BURBANK – The future rests in the hands of formidable women. At least, that's how the modernized world of Total Recall paints it, with Kate Beckinsale and Jessica Biel playing mind-bending, butt-kicking forces of good and evil.
On a recent afternoon, the raspy-voiced pair are comparing futuristic manicures. "Boring" is how Biel stacks up her metallic silver polish to Beckinsale's trendy two-tone nails, which feature a slim line of orange at the nail-bed. Beckinsale repeats the unprintable, X-rated nickname for the style, and Biel's eyes slightly widen. "But I still like it," Beckinsale says with a saucy grin.
The two share zero such girly moments on-screen in the updated sci-fi film (out Friday), which hands Colin Farrell the role Arnold Schwarzenegger made famous in 1990. In the fantasy flick, beleaguered factory worker Douglas Quaid enlists a service that can turn dreams into real memories, Rekall, to try on a virtual life as a secret spy, only to trigger the truth: He's a rebel fighter whose memory has been wiped clean (or has it?).
As Farrell wades through what is real vs. imagined, Beckinsale takes over Sharon Stone's role as Quaid's deadly wife, Lori. Biel plays rebel fighter Melina, who clouds Quaid's head with memories of a more dangerous life.
The biggest difference between the new Total Recall and the original? The reboot doesn't go to Mars, and instead takes place in a far-off Earth, now dominated by two nation-states — the wealthy United Federation of Britain and dreary Colony. "We wanted to keep it on Earth," says director Len Wiseman of staying closer to the 1966 short story We Can Remember It for You Wholesale by Philip K. Dick. "The original short story never actually traveled out to Mars."
"Who needs two movies exactly the same?" asks Beckinsale. "If you're going to do it, you might as well do it differently."
The film is much darker tonally, Wiseman says, "but not without its fun." (Super-fans can rest easy: The futuristic three-breasted prostitute is alive and well.)
Acquaintances and actresses
Before Total Recall, Beckinsale, 39, and Biel, 30, knew each other only in a Hollywood sense.
"I'd run into you at the gym a couple of times," says Beckinsale.
"We'd shared a trainer a while ago," says Biel. "And I'd only ever heard 'Oh, my God, you'd love her, she's so nice.' "
Fast-forward to their screen test for Total Recall. Biel had "never been sicker." Barely able to stand, the actress would prop herself up and pretend to shoot guns as the production team finalized decisions on hair color, costumes and props.
Beckinsale admits she steered clear. "I'm actually quite phobic of vomit," she says, wrinkling her nose. "And they're like, she's here, would you like to meet her? And I was like, not at all. I don't want to be sick!"
Biel laughs, but at the time, she had given up on Western medicine for her ill health. "I would get acupuncture every day, and he would strap my stomach with vinegar-smelling herbs with tape" she says, as Beckinsale looks on in mock horror. "And I would show up covered (she motions at her stomach) to the camera tests."
"And it goes to show that she walked around smelling like pee and vinegar, and the only thing I ever heard was, 'She's so pretty,' " says Beckinsale.
Pretty, and tough. Like Becksinsale, who finished Underworld: Awakening days before stepping onto Total Recall's set, Biel typically stays in fighting shape. But Farrell warns not to underestimate just how tough she can be.
"Jessica is an incredibly feminine woman, but she's also got this strength and athleticism that is really impressive," says Farrell. "She throws a really good punch."
Not that she was the only intimidating woman present. Used to playing Underworld's heroine Selene, Beckinsale "really savors it completely," playing the bad guy, says Farrell. "The level of ill intent that she carries with her throughout the film was kind of delicious to observe."
In one scene, the two women fight each other in epic — and gender-neutral — fashion.
"I very much wanted to keep it to a fight between two very efficient agents in their own right," says Wiseman, Beckinsale's husband of seven years, who has directed her in two Underworld films. "I didn't want to take it to flirting or winking or anything like that."
It was refreshing to fight like that, both women say.
Beckinsale: "You realize you haven't seen that many fights that don't involve someone's bra strap coming out — "
Biel: "Or somebody getting their hair pulled — "
Beckinsale: "Or like, you know, somebody straddling somebody — so it's not like a fantasy fight, it's a proper fight. … It was very similar fighting that I did with Colin. If anything it was more vicious."
And so empowering that Biel ended up teaching the fight sequence to Beckinsale's daughter, Lily, 13,and her friend, which Wiseman decided to shoot for the DVD.
The one difference in a girlfight? Excessive politeness, says Beckinsale.
"I think Len has these funny outtakes of me going, 'Oh, no!' and she goes, 'Oh, was it me?' and I go, 'No, was it me?' The boys are not doing that, you realize. It's a very polite thing that we had going."
Today, time flies with the two women, aided by Beckinsale's rapid-fire wit and Biel dishing on her Twitter use (mostly filled with pictures of her dog, Tina). They share baking success stories (both are adept at sweets, although Beckinsale teases Biel that the almond butter fudge she brought to the set looked like "poo, to be honest with you") and favorite shows (Biel: Gator Boys, Beckinsale: Wife Swap). And both women are far more down-to-earth than their cover-girl status would imply, speaking openly of their surprise at the genres they've found popularity in.
