Editor's note: Simon Johnson, a former International Monetary Fund chief economist, is a professor at MIT Sloan School of Management and a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics. Peter Boone is chairman of Effective Intervention, a UK-based charity, and a research associate at the Centre for Economic Performance, London School of Economics. They run http://baselinescenario.com/, a global economy Web site. Simon Johnson, above, and Peter Boone say the U.S. could be in for a long period of virtually no growth. (CNN) -- Euphoria returns! Who could have guessed that Bank of America stock would rally 70 percent the week it learns the Feds are demanding new capital equal to nearly half the bank's market capitalization? The ongoing grim news -- on rising unemployment, continued (albeit slower) economic decline, and ordinary working Americans being hammered on all sides -- is being ignored by stock and commodity markets. Is America now back on track for growth? The answer to that is almost surely no. Rising stock markets don't necessarily mean a sharp recovery is under way. Consider the case of Japan in its first lost decade of the 1990s. After falling 63 percent from its peak in late 1989, the Nikkei staged a 32 percent rally in one month. It then remained volatile but around the same level for nearly 10 years -- because the return on assets and capital investors could earn proved so low throughout that economy. During the 1990s, Japan's banking system was burdened with bad loans that kept eating into profits and its nonfinancial companies had excess capacity that had to be wound down; these problems were made worse by a decline in the working population. The initial excess of capital, supplemented by high ongoing savings from households and corporations, kept interest rates low. Throughout this period the price/earnings ratio on stocks ranged from 30 to 50 (it's 51 today), compared with 15 to 20 in Europe and the United States. The logic was simple: With so little return available on all assets, local investors were willing to pay up for stocks even if the dividends were a paltry 1-2 percent. Does this sound familiar? We think so. The current rally in stocks marks one clear success -- the fear of a systemic collapse due to loss of confidence in our financial system has subsided. This is good news, and an important achievement of President Obama's team. However, our "turning Japanese" phase may just have begun. The "stress tests" that were just completed do not mark the renewed health of our banking system. We still have 22 percent of Americans with houses worth less than their mortgages, and there are parallel problems for commercial property and other sectors. Many bankruptcies are yet to come. Most publicly traded large homebuilders are deep in debt, yet they are burning cash and waiting to see if -- magically -- the two-year stock of unsold housing can somehow disappear. We've barely begun to downsize our auto industry, and the parts suppliers and dealers that go along with it, to reflect the lower level of consumer spending and scarcer availability of credit for the future. All of this is also true across much of Europe. In essence, Europe and the United States both are saddled with zombie banks (which don't really lend), zombie corporations (which don't grow), and a decline in the relative size of the working population (as more people try to retire). This "Japanese" scenario can persist for many years. The biggest risk now is that the Federal Reserve and the Treasury try to re-leverage our way out of a Japanese-style prolonged recession by flooding the economy with cheap credit -- like they did in 2002, but to an even greater degree. Cheap government finance for powerful banks is a great cocktail for re-election; running stress tests that weren't really stressful is a good indication this is where policy is heading. This time the money won't come from consumers (or from China, as it did after 2002); it will be American and European central

What could the economy be in for a long period?

What kind of banks is the article referring to?

Which country's economy suffered with similar problems?

Answer: corporations (which don't grow),

Answer: (which don't really lend),

Answer: U.S.

Answer: virtually no growth.

Answer: of America

Answer: They run http://baselinescenario.com/,

Answer: Japan

Summary:
Johnson, Boone: Stocks are rallying as if economy is out of the woods .
They say that's premature, and we could be in for a long period of stagnation .
Japan's economy suffered for years from similar problems, they say .
Johnson, Boone: We have zombie banks and zombie companies .


Editor's note: Since 2007, CNN and CNN.com have followed the story of Youssif, an Iraqi boy disfigured when he was burned by attackers. Today, CNN's Arwa Damon catches up with the boy and his family, now living in California where Youssif is undergoing treatment. Today Youssif goes to school in California and continues to have treatment to help his scars. LOS ANGELES, California (CNN) -- Youssif stands on stage beaming as he belts out "Jingle Bell Rock," his tiny burned hands waving in sync with his classmates at Hamlin Street School. His mother, Zaineb, stands at the back, cradling his little sister, Aya, tears rolling down her face. "I am so proud of him," she says. "It reminds me of what he was like in Iraq when he used to sing in kindergarten. I felt for a moment that none of this had happened. My son was back, without fear, strong." Youssif spots us, and waves wildly. Little appears to remain of the sullen and withdrawn dark-eyed boy we first met in Baghdad more than a year ago. It has been almost two years since masked men in Baghdad doused Youssif, then just 4 years old, in gasoline and set him on fire. His mother still doesn't sleep at night. "I still blame myself. I should have protected him. Sometimes I say to myself that I wish it had happened to me, just not to him." Zaineb says, her voice starting to quiver. "If only I hadn't let him go out to play that day." Today Youssif plays freely, without fear. "Let's race" he shouts to his friend Brandon as the two boys dash across the schoolyard. A couple of minutes later the two are playfully jostling over a rubber ball. Youssif shrieks and bursts into laughter as the two play catch. "It's like this weight has been lifted off of me, off of him," his father, Wissam, says. "It's like we've left this dark, depressing state where we were consumed by Youssif and the attack that had happened. You know, it's so hard to see a child, my child, go through something like this. When I see him like this, I feel like he's coming back."  Watch more on Youssif's recovery » After CNN and CNN.com first reported Youssif's story in 2007, more than 12,000 CNN.com users contributed to a fund set up by the Children's Burn Foundation of Sherman Oaks California, enabling the boy and his family to travel to the United States for treatment. Youssif has undergone more than a dozen surgeries. Much of the thick scar tissue around his eyes, mouth and nose -- left by his treatment in Baghdad -- has been removed. He currently has yet another tissue expander in his left cheek, intended to stretch out "good skin" to be used to replace his scar tissue. Youssif has grown used to the sometimes painful treatments. "When I started this process of tissue expansion, I would have to chase him around the room," Dr. Peter Grossman, Youssif's surgeon, tells us as he injects more liquid into the expander. "We'd need three people to hold him down for these injections." Youssif will probably have many more surgeries stretched out over time. "The problem we have with Youssif is that every operation we do tends to heal well after surgery, but then a month after, he starts to form these really thick scars," Grossman said. "It's probably best at this time to let his body relax, let these scars mature over a period of a year or two years." Today, Youssif grimaces in pain but braves it alone, refusing to take his father's hand. "Seven or eight times put water," Youssif says back at home, explaining how the tissue expansion works. "I am not scared. It goes here," he says pointing to the scarring over his lip. He's not all

Youssif was set on fire my masked men where?

Who is being treated for burns and scars?

Answer: more surgeries stretched out over time.

Answer: Baghdad

Answer: Baghdad

Answer: Youssif

Summary:
Youssif continues to be treated in California for his burns, scars .
He is enrolled in school and learning English .
More surgeries lie ahead .
Boy was doused with gasoline, set on fire by masked men in Baghdad .


Editor's note: Since becoming State Department producer in 2000, Elise Labott has covered four secretaries of state and reported from more than 50 countries. Before joining CNN, she covered the United Nations. Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton meet in Washington. WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi made the rounds in Washington just as President Obama's national security team shifted its attention to Pakistan. This week Secretary of Defense Williams Gates called the Afghan border with Pakistan the "epicenter of jihad." And the renewed focus on Pakistan suggests that Obama has a new role for Pakistan in the battle against al Qaeda and the Taliban. After all, in developing a strategy for "Afpak," Obama acknowledged the United States cannot win in Afghanistan without cooperation from Pakistan, the suspected hideout of Osama bin Laden and other al Qaeda leaders. Which is why the buzzword of both Qureshi and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton this week was "partnership," as in the United States and Pakistan are united in a "strategic partnership" against a common enemy. Right now, the relationship between the two countries is less a partnership and more an uneasy marriage with a history fraught with decades of mutual mistrust and disappointment. In the late 1980s, the United States partnered with Pakistan to supply mujahedeen fighters with weapons and training to defeat the Soviets in Afghanistan. Then the United States abandoned the region, leaving the Pakistanis, in Clinton's words, "awash in drugs...and jihadists who had been trained up in conjunction with us." Now the Americans are back. But, rightly, the Pakistanis are wondering if this time they will stay. This week Qureshi urged the United States not to repeat history, but rather to articulate a "long-term commitment" for the region. That's exactly what the United States is trying to do with an aid package worth $1.5 billion a year for five years for social and economic development and with discretionary military spending. By building roads, schools and democratic institutions, the United States hopes to combat both Islamic extremism and anti-Americanism. In part the aid has had the opposite effect. Tough conditions attached to the aid to ensure the Pakistanis are fighting terrorism on their own soil have prompted fears and resentment about renewed -- and unwanted -- American influence. The military spending in the Kerry-Lugar legislation threatens to cut off assistance if Pakistan fails to crack down on extremists or uses the funding to attack neighboring countries, namely India. It requires Pakistan's cooperation in efforts to dismantle nuclear weapons networks operating in the country and demands Pakistan provides the information about its military budget and chain of command, all of which has given birth to grave concern in the military that the aid package is compromising Pakistan's sovereignty. The bill also makes reference to the southwestern city of Quetta and eastern town of Muridke. Both are believed to be hubs for al Qaeda and Taliban leaders, which suggests that the United States could target those cities for the kind of drone attacks which have drawn Pakistani ire. As the Pakistani parliament debates the bill, street protests over the aid have spread through the country. The fears about sovereignty have only been aggravated over U.S. plans to send hundreds more diplomats to its embassy in Islamabad. Washington says the additional staff is needed to distribute and monitor the aid, but it has all left Pakistanis humiliated and feeling like a child who needs a babysitter. Pakistan also wants more credit from the United States for decisive action it has taken against terrorists, including its recent offensive in the Swat Valley. The United States has been impressed by the Pakistani army's recent offensive against the Taliban in Swat. And it is encouraged that Pakistan is gearing up to launch a major offensive in Waziristan, believed to be a stronghold of both the Taliban and al Qaeda. But the conditions attached to the aid are a symptom of the United States' longstanding doubts about the Pakistanis' capacity to be a reliable partner it needs in the struggle against al Qaeda and the Taliban. Not only are there concerns about Pakistani intelligence

What is description of U,S - Pakistan relationship?

