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I'm always wary of the fat-free versions of any food. Chips, needless to say, are no exception. But when I actually tried chips from the
TopChips ($19.99 from Mastrad) I was surprised. Not only were they crispy, they emerged from the microwave (yes, the microwave) golden brown and looking like, well, potato chips. They certainly taste more like a potato than like fried chips, and you need to salt them before cooking if you want the salt to stick. But with no fat, who's complaining?
Tortilla chips were slightly less successful. They emerged crisp, but lacking flavor. They proved difficult to salt and some became overly crunchy in the microwave, but I barely noticed once they were dunked in my favorite salsa, Spike's Santa Fe, a Good Housekeeping Seal Holder and a staff favorite. We love the thicker, saucy texture, which helps it cling to each chip rather than slide off.
The TopChips includes one microwave cooking dish and a mini slicer for cutting paper-thin slices of potato. You can also buy an additional two-pack of stackable microwave dishes and cook chips on three levels at once.
Craving even more low-fat chips? Check out the winners of our potato chip taste test.
Want to see how we test everything from potato chips to plasma screen televisions? Sign up to take a public tour of the Good Housekeeping Research Institute.
Check out the Daily Green's article on carcinogens in potato chips.


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Samsung is not only known for selling high-end smartphones, but the company also launches an equal amount of smartphones in the entry-level and mid-range categories. After the highly popular Galaxy Y and Wave Y, Samsung recently launched the new Galaxy Pocket budget smartphone. Currently, the Samsung Galaxy Y is the company's cheapest Android phone. However, the Galaxy Pocket will be Samsung's cheapest Android smartphone after the launch.
The Samsung Galaxy Pocket is basically an entry-level Android smartphone targeted at the youngsters. It comes with a 2.8 inch QVGA display and 832 MHz processor. This handset runs on Android 2.3 (Gingerbread) Operating System. However, you should not expect this device to get the Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) update ever.
JK Shin, President of IT & Mobile Communications Division at Samsung Electronics, said,
"GALAXY Pocket offers a smartphone experience for even more consumers at an affordable price. As Samsung continues to innovate in the mobile world in 2012, our goal remains to provide consumers with a variety of smart devices designed to fulfill their needs."
Samsung Galaxy Pocket features a 2.8 inch QVGA touchscreen display, sporting a resolution of 240 x 320 pixels, 832 MHz processor, Android 2.3 (Gingerbread) Operating System, TouchWiz UI, 2 megapixel Fixed Focus camera, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, 3G Connectivity, USB 2.0, Bluetooth 3.0 and much more.
This handset also comes with a 3.5 mm headset jack, Stereo FM Radio with RDS, 3 GB user memory, microSD card slot, 32 GB expandable memory, Samsung Apps, Samsung Kies, Social Hub, Google Play Store, Samsung ChatON, Accelerometer, Digital Compass, GPS with A-GPS and a 1200 mAh battery.
This handset measures 103.7 x 57.5 x 12 mm and weighs just 97g. The Samsung Galaxy Pocket will be available in Italy starting from March, followed by Europe, CIS, Latin America, Southeast and Southwest Asia, the Middle East, Africa, and China during the Q2 of 2012. Samsung has not yet announced the price of this device.

subset: commoncrawl


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Members can now pay their bill online and check energy usage. Notice the SmartHub and Pay Bill Now buttons on the Home page. Click on the Payment of Bills page link in the Acct Services menu, Billing Services directory to learn more.
Touchstone Energy® Cooperatives is a national network of electric cooperatives across 46 states that provides resources and leverages partnerships to help member cooperatives and their employees better engage and serve their members. By working together, Touchstone Energy cooperatives stand as a source of power and information to their 32 million member-owners every day.


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dear friends
i'm wondering if anybody could help me find information on my grandparents' synagogue on sheriff street. i've misplaced the name, but do remember it being two names. they would have worshipped there from the early part of the last century until well into the 1930s.
sitting here in sweden, it's a bit difficult to get to those places.
thankful for any help.
robert rovinsky


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The 10 Naturally Creepiest Places on Earth
Halloween might be several months away, but in some places, spooky happenings occur year-round. Imagine haunted swamps and caves, decrepit (and radioactive) amusement rides, artfully arranged stacks of human bones, and forest of death.
Some of these cropped up naturally; others had a little human help before nature took over, but no matter how they came into existence, they all have one thing on common: they're some of the creepiest places in the world.
Manchac Swamp, Louisiana
This supposedly-haunted New Orleans swamp, located near the west shore of Lake Ponchartrain, may look like any number of similar spots in South Louisiana, but legend has it that there are creepier things than just alligators hiding in the cypress trees. Manchac is supposedly home to the blood-sucking Rougarou, the Cajun version of a werewolf.
Not only that, but the swamp may be haunted by the ghost of Julie (or Julia) White, a voodoo priestess. Legend has it that White used to sit on her front porch and predict the destruction of the nearby towns, singing, "One day I'm gonna die, and I'm gonna take all of you with me." Her prophecy turned out to be true; on the day of her funeral in 1915, a hurricane struck the area and wiped out three towns. The swamp is now a bird sanctuary, and, thanks to the occasional corpse that still floats up, a tourist haven. Night tours are offered regularly, if you want to check out the mass graves and red-eyed crocodiles. Photo credit: Judy Kiel
Aokigahara "Suicide" Forest, Japan
This 8,600-acre forest, located at the northwest base of Mt. Fuji, rates high on the creepy meter. Not only is it dense and virtually silent, but wildlife is scarce, lending an empty feeling to the woods. Aokigarhara is home to demons in Japanese mythology, but it may also be home to human spirits; since the 1950s, more than 500 people have committed suicide among the trees.
As if that weren't freaky enough, Smarter Traveler reports that, "Every year bodies, bones, makeshift nooses, and flowers left by grieving friends and family are found on the forest floor." Tourists can visit the area, but it's easy to get lost (even with a GPS), so official tours are recommended. Some of the sights include a large lava cave where bats hibernate, the plastic tape residents use to make search grids during the annual hunt for bodies, and signs that read, "Life is a precious thing! Please reconsider!" Sounds fun. Photo credit: Keio
Centralia, Pennsylvania
A borough in eastern Pennsylvania, Centralia used to be a bustling mining town, complete with hotels, churches, general stores and more than 20 saloons. But in 1962, things took a turn for the worse when a group of miners burned a trash pile in an abandoned mine pit, which served as the local landfill. Unbeknownst to them, there was a vein of highly-flammable anthracite coal in the pit, which quickly caught fire and spread to the underground mines.
The blaze continued unchecked for years, and finally, in 1969, a concerted effort was made to stop the still-spreading flames — but it failed. Throughout the 1970s (while suffering from carbon monoxide exposure), residents began to seriously worry about the severity of the fire. More unsuccessful attempts were made to stop the it, after it began causing numerous sinkholes throughout the borough, one of which nearly took the life of a 12-year-old boy. Finally, in the early 1980s, it was determined that the only way to extinguish the fire was undergo a $660 million trenching operation. Instead, the state opted to evacuate Centralia, and paid to relocate the residents. Today, the fire continues to burn, only a dozen people remain in the poisonous ghost town, and the highway no longer runs through it. Instead, those brave enough to follow Route 61 into Centralia come to the abrupt stop pictured above. Photo credit: CapturinG – HistorY
Chernobyl Amusement Park, Ukraine
Abandoned amusement parks can be found worldwide, from Japan to Berlin to Maryland. (Seriously, just Google the phrase "abandoned amusement parks" and revel in the creepy hits.) And although they are manmade, and thus not "naturally" occurring, there's always something unsettling about watching Mother Nature take back the land, as trees spring up through roller coaster tracks, grass surrounds fallen statues, and the sun fades decapitated clown heads. Be that as it may, as far as I can tell, only one amusement park can claim to be both abandoned and radioactive. Naturally, it's in the Ukraine, at the site of the Chernobyl incident. Unlike most of the other abandoned amusement parks in the world, it didn't close due to financial losses or fatal accidents. No, the Pripyat park never actually opened — it was scheduled to on May 1, 1986, but unfortunately, the world's worst nuclear accident happened five days before the grand opening (some reports claim that it actually opened on April 27, and closed the same day).
According to Yahoo Travel, the town's 49,000 residents were evacuated, and "No one ever returned. Instead of children's laughter there's an eerie silence, a bizarre emptiness in the amusement park and surrounding buildings, now abandoned for 25 years. The corroding Ferris wheel and bumper cars are forever frozen in 1986." Although tours are offered, radiation levels vary throughout the area, which means visitors must stay on the recommended path. In addition to the park, tour sights include a children't nursery (complete with shoes) and the abandoned apartment complex. Photo credit: Timm Suess
Bell Witch Cave, Tennessee
Caves are always a little spooky, given that they're frequently dark, low-ceilinged, and home to legions of bats. But the cave on John Bell's property in Robert's County Tennessee is extra weird: according to legend, it's haunted by a spirit (or witch) that's looking for its teeth. Although accounts vary, early reports state that the spirit began haunting the Bell family in 1817, claiming that, "I am a Spirit; I once was very happy, but I have been disturbed and made unhappy. I am the Spirit of a person who was buried in the woods nearby and the grave was disturbed, my bones disinterred and scattered, and one of my teeth was lost under this house. I am here looking for that tooth."
In the 1800s, the spirit mainly focused its attacks on John Bell and his daughter, leaving them both bruised by the violent interactions. Additional incidents included, "unaccounted for knocking on the door and windows, the sound of wings flapping against the ceilings, and the sound of rats gnawing on bedposts. More disturbingly, the sound of choking and strangling could be heard along with chains dragging and heavy objects hitting the floor. Sounds emanating from the bedroom as if 'beds were suddenly and roughly pulled apart, to which was added the sounds of fighting dogs chained together, making the noise deafening.'" The cave is now the only part of the property that remains virtually unchanged since then, and although the scale of the haunting seriously diminished after the death of the John Bell, strange occurrences are still reported, including, "Malfunctioning cameras, menacing voices, vapors, and elusive faces [that] occasionally interrupt cave tours. Photo credit: Wayne Hsieh
Truk Lagoon, Micronesia
This picturesque lagoon is 3,000 miles south of Hawaii, and on the surface, looks like a pleasant place for a swim. But below the depths, things get weird, and like the Chernobyl park, it's a case of Mother Nature reclaiming her space after human intervention. In 1944, Allied forces sunk more than 60 Japanese warships and aircraft carriers here — with the crews still on board.
