A new development in the Wisconsin union story occurred a few nights ago when Wisconsin's Republican state senators discovered a roundabout way, without any of their Democratic colleagues present, to pass a bill that will strip collective bargaining for public sector employees in the state. The state senators took out the "financial" aspects of the bill and voted to strip collective bargaining rights from public sector employees separate from the budget bill. But banning collective bargaining will have financial ramifications -- especially for family budgets.

Collective bargaining allows for workers to negotiate more effectively for things like higher wages and better benefits. Wisconsin's bill limits collective bargaining over wages and eliminates the power to collectively bargain over benefits and pensions. Without collective bargaining, workers have fewer options for recourse against unfair wages or low benefits, issues women are more likely to face. As has been noted elsewhere, state and local public sector workers are actually paid less than their private sector counterparts, once their qualifications are taken into account, and as we pointed out last week, the majority of public sector workers at the state and local level are women.

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What is commonly called "coming together" is a momentary flicker, a media event that viewers peer at briefly before returning to normal. In that regard, the coming together in Tucson looked to be more of the same. But it's possible to feel a hint of something different. The intensity of emotion surrounding the shootings, the unusual openness of President Obama's speech, and a vague sense of turning the corner, all these things may indicate that decades of rancor may be shifting. Even the Sarah Palin "blood libel" scuffle seemed not so much to rile tempers as to occasion a shrug of "go away, already" from the country.

Sociologists used to claim that the stark divide between red and blue voters wasn't as extreme as popular perception says it is. America is more purple than the media gives it credit for being. As evidence, pollsters pointed out that the average respondent isn't rigidly pro-abortion or anti-abortion, pro-immigration or anti-immigration, and so on. There is wiggle room on the hot button issues of the day. Obama has been playing the long game with this in mind, calling for compromise and across-the-aisle cooperation, no matter how often he gets beaten back. Riding a wave of success at the end of the last Congress, his call for reconciliation in Tucson gathered attention. If he had made the same speech during the hot-headed debate over health care, he probably would have been ignored, with a good deal of backbiting about being weak and letting the Republicans trod all over him.

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The Millard House, also known as "La Miniatura," was one of four patterned concrete block houses that Frank Lloyd Wright designed in the 1920s. It was commissioned by rare book dealer Alice Millard, for whom Wright had already designed a home in Chicago in 1906. In an essay about the home, Hunter Drohojowska-Philp tells of the agreement Millard and Wright had in regards to using the unusual concrete blocks:

Millard was content with the concrete block if she could contribute her own taste to the house in the form of an ornate fire screen in the living room, rustic wooden doors and 18th century Delft tile in the bathrooms. Wright was so excited about his sympathetic client and the charming site that he reduced his fee to accommodate her budget.

The home has four bedrooms and four bathrooms, two kitchens, and a studio guest house that was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright's son, Lloyd Wright, a year after the original home was completed. The listing also notes that the home is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. While the home was initially scorned for its use of concrete blocks (Frank Lloyd Wright himself said they were "the cheapest (and ugliest) thing in the building world," but questioned, "Why not see what could be done with that gutter-rat?"), the home was eventually regarded as one of Wright's most significant pieces of work.

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Via RealEstalker: Max Weinberg, drummer of the Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band and both of Conan O' Brien's Late Night and Tonight Show bands is flipping the Hollywood Hills home that he bought in 2009 for $2,888,000. He and wife Rebecca Weinberg are now selling the modern, glassy home for a cool $3,399,000. RealEstalker dishes about the home's previous owners before the Weinbergs:

The Weinbergs bought the Runyon Canyon adjacent property in February of 2009 from director Stephen Gyllenhaal (Numb3rs, Army Wives and etc.) and screenwriter Naomi Foner (Bee Season, Running on Empty and etc.) who at the time were engaged in a bitter and ugly dee-vorce. Mister Gyllenhaal and Miz Foner are, of course, the parents of Oscar nominated actors Maggie and Jake Gyllenhaal.

The original listing details that the three-bedroom home is connected to a two bedroom, one bathroom guesthouse via a "covered breezeway." The 2,916 square foot home sits on an expansive, grassy lawn and has a swimming pool with city views on almost an acre of land. Take Sunset astutely notes that the home is "ideal for enjoying the Sunset Strip nightlife and is adjacent Runyon Canyon Park," and we're loving the fourteen-foot exposed beam ceilings and master bedroom opening to the rest of the home.