"I was more picturing myself in a princess gown than wielding a machine gun," says Beckinsale, who will step out of the genre next in indie legal drama The Trials of Cate McCall. "This whole turn of events that's happened to me is very strange. It kind of came out of left field. But I'm enjoying it."
Biel nods; she was recently up for a role in The Wolverine, but passed because of scheduling conflicts. "You never plan. … For me, it's like this horror-movie thing (she next stars in thriller The Tall Man, out Aug. 31). You know like, 'Just go scream and freak out and cry for how many months a year.' "
Biel's getting married
Biel speaks with her hands, and it's impossible not to notice the huge princess-cut engagement ring winking from her ring finger. Engaged to Justin Timberlake, she says their wedding date is still TBD.
"I'm excited about it," Biel says, but she's hardly the type to have been planning her wedding since childhood. "I actually never ever in my wildest dreams thought it would ever happen to me. … I never dreamt about what I would wear, what it would look like or what it would be. Even now I still just feel like, I don't even know when it will ever happen because we're so busy."
Beckinsale, who married Wiseman in 2004, helps put it in perspective.
"It's a funny thing, too, in this business when you're getting married," she says. "Because for people who aren't in this industry, it's the one day that feels like that. And we," she gestures at Biel, "have a few days that feel like as stressful as a wedding is, … it can feel a little bit like almost not real. I felt like once I got married, I just wanted to do it again because it feels oddly like, I don't know, stage-managed. And if you have other things in your life that are stage-managed, it's weird."
Biel's one wish for her big day? An absence of hovering helicopters. "That's all I wish, for whenever it may be, is just privacy. That's it. If we can have that, anything else can go wrong. I don't care."
After three films, Wiseman and Beckinsale have a strong history of collaboration (their secret: he says they've learned to "quietly have our disputes" via text) , and Biel and Timberlake may join them. Biel confirms that Timberlake plans to write music for a film she has been putting together, The Devil in the Deep Blue Sea. "I'm so thrilled that he wants to do that, because I mean, I'm like his No. 1 fan, as dorky as that sounds."
Life is good, but virtual life, as Total Recall espouses, could be even better. Which Rekall experience would these two select?
"I can't sing at all, so I'd love to be a rock star," says Beckinsale. "And in particular I'd like to be Freddie Mercury."
Hands-down, says Biel, she'd pull the lever to be a spy. What kind?
"I don't even care," she says with grin. "I just want to be a part of secret missions."
Tuesday, July 31, 2012
Monday, July 30, 2012
What the U.S. should do to help Syria
Charles Dunne is director of Middle East programs at Freedom House. David J. Kramer is president of the group, and William H. Taft IV is chairman of its board.
United Nations special envoy Kofi Annan decried Friday the massacre of more than 200 people in Tremseh, Syria, thought to be the worst single incident since the demonstrations began in the spring of 2011. But what else will be done? Many arguments have been advanced against a more robust U.S. response to the crisis, including:
●We do not know enough about the Syrian opposition and military insurgency;
●What follows might be worse;
● Past interventions didn’t go well; and
●We can’t intervene everywhere.
Not one of these arguments stands up to moral or geopolitical scrutiny.
So far, more than 17,000 people have been killed, many of them in indiscriminate attacks on towns by the Syrian army or in massacres of civilians by Syrian security forces and their allied “shabiha” militias. Syria is rapidly descending into a civil war that could lead to ethnic cleansing along the lines of Iraq in 2006. That would have serious consequences for regional stability. Iran and Russia are already militarily involved, whether through boots on the ground (Iran) or major arms sales (Russia). China, worried about interference in human rights abusers’ internal affairs, has joined Russia in protecting Damascus in the U.N. Security Council.
On the other side, Saudi Arabia and Qatar are arming and financing the military opposition, primarily to eliminate another Shiite regime allied with Tehran and help shape a Sunni fundamentalist follow-on government. Syria’s military opposition is increasingly gaining ground, the Institute for the Study of War has found. The Annan plan for Syria’s future — which advocates, among other things, a “national unity government” that neither side will accept — was dead even before it was not adopted at recent international meetings. Both sides know their survival is at stake and will not yield.
With Syria’s future already taking shape, the question is: Will the United States play a role in shaping it? Or will it stand aside and let those less committed to democratic principles do it?
The United States can’t afford to stay on the sidelines. A failed state in Syria is likely to spill over into Iraq and Lebanon and spur debilitating refugee flows to Turkey and other neighbors. It will intensify a proxy war between Saudi Arabia, its Gulf allies and Iran. A Syrian collapse would create a fundamentalist threat to Israel’s sense of security and heighten the danger of miscalculation or conflict.
But this crisis also presents opportunities. The destruction of the Assad regime — which may be weakening, as military defections, including that of Gen. Manaf Tlas, son of the regime’s former defense minister, increase — would raise the prospect of another country moving toward democracy in the heart of the Middle East. Removing a key ally from Iran’s grasp could tip the balance of power in Lebanon and weaken the Iranian leadership. And breaking the Tehran-Damascus alliance on Iraq’s east and west borders might assist Iraq in its struggle toward democracy.
The Obama administration should throw in its lot more firmly with the opposition, both civilian and military. It needs to stop talking about what it won’t do and start discussing what it might do differently to end the bloodshed. This will make the regime’s downfall — and a transition to a stable, more democratic country — more likely.
