text:
Connecting Europe Facility - guide19 October 2011
by eub2 -- last modified 19 October 2011
The European Commission has today tabled a plan which will fund €50 billion worth of investment to improve Europe's transport, energy and digital networks. Targeted investments in key infrastructures will help to create jobs and boost Europe's competitiveness at a time when Europe needs this most. The "Connecting Europe Facility" will finance projects which fill the missing links in Europe's energy, transport and digital backbone. It will also make Europe's economy greener by promoting cleaner transport modes, high speed broadband connections and facilitating the use of renewable energy in line with the Europe 2020 Strategy. In addition the funding for energy networks will further integrate the internal energy market, reduce the EU's energy dependency and bolster the security of supply.
To assist with the financing of the Connecting Europe Facility, the Commission has also adopted the terms for the Europe 2020 Project Bond Initiative which will be one of a number of risk-sharing instruments upon which the facility may draw in order to attract private finance in projects. The pilot phase will start already next year.
By focussing on smart, sustainable and fully interconnected transport, energy and digital networks, the Connecting Europe Facility will help to complete the European single market. The Commission has singled out projects where additional EU investment can have the most impact. In particular, the Commission expects Connecting Europe Facility investments to act as a catalyst for further funding from the private and public sector by giving infrastructure projects credibility and lowering their risk profiles. For the first time, the Commission is proposing a single funding instrument for the three network sectors, true to its commitment to create synergies and simplification of rules.
President José Manuel Barroso said: "The Connecting Europe Facility and the Project Bond Initiative are a perfect demonstration of the value added that Europe can provide. These proposals will help to build the roads, railways, energy grids and pipelines, and broadband networks that are so important to our citizens and businesses. We are closing the missing links in Europe's infrastructure networks that otherwise would not be built. This investment will generate growth and jobs and at the same time make work and travel easier for millions of European citizens and businesses"
The Connecting Europe Facility will better mobilise private financing and allow for innovative financial instruments such as guarantees and project bonds to gain maximum leverage from this EU funding injection The European Commission will work closely with the EIB to take advantage of capital market investors' interest in long-term investment opportunities with stable revenues. .
Connecting Europe: Transport
The Connecting Europe Facility will invest €31.7 billion to upgrade Europe's transport infrastructure, build missing links and remove bottlenecks. This includes €10 billion ring fenced in the Cohesion Fund for transport projects in the cohesion countries, with the remaining 21.7 billion available for all Member States for investing in transport infrastructure. The idea is to improve links between different parts of the EU, to make it easier for different countries to exchange goods and people with each other.
By focussing on transport modes that are less polluting, the Connecting Europe Facility will push our transport system to become more sustainable. It will also give consumers more choice about how they want to travel.
Transport systems in Europe have traditionally developed along national lines. The EU has a crucial role to play in coordinating between Member States when planning, managing and funding cross-border projects. A well-functioning network is essential to the smooth operation of the single market and will boost competitiveness. The Commission proposed to create corridors to cover the most important cross-border projects. It has estimated that by 2020, €500 billion will be needed to realise a real European network, including €250 billion for removing bottlenecks and completing missing links in the core network.
Connecting Europe: Energy
The energy sector can look forward to €9.1 billion being invested in trans-European infrastructure, helping to meet the EU 2020 energy and climate objectives. The CEF will also help to remove financial gaps and network bottlenecks. The internal market for energy will be further developed through better interconnections, leading to security of supply and the possibility to transport renewable energy in a cost effective manner across the EU. Both citizens and companies need to be able to rely on energy being available at all times and at an affordable price. The money from Connecting Europe will act as a leverage for more funding from other private and public investors.
Connecting Europe: Telecommunications and ICT
The "Connecting Europe Facility" foresees almost €9.2 billion to support investment in fast and very fast broadband networks and pan-European digital services.
The CEF finance will leverage other private and public money, by giving infrastructure projects credibility and lowering their risk profiles. On the basis of conservative estimates, the Commission considers that the network infrastructure finance could stimulate investment worth more than €50 billion. The Digital Agenda for Europe set targets for 2020 of broadband access for all at speeds of at least 30 Mbps, with at least 50% of households subscribing to speeds above 100Mbps.
As regards digital services, the money would be used for grants to build infrastructure needed to roll-out e-ID, eProcurement, electronic health care records, Europeana, eJustice and customs-related services. The money would serve to ensure interoperability and meet the costs of running the infrastructure at European level, linking up Member States' infrastructures.
Innovative financing and the Project bond initiative
The EU Budget is a key element to support the growth agenda and to achieve the Europe 2020 policy targets. The stronger use of innovative financial instruments is needed to multiply the outreach of the EU Budget. The Europe 2020 Project Bonds Initiative, designed for this purpose, has a double objective: to revive project bond markets and to help the promoters of individual infrastructure projects to attract long-term private sector debt financing. The Project Bond Initiative would set up a means to reduce the risk for third party investors seeking long-term investment opportunities. It will thus act as a catalyst to re-open the debt capital market (currently largely unexploited for infrastructure investments following the financial crisis) as a significant source of financing in the infrastructure sector.
The Commission is proposing to launch a pilot phase in the period 2012-2013, still within the current Multiannual Financial Framework. The pilot phase will be based on an amendment of the Trans-European Networks (TEN) Regulation and the Competitiveness and Innovation Framework Programme (CIP) Decision and will draw on the budget lines of these programmes up to a total of EUR 230 million.
Similar to the Risk Sharing Finance Facility and Loan Guarantee instrument for TEN-Transport projects, the EU budget would be used to provide capital contributions to the EIB in order to cover a portion of the risk the EIB is taking when it finances the eligible projects. While the EU budget will provide some risk cushion for the EIB to finance the underlying projects, the EIB would cover the remaining risk. When EU budget funds are combined with the EIB financing, the total budget amount of EUR 230 million is expected to mobilise investments of up to EUR 4.6 billion.
In the pilot phase the idea is to focus on 5-10 projects, concentrating on those that are at a relatively developed stage of the bidding and financing process or require refinancing after the construction phase, in one or more of the three targeted sectors of transport, energy and broadband.
The pilot phase would be managed by the EIB.
The Connecting Europe package implements the commitments made by the Commission in the Multi-Annual Financial Framework proposals from 29 June 2011. The package of proposals adopted today consists of:
A chapeau communication on a growth package for integrated European infrastructures
A communication on a pilot for the Europe 2020 Project Bond Initiative, pilot phase starting in 2012
A communication on a framework for the next generation of innovative financial instruments – the EU equity and debt platforms
Proposal for a regulation establishing the Connecting Europe Facility
Proposal for a regulation on guidelines for the trans-European transport network
Proposal for a regulation on guidelines for trans-European energy infrastructure
Proposal for a regulation on guidelines for trans European telecommunications networks
Full texts of the proposals
Further information:
A pilot for Europe 2020 Project Bond Initiative - legislative proposal adopted by the Commission
The Commission's energy infrastructure package
Connecting Europe: The new EU core transport network
Digital Agenda: Commission proposes over €9 billion for broadband investment
Source: European Commission


text:
Lover of tea, animals, the ocean (http://eastcoastbest.tumblr.com/), science, yoga, travel, and all things summer.
That's my mug!
I love black teas. I pretty well always drink my tea straight. I'm also fond of herbals, but they rarely make my permanent collection. I prefer my tea hot, but occasionally I'll cold brew.
Oolongs I enjoy, but I'm not generally in the mood for them. I only truly enjoy subtly fruity flavoured greens. Whites have to be pretty amazing (see Butiki's White Rhino).
Pu'erhs, rooibos (specifically red, I'm more open to green), honeybush, and matés are not my favourite. I tend to avoid them altogether unless others find them so amazing it would be a travesty to not at least try.
Coconut, creaminess, yogurt, toffee, cacao (true dark chocolate flavour), rhubarb.
Any smokiness, bergamot, flowers (rose, jasmine, chamomile), hibiscus is hit and miss.
Last updated as of February 2017.

subset: commoncrawl


text: Find this wine Find this wine Bogle Wine Boggle Zinfandel 2010 at Lit Pin It Tweet 6 years ago by Timasrkn More posts Bogle Vineyards Pinot Noir California 2012 Very nice! Wine with dinner at Vic's in Raleigh. 4 years ago by Lynne C. Phantom - Bogle vineyards. Red wine 2011 Very good earthy wine. Start of 2014 xmas activities 4 years ago by Ryan K. Bogle Vineyards Old Vine Zinfandel 2012 California Jenny's wine 4 years ago by Imjmpepin Bogle Vineyards Red 2012 Wine with my sister...different and good! 5 years ago by Shelbyblake Bogle Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon California Wine Nice cab with mom-- just missing my other 5 years ago by Peteraisbeck


text:
Biological products produced in other countries may be imported into the United States for research and evaluation, transit shipment, or general sale and distribution, in accordance with Title 9, Code of Federal Regulations, Part 104. APHIS Form 2005 is used to apply for an import permit for any of these purposes. Submit applications for Permits for Distribution and Sale to:
Center for Veterinary Biologics
1920 Dayton Avenue
P.O. Box 844
Ames, IA 50010
Products imported under a Permit for Distribution and Sale must meet the same requirements as those required for licensed (domestically produced) products. A U.S. permittee (business in the U.S. or individual residing, or operating a business, in the U.S.) is required to assume legal responsibility for imported products. See Veterinary Services Memorandum 800.101 for additional guidance.
Submit applications for a Veterinary Biological Permit for Research and Evaluation, or a Permit for Transit Shipment electronically via the APHIS e-permit system. Note that you only need an eAuthentication account with a Level 1 authentication to apply through e-permits.
For more information or questions on submitting an application, contact the CVB via email at firstname.lastname@example.com or phone at 515-337-7838.
Veterinary Biological Product Permit for Research and Evaluation are valid for one year cannot be renewed. You need to re-apply yearly and receive a new permit.
The Center for Veterinary Biologics issues export permits and certificates of licensing and inspection to facilitate the export of licensed veterinary biological products. See Veterinary Services Memorandum 800.52 for guidance regarding requests for these export documents.
The following forms are available to facilitate the export of licensed veterinary biological products:
Export permits -- APHIS Form 2017
Certificates of Licensing and Inspection
These forms can be submitted via mail or electronically via the NCAH Portal. Visit the NCAH Portal Guidance page for more details on this service.


