The late Robert Graham is justly acclaimed for the monuments he left behind -- from those to Roosevelt in Washington to the doors of the Los Angeles Cathedral -- but I remember him best as lending his sculpturing genius to helping the homeboys in the street gang culture of Venice.

In the early 90s, when the street wars were severe, I went to see Robert Graham for advice about a proposed gang peace process. He never viewed the homeboys on his street as "super-predators", but more like lost boys who needed healing. That healing, he believed, might come from involving them in art and sculpture derived from their heritage, and fostering a self-help business approach.

It happened that Robert had finished a large Mayan monument for a San Jose park. He taught several young men to make miniatures in his Venice studio, in hopes that he would spark some cultural pride, transmit some skills, start a business, and fund some local projects out of the proceeds. As with any rehabilitation, the recovery process required a strong dose of self-help, through micro-enterprises for those too stigmatized to be employable.

Despite some valiant efforts on his part, the project didn't materialize. No one in government, business or the arts establishment showed enough interest. There was no public will and thus no mechanisms for rehabilitation, skills training, or starting community-based enterprises for ex-gang members. Billions were spent on police and prisons to contain them, but nothing for a fresh start.

In many ways, Robert Graham was a visionary ahead of his time. One of his worries unfortunately has come true; Los Angeles leads California, California leads America, and America leads the world, in the population of the incarcerated, most of them young men of color. Since his effort in the early 90s, however, the city has slowly moved in the direction of his desires, with the hiring of scores of homeboys as gang intervention workers. There is also a homeboy graphics collective, a homeboy bakery, a homegirl restaurant, in the heart of downtown, and the Luis Rodriguez' Tia Chucha cultural center in Lakeview Terrace. All building blocks of a different future.

Robert Graham was devoted to sculpturing with the stones the builders left out. More of us need to remember and act on that unfinished work.

In order to commemorate the inauguration of Barack Obama, President-elect and admitted Spider-Man collector, as 44th President of the United States, Marvel Comics just had to have Spider-Man meet the new President.

"When we heard that President-Elect Obama is a collector of Spider-Man comics, we knew that these two historic figures had to meet in our comics' Marvel Universe," says Marvel's Editor-in-Chief Joe Quesada. "Historic moments such as this one can be reflected in our comics because the Marvel Universe is set in the real world. A Spider-Man fan moving into the Oval Office is an event that must be commemorated in the pages of Amazing Spider-Man."

The story is a quick read, full of laughs (sometimes at the expense of an absent Joe Biden) and details a plot by a super-villain to disrupt the inauguration. Fortunately, Peter Parker is covering the event as a photographer, which means Spider-Man is close at hand to deal with the problem.

Marvel Comics has given Huffington Post readers an early look at the cover and a few panels from the comic:

This six page back up is written by Zeb Wells, drawn by Todd Nauck and appears in Amazing Spider-Man #583 which hits stands and finer comic book shops everywhere on January 14th, just in time for the inauguration.

Bryan Young is the producer of Killer at Large and writes about comics at Big Shiny Robot!

In his latest speech on the economy, President-elect Barack Obama has once again failed to make even a single mention of America's small businesses, which create nearly 80 percent of net new jobs, and employ 50.4 percent of private sector workers.

With regards to the economy, Obama held true to his campaign pattern of significantly downplaying the role small businesses play in driving our national economy. Even one of his top economic advisers, Dr. Laura Tyson acknowledged that the best way to simulate the economy is to direct federal infrastructure funds to small businesses. Tyson is the former Chair of the U.S. President's Council of Economic Advisers during the Clinton Administration and is currently an economic adviser to President-elect Obama.