First, the administration should dispense with its informal contacts with the main opposition umbrella group, the Syrian National Congress, and formally recognize and work with the SNC as the transitional authority. This would boost the SNC’s capacity to speak effectively to the outside world and plan for Syria’s future. In exchange, the administration should insist that the SNC build bridges to minorities such as Syria’s Christians and Alawites, who, fearing what might follow Assad’s Alawite regime, have continued to support the government.
Similarly, Washington should publicly help the Free Syrian Army, the Turkey-based military opposition organization, coordinate with military elements in Syria, particularly the regional military councils. The administration must play a more active role in coordinating arms deliveries from third countries to ensure they reach secular elements of the opposition who will not turn on us after they win. The United States should also provide its own arms, training and intelligence, helping to ensure that we become a sought-after partner, with commensurate influence.
The White House should publicly consider enforcing humanitarian corridors (“no drive” zones) as well as no-fly zones to counter the regime’s increasing use of helicopter gunships. It should launch formal discussions of such measures with NATO allies. Merely planning for serious military options would have an important psychological effect on the regime and its military forces, possibly prodding more defections.
Lessons of things not to do when we intervene have been learned the hard way in Iraq and Afghanistan. Srebrenica and Rwanda have provided their own hard lessons — most important, the cost in lives and U.S. moral standing — for failing to intervene. The United States must summon its leadership skills and, as it did in Libya, put an end to a disastrous conflict that challenges our sense of ourselves as Americans as well as our national interests.
United Nations special envoy Kofi Annan decried Friday the massacre of more than 200 people in Tremseh, Syria, thought to be the worst single incident since the demonstrations began in the spring of 2011. But what else will be done? Many arguments have been advanced against a more robust U.S. response to the crisis, including:
●We do not know enough about the Syrian opposition and military insurgency;
●What follows might be worse;
● Past interventions didn’t go well; and
●We can’t intervene everywhere.
Not one of these arguments stands up to moral or geopolitical scrutiny.
So far, more than 17,000 people have been killed, many of them in indiscriminate attacks on towns by the Syrian army or in massacres of civilians by Syrian security forces and their allied “shabiha” militias. Syria is rapidly descending into a civil war that could lead to ethnic cleansing along the lines of Iraq in 2006. That would have serious consequences for regional stability. Iran and Russia are already militarily involved, whether through boots on the ground (Iran) or major arms sales (Russia). China, worried about interference in human rights abusers’ internal affairs, has joined Russia in protecting Damascus in the U.N. Security Council.
On the other side, Saudi Arabia and Qatar are arming and financing the military opposition, primarily to eliminate another Shiite regime allied with Tehran and help shape a Sunni fundamentalist follow-on government. Syria’s military opposition is increasingly gaining ground, the Institute for the Study of War has found. The Annan plan for Syria’s future — which advocates, among other things, a “national unity government” that neither side will accept — was dead even before it was not adopted at recent international meetings. Both sides know their survival is at stake and will not yield.
With Syria’s future already taking shape, the question is: Will the United States play a role in shaping it? Or will it stand aside and let those less committed to democratic principles do it?
The United States can’t afford to stay on the sidelines. A failed state in Syria is likely to spill over into Iraq and Lebanon and spur debilitating refugee flows to Turkey and other neighbors. It will intensify a proxy war between Saudi Arabia, its Gulf allies and Iran. A Syrian collapse would create a fundamentalist threat to Israel’s sense of security and heighten the danger of miscalculation or conflict.
But this crisis also presents opportunities. The destruction of the Assad regime — which may be weakening, as military defections, including that of Gen. Manaf Tlas, son of the regime’s former defense minister, increase — would raise the prospect of another country moving toward democracy in the heart of the Middle East. Removing a key ally from Iran’s grasp could tip the balance of power in Lebanon and weaken the Iranian leadership. And breaking the Tehran-Damascus alliance on Iraq’s east and west borders might assist Iraq in its struggle toward democracy.
The Obama administration should throw in its lot more firmly with the opposition, both civilian and military. It needs to stop talking about what it won’t do and start discussing what it might do differently to end the bloodshed. This will make the regime’s downfall — and a transition to a stable, more democratic country — more likely.
First, the administration should dispense with its informal contacts with the main opposition umbrella group, the Syrian National Congress, and formally recognize and work with the SNC as the transitional authority. This would boost the SNC’s capacity to speak effectively to the outside world and plan for Syria’s future. In exchange, the administration should insist that the SNC build bridges to minorities such as Syria’s Christians and Alawites, who, fearing what might follow Assad’s Alawite regime, have continued to support the government.
Similarly, Washington should publicly help the Free Syrian Army, the Turkey-based military opposition organization, coordinate with military elements in Syria, particularly the regional military councils. The administration must play a more active role in coordinating arms deliveries from third countries to ensure they reach secular elements of the opposition who will not turn on us after they win. The United States should also provide its own arms, training and intelligence, helping to ensure that we become a sought-after partner, with commensurate influence.
The White House should publicly consider enforcing humanitarian corridors (“no drive” zones) as well as no-fly zones to counter the regime’s increasing use of helicopter gunships. It should launch formal discussions of such measures with NATO allies. Merely planning for serious military options would have an important psychological effect on the regime and its military forces, possibly prodding more defections.