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I don't know about you, but every once in a while I get in the mood to clean out...REALLY clean out. The kind of clean-out that starts at one end and keeps going till there are bags of trash and stuff to get rid of, piled up high. What made me think of this was seeing a story on Yahoo about how people are donating those bags of junk and broken toys to the tornado victims in the Southeast--creating even more of a mess! I know all about those bags....

This past Sunday, I spent all day in the basement with my three daughters, cleaning out. It had gotten to the point where there was no room to play, do crafts of any sort, or even sit. As we sifted through lifetimes of toys and 45 years of Barbie clothing styles (yes, I still have most of mine, mixed in with all of theirs), I couldn't help but wonder why I had allowed so much stuff to get into our house. Too many holidays and birthdays, too many gifts we felt too guilty to get rid of, too many projects half-started and never finished...much too much plastic; and what's left is a mess of epic proportions, and no room left to play or create!

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Frank Gehry’s Schnabel House is now for sale with a listing price of $13 million. The residence was completed in 1989 for Ambassador Rockwell Schnabel and his wife, Marna Schnabel. Marna, who worked under Gehry, has said the design of the home was the Schnabel’s wedding gift. In 2006, the Schnabel house was sold to Tony-award wining producer Jon Platt. He told the Los Angeles Times, “My mission statement for the house was: Take this gorgeous piece of art that happens to be a home and allow it to function as efficiently as a residence designed in 2010.” Thankfully, Gehry was able to assist in the renovation process. The architect said, “People have to live in buildings. You have to roll with the changes. To get locked into a straitjacket of design seems to me counterproductive to one’s life.”

Platt added iPad-controlled mechanics throughout that include climate controls (the home never gets above 75 degrees unless desired), TVs, lighting, security cameras, and windows made of glass that change opacity when it gets too bright. The home is made up of four interconnected stucco, glass, wood, and metal buildings and the grounds feature an olive orchard, a reflecting pond, a lap pool, and view of the Getty Museum. Nancy Goslee Power & Associates orchestrated the landscape design that surrounds the home. The four bedroom, five bathroom house is located in Brentwood and is listed by Hilton & Hyland.

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Chris Hedges's new book, The Death of the Liberal Class (Nation Books, November, 2010) exemplifies the limits of the liberal elite in critiquing itself, its double bind as it responds to the American state going haywire on empire, human rights, and capitalism. Exiled from his former position of privilege at the New York Times, Hedges has been busy impersonating past American Jeremiahs. Yet Hedges's narrative of "dissent" itself is the essence of failed liberalism.

Liberals are retreating farther and farther into defeatism, conspiracy theory, emotional darkness, and tunnel vision. Hedges's progression from War Is a Force That Gives Us Meaning (2002) to American Fascists: The Christian Right and the War on America (2007) to Empire of Illusion: The End of Literacy and the Triumph of Spectacle (2009) to The Death of the Liberal Class (2010) represents the sorry spectacle of the boundaries of American liberalism in confronting horrors not included in its official creed.

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Progress on women's sexual and reproductive health and rights has always been vulnerable to political whims. U.S. foreign policy affects women overseas tremendously, yet often places women's actual well-being secondary to domestic political agendas. To assess the role and impact of current U.S. foreign assistance on maternal health, family planning and HIV/AIDS, the Center for Health and Gender Equity (CHANGE) sponsored a study tour to Ethiopia with three state legislators in July, where we met with the U.S. ambassador, U.S. development staff, national government officials, Ethiopian and international NGOs, health care providers and, most importantly, women themselves. Our strategy was to get the perspectives of key stakeholders before coming to any findings or making any recommendations.

Congress and the American people have great reason to closely monitor the impact of U.S. global health policy on women's health in Ethiopia. The U.S. is a major donor to Ethiopia, providing $900 million in foreign assistance in 2009 alone. We have been able to contribute to positive growth and development in what is one of Africa's poorest countries. The Ethiopian government is currently implementing a community health worker program that is designed to provide comprehensive, integrated health services to women and families who are among the hardest-to-reach. Our partnership with Ethiopia has led to concrete, successful outcomes, including a doubling in just five years of the percentage of women who are using contraception among those who want to avoid or delay pregnancy. It is an example of what U.S. foreign policy can accomplish.