text:
Indianapolis Colts safety Joe Lefeged was arrested on gun-related charges after allegedly leading police on a brief chase in Washington D.C. early this morning, authorities said.
Lefeged, 25, was in a vehicle with two other men when police tried to stop the car at approximately 12:05 a.m. this morning, police said.
A brief chase ensued, resulting in the arrest of both the football player and another man, whom police identified as Aaron Timothy Wilson, 23, when police finally stopped the vehicle, authorities said.
Police allegedly found a registered .40 caliber pistol in the car, ABC Washington, D.C. affiliate WJLA-TV reported. While Lefeged's gun was registered, it wasn't registered in Washington, D.C., according to WJLA-TV.
Washington D.C. Metropolitan Police Department Officer Araz Alali told ABC News that neither Lefeged nor Wilson was driving the car when it fled from police.
Instead, a third unidentified man was driving. When the car finally stopped, "all three fled on foot," Alali said.
Authorities were searching for the third man today, but have not released a name or a description for the suspect.
When he was arraigned, Lefeged was ordered held without bail. His next court appearance was scheduled for July 2.
Both men face charges of carrying a firearm without a license, carrying an unregistered firearm, carrying unregistered ammunition, presence of a firearm in a motor vehicle, and possession of an open container of alcohol in a motor vehicle.
Lefeged was signed to the Colts as an undrafted free agent in 2011 after playing college football at Rutgers University, according to NFL.com.
The Indianapolis Colts issued a statement saying that the team was aware of the reports regarding Lefeged, but had no further comment "until we gain more information."


text:
Creating densely textured works that can range from stark
minimalism to violent, carefully directed chaos, Haptic combines
a rigorous attention to sonic detail with restless experimentalism.
Formed in Chicago in the spring of 2005 by Steven Hess (Locrian,
Pan American, Innode, Dropp Ensemble), Joseph Clayton Mills
(Jonathan Chen, Dropp Ensemble), and Adam Sonderberg
(Dropp Ensemble, Civil War), Haptic was initially conceived
as a vehicle for live collaboration. To that end, the group has
frequently incorporated a different, rotating fourth member,
deliberately chosen to send the music in unpredictable and
challenging directions. Such collaborators have ranged from
Tony Buck (The Necks) and Olivia Block to Mark Solotroff
Individual members of the group have recorded for a multitude
of labels including Kranky, Crouton, Editions Mego, Longbox
Recordings, Relapse Records, Utech, Cathnor, Tonschacht,
Absurd, Thrill Jockey, and BOXmedia among others.
See also Triptych and Mixes
Excess of Vision cassette
Notice Recordings, 2015
Abeyance CD (E168)
Entr'acte, 2013
The Patient CD/book (E167)
Joseph Clayton Mills
Entr'acte, 2013
Ay cassette (E131)
Joseph Clayton Mills and Michael Vallera
Entr'acte, 2012
Scilens CD (E127)
Entr'acte, 2011
American Hours with German Efficiency
cassette (E116)
Adam Sonderberg solo
Entr'acte, 2011
Leaving my shadow still to be with you
cassette (E105)
Joseph Clayton Mills solo
Entr'acte, 2010
Zyxt book (EP3)
Joseph Clayton Mills
Entr'acte, 2010/2012
Correspondence MP3
Web exclusive
The Wire, 2010
System Failure cassette (E88)
Steven Hess solo
Entr'acte, 2010
'Occupation Floor' WAV
They Don't Know Unless You Tell Them
Flingco Sound System, 2009
Trebuchet CD (E75)
Entr'acte, 2009
The Medium 12"/MP3
Flingco Sound System, 2009
Repetition cassette
Bloodlust!, 2009
Velocimane/Çukurova 10" (E60)
Split with Cristal
Entr'acte, 2008
Repetition MP3 EP
Crouton, 2008
Correction 7" (E47/A67)
Entr'acte/Absurd, 2007
1V2E/Danjon Scale 12" (E37)
Split with Mouths
Entr'acte, 2006
'Indifference —> Building On Fire'
Two Million Tongues Festival CD
Bastet, 2005
Left to right: Hess, Sonderberg, Mills


