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Guests: Edward Markey, David Corn, Pat Buchanan, Denis McDonough, David
HOST: Good-bye Dubai.
Let's play HARDBALL.
Good evening. I'm Chris Matthews in Washington. Leading off tonight:
Cracking the terror plot. It's looking more and more like the Pakistani
Taliban was behind this weekend's Times Square terror plot. We're learning
now that the Taliban provided training to Faisal Shahzad during his five-
month stay in Pakistan last year. How is it that this guy got back
unexposed into this country after his Taliban training and then was able to
pay cash for a one-way flight to Pakistan, pass through airline security
and board that plane while the feds were hot on his tail? That's my
question for a National Security Council official in just a minute.
Also, David Rohde is the "New York Times" reporter who was held by the
Taliban in Pakistan—in Waziristan, in fact, for the seven months until
he escaped. He says we can expect more of these terrorist attempts if the
U.S. doesn't convince the government of Pakistan to go into tribal areas
and root out the terrorist bases. David Rohde joins us tonight.
Also, Congressman Ed Markey says if BP doesn't fix that oil leak in
the gulf and do it fast, their initials will stand for "bayou polluter"
instead of British Petroleum. His big question for the oil company, What
did you know, and when did you know it?
And leave it to the right to figure out how to blame President Obama
for both the oil leak and the Times Square bomb plot. The radio talkers
and right-wing bloggers are working overtime.
And "Let Me Finish" tonight with the American interest in stopping
illegal immigration the American way.
Let's start with how the feds caught the Times Square terror suspect.
Denis McDonough is the chief of staff to the National Security Council.
Mr. McDonough, thank you for joining us. Let me check with this on—
check with you on this. According to "The New York Times," at 12:30 in the
afternoon on Monday, authorities asked Homeland Security to put Shahzad's
name on the no-fly list. Three minutes later, Homeland Security
electronically notified the airlines to check the no-fly list for an
At 4:30 Monday afternoon, more information about Shahzad was added to
the no-fly list, including his passport number. At 6:30, Shahzad called
the airlines and booked his flight. At 7:35, he bought his ticket in cash,
about 800 bucks, at the airport and got his boarding pass.
Why did it take six hours for the Emirates airline do absolutely
nothing, and to let this guy buy a ticket as if he was Joe Blow?
DENIS MCDONOUGH, NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL CHIEF OF STAFF: Thanks a
lot for the opportunity to be with you today. Here's the deal, is that in
the first instance, we obviously have a system with redundancies built in.
We're not going to rely on airline—the airlines or even foreign airline
carriers to ensure that they make the right decisions.
So a point of fact is, the heroes over at Customs and Border Patrol
and at many of the agencies and offices that are watching our watch list
identified a problem here, and they found the person and stopped him from
getting away. That's an important bit of business.
But by the same token, when we have an effort like this, Chris, we
identify something that can be improved, we're going to go improve it. So
overnight, TSA has worked on honing these watch-listing procedures. And
now, as a result of that, we have a much more fast requirement for people
to review and update their watch list consistent with ours as we give
additional information.
So in the first instance, we had a great bit of effort by Customs and
Border Patrol. We're very proud of them for that. And in the second
instance, we're updating the situation and the system to ensure it doesn't
happen again.
MATTHEWS: But you understand my question. Everybody in New York—
in fact, everybody in the world—knew that the New York authorities were
looking for this guy, that somebody had committed this crime, attempted
blowing up of Times Square, and everybody's looking for the guy. And
here's an airline out issuing a ticket to a guy heading to Islamabad with
cash, day of—day of purchase, and never bothered to check the list, even
though they were notified six hours ahead to particularly check the list
for an update, and then were told a little bit later to check it again.
Isn't there any penalty for an airline to ignore the orders from the
authorities here?
MCDONOUGH: You know, Chris, I'm not going to get into penalties for
the airlines. What I am going to get into is recognizing the good work of
the NYPD, 53 hours for them to identify and stop this guy...
MCDONOUGH: ... the good work of the heroes—the good work of the
heroes at Customs and Border Patrol, who checked this name against a list,
updated with and most recent information and intelligence and stopped him.
And now, having learned what we did in this instance, we're updating the
situation as it relates to our relationships with foreign carriers to
ensure that we're addressing and updating this information more
aggressively. So the bottom...
MATTHEWS: "The New York Times"—let me—let me just get a new
question here. Thank you for this, being on the show, Denis. But here it
is. "The New York Times" reported that the man that bought Shahzad's condo
six years ago was interviewed by the national Joint Terrorism Task Force
just after that purchase.
Did the United States government know about this guy a long time ago,
that he was a problem, Shahzad?
MCDONOUGH: I saw the same report in "The New York Times" this
morning, Chris. Obviously, I think what you've seen in this instance,
since this fire first started on Times Square on Saturday evening,
unbelievable cooperation among FBI, NYPD, intelligence services to make
sure that we brought this guy to justice. I think that is the norm in this
instance, where when our guys get information, they act on it.
This report in "The New York Times," I don't have anything to verify
that. We'll obviously track that down. But the bottom line here, Chris,
is this. Fifty-three hours after this guy attempted this attack in Times
Square, he's brought to justice. So that's a very positive development in
our view, and we're going to learn lessons from it, as we do from
everything we do around here. But the bottom line is NYPD, FBI, intel
MCDONOUGH: ... CBT (ph) and others did a good job here.
MATTHEWS: I'm impressed, as well. Thank you. But let me ask you
about Pakistan. How did we get them to participate? Within hours of
picking this up this guy in this country, Shahzad, Faisal Shahzad, we found
out that the Pakistanis are our allies, hopefully, in the fight against
terrorism, picked up either other people over there who were collaborating
with him. How did we get them to do it?
MCDONOUGH: Well, I'm not going to get into that, Chris, but what I
will say is this. We've undertaken over the course of the last 16 months a
rigorous and comprehensive effort to explain to the Pakistanis that those
extremists that mean them harm also mean us harm. So we want to work
together with them to ensure that we can bring these terrorists and
extremists to justice.
Nobody has suffered more at hands of these extremists than the
Pakistani people, dozens, hundreds, thousands of Pakistanis killed in
terrorist attacks by al Qaeda and their associates. We recognize that they
mean as much danger to the Pakistanis as they do to us. So we're going to
continue to deepen that cooperation. We're going to make clear to them
that these enemies, which are their enemies, are our enemies, too.
MATTHEWS: So it's 53 hours from the time this happened until the time
we picked the guy up, right?
MCDONOUGH: That's correct.
MATTHEWS: OK, thank you very much, Denis McDonough of the National
Security Council.
MCDONOUGH: Appreciate it, Chris.
MATTHEWS: Well joining us now is Roger Cressey, an NBC News terrorism
analyst. Well, that was Denis McDonough, who certainly knows how to stay
on message. He told us one thing, which is, basically, they did a good
job, and that's fair enough.
But let's get some more information here. How did they know about
this guy? Apparently, six years ago, they were looking into this guy,
checking on a purchase of his condo by somebody else, so they were watching
ROGER CRESSEY, NBC TERRORISM ANALYST: Well, the problem was, they did
not have any other corroborating information to identify him as a threat.
What has to be determined is, was information on Shahzad put into the
terrorism databases? And was there any other...
CRESSEY: ... corroborating information that they missed?
MATTHEWS: We can put things together. They went to the trouble of
checking him out on making a condo sale but didn't notice he went over
there, for what, five months to get some training in terrorism?
CRESSEY: Well, they know he went to Pakistan, but they didn't know he
was going to Waziristan.
MATTHEWS: How about connecting two dots?
CRESSEY: Well...
MATTHEWS: ... checking him out before, and then they saw he went for
terrorist training.
CRESSEY: So the question is...
MATTHEWS: One dot would be enough, I think.
CRESSEY: Well, sometimes that's true. The question is, did the FBI
know that there was a linkage to known organizations over there? Was he
just visiting his family?
MATTHEWS: Look, nobody likes the...
CRESSEY: That's the problem.
MATTHEWS: Most people—there's a guy on the show later on, a
politician, who likes profiling. Nobody likes profiling per se.
CRESSEY: Right.
MATTHEWS: You look at a guy, he's got a beard, he's got dark
complexion, a certain accent. That's rotten, anti-American behavior.
CRESSEY: You bet.
MATTHEWS: But checking out a guy who's going—who's been
naturalized but is heading back over there for a period of months, who is
obviously a little suspicious in the beginning, you would think they would
do a better job on a guy like this.
CRESSEY: I think as long as they believed he was going to visit
family and he had no known connections to any of the bad guys over there...
CRESSEY: ... they had nothing to go on.
MATTHEWS: So we had nothing before he went over?
CRESSEY: I think that's the problem. Had we had information that
there was a Pakistani Taliban...
CRESSEY: ... or other organization...
MATTHEWS: Here's a question for you.
CRESSEY: ... we'd have been there.
MATTHEWS: If we had knew so little, how come with the—our allies
over there were able to pick up eight guys within a few hours over in
Pakistan after we made the first arrest?
CRESSEY: Telephone tree. Once we were able to identify Shahzad's
phone and the number that he used, and then the numbers that he called over
there, they quickly were able to corroborate and put them together.
MATTHEWS: You mean his speed dial is what picked up all these guys,
or what?
CRESSEY: His speed dial, yes, a big part of it. Absolutely.
MATTHEWS: OK, let me ask you about recruitment. I said this the
other night. Somebody misinterpreted me because it often happens here.
I'm an American. You're an American. We take great pride in this country
not because we have a common language or we're from the same ethnic
background or anything, because we're not, but because we have a belief in
this country and what it stands for.
So when somebody naturalizes and becomes an American, we go, Wow, you
want to join us? It's like a convert. Welcome! You're doing everything
right, OK? We find out that this guy, you know, Faisal Shahzad,
naturalized, became an American, went through all the final papers and
everything, and then became a radical enemy of the United States. That is
disheartening to me.
CRESSEY: Oh, absolutely. Absolutely. And the question still is,
What radicalized him, and when was he radicalized? Did something happen in
Pakistan when he was over there that he said, I can't believe the United
States is doing, this I'm now an enemy of the United States?