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The answer is "yes." We don't have to wait for financial reform. We don't have to wait for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to come to the rescue. Meaningful change can begin today and it starts by taking on every day and every dollar as though it makes a difference, because it does.

Everyone should have a plain old fashioned savings account that can serve as a safety net if we have a setback. There actually was a long stretch of time in recent American history where our country had a 10 percent personal savings rate and the economy was humming. Before the onset of The Great Recession our personal savings rate bordered on zero leaving us no margin for error. Many of us ignored the need for a savings account because we had a false sense of wealth. We actually bought into the concept that our homes and our securities were worth more than they really were. We didn't need to worry about a job loss or a medical setback because we could have easily covered our expenses by tapping into our home equity. That theory doesn't hold true today, so it's time to rethink our Plan B. The old Plan B was completely flawed anyway; this is actually a perfect time to regroup by setting up a savings plan. Baby steps are fine, but ultimately it's a worthwhile goal to save at least 10 percent of our net income as a safety net on top of what we might be setting aside in a retirement fund.

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Lately, there has been a sharp debate in the United States between cable companies, online distributors and mainstream content providers over the cost of content. This intensified most recently when Fox went so far as to black out New York City from the first game of the National League Championship Series and was threatening to black out the World Series and key NFL games just before a deal was agreed. By blacking out what some consider to be their most valuable content -- sports programs -- Fox used the full weight of its power to force Cablevision's hand. This fight has huge implications which are being poorly covered in the media. Most important to recognize is that fighting about the price of content has disguised the real issue, which is about how much viewers value the content and the resulting effect on advertising prices.

Cable companies make money in two ways -- through subscription fees and through advertising. The networks make their money from advertising and re-transmission fees from cable companies. As the internet, DVR, and the diversity of choices available on cable have eaten into the networks base of eyeballs, it has been more difficult for them to demand the same price point from advertisers. In 2009, advertising revenues for network television were down almost 12% from 2008 for network television. However, their share of advertising revenue in relation to other outlets remained almost flat. The networks hold the line on share by selling more advertising. This further encourages eyeballs to leave to alternatives.

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WikiLeaks is locked in a deadly game of politics in the name of good with blatant disregard to the very collateral damage they espouse to despise. By revealing Valerie Plame, former Vice President Cheney during the reign of Bush II bears the brunt of nuclear proliferation, and the loss of human life. Sadly, we will never know how many perished, or were harmed by these as actions because of national security. And just like Bush II and Cheney, WikiLeaks has anointed themselves Crusaders, and we didn't even vote to elect them.

It is outrageous that this organization has put us at such significant risk. We liberals must stop celebrating these leaks as revelations. The actions of WikiLeaks are audacious. They are ill prepared to review thousands of classified documents that could jeopardize our military, the good citizens of Afghanistan and the rest of the world. What happens if they miss a name or a code word? Do they care how many could potentially be harmed or die? Or is that just collateral damage in the name of good, or what WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange and crew decide is good? These mistakes could aid the wholesale lunacy of the big, bad Taliban. Do we really want to sleep with this enemy? I think not. It's horrific that the former administration sacrificed nukes for their oil agenda. Yet now WikiLeaks has the potential to be far more heinous than anything Bush and Cheney dreamed up in the name of this country. And what they did was not good.

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In custody decisions, mothers are more likely to receive primary residential custody than fathers. Although in the past decade there has been an increase in equal residential custody, mothers are still much more likely to be awarded primary residential care. Across a wide range of jurisdictions the estimates are that mothers receive primary custody 68-88% of the time, fathers receive primary custody 8-14%, and equal residential custody is awarded in only 2-6% of the cases.

Sanford Braver and his colleagues at Arizona State University recently conducted a study to see how the public would judge custody decisions and their perceptions of the legal system regarding custody (Psychology, Public Policy and Law, 2011). To examine these questions, the researchers developed three hypothetical cases in which the only variation in the cases was the amount of time that the mothers and fathers had participated in caregiving prior to the divorce. In one case, the mother provided 75% of the caregiving prior to the divorce, in the second case, the father provided 75% of the caregiving and in the third case the caregiving was 50% by both parents. These cases were presented to citizens who had been summoned to serve on a jury panel in an Arizona community. About 100 people participated in this study. The participants were given the three hypothetical cases, and then asked to imagine themselves as the judge deciding these cases based on the merits of the cases and what was best for the child. In each case they were asked how much time the child should spend with each parent.

