What Are the Past Winners of 'So You Think You Can Dance' Doing Now

We all love "So You Think You Can Dance" and the contestants. We especially love the ones we voted to win the show. One question remains on our minds though, what are they doing now that they have won. For some it has been as long as four years, and for others, not even one year. Here is a look at what they are doing now since winning SYTYCD. Nick Lazzarini was winner on the first season of SYTYCD. Not only was he an amazing dancer, but was also a great person and quite good looking :). The reward at the time was $100,000 and a year in a Penthouse in New York City. Nick, living in California, decided to take the cash value of the penthouse instead. Since the show, Nick was on the cover of Dance Spirit twice, being the first person to do so ever for the magazine. He also is a founding member of Evolution Dance Company.

Currently Nick also works with Jump Tours, which puts on classes and performances. Benji Schwimmer was probably the most entertaining contestant to grace the screens on SYTYCD and was also the season 2 winner. His prizes included a car, $100,000 and a year contract as a dancer with Celine Dion in her Vegas show. He took the car and cash but did turn down the gig with Celine, stating it was an honor but he didn't want to live in Vegas but wanted to travel and pursue television. Well, he is certainly traveling. Since the show he has been teaching and performing all over the world pushing his and Heidi Groskreutz's instructional DVD's. Benji is also co-producing a movie about dancers called Love N' Dancing. This movie was originally planned as a TV movie, but as it turns out, it will be released in Theaters in these coming months. Rumor on the street is he is also to be casted in two more movies in the future. Additionally, Benji was in Christina Aguilera's music video "Candyman". More recently, Benji was featured in Dancer Magazine n a ten page spread in addition to his photography, CLK'd by BNJI. Sabra Johnson was the first female winner on the show, taking home the grand prize of $250,000. Not bad for only having danced for four years before the show. She is truly a talented dancer and deserved it.

Since the show she has been on the cover of "Movmnt Magazine", February 2008 edition. She has also been traveling the world teaching dance including Australia and South Africa. Sabra does have future goals of maybe taking her talents to Broadway and dance professionally. Joshua Allen is the most recent winner of SYTYCD on season 4, taking home the grand prize of $250,000. There isn't too much to report on him since his win didn't take place as long as even a year ago, but he has been around. Joshua was one of the least trained dancers on the show but really showed his talents to the world. He never once made it into the bottom and took home the prize. Since the show he has been teaching workshops around the country. I am curious to know what the next several years hold for him, one thing is for sure though. What ever he does, he will be living his dream.

So You Think You Can Dance? - Um, Er, Make a Living Online

After months and months of trying to verify for myself, I have become pleasantly surprised to find out that people are out there making a living as bloggers.

Most bloggers create their own personal or business blog to post personal opinions and views or promotional information.

Professional bloggers, however, do make money using their own personal blog.
If you are interested in learning how to make a living as a blogger, consider this information before you get started.
If you decide that you would like to use your own personal blog in order to create an income there are a few things you should know. One method bloggers use to make an income blogging is by using partnerships with advertisers. You can easily form a partnership with an advertiser, using programs such as AdSense from Google or Yahoo advertising or MSN. When you create an account with using something one of these tools, you will be giving the advertiser permission to advertise on your blog. You will choose the placement and size of the advertisement boxes; however they will choose what advertisements will go up in the space. The ads randomly change depending on the content of your text.

Whenever a reader clicks on the advertisement, you will get paid. This can be very effective if you have high volumes of traffic on your blog. These programs will also give you traffic statistics in case you had no idea. There are many FREE blogging platforms out there but be careful because some of them will not support AdSense or programs that use Javascript. For example the hosted version of WordPress (wordpress.com) does not support this, however the version you have to host yourself (wordpress.org) does.

Blogger.com is another FREE platform that does support AdSense but has it own limitations. Be sure to look around for different tools and/or advice before deciding. I use the version of WordPress from wordpress.org that needs to be hosted by a hosting service for its power and flexibility. If you are starting a blog for business purposes this is the one I recommend.

Since making a living as a blogger all boils down to trying to get more traffic to your site so they might click on the ads, content is very important. The best thing to do is find a niche and stick with it. Posting a large amount of short articles on your blog that are keyword rich is a great way to get people to your blog. The more keyword rich your content is (saturated with specific keywords), the more traffic you will have. The idea is that when someone goes to a search engine and types in a keyword or phrase that you have written about, your site will come up since you have an article rich with that keyword.

