Celebrity news to benefit us all, Israel in another international scrap and bias in empathizing with others' pain

- So as it turns out, being more concerned with suffering endured by people of your own race may in fact be a natural thing. While we’re all wired to feel another person's pain, a new study suggests that people may feel less innate empathy if the other person's skin color doesn't match their own. Neuroscientists have discovered that we literally feel each other's pain in a sense, in that seeing a person suffering similar suffering to what you yourself have suffered causes your nervous system to respond as if you yourself had been hit in the same spot. The study found that subtle racial bias can disrupt this process -- a finding that could significantly impact health care as well as social harmony. You can read all about it in the journal Current Biology (which I am sure you all read anyhow) and learn about how people of Italian and African descent watched short film clips that showed needles pricking white- and black-skinned hands. While they watched, research measured participants’ empathy (their nervous-system activity) by monitoring sensors attached to the same spot on their hands, as well as heart rates and sweat-gland activity, both commonly accepted measures of emotional response. "White observers reacted more to the pain of white than black models, and black observers reacted more to the pain of black than white models," says the lead researcher, Alessio Avenanti, Ph.D. In a weird twist, the researchers also showed clips of a needle pricking a hand painted bright purple. Both groups of participants were more likely to empathize with the strange-colored hand than with the hand of another race. This suggests that the lack of empathy for the first video was not due merely to difference in skin color, but to a specific skin color. "This is quite important, because it suggests that humans tend to empathize by default unless prejudice is at play," Avenanti stated. Additionally, Avenanti and his team tested the inherent prejudice of participants by measuring their reactions to certain stereotypes of Italians and Africans. Those who showed a strong preference for their own group in this test also tended to show less empathy when the hand belonging to the other group was stuck with a needle, the researchers found. Obviously, the concept and practice of empathy are different in the real world than in a lab setting, but there is no denying that racial differences and prejudice could play a role in certain interactions. "A doctor with high racial bias may understand the pain of other-race patients in a more detached or disembodied manner and, in principle, this may contribute to the causes of racial disparities in health care," Avenanti explained. So the next time you see someone in pain, stop and consider your level of empathy and see if it might be different were that person of a different race…………

- Edgy and provocative is everything in advertising. Consumers see so many ads in so many places through so many different media that unless your ad truly stands out, it’s going to be ignored. Thus, there is a fine line to walk between being edgy or controversial and just being inappropriate. A new line of provocative ads on New York City buses walks that line and depending on who you ask, steps right over it. "Fatwa on your head?" one ad asks. "Is your community or family threatening you? Leaving Islam?" The ads, sponsored by an organization called Stop the Islamization of America (SIOA), promote refugefromislam.com, a website designed "for people who are thinking of leaving Islam or are leaving Islam and need resources" to protect them from harm.” Obviously, encouraging anyone to abandon their own religion in favor of something new is going to offend a lot of people. SIOA leader Pamela Geller doesn’t exactly have the most ironclad solution for practicing Muslims who find the ads offensive, saying they should "ignore it." Geller has been appearing on every radio show that will have her, including conservative talking head Sean Hannity's radio show recently. In that interview, she said, "It's time for Americans to stand up against the evil of Islamic jihadi terrorism and Islamic supremacism." Her group is also currently lobbying to block a mosque proposed near the World Trade Center site. Islamic groups are predictably outraged by the ads, including the Council on American-Islamic Relations in New York, which called the ads "Islam bashing." Sure, suggesting that your friends and family members are putting out a religious standing kill order on you and that you should hit the eject button on your religion might seem like criticism of that religion, but maybe not. Perhaps the SIOA is merely looking to give Muslims options……okay, even I don’t buy that. I’m not Muslim but I can easily see why Muslims would have a problem with this. "Islamophobes are notorious for their cheap tactics that seek to marginalize American Muslims and divide communities," CAIR Community Affairs director Faiza Ali said in a statement. "Pamela Geller uses the same tactics as tobacco companies, hiding the cancerous nature of her agenda behind a smokescreen of feigned concern. Geller is free to say what she likes, just as concerned community members are free to critique her tactics and motives." Now, there are extremist groups within the Muslim community and those are probably the ones Geller was referring to when she called CAIR an "unindicted co-conspirator Muslim-brotherhood front Hamas-tied" organization. She may not have proof of that, that doesn’t seem to matter to her. In actuality, Manhattan isn’t the first place the SOIA has placed these ads. They also sparked controversy when SIOA bought ad space on public buses in Miami, more than has resulted in New York City in fact. "We have not gotten complaints on it, to be honest,"New York Metropolitan Transit Authority spokesman Aaron Donovan said. The standard run time for ads on MTA subway cars and buses is one month, and so it will be for the SIOA ads. If it happens to spark a subway brawl or two during that time, so much the better…………

