Gavin is an Iowa native, and covered the 2008 first-in-the-nation presidential caucuses for the Ames Tribune. He has also contributed to the Agence France-Presse, Daily Beast, Iowa Independent, Manhattan Media, and Village Voice.
In the years since the iconic SoCal punk band Black Flag's 1986 break-up, former front man Henry Rollins has toured college campuses with spoken-word performances, hosted radio shows, honed his acting chops as a white supremecist on the AMC series Sons of Anarchy, and campaigned against homophobia and hunger. He's also spent years traveling the globe to observe the devastation wrought by what he calls the "backhand of capitalism." On those trips, he began carrying a camera—first a simple point-and-shoot, later more professional equipment—and compiled a collection of "some amateur's travel images."
That candid assessment of his visual artistry, curiously, is printed as part of the introduction to Occupants, the latest of Rollins' several books, but his first foray into photojournalism. His snapshots span eight years of journeys across the Middle East and Southeast Asia, China, India, and parts of Europe and Africa. They are alternately bleak (a crying infant crawling on bags of trash in Indonesia; an old man who may or may not be alive covered in flies in India), hopeful (kids laughing while playing in the street in Bangladesh), and coldly opulent (Saddam's abandoned palace in Iraq and another palace very much in use in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia).
The PR materials tout the book as "photojournalism at its best," but Rollins is undeniably correct in his self-critique: These are simple shots taken with an untrained eye, and his early point-and-shoot photos are of such low resolution that they don't even fill a quarter of the page. Not wanting to appear naive or self-serving, Rollins explains in the introduction why he still published them: "I thought it would be pretentious to release a book that only had photographs. My fear was that someone might think this was a vanity project...So I decided to write something for every photograph. I would look at the photograph and see where it took me."
Earlier this year, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie told reporters that "short of suicide, I don't really know what I'd have to do to convince you people that I'm not running" for president. Today, according to that trusted source, Fox News, he still isn't running. But between all the colorful denials, Christie has been quietly (and repeatedly) meeting with wealthy Republican donors, including—as Mother Jones recently revealed—the notorious Koch brothers.
For months, Christie has been under "huge pressure from high-ranking Republicans and fund-raisers," as one anonymous source recently put it, who are unhappy with the prospect of choosing between Rick Perry and Mitt Romney. These players include hedge-fund exec Paul Singer, who has given more than $1 million to the "Kochtopus," and Home Depot cofounder Ken Langone, who organized a July Manhattan meeting of "40-50 Republican heavy-hitters" to persuade Christie to run. Both social moderates who support gay marriage, Singer and Langone are apparently drawn to Christie's prioritizing of union-bashing, budget-slashing economic issues over moral-values plays.
On Friday, the conservative media outlet Newsmax reported, without naming names, that the Draft Christie movement "culminated in a hush-hush powwow held in the past week with Christie and several notable Republican billionaires." A source in the know told Newsmax that "Christie seemed inclined to enter the race."
Worldwide support: A 2008 Paris "die-in" for Davis.
UPDATE III, Wednesday, September 21: The Supreme Court rejected a stay of execution for Troy Davis. He was executed shortly after 11 p.m.
UPDATE II, Wednesday, September 21: After exhausting all other appeals, lawyers for Troy Davis sent a last-ditch plea to the United States Supreme Court. Davis was scheduled to die at 7 p.m. Eastern, but Georgia prison officials are waiting to hear the court's decision. Follow New York Times reporter Kim Severson on Twitter for the latest developments. Democracy Now is also covering the story live from outside Davis' execution chamber:
UPDATE, Tuesday, September 20: This morning, the Georgia State Board of Pardons and Parole issued its decision to deny Troy Davis clemency. The five-member board did not reveal the tally of its secret vote. In a statement, it said that its members "have not taken their responsibility lightly" and "thoroughly deliberated" the case. Davis is scheduled for execution by lethal injection Wednesday evening.