text:
Return to Transcripts main page
Tweeting the Revolution; Interview With Bill Keller
Aired June 21, 2009 - 10:00 ET
HOWARD KURTZ, CNN ANCHOR: I have been riveted, like just about everyone else, by the images from Iran, by the massive street protests, by the outpouring of anger against the government. But with the Ahmadinejad regime cracking down on Western journalists, banning television cameras and even note- taking, it is a story that has been singularly difficult for news organizations to cover. That's why you have been hearing so much this week, maybe too much, in fact, about a Web site that seems to serve as the prime communications channel for the Iranian uprising, as long as you keep it short. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Twitter. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Twitter. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: More and more tweets were appearing... UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Twitter. KEITH OLBERMANN, HOST, "COUNTDOWN": A Twitter revolution... BRIAN WILLIAMS, NBC ANCHOR: Is this the first true Internet uprising? (UNKNOWN): Yes. The Iranian government failed in its attempt to contain images out of Iran. (UNKNOWN): Is Facebook and Twitter actually help fuel the outrage over that outcome? (UNKNOWN): Those opposing Ahmadinejad will not be silenced. (END VIDEO CLIP) KURTZ: Is that feel good story being oversold by the same media outlets that are relying on tweets they don't know and pictures they can't vouch for. And how are journalists handling the demands by some confidence that the president Obama's side and more forcefully with the protesters in Iran. Joining us now in Atlanta, Martin Savidge, former NBC correspondent who now anchors "World Focus" on public television, in Seattle Michael Medved, host of the "Michael Medved Show" on the Salem radio network, and here in Washington, Margaret Carlson, chief political columnist from "Bloomberg News" and Washington editor of "The Week" magazine. Marty Savidge, we just got word this morning that Iran is ejecting a BBC correspondent, Christiane Amanpour of CNN, David Engel (ph) of NBC, Jim Sciutto of ABC have all had their visas revoked or not extended. And so in this situation, has Twitter become the CNN of the masses? SAVIDGE: It's a combination of Internet sources, clearly. Twitter stands out as one of the primary ways that people are getting the message from the street. You have Facebook that's also being used. We found, as we try to cover this story for "World Focus" that we had to reach to a number of platforms that are not considered traditional for many, many journalists here. The difficulty, of course, with Twitter is the fact that you are not absolutely certain the person who is communicating is where they say they are. And also, as you look at all the people who are reporting using these kind of various forms of Internet, they often will say things like, we cannot confirm, this person says or represents, a lot of awkward language for journalists, because this is of course not the way we normally speak. KURTZ: You have put your finger on it. And Michael Medved, I love Twitter, but with thousands of people turning out stuff, there's also been some misinformation that has been passed along. For example, there was a report about Mousavi, the opposition leader, being placed under house arrest, which turned out not to be true. MEDVED: I think the problem with the overselling of the Twitter aspects of this story has to do with a natural tendency to emphasize the young versus old, the conflict in Iran. Of course, in Iran, about half the population is below the age of 25. And it's a hugely generational conflict, it would appear, and that of course adds to the drama. The problem is, that it's not just a conflict between people who know how to do Twitter and Facebook and are Internet-savvy and those who are not. It is in many ways a conflict between the 21st century and the 12th century. And it's very striking when you hear the stories about Twitter, and then you see the imagery of the Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and President Ahmadinejad praying in a style that's not normally associated with the 21st century. KURTZ: A real generational clash. Margaret Carlson, this does seem to be a shift from the big media to the people. Without Facebook and Twitter and Flickr and these other websites, it seems to me that the Iranian regime could shut down all images of dissent from the country. CARLSON: They sure could, as they are throwing out reporters. There's no editor of Twitter or Facebook. Some of the best information is, for instance, at Atlantic.com, Andrew Sullivan has gotten hundreds of thousands of hits, because he's gathering it all up and trying to act as an editor, to verify. And by the way, the pictures don't lie. For the most part, you can't fake the demonstrators in the street... (CROSSTALK) KURTZ: ... just to act as a filter, because nobody can read thousands and thousands of these 140 character messages. CARLSON: But a filter to put out information that's more reliable than 100,000, and to aggregate it. KURTZ: Marty Savidge, I want to come back to the point you were making at the top about putting on information that can't be fully vetted. Let's take a look at how some CNN anchors on this network have talked about that very dilemma. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST: We can't independently verify what precisely we are looking at, when it was taken, or under what circumstances. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are not able to independently confirm the claims being made, the representations of the video, correct? UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It is unverified. (END VIDEO CLIP) KURTZ: "Can't verify," "can't confirm." These are phrases we don't often hear on news networks, Marty. And so isn't that an awkward situation for CNN and the other news networks? SAVIDGE: Absolutely it is, because, in some respects, what it turns out is that we are voyeurs when it comes to watching events that are happening in Iran. We are gravely concerned. We are fascinated by what we see. And the other thing about these particular means of communication that we are getting from the street is that they are extremely personal. You feel it on a very personal level. And the person who is delivering that information to you is delivering at a personal level. They are using their phone, they are using their own camera device. Often you are seeing a very large development but from a very narrow focus. It's sort of like the embeds there. You see a great deal of activity going on, like we did in the Iraq war. But then the obvious question is, what does it really all mean? Where is the context here? How do I know the big picture? Is this just something happening on that particular block, or is it something that is happening all throughout Tehran or all throughout Iran, for that matter? And that's the very difficult thing, which is why you need journalists in some form to bring you that context, to bring you that touchstone of, well, here is how it all fits together. KURTZ: On that question of authenticity, someone, we believe, in the Iranian government has actually started fake Twitter pages. For example, ABC correspondent Jim Sciutto, one of those who had been reporting from Iran, and somebody put up a fake page in which he said that the upper class of Iran was leading the protests. He didn't say it at all. It wasn't his page. Let's turn now to the coverage of President Obama who has talked about this, one might say, very carefully, very cautiously. Here is what the president had to say the other day about the protests in Iran and the disputed election that gave rise to these massive demonstrations. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) OBAMA: It's not productive given the history of U.S.-Iranian relations to be seen as meddling, the U.S. president meddling in Iranian elections. (END VIDEO CLIP) KURTZ: Michael Medved, all kinds of conservative commentators have been criticizing President Obama for not speaking out more forcefully. Columnist Charles Krauthammer says it's a disgrace that he is not more openly siding with the protesters. Isn't it awfully easy for the armchair warriors to make this criticism when the White House contends that, you know, being more involved, at least reportedly, might make matters worse? MEDVED: Not only is it easy, but it appears to be correct, and something that was supported by virtually all Democrats in Congress. The Congress of the United States voted a resolution that was much stronger in support of the demonstrators than anything the president had said. And then after the Congress voted the resolution, I think with the one dissenter, Ron Paul, then right after that, President Obama seemed to intensify his comments. So if conservatives were so irresponsible and if the danger of the U.S. meddling was so substantial, then it seems to be something that now is bipartisan and that includes the president of the United States. KURTZ: Margaret, Obama did say yesterday, he called on the regime to stop all the violence and unjust actions against its own people. But still, it seems to me that it's one thing for congressmen to take a position, it's one thing for columnists to take a position. But the president has said he doesn't want to be used as a foil where it would be seen that the opposition is somehow in cahoots with the U.S. government. CARLSON: Right. He assumes it would be worse. Twitter has made us all Iranians. But the president operates in realpolitik, which is what are the hazards here of coming out too strongly? In 2003, President Bush sided with demonstrators in Tehran, and it justified a crackdown on the demonstrators as being a plot of the West against the Iranians. So, you can't do too much. It is -- imagine if those demonstrators became treasonous against the state, siding with the West, how that would justify even more violence. He had a path in when the police started beating and tear-gassing and killing some demonstrators to say something. But I think to come in officially on the side of the demonstrators is to ask for -- get a short-term pleasure, but long-term pain. KURTZ: And while you are talking, we're looking at more of these pictures, that one was labeled "amateur video" by CNN. Martin Savidge, you know, obviously Obama also has to negotiate with the current government as long as it is there about its nuclear program. Does American television, do you believe, provide nuance and context here, or does it kind of boil it down to this partisan sniping about just how forceful the U.S. should be? SAVIDGE: I think there is sniping that is taking place. I think that many Republicans saw there was an opportunity. Republicans traditionally stand very strong when it comes to matters like this, and they wanted a president who spoke out. I think there is a line that's been crossed, though, since yesterday, and why the president can speak out more forcefully now. Of course, there was the concern that somehow he might be used to demonize the opposition, that the opposition was in cahoots with the United States. That's what the hard-liners in Iran would have said. Now the president has every right to speak out, because we are not talking about a disputed election anymore. We are talking about violence in the street, we are talking about people being killed by their own government. KURTZ: Exactly. SAVIDGE: And then on top of that, the president also, though, has to have the long view. We know that one day, somehow, this is all going to be worked out in Iran, and the president must continue to have a relationship with that (inaudible). KURTZ: That is it. Of course, journalism tends to have a short- term view of today, tomorrow, and perhaps the next day. KURTZ: Let me one more piece of tape here, another interview that the president gave his week with CNBC's John Harwood about the coverage he's been getting and whether it's been excessively favorable, some might say. Let's roll that. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) JOHN HARWOOD, CNBC: Media critics would say not only has it not come, but that you have gotten such favorable press either because of bias or because you're good box office. OBAMA: First of all, I have one television station that is entirely devoted to attacking my administration. And you would be hard pressed if you watched the entire day to -- to find a positive story about me on that front. (END VIDEO CLIP) KURTZ: Obama, of course, talking about FOX News. And Michael Medved, should the president be repeatedly complaining? This is not the first time he's mentioned FOX or Hannity -- about one cable news station and the way it covers him? MEDVED: No, of course not, because in the universe of coverage, in that same interview, the big focus, as you know very well, Howie, was on the president killing a fly, and people describing his superhuman abilities to actually kill the fly and then to pick it up from the floor. And the analysis of that particular -- this is part of the Obama infatuation, which I think has gone extraordinarily far. KURTZ: And I have to jump in and give Margaret Carlson a chance. Didn't that provide a boost for FOX with a lot of Fox anchors going on and on about this complaint? CARLSON: It was an asymmetric relationship. He made it symmetric. Neil Cavuto went on a tear. And Neil Cavuto says the president is petty and he, Neil Cavuto, is high-minded and above it all. A president doesn't want to open the door to that. KURTZ: You can't buy that kind of publicity. All right, Margaret Carlson, Martin Savidge, Michael Medved, thanks for joining us this morning. When we come back, house call. Diane Sawyer checks in on her White House sit down with President Obama this week with a handpicked audience to talk about health care. Why has the prime time special kicked up so much controversy? And later, Bill Keller, the executive editor of the "New York Times" on staying quiet while one of his reporters was kidnapped by the Taliban. (COMMERCIAL BREAK) KURTZ: As Congress begins to tackle President Obama's health care plan, the White House is again trotting out its salesman in chief. The president will sit down with ABC's Diane Sawyer and Charlie Gibson for a prime time special devoted to health care this Wednesday night, 10:00 eastern, and to talk to Sawyer the next day about the issue for "Good Morning America." The event at the White House, which will feature questions from an audience selected by ABC, is already drawing up bits of political flak. And joining us now by phone from New York to talk about the program is Diane Sawyer. Good morning. SAWYER: Happy Sunday, Howie. KURTZ: Thank you very much. You have the ultimate guest for this special, the president. Why not also include guests from the insurance industry, the hospital industry, the drug companies who also have a stake in this health care battle? SAWYER: That is exactly who we are including. We have people from the front lines of the health care dilemma, and they are insurance companies, they are big businesses, they are small businesses, they are physicians, drug companies, they are people who have operated at the state levels, which are some of the laboratories, as we know, which tell us something about health care in America. And, of course, we have patients there, too. And I think a lot of people haven't understand fully that this is going to be a room full of widely diverse ideas in which people who actually experience the reality of front-line health care are going to get a chance to pose their challenging questions to the president. KURTZ: As you know, the Republican national chairman Michael Steele has said that ABC is promoting Obama-care, and FOX's Sean Hannity took a shot at this, noting ABC being owned being own by parent company Disney. Let's play a little bit of "Hannity." Let me just play the byte. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) SEAN HANNITY, FOX NEWS HOST: President Obama's love affair with the mainstream media continues. But as we learn more about next week's Mickey Mouse sponsored infomercial, one thing is becoming clear, and that is our headline this Wednesday night, journalism in America is dead. (END VIDEO CLIP) KURTZ: I'm sure you would like to respond to that. SAWYER: Oh, Sean. Again, ABC, I'm so proud of ABC. And I hope that there is some recognition for the fact that this network is trying to tackle a serious issue in a serious way, and we are doing something that we would love to see a lot more air time dedicated to. What is more important than a dialogue about health care? It is not an infomercial. ABC News does not do that. We will be there, and these people in this room are going to be able to ask questions from every single vantage point. And they are going to challenge the president, many of them. And as I said, this is not a Republican or a Democratic issue. It's an American issue. And I don't think Republicans or Democrats can argue that only people on Capitol Hill should be addressing this issue. We should have a great debate about these issues with people on the front lines as well. KURTZ: It's an interesting sign of our media culture, Diane Sawyer, that this program is being attacked before a single minute has even aired. But I'm wondering whether you think if some of the critics are, in effect, working the refs, hoping to create a climate where you and Charlie Gibson will feel compelled to somehow be tougher on the president. SAWYER: I don't know whether they are or not, but our job is to have a serious conversation. This is not theater. This is too important. And we have to bring the issues and the questions, the strongest questions we can. And ABC has done town hall forums before. We did one on guns with Bill Clinton and then came back a year later and did another one. And they were extremely vital and robust debates about an important issue in the country. And we had talked to the Bush administration, which didn't feel I think in many ways it was a forum they felt was best for them. But we also had, since Ted Koppel, felt that the town hall forum, bringing people in who are not on all of our Sunday shows and all of our cable shows all the time, on our morning shows and our evening shows all the time, bringing people in who can bring firsthand experience to bear sometimes creates the most effective and educational forum of all. KURTZ: I didn't know that ABC had made the offer to the Bush White House. KURTZ: As you know, health care, a complicated issue dealing with employer mandates and deductibility of company benefits and the government insurance option, not the easiest story for television to tell. In this context, how much do you think you'll be able to pin down the president on the nitty-gritty of his proposal? SAWYER: We want to get the conversation started. We don't assume that it can be comprehensive. This issue is too big. But we're going to try to lay out with some clarity the big questions, take on as many of them as we can, and hope that it at least begins a national conversation, a conversation in doctor's offices and in families and, obviously, in businesses and companies as well that continues. KURTZ: President Obama has been doing a lot of network television, as you know, Dianne. There was that two-part prime time special on NBC, "Inside the White House with Brian Williams." He talked to Harry Smith on CBS this morning about being a father for Father's Day. So at the radio and TV correspondents on Friday night, the president told a joke about who his advisers are in some of these difficult matters. Let's take a look. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) OBAMA: A few nights ago I was up tossing and turning trying to figure exactly what to say. Finally, when I couldn't get to sleep, I rolled over and asked Brian Williams what he thought. (LAUGHTER) (END VIDEO CLIP) KURTZ: Do you think there's a perception the media is on Obama's side and that maybe explains some of the criticism of the upcoming ABC special? SAWYER: I can't address the overarching perceptions of the media. I know that our network has worked very, very hard to be completely -- completely responsible and fair and serious about big issues. And that was comedy. KURTZ: That was clearly comedy. I have got half a minute. Do you think, though, that there's a hunger among the networks to put the president on because there is a lot of public interest in Obama and he is good for ratings? SAWYER: I'm sure -- I'm sure that there are a lot of people out there who feel that that's true. In this issue, and I keep coming back to it because I don't want to conflate anything here, what is more important for us to talk about than health care? What is more important for us to begin to form democratic responses to, than health care? And that's why we are doing this. KURTZ: I'm going to withhold judgment until after I see this on Wednesday night. And Diane Sawyer, thanks very much for calling in this morning. SAWYER: All right, thank you, Howie. Happy Father's Day again. KURTZ: I appreciate it. SAWYER: Bye. KURTZ: Coming up in the second half of "Reliable Sources," tackling Tehran. "New York Times" editor Bill Keller is here to talk about the dramatic escape of his reporter David Rohde from the clutches of the Taliban, why he asked news organizations to keep quiet on the story, and his own reporting trip to Iraq this past week. Plus, reality's dark side. Does the pressure of being on a reality show push people over the edge? We will examine an online investigation linking these programs to a string of suicides. (COMMERCIAL BREAK) KURTZ: It's been a deadly weekend, as you know, across Iran, as demonstrators clashed with police and pro-government militiamen. CNN international correspondents Ivan Watson joins us now from Atlanta. And Ivan, the other day you put up some Facebook video from the city of Shiraz that showed police clubbing a woman. And you said on the air it was difficult to confirm. Isn't it difficult to put these pictures on the air when they are not authenticated by any news organization? IVAN WATSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely. It's frustrating. And as a journalist, I've never been quite put in this position before where I can't be on the ground, feeling, touching, tasting what's happening. Instead, I'm eight and a half time zones away. But what can you go when you have such a complete blackout of the media. Our team on the ground in Tehran haven't been allowed to report since last Friday. KURTZ: Right. WATSON: And we just heard that the BBC and the other networks, their Tehran bureaus were closed. KURTZ: Do you think that journalists in covering Iran over the years have put too much focus on Ahmadinejad's bellicose or rather it, as anti-Israel rhetoric, and the nuclear issue, and not enough on the double digit unemployment and the disillusion among young people, some of which may be fueling these protests? WATSON: Absolutely. Absolutely. And I think that was a strategy by Ahmadinejad. He liked to create tension and friction. And that would distract people from some of the core issues that I think concern most Iranians. It's not so much Israel and the holocaust as I need a job. You have a huge, youthful population there, and double digit unemployment and rampant inflation in a country with unbelievable oil wealth. KURTZ: I think that may help explain the surprise of some of us in the West at the anger fueling these protesters about the disputed election. Interesting, we talk about twitter and facebook a lot in the coverage here, as you say, partly out of necessity. The opposition candidate, who says the election was stolen, Mir Hossein Mousavi, said on his Facebook page, I just saw this this morning, addressing his followers, obviously, "You are the media, and it is your duty to report and keep the hope alive." WATSON: Yes, and that's a message that we are hearing from many of the other Iranians. It's incredible how tech savvy this society is. I was just emailing an activist who was inviting me to his Facebook page. He is Tehran and getting knocked around by pro- government militia just yesterday. And this is one of the ways that the opposition leaders are spreading their messages. And they seem to want these images to stay in the media. And we have seen the state media also showing some of these demonstrations. They clearly don't want to be left out of this debate. KURTZ: Interesting. Well, everybody is having to get more creative. Ivan Watson, tanks very much for checking in this morning. KURTZ: I have known for seven months that "New York Times" correspondent David Rohde had been kidnapped by the Taliban in Afghanistan, but the "Times" decided not to go public with that information, asking other news organizations to sit on it as well. My newspaper, "The Washington Post" was among the many that went along. The news broke yesterday when the "Times" confirmed that Rohde and an assistant had managed to climb over a wall and escape. Joining me now to talk about how he talked about dealt with this ordeal is the "Times" executive editor, Bill Keller, who is just back from a reporting trip to Iran. Bill Keller, welcome. KELLER: Thank you. KURTZ: How difficult has this been for you personally over the last seven months, not knowing whether David Rohde would make it out alive? KELLER: Well, it's a huge stress, I think especially on the family, but all of his friends and colleagues. And a lot of responsibility trying to figure out exactly what is the right thing to do. There is a kind of network of friends and acquaintances of people who have been through the experience who advise one another. We are now plugged into that network. KURTZ: All of your instincts as a news man, through your whole career have been to publish information, to get information. And here you are in the position of suppressing information. That had to be an awkward situation for "The New York Times." KELLER: Of course, of course. It was an agonizing position that we revisited over and over again. But I also have a responsibility for the people who work for me. I send a lot of people out into dangerous places and their security is also part of my job. KURTZ: And David Rohde who actually was kidnapped once before in Bosnia in 1995 seems to a tendency to go to dangerous places. Was his family comfortable with this approach of keeping it quiet? KELLER: Yes, his family was actually adamant that we should keep it quiet. And they were participants in the discussion. There were points along the way when we were getting frustrated and we wondered maybe we should shift strategy. But all along, we were told by people who know something about this field that probably the wisest course for David's safety was to keep it quiet. KURTZ: In other instances, Jill Carroll, the "Christian Science Monitor" reporter who was seized in Iraq, there was a feeling that publicity could help put pressure on the captors. But you decided against that route. KELLER: That's right. Well, there have also been other cases like Melissa Fung of CBC who was kidnapped in Afghanistan, released shortly before David was kidnapped where they decided to keep it quiet and the "Times" went along. We have consistently abided by the choices that employers make when their employees are kidnapped. KURTZ: And you were in a position of asking all these other news organizations to sit on this story. Did you think that would work? KELLER: I had my doubts at points along the way, particularly when Pulitzer day came and everybody knew David was part of our team in Afghanistan and Pakistan last year that won the Pulitzer this year. I thought it might leak out then. But in fact, people were amazingly understanding. I think a lot of them could imagine themselves in the same position. KURTZ: What about the bloggers? I occasionally saw a blog post referring to the fact that David Rohde had been captured by the Taliban and I said to myself, OK, this is going to leak, someone else is going to pick it up, and then it's going to hit television or the newspapers, but that didn't happen. KELLER: I had the same worry. We tracked the blogs pretty closely. But the ones that ultimately put things up either agreed to take them down or else they were so obscure and peripheral that they didn't really get critical mass. KURTZ: You told me when we spoke yesterday that even Al Jazeera, the Arab satellite network was working on a story about Rohde's captivity. KELLER: That's right. KURTZ: What happened in that instance? KELLER: I talked to the managing director of Al Jazeera who agreed to hold the story. KURTZ: Even now, you are not disclosing many details about who the kidnappers were, what the negotiations were. There was demand for millions of dollars. You have said that nobody paid any ransom in this case. Why, now that he's safe and his assistant is out safe, why not tell the whole story? KELLER: The one thing that I think you'll find everybody who has been through this agrees on is that the more you talk about who did what, who said what, who advised what, how your thinking evolved along the way, the more you are writing a playbook for the next kidnapping. KURTZ: So you want to avoid giving any comfort to those who might think seizing journalists is a good idea. KELLER: I want to protect the other journalists who work for me who are out in dangerous places. KURTZ: Now you, yourself, spent several days reporting in Iran as this story blew up. It was interesting to me, you quoted some ordinary Iranians, not by name, on why they put up with this repressive regime over the years. You had one writer saying we are like sexually abused children. Weren't some of these people afraid to talk to you? KELLER: They were afraid to have their names used. There is that level of fear. Although it was interesting, in the days before the election when the feeling was fairly euphoric and there was a sense that they might actually overthrow this regime, the fear went away for awhile. But after the results were announced, the regime made clear that they wanted to enforce them, a lot of the fear came back. KURTZ: Iran's acting police chief said the other day about interrogating some of these rebels, "We intend to find the link between the plotters and the foreign media." And that he would not be held responsible for anything that happened to reporters who were covering this business. It sounds like a threat to me. KELLER: It sounds like a threat to me, too. And since then, the threats have only become more explosive. It's a dangerous place to work now. KURTZ: So many journalists have been essentially kicked out because their visas have not been extended. But in this morning's "New York Times," columnist Roger Cohen has quite a colorful piece about being part of these demonstrations. Can you say how he's able to still be there? KELLER: He came in with a 14 day visa whereas most of us got 10 day visas. He's lucky enough to still be there legally. I think he runs out Monday. KURTZ: Now you told "Editor & Publisher" today that you picked up a few bizarre vibes, as you put it, about leaving your editors to report from the field, such as? KELLER: A couple things that popped up on the blogs saying shouldn't he be busy worrying about the future of the newspaper business instead of actually reporting. I mean, I spent way more than I care to of my time thinking about the future and working on the future of the "Times" business model. But running a newspaper and a Web site is what I do. And to do that well, you have to get out and see what the story is. KURTZ: Right, you obviously have been a foreign correspondent in places like Moscow and South Africa. So what was the benefit of you being there both for yourself and for "Times" readers. KELLER: Well, up until the point when I started writing, I would say the benefit was just I was getting educated so I could make better informed choices about what's important and know what questions to ask the correspondents as things were unfolding. Once the place exploded, we have two people there, our Iranian correspondent who lives there and Bobby Worth from our Beirut bureau who were working their tails off writing the lead of the paper every day, exhausted. And at that point, it was either sit in a hotel room and order room service or join the work force. KURTZ: Clearly, you didn't get much room service because at one point you went off to drive five hours to Iran, the third largest city and file a report from there. You picked up some fascinating details. For example, why did people bring their own pens to the ballot boxes on Election Day? KELLER: As authoritarian regimes tend to be, it's a very conspiracy minded place. And rumors went out before the election that if you were a Mousavi supporter, your pen would have a disappearing ink. And a lot of people I talked to who had said that they or their relatives had brought their own pens just in case. KURTZ: So do you look at the story a little differently now than might have happened if you had stayed in Manhattan? KELLER: Well, I think the story itself has changed rather dramatically in the past 10 days. Yes, for one thing, I am now hooked on it, which is of course one reason reporters like to have editors come visit their stories, because they tend to get under our skin. KURTZ: Although this would not be a story that would probably have a hard time cracking the front page even if you hadn't gone. I think we are all hooked on it at this point. KELLER: Yes, but there is a question of attention span and how long are we going to be focused on this? KURTZ: When this is 10 days old, when this is two weeks old, three weeks old, is it still going to have the prominence it has right now? All right, before you go, I've got half a minute. Last week, I turned on my "Daily Show," and there was a piece about "The New York Times" newsroom. You were in there. You and some of the others were made to rather stiff. Do you have any second thoughts about cooperating with the "Daily Show?" KELLER: My wife who was trying to buck up my spirits told me I looked only faintly ridiculous. All I can say is I was really glad to be in Tehran where they don't get "Comedy Central." KURTZ: Ah, OK, so you actually enjoyed being on the front lines of an exploding foreign story more so than "Comedy Central?" That's a good note to end on. Bill Keller, thanks very much for stopping by this morning. Glad to have a chance to talk to you. Up next, dangerous reality. A new investigation links reality shows with a stunningly high suicide rate. Do these programs look for emotionally damaged folks to humiliate? (COMMERCIAL BREAK) KURTZ: Reality shows are thriving these days often by putting their participants through all kinds of embarrassing and sometimes humiliating situations. Some folks it seems will do anything to get on TV. But there may be a dark side to this popular genre. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) KURTZ (voice-over): An investigation by thewrap.com, a new Hollywood Web site, says at least 11 people who have participated in reality shows have committed suicide and two others have attempted to take their lives. They have been associated with such programs as "Extreme Makeover," "Super Nanny," Wife Swap," and "Celebrity Big Brother." (END VIDEO CLIP) KURTZ: But is a cause and effect here? Are ruthless producers contributing to the unusually high suicide rate, or are they being unfairly blamed for these personal tragedies? I spoke earlier with three experts. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) KURTZ: Joining us now in Los Angeles, Sharon Waxman, the veteran journalist who is the founder and editor of thewrap.com. Dr. Charles Sophy, medical director of Los Angeles County Child and Family Services, who also appears on the VH1 reality show "Celebrity Rehab." And in West Palm Beach, David Perel, executive vice president and managing editor of radaronline.com. Sharon Waxman, your report details these 11 suicides. But how much responsibility do the reality shows really bear for these tragedies? SHARON WAXMAN, FOUNDER & EDITOR, THEWRAP.COM: These are not very tenuous connections. These are all -- we chose people who were -- seemed very clearly tied to their experience on reality shows, such as leaving a note when they died saying, I really couldn't take the pressure of what happened in the wake of this show. And also they were very close in time or during the period when they were actually on the show. There are a couple of things to bear in mind... KURTZ: Did more than one or two people leave such a note? WAXMAN: Oh, yes. Oh, yes. I mean, we're talking an age where we have lots of communications. People talk on Facebook, they leave e-mails. This is not just an obscure time where they just leave a handwritten note and it's tied to their body. These are people who can reach out through all kinds of electronic media and we are able to trace those things. So these are not obscure cases. KURTZ: Everybody has got a digital... (CROSSTALK) KURTZ: Let's me turn to David Perel. Did -- you have read this story. Does it convince you that the reality shows bear responsibility or at least partial responsibility for these suicides? DAVID PEREL, RADARONLINE.COM: It does. I thought it was an excellent article in the sense that it has really got its pulse on a new cultural phenomena. And you know, the thing that really strikes me is there needs to be better screening, better before care. These shows are picking people who have mental disorders and they are exploiting them on TV, a lot of the shows. And I think, you know, that series of articles really brought this problem to life. KURTZ: On that point, Charles Sophy, I've always wondered why do people go on reality shows and expose themselves. And can that experience exacerbate emotional problems they already have? CHARLES SOPHY, L.A. COUNTY CHILD & FAMILY SVCS.: Oh, absolutely. I think that people typically start to connect with these kinds of shows because of the voyeuristic effect. They can kind of watch somebody else's life and then start to feel like, wow, I can do that. And then you have somebody then as was said before with an unstable mental state. And then they get that fragile state place where they blur reality, non-reality, they jump into these shows. And then at the end, they are kind of dropped off and then they're left with this fragile make-up that they have to try to live with. And I -- as you see, most people have a difficult time doing that. KURTZ: Sharon Waxman, let me read from your own reporting some of the names of some of the people who committed suicide. Let's put it up on the screen and I'll ask you a question about that. We have Cheryl Kosewicz who we see on the upper left. She was on "Pirate Masters." She killed herself two months after her boyfriend committed suicide. Najai Turpin from "The Contender" had been fighting with his girlfriend over their 2-year-old daughter. Melanie Bell who was a producer of an unsold pilot, suffered from depression and anorexia, and Nathan Clutter on the bottom left was on "Paradise Hotel," his uncle told police, he reported, that he had suffered from depression and bipolar disorder. So my question is, clearly all of these people had pre-existing problems. Is it entirely fair to blame the reality shows for what -- their ultimate decision to take their own lives? WAXMAN: I don't think that it's fair to place the blame, so to speak, on the reality shows. And we didn't do this investigation to assign blame. But I think that we have to really examine what is the fallout and what are the wages of this kind of entertainment that is so inexpensive to produce, that is so popular, and that often preys on people's weaknesses and foibles? And there's a couple of other points that we should make here. It's not just putting damaged people on TV. Not everybody who goes on reality shows is damaged. But there is something that happens in that process. So we've got a couple of things. One, people who may be seeking fame who may have issues that they are bringing to the show, A. But there's also something that happens in the chemistry of being on TV, being subject to the public eye. Look at someone like a Susan Boyle, which is what kind of... KURTZ: Sure. WAXMAN: I think it's why our series got so much attention. She was somebody who wanted to sing. And she didn't count on what was going to happen to her in that cycle so... KURTZ: Oh, clearly, it can have a huge impact on your experience. And some people come out of it famous, and some people come out of it with either more problems. Dr. Sophy, do you think -- do you have the impression that at least on some of these programs, the producers deliberately look for so-called damaged people or people with a lot of emotional baggage? SOPHY: I think that, as was said by Sharon, there is not a lot of scrutiny that goes in. So you are taking people who may not have a fragile emotional state to begin with, but are joining into this process. And at some point, there is something that happens between the addiction of the attention and the addiction of all of that glamour that they feel get in and then the drop-off. So if they are not fragile, they get to be fragile, and then you've got an outcome that isn't always good. So it's not using damaged people. WAXMAN: Can I make one more point? Hang on, Howie. Can I make one more point? Which is that the producers sometimes, sometimes, not every time, but they will goad people into saying things that they later regret. And when they -- because they want drama. So they will heighten tension -- we all know that we call that "Franken-editing," "Franken-biting" process. It has been written about for a lot of years, where they make situations that aren't very dramatic appear to be dramatic. And they actually create storylines out of the editing process. But they also goad people to get the tension. Another story that we are working on is the use of alcohol on these sets and how they get people drunk on a lot of the dating shows. We have that story, we are going to be -- we are working on that story to get people to go on the record to talk about it. These are real issues. KURTZ: OK. We have a no-alcohol policy on this program. David Perel, some of these were rejected candidates. And I don't see how you blame the shows for that. But if what Sharon is saying is right, and it has been written about as kind of an open secret, then how is it that the media haven't provided more scrutiny of these very popular programs? Do they just kind of give them a pass and treat them as entertainment? PEREL: I think they do give them a pass. And I think that everybody knows there's very little reality on these reality shows. They are scripted. And everybody has to fit into a category. Otherwise, if you have a bunch of mentally stable people, you're going to have boring TV. Nobody is going to watch it. KURTZ: And in that sense, David -- in that sense, David, is the audience complicit in all of this? They tune in in large numbers, in part, why, to see people be humiliated? PEREL: I think absolutely. You know, there are certain shows where you watch and you see people make fools of themselves, and you laugh, and it gets big ratings, and it encourages TV, which is a medium that's known to be a copycat medium, to go ahead and produce another show like that. So I believe that answer is in the pre-screening, and really weeding out the people who do have emotional problems -- severe emotional problems, because video is unforgiving. And once you get these people on TV, you can ruin their lives. KURTZ: Charles Sophy, you have -- as I mentioned at the top, have been on "Celebrity Rehab." So to some degree aren't you a participant in this sort of genre? SOPHY: Well, I can tell you, from my own personal experience on "Celebrity Rehab, the integrity that I feel should be there is there 99 percent of the time. The screening tests that are done on all of the contestants or the celebrities before they get accepted onto the show, and then psychiatric evaluation and treatment that they get throughout the show keeps that within a stable boundary and really raises awareness if something is going awry. So I think that's having... KURTZ: But not a typical -- I mean, that's a show about medical treatment of celebrities -- or washed up celebrities. SOPHY: Right, yes. KURTZ: On an typical program where people are on an island eating worms or whatever, then they are not getting any medical treatment, are they? SOPHY: They are not getting it, that's absolutely right. They're not getting what they need probably to begin with to know if they're appropriate for that show. And they are not getting the support they need as they unravel during that show. KURTZ: Sharon Waxman, Charles Sophy, and David Perel, thanks very much for joining us. SOPHY: Thank you. PEREL: Thank you. WAXMAN: Thank you. (END VIDEOTAPE) KURTZ: And after the break, no laughing matter, why David Letterman took so long to apologize to Sarah Palin. If only you would have listened to me, Dave. (COMMERCIAL BREAK) KURTZ: I told you last week, he had to apologize. "Dave," I said, "you're in a hole. Stop digging." But did he listen? No. Finally, this week, David Letterman told Sarah Palin he was sorry. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) DAVID LETTERMAN, HOST, "THE LATE SHOW WITH DAVID LETTERMAN": One awkward moment, though, during... (END VIDEO CLIP) KURTZ: If he had only said she looked like a slutty flight attendant, Letterman probably could have skated. But when the CBS comedian joked about Palin's daughter being "knocked up" at a Yankee game by Alex Rodriguez, whether he meant 18-year-old Bristol or 14- year-old Willow, it really was indefensible. But most of the media establishment didn't see it that way. Major newspapers ignored the controversy. Hey, journalists like Dave. It's just comedy, they said. Some even said all the buzz would help him beat Conan O'Brien. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN SR. LEGAL ANALYST: I think a joke about Bristol Palin is actually fair game. (END VIDEO CLIP) (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) (UNKNOWN): She's an adult, and the Palin family should get over the joke. (END VIDEO CLIP) (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) (UNKNOWN): It was a joke, Sarah, just a joke. (END VIDEO CLIP) KURTZ: By and large, it was conservatives who said Letterman had unfairly (inaudible) the Alaska governor. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) SEAN HANNITY, FOX NEWS ANCHOR: And that is our headline this Friday night, "Letterman's Shame." (END VIDEO CLIP) (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) (UNKNOWN): But I think he looks like a jerk. (END VIDEO CLIP) (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) ELISABETH HASSELBECK: And when I realized that he had the wrong daughter, oh, he's not a jerk; he's just being an ignorant jerk to say something like that. (END VIDEO CLIP) KURTZ: Letterman belatedly admitted he had gone too far. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) LETTERMAN: But the joke, really, in and of itself, can't -- can't be defended. The next day, people are outraged. They're angry at me because they said, how could you make a lousy joke like that about the 14-year-old girl who was at the ball game? And I had honestly no idea that the 14-year-old girl -- I had no idea that anybody was at the ball game except the governor. And I was told, at the time, that she was there with Rudy Giuliani. I told a bad joke. I told a joke that was beyond flawed. And my intent is completely meaningless compared to the perception. And since it was a joke I told, I feel that I need to do the right thing here and apologize for having told that joke. (END VIDEO CLIP) KURTZ: The plain fact is that Letterman was losing the P.R. war. You can say just about anything about a politician, and, yes, Palin put her family out there during the campaign. But jokes about kids, especially sexual jokes, should be off-limits, period. And I'm glad David Letterman finally realized that. Still to come, harassing Heidi. The annoying MTV pseudo- celebrities who claim they got roughed up on "The Today Show" by Al Roker? (COMMERCIAL BREAK) KURTZ: Like me, you may not care all that much about Heidi and Spencer Pratt, or "Speidi," who star on MTV's "The Hills" and recently said, "Get me out of her" to the reality show "I'm a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here." But they clearly think a lot of themselves and were rather miffed when NBC's Al Roker interviewed them and, get this, had the temerity to ask some hard questions. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) AL ROKER, HOST, "THE TODAY SHOW": Are you proud of all of this? HEIDI PRATT, ACTRESS: It was a very hard situation. I think, when you go to the jungle... ROKER: No, the answer -- are you proud of this? H. PRATT Am I proud of what? ROKER: Of what you -- the way you guys behaved in this program? H. PRATT: I mean, I'm not ashamed. ROKER: This behavior -- I mean, this is not going to continue once -- now that you're off the show, is it? I mean, are you going to -- there -- you say "villain;" some people "jerk." I mean... SPENCER PRATT: Tomato, tomato. (END VIDEO CLIP) KURTZ: What was Heidi's rather mature reaction? She said women should stay away from Al Roker. Really. The couple was still fuming when TMZ caught up with them. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) S. PRATT: I think it's rough being the weatherman. You know, they're always having to tell people whether it's going to be raining or cloud, and, you know, I felt like he had to take it out on Speidi. H. PRATT: He was a little angry and aggressive with me. And I don't appreciate that, especially with the morning show. And I pray for him. (END VIDEO CLIP) KURTZ: Roker said on his Twitter page that maybe their 15 minutes was almost up. And on "The Today Show," he said they probably weren't used to handling a real question and didn't quite know how to handle it. Here's my two cents. Hey, big MTV stars, you want to go on "The Today Show," you can't expect softballs. Enough with the whining. And John King, imagine if the politicians you interviewed, afterwards, ran to TMZ and said, "Oh, John King was so unfair with me." KING: I like that. That's a slogan. I think I need to get a bumper sticker, "Enough with the whining." I think that's a -- you could make some money on that, Howie. KURTZ: I'll make sure I do that. (LAUGHTER) Back to you, John. KING: All right. You have a great rest of your Sunday. Happy Father's Day.