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However you define it, the truth implies a connection to reality that can be tested. It's true that helium is lighter than air and that water boils at 212 degrees Fahrenheit. Science depends on being able to revisit those facts over and over without getting strangely ambiguous results. Yet things are shifting in stranger ways than anyone ever expected, as one discovers in an eye-opening article that appeared around Christmas in The New Yorker. Everyone who is interested in how truth works should read Jonah Lehrer's troubling "The Truth Wears Off," which can still be found online.

What Lehrer is primarily concerned with is replicability, the term scientists use for repeating an experiment and arriving at the same result. Certainly the most important findings in science have been repeated many times over. Not necessarily. Some results, particularly in medicine, are not holding up at all. This "decline effect" forms the central mystery, because no accepted reason has been found for why a treatment should suddenly begin to dwindle in its effectiveness. Lehrer cites three prominent examples: antipsychotic drugs, hormone replacement therapy for women past menopause, and the use of aspirin to prevent heart attacks. In all three, the treatments are still widely endorsed in the medical literature, ignoring the fact that the decline effect is in full swing, meaning that the original results expected from these treatments are simply not there anymore or have declined to a fraction of what they once were.

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New York Times movie critic A.O. Scott penned his review of the new rendition of Gulliver's Travels in the voice of Jonathan Swift, the satirist who wrote the original work. "Now, my good Sir, I hope I do not err in venturing a Comparison. Perhaps you are familiar with 'Night at the Museum'?" Scott writes. Others have taken to comparing the original work to this Jack Black-led comedy. "He's mainly a jolly giant here," says one critic. When director Rob Letterman took certain liberties in updating the tale to click with a younger, modern audience, did he stray too far from the original Swift story?

It doesn't stay true to the book: "In spite of surface similarities," says Chris Knight in National Post, "the film has little in common with the novel of old." The novel was a "send-up of England and France, their enmity, politics, customs, religious divisions and foibles. The movie is merely a safe-for-kids rom-com with an emphasis on (pun unavoidable) personal growth." What we get is "a tame tale, neither as clever as might be hoped nor as tasteless as one might fear."

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Twenty years ago when we started The George Lucas Educational Foundation, we thought it would be 10 years before the general public would understand that the education system was in serious need of fixing. Today, in the wake of new energy in Washington D.C., new focus in the educational and philanthropic communities, and with the recent release of the film Waiting for 'Superman', the nation is getting a better picture of what is wrong with public education in America. And people are finally talking about it.

It's time to have a conversation about what's right in our schools, what's working. And as we debate what to do to fix the problems, let's remember that there are successes in education every day we can emulate. In districts of every stripe and demographic make-up, educators are dedicating themselves to providing their students with a high quality 21st century education and using new technologies to make it happen. They are showing kids how to find and analyze information and how to creatively deploy their analyses to solve problems. These educators are beginning to reinvent the learning process, guiding students through rigorous, real-life projects that integrate core academic topics and personalize the learning experience based on a child's strengths and weaknesses. They are building confidence and ambition in children, by supporting them emotionally and providing a safe, engaging environment to learn. Most importantly, these innovative educators are creating a next generation of citizens with academic knowledge and problem solving abilities that will serve our country for years to come.

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Even as the aftershocks of the March 11 Touhoku quake continued to rock Japan, a group of people came together and determined to do something in response. The Wall Street Journal chronicled their efforts, and the result is a remarkable book, called 2:46: Aftershocks: Stories from the Japan Earthquake.

Recorded, written, and published in just over one week, and available as of this morning, it's a stunning collection of firsthand accounts, photographs, art, and essays (including an original by cyberpunk science fiction legend William Gibson), 100 percent of the proceeds of which go to the Japanese Red Cross and its critical work of aiding the quake's victims. I'm very proud to have contributed the foreword, which I'm posting here in hopes it will entice more people to get involved. Please, buy a copy of the book, share on Facebook, like Quakebook on Facebook, post something about it on your blog, follow Quakebook on Twitter, tweet about it with the hashtag #Quakebook -- whatever you can do to help get out the word and help a nation and people that desperately need it. Thank you.

