhat staged: I'd sign something, be ushered into a safe room, and he'd fire a couple blanks into some military grade flak jacket. Thanks and good night.
Instead, my new buddy Miguel popped the question mid-interview in his office. And it wasn't really a question. I believe he said, "Now we'll do a demonstration with you." Not exactly a request.
He stood up from his desk, opened a drawer, and casually pulled out a .38. This was happening very fast. He moved me over to the side of the room, outfitted me with some noise-reducing headphones, and offered me a black suede jacket. After instructing me to take a deep breath on "1" and prepare for a gunshot on "3," he shot me in the gut on "2."
Obviously I lived to tell the tale. But -- most importantly -- I like to think that I looked damn good doing it. | [
"Who are some of his clients?",
"What kind clothing was made?",
"What type of clothing does the tailor make?",
"What did the VBS volunteer to test?",
"Who are among Caballero's client?"
] | [
[
"President Obama"
],
[
"protective"
],
[
"protective"
],
[
"garments that enable the wearer to get shot at point-blank range with nary an injury"
],
[
"President Obama"
]
] | VBS.TV visits home for elderly prostitutes in sketchy Mexico City neighborhood .
Twenty-three women who are 60 or older live in the facility .
Crew attended bittersweet Mother's Day party with residents . |
Editor's Note: The staff at CNN.com has recently been intrigued by the journalism of VICE, an independent media company and Web site based in Brooklyn, New York. VBS.TV is Vice's broadband television network. The reports, which are produced solely by VICE, reflect a very transparent approach to journalism, where viewers are taken along on every step of the reporting process. We believe this unique reporting approach is worthy of sharing with our CNN.com readers.
Brooklyn, New York (VBS.TV) -- Getting into North Korea was one of the weirdest processes VBS has ever dealt with. After we went back and forth with their representatives for months, they finally said they were going to allow 16 journalists to come and cover the Arirang Mass Games in Pyongyang. Just before our departure, they suddenly said, "No, nobody can come." Then they said, "OK, OK, you can come. But only as tourists." But they already knew we were journalists, and over there if you get caught being a journalist when you're supposed to be a tourist you go to jail. We don't like jail. And we're willing to bet we'd hate jail in North Korea.
But we went for it. The first leg of the trip was a flight into northern China. At the airport, the North Korean consulate took our passports and all our money, then brought us to a restaurant along with our tour group. All the other diners left, and these women came out and started singing North Korean nationalist songs. We were thinking, "Look, we were just on a plane for 20 hours. Can't we just go to bed?" But this guy with our group who was from the L.A. Times told us, "Everyone in here besides us is secret police. If you don't act excited then you're not going to get your visa." So we got drunk and sang songs with the girls. The next day we got our visas. A lot of people we had gone with didn't get theirs.
We flew into North Korea that night. We were supposed to have three days before the games started, but as soon as we got on the ground they told us, "The games are happening now." We went straight to the stadium, and there were 40,000 people in the stands, portraying the history of the North Korean revolution with flip cards. On the playing field before them, about 60,000 people did wild synchronized-gymnastics routines. The 15 of us who made up the audience watched from a marble dais. We were the only spectators. Fifteen audience members for a 100,000-man extravaganza.
See the rest of the Vice Guide to North Korea
The next day, our grand tour began. We went to the International Friendship Museum, which comprises 2,000 rooms carved into the bottom of a mountain. The displays are all gifts from different world leaders. Joseph Stalin gave Kim Il-sung a train. Mao Zedong also gave Kim Il-sung a train. He got hunting rifles from communist East Germany's Erich Honecker and Romania's Nicolae Ceausescu and all the other Eastern-bloc guys. Madeleine Albright famously gave Kim Jong-il a basketball signed by Michael Jordan.
Perhaps the weirdest thing about North Koreans is that they genuinely don't seem to know that the rest of the planet hates and fears them. They believe (or maybe they really convincingly lie about believing) that the whole world admires and envies them and that they're the true light of socialism and Juche, which is their leader's philosophy of Communist self-reliance.
As the days went on, North Korea presented us with progressively stranger sights and encounters. Being there was like being nowhere else on the planet. Are we glad that we got into Pyongyang and were able to document it? Yes. But are we even gladder that we made it out? Watch our documentary on the trip and try to guess the answer. | [
"How many spectators were there for the 100,000 man show?",
"Who got into North Korea",
"Where did the VBS.TV crew get into after months of negotiation?"
] | [
[
"Fifteen"
],
[
"VBS"
],
[
"North Korea"
]
] | VBS.TV visits home for elderly prostitutes in sketchy Mexico City neighborhood .
Twenty-three women who are 60 or older live in the facility .
Crew attended bittersweet Mother's Day party with residents . |
Editor's Note: The staff at CNN.com has recently been intrigued by the journalism of VICE, an independent media company and Web site based in Brooklyn, New York. VBS.TV is Vice's broadband television network. The reports, which are produced solely by VICE, reflect a very transparent approach to journalism, where viewers are taken along on every step of the reporting process. We believe this unique reporting approach is worthy of sharing with our CNN.com readers.
Brooklyn, New York (VBS.TV) -- Several events converged recently that conspired to take me back to the summer of 2006, the summer I snuck into Iraq. The first event was the Iraqi elections. The second was the Oscars. The third was a concert at a little bar tucked into a hip corner of the hippest neighborhood in the world -- Williamsburg, Brooklyn. These events all brought me a little closer to that time, a little closer to recalling the way things were back then. And I realized how much I had forgotten.
The summer/ fall of 2006 had a name -- at least it did in Iraq. It was called the Battle for Baghdad.
It was one of the most bloody periods of the war. The moment just before the Surge where hundreds of people -- hundreds of Iraqis -- were dying every day. I say we snuck into the country because we did.
We had been trying to obtain permission to get into the country legally, but it was proving very difficult. We heard through a friend that you could fly into Erbil through Germany. So we did. Without any papers we bought one-way tickets in cash from Erbil to Baghdad.
To me it was a really bad sign: who was in charge of the (expletive) show down there? There was a real feeling of desperation in the air when my friend Suroosh and I landed at the Baghdad International Airport. Someone in Iraq even told us that there was a rumor floating around that the U.S. forces were seriously considering building a moat around the city.
Once inside, we aligned to our mission: to find and interview the only heavy metal band in the country, Acrassicauda.
It wasn't easy, but we found the guys -- Faisal and Firas -- and spent a week interviewing them in locations that would keep them safe from accusations of collaboration with the enemy.
We met two of the nicest, warmest, funniest dudes, and through them our perspective on this war, and all war, was fundamentally changed. For the first time, I saw the war through the eyes of the oppressed, and saw it for what it was: (expletive) stupid. It was a stupid, stupid war. And the old men that conducted it, on both sides, were essentially the same ugly evil idiots; the same ideologues that championed their own particular visions of a new world order under the banner of their chosen gods -- money, freedom, oil, Allah -- take your pick.
See the rest of Heavy Metal in Baghdad at VBS.TV
The recent elections saw a flare in the random violence that characterized the hottest periods of the war and reminded me that the desire to kill is still very much alive in Iraq. That the cost of life is still very low.
The recent Oscars proved to me how myopic we still are about that war, about our role in it.
(Kathryn) Bigelow's champions film of champions ("The Hurt Locker") shows the Americans as the heroes, addicted to comradeship and the thrill of battle, and the Iraqis as the faceless aggressors resorting to cheap tactics and foul play. A rather disgusting narrative point of view, especially unnerving when you consider how determined Bigelow et screaming actors al were to create an apolitical discursive cocoon around their film. It's as though they were being willfully, culturally stupid, which is strange from a director that is considered, buy most accounts, to be an intelligent filmmaker.
Last night, I made my way to a little event at a little bar in Brooklyn. Almost four years since my trip to Iraq, and those awesome dudes -- Faisal, Firas, Marwan and | [
"Where did VBS.TV travel to?",
"what kind of band is it?",
"where is the interview?"
] | [
[
"Iraq."
],
[
"heavy metal"
],
[
"locations that would keep them safe from accusations of collaboration with the enemy."
]
] | VBS.TV visits home for elderly prostitutes in sketchy Mexico City neighborhood .
Twenty-three women who are 60 or older live in the facility .
Crew attended bittersweet Mother's Day party with residents . |
Editor's Note: The staff at CNN.com has recently been intrigued by the journalism of VICE, an independent media company and Web site based in Brooklyn, New York. VBS.TV is Vice's broadband television network. The reports, which are produced solely by VICE, reflect a very transparent approach to journalism, where viewers are taken along on every step of the reporting process. We believe this unique reporting approach is worthy of sharing with our CNN.com readers. Viewer discretion advised.
Brooklyn, New York (VBS.TV) -- On January 22, 2006, the New York Times reported that all foreign journalists were being banned from Pakistan's tribal areas, which has been called "the most dangerous place in the world." A week before that, the CIA fired missiles remotely from a Predator aircraft into the Waziristan tribal area. They were hoping to eradicate a bunch of al Qaeda operatives. Instead, they killed 18 women and children.
One week before that, I arrived in Pakistan to visit Darra Adamkhel, the massive open-air market located deep in the tribal areas, where a frighteningly high percentage of Islamic holy warriors goes to buy their guns.
Gaining access to the tribal areas was next to impossible. It took months of pre-planning with the consul general of Pakistan in Montreal and top officials in Peshawar. They repeatedly denied us entry because, according to them, the Pakistani Army had too many "sensitive operations" going on in that region. Without my personal advantage (a family friendship with the governor of the Northwest Frontier Province), we never would have gotten in.
The government assigned me and my team a political agent named Naeem Afridi. He was born and raised in the tribal areas. He took care of us while we were there, and he was a godsend. You can't do anything in this part of the world without someone like Naeem.
See more stories on VBS.TV
Our driver stopped at a security point just outside the town center, where we were introduced to the Frontier Agency militia, six angry-dad-looking guys with AKs and sidearms. They became our personal bodyguards, and followed us through the tight warren of gun shops and factories, barren little brick rooms where upward of 1,000 guns are manufactured every day. Most of the work is done by hand.
The vendors are Pashtuns, who are basically the toughest people in the world. They comprised the majority of the mujahideen who kicked the Soviets out of Afghanistan in the late '80s.
These days, the town is rumored to be completely overrun by the Taliban. They purchase the guns, then cross the border to fight the U.S. army in Afghanistan, or they drive through the mountains to the south to fight the Pakistani army.
This summer, I went back to Pakistan, and found that the fuse on this powder keg has become even shorter. The Pakistani army has surged more troops into the tribal areas, attempting to eradicate the Taliban and al Qaeda. The U.S. and British troops are attempting to do the same thing on the other side of the border in Afghanistan. Meanwhile, Pakistan itself has seen violence spread to its major urban centers, where extremists have been detonating bombs and taking over police stations.
But at the same time, there is a cultural explosion taking place, a vibrant art scene and metal and rock bands popping up everywhere. The whole situation has become ultra charged by the fact that there are tons of news channels operating uncensored by the insanely corrupt government.
For Pakistan, it's a volatile, turbulent, and fascinating moment in time. | [
"Who gained rare access",
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"What area has been home base for the Taliban?",
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] | [
[
"VICE,"
],
[
"1,000"
],
[
"Pakistan's tribal"
],
[
"1,000"
]
] | VBS.TV visits home for elderly prostitutes in sketchy Mexico City neighborhood .
Twenty-three women who are 60 or older live in the facility .
Crew attended bittersweet Mother's Day party with residents . |
Editor's Note: The staff at CNN.com has recently been intrigued by the journalism of VICE, an independent media company and Web site based in Brooklyn, New York. VBS.TV is broadband television network of VICE. The reports, which are produced solely by VICE, reflect a transparent approach to journalism, where viewers are taken along on every step of the reporting process. We believe this unique reporting approach is worthy of sharing with our CNN.com readers.
Brooklyn, New York (VBS.TV) -- For the launch of VICE magazine in Mexico, we decided to make an entire issue about Mexico, written entirely by Mexicans.
At the same time, we came up with the idea of producing a parallel version of that issue in video for VBS.TV and populate our site with documentaries about Mexico, local artists, local musicians and beautiful Mexican girls for the entire month.
Since then, we repeated the same concept when we launched the magazine in Brazil, and we produced an entire month of content about China during the Olympics.
Producer Santiago Stelley and I spent a few weeks in Mexico City producing an hour-long documentary about nighttime crime photographers, interviewing some of the best bands and artists in the city and shooting a project about B movies inspired by the lives of drug traffickers.
A couple of days before Mother's Day, I got to spend a few days at an amazing place called Casa Xochiquetzal (The House of the Beautiful Flowers), a retirement home for older prostitutes in Tepito, one of the sketchiest neighborhoods in the city.
I went there with Guillermo Rivero, who wrote the print version of the article, and I produced the documentary version of the same story. The house has a minimum age requirement of 60 and can accommodate up to 45 women. Right now, there are only 23 retired ladies of the night living there. The majority of them continue working, because there are still people who want to pay to have sex with them.
See the rest of House of the Setting Sun at VBS.TV
We had the opportunity to meet some of the women that live there, such as 86-year-old Reyna, who sang for us and told us stories of her youth, and Lourdes, a childless widow in her 60s who is still turning tricks.
We met Canela, a woman in her 80s who was soft spoken and looked incredibly tired. She had stopped working just a few years ago and now sells candies for a living. Finally, we spent some time with Paola, a 61-year-old who is still a sex worker and hopes to continue working for as many years as she can.
We ended up spending Mother's Day with them at what was perhaps the most bittersweet party I've attended.
The women were dancing and eating and drinking punch together, they joked around and seemed to be having a great time. But at some point, Paola started talking to me about her sons, whom she hasn't seen in years and never really visit her. She also talked about the kids of many of the other women in the house -- none of them present at this party -- to celebrate motherhood.
Most of these women actually ended up becoming prostitutes to support their children as their only means of survival.
I think the work that this house and its director Rosalba Rios do -- as weird and unusual as it may seem -- is incredibly valuable. Spending Mother's Day with these brave women forever changed they way l look at prostitution and without a doubt has been one of the most intense parties I've ever attended. | [
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Twenty-three women who are 60 or older live in the facility .
Crew attended bittersweet Mother's Day party with residents . |
Editor's Note: This is the fourth in a five-part series exploring Judge Sonia Sotomayor's background and life with those who know her, revealing the experiences that might shape her views as a Supreme Court justice.
Sonia Sotomayor is flanked by her supervisor, Warren Murray, and D.A. Robert Morgenthau, right, in 1983.
NEW YORK (CNN) -- Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor graduated with honors from Ivy League schools. But she may have learned some of her most memorable lessons as a young prosecutor, following police into abandoned tenements and tracking down witnesses on the grimy streets of New York.
Sotomayor joined the Manhattan District Attorney's office in 1979 during an epic crime wave. Muggings, burglaries and assaults were rampant; homicides topped 1,800 a year. She was recruited from Yale Law School by Robert M. Morgenthau, Manhattan's district attorney. She was 25, and her starting salary was $17,000.
The cases in Trial Bureau 50 seasoned the idealistic young lawyer and honed her trial skills. She could shred a witness on cross-examination and move a jury to tears, former colleagues recalled.
New York City was awash in heroin, street crime and gun violence. To prepare for trials, she followed police into tenement shooting galleries, scaled rickety staircases in dilapidated buildings and fought off the stench of squalor to talk to reluctant witnesses.
Sotomayor's former colleagues and her legal foes describe her as intense, driven and politically astute.
As a prosecutor, she had a commanding presence and put in long hours, chugging several cans a day of the diet soft drink Tab and chain-smoking cigarettes. (She no longer smokes.) Watch how she made an impression on fellow prosecutors »
Trial Bureau 50, with its crowded cubicles and walls painted the color of putty, has sent many lawyers onto distinguished careers in public service, including the late Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and John Kennedy Jr.
Sotomayor's five years there, say Manhattan prosecutors past and present, make her uniquely qualified for the nation's highest court. If confirmed, she would be the only justice who prosecuted criminal cases, presided over them and handled criminal appeals. See what would set Sotomayor apart on the court »
"If you can handle a felony case load in New York County, you can run a small country," said Warren Murray, who ran the bureau when Sotomayor worked there, and still does.
"I think Sonia's most interesting days were in the district attorney's office," said Hugh H. Mo, a former homicide prosecutor who supervised Sotomayor and tried cases with her. "You can grow up in the projects and still be very sheltered. She got her education on the streets of Harlem."
Like most rookies, Sotomayor started with misdemeanors, juggling 60 to 80 cases at a time, working 12-hour days in the 1930s-era building on the tip of Manhattan, and pulling an occasional shift in night court.
"Some of the judges liked to use the new assistants to clear their calendars," Morgenthau recalled. "She quickly established herself as somebody the judges couldn't push around."
On her second trial, Sotomayor met Dawn Cardi, a rookie Legal Aid lawyer who was trying her first case. They became best friends.
"We were both baby attorneys," Cardi said. "She's really, really smart and very well-prepared. She was an excellent trial attorney. She had a talent for it."
Another defense attorney, Gerald Lefcourt, recalled Sotomayor as "a very zealous prosecutor," adding, "She didn't see gray. She only saw black and white."
Sotomayor moved up quickly in the D.A.'s office. It wasn't long before she was prosecuting murder cases.
To prepare for trials, she hit the streets, working junkies and street characters for information and comforting grieving families. The work was sometimes unnerving, but it could also provide an adrenalin rush.
"You could feel the violence. It was palpable," said Mo, who with Sotomayor accompanied detectives of Harlem's 28th precinct into top | [
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She worked in the Manhattan DA's office from 1979 to 1984 .
Her former colleagues remember Sotomayor as driven and focused .
