url
stringlengths 36
564
| archive
stringlengths 78
537
| title
stringlengths 0
1.04k
| date
stringlengths 10
14
| text
stringlengths 0
629k
| summary
stringlengths 1
35.4k
| compression
float64 0
106k
| coverage
float64 0
1
| density
float64 0
1.14k
| compression_bin
stringclasses 3
values | coverage_bin
stringclasses 3
values | density_bin
stringclasses 3
values |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/16/AR2008051603464.html
|
https://web.archive.org/web/2008052019id_/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/16/AR2008051603464.html
|
McCain's Chances May Have Hit a New Nader
|
2008052019
|
Sen. John McCain is champing at the bit to run against Sen. Barack Obama in the fall. But while the presumptive GOP nominee focuses on his likely Democratic rival, he should also worry about his own right flank. Bob Barr entered the presidential race last week as a Libertarian, in time for that party's nominating convention (which starts Thursday), and while the former Republican congressman from Georgia isn't going to become president, his run is no joke. Barr might well inherit the sizable support garnered by Rep. Ron Paul during his own run for the Republican nomination -- and leave McCain sputtering the sorts of epithets usually uttered by Democrats talking about Ralph Nader.
Though Barr's promises to drastically shrink government spending, begin withdrawing from Iraq and protect civil liberties will undoubtedly appeal to capital-L Libertarians, there's little evidence that he has much of a national following. Reporters covering his announcement at the National Press Club noted that no Libertarian candidate has ever garnered more than 1 million votes and that Barr's most recent high-profile media appearance was a joke played on him in the "Borat" movie. But he could still seriously siphon votes from McCain in the fall -- not because Barr is such a compelling candidate, but because he could become the vehicle for the many disaffected Republicans gathered under Paul's flag. Consider the following facts:
More than a million votes have been cast for Paul, about 5 percent of the total cast in Republican primaries so far.
Paul's activists are swarming local Republican party committees and conventions, quietly capturing or lining up delegates in states such as Alaska, Missouri, Minnesota, Florida, Texas and Washington.
And on the Web, the Paul movement -- which, astonishingly, generated enough grassroots support to make him the top Republican presidential money-raiser in the fourth quarter of 2007 -- is still going strong. His Web site is getting about 50,000 unique visitors per week, compared to 90,000 for McCain, according to data marketing company Compete.com. (The two Democratic candidates' combined traffic is about six times higher.) On Google, people are searching for the term "Ron Paul" almost as often as "John McCain." And Paul's new book, "The Revolution: A Manifesto," which has been topping Amazon's sales chart for weeks, hit No. 1 on the New York Times bestseller list today.
Clearly, one sizable chunk of the Republican base -- small-government types who also oppose the Iraq war -- hasn't reconciled itself to voting for McCain. In Minneapolis, at the Republican National Convention, Paul may have a couple dozen delegates and enough street presence to spoil McCain's show. These days, all it takes is one person with a Web-enabled mobile phone to put live video on the Internet, and Paul's fans have already shown how good they are at using the Web to spread messages and keep their movement going. So even if the Republicans manage to keep Paul himself off the stage at the convention, his voice will still be heard. If Barr manages to capture the attention of Paul's base, it could spell real danger for McCain.
Of course, this grassroots energy could fade by November. But consider some third-party-candidate history from 2000. While everyone has fixated on whether Ralph Nader cost Al Gore Florida, TV commentator Patrick Buchanan, running on the Reform Party banner, got enough votes in Iowa, New Mexico, Oregon and Wisconsin to tip them out of George W. Bush's hands. Ron Paul may not be on the ballot this November, but his sizable grassroots movement will probably still be looking for a champion. Bob Barr won't be president, but he could still gore McCain.
Micah L. Sifry is author of "Spoiling for a Fight: Third-Party Politics in America" and editor of techPresident.com, which tracks how the candidates are using the Web.
|
Bob Barr won't be president, but he could still gore McCain.
| 53.785714 | 1 | 14 |
high
|
high
|
extractive
|
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/18/AR2008051801908.html
|
https://web.archive.org/web/2008052019id_/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/18/AR2008051801908.html
|
Two Roads to Gay Marriage
|
2008052019
|
Imagine what it would be like not to be able to marry the person with whom you want to spend the rest of your life. Then imagine how tens of thousands of gays and lesbians in California must have felt last week when the California Supreme Court declared that homosexuals have a right to marriage under the state's constitution.
My visceral reaction to this decision, rendered by a moderately conservative court dominated by Republicans, was to share the joy of the gay and lesbian couples you saw celebrating on television. But my practical reaction was to wonder whether this decision will speed or slow our country's steady change of heart on the matter of recognizing committed gay relationships.
As it happens, I am one of the millions of Americans whose minds have changed on this issue. Like many of my fellow citizens, I was sympathetic to granting gay couples the rights of married people but balked at applying the word "marriage" to their unions.
"That word and the idea behind it," I wrote 13 years ago, "carry philosophical and theological meanings that are getting increasingly muddled and could become more so if it were applied even more broadly."
Like a lot of people, I decided I was wrong. What moved me were the conservative arguments for gay marriage put forward by the writers Jonathan Rauch, Andrew Sullivan and New York Times columnist David Brooks.
They see society as having a powerful interest in building respect for long-term commitment and fidelity in sexual relationships and that gay marriage underscores how important commitment is. Prohibiting members of one part of our population from making a public and legal commitment to each other does not strengthen marriage; it weakens it.
And, as a New York Court of Appeals judge cited by the California court majority noted, fundamental rights "cannot be denied to particular groups on the ground that these groups have historically been denied those rights." If history and tradition had constrained us, equal rights for African Americans would never have become law.
But to find a constitutional right to gay marriage, the California majority chose to argue that the state's very progressive law endorsing domestic partnerships for homosexuals -- it grants all the rights of marriage except the name -- was itself a form of discrimination.
This is odd and potentially destructive. As Justice Carol Corrigan argued in her dissent, "to make its case for a constitutional violation, the majority distorts and diminishes the historic achievements" of the state's Domestic Partnership Act.
That's true, and in many states, it will take years for a political and legal consensus in favor of gay marriage to develop. In the interim, civil unions and domestic partnerships are the best hope homosexuals in these states have for some form of legal recognition of their relationships. The danger is that foes of civil unions will use this court's own logic to argue that such arrangements are not a political halfway house but lead inexorably to gay marriage. It would be unfortunate if California's breakthrough were used to stall significant if more modest progress elsewhere.
There is a complicated interaction between court decisions and the workings of democratic politics. On the one hand, there are times when only the courts can vindicate the rights of minorities. On the other hand, rights are more firmly rooted when they are established or ratified by democratic majorities. In the case of gay marriage in California, a majority could still overturn this decision by amending the state constitution to ban same-sex marriage -- and a proposition to this effect is likely to appear on this fall's ballot.
Corrigan stated flatly that she personally supports gay marriage but argued that in a democracy, "the people should be given a fair chance to set the pace of change without judicial interference." She added: "If there is to be a new understanding of the meaning of marriage in California, it should develop among the people of our state and find its expression at the ballot box."
The good news from California is that the people will ultimately decide the question, and I hope that a reaction against "judicial activism" does not hamper the marriage equality movement. As for most other states, domestic partnerships and civil unions will come long before gay marriage does. Nothing the California court majority said should deter these states from recognizing that gays and lesbians, no less than heterosexuals, have a right to the community's recognition of the seriousness of their commitments.
|
Did California do the right thing in the wrong way?
| 77.272727 | 0.545455 | 0.727273 |
high
|
low
|
abstractive
|
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/18/AR2008051801910.html
|
https://web.archive.org/web/2008052019id_/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/18/AR2008051801910.html
|
The GOP at the Trough
|
2008052019
|
Ryan's fellow reformer Jeff Flake of Arizona, 45 and in his fourth term, is less cautious about defying the leadership and has been kept off key committees. On Wednesday, he said of a $300 billion bill that raises farm subsidies and is filled with non-farm pork, "Sometimes, here in Washington, we tend to drink our own bath water and believe our own press releases."
A bill that raises spending 44 percent above last year's level has been approved by a majority of both Senate and House Republicans, dooming any chance of sustaining President Bush's promised veto. GOP leaders were divided, with Bush sounding an uncertain trumpet. Today's Republican Party -- divided, drifting, demoralized -- is epitomized by the farm bill.
At the moment Congress passed the farm bill, Republicans were terrified by the previous day's defeat in Mississippi's 1st Congressional District, the third straight supposedly safe Republican seat lost in a special election. Fearing a November tsunami for the Democrats, incumbent Republicans talked about following their new standard-bearer, John McCain, against pork. But that's not the way they voted last week.
George W. Bush was just as ambivalent. In 2002, he signed a massive farm bill. But with Democrats now in control of Congress, Bush preaches the old-time religion. Addressing the House Republican caucus behind closed doors at the White House on May 7, he disclosed that he would veto the farm bill, then implied it was all right if members "voted their districts" -- that is, if the "aggies" supported the bill. This message was pressed on his colleagues by Rep. Robert Goodlatte of Virginia, ranking Republican on the House Agriculture Committee.
Nevertheless, would the party's leadership in Congress push hard enough to produce the votes to sustain a veto? There was never any hope in the Senate, where Republican leader Mitch McConnell not only supported the farm bill but also earmarked a tax provision benefiting horse farms in his state of Kentucky. But in the House, Republican leader John Boehner always has been anti-pork, even if he's been passive about exhorting other Republicans to follow his example.
On May 9, Flake sent Boehner a candid letter: "We need more than individual members of the Republican leadership to state their opposition to the bill. We need the leadership to use its good offices to explain the importance of sustaining the president's veto as opposed to advising members to 'vote their districts.' " Last Tuesday, waiting four days before responding, Boehner rejected the "vote their districts" escape for House Republicans: "I believe they should also vote their consciences, and cast their votes in a manner consistent with the small government principles upon which our party was founded." Boehner took the floor Wednesday to speak against the bill.
But nobody cracked the party whip. On the contrary, Minority Whip Roy Blunt voted for the bill. So did Republican Conference Chairman Adam Putnam, who was seen whipping for passage. House Republicans voted 100 to 91 to approve the bill (with only 15 Democrats opposed), assuring a veto override. Similarly, in the Senate, 35 Republicans voted for the bill. Only 13 Republicans voted no, and the only Democrats opposing it were Rhode Island's two senators.
That did not conclude the dismal Republican performance for the week, as lawmakers raced out Thursday for their usual long weekend. Seventeen pork-minded Republican senators gave the Democratic leadership necessary support to waive from the farm bill the brand-new ban of earmarks on a bill that had cleared both houses. Thirty-two craven Republican House members voted for upper-bracket tax increases to finance new veterans benefits. They all return to work this week to encounter a comprehensive reform introduced by Paul Ryan on health care, Social Security and taxes -- titled "A Roadmap for American's Future." If anybody needs a road map, it's Ryan's colleagues.
Copyright 2008 Creators Syndicate Inc.
|
Today's Republican Party -- divided, drifting, demoralized -- is epitomized by last week's farm bill.
| 38.4 | 1 | 10.5 |
high
|
high
|
extractive
|
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/16/AR2008051603616.html
|
https://web.archive.org/web/2008052019id_/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/16/AR2008051603616.html
|
Where We Got By Walking in Their Manolos
|
2008052019
|
LONDON After five hours of craning for a good view, the impossible finally happened: I cursed my vow to never buy stilettos. I'm short, you see, so even though I was only inches from the red carpet, I couldn't see a thing when the crowd started chanting, "Carrie! Carrie! Carrie!"
I'd heard rumors of a green hat, so I raised my camera and shot randomly into the air. And there in my photos it was: about a foot high, looking like Kermit the Frog eating broccoli in the English countryside. But it was all the proof I needed: My heroine was here. Only Carrie (a.k.a. Sarah Jessica Parker) could carry off wearing something that ridiculous.
After a four-year hiatus, the women of "Sex and the City" -- Carrie, Charlotte, Miranda and Samantha -- are back. Through a fluke of international movie marketing, the film of the long-running HBO series, which opens in the United States May 30, premiered first not in New York, the show's beloved backdrop, but here in London, where I now live. I was ecstatic at my luck, as were the screaming women who packed Leicester Square last Monday as the show's stars made their way into the Odeon theater, ducking under an enormous banner encouraging visitors to "Get Carried Away."
But why? What was it about that self-indulgent, have-your-cake-and-eat-it-too show that could turn perfectly serious, accomplished adult women into swooning fans, trying to catch a glimpse of the women they had worshiped on the small-screen since the show debuted a decade ago?
As someone who has studied Carrie Bradshaw's place in the pantheon of popular culture's depiction of single girls, I thought I knew my own answer. Her outsized life is a fantasy, but an empowering one. We couldn't afford Carrie's shoes, let alone ever really hope to walk in them, but in her outlandishly expensive Manolos, she teetered squarely in the footsteps of TV's independent heroines, projecting an infectious kind of confidence.
My new friends in the crowd at the premiere had their own answers, of course, mostly focused less on how Carrie fits in with the depiction of feminine dependence in, say, 19th-century fiction than on good television. I spent the afternoon dishing about "Sex" with them, and we kept circling back to the question that has always plagued the show. I call it the question of reality. Nearly every critic has posed it, many with a furrowed brow. It goes like this: Why do so many women love this show that bears no resemblance to their real lives, that presents nothing but a fantasy world of shoes, sex and staying out late?
"It's inspirational. It's a dream world," said Sam Ramage, 19, echoing what many said. "You want to live in New York. You want to have all the designer clothes, but it's not just the clothes -- it's the way they dress. Their confidence."
I was impressed. These women managed to be both giddy and poised, while I, on the other hand, was growing increasingly wacky. Wanting a proper picture, I had scrambled onto a nearby fence. All afternoon, I had contained myself, been the removed reporter. "What must they think of me now?" I thought, my backside in the air. But the truth was, I didn't care. I hadn't felt so alive in ages.
It wasn't supposed to be like this. My relationship with the series has always been more cerebral than emotional. I first came across it seven years ago while researching my master's thesis on single women. I was looking for a contemporary example of a single-woman archetype, and I found four of them, staring me in the face. I was immediately hooked. I wrote 75 pages describing the show's predecessors, from Theodore Dreiser to Helen Gurley Brown, analyzing Carrie's engagement ring and ultimately arguing that the series represented a profound step forward for women in its portrayal of sex, friendships and single life.
But there was nothing sentimental about it. Like many academics who write on popular culture, I insisted that I related to the show on only an intellectual level. Fans were to be studied, not emulated. And yet here I was, perched on that rickety fence, watching Carrie and Co., my heart fluttering.
For a cultural critic, this is as metaphysical as it gets. On the one hand, I knew that the hoopla surrounding the $60 million film spoke to the fact that "Sex and the City" is above all a brand, one that has only grown since the series ended in 2004. TBS spent a reported $750,000 an episode for the syndication rights, and DVD sales have done nothing but soar at home and internationally. The series is good at a lot of things -- especially marketing.
On the other hand, none of this diminished the excitement that I, or the other women, felt at the premiere. I'd been secretly pleased by the women's dismissive attitude toward those who disdained the show as just fantasy. I've always felt that the question of reality was a ruse, and that what really upset reviewers was not that the series lacked verisimilitude (it's a television show, after all, not real life), but that so many women flocked to this alternate world, this fantasy of four women let loose in the city.
|
I feel, in some vague way, as though I'm here, at this computer, because of Carrie Bradshaw.
| 47.347826 | 0.782609 | 1.043478 |
high
|
low
|
abstractive
|
http://blog.washingtonpost.com/dot.comments/2008/05/democratic_disunity.html
|
https://web.archive.org/web/2008052019id_/http://blog.washingtonpost.com/dot.comments/2008/05/democratic_disunity.html
|
Democratic Disunity
|
2008052019
|
Krissah Williams tells us this morning that "the ill will" between supporters of Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama "has become so intense" that even if the candidates work to heal the party after a nominee is chosen, as both have vowed to do, "they will have to spend critical campaign time dealing with those wounds rather than taking on McCain."
Our Readers Who Comment confirm that analysis with an extended string of ill will toward each other. There are many self-identified Clinton supporters who say they cannot vote for Obama and will be forced to support Sen. John McCain, the presumed Republican nominee. A few posters suggest that at least some of the discord is being planted by "operation chaos," the Rush Limbaugh invention in which he urged his listeners to vote for Clinton in a Democratic primary to extend the nomination process.
If the voices on this article are representative of reality, there is a clear division between Democrats, with women especially unhappy that Clinton is losing. As Williams points out in the article, there have been highly divisive nomination battles in the past and often those issues have been resolved by general election time. Given the first-time racial and gender dynamics of this situation, it's not clear what will happen.
We'll start with writerjudy59, who said, "...I cannot and will not vote for Senator Obama if he is the nominee. I will vote either for Senator McCain, or I will write in Senator Clinton's name... I believe that with a majority of Democrats in Congress, McCain can't do much harm..."
darrren12000 wrote, "...A lot of desperate Democrats are suddenly scrambling to "unify" with Clinton's supporters, now that they realize that their snowjob of an election will lead to an Obama boycott in November... If being a real Democrat means bashing women, the poor, and the elderly, manipulating race, ignoring Latinos, and stifling dissent, then I respectfully resign my membership!..."
To which anna_rc_1999 replied, "darrren12000, brilliant! Your comment... pretty much sums it up why I no longer can belong to this party which is the democratic in the name only."
But lindakinne wrote, "When Clinton supporters justify their plans to vote out of party, it is dangerous for them to assume the Democrats will have enough of a majority in Congress to keep a McCain presidency "under control."... This is not a matter to toy with and risk. Please vote responsibly."
Babylove1 said, "...I hate to say it, especially being a woman, but I think a lot of women are choosing to reject Obama because he appears to be the nominee and they blame him for taking away Hillary's chances for the nomination. WHy blame him when all he did was campaign just as hard as Sen. Clinton?...Come on!"
jbleenyc wrote, "... I have to blame the media, first of all for their crass behavior toward a former first lady and a senator, Sen Clinton... In the case of Sen Obama's supporters, they have been seduced - but again the media has been responsible. They have riled up the anti-Clinton forces by denigrating her as an unworthy opponent, and for her dragging out the race. Tne venom has been extreme."
evelyn3091 said, "Obama took a page from Bush's tactics, but I hope it doesn't works anymore. In 2004 you were unpatriotic if you were against Bush, and now you are racist if you are against Obama. I couldn't care less about his skin color, but I care about the policies and tactics."
RKinJersey wrote, "I support Hillary. I hate the treatment and the double standard she endured. For a woman politician, only competence and strength and the heart of a lion will get you into the game of presidential politics. This was her shot... At some point, Hillary will be telling us all to listen to Barack. I think that I will."
Oracle728 said, "Wow. Alot of hate. Its a pity, cuz seeing how they are 95% the same on issues think about what either one of them could do. I just hope people really vote with their brains this time for once..."
josgirl354 wrote, "Obama tried to ease tensions by turning his attention to McCain? I'm getting dizzy from the Obama-biased media spin. Not only is this not an attempt to help ease anything, at least where Hillary Clinton and her supporters are concerned, its what's known in the hood as a "diss." Yes, there are black people who won't vote for Obama, too..."
salv said, "I have been a white, male Democrat since I started to vote in 1970... There is absolutely no way I will vote for Obama. I am voting for McCain. What finally did it for me was John Edwards' support for Obama. Nothing plus nothing equals absolutely nothing -- and something America needs to run far, far away from."
Iowatreasures posted throughout the night to urge a write-in campaign for Clinton and said in an early post, "... I see no hope and unity in what Barack Obama has accomplished... A write in vote for Hillary is the answer if the state allows it, if not, go ahead and vote for McCain - at least he is pro-American..."
But a_skeptic said, "Iowatreasures is the a republican that is happily trying to split the democratic vote so his candidate will win. People! Don't be sheep... Remember that sick feeling in your stomach when Bush won? Let's not have that again. Vote your own interests..."
pwse wrote, "I will never back Obama. Cannot stand his arrogance and those of his supporters. Who do they think they are?"
To which Tuathe responded, "What about your arrogance? Your nastiness? How are you any better or knowledgeable than those who support Obama. Who do they think they are? How about human beings just like you; who believe in their candidate just as much as you believe in yours..."
But kevinschmidt who spends a lot of time on our boards, said, "That's right WaPooPravda, keep fanning the flames that divided the Democratic Party. It doesn't matter anyway. There is no way McSame can beat Obama in November..."
adobelane wrote, "N-word, B-word....I'm a democrat and irregardless of any kind of word I can't stomach either one of them. But I gotta agree with Obama; a vote for McCain is four more years of Bush. So I gonna vote for one of these people just to vote against McCain and four more years of idiots running this country."
Alan5633 said, "I'm a hillary supporter and I will vote mccain over obama because i can't stand him."
zb95 wrote, "WashPost is trying their best to fan the flames. The vast majority of "lifelong" Democrats would not vote for McCain under any circumstaces."
nunyo555 said, "...I agree that there has been a horrible level of misogyny in the media; but that still won't make me say that she ought to be president. There are a lot of things to like about Obama, but what those who sneer at his supporters forget is that many of us are voting for him because he is *not Hillary.*..."
mightycrows said, "A lot of the pro Hillary rants on this website are obviously Republicans pretending to be Clinton supporters trying to whip up Intra-Democratic ill feeling. Do not fall for it..."
And swampsterman added, "I see operation Chaos is in play here on this chat board. Republicans pretending to be Hillary supporters to create division and anger. And you want folks who play this kind of Psy Ops junk running the White House??"
Finally, in the interests of fairness, and as the last word today, almost all articles on politics contain at least one posting expressing the sentiments of grunk, who wrote, "Write in Ron Paul."
All comments on this article are here.
By Doug Feaver | May 19, 2008; 9:45 AM ET Clinton , Democrats , Obama , Presidential Politics Previous: Obama's Candidacy and Racism | Next: Obama, Clinton, Misogyny, Racism
Posted by: adult | June 10, 2008 9:15 PM
She needs to run independently and lose this party, it's a hindrance to her. She obviously as enough of the popular vote to make it a reality.
Looks like the democratic delegates and supers are about to disenfranchise 18 million voters - yet again...
Posted by: Maybe | June 4, 2008 11:01 AM
The damage is done. The wounds cut deep on both sides. Blame, Deception, Dishonesty is cast on both sides. I don't want someone as deceptive as Obama running this country who went to a racist church for 20 years without knowing it, where the Pastors have made sexist remarks about women. My vote goes to Mccain.
Posted by: John | June 3, 2008 3:20 PM
We will stay away - or vote McCain because the Obama wing of the Democratic party (from the start the Democratic party) has so vilified Clinton and by extension women in general, that joining up with the YouTube crowd would be like inviting our rapist to a slumber party. We have a chance to fight back - to say to the lunatic fringe (Olbermann, Matthews, etc) that you can't demean us then chide us for leaving you. This is woman battering on a grand scale and the whining Obamas claiming racism need to dig deep for anything akin to the 527 named 'C.U.N.T.' - stop playing that game, its ridiculous. I am horrified at the misogyny that has swept this second-rater to the forefront - he couldn't have done it without media bias and disgusting woman-hating. Time to make our importance know - don't vote for the party that has disowned us.
Posted by: Susan Mayhew | May 28, 2008 11:56 AM
All of you so called feminists out there (ESPECIALLY NARAL) - why are you not pissed off that the guys and the media are shouting at Hillary to step down even though the contest is not over and she is the BEST CANDIDATE BY FAR and for promoting an unelectable candidate which will ensure McCain's win in November. FACE IT! Obama is unelectable when you add up Rev. Wright - who was not JUST a pastor - but was Obama's self chosen mentor and teacher for 20 years... Wright was teaching Obama to hate America, whites and Jews like he does in his rantings and in the church's OWN PUBLICATIONS - which also prints HAMAS letters (yes as in the anti-Israel terrorist group - yes - the same HAMAS who Obama's advisor was just busted for having secret meeting with... So all of you who are supporting a man who calls women "sweetie" - who stands by while Clinton is constantly slammed by the media and sexist remarks and treatment - who sits in the pews of a racist white/Jew hating - America hating church for 20 years an gives them THOUSANDS of dollars to promote their hate - who launched his political campaign years ago at an unrepentant American terrorist's home (who says that bombing th pentagon like he did etc was not enough - he wishes he would have set off more bombs in our own country... who has MANY ANTI-ISRAEL advisors on his campaign - who has secret meetings with Hezbolah agents as well... and who supports a candidate who belongs to a church of black liberation theology which plainly states that WHITES ARE THE ENEMY THAT MUST BE DESTROYED... well then you aren't feminists - and you are NOT TRUE PATRIOTS - because a rue patriot would never vote for a man who surrounds himself with so many people who hate our country.
Posted by: OBAMAJAMESCONE | May 22, 2008 6:49 PM
Nancy Pelosi just said on "PBS Newshour" that the delegates from Florida and Michigan would be seated at the convention and would be split 50-50. The Dems (if they were really democratic) should let the vote go on, but they know it would be another landslide for Hillary. The fix is definitely in.
Posted by: kay | May 21, 2008 7:14 PM
Earl C; yes trying to elucidate the real issues amidst the Long, Loud Primal Scream of disappointed Clinton supporters is a thankless job, but I want you to know that I AM listening. ==================== "The "fix is in" for Obama and a landslide for McCain in November. The DNC thinks that the women voters are going to vote democratic just like the blacks no matter who's on the ticket and they are going to get a surprise in November. I SAY A VOTE FOR MCCAIN IS A VOTE FOR HILLARY IN 2112!!!"
Yeah, that will "fix" Obama and his supporters alright, unfortunately it will potentially also fix (or should I say screw) the average American who is being hammered by the bad governance of the last 8 years...not to mention that Flip-Flop McBush, if elected, will probably get to name 2 Supreme Court Justices; the Court is already tilted right with Conservatives, 2 more is enough to overturn Roe v Wade among other issues.
Posted by: Hold_That_Tiger | May 20, 2008 12:11 PM
Where does Col.Khajawall gets his opinion from suggesting that the only way to salvation for the United States is to vote for Barack Obama. At least, if you support a candidate, come up with some facts substantiating your support. The people riling "Yes we can" is nothing more than a hollow statement when not accompanied by facts and explanations. So far, Obama has only shown his smooth way of talking, I did not mean what I said and his semi arrogant way of dismissing the here and now. The learned opinion is not learned after all, because it is based on an illusion. So far, Obama has been all talk with no substance. His closest way to substance have been his denials of not having meant what he said. The writers statement of partisan media outlets and pundits is drowned out by the destructive behavior of the leftist media wanting this 'Greatgrand Nation' from ceasing to exist as is. When any candidate supported by the smear media is considered to be a nation builder, I question the sincerity of the writer. Blind ideology is that, which guided Germany to their path of self-destruction. Admitting his choices for presidents in the past, only shows a diverse and human way of decision making, not worthy of being adopted by the majority of the people as the Gospel. What makes the writer think having it right this time. Obama is not what he looks like however, he is what he behaves like and that, is definitely not presidential, but only shows his inexperience and ignorance of world affairs. Using his association, with the liabilities surrounding him as a measuring stick toward the presidency, is wrong and could be dangerous. The scary part of this whole process of picking a president based on the present choices we have, should be every-body's concern. especially for the independent voters of this country.
Posted by: hankhaan | May 20, 2008 10:46 AM
The "fix is in" for Obama and a landslide for McCain in November. The DNC thinks that the women voters are going to vote democratic just like the blacks no matter who's on the ticket and they are going to get a surprise in November. I SAY A VOTE FOR MCCAIN IS A VOTE FOR HILLARY IN 2112!!!
Posted by: maria h | May 20, 2008 10:43 AM
Sorry for a few miscues:
"bite their noses off to spite their faces"
1. should be tax rebates, not tax refunds.
Posted by: Earl C | May 20, 2008 10:14 AM
Contrary to some previous comments, I have tried to elevate the discourse on this blog. Some apparently believe that veiled threats (if I do not win, I'll pick up my marbles and go home -- meaning, if not Hillary, I'll vote the opposition) will work. Actually, way too many seem willing "to bite their noses off despite their faces."
Hillary is to be commended for her effort during this primary season. Like any human being, she has made some errors of judgment. Barack readily admits his mistakes.
Regarding the "swing" states and the 2008 election, there are many on here who seem to have a clear view through their crysal balls. It should be obvious to anyone who has been following the Barack campaign that he is waging a nontraditional presidential campaign. I would be greatly surprised if the political map does not shift significantly on election day. Many of you are writing Barack off because of a vested interest in maintaining the status quo. Virginia has a real chance of swinging to the Democratic column this year for the first time in many years. We are very likely to pick up our second Democratic senator.
For Democrats, McCain is not an option if you believe that the Iraq War, universal health care, Social Security, and so forth are issues about which we have a major role to play. I, for one, do not want anything like what have seen for the past seven years. Talk about the misery index that the Republicans hung around our necks during the 1980 campaign. Yes, interest rates are low, inflation seems to be low, and so forth by the standards that were used to build their misery index. Look at the misery index for 2008: runaway food, housing, and gas prices, interest rates so low that people cannot earn a decent return on their savings, a stagnant stock market, and on and on.
We have been strapped with an administration that tells/has told us: (1) Tax refunds do no contribute to the national debt. (2) The economy is growing and doing well. (3) We are winning the war in Iraq after they told us that "major combat operations are over" in 2003. (4) We must put the cost of the Iraq War as a supplemental to the budget because we do not know how much to ask for. (5) We know where the WMDs are. (6) (Supply you own.)
McCain now promises to provide more of the same for four more years. So much for the straight talk express.
Posted by: Earl C, Virginia Beach | May 20, 2008 10:11 AM
Like I've said before, "If the news media and the scared Democratic Party push Hillary Clinton out I will vote for the Republican."
Posted by: Stanley | May 20, 2008 9:27 AM
Instead of the name calling we should try to figure out who can win the general election. The rules are different we have to get the swings states (which Clinton tends to win) and it is winner takes all.
In this format it is hard to refer back to previous comments but Florida democrat and Jim from Denver (if I remember correctly) counted the delegates for the GE and Obama doesn't have a chance.
Btw. some of the comments here are so primitively hateful mostly against the Clintons but some against Obama, that it makes me wonder if this is the community I want to belong to.
Posted by: rjc | May 20, 2008 6:43 AM
Read the comments on the WaPo and then read the comments on the NYT. The difference in tone (and syntax and grammar) is vast. NYT moderates; WP does not.
I'm not sure what the WP intends to provide with these open, anonymous comments sections, but what it is in fact providing is a forum for the grossest, most illiterate, and barely coherent sort of infamy. These sections are generally worthless reading and often just disgraceful.
WP should insist on a minimum level of relevance and coherence in its forums. Or close them down as a public nuisance. Or accept the role of Blog of Last Resort, fit only for those bottom feeders who can't post to moderated sites, for good reason.
Posted by: drossless | May 20, 2008 1:44 AM
Doug above quotes a certain summer Democrat pledged to desert if Hillary isn't nominated. "I believe that with a majority of Democrats in Congress, McCain can't do much harm."
No health care reform? 100 more years of Iraq? Bomb, bomb, bomb Iran? Supreme Court nominees opposed to reproductive freedom?
How can Writerjudy59 support Hillary but not her platform?
Posted by: jhbyer | May 19, 2008 9:30 PM
Regarding the Florida and Michigan primaries, get over it. The DNC will figure something out. However, Hillary is way out of line on this one. Barack like the other democratic contenders did not campaign in either state in support of the DNC decision. In fact, not all candidates were listed on the ballots. This is a classic example of wanting to change the accepted rules after an event has taken place because it seems like you have the edge. In reality, Hillary does not look good in this situation. Agreeing to the rules before the vote and then running an all-out campaign to change the rules after the vote does not look good.
Posted by: Earl C, Virginia Beach | May 19, 2008 9:27 PM
I'm still reading the plethora of comments. Please look at Barack's credentials. He does have experience in leadership. Remember, our founding fathers did not require a test to determine the qualifications of a President.
Barack has passed my individual test to date: He shares my political views. A qualification that Brack has that I really like is the way that he responds to situations when he is under intense pressure. He does not strike back like a wounded animal. He does not become irrational. He engages his brain and then speaks with a measured, thoughtful response. Even the "bitter" comment, when taken in context, is really on the mark with many people. In fact, in my white, very conservative church last Sunday, I heard the preacher talk about people "clinging to Jesus." You have all heard it. The use of these words does not make a person elitist. Only the spinners who are looking for every word to spin dream these things up. Just look at how quickly the McCain camp picked on Barack's word "tiny." Look at Barack's speech and you'll know immediately that McCain totally misrepresented Barack's comment. How do you think McCain will talk truth to the American people if he cannot even get this right?
Posted by: Earl C | May 19, 2008 9:20 PM
Imagine how it will be if Hillary supporters are seen/polled pushing McBush over the top.
You think there will be a Clinton machine in 2012?
Posted by: Mr Judgment | May 19, 2008 9:14 PM
If you count the votes Clinton has received including those in Florida and Michigan she will likely be ahead in the popular vote after the Kentucky and Oregon primaries.Watch for the Supreme Court of the DNC to then decide to STOP COUNTING THE VOTES and declare Obama the winner before Clinton rings up the biggest popular vote win in all the primaries with her win in Puerto Rico.We didn't vote of this hugh number of super delegates, we didn't get to vote on which states should vote in which order, and now her popular vote win will be swept under the rug!ÃÂ Just watch and see!
Posted by: Kenn the Dem | May 19, 2008 9:13 PM
I am a democrate in nature and distrust anyone who accepted the misguided information from the white house to enter in a war without checking out all statistics, Thats what has us in the hole for three trillion dollars plus. any body that votes for a Republican this time around is a self distructive fool or one who is super rich and trying to distroy the United States by killing its Middle Class. (The group that takes care of the rich as well as the poor.)be awake white male america and don't belive the stupid statements made by some unknown blogger who is working for the Republican party and believe me. The youth are smarter than we think they are. good luck Hillary or Obama. I'll take either one of you this time, and I will be watching you. We need more food, we need to use the oil we have here in the ground and we need to conserve. Sauda Arabia can't eat that oil, and the big fence along the boarder will not stop the immagrents from comming here. If I lived in mexico, I would be swimming the reo grand myself. We need to do what Arizona has done and forget the big useless fence. Its just a waste of money for special interest, and that should have been as clear as the nose on the congress face. Birt.
Posted by: Birt. | May 19, 2008 9:04 PM
Take a deep breath people. I supported Hillary before I supported Barack. My mom, an avid Hillary supporter, switched to Barack about a month ago thanks to Hillary's negative campaign tactics and increasing sarcasm. Regarding Barack's supposed arrogance. Please do not confuse arrogance with self-confidence. Bush and his minions are arrogant. McCain is not an appropriate alternative to Hillary. If you plan to switch your vote from Clinton to McCain, please consider how many more years you want us to suffer the Bush years and from McCain's own mouth you'll have a minimum of five more years like the present in Iraq. It is really time to bring back the draft. It is obvious that most Americans have no clue what a cost war really is. Thank you Mr. Bush for making war look so "romantic." I predict that Barack will win over Hillary supporters who will respond to his campaign style and his morality. McCain's background has not been fully vetted. There are skeletons in his closet. I also predict that McCain will collect 100% of the bigot vote. The white supremists among us will point to the near unanimity of the Black community who will vote for Barack to press the reason for whites to support McCain. We must remember that Blacks have been voting in overwhelming numbers for white candidates for years. As McCain begins the slip into senility, Barack will only get better as he brings bright new faces to government service. These people will believe that government can work for the people. The Republicans have spent a lot of time since 1980 trying to prove to us that government is incompetent and unnecessary. I give you President Bush as proof that government is indeed incompetent. Time to end the war-mongering, borrow and spend policies of the Republicans.
Posted by: Earl C, Virginia Beach | May 19, 2008 9:01 PM
I don't know if anyone that runs the Democratic party reads these things. But as a Hillary supporter, I am sure that I don't need to list for you every reason I prefer Hillary to Obama.
But let's just say epxperience makes the top three.
On the other hand, the Democratic party expect us to come back in the fold and support Obama if he's their choice. And I cannot for the life of me understand why they think I would ever do that after seeing how shabbily Obama supporters have treated us. It seems that Obama's second biggest liability is his own supporters
I intend to write-in Hillary as an Independent choice, if not an independent candidate.
The only certainty for me and for most older Democrats who are furious that half the party electorate is being ignored, is registering our protest by not voting for Obama.
I can't imagine why the country that elected George W Bush twice and thought that Dean and Kerry were too peculiar to be electable would be expected to vote for Obama.
This is a guy that no middle American can relate to. His who life has been climbing toward the six figure set. At the cost of losing every perception of the common touch. Seeing Obama in any Joe Sixpack situation just makes me gleeful. He looks like he's got his shoes on the wrong feet the whole time.
This election is not about Merlot. It's about Milk Money. And the only people that are clueless about that one are the gullible lemmings heading the democratic party.
Maybe losing really is a habitual thing with them.
But what will always be the Big Puzzle for me is why throw away chance to have 16 years in a Clinton-Obama lock on the White House for a six month mud wrestle?
Obama is far more unelectable by the middle portion of the elctorate than Hillary Clinton. I guess the Democrats just feel proving that is more important an issue to themselves than winning an election. They seem to be determined to be John McCain's biggest benefactors.
Posted by: Anonymous | May 19, 2008 8:18 PM
I wouldn't vote for Obama if hell turned over. He is a NO NOTHING HATE MONGER and uses his big mouth to spread hate among people . How dare he put down women, the poor and the elderly! Who the hell does he think he is. ??It is his contention that he was born to be President! He was born because of a moment of madness on his mother's part. Nothing more! We have had Pres. in the past but this upstart is no Presidential material. Bush and Obama, what a fate for the USA. Ruination continues where Bush leaves off
Posted by: lynn parker | May 19, 2008 7:56 PM
Obamites have been mostly hateful when it comes to commentaries all over the web. I wonder how Obama thrives in the company of these haters. But it is said that birds of feather flock together. So, I can only surmise about the attitude and beliefs of Obama based on these Obamites.
Posted by: am_i_alone | May 19, 2008 7:41 PM
For all of you thinking that there is some "Rush Limbaugh" conspiracy. Here is a wake up call - I am a hardcore Democrat, a minority and I am voting for John McCain.
Thats just how annoying, clueless and insulting you Obamabots have been and are.
Posted by: Nick | May 19, 2008 7:07 PM
I am a white, middle-aged conservative "Reagan Republican" who despises George Bush for: an unconstitutional war; attack on civil liberties; presiding over a gigantic deficit that my own party created; and a politics of division. Neither can I vote for McCain because he is much the same as Bush. To you Hillary and Hussein supporters, let me give you a tip...this is still a conservative country who looks to competence and experience--which Obama has none of--and a sense of America's special place in the world. After listening to Obama, several of my fellow G.O.P. friends have said he makes Hillary look almost acceptable. It's not a question of race with this neophyte, it's a question of character. Our nation's democrats and republicans would flock to vote for Colin Powell. I'm still disappointed he did not run against Bill in 1996; he would have won easily. Finally, you democrats, don't overlook the power of nativism among our people. The border is out of control. Hillary, McCain and Hussein all want to abandon our southern border for cheap labor and cheap votes.
Posted by: Hoosier Republican | May 19, 2008 6:41 PM
"Hillary and Chuck Hagel on the independent ticket would tear everyone up."
It would split the lib vote and McCain would win in a walk.
Posted by: Chuckamok | May 19, 2008 6:33 PM
Hillary and Chuck Hagel on the independent ticket would tear everyone up.
Posted by: roncraw | May 19, 2008 6:22 PM
I truly hope that all those Clinton (or Obama)supporters who vow they will vote for John Mc Cain or stay home on Election Day are just overcoming a period of blinding bitterness. Please recognize that Clinton and Obama have incredibly similar policy proposals. I think it's wonderful that so many Democrats are passionately standing by a candidate - after four years of Bush, we should we be passionate. But we should not let our passion for one candidate completely skew the way we look at the other. It makes no sense to blame Obama for Clinton's fall or vice versa. They both worked incredibly hard and garnered the support of millions of voters. But now it's time to come together. Chances are, you're still clinging to your biases (or the biases of the media) - go out there and DO YOUR RESEARCH. Choosing to vote for McCain or staying home in November and allowing McCain to take the presidency will be the worst decision you could make, and your spiteful/uninformed decisions will impact our country for generations to come.
Posted by: Adeva | May 19, 2008 6:04 PM
So far MSM has failed to acknowledge in print the problem which many Hillary supporters have with their Dem Party: the DNC and party elders have intervened at many points to give Obama every conceivable advantage. In other words, they have fixed their own primary. Now you expect us to vote for the one who would have lost if the election were fair? I think not!
Posted by: PoconoPam | May 19, 2008 6:02 PM
I personally think this intense ill will is useful for it allows all the undercurrents to ventilate themselves. If it was all sweetness (or sweetie-ness) and light among the Democrats then this would all have to happen later in the general election. But this has allowed our general election opponents to notice how the Karl Rove tactics aren't working so well. They will do them but they need to calibrate them so they actually hurt the person you are trying to hurt instead of hurting you. The primary on the Democratic side has been instructive. Also has allowed some of the lurking hatreds to surface openly and everybody to recklessly display their prejudices and misconceptions freely on the Internet. This is excellent. Then the tension doesn't build up so much.
Posted by: Gaias Child | May 19, 2008 5:58 PM
I'm an older white woman voting for Sen. Obama - not because he's part African American, but because I find he's best on the issues. His positions on health care, energy and the environment can be viewed by going to his official website and linking from the issues categories to his policy papers on PDF format.
I think Sen. Clinton is OK on domestic issues, but on foreign policy issues, I worry that Sen. Clinton appears to feel that since she's a woman, she is under constant pressure to demonstrate that she is "tough". I feel Sen. Clinton has made it all too clear that this mindset will carry over to her foreign policy judgements. I believe that's the wrong message to send - as a woman, as a president, and as a world leader.
Rather than being reactionary to gender stereotype, we women can best move beyond the stereotypes by being "effective" in our leadership. By now, all of us should know that displays of "toughness" don't necessarily translate into "effectiveness". Look at George Bush.
An inability to demonstrate military restraint - for whatever reason - could get our country into more trouble than we're already in. We can't afford all this war. It's killing our young people, our economy, and our standing in the world.
We need a leader who knows what "tough" really is and who has the confidence and courage to project a different "mindset" and lead our country into a position of real strength in the world.
Sen. Obama has shown he is capable of restraint in his foreign policy decisions, and he has recruited some of the best policy advisors - many from the former Clinton administration.
Sen. Obama has endorsements from some of the most highly respected democrats, lake Sam Nunn and Lee Hamilton. I'm sure these people aren't supporting Sen. Obama just because they think he's a rock star. There are good reasons for their support.
I hope that people who don't know what those reasons are, and who are openminded and/or curious, will go to Sen. Obama's official web site and find out.
Posted by: Alice | May 19, 2008 5:24 PM
In 2000 the Republicans nominated a neophyte who went on to be elected and then, a scant two years later, ushered in a strong Republican majority in Congress.
The balance of power swung so hard to the (far) right that members of the GOP felt they could do anything they wanted...and thus destroyed their party in the eyes of the nation, if not the world.
I fear the same thing will happen to the Democrats with Barack Obama as president.
He has never been in a position of true leadership. He is as much of a neophyte as George W. Bush was back in 2000, a man that voters chose because they "liked" him, not because he was the best candidate.
With the Democrats almost assured of earning a super majority in Congress this November, I foresee the same sort of all-encompassing swing coming from the (far) left, ushering in the same ultimately destructive results.
That is just one of the reasons I will not vote for Barack Obama in November.
There are many more, not the least of which is the astonishing sexism and hatred I've seen bubble up from the supposed progressives within the Democratic Party, a party I no longer recognize.
Posted by: Tracy from Los Angeles | May 19, 2008 4:43 PM
After seeing the massive crowds that greeted "American Idol" finalists last week, one realizes that Obama's crowds are impressive but not an isolated phenomenon. The cameras trained on him and the supporters behind him at the rallies intentionally mislead the public into thinking he has support among segments of the electorate where he has lost decisively. For instance, when Hillary beats him with older women, suddenly some appear strategically behind him. When she skunks him with the blue collar vote, white males in workclothes dominate the stands behind him. What's next? Farmers in overalls with hay dangling from their mouths? Notice that you never see more than one or two blacks behind him. This is what is annoying and deceptive about Obama.
Posted by: cjm30 | May 19, 2008 4:35 PM
The only thing hillbillaree is closing in on is...the entrance of the FAT LADY.
hillbillaree will be remembered for dragging this race on to the "damage" of the democratic party. She will be remembered for her DESPERATION, her POMPOUS attitude, her SEXIST campaign, and her intentional RACISM where she blatantly focused only on WHITE blue collar workers, because that is all she had left.
hillbillaree will be remembered as a self-serving "disgrace" to the democratic party and PROCESS.
Good riddance clintons! Don't let the DOOR HIT YA ON THE WAY OUT!!!
Posted by: hillbillareemakesmevomit | May 19, 2008 4:34 PM
All of you are making Feaver's point. It is true that many who support either Obama or Clinton are having a difficult time coming around to supporting the other. That is caused by the disappointment of Hillary's base and the unbelievable vitriol of Obama's supporters towards them.
Don't you idiots get it. Without Hillary's supporters Obama becomes just a footnote in history: "first black candidate nominated for president by a major political party." If you are really interested in winning in November take a lesson from your mother who taught you: "You catch more flies with honey than you do with vinegar."
In other words (now I sound like GWB) try not insulting her or her supporters. Try holding out an olive branch. Try saying nice things instead of antagonizing and gloating.
You only have one-half a victory and one half of a party. You need all of the party and the whole victory or your favorite son will be an electoral landslide loser and joins the ranks of such revered democrats as George McGovern and Dukakis.
I am a Hillary supporter and have misgivings about Obama and his abilities. If he and his supporters can not unite the party, how is he going to unite a country. Like so many, we will turn to the Congress to govern and protect us during a McCain administration. I want to believe and I want to vote for a Democrat, but so far I have not been given a reason to do so. Convince me not by force, but by impassioned reason without insulting me.
Give it a thought. Think about it.
Posted by: Jeff | May 19, 2008 4:23 PM
Should clue you in as to how polarizing this upstart with absolutely zero international and domestic experience can be.
McCain is much more centrist than Obama and Reagan democrats will be determining the next leader not children and 9th district leaning kooks...
Posted by: Obvious | May 19, 2008 4:17 PM
wow you missed the point.With Bill it was a white man against a white man. This election will be two firsts.Black women had to choose between a women or a black of which they are both.My point is they choose the racist one.
Posted by: roncraw | May 19, 2008 4:14 PM
I am not sure I understand why the GOP would be posting on this site as Hillary supporters who will vote for McCain at this point in the process. This stratgy would have made sense early in the campaign, but not now. The Democratic nominee is/will be Obama. Hillary supporters threatening to vote for McCain would seem to risk a larger Democratic and (possibly independent) turnout in November in response to the fact that a certain % of Hillary's supporters will vote Republican.
Posted by: Curious | May 19, 2008 4:05 PM
I would not mind voting an African-American into office, I think it could be a good thing for our country. I do, however, have serious reservations about Barack Obama. I think his message of change is phony, and I think he's a phony. He didn't even have any message until he got the Oprah endorsement, I often wonder if she came up with the slogan for him. Regardless of that, he's never specified as to what exactly he intends to change, just that we need some mysterious 'change' somewhere. Seems like smoke and mirrors to me.
Posted by: Robert | May 19, 2008 3:59 PM
Barack Obama IS the messiah. He and only He can save this country from those who believe guns and religion are the answer to everything. Hillary and her supporters just don't get it. Join our movement.
Posted by: lefty | May 19, 2008 3:55 PM
Dear political rookies and losers:
In case you can't figure out who I'm talking about, it is you folks who declare you won't vote for the Democratic nominee because your candidate lost.
Wake up. As they say, "politics ain't beanbag", and every primary campaign will have its moment when one candidate or his or her proxy says something that is offensive to the other candidate and his or her followers. But, at the end of the day, particularly this year, the two candidates in question have far more in common than either of them have with John McCain. Only an idiot would vote for McCain or allow McCain to be elected because you were piqued at Obama or Clinton.
Truth be told, this primary campaign was really very tame, far tamer than anybody expects the general election to be. About the cheesiest thing anybody on either side did was that photo of Obama in the turban. While some of what the Obama camp has said and done was over the top, in truth, the target of Clinton supporters' wrath shouldn't be Obama, but the mainstream media, which couldn't resist taking shots at Clinton, just because they don't like the Clintons. The only rationale I could think of is that they're jealous because she and her husband are smarter and show more gumption than any of them.
So, stop acting like babies. When the primary campaign is over, we have one more obstacle to making this country better, and that is John McCain. We need to pull together to get rid of him and bury Bushism.
Posted by: John | May 19, 2008 3:50 PM
obama is half white and half black.i think hillary had sex change back in 96 after monica. lets see that makes her a he-she.
Posted by: don l | May 19, 2008 3:34 PM
Believe it or not, I was planning on voting for John McCain...right up until he took a page from the Bush playbook. The most recent criticism of Obama, of even talking to Iran and other enemies (AND, John, that isn't "appeasement"...it's called SANITY) is just plain nuts. So, I will be voting Democrat in the Fall no matter who the nominatee is. We have to do something to fix the mess this country is in. Free trade is a disaster for everyone but a few wealthy people and corporations, guest workers are all parasites that take jobs from U.S. citizens - and nowhere is this more apparent or mor dangerous than with the millions of Indian H1-B workers that have displaced 4.5 million of our own engineers and computer programmers. Corporations are completely out of control - mortage banks take government bailout money and turn around and cheat home owners, pile on paperwork, commit outright acts of fraud and take peoples homes. Evidently it is perfectly okay with McCain if the same people (that VERY same commodity brokers, only they are alled "hedge fund" managers today, in many cases!!!) that brought us Enron are involved in bidding up the cost of food and oil and gasoline. That and investments in CHina and India are the reason Wall Street stocks are going up while the rest of us are destitute or heading that way. John McCain has proven himself morally and intellectually bankrupt and unsuited to be President. SO, no matter who the Democrats nominate, I'm going to plug my nose and vote for them. Maybe, if we ruthlessly destroy the Republican Party, and I mean cost them every job from U.S. Senator to local dog catcher, those bozo's will finally get the idea that they either stand with us or they can go into the dumper with the wealthy free trading swine that created the mess we are in.
Posted by: MikeB | May 19, 2008 3:31 PM
wow Now you are making up fairy tales.Tell me who did 100% of blacks vote for
Posted by: roncraw | May 19, 2008 3:13 PM _________________________________________ Bill Clinton! Well, maybe only 98%
Posted by: Wow | May 19, 2008 3:23 PM
Posted by: Feminist Granny | May 19, 2008 3:13 PM
Posted by: Wow | May 19, 2008 3:21 PM
Stop speaking for me when you say that "women" back Clinton. I don't and a lot of other women don't. I resent it. Only certain women support her. They seem to me to be largely frustrated, bitter, radical feminists of my own generation, who blindly think ANY woman should be president. Well, I've always been a very liberal feminist, and Hillary is not the woman I would ever vote for for president. I chose Obama because I read his early speeches and writings and I believe he is far superior to Hillary (and most politicians) in intelligence, character, temperament, judgment, ideals -- and honesty. I lived through all of Hillary's dirty laundry over the years and I will not vote for such a person, no matter what gender or color. That's what true feminism is all about -- that we be gender-blind in our choices and chances in life. I think some of the major sexists here are journalists who insist on generalizing and lumping us women into one big group.
Posted by: Feminist Granny | May 19, 2008 3:13 PM
wow Now you are making up fairy tales.Tell me who did 100% of blacks vote for
Posted by: roncraw | May 19, 2008 3:13 PM
Why will I, a Democrat, not support Obama?
1. Jeremiah Wright. I'm not satisfied with Obama's explanation of why he sat there in the pews for 20 years enthusiastically supporting a racist, anti-Semitic, anti-American pastor, criticizing Wright only when it became politically expedient to do so.
2. Obama's lack of experience. The idea that he's qualified to be President is absurd.
3. Obama's (or his mouthpieces, Axelrod, Plouffe, Burton and the others) accusations of racism towards anyone with any sort of criticism of him. That sort of behavior is unworthy of anyone running for President.
I'm not voting for McCain - but I'll never vote for Obama.
Posted by: AndyfromVA | May 19, 2008 3:10 PM
Are we evolving or frustrated because we Americans are nurtured to desire belonging without respecting nature?
Posted by: autochamp | May 19, 2008 3:08 PM
"This election has convinced me we need to raise the voting age. Too many teeny-bop fans out there voting and screaming for their choice for American Idol without regard for policies, issues or (dire) onsequences.
Posted by: FlaLady | May 19, 2008 2:59 PM " _________________________________________ Oh, I don't know. Somtimes, out of the mouths of babes comes wisdom. Look at the predicament at "age" and "experience" has put us in.
Posted by: Wow | May 19, 2008 3:05 PM
This has been a fascinating read -all you bloggers! My gut tells me all the negative Obama stuff is from Rush's Army. Do not be fooled by these jackals. They know what they are doing. To relect Bush by voting for Mcain would be the greatest mistake our party has made in many a year. Mcain is a terrifying war monger who will prolong the abominable war in Iraq for one hundred years. How many more coffins to we need shipped back to America? How many thousands of crippled and horribley wounded young women and men to we want sent back to us? End this damn nightmare by voting Democratic. Hillary or Obama are our only hopes to get out of this human disaster created by our "commander in war"
Posted by: rev.wiggly | May 19, 2008 3:03 PM
This election has convinced me we need to raise the voting age. Too many teeny-bop fans out there voting and screaming for their choice for American Idol without regard for policies, issues or (dire) onsequences.
Posted by: FlaLady | May 19, 2008 2:59 PM
Women versus African-Americans! Are we REALLY surprised we've arrived to this level of analysis? I, for one (as a liberal white man), stand by my sisters. If you review the website for the leading organization for women (National Organization of Women) you CLEARLY see their choices to fight not only for women's rights, but the rights of African-Americans, gay people, etc (the sections are easily seen and identified). If you visit the leading African American organization's website (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) you do NOT find clear choices that support women's rights, gay rights, etc. Their subsections speak of youth, education, etc. but they don't seem to care for women or gays (not even black women or gays). The choice, while quite regrettable, is simply clear...women simple appear to more broadly fight for a range of oppressed peoples while the leading African Americans have not. As a pastor who cares about ALL people (and especially all people suffering from oppression) I must stand by the one who represent the hopes and dreams of women...and all oppressed peoples. I stand by Hillary...Hillary for President for '08! May God be with us all during this trying time of discernment.
Posted by: gayUCCpastor | May 19, 2008 2:59 PM
All the new blather about sexism spoiling Hill-Rod's bid to be prez is just that - blather.
The Clintons are their own worst enemies. The Most Brilliant Political Duo of Our Generation ran a ham-fisted campaign and blew a sure thing.
But now they're out to blame anyone and anything - other than themselves. Typical Billary crappola.
Posted by: Chuckamok | May 19, 2008 2:54 PM
"There has never been a women Pres. yet 92% of BLACK WOMEN voted for Obama anyone that can make me believe that this isn't racist has the ability to make me believe the the fairy tale the tooth fairy is fact. oops I forgot fairy tale is now a racist word.
Posted by: roncraw | May 19, 2008 2:50 PM"
Is it racist when 100% of black women and men voted for a caucasian male? Just curious.
Posted by: Wow | May 19, 2008 2:54 PM
There has never been a women Pres. yet 92% of BLACK WOMEN voted for Obama anyone that can make me believe that this isn't racist has the ability to make me believe the the fairy tale the tooth fairy is fact. oops I forgot fairy tale is now a racist word.
Posted by: roncraw | May 19, 2008 2:50 PM
AP 8 minutes ago "WASHINGTON - Sen. Robert C. Byrd, a former member of the Ku Klux Klan and a one-time opponent of civil rights legislation, endorsed Barack Obama for the Democratic presidential nomination on Monday."
Who says people can't change if they put their minds and best interest into it.
Posted by: Wow | May 19, 2008 2:50 PM
Democrats are such a dysfunctional group. I am a lifelong democrat who has supported Senator Clinton and do not plan to vote for John McCain. However, I am dismayed at the prickly attitude from both sides of this, but recognize that it stems from a polarized group that have always been separated within the party. The tug-of-war between the central and liberal sides of the party have been played out for decades, but have never been resolved. That is why the party had so much trouble when the Republicans became unified despite their differences. If there ever was an opportunity to win the White House as a democrat, this is it!
But, to become a supporter of Barack Obama, I need to embrace his vision of new politics and his ability to deliver. When has he ever demonstrated this ability to influence legislation by bringing disparate gruops together during his career? I have combed through his accomplishments and cannot find any such moment. Until I KNOW that he has and can produce the change that he is promising, it is all just talk. Platforms can be cut-and-pasted onto websites, speeches can be written and presented eloquently, enthusiastic crowds can be stroked and excited, but talk is cheap without real action.
When I believe that there is substance supporting the Obama campaign, I will join. Until that time, I am not willing to blindly be told what to do.
Posted by: Eric63 | May 19, 2008 2:49 PM
How could Obama advertise HEAVILY in FL when the ads were national? Was he holding an orange or something?
By the way, he asked for permission from the DNC before running national ads (that he couldn't exclude Florida from) and received it.
Posted by: Franklin | May 19, 2008 2:43 PM
If the Clinton supporters actually decide to vote for McCain instead of Obama, then it is official----they have lost their freaking minds. For them to help throw away a golden opportunity to possibly, actually DO something about the war, the economy, the supreme court---is an affront and betrayal of what their party stands for.
Posted by: tdub | May 19, 2008 2:42 PM
"Allowing John McCain to give republicans a 7-2 majority in the Supreme Court that will last for the next 30+ years makes total sense. Right. Who cares if you children and grand children don't have any rights or civil liberties? Your spite is more important than protecting their freedom."
Well said (except for the left/lib cant in the middle there).
This is exactly the point missed by Obama OR Hill-Rod supporters who - consumed by sour grapes - threaten to bolt the party.
Posted by: Chuckamok | May 19, 2008 2:36 PM
"Many Hillary lovers will reject Obama in retaliation for his squashing the woman's campaign..."
I like this one... they should hate him because he even had the dare to campaign against her and win. Why obviously everyone would love him if he lost...
Posted by: Franklin | May 19, 2008 2:35 PM
I supported Obama until I realized his veiled and hollow messages of hope were nothing but a typical politician. What makes Obama dangerous and untrustworthy, in my opinon, is that he has no record and is a one way idealist. He wants to clean up campaigning, politics, etc, but he turns around an has his "campaign" use the same tactics. At this point I'm all for Hillary and will either not vote or support McCain if Obama becomes the nominee.
Posted by: Alan | May 19, 2008 11:10 AM
Alan... thanks for the laugh. You really liked him, but then realized his messages were 'veiled and hollow'? At least try when you pose as an Obama supporter.
Posted by: Franklin | May 19, 2008 2:31 PM
For all those commenters out there who support Hillary, but can't support Obama because he's 'too liberal'.
I'm sorry, but her healthcare plan was much more left of the center than his. Otherwise, both of their agendas toe the democratic line and (unless you're a Republican) are moderate.
Can you name one 'too liberal' proposal the Obama has set forth? (I can name the idiotic gas tax fiasco as one that could be seen as such for the other candidates)
All you're doing is following a 'report' issued which considered items like 'campaign ethics' as 'liberal'.
If anything in his proposals, Obama has shown to be a little more 'common sense' than his counterparts (things that may actually be passed, not just pandering to voters).
Posted by: Franklin | May 19, 2008 2:28 PM
Obama has not done well in any of the swing states
Ohio Pennsylvannia Florida West Virginia Most of his wins are in either solid blue states which we already have or solid red states where a the black vote makes up the majority of the democratic party but we will have chance to carry that state.
North Carolina Virginia Mississippi Georgia
Obama will be the McGovern of 2008
Posted by: Jim in Denver | May 19, 2008 2:28 PM
"Bottom line, that someone is future Madam President, Hillary Clinton."
It just IS NOT GONNA HAPPEN.
Besides, the last thing the country needs is more disgusting Clinton melodrama.
Posted by: Chuckamok | May 19, 2008 2:15 PM
One person, One vote (not applicable in Florida and Michigan).
Posted by: Jimmy | May 19, 2008 2:13 PM
Remember Ladies and all Democrats,
4 more years of being "BUSHED"(on economics, healthcare, the Iraq war, overall foreign policy and the Spreme Court) in the form of John McClone.
Posted by: vgirl1 | May 19, 2008 2:06 PM
You are absolutely right in your reporting that months ago, the media and Obama told Clinton that this race was over and yet today the American people are backing her as future President by the millions! What is wrong with this picture? Let me tell you, so there can be no mistake as you read these words. The media and the Obama campaign have been wrong from the very beginning and have underestimated the American public. We, the American people want the very BEST candidate for the job of President of these United States. We, the American people do not care how much money one candidate over the other has for their campaign. We, the American people do not care what skin color they have. What we do care about is how that candidate is going to put our nation back on track. The economy, bringing our sons and daughters home from a war that should have not happened in the first place. Health care, national security, terrorism, jobs so we can make a decent living for our families. These are just some of the issues weighing heavy on the minds of Americans. We need someone with the experience, dedication, perseverance, and the ability to fight for America, not only on a national arena but in a global arena. Bottom line, that someone is future Madam President, Hillary Clinton.
Posted by: Michael Gubbons | May 19, 2008 2:06 PM
I have trouble imagining how anyone who has wholeheartedly supported Senator Clinton can even contemplate voting for Senator McCain. On issue after issue, their policies are as different as night and day.
This is doubly so for anyone who supports Clinton for the historic step she would make as a potential female president. Vvoting for McCain would be detrimental to women's rights in many ways.
I can only see two major reasons for people to claim they've supported Clinton and would vote for McCain: temporary spitefulness after the primaries (understandable, but will hopefully pass before they make mistakes they'd regret), or deliberate sabotage by the increasingly desperate Republicans.
Posted by: fzeleny | May 19, 2008 2:01 PM
Nelson Mandela spent time in the slammer and did s good job. Let's give John McCain the same chance.
Posted by: mongo | May 19, 2008 1:51 PM
Quite simply Obama supporters are largely the far left fringe of the Democratic party. Obama is also pretty left.
As a moderate Democrat I simply find it hard to vote for him. The foul-mouthed supporters that flock to him like sheep don't help either. You'd think if they wanted people to vote for Obama they'd be a bit nicer. Oh well, their loss. I'm probably voting for McCain come November.
And please don't try to play the whole 'same as Bush' routine. McCains been around for a while and to anyone with any knowledge of politics is apparent he isn't the same as Bush.
Posted by: Nick | May 19, 2008 1:40 PM
Well, count me out of the disunity. I am so disgusted with the last 8 years of Pres. Bush that I don't think there's anything McCain (whom I quite liked in the 2000) can do to convince me that he wouldn't likely bring more of the same. I'd cheerfully vote for Obama, Hilary, or Genghis Khan -- whoever stood the best chance of beating the Republican ticket.
Posted by: Carl | May 19, 2008 1:32 PM
Check their voting record. Forget religon, religon is one of the leading causes of DEATH! If you like fascism, vote republican. Why would a person vote against their own best interests unless you are well vested in the 'military industrial complex' and YOU are making money from DEATH. I am a VN vet. and I know how the war machine works. It matters NOT what side of the aisle you are on. CHECK THEIR VOTING RECORD before you vote!!
Posted by: Bill | May 19, 2008 1:29 PM
I find these comments interesting. No matter how hard I read them, I can find no evidence of independent thinking. They are either blind party followers that would vote for Judas as long as the party named him, or blind person supporters that do not even know the issues their candidate supports.
I have been having a real hard time with this whole election cycle. There is no candidate that is viable who supports the issues important to me. I am a non-aligned independent that is pro-guns, pro-choice, and anti-illegal immigration. None of the candidates have plans that support these positions.
I am also sick of the Democrat's take from the rich and give to the poor fiscal policies and the Republican's give to the rich and scr*w the poor fiscal policies. I am neither rich or poor, just middle class and working my rear off to try and stay there.
The Democrats have had a majority in congress for 2 years now and to hear them WHINE about "George Bush's War" really sticks in my craw. They have been way too busy trying to "one up" the Republicans with their investigations of the Attorney General BS that they do not have time to take care of real problems. Every time it comes up for a vote, the fall in line, like sheep, to keep the troops in Iraq. Many ran on promises of windfall taxes on obscene oil profits...what happened? (Can you spell lobbyists!)? Only the Obama campaign talks about "changing the way things are done in Washington" and pessimistically, I doubt the lobbyists will allow any change to happen. Oh, for a real third party..........
Posted by: indyfromwa | May 19, 2008 1:26 PM
Allowing John McCain to give republicans a 7-2 majority in the Supreme Court that will last for the next 30+ years makes total sense. Right. Who cares if you children and grand children don't have any rights or civil liberties? Your spite is more important than protecting their freedom.
Posted by: Z | May 19, 2008 1:21 PM
Well I have to say for those people who feel that Clinton is showing "Tenacity", "Courage" or a "Never Quit attitude" has to look at the reverse side of the coin she will go to any limit to get what she wants does that sound familiar maybe Bushesq with his war (because this is not our war) to get back at Saddam for trying to kill his daddy...Hillary needs to admit under neath her white hood is a Republican.
Posted by: Jersey Guy | May 19, 2008 1:19 PM
You need to manage your anger better and leave that antichrist business to me. Judge not and all that.
And, in response to incredulity, why would you doubt my ability to Blog?
Posted by: God | May 19, 2008 1:17 PM
nclstk: FLORIDA DEMOCRAT ARE NOT STUPID. WE VOTED THE DAY THE POLES WERE OPEN. WE HAD NO SAY SO ABOUT THE DATE. THE DEMOCRATIC COVENTION APPOINTED THE PEOPLE THAT SET THE DATE, NO ME. IM BEONG PUNISHED FOR THIER SHORT COMINGS. I'LL VOTE MCCAIN!!!!
Posted by: FLORIDA DEMOCRAT | May 19, 2008 1:15 PM
Obama- an Antichrist We Can Believe In
Consider his sexual rockstar status among young voters, his ability to continuously lie without impunity, his connections to mob members and terrorist both real and wannabes. His strong and unscrupulous desire for raw power, at any cost, regardless what it does to others, (he became senator simply by disqualifying his opponents). His empty words and changing promises, his desire to be friends with those who wish to destroy us. His wife Michele has expressed her hatred for this country and has publicly announced her husband as the messiah.
The voodoo of this all is that Teflon Obama remains unscathed by all his nefarious connections and thug like history. He is worshiped not only blindly by the mindless masses, but by the fearful media.
I am not very religious, but I think Nostradamus got it right again. What is God going to think of all the lemmings that follow a man of darkness?
Posted by: Sarah Carlton | May 19, 2008 1:08 PM
These stereotypesare designed to lead people to vote against our own interests. My father used to say that when the wealthy and powerful see working people coming together to address our basic economic needs they will make "race" or religion or family values, the issue.
During 30 years in social services, I have seen sad cases of good people whose communities and lives were adversely affected because they voted for elected officials based solely race (black and white) instead of carefully understanding the candidates' policy positions on bread and butter issues.
No matter which candidate - scrutinize carefully. Look carefully at their life work (not silly ads). Hold them accountable for real stuff, not beer or bowling or bashing!
Posted by: Nana | May 19, 2008 1:04 PM
Here is why Hillary lost:
"Barack Obama and his family greeted a record-breaking crowd of 75,000 in Portland, Ore., on Sunday, ahead of that state's primary this Tuesday."
Can she do that? Can anybody? David Lee Roth couldn't even do that in his prime! Okay, bad example.
C'mon fellow Dems. Don't waste your vote. This election is way to serious. McCain is a shill and will mean 4 more horrible years. Heck, Republicans don't even want that. Ron Paul and Hillary C. are done; over; kaput.
Energize! And let's take USA back!
Posted by: Horay. | May 19, 2008 1:03 PM
This is exactly why women have not been respected and why they will not be taken seriously in the future. I think we act more like kids than mature adults. What has Obama done? He has campaigned honourably, raised a lot of money for the Democratic party, brought in a lot of young people. In short Hillary never expected that! Obama was running against two presidential candidate-Hillary and Bill. Respected her throughout, never bashed her as she did, yet he is winning. Tell us something else for hating him if you are not a very old conservative stuck in the past!!!!
Posted by: pauline | May 19, 2008 12:59 PM
I'm a republican and I think voters of both parties wil be voting against someone rather than voting FOR someone.
08 Presidential candidates are weak.
A candidate needs to talk about American exceptionalism.
We are the greatest country. Politics & power screw the world. Our form of government was a great step in governmental evolution based on the fact that man is not the greatest power, the end-all of existence. Don't judge our founding with 20th century blinders. Slavery, Greed, Malice, Injustice existed on this planet before our founding. Look how far we've come in a little over 230+ years.
It takes a balance of power, two strong parties and an ever vigilant electorate.
Government run healthcare will be a disaster.
Canadians will no longer have a fallback system.
No new drugs will be created for our Medicare benefit.
Immigration policies, procedures & enforcement are woefully inadequate.
Why apply when you can jump the fence & get free healthcare & education without legalization?
Posted by: Jobee | May 19, 2008 12:57 PM
Robert I totally agree. Clinton supporters act so entitled, like HIllary should just have been annointed. The truth is, she ran an incredibly stupid campaign, so sure of her victory that she ignored the caucus and the small state and now has her hope hinged on Mich and Fla being absolved for breaking rules that she supported until events changed. If all these supporters who claim its Hillary or nothing are going to get nothing and they deserve it for being so rigid and so selfrighteous that they forget politics is the art of compromise, not absolutes. Finally they all say I will vote for McCain, but they know nothing of his policies or his plans, especially for the judiciary. They can stay home if they like, but a vote for McCain if one was supposed to be so keen on Hillary would be a vote against self-interests. Are they that stupid? Angry we know, but stupid?
Posted by: nclwtk | May 19, 2008 12:55 PM
I don't understand why Hillary's supporters like to think she is the victim of the party, the media, and Obama. She lost the pledge delegates, and the popular votes, and because of those, the superdelegates turned to Obama. If she had won both of them, then here would have been a different story. Losing game is difficult, but if you can not take the loss, then you should not be a part of this cruel political game. Please just don't victimlize Hillary. She is a fighter, and she likes fighting. She could fight as fierecely as if not more than any male politians. Myabe this is another double standard, a woman's standard that you should fight but can not lose because otherwise you are the victim. I am a woman, and I don't buy this.
Posted by: Kathy J. | May 19, 2008 12:55 PM
I write this as a forty-nine (49) year old MALE, BORN - BREED - RAISED - SAVED - STAUNCH - SOUTHERN - CHRISTIAN - DEMOCRAT.
The Electoral College for 2008 General Election
STATES THAT HAVE VOTE BOTH PARTIES SINCE 1980 PRIMARY RESULTS ÃÂ Iowa 7 BO ÃÂ New Hampshire 4 HC ÃÂ Nevada 5 HC ÃÂ Florida 27 HC ÃÂ Arkansas 6 HC ÃÂ Colorado 9 BO ÃÂ Missouri 11 BO ÃÂ New Mexico 5 HC ÃÂ Tennessee 11 HC ÃÂ Louisiana 9 BO ÃÂ Ohio 20 HC West Virginia 5 HC Kentucky 8 HC REPUBLICAN STATES 184 DEMOCRATIC STATES 224
SWING STATES Hillary Rodham Clinton 91 Barack Obama 36
THE DEMOCRATIC CAN NOT WIN WITH Barack Obama IN NOVEMBER.
Barack Obama WINS POPULAR VOTE MCCAIN WINS ELECTION!!!!!
Posted by: FLORIDA DEMOCRAT | May 19, 2008 12:55 PM
I think it's safe to say that the effectiveness of this board has been rendered pretty much useless by those Republicans pretending to be disgruntled Democrats.
It's obvious to anyone that this is what's happening here and typical of the sort of tactics that have been used by the GOP over the last eight years...
Just vote with your gut knowing that a vote for McCain will really be another four years of Bush. No one (not even Republicans) wants that.
America does need change. Obama will bring change and regardless of your opinion of him, how can he screw things up worse than Bush?
Posted by: pxmusanet | May 19, 2008 12:54 PM
Surprise! Surprise! It turns out that we are all Africans. Like Obama! Even Clinton! Surprise! Surprise! It turns out that we are all Africans. Like Obama! Even Clinton! Surprise! Surprise! It turns out that we are all Africans. Like Obama! Even Clinton! Surprise! Surprise! It turns out that we are all Africans. Like Obama! Even Clinton! Surprise! Surprise! It turns out that we are all Africans. Like Obama! Even Clinton! Check for yourselves @ nationalgeograpic.com
Posted by: Adam & Eve | May 19, 2008 12:52 PM
As the last nail in the Hillary Clinton coffin and a crowning act of Obama political genius, Obama plans to nominate Caroline Kennedy Schlossberg as VP. At the same time, the Kennedy machine will once and for all crush the carpet bagging Clinton's effort at building a political dynasty in New York. Soon forgotten, the Clintons will have to latch onto an Al Sharpton rally to create the illusion of drawing a crowd.
