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Gov. Dannel P. Malloy proposes raising minimum wage
BRIDGEPORT >> Gov. Dannel P. Malloy sought to jumpstart the state's path to raising the minimum wage to $10.10 per hour, which would make it the highest in the nation, with a proposal that would amend already existing plans to raise the working wage.
The governor's proposal would set the minimum wage at $10.10 in January 2017 as part of a three-year plan to phase in increases. The state already has a plan in place to increase the minimum wage, now set at $8.70 in January of this year, but Malloy's plan would extend that increase and make the proposed incremental increases larger.
Malloy's plan mirrored the goal addressed by President Barack Obama in his State of the Union address last week, but said the state could not wait for Congress to enact legislation doing so.
"I hope that that's effective. However, I do not think Connecticut should wait when it comes to lifting people out of poverty. Connecticut must be a leader as it has always been," Malloy said in the announcement at CT Works.
Connecticut's workforce is made up of 1.7 million people, 70,000 to 90,000 of them earning minimum wage.
"In this day and age, no one who works full time should have to live in poverty. When workers earn more money, businesses will have more customers. The modest boost that we are helping to bring about in our state will allow families to make ends meet," Malloy said.
Malloy said the health of the state's economy is improving, and corporate profits have risen — making now the right time to work to strengthen the middle class.
Asked whether businesses might hire fewer people if wages increase, Malloy said he believes there are other factors that lead to employers hiring fewer workers, such as technology.
Lt. Gov. Nancy Wyman said increasing the minimum wage is a way to help individuals hit hardest by the recession and to contribute to helping the economy.
"We of course need to find a balance between the proper minimum wage for workers and not placing undue burden on the employers. This phase in will do just that — will not put any kind of burden on our employers and it will start to really help those people that work the hardest," she said.
Malloy said this proposal, combined with other initiatives throughout the state, is an attempt to "move as many people as rapidly to the middle class as we can."
Asked by a reporter if this election-year announcement looks like he is trying to buy votes, Malloy said no.
"What it should look like is I'm trying to do the right thing," he said.


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A's pounce on Arroyo, Reds
Fresh from a much-needed off day after playing a grueling stretch with 30 games in 31 days, the Oakland Athletics jumped on Bronson Arroyo early and kept pushing the Cincinnati pitcher at every chance.
Josh Donaldson hit a two-run homer, newly promoted Stephen Vogt hit a sacrifice fly for his first major league RBI, and the A's beat the Cincinnati Reds 7-3 on Tuesday night.
"It's always nice to get those big leads," Donaldson said. "It's kind of been one of those things here lately where we get the opportunities and haven't cashed in right away. Tonight, we didn't have a ton of opportunities late in the game but the opportunities we had early in the game we were able to take advantage of and got a lot of good two-out hits."
Josh Reddick had an RBI double, Yoenis Cespedes added a run-scoring single, and Brandon Moss also hit a sacrifice fly as the A's returned from the road to a cleaned-up Coliseum for an eight-game homestand.
There was fresh carpeting and other upgrades nine days after a sewage problem and flooding in the clubhouses and umpire room that sent the A's and Mariners scrambling for the locker room of the NFL's Oakland Raiders.
Pat Neshek (2-1) pitched one inning for the win, his 14th scoreless appearance in his last 15.
Joey Votto hit his 14th homer, and Cincinnati's Derrick Robinson had a career-high four hits.
Oakland knocked out Arroyo (6-6) after a season-low four innings - his shortest start since three innings last July 16 against Arizona at home. The A's won for only the fourth time in 11 games.
Arroyo surrendered seven runs for the first time since allowing eight against the Indians on July 1, 2011, in Cincinnati. He gave up seven hits.
Votto homered leading off the fourth but the Reds missed too many other chances to back Arroyo. Cincinnati left 11 men on base.
The Reds hit three straight deep flyballs to center in the first - each of which might have cleared the fences in Great American Ball Park.
A's starter Tommy Milone had his winless stretch reach four starts since a win at Milwaukee on June 3.
The lefty walked the final three batters he faced, including Jay Bruce's bases-loaded free pass. Manager Bob Melvin then turned to Neshek, who struck out Chris Heisey to end the fifth.
While Melvin called it "difficult" removing Milone when he was so close to the five innings he needed for a win, the pitcher knew he was laboring.
"You could see it," Milone said. "I walked three guys in a row and walked a guy in. I don't blame him for taking me out right there. It makes it easier when you've got the bullpen we do."
The Reds left the bases loaded in the fifth and again an inning later when Votto flied out to end the sixth, then wasted chances again in the eighth.
Arroyo lost for only the second time in five June starts, having his two-start winning streak end.
He had beaten the A's in his last three decisions over five starts since losing his first career appearance against Oakland 15-2 on May 27, 2004. Arroyo also had gone at least six innings with two or fewer earned runs in four straight starts - but missed doing so in five in a row for the first time since Aug. 24 to Sept. 14, 2009.
"I wasn't surprised they swung early. I was surprised at some of the pitches they swung early on," Arroyo said. "They flipped the tables on me. I usually pitch off the beaten path and they came at me with an approach that was a bit awkward."
Reds manager Dusty Baker, the former Giants manager who departed after his club fell just short in the 2002 World Series to the wild-card Angels, got back to his Sacramento-area home Monday and brought freshly picked fruit to the clubhouse. He planned to sleep at his other home in San Bruno on Tuesday night.
He will be ready for a fresh start Wednesday afternoon.
"Tough game today," Baker said. "We out-hit them and we left a lot of men on base."
Vogt, who is from Visalia and was acquired in an April 5 trade from Tampa Bay, hit a sacrifice fly in the second for his first career RBI as the A's took a 2-0 lead against Arroyo.
The A's called up the catcher from Triple-A Sacramento and he started and batted eighth. His parents, grandparents, wife and toddler daughter were set to be in the stands for his Oakland debut.
He is still searching for his first major league hit, going 0 for 3 to drop to 0 for 28 overall. Vogt was 0 for 25 with two walks in 18 games last season. Since 1990, the only longer hitless streak to open a career was 33 at-bats by Chris Carter with the A's in 2010.
The Reds placed second baseman Brandon Phillips on the paternity list, and he will miss the team's two-game series in Oakland before rejoining the club Friday at Texas.

