By Erica and Matt Chua, on Mon Mar 11, 2013 at 10:00 AM ET
Are we going to see a bunch of sand? Do we have enough water? Why are we visiting the desert anyways? These are the questions I asked myself as the alarm sounded at an alarmingly early 7AM. The desert doesn’t have much to offer us humans, in fact, the word “inhospitable” comes to mind, inhospitable as in “stay out!” By the end of the day though I was glad we did some desert exploring in the Sinai Peninsula in Egypt.
Follow this guy into the desert? Seemed like the start of an Indian Jones movie…
Visiting the desert was high on our list of things to do in Jordan, but then we got there. It cost roughly 20 times more than we were prepared to pay, offered less than half of the things we’d want to see, and, to top it all off, seemed like it was going to be way more work than I was willing to expend to be dry roasted. When I saw inexpensive tours from Dahab in the Sinai I thought, “why not?” and signed up for the Colored Canyon and White Desert Safari.
By Garrett Renfro, RP Staff, on Fri Mar 8, 2013 at 1:30 PM ET
The Politics of Faith
The College of Cardinals have gathered in Rome and settled on a date to begin the process of electing a new Pope. The Conclave is set to begin on Tuesday, March 12 and continue until a successor for Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI is elected. Though most Cardinals claim that the process is immune to political lobbying, many outsiders consider this to be a disingenuous assertion. In an article for the Guardian, Sam Jones discusses the vast differences and similarities among the heavy favorites. [Guardian]
The Kentucky State Senate passed House Bill 279 yesterday evening. The bill dubbed “The Religious Freedom Restoration Act” has caused a major stir over the last week. Proponents suggest that the act will help ensure freedom from religious persecution in the state. Opponents fear that the bill is a veiled gutting of local civil rights ordinances in such cities as Louisville, Lexington, Covington and Vicco. The bill passed the Senate by a vote of 29-6 has been sent to Governor Beshear for his signature or veto.[C-J]
In a surprising about-face former President Bill Clinton, in an op-ed for the Washington Post, has called on the Supreme Court to overturn the Defense of Marriage Act. Though President Clinton signed DOMA into law, he has now admitted that the law is Unconstitutional, acknowledging that the world was a much different place 17 years ago. Clinton’s turnabout will likely send shock waves through the gay rights movement as well as the ranks of those advocating for “traditional” marriage ahead of the Supreme Court taking the matter up on March 27.
By John Y. Brown III, on Fri Mar 8, 2013 at 12:00 PM ET
Confession.
Not like St Augustine’s….but a more modern version with dental implications.
I would like to make a public confession about something I have been deliberately deceptive about for over 40 years.
I continue promising things will change, but frankly, they never have. And I feel guilt and shame…and mild pain that is helped only by Anbesol gel.
For over 40 years when asked by the dental hygienist and/or dentist “Are you flossing regularly?” I also lead them to believe I have been flossing more than I really have—and to make matters worse—add that I will do better before the next appointment. But don’t.
(Once I indicated a flossed with some limited regularity when, in fact, I hadn’t flossed even once in the last 6 months. Except with the corner of sugar packages and once with a toothpick.)
Over 40 years of cumulative deceit can weigh heavy on a man’s heart. And on his dental health. And I need to come clean.
So I can again, look myself in the eye in the mirror. And at the three remaining wisdom teeth when flossing.
If not for my teeth, I need to at least do it for my soul.
By Jonathan Miller, on Fri Mar 8, 2013 at 10:00 AM ET
Today marks the 25th anniversary of this Jewish pischer’s baptism into politics.
I’d been working for then Tennessee Senator Al Gore’s underdog bid for President for months, but March 8, 1988, “Super Tuesday,” was considered the potential game changer, two decades before “game changer” became a political cliché.
Since Lyndon Johnson’s 1964 landslide, Democrats had been wandering in the Electoral College desert, only winning one Presidential election in 1976, in the aftermath of the GOP Watergate meltdown. Our problems had been identified by LBJ himself when he prophesized that Democrats “have lost the South for a generation,” upon his courageous signing of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Many blamed a leftward lurch by the party during the final years of Vietnam and the emergence of its George McGovernite wing, unfairly stereotyped as a bunch of hippies favoring “acid, amnesty and abortion.”
