J.R. Martinez Is Going to Be a Father / from: ABC News

“Dancing With the Stars” winner J.R. Martinez has something to look forward to next spring – the birth of his daughter.
The Iraq war vet and his girlfriend Diana Jones are expecting their child together, according to People magazine.
“We found out just last week it’s a girl and we are over the moon,” Martinez told People. “Diana has a little baby bump now and it’s the cutest thing ever. With the holidays coming up, this is the biggest and best gift we could get.”
The couple met in 2008 while working on the soap opera “All My Children.”
Martinez played an Iraq war veteran while Jones worked as an executive assistant on staff.
“I just have been looking for this great guy with these great qualities and he’s been right next to me the whole time,” Jones said in a “Nightline” interview last month.

On Corruption: 5 Questions with Lawrence Lessig / from; http://pogoblog.typepad.com

POGO Senior Writer Beth Schulman recently caught up with Harvard Law School Professor Lawrence Lessig to talk about the Occupy Wall Street and Tea Party movements, campaign finance, and the nature of corruption. Lessig is the author of Republic, Lost, one of the books on our list of 10 books that matter for 2011. 
POGO: It seems like Occupy and Tea Party demonstrators confirm your sense that there is trans-partisan outrage the influence of money in politics. Can these movements find common ground in this issue?
Lessig: I do think they will get it, if it is pressed in the right way. Not sure yet what way is that right way, but I am struggling with working it out.
POGO: Between the influx of campaign cash to Super Committee members and renewed focus on the revolving door issue, a lot of people may have become cynical about the role of money in politics. Can we suspend this cynicism enough to actually solve the problem?
Lessig: Only if it mixes MORE with LESS. We need limits on independent expenditures to be sure. But we also need public funding. If we got both (in the right form), the revolving door would not be as big of an issue.
POGO: Do you believe that campaign finance reform could address the problem of contractors being “too big too fail”? It often seems like contractors—particularly those under the Departments of Defense and Homeland Security—can count on a steady stream of government deals no matter how much misconduct surrounds their work.

10 Books That Matter: POGO's Winter Reading List  Essay: Lawrence Lessig Makes the Case for Bipartisan Reform to Achieve Less Corrupt Democracy that Advances the Public Interest

Lessig: Our concern should be contracts that make no economic or governmental sense, and if we eliminated the incentives for crony capitalism (at least the supply side incentives), we'd have less reason to be worried about particular kinds of contracts.
POGO: In your book, you argue that transparency is a necessary but not sufficient solution to the corrupting power of campaign cash. Are efforts to achieve transparency a tactical distraction in the struggle for the public good?
Lessig: My only criticism of the transparency community is of those not willing to be open about the fact that transparency alone is not enough. That's not many in the community—Sunlight's Ellen Miller has been a long supporter of public funding, as is Dan Newman of Maplight. But I think the link needs to be made more explicitly and regularly.
POGO: You’ve argued that because corruption is systemic, it’s most often perpetrated by well-intention, principled people—not evildoers. How can we better illuminate systemic challenges to good government?
Lessig: It is a difficult challenge since evil inspires reaction better than decent or normal. But I think if you complemented your excellent work on evil souls with more about the banality of corruption, that would be really helpful. People have got to see that even if we eliminated the Blago's of the world, we'd still have a fundamental corruption in the middle of our government.
Beth Schulman is a senior writer for POGO.
  

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Jazz Fest tickets; line-up posted / from; www.katc.com

The New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival presented by Shell announced the music lineup for the 2012 Festival scheduled for April 27 - 29 and May 3 - 6. Started in 1970, the Jazz & Heritage Festival continues to showcase the most storied names in music history alongside many of Louisiana's equally respected musical artists. A true heritage festival, Jazz Fest stands alone in presenting the highest caliber artists in such varied genres as gospel, blues, traditional and contemporary jazz, rock, pop, R&B, Cajun, zydeco and much more. Over 400,000 fans attended last year's Festival, which annually celebrates the unique culture and heritage of New Orleans and Louisiana.

