JORDAN: Tribesmen slam Queen Rania, warn of revolt

Three dozen members of powerful Jordanian tribes have lashed out at the country's glamorous Queen Rania and denounced what they called a "crisis of authority," calling for political change and justice against those involved in corruption in the Arab kingdom.
in a joint statement issued over the weekend, the 36 tribal figures also issued a stern warning: If political reform isn't implemented soon, Jordan is likely to face a popular uprising similar to those in Egypt and Tunisia.
"Political reform is now an urgent matter that cannot be delayed, holding the corrupt and thieves accountable and freezing their assets, prohibiting them from traveling are all part and parcel of political reform," said the statement carried on the Jordanian website Ammon News.
On the topic of corruption, 40-year-old Queen Rania drew particularly harsh criticism from the tribal figures, who accused her of stealing from the country and manipulating and interfering in national politics.

"The queen is building centers to boost her power and serve her interests, against the will of Jordanians," they said. In an unflattering comparison, they likened her to Leila Trabelsi, the wife of ousted Tunisian President Zine el Abidine ben Ali, who was widely known for her lavish lifestyle and high-end hobbies.
Those involved in corruption in Jordan, said the tribesmen, should be brought to justice and stand a "trial of the corrupt who have looted the country and public funds" regardless of their political or business position.
There has reportedly been no response from the royal palace, but Ammon News complained that international hackers had targeted the site after it posted the statement, removing the communique, according to CNN.
If powerful tribal figures turn against the royal family and the government, it could mean big trouble for Jordan. No less than 40% of the Jordanian population is represented in the tribes, and their support and loyalty to the Hashemite ruling family is crucial to the royals, especially in times of crisis and turmoil.
For the last month, Jordan has watched as domestic demonstrations, inspired by the uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt, erupted against high commodity prices, unemployment and corruption. After weeks of protests, King Abdullah II decided to sack the country's prime minister, Samir Rifai, and dismiss the Cabinet.
The powerful Muslim Brotherhood movement and its political arm, the Islamic Action Front, have turned down an offer to join the new government, saying they won't take part until Jordan has fair elections.
"We exclude taking part in the government at this juncture and believe we can serve our country better in the opposition," IAF Secretary-General Hamzeh Mansour told the German news agency DPA.
-- Alexandra Sandels in Beirut

Jordan tribes break taboo by targeting queen

AMMAN — Popular discontent in Jordan has taken a new turn with unprecedented public criticism of King Abdullah II's wife, Queen Rania, who stands accused of "corruption" by large tribes.

"We call on the king to return to the treasury land and farms given to the Yassin family (of the queen). The land belongs to the Jordanian people," 36 tribal leaders said this week in a joint statement.

By so doing, they have broken a taboo in the desert kingdom, where criticism of the royal family is punishable by a three-year imprisonment.

The palace has not been available for comment on the accusation.

"The events in Tunisia and Egypt have given courage to Jordanians to publicly say what they have been whispering about for a while," a political analyst told AFP on condition of anonymity.

"Arab peoples used to fear their authoritarian regimes. Things have changed and now Arab leaders fear their peoples."

A member of a large tribe said Jordanian authorities had "pressured some tribes for several days and told them to be careful in what they say to the international press."

"We still have loyalty to the Hashemite throne, but we believe that King Abdullah should stop his wife and her family from abuse. Otherwise, the throne might be in danger," he said, also without wanting to be named.

Tribal leaders have warned that Jordan suffers from a "crisis of authority," and growing influence of "corrupt businessmen in the entourage of the executive power, affecting political decisions and ignoring national interest."

They urged the "trial of the corrupt who have looted the country and public funds, regardless of who they are and irrespective of their rank and importance.

"Jordan will sooner or later be the target of an uprising similar to the ones in Tunisia and Egypt due to suppression of freedoms and looting of public funds," the group warned.

Public discontent in Jordan has led to several protests, inspired by the revolts which ousted Tunisia's strongman Zine El Abidine Ben Ali and threaten the regime of Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak.

They warned against the "interference in executive decisions by those who have no constitutional powers," in an apparent reference to the queen.

"The queen is building centres to boost her power and serve her interests, against the will of Jordanians and Hashemites," the leaders said, comparing her to the wife of Ben Ali.

The tribes represent nearly 40 percent of Jordan's population and they play a vital role in its politics and stability. Their loyalty to the Hashemite ruling family has been crucial in times of crises in the past century.

The statement also made reference to unconfirmed reports that the queen's office has helped 78,000 Palestinians obtain Jordanian nationality between 2005 and 2010.

