Why Mitt Romney Is No Fan of Breastfeeding

When it comes to moms and their babies, Romney has been hungry to suckle at the corporate teat.

—By Adam Weinstein

| Thu May. 17, 2012 3:00 AM PDT

52

Jerry Holt/ZUMA Press

Breastfeeding is having another moment. Thanks to Time magazine's creepy cover pic of young mom Jamie Lynne Grumet nursing her three-year-old son, the nation has once again gone tits-up over how mothers opt to feed their young. The choice is not an easy one: As previous Mother Jones parents will attest, there's an enormous emotional and physical cost to breastfeeding. On the other hand, mother's milk doesn't contain secret toxic chemicals, put babies at increased risk for diabetes and asthma, or enrich already-bloated pharmaceutical companies to the tune of $8 billion a year.

One person doesn't seem very conflicted about favoring formula, though: Mitt Romney. As Massachusetts governor, he took steps friendly to Big Pharma that helped push pre-fab formulas on new moms. Romney's pro-corporate, anti-mammary agenda could now have implications as he struggles to convince a key constituency of female voters that he's got their interests at heart.

Romney's role goes back to early 2006, when Massachusetts' Public Health Council tried to ban so-called baby swag bags, totes full of free supplies that were given to new mothers as they left their delivery hospitals. Formula manufacturers had stuffed the bags with samples and coupons; the panel worried that the moms would see that as a hospital endorsement of less-healthy formulas and would influence the moms to miss out on the medical and financial benefits of breastfeeding.

A marketer funded by the "International Formula Council" also worked on Romney's presidential campaign.

"The marketing of infant formula undermines the initiative to nurse," Phyllis Cudmore, a council member, told the Boston Globe. "I don't think there's any place in a hospital for corporate America trying to influence a vulnerable population." A pediatric expert at Boston University's medical school added: ''The commercial stuff like gift bags—it's like Pepsi-Cola in the schools." (Statistics show three-fourths of moms start out nursing their kids, but fewer than half are still breastfeeding after six months.)

Romney was having none of it, decrying the swag ban as "the heavy arm of government" squeezing dear ol' ma. "I think that the mother should have the right to decide whether she is going to use infant formula or breast-feed," he said in a press conference. "And allowing her to make that decision is best [done] by letting her have the formula, and if she wants to use it, fine."

By May 2006, Romney had removed three anti-swag council members, including Cudmore, and added new ones who permanently reversed the ban. Shortly thereafter, in early June, Romney's administration proudly announced that Massachusetts had beaten out three other states to get a $660 million facility for pharmaceutical giant Bristol-Myers Squibb—parent company to the manufacturer of Enfamil, one of the country's biggest-selling infant formulas.

Peeved breastfeeding proponents started a website, banthebags.org, to press for Massachusetts to restore the Public Health Council's ban. That in turn prompted the formula industry to start its own astroturf sites: momsfeedingfreedom.com and babyfeedingchoice.org. "The decision to breastfeed or bottle feed is personal, practical, and private," momsfeedingfreedom.com states on a page decrying the bag-ban. "These '3 P's' are the reason that Moms Feeding Freedom was created!"

But the site doesn't add who created it: It was registered in 2007 by a web marketer, ENilsson LLC, with "a grant from the International Formula Council." That same year, ENilsson worked onMitt Romney's nascent presidential campaign. The firm's founder, Erik Nillson, is now a major developer of GOP fundraising technology. And he's continuing to support Romney's election efforts.

Romney's connections to the breastfeeding issue would seem to suggest that he is less about giving moms choices than about giving corporations greater revenue streams. "Distributing free formula in the hospital is not about empowering women, helping them make informed choices or providing them with needed resources in tough economic times—all arguments made by supporters of the free samples," Elizabeth Mitchell Armstrong, a professor of sociology and public affairs at Princeton University, recently wrote in the New York Times. "Companies provide them for the same reason they distribute swag to celebrities: it drives sales."

Indeed, between Romney's recent missteps on women's issues and his past maneuvering on breastfeeding, voting moms may decide that the GOP presidential hopeful has suckled at the corporate teat a little too long.

6 People Who Gained Amazing Skills from Brain Injuries - Cracked.com

6 People Who Gained Amazing Skills from Brain Injuries

Read more: 6 People Who Gained Amazing Skills from Brain Injuries | Cracked.com http://www.cracked.com/article_19504_6-people-who-gained-amazing-skills-from-brain-injuries.html#ixzz1fveYwHMo

NBA LOCKOUT

NBA players consolidate antitrust lawsuits

The amended case against the league is filed in federal court in Minneapolis, and NBA criticizes move. Players' attorney says the sides have not spoken since last week.

Lakers point guard Derek Fisher, president of the NBA players' union, speaks during a news conference in June. Representatives for the players and owners have not met since last week.   (Bebeto Matthews / Associated Press / June 23, 2011)

• Also
• L.A.'s greatest sports moments No. 20: Kobe to Shaq, alley-oop
• Jeffrey Kessler continues to be the face of sports law cases
• Players file antitrust lawsuits against NBA
• NBA season in jeopardy as players' union begins to disband
• David Stern aggressively urges NBA players to accept latest offer

By Mike Bresnahan

November 21, 2011, 6:34 p.m.

NBA players filed an amended antitrust case against the league Monday in federal court in Minneapolis, a legal step to consolidate a pair of antitrust suits they filed a week ago.

Lawyers for NBA owners and players have not spoken since last week, players' attorney David Boies said Monday at a news conference in New York.

"If the league's approach is to ignore the litigation ... and hope it goes away.... I don't think that's in our interest and it's certainly not in their interest or the fans' interest," Boies said.

Last week NBA players essentially dissolved their union to clear the way for antitrust suits to be filed after labor talks collapsed.