I had signed up for the 39-year-old Gore’s campaign because of his thoughtful and progressive views on arms control and the environment. But I also believed that as a more moderate Southerner, he could help the Democratic Party end its losing streak and take back control of the White House.
Behind the scenes, party moderates and pragmatists had been working on a plan to facilitate the election of a more electable nominee. At the core was the creation of “Super Tuesday” — a day with 21 primaries taking place, including all of the Southern states. The theory was that a Democratic nominee who could win the Southern primaries could win the nation in the fall.
As the returns came in 25 years ago today, I excitedly sat in the campaign war room — a 20 year old surrounded by a veteran group of 20- and 30- somethings. (My great friend from that campaign — and No Labels co-founder, Nancy Jacobson — calls me to this day the “campaign mascot.”)
I was in charge of keeping track of the vote tallies on the war room chalkboard. (Yes, this is before whiteboards and erasable markers, kids.) Things looked very promising when Al Gore steamrolled through the Upper South: his home state of Tennessee, Arkansas, North Carolina, Oklahoma, and best of all, my old Kentucky home. (Side note: The Kentucky state director for the campaign is to this day, my best frenemy, George Phillips (read about him here). This is the only time in history George has ever celebrated a Kentucky victory — he is, natch, a Dukie.)
But, we were losing everywhere else: Jesse Jackson took the Deep South, while Mike Dukakis took the big prizes, Texas and Florida, where liberal voters dominated the primary electorate. While Gore stayed in the race a few more weeks, he was after “Super Tuesday” dead man walking. Dukakis ultimately won the nomination, but as many of us feared, was branded too liberal, and lost in the fall to the first George Bush. But not for a lack of me trying:
Well, we heard from Gore later, when he joined a fellow Southerner on the 1992 Democratic presidential ticket that finally turned the party’s fortunes around.
So while March 8, 1988 ended up on a sour note, it was a day that changed our country for the better.
And it began my love affair with politics, which continues to this day, albeit from outside any war rooms.
A lot of what I hear from new clients is a desire for what I call “Next Level Style”. Next Level Style is the development of a look that is uniquely one’s own, one that will make others sit up and take notice (but only to the degree wanted, of course!). One of my favorite things to do as a stylist is to seek out clothing and accessory items that will create that affect. No more walking into your office and seeing another guy in the same exact Brooks Brothers shirt and Ferragamo tie. With that goal in mind, today I’m shining the spotlight on stingray, a material you’ve possibly never heard of in relation to style.
Stingray leather (also known as “shagreen”) is extremely durable and has been used throughout history for everything from swanky armored clothing to sword handle wraps. Today in the fashion world, stingray is used on items ranging from wallets to shoes. One of the nice things about this skin is that stingrays aren’t threatened by extinction, so its leather can be sourced easily, which also contributes to its relatively low pricing. In fact, stingrays are found in abundance in the shallow, warm waters of the Pacific Rim and are fished commercially as a primary food source.
Here are my 6 favorite stingray items currently available that I hope will inspire you to get some new hides into your rotation.
Read the rest of… Julie Rath: Try a New Hide — Stingray
By John Y. Brown III, on Thu Mar 7, 2013 at 12:00 PM ET
At the coffee shop this morning and I notice the subtle difference in how women and men communicate with the same sex when meeting for business purposes. Each table seems to have two people talking away with files and laptops and tablets and legal pads covering up the table leaving a few inches open for their coffee and pastries.
At tables where women are ta…lking to women, they each listen while the other is talking. They are “connecting” and fully engaged with each other.
At tables where men are talking to men, they each are pretending to listen but primarily preparing what they will say next. They aren’t really in connecting mode but rather “transacting mode.”
What is most interesting is that at tables where a man and a women are are having a business conversation the man listens and is trying to “connect” and the women is thinking about what she is going to say next —and trying to pretend like she is connecting.
And here’s the irony: The same man who when talking business with another man knows his colleague isn’t really listening (even though his colleague is pretending to listen), when talking to a women believes they are really connecting (even though his female colleague is only pretending to connect.)