A large number of Jordan's 6.3-million population are of Palestinian origin and Jordanians fear the addition of more Palestinians could facilitate Israeli plans to turn Jordan into a substitute homeland for the Palestinians.

Queen Rania is herself of Palestinian origin and was born in Kuwait. Her family fled the Gulf country after the 1990 Iraqi invasion and settled in Jordan, where she married Abdullah in 1993 when he was a prince.

The queen is a highly popular figure on the international scene where she has celebrity status, and she has often been cited as one of the world's most influential people.

But her lifestyle has also often come in for criticism on the home front.

In September, she celebrated her 40th birthday in the renowned Wadi Rum desert of southern Jordan, after which the tribes complained of "the party's colossal cost ... at the expense of the treasury and the poor."

"They do not like the queen's lifestyle and overexposure, especially on local political appointments," said human rights activist Labib Qamhawi, who is also of Palestinian origin.

"Criticism against the queen is not motivated by her Palestinian origin," according to Qamhawi.

Julia Hurley Credits Hooters For Success

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — A freshman Tennessee legislator credits her success in politics and business to the time she spent working at a restaurant chain known for buxom waitresses in tank tops and short shorts.

Republican state Rep. Julia Hurley, 29, won her November election by knocking off the Democratic incumbent in a conservative district west of Knoxville, but she says it was while working as a "Hooter's Girl" that she began honing her business sense and networking skills.

Hurley writes about it in the latest issue of the restaurant chain's Hooters magazine, and says opponents tried but failed to make her past employment and photos from her modeling career a campaign issue.

"I have taken quite a bit of flack from the public at large during my run for State House in Tennessee for being a Hooters Girl," she said. "But I know that without that time in my life I would not be as strong-willed and eager to become successful."

The link also became a direct benefit to her electoral bid when former regular customers made campaign contribution "without question or hesitation," she said.

The article appears in the magazine's "Orange Pride Spotlight," which features "the success stories of Hooters Girls both past and present." Much of the rest of the magazine is devoted to full-page photos of women posing in bikinis and Hooters uniforms.

Hurley now works as a consultant and entrepreneur. She is a Southern Baptist and a member of the National Rifle Association and the Gun Owners of America.

Her House bid last year was her first run for public office, and she told The Knoxville News Sentinel during the race that her top issues included reducing illiteracy, creating jobs and filling empty retail space in her district. The General Assembly began its full schedule this week, and Hurley has not yet introduced any bills.

Hurley would only give a statement to The Associated Press and declined to answer specific questions about the article.

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"I take the honor of serving in this state House more seriously than anything I have in my life," she said. "I identify with every woman who has overcome the odds to realize their dream. My past shapes who I am today."

In the magazine, she writes that her dream of running for office started at an early age.

"As I grew up, there were many factors that made me keep putting off being a representative of the people including the fact that I had a daughter at the young age of 15," she wrote.

Hurley said in the article that she first started working at a Hooters store in Alcoa as a way to help pay for college expenses at Maryville College, and later transferred to another store in Knoxville. She left to work for another restaurant and then a bank before becoming seriously ill and taking six months to recover.

A chance encounter with a former manager led to an offer to return to Hooters.

"I had gained quite a bit of weight by then, but he offered it to me anyway," she said. "He took me under his wing and within the year I had gotten back into physical shape and had become a trainer for that store."

Hurley said working at Hooters primed her for success.

"Hooters gave me the opportunity to belong to a group of women who had also struggled, or were struggling, and I was lucky to have managers that saw each girl's potential and coached us, protected us, and helped shape who we are today," she said.

Mike McNeil, vice president of marketing for Hooters of America LLC, said in a statement that many of the company's 300,000 former employees alumni are "are destined to do great things."

"There is nothing we like more than to hear from these alumni who talk about how working as a Hooters Girl provided them with the life skills and financial resources necessary to succeed," he said.

Republican colleagues in the House say Hurley's background isn't an issue.

"We are a citizen Legislature and we've all taken a different pathway in life to get here," House Republican Caucus Chairwoman Debra Maggart said.

Hurley's article says her Hooters career taught her how overcome obstacles on her way to the state Capitol. "If I could make it at Hooters, I could make it anywhere," she writes.

New York Jets Quarterback Allegedly 'Hooked Up' With 17-Year-Old Girl

She's in high school and dating the star quarterback -- of the Jets!

Superstar Gang Green play caller Mark Sanchez "hooked up" in his New Jersey home last month with a striking 17-year-old Connecticut high-school girl -- whose preppy dad is a super-wealthy financier, a bombshell new report claims.