Now a popular diving spot, the lagoon functions as a ghostly undersea museum. According to MSNBC, "A ship ripped neatly in half offers a perfect cutaway view of life and death on the high seas. Everything is encrusted with barnacles, from cabins and boiler rooms to onboard assault tanks and airplanes…While swimming through the wrecks, you can spot gas masks, sake cups, and the odd 'human remain.' The ships are corroding fast and many have become full-fledged coral reefs, but they still provide a jaw-dropping testimony to the ravages of war." Photo credit: Aquaimages
The Devil's Kettle, Minnesota
File this one under unsolved geological mysteries. In Judge C.R. Magney State Park in Minnesota, the Brule River flows toward Lake Superior. On its way to the lake, the river is split in two, forming a pair of waterfalls. Pretty, right? But here's where things get strange. The eastern waterfall behaves normally, flowing into a pool and then continuing on its way. But the western one spills vast amounts of water into a huge, mysterious hole — the Devil's Kettle — and completely disappears.
Geologists are stumped by the phenomenon. Some speculate that the water spills into the cauldron and then empties into an underground river that flows into the lake, but no evidence of such a river has ever been found. Others suggest that perhaps the water (and trees and boulders) dumps into a volcanic tube, but volcanic tubes only exist in basalt, which is not present in the waterfall. A third option is that the water disappears into a fault line, but the problem with this theory is that, "it would have to be extremely large to allow for so much water to flow through it. It would also have to be precisely oriented toward the lake. And there's never been any evidence of such a fault found in the area." Over the years, people have tried to track the course of the water by throwing things in it (logs, ping pong balls) and seeing where the items reemerge, but they never do. For now, the mystery of the Devil's Kettle remains intact. Photo credit: Chris 857
Bhangarh, India
The town of Bhangarh seems to be India's version of the lost colony of Roanoke. Once a thriving village, Bhangarh was abruptly abandoned in the 1640s, for reasons that are still unclear. Legends abound; one states that the town was cursed by the Guru Balu Nath, after a palace was built too tall. According to Wikipedia, Balu Nath "sanctioned the establishment of the town with one condition, saying, 'The moment the shadows of your palaces touch me, the city shall be no more!' When a descendant raised the palace to a height that cast a shadow on Balu Nath's forbidden retreat, he cursed the town as prophesied. Balu Nath is said to lie buried there to this day."
An alternate tale suggests that the abandonment was caused after a princess refused the advances of magician. After his spell backfired and led to his death, he cursed the town and caused a massacre, and the place was never reinhabited. Regardless of what really happened, the fact remains that no one is allowed in possibly-haunted-Bhangarh at night; signs are posted to warn people away between sunset and sunrise, and the local archaeological office is located a full half mile away from the town. Either way, it's worth visiting — during the day — to see the amazing ruins, including the Gopinath Temple (above) and the Palace of Prostitutes, whose name suggests that perhaps there may be more to the town's history than angry gods and vengeful shamans. Photo credit: Arindambasu2
Galveston Island, Texas
Texas may be known more for cowboys and cattle ranches than for ghosts, but the seaside city of Galveston is supposedly spirit-filled, and consistently ranks in the top 10 for most haunted American cities. Both pirate activity and war have contributed to its supposed ghost population, but most of the hauntings seem to stem from a storm. In 1900, Galveston, then Texas's largest city, was hit by the deadliest hurricane the country had ever seen. More than 8,000 people were killed — and not all of them were properly buried.
According to Smarter Travel, "The stench of bodies could be smelled for miles. Burying them all was impossible. Even some of those buried at sea washed back onto the beaches. Spirits of the dead, still dressed in 1900s attire, have a heavy presence here. They're most often encountered at Ashton Villa — a mansion that survived the storm — and Hotel Galvez, the island's oldest hotel." The hotel was actually built in 1911, so it's unclear why the ghosts choose to haunt it, but Haunted Galveston says it's home to the "Lovelorn Lady", a ghost trapped on the fifth floor, as well as a haunted restroom in the lobby. The hotel takes its creepy history in stride; last October, it offered ghost tour dinners, complete with paranormal detection devices. Photo credit: Hotel Galvez
Sedlec Ossuary, Czech Republic
Okay, it may be pushing the boundaries of "naturally-occurring" (then again, human bones are natural, right?), but the Sedlec Ossuary is too strange not to include. Located in a cavern beneath a chapel in a suburb of Prague, the ossuary houses the bones of between 40,000 and 70,000 people — and that's not the creepy part.
In 1278, the abbot of the monastery visited the Holy Land, and returned with dirt from Golgotha, which he sprinkled over the cemetery grounds. Because of this, people all across Europe requested burial there, which subsequently led to a mass influx of bodies. The cemetery quickly became full, so the ossuary was built under the chapel, and skeletons were exhumed from the cemetery and placed beneath the church. In 1870, a woodcarver named František Rint was tasked with organizing the jumble of bones, which he did — in the form of macabre sculptures. Rint created four skull pyramids, a coat of arms, a chandelier that contains every bone in the human body, and a skeletal signature claiming the work. The ossuary is now a major Czech tourist destination (I've been there, and it's worth visiting if you happen to be in Prague), has been featured in several films, and served as the inspiration for Satan's Lair in "House of 1,000 Corpses." Photo credit: Shutterstock.com
There you have it, folks — our roundup of the world's spookiest sites, both those created by and reclaimed by Mother Nature, with one bony bonus. Which one do you find freakiest? And would you ever visit any of them?
Featured Image: Shutterstock.com


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Home > Clothing & Accessories > Women > Shoes & Accessories > 1 Pair Silicone Gel Arch Support Shoe Cushions for Flat Feet
Product Details
The wedge design provides advanced cushioning support for your arch, ensuring maximum relief from foot stress, pain and fatigue. They are transparent and discreet, which make them ideal for ladies shoes. Gel cushions have excellent shock absorption properties, do not absorb odors and can be hand washed with warm water and soap. Also, they do not lose their cushioning or flatten out the way foam pads do. The smooth bottom surface is self-stick and does not shift or leave adhesive residue.
- Arch Support
- Shock Absorbing
- Odor Resistant
- Reusable and Washable
- Self-Stick
- Color: Transparent
- Material: Silicone Gel
- Length: approximately 3.5 inch / 9 cm
- Width: approximately 1.8 inch / 4.5 cm
- Height (Maximum): approximately 0.4 inch / 1 cm
Primarily for arch support. For people with flat feet, rigid steps, high/weak or fallen arches.
Peel off the protective film. Insert and attach the shoe cushion to the shoe at the part where your arch will be resting. Reusable: hand wash with warm water and soap, then air dry.
Package Includes:
- 1 Pair of Arch Support Shoe Cushions
Document Download
- 12.jpg - Click here to download
- 11.jpg - Click here to download
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Caramelized Apples & Onions
- Cook Time
- Prep Time
- 8Servings
- 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- 2 1/2 pounds onions, sliced
- 4 sprigs thyme
- Salt and pepper
- 1 granny smith applepeeled, cored, halved and thinly sliced
In a skillet, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the onions, thyme, 1 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper and cook until the onions are softened, about 8 minutes.
Add the apple, lower the heat to medium-low and cook, stirring, until tender, about 10 minutes. Increase the heat to medium-high and cook until caramelized, about 10 minutes; season with salt and pepper. Serve warm.


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We Chat With: Andy Ricker of Pok Pok
"To this day I still consider myself a student. I think that I've got a lot to learn."
Chef Andy Ricker's face scrunches when describing a chewy mushroom native to northern Thailand. His voice articulates meaty flavors versus bland, and his hands illustrate the way to most authentically execute a balanced Thai meal. Ricker's spent over 20 years studying Thai cuisine, resulting in three Portland restaurants, a line of drinking vinegars, a James Beard award for Best Chef Northwest (2011) and a slew of good press for his Pok Pok brand.
Ricker recently brought a teaser of three dishes and drinking vinegars to New York with Pok Pok Wing and will soon launch Pok Pok NY, a full-menu restaurant with indoor space and a large garden area in Brooklyn. In said garden, we chatted with Ricker about how Thai food became the thing, what authentic Thai food is, and what he wants us to learn from it.
What blew you away about Thai street food when you first discovered it? Pok Pok isn't street food. That's a title that's been kind of laid on us but that's really not what we do. What we serve mostly has to do with restaurants that are either off the street or street-side. Not fancy places, just everyday places that people go locally.
The "aha" moment was when I got taken to a restaurant [in Northern Thailand]. There's a particular mushroom that comes up there in April called het top. They're not these beautiful floral, meaty, sweet mushrooms: they're kind of like a puffball. They're a little chewy, and have a slightly bitter flavor to them. We had them in this really pungent, bitter, salty, highly flavorful kind of soup. And to me—somebody who'd been to Thai restaurants in America and spent time on the beach in south Thailand eating bungalow food—this was a complete revelation, and it was the first time I really went, "oh, fuck, I don't know why I didn't think of this but of course there's regional and seasonal food in Thailand."
From there I sort of set off on this journey of discovery. And the deeper I dug the more I realized I knew so little about Thai food that it was scary. To this day I still consider myself a student. I think that I've got a lot to learn.
How hard is it to replicate dishes you've wanted to make? Sometimes it's impossible. For instance there's a particular salad I love there called saa yawt makham awn: it's the young leaves of a tamarind tree, which are sour, flavorful, and have a texture like the tender part of an artichoke. It's utterly delicious. But until tamarind trees all of a sudden start growing in the continental U.S. and someone picks the leaves and sends them to me I just can't make it. So we do the dishes we know we can do faithfully and execute well.