Niche marketing is the easiest way to develop content and a following for that niche. You will need to do research to see what the most popular keywords are and use them to help you along. You can also use something called long tail keywords as well.

Think about searching on the Internet. Typically we all use a phrase to search instead of one word. Use these phrases (long tail keywords) in your content to help the spiders find your site. Using the time of year is a great thing to. Christmas keywords are extremely popular right after Thanksgiving occurs, so keep important holidays in mind when thinking of keyword phrases to use in your articles. If you are not a great writer, you can even hire freelance writers to help you with the content. The more content you have, the better off you will likely be.

Although this may seem simple, it is easier when you can have someone give you a starting point and step by step instructions. For example, there are pre-made themes for WordPress that give you a starting point for look and feel. There are studies that show different success rates based on the most minor things, like where the advertising box is located on your blog.

These themes get you jump-started using what some of the experts use. You really have to do your research and stay on top of the game in order to make a living as a blogger. Simply signing in and creating a post each day is not going to be enough to draw enough people in to make a difference. Since programs don't pay a large amount per click, you need to get more and more people to click on the ads in order to make any cash at this venture. Things like article marketing and advertising via Google's AdWords are other ways of advertising your blog that go beyond your content. AdWords is PPC (pay per click) and article marketing can be done both with paid sites and FREE sites.

But, you can feel great knowing that there is a possibility you can make a little cash blogging. Basically, the more time you put into the blog and researching the advertising programs, the better off you are going to be. While AdSense is probably one of the best places to begin affiliate marketing is another way to generate some good money especially concentrating on niche marketing. Just do a search on the topic and you will have a handful from which to choose.

After you get everything up and rolling, you will be happy to know it doesn't take as much work down the road as the initial setup requires. Soon you could sit back and watch the money roll in without doing much at all!

So You Think You Can Dance

So you think you can dance to burn away your excess fat? Well, you sure can. Look at all those moves, lifts, wiggles, shakes the dancers do. If those routines don't burn up calories, I don't know what can. So don't just watch "So you think you can dance" or "Dancing with the stars" on the television. Get up and dance! It's a lot of fun and a great way to trim away those extra pounds. Millions of people tune in to watch these 2 programs each week. It's no denying that more and more people are taking up dancing as their past-times and to keep fit.

It doesn't matter if you don't have experience in dancing. Everyone has to start from somewhere. Just do your your moves, your own style or simply your own creation. The ultimate goal here is to lose weight, to burn away fat. However, if you want to do the proper style, go take up some dance lessons. There are so many dance schools mushrooming everywhere, you won't have problem finding one close to your residence. So get started, don't make excuses, okay? You will enjoy it. It's a lot better than going to the gym.

It's even more fun if you can get your boyfriend/girlfriend, husband/wife to come along to be your dance partner. The body expressions, the touching, the body contact with your partner is sure to enhance your relationship while improving your weight management at the same time. It's an activity that will give you great satisfaction in terms of health, fitness and social integration.

Review of Fox's "So You Think You Can Dance"

We're getting near the very end of the second season of Fox’ smash hit reality competition So You Think You Can Dance. So You Think You Can Dance has proved to be a grueling 12-week competition for the dancers. The show is produced by 19 Entertainment and Dick Clark Productions, and was created by Simon Fuller and Nigel Lythgoe, who also serves as a judge the show. The final four who are dancing into the finals to become America’s number one dancer are: Benji Schimmer, Donyelle Jones, Travis Wall and Heidi Groskreutz. The August 8th, 2006 show brought us the final competitive performances from all four, both as solo artists and in pairs.

Heidi and Travis started off the finals with a pair’s disco performance. They danced to the disco theme song "Shake Your Groove Thing" by Peaches and Herb. Travis wore a John Travolta-esque white suit, and they did a full-on version of the 70’s Hustle. There were lots of lifts in the program that were executed with ease. The judges didn’t exactly find it memorable, but were mostly pleased by it. Nigel said that Heidi is the best girl partner in the entire competition. Judge Mary loved the dance. Brian and Nigel brought up Heidi's facial expressions, saying that they worked for this dance in particular. Her unusual and mostly jarring facial expressions have been noticed by many throughout the season.