MATTHEWS: Is he willing to buy all of that—excuse me—crapola,
that we heard, that...
CRESSEY: Right.
MATTHEWS: ... actually, we're going to hear later in the show about
how to be a member of the Taliban, you have to believe the Jews blew up the
World Trade Center, that everything was all—you know, was a trick to get
into war against Islam, that we really want to crackdown on Islam and
Islamic countries? Most Americans don't give three seconds' thought to
Islamic countries, let alone wanting to crack down or get rid of Islam
CRESSEY: Well, and the other point here is that Shahzad was an
educated man. He had his university degree...
MATTHEWS: Yes.
CRESSEY: ... computer science, engineering. He wasn't part of this
population that's susceptible to radicalizing because he was uneducated.
MATTHEWS: And also total...
CRESSEY: Something drove him.
MATTHEWS: ... 180 belief from what we consider common sense...
CRESSEY: Absolutely.
MATTHEWS: ... which is the United States has a Middle East problem.
We wish we didn't have a Middle East, to be honest about it! We don't want
to deal with them. I mean, not (INAUDIBLE) get rid of them, we just wish
it wasn't our problem, let alone thinking about how we're going to de-
Islamize them.
CRESSEY: So you have a population in the United States that—some
of that population is angry at U.S. policy.
MATTHEWS: Yes.
CRESSEY: That doesn't make them activists against the United States
government. So we got to find out...
MATTHEWS: What do you think was the recruitment basis for this guy?
What got him aboard?
CRESSEY: If I had to guess, it was something happened while he was in
Pakistan or happened to his family in Pakistan. The other possibility is
his economic situation in the United States got so bad, he became
desperate, despair, became susceptible, and you know, went over there, and
boom, they got him.
MATTHEWS: Yes. Well, let's talk about the pattern now. What do we
know about recruitment efforts of naturalized or English-speaking people
with perhaps Islamic backgrounds who might be susceptible to alienation?
CRESSEY: So despite Shahzad's incompetence, he is the gold standard
for al Qaeda and its affiliates—naturalized American, clean passport,
can get into the United States, doesn't appear on anybody's database for
terrorism. So he is ideal for what they would love...
MATTHEWS: Would they rather have someone like him than some blond
from Denmark, you know, like the John LeCarre novel, where you have
somebody recruited from00 some lefty from northern Europe that plays ball
with the Palestinians in the old days?
CRESSEY: Oh, no. Ideally, they want a Western European Caucasian
MATTHEWS: Right.
CRESSEY: ... they...
MATTHEWS: That would be—that would be better than gold standard.
CRESSEY: That's ideal. And there was a concern a couple years ago
that al Qaeda was training in Waziristan in the fatah (ph) with Western
Europeans or Caucasians. We could never prove it, but that's what the
concern was...
MATTHEWS: Are there any examples of them recruiting people like that,
like in a novel, where they actually find people, northern Europeans who
are lefties or whatever, have that sort of a—I shouldn't even say lefty
in an American sense, but in a northern European sense, like, you know, Red
Guard or something like that, where they—Red Brigades, where they really
are so far over left that they identify with all the zealots in the Middle
CRESSEY: What they're looking for are Muslim converts.
MATTHEWS: Oh!
CRESSEY: So maybe Christians before, Western Europeans, Caucasians,
convert to Islam...
MATTHEWS: I hear you.
CRESSEY: ... then go to Pakistan and other places and then become
radicalized. Those are even more ideal than what we've seen before.
MATTHEWS: How you can believe the West is evil, if you're from the
CRESSEY: Because if you have specific grievances, you want simple
solutions. And there's no simpler solution that the United States and the
West is a source of all of that ails us.
MATTHEWS: Do you have a sense, by the way, that the Taliban's the
Taliban's the Taliban, it's all connected, the Taliban in Afghanistan, the
Taliban in Pakistan?
CRESSEY: Well, this is important. The Taliban is not a homogeneous
entity, all right? There are multiple tribes. Afghan Taliban have their
own objectives. Pakistan Taliban have different objectives. They work
together, though.
MATTHEWS: OK. So in effect...
CRESSEY: That's the important thing.
MATTHEWS: ... they're allies.
CRESSEY: They're definitely allies. They're allies of convenience
and they're allies for operational purposes.
MATTHEWS: OK. Roger Cressey—as I say before, when you're around,
it makes me disturbed because it means that the issue's hot. But it's good
to have you.
Coming up: How much of a threat is the Taliban over in Pakistan, where
this guy was working with? We're going to talk to "New York Times"
reporter David Rohde, who was held by the Taliban for five months over
there before escaping. So he knows all about the situation that this guy,
Shahzad, was in over there when he was getting training. He was there
himself and escaped.
But in one minute, results from last night's primaries in Indiana,
Ohio and North Carolina.
You're watching HARDBALL, only on MSNBC.
MATTHEWS: Well, the establishment candidates fared pretty well in
last night's primaries. In Indiana, former senator Dan Coats won a five-
man Republican primary and will face Congressman Brad Ellsworth for the
U.S. Senate seat of retiring senator Evan Bayh.
In Ohio, Lieutenant Governor Lee Fisher beat Secretary of State
Jennifer Brunner. Fisher will face former Republican congressman Bob
Portman for that Senate seat of the retiring George Voinovich.
And in North Carolina, Secretary of State Elaine Marshall and former
state senator Cal Cunningham are headed for a run-off next month. They're
going to face Senator Richard Burr in November.
HARDBALL back in a minute.
MATTHEWS: Back to HARDBALL. So what does the attempted Times Square
bomber story tell us about the larger fight against terrorism in
Afghanistan and in Pakistan? And what more can the U.S. do to stop it?
David Rohde is a Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter who covered
Afghanistan and Pakistan for "The New York Times" from 2001 to 2008. He
was working on a book in 2008 when he was captured and held prisoner by the
Taliban for seven months. He escaped in June 2009, and now he's finishing
his book.
David, thank you so much for joining us.
DAVID ROHDE, HELD CAPTIVE BY TALIBAN IN PAKISTAN: Thank you.
MATTHEWS: Give us a picture of Waziristan, the place where you were
held, and to what extent can you tell us the place in which Faisal Shahzad
was trained?
ROHDE: It is—Waziristan, where I was held, is the same place he
was trained, and it's essentially a Taliban mini-state. The regime that
the U.S. felt had toppled in 2001 in Afghanistan has simply moved a few
hundred miles to the east and is based in Waziristan today. It's a Taliban
government. There are Taliban police, Taliban-run schools, Taliban-run
work crews. It's literally their own state.
My guards were trained by foreign militants in how to make roadside
bombs that would kill American soldiers. And foreign militants were also
brainwashing young Afghan and Pakistani Taliban to carry out suicide
MATTHEWS: What you can tell us about the recruitment of people like
Shavad—Shahzad, rather, in terms of people who are in the United States,
naturalized, and brought over there, recruited and then sent back to mature
(ph)? What can you tell us from your experience?
ROHDE: It's hard for me to say about the specific recruiting. But my
guards and the commanders who held me, the Taliban, were very eager to
carry out attacks inside the United States. They told me that they had met
some people in Waziristan who spoke English, like Americans, like I did,
but I never met anybody by that description. But there's no question that
the people in North Waziristan—again, it's this mix of Afghan Taliban,
Pakistani Taliban and foreigners—you know, want to carry out attacks
inside the United States. That's what they told me over and over again.
MATTHEWS: There's a lot of notion out there—maybe we have
perpetrated it here because we keep hearing it—that the Taliban that's
in Afghanistan is different than the Taliban that's in Pakistan. Your view
of that, having experienced captivity by the Taliban in Pakistan?
ROHDE: The real—there are, I would say, some Taliban in southern
Afghanistan—and those are the ones that President Karzai's trying to
negotiate with—that potentially could be dealt with in a political
settlement. But the biggest problem again is Waziristan. The Afghan
Taliban based in Waziristan are no different than the Pakistani Taliban.
They all work together. They worked seamlessly during my captivity.
It's a—it's a generation of young Afghans and Pakistanis that have
sort of grown up among Arabs and Uzbeks in that area. And they really
believe they're part of a broader jihad.
And what's amazing is that the Pakistani army was asked in January by
Defense Secretary Gates to move into North Waziristan and eliminate this
Taliban mini-state, but the Pakistani army has refused to do so since then.
MATTHEWS: What's your gut sense, having had this experience? I know
you're writing the book now. But if you could share with us your—your -
sort of the gut feeling of having been their prisoner.
Are they evil? Are they very extremist? Where you would put them in
terms of just people that you have experienced in life?
ROHDE: They—they live in this sort of alternate reality. And
there's young boys who really don't know anything about the world beyond
Afghanistan and Pakistan.
They believe that they're fighting an effort by the U.S. to—to
forcibly convert Muslims to Islam in Afghanistan and Pakistan. They think
the U.S. is just out to eliminate Islam as a religion and occupy Muslim
countries. They don't believe that 9/11 was carried out by al Qaeda. They
think it was a secret American plot create a pretense to invade Muslim
And, again, the key thing is that they're able to run these schools
there. They're able to indoctrinate their young fighters. And the key
issue is, when will the Pakistani army move into this area and eliminate
this safe haven they have?
The 2005 London subway bombings were planned and carried out from
there, the assassination of Benazir Bhutto, the recent case of Mr. Zazi,
the American Afghan who was arrested for plotting an attack in New York,
and now it appears that the Times Square bombing—all of these cases are
linked back to Waziristan.
MATTHEWS: But would the—the person who's been arrested now at the
airport, Shahzad, Faisal Shahzad, would he believe—would they believe—
would he believe in the fact that the United States government had faked
9/11, et cetera, et cetera?
ROHDE: Oh, absolutely. I mean, that's widely believed in many
countries, unfortunately. But it's—it's particularly believed in the
tribal areas.
And my guards endlessly watched Taliban videos that portrayed
themselves as the victims of this vast international conspiracy led by the
United States, the United Nations, Israel, India, all designed to subjugate
Muslims across the world.