Have you discovered any markets or supply stores that New York City offers that can help us bring a little traditional Thai flavor or method into our apartments? Honestly, no. It's been really, really difficult sourcing stuff that we need.
Why did you choose New York City as your first step in branching out from Portland? Pok Pok is in a small market in Portland. There's only so much you can expand doing this before you start cannibalizing yourself. I have a lot of good people working for me, and you can't hold onto them forever. Expansion is one way of giving people an opportunity to step up. Also I like it here and I want an excuse to be here more often.
For better or for worse New York City is the culinary center of the universe and what we're doing specifically isn't really happening here. Maybe, eventually, the Thai food in American restaurants may become more interesting. Thai restaurants may specialize a little bit more: instead of giving you fifty of the same thing, maybe a place will just do Pad Thai. Or only curries—that's my next project! This is the way things are done in Southeast Asia and, for that matter, in a lot of the world. People specialize in one dish and do it over and over and over again. It doesn't matter what the trend is; they do it for generations. And they stay busy and they stay famous because they are known for that dish. I see a lot more honor in that than in coming up with a new menu every week.
Are you keeping the New York City Pok Pok restaurants similar to the Portland locations, or are you adapting them to our restaurant scene? I don't want to have to make my things look fancier and start to use nothing but the highest quality shit and charge $30 a plate. I'm not gonna do that: we're going to do the same thing we do in Portland and try to make the price point similar. Because the food isn't fancy. We don't have any fucking tweezers. It is what it is. I can show you pictures of the same dishes in Thailand and it looks the same as what we do here.
What do you hope we'll learn or take away from your menu? Something pretty simple, I think, which is just that it's not what you've had typically with Thai food, and it's not bizarre; it's pretty approachable. I'm not trying to make a cultural traveling slide show of food here. My primary goal is to put things on the menu that taste really good.
Do you have any suggestions for cooking better Thai food at home? Thai cookbooks push you towards getting the hot, sour, salty and sweet in every dish. That's not the way it works in Thailand. More often you'll have something really rich and hot and salty, and another thing that's bland, and another thing that's sour, and another thing that's crunchy and meaty. Think of it as putting different flavors in play. You can make it happen as you want to make it happen. That's how Thai food works.
Any dishes that you've found in NYC that blow your mind? I think Seamus [Mullen] at Tertulia is doing a fantastic job. He knows the food so well he can make it interesting and new while keeping true to the tradition. I also really like Danji. Hooni [Kim] is doing a similar thing: he knows Korean food really well and the stuff that he's executing is just fantastic. There's a whelk salad that he does up there that's one of my biggest cravings.
Have you identified another cuisine in your travels that you might want to work with someday? Before I opened Pok Pok I was entertaining the idea of opening a Yucatacan Mexican restaurant. It's an entirely different cuisine with really bright flavors. Much earlier on I was really taken with Indian food too. It's another one of those worlds that's so vast and varied that it's going to take forever to learn a lot about it. And, to top it all off, Chinese food, man! Every time I've traveled to another country China is kinda the holy grail of "holy shit."
All products linked here have been independently selected by our editors. We may earn a commission on purchases, as described in our affiliate policy.


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Ewing Bass Garage & Transmission is a family owned full service auto repair shop in Nashville, TN. We offer comprehensive automotive maintenance & repair for all foreign and domestic vehicles and we take pride in offering our customers quality auto repair at a fair price. Our technicians go from start to finish to repair your car, truck, SUV, or van no matter what the problem including brakes, oil change, tune up. fleet repair, transmission, electrical, alignment, diagnostics, etc.
At Ewing Bass Garage & Transmission, we understand the importance of entrusting your vehicle to an auto repair shop. That is why we make every effort to ensure that your vehicle is in safe hands. We have been delivering our services to the residents of Nashville, Tennessee, and surrounding areas since 1955. Our vast experience has given us the know-how to serve our customers efficiently and win their patronage.
Our team of skilled technicians performs all kinds of auto repair work, from maintenance to transmission services. They are trained to deliver quality repair services and get your vehicle back on the road as soon as possible. We are registered dealers of ACDelco. You can be assured of getting quality auto parts at competitive prices. Our customers always receive superior and cost-effective services.
We provide auto repair services for private and commercial vehicles. We service both domestic and foreign automobiles. We are confident about our workmanship and guarantee all of our work. We are a licensed and insured company, a fact that adds to our credibility.Our range of garage and transmission services includes regular maintenance, engine diagnostics and more. We also offer free towing with major transmission over hauls, in case your vehicle breaks down in the middle of the road.
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text: Whenever I look at boards online I seem to always come across something in the description along the lines of "Surf this board 4-6 inches than your standard shortboard." This isn't really a problem right now because I have a perfectly fine board, but I figured I would ask the question while it's still in my head. I'm about 5'7" and 130-140 pounds. What would be my standard shortboard height?


text: Transformer Pad - Colorful 10.1" Quad-core Tablet with Mobile Dock for Entertainment The latest Android™ Jelly Bean4.2 Concentric finished pattern with stylish colors in Royal Blue, Iceberg White and Torch Red Mobile Dock with USB & SD card ports extends battery life up to 15* hours NVIDIA® Tegra® 3 4-Plus-1™ Quad Core CPU with 12-core GPU for lowest power and the highest performance Crystal clear 8MP auto-focus camera with 5-element lens, large F/2.2 aperture & back-illuminated CMOS sensor Superior audio experience with ASUS SonicMaster technology 178° wide viewing angle IPS panel Pre-loaded exclusive SuperNote app for taking notes using drawings, photos or videos Shop Modal header Android™ 4.2 Today The world's first partnered tablet to receive Android™ 4.2 Jelly Bean. Stunning, stylish colors with a concentric patterned finish Available in Royal Blue, Iceberg white and Torch Red*, the ASUS Transformer Pad offers the most stylish choice available in a tablet. *Color availability may vary from country to country. Please check with your local retailer for exact colors. NVIDIA® Tegra® 3 Quad-core CPU Tablet Powered by the world's first Quad-core processor NVIDIA® Tegra® 3 4-Plus-1™, the Transformer Pad browses the web and plays 1080p video at blazing speeds. The snappier response time and better multi-tasking performance make the Transformer Pad a true mobile entertainment powerhouse. Improved Graphics Performance Up to 30% higher graphics performance for better gaming experience than Tegra™ 2 IPS Panel provides vivid images on the go A brilliant IPS Panel brings viewable angles up to 178 degrees wide, while presenting excellent and vivid graphic images that produces 50% better and more accurate color range. Displayed in high brightness, it's able to tolerate the sunlight, so you can enjoy it regardless of the environment that you're in. Transform to notebook mode with a full QWERTY chiclet keyboard mobile dock and up to 15 hours* of battery life Admit it! You miss the touch and feel of a real QWERTY keyboard. The Transformer Pad offers you a choice to enjoy both notebook mode and tablet mode with the optional mobile dock. The mobile dock offers a full QWERTY keyboard with touchpad and USB port, while also extending battery life to an incredible 15 hours for all day computing on the go. *Battery life is measured under power saving mode, playing 720p video playback, Brightness:60nits, default volume with headphones. Incredible audio experience with ASUS Sonicmaster Technology Tuned by the ASUS Golden ears team, audio on the Transformer Pad is delivered with the most precise processing protocols and codecs, superior speaker construction and large resonance chambers for unforgettable audio enjoyment. 8MP rear auto-focus camera with large F/2.2 aperture The Transformer Pad is equipped with the most advanced CMOS sensor, large F/2.2 aperture and 5-element lens design to ensure sufficient light exposure and the ability to defocus the background and put emphasis on the object, making your photos bright and clear. With the high speed auto-focus and color enhancement design, it provides 30% better color enhancement for crisp and vivid colors, allowing the Transformer Pad to capture a clear and breathtaking image. SuperNote - super great app for more than note taking SuperNote is a versatile note taking app that allows users to take notes and information through a variety of options, including the keyboard, finger input, photo and video capture or audio notes. Magazines, newspapers and books: rich content for everyday use In addition to the music and videos provided in MyCloud, the Transformer Pad also offers accessibility to purchase newspapers from Press Reader, magazines from Zinio and books from Amazon Kindle. With the Transformer Pad, drop the heavy books and papers from your life. Polaris® Office® 3.0, a professional mobile office Solution Preloaded on the Transformer Pad is Polaris® Office® 3.0, a professional mobile office solution which enables users to edit various types of office documents including documents (.doc), spreadsheets (.xls) and presentation files (.ppt), making the Transformer Pad very attractive for professional use. In addition, the ultra-convenient 8GB of ASUS WebStorage space provides worry-free cloud computing, and best of all, is free for life! MyCloud : MyCloud is a total cloud solution, providing access to digital content such as music, videos, and files from the cloud. Users can even use MyCloud to remotely access and control PC or Mac systems, which further extends the versatility of the Transformer Pad. MyNet MyNet easily streams digital media wirelessly within home network devices so HD videos or music can be played on devices such as an HDTV or desktop PCs for an even better experience from the Transformer Pad. MyLibrary: MyLibrary consolidates downloaded books, magazines and newspapers in to one easy step.


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Stephanie's Log. Star date 021907131990. 17:00 hours. Today the Milky Way unfolded in front of me. I watched a shooting star streak through the darkness, and studied the craters of the moon and the rings of Saturn. Then a spaceship appeared and a silky British voice began to narrate: "Space: the final frontier. These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise. Its continuing mission: to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no one has gone before!" With that the ship lit up and whooshed away at warp speed and the music kicked in: dun-dundundun-dundundun! My world was officially rocked.
This is the log entry I might have recorded in sixth grade after my best friend Juliet* introduced me to Star Trek: The Next Generation. Since I was the kind of girl whose favorite field-trip destination was the planetarium, the intro alone sold me. Whenever I had dinner at Juliet's house, we'd eat in the living room and watch the show with her grandparents. Juliet and I would recite the opening narration, purposely exaggerating the proper British pronunciation of "civil-i-zations," and loudly humming along with the music until her grandpa got all, "OK, pipe down, you two." But the opening credits are just the beginning of the awesomeness that is ST:TNG.
