Here’s Wilkinson’s main point:

“None of this is to say that Toronto doesn’t have its problems. (Or that it’s not boring to New Yorkers.) But we would do well to learn the lessons of cultural accommodation and integration from our neighbors to the north. American cities could host much larger immigrant populations and thrive. Maybe someday an American city will place in the top 10 on the list of the world’s most livable places. Maybe—if it becomes more like Toronto.” Read more.

The Taliban are inching closer to Pakistan’s capital, Islamabad, worrying the international community who know this means the radicals are getting closer to Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal.

This escalation has the potential to overshadow President Obama’s other priorities as the safety of Pakistan’s nuclear weapons grows unclear. Yet, according to the Washington Post, Pakistan’s elite remains cloaked in denial and focused on political calculations. And there isn’t much the United States can do about it!

Here is what the N.Y. Times had to offer on the subject: 

“President Obama said last week that he remained confident that keeping the country’s nuclear infrastructure secure was the top priority of Pakistan’s armed forces. But the United States does not know where all of Pakistan’s nuclear sites are located, and its concerns have intensified in the last two weeks since the Taliban entered Buner, a district 60 miles from the capital.” Read more. 

Additionally, the Washington Post reveals how key U.S. military commanders are relating events to Iran’s revolution in the 1970s.

“The challenge in Pakistan is eerily similar to what the Carter administration faced with Iran: How to encourage the military to take decisive action against a Muslim insurgency without destroying the country’s nascent democracy.”

More from the Post’s Jackson Diehl:

“The National Security Council met last week to hear a new report by the U.S. intelligence community, which concluded that an Islamic revolution in Pakistan was not likely ‘in the near future.’ An intensive review has also begun of how Pakistan’s nuclear weapons are secured and what might happen to them in an emergency.”

“Much of the civilian elite remains focused on intramural political squabbles and — like Iran’s secular middle class in the 1970s — discounts the fundamentalist menace.”

And what tools do the U.S. have at their disposal? According to the Post:

“Anti-American feeling in Pakistan is high, and a U.S. combat presence is prohibited. The United States is fighting Pakistan-based extremists by proxy, through an army over which it has little control, in alliance with a government in which it has little confidence.

The tools most readily at hand are money, weapons, and a mentoring relationship with Pakistan’s government and military that alternates between earnest advice and anxious criticism. As criticism has dominated in recent weeks — along with reports that the administration is wooing Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari’s principal political opponent, former prime minister Nawaz Sharif — the partnership has grown strained.”

The LA Times article also exposes the logic behind the deal. Because of its poor reputation, Fiat pulled out of the US in the 1980s. Yet this deal will open Fiat to the US market, while giving them big Chrysler SUVs. While Chrysler gains Fiat’s small cars and its technology. Though, according to the article, an important unknown remains:

“The real unknown is whether it will be possible to fix the [Chrysler] plants, define a new range of products and have them accepted by the American consumer in two to three years,” said Berti, the economist. “This is the real gamble facing Fiat.”

BusinessWeek cites pivotal Marchionne moves that turned Fiat around, such as pushing for the redesign of the iconic Fiat 500 and introducing a new Sedan, the Fiat Bravo. Each were out the door and in the marketplace in a mere 18 months. Marchionne’s leaner, meaner management style made the push possible. Some of his key financial decisions also saved Fiat. BusinessWeek, for example, explains how he got suppliers to cut costs by five percent. Foremost, is his mantra: “speed, simplicity, self-confidence.” 

Obviously, only time will tell if Marchionne can get the U.S. auto giant back in play … and that’s while people aren’t even buying cars!

He is my person of the day, of the year! You can watch the report by sliding through this video and getting to the 20:27 mark.

Specter has been a senator since 1966. He’s known for his moderate views that straddle the partisan divide, making him a more of an independent than one who is loyal to party creeds. Though his defection will not mean he’ll always vote with the Democrats; it does mean the Republican party’s current strategy and messages are doing little to support and welcome moderate voices. 