- Before the NBA’s top free agents make their decisions on where to play next season, they will apparently meet for the first-ever max contract free agent summit. LeBron James, Chris Bosh, Dwyane Wade and Joe Johnson will be four of the most sought-after free agents only the Association kicks off its free-agent signing period July 1 and according to Wade, before he makes his choice, he'll talk it over with James, Johnson and Bosh. Wade said in a newspaper interview that although no date has been set for the unofficial summit, but they've been discussing their futures informally for a while now. "[Free agency] has been three years coming," Wade said. "We've discussed it prematurely, at different times. [But] you don't know what guys are thinking and where they're going. I think we'll all sit down, and before one of us makes a decision, all of us will have spoken to each other and [listened to the] thinking. A lot of decisions [will be based on] what other players are willing to do and what other guys want to do. So it's not just a 'me' situation here. We all have to look and see what each other is thinking." James, Wade and Bosh became close while playing together on the 2008 U.S. Olympic basketball team that won the gold medal in the Beijing, but does friendship on an Olympic team mean these guys will leave millions of dollars on the table to play with each other in the NBA? I’m thinking no, even if the possibility seems cool to them in theory right now. Johnson seems the most likely member of the quartet to end up playing with one of the other three because his massive choke job in the Atlanta Hawks’ playoff series sweep by Orlando should lower his stock a bit when teams come to the negotiating table. As for Bosh, he has reportedly given his current team, the Toronto Raptors, a list of five teams he will consider signing with next season -- Toronto, Chicago, the New York Knicks, Miami and the Los Angeles Lakers. Why he’s telling the team that, I’m not sure. He’s also thrown up Tweets asking fans to help him decide on where to sign, so his head could be just about anywhere at this point. The Chicago Bulls are expected to be the frontrunners in the free agent race, as they have enough money to possibly sign two elite free agents. The Knicks, Nets and Heat are the other teams with the most financial flexibility to add a prime free agent from the 2010 class and the Cleveland Cavaliers will also obviously be in the mix for at least James. Still, what I wouldn’t give to sit in on that powwow when these four guys get together and use $100 bills as coasters for their drinks, drive their $100,000 rides up to the meeting place and ooze money out of their pores when they sweat............

- Don’t mess with Israel. A lot of countries have learned that lesson the hard was over the years (Iran, you listening?) and with another international controversy brewing and Israel at the center, we may be on the verge of having this conversation once again. The Israeli government announced Thursday it will stop a convoy of cargo and passenger ships filled with supplies and headed to Gaza. The ships - sent by a collection of nations that includes Turkey, Greece and Cyprus - is seeking to break a blockade imposed by Israel in 2007. When that convoy nears its destination, it will be met by the Israeli Defense Forces, which have been given instructions to reroute the flotilla to Ashdod port in Israel, where the supplies will be unloaded and transferred to Gaza. As a quick aside, who loves the world flotilla as much as me? It’s fun to say, fun to write and fun to read. Israeli politicians seem to be very angry about the flotilla (told you it was fun), with Israeli government spokesman Mark Regev calling it "a cheap political stunt" and questioning the true intent of those sending it. "If they were really interested in the well being of the people of Gaza, they would have accepted the offers of Egypt or Israel to transfer humanitarian aid to the people of Gaza, along with the other 15 thousand tons sent every week," Regev said. Those Regev is ripping are the Free Gaza movement, a pro-Palestinian human rights organization, and the IHH movement, a Turkish humanitarian relief foundation affiliated with the Islamic Brotherhood, that organized the convoy. Its contents include 10,000 tons of construction material, medical equipment and school supplies and about 750 activists of different nationalities. In the meantime, Israel's Ministry of Foreign Affairs has summoned the ambassadors the countries from which the flotilla set sail -- and "clarified the state of Israel's official position, which declares the flotilla an absolute provocation.” The MFA has also “invited” the flotilla to dock at Ashdod port, to unload its cargo and transfer it to Gaza after a security check. Now, calling this an “invitation” is a bit like calling certain NFL team activities “optional.” You only have a choice in the matter if you don’t mind pissing off a very powerful entity and are itching for an all-out brawl. The blockade has been in effect ever since Hamas forcefully took control of Gaza in 2007, ousting the Fatah movement headed by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. Israel put it in place and doesn’t seem inclined to remove it any time soon. Under international maritime law, when a maritime blockade is in effect, no vessels can enter the blockaded area for any reason. Such blockades are a legit measure under international law, so Israel is well within its rights here. They may be implemented as part of an armed conflict at sea and Israel views this flotilla as a maneuver to break Israel's siege on Gaza and blockade on Gaza. Both sides are firmly entrenched in their respective positions and as with all matters involving this region of the world, look for this one to get incendiary in a hurry……….

- Typically I don’t pay attention to celebrity gossip - who’s dating who, who is in rehab, who’s getting Botoxed or having their rack enhanced - but I’m going to make an exception in this case because if true, this next story could drastically improve the life of each and every person reading this story and even the nation as a whole. For too long now, dumbass duo of Heidi Montag and Spencer Pratt have terrorized us with everything from moronic books to bad pop music, from vapid reality TV shows on MTV to diva-like performances on other reality shows that are raising money for charity. Both are well below par on IQ points, deficient when it comes to having class and clueless when it comes to how truly irrelevant and insignificant they are in the world. As a couple, they have been able to consolidate their powers of moron-itude and inflict a lot of damage on pop culture. Thus, news that they may be divorcing is huge for every last one of us. Montag fired Pratt as her manager months ago in favor of a Hollywood psychic (who she fired after a week), but the bigger development came when she recently acknowledged the possibility of a divorce. She turned around and dismissed that talk as "being dramatic," but now the vapid, walking billboard for plastic surgery appears to have changed her mind and reportedly wants to move out of the house she shares with Pratt and into her own Malibu home. An unidentified source closed to the bleach-blond troll said Montag "is looking to move out due to all the fake bad press that Spencer controls." Fake bad press? Sorry, unidentified source, but these two jokers can accrue plenty of legit bad press all on their own. Whether it means anything or not, Montag did Tweet two days ago, "PS: I am not Heidi Pratt, I am Heidi Montag." Big ups on spelling both your first and last names correctly, H., I didn’t think you had it in you…………