On February 26, 2008, President-elect Obama stated, "Over half of all Americans work for a small business. Small businesses are the backbone of our nation's economy and we must protect this great resource. It is time to end the diversion of federal small business contracts to corporate giants." (http://www.barackobama.com/2008/02/26/the_american_small_business_le.php)

The statement was made in response to a series of more than 15 federal investigations, which have found fraud, abuse, loopholes and a blatant lack of oversight in federal small business contracting programs; and have uncovered the diversion of billions of dollars in federal small business contracts to Fortune 500 firms. (http://www.asbl.com/documentlibrary.html)

Within days of making the statement Obama began to distance himself from it. During the final months of the campaign Obama failed to mention small business issues in campaign speeches, modified his statement regarding the diversion of small business contracts to large corporations on his campaign website, and gave small business issues virtually no priority in his campaign agenda.

When President-elect Obama's Transition Team website, www.change.gov was launched, any mention of Obama's statement to stop the flow of federal small business contracts to large corporations had been removed.

Small business advocates are concerned that President-elect Obama may enact policy and legislation that could be harmful to the nation's nearly 27 million small businesses. Additionally, advocates point to the fact that the Obama-Biden Transition Agenda which is housed on change.gov, contains no new provisions that would significantly impact our nation's small business community.

I am extremely concerned that President-elect Obama doesn't seem to understand that most Americans work for companies with less than 100 employees and that these are the companies that are going to lead our country out of the recession and create a vast majority of all new jobs. So far, he has refused to offer even the most basic proposal to redirect federal infrastructure funds to these companies. It appears that he has no intention of stopping the flow of up to $100 billion in government small business contracts to large corporations. We are concerned that during his first days in office he may try to create loopholes for venture capitalists that will divert even more federal funds away from small businesses. It is going to take a lot more than tax cuts to stimulate this economy. President-elect Obama keeps talking about how important it is that we act immediately, and I couldn't agree more. We would like to see him propose policies next week that would, as he promised on February 26, 2008, stop the flow of federal small business contracts to corporate giants.

The financial carnage coming out of the Bernard Madoff investment scandal is now spreading from charities and wealthy individuals to labor union pension funds. In recent days, several have fessed up to their members their significant exposure to Madoff's investment scheme, which will result in massive losses to their members.

CNBC has learned that one union, the Carpenters local in Syracuse, N.Y., has lost the majority of the $100 million to $150 million it had in pension money because of its dealings with Madoff, people close to the matter said. The union's money manager, J.P. Jeanneret Associates of Syracuse, didn't return a telephone call for comment.

The Syracuse carpenters local isn't alone. Pat Morin, business manager of Empire State Carpenters Union, is sifting through the wreckage in his own portfolio, which at the end of June had around $800 million in assets under management. Morin says his fund has exposure to Madoff as well, largely the result of consolidation in union pension funds where locals like Syracuse had transferred money to his oversight.

The US$50-billion fraud, allegedly perpetrated by New York's Bernie Madoff, is a predictable outcome following the collapse of a speculative bubble. Enron's Ken Lay and other high-flyers like Bernie Ebbers of World.com were exposed following the tech bubble.
For white collar crime watchers and authors like myself, this is de rigueur. Bubbles attract crooks aplenty in addition to the usual amateurs who think they're brilliant even though they have been merely swept along in an updraft.
And big bubbles attract bigger crooks. Last year, it began with US$8 billion in rogue trading frauds at Societe Generale followed by the export of sub-prime debt to the world disguised as good credits and now this. Madoff is the biggest in history and more will come. Today the head of India's IT giant, Satyam Computers, also listed on the NYSE, admitted to cooking the books big time.

I have written three books on white collar crime which I consider the dark, and inevitable, side of business. My travels and experiences have led me to conclude that crooks fall into one of three categories:

Delusionals
These can be amateurs or egotistical crazies who cannot face reality it arrives so they cover up bad results in the hopes events will skate them, and their companies, on side. Lay and Ebbers fall into this category. They established and ran solid businesses then swept trouble under the floor. Enron deployed off-balance sheet shenanigans to falsify stock market results and Ebbers also cooked the books as the bubbles that made them hugely rich began deflating.
I would also place Conrad Black into this category. He was a man who treated his public company like his own domaine and helped himself to cash belonging to his fellow shareholders.