subset: commoncrawl


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MONTREAL – St-Henri is the Un-Plateau. It's quiet, it doesn't have much of a nightlife, it borders the water, it has the Atwater Market. It does have a cachet that is Plateau-like in certain residential areas, but the neighbourhood tends to be more industrial thanks to its old factories, remnants of the many manufacturers once headquartered here.
Still, Plateau comparisons invariably pop up. While its development isn't as obvious as its neighbours east of Atwater, namely Little Burgundy and Griffintown, it's undeniably popular among artists.
Lofty and refurbished spaces like the Château St-Ambroise on St. Ambroise St. especially appeal to artisans in the creative fields of fashion, filmmaking and photography. And then there's Notre Dame St.'s commercial potential. On paper, "The Hen," as it's sometimes called by locals, has all the trappings of a great neighbourhood, but is it there yet?
Monique Le Menn, senior management consultant at the Regroupement économique et social du Sud-Ouest (RESO), an organization that supports small and medium-sized businesses in the Sud-Ouest borough, acknowledges that St-Henri's transformation is slow because of construction. "St-Henri is affected by two, even three major projects," Le Menn explains, "like the Turcot Interchange's reconstruction, the new MUHC and Griffintown."
Still, the continuing renovations at buildings like the RCA on Lenoir St. and the Elpro on Courcelle St. are helping to move things along. The RCA was built in 1920 and was originally the Berliner factory, where the company's legendary gramophone was made, before becoming RCA Victor (an early version of RCA records), where the Victor Talking Machine was made. The Elpro, for its part, was built in 1906 for the Tooke Brothers Ltd. textile factory, where shirts and collars were made.
Because buildings like these are attracting what Le Menn calls "new-generation businesses" — like ad agencies or multimedia companies, where people earn higher salaries — it's increasing the demand for proximity services, like restaurants.
"Despite the rent increase in commercial spaces," Le Menn says, "the types of businesses are more diverse and slowly moving toward trends in ecology, organic food, spas, art galleries and artisanal bakeries." The popular Sweet Lees pastry shop and micro-torrefactor Café St-Henri are good examples.
Notre Dame St. is home to a growing number of small businesses. In 2011, there were 288 businesses along Notre Dame between Peel and St. Rémi Sts.; now there are 295, according to RESO. A year ago, there were 36 available commercial spaces for rent; now there are 11. It's this steady growth that spurred a new small business owners' committee for the area, the "Quartier du Canal," launched this year.
That said, a walk along Notre Dame St., west of Atwater Ave., also suggests an erratic quality to the local commerce. You'll have a mix of hip, modern restaurants like Bitoque, old diners and pubs that have been there for decades, small grocers with storefront merchandise that's faded from sunlight, and the odd vacancy.
It's precisely that kind of eccentricity that people like Diane Leyland, a painter, love about The Hen. "I like the fact that St-Henri is quirky and weird," she says. "I don't want that to change. I don't want there to be so many posh restaurants."
The trendy eateries are mostly east of Atwater Ave. Of course, that doesn't mean St-Henri dwellers don't cross over for a drink at Burgundy Lion or a meal at Liverpool House.
Still, they'd just as soon take a stroll on the Lachine Canal and grab a pint and a hot dog at Terrasse St-Ambroise, an outdoor pub situated on the back lawn of the McAuslan Brewery. Or maybe they'll end up at the unfussy Resto Bar St-Jacques. In a neighbourhood like St-Henri, populace trumps posh.
Part of that is attributed to the fact that the Sud-Ouest borough has the highest rate of affordable housing in Montreal. Perhaps because it's an expansive borough that includes five large neighbourhoods — St-Henri, Little Burgundy, Pointe-St-Charles, Griffintown and St-Paul–Émard — the Sud-Ouest boasts 8,103 social and community housing units, or 22 per cent of all occupied housing in the area. St-Henri accounts for 2,117 of these units.
Affordable housing ensures a consistent level of social diversity, which Leyland has noticed since moving from Mile-End to the area in 2010. "St-Henri reminds me of what Mile-End used to be like," she explains. "There are families, there are people who've been here their entire lives. It's not just one demographic: it's not just working class and it's not just yuppies. It's everybody mixing in together."
Photographer Carlos Viani lived in the Plateau for six years before deciding it was too burdensome for his bank account. "It's overpriced to the point of absurd," he says. In 2010, the 4½ Viani shared with his wife on Lanaudière cost him $940 per month. So he started looking on Craigslist for anything anywhere else, and he found the St-Henri pad he and his wife live in now. It has the same number of rooms, though it's slightly bigger and his rent is down to $700. The low cost drew him in, but St-Henri ultimately charmed him with its friendly residents, its rich history, its unique esthetic and its proximity to downtown.
It's not all love and roses for Viani. He'd like to see more bars, he'd like someone to reopen the abandoned and boarded up Théâtre Cartier on Notre Dame and Couvent Sts., a former vaudeville, theatre and cinema space designed by architect Joseph-Raoul Gariépy, who was also behind the Théâtre Rialto on Parc Ave. in Mile End.
Condo development worries Viani as well. "Condo fever," as he calls it, seems more subtle in St-Henri than, say, Griffintown, but there are buildings popping up near the new MUHC site, where a sprawling "superhospital" has been under construction, and the old Imperial Tobacco complex along St. Antoine St. was turned into residential lofts. Even if some of these might sell for a relatively affordable $139,000, not everyone is in a position to buy.
James Douglas is the tour manager for Geordie Productions and has lived in St-Henri since 1993. He isn't as concerned about the impact condo developments and renovations is having on his neighbourhood. He sees the silver lining. "It can be called gentrification or upscaling, but at the same time, they're cleaning it up," he says. "Some of the places are getting new asphalt, new green spaces. They're taking better care of the parks."
The Collecteur Saint-Pierre is an example of this kind of improvement. It's a paved alleyway where a river, then raw sewage collector, used to be. Located between St. Ambroise and Ste. Marie Sts., and Côte St. Paul Rd. and Courcelle St., the alley is about the width of a four-lane street and is used for parking by residents. The site is on the verge of being turned into Montreal's first "Woonerf," a Dutch word that means "living street," to be shared by pedestrians and cyclists.
Work on the Woonerf began in 2012 and it's already shaping up with honeycomb paving, street lights along the centre and dug up areas for trees and shrubbery. This first phase is set to be finished in November. There are also plans to incorporate urban agriculture into the Woonerf space in 2013 or 2014. This could include community gardens, though the exact plans have yet to be determined. The project, which cost the Sud-Ouest borough $1,193,000, received an additional $707,000 grant from the Fonds vert from the Quebec government's Ministère du Développement durable, Environnement, Faune et Parcs.
That kind of urban experimentation endears this district to those who live or work in St-Henri. "It's sort of a hidden gem here," says Ralph Alfonso, owner of the BBAM! Gallery on St. Jacques St., just a few steps from Lionel Groulx métro. The BBAM! Gallery opened in February 2012. It sells records and books, exhibits art and hosts live music shows.
"As we have grown into the neighbourhood, we've discovered like-minded arts-oriented people," says Alfonso, referring to his patrons, who sometimes include employees from Muse Entertainment, a film and TV production company located nearby on St. Jacques St. Alfonso himself is a former music journalist who worked at EMI, Warner and Capital records, signed Katrina and the Waves, and drummed for rock singer Lee Aaron during her jazz phase.
At the BBAM! Gallery, Alfonso serves sandwiches, coffee and free advice. He often recommends people venture west of the bridge on Notre Dame St. to explore places like Perfide Boutique, because it sells interesting crafts, fashions and accessories made by local artisans and designers. He might also send them to Le Caffè Mariani, which specializes in breakfast, lunch and brunch, and has a view of picturesque Sir-Georges-Étienne-Cartier Park. If it's later in the day, Alfonso could lead them to Tuck Shop restaurant for some fine market-fresh dining. To him, sending his own customers to other businesses is just "part of giving back."
In 2007, when show promoter Shaun Anderson moved to The Hen, he wanted to give back by opening a space like the Casa Del Popolo, a popular performance-focused resto-bar in the Plateau that showcases independent musicians and artists.
It wasn't so easy: The borough doesn't issue new liquor licences to commercial spaces not previously bars. Several bylaws govern bars, distribution of alcohol, restaurants and terraces. There are also quotas and zoning that determine whether distributing alcoholic beverages is allowed, says Mathieu Robert-Perron, communications manager at the Sud-Ouest borough office.
"So eventually, what I'd like to do is buy one of the existing bars," Anderson says. And even though some residents bemoan the fact that Notre Dame or St. Jacques Sts. could use a few more watering holes, Anderson is in no rush: "Things take a long time to happen in this neighbourhood, and that's what I like about it."
So do the many artists who live here, and appreciate it for the non-Plateau that it is.


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Back in December, we blogged about the Pennine Care Health and Wellbeing College opening a new campus in Stockport. The college now have a new prospectus, with new courses available, as well as new campuses in Rochdale and Bury. These… Read more
Posts tagged "sleep"
New Pennine Health and Wellbeing College campus in Stockport
The Pennine Care Health and Wellbeing College has a new campus in Stockport. Their courses aim to transform lives through hope, control and opportunity by providing a range of module options on mental and physical health topics and life skills. After… Read more


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The vulnerabilities, which emerged on Saturday, include a denial-of-service demonstration, a Windows remote root attack, two overrun attacks that work on Linux, and one privilege escalation attack, also on Linux.
The overflow bugs crash the MySQL daemon, allowing the attacker to then execute commands with the same privileges as the user running MySQL. "King Cope" also demonstrated a user enumeration vulnerability.
The privilege escalation vulnerability, in which an attacker could escalate themselves to the same file permissions as the MySQL administrative user, has provoked some to-and-fro on the Full Disclosure mailing list, with one writer stating that "CVE-2012-5613 is not a bug, but a result of a misconfiguration, much like an anonymous ftp upload access to the $HOME of the ftp user."
Red Hat has assigned CVEs to the vulnerabilities, but at the time of writing, Oracle has not commented on the issues.


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You know — and we know — that there's another side to the contemporary conflicts plaguing the Middle East. A mix of antiquity and modernity everywhere you turn, this region will show students that there is always more than meets the eye (and the media's front page).
FIE's program, the Conflict and the Struggle for Peace: Explorations in Ireland and the Middle East, runs in the summer and works with leading peace and justice scholars in Northern Ireland, the Republic of Ireland, and Jordan. More than shamrocks and dolmas, this course offers you the opportunity to critically analyze and examine up-close some of the most formidable diplomatic issues of our time.
Walk humbly along the different paths to peace as you dig into the often-sensitive cultural and societal roots of conflict. The program starts in Dublin, Ireland and explores the Anglo-Irish peace process. It includes a study tour to Northern Ireland, United Kingdom before moving to Amman, Jordan. Using the Irish peace process as a case study, students examine intractable conflicts in the Middle East but beyond the Israel-Palestine conflict to also examine larger inter-regional as well as inter-tribal conflicts. At the end of the core program students have the option to add intensive Arabic language classes to make it a summer-long program. The round trip Ireland – Jordan flight is included in the program fee!
This unique program is presented in partnership with AMIDEAST, the leading American non-profit organization engaged in international education activities in the Middle East and North Africa, to offer this exceptional opportunity.
For more than two decades, AMIDEAST field offices in the Middle East have supported study abroad programs organized by US colleges and universities and international education organizations such as FIE. AMIDEAST strives to develop intercultural and global competence among students who study abroad in Jordan. They also provide students with safe, secure, and healthy living and learning environments.
Students may extend their stay in Amman to undertake intensive Arabic language study by participating in the AMIDEAST Intensive Arabic Program. This additional four-week program includes Modern Standard and Colloquial Jordanian Arabic courses. You'll study Arabic with some of the most respected language teachers in the region from the Qasid Arabic Institute. Intensive coursework, combined with daily interactions with host families, helps students at all levels to increase their Arabic proficiency in a short period of time. Both Modern Standard Arabic and Colloquial Jordanian Arabic are offered at all levels from beginning to advanced. (Please note that beginning Arabic will run subject to minimum enrollment.)
The FIE Peace and Conflict program was a great cultural experience and an incredibly eye-opening opportunity. From the discussions with guest speakers to the insights provided by our teachers, Jordanian host families, and everyday conversations with new people, the program provided me with a new viewpoint that has fundamentally changed the way I look at International Affairs. You can attend lectures and study textbooks, but you can't understand conflict and the ways in which it affects countries and their peoples until you listen to their thoughts, fears, and concerns. I hope anyone interested in the process of conflict resolution or the complicated dynamics of international affairs will strongly consider this program.
- Ryland Arnold, University of Arkansas
Sign up to receive Peace & Conflict Resolution program updates and emails at: https://tinyurl.com/FIEpeaceandconflict
- Summer Conflict and the Struggle for Peace: Explorations in Ireland and the Middle East program only (5 weeks)
- Summer Conflict and the Struggle for Peace: Explorations in Ireland and the Middle East with Intensive Arabic Language (9 weeks)
- NOTE: Your home institution may require a higher GPA and other prerequisites
- If you attend a FIE partner institution, contact your study abroad advisor on campus for any additional requirements
- If you do not attend one of our partner institutions, contact FIE with any questions or concerns
- Check with your study abroad advisor for course equivalencies, credit approval, and transcript information on your campus