text:
Immigrant Youth Movement Takes a Civil Rights Lesson
Recently, commentators and congressional witnesses [pdf] have debated whether the immigrant rights movement is today's civil rights movement. Some contend that immigrant activists, leading arguably the largest U.S. grassroots movement since the 1960s, carry Dr. King's torch. Others respond that the civil rights movement, which emerged from slavery and segregation, was a different animal. But, whatever your position, it's really the wrong question.
The real issue is whether and how people fighting for inclusion and equal rights learn from those who fought for similar things in the past.
No doubt, each movement is different. As recent events in North Africa and the Middle East have shown, even struggles that look quite similar possess distinctive internal logics and elicit divergent responses from the state.
But the civil rights movement does undoubtedly offer one of our nation's most powerful examples of widespread direct action to achieve a more inclusive and equal union.
Earlier this month in Memphis, over 200 activists for the DREAM Act—a proposed piece of legislation to offer undocumented youths who grew up in the United States an earned path to citizenship—came together to glean lessons from past civil rights struggles. These students, who suffered devastating defeat when DREAM came up five Senate votes short in December, gathered to plot strategy and continue building their national network, United We Dream (UWD).
Memphis was not an accidental choice for this gathering. The first stop: a visit to the Lorraine Motel, site of Martin Luther King's assassination and home of the National Civil Rights Museum.
Immigrants on the Trail of Dreams
Four undocumented students walked from Miami to Washington, D.C., risking deportation to tell the stories of immigrants living in the shadows.
Inside the museum, the mostly Latino activists huddled around portraits of a mostly African-American struggle. Their awe proved especially poignant given recent efforts from restrictionists—notably, witnesses called by Republicans [pdf] in a House of Representatives hearing—to pit African-Americans against Latinos by arguing that African-American workers are immigration's big losers.
At the Lorraine, a young Latina activist scrutinized a Norman Rockwell portrait, "The Problem We All Live With," which depicts an African-American girl in a pearl white dress relying on four marshals to help her enter a school. In the next room, two fellow Latino students watched video footage of the dogs and the fire hoses that Sheriff Eugene "Bull" Connor unleashed on Birmingham's youth in 1963.
Then, as now, young people provide a mirror for our best and our worst selves.
When we think of the civil rights movement, we tend to think of figures like Dr. King and A. Philip Randolph. But when we remember these heroes, it's easy to forget that theirs was principally a youth movement. As Hollis Watkins, a civil rights veteran who addressed UWD's congress, remarked, "The vast majority of the people involved in the civil rights movement were young people."
Mr. Watkins recounted being drawn into activism as a teenager, when he joined the NAACP and then the SNCC. He recalled being jailed and receiving death threats, but, above all, he remembered how young people drove a movement that generated enormous political change.
Encouraging youth activists to continue fighting today, Mr. Watkins explained, "Young people are our future, but they are also a part of our present. And, since they are part of the present, they need to be involved in the issues that need to be straightened out in the here and now."
The immigrant rights movement is no carbon copy of the civil rights movement, but Mr. Watkins' speech and the UWD congress revealed several lessons that immigrant rights activists can learn from the history encapsulated in a Memphis museum.
First, youth can, and often do, lead grassroots struggle. Students have breathed new life into the immigrant rights movement in the past two years; for DREAM and other pro-immigrant efforts to succeed, they must continue fighting.
Second, movements rely on grassroots organizations and effective coalitions. Unbridled energy and activism are critical, but activists must also build organizations capable of sustained, strategic action. UWD's Memphis congress aimed at precisely such organizational capacity building.
Rejecting Arizona: States Say No to Anti-Immigrant Bills
Despite the hype, states are finding lots of reasons not to follow in Arizona's footsteps.
Third, struggles for inclusion and rights center on collective action, including civil disobedience. Civil rights activists' nonviolent resistance—whether the Montgomery bus boycott, lunch counter sit-ins, or the Selma march—advanced the moral case against segregation. Similarly, pray-ins, marches, and vigils have been—and will continue to be—critical to growing immigrant power.
Finally, struggle requires risk. When DREAM students come out publicly as undocumented, they risk being deported to countries that they scarcely know. One DREAM student recalled meeting members of the Clinton Twelve, who risked their lives to integrate the schools in Clinton, Tennessee in 1956. Her lesson? "I'm afraid sometimes, and that's OK. I act despite that fear."
In short, irrespective of whether this movement is analogous to the civil rights movement, young immigrant activists know they have a lot to learn from African Americans' landmark struggle.
Walking away from the museum, one DREAM student mused to a friend, "Years from now, if we do our job right, there'll be a museum about us, too."
Arizona's notorious immigration law is now in effect—but so are strategies for resistance.
It's time to put the moral life back into our philanthropy and politics.
5 steps to courageous conversations about race and culture.