A group of players, including All-Stars Carmelo Anthony and Kevin Durant, filed an antitrust lawsuit in Northern California against the NBA while another group of players, led by Caron Butler, filed a similar lawsuit in Minnesota.

"They were basically the same substantive complaint," Boies said, adding that filing only one lawsuit "should permit us to expedite the case."

Lawyers for the players consolidated the litigation Monday by refiling one comprehensive lawsuit in Minnesota, claiming the NBA had conspired against players by locking them out July 1.

In a statement, the NBA criticized Boies' actions.

"We assume that Mr. Boies was not happy with either the reassignment of the case from Oakland to San Francisco or the fact that the new judge scheduled the first conference for March 2012," said NBA attorney Rick Buchanan. "This is consistent with Mr. Boies' inappropriate shopping for a forum that he can only hope will be friendlier to his baseless legal claims."

Boies said he hoped to hear from the NBA's attorneys in early December.

The NBA has canceled games through Dec. 15. More cancellations are expected next week if the parties do not reach agreement to end the 144-day lockout.

How Occupy Wall Street Works - #OWS

How Occupy Wall Street Works

by Cristen Conger

What's the real story?

Stuff They Don't Want You to Know Videos »

Inside this Article

1. Introduction to How Occupy Wall Street Works
2. Occupy Wall Street Protesters: Who is the 99 percent?
3. Occupy Wall Street Organization: Power to the People

4. Occupy Wall Street Principles: What does the 99 percent want?
5. Occupy Wall Street: Beyond Zuccotti Park
6. Occupy Wall Street Costs
7. See more »

Image Gallery: Protests

Occupy Wall Street protests on behalf of the "99 percent." See more protesting pictures.

Mario Tama/Getty Images

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• Is it true that only 53 percent of Americans pay income tax?

Officially, the Occupy Wall Street movement began on Sept. 17, 2011 in the streets of Lower Manhattan's Financial District. But Egyptians who flooded Cairo's Tahrir Square, demanding the ouster of the dictatorial President Hosni Mubarak, provoked interest in a U.S. public uprising months earlier. On Feb. 2, 2011, while Mubarak clung to his final shreds of power, Adbusters staff writer Kono Matsu wrote an editorial blog post on the Web site of the Canadian anti-consumerist magazine, urging Americans to take a cue from Cairo [source: Weigel and Hepler]. Frustrated with the arguably toothless governmental response to financial organizations and corporations -- which many hold partly responsible for the U.S. economic recession and resulting high unemployment rate -- Matsu encouraged the politically radical readership to organize a "Million Man March on Wall Street" [source: Matsu].
Then, on July 13, after Mubarak had long since ceded government control to the Egyptian military, another Adbusters post sounded the official rallying cry with the Twitter hashtag "#OccupyWallStreet." Modeled after the social media strategies that assisted the uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt especially, the "#OccupyWallStreet" hashtag was intended to quickly spread the word that on Sept. 17, 2011, 20,000 people should "flood into Lower Manhattan, set up tents, kitchens, peaceful barricades and occupy Wall Street" [source: Adbusters]. In late August, activist hacking group Anonymous (its members known for wearing Guy Fawkes masks in public), published a video supporting the protest, and word about the burgeoning movement continued to circulate around Web sites and social media outlets.
Referred to both as Occupy Wall Street and the U.S. Day of Rage, the Sept. 17 protest attracted roughly 1,000 participants to Lower Manhattan. New York City police anticipating the rally barricaded off much of Wall Street, and protesters instead set up camp in Zuccotti Park (known as "Liberty Square" by activists reclaiming the financial district park's original name, "Liberty Plaza Park"), which would become the movement's home base. Media reports largely dismissed these activities as disjointed and the participants as leftist radicals. Nevertheless, in the following weeks, the determined gathering of anarchists, students, ex-hippies and hackers in Zuccotti Park gained more followers and traction. And despite criticism against Occupy Wall Street's initial lack of focus and clout, its populist slogan -- "We Are the 99 Percent" -- started to spread around the world.

Occupy Wall Street Protesters: Who is the 99 percent?

On Sept. 9, 2011, a Tumblr blog called "We Are the 99 Percent" went live, and people began sharing their stories of unemployment, staggering healthcare expenses, lack of access to quality educations and other grievances. The "99 percent" slogan refers to the imbalanced concentration of wealth in the United States among the richest 1 percent of the population. Just like the Adbusters post and Anonymous video that sparked online conversations about how, where and when to start a mass demonstration against economic power players, the Tumblr blog infused the political with the personal, providing human context for the protest.
But offline, who are the people who have shown up for the Occupy Wall Street movement?
Initially, the mainstream media painted Occupy Wall Street as a ragtag bunch of out-of-work college graduates, anarchists and aging hippies. Based on data gathered from OccupyWallSt.org, one of the most-visited Occupy-affiliated sites, the typical protester defies those initial stereotypes of an unemployed, over-educated mob. Rather, the average American Occupy activist appears to be a college-educated white male between 25 and 44 years old, who has a full-time job [source: Captain]. Additionally, Occupy Wall Street isn't comprised of self-identifying Democrats. Seventy percent of those included in the October 2011 survey described their political views as independent [source: Captain].
In its early phases, the protest also attracted influential support -- particularly that of labor unions. Occupy Wall Street's demands for better jobs, wages and benefits for middle- and low-income America resonated within the employee advocacy groups that have historically battled and negotiated with businesses and corporations on behalf of their "99 percent" members. As of Nov. 1, 2011, some of the largest unions associated with Occupy Wall Street efforts around the United States include the following:

• AFL-CIO
• United Federation of Teachers
• Service Employees International Union
• New York City Transit Union
• Air Line Pilots Association
• Amalgamated Transit Union
• American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees

Now that we know who, for the most part, makes Occupy Wall Street tick, how does this long-term protest movement work?

