Latest News and Politics from the U.S. - Huffington Post (April 2011 Diet)

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Justin MeyersMore...

Source: Facebook Unfriending Made Easy With iPhone App

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I blame myself.And I almost never do that.More...

Source: I Blame Myself

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Bob Parsons: business guru or Neanderthal?It's a question that's divided the country for the past few days ever since Bob's personal 'poverty-reduction mission' to Zimbabwe (which involved shooting an elephant) hit the headlines.More...

Source: The "Wisdom" of Bob Parsons

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Last month, a wildlife biologist for the federal government took a phone call from a manmade island north of Alaska, where a polar bear had emerged from a snow drift perhaps 6-10 feet deep on top of the artificial ground.It wasn't a joke. An ENI Petroleum worker called the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on March 18 to report the sighting on Spy Island, an offshore drill site a few miles off the Beaufort Sea coast near Ooliktok Point.More...

Source: Spy Island Polar Bears, Meet the World

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A Brazilian gunman's deadly rampage at a Rio de Janeiro public school left 11 children dead and sent shockwaves throughout the South American nation, which had never seen a tragedy of this nature before.As the Associated Press is reporting, at least other 18 people, mostly Tasso de Oliveira students, were injured and taken to local hospitals, where at least four remained in grave condition. The culprit is thought to be a former student, who also died.More...

Source: Brazil School Shooting Highlights Incidents Around The World

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Bryce Covert sat down with Roosevelt Institute Senior Fellow Bo Cutter, who was Director of the National Economic Council and Deputy Assistant to the President from 1992-1996 during the Clinton Presidency and the last government shutdown. He explains why the current shutdown is small potatoes compared to the looming battle over the debt ceiling and other things you need to know.Bryce Covert: What are the odds of a total government shutdown?More...

Source: What Actually Happens When the Government Shuts Down (And Other Things You Don't Know About the Budget Fight)

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Relations with North Korea these days are about as cold as they could be. There haven't been any talks between Washington and Pyongyang for many months. The South Korean government, although it spends a lot of money to store the rice it can't sell, is not interested in sending humanitarian aid despite the recent UN report that as much as one-quarter of the North Korean population is on the edge of starvation.Jimmy Carter has announced that he plans to go on what might be called a geopolitical elder hostel to North Korea, along with Kofi Annan, Mary Robinson, Gro Harlem Brundtland, and other former world leaders. They aim to break the deadlock. More power to them. They could pick up a lot of money in speaking fees, just as George W. Bush is doing at the Lancaster Chamber of Commerce later this month, but are instead going on what is certainly nobody's idea of a junket. More...

Source: Breaking the Deadlock With North Korea

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A New York Times story today is titled, "On Budget Dispute, Obama Casts Himself as Mediator in Chief."  To me this is chilling, if obvious. He has long been the mediator, as if he were a Sunday morning talk show host.  The attitude that he must always appear calm, always work toward compromise and avoid at all costs appearing to be a rabble-rouser, is now taking an enormous toll.Like today's media, he gives equal time to the opposition. Now we have someone representing the anti-gravity point of view, says the allegedly objective talk show host.  Tell us, why do you believe gravity is a myth? Obama wants to compromise with the anti-gravity extremists rather than calling them out in a loud and angry voice, calling them what they really are.More...

Source: The Tragedy of Defensive Politics

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Long-disinvested communities frequently lack amenities, including walkable access to neighborhood parks.  Yet parks and neighborhoods need each other.  In his well-researched book Urban Green, my friend Peter Harnik of the Trust for Public Land persuasively makes the case that parks need urban density nearby in order to be cared for and thrive, while neighborhoods can use parks to attract more investment, housing and businesses.  Peter heads the Trust’s Center for City Park Excellence.More...

Source: Village Green: How Parks Can Help Distressed Neighborhoods

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(Wherein we seem to have not one, not two, but three great choices. For Part Six of this story please click here. For Part One, so you can get all caught up and stuff, click here!)After seeing this Jetsons-esque high-rise we all piled into my car, after a perfunctory debate about whether I or Karen should drive. Karen got into the back, and guided us about ten blocks north, more into the heart of Bay Ridge. There was no legal parking to be found, so we parked in front of a hydrant, as I had seen Avram from Hamotzi Realty do several weeks before. If we're only in an apartment for 15-20 minutes -- which is how long these things seem to take -- then the odds of a cop coming by, at night, are pretty slim.More...

Source: New York City Apartment Hell Pt. 7