Lessons of things not to do when we intervene have been learned the hard way in Iraq and Afghanistan. Srebrenica and Rwanda have provided their own hard lessons — most important, the cost in lives and U.S. moral standing — for failing to intervene. The United States must summon its leadership skills and, as it did in Libya, put an end to a disastrous conflict that challenges our sense of ourselves as Americans as well as our national interests.
Thursday, July 12, 2012
Bobcats getting Sessions, pursuing Humphries
LAS VEGAS -- D.J Augustin is gone at point guard, free agent Ramon Sessions will replace him, and power forward Kris Humphries and center Brendan Haywood could end up Charlotte Bobcats, too.
The Bobcats came to terms with Sessions Thursday, then rescinded a $4 million-plus qualifying offer to four-year Bobcat Augustin. That made Augustin an unrestricted free agent, and immediately Augustin signed a one-year, $3.5 million deal with the Indiana Pacers.
Restoring $4 million to the Bobcats’ salary cap will help them pursue Humphries, one of the top free agents left on the market, and free-agent-to-be Haywood, a Greensboro native who’s being waived under the amnesty clause by the Dallas Mavericks.
Point guard, power forward and center are the Bobcats’ three areas of need, particularly with Augustin’s departure. Signing those three could be a start on restoring some competitiveness for a franchise that just went 7-59 – worst single-season winning percentage in NBA history.
An informed source told the Observer Thursday that the Bobcats are back in pursuit of Humphries. He could have landed here in a multi-player trade sending Orlando Magic center Dwight Howard to the Brooklyn Nets. But that deal unraveled, and now Humphries is an unrestricted free agent.
While Humphries is best known as the ex-husband of reality show diva Kim Kardashian, he’s coming off his best of eight NBA seasons. He averaged 13.8 points, 11 rebounds and 48 percent shooti
ng for the Nets. After signing center Brook Lopez and ex-Bobcat Gerald Wallace to lucrative contract extensions, the Nets might not have the financial flexibility to retain Humphries.
Facilitating a Humphries signing could entail clearing additional cap room by using the NBA’s amnesty clause. That clause allows each NBA team to cut one player and stop counting his remaining salary against the cap. Potential amnesty candidates would be center Gana Diop, shooting guard Matt Carroll or power forward Tyrus Thomas.
Humphries would address the Bobcats’ rebounding and low-post scoring issues. The question could be his contract demands, both in annual salary and length of guaranteed years.
Haywood could be available in the next few days, assuming he clears waivers. The Bobcats could offer the former Tar Heel a likely starting spot at center
Regardless of what else happens, Sessions will sign soon, an informed source said. A 6-3 guard who finished last season with the Los Angeles Lakers, Sessions would likely back up second-year pro Kemba Walker.
Augustin’s departure means the Bobcats have lost another former lottery pick without compensation, as they did with Sean May and Raymond Felton in the past. Augustin was the ninth pick of the 2008 draft, when the Bobcats chose him over Lopez.
There were brief discussions earlier in the week between the Bobcats and Pacers about a sign-and-trade deal that never materialized. However, any such trade would have reduced the Bobcats’ cap flexibility.
Augustin turned down a lucrative contract extension last season, then was a topic of discussion at the March trade deadline. An informed source said the Bobcats had offered him roughly $6 million a season for multiple years.
Sessions, a Myrtle Beach native, played last season for the Cleveland Cavaliers and Lakers. At 26, he’s already played for four franchises in five NBA seasons.
Originally drafted in the 2007 second round by the Milwaukee Bucks, Sessions has averaged 11.1 points and five assists over his NBA career, shooting 45 percent from the field.
Sessions has had the occasional spectacular game: He holds the Bucks’ single-game assist record with 24 – along with 20 points and eight rebounds – against the Chicago Bulls in a 2008. He also scored 44 points in a 2008 game against the Detroit Pistons.
Sessions, who played college ball at Nevada, is known primarily for his driving ability. Early in his career his jump shot was considered suspect, but he made over 40 percent of his 3-pointers the past two seasons.
The Bobcats came to terms with Sessions Thursday, then rescinded a $4 million-plus qualifying offer to four-year Bobcat Augustin. That made Augustin an unrestricted free agent, and immediately Augustin signed a one-year, $3.5 million deal with the Indiana Pacers.
Restoring $4 million to the Bobcats’ salary cap will help them pursue Humphries, one of the top free agents left on the market, and free-agent-to-be Haywood, a Greensboro native who’s being waived under the amnesty clause by the Dallas Mavericks.
Point guard, power forward and center are the Bobcats’ three areas of need, particularly with Augustin’s departure. Signing those three could be a start on restoring some competitiveness for a franchise that just went 7-59 – worst single-season winning percentage in NBA history.
An informed source told the Observer Thursday that the Bobcats are back in pursuit of Humphries. He could have landed here in a multi-player trade sending Orlando Magic center Dwight Howard to the Brooklyn Nets. But that deal unraveled, and now Humphries is an unrestricted free agent.
While Humphries is best known as the ex-husband of reality show diva Kim Kardashian, he’s coming off his best of eight NBA seasons. He averaged 13.8 points, 11 rebounds and 48 percent shooti
ng for the Nets. After signing center Brook Lopez and ex-Bobcat Gerald Wallace to lucrative contract extensions, the Nets might not have the financial flexibility to retain Humphries.