Manhattan DA Robert M. Morgenthau on Thursday's Senate witness schedule . |
Editor's Note: This is the fourth in a five-part series exploring Judge Sonia Sotomayor's background and life with those who know her, revealing the experiences that might shape her views as a Supreme Court justice. Sonia Sotomayor is flanked by her supervisor, Warren Murray, and D.A. Robert Morgenthau, right, in 1983. NEW YORK (CNN) -- Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor graduated with honors from Ivy League schools. But she may have learned some of her most memorable lessons as a young prosecutor, following police into abandoned tenements and tracking down witnesses on the grimy streets of New York. Sotomayor joined the Manhattan District Attorney's office in 1979 during an epic crime wave. Muggings, burglaries and assaults were rampant; homicides topped 1,800 a year. She was recruited from Yale Law School by Robert M. Morgenthau, Manhattan's district attorney. She was 25, and her starting salary was $17,000. The cases in Trial Bureau 50 seasoned the idealistic young lawyer and honed her trial skills. She could shred a witness on cross-examination and move a jury to tears, former colleagues recalled. New York City was awash in heroin, street crime and gun violence. To prepare for trials, she followed police into tenement shooting galleries, scaled rickety staircases in dilapidated buildings and fought off the stench of squalor to talk to reluctant witnesses. Sotomayor's former colleagues and her legal foes describe her as intense, driven and politically astute. As a prosecutor, she had a commanding presence and put in long hours, chugging several cans a day of the diet soft drink Tab and chain-smoking cigarettes. (She no longer smokes.) Watch how she made an impression on fellow prosecutors » Trial Bureau 50, with its crowded cubicles and walls painted the color of putty, has sent many lawyers onto distinguished careers in public service, including the late Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and John Kennedy Jr. Sotomayor's five years there, say Manhattan prosecutors past and present, make her uniquely qualified for the nation's highest court. If confirmed, she would be the only justice who prosecuted criminal cases, presided over them and handled criminal appeals. See what would set Sotomayor apart on the court » "If you can handle a felony case load in New York County, you can run a small country," said Warren Murray, who ran the bureau when Sotomayor worked there, and still does. "I think Sonia's most interesting days were in the district attorney's office," said Hugh H. Mo, a former homicide prosecutor who supervised Sotomayor and tried cases with her. "You can grow up in the projects and still be very sheltered. She got her education on the streets of Harlem." Like most rookies, Sotomayor started with misdemeanors, juggling 60 to 80 cases at a time, working 12-hour days in the 1930s-era building on the tip of Manhattan, and pulling an occasional shift in night court. "Some of the judges liked to use the new assistants to clear their calendars," Morgenthau recalled. "She quickly established herself as somebody the judges couldn't push around." On her second trial, Sotomayor met Dawn Cardi, a rookie Legal Aid lawyer who was trying her first case. They became best friends. "We were both baby attorneys," Cardi said. "She's really, really smart and very well-prepared. She was an excellent trial attorney. She had a talent for it." Another defense attorney, Gerald Lefcourt, recalled Sotomayor as "a very zealous prosecutor," adding, "She didn't see gray. She only saw black and white." Sotomayor moved up quickly in the D.A.'s office. It wasn't long before she was prosecuting murder cases. To prepare for trials, she hit the streets, working junkies and street characters for information and comforting grieving families. The work was sometimes unnerving, but it could also provide an adrenalin rush. "You could feel the violence. It was palpable," said Mo, who with Sotomayor accompanied detectives of Harlem's 28th precinct into top | [
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] | Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor began her legal career as a prosecutor .
She worked in the Manhattan DA's office from 1979 to 1984 .
Her former colleagues remember Sotomayor as driven and focused .
Manhattan DA Robert M. Morgenthau on Thursday's Senate witness schedule . |
Editor's Note: This is the last in a five-part series exploring Judge Sonia Sotomayor's background and life with those who know her, revealing the experiences that might shape her views as a Supreme Court justice.
Sotomayor was nominated to U.S. district court in 1991 and federal appeals court in 1997.
(CNN) -- Sonia Sotomayor had been a federal appeals court judge for about four months when Ellen Chapnick got a phone call in 1998.
The Columbia Law School lecturer's students had worked and studied with Sotomayor as part of a program at the school, but Chapnick figured the partnership had come to an end with the judge's new job.
"She called me up and said, 'You know, I really miss your students. Isn't there something we can do about that?'" recalled Chapnick, now Dean of the Social Justice Program at the school. "And, of course, a judge rarely asks a question when she doesn't know the answer."
That call, and the partnership that would continue another six years, captures the essence of the woman who has spent years on the federal bench, friends and colleagues said.
They remember a tireless worker spending late hours in her chambers or on projects like the college course: A tough decision-maker who would pick apart any lawyer foolish enough to come to court unprepared; a thoughtful jurist whose years as an aggressive prosecutor endeared her to law enforcement even as she developed a reputation as a social liberal; and a child of the Bronx who maintained a heart for people from all walks of life as she ascended to the legal world's loftiest positions.
"Her hobby is people," said Chapnick, who became friends with the woman now going through Senate confirmation hearings on her nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court. "I've been in situations with her when everybody else around the table is a lot 'less important' -- if you define importance by positions of power and prestige -- and she's asking them questions." Watch Chapnick on how Sotomayor put students 'through the wringer' »
In 1984, Sotomayor, now 55, worked at Pavia & Harcourt, a "boutique" law firm in New York that focuses on international business issues.
Her job included representing Fendi, the Italian luxury goods company that wanted to crack down on imposters selling knockoffs of its high-end handbags.
Steven Skulnik, a colleague at the firm, remembered tagging along with Sotomayor on a police raid of a counterfeit operation in Harlem.
He waited in the van. Sotomayor charged out alongside the officers.
"She had no fear," said Skulnik, now with the New York firm Squire Sanders. "That's just her personality. She's the first one in."
He and others also recall her working long hours with a laser-like focus as she prepared for a case.
"[Co-workers] would walk by in the morning, and she'd be reading something or writing something," he said. "You'd say, 'Hi, Sonia,' and she wouldn't even look up. She didn't notice.
"She would really bore in and make sure there was nothing about the case that she didn't understand."
That dedication hit her private life, Sotomayor has admitted. She told ABC's "Good Morning America" in 1986 that her workload "was a contributing factor" in the divorce three years earlier from Kevin Noonan.
Work also made it difficult to date then, she said: "A man who calls you three times and all three times you answer, 'I've got to work late.' ... After the third time he begins thinking, 'Gee, maybe she's not interested.'"
She left the law firm to take up President George H.W. Bush's nomination in 1991 and served as a U.S. District Court judge from 1992 to 1998.
President Bill Clinton nominated her for a seat on the 2nd District U.S. Appeals Court in 1997, and she was confirmed more than a year later by the Senate to the | [
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"tireless worker spending late hours in her chambers or on projects like the college course: A tough decision-maker who would pick apart any lawyer foolish enough to come to court unprepared; a thoughtful jurist whose years as an aggressive prosecutor endeared her to law enforcement even as she developed a reputation as a social liberal; and a child of the Bronx who maintained a heart for people from all walks of life as she ascended to the legal world's loftiest positions."
],
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] | Colleagues recall Sotomayor as tireless, focused worker .
"Her hobby is people," says friend, former Columbia University colleague .
Critics call her "prickly"; former aide says tough talk is saved for the bench .
Lifelong Yankees fan's most high-profile case ended baseball strike . |
Editor's Note: This is the second in a five-part series exploring Judge Sonia Sotomayor's background and life with those who know her, and revealing the experiences that might shape her views as a Supreme Court justice if confirmed. Sonia Sotomayor, here at her 8th-grade graduation, had to finish homework and chores before she could go out. BRONX, New York (CNN) -- The teenage Sonia Sotomayor was easy to spot in the halls of her New York high school. Her uniform was often askew -- a once-crisp shirt protruding out and over her skirt's waistband as she carried a pile of books. "She was focused so much on learning that she didn't notice," Mary Procidano, a classmate at Cardinal Spellman High School, recalled recently. Sotomayor, now nominated for the Supreme Court by President Obama, seemed to hit her stride at Spellman, a rigorous Catholic institution and educational oasis in a crime-stricken neighborhood of the Bronx. The schoolgirl first appeared shy and reserved, friends remember. But they soon got to know her as a hard-nosed, strong-willed girl, happy to debate friends, family or teachers. "When she opened her mouth and she spoke, she really felt whatever it was," said Jeanette Valdespino-Torres, a childhood friend. "And she wasn't just talking out of the top of her head -- it was something that she read, she studied, she looked, she knew. She would get into conversations at that age that I couldn't even touch." Watch friends remember Sotomayor as a teenager » In the lunchroom Sotomayor would "hold court," various friends from her school years told CNN, sharing opinions on policies and social problems. She even led discussions around her home, an apartment in the sprawling 28-building Bronxdale Housing project that was so rife with drugs and crime that police often locked it down on Saturday nights, Sotomayor said in one speech. If she is confirmed by the full Senate Sotomayor, now 55, would be the first Latina Supreme Court justice. President Obama has spoken of her "inspiring life's journey." Sotomayor's 1972 graduating class knew they were a generation facing "change," said Jeri Faulkner, who was a freshman when Sotomayor was a senior. It was a time when the Vietnam War and social and economic strife were in the news daily. "There was a lot of change and turmoil, and they were very involved in it -- very, very involved in social issues; very, very ready to change the world," Faulkner, now Cardinal Spellman's Dean of Students, said of Sotomayor's class. "And Sonia, she was at the forefront of those discussions." A fixture on the debate team and in student government, Sotomayor was even a part of change inside Cardinal Spellman -- helping to write a unified constitution when male and female classes merged in 1971. Outside school, Sotomayor spent some vacations working at the United Bargains store in the Bronx, though she has admitted she was too young for a job. She also worked.with her mother at Prospect Hospital. See photos of Sotomayor throughout her life » Hard work was a fixture of the Sotomayor household. Juan Sotomayor, Sonia's father, died when she was 9, leaving her mother, Celina, to fend for Sonia and her younger brother, also named Juan. Celina Sotomayor started at the hospital as a telephone operator and later became a registered nurse. She worked long hours to earn enough to send her children to better schools like Cardinal Spellman, which now boasts of its graduate with a banner on its pale brick facade. And she used spare money to buy the neighborhood's only encyclopedia. Sonia's mother was clear in what she expected from her daughter, said Valdespino-Torres. When she got home from work and stepped into the brick building, she always asked Sonia if she had done her homework, food shopping or laundry. "Only then, Sonia would be allowed to go out," Valdespino-Torres said. | [
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Senators holding confirmation hearings on Supreme Court nomination .
Sotomayor's dad died when she was 9; mother instilled in her the value of education .
High school classmate said she saw Sotomayor "as a leader, for sure" |
Editor's Note: This is the third in a five-part series exploring Judge Sonia Sotomayor's background and life with those who know her, and revealing the experiences that might shape her views as a Supreme Court justice if confirmed.
Sotomayor won the Moses Taylor Pyne Prize, the highest honor given to an undergraduate at Princeton.
PRINCETON, New Jersey (CNN) -- Sonia Sotomayor spent her first week at Princeton University obsessing over the sound of a cricket. Growing up in New York City, her only notion of this insect was Jiminy from "Pinocchio." She tore her dorm room apart looking for the critter every night.
Finally, her then-boyfriend and future husband visited and explained that the cricket was outside the room, where she had been holed up most of that week in 1972.
"This was all new to me: we didn't have trees brushing up against windows in the South Bronx," Sotomayor recalled in a speech to the Princeton Women's Network in 2002.
The freshman who was so taken aback by a cricket's chirping now has a more public challenge: Senate hearings on whether to confirm her as a Supreme Court justice, potentially the first Latina to hold such a post.
At one time, being different may have been difficult -- for it wasn't just Princeton's crickets that startled Sotomayor. The academics and the students on the leafy Gothic campus, with its ivy-covered dormitories and castle-like towers, also made her feel out of place.
Sotomayor, who was on a full scholarship, started "a little more on the shy side," said Sergio Sotolongo, who attended high school and Princeton with Sotomayor.
"She did mention that, as a freshman, she felt sometimes intimidated by others and didn't really raise her hand very much," said Sotolongo, now chairman and CEO of Student Funding Group in Liberty Corner, New Jersey. Watch classmates, professor remember Sotomayor »
As a first-year student, Sotomayor felt what she's called a "chasm" between herself and her classmates. She really only knew the Bronx and Puerto Rico, while her classmates spoke of European vacations and skiing. She said in 1990 that she felt she was a "product of affirmative action" and questioned whether she would have been accepted into the Ivy League using "traditional numbers" from test scores alone. See how many of the Supreme Court justices went to Ivy League schools »
She would certainly have looked different to her classmates, with relatively few Latinos or minorities at Princeton during her college years. Even being a woman was different for Sotomayor's class -- the college had opened its doors to women three years earlier, but male students were still superior in numbers and (in some cases) attitudes.
Judith Perlman, who lived down the hall, explained: "I'd go to class and I would say things, and the professor would say, 'Oh, we usually express ourselves in a more gentlemanly fashion here.'"
Perlman and Sotomayor shared "girl talk" but about what they wanted to do with their lives, not about things like fashion, which interested neither.
Academically, Sotomayor also faced a gap. She would later graduate summa cum laude and be awarded the top undergraduate honor, the Moses Taylor Pyne Prize, but she stumbled that first year.
Peter Winn, who taught Sotomayor and was her thesis adviser, said her early writing reflected the fact that her first language is Spanish.
"She could be very assertive and very articulate, but not initially," said Winn, now a professor at Tufts University.
"Sonia was someone who entered Princeton as a young woman with enormous potential, and one of the things that happened at Princeton was, she learned how to fulfill that potential," he said.
Nancy Weiss Malkiel, now dean of the college, agreed with Winn, writing in an e-mail that Sotomayor came to Princeton "with high intelligence and great ability, but without a very sophisticated grounding in the study of history."
Malkiel, who taught history, | [
"Who arrived at Princeton in 1972?",
"who is Sonia Sotomayor?"
] | [
[
"Sonia Sotomayor"
],
[
"Judge"
]
] | Sonia Sotomayor arrived at Princeton in 1972 in fourth co-ed class .
She read children's classics to enhance her English writing skills .
She launched a Puerto Rico action group and campaigned for Latinos .
By the time she went to Yale, she was confident and outgoing, classmate recalls . |
Editor's Note: This is the third in a five-part series exploring Judge Sonia Sotomayor's background and life with those who know her, and revealing the experiences that might shape her views as a Supreme Court justice if confirmed. Sotomayor won the Moses Taylor Pyne Prize, the highest honor given to an undergraduate at Princeton. PRINCETON, New Jersey (CNN) -- Sonia Sotomayor spent her first week at Princeton University obsessing over the sound of a cricket. Growing up in New York City, her only notion of this insect was Jiminy from "Pinocchio." She tore her dorm room apart looking for the critter every night. Finally, her then-boyfriend and future husband visited and explained that the cricket was outside the room, where she had been holed up most of that week in 1972. "This was all new to me: we didn't have trees brushing up against windows in the South Bronx," Sotomayor recalled in a speech to the Princeton Women's Network in 2002. The freshman who was so taken aback by a cricket's chirping now has a more public challenge: Senate hearings on whether to confirm her as a Supreme Court justice, potentially the first Latina to hold such a post. At one time, being different may have been difficult -- for it wasn't just Princeton's crickets that startled Sotomayor. The academics and the students on the leafy Gothic campus, with its ivy-covered dormitories and castle-like towers, also made her feel out of place. Sotomayor, who was on a full scholarship, started "a little more on the shy side," said Sergio Sotolongo, who attended high school and Princeton with Sotomayor. "She did mention that, as a freshman, she felt sometimes intimidated by others and didn't really raise her hand very much," said Sotolongo, now chairman and CEO of Student Funding Group in Liberty Corner, New Jersey. Watch classmates, professor remember Sotomayor » As a first-year student, Sotomayor felt what she's called a "chasm" between herself and her classmates. She really only knew the Bronx and Puerto Rico, while her classmates spoke of European vacations and skiing. She said in 1990 that she felt she was a "product of affirmative action" and questioned whether she would have been accepted into the Ivy League using "traditional numbers" from test scores alone. See how many of the Supreme Court justices went to Ivy League schools » She would certainly have looked different to her classmates, with relatively few Latinos or minorities at Princeton during her college years. Even being a woman was different for Sotomayor's class -- the college had opened its doors to women three years earlier, but male students were still superior in numbers and (in some cases) attitudes. Judith Perlman, who lived down the hall, explained: "I'd go to class and I would say things, and the professor would say, 'Oh, we usually express ourselves in a more gentlemanly fashion here.'" Perlman and Sotomayor shared "girl talk" but about what they wanted to do with their lives, not about things like fashion, which interested neither. Academically, Sotomayor also faced a gap. She would later graduate summa cum laude and be awarded the top undergraduate honor, the Moses Taylor Pyne Prize, but she stumbled that first year. Peter Winn, who taught Sotomayor and was her thesis adviser, said her early writing reflected the fact that her first language is Spanish. "She could be very assertive and very articulate, but not initially," said Winn, now a professor at Tufts University. "Sonia was someone who entered Princeton as a young woman with enormous potential, and one of the things that happened at Princeton was, she learned how to fulfill that potential," he said. Nancy Weiss Malkiel, now dean of the college, agreed with Winn, writing in an e-mail that Sotomayor came to Princeton "with high intelligence and great ability, but without a very sophisticated grounding in the study of history." Malkiel, who taught history, | [
"who arrived at Princeton in 1972 in fourth co-ed class?"
] | [
[
"Sonia Sotomayor"
]
] | Sonia Sotomayor arrived at Princeton in 1972 in fourth co-ed class .
She read children's classics to enhance her English writing skills .
She launched a Puerto Rico action group and campaigned for Latinos .
By the time she went to Yale, she was confident and outgoing, classmate recalls . |
Editor's Note: This story details how two members of the CNN Special Investigations Unit reported a story about controversial plans to spend $31 million to enhance two remote crossings on the border between the United States and Canada.
The road to the border was so quiet it was safe for Drew Griffin to sit in the middle of it.
SCOBEY, Montana (CNN) -- We were driving through some of the most remote country in the United States, chasing a story that seemed hard to believe.
The Department of Homeland Security had announced it was spending $31 million to enhance and upgrade two remote border crossings -- just 12 miles apart -- on the border between Montana and the Canadian province of Saskatchewan. The spending was lauded by Montana's two senators, even though only an average of 22 cars a day traveled through these border posts.
We hopped a plane from Atlanta, Georgia, to Billings, Montana, and then headed to Scobey and Whitetail. The six-hour drive took us through some of this nation's most beautiful country into the high plains of the Missouri River Region. It was a drive punctuated with glimpses of cows and antelopes, but few people.
In fact, Burl Bowler, editor of the Daniels County Leader newspaper, which serves the border towns, advised us where to stop for gas en route, so we wouldn't run out and then really be in trouble.