The high school drop out wing of the Democrat party, thusfar firmly in the Hillary camp, will abandon bigotry, flocking entranced and prostrate before Obama and Caroline, to bask worshipfully in the glow of their betters. Hillary-supporting feminists will abandon pantsuits and and butch attire for designer knock-offs and Italian shoes, eagerly aping Caroline and, by default, Michelle. Pictures of Barack playing touch football on a Cape Ccd lawn will appear in the press. The Kennedy hoard will find a couple of months gainful employment, pleasantly relieving the tedium of waiting for the next trust fund check, campaigning for the ticket across the country. McCain will tremble and fall.
Thus the fractious Democrats will unify, once again strongly emerging triumphant as the party of the working man. Uncorrupted by politics, blessed with a remarkably good mind, and above Clintonian pettiness, Caroline will prove a remarkably fine Vice President.
Posted by: Liquidity | May 19, 2008 12:51 PM
If you don t want to vote for Barack Hussein Obama, don't vote for him but stop with your pathetic excuses . Nobody ask you to vote for this guy.
Posted by: bryan | May 19, 2008 12:50 PM
Col.Khajawhall, you were on a roll there for awhile, until, you said you were supporting Sen. Obama. What you need to do is find Monica's soiled dress and analyze it. Then let us knew if Monica was a swallower or a spitter.
Posted by: spotswood | May 19, 2008 12:50 PM
I think it's safe to say that the effectiveness of this board has been rendered pretty much useless by those Republicans pretending to be disgruntled Democrats.
It's obvious to anyone that this is what's happening here and typical of the sort of tactics that have been used by the GOP over the last eight years...
Just vote with your gut knowing that a vote for McCain will really be another four years of Bush. No one (not even Republicans) wants that.
America does need change. Obama will bring change and regardless of your opinion of him, how can he screw things up worse than Bush?
Posted by: pxmusanet | May 19, 2008 12:49 PM
Hillary folks, I understand your frustration, but if you want to be angry at a man, be angry at Bill, not Obama. If Bill could have resisted Monica Lewinsky, Hillary would be well positioned to take over from Gore right now, we never would have invaded Iraq, etc.
Bill, not Obama, injected race in this campaign in a way that I as a white southerner found offensive and he sent me to the Obama camp.
Hillary, not Obama or the media, hired and supervised a feuding campaign staff with conflicts of interest that ran out of money despite raising over $100M and issued five examples of her foreign policy experience which were unimpressive and 2 of which were misrepresented at a tiem when credibility was her weakpoint
Do Democratic feminists REALLY want McBush appointing federal judges for the next 4 years.
Posted by: Doublepops | May 19, 2008 12:48 PM
Well said and exactly right!
Posted by: C.R. | May 19, 2008 12:45 PM
Hillary's supporters treat the upcoming election as if it were third grade softball; if they can't make the rules, nobody can play. All these cleaver woman who say they will vote for Mcain, or write in Hillary's name can thank themselves when Mcain appoints TWO Supreme Court justices and abortion rights disappear, when health coverage is a thing of the past, when we lose another 4000 boys in the middle east, when virtually no one except the rich will be able to afford a home; all because another democrat had the audacity to assume that Hillary did not have a God given right to run America.
Posted by: robert | May 19, 2008 12:43 PM
I know Senator Clinton said we would come together. I cannot agree with that. I am a lifelong democrat who will not vote for Senator Obama because of the way Senator Clinton has been treated by the party. Many of us are going to vote for Senator McCain. She never stood a chance with the media and with the party. I have never voted for a republican.
Posted by: kt | May 19, 2008 12:41 PM
Imagine how it will be if Hillary supporters are seen/polled pushing McBush over the top.
You think there will be a Clinton machine in 2012?
Posted by: Mr Judgment | May 19, 2008 12:39 PM
I don't get it. What is this talk of "no real democrat would vote for a republican?" Have we really hit rock bottom --- where people vote their party instead of with their heads? I don't care who you vote for, but it scares me to think that some people have political allegiances so deep that they don't even at least entertain the idea of the other candidates.
I'm a republican. I believe in personal responsibility. And your responsibility is to vote as an american first --- party second. Both Hillary and Obama are wonderful candidates, and I truly can't understand the tone of so many of these messages. Personally, I want hillary to stay in as long as possible --- just as I wish the republican race was still going on. It's an amazing opportunity to learn more about these candidates and, if people don't fall in to the pits of fanaticism, it will be great for the country. And, if people do, then, well.... it's a shame... and it's our own fault as a populace not Cinton's or Obama'.
I'd also like to say that I will be proud to vote for Clinton, Obama, or McCain. I think they are all good candidates, and I have yet to decide which I would prefer. A lot of it might even come down to their choices for VP. What I do know, is that I will want as much information as possible before deciding.
A last note to those who feel like Obama "dissed" Clinton by going after McCain. Why shouldn't he? Shouldn't Clinton? We need a dialogue. We need to analyze and critique these people until we have a real solid base for a decision... not just a remote gut-feeling. This is not supposed to be a nice process, and so long as it remains as truthful as possible, more information and prodding can't do anything but help us make the right decision for our country. In this election, the problem isn't the candidates (they're all pretty fantastic), the problem is that we, as a people, don't have our eyes on the ball. We don't take our responsibility seriously. This is not a sporting event. We don't get any kind of "cred" for picking the winning horse. But we will benefit immensely by picking the right candidate.
Sorry for rambling, but I needed to say that.
Posted by: huh | May 19, 2008 12:37 PM
Imagine how it will be if Hillary supporters are push McBush over the top.
You think there will be a Clinton machine in 2012?
Posted by: Mr Judgment | May 19, 2008 12:37 PM
The media and race and outright jealousy for the Clintons will make healing extremely difficult after a nominee has been chosen by the democratic party. Media has all through the campaign, shown favoritism for Obama and blacks have biiten the finger that fed them. The superdelegates have no strong reason to support Obama except that another Clinton winning means a Bush/Clinton/Bush/Clinton. Democratic party failed to realised that Jeb Bush could have been running this time if his brother George has not screwed up things. For all those that think Hillary is desperate, have they ever thought that if she wants this so badly, that she could run in November under a different platform. Democrats are no winners at all.
Posted by: Anyi | May 19, 2008 12:36 PM
I am an American who lives in Australia and over the course of time have become disinterested in American politics. Most especially with the shenanigans of the last two administrations. (Yes, both Clinton and Bush). Neither did any good for America's "image" (what ever that is) internationally. And neither did any real good for the American people.
I am not here to vilify any candidate. I am not here to say this guy is better than this woman (heaven forbid I call her a gal). I have never been a racist nor a chauvinist. I was taught better by parents who saw the good in people and encouraged me to be the same. I review the merits of the man or woman - not what they wear or how they dance.
The caustic nature of the political "supporters" of any candidate is amplified by the media's desire to create sensationalism where there does not need to be any. In the long run what we all want is to be in peace and feel safe in our own homes. And to be able to afford to keep our homes.
I want to know the real issues. I could care less if someone wears a flag pin or not. I could care less what someone did 20 or 30 years ago. Or what their preacher said. BUT I do care about leadership, accountability, responsibility and integrity.
Public vetting is usually based upon someone's private agenda. No matter the cause there will always be someone who will find the black hole the pour the light. I research to learn what the man or woman behind the mask is all about. Some things make me shake my head in wonder.
I respected Hillary Clinton for a long time - most especially since I read her book. And felt it was my responsibility to give her a fair go. I read about her stand on issues and how she responded to questions on many topics. BUT I cannot support her Republican tactics in this primary process.
I listened to the impassioned arguments of Barack Obama and was moved to read his works, and write and ponder my personal passion of patriotism. Then I looked at who he is and who gives him guidance and it is the same people who guide the "leaders" of either party.
Then I read voting records and service of each of these two candidates and decided that both were experienced AND inexperienced. Both were far more qualified than Lincoln and I feel he was the finest President this country has ever had.
I served in Vietnam - twice. Air Sea Rescue. If I had to do it all over again, I am not sure I would. It was a pointless war designed to make a few men very wealthy. As is the current conflicts. Both!
This country has the most advanced military technology that has even been developed in history and yet we can not find a man hiding in a cave? We have yet to hold anyone truly accountable for our generations Pearl Harbour!
The current President doesn't see it as important anymore. And his presumably chosen successor just want to keep things as they are. And then I read and researched him and his wife and I KNEW they were not even on my long list - much less short list.
Our country is in a serious place - economically, spiritually, educationally, physically (health issues) and internationally and all the bloggers care about is who did not wear a pin!!!
My goodness people... do you not care about the Constitution? Or is it a worthless old piece of paper to you, too? Do you realise what Executive Orders have been signed in the last 16 years? Do you care? As long as March Madness and The Super Bowl are on TV!
I predict that McCain will be elected - not because he is the best man but because he is the best puppet. He can be trained on the spot to say the "right" thing.
Hillary is too ego invested to be the President. Obama is too green.
The only qualified individual to truly lead this country out of the black hole we are in is Ron Paul - but no one has paid attention because he is not a part of the insiders.
So, unfortunately, it truly does not matter who you vote for you will still get the Amero and there will still be wiretaps and you will lose any rights you have left because you have been hoodwinked again.
Posted by: MizuInOz | May 19, 2008 12:35 PM
To: DNC Members From: Informed Democrats Re: Understanding of Florida Primary Rule Violations Date: Today
Dear Governor Dean & Esteemed DNC Members,
STATEMENT OF UNDERSTANDING: As an informed Democrat, I am seeking to understand when will, we, Democratic voters see true equity in the Democratic Presidential Primary race?
RULES OF UNDERSTANDING: According to the rules of the Florida Democratic Presidential Primary, agreed to by all Democratic Presidential Primary candidates, no Democratic candidate was to advertise in Florida prior to the Florida primary.
FACTS OF UNDERSTANDING: Senator Barack Obama purchased national cable advertising and advertised HEAVILY in the State of Florida prior to the January presidential primary.
REQUEST OF OUTCOME BASED ON UNDERSTANDING: When will Senator Barack Obama and his campaign receive written (and publicized) notification he is; therefore, disqualified from receiving ANY of the delegates he and his campaign are seeking when Florida is ultimately seated, based on he and his campaign's failure to follow DNC rules?
EQUITY IN UNDERSTANDING: As a lifelong, Informed Democrat I know and understand you and the esteemed members of the DNC will do everything in your power to make an equitable decision in this matter, with liberty and justice for all.
THANK YOU FOR UNDERSTANDING INFORMED DEMOCRATS REQUEST: Thank you in advance for the time and attention you and the esteemed members of the DNC have and will give to this matter, because we know you and the members, hold that all men and women are related equal in DNC decision-making. Right?
Posted by: Informed Democrat | May 19, 2008 12:33 PM
I never heard anyone but the press talk about the division in the Democratic party until reading these blogs. After the final votes are counted and the press stops shoving the "division of the Democratic Party" in our face, Democrats like myself will only care about not having another Republican in the White House. McCain over either Hilary or Obama? Come now. Remember what President Bush said: "It is time to set aside the old partisain bickering and finger-pointing and name-calling that comes from freeing parents to make different choices for their children". Bush's statement about "Parental Empowerment in Education"; Washington, D.C.; 04/12/2001. :)
Posted by: Patti | May 19, 2008 12:33 PM
This is what you get when your political system is an institutionalized oligarchy...
Posted by: ImpiousOne | May 19, 2008 12:32 PM
Re: COL. [retd] A.M. Khajawall's list:
That's a very good list! I'm going to use it and write in Dr. Ron Paul's name come this election if Dr. Chuck Baldwin's name isn't offered in my state. Have to vote my conscience, no matter what.
Posted by: sgtaylor5 | May 19, 2008 12:32 PM
The main issue I have with Obama is rarely alluded to in these posts:
He simply has no background for the daunting job of President, United States, either in terms of having been an effective legislator or of having led a major organization (except his own presidential campaign, if he can be said to have led that).
His career as a state legislator was undistinguished; such a job would hardly qualify one for the presidency even if one's performance was superb.
He won his Senate primary against a damaged-goods opponent, and lucked into the Senate when he drew the raving, carpetbagging Alan Keyes as his GOP opponent.
Nor has he established a track record in his minimal time in the Senate: Instead, he has devoted his efforts to his race for the presidency almost since the moment he took office.
All that makes his long relationship with the Rev. Wright, a man whose church magazine gave its top award to Louis Farrakhan-- and Obama's tendentious efforts to explain away the connection -- strictly a secondary cause for concern, though still a real one.
An utter lack of demonstrable qualifications remains the main reason why I cannot vote for the man, eloquent though he undisputably is.
Posted by: Missing the Key Point | May 19, 2008 12:32 PM
Well, I am neither a Republican nor a Democrat. I'm not into parties, and voting in that manner. I vote for the person I like best regardless of party affiliation.
I listen, carefully, and I choose from what I hear who I think the best person for the job is.
That being said, I am not voting for either McCain or Obama come Feb. I do wish Clinton was going to be on the ballot, but I don't think she will be, shrug.
I admire her tenacity if nothing else, the fact that she just doesn't quit even when public opinion indicates she should. I think she'd be a good President, if she ever got the chance.
As for Barack Obama I have been listening, and I don't see much in the way of anything of substance there. I see a lot of arrogance at times, I see some barely hidden racism, and I see a politician who's just as into playing the game as any other, but who has somehow convinced himself that he's doing otherwise.
Barack Obama won't save this country and if you think thay he will be any different than any other politician that's been in that office before him than think again.
He's a snake oil salesman, pedaling the same old thing. He's just using a mantra of "change" to do it.
Unfortunately it's looking like he's going to have his shot. I suppose he's marginally better than McCain, but IMHO, not by much.
Take your eyes off the side show and LOOK to his record for the office he's in NOW. There's your answer about how good a President he will be.
See anything worth voting for?
I don't and I won't be voting for the guy unless he can convince me between now and Election Day that he's actually done something WORTH casting a vote for him.
I don't know who I will be voting for, honestly, I'll just have to wait and see what my options are in terms of independent candidates, I guess. But I won't vote for Barack Obama just because he's the "lesser of two evils" as it were. I couldn't respect myself later if I did.
I don't care who the most popular candidate is. I have to vote my conscience and pick the one who I think can DO the job.
Not at this time, in this place.
I'll be listening, till Election Day, but if he wants MY vote, well, he's going to have to work a LOT harder to get it, that's all I have to say.
Posted by: Alex | May 19, 2008 12:32 PM
As a "former Democrat" that extends to the 1936 election of FDR I can state, without reservation, that the Democrat Party has left me and my family, we have not left them.
As much as we would like to dismiss the obvious this is about race and gender. All one has to do is review the "so-called polls" and the breakdown of the voters. Blacks vote 90-93% for Obama and 60-70% of women vote for Clinton.
The Democrat Party is in a shambles of their own making and are destroying themselves by their ultra-left leaning constituency. Moderate and/or fiscally conservative Democrats have been left on the sideline with absolutely no representation. The Democrat Party is no longer democratic and is being dictated to by a fringe group that will only continue to do so unless saner heads prevail. For this election I sincerely believe they have forfeited it to the Republicans once again.
Posted by: dharper | May 19, 2008 12:32 PM
I can t believe what I am reading....Are you sure you democrats????? I do not thin obama supporters would say they will vote for Mc cain is he faily loses the nomination. But you guys to say that you vote for Mcain only because this guy is winning .why not blame your candidate ? Obama is not stealing the nomination he is winning . Hillary is not . Why are you so bitter? The rules are the rules. Now if you are a feminist or a natural just bitter person that is your problem. Open you eyes and start blaming your feminism Icone for the campaign she run. Stop posting stupid stuff like this guy is racist because of his pastor of because of his supporters. I really do think THE MORE A DEMOCRAT IS STUPID THE MORE HE THINKS OBAMA IS STEALING THIS NOMINATION.
Posted by: bryan | May 19, 2008 12:32 PM
Vote Obama.... YAY FOR SOCIALISM!
Posted by: Dick | May 19, 2008 12:31 PM
How about the real, substantive issues?
Hillary's campaign took a sudden and huge dive because she started focusing on divisive nonsense, and most Americans respond poorly to and are not fooled by the next generation of Swift Boater types. Right now, voters are hyper-aware of candidates veering intentionally from the real issues.
The "political advisers" who know how only to copy out of Rove's playbook are their own worst enemies. Football teams frequently change plays for a reason.
On the real issues that affect our country, McCain is to the right of Bush (very worrisome). I used to be a fan, though not a supporter of McCain, until I learned that he helped push though the bill that allows water-boarding, and he wants to bomb-bomb-bomb...bomb-bomb Iran. Anyone who even resembles Bush is wrong for this country. McCain's thinking is out-dated and based on fear. Sure, McCain has lots of experience - but he is experienced mostly at making bad decisions. Time to turn the page. Vote Obama.
Posted by: Brian | May 19, 2008 12:30 PM
Internet blogs can not be considered a good measure of truth. People are free to say what ever they want. Including McCain supporters posing as Clinton supports. Most Obama supports would vote for Hillary come November because she is closer on the issues than McCain is.
Posted by: Steven James | May 19, 2008 12:30 PM
Clinton supporters are very, very childish! Clinton supporters are very, very childish! Clinton supporters are very, very childish! Clinton supporters are very, very childish! Clinton supporters are very, very childish! Clinton supporters are very, very childish! Clinton supporters are very, very childish! Clinton supporters are very, very childish! Clinton supporters are very, very childish! Clinton supporters are very, very childish! Clinton supporters are very, very childish!
Posted by: Adam & Eve | May 19, 2008 12:29 PM
Stop the nonsense. Hillary tried. Bill tried. Obama is only half-white. We know what McCain offers. Obama is not bad and he will get my vote.
Posted by: DenisR | May 19, 2008 12:29 PM
Remember, people -- on the internet, no-one knows you're a dog. You can't draw *any* conclusions based on anonymous comments.
Posted by: doggie | May 19, 2008 12:29 PM
I can not understand why Hillary continues to run even though there is no way she can win. She is ultimately dividing the party and in an election year where the democratic party should easily win after 8 years of disastrous Republican Rule. Democrats keep doing what democrats do best - Running a race while shooting themselves in the foot. The DNC should do a better job of coordinating the party.
Posted by: David | May 19, 2008 12:28 PM
I am appalled that anyone could honestly believe that McCain would be better than Obama. It is dangerous to think that "with a majority of Democrats in Congress, McCain can't do much harm" as one person said.
Ladies and gentlemen, this is the kind of thinking that led Democrats and Independents to vote against John Kerry and for Nader. They knew that Nader had no chance at all, so they knew that they were giving the race to bush.
Think for just a moment where those four years have led us. Think about the hundreds of thousands of innocent Iraqis who died in those four years alone -- babies, pregnant women, grandparents,young men and old who had no political agenda. Think about how much of our tax money is down the drain forever and how huge the national debt is after huge surpluses in 2000. Think about the lies we swallowed from bush and condoleeza and tricky dicky, bald-faced lies. Think about going to war for oil and paying over $3.75/gal for gasoline.
I hope to high heaven that the comments posted here for McCain are indeed just from unethical republicans.
Posted by: Annie Oak | May 19, 2008 12:27 PM
If Ron Paul is still in the running up for president by the time all of this is said and done, I will vote for him, perhaps even writing his name in. This isn't about being black, female or really really old. This is about someone who can put this country back on its feet and stand up for the constitution. I am concerned with both Obama and Clinton (McCain is obvious) that all of these candidates will take the power and relish in it, versus doing the difficult thing, and putting country first.
I am a democrat and these are the things I care about: Getting us out of the war Reversing the decision (thanks to Bill C.) to allow media to merge Reversing cross-over of media print and radio ownership Getting the Justices in the Supreme Court that will support civil rights, womens' rights, and legalize marijuana
As for healthcare-- we need to reverse the massive cuts to Medicare and Me
|
Visit www.washingtonpost.com/.
| 10,027.5 | 0.5 | 0.5 |
high
|
low
|
abstractive
|
http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/martin_marty/2008/05/evangelicals_are_not_weird.html
|
https://web.archive.org/web/2008052019id_/http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/martin_marty/2008/05/evangelicals_are_not_weird.html
|
Evangelicals are Not Weird
|
2008052019
|
The Wall Street Journal on May 9 published an editorial by Wheaton College Professor Alan Jacobs (whom I misidentified as Peter Jacobs in a column May 12) that chided the authors of the Manifesto for not being aggressive enough. He decided that their main reason for writing came down to "Please don't call us fundamentalists or confuse us with them." He was critical because this approach "suggests a concern for labels and public perception that is not attractive in Christians." Virtually all Christian groups and scholars who write about them have been unattractive on these terms, and I'm being asked to be such by helping define and thus "label" evangelicals.
Professor Jacobs went on, "Besides, people who make the kinds of theological statements found in this document--for instance, "We believe that the only ground for our acceptance by God is our trust in Jesus Christ"--are going to be called fundamentalists no matter what they say."
There I would disagree with him. That chosen theological statement is made by leaders representing a billion Roman Catholics and hundreds of millions of Eastern Orthodox, Anglican, Lutheran, Protestant, and other labeled groups who never get called fundamentalist when they say it. But thanks to Jacobs and this Washington Post web log for asking us to take a fresh look at evangelicals and point to some of its features.
That's really hard. I remember reading a book review by a Puerto Rican Pentecostal pastor in New York of the finest American seminary history I've read, George Marsden's book on Fuller Theological Seminary, a purely evangelical place. As I took it, the reviewer was saying that every name in the Marsden index was evangelical and would consider the Pentecostal pastor an evangelical and everyone the Pentecostal hung out with consider all the Fuller people evangelical, and yet they seemed to have little common with each other, thanks to differing histories, cultures, and missions.
The most helpful, though not original, feature of the Manifesto is to show that the Evangelicals represented in it are more and other than scrubbed-up and toned-down ex-Fundamentalists. If not in this little Manifesto they had no space for it, in other writings many of them pay respects to the American fundamentalism (born around 1920) for having thrown blocks in the path of liberal Protestants, who were coming to dominate at least in elite Protestant worlds. But fundamentalism had a different agenda.
Also as I take it, these drafters and signers of a manifesto were pointing out that the version of evangelicalism that came to political prominence around 1976 or 1980 tended to be more fundamentalist and "hard-line" in theology and politics than evangelicalism had been or than many of them had never wanted it to be. As the hard-line coalition breaks down, sees its edges soften, and allows for diversity at its center, evangelicals will have to be busy showing what they are for.
While the drafters and all fair historians and lexicographers would point out, "evangelical" connects with the Christian gospel in all ages. Three times by my count their word became a party label. In the 16th century the Reformers--Luther, Calvin, the Anglicans, were called "evangelical" because they stressed the gospel of grace over against the legalism they perceived in Catholicism. The label stuck, and in some European nations Lutherans and Calvinists are still officially evangelical, and the church body to which i belong, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America is, well, evangelical (but never was 'fundamentalist', American style).
The second time around Evangelicals labeled themselves or were labeled thus because they were trying to revitalize their church on gospel themes, and carried them into the public and political worlds, notable through efforts to abolish slavery in England. They were also active in many progressive moral causes in America, though they sometimes got distracted and became specialists in reforming individuals who had fallen into vices.
The third time, in America post-1942/3, when they organized a National Association of Evangelicals they criticized the hardest-line fundamentalists, kept to their doctrines, but became 'Neo-Evangelicals." Think Billy Graham, who was converted by a fierce fundamentalist and spent his later life showing openness to many kinds of Christians and friendliness to those in other faiths--without compromising his own. The early stage was mainly "otherworldly," non- or anti-political, but after around 1980s many were organized into what became the Christian Right, which had a narrower agenda than the Manifesto writers appreciate.
Here are a few things I observe historians of evangelicalism stressing:
1. Always central is focus on Jesus Christ, affirming that the human Jesus, the rabbi of Nazareth, is also the ascended Lord. Unitarians respected Jesus but did not keep the Jesus-focus, and many liberal Protestants wavered or wandered or progressed beyond it.
2. Evangelicals have high views of biblical authority. In the fundamentalist and neo-evangelicals many attached this to a philosophical view which contended that there could be no "errors" in God's word. They disagreed with each other on many things that should have been agreeable-to in the inerrant Bible, but they agreed on its inerrancy. Today's evangelicals continue to have a high view of biblical authority, but many find the inerrancy approach confining and not true to the scriptural teaching itself.
3. The key theme of the "evangel" is God' grace, the call for faith, and not depending upon human "works" to please God.
4. Evangelicals stress a conversion experience--each believer certifies an experience or at least a process of turning, powered by the Holy Spirit.
5. Fundamentalists knew how the world would end, and wanted no one "Left Behind." Many evangelicals have apocalyptic views and all believe that the End of History is in God's hands, in Christ. But they don't hold to a single defining and confining literalism about the end.
6. And this is huge, and being recovered: evangelicals believed and believe that, after being "saved by grace through faith" they were and are to make faith active in love, through works of mercy and, though less clearly, works of justice. Today many new energies--including embrace of environmental and justice issues--moves evangelicals.
That's a short list, but I think I can find these wherever people call themselves evangelical or get called that.
For thirty of forty years they got called "righteous," "rightist," "fanatic" and other unflattering terms that are not at the heart and core of evangelicalism. To desert that part of their recent past does not make evangelicals wishy-washy. It means that they want to realign themselves with their classic priorities and be seen as attending to them.
|
On Faith is an innovative, provocative conversation on all aspects of religion with best selling author Jon Meacham of Newsweek and Sally Quinn of The Washington Post. Keep up-to-date on global religious developments with On Faith.
| 29.795455 | 0.590909 | 0.727273 |
medium
|
low
|
abstractive
|
http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/religionfromtheheart/2008/05/now_that_barack_obama_has.html
|
https://web.archive.org/web/2008052019id_/http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/religionfromtheheart/2008/05/now_that_barack_obama_has.html
|
Spare Us the "Conversation" on Race
|
2008052019
|
quoting "But the opposite fear has also emergedâthat of a divisive and potentially mean-spirited debate" This is the doctrine of the rove republicans, a man's wife is fair game. these are the hunters, the destroyers, mean-spirited, where women and children are subject to their will. we have seen it in the past, and the president's true heart was revealed, protect evil and condemn the righteous. I find it interesting the so-called christian right reguard kove and his doctrine as righteous. it is a reflection of who and what they truely are. "especially for people who purport to be promoters of family values, who claim that they are protectors of the values and ideals and the decency"
I have ventured amoung them are can honestly say there is nothing sacred to them. a man's wife, children, family, home, and friends. they will attempt to destroy everything to get their desired results. it is a revelation to what is in their heart, soul, and mind. they serve what they know, only evil. just as the president protected those who served him, they protected him.
"And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven."
"So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him"
"creature that hath life" "God created man in his own image"
"Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves."
"And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature."
"And the gospel must first be published among all nations."
"But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come."
Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things. Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves: Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever.
"corruptible man, birds, fourfooted beasts,and creeping things"
"Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves."
Quoting "Sen. Barack Obama ripped into a Republican ad today that targets comments made by his wife, Michelle, and called the GOP tactic "low class" and "detestable." "But I do want to say this to the GOP. If they think that they're going to try to make Michelle an issue in this campaign, they should be careful. Because that I find unacceptable," he said. Obama praised his wife's patriotism and said that for Republicans "to try to distort or to play snippets of her remarks in ways that are unflattering to her I think is just low class ... and especially for people who purport to be promoters of family values, who claim that they are protectors of the values and ideals and the decency of the American people to start attacking my wife in a political campaign I think is detestable."
|
On Faith is an innovative, provocative conversation on all aspects of religion with best selling author Jon Meacham of Newsweek and Sally Quinn of The Washington Post. Keep up-to-date on global religious developments with On Faith.
| 15.977273 | 0.340909 | 0.386364 |
medium
|
low
|
abstractive
|
http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/postglobal/needtoknow/2008/05/the_abcs_of_iraqi_education.html
|
https://web.archive.org/web/2008052019id_/http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/postglobal/needtoknow/2008/05/the_abcs_of_iraqi_education.html
|
PostGlobal: PostGlobal on washingtonpost.com
|
2008052019
|
SULAIMANI, IRAQ â In a compound guarded by gun-swinging, camo-clad Kurdish police, a small group of Iraqi students is trying to recreate the American college experience.
Iâm sitting in on classes at the American University of Iraq, which just this academic year opened its doors in a relatively calm corner of southeastern Iraqi Kurdistan, in the city of Sulaimani. For the first wave of undergrads, today is test day. The most advanced group at the university faces its first exam in introductory political science.
I glance at the test.
Question #3: Do you agree or disagree that Iraq in 2003 was a good candidate for successful democratic transition? Why or why not?
You get the sense the stakes here are higher than who makes honor roll.
The university, which students and staff know as AUI-Sulaimani or AUI-S, is the brainchild of Iraqâs deputy prime minister, Barham Salih. Funding flows primarily from the Kurdish regional government. The purpose of the place, the teachers say, isnât to teach any specific ideology, but to expose Iraqis to Western teachers and a Western classroom environment focused on critical thinking and academic inquiry. The word relativism pops up a lot. Often the teachers pose questions without clear answers.
This differs sharply with the existing academic model in Iraq, which focuses on rote memorization, particularly in English classes. âThey only teach you some rules, grammar rules, and you use it in the exam just to pass, not to learn English,â says Bayad Jamal, one of the students taking the political science exam. By contrast, Jamal says, the teachers at AUI-S âmake you think.â
The emergence of AUI-S and other like-minded schools in the Middle East presents a compelling policy opportunity the United States has yet to fully seize upon as it works to improve its image in the region. Thatâs a missed opportunity. A variety of factors, from the comparative weakness of local academic institutions, to a swelling Middle Eastern youth population, to the increasing difficulty of obtaining visas to study in the United States or Europe, make the moment particularly ripe for Washington to embrace pedagogical diplomacy.
A shift toward institutions styled after the U.S. liberal arts model is already afoot across the Middle East. The longtime standard-bearers, the American Universities of Beirut and Cairo, have recently been joined by newer institutions Jordan, Morocco, and two in the United Arab Emirates, in Sharjah and Dubai. A third UAE school is on the way: a joint venture in which New York University will essentially duplicate itself in the Abu Dhabi desert, with Emirates funding. Saudi Arabia recently took on a massive project to build a university fashioned after MIT, a little outside Jeddah. The schoolâs planners say Saudi religious police will be banned from the premises and that men and women will be permitted to study side by side. (Achieving this apparently required seeking direct funding from the national oil company, Aramco, and convincing King Abdullah himself to overrule the Saudi education ministry.)
The United States should embrace these projectsâand, in some instances, help support them financiallyânot out of charity so much as self-interest. To its credit, Congress apportioned a loan of a little more than $10 million to AUI-S, but it is notoriously hard to convince policymakers to invest more sizeable sums in soft-power initiatives like overseas education. Yet the arguments in favor of such funding are compelling, even in purely economic terms.
A more liberal educational model might not sway hard-line radicals, but it presents a way to connect with the broader Middle Eastern population, many parts of which resent Washington and express mixed feelings about militant Islam. Unlike the radicals, this group holds a stake in their regionâs economic future. And whatever else they think about the United States, for the most part they still equate American universities with opportunity.
If, by emulating a liberal arts model, Middle Eastern institutions can produce capable graduates ready for integration into the international workforce, they will help alleviate poverty, isolation, and other factors that lead young people into militancy. This in turn will facilitate increased oil production, particularly in Iraq, and will lower geopolitical risk assessments across the region, lifting a major anchor on Middle Eastern equity markets. The economic benefits of such a blossoming would reach well beyond the region itself, and certainly would be felt in the United States.
The private sector can also capitalize on the popularity of U.S.-styled academic institutions. Energy companies in the United States bemoan a dearth of qualified petrochemical engineers. By recognizing the mutual gains to be had from building academic institutions, particularly in Arabic-speaking countries, they can help solve this problem. One of the primary long-term goals of the Saudi and Iraq universities is to help fill the engineering gap. Saudi Aramco has taken notice. Will Exxon?
Finally, on the most basic level, the presence of western faculty in the Middle East provides an aspect of human interaction that should not be discounted. On my flight out of Sulaimani, I sat next to a British engineering contractor who told me about the âbubble formationâ in which he and his security detail drive around Iraq. They never stop for checkpoints, he says, because they donât know whom to trust. If an Iraqi officer tries to stop the convoy with force, they will open fire and drive straight through. Being hesitant to stop at a strange checkpoint is perfectly understandable. But so, too, is the kind of bitter sentiment that such a âbubbleâ mentality can spawn.
Education alone canât pop that bubble; AUI-S is still tiny, and prohibitively expense for most students. Nor will educational diplomacy succeed, period, unless it comes alongside material improvements in infrastructure and security. Yet for all the caveats, itâs still well worth noticing the efforts currently underway in these classrooms in northern Iraq.
Lee Hudson Teslik is assistant editor for CFR.org at the Council on Foreign Relations.
|
Need to Know - PostGlobal on PostGlobal; blog of politics and current events on washingtonpost.com. Visit http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/postglobal/needtoknow/
| 60.631579 | 0.473684 | 0.473684 |
high
|
low
|
abstractive
|
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/16/AR2008051600316.html
|
https://web.archive.org/web/2008052019id_/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/16/AR2008051600316.html
|
The Problem Next Door
|
2008052019
|
Chuck Rattmann paid little attention to the cars parked in his neighbor's yard, the numerous old lawn mowers and the unkempt look of the place -- until he tried to sell his Woodbridge house.
Potential buyers balked at what they saw next door, Rattmann said, prompting him to tentatively air his concerns in a casual face-to-face chat with his longtime neighbor.
"The lawn is now cut, and two cars have been removed," Rattmann said. "It's starting to look better. It needs more help, but the guy's headed in the right direction."
The potential for conflicts between neighbors can deepen during a housing slump like this one. Homeowners worried about their property values are prone to get more agitated more quickly about smaller things. Add to that today's mounting economic worries, and the likelihood for disputes grows because people have fewer financial or emotional reserves to tap.
At county government offices, complaints are piling up in areas hard hit by foreclosures and plummeting home prices. In Prince William County, for instance, the number of "tall grass" cases has soared to 450 this month from 80 this time last year. In certain regions, the rancor is obvious on neighborhood e-mail lists and Web sites such as RottenNeighbor.com, a search engine that allows users to post comments about homeowners anonymously.
"As the economy has gotten worse, the number of problems between neighbors seems to be increasing, and the size of what rises to the level of a problem seems to be decreasing," said Daniel R. Burk, a mediator and founder of Resolution Point in Great Falls. "People get less flexible as they get more stressed."
In these high-pressure times, it becomes more critical than usual to tactfully raise your concerns with a neighbor and to enlist the help of others. You may choose to file an anonymous complaint with county zoning officials, work with a trained mediator, speak to a lawyer about your options or file a lawsuit.
Whatever route you take, conflict-resolution experts recommend trying the old "sleep on it" method before acting.
If it doesn't, then it's time to pinpoint what is bothering you, what you want to achieve and how to engage the other person in a way that motivates him or her to work toward that outcome -- all of which should be done before you confront the neighbor, Burk said.
"The one person you need to convince about the benefits of this outcome is the person on the other side," Burk said. "They are least likely to be convinced if they have been trashed directly or indirectly."
That means you should avoid gossiping about them to other neighbors. Resist blame words such as "why" (as in, "Why is your dog digging in my yard?"), and try phrases such as "I feel" and "My intention is . . . ."
|
Chuck Rattmann paid little attention to the cars parked in his neighbor's yard, the numerous old lawn mowers and the unkempt look of the place -- until he tried to sell his Woodbridge house.
| 15.405405 | 1 | 37 |
low
|
high
|
extractive
|
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/18/AR2008051802193.html
|
https://web.archive.org/web/2008052019id_/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/18/AR2008051802193.html
|
Clinton-Obama Grudges Linger For Some Voters
|
2008052019
|
"There's just been an attitude that if you aren't voting for Barack Obama, then you're a racist," said Cowley, 49, a mother of four from Massachusetts who has vowed to never back the senator from Illinois. "I just find that intolerable. I feel like when the members of the media talk about how [Obama's supporters] would react, they say, 'Well, we can't take the vote away from African Americans.' Well, excuse me, there's a higher percentage of women."
A Democratic race that a couple of months ago was celebrated as a march toward history -- the chance to nominate the nation's first woman or African American as a major-party candidate -- threatens to leave lingering bitterness, especially among Clinton supporters, whose candidate is running out of ways to win.
Some women, like Cowley, complain that Clinton has been disrespected and mistreated by the media and the political establishment. Many see Obama as equally condescending, dismissing Clinton's foreign policy role as first lady, pulling out her chair for her at debates and suggesting offhand during one debate that she was "likable enough."
"The sexist crap that comes out of people's mouths is really scary to me," said Amilyn Lanning, 38, a Zionsville, Pa., voter who supported Clinton in last month's primary. "There's a lot of the b-word being thrown about, even in jest by comedians. There's a lot of comments made about her pantsuits, and the way she dresses. There's a viciousness."
With equal ire, many African Americans complain about Clinton's negativity and have accused her camp of using Obama's race against him. Her comment that his "support among working, hardworking Americans, white Americans, is weakening again" was just the latest in a series of over-the-line comments, some said.
And many among the legions of young voters who have flocked to Obama say their enthusiasm is more about him than about the Democratic Party and it would not necessarily transfer to Clinton if she won the nomination. In Indiana, about six in 10 Obama voters under age 30 said they will be dissatisfied if Clinton is the nominee and about half said the same in North Carolina, according to exit polls.
Nationally, about a quarter of Clinton supporters in a Washington Post-ABC News poll said that if she loses they will ditch the Democratic Party and Obama for Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.). A similar number of Obama backers said they will pick the Republican this fall if Clinton becomes the nominee. In both Indiana and North Carolina, majorities of African American voters said they will be unhappy if Clinton is at the top of the ticket.
Acutely aware of these dynamics, the campaigns have sought to balance tactics against tact, so that the rift between the two Democrats -- and their backers -- doesn't grow so wide that the winner can't pull the party back together. Since the May 6 contests in Indiana and North Carolina, Obama has tried to ease much of the animosity by turning his attention to McCain, highlighting differences with Clinton only in response to voters or the news media. Clinton has also shifted some of her strategy, running positive ads in West Virginia rather than the negative ones she aired in previous states.
Put together, Clinton's coalition of women and working-class white voters along with Obama's alliance of African Americans and young voters could be a potentially unstoppable Democratic force in the fall. But, at least for now, many on both sides said they have been too put off and have become too embittered to pull together for the party if their candidate isn't on the ballot.
To Veronica Tonay, 48, a psychology professor at the University of California at Santa Cruz and a Clinton supporter, Obama has become a pop star, the contestant on "American Idol" who wins votes because he's cute, while the best singer is eliminated.
"We are electing the leader of the free world, and that person has a finger on the nuclear launch code," she said. "It's not about likability." Her stance was cemented when a young woman in one of her classes declared that she wouldn't vote for Clinton because "she is not a beautiful woman."
If Obama is the nominee, Tonay said, McCain will be just fine with her. "In the end, I won't vote for Obama because I don't know who he is, and I don't trust him," she said. "If McCain gets in, he would have a weak presidency, and we would have a Democratic Congress anyway. Obama could do more damage."
Divisive primary fights followed by a period of kissing and making up are something of a ritual in presidential campaigns. It happened in 1860, when Abraham Lincoln brought his three challengers for the Republican nomination into his Cabinet. One hundred years later, John F. Kennedy won the Democratic nomination and avoided an intraparty feud by picking Lyndon B. Johnson as his running mate, though in the late stages of the primaries they had been fierce rivals.
In this year's Republican race, former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney became an active supporter of McCain after the two campaigned against each other with open antipathy. Romney is now thought to have an outside chance of being McCain's running mate.
But the Obama-Clinton fight has gone on so long and the ill will has become so intense that even if the candidates can heal the party, as both have vowed to do, they will have to spend critical campaign time dealing with those wounds rather than taking on McCain.
"You can't afford to leak away all of these Democrats come November," said David Paleologos, director of the Suffolk University Political Research Center in Boston. The Democratic nominee "will have to spend weeks solidifying the base," he said. ". . . Now you're cutting into the time you have to begin making the case to independents, because first you've got to take care of business at home."
Patricia Sparrow, 53, said there's nothing Clinton could do to win her over. She changed her registration from Republican to Democrat this year to cast her ballot for Obama after her son started talking about him. But she said a Clinton-McCain matchup in November would send her back to her old party -- even though she disagrees with McCain's position on Iraq -- because she finds Clinton so divisive.
"With Hillary Clinton, it's politics as usual -- old-school backbiting. I have no use for [her]," said Sparrow, who runs a soup kitchen near her home in Norfolk, Mass. "I would probably vote for McCain even though I don't want to. . . . I would hope he would be swayed by public opinion on the war."
There may not be enough time to win over Cowley, who calls Clinton "brilliant" and has spent two hours a day for the last three months calling voters to talk about Clinton's health-care plan, her experience and her plan to end the war in Iraq.
"In my heart I just can't bring myself to [vote for Obama], and I feel like a schlep," she said. "I'm not going to be voting for him, and it irritates me. Nobody's concerned about the women. I don't think I can vote for McCain. I guess I'll have to sit it out."
Polling director Jon Cohen contributed to this report.
|
Lifelong Democrat Kathleen Cowley watches with disdain as huge crowds hang on Sen. Barack Obama's every word. She dismisses Obama's "intolerable logic." She turns the channel on pundits who chalk up Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's primary victories to little more than racism. And she doesn't much care...
| 25.964912 | 0.666667 | 0.877193 |
medium
|
low
|
abstractive
|
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/18/AR2008051801765.html
|
https://web.archive.org/web/2008052019id_/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/18/AR2008051801765.html
|
The Magic Ingredient: Party Unity
|
2008052019
|
Hillary Rodham Clinton has half a dozen good reasons she thinks she is the best Democratic candidate for president. They are called Pennsylvania and Ohio, Arkansas and Nevada, New Jersey and New Mexico -- states she has won in the Democratic primary contest.
"The bottom line is this," Clinton said last week, after winning a landslide victory in the West Virginia primary. "The White House is won in the swing states, and I am winning the swing states."
Barack Obama has half a dozen reasons he thinks he is best suited to take the fight to John McCain, the presumptive Republican nominee: They are called Louisiana and Mississippi, South Carolina and Texas, Colorado and Kansas -- traditionally Republican states where the senator from Illinois won Democratic primaries -- evidence, his supporters believe, of his crossover appeal to independents and Republicans.
There is an obvious fallacy in extrapolating primary results to the general election. Voters in a primary are mostly from the candidates' own party, whereas voters in the general election include voters from the other party. Empirical evidence on whether primaries predict general-election performance is sparse, but there is one notable exception: A political scientist at Stony Brook University in New York has found an intriguing connection between performance in the New Hampshire primary and in the general election.
Helmut Norpoth said his model can correctly identify the winner of the popular vote in every election since 1952, with the sole exception of John F. Kennedy's narrow victory over Richard Nixon in 1960.
The model should interest Democratic superdelegates weighing the choice between Clinton and Obama, because it is based neither on opinion polls that ask voters about hypothetical matchups between McCain and the Democratic candidates nor on general trends such as the state of the economy and whether Americans think their country is headed in the right direction.
Norpoth's model is unusual for several reasons. How can the views of partisans in any state, especially one as small as New Hampshire, say very much about the views of the country as a whole? Second, while New Hampshire's first-in-the-nation primary has long been known to play a powerful role in deciding the eventual Democratic and Republican nominee, Norpoth isn't particularly interested in whether a candidate wins the primary. Many politicians -- Bill Clinton in 1992 -- have lost the New Hampshire primary but gone on to win the White House.
What Norpoth cares about is the proportion of the vote a candidate wins in New Hampshire, relative to his or her strongest competitor. This number is not just a measure of individual popularity but also a reflection of how united a party is going into an election year. Norpoth thinks New Hampshire's results are potent because the state has many independents, and candidates who do well there are likely to appeal to independents in the general election.
In this year's New Hampshire primaries, Hillary Clinton won 39.1 percent of the Democratic vote, while Obama won 36.5 percent. Together, they won 75.6 percent of the overall Democratic vote. On the GOP side, presumptive nominee John McCain won 37.1 percent and his nearest competitor, Mitt Romney, won 31.6 percent. Together they won only 68.7 percent of the overall GOP vote -- the lower combined number suggests the GOP was less united at the time.
For Obama, the magic number produced by the model is 48 (36.5 divided by 75.6), while Clinton scores 52 (39.1 divided by 75.6). McCain scores 54 (37.1 divided by 68.7).
Norpoth's model shows that over the past several decades, successful presidential candidates from the party incumbent in the White House -- in this year, the GOP -- need a score of at least 56. Successful candidates from the opposition party need to cross 47.
Both Obama and Clinton, in other words, are above the threshold for victory predicted by the model, while McCain falls below.
"I think either Clinton or Obama is likely to beat McCain," Norpoth said, as he explained how his model also takes into account cyclical trends. When both the Democratic and Republican nominees make it above the model's threshold -- as happened in 2004 -- or fall below the threshold -- as happened in 2000 -- Norpoth takes other factors into account to break the tie.
"Obama wins by a hair -- 50.1 versus 49.9," Norpoth predicted about this year's election. "With Clinton, she does a little better -- 50.5 percent against 49.5 percent."
James E. Campbell, a political scientist at the University of Buffalo and the author of "The American Campaign," praised Norpoth's insight that early party unity can be a useful predictor of general-election performance. But he argued that the 2008 election might reveal the potential flaw in the model: The unusual primary season this year has left Democrats much less united now than they were during the New Hampshire race, and Republicans much more united.
"There is a lot of animosity that has been created over these last few months, and both Obama and Clinton are drawing from distinctive segments of the party, so it is unclear if the hard feelings can be set aside at the voter level," he said. "There are going to be a lot of women upset if Obama is the candidate, and the same will be true of black voters if Obama is not the nominee. That is going to make healing the party's wounds difficult."
|
Hillary Rodham Clinton has half a dozen good reasons she thinks she is the best Democratic candidate for president. They are called Pennsylvania and Ohio, Arkansas and Nevada, New Jersey and New Mexico -- states she has won in the Democratic primary contest.
| 22.148936 | 1 | 47 |
medium
|
high
|
extractive
|
http://blog.washingtonpost.com/capitol-briefing/2008/05/for_obama_byrd_in_hand.html
|
https://web.archive.org/web/2008052019id_/http://blog.washingtonpost.com/capitol-briefing/2008/05/for_obama_byrd_in_hand.html
|
For Obama, Byrd in Hand
|
2008052019
|
Sen. Robert Byrd (D-W.Va.) endorsed Sen. Barack Obama (Ill.) for the Democratic presidential nomination today, calling Obama "a shining young statesman, who possesses the personal temperament and courage necessary to extricate our country from this costly misadventure in Iraq."
In addition to fueling Obama's momentum, this is primarily interesting for two reasons:
1) Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.) beat Obama in West Virginia just last week by a whopping 41 points. Some superdelegates who were on the sidelines made a point of saying they would respect the choice of their constituents. Byrd, obviously, went the other way. He's 90 years old and not on the ballot again until 2012, so there wasn't much for him to lose here anyway.
2) Byrd has in recent months battled speculation that he's no longer capable of doing his job as Senate Appropriations Committee chairman because of his age and ongoing health problems. In addition to getting back in the news with this endorsement, Byrd will also see his handiwork -- the Iraq supplemental bill -- on the Senate floor this week. The nonagenarian handled the committee's markup of the bill himself last week. Will he play a big role in shepherding the bill on the floor? Or will another member of the Appropriations panel shoulder the load? Either way, it's shaping up to be a momentous week for the West Virginian.
By Ben Pershing | May 19, 2008; 2:22 PM ET 2008 Campaign , Senate Previous: The Week Ahead: Scramble Before the Break | Next: Boehner, Cole Both 'Staying'
No doubt the spin-meisters in the Clinton campaign will claim that Byrd's endorsement of Obama is actually a victory for the lady! Her campaign has long been scripted by an intellectual descendent of Lewis Carroll.
Posted by: casandra1 | May 19, 2008 2:48 PM
With Sen. Byrd's endorsement, Sen. Obama's campaign has come full circle for obvious historical reasons. Thank you Sen. Byrd.
Posted by: ovwong | May 19, 2008 2:49 PM
Our Great-grand Nation, the United States of America is facing and will face very critical and substantial "Challenges" in coming, months, years, and decades to come.
It is very essential that we pick out our next President keeping in mind the following criteria.
1. A candidate who has a clear and candid " Vision and Mission" for our Nation.
2. A candidate with " Strong Character and Stable Integrity" in-spite of adversity during primary election process.
3. A candidate with sound and sustained "Presidential Temperament" and " Judgment".
4. A candidate with little "Washington exposure" and "real connectedness with people and future generation".
5. A candidate who "Inspires us up" rather than "Tears us Down".
6. A candidate not based on sexism, racism,regionalism,and ageism.
In my professional, political and personal opinion, the only candidate who meets the all above characteristics and has shown constant and consistent coolness, calmness, and connectedness { PRESIDENTIAL TEMPERAMENT } is Senator Barrack Obama.
As an independent registered voter since 1980. I voted for Carter, voted for Reagan, voted for First Bush, and second Bush in 2000 and In the process last interest in Washington politics and I stopped voting. Getting disinterested and disgusted in our political process and stopping voting that was a bad decision in any circumstance, particularly under present circumstances.
This time we can not afford to stay on side lines and let "Washington" stay the same.We can not afford our Greatgreat Nation to become less than what we are, what we were and what we can be?
We need to send clear, careful and candid message to the world and some time 24 hour partisan hateful media to set the agenda for our future.
These partisan media outlets are trying to deprive, dupe, and derail us and our Nation getting it right this time.
These partisan media and pundits are trying their best to deny us better future and continue focus our weaknesses and generate bitter future for us and our Greatgrand Nation. { Our Greatgrand Nations people are persistently and constantly subjected to this Psychological Terrorism" without our knowledge. The common and regular people do not have time to see thru and sort thru this psychological terrorism perpetuated by these partisan media outlets.
We the Americans should not and would not to allow these partisan media outlets psychologically terrorized, traumatized and silence us this time and any time in future. I am sure that we will get it right this time and elect Senator Obama our next President.
Let us remember that our Greatgrand is constituted of family, friends,fellowships, faith, funds,foundation, fun, and future with fairness and freedom and without fear or favor.
We can not afford to lose any of above. Let us stand up, be counted, save, build our Greatgrand Nation for centuries to come and regain our world economic, moral, and power status back.
God Bless our Great grand Nation and its diverse people.
Our Greatgrand nation needs present and future stability, security, safety,sustained progress and restoration of our due status in this perilous Global World at the all levels.
COL.[retd] A.M.Khajawall M.D. Forensic Psychiatrist. Disables American Veteran. Las Vegas Nevada. Cell: 951-505-6975
Posted by: COl. [retd] A.M.Khajawall MD | May 19, 2008 2:52 PM
I admire the integrity of Senator Byrd. He spoke against rushing to war, and votes his conscience now (regardless of the way his state voted), as he should. Obama is going to win the nomination. Now is the time for Obama supporters to show respect to the Clinton team. No one is stealing the race from Clinton, and if the reverse happened and Clinton got the nomination, no one would have stolen it from Obama. Both are terrific candidates, both deserving to win. Unfortunately, only one will. Hillary deserves your admiration.
Posted by: Gene Smith | May 19, 2008 3:09 PM
Senator Byrd is sucking up so he can keep all of his precious ear-marks. He saw all those taxpayer $$$$ going away because his state is full of rednecks.
Posted by: Anonymous | May 19, 2008 3:10 PM
Did anyone really expect him to endorse a woman?
Posted by: Elinda | May 19, 2008 3:12 PM
Truly noteworthy. A former KKK leader in a state still stuck in time, as it pertains to race relations. This is significant and historic.
Posted by: tydicea | May 19, 2008 3:13 PM
Posted by: Chip | May 19, 2008 3:16 PM
SEN. BYRD'S ENDORSEMENT IS SEN. OBAMA MOST WINNING VICTORY IN HIS CANDIDACY BECAUSE SEN. BYRD'S POSITION AND BACKGROUND. ESPECIALLY AFTER SEN. OBAMA LOST BIG MARGIN IN WV.
(SEN. KENNEDY IS FROM A DEMOCRACTIC FAMILY IN FAVOR OF CIVIL RIGHT MOVEMENT AND HELPED THE PROCESS.)
Posted by: Judy | May 19, 2008 3:17 PM
Hey, A.M.Khajawall... I agree with you and all, but... do you know how few people actually read the long-long copy-and-paste posts like yours? Uhm, nobody. Couldja tone it down a tad? Yay Obama, and all that, sure.
Posted by: Gene | May 19, 2008 3:25 PM
Senator Byrd, thank you for making this historic and principled choice. The times, they are a'changing!
Posted by: Black and Bitter like Coffee | May 19, 2008 3:27 PM
After hearing the racist remarks from the Hillary supporters in WVa last week, it is good to hear that Byrd is not swayed by such illogical, stupid, hatred!
Posted by: Limey | May 19, 2008 3:28 PM
He is such a wonderful man. HE and he alone makes me proud to be a West Virginian. His integrity and strength as a leader is truly unique and hard to find these days. GOD BLESS YOU, Mr. Byrd!!!!!
Posted by: Pam | May 19, 2008 3:30 PM
God bless him! Obama had some interesting comments on him in the Audacity of Hope!
Yes We/He Can!! Senior Women for Obama
Posted by: Paulet | May 19, 2008 3:35 PM
Yet another nail in the coffin of the Democratic Party. Who knew Byrd was still alive?
Posted by: FDR | May 19, 2008 3:37 PM
Byrd is still going to hell for being a Klansman.
Posted by: Chief Two Dogs | May 19, 2008 3:37 PM
byrd for Obama -- this is another strong reason for NObama. With the Rev Wright and KKK Byrd in your camp, who needs enemies.
Posted by: yikes | May 19, 2008 3:38 PM
A.M.Khajawall... I agree with you. thank you for saying it so heart felt.
Posted by: theteach | May 19, 2008 3:39 PM
Posted by: ericmiami | May 19, 2008 3:39 PM
The old bird . . . uh, Byrd . . . surely must be set to retire. Why else would he so easily abandon the voters in my state who put him in the Senate. We made clear we prefer Clinton and he couldn't care less. I guess he's done with us, so why not grab a few headlines before heading to the rest home. Shameful.
Posted by: WV-DC | May 19, 2008 3:41 PM
I'm for Obama, but I never trusted Byrd. He'd do anything to steal as much tax revenue as he could for his bass-ackward state. We should kick WVA out of the Union.
Posted by: melanie | May 19, 2008 3:42 PM
Amazing. From a former Mountaineer... Thank you, Senator Byrd.
Posted by: cynthia g | May 19, 2008 3:45 PM
And to "Limey," as I've said before it is not because Obama is black that I'm not supporting him; it is because he is green (as in wet behind the ears). Once again West Virginia is the victim of shallow and stereotypical characterization by the media.
Posted by: WV-DC | May 19, 2008 3:49 PM
It will be the greatest tragedy for our nation if Hillary does not shut up and make room for a Democrat to become president. She wants McCain to win because then she can go for 2012, it is so obvious and sickening--the Clinton trademark. I am a older white woman and would vote for her if I thought she was anything but a disturber---but we need Obama to try and fix our country and refind our way in the world.
Posted by: jan | May 19, 2008 3:50 PM
Is West Virginia the most uneducated, backwards, and mean spirited state in the country?? Of course it is.
However, this isn't about how horrible and embarrassing the people of West Virginia are. It's about a significant endorsement, in both a historic and symbolic sense. It's also about a senator looking after long term interests within his own state.
I do indeed believe this particular endorsement is newsworthy. I voted for Bush twice, but for me to vote for McCain he'd have to lay out exactly who his economic advisors are, and I'd have to fully respect their long range monetary policies ahead of time. This may well be Obama's race to lose...
Posted by: John B. | May 19, 2008 3:51 PM
Posted by: James | May 19, 2008 3:51 PM
Why is this guy not listening to the voting public of his home state?
WV voters take note, remove this guy in the next election...
Posted by: Obvious | May 19, 2008 3:57 PM
Sen. Byrds endorsement gives me hope that every bitter avowed racist can be reformed and do what is right for their country. This is what the American dream is all about, now if you other people in west va would follow your estemmeed leader and act like Americans, we could advance King's dream of a society where people are judged on character and not color. In a contest based on character, the Clinton's would not even be allowed to run.
Posted by: chrisc | May 19, 2008 3:58 PM
Say no to Osama! Obama! And Chelsea's momma!
Posted by: greattshirt | May 19, 2008 3:58 PM
In a contest based on experience, Barack Hussein Obama would not be allowed to run...
Posted by: Obvious | May 19, 2008 4:01 PM
Jan, if you and the other Obama supports can't understand that if Obama wins the nomination he will need Hillary Clinton's supporters to win the election you aren't doing your candidate a favor.
More comments like yours will ensure that Clinton supporters stay home or vote for McCain and that will be a sad day for the Democrats.
It is tiring to see the hatred continue to spew from Obama supporters like Jan. Let us understand that Hillary Clinton has had more people mark a ballot for her than any previous primary candidate in history. I am not saying that the Florida or Michigan ballots will count to the nomination but the fact is those people voted and they voted for Hillary.
So it is time to cut the venom if you want Obama to have a chance of winning in November. Time to stop calling the Clintons and their supporters racists and time to stop making yourselves look bad by spewing these noxious fumes.
I am a Clinton supporter who intends to vote for Obama if he is the candidate, but keep it up and even I may change my mind.
Posted by: peter | May 19, 2008 4:02 PM
You should be wholly ashamed - you're lucky you can hide behind an e-mail. No matter who one is for in this next presidential presidential race, to make a comment comparing any of the candidates to Bin Laden - shows your an idiot!!
This is America - freedom of speech. It's ashamed we have to have idiots like you. Maybe you should go hide away with George W. after he decends into the dregs of long lost history.
Posted by: Sam G. | May 19, 2008 4:06 PM
Hold on, Hillary still has a chance!
About the same odds as a three-legged horse winning the Triple-Crown; not entirely impossible! lol
Posted by: Bob | May 19, 2008 4:10 PM
In terms of a national leader, give me character over experience any day. dExperience can be acquired on the job as in every other profession, but you either have character or you don't, as was proven by the current administration. We had two presidents in the 20th century who were Obama's age, John Kennedy and Bill Clinton. Despite the short time of his presidency Kennedy did relatively well and inspired a whole generation. The only thing that detracts from Bill Clinton is the continuous scandals that plagued his administration and his wife. Those trying to use age and experience as a litmus test for Obama's viability, come again. Say what you really mean.
Posted by: str8talk | May 19, 2008 4:13 PM
The most admirable qualities I saw in both Malcolm X and Bibby Kennedy was their ability to recognize their flaws and fix them. Malcolm X evolved from the "whites are the devil" NOI spokesman to become a universalist, and Bobby Kennedy changed from the hateful, defeat-your-enemies-at-all costs Hillary Clinton prototype into a caring, thoughtful human being.
Robert Byrd has also made that journey. I always remebered him for the Klansman that he was. But he's gone 180 degrees. His endorsement of Obama is proof of that. (Maybe Clinton's hardowking white people remark reminded him of the bigot he USED to be, and he decided, those days are past, and deservedly so. Sad days indeed when the Senator from New York is the race-baiter, and the Senator from West Virginia is the conciliator. Or maybe -- like everyone else who actually has met and worked with Sen. Obama -- he's come to know him as a thoroughly decent human being, something that no one outside of the Clinton family has said about Hillary.)
If you want people to change, to improve themselves, you need to give recognition and praise when they do that. So I commend Sen. Byrd for his journey from bigotry and racism. I hope many of the posters who still think it funny or otherwise personally satisfying to engage in hate will someday see the light. Life is like a buffet; if you restrict your choices to the familiar, you'll miss out on some tasty experiences.
Posted by: gbooksdc | May 19, 2008 4:16 PM
He IS a shining young statesman. He is luminous and lovely and full of excellence. He is a gift to the times which means we need to step up and deliver on his promises. We need to be that good. We need to transcend some of our unconsciousness and darkness of times past. Really speaking, that's what inspired leadership is for.
Posted by: Gaias Child | May 19, 2008 4:22 PM
Alleged Clinton supporters who say they'll vote for McCain are not Democratic Party people. Don't let the door hit them in the butt on the way out, they'll need to take all their hate with them.
Posted by: Luke | May 19, 2008 4:24 PM
Alleged Clinton supporters who say they'll vote for McCain are not Democratic Party people. Don't let the door hit them in the butt on the way out, they'll need to take all their hate with them.
Posted by: Luke | May 19, 2008 4:24 PM
Alleged Clinton supporters who say they'll vote for McCain are not Democratic Party people. Don't let the door hit them in the butt on the way out, they'll need to take all their hate with them.
Posted by: Luke | May 19, 2008 4:24 PM
What I really mean is, I don't want an inexperienced child running my country.
Children and 9th district leaning kooks aren't going to elect the next leader, Reagan democrats are. Heck, even McCain is more centrist than him.
Keep your racially probing comments to yourself, I could be purple with stripes for all you know.
Posted by: Obvious | May 19, 2008 4:27 PM
I love Bird. wish the country listened to him before Irag.
Thanks for Supporting OBAMA 115 to 2025 Delegates and Nomintation
Posted by: BIRD LOVER | May 19, 2008 4:36 PM
Finally, the closing act of the Obama-Mama-Drama!
Now sashay on back to NY Hillary; time to catch-up on your conning there!
Posted by: Bob | May 19, 2008 4:38 PM
Just last week, after the WVa primary, many Obamba supporters here were quite happy to excuse Hillary's win by bringing up Sen. Byrd in a derogatory manner, of course bringing up his past KKK association.
I suppose you'll now be calling on your candidate to reject Byrd's endorsement, right?
Posted by: hitpoints | May 19, 2008 4:41 PM
Byrd died several years ago. Its a modern day "Weekend at Bernies". Byrd was a klan member. If he were alive, he would never endorse Obama.
Posted by: Big Jake | May 19, 2008 4:44 PM
Hmm... Senator Byrd chooses Obama. Seems like a lot of older guys have endorsed Obama. Young ones too, but quite a few old guys.
So why do so many freepers talk about Obama not being ready? What do these truck drivers and hog farmers know that Senator Byrd, Kennedy, etc. etc. don't know?
Posted by: Martiniano | May 19, 2008 4:44 PM
Obvious - what are you trying to say? Are you confused? Lost? Do you know what year it is? I hope your family finds you and leads you home.
Your days are over. McSame will not be elected. Obama will be the next president unless you and your kind murder him - in God's name no doubt.
Posted by: Michael | May 19, 2008 4:48 PM
Senator Byrd's endorsement of Obama is not a surprise. Given his stand in 2003 against the invasion of Iraq he could hardly have endorsed warmongering Hillary.
Posted by: Mike | May 19, 2008 4:55 PM
No way Byrd would have endoresed a woman.
On the other had, a notable choice considering his past.
I'm sure the Clinton campaign will claim that they actually recieved Byrd's endorsement; if you play the record backwards, then translate into French, Byrd appears to indicate an endorsement for Sen. Clinton. So there, the race isn't over yet!
Posted by: Tim | May 19, 2008 4:57 PM
"Why is this guy not listening to the voting public of his home state?"
That is why we have a republic in the USA and not a democracy. A republic is a system that elects a representative and the representative votes however he wishes. The founding fathers set this system up because they did not trust the vote of the common people, as can be illustrated by the rednecks of West Virginia.
Posted by: Anonymous | May 19, 2008 4:59 PM
did byrd, previously a kkk grand dragon, call little hussein a nig**r? he likes that word and has even used it on the floor of the senate. but byrd is a dem so they forgave him and said he comes from a different time. what would they say if it was a republican that said it? i remember when someone used the word niggardly - different word - different meaning - but the blacks went nuts. they wanted heads to roll. so what about little hussein? i see we cant talk about his wife now. how she thinks America is mean country and how she was never proud of America until her husband got this far in his campaign. she wants to be the first lady of America and she sat for 10 years in wrights church and listened to his hate America, hate whites, hate jews, hate israel, and pro islamic statements along with her husband and EVEN HAD HER CHILDREN LISTEN TO THAT HATE! so we cant talk about little husseins middle name, his race, his politics, his foreign policy statements, his griendships with a murdering terrorist, his desire to give us communism instead of capitalism, nothing at all. we are supposed to stand mute - well its not going to happen now or ever.
Posted by: Anonymous | May 19, 2008 5:03 PM
Super Delegates "should" follow the lead of Pledged Delegates. Super Delegates however; are "Independent" and may back the most electable candidate. The True Statesman Senator Robert Byrd of West Virgina has spoken and people listen. Congratulations Obama campaign and Thank You Senator Byrd for your service to our country.
Posted by: Fareed | May 19, 2008 5:03 PM
Having seen a number of the comments here approved to be posted, I'm abhored by the editorial oversight of this site.
Apparently West Virginians are the only valid recipients of hate speech now (well, along with Sen Byrd), and even approved of by national newspapers.
I applaud you, Washington Post.
Posted by: David of Harvard | May 19, 2008 5:06 PM
Please be patient with the Obama supporters. It was a hard fought campaign and the Clinton camp said a lot of things about Obama that could be considered WAY over the top. So some people are just venting looking to Obama's likely victory. (Although admittedly some are just being jerks about it...)
Throughout the process, I thought that Obama himself has tried to be very respectful of Hillary. Even in the face of some very harsh criticism. (I personally thought that her "hard-working Americans" comment was beneath her) He passed up many opportunities to respond in kind.
So again, please be patient. If he does get the nomination, the focus will quickly shift to November and comments about Hillary will cease.
Posted by: Jay | May 19, 2008 5:06 PM
Michael, here's a clue. He was just in Michigan the other day courting voters in the birthplace of the term, "Reagan democrat" and it's 2008 buy a calendar.
Next time google Obama and Reagan democrat, before you post goofy meaningless comments.
Now shut up, and let the adults talk...
Posted by: Obvious | May 19, 2008 5:07 PM
"That is why we have a republic in the USA and not a democracy. A republic is a system that elects a representative and the representative votes however he wishes. The founding fathers set this system up because they did not trust the vote of the common people, as can be illustrated by the rednecks of West Virginia."
Doesn't change the fact that democrats in the state voted for HRC by a landslide. He should be held accountable by the voters should he run again.
Posted by: MeToo | May 19, 2008 5:13 PM
Another nail in Hillary's campaign coffin.
Posted by: DWayne | May 19, 2008 5:14 PM
Sen. Byrd is a strict Constitutionalist. Sen. Clinton is not. Sen. Byrd pointed out to Sen. Clinton that the Founding Fathers did not want a Monoarchy and so divided responsibilities. In particular, the responsibility to declare war was not to be the "kings" nor delegated to the "idiot king" by the "cowards" in the Congress.
However, Sen. Byrd failed to convince Sen. Clinton because she was afraid it might detour her Presidential Plans for 08. With lives on the line and perhaps a presidency in the future, she gave her responsibilities to the idiot-king & ran away. And so, Sen. Clinton should show no surprise that Sen. Byrd still considers her a coward. No Surprise at All.
Posted by: will | May 19, 2008 5:22 PM
Damn glad I'm not the only one in WV that has some sense and backs Obama!
Posted by: ThankYouByrd! | May 19, 2008 5:23 PM
Hitler had a system where if he told a lie long enough it went from the big lie to being considered true. Hillary is doing that with this experience myth. Unless being wife of the president counts she has less elected political experience than Sen. Obama and he ha more than her husband had when he ran for Pres. if you value first lady experience over State Representative experience then perhaps you are right. But that is like saying. Robin Givens is better qualified to be heavyweight boxing champ than a young fighter because she was married to Mike Tyson.
Posted by: chris c | May 19, 2008 5:23 PM
Sen. Byrd was joined by such as Sens. Kennedy and Boxer in voting against the horrible Iraq War Resolution. Clinton and Edwards, in a large group of military panderers, voted for it. Big mistake. Edwards was big enough to admit. Hillary was not. Here's the result.
Tomorrow night, Obama will have earned by hard work against a powerful political machine that was said to be unbeatable, a majority of the elected delegates. He is ahead in superdelegates. Only about 30-35 superdelegates remain between him and nomination.
I'm betting that he'll get most of them before June 3 and the rest the day after.
June 4 will be Obama nomination day.
Will Hillary concede? After all, she could get lots of delegates (of both types) to change their votes before the convention. If she does not concede, she should be drummed out of the party.
Note well that her loss is her fault. BTW, I probably would be supporting Barbara Boxer over Barack Obama were she running. This is not about gender.
Posted by: Harry, Los Angeles, CA | May 19, 2008 5:24 PM
OBAMA, WHAT DO YOU DO WHEN YOU DONE ALL YOU CAN DO? YOU JUST STAND THE BATTLE IS NOT IS NOT YOURS ITS THE LORD'S AND HE DIDNT BRING YOU THIS FAR TO LEAVE YOU GOD BLESS THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY AND AMERICA
SHARON JOHNSON FORT WORTH TEXAS
Posted by: Anonymous | May 19, 2008 5:25 PM
WOOOOHOOOOOO!!!! C'mon Obama!! We've got McCain talking Bush talk over here! It's time for something else! He is NOT what This Country needs this time around!
Posted by: Obama2008 | May 19, 2008 5:29 PM
This is not a surprise. The Establishment has been for Obama since the start. What is most puzzling is the complete reversal of roles - Establishment candidate versus the Outside Beltway candidate - remember Obama running against the "old Washington"? Now how much more older than Bird, Kennedy, Kerry, Leahy? How much more establishment than Union leadership? Now look at the facts - 1. Kennedy-Kerry for Obama but masses for Clinton. 2. Union leaders for Obama in Nevada but membership for Clinton 3. Teamster leadership for Obama in Ohio but membership for Clinton 4. United Auto leadership for Obama in Indiana but membership for Clinton 5. Bird for Obama but masses for Clinton
So who is anti-establishment, "change" candidate? Obviously Clinton!
Posted by: Jaque | May 19, 2008 5:29 PM
Senator Byrd has been fighting against racism for decades. Here's three paragraphs from Obama's book "The Audacity of Hope" when he first met Senator Byrd:
Listening to Senator Byrd I felt with full force all the essential contradictions of me in this new place, with its marble busts, its arcane traditions, its memories and its ghosts. I pondered the fact that, according to his own autobiography, Senator Byrd had received his first taste of leadership in his early twenties, as a member of the Raleigh County Ku Klux Klan, an association that he had long disavowed, an error he attributed--no doubt correctly--to the time and place in which he'd been raised, but which continued to surface as an issue throughout his career.
I thought about how he had joined other giants of the Senate, like J. William Fulbright of Arkansas and Richard Russell of Georgia, in Southern resistance to civil rights legislation. I wondered if this would matter to the liberals who now lionized Senator Byrd for his principled opposition to the Iraq War resolution--the MoveOn.org crowd, the heirs of the political counterculture the senator had spent much of his career disdaining.
I wondered if it should matter. Senator Byrd's life--like most of ours--has been the struggle of warring impulses, a twining of darkness and light. And in that sense I realized that he really was a proper emblem for the Senate, whose rules and design reflect the grand compromise of America's founding: the bargain between Northern states and Southern states, the Senate's role as a guardian against the passions of the moment, a defender of minority rights and state sovereignty, but also a tool to protect the wealthy from the rabble, and assure slaveholders of noninterference with their peculiar institution.
Stamped into the very fiber of the Senate, within its genetic code, was the same contest between power and principle that characterized America as a whole, a lasting expression of that great debate among a few brilliant, flawed men that had concluded with the creation of a form of government unique in its genius--yet blind to the whip and the chain.
Posted by: John | May 19, 2008 5:31 PM
Just another very old Democratic fossil showing us how complete his dementia is. Just as bad as Mr. Obama whining after bringing his wife to play in the game and then telling us we can't pick on her. Both of you gentlemen need to just sit down and shut up before they really figure out how unfit for office you both are.
A fourty year democrat tired of all the poor cadidates being push upon us by a very dead party.
Kenndy - the man who gave us Vietnam! Johnson - frieghtened by the mess he created and then ran away. Carter - Unfit to ever even visit the Oval Office.
Clinton - The Lounge Lizard President.
Can you try a little harder to give us some body better then a B movie actor.
George Bush senior lost becaused he belived that the American People where smart enough to see what Mr. Bill really was. A lounge Lizard Snake oil salesman.
Why do the good ones not make it to swearing in.
Posted by: Dickh | May 19, 2008 5:35 PM
What took you so long Sen. Byrd. I think its great that a former klansman can endorse Obama. I wonder how many black folks he hanged in the old days?
Posted by: donmac | May 19, 2008 5:37 PM
I cannot say it often enough!