Benji and Donyelle’s turn found them attempting to execute the very difficult Viennese Waltz. Donyelle was wearing something that looked like a JC Penney prom dress. As a true Viennese Waltz, it missed the mark; Nigel Lythgoe summed the dance up in one word: hideous.

In an interesting turn of events, Travis and Benji danced together under then name of TRANJI in a program choreographed by Shane Sparks. The judges were very pleased by the routine, which featured both Travis and Benji dressed as 50’s New York newsboys.

The rest of the solos were not memorable at all, evidenced by the fact that I have no memory of them. The girls did a pairs number from the Broadway musical Sweet Charity.

Travis and Donyelle did a bluesy routine, dancing to “Georgia on My Mind” by Ray Charles. The judges said it was “beautiful and captivating” and Mary said the routine made her feel like “having a mint julep and a Georgia peach.” Brian said that it was pure art, and thanked Mia, who was the choreographer. Heidi and Benji came next with a aggressive and spirited Salsa, and Nigel said that Benji is the best male partner on the show who excels in executing lifts. Mary and Brian were equally as thrilled with the footwork and lifts. Together, Heidi and Benji were sensational.

The final performance of the night was a group performance choreographed by the famous Wade Robeson. The dancers were supposed to be famous couture models and posed and danced to Justin Timberlake’s new single “Sexy Back”.

Keeping the Integrity in 'So You Think You Can Dance'

Well, It is about that time again, So You Think You Can Dance will soon be gracing our TV's and thoughts. While I look forward to the show every season, I can't help but to be skeptical of the integrity for this next season. I clearly remember last season at the end of Hollywood week, Nigel telling one of the contestants she is amazing but doesn't have the personality and to come back next year when she has developed more of one. Once he said that the judges and the “want” to watch the show immediately discouraged me.

I do realize having a personality is a bonus, but last time I checked my reasons for watching the show, it was to watch the amazing art and talent of the dancers. Not to listen to them tell jokes or be a ham. In all reality, professional dancers aren't up on stage talking and telling jokes, they dance and then disappear. For example, Celine Dion's show. Do you think Benji would be on stage talking to the audience after Celine sang "My Heart Will Go On"? Um, no, he would be a back up dancer and just dance, not needing his personality one bit. So tell me, why is it that they need to be stellar "popular kids" to qualify for a dance show when they have crazy amazing talent? Watching the show for the last four seasons now, it does seem that personality takes precedence over dance ability and technique, but leave that decision to the viewers so we can be upset with ourselves opposed to the producers and judges.

For shows like this it is so important the viewers have confidence in the show and feel good about watching and supporting it. If I can see the judging is skewed or not true to the point of the show, I feel guilty in supporting it and am discouraged to watch. The people in charge should put the most amazing and versatile dancers on the show and let the viewers weed them out if they don't like their personalities. That is the best way to keep the integrity of the show "So You Think You Can Dance", otherwise they should change the name "So You Think You Can Schmooze", or something like that.

You Don't Need to Be on the Forbes 400 Rich List to Get Life Coaching

Life coaching is becoming more and more popular, but still the major question that many people ask is - don't only rich people get life coaching? The truth is that more and more life coaches are becoming accessible. There is no need to be rich to get a life coach; in fact many people get to those positions because they found a life coach.

Trying to hire a life coach, 10 years ago, could have been a difficult task. There weren't that many life coaches around. This made it difficult to afford a life coach. Most of the life coaches only dealt personally with people who were earning more than most people.

Today, the picture is much different than it was before. Since more and more people have got into personal development and self improvement, some has gone forward to become life coaches.

The key equation comes down to supply and demand. As there was not a lot of supply (life coaches) in the past, the life coaching fees were prohibitive to most. Today, however, there are many great life coaches who are providing life coaching.

The fee's that life coaches charge has drastically decreased. This does not apply to the top life coaches. For example Anthony Robbins charges a fee of over $1,000,000 for life coaching.

How the price for a life coach has changed is that the supply has increased. This has made people to cater for all different types of people. The internet has made a big impact on life coaching also.

For example, an online life coach can offer his or her services, and not need to travel to meet clients. This has saved life coaches a lot of money, and allowed them to offer life coaching for more people.