Among th artists scheduled at the Jazz Fest are Trombone Shorty, Eagles, Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers, Foo Fighters, Zac Brown Band, TBA, John Mayer, The Neville Brothers, Al Green, Herbie Hancock, Ne-Yo, My Morning Jacket, Bon Iver, Paulina Rubio, Jill Scott, Florence + the Machine, Allen Toussaint, Feist, Bunny Wailer, Bonnie Raitt, Irma Thomas, Maze featuring Frankie Beverly, Dr. John, Janelle Monae, Yolanda Adams, Iron and Wine, Pete Fountain, Rodrigo y Gabriela, Steel Pulse, Rebirth Brass Band, Grace Potter & the Nocturnals, Esperanza Spalding, funky Meters, Levon Helm Band with special guest Mavis Staples, Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings, Aaron Neville, Steve Earle, Galactic, Preservation Hall Jazz Band 50th Anniversary Jam, Little Anthony and The Imperials, Ani DiFranco, Givers, Kermit Ruffins & the Barbecue Swingers, Dianne Reeves, Irvin Mayfield & the New Orleans Jazz Orchestra, Better Than Ezra, Carolina Chocolate Drops, Ivan Neville's Dumpstaphunk, Bruce Hornsby, Dave Koz, The Dirty Dozen Brass Band, Gomez, Pedrito Martinez, The Bounce Shake Down feat. Big Freedia, Katey Red, Keedy Black, and DJ Poppa, Israel & New Breed, Seun Kuti & Egypt 80, Zebra, Amanda Shaw, James Cotton "Superharp" Band, Cowboy Mouth, Asleep at the Wheel, Papa Grows Funk, David Sanborn & Joey DeFrancesco, Bobby Rush, Chuck Leavell & Friends, Ellis Marsalis, Marcia Ball, Voice of the Wetlands All Stars, John Boutté, Gary Clark Jr., Texas Tornados, Poncho Sanchez Latin Band with Terence Blanchard, Cheikh Lô (Senegal), Tab Benoit, Regina Carter's "Reverse Thread", Bombino (Niger), Glen Hansard, Big Sam's Funky Nation, Jeremy Davenport, Sara Jarosz, Bonerama, Evelyn Turrentine-Agee, Terri Lyne Carrington's Mosaic, Ruby Wilson's Tribute to Bessie Smith & Ma Rainey, Wycliffe Gordon, Donald Harrison, Lindigo & Fixi (Reunion Island & France), Sonny Landreth, Buckwheat Zydeco, Soul Rebels, The Stars of Heaven, Jewel Brown with the Heritage Hall Band, Rockin' Dopsie, Jr. & the Zydeco Twisters, Anders Osborne, Honey Island Swamp Band, Theresa Andersson, John Mooney & Bluesiana, Eric Lindell, Walter "Wolfman" Washington & the Roadmasters, BeauSoleil avec Michael Doucet, Pine Leaf Boys, James Andrews & the Crescent City Allstars, Steve Riley & the Mamou Playboys, Big Chief Bo Dollis & the Wild Magnolias, Big Chief Monk Boudreaux & the Golden Eagles, Shamarr Allen & the Underdawgs, Terrance Simien & the Zydeco Experience, Dr. Michael White & the Original Liberty Jazz Band feat. Thais Clark, Banu Gibson, Hot 8 Brass Band, Creole Wild West, George French and more.
Quint Davis, producer/director of the Festival, said, "Serving all communities, all ages, and families too, only at Jazz Fest 2012 will you find a roster like this! At its heart, the New Orleans Festival celebrates with our own, from our dynamic nationally emerging homegrown talent, Troy "Trombone Shorty" Andrews, Givers, Ivan Neville's Dumpstaphunk, and Galactic; to our sacred icons, Allen Toussaint, The Neville Brothers, Irma Thomas, Dr. John, Pete Fountain, and Preservation Hall Jazz Band. In addition, this year may be the broadest and most powerful line up of "special guests", including: Eagles, Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers, Herbie Hancock, Foo Fighters, The Zac Brown Band, John Mayer, Ne-Yo, Paulina Rubio, Al Green, My Morning Jacket, Jill Scott, Bon Iver, and on and on and on. This holiday season, Jazz Fest truly has a gift for everyone."
Tickets for the Festival, which takes place at the Fair Grounds Race Course, go on sale today at 10am. A very limited number of discount ticket packages including tickets to each day of a particular weekend of the Festival will be offered. Ticket packages purchased for all three days of the first weekend (April 27, 28 & 29) will be $120 ($40 per day), while second weekend packages purchased for all four festival days (May 3, 4, 5 & 6) will be $160 ($40 per day). (Tickets included in each package are day-specific.) Advance single-day Jazz Fest tickets are only $45 through February 29. Starting March 1, advance single-day tickets will be $50, while the gate price ticket is $65. Children's tickets (ages 2 - 10) are still only $5 and are available at the gate only. Single day tickets to Jazz Fest are on sale by specific weekend, with each ticket valid for a single day's attendance.
Tickets are available at www.nojazzfest.com and www.ticketmaster.com, at all Ticketmaster outlets or by calling (800) 745-3000. Tickets can be purchased in person at the Jazz Fest ticket office located at the New Orleans Arena Box Office. All general admission Jazz Fest tickets are subject to additional service fees and handling charges.
The New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival and Foundation, Inc. is the nonprofit organization that owns the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival presented by Shell. The Foundation uses the proceeds from Jazz Fest, and other revenues, for year-round activities in the areas of education, economic development and cultural events. Education programs include the Don "Moose" Jamison Heritage School of Music and the Tom Dent Congo Square Lecture Series. Economic Development initiatives include the Community Partnership Grants, the Sync Up entertainment industry conference and the Jazz & Heritage Talent Exchange web site. Cultural events include the Jazz Journey concert series and free community festivals: the Crescent City Blues & BBQ Festival, the Congo Square New World Rhythms Festival, the Louisiana Cajun-Zydeco Festival and the Tremé Creole Gumbo Festival. The Foundation also owns radio station WWOZ 90.7-FM, the Jazz & Heritage Archive, the Jazz & Heritage Gallery and the Jazz & Heritage Center.