Celebrities Support Occupy Wall Street

On Sept. 19, two days after the initial Occupy Wall Street march, Roseanne Barr offered the first public celebrity endorsement of the protest movement. Since then, wealthy stars -- some of whom may rank among that super-rich 1 percent -- have stopped by Zuccotti Park to offer encouragement, including Kanye West, Alec Baldwin, Susan Sarandon, Russell Brand and Russell Simmons [source: Radar].

Occupy Wall Street Organization: Power to the People

As a leaderless protest that's focused on income inequality, the structure of Occupy Wall Street can be tricky to grasp, since no strict organizational hierarchy exists. Billed as a "people-powered movement" against the economic stakeholders responsible for wealth disparity, by November 2011, Occupy Wall Street consisted of general assemblies of protesters dotted around the world from New York, Chicago and Oakland to Brussels, Madrid and Athens [source: ABC News]. The size of occupations, ranging from clusters of activists in smaller towns and cities to the full-scale camps of hundreds exemplified by New York's Zuccotti Park, determine the extent of each protest site's needs. Those larger assemblies tend to have sub-committees that Occupy participants can join up with, which focus on specific needs, such as food, donation-gathering and sanitation.
The flagship New York Occupy Wall Street protest operates on "people's assembly" principles enacted by Spanish activists known as indignados, which translates to "the outraged." On May 15, 2011, thousands of Spanish activists marched into Madrid's Puerta del Sol square, where they demonstrated against the government's failure to support its citizens by diverting the nation's economic crisis and camped out, Zuccotti-style. The non-violent civil disobedience protesters relied on models of "collective thinking" in order to hash out their unified principles and platforms. In other words, the Spanish indignados debated and formulated their group-wide platforms through extensive discussion and consensus-building, rather than confrontation with law enforcement. The movement's emphasis on non-violence echoes elements of other protests, such as the U.S. Civil Rights sit-ins of the 1960s and Mahatma Gandhi's strategy of passive resistance.
The original New York Occupy Wall Street activists have followed in Madrid's indignados' footsteps as they have hashed out their public demands, which we'll delve into on the next page. For a tech-savvy, social media-connected movement, the nuts and bolts of Occupy consensus-building actually rely on some rudimentary -- though some might say revolutionary -- communication methods. For instance, since Zuccotti Park (and other Occupy Wall Street sites) prohibits microphones, bullhorns and other voice-amplifying devices, speeches to the collective of hundreds or even thousands rely on a technique called the "people's microphone" [source: Hepler and Weigel]. The initial speakers, referred to as facilitators, deliver their addresses in clipped cadences that the crowd repeats to ensure everyone can hear.
Within the smaller working groups that focus on areas such as food and finance, the leaderless protesters also deliberate on dissenting perspectives and opinions and reach full agreement [source: Take the Square]. The Occupy activists then communicate their approval by "twinkling" their fingers above their heads [source: Hepler and Weigel].
What, in that case, has Occupy Wall Street twinkled in favor of so far?

Occupy Wall Street Principles: What does the 99 percent want?

Following the initial Sept. 17, 2011, Occupy Wall Street rally, the media descended upon Zuccotti Park to figure out just what the renegades wanted. What they found -- no official leaders or spokespeople, a hodgepodge of protest slogans on signs, a left-wing aesthetic -- tended to elicit confusion rather than credibility. What, journalists continued to question, does the 99 percent want?
The Adbusters blog post inciting the Occupy movement demanded a Presidential commission on corporate malfeasance and a top-down severing of ties between Washington and Wall Street [source: Adbusters]. But like the roots of the global economic recession and widespread unemployment, the Occupy Wall Street platforms that emerged in the movement's nascent days weren't exactly cut-and-dried. On Sept. 29, 2011, the New York General Assembly in Zuccotti Park passed an official "Declaration of the Occupation of New York City" outlining the group's grievances against the government and corporations, as well as their cornerstone rallying cry: "Exercise your right to peaceably assemble; occupy public space; create a process to address the problems we face, and generate solutions accessible to everyone" [source: OccupyWallStreet].
In that way, Occupy Wall Street functioned not only to arrest the attention of the people in power who, in protesters' estimations, had faltered ethically, but also to engage the rest of the public affected by that questionable decision-making. Judging from Occupy Wall Street's ripple effect, sprouting similar activist groups in more than 80 countries by mid-October 2011, it served as a stimulus for peaceful assembly as a visible, symbolic form of criticism against economic and corporate powers. The manifestations of those powers' perceived faulty leadership -- a depressed housing market, joblessness, international military operations -- are manifold, but the method for protesting against them, as modeled by Occupy Wall Street, was intentionally simplistic and replicable in any location.
But with 14 million people unemployed in the United States in October 2011 and the global economic crisis stagnating, has Occupy Wall Street accomplished anything aside from mucking up a park in New York?

Occupy Social Media

Just like the "Arab Spring" public uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt, the actions and organization of Occupy Wall Street have taken shape and spread across social media sites, especially Twitter and Tumblr. For that reason, The Economist magazine refers to Occupy Wall Street as the "first true social-media uprising" in the West [source: Boudreau]. A pro-Occupy Web site, FeedtheProtest also accepts donations in a virtual currency called bitcoins. As of Oct. 3, 2011, the site had collected 70 bitcoins, or $350, in funding [source: Woolley].