ORIGINAL POST: During last week's GOP presidential debate, Rick Perry doubled down on his support for the "ultimate justice." As the audience applauded Perry's high death-penalty record, the gunslinger said he'd "never struggled" with the idea that an innocent man may have died on his watch, despite clear evidence that at least one has. Throughout his 11 years in office, Perry has presided over 235 executions (and counting), more than any other governor since the nation's moratorium on capital punishment was lifted 35 years ago.
In 1976, the state of Georgia played a starring role in helping to break that moratorium with the landmark case Gregg v. Georgia. That explains, in part, how 42-year-old Troy Davis landed on the state's death row two decades ago for the murder of a Savannah police officer. His case has all the markings of the sort of executionary zeal that garnered applause last week: No physical evidence links him to the crime; most of the original trial's eyewitnesses have since recanted their testimony, accusing police of coercion; and several people insist that the man who tipped off the cops to Davis is the real killer. Yet despite the real doubts about his guilt, Davis has exhausted his appeals. Last week, for the fourth time in as many years, corrections officials scheduled him for execution. His new death date is September 21.
"He has one last chance," says Laura Moye, the director of Amnesty International USA's death penalty abolition campaign: Georgia's parole board, the state's sole clemency-granting authority, will take a final look at Davis' case on Monday. Beyond that, she says, "he doesn't seem to have any legal avenues open to him."
Sure, majoring in medieval French poetry sounds like a blast, but will it pay the bills after graduation? Here are some top-notch degree programs in fields that are cool and practical: According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, these nine industries are on a hiring spree and show no signs of stopping.
UNDERGRAD PROGRAMS
Nanotechnology University at Albany-SUNY
Nanoparticles can make computers faster, electric cars more efficient, and diseases easier to detect. UAlbany's College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering sends interns to firms like Intel and IBM. Back on campus, they can model minuscule molecules at a 3-D computer lab.
Best bet for: People who sweat the small stuff Tuition: $4,970 in-state/$13,380 out-of-state
Renewable Energy Oregon Institute of Technology
This school pairs math and science with courses on energy history and how to measure greenhouse gas emissions. Grads are now power-system engineers at utilities and solar energy firms. Best bet for: Mathletes with a green streak Tuition: $6,376/$20,700
See more charts on the shocking cost of college.Cybersecurity University of Maryland
Participants in this program, which offers online and on-site classes catered to working adults, learn how to trace electronic threats and block hackers. Conveniently, the National Security Agency's HQ is just 30 minutes away. Best bet for: Phreaks who want to keep their noses clean Tuition: $7,320/$14,970
Video Game Design DigiPen Institute of Technology
If you can handle the math-heavy courseload, this for-profit college in Redmond, Washington, could help your Angry Birds obsession take flight: DigiPen is a feeder for the likes of Nintendo and Microsoft. One group of recent grads made it big by turning a class project into the popular Half-Life spinoff Portal. Best bet for: Highly motivated couch potatoes Tuition: $25,000
GRADUATE PROGRAMS
Urban Planning Portland State University
Students at this Oregon school's urban studies and planning program can choose from a wide range of classes on everything from poverty to pedestrians, but its coolest feature by far is a summer internship program in China, where many students work on green building projects. Best bet for: City mice with wanderlust Tuition: $10,584/$18,660
Read about the five gutsiest campus publications of the year.Elementary-School Education Inner-City Teaching Corps
This two-year certification program trains recent college graduates to work in Chicago's toughest neighborhoods. Along with classroom experience, ICTC offers tuition discounts at Northwestern University's school of education. A tip for getting in to this competitive program: Your undergrad major matters less than the year you spent tutoring fourth-graders. Best bet for: Rugged idealists Tuition: $11,650 before scholarships, though students earn a salary of $48,631
Veterinary Science University of Florida
Students in the College of Veterinary Medicine's marine animal health program in Gainesville learn about fish anatomy as well as how to rescue and rehabilitate dolphins, manatees, and other sea creatures—skills that could come in handy as climate change roils the oceans. One recent grad is studying the impact of the BP oil spill on sea turtles. Best bet for: Those who dream of the life aquatic Tuition: $23,573/$41,436
How did you make ends meet in college?Orthotics and Prosthetics Northwestern University
Many graduates of Northwestern's unique certificate program in prosthetics and orthotics—consisting of six months of online coursework followed by 11 weeks in a clinical setting working with amputees—go on to work with vets returning from Iraq and Afghanistan at Veterans Affairs clinics. Best bet for: Hands-on healers Tuition: $22,000
Biochemistry University of California-Berkeley
A degree from Cal's molecular and cell biology department doesn't necessarily mean you'll be publishing, perishing, or shilling for Big Pharma. This top-rated Ph.D. program places graduates in biotechnology companies that are working on cutting-edge cancer treatments and cures for devastating genetic diseases such as cystic fibrosis. Best bet for: Watson and Crick wannabes Doctoral stipend: $29,500
Unless you've been living in a hole, you've probably heard at least something about a secret confab near Vail, Colorado, where the billionaire industrialist Charles Koch referred to the 2012 elections as "the mother of all wars." (He may or may not have been referring to President Obama when he evoked Saddam Hussein—more on that below—but he certainly used Saddam's battle slogan to characterize efforts by him and his brother to evict Obama from the White House.)