Career or serial sociopaths
These are the guys who charted a crooked course from the beginning. They are con men whose greed and depravity know few bounds. They gravitate to bubbles, from real estate to telemarketing to stock promotions and hedge funds, in order to swindle for fun and profit.
They are flexible and move to where the action is. For instance, I interviewed a convicted swindler who operated mining scams on the notorious, and now defunct, Vancouver Stock Exchange for years after he renamed and redirected his mining shell companies into high tech start-ups to cash in on that bubble. He then issued scads of questionable press releases about inventions, gadgets and contracts with buyers. I asked him how he defined high tech and he responded "anything with a plug."

Desperates
These are people who turn to white collar crime because they have substance abuse problems, gambling problems or are being blackmailed by violent people.

Madoff is a mystery
The case of alleged swindler Bernie Madoff is puzzling. He was a pillar of society and befriended many of the bigshots, charities, non-profits, bankers and religious people whose money he squandered. He was a pillar of society, something that's unusual in the world of crookery.
So, if convicted, Madoff may turn out to be a Delusional - a guy who started off with good intentions, then lost a fortune and decided that, rather than face the music, to keep the money flowing in under false pretenses in the hope that he would score big-time and everyone would win.
On the other hand Madoff may have set out to do this. After all, this US$50 disappeared over many years as an elaborate and detailed hoax involving trading and financial records was perpetuated. Like the salting of assays by Bre-X's late geologist.
What characterizes the serial fraudster, however, is a bullet-proof exit strategy. In Bre-X's case it was an alleged suicide by the geologist and, along with that questionable event, a trail gone cold. British newspaper magnate Robert Maxwell also allegedly leaped to his death from the back of his yacht just before it was discovered that he looted pension funds.
Others merely flee the country, change their identities, fingerprints and facial features.
But Bernie Madoff remains in his luxury New York City apartment, under house arrest. His lawyers are cooperating with authorities and he is pledging to remain in the states. His associates are under siege too. One committed suicide (Rene-Thierry Magon de la Villehuchet, a French aristocrat and professional investor who lost US$1.4 billion of his and his clients' money.) Another (Sonja Kohn of the Bank Medici in Vienna which blew US$2.1 billion of client money) is in hiding due to fears that the Russian tough guys who lost their shirts will wreak revenge on her and a third has had his assets tied up in lieu of lawsuits, fines or both.

Whatever the truth, Bernie Madoff's spectacular demise is not the last one that will surface out as a result of the financial system's meltdown. Many more will be made public or are being covered up as we speak.
If this turns out to be an all-out fraud from the get-go, then no laws, regulators, journalists or intermediaries could have averted it. This bubble was the greatest in history and Madoff swam among the biggest beneficiaries who, like bubble victims everywhere, never questioned their own judgment or rightful entitlement to uninterrupted gains.

Diane Francis blogs on Financial Post daily

The newspaper industry is in big, big trouble. That should be obvious by now. But if it isn't, consider this: America's flagship newspaper, the New York Times, is considering selling its stake in the Boston Red Sox just to stay afloat in 2009.

The Atlantic magazine speculates that the New York Times could go out of business this May.

Whoops, did I prepay my subscription through 2010? To stay afloat that long, reliable sources say the newspaper would have to sell its profitable internet site, About.com.

It pains me to say this because I'm a newspaper brat, but the newspaper industry has nobody to blame but themselves. My 94-year-old grandmother was more receptive to new technology.

I vividly recall when America's #1 afternoon paper, the Detroit News, switched from typewriters to computers. Some wag put an inflatable man in the middle of the city room so reporters could punch it when they got frustrated by the new technology. It was fun to watch -- a perk I enjoyed as a little girl because my dad was City Editor -- but it also sent a message about their attitude toward computers, and foreshadowed a deep-seated distrust of the internet.

What if instead of despising the internet, newspapers had partnered years ago with Silicon Valley software geeks to develop a social networking technology like Twitter? Something (like Twitter) that allowed sellers to easily post online classified ads in 140 words or less? Something (like Twitter) that allowed buyers and sellers to exchange information without revealing their personal email addresses? Odds are some guy named Craig wouldn't have cornered the market on classified advertising.