And they really believe it. And them having this free territory that
they control is just, you know, a very dangerous thing. And the Times
Square scare—excuse me—the Times Square case seems to show that it's
now a direct threat to the United States as well.
MATTHEWS: Well, I guess you didn't—you didn't—you didn't have
any effort as a prisoner to argue with people, did you, when you were over
there? Did you ever try a logical argument with them? Or that was
ROHDE: I did. I actually talked to them about, could there be some
compromise in Afghanistan, where they could have strict religious law in
some parts of the country and not in others? And they said, no, they
couldn't compromise.
These very hard-line Afghan Taliban based out of the tribal areas,
they're part of a group called the Haqqani Network. They refused to
compromise. They said it was their religious duty to enforce hard-line
Sharia across Afghanistan.
The Pakistani Taliban I met said it was their duty to enforce hard-
line Sharia across Pakistan. They told me that the people, the average
Pakistani and Afghans living in Kabul and in Islamabad were no longer
Muslims because they lived under those governments.
ROHDE: They—they—I was surprised by the extremism.
MATTHEWS: So, it isn't a case of people just being unhappy misfits,
if you will, in the United States, like some people are anywhere, I
suppose, and are looking for ways to sort of justify their alienation and
joining in some fringe, crazy—we would think crazy—zealous group over
You believe there's a real difference in world view, and it's just
fundamentally different; they look at the world as, us over here against
them, seeking to crush their religion and their culture, using even extreme
means like blowing up 3,000 people in New York; in other words, it's an
absolutely stark, 180 difference; it isn't a matter of just finding some
people who are Islamic who are upset about life in the United States and
recruiting them? They have to share that point of view to join them?
ROHDE: Yes, that's true.
And, again, because they have...
MATTHEWS: I'm asking you. These are questions. I am sorry. I
didn't phrase it correctly with the right question mark at the end.
MATTHEWS: I'm asking you. You say, basically, that we're dealing
with people who look at the world totally crazy, from our point of view,
and there's no arguing with them; it's not about people being unhappy and
joining them; it's about people accepting a totally 180 different view the
world than we have here?
ROHDE: I—well, I would say it's a 180-degree different view than
most Muslims have.
Most moderate Muslims do not support these people. And—and they
disagree with their sort of extreme interpretation of Islam. So, they have
a 180-degree, you know, different view the world than most Pakistanis and
most Afghans.
But when they have, again, this area that they can control where they
can indoctrinate people and spread—it's really an ideology, you know,
that's where they're going to be so powerful. There were Arabs in that
area. I mean, and there were rumors that—and who knows, but this is an
area where Osama bin Laden could be hiding.
MATTHEWS: Anything we can do to beat them, except kill them?
ROHDE: Well, I think the key thing, again, is that the Pakistani army
is the long-term solution in the tribal areas. The drone strikes are
effective. They are knocking out leaders of the Taliban and al Qaeda.
But the long-term issue is getting the Pakistani army in there. The
United States has given more than $10 billion in aid to Pakistan since
2001. And the surprise is that the Pakistani army fails to go into this
one area. They have moved into other areas. They have lost 2,000
soldiers, and it's important to recognize the sacrifices that the
Pakistanis have already made.
MATTHEWS: Yes.
ROHDE: But they really need to get into North Waziristan. This is
the last holdout of—of the hard-line extremists.
MATTHEWS: Well, David, good luck with the book. We can't wait to
read it. We will have you back when it's done.
ROHDE: Thank you.
MATTHEWS: David Rohde, thank you.
He was captured by the Taliban in Pakistan and has lived to tell the
Up next: A Republican candidate for Congress runs a campaign ad
actually calling—well, he's doing it—he's calling for racial
profiling. Wait until you see it. It's going to be in the "Sideshow."
And we want to welcome, by the way, our viewers in South Africa on
You're watching HARDBALL, only on MSNBC.
MATTHEWS: Back to HARDBALL. Now for the "Sideshow."
First: the hot political ad that basically makes the case for racial
profiling. It comes from Dan Fanelli, one of several Republicans seeking
to challenge Democratic Congressman Alan Grayson down in Florida.
Here's Fanelli's ad as it ran on a FOX affiliate last weekend.
DAN FANELLI ®, FLORIDA CONGRESSIONAL CANDIDATE: Does this look like
a terrorist, or this? It's time to stop this political correctness and the
invasion of our privacy.
Let's face it. If a good-looking, ripped guy without much hair was
flying airplanes into the Twin Tower, I would have no problem being pulled
out of line at the airport.
MATTHEWS: Well, I think the problem here is obvious. Do we really
want to have a TSA person making ethnic judgments on who gets in the slow
Next: Sarah Palin's potential 2012 bid got an early endorsement this
morning from a source very close to the candidate, Bristol Palin. Here's
Bristol on "The View" talking about her mother.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Would you like to see her get back out on the
campaign trail and run again?
BRISTOL PALIN, DAUGHTER OF SARAH PALIN: I would love to see that,
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Wow.
And would you go along with her?
PALIN: Yes, I would.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Cool.
JOY BEHAR, CO-HOST, "THE VIEW": How do you like it when Tina Fey does
an impression of your mother? Do you like that? Or does it offend you?
PALIN: It's funny to a point, but the accent, it's—it's not real
at all.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No?
PALIN: No. It's not the way it is.
BARBARA WALTERS, CO-HOST, "THE VIEW": Would you like your mom to be
PALIN: I would. I think it would be awesome.
MATTHEWS: Well, there's a lot of running room, I think, between
having the East Coast cultural elite run the country and having Sarah Palin
do it.
Anyway, speaking of the late, great presidential campaign, remember
Joe the plumber? Well, you might want to call him Joe the politician now.
In yesterday's election, Samuel Wurzelbacher—that's his name—won his
precinct's seat on the Ohio Republican Central Party Committee. The group
is responsible for selecting the county chairman and setting the local
Time now for the "Big Number."
Catch this. Since 2003, there's not been a single black member of the
United States Congress—not a Republican one. Well, that could change
soon. "The New York Times" reports today that a new wave of African-
Americans are running for Congress this year as Republicans. How many? At
least 32.
The surge is due to dissatisfaction with the Obama White House, it
said, coupled with a belief that black Americans can win these big
elections, as evidenced by President Obama.
Thirty-two black Republicans running for Congress this year—
tonight's very "Big Number."
Up next: holding BP accountable for that massive oil spill which keeps
getting masser down in the Gulf. U.S. Congressman Ed Markey joins us next.
You're watching HARDBALL, only on MSNBC.
JULIA BOORSTIN, CNBC CORRESPONDENT: I'm Julia Boorstin with your CNBC
"Market Wrap."
Stocks sliding again today, as investors remain skittish about
European debt—the Dow Jones industrials falling almost 60 points, the
S&P 500 slipping more than seven, and the Nasdaq tumbling almost 22 points.
Today, it was Portugal's turn in the debt crisis spotlight. Moody's
put their debt rating on review for a possible downgrade by one or even two
notches—one analyst telling CNBC that the crisis could lead to the
complete collapse of the euro.
A big media bonanza on the earnings front, News Corp blowing past
expectations in large part due to the success of "Avatar," Time Warner
beating estimates as well on a rebound in ad revenue and strong DVD sales.
CBS reporting after the closing bell, beating on revenue. Earnings
were in line with expectations.
But Viacom missing its revenue target on a slow season for Paramount
releases and a slump in DVD sales.
That's it from CNBC, first in business worldwide—now back to
MATTHEWS: Welcome back to HARDBALL.
Today, the latest effort to stop the oil spill in the Gulf begins with
a dome-like contraption making its way to the site. Has BP done enough?
U.S. Ed Markey met with executives of the oil industry yesterday.
Congressman Markey, what do you make of BP's—in terms of their
discipline, their backup systems, their training, their safety approach?
Generally, did they take the full responsibility before this happened to
make sure it didn't happen, even if it did?
REP. EDWARD MARKEY (D), MASSACHUSETTS: No.
I think that they were operating under an assumption that an accident
could not happen.
When I had executives before our committee yesterday, they made it
clear to us that they never thought the rig could ever sink. When they
were making an application to drill in this location, they said that the
total amount of any spill would only be 5,000 barrels in any eventuality.
We're now seeing 5,000 barrels per day.
And so it's clear that BP never anticipated that a worst-case scenario
could, in fact, be created. And that kind of boosterism leads to
complacency. And complacency leads to disaster. And that's what we see.
Now BP is taking steps to limit the damage, but a lot of this could
had been avoided if they had put in place proper safety measures right from
the get-go, defense in depth, one system after another, that could have
avoided this ever occurring in the first place.
MATTHEWS: In the last administration, which put in place apparently a
lot of these people that are regulators, these headless nails that are in
there supposedly regulating the oil industry, had a role—they got in
there because Cheney was in there with his secret task force. They met at
the White House. We never found out who in the industry was involved.
To what extent is the current regulatory regime that governs people
like BP in place because of the previous administration, which was run by
Cheney, based upon the Halliburton lifestyle that he came from?
MARKEY: Well, the Clinton administration recommended, for example,
that an acoustical trigger that would have made it possible to shut down
the well by remote control, be installed as an essential piece of
But when the Bush/Cheney administration took over, they made a
determination that it was too costly to build in that extra safety
precaution. And, again, when there is an assumption that an accident
cannot occur, $500,000, which is what that acoustical trigger would have
cost, seems very expensive.
But when 5,000 barrels per day are spilling out into the Gulf,
destroying people's livelihoods, it doesn't seem that costly at all. And
so that was the ethos that existed inside the Bush/Cheney era. And I'm
afraid we're now living with the consequences of those assumptions.
MATTHEWS: Let me talk to you about what's happening today. We're
getting reports that BP's out there hiring en masse, basically, all kinds
of shrimp—shrimp boat operators, fishers, fisherman, and people like
that, hiring them a—sort of a per diem basis right now, and getting them
to sign off any possible suit against the company.
In other words what looks like a labor pickup, they're hiring people -
they're basically going around the Gulf hiring people and getting them to
sign letters that says, "I won't sue because of my loss of business."
Do you have any sense that's going on?