Remember dear Ladies and all Democrats,
Alternative (and Yes, Ms. Ferraro, this is where your logic would lead us): Four more years of being "BUSHED" (on economics, health care, the Iraq War, general foreign policy and the Supreme Court) if McClone is elected.
The choice is ours. Our children will reap whatever we decide!
Posted by: Vgirl1 | May 19, 2008 5:37 PM
Reality strikes West Virginia as Senator Byrd declares his support and super delegate vote for Senator Obama.
Delusion and fantasy continue to lead the Hillary campaign into the wilderness. When Hillary finally confronts reality, will anyone care?
Posted by: svbreeder | May 19, 2008 5:52 PM
Chris, I'll say it for you... Neither is a particularly good candidate.
I think senators should have a minimum amount of experience and have finished at least one term before running. Too often politically minded individuals purposely pad their voting record in a calculating way so as not to appear controversial or burn any bridges with their party, but at the same time make it look like they are doing something to justify their office.
Case in point, old senators don't run for President, and those that do, very often have their voting record turned against them...
I would argue that BHO has done this to a larger degree than HRC. However, HRC making an appearance like an opportunistic carpet bagger in NYS certainly seems pretty calculating also.
Mike Tyson, Robin Givens and Hitler in the same post? I see what you're saying, but the skill of punching someones face is a little more specific than say, voting on border control, Iraq and the economy.
One requires only that you be a living, breathing individual, as evidenced by Byrd's shortsighted exercise today.
Posted by: Obvious | May 19, 2008 6:05 PM
This is significant also because Byrd was Hillary's mentor in the Senate. I am sure it is a disappointment. Nonetheless, Byrd did the right thing: it's time for democrats to unite and turn our attention to beating McCain. Thank you Byrd.
Posted by: mel | May 19, 2008 6:08 PM
(CNN) -- Warren Buffett, a longtime friend of both Hillary and Bill Clinton, told CNN Monday Barack Obama would be his choice for the next President of the United State
Posted by: theykeepcoming | May 19, 2008 6:19 PM
West Virginia's voters overwhelming voted for Clinton but their senile old KKK leader endorses Obama. Makes perfect sense.
Posted by: Why Is Byrd Still A Senator | May 19, 2008 6:27 PM
I agree with the poster who said Senator Byrd has made a journey from his earlier views. And please reference the late Supreme Court Justice Hugo Black, who also was a member of the Ku Klux Klan. See one of many Internet sources on Black and his association with the Klan at http://www.nisk.k12.ny.us/fdr/ideas/portfolio/vandersee/vandersee.html
Let's see, Black was one of the Supreme Court votes to desegregate schools and to recognize First Amendment Rights. How long, folks, are you going to hang these older associations over people's heads if they no longer are valid? Is there a statute of limitations here, or will Senator Byrd forever be labeled?
The KKK is as evil as it can be, and I grew up a white person in 1950s Mississippi, where it certainly flourished. But things and people do change. I hope with all my heart that this process is continuing to occur in my home state and other places like it.
Posted by: Pam | May 19, 2008 6:29 PM
Nice to see one racist supporting another.
Posted by: Toxic Avenger | May 19, 2008 6:38 PM
casandra1 - You insult Lewis Carroll.
Posted by: JC | May 19, 2008 6:45 PM
In a contest based on experience, Barack Hussein Obama would not be allowed to run...
^^^ and nor would Clinton.
Posted by: J.N. | May 19, 2008 6:47 PM
Hey Toxic Brain, Obama is a racist now? Against which half of his ancestors? Man, people will pull any reason out of their rear to insult him... none of which are based in reality. He must be doing something right to piss off so many hateful people.
Posted by: JC2 | May 19, 2008 6:49 PM
This just amplified the "gap" between "Washington Democrats" and the rest of the Democratic party.
Senator Byrd's state voted 67% to 26% for Senator Clinton. But the "Washington Democrat" Senator Byrd endorses the loser in his state.
Plus, everybody knows that Obama can not win in November. So why these "Washinton Democrats" insisted on defying the wills of the Democratic voters? The answer is simple: These "Washington Democrats" are the kind of Democrats we want to get ride of in the coming elections - politicians who lost touch with the middle America.
After the "Obama disaster" in November, it's time to clean house!!!
Posted by: GY | May 19, 2008 6:51 PM
One of the Great Things man learns in his aging years is love and honesty.
A man like Senator Byrd has lived long enough to see himself and others in the light of time.
Congratulations Mr Byrd for loving your State and Honestly following your heart.
Posted by: Loren T Kilp | May 19, 2008 6:52 PM
J.N. - Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld are (were in the case of the latter) the most experienced guys in Washington. Lincoln, FDR, and countless others had less experience than Obama did. Just because you've been playing the game for a long time doesn't mean you're a better player. Have a look at professional sports. Please, if you hate the guy, just be honest and say it. Don't make up false excuses. What is McCain's experience worth when he keeps changing what he believes in? See this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GEtZlR3zp4c
Posted by: K.C. | May 19, 2008 6:52 PM
I marched part of the way from Selma to Montgomery. I was an active Friend of SNCC until they asked the white people to leave. I have voted for every Democrat since 1948. I am a committed liberal, yet I made H-bombs,and served three years in a significant arms control position in the Nixon Administrstion, and fought in the forgotten Democratic war in Korea. Democrats make horrible mistakes too. I believe people who want change - in justice, in foreign policy, and in economic justice must put aside small objections to Obama and actively suppport the ticket in November. I could answer most objections rationally. We should cooperste with, and not demonize enemies. Name calling is worthless, especially for placating potential allies. Mr.and Ms Clinton have done great services for our country. We should recognize and value these services. But we must choose one person, and many of us believe we should choose Obama. Ms. Clinton could become our greatest Secretary of State,and with Bill as a special envoy to mediate in the middle east, we might actually resolve the Israel-Palestine conflict which threatens, if unsolved, to start a war that might kill hundreds of million of people and destroy most advanced economies. Lets get together now. Itis critical for the future of mankind..
Posted by: nihil | May 19, 2008 7:00 PM
Obama has about as much experience as Abe Lincoln did when he was elected President. Looks like he did a pretty good job, as in, well, let's see, he saved the country from collapse. Experience, ala, Cheney and Rumsfeld, is not the primary qualification for running the country. Character and intelligence count. Hillary has one of the two. McCain and Obama have both. Would be great for the country to see them run a principled campaign against each other on the issues. (Am I dreaming?)
Posted by: trace1 | May 19, 2008 7:00 PM
A courageous and historic choice from a great statesman respected by all for overcoming the prejudices he once held, and a shining example for many other superdelegates to overcome their own prejudices.
Posted by: Bodo | May 19, 2008 7:10 PM
What? A former avowed racist and former member of the Ku Klux Klan endorses Obama? Wow. Just wow.
Maybe Obama is right. There is hope for America. Now if only Obama can get a younger former Ku Klux Klan member to run as his VP--he needs such a person to win Hillary's so-called "hardworking white" voters.
Posted by: Seneca | May 19, 2008 7:16 PM
Both WVA Senators have endorsed Barak Obama even though the state of WVA has voted overwhelmingly for HRC. What does this tell us about Hillary Clinton? She is their collegue who they have worked with over the last six years. HRC is not a person who works and plays well with others. She is, alas, very unpleasant. Some people see this (and she has surely tried to make the point) that unpleasantness is a plus as if being an unpopular know-it-all automatically makes her a "strong" person. But it does not. It just makes her the "wrong" person to be President.
Posted by: Maddy | May 19, 2008 7:16 PM
al gore, hillary needs you to help stop the bleeding! PLEASE ENDORSE HER NOW! NOW!! NOW!!!
btw washpost, great story on hillary's association with the radical law firm in california (another irrefutable personal item about herself that she conveniently forgot). not that we mind her legal assistance to those folks back then, of course...it woulda been kinda nice for her to own up to it since she criticized barack for the same.
Posted by: KenFromCalifornia | May 19, 2008 7:20 PM
I like Obama and therefore I support him
Posted by: senator byrd | May 19, 2008 7:22 PM
Obama is a great friend of mine
Posted by: senator byrd | May 19, 2008 7:23 PM
Good for Senator Byrd. As another poster said, he has made a journey from his earlier views. Another former Ku Klux Klan member, Supreme Justice Hugo Black, voted affirmatively in the 1954 Brown v. Board of Topeka decision to desegregate public schools. Folks, isn't there any limitation to how long you can hold these older associations over people? I am for Obama but I also just hope this party can start to jell its message and victory plan for the fall. And whatever will speed this along is an extremely good development.
Posted by: Pam | May 19, 2008 7:26 PM
And yet another reason not to vote for Obama.
Posted by: waterfrontproperty | May 19, 2008 7:33 PM
when Hillary was winning the popular vote, Ovama said that what mattered were the delegates. When he started winning popular votes and was still behind in delegates, he said that all delegates and superdelegates should vote as their state's people voted.
Now, when Hillary is winning some states, no one says that the delegates should vote according to their states people.
Hillary, you just can't win with these pundits!! We, the people, are going to be handed out another "Gore's election stolen".
Posted by: the truth | May 19, 2008 7:36 PM
Well... Byrd should have been retired YEARS ago.
One of the major reasons that we need a term limit of these suckers in DC.
You see these people... JUST NOW jumping on the OBAMA band wagon.
There is nothing on the Post today about Obama saying his wife is 'off limits' from attacks by the GOP. He almost made me quiver in my boots... but then I realized that he was showing his true nature.. He has a goal, he has a plan, she has a goal, she a plan. Both want the PRESIDENCY so that THEY as a couple can give back to the Black African community... aka VIPER WRIGHT.
He still has NO CLUE as to running this country. Not sure IF there is anyone in the political arena that can be ONLY FOR THE GOOD OF AMERICA. These folks are political animals... only concerned for getting re-elected. This guy has spent the majority of his term as US Senator campaigning for PRESIDENT.
What is frightening.. He alleges that he has raised over 300 Million dollars from Small donations. (25-50 dollar donations from the POOR.)
He has spent over 189 Million Dollars on his campaign SO FAR. Well over 100 Million is spent in advertising. He has bought the mainstream media, and thus the American Voter BELIEVES what they hear and see on TV. So he has bought the American Voter.
If he WINS.. he will begin gathering funding for his next campaign after his first 18 months and start his campaign for re-election IMMEDIATELY once he is sworn in.
He ALWAYS pays his debts to his supporters.. Note that VIPER WRIGHT is off the scene. The Rich and powerful Elite Black Supporters... got to him in secrecy and put a clamp on his VENOM.
These same Rich Black Elite have been playing the 'race' card behind the scenes as well. Let the good times roll, if Obamass is elected... there will be dancing in the streets.. if he does not get elected there will be riots in the streets.
You the American Voter have spoken.
Me I am going down to get more guns, and more ammo so when it gets really tough because of the collapse of the United States. I can be one of those white middle class folks that just loves my guns.
The only difference I have been shot at and killed for my Country. With every thing from pistols to calling in artillery from 155's.
Posted by: Miller51550 | May 19, 2008 7:40 PM
If Byrd can evolve than there really is hope for the rest of us.
Posted by: DonJulio | May 19, 2008 7:48 PM
It would be excellent if Sen. Byrd (ex. KKK)and Rev. Wright (hopefully ex. Black separatist)to appear jointly to bury the hatchet from the past and join in endorsement of Obama as the ideal candidate to heal the wounds.
Posted by: Sentimentalist | May 19, 2008 7:57 PM
Is there a single democrat left in our country that has any character or integrity. Voting for Obama is like voting for Hitler. He wants to kneel before the Iranian president. No bigger coward/communist has ever run for President before in the history of American politics, although, I guess one could argue Jimmy Carter, who is currently spooning in a cave with UBL. Obama is a communist.
Posted by: Democowards are Funny | May 19, 2008 7:57 PM
I believe that's called "being a leader even when it's not politically expedient," unlike when Bush uses that phrase to justify hijacking the Constitution, starting illegal occupations, and spying on the citizens.
Maybe Byrd was in a position to make a choice based on his own ideals, since he is essentially "out" of politics now.
That would make sense, but, just wondering...
Where was he before the vote?
Posted by: Don Juan | May 19, 2008 7:58 PM
"Obama has about as much experience as Abe Lincoln did when he was elected President. Looks like he did a pretty good job"
With that kind of logic I'm going to vote in my parrot. He is a good conversationalist and is quite charismatic in my opinion...
Posted by: Whatthe? | May 19, 2008 8:05 PM
Bob is just trying to keep his chairmanship.
Posted by: justjoe | May 19, 2008 8:07 PM
Some Fascist Wrote: " Is there a single democrat left in our country that has any character or integrity. Voting for Obama is like voting for Hitler. He wants to kneel before the Iranian president. No bigger coward/communist has ever run for President before in the history of American politics, although, I guess one could argue Jimmy Carter, who is currently spooning in a cave with UBL. Obama is a communist. "
Posted by: Democowards are Funny | May 19, 2008 7:57 PM - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
And better a communist than a fascist, ask FDR who he allied with?
And better to kneel before Iran than to bend over in front of them like "your Boy" did, handing them the keys to the middle East...
not too bright. By the way, how's that Nuclear Proliferation going? Any ideas yet, on how to pay for this boost to Iran we call a War and the rest of the world calls an Occupation? Oh, the lazy Democrats will just have to raise taxes again, so we can blow it on killing people as usual.
Posted by: Republicans BlowIran | May 19, 2008 8:10 PM
A lot of people posting here keep commenting on the Democratic Party, but I don't think many of them actually are card-carrying members of the Democratic Party.They keep saying things that go against the principles of the Democratic Party .
Posted by: LetthemdrinkCrownRoyal | May 19, 2008 8:12 PM
Wow, what a bunch of racist Democrats there are on here. Not currently racist towards Blacks, Negros or whatever term you wish to use currently, yet racist towards an image of people who reside in a rural geographic area of the country called West Virginia. I wonder how many of these "new racists" have ever actually been to WV? Ahh but they must declair their superiority over someone. In years past these same people of small mind used similar prejudice against blacks. What a shame. Me, I am a former Democrat turned Republican who does not like any of the choices we the people have been offered for a very long time now. I have lived in Southern California, North Carolina, Illinois and West Virginia. By far, and I mean by very far, the people of West Virginia are much nicer, and have much more common sense than the normal person in other States that I have lived. But what good is it to try and argue with racist on here. Blah!
Posted by: Ice | May 19, 2008 8:14 PM
"card-carrying members of the Democratic Party.They keep saying things that go against the principles of the Democratic Party"
You are making it sound like a hippie cult.
Posted by: Eater | May 19, 2008 8:21 PM
Senator Byrd's endorsement, ooh la la...
I thought he only endorsed boxes of 'Depends'.
Posted by: T. Rex | May 19, 2008 8:23 PM
"I am a older white woman and would vote for her if I thought she was anything but a disturber---but we need Obama to try and fix our country and refind our way in the world."yeah he will cure cancer,walk on water and make you feel young again. Please people use your brains and think of relative merits of the candidates,their experience on issues they talk about.
Posted by: Chaya08 | May 19, 2008 8:47 PM
It was inevitable that some responders would refer to Byrd as a former KKK member. They don't note that this was about 65 years ago! Byrd has shown great courage and wisdom regarding the war in Iraq. If only the nation had listened to him in 2003!
Posted by: Dave | May 19, 2008 8:56 PM
Posted by: dave | May 19, 2008 9:19 PM
Many of the ones voting for Obama are the same ones that cheered OJ. That says it all about Obama and his Supporters!
Posted by: Black Saint | May 19, 2008 9:31 PM
Tough race brewing the November. And don't anyone of you think otherwise.
Posted by: jatox | May 19, 2008 9:43 PM
"Kennedy -- the man who gave us Vietnam!" Posted by: Dickh | May 19, 2008 5:35 PM == Sorry, Dickie. As in most of your post, you don't know your history. Dwight Eisenhower got the United States into VietNam. By the time Kennedy took office, we already had a substantial military presence over there. == "Johnson -- frightened by the mess he created and then ran away." == When Johnson stepped aside, he was praised as the statesman he had become, to care more about the rent in the fabric of the nation than his own political gain. He didn't "run away". He stepped out of the arena for the good of the country; a BIG difference. == "Carter -- unfit to ever even visit the Oval Office." == Carter is going down in history as the most moral, ethical man of peace to inhabit the White House in the 20th century. He will ALWAYS be welcome there. Unlike the current dolt who tried to drag the Israeli Knesset into our domestic politics and who went "begging" the Saudis (I quote news reports) to give us extra oil -- twice. He can't take a foreign trip without visiting hiz buddies in Saudi Arabia, the same country which produced most of the 9/11 terrorists and funded them. I'm surprised they actually didn't make him crawl on his knees, instead of just doing it psychically. For the good of this country, America won't accept McCain for more of McSame, to our eternal McShame. The slumbering American electorate has awakened, no longer lulled into not caring by the Republican shill-neo-con-machine. It's over.
Posted by: Judy-in-TX | May 19, 2008 9:45 PM
And WHY is the President of the United States stumping for votes in the Israeli Parliament? What power lies in getting their backing? That is the real qestion of the day! Who controls? Washington or Israel.
Posted by: kristmas | May 19, 2008 9:57 PM
Quote: "So again, please be patient. If he does get the nomination, the focus will quickly shift to November and comments about Hillary will cease."
Sorry, Jay, when he gets the nomination, comments about Hillary will never cease. She will see to that. You will then see the true Hillary in all her glory.
Posted by: Anonymous | May 19, 2008 10:08 PM
Isn't it just so wonderful! Sen Byrd goes against the wishes of his constituents! Yes, the Obama bots are at it again...two faced. They hawk the argument that the delegates must vote the way the state voted unless of course the stated voted decidely against Obama. Go empty your heads...Obama bots....never mind...already taken care of. You deserve the candidate of empty suits.
Posted by: Tim | May 19, 2008 10:27 PM
Byrd lives! I read this with a twinge of sentiment. I assume the bill he wrote this week will be as perfect as his articulate speech. America has a fleeting treasure in Byrd's vast experience and good judgment.
My father is 88. He has supported Obama since February. Dad spent more time than anyone I know studying the candidates. During dinner last week he told my wife and I that he knew he wouldn't make it to see world peace or equal justice, but he might live long enough to see a black man elected president. Dad believes America needs Obama's message of hope and his brilliant mind. Dad believes the world can and should be self correcting. I needed to be reminded that it is possible. I'm going to listen to Dad and Byrd's youthful optimism. I can still imagine America living toward a better day.
Posted by: Kevin Morgan | May 19, 2008 10:30 PM
There is one thing Bobby Byrd knows better than just about anybody, and that is civil liberties under the U.S. Constitution.
Which is as good a reason as any to support Barack Obama.
Clean slate!!! Barack Obama, 08!!!
Posted by: Martin Edwin Andersen | May 19, 2008 10:44 PM
Does Barack know anything about civil liberties ? Preacher Wright showed what he thought of Civil Liberties as well as Obamas wife. The Black David Duke is nothing more than a big joke.
Posted by: Sad Democrat | May 20, 2008 1:42 AM
In a contest based on experience and measurable qualifications, Bill Richardson would have been the Democratic nominee. But obviously this race is based on perception and gut feeling as much as anything else. People are, quite simply, voting for the person whom they are willing to follow.
Posted by: Allan | May 20, 2008 4:42 AM
Byrd has also been known as an ultra-liberal, just like Obama is, even farther to the left of Ted Kennedy. And yes, I am a Dem., a moderate Dem, but Obama won't get my vote.
Posted by: CR | May 20, 2008 5:19 AM
Byrd supporting Obama, that proves to me Obama is the choice of all the old democrats who want to preserve their power and money.
Obama is the choice of the insiders, the corporation and the hate america crowd.
ps maybe the hate america crowd were in reality the foot soldiers of the 'powers' all along. Hey people will sell their mother down the river for a buck.
So we have a candidate, because of his so called minority status, who decided the best way to revenge is though elected office. The best way to get money is through doing what the copoations and insiders say.
Posted by: JohnAdams1 | May 20, 2008 6:42 AM
McCain in '08!! We do not want the world to fall apart and we do not want a 90 yr. old's opinion what this country needs.
Posted by: mzha | May 20, 2008 8:55 AM
why do you fools care what the 'rest of the world' thinks ? Are they paying our bills.
Posted by: laughing at the dems | May 20, 2008 9:49 AM
Posted by: jt | May 20, 2008 10:27 AM
Thanks MR BYRD for supporting change GOD BLESS YOU
Posted by: MUTSINZI CEASER | May 20, 2008 10:27 AM
Senator Byrd is senile and suffering dementia most likely; his endorsement reflects not the will of the people of his state but his quest for fantasy-glory. He, along with Obama, will lead to the destruction of the USA. I have had only the highest regard for Byrd for the past 50 years--today I am totally ashamed of this man. He is a disgrace to the good and intelligent people of West Virginia and in 2012 needs to be voted out of office.
Posted by: Dr Arthur Frederick Ide | May 20, 2008 10:50 AM
It was predictable that Senator Byrd would eventually come out in support of Obama. As much as I respect Robert Byrd for his career as a watchdog of the Constitution, I have to say that his decision to endorse Obama at this particular time was self-serving. It was his last opportunity to symbolically cleanse himself of his earlier membership in the KKK. He may have assuaged his own guilt and gained the favor of those who have condemned his past misjudgment, but I cannot overlook the fact that he did so by committing another act of injustice, this time by willfully ignoring Hillary Clinton's honestly earned, decisive victory in his own state's primary. His decision is especially unjust because Obama dismissed WV as insignificant in his path to the general elections and made virtually no attempt to get to know its citizens or their concerns.
Posted by: Emjay | May 20, 2008 12:10 PM
I remember distinctly the day when a very lonely, but forthright and determined Senator made a passionate speech berating the Bush Administration for its hawkish policy on Iraq. At the time, he was by far the most vocal opposition figure in Congress. When virtually every other Senator, on whichever side of the aisle, tried to hide his or her head behind fig-leaves, Senator Byrd spoke out stridently.
Barack Obama did not have the same exposure, but he did have the same view and he did speak out, unequivocally. So Byrd's endorsement of Obama is a logical extension of the speeches both men made prior to the invasion of Iraq.
There were not many people of backbone in politics at that time, or now for that matter. That an old one recognizes and endorses a young one is just great!
As regards the KKK alusions, I have no idea whether there is any truth to them. Even if there is, consider this delightful exchange, which I thieved from an NPR interview a couple of months ago.
Interviewer (sweet young thing): 'And who do you think should be our next President.' Interviewee: (white, female Alabaman, somewhat long in the tooth): 'Gee, that's a tough 'un. Hmm! Lemme think... Who's that ni**er fella?' Interviewer: 'You mean -- gulp -- Barack Obama?' 'Yep! That's 'im. That's who ah'm gonna vote for.'
Posted by: Rob Bentley | May 20, 2008 12:44 PM
I don't suppose the $10,000 gift from the Obama campaign to Byrd "reelection" fund had anything to do with this. Since he is rebuking his constuency's vote for Hillary, it is a good thing this old man who stands for everything Obama has been preaching against will probably not run again as he would be wishing he lost by "only" the 41% that Obama did. It also odd to note that the Obama campaign has been doling out "gifts" up to $10,000 to political office holders (super delegates) without any questions from the media. For one thing, it would be nice to know how many of these, besides Byrd, tipped their superdelegate vote to BO..
Posted by: Norm | May 20, 2008 12:45 PM
I think it's because of people like Dr Arthur Frederick Ide that gives west virginians a bad name. Take your klansman hoodie off before making statements like "destruction of the US", I think it's choking the air out of your 2 remaining brain cells.
Posted by: Anonymous | May 20, 2008 12:50 PM
Quote: "It also odd to note that the Obama campaign has been doling out "gifts" up to $10,000 to political office holders (super delegates) without any questions from the media. For one thing, it would be nice to know how many of these, besides Byrd, tipped their superdelegate vote to BO.."
Any proof to this statement? Proof would be nice.
Posted by: Anonymous | May 20, 2008 1:19 PM
I guess if you have ever seen the documentary Dancing Outlaw, it sort of sums up West Virginia and the base Sen. Clinton brags so much about. I find it funny when Sen. Byrd is more progressive in his view of the future of the Democratic Party then some of the Clintstones supporters seem to be. "... Something is happening here and you don't know what it is, do you, Mrs. Clinton."
Posted by: The times they are a changing | May 20, 2008 2:41 PM
All of you uneducated morons ripping West Virginia have absolutely no idea what you are talking about. There is a reason WE BROKE AWAY from Virginia and President Lincoln granted us statehood. Thank god we don't have to deal with ignorant, conceded idiots like you any more.
Posted by: Ryan | May 20, 2008 2:57 PM
You try eatin' slimy sloppy eggs...
Posted by: Hillbilly | May 20, 2008 2:57 PM
OBAMA IS BOUGHT AND PAID FOR BY OIL COUNTRIES IN THE MIDDLE EAST.
OBAMA WAS THE ONLY NOMINEE TOVOTE FOR DICK CHENEY'S ENERGY BILL.
Posted by: GRACE | May 20, 2008 4:16 PM
HRC aka She Who Has Feet of CLAY supporters educate yourself and READ about your HRC: Clinton Quiet About Own Radical Ties Faulting of Obama Called Hypocritical
By James V. Grimaldi Washington Post Staff Writer Monday, May 19, 2008; Page A04
snopes.com: Black Panthers and Hillary Clinton ââ¬Â¢Ã¢â¬Â¢Ã¢â¬Â¢Ã¢â¬Â¢
...Politics --> Clintons --> Black Panthers Black Panthers Claim: Hillary Clinton helped free two Black Panthers accused of torturing and murdering... ...Back in 1969 a group of Black Panthers decided that a Black man named Alex Rackley needed to die. Rackley was a fellow Panther suspected of disloyalty.... ...When they got tired of torturing Rackley Black Panther member Warren Kimbro took Mr. Rackley's outside and put a bullet in his head. Rackley's body was... Sun, 04 May 2008 11:15:18 GMT http://www.snopes.com/politics/clintons/panthers.asp 1. snopes.com: Social Security for Illegal Aliens ââ¬Â¢Ã¢â¬Â¢Ã¢â¬Â¢ E-mail lists senators who 'voted to give illegal aliens Social Security benefits.' ...California: Boxer (D-CA), Yea Feinstein (D-CA), Yea Colorado: Salazar (D-CO), Yea Connecticut: Dodd (D-CT), Yea Lieberman (D-CT), Yea Delaware:... ...New York: Clinton (D-NY), Yea Schumer (D-NY), Yea North Carolina: North Dakota: Dorgan (D-ND), Yea Ohio: DeWine (R-OH), Yea Voinovich (R-OH), Yea... ...bill which proponents touted as providing comprehensive and humane immigration reform, and which opponents criticized as unfairly rewarding illegal... Sun, 04 May 2008 11:35:54 GMT http://www.snopes.com/politics/immigration/... Clinton Won't Be Deposed in Fraud Case before November -- 04/29/2008 April 29, 2008 (CNSNews.com) - A fundraising controversy involving Hillary Clinton's 2000 Senate run that has moved through California's courts for about ... www.cnsnews.com/ViewNation.asp?Page=/Nation/archive/200804/NAT20080429a.html - 22k - Cached - Similar pages - Note this Peter Paul Statement of Hillary Clinton's Illegalities to California Appellate Court- ... false FEC reports - felony charges for which Rosen faced 15 years in jail. ... www.peterfpaul.com/ - 36k - Cached - Similar pages - Note this Hsu Ordered to Prison | The Trail | washingtonpost.com Jan 4, 2008 ... Hillary Clinton's 2008 presidential campaign, raising more than ... New York secured an indictment on the new fraud charges late last year. ... blog.washingtonpost.com/the-trail/2008/01/04/hsu_ordered_to_prison_1.html
Hillary's $26 million haul came from 50,000 different donors. Obama raised his $25 million from more than 100,000 donors. The average Obama donor contributed $250 each. Hillary's average contributor donated $520 each.
Posted by: Katerina Deligiannis | May 20, 2008 5:35 PM
I think this shows that experience can engender wisdom. Byrd was in the Klan for a short time as was Hugo Black of Alabama who later had a stellar career on the Supreme Court. Those types of attacks made on him in this blog for long past mistakes are similar to ones made on Obama based on guilt by association. And as was said by one of Minneapolis's biggest Rock Groups (before Prince) in titling one of their tunes, the Byrd is the Word!
Posted by: ejgallagher1 | May 20, 2008 6:02 PM
So now we know Byrd's price....$10,000 given to him by Obama's Hope PAC. Obama's stated excuse for the donations made to superdelegates was that he gave money to fellow Democrats who needed help. What BS! Now we're supposed to believe Byrd needed Obama's help in West Virginia? If you believe that, how about buying this bridge that I have for sale?
Posted by: darlenedeminsocal | May 20, 2008 7:48 PM
I believe Byrd supports Obama because of forthright opposition to Iraq Invasion and Occupation., but also because nomination is won. Like Edwards, Byrd waited until the outcome was obvious and over in his state. The only endorsers who have guts are those who endorse before their state's primary.
Posted by: djw3505 | May 20, 2008 8:59 PM
My fellow West Virginians voted overwhelmingly for Hillary Clinton. I voted for Obama, believing that he, more than she, will be the instrument of the change we require. That being said, those of you (like Melanie, above) who want to kick West Virginia out of the union or who denounce my neighbors as a bunch of ignorant, incestuous, dentally-challenged rednecks simply because WV made a political decision you disapprove of ought to examine your own considerable prejudices. I much prefer the company of decent and generous West Virginians, even when I disagree with them politically, to that of persons like Melanie and others of bigoted condescension. As if your cultural snobbery helped anything . . .
I will try to persuade my fellow West Virginians that a vote for the Democratic candidate (likely to be BHO) in November will be far, far more intelligent than a vote for McCain/Bush3. Marshall what intelligence you have and stop exacerbating the situation with your bigoted rants.
Oh, and for the record, rock on, Robert C. Byrd!
Posted by: old white male democrat in WV | May 21, 2008 1:25 AM
This benign the only election we the English has taken such an interest, and I must say my friends and I find it very interesting, is the model of democracy you want to export? The nasty, bitter fighting blatant lies you tell about each other is mind-blowing but what happens if she is elected
 The Shocking Video Hillary Does NOT Want You To See! (1of2)
Posted by: Kiskadee | May 21, 2008 12:15 PM
The comments to this entry are closed.
|
Read the latest news and scuttlebut about Congress.
| 1,533.111111 | 0.777778 | 1.222222 |
high
|
low
|
abstractive
|
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/19/AR2008051900948.html
|
https://web.archive.org/web/2008052019id_/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/19/AR2008051900948.html
|
Court Upholds Law That Prohibits Promotion of Child Pornography
|
2008052019
|
The Supreme Court today upheld Congress's most recent attempt to prosecute those who would promote child pornography, ruling that the law did not violate free speech guarantees.
The court voted 7 to 2 that the law criminalizing "pandering" of real or purported child pornography over the Internet or through the mail met constitutional standards. The majority dismissed arguments Justice Antonin Scalia called "fanciful hypotheticals" that the law might make documentarians, movie reviewers and even unsuspecting grandparents subject to its pandering standards.
"Child pornography harms and debases the most defenseless of our citizens," Scalia wrote for the majority, adding that federal and state authorities have been frustrated to find it "proliferating through the new medium of the Internet."
Congress has responded to the court's decision that a previous law was unconstitutional with a "carefully crafted attempt to eliminate the First Amendment problems we identified.
"As far as the provision at issue in this case is concerned, that effort was successful."
Scalia was one of the dissenters in 2002 when the court struck down parts of the Child Pornography Protection Act because they were written so broadly that, as Justice Anthony M. Kennedy wrote, they could apply to a production of "Romeo and Juliet."
Congress responded in 2003 with the Prosecutorial Remedies and Other Tools to End the Exploitation of Children Today Act, known as the PROTECT Act. At issue in the case is a provision about the pandering of material as child pornography. It targets the person who "advertises, promotes, presents, distributes or solicits . . . any material or purported material in a manner that reflects the belief, or that is intended to cause another to believe" that it is child pornography.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit in Atlanta said that was overly broad. It would apply to "any promoter -- be they a braggart, exaggerator, or outright liar -- who claims to have illegal pornography," the court said, even if he had nothing more than "a video of 'Our Gang,' a dirty handkerchief or an empty pocket."
That was not the case with the defendant at the center of the case, a Florida man named Michael Williams who supplied an undercover agent in an Internet chat room a link to images of minors engaged in sexual conduct. A subsequent search of Williams's home turned up additional child pornography. He is serving a five-year sentence for possession of the material but was contesting the additional five years he received on the pandering charge.
The American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression and other groups had asked the court to overturn the law, saying it would restrict protected speech and allow prosecution of individuals even if actual child pornography did not exist.
Justice John Paul Stevens, who filed a concurring opinion, said he was convinced that material with "serious literary, artistic, political or scientific value" would still be protected. That is because of the law's requirement that the "defendant actually believed, or intended to induce another to believe, that the material in question depicted real children" involved in sexual conduct.
Justice David H. Souter dissented, and Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg joined him.
"Perhaps I am wrong, but without some demonstration that juries have been rendering exploitation of children unpunishable, there is no excuse for cutting back on the First Amendment and no alternative to finding overbreadth in this act," Souter wrote.
|
The Supreme Court today upheld Congress's most recent attempt to prosecute those who would promote child pornography, ruling that the law did not violate free speech guarantees.
| 21.9 | 1 | 30 |
medium
|
high
|
extractive
|
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/19/AR2008051900996.html
|
https://web.archive.org/web/2008052019id_/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/19/AR2008051900996.html
|
High Court Affirms Terrorism Conviction
|
2008052019
|
In an 8 to 1 decision, the court ruled that Ahmed Ressam, an Algerian member of al-Qaeda, violated the explosives law when he entered the country in December 1999 as part of a plot to bomb Los Angeles International Airport that New Year's Eve. Justice Stephen G. Breyer cast the lone dissenting vote.
The government considered the case a potentially crucial one for terrorism prosecutions, and Attorney General Michael B. Mukasey made his first appearance before the Supreme Court when he argued the case in March.
At issue was a law that mandates a 10-year prison term for anyone who "carries an explosive during the commission" of any federal felony.
Ressam entered the United States from Canada with explosives hidden in the trunk of his rental car. He was arrested after a U.S. customs officer stopped him for further inspection and asked him to fill out a customs declaration.
Ressam lied on the form, providing a false name and nationality. He was later convicted on nine counts, including the charge that he carried explosives during the commission of a felony: making the false customs declaration.
Ressam was sentenced to 22 years in prison, but the government appealed the sentence, which it considered too lenient. Ressam filed a cross-appeal that challenged his conviction on the explosives count.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit, based in San Francisco, threw out Ressam's conviction on that count, saying it was unrelated to the underlying felony.
In overturning the decision, the Supreme Court found that Congress did not intend to require prosecutors to prove such a relationship.
"There is no need to consult dictionary definitions of the word 'during' in order to arrive at the conclusion that respondent engaged in the precise conduct" described in the federal statute, Justice John Paul Stevens wrote for the majority.
In his dissent, Breyer said the majority's ruling "would permit conviction of any individual who legally carries explosives at the time that he engages in a totally unrelated felony." He also argued that the definition of explosives in the statute is overly broad.
|
The Supreme Court yesterday upheld the conviction of the man dubbed the "Millennium Bomber" on a federal explosives charge that increased his prison sentence, effectively handing prosecutors an additional tool to use in terrorism cases.
| 10.282051 | 0.666667 | 0.974359 |
low
|
low
|
abstractive
|
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/19/AR2008051901686.html
|
https://web.archive.org/web/2008052019id_/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/19/AR2008051901686.html
|
SEC Sues 8 Former AOL Officials
|
2008052019
|
The Securities and Exchange Commission yesterday filed civil lawsuits against eight former America Online executives, accusing them of participating in illegal accounting practices that inflated the online giant's reported revenue by more than $1 billion.
Former chief financial officers John Michael Kelly and Joseph A. Ripp, as well as several leaders of the company's dealmaking business affairs unit, were among those charged. Four of the executives agreed to settle with the agency for about $8 million, including David M. Colburn, former head of business affairs, who agreed to pay $4 million.
All four who settled agreed to do so without admitting or denying the allegations against them.
In the complaints filed in a federal court in Manhattan, the SEC contended that the former AOL executives "knowingly or recklessly engineered, oversaw and executed a scheme to artificially and materially inflate the company's reported online advertising revenue."
The lawsuits were the result of a drawn-out investigation by the SEC that began in 2002 after a Washington Post report on a series of unconventional deals involving the online giant. In 2005, AOL's parent company, Time Warner, reached its own settlement with the SEC, agreeing to pay $300 million.
"From our perspective, this is one of most egregious accounting frauds in recent memory," said Scott W. Friestad, associate director of the SEC's enforcement division.
At the center of the charges is what the SEC described as an elaborate accounting scheme designed by the business affairs unit of AOL from 2000 to 2002, around the time of AOL's merger with Time Warner. At the time, the online firm was under intense pressure to prove to investors that its advertising business was healthy, despite the fact that many firms had begun to falter with the bursting of the technology bubble.
To bolster their earnings statements for investors and Time Warner, AOL executives allegedly worked up illegal marketing arrangements with companies such as WorldCom, Hewlett-Packard, Sun Microsystems and Veritas Software, according to the lawsuits. In those agreements, AOL allegedly paid the companies to buy online advertising space from AOL, booking the proceeds as revenue in a practice known as "roundtrip" transactions.
The SEC contended that all eight executives participated in the alleged shams and that the four who declined to settle -- Kelly, Ripp, Steven E. Rindner, former senior executive of business affairs, and Mark Wovsaniker, former head of accounting policy -- took part in at least one of three types of accounting maneuvers.
In one alleged scheme, AOL is said to have offered to pay higher prices for goods and services from vendors, who in exchange promised to buy online ads on the Web site. Another tactic involved business mergers, in which AOL allegedly agreed to increase the price it paid to buy a company as long as the firm in turn agreed to buy ads on AOL's site. AOL also allegedly took proceeds from legal settlements and counted them as advertising revenue, according to the government.
Attorneys for defendants Kelly, Ripp, Rindner and Wovsaniker said the men did not settle with the SEC because they were not involved in the wrongdoing.
Ripp and Wovsaniker served as witnesses in separate federal cases against former AOL employees engaged in illegal accounting, which showed that the defendants tried to expose the malfeasance of other executives, their attorneys said.
|
The Securities and Exchange Commission yesterday filed civil lawsuits against eight former America Online executives, accusing them of participating in illegal accounting practices that inflated the online giant's reported revenue by more than $1 billion.
| 16.333333 | 1 | 39 |
medium
|
high
|
extractive
|
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/09/AR2008050900526.html
|
https://web.archive.org/web/2008052019id_/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/09/AR2008050900526.html
|
Without Funds, Verb Program Became Past Tense
|
2008052019
|
Its message and look were clever, hyper, even edgy -- the perfect appeal to the tweeners who were its target. Yes, tweeners, the 9- to 13-year-olds stuck between young children and true teenagers. A group whose rate of overweight and obesity has almost quadrupled since 1974, not just because of too many french fries but because of too many couch potatoes.
The Verb campaign, as in "VERB -- It's what you do," was supposed to get them up and moving.
The national program, created by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, was ordered up by Congress as a social marketing campaign to increase physical activity. Lawmakers invested heavily, with $125 million in start-up funds in 2001, because everyone said this had to be different to succeed. No preachy or facts-heavy delivery; no random, late-night public-service announcements.
Instead, Verb used paid advertising, highly focused marketing, community promotions and megastar role models (rapper Bow Wow, pro quarterback Donovan McNabb and singer-actress Miley Cyrus) to brand its cool, can-do message. "We very much worked at understanding kids from kids' point of view," said Faye Wong, who directed the program.
By the second year, evaluations showed that the program was making a marked difference. Millions of children were aware of the campaign, with substantial numbers choosing to be much more active. Supporters expected Verb's impact to grow exponentially.
Except Congress cut the funding and summarily ended the program. A few passionate proponents simply could not get their colleagues to pay enough attention. The last ads aired in late 2006.
"It's a piece of history now," said Jeffrey P. Koplan, former CDC director and now vice president for global health at Emory University. "If you did that with a vaccine, that would be public health malpractice."
|
Its message and look were clever, hyper, even edgy -- the perfect appeal to the tweeners who were its target. Yes, tweeners, the 9- to 13-year-olds stuck between young children and true teenagers. A group whose rate of overweight and obesity has almost quadrupled since 1974, not just because of t...
| 6.04918 | 0.967213 | 57.065574 |
low
|
high
|
extractive
|
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/18/AR2008051801475.html
|
https://web.archive.org/web/2008052019id_/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/18/AR2008051801475.html
|
At High School, Pit Stops Add 21,000 Calories in Two Hours
|
2008052019
|
At 10:59 a.m., Bladensburg High School's three vending machines are hungrily whirring, anticipating the first quarters of the day.
Sophomore Ruth Flores bounces toward the snack machine, white iPod buds in her ears, and pulls two dollar bills out of her khaki shorts.
Error! The machine spits out a dollar. Error! Again, it rejects the crumpled bill.
Flores smooths her bills against the machine and tries once more. Out falls her meal -- 530 calories and 25 grams of fat, or French Onion Sun Chips and Linden's big fudge chip cookies. Ka-ching. Ka-ching. Ka-ching.
"I wouldn't call it lunch," she said as she gathered her change of 75 cents. "I know it's not healthy, but it's not like they're selling fruits."
In the battle against childhood obesity, vending machines have been labeled the enemy by the Agriculture Department, which sponsors school lunches. To students, the machines are often an alternative to long lunch lines and sometimes unappetizing food.
Bladensburg's vending machines are more healthful than most, and fewer than half the school's 2,100 students buy snacks and sodas from the machines on a typical day. Rice Krispies Treats (150 calories, 3.5 grams of fat) are an improvement from Snickers bars (280 calories, 14 grams of fat). Baked chips have replaced fried.
Not offered in Prince George's County schools are self-serve apples and oranges.
"We're trying to phase healthier foods in so it's not such a shock," said Daniel P. Townsend, director of the school district's department of food and nutrition services. "You can offer all of the tofu and spinach you want, but if children don't consume it, it doesn't have any real value."
Shortly before 11 a.m., the first of four 30-minute lunch periods begins. From the back wall of the cafeteria, rows of shiny packages of snacks beckon students, who rush in through the lunchroom doors. Vending machine selection C3: Mini Oreos. A4: Cool Ranch Doritos. B2: Andy Capp's Hot Fries.
The bright, colorful Snapple machine (170 calories, 40 grams of sugar in 12 ounces) casts a warm glow. Students scoff at the Nesquik milkshake machine (360 calories, 48 grams of sugar in 13.5 ounces) that's covered with cow spots.
At 11:16 a.m., sophomore Latisha Waller, an outgoing girl in a purple windbreaker, sucks on a lollipop and grabs a fistful of Sour Punch Straws from a friend. On the sly, she bought the candy, which is forbidden in the cafeteria, from a student in the hallway.
|
At 10:59 a.m., Bladensburg High School's three vending machines are hungrily whirring, anticipating the first quarters of the day.
| 22.73913 | 1 | 23 |
medium
|
high
|
extractive
|
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/19/AR2008051900232.html
|
https://web.archive.org/web/2008052019id_/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/19/AR2008051900232.html
|
Chinese Gather to Mourn Victims of Sichuan Quake
|
2008052019
|
Repair crews and aid workers paused at 2:28 p.m. -- the exact time that the 7.9-magnitude quake erupted in Sichuan province last Monday -- to honor the 34,000 people confirmed dead so far. On highways, cars stopped, with some drivers breaking the silence to honk their horns in recognition of the moment. Elsewhere, air-raid sirens could be heard.
In Tiananmen Square, Chinese bowed their heads before thrusting their fists into the air and shouting, "Long live China!" State television showed footage of President Hu Jintao, Premier Wen Jiabao and others in Beijing, standing in silence at the Communist Party headquarters of Zhongnanhai.
After a week of heroic rescues and miraculous survivals in the aftermath of China's worst natural disaster in three decades, there was little good news Monday.
The official New China News Agency reported that more than 200 rescue workers were buried over two days here in Sichuan while repairing roads. It was unclear what caused the mudslides, but the region continues to experience heavy aftershocks.
And while the emergency effort was still officially aimed at search and rescue, hopes of finding more survivors had subsided. Many areas with collapsed buildings had been quarantined for disinfection and the removal of debris.
Monday marked the start of three days of national mourning, with flags flying at half-staff. The official mourning period is the longest since the death of Communist leader Deng Xiaoping in 1997.
At a makeshift hospital for victims in Sichuan's Anxian town, Zhang Chunying, who is in charge of helping coordinate volunteers, said that even as this country mourns, its people should be proud that Chinese around the world have offered assistance and heartfelt donations.
"We honor the dead by helping those who survived," she said.
In a neighboring village, the mood at a school that had collapsed was strikingly different. Di Kaiwei and dozens of other parents who lost children stood in the ruins of the school, holding letter-size pictures and ID cards of their sons and daughters.
Di said he and other families had not received any information about why the building had not withstood the tremor. He intended to remain at the school for the next three days, in the hopes that the government officials responsible for building the school would show up.
"So many people have gathered here that town officials will have to come pay attention to us," Di said.
|
MIANYANG, China, May 19 -- China observed three minutes of silence Monday to mourn the tens of thousands of people who died in last week's earthquake, as state media reported that more than 200 rescue workers had been buried in mudslides.
| 10 | 0.76087 | 1.717391 |
low
|
low
|
mixed
|
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/19/AR2008051901219.html
|
https://web.archive.org/web/2008052019id_/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/19/AR2008051901219.html
|
A Debunking on Teenagers and 'Technical Virginity'
|
2008052019
|
Contrary to widespread belief, teenagers do not appear to commonly engage in oral sex as a way to preserve their virginity, according to the first study to examine the question nationally.
The analysis of a federal survey of more than 2,200 males and females aged 15 to 19, released yesterday, found that more than half reported having had oral sex. But those who described themselves as virgins were far less likely to say they had tried it than those who had had intercourse.
"There's a popular perception that teens are engaging in serial oral sex as a strategy to avoid vaginal intercourse," said Rachel Jones of the Guttmacher Institute, a private, nonprofit research organization based in New York, who helped do the study. "Our research suggests that's a misperception."
Instead, the study found that teens tend to become sexually active in many ways at about the same time. For example, although only one in four teenage virgins had engaged in oral sex, within six months after their first intercourse more than four out of five adolescents reported having oral sex.
"That suggests that oral and vaginal sex are closely linked," said Jones, whose findings will be published in the July issue of the Journal of Adolescent Health. "Most teens don't have oral sex until they have had vaginal sex."
Proponents of sex-education programs that focus on abstinence said the findings debunked the criticism that the approach was inadvertently prompting more teens to have oral sex, which still carries the risk of sexually transmitted disease, in order to preserve their virginity.
"This study . . . invalidates the suggestion that 'technical virgins' account for the rise in oral and anal sex," said Valerie Huber, executive director of the National Abstinence Education Association. "Sexually experienced teens were almost four times more likely to engage in oral sex and 20 times more likely to engage in anal sex than their peers who were virgins."
If anything, the findings support the need to encourage more teens to delay sexual activity of all kinds, she said.
"This report reveals that teen sex -- even with a condom -- presents significant risk for future sexual experimentation and so underscores the need for redoubled emphasis on abstinence education for teens," she said. "Only abstinence education adequately addresses this problem."
But critics of abstinence programs said the findings reinforced the need for comprehensive sex education, because teens engage in a wide variety of sexual activities, all of which can spread sexually transmitted diseases.
"More than half of our teens are having sex -- vaginal and oral," said James Wagoner, president of the group Advocates for Youth. "We can't afford the luxury of denial. Abstinence-only programs are the embodiment of denial. They have been proven not to work, and it's time to invest in real sex education, including condoms."
Others praised the research for providing much-needed data in the often highly polarized debate over teenage sexuality.
|
Get Washington DC,Virginia,Maryland and national news. Get the latest/breaking news,featuring national security,science and courts. Read news headlines from the nation and from The Washington Post. Visit www.washingtonpost.com/nation today.
| 13.761905 | 0.380952 | 0.380952 |
low
|
low
|
abstractive
|
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/19/AR2008051901586.html
|
https://web.archive.org/web/2008052019id_/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/19/AR2008051901586.html
|
France Discloses 'Contacts' With Hamas
|
2008052019
|
"We must be able to talk if we want to play a role," Kouchner said in a radio interview. "These are not relations, they are contacts."
Kouchner's remarks followed the publication Monday of an interview with France's emissary to Hamas -- a former ambassador to Iraq -- in the daily newspaper Le Figaro.
The disclosure of French contacts with Hamas, which the United States and European Union consider a terrorist organization, followed an uproar in the U.S. presidential campaign over the issue of government contacts with sponsors of terrorism.
President Bush, during a Middle East visit last week, told the Israeli parliament, "Some seem to believe we should negotiate with the terrorists and radicals, as if some ingenious argument will persuade them they have been wrong all along." He compared the willingness to meet with "terrorists and radicals" to the pre-World War II "appeasement" of Nazi Germany.
Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama chastised Bush for what he said was an obvious slap at his comments that the United States should open lines of communication with countries such as Iran and Syria in an effort to advance peace. The senator from Illinois has not advocated negotiating with the Hamas organization.
Hamas defeated the Fatah movement, long dominant in the Palestinian territories, in January 2006 parliamentary elections. After a power-sharing deal failed, Hamas last June forcibly took control of the Gaza Strip, where it is much stronger and more influential than Fatah, which continues to control the Palestinian Authority from its base in the West Bank.
Former U.S. president Jimmy Carter drew criticism from Israel and the Bush administration for meeting with Hamas leaders in Damascus, Syria, last month.
Regarding the French contacts, Israeli officials said they had been assured that France's policy had not changed.
In Washington, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said, "We don't believe it is helpful to the process of bringing peace to the region."
Carter and French emissary Yves Aubin de la Messuzi¿re gave similar accounts of their separate sessions with Hamas, saying its leadership appeared willing to moderate its political positions.
Kouchner, in his interview with Europe 1 radio, said Hamas still does not recognize the state of Israel but is "more flexible than before" on the subject. Historically, Hamas has called for Israel's elimination.
"They assured that they were ready to accept a Palestinian state," de la Messuzi¿re told Le Figaro, adding that the statement "amounts to an indirect recognition of Israel."
"They said they were ready to stop suicide attacks and, what surprised me is that the Islamist leaders recognize the legitimacy of Mahmoud Abbas," said de la Messuzi¿re, referring to the Palestinian Authority president from Fatah.
De la Messuzi¿re said he met with the Hamas prime minister, Ismael Haniyeh, and his Gaza foreign minister, Mahmoud Zahar.
The government announced its contacts with Hamas because "we must do so clearly" and with the full knowledge of France's partners, Kouchner said.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy will make an official visit to Israel and the Palestinian territories in June, Kouchner said, adding that Sarkozy will not meet with Hamas on that trip.
|
PARIS, May 19 -- France has had contacts with the leaders of the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas "for several months," French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said Monday.
| 19.28125 | 0.78125 | 1.09375 |
medium
|
low
|
abstractive
|
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/video/2008/05/19/VI2008051900997.html
|
https://web.archive.org/web/2008052019id_/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/video/2008/05/19/VI2008051900997.html
|
Burma Set to Open Some Doors
|
2008052019
|
» This Story:Read +|Watch +
{ "movie":"http://media10.washingtonpost.com/wp/swf/OmniPlayer.swf", "id":"oplayer-video-swf", "width":"100%", height:"100%", "vars":{ "title":"Burma Set to Open Some Doors", "stillURL":"http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/photo/2008/05/19/PH2008051900992.jpg", "mediaQueryString":"http://static.washingtonpost.com/wp/swf/OmniPlayer.swf?id=05192008-12v&flvURL=/media/2008/05/19/05192008-12v&playAds=true&adZone=wpni.video.bc&canShare=false" }, "params":{ "allowFullScreen":"true" } }
Suspicious package sits at Fed building for months
Toyota expects to halt production in U.S.
Aerial view of Japan destruction
Truck dangles over ramp; two trapped
Aftermath of blast, Gaza strikes
Elementary class graduate after tsunami
Baking behind bars on Rikers Island
Plea deal nixed in Conn. home invasion case
Police: Teen shot guardians after being grounded
Playing the oil prices money game
Elizabeth Taylor's stand against AIDS
Obama struggles to enter White House
Radioactive water triggers fear in Japan
Buying a new home means paying more
Allied forces crippling Gaddafi's power
Goldman CEO offers no cover for ex-boardmember
Audio: Silence in the tower at DCA
Libya mission gaining; U.S. looks to cede control
Deadly plane crash in Republic of Congo
Strong storms bring wild weather
Watchdog groups want Ukraine zoo closed
Blast at bus station shakes Jerusalem
Japan buries its dead as radiation fears grow
Obama struggles to enter White House
Obama again defends U.S. involvement in Libya
McCain on no-fly zone: "It's been very effective"
U.S. fighter jet crashes in Libya
Obama lauds Chile's transition to democracy
Coalition stops Gaddafi push on rebel stronghold
The Post's Perry Bacon on Obama in Chile
Obama favors Gaddafi stepping down
Palin: 'Overwhelming' to be in Israel
Gates: U.S. will soon yield control in Libya
The Fast Fix - Is Romney winning the base?
Obama: Brazil's democracy example to Arab world
Obama plays soccer with Brazil youth
Obama authorizes military action against Libya
The Post's Forero analyzes Obama's trip to Brazil
Obama: Coalition prepared to act in Libya
Banks boost dividends as Fed loosens leash
Wisc. judge blocks controversial union law
Obama: U.S. ready to enforce sanctions in Libya
Clinton: 'No other choice' in Libya
Westfield and Robinson tie, 1-1
Post Sports Live: Boudreau vs. McPhee - who deserves more credit?
Post Sports Live: Sweet 16 preview
Post Sports Live: Alex Ovechkin's mysterious injury
Post Sports Live, March 22
Georgetown Prep beats Langley, 12-3
Post Sports Live: Verizon Center has Big East feel for NCAA Tourney
Ali asks Iran to free U.S. hikers
JaVale McGee on his first triple-double
Post Sports Live: Mason faces tough road in East region
Post Sports Live: Georgetown's chances rest on Wright's hand
Navy knocks out in-state rival Towson, 14-11
Georgetown draws 5th-seed, faces Princeton this Sunday
Post Sports Live: NCAA Tournament preview
Post Sports Live, March 15
George Mason reacts to first-round matchup with Villanova
Sneak peek: 'History Will Be Made'
North Point claims 4A title
Centennial loses to Milford Mill, 56-44
Toyota expects to halt production in U.S.
Aerial view of Japan destruction
Aftermath of blast, Gaza strikes
Elementary class graduate after tsunami
No Tweeting: A royal wedding etiquette guide
Playing the oil prices money game
Radioactive water triggers fear in Japan
Allied forces crippling Gaddafi's power
Libya mission gaining; U.S. looks to cede control
Deadly plane crash in Republic of Congo
Watchdog groups want Ukraine zoo closed
Blast at bus station shakes Jerusalem
Japan buries its dead as radiation fears grow
Mass protests in Yemen as emergency law imposed
Bomb explodes at Jerusalem bus stop
Obama again defends U.S. involvement in Libya
Missing Va. teacher's body located in Japan
U.S. fighter jet crashes in Libya
Carriages prepared for royal wedding
Japan slowly recovers, mourns dead
Obama lauds Chile's transition to democracy
Coalition stops Gaddafi push on rebel stronghold
The Post's Perry Bacon on Obama in Chile
Truck dangles over ramp; two trapped
Post Today, March 24: U-Md. demands nuclear fallout info
Baking behind bars on Rikers Island
No Tweeting: A royal wedding etiquette guide
Police: Teen shot guardians after being grounded
Elizabeth Taylor's stand against AIDS
Obama struggles to enter White House
Aflac debuts Gilbert Gottfried-less commercial
Strong storms bring wild weather
Elizabeth Taylor's tempestuous love affair
Adorable polar bear twins meet the public
Bomb explodes at Jerusalem bus stop
Elizabeth Taylor dies at 79
Massive shark spotted off Florida coast
Iowa tornado caught on tape
Post Today, March 23: Naming military operations
Circus elephants take a walk through D.C.
Missing Va. teacher's body located in Japan
Footage of crashed U.S. fighter jet
U.S. fighter jet crashes in Libya
Carriages prepared for royal wedding
|
Burma officials have invited representatives of several countries to visit the cyclone-hit delta in a bid to deflect criticism that it is mismanaging relief operations. U.S. diplomats say they have not been contacted. Video by AP
| 24.55 | 0.375 | 0.375 |
medium
|
low
|
abstractive
|
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/18/AR2008051801761.html
|
https://web.archive.org/web/2008052019id_/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/18/AR2008051801761.html
|
An Icy Dig in Search of Signs of Life on Mars
|
2008052019
|
The search for life on Mars will resume in earnest next Sunday if NASA's Phoenix spacecraft lands as planned on the icy fringe of the planet's north pole.
Touching down on Mars is a risky business; only about half of the attempts have succeeded. But assuming that Phoenix does arrive upright and in one piece, the craft will begin digging into the soil and ice beneath it to look for signs that life once existed -- or could have existed -- in the barren landscape.
Phoenix's study of the northern permafrost "takes the next step in Mars exploration by determining whether this region, which may encompass as much as 25 percent of the Martian surface, is habitable," said Peter Smith of the University of Arizona, the mission's principal investigator.
In particular, he said, Phoenix will try to determine whether the ice holds any carbon-based organic material -- a component of all known life -- and whether the ice ever melted. "As we dig down, we hope to find signs that the soil has mixed with the ice, which means there was once liquid water," Smith said. "And if we find organics, that will be a major discovery."
Phoenix is scheduled to land about 7 p.m. Eastern time on Sunday, joining NASA's robotic rovers Spirit and Opportunity on the Martian surface. But its descent will be very different. When the twin rovers touched down in 2003, they were surrounded by air bags that cushioned their landings and sent them bouncing across the surface. Once they stopped, the bags deflated and the rovers emerged.
Phoenix will descend more traditionally, slowed by a parachute and its thrusters in much the same manner as the Mars Polar Lander, which crashed on descent in 1999. Phoenix has been modified to improve its chances, but many space scientists and engineers will be holding their breath Sunday evening as it descends. It will take about 15 minutes for its radio signal to reach Earth with the news, either that it made it safely or that another spacecraft has been destroyed in the attempt.
Also unlike the two mobile and remarkably long-lived rovers, Phoenix is designed to plant itself in one spot and start digging with a Canadian-built robotic arm as much as three feet deep into the soil and, scientists hope, through subsurface layers of ice. The lander has a set of miniature but sophisticated chemistry labs to analyze the soil and ice that the robotic arm pulls aboard Phoenix.
The spacecraft is aiming for a landing farther north than any other on Mars, in an area with ice and perhaps signs of once-liquid water. NASA's search for life in the solar system is based on the theme of "follow the water," on the assumption that life needs water to exist.
Although the temperatures will be well below freezing on the surface -- minus-28 to minus-100 degrees Fahrenheit -- scientists think the temperatures, and the ice, could be warmer below the surface and may once have even been liquid. The region is low and flat, and some theorize that it may have held an ocean long in the past.
The ice also shows polygon patterns remarkably similar to some found in Antarctica. Scientists speculate that they could be the result of cycles of freezing and thawing.
The $457 million Phoenix spacecraft has traveled a long and circuitous path, and not just on its journey of 422 million miles through space. Phoenix uses equipment built for a spacecraft that was supposed to be launched in 2001, which was scratched because of the Polar Lander's crash.
When in 2002 NASA's Mars Odyssey orbiter detected substantial amounts of water ice lying just beneath the surface, however, a reconfigured Phoenix was selected to fly to Mars and dig for the ice in the northern polar region. It will also set up a $37 million Canadian weather station.
|
Science news from The Washington Post. Read about the latest breakthroughs in technology,medicine and communications.
| 37 | 0.45 | 0.45 |
high
|
low
|
abstractive
|
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/discussion/2008/05/16/DI2008051603241.html
|
https://web.archive.org/web/2008052019id_/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/discussion/2008/05/16/DI2008051603241.html
|
Science: Search for Life on Mars
|
2008052019
|
Read today's story: An Icy Dig in Search of Signs of Life on Mars.
The transcript of the discussion follows.
Kaufman discussed discoveries on Mars last month. Read the transcript here.
Marc Kaufman: Good afternoon. Nasa's Phoenix lander is scheduled to touch down near the North Pole of Mars on Sunday. It's on a search for ice, water and ultimately signs of past (or conceivably current) life. This search for life forms beyond Earth is a major emphasis of NASA and the relatively new science of astrobiology is growing fast. We can never tell what missions like Phoenix will find -- or if the lander will even land safely -- but the science is certainly compelling and possibly quite important.
What happens if the results for organic carbon beneath the surface come back negative? Will the Mars Science Laboratory still be sent to a similar area or will it be sent someplace else with a different objective?
Marc Kaufman: There's a saying in science, and especially space science, that "An absence of evidence is not evidence of absence." There are so many possibly confounding issues involved in a mission like this that -- unless it unexpectedly gets a very strong signal of organic life -- it will be hard to say that it's conclusive. The Viking missions to Mars, after all, did not find organic matter, and we are back again looking elsewhere and in some different ways. So this is definitely the beginning of a process, and many possibilities and approaches remain on the table.
à rhus, Denmark: Although remote experiments performed automatically by the probes themselves are without a doubt extremely useful, they do seem very narrowly focused and rather limited in scope.
What are the prospects for a mission that endeavors to return samples to Earth? Would the scope of such a mission be to land, pick up the nearest pebble and fly home, or could it conceivably include rovers that collect more varied specimens?
Marc Kaufman: NASA is seriously discussing, along with the European space agency, an unmanned mission to Mars to collect and bring back samples. I believe this is proposed for 2014 or 2015, and would involve some serious technical challenges. It also raises some complicated questions involving possible contamination of Mars (from a spacecraft) and equally possible contamination of Earth if there are life forms in a Mars sample. Nonetheless, I believe there is a consensus that we won't have a clear idea of the possibilities of life on Mars until either samples are recovered, humans explore the surface, or many new ways of collecting data are developed and tried. We know that the surface of Mars seems to be barren and inhospitable, but there are hints that liquid water could exist below the surface, and suggestions that it existed on the surface in eons past.
We do have numerous samples of moon rocks, and a Japanese spacecraft is heading back from taking rock samples from an asteroid. Indeed, a number of other nations have said they intend to send future sample-gathering missions to Mars, including the Russians.
Washington, D.C.: I am very excited for the landing on Sunday and I hope everything goes according to plan with it.
I know missions like Phoenix are very expensive and take a lot of planning and organizing long before the vehicle is even built. These missions are never really developed to do a single task - even one as exciting as searching for life.
What other goals do the Phoenix mission planners hope to accomplish besides these tests for life and scouting the pole for water that may be less exciting for the public to hear about but may be just as important in terms of scientific research and discovery?
Marc Kaufman: Other goals include the setting up of a Canadian-made weather station -- the first at such a high latitude on Mars. Researchers hope to the station will help them better understand how water cycles seasonally between ice on the ground and vapor in the atmosphere. There will also be numerous soil tests that do not focus solely on water. These include efforts to test for soil pH, and for sulfates, carbonates and other soluble salts. In addition, Phoenix has a number of sophisticated microscopes that will be used to study soil samples.
Chicago: I need your help to resolve the following....
Here's a true story... in college, one of my best friends (someone whom I consider a bright, well-read, responsible person, and today the father of 3) arranged to swap-out his license plates.
His new tags read: "MARS IN 93" reflecting his belief that by 1993 (this was 1991), we would make contact with life forms on Mars.
In more recent years, he has claimed that the 1996 discovery of the meteorite ALH84001 in the arctic means that his prediction was indeed correct, and that he was only 3 years off the mark.
I believe that this is revisionist history (regardless of the timing) and that his prediction was predicated on finding life "ON" Mars...not Martian life "AWAY" from Mars, as was the case with the microbes found on the meteorite.
Could you please weigh in on this? (there's a small wager riding on your answer). Thanks.
Marc Kaufman: Turns out your friend was off in several ways. Most important, the famous ALH84001 meteorite -- which was hailed as carrying the first detected signs of fossilized organic life-- is no longer considered to have carried such a cargo. The scientific consensus, I'm told, is that while the meteorite may have contained some of the building blocks of life, it did not have in it anything that was ever alive.
Another interesting point: Meteorites like this one arrive regularly on Earth, and many contain carbon in them. Yet Mars scientists have never detected any samples of carbon on the planet's surface. Carbon dioxide is in the atmosphere and we can assume carbon is somewhere underground, but it has never been conclusively found on the Mars. Intruiging...
BC: A couple of quick questions:
Is NASA looking at the site and the condition of the water ice as factors for manned missions later? Seems like there would be a big advantage to mission profiles that require less water to be transported from Earth to Mars; both for human consumption and thrust/reaction mass...
Also, has NASA considered the idea of Martian water as a source of funding? If people pay for water shipped from France or the Alps, think about what they'd pay for a bottle - or perhaps even a hot tub full of healthy iron-rich Martian water. This could be a great way to have the sample return missions pay for themselves... "Ares Strain H20 - It's Out of This World, and It'll Take You There, Too!"
Seriously, I hope this all goes well, and I'm looking forward to further coverage on this, Marc.
Marc Kaufman: To your first question, yes the condition of the water ice is definitely a potential factor for future manned missions to Mars (and to the moon as well.) In addition to the possibility that it holds clues about past or current life, the ice is also a possible energy source and, I guess, could be used by astronauts.
It is, however, very cold at the Martian (or lunar) poles -- with Martian temperatures going down to minus 100 F in the area where Phoenix will land.
As for selling Martian water, I think it might be a good two-fer for selling shares of the Brooklyn Bridge.
Vienna, Va.: Mr. Kaufman: Today's WP article stated that the success rate for landing probes on Mars is only 50%. The descent procedure for Phoenix is more of a traditional descent, whereas the Spirit and Opportunity rovers both successfully used the bouncing "balloon" method for touchdown. To your knowledge, what parameters were considered in the use of one method over the other for Phoenix? Thanks.
Marc Kaufman: If I understand correctly, the size and weight of the rover/lander determines whether the descent will be with thrusters or the bouncing balloons. Beyond a certain size, I believe the balloons don't work, and so they have to go back to more traditional methods.
Savannah, Ga: I have observed , in the images of Mars from our orbiting space craft , certain seasonal changes of color on the planet "surface" and I put surface in quotes because I really don't know if these changes are on the surface. I have seen images of the Sahara showing stream and river basins that one could not detect if one was walking on the planet surface, but because the imager penetrates the sands, we see another older viewpoint. On our planet , seasonal changes are actually a series of interactive "living events" that produce color changes on our planet, and my question is ," are these color changes possibly an indication of some sort of "Living " process?
Marc Kaufman: Interesting observation, but afraid not something I'm aware of on the Mars. The planet is covered with a layer of dust and, as far as I know, there have not been pronounced color variations.
However, I know of some recent research into the release of methane - an organic compound -- from the surface of Mars. The gas is only released at certain times and in certain places. This could be a sign of life, in that a life form could produce the methane as a byproduct. Or it could be the result of a chemical reaction below the surface of the planet. The methane could be locked below the surface during the coldest season, but then released when some surface ice melts. Either way, it would be a very interesting development if fully confirmed.
Gaithersburg, Md.: How much potential exists for contamination of Mars or other explored planets by the spacecraft or other equipment? Microscopic spores, bacteria, mites, etc are everywhere on Earth. Some spores are very resistant to extreme temperature fluctuations and chemical treatments and it seems remotely possible that some would be able to survive interplanetary travel, and either provide false positive results when searching for life or possibly even gain a foothold in the new environment and begin to grow and eventually thrive there.
What are your thoughts on this?
Marc Kaufman: The field of "planetary protection" is definitely growing in importance because of these issues you raise. It seems to me improbable that spores or microbes on a spacecraft sent from Earth would survive the trip to Mars, but you're correct that the possibility cannot be ruled out. And as we are finding on Earth, life can survive in environments we long assumed would immediately kill them.
Two interesting sidelight to this: Some believe that if we do some day find life on Mars or the moon, that it will have been carried there by man. The only way to determine whether that is correct, I believe, is to test the DNA and see if it is any different than what exists on Earth. Also, there is a serious theory that life on Earth was seeded from Mars via a long-ago asteroid. If true, I guess we would all be Martians.
Panama City, Fla.: Thanks for your reporting.
As a result I've marked my calendar and told numerous friends of Sunday's landing.
I tell them that this has the potential to be a very historic mission(not that it isn't already), should it detect any signs of past or present life.
How soon will the results of these tests be made public?
Marc Kaufman: I believe Phoenix will begin sending photos quite soon after touching down, but the other data will take a while. The researchers I spoke with said it would be a week or two before they started getting good information. No word yet on how quickly they will release their information, but I see no reason why it won't be quite soon.
Bronx, N.Y.: Are there any considered plans to land on Phobos and Deimos to set up observation/jump-off missions?
Marc Kaufman: None that I'm aware of. I believe the Russians tried to land on Phobos some years ago and missed. All the information I've read and discussions I've had about a future manned mission to Mars involved a direct flight from Earth -- or from a jump-off station on the moon -- to Mars.
Washington, D.C.: Many people have given very similar details when reporting UFO sightings. Might this be more proof, or at least, equal suggestion of life outside earth?
In fact, several friends of mine and I have seen similar phenomenon first hand, but we refrain from telling anyone for fear of looking foolish.
Marc Kaufman: I personally see no reason to believe that UFOs exist and have visited Earth. Indeed, I think the UFO phenomenon has confused people about the possibility of life beyond Earth -- making it appear that life would be intelligent, or even super-intelligent. Today, most astrobiologists think that if life -- or remnants of life - are found elsewhere, they will be microbes or tiny, simple organisms, rather than fully evolved creatures or beings. That's why missions such as Phoenix test for these most basic forms of life.
Many thanks for your questions...
Editor's Note: washingtonpost.com moderators retain editorial control over Discussions and choose the most relevant questions for guests and hosts; guests and hosts can decline to answer questions. washingtonpost.com is not responsible for any content posted by third parties.
|
Join live discussions from the Washington Post. Feature topics include national, world and DC area news, politics, elections, campaigns, government policy, tech regulation, travel, entertainment, cars, and real estate.
| 64.170732 | 0.536585 | 0.682927 |
high
|
low
|
abstractive
|
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/discussion/2008/05/18/DI2008051802493.html
|
https://web.archive.org/web/2008052019id_/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/discussion/2008/05/18/DI2008051802493.html
|
The Local Delegation: Rep. Jim Moran (D-Va.)
|
2008052019
|
Rep. Moran has been a U.S. congressman serving Northern Virginia since 1990, and has worked on federal workforce, public transportation and environmental issues. Moran is a senior member of the House Appropriations Committee, and is a co-founder of the Congressional Prevention Caucus, the Task Force on Sovereign Wealth Funds and the New Democrat Coalition.
Rep. Jim Moran: Good morning, it's great to be online with you and the Post today. I look forward to your questions, let's get started.
Anonymous: I am a Federal employee who will retire under the FERS Retirement system. Thank you for trying to pass legislation that will give FERS employees credit for any unused sick leave at the time of retirement. My question is, why didn't you use the same formula that is being used for CSRS employees? Your proposed formula seems a bit unfair to the FERS employees as compared to that of the CSRS people.
Rep. Jim Moran: Very good question. The problem is a matter of cost. To have done what we wanted to do, which is to achieve parity with CSRS, would have cost $317 million annually. As a result, I fear it would have been dead on arrival. My bill gets our foot in the door with a $10000 convertible benefit and my intent is to increase it as fast and to the extent possible in the political and fiscal context within which we have to deal.
Springfield, Va.: Hello. It's a pleasure having you in the chat with us today, congressman. First off, what is the Task Force on Sovereign Wealth Funds? Also, do you have any suggestions for recent college grads/the new workforce on how to become civically involved in this area? Thank you.
Rep. Jim Moran: Tom Davis and I co-chair the Congressional Task Force on Sovereign Wealth Funds in an attempt to educate our colleagues on how important this tectonic shift of wealth to China and the oil producing nations is to the U.S. Sovereign Wealth Funds today amount to about $2.5 trillion. Goldman Sachs estimates they will rise to about $12.5 trillion in about 5 years. Much of this is our money which we are going to need to be reinvested in the capital assets of the U.S. To prevent this reinvestment because of political and security concerns, all of which are understandable, will further aggravate the financial credit crisis we are currently facing.
I believe that public service is going to offer a great many more and exciting opportunities for career fulfillment in the future, because we may be about to enter into a new progressive era where the federal govt. will be viewed less as part of the problem and more as the necessary means to the solution of many of our domestic and international challenges.