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Search results for "Carter G. Woodson Home National Historic Site"
Blog Post Small Wonders: The 12 Teeniest National Park Sites National parks encompass vast wilderness areas and grand landscapes, yet so many of America's greatest treasures come in much smaller packages. Twelve national park sites measure less than one acre each, though they share enormous stories of struggle, leadership, tragedy, and creative spirit in less space than a football field. Here are the teeniest spots, from largest to smallest.
Press Release Gillibrand & Nadler with National Parks Conservation Association Launch Campaign at Historic Stonewall Inn in New York City to Create First Ever National Park Site Honoring America's LGBT History National Campaign Urges President Obama to Designate First National Monument for LGBT Equal Rights at Historic Site of Stonewall Rebellion
Press Release Stonewall Makes History Again: Becomes First National Park Site Dedicated to LGBT History After more than two years of building strong public support in the community, across the nation and in Congress, National Parks Conservation Association (NPCA) celebrates President Obama's historic designation of Stonewall National Monument, the first national park site dedicated to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) history.
Press Release Parks Group Report Urges Restoration of Chesapeake Watershed to Ensure Preservation of National Park Sites Tied to Pivotal Moments in Founding of United States 'Protecting Our Chesapeake, Protecting Our National Parks' narrative identifies challenges faced by Patapsco River in Maryland and James River in Virginia and how those issues negatively impact the historic character, environments of Fort McHenry, Colonial and Fort Monroe park sites.
Press Release Obama Makes History in Chicago: Designates City's First National Park at Historic Pullman Neighborhood President Obama designates Chicago's first national park site, Pullman National Monument.
Blog Post Reflections on Birmingham, Site of America's Newest National Monument Birmingham was once the nation's most segregated city, home to brutal, racially motivated violence. Today, a new national park site commemorates the critical civil rights history that happened here.
Blog Post Budget Cuts Hit Home—Harry Truman's Home Somewhere in the visitor center of the Harry S Truman National Historic Site in Independence, Missouri, I worry that the park rangers pass around my photograph, my name, and a note saying: "Warning! He asks too many questions."
Blog Post One Step Closer to a Manhattan Project National Historical Park Advocates have been waiting more than a decade to create a national park that would preserve historic sites and artifacts involved in the development of nuclear energy and the making of the atomic bomb. Now, we could be remarkably close to seeing these once super-secret details and places in American history open and interpreted for the public.
Press Release BLM Postpones Lease Sale Near Chaco Culture National Historical Park BLM to conduct additional review of energy development's potential impacts on cultural site
Press Release District Court Ruling Endangers National Parks, Historic Jamestown This destructive and unlawfully built project degrades the historic landscape including surrounding national park sites, and threatens the endangered Atlantic sturgeon.
Press Release New Bill in Congress Would Create First National Park Site Dedicated to LGBT History Legislation Would Preserve Historic Site and Stories of the 1969 Stonewall Rebellion
Blog Post Celebrating the 'Book Man' of Washington, D.C. This month is the first time the public can see the home of pioneering educator Carter G. Woodson during the event he founded — Black History Month.
Blog Post 7 National Park Sites That Tell the Story of Immigration From Castle Clinton National Monument to Golden Gate National Recreation Area, national park sites explore the stark contrasts of the immigrant experience.
Press Release National Park System Welcomes Manhattan Project National Historical Park NPCA celebrates addition of Manhattan Project National Historical Park as 409th national park
Press Release Proposed Manhattan Project National Historical Park Would Help U.S. Remember and Learn From History Three sites are proposed for park to interpret and facilitate discussion surrounding the complex stories of the Manhattan Project and the resulting impacts of atomic power and nuclear technology
Press Release National Park Service Heads to Maine Woods to Hear Views on National Park Site Proposal Public meeting set for Maine to discuss proposal considered by the Obama Administration to establish The Maine Woods National Monument, a national park site in the Katahdin region of northern Maine.
Blog Post 8 Dog-Friendly National Park Sites Vacation with your furry family member at one of these fun parks.
Press Release National Parks Group Supports Recommendations to Establish New National Historical Park Honoring Cesar Chavez and the Farm Labor Movement Statement by Ron Sundergill, Pacific Region Senior Director, National Parks Conservation Association
Blog Post The Most-Visited National Park Site in Alaska Summer is the traditional tourist season in Alaska. One national park site in the state attracts far more recreational visitors than any other. Can you guess which one?
Press Release United Nations Declares San Antonio's Spanish Missions a World Heritage Site United Nations' Vote Makes Missions 23rd World Heritage Site in United States, First in Texas
Blog Post No Trophy Homes in Our National Parks Support the Fund that Improves and Protects Public Land
Blog Post The 10 National Park Sites with More Than 5 Million Recreational Visitors in 2017 National parks continued to serve as popular tourist destinations in 2017, with dozens of sites seeing all-time highs in numbers of recreational visits. Here are the 10 most-visited places in the National Park System.
Press Release National Parks Group Applauds President Obama for Designating 396th National Park Site at Fort Monroe in Virginia Obama's first Antiquities Act designation will help protect America's Heritage
Blog Post Two Historic Sites to Host 100-Year Anniversary Production of Influential Bird-Conservation Play An influential play used art to protect threatened bird species. Now, two parks will stage free productions of the play, 100 years after its first performance.
Press Release Unanimous Support for Creating First National Park Site for LGBT History Shared at Public Meeting in New York City Hundreds attend public discussion on proposal to honor location of Stonewall Uprising as the first national park site dedicated to LGBT equal rights.
Press Release President's Budget Calls for Historic Investment in National Parks in Advance of 2016 Centennial President's Budget Calls for Historic Investment in National Parks in Advance of 2016 Centennial
Blog Post Erased by History: The Seldom-Told Stories at 6 Nationally Significant Sites Black LGBTQ people have long made history in America. Why don't we know the names of these people and places?
Blog Post Stuck Indoors? 10 Great Books About National Parks These 10 nonfiction books will deepen your appreciation for pivotal events in American history and the national park sites that commemorate them.
Blog Post Park Service Releases Most-Visited National Park Sites of 2014 Yesterday, the National Park Service released data on the number of people who visited sites throughout the park system in 2014. The whopping 292.8 million total visits broke the previous record of 287.2 million visits set in 1987 and was 7 percent higher than the 273.6 million visits throughout the park system in 2013.
Press Release New Plan for Pennsylvania Turnpike Stormwater Runoff Will Better Protect Valley Forge National Historical Park "Now every drop of stormwater that flows off this expanded six-mile stretch of the turnpike will be cooled and cleaned before gradually entering Valley Forge National Historical Park and Valley Creek" -- NPCA's Joy Oakes.
Park Thaddeus Kosciuszko National Memorial The memorial honoring freedom fighter and engineer Thaddeus (aka Tadeusz) Kościuszko is the smallest national park site in the country, yet it preserves epic tales of war and struggle. Polish-born Kościuszko helped American colonists win their independence from the British in the Revolutionary War by meticulously designing and fortifying military defenses.
Advocacy in Action Two National Monuments Under Threat in the California Desert Last year, President Obama protected some of our country's most spectacular and unique desert lands by designating three national new national monuments. Now, the Department of the Interior could attempt to alter or revoke federal protections for two of these important places.
Report Dark Horizons: 10 National Parks Most Threatened by New Coal Fired Power Plants NPCA's report highlights the 10 national parks most threatened by new coal-fired power plants, and calls on the Administration to abandon its effort to permit more harmful air pollution near national parks.
Park Kings Canyon National Park Kings Canyon is one of the deepest canyons in the United States. The national park features the graceful peaks of the Sierra Crest as well as the majestic General Grant Grove of giant sequoias with some of the tallest trees on Earth. The park is managed jointly with Sequoia National Park, which lies just south of Kings Canyon.
Park Kenai Fjords National Park Kenai Fjords National Park offers hiking, kayaking, and the opportunity to see a glacier up close.
Advocacy in Action National Heritage Areas Preserve America's Landscapes and History From the Motor City to the Arabia Mountains, we should invest in the cost-effective partnerships that share America's stories and create jobs around the country
Park Gettysburg National Military Park The 1863 battle in this small farming community resulted in more than 50,000 casualties over three days, making it the deadliest engagement of the American Civil War. This battle is now referred to as the "High Water Mark of the Confederacy" — the last meaningful offensive the South would conduct against northern forces. The visitor center at Gettysburg features one of the largest collections of Civil War artifacts in the country.
Park Virgin Islands Coral Reef National Monument Few experiences compare to snorkeling through tranquil turquoise waters, gliding effortlessly among colorful fish, sea turtles and spectacular coral formations, or walking along a warm white sand beach at sunset with swaying palms whispering in the evening breeze. This monument protects more than 12,000 underwater acres where spectacular coral reefs and unique tropical ecosystems are submerged off the shore of the Caribbean island of St. John.
Page National Parks Legal Defense Fund The laws and policies that protect America's national parks are challenged as never before.
Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument See a Map See a map of Organ Pipe.
'Nevada Means Home' Photo map See where artists captured some of the photographs in the exhibit.
Advocacy in Action New Monument in Maine's Spectacular North Woods Is Under Threat In August 2016, President Barack Obama designated more than 87,500 acres of land along the East Branch of the Penobscot River in Maine as the Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument. But the Trump administration could attempt to alter or rescind the national park site's federal protections following an April 2017 executive order mandating a federal review of national monuments created since 1996.
Report Don't Trash Joshua Tree National Park Increased Recycling and Diversion Needed, Not Eagle Mountain Mega-Dump
Advocacy in Action Protect Mojave from the Soda Mountain Solar Project Developers have proposed building the Soda Mountain Solar Project, an industrial-scale renewable energy facility, less than one mile from the boundary of Mojave National Preserve. It would be the closest renewable energy project to a national park site in the entire southwestern United States, in the middle of a critical pathway for desert bighorn sheep.
Report Making Connections: Building a Healthy Future for Shenandoah National Park And Its Gateway Communities Drawing on economic data compiled by state and federal agencies, interviews with local residents and leaders, and a variety of research reports and assessments, this report outlines three findings:
google maps Affected Park Sites See the national parks that were affected by the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.
Map Learn More About Seeing Clearly in America's National Parks How dirty air harms parks and what you can do to help.
StoryMap Protecting Sensitive Resources near Mesa Verde National Park NPCA and our partners at FracTracker invite you to explore this interactive map documenting some of the wildlife habitat, scenic views, recreational opportunities, and cultural sites that deserve protection under the Master Leasing Plan.
Land Based Trip Great American West From Mount Rushmore and the Crazy Horse Memorial to Custer State Park and Devils Tower, the West is a colorful storybook spilling over with strong personalities and profoundly historic landscapes. Discover some new chapters and add your own footnotes on this fun and engaging exploration.
Land Based Trip Big Secret, Big Bend Tucked like a secret into a sweeping bend of the Rio Grande is Big Bend National Park, a hiker's paradise, birder's mecca, stargazer's heaven, and explorer's jackpot.
Advocacy in Action Don't Put Endangered Wildlife at Risk to Drill Big Cypress A private energy development company wants to conduct seismic testing on 70,000 acres within Big Cypress National Preserve for oil and gas development — paving the way for drilling to begin on an unprecedented scale on national park land.
Land Based Trip Isle Royale Wilderness Sojourn Isle Royale National Park is a road-less wilderness island accessible only by boat or float plane. Get an insider's look at the world's longest running wolf/moose interaction study as we take in Lake Superior's beautiful coastline along the Wisconsin and Michigan borders.
Report Turning Point Through individual stories from parks around the country, this report describes how air pollution harms our national treasures. The report also recommends ten specific steps that our government representatives and all of us can take to clean up harmful air pollution and protect our national parks for future generations.
Small Ship Cruise Wild California Escape: Channel Islands This 5-day Wildness + Wellness adventure with Lindblad Expeditions-National Geographic takes you to the remote and remarkable Channel Islands. Board the National Geographic Venture, your floating base camp, in Los Angeles, and head for three of the five wildlife-rich islands which make up Channel Islands National Park, plus Catalina Island. Here, you'll actively explore unmarred landscapes, revel in pure nature, and rejuvenate mind, body, and soul with exhale's award-winning well-being programs.
Page Regional Offices With a network of 27 programmatic locations in 11 regions across the country, the National Parks Conservation Association (NPCA) is uniquely positioned to protect our nation's most cherished places. By living and working in and around the parks and communities they serve, NPCA's regional and field staff forge lasting and effective partnerships with advocates, organizations and governments to bridge local advocacy and national policy.
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Alfonso Orozco Alfonso Orozco is the National Programs Coordinator for the Student Conservation Association. He is originally from Oakland, CA.
Mary Purvis Mary Purvis is NPCA's Volunteer Coordinator supporting the Board of Trustees and the National Council.
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Staff Carrie Madigan As Associate Director of Design, Carrie oversees brand development and design needs across channels. She brings design experience from a range of specialties, including branding, magazine design, and advertising, and she has a deep love for our country's national parks.
Land Based Trip Grand Canyon Winter and New Year Trips Put time in perspective by ringing in the New Year on the Grand Canyon's South Rim—millions of years in the making. Spend a couple days in the red-rock wonderland of Sedona, with a jeep tour and a spectacular night of stargazing.
Regional Events Park Talks Join our NPCA community for virtual "Park Talks" to learn about our work and ways you can get involved.
Report Gateways To Yellowstone Gateways to Yellowstone: Protecting the Wild Heart of Our Region's Thriving Economy
Craig Fontenot Craig Fontenot is a horticultural geek, a water enthusiast and a marketing executive, in that order.
Staff Tracy Coppola Tracy Coppola is based in Denver and serves as the Colorado Program Manager for the Southwest Regional Office. She is proud to have the opportunity to celebrate her state's incredible parks and advocates.
Regional Events Naturally Latinos Conference NPCA is a proud sponsor of Audubon Naturalist Society's third Naturally Latinos Conference.