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Jennifer Pastiloff is well known amongst west-side yogis for her classes at Yoga Co, Equinox, Fred Segal Santa Monica, and Lululemon, as well as her ongoing Manifestation Retreats in Ojai. But when Pastiloff's four-year-old nephew Blaise, who has autism, was recently diagnosed with Prader-Willi Syndrome, she and sister Rachel began a new venture, Gifts And Miracles Everyday (G.A.M.E.) Yoga to give free yoga classes to children with disabilities. Prader-Willi Syndrome is a disorder of the fifteenth chromosome that can result cognitive impairment, an extremely slow metabolism, and chronic feelings of hunger that often lead to life-threatening obesity and other health problems.

Upon hearing of Blaise's diagnosis, Pastiloff remembers, "I noticed my nephew would copy me with yoga, and I had previously worked giving free classes for cancer survivors. So I decided I wanted to give back and thought, 'what could I do?'" Pastiloff is starting small and currently works with children who have Down syndrome and autism, as well one child who is blind. She teaches on Saturdays at 12:30pm in rooms donated by Santa Monica studio Yoga Co, and she is assembling a team to expand her class schedule.

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Just how significant are the new rules announced by the Obama administration to expand purposeful travel and economic assistance to Cuba? Do they signal a renewed "thaw" in bilateral relations, coming as they did just after diplomatic reports that an American USAID subcontractor detained in Cuba more than a year ago may soon get to go home? Are they a "response" from the Obama administration to the Raul Castro government's recent economic reforms and release of dozens of political prisoners? Are they a far and weakened cry from what should have been a full and confident overhaul of the poster child for dumb U.S. policies that cost us far more in treasure and credibility than they've ever achieved? Or are they this administration's return to its pledge early on to move Cuba policy out of the past and into the future? The correct answer may be in the eye of the beholder.

In comparison with the Clinton administration's initiatives of more than a decade ago, these new rules don't break a lot of new ground. But they do break some, in giving general licenses to religious and credit-earning academic travel, and in authorizing other U.S. airports to host licensed flights to Cuba. What's so frustrating is this administration could have come in and swept away much of the deadwood Cuba policy it inherited - and earned valuable points abroad - but instead it dragged its feet and allowed itself to be bullied for two years.

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Earlier this week, I wrote a piece suggesting that Americans who want to end the war in Afghanistan ought to consider supporting former New Mexico Governor Gary Johnson in the GOP primary, as a means of raising the profile and impact of Republican sentiment against the war. I noted while according to the Washington Post, 56% of Republican voters want to see a substantial withdrawal of U.S. combat troops from Afghanistan this summer - half of Republicans don't think the war's worth fighting - you can count on your fingers the Republicans in the House who have supported any initiative to press against indefinite continuation of the war, and so far not a single Republican in the Senate has done anything against the war. I suggested that if Republicans critical of the war rise in the primary, that could move the debate in Washington and end the war sooner, because the so far near-monolithic support of the war by Republican officials has been a key political cause of the continuation of the war.

On Wednesday, the Washington Post noted that polling data suggests that Republican candidates who oppose the war could rise in the GOP primary:

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Today is World Autism Awareness Day. The United Nations established this day in 2007 (Resolution 62/139) to annually raise awareness of autism as a global health crisis with particular emphasis on early diagnosis and early intervention. This is also a day to celebrate the unique talents and accomplishments of individuals living with autism in each of our communities worldwide. To commemorate the event, prominent buildings and icons in the United States and around the world -- including the Empire State Building in New York City --will turn their outer lights blue on April 1 and 2.

With 1 out of 110 children diagnosed with an Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) in the United States today (a new case is diagnosed almost every 15 minutes) parents and professionals must strive to identify those children at risk as soon as possible. New research following newborns who have a sibling with ASD suggests that an infant who is later diagnosed with ASD shows evidence of developmental delays in social interaction and communication by 6-12 months of age. Early identification allows treatment to begin immediately for these children, offering the greatest potential for them to live a full and meaningful life.