What is the U.S. aid package of $1.5 billion for?

What is the purpose of $1.5 billions U.S. aid to Pakistan?

Answer: between the two countries is less a partnership and more an uneasy marriage with a history fraught with decades of mutual mistrust and disappointment.

Answer: Shah Mahmood Qureshi

Answer: relationship between the two countries

Answer: social and economic development

Answer: combat both Islamic extremism and anti-Americanism.

Summary:
U.S.-Pakistan relationship fraught with decades of mistrust and disappointment .
Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi asks U.S. for "long-term commitment"
U.S. aid package of $1.5 billion is for social and economic development .


Editor's note: Steve Clemons directs the American Strategy Program at the New America Foundation and publishes The Washington Note, a popular political blog. Steve Clemons says the Nobel panel correctly decided Obama's approach to diplomacy holds great promise. WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Cynics will say that Oslo was jealous that Copenhagen, Denmark, scored a visit from President Obama, and giving him a Nobel was the only way to get him to Norway. But the Nobel Committee's decision to make Obama the only sitting U.S. president since Woodrow Wilson to receive the Nobel Peace Prize shows the committee's clear-headed assessment that Obama's "unclenched fist" approach to dealing with the world's most thuggish leaders has had a constructive, systemic impact on the world's expectations of itself. Obama has helped citizens all around the world -- including in the United States -- to want a world beyond the mess we have today in the Middle East and South Asia. They want a world where America is benign and positive, and where other leaders help in supporting the struggles of their people for better lives rather than securing themselves through crude power. Obama has found a way in this interconnected world of cell phones, Twitter, Facebook and other social networking to reach a majority of the world's citizens with his message of hope for a better world. He speaks past the dictators to regular people and has, on the whole, raised global political expectations about everything from climate change to nuclear nonproliferation in ways that no one in history has done before. Americans tend to look at everything from a U.S.-centric lens, and many woke up this morning shocked that Obama, who just saw a lot of his political capital wasted on trying to secure the 2016 Olympics for his hometown of Chicago, has gotten a fresh injection of sizzle to fill the Obama bubble. The world has been mesmerized by Obama since he started to run for the presidency. The battle between Hillary Clinton and Obama for the Democratic nomination did more to educate the rest of the world about real political choice -- and about a system in which no candidates had an automatic lock on victory -- than any USAID program could have achieved. Obama's decision to make the ulcerous Israeli-Palestinian negotiations one of the first foreign policy challenges of his administration, rather than the last, defied most seasoned analysts' expectations. His message to Iran's citizens, marking the Persian new year holiday of Nowruz, and his powerful and captivating speech in Cairo, Egypt, communicated to Muslims all around the world that their lives and their faith and their expectations for a better world were vital and as valid as any others. From his perch in the White House, Barack Obama affirmed the humanity of Muslims and told them that America does value Muslim lives. Obama's posture and rhetoric have reversed the collapse of hope and trust that the world's citizens had in America and stopped the degradation of America's image during the tenure of George W. Bush and Richard Cheney. Should a U.S. president get the Nobel Peace Prize if he's about to send more U.S. troops, armed drones, bombs, tanks and other military hardware into the war-ripped zones in Afghanistan? Or should Obama get the prize if he hasn't even succeeded in getting Israeli-Palestinian negotiations going? Or if he hasn't gotten Iran to drop its nuclear ambitions and to re-enter the international system on constructive terms? The answer is yes. I think that given how the odds were already so stacked against Obama on the global economic and security fronts, one can only be amazed at what this unlikely and fascinating president has done with "optics." The night before Obama's inauguration, White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel accepted my congratulations and responded, "It's going to be tough, and right now we can only change the optics," meaning that political perceptions and appearances could be changed more quickly than hard realities. What is brilliant about Obama and why he deserves the Nobel Peace Prize is that he is a global leader who clearly saw the gains that could be made in changing "the optics" of the

What does Steve Clemons say about Americans?

Answer: reversed the collapse of hope and trust that the world's citizens had in America

Answer: President Obama,

Answer: tenure of George W. Bush and Richard Cheney.

Answer: the Nobel panel correctly decided Obama's approach to diplomacy holds great promise.

Answer: tend to look at everything from a U.S.-centric lens,

Answer: the Nobel panel correctly decided Obama's approach to diplomacy holds great promise.

Answer: have reversed the collapse of hope and trust that the world's citizens had in America

Summary:
Steve Clemons: Many Americans shocked that Obama won Peace Prize .
He says the rest of the world sees how Obama has changed international tone .
He says Obama's rhetoric has "reversed the collapse of hope" in the world .


Editor's note: Steve Perry is the founder and principal of the Capital Preparatory Magnet School in Hartford, Connecticut, and author of "Man Up!: Nobody is Coming to Save Us," which offers solutions to problems in the black community. Steve Perry says a question from a parent started his journey to creating a top-performing school. HARTFORD, Connecticut (CNN) -- "Why do only rich kids get good schools?" I was the founder and director of a part-time out-of-school college preparatory program. The questioner was a parent; herself a victim of a dulled urban education. The statement was more of an indictment than question, and I had no answer. "Well, why can't this program be a school," she offered. The program sent 100 percent of our graduates to college. We served poor students who were the first generation in their families to attend college. We provided college preparation through a six-week summer program, after-school tutoring and in-school academic advising. That single mother's question came at the end of the summer program. This was always a tough time. As the kids said goodbye to their friends and the program's high expectations, we all looked at the school year with great trepidation. We knew that the students were returning to failed schools with very low expectations -- and results to match. Like that mom, I too wondered why wealth and whiteness are too often linked to quality education. Her question connected to a discussion that I'd been having with some colleagues during the summer program. All of the teachers in that program worked in failed urban schools. Many had tried to reform traditional urban schools. They'd started formal and informal programs, identified groups of kids and connected to parents. Each had had some success with some kids, but the conditions that led to the need to do something went unchanged. The question was raised at the end of our 2002 summer program. My first instinct was to begin down the path of opening an all-male minority charter school. In Connecticut, charter schools are publicly funded and privately run, with no teachers' unions, no school board influence and no centralized curriculum. These were the pluses. There was only one minus: There was no money. The charter idea was dead as soon as it began. I assembled an all -black team. My plan was to put black educators together, and we would show 'em. Brothers and sisters were gonna open a successful charter school. Black educators serving black kids. This was my first major mistake. Talent and commitment have no color. Kids don't care what color their teachers are, and I shouldn't have either. After almost a year of stops and starts with a team that was not effectively assembled, I realized that I failed in my judgment because I did not keep my eye on the goal, which was to build a school that sent kids to college regardless of their hue or economic status. I have never made that mistake again. I doubled back and went into the schools and found the teachers who stayed the latest and arrived the earliest. I looked for the most ambitious teachers who had a reputation of being the most talented, and we started a second team. I am a social worker. I knew that I could run an organization, but wasn't sure about developing curriculum. When I created Team 2, my first pick was the best teacher I could find. Rich Beganski is the perfect complement, or opposite, of who I am. He's meticulous and lives and breathes curriculum. He is an operations genius. He was a longtime assistant coach who never wanted to be coach. I've never been an assistant and don't want to be one. Our team was composed of a white guy, a Latina, a black woman and a black man bound by a single commitment: to send kids to college. In 2003-04, Connecticut was settling a desegregation case. A component of the agreement was to open eight magnet schools

What does his school send all graduates to?

What kind of education do children from low income families get?

What started process of building a quality school

Answer: college.

Answer: Hartford, Connecticut, and author of "Man Up!: Nobody is Coming to Save Us,"

Answer: dulled urban

Answer: a question from a parent

Summary:
Steve Perry: A parent asked why only rich kids get good schools .
He says question started process of building a quality school .
Perry says his team fought bureaucracy, union to try something new .
He says his school is highly rated and sends all graduates to college .


Editor's note: Tara Wall is deputy editor for The Washington Times. Before joining the newspaper, she was a senior adviser for the Republican National Committee and was named a public affairs director in the Department of Health and Human Services by President Bush. Read her columns here.

Tara Wall says President Bush will be remembered for keeping America safe.

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- In his final radio address as president-elect on the Sunday ahead of his inauguration, Barack Obama said President Bush "extended the hand of cooperation" to him throughout this period of transition. It was a final act of civility, on Mr. Bush's part.

It is a trait that is not surprising to those who know Bush (or those paying some attention at least half of the time). At least one Democrat has given him credit for it. Unfortunately, that tone of civility has been lost on the Democratic leadership over the past eight years.

Civility aside, how others -- more importantly, history -- will judge the 43rd president of the United States, is the question that has followed Bush out the door. Lucky for him, it won't just be up to Democrats to determine.

"I believe President Bush will be vindicated," said Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in an interview a couple of weeks ago. She may be an ardent defender of Bush, but I believe she's right. She, like I, have a different vantage point than what has been routinely portrayed.

While sitting in the Oval Office with the 43rd president, for what was his last official week in office last Thursday, I got the sense that he feels he will be vindicated, too.

He won't say as much, directly, but indirectly points to what matters most in his eyes -- protecting the homeland. "History will eventually see ... that not only was it necessary to take the steps I took, but [they] led to a better world," the president told me.

On a personal level (and for the sake of full disclosure), I must say that I have had the pleasure of working for and knowing Bush from his first campaign for president and throughout his presidency.

I started as a volunteer in 1999, then worked as a spokeswoman during his second campaign and then as an appointee in his administration.

Not only have I counted it an honor and a privilege to serve the 43rd president, but I have always had a deep respect for him as a person of faith, his strident conviction in doing what was right for the country and his commitment to closing the disparities that exist between black and white Americans -- no matter the mistakes made and lessons learned. Above all, it is his dignity and civility that stand out to me most.