Imagine if this new technology (like Twitter) also turned out to be great for breaking news? Last month, a Twitter user was on the Continental Airlines jet that skidded off a runway at Denver Airport. He fired off a "tweet" after safely exiting the plane: "Holy f**king s**t -- I was just in a plane crash!" Now that's immediacy.

The bell is tolling loudly for hard copy newspapers. The younger generation gets its news online. There's no way around that fact. I repeat: there's no way around that fact.

But even if the Times converts to a digital-only format, they need to develop a way to advertise that doesn't annoy readers. While we're thinking out of the box, what if instead of full screen ads that pop up and block stories, they created portals to products and services we actually need? For example, if the Huffington Post had a Little Black Dress Big Sales Page, I'd click on it every day because the perfect LBD has become my white whale. Unfortunately, the next time I read the Times online, I'll get hit in the face with an ad for a lawn mower. What am I going to do with a lawn mower in downtown D.C.?

Newspapers have great capital: talented reporters with superb rolodexes. But if the bigshots at the top don't join the rest of us in the 21st century soon, those writers will be out of work and you'll be getting most of your news from bloggers like me. I'm not convinced that's a good thing.

My question of the day is, "Why is Congress having hearings to investigate the Securities and Exchange Commission?" If it's looking for the real culprit to blame in the Bernie Madoff Ponzi scheme, Congress needs only to look in its collective mirror.

Before I became a "recovering attorney," I practiced law for 15 years, several of them as an enforcement attorney at the SEC. I was ready to fight fraud! I was ready to investigate! I was ready to take on the bad guys!

Reality, however, didn't take long to set in. My new business cards were barely back from the printer when I realized that the SEC staff is always fighting an uphill battle and would never be able to truly protect investors and fight fraud in any significant way. The bureaucracy was too overwhelming, the procedural hoops too daunting and the staff would never have the resources it needed to do the job the right way.

Why? Money and influence. Two things the SEC needs and has little of. Two things that corporations and investment bankers have in buckets. Remember Enron? WorldComm? Den of Thieves?

The tag line of the SEC has long been "the investor's advocate." But the agency's effectiveness has been taken apart piece by piece because of the ridiculous beliefs held by many that self-regulation in the economic marketplace was a logical thing. Even Alan Greenspan is now shocked that he was so wrong for so long about his theories that ultimately replaced the initial premise of why a federal securities regulator was needed -- to compel corporations to tell the truth their securities and to make brokers, dealers and stock exchanges put the interests of investors first.

The SEC's noble purpose was probably doomed from the start. Sure, it can keep an eye on some things going on in the markets. But as a relatively small federal agency, it has always been underfunded and understaffed. The odds have been stacked against the Commission when it comes to keeping corporate greed at bay.

On top of that, many people who decide to work there do so to develop an area of expertise so they can leave in a few years and go make the real bucks in the private sector. The SEC suffers from constant turnover and loss of institutional knowledge. A great case might be underway, but if the attorney who's worked on it for two years leaves, someone else has to pick it up and learn it all over again, delaying an investigation or putting it on the back burner permanently.

The world that the SEC regulates knows that and counts on the perennial lack of resources and staff turnover. The individuals and corporations I investigated did everything they could to stall and draw out the process, by contesting subpoenas for documents and testimony they knew they would eventually have to comply with or by complaining to my supervisors that I was on the wrong track, in the hopes that I would either leave or get bored and frustrated and move on to another case.

So as Congress is getting ready to point the finger at the SEC for falling down on the job and searches for the underling who will inevitably have to take the fall, it had better get ready to own up to its share of the blame. Congress decides how much money (and, therefore, power) the SEC gets, and I can tell you it's standard practice for Congress to whittle away at the agency's budget or to say it can hire many new attorneys, but then refuse to fund the positions.