Besides seeing a part of the country where Lt. Col. George Custer took his last stand, there was the added benefit (sorry CNN management) of having no phone or Blackberry access. In that respect, it was a peaceful drive.
When we got to Scobey, the few people we encountered couldn't have been nicer. Everyone we passed stopped, said hello, or waved. But encountering people was the problem -- and in fact, the story: We just didn't encounter that many. Certainly not at the border, where we stood and even sat in the middle of the road to show viewers how few people travel to and from Canada here. Watch just how quiet the border crossing was »
The Scobey border crossing itself seemed perfectly adequate. But the Department of Homeland Security had warned its agents not to allow us inside, so we don't know what the interior is like. If we came in, we would be too disruptive, one government spokesman had informed us. In Scobey, that claim seemed a little far-fetched, since there wasn't anything going on here -- disruptive or otherwise.
On the Canadian side, farmer Marc Chabot, a U.S. citizen whose family has farmed the area on both sides of the border for generations, said he was grateful for the money his senators -- Democrats Max Baucus and Jon Tester -- steered to northeast Montana. But, he said, like others in the community, he gasped when he learned of the plan to spend $31 million expanding two border crossings that are rarely used.
"It would be wiser spent on something more useful to the public generally," he told us, adding that come winter, the average of 20 cars crossing a day in Scobey drops to almost none.
Editor Burl Bowler told us the area could certainly use stimulus money for jobs, but not at the border. We asked both Bowler and Chabot about the possibility of terrorists creeping across the frontier.
Both said that after the attacks of September 11, 2001, everyone needed to be more mindful of the porous border. But Chabot said the government had the area fairly well covered. "Trust me, they know we are here right now," he said.
And a massive new building costing more than $15 million in Scobey, Montana, wasn't exactly a deterrence to someone set on harming the United States, he added. Chabot joked that any stranger in the area certainly would not be a stranger long, since everyone knew everyone -- a point echoed by Bowler, who pointed out that while he hadn't told many people that CNN was coming to town, everyone seemed to know it anyway.
In Whitetail, it was even quieter | [
"What distance are the crossings apart from each other?",
"How much is DHS planning to spend?",
"What amount did DHS plan to spend?",
"What has been DHS plan to spend on remote border crossing?"
] | [
[
"12 miles"
],
[
"$31 million"
],
[
"$31 million"
],
[
"$31 million"
]
] | DHS planned to spend $31 million to upgrade remote border crossings .
The crossings are 12 miles apart and get little to no traffic .
Laredo, Texas, by comparison, gets 66,000 crossings a day .
Laredo will not receive any of the $400 million in DHS border stimulus funds . |
Editor's Note: This story details how two members of the CNN Special Investigations Unit reported a story about controversial plans to spend $31 million to enhance two remote crossings on the border between the United States and Canada. The road to the border was so quiet it was safe for Drew Griffin to sit in the middle of it. SCOBEY, Montana (CNN) -- We were driving through some of the most remote country in the United States, chasing a story that seemed hard to believe. The Department of Homeland Security had announced it was spending $31 million to enhance and upgrade two remote border crossings -- just 12 miles apart -- on the border between Montana and the Canadian province of Saskatchewan. The spending was lauded by Montana's two senators, even though only an average of 22 cars a day traveled through these border posts. We hopped a plane from Atlanta, Georgia, to Billings, Montana, and then headed to Scobey and Whitetail. The six-hour drive took us through some of this nation's most beautiful country into the high plains of the Missouri River Region. It was a drive punctuated with glimpses of cows and antelopes, but few people. In fact, Burl Bowler, editor of the Daniels County Leader newspaper, which serves the border towns, advised us where to stop for gas en route, so we wouldn't run out and then really be in trouble. Besides seeing a part of the country where Lt. Col. George Custer took his last stand, there was the added benefit (sorry CNN management) of having no phone or Blackberry access. In that respect, it was a peaceful drive. When we got to Scobey, the few people we encountered couldn't have been nicer. Everyone we passed stopped, said hello, or waved. But encountering people was the problem -- and in fact, the story: We just didn't encounter that many. Certainly not at the border, where we stood and even sat in the middle of the road to show viewers how few people travel to and from Canada here. Watch just how quiet the border crossing was » The Scobey border crossing itself seemed perfectly adequate. But the Department of Homeland Security had warned its agents not to allow us inside, so we don't know what the interior is like. If we came in, we would be too disruptive, one government spokesman had informed us. In Scobey, that claim seemed a little far-fetched, since there wasn't anything going on here -- disruptive or otherwise. On the Canadian side, farmer Marc Chabot, a U.S. citizen whose family has farmed the area on both sides of the border for generations, said he was grateful for the money his senators -- Democrats Max Baucus and Jon Tester -- steered to northeast Montana. But, he said, like others in the community, he gasped when he learned of the plan to spend $31 million expanding two border crossings that are rarely used. "It would be wiser spent on something more useful to the public generally," he told us, adding that come winter, the average of 20 cars crossing a day in Scobey drops to almost none. Editor Burl Bowler told us the area could certainly use stimulus money for jobs, but not at the border. We asked both Bowler and Chabot about the possibility of terrorists creeping across the frontier. Both said that after the attacks of September 11, 2001, everyone needed to be more mindful of the porous border. But Chabot said the government had the area fairly well covered. "Trust me, they know we are here right now," he said. And a massive new building costing more than $15 million in Scobey, Montana, wasn't exactly a deterrence to someone set on harming the United States, he added. Chabot joked that any stranger in the area certainly would not be a stranger long, since everyone knew everyone -- a point echoed by Bowler, who pointed out that while he hadn't told many people that CNN was coming to town, everyone seemed to know it anyway. In Whitetail, it was even quieter | [
"How many miles apart are they?",
"How much distance is between crossings?",
"How much crossings does Laredo get a day?",
"what will the money go to",
"Who planned to spend $31 million?",
"How much does DHS plan to spend?",
"How many crossings a day do they get?"
] | [
[
"12"
],
[
"12 miles"
],
[
"22 cars a"
],
[
"expanding two border crossings that are rarely used."
],
[
"The Department of Homeland Security"
],
[
"$31 million"
],
[
"22 cars a"
]
] | DHS planned to spend $31 million to upgrade remote border crossings .
The crossings are 12 miles apart and get little to no traffic .
Laredo, Texas, by comparison, gets 66,000 crossings a day .
Laredo will not receive any of the $400 million in DHS border stimulus funds . |
Editor's Note: Two-time Oscar winner Denzel Washington joined the Mt. Vernon Boys & Girls Club in New York at the age of 6 and remained an active member for the next 12 years. The actor credits his early years spent at the club with changing the direction of his life. Since 1994, he has served as a volunteer national spokesman for Boys & Girls Clubs of America, appearing in public service announcements on television and in print. He's also a member of the group's board. Denzel Washington says America's leaders need to pay attention to the crisis affecting our children. (CNN) -- With the political season in full swing, much is at stake for America. The economy is in a downward spiral. We have an energy crisis. Our jobless rate is on the rise. These are the subjects that generate headlines and much debate among the candidates. But there is an underlying problem that we as a nation have not addressed, a situation that should concern any American with an eye on the future, regardless of party affiliation. It is the crisis affecting our children: • Nearly 30 percent of this year's freshman class will drop out of high school, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. That number jumps to 40 percent in some urban areas. • The obesity rate for our kids has gone up by as much as 300 percent since 1980, according to the National Center for Health Statistics, triggering a host of health-related problems, from diabetes to heart disease. • Young people account for more than 20 percent of violent crimes in the United States, according to statistics cited by Duke University's Center for Child and Family Policy. Violent juvenile crime peaks between 3 and 4 p.m., at the end of the school day. These facts are grim enough. Factor in persistent patterns of poverty, gang activity, drug abuse and teenage pregnancy, and you have a generation of Americans that will be unprepared -- indeed, unable -- to meet the challenges posed by a complex world. We expect our leaders to lead. But as citizens, we shouldn't simply sit back and hope that politicians stand up to the test. We can participate in the political process, advocating for policies that will benefit the health, education and well-being of young Americans, because we must do a better job of preparing our youth to lead. It is daunting to think about solving such a widespread crisis. But there are youth-serving organizations that can and do play a key role in effecting positive change -- places such as Boys & Girls Clubs, with a long track record of helping young people turn things around, get an education, lead healthy lives and become effective leaders. I know, because I was one of those kids. Club staff taught me right from wrong and made the lesson stick. They planted the seeds early on that led me to envision myself as a high school graduate, a college graduate and an achiever in whatever field I chose. Boys & Girls Clubs do this today for millions of kids, offering everything from homework help to career exploration, performing a daily miracle that turns hope into opportunity. Urging children and the adults in their lives to "Be Great," these clubs communicate the idea that there is potential for greatness in every child. This powerful call to action reminds us that we can all play a role in helping youth realize their dreams. So I ask you to join me in this effort. There are many ways to help: • Volunteering at a local youth organization. • Leading by example. • Donating to charities that make a difference. In partnership with government, schools, community leaders and parents, we can create a network and culture in which everyone embraces the importance of a positive future for our youth. But right now, with Election Day fast approaching, ask your local, state and national candidates what they are doing to help our young people become tomorrow's leaders. Ask them to make children a top priority and tell them that you hold them accountable. If we all become advocates | [
"What does Denzel Washington thing is a key priority",
"What does the Boys and Girls Clubs do",
"what Denzel washington says?",
"what voters need?",
"what washington says?",
"What are the issues according to Washington"
] | [
[
"America's leaders need to pay attention to the crisis affecting our children."
],
[
"offering everything from homework help to career exploration,"
],
[
"America's leaders need to pay attention to the crisis affecting our children."
],
[
"to pay attention to the crisis affecting our children."
],
[
"America's leaders need to pay attention to the crisis affecting our children."
],
[
"the crisis affecting our children."
]
] | Denzel Washington: In a year of many issues, children are key priority .
Washington: Voters need to hold politicians accountable for helping young people .
Education, crime, obesity are all issues relating to youth, Washington says .
There are many ways to help, including Boys & Girls Clubs, he says . |
Editor's note: "Glenn Beck" is on Headline News nightly at 7 and 9 ET. Glenn Beck says to always question conventional wisdom. NEW YORK (CNN) -- "The people who survived the Great Depression were the ones who had money to buy when everybody else was selling." -- My grandfather I learned a lot from my grandfather, but that might have been the greatest lesson he ever taught me. He wasn't just talking about managing money, he was talking about managing life -- and his words have stuck with me since I was a child. A few years back, I was taking a theology course and the professor recommended only the books whose authors he agreed with. I read those books, but I also asked that professor which books he thought had it completely wrong -- and I read those too. Then I made up my own mind. After all, following the herd is fine until they all run off the side of a cliff together. Less than a year ago, a recession was the last thing on anyone's mind. In fact, over the summer, as I was questioning the conventional wisdom, I read an article on my television show that quoted a financial expert as saying, "It is the strongest global market that we've seen in the history of measuring these things." That's when I realized how fast the herd was approaching the cliff. But with predictions of a recession now more common than Fed rate cuts -- and that's saying something -- maybe now it's time to look at a worst-case scenario. After all, considering all sides of an issue, no matter how extreme they may be, doesn't make you a crazy person; it makes you an educated one. So to understand what a real meltdown could look like, I turned to Nouriel Roubini, chairman of RGE Monitor and professor of economics at New York University's Stern School of Business. He's also a former adviser to the U.S. Treasury Department. Professor Roubini recently laid out what he called the "12 steps to financial disaster." Unfortunately, they were really complicated, and I have severe ADD, so I've boiled them down into five phases that even a rodeo clown like me can understand. I think of these like our military's "DEFCON" -- or defense readiness condition -- scale, except that this countdown could end in the meltdown of your bank account: • DEFCONOMY FIVE How you'll know we're here: The housing downturn turns into a free fall, making it the worst collapse in our country's history. That not only triggers massive numbers of foreclosures and lost household wealth, but it also sets off another large wave of bank write-downs. Odds we get here: Roubini told me that it's "extremely likely, even unavoidable" that we hit this stage because "the excess supply of new homes in the market is like we've never seen before." Prices, he believes, "need to fall another 10 to 20 percent before that clears." • DEFCONOMY FOUR How you'll know we're here: Americans upside-down on their mortgages and unable to pay their home equity loans begin defaulting on other debt, like credit cards, car loans and student loans. In addition, bond insurance companies lose their perfect credit ratings, forcing already troubled banks to write down another $150 billion. Odds we get here: High. Roubini says that 8 million households are already upside-down on their mortgages and he thinks we could see that number go to between 16 million and 24 million by the end of 2009. A lot of those people, he believes, will simply walk away from their homes and send their keys back to the bank. • DEFCONOMY THREE How you'll know we're here: Some banks begin to crack under the pressure of continuing write-downs and mounting defaults by consumers. A national or large regional bank finally collapses, triggering hedge fund failures and general chaos on Wall Street, potentially leading to a 1987-style market crash. | [
"What kind of scale was laid out?",
"what did glen say",
"What is the DEFCONOMY scale?"
] | [
[
"\"12 steps to financial disaster.\""
],
[
"\"The people who survived the Great Depression were the ones who had money to buy when everybody else was selling.\""
],
[
"defense readiness condition"
]
] | Glenn Beck lays out the DEFCONOMY scale .
Beck ponders: Will the economy collapse into "The Greater Depression"?
"Maybe now it's time to look at a worst-case scenario," he says .
Then again, maybe not: Be prepared is the key . |
Editor's note: A gunman killed 10 people and himself Tuesday in southern Alabama. It's the most recent example of mass killing sprees that have traumatized communities over the years. Here's how one city responded. In the worst mass shooting in the U.S. at the time, a gunman killed 23 customers in a Texas cafeteria in 1991. (CNN) -- On October 16, 1991, 35-year-old George Hennard drove a pickup truck into Luby's cafeteria in Killeen, Texas, and fatally shot 23 people and wounded more than 20 before killing himself. For more than 15 years, the city next to the sprawling Fort Hood military base had the dubious distinction of being the site of the deadliest mass shooting in the United States -- until a student killed 32 people and himself at Virginia Tech in 2007. "You can never prepare for an incident like this," says Killeen city councilman Fred Latham, who was mayor pro tem of the city, which had a population of about 66,000 at the time of the shooting. But Killeen's experience shows a city can survive the grief, pain and stigma of such an incident. About 80 people were in the cafeteria, many of them taking their bosses to lunch for National Bosses Day when Hennard arrived. He methodically chose his victims, most of whom were women, before he was wounded by police and shot himself. Latham, who is 60 and a real estate broker, has been on the city council off and on for 16 years. He spoke to CNN.com Wednesday. CNN: What are your memories of that day in October? Latham: It was a tragic day in our history, Many of the people who were killed or injured I personally knew. It was just a big shock that anything like that could ever happen in our community. CNN: Where were you when it happened? Latham: I was with the mayor and the Waco city engineer, looking at potential road improvements and we just happened to be driving near where Luby's was, and we saw some roadblocks being set up and we knew something terrible had happened. There were police cars and barricades and you had the sense that something was wrong. CNN: What are your memories of the days after the shooting? Latham: The community came together as far as trying to help resolve the issues with the people who were victims or their families who were trying to get through it. There were a lot of human resource agencies that came, American Red Cross, a lot of counselors. It was just overwhelming. I think the phones into Killeen were jammed from people all over the country trying to check on their family members. Luby's was the kind of place that would attract any kind of person. That was Bosses Day that particular day, so you had a lot of extra business there, I'm sure. And many of the people were in our school district. Our school district is one of the biggest employers in the region. So when you had administrators or people in that administration office killed, they're going to be known by many, many people. The commanding general at Fort Hood sent in helicopters and all kinds of extra assistance that might be needed. ...Fort Hood is the major employer in the area. At that time there were some 42,000 assigned troops there and some soldiers were actually killed. You can never prepare for an incident like this from somebody that just goes off. How they pick a destination you don't know. This person drove all the way from Belton, which is about 16 miles to our east. He wasn't a Killeen resident, so how he picked Luby's you don't know. He actually drove through the front window and the people that were in the restaurant thought maybe he had an accident where you try to apply the brakes and hit the gas pedal. .... When he came out shooting, the people were kind of trapped. I was proud of our community as to how they handled the situation and overcame all the adversity. Everybody was concerned about the welfare of the families and the | [
"Who said you can never prepare for an incident like the one in Kileen, Texas?",
"What was the gunman's death toll?",
"Who was the gunman in Killeen?",
"When did the gunman drive into a cafeteria?",
"Number of people killed in the massacre?",
"What year did a gunman drive a pickup into a cafeteria?",
"What town did this occur in?",
"What occurred in Killeen, Texas?"
] | [
[
"Fred Latham,"
],
[
"10 people and himself"
],
[
"George Hennard"
],
[
"October 16, 1991,"
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[
"10"
],
[
"1991."
],
[
"Killeen, Texas,"
],
[
"George Hennard drove a pickup truck into Luby's cafeteria"
]
] | Fred Latham: "You can never prepare" for an incident like the one in Killeen, Texas .
In 1991, a gunman drove a pickup into a cafeteria and killed 23 people .
Latham says the city raised money for victims and bounced back .
Latham: Communities are resilient but they will never forget what happened . |
Editor's note: A nationally syndicated columnist, Roland S. Martin is the author of "Listening to the Spirit Within: 50 Perspectives on Faith" and "Speak, Brother! A Black Man's View of America." Visit his Web site for more information.
Roland S. Martin says Sasha Obama is from a generation raised in a diverse world and open to possibility.
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- There are so many things that we could take away and remember forever regarding the inauguration of the first African-American president in the history of the United States, but I'll always remember the laughter of a little girl.
Shortly after President-elect Barack Obama finished the oath and became President Barack Obama, he joined hands with his family and waved to the cheering voices of 1.8 million people packed from the Capitol to the Lincoln Memorial.
People cried, others hugged, celebrities and everyday folks snapped photos to capture the moment.
There really was an amazing energy that permeated the crowd as we all witnessed a barrier come tumbling down before our eyes.
But what stood out for me was a moment when President Obama looked down at his 7-year-old daughter, Sasha, and she said something to him, and then let out this huge laugh.