Let's talk about the crew. First, my favorite, the man with the swoonworthy British accent: Captain Jean-Luc Picard. Yes, his head is as shiny and bald as cue ball, but just listen to him command "Engage," "Make it so," or my personal favorite, "Tea, Earl Grey, hot." The voice! That take-charge attitude! Maybe it's a little creepy that one of my first crushes was on a 60-year-old man, but Captain Picard was certainly more worthy of my admiration than the bad-boy types I would soon begin to fall for. Unlike Dylan McKay and Jordan Catalano, Picard is honorable, courageous, well read, and compassionate. I love watching him puzzle through a tough decision. He's like Starfleet's conscience, always considering the Prime Directive—the United Federation of Planets' chief code, which dictates that there cannot be any interference with developing cultures—but occasionally violating it in life-or-death situations. Captain Picard got me interested in philosophy and had me thinking about the meaning of humanity in the episode "Measure of a Man," when he argued that Lieutenant Commander Data, an android, was a sentient being. Juliet and I would always say that our present-day politicians could learn a thing or two from Picard, which led her to getting me this shirt once during an election year:
Data has always been Juliet's favorite ST:TNG character. ("You're in love with the old man!" "Well, you're in love with the machine!" "At least neither of us is in love with the Klingon!" See what great inside jokes you and your friends can share when you're Trekkies?) If Captain Picard is the conscience of the show, Data is its sense of humor—which is kind of ironic considering that because of Data's design, he does not understand humor or any human emotion, and he also cannot speak in contractions. Some of the best moments on ST:TNG involve Data emulating human behavior. He tries to laugh, make jokes, gamble, go to therapy, and train his cat, Spot. There are also some incredibly sad moments, like in the episode where Data tries to build a daughter, but loses her to mechanical malfunctions.
The women on the crew, like Dr. Beverly Crusher and the half-human half-Betazoid Deanna Troi, are just as brave and active as the men. As an emotionally overwrought junior high student, I found it really empowering to see Troi use her heightened emotional awareness for good.
The range of stories told on Star Trek: The Next Generation—a blend of drama, comedy, action, adventure, and even a little bit of romance—is probably the best thing about the show. Two of my favorite episodes bridge season five and season six: "Time's Arrow" parts one and two. In them, the crew time-travels back to 1800s San Francisco and meets up with Mark Twain and Jack London. If you're a literature nerd like me (and Captain Picard), you will be in heaven. And since I am a literature nerd, my favorite recurring character is a villain that fits the trickster archetype perfectly: Q. He is always stirring up drama (and a lot of comedy with Captain Picard), starting in the very first episode of the series, "Encounter at Far Point," which you can (and should!) watch on Netflix Instant right now!
Even though the Enterprise crew is out there battling enemies like the Borg, who want to turn everyone into robots, you don't get the sense that a bleak dystopian future lies ahead of us. I love to daydream about the technology they have in the 24th century: the funky silver banana clip that Chief Engineer Geordi La Forge (played by LeVar Burton of Reading Rainbow fame!) wears to cure his blindness, the replicator that Captain Picard's tea comes from, the holodeck where Data solves mysteries as Sherlock Holmes, and the teleporter that could have taken me to visit Juliet in an instant after she moved 90 miles away in eighth grade. But the bond that was sealed during many hours of ST:TNG marathons kept our friendship alive. And so I urge you and your friends to check out this show, the greatest in escapist TV and, literally, the best thing ever. ♦
* That's not her real name, btw.


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The Kriya Yoga International organizations provide ongoing spiritual teaching, training and support for seekers through many types of events , striving to provide an environment that encourages spiritual development and practical application in daily life. The Mother Centers in each region coordinate these Kriya Yoga activities through their affiliated centers and groups. Kriya Yoga Initiation Programs usually consist of a public introductory lecture in the community on Kriya Yoga, and initiation into Kriya Yoga is offered, which is followed by learning the technique and attending Kriya Yoga meditation classes.
Kriya Yoga Retreats are for initiates in this lineage to deepen their understanding of Kriya Yoga and their personal practice. Typically the retreat has a particular theme with many meditation classes and spiritual discourses.
Kriya Yoga Initiation Only is held at a center when there is a yogacharya (teacher) in residence. The seeker receives initiation and attends the meditation classes.
Kriya Yoga Special Event Seminars are national and international programs held at the Mother Centers throughout the year. These seminars honor the masters' birthday and mahasamadhi, Guru Purnima Day, Foundation Day of the ashrams, and other special events. The events include celebrations, meditation classes, spiritual discourses, and other activities, depending on the nature of the event.
Seva Days are usually anywhere from one day to one week in length, and are an opportunity for spiritual aspirants to offer their services to the organization. The activities will often include cleaning, yardwork, and general maintenance at one of the ashrams, or assisting with the logistics of a program (setup, registration, flowers, and the like).
Kriya Yoga Intensive Meditation Programs help those who are already initiated into this lineage of Kriya Yoga to deepen their spiritual practice. It is usually two to three days of intense meditation practice with some satsangs (spiritual discourses).
Kriya Yoga Local Events are listed on only the local center's Web site calendar. These are typically smaller events that are organized for the benefit of local kriyavans.
The Lecture Only event consists of a public talk delivered by one of the Kriya Yoga acharyas.
|Event Title
|Acharyas / Monastics
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Used Electro-Voice
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Ed note. Nothing says summer to me more than wild lobster! Maybe it's fond memories of family trips to Maine and enjoying a lobster roll or two.
In any case, getting together with loved ones is the best part of any Fourth of July celebration. That's why I think Anna's dish described below combines the best of the holiday: timeless memories and a great meal to enjoy with friends and family!
This year, I am taking my Independence Day celebration up a notch. Instead of the standard barbecue and beer event I usually host or attend, I was inspired to make a meal full of red, white, and blue!
My guests are sure to enjoy this new color-themed cuisine. To include foods of each of our country's patriotic colors, I created this combination of taste and excitement:…


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Guests: David Corn, Richard Engel, Trish Regan, Brian Levin, Brian Schweitzer, Sue Lowden, Abderrahim Foukara, David Edelstein
CHRIS MATTHEWS, HOST: Dangerous talk.
Let's play HARDBALL.
Good evening. I'm Chris Matthews out in Las Vegas. I'm here to speak at an Alzheimer's event. I lost my mother to that disease.
Leading off tonight: Silence is consent. What do you say when you hear talk of someone shooting the president, nothing? Well, this week, when Georgia Republican Paul Broun was asked at a town meeting, "Who's going to shoot Obama?"—well, on hearing that, without objecting to what he just heard, the next words heard from the congressman were, "I know there's a lot of frustration with this president."
Only when it became a national story today did Broun condemn such talk of shooting the president. So one month after Gabby Giffords's shooting, Broun's initial silence is another example of Republicans refusing to take on their supporters, no matter how violent or crazed their words. It's our top story tonight.
Plus, Wisconsin. Regardless of who wins the union fight out there, both parties see big advantages for their sides. The Democrats hope it will reenergize their base. Republicans are banking that getting tough with the demands of public employees is a good political move. Who's right?
Also, out of Africa. A ferry carrying more than 300 Americans arrived in Malta just this afternoon after being stranded in Libya for two days because of high seas. Once the ferry was safely away from Libya, the United States suspended embassy operations in Tripoli and announced that it would impose unilateral sanctions on Libya. We're going to get a report from Richard Engel in Libya.
And I'm here in Las Vegas, where John Ensign has just come out with a strong statement supporting legalized prostitution. Go figure.
Finally, it's the biggest TV night since—this side of the Super Bowl, the Oscars this Sunday night. We're going to look at a top critic and who he thinks is going to win and who he thinks should win the big prizes.
We begin with Republican congressman Paul Broun's response to a man asked, "Who's going to shoot Obama?" at a town hall meeting. Brian Levin is the director of the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at Cal State San Bernardino, and David Corn, our friend at the Washington bureau chief of "Mother Jones" and an MSNBC political analyst.
Brian, just off the top—just off the top—what do you make of a congressman who hears somebody say, "Who's going to shoot the president?" and basically, then just continues on as if nothing's been said, and a minute later or so says, "I understand there's a lot of frustration with this guy," as if to sort of suggest, I understand where you're coming from? That's the way it's come across in the media. What do you make of this?
BRIAN LEVIN, CTR. FOR THE STUDY OF HATE AND EXTREMISM: You know, this
comes during a week where we had a plot to possibly assassinate President
Bush, just weeks after the shooting of Congresswoman Giffords. It is
astounding to me that someone who's in a position of political leadership -
we're not talking about a pundit here, we're not talking about someone who makes their living by being extreme. We're talking about someone who's an elected official.
And it seems to me they abrogate their ability for civil discourse and they are supporting the undermining of the institutions of our pluralistic democracy, and indeed, you know, of our president, when they just allow with a wink and a nod or a chuckle to have that kind of outrageous, violent statement go forward. And it shows what's wrong today with the political discourse in the United States, when people in a position of elected authority refuse to stand up and use this teachable moment for the right thing.
MATTHEWS: Well, it wasn't a teachable moment for the congressman. Here's a recap of what happened. At a town hall this Tuesday, just three days ago with Congressman Paul Broun, someone asked, "Who's going to shoot Obama?" Apparently, it was the first question out of the box. The local newspaper reports that the crowd laughed.
Broun didn't answer the question, and according to his own office,
moved on to another question, with, quote, the following response. "The
thing is, I know there's a lot of frustration with this president. We're
going to have an election next year. Hopefully, we'll elect somebody
that's going to be a conservative, limited government president that will
take a smaller—will take us (ph) smaller—who will sign a bill to
repeal and replace 'Obama care.'"
That's his response. Broun's spokeswoman later told "The Athens Banner-Herald," "Obviously, the question was inappropriate, so Congressman Broun moved on."