Occupy Wall Street: Beyond Zuccotti Park

The first major milestone Occupy Wall Street accomplished was to fan the protest flames beyond the island of Manhattan. On Sept. 24, 2011, a small group started Occupy Chicago in Grant Park, although police peacefully arrested 130 protesters on Oct. 23, citing violation of a city ordinance [source: Rodriguez]. Run-ins with law enforcement like that have largely fueled publicity for the movement, inspiring others to occupy at local encampments in other cities and towns in displays of solidarity.
For instance, one early incident that supercharged the Occupy movement happened on Oct. 1, as thousands of demonstrators marched across the Brooklyn Bridge in New York. The police reportedly made more than 700 arrests, allegedly only removing people who were intentionally blocking thoroughfares [source: Chappell]. Perhaps influenced by the dramatic dedication to the Occupy cause displayed during that cross-borough march, less than a week later, copycat protests had sprung up around the nation, including ones in Boston, Memphis, Houston, San Francisco and Hawaii. On Oct. 18, activists at Zuccotti Park celebrated the one-month anniversary of the movement they helped start. By then, the protests -- and their demands for government and corporate accountability -- also had crossed international borders, with public space occupations both large and small in more than 951 cities in 82 countries, including the following:

• Spain
• Germany
• Belgium
• Lithuania
• The Netherlands
• New Zealand
• Brazil
• South Africa
• Australia
• Pakistan
• England
• Italy
• France

For the most part, the Occupy offshoots in the United States remained peaceable, with activists at some sites, such as Occupy Chicago and Occupy Atlanta, often volunteering to get arrested for symbolic reasons if an encampment violated local ordinances. Occupy Oakland, on the other hand, became one of the most controversy-stoking protest hubs, with law enforcement clashing more forcefully with protesters. On Oct. 26, Iraq War veteran and Occupy Oakland participant Scott Olsen was sent to the hospital in critical condition, after allegedly being struck in the head with a police projectile. When the incident occurred, Olsen had been demonstrating against Oakland police who were in the process of clearing out two occupy stations [source: Gabbatt].
Olsen's injury only reinvigorated protesters, however, and Occupy Oakland launched a general city strike on Nov. 3, 2011. Thousands marched through the city and effectively shut down the Port of Oakland, the fifth-largest business port in the United States, for nearly 24 hours [source: Memmott].

Occupy Wall Street Costs

Since the Occupy Wall Street movement is protesting the abuse of economic and corporate powers, it raises the inevitable question: How much does the movement cost? With police monitoring encampments, and public spaces being used as makeshift group homes, the protests undoubtedly come with their own price tags, depending on the size of each Occupy operation.
Within Zuccotti Park, the internal expenses of supporting a few hundred folks every day aren't insignificant. Food alone runs between $2,000 and $3,000 daily, the bulk of which goes toward cheap staples such as peanut butter and fruit [source: Woolley]. Occupy Wall Street supporters have also donated plenty of food; nearby Liberatos Pizza, for instance, has sold about $6,000-worth of its specialty "OccuPie" pizzas purchased by donors [source: Woolley].
It's also important to remember that Occupy Wall Street isn't a homeless encampment. A majority of protesters in New York have full-time jobs, although they typically earn less than $25,000 per year [source: Captain]. Moreover, Occupy Wall Street isn't running on a shoestring budget. In late October 2011, the movement announced that it had raised more than $500,000 in New York. The non-profit Alliance for Global Justice keeps track of New York City's Occupy coffers, which receive an average 400 donations every day [source: Berkowitz]. In comparison, Occupy Chicago, one of the next-largest protest sites, reported about $20,000 in donations. The Occupy movement hasn't acquired its thousands in large lump sums; a majority of monetary donations value less than $50 each [source: Berkowitz].
In mid-October, Occupy Wall Street protesters were almost kicked out of Zuccotti Park to allow in a cleaning crew. At the last minute, after pressure from local New York officials and protesters, Mayor Michael Bloomberg agreed to allow the occupation to stay put as long as they keep the green space clean [source: Saul and Fox]. The Department of Sanitation picks up trash regularly from the park, but it's up to the protest's Sanitation Working Group to manage the rest of the effort [source: Gray].
Cities are also having to pony up to pay policemen overtime to guard encampment barricades, control crowds and clear out illegal occupations (such as protesters remaining inside a public park after hours without a permit). New York City has spent more than $3.2 million on Occupy Wall Street-related law enforcement overtime pay [source: Woolley].
That fiscal disturbance in an already cash-strapped city is just one of the criticisms that some have lobbed against the Occupy Wall Street Movement.

Occupy Wall Street vs. Tea Party

Though Occupy Wall Street claims to represent the 99 percent of the American public who are economically disenfranchised compared to the wealthiest 1 percent, that same super majority doesn't support the cause. Since its first march on Sept. 17, Occupy Wall Street has attracted as much -- if not more -- opposition as it has support. According to a November 2011 poll from Connecticut-based Quinnipiac University, more Americans view Occupy Wall Street unfavorably (39 percent) than favorably (30 percent); a third of those surveyed had yet to make up their minds [source: Good].
Ironically, the group that shares Occupy Wall Street's potent disgruntlement with the federal government is also the source of the movement's harshest criticism. In 2009, the grassroots conservative Tea Party organized marches and rallies in opposition to excessive government spending. Instead of dressing up as zombies in business suits like the Occupy activists, Tea Party supporters donned Revolutionary-era tricorne hats and breeches as they picketed for a balanced federal budget, lower taxes and other platforms. Initially cast off by the mainstream media as an insignificant fringe group, the Tea Party gradually garnered political influence, as exemplified by the Congressional Tea Party Caucus [source: Travis].
The Occupy Wall Street protesters officially claim no political affiliation, and a majority self-identify as independent voters, but they're characterized as a left-wing, liberal conglomeration. And as the growing gap between the rich and poor in the United States has expanded, the American political landscape has become more polarized between conservatives and liberals. So, just as the Tea Party represented the uprising of extreme political conservatism, some consider Occupy Wall Street to be the other side of that coin, vocalizing the demands of extreme political liberalism [source: Good].
Occupying public spaces doesn't sit well with some of the Republican- and Tea Party-affiliated electorate because they perceive it as little more than lazy whining. In early October 2011, conservative Erik Erickson started the Tumblr blog "We Are the 53 Percent," lambasting the "99 Percent" movement for demonstrating against Wall Street rather than pursuing employment [source: Khimm]. The "53 Percent" symbolizes the percentage of Americans who pay federal income tax, which subsidizes the unemployed; the "53 Percent" bloggers also assume that Occupy activists are jobless, and therefore benefiting indirectly from federal income taxes.
But the ultimate question for the Occupy Wall Street movement is whether it can have any long-term effect where economic power in the United States ultimately resides: Washington, D.C.