Yet, for many conservatives (not just liberals), Bush has failed on many fronts. From the miscalculation of the insurgency in Iraq, to failed intelligence gathering and the issues of maintaining fiscal conservatism and delivering real immigration reform -- I can't tell you how many Republicans and conservatives I've spoken to over this past year who have told me how "disappointed" they've been with Bush. A few among them voted for "change" as a result.

The legacy Bush leaves behind won't be everything he wanted (particularly as it relates to popularity), but on many fronts, it will be better than that of his predecessor. Bill Clinton may have been popular, but his moral failings brought shame on the office of the presidency and tainted the people's house.

That will forever be a stain on Clinton's legacy. Not to mention, there was no such "civility" or "cooperation" when Clinton turned the keys over to Bush. I prefer principle over popularity any day.

On the moral front, President Bush delivered. On the social front, he delivered. On the fiscal front he failed considerably. Yet, on the national security front and on many domestic policies, he succeeded.

Depending on your vantage point, success may mean something wholly different. The details will be debated for decades to

Who praised President Bush for the cooperative nature of transition?

Who delivered on national security and many domestic issues?

Answer: Barack Obama

Answer: President Bush

Answer: President Bush

Summary:
Tara Wall: Eric Holder's remark that we're a "nation of cowards" was wrong .
She says he ignores the millions of votes Obama got from white voters .
Instead of hope, she says, Holder offered anger and resentment .
Obama has urged Americans to focus on the racial progress that's occurred .


Editor's note: Tara Wall is deputy editor for The Washington Times. Before joining the newspaper, she was a senior adviser for the Republican National Committee and was named a public affairs director in the Department of Health and Human Services by President George W. Bush. Read her columns here.

Tara Wall says Eric Holder's "nation of cowards" comment struck the wrong tone.

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- First, we're a nation of whiners; now, we're a nation of cowards.

The coward comment comes from none other than President Obama's newly minted attorney general, Eric Holder.

The remarks were part of a speech Holder delivered for Black History Month. Yet, even in that context, the words came across as arrogant, condescending and not at all becoming a statesman.

One dictionary definition of coward is "lacking courage." Stinging words for a country at war, where white and black soldiers are shedding the same color blood. Are they cowards?

Ironic too that Holder's remarks come at a time when the nation has just elected its first black president and witnessed the confirmation of its first black attorney general (Holder himself). Forget that more whites than blacks cast their ballots for a black man to lead the nation. So this is how Holder says thanks?

Did the attorney general not think about the weight his words would carry? Was he simply trying to be provocative? Is this his way of bringing the races together? Does his position or his color give him the bravado to think that he can get away with calling us cowards?

Imagine for a moment if John McCain or George W. Bush uttered those words. The criticism would have known no bounds. i-Report.com: Share your thoughts on Holder's comments

You'll recall, it was just a few months back that a media frenzy erupted when former Sen. Phil Gramm called national leaders (not the nation) a bunch of "whiners." Media pundits and broadcasters blasted Gramm for weeks, until he was forced off McCain's campaign.

Gramm's words, while true, were mild in comparison to Holder's. Where is that same outrage and moral condemnation over Holder's loose lips? It's a rhetorical question, of course.

And as much as we are constantly reminded of the past "mistakes" this country has made, is there nothing worth celebrating, no times when racial harmony brought racial reconciliation? Little of that made it to Holder's speech. Instead, he chose the celebratory occasion to exact punishment by way of guilt.

It makes one wonder, why does every race speech by those on the left have to begin (and end) with repudiation and insult? Why must there be a constant reminder of what went wrong without giving due recognition to what went right?

I will acknowledge that the country can always do better when it comes to race, but as much as Republicans are accused of refusing to admit racism exists, assuredly Democrats exploit it for every inch of territory they can garner. They point fingers, threaten and name-call without offering real solutions or substantive conversation.

One regular reader of The Washington Times, a Democrat, forwarded me a letter he sent to Holder, telling the attorney general how much he "applauds" his remarks but saying he had one request: "I would like to recommend that your office take the lead in ensuring the appointment of at least one African-American on every committee and task force that is created by the President of the United States and current cabinet Secretary's."

How's that for affirmative action on demand? More like affirmative extortion. The writer also stated in closing: "Let us (by "us," he means black folks) take advantage of every opportunity that is before us." I was particularly struck by the words "take advantage." It is a line of thinking and supposed reasoning to justify black Americans getting what's "due."

This was just one person's opinion, but it reflects a sentiment shared by many liberals. It also reveals a get-it-all-

What did Eric Holder say that we're a nation of?

Who got millions of votes from white voters?

Answer: Eric Holder's "nation of cowards" comment struck the wrong tone.

Answer: Eric Holder.

Answer: of cowards.

Answer: President Obama's

Summary:
Tara Wall: Eric Holder's remark that we're a "nation of cowards" was wrong .
She says he ignores the millions of votes Obama got from white voters .
Instead of hope, she says, Holder offered anger and resentment .
Obama has urged Americans to focus on the racial progress that's occurred .


Editor's note: Taresh Moore is a student at Winston Salem State University in North Carolina. The 21-year-old senior traveled to Washington, D.C., to attend the inauguration. Alfred Bouey is a World War II veteran and a grandson of slaves. WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Alfred Bouey, an 84-year-old African-American, still remembers the stories from his grandfather about the scars on his body from the beatings he took as a slave in the South. Bouey, of Oak Park, Illinois, attended Tuesday's inauguration of President Obama. Words can't express his excitement and happiness about witnessing history. A World War II veteran, he never thought he would live to see a black president in America. Bouey grew up in Arkansas and saw racism firsthand. He witnessed his mother being mistreated by whites in the South, but he never saw her give up. He eventually left Arkansas for Chicago. Bouey attended the inauguration after winning Brookdale Senior Living's Experiences of a Lifetime contest. Residents at various Brookdale Senior Living communities nationwide shared their experiences and submitted their wishes as part of the contest. Bouey shared his story and said he'd like to be there when Obama was sworn in. "My grandfather and grandmother were whipped and beaten, and had the scars to prove it," he said. With CNN.com's help, Taresh Moore spoke with Bouey about the inauguration ceremony. Below is a transcript of their interview. Moore: How are you today? Bouey: I'm great. I couldn't feel any better right now. Moore: How did it feel to take part in this historic inauguration? Bouey: It felt very great. I can't find any words to express my happiness. I am speechless and full of joy. Moore: What will you remember most about the inauguration? Bouey: I will remember that I was actually there. I lived to see this historic event. I'm 84, and I had the chance to witness this. Not too many people had that opportunity, and I am honored. Moore: How did you feel when you found out that you and your family were going to Washington, D.C., to take part in the inauguration? Bouey: I was happy. At first when I was asked to take part in the survey, I didn't mind sharing my story because I had many stories to share. When I found out I had the opportunity to go, I was very grateful. I couldn't wait to get here. Moore: Did you ever believe you would live to see an African-American president in your lifetime? Bouey: No. I never thought I would live to see one. Growing up, my mother wanted me and my brother and sister to get an education. And we all did. An education will take you far, and we see that it did for our new president and for me. But I'm glad I lived to see this. It's a wonderful experience, and I am very proud of it! Moore: How was it growing up in the South? Bouey: I was born in Philadelphia and moved to Arkansas at the age of 1. Growing up, everything was segregated -- in the schools, restaurants and just everywhere. Blacks couldn't do this and we couldn't do that. I came to the point where I got tired of it all in the South and just moved away. I moved to Chicago on June 2, 1946. Moore: Was it better in Chicago? Bouey: Yes, a lot better. Better opportunities for blacks. Moore: You have lived a life that has seen the scars on the body of a former slave, who was your grandfather, to seeing America's first African-American president all in one lifetime. How does that make you feel? Bouey: I feel that America has come a long way. And I mean a very long way. My grandfather had scars from slavery. My mother wasn't a slave, but she still was beaten in the cotton fields

Alfred Bouey's mother was mistreated by who?

Answer: World War II veteran and a grandson of slaves.

Answer: 84-year-old

Answer: Arkansas

Answer: whites in the South,

Answer: Taresh Moore

Answer: saw racism

Summary:
Alfred Bouey, 84, attended the inauguration of the nation's first black president .
Bouey, who grew up in Arkansas, saw his mother being mistreated by whites .
"It's good to see the white Americans appreciate and show love to the new president"
Bouey says, "I am ... full of joy"


Editor's note: Ted Epperly, M.D., a family physician in Boise, Idaho, is president of the American Academy of Family Physicians, which represents more than 93,000 physicians and medical students nationwide. He spent 21 years in the U.S. Army, including service as a family physician, chief of a Mobile Army Surgical Hospital emergency room during Desert Storm and Desert Shield, and deputy commander of an Army medical center. Ted Epperly says recruiting more primary care doctors would improve access to quality health care. (CNN) --   Clayton Christensen, Jason Hwang and Vineeta Vijayaraghavan are right about one thing in their CNN commentary titled "We don't need more doctors."  America's health care system is broken. It requires significant reform if patients are to have access to convenient, affordable and -- most importantly -- high-quality care that results in good outcomes. But they have missed a central point. We need more primary care physicians now and we will need even more in the future as the baby boom generation ages. If Americans are to see meaningful health care reform, they must have a primary care doctor to whom they can turn for everyday problems: annual physicals and preventive care, diagnosis and treatment for common illness, and diagnosis and treatment of complex, chronic conditions, referral to subspecialists, and coordination of care provided by a team of professionals. Our current system has a serious and growing shortage of these primary care physicians. Today, only 30 percent of physicians provide primary care and 70 percent subspecialize in a single organ system or disease. We need a system in which patients get the right kind of care at the right time in the right place by the right type of provider. They need health services that provide not just convenient hours for minor health problems, but also medical expertise that ensures consistent, ongoing care; accurate diagnoses of symptoms; coordination with pharmacists, other specialists and allied health professionals such as physical therapists; consistent follow-up; and convenience. All at an affordable cost. Several health reform proposals set forth by President Obama and Congress would move federal policy in that direction. How? They incorporate convenience, efficiency, continuity of care and access to a system that relies on the patient-centered medical home -- a concept in which physicians coordinate care with a team of health professionals, offer evening and weekend office hours, and use electronic communication with patients and members of the health care team. But this concept won't be fulfilled unless we have health reform that increases the number of primary care physicians. Right now, America has a current and worsening shortage of primary medical care. Christensen, Hwang and Vijayaraghavan contend that increasing the number of physicians also leads to "greater intensity of care, but not better health outcomes." But their argument leaves out a major caveat. Although a greater number of subspecialists does increase the intensity, number and cost of services, research by Barbara Starfield at the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health consistently demonstrates the opposite occurs in communities with more primary care physicians, particularly family physicians. Starfield concludes that an increase of one primary care physician per 10,000 population resulted in a reduction of 34.6 deaths per 100,000 population at the state level. Katherine Baicker, professor of health economics at Harvard School of Public Health, and Amitabh Chandra at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government confirm these findings. Their research shows that increasing the number of primary care physicians results in a significant increase in the quality of health care and a reduction of cost to patients. However, increasing the number of subspecialists was associated with higher costs and poorer quality. At issue, then, is not the total number of physicians, but the number of family physicians and their primary care colleagues. Demographics, an aging population and resulting increased demand for services will require a significant increase in the number of these physicians. Given the long-term process required to train primary care physicians, we will continue to struggle with a shortage of primary care physicians, and that shortage will affect patients' access to care. Family physicians now are working to fill some of those gaps, according