MARKEY: Well, you know, these people are all victims. They could
lose their livelihoods. Their income for this year could just be
destroyed. And they're being asked to then sign waivers. The victims are.
MATTHEWS: Yes.
MARKEY: Instead of BP saying, look it, we made six billion dollars in
the first three months of this year; there is no price that we are not
willing to pay in order to ensure that these people are made whole. We
have the money. We have a moral obligation. Instead, by asking them to
sign waivers, legal liability waivers, it just says that they still don't
get it. They have a responsibility. They said an accident could not
They should just basically make a commitment that there is—money is
no object. We will take care of these people because they're desperate.
Too many people are too desperate right now. They will sign anything if
they have to. They should never be forced to make that kind of a choice.
MATTHEWS: What would you recommend to President Obama right now, in
terms of offshore drilling? Would you say cool it in terms of your shift
toward allowing that as part of a compromise?
MARKEY: I would say that we need to have a comprehensive review of
what went wrong, as we did after Three-mile Island, when President Jimmy
Carter created the Kennemy (ph) Commission, the president of Dartmouth, to
do a complete evaluation, so that, going forward, there would be a whole
set of safety procedures that would minimize the likelihood that there
would ever be a recurrence.
I think we will have to do the same thing, with a blue-ribbon panel.
But I think that if you looked down at the Gulf, it's likely that there
will continue to be drilling, but we have an obligation to make sure that
we do so in a way that does not endanger people's lives or their
livelihoods, and that innocent victims not been created, which is I think
what is going to happen if—if our prayers are not answered over in
Florida, and in other parts of this country.
MATTHEWS: OK, thank you very much, U.S. Congressman Ed Markey of
Up next, from the oil spill in the Gulf to the failed—or actually
Times Square car bomb, the blame Obama First Crowd is desperately looking
for ways to blame the president. How far will they go? By the way,
they're pretty desperate. They're blaming him, saying he's out to get the
coal industry by blowing up oil rigs. I mean what they're claiming is
But in one minute, is President Obama finally enjoying a bump in the
polls over health care? New numbers in 60 seconds. This is HARDBALL, only
on MSNBC.
MATTHEWS: President Obama could finally be seeing a bump in the polls
after health care reform in a new "New York Times" poll with CBS, the
president's approval rating among independents is up to 48 percent, with 39
percent disapproving him. That's a nine-point swing from February, before
health care reform was passed. So he's going up a bit in the middle.
And on the specific issue of health care, President Obama's approval
among independents is up to 40 percent, with 45 percent disapproving, a big
improvement over February, when he was way down at 31 percent approval.
We'll be right back.
MATTHEWS: We're back. Why are some far right wingers ready to say
just about anything to undermine this president's credibility or leadership
generally? Here's Former FEMA Director Michael Brown last night on
HARDBALL. Here's an encore. Let's listen.
MATTHEWS: You're saying this, that the president delayed his reaction
to this disaster so that he could hurt the coal industry? I'm confused.
MICHAEL BROWN, FMR. FEMA DIRECTOR: No, no, no, no, no. Hang on. He
said in 2008 that he wants a cap and trade bill that is so onerous that
carbon-based industries, like the coal industry, if they try to do anything
new, they will go bankrupt. The president is very anti-carbon energy. I
understand that. I get it. I just disagree with it.
I think in this case, he saw an opportunity to say, look how bad oil
and gas drilling is.
MATTHEWS: But don't you know that what you're saying, to a third
party, not somebody like myself or somebody like yourself, listening to
you, thinks that you're sounding insane?
MATTHEWS: Well, of course, Michael Brown was made famous by the
incompetence of the Bush administration during Hurricane Katrina. Is that
exactly what grinds the gears of these guys, why they're hitting Barack
Obama so much in this particular incident? Can't they stand a president
who seems to be able to handle an environmental crisis, a terror threat and
a broken economy, all at once. Is his confidence driving them crazy?
Well, that's food for thought. David Corn is the Washington bureau
chief for "Mother Jones" and a columnist for "Politics Daily." Pat
Buchanan is an MSNBC political analyst.
Patrick, I was ready to hear about precious bodily fluids at some
point. I was wondering what Michael Brown was getting to, coal. Some
strategy against coal is leading the president to fake an urgency about the
oil drill when, in fact, he was out there secretly slow-walking this thing.
These are complicated conspiracy theories.
PAT BUCHANAN, MSNBC POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, I think I don't agree
with Brownie on that one.
MATTHEWS: What do you agree with him on?
BUCHANAN: His Oil Spill Response Plan, Janet Napolitano delayed a
full week before implementing something like that. I think she's got real
problems. "The New York Times" is after him on that. But, look, you had
Congressman Markey on here, where they're listening. We hear Bush/Cheney
did this. Bush/Cheney did this. He tried to dump it if the lap of
What you get in this politics—
MATTHEWS: We have information that, in fact, these regulators were
put in office by—Bobby Kennedy Jr. has information on that.
BUCHANAN: You're doing the same thing, Chris, that Brownie and Rush
are doing, which is let's get it into politics, let's blame X, Y and Z.
Look, Obama had nothing to do.
DAVID CORN, "MOTHER JONES": Listen, there is such a thing as
assigning real responsibility when things go on, not fake conspiratorial
responsibility. In fact, Barack Obama has gotten you know what from
environmentalists for being too supporter of coal when he was a senator
from Illinois. But Bush/Cheney, during those years, what is it, the
Mineral Management Service at the Department of Interior, where they were
having sex with oil industry lobbyist and not charging them for—and
saying that's OK, BP, you don't need to have—
MATTHEWS: I think, by the way—
MATTHEWS: Fairly originated on the right. Here's Michael Brown
again, the inimitable one, making his comments on Fox, hauling coal to New
Castle, I think it is called.
BROWN: Only now is the president appearing to be engaged, and I think
the delay was this: it's pure politics. You know, they don't say these
things without it being coordinated. And so now you're looking at this oil
slick approaching the Louisiana shore. According to certain—NOAA and
others places, if the winds are right, it will go up the east coast. This
is exactly what they want, because now he can pander to the
environmentalists and say, I'm going to shut it down because it's too
MATTHEWS: Let me give you the line of thought I heard here last night
from Michael Brown, Pat. I don't think you share it. Barack Obama came
out for of offshore drilling not as a compromise, which we all thought he
was doing to get a climate bill through, which I think we all agree on, but
he did it as a fake, a head fake, because he knew or sensed that there
would come an opportunity where he would blame offshore drilling for an
environmental disaster and then he could say, see what happens when you go
with offshore drilling. I think that's mindless. It assumes a prophetic
ability on the part of the—a clairvoyance which is insane to believe on
the other side of the argument, I think.
BUCHANAN: I don't for a second believe that Barack Obama wants this
thing to go up the east coast of the United States. I don't believe any
American can want it to hit the Gulf Coast.
MATTHEWS: Brownie does.
BUCHANAN: I don't believe anybody deliberately wants that to happen
to the human and natural ecology of one of the most important parts of this
country. But I do think—Obama's not responsible for this, but there are
people who are responsible for the response. And I do think Napolitano has
been slow here. I think this about the White House: they do seem to be so
defensive. Let's not look this way, let's not look that way, let's get
down there, should we go, shouldn't we go? They don't act like executives,
like Ronald Reagan did in that air controller strike—
MATTHEWS: Katrina was water coming towards New Orleans. This is oil
coming from an oil well run by BP. BP does have the first responsibility.
CORN: One big difference with Katrina was we knew it was coming. And
the question was whether the chief executive at the time got, you know—
got Brownie and everybody else prepared for that. He didn't. He was
celebrating John McCain's birthday. He was strumming guitars. Cheney was
off on vacation. They weren't prepared.
MATTHEWS: By the way, Ray Nagin didn't do a great job either.
CORN: No, but we're talking about federal response. In this
instance, I think BP -- one thing I fault the administration for is I
don't think they pushed BP hard enough, early enough on what was really
going on. They took the initial estimates at face value. Also, they're
not down there at the bottom of the ocean floor sampling themselves.
MATTHEWS: You want more regulation, right, Pat? Let me get it
straight, you want more industry regulation?
BUCHANAN: You drill a hole in there that can put out 5,000 gallons a
day, yes, I want it regulated if it's off Ocean City or if it's off
CORN: That's what Bush and Cheney didn't do, Pat. You weren't with
us back then before the tragedy. Now you're there afterwards.
MATTHEWS: I think this idea about big government being bad, at
certain times we really need government. Do we trust industry to self-
regulate, period?
BUCHANAN: No, they don't.
MATTHEWS: You don't? Interesting.
BUCHANAN: Look, up there, if we're going to guarantee billions in
deposits, then you got to have regulations on them. Let's talk about
Arizona. Look at the response there. Whatever you say about what Arizona
did, they're trying to get people to show their federal cards, whether it's
a green card or a work visa. What does the government do? They pound
Arizona and say, we're going to get the Justice Department to watch you to
make sure there's no racial profiling.
Where's the help for Arizona? Why don't they say, we're coming in and
we're going to take it in. You guys help us out, but we're taking this
MATTHEWS: I'm going to get to that in my final word tonight. It's
closer to you than a lot of other people, I'll tell you.
Times Square, by the way—let's talk about former Governor Pataki on
MSNBC Tuesday. Let's listen to former Governor Pataki.
GEORGE PATAKI, FMR GOVERNOR OF NEW YORK: This is another case where
this administration, we are responding after something is attempted. We
saw it with the Christmas day airplane bomber. We saw it in Times Square.
We were lucky in both cases. Then we saw it in Ft. Hood, where we were not
so lucky, and 13 of our great, young heroes, who put their lives on the
line to defend us, were murdered. I think this administration just has got
to change its approach.
CORN: Well, I remember something called 9/11. I don't think Pataki
was out there bashing Bush and Cheney for not catching the 19 hijackers
before the fact. This is really hard stuff. One car, one guy, maybe
conspirators over in Waziristan. We don't know for sure yet. Look what
Timothy McVeigh did with just a handful of people.