Can Occupy Wall Street Succeed?

As Tea Party members and Occupy supporters duke it out in the blogosphere, the Washington, D.C. response to the movement has gradually become more accepting [source: Liasson]. While Republican Congress members don't align with Occupy Wall Street, some conservative politicians acknowledge that income inequality in the United States is a valid issue that demands government attention. In a nod to the Occupy movement, Rep. Bruce Braley (D-Iowa) introduced the Targeted Wall Street Trading Tax bill in Congress in early November 2011; if passed, it would impose a tax on certain risky mortgage-market-related investments, such as credit default swaps [source: McAuliff and Rosenthal].
But in the long run, how much do Occupy Wall Street mentions in Congressional and presidential press conferences matter? Unlike the Tunisian and Egyptian protests focused on booting dictatorial rulers from power (Presidents Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali and Hosni Mubarak, respectively), the Occupy Wall Street measure of success isn't so apparent. Some activists think that preventing Barack Obama from winning re-election in 2012 would send the appropriate message to the government that it needs to bridge income disparities [source: Rutkoff]. Others support the original Occupy Wall Street Adbuster blog post's call for a Presidential Commission to address corporate influence on the government [source: Adbusters]. More than a specific, actionable end goal, Occupy Wall Street seeks populist-oriented social change, which it has resisted articulating in terms that are too restrictive. For that reason, what success means for the movement is, in short, an ongoing, ever-evolving, conversation [source: NPR].
In a way, Occupy Wall Street already has succeeded in terms of inserting itself into the Washington dialogue and holding politicians accountable to their demands for rectifying income inequality. Whether the scattered encampments will spawn a mainstream populist movement that inspires legislative change to divorce federal government from Wall Street influence remains to be seen. In the meantime, some feel the protest could learn a lesson from the Tea Party. Polls indicate that the Tea Party's popularity has declined over time, which means that the window of opportunity for influencing politics can be narrow, and if Occupy Wall Street fails to seize its moment, the potential power of the 99 Percent might twinkle out.

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• Saul, Michael Howard and Fox, Alison. "Mayor: Political Pressure Forced Brookfield to Back Down." The Wall Street Journal. Oct. 14, 2011. (Nov. 4, 2011) http://blogs.wsj.com/metropolis/2011/10/14/mayor-political-pressure-forced-brookfield-to-back-down/
• Take the Square. "Quick guide on the group dynamics in people's assemblies." July 31, 2011. (Nov. 4, 2011) http://takethesquare.net/2011/07/31/quick-guide-on-group-dynamics-in-peoples-assemblies/
• Travis, Shannon. "Who is the Tea Party Caucus?" CNN. July 29, 2011. (Nov. 4, 2011) http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2011/07/29/who-is-the-tea-party-caucus-in-the-house/
• Weigel, David and Hepler, Lauren. "Everything You Need to Know About Occupy Wall Street." Oct. 27, 2011. (Nov. 4, 2011) http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/politics/features/2011/occupy_wall_street/what_is_ows_a_complete_timeline.html
• Woolley, Suzanne. "Occupy Wall Street: The Price of Protest." Bloomberg. Oct. 18, 2011. (Nov. 4, 2011) http://www.bloomberg.com/money-gallery/2011-10-17/occupy-wall-street-the-price-of-protest.html#slide5
•  

Baby bliss! Alyssa Milano is the picture of happiness as she cuddles little Milo in new photo

By Eleanor Gower

Last updated at 9:50 PM on 4th November 2011

• Comments (1)

She gave birth to her first child Milo Thomas just two months ago. 
And Alyssa Milano has clearly taken to motherhood like a duck to water.
The 38-year-old actress looked the picture of contentment and happiness in a new picture she tweeted of herself and her bundle of joy.

Baby love: Alyssa Milano tweeted a photograph of herself with baby Milo yesterday, along with the caption: 'My love. My heart. My son.'

The picture shows the former Melrose Place star with little make-up, and her hair pulled up into a loose bun, holding baby Milo to her chest.

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• I want one! Clucky Eva Longoria has a turn at playing mummy to Harper Beckham as Victoria looks on

She wrote the caption: 'My love. My heart. My son,' alongside the photograph.
Alyssa, who is married to agent David Bugliari, has also posted tips for other new mothers on her website. 

My love: The star's Twitter page shows her holding her tiny baby's hand

New parents: Alyssa and her husband David Bugliari at a White House dinner back in April

Under the post 'Essential baby items', she recommends goods such as 'The Baby Connect iPhone app' which she says 'helps me keep track of feedings, diaper changes, sleep times, pumping.'
Other items include swaddle blankets, Fisher Price Tub and Mother's Milk Tea.
Last month, she told Us Weekly that she and David were loving first time parenthood.
'Everything is going so well,' she said. 'David told me, "It's like you were dropped off from Planet Mom."' I said, "No, he's such a great baby, he's just making me look good!"'
The star gave birth to Milo on September 1, two weeks earlier than expected.
'Thank you for all the well wishes for my son Milo,' she tweeted after the birth.
'My heart has tripled in size. I love him more than all the leaves on all the trees.'
Alyssa will next be seen in ensemble comedy New Year's Eve, alongside a star studded cast including Halle Berry, Robert De Niro, Michelle Pfeiffer.
She will play a nurse in the film.

