Hasta La Gadget!

Salt Lake is a city on the move: a vibrant financial center that is demonstrating to the world the continued strength of America’s economy. It is a place where shrewd leadership, hard work, innovation and determination are creating jobs and opportunity. The city nicknamed the “Crossroads of the West” has a very real chance to become the economic “highway to the future.” At Girl Scouts, we want girls from every corner of the country to be a part of that environment and to learn those lessons.

That’s why from October 16-19, 2014, the Girl Scouts of the USA will bring our 2014 National Council Session/53rd Convention to Salt Lake City, Utah. For a few days, it will be the biggest Girl Scout party in the world; a celebration of our past and an exciting look to the future of possibilities for girls and their limitless potential for leadership.

We choose convention locations that we believe will inspire girls and enrich their experience. Exposing girls to innovative thinking is one of the most important things we can do to prepare the next generation of female leaders for the 21st century. Salt Lake City has a lot to teach us all about how to seize opportunity and build a strong economy, even in the midst of turmoil. Today’s economic landscape changes at light speed, and one thing is clear: overcoming those challenges requires cumulative skills, perspective and leadership of EVERYONE — men and women alike — to keep our country competitive.

It might not surprise you to learn that as the CEO of Girl Scouts of the USA, I believe that our future as a nation will depend on the potential of one of America’s greatest untapped resources: girls. Investing in girls — whether by giving money or volunteering your time as a mentor — is one of the single best investments our society can make in the future of our economy. And we know that gender balanced work environments lead to success. According to the World Economic Forum, gender equality: Attracts top talent to a firm or country; Reduces expenses; Increases organizational performance; and, it can improve national productivity and competitiveness.

I’m a firm believer that you’ve got to get them young. That’s why I love my job, and love the Girl Scout Movement. We teach girls that they have what it takes to be leaders, and give them the skills to believe in their potential. To do that, girls need to see, hear and learn from the best. Selecting a convention venue is like buying a house: location matters. To inspire girls, invigorate our Movement and think about its future, Salt Lake City couldn’t have been a more perfect choice to host our triennial National Convention.

By age 23, I had lost several family members to the AIDS epidemic, and my home country of Zambia lost an entire generation. Nearly 700,000 Zambians had died by the year 2000, just 16 years after the first reported case of AIDS in the country. The disease still greatly affects Zambia today, as nearly a quarter of the population lives with HIV.

I am part of that 25 percent.

We have the opportunity to look forward and rebuild our country by supporting a new generation — one that may grow up to be an AIDS-free generation. But doing so requires sharing information about life-saving services that can benefit millions of people around the globe.

In 2003, I learned I was HIV-positive on a return visit to Zambia. In that moment I felt entirely hopeless as my mother had just recently passed away, too. I had the support of my family and those that I worked with, but no guarantee for my future. Would I, too, be part of the lost generation in Zambia?

However, at that time the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) came to Africa. Through PEPFAR, I was able to receive the life-saving medication and treatment that had been out of reach for so many Zambians before. This miracle gave me a second chance at life, and I recognized how truly blessed I was.

A second miracle came when I met my husband, Andy, who fell in love with me despite my status.

We immediately knew that we wanted children, yet it was a scary decision. While many children in America are successfully born HIV-free to HIV-positive mothers, access to information on the prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV (PMTCT) in Zambia lags behind.

Because I lived in a city in Zambia, with easy access to a hospital, my husband and I received more information about PMTCT than is traditionally available. I was successfully referred to a physician who could perform a C-section to ensure the health of my child.

The stigma of being HIV-positive prevents thousands of Zambian women from receiving PMTCT services and C-sections, despite its proven effectiveness in lessening transmission of HIV. The same stigma stops many mothers from continuing to take life-saving medications after the birth of their children for fear that others will learn they have HIV.

Despite these obstacles, my first son was born HIV-free in 2009. Soon after, my husband and I moved to America where we had our second son in 2011. In the United States, we found that information about PMTCT was easily available and many physicians were able to help ensure I had the safest pregnancy and delivery possible. When we got married we also adopted my youngest sister, Tamar, and served as legal guardians for the rest of my siblings who were a little older. My beautiful family was healthy and thriving.

That is why I work with the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation (EGPAF) — I want this experience for every mother in Africa.

After learning about EGPAF, I quickly became involved, knowing that my sons’ healthy births were thanks to its decades of work and advocacy. This May, EGPAF reached its 20 millionth woman with its life-saving services, which was a beautiful moment for me.