Olympia Snowe, a moderate Republican and Senator from Maine, had this to say in today’s New York Times:

“There is no plausible scenario under which Republicans can grow into a majority while shrinking our ideological confines and continuing to retract into a regional party. Ideological purity is not the ticket back to the promised land of governing majorities — indeed, it was when we began to emphasize social issues to the detriment of some of our basic tenets as a party that we encountered an electoral backlash.

It is for this reason that we should heed the words of President Ronald Reagan, who urged, ‘We should emphasize the things that unite us and make these the only ‘litmus test’ of what constitutes a Republican: our belief in restraining government spending, pro-growth policies, tax reduction, sound national defense, and maximum individual liberty.’ He continued, ‘As to the other issues that draw on the deep springs of morality and emotion, let us decide that we can disagree among ourselves as Republicans and tolerate the disagreement.’

I couldn’t agree more. We can’t continue to fold our philosophical tent into an umbrella under which only a select few are worthy to stand. Rather, we should view an expansion of diversity within the party as a triumph that will broaden our appeal. That is the political road map we must follow to victory.”

Read the complete op-ed.

From my vantage point the media are doing a good job of informing people of the story’s many angles. There is so much out there! Here are a few journalistic pieces that caught my eye. 

The BBC offers a simple and effective Q&A. 

The New York Times tracks the outbreak with flair. 

Swine flu epidemics struck in 1976 and 1918 – Salon.com explains.

Why are Shell’s photos stirring enough to pull me away from the excuses I’ve been making these past 4 weeks … well, the photos speak for themselves. But there were a few that take the most credit for wetting the tip of my metaphorical pen.

Photo #3 “Night Session” struck me for the simple positioning of Obama, George Washington and Abraham Lincoln within the sea of light radiating out of the Oval Office. Washington is hovering over Obama’s left shoulder, Lincoln looks on in the foreground. Obama is centred, and the world watches and follows behind him.

Photo #18 “Healthy” signals a taxing dose of reality. Beside the cheese and crackers is a red folder titled “Classified”, the contents of which explain the complicated webs that spin to ensnare him. The juxtaposition of the ordinary and banal (like a salt and pepper shaker) against a folder likely outlining plots to ravage the world says something to me.

Photo #36 “Advisors” is a favourite purely because it could advertise a cinematic masterpiece. And I love the way all, including the painted past presidents, seem to be looking to Obama to provide the much-needed answers.

Photo #49 “Good View” plays on a narrative I’ve noticed throughout the photos, that is: the haunting yet reassuring presence of past presidents. The full catalogue of photos tells me a story about how Obama is connecting with his surroundings. Yet this particular photo, and the countless others that feature past presidents peering in the background, tell me that Obama is making important connections with past presidents. In this photo, we see Obama sandwiched between Thomas Jefferson and John Quincy Adams in the Blue Room, yet, visually, it displays balance. The photo with Aaron Shikler’s portrait of JFK  is visually compelling as well, making you wonder if Obama draws strength from the portraits.

Peruse Shell’s entire photo essay in Time Magazine.

…and I have simply because I’m in awe of his rhetorical mastery of a ship analogy. It is masterful. And so he’s earned the “Person of the Day” moniker.

For those who don’t know her, Goody was a reality television star who both enraged and endeared a nation. In overtones of the Truman Show, Goody’s life and facing of death has been magnified under the camera lens. And with the twist of a film script, she was diagnosed with an aggressive form of cervical cancer over the phone while filming a reality television show. IIt was all filmed so you can watch it on YouTube (I can’t push myself to watch it). She became a star on the reality show Big Brother in Britain, and then grew into a brand, selling books, perfumes and exercise videos.

When she found out she was critically ill she let the cameras in, and Britain watched her deterioriate on their television screen, in their newspapers and on the web. She was criticized, of course, for seeking the limelight during such a difficult period in her life. But, that’s reality, folks, and Jade knew it. Plus, she was building a college fund for her two young sons, who she vowed would never live in the poverty she endured in her youth.  