Do studies show that primary care doctors improve health-care outcomes according to Epperly?

What is the name of the doctor who believes that America needs more primary care doctors to expand access?

What do studies show that primary care doctors improve?

what does he say the studies will improve

What are doctors seeking to make more easily available?

Answer: Ted Epperly

Answer: primary care doctors

Answer: quality health

Answer: Ted Epperly

Answer: access to quality health

Answer: access to quality health

Answer: access to quality health care.

Answer: Ted Epperly

Answer: quality health care.

Summary:
Dr. Ted Epperly: America needs more primary care doctors to expand access .
He says studies show primary care doctors improve health-care outcomes .
Epperly: Doctors are seeking to make services more easily available .


Editor's note: The Rev. Donald Cozzens is writer in residence and adjunct professor of theology at John Carroll University in Cleveland, Ohio. A priest of the Diocese of Cleveland with a doctoral degree, he is the author of several books on the Catholic Church, including "Sacred Silence: Denial and the Crisis in the Church" and "Freeing Celibacy," both published by Liturgical Press. For another view on this topic, read here. The Rev. Donald Cozzens says the debate over celibacy for priests will be around for decades. (CNN) -- It's an issue that simply won't go away. In spite of signals from the Vatican discouraging even discussions of obligatory celibacy for Catholic priests, the almost 1,000-year-old rule is under the microscope. And it will be for decades to come. Here's why. In the Catholic tradition, even though sex is cast as sinful unless expressed in the conjugal embrace of husband and wife, it is held as fundamentally good, a part of God's creation. The church even holds that marriage (including spousal lovemaking) is a sacrament -- something sacred that contributes to the sanctity of husbands and wives. In light of this official teaching, it is dawning on many Catholics that mandatory celibacy for priests, a canonically imposed discipline of the church, is precisely that -- a discipline. They are asking, "How is it that a discipline of the church has been allowed to trump a sacrament of the church?" In effect, the church is saying that should God call a man to the priesthood, God will not, at the same time, call that individual to the sacrament of marriage. It's right to ask, how does the church know this? Public opinion surveys indicate that most Catholics, priests included, believe the discipline of celibacy needs a serious review. Recently the retired archbishop of New York, Cardinal Edward Egan, observed that obligatory celibacy is open for discussion. It is not, Egan noted, a matter of dogma. For decades now, bishops from Asia, Europe and the Americas have asked Vatican officials to consider optional celibacy for priests. The church's official response is consistent and succinct: As a precious gift from God, the discipline of celibacy for priests will remain in place. This, in spite of the inherent paradox lying just below the claim that the gift of celibacy is a precious gift of God to the priesthood and the church: How can a gift be legislated? The church answers that if a man is called to the priesthood, God will grant him the gift of celibacy. Many priests today wonder how church leaders know this. Reading the mind of God in this matter --  in any matter of church discipline -- is risky business. More and more Catholics today are coming to understand that celibacy as a universal law for priests had its origins in the 12th century and that during the church's first millennium, priests and bishops --  and at least thirty-nine popes -- were married. Still, most well-read cradle Catholics are surprised to learn that St. Anastasius, pope from 399 to 401, was succeeded by his son, Pope St. Innocent I, and that a century later Pope St. Hormisdas' son, St. Silverius, also was elected to the papacy. Even in our secular world, it's common to speak of church-based ministry as a calling, a vocation. Isn't it possible that God would call an individual to the priesthood and to the sacrament of marriage? God apparently did so for more than half the church's history. How do we know that God isn't doing so today? For some years now I've been teaching in the religious studies department at John Carroll University in Cleveland. I've asked dozens of serious, healthy young students if they have given any thought to being a priest. They seem flattered by the question. With only one exception, each has answered, "Yes, I've thought about being a priest, but I want a family." There are, of course, other factors, urgent and pressing, that will

What gift should be considered optional?

Answer: obligatory celibacy for Catholic priests,

Answer: at least thirty-nine

Answer: celibacy

Answer: a sacrament

Summary:
The Rev. Donald Cozzens: Celibacy is 1,000 years old but not intrinsic to the church .
Many popes were married in the first millennium of the church, Cozzens says .
Cozzens says church views marriage as sacred; why should priests be denied it?
Cozzens: Celibacy is a gift that should be optional, not mandated by the church .


Editor's note: The Rev. Robert Barron is Francis Cardinal George Professor of Faith and Culture at Mundelein Seminary and author of several books, including "Eucharist," "Word on Fire: Proclaiming the Power of Christ" and "The Priority of Christ: Toward a Post-Liberal Catholicism." Barron is the director of WordOnFire.org, a global media ministry based in Chicago, Illinois. For another view on this topic, read here. The Rev. Robert Barron says celibacy sets the priest apart as a symbol of the world to come. (CNN) -- The scandal surrounding the Rev. Alberto Cutie has raised questions in the minds of many concerning the Catholic Church's discipline of priestly celibacy. Why does the church continue to defend a practice that seems so unnatural and so unnecessary? There is a very bad argument for celibacy, which has appeared throughout the tradition and which is, even today, defended by some. It goes something like this: Married life is spiritually suspect; priests, as religious leaders, should be spiritual athletes above reproach; therefore, priests shouldn't be married This approach to the question is, in my judgment, not just stupid but dangerous, for it rests on presumptions that are repugnant to solid Christian doctrine. The biblical teaching on creation implies the essential integrity of the world and everything in it. Genesis tells us that God found each thing he had made good and that he found the ensemble of creatures very good. Catholic theology, at its best, has always been resolutely, anti-dualist -- and this means that matter, the body, marriage and sexual activity are never, in themselves, to be despised. But there is more to the doctrine of creation than an affirmation of the goodness of the world. To say that the finite realm in its entirety is created is to imply that nothing in the universe is God. All aspects of created reality reflect God and bear traces of the divine goodness -- just as every detail of a building gives evidence of the mind of the architect -- but no creature and no collectivity of creatures is divine, just as no part of a structure is the architect. This distinction between God and the world is the ground for the anti-idolatry principle that is reiterated from the beginning to the end of the Bible: Do not turn something less than God into God. Isaiah the prophet put it thus: "As high as the heavens are above the earth, so high are my thoughts above your thoughts and my ways above your ways, says the Lord." And it is at the heart of the First Commandment: "I am the Lord your God; you shall have no other gods besides me." The Bible thus holds off all the attempts of human beings to divinize or render ultimate some worldly reality. The doctrine of creation, in a word, involves both a great "yes" and a great "no" to the universe. Now there is a behavioral concomitant to the anti-idolatry principle, and it is called detachment. Detachment is the refusal to make anything less than God the organizing principle or center of one's life. Anthony de Mello looked at it from the other side and said "an attachment is anything in this world -- including your own life -- that you are convinced you cannot live without." Even as we reverence everything that God has made, we must let go of everything that God has made, precisely for the sake of God. This is why, as G.K. Chesterton noted, there is a tension to Christian life. In accord with its affirmation of the world, the Church loves color, pageantry, music and rich decoration (as in the liturgy and papal ceremonials), even as, in accord with its detachment from the world, it loves the poverty of St. Francis and the simplicity of Mother Teresa. The same tension governs its attitude toward sex and family. Again, in Chesterton's language, the Church is "fiercely for having children" (through marriage) even as it remains "fiercely against having them" (in religious celibacy). Everything

Who rejects the "marriage is spiritually suspect" defense?

What sets the priest apart as a symbol of another world?

Answer: Why does the church continue to defend a practice that seems so unnatural and so unnecessary?

Answer: Barron

Answer: celibacy

Answer: celibacy sets the priest apart as a symbol of the world to come.

Summary:
The Rev. Robert Barron: Why does Church back practice that seems unnecessary?
He says he rejects the "marriage is spiritually suspect" defense of celibacy .
But celibacy sets the priest apart as a symbol of another world, he says .


