Editor's note: Editor's note: Editor's note: Roland S. Martin is a syndicated columnist and author of "The First: President Barack Obama's Road to the White House." He is a commentator for the TV One cable network and host/managing editor of its Sunday morning news show, "Washington Watch with Roland Martin."

(CNN) -- Sometimes it's right to just turn off the television out of fear of seeing something that will drive your blood pressure to unacceptable levels.

No, I'm not talking about the trashy "Basketball Wives", any of the "Real Housewives" shows or watching Donald "Chump" Trump play the media like a fiddle with his latest bombastic statements. What really has me hopping mad is watching HBO's "Too Big To Fail," the Academy Award winning doc, "Inside Job," and Michael Moore's "Capitalism: A Love Story."


What is consistent in each film is the extent to which the nation's political brokers did the bidding of the nation's financial community without any regard to the constituents who sent them to state capitals and the nation's capital.

A reasonable person would think that after watching this economy almost go the way of the Great Depression, the nation's political leaders would be willing to tell Wall Street's lobbyists to go to hell. Instead, what we get are a bunch of sycophants willing to watch mothers, fathers, sons, daughters, neighbors and church members continue to be manhandled by the nation's financial community, all in pursuit of the almighty buck.


Thank you, U.S. Senate Republicans. Your actions this week showed your callous disregard for Americans from all stripes and colors, folks who have seen $2 trillion in retirement accounts wiped out in the past 15 months.

This week, the GOP used the filibuster to prevent the U.S. Senate from taking a vote on President Obama's nomination of Richard Cordray, the former attorney general of Ohio, to head the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

By forcing the Senate to meet the 60-vote threshold, the GOP effectively prevented Cordray from taking control of the office. By not having a full-time director, the bureau, already approved by Congress and signed into law by Obama, can only do a limited number of things.

(CNN) -- When the 2,455th star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame is laid on Monday for actor Steve Guttenberg, Ana Martinez will once again be working behind the scenes as curator-in-chief to the iconic attraction.

The Walk of Fame is one of showbiz's most visible landmarks,and Martinez has been its inconspicuous producer for almost half the attraction's 51 years, making sure the constellation of stars is perfectly aligned on the Hollywood sidewalks.

For 24 years, she has been the person deciding where celebrities will receive their coveted symbol of fame in the heart of Tinseltown. When a star is unveiled to the international press corps, Martinez is the field marshal orchestrating every detail of one of showbiz's alpha moments.

"If there was one phrase to describe Ana, it would be mistress of ceremonies," said Sam Smith, the former chairman of the board for the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce. "She truly is a master of the ceremonies."

Martinez has produced 586 star ceremonies. On Monday, Martinez will be at the ready with clipboard and iPhone in hand, negotiating over an obstacle course that typically numbers 22 film crews with 39 people, 22 still photographers, eight wire photographers, three newspaper reporters, two radio reporters, two photographers from the Chamber of Commerce and sometimes a celebrity's personal photographer.

Ana Martinez orchestrates where the media will be positioned before a ceremony.

"She is a gatekeeper of the integrity of the Walk of Fame. At the same time she's responsible for promoting the Walk of Fame all around the world," said Smith.

A star is awarded after a lengthy process in which hundreds of nomination applications are sent to the Hollywood chamber, and then its Walk of Fame committee selects the winners, with the approval of the chamber's board of directors. The names also are submitted to the city of Los Angeles' Board of Public Works Department. The chamber requires a $30,000 "sponsorship fee," often paid by a studio, recording label or even a group of fans, chamber officials said.

(CNN) -- Your grown-up kids aren't coming home for Christmas. They're all married, and it's the in-laws' turn to host dinner in another state. Or your divorce is finally final, and your ex has the kids this year. Yes, you can celebrate a few days later, but what do you do on Christmas?

"The holidays are an extremely difficult time and bring up a lot of memories of the missing loved ones," said R. Robert Auger, a psychiatrist with the Mayo Clinic. "Break the familiar routine that could bring up potentially painful memories," Auger suggested.

Whatever your circumstances, it's your time. For you, the anti-Christmas crowd, we offer a range of options to get away from St. Nick. While it may be too late for a far-flung escape this year, imagine yourself taking these trips next year and put your name at the top of Santa's list.