Most importantly, her public battle has given a generation obsessed with celebrity and frivolousness something to think about. In her final months, she brought reality television full circle – what can be more real than death afterall.  

Furthermore, cervical cancer screenings increased during her ordeal. The British Prime Minister Gordon Brown made an important point about this today once he learned she had passed away (yes, a head of government made a statement about her death): “She was a courageous woman both in life and death and the whole country have admired her determination to provide a bright future for her children” … “She will be remembered fondly by all who knew her and her family can be extremely proud of the work she has done to raise awareness of cervical cancer.”

In the end she became an unlikely humanitarian – one that has saved and will save lives. But she says she wants to be remembered as a “mouthy bird … one who irritated and entertained people in equal measure.” 

The Mirror’s tribute to Goody.

Some of her best quotes.

A brilliantly written reflection on why Jade matters.

This news story explains how AIDS victims in Africa are sent to medical clinics in wheelbarrows, and mentions some facts that the Pope fails to acknowledge, mainly that women are victims of sexual violence and little education. In fact, the majority of Africans infected with the virus are women. A UN report finds that an alarming 40 percent of women surveyed in Zimbabwe and South Africa are HIV positive.

More facts from UNAIDS and the World Health Organization:

·         In 2007, an estimated 2.7 million people became newly infected with HIV. About 45% of them were young people from 15 to 24 years old, with young girls at greater risk of infection than boys.

·         Worldwide there are 7,400 new HIV infections every day

·         The male latex condom is the single, most efficient, available technology to reduce the sexual transmission of HIV and other sexually transmitted infections.

·         Thailand’s efforts to de-stigmatize condoms and its targeted condom promotion for sex workers and their clients dramatically reduced HIV infections and helped reduce the spread of the epidemic.

The most terrifying part of this story is that the Pope’s comments will kill people. Many people around the world listen to this man, and unfortunately his words are going to increase the spread of HIV – it’s that simple. Angola for example is a country where more than half of its people are Catholic, couple that with an estimated 50,000 children who have been orphaned by AIDS, and you’ve got fire. Furthermore, Catholicism is growing in Africa at the world’s fastest rate!

But there are some Catholic priests and nuns in Africa that are advising worshippers to use condoms. They are praying Pope Benedict will soon see the light. Yet they’re not the only ones. It seems some Vatican insiders are calling Benedict a “disaster.”

Guess who’s defending the Pope? 

Salemi endured a horrific earthquake in 1968, and it hasn’t been the same since. Sgarbi formed “Project Earthquake” to pull the town up from rapid decline. Kim’s collection of 55,000 videos, built up over twenty years, is a part of the project.

After Kim’s video empire broke down in New York City, where he enjoyed success for numerous years, Sgarbi offered to house his video collection in an ancient 17th century former monastery.

The Sicilian town welcomed Kim’s videos by chanting his name, a stark contrast from the sound of Kim’s business downsizing in New York from the weight of the recession and the death of VHS tape.

It is a strange twist in a story of a small business that personifies the cultural and economic changes occurring. Can a dilapidated town in Sicily save a once fledgling New York business? And can an ailing business save a small town with high aspirations?

Here’s more about the 1 euro homes on sale if you’re interested in buying.

View the Associated Press report.

A court document listing Madoff’s victims in tiny print runs 162 pages, according to CBS.

The wow moment for me:
“Instead of being a very powerful tool of illumination,” Stewart told Cramer, “It feels like we are capitalizing your adventure by our pensions … It is a game that you know is going on, but you go on television as a financial network and pretend it isn’t happening.” Stewart added: “Isn’t there a problem selling snake oil as vitamin tonic?”

And …

“I understand you want to make finance entertaining, but it’s not a f__ing game.”