We've caught a lot of this stuff. They caught the guy in Denver,
Zazi, and they caught five guys in northern Virginia. But it's really hard
MATTHEWS: Do you think we should have caught this guy before he
BUCHANAN: You're missing the point. You can't prevent it. I'll
agree with you. Look at the response. Let's Mirandize. Let's make sure
his rights to remain silent. We about to get the information—
MATTHEWS: I think this guy's singing, by the way. Anyway, thank you
BUCHANAN: Why would you Mirandize him?
MATTHEWS: I think he's singing. David Corn, Pat Buchanan.
When we return, I'm going to have some thoughts about stopping illegal
immigration the American way. I'm closer to Pat than some people are, but
I'm not with Pat. You're watching HARDBALL, only on MSNBC.
MATTHEWS: Let me finish tonight with a poll that tells a great deal
about American attitudes toward illegal immigration. The poll taken by
"the New York Times" and CBS shows a majority of the country supports that
new law in Arizona that gives police officers the job of detaining illegal
immigrants. Nine percent say they think the law should be even tougher,
should go further. This fact that 60 percent, three in five, back a
measure at least as tough as Arizona constitutes powerful information.
Given the strong media criticism, this 60 percent figure might be seen
as only a minimum estimate of true public opinion. Think of how you would
respond if a pollster asked you what do you think of the controversial law
in Arizona?
Here's more information from the poll: 89 percent, nine in 10
Americans, say that illegal immigration is a problem in the country; 65
percent, almost two thirds and growing, says it's a very serious problem.
Three quarters say illegal immigration is bad for the economy, that it
weakens us.
There it is loud and clear for all politicians to hear. Americans
don't like illegal immigration. Four out of five, they want the government
to take a strong action in dealing with it.
Get this, the same people who are tough minded about stopping illegal
immigration want to give the people who have come here illegally a chance.
Two thirds say they should be permitted to stay here either on a path to
citizenship and on the basis of being a visiting worker. Message to
politicians seeking re-election this fall, get serious about immigration
reform, true reform that stops the flow of illegal immigrants, not by
police profiling, but by stopping illegal hiring. Reform that gives hope
to an American future for those here illegally.
So why's it so hard to do what's so plainly right, what the American
people, most of us, so plainly want done?
That's HARDBALL for now. Thanks for being with us. See you tomorrow
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text:
Save Film Threat and Bring Back DVDuesday
Help save Film Threat and bring back DVDuesday, the popular segment from G4TV's Attack of the Show.
Save Film Threat and Bring Back DVDuesday
Help save Film Threat and bring back DVDuesday, the popular segment from G4TV's Attack of the Show.
Hey, Chris Gore here from G4TV's Attack of the Show where I did DVDuesday each week for almost eight years. I'm also the founder of Film Threat, which began as a magazine and then became one of the most respected sources online covering independent film, while also giving the middle finger to Hollywood. (But in a fun way.)
Film Threat started as a fanzine I created in high school and became a print magazine sold on newsstands everywhere. The magazine covered people like Quentin Tarantino, Kevin Smith and many others who began their careers in indie film. Film Threat built a reputation for telling it like it is and pulling no punches and it's been around for 30 years. Movies that were ignored by the mainstream media outlets, could always count on Film Threat for coverage. And when the Film Threat web site launched in 1996, that tradition of championing independents continued.
The truth is that the Film Threat web site was actually supported by my television career. At the time, I was willing to spend $25,000 or more each year out of my own pocket to support the site. I believed very strongly in Film Threat's mission to help up and coming indies. But, let's be honest, I don't have a TV career anymore. And convention appearances only go so far. So, it's really difficult for me to ask, but right now I need your help.
To continue Film Threat's mission to provide a unique voice in the world of entertainment as well as support a new generation of up and coming independent filmmakers, I'm asking you to contribute to the Kickstarter to save Film Threat. And if you're a fan of my segment DVDuesday from Attack of the Show, I will bring DVDuesday back as a weekly web show for a year. (It won't actually be called "DVDuesday" for legal reasons, but I promise that the new name will really excite you!) I will reveal the new name for the DVDuesday show in an update on Kickstarter once we reach 50% of our initial funding goal.
The Film Threat web site was launched in 1996. That's 19 years worth of content making up more than 80,000 stories on a site that has to be redesigned and reformatted. Relaunching a site of this size with this amount of content is costly and I can't afford to fund it alone this time. I'll need money for programmers, designers, and for a new server along with a budget for writers and an editorial team to keep it going. The money will also be used to help fund the production budget for the weekly DVDuesday segments. A budget will also be needed to create a Film Threat app and build a Podcast Network to give our writers a voice beyond the site. The budget I've put together should give us the boost we need to continue. And while it seems like a lot of money, anyone who has run a web site with daily content or produced a weekly web show knows that it costs more than one would think. The amount I've budgeted covers the site relaunch, a podcast network, an app and a web series. All of this covers Phase One of Film Threat's return. (I'll reveal Phase Two initiatives once we get to 90% of our funding goal.) If we exceed our funding goal, we'll be able to do more episodes of DVDuesday and we can fund stretch goal projects planned for Phase Two.
A redesigned site, a Podcast Network, a FREE App and more!
We'll also launch a Film Threat Podcast Network featuring a variety of podcasts from the writers on the site. (I'll reveal some of those podcasts once we reach 75% of our funding goal.) In addition, we'll create a Film Threat App for IOS and Android that will be available free for everyone.
The Film Threat site will also feature new episodes of DVDuesday weekly with a round up of verdicts and links to where you can see the movies discussed. I'll need a budget to produce DVDuesday on a weekly basis. So just like on Attack of the Show, every Tuesday you'll get my DVD picks (or "streaming picks" since, well, we don't really buy everything on DVD anymore.) And DVDuesday will be even better, because I'll have more time to discuss each movie. I'll also be able to use all those words you can't say on TV. For the first time, DVDuesday will be UNCENSORED! (Although, I promise not to overdo the swearing and use my powers for good, not evil.)
The Film Threat web site will be back to posting compelling content on a daily basis. There will be a free app to use on your mobile device. And you'll see DVDuesday every Tuesday, just like the old days (or, y'know, just a few years ago.)
And for backing these projects, I'm offering all kinds of incentives, so get in early as some are in limited supply. In addition, I'll be including some rare collectibles such as original art from my own personal archives from both Film Threat and Attack of the Show's history. I guess I could sell this stuff on ebay, but I think it would be a lot more fun to give it to you. (Keep an eye on updates to see the items to be given away at the higher funding levels.)
It's painful to say this, but the reality is that if we don't reach our goal, I will shut down the Film Threat web site for good. I just can't afford to fund it on my own. Unfortunately, that means that all of the stories that are in the archives will be wiped clean off the Internet. Forever. And I will be unable to bring back DVDuesday. (And I know from talking to fans online and at conventions, that everyone seems to miss DVDuesday.)
So, if you were a reader of Film Threat and it touched you in some way. Help out. Contribute whatever you can afford. And then please encourage your friends to do so too. If you're a filmmaker and Film Threat inspired you or was supportive in some way, please consider contributing. If you're a fan of DVDuesday and you loved my reviews and you want to see the segment return, now is the time to contribute and make that happen. Also be sure to tell your friends by tweeting about it or posting on social media, remember to tag @FilmThreat or @ThatChrisGore. In addition to contributing whatever you can afford, spreading the word is a great way to help.
If all goes well and we reach our funding goal, the Film Threat site will return just a few months from now in June and I'll announce the schedule for DVDuesday's return as well as the new podcasts and app.
I hope you contribute so we can bring back Film Threat and DVDuesday and continue our mission. Thank you!
Risks and challenges
When it comes to relaunching the Film Threat site, I've already received estimates on the costs and can move forward as soon as the Kickstarter ends. After a short testing period, we'll be live in June. The only hold up would be hiring in the editorial arena, but I have already begun talking to prospects including some all-stars from Film Threat's past. For everyone involved, it's a small freelance gig, but more than that, it's a passion project that I know means a lot to many people.
As for DVDuesday, I have a G4TV producer from X-Play who will be working with me as part of the production team. I'm currently seeking a studio to shoot the segment every few weeks. In addition, I have been collecting DVDs for some evergreen segments that are going to be awesome. I can't wait to tell you about the Starlost four-disc set I got from Canada. The new DVDuesday should launch no later than August as we begin shooting in June/July.
As for fulfilling rewards, I'll get into production on the posters, t-shirts and other items for shipping right after the Kickstarter ends. I'll document their production with updates so you can see as those rewards get fulfilled. Some items are larger and may require special shipping needs, but that only applies to the contributors of higher rewards. When it comes to fulfilling shout outs and set visits, that will be arranged on an individual basis. I expect to have all rewards requiring shipping fulfilled by September. All other rewards involving set visits and shout outs will happen gradually over the next year and contingent upon the schedules of those backers.
Any problems as we encounter as we go will be documented here so that contributors will be aware of any scheduling pitfalls, but I know how to build and rebuild web sites, I've published books before, and I know how to create a t-shirt line, so I don't foresee any major challenges. And doing DVDuesday again will be just like old times. Frankly, I can't wait.
And whatever the challenges, when I run into any contributor at a film festival or a comic con, I will thank you personally. And if the setting is right, I'm sure we'll be able to celebrate together. (Though I'm sure that last sentence violates something on Kickstarter. I don't think I can offer you a free drink, but if I could, I would.)Learn about accountability on Kickstarter
Funding period
- (33 days)

subset: commoncrawl


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Italian authorities plan to expand Venice's port into a bustling shipping hub with a new terminal, further "endangering" the fragile lagoon and contributing to the sinking of the city, it has been claimed.
Venice in Peril, a British conservation group that works to preserve the treasured city, said on Monday a report it obtained from the local port authority showed plans to accommodate more and bigger ships in a bid to compete with other European harbours.
The Venice port authority confirmed it had written the report, but insisted the works will respect the environment and are necessary to deal with the growing flow of tourists and goods.
The debate illustrates the complex and often controversial balancing act between protecting the UNESCO World Heritage Site and exploiting a sea port that gives easy access to prosperous areas of northern Italy and central Europe, as well as rapidly developing markets in the Balkans.