text:
|Home | Newly Submitted | Random Story | Search
Categories | Titles | Members | Forum Boards | Log In
Review-A-Thon (5)
Prize fics for the TPP 2013 Review-A-Thon
Potions Under Duress (3112)
Dedicated solely to the relationship between Severus Snape and Hermione Granger.
Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes (347)
Dedicated to stories centered around the Weasley Family.
Malfoy Manor (924)
Dedicated to stories stroking the egos of the Malfoy Family.
Azkaban Prison (225)
Dedicated to Lord Voldemort and his Death Eaters.
Shrieking Shack (251)
Dedicated to the Fabulous Four: Sirius Black, James Potter, Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew.
Forbidden Forest (448)
Slash Category
Dedicated to pairings of similar nature.
Hogwarts Castle (1967)
General HP fanfiction; stories that have been banished from other categories.
Essays (6)
Essays and transcripts of presentations about the Harry Potter series
|Neophobia and Yearning [M (R)] by nagandsev
[Reviews - 11]
Category: HARRY POTTER FANFICTION
Category: HARRY POTTER FANFICTION > Azkaban Prison
Characters: Bellatrix Lestrange, Remus Lupin
Genres: Angst, Drabble/100-Word, Psychological Warnings: Voyeurism
|Summary: Bellatrix has a secret. A deep, dark and lonely secret for one Undesirable in particular.
|Chapters: 1 Completed: Yes Published: 2011/08/17 Updated: 2011/08/17 Word Count: 690
|Respite [K+ (PG)] by shefa
[Reviews - 9] Favorite - 3
Category: HARRY POTTER FANFICTION
Category: LJ COMMUNITIES > HPCon_Envy
Genres: Drabble/100-Word Warnings: none
|Summary: A gesture of compassion in the midst of the Darkness. Written for Severely_Lupine for hpcon_envy.
|Chapters: 1 Completed: Yes Published: 2010/09/04 Updated: 2010/09/04 Word Count: 103
|A True Slytherin Chick [MA (NC-17)] by Peafowled
[Reviews - 11] Favorite - 1
Category: HARRY POTTER FANFICTION
Category: CHALLENGES >
Category: Off-Site Challenges > Potter Place Fun
Genres: Alternate, Universe, Drabble/100-Word, Epilogue, What, Epilogue?, Humor Warnings: none
|Summary: The Malfoys. Snape. Peafowl. You have no idea.
|Chapters: 1 Completed: Yes Published: 2009/08/05 Updated: 2009/08/05 Word Count: 466
|New Guidelines [MA (NC-17)] by Ministry of Magic
[Reviews - 19] Favorite - 2
Category: HARRY POTTER FANFICTION
Genres: Alternate, Universe, Drabble/100-Word Warnings: Out of Character
|Summary: Important new guidelines to the site taken over by the Ministry of Magic.
|Chapters: 1 Completed: No Published: 2009/03/31 Updated: 2009/03/31 Word Count: 345
|zin [K+ (PG)] by dracontia
[Reviews - 9] Favorite - 6
Category: HARRY POTTER FANFICTION
Genres: General, Humor, Snapshot Warnings: none
|Summary: Done and Gone
|Chapters: 1 Completed: Yes Published: 2008/09/05 Updated: 2008/09/05 Word Count: 35
|Zin [T (PG-13)] by dracontia
[Reviews - 13] Favorite - 6
Category: HARRY POTTER FANFICTION
Characters: Draco Malfoy, Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, Ronald Weasley
Genres: Humor, Parody, Slash, Smut Warnings: none
|Summary: It had outworn its welcome
|Chapters: 1 Completed: Yes Published: 2008/05/17 Updated: 2008/05/17 Word Count: 38
Terms of Use | Disclaimer | About Us | Support TPP
The Patronus skin was created especially for The Petulant Poetess by TarahFae.