Ballston, Va.: Why does congress allow some of the major professional sports an antitrust exemption? Can anyone honestly say that Major League Baseball and the National Football League are not businesses? It has lead to the D.C. area being messed with by Angelos, as well as other problems.
Rep. Jim Moran: I have supported legislation to remove the antitrust exemptions enjoyed by much of professional sports for the reason that you cite, that they are businesses with less and less claim on the loyalty of their fans.
Alexandria, Va.: A comment and a question from a constituent: You have demonstrated phenomenal leadership in animal protection issues, from curbing enormous abuses in the poorly-regulated "factory farming" and slaughter system to promoting the reform of commercial hunting and criminalizing animal cruelty. Why the tremendous push-back on these issues? Is it simply a matter of money from the agriculture and hunting lobbies directed to Midwestern members? Many thanks for your excellent service -- the 8th District is well-represented.
Rep. Jim Moran: Thank you for your awareness of my positions on animal rights issues. You be interested to know that I voted for the Farm bill last week because it prohibited "puppy mills", animal fighting, and increased funding for enforcement for many of the animal rights laws that are currently on the books.
Falls Church, Va.: I am a U.S. citizen and Fairfax/Falls Church resident. I got married about a year ago and mistakenly filed a form with the USCIS office in Vermont (it should have been in the Chicago CIS office instead with other forms) regarding my immigrant wife. I am now trying to to withdraw and terminate this particular application. I have repeatedly tried to notify the Vermont CIS office in writing to do this, but they don't respond. In the meantime, the Chicago CIS office won't act on the forms filed there because the Vermont filing is stuck in the CIS computer system. There are no problems with her personal qualifications for permanent residency.
I am asking if your office can provide me a direct contact person within the Vermont CIS office to cancel the application there. My wife is worried about running out of time to get her temporary green card before her current work visa expires. Thanks for any information you can provide. If you are not sure what to do for me right now, can you give me a staff contact in your own congressional office. Thanks.
Rep. Jim Moran: You can contact Andrew in my Alexandria District Office with the details of your specific situation. The number is 703-971-4700.
Arlington, Va.: What is the status of the bill (HR 5781 I believe) that would give federal workers four weeks of maternity/paternity leave? Have you received a lot of interest from the public? Having come from private practice where I received four months paid maternity leave, it is astonishing that we federal government works must use annual leave/sick time, then to return to work with no leave to care for a child if something comes up. This contrasts so sharply with other Western governments (I believe the U.K. gives six months of maternity leave). Sadly, as a new federal government employee, I am faced with the decision to leave the federal government in order to have enough leave for a second child. The U.S. government is far behind even the private sector, and should -- at a minimum -- give four weeks.
Rep. Jim Moran: I am a cosponsor of this bill whose principal sponsor is Carolyn Maloney of New York, because she is on the committee of jurisdiction. We are working with the leadership to get it on the calendar for consideration and passage, hopefully by the end of the year.
Burke, Va.: Can you recommend anyone good to succeed Tim Kaine as governor?
Rep. Jim Moran: My brother, Brian Moran, will be running for governor. He's younger, handsomer and brighter than his older brother. What's not to like?
Manassas, Va.: Rep. Moran, my family is a two-federal career family. During the years, as the mother I was the one who used my sick leave to take care of children, get them to doctor's appointments and took the time off for school meetings. My husband's leave balance after 26 years is well above 3,000 hours, and mine after working for the federal government for 12 years is a grand total of 50. My question: Is it possible that sick leave ever could be considered a "family asset," so that if I got sick and needed it, I wouldn't have to exhaust every drop of annual leave and sick leave before my husband could donate his leave to me?
Rep. Jim Moran: It's an interesting idea. I'm glad you raised it and we will look into it.
Falls Church, Va.: The high price of real estate has been a major deterrent in addressing the vexing problem of homelessness in the Northern Virginia region. Considering the current market, is this a good time for government to intervene and get some folks off the streets?
Rep. Jim Moran: Yes, and that's why I strongly supported Barney Frank's legislation to allow states and localities to purchase foreclosed properties and make it available for affordable housing.
Alexandria, Va.: Hi Jim -- what Democratic Presidential candidate are you supporting, and what does the party have to do to win against the Republican presidential candidate this fall?
Rep. Jim Moran: I endorsed Barack Obama prior to the Virginia primary. If we get out the vote of all of those who understand the compelling need for a change of direction in this country, both domestically and internationally, the democratic process will work its will and take America back to its fundamental principles of equality of opportunity, fiscal responsibility, environmental preservation and international peace with justice.
Arlington, Va.: Hi -- my roommate and I both voted for you in the last election. Thanks for the chat. Did you vote to pass the farm bill? If so why? The flaws, both nutritional and economic, have been well-documented in the press. While I disagree with John Mccain and Bush on just about everything, on this point they are right -- there are many aspects of the farm bill that are irresponsible and unnecessary.
Rep. Jim Moran: Even though it was a flawed bill, it was a significant improvement from the current gross subsidies for corporate grain producers. The caps imposed on non-farm and farm are much than I would have preferred, but they are much lower than the farm lobby wanted. The bill includes a very substantial increase in food stamps, child nutrition programs and some conservation efforts such as the Chesapeake Bay program. I was also persuaded by the fact that it makes fruit and vegetables available for school lunch programs. And, for the first time properly funds farmers markets in urban and suburban areas.
Arlington, Va.: Given the country's poor financial condition and runaway commodity prices, can you explain to your constituents why the federal government continues to subsidize oil companies and farmers? With current prices, neither of these interests require additional incentives to invest in additional production capabilities. Do you support these subsidies? Why or why not?
Rep. Jim Moran: I totally agree with you. I have consistently argued for and voted for removing the $18 billion in subsidies oil companies get for drilling on publicly owned land. It is also outrageous that we are subsidizing grain producers when grain prices are at their highest levels ever. Unfortunately, the elimination of oil subsidies failed by one vote in the Senate and the only way to make progress on farm subsidies is to accept the compromises in the current farm bill. If I had my druthers, we would be taking much more aggressive action.
Reston, Va.: I'm curious about your opinion regarding Sen. Webb's new GI bill. Do you think it has a chance at passing the House and Senate? Thanks!
Rep. Jim Moran: I strongly support Jim Webb's GI bill. Less than one percent of the American population has been asked to make any sacrifice in the war in Iraq. The current GI bill gives them about $300/month in educational benefits when they leave the service. The cost of Sen. Webb's bill per year is less than the cost per week of fighting the war in Iraq. It seems to me appropriate to enable these self-sacrificing men and women to be able to convert the courage and initiative they have been trained to show in the military to the productivity and expansion of our economy. The subsidy per year in Virginia would be about $9,500 per year, plus a housing stipend, for four years. I expect that this is going to substantially raise the quality of the applicants enlisting in the military.
Arlington, Va.: Congressman, I'm not sure if you are the right one to ask but ... do you think that rail travel ever will be expanded in this country? I would love to travel to rural New York (where I was born) by train, but it takes a full 20 hours. The same trip takes 10 hours by car. With fuel prices so high, it just seems logical to expand rail travel. Europeans have this system down; why can't we?
Rep. Jim Moran: I am strongly in favor of expanding rail service because on the two coasts, we've largely run out of open space to cover with asphalt, even if we wanted to. A better approach to the environmental, energy and economic needs met by intelligent transportation systems is rail. I would love to see a Mag-Lev rail corridor up the East Coast, complimented by light rail systems that connect exurban areas throughout the country.
Kabul, Afghanistan: Sir, Foreign Service Officers serving overseas do not receive Washington locality pay, which imposes an effective 20 percent pay cut on any of us serving our country abroad. This problem was rectified for our Senior Foreign Service colleagues several years ago, but the rest of us must stuggle with the challenge -- and expense -- of working abroad while earning less than our peers in Washington. This has been a perennial issue for the American Foreign Service Association, our union, but it never seems to gain traction on the Hill. Do you see any hope in sight? Thanks.
Rep. Jim Moran: I fully agree with you that this is an injustice that needs to be rectified. I am cosponsoring with Rep. Chris Smith, a bill to do just that and cosponsoring another bill with Rep. Frank Wolf to provide a tax break on civilian pay in war zones.
Arlington, Va.: Thanks for participating in this talk. From a constituent, why are food stamps, conservation efforts and school food programs included in the farm bill? It seems the best way to reform farm aid is to remove these items and make them part of other bills.
Rep. Jim Moran: The farm bill's members put food stamps and conservation efforts into the bill as well incidentally animal protection measures, in order to gain the votes of suburban legislators such as myself. It appears so far to be a successful tactic doesn't it?
Arlington, Va.: Good morning. As I am sure you are aware, the situation of the cyclone survivors in Burma is quite dire at the moment because of their government's refusal to allow foreign aid workers in the save the victims. What can Congress do to help? Should the U.S. join with France and other allies to invoke the U.N.'s duty to protect these people from their own obstinate government, and force aid into the stricken areas?
Rep. Jim Moran: The military junta of Burma is corrupt, despotic and must be overthrown by the people of Burma. I would take more aggressive action than the U.S. is, consistent with some of France's proposals. Our best shot for achieving change is the leverage we have with China; without their support the junta couldn't last. It is unbelievable that the senior military junta leader only yesterday went to view the horrible catastrophe in his country for the first time. They have deliberately deprived their people of food, shelter and essential aid and should be internationally condemned.
Washington: Good morning Rep. Moran. I'm a long-time admirer of your work, and your tendency to speak the truth. Like many people, I'm extremely concerned about global climate change and energy security challenges. It seems that while Congress has taken baby steps to address global warming and out-of-control energy prices, we're only nibbling around the edges. What more can be done -- beyond, say, corn ethanol mandates and subsidies -- to bring new and more innovative technologies to market?
Rep. Jim Moran: The corn ethanol mandate is ill-considered and should be eliminated, since in many ways it exacerbates the problem and is contributing to a global food shortage and prohibitively high food prices. We passed in the House a 15% renewable, alternative energy requirement on the utility companies--which the Senate subsequently killed. It is imperative that we have national leadership that has the courage to mandate conservation measures far more restrictive than what are being attempted today. The 35 mpg fuel efficiency standard that we passed in the House is a good start, but much more needs to be done in increasing the manufacture of plug-in hybrid vehicles to reduce their purchase cost. Tax incentives for solar, wind and geothermal power and scientific research into such means as extracting energy from coal without having to burn it.
Merrifield, Va.: As a native of the Middle East, I am concerned about American policies there and the lack of a serious effort to bring peace to the region. In particular, I worry about this administration's pro-Israeli bias and the lack of dialogue with Arab countries regarding Palestinian issues. Is there any way to reduce Israeli influence and develop a broader consensus in the Middle East?
Rep. Jim Moran: We do need to hear from more people who have a fuller perspective of the conditions in the Middle East. There is a new group that plans to offer what they consider a more balanced approach on the Israeli-Palestinian struggle, known as the J Street Project. It is led by Jeremy Ben-Ami and Daniel Levy, both of whom have an intimate knowledge of the conflict.
Anonymous: Every year we hear that more and more members of Congress co-sponsor a bill that will eliminate the WEP and CSRS offset. A lot of articles written in the Federal Web, such as Fedsmith, suggest that the bill never will get much further. It seems that it never will pass. What are the chances with a Democratic President and Congress that the bill will come to fruition?
Rep. Jim Moran: I am a sponsor of both bills as you are probably aware. But with an annual deficit of $250 billion (equal to the annual cost of the Iraq war and the Bush tax cuts), it becomes more and more difficult to find an off-set within the existing budget unless we pass the cost on to our children and grandchildren by borrowing the money to pay for it.
Falls Church, Va.: Leslie Byrne and Doug Denneny, two of the 11th Congressional District candidates, said Monday night they wouldn't support rail to Dulles unless it incluedes a tunnel through Tysons. Isn't the tunnel dead? Won't their opposition of rail to Dulles in any other form help kill the project? By the way, thank you for your leadership on getting rail to Dulles.
Rep. Jim Moran: I would prefer a tunnel through Tysons Corner for many of the reasons Mr. Denneny and Mrs. Byrne probably cite. But we have been told unequivocaly that it will cause a delay of almost a year to conduct an environmental review. Such a delay will knock the project out of the queue for $900 million in federal funding and effectively kill any federal involvement. Even under a Democratic administration, there are so many projects requesting funding with much lower costs per rider estimates that it is inconceivable that a federal earmark would ever be approved by Congress to get rail all the way out to Dulles.
Rep. Jim Moran: I thoroughly enjoyed this opportunity and hope I get an opportunity to be in contact further with those participating--especially those whose questions I was unable to answer due to time constraints.
Editor's Note: washingtonpost.com moderators retain editorial control over Discussions and choose the most relevant questions for guests and hosts; guests and hosts can decline to answer questions. washingtonpost.com is not responsible for any content posted by third parties.
|
U.S. Rep. Jim Moran of Virginia's 8th District will take your questions about his work and goals during this session of Congress.
| 155.416667 | 0.916667 | 1.416667 |
high
|
medium
|
abstractive
|
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/discussion/2008/05/18/DI2008051802373.html
|
https://web.archive.org/web/2008052019id_/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/discussion/2008/05/18/DI2008051802373.html
|
Critiquing the Press - washingtonpost.com
|
2008052019
|
St. Paul, Minn.: Isn't the battle between Bill O'Reilly and Keith Olbermann emblematic of today's news commentator feeling he (she) is more important than the actual news they deliver? I can't imagine Huntley, Brinkley or Cronkite ever allowing themselves to let such a thing happen. Agree or disagree?
washingtonpost.com: Murdoch Diplomacy: Behind O'Reilly's Electric Attacks (Post, May 19)
Howard Kurtz: Well, that was a different era. The broadcasts of those years didn't do opinions, except for polite essays by the likes of Eric Sevareid. They were straight news shows. These days, cable talk shows are drowning in opinion. Still, even by cable standards, the O'Reilly-Olbermann-NBC-GE battle is extraordinarily bitter.
Falls Church, Va.: Today's column had a really weird focus. According to you, the media has been increasingly critical of McCain, but that's not what makes their relationship "contentious." No, what makes it contentious is that McCain chooses to respond (quickly) to this criticism. Huh? In this day and age, is it really reasonable to think that a candidate is going to let criticism slide by unaddressed?
washingtonpost.com: John McCain's Rapid-Fire Responders (Post, May 20)
Howard Kurtz: Of course every campaign is going to respond rapidly to media criticism, and has every right to do so. What makes the McCain approach noteworthy is the harshness of the rhetoric and the contrast to the popular image of the senator having a grand time eating donuts with his journalistic pals on the bus.
Chicago: Great article Monday on the NBC vs. Fox dustup. It's always amusing how bullies react when they get it thrown in their faces using similar tactics to those they use to push people around. But to may real question. I have a funny feeling that if one of the Democratic candidates had made the Huckabee point-the-gun "joke" regarding McCain or Bush and immediately apologized, we would have at least a week of hysterical news cycles led by the Fox/Drudge/wing-nut radio communication wing of the GOP, with the mainstream dutifully joining in. Apologies would not have sufficed. Am I missing something? Thoughts?
washingtonpost.com: The Trail: Huckabee Apologizes for Obama Joke (washingtonpost.com, May 17)
Howard Kurtz: I think the media should have made more of what was a striking lack of judgment on Huckabee's part. But I don't think it's a question of Democrat or Republican. Huckabee hasn't been a candidate for months, and the press is now intensely focused on Obama-McCain (and to a lesser extent Obama-Hillary), so the Huckabee gaffe was treated as a minor distraction.
Pickerington, Ohio: Mr. Kurtz, love the chats. What is your take on the credence the media gave to critics of President Bush's speech to the Israeli Knesset last week? He criticized appeasement, which politicians of both parties in this nation have been guilty of, but only the Democrats in general -- and Obama in particular -- acted as though they were personally attacked. The view from here is that the media treated their firing back as legitimate, when it clearly wasn't. To quote Steely Dan, "the things that pass for knowledge I can't understand."
Howard Kurtz: Most reporters say it was quite obvious that Bush was aiming those words in Obama's direction. It's a common tactic for politicians to criticize "those who would" do such and such a terrible thing, without naming them. From a journalistic point of view, Obama made it easy for the media to cover as a spat between him and the president by responding quickly and aggressively. Maybe he was choosing to be offended because he thought it was politically advantageous to do so. Reporters, of course, were happy to cover the fight.
Arlington, Va.: Howard, thanks for yesterday's article. Count me as someone who really detests Bill O'Reilly, but I try to stomach his antics just to see what is important to him. Frankly, his show is unwatchable. What is it with that "body language expert"? Is she filler in case O'Reilly's bookers can't find someone for him to abuse on air? And O'Reilly is a subpar interviewer -- I watched part of his Hillary interview, and he came across as totally uninterested in her responses to his questions.
Howard Kurtz: I disagree on the last point -- I thought that interview was substantive, featured good exchanges on the issues, and was good for both O'Reilly and Hillary. I am not, however, a fan of body language experts. Someone must have concluded that this form of infotainment is good for ratings. I mean, why not just read the candidates' palms?
Washington: Don't you think this Olbermann-O'Reilly fight is really just a ploy for more ratings? Television ratings are lower this year than last year, and my guess is that these two are making this fight more personal than it really is in order to stoke interest in their shows.
Howard Kurtz: Olbermann started the battle and made no bones about the fact that he was trying to draw attention against a show that dwarfed him in the ratings. Now the nightly attacks on "Bill-O" certainly plays to his base. O'Reilly never mentions Olbermann's name, but instead trains his fire on NBC and, now, GE. I suppose you could say he is playing to his base as well. But the escalation of these attacks, particularly now that GE's chief executive is being accused of contributing to American deaths in Iraq, makes the whole thing look out of control -- which is why top News Corp., Fox, NBC and GE executives have tried (and failed) to negotiate a cease-fire.
Atlanta: Until last week, I thought the people who said they wouldn't vote for Sen. Obama because "he's a Muslim" were simply uninformed xenophobes. But on at least three occasions during the post-primary coverage (on NPR, ABC World News and CNN), when voters repeated the Muslim and flag rumors, they were left unchallenged by the reporter -- allowing those rumors to hang in the air and perhaps gain more traction. How do the media use the voices of regular people without becoming an echo chamber of misinformation?
Howard Kurtz: It's easy. Any time you mention an unfounded rumor, or quote someone as doing so, you have to say, clearly and unequivocally, that it's false. A failure to do so is a serious journalistic lapse, in my view.
Bethesda, Md.: For a while it seemed the media was cycling high there for McCain, and now it's starting to be down on McCain for a number of problems, including his flip-flop on Hamas, and lobbyists' involvement in his campaign. Would you agree with that assessment?
Howard Kurtz: I think McCain was more or less off the media's radar screen during the height of the Obama-Clinton battle. Now that he's drawing more coverage, some of it is more critical. McCain has also put certain issues in play, such as putting restrictions on lobbyists working for his campaign after some initial embarrassments, which in turn prompted more lobbyists to quit, which in turn generated more stories on the subject.
New York: As if on cue, the New York Post yesterday slammed Olbermann again (via the omnipresent "anonymous source") in their "Page Six" gossip section.
washingtonpost.com: Anchor's Adrift Again (New York Post, May 19)
Howard Kurtz: Right, I took note of that in this morning's blog. What a coincidence.
Washington: Howard, why do reporters allow themselves to be doormats for critics? A lot of the negative comments about the media are well-deserved, but whenever someone accuses journalists of spreading lies or half-truths or promoting the views of one political party or another, there's either no response or something meaningless like "we stand by our story." Do they not defend themselves because there's so much truth to the accusations that they can't, or do they think that if they ignore the critics they'll just go away? I know that if someone constantly was calling me a liar I'd fight back -- unless I lied, of course.
Howard Kurtz: Some journalists that I interview are perfectly willing to roll up their sleeves and defend themselves. Others issue statements and retreat into the bunker (as the Los Angeles Times editors did after botching that story on the wounding of Tupac Shakur). I think news people should display the same level of accountability that they demand from political and business leaders.
Springfield, Va.: I think Barbara Walters sold you a line of baloney on Sunday when she insisted that ABC did not pay Monica Lewinsky for her interview. Didn't the Lewinsky team retain foreign broadcast rights to the interview, which they sold for a hefty seven-figure sum in the U.K. and Europe? While she technically may be correct that ABC did not write a check, by allowing an ABC news product to be sold, ABC was complicit; Walters ensured that Monica and her lawyers still got paid well.
washingtonpost.com: The Woman's Network: Barbara Walters Airs A Life of Glass Ceilings And Romances (Post, May 6)
Howard Kurtz: She freely admits that in her book, and it was well covered at the time, including by me. ABC allowed Lewinsky to make a bunch of money (at a time when she was saddled with huge legal bills) by selling interviews to foreign organizations. But it remains true, as Walters said, that ABC News did not pay her a penny.
Helena, Mont.: Back to Chicago's question on Huckabee -- I think he has a point. What if Kucinich had said such a thing? There would be media frenzy. And Huckabee is widely talked about being the vice president for McCain. So, I do think there is a bit of bias in the lack of "noise" about this.
Howard Kurtz: You can't prove a hypothetical, but I think it would have been a one-day story if Kucinich had said it. Same goes for Richardson, Dodd and Biden. Now Bill Clinton, that's another story.
New York: Perhaps not surprisingly, you've given Republican "bloggers" closely tied to the Republican Party a pass for their attacks on Michelle Obama, often even amplifying them. Are you willing to behave similarly if Democratic bloggers bring Cindy McCain into the fray? I'm not talking about her being rich here (that's no crime). I'm talking about real crimes -- her criminal record.
Howard Kurtz: My daily Web column is designed to give readers a taste of what commentators on the left and the right are saying, not for me to constantly debate those bloggers. Obama's "Good Morning America" defense of his wife was all over cable news yesterday. But I have to say, while I don't like personal attacks on candidates' spouses, if a spouse goes on the campaign trail and then says something controversial -- like "first time I've been proud of my country" -- that is fair game. Spouses who don't want to be in the political crossfire can always choose not to campaign.
Philadelphia: Why don't reporters challenge Clinton when she says she can win white voters? In fact it has been many decades since Democrats have won a majority of white voters. Carter only won 49 percent, and Bill Clinton won less than 40 percent. Her argument is bogus and needs to be challenged.
Howard Kurtz: What she says is that based on the primaries, she would be stronger than Obama in attracting white, working-class voters.
Arlington, Va.: Where has Richard Engel been the last 8 years? Perhaps if he had been the one asking Bush questions all these years we wouldn't be in the mess we are now. Obviously Engel has been on the ground in Iraq talking to a lot more "real people" there than Bush has, so it would seem he has a lot more credibility on those issues than the president has.
Howard Kurtz: Well, Engel certainly has the credibility that comes with spending years in Iraq and risking his life as a journalist in the war zone.
Re: Appeasement: Hold on -- every cable news network was covering the "Bush Attacks Obama" story hours before Obama made any statement. Obama very well may have been responding to that news coverage as much as to the statements themselves.
Howard Kurtz: My recollection is that it was only a couple of hours, but my larger point is that Obama fueled the fire, and boosted the story, by getting into the rhetorical arena with Bush.
Sarasota, Fla.: Hi Mr. Kurtz. I have two quick questions. Don't you think that the e-mail from Gillespie at the White House to NBC was uncalled for? What have they got against NBC? Also, when that Stark guy from the Daily Kos confronted Bill O'Reilly in his driveway, what happened? It appears that O'Reilly just picked up his newspaper and ignored Stark. It seems out of character for O'Reilly not to have a few choice words for anyone connected with Daily Kos.
washingtonpost.com: White House Says NBC Distorted Bush Response (Post, May 20)
Howard Kurtz: The White House believes that the interview was edited unfairly, but given the compression required in television, it doesn't seem particularly egregious to me. As for O'Reilly, I think he knows that shouting at someone when you're confronted just makes better footage for the person chasing you (which he is happy to air when his producers stalk targets who don't want to talk). Simply walking away isn't very exciting, which is undoubtedly why he chose that course.
McCain, the GOP and Ahmadinejad: Howie, the GOP spin team has worked hard to make the name Ahmadinejad synonymous with fear. Yesterday, when asked if he knew Ahmadinejad was not Iran's leader and had no role in its foreign policy, McCain said that he knew that, but that Americans wouldn't understand. I found McCain's answer expectedly cynical, but also remembered how 70 percent of Americans were convinced by the Bush administration and the media that Iraq was responsible for Sept. 11. Shouldn't reporters be a little more forthcoming on Ahmadinejad's place in the Iranian hierarchy? I understand the GOP and FOX News need to make Ahmadinejad a household name to fear, but any chance the rest of the media might be more responsible this time around?
washingtonpost.com: McCain's Savannah Press Conference (Time.com, May 19)
Howard Kurtz: I think the American media often fail to make that important distinction as well. But Ahmadinejad is, of course, the face of the Iranian regime.
Here's what Joe Klein posted:
He said that Ahmadinejad is the guy who represents Iran in international forums like the United Nations, which is a fair point. When I followed with the observation that the Supreme Leader is, uh, the Supreme Leader, McCain responded that the "average American" thinks Ahmadinejad is the boss. Didn't get a chance to follow up to that, but I would have asked, "But isn't it your job to correct those sorts of mistaken impressions on the part of the American public?" Oh well.
Mount Laurel, N.J.: Was it just my imagination or did the MSNBC Obama cheerleaders,(except Chuck Todd) looked as downtrodden after the West Virginia primary results as Bill Clinton did during Hillary's victory speech in Indiana? They don't even make an attempt to hide it. I thought they were supposed to be objective. Shame.
Howard Kurtz: I didn't see that at all. What I did see is that MSNBC (like the other networks) quickly discounted Hillary's 41-point win and went on to analysis about why the race is over and she can't win. If that's the case, why cover the primary at all? Just put the results in a crawl or something. Fox stuck with regular programming instead of special election coverage.
Fort McMurray, Alberta: Howie, your interview and all the others I've seen with Barbara Walters have not addressed her links with Roy Cohn. Shortly after Cohn's death in the '80s, I read that she had acted as his beard. I understand she deals with this issue in the book -- Cohn helped get Walter's dad out of legal trouble. Covering for someone like Cohn is horrific enough, but legal favors, too? Why is Walters not being roundly condemned for these issues? Doesn't it say something about American society that an affair rates higher than something that would result in jail time?
Howard Kurtz: I mentioned the Roy Cohn connection in my Post story. Walters says in her book that at the time, she did not suspect that Cohn was gay. I didn't have the space to go into that particular subplot.
Avon Park, Fla.: People keep talking about Barack Obama likely getting the majority of pledged delegates tonight. How important is that? Wasn't it apparent the he would end the contests the pledged delegate leader before now?
Howard Kurtz: Exactly! Nothing has changed except that he will reach this symbolic milestone. I don't blame the Obama folks for trying to exploit the moment and make the race appear over, but I think some media organizations are buying that spin. The superdelegates will still have to decide this thing, as has been apparent for weeks.
Baltimore: Why is it fine for a news TV host to tell a sitting president "Shut the hell up"? Please explain why there has been no media reaction to this.
Howard Kurtz: I guess because Keith Olbermann has bashed Bush in his "Special Comment" editorials so often, and with such fervor, that it no longer seems like big news.
Hamilton, Va.: In dealing with the press, McCain's people are following the lessons of the current administration -- accuse the media of bias and they just fold, every time. Even if the media have ironclad evidence behind them, they are so afraid of being accused of not being balanced.
Howard Kurtz: But I don't see where the media have "folded" in any of the examples I cited. Newsweek, The Washington Post, the New York Times and USA Today all stuck with their stories. That doesn't mean those stories were perfect. Newsweek Editor Jon Meacham admitted he wished the magazine's article on McCain had put some things differently, and Times Editor Bill Keller acknowledged that he was surprised by the public's criticism of the paper's McCain-and-the-female-lobbyist story. That's not backing off in the face of bias accusations, it's admitting when published stories have flaws.
Fair Lawn, N.J.: How long have you been doing these chats? Assuming that it has been more than eight years, do you find that the degree of anger by Democratic correspondents towards the media has increased dramatically since 2000, or is it about the same?
Howard Kurtz: A number of years, and it's increased dramatically, no question about it. Fueled, I believe, by anger at the Bush administration and the war, and the perception that the media have not been aggressive enough in reporting on either. So now both sides distrust us.
Herndon, Va.: In the Fox-NBC fight, Roger Ailes states that NBC is the most antiwar network. Is it his contention that the networks should be pro-war? Even after we learned of the duplicity that led us to war? Stating the facts of the disaster in Iraq is not ipso facto being antiwar.
Howard Kurtz: Ailes would say the networks should be fair and balanced in covering the war, as opposed to antiwar. I certainly agree that the picture of the growing disaster in Iraq painted by the media, amid constant criticism from the White House, turned out to be far more accurate than the rosier view peddled by the administration. At the same time, some news organizations were slow to report that the surge was having some modest success in reducing violence.
Rockville, Md.: Why are so many saying they know how the super delegates will vote? I thought they were free to vote as they pleased in the convention. Is there a penalty for lying?
Howard Kurtz: Superdelegates are free to switch their votes -- and some quite publicly have, from Clinton to Obama. But by and large, it's reasonable to assume that the vast majority of these elected officials and party insiders are going to vote for the candidate they claim to support. So when more of them declare their intentions, we'll know it's over.
Huntsville, Ala.: Actually in the eyes of Islam, Obama is a Muslim. His father was, so he is, and you cannot leave. That doesn't mean he is a practicing Muslim. It is similar in some ways to England in the 1700s -- you were Anglican or nothing.
Howard Kurtz: It seems to me if someone proclaims himself to be a Christian and goes to church for 20 years, we ought to accept that he is indeed a Christian.
Conyers, Ga.: More comment than question. Regarding your story yesterday about the cable feud between O'Reilly and Olbermann, I was left with the impression that these two media figures were wallowing in the playground mud. A pox on both their houses. Meanwhile, your "competition" to the north was writing about the financial and personal problems of PBS News Hour, which to this curious mind was far more enlightening.
washingtonpost.com: Lehrer Says 'News Hour' Money Woes Are Worst Ever (New York Times, May 19)
Howard Kurtz: The importance of the O'Reilly/Olbermann story is not that they're sniping at each other but that the battle has escalated to General Electric, and that top executives from both corporate giants were calling each other in a futile attempt to ratchet down the rhetoric.
Laurel, Md.: Howard, yesterday in a chat another view surfaced on "how did the press get the pre-invasion Iraq story so incomplete?" The question came up whether reporters understand sufficiently the way millions of voters are influenced by their purely religious views on things like biblical prophesy and Armageddon. Just as Pauline Kael didn't know a single person who voted for McGovern in 1972, are reporters from such a different background and mindset that they either don't know how to find out whether peoples' views on complicated issues like Middle East policy stem from supernatural beliefs, or do they not want to report something that might be seen as a criticism of religion?
Howard Kurtz: I don't know. I do think we undercover religion. But I think the media's shortcomings on the run-up to the war had more to do with not sufficiently challenging the administration's flawed case on the non-existent weapons of mass destruction.
New Orleans: Why is the Chinese earthquake recovery story getting so much more press than the Burmese cyclone recovery story? Is it because the Chinese disaster happened a week or so later? Is it because the press has better access to China, so there's more to report on? I'm not trying to pin two tragedies against each other, but the contrast is interesting. More people died in the cyclone, the Burmese people have fewer resources for recovery, and additional people will die in Burma because of the government's xenophobia.
Howard Kurtz: A huge factor is that the media have far greater access. In Myanmar, the military junta was actually deporting journalists and chasing those who had snuck into the country. The result was that there were not just few pictures of the devastation but few first-hand accounts. The lack of cultural affinity with the Burmese may also have been a factor. In China, where the press is also controlled, there has been an unusual openness in allowing foreign correspondents to report on the disaster, which has brought home the magnitude of the death and destruction.
Thanks for the chat, folks.
Editor's Note: washingtonpost.com moderators retain editorial control over Discussions and choose the most relevant questions for guests and hosts; guests and hosts can decline to answer questions. washingtonpost.com is not responsible for any content posted by third parties.
|
Post media columnist Howard Kurtz discusses the press.
| 527.333333 | 0.777778 | 1.222222 |
high
|
low
|
abstractive
|
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/discussion/2008/05/18/DI2008051802375.html
|
https://web.archive.org/web/2008052019id_/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/discussion/2008/05/18/DI2008051802375.html
|
Post Politics Hour
|
2008052019
|
Don't want to miss out on the latest in politics? Start each day with The Post Politics Hour. Join in each weekday morning at 11 a.m. as a member of The Washington Post's team of White House and Congressional reporters answers questions about the latest in buzz in Washington and The Post's coverage of political news.
Washington Post national political reporter Michael D. Shear was online Tuesday, May 20 at 11 a.m. ET to discuss the latest news in politics.
Get the latest campaign news live on washingtonpost.com's The Trail, or subscribe to the daily Post Politics Podcast.
Archive: Post Politics Hour discussion transcripts
Michael Shear: Good morning, everyone.
Another day, another primary election. We can talk about the continuing Democratic primary, McCain and lobbyists and anything else you want to.
Dryden, N.Y.: It is good that The Washington Post, among other papers, is using the waning days of the Clinton campaign to discuss sexism. This campaign certainly has displayed elements of its staying power, decades after Title IX. Still, I cannot forget that Bill Clinton sexually harassed women in the workplace. I always wondered why the press never has dealt with the essential contradiction of a feminist icon like Sen. Clinton tolerating (and sometimes even enabling) this in her husband. Any help in figuring out this contradiction, and why the press hasn't discussed this in the sexism stories?
Michael Shear: Ok, let's start out with this tough question.
Sen. Clinton's campaign has from the beginning raised fascinating questions about feminism in this country and questions of sexism (and, with Obama's entry, racism). I disagree that questions of gender have not been discussed in the press as it relates to Clinton's candidacy. But it's true that it may be easier to assess and discuss the role that sexism played as the campaign winds down and people are willing to talk more openly about it. More discussion about that would be a good thing, I think.
New Hampshire: Good morning Michael, and thank you for taking my question. Because Senator McCain has violated campaign finance law, has very close ties to lobbyists (including those on his staff who represent foreign governments), and is now relying on the Republican National Committee and the president for an infusion of huge corporate money as his campaign is lagging behind in fundraising, do you think his "maverick" status as a campaign finance reformer and 'straight talker" will be changed forever?
Michael Shear: It is true that Sen. McCain has built his political "brand" by earning a reputation for going after the special interests. His campaign clearly believes that the continued conversation in the press about the lobbyists on his campaign might tarnish that brand. So last week, he implemented a tough new policy that has already required five people to remove themselves from the campaign.
How important is that? Many people believe that the Democrat's ability to pierce the "straight talk" label could be the decisive factor in November.
Stone Harbor, N.J.: Why is it that the Democrats seem perfectly okay with "superdelegates" whose states have been won big by Sen. Clinton ignoring the voter's pick and going to Obama? Sure doesn't sound very "democratic" to me.
washingtonpost.com: Capitol Briefing: For Obama, Byrd in Hand (washingtonpost.com, May 19)
Michael Shear: The Democrats have definitely gotten themselves tied up in knots with the whole "delegate" and "superdelegate" thing. I suspect you might see plenty of changes in their party process after this is all over.
Washington: By ruling out any kind of diplomatic discussion or conversation with an enemy, what other options does John McCain propose to employ in order to forge a peace or political resolution? Does McCain's political positioning on foreign policy echo the president's hawkish ideology? Thanks for taking my questions.
Michael Shear: When asked this kind of question, Senator McCain says that he is not ruling out diplomacy, or even conversations, with enemy countries. In fact, in a speech some weeks ago, he proposed a greater use of diplomacy and working with European allies than the Bush Administration, prompting headlines about a break with the president -- something that is very important for McCain to do.
McCain's argument is that Obama should not have said he would meet personally, and UNCONDITIONALLY, with any foreign leader. It's the lack of conditions that McCain stresses (and will stress again today when he talks about Cuba.)
The question of whether McCain=Bush on foreign policy will be a key one for voters to decide. Clearly his position on Iraq will be a main point there. But his campaign hopes that people will see differences as well.
Monmouth County, N.J.: Any word from Al Gore, or is he just being overly cautious after his Howard Dean endorsement last time round?
My sources say they doubt he will endorse. He seems very happy to be above it all right now.\
Phoenix: Michael, where in the world did Senator McCain's "straight talk" label originate in the first place? Isn't it something he anointed himself with?
Michael Shear: I believe he did, in fact, come up with the label by dubbing his campaign bus the "Straight Talk Express" back in 2000. I wasn't covering the campaign then, but that's my understanding.
Bremerton, Wash.: When will the polls close in Kentucky, and when will Oregon have its "first count," as they've been getting ballots since May 5?
Michael Shear: I believe the polls close in Kentucky at 6 p.m. The polls in Oregon close at 8 p.m., Pacific Time, which means those of us on the East Coast will be staying up very late.
Keyport, N.J.: Michael, it is so unseemly for a person to angle so publicly to be vice president. Clearly this vanity campaign of Hillary's has that as her goal, with an eye toward remaining viable in 2012. Is Hillary tone deaf to the music, or is she just unable to leave the stage?
Michael Shear: There are certainly people who believe this is what Sen. Clinton is doing. But as my colleague, Dan Balz, reported today in the Post, Clinton apparently believes very strongly that the party will be more united if she finishes out the campaign rather than being pushed out. The thought is that her supporters -- including many women -- will be angry and less likely to support Obama if they perceive that she has been slighted and pushed out.
Madison, Wis.: Mr. Shear, good morning. I've never been impressed by politicians who try to get votes by arguing that people ought to feel sorry for them -- but it works. George Bush's admirers have been told for years to see him as the victim of the biased liberal media. Bill Clinton presented himself as persecuted by the "extreme" Newt Gingrich. Sen. Clinton, who became a prominent figure because of who her husband was -- and a sympathetic figure to many because of the way her husband treated her -- has been appealing to voters as a victim of sexism. Margaret Thatcher, a real leader, thought it best to save complaints about sexism for her memoirs. I wonder how far someone like Thatcher would get in American politics.
Michael Shear: Interesting comments, Madison.
I've seen it work both ways in politics. Playing the victim card sometimes works and sometimes backfires.
Westcliffe, Colo.: All the candidates made an issue of Reagan's age when he ran for the presidency, certainly in the election of 1984. Why aren't McCain's joints and ball bearings up for serious discussion and, if he can, refutation (aside from the circus act of bringing in his mother -- she didn't serve in combat in a Vietnamese torture resort)?
Michael Shear: I believe that Sen. McCain's age has been, and will continue to be, a serious topic for discussion. In fact, later this week, McCain, 71, is set to disclose all of his medical records, an action that is getting far more attention than it would for a person in his 40s or 50s.
Aside from talking about his 96-year-old mother (which he does frequently) he also makes jokes: see his Saturday Night Live jokes about having the "oldness" to be president.
In fact, the reporters around him -- including myself -- have seen very little evidence of fatigue that you might expect from a man of his age. One has to wonder whether someone who is able to physically withstand the torture in Vietnam may just have more stamina than the average person.
Washington: Mr. Shear, the polls won't close in Oregon ... because they won't open. Oregon has all-mail voting.
Michael Shear: Actually, I'm told by our crack political researcher that Oregon voters can, in fact, go to the polls today, though as Washington points out, they have had the option of mailing in their ballot for some time now. My understanding -- again, subject to correction -- is that the results from the combined mail/in-person voting are not expected until late.
Jersey City, N.J.: The polls in Oregon do not have Obama beating Sen. Clinton by all that much. If Sen. Clinton comes within five points or so of Obama and wins Kentucky by 30 points or more as predicted, won't she have a very good argument that her race for the nomination is not yet as dead as the press has proclaimed?
Michael Shear: It is certainly true that this race takes all sorts of twists and turns. But so much of it is an expectations game. Since, as you say, the polls don't have Obama beating Clinton by that much, people won't be shocked if Obama wins by five or so. And similarly, no one will be surprised by a rout in Kentucky.
Now, if Clinton wins in Oregon....
Helena, Mont.: Has Huckabee's joke about Obama and a pointed gun moved him off the list of potential vice presidents and off the 2012 presidential circuit? There are some things that are not funny in this country, and political assassinations is one of them. I know, I know -- Huckabee was just trying to give NRA members the impression that, unlike him and them, Obama would try to hide from someone who was pointing a gun at him. Everyone else in that room would outdo Chuck Norris and have the perpetrator hanging by his ears in 10 seconds flat.
Michael Shear: Gov. Huckabee has acknowledged that it was a dumb joke and apologized for it. I suspect that if he was on the short list for VP before, he is still there. But I don't hear much buzz about him being the likely nominee anyway. I hear Gov. Romney's name mentioned more.
Arlington, Va.: So now it is a negative that Sen McCain is holding his campaign staff to higher standards than the Democrats, making some staffers resign if they have continuing ties to lobbyists?
Michael Shear: It's certainly not up to me to say whether it is a negative. What is certainly true is that the decision to implement the policy now has raised questions about the timing of the decision and refocused attention on the people who still remain on his campaign and their lobbying backgrounds.
Clinton a feminist icon?: Since when? When I think of feminist icons, I think of Eleanor Roosevelt, Barbara Jordan, Gloria Steinem and Toni Morrison. Even Ayaan Hirsi Ali. I just don't think of Hillary Clinton as a trailblazer for feminist issues. She is simply a politician who happens to be a woman. I believe if Clinton wanted to be a feminist icon, she would have run a totally different campaign.
Michael Shear: Interesting point. Though I wonder whether the determination of whether someone is a feminist icon is really up to the people doing the viewing. It sure seems like a lot of women view Sen. Clinton that way, whether she likes it or not.
Charlotte, N.C.: Hello, Michael. By staying in the race, isn't Clinton running up the cost of her campaign? If she is having money problems, doesn't it make sense to get out know instead of building up her debt?
Michael Shear: That's certainly logical financial thinking. But then, there's this rumor out there that Sen. Obama -- if he becomes the nominee -- might help her retire the debt. That might make continuing easier.
Michael Shear: Ok, thanks everyone.
Back to the trail for me. Check back later tonight (maybe much later) for results from the primary.
Editor's Note: washingtonpost.com moderators retain editorial control over Discussions and choose the most relevant questions for guests and hosts; guests and hosts can decline to answer questions. washingtonpost.com is not responsible for any content posted by third parties.
|
Join live discussions from the Washington Post. Feature topics include national, world and DC area news, politics, elections, campaigns, government policy, tech regulation, travel, entertainment, cars, and real estate.
| 61.195122 | 0.658537 | 0.804878 |
high
|
low
|
abstractive
|
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/discussion/2008/05/15/DI2008051502145.html
|
https://web.archive.org/web/2008052019id_/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/discussion/2008/05/15/DI2008051502145.html
|
The Garden Plot: Rock Gardens, Various Pests, and Saving the Bats
|
2008052019
|
He was online Tuesday, May 20 to offer advice on lawns, flower beds, vegetable patches and window boxes.
Catch up on previous transcripts of The Garden Plot.
Higgins is the author of two books, "The Secret Gardens of Georgetown: Behind the Walls of Washington's Most Historic Neighborhood" and "The Washington Post Garden Book: The Ultimate Guide to Gardening in Greater Washington and the Mid-Atlantic Region."
Arlington, Va.: Do lilacs need to be deadheaded? Mine were beautiful this year, but now that the blooms have faded they look awful.
Adrian Higgins: Lilacs, or some, can be shy to bloom for a number of reasons, but removing the fading flowers before they set seed -- deadheading, it's a term that seems to put non-gardeners into a tizzy, don't know why -- will certainly improve the chances of improved flowerbud set this summer.
Kensington, Md.: I am new to gardening and low on energy -- 8 months pregnant. Someone gave me a box of herbs and marigolds to plant in my yard. We have a flower bed that gets a lot of sun, and it has been mulched in the past. Would it work if I plant them in that bed, or would the old mulch hinder growth? Do I need to mix in any special soil? I'm hoping I won't have to dig up grass to create a new garden patch. Basically, I'd like to know the easiest way to plant these herbs. Thanks!
Adrian Higgins: If you have a mulched bed reasonably ready to go, and it has a fair amount of sunlight, both the herbs and the marigolds can slip in there. You certainly don't want to be skimming grass and making new beds at this point. Good luck with the baby!
Anonymous: Is Miracle Grow plant food (and other plant foods like this) okay to use on a veggie garden? I have heard it has hormones in it. Is this true? If so, will these hormones have a negative effect on us? Thank you.
Adrian Higgins: They don't have hormones in them. It will do the trick certainly, but I think it better to feed the soil with organic feeds such as liquid kelp. Avoid unrotted animal manures
Walkersville, Md.: I planted cucumber and summer squash seeds about two weeks ago and I have not seen any signs of germination. Has the rain rotted the seeds or have the cool temperatures just slowed down germination?
Adrian Higgins: Both are quite likely to have rotted in cold wet soil. Probe around and see if you can find any germinating seed. If not, I would sow again in a week or two. I think this is the first year I have put the heat on in my house on May 20. Unbelievably cool and moist spring. I love it!
I very much enjoyed your article about rock gardening. I do, however, disagree with you on one point. It is not necessary to avoid large plants in a rock garden. My entire (relatively small) back yard is a rock garden which combines typical low growing "steppables" - many varieties of thymes, sedums, mosses and veronicas, with very large lavenders, rosemaries as well as roses and viburnums. There are a few soil-based flower beds that contain perennials and trees, but there are many large shrubs and plants planted in the stone dust between the Pennsylvania bluestone pavers. The types of plants in my garden are largely Mediterranean and quite suitable for our hot, dry Washington summers.
washingtonpost.com: Rock Gardens, Solid Against the Storms (Post Home Section, May 15)
Adrian Higgins: I think the point I was making is that this form of gardening allows you to be drawn to unusual plants that are inherently smaller than garden perennials and that they do reduce the scale of the plantings. I think slow growing shrubs, conifers and trees seem to fit into the context of it, more I'm sure that a shade tree would.
Annandale: I have thrips on my artichoke plants.
I've tried squishing them with my fingers but they keep coming back.
I just cut off a lot of leaves last night and hope this works.
Will they spread to my other plants nearby:cherry tomato, oregano, plumeria, orange tree, thyme, basil?
Adrian Higgins: Perhaps horticultural oil will work, you don't want to snip off the leaves, they're making sugars for the plant. The other plants you mentioned are not known as thrip magnets.
I purchased a tiny boxwood at Mt. Vernon about 10 years ago that purportedly could trace its ancestry to one that George Washington himself may have pruned. It's now about 18 inches high and a nice tear drop shape.
How big is this likely to get? How much space will it need eventually? I've got to move it now and don't want to have to do that again.
Adrian Higgins: A boxwood moves easily, though I would do it on a rainy day, set it at exactly the same height it is now, or a little higher, and give it a light mulch. It time, it will grow to 10 feet, but it will take 150 years. Expect an inch a year at this point.
Shady Side, Md.: The brown dog ticks seem plentiful and ferocious in the yard this year. I've never had ticks on me and have pulled 5 off so far! Do you know if the natural garlic spray works on ticks and mosquitoes?
Adrian Higgins: It might, but then it might scare off humans too. I think I use a spray with eucalyptus and peppermint, which seems to do the trick. I think the prodigious leaf growth this spring has led to an increase in tick attacks. Mosquitoes will be bad this summer, I'm sure.
cat-tail question: I was just given a clump of cat-tails dug up from a wet yard by someone who knows we have rain-gardens, but our rain-garden installer says not to plant them in the gardens because they will crowd out the perennials there. Would they survive in a part-shade spot that always has lush grass and damp ground because it's near a downspout?
Adrian Higgins: They might take a little shade, they are happier in a sunny setting. And they do spread. Worth a try.
Calvander, N.C.: When I pull up poison ivy, what should I do with it? Out in the woods/trash for municipal pickup? I worry about exposing others to it, or spreading it more.
Adrian Higgins: Put it in a large plastic bag and make sure it's sealed.
wood violets (Wisconsin): I recall having read that a proliferation of wood violets in a lawn or other location is an indicator of a poor soil condition -- but I can't recall what that condition is. I know they grow in shady areas, e.g., under trees (hence the name) but I don't know what it means when they proliferate in the middle of a lawn. Thanks.
Adrian Higgins: It's indicative of wet soil, but they can also invade dry soil. I have found the perfect tool to remove them, the flat bladed end of a mattock, scoops out the underlying bulbs beautifully.
Severna Park, Md.: What is happening to my tulips? I planted 300 tulips in October in cultivated beds, heavily amended in my sandy soil, but only about 30 bloomed. Other bulbs, galanthus, daffodils, muscari, scilla, etc. from the same supplier bloomed. I have soft tunnels throughout my yard. From moles? Also I have some very active squirrels. Please help -- I love tulips. Thanks for your great column.
Adrian Higgins: It might be voles, but I suspect it's the squirrels. Next fall, make sure you bury the bulbs at least six inches deep, and cover the disturbed soil with pegged netting, which can be hidden by mulch. After a few weeks, the squirrels forget the bulbs are there, and you can remove the netting at that point.
Brooklyn: This is my first time growing lettuce, and it's looking great. But I must admit ignorance. Can I pluck out a few leaves from the lettuce like I can with my basil plant, or do I have to wait and take the whole head at once? Thank you for your help.
Adrian Higgins: You can snip the baby leaves, and it will regrow, or you can wait for it to head a bit. Don't wait too long, because it will begin to bolt in about four to six weeks. Sow again in August for a fall crop, which matures when the weather cools and lasts longer.
Richmond, Va: What do you think of thunbergia, "black eyed susan vine"? I read that it can be quite invasive. Will the fact that it's not hardy in this zone make a difference?
Adrian Higgins: I think it is tender, even in Richmond. It's conceivable that it seeds, that might be the source of the problem, but I haven't heard of this problem before.
Blacksburg, Va.: I have bearded iris that bloom sparsely. They are in a bed that gets sun for much of the day. The soil is well-drained. I divided them 2-3 years ago and now they hardly bloom at all. The foliage looks healthy and it not stunted or anything. I do not fertilize these either. Can you help me?
Adrian Higgins: They may need dividing again, in late summer, and they would benefit from a phosphate feed, but keep the fertilizer salts from actual contact with the rhizomes. Iris will stop blooming if they are in competition with other plants, including weeds.
Staving off mosquitoes, saving bats: I have a mosquito machine in my yard that runs on propane and it has a very effective sticky tape that wraps around the outside.
The combination of propane and sticky paper is effective but there is a tragic problem that my neighbors and I have found.
We both have found bats stuck to the tape and it is no small job to release the fragile critters.
In light of how fragile bats are, how tenuous their existence and how necessary to pollination, we need to find a way to prevent them getting stuck on the paper.
We all feel terrible when we find one on the mosquito machine. Any ideas on how to prevent their getting stuck or how to release stuck bats without harming them?
We dearly want to preserve the bat population.
Adrian Higgins: This is not a problem I have had, it sounds so sad. Do know that bats can carry rabies, so be careful when you handle them. I think it's probably time for the sticky paper to go away.
Norfolk, Va.: Hiya Adrian -
We've just planted two Clematis Armandii on our fence in full, full sun in Norfolk. They're growing like gangbusters - yay - but something is nipping the new growth right at the tips. I can't find any bugs, and the new growth is up high on our fence, so I can't imagine it's slugs. Any ideas on what bites just the tips off? Many thanks!
Adrian Higgins: I wonder if it's squirrels. I haven't heard of this either. Getting some new problems today, which is good. Armandii is so vigorous in Zone 8 that you don't have to worry. It will soon outpace its attacker.
Backyard climbing vines: Our backyard has many tall trees, so we get some limited early morning sun and dappled shade in the afternoon. Are there any pretty, flowering vines or shrubs we could plant along a wooden fence on the side of our yard? The soil is clay and compacted so we would have to dig a trench or spots and probably revitalize the soil where the vines were planted.
Adrian Higgins: There are loads of clematis varieties that would look splendid. Just saw a really pretty Clematis montana in flower in Philadelphia. Cross vine would also be successful for you, I'm sure.
Potomac, Md.: Greetings. Starting this year, I volunteered to maintain the garden bed of my subdivision's front entrance. The front portion (approx 8x4 feet) of the bed is in full sun w/good drainage and is traditionally planted with low-growing annuals like wave petunias, which I find lack visual impact. Can you recommend an annual up to 1 or 2 feet tall that will have more oomph and will not require lots of maintenance? Many thanks.
Adrian Higgins: I think you can't go wrong with cosmos and the orange flowering cosmos.
Is it OK to move a lilac now? I want to move it where it won't crowd out other plants and to improve circulation around it.
Adrian Higgins: No. Established lilacs dislike moving and transplanting a tree or shrub now, other than one recently planted, is about the worst time of the year for it. There will be a lot of root damage and stress at a time of heat and humidity. Woody plants are better moved in September or October.
We have some boxwoods at the front of our house that have been hit by some disease (everyone in the neighborhood has it) that is killing off sections of the shrubs. It first hit last year and I clipped back the dead parts but now the hedge looks pretty bad with bare spots and such. I was thinking of replacing them with something else. The location gets full sun in the afternoon and we'd like something with a little more than just the dark green color that would also grow to 2'-3' in a few years since we'll be selling in 3 years and want something that looks decent. Any ideas?
Adrian Higgins: Boxwood, particularly English boxwood, cannot abide a location where they get full sunlight on winter afternoons. There are many new and improved varieties these days that are less fussy. I like Green Beauty.
Washington, D.C.: Question about my Japanese snowbell that I planted on your book's recommendation. I love it and it flowered profusely last spring (its first in the ground). This year, I have only seen a smattering of flowers. Could this be last summer's drought taking its toll?
Adrian Higgins: They tend to bloom unevenly from year to year, but last years' drought certainly could have diminished bud set.
For the lady with the bats: Would it not be possible to build a cage with chicken wire around the machine so the mosquitoes get through but not the bats?
rock gardening on dry slopes: The Herbal Companion magazine has a great article and photos of gardening with herbs on dry slopes.
Manassas, Va.: Roses: when to treat? I have 3 rose bushes that are loaded with blooms and many unopened buds. A fair amount of the green foliage has small BB-sized holes in it and I can find a few small (3/4 inch) green segmented creatures eating and attached to the underside of the leaf. I do not use chemical insecticides unless absolutely needed and I know it is going to be difficult to spray the underside of the leaves as the rose is rather bushy. 2 questions really... how much foliage can I let these worms eat before they would damage the plant (more that just appearance) and what can I use to treat them?
Adrian Higgins: A healthy rose will resprout with vigor, but you wouldn't want more than 25 percent defoliation, max. Pick them off, or spray with Bt.
Fort Washington Md.: Thanks so much for helping me!!!
I divided some daylilies a couple of years ago to let them grow up for different locations in our yard. When is a good time to move them? I don't care about them blooming this summer. I plan to move my peonies to the daylilies' previous location.
My perfect location five years ago for my peonies now is shaded by a huge oak tree.
I have a great spot for rhodies next to our house -- which dwarf varieties do you recommend?
On another note, I read the article about Bradford pear trees. It jogged my memory about an article about the willow oak trees that were planted along Penn. Ave NW from the Willard Hotel to about the FBI Building and why that variety was selected. I bet while the majority of the willow oaks thrive on Penn. Ave, not too many Bradford Pear trees planted that year have survived twenty-five years later in the D.C. area.
washingtonpost.com: A Push for Prince George's To Impeach Pear Tree (Washington Post, May 18)
Adrian Higgins: They are just coming to bud, so I wouldn't move the daylilies until late August or early September. You can divide them at that point. Rhododendrons want to be large shrubs, by and large. The PJM rhododendron stays relatively small. Bradford pears were not trialed long enough before release to the public, in my view. If they had been, the hybridizers would have discovered its poor architecture and eventual size, if not its problems with invasiveness.
Capitol Hill: This is more of an indoor plant question. I've bought a three Phalaenopis Orchids over the years and I need some clarification on how to get them to grow buds again. On two of the plants I was told to cut the stalk down after the flowers fell off (that was 9 months ago) and neither is growing a new stalk. There is sign of growth as at least one new new leaf have grown on each of the plants. On the other orchid the flowers recently fell off and I don't know if I should cut the stalk down on this plant since I haven't seen new growth on the other two. Please help! I was under the impression that orchids were easy to care for and right now I have three pots with no plants on them.
Adrian Higgins: They will rebloom if they are in warm and humid conditions, a bathroom with some light is ideal. Cut the flower stalk back to allow three nodes.
Washington, D.C.: Adrian, my 20-year-old peonies are no longer getting enough sun to bloom, and I plan to move them in the fall to a sunnier location. I know they hate being moved and wonder whether there is anything I can do to prepare them. Also, when I do move them, should I cut them back first? Plant them high or low? Fertilize? Any advice most welcome!
Adrian Higgins: The first thing is to identify their new home, which should be open and sunny and, moreover, remain that way. Look to see what trees are nearby and plan accordingly. Then prepare the soil, because peonies are so long lived, this is your only chance to enrich their bed. Finally, plant them with the crown of the plant set no lower than two inches below the soil surface. Yes, you should probably cut back the foliage when you do this. If the soil is enriched and you give them a light mulch of screened compost, you shouldn't have to feed them.
Kensington, Md.: I had a large tree taken down this year and the stump ground. Hated to lose the tree but trunk rot hits maples hard. I now have a 25 ft. diameter area filled with wood chips and dirt.
How do I begin to prepare the soil for planting in the fall? Part will be grass and part a "sun garden".
Adrian Higgins: You could take a garden fork and turn the chips, this will speed their rotting. The soil will sink a few inches over the next year, so when you make your garden, plan to amend the area two or three inches above grade, to allow for future settling.
Washington : Hello Mr. Higgins,
Your rock garden article was very timely for me since I am in the (long) process of converting my part-sun, flat back yard into a largish rock garden. However, I'm not going to amending all my clay into traditional rock garden soil. I am just mixing the clay with coarse sand, topsoil, and compost as I go to improve drainage. Can you recommend some widely available plants that might not be "traditional" rock garden plants but will be somewhat convincing to "fake it?" It'd be great to have different things bloom throughout the year. Thank you!
Adrian Higgins: If you do lighten your soil this way, you could certainly put in things like lavender, rosemary, achillea, pinks and coreopsis.
I have a question about beans. I planted some bush shelling beans this year and the packet recommended I use inoculant to make them grow better. What exactly is this and what does it do to help the plants?
Adrian Higgins: This induces nitrogen fixation in the roots in soil where legumes have not been grown before. I have found it to be totally unnecessary.
Alexandria, Va. -- Japanese Maple: I have a Japanese maple growing nicely in a container, but it sprouted another maple variety at its base. It, too, is growing happily, even taller than its companion. Should I be concerned with the new appendage?
Adrian Higgins: Very much so, this is the rootstock sprouting, and it will soon consume your desired grafted cultivar. Snip it off now.
San Francisco, Calif.: I'm a rookie gardener that made a big mistake. I transplanted a rosemary bush (beachball sized) and I don't think I took enough roots with me. Now the bush is all dried up except for a tiny bit of new growth on one of the branches. Should I sit tight and let it grow? Clip off the remaining 90% of the branches? Please help me!
Adrian Higgins: Can we talk? Rip it out and put in a fresh one.
Waldorf, Md.: At what point is this too much rain for tomato plants? My tomato plants are looking a little sickly (yellow leaves, drooping).
On the other hand, one has 4 little tomatoes growing! How can a plant look so sick and still bear fruit? What are the chances that these tomatoes will actually mature?
Adrian Higgins: I think this cold wet spring will set back warm season veggies that have been planted already. Once the weather turns, the seedlings should recover, provided they are not in soil that is so wet that they rot.
Silver Spring, Md.: I noticed a larger number of grubs than usual in the soil as I gardened this weekend. For fun, I bought a bag of Milky Spore and applied it to the lawn and around my rose bed. The bag recommends a spring, summer and fall application for several years and then you never have to think about it again.
Fascinating. Does this stuff work? Any side effects I should know about?
Adrian Higgins: Interestingly, last year's drought is expected to really reduce the grub population this year because the adult beetles need moist soil to lay eggs. This is what horticultural professor Jeff Gillman says about milky spore: "This bacterium is most effective when applied to a large area, not just a yard. Bacillus popilliae doesn't seem to be as effective as it once was and was never known as a disease that could wipe out a population of Japanese beetles but rather as a way to reduce their numbers." I'd try nematodes instead.
Reading, Pa.: For the Orchid person, there is one key to getting a Phal. to bloom. In September/October, as the days start getting shorter, the orchid needs about 3 weeks where there is a temperature difference, between day and night, of about 15-20 degrees. That period signals hormones in the plant to begin formation of the flower spike, which will appear -- species dependent -- in late winter or early spring. Keeping the plant on a windowsill or outside suffices.
For now, I would completely remove any leftover flower spikes and let the plant concentrate its energy in leaf and root formation.
McLean, Va.: Good rainy morning to you! We have not yet planted some shrubs, groundcovers, flower/herb seeds we bought 2 weeks ago. I was waiting for our clay soil to dry up enough, but the rains keep coming. How long do I have to wait after today's rains before I can plant these? Is there a general rule about how dry the soil needs to be before you can plant? Thanks!
Adrian Higgins: You don't want the soil to be squishy and even when it has dried some, you should minimize stepping into wet beds. I'd wait until the weekend.
D.C.: I love the way azaleas grow out naturally, but have seen a lot of home owners prune the shrub into a ball shape like how they would for a boxwood, which looks really weird.
Adrian Higgins: In Japan, azaleas are cloud pruned, like poodles, but at least there is some thought put into it. The bigger peeve for me is these mulch volcanoes on trees. If that's happening in common areas in your neighborhood, protest.
Hyattsville, Md.: During rains, we have a small stream that runs through our back yard. During dry periods, it completely dries up. We want to plant the swale and are trying to find plants that will tolerate really wet conditions for periods of time but also won't mind when it dries out. Any suggestions?
Adrian Higgins: Take a trip to Green Spring Gardens near Alexandria. There is a perfect demonstration of a swale garden there, and you will get lots of ideas. Well, we're out of time but do check out the Home section on Thursday to see a garden resplendent this spring, and also see our next episode in the community garden story on washingtonpost.com
Editor's Note: washingtonpost.com moderators retain editorial control over Discussions and choose the most relevant questions for guests and hosts; guests and hosts can decline to answer questions. washingtonpost.com is not responsible for any content posted by third parties.
|
Join live discussions from the Washington Post. Feature topics include national, world and DC area news, politics, elections, campaigns, government policy, tech regulation, travel, entertainment, cars, and real estate.
| 124.926829 | 0.487805 | 0.634146 |
high
|
low
|
abstractive
|
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/discussion/2008/05/15/DI2008051502972.html
|
https://web.archive.org/web/2008052019id_/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/discussion/2008/05/15/DI2008051502972.html
|
Financial Futures - washingtonpost.com
|
2008052019
|
She was joined by Jason Scott, Retirement Research Director for Financial Engines.
To read past Financial Futures columns, click here.
Martha M. Hamilton: Good day, and thanks for joining the chat today. We have as our guest Jason Scott, retirement research director for Financial Engines, so we have impressive expertise in the virtual room.
Bethesda, Md.: You mentioned in your May 18 column that Medicare covers only 51% of the total medical costs that one can expect to pay in retirement. Could you please explain how you calculated that figure? Did you include premium costs, drug expenses, dental bills, eye glasses, and hearing aids? I still don't see how that leads to only 51% coverage, particularly now with the Medicare drug coverage. Moreover, I thought Medicare covered 80% of doctor bills, and usually 100% of hospitalization. Are you also including long-term care expenses to arrive at 51% figure?
Martha M. Hamilton: I bellieve that figure came from a study by Fidelity. Medicare doesn't cover the cost of eye care, hearing care and dental care, which I know from taking my mother to appointments, adds up quickly. And many of those who benefit from the new drug coverage find themselves picking up large prescription costs once they get to the doughnut hole. I'm also hearing from readers that their doctors are charging them extra fees to retain them as patients once they are on Medicare.
Rockville, Md.: I'm planning to retire in the next year. I have invested in my company's 401k and I have some savings with a brokerage firm. What is the best thing to put your money in when you start to take it for income? One suggestion from my advisor is annuities. I don't care to put all my money in these things because you lose a good amount to the investment itself. One suggestion was municipal bonds. They pay a low interest rate but you don't lose the money. Any other suggestions?
Jason Scott: One idea is to use a "Longevity Annuity" described in this previous column by Martha.
These insurance products are purchased at retirement and start making income payments if you make it to an advanced age like say 85. They are fairly cheap since they only payout if you live long enough, but they help make the planning process much simpler. For example, you could take 10% of your portfolio and purchase this type of insurance to cover income after age 85. Then you can use the rest of your portfolio to cover income needs from now until you reach age 85.
Instead of not knowing whether to plan on a 5 or 35 year horizon, you have at least simplified things a bit and can focus on making your money last 20 years.
Martha M. Hamilton: I wrote on Sunday about another option, which are funds that are designed to help you have both income and some level of protection from outliving and underspending your assets. They are mutual funds,however, so it's important to understand that the results aren't guaranteed.
I was wondering what percentage of a well diversified portfolio, split 50/50 between stocks and bonds, you would recommend placing in a TIPS fund. I am about to retire and have about $1.5 million in my portfolio. I am planning on withdrawing 4 percent a year from that for living expenses.
Jason Scott: The research on TIPS funds generally indicates adding TIPS to the portfolio decreases the upside potential, but significantly decreases the chance that you run out of money. Often you can keep on adding TIPS to your portfolio and actually lock-in the 4% payout you were hoping to receive. You lose upside potential but gain security.
Upper Marlboro, Md.: I will turn 60 in August. At what age should one purchase long-term care insurance? Who should buy this type of insurance?
Jason Scott: When and whether to purchase long-term care insurance is a very complex topic. One major problem with the insurance is the expense. As with all insurance, I think you really need to focus on buying the insurance that you really need and not try to insure things that you can handle on your own. This approach usually ends up saving you a lot of insurance costs. This idea applied to long-term care insurance would cause you to think about maximizing the "carve-out" period of coverage. The "carve-out" period is how long you have to wait before your coverage kicks in and starts paying. By setting your carve out to the maximimum (say 180 days), you pay for the first 180 days, but the insurance pays for the rest. This is like having a high deductible on an insurance policy. It saves a lot on the premium, but be aware that you need to be ready to handle the first 180 days.
Martha M. Hamilton: Not everyone needs long-term care. People at the lower end of the income spectrum will end up covered by Medicaid and people on the higher end can self-ensure with their savings. I'll attach a column I've written and some tips for shopping for it.
Should You Secure Your Health Care?
Looking Into The Long Term
Martha M. Hamilton: Here's a question a reader sent yesterday: I haven't seen anyone address in detail the pros and cons of converting a traditional IRA to a Roth for someone who makes more than the maximum allowed for a Roth. My husband and I are in that fortunate situation, but have not been for long and still are very concerned about saving enough for retirement. My expectation is that income taxes are going up. With most of our retirement savings in a 403(b) and TSP, we are going to have very high tax bills when we start drawing down these funds.
I have not been able to get a clear answer from anyone on whether it makes sense for us to take advantage of the one year opportunity in 2010 to convert our traditional IRAs (we made nondeductible contributions for a number of years) to Roth IRAs.
We are trying to decide 1) whether it makes sense to switch our nondeductible traditional IRAs to Roth IRAs during the one-time opportunity in 2010; and 2) whether it makes sense to resume making contributions now to increase the base value of the accounts as much as possible in the meantime.
We made contributions from the mid-'80s to 2000, always with after tax. Does it make sense for us to resume making contributions and then make the conversion in 2010?
If yes, what is the maximum we can contribute? Because we are over 50, is that $5,000 each?
Am I correct in thinking that then in 2010 we would make the conversion to Roth IRAs and would pay taxes on any net gain in the accounts up to that time (spread out over 4 years if we wish), but not on the amounts we have contributed?
Then could we keep making annual contributions in after tax money?
Does the money we have in a 403(b), TSP and an Individual 401(K) (my husband has a small business), affect the taxes on the Roth? I think it may, but I am having a hard time figuring this out. They have about $76,000 in accounts.
Jason Scott: If you think taxes are going up, then converting to a Roth can be a good idea. There are a couple of arguments for having a Roth allocation.
First, with some of your money in a Roth, you have "tax" diversified somewhat. If taxes go up the Roth is a bit better, if they go down the traditional is a bit better.
Second, having some money in a Roth helps you manage your taxes in retirement a bit better. You can use the Roth dollars in years where it is really desirable to keep your taxable income low (say you want to avoid a high income that causes your Social Security to be taxable). This flexibility can be very valuable in many situations.
McLean, Va.: Any thoughts about the recent decision made by West Virginia Teachers to switch back to a pension plan from their 401(k)? That would never be allowed in the private sector. Do you think workers in the public sector are ever going to have the burden of saving for their retirement the way the private sector does? Better question is, when will taxpayers start caring/noticing that we are funding government employees' retirement?
Jason Scott: The West Virginia Teachers are certainly bucking the trend. The past 20 years has seen a significant trend away from fixed pension promises to more 401(k) like pension programs which offer variable pensions depending on the performance of the stock market and overall economy.
A fundamental reason for this shift is the large increase in the number of retirees (it is hard for a relatively small pool of taxpayers to guarantee payments to a larger pool of retirees). Given the Baby Boomers are just now starting to retire, I do not see this trend abating any time soon.
Martha M. Hamilton: The trend to workplace savings plans instead of traditional pensions has been a great savings for employers. But many workers are uncovered, and others have saved too little. The teachers are lucky that they were able to be covered by a plan that assures them of retirement income.
Hamden, Conn.: I am a 33-year-old male who is just now finally getting a stable job, where 401k is offered. What would be your advice for me in the market and which funds should I look at?
Jason Scott: A couple of pieces of advice
1. Definitely participate in your 401(k). It is one of the best places to save for retirement.
2. If your company offers a match (many offer to match a fraction of your contributions with employer dollars), then definitely save enough to take full advantage of the match. The match is free money, and you can't get a better deal than that!
3. As far as investments go, one thing to stay away from is investing too much in your company stock (if that is available in the 401(k) plan.) Given your age, most experts would say you should hold a fairly aggressive asset allocation which means consider a healthy amount of stock funds. Finally, pay attention to how high the fund fees are when looking at the different investment options.
22204: Re: the advice above to purchase a "longevity annuity." Is this sound advice? If you are going to purchase an annuity of any kind, is it wise to do so through an insurance company whose reason for being is selling insurance products? I have to believe the fees would be high as well.
Jason Scott: You should always comparison shop to try and get the best overall deal on any insurance. However, the advantage of insurance is that the insurance company can pool risk across a number of policy holders. Self-insuring against a fire is expensive, but you can buy relatively cheap fire insurance because fires are fairly unlikely. The situation is similar on the longevity insurance question. Self-insuring against living to 100 is very expensive relative to purchasing an insurance contract that covers the very old (and fairly unlikely) ages.
Recent research looking into this question indicates it is not a great idea to put all of your money in an insurance contract, but a fairly small amount (10-15%) can generally help simplify the planning process and result in more retirement spending.
Capitol Hill, D.C.: Ms. Hamilton:
I'm a CSRS federal retiree (for three years now) who lives on my federal annuity and works part-time. Although 66 next year, I plan to defer taking Social Security until the last possible minute (trying to limit, if at all possible, the effect of the Windfall Elimination Provision). I have retirement savings, having contributed as much as possible to various plans both through the federal government and the other places I've worked.
When I lay out my situation rationally, I think that I'm in solid financial shape. But at times--yesterday being the latest example--I become anxious about spending too much too fast. (My solution: to maintain an Excel spreadsheet that lists by categories all expenditures year to date.)
Do other retirees face these occasional moments of doubt? And if so, how do they escape them with a minimum of anxiety?
As always, thanks for these chats, which continue to educate me about wise and foolish choices.
Martha M. Hamilton: It sounds like you're in great shape, but, yes, I think your worries are common. Take a look at Sunday's column, posted in an answer above, where I discuss it. I mention research that Fidelity did when it was creating funds for retirees that provide monthly income. Among other things, they found many retirees in their 80s who wished they had spent more earlier. Unfortunately, however, not everyone has retirement savings to worry about. As for Social Security, if you can and if your family history suggests longevity, I think deferring is a smart thing to do.
Jason Scott: Usually deferring Social Security is a good deal. The major caveats are if you are in poor health or can't make ends meet while deferring the onset of Social Security.
Taxes on 2010 Roth Conversion: Are spread out over two years, not four as poster believes.
Martha M. Hamilton: You don't pay taxes in the year you convert. Then you pay taxes on half of the conversion for each of the next two years.
Sterling, Va.: My parents' future has become a source of tension between my husband and myself. He is concerned that they chose not to invest in long-term care when his parents did. He worries that they will become a burden to us one day.
They are 80 and 83 and in pretty good health. They have about $600K in equity and investments. My Dad gets $22K from Social Security each year. My Mom gets some too, but I don't know the amount. They have zero debt. They have worked with an estate planner and sat down with me to have some difficult decisions about last wishes. They tried to do everything to protect everyone's best interest.