Spiritual exploration in India

Head to northern India to explore the four major religious traditions of the Indian Himalaya. Asia Transpacific Journeys offers its "In the Realm of the Spirit" tour, which explores the Buddhist tradition in Ladakh, the Sikh tradition in Amritsar, the mystic yogic tradition in Rishikesh and the Dalai Lama's home in exile in Dharamsala. The agency will customize a December trip with a private car and driver at about the same cost as its 17-day tour scheduled for September (which starts at $8,295). This trip ends at the Ananda Spa in the Himalayas, voted as the world's best destination spa by Condé Nast Traveler.

iReport: Atheists, do you celebrate the holidays?"The cultures in this area of northern India practice four different religious traditions -- Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism," said Rebecca Mazzaro, Asia Transpacific Journeys' India specialist. "It's a compelling and eye-opening experience to spend Christmas gaining an understanding of other faiths, even while our own culture is celebrating its biggest religious holiday. Visits to sacred religious sites, orphanages and practicing meditation might not be your traditional present-exchange-type thing to do at Christmas. But on a holiday celebrating the birth of Jesus, it's easy to imagine Christ making a similar pilgrimage."

The Lakers, Hornets and Rockets continue to revise their three-way trade proposal that would send Chris Paul to L.A., sources have told SI.com.

While sources said a revised version of the deal that was killed by NBA commissioner and de facto Hornets owner David Stern on Thursday was submitted to the league office early Saturday, the situation remained fluid hours later when possible changes were still being discussed. A possible sign-and-trade sending free agent center Jason Smith from the Hornets to the Lakers is among those potential changes, though one source said that component had not been agreed upon as of 8 p.m. ET on Saturday. According to Yahoo! Sports, a sign-and-trade sending free agent guard Marcus Banks from the Hornets to the Lakers was also being considered.

Sources told SI.com earlier Saturday that the possible deal was "mostly the same" as before, when Lakers forward Lamar Odom, Rockets guard Kevin Martin, forward Luis Scola, guard Goran Dragic and a first-round draft pick from Houston were headed to the Hornets. Lakers forward Pau Gasol was set to join the Rockets and L.A. would receive Paul.

Hornets general manager Dell Demps, according to sources, had been told by the league to focus on acquiring either younger players (Martin is 29, Scola is 31, and Odom is 32) or more draft picks in order to help the Hornets build for the future. A source said the Lakers might have given up a first-round draft pick in the deal as well, but the details were not immediately available.

According to a source, Martin was told not to come to Rockets practice on Saturday. The Houston Chronicle reported that Scola was not practicing as well, while Dragic was already out with a sprained ankle.

ESPN.com first reported the trade proposal had been re-submitted to the league office.

Representatives from the three teams have communicated since the NBA vetoed the proposal Thursday night and understand the need to sweeten the deal for New Orleans, either through additional players or future draft considerations.

Stern released a statement on Friday explaining why the league vetoed the trade:

"Since the NBA purchased the New Orleans Hornets, final responsibility for significant management decisions lies with the Commissioner's Office in consultation with team chairman Jac Sperling," Stern said. "All decisions are made on the basis of what is in the best interests of the Hornets. In the case of the trade proposal that was made to the Hornets for Chris Paul, we decided, free from the influence of other NBA owners, that the team was better served with Chris in a Hornets uniform than by the outcome of the terms of that trade."

While Stern insisted that the deal's death wasn't a result of pressure applied by rival owners, Yahoo! Sports and the New York Times obtained a letter from Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert that seemed to imply otherwise. Gilbert called the deal a "travesty" and argued that the Lakers' economic benefits in the deal -- in addition to acquiring Paul -- were far too great for the league to approve.

"Over the next three seasons, this deal would save the Lakers approximately $20 million in salaries and approximately $21 million in luxury taxes," Gilbert wrote. "That $21 million goes to non-taxpaying teams and to fund revenue sharing."

As a result, the Lakers may have been asked to take back more salary in the deal. Hornets center Emeka Okafor would appear to be a candidate, as he is owed a combined $40.4 million for the next three years.

In the absence of a three-team deal with Houston and the Lakers, New Orleans needed to reassess the league-wide market for Paul as well. Sources said that process began Thursday night, when Hornets general manager Dell Demps -- who reportedly considered quitting as a result of this fiasco -- picked up the phone again in attempt to find a deal that might be to the NBA's liking.