I don't know whether it was her statement or his response, but the bubbly child was having the time of her life. The sheer joy that was on her face as she grinned from ear to ear caused me to just start laughing as I watched her reaction.
I was shooting photos from the CNN platform just across from where he spoke, and one of the many images was of a beaming Sasha alongside her mom and 10-year-old sister, Malia.
Can you imagine what was going through this young girl's mind, to see her father stand there and take the oath of office?
As I saw her that day, and later bouncing along a sidewalk as she walked with her father, my niece Anastacia came to mind. Their smiles and bouncy walk are so much alike, and both are the same age.
These young girls, and countless other black children, among others, will grow up in an America where what they can imagine is backed up by what they see. Despite the reality that racism hasn't left us, these children have the advantage of not being burdened with being separated by race.
So much has been written about today's generation living in a world where hip-hop music brought them all together in one room, coupled with the diverse images on television and movies. Their reality is not the reality of their parents, and we will see that play out a lot in the future.
What also is most compelling about this age of Obama is how he has been received thus far internationally. Many political experts are simply stunned that a man who has only been on the national stage for five years would have so much good will across the pond.
Of course, a lot of that has to do with the fact that President George W. Bush and his team were seen as running roughshod over their international partners, praising them when they needed something, and savaging them when they disagreed with the U.S. position.
Yet what we also can't ignore is that Obama's skin tone also plays a central role. Americans may be shocked to find out that people of color make up two-thirds of the world population.
They know all too well about America's pathetic and violent history of enslaving and later oppressing African-Americans, and it was always seen as ridiculous for U.S. officials to condemn human rights abuses abroad while racial and other forms of discrimination existed in their own backyard.
Obama's election sends a powerful signal to the world that Americans are backing up their rhetoric and ideals with action, and Obama serves as that powerful symbol.
Barack Hussein Obama now has the opportunity to show those who voted for him -- and those who didn't -- that the change he often spoke about can come to pass.
If he is able to fulfill many of the promises he made during the campaign, | [
"who is growing in a world of diversity?",
"Where were the Obamas born?",
"Who is Sasha Obama?",
"WHo took the oath?"
] | [
[
"Sasha Obama"
],
[
"America"
],
[
"his 7-year-old daughter,"
],
[
"Barack Obama"
]
] | Roland Martin: Sasha Obama laughed joyously after her father took the oath .
He says her generation won't have the same racial burden as its parents .
Martin: Sasha is growing up in a world of diversity, with great possibilities .
Martin: In a diverse world, Obama's skin tone strengthens America . |
Editor's note: A nationally syndicated columnist, Roland S. Martin is the author of "Listening to the Spirit Within: 50 Perspectives on Faith" and "Speak, Brother! A Black Man's View of America." Visit his Web site for more information. He is host of "No Bias, No Bull" at 8 p.m. ET on CNN while Campbell Brown is on maternity leave. Roland Martin says Michael Vick has served his sentence and should be allowed back on the field. (CNN) -- When Michael Vick completes home confinement in July, he will have served the 23-month prison sentence imposed after he pleaded guilty to federal dogfighting charges. After his release from a Kansas prison Wednesday, he headed to his home in Virginia to serve the final two months under home confinement, because all the beds at halfway houses in the area are taken. But that hasn't deterred the Vick haters who are still in an uproar over the heinous details of his dogfighting kennel. Yes, reading the details of the treatment of the dogs, including the killing of some of them, could make anyone sick. Yet what's the point of sentencing someone to jail, then having them serve their time and be released if we still want to imprison them for the rest of their lives? Frankly, I'm sick of Americans who talk all day about "do the crime, then do the time," then still want to treat a man like a criminal when he gets out of prison. This doesn't just apply to Michael Vick. Look at all the individuals who are sent to prison, get out and then can't find a job. Why? Because they have the Scarlet Letter on their record, which is a big fat "F" for felon. Don't think I'm looking for any sympathy for someone who goes to jail. I firmly believe that you deserve all that you get for breaking the law. But listening to some of these zealots go on and on and on about Vick needing to continue to be punished is ridiculous! The judge in Vick's case has imposed a number of restrictions. One of them is that he can't ever own a dog again. OK, gotcha. But to say the man shouldn't be allowed to play in the NFL is D-U-M-B. The crimes of which he was convicted had nothing to do with playing sports. Remember Wall Street star Michael Milken? When he was sent to jail for securities fraud, he was banned from working on Wall Street again. I get that. He was an insider and allowing him back into the financial game would have been atrocious. I get it when someone is convicted of molesting children that they can't live within a certain distance of a school or be left alone around children when released. But there is nothing related to Vick's crime that says he should not be allowed to play professional football. What is particularly galling is that, right now, you have any number of football players who have beaten people -- including their wives and girlfriends -- served time for drunk driving or committed other crimes, yet they have resumed their careers. The same goes for teachers, radio and television broadcasters, politicians and others. So is this any different because it involved dogs? Are we to say that the horrible treatment of dogs is vastly different than mistreatment of human beings? The critics will likely say, "These men are role models. Kids look up to them. They should have no business on the field." Yet some of these same kids are living with fathers and mothers who are felons. So are we supposed to remove them from the home as well? Enough with the public bullying. Vick was sentenced and served his time. And now he's gotten out. If you want to be angry with him, fine. But please, cut the sanctimonious crap. He deserves to make amends and get on with his life. If you were in his shoes, you would want to do the same. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Roland | [
"Roland Martin said by July, who will have finished his 23-month sentence?",
"When will Vick's sentence finish?",
"How long was the sentence?",
"What did Roland Martin say?",
"Which month does Michael Vick's sentence end?",
"Who argues that Vick shouldn't be allowed to play?",
"Who said that Vick should be able to work productively?",
"How long was Michael Vick's sentence?"
] | [
[
"Michael Vick"
],
[
"July,"
],
[
"23-month"
],
[
"Michael Vick has served his sentence and should be allowed back on the field."
],
[
"July,"
],
[
"The judge"
],
[
"Roland Martin"
],
[
"23-month prison"
]
] | Roland Martin: Sasha Obama laughed joyously after her father took the oath .
He says her generation won't have the same racial burden as its parents .
Martin: Sasha is growing up in a world of diversity, with great possibilities .
Martin: In a diverse world, Obama's skin tone strengthens America . |
Editor's note: A nationally syndicated columnist, Roland S. Martin is the author of "Listening to the Spirit Within: 50 Perspectives on Faith" and "Speak, Brother! A Black Man's View of America." Visit his Web site for more information. Roland Martin says men are harming their health by their reluctance to go to the doctor. (CNN) -- A couple of years ago, my dad told me that he had a cataract in his eye and could barely see out of it and that he needed to get it fixed. "Cool. Go to the doctor and get it taken care of," I said. "I will," he replied. One month became three; three months turned into six months; and a year later and numerous calls later by a ticked-off son, he still had not gone to the doctor. So one morning, when I was hosting the 6 to 9 a.m. talk show shift on WVON-AM in Chicago, Illinois, I told my producer, Geneen Harston, to call my dad, but don't tell him he'll be on the air. When the commercials ended, I pulled him up on the air and asked, "So, dad, have you made that doctor's appointment?" He started to laugh and said that he had done so the day before and that he was seeing the doctor later in the week. Luckily, he followed through, and they discovered that he had another one growing in the other eye. Both eyes were taken care of, and all has been well since. Yet what ticked me off was that here was a guy with insurance, a son who could pay for the bill even if he didn't, but he still refused to go to the doctor! Watch Roland's commentary segment » My dad's story is all too common to a lot of you who must deal with fathers, brothers, uncles, husbands and male cousins, church members and co-workers, who are obstinate and absolutely refuse to go to the doctor. "Oh, I'll be fine." "I can handle the pain." "I don't want a doctor poking on me." "If it's bad, I'm sure it would hurt worse." All typical responses, and all pretty dumb. Yes, it's true that women all around the globe have outlived men for years. In the United States, the life expectancy for men is 74 and for women is 80. Yet when that is broken down racially, there is a huge gap between whites, blacks, Hispanics and Asians. Men are dying earlier due to prostate cancer, heart disease, stroke and other maladies, and their actions play a large role in it. Black men in particular drive me nuts. I've heard several mention that their aversion to doctors stems from the Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment, the study conducted between 1932 and 1972 that monitored black sharecroppers who were infected with the disease but didn't treat them, much less inform them that they had it. That program by the U.S. Public Health Service was hideous but shouldn't be used as an excuse today. Men can no longer be so hard-headed about their health. I've given speeches on this issue and told married women that they should say, "no doctor's visit, no sex." That'll get his attention! We all love the men in our lives. But being silent means we are aiding them in their health dilemma, and that's wrong. If it means lovingly reminding, fine. If you have to badger them, whatever. Just like Dad told us to eat our vegetables when were kids, saying we'll be better off as adults because of it, we should tell Dad or any other man to stop acting like a child and go see the doc. It really could save their life. The opinions expressed in this column are solely those of Roland Martin. | [
"What does Martin say about men's life expectancy?",
"What do black men cite?",
"What makes no sense?",
"What does Roland Martin say?",
"What do men have?",
"What did Roland Martin say?"
] | [
[
"are dying earlier"
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] | Roland Martin: Sasha Obama laughed joyously after her father took the oath .
He says her generation won't have the same racial burden as its parents .
Martin: Sasha is growing up in a world of diversity, with great possibilities .
Martin: In a diverse world, Obama's skin tone strengthens America . |
Editor's note: A nationally syndicated columnist, Roland S. Martin is the author of "Listening to the Spirit Within: 50 Perspectives on Faith" and "Speak, Brother! A Black Man's View of America." Visit his Web site for more information. Roland S. Martin says it's time to get over the fact that baseball turned a blind eye to steroid use. (CNN) -- I loved baseball as a kid. I still have fond memories of my siblings and me, members of the "Astro Buddies" club, heading to the Astrodome, the eighth wonder of the world, to watch the Houston Astros play. I played the game in elementary and high school. But now, I'm sick of it, especially when steroids are brought up. The latest baseball drama surrounds a New York Times report quoting two lawyers who say that former Chicago Cubs slugger Sammy Sosa's name was on a list of players who tested positive for an illegal substance in 2003. The list supposedly contains more than 100 names of players who tested positive that year. This report comes on the heels of Alex Rodriguez of the New York Yankees admitting that he used performance-enhancing drugs a few years ago; Manny Ramirez testing positive and suspended for 50 games; and the continuing drama surrounding Roger Clemens. All three were considered locks for the Hall of Fame. But based on what we keep hearing, that'll never happen in this holier-than-thou era. OK, got it. Baseball had a terrible drug problem. Now they have a drug testing plan in place that has some teeth in it. So, can we just move the hell on? Seriously, I'm tired of rehashing the drama. As a sports enthusiast, I would love nothing better than to think that athletes in baseball, football, basketball or any other sport are as pure as heroes from yesteryear. But cheating is cheating. It has been around from Day One, and if a player thinks he can get an edge, well, it's a good bet some will try to get it. Sosa has always been suspected of using drugs, but now that two lawyers say they saw his name on the infamous sheet, he has gone, according to Rick Telander's column in the Chicago Sun-Times, "from hero to zero." But you know what? I don't care. Can we just all accept the fact that all of baseball -- players, management, owners, the unions -- turned a blind eye to performance-enhancing drugs ravaging the sport? And they did so because baseball was on its way to being comparable to the National Hockey League or soccer in the U.S. -- irrelevant to sports fans. After the strike in 1994 wiped out the World Series, fans were angry and didn't give a lick about the sport. But then came 1998 and the home-run derby put on by St. Louis Cardinal Mark McGwire and Sosa, both trying to break the record of 61 homers in a year set by Roger Maris of the New York Yankees. Fans were riveted by the hitting prowess of the two, and people were following their every at-bat. I was working at KRLD-AM in Dallas, Texas, that summer, and we would break into programming to broadcast the call of their at-bats when they were about to break the record. Yea, everyone had Sosa-McGwire fever. Baseball became relevant again. The players redeemed themselves, management was happy to say they worked for the sport, and the owners were delirious because the money came rolling in. So there we have it. All of baseball pulled a Robert Johnson, as in the legend of the classic blues singer who supposedly got his gift for music by making a pact with the devil. Or maybe more like Judas. The sport turned in its integrity for a few pieces of silver. Let's just accept this as a fact, acknowledge those were the dark days and move on. It's just tiring to keep going back to what happened then. It's done. It | [
"It is time to turn the page on what?",
"What is the name of the person who says there is a problem?",
"What type of problem does baseball have?",
"What did Baseball have according to Martin?",
"Who raced to break the home run record?",
"Who raced to break home-run record?"
] | [
[
"steroid use."
],
[
"Roland S. Martin"
],
[
"terrible drug"
],
[
"steroid use."
],
[
"Mark McGwire"
],
[
"Mark McGwire and Sosa,"
]
] | Roland Martin: Sasha Obama laughed joyously after her father took the oath .
He says her generation won't have the same racial burden as its parents .
Martin: Sasha is growing up in a world of diversity, with great possibilities .
Martin: In a diverse world, Obama's skin tone strengthens America . |
Editor's note: A nationally syndicated columnist, Roland S. Martin is the author of the forthcoming book, "The First: President Barack Obama's Road to the White House as originally reported by Roland S. Martin" and of two other books, "Listening to the Spirit Within: 50 Perspectives on Faith" and "Speak, Brother! A Black Man's View of America." Visit his Web site for more information. Roland Martin says conservative critics are wrong to chortle at the defeat of the Chicago Olympic bid. (CNN) -- Whenever President Obama has traveled overseas and offered pointed and direct assessments of the United States, some of them critical, Republicans have ripped him for criticizing America, saying a president should always defend the United States. So I want to hear the explanation by these so-called patriots of their giddy behavior over the United States losing the 2016 Olympic Games. Yes, the United States. The bid that was rejected Friday by the International Olympic Committee was not a Chicago, Illinois, bid. It was the official bid submitted by the United States Olympic Committee and was representative of the nation. Tokyo's bid was that of Japan; Madrid's was that of Spain; and Rio de Janeiro's was that of Brazil. Republicans want to spin the decision as a massive loss by President Obama and the Democrats who have always controlled Chicago politics. "Hahahahaha," wrote Erick Erickson on the conservative "RedState" blog, "I thought the world would love us more now that Bush was gone." What the critics don't see is that Obama's loss on the Olympics is America's loss. Any red-blooded American who loves to see the American flag raised and the national anthem played when one of our own wins a gold medal should blast the Republicans' giddiness over the loss. I can recall crying along with millions of Americans when our hockey team beat the Russians and won the hockey gold in 1980. Where were those games? Lake Placid, New York. Euphoria spread all across the nation, not only because we beat the mighty Russians, but also because it took place on American soil. When Carl Lewis and Mary Lou Retton dominated the 1984 Olympic Games, we all beamed with pride because they represented the United States on American soil in Los Angeles, California. And when Michael Johnson stormed around the track to obliterate the world record in the 200-meter dash (since broken by Jamaica's Usain Bolt), we relished the win as he took a victory lap around the stadium in Atlanta, Georgia. Americans love home field advantage, and we always desire to show the rest of the world what we are made of. I don't care if Republicans want to rip President Obama over going to Copenhagen, Denmark, to pitch for the games. This isn't about politics. It's not about ideology. This is about America. OUR pride. Our chance to shine. Our loss of the games. So, to all the critics happy about us losing the 2016 games, turn in your flag lapel pins and stop boasting of being so patriotic. When an American city loses, like New York did in the the last go-round, we all lose. And all you critics are on the same level as the America haters all across the world. You should be shouted down for not backing your own country. The next time any of you bang out a press release about "Buy American" or "Support our troops," remember this moment when your cynical, callous and small-minded brains happily rejoiced when America lost the 2016 Olympic Games. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Roland Martin. | [
"Who is applauding the defeat?",
"What did he say about conservatives?",
"What did Roland Martin say?",
"Who did Roland Martin say the bid was made for?",
"What does he say conservatives boast about?"
] | [
[
"conservative critics"
],
[
"critics are wrong to chortle at the defeat of the Chicago Olympic bid."
],
[
"conservative critics are wrong to chortle at the defeat of the Chicago Olympic bid."
],
[
"Chicago"
],
[
"defeat of the Chicago Olympic bid."
]
] | Roland Martin: The Chicago bid was made on behalf of the whole country .
He says conservatives boast of being patriots but are applauding a U.S. defeat .
He says Americans love to cheer on their Olympic athletes on home soil . |
Editor's note: Abigail Thernstrom is the author of "Voting Rights -- and Wrongs: The Elusive Quest for Racially Fair Elections," published last month by AEI Press. She is the vice-chairwoman of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights and an adjunct scholar at the American Enterprise Institute. Her writing can be found at http://www.thernstrom.com/. Abigail Thernstrom says an impressive biography isn't a qualification for the Supreme Court. (CNN) -- Judge Sonia Sotomayor is all but certain to be confirmed as an associate justice on the Supreme Court. It is close to unimaginable that the Republicans will peel off enough Democratic votes to stop Senate confirmation. She's a first: a Latina. And she has an impressive life history: Raised in a housing project by a single mother, she went to Princeton and then to Yale Law School. It's a classic American overcoming-the-odds story, but, while admirable, it is not a qualification for the highest court in the land. Democrats themselves have often implicitly made the same point -- about other minority appointees, in fact. They never saw the much humbler origins of Justice Clarence Thomas as an argument for his elevation to the Court. And they used a filibuster to stop Bush appointee Miguel Estrada from getting a seat on the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, which they feared would be a springboard to the Supreme Court. Estrada is a Honduran who arrived in America at age 17 with only limited command of English; he was also raised by a single mother and made it to Harvard Law School, where he was editor of the law review. Supporters of Sotomayor argue that she will add needed "diversity" to the Court. Yet, with her confirmation, there will be six Catholics, two Jews and one Protestant. For many Americans, religious affiliation is more important in defining an individual than race or ethnicity. But no one is complaining about "too many" Catholics or Jews -- thankfully. America is supposed to be a land in which individuals are seen as ... individuals. Too many, too few: that is the language of un-American quotas. Sotomayor has suggested that race and ethnicity, to a substantial degree, define individuals. "Whether born from experience or inherent physiological or cultural differences ... our gender and national origins may and will make a difference in our judging," she said in a 2001 speech. At her confirmation hearings, she will undoubtedly dance away from such ethnic determinism. But it would appear to be what she believes, since she has reiterated the point several times in different venues. Her supporters also emphasize the "empathy" she would bring to the court. It is a quality the president promised he would look for in making court appointments. In a July 2007 campaign speech, he said, "We need somebody who's got the heart -- the empathy -- to recognize what it's like to be a young teenage mom. The empathy to understand what it's like to be poor or African-American or gay or disabled or old, and that's the criteria by which I'll be selecting my judges." Evidently, however, not all impoverished backgrounds leave you empathetic. The proof is in the pudding, and the pudding appears to be party membership. By definition, conservatives are assumed to lack empathy. As Berkeley professor George Lakoff has argued, "Empathy is at the heart of progressive thought. ... Progressives care about others as well as themselves." And, by implication, conservatives don't. Empathy has thus become a code word for progressive politics -- the likelihood that, as a justice, the nominee will take politically liberal positions. Public policy preferences driving Supreme Court decisions? What a shock. Some justices have much more respect for the law than others, but if the opinions were not often judgments driven by political values as well, they would be less predictable. Most court-watchers thought (correctly, as it turned out) that the recent New Haven firefighters' case would come down four-four, with only Justice Anthony Kennedy's vote hard to call. | [
"What is Thernstrom concerned about?",
"What type of nominations are they talking about?",
"Who's empathy is code word for one brand of politics?",
"Who is Abigail Thernstrom?"