My questions are, if they become very sick and need to go to a home, what will it really cost our family? How much does long-term care really cost per year? Is there a big difference between fancy homes like where our friend put her Mom for $10K per month and Medicaid homes? My Dad is a Veteran. Would he not be happier with men he might have something in common with?
If something does happen to my parents, I plan have them close to me, to visit that home several times a week, bring snacks to the staff and advocate for them.
By my calculations, if they had bought the long-term care insurance when my in-laws did, they would have spent enough to purchase a luxury vehicle. Is $600K plus Social Security enough? If not, what should I or they do?
Martha M. Hamilton: Here's a link to a good primer on long-term care that the AARP has on its site that includes some prices for different types of care. Your parents sound like they are in pretty good shape financially, and they may not need long-term nursing care or may need it only briefly. Many adult children find themselves taking on financial and other efforts on behalf of their aging parents, and you may in the case of your parents. Sometimes, even in what appears to be an excellent long-term care facility, adult children find they have to go to lengths to make sure the care is properly provided. In the case of your parents, I expect they made the best call they could at the time based on what they knew.
washingtonpost.com: AARP: What Does Long-Term Care Cost? Who Pays?
Silver Spring, Md.: What is your opinion on retirement payout funds? Martha had an article on Fidelity's and Vanguard's offerings. The former seem like they're self-liquidating by the future year they're established for, whereas Vanguard's are more self-perpetuating.
Jason Scott: The Fidelity funds plan on paying out the entire fund over a fixed period of time, for example 30 years. The Vanguard funds plan on an ongoing payout that is a fixed percentage of the current value of the fund.
With the Fidelity funds, you can typically expect a higher payout, but there will be nothing left at the end. With the Vangaurd option, the payouts will tend to be smaller, but the fund never runs out.
One thing to keep in mind with both of these options is that the payouts from the funds vary with the performance of the underlying investments. For example, if the stock market declines, the payouts could drop, perhaps substantially.
On Roth conversion: Age would play a big role in that decision too. A 20-30 year old is much better off paying taxes today for money that will not be touched for 40 years. Someone in their late 50's or 60's may not have enough time to recoup today's big tax payout on conversion.
Martha M. Hamilton: That's true to some extent. It certainly makes sense for someone in his or her 20s or 30s to start a Roth, both because they will have time to grow but also because their tax bracket is likely to be higher as they advance in their careers. But it may make sense for someone in his or her 50s or 60s, too, who may have 30 or 40 years in retirement and because of the possibility of future tax increases.
Jason Scott: The general rule is that the advantage between Roth/Traditional depends on the current vs. future tax rates. If tax rates do not change, the after-tax spending available in retirement from either a Roth or Traditional approach are the same assuming the after-tax contributions were the same.
If you think tax rates will be higher in retirement, then Roth is advantageous.
Martha M. Hamilton: Thanks for all the good questions today. Join me again on June 3. If you have suggestions for columns, email me at hamiltonm@washpost.com. Many thanks to Jason Scott for helping today.
Editor's Note: washingtonpost.com moderators retain editorial control over Discussions and choose the most relevant questions for guests and hosts; guests and hosts can decline to answer questions. washingtonpost.com is not responsible for any content posted by third parties.
|
Washington Post columnist Martha M. Hamilton will be online with guest Jason Scott, Retirement Research Director for Financial Engines, to answer questions about financial planning for retirement.
| 121.4 | 0.866667 | 5.2 |
high
|
medium
|
mixed
|
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/discussion/2008/05/18/DI2008051802424.html
|
https://web.archive.org/web/2008052019id_/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/discussion/2008/05/18/DI2008051802424.html
|
The War Over the War
|
2008052019
|
More coverage of The War Over the War| War Over the War discussion transcripts
DeYoung, author of " Soldier: The Life of Colin Powell," is senior diplomatic correspondent and an associate editor of The Washington Post.
Karen DeYoung: Good afternoon. A number of good questions; let me quickly read through them and get started.
Sun Prairie, Wis.: Ms. DeYoung, good afternoon and thank you for doing this chat. Can you provide some background on what news reports describe as the latest Iraqi Army offensive in Sadr City? Reports of earlier fighting there left the impression that Americans were bearing the brunt and encountering fierce resistance. Is either true right now? And what do you think is the objective the Iraqi government is striving for?
Karen DeYoung: As of this morning, there seems to be a new Iraqi military operation underway. U.S. military overnight opened a gap in the concrete wall they had erected across part of Sadr City and this morning several thousand Iraqi troops, with tanks and armored vehicles and on foot, went in and took up positions -- so far without incident. It appears that this is part of the cease-fire agreement reached over the weekend between the Sadrists and the Maliki government. One of the Sadrist conditions is that it would be Iraqi troops only -- no Americans. Right now, it appears the Americans are staying out, except for some air cover and certainly whatever technological intelligence they can provide. The militia fighters are still there but apparently not shooting ... for the moment things seem quiet.
washingtonpost.com: Iraqi Troops Enter Baghdad's Shiite Stronghold (AP, May 20)
New York: Karen, I'm posting early because of travel -- what's the status of all those refugees the Iraqi government was inviting back? Wouldn't millions of returning Iraqis cause chaos and strain the infrastructure as they try to return to their homes or try to get work? I often wonder what is in store for them. Thanks.
Karen DeYoung: Some of the internally-displaced people have started to trickle back. A plan late last fall for the government to provide transport and an aid stipend to refugees in Syria and Jordan -- which few took advantage of -- seems to have stalled. The U.N. and U.S. have both advised discouraging returns until the government gets organized to provide housing -- many of their residences, particularly those of fleeing Sunnis, are now occupied by Shiites -- and jobs and a peaceful environment can be assured. The U.S. military is afraid that millions of Iraqis returning to resume their lives could lead to a resumption of major violence at this time.
New York: Karen, this is not an Iraq question, but you're the person to ask -- is Colin Powell advising John McCain or showing any interest at all in the presidential race? It's hard to believe he would sit on the sidelines. Thanks.
Karen DeYoung: Powell has said he has spoken with both McCain and Obama. He says he's watching carefully but has not yet endorsed anyone.
Pittsburgh: My son, an Army officer, and many other Republican military personnel prefer Ron Paul for president. Given that Paul is against the war in Iraq, shouldn't this make a major statement to those who want to remain in Iraq?
Karen DeYoung: Not unless a lot of them wanted to go on the record and publicly proclaim a preference.
Raleigh, N.C.: Where are Iraqis allowed to seek refuge from the fighting in their country? Are there U.N.-sponsored refugee camps?
Karen DeYoung: There are a few internal camps, but most who have fled have either moved in with family in less violent areas or have left the country.
Freising, Germany: Now that Iran has called off talks with U.S. about Iraq, what is the current situation between Iran and Iraq? I'd read recently that the relations between Iran and Iraq were deteriorating, and that Baghdad would investigate how Iranian-made weapons arrived in Iraq; at the same time, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad had made an unprecedented visit to Baghdad.
Karen DeYoung: The Ahmadinejad visit was several months ago -- at the time, the Bush administration kept its mouth shut, saying that it understands Iran and Iraq are neighbors, with many longstanding personal, religious and economic ties, and that they should have a neighborly relationship. More recently, especially since renewed mortar attacks on the Green Zone and the fighting in Basra and Baghdad, the U.S. has said it can prove stepped-up Iranian involvement in the fighting. U.S. has said it has a lot of evidence, but a promised public presentation has yet to materialize. But the Maliki government -- most certainly with U.S. encouragement -- issued a public statement of concern about Iranian activities and an official delegation went to Tehran to discuss. That was a couple of weeks ago -- nothing new since then.
Hartford, Conn.: Hi Karen. Maybe it's me, but it seems much quieter these past couple of weeks violence-wise. Am I correct? If a vote were taken today, do you think the majority of Iraqis would want the U.S. to stay or to leave? My understanding is that they want us to stay.
Karen DeYoung: From my own limited conversations with Iraqis and a lot of reading, I think they want both. They don't like what they consider a military occupation, especially by a non-Islamic, non-Arab army. They are also very scared of the violence that ravaged the country last year and is still at a significant, although diminished, level. Many don't trust their own government. So they want the Americans to stay until they're certain the violence is over, and the government behaves more competently and is less corrupt.
Raleigh, N.C.: My local paper, the News & Observer, had an article about Blackwater in the Sunday paper. How is Blackwater continuing to survive and even thrive? Were they the victims of coincidence and bad publicity? Is it Erik Prince's ties to the right that keeps the contracts coming? Is it simply that the government's missions and our lack of capability to staff those missions require compromises? Finally, in light of the rise of Blackwater and other mercenary companies, what do you think of the new GI Bill?
washingtonpost.com: Blackwater survives rough time (News and Observer, May 18)
Karen DeYoung: A lot of questions there. A basic update -- the FBI and Justice Departments are supposedly still investigating the Blackwater shooting deaths of Iraqis last Sept. 16. Nobody's been charged, and they're still having difficulty figuring out what the applicable U.S. laws would be, if any. Meanwhile, the State Department has implemented a new system to keep watch on and rein in its security contractors in Iraq and there have been no significant new incidents reported. Blackwater is currently in the second year of a five-year contract. It rolls over annually, and State's position is that until there is some action in the Justice/FBI investigation they have no legal reason to cancel the contract. Plus, they'd have a hard time replacing Blackwater -- which does all the U.S. diplomatic protection in Baghdad (as well as several other places) -- on short notice.
Mount Rainier, Md.: Ms. DeYoung, thanks to you and your colleagues for continuing your Iraq coverage. While so much of the mainstream media moves on to the election and the economy, The Washington Post seems intent on staying with this story. I only can imagine the "discussions" with your editors about it. That said, I do see less coverage now then I did a year ago. Are your editors winning those arguments? Is Iraq really coming around, or are we as a nation suffering Iraq Fatigue? I suspect it's portions of all three, but I'd like your take.
Karen DeYoung: Editors here are fully on board with our continued coverage of Iraq--it is a hugely expensive operation (by far our largest bureau with three full-time U.S. correspondents and a number of Iraqi journalists, security, housing, etc. etc.)and of course still a risky one for those on the ground. One of our Iraqi correspondents was killed by a sniper several months ago. But I see no sign of faltering commitment. I don't think there is less coverage -- perhaps fewer daily stories reflecting fewer violent incidents that have to be covered. But that gives more time and opportunity for reporters to get out of the office and give more depth to their stories, which is what I think the coverage shows they've been doing.
Free Union, Va.: Ms DeYoung, thanks for doing these chats. Has Sen. McCain or anyone else provided any vision of intermediate steps leading to the eradication of al-Qaeda in Iraq by 2013? Is this the purely political nonsense it seems to be, or is there an analytical basis? It goes without saying that administration analyses of Iraq have been poor, and there's no reason to think they're doing any better -- but I'm trying to give McCain the benefit of the doubt.
Karen DeYoung: McCain's 2013 speech was curious in that it outlined a wish list of where he "hoped" to be after a first term, but didn't say how he proposed to get there. He projected the war would be won, and most troops would be home. To my knowledge, the Iraq strategy he has outlined in the past is based on saying that the current strategy is succeeding and should be continued.
Fairfax, Va.: Phillip Carter, who writes the Post's new Intel Dump blog, wrote last fall that "the few Sunnis who remain in Baghdad do so under the protection of U.S. military forces, secured by a labyrinth of concrete blast walls, checkpoints, and security bases." Is this for real? Are there really so few Sunnis in Baghdad?
Karen DeYoung: Certainly most of those who have left Baghdad have been Sunnis. Shiite militias last year took over a number of formerly Sunni neighborhoods. I did a story about this, I think last December, that included maps comparing the sectarian breakdown of the city between early 2006 and late 2007 -- fewer mixed neighborhoods, fewer Sunni-majority neighborhoods, a lot more Shiite-only neighborhoods. The surge, which moved large numbers of U.S. troops into Baghdad neighborhoods, was not designed to reverse this cleansing but basically to put up walls and a U.S. military presence to stop the killing while leaving everything else in place. Look at the answer above re refugees ... nobody has done much to reverse it.
Kingston, Ontario: Karen: Please could you give an update on events in Basra? Has the Baghdad government succeeded in establishing its authority yet?
Karen DeYoung: Basra apparently is pretty quiet. The New York Times had a story from there a week or so ago. Thousands of Iraqi troops have moved into neighborhoods -- although pockets of resistance remain. Reportedly, stores have reopened and people are back on the streets conducting some semblance of normal life. Again, however, the militias are largely still there so it remains tenuous. The Maliki government has promised to pour about $150 million into the city but as far as I know it hasn't gotten there yet.
New York: Given that the administration constantly sounds the alarm about Iran messing about in Iraq, what is it doing about stopping the training and arming of the militias? Seems like we hear a lot of complaining, but no plans for stopping what comes across the borders. What's going on, aside from not talking to Iran? Thanks.
Karen DeYoung: There are some voices here who advocate air strikes against alleged training camps inside Iran, but so far that view has not won out. I'm sure there are intel and perhaps special forces assets inside, and some attempts to be more vigilant on the border. There have been attempts (see answer above) to get the Maliki government to be more forceful in protesting to Iran. The U.S. military keeps saying it is about to show the world new proof of Iranian interference, but hasn't done so yet. The U.S. also says it wants to continue the three-way dialogue (Iraq, Iran, U.S.) started last year in Baghdad (limited to Iraq matters) but the Iranians have said it's not a good time. That's about it.
New Hampshire: Good afternoon Karen and thanks for taking my question. How in the world is it possible that the U.S. sniper in Iraq who defiled a Koran and used it for target practice was sent home to America and separated from his unit? Seems to me as though he was "rewarded" for a terrible act, rather than punished.
washingtonpost.com: U.S. general apologizes for Quran shooting (AP, May 19)
Karen DeYoung: We don't know yet what has happened to that particular soldier, other than that he was removed from Iraq -- I suspect for his own safety rather than as a prelude to "punishment." This is an incredibly incendiary situation -- the U.S. military has fallen all over itself with public apologies, and Bush spoke to Maliki about it yesterday.
Bethesda, Md.: Karen, I often think how much better a world it would be if Powell had run in 2000 and won. Did you ever work for/with him? How much access did he allow you for the biography?
Karen DeYoung: As I noted in the book's Acknowledgments, I did a series of formal interviews with Powell over a two-year, and his answers to questions I asked were used in the book. (There's some updated stuff in the paperback, which came out last November.) He also authorized the National Defense University to give me access to his unclassified papers stored there. No other relationship.
West Orange, N.J.: Where is Moqtada? In 2003, Bremer wanted to arrest him and failed. Since then, he has been in semi-hiding. Presumably the U.S. could find him if it wished; presumably too, Sunni extremists could cause chaos and destroy the government by assassinating him and blaming the deed on the U.S. Might he in fact be in quasi "protective custody" with U.S. consent? Does he ever grant real in-person interviews, or simply communiques?
Karen DeYoung: U.S. officials believe Sadr is still in Iran, where he's been for a long time -- unclear whether he's worried about his security, undertaking religious studies, being kept semi-hostage, or just likes it there. I haven't seen any interviews; statements in his name are regularly issued in Baghdad. Both the Maliki and U.S. governments recognize he wields enormous power among his substantial number of followers and would far rather have him inside the tent than outside. That's why they make a point of differentiating between the so-called "Special Groups" they say are renegades from Sadr's Mahdi Army, and the bulk of the militia members, and keep trying to make deals with them.
San Clemente, Calif.: I remember when a few of what to the Western eye seemed like pretty innocent political cartoons depicting the profit Mohammad set off waves of violence in the Muslim world. Do you think that the relatively quick reaction of U.S. authorities to an American soldier's use of a Quran for target practice may have averted a similar situation? Or is it still too early to tell?
The Bush administration today told the Maliki Government that the soldier, an Army sniper, would be prosecuted. What law was broken, and how would that go over with our troops? Seems one could make the argument that multiple long-term deployments into a stressful situation, poor leadership and a military culture that downplays mental health issues might be much more to blame than an individual soldier.
Karen DeYoung: Seems to me to have been an incredibly stupid thing to do, and you're right, it reflects poorly on command. Think how many Christians would react if they heard someone on the other side was similarly using the Bible. Or vis a vis the cartoons, making fun of Jesus. That being said, I don't think either government wants this to blow up. I hadn't heard about the administration saying the soldier would be "prosecuted." Will check it out.
Iran next: Karen, today the Israeli newspapers are saying that the Bush/McCain team wants to attack Iran before the year is out. How much credence do you give these reports? Why has Bush paid two visits to a weak Olmert this year alone?
Karen DeYoung: This was a report that apparently originated on the Israeli Army Radio, quoting an unnamed official supposedly present at Bush-Olmert talks. It sounds a little garbled and blown out of proportion to me. I'm sure there are some at high levels within the administration who advocate attacking Iran. On the other hand, both Gates and Rice are clearly opposed to it and have prevailed so far. First Bush visit was to give a jolt to faltering peace talks. Second was to bask in the glow of Israel's 60th birthday celebrations. Both were doubtless more fun than staying in Washington is for Bush these days. Both were also to visit Arab leaders to try and get them to produce more oil and be nicer to Iraq -- without much success on either count.
Washington: Not a trick question, but when does Iraqi law begin to take permanent effect? That is, when do their laws take precedence over U.S. military activities (for example, detention of "suspects" in cases where they say the person should be released and we say they should be detained).
Karen DeYoung: Iraq is a sovereign country and it's laws rule. But ... until the end of December, the U.S. military is there under a United Nations mandate that allows it to carry out security functions without seeking Iraqi permission. The mandate expires on Dec. 31 and the Bush administration is currently negotiating a new bilateral arrangement with Iraq to take effect in January. Among the many controversies -- U.S. wants to retain the right to conduct its own military operations, to detain Iraqi citizens, and to maintain immunity from Iraqi laws for contractors. Iraq's public position -- as expressed to me by their foreign minister in an interview last month -- is that none of these things are acceptable. We'll see where the negotiations go ... the agreement is supposed to be signed by July 31.
Karen DeYoung: So many good questions, so little time. Sorry I didn't get to all of them, but come back next time.
Editor's Note: washingtonpost.com moderators retain editorial control over Discussions and choose the most relevant questions for guests and hosts; guests and hosts can decline to answer questions. washingtonpost.com is not responsible for any content posted by third parties.
|
Join live discussions from the Washington Post. Feature topics include national, world and DC area news, politics, elections, campaigns, government policy, tech regulation, travel, entertainment, cars, and real estate.
| 88.487805 | 0.609756 | 0.853659 |
high
|
low
|
abstractive
|
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/discussion/2008/05/16/DI2008051602898.html
|
https://web.archive.org/web/2008052019id_/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/discussion/2008/05/16/DI2008051602898.html
|
What's Cooking With Kim O'Donnel
|
2008052019
|
A graduate of the Institute of Culinary Education (formerly known as Peter Kump's New York Cooking School), Kim spends much of her time in front of the stove or with her nose in a cookbook.
For daily dispatches from Kim's kitchen, check out her blog, A Mighty Appetite. You may catch up on previous transcripts with the What's Cooking archive page.
Kim O'Donnel: Hey folks, it's still raining here in DC and I do wonder when summer will come. Today's show is dedicated to the memory of Joan Hisaoka , a local hospitality/dining public relations pro and a lovely lady to boot, who died last week of cancer.
So I've got an update from today's blog post : I've secured an interview with cookbook author and Sichuan cuisine expert Fuchsia Dunlop, who's in Shanghai this week. I'll keep you posted. The long holiday weekend is just a few days away -- what are the plans? This Thursday, I'll dish up some home-grown barbecue thanks to this wacky guy in Richmond, Va., by the name of Buz Grossberg. He offers me tips on rigging up my Weber grill into a serious pit. Stay tuned...
So I've got an update from today's blog post : I've secured an interview with cookbook author and Sichuan cuisine expert Fuchsia Dunlop, who's in Shanghai this week. I'll keep you posted. The long holiday weekend is just a few days away -- what are the plans? This Thursday, I'll dish up some home-grown barbecue thanks to this wacky guy in Richmond, Va., by the name of Buz Grossberg. He offers me tips on rigging up my Weber grill into a serious pit. Stay tuned...
The long holiday weekend is just a few days away -- what are the plans? This Thursday, I'll dish up some home-grown barbecue thanks to this wacky guy in Richmond, Va., by the name of Buz Grossberg. He offers me tips on rigging up my Weber grill into a serious pit. Stay tuned...
Yuck -- cast iron help!: Hi Kim --
Love your chat and I get so much good advice but now I'm in need of advice! I have a cast iron skillet which I LOVE. My wonderful husband made us filet mignon (last week) with a pepper crust. He then cleaned the skillet later in the night.
This weekend I went to make a pineapple upside down cake in the cast iron. Turned out great until I had dinner guests comment it tasted funny. When I tasted it all I could taste was pepper. (the recipe is 1 box yellow cake mix, 3 tablespoon butter, 3/4 cup brown sugar brown sugar, pinapple and cherries in the pinapple hole). Needless to say I was dissapointed and very embarassed.
How can I clean the cast iron making sure to get the previous dinner taste out. I've bought a scrub brush from Target but it's just not helping.
When I cleaned it after the cake I wipped it dry with a paper towel and the paper towl was black.
Kim O'Donnel: You know what might help? A little alcohol -- preferably vodka because it's most neutral -- wipe out bottom with vodka, then scrub, even add a wee wee bit of soap, rinse out, then put over fire to let dry. See if that helps.
Vegetable stock in Vienna, Va.: Kim: I have various and assorted vegetables sitting in my freezer that I would like to make vegetable stock with (they were fresh at one point, I froze them as they were on the verge of going bad).
Do you have a tried and true recipe for making v. stock? And what types of vegetables do you recommend using?
Kim O'Donnel: Onions, celery, leeks, carrots are all good stock choices. Don't use anything too strong, like broccoli or turnips. Herbs such as parsley and thyme are good, as are black peppercorns. Add just enough water to cover vegetables -- don't fill all the way up. Bring up to a boil, reduce heat, cook at a simmer for about 30 minutes. Strain, you've got stock.
Brooklyn, N.Y.: I'm making naked chicken this Sunday. I am so excited :D I have never baked a whole chicken, so this is a big deal for me.
Question: the chickens I am seeing are organic broiler-fryers. Is that okay?
Also, planning to pair with some spicy greens like arugula (likely wilted with a bit of lemon and mustard and shallots), and some naan bread and raita. What else should I add to the menu?
Kim O'Donnel: Naked Chicken how-to , for anyone who's interested....Sounds like you've got some nice companions lined up, Brooklyn... maybe local strawberries for dessert?
Turkey burgers for the grill?: Kim,
Loved your blog entry on spicy black bean burgers, and bought the ingredients this weekend so we can try them (my hint of the day: I discovered that a 30 oz. can of black beans sold in the "ethnic" section of the mainline grocery store was less expensive than two 15-oz cans on sale in the main bean section. And this was a well-known brand. Go figure.)
So, my question. Should it warm sufficiently this week here in the Midwest, we want to do a little grilling. We'd like to try burgers made of ground turkey. I am interested in ideas on seasoning, and also on whether these will hold up to grilling, or if there are tips that will help them hold up.
washingtonpost.com: A Bean Burger Worth Biting Into ( A Mighty Appetite, May 16 )
Kim O'Donnel: Hey Midwest: ground turkey likes strong mustard, soy sauce, sesame oil, chiles, garlic, chopped parsley...you might want to use a binder, particularly since you're grilling, either an egg white or bread crumbs. I like adding grated Parm to the mix as well...
New Orleans, La.: My wife doesn't like onions. She'll admit it's more of a psychological thing than anything else. Her mom was allergic to (but liked) onions, so my wife grew up in a household where they were outcasts.
So when I cook for both of us, I often replace onion with green pepper in, say, spaghetti sauce or chicken fajitas. What do you think of this strategy? She'll eat scallions, but those aren't always a good replacement. Shallots can work sometimes, too. Do you have other suggestions?
Kim O'Donnel: Hmmm. If she doesn't mind shallots, that's probably the best all-purpose substitute in sauces and soups. The shallot is a cornerstone of Thai cooking. Has she been to explain what she doesn't like about onions? Is it a texture thing -- or flavor? I wonder if she'd like the sweeter varieties.
Gainesville Greens: I have never had collard greens before until last Friday at a lovely cajun resturant in Manassas. They were awesome! A little on the sweet side which I liked and they were perfectly cooked. My first thought is I want to make these myself but I've never seen anyone make these before. Where should I start? I've seen a ton of recipes online but I'm wondering how do you reccomend making them? I'm not a vegitarian but I have friends that are so if I make these for them how do I adapt here and still get a good flavor? Thanks for the help!
Kim O'Donnel: Collard greens need a bit of time in a pot but not forever, as some cooks contend. They like to be braised, in a flavored stock...and I've done equally tasty batches with both bacon/pork and no meat at all. An onion is a big part of the flavor, and in my opinon, the heat from some fresh chiles and pungency of garlic. You'll pull the leaves away from the stems, put in a pot, add water plus the above and let them cook, til desired tenderness. My preference, if using bacon, is to render, remove lardons, use at end just before serving. Any other collards tips?
Springfield, Va.: Hello. I wrote in a couple weeks ago about a Bulgarian eggplant appetizer I had tried and was delicious. It was in a small toasted pastry shell and the eggplant was like a tomatoe-y dip, without much seeds and with a piece of feta cheese on top. Any recipe ideas?
Kim O'Donnel: I would roast an eggplant, halved lengthwise, which will take at least an hour, maybe more. Remove seeds, puree, with garlic, tomatoes, a bit of olive oil, salt and pepper. Add some lemon, too. Taste, see what you think. At the very least, you'll have a most magnificent eggplant "caviar."
Naked chicken rocks!: I made it two weeks ago and it was amazing! I used the leftovers picked off the bone in a peanut noodle dish with asparagus, and then made stock from the carcass. Yum!
Kim O'Donnel: I love happy customers...
What did I do wrong?: I tried to do something different and broil some radicchio --thinking, "Well, it is good grilled, right?" I chopped it into large chunks and tossed with olive oil and s and p. It turned into a hideous brown mess. Do you have any recommendations for cooking radicchio (or should I stick with using it in salads)?
Also, I am trying to eat more fish and have been purchasing frozen fillets from Whole Foods. Baking and adding a vinaigrette has worked so far, but I'd like to try pan searing for more flavor. Any tips so I won't over/under cook?
Kim O'Donnel: I've roasted radicchio -- and it's pretty darn wonderful. Pull it apart, leaf by leaf, place in a baking pan, very light addition of olive oil, salt and a smidge of blue cheese in the center of each leaf. LOVELY.
Re: your fish query: As convenient as those frozen fillets are, they don't really translate well for searing as you describe -- unless you have time to let the fish completely thaw and drain of water. You could try finishing under broiler after you've roasted fish, for some browning.
Washington, D.C.: A friend of mine from New England raves about fiddleheads but I have never seen them in any of the local stores or farmers markets. Are fiddleheads available in the D.C. area or is this a lost cause?
Kim O'Donnel: You know, it's been a long time since I've come across a fiddlehead round these parts. Anyone with a recent fiddlehead sighting?
My pineapple sage run amock in D.C.: Hi...I planted some pineapple sage ealier this spring and with all the rain, it is going crazy? I bought it on a whim because I liked the sweet sent of pineapple I got when I rubbed the leaves. Any suggestions for usage?
Kim O'Donnel: My sage is going crazy this spring as well...Here's a link to a piece I wrote about sage last year, with lots of ideas from readers. I've been thinking about doing a sage-y pizza thing of late...
Arlington, Va. : Made the bean burgers you described in your blog... rather, made a variant -- I meant to make a half batch, but then ended up using the two eggs in the orginal recipe so I finished up with an extra half cup of bread crumbs and cooked. Good texture. To help out one of the people asking in the comments, I think the end product could be cooled, brushed with oil, and then reheated on the grill. Perhaps the extra egg firmed things up? I don't think this affected firmness, but I also made them square (3x3?, had some homemade sliced bread and I didn't want empty corners) and they held up well.
Not a great flavor profile for me. It could've be the extra bread crumbs. In any case, I think next time I'll modify to include freshed chopped serranos/jalapenos, and probably some lemon zest. I think this recipe will lend itself well to experimentation.
Kim O'Donnel: Hey, thanks for following up. I agree, this recipe lends itself to improv...
Blog Topic Request and Chocolate Request: Any way you could do a blog column on camp cooking? As in, cooking over a campfire with only the ingredients you can fit in a cooler and plastic bag or two? I do great planning the first night's dinner and first morning breakfast, but after that, it seems to go downhill, so would like some more ideas!
Also, do you have a low-cal chocolate comfort food recipe you could share? I am having a really crappy day (everything that could go wrong is), and would like to make myself a really yummy desert tonight, but don't want to totally ruin my diet. I've lost 15 lbs so far, but still have another 15 to go! Thank you! You're the best!
Kim O'Donnel: Hmm...I like it. Yes, I'll put on the list. Re: your chocolate request: Well, here's a link to flourless chocolate cookies . These are not low-cal, given their nut content, but there's no butter or any other kind of dairy. You could make half a batch bring the rest to work tomorrow...
Fiddleheads: I am from Maine and live now in D.C. My dad would go out and pick fiddleheads during the very brief window when they come out. They are wild and are ferms that have not yet "opened up." They are so very tasty. I saw some recently at Whole Foods, but there were about 15 of them in a container and they were expensive and didn't look too fresh. Meanwhile, in Maine during fiddlehead season you can buy them from cars on the side of the road or at a local general store. I did find some online a few years ago. They were very good but also expensive. I would never tell my family in Maine what I paid for these "weeds" you can get for hardly nothing up there!
Kim O'Donnel: Great stories! Thank you. Yeah, the last time I saw them they were v. expensive, that's all I can remember. You either love or hate fiddleheads.
Collards: We sometimes used smoked turkey wings. I smoke the wings myself, either in the smoker or in my weber kettle over indirect heat, with some wood chips(apple or cherry)added to the hardwood charcoal. Not a lot of work, but the difference in store bought and home smoker hocks or wings is huge.
While I am cleaning the greens I put the hocks or wings in a heavy pot add some H20, a little crushed red pepper, a touch of sugar and a little kosher salt. I cook that covered for about an hour or so. I than add the greens in batches, until each batch is totally under water. I turn the heat down to a med simmer and cook for another 2-2.5 hours or so. The secret to tender greens, add a pinch of baking soda, after all the greens are in the pot.
Kim O'Donnel: thanks for your tidbits!
New Orleans, La.: Regarding the wife who doesn't like onions, it's more of texture thing. She'll eat them in a restaurant if they're diced small enough to be ignored, cooked down, and don't overwhelm the dish.
So you recommend shallots as a substitute, but what should a ratio be? Let's say a recipe calls for 2 cups of sliced onion, how many shallots should go in it? Also, what can I do to replace the other aspects I'm missing from leaving out onion? As I said, green pepper is the best substitute I've found so far, but it's not ideal.
Kim O'Donnel: You'll need a handful of shallots to equal two onions. You might want to try green garlic or young onions -- not scallions, but onions before they grow up and develop the texture your wife doesn't liek.
Another naked chicken: I really want to try the naked chicken recipe, but by the time I get home from work and have some QT with my little babe, it's too late to marinate and then roast. Would it be OK to apply the marinade in the morning before work and then pop in the oven when I get home?
Kim O'Donnel: YES. It's all good.
Grape tomatoes: I have about a pint too many grape tomatoes (buy one get one free!)...they're starting to go bad. Anything I can do with them tonight to keep from tossing them? Can I cook with them? Any suggestions would help.
Kim O'Donnel: You can do a quick saute, no prob. I like'em with garlic, herbs, spinach, with an omelet...
No Inspiration, Md.: Hi Kim!
I usually love to cook, but took a break within the last month while finishing my final grad project. Now I can't seem to get my cooking mojo back!
I go to the store and just wander aimlessly with no good ideas. I usually follow recipies, but also want to be able to come up with things on the fly. Any suggestions?
Kim O'Donnel: go to your nearest farm markt this week. There's nothing like a local market that will shake that trunk out of its funk. The colors, the perfumes, the energy, it's all inspiration.
Another happy customer!: Our CSA radishes are now going to good use! Sliced on homemade sourdough, a light layer of cream cheese, salt, pepper, mmm. I roasted the rest with cauliflower and spring onions and then ate on top of a salad. Thanks for your help!
Kim O'Donnel: We aim to serve, here, dear. So glad you are eating well!
Ricotta -- : I have a tub of ricotta cheese that is sitting in my fridge. I don't want to waste it, but can't think of a single thing to make outside of lasagna. Any ideas (savory, not sweet)? Thank you!
Kim O'Donnel: arugula pesto is calling you, and you'll need some ricotta to mellow it out. See what you think...
Washington, D.C.: Fiddleheads: I bought them at Balducci's on Old Georgetown Road over the weekend -- very fresh and, as always, wonderful. Hefty price, though: $9.99/lb.
Kim O'Donnel: Another fiddle-di-dee sighting...and ouch! you're right, expensive...
Hubby only likes meat ravioli. Since we try to limit our red meat, I thought I'd try ground chicken seasoned Italian style and stuffed in wonton wrappers for ease.
What else would work with the meat? Hubby doesn't like ricotta either, but I was thinking maybe some parm for flavor?
Kim O'Donnel: Spinach, chard or arugula make great ravioli companions. Mushrooms, too.
Neither organic nor breads with fruit in them are always healthy: One of the things I love about this Internet age is how many more people I can share my food obsession with!
I came across a great new food blog that had two posts I totally loved -- but both very different. The first was an awesome recipe for banana bread that included both mini-chocolate chips (for the yum factor) and almond meal (for the health factor). The second was on the fact that folks should start to be leery of the word organic: "Many people continue to equate the term "organic" with "healthy" even though "organic" simply means that a food contains ingredients grown without the use of certain pesticides or herbicides. (Let's not forget that you can buy organic junk food.)
It's really great to see a mix of great recipes and musings on food, thoughts on nutrition and some Michael Pollen-esq social commentary all in one place; in fact, Kim, it reminded me of your blog.
Definately worth checking it out: 5 Second Rule
Kim O'Donnel: Excellent -- I am always looking for tasty new blogs. thanks much.
Freising, Germany: If you had some white beans in the pantry, what would be your first thought about what to do with them at this time of year?
Kim O'Donnel: I love to puree white beans with a roasted red pepper, some garlic, cayenne or paprika and rosemary. Makes such a pretty and tasty puree that can be used as a dip for parties or as a spread for sandwiches.
Camp Cooking: Check out a Girl Scouts of the USA Web site and you'll find a ton of recipes. One of my troops favorites is omelettes -- Boil a big pot of water, crack two eggs into a baggie and squish them around, throw them in the pan and when they're "hard" remove them, dump them out of the bag, sprinkle with grated cheddar, serve with bananas. Little mess, fairly quick, and REALLY good!
Kim O'Donnel: Fun. thanks for the tips!
To the husband with the onion-hating wife, take this advice from a fellow (former) onion hater: chop and sautee the onions and garlic. put them in a blender/food processor and puree. Add back to whatever dish you were cooking. You'll get the wonderful onion flavor without the texture. This trick was used on me by various people in attempts to get me to like the taste of onion -- and I have to admit, it worked!
Kim O'Donnel: Ah, brilliant. In fact, this reminds me of how I was taught to make risotto -- chef instructor insisted on very fine onions so the texture would be secondary to the flavor. Well done.
RE Camp Cooking: This topic also would be very useful to all of us Boy Scout moms who have to help our sons figure out how to cook on weekend camping trips, when cooking is secondary to the other activity.
My son's troop camps once a month, fall, winter and spring, wet or dry, hot or snow on the ground (they were in Antietam one year when it never got above 10 degrees F with snow on the ground).
Their menus need help. I think even MREs would be better than some of the stuff they have!!
Kim O'Donnel: Okay, you're on!
RE: really yummy desert tonight, but don't want to totally ruin my diet: I am on a diet as well, and what I like to do when I'm craving my favorite dessert -- ice cream with hot fudge sauce -- is to instead slice up a banana and sprinkle with some dark hot chocolate sauce (I love the Whole Foods sauce). Sometimes I sprinkle a few peanuts on it. It's good, and I don't feel guilty eating it. I also sometimes do a sliced banana with peanuts and maple syrup.
Kim O'Donnel: Here's one way to do the choco diet thing....
Onion Hater: My dad hated onions, so we rarely ate them growing up. My mom would never saute them before adding them to things, and they'd always have a horrible crunch, which I hated. Her "solution" was to cut them smaller, which never helped.
What got me to like onions? Carmelized onions first, then slow/low saute before adding to a dish. Works every time.
Kim O'Donnel: Another take on the onion issue...
Kim O'Donnel: Time to go already. Thanks for stopping by. Stay tuned for updates on Fuchsia Dunlop and Chengdu in the blog space: A Mighty Appetite . All best.
Editor's Note: washingtonpost.com moderators retain editorial control over Discussions and choose the most relevant questions for guests and hosts; guests and hosts can decline to answer questions. washingtonpost.com is not responsible for any content posted by third parties.
|
Calling all foodies! Join us Tuesdays at noon for What's Cooking, our Live Online culinary hour with Kim O'Donnel.
| 206 | 0.826087 | 1.173913 |
high
|
medium
|
abstractive
|
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/discussion/2008/05/16/DI2008051602627.html
|
https://web.archive.org/web/2008052019id_/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/discussion/2008/05/16/DI2008051602627.html
|
Lean Plate Club - washingtonpost.com
|
2008052019
|
Confused about nutrition? Wondering how to fit in more physical activity? Welcome to the Lean Plate Club. Ask Sally Squires, nationally syndicated Lean Plate Club columnist for the Washington Post, about eating smart and moving more every Tuesday at 1 p.m. ET. Sally draws upon her master's degree in nutrition from Columbia University to preside over the lively Lean Plate Club web chat. Whether you're trying to reach a healthier weight or simply maintain it, you'll find plenty of tips and strategies.
Share your own food finds, creative workouts and secrets for healthy, great tasting meals. We'll cheer your successes and help with your setbacks. (None of this, of course, is a substitute for medical advice.) E-mail Sally, author of the newly published Secrets of the Lean Plate Club (St. Martin's Press) at leanplateclub@washpost.com.
Or just sign up for the free Lean Plate Club e-mail newsletter. The Lean Plate Club column appears Tuesdays in the Washington Post Health section and is nationally syndicated by the Washington Post Writers Group. www.leanplateclub.com/group.
Sally Squires: Welcome to the Lean Plate Club!
One of our topics up for discussion today is the childhood obesity epidemic. I hope you have had a chance to see the large childhood obesity project that we've been doing here at the Post. It's been a collaboration between the news and Web sides of the paper and I think you will be informed and intrigued by all the various parts, which continue through the week.
The LPC e-mail newsletters should be hitting your in boxes now. If you live in San Diego, Sacramento, San Franscisco or Denver, I'd love to know if you'd like to read the Lean Plate Club column in your hometown newspaper. There are papers in those cities that are interested in running the column. E-mail me at leanplateclub@washpost.com
Also, confused about health and unhealthy fat? I'd love to talk with you for an upcoming Lean Plate Club column. Please send me your questions with name and phone number to leanplateclub@washpost.com
Now on to the chat!
Phoenix: You asked why I think we have an obesity epidemic. Only 15 percent of the public is obese (BMI above 30) so 85 percent of the public is NOT obese. Why is something that only affects 15 percent of the public called an "epidemic"? NOTE: BMI "overweight" category IS normal weight for many people - that's just playing with the numbers. And as far as the "childhood obesity epidemic" this is even more of a crock. The worst estimates put 1 in 5 children as "overweight" that's 20 percent of the kids so 80 percent of the kids are NOT even overweight. Did you know that the constant battering by the media has caused many older kids to start smoking to "control their weight"? Because the media makes it look like it's "okay" to do "anything" to avoid obesity. And you know, SMOKING really cuts the life short (There is NO evidence that obesity alone raises risks significantly).
Sally Squires: I understand what you're saying Phoenix, but 2/3 of the adult population is overweight or obese. And we are seeing rising health problems because of that added weight.
Also, rates of childhood obesity have tripled in the past 25 years. If we don't halt this trend, this generation of kids could be the first in a long time not to outlive their parents and grandparents. So that seems worthy of note, don't you think?
I agree with you that smoking is extremely dangerous for all ages, but think that we can address both health messages simultaneously. Other thoughts?
Chatham, IL: Do we have an "obesity epidemic"? Yes!
What to do? Education is the only way out of this, IMHO. People need understand nutrition and the importance of healthy lifestyles. We need to eat more fruits and Vegetables, more whole grains, and more fish -- while cutting back substantially on processed foods of all sorts and red and porcessed meats. We need to understand the need for greater physical activity every day and do it.
Sally Squires: Hear, hear! I couldn't have said it better myself. Thanks for weighing in. Other thoughts?
Northeast: I just wanted to say how heartening your article was today. When I grew up, I went to a school system that was held in high regard. Unforunately, not only was home ec. only offered to females, but the "cooking" part was really -baking- (and cake decorating). We never learned any cooking skills or how to cook anything practical. It's wonderful to hear that they are learning practical cooking skills and that courses are being taken by men and women!
Sally Squires: Not only are they taken by boys and girls, but what surprised me is that boys quite outnumber the girls! Call me sexist, but I never expected that. Sorry guys. I won't make that mistake again. And I loved visiting that class. Thanks to Rosemary Molle and to the wonderful Yorktown High School principal Raymond Pasi (who happens to also be a Lean Plate Club member) for letting me visit, as well as to all the fine students that I met. It was quite a pleasure.
Great Falls, Va.: I find it amazing that people struggle to figure out the causes of the obesity crisis. We have 2 school age kids (8 and 6). It is amazing how everywhere they go, they are bombarded with junk food. At their schools (one public, one private), every birthday, holiday, Friday, parent visit, or whatever is an excuse for cake, cupcakes, candy, etc. - and not just a piece - often it amounts to a big bag of candy (maybe 20-30 pieces) for something like St. Patrick's Day (not just a traditional candy-fest like Halloween) - often in combination with pizza, cake and ice cream (all on the same day). My wife and I are not health food fanatics - while we do try to eat a balanced diet, we often enjoy ice cream, cake and candy (and our kids do the same). However, we are viewed as crazy or not being in the spirit of things if we suggest that every event should not be a festival of candy. What's strange, is that the adults at these events go out of their way to encourage kids to overeat junk. If a parent brings in cupcakes to school, they push to get the kids to eat them - even if the kids already had cake that day because it was someone else's birthday, and they already got a "goodie bag" full of candy to take home. If a kid actually says no (which is a lot to expect), the parent will continue to push. Somehow we've decided showering our kids with junk food is good parenting. Is it hard to figure out what the result of that is?
Sally Squires: I couldn't agree more. In fact, the National Academy of Science new school food guidelines say that foods supplied by parents ought to meet healthy nutritional standards too.
And why not celebrate birthdays at school without food treats? Kids generally wind up getting two, three or four celebrations between home, various activities and school. I bet we could find other ways to keep this to one cake per birthday, don't you think? Or is that taking the fun out of everything?
Des Moines, Iowa: I know we have an obesity epidemic -- you can see it. I was an obese child, myself, so it breaks my heart to see all these children and know what they are going through. I do believe we have a societal problem with so many inter-related contributors. The solution to the epidemic, however, has to come from us: the parents and families.
The school that my twin boys attend is trying to raise money to build a walking/running track. I've identified a grant that I think we could qualify for, but we need more than just a track: we need some kind of programs that the school can implement that will enable them to track fitness improvements at both the individual and aggregate levels. Any ideas out there? Where can I find this type of program?
LOVED this feature. Thank you so much for bringing much needed attention to this issue.
Sally Squires: You might check out the President's Council on Physical Fitness and Sports. You could set up a fitness group free on-line for your school. Also check out NASPE, the National Association for Sport and Physical Education. Find them in Reston, Va. Phone number is 703-476-3410.
We'll try to post a link in a minute. You might also check out the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Kellogg Foundation.
Hope that helps and you'll let us know how it goes.
At Home, Va.: Great column on teaching life skills today, but please tell me the photo that ran with it was staged.... both of those students are headed for an ER if they are being taught to cut sausage (or anything else) while holding it in their hand. Don't the ER docs refer to this Sunday morning accident as the "Bagel"?
Sally Squires: No photos were staged! We're not allowed to do that in the newspaper biz, so guess I need to take a closer look at the pictures. I can say that everyone seemed to have all their digits intake and were quite happy.
Washington, DC: A few years ago I read a Harvard study that said one of the leading reasons behind weight gain is that people no longer have eating "rules" and instead graze all day long. The rules I grew up with--no snacking between meals(after school excepted), no eating in front of others who don't have food, no eating in the living room (where in the old days, the TV always was), no eating in school outside of lunch--are all gone. Structured eating is a thing of the past and I've noticed that I now eat all day long without paying attention, so it's no wonder I struggle with my weight.
Sally Squires: That mindless eating can be a real sabotager of a healthy weight. And you're right: it is now accepted to eat--or drink--nearly everywhere, from the car, to the street, to the office. We eat in front of each other and don't even think to offer food to others. Maybe we should make no food zones. What do you think?
Sally Squires: Here's one of the links for the President's Council on Physical Fitness and Sports.
Breakfast: I have a REALLY hard time getting my 11-year-old to eat breakfast. I hate to have her leave the house without having eaten anything, but her lunchtime at school is 10:30 a.m. (her teacher refers to it as brunch). When I ask her to suggest things that aren't full of sugar (she knows sweetened cereal isn't an option) she suggests bagels with cream cheese or yogurt, but then doesn't eat it when it's in the house. My daughter does like making milkshakes and will do it on her own if I let her -- how good/bad is Carnation Instant Breakfast if it's all I can get her to consume?
Sally Squires: I just tried to get the nutritional info on Carnation Instant Breakfast but can't readily find it on their Web site. Let me take a moment for a mini-rant: in putting together this obesity package, I perused many food company Web sites and I urge them to make finding the nutrition information easier. It was frustrating, difficult and extremely time consuming. So whether to chalk this up to poor Web design or a reluctance to give ingredients to consumers, I can't say. But I sure wish they would change it.
Whew! Glad to get that off my chest.
Now, Carnation Instant Breakfast is certainly better than no breakfast. You might also consider some meal replacement bars. Kashi has some good choices. So does Larabar. Whole wheat toast would be fine for your daughter. You get whole wheat English muffins too. You might get her engaged in baking muffins together. Pride of ownership might make her more likely to grab them in the a.m.
Also, smoothies--home-made if possible--can be quite portable and easy going down in the morning.
Hope that helps. Other suggestions out there?
Herndon, Va.: I agree with the other suggestions offered here today for addressing the obesity trend among children, but I'd also like to bring attention to one other contributor: the food industry and its marketing to children. I find it appalling that kids are being targeted as easy consumers for foods that are clearly questionable. Even the new trend of "nutritious" whole grain cereals contain a high amount of sugar, or, worse, high fructose corn syrup.
Sally Squires: Okay, I know people may not believe me when I say this, but high fructose corn syrup is no worse than any other sugar. Having said that, there is an awful lot of food marketing directly to kids. The Kaiser Family Foundation wrote a whole report on this. The viral marketing that is down on the Internet is one of the most insidious problems out there. But there are also plenty of commercials that are enticing kids too. As parents, we need to be sure that they are enticed to healthier choices wherever possible.
"overweight" BMI numbers: I disagree with Phoenix. The BMI calculator makes sense. I've been within a pound or two of the "overweight" category, and let me tell you, it's not a weight that is good for me, looks good on me, or gives me a good energy level. Activity, portion control and smart food choices are part of my daily routine; they are healthy habits that keep me in that good BMI range. The ranges are also not all that restrictive: at 5-2 mine is 101-136 pounds - a 35 pound spread. I'm in the upper end of that, but I find it to be a good guideline.
Sally Squires: I agree with you. In fact, look back at the old Metropolitan Weight Tables for a sober look at how much our body weight is creeping upward.
lazy attitudes and bad decision making: I have to agree with Great Falls. I also think part of the problem is laziness. Kids, parents, educators, etc. We expect kids to make choices that we're not showing them if we give them fast food on a night of soccer practice, or because we're in a rush to get to a meeting. We expect that they'll have proper nutrition in school while they're not with us, but there's the whole party/cupcake/celebration problem. We expect kids to want to play outside rather than watch tv or play video games.
We can enforce by example, we can enforce by monitoring, and we can enforce by getting involved. But it means actually doing something, and we're quite the lazy nation...
Sally Squires: Modeling--the psychological word for what you describe--is one of THE most powerful tools that parents have. Nothing sends a worse message than saying to a kid, you have to eat your vegetables, but I don't. Or you have to workout, but I can sit in this chair. Actions really do speak louder than words. And I think there are fun ways for both parents and kids to do more of these healthy habits together, don't you?
Maryland: I send in cupcakes without frosting - just a few sprinkles. Everyone wants to celebrate. This is just one way to cut down on the sugar, and mess. Besides who wants to deal with a bunch of kids on a sugar buzz.
Sally Squires: That's a great idea! Another thing that can help is to send in fruit with mini-cupcakes. It's the kind of dessert flip that I learned about at the Culinary Institute. It really works. You can have a little cake--and fruit--and eat them both too! Thanks.
New York Mom: My husband teaches in a school district that decided to adopt policies that promote a more healthy lifestyle. Some examples of changes made were only water, juice or milk in the vending machines, teachers being role models and not eating and drinking "junk" in front of the students and teachers only allowed to serve healthy foods during class celebrations. This also meant that parents could not bring in cupcakes, etc for class b-day parties and needed to come up with other options. I thought these were all great ideas and couldn't believe that many parents were upset...they wanted the "right" to let their children eat cupcakes and other junk foods, etc at parties. I don't think junk food is necessary for a celebration...
Sally Squires: Food is certainly not necessary for a celebration. And just think if we made some celebrations opportunities to move rather than just to sit and eat! Also, I could see picking a day of the month to celebrate all birthdays in that particular month. Then for each actual birthday, doing something else special.
Washington, D.C.: Hi Sally -
What is a good way to talk about portion control with hungry and growing kids?
I was interested in your note in the paper that kids should serve their own portions. I'm guessing my kids will have the same lifelong battles with weight that my husband and I are (barely) managing have had and am interested in teaching them about nutrition and (harder!) portion control -- they are young enough now that I can control what their choices are -- diet is mostly whole wheat grains esp. pasta, low-fat cheese, lots of fruits and veggies (mostly raw with lowfat dips like hummus) and some lean meat, nuts and beans. Things I think you call Green light foods for the most part -- but should these really be unlimited? (BTW, I do also give my kids the the occasional ice cream or fries or whatever, simply because I don't want these to be too forbidden...but I try to make these less-nutritious foods no more than once a day. Which is hard by the way because it seems like every day there is a birthday party at school or cookies on a playdate or whatever..and then I have to be the one to deny the treat after dinner! Usually I just try to find a more healthy substitute, ie "how about we make smoothies with yogurt and banana for dessert?")
In any case, for me,I find I can gain weight eating too much of even health food so portion control is important -- but I hate to "cut them off" even though sometimes when they say they are still hungry I think they are bored, or the (healthy) food tastes good they will just eat it until it is gone. Should I really just lay off and let them decide when they are done. For the moment I have tried to let them serve themselves while not putting an endless supply of food in the noodle bowl, for example.
Sally Squires: Having them serve themselves is really important. As a parent, your job is simply to get the food on the table. And of course, you want that food to be healthful, great tasting and inviting. So you have your work cut out.
Their job is to decide what and how much to eat. That will keep them occupied too.
By the way, these philosophies are based on research done at Penn State by Barbara Rolls and Lee Ann Birch among others.
Also, this doesn't mean that kids get endless access to the kitchen. Meals can still be at specific times and the kitchen can and should shut down at night.
But for now, keep letting them fill their own plates. And that's a great idea to limit how much food is on the table so as to minimize unlimited portions.
Arlington, VA: Now I am scared to send my kid to school! Here was I worried about the menu at the preschool he will be attending next year and it turns out the real harm comes from other parents of grade school kids. I don't get it. As a mother of a toddler, I find myself laughing with other parents about how we apologize if we don't pack a lunch that is 100 percent nutritious. Could this be the start of a new trend or will we all start pushing sugar by Kindergarten?
I do find that friend and relatives are already pushing junk food on my young son. They are shocked and appalled that we haven't yet given him juice or chicken nuggests.
I found today's articles to be very interesting. But I also found it sad that so many people were pushing for "programs." While I understand the need for education, what happened to just having fun? I think forcing kids to exercise JUST to exercise is bound to lead to failure. I know it's easier to say than do, but go out and have FUN with your kids. Play tag, kickball, follow-the-leader (my son's personal favorite).
Sally Squires: I'm with you. But here's the sad part: some schools are forbidding kickball and other such sports. I can't believe that either! And many schools don't have PE programs.
But yes, fun and joy. Those are the real ingredients that I think we are all often missing. Me inincluded! And I'm taking steps to rectify that. How about all of you?
Snacking between meals: An earlier poster said they were taught not to snack between meals. This statement has really been thrown out the window. You are now supposed to eat 5 small meals to maintain health, weight, blood sugar, etc. But it's healthy stuff - graze on fruit or nuts - not chocolate and potato chips!
Sally Squires: I wouldn't say that the idea of three healthy meals has gone by the wayside. Those mini-meals were originally aimed at people who were on the cusp of having diabetes. They are designed to help keep blood sugar stable.
But here's the downside: you have to make sure that these are truly mini-meals. And that's often hard for many people to do. I have also interviewed at least one scientist who thought that the cycle of feeling slightly hungry, waiting a little bit to get to a meal and then eatinn reasonably, may be a better cycle on the pancreas, which produces insulin. As she put it, we evolved without having a lot of access to food. So it's a natural rhythm to feel hungry and then spend a little time seeking food. That gives the pancreas a bit of a workout. She thinks that's a good thing, rather than just shoveling food in our mouths the minute that hunger strikes. Interesting theory. Whether it will hold up is to be determined.
Information overload: Hi, I'm a big believer in healthy eating as well as all things in moderation. I'd like to maintain my currently healthy weight, which has been stable for years.
The problem is that I'm practically paralyzed at the store with all the nutrition information. It's like I feel guilty if I get that occasional bag of pita chips or put a little butter or cheese on an otherwise healthy dinner. So I deny myself all but the most stringently nutritious, low calorie food, then end up feeling like I'm really sacrificing. Then I'm a sucker for whatever treat is available at work, even though it's much "worse" for me than the pita chips. Intellectually, I know it's ok to have a little treat now and then, but it's hard to remember that when looking at a food label.
Does anyone else suffer from food label overload and nutrition guilt?
Sally Squires: You bet they do! I hear this often from many people. I hope that through this column, Web chat, e-mail newsletter and more that we take away that guilt. I believe that we can be a force for healthy eating and physical activity WITHOUT the guilt. No foods should be forbidden. No one food causes weight gain. It's the calories in vs. the calories out that matter. And as you know, by making foods forbidden, you can sometimes increase your desire for them.
Centreville, Va: Very interesting series this week about young lives at risk. I was wondering if you could give me some advice regarding family eating patterns. My husband's family has what he calls "the fat gene" where every sibling is at least 30 pounds overweight. One sibling is probably 100 pounds overweight. They grew up drinking sodas at almost every meal, chips or snacks frequently, high carb low fruit/veggie diet. My family is more fruits & veggies, sodas were a special treat, and lots of outside activity. I strive to pass that on to our 2 little children ages 2 and 4. Here's the problem, whenever we visit his family the adults are constantly pushing chips and sodas on our kids. No 2 year old needs to be drinking Coke-and no, Grammy, diet coke is not a good substitute! I'll bring juice boxes and pretzels when we visit but I'm always the bad guy. The bad part is the carryover to our house where we do have chips and sodas (for adults) and the little guys beg for them and hubby gives in. What to do?
Sally Squires: This is one of toughest challenges for families. (And you thought deciding where to spend Christmas or how to decorate the tree was challenging!)
There are a couple of things that you might consider, but you likely will need your spouse's help with this. First, if you only visit your husband's family once in a while, you may want to go with the flow as in when in Rome, do what the Romans do.
If you see them frequently, this will not work long term. So, you might get them to offer some healthier options. Perhaps baked chips. Or veggie chips. Or whole grain. You might take along a measure cup and special bag for each child. They get to fill that up with whatever they want. But then, they're done. That might help with portion control.
And there's nothing wrong with you bringing some healthier options. You could also let each child choose one special treat to have at Granny's. Or even two. But then, they're done.
I'd also bring plenty of diversions so that food isn't the only thing that captures their attention. How about some new games or small toys that could be presented at Granny's so that food isn't the star attraction?
Other thoughts? We'd love to hear from those who also confront this problem.
Finally, at home you and your husband need to agtee what you will keep in the house--and what you won't.
washingtonpost.com: Smarts About Snacks:Pitch for More Healthful Fare Proves a Tough Sell to Schools (Post, May 19)
Sally Squires: As mentioned previously in the chat.
Maryland: My 18-year-old son was chronically obese from third grade on. He left for his freshman year in college at 260 pounds. He ended the year at 190. The difference? He started a daily weight lifting routine. This, in turn, made him want to change his dietary habits. I think there is a close link between exercise and diet. It seems that if you can get kids into an exercise routine, often a better diet will follow. Do studies show that?
Sally Squires: There is some behavior change research that suggests if you can make one change you may be more likely to make others. Sounds like that's what happened with your son. And in a minute, I'll post a recent LPC column about the Subway sandwich guy, Jared, who did much the same. That's why in Secrets of the Lean Plate Club--a book that I wrote with assistance from all of you--I encourage readers to make one eating change weekly and one activity change weekly. It really can work as your son has shown so well! Thanks.
washingtonpost.com: Subway's Biggest Loser (Post, April 1)
Sally Squires: As promised, here's the column on Jared.
Cincinnati, Ohio: The childhood obesity epidemic is a result of eating non-natural foods that line our grocery shelves and lack of exercise. If everyone would eat whole foods, not packaged ones, we would all be alot healthier. If the package lists anything other that what you would expect for the item, don't eat it. If cookies are made with flour, sugar, eggs & butter its better than chemical fillers. It seems our bodies are not reacting to the chemicals and fillers very well.
Sally Squires: I don't know if there is rigorous research to back that up, but I also find that when I eat food that is less processed that I feel much better. And I can tell you that our canine companion had some major health problems until we started making his food from scratch every day. He's healthier and our vet bills have been eliminated--except for regularly check-ups, of course.
Washington, D.C.: I was an obese 12-year-old and I can remember exactly how it happened. All my friends moved off our block and the summer was extremely hot -- 90 degrees for weeks and I never ventured outside. I painted most of the rooms in my parent's house for an allowance. I returned to school and I, John, Chuck and several of our friends had grown really fat. Our parents were happy because we changed from picky eaters to voracious eaters. At one point my mother made me 2 sandwiches to take to lunch, plus chips, jerky, carrots, an apple, etc. Probably more lunch than I eat now as an adult. I ballooned to 140 lbs by age 12. My mother was happy because I stayed inside, read and did homework. I was shocked at age 14, after new friends had moved in and I had a lawnmowing job, that I was 142 lbs and 6 inches taller than I was 2-3 years earlier. My issue wasn't that I ate a lot of junk food -- I would sneak peanut butter sandwiches, cracker and cheese, cereal and fruit. It was that I was eating 7 times a day and never leaving the house. What I know to be true for me was that my parents loved that I improved studying, loved that I painted their house, loved that I ate well and was a good reader and didn't really want me outside in "code red days," but all those things contributed to my rapid weight gain. I see my son has the same problems now- we don't get out every day because we live in a townhouse and don't have a good yard and one family makes themselves the pariahs of the neighborhood who no one wants to see.
Sally Squires: What great insight into how weight can accumulate despite the best of intentions. And I challenge you to find nearby parks and trails for you and your son. Get bikes. Do the local parcourse. Or get Dance Dance Revolution indoors or other things that can keep you both really active together so that he doesn't repeat your experience.
Arlington, Va.: The articles this week have (unintentionally) driven home how confusing all this stuff can be, even to journalists.
The article on vending machines in the high school kept pointing out how much fat was in all the snacks, as though that should be the primary concern. Yes, fat drives up calories, but the Snapple with no fat also has no nutritional value; the milk that has fat also has protein and calcium.
Then there was the photograph of fruit punch that was 100% juice accompanying an article that warned about how something can be 100% natural and still have high fructose corn syrup. Yes, but if it has HFCS, it isn't 100% juice.
If people who have an entire work day to make sure they're conveying relevant and accurate information can't get it right, people who are shopping at high speeds and with cranky kids are really in trouble. It's easy to say "Stick to food from the edge of the store," but most people don't want to be the mean mommy who denies kids the simple delights of a juicebox. (I am mean, but it's a gift. I can't teach it.)
Sally Squires: Nobody wants to tbe mean mommy--or daddy. But part of parenting is saying no. And sadly, an incorrect product photo was posted on that article but the text is correct. And it illustrates another point: how many products there are and why we all need to read those labels carefully.
Sally Squires: Thanks to all for a great chat. We can continue the conversation on the Lean Plate Club social network and discussion group, at www.leanplateclub.com/group. I post there nearly every day and so do many other Lean Plate Club members.
Winners today are Maryland, New York, Arlington and Ohio. Please send me your name and address to leanplateclub@washpost.com, with winner in the subject line for faster handling.
And don't forget: if you live in San Francisco, Sacramento, Denver or San Diego and would like to read the Lean Plate Club column in your hometown paper, I'd love to hear from you.
Until next week: Eat smart and move more with the Lean Plate Club!
Editor's Note: washingtonpost.com moderators retain editorial control over Discussions and choose the most relevant questions for guests and hosts; guests and hosts can decline to answer questions. washingtonpost.com is not responsible for any content posted by third parties.
|
Post health and nutrition writer Sally Squires talks about how to eat healthier.
| 478.571429 | 0.857143 | 1.714286 |
high
|
medium
|
mixed
|
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/discussion/2008/05/19/DI2008051901810.html
|
https://web.archive.org/web/2008052019id_/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/discussion/2008/05/19/DI2008051901810.html
|
Freedom Rock - washingtonpost.com
|
2008052019
|
washingtonpost.com: Erykah Badu Casts A Freakadelic Spell On Constitution Hall
J. Freedom du Lac: The most amazing thing happened to me over the weekend. I went to an outdoor concert - and it didn't rain!! You?
kennychesneyfreeusa:"...tortured if often nonspecific poetry with that amazing voice and the textured, shape-shifting sounds that the band produces -- it's a winning formula, especially live."
Is this also applicable to Kenny Chesney?
J. Freedom du Lac: Let me down a couple of yards of beer and get back to you on this.
Actually, now that you mention it, I think I'm going to have to throw Kenny Chesney into the Please Explain To Me queue. And then hope that we get cross-linked by the bloggers at CMT.com.
Washington, D.C.: Remember when you told and told and told everyone that High Dials was going to be big rock stars? Ha Ha Ha. How did that work out for you? You are so stupid.
J. Freedom du Lac: Do you remember when you misrepresented what I said about the High Dials? Ha Ha Ha. How did that work out for you? You are so stupid for calling me so stupid when, quite clearly, I will have the last word in front of whatever audience is gathered here today. I said they made me weak in the knees. Never said that they'd become stars. (Chris Brown, on the other hand . . . )
Washington, D.C.: Hi! Do you or any chatters have any idea how I could get a hold of a recording of Rashaan Patterson singing "Stronger Than Pride" live? I'm fiending ...
J. Freedom du Lac: Hmmm. Ideas anyone?
You know, if you just wait a little BIT, you might find a TORRENT of possibilities.
Calverton, Md.: Didn't you mention that you'd have some upcoming stuff on the blog from a conversation with Mike Mills?
Or, are you just trying to increase the click rate on the blog by name-checking upcoming interviews with multi-instrumentalist bass players? If so, I recommend you go with Colin Greenwood in this chat. The timing would make it nice and plausible.
J. Freedom du Lac: I did, in fact, mention that I'd have a Mike Mills interview on the blog. It'll be closer to the June 11 date at Merriweather.
I'm offended that you'd think I did that just to drive up blog traffic. If we were really obsessed with audience size, we obviously would've introduced a regular Constantine feature. (Note to David: When is This Week In Maroulis launching, anyway?)
Albany, N.Y.: If Jerry Harrison goes to play on David Byrne's musical building, does that count as a Talking Heads reunion?
J. Freedom du Lac: It's only a reunion tour if the rhythm section is there, too. I mean, how am I going to get in if TWP publisher Katherine Weymouth can't get comps from her aunt?
My colleague Rachel Beckman actually asked Byrne about a reunion when he was at Hemphill Fine Arts for the opening of his chair-art exhibit. I think her exact question was: "Should we be lining up for a Talking Heads reunion?" His answer? "I wouldn't do that." At least he laughed and didn't throw the $20,000 paper chair at us.
Jackson, Miss.: Since your article, I've become an obsessive reader of Bob Lefsetz's blog. He has such interesting ideas (though a questionable taste in music). Is he influential within the music industry, or just a loud critic with no pull?
J. Freedom du Lac: His influence is debatable. Bob definitely has readers across all levels of the industry, including many who reside in the executive suites. Do his ideas and opinions actually compel anybody to take action? Dunno. I suppose he's not that much different than a widely read op-ed news columnist. Only, he's louder and more splenetic. And way more profane.
Dub: Which Reggae Fest will you be attending this weekend? The one in New York, Kignston, Miami, LA, San Jose...or Anne Arundel?
J. Freedom du Lac: I'm all festivaled out for the month after hitting the Ohio River Valley Folk Festival last weekend in Madison, Indiana. I'm telling ya: You haven't lived until you've gone to a Mexican dive in Southern Indiana with James McMurtry. (My field trip to the Wal-Mart there was pretty sweet, too.)
Vancouver, B.C.: Sports-related question...who do you like between the Lakers and Spurs?
J. Freedom du Lac: The Hornets.
Ask me a fantasy baseball question, and I might actually play.
Thank God I'm a Country Boy: Re: Your blog post about Garth Brooks' performance at the ACM Awards. He did pretty well, I thought. He's clearly past his prime, but he was enjoying himself. I was a little startled to see Trisha Yearwood, whose transformation over the years isn't so much to my liking, but overall, the ACMs felt like a good time was had by all.
Plus, where else in American can someone, Reba McEntire in this case, give a shoutout to the troops and get an entire auditorium to rise respectfully to its feet and applaud, with no discernible booing?
J. Freedom du Lac: Enjoying yourself isn't quite the same thing as actually, you know -- sounding good. He didn't sound good, at least not to my ears. He was having pitch problems and he seemed to be running out of breath. And when he wanted to go big, well, he just screamed.
One reason I can't watch a full ACMs telecast: Reba's cornpone humor became stale about 10 years ago. Do people really find her to be amusing? And not in an ironic way?
Westerly, R.I.: In March, Sasha Frere-Jones wrote an article in the New Yorker re: Amy Winehouse. It said - and I'm paraphrasing - that he didn't initially think she and her album were so great, but now that everyone else thinks they are, he thinks so too. So two questions. 1. Doesn't this make him kind of an a$$hat? I'm all for changing your mind, but writing about it in the New Yorker only after she was nominatated for/won some Grammys? C'mon. 2. Any bands/singers that you'd like to revisit in the pages of the New Yorker?
(Two disclosures. 1. In general I think Frere-Jones is kind of an a$$hat. 2. I obviously have too much time on my hands.)
J. Freedom du Lac: My takeaway from that piece was that he thinks La Winehouse's singing sounds like musical blackface. Well, that and he threw away his copy of "Frank" at the airport after giving it a spin on a trans-continental plane ride.
Columbia, Md.: Have you heard the new Filter CD? Any thoughts on it?
J. Freedom du Lac: No.
Fairfax, Va.: Is Springsteen's tour really going to end in Foxboro Stadium and not New Jersey?
J. Freedom du Lac: That is, indeed, what his itinerary says. Maybe he thought that Boston needed a boost after the last Super Bowl. But really, why does it matter where the tour ends? Does the ESB come out in pirate costumes or something on the final night of the tour?
Fantasy Baseball: What is that? Baseball with gnomes in it or something?
J. Freedom du Lac: No, it's indie baseball in which the entire team is made up of one man: Owen Pallett.
Interesting story about him and the one-man-band trend in last Sunday's NYT mag.
Washington, D.C.: Did you take the buy-out?
J. Freedom du Lac: No, but to quote a soon-to-be-outbought friend of Freedom Rock: I bought the takeout.
I'm not eligible. You're stuck with me for at least a little while longer. Sorry.
Re Country Boy: What? I'm a pretty stereotypical effete latte-sipping liberal and I don't recall EVER hearing ANYONE boo the troops. Seriously? Perhaps you should get your hearing checked. Or your prejudices.
J. Freedom du Lac: Could it be that the poster was getting the troops confused with that R&B group, Troop? I never did like them.
Arlington, Va.: New Hold Steady album due out in July. Any early word on how good the new songs are? I've loved all three of their albums thus far (and disagree with your take on "Boys and Girls," though that's another question), but I am sorta wondering how much farther they can run with the "boy, those krazy kids sure do take a lot of drugs, huh" theme. Some breadth would be a very welcome change.
David Malitz: I'll take this one, with J. Freedom's approval, since you're referring to my take on "Boys and Girls." The band just posted a new song on their MySpace page ( take a listen). And, y'know, it sounds like the Hold Steady. Which is fine and good, but maybe a bit of a problem, like you said. The first two albums didn't sound like anything else out there but I thought "Boys and Girls" sounded just like the next logical Hold Steady album. At their show back in November at 9:30 they played a couple of new songs and one of them was called "Ask Her for Adderall," but that one doesn't look like it made the final cut for the new record, so maybe they are making a concerted effort to move away from those krazy kid stories. I agree that some breadth would be nice but I also wonder if Craig Finn will sound as entertaining or convincing singing about anything else.
U St: All the hatred for Nissan Pavilion made me think about sheds that get high marks. The first two outdoor areas that jump to mind are Red Rocks and the Gorge, but more for the scenery than the sound. Out of curiosity, if you could be magically transported to any large outdoor venue, what would it be?
J. Freedom du Lac: The Polo Fields in San Francisco. If only because that would mean that I was home. (And, also, very, very, very close to the great dim sum at Ton Kiang.)
Strangely enough, I've never actually been to the Gorge or Red Rocks. I need to get out more.
Washington, D.C.: Marty Willson-Piper was excellent at Jammin' Java last night. How come you weren't there?
J. Freedom du Lac:"Gossip Girl" season finale. Duh.
Washington, D.C.: I'm a bit surprised by the negative-ish reaction to Scarlett Johansson's Tom Waits album. Theoretically, it sounds like a really interesting idea. Does it really sound that bad?
J. Freedom du Lac: It's so bad as it is ... weird. As Allison Stewart noted in her review today, you can't really hear ScarJo's voice. Though ultimately, that might be a good thing. Who knows? (Besides Ryan Reynolds.)
Baseball: Nick Johnson is hurt again - his favorite album is "Fragile," no?
J. Freedom du Lac: Yeah, I think he's going to have to change his at-bat music to that Seether + Amy Lee song, " Broken."
Speaking of Seether, I rather enjoyed interviewing the band's frontman, Shaun Morgan. Funny and kind of feisty - a pretty good combination. Even if I'm not in love with his music.
Washington, D.C.: I heard David is a total hottie. Any truth to this? Inquiring minds want to know!
J. Freedom du Lac: There goes Producer David, planting questions again.
lore city, ohio: You said you were attending the Ohio river valley music festival. Have you ever been there before? I've went three times and the last two times it just seemed like more of the same, and didn't really feel worth the trip.
J. Freedom du Lac: I'd never been before. Likely won't go again. Nothing against the festival or the town of Madison, which is by far the nicest town I've ever visited in Southern Indiana. Just ... well, no real compelling reason for me to make the trip. I had a good time, though. Very nice setting, and I met some very, very nice people. I was just bummed that they ran out of ribs at the BBQ stand.
Odenton, Md.: Jamie Lidell is coming to town in June. What do you think of his latest album, "Jim" and do you know if he tours with a full band?
J. Freedom du Lac:"Jim" is the best modern-vintage soul album by a male singer since, ehm, Eli "Paperboy" Reed's "Roll With You." Or, maybe, "This Is Ryan Shaw."
Nothing on it as great as Lidell's brilliant single, "Multiply." But it's a pretty good listen.
Not sure what the touring configuration is. Anybody?
College Park, Md.: Is Mount Zoomer the 2008 album of the year?
J. Freedom du Lac: You tell me. I haven't heard it yet.
Lucky you!: You managed to get out of reviewing the tragedy that is Scarlett Johannson's album. What little I have heard of it caused bleeding eardrums. I'd tell her to stick to acting, but she's not very good at that either.
BTW - the only semi-decent Waits cover is 'Downtown Train' by Rod Stewart - and if he's all you've got in terms of 'quality covers' - I say, leave Waits alone.
J. Freedom du Lac: I dunno, I really don't find the album to be horribly offensive. It's just kind of ... there.
I got a good laugh out of the review in NME, though. Key passage: "This is a brilliant album that will no doubt top some "best of 2008" lists..."