Facilitating a Humphries signing could entail clearing additional cap room by using the NBA’s amnesty clause. That clause allows each NBA team to cut one player and stop counting his remaining salary against the cap. Potential amnesty candidates would be center Gana Diop, shooting guard Matt Carroll or power forward Tyrus Thomas.
Humphries would address the Bobcats’ rebounding and low-post scoring issues. The question could be his contract demands, both in annual salary and length of guaranteed years.
Haywood could be available in the next few days, assuming he clears waivers. The Bobcats could offer the former Tar Heel a likely starting spot at center
Regardless of what else happens, Sessions will sign soon, an informed source said. A 6-3 guard who finished last season with the Los Angeles Lakers, Sessions would likely back up second-year pro Kemba Walker.
Augustin’s departure means the Bobcats have lost another former lottery pick without compensation, as they did with Sean May and Raymond Felton in the past. Augustin was the ninth pick of the 2008 draft, when the Bobcats chose him over Lopez.
There were brief discussions earlier in the week between the Bobcats and Pacers about a sign-and-trade deal that never materialized. However, any such trade would have reduced the Bobcats’ cap flexibility.
Augustin turned down a lucrative contract extension last season, then was a topic of discussion at the March trade deadline. An informed source said the Bobcats had offered him roughly $6 million a season for multiple years.
Sessions, a Myrtle Beach native, played last season for the Cleveland Cavaliers and Lakers. At 26, he’s already played for four franchises in five NBA seasons.
Originally drafted in the 2007 second round by the Milwaukee Bucks, Sessions has averaged 11.1 points and five assists over his NBA career, shooting 45 percent from the field.
Sessions has had the occasional spectacular game: He holds the Bucks’ single-game assist record with 24 – along with 20 points and eight rebounds – against the Chicago Bulls in a 2008. He also scored 44 points in a 2008 game against the Detroit Pistons.
Sessions, who played college ball at Nevada, is known primarily for his driving ability. Early in his career his jump shot was considered suspect, but he made over 40 percent of his 3-pointers the past two seasons.
L.A. moves the needle
The first cases of HIV identified anywhere in the world are widely thought to have been in Los Angeles in 1981. Since then, 45,000 Angelenos have contracted HIV and nearly half have died due to the disease.
As terrible as that statistic is, we can look back over the last 30 years with considerable pride because Los Angeles' courageous response to the epidemic also saved many lives. We now know how much worse things would have been had local elected leaders not braved controversy to support one of the most effective HIV prevention tools we have: needle exchange.
How much worse? Consider some comparative data — needle exchange isn't solely responsible for the differences in these statistics, but it plays an important role.
In 1992 in Los Angeles, where needle exchanges were already in effect, the rate of HIV among those who injected drugs was 8.4%. In 1993, the HIV rate in Miami for that population was the highest in the country: 48%. Although Miami put into place HIV-prevention programs, there has never been a large-scale needle exchange program there. Today the rate of HIV among injection drug users in Miami is 16%. In Los Angeles, the rate stayed low, and as of 2009, the most recent data available, it was 5%.
These facts have important consequences. Extrapolating from county data, it's believed that about 34,000 Los Angeles residents are injection drug users. The California Department of Public Health calculates the lifetime costs of treating one person with HIV at $385,200. If those 34,000 Angelenos had an HIV rate of 16% rather than 5%, we'd be spending an additional $1.4 billion in treatment costs.
People affected by HIV/AIDS in the late 1980s and early 1990s faced all kinds of discrimination. Our civic leaders displayed wisdom and guts with a series of early actions in response to the epidemic, beginning with the country's first AIDS anti-discrimination law in 1985.
Four years later, L.A. put in place an AIDS coordinator, Fred Eggan, who provided a structure for the city to partner with community organizations to raise public awareness, prevent new HIV infections and support those affected by HIV/AIDS.
Needle exchange came next. It was highly controversial at first. Activists and volunteers, including the founder of my program, Renee Edgington, began the exchange underground in the late 1980s; it was formally established in 1992. They faced protesters, prosecution, conflicts with private security, law enforcement, even citizen's arrest.
Critics objected: Why give people who inject drugs the tools they need to break the law? It seemed to many observers that swapping sterile needles for used needles would only make things worse. But city leaders held firm, and decades of research have now vindicated decisions by the city and later county leaders who bet on needle exchange. In fact, more than 200 studies from the U.S. and abroad agree: Needle exchange programs not only prevent HIV, but people who use them are also more likely to enter drug treatment and get off drugs.
People who inject drugs will keep doing it with or without access to clean needles. Reusing old syringes greatly increases the risk of staph infection or the antibiotic resistant MRSA; sharing syringes leads to HIV and hepatitis C infection.
Ask anyone who's ever injected drugs how difficult it is to get sterile syringes without exchange. In California, some pharmacies sell syringes without a prescription, but they are few and far between. Most don't offer disposal or referrals to badly needed wraparound and referral services such as medical care and access to drug treatment. Outside of
the participating pharmacies and needle exchange programs, there are few options other than buying them on the street.
Earlier this year, Stephen Simon, the city's fifth AIDS coordinator, left the job for the private sector. Stephen was a tenacious champion of the city's exchange programs and syringe access in California.