By Jonathan Miller, on Thu Mar 7, 2013 at 10:00 AM ET
What a long, strange week it’s been. A few highlights:
I Stood with Ashley Judd: The week began with my appearance on Kentucky Newsmakers debating my friend, Democratic political consultant Dale Emmons, about the viability of an Ashley Judd candidacy for the U.S. Senate. But days after celebrating the strong comments of support for Judd by State House Speaker Greg Stumbo, I was lamenting a very disturbing column in the state’s largest newspaper that gave a platform to a spouter of anti-Semitic conspiracy theory to launch a rant against the actress/humanitarian.
I Stood with Israel: I had the pleasure of attending the 2013 Policy Conference of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), with over 12,000 of my closest friends. I have been participating in this annual event, off-and-on, for two decades, but I am always impressed by the growing number of evangelical Christians with whom we’ve made common cause, as well as the thousands of college students who are on the front lines of the battle against anti-Zionism. Unfortunately, Israel’s biggest enemies in recent years have come from the so-called “Left” who conveniently ignore the extraordinary advances the Jewish State has made for women, the LGBT community, and a more compassionate capitalism. (Shameless plug time for my e-book, The Liberal Case for Israel).
I Stood for Hemp: I proudly joined James Comer, Kentucky’s young, Republican Commissioner of Agriculture as he won yet another battle to push the state closer to a regulatory structure for legalized industrial hemp, a cash crop that could create hundreds, if not thousands, of jobs in the Bluegrass State. I find myself on the other side of some of my Democratic friends on these efforts, just as I am opposed to state Senate Republicans as they try to water down a good piece of legislation sponsored by young Democratic Secretary of State Allison Grimes to ease the burden for our overseas military to vote, and to add a poison pill to important legislation drafted by young Democratic Auditor Adam Edelen that would promote transparency and ethics for state’s special taxing districts, that have grown into a billion dollar shadow government.
I Stood with Rand Paul: OK, admittedly I was prone during much of the latter parts of the more than 12 hour fillibuster waged by Kentucky’s junior Senator. And I usually disagree with Rand Paul when he is critical of the President that I supported in both elections. However, I think Paul’s stunt yesterday highlighted a real civil liberties problem in this country, and I strongly support his efforts to discourage the use of drones and promote the American system of justice whenever possible.
And now, a few conclusions:
I’m so glad to be a recovering politician: It’s weeks like these that make me so happy and relieved to be outside the center of the political arena. The hyper-partisanship in Frankfort and Washington is suffocating, and consistently killls important pieces of legislation for all the wrong reasons. Additionally, there is no way an active politician can find himself straying from his party establishment on so many critical issues without paying a severe political price. While I am sure this very post will piss off several of my friends, I no longer have to worry about the impact on my career of expressing what I truly believe.
I’m so proud to be a No Labels co-founder: When I helped launch No Labels two years ago, I couldn’t anticipate how much lower our system of government would sink in such a short period of time. The very antics I decry above, as well as the unusual bi-partisan alliances I experienced just this week, further convince me that the No Labels’ priority of problem-solving over hyper-partisanship is the only thing that can fix our broken politics.
Red and Blue are overrated: I am a proud progressive Democrat. But the days of doctrinaire partisanship and ideology are behind us. In the past week, I found myself, depending on the issue, allied with liberal Democrats, moderate Democrats, conservative Republicans and Tea Party Republicans/Libertarians. That’s the way it is for most Americans, particularly in my generation and younger. And that’s the path for future progress for our nation.
First things first, I am not an endocrinologist (only play one on TV J) and I am not a registered dietician. I like to think of myself as a problem solver, a MacGyver of sorts. Because in all reality that’s what we do as trainers, we solve problems with the knowledge base that we have, no matter how unconventional it is. With that said, there are a lot of theories out about people lose and gain weight. With the rise of obesity at an unparalleled high, people are trying to get healthy and lose body fat in record droves. From Atkins diets to the Zone diet, to the weird tropical fruit diet and my favorite the carrot stick and apple diet (holy cow!), people are trying to find the quickest way to lose weight. The fact is there is no easy way, if it were easy the obesity rates would not be where they are now. We would not be spending billions of dollars on medications that control weight related diseases. This is not an easy process by any stretch of the imagination. However when I look at weight loss books and these fad diets, I rarely see anything about a person’s hormones. When in fact it is your hormones that decide where and how much fat you store. That’s a fact. Throw the calories in vs calories out out the window, your hormones are in the driver’s seat. Lets take a look at them:
Fat Burning Hormones- hormones that when present in your body, will help you burn body fat