Well, today, Politico picked up on the Athens paper's story and it started a lot of national discussion. And then today, Broun released this statement, "Tuesday night at a town hall meeting in Oglethorpe County, Georgia, an elderly man"—as if that's important—"asked the abhorrent question, 'Who's going to shoot Obama?' I was stunned by the question and chose not to dignify it with a response. Therefore at that moment, I moved on to the next person with a question. After the event, my office took action with the appropriate authorities. I deeply regret that this incident happened at all. Furthermore, I condemn all statements made in sincerity or jest"—jest? -- "that threaten or suggest the use of violence against the president of the United States or any other public official. Such rhetoric cannot and will not be tolerated."
So David Corn, there you get on Friday what happened in Tuesday. It takes three days for this guy to get his act together, after a lot of warning from his staff, a lot of kerfuffle in the press. He finally is told, You know, you shouldn't have just stood there as a public official of the United States and let somebody talk about the president getting shot, as if that's one of the options on the table here.
DAVID CORN, "MOTHER JONES," MSNBC POLITICAL ANALYST: Right. Well, you know, he says in this statement released today, three days later, that he was stunned by the question. The eyewitness to the event who got this whole story going, who was there, says that everybody laughed, including U.S. Congressman Broun. So we have an eyewitness account saying that he wasn't stunned, that he laughed. But he certainly didn't say anything against this.
Now, in some ways—I hate to say this—it's not surprising. Congressman Broun, during the State of the Union speech—not afterwards, but during it—he was tweeting, while he was there, and he tweeted, "Mr. President, you don't believe in the Constitution, you believe in socialism."
Now, this is partly what's wrong with the political discourse, too. He wasn't—you know, he wasn't just disagreeing with the president, he was saying that our president is against the Constitution and actively doesn't believe in it. So therefore, it's really quite plausible to me that when a wacko makes this sort of remark at a town hall meeting that Congressman Broun—this congressman, who's elected to lead all of us—would not take him on and would just sort of laugh it off. That's apparently what happened.
MATTHEWS: You know, I want to get to Brian. I agree with you completely, and I want to go to Brian, who's an expert on this. What is this new connection between gunplay and politics? Why are guns talked about as political solutions, like, Who's going to shoot this guy, Glenn Beck talking about shooting somebody in the head, or the forehead in particular, what's her name up in Alaska talking about crosshairs and reloading? What's this new—not the right to bear arms, to go hunting or sportsman or whatever else reason you want to have a gun, or even to protect yourself against a rampaging government, should that ever occur—but to use guns as political solutions. What's that? That's in the air now with these people.
LEVIN: Yes. You made a very important point, Chris. Look, what we're seeing right now is the politics of demonization. You're not going to attack the president on the merits or the deficits of his policies or his plans. What you do is you demonize him and you make him illegitimate. You say he's—
MATTHEWS: Well, you make him a target.
LEVIN: Yes, make—exactly, you make him a target. And how? You say he's not American, he's not Christian. You compare him to Hitler, the Nazis, the communists, instead of hitting head-on, Hey, what's with the deficit? What's with health care? It's much more convenient to opt out—
MATTHEWS: OK, help me out—you're hesitating here, Brian. I thought you'd get more to the point. It isn't about just demonization, it's about targeting, the language of guns in a political discussion, not about the 2nd Amendment. It's in the Constitution. Nobody's fighting about that.
LEVIN: Right.
MATTHEWS: It's about talking about guns as a political solution.
Glenn Beck says shooting a guy in the head—
LEVIN: Right.
MATTHEWS: -- what's her name in Alaska—I'm not going to use her name for a few days—she's talking about reloading and putting people in target zones and crosshairs. What's it about using gun language as a political solution? What's that about?
LEVIN: It's about defining someone in a demonizing way. And how do you get rid of a demon? You take them out. You shoot them. You kill them. You hang them out to dry. You don't run them out of office through an election, you kill them. And that is the problem with the use of this kind of terminology and the use of this symbology. And it's not—it's not political. What I'm saying is there are people of good will who are conservative who completely reject this kind of stuff, and I think you're exactly right, the use of crosshairs, the use of 2nd Amendment solutions and remedies—this is something that says, If we don't get what we want through the electoral and political process, we'll do our own thing by shooting people and—
MATTHEWS: I'm in Nevada right now (INAUDIBLE) I happen to be in Nevada right now, not because Sharron Angle ran here, but she was the one who talked about, If you don't like the way Congress is behaving, we've got our 2nd Amendment solutions, which means gunplay.
CORN: You know, this is—
MATTHEWS: Here's the House speaker—I'm sorry. go ahead, David.
CORN: No, I was going to say this is a way that elected leaders, politicians, Republicans, mainly conservatives, are trying to exploit this deep-seated anger out there and also trying to look tough. I mean, there's this whole attitude of, you know, I love my guns and that's a primary issue for me, and I'm going to show how strong I am. Barack Obama doesn't like guns, so he's weak. And if we can portray him of being anti the Constitution, weakening our country, it's basically saying that we have to get rid of him, and it's a way of talking tough, of making him seem not just like a political opponent, but like an enemy. And in war, you use any means possible.
MATTHEWS: Brian, it seems to me we've got a real problem in this country. It's not that people on the right feel that they are the real majority and they need guns to protect themselves against the minority in Washington or New York, or whoever else they don't like. It's that they believe they are the minority, and they're afraid the government is popular.
We're looking at the Middle East. What a strange place to notice this. But here we have these people in the streets of Cairo and now Tripoli, unarmed, bringing down governments. It's the governments—in this case, Tripoli, the Libyan government of Gadhafi, that's using guns to fight the majority.
I have a sense now that when people on the right in this country talk about their rights to bear arms, to defend themselves against the government, they believe they need their guns to defend themselves against a popular government, an elected government, that they're the ones in the minority and that's why they need their guns. It's not that they've been overwhelmed by a minority, they are the minority, and that's why they want their guns. What do you think?
LEVIN: I think you're right with regard to the fringe. There are conservative people of good will, but what we're seeing here is a spectrum, and what we have at the fringe of this are exhortations to violence, demonization, and the injection of tactical (ph) falsehoods.
And what do you do with these people who are enemies, who you demonize and you make false things up about them, and you make it such that violence is acceptable, guns are the easiest kind of symbol to use against these kind of figures. And the problem is, while it might be politically expedient, what it does, it creates a situation where you'll not only maybe get your base riled up a little bit, but you'll green light an extremist.
And that's what I wrote about in The HuffingtonPost today. And I encourage people to read it because this is not something where I'm attacking conservatives. I'm attacking the use of violence and symbology that demonizes pop and says that violence is a way—
CORN: Well, if you say—
MATTHEWS: -- got to go now, but I want to ask this question. When are the people in the Republican Party in leadership positions, who are as good as we are—we may disagree with them on some issues, but it comes down to—this isn't about partisan politics. Why don't the leaders, the elected leaders who are totally legitimate in their leadership, say, We will win on the arguments. We don't need guns. We don't need to villainize our opponents.
CORN: Chris—
MATTHEWS: We don't need to call them un-American. We will win the argument on taxes and big government. Those are winning issues. Shut up!
CORN: You know—
MATTHEWS: Why don't they do it? They're afraid that they need that 10 or 20 percent of the loony—the loony right in this case—there's also a loony left—to back them up. And that's what they need to win the majority and that's why they don't want to shut them down. Last word, David, quickly.
CORN: The anger is the gas in their engine. Without it, they can't make it across the finish line. When the Tea Party were calling Democrats Nazis at a Capitol Hill rally, John Boehner and Eric Cantor and all the rest just smiled and accepted that. So again and again and again, they've had the chance to tell their followers, Hey, wait a second, that's going too far. But instead, they're—
MATTHEWS: OK, you know, you and I—
CORN: -- following the pack and accepting its anger and resentment.
MATTHEWS: -- disagree on this. A rare disagreement, David, you and I, because I think the argument against big government and taxes and overspending—it's a good argument to make at this particular time with this kind of deficit and this kind of debt. They could win on the arguments on the merits—
LEVIN: They could win without it.
CORN: They obviously disagree with you, Chris, because they're kowtowing to this and they're not calling it out.
MATTHEWS: OK. I agree with you on that one.
LEVIN: They could win without it.
MATTHEWS: OK. I knew I'd end up agreeing with you anyway, David.
MATTHEWS: Thank you, sir, as always, David Corn, who I tend to agree with most of the time. Brian Levin, thanks so much for coming on with your expertise. I wish we didn't need you, but we do.
LEVIN: Thank you.
MATTHEWS: Coming up: The battle against unions we're watching in Wisconsin has both sides hoping for a big win out there. They both can't win, however. Democrats hope it will reenergize their base, especially the labor base, while Republicans are betting that getting tough with public employee unions and their demands is going to help them with the majority of middle class voters. So which side's right? We got a great debate coming up. That's ahead.
You're watching HARDBALL, only on MSNBC.
MATTHEWS: We told you yesterday that John McCain is tied for first among the most conservative members of the Senate. So who's the most liberal? Well, it's a nine-way tie among Ohio's Sherrod Brown, Maryland's Ben Cardin and Barbara Mikulski, Vermont's Bernie Sanders and Pat Leahy, Michigan's Carl Levin and Debbie Stabenow, Harry Reid, and Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island. They're all tied for most liberal.
We'll be right back.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Shame! Shame! Shame! Shame!
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Shame! Shame! Shame! Shame!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Shame! Shame! Shame! Shame!
MATTHEWS: You know, when a story has legs, it looks like that. Welcome back to HARDBALL. That was the scene just last night in Madison, Wisconsin, after the state assembly passed a bill that does cut collective bargaining rights for state workers, and they don't like it. You saw them there in the T-shirts.
But the bill stops right there because now Democratic state senators have fled the state and say they're not coming back to Wisconsin until the union cuts are out of business. The fight highlights the larger political shift going on among the unions, the Democrats, the Republicans. Who's going to win it? Who's got the upper hand right now, the Democratic left or the Republican right?