Stewart has never been this mean to a guest, and he’s had Bill Kristol and Bill O’Reilly on his show! He was angry and well-equipped with a bevy of research and articulate phrases to back Cramer into a corner, which he did. Cramer cowered excessively, and continuously vowed to do a better job next time. Then again, he was on Stewart’s show, and maybe it was wise of him to take a humble approach so as not to engage Stewart and the audience that was ready for blood.

Stewart’s platform is wide, his audience is enormous, and he has become a distinct voice in the marketplace of ideas (that place were conflicting arguments meet and are reasoned). His voice streams between the black and white arguments of boastful and authoritative ones. Stewart’s voice is conflicted and complicated, in other words it’s genuine. Is there room for a genuine voice in the media? It would seem so, and it appears to be powerful.

Today’s New York Times reminded us that Stewart has previously taken down one news program:
“Mr. Stewart’s brand of media criticism has drawn attention in the past. In 2004 he appeared on the CNN show ‘Crossfire’ and criticized its left-versus-right pundit format. ‘You’re hurting America,’ he told the hosts. Three months later, when the president of CNN cancelled the show, he said ‘I agree wholeheartedly with Jon Stewart’s overall premise.’”

Let’s all take a moment to think about how powerful broadcasting personalities are (in helping and hindering us). 

Some opinions about the Stewart versus Cramer event from the blogosphere:
“In exposing Jim Cramer last night, Jon Stewart precisely summarized — better than anyone I’ve heard before — the dark heart of the financial calamity: There was a fake market and a real market. The market we thought we were investing in was a facade for the real market created by, and for the direct benefit of, the money manipulators.” -Washington Post blogger Joel Achenbach 

“About CNBC generally, Stewart kept returning to the question not only of why the network didn’t report on financial disaster coming, but who CNBC is for at all: “Who are you responsible to? The people in the 401ks and the pensions and the general public, or the Wall Street traders?” Stewart asked (adding that most traders are “bright guys” who are “f__ed in all this too”). The answer seems pretty plain if you watch the channel: it’s for the traders. Period. It’s not just that CNBC doesn’t serve average, buy-and-hold investors. It’s that its very existence—at least, as it is presently aimed and structured—goes against their interests. CNBC is by and large about market timing and trading the market in the short term—exactly the sort of thing that average investors should not be doing.”

“The question, as Stewart came at over and over, was: What did CNBC know and when did it know it? Or, rather: if people like Cramer knew there were shenanigans going on on Wall Street—as shown by clips from his excruciating online video cynically describing manipulations that he said he’d never talk about on TV—then why not call them out?” –Time Magazine blogger James Poniewozik, read more of this great analysis

From Business Week:
“Why would anyone in the hyper-competitive TV news business ever keep quiet if they were aware of wrongdoing or heard rumors that a company was going to collapse? The financial turmoil has been ratings gold for CNBC precisely because viewers can’t tear their eyes away from the crisis as it unfolds. News networks often thrive on bad news.”

“Cramer allowed Stewart to get the upper hand, even letting him characterize the show as an infomercial without much protest. ‘I’m a commentator… I’m a guy trying to do an entertainment show about business.’ He also could have said: I’m a guy who has invested his own money over the years with great success. I live this stuff, and I try to educate people as best as I can. On Bear Stearns, I screwed up. You know what? We all screwed up. What’s your investment adviser’s batting average these days, Jon?”

Watch it! There’s an edited and unedited version.

Spence intends on becoming a “human surveillance machine,” by secretly filming people and then asking their permission. Don’t worry, he does not want to make a reality show out of it.

He says, “Originally the whole idea was to do a documentary about surveillance. I thought I would become a sort of super hero … fighting for justice against surveillance.”

“In Toronto there are 12,000 cameras. But the strange thing I discovered was that people don’t care about the surveillance cameras, they were more concerned about me and my secret camera eye because they feel that is a worse invasion of their privacy.”

Here’s a news report on Spence’s project.