"Since that deal did not go through, we're going to keep plugging away and see if we can get a deal for the team," Demps told reporters on Friday. "We're talking about everything. Everything is on the table."

(CNN) -- In the 10 years since the debut of "Grand Theft Auto III," several video games have upped the ante in the naughty category -- including some other "Grand Theft Auto" games.

But the original open-world gangster-action game is doing a second drive-by with the December 15 release of "Grand Theft Auto: 10 Year Anniversary Edition."

The game will be available for download on Apple's iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch and on Android tablets and smartphones. It will cost $4.99.

Publisher Rockstar Games sells "Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars" in Apple's App Store, but this is the first game in the series to be released on Google's Android platform. The Apple version works on all iPads, the latest iPod Touch and the iPhone 4 and 4S. Rockstar has posted a list of supported Android devices as well.

From the first batch of screen shots released by the publisher, the game looks similar on the two mobile platforms. Instead of using a controller like on the original PlayStation 2 game, players will tap on-screen buttons to switch between weapons.

Name: Mitchell Barton
Hometown: Tigard, Oregon

Mitchell Barton's parents, Curtis and Bridget, helped guide him through the minefield of first-time homebuying with good advice on how to shop for a house and by connecting him with a family friend who was an agent for Better Homes & Gardens Real Estate.

"Most important, we provided the bulk of his down payment as a gift," said Curtis, who works as a water quality inspector. "Because of our help, he qualified for the best interest rate, and his principal was substantially lower, both of which in turn made his monthly payments affordable."

Mitch has a good job for a 27-year-old; he's an engineer at FLIR Systems, a maker of night vision and infrared equipment. Still, he simply hasn't had enough time to build up his savings. Without the $25,000 his parents came up with, he probably couldn't have afforded the modest three-bedroom house he bought in suburban Portland.

San Diego, California (CNN) -- In the Republicans' Las Vegas show this week, the headliner turned out to be Mitt Romney.

That was a surprise. Many pundits assumed it would be businessman Herman Cain, a wild card who has recently led the field in polls of Republican voters. While media elites and politicians mock Cain's 9-9-9 tax reform plan, everyday voters give him credit for at least having a plan -- and extra credit for the fact that it is easy to understand.

By contrast, Romney's economic plan has 59 points. Should Americans really need to hire a team of accountants to understand a candidate's sales pitch?

But Romney's major challenge isn't his communication strategy. Instead, it's the same thing that plagued the former Massachusetts governor in the 2008 election: Many Republican voters don't like him, trust him or relate to him. It's not, as some political observers suggest, that they don't think Romney is sufficiently conservative. Rather, it's that they don't think he's sufficiently anything. What does it matter if they agree with what he espouses about issue X or topic Y if they don't believe a word he says?

In the CNN debate in Las Vegas, his opponents tried to draw attention to Romney's character by accusing him -- one after another -- of being inconsistent, dishonest and untrustworthy.

-- Cain accused Romney of deceptively "mixing apples and oranges" when Romney, seizing on a point made earlier by Texas Gov. Rick Perry, slammed Cain's 9-9-9 plan as adding a tax burden on Nevadans or anyone else who already pays a sales tax. That state tax has to be paid anyway, Cain explained, regardless of what happens at the federal level. Romney seems to have gotten the better of Cain in that exchange, with his joke about how Americans would have a new tax -- and a bushel of both apples and oranges. But the idea that Cain pushed back against Romney's characterization probably also helped reinforce the accusation that opponents direct at Romney -- that he misleads.

-- Perry accused Romney of engaging in "hypocrisy" for huffing and puffing on the need to control the border and fight illegal immigration when, according to a December 2006 story in the Boston Globe, Romney hired a lawn company that employed illegal immigrants from Guatemala to work at his home in Belmont, Massachusetts. A year later, in December 2007, the Globe published a follow-up story that reported that Romney continued to employ the company. He eventually fired the company. Frustrated by Romney's insistence that he had done nothing wrong, Perry scolded: "It's time for you to tell the truth, Mitt." Perry has also just released a new ad attacking Romney's veracity; the title of the ad: "Mitt-leading."