New role: Alyssa will next be seen in ensemble comedy film New Year's Eve, where she plays a nurse

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2057773/Alyssa-Milano-picture-happiness-cuddles-little-Milo-new-photo.html#ixzz1co7WL0Mm

What causes brain freeze?

• by Yahoo!Green, on Tue Jun 7, 2011 6:47am PDT

• 663 Comments

By Chanie Kirschner, Mother Nature Network

(Photo: Getty Images)

Q: What exactly causes brain freeze? And here’s a better question — how do I prevent it from happening in the first place?
A: Ahhh, the dreaded brain freeze. I’ve experienced too many of those myself, unfortunately. The bad thing about ice cream headaches is that they hurt — a lot. The good thing about ice cream headaches is that they are usually over in a matter of seconds, or at most a couple minutes.
For me, they always seem to come on slowly, with the pain starting at a 3 and working its way up to an 8 or 9 almost instantaneously. (You can tell I’ve been questioned about my level of pain in the ER a time of two.) But they usually subside as quickly as they come, and thank God for that.
And ice cream headaches don’t come only from ice cream — they can come from eating any really cold food or drink. Like Slurpees. In fact, in 1994, 7-Eleven even trademarked the term Brainfreeze to use in conjunction with its delicious frosty drink.
So what causes ice cream headaches in the first place? It has to do with the nerve receptors above the roof of your mouth. When you take a bite of ice cream, some of it touches the top of your mouth, otherwise known as the hard palate. That in turn triggers the nerves above the palate to cool down — and quick. The nerves send an emergency message to the brain that it’s about to get cold up there, and the blood vessels in the brain constrict to accommodate. When the warm blood rushes through the blood vessels again — presto! You get a searing headache similar to a migraine. Ouch! But don’t worry though, this kind of headache does not signify a serious problem.
So what to do? Well if your ice cream headache has already started, chances are it’ll be over quickly. To speed things up a bit, you can touch your tongue to the roof of your mouth and hold it there, warming up your palate and calming down the brain’s reaction.
To keep yourself from getting the freeze in the first place, try eating cold foods slower than usual and keep that ice cream away from the roof of your mouth if you can. Seem impossible? It’s not: I tried it to research its efficacy for this article, and not only is it possible; it works. (That’s right, I gave myself a brain freeze for this article. That’s how dedicated I am. As dedicated as Matt Damon gaining 40 pounds for a role.)
So have no fear. You can still enjoy your favorite ice cream sans the splitting headache. Just be sure to save some for me.
— Chanie

Epileptic Boy’s Book Helps Raise Money To Buy Service Dogs

Epileptic Boy’s Book Helps Raise Money To Buy Service Dogs

Evan Moss’ seizures come quietly in the night. When they strike, the 7-year-old’s parents have to give him medicine to make them stop, or risk brain damage. But to do that, they have to know they are happening. Lisa and Rob Moss live in fear of missing one.
The seizures are so silent that even if Rob and Lisa sleep in the next room with a baby monitor to listen, they can’t hear them, so Evan sleeps with them in their bed. “We go through life pretty much not well-rested and with a strong addiction to caffeine,” says Lisa Moss.
But a service dog specially trained to detect seizures and alert Evan’s parents could help insure that Rob and Lisa don’t miss a seizure and also make it possible for Evan to sleep in his own bed.  The catch? A dog like that costs about $13,000.
To raise the money for the dog, the family discussed the usual options: a 5K run, a dinner with a band, a lemonade stand.
As almost an afterthought, they came up with the idea of self-publishing a short book Evan had written as part of his application for the dog. Initially, they modestly hoped maybe they could sell 150 at $10 apiece. But Evan has now sold 10 times that many copies of the 26-page “My Seizure Dog”. A July 24 book-signing alone drew an estimated 650 people to a local coffee shop, and at one point Evan’s book ranked 125th in sales among all the millions of books on Amazon.
And as it turns out, none of the profits from book sales needed to go towards the cost of Evan’s dog, because donations alone have topped $26,000 — more than twice what the Alexandria, Virginia boy needed for his dog. The additional thousands of dollars, plus proceeds from the book, will now make up the difference between what four other children’s families have raised and the cost of their service dogs.
Evan’s dog, which will be trained by the nonprofit 4 Paws for Ability on how to pick up a scent-related chemical change in Evan’s body that precedes a seizure, will be ready for the family to pick up next June. The dog will be either a poodle or a poodle mix, Lisa Moss says, because poodles are less likely to aggravate her dog allergy.
Since Evan’s dog hasn’t yet been selected by 4 Paws, the Mosses don’t know how it will alert them to an impending seizure. Some dogs bark, others nudge parents, says Karen Shirk, the nonprofit’s founder
Still, Lisa Moss says, “that’s a really big task to put on an animal. At the beginning, we’re basically going to have a boy and a dog in our bed. At some point, Evan will be back in his own bed with a dog.”
As for Evan, he’s already making plans to write “My Seizure Dog 2” after he gets his new companion.
Story by Elaine Furst for Dog Files

Top 10 Most Superstitious Athletes

Carlos Zambrano, Chicago Cubs Pitcher, Placed On Disqualified List

By CHARLES ODUM   08/13/11 06:06 PM ET  

ATLANTA -- The Chicago Cubs placed Carlos Zambrano on the disqualified list Saturday and said the right-hander would receive no pay and have no part in team activities for 30 days.
Zambrano cleaned out his locker and left the team after giving up five homers and being ejected from Friday night's 10-4 loss to the Braves. He did not return to the team Saturday.
General manager Jim Hendry said Saturday that Zambrano's actions, including a brush-back pitch to Chipper Jones that led to the ejection, were "intolerable."
"This was the most stringent penalty we could enforce without a release," Hendry said.
Cubs pitcher Ryan Dempster had similarly strong words.
"He's made his bed. Let him sleep in it," Dempster said.
"It's not like it's something new."
Hendry said Major League Baseball and the players' association would discuss Zambrano's statements about his baseball future.
Cubs manager Mike Quade said Friday night that Zambrano told team personnel he might retire.