They assembled in Belfast, Londonderry, Lisburn, Newry, Downpatrick and other town centres across Northern Ireland.

As of the time of this writing, 350 police officers joined the hunt to find and punish those responsible. The Belfast Telegraph is calling the killers “terrorists.”

View these incredible photos of the vigil and sign a book of condolences.

They must prevail! Mainly because the two of them run a wonderful business with heart and soul. They built the business after graduating from community college, and have turned it into a national small business award winner. They arranged my wedding flowers with incredible professionalism, patience, attention to detail and warmth, all while I was unprofessional, impatient, flustered and utterly horrible to be around.

Flower shops are an important part of our community (and shouldn’t fall into the cold, callous hands of the recession!). Sometimes they give us the right words to say when we thank someone, love someone, mourn someone, or think quietly of someone.

Listen to this.

Some crazy Japanese comedy you must see! Don’t worry you don’t need to speak Japanese – the premise speaks for itself. Warning: a classroom, Marco Polo and a baseball bat is involved.

All they did was download cheap music software onto their iPhones. They got the instrumental music they needed without the hassle of needing to know how to play the instruments.

Ah!!! Nevermind the downfall of our econony, how about the downfall of our cultural fabric! Knowing iPhones can mimic instruments causes me to fear for the continued growth of non-entities that have already poisoned the way we live by inducing job losses and bank closures. Does this not signal a dangerous reliance on a single technological device? We can do everything through this small gadget it would seem. Everything and nothing. Some technology is causing us to lose our faculties, like remembering phone numbers for goodness sakes.  

Watch the girl band perform. It’s awkward and void of passion. The whole episode summons a prozac-induced smile. Should we be happy about this?

A recent Limbaugh moment that has drawn intense controversy:
“I disagree fervently with the people on our side of the aisle who have caved and who say, “Well, I hope he succeeds. We’ve got to give him a chance.” Why? They didn’t give Bush a chance in 2000. Before he was inaugurated the search-and-destroy mission had begun. I’m not talking about search-and-destroy, but I’ve been listening to Barack Obama for a year-and-a-half. I know what his politics are. I know what his plans are, as he has stated them. I don’t want them to succeed.” –Limbaugh 

Here’s an unbelievable retrospective on the man and his mania. His bravado is d-d-dangerous.

Swallow this: a Gallup poll taken last month finds Limbaugh is viewed positively by 60 percent of Republicans, while 23 percent view him negatively. Sixty-three percent of Democrats dislike Limbaugh, compared with six percent who like him. Most importantly, in my view, Independents see him negatively by almost two to one.

Here’s how the U.S. media and some respected conservatives are defining Rush’s current role in the party:
“The fact that Limbaugh — and not House Republican leader John A. Boehner or Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell — is at the center of the political conversation this week shows the struggle Republicans face in explaining their co-dependent relationship with Limbaugh and his dedicated base.” –Politico

“Because symbolism matters as much or more than substance that the amount of attention Rush Limbaugh is grabbing at the moment is bad for the GOP.

To a non-ideological voter who’s uninterested in policy and forms his perceptions of liberalism and conservatism largely through symbolism and sound bites, a conflict between Obama on the one hand and Limbaugh on the other will almost inevitably rebound to liberalism’s benefit.” -Ross Douthat, The Atlantic

“President Obama and Rush Limbaugh do not agree on much, but they share at least one thing: Both wish to see Rush anointed as the leader of the Republican party.

On the one side, the president of the United States: soft-spoken and conciliatory, never angry, always invoking the recession and its victims. This president invokes the language of ‘responsibility,’ and in his own life seems to epitomize that ideal: He is physically honed and disciplined, his worst vice an occasional cigarette. He is at the same time an apparently devoted husband and father. Unsurprisingly, women voters trust and admire him.