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Mullen, Pickering to testify at Benghazi hearing
The leaders of an independent review board that investigated last year's deadly assault on the U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya, will testify at a House hearing next week.
Retired Adm. Mike Mullen and former Ambassador Thomas Pickering will appear before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee on Sept. 19.
Republican Rep. Darrell Issa of California announced the hearing in a statement Wednesday, the one-year anniversary of the Sept. 11 attack that killed U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans.
The blistering report released in December by Pickering, Mullen and three other reviewers found that systematic failures and leadership and management deficiencies at senior levels of the State Department meant security was inadequate for Benghazi and "grossly inadequate" to deal with the attack.


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Sometimes I think junior hockey exists to give the smaller, underserved cold-weather markets a local team to call their own. But then I realize, no, it exists mostly to populate the internet with video of line brawls, weird promotions, and coaching meltdowns. This comes from a game Saturday between the NAHL's Wenatchee (Wash.) Wild and the Kenai River Brown Bears, and it's a new spin on protesting a call.
Wenatchee assistant coach Chris Clark wasn't happy with the officiating, including a nebulous bench misconduct and a series of calls that would have the Wild shorthanded until almost the final horn. So he grabbed some dark glasses, used a stick as a cane, and tottered around the ice as a blind referee. (Why did he have sunglasses, and also the tuxedo? It's junior hockey, it was probably Gangnam Style night or something.)
Clark was ejected for his performance, and Wenatchee would go on to give up the game-winner. Still totally worth it.


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Dopapod Tour dates 2021
Dopapod tickets are on sale right now on ConcertPass. ConcertPass is your number one destination for all Dopapod concerts tickets as well as concert dates and extensive tour information. On ConcertPass you'll find Dopapod tickets at great prices across an excellent range of seating options. We'll let you pick your seats from our interactive maps so you can find the seats that are right for you. All Dopapod concerts tickets come with our ticket integrity guarantee, with all tickets guaranteed or your money back. You'll find tickets for thousands of concerts and events on ConcertPass, so please feel free to browse around. Be a part of the action and witness great some performances right now, buy your tickets for Dopapod today, so you don't miss out.
Jul 01 2021 3:30 AM
The Peach Music Festival - 4 Day Pass
Artist info
Dopapod tour
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All-City Electric Boogaloo Sock
This item is currently not available.
The Electric Boogaloo socks are intended to be the partner to All-City's new kit of the same name. Wool socks keep your feet from stinking and moderate temperature better than any other sock material the folks at All-City know of.


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Jim Beaver talks to TV.com about how he honored his feelings for his wife "by reconstructing them on-screen" in the emotionally challenging, but very rewarding Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid. He also addresses the scary idea of Bobby's demise! The idea seems all the more concerning when you consider these recent tweets from Jim.
Pouring rain for my last Supernatural scene today--seems fitting
11:32 AM Mar 25th via mobile web
Finished my last scene, marched into makeup
Here's an intense preview of next week's episode, Dark Side of the Moon.


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Starting with a system of partial differential equations for functions on $\mathbb{R}^n$, Frobenius' theorem gives a bunch of integrability conditions (on e.g. functions which are 'data' for the system of PDEs, e.g. sourcing terms). Now let's say I'm working on a curved manifold, and have a system of PDEs that arise from covariant derivatives. I can always convert this problem into the previous one by choosing local coordinates; then my functions will be components of tensors, and my derivatives turn into ordinary partial derivatives corrected with components of a connection $\Gamma^i{}_{jk}$ (the components of this connection can now be thought of as 'data' for the system of PDEs). If I then apply the Frobenius theorem, the integrability conditions will contain $\Gamma$ and $\partial\Gamma$ and derivatives of other data, e.g. $\partial_i v^j$ for some vector $v$.
Is there any guarantee that the integrability conditions, or various linear combinations thereof, are covariant? That is, do all instances of $\partial\Gamma$ sum with other terms to give components of a curvature tensor?
I expect this to be true, since after all I could have picked any coordinate system, and the existence of a local solution should not depend on the coordinate system.
Is there a way to find the "covariant integrability conditions", if such a thing exists?