There have been a few who have tried to change things to make the playing field more level. But they've failed. The corporations and entities that are regulated spend much time and money on lobbyists to protect their interests, not the interests of the investors. SEC attorneys don't have their own set of lobbyists; they only have their own personal motivation and professional pride to see things through. That just isn't enough.

The SEC needs some sharpened fangs, not just a new set of ill-fitting dentures, if anything is going to really change for investor protection. Even though Congress claims it's serious this time, I'm not holding my breath that the money for that trip to the regulatory dentist is going to happen any time soon.

Joanne Bamberger is a professional writer and political anaylst in Washington, D.C., and the founder of the political blog, PunditMom. She is also a Contributing Editor for Politics & News at BlogHer. Her commentary has appeared on CNN, Fox News, BBC Radio, and many others.

"We have no solution, you shall continue to live like dogs, and whoever wishes may leave, and we will see where this process leads." - Moshe Dayan, former Israeli Minister of Defense speaking about Palestinians in the occupied territories.

Bard's piece made a series of assertions which I will deal with one by one.

1. Hamas started the conflict after firing rockets into Israel

Hamas did not start this conflict. Here's an extensive time line of events, making clear that Israel broke the ceasefire, not Hamas. Israel, contrary to popular opinion, also never left the Gaza strip and still controls taxation, the sea, air and land borders. If China had the same control over the United States, would Bard understand if Americans wanted to defend itself? After all, the U.S went to war with Great Britain over taxation, something Bard no doubt supports in retrospect.

2. Hamas wanted Israel to attack Gaza to boost its popularity and damage its reputation internationally.

Bard offers no evidence for the assertion that Hamas wanted its own people killed, other than it is his opinion. According to serious analysts Hamas miscalculated Israel's response rather than provoked it. They do of course, bear responsibility, but evidence is required before accusations like this are thrown around.

3. Hamas is at fault for civilian casualties as it uses "mosques, schools, private residences and even hospitals as locations to manufacture, store and launch weapons at Israel and hide its leaders."

Israel cannot bomb schools and hospitals just because it believes Hamas may be hiding there. It is a direct violation of international law, and therefore constitutes a war crime.

4. "Hamas's stated intention is the destruction of Israel"

There are certain elements of Hamas that want to see the destruction of Israel, just like there are extreme Zionists who believe Palestine belongs to Jews. You can't brand an entire organization in a certain light just because it is convenient to you. Here is Khalid Mish'al, head of the Hamas political bureau in an article in the Guardian:

Our message to the Israelis is this: we do not fight you because you belong to a certain faith or culture. Jews have lived in the Muslim world for 13 centuries in peace and harmony; they are in our religion "the people of the book" who have a covenant from God and His Messenger Muhammad (peace be upon him) to be respected and protected. Our conflict with you is not religious but political. We have no problem with Jews who have not attacked us - our problem is with those who came to our land, imposed themselves on us by force, destroyed our society and banished our people.

We shall never recognise the right of any power to rob us of our land and deny us our national rights. We shall never recognise the legitimacy of a Zionist state created on our soil in order to atone for somebody else's sins or solve somebody else's problem. But if you are willing to accept the principle of a long-term truce, we are prepared to negotiate the terms. Hamas is extending a hand of peace to those who are truly interested in a peace based on justice.

Stating that Israel is "the only democratic country in the immediate region" in one sentence then in another saying, "the Palestinian people, given a free choice in elections, voted Hamas into power," requires no rebuttal. Israel is the only democracy in the region because Bard wants it to be. Yes, Arab countries have attacked Israel since its inception, but Arabs view the creation of Israel as an attack on them. It just depends on your point of view.

6. Israel "Seized the West Bank and Gaza in 1967 not out of imperialistic aggression, but as a means of defending itself from its neighbors."

Regardless of whether Israel seized the West Bank and Gaza out of imperial aggression or self-defense, acquisition of land through war is explicitly forbidden under the Geneva Conventions, and a direct violation of international law.