] | [
[
"an impressive biography isn't a qualification for the Supreme Court."
],
[
"associate justice on the Supreme Court."
],
[
"George Lakoff"
],
[
"author of \"Voting Rights"
]
] | Abigail Thernstrom: Sonia Sotomayor's life story is a compelling one .
She says Democrats haven't honored such humble beginnings in GOP nominees .
She says Sotomayor's "empathy" may be code word for one brand of politics .
Thernstrom: I'm concerned that judge may have more fidelity to activism than to law . |
Editor's note: Akbar Ganji is a leading Iranian dissident and pro-democracy activist. He served a six-year sentence in Tehran's Evin prison for his reporting on human rights abuses in Iran. The London-based human rights organization, Article 19, has described Ganji as the "Iranian Vaclav Havel" and he has received more than a dozen human rights, press freedom and pro-democracy awards. He is the author of "The Road to Democracy in Iran" (MIT Press, 2008). Akbar Ganji says Iran's leaders should be held to account for denying its citizens their liberties. (CNN) -- This week world leaders will gather in New York for the annual meeting of the U.N. General Assembly. While Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will be among them, Iranians reject his claim to leadership. They strongly oppose any meeting or recognition of Ahmadinejad, especially by President Obama. The pro-democracy movement in Iran today unanimously believes that he enjoys his current position because he was "reappointed" president after stealing several million votes in June 12 presidential election. Popular protests against this state of affairs have been met with bullets from the Iranian regime. Thousands were arrested and dozens were killed. Opposition supporters have been tortured in jail and credible reports of rape have surfaced. In recent years the Western media has not focused on the systematic human rights violations in Iran but rather on Iran's nuclear ambitions and Ahmadinejad's rhetoric toward Israel and the Nazi Holocaust. Iranians are deeply upset by the general inattentiveness of the media and world leaders to their political protests. If you listen to the democratic voices of Iranians and leaders of Iran's Green Movement there is a unanimous view that Ahmadinejad's policies have severely undermined Iranian national interests and he has inadvertently better served the interests of Israel. Although the regime has been able to reassert control due to severe repression recent events have led to important social transformations in Iran. Today there are many prominent names publicly opposing the Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei. Many open letters have been circulated that for the first time directly criticize him. U.S. policy under Obama has also played a constructive role. The absence of military threats and new economic sanctions has given democracy activists more room to maneuver, posing new challenges to the regime. In order to deal with this internal crisis Khamenei's only option is to shift attention to Iran's relationship with the outside world -- the United States in particular. By increasing verbal attacks on the West and exacerbating regional conflicts he hopes to draw the attention of both Iranians and the world away from the systematic violations of human rights in Iran. Iran's nuclear ambitions should not be considered the primary weak point for the regime. To a limited extent Khamenei and his disciples can manipulate the nationalist sentiment of Iranians around this issue. The Achilles heel for the regime today is the widespread and systematic violations of human rights against it own people. Greater exposure and scrutiny of this key issue will generate more popular discontent toward the leaders of Iran. Khamenei cannot maintain regime loyalty or acquiescence in the face of these massive human rights violations. It is precisely these organized repressive measures that the International Criminal Court, in other contexts, has called "crimes against humanity." Although Iran, like the United States and Israel, are not members of the ICC, charges can be brought against the Iranian regime via the U.N. Security Council -- similar to the process that led to the arrest warrant for Omar Al Bashir, the leader of Sudan. We in the Iranian human rights movement can document, with certification from a team of international lawyers, that leaders of the Iranian regime are guilty of crimes against humanity under Article 7 of the Rome Statute that established the ICC. Today, the people of Iran are in need of the moral and spiritual support from people around the world. In the current circumstances the most important form of support would be to assist with the campaign of charging the leaders of Iran with "crimes against humanity" and to help disseminate this initiative so that it becomes the main avenue of engagement with Iran by the international community. We are seeking to place this | [
"Who did Iranians reject",
"Who was rejected to represent Iran?",
"According to Ganji, who should be charged in court?",
"Where will U.N. General Assembly meet?",
"What are world leaders gathering for?",
"What court will hear the charges?"
] | [
[
"President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad"
],
[
"Ahmadinejad,"
],
[
"Iran's leaders"
],
[
"New York"
],
[
"the annual meeting of the U.N. General Assembly."
],
[
"International Criminal"
]
] | Akbar Ganji: World leaders gathering for U.N. General Assembly .
He says Iranians reject Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's claim to represent them .
He says the U.S., other nations, should avoid any recognition of Ahmadinejad .
Ganji: Charges should be brought against regime in international court . |
Editor's note: Alejandra Lopez-Fernandini is a senior policy analyst in the Asset Building Program at the New America Foundation, a Washington-based think tank that seeks innovative solutions across the political spectrum. Alejandra Lopez-Fernandini says Americans have no choice but to increase the amount they save. WASHINGTON (CNN) -- As the economy slows, millions of Americans will cut their budgets to stay afloat. This generates conflicting impulses: If I skip that morning coffee and granola, will my thriftiness put my local coffee shop out of business? Will that force America's granola farmers to lay off workers? What's a budget-conscious, patriotic and hungry girl to do? Not to worry, saving a few dollars now will not prolong the recession. And, more important, spending all your discretionary income will not end the recession. It's true that John Maynard Keynes' "Paradox of Thrift" suggests that, even while saving is beneficial to an individual, too much aggregate savings could deepen an ordinary recession. But in these extraordinary times, where banks and not just businesses are in desperate need of cash, this economic rule may not fully hold. More important, individuals need savings to be prepared for unanticipated expenses and income losses, especially now. The reality is that there is no bailout coming to you. And those getting the bailout might not be willing to lend to you, anyway. So now is the time to save. The money you save is your own personal safety net, what you tap when you have an unanticipated expense like a car repair or when you're between jobs, as many Americans find themselves nowadays. The past decade has seen Americans saving at historically low levels; we've substituted plastic for the piggy bank. But the days of cheap and easy access to credit have come and gone. We all need to save not because we want to but because we have to. For decades, our country's economy has flourished, but it relied too heavily on debt-driven consumer spending to power its growth. Excessive household debt, coupled with stagnating incomes and little to no personal savings, now places America in a precarious position. Compared with the 19 other major industrialized economies, the United States ranks dead last for personal savings. That's right, in 2003, the United States was the least thrifty nation among the G-20. Why is it important that we save more as a nation? Savings offers us the protection we need to make it through hard or uncertain times and to pay for important future needs such as a home, education or adequate retirement. Savings also creates pools of capital for investment purposes (who will fund the next neighborhood coffee shop?) and to keep interest rates low. It appears the current recession has scared us back to saving; we are no longer spending all of our disposable income. To ensure that the hopeful trend continues, government and employers should adopt a new generation of savings policies that are both innovative and simple. Common sense, along with research from the emerging field of behavioral economics, tells us why we aren't saving more already: 1) We like instant gratification Whether it's iPhones or our paychecks, we want everything, and we want it now. We are so short-term-oriented that many of us would rather have a fatter paycheck now than set aside some of that happiness, even if the funds will be greater in the future. 2) We tend to procrastinate Once we start something (or fail to start something), it's really hard to change course. And we'd prefer a hassle-free world. Who doesn't, right? When it's hard just to figure out how to start saving, most people won't. However, the flip side is that when it's easy to start saving, a lot more people will. Think about current retirement savings. How many of us would open an account and make regular deposits if an employer didn't take it right out of our paychecks? When it comes to savings, we need someone to | [
"who saves less than all other big countries?",
"What does Alejandra Lopez-Fernandini believe government should automatically encourage?",
"what should government and firms do?",
"who should automatically encourage saving?",
"what is crisis forcing American families to do?",
"According to Lopez-Fernandini what country saves less than nearly all big countries?"
] | [
[
"United States"
],
[
"increase the amount they save."
],
[
"adopt a new generation of savings policies"
],
[
"government and employers"
],
[
"increase the amount they save."
],
[
"United States"
]
] | Alejandra Lopez-Fernandini: America saves less than nearly all big countries .
She says crisis is forcing an increase in savings by American families .
Lopez-Fernandini: Government, firms should automatically encourage saving .
She says you can designate part of a tax refund to go into a savings account . |
Editor's note: Alvin F. Poussaint, MD, is professor of psychiatry at Judge Baker Children's Center and Harvard Medical School in Boston, and co-author with Bill Cosby of "Come On People: On the Path From Victims to Victors," 2007. Dr. Alvin Poussaint says while we salute King and Obama, there's more work to be done. BOSTON, Massachusetts (CNN) -- Today, one day before the inauguration of the first African-American president, the Martin Luther King Jr. observance hailing civil rights gains will be combined with jubilation over Barack Obama's historic achievement. The festivities this year portend a new direction for the King holiday. On Monday, we salute King-and-Obama. And on Tuesday, we salute Obama-and-King, as the Rev. Joseph Lowery, co-founder of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference with King, gives the benediction after Obama's swearing-in. The events juxtapose two African-American icons in the march toward racial equality. Traditional tributes to King are likely to be overshadowed by Obama's game-changing win; his success, despite racial barriers, mistakenly leads many Americans to believe that King's rallying cries may be outdated. For example, at most celebrations, the "I Have a Dream" speech is highlighted. With the election of Obama, many are saying that we have fulfilled King's dream. So will the "dream" speech be appreciated only as a powerful historical moment rather than a vision for the future? I hope not. But other perspectives may change as well. In stirring oratory, King said he had a dream that one day his four children would be judged not by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. But now, since Obama's accomplishment, scores of people -- including African Americans -- feel we have reached that goal, despite obvious remnants of racial discrimination. In fact, some conservatives are using Obama's success to argue against the need for affirmative action. Similarly, King's oft-quoted words: "I've seen the Promised Land. I may not get there with you ..." will resonate in a different way because of Obama's startling election. I have heard many reports from black people themselves that the president-elect has taken us symbolically to that elusive Promised Land. While Obama's win may have taken the edge off some of King's inspirational rhetoric, it should not lead to complacency in the fight for social justice. There is still much work to be done. Obama's election does not solve the many problems facing the African-American community. We will continue to face disparities in health care, including an infant mortality rate twice as high as whites, and 20 percent of blacks still lack basic health insurance, according to government statistics.. High rates of crime and violence, with homicide as the leading cause of death for young black men, demoralizes black neighborhoods. In many communities, the high school dropout rate exceeds 50 percent. That dropout rate for many is a ticket to prison, where blacks make up nearly 40 percent of inmates, according to the Justice Department. Racial profiling has not ended, and there continue to be horrific incidents of police brutality against blacks. This compounds family stress at a time when federal government data shows 70 percent of black children are born to single mothers and African-American unemployment is twice the rate of whites. These challenges were there before the dramatic economic downturn of recent months; they will get worse if there are no interventions. Obama is doing his share by reinvigorating King's primary theme of helping others by urging Americans' commitment to the King Day of Service, established by Congress in 1994. His emphasis on volunteering is an appropriate extension of King's ultimate mission. People cannot simply have high expectations about what Obama can do for them but must also work as individuals and communities to support his programs to help pull the United States out of its economic and social crises. This January, the link established between the civil rights achievements of King's | [
"According to Alvin Poussant, is Martin Luther King's dream done?",
"Who says we have a long way to go till all races have equal opportunity?",
"Which person says this year's Martin Luther King Jr. Day is special?",
"Who says this year is a special Marin Luther King Day?"
] | [
[
"there's more work"
],
[
"Alvin F. Poussaint,"
],
[
"Dr. Alvin Poussaint"
],
[
"Dr. Alvin Poussaint"
]
] | Alvin Poussaint says this year's Martin Luther King Jr. Day is special .
He says it's a prelude to inauguration of first African-American president .
Poussaint: It's a mistake to think Obama's election means King's dream is done .
He says we still have a long way to go to ensure all races have equal opportunity . |
Editor's note: Ann Curley is the assignment manager for the CNN Medical News unit. She has been a type I diabetic for 40 years. This is her story of life with diabetes.
Ann Curley uses a pump attached to a catheter in her body to monitor glucose levels and administer insulin.
(CNN) -- When I was 7 years old, my mom took me to the doctor because I had lost a lot of weight, despite a voracious appetite.
My family had just moved from the San Francisco Bay Area to Pasadena, California, and this visit to the doctor's office was my introduction to a man who would come to have a huge impact on my life.
His name was Dr. Robert Deputy, and he was the pediatrician who diagnosed me with diabetes. He spoke to me directly, rather than to my mother, and he asked me questions: Did I feel thirsty? Did I need to urinate during the night? The answer to both questions was yes. He asked for a urine sample and the result was immediate. Dr. Deputy told me and my mother that my body wasn't processing sugar properly. I had diabetes.
That is how my 40-year journey with diabetes began. I was checked into a hospital to learn how to test my urine for sugar, give myself injections of insulin, follow a diabetic diet and control my diabetes. I spent several days in the hospital learning how to manage my disease, and then they sent me home.
Dr. Deputy would call our house each afternoon to check on me and see how I was doing. Much to my parents' chagrin -- and to my delight -- he wanted me to be self sufficient and responsible for monitoring myself. I refused to let my parents give me injections or test my urine. This demand for self sufficiency turned out to be one of my best life lessons, and not just for managing my diabetes.
While some diabetics may feel their disease is a burden, I feel that being diagnosed with diabetes was a blessing in disguise. It forced our family to eat healthily, and it taught me about good nutrition -- something I practice every day. I know carbohydrate counts in most foods, and I understand dietary concepts that most people don't even care about.
Being active is also a way to burn off high blood sugar, so when my urine tested positive for glucose, my older sister Robin was in charge of exercising me. We had countless jump-rope contests, bike rides and roller-skating excursions, keeping me and my three sisters active and fit.
And I felt like a little mad scientist, using a test tube with drops of water, urine and fizzy tablets to see if there was sugar in my urine.
Fortunately, over time, technology improved. First, test strips were developed that could be dipped in urine to reveal whether sugar was present in it. But the truth is, testing urine for sugar was a primitive method. By the time sugar gets into the urine, it's a signal that the body doesn't have enough insulin to process sugar.
And the urine test didn't give an actual number for the amount of sugar in the urine. It simply gave a color reading that corresponded with a range of how much sugar was present in the urine. Inaccurate was really an understatement when you talk about urine testing.
Home blood glucose testing kits became available in the early 1980s, and they were a huge move toward precise control and management of diabetes.
With the kit, the diabetic uses a device to poke a finger and produce a drop of blood. The blood is placed on a test strip that fits into a device that produces a reading of the blood glucose within seconds.
While I initially balked at the idea of pricking my finger several times a day, now I can't imagine not doing it in order to monitor what my blood sugar is doing.
The 1980s also saw the advent of the insulin pump. This device is the size of a pager and contains a reservoir filled with insulin. The reservoir connects to a tube that infuses the | [
"When was she diagnosed with type 1 diabetes?",
"Ann Curley suffers from what disease?",
"When did Curley learn that she had diabetes?",
"What did she learn at the age of 7?",
"At what age did she learn that she had diabetes?",
"When did she learn she had diabetes?",
"Where does Ann Curley work?",
"where he was diagnosed Ann Curley?",
"what was the diabetic type for Curley?",
"what did they test dibetes with ?",
"Who is a type 1 diabetic?",
"when did she come to know about diabetes?",
"what tablet was used for testing?",
"What has improved prgnoses?",
"WHat kind of a diaetic is Ann Curley",
"At what age wAs Ann when she found she had diabeties",
"who is diabetic?"
] | [
[
"40 years."
],
[
"diabetes."
],
[
"I was 7 years old,"
],
[
"I had diabetes."
],
[
"7"
],
[
"I was 7 years old,"
],
[
"CNN Medical News unit."
],
[
"Pasadena, California,"
],
[
"I"
],
[
"drops of water, urine and fizzy tablets"
],
[
"Ann Curley"
],
[
"I was 7 years old, my mom took me"
],
[
"fizzy"
],
[
"technology"
],
[
"type"
],
[
"7 years old,"
],
[
"Ann Curley"
]
] | CNN Medical Unit assignment manager Ann Curley is a type I diabetic .
She learned she had diabetes when she was 7 years old .
Testing progressed from fizzy tablets in urine to continuous glucose monitors .
With changes in technology have come improvements in prognoses . |
Editor's note: Annette Gordon-Reed won the 2008 National Book Award for "The Hemingses of Monticello: An American Family." A law professor at New York Law School and a history professor at Rutgers University, she will speak at the dedication of a new visitors center Wednesday at Monticello.
Annette Gordon-Reed says Thomas Jefferson's ideals have been a powerful force in American life.
(CNN) -- Does the legacy of Thomas Jefferson speak to Americans today? Or perhaps we should ask about Jefferson's legacies, for there are many. His fingerprints are everywhere.
Politics, government, race, slavery -- our third president's life and words touch on so many aspects of the nation's journey from rebellious colony to world superpower that it is impossible to understand the country's history without dealing with him in some fashion.