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The dilemma in world politics today is that the UN remains unable to produce a coherent blueprint to face legitimacy conflicts in the developing world. Lacking its own armed force, the UN offers only the same old global management. But global management by the UN alone has failed to translate the concept of collective security into a predictable policy backed by decisive and credible actions. The prime example of such a failure is Ivory Coast, where, at this moment, bullets are replacing ballot boxes to institute democracy.

Following its November 28 runoff election, the Ivory Coast had two presidents, two prime ministers, and two governments -- or it had until yesterday. The runoff was intended to end a decade of political and military crisis. Instead the country plunged into a deeper crisis when the Constitutional Council, which was led by an ally of incumbent President Laurent Gbagbo, declared him the winner, alleging that the ballot was fraudulent in parts of the north controlled by the rebels. The Council thereby overruled the Independent Electoral Commission's decision in favor of the challenger, Alassane Ouattara, a day before it was formalized. Despite the fact that Ouattara is recognized internationally as the duly elected president, Gbagbo refused to step down. The presence of French and UN peacekeeping troops did not dissuade him from usurping power.

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Sitting here in a country that did not give women the right to vote until 1971 and where today four of the seven member governing body are women, I am struck by the uneven progress and persistent barriers that woman face in specific fields. The International Herald Tribune led with a story today about the wide gender gap at top of the ladder in Europe. On that note I headed into this morning's WEF session titled, "Six Global Challenges, One Solution: Women."

Some of the true leaders pushing gender equity as an issue affecting all aspects of our world were with us. President Michelle Bachelet, who having finished transforming Chile, has now taken the helm of a new effort called UN Women, provided informed insight into the realities of gender inequity. Laura Tyson, long a leader in economic policy for the US, provided guidance to keep the conversation on track. Laura Liswood, from the Council of Women World Leaders and senior adviser to Goldman Sachs, Beth Brooke of Ernst & Young, Tae Yoo of Cisco were among the impressive women in the room who have been at the table for years, fighting for political capital around these issues in very meaningful ways. All of them offered provocative comments that will continue to resonate with me for some time to come. There were even some men in the room (of course not enough) who contributed meaningful ideas and solutions. In general, I was struck by how strong a case the data makes for changing the equation for girls and women.

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Earlier this month, the American Academy of Pediatrics issued a new policy statement on sexuality, contraception and the media. It emphasized that the United States has the highest teen pregnancy rates in the Western World, and that adolescents have among the highest rates of sexually transmitted infections of any age group. It reviewed the studies on the relationship between the availability of contraception and sexual activity, denouncing what it termed the "dangerous myth" that giving teens access to birth control will make them sexually active at younger ages. What is it did not discuss is the ironic role of the "wait until marriage" efforts in driving up the rates of single parenthood.

The college educated middle class, which has deferred marriage until their late twenties and beyond, has no illusions about the prospects for abstinence through the completion of graduate school. Yet it has successfully held the line on single parenthood, with non-marital birthrates that have fallen during a period in which they have risen for the everyone else. Moral values advocates, who preach abstinence, oppose abortion, fight the greater availability of contraception, and promote marriage, decry the rise of the country's non-marital birth to 40%. But the group most likely to espouse these values, whites who begin families in their early twenties and traditionalists of all races, have seen their divorce and non-marital birth rates continue to increase. What explains the irony? We believe it is the failure to think about alternatives when abstinence fails.

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The Move Your Money campaign has some new allies: elected officials in the Empire State. Recent legislation passed by both houses of the state legislature directs that all state funds be deposited in financial institutions that meet the credit needs of low- and moderate-income communities. Similarly, New York City Comptroller John C. Liu has teamed with unions to press banks to improve their service to local communities by increasing the number of loan modifications they undertake so that these banks will reduce the number of foreclosures in New York City's neighborhoods. If the big banks fail to do so, there is the threat that these institutions will move their money to banks and credit unions with better track records of meeting community needs. These approaches combine two important concepts: the need for conscientious banking by consumers and making sure banks respond to community needs.

The most important federal legislation to address whether banks meet such community needs is the federal Community Reinvestment Act (CRA). While other states and localities are pursuing Move Your Money strategies, New York, like a handful of other states, has now passed legislation that gives those strategies the force of law. Not only should Governor Paterson sign the legislation into law, but other states should consider following suit. At the same time, if Move Your Money approaches are to tie themselves to CRA compliance and the extent to which bank conduct meets the needs of local communities, then Congress and federal regulators need to reform the CRA to expand its reach and fulfill its purpose.