I saw the faces of women — women across Zambia, women from my family, women whose lives had been touched by EGPAF. When I think of these 20 million women, I see their smiling faces.

Yet we continue to fight because there is still more to be done. While women in Zambia can now access PMTCT services in cities and through hospitals, thousands more suffer in villages throughout the country because they lack access to existing medications and services. These women need the support system that I had. We must ensure that their families and communities have the capacity to help and support them. With all the obligations and responsibilities of being a mother, no woman should also have to worry about receiving the life-saving treatment she and her child need.

Together with EGPAF, I am fighting for a world where no child has AIDS.

At 40, Steve Nash has no illusions about how the rest of his career will go. He will play his last season in 2014-15, head into the proverbial sunset a happy man and move on to other projects. With that ahead, he is honest about what his short basketball future holds.

Nash stopped by HuffPost Live on Wednesday, telling host Marc Lamont Hill that he would understand if the Lakers — who owe him $9.7 million next season in the last year of the three-year, $27 million contract he signed in July 2012 — traded him before the season starts. As he pointed out, Nash has been plagued by back problems which limited him to just 15 games last season. The Lakers have nearly $27 million in cap space. Getting Nash’s contract off their books only frees up more space for them to pursue top-line free agents that could factor more into the team’s future than the veteran Nash.

“If the opportunity came for them to package where they could get something for the future, that makes a lot of sense for them,” Nash said.

Watch the segment in the video above, and click here to catch the rest of Nash’s HuffPost Live segment.

Earlier this week, the Hockey Hall of Fame announced its induction class of 2014. My special congratulations go out to former players Peter Forsberg, Dominik Hasek, Mike Modano, the family of the late, three-time Jack Adams Award-winning coach Pat Burns, and to one of my former officiating brethren, Bill McCreary.

All of these gentlemen had careers worthy of induction. However, that does not mean I am a fan of the Hockey Hall of Fame selection process or some of the people in charge of the selection committee. There is a lot of politicking and pettiness involved.

Let me also say this: Kerry Fraser should be a slam-dunk candidate for the Hall of Fame. He was an excellent referee. Fraser was perhaps the best skating referee of his era, for one thing, and had a good feel for the game. Fraser worked over 1,900 regular season games, 261 playoff games and 13 Stanley Cup Finals after joining the league in 1980.

But Fraser has no shot at the Hall of Fame as long as Colin Campbell is involved in the process. Like me, the only way he would get into the Hall is to buy a ticket.

As for myself, I have no pretensions that I will ever get into the “big” Hall in Toronto and I don’t like my chances for the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame, either. I’m just being realistic, not negative.

My late grandfather, Bill Stewart Sr., is a member of the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame but is not in the big Hall despite qualifications that far exceed my own. My grandfather was both a referee and coach in the NHL.

As a coach, Bill Stewart was the first American to steer a team (the 1937-38 Chicago Blackhawks) to the Stanley Cup; directing an underdog team that had a then unheard-of eight U.S. born players on the roster to a victory in the finals over Conn Smythe’s Toronto Maple Leafs. In the late 1950s, my grandfather was the coach of the U.S. national hockey team and a key force in assembling and directing the nucleus of the team that won the gold medal at the 1960 Olympics in Squaw Valley.

As a referee, my grandfather was highly respected throughout the NHL. He worked in four Stanley Cup Finals. To this day, there have still been just four Americans to referee in the Stanley Cup Finals. No, I’m not one of the others. The others are Hall of Fame inductee Bill Chadwick, Dennis LaRue and, most recently, Chris Rooney.

Despite his overwhelming credentials to be inducted as either a builder or as an official, the Hockey Hall of Fame doors have never opened for Bill Stewart. Even with the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame, the honor did not come until 1982; some 18 years after he passed away.

The Toronto Hall of Fame and Museum has a referee sweater from my grandfather’s NHL days, his skates, rule books and his Blackhawks contract in its collection. My dad donated them when Scotty Morrison ran the Hall, just before my dad passed. Their collection also includes a sweater from my own playing days and a referee sweater, puck and whistle from my 1,000th game as an NHL official.

In my case, I have been nominated five times for the U.S. Hockey of Fame. I have never come close to being selected, and that’s OK.