Even today, Jefferson's name is regularly invoked in the news -- the latest example being writers harking back to the forceful action he took against the Barbary pirates 200 years ago.
His soaring language in the Declaration of Independence -- "all men are created equal" and pronouncement of the right to "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness" -- galvanized many during his lifetime. Those words have resonated across the years with diverse groups of Americans seeking to gain full citizenship in the United States. Working-class whites, blacks, women, immigrants, gays -- all have turned to the Declaration as a form of promise, a credo for the nation to live up to.
It is particularly interesting to ponder Jefferson's legacies at this moment in American history. The election of the country's first African-American president has brought an intense focus on America's past, specifically the history of relations between the races. Again, it is not possible to consider that history in any serious way without thinking of Jefferson.
The great and often remarked-upon paradox is that the man who wrote about the equality of all mankind, and who wrote insightfully and forcefully about the evils of slavery, was also a lifelong slave owner in a racially based slave system. He was not alone in this, of course. Some of the most prominent founders -- including four of the first five presidents -- owned slaves, too. All these men, at various points in their lives, claimed to abhor the institution that provided their sustenance.
Jefferson tends to be held to a higher standard on this question largely because he, not George Washington, James Madison or James Monroe, wrote the Declaration of Independence. And, as hard as it may be for some to believe now, he early on developed a reputation as a dangerous radical.
There was his attitude toward religion. Jefferson did not believe in the divinity of Jesus Christ and, to the consternation of many, insisted upon the separation of church and state. There is no doubt that he would enthusiastically endorse President Obama's statement on his recent trip to Turkey that "one of the great strengths of the United States" is that it does not consider itself "a Christian nation or a Jewish nation or a Muslim nation. We consider ourselves a nation of citizens who are bound by ideals and a set of values."
And, of course, there was his politics. Jefferson was, in the eyes of many, a "leveler" bent on destroying all social distinctions; a move that his detractors felt would eventually lead to the breakdown of racial barriers.
Indeed, during the period leading up to the American Civil War, later generations of white Southerners emphatically repudiated Jefferson's Declaration and, in some cases, the man himself. They knew that whether he truly believed those words or not, the ideas embodied in the Declaration mattered greatly.
The logic of Jefferson's words, the conclusions that one could draw from them, could not be contained. They would transcend their original context and find meaning for generations of Americans yet unborn. Those who feared that outcome -- and those who welcomed it -- were right: Jefferson's words have made a profound difference.
Then there is Jefferson's life, more specifically the place where he lived | [
"who is Annette Gordon-Reed?",
"what did Annette Gordon-Reed say"
] | [
[
"A law professor at New York Law School and a history professor at Rutgers University,"
],
[
"Thomas Jefferson's ideals have been a powerful force in American life."
]
] | Annette Gordon-Reed: Thomas Jefferson still relevant today .
She says his words in Declaration of Independence resonate in all kinds of ways .
His affirmation of freedoms coexisted with his ownership of slaves, she says .
She says Monticello is a slave plantation and a place to celebrate Jefferson's ideals . |
Editor's note: Below is an excerpt from Larry King's autobiography, "My Remarkable Journey," published by Weinstein Books and available at bookstores nationwide. Larry King anchors "Larry King Live at 9 p.m. ET on CNN. Larry King recalls a much-needed win at the track during one of the lowest points of his life. I was thirty-seven years old. (In 1971). I had no job. I had a couple hundred thousand dollars in debts. And a four-year-old daughter. I'd take Chaia to our secret park on our visiting days. That's when the pain cut the deepest -- looking at my daughter and knowing I had no way to support her. Things got bleaker and bleaker. I became a recluse. By late May, I was down to forty-two dollars. My rent was paid only until the end of the month. I locked myself in my apartment wondering how bad things could possibly get. Pretty soon I wouldn't even be able to afford cigarettes. I remembered a night when I was a young man in New York, alone, cold, and without cigarettes or the money to buy them -- I had smashed open a vending machine to get a pack. A friend called up and told me to start living like a human being again. He invited me to the track. I had nothing better to do, and I figured it would be good therapy to get out and have lunch with a friend and watch the horses come down the stretch. I'll never forget that day. I put on a Pierre Cardin jeans outfit that had no pockets and drove to Calder Race Course. I can still see the horses warming up before the third race. There was a horse called Lady Forli -- a filly running against males. Normally, female horses don't beat males. We're talking cheap horses. I scanned the board and saw that she was 70-1. But my eyes really opened when I looked at the racing form. Racetrack people talk to each other. So I turned to the guy next to me and said, "You know, this horse, three races back, won in more or less the same company. Why is she 70-1?" "Well," the guy said, "there's a couple of new horses here." "Yeah, but she should be, like, 20-1. Not 70--1." Screw it. I bet ten dollars on the horse to win. But I kept looking at the horse. The more I looked at this horse, the more I liked it. So I bet exactas. I bet Lady Forli on top of every other horse and below every other horse. Now I had what's called a wheel. Larry King's life in pictures » I kept looking at the horse. Wait a minute, I told myself, I've got four dollars left. I have a pack of cigarettes. I've gotta give the valet two bucks. That still leaves me with money to bet a trifecta. My birthday is November 19. Lady Forli was number 11. So I bet 11 to win, 1 to place, and 9 to show. Now I had bets in for 11 on top, 11 on bottom, and 11 to win. And I had a trifecta -- 11-1-9. When the race began, I had two dollars left to my name -- and that was for the valet. They broke out of the gate. The 1 broke on top, the 9 ran second, and the 11 came out third. The 11 passed the 9, passed the 1, and they ran in a straight line all around the track. There was no question about it. The 11 won by five lengths. The 1 was three lengths ahead of the 9. I had every winning ticket. I had it to win. I had the exacta. I had the trifecta. I collected nearly eight thousand dollars. Eight thousand dollars! It | [
"Who had $42 in his name?",
"What did he bet on against all odds?",
"What did Larry think was \"good therapy\"?",
"What amount of money did Larry win?",
"What did Larry bet on?"
] | [
[
"Larry King"
],
[
"Lady Forli"
],
[
"to get out and have lunch with a friend and watch the horses come down the stretch."
],
[
"nearly eight thousand dollars."
],
[
"horse to win."
]
] | At age 37, Larry King had $42 to his name, no job and a daughter to support .
He became reclusive but decided it would be "good therapy" to go out with a friend .
They went to the track, and Larry bet on a female horse whom the odds were against .
Larry won a much-needed $8,000 that day . |
Editor's note: Below is an excerpt from Larry King's autobiography, "My Remarkable Journey," published by Weinstein books. Larry King anchors "Larry King Live" at 9 p.m. ET on CNN.
Larry, left, at age 10 with his younger brother, Marty, shortly after their father died.
I was walking home from the library carrying nine books. That's the way my memory sees it. I can't know for sure if it was exactly nine books. Maybe I picture nine books because I was nine years old. I'm certain that I was nine years old, because I'm sure of the date -- June 9, 1943. There were a lot of books under my arm on that summer day because I loved books. I wonder what happened to those nine books ...
There were three squad cars in front of my apartment building. Flivvers, we called them. I don't remember exactly when I started to hear my mother's screams. But as I hurried up the steps, a cop quickly came down, straight for me. He picked me up and the books went flying.
Watch Larry on his "Remarkable journey" »
I'm not sure if I knew the cop. But I may have. For years, before the war started and my father went to work in the defense plant, he'd owned a little neighborhood bar and grill. He was friendly with all the cops. The cops loved my father the way they loved any bar owner who had a great sense of humor. I remember having my own police costume when I was very young. A badge and a little nightstick came with it. I'd make like I was walking the beat.
The cop put me in the squad car. He told me that my father had died. Heart attack.
I didn't cry. I remember that. I didn't cry. I was more befuddled than anything else. It must have been difficult for the cop. He started the car and drove. We wound through the streets of Brownsville and ended up at a movie theater.
I'll never forget the movie, Bataan, starring Robert Taylor as Sergeant Bill Dane. It was about a bunch of American soldiers trying to stave off the Japanese invasion of the Philippines.
Larry King's life in pictures »
Sergeant Dane and his patrol are ordered to blow up a bridge to stop the advancing enemy. They're cut down one by one until only Sergeant Dane and two others remain. The first is killed by a sniper. The second is stabbed by a Japanese soldier who'd been playing dead. The movie ends with Sergeant Dane firing his machine gun straight into the camera at the Japanese soldiers coming at him in one last act of courage and defiance.
I don't remember what it was like when I got home that day. A lot about that day I've blocked out. My younger brother Marty has blocked it out, too. He was only six at the time. But there are a few more memories attached.
I didn't go to the funeral. I'd been so close to my father -- yet I refused to go. I stayed at home. There must've been somebody watching me, but I remember being alone. I remember bouncing a spaldeen -- the Spalding rubber ball we used to play stickball -- off the front stoop.
Two other things I can tell you for sure. I never went back to that library again, and from that day on I was nervous if I saw a squad car in my neighborhood. If one parked by my apartment building, I'd start running home, in fear that my mother had died. | [
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] | Larry was 9 years old when his father died of a heart attack in 1943 .
Larry says he has blocked much of that day from his memory .
He recalls a police officer broke the news, then took him to see a movie .
Larry refused to attend funeral though he and his father were extremely close . |
Editor's note: Below is an excerpt from Larry King's autobiography, "My Remarkable Journey," published by Weinstein books. Larry King anchors "Larry King Live" at 9 p.m. ET on CNN. Larry, left, at age 10 with his younger brother, Marty, shortly after their father died. I was walking home from the library carrying nine books. That's the way my memory sees it. I can't know for sure if it was exactly nine books. Maybe I picture nine books because I was nine years old. I'm certain that I was nine years old, because I'm sure of the date -- June 9, 1943. There were a lot of books under my arm on that summer day because I loved books. I wonder what happened to those nine books ... There were three squad cars in front of my apartment building. Flivvers, we called them. I don't remember exactly when I started to hear my mother's screams. But as I hurried up the steps, a cop quickly came down, straight for me. He picked me up and the books went flying. Watch Larry on his "Remarkable journey" » I'm not sure if I knew the cop. But I may have. For years, before the war started and my father went to work in the defense plant, he'd owned a little neighborhood bar and grill. He was friendly with all the cops. The cops loved my father the way they loved any bar owner who had a great sense of humor. I remember having my own police costume when I was very young. A badge and a little nightstick came with it. I'd make like I was walking the beat. The cop put me in the squad car. He told me that my father had died. Heart attack. I didn't cry. I remember that. I didn't cry. I was more befuddled than anything else. It must have been difficult for the cop. He started the car and drove. We wound through the streets of Brownsville and ended up at a movie theater. I'll never forget the movie, Bataan, starring Robert Taylor as Sergeant Bill Dane. It was about a bunch of American soldiers trying to stave off the Japanese invasion of the Philippines. Larry King's life in pictures » Sergeant Dane and his patrol are ordered to blow up a bridge to stop the advancing enemy. They're cut down one by one until only Sergeant Dane and two others remain. The first is killed by a sniper. The second is stabbed by a Japanese soldier who'd been playing dead. The movie ends with Sergeant Dane firing his machine gun straight into the camera at the Japanese soldiers coming at him in one last act of courage and defiance. I don't remember what it was like when I got home that day. A lot about that day I've blocked out. My younger brother Marty has blocked it out, too. He was only six at the time. But there are a few more memories attached. I didn't go to the funeral. I'd been so close to my father -- yet I refused to go. I stayed at home. There must've been somebody watching me, but I remember being alone. I remember bouncing a spaldeen -- the Spalding rubber ball we used to play stickball -- off the front stoop. Two other things I can tell you for sure. I never went back to that library again, and from that day on I was nervous if I saw a squad car in my neighborhood. If one parked by my apartment building, I'd start running home, in fear that my mother had died. | [
"What caused Larrys fathers death?",
"What did Larry do after his father died?",
"When did he die?",
"In what year did Larry's father die?",
"What did his father die of?",
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] | [
[
"Heart attack."
],
[
"younger brother, Marty,"
],
[
"June 9, 1943."
],
[
"1943."
],
[
"Heart attack."
],
[
"10"
]
] | Larry was 9 years old when his father died of a heart attack in 1943 .
Larry says he has blocked much of that day from his memory .
He recalls a police officer broke the news, then took him to see a movie .
Larry refused to attend funeral though he and his father were extremely close . |
Editor's note: Below is an excerpt from Nancy Grace's new novel "The Eleventh Victim." published by Hyperion. Nancy anchors "Nancy Grace" on HLN nightly at 8 p.m. and 10 p.m. ET. HLN's Nancy Grace makes her fiction debut with "The Eleventh Victim." A little something. What was it? Something...some detail was wrong. . He couldn't just leave the body lying there like that. There was something missing. It was biting at him. He'd tried to go, walking back to his car in the dark twice now, but the nagging in his brain wouldn't let him leave until she was absolutely perfect. He looked at her lying there in the moonlight. Her dead body was absolutely stunning. Before, when she had been alive, sitting in the passenger seat of his car, talking and talking about her life and herself and her journey from Anniston, Alabama, to Atlanta to break into acting, he thought his head would blow up like a bomb. She just wouldn't shut up. What did she think it was...a date? She was a hooker. He spotted her climbing the steep steps out of the MARTA subway station downtown. She got straight into his car with a big smile when he offered her a ride. Once inside, driving, he kept looking away from the road, stealing glances at her neck. Something about it drew him. Maybe the shape, the curve -- or maybe it was the soft hollow spot at the bottom. It was the only thing about her he could stomach. Watch Nancy talk about her new novel » He lowered the automatic windows so her conversation would fly out into the night and he wouldn't have to hear it. Her teeth and lips revolted him. The shiny pink lip gloss she was wearing had thickened in spots across her lips and some had smeared onto her front teeth. Looking over at her as she talked, Cruise thought it was the most disgusting thing he had ever seen. Back to the task at hand. What was it? It was maddening...he couldn't bring himself to leave until everything was just right...perfect, in fact. Every detail mattered. Like a delicate soufflé or performing his specialty, decorating with boiling-hot spun sugar, perfection was achieved only by acute attention to detail. There, in the dark of the clearing, it hit him. Turning, he walked to his car and reached through the open window into the glove compartment and got it. The baker's twine. It was his favorite brand --it was actually the only twine he would ever consider using -- just shipped in from France. He had posed her on her back. The four bright-red puncture marks torn into her mid-back didn't bother him at all. In fact, the dark red against the white skin created a vivid contrast that was somehow pleasing to him. Walking back to her body, which he had spread carefully on a bed of soft grass to more suitably frame her pale limbs in a night lit only by the moon, he paused again. He needed the perfect spot. He couldn't rush this or he wouldn't sleep all night. The wrist? Like a bracelet? No. She was wearing a tacky, gold-tone watch. That would ruin the whole thing for him. And he couldn't bring himself to actually touch the timepiece she wore there on her right wrist. It looked cheap; he was sure the gold-tone finish was turning dark at the edges of the band. The neck? No. It was much too close to the lip gloss. The gloss had a faint, fruity odor, foul as gasoline fumes to Cruise, and that alone made him want to retch. It would totally destroy the twine's effect. Sometime during their "date," fresh, damp dirt and a little grass had smeared horizontally across her mouth and worked its way up into her nose. He left it there. That was a beautiful and poetic touch of nature | [
"What does the heroine become?",
"what is the book called?",
"Who is the novel's main character"
] | [
[
"Eleventh Victim.\""
],
[
"\"The Eleventh Victim.\""
],
[
"Cruise"
]
] | "The Eleventh Victim" is about an Atlanta assistant DA whose fiance is murdered .
The novel's heroine, Hailey Dean, relocates to New York for a fresh start .
She becomes a therapist whose patients begin dying -- they are murdered .
The murders are similar to 11 Atlanta killings and Hailey must solve the case . |
Editor's note: Benjamin Todd Jealous is the new president and CEO of the NAACP. Benjamin Jealous says the 100-year-old NAACP has an ambitious agenda for civil and human rights. (CNN) -- Thursday the U.S. Senate passed a resolution apologizing for slavery and for legalized segregation. It arrived more than a hundred years late, but better late than never. Members of the U.S. House of Representatives are expected to pass a similar resolution, and when they do, the bipartisan resolution will acknowledge our nation's need to take a historic leap out of the shameful past of racial discrimination and toward a future that promises all citizens full access to the legal protections laid out in the U.S. Constitution. But we must go beyond the civil rights guaranteed in the Constitution and advocate for the human rights that will assure that America's promise is realized for all. While our Constitution mandates equality, for example, there is no constitutional guarantee for an education, let alone a good education. The fight for good schools is a struggle for our human rights. Some have opined that there is no longer a need for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and that we as a society are post-racial because of the election of our first black president. But we cannot be post-racial until we are post-racism. The case of Troy Davis, an African American man set for execution who we believe was wrongly convicted, is an exemplar of the disparities that still rock our nation (see IAMTROY.com). Davis was convicted of killing a police officer and has spent 18 years on death row. There is no physical evidence linking him to the crime and seven of the nine witnesses recanted or contradicted their testimony. His case has sparked an outcry from both proponents and opponents of the death penalty including former FBI director William Sessions and conservative presidential candidate Bob Barr. Yet our laws don't allow him a new trial to reexamine the evidence that points to his innocence. African-Americans are disproportionately represented on death row. Of the 3,500 people on death row, about 42 percent are black, and virtually all are poor. Studies underscore that it is race and class, more than guilt, that determines whether a defendant, once convicted, is sentenced to death. The statistics paint an ongoing portrait of inequality. Unemployment for African-Americans remains twice that of whites and studies show there is no scientific rationale -- neither education nor experience -- that explains the gap. In some American cities, 50 percent of school-aged black men drop out of school and as much as 50 percent of young black men are unemployed. Now, as we prepare to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the NAACP in New York from July 11-16 (NAACP.org), we recognize that despite our many accomplishments, we have a long path ahead to right the inequity that still racks our nation. Prompted by the riots in Abraham Lincoln's hometown of Springfield, Illinois, where a mob of whites containing many of the town's "best citizens," raged for two days, killed and wounded scores of African-Americans, and drove thousands from the city, a multiracial group of intellectuals, journalists and activists gathered in a small New York apartment to launch the NAACP and fight lynching's and mob violence. History has shown the efficacy of our tried and true approach: dreaming bold dreams, breaking them down into incremental steps and ultimately achieving big victories. And our triumphs strengthen the fabric of democracy in America. When, after a multidecade-long struggle, we ended the cruel practice of lynching, not only African-Americans benefited but also Catholics, who were, after black people, the likeliest targets of lynchings in the South. Similarly, our lawsuit against 15 banks for steering African-Americans into the predatory loans that have devastated neighborhoods today would force transparency and accountability that would benefit all Americans. The election of President Obama is the result of a decades-long fight for political inclusion. His victory may have come as a bolt from the blue for some, but at the NAACP, we know that our | [
"What type of agenda does NAACP have?",
"What organization fights inequity in eduction?",
"What organization still has a \"radical\" agenda after 100 years?"