text:
With the number of people listening to music on the go, it's no surprise that portable headphones are flying off the shelves. For those who are looking for extreme portability, the obvious choice is earbuds, but certain users are uncomfortable sticking things in their ears. For them, there are compact on-ear models like the Phiaton PS 320 Primal Series headphones, a lightweight set that can be worn for extended periods without discomfort. This $199 set of earphones is a good option for travel hounds and commuters who are looking for an alternative to standard earbuds, but the set is relatively light on features.
The Phiaton PS 320 headphones are very similar to the Bose On Ear headphones in design. Two small, oval earpads measuring 2.7 inches tall by 2.2 inches wide are designed to be worn on the ear rather than cupping it. As with the Bose, a single cable descends from one earpiece (the left), although in the PS 320's case, the cord is not retractable--nor is it detachable. This is a slight gripe, as removable cables are easier to replace in the case of breakage (and retractable ones are less messy), but certainly not a deal-breaker.
The style of the Phiaton PS 320 headphones varies slightly from the Bose, but we're rather keen on it. The accents that ring the earcups are shiny gunmetal rather than muted silver, and the outer covering of the earpieces is a textured black leather. It's a high-end look overall, and one that we're not embarrassed to wear. Thanks to the padded, adjustable headband and super cushy earpads, the PS 320 'phones rival the Bose set in comfort. Of course, as with any on-ear model, you'll want to be aware that this design can overheat your ears after some time, but at least you won't have to stick anything in them.