Democratic governor Brian Schweitzer of Montana met with the president today, and Sue Lowden's a former Nevada state senator and chair of the state's Republican Party. OK, thank you both for joining us, Sue, and thank you very much, Governor.
This is an interesting fight, and we're going to do a pure political analysis right now. And I know I've got two advocates, strong advocates, on right now. How does the Democratic Party come out on top in a battle which involves state spending, which nobody likes? The middle class doesn't like paying more taxes. Nobody's volunteered to go up a point on this. How do you win the fight politically down the road?
GOV. BRIAN SCHWEITZER (D), MONTANA: Well, I don't think the debate is even about money right now because I think that the public employee unions have said, Look, we'll agree to cut our salary and our benefits. The question now is, do you even have the right to collectively bargain? And so I think it's an overstep in some of these states to say you can't collectively bargain even if you're willing to give concessions.
In Montana, our public employees agreed two-and-a-half years ago to a two-year freeze on increasing their salaries. And I praised them for their work, and I cut my own salary by $11,000.
SCHWEITZER: That's the way management works with labor.
Senator Lowden—
SUE LOWDEN ®, FMR. NEVADA STATE SENATOR: Hey, it's not as simple—
MATTHEWS: -- how do Republicans win this thing?
LOWDEN: It's not as simple as wages. It's also part of the collective bargaining is with health care issues, for instance. Can you bid out health care and find cheaper prices? It's with days off, with sick leave. Those kinds of issues are very important. It's not just wages.
MATTHEWS: And that drives up state deficits?
LOWDEN: Yes, it does. Yes, it does. And you have to be able to get into those contracts and make it public. How about opening those bargaining sessions so that the public can see it, so the taxpayers who are paying it can see what's going on?
MATTHEWS: Yes.
LOWDEN: And I think that's an important issue, as well.
MATTHEWS: Well, Governor—
MATTHEWS: -- you have to balance the budget (INAUDIBLE). We had Governor Rendell on before this thing got hot, before it got into the skillet, if you will. And he said he was left with a big pension deficit problem by the previous governor, Ridge, who's a Republican, on his way out the door signed a bill that left him with a big, big pension bill he can't pay. And that's been the reason for the deficits out there in Pennsylvania. What do you make of that, that these contracts do drive up the debt?
SCHWEITZER: Well, in the case of Montana, we have statutes so that if you start even working one day, whatever your benefits are, all the way to retirement, that's what you get. And so what we've done, when I took office, is we changed the benefit package for anybody knew who comes on board. And we've negotiated with the public employee unions. We've negotiated health care benefits. We've negotiated their wages. We've negotiated the number of days they worked. They're willing to negotiate all these things.
But you can't simply say to them, we will not negotiate with public unions. They have a right to collective bargaining. And I think it's an overreach for some of these chief executives to turn back the clock by 50 years and not negotiate in good faith with public unions.
Let's talk about the game here, the political game.
Senator Lowden and Governor Schweitzer, it seems to me the fight here in the end is going to be who gets the people in the middle, the people politically in the middle and economically in the middle, the family that makes $30,000 or $50,000 or even $70,000 with two paychecks or whatever. They're watching this thing. They don't work for the state government.
They work in private sector jobs, which are much less secure.
And they're looking at this fight. The Republicans are betting that those people, if they don't envy the federal employees, the state employees, they think they're getting in too good a deal, because they're getting it from the taxpayer.
On the other hand, the Democrats are saying, labor's got to unite here. And labor guys and labor women are going to look to those public employees and say, if they get nailed, I'm next.
Governor, I want you to start this. How do the Democrats see this? Do they see labor across the board uniting behind the public employees? Is that how they see it politically?
SCHWEITZER: I think they're trying to change the subject.
What got us into this recession is greed on Wall Street and bankers in the mortgage crisis. So now you have the working people who have homes that are worth less than their mortgage. You have got working people that are getting laid off, whether they're public sector or whether they're private sector. And we want to shift the blame to the workers themselves.
It wasn't the working people that created this crisis. The crisis was created on Wall Street. It was created by bankers. It was created by greed. People that make $35,000 or $40,000 teaching our children, taking care of the disabled, taking care of our streets to make sure they're safe to get to and from work, I don't know why we would demagogue them.
MATTHEWS: Senator, do you think that people who work in the private sector and have more—less job security, do they resent the public employees and the contracts they get? Because I think that's what the Republican Party is working on here.
LOWDEN: Well, yes.
MATTHEWS: I may be wrong.
LOWDEN: No, I don't—I think that they do resent the fact that—if they even have jobs. Just remember, here in Nevada, we have record unemployment, the highest unemployment for the last couple of years here.
So they're looking at public employees, who are making pretty good salaries, great benefits, great pension plans, and they don't have jobs. So, they're looking at that. And those who have jobs are paying for those who have all these great benefits. I think there's a lot of resentment there.
MATTHEWS: Do you like this fight, Senator? Do you like this fight in Wisconsin?
LOWDEN: I think it's a great dialogue, and I think that it—we probably had to get to this point in this country and in our individual states to be having this conversation. I think it's overdue.
Governor, do you like this fight?
SCHWEITZER: Well, I don't know why you have to have the fight. In a state like Montana, we're running a balanced budget. We have a surplus. We continue to fund the programs that are necessary. We challenge every expense. And we don't demagogue the people that do the work that matters.
MATTHEWS: That's because you have a great governor.
SCHWEITZER: That's part of the reason.
MATTHEWS: Governor Brian Schweitzer of Montana.
I think you do. I think you're a popular governor. Thank you, sir.
Senator Sue Lowden, thanks so much for joining us—
LOWDEN: Thank you, Chris.
MATTHEWS: -- the chair of this Republican Party of this great state of Nevada, which is going to be one of the hottest primaries next spring—
LOWDEN: Yes, it is.
MATTHEWS: -- when it's going to be so hot out here.
MATTHEWS: Up next: How did Rand Paul get Al Franken as a mentor, a kind of reverse mentor? You know, far-right, liberal, back and forth? Why do they get along so well? I guess they just look at the other guy and know how not to vote. I'm serious. Rand Paul's very funny appearance on "Letterman" next in the "Sideshow."
You're watching HARDBALL, only on MSNBC.
MATTHEWS: Back to HARDBALL. And back to the "Sideshow."
Last night, at the White House concert honoring Motown, Jamie Foxx ribbed the event's highest-profile guest.
JAMIE FOXX, ACTOR: Stay here on the scene, a presidential machine.
You ready to dance for me? Wait, wait, wait. Give me a little bit of the—you are not going to dance for me just a little bit?
FOXX: Come on, man. I saw you on "Ellen."
FOXX: That definitely wasn't the black side in you right there.
MATTHEWS: Come a long way.
Next up: freshman rules. Last night on "Letterman," Rand Paul shared some advice he's gotten as a new senator. Let's watch.
SEN. RAND PAUL ®, KENTUCKY: You know, when I was first elected, John McCain said—he said, the first six months that you're here, you will pinch yourselves and you will say, well, how did I get here?
DAVID LETTERMAN, HOST, "LATE SHOW WITH DAVID LETTERMAN": Mm-hmm.
PAUL: And then the next six months, you will pinch yourself and say, how the hell did the rest of these guys get here?
LETTERMAN: I found out earlier this week you and I have a friend in common. You know who I'm talking about?
PAUL: No.
LETTERMAN: Senator Al Franken from Minnesota.
PAUL: Absolutely.
LETTERMAN: Yes.
PAUL: You know, he's my mentor.
LETTERMAN: Yes. Now, explain that process.
PAUL: Well, I'm not sure if he got stuck or I got stuck, but we're in this thing together. We're going to try to set a record, though. We're going to try to set a record by seeing how many times we can vote on opposite sides of an issue.
LETTERMAN: Wow. Did he have any advice for you about coming on this show?
PAUL: Yes. He said, don't.
MATTHEWS: That didn't seem very spontaneous.
Anyway, you say neither. I say neither.
Finally, a curious stand in Nevada this week, Senator Harry Reid calling his state to outlaw prostitution finally. Well, how did Nevada's junior senator, Republican John Ensign, respond? Well, he was consistent. He defended the practice. Ensign told reporters, "You know, that's a county-by-county issue, and I think—and it should be left to the counties."
Well, remember, this is the same senator who, two years ago, endured a high-profile sex scandal, where he admitted to an affair with his staffer's wife. For Senator Ensign, this is one case where silence might have been golden.
Anyway, up next: More Americans are evacuating Libya, where militiamen and mercenaries loyal to Gadhafi are opening up fire on crowds of Libyan protesters. What a horror show. And now the White House has announced sanctions against the government.
The latest from NBC's the great Richard Engel coming up on the ground in Libya in a minute.
You're watching HARDBALL, only on MSNBC.
TRISH REGAN, CNBC CORRESPONDENT: Hi, everyone. I'm Trish Regan with your CNBC "Market Wrap."
Stocks breaking a three-day losing streak with some solid gains today. Take a look at these numbers, the Dow adding 62 points, the S&P up 13, and the Nasdaq climbing 43, today's gains not enough, however, to put a positive cap on the week. It's the market's worst weekly decline since the month of August.
But Boeing led the Dow higher after winning that $35 billion contract to build the military's next aerial refueler. Tech stocks, they bounced back strongly on solid earnings out of cloud computing giant Salesforce and business software maker Autodesk.
Chipmakers Intel, Micron, and AMD surging as well, as the battle for the booming mobile space kicks into high gear. We had Wells Fargo leading financials higher after Goldman Sachs predicted a dividend bump and a stock buyback.
Deep spending cuts by state and local governments slowed fourth-quarter growth to a weaker-than-expected 2.8 percent. And oil prices stabilizing today on news that the Saudis would increase production. U.S. crude settling out under $100 a barrel, still up 13 percent, however, this week.
That's it from CNBC. We're first in business worldwide. I'm Trish Regan—now back to HARDBALL.
MATTHEWS: Back to HARDBALL.
White House Press Secretary Jay Carney announced sanctions on Libya today in response to the growing violence there. The announcement came just as hundreds of Americans arrived safely in Malta, after being stranded in Libya due to bad weather and high seas.