] | [
[
"for civil and human rights."
],
[
"NAACP"
],
[
"NAACP"
]
] | Benjamin Jealous: NAACP formed in response to lynchings and race riots .
He says organization still has a "radical" agenda after 100 years .
Jealous: We must move beyond civil rights to human rights .
He says organization is fighting inequities in education and criminal justice . |
Editor's note: Bishop T.D. Jakes is founder and senior pastor of The Potter's House of Dallas, Texas, a multiracial, nondenominational church with more than 50 outreach ministries.
"It is a victory for democracy that proves that our country provides possibilities for all people," writes Jakes.
(CNN) -- Last night, I like most Americans of all stripes, watched with visible goose bumps as history was made. I sat with my 13-year-old son and looked from the screen to his eyes as Sen. Barack Obama became the first African American in history to lead a U.S. major-party ticket when he claimed the nomination for the Democratic Party for president of the United States.
I congratulate Sen. Obama on this historic accomplishment. I thank him for accepting the torch that was lit by our forefathers and proudly carrying it through the darkness of our struggles, trials and tribulations, bringing light and hope to a new generation, and for facing all those who said "No" and "You can't win," or "It will never happen," and firmly, proudly, defiantly saying, "Yes I can!"
However, what I really hope people take away from that night is that this is not just a victory for African Americans, it is a victory for democracy that proves that our country provides possibilities for all people. It is also a sign that a metamorphosis is in progress. Today we saw that Americans respect experience, but are interested in change. I hope that we can somehow merge the best ideas of our differences and emerge with a president who epitomizes our highest and best ideals. While it remains unclear where we are going, last night proves that we as a people have moved beyond business as usual.
I congratulate not just Sen. Obama on his victory, but the country on this landmark event that has shattered a past all too often filled with reasons to separate us as opposed to a voice of reason to unite us. The victory cup does not rest on the shoulders of the senator alone, but to all those who have been able to lift the conversation from petty racism, antiquated cut-throat politics, and fear-based campaigns to the larger issues of how we would like to see our country led into the future and ultimately how our country will be remembered.
As the days and discussions of this political season continue, it is my sincere hope and prayer that we do not sink back into the abyss of political pettiness that has plagued our country and our lives for so many years. I am grateful to Sen. Hillary Clinton for giving, through this campaign, a chance for my daughters to see that their femininity is not a liability. Today both my sons and daughters came to understand that their ethnicity isn't viewed by progressive Americans as a limitation or a liability. iReport.com: Readers' feelings on Obama
For me it was almost déjà vu as I sat with my son. I remembered a little over 40 years ago watching the famous King speech with my dad. Similarly, I watched with my youngest son last night as a historical moment unfolded. He and I saw the dreams of slaves come true as the sons of slaves and the slave owners clapped their hands in one progressive sweep. As I drifted into sleep, all I could see was the twinkle in my son's eyes. His eyes were illuminated with possibilities, and his heart was filled with the potential of what is attainable for qualified, competent people of all types who prepare themselves intellectually and are well vested with a divine sensitivity to the "fierce urgency of now!"
Congratulations Sen. Obama. | [
"Who congratules obama?",
"What does Jake congratulate?",
"Who congratulates jake?",
"Who did Jakes congradulate?",
"What Senator achieved a historical achievement?",
"What is it a victory for?"
] | [
[
"Bishop T.D. Jakes"
],
[
"Sen. Obama on this historic accomplishment. I thank him for accepting the torch that was lit by our forefathers and proudly carrying it through the darkness of our struggles, trials and tribulations, bringing light and hope to"
],
[
"Sen. Obama"
],
[
"Sen. Obama"
],
[
"Sen. Obama."
],
[
"democracy"
]
] | Bishop T.D. Jakes: "I congratulate Sen. Obama on this historic accomplishment"
Jakes: "Not just a victory for African Americans, it is a victory for democracy"
Jakes: Nomination "proves that our country provides possibilities for all people"
Jakes congratulates "the country on this landmark event" |
Editor's note: Bob Greene is a bestselling author whose current book is "When We Get to Surf City: A Journey Through America in Pursuit of Rock and Roll, Friendship, and Dreams." Bob Greene says one dentist in Iowa found an ingenious way of keeping his chair filled with patients. (CNN) -- You may not have the answer for how to thrive in a lousy economy. I may not have the answer for how to thrive in a lousy economy. But the truck stop dentist figured it out a long time ago. "When your dental practice is in a truck stop, you don't have a lot of patients coming in for their six-month cleanings," said Dr. Thomas P. Roemer. "You have people walking in holding their jaws in pain. Treatment is not optional -- they need to see a dentist, and they need to see me now." Dr. Roemer's one-man dental office is inside the Iowa 80 Truckstop, at Exit 284 of Interstate 80, near the small town of Walcott. The complex proclaims itself to be the world's largest truck stop, and if you've never been there -- well, the truck stop itself is probably a story for another time. Suffice it to say that the establishment is spread over 200 acres, that it features its own movie theater, a 300-seat restaurant with a 50-foot salad bar, the Super Truck Showroom (more than 75,000 truck-related items for sale, festooned with enough gleaming chrome to make you reach for your sunglasses). But the topic for today is Dr. Roemer, and how he ended up offering root canals in a building where people stop for diesel fuel. These desperate economic times highlight the importance of individual inventiveness and ingenuity -- and a dentist has to be beyond ingenious to gaze upon an Iowa truck stop and figure out: A fellow could make himself a pretty nice living in there. "I had a regular dental practice over in Davenport," Dr. Roemer, 48, told me. "I had an advertisement in the Yellow Pages. And in the early 1990s I noticed that I kept getting calls from truckers who were in a phone booth out by the Iowa 80 Truckstop. They had stopped for fuel, and they were in a lot of pain, and they absolutely had to see a dentist." Now... Walcott, the town adjacent to the truck stop, has only 1,500 residents. But the truck stop itself caters to an estimated 5,000 customers a day, most of them long-haul truckers passing through. The light bulb above Dr. Roemer's head snapped on. "I made arrangements with the truck stop to open up an office," he said. "At first I split my practice between my old office in Davenport and the truck stop office. But I ended up closing the old one. My entire practice is in the truck stop now." Business is good, he said, even during the recession. There have been stories from around the country about doctors and dentists seeing fewer patients, because people just don't have the money to come in for regular checkups. But a truck stop dental office is not a place where patients come because they have planned it -- a truck stop dental office is a place where patients come because they need immediate relief. "The sentence I hear the most often is, 'Do you pull teeth?'" Dr. Roemer said. "Someone will come in with his hand to his face, and he'll want to have a tooth extracted. He will have heard that I'm here." But how do truckers learn about Dr. Roemer's practice? "Word of mouth," he said. (So to speak.) The business model of most dental offices, he said, is based on teeth-cleaning: A dentist builds up his or her list of loyal patients and their families who come in to get their teeth cleaned, and when they need fillings or crowns, the office is there for them. The truck stop dentist, by necessity, turns that business model | [
"Where is his dental practice?",
"Greene said that the traffic ensured that some truckers will be in need of what?",
"What dentist discovered a clever marketing method?",
"What state is the dentist from?",
"What interstate was the truck stop located at?",
"Who described the clever dentist?"
] | [
[
"inside the Iowa 80 Truckstop, at Exit 284 of Interstate 80, near the small town of Walcott."
],
[
"to see a dentist,"
],
[
"Dr. Roemer,"
],
[
"Iowa"
],
[
"Interstate 80,"
],
[
"Bob Greene"
]
] | Bob Greene: Dentist in Iowa found ingenious way of boosting his business .
He says dentist set up a thriving practice at a busy truck stop on Interstate 80 .
Greene: Traffic ensures there will be some truckers in need of dental care .
He says the dentist can't rely on return business from his patients . |
Editor's note: Brian Levin is a professor of criminal justice at California State University, San Bernardino and director of the university's Center for the Study of Hate & Extremism. Michael Stoops is executive director of the National Coalition for the Homeless in Washington.
Brian Levin says the homeless are excluded from lessons on tolerance and aren't protected by hate crime laws.
CAMBRIDGE, Massachusetts (CNN) -- Over the last two calendar years, more Americans in the United States were killed in a little-noticed spate of unprovoked attacks than were killed by terrorists, in large commercial jet crashes or in racial hate crimes.
Since 1999, more than 240 vulnerable homeless Americans have been stabbed, beaten, drowned, shot or burned to death in a revolting display of one of the last socially tolerated prejudices, this one based on class.
Despite being prime targets of prejudice and violence, particularly in today's youth subculture, the homeless are routinely excluded from lessons related to tolerance, as well as from official data collection and hate-crime penalty enhancement laws.
A newly released report from the National Coalition for the Homeless documented 27 unprovoked, apparently bias-related homicides by attackers in the United States last year, down one from the previous year and the second-highest number of killings since 2001.
After bottoming mid-decade, the number killed has not dipped below 20 a year since 2005. In contrast, the FBI documented only 12 hate-crime homicides nationally for the two most recently available calendar years combined.
According to the NCH and the Center for the Study of Hate & Extremism, nearly 2 1/2 times more homeless people in America have been killed over the past 10 years in apparent unprovoked bias homicides than the total for all the other hate- crime homicides -- on the basis of race, religion, national origin, disability and sexual orientation -- combined.
Like other hate crime perpetrators, these attackers are typically young male "thrill offenders" seeking excitement, with 58 percent of assailants over the past 10 years falling in the 13-19 age range. In 2006, three teenagers out for fun attacked homeless people in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, with baseball bats, killing one of their victims, 45-year-old Norris Gaynor. One pleaded guilty and the two others were convicted of murder last September after the jury saw graphic surveillance tape of one of their nonlethal beatings from earlier in the evening.
These attacks exclude the large number of other types of crimes involving the homeless, such as personal disputes, homeless-on-homeless violence, robbery, drugs or murder for life insurance proceeds.
The August issue of Maxim, a youth-oriented magazine targeted at college-aged males, joked about last weekend's National Hobo Convention in Britt, Iowa, in a blurb titled "Hunt the Homeless." The journal quipped "Kill one for fun. We're 87 percent sure it's legal."
In previous violent attacks, some assailants have referenced degrading and violent depictions in popular culture such as "Bumfights" either during their crimes or in subsequent interviews with authorities, with some even filming the events.
"Bumfights" is a popular violent video series that sold hundreds of thousands of tapes and DVDs before going viral on the Internet. The film series sets a new low in American popular culture, featuring fights between homeless men plied by the producers with alcohol, as well as sadistic parodies of the late Australian conservationist "crocodile hunter" Steve Irwin.
These "skits" feature terrified sleeping homeless people who are startled awake and forcibly restrained with duct tape by "hunters" narrating their attacks with feigned Australian accents. Samuel Bowhay of Grinnell College found almost 86,000 videos on YouTube last month with "bum" in the title, thousands more than videos with other derogatory prejudiced epithets.
While homeless advocates lack the political and financial infrastructure often needed to institute policy reform, the frequency and brutality of the bias attacks have renewed focus on the nature of this violent form of prejudice and ways to address it.
Last week, District of Columbia Mayor Adrian Fenty signed legislation adding homeless status to the district's hate-crime law | [
"what is not protected by hate-crime laws ?",
"who leads some to think of hunting homeless as a sport?",
"What has popular culture lead to?",
"What did Levin say?",
"What must laws block?"
] | [
[
"homeless"
],
[
"college-aged males,"
],
[
"fights between homeless men"
],
[
"the homeless are excluded from lessons on tolerance and aren't protected by hate crime laws."
],
[
"hate crime"
]
] | Levin, Stoops: Homeless aren't protected by hate-crime laws or tolerance lessons .
They say new report documents disturbing level of violence vs. homeless .
They say popular culture leads some to think of hunting homeless as a sport .
Levin, Stoops: Laws must forcefully block violence against homeless . |
Editor's note: Brian Levin is director of the Center for the Study of Hate & Extremism at California State University, San Bernardino. Jack McDevitt is the director of the Institute on Race and Justice and Associate Dean in the College of Criminal Justice at Northeastern University. Both have testified before Congress in support of federal hate crime legislation and are co-authors of a book on hate in America, due to be published next year. Brian Levin says a new federal hate crime law is needed to combat violent incidents of bias. SAN BERNARDINO, California (CNN) -- America needs a coordinated and multifaceted response to combat the continuing scourge of violent hate crime like the crime committed at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum on June 10. The Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Prevention Act, originally introduced by Sen. Edward Kennedy a decade ago and nearly passed during the most recent legislative session, is expected to go before the Senate for a vote soon. U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder testified on its behalf Thursday before the Senate Judiciary Committee. It is a crucial step in the nation's evolving response to hate crime. A hate crime occurs when an individual intentionally targets a victim or their property because of his or her actual or perceived race, color, religion, national origin, ethnicity, gender, gender identity, disability or sexual orientation. While some have argued that these kind of laws criminalize free speech, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously ruled in the 1993 case, Wisconsin v. Mitchell, that well-drafted hate crime laws are constitutional and do not punish speech. Rather they enhance the penalties only for acts that are already considered crimes. The act is named for Matthew Shepard, a 21-year-old gay college student who was kidnapped, robbed, tortured and left to die, tied to a fence in a remote area outside of Laramie, Wyoming in October 1998. His mother Judy has been a tireless advocate for hate crime laws and victims. The Shepard Act remedies legal loopholes in federal and state criminal law that fail to protect against bias-motivated attacks based on such characteristics as sexual orientation, gender, gender identity and disability. It also removes antiquated "Klan era" language that forces federal prosecutors to tie violent racial attacks to a small number of activities such as participating in a jury, voting or using hotels. As recent events have indicated, today's violent hate offenders, unlike their predecessors, will often swing into brutal action on their own initiative without waiting for a victim to exercise a specific activity covered by old 1960s laws. However, much of the act's potency lies not in what it punishes, but rather in its recognition of the primary role local authorities now play in combating hate crime. Nearly all hate crime investigations and prosecutions in the United States are handled by state and local authorities, such as the Boston Police or Washington, D.C., Metropolitan Police. Gone are the days where masses of federal agents and soldiers had to swoop into states to protect new students and freedom riders from thugs in Klan-dominated municipalities. The act has a clear bias in favor of local prosecution and has restrictions that require federal prosecution only in limited cases where the leadership of the DJ approves. However, reporting data indicates that some states apparently provide limited assistance to hate crime victims. These jurisdictions report either zero hate crimes or a handful of crime to the FBI, year after year, while neighboring states with similar demographics and crime profiles report far more. A 2005 Bureau of Justice Statistics victimization study found that only a small fraction of hate crimes nationally are actually reported. Thus, there appear to be various instances where federal help or prosecution are still necessary. Today, in the midst of our economic downturn, federal authorities are needed much more to assist cash-strapped local departments, not as an unwelcome occupying force, but as a desperately needed partner to assist with forensics, technical assistance and investigations. Even in police departments with model hate crime investigative units, such as the Boston Police Department's Community Disorders Unit, modern cases increasingly involve interstate travel or Internet hate networks, and require sophisticated ballistic and DNA testing or | [
"Who is going to vote on Matthew Shepherd crime bill?",
"Whose hate crime bill is the Senate voting on?",
"What did the Senate vote on?",
"What requires new legislation?"
] | [
[
"the Senate"
],
[
"Matthew Shepard"
],
[
"The Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Prevention Act,"
],
[
"federal hate crime law"
]
] | Levin, McDevitt: Senate to vote on Matthew Shepard hate crime bill .
They say loopholes in existing laws require new legislation .
They say bill would provide federal help to localities fighting hate crime .
Levin, McDevitt: Hate crimes target pluralistic societies along with victims . |
Editor's note: CNN Contributor Bob Greene is a best-selling author whose book "When We Get to Surf City: A Journey Through America in Pursuit of Rock and Roll, Friendship, and Dreams" will be published in a new paperback edition this week. Bob Greene says he and his family didn't expect to be able to enjoy this Mother's Day. (CNN) -- This is the Mother's Day we thought was going to be empty. Last summer, my brother, my sister and I got the news like a sucker-punch to the stomach: Our mother's health, which had not been good for some time, had taken a sudden turn for the worse. A very compassionate hospice evaluator came to her home and said that, although one could never be absolutely certain, the end was quite near. "It may be two days. It may be two weeks." Those were the words. We tried to process them. She would be gone from us by the fall. Except ... "Debby just picked me up a book from the library, and I'm a few chapters into it," my mother said to me on the phone the other day. She got better. "Better" does not mean great; she walks with some difficulty now, she is fragile in ways she once was strong, but on this Mother's Day that we all expected to be such a desolate one for us, she's here. On that morning the woman from hospice first came to visit, our mother was in her bed in the same room where our father, 10 years ago, had slowly died. Toward the end, he had not been able to get out of his bed, and we foresaw the same awful drama unfolding in the same way in the same bedroom. It was going to be even more wrenching to witness this time around. But somehow, from somewhere inside herself, she decided: "Not yet." I don't say that glibly; I know that most men and women, in the months of their dying, do not have a choice about whether they will regain a semblance of their health. There comes a point when there is little to do but give in as gracefully as possible. Our mother didn't. And while my brother and sister and I cherish the extra time we have been given with her, the most moving thing is to quietly behold how fiercely she is cherishing the extra time she has been given with the world -- the extra time she has been given with life itself. That book from the library my sister brought her, it is one of many she has read since last summer. It's as if she realized that, if the prediction had been right -- if she had left us within two days or two weeks -- she never would have known the pleasure of reading another book. She has loved reading all her life; now she is reading new books with a sense of gratitude that we can literally feel. She got to watch one more presidential campaign. She has always taken her responsibility as a citizen with utter seriousness. She thought, last summer, that she would never know who the next president would be. But as, little by little, she got better during the fall, I can guarantee you that not even Wolf Blitzer or John King followed the day-to-day fluctuations of the campaign with more devotion than she did. She used to joke with our father that their trips together to the polling place were ultimately a waste of time: He was on one end of the political spectrum, she was on the other, and, as she put it, "Our votes always canceled each other's out." She was born during the Woodrow Wilson administration -- and in November, against all odds, she got to cast a ballot for president one more time. Whenever my brother flies to central Ohio to visit her, he goes not straight from the airport to her house; he makes a stop. He picks up some | [
"Did Bob Greene's mother survive?",
"Whose family didn't expect to enjoy mothers day?",
"Who unexpectedly enjoyed their Mother's Day?",
"Did Greene's mother survive?"