I am the only American who has been both a player and a referee in the NHL and have been involved in this game for nearly 40 years at various levels, but I’ve never been regarded among the “stars” of the sport. I was not selected to work an NHL Stanley Cup Final but officiated in the finals in every other league in which I worked on the way up, and refereed in two Canada Cups, including the legendary 1987 tournament. As a builder, I’ve been a director of officiating in collegiate (ECAC), prep, NEH, KHL and MHL hockey.

I’m not holding my breath for induction. Officials do not make for headline capturing Hall of Fame inductees. I realize that.

The late Peanuts comic strip creator Charles M. Schulz is an inductee in the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame, however. Listen, I like Linus, Lucy and good ol’ Charlie Brown as much as anyone. I know Schulz had a passion for hockey, featured the game in some of his comic strips and played the sport recreationally until very late in his life. Even so, if the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame has room for a famous cartoonist, I would hope that a few more American-born hockey officials could get inducted.

Someday soon, they should at least rightfully put longtime NHL linesman Kevin Collins in the U.S. Hall. He was one of the best NHL linesmen for many, many years.

The U.S. Hall will eventually acquire memorabilia from me for their collection. They already have one of the referee sweaters I wore, a whistle and a puck from my 1,000th game. They also have my painting that the NHLOA commissioned and presented to me after my retirement.

I am in the Massachusetts Hall of Fame and the Binghamton Hall of Fame. For those honors, I am extremely humbled.

Speaking of Halls of Fame, my former Cincinnati Stingers teammate Bryan “Bugsy” Watson is the longtime owner of Bugsy’s Pizza Restaurant and Sports Bar in Alexandria, Virginia. The place is like a Hall of Fame in its own right, laden with photos and autographs from everyone.

At Bugsy’s request, I once donated several photos of myself to add to his collection. One time, I took along two young linesmen friends and told them I was one of the people honored with a spot on the wall. Looking around, I couldn’t find my picture anywhere. I searched virtually every inch of the restaurant space.

Giving up, I shrugged, and paid a visit to the men’s room.

Wouldn’t you know it: There was a picture of me, right over the first urinal stall.

I may not be a member of any major Hall of Fame, but I am an honoree with a “Stall of Fame.” Thanks a million, Bugsy!

******

Paul Stewart holds the distinction of being the first U.S.-born citizen to make it to the NHL as both a player and referee. On March 15, 2003, he became the first American-born referee to officiate in 1,000 NHL games.

Today, Stewart is an officiating and league discipline consultant for the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL) and serves as director of hockey officiating for the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC).

The longtime referee heads Officiating by Stewart, a consulting, training and evaluation service for officials. Stewart also maintains a busy schedule as a public speaker, fund raiser and master-of-ceremonies for a host of private, corporate and public events. As a non-hockey venture, he is the owner of Lest We Forget.

Stewart’s writings can also be found on HockeyBuzz.com every Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. He is currently working with a co-author in writing an autobiography.

By James M. Dorsey

This year’s World Cup is not just about soccer – at least not as far as the Middle East and North Africa is concerned. For Iran and Algeria, the region’s only two teams competing among the 32 finalists in Brazil, it is about projection on the global stage and equating soccer prowess with national strength. For others in the region, the World Cup is one more round in long-standing political battles and propaganda wars.

Israel, often the target of these wars, appears to be emerging rather unscathed from the Brazil round. Beyond successfully fending off, at least for now, Palestinian attempts to have its membership in world soccer body FIFA suspended, it has fared reasonably well in its efforts to equate opposition to Israeli policy with anti-Jewish sentiment and position itself as an island of rationality in a sea of insanity.

In doing so, it has benefitted from expressions of pro-Nazi and fascist sentiment by Eastern European fans, the at times inter-twining of legitimate anti-Israel sentiment with anti-Semitism and conspiracy theories, and jihadist advances in Syria and Iraq.

In some ways, Israel was kicking into an open goal with Croatian fans carrying neo-Nazi banners during their national team’s match against Russia and the showing of the coat of arms of Croatia’s World War Two-era fascist government that collaborated with the Nazi during its game against Brazil.