Editor's note: The author has ridden motorcycles more than 125,000 miles since 1999, including solo trips from Georgia to California and Canada. She takes us inside the world of motorcycle travel. Bikers approach Mount Mitchell, North Carolina, during a road trip through the Blue Ridge Mountains. SHENANDOAH NATIONAL PARK, Virginia (CNN) -- We were parked at a peaceful, shady overlook beside Virginia's Skyline Drive, admiring the green mountains and the river far below, when Keith realized he needed a new rear tire, and he needed it now. A bald tire is a serious problem when you're traveling by motorcycle: We don't carry spare tires, for obvious reasons, and a blowout on two wheels could be life-threatening. Keith decided he could make it 100 miles to the Harley-Davidson dealership in Richmond, Virginia, as long as we kept it slow, so our seven bikes headed that way. It's been said that a great trip in a car is like watching a first-rate movie -- but a great trip on a motorcycle is like living the movie. For our road trip, we had chosen an eight-day itinerary from our homes outside Atlanta, Georgia, through the mountains of North Carolina and Virginia, then east to the Atlantic shoreline and south along the coastal islands of the Outer Banks. The trip offered a spectacular ride up the Blue Ridge Parkway, a winding two-lane that clings to the ridgeline through North Carolina and Virginia. The elevation often reaches 5,000 feet or more, so temperatures were cool despite a heat wave down below.  See map » Our motorcycle motorcade passed panoramas of blue-tinged mountains and rolling meadows set off by split-rail fences. We motored through dense forests whose overhanging branches turned the road into a cool green tunnel. Rhododendrons and mountain laurels in bloom lined the road.  See photos of this Harley road trip » It all looks better from a motorcycle, because you're so immersed in it -- not just looking out from inside a cage of steel and glass. In fact, we call cars cages and the people who drive them -- you guessed it -- cagers.  See how motorcycle travel differs from car travel » The smells were intense: fresh-cut hay, pine trees baking in the sun, honeysuckle -- and sometimes, the not-so-pleasant aroma of ripening roadkill. Songs of determined birds rang out over the rumble of the motors. Riding a motorcycle on a road like this is a physical pleasure, too, as you lean right, then left, then right, to guide the bike smoothly through the parkway's sweeping curves. You swoop, you glide -- it's like dancing, or like those dreams where you're flying. In Virginia, Skyline Drive offered an abundance of wildlife. We saw five deer in 40 miles, including a small fawn with its mother -- none of them close enough to threaten a collision, and all of them smart enough to run the other way when they saw us coming. Finally we arrived at the dealership in Richmond to replace Keith's balding tire. We knew we'd be there for a while -- so we made ourselves at home. We ordered pizza to be delivered and Neil brought in his laptop so everyone could upload their snapshots. It might seem strange for customers to take over a retail establishment, but a Harley dealership always feels like home. There's a strong sense of community among motorcycle riders (and by extension, the stores). Almost all riders wave to other riders on the road, whether they're on Harleys like ours or small, speedy sport bikes or huge, silent Honda Gold Wings. Bikers fall into conversations with other bikers as if we already know each other because -- in a way -- we do. We've all experienced the same joys and aggravations -- but it's mostly joys. One of those pleasures is how people go out of their way to be helpful or to strike up a conversation with a group of bikers. All kinds of folks wave to us on the road -- from

what were they riding?
where did they go
where is the road trip?
how many days were there?
how many people were involved

Answer: motorcycles

Answer: For our road trip, we had chosen an eight-day itinerary from our homes outside Atlanta, Georgia, through the mountains of North Carolina and Virginia, then east to the Atlantic shoreline and south along the coastal islands of the Outer Banks.

Answer: through the Blue Ridge Mountains.

Answer: eight-day

Answer: seven

Summary:
Bikers: Motorcycle road trips are more exciting than in other vehicles .
"It's like dancing, or like those dreams where you're flying," says Harley owner .
Follow CNN.com writer's road trip through Blue Ridge Mountains, Outer Banks .
Eight-day ride includes tire repair, wildfire, Kitty Hawk, pirate lore, wild ponies .


Editor's note: The following story, based on testimony in Phillip Garrido's trial for a 1976 kidnapping, contains some sexually explicit material. Phillip Garrido is show in an early mug shot taken in connection with the 1976 rape and abduction case. (CNN) -- Fifteen years before the girl was held captive in the shed, there was the woman in the warehouse -- and at least one other woman who escaped capture. Phillip Garrido, who with his wife is charged in the 1991 kidnapping of Jaycee Dugard, had been convicted of kidnapping before. When he stalked, kidnapped and raped Katie Callaway Hall on November 22, 1976, he fulfilled an overpowering sexual fantasy that he had methodically planned for weeks, according to court records obtained by CNN. He told police it was his second kidnapping attempt of the day. Those facts came to light in Garrido's 1977 trial, in which he was convicted and sentenced to 50 years for kidnapping and rape. In her testimony, Hall said Garrido asked for a ride in her car, then bound and handcuffed her before taking her to a small warehouse in Reno, Nevada, where he repeatedly raped her for 5½ hours. It was not an act of impulse. "He told me he had been renting it [the small warehouse] for a couple weeks, preparing it," Hall testified.  Watch how Garrido prepared for and explained the kidnapping » It is CNN policy to withhold the identity of alleged victims of sexual assault. But in this case, Hall recounted her ordeal last week in an interview on CNN's "Larry King Live," saying it changed her life forever. "I had to tell everyone I met what had happened to me -- because I didn't feel like myself. It was as if I had to explain why I wasn't 'normal,' " she said.  Watch Hall describe her ordeal » She was not his first victim that day. The trial transcript reveals that Garrido told authorities that one hour before Hall's kidnapping, he tried to kidnap another woman, who wrestled away and escaped. And, police in Antioch disclosed last week that Garrido was charged with raping a 14-year-old in 1972, but the charges were dropped because the victim refused to testify.   Watch details of the 1972 case » In the case involving Hall, CNN reviewed the 1977 trial documents, which include Garrido's psychiatric evaluation and the testimony of Hall and Garrido. The documents reveal a pattern of behavior that Garrido is accused of repeating in the 1991 kidnapping of Jaycee Dugard, who was recently found after being kept in a shed for 18 years. The 32-year-old documents also detail Garrido's self-described struggle with drugs and his efforts to control his sexual obsessions.  Can sex offenders be cured? » Garrido and his wife, Nancy, have pleaded not guilty to charges involving Dugard's abduction, but police say he admitted kidnapping her in his initial interview. Police say Garrido and his wife kidnapped Dugard outside her home in South Lake Tahoe, California, and took her to an elaborate compound hidden in the backyard of their Antioch, California, home more than 160 miles away. Tucked behind overgrown trees and a fence were tents, outbuildings and a soundproof shed where Dugard lived with the two daughters she had with her captor. Out of sight Garrido took great pains to make sure nobody could find the camp, not even the parole officer who visited twice a month at times, police said. Hall, too, was taken directly to a carefully prepped small warehouse after her kidnapping. As they drove from South Lake Tahoe, California, where she was abducted, to Reno, she tried to persuade Garrido to rape her in the bushes. "I asked him, couldn't we just pull over and get it over with," she testified. But Garrido was determined. "You might as well get that our of your mind; you are going with me, you have got no choice," Hall testified Garrido told her, according to court transcripts. "I have

Answer: raped

Summary:
Trial transcripts show Phillip Garrido tried to kidnap woman before Katie Hall in 1976 .
Garrido methodically prepared places to bring kidnapped Hall .
Kidnap suspect spoke in trial about his drug-fueled, uncontrollable sexual urges .
"You are going with me, you have got no choice," Hall recalls Garrido saying .


Editor's note: The n-word appears in this piece because CNN feels the context in which it is used is pertinent to the story of James "Little Man" Presley. James "Little Man" Presley has worked in the cotton fields of Sledge, Mississippi, since he was just 6 years old. SLEDGE, Mississippi (CNN) -- James Presley stands amid chopped cotton, the thick Mississippi mud caked on his well-worn boots. A smile spreads across his face when he talks about voting for Barack Obama and what that might mean for generations to come. His voice picks up a notch. He holds his head up a bit higher. "There's a heap of pride in voting for a black man," he says. At 78, Presley is a legend of the past living in the present and now hopeful for the future. A grandson of slaves, he's one of the few men left in America so closely tied to his slave past, still farming cotton on the same land as his ancestors. He's picked cotton since he was just 6 years old. He and his wife of 57 years, Eva May, raised 13 children and six grandchildren in a cypress-sided house in the middle of cotton fields in northwestern Mississippi. He was a sharecropper most his life, but rarely qualified for food stamps.  Watch "Obama, he come up like" » His father died in 1935 when he was 5, and he had to step up and be the "Little Man" of the house, a nickname that has stuck seven decades later. He's lived a raw-knuckled life where hope moved at a molasses-slow pace. The last time he had hope for a better future was four decades ago -- first with President John F. Kennedy and then with the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. Obama has changed everything to the poor in these parts. iReport.com: What does Obama's presidency mean to you? "I'm a church man," he says. "And I kind of figured this here is about like it was with Moses with the children of Israel. On that day, when he gets to be president, we're all going to be rejoicing." Does he have plans to celebrate on Inauguration Day? "Oh man, it's gonna be nice. I believe we're gonna have a good time," he says. "I never thought one would get there."  See photos of the weather-beaten home where Little Man raised so many children » As the nation prepares for Obama's inauguration on January 20, CNN.com traveled to Sledge, Mississippi, a forgotten town of about 500 people in the heart of the Mississippi Delta that some consider to be the birthplace of blues in America. Nearly 20 percent of residents over the age of 60 live below the poverty line, according to the 2000 census. That number nearly doubles, to 37.5 percent, for residents under the age of 19. About three-quarters of the population are black. Two-thirds of the people here make less than $35,000 a year. Presley says the fact the nation will have a black president will have a ripple effect in poor communities like his. For the first time ever, he says, black parents and grandparents can tell youngsters in rural America that through education, anything is possible -- that the White House isn't just for white folks. Three of his children graduated from college. Two have died -- one as a youth, one as an adult. It never gets easier, he says, no matter what age they die. Obama has already brought inspiration to future generations of his own family. "I might be dead and gone, but it's going to be a good thing to me, because I know that they ain't gotta go through what I went through. They'll have a better time, a more joyous time, than what I had when I come along. It is gonna be grand to them and to me, too." "

How old was James when he started working the cotton fields?