] | [
[
"She got better."
],
[
"Bob Greene"
],
[
"Bob Greene"
],
[
"She got better."
]
] | Bob Greene: This Mother's Day is one my family didn't expect to enjoy .
He says his mother has survived and made good use of precious time .
Greene: We should all live as if we have only a few weeks more of life . |
Editor's note: CNN Contributor Bob Greene is a best-selling author whose new book is "Late Edition: A Love Story." Bob Greene says Logan, Ohio, paid an extraordinary tribute to its most dedicated football fan. (CNN) -- "Yes, it's all gone now," Craig Dunn told me the other day. "If you're not from around here, you'd never know it was ever there." Dunn is the sports editor of the Logan, Ohio, Daily News, a paper with a small circulation (around 4,000) and a small news staff (five people put the paper out, covering the entire county). Last fall, when I was crisscrossing the country on the CNN Election Express, I spoke with Dunn about the town's high school football stadium, which was being demolished. Bill Sauer Field, it was called. The story I wrote appeared briefly on the Political Ticker and then went away quickly; there was so much rapidly breaking news coming out of the presidential campaign that the story was little more than a blip. Yet I found myself, during the last year, thinking about Bill Sauer Field, and Logan, Ohio, and how it's possible for all of us, if we make the effort, to find the best in ourselves -- to find the best in each other. I find myself thinking about Bill Sauer, and about what that little town did for him, more than I think about almost anything else on which I reported during our long journey through America. And so, with a new football season beginning all across the United States, I spoke with Craig Dunn again the other afternoon. "When I drive by the place where it used to be, it's not with a sense of sadness," he said. "It's with pride for what this town once did." Bill Sauer Field was the core of public life in Logan. The town, population 7,300, gravitated to the old stadium on Friday nights in autumns to watch the high school team, the Chieftains, play their games. And who was Bill Sauer? A self-made millionaire from the community who had bestowed the stadium upon the town? A prominent local politician? A long-gone Logan football hero? No. Bill Sauer was born in Logan more than 100 years ago -- in 1908. From the time he was a little boy, he could not walk. He spoke with great difficulty. His parents, desperate, searched for answers. Logan was and is a rural community, and back then sophisticated medical diagnoses were not easy to come by. His mother and father were eventually told that the boy had cerebral palsy. He attended public school in Logan. It was not easy, of course. He was 23 by the time he graduated from Logan High School. Then, as now, the boys who were strong and swift and athletically graceful were the ones most celebrated. Bill could not even take a step on his own. But he loved the Logan sports teams, and he took pride in supporting them. Football, basketball, track and field -- he never missed a game, and he seldom missed a practice session. He would be there on the sidelines, sitting in his wheelchair, cheering for his classmates. His life didn't get any less arduous after he graduated. His father died. It became incumbent upon Bill to support himself and his mother. He sold Christmas cards; he sold magazine subscriptions. At the town's swimming pool, he ran the concessions stand. His philosophy of life, Craig Dunn told me, was basic: However often you get knocked down, you get back up one more time. Bill Sauer grew older. New generations of healthy and talented young athletes played for the Logan Chieftains on Friday nights. No matter the weather, no matter how he was feeling, Bill was always there. The Logan football stadium had been constructed in 1925. It was the heart of the town; it was what made the community feel | [
"What was Sauer a fan of?",
"What condition did Sauer have?",
"What did the town name after Sauer?",
"What was named after Sauer?",
"What medical condition did Sauer have?",
"Who was a dedicated fan of his football team?",
"What physical handicap did Sauer have?",
"What was Sauer a dedicated fan of?"
] | [
[
"Football, basketball, track and field"
],
[
"cerebral palsy."
],
[
"high school football stadium,"
],
[
"the town's high school football stadium,"
],
[
"cerebral palsy."
],
[
"Craig Dunn"
],
[
"cerebral palsy."
],
[
"football"
]
] | Bob Greene: Bill Sauer was a dedicated fan of his small-town football team .
He says Sauer had cerebral palsy and a challenging life .
Greene: Sauer wasn't a football star, a millionaire or a politician .
He says town paid him extraordinary tribute by naming stadium after him . |
Editor's note: CNN Contributor Bob Greene is a best-selling author whose new book is "Late Edition: A Love Story." Bob Greene says ordinary life stops when Muhammad Ali appears anywhere. (CNN) -- It was still early enough in the evening that the main dinner crowd had not yet started to show up; the restaurant, east of Michigan Avenue in Chicago, was less than half-filled. The party of 10 at the table by the front window had arrived promptly for their 6 p.m. reservation. Nine of the 10 studied their menus, but the 10th, the man at the head of the table, did not. Muhammad Ali, 67, stared down toward the white tablecloth and drew on a piece of paper. He sketched a picture of a mountain. There are a handful of men among us who, simply by appearing out of nowhere, make other men and women pause involuntarily to consider the long paths of their own lives. It is as if these men have always been with us, and if you should unexpectedly spot Bob Dylan in an airport, if you should see Paul McCartney walking through a hotel lobby, if you should encounter Sean Connery entering an office building, it will bring you up short. It's like opening a diary, even if you have never met them, even if you have never seen them except on a television set or a movie screen. Yet Ali is different even from them. Ali -- his story so complicated, his health failing, his imprint on the world so indelible -- makes people mist up the moment they lay eyes on him. It was happening tonight inside this restaurant called the Rosebud Steakhouse; diners at their own tables, not quite sure for a second that they were really seeing what they were seeing, let their gazes linger and could not look away. Ali drew. The other men and women at his table -- this was a gathering of family and friends to celebrate a birthday, and Ali had come into Chicago from his farm in Michigan -- talked animatedly and laughed. Ali did not speak. He wore a blue-and-white Hawaiian-style shirt; someone had tucked a white napkin into the space above the top button. Over the speaker system of the restaurant, a slowed-down acoustic knockoff of the old Tom Petty hit "Free Fallin' " was playing softly: "She's a good girl, crazy 'bout Elvis ..." A family, across the way, talked spiritedly among themselves. They were deciding something. The father and the children stood up. From the ceiling, the song: "... and I'm free, free fallin' ..." They walked over to Ali's table. "We apologize for the intrusion," the father said. Ali looked toward them, showing a gentle expression. The father had a camera. He said to his children: "This is the most famous face in the world." It is difficult to know what the children made of this. Youth and strength and beauty are so fleeting. The man in the Hawaiian shirt once embodied all of those things, before these children were born. Three times the world heavyweight boxing champion, the center of global fascination and frenzied controversy after winning his first title and then changing his name from Cassius Clay, endlessly mesmerizing with his float-like-a-butterfly, sting-like-a-bee ring style, called "the greatest of all time" so often that the words became almost an official designation, the sight of his flawless face and the sound of his confident-beyond-all-dispute voice a sustaining part of the very atmosphere. ... But his road has turned hard, and here were these children, who were not around for any of that, standing with their father next to the table. Ali's family members and friends said it would be all right for the father to take some photos, so he did. When he left, Ali went back to his drawing. More diners were beginning to | [
"who said that ali embodied youth",
"What did Bob Greene say?",
"What did Greene say about Ali's life?",
"What did Green say Ali embodied?"
] | [
[
"Bob Greene"
],
[
"ordinary life stops when Muhammad Ali appears anywhere."
],
[
"his story so complicated, his health failing, his imprint on the world so indelible"
],
[
"Youth and strength and beauty"
]
] | Bob Greene: Muhammad Ali's extraordinary life brings him instant attention .
Greene: Ali embodied youth, strength and beauty in his remarkable career .
He says Ali drew attention of everyone in a Chicago restaurant . |
Editor's note: CNN Contributor Bob Greene is a best-selling author whose new book, "Late Edition: A Love Story," will be published next month. Bob Greene recalls a radio exec who was ahead of his time by working an almost endless day. (CNN) -- I think perhaps the oddest person I have ever known was a man by the name of Robert Hyland. But the truly odd thing is that we all seem to have turned into him. Hyland was the vice president and general manager of KMOX radio, the 50,000-watt powerhouse in St. Louis, Missouri. He came to work every day at 2:30. In the morning. That's right: Hyland would show up at his office at 2:30 a.m. each day. He would then work straight through until 5 p.m. He didn't do this once in a while; he did it each and every day. He didn't do it to set an example for his employees. He did it because he couldn't seem to stop working. "I'm not one of those people who need sleep to be refreshed," Hyland told me once. "I'll go to bed between 9 p.m. and 10 p.m., and I'll wake up at 1:30 a.m. I have an alarm clock, but I never set it. I wake up automatically. I shower and shave, and I'm at the office by 2:30." I asked him if this schedule made any sense at all. "It's a good time to get a lot of work done," he told me. "The phone isn't ringing, and there are no distractions. I have a pile of paperwork on my desk, and I go through it." At 9 a.m., he said -- after he had been at work for 6½ hours -- the other people at the office would show up. And he would keep going. Hyland may have seemed eccentric -- he readily understood that perception; he said to me: "I think what you're thinking is that you're talking to a nut" -- but if he had lived a little longer (he died of cancer in 1992 at the age of 71), he would have witnessed something that might have astonished even him: The rest of the world joined him in his obsession. Hyland died just before the era in which everyone began using cell phones and staring at home computer screens. Society might never have been ready to do what he did -- come to the office in the middle of the night and routinely work 14½ hour days -- had the technology revolution not come along. But come along it did -- and with it came the erasure of all the boundaries that at one time separated the workday from leisure time. E-mails and text messages and BlackBerrys and all their digital cousins may have given us the illusion of freedom -- we tell ourselves that we are unfettered by traditional offices, that we can go anywhere we please -- yet in the end they have created a nation of Robert Hylands. We're never off the clock; that cell phone may ring at dinnertime, that allegedly urgent e-mail may arrive at 11 p.m., that instant message from the regional manager may pop onto the screen when we're on vacation with our families. And what do we do? If your answer is, "We ignore them," good for you. But the truth is, mostly we don't ignore them -- mostly we snap to attention. Ask yourself this: What do you think would happen to an employee who received an e-mail at home from his boss at 8 o'clock on a Tuesday night, and who responded to the e-mail by writing back: "I'm sorry, but I'm only available for work-related e-mails during office hours. If you'd like to communicate with me about this matter, please feel free to do so tomorrow after 9 a.m." That might be the rational answer. But how many people -- especially in this economy, and in this job market | [
"Bob Greene said he knew the radio exec who stated at work at what time?",
"At what time did the radio executive start the day?"
] | [
[
"2:30."
],
[
"2:30 a.m."
]
] | Bob Greene: I once knew radio exec who started work at 2:30 a.m.
He says Americans now accept that they are always on call for work .
Greene: In tough economy, workers are reluctant to draw boundaries . |
Editor's note: CNN Contributor Bob Greene is a bestselling author whose current book is "When We Get to Surf City: A Journey Through America in Pursuit of Rock and Roll, Friendship, and Dreams."
Bob Greene says John Madden has had a great perk: seeing America on his own bus.
(CNN) -- You've undoubtedly heard that John Madden has left the football broadcast booth. What you may not have heard is that he's not leaving his bus.
"It's been such a great ride," Madden said as he announced his retirement.
But the truly great ride -- the one he will not relinquish -- wasn't his long career as a National Football League broadcaster.
The best ride was the literal one.
Madden's aversion to flying in airplanes led him to perhaps the grandest business perk in all of American life: He was given his own bus, with his own professional drivers. He crisscrossed the country, on his way from one big game to another, on what came to be known as the Maddencruiser, the cost of which eventually was underwritten by corporate sponsorship.
Now. . .you may think that being stuck in a bus for days and nights on end must be a lousy way to lead a life.
Not when you're the only passenger -- you, or whatever buddies and colleagues you choose to invite along. Not when there's food and drink onboard, and television sets with DVD players at the ready, and plenty of room to stretch out and observe the country as it passes by.
And those amenities leave out the most beautiful lure of all. Let President Obama explain it.
He did, inadvertently, the other week. He wasn't talking about Madden -- he was talking about plans for a new high-speed rail system. These were the president's words:
"No racing to an airport and across a terminal, no delays, no sitting on the tarmac, no lost luggage, no taking off your shoes [at the metal detector]. . . . "
That's the gift Madden gave himself, by working out the bus deal -- the gift of avoiding the endless headaches of travel the rest of the world has to endure. Departure time? Whenever he wants. Flight cancellations? No such thing. Cramped seats? Nope. Security lines? There are none.
It can make for a pretty peaceful life. A football game to see every week, the country winding gloriously out ahead of you between stadiums, your main decision boiling down to how to chop up the miles, where to eat and where to sleep and where to stop for a few hours just to talk to people. . . .
There is a hotel on the west coast of Florida where I have stayed quite often, and during football season Madden would sometimes stay there too. If there had been a game in, say, Miami, and the next one was in Dallas, he might ask his bus driver to stop for the night at this place, which features outlying cottages on the Gulf of Mexico.
Talk about a guy who seemed tranquil -- I know his on-air image was always sort of loud and animated, but I'd see Madden having a serenely silent and unhurried meal by himself in the restaurant, leisurely flipping through the sports pages; I'd see him in the little sandwich shop/deli in the morning, a quiet and amiable fellow standing in line with everyone else, waiting to pay for his breakfast pastries; I'd see him, on departure day, strolling blissfully toward his bus, an overnight bag in his hand, having decided that this was the time that he'd like to roll out. . . .
Who would ever have thought that a fantasy life could revolve around something as seemingly mundane as a bus? But in a chaotic and confused world, full of noise and anger and deadlines, the allure of cruising in splendid solitude through the country, seeing America mile by mile, the journey itself being the ultimate victory. . . .
Madden is the grand champion of bus riders, | [
"What did Green say about being able to travel the country?",
"Who is retiring?",
"Who had the ultimate perk?",
"Who did Bob Greene say was retiring?"
] | [
[
"John Madden has had a great perk: seeing America on his own bus."
],
[
"John Madden"
],
[
"John Madden"
],
[
"John Madden"
]
] | Bob Greene: John Madden's retiring as a broadcaster but keeping his bus .
He says football expert had the ultimate perk for traveling the country .
Greene: Highway becomes your best friend as you discover America block by block . |
Editor's note: CNN Contributor Bob Greene is a bestselling author whose current book is "When We Get to Surf City: A Journey Through America in Pursuit of Rock and Roll, Friendship, and Dreams."
Peggy Sue Gerron, left, and Jerry Allison, right, at Buddy Holly's wedding to Maria Elena Holly.
(CNN) -- After days on end of grim and dreary news, the first weekend of spring is with us, and with its arrival comes, to many people, the yearly promise of new romance and a chance for lasting love.
But if figuring out the secrets of how to revive a battered economy is something that is complicated and elusive, that quandary is simple in comparison to matters of the heart. The legendary experts on romance, star-crossed and otherwise, are generally not available for comment. Romeo and Juliet have left the building.
However, there is one person I know who has a better feel for the vagaries of love than most, and I sought her out the other day.
"Spring is the time when you allow yourself to hope that love will come around again," said Peggy Sue Gerron.
You may not recognize her full name, but you sure do recognize the first part of it.
Yep -- she's that Peggy Sue. The Peggy Sue of Buddy Holly's unforgettable 1957 hit, a song of longing and heartbreak that is instantly familiar today even to people who weren't born until decades after it came out. "If you knew Peggy Sue, then you'd know why I feel blue ..."
Juliet, that other symbol of the glory of love, may have been a fictional creation of William Shakespeare's imagination, but Peggy Sue was, and is, real. She lives in West Texas, just as she did when Buddy Holly recorded the song. She was actually not even his girlfriend, although she sensed a certain yearning on his part. She was the girlfriend of Jerry Allison, the drummer for the Crickets, Holly's band.
"I think the reason people think about finding love in the spring is that the season represents new beginnings," she said. "The flowers are blooming. The air smells good. You feel that you have a chance."
In the song, Peggy Sue, implicitly, was the one who did the dumping, not the one who got dumped. But time has made her understand:
"I think, I really believe, that on a rare occasion, two people in life run across each other in a path like two comets. And when it happens, I think that feeling lasts forever."
Which is to say: With a love so rare and true.
And that, she said, is what makes people keep looking for love regardless of how many times they may have tried and failed. She has a theory of what being in love does to a person:
"Your eyes are a little bit shinier and your skin is a little bit clearer when you're in love. When you meet that person, you think: Whatever you're doing, I want to be right beside you when you're doing it. I want to be near you just because I like to see your smile."
Not that being Peggy Sue means she has all the answers. "I don't," she said. She is 68 now; she has been married twice, divorced twice. When she introduces herself to new people, they often say, "Oh -- like the Peggy Sue in the song!"
Sometimes she tells them she is in fact that Peggy Sue; sometimes she lets it go. It's an uphill battle to convince them she's not kidding.
And as the woman who eternally will be a symbol of true love's ways, she thinks she understands why people never give up on hoping to find the right person. "You have a tendency to put the walls up after you've been hurt," she said. "You think it's not worth trying again. But then you do it | [
"who lives in texas",
"Who has a theory about what love does to a person?",
"what does she have a theory on",
"who has the theory of love",
"Who lives in west Texas?"
] | [
[
"Peggy Sue"
],
[
"Peggy Sue Gerron."
],
[
"to a person:"
],
[
"Peggy Sue."
],
[
"Peggy Sue"
]
] | Bob Greene: John Madden's retiring as a broadcaster but keeping his bus .
He says football expert had the ultimate perk for traveling the country .
Greene: Highway becomes your best friend as you discover America block by block . |
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