text:
Tue Sep 10, 2013 8:52 pm by Positivevibe
After my extensive search, understand that I can place my kid only in international school, as both of us are holding only professional visa.
Can someone suggest me, if there is any private or tamil school which will admit foreign national?
Comments: 0
Sun Sep 21, 2008 1:59 am by VJeyaa
Comments: 13
Tue Sep 23, 2008 10:10 am by nimmi
1.What is Score A Programme?
Score A Programme is a fully interactive and effective programme to help students Be Exam Ready And Score As.
2.What is "Input Learning"?
"Input Learning" is putting information into your "Neuron". Reading, studying, listening and memorizing are "Input Learning". Too many students only carry out …
[ Full reading ]
Comments: 16
Wed Jan 12, 2011 7:30 pm by maskki
Are you
1. Working in a private sector
2. No increment or cannot move to higher position because no paper qualifications
3. Having less than 3 credits in your SPM / MCE examination
4. Above 21 years of age
5. interested to continue your studies
Please browse our website www.riverbankacademy.com.my , you can find the solutions to your questions. …
[ Full reading ]
Comments: 1
Wed Jan 12, 2011 7:34 pm by maskki
Hi , I'm Mahendran from RIVERBANK ACADEMY SDN BHD.
As you know we have established ourselves as centre for SKILLS LEARNING AND KNOWLEDGE DEVELOPMENT (SKILD) and it is located in Kajang. We are now embarking ourselves to be a full competency based education service provider. One of our latest project is with PKSM as training provider for their Empowerment program in Bentong.
We would …
[ Full reading ]
Comments: 0
Tue Sep 09, 2008 11:36 pm by VJeyaa
Comments: 13
Wed Nov 12, 2008 2:28 pm by gowri
Something which will benefit for our community . I have attended the first session and I find it useful and practical. It's all about our life ..our thoughts ..
I am sharing with you all ...if got time please attend .
Organised by Malaysia Hindu Sangam .
Title : Mastering the Law of Attraction To Succeed in Career and Entrepreneurship.
Date : 6th …
[ Full reading ]
Comments: 2
Tue Oct 14, 2008 10:07 pm by frags
Now the website is empty.
Source : http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/education/7175730.stm
The IIU, which has 5,000 students …
[ Full reading ]
Comments: 14
Tue Sep 09, 2008 11:41 pm by VJeyaa
1. Sekolah Sri Murni
2. Sekolah Sri Chempaka
3. Convent Bukit Nenas (my personal preference)
We are also thinking of registering to a nearby Govt school, as a "just in …
[ Full reading ]
Comments: 12
Insurance For Senior Citizens with Medical Illness
The Malaysian Indian e-Community Forum :: ALL NEW MIeC (General Discussion) :: Welcome to the all new MIeC
- Junior Member
- Number of posts : 4
Age : 35
Location : Malaysia
Registration date : 2014-09-28
The Malaysian Indian e-Community Forum :: ALL NEW MIeC (General Discussion) :: Welcome to the all new MIeC