The report drawn up for the Italian Senate outlines ongoing and future works including the continued dredging of passages in the shallow lagoon to allow larger vessels in and the construction of a new shipping terminal in the long-declining mainland industrial zone of Porto Marghera.
The port authority is spending at least 260 million (£230 million) to dredge inlets and navigation channels to allow the passage of ships of up to 1,300 feet in length.
This is particularly concerning for conservationists because dredging and heavy ship traffic are seen as one of the causes of the rising sea level in the lagoon, which threatens the low-lying islands on which the historic city is built.
"The fact that big ships have access to the lagoon has important consequences for its health," said Jane da Mosto, a researcher for Venice in Peril. "Apart from environmental concerns … the problem of high tide is accentuated, so it means more flooding for Venice."
Under the combined effect of rising water levels and settling of the land, Venice has sunk nine inches in the last century.
Most experts agree that the waves generated by large ships and the currents that run through the deep passageways play a big part, displacing and dragging out to sea the sandbanks and other sediments that help keep water out.
In winter, Venice periodically goes through bouts of acqua alta (high water), when strong winds and high tides conspire to push the sea into streets and piazzas, forcing tourists and locals alike to wear rubber boots and teeter along impromptu bridges.
The rising sea level has increased the frequency of the floods, and in December, Venice suffered its worst deluge in 22 years. Experts warn the problem could further worsen in the coming decades as climate change causes sea levels to rise globally.
The port authority report dismisses environmental concerns by declaring them solved thanks to a project to build towering movable barriers designed to rise from the seabed and prevent flooding.
The 4.3 billion euro system, named Moses, is expected to be operational by 2014.
"The problem of the hydraulic equilibrium is solved because it will be manageable through judicious use of the Moses system," the report says.
But some experts disagree.
The Moses barriers block shipping so they would only be raised when an exceptionally high tide is expected. That would not lower the average sea level and stop the waters from slowly eating away at Venice's bricks and stones, said Luigi D'Alpaos, professor of hydrodynamics at the University of Padua.
"Moses will, at best, manage the acqua alta," he said. "But the other problems are not at all addressed by the barriers."
Officials at the Venice port authority said the dredging is needed to restore the navigation channels, which are filling up with silt, to their original depth. They said the digging will not go beyond the depth allowed by law and any expansions on land will be done within the existing port zone.
But Venice in Peril said work should be done instead to reduce the depth of the channels, where possible, or at least reconstruct the natural lagoon features that protected the city for centuries.


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I made this along with the Christmas Stained Glass Jello and the Best Chocolate Sheet Cake. Ever for the Christmas Eve party too! I know, a lot of jello and pudding but they are yummy and melts in the mouth. I love them!
This is adapted from WorldFoodieGuide (made with Method B, the so-called relatively more complicated method). It tasted great and texture wise, wobbly enough for my liking but properly set. It uses raw egg and instant mango jelly powder in place of gelatine and is very similar to my previous cheat's mango pudding. With a recipe provided from someone from Hong Kong, I had a hard time resisting trying it. Not sure about elsewhere, but here in Australia, when we say Yum Cha (directly translated from Cantonese to English as 'Drink Tea'), we really meant going to a Dim Sum place (usually owned by someone from Hong Kong) and have dim sum and mango pudding is always a must order item.
It was great but the only downside is it is too sweet for my liking. I am guessing it is the sugar content in the instant mango jelly powder that varied it. I have to macerate mango cubes with lime juice and top it off to balance the sweetness. It is finished but would have been amazing if it is less sweet.
Mango Pudding
(adapted and lightly modifiedfrom WorldFoodieGuide)
A box of mango flavoured jello(90g per pack) (I've used Aeroplane Jelly Brand)
160g sweetened condensed milk (I would use 120g next time to begin with and taste along)
1 large ripe *mango, diced smallish
1 cup boiling water
3/4 cup fresh milk
1 egg, beaten
1/2 cup crushed ice (cold water is fine)
Dissolve the pack of jelly powder with the 1 cup of boiling water. Add in the crushed ice and stir to dissolve and set aside to cool completely.
Add the sweetened condensed milk and the fresh milk to the cooled jelly mixture and combine well. Then add the beaten egg and *mango cubes.
Stir everything to combine thoroughly and pour it into little cups. Chill it overnight for best result or for at least a couple of hours. Serve chilled.
* You can puree half the mango cubes and add it into the jelly along with the milks or just add them into the jelly mixture as it is. I used the mango cubes to top the jelly instead.
Yum! Make some now!


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BYOD: No Longer a Four-Letter Word to Enterprise IT Leaders?
Until now, it's been assumed that enterprise IT leaders probably view the current BYOD ("Bring Your Own Device") movement with about the same enthusiasm as a farmer awaiting the next locust invasion.
A recent survey from the Cisco Internet Business Solutions Group (IBSG), however, indicates that BYOD may no longer be a "four-letter word" in enterprise IT departments. In fact, the study of 600 U.S. enterprise IT leaders—all from companies of 1,000 or more employees—shows that, if anything, BYOD now has a predominantly positive reputation in U.S. enterprise IT circles.According to the Cisco IBSG Horizons "BYOD and Virtualization" survey, more than three-quarters of U.S. IT leaders view BYOD as "somewhat" or "extremely" positive for their companies, and 88 percent say their companies are experiencing an upswing in BYOD.
Even more surprising is that 95 percent of surveyed enterprises allow employee-owned devices—and 84 percent directly support them in one way or another (36 percent support all employee-owned devices, and 48 percent support selected devices).
What could possibly cause IT leaders to change their tune about a trend that could pose serious challenges to security and support models?
According to the survey, U.S. enterprise IT leaders recognize two key benefits from BYOD: (1) increased employee productivity resulting from more opportunities for collaboration with colleagues, and (2) higher job satisfaction due to employees' ability to use their preferred devices.
BYOD is already delivering measurable benefits to U.S. enterprises. Cisco IBSG estimates that BYOD-based benefits range from $300 to $1,300 per employee annually, based on a worker's job role. The benefits are driven by a variety of factors (again, based on the worker's role), including greater employee retention, improved asset use, more effective collaboration, increased customer face time, and improved productivity.
What about employees? Why is BYOD so important to them?
The survey showed that the top two BYOD priorities for U.S. enterprise employees are (1) "device choice" (ability to use their favorite device anywhere) and (2) the desire to perform personal activities at work, and work activities during personal time.
In short, BYOD helps enterprise employees gain further control over their work experience—a capability for which they're willing to pay a premium. According to Cisco IBSG, the average Cisco BYOD employee pays an average of $600 for his or her preferred devices.
Clearly, BYOD is a high priority for U.S. enterprise employees—a fact not lost on IT leaders. Cisco IBSG's study proves that U.S. enterprise IT departments no longer consider BYOD a "dirty word." Rather, they're accepting the reality that BYOD is here to stay by implementing mature strategies and policies that address the challenges BYOD may impose. The result should be a win-win for employees, IT leaders, and their companies.
For additional information on these findings and Cisco's mobility strategy, you can go to http://blogs.cisco.com/news/a-mobile-experience-your-way-a-revolution/.
In an effort to keep conversations fresh, Cisco Blogs closes comments after 60 days. Please visit the Cisco Blogs hub page for the latest content.


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Professor Gordon McGregor Reid, Chair of the FFSG Specialist Group, led the meeting which looked at the global picture for freshwater fish, region by region, and developed strategies for helping threatened species.
This two-day gathering brought together experts from around the world in an effort to address the difficulties facing freshwater fish of which there are more than 14,000 species. More than 35 specialists and advisors were at Chester Zoo for the meeting of the FFSG, a collaboration between IUCN and Wetlands International. Will Darwall and Kevin Smith from the IUCN Species Programme attended along with Jane Madgewick, CEO of Wetlands International. Pete Rand (Chair of the IUCN Salmon Specialist Group) and Claudine Gibson (Programme Officer for the IUCN Sharks and Rays Specialist Group) both presented updates on their work of particular relevance to the FFSG and shared their experiences in Specialist Group operations. Biodiversity issues, climate change, global warming, overfishing, pollution and habitat destruction, all of which pose threats to freshwater fish, were also discussed. Professor Reid was pleased to announce the forthcoming appointment of a part-time Programme Officer to help administer and run the group. Dr Ian Harrison, a fish specialist based at the American Museum of Natural History, has recently been appointed by Conservation International to help raise funds for the joint IUCN / CI Global Freshwater Biodiversity Initiative with the assessment of freshwater fishes as one of his top priorities.


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Ed Williams founded the University of Alabama Department of Theatre and Dance in 1979. Now he's leaving it.
"We don't stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing."
— George Bernard Shaw
Ed Williams founded the University of Alabama Department of Theatre and Dance in 1979. Now he's leaving it.
In between those moments, four decades passed. Most of a life happened.
Shortly after the Saturday night, April 20, performance of "Show Boat," which Williams, 69, directed as his last official faculty show on the Marian Gallaway Theatre stage, friends, family, students and others gathered to celebrate Williams at nearby Morgan Auditorium. They included John Ross, who once taught him as an undergrad, Bill Teague, who succeeded him as chair of the department, and John Nara, a second-year graduate student, one of Williams' last directing students.
They attempted, in talks whimsical, sentimental, snarky and direct, to capture a little something of that span, which must have felt a little like trying to capture the history of theater in a classroom hour.
Teague, who emceed, noted that "Ed is always about his students," with a vision of theater as intellectually important and culturally significant.
Ross, who's known Williams for 48 years, once taught him in a scene-design class and many times worked with him on productions, said, "I have never worked with a more artistically satisfying director than Ed. ... The end result was something we could be proud of as a work of art.
"Ed, you've done good."
Former student Paul B. Crook recounted the infamous time he fell ill during the first act of "Best Little Whorehouse in Texas" and Williams had to step into the second act as Crook's sheriff character, wearing an ill-fitting costume, reading from the script and staring meaningfully into space as the off-stage music director sang the sheriff's big song.