Answer: 6 years

Answer: 78,

Answer: is a legend of the past living in the present

Answer: slaves,

Answer: "Little Man"

Answer: "Little Man"

Answer: died in 1935

Summary:
James "Little Man" Presley, 78, has worked cotton fields since he was 6 years old .
"There's a heap of pride in voting for a black man," says the grandson of slaves .
His dad died when he was 5; Obama "knows what it is to come up without a father"
His message: "The important thing in life is to try to live and do the best you can"


Editor's note: The staff at CNN.com has been intrigued by the journalism of VICE, an independent media company and Web site based in Brooklyn, New York. The reports, which are produced solely by VICE, reflect a very transparent approach to journalism, where viewers are taken along on every step of the reporting process. We believe this unique reporting approach is worthy of sharing with our CNN.com readers.

Brooklyn, New York (VICE) -- When people talk about fashion week, they are usually referring to London, Paris, New York and Milan. When I discovered that Islamabad was having its first ever fashion week, I was especially intrigued. In a country where the majority of women cover up and similar events in the past have been threatened with fundamentalist attacks, this had to be about promoting Pakistan's textile industry in a strangled economy. The majority of Pakistan's population wears traditional Shalwar Kameez or Burkha, are vehemently religious, poor and enjoy about a 50% illiteracy rate. I quickly learned that there are pockets of Pakistani society that have Western sensibilities, which warrants the fashion industry to grow and justifies the need for a fashion week.

The British High Commission advises against all but essential travel to Pakistan. After pondering how essential fashion journalism is, against the wishes of my family I flew out to Islamabad in January with the director William Fairman to document an event so incongruous with the Pakistan we see on the news, people thought we'd made it up. This fashion week represented an exclusive elite of Western-centric Pakistanis.

I managed with relative ease to secure carte blanche to film fly-on-the-wall at the event, with the exception of filming people boozing or blaspheming on camera.

For example, before we left I was warned I'd better cover up and wear long dresses, which is evident in the film. As soon as I arrived I realized that I needn't have worried, that most of the girls at the fashion week dressed like Western girls. It was just one example of how Pakistan is misunderstood in the West.

See the rest of Pakistan Fashion Week at VICE.COM

For a week I watched relatively scantily-clad models on a runway in a blast-proof basement of a 7-star hotel just a short drive from the Islamic militant hubs in the troubled northwest. There was a latent atmosphere of volatility: fundamentalists don't have to try hard to work out that these hotels are crawling with Westerners and Pakistani liberals 365 days a year. As a result, the seats at the fashion shows were often half-empty. Social events such as these are few and far between in Pakistan. A young Pakistani rapper we met while out there told us how he struggles to perform live, as live events are often shut down for risk of militant attacks. More than serving as a platform for the textile industry and an attempt at improving Pakistan's world image, the Fashion Week was predominantly just something for people to do, a distraction from the adversity of daily life there.

I spent a week in the care of Pakistan's affluent elite, and my time with them taught me that Pakistan is an acutely divided country of extremes. There is a great deal of resentment towards this outmoded elite from the rest of the country. There is no middle class as we know it. This privileged community lives in compounds with armed guards at their gates. They employ a live-in staff and a chauffeur. They inhabit a bubble of ersatz Western life. One woman told me she thought that fashion, not drones, was the answer to Pakistan's problems. Whether this is the case, or not, remains to be seen.

Who went to Pakistan for a behind-the-scenes look at fashion week in Islamabad?

VICE goes to Pakistan for a behind-the-scenes look at what?

Answer: Islamabad

Answer: William Fairman

Answer: fashion week

Summary:
VICE embeds with rebel groups on the front lines in Libya .
Journalists were surprised by how young some rebels were .
When asked why they were fighting, "freedom" was the common answer .


Editor's note: The staff at CNN.com has been intrigued by the journalism of VICE, an independent media company and Web site based in Brooklyn, New York. The reports, which are produced solely by VICE, reflect a very transparent approach to journalism, where viewers are taken along on every step of the reporting process. We believe this unique reporting approach is worthy of sharing with our CNN.com readers.

Brooklyn, New York (VICE.COM) -- While the average American's understanding of the conflict in Kosovo is a simple, two-sided Sneetch-battle between the mountainous region's dominant Serbian minority and oppressed Albanian majority, the reality is a lot more convoluted than a Wikipedia page or morning radio parody of the Beach Boys' "Kokomo" can accurately convey. In addition to the Serbs in the north and Albanians in the south, Kosovo is host to a pizza pie of smaller ethnic groups like Gorans, Illyrians, and Roma scattered in enclaves throughout the entire country.

During the 1998-1999 war, as the Serbian Yugoslav Army and NATO-backed Albanian Kosovo Liberation Army vied with each other to see who could rack up the most atrocities, these sub-minorities were victims of a disproportionate amount of collateral brutality. Especially the Kosovo Roma, more widely known as "gypsies." Of the 250,000 people displaced from their homes by the fighting, an estimated 90,000 were Roma, a figure which is a little more jarring when you realize the region's total Romani population is just a little north of 100,000.

To help them deal with the refugee problem, the United Nations invited Paul Polansky, an American activist for gypsy rights, then working in Prague, to the city of Mitrovica to act as a liaison for the burgeoning community of Roma's so-called Internally Displaced People.

"The UN were having gypsies running into schoolhouses seeking shelter from the Albanians who were chasing them out of their homes," says Polansky from his house in Southern Serbia. "And so they opened a few Internally Displaced People camps, but they didn't know how to work with the gypsies, so they needed an expert to actually move into the camps to live with them and advise them. That's what they brought me to Kosovo to do."

Polansky was immediately unimpressed by the conditions at the camp he moved into an old French army barracks called Osterode.

See the rest of The VICE guide to the Balkans at VICE.com

"There were about 1,800 tents put up by the 23rd Pioneer Regiment of the British Army. They were put on toxic wasteland. The land itself was lower than the road coming into the camp and so when it rained there was water in all the tents. The only food they were given was flour and beans. They needed water to cook with but there was no water for cooking, no water for cleaning, and when I complained to the UN they said, 'Well, these are gypsies, they know how to look after themselves.' It was a constant fight just to get them to deliver water. We were not guaranteed any security. The Albanians were attacking the camp. We had children die because UN police refused to take them to hospital"

Despite Polansky's efforts, conditions at the Osterode camp continued to deteriorate. The British regiment in charge of protecting the camp was withdrawn and children began to show symptoms of health effects from the campsite's proximity to dumping grounds for industrial waste.

"In 1999, some Danish soldiers on patrol in Mitroviza had shown symptoms of lead poisoning," Polansky told us. "So their blood was taken, and it came back they had extremely high levels of lead poisoning. So in the summer of 2000, a UN medical team took blood tests all over Mitrovica. They found the highest lead levels were in the gypsy camps because they had been built on the tailings stands of the mines and the pollution from the smelter drifted right over their camp. Their blood samples were sent to a lab in Belgium and it was found that the children in these camps had the highest lead levels in medical literature."

Eventually Polansky got fed up with the UN

What person found hundrens of tents on the wastelands

What person said there was high levels of lead

What American investigated the treatment

High levels of what were found in the camps

Answer: Paul Polansky,

Answer: Internally Displaced People camps,

Answer: 1,800 tents

Answer: Polansky

Answer: Paul Polansky,

Answer: lead poisoning.

Answer: toxic wasteland.

Summary:
VICE embeds with rebel groups on the front lines in Libya .
Journalists were surprised by how young some rebels were .
When asked why they were fighting, "freedom" was the common answer .


Editor's note: The staff at CNN.com has recently been intrigued by the journalism of VICE, an independent media company and Web site based in Brooklyn, New York. VBS.TV is Vice's broadband television network. The reports, which are produced solely by VICE, reflect a very transparent approach to journalism, where viewers are taken along on every step of the reporting process. We believe this unique reporting approach is worthy of sharing with our CNN.com readers. Viewer discretion advised.

Brooklyn, New York (VBS.TV) -- Recently, VBS headed to Naples, the capital of the Campania region in southern Italy, to shoot two documentaries about the Camorra, the most powerful but least understood of the Italian crime cartels.

One piece was about the peculiar world of the Camorra's homegrown Neapolitan pop stars, known as Neomelodics. The other, excerpted here, focused on the environmental emergency brought on by the Camorra's manipulation of garbage disposal in the region. Each proved to be a strange and infuriating experience.

The daytime hours were spent visiting housing blocks where every family had reported at least one case of cancer because of illegal toxic waste dumps behind their homes. Our evenings, however, were spent at town square celebrations sponsored by the Camorra two blocks away and attended by the same families we had met earlier that day. The Camorra, it was suddenly clear, was dumping toxic waste in people's backyards and then hosting Neomelodic pop concerts in their front yards.

See the rest of Toxic: Napoli at VBS.TV

Today, the Camorra's Naples is Italy on steroids, and it's the result of a marriage of convenience between two powerful Italian forces. Neapolitans we met were, on the one hand, fed up with the garbage situation. On the other, very few had any interest in pointing fingers at the Camorra.

The Gerlando family is a prime example. On one of the last days of our shoot, we spent an afternoon with sheep farmers Patrizia and Mario Gerlando at their home in the Campanian countryside.

The Gerlandos were forced to leave their home in the town of Acerra (a suburb of Naples) because all of their sheep were mutating and dying due to the high levels of dioxin in the pastures where they grazed. Despite Acerra being the most well-documented case of the Camorra's involvement in Campania's environmental crisis, after the cameras were packed away, Mario and Patrizia told us that the Camorra had nothing to do with anything and that it would take someone like Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi to come fix the situation.

What are the consequences of years of pollution?

Who documenting powerful Italian crime cartel "strange, infuriating"

What has resulted in environmental crisis?

What does VBS find "strange, infuriating"?

Answer: sheep were mutating and dying

Answer: CNN.com

Answer: Camorra's manipulation of garbage disposal

Answer: all of their sheep were mutating and dying due to the high levels of dioxin in the pastures where they grazed.

Answer: VBS

Answer: garbage disposal

Answer: environmental emergency brought on by the Camorra's manipulation of garbage disposal in the region.

Summary:
Crew of three gets firsthand look at poverty, substance abuse in war-ravaged Liberia .
Women at local brothel tell of beatings by U.N. soldiers, child prostitution .
An ex-warlord who claims to have killed babies, cannibalized victims guides crew .


