Huffington Post: Read the Latest News from the U.S. [March ‘11 Diet]

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The entrance to The Ritz-Carlton Spa by ESPA on the 116th floor of the hotel.More...

Source: Ritz-Carlton Hong Kong: The Spa & Serenity

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Senators John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) defended the United States' intervention in Libya, telling "Fox News Sunday" they support the effort to protect civilians from their leader, Muammar Gadaffi.The Obama administration's decision to intervene in Libya has raised questions about how the U.S. will respond to trouble brewing in other countries in the region -- and whether it was appropriate for America to step in at all.More...

Source: McCain, Lieberman Defend Libya Intervention

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I've always been inspired by a certain caliber of woman born in the late 1800's, who then went on to blaze a trail in the early decades of the 20th century, breaking ground for a later generation who claimed "women's liberation" as their mantra.They were among the first generation of women in modern times to go to war during the years 1914-18, and were profoundly impacted by the losses of young men in that conflict. The 1921 census revealed that over two million women in Britain alone would never marry or have children, instead facing a life of spinsterhood alone. There were those who floundered, but many moved into public life and a "man's world" as never before. Gertrude Bell -- writer, explorer, cartographer, historian, politician, intelligence officer -- was one of the older members of that generation, and her life has fascinated me for years.More...

Source: Gertrude Bell

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Although 2008 was the year when America demonstrated that presidential politics was accessible to African-Americans and women, it was the 1984 campaign when the doors were first pushed open. And the two people most responsible for the change were Walter F. Mondale and Geraldine Ferraro. Their campaign is most often recalled for the magnitude of their electoral defeat yet an enduring part of its legacy was its commitment to the principle that presidential politics was not simply a preserve of white males.Prior to 1984, the pool of candidates for national tickets consisted entirely of white men. Margaret Chase Smith and Shirley Chisholm had conducted largely symbolic presidential candidacies and Gerald Ford had considered choosing Anne Armstrong as his 1976 running mate before deciding the gamble was too great. But women and minorities were not really viewed as serious contenders.More...

Source: Mondale-Ferraro: Changing History

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NEWARK, N.J. — Kentucky spent 13 straight springs watching other schools play in the Final Four, a destination college basketball's winningest program considers its birthright.At most places, that's hardly a drought.More...

Source: Kentucky Advances To Final Four, Beats North Carolina 76-69

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Prince William's bachelor party a.k.a. "stag do," in British parlance, went off without a hitch over the weekend, the Daily Mail reports and a source at St. James's Palace confirms.Wills, along with Prince Harry took over a Norfolk estate along with 20 other guys, including "James Meade, who Prince William met at Eton, and Thomas Van Straubenzee who attended Ludgroe Prep School in Berkshire with the Prince. Hugh Van Cutsem, whose father owns a large estate in Norfolk, is also understood to have been present. Cutsem is one of Prince Charles' godsons," the Mail writes. And, of course, "bad influence" Guy Pelly was on-hand.More...

Source: Prince William's Bachelor Party Held At Norfolk Estate: Report

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Major League Baseball is getting ready to begin its season this Thursday, March 31, although Chicago teams won't see action until Friday. The White Sox will begin their year against Cleveland on April Fool's Day, with the Cubs taking on the Pirates that afternoon as well.With the city's baseball fans abuzz about the prospects for the new season, our interest was piqued by a fact we heard on WBEZ's "Morning Drive" on Monday. Apparently, according to a study by Conventions, Sports and Leisure International, a sports consulting firm, 37 percent of Chicago Cubs home-game fans are from outside of Illinois.More...

Source: Opening Day: Chicago Cubs Get Heavy Backing From Out-Of-State Fans

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April Fools Day is right around the corner, which means you're probably looking for that perfect April Fools Day prank. We'll have great prank ideas and coverage of the best pranks of 2011 this week, but first we thought we'd kick things off with a look at some gags you probably won't be pulling off (alone, anyway). Here are some of the biggest, best April Fools Day pranks that have ever gone down. Think we missed one? Tell us of this epic prank and we might include it in our slideshow!More...

Source: April Fools Day Pranks: The Biggest & Best (PICTURES)

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Rejecting the gloom and that which so many corporate antics inspire, business writers of late have taken to praising the companies that pursue purpose, articulate values and see for themselves higher values than just boosting the bottom line. And we admire those who embrace corporate social responsibility (CSR) and attempt to give something back to their communities through volunteering and charitable donations. I'm all for this -- though there will always be a part of me that still wonders that we celebrate those who simply try not to be evil.But it seems to me that before we start celebrating all these added extras, we should require of our corporations that they do one basic thing: they should pay their taxes.More...

Source: GE: Forget CSR, Pay Your Taxes

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Many people might think that the country's problems stem from the fact that too much money has been going to the very rich. Over the last three decades, the richest one percent of the population has increased its share of national income by almost 10 percentage points (Excel spreadsheet). This comes to $1.5 trillion a year, or as the deficit hawks are fond of saying, $90 trillion over the next 75 years.To put this in context, the size of this upward redistribution to the richest one percent over the last three decades is roughly large enough to double the income of all the households in the bottom half of the income distribution. The upward redistribution amounts to an average of more than 1.2 million dollars a year for each of the families in the richest one percent of the population.More...

Source: The Deficit Hawks Target Nurses and Firefighters