Outgoing senior Michael Luwoye, one of the stars of "Show Boat," said, "You really put your heart into your work." His co-star and fellow senior Bridget Winder said, "I'm glad I'm leaving, because I don't want to spend any time here without you."
Nara quoted some of Williams' favorite playwrights, including the not-related Tennessee Williams: "All of us are guinea pigs in the laboratory of God. Humanity is just a work in progress." Then Anton Chekhov: "The world is, of course, nothing but our conception of it," and "Knowledge is of no value unless you put it into practice." And George Bernard: "We don't stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing."
"The neat thing about all of those, is that at any given time in Ed's history of theater class, you might hear one coming out of his mouth," Nara said, "... then a smile would glaze over his face as he'd sit back on his desk and watch the faces of his students digest and react to such a quote."
He recalled his first meeting with Williams, at a New York hotel, to determine if Nara would join the UA Master of Fine Arts program.
"It was one of the few times in my life I realized that I was more interested in what he was going to say than what I was going to say," Nara said. After 30 minutes, Nara was sold, willing to skip his other interviews, hoping to spend the rest of the morning picking Williams' brain; Williams politely told him: "Get out."
But as Nara left, Williams asked "... 'what can I teach you, John? What would you like me to try and teach you?' There was no hesitation on my part: 'Vocabulary,' I replied. 'I want to speak like you.' "
What Williams has taught Nara is that there is no such thing as boredom; there's always something to learn, to be excited about.
"Talking to past and present students, they all say the same thing: He didn't just teach me how to look at theater, but how to look at life, and I can't look at theater the same ever since. ... It's about being human and recognizing the humanity in others, whether it's a spurned wife in ancient Greece, a couple of lovers in Verona or a wintry bus stop in Midwest America; the stage takes us into worlds so that we can see what it means to be human."
Though he has another year at UA, Nara said it isn't himself he feels sorry for: "I can't help thinking of all the kids who aren't going to have the chance to meet him out front of Rojo (Rowand-Johnson Hall) smoking and talking to students, picking up litter and pruning the shrubbery."
Williams took the podium to thank the love of his life, his wife Julia, "who's been with me every step of the way," their daughters, Taylor and Louisa, and the students who kept him going, challenged and involved.
"I'm not dead yet, and I've just got to say I've loved every minute of it. I got to do what I love. We are the lucky ones," he said. "I thought I'd be here a couple of years, and lo and behold, I've been here 42."
Whatever happens in his retirement, "That love's not going to go away."
It's a little difficult for some to believe Williams is truly gone, especially as he's currently in the Gallaway at
Rowand-Johnson, the theater building, for the next week or so, directing the SummerTide production of "Alabama Jubilee," an original show co-created by music director Raphael Crystal, choreographer Stacy Alley and director Williams. The month-long professional-company show runs for the month of June in Gulf Shores. So he's still, for the moment, in residence in the house that he — metaphorically, at least — built.
Williams was hired by UA at a time when theater fell in an ungainly tangle with the Department of Speech. He'd earned a bachelor's degree in English from UA and joined the faculty in 1971 after receiving his doctorate from Florida State university, based on a dissertation about directing Shakespeare, and observations of the work of the Royal Shakespeare Company in Stratford-upon-Avon and in London.
It was the work of some years to convince then-dean of Arts and Sciences Doug Jones that theater deserved its own department and that dance should join that discipline. Williams established the MA, then the MFA for professional studies; created the 27-year link between UA and the Alabama Shakespeare Festival, where he directed numerous times; led the department to national accreditation; taught in the Alabama at Oxford University and Alabama in Ireland programs; served as consultant for the U.S. Department of State to the National Theatre of Namibia, and as consultant to the University of Ulster in its efforts to establish a graduate program; served on the board of the National Association of Schools of Theatre for six years, and as Chairman of the Commission on Accreditation for three; and was recently elected to the National Theatre Conference, an honorary organization of the American Theatre.
He directed a production of Edward Bond's "Lear," a national winner in the American College Theatre Festival, that was presented at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. He's won UA's National Alumni Association award for Outstanding Commitment to Teaching and a pair of Druid Arts Awards. With Julia, he's traveled the globe with the Semester at Sea program, last summer in a two-month voyage through the Mediterranean.
And that's not all: There were dozens of plays to direct, thousands of students to lead. Shrubs to prune. Theater to do, even before he began college. Outside his immediate family, theater has been and will continue to be Williams' life. Just how, right now, he doesn't know.
"It's not like I'm going to be running into people at the grocery store who want to talk about 19th-century French drama," he said, laughing.
Williams is not one for looking back, much, but for looking at what's right in front, right ahead, for example, at the work of "Alabama Jubilee."
But what he hopes he's left behind in the way of a legacy is that theater requires discipline, focus, concentration; an ability to understand that it's an ever-receeding horizon: "It's not like you can ever get it in your pocket. It's an ongoing thing, and it can never be solved."
Simply retiring from faculty doesn't change his fundamental philosophies.
"Theater history is the history of mankind, in essence," he said. "It's a way of seeing the world, a way of seeing the way the world shapes itself, the way the world expresses itself."
Taking those dangerous steps into other lives, vicariously, makes not just performers, but audiences, more empathetic and thus more human, he said. "It's always got to be important to us."
For his post-SummerTide future, Williams knows only that he'll continue to be involved with Semester at Sea. He has a yard that needs tending, a vast library, his wife, children and a new granddaughter to spend time with.
"I'm going to re-invent myself; who knows? Theater has been my life, and it'll continue to be my life."
Of course there are companies in and around the area who might like to hire Williams to direct, but "I'm not sure they can afford me," he said, laughing.
"I've never been bored a minute in my entire life. Time has happened to me. We'll see. The future will reveal itself."


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I love birds and florals and both are things that I'm scared of even attempting on my nails so I chose the Spring Flower design, which has both! To put these on you warm them up with a hair dryer for 15 seconds then apply to your nail. Then you file off the excess and use the hair dryer again to seal them. It was pretty easy, although I had some problems getting the tips to stay completely smooth on my index fingers. It's nothing too horrible though, and these feel very secure on my nails instead of feeling like foreign objects.
Also shown is three coats of Sinful Colors Dream On.


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Brussels, 29 November 2007
Commission welcomes start of a new era for Europe's audiovisual media
Today the European Parliament formally has approved without amendments the Council's common position on the new Audiovisual Media Services without frontiers Directive. The Directive modernises the rules for Europe's audiovisual industry and offers a comprehensive legal framework that covers all audiovisual media services – including on-demand services. Less detailed, more flexible and future-oriented rules on TV advertising will allow audiovisual content to be better financed. Member States now have two years to make the Directive national law.
"Today the dawn of Europe's convergent audiovisual services industry is breaking," said Viviane Reding, EU Commissioner for Information Society and Media. "With these modernised rules that improve legal certainty and reaffirm the country of establishment principle, Europe's audiovisual policies will better meet the demands of a fast-moving and dynamic industry while maintaining high consumer protection standards. There will be less regulation, better financing for content and greater visibility to cultural diversity and the protection of minors."
The new Audiovisual Media Services without frontiers Directive, will allow the audiovisual sector confront the profound changes it faces to accommodate technological and market developments, and changing viewing habits resulting from convergence. It follows May's political agreement by the European Parliament and Council on the main aims and provisions of the Directive (see IP/07/706), such as a new scope covering all audiovisual media services, more flexible advertising rules, a legal framework for product placement, new rights for citizens and the continued protection of key European values. The Directive is coherent with other recent Commission initiatives such as the proposed European strategy on mobile television, the plan to maximise the benefits of the digital dividend and the new MEDIA 2007 support programme. The forthcoming process of discussion and proposals on Creative Content Online will also supplement the progress made with the new Directive.
Member States will be given 24 months to convert the new rules into national law, so that they fully apply in 2009. Commissioner Reding recently asked (see SPEECH 07/560) Member States to proceed with a "light touch" transposition of the Directive i.e. not to add too many stricter national provisions, which would prevent their audiovisual industries to fully benefit from the freedom brought by the Audiovisual Media Services without frontiers Directive.
On 13 December 2005, the Commission proposed revising the "Television Without
Frontiers" Directive to address significant technological and market
developments in audiovisual services (see IP/05/1573
and MEMO/06/208).
The Commission adopted an updated proposal for a modernised draft Audiovisual
Media Services Directive on 9 March 2007 (see IP/07/311)
to pave the way for this early agreement of its second reading by Parliament and
Council (see MEMO/07/206).
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Get a grip: Cheering player injuries is despicable
Dear NFL Fans,
We are human beings just like you.
That's the number one message that I want to get across in this letter to any and all NFL fans. And not just NFL fans necessarily, but fans of any professional and perhaps even major college sports teams.
I mention that we (professional athletes, which I was for seven years) are people just like you because I think a disconnect forms when that is forgotten or overlooked. That is the primary reason ugly situations like the ones that took place on Sunday in San Francisco and Houston unfold.
MORE: Google+ Hangout | PHOTOS: Sports Fans Gone Bad
Just like you, we have family and close friends who still make fun of us for how chubby we were in middle school or for wearing sweatpants to school every day (long story) in junior high. Most of us truly love the sport of football and were huge fans before realizing our dream- the dream most of you shared with us- of playing professional football. Sure, there are some guys who either don't really love the game or take their good fortune for granted, but don't let that ruin it for you. If they want to be jerks, that's their prerogative. But, the vast majority of players are down to earth guys who are unbelievably appreciative for what they have.
As an example, I never realized I had what it took to be an NFL player until I actually made a team. Growing up in Wyomissing, Pa. as a gigantic fan of the Penn State Nittany Lions and the Philadelphia Eagles, the idea of being a professional player didn't occur to me. After all, my father is 5-foot-9 and 170 pounds. I didn't exactly think I was destined to be an NFL offensive lineman. In other words, I was a regular kid-just like you were.
My strong suspicion is you don't see players as people. You may not personally know any NFL players, so to you, they are just genetically gifted super-humans that you watch on television or read about or perhaps even see perform inside some colossal stadium from time to time.