Sarasota, Florida: Maybe you can clear this up for me. Craig Ferguson is said to have worked for the "Rolling Stones", specifically I think for Mick. Do you know anything about that connection?
J. Freedom du Lac: I do not. Everything I know about Craig Ferguson, I learned from Hank Stuever.
Swinging Steaks: Did you see them at the festival? I caught them in a club in Nashville a long time ago and they kicked butt.
J. Freedom du Lac: I didn't. They were there on Friday night. I flew in on Saturday. I saw Otis Gibbs, Greg Ziesemer and Kriss Luckett and a little bit of Tom Paxton. (Missed all of Chris Smither's set as I was "off campus," hanging with James.)
Washington, D.C.: JFdL, last Tuesday was a good day for new music as the latest Death Cab For Cutie and Old 97's records dropped. I know you aren't a DCFC fan, but do you have any thoughts on the Old 97's? Alt-country has gone off the radar compared to the buzz in the late-90s/early-00's, but it's good to see them soldiering on and obviously having fun.
J. Freedom du Lac: That Old 97's album is pretty darn good. Those guys can write a song, can't they? And it's not just Rhett Miller. Murry Hammond has a couple of winners on this album, too.
I have nothing but love for that band. L. Freedom and I even played "My Sweet Blue-Eyed Darlin'" at our wedding.
Washington, D.C.: Good Waits cover: Blind Boys of Alabama doing "Down In The Hole", ala THE WIRE soundtrack.
J. Freedom du Lac: Yes.
RE: Jamie Lidell: I disagree with you, actually. I've listened to the album a bunch, waiting to see if it would grow on me and it hasn't. It's not horrendous, but it seems over-produced and not all that memorable. I kind of expected something more Al Green-like, and less easy-listening Hall and Oates.
J. Freedom du Lac: I don't hear an overproduced album, actually. And while there's nothing quite as sticky as "Multiply," I think the lot of songs are pretty strong. There's a particular elegance to the album that I think "Multiply" (the album) was missing.
Scarlett Johannson: Here I've been liking her because she seemed like one of the only women in Hollywood who isn't insanely skinny. And now she had to go do this.
J. Freedom du Lac: But you approve of her hooking up with Ryan Reynolds? If you were going to be outraged over anything ScarJo-related, that would've been it.
Tom Waits Covers: A few years ago Frito Lay hired a Waits sound-alike for a chips commercial. Does that count? Tom sued 'em, BTW
J. Freedom du Lac: I remember that. That trend is/was very strange. If I recall correctly (52% chance that I do +/- 6 margin of error), somebody once used a John McCrea sound-alike to sell some sort of food product. John McCrea!
Fantasy Sports: I think I can kick your tail at Wii boxing. What do you think?
J. Freedom du Lac: I'd take you in Wii bowling. You wouldn't stand a chance.
Swinging Steaks: What a yucky name for a band.
J. Freedom du Lac: Not as bad as Fat Chick From Wilson Phillips. Though maybe the worst I've ever seen was Sudden Infant Death Syndrome.
Pallett NYT Article:"Annie Clark... has played with a veritable Who's Who of supersize outfits..."
I doubt this, unless of course she once took a book titled "Who's Who of Supersize Outfits" into the studio or on stage to perform with.
J. Freedom du Lac: Give it up for our opening act, The Semantics!
Hey, speaking of opening acts, James Frey is headlining today at Club LiveOnline. He's on as we type. Now would be a good time to put a Liars song on the stereo.
Reston, Va.: Hi J. Free: Can you explain to me the appeal of Radiohead? Their music is all right, but it's not amazing (to me anyway). Frankly, I was pretty surprised at all of the teeth gnashing last week about the concert. It just wouldn't have occurred to me that they'd have such a large fan base. I must've been under a rock or something.
J. Freedom du Lac: Tortured poetry + textured music = beautiful art, particularly on stage. These guys are really something else live.
Not everybody's cup of chamomile, I guess - but they have a pretty decent-sized fan base, and those fans are really, really intense. Well, except for all the frat boys who have jumped onto the hybrid bandwagon.
Folk fest: I guess you missed Red Molly too. They're one of my new faves, seen them at the folk fest I hit every year (I like female harmonies).
J. Freedom du Lac: I did. Many many people were talking about them on Saturday, though. They were, apparently, a big hit - and sold a ton of merch.
Band Names: There used to be (may still be) a band called "Wynonna's Big Brown Beaver" in Nashville.
J. Freedom du Lac: There is not!
San Francisco, Calif.: Yeah - too bad you aren't home. You missed Constantine at the Greek Festival in Oakland this weekend. Saw him at a cooking demo making dolmas before performing.
J. Freedom du Lac: See what I'm saying? All the action is in California. All the good produce, too.
Were his dolmas better than his songs? I hope so.
Tom Waits Nightmare: I was visiting a friend once in Richmond and crashed on his couch after a party. I need to get up the next morning and drive back up to DC, but I couldn't sleep because his roommate, whose bedroom was on the 1st floor right by the living room, was playing a Tom Waits album until the wee hours. He had it on repeat and there was some strange sound that kept playing over and over and over. The guy was entertaining a lady, so I didn't feel like I could knock and say hey, can you turn that down a little ... I have not liked Tom Waits ever since.
J. Freedom du Lac: Sounds possibly apocryphal. But funny either way.
Some people have not liked Tom Waits ever since they heard the sound of his voice. No sleepless nights necessary.
Washington, D.C.: I was listening to 94.7 while painting my house this weekend and they were doing a theme weekend, with the theme changing each hour. One hour was songs about food, the next hour songs about rain, the next hour cover songs, etc. All was right in the universe until one hour they were doing a theme that was something like rebels or bad boys or songs related to crime, I can't remember, and a John Cougar song came on. I could not figure out why the song matched the theme, until I realized that the lyrics are NOT "I fight with Dorothy and Dorothy always wins." As I was pondering the song choice for the theme, a light bulb flashed in my brain "I fight AUTHORITY!" I've never been a Cougar fan so I never knew the name of the song or any of the lyrics except those few lines, and I've had that part wrong for what, 20 years? I always thought it was a song about how he lets his girlfriend win all the arguments. If it hadn't been for this silly theme weekend, I'd still be in the dark. Now maybe I can enjoy the song, although I'm a little sad to let the old lyrics go. Every time I heard that song I always had a good time thinking about how stupid the lyrics were. I guess I'll have to find a new song to pick on.
J. Freedom du Lac: There's a Web site designed specifically for you, you know. Check it out.
fantasy baseball: sigh, now that takes me back: my biggest uncommunicated crush was a drummer in college who got together with my freind to play stratogram...
J. Freedom du Lac: It's pretty clear why things never worked out for you. You weren't even interested in his interests. It's Stra-O-MATIC. Everybody knows you shouldn't date drummers, anyway. It's all about the autoharpists.
New Yorker Article: Just read that article on Winehouse... man I know Lauryn Hill is from up there...but please. I never really got it with her, my sister in law loves her and I've listened to a bunch of her stuff..
Was it so revolutionary to tell girls not to give themselves away for nothing? I guess she's OK, but lets not get crazy, way over-hyped crazy person is what is really is.
J. Freedom du Lac: I dunno, I've always thought "The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill" was pretty great. Ditto Producer David. (See our Grammy Album of the Year rankings.)
Bungled Lyrics: My dad chaperoned a high school dance in the late 70s. When asked if he enjoyed it he said yes "except when they played that 'Ruh-ruh-ruh-Rice-a-Rona' song". What song? my brother and I asked. After a few minutes, it hit us - he was talking about "My Sharona"
J. Freedom du Lac: Well, "Rice-a-Rona" wouldn't have been as dirty as "My Sharona." His radar was working even if his ears weren't.
straomatic: I'm partial to the moog players myself!
J. Freedom du Lac: Like Mickey Dolenz?
Whenever we start talking about the Monkees here, that's usually my cue to log off. So ... thanks for playing, etc etc. Enjoy the long weekend.
Editor's Note: washingtonpost.com moderators retain editorial control over Discussions and choose the most relevant questions for guests and hosts; guests and hosts can decline to answer questions. washingtonpost.com is not responsible for any content posted by third parties.
|
Washington Post music critic J. Freedom du Lac is online every Tuesday at 2 p.m. ET to talk about the latest on the music scene: alternative, country, alt-country, pop, hyphy, harp-rock, reggae, reggaeton, R and B and whatever it is that Constantine Maroulis does.
| 84.465517 | 0.793103 | 1.206897 |
high
|
medium
|
abstractive
|
http://blog.washingtonpost.com/celebritology/2008/05/comment_box_the_john_mayers_mo.html
|
https://web.archive.org/web/2008052019id_/http://blog.washingtonpost.com/celebritology/2008/05/comment_box_the_john_mayers_mo.html
|
Comment Box: John Mayer's Mojo? All in the 'Tude?
|
2008052019
|
What do you think Jen Aniston could possibly see in John Mayer? He's been drinking too much koo-koo-kool-aid in my book. Doesn't that seem like an odd match? -- Submitted during last week's Celebritology Live discussion
Koo-koo-Koolaid or not, 30-year-old John Mayer seems to have an almost Lance Armstrong-esque ability to attract his choice of A-list (okay, maybe B) lady loves: Jennifer Love Hewitt, Jessica Simpson, Minka Kelly, among others. And, now, Hollywood untouchable Jennifer Aniston. Just last week, pictures of Mayer snogging with Aniston poolside in Miami hit the net with all the force of Brangelina baby bump shot.
And not only is Mayer considered a jumbo-sized chick magnet, he apparently has the ability to love 'em and leave 'em, rendering his exes inconsolable: Last week, a drunken Jessica Simspon was rumored to have been removed from a Hollywood hotel bar on the same day the JenJohn (remember, you heard that portmanteau here first!) pix surfaced on the Web. Coincidence? Maybe. (Of course, Simpson's debauchery could also have been a reaction to rumors of a split from most recent boyfriend Tony Romo.)
Is it, as pal Josh Groban says, Mayer's "swagger" and "'tude," or something else that makes him such a catch?
Mayer claims he's just a nice guy.
"I don't have a secret," Mayer recently told People. "I don't think about it like that. I think about it as just being nice. All you have to do is just be polite and treat people really well."
For the record, the date-ready Mayer has never taken any of his romantic relationships to the cohabitation level. According to Wikipedia, Mayer "splits his time between his home in the Los Angeles suburbs (with his roommate and sound engineer, Chad Franscoviak) and his apartment in the New York City neighborhood of SoHo."
Comment of the Week "I can't believe i finally have something in common with Gwyneth. It's almost as if she were HUMAN, and NOT insouci[a]nt!" -- Wats comments on Gwyneth Paltrow's aversion to back fat, in last Thursday's Morning Mix.
By Liz | May 19, 2008; 11:18 AM ET | Category: Comment Box Previous: Morning Mix: Ashlee and Pete Wed in 'Wonderland' | Next: Morning Mix: R. Kelly Trial Set to Begin
Keep up with the latest Celebritology scoops with an easy-to-use widget.
If you have tips, ideas for stories or general suggestions, let us know.
I have to say I don't get the hoopla about John Mayer. His "your body is a wonderland" is kinda creepy to me. Maybe he's got 'hidden' talents?
Posted by: jlr | May 19, 2008 11:42 AM
i think it's the no-strings-attached allure of a lost weekend ...
but i am getting old... the only effect he has on me is to say "Sit up straight, dear and comb your hair."
Posted by: b | May 19, 2008 11:44 AM
I'm telling you, stop with the John Mayer posts, Liz! Keeps bringing back the memory of him in that Borat thong photo -- my eyes, they burn!
And I'm with jlr -- Mayer's songs ARE creepy. Not just "wonderland" (hey -- wonderland -- first Flashlee and Pete, now John -- is this Wonderland Monday?) but also "fathers be good to your daughers." I have friends with daughters who love that song and to me it is highly disturbing.
Posted by: td | May 19, 2008 12:02 PM
Am I the only one here that watched his short-lived VH1 show?
The guy is funny & "gets" all the jokes made about him & his music.
This does not mean I'd drop my panties at the sight of the man, but I kinda understand his appeal.
I save the panty dropping for Jon Bon Jovi & Roger Clyne only.
Posted by: Bored @ work | May 19, 2008 12:17 PM
oooh, honored to see i got the quote of the week!
on the JenJohn thing...doesn't it seem a little...i dunno...MANUFACTURED?? i mean, here she is, getting a little long in the tooth, past her prime by hollywood standards, but with a movie to promote...here's the young hottie who beds all the young starlets....see where i'm going? didn't the studios used to make fake matches just to get the press? that's what i think is going on here. this has got to be a ruse. i don't care if there are pics of them in the pool. they had to know there were paparazzi taking their pics. it's all a setup. let's not buy into it!!!
Posted by: wats | May 19, 2008 12:31 PM
Aniston, Schmaniston. The real surprise is that the Super Sensitive Boy Wonder has a tattoo sleeve. I had no idea.
While I (a) go for bad boys, (b) go for bad boys who are skilled guitar players and (c) like "Why, Georgia" and "Say," I can't say I'd get all in a tizzy over John Mayer.
Jack White, on the other hand, is a fox, and I never would have thought so if I hadn't seen him in "Shine a Light." Even my mother, who would probably prefer that I end up with someone with a closet full of Brooks Brothers, volunteered that he was a "hottie."
Posted by: musicgeek | May 19, 2008 12:55 PM
when i was in college john meyer did a show on campus and my best friends just had to meet him (or they would die.) so we stood outside in a dark parking lot in the cold and rain for a glimpse of john. he did come get pictures with them and speak to us for a few minutes but i was so over it i just wanted to go home and to bed. they said he had animal magnatism, i was more concerned about my wet cold feet so i couldn't say. but he does have a cute butt.
Posted by: melissamac1 | May 19, 2008 1:02 PM
"Be nice" gets you laid like tomorrow's The End Of The World?
Posted by: byoolin wishes he knew then, etc., etc., etc. | May 19, 2008 1:03 PM
wats, since when is 39 "long in the tooth" even for Hollywood standards? Also older women dating younger men is the trend now, haven't you been paying attention. Though I'm no Jennifer Aniston defender, but if my husband left me for another woman, I wouldn't be so quick to jump into a serious relationship. As I see it they are both just having fun. Why does it have to be analyzed to death?
Posted by: 41 and still fabulous | May 19, 2008 1:06 PM
I LOVE John Mayer. I think he is totally sexy in that "I can be an a**hole or I could write you a love song" kind of way. I am thrilled to find out that he has tattoo sleeve. This only adds to his hotness.
Posted by: Marie | May 19, 2008 1:10 PM
This blog posting will be printed and added to my "I don't understand women" scrapbook.
Posted by: Anonymous | May 19, 2008 1:17 PM
Maybe he's just jumbo-sized, y'know what I mean?
Or confidence really is the biggest aphrodisiac.
Curious ... why is Jen a "Hollywood untouchable?" Does that mean she's squeaky clean, aloof, unapproachable ... I'd love an explanation.
Posted by: Californian | May 19, 2008 1:24 PM
"Maybe he's just jumbo-sized, y'know what I mean?"
Size only matters if you know what to do with it.
Posted by: Anonymous | May 19, 2008 1:35 PM
Posted by: LA | May 19, 2008 1:41 PM
Actually, the first definition that came to mind when reading about Jen Aniston as untouchable was the Indian caste definition: "one that is untouchable; specifically : a member of a large formerly segregated hereditary group in India having in traditional Hindu belief the quality of defiling by contact a member of a higher caste"
Must. Not. Defile. The. Aniston!
Posted by: Hollywood Untouchable | May 19, 2008 1:44 PM
Wats, I'm with you. Not a day goes by that I don't see this guy's face, or other body parts, on People.com and I have no clue who he is. However, the whole serial "bedding down starlets" while having a male roommate is sounding a little Rock Hudson to me (no offense to others who have male roommates, or to Rock Hudson.)
Posted by: possum | May 19, 2008 1:47 PM
Maybe he's just jumbo-sized, y'know what I mean?
Posted by: Californian | May 19, 2008 1:24 PM
But there's that 'Borat' picture, isn't there? (Yes, there are some uncertainties inherent in attempting to extrapolate the, ah, jumbo picture from the visible evidence, but still...)
Posted by: byoolin would rather not consider John Mayer's genitals at any more length. As it were. | May 19, 2008 1:54 PM
I'm a nice guy with a better voice than John Mayer and yet I can't get a date to save my life. He definitely has something else working for him. I think the guitar has something to do with it.
Although I did get compared to Chris Evans (Human Torch, Jake Wyler) today....
Posted by: michael | May 19, 2008 1:54 PM
SO THAT'S what John Mayer sees in her.
Posted by: Sasquatch | May 19, 2008 1:56 PM
John Mayer is like the Adam Duritz of this decade. Try explaining that dude's roster:
Christina Applegate Lara Flynn Boyle Mary-Louise Parker Monica Potter Teri Hatcher Jennifer Anniston Winona Ryder Courtney Cox
Maybe it's the faux dreads.
Posted by: Jones | May 19, 2008 2:00 PM
Liz Kelly, I noticed that one name linked to 'Jumbo' John Mayer is that of a Minka Kelly. Please tell us there's not some sort of conflict of celebritinterest here!
Posted by: byoolin | May 19, 2008 2:01 PM
You wouldn't expect Jennifer Aniston to be giddy like a schoolgirl these days. But the former "Friend" has been glowing of late, pals of the actress tell us. The reason can't just be that she is dating John Mayer. What we hear is there is a certain feature of John that leaves Jen so pleased. The crooner's ex-paramours reveal he is hell to get over, not because he's a great guy, but because he's a "great" guy, if you know what we mean. "His body actually is a wonderland," one ex was overheard saying.
Posted by: This is why | May 19, 2008 2:03 PM
Possum I was thinking the same thing when I saw the male roommate. What, neither he nor the sound engineer make enough to get their own separate places?
The Romo/Br*asts break up was allegedly over her not being over Mayer. Not that she was a distraction to his football playing.
Posted by: ep | May 19, 2008 2:08 PM
whoops forgot to add that was from the NYDN article on mayer/aniston. i cant seem to post the link.
Posted by: This is why take 2 | May 19, 2008 2:12 PM
If you were compared to Chris Evans today, I'm sure you are very attractive. Maybe you are too nice? As previously mentioned, girls (including myself) have a tendency to be drawn towards jerks.
Posted by: Marie is totally regretting admitting to liking John Mayer | May 19, 2008 2:19 PM
While, admittedly, the Adam Durwitz list supplied by Jones is pretty impressive, shouldn't there be an asterisk beside Winona Ryder's name? 'cause, seriously, I don't think there's a rocker or actor from the 90's who *WASN'T* tied to Winona at one time or another. Girl got around.
Now the real question is who did Hootie and Blowfish hook up with?
Posted by: Wait a minute... | May 19, 2008 2:31 PM
It must be the big bamboo.
Posted by: Mickey | May 19, 2008 2:35 PM
Some women are not able to tell the difference between guys who are in love with them are guys who just want to have sex with them. Hint: John falls in the second category.
Posted by: MoCoSnarky | May 19, 2008 2:39 PM
Now the real question is who did Hootie and Blowfish hook up with?
Posted by: Wait a minute... | May 19, 2008 2:31 PM
Well, in that episode of Friends (The One With Hootie And The Blowfish (actually, "The One With Five Steaks and an Eggplant")), Monica who got a hickey from a Blowfish.
And so the circle is complete.
Posted by: byoolin | May 19, 2008 2:46 PM
Some women are not able to tell the difference between [a] guys who are in love with them are and [b] guys who just want to have sex with them. Posted by: MoCoSnarky | May 19, 2008 2:39 PM
Mathematically speaking, [a] is a subset of [b].
Posted by: byoolin | May 19, 2008 2:48 PM
...and grammatically speaking, "it was Monica who got a hickey..."
Posted by: byoolin | May 19, 2008 2:49 PM
There are few men on the planet who make me as sick to my stomach as John Mayer. I seriously get a tick every time I hear his sorry excuse for a voice. That said, I understand the effect a guitar and a wee bit of songwriting skill can have on a woman. Add in a stage with some fancy lights and screaming girls and it can be hard to resist even the most reviled of characters. Seen it a million times. Sad but oh so true.
Posted by: Juicy | May 19, 2008 3:05 PM
I guess nobody on this site is much of a music fan because John M. is a phenomenal musician. Eric Clapton was one of his mentors - the man is now close to SRV-legend territory. "Wonderland" and "Daughters" are definitely his lamest songs - I believe he begged his record label not to release "Daughters" as a single.
Anyway - his last CD, "Continuum" has quite a number of terrific bluesy songs. Great lyrics, too. (Although I have to admit that the song he wrote for the "Bucket List" movie was also pretty lame.)
There aren't very many "Singer-Songwriter" types around anymore (i.e., Joni Mitchell, James Taylor, Clapton, Winwood, etc) - so this kid's music is pretty refreshing.
BTW - as a middle-aged woman, I appreciate the fact that he talks about his parents in some of his songs - what a nice boy.
Posted by: Mayer fan | May 19, 2008 3:05 PM
There's a difference between a guy who just wants to have sex with you and a guy who wants to have sex with just you.
Posted by: MoCoSnarky | May 19, 2008 3:08 PM
Possum, the male roommate doesn't raise my gaydar as much as the phrase "his pal Josh Groban" does.
Posted by: MoCoSnarky | May 19, 2008 3:11 PM
"the man is now close to SRV-legend territory"
posted by Posted by: Mayer fan | May 19, 2008 3:05 PM
But nobody will ever make a statue of John Mayer.
Posted by: michael | May 19, 2008 3:15 PM
In the photo that accompanies this post, John Mayer looks vacant, as though he's either 1) trying to form the word "the" in his brain but can't or 2) on his way somewhere and forgot his destination. I imagine that any proclamations about his appeal are projecting substance on a (literally) blank canvas.
Posted by: td | May 19, 2008 3:17 PM
I don't know....there's a statue of Shakira, for Pete's sake.
Posted by: Mayer fan | May 19, 2008 3:26 PM
Unfortunately, there will never be a statue of Don Knotts....
Posted by: Mayer fan | May 19, 2008 3:30 PM
i thought jason priestly was famous for his umm, package. didnt know about mayer
Posted by: ? | May 19, 2008 3:34 PM
In Lithuania there's a statue of Frank Zappa.
Now, that was a man who knew how to talk about love and romance.
Posted by: byoolin arriving too late to save a drowning witch. | May 19, 2008 3:36 PM
Well, I'd rather sit through a Shakira concert rather than a John Mayer concert.
Posted by: michael | May 19, 2008 3:36 PM
And, are you still touring with The Mysterians?
Posted by: byoolin | May 19, 2008 3:40 PM
I see a little silhouetto of a man....
Posted by: Mayer fan | May 19, 2008 3:47 PM
Not that I thought she was a genius, but the six degrees of separation (or two) between Jennifer Aniston and Jessica Simpson now makes me think Jennifer is an idiot. Again, I didn't think she was brilliant, but she never struck me as a moron until now.
Posted by: pockets | May 19, 2008 3:48 PM
Now all I can hear in my head is The Rezillos singing "My Baby Does Good Sculpture."
Posted by: byoolin | May 19, 2008 3:50 PM
I have to say I don't get the hoopla about John Mayer. His "your body is a wonderland" is kinda creepy to me. Maybe he's got 'hidden' talents?
Posted by: jlr | May 19, 2008 11:42 AM
I totally agree...his songs seem like fluff to me. I'd never seen him until I looked at the pictures today. And I gotta say...meh.
Posted by: Anonymous | May 19, 2008 4:07 PM
Here's a SAT question for Mayer fan:
John Mayer is to Stevie Ray Vaughn as . . .
a) wine coolers are to bourbon;
b) steak-ums are to filet mignon;
c) Swisher Sweets are to Cohibas; or
d) All of the Above.
Posted by: Anson | May 19, 2008 4:08 PM
I have to say I don't get the hoopla about John Mayer. His "your body is a wonderland" is kinda creepy to me. Maybe he's got 'hidden' talents?
Posted by: jlr | May 19, 2008 11:42 AM
I totally agree...his songs seem like fluff to me. I'd never seen him until I looked at the pictures today. And I gotta say...meh.
Posted by: Sappho | May 19, 2008 4:07 PM
Posted by: Sappho | May 19, 2008 4:08 PM
Sorry for the double post, folks. System hiccup. Must be time to stop work for the day!
Posted by: Sappho | May 19, 2008 4:09 PM
There is a certain web site that offers mini Zagat-style reviews about the hidden assets of male celebrities. I don't know anything about this site, except that even the title is NSFW. You might be able to locate the site if you Google the phrase
Now I don't know nuthin' 'bout nuthin', but if one were to find that web site and open it, one might find a review of John Mayer's hidden assets and talents.
Posted by: Sasquatch | May 19, 2008 4:12 PM
I'm guessing Sasq you have this website bookmarked. Am I right?
Posted by: Anonymous | May 19, 2008 4:18 PM
Yeah, after awhile the serial dating gets to be a bit, well, suspicious. Maybe John Mayer and Derek Jeter could room together?
Posted by: really? | May 19, 2008 4:30 PM
"Maybe John Mayer and Derek Jeter could room together?"
So who would be whom's beard?
Posted by: Sasquatch | May 19, 2008 4:34 PM
Frank Zappa! He was one sexy guy.
Posted by: possum | May 19, 2008 4:50 PM
"the man is now close to SRV-legend territory"
But nobody will ever make a statue of John Mayer.
But maybe, with some luck, somebody will offer Mayer a helicopter ride.
Posted by: OverTheTop | May 19, 2008 5:44 PM
"i thought jason priestly was famous for his umm, package. didnt know about mayer"
James Woods, too. Ugh. But nowhere near as gross as Tommy Lee.
Posted by: Anonymous | May 19, 2008 6:43 PM
please look at this news upskirt =D
Posted by: arni | May 19, 2008 7:15 PM
Hahaha. Just a wild guess that Sasquatch doesn't have season tickets at Yankee Stadium.
Posted by: really? | May 19, 2008 7:43 PM
Doubt if studio is duping us. Pretty sure Mayer can sell music to the college crowd without "directions" from Jennifer. Don't think he needs the job. She just needs a little ego boost and he's willing to provide it. Why not? Her bod is hot, even if she does have smoker's face; maybe she's sick of the whole Brad/Angie thing and needs a break. I know I am.
Posted by: Anonymous | May 19, 2008 9:35 PM
This is Aniston and her manager's engineered "romance" to counter-balance Jolie-Pitt mega Cannes/baby news. At least both Aniston and Mayer got their names printed on Washington Post. It's worth it albeit it's all fake. Only the delusional Aniston fans who need her to be 'happy and married again' believe in this charade.
Posted by: Anonymous | May 21, 2008 10:01 AM
Posted by: uu | June 5, 2008 1:02 PM
Posted by: uu | June 5, 2008 1:02 PM
The comments to this entry are closed.
|
Washingtonpost.com blogger Liz Kelly dishes on the latest happenings in entertainment, celebrity, and Hollywood news.
| 249.833333 | 0.666667 | 1.111111 |
high
|
low
|
abstractive
|
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/18/AR2008051801510.html
|
https://web.archive.org/web/2008052019id_/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/18/AR2008051801510.html
|
Microsoft, Yahoo Discuss New Deal
|
2008052019
|
For now, however, Microsoft is in discussions with Yahoo regarding a limited "transaction" but not a deal in which Microsoft would buy all of Yahoo, the company said in a statement.
"Microsoft is considering and has raised with Yahoo an alternative that would involve a transaction with Yahoo but not an acquisition of all of Yahoo," according to the statement.
Exactly what the proposed transaction might be was not disclosed, but the statement indicated that Microsoft was exploring ways of expanding its online and advertising businesses. The sides have discussed a deal involving search advertising, according to a person familiar with the talks who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Also, in an about-face, the statement left open the possibility that Microsoft could resurrect its attempt to buy Yahoo, "depending on future developments" and "discussions" that may take place among Microsoft, Yahoo, and Yahoo shareholders.
The statement was the latest development in a long-running saga involving Microsoft, Yahoo and Google.
All three are engaged in a contest for the domination of Internet services, particularly advertising. Google is the front-runner. Microsoft, the giant of personal computing, has struggled to find its footing on the Internet. Yahoo, with 137 million monthly online users, has been caught in the middle.
Until May 3, Microsoft had been seeking to acquire Yahoo to gain online stature. Google opposed the acquisition bid and offered to help Yahoo withstand Microsoft's takeover attempt. Eventually frustrated, Microsoft chief executive Steven Ballmer withdrew the offer.
Since then, however, Yahoo has come under intense pressure from shareholders who argue that its board should have accepted Microsoft's offer of $33 a share.
Last week, billionaire investor Carl C. Icahn, who has amassed a significant stake in Yahoo, nominated a replacement slate of directors who presumably would agree to the sale.
The question looming over Icahn's attempt to take over and sell Yahoo is whether Microsoft might be persuaded to make another bid.
Throughout last week, when asked whether the company might do so, Microsoft spokesmen would offer only, "We're moving on."
Microsoft's statement yesterday, however, suggests that it would be open to making another offer. A person familiar with Microsoft's position said the company had not been in talks with Icahn, however.
"Microsoft has not spoken with Carl Icahn," the person said.
In a statement yesterday, Yahoo said its board would evaluate each of its alternatives, "including any Microsoft proposal" and focus on maximizing shareholder value.
|
Microsoft is once again in negotiations with Yahoo and could make another bid to acquire the company, Microsoft officials announced yesterday.
| 21.608696 | 0.782609 | 1.478261 |
medium
|
low
|
abstractive
|
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/19/AR2008051901036.html
|
https://web.archive.org/web/2008052019id_/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/19/AR2008051901036.html
|
38 charged in international phishing scheme
|
2008052019
|
WASHINGTON -- Thirty-eight people were charged Monday with stealing names, Social Security numbers, credit card data and other personal information from unsuspecting Internet users as part of a global crime ring.
The Romanian-based phishing scams sought to rip off thousands of consumers and hundreds of financial institutions, according to indictments unsealed in Los Angeles and New Haven, Conn.
The two related cases marked the latest example of what the Justice Department describes as a growing worldwide threat posed by organized crime.
"International organized crime poses a serious threat not only to the United States and Romania, but to all nations," Deputy Attorney General Mark R. Filip said in a statement from Bucharest, where he announced the charges. "Criminals who exploit the power and convenience of the Internet do not recognize national borders; therefore our efforts to prevent their attacks cannot end at our borders either."
The practice known as phishing typically involves sending fraudulent e-mails that include links directing recipients to fake Web sites where they are asked to input sensitive data. Phishers may also include attachments that, when clicked, secretly install "spyware" that can capture personal information and send it to third parties over the Internet.
More than half of the people charged in Monday's cases are Romanian, although the alleged scam also operated from the United States, Canada, Portugal and Pakistan. The cases were linked by two Romanians who participated in both schemes, authorities said.
In Los Angeles, 33 people faced a 65 counts on a bevy of charges, including racketeering, bank fraud and identity theft. Prosecutors say phishers based in Romania snagged information about thousands of credit and debit card accounts and other personal data from people who answered spam e-mail. The data were then sent to the U.S. and encoded on magnetic cards that could be used to withdraw money from bank accounts.
One encoder in the scam, identified only as Seuong Wook Lee, pleaded guilty last week in federal court in Los Angeles to racketeering conspiracy, bank fraud, access device fraud and unauthorized access of a protected computer.
Meanwhile, in Connecticut, seven Romanians allegedly spammed consumers with directions to visit a hacked-in Web site posing as at least a half-dozen legitimate bank sites, including Citibank, Wells Fargo and PayPal. The seven Romanians _ including two also involved in the Los Angeles scheme _ were indicted in January in charges that were unsealed only last week. One of them, Ovidiu-Ionut Nicola-Roman, was arrested in Bulgaria last summer and extradited to the United States in November.
|
WASHINGTON -- Thirty-eight people were charged Monday with stealing names, Social Security numbers, credit card data and other personal information from unsuspecting Internet users as part of a global crime ring.
| 13.694444 | 1 | 36 |
low
|
high
|
extractive
|
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/18/AR2008051802231.html
|
https://web.archive.org/web/2008052019id_/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/18/AR2008051802231.html
|
Ex-Track Coach's Trial Raises Unseemly Issues
|
2008052019
|
Long buried tales of performance-enhancing drug use among a generation of retired track and field athletes, some Olympic medal winners, some largely unknown, are expected to fill a San Francisco federal courtroom this week during the trial of Trevor Graham, the former coach of jailed track star Marion Jones.
Past U.S. Olympians who trained as much as a decade ago with Graham, who has been charged with lying to federal investigators about his relationship with an acknowledged drug dealer, will face him in the wood-paneled court room of Judge Susan Illston and admit to obtaining or using performance-enhancing drugs in the late 1990s and early 2000s, according to documents filed by prosecutors in recent weeks.
Graham, meantime, is expected to try to force the dealer and prosecution witness, Angel "Memo" Heredia, to disclose his own client list, which Heredia has described as "explosive" and Graham has said would embarrass the United States on the eve of the Olympics in China.
As speculation has risen about who will be outed and whether their achievements will be merely tarnished or eventually rescinded from record books, U.S. sport officials have tried to distance current U.S. athletes from those likely to emerge during the trial. They have dismissed the expected revelations as an unseemly byproduct of a dirty era in U.S. sports that they say has been, and continues to be, scrubbed clean.
"I truly believe we have turned the corner in a big way," U.S. Anti-Doping Agency CEO Travis Tygart said. "While it's sometimes tough to expose the underbelly and dark side of sport, I think it's absolutely necessary to clean up sport and move in the right direction. . . . We're at the point where we've got a new generation of athletes that have learned from the past."
The trial, some say, will represent one of the final remnants of a largely government-led crackdown against performance-enhancing drug use in U.S. professional and Olympic sports. It has brought shame, competition bans, anti-doping rule changes and -- for the first time in U.S. sporting history -- the real threat of criminal sanctions to athletes who abuse steroids, human growth hormone and other drugs, and coaches that distribute them.
The trial coincides with the case against former baseball slugger Barry Bonds, charged with 14 counts of making false statements under oath when he testified before a 2003 grand jury. Bonds is expected to go to trial in the next year. In addition, legendary pitcher Roger Clemens and former Baltimore Orioles star Miguel Tejada remain under investigation for possible perjury in connection with their denials of drug use in front of Congress. Several other performance-enhancing drug cases with connections to professional athletes remain open.
If there is any deterrent effect from the indictments and courtroom drama, it is difficult to judge how great it will be. Experts say performance-enhancing drug use will never be fully contained, and athletes will always seek out new ways to get an edge.
Led largely by the U.S. Attorney's Office in the Northern District of California and Jeff Novitzky, a former IRS investigator, , the investigation that infiltrated the U.S. sporting drug culture began as a hunt for evidence through trash dumpsters in 2002 outside the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative (Balco), a nutrition company that provided steroids and other illicit drugs to dozens of prominent athletes. The probe has led so far to the convictions of seven people with ties to the lab: two athletes, one chemist, two businessmen, one track coach and Bonds's former trainer.
One of the athletes, Jones, was forced to return all five medals she won at the 2000 Summer Games in Sydney. She is serving a six-month jail sentence for lying to federal investigators about her steroid use and role in a check-fraud scheme.
The recent penal sanctions, U.S. Olympic Committee Chairman Peter Ueberroth said, were one reason he felt comfortable all but guaranteeing that the United States would take a drug-free Olympic team to Beijing for the Aug. 8-24 Summer Games.
"This will be a clean team," Ueberroth said a month ago in Chicago. "I think we've got an unusual group of athletes who've seen people suffer from cheating."
|
Long buried tales of performance-enhancing drug use among a generation of retired track and field athletes are expected to fill a San Francisco federal courtroom during the trial of Trevor Graham.
| 24.058824 | 1 | 13 |
medium
|
high
|
extractive
|
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/18/AR2008051801806.html
|
https://web.archive.org/web/2008052019id_/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/18/AR2008051801806.html
|
Keeping Secrets: In Presidential Memo, A New Designation for Classifying Information
|
2008052019
|
That would mean, according to the memo, that the information requires safeguarding because "the inadvertent or unauthorized disclosure would create risk of substantial harm."
Bush's memorandum, signed on the eve of his daughter Jenna's wedding, introduced "Controlled Unclassified Information" as a new government category that will replace "Sensitive but Unclassified."
Such information -- though it does not merit the well-known national security classifications "confidential," "secret" or "top secret" -- is nonetheless "pertinent" to U.S. "national interests" or to "important interests of entities outside the federal government," the memo says.
The information could be, for example, the steps taken to protect power plants from terrorists, or which pipelines are most vulnerable to attack.
Left undefined are which laws or policies generated the requirement for protecting such information, and which interests are pertinent. But Bush's memo does refer to the "global nature of the threats facing the United States" and to the need to ensure that the "entire network of defenders be able to share information more rapidly" while protecting "sensitive information, information privacy, and other legal rights of Americans."
The president declared that the purpose of the new classification is "to standardize practices and thereby improve the sharing of information, not to classify or declassify new or additional information." But some critics described it as continuing an expansion of secrecy in government and a potential bureaucratic nightmare.
Michael Clark, a contributing editor to the blog Daily Kos, who first wrote about the Bush memorandum, said the White House "seems to have used the crafting of new rules as an opportunity to expand the range of government secrecy." Steven Aftergood, director of the Federation of American Scientists' Project on Government Secrecy, described it as a "not even half-baked" exercise in policymaking.
The new classification, like the old one, was created because of the need for people who handle terrorism information to share it not just within the federal government but also outside it. "The changes will make labeling and sharing information more effective," said an administration official, and do away with other government designations such as "For Official Use Only" and "Law Enforcement Sensitive."
The tough job of implementing the new system was assigned to the National Archives and Records Administration. The Archives, which oversees the current security classification system, was given five years to implement the program throughout federal, state and local governments as well as in "tribal, private sector and foreign partner entities."
The Controlled Unclassified Information designation was the product of a year-long government study of how to replace the "sensitive but unclassified" category. "Among the 20 departments and agencies . . . surveyed, there are at least 107 unique markings and more than 131 different labeling or handling processes and procedures for SBU information," Ted McNamara of the office of the director of national intelligence told the House Homeland Security Committee in April 2007.
The Archives was asked to create a single set of policies and procedures on the way materials should be marked, stored safely and disseminated. There are to be three categories of dissemination -- standard, specified and enhanced specified. The latter two require measures to reduce possible disclosure.
Designating information as CUI is left to the "head of the originating department or agency," based on "mission requirements, business prudence, legal privilege, the protection of personal or commercial rights, safety, or security."
The Archives will establish "enforcement mechanisms and penalties for improper handling of CUI." The "controlled" classification "may inform," but will not determine, whether information can be made public in response to a Freedom of Information Act request.
All CUI information, either produced by or for the federal government, is to be marked "controlled," regardless of how it is conveyed. Bush's memo specifically requires that "oral communications should be prefaced with a statement describing the controls when necessary to ensure that recipients are aware of the information's status."
National security and intelligence reporter Walter Pincus pores over the speeches, reports, transcripts and other documents that flood Washington and every week uncovers the fine print that rarely makes headlines -- but should. If you have any items that fit the bill, please send them to fineprint@washpost.com.
|
Sometime in the next few years, if a memorandum signed by President Bush this month ever goes into effect, one government official talking to another about information on terrorists will have to begin by saying: "What I am about to tell you is controlled unclassified information enhanced with spe...
| 15.592593 | 0.62963 | 0.740741 |
medium
|
low
|
abstractive
|
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/18/AR2008051800968.html
|
https://web.archive.org/web/2008052019id_/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/18/AR2008051800968.html
|
Al-Qaeda Operative Loses Freedom in Yemen
|
2008052019
|
Elbaneh's detention was ordered one day after a Washington Post article on how he was living under the personal protection of Yemen's president, Ali Abdullah Saleh. The Yemeni government has repeatedly refused U.S. requests to extradite Elbaneh to stand trial on terrorism charges, straining diplomatic relations between the two countries.
According to Yemen's official news agency, a judge ordered Elbaneh's arrest after prosecutors filed a request to lock him up. Elbaneh is one of three dozen Yemeni defendants being tried on charges of conspiring to blow up oil installations in 2006.
Until Sunday, prosecutors had allowed Elbaneh to remain free while the trial proceeded in Sanaa, the capital, in spite of recent demands from FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III and other U.S. officials that he be imprisoned.
U.S. officials welcomed the news. "We have been waiting for the arrest of this wanted terrorist for a long time," said an official at the U.S. Embassy in Sanaa, speaking on the condition of anonymity. "Elbaneh's arrest sends the right message that terrorists will be held accountable for their crimes."
It is unclear, however, how long Elbaneh, 41, a U.S.-Yemeni citizen, will remain behind bars. Senior Yemeni officials have expressed doubts about whether Elbaneh is guilty and have said they will not extradite him to the United States, citing a constitutional ban on deporting Yemeni citizens to other countries.
The U.S. government indicted Elbaneh in 2003 on charges of providing material support to a terrorist organization for his alleged membership in the so-called Lackawanna Six, a group of young men from near Buffalo who had traveled to Afghanistan to train in al-Qaeda camps.
Unlike other members of the cell, Elbaneh did not return to the United States after the trip to Afghanistan. He instead went to Yemen, where authorities reluctantly arrested him in January 2004 after heavy pressure from the United States.
Elbaneh escaped from a maximum-security prison two years later, along with 22 other inmates.
Rumors persisted that he was allowed to remain free with the tacit permission of the Yemeni government. Three months ago, Elbaneh confirmed the suspicions when he walked unannounced into a courtroom, escorted by four bodyguards, and told a judge that he was under the personal protection of Yemen's president.
Elbaneh was convicted in absentia by a Yemeni court in 2006 and sentenced to 10 years in prison for his involvement in attacks on foreign oil workers. He is being retried on those charges, with 35 other defendants, but had been free on bail until Sunday.
Yemen has refused to hand over two other al-Qaeda operatives sought by the United States.
Jamal al-Badawi and Fahd al-Quso, who helped organize the 2000 bombing of the USS Cole that killed 17 American sailors, are also wanted under the State Department's Rewards for Justice program. Like Elbaneh, both men have $5 million bounties on their heads.
Quso was freed last year from prison in Yemen after serving seven years of a 10-year sentence for his role in the Cole bombing, which took place as the destroyer refueled in the Yemeni port of Aden. Badawi was convicted in the attack but has escaped from prison twice and been released at least once with the permission of senior Yemeni officials.
|
BERLIN, May 18 -- Jaber Elbaneh, the al-Qaeda operative who had roamed free in Yemen despite a $5 million reward offered by the U.S. government for his capture, was jailed Sunday by a Yemeni judge.
| 14.904762 | 0.714286 | 1.428571 |
low
|
low
|
abstractive
|
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/18/AR2008051802321.html
|
https://web.archive.org/web/2008052019id_/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/18/AR2008051802321.html
|
Crossing the Finish Line, 'SNL' Shows Some Late Kick
|
2008052019
|
Based on Nielsen overnight ratings from 56 metered markets, "SNL's" season finale -- hosted by actor Steve Carell -- scored better than any show on any network in prime time that night. The 5.4 rating/13 share (roughly 6 1/2 million viewers) was also the best showing for an "SNL" season finale in three years. This was, of course, an abnormal season, with the writers' strike shortening it by five shows and some episodes being run twice in the same month.
Next season, its 34th, will be unusual, as well, because of the presidential election and the fact that "SNL" seems most heavily watched when political passions are running high. Normally, the show would return for a new season mere weeks before Election Day, but to make the most of the event, "SNL" will return in September (possibly as early as Sept. 13), with occasional Thursday night prime-time political specials also scheduled and a "Presidential Bash" special set to air Nov. 3, the night before the election.
It's a heavy load, but the current cast -- expected to return intact in the fall -- can handle it. "SNL" can boast one of the best and most resourceful ensembles since its legendary and now iconic first five years, when John Belushi, Gilda Radner, Chevy Chase, Bill Murray, Garrett Morris and other founding funsters burst upon the American scene, ran riot and changed TV comedy almost overnight.
While the current cast lacks a powerhouse ringleader like Will Ferrell, the comic talent seems more evenly distributed and the dead weight more scarce than in many a season past.
As has been noted here and elsewhere, the cast is especially strong on the female side, which in the past had been the weaker sex. Amy Poehler is a dynamo whose raw energy and determination can rescue all but the most miserable material. She will be back next season, an NBC spokesman said yesterday, but will be taking some weeks off for maternity leave. Her baby is due in the fall.
Kristen Wiig, another astoundingly versatile performer, really blossomed this season and is expected to return next. She has developed a repertory of quixotic characters who are fiendishly funny even though they'd be intolerably irritating if encountered in real life. Wiig didn't have quite as much to do as usual on the season finale, though one audience member said she did the show's warm-up very effectively, singing instead of telling jokes. She also brightened up the very last sketch in the show, a musical spoof about a couple (Wiig and Carell) planning for their first child. It was a lot better than the very first sketch in the show. Carell proved an especially hard-working host, appearing in more of the sketches than many hosts have done.
Wiig and Poehler, both tremendous talents, have managed a neat trick often cited as one of Lucille Ball's signature feats: being funny and attractive at the same time. Newcomer Casey Wilson, added as a featured player when the show returned after the strike, may be promoted to cast member in order to handle some of Poehler's chores when she's away.
Among the male cast members, Andy Samberg is easily the least expendable, having made a name for himself in the "SNL Digital Shorts" that air each week and then move to the Internet. Samberg can do outrageous farce or subtle spoofs. Darrell Hammond, who has been with the show longer than any other cast member, continues to contribute inspired and definitive impressions of showbiz stars and political figures.
McCain won't be joining the cast, of course, having other preoccupations, but he did a first-class job in two appearances on the season finale. It was strange that Executive Producer Lorne Michaels chose to open the show with a childish skit about naughty names and not, as has become a tradition this season, with a political sketch -- especially with McCain conveniently right there in the building.
In his first appearance, McCain sat at a vaguely presidential desk and addressed "My fellow Americans" (twice, having been drowned out by applause the first time) and suggested that when choosing the next president, Americans should look for "someone who is very, very, very old." The segment was written by James Downey, who has authored most of the "cold open" political sketches.
McCain showed up again during the mock newscast "Weekend Update," denouncing, among other things, a "device that can jam 'Gaydar.' " He also reiterated the assertion that he has "the oldness necessary" to be president. One thing that might get old quickly -- and maybe already has -- are jokes about McCain's age, many of them recycled Ronald Reagan lines. But if McCain himself makes them, they can't be considered very offensive.
Usher, the way-cool pop star, performed twice, the second song being by far the more impressive. It was inventively choreographed, replete with two slinky babes who not only walked but danced in what looked like the highest heels on the planet. Any higher and they would have surely gone face first into the floor.
"SNL" season finales are rarely among the best shows of whatever season is being completed. The exhaustion of the entire company, those before and behind the cameras, seems palpable even to us out here in television land. But viewers sort of share in this rather than merely observe it. Certainly the old hip boast that "I never watch 'Saturday Night Live' " seems like ancient history now, and the exhilarating excellence of the current cast is probably the chief reason why.
|
Loping, romping and sometimes crawling to the finish line, "Saturday Night Live" ended another season on NBC with a show that featured Sen. John McCain, the likely Republican presidential candidate, in fine comic fettle, with the regular cast members' fettle even finer. Although the written material...
| 19.625 | 0.678571 | 1.071429 |
medium
|
low
|
abstractive
|
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/story/2008/05/09/ST2008050900425.html
|
https://web.archive.org/web/2008051819id_/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/story/2008/05/09/ST2008050900425.html?sid=ST2008050900425
|
Obesity Threatens a Generation
|
2008051819
|
An epidemic of obesity is compromising the lives of millions of American children, with burgeoning problems that reveal how much more vulnerable young bodies are to the toxic effects of fat.
In ways only beginning to be understood, being overweight at a young age appears to be far more destructive to well-being than adding excess pounds later in life. Virtually every major organ is at risk. The greater damage is probably irreversible.
Doctors are seeing confirmation of this daily: boys and girls in elementary school suffering from high blood pressure, high cholesterol and painful joint conditions; a soaring incidence of type 2 diabetes, once a rarity in pediatricians' offices; even a spike in child gallstones, also once a singularly adult affliction. Minority youth are most severely affected, because so many are pushing the scales into the most dangerous territory.
With one in three children in this country overweight or worse, the future health and productivity of an entire generation -- and a nation -- could be in jeopardy.
"There's a huge burden of disease that we can anticipate from the growing obesity in kids," said William H. Dietz, director of the Division of Nutrition, Physical Activity and Obesity at the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "This is a wave that is just moving through the population."
The trouble is a quarter-century of unprecedented growth in girth. Although the rest of the nation is much heavier, too, among those ages 6 to 19 the rate of obesity has not just doubled, as with their parents and grandparents, but has more than tripled.
Because studies indicate that many will never overcome their overweight -- up to 80 percent of obese teens become obese adults -- experts fear an exponential increase in heart disease, strokes, cancer and other health problems as the children move into their 20s and beyond. The evidence suggests that these conditions could occur decades sooner and could greatly diminish the quality of their lives. Many could find themselves disabled in what otherwise would be their most productive years.
The cumulative effect could be the country's first generation destined to have a shorter life span than its predecessor. A 2005 analysis by a team of scientists forecast a two- to five-year drop in life expectancy unless aggressive action manages to reverse obesity rates. Since then, children have only gotten fatter.
"Five years might be an underestimate," lead author S. Jay Olshansky of the University of Illinois at Chicago acknowledged recently.
This is the first day in a week-long Washington Post series on childhood obesity, exploring its causes, its impact and possible remedies.
The epidemic is expected to add billions of dollars to the U.S. health-care bill. Treating a child with obesity is three times more costly than treating the average child, according to a study by Thomson Reuters. The research company pegged the country's overall expense of care for overweight youth at $14 billion annually. A substantial portion is for hospital services, since those patients go more frequently to the emergency room and are two to three times more likely to be admitted.
Given the ominous trend lines, the study concluded, "demand for ER visits, inpatient hospitalizations and outpatient visits is expected to rise dramatically."
|
An epidemic of obesity is compromising the lives of millions of American children, with burgeoning problems that reveal how much more vulnerable young bodies are to the toxic effects of fat.
| 18.878788 | 1 | 33 |
medium
|
high
|
extractive
|
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/09/AR2008050900414.html
|
https://web.archive.org/web/2008051819id_/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/09/AR2008050900414.html
|
How to Choose Healthy Favorites Without Making Your Taste Buds Suffer
|
2008051819
|
What's for dinner?" ricochets through every household daily. For many, the answer comes from the drive-through, not the kitchen. Yet stocking a few ingredients can increase the odds of whipping up a fast meal that's family-friendly, healthy and tasty.
Start with pasta. It doesn't spoil, and it's a favorite of all ages. Hodgson Mill Whole Wheat Spirals, Torino Whole Wheat Spaghetti and DaVinci Organic Sea Shells earn the top score -- three stars for best nutritional value -- from the Hannaford Bros. "Guiding Stars" program. The New England grocery chain assembled a team of scientists to develop a math l formula to rate 25,500 products on 21 measures. The most nutritious get three stars, the least nutritious get none -- 80 percent got no stars. (There are no Hannaford stores in the Washington area, but Hannaford's parent company, Delhaize Group, plans to introduce Guiding Stars to its Food Lion stores this year.)
Other good choices include Earth's Best Mini Cheese Ravioli (with Sesame Street's Grover on the box), Wacky Mac Veggie Spirals and Annie's Homegrown D.W. Whole Wheat Pasta & Alfredo. (Can't find these products in your grocery? Check Amazon.com, which sells cases of some that qualify for free shipping.)
For mac and cheese lovers, there's Kraft Whole Grain Macaroni and Cheese; Annie's Homegrown Totally Natural Arthur Macaroni & Cheese, or Bunny Pasta with Yummy Cheese. Whole Foods 365 Everyday Macaroni and Cheese is a bargain at about 99 cents and has nearly the same ingredients as Annie's for a fraction of the cost.
Tomato sauces vary, too. Vino de Milo Portobello Shiraz and Vito Marcello's Tomato Basil Marinara both earn the top rating of three stars. Coming in with two stars, signaling better nutritional value, are Ragu Fresh & Simple Tomato Basil and Prego 100% Natural Marinara.
Broiled or grilled burgers and chicken are a snap to make. Simply add fries from the frozen food section, for better nutrition than you'd get at the drive-through. Ian's Sweet Potato Fries have 70 calories per serving of seven chunky fries. They're low in sodium and fat, and provide nearly three times the daily intake of Vitamin A. Compare with Ore-Ida Extra Crispy Fast Food Fries, with about double the calories and fat, and nearly 10 times the sodium and no Vitamin A.
Other healthy options: Cascadian Farms Organic Shoe String French Fries, low in sodium and fat; and Alexia Organic Yukon Gold Julienne Fries, seasoned with a little sea salt and healthy sunflower or safflower oil. The freezer can also serve as your sous-chef. Healthy Choice Grilled Chicken with Smokehouse BBQ Sauce has 370 calories. Look for specials on frozen food, especially during summer. Another option: Kashi Southwest Style Chicken with 7 Whole-Grains Pilaf. At about $4 each, it's pricey, but packs just 240 calories and with plenty of whole grains to boot.
|
Every day in this series, Sally Squires, whose Lean Plate Club column runs weekly in The Post's Health section, will offer tips on making nutritious and budget-conscious meals and snacks.
| 15.675676 | 0.432432 | 0.540541 |
medium
|
low
|
abstractive
|
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/17/AR2008051702426.html
|
https://web.archive.org/web/2008051819id_/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/17/AR2008051702426.html
|
10 Facts You Should Know
|
2008051819
|
1. The average 10-year-old girl weighed 77 pounds in 1963; today, 88. The 10-year-old boy weighed 74; today, 85.
2. A 2006 study tracking 2,000 low-income children in 20 cities found that a third were overweight or obese before age 4. Most at risk: Hispanics.
3. Even more than smoking or drinking, says a UCLA/Rand study, obesity triggers significant health problems and increases health spending.
4. Children and teens consumed 110 to 165 more calories than they burned each day over a 10-year period, adding up to 58 pounds of extra weight, according to a Harvard University study.
5. 2 percent of U.S. children eat a healthy diet as defined by the Agriculture Department.
6. "Husky" car seats were developed several years ago. More than 250,000 children younger than 6 exceeded the weight standards for regular car seats in 2006.
7. Soft-drink consumption has increased 300 percent in 20 years and is the leading source of added sugars for adolescents.
8. 25 percent of all vegetables eaten in the United States are french fries or chips.
9. 25 percent of all Americans eat fast food at least once a day.
10. Americans consume 20 percent more calories than a generation ago; most come from fats and oils (up 63 percent), grains (up 43 percent) and sugar (up 19 percent).
Sources: Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, 2006 annual report; American Journal of Public Health; Roland Sturm, UCLA/Rand; Obesity journal; Harvard University; Center for Science in the Public Interest; National Association of School Nurses; "Fast Food Nation"; USDA.
|
1. The average 10-year-old girl weighed 77 pounds in 1963; today, 88. The 10-year-old boy weighed 74; today, 85.
| 11.1 | 1 | 30 |
low
|
high
|
extractive
|
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/16/AR2008051603735.html
|
https://web.archive.org/web/2008051819id_/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/16/AR2008051603735.html
|
It's an Emergency. We're Not Prepared.
|
2008051819
|
Disaster is bearing down on all sides of late. A ravaging cyclone in Burma. A killer earthquake in China. Even the United States hasn't escaped unscathed, with tornadoes ripping across the heartland and Southeast and floods rising in the mid-Atlantic.
Still, most Americans have been watching the devastation in Asia from relative safety and, if I had to guess, with a certain sense of complacency, a feeling that disaster on that scale isn't likely to happen to them. But it could. And if it did, our country might face the same sort of crisis as our Asian cousins. A major reason: The American public isn't prepared.
Even after Sept. 11, 2001, even after Hurricane Katrina, a Red Cross survey last year found that 93 percent of Americans aren't prepared for a major calamity -- a natural disaster, a pandemic or a terrorist attack. This is troubling, because the more prepared a population is, the more effective the response to and recovery from a catastrophe will be.
In the weeks after 9/11, my worried wife asked me, "What should we be doing?" We lived directly across the street from the Manhattan hospital where a woman had just died from anthrax exposure; I worked only a couple of blocks from the World Trade Center.
Initially, I thought that the answer to her question would be pretty straightforward. But 6 1/2 years later, I'm still trying to pin it down.
Readying the public for the likely emergencies of the 21st century may be one of the most complex social-education challenges the nation has faced. Americans have to prepare for a range of threats, many of which the government can neither describe nor predict. Says George Foresman, former undersecretary for preparedness with the Department of Homeland Security, "There's no playbook for any of us to go by."
In my search for a playbook, I've consulted government Web sites, including DHS's Ready.gov, read all the books I could find and spoken to first responders, policymakers and other experts. I've signed up for emergency e-mail lists and text alerts from all over the country -- my BlackBerry now pings whenever there's a major storm heading toward New York, a tremor near San Francisco, a Metro train derailment in Washington or a new terror alert from the FBI.
To get a more ground-level view, I completed the 11-week, 33-hour training for New York City's Community Emergency Response Team (CERT), the civilian auxiliary force that helps the authorities during emergencies. So far, as part of my neighborhood unit, I've responded to the plane crash that killed New York Yankees pitcher Cory Lidle near the East River, directed traffic during a power failure, played the role of "Rude Evacuee No. 1" in a city hurricane drill, passed out preparedness guides in 11 languages at subway stations and mixed the hot chocolate at a Red Cross evacuation center.
My immersion has been so deep that last November I was selected "Ready New Yorker of the Month" by the city's Office of Emergency Management.
As I've continued to educate myself, people have asked me whether I feel better or worse. The answer is, both. I feel more prepared and more empowered. I see how much an individual can do and am more confident in people's inherent resilience in emergency situations. But I've also learned that my family's safety and the ability of my community and my nation to respond to major disasters might depend on my fellow citizens' preparedness. It may sound a little dramatic, but if even 93 Americans -- let alone 93 percent of us -- aren't informed and engaged, then none of us fully are.
"It keeps me awake at night," says John R. Gibb, New York state's emergency management director and one of several top officials who acknowledged concern over the current level of public readiness.
Public engagement is important not only in responding to emergencies, but also in helping prevent them in the first place. "The weakest part of our homeland security is the citizen," 9/11 Commission chairman Thomas H. Kean told me. "Addressing that is very, very, very important. Ultimately, it's as likely that a terrorist attack here will be stopped by the CIA or FBI as by someone who sees something suspicious and, instead of just going home for dinner, decides to tell his or her local police."
|
Disaster is bearing down on all sides of late. A ravaging cyclone in Burma. A killer earthquake in China. Even the United States hasn't escaped unscathed, with tornadoes ripping across the heartland and Southeast and floods rising in the mid-Atlantic.
| 17.958333 | 1 | 48 |
medium
|
high
|
extractive
|
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/discussion/2008/05/16/DI2008051603186.html
|
https://web.archive.org/web/2008051819id_/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/discussion/2008/05/16/DI2008051603186.html
|
Outlook: Preparing a Disaster
|
2008051819
|
"Even after Sept. 11, 2001, even after Hurricane Katrina, a Red Cross survey last year found that 93 percent of Americans aren't prepared for a major calamity -- a natural disaster, a pandemic or a terrorist attack. This is troubling, because the more prepared a population is, the more effective the response to and recovery from a catastrophe will be. ... Readying the public for the likely emergencies of the 21st century may be one of the most complex social-education challenges the nation has faced. Americans have to prepare for a range of threats, many of which the government can neither describe nor predict."
Blogger John D. Solomon, who is writing "In Case Of Emergency, Read Book: Simple Steps To Prepare You and Your Family For Terrorism, Natural Disasters and Other 21st Century Crises," was online Monday, May 19 at noon ET to discuss his Outlook article on the shortfalls in educating the public about emergency preparedness and encouraging Americans to plan ahead.
Archive: Transcripts of discussions with Outlook article authors
John D. Solomon: Hi. This is John. I'm looking forward to discussing preparedness today.
Alexandria, Va.: I was shocked at the high percentage of people who are not prepared for an emergency. Children may be the best way to convince adults to plan -- schools send home information about disaster planning and they practice emergency fire/tornado drills. The Disney Channel recently showed a cartoon (" Lou & Lou: Safety Patrol") about two safety patrols who showed "go bags" and talked about emergency planning. After Katrina, The Post did a great job of listing the items (insurance papers, birth certificates, family phone list, cash) you should have on hand in waterproof/fireproof place. It doesn't take very long to assemble a "go bag" or stock up on extra water/food. Are there any plans for local governments or the federal government to use Sept 11 as a disaster planning day?
John D. Solomon: Hi Alexandria. Thanks for your question. I think the media has a big role in preparedness. I have seen the Disney Channel's "Lou & Lou" cartoon about drills -- I have two kids under eight! -- and I thought they did a great job.
The "adult" media also has to do more in advance of disasters, not just during them.
Arlington, Va.: Comment: Thank you for mentioning youth education in your article. I'd like you to know that our Cadette Girl Scout Troop (14-year-olds), as their Silver Award Project, has become trained to teach four Red Cross classes to youngsters, including a class entitled "Masters of Disaster." It is a great service opportunity for other troops and teens to consider, so please spread the word! Arlington County Red Cross also has a great youth program furthering the same goals.
John D. Solomon: Yes. The Masters of Disasters program from the Red Cross is a terrific way to engage children in preparedness. I think we underestimate what kids can handle. If we are to get to a prepared nation, we will have to include children -- both because this is going to take a generation, and also because (as many of you know) the best way to influence adult behavior is through their children.
Southern Maryland: I am glad to see this issue reintroduced. I too have gotten lax, but I did recently take a CPR and First Aid course.
John D. Solomon: Thanks. I took a CPR and first aid course at the Red Cross in New York City.
The most interesting thing about it was that the almost every other person in the class was there because they had to be (e.g. for their physical trainer license). The lesson to me is that you consider building in some incentives if you're going to get people to prepare.
Fairfax, Va.: John, great article. I appreciate your bringing more attention to this very important topic. For Virginia readers interested in the tax holiday mentioned in your article, the information can be found at this Web site.
John D. Solomon: Thanks for posting that info on Virginia's tax free days.
I am not saying giving financial or legal incentives is the only or major way to get people to prepare. But we have to realize that when we want to change social behavior in this country we tend to use the carrot or the stick in some way -- remember it's click it or ticket.
Bethesda, Md.: Compelling piece in yesterday's paper. You mentioned that corporate America should get involved, and should market preparedness as a consumer brand. Can you elaborate?
John D. Solomon: Thanks for the question. Many major corporations responded incredibly after Katrina using their skills and scope to assist the relief effort.
I would like to see the same type of focus on citizen preparedness in advance of disasters.
For example, during national preparedness month, it would be great if major big box stores and suppliers in emergency products area were organized to help people create go-bags at a major discount. It would be a win-win for customers and businesses.
Then people would be more likely to take preparedness seriously. It is not cheap or easy to prepare for a disaster.
Washington: How should I prepare an emergency kit for my two dogs? What should be included?
John D. Solomon: You should prepare go-bags and supply kits for each of your animals like you would your family.
If you go to the Humane Society Web site or ready.gov or the Red Cross I would think you would find some tips.
But I think you know what your pet would need if you had to evacuate or you were stranded in your home for 72 hours.
Arlington, Va.: Thank you, thank you, thank you for your op-ed. I'm glad someone has the guts to say that we Americans are not ready for the worst. Why do you think that is? Do you think it's a cultural thing, that Americans are always optimists and think things will always be okay in the future?
John D. Solomon: I don't think there is one single obstacle, there are many. Some people don't want to deal with the idea of a disaster, some people are skeptical that anything they could do would help, others are too busy, some don't have the wherewithal to spend or even worry about it, some people think the government is taking care of everything, others don't believe anything that the government says.
It's a very challenging social education task. But it can be done if we do it in comprehensive, open, thoughtful way.
McLean, Va.: What is the status of Integrated Public Alert and Warning systems, and what are the current impediments by the federal and local governments to enable us to be better prepared?
John D. Solomon: That is a very important question.
To me the most crucial thing that you will need to do (and plan for) is how to get information (whatever the emergency) and communicate with family, etc. Similarly, the government major task vis a vis is communicating with us.
New technologies offer great potential in this area, but right now we are in a transition. There was an interesting hearing on this in the house homeland security committee last week looking at the status of the government's efforts to modernize public alert and communications.
Washington by day; Fairfax, Va., by night: Outstanding essay yesterday. We're trying to build a stash of emergency supplies at home. I've heard that there are commercially-available versions of the military's MREs, which are well-suited to such a plan and taste much better than our grandfathers' C-rations. Where can they be purchased? Are they reasonably priced?
John D. Solomon: I have not tasted any of the commercial MREs, but I should so I can offer advice on it. You also can pick up energy bars for your go bag, which I know taste good.
Washington: This past April 16, there was an article in The Washington Post about a suitcase (1 kiloton) or truck bomb (10 kiloton) going off in the area of the White House. A fallout cloud would produce a "Death Plume," ten blocks wide going down Constitution Avenue and ending up at Union Station. What can workers in federal agencies within that Death Plume do to get ready for this event?
washingtonpost.com: Risk of Nuclear Attack on Rise (Post, April 16)
John D. Solomon: I won't give advice to particular agencies and building locations. However, that hearing your refer to -- in the Senate Homeland Security committee -- was very interesting.
A number of witnesses made the point that we should be offering the public more information and training so they can deal with the possibility of a nuclear explosion.
There are things you can do if you are in the area. it's a tough subject to discuss publicly but I think we should be. And I think the American public is willing to do so.
Sun Prairie, Wis.: Mr. Solomon: My compliments on your article in Sunday's Post, which made many good points. It left out, however, a critically important element of disaster preparedness -- the ability for buildings to withstand the initial disaster itself. Sept. 11 and Katrina, somewhat perversely, may have given us a false sense of security in this regard -- no office building can be built to survive a direct hit from an airliner, and a strong enough hurricane is bound to do great damage to a city built in the wrong place. The earthquake in China provides a clearer warning; most of the deaths there occurred when buildings collapsed on the people in them, something no amount of citizen preparedness could have prevented.
Could something like that happen here? It could -- and on the West Coast it almost certainly will, sooner or later. Are building codes and their enforcement adequate to prevent major loss of life in the event of a major earthquake on the Pacific Coast or a hurricane striking the Atlantic Coast north of Florida? If you asked the insurance industry about this you might be unnerved by the response you'd get.
John D. Solomon: I agree. The earthquake in China showed how important strong building codes are. Citizens should check their buildings and homes and make sure their government officials are responsive to this concern.
We need to take advantage of "learning opportunities" right after disasters -- and China offers one of those.
McLean, Va/: How long have you been researching the topic of preparedness for your book, and how many people have you interviewed?
John D. Solomon: Thanks for asking that question. I feel like I have been researching it ever since my wife asked me in the weeks after Sept. 11 "what should we be doing."
I've interviewed probably now 250 first responders, officials, experts, etc., and I still think I have so much to learn. But I think 21st century preparedness offers so many new challenges and we're all learning together.
I should say that every American is an expert in their own preparedness and that of their community.
So we need everyone to contribute to preparing us for whatever emergencies we face.
Reisterstown, Md.: Thank you for spurring discussion about this issue. A talk show host on WBAL Radio in Baltimore used your article as fodder for the first hour of her show today. Those of us in emergency management are thankful when the media helps us get out the word. State and local emergency management agencies try so hard to get the public to see the importance of emergency preparedness.
My only comment is that we need to make sure the focus is on natural disasters as much as (if not more than) terrorist attacks. I'm 50, and this region has been hit by the remnants of at least six hurricanes, five major blizzards/winter storms and a handful of tornadoes in my lifetime, plus numerous flooding events. Compare that to just one major terrorist attack.
I don't mean to downplay terrorism, just to point out that we are far more likely to be the victim of a weather incident than a terrorist attack. And the important thing for people to understand is that having a plan and a kit is important no matter what type of event we have to deal with. Thank you again for writing about preparedness.
John D. Solomon: Thank you. I'm glad the article has spurred some discussion. It's a topic that I think we believe is somewhat important but without a disaster it doesn't get the attention necessary.
I agree with you about the balance between natural and man made -- i.e. terrorism. Not to mention a pandemic.
My feeling is that we do need an "all hazards" approach but we should not shy away from the unique challenges of terrorism in briefing the public. We can address both. But we have to do it in a careful, thoughtful way.
Reisterstown, Md.: Regarding pets, here are Web addresses for pet disaster information from both the Humane Society and the Red Cross.
John D. Solomon: Thanks for getting that info.
Takoma Park, Md.: Thank you for this article. We have become lax. Living just a few steps from the District line, I think I know of only one neighbor who has done any disaster planning. One thing that made Katrina so bad was the lack of resources for people's pets. The organization United Animal Nation (uan.org) coordinates animal rescues with the Humane Society, ASPCA and local shelters after any natural or man-made disaster. They have a quick five-point plan on disaster planning for your animals to make sure both they and you are safe.
John D. Solomon: Yes. I have found that the animal organizations and pet owners themselves are among the most prepared. They are models.
In fact, the general public could use the same sort of focus and lobbying to represent their interests on preparedness that the pet owners (as well as the disabled through NOD) have.
Washington: If Americans aren't prepared, is there another country or group we can look to for inspiration? Is anyone, worldwide, prepared?
John D. Solomon: As I mentioned the animal community and the disabled are models of activism and action on preparedness.
Israel is also a good model. Clearly we do not need to go down the preparedness continuum as they are but there are some lessons and some attitudes that would be helpful for us to look at and adopt
John D. Solomon: Thank you for all the questions and the interest.
If anyone is interested in citizen preparedness and has any questions or comments on the area, I have a blog that focuses on this area, and here's my e-mail address.
I would love to get your suggestions, questions, comments, etc.
Editor's Note: washingtonpost.com moderators retain editorial control over Discussions and choose the most relevant questions for guests and hosts; guests and hosts can decline to answer questions. washingtonpost.com is not responsible for any content posted by third parties.
|
Join live discussions from the Washington Post. Feature topics include national, world and DC area news, politics, elections, campaigns, government policy, tech regulation, travel, entertainment, cars, and real estate.
| 72.317073 | 0.560976 | 0.707317 |
high
|
low
|
abstractive
|
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/16/AR2008051603435.html
|
https://web.archive.org/web/2008051819id_/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/16/AR2008051603435.html
|
A Test for Obama's Promises
|
2008051819
|
By reaching outside the Democratic Party for his vice presidential nominee -- tapping Republican Sen. Chuck Hagel of Nebraska, say, or independent Mayor Michael Bloomberg from New York -- Obama would in an instant demonstrate that he truly means to change the divisive, lose-lose politics of Washington. It would offer a unity government for a country that seems to want one.
There are all sorts of practical arguments against such an unconventional choice -- not least that it would upset many of Obama's liberal Democratic supporters. But it would make a powerful statement that Obama really does want to govern in a different way. It would make "change we can believe in" more than a slogan.
By choosing a veteran politician outside his own party, Obama would solve three problems at once: He would undercut the bipartisan appeal of his maverick GOP rival, Sen. John McCain; he would ease voters' fears about his own youth and inexperience; and he would find a compelling alternative to Hillary Clinton, who for all her virtues as a vice president would come with heavy baggage -- not least the role of her husband, who is even harder to imagine as Second Laddie than as First.
Moreover, Obama needs to counter the charge that he talks a better game about bipartisanship and change than he has actually delivered. His voting record in Illinois and Washington mostly has been that of a conventional liberal, and there are precious few examples of him taking political risks to work across party lines.
McCain, by contrast, has actually fought the kind of bipartisan battles that Obama talks about -- from campaign finance to climate change to rules against torture -- and he has the political scars to prove it. That's why the Republican base is still so uneasy about him, because they know that McCain's natural allies in recent years have been centrist Democrats. By picking a GOP running mate, Obama would outdo McCain -- and in the process make some enemies in his own party. That would make him a more appealing candidate, I suspect.
Hagel would be an especially interesting choice for Obama. As a decorated Vietnam veteran, he would add some national security heft to the ticket. And he was also an early and courageous GOP critic of the Iraq war, which would reinforce one of the most powerful themes of Obama's campaign. At the same time, although Hagel agrees with Obama on the need for withdrawal from Iraq, his military credentials would reassure U.S. allies that it would not be a pell-mell retreat.
A final advantage is that Hagel and Obama seem to like each other. Hagel is said to view Obama as a politician with a special gift who might actually be able to bring the country together. Whether Democrats could accept Hagel's pro-life views and other aspects of his Republican identity is a complicated question, but here again, bipartisanship is about bridging hard issues.
Bloomberg would provide a different sort of boost for Obama. He could run as the bipartisan manager and problem-solver, the nation's chief operating officer, if you will. That would free Obama, who has never managed much of anything, for the larger role of leadership -- the visionary politics at which he's so good.