The right-wing, racist Croatian sentiment was not dissimilar to remarks made by a Sudanese cleric in a Friday sermon in a Khartoum mosque. The cleric asserted that the Jews were responsible for scandal-ridden FIFA’s ills. Citing The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, an anti-Semitic 19th tract that alleges a Jewish conspiracy to achieve global domination, he described soccer balls as balls of deprivation that were designed to distract Muslim youth from their faith according his reading of

Ironically, the imam was reverting back to the notion that Israel was at the roots of the Middle East and North Africa’s multiple problems – a notion that has all but been discredited by popular Arab revolts in recent years sparked by the failure of Arab autocracy, including its inability to resolve the Palestinian problem.

The notion of an all-powerful Israel pulling the strings in the Middle East and North Africa is not restricted to the East European fringe or representatives of militant Islam. One journalist tweeted that “damning proof surfaces of the Zionist-Imperialist conspiracy behind Iran’s loss” against Argentina in its second World Cup encounter in Brazil. The match was widely seen as one that Iran narrowly lost on the pitch but secured off-pitch by winning the hearts and minds of the spectators in Belo Horizonte’s Mineirao Stadium and across the globe.

The journalist’s evidence: a picture of Israeli Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu dressed in an Israel jersey standing alongside Argentine soccer star Leonard Messi. To be fair, it was not immediately clear whether the journalist’s target was Israel or Mr. Messi for whom he appeared to have little empathy. In another tweet, the journalist distributed a picture of the soccer star with a prominent Saudi under the headline: ‘Messi revealed with Wahabbi paymasters planning for Iran match,” a reference to the increasingly open anti-Iranian, anti-Muslim Brotherhood Israeli-Saudi alliance.

Meanwhile, while Israelis, Palestinians and other were trading barbs, residents of southern Lebanon were tuning into Israeli satellite television to watch World Cup matches because the Lebanese broadcast rights were held by a Qatari company that was charging $180 for access.

The company dropped the fee after the issue was debated in the Lebanese cabinet. The discussion highlighted the sectarian divide wracking the Middle East. Against the backdrop of civil war in Syria and Lebanon, Shiite militia Hezbollah refused to share its cracking of the Qatari television access code with its Sunni counterparts.

It also highlighted the importance of the World Cup as an opportunity for governments to distract public attention from unpopular policies. In Lebanon, the stakes are particularly high with the country being a prime candidate for escalating sectarian tension in the wake of the violence in Iraq and Syria.

Sunni-Shiite tensions have flared in the northern city of Tripoli since the eruption of civil war in Syria more than three years ago, forcing the Lebanese army to separate the two communities. Similarly, a string of bombings have rocked Lebanon, the last one allegedly targeting a Lebanese security chief earlier this week.

A report published during the World Cup by the Palestine Football Association (PFA) and Palestinian NGO Nonviolence International that documents systematic Israeli obstruction of the development of Palestinian soccer raised the polemics of the Israeli-Palestinian propaganda war to a more serious level.

The 45-page report authored by Mariabruna Jennings and edited by prominent Palestinian lawyer Jonathan Kutub and Susan Shalabi-Molano, a PFA and Asian Football Confederation (AFC) board member, details Israeli measures, including restrictions on movement of players and officials, violence against players, the prevention of stadium construction and pitch development, as well as military intervention to prevent youth tournaments and training schemes from taking place.

In a letter to FIFA earlier this month that helped persuade the soccer body to circumvent Palestinian calls for Israel’s suspension, Israeli Sports Minister Limor Livnat cited security concerns as the reason for restrictions on the movement of players and officials. Ms. Livnat asserted that Palestinian national team player Sameh Fares Mohammad had been detained since April because he intended to “harm the state of Israel and its citizens.”

The minister charged that Mr. Mohammad while training in Qatar had met Talal Ibrahim Abd al-Rahman Sharim, a Hamas official whom Israel had freed in a prisoner swap in 2011. She said Mr. Sharim had given Mr. Mohammed money, a mobile phone and written messages to be handed to Hamas officials in the West Bank town of Qalqilya.

Mr. Mohammed “understood that these were clandestine meetings and even kept them secret from the team’s other members and its management,” Ms. Livnat wrote. He made “cynical use of his sports activities exit permit to promote Hamas’s activities,” she said. Israel refuses to deal with Hamas which it labels a terrorist organization.

PFA officials have denied the allegations, but Mr. Mohammed was not among the examples of Israeli obstruction and harassment cited in its report.

James M. Dorsey is a Senior Fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS), Nanyang Technological University. He is also co-director of the University of Würzburg’s Institute for Fan Culture, and the author of The Turbulent World of Middle East Soccer blog and a forthcoming book with the same title