In the week since we ran Brad Friedman's two-part series, which publicized audio from inside the big event and broke the news that New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie had delivered the keynote speech (a fact Christie had kept hidden from New Jersey voters), dozens of news outlets have picked up the story, and even taken it further. Here are a few highlights.
UPDATES (September 20):
New Jersey senator calls for heads up whenever Christie's leaves the state: Yesterday, New Jersey Sen. Loretta Weinberg introduced a bill that would require the governor to give legislators one day's notice before leaving the state for any reason. The bill was prompted by Christie's secret trip to Colorado to speak at the Koch brothers' June fundraising seminar. "I do not think the residents of New Jersey or any of us have a right to intrude on the governor’s private time, vacation time with his family. So if he wants to say, 'I’m going to Florida with my family,' that’s sufficient," Weinberg told NJ.com. "If he wants to say, 'I'm flying to Vail, Colorado, for a political meeting,' I think that that is good notice."
"It's all politics," Christie responded, according to the Associated Press. "She'd love to be lieutenant governor and she's not." (In 2009, Weinberg ran against Christie on the ticket of former Gov. Jon Corzine, and she has previously criticized Christie for putting partisan events on his public schedule.) Earlier this month, Christie told reporters that they were "not entitled to know everything I do."
The AP also noted that, according to recently released public records, Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno has formally assumed power for Christie 26 times since the pair was elected last year. Previous governors, the report added, have also spent considerable lengths of time outside the state.
Gov. Christie drops anti-teacher rhetoric: More than once duringhis speech at the Koch seminar, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie targeted state teachers' unions: "We need to take on the teachers' union once and for all, and we need to decide who is determining our children's future, who is running this place. Them or us? I say it's us," he said.
Last week, New Jersey Education Association spokesman Steve Wollmer toldNewJerseyNewsroom.com that Christie had backed off on his tough talk. "Everyone has noticed the intensity has dropped," Wollmer said. "For one, polling data is driving the governor to behave better. He is seen as failing on education and that's not good." Wollmer also accused Christie of refusing to meet with the NJEA, a teachers' union. "He is not interested in meeting with us," Wollmer said. "He is interested in destroying the rights of organized labor."
ORIGINAL POST
Christie "mentally deranged," says New Jersey Democratic Assembly leader: In the audio from his June 26 keynote speech, Christie boasts about backroom dealings with two state Democratic leaders—Senate President Steve Sweeney and Assembly Speaker Sheila Oliver—to pass a bill forcing public employees to pay more for their pensions. (Christie has called the pension overhaul his "biggest governmental victory.") "I want to post the bill, but I think when I go on the floor, my own party's going to take a run at me to remove me as speaker. So I can't post the bill," Christie says Oliver told him. "I think the only way I survive is if the 33 Republicans in the chamber will agree to vote for me for speaker. Can you work it out?"