Editor's note: The staff at CNN.com has recently been intrigued by the journalism of VICE, an independent media company and Web site based in Brooklyn, New York. VBS.TV is Vice's broadband television network. The reports, which are produced solely by VICE, reflect a very transparent approach to journalism, where viewers are taken along on every step of the reporting process. We believe this unique reporting approach is worthy of sharing with our CNN.com readers. Viewer discretion advised.

London, England (VBS.TV) -- In previous episodes of The Vice Guide to Travel, we road-tripped through North Korea, shopped for dirty bombs in Bulgaria, and hunted mutant wild boars in Chernobyl. Little did we know that all of our harrowing journeys would leave us only semi-prepared for a recent trip to war-ravaged, godforsaken Liberia.

Since 1989, a series of brutal civil wars -- primarily fought by drug-addicted, prepubescent orphans -- has rendered Liberia one of the most dangerous countries in the world. Everyone has heard the stories of abject poverty, ubiquitous substance abuse and wanton violence taking place there, but we don't really believe anything that we don't see for ourselves. So, stomachs firmly knotted, off we went.

We arrived in Liberia with a small crew of three and quickly rendezvoused with a local journalist who would be our fixer and guide. Our first shooting location was the West Point slum, home to 80,000 people living in conditions that redefine squalor. Miles of rotting garbage surround the slum, which has no sewage system. Pretty much everyone -- even the local government officials -- defecates and urinates in the open. Drugs, prostitution and armed robbery are the main industries. We got to know some of the residents of West Point, who told us their stories as they smoked heroin and cocaine and begged us for money.

Next we visited a local brothel. The women who lived there talked with us about the U.N. soldiers who have sex with the child prostitutes and beat the older women, and then leave without paying.

Watch episode 2 from the Vice Guide to Liberia on VBS.TV

But perhaps the most revelatory portions of our trip to Liberia came from meeting the major warlords of the nation's civil wars. There's a tradition in Liberian militias of taking on extravagant noms de guerre. Hence, our subjects were named General Bin Laden, General Rambo and General Butt Naked. The latter, in particular, was one of the most notorious Liberian warlords. He claims to have personally killed 20,000 people including babies, and to have sometimes cannibalized his victims.

Today, General Butt Naked goes by his birth name, which is Joshua. During our time together, he told us that Liberia will surely implode into civil war again when the U.N. leaves next year. But in the meantime, Joshua wants to redeem himself. He offered us a glimpse of the Liberia that he wants to forge, and we found ourselves growing to like him. He took us to his church, where he rehabilitates child soldiers. We watched as he preached his way through Monrovia on a Sunday.

Is there a chance that his mission will succeed, and further civil war can be averted in this desperate country? That's one of the many questions that we came away with upon our safe return from Liberia. Watch our documentary about our time there and see what you think.

How many in the crew?
Where were the women?
What country are they touring?
What did the ex-warlord claim?

Answer: three

Answer: a local brothel.

Answer: Liberia.

Answer: to have personally killed 20,000 people including babies, and to have sometimes cannibalized his victims.

Summary:
Crew of three gets firsthand look at poverty, substance abuse in war-ravaged Liberia .
Women at local brothel tell of beatings by U.N. soldiers, child prostitution .
An ex-warlord who claims to have killed babies, cannibalized victims guides crew .


Editor's note: The staff at CNN.com has recently been intrigued by the journalism of VICE, an independent media company and Web site based in Brooklyn, New York. VBS.TV is the broadband television network of VICE. The reports, which are produced solely by VICE, reflect a transparent approach to journalism, where viewers are taken along on every step of the reporting process. We believe this unique reporting approach is worthy of sharing with our CNN.com readers.

Brooklyn, New York (VBS.TV) -- In this installment of the Vice Guide to Film, VBS co-founder Shane Smith travels to Russia to meet the pioneers of one of the most peculiar experimental film movements in history: Parallel Cinema.

The genre marries Soviet avant-garde agitprop filmmaking (black and white, silent, odd angles, extreme closeups, rapid fire editing of good Soviets at work) with something called "Necro-realism," a movement spearheaded by filmmaker Yvegny Yufit and consisting of very weird gay male zombie flicks that feature fat bald men having sex and eating each other's brains. It was meant to be a comment on the impending fall of the Soviet system and the decadence of the apparatchiks in charge. It grew to become much more.

While Russia is known for its experimental works of the 1920s -- auteurs like Dziga Vertov and Sergei Eisenstein spring to mind -- this freedom of expression ended when Stalin took power. For 60 years, Russian film was dominated by the drab, state-approved imagery of Socialist realism. This genre was defined by stark scenes of the proletariat soldiering and toiling diligently over the land. Making movies outside this milieu meant that the film-lovers, artists, actors and rock musicians who collaborated to create it were risking life and limb at the hands of the KGB. But when the Soviet Union collapsed, the threat of its primary intelligence agency diminished and Russian filmmakers began to unleash six decades of pent-up creative energy. The films that emerged were an insane mish-mash of booze, violence, surrealism and insanity. Parallel Cinema was born.

Watch the rest of Russian Parallel Cinema at VBS.TV

For this episode, Shane journeys to Moscow and St. Petersburg to meet several of the surviving founders of Parallel Cinema and Necro-realism, many of whom are today extremely successful commercial producers and directors. In fact, a few of them now run some of the country's key networks and continue to make films. Shane manages to uncover this fascinating underground art community and finds that to this day the Parallel Cinema movement thrives. The devoted still have weekly Parallel screenings and events, and even put out a monthly film publication. Still, as he immerses himself in this unique film tradition, it becomes clear that, given Russian's present volatility, it may not exist much longer.

Who are the pioneers of the film movement?

Answer: collapsed,

Answer: Shane Smith

Answer: Parallel Cinema.

Answer: the pioneers of one of the most peculiar experimental film movements in history: Parallel Cinema.

Summary:
Crew of three gets firsthand look at poverty, substance abuse in war-ravaged Liberia .
Women at local brothel tell of beatings by U.N. soldiers, child prostitution .
An ex-warlord who claims to have killed babies, cannibalized victims guides crew .


Editor's note: The staff at CNN.com has recently been intrigued by the journalism of VICE, an independent media company and website based in Brooklyn, New York. VBS.TV is VICE's broadband television network. The reports, which are produced solely by VICE, reflect a very transparent approach to journalism, where viewers are taken along on every step of the reporting process. We believe this unique reporting approach is worthy of sharing with our CNN.com readers.

Brooklyn, New York (VBS.TV) -- In 2008, the world cast its eyes on Beijing, the sprawling Chinese metropolis that was set to play host to the Summer Olympics.

At VBS.TV, we caught wind of another story that soon had our full attention. As Chinese officials were taking unprecedented and often controversial measures to sanitize the notoriously foul Beijing air, much of the rest of the country was still covered in a thick blanket of noxious smog.

According to a World Bank survey at the time, 16 of the world's 20 most-polluted cities were in China.

At the top of that list is the city of Linfen, a coal-mining and manufacturing hub in the heart of Shanxi Province. Within weeks, we assembled a film crew and went off to the landlocked province in northern China to find out more.

After touching down in Beijing and making a quick visit to the Olympic countdown clock, we set out to visit the single most polluted place on Earth, hoping to place the dubious ranking into a human context.

Despite the Chinese government's promise of a marathon-friendly city, the Beijing air at the time was still plenty oppressive. But nothing could have prepared us for the dystopian scenario we encountered during our week in Linfen and the surrounding area.

See the rest of Toxic Linfen at VBS.TV

Before the trip, I had researched thousands of images of the pollution that plagues Linfen and Shanxi province, but to see it in person is, quite simply, devastating.

The sun sets before it is supposed to, disappearing into a curtain of smog above the true horizon. Residents scavenge the roadside for coal that falls from the seemingly endless cavalcade of coal trucks, gathering it with bare hands. Schoolchildren play against the nonstop backdrop of billowing exhaust. Many of the elderly have trouble speaking between gasps of widespread emphysema.

Residents of Linfen are aware of the growing threat the polluted air and water pose, and some of them have left the city. Most, however, have no choice but to stay.

The infamy of a No. 1 ranking in the news media eventually motivated China to focus more attention on cleaning up Linfen, but unfortunately, the scene of overwhelming pollution is still rampant in many parts of the country.

As easy as it is to criticize China's bold industrial development, our visit was also a clear reminder of the same pattern of manufacturing and consumption that has occurred elsewhere since the dawn of the Industrial Age.

In China, it just happens to be on a much grander scale and on the back of a globalized economy that has rendered China into an assembly line for the world. The most compelling research I came across to this end are recently published studies showing particulate matter from China's factories and mines reaching across the Pacific Ocean to North America's West Coast.

China obviously has some cleaning up to do, and more importantly, some major strategizing to achieve a sustainable economy.

Our futures are inextricably linked. Back in New York City, the coal mines of Shanxi Province feel worlds away, but as oil now gushes ceaselessly into our own backyard, we should pay even more attention to Linfen if we don't want it to be a glimpse into our own future.

What does Linfen produce and consume in large amounts?

Answer: pollution

Answer: coal-mining

Answer: foul

Summary:
The city of Linfen has a permanent toxic smog hovering over the city .
Air quality there is the equivalent of smoking three packs of cigarettes a day .
Linfen produces and consumes large amount of coal .


Editor's note: The staff at CNN.com has recently been intrigued by the journalism of VICE, an independent media company and website based in Brooklyn, New York. VBS.TV is Vice's broadband television network. The reports, which are produced solely by VICE, reflect a transparent approach to journalism, where viewers are taken along on every step of the reporting process. We believe this unique reporting approach is worthy of sharing with our CNN.com readers.

Brooklyn, New York (VBS.TV) -- Whenever someone at our office bitches about being overworked, our stock response is "Beats digging ditches."

While the express intention of the statement is usually not-so-supportive, we think it's a healthy reminder that at the end of the day, we are all basically professional e-mailers and should be thankful for such.