"It's been a tough political challenge," Simon told the City Council as he left, but "we removed more than a million dirty needles from the streets of Los Angeles each year.... That's the kind of tough political decisions that you all have made here." Council members Bill Rosendahl, Eric Garcetti, Tom LaBonge, Paul Koretz, Dennis Zine and Ed Reyes all spoke with gratitude of Simon's tenacity and creativity in guiding the city's fight to reduce HIV and AIDS.
So far, however, Simon's job hasn't been filled. And yet the HIV epidemic is still with us, and we still need city and county help to protect the progress we've made so far. We still need local government to stand up against continuing and misguided opposition to needle exchange.
In a time of polarized political conversation and a distressed economy, it may be tough to remember how important L.A.'s pioneering prevention strategy has been. We can't afford to throw away people, or money, on treating those whose illnesses we could prevent. Not in times like these. L.A. needs to keep supporting needle exchange programs, and it needs to advocate for and coordinate with those programs.
Shoshanna Scholar has served as the executive director of Clean Needles Now/Harm Reduction Central in Los Angeles since 2003.
As terrible as that statistic is, we can look back over the last 30 years with considerable pride because Los Angeles' courageous response to the epidemic also saved many lives. We now know how much worse things would have been had local elected leaders not braved controversy to support one of the most effective HIV prevention tools we have: needle exchange.
How much worse? Consider some comparative data — needle exchange isn't solely responsible for the differences in these statistics, but it plays an important role.
In 1992 in Los Angeles, where needle exchanges were already in effect, the rate of HIV among those who injected drugs was 8.4%. In 1993, the HIV rate in Miami for that population was the highest in the country: 48%. Although Miami put into place HIV-prevention programs, there has never been a large-scale needle exchange program there. Today the rate of HIV among injection drug users in Miami is 16%. In Los Angeles, the rate stayed low, and as of 2009, the most recent data available, it was 5%.
These facts have important consequences. Extrapolating from county data, it's believed that about 34,000 Los Angeles residents are injection drug users. The California Department of Public Health calculates the lifetime costs of treating one person with HIV at $385,200. If those 34,000 Angelenos had an HIV rate of 16% rather than 5%, we'd be spending an additional $1.4 billion in treatment costs.
People affected by HIV/AIDS in the late 1980s and early 1990s faced all kinds of discrimination. Our civic leaders displayed wisdom and guts with a series of early actions in response to the epidemic, beginning with the country's first AIDS anti-discrimination law in 1985.
Four years later, L.A. put in place an AIDS coordinator, Fred Eggan, who provided a structure for the city to partner with community organizations to raise public awareness, prevent new HIV infections and support those affected by HIV/AIDS.
Needle exchange came next. It was highly controversial at first. Activists and volunteers, including the founder of my program, Renee Edgington, began the exchange underground in the late 1980s; it was formally established in 1992. They faced protesters, prosecution, conflicts with private security, law enforcement, even citizen's arrest.
Critics objected: Why give people who inject drugs the tools they need to break the law? It seemed to many observers that swapping sterile needles for used needles would only make things worse. But city leaders held firm, and decades of research have now vindicated decisions by the city and later county leaders who bet on needle exchange. In fact, more than 200 studies from the U.S. and abroad agree: Needle exchange programs not only prevent HIV, but people who use them are also more likely to enter drug treatment and get off drugs.
People who inject drugs will keep doing it with or without access to clean needles. Reusing old syringes greatly increases the risk of staph infection or the antibiotic resistant MRSA; sharing syringes leads to HIV and hepatitis C infection.
Ask anyone who's ever injected drugs how difficult it is to get sterile syringes without exchange. In California, some pharmacies sell syringes without a prescription, but they are few and far between. Most don't offer disposal or referrals to badly needed wraparound and referral services such as medical care and access to drug treatment. Outside of
the participating pharmacies and needle exchange programs, there are few options other than buying them on the street.
Earlier this year, Stephen Simon, the city's fifth AIDS coordinator, left the job for the private sector. Stephen was a tenacious champion of the city's exchange programs and syringe access in California.
"It's been a tough political challenge," Simon told the City Council as he left, but "we removed more than a million dirty needles from the streets of Los Angeles each year.... That's the kind of tough political decisions that you all have made here." Council members Bill Rosendahl, Eric Garcetti, Tom LaBonge, Paul Koretz, Dennis Zine and Ed Reyes all spoke with gratitude of Simon's tenacity and creativity in guiding the city's fight to reduce HIV and AIDS.
So far, however, Simon's job hasn't been filled. And yet the HIV epidemic is still with us, and we still need city and county help to protect the progress we've made so far. We still need local government to stand up against continuing and misguided opposition to needle exchange.
In a time of polarized political conversation and a distressed economy, it may be tough to remember how important L.A.'s pioneering prevention strategy has been. We can't afford to throw away people, or money, on treating those whose illnesses we could prevent. Not in times like these. L.A. needs to keep supporting needle exchange programs, and it needs to advocate for and coordinate with those programs.
Shoshanna Scholar has served as the executive director of Clean Needles Now/Harm Reduction Central in Los Angeles since 2003.