The New York mayor would also make a good running mate for McCain -- who badly needs someone with economic credentials to offset his own lack of experience and interest in this area. But it would be difficult for the GOP to embrace a double dose of bipartisanship, when many in the party already view McCain as a quasi-Democrat.
If Obama were to run on a unity ticket, it would be a sign that he thinks the nation is in such serious trouble, at home and abroad, that the normal political rules don't apply. Obama could choose among many fine Democrats for his running mate, but none of them would send such a powerful message to America and the world that he means what he says about turning a page.
The writer is co-host ofPostGlobal, an online discussion of international issues. His e-mail address isdavidignatius@washpost.com.
|
One of the most appealing but untested promises of Barack Obama's presidential campaign is that he would break down the partisan divisions in America and govern across party lines. He has a chance to make this gauzy idea of consensus politics concrete in his choice of running mate.
| 15.392157 | 0.764706 | 1.509804 |
low
|
low
|
mixed
|
http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/catholicamerica/2008/05/donahue_vs_hagee_shenanigans.html
|
https://web.archive.org/web/2008051819id_/http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/catholicamerica/2008/05/donahue_vs_hagee_shenanigans.html
|
Catholic League Shenanigans
|
2008051819
|
Mary, The Queen Of Heaven
Many Roman Catholics , if not all, believe that Mary is the "Queen of Heaven". The idea may have originated from the fact that since Jesus came from her womb, therefore she is the "Mother of God" and henceforth the "Queen of Heaven". Even Davao City Archbishop Fernando Capalla declared in a local tv broadcast that "Mary is the Queen of Heaven". With him pronouncing it, no doubt, this is a Roman Catholic doctrine.
Many Roman Catholic beliefs are false because many of them are based on wrong presumptions. Here are the reasons why Mary is not the Mother of God.
First, God is eternal. He has no source and has no ending. God created Mary and it should remain that way. The devil wants to turn it around and voila ! God now has a mother. The Eternal God is now under the "dictates" of a "mother".
The Almighty God will judge us purely by our own merits and not by how the "mother" will intercede for us. The real question is " what is our relationship with God and God alone?" Forget about Mary. Like us she will have her own appointment with God.
In II Corinthians 5:10, Apostle Paul said, "For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ..." .
The phrase "we must all" pertains to him (Paul), us and certainly Mary also. As what the Parable of the Ten Virgins suggests, she too can't share her oil. It means that she cannot intercede.
Second, the Spirit of Jesus Christ existed even before Mary was born. In John 8:57-58, it says " Then said the Jews unto Him, thou art not yet fifty years old, and hast thou seen Abraham? Jesus said unto them, verily, verily, I say unto you, before Abraham was, I am. "
In Colossians 1:17 Paul said " And He is before all things, and by Him all things consist."
Not only He was before Abraham, He was also before the existence of the universe and the creator of it as well.
To give us a glimpse of His power, Apostle John described his encounter with Jesus in Heaven in Revelation 1:16-17 " ... His countenance was as the sun shineth in His strength. And when I saw Him, I fell at His feet as dead."
Mary is really only one of the children of God and to distort this order by making her the Mother of God is just pure blasphemy.
This "Queen of Heaven" Doctrine is really not new. In the time of the prophet Jeremiah, the people of Israel worshipped her. In Jeremiah 7:18, God said " The children gather wood, and the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead their dough, to make cakes to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto other gods, that they may provoke me to anger."
In verse 20, He continues "... behold, mine anger and my fury shall be poured out upon this place..."
Thirdly, Jesus never called Mary as mother. He called her "woman". (John 2:4 , John 19:26) . Surely, there must be a reason why He didn't call her mother and that is simply because she is not His mother. In one instance, when somebody told Jesus that His mother was looking for Him, He insultingly replied, " Who is my mother? " (Matthew 12:48)
I wonder how many times the Lord will have to ask this question for people to wake up from their trance. It's a pity that everytime a person prays the rosary, He's not only doing a vain act of repetitious prayer but in so doing, he also invites the anger and fury of God. If they'll finally meet God face to face, I doubt if they will hear that question again if they will mention her name in His presence or would it be the painful parting words "depart from me, ye cursed into everlasting fire". I hope not, and I hope they will listen.
|
On Faith is an innovative, provocative conversation on all aspects of religion with best selling author Jon Meacham of Newsweek and Sally Quinn of The Washington Post. Keep up-to-date on global religious developments with On Faith.
| 18.522727 | 0.454545 | 0.5 |
medium
|
low
|
abstractive
|
http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/guestvoices/2008/05/my_response_to_catholic_americ.html
|
https://web.archive.org/web/2008051819id_/http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/guestvoices/2008/05/my_response_to_catholic_americ.html
|
My Response to 'Catholic America'
|
2008051819
|
It is nothing short of amazing to read the piece by Anthony Stevens-Arroyo. He starts by saying, âThe Catholic League is not the âAll Catholicâ League. It is not official Catholicism: still less does it speak for each and every one of the nationâs 60 million Catholics.â
Thatâs right, the Vatican is the âAll Catholicâ League and we never claimed to represent âeach and every one of the nationâs 60 million [weâre actually closer to 70 million, but never mind] Catholics.â But I hasten to add that the Catholic League is listed in the Official Catholic Directory and is not, therefore, some wayward organization that goes about willy nilly slapping the name Catholic on its masthead.
The next part is priceless. âAs someone who once endeavored to work with the League, I was disappointed to learn that it is run out of a single office by a single ego. So while I find newsworthy the recent exchanges between the Leagueâs president, Bill Donahue [sic] and Evangelical pastor, John Hagee, they donât amount to dogma.â
I asked our staff if anyone had ever heard of this guy, and no one had. So I take it that when he says he âendeavoredâ to work here, what he really means is that he didnât get an interview. Perhaps thatâs because he canât spell my name. In any event, it is true that we donât have multiple offices, but it is not fair to say that our office has just one egoâthere are ten others. All of whom can spell my name.
Stevens-Arroyo questions why the Catholic League âwaited until February of 2008 to become angered by Hageeâs career of bigotry over two decades?â He says it is because February was when Hagee endorsed McCain.
Now if he had bothered to read our website, he would have learned that I first wrote to Hagee in 1997. Therefore, the answer he supplies to his own question implodes. But this is small potatoes compared to this gem: âThe Catholic League demanded the dissolving of Obamaâs Catholic support committee, accusing all of the members of disloyalty to the faith and labeling the actions of the Democratic Senator as âHitlerian.ââ
In actual fact, I never made such an accusation. What I did was to report on the NARAL voting record of those members of Obamaâs advisory group who were, or currently are, public office holders (by the way, the overwhelming majority agree with NARAL 100 percent of the time and one advisor was told by her archbishop this week not to go to Communion). And I never labeled âthe actionsâ of Obama âHitlerian.â What I said is that Obama made a âHitlerian decisionâ when he voted to allow a baby who survives an abortion to die without attending medicinal care. I stand by that accusation.
Stevens-Arroyo makes a desperate, and failed, attempt to equate abortion with âmajor Catholic teachings like forgiveness of Third World debtâ and other such issues. Quite frankly, I never heard of a Catholic teaching on forgiving Third World debt. Thatâs because there isnât one. There are bishops, and no doubt cardinals, who have pronounced on this subject, but unlike abortion there is no such listing in the Catholic Catechism.
Finally, he says that âALL varieties of Catholic politics deserve tolerance.â Really? Does that mean that those who are pro and con on any given issueâgenocide, slavery, infanticide, the intentional killing of innocentsâdeserves dialogue? He must be talking about some other religion. My religion holds to certain truths, moral absolutes that deserve more than toleranceâthey demand acceptance.
Bill Donohue is president of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights.
|
A conversation on religion with Jon Meacham and Sally Quinn. Visit http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/guestvoices/
| 48.928571 | 0.428571 | 0.428571 |
high
|
low
|
abstractive
|
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/story/2008/05/14/ST2008051401536.html
|
https://web.archive.org/web/2008051819id_/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/story/2008/05/14/ST2008051401536.html
|
Cheat Sheets? - washingtonpost.com
|
2008051819
|
I n February 2003, massage therapist April White of Clermont, Fla., decided to splurge on her customers, buying luxurious 800-thread-count sheets for her massage table. She spent $169.99 for a queen set at Bed Bath & Beyond, but when she got the linens home and washed them, she found them anything but magnificent.
Rather than write off the expensive purchase as a life lesson, White shipped the textiles to a lab, which found that they were roughly 400-count, by U.S. standards, instead of 800. Then she took her indignation to the next step: She filed a class-action suit against Bed Bath & Beyond and the manufacturer on behalf of all those who bought high-thread-count sheets at the retailer from August 2000 to November 2007.
"They just didn't feel like I expected luxurious sheets to feel," she told the New Yorker magazine, which carried a small story about the suit in January.
In challenging the weave of sheets, White inadvertently stepped in a hornet's nest that has bedeviled the textile industry for years: How, actually, is thread count defined? And as consumers, how much should we care?
"It's just gotten ridiculous," said one local shopper, Susan Van Hemel of Fairfax. "It's become so hard to figure out what to buy. And sheets now are so expensive, you can make a costly mistake."
Three decades ago, most sheets purchased in this country came from familiar, made-in-America companies such as Cannon and Fieldcrest. These durable linens (usually white, cotton-polyester blends with a thread count of 100 to 180) wore like iron and felt like Teflon; in fact, if any are still in your linen closet, they probably still feel as firm as a frying pan yet remain perfectly serviceable.
But in the late 1970s and early '80s, consumers woke up to designer labels, the U.S. textile industry went into a tailspin and manufacturing moved largely overseas. All-cotton became the gold standard for bed linens, and thread counts crept higher as loom technology advanced and manufacturers found that the higher numbers translated into red-hot sales.
Today, sheets come in countless colors, patterns, sizes, textures and thread counts -- the last sometimes zooming beyond 1,000 per square inch. But this choice comes at a cost: Consumers face confounding labels, wide price variations and sometimes questionable quality control.
"I have empathy for the consumer. . . . It's hard to tell, given the current labeling system, what you're going to get," said Paul Hooker, president of New Jersey-based Sferra Bros., a luxury linens company.
Some within the industry hope White's lawsuit will compel manufacturers to improve labeling and respect strict definitions of thread count. But in the meantime, textile experts say, consumers can help themselves by relying on their own senses and by letting go of the one industry measure to which they still cling: their thread-count fixation.
Currently, manufacturers have no agreed-upon standard for counting the number of vertical and horizontal threads in a one-inch square of fabric -- the definition of thread count. The American Society for Testing and Materials International (ASTM) established guidelines saying all threads, including multi-ply yarns, can only be counted once. U.S. manufacturers adhere to the rule, but many foreign manufacturers do not, according to Norma Keyes, director of fiber quality research at Cotton Inc., an industry trade group based in Cary, N.C.
Thread count "was seen as a way to differentiate one product from another, and by inference, convey to a consumer that more is better. But in fact, higher thread count doesn't always mean you have a higher-quality sheet," Keyes said.
|
I n February 2003, massage therapist April White of Clermont, Fla., decided to splurge on her customers, buying luxurious 800-thread-count sheets for her massage table. She spent $169.99 for a queen set at Bed Bath & Beyond, but when she got the linens home and washed them, she found them any...
| 11.903226 | 0.983871 | 58.080645 |
low
|
high
|
extractive
|
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/17/AR2008051702425.html
|
https://web.archive.org/web/2008051819id_/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/17/AR2008051702425.html
|
Rival Camps Plan Inevitable Merger
|
2008051819
|
Despite Obama's apparently insurmountable lead in delegates needed to claim the nomination, aides to both candidates are resigned to the idea that the Democratic contest will continue at least through June 3, when Montana and South Dakota will cast the final votes of the primary season.
But in small gatherings around Washington and in planning sessions for party unity events in New York and Boston in coming weeks, fundraisers and surrogates from both camps are discussing how they can put aside the vitriol of the past 18 months and move forward to ensure that the eventual nominee has the resources to defeat Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) in November.
Mark Aronchick, a Philadelphia lawyer who has raised more than $1 million for Clinton's bid, said that while her supporters have not given up on their candidate, they recognize the need to start preparing for the general election.
"Only if we do this right, and see this through in the right way, will there be a chance for a full, rapid and largely complete unification of the party," Aronchick said.
Aronchick was one of about 35 Clinton and Obama insiders who attended a dinner last week in Washington aimed at what he characterized as helping the two sides "grope towards unity."
The gathering, held at the Ritz-Carlton residence of Jim Johnson and Maxine Isaacs, was a fundraiser for the Democratic National Committee at which former Treasury secretary Robert Rubin was honored. But the guests were well aware of the symbolism as they sipped cocktails and admired the views of the Potomac River and the Washington Monument. The event honoring a prominent Clinton supporter was held at the home of an Obama backer and co-hosted by another, former senator Thomas A. Daschle (S.D.).
"The people there had all picked sides," one attendee said. "There was a sense that there is an obligation to lead by example."
While there was little outright talk of how the primary campaign would end, guests confirmed that DNC Chairman Howard Dean set the tone with a speech in which he emphasized that despite the protracted nomination fight, he is already instituting a plan to combat McCain.
The message was clear, according to one attendee, who said, "You don't go anywhere anymore where there isn't a sense that this is over and this is about how people behave over the next month."
Even with the work in top levels of the party to broker a detente between Obama and Clinton donors, both sides acknowledge there is much still to be done.
Top fundraisers have invested not only their time and money but also their emotions in the primary battle. Major financial backers say the tensions have been particularly acute in recent weeks as frustrations have mounted in both camps.
|
Top fundraisers for Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama have begun private talks aimed at merging the two candidates' teams, not waiting for the Democratic nominating process to end before they start preparations for a hard-fought fall campaign.
| 11.8 | 0.6 | 0.955556 |
low
|
low
|
abstractive
|
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/16/AR2008051601068.html
|
https://web.archive.org/web/2008051819id_/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/16/AR2008051601068.html
|
Letting Her Hair Down, but Still Keeping Up Appearances
|
2008051819
|
There are countless style outlets, but only Vogue takes as much glee in the public transformation of buttoned-up political types and businesswomen into glamourpusses.
Other magazines do makeovers. They doll folks up and indulge in artistic portraiture. But Vogue aims for iconic imagery that strikes at the core of how this culture defines and relates to beauty. A lot of elements come into play in crafting these photos, but ultimately, the question comes down to: How does she look? The answer is generally: Better than she ever has before . . . and possibly ever will again.
What to make of those snapshots of female splendor?
The images of Cindy McCain in the June issue of the magazine were taken by Norman Jean Roy, whose photographs of non-models generally have a sun-kissed vitality. Roy, for instance, was responsible for a striking Vogue photograph of the designer Donatella Versace -- post-rehab -- sitting on the beach in jeans and a T-shirt and without the usual Crayola palette of makeup on her face. Her multitude of excesses had given way to a picture of healthy restraint.
Roy excels at capturing a quiet joie de vivre, and he often seems to find it on a beach and accompanied by windblown hair.
So that is where one finds Cindy McCain, wife of the presumptive Republican presidential nominee John McCain. She is stretched out on a chaise longue at her waterfront condo in California. She's wearing Lucky Brand jeans, which the story later tells us are a size 0, which we will accept without comment, and a Michael Kors sweater. Her feet, with a red pedicure, are bare. She's twisted on her side with her arms crossed in front of her chest and her blond hair -- loosed from its usual controlled coif -- is blowing in a breeze.
If there is one word the picture seems to be aggressively striving to evoke, it would be "relaxed." McCain's studied repose is in direct contrast to the image she projects in campaign photographs in which she is pressed, polished and so stiffly poised that she often looks like a wax replica of a political spouse. There's nothing especially natural or nonchalant about her Vogue portrait. One can almost see the fingerprints of the assistant who adjusted her hands just so and one wonders how long she had to hold her head at what looks to be an uncomfortable angle. But the implied message is unmistakable: I am not a Stepford wife.
McCain appears to be working to shatter a public image of the pretty -- but starched -- accessory. She recently joked with Jay Leno on "The Tonight Show" and the host seemed almost dismayed at her willingness to converse with him. Her philanthropic work receives significant attention in the accompanying Vogue story. And in the photos, when she's not sunning in a chair, she's reclining on rocks and looking more like a California starlet than a traditional first lady.
Michelle Obama, the wife of the kinda-sorta-probably Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama, was Vogue-ified last fall. She was photographed by Annie Leibovitz, who has a reputation for getting celebrities to do practically anything for her, including, if one is to believe Miley Cyrus, de-Disney-fy oneself by flaunting her naked back in the pages of Vanity Fair.
In contrast to the informality of the McCain image, Obama is photographed far more formally. She is shot in profile from the shoulders up with her hair scrunched into a loose French twist -- a style she suggested after nixing an intentionally messy hairdo that she said made her look "like I just got out of bed." She's wearing a single drop earring and is depicted as a cross between Jackie Kennedy and Vermeer's "Girl With a Pearl Earring." The photograph shouts traditional, classic and controlled. Even in a secondary photo of the family sitting on the grass in their back yard, she's wearing a strand of pearls.
Obama's photos seemed crafted specifically to help the viewer imagine her in the role of first lady. She is a study in little black dresses, conservative pearls, preppy hair and restraint. Again, the implied message is unmistakable: I am neither subversive nor threatening. I am not some scary "other." I am Camelot with a tan.
McCain's image aims to excite the eyes. Obama's offers reassurance.
So far, Bill Clinton has not been glammed up by Vogue. Hillary Clinton was offered a sitting and declined. One wonders if she had taken advantage of the opportunity to craft a photo what it might have said. Would she have chosen to be photographed in working-class Wranglers and a brightly colored blazer? Or would she have gone in a more regal direction?
By now, Michelle Obama and Cindy McCain have gotten used to the constant presence of photographers. They know they're being watched and their appearance parsed. Indeed, sometimes McCain doesn't just look as though she has been made up to be camera-ready -- she veers into the Norma Desmond, ready-for-my-close-up territory. The chances of getting a candid photograph have become slim. Nothing remains uncalculated when one's public life is lived in the shadow of a Secret Service detail and a press pool. So it becomes more difficult to glean something honest from one of their photographs.
So one is left examining photos that are posed, the ones that have been created with a village of stylists, sittings editors, lighting experts, retouchers and advisers. Those images may not provide a window on the subject's soul, but they do say something about the way in which she would like to be perceived.
|
There are countless style outlets, but only Vogue takes as much glee in the public transformation of buttoned-up political types and businesswomen into glamourpusses.
| 39.321429 | 1 | 28 |
high
|
high
|
extractive
|
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/story/2008/05/17/ST2008051702711.html
|
https://web.archive.org/web/2008051819id_/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/story/2008/05/17/ST2008051702711.html
|
Fledgling Rebellion on Facebook Is Struck Down by Force in Egypt
|
2008051819
|
CAIRO -- At 1:49 a.m. in an Internet cafe only then quieting after Cairo's daily rumble, 27-year-old Ahmed Maher worked at a computer. He wore the same shirt he had had on for two days. The essentials of his life on the run lay splayed out next to his keyboard -- car keys, cigarettes, prepaid cellphone.
Maher pursed his lips, typing intently. His dream of a people's uprising organized on Facebook was beginning to slip through his scrabbling fingers.
Worries about the risks of political activism in Egypt were spilling onto his screen. It won't work, one man wrote. The government's already infiltrated us, wrote another. This is stupid, wrote a third.
Since late March, 74,000 people had registered on a Facebook page created and run by Maher and a few other young Egyptians, most of them newcomers to activism. Even some of Egypt's older, more disillusioned proponents of democracy had let themselves hope that a social networking Web site created by American college students could become an electronic rallying point for protest against President Hosni Mubarak's 27-year rule.
But the experience of the Facebook activists showed the limits of technology as a means of organizing dissent against a repressive government. Maher would end up among what rights groups said were 500 Egyptians arrested during two months of political activism in Egypt -- and find himself stripped and beaten in a Cairo police station, he said.
In the pre-dawn hours of Sunday, May 4, the day of a planned strike, the failure of his Facebook movement was only just becoming clear. Maher and other organizers worked to prop up the spirits of their supporters. We've got to do something, Maher insisted online.
At 7 a.m., he leaned back and let himself close his eyes for the first time that night. Opening them again an hour later, he saw a message saying his account had been shut down. He had sent so many messages, Facebook suspected him of spamming.
Israa Abdel Fattah, a 27-year-old human resources administrator with no political experience, launched the online movement with Maher, sending out an open invitation to join an April 6 strike against Egypt's rising food prices.
When the strike overlapped with a textile workers' walkout over low wages and soaring prices, the result was one of the most dramatic political protests in Egypt in years.
In the city of El Mahalla el Kubra, two hours from Cairo, security forces battled civilians, killing at least two people and injuring dozens. Many in Egypt gasped at scenes of protesters toppling a giant billboard of Mubarak, wondering if it marked a turning point.
Security forces around the country arrested hundreds, including Abdel Fattah, who had become known as "Facebook Girl" after she co-founded the April 6 group. She came out of jail swearing off activism.
Maher took over for the May 4 strike, called to mark Mubarak's 80th birthday.
|
CAIRO -- At 1:49 a.m. in an Internet cafe only then quieting after Cairo's daily rumble, 27-year-old Ahmed Maher worked at a computer. He wore the same shirt he had had on for two days. The essentials of his life on the run lay splayed out next to his keyboard -- car keys, cigarettes, prepaid...
| 8.875 | 0.984375 | 62.015625 |
low
|
high
|
extractive
|
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/13/AR2008051302197.html
|
https://web.archive.org/web/2008051819id_/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/13/AR2008051302197.html
|
Going Underground in Cairo
|
2008051819
|
If he came to meet us anywhere for interviews, Maher stipulated, he'd need us to help push-start his car afterward.
I considered whether pushing an activist's car could be seen as reporter bias. Then I reasoned that if Gamal Mubarak, the influential son of President Hosni Mubarak, ever asked me for a push-start, I would certainly help him too. I agreed to Maher's condition.
For my Egyptian colleague Nora Younis and me, Maher's request marked the beginning of six days that encapsulated the sad and often lonely struggles of activists in Egypt, where security forces routinely use torture and have arrested thousands of people over the years to crush dissent.
We set up rendezvous by text message, out of the suspicion that one or all of our phones were tapped. We met at out-of-the way cafés to hear Maher's plans for the protests, and his hopes that Facebook would prove to be a new way to rally Egyptians.
A text message at midnight brought Nora and me to an all-night Internet café. Nora and I nodded in our chairs for hours in the early hours of May 4 while strangers surfed porn and Maher tried to raise the spirits of his Facebook troops for the protests planned for that day.
Hours later we drove with Maher as he took in the failure of his organizing effort. Cairo's streets were as crowded as ever. In the car, we heard him take a call from his young wife. Distraught over the dangers of his political activity, she had taken their 3-month-old daughter and moved back to her parents.
"This is the lamest strike," one of my reporting colleagues text-messaged, as journalists drove around Cairo looking for signs of protests.
Three days later, Nora grew worried about Maher -- no one had seen him, or heard from him that day. She feared he'd been arrested.
Maher called after his release on May 8. He told us what had happened to him: The first time he'd tried to go back to his house, still empty of his wife and child, police had arrested him, handcuffed him and blindfolded him. Police and security forces had beaten him for 14 hours. Between each round of beating, they'd rubbed his back with cream, trying to minimize the marks, he said. Despite their efforts, the livid, bruising imprints of fingers splattered his back and neck.
Security forces made clear they had been listening in on Maher's calls, he said. One of their questions, he said, was about a 3 a.m. call he'd made to Nora -- one of those times when he had called looking for a push-start.
Nora and I took photos of his injuries at his hospital. We made jokes and teased him like you would on any hospital visit, trying to give the patient a break from dark thoughts.
Lots of foreigners marvel at how resigned Egyptians seem about having a small ruling elite control all the country's power and wealth. My six days with Maher were a reminder why that is: They've had it beaten into them.
|
CAIRO, Egypt -- Facebook activist Ahmed Maher set one condition for our request to follow him as he went underground to plan a national protest against Egypt's government.
| 19.806452 | 0.709677 | 0.774194 |
medium
|
low
|
abstractive
|
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/17/AR2008051702736.html
|
https://web.archive.org/web/2008051819id_/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/17/AR2008051702736.html
|
Andrew Beyer - Hard to Measure
|
2008051819
|
Thoroughbred racing always is hungry for a new hero. And the sport particularly is desperate for a hero after the death of the filly Eight Belles tarnished the Kentucky Derby and produced a torrent of bad publicity. So it was understandable that Big Brown's victory in the Preakness would be greeted with elation and lavish superlatives.
"In 27 years of riding, I never saw a horse accelerate like this one," declared Gary Stevens, the Hall of Fame jockey who now is an NBC commentator.
"This is the horse of a lifetime, said Kent Desormeaux, who rode the winner.
Amid all this excitement, combined with the general relief that nothing catastrophic happened all day at Pimlico, only a spoilsport would point out that Big Brown's ridiculously easy victory didn't tell us whether he is a great horse -- or just the dominant member of a weak thoroughbred crop.
Rarely do a horse and rider win any kind of race -- let alone a major stakes -- with such obvious disdain for the competition. After Desormeaux put Big Brown into perfect stalking position behind two pacesetters, he was totally confident he could take command of the Preakness at will. He kept his mount under iron restraint, looking under his shoulder, looking to his side to see if anybody was mounting a challenge. Nobody was. Turning into the stretch, Desormeaux urged Big Brown -- without using the whip -- for about a dozen strides, and left his 11 rivals far in his wake.
With the race under control, he said, "I just stopped riding." As Desormeaux forcefully applied the brakes to Big Brown, he was thinking three weeks ahead to the Belmont Stakes. He wanted to keep some energy in the tank before Big Brown attempts to become the first winner of the Triple Crown since Affirmed in 1978.
Big Brown's performance surely gave the impression that his potential is limitless. Indeed, so did his runaway Kentucky Derby victory. But experienced race-watchers and handicappers know that these win-under-a-hammerlock victories are frequently deceptive. In 2006, Bernardini captured the Preakness and a series of major stakes races so easily that it appeared he could sprout wings and fly if his jockey ever turned him loose. But when he finally encountered a formidable opponent, Invasor, in the Breeders' Cup Classic, he didn't show a new dimension to his talent. Invasor beat him decisively. It is an enduring truth of the game: Horses don't prove much by winning easy. They prove themselves by beating good competition.
Big Brown has not yet faced rivals who can challenge him. The supporting cast in the 133rd Preakness was a pitiful group, with only two graded stakes winners among them. The competition was so weak that bettors made Gayego the second choice in the wagering, even though he had lost the Derby by 36 3/4 lengths. The Derby field had been an unusually weak one as well. And in the race that marked Big Brown's emergence as a leading 3-year-old, the Florida Derby, his competition was negligible.
In his five-race career, Big Brown still has not beaten a horse of real quality, nor has he been fast enough to prove he is a horse for the ages. His Kentucky Derby time was on par with recent winners such as Street Sense; his Preakness time of 1 minute 54.8 seconds on a lightning-fast Pimlico track was undistinguished, thanks to Desormeaux's restraint.
Of course, it's not Big Brown's fault that he was born into a sub-par thoroughbred generation. But if the colt is going to have his name linked with the likes of Affirmed, Seattle Slew, Secretariat and Citation -- the last four Triple Crown winners -- racing fans want to see him do something more than beat bad horses handily.
Perhaps Big Brown finally will get a challenge when he faces the intriguing Casino Drive three weeks hence. A superbly bred half-brother to two Belmont Stakes winners, the colt won his racing debut in Japan and then captured a prep for the Belmont by five lengths. However, the definitive test for Big Brown -- as for most 3-year-olds -- ought to come when he faces older horses in the fall. If he runs against Curlin, the 2007 Preakness winner and horse of the year, nobody will ever again question the quality of his opposition.
Because Big Brown lives in an era when the top thoroughbred stallions are extraordinarily valuable, he will have limited opportunities to show his stuff. On Saturday his majority owner, the IEAH Stable, sealed a $50 million deal to send Big Brown to Three Chimneys Farm for stud duty next year. When a horse is worth so much money, the owner and the breeder who buy him may be reluctant to risk defeats that might tarnish his reputation. In recent years, outstanding Preakness winners such as Point Given (2001), Smarty Jones (2004) and Afleet Alex (2005) all were retired before they ever had the chance to face older rivals.
People who understand the economics of the game would not bet that they ever will see a Big Brown vs. Curlin confrontation. It is possible that Big Brown could leave the sport before anyone knows how good he might be.
|
Horses don't prove much by winning easy but rather by beating good competition and Big Brown has not yet faced worthy challengers.
| 42 | 0.875 | 4.958333 |
high
|
medium
|
mixed
|
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/17/AR2008051702731.html
|
https://web.archive.org/web/2008051819id_/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/17/AR2008051702731.html
|
Big Brown's Stud Rights Sold for $50 Million to Three Chimneys Farm
|
2008051819
|
BALTIMORE, May 17 -- On the day Big Brown won the second leg of the Triple Crown, it was announced he would stand at stud beginning next year at Three Chimneys Farm in Midway, Ky., the home of the late Triple Crown winner Seattle Slew.
No terms of the deal were announced by the IEAH Stable ownership or the farm. The Daily Racing Form said the deal is worth $50 million.
"We have entertained a variety of flattering offers but felt Three Chimneys was the best choice for us," IEAH co-owner Michael Iavarone said in a statement. Two other horses that won the Kentucky Derby and Preakness -- Silver Charm and Smarty Jones -- also stand at Three Chimneys.
"Three Chimneys is thrilled to have the privilege to stand a horse of Big Brown's caliber," farm owner Robert Clay said. "Having won every race he's run with such ease, I don't think we've actually seen what he's truly capable of."
The postrace analysis of the horses in the Kentucky Derby came back negative for all 19 runners, said John Veitch, the chief steward at Churchill Downs. "They tested for about 250 drugs and all things were negative," Veitch said.
Pays to Dream Wins Dixie
The most emphatic victory on the Preakness Day card came from an unlikely source, as the 4-year-old gelding Pays to Dream won the 107th Grade II $250,000 Dixie for 3-year-olds and up on the turf.
The only other time Pays to Dream had run on a soft turf course, he had stumbled and lost his rider, Javier Castellano. On Saturday, however, Castellano stayed on, roared out of last place down the lane and drew away to win by 7 1/2 lengths at 19-1 odds.
The winner ran the 1 1/8 -mile race on a soft turf course with plenty of give in a slow 1 minute 54.74 seconds and paid $40.40 to win.
"I had a beautiful trip today, a dream trip," Castellano said. "He passed the others and went by them so easy. He really exploded. I liked the way he opened up on the field."
Starforaday rallied powerfully past dueling leaders under jockey Edgar Prado to win the six-furlong Grade III $100,000 Maryland Sprint Handicap, for 3-year-olds and up, by a neck over Suave Jazz.
The victory was the first for the 5-year-old trained by Gary Contessa since Travers Day last August at Saratoga, when he won an allowance race by three lengths at 27-1 odds.
The winning time was a fast 1:09.56.
Starforaday, at the time trained by Donna Wormser, was subsequently disqualified for a postrace positive test for clenbuterol, a bronchodilator banned on race day in New York.
Wormser was fined $1,000 and suspended for 30 days.
The horse races under the banner of Winning Move Stable, headed by Steven Sigler, whose daughter, Jamie-Lynn Sigler, portrayed Meadow Soprano in the HBO series "The Sopranos."
Roman Emperor, a 3-year-old colt who fell off the Triple Crown trail after finishing 23 1/2 lengths behind Tale of Ekati in the Wood Memorial on April 5, rebounded to win the $100,000 Barbaro Stakes.
Ridden by Jeremy Rose, winning his second race on the card, Roman Emperor kept close contact with leader Da'Tara and then won a protracted stretch duel by a half-length. The winning time was a sharp 1:42.10.
Heros Reward, the 2007 Maryland-bred horse of the year, shined on Preakness Day for the second straight year, winning the $100,000 Turf Sprint for 3-year-olds and up.
Ridden by Castellano and trained at Laurel Park by Dale Capuano, Heros Reward raced five wide early in the 11-horse field and then outdueled True to Tradition in the stretch to win by a neck.
The winner ran the five-furlong race in 59.19 and paid $5.60 as the heavy favorite. Jockey Jeremy Rose, who rode the runner-up, filed an objection for interference that the stewards disallowed.
|
Get sports news,schedules,rosters for Washington Redskins,Wizards,Orioles,United,Mystics,Nationals. Features Washington DC,Virginia,Maryland high school/college teams,Wilbon and Kornheiser from The Washington Post.
| 18.833333 | 0.404762 | 0.404762 |
medium
|
low
|
abstractive
|
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/17/AR2008051701363.html
|
https://web.archive.org/web/2008051819id_/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/17/AR2008051701363.html
|
Kennedy Is Hospitalized After Seizure
|
2008051819
|
The 76-year-old senior senator from Massachusetts was awake and joking with his family by late afternoon, according to a source close to the Kennedy family who spoke on the condition of anonymity. By early evening, he was watching a Boston Red Sox game and ordering dinner from Legal Seafood, the source said.
Larry Ronan, Kennedy's primary-care physician, released a statement saying Kennedy was "not in any immediate danger."
"Senator Kennedy will undergo further evaluation to determine the cause of the seizure, and a course of treatment will be determined at that time," Ronan's statement said.
Further information on his prognosis is not likely until Monday, said a spokeswoman, Stephanie Cutter.
Ominous early reports about Kennedy's strokelike symptoms elevated concerns, but the point became moot by afternoon. In his statement, Ronan said Kennedy had not suffered a stroke, and Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) said he had spoken with Kennedy's wife, Victoria, and gotten the same news.
Kennedy's condition was not life-threatening but was serious, Reid told reporters at the Nevada Democratic Convention in Reno. Victoria Reggie Kennedy told Reid the ailing senator "woke up fighting."
"The one thing I can say, if there ever was a fighter, anyone who stood for what we as Americans, we as Democrats, stand for, it's Ted Kennedy," Reid said.
Rep. Patrick J. Kennedy (D-R.I.), Sen. Kennedy's son, was by his bedside, as was Caroline Kennedy, his niece. John F. Kerry (D), the junior senator from Massachusetts, visited the hospital.
First-time seizures in someone Kennedy's age can have many causes, including stroke, bleeding in the brain, tumors, alcohol withdrawal and severe derangements of bloodstream chemicals. Such seizures are not rare.
"Beyond childhood, the elderly years are actually the most common time to develop seizures," said Gregory L. Krauss, a neurologist and epilepsy specialist at Johns Hopkins Hospital. "About half the time, it's linked to cerebrovascular disease, often without the person having a full stroke. Sometimes there is just a history of hypertension."
Kennedy, however, has had cerebrovascular disease. Last year, he underwent a procedure to widen a partially blocked left carotid artery, which supplies blood to much of the brain. The procedure is sometimes done preventively if the narrowing is severe enough; Kennedy's was described as "very high-grade" by his physician.
|
Edward M. Kennedy, a liberal Democratic icon of the Senate and the surviving patriarch of American political royalty, suffered a seizure at his home in Hyannis Port, Mass., yesterday and was rushed by helicopter to Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, hospital officials said.
| 10.081633 | 0.653061 | 0.816327 |
low
|
low
|
abstractive
|
http://blog.washingtonpost.com/the-trail/2008/05/17/obama_offers_prayers_for_sen_k.html
|
https://web.archive.org/web/2008051819id_/http://blog.washingtonpost.com/the-trail/2008/05/17/obama_offers_prayers_for_sen_k.html
|
Presidential Candidates Offer Prayers for Sen. Kennedy
|
2008051819
|
The Post's Dan Balz speaks with washingtonpost.com's Ed O'Keefe about the legacy of Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.). (Photos By The Post, Reuters, AP; video by Ed O'Keefe.)
Updated 2:03 p.m. By Matthew Mosk EUGENE, Ore. -- Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) was transported by helicopter from Cape Cod Hospital to Massachusetts General Hospital this morning after an emergency call from the Kennedy compound in Hyannis Port. The Boston Globe is reporting that doctors believe Kennedy "suffered a seizure at his home in Hyannis Port this morning, then a second seizure as he was being transported by helicopter from Cape Cod Hospital."
"He is undergoing a battery of tests at Massachusetts General Hospital to determine the cause of the seizure," said his spokesperson, Stephanie Cutter. "Senator Kennedy is resting comfortably, and it is unlikely we will know anything more for the next 48 hours."
The hospital is expected to provide a briefing this afternoon on the condition of the 76-year old Kennedy, who joined the Senate in 1962.
Sen. Barack Obama, who has enjoyed Kennedy's aggressive backing in the race for the Democratic presidential nomination, offered his prayers and best wishes while on a campaign stop at a hospital in Eugene, Ore.
Before meeting with nurses at Sacred Heart Medical Center, Obama asked to say a few words about Kennedy.
"I know a lot of you are interested in the situation with Senator Kennedy. I have been in contact with the family. Obviously they are in our thoughts and prayers," Obama said.
Obama said he spoke this morning with Victoria Reggie Kennedy, the senator's wife.
"They, I am sure, will be releasing some sort of a statement when they have a better assessment of what the situation is. But you know, as I have said many times before, Senator Kennedy is a giant in American political history," Obama said.
"He has done more for the health care of others than just about anybody in history. So we are going to be rooting for him. And I insist on being optimistic about how it is going to turn out," he said.
Sens. John McCain and Hillary Clinton also issued statements about the Massachusetts Democrat.
"I was very sorry to hear that Senator Kennedy has taken ill, and like millions of Americans, Cindy and I anxiously await word of his condition. Senator Kennedy's role in the U.S. Senate cannot be overstated," McCain said.
"He is a legendary lawmaker, and I have the highest respect for him," his statement continued. "When we have worked together, he has been a skillful, fair and generous partner. I consider it a great privilege to call him my friend. Cindy and I are praying for our friend, his wife, Vicki and the Kennedy family."
Clinton, campaigning in Kentucky, said: "My thoughts and prayers are with Ted Kennedy and his family today. We all wish him well and a quick recovery."
Posted at 1:17 PM ET on May 17, 2008 Share This: Technorati | Tag in Del.icio.us | Digg This Previous: Huckabee Apologizes for Obama Joke | Next: In Oregon, Obama Samples Local Flavors
Add The Trail to Your Site
Posted by: 9i7q7k8t9t | June 9, 2008 5:48 AM | Report abuse
Posted by: ex4t67o8oh | June 7, 2008 7:35 PM | Report abuse
Posted by: ex4t67o8oh | June 7, 2008 7:34 PM | Report abuse
amended comment of dr kamal karna k roy , a gop presidential lawful hopeful and andidate against john mcCain u s senator who is alleged with civil and criminal iolations against u s a govt in influenced peddling for benefit of sex related pursuits for free in paxson business _ 40+ old female lobbyist_mccain scandal at high places of u s govt system and 74 coplaint were filed against the senator et al for deep rooted corruptions in u s politicking system including fact that mccain is illegally and underhandedly use and abuse fund of national ewpublican committee funds to compensate the gap of finance money in comparison to giant fund raised by obama camp in corrupt circumstances of u s presidential campaign 2008 for u predidency whereas the fact is though dr ro did not participate in state primaries in protest of corruptionms in campaigns in 2007-08 but dr roy campaigned with outsoured fund and campaigning and spent over six millions u s $ worth money in $ and foreign currency as law permitted and he remained a lawful gop candidate as mr clean gop nominee for u s presidency. if and when gop discriminatorily funds mccain without providing fund to dr roy mccain will stand in limbi to be if elected president u s and his election shall be challenged on new ground of campaign funding illegally without considering dr roy's equal funding. see below: Calendar / Events Campaign Tracker The Primaries Interaction Live Q&A: Post Politics Hour (M-F, 11 a.m. ET) Polls Latest Surveys Behind the Numbers Presidential Candidates Offer Prayers for Sen. Kennedy Note: Please upgrade your Flash plug-in to view our enhanced content. The Post's Dan Balz speaks with washingtonpost.com's Ed O'Keefe about the legacy of Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.). (Photos By The Post, Reuters, AP; video by Ed O'Keefe.)
Updated 2:03 p.m. By Matthew Mosk EUGENE, Ore. -- Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) was transported by helicopter from Cape Cod Hospital to Massachusetts General Hospital this morning after an emergency call from the Kennedy compound in Hyannis Port. The Boston Globe is reporting that doctors believe Kennedy "suffered a seizure at his home in Hyannis Port this morning, then a second seizure as he was being transported by helicopter from Cape Cod Hospital."
"He is undergoing a battery of tests at Massachusetts General Hospital to determine the cause of the seizure," said his spokesperson, Stephanie Cutter. "Senator Kennedy is resting comfortably, and it is unlikely we will know anything more for the next 48 hours."
The hospital is expected to provide a briefing this afternoon on the condition of the 76-year old Kennedy, who joined the Senate in 1962.
Sen. Barack Obama, who has enjoyed Kennedy's aggressive backing in the race for the Democratic presidential nomination, offered his prayers and best wishes while on a campaign stop at a hospital in Eugene, Ore.
Before meeting with nurses at Sacred Heart Medical Center, Obama asked to say a few words about Kennedy.
"I know a lot of you are interested in the situation with Senator Kennedy. I have been in contact with the family. Obviously they are in our thoughts and prayers," Obama said.
Obama said he spoke this morning with Victoria Reggie Kennedy, the senator's wife.
"They, I am sure, will be releasing some sort of a statement when they have a better assessment of what the situation is. But you know, as I have said many times before, Senator Kennedy is a giant in American political history," Obama said.
"He has done more for the health care of others than just about anybody in history. So we are going to be rooting for him. And I insist on being optimistic about how it is going to turn out," he said.
Sens. John McCain and Hillary Clinton also issued statements about the Massachusetts Democrat.
"I was very sorry to hear that Senator Kennedy has taken ill, and like millions of Americans, Cindy and I anxiously await word of his condition. Senator Kennedy's role in the U.S. Senate cannot be overstated," McCain said.
"He is a legendary lawmaker, and I have the highest respect for him," his statement continued. "When we have worked together, he has been a skillful, fair and generous partner. I consider it a great privilege to call him my friend. Cindy and I are praying for our friend, his wife, Vicki and the Kennedy family."
Clinton, campaigning in Kentucky, said: "My thoughts and prayers are with Ted Kennedy and his family today. We all wish him well and a quick recovery."
Posted at 1:17 PM ET on May 17, 2008 Share This: Technorati | Tag in Del.icio.us | Digg This
CommentsPlease email us to report offensive comments.
the rev dr kamal karna karuna roy gop surving hopeful besides john mcCain, u s senator who participated in gop state primaries . in 2007-2008 but dr roy did not participate in primaries in ballot in protest to corruption and 100% violations of equities in u s presidential campaign but continu an outsource campaign mostly with funds raised world wide from u s organizations abrod and u s citizens living abroad, and legally non resident and resident permanent residents who were eligible to fund election of campaign, such lawful fundraisers raised about 6.2 millons or u s dollars or equivalent in foreign currency b and spent all money and some above , and dr kamal k roy outsource operation in campaign for u s presidency remained a dozen timeslower in amount to suffer deficits in campaign of presidency, u s 2008 in comparison to obama, hillary clinton and john mccin now in recent publications including news reports in he new york times last week or o of5.26 . 2008, that gop super lords in usa forgot that gop is a recognized u s nationl party and such party is organized by we the people for equitable use of funds, but gop is planning to finance mcCain campaign to equate fund to possiby contest general election of no 4, 2008. dr roy is a gop candidate and 100% hopeful to be nominee though underdog candidate at the nominating convention of gop expected in later months before genera election as stated. the issue is dr roy moved to 74+ u s district courts in diverse u s legal jurisdictions, one including u s d c for northrn dstrict of caifornia at 450 golden gate avenue , sanfrancisco, CA and magistrate judge did order primary conference for an action caused by allegations, sy high, oceandee, internet speeded volumous corruptions by defendants includingmcCain obama, linton as beneficiaries of corruptions and all defendants were violative of fair laws or such parties viz u s a govt, election boards in us, states of usa, u samerican democratic, human_animals' onceived god/s o leligions of people of usa, such god/s, all failed the weaker community basedu s candidates viz dr kamal roy an ordained clergy of usa, an u s Mb a from suny maritim college, new york ciy in fort schuyler, n y ,1974, college i and social security number 578 80 4399,&ph.d in management, d. d (doctorate n divinity0,LL. B (law) frm accredited foreign schools, he also earned a us diploma of ccomplishments in public admn from u s d a graduate chool, washington dc, 1972,id # 578 80 4399. drroy now, on 5.25. 2008 moved to u ds d court fo colorado district at denver 901 19 st, CO 82202 at Denver to orderpostponement of u s presidential election scheduled on nov 4, 2008 for corruption in campaign. as corruption was found in all jurisdictions of usdc , the damages in u s trillions of dallars were prorated and damages were claimed as state of the jurisdiction was a defendant in 74= ACTIONS,CIVIL VIOLATIONS,AND USA WAS A COMMON DEFENDANT IN 74+ ACTIONS LAWFULLY ILLY FIL. uSA IA A DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC ND A MEMBER OF UNO, NEW YOK, HOUSED IN US.USA T AL FAILED WEAKER COMMUNITY CANDIDATE VIZ DR KAMAL ROY .HE HAD TO MOVE TO COURTS TO LAWFULLY GET ELECTED AS GOP MR CLEAN AS THE U S PRESIDENT 2008. PL NOTE: U S CITIZENS BY BIRTH HAVE EQUITABLE RIGHT TO CONTEST AND CAN SECURE PLACE TO CONTEST U S PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION TO GET EOECTED UNDER LAWFUL TO GET ELECTED AS U S PRESDENT, POSSIBY OST COVETED PRIZE OF MODERN POITICS. RESTRAINTS,
Posted by: the rev dr kamal karna karuna roy a gop presidential lawfully registere by the federal election comm | May 26, 2008 7:25 AM
Posted by: THE REV DR KAMAL K ROY, A GOP HOPEFUL FOR US PRESIDENT 2008 IN CHAO OF ALLEGED CORRUPTION, LARGEST I | May 26, 2008 7:37 AM
the rev dr kamal karna karuna roy who was born and aka joseph geronimo jr, born in guam of u s citizen prents, then living in gum associated with guam military u s base on 3. 31. 2008gop surviving hopeful besides john mcCain, u s senator who participated in gop state primaries . in 2007-2008 but dr roy did not participate in primaries in ballot in protest to corruption and 100% violations of equities in u s presidential campaign but continu an outsource campaign mostly with funds raised world wide from u s organizations abrod and u s citizens living abroad, and legally non resident and resident permanent residents who were eligible to fund election of campaign, such lawful fundraisers raised about 6.2 millons or u s dollars or equivalent in foreign currency b and spent all money and some above , and dr kamal k roy outsource operation in campaign for u s presidency remained a dozen times reduced in amount to suffer deficits in campaign funding of presidency, u s 2008 ,in comparison to obama, hillary clinton and john mccain now in recent publications including news reports in he new york times last week or o of5.26 . 2008, that gop super lords in usa forgot that gop is a recognized u s nationl party and such party is organized by we the people for equitable use of funds, but gop is planning to finance mcCain campaign to equate fund to possiby contest general election of no 4, 2008. dr roy is a gop candidate and 100% hopeful to be nominee though underdog candidate at the nominating convention of gop expected in later months before genera election as stated. the issue is dr roy moved to 74+ u s district courts in diverse u s legal jurisdictions, one including u s d c for northrn dstrict of caifornia at 450 golden gate avenue , sanfrancisco, CA and magistrate judge did order primary conference for an action caused by allegations, sy high, oceandee, internet speeded volumous corruptions by defendants includingmcCain obama, linton as beneficiaries of corruptions and all defendants were violative of fair laws or such parties viz u s a govt, election boards in us, states of u sa, u s american democratic, human_animals' conceived god/s o religions of people of usa, such god/s, all failed the weaker community based u s candidates viz dr kamal roy an ordained clergy of usa, an u s M b a from s.u.n.y maritim college, new york ciy in fort schuyler, n y ,1974, college id and social security number 578 80 4399,&ph.d in management, d. d .(doctorate in divinity0,LL. B (law) frm accredited foreign schools, he also earned a us diploma of acomplishments in public admn from u s d a graduate chool, washington dc, 1972,id # 578 80 4399. drroy now, on 5.25. 2008 moved to u s d court for colorado district at denver 901 19 st, CO 82202 , at Denver to orderpostponement of u s presidential election scheduled on nov 4, 2008 for corruption in campaign. as corruption was found in all jurisdictions of usdc , the damages in u s trillions of dallars were prorated and damages were claimed as state of the jurisdiction was a defendant in 74= ACTIONS,CIVIL VIOLATIONS,AND USA WAS A COMMON DEFENDANT for being negligent ,IN 74+ civil ACTIONS LAWFULLY FILed. uSA Is A DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC ND A MEMBER OF UNO, NEW YOK, HOUSED IN US.USA eT AL FAILED WEAKER COMMUNITY CANDIDATE VIZ DR KAMAL ROY .HE HAD TO MOVE TO COURTS TO LAWFULLY GET ELECTED AS GOP MR CLEAN AS THE U S PRESIDENT 2008. PL NOTE: U S CITIZENS BY BIRTH HAVE EQUITABLE RIGHT TO CONTEST AND CAN SECURE PLACE TO CONTEST U S PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION or TO LAWFULly GET ELECTED AS U S PRESDENT, POSSIBY mOST COVETED PRIZE OF MODERN POITICS.& RESTRAINTS of laws.
Posted by: the rev dr kamal karna karuna roy a gop presidential lawfully registere by the federal election comm | May 26, 2008 7:25 AM
Posted by: rev dr kamal karna roy | May 26, 2008 10:42 PM | Report abuse
5.2. 2008 NEW YORK SOS SOS SOS hELP ME TO BE ELECTED U S PRESIDENT 2008 AS GOP MR CEAN NOT AS MCCAIN TYPE CLEAN, WHO WAS ALLEGED WITH CORRUPTIONS IN INFLUENCE PEDDIN FOR PEOPLE O HIS OPTION AGAINST INTERESTS OF USA GOVT, WE THE PEOPLE IN USA,BACKED BY 1/2 US BILLION $ WORTH WIFE ET AL:
NewsPoliticsBusinessEducationPhotos & VideoNationTechnologyKidsPostDiscussionsWorldEntertainmentReligionCorrectionsMetroHealthPost MagazineArchivesPoliticsPolitics BlogsHouse/Senate VotesWhite HouseCongress2008 CampaignIn DepthPollsIn the LoopDC | MD | VAOpinionsOpinions MainOutlookFeedbackDiscussion GroupsToles CartoonsOn FaithTelnaes AnimationsPostGlobalLocalMetro NewsWeatherLocal ExplorerJobsEducationTrafficCommunity GuidesCarsDC | MD | VACrimeThe ExtrasReal EstateColumns/BlogsObituariesLocal BusinessYellow PagesSportsRedskinsD.C. UnitedColumns/BlogsNFLNationalsCapitalsCollege FootballNHLWizardsHigh SchoolsLocal CollegesMLBArts & LivingStyleMoviesTravelFashion & BeautyHoroscopesCity GuideTelevisionBooksHome & GardenComicsEntertainment NewsFood & DiningMuseumsTheater & DanceCrosswordsCity GuideFind RestaurantsFind Local EventsFind MoviesVisitors GuideFind Bars & ClubsGoing Out GurusJobsSearch JobsCarsBuy a CarSell a CarExperts & AdviceDealer SpecialsCouponsReal EstateBuy a HomeSell a HomeProperty ValuesCommercial PropertiesRentalsFind a RentalRent Your PlaceShoppingShop NewDeals & DiscountsShopper BlogShop UsedSell Your StuffPets SEARCH:washingtonpost.comWeb| Search Archives washingtonpost.com > Politics> Elections The Trail: A Daily Diary of Campaign 2008Today's Top Political Stories | All û Clinton Is Seeking Wins in Last 3 Primaries Obama Accepts Clinton Account of RFK Remark Obama Redoubles Efforts to Reach Hispanic Voters
Ads by Google Think About Your Future Work From Home In The Most Explosive Industry On The Market www.AChosenLifestyle.com
Law of Attraction Is Real I Earn An Amazing Income From Using The Secret, You Can Too. Look... www.WealthyAsYouWant.com
Win $50,000 Sweepstakes Enter To Win Mobile Sweepstakes Big Cash Prizes. Enter Now! www.Predicto.com
McCain's Fantasy War on Earmarks John McCain has promised to save $100 billion by abolishing earmarks. His economic calculations contain a large dose of fantasy. ( 6:00 AM ET) | More û
THIS JUST IN Clinton Again Seeks to Explain RFK Remarks Sen. Hillary Clinton, addressing furor over her RFK remarks, fails to mention the widespread worry over Sen. Barack Obama's safety. --Anne E. Kornblut | More û
Obama Takes San Juan On visit to Puerto Rico, candidate leads his supporters on traditional "caminata" in advance of June 1 primary. | More û
Cindy McCain Releases 2006 Tax Returns Sen. John McCain's wife earned about $6 million in income in 2006 and paid taxes of about $1.7 million. --Michael D. Shear | More û
Clinton Invokes RFK Assassination In interview with South Dakota paper, she says efforts to force her from the race make "no sense" because of uncertainties of politics. --Anne E. Kornblut | More û
Archives Day | Week | Category RSS Feed More Campaign '08 Politics Newsletter (M-F) Sign-Up Here Multimedia Latest '08 Video Daily Politics Podcast Campaign Ads The Presidential Field Candidate Profiles Campaign Finance Campaign Gurus Calendar / Events Campaign Tracker The Primaries Interaction Live Q&A: Post Politics Hour (M-F, 11 a.m. ET) Polls Latest Surveys Behind the Numbers Presidential Candidates Offer Prayers for Sen. Kennedy Note: Please upgrade your Flash plug-in to view our enhanced content. The Post's Dan Balz speaks with washingtonpost.com's Ed O'Keefe about the legacy of Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.). (Photos By The Post, Reuters, AP; video by Ed O'Keefe.)
Updated 2:03 p.m. By Matthew Mosk EUGENE, Ore. -- Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) was transported by helicopter from Cape Cod Hospital to Massachusetts General Hospital this morning after an emergency call from the Kennedy compound in Hyannis Port. The Boston Globe is reporting that doctors believe Kennedy "suffered a seizure at his home in Hyannis Port this morning, then a second seizure as he was being transported by helicopter from Cape Cod Hospital."
"He is undergoing a battery of tests at Massachusetts General Hospital to determine the cause of the seizure," said his spokesperson, Stephanie Cutter. "Senator Kennedy is resting comfortably, and it is unlikely we will know anything more for the next 48 hours."
The hospital is expected to provide a briefing this afternoon on the condition of the 76-year old Kennedy, who joined the Senate in 1962.
Sen. Barack Obama, who has enjoyed Kennedy's aggressive backing in the race for the Democratic presidential nomination, offered his prayers and best wishes while on a campaign stop at a hospital in Eugene, Ore.
Before meeting with nurses at Sacred Heart Medical Center, Obama asked to say a few words about Kennedy.
"I know a lot of you are interested in the situation with Senator Kennedy. I have been in contact with the family. Obviously they are in our thoughts and prayers," Obama said.
Obama said he spoke this morning with Victoria Reggie Kennedy, the senator's wife.
"They, I am sure, will be releasing some sort of a statement when they have a better assessment of what the situation is. But you know, as I have said many times before, Senator Kennedy is a giant in American political history," Obama said.
"He has done more for the health care of others than just about anybody in history. So we are going to be rooting for him. And I insist on being optimistic about how it is going to turn out," he said.
Sens. John McCain and Hillary Clinton also issued statements about the Massachusetts Democrat.
"I was very sorry to hear that Senator Kennedy has taken ill, and like millions of Americans, Cindy and I anxiously await word of his condition. Senator Kennedy's role in the U.S. Senate cannot be overstated," McCain said.
"He is a legendary lawmaker, and I have the highest respect for him," his statement continued. "When we have worked together, he has been a skillful, fair and generous partner. I consider it a great privilege to call him my friend. Cindy and I are praying for our friend, his wife, Vicki and the Kennedy family."
Clinton, campaigning in Kentucky, said: "My thoughts and prayers are with Ted Kennedy and his family today. We all wish him well and a quick recovery."
Posted at 1:17 PM ET on May 17, 2008 Share This: Technorati | Tag in Del.icio.us | Digg This
CommentsPlease email us to report offensive comments.
the rev dr kamal karna karuna roy gop surving hopeful besides john mcCain, u s senator who participated in gop state primaries . in 2007-2008 but dr roy did not participate in primaries in ballot in protest to corruption and 100% violations of equities in u s presidential campaign but continu an outsource campaign mostly with funds raised world wide from u s organizations abrod and u s citizens living abroad, and legally non resident and resident permanent residents who were eligible to fund election of campaign, such lawful fundraisers raised about 6.2 millons or u s dollars or equivalent in foreign currency b and spent all money and some above , and dr kamal k roy outsource operation in campaign for u s presidency remained a dozen timeslower in amount to suffer deficits in campaign of presidency, u s 2008 in comparison to obama, hillary clinton and john mccin now in recent publications including news reports in he new york times last week or o of5.26 . 2008, that gop super lords in usa forgot that gop is a recognized u s nationl party and such party is organized by we the people for equitable use of funds, but gop is planning to finance mcCain campaign to equate fund to possiby contest general election of no 4, 2008. dr roy is a gop candidate and 100% hopeful to be nominee though underdog candidate at the nominating convention of gop expected in later months before genera election as stated. the issue is dr roy moved to 74+ u s district courts in diverse u s legal jurisdictions, one including u s d c for northrn dstrict of caifornia at 450 golden gate avenue , sanfrancisco, CA and magistrate judge did order primary conference for an action caused by allegations, sy high, oceandee, internet speeded volumous corruptions by defendants includingmcCain obama, linton as beneficiaries of corruptions and all defendants were violative of fair laws or such parties viz u s a govt, election boards in us, states of usa, u samerican democratic, human_animals' onceived god/s o leligions of people of usa, such god/s, all failed the weaker community basedu s candidates viz dr kamal roy an ordained clergy of usa, an u s Mb a from suny maritim college, new york ciy in fort schuyler, n y ,1974, college i and social security number 578 80 4399,&ph.d in management, d. d (doctorate n divinity0,LL. B (law) frm accredited foreign schools, he also earned a us diploma of ccomplishments in public admn from u s d a graduate chool, washington dc, 1972,id # 578 80 4399. drroy now, on 5.25. 2008 moved to u ds d court fo colorado district at denver 901 19 st, CO 82202 at Denver to orderpostponement of u s presidential election scheduled on nov 4, 2008 for corruption in campaign. as corruption was found in all jurisdictions of usdc , the damages in u s trillions of dallars were prorated and damages were claimed as state of the jurisdiction was a defendant in 74= ACTIONS,CIVIL VIOLATIONS,AND USA WAS A COMMON DEFENDANT IN 74+ ACTIONS LAWFULLY ILLY FIL. uSA IA A DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC ND A MEMBER OF UNO, NEW YOK, HOUSED IN US.USA T AL FAILED WEAKER COMMUNITY CANDIDATE VIZ DR KAMAL ROY .HE HAD TO MOVE TO COURTS TO LAWFULLY GET ELECTED AS GOP MR CLEAN AS THE U S PRESIDENT 2008. PL NOTE: U S CITIZENS BY BIRTH HAVE EQUITABLE RIGHT TO CONTEST AND CAN SECURE PLACE TO CONTEST U S PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION TO GET EOECTED UNDER LAWFUL TO GET ELECTED AS U S PRESDENT, POSSIBY OST COVETED PRIZE OF MODERN POITICS. RESTRAINTS,
Posted by: the rev dr kamal karna karuna roy a gop presidential lawfully registere by the federal election comm | May 26, 2008 7:25 AM
Posted by: THE REV DR KAMAL K ROY, A GOP HOPEFUL FOR US PRESIDENT 2008 IN CHAO OF ALLEGED CORRUPTION, LARGEST I | May 26, 2008 7:37 AM | Report abuse
the rev dr kamal karna karuna roy gop surving hopeful besides john mcCain, u s senator who participated in gop state primaries . in 2007-2008 but dr roy did not participate in primaries in ballot in protest to corruption and 100% violations of equities in u s presidential campaign but continu an outsource campaign mostly with funds raised world wide from u s organizations abrod and u s citizens living abroad, and legally non resident and resident permanent residents who were eligible to fund election of campaign, such lawful fundraisers raised about 6.2 millons or u s dollars or equivalent in foreign currency b and spent all money and some above , and dr kamal k roy outsource operation in campaign for u s presidency remained a dozen timeslower in amount to suffer deficits in campaign of presidency, u s 2008 in comparison to obama, hillary clinton and john mccin now in recent publications including news reports in he new york times last week or o of5.26 . 2008, that gop super lords in usa forgot that gop is a recognized u s nationl party and such party is organized by we the people for equitable use of funds, but gop is planning to finance mcCain campaign to equate fund to possiby contest general election of no 4, 2008. dr roy is a gop candidate and 100% hopeful to be nominee though underdog candidate at the nominating convention of gop expected in later months before genera election as stated. the issue is dr roy moved to 74+ u s district courts in diverse u s legal jurisdictions, one including u s d c for northrn dstrict of caifornia at 450 golden gate avenue , sanfrancisco, CA and magistrate judge did order primary conference for an action caused by allegations, sy high, oceandee, internet speeded volumous corruptions by defendants includingmcCain obama, linton as beneficiaries of corruptions and all defendants were violative of fair laws or such parties viz u s a govt, election boards in us, states of usa, u samerican democratic, human_animals' onceived god/s o leligions of people of usa, such god/s, all failed the weaker community basedu s candidates viz dr kamal roy an ordained clergy of usa, an u s Mb a from suny maritim college, new york ciy in fort schuyler, n y ,1974, college i and social security number 578 80 4399,&ph.d in management, d. d (doctorate n divinity0,LL. B (law) frm accredited foreign schools, he also earned a us diploma of ccomplishments in public admn from u s d a graduate chool, washington dc, 1972,id # 578 80 4399. drroy now, on 5.25. 2008 moved to u ds d court fo colorado district at denver 901 19 st, CO 82202 at Denver to orderpostponement of u s presidential election scheduled on nov 4, 2008 for corruption in campaign. as corruption was found in all jurisdictions of usdc , the damages in u s trillions of dallars were prorated and damages were claimed as state of the jurisdiction was a defendant in 74= ACTIONS,CIVIL VIOLATIONS,AND USA WAS A COMMON DEFENDANT IN 74+ ACTIONS LAWFULLY ILLY FIL. uSA IA A DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC ND A MEMBER OF UNO, NEW YOK, HOUSED IN US.USA T AL FAILED WEAKER COMMUNITY CANDIDATE VIZ DR KAMAL ROY .HE HAD TO MOVE TO COURTS TO LAWFULLY GET ELECTED AS GOP MR CLEAN AS THE U S PRESIDENT 2008. PL NOTE: U S CITIZENS BY BIRTH HAVE EQUITABLE RIGHT TO CONTEST AND CAN SECURE PLACE TO CONTEST U S PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION TO GET EOECTED UNDER LAWFUL TO GET ELECTED AS U S PRESDENT, POSSIBY OST COVETED PRIZE OF MODERN POITICS. RESTRAINTS,
Posted by: the rev dr kamal karna karuna roy a gop presidential lawfully registere by the federal election comm | May 26, 2008 7:25 AM | Report abuse
Posted by: 196877twax | May 25, 2008 8:48 PM | Report abuse
Posted by: g317h62o0c | May 24, 2008 1:10 PM | Report abuse
speedy recovery to ted kennedy. But he must cut down work load to enhance hi life span disease free and healthy. see blo if u can spare time: race wanes, talk of Clinton as VP grows Friends say her husband is one of those contemplating that outcome
Todd Heisler / The New York Times Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton and her husband, former President Bill Clinton, appear together at a campaign rally in Louisville, Ky., on Monday. View related photos Video
What makes a good VP? May 23: NBC presidential historian Michael Beschloss and NBC's Andrea Mitchell discuss the important traits of a good vice presidential running-mate. MSNBC
Decision '08 leaderboard See who's leading in the delegate count in the race for the presidency. NBC News
Cartoons The week in political cartoons
First Read gone fishing McCain's change in tone on other pastor? Hillary invokes RFK assassination
AP Video: In her own words Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., speaks to the primary themes of her presidential campaign. Cartoons: Clinton MSNBC.com's editorial cartoonists weigh in on Hillary Clinton's candidacy.
AP Slide show: A political life From Watergate to Whitewater, politics has played a major role in Hillary Clinton's life. As Race Wanes, Talk of Clinton as No. 2 Grows 3 Auditioning to Be McCain's No. 2 Gain Qualified Backing McCain Cuts Ties to Pastors Whose Talks Drew Fire Obama Asks Jewish Voters to Judge Him on His Policies Contenders Spar on Veterans' Bill
Video: Decision '08 Clinton's big mistake May 23: Newsweek's Jonathan Alter discusses how Sen. Hillary Clinton could have slipped up so much with her mention of Robert F. Kennedy's assassination. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Clinton on RFK: Exactly what happened? Doctors: McCain has a good heart Clinton, you invoked a nightmare By Patrick Healy and Jeff Zeleny
updated 12:11 p.m. PT, Fri., May. 23, 2008 While Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton and her advisers insist that she is determined to win the Democratic nomination, friends of the couple say that former President Bill Clinton , for one, has begun privately contemplating a different outcome for her: As Senator Barack Obama 's running mate.
The reports about Mr. Clinton's musings surface as the Obama camp has quietly begun the process of searching for a partner on the Democratic ticket.
The prospect of an Obama-Clinton ticket has been fodder for political gossip for months, with some Democratic leaders pushing the idea as a way to unify the party. The Obama and Clinton campaigns have consistently shrugged off the idea, however, and Mrs. Clinton has been adamant that she is only interested in the presidency.
Story continues below ââ â -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- advertisement
Yet anyone who knows the Clintons is well aware that, at times, they come to politics with different motivations. Both of them want to return to the White House; Mrs. Clinton, of New York, also enjoys being a senator, while Mr. Clinton, according to associates, sees the vice presidency as perhaps her best path to becoming president someday if she loses the nominating fight. And Mr. Clinton has his own ideas about his wife's best interests -- even if she sometimes does not share them.
A spokesman for Mrs. Clinton's campaign said Thursday that Mr. Clinton had not had private conversations in which he was pushing her for the vice presidency or arguing that she deserved it, and that he believed the choice of a running mate was a personal one for the nominee.
Friends of the former president say his musings have been more casual: He believes that an Obama-Clinton ticket could help unify the party, and he thinks she has earned a meeting with Mr. Obama to discuss the possibility.
According to these friends, who spoke on condition of anonymity so as not to be identified revealing private talks, Mr. Clinton believes that his wife's victories in major primary battles, like Ohio and Pennsylvania, and the 16 million votes cast for her candidacy make her the proper choice for Mr. Obama.
"If she's not going to be the nominee, then he wants her in the second spot," said one friend of the Clintons. "In the long run, it's the best way for her to run again in 2016."
Time magazine first reported Mr. Clinton's interest in the No. 2 slot for Mrs. Clinton on Thursday.
Clinton advisers were emphatic that neither Mr. Clinton nor anyone else in the campaign had given up on Mrs. Clinton's candidacy, and they emphasized that no efforts were being made to position Mrs. Clinton to be the running mate with the Illinois senator.
Click for related content NYT: McCain to meet possible running mates NYT: Clinton sees many reasons to stay in NYT: McCain to rely on party money
"Senator Clinton is solely focused on being the Democratic nominee," said Howard Wolfson , the Clinton campaign's communications director. "I have seen no interest on her part in being vice president."
More from NYTimes.com Click links below: Obama says nomination 'within reach' Obama's April fund-raising passes $31 million Cuba is topic as McCain continues attack on Obama External links
The chief strategist for the Obama campaign, David Axelrod, said Thursday that no overtures had been made by Mr. Clinton or any prominent supporters to place Mrs. Clinton on the ticket.
"There have been no contacts between the campaigns, and no one is looking for a deal of any kind," Mr. Axelrod said in an interview. "She's running for the nomination for president, as we are. We're focusing on closing out the nominating fight. We'll deal with vice presidential questions in sequence."
Mr. Obama has asked a tight circle of advisers to set up a confidential search for prospective running mates, with a goal of having an early list of names to begin sifting through shortly after the final two primaries on June 3.
With the Democratic National Convention three months away, Mr. Obama is already about two months behind the period when preliminary vetting would normally have begun. The search will be guided by Jim Johnson, a longtime Democratic hand in Washington.
Mr. Johnson, who is a vice chairman of the Obama campaign, led the vice presidential searches for Senator John Kerry , Democrat of Massachusetts, in 2004 and for Walter F. Mondale in 1984. In recent weeks, officials said, he started to compile information -- largely biographical and political -- for a list of potential running mates.
Democratic officials on Thursday discussed Mr. Johnson's role on condition of anonymity because Mr. Obama had demanded that the process be kept secret and they did not want him to know they were talking about it. Advisers to Mr. Obama declined to discuss the search or any elements of the process.
Who benefits from 'dream ticket'? May 22: A Race for the White House panel debates: What would an Obama-Clinton ticket do for Sen. Barack Obama? Race for the White House Mr. Obama declined on Thursday to discuss the role Mr. Johnson would be playing.
"I haven't hired him," Mr. Obama told reporters at the Capitol. "He's not on retainer. I'm not paying him any money. He is a friend of mine. I know him. I am not commenting on vice presidential matters because I have not won this nomination."
Mr. Obama, who this week crossed the threshold of winning a majority of pledged delegates, intends to wait until next month before declaring victory in the Democratic nominating fight.
A wide array of Democrats -- from Congress, governor's offices, the military and the private sector -- will be included on an early list of possible ticket mates. Mr. Obama has told his associates that he wants to keep an open mind and to cast a wide net, even possibly including independents or Republicans.
The growing discussion about a ticket of Mr. Obama and Mrs. Clinton is largely being fueled by Clinton supporters, although it is a suggestion that Obama supporters do not dismiss. Also expected to be included on a list will be most of the former Democratic presidential candidates -- Gov. Bill Richardson of New Mexico, former Senator John Edwards of North Carolina and Senators Joseph R. Biden Jr. of Delaware and Christopher J. Dodd of Connecticut.
Prominent supporters of Mrs. Clinton also are sure to be included, like Senator Evan Bayh of Indiana and Gov. Ted Strickland of Ohio.
Jerry Crawford, a Des Moines lawyer who is the Midwest co-chairman of the Clinton campaign, said in an interview Thursday that he supported the notion of Mrs. Clinton serving as a vice presidential candidate for Mr. Obama should he become the nominee. Mr. Crawford said he was "freelancing" and had not spoken with the Clintons about it, but he called the partnership "more of an irresistible force than either of them alone."
Some Democratic supporters of Mrs. Clinton said Thursday that it was premature to talk about slotting her as Mr. Obama's running mate.
"I can see it happening, though I still like the idea of Clinton-Obama much more," said Denny Farrell, a New York assemblyman who is a convention superdelegate .
The idea of an Obama-Clinton ticket is on the minds of some voters, too.
At the end of a meeting with voters Thursday in Boca Raton, Fla., a man asked whether Mr. Obama would consider picking any candidate, even someone who might be challenging to him.
"Two weeks from now, we will know who wins the Democratic nomination," Mr. Obama replied. "I don't want to jump the gun. I will tell you though that my goal is to have the best possible government -- and that means me winning. So I am very practical-minded guy."
This article, As Race Wanes, Talk of Clinton as No. 2 Grows, first appeared in The New York Times.
Picking the president: The candidates Click to visit that candidate's MSNBC page or click the XML symbol for an RSS feed.