Sexy rich girl Eliza Kruger not only bragged on Facebook about "MARK F--ING SANCHEZ" texting her after they flirted at a hip Manhattan nightclub on New Year's Eve -- she also took photos of a mussed-up bed in his boudoir as "proof" of their huddle just days later.

"We went back to his place in Jersey after dinner. He lives on a golf course. There was a big storm," Eliza told Deadspin.com, according to that Web site, which identified her only as E.K.

Asked if she "hooked up" with the 24-year-old Sanchez that night -- after they dined together at Midtown hotspot Nobu the first week of January -- the Greenwich high-school senior said, "Yeah," albeit somewhat reluctantly, according to Deadspin.

When a Deadspin editor told her he would research the legality, Eliza reportedly replied that the age of sexual consent in New Jersey is "16. I checked."

"He's a really nice guy, you know," Eliza told the site. "He's one of the kindest people, and he's a genuine person."

0 0 0 17 Year Old Eliza Kruger Dating New York Jets QB Mark Sanchez

Did their conversation go something like this?

“You know I’m 17, right.”

“Well, we can still talk. But I can’t see you until you’re 18.”

“Actually, 17 is legal in New York.”

This is allegedly what is going on between New York Jets QB Mark Sanchez and Eliza Kruger, a 17 year old high school student from Connecticut.

Eliza’s father is Connecticut hedge funder Konrad “Chip” Kruger. Very well known, and VERY wealthy.

According to today’s Deadspin.com and New York Post, Sanchez, 24, and Kruger are in a relationship – they’ve had dates at the famous Nobu restaurant in New York City and even overnight stays in Sanchez’s New Jersey home.

They met at a nightclub on New Year’s Eve, and Kruger actually posted on her Facebook page, that “MARK F–ING SANCHEZ” texted her.

Eliza told Deadspin.com: “We went back to his place in Jersey after dinner. He lives on a golf course. There was a big storm.” She also took photos of a bed in his bedroom that you could tell had been (at least) slept in as “proof” of their huddle just days later.

Asked if she “hooked up” with Sanchez that night at Nobu during the first week of January, Eliza said, “Yeah,” albeit somewhat reluctantly, according to Deadspin.

When a Deadspin editor told her he was going to research the legality of the relationship, Eliza reportedly replied that the age of sexual consent in New Jersey is “16. I checked.”

“He’s a really nice guy, you know,” Eliza told the site. “He’s one of the kindest people, and he’s a genuine person.”

Meet The Super-Rich Hedge Funder Whose 17-Year Old Daughter Hooked Up With Jets QB Mark Sanchez

Chip Kruger from back in the day Image: Tuck

This is a story about how being really wealthy seems awesome, but it's also an enormous burden. Instantly, the media considers whatever trivial problem you're having important.

Exhibit A: Eliza Kruger. Her dad is Connecticut hedge funder Konrad "Chip" Kruger.

Exhibit B: Mark Sanchez

Mark Sanchez hooked up with 17-year old Eliza, and now their story is all over the internet, probably entirely thanks to Eliza, who seems to have not-so-craftily planted the story in Deadspin because hooking up with Mark Sanchez is huge for anyone, let alone a 17-year old girl. Making the story even hotter news, Eliza's dad is filthy rich. A google search on him pulls up tons of impressive business and charity ventures.

Here's a quick bio -

Chip Kruger was called a financial "high flier" in the 1990s. RBS bought the company he co-founded, Greenwich Capital, in 1996.

Eliza Kruger Image: NYPost

He graduated from Trinity in 1975 and got his MBA from Tuck in 1977. He co-founded Holger Partners, was the Co-CEO of Greenwich NatWest, where he "restructured NatWest Bank's global investment banking businesses." In 1981, he co-founded Greenwich Capital in 1981.

Then RBS bought it and he went on to to buy a large portion of the CME subsidiary of GM, to partner in GreenSea, a company that funds a number of the nation’s oceanic modelers to look more closely at the question of iron fertilization as a sequestration strategy (?), found The Waterside School in Stamford, and now he's a partner at Five Mile Capital, a Stamford, CT-based hedge fund.

He married Eliza's mom, Marie, somewhere in there, and then divorced her. Evidence of his wealth from the divorce proceedings:

He was also in a partnership that in 2005 bought 78 percent of the commercial real-estate subsidiary of General Motors Corp. -- at a cost of $500 million. "The return on this investment is potentially staggering," wrote a Connecticut divorce-court judge in 2006, dissolving the marriage of Konrad and Eliza's mother, Marie Kruger.

While married, the couple had homes in Greenwich and Massachusetts as well as a "manor house" in London. They also summered on Cape Cod, divorce records show.