-- Newt Gingrich tore into Romney for suggesting he had gotten the idea of an individual mandate to buy health insurance from Gingrich. "That is not true," the former House speaker said in a stern voice. The idea actually came from the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank in Washington. Gingrich forced Romney to walk back his comments, and the former college professor seemed to relish his role in teaching Romney a lesson: Don't exaggerate the facts. Gingrich supported the idea of a mandate, but it wasn't -- as Romney claimed -- his idea originally. Gingrich forced Romney to walk back his comments, and the former college professor seemed to relish his role in teaching Romney a lesson: Don't exaggerate the facts. He even tweaked Romney a little, commending his revised version of events with: "That's a little broader. Keep going."

Add it all up and you'll see that some of Romney's fellow presidential hopefuls are frustrated and fed up with his tendency to shade the truth. Most politicians do that, of course, but not all of them are equally good at it. Romney excels at it. What he's not so good at is smoothly shifting from one position to another on controversial issues such as abortion or legalizing undocumented immigrants.

New York (CNN) -- Libyans poured into the streets Thursday to celebrate the death of Moammar Gadhafi. After months of intense fighting, rebel fighters finally overran Gadhafi's last stronghold in his hometown of Sirte, marking the end of his 42-year rule.

Although Gadhafi's rule effectively ended two months ago when he fled Tripoli, his death provides closure and a sense of relief to many in the country who had opposed his tyrannical rule. It also greatly reduces the likelihood of a prolonged insurgency by Gadhafi loyalists and allows the transitional government to move forward with the hard work of building a new political system.

The challenges ahead are great: Since the Gadhafi regime so effectively monopolized the public sphere, Libya has no real civil society or effective political institutions.

After decades of tyranny, there is a deep distrust of government. There is also fear of revenge killings by those who suffered under Gadhafi's brutality. Tensions are already evident between Islamists and secularists, and between technocrats returning from abroad and those who stayed and opposed the regime at enormous personal expense. Well-armed militias have yet to be formally disbanded or integrated into a national army; large caches of arms, including some sophisticated missiles, are not accounted for and could end up in the hands of extremists.

Isobel Coleman

Nevertheless, of all the Arab states that have been convulsed by revolts this year, Libya has by far the strongest economic prospects. Its relatively small population of 6.5 million and vast oil wealth give it the best chance of meeting the economic aspirations of its citizens.

Just recently, the transitional government announced that it had discovered an additional $23 billion in the Central Bank of Libya, enough to cover the costs of government for at least six months. It has an additional $160 billion in foreign assets, which are frozen overseas but will eventually be released.

Libya also has a relatively well-educated population. Public education was free and compulsory through secondary school under Gadhafi, and the country enjoys a literacy rate of nearly 90%. In the 2007-2008 school year, women enrolled in universities outnumbered men significantly.

According to the Transitional National Council constitution, legislative and presidential elections to form a new government must be held within a year of liberation. The constitution also stipulates that no member of the council can participate in this newly elected government, a provision meant to limit the influence of the interim body. So far, transitional leaders seem willing to abide by that provision, but jockeying for power has only just begun.

(CNN) -- The death of longtime Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi is shaking the Arab world. And nations like Egypt, which next month holds its first parliamentary elections since the fall of President Hosni Mubarak in February, are watching.

Egypt, like Tunisia -- which holds elections this weekend -- needs a great many positive influences to consolidate its nascent democratic government. If Libya's National Transitional Council should turn in a militant Islamist direction and become hostile to the European Union or the United States, it could jeopardize democratic progress in Tunis and Cairo alike.

Egypt's position is precarious enough as it is. Two weeks ago in Cairo, for example, Coptic Christian protesters clashed with security forces, leaving 25 dead and more than 300 injured. The violence stems from the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces' refusal to share key decision-making powers with civilians and tests its ability to manage the country's fragile political transition.

Today in Egypt, no political faction is strong enough to monopolize power and none is weak enough to be ground out of existence. As a result, the army's failure to build a solid political consensus creates a recipe for ongoing confrontation. As long as Egyptians believe they stand to gain more through violence than peaceful political negotiations, the situation in Cairo will worsen.

Three decades ago, after the Islamic Revolution in Iran, the Ayatollah Khomeini wasted no time in enacting a brutal purge of the country's secular military elites, whom he feared would endanger his rule. In refusing to establish a new order that Egypt's most powerful political constituencies can all get behind, the Egyptian army may now be leading itself in the same direction.