7. If a "right of return" were granted, Israel would immediately cease to be as a Jewish, secular democratic state".

I don't think Bard really understands what he is saying here, as the sentence contradicts itself on many levels. Being a 'Jewish, secular state' is a contradiction in terms. Judaism is a religion, so a Jewish state is therefore a religious one. Also, Israel's refusal to give the 800,000 dispossessed Palestinians the right of return is a huge thorn in its side when claiming to be a democracy. Under international law, dispossessed people are entitled to return to their land, so if Israel was a functioning democratic nation that followed international law, the majority of it's citizens would be Arab, and they would have the right to vote. Bard might not like the outcome, but then that is what we call democracy.

8. "Israel has showed remarkable restraint and proportionality, evidenced by the fact that an overwhelming majority of the Palestinian casualties have not been civilians. The world should be lauding Israel for its efforts to minimize civilian casualties."

Israel has just bombed two U.N schools in the Gaza strip, and have thus far killed over 700 people, 220 of them children. The 'remarkable restraint and proportionality' Israel had shown is over 100-1 in terms of the Palestinian to Israeli death toll, on top of many millions of dollars in structural damage. Bard may laud Israel for this, but the majority of the world does not.

9. "Since the Palestinian people elected Hamas to power, they have themselves to blame for the damage done to them by their leaders."

Just because Palestinians voted for Hamas does not give Israel the right to kill them. Collective punishment is explicitly illegal under international law. Article 33 of the Fourth Geneva Convention states:

No protected person may be punished for an offense he or she has not personally committed. Collective penalties and likewise all measures of intimidation or of terrorism are prohibited.

George Bush illegally invaded Iraq, committing the supreme war crime of preemptive aggression. I don't believe Americans should be punished for his actions, even though they voted for him. Bard omits to mention international law or any historical context because if he did, his case would fall apart.

A grievous crime was committed against Palestinians when their land was forcefully taken from them in 1948. They had committed no crimes against Jews, and were not consulted when their land was given away. European nations had systematically slaughtered Jews for centuries, then laid the burden on the Palestinians, a fact that the West would rather forget. The Palestinians will never get their land back, just as Native Americans won't get theirs. But at least we can acknowledge what has happened to them, and work seriously for a lasting solution. The Palestinians are an oppressed people, and to blame them for their own predicament is simply inexcusable.

The Hebrew poet Aharon Shabtai once wrote:

And when it's all over, My dear, dear reader,

On which benches will we have to sit,

Those of us who shouted 'Death to the Arabs!'

And those who claimed they 'didn't know'?

Subscribe to my feed, or subscribe by email.

Ben Cohen is the Editor of The Daily Banter.com

You know her as Lisa Bonet from "The Cosby Show," and Lilakoi Moon (Bonet changed her name in 1995) has given birth to her third child: Nakoa-Wolf Manakauapo Namakaeha Momoa.

Lilakoi, 41, has a daughter Zoe, 20, with ex-husband Lenny Kravitz and a daughter Lola, 20 months, with boyfriend Jason Momoa of "Stargate: Atlantis" fame.

According to his website, Bonet delivered a son named Nakoa-Wolf Manakauapo Namakaeha Momoa.

From the fan forum on his official site.

He was born on the stormest, rainy night.

so Nakoa(warrior)...Mana(strength/spirit) Kaua(rain) po(dark)...

The name was always going to be Nakoa-Wolf, but Jason did the research on first middle name, 2nd middle name as you know is Jason's.

Bonet can currently be seen on ABC's "Life on Mars."

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) - 1 of 2 Texas men accused of possessing Molotov cocktails during the Republican National Convention has pleaded guilty.

The U.S. Attorney's Office says Bradley Neal Crowder, of Austin, pleaded guilty Thursday in federal court in Minneapolis to one count of aiding and abetting possession of an unregistered firearm. A sentencing date has not been set.

Meanwhile his co-defendant, David Guy McKay of Austin, is scheduled to go on trial on Jan. 26.

Prosecutors allege McKay and Crowder were part of an Austin-based protest group that planned to use incendiary devices to destroy property or injure police during the Republican National Convention.