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'This Week' Transcript: Rep. Paul Ryan
Transcript: Rep. Paul Ryan
WASHINGTON, May 1, 2011 -- AMANPOUR (voice-over): This week, budget blowback.
(UNKNOWN): We can't afford it, you moron!
AMANPOUR: As town halls across America erupt in anger over a plan to slash spending...
(UNKNOWN): You're a liar!
AMANPOUR: ... Republicans find themselves under fire.
(UNKNOWN): ... he was yelling at me, cursing at me.
AMANPOUR: I go to the heartland with the man behind the plan, House Budget Chairman Paul Ryan of Wisconsin.
RYAN: Let's prove to them that Wisconsinites can have a civil debate.
AMANPOUR: Then, in the crosshairs. A NATO bomb hits a house with Gadhafi inside, killing his son and three grandchildren. How will the strongman strike back? And how does it all end?
(UNKNOWN): This was a direct operation to assassinate the leader of this country.
AMANPOUR: What's the way out for the U.S.? A former administration insider weighs in.
Plus, we're live from the Vatican, as Pope John Paul II gets one step closer to sainthood. Is the fast track too fast?
ANNOUNCER: Live from the Newseum in Washington, "This Week" with Christiane Amanpour starts right now.
AMANPOUR: Welcome to our viewers here and around the world. There is a lot happening this Sunday, and we begin with unfolding news in the Libyan capital, Tripoli. The Libyan government is condemning what it called, quote, "a direct operation to assassinate Moammar Gadhafi," this after a NATO bomb hit Gadhafi's compound. It spared him, but killed three of his grandchildren and his youngest son. So could this be a game-changer in the war, which has dragged into a stalemate in recent weeks?
We go live now to Libya for the very latest on the ground. ABC's Miguel Marquez is in Benghazi, and the BBC's Christian Fraser is in Tripoli, where the attack took place.
Christian, let's start with you. Is there a feeling now that the war is entering a new phase around Tripoli?
FRASER: I think that's a very real possibility, Christiane. The way that the press visit to this bomb site was orchestrated last night, it was very deliberately held back for two hours, and then we were taken there and then given a press conference here at the hotel, in which Moussa Ibrahim spelled out what he thought the attack meant does suggest that they will try and make as much political capital from this as they can.
Certainly, it puts pressure on NATO and its allies. And we've seen already a very angry reaction from his supporters in Tripoli, reports of attacks on the U.S. embassy. I've spoken to U.N. officials today who say their offices were looted, also reports of attacks on the British and Italian missions here in Tripoli.
The unknowns, of course, are what Colonel Gadhafi's response will be. We've not heard from him yet. We don't know what the response of his supporters will be in the days ahead, and we don't know, really, what the sort of international reaction will be to what has unfolded here last night.
AMANPOUR: A lot of questions there, Christian, and we'll continue to monitor it.
Of course, the U.S. embassy is empty, because all of the staff have been evacuated over the last several weeks and months. And now we go to the other side of this conflict and ABC's Miguel Marquez, who's in the east there in rebel-held Benghazi.
Miguel, what is the reaction from the rebels? Do they think this attack could end the stalemate and signify a new -- a new impetus for them?
MARQUEZ: Well, the rebels certainly aren't buying this attack. They think that no one was killed in Tripoli last night. They're literally saying, "Show us the bodies." They believe that this is a trick, another trick by Colonel Moammar Gadhafi, and they say that he is making this up simply to win that international support to divide the coalition. They simply want to see those bodies. Whether or not it will make a difference to this I think will depend on what Colonel Gadhafi and his troops do in the hours and days ahead -- Christiane?
AMANPOUR: But, Miguel, is there any sense beyond this attack that the rebels are getting any more organized or getting any more weapons that they can actually take advantage of the help that NATO is giving them?
MARQUEZ: There's a lot of winks and nods there. There are indications that the Qataris are arming up. Certainly, there's been some reporting on that front, but the rebels here are being very shy about it. There are reports that the Qataris are (OFF-MIKE) but we haven't seen any evidence of that.
The other thing that the rebels say about this, that this (OFF- MIKE) you know, the Predator drones were a huge boost to them, and they believe that the U.S., they hope, will take even a greater role in leading operations here in Libya -- Christiane?
AMANPOUR: Miguel, thank you so much.
And later in the show, we'll get an expert's take on whether this attack on Gadhafi will be a turning point in what's become a stalemate for the United States and its allies. But first, we turn to a different sort of battle being waged right here in the United States. It's a budget battle, of course, and this was the week Republican Congress members went home to defend their sweeping budget plan before their constituents. And the reception at one town hall after another was rocky.
The plan is the brain child of House Budget Chairman Paul Ryan, who's feeling some of the heat himself. I traveled to Wisconsin to see how Ryan is weathering the storm.
AMANPOUR: How are the crowds increasing and their levels of anxiety and frustration?
RYAN: It's increasing, no two ways about it.
AMANPOUR (voice-over): Congressman Ryan is at the center of the storm. It's his plan, of course, that has sparked the outcries. Across the country, the anger is palpable.
(UNKNOWN): May I finish?
(UNKNOWN): No.
(UNKNOWN): You went and gave away all those tax cuts.
AMANPOUR: We've seen Republican congressmen fending off boos and catcalls from constituents over a plan to fundamentally overhaul two programs that millions of Americans have come to count on, Medicare and Medicaid.
RYAN: Hey, guys. How are you doing?
AMANPOUR: With Congress in recess, Ryan is holding as many as four town meetings a day, and it's still not enough to keep up with demand from his constituents.
(UNKNOWN): What I can do is I can give you a list of the other listening sessions we have scheduled today.
RYAN: The crowds are really getting bigger, and people are getting much more anxious about just where the country's headed.
AMANPOUR: This is the tail end of the marathon series of town halls for Ryan, who seems wholly unconcerned with the heat he's taking these days. Though the crowds we saw in Wisconsin were mostly friendly, some of his town meetings have been contentious.
(UNKNOWN): (OFF-MIKE) trickle down.
RYAN: We do (OFF-MIKE)
(CROSSTALK) RYAN: It's a sign of the times, I think. I think it's a sign of anxiety of the times. It's also a sign of the misinformation that's been perpetrated out there.
AMANPOUR (on-screen): Well, why do you say "misinformation"?
RYAN: Well, there are TV, radio and phone calls that are running, trying to scare seniors. You know, the Democratic National Committee is running phone calls to seniors in my district, TV ads, saying we're hurting current seniors when, in fact, that's not the case. And so there's a lot of...
AMANPOUR: Isn't that, though, par for the course?
AMANPOUR: I mean, didn't you lot do it the last time?
RYAN: Yes, Republicans -- Republicans -- both parties do this to each other. And my whole point about that is, that's why we have this political paralysis.
AMANPOUR (voice-over): On the day we joined him, the gym at Franklin High School fills up well before the congressman arrives.
AMANPOUR: Ryan's presentation is earnest and, it must be said, wonky.
RYAN: This pie chart shows you our federal government, basically its budget for last year.
AMANPOUR: The most controversial aspect of Paul Ryan's budget plan would transform Medicare. He knows that could be political poison with seniors, and so he makes sure to remind those in the crowd the changes wouldn't impact them.
RYAN: How many of you are 55 years of age or older? This budget does not affect your Medicare benefits.
AMANPOUR: But for many, that leaves more questions than answers, especially since budget watchdogs estimate the Medicare revamp would cost people who are now under 55 thousands of dollars out of pocket each year once their benefits kick in, and that has some here in Franklin very concerned.
(UNKNOWN): ... because it's going to be a real burden for them, especially with the economy coming up. And I think about all of the 54-year-olds who have been unemployed. Where are they going to come up with this money in 10 years to last their whole lifetime?
AMANPOUR: Ryan argues delay is not an option.
RYAN: Put these reforms in now, they don't take effect for 10 years to give people time to prepare. If we keep kicking the can down the road and if we keep going trillions of dollars deeper in the hole, then the reforms are going to be sudden, urgent, and severe, and immediate, and people won't have -- that are going to catch them by surprise.
AMANPOUR: Then the session ends...
RYAN: I appreciate you coming out.
AMANPOUR: ... and Congressman Ryan is off. I stayed back to speak with two of the women in the audience, Jackie (ph) and Lois (ph), each with very different perspectives on the congressman's plan.
(UNKNOWN): I don't appreciate it at all, and that burns my potatoes. And I think it's not fair. And I think it's selfish and self-centered. You're worried about the seniors of today, and we have the seniors of tomorrow. We need to be worried about them, too. And there's a better way of fixing this plan, this problem that we didn't get into, but we always got to be the ones.
AMANPOUR (on-screen): Did you vote for Paul Ryan?
(UNKNOWN): No. No.
AMANPOUR: Did you?
(UNKNOWN): Yes.
AMANPOUR (voice-over): Lois says Ryan is trying to fix the problem before time and money run out.
(on-screen): The CBO, the Congressional Budget Office, has said that the average senior will end up paying some $6,500 more for their health care.
(UNKNOWN): In 10 years.
AMANPOUR: Yes.
(UNKNOWN): By 2020, the whole plan Obama has is going to crash.
RYAN: A few sentences later, CBO also said that the status quo of Medicare is unsustainable.
AMANPOUR: Maybe, but it's going to shift a huge burden on to the elderly.
RYAN: Right. But what the CBO also forgot to add is that we're giving an additional $7,800 for low-income seniors on top of that. And I would argue -- and CBO concurs with this -- comparing any Medicare reform plan with the Medicare status quo is a fiscal fantasy. The Medicare status quo is not going be able to occur, because it's unsustainable.
AMANPOUR (voice-over): And Ryan dismisses any talk that tackling this thorny issue will cost Republicans at the polls.
(on-screen): And now people are getting worried, people in your party. Perhaps they might think it might even cost them the election.
RYAN: Sure. And I hear this all the time from the political people, from the pundits and the pollsters that this could be -- this could hurt us politically. I don't care about that. What I care about is fixing this country and getting this debt situation under control.
Look, literally, Christiane, if all we fear about is our political careers, then we have no business having these jobs. If you want to good at these jobs, you've got to be willing to lose the job.
AMANPOUR (voice-over): Still, politically it's a delicate dance. Just listen to Speaker John Boehner discuss Ryan's plan in an interview with ABC's Jon Karl.
BOEHNER: It's Paul's idea. Other people have other ideas. I'm not wedded to one single idea.
AMANPOUR (on-screen): How do you feel when Speaker Boehner tells ABC News that he's not wedded to your program, it's a good idea, it's one of many?
RYAN: I've talked to John about this. It's an institutional statement reflecting budget resolutions. And what a budget resolution -- which is what we've passed -- it's the architecture of a budget.
AMANPOUR: So you didn't take it personally about...
RYAN: No, not at all. I didn't take it personally. It's not -- it wasn't meant to be personal. I don't take it that way.
AMANPOUR: Are you sure about that?
RYAN: Yeah, yeah. Yeah, I've talked to him quite a bit about this.
AMANPOUR (voice-over): And with that, we arrive at our next stop.
RYAN: Hey, folks. Nice to see you. Thank you very much.
AMANPOUR: Some boos, but mostly cheers. The crowd is largely supportive.