The army's stubbornness in refusing to craft a new constitution before holding elections at the end of November is ill-considered and dangerous. The coming parliament will be charged with choosing 100 experts to draft the new constitution. But Christians and secularists fear that an Islamist-dominated parliament will produce a constitution that discriminates against them.

Having had little more than six months of freedom, most Egyptian political parties are still in their infancy, and the older secular parties are not yet ready for elections. Islamist parties are the best prepared, as they have been well funded, are known across the country and have enjoyed most of the coverage in the state-owned media since the fall of Mubarak.

Yet secularists -- who constitute 70% or perhaps 80% of Egypt's political parties -- asked for more time to prepare for elections and for the military to facilitate an agreement on a bill of rights that sets down guiding principles for the new constitution. Islamists oppose such a move, as they fear it would create rules the secularists could use to oppress them.

As a provisional government, the army must create a new political framework that guarantees majority rule while protecting the rights of religious, ethnic and political minorities. Yet in spite of a worsening domestic situation, the military shows no such desire.

After Mubarak's fall, Egyptians hoped the army would be the guarantor of a democratic transition; that it would do this transparently, sharing power with civilian political groups, and presiding over a convention culminating in a modern, democratic constitution that protects every Egyptian individual and political group that rejects violence.

In late July, the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces sent a worrisome signal when it celebrated National Day, the anniversary of the 1952 coup d'etat in which the military took power. This coup smothered Egypt's nascent democratic process in its cradle and ushered in an era of military rule lasting almost six decades. After the coup, military men in civilian attire rigged every election, abused human rights and monopolized the political system.

(CNN) -- Former Godfather's Pizza CEO Herman Cain has vaulted to the top of the Republican presidential field because GOP voters like his plainspoken talk and his willingness to offer a radical change to the U.S. tax code, and in a year when touting a long career in politics isn't a good idea, he's getting points for having no political experience.

But just as it is easy to vault up the ladder, it is just as easy to come falling back down when people really begin to start taking everything you say seriously, which should always be the case when running for president of the United States.

It was clear at CNN's Republican debate Tuesday in Las Vegas that the other six candidates on stage weren't going to let Cain skate through another debate touting his "9-9-9" tax plan and smiling and joking. The knives came out quickly, and the former conservative radio show host must have felt like he was ambushed. Yet it was a question posed two hours earlier by CNN's Wolf Blitzer that brought Cain and his supporters back down to reality.
Cain clarifies prisoner swap comments

Using the exchange of 1,000-plus Palestinian prisoners for one Israeli soldier by the Israeli government, Blitzer asked Cain if he would release al Qaeda operatives in Guantanamo Bay for a U.S. soldier.

"I could see myself authorizing that kind of transfer, but what I would do is I would make sure that I got all of the information, I got all of the input, considered all of the options and then, the president has to make a judgment call," Cain said.

When questioned on that, Cain quickly backtracked, saying "things are moving so fast" and that he misspoke.

Well, Mr. Cain, as we saw this week with the killing of former Libya dictator Moammar Gadhafi, President Barack Obama's decision to withdraw all U.S. troops from Iraq by the end of the year, and the U.S. Senate rejecting a portion of the president's jobs bill, things move pretty quickly in the White House, and the American people expect the leader of the free world to be able to handle it all.

A few days before the debate, Cain caused an uproar by saying he would build an electric fence along the U.S.-Mexico border to keep out illegal immigrants. When pressed about it, he demurred, saying, "That's a joke," and that Americans need to get a sense of humor.

Sorry, Herman, when a presidential candidate touches on the hot-button issue of immigration, you can expect the media and the American people to take you seriously.

But far more damaging to Cain this week was an interview with CNN's Piers Morgan, where he gave the impression that he was pro-choice, while saying he is pro-life.

The confusing answer, as well as the anger with which social conservative Republicans responded, caused Cain to have to walk back the statement by reiterating that he is pro-life.

Are all of these problems manageable? Sure. Every candidate goes through these. But Cain is no ordinary candidate. He's a political novice who is trying to get the American people to trust that his business background is far more important as a qualification for president.

There is no doubt that the 2012 presidential election will hinge on the economy and who voters think can best turn it around, but Cain needs to quickly realize that the person occupying the Oval Office has to be able to deal with domestic and foreign issues. And in every debate, he has faltered or looked like an amateur when discussing what is happening around the globe.