Tuesday, July 10, 2012
Microsoft's Surface is a 'design point,' says CEO
PC manufacturers shouldn't fear that the debut of Microsoft's flashy Surface tablet might shut them out of future device making for the company, according to Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer
During this week's Worldwide Partner Conference for Microsoft, Ballmer addressed the crowd and said Surface is the software makers' aim at creating a device heavily focused on design, according to All Things D.
Here's what he said
Surface is just a design point. It will have a distinct place in what's a broad Windows ecosystem. And the importance of the thousands of partners that we have that design and produce Windows computers will not diminish. We have a mutual goal with our OEM partners to bring a diversity of solutions, Windows PCs, phones, tablets, servers to market. And what we seek to have is a spectrum of stunning devices, stunning Windows devices. So, every consumer, every business customer can say, "I have the perfect PC for me."...We're excited about the work our OEM partners are doing on Windows 8.
In a nutshell, the jig isn't up for Microsoft's partners. This likely comes as good news to PC makers who have been griping about the high falutin Surface since its launch in June. Now they'll still be able to create devices for Microsoft, including those with Windows 8 hardware.
During this week's Worldwide Partner Conference for Microsoft, Ballmer addressed the crowd and said Surface is the software makers' aim at creating a device heavily focused on design, according to All Things D.
Here's what he said
Surface is just a design point. It will have a distinct place in what's a broad Windows ecosystem. And the importance of the thousands of partners that we have that design and produce Windows computers will not diminish. We have a mutual goal with our OEM partners to bring a diversity of solutions, Windows PCs, phones, tablets, servers to market. And what we seek to have is a spectrum of stunning devices, stunning Windows devices. So, every consumer, every business customer can say, "I have the perfect PC for me."...We're excited about the work our OEM partners are doing on Windows 8.
In a nutshell, the jig isn't up for Microsoft's partners. This likely comes as good news to PC makers who have been griping about the high falutin Surface since its launch in June. Now they'll still be able to create devices for Microsoft, including those with Windows 8 hardware.
Office Printers Succumb To Virus
Office printers across the US, India, Europe and South America are spewing out thousands of
pages of nonsense, due to a malicious program called Milicenso. IT departments can’t be
happy, and neither can office managers who will have to place orders to restock paper
supplies.
Security firm Symantec wrote in a blog post that an outbreak of the Trojan.Milicenso has
spread over the past two weeks, triggering massive print jobs typing up company resources.
The hardest hit were businesses in the US and India, however certain regions in Europe and
South America were also affected.
Trojan.Milicenso was first noticed in 2010, and has been adapted many times to cause
different outcomes; the most recent outcome being office printers. As Trojan.Milicenso is
somewhat of a malware-for-hire, it’s been used most recently to distribute adware to
French speaking users and was reported as Adware.Eorezo.
Delivery of the malicious program comes in many forms. In many cases computers will become
infected – and then transmit to printers – through email attachments, though visiting
websites hosting malicious scripts also spreads the infectious program. “The latter often
unintentionally occurs when a user clicks on a link in an unsolicited email,” Symantec
posted on its blog.
The internet security company also said it has encountered a large number of samples that
appear to be packaged as a fake codec, or program delivery. These are distributed as files
with random file names, and a “.exe” or “.dll” extension. The encrypted name makes it
difficult to identify. What makes it more difficult to identify and eliminate? “The
decryption key itself is encrypted using a value that is unique to the compromised
computer,” says the Symantec blog post. The post explains that the unique value is 16
bytes in length, and is generated using the time when the System and System Volume
Information folders were created. The unique value is used to encrypt the main DLL
decryption key, to add to the subterfuge, and make removal more difficult.
The Trojan.Milicenso is somewhat difficult to identify and remove because it uses adware as
a decoy, which detracts attention from the infection itself. In many cases, according to
Symantec, the malware is able to evade detection and in many cases be categorized as a low
risk, and actually be dismissed by many virus protection programs. In the case of the this
particular flavor of Trojan.Milicenso that makes office printers go through reams of paper
and cartridges of printer ink, the malware has a devastating effect on business.
Office printers are affected by this case of Trojan.Milicenso, because of a new script
written into the malicious code, according to Symantec. During the infection phase, a .spl
file is created that looks something like [DRIVE_LETTER]
\system32/Spool/PRINTERS\[RANDOM].spl. The .spl file is actually an executable file, which
is detected as Adware.Eorezo. At this point, any files in that folder will trigger print
jobs.
Symantec says it believes the garbled printouts appear to be a side effect of the infection
vector.
ICS Diary, the Internet Storm Center website that’s part of the SANS Technology Institute,
also has reports on the virus, with details about top-level files names and some of the
sites running drive-by downloads of the malware.
“The beauty of this unexpected malware behavior is that it can easily be detected
throughout the organization printers and servers, although at the expense of wasting
precious paper, and trees as a consequence. Let’s save the planet! … and don’t forget
this is a good opportunity to evaluate the security of your printing architecture,” the
ICS Diary says in a blog post. The post identifies printing architecture security as
network isolation, access controls and printer management.
pages of nonsense, due to a malicious program called Milicenso. IT departments can’t be
happy, and neither can office managers who will have to place orders to restock paper
supplies.
Security firm Symantec wrote in a blog post that an outbreak of the Trojan.Milicenso has
spread over the past two weeks, triggering massive print jobs typing up company resources.