The convention was at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Sept. 1-4.

Jeff DeGree is McKay's attorney. He said he doesn't believe Crowder's plea will affect McKay's case because the evidence against the two men is different.

Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Prosecutors arguing that alleged $50 billion scammer Bernard Madoff should be put in jail immediately say that when Madoff's desk was searched following his arrest, investigators found approximately 100 signed checks totaling more than $173 million "ready to be sent out".

"The only thing that prevented the defendant from executing his plan to dissipate those assets was his arrest by the FBI," prosecutors say. "The defendant's recent distribution of jewelry and watches demonstrates a continuing intention to benefit those close to him to the detriment of his victims."

Prosecutors asked Judge Roland Ellis earlier this week to put Madoff in custody after they say Madoff violated the conditions of his bail agreement when he and his wife sent multiple packages worth over $1 million containing valuables such as watches, jewelry, and cufflinks to relatives and friends.

Barack Obama is not the only one being inaugurated on January 20th. We all are. This moment in history demands that we stop waiting on others -- especially others living in Washington D.C. -- to solve the problems and right the wrongs of our times. It's your inauguration, too!

To illustrate this we are putting together a video featuring people from across America taking the presidential oath of office:

"I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States."

All you have to do is video yourself taking that simple oath. You can do it anywhere you want - even sitting in front of your computer, talking into your webcam.

Post the video of you taking the oath on YouTube or Vimeo, then put the link to the video in the comments section of this post (please tag these videos "HuffPost Oath").

We need to have these videos by Friday at midnight be included in our compilation. So go ahead, take the oath!

U.S. Rep. Bobby Rush received a piece of threatening mail at his South Side office Thursday that emergency officials are treating as a hazardous materials situation.

From the Tribune:

Police said a piece of threatening mail was sent to the office, but its contents were not immediately known.

Firefighters responded shortly before noon to the Democratic congressman's office at Champlain Avenue and 79th Street, according Chicago Fire Department spokeswoman Eve Rodriguez.

A Rush aide told CLTV that the letter mentioned the KKK and other racial references (no link or clip online as of this posting). Rush has been a central figure in the charged debate over the seating of Gov. Rod Blagojevich's Senate appointee Roland Burris. At the press conference announcing Burris's appointment, Rush warned the press not to "hang or lynch" Burris over his ties to the embattled governor.

"They had a wide-ranging discussion on many different issues facing the United States, and they all look forward to remaining in contact in the future," said White House press secretary Dana Perino, on Wednesday's historic luncheon of incoming, outgoing and past presidents.

Executive Summary: Not for Public Distribution

President Bush welcomed former presidents Carter, Bush (41) and Clinton, as well as president-elect Obama, to the private dining room. He repeated his earlier public comments about the office of the presidency "transcending" any individual who holds the office, and again expressed his hopes for a successful Obama administration.

Mr. Obama thanked Mr. Bush for his warm wishes, and for hosting such an "extraordinary" gathering. Mr. Obama said he particularly appreciated the opportunity to draw on the wisdom of such a "distinguished" group as he prepared to assume office.

Mr. Clinton noted that pizza was no longer on the private-dining-room menu. Mr. Bush assured Mr. Clinton that if he wanted pizza, he could have pizza. Mr. Clinton thanked Mr. Bush for his generosity, and ordered a large pepperoni and sausage.

Mr. Bush (41) lamented the deteriorating situation in the Gaza Strip, and he and Mr. Carter offered the president-elect several suggestions for responding to this crisis. Mr. Obama expressed his gratitude for the suggestions, while restating his position that, particularly with regard to foreign policy, the United States can have "only one president at a time."

Speaking privately to Mr. Carter, Mr. Clinton offered his view that at the moment, "We don't even have that many." Upon being overheard by Mr. Bush (41), Mr. Clinton explained that he had simply been "joking." Mr. Bush (41) suggested that, considering the "sensitivities" of all concerned, Mr. Clinton would be better off keeping his jokes to himself. Mr. Clinton thanked Mr. Bush (41) for his suggestion.