And for the leader of the Republicans? A man who is aggressive and bombastic, cutting and sarcastic, who dismisses the concerned citizens in network news focus groups as ‘losers.’ With his private plane and his cigars, his history of drug dependency and his personal bulk, not to mention his tangled marital history, Rush is a walking stereotype of self-indulgence – exactly the image that Barack Obama most wants to affix to our philosophy and our party. And we’re cooperating! Those images of crowds of CPACers cheering Rush’s every rancorous word – we’ll be seeing them rebroadcast for a long time.” -David Frum, former special assistant to President George W. Bush

Limbaugh’s response to all this:
White House officials are “targeting” him because “they need a demon to distract and divert from what their agenda is.”

Here’s Limbaugh as the President of the United States on a Fox comedy program. Nightmare material.

Brown, a minister’s son, addressed congress with the inflections and lofty rhetoric of a religious sermon. His praise was lavish; his elucidations invoked mankind. If you’re a nerd like me you can watch his speech on CSPAN. Thank you CSPAN.

In the speech, Brown echoed Obama’s tone of hope and brotherhood. He vowed eternal friendship with hyperbole: “no power on earth can ever draw us apart.” And he emphasized the need for a global approach to rebuild our financial institutions and tackle climate change.

Some snippets from his speech…
“ Markets should be free but never values-free.”

“When banks have failed and markets have faltered, we, the representatives of the people, have to be the people’s last line of defence.”

“There is no old Europe, no new Europe. There is only your friend Europe.”

“In the depths of Depression, when Franklin Roosevelt did battle with fear itself, it was not simply by the power of his words, his personality and example that he triumphed. Yes, all these things mattered. But what mattered more was this enduring truth: that you, the American people, at your core, were, as you remain, every bit as optimistic as your Roosevelts, your Reagans and your Obamas”.

Here’s the full text of his speech.

Notably, a British columnist said Brown could never deliver a speech like this in Britain. “The U.S .setting seemed to liberate Brown rhetorically. It enabled him to reach for the loftier, more poetic language that would sound bombastic and vaguely ridiculous in Westminster but which is accepted as entirely natural, even necessary, in the U.S.” Is he mocking the U.S.? It would seem the British press are uncomfortable with its leader openly professing his love for America. I get it.

Yet it seems their leader really does love America. Brown studied the U.S. during his many years at university (he has a PhD), and he vacations in U.S. coastal towns like Martha’s Vineyard. From what I’ve seen and read of him during my years in the U.K., he is intrigued by how America’s identity is shaped by its values, not by ethnicity. He has tried to define British values as an attempt to spawn greater integration and cohesion among his citizens, but it hasn’t taken root. Maybe that’s because he has to save his financial system from falling off a cliff.

Andrew Sullivan, a reknown blogger and Brit living in America, suggests the British press are tirelessly focused on how America is snubbing Britain.

I apologize for my thin and far between blog updates last week. I am in the midst of mid-term madness at school, and I traveled to Washington D.C to buy Obama and McCain fridge magnets from Regan airport. I’ll be back in the swing of things later this week. Watch this space….I’ll also be trying to go multi-media on this blog to show you how “hip” I’ve become…

The global recession strikes globalization’s knees!

To many, the vehicle is a symbol of an era of excess, irresponsibility and gross imagination, an imagination that looked the wrong way.

Hummer madness…
Here’s a website dedicated to ending production of the Hummer H2 (it happened this month and the creator of the site gives a Bush-like “Mission Accomplished” salute to the vehicle). 

The site displays 475 photos of people all over the world giving Hummers the finger.

There’s even a song with the chorus “Fuck you and your H2” and a Haiku!

These young do-gooders are seeing their cookie sales drop in many parts of the United States. And some of their proceeds go to the troops! And to scholastic scholarships and community projects! This economic mess is getting uglier than I can handle! And the exclamation point on my keybooard is helping me deal with it!

Therefore, you CNN geeks will enjoy this.

Power couples you may or may not know.

There was a lot of love shared between Obama and Harper today. Obama’s political capital could help Harper. What do you think? Did Harper shine or was he diminished by Obama’s aura?