Gus Malzahn returns home as new Arkansas State coach / from; newyork times

Gus Malzahn is returning to the state where he won three state championships as a high school coach for his first head-coaching gig at the college level.
The Fort Smith, Ark., native will be announced as the new head coach at Arkansas State at a news conference Wednesday afternoon. Malzahn, who spent the last three seasons as offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Auburn, replaces former Red Wolves Coach Hugh Freeze, who took the coaching job at Mississippi last week.
The 46-year-old Malzahn won the Broyles Award, which recognizes the top assistant coach in college football, in 2010 — the year he coached Heisman Trophy-winner Cam Newton and helped the Tigers claim the BCS championship.
He also served as offensive coordinator for two years at Tulsa, which finished first nationally in total offense both years, and for one season at Arkansas, where he coached Heisman Trophy runner-up Darren McFadden and had the fourth-best rushing offense in the nation.
But Malzahn was familiar to football fans in Arkansas long before any of that, having spent 14 years as a high school coach and taking seven teams to a state championship game. After starting at Hughes High in northeast Arkansas, he went on to lead the private school Shiloh Christian in Springdale to two state titles.
He eventually moved on to Springdale High, which plays in the state's largest classification, and led the team to a 14-0 record and a state championship while finishing in the top five in most national polls in 2005.
Malzahn will be recognized as the Red Wolves' 28th head football coach during halftime at Wednesday night's men's basketball game against Seattle.
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Time Magazine's Person of the Year: 'The Protester' / from; www.newsmax.com

Keeping with a tradition that started 84 years ago, Time this morning announced "The Protester" as the magazine’s 2011 Person of the Year.