The costs have come down, and allowed the life coach to have access to more people. All this has gone hand in hand with demand. And the result is fantastic. Life coaching sessions have been made accessible to more people, and more people are choosing to get coaching.

The life coach provides many benefits. Whether a person wants to find more direction or purpose, wants to achieve greater things, or even to lead the field, there is a life coach who can make the difference for you.

A point to keep in mind, however, with online life coaching and life coaching in general, is that there are many people who have no experience and want your money. Always try to get free life coaching or some material to test and see if what they offer holds water.

In the main however, the key to finding a good life coach that meets your needs is to do some research. Ask friends, family, and check online. See the free material, the free life coaching, and after checking a few decide on one.

The Role of Israeli Lobby in US Presidential Elections

"Bill, I think you're going to be President someday. I think you'll do a good job, but there's one thing above all you must remember: God will never forgive you if you don't stand by Israel."

Paster W.O.Vaught to Bill Clinton (Clinton, 2004:353)

While most of the countries of the world - at least apparently -are demanding Israel to change and revise its policies toward Palestine and withdrew from occupied territories, United States still supports Israel strongly. For decades US government has provided Israel with military, financial and diplomatic supports; and both major parties of United States, Republicans and Democrats, unquestionably support Israel. America supports Israel despite the great expanses that this backing imposes on America and Americans.

This excessive support is backed and forced by the exercise of influence of Israeli lobby in America. Israeli and Jewish lobby are very influential in Americans foreign policy and this influence becomes clearer when it is compared to other ethnic minorities in U.S. such as Arab Lobbies or Armenians. Perhaps three important factors can explain the reason of this unconditional support: Israel's strategic value, Jewish economic influence and power in various arenas including US presidential election, and the emergence of Evangelical and Christian Zionism.

Many books and articles are written about the influence of Jewish and Israeli lobbyist in the process of American decision making. While some observers believe that Jews play a very important role in American policy, others maintain that this influence is exaggerated. This is the case in the issue of U.S. presidential election: some observers argue that the U.S. presidents have to give special interest after their election due to the financial helps they receive from Jewish contributors in their presidential campaigns; also Jews have a high rate of turnout in presidential election compared to non-Jew Americans. Others believe that the amount of Jew's financial contribution is not that much significant, on the other hand Jews make only 3 percent of American population.

The question is that is Jew's financial contribution in form of campaign donation, and high rate of turn out the only reason for the U.S. president's support for Israel or as it was mentioned there are other reasons responsible for this unconditional support.

The theory used in this paper is political theory of Pluralism; based on this theory the political power in the society is not limited to the governments, the electorate or a small group of elite, but it is distributed among a wide number of groups including interested groups- here Israeli lobby which plays an important role in American foreign policy as the most influential minority group in the U.S. This concept versus the idea that the power is mostly concentrated in the governments.

The method of this research is content analysis: the research tries to clarify the point and illustrate this relationship with providing some data and statistics about the amount of Jew's financial contribution to the process of presidential election, as well as some extracts of Clinton and Bush speeches which is addressed to support this influential ethnic group. The method of data collection is use of books and primary documents (speeches) and the internet.

U.S Presidential Candidates and Support for Israel

In U.S. presidential campaigns all the candidates, no matter whether they are Republican or Democrats, have one commonality and a subject that they all agree, at least publicly, and that is U.S. relation and support of Israel. Though there is a controversy about extend of the support in major parties (Republicans and Democrats); some believe that Democrats are more intense in their support of Israel, others argue that Evangelical Christians who vote heavily for Republicans are stronger in their support for Israel. Nevertheless American Jews vote more to democratic candidates, and it is said that only 25% of Jews voted for George Bush in 2004. This table shows the relationship between party affiliation and religious identification:

As the table suggest the Jews tend to be more democrats than republican.

Nevertheless the republicans, and in this case George Bush defends Israel and its policies. in his speech addressed to American Jewish committee in may 2001 he said that his top foreign policy priority is the safety and security of Israel, and that his administration would support Israel against terrorism and violence steadfastly:

"By defending the freedom and prosperity and security of Israel, you're also serving the cause of America. Our nation is stronger and safer because we have a true and dependable ally in Israel" (Bush's Address to the AIPAC Policy Conference, May 8, 2004)

George W. Bush made his first trip to Israel before deciding to run for Presidential campaigns.