His daughter, Eliza, of course, has a fake ID at 17, and can afford to hit up the NYC nightclub Lavo, which she did one night around New Years this year. There, she met Mark Sanchez.

She describes what happened next to Deadspin writer A.J. Daulerio in a series of communications (many of which you can read on Deadspin), but before she told him anything, she emailed him this:

A threatening email was sent to me from someone by the name [name redacted] who claims to be doing research for you, it regards Mark Sanchez picking up a girl in a club around new years. The tip was originally sent from a [name redacted]. If you could explain what is going on here I would greatly appreciate it because so far I am being threatened w media exposure regarding false accusations and slander.

Nobody at Deadspin knows who [name redacted] is, but Eliza decided to tell the blog her story anyway.

From Deadspin:

E.K, fearful of the potential backlash and tabloid infamy that might ensue, decided it would be best to tell her version of the story so there would be no misunderstandings.

What's sad about this is that her father seems like a smart guy, and if she'd only talked to him before Deadspin, there's no way this would be "tabloid infamy."

“Smart” Supplements: DMAE Benefits, Side Effects and Considerations

Dr. Nicholas Perricone appeared on the Dr. Oz show to tout the benefits of DMAE, or dimethylaminoethanol. As a supplement, the chemical is used to treat a variety of symptoms; DMAE also appears in skincare and anti-aging products. Dr. Perricone is a vocal proponent of DMAE, and sells several DMAE products under the Perricone MD Cosmeceuticals label. In the video below, Dr. Perricone extols the benefits of DMAE:

We researched the DMAE benefits, side effects and considerations to evaluate whether this “smart” supplement will help or harm consumers.

What is DMAE?

DMAE is a liquid organic compound that’s naturally produced in the brain; it’s also found in sardines, anchovies, squid and salmon. It is sold in health-food stores as a supplement that enhances brain function and mood.

DMAE has several industrial and commercial applications. As of 2002, half of the DMAE producted in the United States was used to make flocculants, or substances that promote particle clumping, for wastewater treatment plants. Other industrial products that contain DMAE include polyurethane lacquers and foams, water-based paint and surface coating, and corrosion inhibitor formulas.

In pharmaceuticals, DMAE is used to treat central nervous system and brain conditions. Proponents claim that DMAE increases the brain’s production of acetylcholine, which affects functions such as short-term memory, learning, REM sleep and attention. However, research hasn’t established an ironclad link between DMAE and acetylcholine production. DMAE study findings are often contradictory, so the supposed benefits of DMAE are quite controversial.

DMAE Benefits

The most common DMAE claim is that it improves memory, concentration and intellectual function. According to the NYU Langone Medical Center, however, there aren’t any clinical studies that support this claim. DMAE has been used successfully to treat patients with ADHD, but was deemed unsuccessful in treating patients with Alzheimer’s disease or Huntington’s chorea. A 1995 study found, however, that rats that were given DMAE showed improvements in working memory performance.

Dr. Perricone alleges that DMAE decreases anxiety, boosts dopamine effects and improves energy. He also touts DMAE as a wrinkle-fighting agent that can tighten and tone skin and reduce the appearance of fine lines. A 2005 study found that consumer skincare products containing DMAE may have anti-inflammatory effects that improve skin firmness and muscle tone, but the study’s authors expressed a need for further studies that compare DMAE products to antioxidant creams and alpha-hydroxy acids.

DMAE Side Effects and Contraindications

Taking too much DMAE may lead to insomnia, headaches and muscle tension, according to Dr. Perricone. Dr. Perricone states that the recommended DMAE dosage range is between 100 mg and 300 mg per day.

The National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences warns that those who are pregnant, lactating, or have schizophrenia and clonic-tonic seizure disorders should not take DMAE supplements.

DMAE Considerations

In a blog post, Andrew Weil, M.D. was phlegmatic on the benefits of DMAE, writing, “DMAE may be safe, but I currently see no evidence that taking it will do anyone any good.”

An article in the Calgary Herald interviewed pharmacologist Francois Marceau of Laval University in Quebec, who discovered that skin cells exposed to DMAE swelled up, which may explain DMAE’s ability to firm skin. “This is not necessarily very dangerous, but has not been properly analyzed scientifically,” said Marceau of his findings. “I would like to see [DMAE] follow formal FDA rules for drug development.

Simon Yoo, M.D., an assistant professor of dermatology at Northwestern University, was similarly unimpressed. “Go ahead [and try DMAE products], but it won’t do much more than a moisturizer that is a lot less expensive,” he told the Calgary Herald. “It won’t be any better than Neutrogena or Cetaphil for less than a 10th of the price or a 100th of the price.”