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The dramatic changes in Turkish foreign policy and strategy in its regional and international relations in the first decade of the new century stand in sharp contrast with that of its immediate past. At no time since their days at the helm of the Ottoman Empire have Turks commanded as much international attention as they do going into 2011. However along with this attention comes increased anxiety and questions about the character, direction and orientation of Ataturk's modern Turkish Republic. Turkey's European Union process is still ongoing, but seems to be in a deep-freeze all the more stark because of the simultaneous warming of relations between Turkey and its neighbors, particularly its Muslim ones. The rise of the conservative Justice and Development Party (AKP) and its Muslim worldview as the dominant and unrivaled force in Turkish politics as personified by Prime Minister ErdoÄŸan has only heightened fears among many in the West that Turkey is on the cusp of becoming another Islamic Republic. Rather than seeing further democratization and economic interests behind Turkey's re-orientation towards its neighborhood, they see a final nail being placed in the coffin of the military and secular elites that once pushed ardently for Westernization. Given the beginning of a new decade and year, it is important to assess exactly where Turkey is today and what is driving these changes.

End and Beginning of an Era

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When Gayle Tzemach Lemmon, author of The Dressmaker of Khair Khana, first met Kamila Sidiqi, it was to interview her as the basis of a case study in female entrepreneurship for Harvard Business School. Kamila had overcome enormous odds to begin a home-based seamstress business in her neighborhood of Khair Khana in Kabul, Afghanistan, a business that grew to encompass dozens of female workers (and some males, like one of Kamila's brothers who proved to be particularly adept at embroidery) and that became not only a steady wage-provider for all its workers but also a teaching cooperative and a sanctuary. It is this aspect of Kamela's story -- how she provided a sanctuary of productivity, creativity, and hope amidst the oppressive practices of the ruling Taliban regime -- that transformed the business school case study into an inspirational exemplar of how one person can make a huge difference, no matter the odds against her.

In 1996, Kamila was a newly trained teacher, ready to make her mark on the world. But then the Taliban rolled into Kabul, laying down an oppressive and regressive regime that condemned women to virtual imprisonment in their homes, while forcing many of the men to flee (including Kamila's father and later her older brothers) for fear of imprisonment or being forced to fight for the Taliban military. Stuck at home with little to do (other than reading and rereading volumes of poetry and novels) and becoming increasingly impoverished, Kamila searched about for some way to alleviate the combined stresses of boredom, fear, and poverty.

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In 2011, thanks to the triumph of public health and medical interventions, Americans will live 30 years longer, on average, than they did a century ago. In fact, there are more than 100,000 people in the United States who have lived to be more than 100. These dramatic advances have resulted in a shift in the threats to American's health. In the early 1900s, when average life expectancy was 48, the leading killers were infectious diseases like smallpox, tuberculosis and diphtheria, but today the major causes of death are chronic illnesses including heart and lung disease, cancer and stroke.

Many of these illnesses are preventable. Smoking, a health damaging behavior in which about 20 percent of the U.S. population engages, is the largest preventable cause of death in the U.S. [1] Furthermore, for every person who dies from a smoking-related illness, 20 more live with at least one smoking-related chronic disease such as lung disease, heart disease and cancer. [2] The two-thirds of Americans who are overweight or obese are at greater risk for cardiovascular disease, cancer, diabetes and stroke. If this trajectory is not changed, one in three children born today will develop type 2 diabetes as well as other obesity related illnesses, and as a result, this generation of children may become the first that does not live as long and is less healthy than their parents. [3] Alcohol abuse accounts for 79,000 premature and preventable deaths every year, and is linked to liver disease, cancer, cardiovascular illness, stroke and dementia. [4] Furthermore, 75 percent of the $2.6 trillion health care budget in America is associated with these preventable lifestyle factors.

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Via Curbed LA: It's Old Hollywood glamor all over this Beverly Hills mansion, complete with black and white marble tiles, crystal chandeliers, tufted velvet upholstery, and palm trees. The former residence of actress Marion Davies (silent film/talkies star and girlfriend of publishing mogul William Randolph Hearst) is now on the market for $12.5 million dollars. Subsequent owners of the home include producer Harry Cohn and then writer Aleen Leslie. The property encompasses about 6,000 square feet of living space and sits atop a 1.47 acre lot. It has five bedrooms, five-and-a-half bathrooms, and according to the original listing has hosted such guests as Charlie Chaplin and Rudolph Valentino for Marion's renowned and lavish parties.