Back in Tripoli, supporters loyal to Moammar Gadhafi used gunfire against hundreds of protests—you can hear it right there—who marched through the city.
For the latest on the ground, let's go to NBC chief foreign correspondent Richard Engel in Libya.
How's the evacuation going, Richard?
RICHARD ENGEL, NBC CHIEF FOREIGN CORRESPONDENT: It's been much more complicated in Tripoli.
Here in Benghazi, it's been relatively smooth. There have been many ferryboats that have come into the port here and Chinese workers have been leaving, Turkish workers have been leaving the country. Egyptians (AUDIO GAP) has been much more complicated.
That latest news about sanctions being put on Libya, some (AUDIO GAP) protesters here were telling me today that they were looking forward to. I was in the headquarters of this rebel movement in Benghazi, which is sort of the unofficial capital of the rebels, and, on the wall, written in graffiti, was a sign that says, "President Obama, you must decide, Gadhafi or Libya," and they have been looking—
MATTHEWS: Is there a sense that sanctions could crush this government?
ENGEL: Not really.
I think the—the—what the government is facing right now is a much more local revolt. It is more worried about the tribes turning on the people. It is more worried about defections within the government itself.
The oil industry isn't functioning right now as it is, so, in this state of crisis right now, it seems unlikely that sanctions are going to have an immediate impact.
MATTHEWS: We're looking at pictures right now joining you on the screen with these incredible rally pictures, hanging Gadhafi in effigy, a very loud crowd, like we saw, and confident crowd, like we saw in Cairo.
How do you square that on the ground with the shootings by these SUVs, these mercenaries driving around shooting people? These people don't look afraid.
ENGEL: I think that was the (AUDIO GAP) a demonstration in Benghazi, because I saw one today where they were hanging pictures. I was at that demonstration today, very joyous, very defiant.
MATTHEWS: Right.
ENGEL: People were out on the streets.
And there's absolutely no Gadhafi presence here in Benghazi. People are worried that there could be an airstrike, that there could be some sort of retaliation. But, here in the city, they feel totally confident.
It is a much more dangerous (AUDIO GAP) demonstration in Tripoli itself, especially on (AUDIO GAP) --
MATTHEWS: Is there a—
ENGEL: (AUDIO GAP) brought in the foreign media and was organizing several thousand people to—to stand out there and cheer his name.
MATTHEWS: You said that American sanctions alone will not crush this government of Gadhafi. Could the world unite and bring him down, or is it all going end to up being a local verdict by the people against the power of his military and his mercenaries?
ENGEL: It seems like, at this stage, what's going to dislodge (AUDIO GAP) certainly helps. International pressure fueled (AUDIO GAP) movement, so they're not disconnected.
The protesters look to (AUDIO GAP) for the international community—community to give them moral support. So, they—they're interlinked. But I think, right now, Gadhafi's bigger concerns are the protesters, are the defections in his army units. That's what's going to keep him alive.
MATTHEWS: OK, Richard Engel, it's great to have you—
ENGEL: The more he becomes a pariah (AUDIO GAP) the more that the protesters feel they have him on the ropes.
MATTHEWS: They sure do.
Thank you very much, Richard Engel. What reporting you have done.
Thank you, sir, from Benghazi, Libya.
For more on what the sanctions mean for Libya and the region as a hold, we turn to Abed (ph) Foukara, Washington bureau chief of Al-Jazeera.
Abed, your sense of the international role here? Is there one, or will this be decided locally?
ABDERRAHIM FOUKARA, AL-JAZEERA: I think, ultimately, it would have to be decided locally, because the measures that have been announced, such as the sanctions, for example, I mean, at the present time and in the present conditions in Libya, there's very little to sanction. There's very little that international sanctions can bring to bear on the Libyan leader, in terms of his supporters trying to crush the protests.
And I think there are also similar fears concerning the talk about imposing a no-fly zone over Libya. While many Libyans think that that would provide shelter and protection for the protesters, the fear also is that it may give him a card to say, look, the international community, led by the West, whether it's the United States or NATO, are trying to meddle in our politics—
MATTHEWS: Right.
FOUKARA: -- and help him consolidate his power.
So I think, eventually, the work will have to be done locally, although these international measures give moral support to Libyans inside Libya.
MATTHEWS: Last question: Is there any talk of letting Gadhafi leave the country, give him safe passage, so that this will end, or they do all, both sides, want a fight to the death?
FOUKARA: Well, everything that we have heard from Gadhafi over the last few days suggests that he does not even want to consider the idea of leaving—leaving Libya. He says that his ancestors were born in Libya, he was born in Libya, and he plans to die in Libya, whether a natural death or if he's killed fighting to the death, as he said.
MATTHEWS: Yes.
FOUKARA: But the other question is, what countries would be willing to take somebody like Gadhafi at this particular point in time? I think the choices are pretty limited.
MATTHEWS: OK, thank you very much, Abed Foukara of Al-Jazeera.
Up next: Here at home, it's Oscar time, a little fun right now. We're going to bring in a real expert who's going to tell us who's going to win—and he's putting his money on it—and who should win. He's got his favorites. This is going to be fun, because I have got some thoughts on this subject. I am the biggest movie buff I think there is.
Anyway, HARDBALL coming back in a minute with some fun, against the backdrop of the bad stuff.
MATTHEWS: Congress is more polarized than ever. According to the "National Journal," for the first time since 1982, every Senate Democrat last year compiled a voting record more liberal than every single Senate Republican. And likewise, every Republican was more conservative than every Democrat. So, there's a clear division of the aisle there on ideology.
The House is equally polarized with just five Republicans more liberal than most. The most conservative Democrat and only four Democrats more conservative than the most liberal Republican. It's bound to get worse. Of those nine outliers in the House, only one remains in Congress today.
We'll be right back.
MATTHEWS: Popcorn time. We're back this Sunday.
Hollywood takes center stage for the 83rd Annual Academy Awards. So, what's going to be taking home the Oscar—the king or the king of Facebook, "The Social Network"?
Here to help me pick the winners and those who should win is my fellow movie buff and expert actual, David Edelstein, the film critic of "New York Magazine," as Cary Grant (ph) would say. He's also with the "CBS Sunday Morning," which is a hell of a show.
Let's start, David, with the nominees for Best Supporting Actress, Amy Adams—Love her—in "The Fighter," Helena Bonham Carter in "The King's Speech," Melissa Leo also in "The Fighter," the young 14-year-old Hailee Steinfeld, who was fabulous in "True Grit," and Jacki Weaver in "Animal Kingdom."
Who should win? Who will win?
DAVID EDELSTEIN, NEW YORK MAGAZINE: They're all great. I happen to be partial to Amy Adams myself, just because, you know, she put on a little wife to the role, and she got the accent down. And, you know, she always has her Irish and she looks like she's been like slinging around pitchers of ale for hours or days or weeks. I mean, I love her mouthiness.
MATTHEWS: Well, let's take a look at her right now. Let's take a look at "The Fighter," featuring both her and Melissa Leo.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What's the problem?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The problems --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What problems?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What problems?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Like what?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Like maybe you not showing up on time to train, like maybe him having to come find you in a crack house when you're supposed to be at the airport.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm sorry. I don't know who you are, why you're talking.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm Charlene. We just met.
MATTHEWS: Wow, let's take a look now at the list for Best Supporting Actor now. Christian Bale, who seems to be the favorite. He's also in "The Fighter" with. John Hawkes, Jeremy Renner who is unbelievably tough in "The Town." Mark Ruffalo. Geoffrey Rush was fabulous.
Who should win? Who will win?
EDELSTEIN: Look, these are fabulous performances. Who should win? I happen to be very partial to both Jeremy Renner and John Hawkes in "Winter's Bone," which is also my favorite movie of the year.
But no chance, Christian Bale will win. He'll win because actors, actors win awards when you can see the acting. And in this case, he lost the weight. He's got the accent perfectly. He really looks like a crack addict. He really looks—
MATTHEWS: I believed him, I'm sorry. You say he looked like he was acting. I thought he was like an early Robert De Niro, you know, in one of those De Niro movies in the very beginning. I thought he had that craziness.
EDELSTEIN: Well, but that's interesting, though, because is that acting? Is that—you know, when Robert De Niro sort of screwed up his features by gaining all that weight for "Raging Bull"—was that acting or was that, as a colleague of mine, Tom Shaun (ph), has said, morphing, you know? I mean—I mean, it's actors who morph tend to get awarded.
MATTHEWS: Now, I'm going way back to "Mean Streets." I'm talking about when he was the crazy guy in "Mean Streets" with Harvey Keitel.
Anyway, let's go now to the nominees for Best Actress, Annette Bening
everyone loves her. Warren Beatty's wife, of course, and great people, in "The Kids are All Right," a great movie. Nicole Kidman in "Rabbit Hole"; Jennifer Lawrence in "Winter's Bone"—your movie. Natalie Portman in "Black Swan," fabulous film, just saw it. And Michelle Williams.
Who should win and who will win?
EDELSTEIN: Well, I think that Natalie Portman is going to win because she lost all that weight. She looks like she's suffering, like she's made enormous sacrifices for the part. And that is very, very appealing to a large body of actors, when you suffer that much for your art.
MATTHEWS: Yes.
EDELSTEIN: I happen to prefer Annette Bening. I love Annette Bening.
Actually, I love all four of the other actresses.
MATTHEWS: Well, let's watch.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: -- know that you wanted to be in the food services industry.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What happened to your tongue?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't know. I mean, I lost all the feeling in my face and my tongue, and then, you know, I got really nervous, because I thought that I was going to gag, and you know, maybe like, it's like—
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Choke, die?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Exactly, yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What'd you do to help her?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I gave her a valium and I told her to relax and tried to get her to talk, you know, move her tongue around.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes. Actually, she started teasing me and that really helped.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I was trying to distract you.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I know, and it worked, you were really funny.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You were really pretty.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And then, you know, my tongue started working again.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: God, mom, easy.