The wildland firefighters who work for Grayback Forestry in Medford, Oregon, have no such motivational adages because their job is actually digging ditches. Around active forest fires. On the sides of mountains. You can't even bitch at these guys for having cushy government pensions to fall back on when they get older, because they're all private-sector contractors. Which means if they aren't out fighting forest fires or doing preventative forestry on unburned woods (basically extreme landscaping), they are losing money. They are the hardest working men in the tree business.

Southern Oregon in the summer is a tinderbox. Last year the state recorded some 560 wild fires, the majority of which occurred in the seemingly endless sea of trees running across its bottom from the Cascades to the Pacific Coast. Humidity is next to nonexistent, which is extremely pleasant, but means that even an errant spark from a chainsaw or the proverbial cigarette butt out the car window can set the entire region ablaze.

Flying into the Rogue Valley, there is evidence of past wild fires is everywhere: From the miles-long scar of the 2002 "Biscuit" fire stretching past the horizon, to the smaller pockets of charred trees crowding the edge of towns to the blue Wilderness-Firefighter-ribbon bumper stickers flying past on the I-5 to the elaborate wildfire and firefighter shrines at a local bar.

See more of Oregon Fire Lines at VBS.TV

There are very few places firemen aren't revered as local heroes, but the wilderness firefighters of Oregon go past people simply risking their lives to help others into a crazy superhero realm where their work regularly prevents entire settlements from being destroyed. They're literally the guardians of their communities. Incidentally, their work is also very beneficial for the forest.

We spent a few days following a crew of Grayback forest-firefighters walk up the sides of what most people would consider a cliff, to chop down underbrush in preparation for a controlled burn. This is what they like to call "project work" -- the light stuff they do between fires. The work is the hardest and least rewarding work we have ever tried to do. Unless you consider 12-hour-plus shifts of backbreaking labor, virtually zero outside recognition, and occasional accusations of being shills for the timber industry rewards. Which we do not.

This piece was originally produced in August 2010

What type of work are the firefighters doing?

Answer: digging ditches.

Answer: 12-hour-plus

Answer: VBS.TV

Answer: a crew of Grayback forest-firefighters

Answer: "Beats digging ditches."

Answer: controlled

Answer: 12-hour-plus

Answer: backbreaking labor, virtually zero outside recognition, and occasional accusations of being shills for the timber industry

Summary:
The city of Linfen has a permanent toxic smog hovering over the city .
Air quality there is the equivalent of smoking three packs of cigarettes a day .
Linfen produces and consumes large amount of coal .


Editor's note: This article contains profanity that some may find offensive. This is part one of a three part series showing different aspects of life inside Colombia's drug gangs. A gang member sniffs in a cloud of cocaine dust as he cuts the drug with other substances. MEDELLIN, Colombia (CNN) -- A young man with tattoos covering one arm rolls hundreds of marijuana joints in the half-light of a shack, perched on a hillside in a Medellin slum. A 9mm pistol and a .38 revolver lie on his work bench. An old battery-powered radio blares out the salsa music classic, "Todo Tiene Su Final" or "Everything Comes To An End." "I'm getting calluses on my tongue rolling all these spliffs," he laughs, telling me has enough marijuana for about 1,000 joints. He and his comrades plan to sell them for about 50 cents apiece. A few doors away, two other gang members have raided their mother's kitchen for soup plates, drinking glasses and a blender. They've just taken delivery of a kilogram (2.2 pound) brick of pure cocaine. Their job now is to cut it and package it in gram bags to peddle on street corners they control.  Watch as cocaine is cut » A female gang member shows up with two more bags, one containing powdered caffeine and the other lidocaine, a dental anesthetic used to dilute the pure cocaine. They mix business with pleasure. Every now and again one of the gang members pulls off the top of the blender and breathes in a cloud of pulverized cocaine. One of them coughs and keels over in the kitchen. Seconds later, he's back on his feet snorting cocaine off a spoon. "Breathing that cocaine cloud mellows me out so I need a line to take me back up," he says. Standing in the background, snorting lines of pure cocaine off a pocketknife is the gang leader, a man in his mid-20s. His cohorts call him "Chief." He tells me they'll sell the heavily cut cocaine for $1.50 a gram. Higher purity powder goes for about $4 a gram. That's much cheaper than the $50 or $60 a heavily cut gram costs on most U.S. and European streets, according to estimates from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. I agree to conceal Chief's true identity to protect him from the police and rival gangs. As we chat, he dismantles a small caliber pistol.  Watch the gangs in action » "Around here the only law is the rules of the street," he explains. "The rules don't change; they always will be the rules, here or anywhere else." A trusted source, who made the introduction for me, tells me Chief is a "total animal living on borrowed time," who has earned so many enemies he cannot risk stepping outside the few hundred square yards of his home turf. "I'm only human, of course I get afraid," he says. "Afraid my life will end suddenly before I can do anything to get out of this war." Since the time when undisputed cocaine king Pablo Escobar held sway here, the "northeastern commune" district has forged a fearsome reputation as a recruiting ground for drug cartel hit men and violent gang wars. Medellin is once again in the grip of a vicious drug war. In January to September this year, city authorities say the murder rate has more than doubled with almost 2,000 killings. Officials at the Medellin public prosecutor's offices say the vast majority of victims were shot, likely victims of rival drug gangs and cocaine capos.  Watch marijuana joints being rolled by the hundreds » That makes Medellin as dangerous as Ciudad Juarez, the frontier town dubbed Mexico's most dangerous city as a result of the ongoing cartel war there. Authorities in Juarez say killings are up from last year and are hitting record highs. Colombian authorities estimate there are around 130 street gangs -- known as "combos" -- in Medellin, totaling some 6,000 members

How many killings have there been?
where drug war raging
Where did these killings happen
What did they sell
What does the gang sell?
Where is the drug war?

Answer: 2,000

Answer: Medellin

Answer: Medellin

Answer: cocaine.

Answer: cocaine.

Answer: Medellin

Summary:
Drug war raging in Medellin, Colombia, has seen almost 2,000 killings this year .
Gang leader says violence sparked by power vacuum as old bosses arrested .
His gang sells cocaine and marijuana and he rules through violence .
But he refuses to say which cartel boss is bankrolling his gang .


Editor's note: This is an excerpt from "Zeitoun" by Dave Eggers, a nonfiction account of a Syrian-American immigrant and his extraordinary experience during Hurricane Katrina. Eggers is the author of five other books, including "What Is the What," a finalist for the 2006 National Book Critics Circle Award. Eggers is the founder and editor of McSweeney's, an independent publishing house based in San Francisco. Dave Eggers writes that Abdulrahman Zeitoun dreamed of fishing on the Syrian coast as Katrina approached. (CNN) -- FRIDAY, AUGUST 26, 2005 On moonless nights the men and boys of Jableh, a dusty fishing town on the coast of Syria, would gather their lanterns and set out in their quietest boats. Five or six small craft, two or three fishermen in each. A mile out, they would arrange the boats in a circle on the black sea, drop their nets, and, holding their lanterns over the water, they would approximate the moon. The fish, sardines, would begin gathering soon after, a slow mass of silver rising from below. The fish were attracted to plankton, and the plankton were attracted to the light. They would begin to circle, a chain linked loosely, and over the next hour their numbers would grow. The black gaps between silver links would close until the fishermen could see, below, a solid mass of silver spinning. Abdulrahman Zeitoun was only thirteen when he began fishing for sardines this way, a method called lampara, borrowed from the Italians. He had waited years to join the men and teenagers on the night boats, and he'd spent those years asking questions. Why only on moonless nights? Because, his brother Ahmad said, on moon-filled nights the plankton would be visible everywhere, spread out all over the sea, and the sardines could see and eat the glowing organisms with ease. But without a moon the men could make their own, and could bring the sardines to the surface in stunning concentrations. You have to see it, Ahmad told his little brother. You've never seen anything like this. And when Abdulrahman first witnessed the sardines circling in the black he could not believe the sight, the beauty of the undulating silver orb below the white and gold lantern light. He said nothing, and the other fishermen were careful to be quiet, too, paddling without motors, lest they scare away the catch. They would whisper over the sea, telling jokes and talking about women and girls as they watched the fish rise and spin beneath them. A few hours later, once the sardines were ready, tens of thousands of them glistening in the refracted light, the fishermen would cinch the net and haul them in. They would motor back to the shore and bring the sardines to the fish broker in the market before dawn. He would pay the men and boys, and would then sell the fish all over western Syria -- Lattakia, Baniyas, Damascus. The fishermen would split the money, with Abdulrahman and Ahmad bringing their share home. Their father had passed away the year before and their mother was of fragile health and mind, so all funds they earned fishing went toward the welfare of the house they shared with ten siblings. Abdulrahman and Ahmad didn't care much about the money, though. They would have done it for free. Thirty-four years later and thousands of miles west, Abdulrahman Zeitoun was in bed on a Friday morning, slowly leaving the moonless Jableh night, a tattered memory of it caught in a morning dream. He was in his home in New Orleans and beside him he could hear his wife Kathy breathing, her exhalations not unlike the shushing of water against the hull of a wooden boat. Otherwise the house was silent. He knew it was near six o'clock, and the peace would not last. The morning light usually woke the kids once it reached their second-story windows. One of the four would open his or her eyes, and from there the movements were brisk, the house quickly growing loud. With one child awake, it was impossible to keep the other

Who emigrated to America and settled in New Orleans?

Answer: Katrina

Answer: Syrian coast

Answer: is the founder and editor of McSweeney's, an independent publishing house based in San Francisco.

Answer: New Orleans

Answer: Jableh, a dusty fishing town on the coast of Syria,

Answer: Abdulrahman Zeitoun

Answer: Abdulrahman Zeitoun

Answer: Abdulrahman Zeitoun

Answer: New Orleans

Summary:
Dave Eggers: Abdulrahman Zeitoun grew up in a Syrian fishing town .
He says Zeitoun emigrated to America and settled in New Orleans .
Zeitoun and his family thought little of Katrina as it approached the Gulf Coast .