"There's not much worse than running out on your teammates in the middle of a ballgame," Hendry said on a conference call.
Hendry said he apologized to Braves general manager Frank Wren for the actions by Zambrano on the same night Atlanta honored former manager Bobby Cox.
Zambrano was ejected by plate umpire Tim Timmons in the fifth inning after throwing two inside pitches to Jones, the second going all the way to the backstop. The brush-back pitches followed homers by Freddie Freeman and Dan Uggla.
"It was uncalled for, the pitch to Chipper Jones," Hendry said.
"I feel that anything at all to detract from Bobby Cox's night other than usual competition is totally intolerable."
Asked if he knew where Zambrano was on Saturday, Hendry said: "I have no idea."
Jones said Hendry's comments were "a class move. I appreciated it."
Added Jones: "I like Carlos. I've always liked Carlos. He's an intense competitor. Unfortunately, sometimes that hurts him."
Cubs third baseman Aramis Ramirez said Zambrano would be welcomed back by his teammates, but only if he made changes.
"If he changes his attitude, he's more then welcome," Ramirez said.
"He's got to think a little bit more. He's one man. It's not just one time. A lot of people have tried to help him. He won't let them."
Zambrano was placed on the restricted list for six weeks and sent to anger management last season after a verbal altercation with then-teammate Derrek Lee.
In 2009, he was suspended following a tirade against an umpire in which he threw a baseball into the outfield and slammed his glove against the dugout fence.
Outfielder Marlon Byrd said he talked with Zambrano.
'He said that he's doing better today," Byrd said. "That's it."
Asked about Zambrano being placed on the disqualified list, Byrd said: "That's business. They have to do what they have to do."
In 2007, Zambrano signed a deal adding $91.5 million over five seasons through 2012. He was to earn $17.85 million this season and $18 million in 2012.
He is 9-7 with a 4.82 ERA.
Zambrano's name was mentioned in trade rumors before the July 31 deadline. He said on July 28 he wanted to remain with the Cubs.
"I do want to stay here but at the same point I want this team to make some changes," Zambrano said. "If we want to win here, we need to make some changes. If I have to go, I have to go but I still have the Cubs in my heart."
A message was left Saturday seeking comment from Barry Praver, Zambrano's agent. Hendry said Praver indicated Zambrano is not retiring.
The Cubs did not immediately announce a corresponding roster move for Zambrano.
___

5 things i cant believe websites are still doing

http://www.cracked.com/blog/5-things-i-cant-believe-websites-are-still-doing/

George the Great Dane is 7ft long, weighs 18st and is the world's biggest dog... but he's terrified of chihuahuas

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Imagine taking him for walkies! George the Great Dane is 7ft long, weighs 18st and is the world's biggest dog... but he's terrified of chihuahuas

By Dave Nasser

Last updated at 12:37 AM on 23rd July 2011

The first time we saw George, our beloved Great Dane, he was no more than a tiny, cowering ball of fuzzy fur.
As my wife Christie opened the door of the crate he’d travelled in, he teetered to a standing position and looked out at us, moving his head slowly from side to side, taking in the wonder of it all.
Finally, as if weighing us up and deciding we were acceptable, he tentatively pushed his little nose forward and gave Christie her first lick.

Man's biggest friend: Devoted owner Dave Nasser with George, the world's biggest dog

Though it didn’t really register, George’s paws were comically large even then. But all we saw was this cute puppy.
We certainly never dreamed he would one day become the biggest dog in the world, standing nearly 4ft high at the shoulder, 7ft long and weighing nearly 18 stone. Right now, he just looked bewildered.
He came into our lives in January 2006, just a few months after we had married and set up home in Arizona. We both had busy jobs, Christie selling medical equipment while I was a property developer, but she had always planned that, once she had a house of her own, she would also have a dog. 

A doggone miracle: George the Great Dane with the Nasser's daughter Annabel at home in Arizona

Puppy love: A young George with Dave's wife Christie. Even as a pup he had comically large paws

She wanted a Great Dane as they make great family pets, so we tracked down a litter of 13, born 1,000 miles away in Oregon. Their owner emailed us a photo showing a chaotic jumble of paws, snouts and tails.
Twelve were entangled with one another, but our eyes were drawn to one pup standing apart from the rest. He was clearly the runt, endearing him to Christie immediately.
George made the long journey from Oregon to Phoenix by plane and we picked him up from the freight area, tired but unshaken.
As soon as George settled into our home, we discovered our plans to be fair but firm parents were wishful thinking.
All the things that make Great Danes wonderful pets — their lack of aggression and their attachment to humans — make them more emotionally sensitive than other dogs.
They need to be with their ‘pack’ at all times and at night the cute pup with intensely blue eyes turned into a caterwauling banshee whenever we tried to leave him alone in the kitchen.