MATTHEWS: I think—I agree about Annette Bening. I think she goes back to the age of great actors and women actors, Ida Lupino.
EDELSTEIN: Right.
MATTHEWS: When you go way back, she's just one of the real pros. And
I think she's going to be around a long time. Let's look at the nominees -
EDELSTEIN: Chris, I'd say how could you watch that and not think, why isn't Julianne Moore nominated?
EDELSTEIN: They are so charming. They are so sweet.
MATTHEWS: OK. The only thing is, I absolutely love "Black Swan."
Let's talk a look, here's the nominees for Best Actor. We only have a little bit of time here on the show. Javier Bardem in "Biutiful," spelled weirdly, I guess the Spanish way. Just kidding. Jeff Bridges in "True Grit," which was great. Jesse Eisenberg, you can't be better than him in "The Social Network." Colin Firth, break your heart in "The King's Speech." James Franco, the kid, in "127 hours."
Who should win? Who will win?
EDELSTEIN: Well, Colin Firth isn't a lock, he's a lock locked in a lock. He will win and he should win. I think as a performer, you can recognize, there is nothing like that moment of existential terror when you're up in front of an audience and you open your mouth and the words do not come! And he captures that like no one I've ever seen.
MATTHEWS: Let's take a look at him. I think everybody will see this movie eventually. Let's encourage them. Here it is, "The King's Speech," one of the great movies. Let's listen.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What will I call you?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Your royal highness.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And sir, after that.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How about Bertie?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Only my family uses that.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, in here, it's better if we're equals.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If we were equals, I wouldn't be here. I would be
at home with my wife, and no one would give a damn.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, please don't do that.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm sorry?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I believe sucking smoke into your lungs will kill you.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My physicians say it relaxes the throat.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They're idiots.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They' all been knighted.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It makes it official then.
MATTHEWS: I think everybody in the planet fell in love with that guy, Colin Firth in "Love Actually." Fell in love with him again in "The Single Man."
EDELSTEIN: He deserved it last year in "The Single Man" actually.
MATTHEWS: I don't see how he loses. I agree.
We're going to back and talk about Best Picture after the break. There's theories my son Michael, who's a film guy, filmmaker, he said look out for "Black Swan" in a weird move at the very end. We'll see.
We'll come with the expert, David Edelstein. I know you're wincing.
I love winces.
We'll be right back.
MATTHEWS: We're back with "New York Magazine" film critic, David Edelstein.
Thank you, David, so much. You picked Colin Firth to be Best Actor. Natalie Portman to be Best Actress. You picked Christian Bale to be Best Supporting Actor. And who have you picked—
EDELSTEIN: Melissa Leo. Melissa Leo.
MATTHEWS: Melissa—wow. And she plays the tough mama in "The Fighter." Boy, she is tough. Not likable but very impressive. We're going to ask you—looking up. By the way, on the screen right now, you can see the full list of the top 10 movies for best picture.
David, again, your pick is to who should win Best Picture at the end of the night? And who will win Best at the end of the night?
EDELSTEIN: Well, look—look, I love "Winter's Bone." I love "Toy Story 3." I would be delighted if "The Fighter" won.
I think it's going to be "The King Speech," though. You know, Harvey Weinstein, one of the producers, is kind of working the old farts on the Academy and he's saying, ah, this dang Internet thing, this billionaire punk, you know, that's really not—you know, who needs that, you know? Whereas "The King Speech" is a good old fashioned royalist, uplifting movie about therapy, which is lot of the Jewish voters love. I mean, even though Geoffrey Rush isn't—
MATTHEWS: (INAUDIBLE) because it's about therapy?
EDELSTEIN: Look, it's my tribe, right?
MATTHEWS: I never heard that before. Go ahead.
EDELSTEIN: No, no. He comes in, OK? And there's this kind of anal retentive waspy king. And the Jew—he's not a Jew. He's sort of an honorable Jew, comes in and he gets him to like, to spew four-letter words and let out all his rage against his dad and suddenly he can speak again.
Now—you know, it's true, people don't see it as a movie about psychotherapy. But it has the same kind of uplift if you just dramatize and if you just spew, you're going to—and I think that's going to resonate with a lot of shouters and yellers and stammerers out there.
And I got a question for you.
MATTHEWS: Go ahead.
EDELSTEIN: What do you think the—who do you think the first actor up on the stage who is going to identify and commit himself to solidarity with the Wisconsin union workers is going to be? Is Sean Penn going to be there this year? I promise you, one of these guys is going to do it.
MATTHEWS: Where's Marlon Brando when we need him.
Let's look at Geoffrey Rush, who you say is the Jewish shrink here.
MATTHEWS: -- old-timer her for the Best Movie. I don't see it this way. But I accept from somebody who's a member of that tribe. I guess you're allowed to say it. Here it is, "The King's Speech." Let's listen.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What are you doing?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Get up, you can't sit there. Get up.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Why not? It's a chair.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That is not a chair. That—that is St. Edward's chair.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: People carved their names on it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Listen to me.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Listen to you by what right?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Because I have a right to be! I have a voice!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, you do.
MATTHEWS: Who is the guy who always does play the Jewish psychiatrist in movies? The guy for years has played that guy?
EDELSTEIN: Who, like Judd Hirsch?
MATTHEWS: Yes, exactly, Judd Hirsch.
EDELSTEIN: This is ordinary people, sort of, with a crown.
MATTHEWS: OK. Now for your generational dispute between those on the
different sides of the digital divide. You claim, you call them old farts
nice language, by the way—are the ones that don't like the digital divide go in the other way. But here's "The Social Network," which I thought was going to walk away with this thing because Sorkin is a genus. But here it is, "The Social Network."
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I need you.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm here for you.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, I need the algorithm used to rank chess players.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are you OK?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're ranking girls.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You mean other students.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you think this is such a good idea?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I need the algorithm.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Give each base rating of 1,400. At any given time, girl A has a rating RA (ph), B has a rating RB.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When any of the girls are matched up, there's an expectation of which will win based on their current rate, right?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. Those expectations were expressed this way.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's right.
MATTHEWS: Is that acting, David? He does this sort of thing with the top, like a thing with the top of his lip. I keep it in like this. Is that acting or what is that?
EDELSTEIN: Well, I would say that that is a kind of an impersonation. He's actually anti-acting in a way because he's a very expressive actor who is actually using fewer of his resources to play someone who's very bottled up. I want to say that is so brilliantly shot, that scene. You can tell that David Fincher, the director, may well, in fact, win the Oscar, even though his movie does not win for Best Picture.
MATTHEWS: I'll tell you, it doesn't make Harvard look that good. By the way, the best line of the movie was when he says to the beautiful girl in the bar, "Why do you have to study? You go to B.U." Remember that line?
EDELSTEIN: Yes.
MATTHEWS: The most hateful disgusting line. I think she says something, you are one and you always will be one after that, right?
EDELSTEIN: Yes, I believe so.
MATTHEWS: So, who's going to win Best Picture?
EDELSTEIN: "The King's Speech" by a mile.
MATTHEWS: By a mile, because as you pointed, the old people are going to be riled into what this because they don't like a billionaire kid who made all this money on something they don't understand.
EDELSTEIN: They don't know how—they don't know how they're supposed to feel about this character, which is really one of the—one of the strengths of the movie. But I think it can be confusing to other people who are perhaps are not of this generation and don't identify with him.
MATTHEWS: And you stick to the movie you think should win which is?
EDELSTEIN: Oh, I don't—what I think is going to—should win isn't going to win. "Winter's Bone," "Toy Story 3," "The Fighter."
MATTHEWS: OK. You got me there.
Here's what I think. I think people really like Colin Firth. They really like him. He captures a sense of, as you put it, of fear. It was like he was going to of face the hangman's noose.
EDELSTEIN: Yes. Yes.
MATTHEWS: And that we've all got it, whether it's acting, it's appearance in stage, sometimes for people that they say that people would rather be in the box at a funeral than having to read a speech.
MATTHEWS: Oh, come on, David, you're very cool.
EDELSTEIN: I totally identify with it.
MATTHEWS: I don't get nervous for this stuff, but I get nervous for stuff you probably don't get nervous for. Thank you, David—like facing a deadline. David Edelstein of the "New York Magazine"—
EDELSTEIN: Thank you so much.
MATTHEWS: -- a great critic, thanks for coming on.
That's HARDBALL for now. Thanks for being with us. Watch the Oscars, I guess.
More politics ahead with Cenk Uygur, coming up.
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The curtains closed on Smash's first season with mediocre reviews, but the show must go on. With a major cast overhaul, including Jennifer Hudson headlining some big-name guest stars, things are looking up for Season 2, which returns to NBC in January.
Executive producer Neil Meron, who also produced the remake of Lifetime's Steel Magnolias, spilled some details at Magnolia's premiere. Hudson will appear in at least three episodes, playing a two-time Tony-award winner looking to change the direction of her career. She has ties to Karen (Katharine McPhee), Ivy (Megan Hilty) and Derek (Jack Davenport). The Oscar and Grammy winner will be "singing a lot" of original songs, says Meron, but he raved that the "really big high point in the first episode" is a classic — the recently released "On Broadway" duet with McPhee.
Real-life Broadway director Kenny Leon (Aida, Stick Fly, A Raisin in the Sun) makes a cameo alongside Hudson. "I appear as myself," he says. "I offer Jennifer Hudson's character a job, but I can't say more than that!"
The other major guest appearance comes courtesy of Will & Grace's Sean Hayes. "He's genius," Meron says of the actor/producer who plays a TV and movie star who returns to Broadway to expand his repertoire. "He's been embraced and loved on set as a person and as a talent." Meron won't spill if Hayes shares screen time with former co-star Debra Messing. "We're just at the beginning of the filming process, but we'll see if they have their scenes together," he teases.
Besides guest stars and a revamped cast, audiences can expect a whole lot of music — in all venues. "Just in terms of all forms of theater, we've expanded our arena so we're looking at off-Broadway and the concert stage," says Meron. "It's refreshed and revitalized, but it's still about this universe of characters that we introduced last season."