Mr. Obama solicited ideas about how to keep the "bubble" of the modern presidency from cutting a president off from the day-to-day concerns of average Americans. Likewise, Mr. Obama wondered about the difficulty of raising his two young daughters to be "normal" children in the unique environment of the White House.

Mr. Carter and Mr. Clinton each offered several suggestions in this regard, while Mr. Bush (41) commented that, from what he could see, Mr. and Mrs. Obama had already done a "really top-drawer" job of raising their daughters.

Mr. Bush (43) wondered whether the comments of Mr. Bush (41) were "some kind of slap" at his own parenting abilities. Mr. Bush (41) assured Mr. Bush (43) that that had not been his intention, while Mr. Clinton said that he had been "quite impressed" with Mr. Bush (43)'s daughters. In particular, Mr. Clinton commented, "That Jenna really looks like she knows her way around."

Mr. Bush (43) suggested that he and Mr. Clinton step outside to address the subject further, prompting Mr. Carter to offer to mediate any dispute between Mr. Bush and Mr. Clinton before "somebody does something foolish."

Mr. Bush (43) wondered exactly who it was that Mr. Carter was calling "foolish," prompting Mr. Bush (41) to suggest that Mr. Bush (43) "pipe down." Mr. Bush (43) then wondered why it was that Mr. Bush (41) "always takes their side," and cited as an example of former presidents "ganging up" on him the joint fundraising efforts that Mr. Bush (41) had undertaken with Mr. Clinton on behalf of hurricane victims.

Mr. Bush (41) pointed out that if Mr. Bush (43) hadn't been "asleep at the switch," fundraising efforts for hurricane victims might not have been necessary. Mr. Bush (43) pointed out that if Mr. Bush (41) hadn't "left Saddam right where he was," Mr. Bush (43) would have had "more time to concentrate" on hurricanes.

Mr. Obama thanked everyone for their help, and said that they'd "have to do this again sometime."

Rick Horowitz is a syndicated columnist. You can write to him at rickhoro@execpc.com.

!#*&%@%!!!

First comes the earnest incoming alert "Color Red! Color Red" giving 15 seconds to find shelter. Then with a kishka-twisting crump, a rocket thuds into Sderot too close for comfort, followed by a several more hits nearby in the barrage.

What had started out as a routine media briefing about Operation Cast Lead and life in Sderot - the Israel city 2.5 km away from the Gaza Strip - suddenly becomes personal. My colleagues and I, crowded into a corridor in the local police station, have a visceral understanding of the eight-year rain of rockets and mortars under which the people of Sderot have been living.

"How many's that today?" asks Ashraf Khalil, the debonair, Arabic-speaking correspondent for The Los Angeles Times. A giant of a policeman nonchalantly shrugs his shoulders. "I stopped counting."

Photo: Walter Bingham

The press conference continues under equally nonplussed Police spokesman Mickey Rosenfeld. One million Israeli civilians are under constant rocket threat, he resumes his thread. And then another officer drives into the parking lot where we are standing. Part of the emergency team dispatched following the attack, he is gingerly carrying the still hot-to-the touch remains of a rocket which had fallen by Sderot's main bus station a football field away.

Rosenfeld coolly identifies it as a 122 mm Qassam carrying 8 kg of explosives. "Made in the Gaza Strip," he determines with an expert's eye. Behind him are thousands of rusting remains of rockets that had smashed into the city, each marked with the date and place of impact.

Differentiating between different fin types and soldering methods, Rosenfeld identifies which had been manufactured in Gaza by Hamas, which by Islamic Jihad, and which smuggled in via Egypt from munitions plants in China and Iran.

"What country in the world [apart from Israel] sends SMS messages to get out of a building before bombing it?" he asks. Implicit in the question is the reverse of that logic - that while Israel seeks to prevent civilian casualties, Hamas with its unguided weapons targets to kill as many innocents as it can.

I know. I am one of them.