Magnificent: George measures more than 7ft from nose to tail and weighs 18st

No matter how much we reminded ourselves that he had every home comfort (warm dog bed, warm blanket, warm kitchen, squeaky bone), each whimper created a picture in our heads of a tragic, abandoned pup, desperate for his mother.
Eventually, we gave in and shunted George’s dog bed into our bedroom. In the coming months, Christie really threw herself into being a mum to George. As well as a photo album, he had a growth chart — we were soon reading it in awe.
At five months he still acted like a puppy, chasing his tail and playing games of fetch and tug-of-war with his favourite bit of rope. But he was already the size of a fully-grown Labrador.
He was putting on more than a pound a day and he bounded around like Bambi, skittering on our wooden floors and hurling himself at everything he fancied, including us humans. His displays of affection could leave you pinned temporarily against a wall or a piece of furniture.
His size did not go unnoticed in the outside world. Our local park had a section for puppies but we were bullied out of it by other owners, who were scared George would hurt their pups, — but the opposite was true.
The smaller dogs ran around and under him, and he’d be constantly sidestepping them, obviously anxious and jittery. Slowly we realised that our enormous puppy was a big softie. Besides his terror of being left alone, he had a fear of water.
He’d growl anxiously at the side of our swimming pool, alarmed that his ‘pack’ members would so willingly place themselves in danger of drowning.
If the pool was his most-hated place, his favourite was our bedroom. Eventually he outgrew the single mattress we placed there for him and preferred instead the comfort of our king-sized bed — sprawling between us like some over-indulged prince while we spent half the night clinging onto the edges.

Paws for thought: George's giant feet dwarf Dave's hand

In the summer of 2006, we solved this problem by buying him his own queen-sized mattress, which he still sleeps on today at the bottom of our bed.
But soon we encountered another challenge as George reached doggie puberty. Once he had grabbed life by the lapels, now he was grabbing onto legs — table legs, chair legs, human legs, he wasn’t picky — and doing what all male dogs do with the vigour of a canine giant.
He calmed down in the furniture department after we had him neutered, but then he took up a new hobby, eating as if it were an Olympic sport.
A sausage on the barbecue was like a siren to a passing sailor. You couldn’t turn your back for a minute. And he was so tall that he actually had to bend down to pinch food off kitchen counters.
He could reach the high shelves as well, so we had to hide everything away in cupboards. Soon, he was getting through around 100lb of dry dog food every month.
As he approached his first birthday in November 2006, weighing about 14 stone, it was getting physically impossible to make him go anywhere he didn’t want to — including the vet’s surgery. He had not forgotten the time he went there in possession of his manhood — and came out less than whole.
As soon as he recognised the entrance, he  refused to move. So I had to take him around to the less familiar back door instead.
For all these troubles, George gave us plenty in return, not least the following year when Christie lost the baby she was carrying.
Evidently tuned in to her grief, George was a constant presence at her side. When she sat, he sat too. When she stood, he stood and padded alongside her to wherever she was going.
His personality grew more delightful the bigger he got. A male Great Dane typically weighs from nine to 11 stone, but by Christmas 2007 George weighed   15 stone — bigger than most men. At this point, he loved being chauffeured around in my golf cart and would sit in it, his haunches on the seat and front legs on the floor.
By Christmas 2008, our canine colossus weighed 18 stone. A friend suggested he might be a contender for the Guinness Book Of Records, but we had other things to think about: Christie had discovered that she was pregnant again.

With size comes problems: George the giant barely fits in the back of his owner's SUV

The trouble was, when our daughter Annabel arrived that September George made it clear he wanted nothing to do with this interloper. He was used to spending nights in delightful oblivion at the foot of our bed. Annabel’s high-decibel presence simply wasn’t on.
When she cried, he’d wake, harrumph and then turn over in annoyance. Once it was clear the racket was going to continue, he’d exhale heavily again, till one of us finished that mysterious feeding thing we did with the noisy intruder.
But while he might not have cared much for Annabel, George loved her dolls, especially a stuffed green one that played a nursery rhyme when squeezed. Whenever he could, he placed it between his paws and pressed it so he could hear the tune.
It was like a security blanket. It was a period of such big adjustment for him that if it made him happy, then it was fine by us and our patience was rewarded.
Slowly, George understood that Annabel was our pack’s youngest member and in need of his affection and protection. And on Christmas morning, he ended his three-month sulk, acknowledging her presence with a lick of her hand. It was the best present we could have had — although the beginning of 2010 brought more good news.
Over the previous weeks, while Annabel slept, Christie had applied to the Guinness World Records people on George’s behalf. That February, one of their adjudicators came to watch George being measured in the presence of a vet. He was officially declared not just the world’s tallest living dog (43 inches from paw to shoulder) but the tallest dog ever.
The following week we flew to Chicago to appear on the Oprah Winfrey Show and were put up in one of the city’s most luxurious hotels. We had a huge sitting room, dining area and even a bar — but there was just one problem. There was nowhere for George to sleep.
As we enjoyed a gourmet meal and a bottle of red wine that night, he struggled to settle on two roll-out divans provided for him. Infuriatingly, they wouldn’t stay together. So he had his head on one and back end on the other, but his stomach was sagging onto the carpet.
‘You know what we need to do,’ I joked. ‘Give George our bed to sleep on and have the divans in this room ourselves.’
Christie looked at me with a telltale gleam in her eye and I knew immediately my joke had been a fatal error. An hour later, our boy was sprawled in splendour in our huge, fluffy king-size bed.
‘Well,’ whispered Christie, ‘George is the star here, after all.’ She was right, of course, and since his appearance on TV, Giant George has built a following around the world, with his own fan club, website and 70,000 fans on Facebook.
None of this, of course, means anything to George. He still spends his days doing what he has always liked best: eating, playing and sleeping.
Our cherished pet may have become a global celebrity — but really, he’s just one of the family.

Extracted from Giant George by Dave Nasser, published by Simon & Schuster on August 4, £12.99,  © 2011 Dave Nasser.  To order a copy for £10.99 (incl p&p) call 0843 382 0000.