Bill Clinton nominated two Supreme Court Justices, both Jewish. In his first term, he had two Jewish Cabinet members and dozens of Jews held other key Administration posts. Clinton's reply after Israeli Ambassador Shoval presented his credentials. In September 10, 1998 he said that America and Israel share special bond and that American and Israeli relation are unique: "Like America, Israel is a strong democracy, as a symbol of freedom, and an oasis of liberty, a home to the oppressed and persecuted." (September 10, 1998).

After his presidency, Clinton at a Jewish fund-raiser in Toronto said that: If Iraq came across the Jordan River, I would grab a rifle and get in the trench and fight and die." It is while Clinton had avoided serving in Vietnam. In 1995 when all 14 members of U.N. Security Council called on Israel to rescind a decision to expropriate 130 acres of land in Jerusalem, Clinton vetoed it.

What is the reason for this unconditional support? It is said that presidential candidates must support Israel to increase their chance of presidency. By supporting Israel they will have the support of the Jewish minority in presidential election both in voting and campaign donation and the media which plays a very important role in public opinion. The candidates promise material and diplomatic support and none of them criticize Israel policies. First of all it is better to have some information about the American Jewish population and demography.

American Jewish population and demography

Jewish population in America has high turnout rate in presidential election compared to non- Jew Americans and other ethnic minorities; at the same time most of the Jewish voters, near 89 percent, are inhabited in key states like: California, Illinois, New York, Pennsylvania, and Florida. While it is argued that the low percentage of Jews cannot be that much influential in the result of the election, but the electoral college system is in such a way that even few number of voters can have significant influence on the final result, esp. in this case where the Jewish population is concentrated in important states as it was mentioned.

Another important point is the Evangelical Christians with much greater population compared to Jews and they play an important role in the outcome of the election, this would be described later in the paper.

Jew's Campaign Donations

It is said that Jewish individuals are nearly 25% of the Forbes 400 list of richest Americans, though this number is not exact and some believe that the number for the rich Jewish Americans is more or less than this rate. Considering the Jewish population (2% to 3% of whole population), 25% is significant. It is believed that this wealthy Jews play a very important role generally in U.S. policy toward Israel and specifically in U.S. presidential election: The Center for Responsive Politics (CRP) declared that pro-Israeli groups and individuals have donated more than $ 845,000 to presidential candidates in 2008. In 2004 presidential campaign pro- Israeli interests contributed at least $ 6.1 million to federal candidates and parties. Washington post had concluded that about $ 56.8 million have been contributed by pro-Israel individual and groups since 1990.

But here a question will arise: $ 845,000 or $ 6.1 or even $ 56.8 million in 15 or 16 years is not that significant at all if we compare it with the total campaign expanse which is dozens of millions of dollars and the candidates have to raise enormous amount of money to finance their campaigns. These tables illustrate the amount of money contributed by PACs and individuals in both republican and democrat parties: (the tables are taken from Jewish virtual library which should be taken into consideration, the title is pro-Israel contribution).

Analysis

One the most important problem that the researcher of this paper faced was lack of authentic evidence and information; the tables and statistics had significant discrepancy when they were compared. The reason for this discrepancy and contradictions is that these sorts of information are dependent on the writer's affiliation and tendencies and making distinction between the fake and genuine statistics and information is difficult.

As it was mentioned nearly 25% of the Forbes 400 list of richest Americans are Jews, and this rate is significant if it is compared the Jew's total population in America. It can be said that wealthy Jews are very influential in American economy and many important cooperation and companies are dominated by them. The Jews are also very influential in American media including CNN, CBS, ABC, Newsweek and Time magazine due to their wealth and power. In one of the most recent polls reported by Gallup in Feb. 2007, 58% of Americans sympathies with Israeli and 20% with Palestinians, which shows the great influence of what is propagated by media. This influence is seen in other important arenas such as academia and think thanks which shape the public opinion. So, it can be argued that American people are growing up in an atmosphere that is highly sympathetic toward Israeli and Jews; and their perception about the Jews is manipulated and biased, and any critic is silenced or charged as anti-Semitist. Jimmy Carter has written about this reluctance to criticize Israel policy:

The many controversial issues concerning Palestine and the path to peace for Israel are intensely debated among Israelis and throughout other nations - but not in the United States. For the last 30 years, I have witnessed and experienced the severe restraints on any free and balanced discussion of the facts. This reluctance to criticize any policies of the Israeli government is because of the extraordinary lobbying efforts of the American-Israel Political Action Committee and the absence of any significant contrary voices. ...