After the audio broke, Oliver told the Newark Star-Ledger that Christie was "more mentally deranged than some of us thought. Never happened." True or false, Christie's story led to speculation that Oliver could be ousted from her leadership role. But two state Democrats speaking on the condition of anonymity told the Cherry Hill Courier Post that reports of party infighting are overblown, and Oliver's position is safe. Her standing with Christie, whom she also called a "rattlesnake," could prove more icy.
In early July, Sweeney went ballistic on Christie, claiming the governor had double-crossed him on the pension deal by unilaterally using his line-item veto to slash services to the poor. Back then, the former union leader called the governor a "rotten bastard" and "rotten prick" and said he "wanted to punch him in his head." He responded more coolly to the Koch seminar revelations, but speaking to the Asbury Park Press through a spokesman, he did manage another jab:
The Senate President has no comment on remarks Governor Christie made while he was wining and dining with ridiculously wealthy people just days before he cut funding for visually impaired people, our most vulnerable seniors, and programs for sexually abused children, while coming to the aid, yet again, of his rich friends.
Chris Christie's climate "smoking gun": In his introduction of the governor, David Koch revealed how he and Christie had gotten acquainted: "Five months ago we met in my New York City office and spoke, just the two of us, for about two hours on his objectives and successes in correcting many of the most serious problems of the New Jersey state government," Koch said.
New Jersey's Sierra Club director Jeff Tittel told the AP that this was "the smoking gun that shows [Christie has] been working with the Koch brothers from the beginning." The AP story suggests that the meeting may have influenced Christie's decision to withdraw from the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), a 10-state cap-and-trade program. In late May, after Christie announced his plan to exit RGGI by year's end, Tittel told Mother Jones that the governor was "trying to have it both ways" by supporting some environmental programs in New Jersey while appealing nationally to groups like the Kochs' Americans for Prosperity, a political advocacy group that stridently opposes efforts to regulate greenhouse gas emissions. A Christie spokesman told the AP that the winter meeting with David Koch was "wholly unconnected" to Christie's decision on RGGI.
Saddam Hussein and Barack Obama: Part 1 of Friedman's exclusive opens like this:
"We have Saddam Hussein," declared billionaire industrialist Charles Koch, apparently referring to President Barack Obama as he welcomed hundreds of wealthy guests to the latest of the secret fundraising and strategy seminars he and his brother host twice a year. The 2012 elections, he warned, will be "the mother of all wars."
Reporters nationwide quickly picked up this quote, and broadcast hosts replayed the audio clip (which was included in the piece) on their shows. Friedman appeared on a number of radio, podcast, and TV programs, including CNN's Situation Room and MSNBC's The Ed Show, to discuss it:
But some listeners, including our own Kevin Drum, suggested that Koch may have simply been quoting Hussein's well-worn slogan from the outset of the first Gulf War. Politico's Ben Smith wrote: "As I hear the (ambiguous) line, Koch is quoting Saddam here, not comparing Obama to him. In that version, the quote reads: 'We have, as Saddam Hussein [said] this is the Mother of All Wars.'" A Koch Industry spokesman echoed that sentiment. But there's little doubt that the war in question is the war to retake the White House. The quote was all that Obama campaign manager Jim Messina needed to blast out a fundraising email, suggesting that it "absolutely should" offend Democrats. "But it should also motivate you, because you are the only thing that can stop…[t]he Koch brothers and the front groups they fund."
Listen to Charles Koch's Saddam statement here:
(The complete audio and transcript are available at TheBRAD BLOG.)
Koch ally Art Pope denies attending the seminar: No one on our list of likely million-dollar Koch donors has contacted us to protest their inclusion. But Raleigh, North Carolina, retail magnate Art Pope—whom IndyWeek.com previously called a regular seminar attendee—told the News & Observer that he neither attended the seminar nor donated any of his own money. He did admit that his family's foundation donated "several hundred thousand dollars," presumably in the past year, to Americans for Prosperity, where he serves as a national director. A Facing South investigation discovered that the foundation has given a total of more than $1.9 million to Americans for Prosperity.