The hardest hit were businesses in the US and India, however certain regions in Europe and
South America were also affected.
Trojan.Milicenso was first noticed in 2010, and has been adapted many times to cause
different outcomes; the most recent outcome being office printers. As Trojan.Milicenso is
somewhat of a malware-for-hire, it’s been used most recently to distribute adware to
French speaking users and was reported as Adware.Eorezo.
Delivery of the malicious program comes in many forms. In many cases computers will become
infected – and then transmit to printers – through email attachments, though visiting
websites hosting malicious scripts also spreads the infectious program. “The latter often
unintentionally occurs when a user clicks on a link in an unsolicited email,” Symantec
posted on its blog.
The internet security company also said it has encountered a large number of samples that
appear to be packaged as a fake codec, or program delivery. These are distributed as files
with random file names, and a “.exe” or “.dll” extension. The encrypted name makes it
difficult to identify. What makes it more difficult to identify and eliminate? “The
decryption key itself is encrypted using a value that is unique to the compromised
computer,” says the Symantec blog post. The post explains that the unique value is 16
bytes in length, and is generated using the time when the System and System Volume
Information folders were created. The unique value is used to encrypt the main DLL
decryption key, to add to the subterfuge, and make removal more difficult.
The Trojan.Milicenso is somewhat difficult to identify and remove because it uses adware as
a decoy, which detracts attention from the infection itself. In many cases, according to
Symantec, the malware is able to evade detection and in many cases be categorized as a low
risk, and actually be dismissed by many virus protection programs. In the case of the this
particular flavor of Trojan.Milicenso that makes office printers go through reams of paper
and cartridges of printer ink, the malware has a devastating effect on business.
Office printers are affected by this case of Trojan.Milicenso, because of a new script
written into the malicious code, according to Symantec. During the infection phase, a .spl
file is created that looks something like [DRIVE_LETTER]
\system32/Spool/PRINTERS\[RANDOM].spl. The .spl file is actually an executable file, which
is detected as Adware.Eorezo. At this point, any files in that folder will trigger print
jobs.
Symantec says it believes the garbled printouts appear to be a side effect of the infection
vector.
ICS Diary, the Internet Storm Center website that’s part of the SANS Technology Institute,
also has reports on the virus, with details about top-level files names and some of the
sites running drive-by downloads of the malware.
“The beauty of this unexpected malware behavior is that it can easily be detected
throughout the organization printers and servers, although at the expense of wasting
precious paper, and trees as a consequence. Let’s save the planet! … and don’t forget
this is a good opportunity to evaluate the security of your printing architecture,” the
ICS Diary says in a blog post. The post identifies printing architecture security as
network isolation, access controls and printer management.
Monday, July 2, 2012
British troops killed by gunman in Afghan police uniform
Two served with the 1st Battalion Welsh Guards and one with the Royal Corps of Signals. Next of kin have been told.
The MoD said the soldiers were shot and fatally wounded as they left a checkpoint in Helmand province.
More than 20 foreign personnel have been killed in so-called rogue shootings in Afghanistan this year.
An MoD spokesman said: "Their loss will be felt deeply across the task force, however that will be nothing compared with the grief experienced by their families at home. Our thoughts and prayers are with them at this extremely difficult time."
The gunman was injured and later detained, Nato said.
The soldiers were part of a Nato-led Isaf force who have been training Afghan counterparts ahead of a handover of security responsibility by 2014.
Growing resentment Observers say the rogue shootings have eroded morale among foreign forces.
BBC defence correspondent Caroline Wyatt says background checks are carried out on Afghan troops and police in a bid to ensure that people are not sympathetic to insurgent factions.
Isaf, Nato's force in the country, said in a statement on Sunday: "An individual wearing an Afghan National Civil Order Police uniform turned his weapon against International Security Assistance Force service members in southern Afghanistan today, killing three service members."
In February public opinion against the foreign forces in Afghanistan was inflamed by revelations that US troops burned copies of the Koran at a base in Afghanistan - reportedly by accident.
The shooting of 16 Afghans by a US soldier in March has also created resentment.
The MoD said the soldiers were shot and fatally wounded as they left a checkpoint in Helmand province.
More than 20 foreign personnel have been killed in so-called rogue shootings in Afghanistan this year.
An MoD spokesman said: "Their loss will be felt deeply across the task force, however that will be nothing compared with the grief experienced by their families at home. Our thoughts and prayers are with them at this extremely difficult time."
The gunman was injured and later detained, Nato said.
The soldiers were part of a Nato-led Isaf force who have been training Afghan counterparts ahead of a handover of security responsibility by 2014.
Growing resentment Observers say the rogue shootings have eroded morale among foreign forces.
BBC defence correspondent Caroline Wyatt says background checks are carried out on Afghan troops and police in a bid to ensure that people are not sympathetic to insurgent factions.
Isaf, Nato's force in the country, said in a statement on Sunday: "An individual wearing an Afghan National Civil Order Police uniform turned his weapon against International Security Assistance Force service members in southern Afghanistan today, killing three service members."
In February public opinion against the foreign forces in Afghanistan was inflamed by revelations that US troops burned copies of the Koran at a base in Afghanistan - reportedly by accident.
The shooting of 16 Afghans by a US soldier in March has also created resentment.
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