text:
Cameron MacLaren, Producer Behind 'Invisible Monsters' Adaptation
I believe it started in 2001, when a young filmmaker named Jesse Peyronel optioned what many of Chuck's die-hard fans would call his boldest and best book: Invisible Monsters. Movie media quickly picked up on the option and it seemed like things were on the fast track for entering some sort of production phase. Turning over a scripted draft that both Chuck and his agent, Edward Hibbert, were very pleased with, Jesse very quickly got to work trying to find funding for the film via Miramax Films. Parker Posey was tentatively on board to play Shannon and things were moving along. Then the inevitable drop in news happened, signaling the echoing cry of what is so accurately called "movie purgatory".
In 2002, Jesse resurfaced on our radar again. He had renewed his option on the script to give funding another go. But again, nothing seemed to come of it and the closest story we had to go off for any production future for Monsters was a UK based company that was interested in doing an animated featured of the film.
Then, word around the campfire was that the film was on the move again with Jessica Biel being touted for the female lead and such names as Val Kilmer and Bill Crudup being mentioned for male leading and supporting roles.
That was about four years ago.
During that time actor turned filmmaker, Clark Gregg, managed to write and direct Choke. And even with the cache of having names like Sam Rockwell and Angelica Huston on board, the film took Greg over four years to gain funding for. In the end, it had a very meager budget of about 2.5 million and didn't succeed well at the box office.
Even though Fight Club had become a cult phenomena, news on many of Chuck's other adaptations was growing precarious. And buzz on Invisible Monsters possibly gracing the big screen was scarce. Until now.
Cameron MacLaren first entered our world in March of 2008. He was looking to get in contact with Chuck's agent about optioning material. I pointed him in the right direction and it wasn't until March 2009 that I heard from him again. This time he seemed to have a renewed passion and was looking to option Invisible Monsters. Unlike most people who contact me about this sort of thing, I could instantly tell that Cameron wasn't dicking around. He had every intent of acquiring the rights to make this thing, so I helped him again and did what I could to facillitate the process.
The third time I heard from Cameron, it was March again (Cameron must like the Spring) and this time, things had greatly progressed forward. Cameron now had the option. He had a website set up. A Facebook Page promoting the movie. And I had even had a solid phone call and confirmation from Chuck's agent that he was the man. They were both very excited about him. The option was real and Cameron was full steam ahead.
Dennis Widmyer: Tell us about yourself and your background in film.
Cameron MacLaren: I studied film at York University in Toronto where I specialized in screenwriting and producing. I established a company under the name MacLaren Productions Inc, which I've produced several short films under over the past few years. The most successful of the slate has screened at international film festivals as well as received a distribution deal with Shorts International Ltd. I've worked in the entertainment industry as a script coordinator and producer's assistant which has provided me with considerable knowledge in development and pre-production.
DW: A lot of people in the past have optioned Invisible Monsters but have been unsuccessful in getting it into production. What are you going to do differently?
CM: My company will take advantage of the Internet and all of its possibilities. We will use the mass popularity amongst Palahniuk and non-Palahniuk fans of the book to leverage considerable interest in the production of the film. By showcasing society's interest in the adaptation of the novel, investors will have a greater security in financing the production, and allow our distributors to more accurately gauge the areas of demand for the film. Securing the financing and distribution are the key components for independent films to reach production and I feel our company has implemented a strategy that will succeed as long as fans voice their opinions. It is the fans and their opinion that will trigger this independent film into production. Therefore by becoming a member of our social networking site on Facebook ("Invisible Monsters Film") and demanding the film on our website www.invisiblemonstersfilm.com fans can access privileged information and updates regarding the development of the film. This will allow them to have a greater influence in the decisions made for the film and result in a greater film for all.
DW: I don't think anyone reading this knows who you are or has heard of your previous work. Is that daunting for you, with such a popular project like Invisible Monsters?
CM: Absolutely not. Film is a collaborative medium, and the people who are involved in that collaborative process generate the film's success. I have the utmost confidence that, as a person with impeccable judgment, I will begin the development process and involve the necessary people during the appropriate phases of production.
DW: Have you adapted the book to screenplay yet, and if so, has Chuck and/or his agent read it yet?
CM: We are currently on a third draft of the script, which is being reviewed by our story editor at the moment. Chuck has not had the privilege of reading a draft and the situation will remain as such until we have a final draft. I am very confident he will be impressed with what we've developed as we have specifically maintained his original tone for which, we feel, adaptations frequently ignore.
DW: Do you also plan on directing the film yourself?
CM: The subject has been presented on several occasions but I will respectfully avoid answering it with a definitive yes or no answer. Let me assure you that I will do what is in the best interest of the film and if that requires a more recognized, professional and highly skilled visionary to bring this world and characters to life, I will not allow myself, or anyone else for that matter, to step in the way of that opportunity.
DW: How long is your option, and what sort of timeline are you working against? In other words, what are your goals and what needs to happen next?
CM: Because the material has been shopped around town before, we won't spend a considerable amount of time in Hollywood. I will measure its reception very quickly and assess which route we need to pursue next. Having said that, we will begin principal photography in Vancouver during the spring of 2011.
DW: I know it might be very early in the process, but if you could, tell us what actors you see in some of the main roles.
CM: As it stands, talent will be cast based on the decisions the key creative and production team decides at the appropriate time. Having said that, many factors have and will influence my personal judgment and decide whom I will suggest to the team at that time. Factors such as a discussion page on the film's Facebook site have presented a few great suggestions by fans. Also the popularity of those suggestions amongst other fans is what I take in to consideration. But above all, I feel the greatest factor lies in the working relationship between our director and the talent. Therefore should I be presented the opportunity to direct with the appropriate budget, I would approach actors whom I truly respect, but I would more likely than not cast an unknown actress in the lead role.
DW: What would your ideal budget, shooting format and locations be for this production?
CM: Trends in the film industry categorize those with a greater ability to recoup and profit financially lie within budgets either above $5M, $1M, or below $500,000. Even the very few success stories to flourish with production budgets less than $5M were most often genre films. Invisible Monsters is not a genre film, and it will not be marketed as such. Just as Fincher fought Fox, who wanted to market Fight Club as an action film, I will fight the same fight and guarantee Invisible Monsters will be marketed with the same tone Palahniuk incorporated in the novel. The opposite situation was proven with Choke which could have been a greater success, had it been made for $1M with a style that could be marketed to the appropriate audience. Instead Searchlight relied on the cast to carry the market appeal, which resulted in a $3M film having a difficult time finding their target audience. Therefore the ideal budget will be above $5M or around $1M. As for shooting format, this will clearly reflect our budget. I have shot films on 35mm, RED and 16mm and have seen beautifully shot features on all three formats. But ultimately the final decision all depends on the creative team, style and budget. As for locations, I am from Canada, which harbors a very successful and lucrative tax incentive for output production deals with foreign financed films. Therefore as it stands, Vancouver, British Columbia is the ideal location to shoot a greater percentage of the film but to those who have read the novel we all understand that it is, at the heart, a road movie and should reflect that in the locations.
DW: What can Chuck's fans do to help?
CM: Support the film through all phases of the production. Not just support but also promote this film to every person they know. By joining our Facebook group "Invisible Monsters Film" and demanding the film on our website www.invisiblemonstersfilm.com fans can access privileged information and updates regarding the development of the film while discussing and influencing decisions with the production. This film will succeed or fail on the level of support generated by the fans. That is why it is crucial to achieve the greatest level of support from as early as possible. The greater the support, the greater influence the fans will have over decisions in the filmmaking process, which will ultimately lead to a greater film.
Traditional films follow a mold established since the beginning of the studio system, and as we've seen with current market trends in North America, this system is collapsing (Chuck beautifully captures this feeling of capitalism failing in his novels) and therefore it is fitting to attempt a similar strategy with financing and ultimately producing Invisible Monsters.
DW: Chuck has a lot of books that haven't been turned into films yet. So why Invisible Monsters?
CM: I read the novel several years ago and being the curious filmmaker I am, I wanted to know who was handling this very delicate yet profound subject material. After uncovering every detail available to public knowledge, and realizing the film still had yet to be made, I called Chuck's film agent and asked if the option had expired. It had and there began more research into seeing if this project, having attempted to be produced before, had a chance of being financed and made. To my team and myself, it made sense to pursue it due to the volume of intrigue and popularity amongst fans. My fascination and admiration for Chuck's work also influenced that decision but I just felt this material needed the outcome it deserved. It is a beautiful story of self-discovery told in such a unique way. It is one that has never been seen on screen before, and when produced accordingly, will break many boundaries within the independent sphere of filmmaking. That is why I have chosen to adapt Invisible Monsters and could not have chosen a better novel.


text:
See SimMan 3G Trauma in action on the battlefield
Prepare for the battlefield with realistic, medical training solutions from Laerdal Medical.
Medical simulation training ensures soldiers are prepared for the battlefield by placing them in realistic scenarios. Our durable products and patient simulators can be used to replicate war-like scenarios so soldiers are ready to help save lives.
The Laerdal Baxstrap Spineboard provides the highest quality and most comfortable care for patients requiring immediate emergency spinal care. As one of the lightest, most rigid boards on the market, the Baxstrap Spineboard prepares providers for any situation. The durable and uniquely contoured design, matched with our private labeling option, makes the Baxstrap Spineboard the premium spine board on the market.
When a cervical spine injury is suspected, Laerdal is confident that the Stifneck extrication collar, as the pioneer of extrication collars, will enable you to provide the best care possible. With four adult sizes and two pediatric sizes, the Stifneck collars fit any patient providers might come across.


text:
A Healthy Appetite
So, Wreckies, how are those get-healthy New Year's resolutions going?
Mine are going GREAT. Here, let me run down my list with you:
1) Eat more greens
(Look, it has real lettuce on it. Of COURSE it's a salad.)
2) Also eat more fruit
(Granted, green grapes and chocolate icing aren't really my thing, but I'm committed this time, guys. I'm gonna see this through.)
And speaking of seeing things "through"...
3) Start an Activia video diary like Jamie Lee Curtis told me to
Er... Ok, I'm actually a little "behind" on this one, [BWAHAHAHAA POOP JOKE] but it looks like this guy has gotten a "head" start:
I bet he's calling Jamie on his banana phone right now to tell her the good news!
4) Avoid pasta
(That's the new "I CAN believe it's not pasta!" from Duncan Hines. It's also gluten-free! Which means it's, like, TWICE as healthy.)
5) Eat more fiber
You'll never believe this, but after I wash the polyester fuzz down with some milk, I'm actually completely stuffed!
And my final get-healthy resolution:
6) Start running!
Thanks to Tianna B., Rachel T., Sara R., Laura P., Patti M., & Greg B. for keeping me on track.
Btw, if you want MORE running inspiration, check out the rest of artist Scott Hove's "Cakeland" exhibit. [shudder]


text:
Charleston 5-Piece Panel Bedroom Set with 6 Underbed Drawers, Dresser and Mirror
Click to change image.
Pick-up from Value City Furniture - Falls Church as soon as Thursday, December 26th
Get it how and when you want it. Preferred scheduling and delivery costs available at checkout.
- Prep and assembly of your furniture. Except on "Ready to Assemble" merchandise.
- Professional set-up and placement in your home.
- In-home service for repair or replacement of defective items for one year.
- Free shipping to local stores. Option selected at checkout.
- Convenient pick-up times.
- Ability to designate a friend or family member to pick up for you.
This functional furniture features storage galore!
More Information
Charleston Panel Storage Bed with 6 Drawers$1,499.99
Dimensions: Width: 85 '' Height: 61 '' Depth: 89 ''
Charleston Dresser and Mirror$899.99
Dimensions: Width: 64 '' Height: 82 '' Depth: 18 ''
A secret dresser drawer and hidden side panel with jewelry hooks allow you to safely store valuables.
Large drawers beneath the bed feature cedar-lined bottoms.
Tapered legs and pewter-finished hardware offer rich details.
Painted finish highlights the silhouette and design of this bedroom furniture.
Rustic paneled headboard adds depth and movement to the bed.
Customer assembly required.
English dovetail drawer construction guarantees long-lasting durability.
Cedar-lined bottom drawers are ideal for heavy sweaters and linens.
Felt-lined top drawers protect delicate valuables.