A Biblical Israel

Another important point is the emergence of the power of Evangelical Christianity or Christian Zionism in America. Evangelists feel an ideological attachment to the Jews and esp. Israel. A recent Poll found 59% of U.S. evangelicals believe Israel is fulfillment of Bible's prophecy; The Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs estimates 85 million evangelicals believe God tells them to support Israel -- more than six times the world's Jewish population (God's Warriors, Christiane Amanpour), this great population can be crucial for the outcome of the election. They also raise money to support Jewish settlements in Israel. Evangelist Americans are becoming more powerful in recent years and many of them are active members in The American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC). Many important political figures in America including George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, Dick Cheney, Hillary Clinton, John Edwards, John McCain, and Barack Obama... had attained and address in their conferences.

Conclusion

It is a common belief that the wealthy Jews are playing a very important and influential role in U.S. policy but this financial helps are not unilateral: "total direct U.S. aid to Israel amounts to well over $ 140 billion in 2003 dollars." (Greenbook website). Or "Israel receives about $3 billion Dollars annually and is one the largest recipient of American aids since World War II." (Mearsheimer & Walt, 2006). So the relationship between Israel and America is a symbiotic one in which the two parties gain some advantages, though there are lots of debates about who benefits more.

Many observers maintain that the Jews are playing an important role in the executive branch due to their financial contribution to presidential campaigns and their high rate of turn out in elections.

But can we argue that the only reason for American President's support for Israel is Jews financial contribution? As it was illustrated by tables and statistics the amount of money which is donated by pro-Israeli groups are not significant when it is compared with the total sum; on the other hand the sum of money contributed by these groups are not very authentic or exact, so it makes it very difficult to draw a conclusion based on the released data and statistics.

As it was mentioned 25% of the Forbes 400 lists of richest Americans are Jews, which is significant compared to Jew's 3% population. These wealthy Jews can be very influential in important companies and co operations, in mass media and academic centers. What Bill Clinton said about fighting and dying for Israel was said after his two- term presidency, or what his paster told him as a young man was long before that. Clinton, Bush and other American politicians were grown up in the society which was and is under the influence of Jews hegemony: this is the media that teaches and influences ordinary Americans, and this academia that educates the elites. And no voice can be heard when there is any critic about the Israel policy, so it is very natural that ordinary Americans or even the more educated or the elites feel more sympathy with the Israel than the Arab Palestinians. Perhaps it can be said that the Evangelical Christian or Christian Zionists are the result of these sort of teaching and educating; "There are a lot more Christian Zionists in America than Jewish Zionists," the former Democratic vice presidential candidate said. "The support of Christian Zionists today is critical to Israel's security and strength and to America's security and strength." (God's Warriors, Christiane Amanpour).

As the researcher of this paper I personally believe that the only reason for Americans support for Israel can not be just the financial power of the Jews; there is a high moral commitment and ideological attachment in American political leaders toward Israel. But it can be argued that indirectly again this is the money who talks: this is the money that can dominate the media, education and the academia and will educate the future leaders of Americas the way it wants.

About 2.5% up to 3% of Americans are Jews, which is near to 5 to 6 million people of the American population. The American Jews do not have the same religious affiliation and they are not homogenous: their population consists of Orthodoxies, Conservatives and Reformists. So as it is clear all Jews are not considered to be extremist. But a poll in 2005 showed that 82% of American Jews supported Israel and 63% said that they support it "strongly". These strong supporters tend to support division of Jerusalem and building a security fence, and naturally the same people would support a president with high commitment to Israeli affairs.

"Bill, I think you're going to be President someday. I think you'll do a good job, but there's one thing above all you must remember: God will never forgive you if you don't stand by Israel."

Never in the time that I led the American negotiations on the Middle East peace process did we take a step because 'the lobby' wanted us to. Nor did we shy away from one because 'the lobby' opposed it. That is not to say that AIPAC and others have no influence. They do. But they don't distort U.S. policy or undermine American interests. (Denis B. Ross former U.S. ambassador and peace negotiator under Bill Clinton.)