I know this to be true because several of my friends and family members have made comments to me over the years about how differently they look at pro athletes now that they have an up-close and personal look of what it is really like through my experience. They aren't happy when a guy gets hurt because they spoke to me shortly after my major back surgery at multiple levels in Buffalo, or in the days after my career ended due to a herniated disc in my neck which resulted in a bruised spinal cord. They know the pain and the fear and long-term implications that go with it.
The same goes for wanting players to get cut or traded all the time. They still want their Eagles to make certain moves, but they look at it differently now. They know what it was like for me and my family every time I got fired. Most fans are desensitized to those things, but if you actually know or knew a player, you wouldn't be.
That's why I highly doubt any of the people in Houston who were cheering when Matt Schaub got hurt actually know any of the Texans. I just refuse to believe that they would be that callous and cruel if they did. People can't be that evil, can they?
The thing that blows my mind is that many of the people cheering have children, some of whom might have even been in attendance with their parents at the game. Forget even about sending a horrific message and setting a terrible example for a second and consider this: What would you do if somebody cheered when your son got hurt in Pop Warner? Or even junior high or high school? I'd include college in that as well but who knows anymore.
It'd be despicable if somebody cheered when your child got hurt, right? So what's the difference? It's ok because the NFL guy is getting paid? What if your child's dream, and likely your dream for them as well, comes true and they make it to the NFL one day? Would it be OK for people to cheer when he got hurt then because he is a professional?
IYER: Texans' problems go beyond Schaub | TUCKER: Schaub on short leash
Of course not. Yet you don't think about the fact that Schaub is somebody's child. Not only is he somebody's child, he's a father and a husband as well, which leads me to a point that is much more important than cheering when he went down with an ankle injury.
Schaub's family was reportedly confronted at their house recently by a fan who was angry about Schaub's recent string of bad play. I'm not even going to get into the fact that he is by far the best quarterback in franchise history, has brought unprecedented success to the team, or has been the biggest reason why the Texans are even relevant. That's not what matters here.
What matters is that it is totally unacceptable to go to an NFL player's, or really any other human being's house, in order to express your displeasure with their performance at work. What is wrong with people?
Schaub has three young girls, all under the age of 5. As the father of two daughters, I can't even imagine the thoughts that would go through my head if there were the slightest hint their well-being was being threatened in any way. With all of the random shootings and tragic stories like the recent one involving the death of Adrian Peterson's son, it is simply not OK to go to someone's residence like that. Anyone stupid enough to come to somebody's house would have to be treated as a serious threat unless proven otherwise. It's so scary to even think about.
PHOTOS: Best images from Week 6 | Week 7 spreads
The NFL is a tough business. Players get paid handsomely to deal with the fan and media scrutiny, the pain, the injury risk, the lack of job security, etc. They signed up for that and know it comes with the territory.
Cheering when they get hurt? Going over to their house to tell them off?
Those things are not and should never be part of the deal and if you just looked at the players for one second as real people, or imagined your son or nephew or neighbor or whomever making it to the NFL one day like you hope they do, my guess is you would never consider doing either of those reprehensible acts that clearly cross the line.


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The outcome of the November 6, 2012 presidential election will mean big changes for all health care consumers -- including people living with HIV/AIDS -- no matter who wins the White House. A comparison of the candidates' positions on health care follows.
Governor Mitt Romney, the Republican nominee, has pledged to issue an executive order on his first day in office to halt any further implementation of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act's (ACA) sweeping health care policy reforms and seek a full repeal of the law. Despite leading efforts as governor of Massachusetts to adopt a similar set of measures that inspired the ACA (see "RomneyCare and HIV/AIDS" in this issue), Romney says the prescription for the uninsured should be decided by each state and not the federal government.
Pre-existing conditions: Romney's plan would ensure coverage for individuals with pre-existing conditions who maintain continuous coverage. His plan does not include routes to credible coverage for uninsured individuals with pre-existing conditions. In a CBS News' 60 Minutes interview that aired on September 23, Romney pointed to emergency rooms as a form of health care for people without insurance.
Private insurance reform: Romney supports legislation to offer tax breaks to purchasers of individual health insurance coverage so they receive the same tax breaks as individuals with employer-based group insurance. Romney also advocates multi-state insurance products to help control the cost of insurance premiums. Other reforms, such as provisions to allow children to remain on their parents' plans into early adulthood, would be left to the states to decide.
Medicaid: Romney supports block grants for states to implement Medicaid, the federal and state health insurance programs for the poor, disabled, and elderly. Growth in the federal Medicaid grants would be capped at the rate of inflation plus 1%. While the per capita growth in spending is 2.1% lower in Medicaid than in private plans, Medicaid growth has remained higher than inflation. With an aging Baby Boomer generation, long-term care and other care needs in Medicaid are likely to raise Medicaid spending even higher.
Medicare: Romney's repeal of the ACA would restore the large "donut hole" in Medicare prescription drug coverage and his campaign has yet to announce how, or if, it would address this added cost to Medicare beneficiaries.
His Medicare plan would convert the program to a voucher system, providing beneficiaries with a fixed dollar amount to purchase private coverage. The proposal would not affect current retirees or those nearing retirement but be established for future retirees.
President Obama, the Democratic nominee seeking a second term, ushered passage of the federal health reform law in 2010. The law's most significant provisions go into effect in January 2014. Sustaining implementation of the ACA is at the core of his second-term agenda.
In a twist of political irony, the ACA is loosely modeled on a health care plan in Massachusetts enacted by then-Governor Romney. This fact notwithstanding, candidate Romney supports the Massachusetts plan but disavows the ACA and pledges to repeal it if elected president (see above). How the Massachusetts plan impacts its HIV-positive residents is one way to assess the potential impact of the ACA on the nation's ongoing AIDS fight (see "RomneyCare and HIV/AIDS" in this issue).
Pre-existing conditions: Under the ACA, the cost of private insurance premiums will be based solely on the individual's age, geographic location, and tobacco use. Exclusions for pre-existing conditions will be outlawed beginning in 2014.
The Pre-Existing Condition Insurance Plan (PCIP) is a program created by the Affordable Care Act to help provide coverage for uninsured people with pre-existing conditions until new insurance market rules go into effect in 2014. The PCIP, which is administered by either individual states or the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, will provide health insurance coverage for U.S. citizens or legal residents who have been uninsured for at least six months, have a pre-existing condition, or have been denied health coverage because of their health condition. There are no income thresholds required for pre-existing condition coverage and premium rates, as well as deductibles, vary in each state.
Private insurance reform: Also in 2014, every state will have a "health insurance exchange," which is an online marketplace that allows individuals and small businesses to compare and purchase health insurance plans. Either the state government or the federal government will run the exchange in each state.
The hotly contested "individual mandate" requiring Americans to carry health insurance coverage was recently upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court. People and small businesses who fail to comply with the requirement will be assessed a federal tax penalty.
The exchange will help U.S. citizens and some legal residents with annual incomes above $11,170 (or $23,050 for a family of four)* to shop for and purchase private health insurance. Eligible individuals with incomes up to $44,680 (or $92,200 for a family of four) will be provided a federal subsidy to help offset the cost of mandated insurance coverage.
Out-of-pocket health care costs are capped by the ACA to prevent health care-related bankruptcies that all too often occur after an injury or catastrophic illness. Other ACA reforms include guaranteed coverage without co-pays for preventative health care, including HIV testing and contraception for women, a provision that went into effect recently.
"The ACA is a lightning rod issue for many voters, both for and against. How might the law help people with and at risk of HIV?"
Medicaid: The Supreme Court affirmed the constitutionality of the ACA and kept virtually all its provisions intact. While upholding the Medicaid expansion, a central provision to cover low-income citizens, the Supreme Court ruled that the federal government could not withhold all of a state's Medicaid funding in order to enforce the expansion provision, as was previously stated in the law. The Court ruled that only new funding available for the expansion can be withheld as a penalty for failure to expand Medicaid eligibility. Facing a less severe penalty, 15 states have already announced intentions to not expand Medicaid as required by the ACA and 22 more are undecided.
States that elect the expansion will receive federal funds to offset 100% of their new costs in 2014-2016, dropping to 90% by 2020. The law will make Medicaid an insurance program for low-income Americans with incomes up to $15,420 ($31,812 for a family of four), regardless of health status. Medicaid provider payment rates will also rise to match Medicare rates for a two-year period beginning in 2013, which should expand the number of medical providers willing to accept Medicaid coverage.
Medicare: Under the ACA, the so-called "donut hole" in Medicare prescription drug coverage shrinks over time. As a source of revenue to pay for its many new provisions, the ACA reduces incentives to health insurance companies to offer Medicare Advantage plans. The reduced incentives are not expected to affect Medicare benefits.
The ACA is a lightning rod issue for many voters, both for and against. How might the law help people with and at risk of HIV, if fully implemented? Are we better off halting implementation and starting over with Romney's plans for the nation? The answers to these questions are critical for everyone committed to the fight against HIV/AIDS as we head to the polls in November.
* Income eligibility amounts cited reflect current threshold amounts published in the 2012 HHS Poverty Guidelines_. The Census Bureau updates poverty threshold amounts annually._


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Staff writer
For winter wheat crop, snow helps with preservation, but not necessarily because of moisture.
Extension Agent Rickey Roberts said when snowfall from the past week melts, the county may receive only three-quarters to half of an inch of moisture into the ground.
"I think this snow's greatest benefit to us is it really acts as kind of an insulation to the ground, and it protects the wheat from the bitter cold weather," he said. "It's like a blanket."
While he did say any moisture would help keep cold air from penetrating the ground, the snow helps to protect the wheat's crown root.
Damage to the crown root does not usually happen in Kansas weather, but recent temperatures and the "polar vortex" earlier in the winter could have had an impact.
"Those are probably two of the coldest stretches we've had around here in a long time," Roberts said. It isn't often that that happens.
"There was a lot of concern of could that have hurt our wheat crop," he said. "Can it? Yeah. Did it? I don't really have an idea."
Roberts said wheat is a tough crop, but it can be susceptible to winter kill if exposed to cold weather too long.
"When soil gets dry, that's when the cold air really gets down into the ground, and it makes the ground bitter cold," he said. "That's when we can see problems."