Announcing the choice on NBC’s "Today Show," Time Managing Editor Rick Stengel said that the nameless, female protester dressed in a traditional head scarf is intended to represent both the men and women around the world — and particularly in the Middle East — who risked their lives to bring about transformational change.

“They are changing history already and they will change history in the future,” he said, adding that the current wave of global protests can be traced back to protests in Iran two years ago.

“Iran prefigured what was going to happen in the Arab world. And then what happened in the Arab world did influence Occupy Wall Street, and Occupy Oakland, and the protests in Greece and Madrid,” Stengel told hosts Matt Lauer and Ann Curry.

Navy Adm. William McRaven, head of U.S. Special Operations Command, who commanded the secret SEAL Team Six raid into Pakistan that killed Osama bin Laden came in second on the Time list.

Chinese dissident artist Ai Weiwei, who spent 81 days in secret detention, finished third, followed by Rep. Paul Ryan, who put forth a plan to tackle America’s burgeoning national debt.

Britain’s Kate Middleton, who married Prince William, finished in fifth place.

“Admiral McRaven captured bin Laden and the Duchess of Windsor captured our hearts,” Stengel said. “They represent people who affected us in one way or another, who swayed the conversation, captured our imagination.”

Absent from the list of finalists were the late Apple CEO Steve Jobs and Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, who suffered a head wound when she was shot by a gunman during a public appearance before constituents in her home state of Arizona.

“It’s not a lifetime achievement award and Steve is someone I’d venerate, but it wasn’t really a year where he transformed anything,” said Stengel, noting that both Jobs and Giffords are featured elsewhere in the magazine.

Stengel said that the global protesters are all connected by technology.

“They all talked about how they had been influenced by other protests and how social media brought all of them closer,” Stengel says. “It’s really an extraordinary combination of demography and technology that brought about this change.”

The tradition of selecting a person, thing — or in the case of The Protester, a concept — began with the selection of aviator Charles Lindbergh in 1927 as the first Man of the Year.

The distinction has since been held by presidents, political leaders, innovators, captains of industry and even the infamous, including Adolf Hitler in 1938, Joseph Stalin in 1943 and Ayatollah Khomeini in 1979.

In the case of the Middle East, Stengel says that no one could have predicted such a transformational outcome.

“There was no movement there. We thought these dictators are not going to be toppled. And then these people, who risked their lives, risked their livelihoods to go out there and brought about change that nobody had expected,” he explains. “It’s a transformational change and I think it is changing the world for the better.”

Read more on Newsmax.com: Time Magazine's Person of the Year: 'The Protester'
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'Biggest Loser' winner: 'I don't want to be a slave to the scale anymore'

By Ree Hines

"Biggest Loser" winner John Rhode lost 220 pounds in the competition and gained $250,000 dollars on Tuesday night's finale. But even though he bested 14 other competitors to reach his goals, looking back, he now considers that the easy part. The real challenge still lies ahead.
During a Wednesday morning visit to TODAY, the special education teacher and football coach admitted that keeping the weight off is the real battle.

"I had a sincere desire to make this change," Rhode told host Ann Curry. "I want to see true change. I want to keep the weight off. Losing the weight wasn't so difficult. Keeping the weight off, that will be the true test."
In order to meet the challenge, Rhode plans to make other big goals beyond "The Biggest Loser."
"It is very much a psychological, emotional battle," he explained. "My plan right now? I'm focused on running the L.A. marathon. That's my focus right now. After that? Then I'm going to have to find a new focus."
And for Rhode, there's something even better than a race or another competition to focus on — for instance, his waistline.
"I'm wearing pants that are 34/32, and I'm comfortable in them. I like them," Rhode said. "If the pants start to become snug, then maybe I've got to rework some things. But right now, I don't want to be a slave to the scale anymore. I have comfortable clothes. I enjoy the clothes. If that becomes an issue, then I know that I'm doing something I need to fix."
What do you think, "Loser" fans? After watching Rhode throughout the season, do you think he's got what it takes to keep off the pounds?