(UNKNOWN): And I'd like to thank you for being a bold person and standing up and saying, "Listen, we can't continue this way."
AMANPOUR: Still, this man is angry that Ryan's plan refuses to consider raising taxes on the wealthiest Americans.
(UNKNOWN): Borrow the money from the rich, fix the problem.
RYAN: Look, I think a lot of people think this is sort of like the magic fairy dust of budgets, that we can just make a small amount of people pay some more taxes and it will fix all of our problems. Well, let's keep our eye on the ball. The eye on the ball is spending. And the sooner we get this thing under control, the better off everybody is going to be.
AMANPOUR (on-screen): How do you feel about being the bogeyman in this whole budget business?
RYAN: You know, I don't really think about it. I sleep well at night.
AMANPOUR (voice-over): At the end of the day, Congressman Ryan and I sit down to talk about the bottom line.
(on-screen): People who've been studying your numbers very carefully and -- have been saying that the numbers don't add up.
RYAN: Well, the Congressional Budget Office Says they do.
AMANPOUR: Well, it also says that two-thirds of the savings that you want to make in the spending cuts come at the expense of programs designed for the poor, for the disadvantaged, and this is reverse Robin Hood-ism, if you like, take from the poor, give back to the rich again.
RYAN: Yeah, sure, I've heard that. Yeah, I would disagree with that. First of all, spending increases in this budget. Spending on the safety net increases, but it increases at a more sustainable rate. Here's the problem, Christiane. The safety net we have right now is going bankrupt. It's tearing apart at the seams.
AMANPOUR: What you're proposing seems like it's going to put a lot of the burden on the seniors. They're worried that they're not going to be able to afford the cost of health insurance.
RYAN: So we're saying give the most vulnerable people more money to cover their expenses and don't give wealthy people as much money to cover their expenses because they're wealthy and they should be able to afford more. But we're also saying is, you've got to get at the root cause of health inflation. Even President Obama is saying slow the growth rate of Medicare.
AMANPOUR (voice-over): For now, the president and the congressman seem far apart. And as we crisscross his Wisconsin district, I ask Paul Ryan if some grand budget bargain could be in the offing.
(on-screen): Do you think that these massive issues that you're dealing with, the budget, let's say, can be done only by one party?
RYAN: No. No, I don't. I think it's going to have...
AMANPOUR: So you have to negotiate?
RYAN: Oh, yeah, absolutely, yeah.
AMANPOUR: You have to work together? RYAN: Yes, I think so.
AMANPOUR: Is that atmosphere available...
RYAN: No, not right now.
AMANPOUR: It's not, is it?
RYAN: Look, we're probably not going to get some grand-slam agreement that fixes all of these problems. My now hope is to get a single or a double, you know, to get something done that gets us on the right path.
AMANPOUR: Congressman Ryan says that he expects Republicans and Democrats to agree on some fiscal controls to lock in spending levels, but he says a big-picture deal on the debt crisis probably won't happen before the 2012 election. And it's what the treasury secretary, Tim Geithner, said also on this program a couple of weeks ago.
So the big question remains: Can the United States afford to wait that long? Our powerhouse roundtable tackles that and weighs in with their reviews of the president's stand-up act, as well, at last night's White House correspondents' dinner.
OBAMA: Tonight, for the first time, I am releasing my official birth video.
Let's take a look.
OBAMA: He's taken some flack lately, but no one is happier, no one is prouder to put this birth certificate matter to rest than the Donald. And that's because he can finally get back to focusing on the issues that matter, like did we fake the moon landing? What really happened in Roswell? And where are Biggie and Tupac?
AMANPOUR: A little light moment last night from the White House correspondents' dinner. President Obama taking a shot at Donald Trump. Funny stuff, and we'll talk about it a little later.
But across the country, passions are running high on a more serious matter, a Republican debt reform plan that would slash spending and revamp Medicare and Medicaid without raising taxes on the wealthy. Has Paul Ryan laid the roadmap to victory for the Democrats? Or will his party have the last laugh?
Joining me to answer that question, George Will, Arianna Huffington of the Huffington Post, Chrystia Freeland, global editor at Thomson Reuters, and David Stockman, who served as budget director under Ronald Reagan.
Thank you all for being here. Some of us were at that dinner last night, but, first, George, you heard what I asked Congressman Ryan, asking him about some of the Republicans who seem to be running now from the plan. Is this an election loser for them? Will they stick with him?
WILL: They've clearly made a wager that this time the American people mean what they say about cutting government. His plan now for the budget is not the same as, but it's in the same general direction as the roadmap he proposed for entitlement reform and all the rest a few years ago (inaudible) pointing out the grand total of 13 cosponsors. People are not eager to embrace it. He now has essentially made them embrace it by making the running.
Republicans are somewhat emboldened by the example of Marco Rubio running for the Senate in Florida in 2010, when, in a state planted thick with seniors, the state known as God's antechamber, as a matter of fact, in the great state of Florida, he said we must raise the retirement age and perhaps, in some sense, means test Social Security. He said that volatile thing in that state and won in a landslide.
HUFFINGTON: (OFF-MIKE) starting to listen to this incredibly shrinking budget debate where we're basically discussing what we're cutting without discussing what's happening in the country with jobs, basically, despite the fact that supposedly, you know, we have a reduction in unemployment. We know this is really a statistical reason because of the shrinking of the actual labor force, but not any real creation of jobs. And that's really what is so outstanding, that we are not focusing on this.
And you go around the country, and there's this anxiety, this fear about kids graduating from college not being able to get jobs. The foreclosures are still rampant. Even Mitt Romney, you know, in New Hampshire actually took this on and sounded like a real populist, talking about the problems of people not being able to make ends meet.
AMANPOUR: But what about the figures, the basic arithmetic? I mean, it is complex. You go to these town hall meetings, and the presentations are complex. And even people with vaguely conversant views on all of this find it difficult to understand. Is there a way to figure out what the actual math is without entering political and ideological debates? Is there a way to balance this budget, to reduce the debt, to get a hold of it without sort of hewing to very different political views?
FREELAND: Well, I think it's always going to be a political debate, but what I think is really missing in both the Republican and the Democratic approach right now and is really an example of political cowardice is taxes.
You know, and we heard in your interview, Christiane, Ryan saying, well, you know, this is about cutting spending. It's partly going to be about cutting spending, but it is also going to be about raising taxes. And that's the thing that I think no one has the courage to talk about.
And it's partly going to be -- I think there should be more taxes on the very rich. They're doing incredibly well in this economy. But it is also going to be about more taxes on the middle class, including consumption taxes.
AMANPOUR: Well, that's interesting. I want to get to consumption taxes. But, David, Paul Ryan says that people see tax hikes as sort of a fairy dust that will solve everything. Is either party dealing with the tax issue in a way that could actually solve something?
STOCKMAN: No, I think both parties are delusional in thinking that this is a long-run problem. The Ryan plan gets the balanced budget in 2030, the fiscal hereafter. We have a here-and-now problem.
This debt that we're issuing every day, $6 billion a day, is not being bought by real investors. It's being bought by the Fed and other central banks around the world, and they're going out of business in June. The Fed is stopping the bond-buying. QE2 is over. The Chinese no longer need to buy, and the Japanese have their own problem.
So once we have to sell the debt to real investors, interest rates are going to start rising and the crisis will come immediately, in the next two or three years.
Now, what does Ryan do in the next two or three years? Nothing. He cuts $600 billion or $700 billion of spending, mostly from a small part of the budget, discretionary and the safety net, leaves Medicare totally untouched for 3 years, leaves Social Security totally untouched for 10 years, leaves defense totally untouched for the next 3 years, and then, after cutting that small amount, gives it all back by extending all the Bush tax cuts that we can't afford.
Now, that's getting nowhere. In three years, he does not cut one dime from the debt.
FREELAND: Yeah, David, I have a question for you. You worked for Ronald Reagan. Do you think that America, the American economy -- so you're like a red-blooded capitalist -- could it sustain higher taxes than it has now?
STOCKMAN: Absolutely. In 1982, we were looking at the jaws of the worst recession since the 1930s. We overdid it in '81, cut taxes too much. We came back with the big deficit plan. In 1982, unemployment's 10 percent, the economy's in dire shape, and we raised taxes by 1.2 percent of GDP, which would be $150 billion a year, right now, not 10 years down the road, but right now. That's what we did in 1982, because we still had people in government who realized you can't simply be putting on this kind of debt into the world financial market.
AMANPOUR: So, George, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is calling for a vote on this up or down. Is that -- what is that going to do? And do you think there is room for some kind of debate on a consumption tax, even though very few people want to do income?
WILL: Oh, well, people of my persuasion will be all for it, considering a consumption tax, as soon as they repeal the 16th Amendment. Otherwise, they're going to pile a consumption tax, which is invisible to most people, on top of the income tax.
Larry Summers, the departing economic adviser, said conservatives hate the consumption tax because they think it's a money machine for government and liberals don't like it because they think it's regressive. We will get a consumption tax when conservatives realize it's regressive and conservatives -- and liberals realize it's a money machine. It's not going to happen. The Senate has voted in a nonbinding resolution something like 86-10 against the idea of a consumption tax.
HUFFINGTON: You know, what is interesting is what Ryan is leaving out. You know, he's talking about reforming Medicare. He's not even allowing the government to negotiate with pharmaceutical companies to reduce drug costs. So he's not only addressing the major problem of drug costs rising, of health care costs rising.
And also finally over the last week, he started talking about corporate welfare, about oil and gas subsidies, for example, but that isn't part of his budget. So how can he be addressing seriously the budget deficit without addressing seriously corporate welfare?
He said, which also sounded interesting, that he doesn't want the government picking winners and losers. That's part of (inaudible) left and right debate. A lot of people across the political spectrum are saying that. Let's focus on this.
AMANPOUR: He said to us that he is willing to talk about sort of getting rid of all those subsidies for oil companies and all those loopholes. Where do you think this is headed, though, in real economic fiscal terms? I mean, is there going to be some kind of deal on the very difficult issues?