Curbed LA uncovered this gem about Hearst and Davies keeping up appearances during the 1920s from the book Hollywood: The Movie Lover's Guide, by Richard Alleman:

In the mid-1920s, William Randolph Hearst bought this beautiful mansion for his mistress, Marion Davies. Just to keep everything on the up and up--on paper, anyway--the house was bought in the name of Marion's mother, Rose, who also lived there.

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Who knew Kate Middleton embodied the Midwestern values of hard work, patience and common sense? Or that she's a role model in the land of upward mobility? That's the message from Grand Rapids, Michigan, where an exhibition celebrating the life of Prince William's mother Diana has attracted thousands from across the Great Plain states. The engagement of Prince William and Kate Middleton was announced days after the exhibition opened, prompting even more visitors to the Grand Rapids Art Museum. What better place to explore America's continuing fascination with royalty, and the appeal of William and Kate, than in a city which hadn't even been settled back in 1776?

Barb Bierens and Susan Mackett proved most instructive on both counts. I found them watching video of the flowers piling up on the streets of London in the days after Diana's death. As children, they saw the Queen's coronation on TV and found royalty to be cold, austere and remote. The only appeal was a distant historical connection to the old country. But there was nothing approachable or engaging about that version of royalty. Everything changed with Diana -- here was a magnetic royal whose movie-star good looks and headline-making philanthropy appealed to the American sensibility. Barb and Susan see the same potential in William and Kate -- youth, modernity, a sense of public duty and more than a touch of Diana's glamor. In a land where the rich and the privileged very publicly give back, Barb and Susan are already watching closely to find out which charity Kate will choose to champion.

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On Saturday, I ate tapas at the site of the former headquarters of the Spanish Inquisition. It was in Palma's main square, Placa Major, and the tapas were pretty unpleasant, but not, one assumes, as unpleasant as some of the experiences that preceded them in centuries past. When I got back to London, after two weeks in a sun-drenched bubble with no news, internet, telly or Miliballs, not much seemed to have changed. More than 500 years after the Pope suggested to another happy ruling couple that they set up a kind of Star Chamber to do with cuts (fingers, toe-nails, bowels etc), an awful lot of people seemed to be awfully busy protecting God's honour.

First, a nutcase in Godknowswhereville had said he was going to take a book he'd never read and set it alight, and then maybe not tidy his bedroom, and then maybe not eat his tea (though that would be surprising for an American) because he wanted to teach some pesky foreigners a thing or two, although what exactly he wanted to teach them wasn't quite clear, and the President of the world's only remaining superpower actually made a statement about it, and so did the Secretary of State, and so did every Tom, Dick and Ali in every newspaper all over the world, and then a lot of people who didn't seem to be terribly good at group efforts when it came to helping their brothers and sisters in Pakistan took to the streets and started doing what they are very, very good at: threatening violence.

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Via The Los Angeles Times: This four bedroom, six bathroom house has "celebrity party pad" written all over it. Reality shows like E's It's Complicated with Denise Richards and E's Love Is In The Heir were both filmed here, and stars like Def Jam Records co-founder Russell Simmons, Sean "Diddy" Combs, and Fabio have all hosted bashes here. Located in the hills above Sunset, the 6,532 square foot home is owned by glamour photographer Richard Franklin, who essentially made the house a photo studio. Franklin no doubt also bought this home as a bachelor pad, and tricked it out so occupants could throw some of the most lavish, fun parties in town. The home includes a two-story disco, a dancing studio with a pole, casino room, cave grotto with a hot tub and waterfall, and home theater with a floor-to-ceiling screen. There is also a sauna, steam, and shower room for those looking to detox a long night. Oh, and did we mention the pool and spa with panoramic views? The home is listed at $7.5 million, but is also available for lease, perhaps in case any Hollywood heavyweights want to snatch it up temporarily for a couple of epic celebrations. A house like this leaves us with only one final question: what time does the party start?

Photos by Richard Franklin, courtesy of the official listing with Patrick Norman of Rodeo Realty.

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