FREELAND: I thought that what you and Ryan had to say was right. I think that it's hard to see a real deal before the presidential election, and I think that David is right to point out that that could turn out to be quite tricky. And where we will really have the important market judgment is in June, when all this money that the Federal Reserve has been pumping into the economy and buying back, that's going to stop, and we're going to really see, how much is the world prepared to support the U.S. economy?
AMANPOUR: All right. We'll continue right after a break. And up next, President Obama releases his birth certificate and Donald Trump claims credit. More of that with our roundtable right after this.
OBAMA: But I'm speaking to the vast majority of the American people, as well as the press. We do not have time for this kind of silliness. We've got better stuff to do.
TRUMP: Today, I'm very proud of myself, because I've accomplished something that nobody else has been able to accomplish. Our president has finally released a birth certificate.
AMANPOUR: President Obama and Donald Trump earlier this week. So have we seen the last of the birthers? Let's bring back our roundtable.
Have we seen the last of this, George?
WILL: Sure, I mean, to the extent that people are open to evidence. Now, there are some people in a nation of 310 million people -- there are some people who are just cracked, and we're always going to have them out there.
AMANPOUR: You know, you say cracked. On this program last week, we spoke with Reverend Franklin Graham, and he seemed to flirt with the idea of giving some credence to this and also supporting Donald Trump. And then when I asked him sort of, you know, why is it that this issue has been hijacked by the lunatic fringe and it's become such an issue? This is what I asked him, and listen to what he responded.
AMANPOUR: You're a very important figure, and you have a big following, and you have a lot of authority. This business about the birth certificate, it really has been debunked over and over again. So I just want to know why somebody like you can't just say, "Enough already."
GRAHAM: Oh, no, I'm not -- you were asking me about Donald Trump...
AMANPOUR: No, I'm now talking about President Obama.
GRAHAM: Oh, right. But it's Trump that has brought this up. I'm not bringing up his birth certificate. I'm just saying, it looks like, for the critics out there, his critics -- and I'm not one of them -- his critics, it looks like he could shut their mouths pretty quickly by coming up with a little bit more than what he's come up with.
AMANPOUR: So he has come up, and you're shaking your head, Chrystia.
FREELAND: I think it's obvious that it's just going to move on to new things. And we've already seen Donald Trump talking about, well, you know, maybe his college -- maybe his college documents aren't exactly right.
I mean, I think that there is something behind all of this that enough people aren't talking about and that the president actually rather recently hinted at in his speech last night, with the "Lion King" stuff and then saying, you know, Michele Bachmann, maybe she was born in Canada. There is a racial element here. And I think that part of the whole birther movement is about finding a way that isn't overtly racist to say, is he really American? You know, can this black guy really be an American?
STOCKMAN: I don't think it's so much racism. I think it's Washington has succumb to theater and has lost the point that it should be about governance. And one of the reasons for that is that the Fed has enabled Washington to run massive deficits year after year after year and issue all of these bonds and get away with it.
And so, therefore, since they're not worried, since they don't fear the consequence of what they're doing, they're willing to engage in this kind of, you know, rank theater, when, so to speak, Rome is burning.
STOCKMAN: And one of these days we're going to have a rude awakening, and I believe it's coming soon.
AMANPOUR: So...
HUFFINGTON: But this is also something that's always happened in times of deep economic anxiety. Paranoid politics can thrive, and demagoguery can thrive, and people can believe things for which there's no evidence.
AMANPOUR: So, clearly, people have believed things for which there's no evidence, but, George, what does this mean now for the Republican field? I mean, is Donald Trump a serious candidate or has he been deflated, given the fact that Haley Barbour, governor of Mississippi, has stepped out? Where does the Republican field look like it is right now?
WILL: The Republican field is perfectly fine. They lost in Haley Barbour a plausible president, and they lost it because he understands the Broder rule. The late David Broder said anyone who will do what you have to do to become president shouldn't be allowed to be president. And he said this requires a 10-year commitment; I'm not prepared to make it. That's not a moral failing. In some people, it's a sign of maturity. You have Romney, Pawlenty, perhaps Mitch Daniels -- I don't -- who am I leaving out?
FREELAND: Huckabee.
HUFFINGTON: Huntsman.
WILL: Huntsman.
FREELAND: Isn't this a good moment for Huckabee now?
WILL: It might be, but the fact is, we're actually fairly far along in this process. We've winnowed the field already. We know basically who the choice is going to be. The Republicans have to simply nominate someone who is a plausible president and then it becomes a referendum on Mr. Obama.
HUFFINGTON: But, actually, George has a point here. And Seth Meyers last night in a way made that point when he said the one person who can really beat you, Mr. President, is Obama '08, and don't you miss him, effectively? What happened to him?
And I was talking to a hard-core Democrat after the dinner who said to me that Obama is gone. He said he's not coming back. We just have to win. So this is what's happened, and it's a interesting dynamic. You know, hard-core Democrats are just about winning, but the problem for the White House is all the first-time voters who came out in large numbers and really got him to the White House in '08. Are they coming back? Because they're not just about winning. They were inspired. And that was the other thing that Seth Meyers said yesterday. What is will.i.am going to do this year? Is he going to find something to rhyme with debt ceiling? That's a big problem for...
AMANPOUR: Well, talking to that, what is the correct or the winnable economic strategy to be taking going into this election? Obviously -- and you've all been saying it -- it is about jobs. And I think you've been saying that all of this is obscuring the necessity to figure out jobs.
FREELAND: Well, I think especially for a Democrat, which the president is, I've been surprised that they haven't pushed much more on that. Maybe they're worried that they don't have a very strong jobs record, but I think that they really are letting the Republicans set the terms of the debate, and the debate right now is about cutting spending, maybe raising taxes. I think that a smart Democratic strategy would be to come out and say, "I am the guy who is going to focus on middle-class jobs. I care about that."
STOCKMAN: No, I think the right strategy is to focus on the engine of destruction in our economy today, which is the Fed. The Fed is savaging Main Street, with zero earnings -- interest on their savings, with this massive inflation we have now in food and fuel. At the same time, it is fueling the greatest bubble that we've seen yet, even bigger than housing. It's all going to a few thousand people on Wall Street.
FREELAND: But, David, come on...
STOCKMAN: Now, that has to stop...
AMANPOUR: On that note...
STOCKMAN: ... and he could stop that. And yet what did he do? He reappointed the same guy who brought you the problem that elected him in 2008.
AMANPOUR: You're going to discuss this further in the Green Room. And up next, we go live to Rome, where this morning the Catholic Church puts Pope John Paul II one step closer to sainthood.
AMANPOUR: Welcome back. We told you at the top of this program that a NATO air strike hit a building with Moammar Gadhafi inside in Libya. Reportedly it just missed him, but killed his youngest son and three grandchildren.
And it's been a costly week across the Middle East, including for the United States servicemembers, nine of whom were murdered by an Afghan pilot right there near Kabul.
Joining me to talk about it all is Vali Nasr, who until very recently was a senior adviser to the State Department on the Middle East and Afghanistan, and Aaron David Miller of the Woodrow Wilson International Center, who also used to be a Middle East peace adviser to various administrations.
Gentlemen, thank you both very much for joining me.
MILLER: A pleasure.
NASR: Thank you.
AMANPOUR: So this is a big day, and people are wondering whether this is going to be a turning point, this attack in Tripoli, very close to the Gadhafi stronghold, and apparently killing one of his sons. Vali, what does this mean as the U.S. policy seems to be in a stalemate?
NASR: Well, aside from the diplomatic issues that it raises, it's now very clear that the narrative is rapidly changing, that this democracy wave is not self-sustaining anymore. It's increasingly coming upon the United States or the pressure is on the United States to push it to the next stage. And that could be a tall order. It could be expensive. It could be messy. And we need to sort of step back and think about how we tackle this new challenge.
AMANPOUR: So, in Libya, you say the narrative is changing. Is it saying it's a war without end? Is it -- what is it saying there?
NASR: Well, it has been a war without end, but now it's also coming down -- at least the narrative that's going to be seen is coming down to literally having to remove Gadhafi out of the scene. And if NATO is going after him, it is essentially sending a signal out that democracy is not going to succeed, that the rebels are not going to succeed unless we go in and remove the leadership. And that obviously is a whole new order of business with this issue.
AMANPOUR: So potentially removing the leadership, if it comes to that, what about in Syria, where you've worked very closely on those issues for Republican and Democratic administration? People are looking at that. It's been a very bloody week in Syria, and yet no sort of idea that Bashar Assad, the president, should be removed.
MILLER: It's because great powers are allowed and do behave hypocritically and inconsistently. And the reality is, Libya was easy. It was vulnerable. No serious air defense system. No serious allies. We could get away with and did military intervention. Syria's quite different.
And, number two, you don't have a fundamentally divided country. You don't have Syrias right now. You have repression. And you have Bashar Assad mobilizing the instruments of power in order to stay in power. I think the arc on the Assads over time is a negative one, and I think they're an old story, but it's going to take a long time for this movie to play out.
AMANPOUR: The movie is being very closely watched by many people in the United States and around the world. People are always coming up to me and asking me, what does this all mean for us, what happened in Tunisia, what happened in Egypt?
People thought Egypt was a democratic revolution, which presumably it still has an opportunity to be, but the latest Pew polls give some worrying figures for the United States, basically saying about Egypt that 52 percent of Egyptians now disapprove of how President Obama is dealing with the calls for political change in their own nation, Egypt, elsewhere, Tunisia, Bahrain, and Libya. And then their view of the United States, 79 percent unfavorable, 20 percent favorable. Vali, how can this be? People hoped that a democratic Middle East would actually have a better view of the United States.
NASR: Well, first of all, we're not at a democracy in the Middle East. All that we've achieved is that in Tunisia and Egypt, which were the easy cases, the leadership has gone. There's still a long distance between the old order going and actually arriving at democracy. And there is also a very short distance in these kinds of situations between euphoria and disenchantment.
And finally, the fundamental issues that divided the people of the Middle East from the United States have not gone away. The Middle East has been busy with other issues recently, but when the dust settles, the critical issues of the Arab-Israeli peace process, this whole issue between Islam and the West, Iran, you know, all of these issues, Al Qaida, are still there. And nothing has happened to close the gap between our perception of those issues and the people's perception of those issues in the Muslim world.
AMANPOUR: I'm going to get to the Middle East peace process in two seconds, but I just want to ask you further, the foreign policy of Egypt looks like they are going closer to their traditional adversaries -- let's say Iran, let's say Hamas -- people who are sort of -- definitely adversaries of the United States, as well. How is this going to work out? And why is that?
NASR: Well, because for the longest time our foreign policy in the Middle East was based on the support of the palaces, who really didn't need to deal with the street and the people in the Middle East. It's the Mubaraks and Ben Alis and, you know, kings of Saudi Arabia and Jordan that made decisions that we work with. Now we have to deal with countries that are reflecting the public opinion of their masses.
AMANPOUR: Of the street. It's the famous Arab street.
NASR: Arab street. And until such day where there is some common ground between our street and their street, we're going to have this disjunction. It's possible, for instance, on the issue of Al Qaida that we can -- there can be some sense of common interest between Americans and the people of the Middle East. But on issues of Arab-Israeli issue, on Iran, and on a number of other issues, the gap is still too wide, and we're going to see that opinion of the region is going to get reflected in the foreign policy.
AMANPOUR: And now, on the Middle East, people also are now asking about the development this week, the rapprochement between the Palestinian Authority, supported by the United States, and Hamas, which the U.S. and Israel say is a terrorist organization. What does that mean for the peace process? And is there one?
MILLER: It's not even noon and I'm already depressed talking about focusing on this issue. I mean, Vali's point is a good one. And before the Middle East issue, our street cred is way down. We're neither admired, feared or respected as much as we need to be, given the fundamental nature and vital interests that we have in this region.
We're involved in three wars where the standard for victory is not can we win, but when can we leave? We are responding in a very difficult -- and it's understandable way to both the Arab spring in Egypt and Tunisia and the Arab winter in Bahrain, in Yemen, and in Syria. So our prestige and power...
AMANPOUR: It's events-driven.
MILLER: For sure. Our prestige and power is way down. And what history teaches us is when, in fact, the United States presides over breakthroughs on this other issue, the problem of the much too promised land, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, our street cred was actually up. We demonstrated both in warmaking and peacemaking -- Kissinger, Carter and Baker, the three -- that we could actually succeed. Right now, we're stuck. We're stuck in a region we can't fix and we're stuck in a region from which we cannot extricate ourselves. Bad news for the great power.
AMANPOUR: It sounds pretty bad news the way you're saying it. And I wanted to ask you -- there was an article in the New Yorker this week which quoted an administration official as saying that the policy right now was lead from behind. What does that mean, lead from behind?
NASR: Well, I don't know the exact context in which that...
AMANPOUR: Talking about Libya and elsewhere.
NASR: Elsewhere. But the real issue for us is this, is that we have a disjuncture between our means and our goals in the region. We're not dealing with events in only one country. We're dealing with events over a vast region that may be unfolding over a number of years, and we have to find a way to have a sustainable policy.
And therefore, if we push too hard, if we remove governments, then much has happened in Iraq or Afghanistan. We're going to own it afterwards. We have to do the state building, which has not been easy or cheap for us. And therefore, there is a sense that we need to calibrate.
AMANPOUR: So is right now the net positive for the United States -- the net result positive, or negative, or is the jury still out in the Middle East in that region?
NASR: I think the jury is still out, because many people assume that this will be a short-run, very quick, very painless set of events that will end up with a much better Middle East after that. Now we're looking at a multi-year process that doesn't have a very clear end. And if anybody thought that we will be done with the Middle East quickly and we're going to go to China and India, we're going to be busy with this issue for some time.
AMANPOUR: Gentlemen, thank you both very much, indeed.
Stay with us. We're live next from the Vatican where thousands are celebrating as Pope John Paul II takes one step closer to sainthood. That just after a short break.
AMANPOUR: We were just speaking about the Arab spring. And well before that uprising, there was the fall of the Iron Curtain, ending communism in Eastern Europe. And that, of course, was back in 1989. It was a cause dear to Pope John Paul II.
And this was the scene at the Vatican, St. Peter's Square, this morning, where hundreds of thousands of pilgrims are on hand as John Paul moves one big step closer to sainthood. Our David Wright is there right now.
WRIGHT: Good morning, Christiane.
You know, the last time all of these people were gathered here to honor Pope John Paul was, of course, at his funeral six years ago. And you remember then, they were all chanting, "Santo subito," "Sainthood now." Well, today's event is a partial fulfillment of that demand. He's not a saint yet, but he has moved a lot closer.
And consider: This church took 478 years to beatify Joan of Arc, so for John Paul II, six years is pretty subito.
WRIGHT (voice-over): Six years have passed since the faithful last gathered in St. Peter's Square to honor Pope John Paul, six years since his coffin was closed and placed in the crypt beneath the basilica, but workers have reverently removed it from its marble tomb. And with cardinals as the foremen, they placed it in front of the Tomb of St. Peter.
Today, the closed casket is at the main altar, where John Paul lay in state six years ago. Pope Benedict and the cardinals were the first to pay their respects.
In life, he was a towering figure, not just for the church, but on the world stage. In death, there have been questions about his stewardship of an institution rocked by internal divisions and by scandal.
He inspired the revolution that ultimately forced the collapse of communism. Shortly after his election, the young pope famously exhorted his fellow Poles, do not be afraid. He gave them the courage to rise up, said Lech Walesa, the founder of Solidarity, the Polish workers first to challenge communist authority.
Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev later said that the collapse of the Iron Curtain would have been impossible without John Paul, but he also had plenty of detractors because of his handling of the massive church abuse scandal that happened on his watch.
WAUCK: The people who are shouting "Santo subito," as far as I can tell, are still shouting, "Santo subito."
WRIGHT (on-screen): But there are some people who are saying, "Hold the halo."
WAUCK: The same people who are saying "Hold the halo" now I think were the people who would have been saying it five years ago.
WRIGHT (voice-over): "His name will forever be blessed," Pope Benedict proclaimed at today's beatification mass. At that moment, an enormous tapestry unfurled. Blessed Pope John Paul is now well on his way to sainthood.
WILLIAMS: In practical terms, to declare a person blessed or beatified means that they're in heaven. It's really just a statement by the church. It's a recognition of heroic virtue, of a life of sanctity, of holiness, and that this person is with God.
WRIGHT: Investigators have pored over his life for the past five years looking not just at his promotion of world peace, but also at the moral example he set in public and private. For instance, after that assassination attempt in 1981, Pope John Paul was critically wounded. Later, he sat down with the man who shot him and offered forgiveness. WAUCK: One of the most heroic acts of virtue that exists is forgiveness. And to forgive someone who tried to kill you -- and almost did -- I mean, it doesn't get much more powerful than that.
WRIGHT: Under the Vatican process, heroic virtues aren't enough.
SARNO: For beatification and canonization, the church requires a physical miracle, a healing or some physical reality that can be measured.
WRIGHT: This French nun says she was cured of Parkinson's disease after she and members of her convent prayed to the late pope. At today's mass, Sister Marie Simon-Pierre carried a relic of John Paul, a vial of his blood extracted during his long illness.
But there are also detractors.
(on-screen): So you're not a big fan of Santo subito in this case?
LYNAUGH: No, I have deep reservations.
WRIGHT (voice-over): Joe Lynaugh is one of many Catholics who say the speed of John Paul's fast-tracked sainthood is an insult to the victims of sexual abuse.
LYNAUGH: I guarantee you that the argument will be made that these issues have been settled or have been almost settled because we have beatified John Paul.
WRIGHT: Cardinal Donald Wuerl of Washington, D.C., insists the scandal did not diminish John Paul's obvious sanctity.
(on-screen): At the same time, there is a groundswell of people that are saying, "Not so subito."
WUERL: Everybody on this planet recognized that this man, John Paul, was a man of God. He had a close relationship with God. And the church is simply recognizing officially what everybody in their hearts knows.
WRIGHT: People have been pointing out that the fast track to sainthood is really one of the more democratic things in an institution that is almost definitively top down. Keep in mind it wasn't the bishops and the cardinals chanting "Santo subito." It was the people, and the church today is partially ratifying that wish. And now all that remains is another miracle, and people here are praying and waiting for that before John Paul gets declared a saint.
AMANPOUR: Thanks, David, there in Rome. And we'll have more in a moment. Stay with us.
AMANPOUR: It's been a costly week in Iraq and Afghanistan. The Pentagon has released the names of 25 servicemembers killed in the past week.
That's it for our program. Join me to continue the conversation on Twitter and on abcnews.com, and be sure to tune in for "World News Tonight" for a full report on the day in Rome, as well as the latest from Libya. We leave you now with the scene in St. Peter's Square today, as the late Pope John Paul II was beatified, bringing him, as we say, one step closer to sainthood.
So for all of us here at "This Week," thank you for watching, and we hope to see you again next week.


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mr. newton + my own eztextiles collage
some of you may remember that when i first told you guys about EZ TEXTILES...
my friend helped to launch the site, which is a dream for fashion fiends + designers!
it is the world's largest online library of production-ready, royalty-free digital textile designs, which makes the once time consuming + costly process of buying + converting textiles designs, now a quick + easy process. subscribers to the new website can freely search, visualize + build personalized design collections for apparel, home furnishing + virtually any other creative project.
i finally got a chance to play around on the site + got lost for hours creating different designs!
i decided to take the über inspiring streetstyle shot above + attempt to recreate it using the EZtextiles system-- being on there is seriously amazing + addictive.
make sure to try out the SITE with the free trial subscription! oh and check out their BLOG too!
if you make any cool recreations or designs of your own- share them in the comments!
8:56 PM steve


text:
Queens' Q-Tip is to release a new solo album later this year.
Q-Tip said that on The Renaissance, he "wanted a hip-hop sonic feel, something pure to the sound of hip-hop with real drums, real emotion and people taking solos.
"In that sense this record feels like we're moving in a new direction ... something hip-hop should do," said the former frontman with A Tribe Called Quest.
DiScuss: 'Renaissance' is one of my top three words of all time, ever. What are your favourite words?


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