Copyright é 2008 The New York Times Rate this story Low High Current rating: 2 by 1144 users ââ¬Â¢ View Top Rated stories
Print this Email this Blog this IM this MORE FROM THE NEW YORK TIMES NYT: McCain to meet possible running mates NYT: Talk of Clinton as VP growsNYT: McCain to meet possible running matesNYT: Clinton sees many reasons to stay inNYT: McCain to rely on party moneyNYT: After ruling, gay marriage again an issue?NYT: Clinton hopes may rest on rules committeeNYT: Is Bob Barr the next Ron Paul?NYT: Clinton's end-gameNYT: Shift in battle over voter IDsNYT: Obama, McCain map fall strategiesThe New York Times Section Front
Top msnbc.com stories Gas prices pressure travelers Texas to return 12 sect kids WWII vets' memories preserved Clinton regrets RFK remark Danica Patrick earns respect NBC News highlights FLDS parents hail court ruling Analysis: Court made a brave ruling ID theft CEO has identity stolen Gas costs impacting Memorial Day? Slideshow: Amazing athletes SPONSORED LINKS Get listed here AARP Auto Insurance From The Hartford Save $385 On AARP Auto Insurance If You're Over 49. Free Quotes Now! AARP.TheHartford.com
Free Mortgage Protection Insurance Quote Pays off your mortgage in the event of your death. Get a free quote! www.NAALife.com
Free Forex Essentials Kit Learn Forex Trading. Intro to Forex Guide. Free Practice Account. www.GFTforex.com
Capella University Explore over 80 master's and doctoral specializations. Accredited. www.capella.edu
Make $225 a Day in 60 Mins from Home Here's a certified, proven and guaranteed way by processing rebates. makemyincomeathome.com Sponsored links
AARP Auto Insurance From The Hartford Save $385 On AARP Auto Insurance If You're Over 49. Free Quotes Now! AARP.TheHartford.com
CASH for GOLD: As Seen on TV! Highest Prices, 24-Hour Payment. Guaranteed! www.CashforGoldUSA.com
Free Forex Essentials Kit Learn Forex Trading. Intro to Forex Guide. Free Practice Account. www.GFTforex.com
Mortgage Protection Insurance Pays off your mortgage in the event of your death. Get a free quote! www.NAALife.com
Earn A Bachelor's Degree in 12 Months! Earn a Bachelor's degree online. Fully Accredited. Get free info now. www.EarnFastDegree.com
Find a business to start
$7 trades, no fee IRAs
Posted by: rev tapasi chakravorty delhi, india, democratic agent | May 23, 2008 11:44 PM | Report abuse
5.24.2008 new york; as dt world wide: race wanes, talk of Clinton as VP grows Friends say her husband is one of those contemplating that outcome
Todd Heisler / The New York Times Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton and her husband, former President Bill Clinton, appear together at a campaign rally in Louisville, Ky., on Monday. View related photos Video
What makes a good VP? May 23: NBC presidential historian Michael Beschloss and NBC's Andrea Mitchell discuss the important traits of a good vice presidential running-mate. MSNBC
Decision '08 leaderboard See who's leading in the delegate count in the race for the presidency. NBC News
Cartoons The week in political cartoons
First Read gone fishing McCain's change in tone on other pastor? Hillary invokes RFK assassination
AP Video: In her own words Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., speaks to the primary themes of her presidential campaign. Cartoons: Clinton MSNBC.com's editorial cartoonists weigh in on Hillary Clinton's candidacy.
AP Slide show: A political life From Watergate to Whitewater, politics has played a major role in Hillary Clinton's life. As Race Wanes, Talk of Clinton as No. 2 Grows 3 Auditioning to Be McCain's No. 2 Gain Qualified Backing McCain Cuts Ties to Pastors Whose Talks Drew Fire Obama Asks Jewish Voters to Judge Him on His Policies Contenders Spar on Veterans' Bill
Video: Decision '08 Clinton's big mistake May 23: Newsweek's Jonathan Alter discusses how Sen. Hillary Clinton could have slipped up so much with her mention of Robert F. Kennedy's assassination. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Clinton on RFK: Exactly what happened? Doctors: McCain has a good heart Clinton, you invoked a nightmare By Patrick Healy and Jeff Zeleny
updated 12:11 p.m. PT, Fri., May. 23, 2008 While Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton and her advisers insist that she is determined to win the Democratic nomination, friends of the couple say that former President Bill Clinton , for one, has begun privately contemplating a different outcome for her: As Senator Barack Obama 's running mate.
The reports about Mr. Clinton's musings surface as the Obama camp has quietly begun the process of searching for a partner on the Democratic ticket.
The prospect of an Obama-Clinton ticket has been fodder for political gossip for months, with some Democratic leaders pushing the idea as a way to unify the party. The Obama and Clinton campaigns have consistently shrugged off the idea, however, and Mrs. Clinton has been adamant that she is only interested in the presidency.
Story continues below ââ â -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- advertisement
Yet anyone who knows the Clintons is well aware that, at times, they come to politics with different motivations. Both of them want to return to the White House; Mrs. Clinton, of New York, also enjoys being a senator, while Mr. Clinton, according to associates, sees the vice presidency as perhaps her best path to becoming president someday if she loses the nominating fight. And Mr. Clinton has his own ideas about his wife's best interests -- even if she sometimes does not share them.
A spokesman for Mrs. Clinton's campaign said Thursday that Mr. Clinton had not had private conversations in which he was pushing her for the vice presidency or arguing that she deserved it, and that he believed the choice of a running mate was a personal one for the nominee.
Friends of the former president say his musings have been more casual: He believes that an Obama-Clinton ticket could help unify the party, and he thinks she has earned a meeting with Mr. Obama to discuss the possibility.
According to these friends, who spoke on condition of anonymity so as not to be identified revealing private talks, Mr. Clinton believes that his wife's victories in major primary battles, like Ohio and Pennsylvania, and the 16 million votes cast for her candidacy make her the proper choice for Mr. Obama.
"If she's not going to be the nominee, then he wants her in the second spot," said one friend of the Clintons. "In the long run, it's the best way for her to run again in 2016."
Time magazine first reported Mr. Clinton's interest in the No. 2 slot for Mrs. Clinton on Thursday.
Clinton advisers were emphatic that neither Mr. Clinton nor anyone else in the campaign had given up on Mrs. Clinton's candidacy, and they emphasized that no efforts were being made to position Mrs. Clinton to be the running mate with the Illinois senator.
Click for related content NYT: McCain to meet possible running mates NYT: Clinton sees many reasons to stay in NYT: McCain to rely on party money
"Senator Clinton is solely focused on being the Democratic nominee," said Howard Wolfson , the Clinton campaign's communications director. "I have seen no interest on her part in being vice president."
More from NYTimes.com Click links below: Obama says nomination 'within reach' Obama's April fund-raising passes $31 million Cuba is topic as McCain continues attack on Obama External links
The chief strategist for the Obama campaign, David Axelrod, said Thursday that no overtures had been made by Mr. Clinton or any prominent supporters to place Mrs. Clinton on the ticket.
"There have been no contacts between the campaigns, and no one is looking for a deal of any kind," Mr. Axelrod said in an interview. "She's running for the nomination for president, as we are. We're focusing on closing out the nominating fight. We'll deal with vice presidential questions in sequence."
Mr. Obama has asked a tight circle of advisers to set up a confidential search for prospective running mates, with a goal of having an early list of names to begin sifting through shortly after the final two primaries on June 3.
With the Democratic National Convention three months away, Mr. Obama is already about two months behind the period when preliminary vetting would normally have begun. The search will be guided by Jim Johnson, a longtime Democratic hand in Washington.
Mr. Johnson, who is a vice chairman of the Obama campaign, led the vice presidential searches for Senator John Kerry , Democrat of Massachusetts, in 2004 and for Walter F. Mondale in 1984. In recent weeks, officials said, he started to compile information -- largely biographical and political -- for a list of potential running mates.
Democratic officials on Thursday discussed Mr. Johnson's role on condition of anonymity because Mr. Obama had demanded that the process be kept secret and they did not want him to know they were talking about it. Advisers to Mr. Obama declined to discuss the search or any elements of the process.
Who benefits from 'dream ticket'? May 22: A Race for the White House panel debates: What would an Obama-Clinton ticket do for Sen. Barack Obama? Race for the White House Mr. Obama declined on Thursday to discuss the role Mr. Johnson would be playing.
"I haven't hired him," Mr. Obama told reporters at the Capitol. "He's not on retainer. I'm not paying him any money. He is a friend of mine. I know him. I am not commenting on vice presidential matters because I have not won this nomination."
Mr. Obama, who this week crossed the threshold of winning a majority of pledged delegates, intends to wait until next month before declaring victory in the Democratic nominating fight.
A wide array of Democrats -- from Congress, governor's offices, the military and the private sector -- will be included on an early list of possible ticket mates. Mr. Obama has told his associates that he wants to keep an open mind and to cast a wide net, even possibly including independents or Republicans.
The growing discussion about a ticket of Mr. Obama and Mrs. Clinton is largely being fueled by Clinton supporters, although it is a suggestion that Obama supporters do not dismiss. Also expected to be included on a list will be most of the former Democratic presidential candidates -- Gov. Bill Richardson of New Mexico, former Senator John Edwards of North Carolina and Senators Joseph R. Biden Jr. of Delaware and Christopher J. Dodd of Connecticut.
Prominent supporters of Mrs. Clinton also are sure to be included, like Senator Evan Bayh of Indiana and Gov. Ted Strickland of Ohio.
Jerry Crawford, a Des Moines lawyer who is the Midwest co-chairman of the Clinton campaign, said in an interview Thursday that he supported the notion of Mrs. Clinton serving as a vice presidential candidate for Mr. Obama should he become the nominee. Mr. Crawford said he was "freelancing" and had not spoken with the Clintons about it, but he called the partnership "more of an irresistible force than either of them alone."
Some Democratic supporters of Mrs. Clinton said Thursday that it was premature to talk about slotting her as Mr. Obama's running mate.
"I can see it happening, though I still like the idea of Clinton-Obama much more," said Denny Farrell, a New York assemblyman who is a convention superdelegate .
The idea of an Obama-Clinton ticket is on the minds of some voters, too.
At the end of a meeting with voters Thursday in Boca Raton, Fla., a man asked whether Mr. Obama would consider picking any candidate, even someone who might be challenging to him.
"Two weeks from now, we will know who wins the Democratic nomination," Mr. Obama replied. "I don't want to jump the gun. I will tell you though that my goal is to have the best possible government -- and that means me winning. So I am very practical-minded guy."
This article, As Race Wanes, Talk of Clinton as No. 2 Grows, first appeared in The New York Times.
Picking the president: The candidates Click to visit that candidate's MSNBC page or click the XML symbol for an RSS feed.
Copyright é 2008 The New York Times Rate this story Low High Current rating: 2 by 1144 users ââ¬Â¢ View Top Rated stories
Print this Email this Blog this IM this MORE FROM THE NEW YORK TIMES NYT: McCain to meet possible running mates NYT: Talk of Clinton as VP growsNYT: McCain to meet possible running matesNYT: Clinton sees many reasons to stay inNYT: McCain to rely on party moneyNYT: After ruling, gay marriage again an issue?NYT: Clinton hopes may rest on rules committeeNYT: Is Bob Barr the next Ron Paul?NYT: Clinton's end-gameNYT: Shift in battle over voter IDsNYT: Obama, McCain map fall strategiesThe New York Times Section Front
Top msnbc.com stories Gas prices pressure travelers Texas to return 12 sect kids WWII vets' memories preserved Clinton regrets RFK remark Danica Patrick earns respect NBC News highlights FLDS parents hail court ruling Analysis: Court made a brave ruling ID theft CEO has identity stolen Gas costs impacting Memorial Day? Slideshow: Amazing athletes SPONSORED LINKS Get listed here AARP Auto Insurance From The Hartford Save $385 On AARP Auto Insurance If You're Over 49. Free Quotes Now! AARP.TheHartford.com
Free Mortgage Protection Insurance Quote Pays off your mortgage in the event of your death. Get a free quote! www.NAALife.com
Free Forex Essentials Kit Learn Forex Trading. Intro to Forex Guide. Free Practice Account. www.GFTforex.com
Capella University Explore over 80 master's and doctoral specializations. Accredited. www.capella.edu
Make $225 a Day in 60 Mins from Home Here's a certified, proven and guaranteed way by processing rebates. makemyincomeathome.com Sponsored links
AARP Auto Insurance From The Hartford Save $385 On AARP Auto Insurance If You're Over 49. Free Quotes Now! AARP.TheHartford.com
CASH for GOLD: As Seen on TV! Highest Prices, 24-Hour Payment. Guaranteed! www.CashforGoldUSA.com
Free Forex Essentials Kit Learn Forex Trading. Intro to Forex Guide. Free Practice Account. www.GFTforex.com
Mortgage Protection Insurance Pays off your mortgage in the event of your death. Get a free quote! www.NAALife.com
Earn A Bachelor's Degree in 12 Months! Earn a Bachelor's degree online. Fully Accredited. Get free info now. www.EarnFastDegree.com
Find a business to start
$7 trades, no fee IRAs
Posted by: dishari sen , young democratic agent | May 23, 2008 11:36 PM | Report abuse
Hello robin1231hotmailcom Change Preferences | Sign Out Sign In | Register Now Print Edition | Subscribe | PostPoints
NewsNation Investigations Education Photos & Video World Technology KidsPost Discussions Metro Entertainment Religion Corrections Business Health Post Magazine Archives PoliticsPolitics Blogs House/Senate Votes White House Congress 2008 Campaign In Depth Polls In the Loop DC | MD | VA OpinionsOpinions Home Outlook Feedback Discussion Groups Toles Cartoons On Faith Telnaes Animations PostGlobal LocalMetro News Weather Local Explorer Jobs Education Traffic Community Handbook Cars DC | MD | VACrime The Extras Real Estate Columns/Blogs Obituaries Local Business Yellow Pages SportsRedskins Capitals Columns/Blogs MLB Nationals D.C. United Local Colleges NBA Wizards High Schools Golf NHL Arts & LivingStyle Movies Travel Fashion & Beauty Horoscopes Smart Living Television Books Home & Garden Comics Entertainment News Food & Dining Museums Theater & Dance Crosswords City GuideFind Restaurants Find Local Events Find Movies Visitors Guide Find Bars & Clubs Going Out Gurus JobsSearch JobsCarsBuy a Car Sell a Car Experts & Advice Dealer Specials Coupons Real EstateBuy a Home Sell a Home Property Values Commercial Properties RentalsFind a Rental Rent Your Place ShoppingShop New Deals & Discounts Shopper Blog Shop Used Sell Your Stuff Pets SEARCH: washingtonpost.com Web | Search Archives washingtonpost.com > Politics Your Comments On...
Candidates React: Clinton Wins Kentucky Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY) spoke from Louisville, Kentucky Tuesday after winning the state's primary, where she vowed to continue on.
Commentsrobin1231hotmailcom wrote: 5.23.2008 NEW YORK THE REVEREND MR pREMANSU D ROY , COAUTHOR OF "DRAUPADI...SHARE WIVES SYNDRONES OF EPIC PRINCESS OF HINDU MAHABHARATA , SYNDROMES EXTENDED TO MALE LOVERS OF ANY WOMAN IN GOBE, RELIGIOUSY SPEAKING, BY THE WORLD RELIGIONS GROUP, U.S E I N 133566610, RELIGIOU TAX EXEMPT BY U S DEPT OF TREASURY. THE RELIGIOUS AUTHRITY WAS GRANTED TO ALL MALES AND FEMALES WORLD WIDE , AS RELIGIOUS LAW ARE INDEPENDANT OF LOCAL LAWS OF ANY DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC, AS SUCH RELIGIOUS AUTHORITY WAS GRANTED TO RELIGIOUS FOLLOWERS OF ANY FAITH WHO ARE PRESUMED TO B DEFACTO MEMBER OF W R GROUP. THE GROUND OF GRANT OF SUCH AUTHORITY. HUMAN_ANIMALS' LOVE SYNDROMES ARE NO DIFFERENT THAN THE SIMILAR URGE AND BEHAVIOR OF MOST ANIMALS OF UNIVERSE, bUT DEMOCRATIC REPUBLICS MADE ABUSIVE LAWS WHICH RESTRICTED SEX AND LOVE RELATIONSHIPS. ONLY THE POWERFULS WITH ECONOMIC SUPERIORITY MAINTIN DRAPADI SYNDROME RELATIONSHIP WITH OPPOSITE SEX PARTNER. bUT THE PLEASURE AND GAIN FROM SUCH RELATIONS AFE DISCRIMINATORY .THER ARE NO WRITTEN RECORDS OD SUCH LOVE AND NO COMPENSATION ARE MOSTLY PAID AS THE REATIONSHIP IS INSECURED AND ON TABOO PLATFORMS. aS NO RECORDS EXIST OR REQUIRED BY LOCAL LAWS, THE SPREADS OF SEX RELATED DISEASES ARE UNKNOWN IMMEDIATELY AND MAY NOT EVER BE RETRACED FOR DAMAGES RECOVERIES FOR ANY MISCONDUCTS OF CONJUGAL PARTNERS,pAYMENT ARRANGEMENT TO LOVE PARTNERS ON REGULAR BASIS MUST BE RECORDED IN PUBIC TRACING SYSTEM. pUTTING HUMAN REATIONS AND ON CONJUGAL ONDUCTS OF OPPOSITE OR MIXED SEXE ARE GREATEST HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS AGAINST BOTH MALE , FEMALE AND OTHER RELATIONSHIPS.oN THE CONTEXT OF PROBLEMS THE MAIN OR PRICIPAL AUTHOR OF DREAM, CURRENTLY SUGGESTED AS NIGHTMARES TO MANY IN REVERANCE OF ANIMALITY SWEET CONDUCT THE REIGIOUS LAWS OF DRAUDI SYNDROME S WERE RELIOUSLY APPROVED AT A RELIGIOUS CONFERENCE HELD AT bUFFALO SHERATON IN AUGUST NEAR BUFFALO INT'L AIRPORT IN BUFFALO,IN THE CITY OF BUFFAO, IN THE STAT OF NEW YORK,IN THE USA. FURTHER INFORMATION CAN BE HAD FROM H I I W R GROUP, PO BOX 1173 SARANAC LAKE NEW YORK 12983 E MAIL VISHWA_DH@YAHOO.COM. Hello robin1231hotmailcom Edit Preferences | Sign Out Sign In | Register Now Print Edition | Subscribe
NewsPoliticsBusinessEducationPhotos & VideoNationTechnologyKidsPostDiscussionsWorldEntertainmentReligionCorrectionsMetroHealthPost MagazineArchivesPoliticsPolitics BlogsHouse/Senate VotesWhite HouseCongress2008 CampaignIn DepthPollsIn the LoopDC | MD | VAOpinionsOpinions MainOutlookFeedbackDiscussion GroupsToles CartoonsOn FaithTelnaes AnimationsPostGlobalLocalMetro NewsWeatherLocal ExplorerJobsEducationTrafficCommunity GuidesCarsDC | MD | VACrimeThe ExtrasReal EstateColumns/BlogsObituariesLocal BusinessYellow PagesSportsRedskinsD.C. UnitedColumns/BlogsNFLNationalsCapitalsCollege FootballNHLWizardsHigh SchoolsLocal CollegesMLBArts & LivingStyleMoviesTravelFashion & BeautyHoroscopesCity GuideTelevisionBooksHome & GardenComicsEntertainment NewsFood & DiningMuseumsTheater & DanceCrosswordsCity GuideFind RestaurantsFind Local EventsFind MoviesVisitors GuideFind Bars & ClubsGoing Out GurusJobsSearch JobsCarsBuy a CarSell a CarExperts & AdviceDealer SpecialsCouponsReal EstateBuy a HomeSell a HomeProperty ValuesCommercial PropertiesRentalsFind a RentalRent Your PlaceShoppingShop NewDeals & DiscountsShopper BlogShop UsedSell Your StuffPets SEARCH:washingtonpost.comWeb| Search Archives washingtonpost.com /> Politics
Ads by Google John Mccain Live Forum with 2008 Candidates. Submit Your Comment or Question. WashingtonPost.com/Discussions
Hillary or Obama? Celebs Pick their Choice - Vote Now! Who Do You Want to Win? www.SodaHead.com
"Barack Obama Exposed" A Free special report on the real Barack Obama - get your copy today! www.HumanEvents.com
Campaign 2008 Primaries & Caucuses
Leaderboard, primary schedule and state results.
Find out which candidates you agree with on the issues.
recent posts Ad Wars: Graves' "San Francisco" Ad Winners and Losers: Kentucky and Oregon Problems for the Obama Juggernaut? Obama Raised $31 Million in April What to Watch For: Kentucky and Oregon Stories by Category The Line Eye on 2008 House | Senate Governors Parsing the Polls Wag the Blog More Categories
Stories By Date Full Story Archive
Related Links The Trail Channel '08 The Sleuth Capitol Briefing Stumped 2008 White House Hopefuls Congressional Votes Database Election 2006 ResultsMore on The Fix The Fix's Archives About Chris Cillizza The Fix on MySpace The Fix on Facebook E-mail Chris RSS Feed
From The Post Daily Politics Web Chat In The Loop Page Dana Milbank: Washington Sketch David Broder Opinions SectionBlogRoll The Caucus The Swamp Swampland Top of the Ticket Marc Ambinder Ben Smith Jonathan Martin Stumper The Ruckus washingtonpost.com's Politics Blog About This Blog | Meet Chris Cillizza | RSS Feed (What's RSS?) McKinnon To Step Aside From McCain Effort Mark McKinnon, the lead media consultant for Sen. John McCain's (Ariz.) presidential bid, is stepping down from that role -- making good on a pledge he made last year not to work against Sen. Barack Obama (Ill.) in the fall campaign.
McKinnon confirmed his decision to The Fix this afternoon. "I'll be transitioning, shifting position from linebacker to head cheerleader," said the always-colorful McKinnon. He added that he would continued to be a "friend and fan" to the campaign.
McKinnon, a former Democrat, played a central role in Gov. George W. Bush's 2000 campaign and the Bush-Cheney reelection four years later. He was part of a large contingent of Bush operatives to make the transition to McCain in late 2006 and early 2007, but was one of only a handful who stuck with the Arizona senator after his campaign's implosion last summer.
That same summer, McKinnon told Cox Newspapers that if Obama was the Democratic nominee, he would not play an active role in McCain's effort to defeat the Illinois senator.
"I just don't want to work against an Obama candidacy," McKinnon told Cox Washington bureau chief Ken Herman; electing Obama, he added, "would send a great message to the country and the world." McKinnon said at the time he would vote for McCain.
Whether McKinnon would abide by that promise has been the subject of considerable speculation since that time. McKinnon is widely regarded as a trusted member of McCain's inner circle, and many within the campaign acknowledged that losing him would be a heavy blow to the effort.
The task of creating the ads and media strategy for the campaign will now fall to a trio of consultants -- Fred Davis, Chris Mottola and Mike Hudome -- known collectively as Foxhole Media. Hudome will be heading up the effort.
Of late there has been considerable speculation that Mike Murphy, McCain's 2000 media consultant, might rejoin the fray -- speculation stoked by a report from Politico's Jonathan Martin that Murphy and McCain had huddled for several hours on Sunday.
Murphy is not likely to return to the campaign, however, according to sources familiar with the effort. No reason was given for the unlikely return, but several informed observers suggested that Murphy's relationship (or lack thereof) with campaign manager Rick Davis had much to do with it. (The Atlantic's Marc Ambinder reported today that Davis was unaware of McCain's meeting with Murphy.)
Murphy himself offered no comment when contacted about the matter today by The Fix.
By Chris Cillizza | May 20, 2008; 1:32 PM ET | Category: Eye on 2008 Previous: Kentucky and Oregon Primary Predictions | Next: What to Watch For: Kentucky and Oregon
Add The Fix to Your Site
Be the first to know when there's a new installment of The Fix! This widget is easy to add to your Web site, and it will update every time there's a new entry on The Fix. Get This Widget />>
CommentsPlease email us to report offensive comments.
How about doing what it says in your terms of use and take down these nutbar cut& paste entries? My scrolling finger's getting a cramp.
Posted by: FlownOver | May 21, 2008 7:23 PM
"Bush faced challenges that no other President has had to face."
Yes, and he created them too.
Posted by: | May 21, 2008 12:50 PM
I am so sick and tired of people who bash our President, or claim that he is stupid. Bush faced challenges that no other President has had to face. After 8 years of inactivity (politically, that is) on the part of the Clinton administration in addressing the threat of radial Islam, Bush inherited the Bin Laden overconfidence that the US was ripe for attack and there would be no repercussions. If Clinton had taken care of business, it wouldn't have happened, but he was too embroiled in personal drama to act Presidential. I guess he spent too much time rehearsing for his television in which he waved his finger and lied about not "having sex with that woman."
All of you Bush-bashers, show me your mensa card! Oh that's right, it's easier to play monday morning quarterback instead of having the balls to run for office yourself!
Posted by: M. G.H. | May 21, 2008 10:59 AM
wonder if people should DEMAND that Rockefeller sycophant-Trilateralist-Globalist-and Uber Interventionist/Imperialist(wow..rather redundant but factual) Zbigniew Brzezinski should resign as foriegn policy advisor to "peacemaker" and "antiTHISwar" Obama as he used to advise warmonger and imperialist100 year! Crimean War veteran McCain???????
Posted by: Chris Bieber | May 21, 2008 9:48 AM
If McCain had Murphy and ran as a 2000 candidate he would have given Obama a run for his money... literally. McCain is no longer that maverick and Murphy knows it. Why join a loosing team? Murphy's too smart for that.
Posted by: AmbroseChapel | May 21, 2008 9:32 AM
No matter how incompetant you believe Barack Obama is, he is far more competant than the current occupant of the White House. Where were your competancy standards when you elected him?
Posted by: George K. Fahnbulleh | May 21, 2008 8:46 AM
"I just don't want to work against an Obama candidacy," McKinnon told Cox Washington bureau chief Ken Herman; electing Obama, he added, "would send a great message to the country and the world."
Yeah, a great message: We just elected an incompetent black man --- see we're not racist, just stupid.
OUR elections are not about sending great messages, they are about electing our leaders.
Posted by: John Steele | May 21, 2008 7:55 AM
9 hours ago - 3 days left to answer. Answer this QuestionReport It
0 stars - mark this as Interesting! Who found this interesting? Be the first person to mark this question as interesting! Email Save Add to private Watchlist Save to My Web
RSS Answers (1) by Jackie P Member since: March 29, 2007 Total points: 6545 (Level 5) Add to My Contacts
I do not understand the question, sorry!
All I can think is that men probably think..... "ah those were the days"... back when they could have harems. 8 hours ago 0 Rating: Good Answer 0 Rating: Bad Answer Report It Open Questions in Religion & Spirituality I need an Islamic dua and/or duas that could help me with this situation.? What exactly is the common ancestor that humans share with apes? do you have an obligation to be alive? Is this obligation to yourself? Do You believe in Angels and why? Resolved Questions in Religion & Spirituality How does someone who blows up an abortion clinic justify their actions? Do you believe in Hell? Why/why not? and, if yes, what can put you there? Hypothetically: During the rapture, if Christ came and took only the women to heaven...? If we were intelligently designed..?
Still have a question? Ask. Get answers from millions of real people. Post Question ADVERTISEMENT
Other - Society & Culture
Answers International: Argentina Australia Brazil Canada China France Germany Hong Kong India Indonesia Italy Japan Malaysia Mexico New Zealand Philippines Quebec Singapore South Korea Spain Taiwan Thailand United Kingdom United States Vietnam en Español Yahoo! does not evaluate or guarantee the accuracy of any Yahoo! Answers content. Click here for the Full Disclaimer.
Help us improve Yahoo! Answers. Tell us what you think.
Copyright é 2008 Yahoo! Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Privacy Policy - Terms of Service - Community Guidelines
Posted by: rev joseph john | May 20, 2008 6:36 PM
message for mccain for next generaion of we the people, in u s a: Yahoo!MailYahoo! SearchSearch the Web:Sign in New User? Sign UpAnswers Home -Blog -About -Help Ask Answer Discover Search for questions: Advanced My Profile Home /> Society & Culture > Religion & Spirituality > Open Question Premansu ROY DAS Member since: April 15, 2008 Total points: 0 (Level 1) Add to My Contacts
Open QuestionShow me another û DRAUPADI, pRINCESS OF SHARED WIVES DOCTRINE OF HINDU EPIC MAHABHARATA EXTENED TO SLIT HUSBAND BY WORLD RELIG/ THE REV DR KAMAL KARNA ROY'S RELIGION BASED MASTERPIECE BY ABOVE NAME HAS 3 WIVES FICTITIOUS CHARACTERS WERE SCRIBED AS HEROINES FROM KRISHNA NAGAR, WB,INDIA, PARNA BANERJEE NATH OF BAIDYABATI,WB AND PAROMITA BAIDYA ROY , BUT ONE PANDAVA ONLY REVEALED IN TEXT OF STORYLINE,OTHER PANDAVAS WERE KEPT BEHIND CURTAIN, BUT WERE LIVING SOULS ON LOVELINES PAROMITA WAS LOVE BIRD FROM DWELLING :TAPASYA CHIRANJEEB VIHAR , GAZIABAD, U P, INDIA 9 hours ago - 3 days left to answer. Answer this QuestionReport It
Posted by: GARGI LAHIRI | May 23, 2008 11:49 AM | Report abuse
A SOCIAL AND FAMILIAL RELATION REDEVELOPMENT POLICY AS AT A STRATEGIC REDELOPMENT PLAN OF DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC, USA, ET A AROUND GLOBE. DT NEW YORK , THE 23RD MAY 2008 AND WORLDWIDE AS DATED :Hello robin1231hotmailcom Change Preferences | Sign Out Sign In | Register Now Print Edition | Subscribe | PostPoints
NewsNation Investigations Education Photos & Video World Technology KidsPost Discussions Metro Entertainment Religion Corrections Business Health Post Magazine Archives PoliticsPolitics Blogs House/Senate Votes White House Congress 2008 Campaign In Depth Polls In the Loop DC | MD | VA OpinionsOpinions Home Outlook Feedback Discussion Groups Toles Cartoons On Faith Telnaes Animations PostGlobal LocalMetro News Weather Local Explorer Jobs Education Traffic Community Handbook Cars DC | MD | VACrime The Extras Real Estate Columns/Blogs Obituaries Local Business Yellow Pages SportsRedskins Capitals Columns/Blogs MLB Nationals D.C. United Local Colleges NBA Wizards High Schools Golf NHL Arts & LivingStyle Movies Travel Fashion & Beauty Horoscopes Smart Living Television Books Home & Garden Comics Entertainment News Food & Dining Museums Theater & Dance Crosswords City GuideFind Restaurants Find Local Events Find Movies Visitors Guide Find Bars & Clubs Going Out Gurus JobsSearch JobsCarsBuy a Car Sell a Car Experts & Advice Dealer Specials Coupons Real EstateBuy a Home Sell a Home Property Values Commercial Properties RentalsFind a Rental Rent Your Place ShoppingShop New Deals & Discounts Shopper Blog Shop Used Sell Your Stuff Pets SEARCH: washingtonpost.com Web | Search Archives washingtonpost.com > Politics Your Comments On...
Candidates React: Clinton Wins Kentucky Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY) spoke from Louisville, Kentucky Tuesday after winning the state's primary, where she vowed to continue on.
Commentsrobin1231hotmailcom wrote: 5.23.2008 NEW YORK THE REVEREND MR pREMANSU D ROY , COAUTHOR OF "DRAUPADI...SHARE WIVES SYNDRONES OF EPIC PRINCESS OF HINDU MAHABHARATA , SYNDROMES EXTENDED TO MALE LOVERS OF ANY WOMAN IN GOBE, RELIGIOUSY SPEAKING, BY THE WORLD RELIGIONS GROUP, U.S E I N 133566610, RELIGIOU TAX EXEMPT BY U S DEPT OF TREASURY. THE RELIGIOUS AUTHRITY WAS GRANTED TO ALL MALES AND FEMALES WORLD WIDE , AS RELIGIOUS LAW ARE INDEPENDANT OF LOCAL LAWS OF ANY DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC, AS SUCH RELIGIOUS AUTHORITY WAS GRANTED TO RELIGIOUS FOLLOWERS OF ANY FAITH WHO ARE PRESUMED TO B DEFACTO MEMBER OF W R GROUP. THE GROUND OF GRANT OF SUCH AUTHORITY. HUMAN_ANIMALS' LOVE SYNDROMES ARE NO DIFFERENT THAN THE SIMILAR URGE AND BEHAVIOR OF MOST ANIMALS OF UNIVERSE, bUT DEMOCRATIC REPUBLICS MADE ABUSIVE LAWS WHICH RESTRICTED SEX AND LOVE RELATIONSHIPS. ONLY THE POWERFULS WITH ECONOMIC SUPERIORITY MAINTIN DRAPADI SYNDROME RELATIONSHIP WITH OPPOSITE SEX PARTNER. bUT THE PLEASURE AND GAIN FROM SUCH RELATIONS AFE DISCRIMINATORY .THER ARE NO WRITTEN RECORDS OD SUCH LOVE AND NO COMPENSATION ARE MOSTLY PAID AS THE REATIONSHIP IS INSECURED AND ON TABOO PLATFORMS. aS NO RECORDS EXIST OR REQUIRED BY LOCAL LAWS, THE SPREADS OF SEX RELATED DISEASES ARE UNKNOWN IMMEDIATELY AND MAY NOT EVER BE RETRACED FOR DAMAGES RECOVERIES FOR ANY MISCONDUCTS OF CONJUGAL PARTNERS,pAYMENT ARRANGEMENT TO LOVE PARTNERS ON REGULAR BASIS MUST BE RECORDED IN PUBIC TRACING SYSTEM. pUTTING HUMAN REATIONS AND ON CONJUGAL ONDUCTS OF OPPOSITE OR MIXED SEXE ARE GREATEST HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS AGAINST BOTH MALE , FEMALE AND OTHER RELATIONSHIPS.oN THE CONTEXT OF PROBLEMS THE MAIN OR PRICIPAL AUTHOR OF DREAM, CURRENTLY SUGGESTED AS NIGHTMARES TO MANY IN REVERANCE OF ANIMALITY SWEET CONDUCT THE REIGIOUS LAWS OF DRAUDI SYNDROME S WERE RELIOUSLY APPROVED AT A RELIGIOUS CONFERENCE HELD AT bUFFALO SHERATON IN AUGUST NEAR BUFFALO INT'L AIRPORT IN BUFFALO,IN THE CITY OF BUFFAO, IN THE STAT OF NEW YORK,IN THE USA. FURTHER INFORMATION CAN BE HAD FROM H I I W R GROUP, PO BOX 1173 SARANAC LAKE NEW YORK 12983 E MAIL VISHWA_DH@YAHOO.COM. Hello robin1231hotmailcom Edit Preferences | Sign Out Sign In | Register Now Print Edition | Subscribe
NewsPoliticsBusinessEducationPhotos & VideoNationTechnologyKidsPostDiscussionsWorldEntertainmentReligionCorrectionsMetroHealthPost MagazineArchivesPoliticsPolitics BlogsHouse/Senate VotesWhite HouseCongress2008 CampaignIn DepthPollsIn the LoopDC | MD | VAOpinionsOpinions MainOutlookFeedbackDiscussion GroupsToles CartoonsOn FaithTelnaes AnimationsPostGlobalLocalMetro NewsWeatherLocal ExplorerJobsEducationTrafficCommunity GuidesCarsDC | MD | VACrimeThe ExtrasReal EstateColumns/BlogsObituariesLocal BusinessYellow PagesSportsRedskinsD.C. UnitedColumns/BlogsNFLNationalsCapitalsCollege FootballNHLWizardsHigh SchoolsLocal CollegesMLBArts & LivingStyleMoviesTravelFashion & BeautyHoroscopesCity GuideTelevisionBooksHome & GardenComicsEntertainment NewsFood & DiningMuseumsTheater & DanceCrosswordsCity GuideFind RestaurantsFind Local EventsFind MoviesVisitors GuideFind Bars & ClubsGoing Out GurusJobsSearch JobsCarsBuy a CarSell a CarExperts & AdviceDealer SpecialsCouponsReal EstateBuy a HomeSell a HomeProperty ValuesCommercial PropertiesRentalsFind a RentalRent Your PlaceShoppingShop NewDeals & DiscountsShopper BlogShop UsedSell Your StuffPets SEARCH:washingtonpost.comWeb| Search Archives washingtonpost.com /> Politics
Ads by Google John Mccain Live Forum with 2008 Candidates. Submit Your Comment or Question. WashingtonPost.com/Discussions
Hillary or Obama? Celebs Pick their Choice - Vote Now! Who Do You Want to Win? www.SodaHead.com
"Barack Obama Exposed" A Free special report on the real Barack Obama - get your copy today! www.HumanEvents.com
Campaign 2008 Primaries & Caucuses
Leaderboard, primary schedule and state results.
Find out which candidates you agree with on the issues.
recent posts Ad Wars: Graves' "San Francisco" Ad Winners and Losers: Kentucky and Oregon Problems for the Obama Juggernaut? Obama Raised $31 Million in April What to Watch For: Kentucky and Oregon Stories by Category The Line Eye on 2008 House | Senate Governors Parsing the Polls Wag the Blog More Categories
Stories By Date Full Story Archive
Related Links The Trail Channel '08 The Sleuth Capitol Briefing Stumped 2008 White House Hopefuls Congressional Votes Database Election 2006 ResultsMore on The Fix The Fix's Archives About Chris Cillizza The Fix on MySpace The Fix on Facebook E-mail Chris RSS Feed
From The Post Daily Politics Web Chat In The Loop Page Dana Milbank: Washington Sketch David Broder Opinions SectionBlogRoll The Caucus The Swamp Swampland Top of the Ticket Marc Ambinder Ben Smith Jonathan Martin Stumper The Ruckus washingtonpost.com's Politics Blog About This Blog | Meet Chris Cillizza | RSS Feed (What's RSS?) McKinnon To Step Aside From McCain Effort Mark McKinnon, the lead media consultant for Sen. John McCain's (Ariz.) presidential bid, is stepping down from that role -- making good on a pledge he made last year not to work against Sen. Barack Obama (Ill.) in the fall campaign.
McKinnon confirmed his decision to The Fix this afternoon. "I'll be transitioning, shifting position from linebacker to head cheerleader," said the always-colorful McKinnon. He added that he would continued to be a "friend and fan" to the campaign.
McKinnon, a former Democrat, played a central role in Gov. George W. Bush's 2000 campaign and the Bush-Cheney reelection four years later. He was part of a large contingent of Bush operatives to make the transition to McCain in late 2006 and early 2007, but was one of only a handful who stuck with the Arizona senator after his campaign's implosion last summer.
That same summer, McKinnon told Cox Newspapers that if Obama was the Democratic nominee, he would not play an active role in McCain's effort to defeat the Illinois senator.
"I just don't want to work against an Obama candidacy," McKinnon told Cox Washington bureau chief Ken Herman; electing Obama, he added, "would send a great message to the country and the world." McKinnon said at the time he would vote for McCain.
Whether McKinnon would abide by that promise has been the subject of considerable speculation since that time. McKinnon is widely regarded as a trusted member of McCain's inner circle, and many within the campaign acknowledged that losing him would be a heavy blow to the effort.
The task of creating the ads and media strategy for the campaign will now fall to a trio of consultants -- Fred Davis, Chris Mottola and Mike Hudome -- known collectively as Foxhole Media. Hudome will be heading up the effort.
Of late there has been considerable speculation that Mike Murphy, McCain's 2000 media consultant, might rejoin the fray -- speculation stoked by a report from Politico's Jonathan Martin that Murphy and McCain had huddled for several hours on Sunday.
Murphy is not likely to return to the campaign, however, according to sources familiar with the effort. No reason was given for the unlikely return, but several informed observers suggested that Murphy's relationship (or lack thereof) with campaign manager Rick Davis had much to do with it. (The Atlantic's Marc Ambinder reported today that Davis was unaware of McCain's meeting with Murphy.)
Murphy himself offered no comment when contacted about the matter today by The Fix.
By Chris Cillizza | May 20, 2008; 1:32 PM ET | Category: Eye on 2008 Previous: Kentucky and Oregon Primary Predictions | Next: What to Watch For: Kentucky and Oregon
Add The Fix to Your Site
Be the first to know when there's a new installment of The Fix! This widget is easy to add to your Web site, and it will update every time there's a new entry on The Fix. Get This Widget />>
CommentsPlease email us to report offensive comments.
How about doing what it says in your terms of use and take down these nutbar cut& paste entries? My scrolling finger's getting a cramp.
Posted by: FlownOver | May 21, 2008 7:23 PM
"Bush faced challenges that no other President has had to face."
Yes, and he created them too.
Posted by: | May 21, 2008 12:50 PM
I am so sick and tired of people who bash our President, or claim that he is stupid. Bush faced challenges that no other President has had to face. After 8 years of inactivity (politically, that is) on the part of the Clinton administration in addressing the threat of radial Islam, Bush inherited the Bin Laden overconfidence that the US was ripe for attack and there would be no repercussions. If Clinton had taken care of business, it wouldn't have happened, but he was too embroiled in personal drama to act Presidential. I guess he spent too much time rehearsing for his television in which he waved his finger and lied about not "having sex with that woman."
All of you Bush-bashers, show me your mensa card! Oh that's right, it's easier to play monday morning quarterback instead of having the balls to run for office yourself!
Posted by: M. G.H. | May 21, 2008 10:59 AM
wonder if people should DEMAND that Rockefeller sycophant-Trilateralist-Globalist-and Uber Interventionist/Imperialist(wow..rather redundant but factual) Zbigniew Brzezinski should resign as foriegn policy advisor to "peacemaker" and "antiTHISwar" Obama as he used to advise warmonger and imperialist100 year! Crimean War veteran McCain???????
Posted by: Chris Bieber | May 21, 2008 9:48 AM
If McCain had Murphy and ran as a 2000 candidate he would have given Obama a run for his money... literally. McCain is no longer that maverick and Murphy knows it. Why join a loosing team? Murphy's too smart for that.
Posted by: AmbroseChapel | May 21, 2008 9:32 AM
No matter how incompetant you believe Barack Obama is, he is far more competant than the current occupant of the White House. Where were your competancy standards when you elected him?
Posted by: George K. Fahnbulleh | May 21, 2008 8:46 AM
"I just don't want to work against an Obama candidacy," McKinnon told Cox Washington bureau chief Ken Herman; electing Obama, he added, "would send a great message to the country and the world."
Yeah, a great message: We just elected an incompetent black man --- see we're not racist, just stupid.
OUR elections are not about sending great messages, they are about electing our leaders.
Posted by: John Steele | May 21, 2008 7:55 AM
9 hours ago - 3 days left to answer. Answer this QuestionReport It
0 stars - mark this as Interesting! Who found this interesting? Be the first person to mark this question as interesting! Email Save Add to private Watchlist Save to My Web
RSS Answers (1) by Jackie P Member since: March 29, 2007 Total points: 6545 (Level 5) Add to My Contacts
I do not understand the question, sorry!
All I can think is that men probably think..... "ah those were the days"... back when they could have harems. 8 hours ago 0 Rating: Good Answer 0 Rating: Bad Answer Report It Open Questions in Religion & Spirituality I need an Islamic dua and/or duas that could help me with this situation.? What exactly is the common ancestor that humans share with apes? do you have an obligation to be alive? Is this obligation to yourself? Do You believe in Angels and why? Resolved Questions in Religion & Spirituality How does someone who blows up an abortion clinic justify their actions? Do you believe in Hell? Why/why not? and, if yes, what can put you there? Hypothetically: During the rapture, if Christ came and took only the women to heaven...? If we were intelligently designed..?
Still have a question? Ask. Get answers from millions of real people. Post Question ADVERTISEMENT
Other - Society & Culture
Answers International: Argentina Australia Brazil Canada China France Germany Hong Kong India Indonesia Italy Japan Malaysia Mexico New Zealand Philippines Quebec Singapore South Korea Spain Taiwan Thailand United Kingdom United States Vietnam en Español Yahoo! does not evaluate or guarantee the accuracy of any Yahoo! Answers content. Click here for the Full Disclaimer.
Help us improve Yahoo! Answers. Tell us what you think.
Copyright é 2008 Yahoo! Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Privacy Policy - Terms of Service - Community Guidelines
Posted by: rev joseph john | May 20, 2008 6:36 PM
message for mccain for next generaion of we the people, in u s a: Yahoo!MailYahoo! SearchSearch the Web:Sign in New User? Sign UpAnswers Home -Blog -About -Help Ask Answer Discover Search for questions: Advanced My Profile Home /> Society & Culture > Religion & Spirituality > Open Question Premansu ROY DAS Member since: April 15, 2008 Total points: 0 (Level 1) Add to My Contacts
Open QuestionShow me another û DRAUPADI, pRINCESS OF SHARED WIVES DOCTRINE OF HINDU EPIC MAHABHARATA EXTENED TO SLIT HUSBAND BY WORLD RELIG/ THE REV DR KAMAL KARNA ROY'S RELIGION BASED MASTERPIECE BY ABOVE NAME HAS 3 WIVES FICTITIOUS CHARACTERS WERE SCRIBED AS HEROINES FROM KRISHNA NAGAR, WB,INDIA, PARNA BANERJEE NATH OF BAIDYABATI,WB AND PAROMITA BAIDYA ROY , BUT ONE PANDAVA ONLY REVEALED IN TEXT OF STORYLINE,OTHER PANDAVAS WERE KEPT BEHIND CURTAIN, BUT WERE LIVING SOULS ON LOVELINES PAROMITA WAS LOVE BIRD FROM DWELLING :TAPASYA CHIRANJEEB VIHAR , GAZIABAD, U P, INDIA 9 hours ago - 3 days left to answer. Answer this QuestionReport It
Posted by: THE REV MS LISA N R ALSTON. DR THE REV KAMAL K K ROY CAMPAIGN FOR GOP PRESIDENCY A OF MR CLEAN AGAIN | May 23, 2008 11:46 AM | Report abuse
activities and relief from job of u s senator.may god/s of all religions bless senator kennedy. we thank and revere him for national services at his best. whole nation,usa salutes ted kennedy; see below:
Give Dad XM This Father's Day
Folders[Add - Edit] Inbox (739) Draft Sent Bulk (853)[Empty] Trash[Empty] My Folders[Hide] kamal_karna_jun... Search Shortcuts My Photos My Attachments See your credit score - free Free Credit Report &Score Checking your own credit report doesn't affect your score. See yours for $0. By Experian. www.freecreditreport.com
Whats your car Worth? Find out! Unlimited calls: just $24.99/m How to graduate while you work Previous | Next | Back to Messages Call or Instant Message DeleteReplyForwardMove... Printable View This message is not flagged. [ Flag Message - Mark as Unread ]
Date: Wed, 21 May 2008 04:39:07 -0700 (PDT) From: "vishwa dharma" View Contact Details Add Mobile Alert Subject: MAY21, 2008 : NEW YORK RE: ami khub hotash hoa ââ¼
Web Results 1 - 10 of 10 for KAMAL KARNA ROY DRAUPADI SHARED WIVES SYNDROME EPIC HINDU MAHABHARATA.
KAMAL kARNA ROY'S "DRAUPADI" SHARED WIVES SYNDROME OF HINdU EPIC ... DRAUPADI, pRINCESS OF SHARED WIVES DOCTRINE OF HINDU EPIC MAHABHARATA EXTENdED TO SpLIT HUSBAND BY WORLD RELIGions group, u s a/ THE REV DR KAMAL KARNA ROY'S RELIGION BASED ... answers.yahoo.com/question/ index?qid=20080520055344AA11C1z - 22 hours ago - Similar pages
Yahoo! Answers - KAMAL kARNA ROY'S "DRAUPADI" SHARED WIVES ... KAMAL kARNA ROY'S "DRAUPADI" SHARED WIVES SYNDROME OF HINU EPIC QUEEN MAHABHARATA ... DRAUPADI, pRINCESS OF SHARED WIVES DOCTRINE OF HINDU EPIC MAHABHARATA ...
Society & Culture - Yahoo!7 Answers KAMAL kARNA ROY'S "DRAUPADI" SHARED WIVES SYNDROME OF HINU EPIC QUEEN MAHABHARATA EXTENDED TO SHARED HUSBAND? In Religion & Spirituality - Asked by Premansu ...
SEARCH "KAMAL KARNA ROY DRAUPADI SHARED WIVES SYNDROME ::::::: 3 DRAUPADIs were cited in a world wide publication in 2008. :::: author : the rev dr KAMAL karna k ROY NEW YORK . in the book volume ,Ms PAROMITA BAIDYA ROY"+ of chiranjeeb vihar, secor 5, Gaziabad , up, india was # 1,# 2 draupadi was ms Gargi Lahiri, Downtown of krishna nagar City, district nadia , west bengal, india & #3 DRAUPADI WAS CITED AS MS parna banerjee nath of baidyabati, hoohly,west bengal, india+ the draupadi characters may not be true or fictional as no claim was made by dr roy, author, assisted by his deputy and ghost writer or co_author of the publication, published world wide by electronic and hard copies publications we regret that only one pandave was quoted in the volume, others for the draupadies were kept behing curtain but pandavas vibrants, living souls and true lovers in familial and family way lovers, all equal to only one pandava cited for briefness of facts and enlargement of issues of draupadian love, life styles as approved way of lives what were intents and were cited as text of "draupadi, shared love syndrome of epic princes ( & AT TIMES A QUEEN ) in text of exampLe of a modern draupadi from hindu india familial environment. but there are VERY TRULY, millions of draupadis around the globe who use or abuse draupadi role as use_worthy wayS of living in latest social trendS OF WOMANHOOD AND MALE DOMINATED SOCIETIES. The world
|
The presidential candidates offer their prayers and best wishes to Sen. Ted Kennedy after he suffers a seizure and is hospitalized. --Matthew Mosk
| 696.958333 | 0.875 | 1.708333 |
high
|
medium
|
mixed
|
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/17/AR2008051701292.html
|
https://web.archive.org/web/2008051819id_/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/17/AR2008051701292.html
|
Hezbollah Emerges in Forefront of Power in Lebanon
|
2008051819
|
At the entrance to Hamra, once the cosmopolitan heart of the capital, a billboard reads 1,188, the number of days since former prime minister Rafiq al-Hariri was assassinated in 2005, plunging the country into a crisis that persists today. A mile or so away, another marker stands frozen at one year since Hezbollah and its allies erected a tent city, occupying Beirut's tony downtown. No one has updated it for the past 168 days.
But in the span of just eight days, some of the most tumultuous since the end of the civil war in 1990, the Shiite Muslim movement has refigured, both through its own actions and the repercussions that ensued, the arithmetic of politics in a country once hailed as a centerpiece of the Bush administration's now-tattered vision of a new Middle East.
Hezbollah today stands unquestioned as the single most powerful force in Lebanon. By routing government-allied militiamen in hours last week, as the army stood by, it proved it can occupy Beirut at will. Its show of strength forced the government into a humiliating retreat from decisions that targeted the group. And the group itself has ensured that the independence of its sprawling military, political and social infrastructure -- deemed a state within a state by its opponents -- will remain untouched for the foreseeable future.
By doing so, Hezbollah, once a shadowy, Iranian-inspired band born in the civil war, has decided a question that has divided Lebanon since Hariri's death: whether it would embrace a culture of accommodation with Israel, as a mercantile Mediterranean entrepot, or one of confrontation that Hezbollah and its Iranian patrons exalt.
"In this war, over a span of a few days, Hezbollah was able to translate a minor military victory into a major political achievement. It has succeeded in breaking the deadlock and achieving the aims the opposition has been calling for for two years," said Amal Saad-Ghorayeb, an analyst at the Beirut Center for Research and Information.
But the new calculus in Lebanon, where tension is combustible and diversity is claustrophobic, may prove that Hezbollah's victory was Pyrrhic, as it inherits a country whose sectarian and political contradictions suggest another civil war ahead.
Even its supporters cringed at the sight of Shiite militiamen sipping coffee at Starbucks, their rocket-propelled grenade launcher resting in a chair. Tension between Sunnis and Shiites echoes the sectarian divide in Iraq. And across Lebanon, a crisis that remains unresolved even now has inspired revulsion in a country that has only rarely been a state over its short, often nasty, usually brutish history.
"The old Lebanon cannot be at all rebuilt or mended the way it was," said Assem Salam, an 83-year-old architect and scion of one of Beirut's most prominent Sunni families. "It's become more and more difficult to piece Lebanon back the way it was."
"I'm very worried," he said. He paused, smoking a cigar, then repeated the words.
A Cost to Its Image
Yahya Thibyan, a member of Lebanon's small Druze community, populating the Chouf Mountains outside Beirut, said scouts had borrowed his Russian-made telescope to watch for the arrival of Hezbollah's fighters. At 7:30 p.m. last Sunday, he said, they came.
Hezbollah and its allied militiamen had already briefly occupied predominantly Muslim West Beirut, cutting off the airport and seaport. The effective surrender of their opponents illustrated the new balance of power in the capital. Within days, the government repealed decisions aimed at Hezbollah's telecommunications network and reassigned the chief of security at the Beirut airport, a Hezbollah ally. A day later, government supporters agreed to a dialogue in Doha, Qatar, almost completely on Hezbollah's terms, to decide on a cabinet, a law for parliamentary elections and a president.
|
BEIRUT -- Time haunts Lebanon. At the entrance to Hamra, once the cosmopolitan heart of the capital, a billboard reads 1,188, the number of days since former prime minister Rafiq al-Hariri was assassinated in 2005, plunging the country into a crisis that persists today. A mile or so away, another...
| 12.316667 | 0.95 | 46.916667 |
low
|
high
|
extractive
|
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/17/AR2008051702334.html
|
https://web.archive.org/web/2008051819id_/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/17/AR2008051702334.html
|
Lebanese Political Leaders Meet in Qatar to Resolve Stalemate
|
2008051819
|
Officials from the U.S.-backed government and leaders from the opposition, allied with Iran and Syria, said they expect to reach a deal soon, perhaps within days, despite obstacles that have bedeviled similar negotiations since 2006.
"Let's wait. We have no choice but to be optimistic," said Samir Geagea, one of the 14 negotiators and the head of the Lebanese Forces, a civil war-era militia that is now a political faction.
The talks follow the worst outbreak of internal violence since the 15-year civil war. Hezbollah, angered by government decisions that targeted the group, briefly occupied parts of Beirut, the capital, and closed the airport and seaport. On Wednesday, the government repealed those decisions, and the following day, all parties agreed to the mediation in Qatar, effectively on the terms of Hezbollah, a Shiite Muslim movement that has led the anti-government campaign.
Qatar's prime minister, Sheik Hamad bin Jasim al-Thani, has played a direct role in the negotiations, conducted under the umbrella of the Arab League. Qatar, a small emirate rich in natural gas, has a mercurial foreign policy that has delivered it influence with Israel and patrons along Lebanon's political spectrum: Iran, Syria and the United States, which maintains a base here.
Nearly all of Lebanon's leaders arrived in Doha on Friday, with the exception of Hasan Nasrallah, Hezbollah's secretary general. They met formally for less than two hours Saturday. In their most concrete step, the parties agreed to form a delegation, consisting of three representatives from each side, that will try to devise an electoral law for parliamentary elections in 2009.
That law is one of three unresolved issues in Lebanon. The negotiations are also supposed to deliver a formula for power-sharing in the cabinet and to determine a new president, a post vacant since November. All sides have agreed in principle on Gen. Michel Suleiman, the army commander, as a consensus choice.
"The strongest element of success for this attempt is that it is Qatar playing the role of the mediator," said Talal Salman, editor of as-Safir, a Lebanese newspaper.
Since the crisis, opposition figures have at least publicly insisted that they will not try to capitalize on their newfound strength in the Doha negotiations, adhering to a war-era Lebanese adage that there should be no victor, no vanquished. But even in the early stages of the talks, the country's politics seem to have been recalibrated.
"There is a new stage, and those who have difficulty accepting it have a real problem," said Abbas Hachem, an opposition lawmaker.
There is a sense at the talks, too, that the crisis may have created new momentum for a way forward.
"What's happened last week is very serious, and people are really scared. We have to go back with a solution or, as they told us, just don't go back," said Nabil de Freij, a pro-government lawmaker.
As Lebanese leaders left the Beirut airport Friday, activists gathered there with banners. "One way ticket," they read. "If you don't find a solution, don't come back."
|
DOHA, Qatar, May 17 -- Most of Lebanon's leading politicians, divided by the country's worst crisis since the civil war ended in 1990, began negotiations Saturday in Qatar on a deal to end an 18-month stalemate that has effectively left Lebanon without a functioning government.
| 12.076923 | 0.75 | 1.211538 |
low
|
low
|
abstractive
|
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/discussion/2008/05/15/DI2008051501542.html
|
https://web.archive.org/web/2008051819id_/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/discussion/2008/05/15/DI2008051501542.html
|
Post Hunt: The Aftermath
|
2008051819
|
This is Gene. Tom and I will be here today to answer your questions about yesterday's first annual Washington Post Hunt. We'll also field complaints, dodge thrown bricks, loogies, etc. It was the first time that Tom, I and Dave Barry tried this in Washington; we expected it to go well until roughly two days before the event, when the weather forecasts began to sour, involving words like "driving rain," "lightning," and finally, "the possibility of hail." Then, news broke that Teddy Kennedy was being hospitalized for a seizure and might die. On that same day, Hunt Day, readers would awake to my column, written weeks in advance, about nutty calls to newspapers, headlined "Teddy Kennedy Stole My Panties."
All bad signs. But Teddy pulled through! And as you know if you are one of the 4 to 5,000 of you who made it out to the Penn Quarter yesterday, truly bad weather threatened but never materialized. (Unlike crowd estimates by the Park Police, which always used to count people and then, seemingly, divide by four) was based on the number of fortune cookies and Chinese-character pamphlets handed out.
I'm going to answer some questions here that were put to Tom, Dave and me by participants in The Hunt. The first is how did we three nincompoops manage to handle the daunting logistics of this? The answer is, of course, that we didn't. We three, working together in perfect harmony, could not manage to handle the daunting logistics of preparing a dinner. The Hunt went off essentially flawlessly because of the four most competent people on Earth: Julie Pearlstein, Carla Taylor, Nicole Marshall, and Julie Gunderson, all of The Washington Post.
Another question was how long this took us to design the whole thing. It was about four months. Some things had to be done a long time in advance, among them securing the use of the secret phone number 202-518-2008. (More on this below.) Also, Sunday comics sections are pre-printed and most cartoonists work many weeks in advance of their deadlines. So Stephan Pastis (Pearls Before Swine), Berkeley Breathed (Opus) and Jef Mallett (Frazz) had to hide numbers in their strips as early as March. Getting custom-made fortune cookies took six weeks. Also, we had to ask Merle Reagle, the genius creator of the Post Crossword, to construct his puzzle for THE WEEK BEFORE the Hunt week in such a way that certain words were in certain places. (More on this later, too.)
HERE is the Puzzle-by-Puzzle explanation of the answers to the main part of the Hunt.
HERE are some pictures uploaded by hunters, and HERE is a small Post feature video following one team.
At some point today on the Post Web site there will be a video explaining the diabolical endgame, but at the moment I am writing this, it's not up yet. So I'm going to outline here, in complete detail, the last part of The Hunt that fewer than one in a hundred teams figured out:
Onstage at three o'clock, we assembled the Final Clue, which was nothing more or less than large wooden sculpture of a pair of crossed swords. That was it. Then we left the stage.
Smart people combined "crossed swords" with the first clue they had picked up from the five puzzles. The first clue read: "(All you need to do is remove eds from the middle, and the SOLUTION is right in front of you.)" The smart people figured out that removing eds from "crossed swords" leaves you with "crosswords." The even smarter people realized that we were not directing you to this week's puzzle, but to the SOLUTION to the previous week's puzzle: a little grid of words. The four remaining clues you already had then told you, in a coded way, to look for four specific words in that Solutions grid.
The four words, in order, were FORMER, NAME, CAPS, HOME. This was our somewhat feeble attempt to give an edge to local people, and create at least a brief informational barrier for the many teams from Miami that had their own experiential advantage coming in. (We were only partially successful. The second-place team were the Millareses, a big ol' brilliant extended Cuban-American family from Miami.)
Anyway: The former name of the Washington Capitols' arena was the MCI Center.
What help can "MCI" give you? Well, it's a Roman numeral. As a Roman numeral, it becomes 1,101.
And the really, really clever noticed there was a building address on the map of 1101 K Street.
At this point, all but about 10 teams were out of contention. (We had spies at various critical places.)
In front of 1101 K Street was a sign. It had gone up just minutes before. It said, "For Opportunities in the District, Call TODAY. And a phone number was given.
If you called the number, you heard a recording. Tom told you: "No, we said call TODAY."
No matter how many times you called that number, that's the message you got.
What you had to figure out that by "call today" we meant call today's date, in the district, namely: 202-518-2008. If you called that number, you got Tom again. A recording. And he told you to write your name on a slip of paper, along with your cell phone number and the Roman Numerals that got you to that site (that would be "MCI") and bring it to the man in a Red Sox cap standing at the intersection of Maple and Elm.
No, the Hunt was not over yet.
There IS no intersection of Maple and Elm in Washington. But there was on the "Solution to Last Week's Puzzle" grid on the crossword page. The answers "Elm" and "Maple" intersected in the lower left, just as we'd asked Merle Reagle to do. If you superimposed that grid on our map, you saw that we pinpointed the spot for you, with a little L, which actually was the letter of intersection in the crossword puzzle. If you ran there and found the man in the Red Sox Cap first, you won The Hunt. This year, those people were Jack Reda, Todd Etter, Chris Guthrie, and David Forrest.
One little last note: The man in the Red Sox cap was James Brady, the overall head of washingtonpost.com. The woman standing next to him, taking names, recording the order they arrived, and communicating to me when we had winners, was my wife, The Rib.
Grrrr: I maintain that the people who actually solved it are freaks of nature.
Gene Weingarten: Understood. Completely understood.
Hey, Tom and Dave and I are quite well aware that WE could not solve our Hunt, if we didn't have inside info. We're not kidding about that.
Tom Shroder: We are totally in awe. But we also have learned from experience what people are capable of, so we are constantly reminding ourselves during the design phase that there are superbrains out there who can pick our feeble attempts at subterfuge apart with ease.
Rockville, Md.: Our team had a fantastic time. We almost bailed out at 10 a.m. because of the weather forecast, but fortunately, less reasonable heads prevailed, and we went downtown anyway. Three to 3:30 was such an adrenaline rush. We figured out the final answer, but not quick enough: we were jogging from Verizon Center towards the 1101 building when we heard Dave announcing the results from the stage. I think the real genius on your part was making the final puzzle just that perfect difficulty level, so that contestants can almost-but-not-quite get it (or get it, but not in time), so you leave feeling like you can get it next year. Our team felt like we gained valuable experience, which I'm sure will have absolutely no bearing on solving next year's Post Hunt.
Gene Weingarten: The timing of the finalists was interesting. The first six teams to get to the Man in the Red Sox hat clustered within seven minutes. Then there was a loooong delay. So long that the Red Sox man left, before the next wave arrived.
This is about perfect, in terms of our hopes for how the endgame will play out.
Tom Shroder: Experience is a HUGE factor in doing the Hunt. That's why we were so worried it would be a South Florida sweep, and why we put practice puzzles in the magazine and the wonderful Virtual Hunt that Amanda McGrath and Amy Kovac created online. Still, there's no substitute for actually doing a Hunt live. So we were thrilled that Nova and DC kicked SoFla butt. Next year should be awesome.
Miami "tropichunt.com", Fla.: Tom, Gene and Dave:
Thank you for a great Hunt! It appeared to be a huge success, and the Hunt first-timers definitely outclassed the veterans. I must say that the only real bad part of the day was me not winning, which I'm sure you'll start a Federal investigation about.
Can you tell us, puzzle by puzzle, who created which one, so that the public will know how to appropriately direct their hate email?
Thanks again, and I can't wait for the Herald Hunt in October!
Gene Weingarten: You know how we tell you, truthfully, that teams do better solving The Hunt than individuals do? It's the same with constructing The Hunt. Virtually every single puzzle, and every element of the Endgame is the result of layered participation by the three of us. Puzzles get refined constantly, as we are neurotically worrying over whether it is too hard or too easy, fair or unfair.
So I can tell you who originated ideas, more than who "did" the puzzles.
The "Second Glance" puzzle, involving the three VVVs etched in stone, was Tom's idea, as was, I think, the President's Race.
I came up with The Arch Puzzle. Dave's job vis a vis this puzzle was to keep worrying that it was too hard, warning us no one would get it, that it would be the bottleneck to the whole Hunt, and that I am idiot. After the Hunt he finally admitted he was wrong, but only after his second beer.
By the way, that great faux Chinese calligraphy on the Arch handouts were don by Eric Shansby, the artist for my column.
Dave thought of the Stand-up comics linked to the cartoonists in the comics. Dave also completely wrote the opening questions in the magaine, which I thought were brilliant.
The fortune cookie puzzle was probably simultaneously suggested by all of us, because it echoed a puzzle we did more than 20 years ago, involving candy canes that looked peppermint but tasted orange.
Tom thought of linking the endgame to the crossword puzzle, I refined it to being in Last Week's Solution.
I thought of MCI referring to the number 1101, and of "call today" reffering to today's date. I believe Dave thought of the diabolical notion of "Maple and Elm."
I'm actually not sure of some of these, now. They really were all group efforts.
Tom Shroder: Gene is pretty darn close, though the truth is, on some of these things WE never really know who thought of what. During the worst moments of Hunt insanity, our minds undergo a kind of Vulcan mind-meld. (Also, for weeks, whenever the phone rang, my family moaned in unison, "Not Gene again!")
But let me focus on one piece of puzzle development that I believe was absolutely critical. For weeks, we were very happy with ourselves for deciding to hide the critical message "former name caps home" and "elm/maple" in the crossword puzzle -- which Merl Reagle agreed to construct to our specifications. And then, I decided to race Gene in doing another Reagle crossword. I took an hour and a half, but only because I resorted to Googling three times. Even Mr x-word whiz Gene took about 55 minutes. I suddenly realized: It's going to be an hour before anyone can even BEGIN to solve the endgame! They have to solve the entire crossword puzzle first. Gene then went into his cave and considered this. Hours later, I got a call: "Last week!" he said. I'm like, "Last week WHAT?" But he'd hit it: all the solutions were already printed, on the X-word page, to LAST WEEK's puzzle. So if we could direct people there, they could begin to solve the endgame instantly. And for at least half a dozen teams it worked beautifully. We had a winner in about 35 minutes -- which to my mind is the ideal amount of time.
Doe a De, ER:"mature hooved male ruminant" + presidents + teddy roosevelt=Bull Moose. Right? Am I crazy? Was that a trap you intended, or did my team just totally overthink that one?
One of us read an entire article in the magazine about the crazy man that lived in Meridian Hill park, all because it mentioned 1912, the year that Roosevelt ran as the Bull Moose candidate. At least we learned something. Thanks for a great day!
Gene Weingarten: Hahahaha. That is CLASSIC overthinking.
In devising these puzzles, we try to use Occam's Razor.
McLean, Va.: It seems to us that you didn't really have to listen to the 3 p.m. clue to figure out the final solution (one could have started focusing in on the crossword puzzle before 3 p.m. and the 3 p.m. clue didn't give you any additional information other than to look at the crossword puzzle). Was this intentional and do you know how many of the winners had figured out "MCI" before the final clue was announced at 3:00 p.m.?
Gene Weingarten: We thought it was simply waaay too unlikely that anyone would focus on the crossword answers, and then, somehow, figure out the four key words.
Even if they had, though, it would have done them no good. The sign at 1101 K street did not go up until 33 o'clock, so if they had hit that site earlier, it probably would have totally screwed them up, and figured it was wrong.
Loved the Hunt, even though we didn't come close to solving it. And, by the way, I can confirm that you are in no way fat.
Can you please confirm with Breathed that there was another way to get the number "9" from Opus, besides having it written on the drug rep's coat? The comic referred to Breathed as having a problem with his neck, and showed him with his neck extended. There were three women, all numbered (although the first one seemed to have a "21" hidden on her shoulders). Of the three women, only the middle one, #9, also had her neck extended.
Thanks, and we are already looking forward to next year.
Gene Weingarten: You are insane.
Tom Shroder: And we made you that way! Sorry.
Arlington, Va.: All of our team members could not eat the fortune cookie for dietary reasons. Therefore, we were unable to successfully solve that puzzle. Did this type of scenario cross your mind when you designed that puzzle? We still had a blast, however. Thanks.
Gene Weingarten: Really? Oooh. No. We didn't think about it. Not Kosher?
Next year we will urge all teams to have a Token Goy.
Sorry about this. Y'know, you COULD have asked a stranger for help. Or... wait. The most coconutty thing about that cookie was its smell! You just had to smell it!
Arlington, Va.: I noticed that you had the lovely and brilliantly talented Hank Stuever (feature writer for Style) emceeing a foot race between four big-headed presidents and a person in a deer costume. Isn't that kind of like asking Neil Armstrong to oversee a Moon Bounce?
Gene Weingarten: Good analogy, but I hereby declare it The Most Important Achievement In Stuever's Career.
Tom Shroder: Hank was great, and so were the Prezzes. I LOVED the way, between races, they went around the crowd and high-fived the spectators, just like at Nationals Park. It's what they do.
Washington, D.C.: What would have happened if nobody figured out the final puzzle? Was there a back-up plan?
Gene Weingarten: We would have given hints at staggered intervals. We will ALWAYS have a winner, even if the hints after about an hour amount to: RACE TO 14th AND F AND FIND THE GUY IN THE RED SOX HAT, YOU IDIOTS!
Washington, D.C.: Besides Dave, Gene, Tom and Liz (she gave me the comics!), what other major/minor celebrities made it to the Post Hunt?
Gene Weingarten: There were a few. The great announcer at the Presidents race was the great Hank Stuever, from Style.
Also at that sight, captaining it and at times taking turns inside the buck suit, were the estimable blogging team of Caitlin Gibson and Rachel Manteuffel.
Post star national reporter Josh White captained the fortune cookie site.
Mary Hadar, former editor of Style and now Post writing coach and all-around editing genius, captained the Arch site.
Washington, D.C.: First of all, a huge thanks to everyone who helped organize the Post Hunt. What a great event! I never would have thought I would have that much fun schlepping around in the rain. In Tom's final comments, it seemed as though there was some doubt about this becoming an annual event. I hope I misinterpreted this. You must have this again next year. The Hunters demand it!
I wish Dave were participating in the chat today, so I could thank him for being so kind and gracious to all the autograph hounds, including my 10-year-old, who is thrilled to have a signed volume in his extensive DB library.
Finally the ultimate compliment from my teenager: "It wasn't nearly as lame as I thought it would be."
By the way, Gene, did anyone have the nerve to take you up on your $5 challenge? You probably don't remember me among all your fans, but I approached you about an hour before the Hunt started (while my son was accosting Dave) and confirmed that you are indeed not fat.
Gene Weingarten: In my chat update last week, a poster claimed that having seen me on video, I was "fat." I indignantly explained that I am not fat, I am just a little, like, flabby. And I said that if anyone came up to me at The Hunt, scoped me out, and was willing to tell me to my face that I am fat, I'd give him or her a fin.
No one did! I actually had a pocket full of five dollar bills.
Arlington, Va.: GREAT JOB!! We had so much fun. A couple questions, though:
1. Who thought up the "fortune cookie" clue? That was BRILLIANT.
2. Were the "Washington Post Comics" actual Post employees?? So funny!!!
3. You are definitely not remotely fat.
Gene Weingarten: We've addressed the first and third already.
The comics were Dave George (janitors and emcee), Mike Wall (crocs) and Jeff Maurer (penguins). All guys well known at local clubs. I thought they were absolutely brilliant, given the crappy subjects they had to cover. I loved how they got edgier and funnier as the day wore on, making jokes about their own weariness.
Dave George even told the Aristocrats joke a few times, in family friendly - janitor related way!
Tom Shroder: I went up to the comics at the beginning to apologize for how few laffs they were provoking. I told them: Look, all these people care about is solving the puzzles, so they aren't even thinking about whether the jokes are funny or not. And they said: "Are you kidding? We work in COMEDY CLUBS. Compared to that, we are KILLING here."
Washington, D.C.: Any reason the Second Glance puzzle retained the PVBLIC while the other V's were turned into U's?
Gene Weingarten: Yeah, it was too small on the photo, and thought it was unfair to make it part of the solution. We solved that problem by not making it part of the solution: It wasn't changed.
Arlington, Va.: Gene and Tom,
We always thought of ourselves as the funny, smart girls (you know, as opposed to the pretty girls). Since we only solved two of the questions yesterday, how are we supposed to think of ourselves now? We're both 31 so it feels a little late to be reconstructing our identities. Thanks A LOT!
Gene Weingarten: This will sound a little patronizing, but solving two the first year you try this isn't bad at all. We talked to several smart-looking people who solved none.
Next year, you'll get 'em all.
Montgomery Village, Md.: Are you guys planning on doing something similiar in other cities? And if not are there are other organizations running puzzle hunts in, say, upstate New York?
Gene Weingarten: To our knowledge, there is nothing remotely like this anywhere. There are scavenger hunts and other puzzle hunts, but none of this scope and wackoid design. Tom, do you know of anything similar?
And no, we are never going to move it to another city. There's too much work involved to do ours alone.
Tom Shroder: No, but we are available to design the Paris Hunt at a moment's notice.
Maple and Elm, Washington, D.C.: Dear Gene,
I saw you at the Post Hunt and you were neither as ugly or fat as other chatters have claimed (maybe I had low expectations) but then you spoke and I understood why you are universally considered unsexy. Dude, you should work on that! You could be a total chick magnet.
Gene Weingarten: How does one work on the timbre of one's voice? Isn't that like telling me to be taller?
Tom Shroder: Amzingly, Gene IS a total chick magnet. I could show you photos.
Team Pretty Good for D.C.: First off, the PostHunt was a blast. The puzzles and clues were great, and it was fun running around downtown D.C., even our team's final sprint to 14th and F, most likely well after the top three had turned in their info. Which leads me to my one complaint: When we got to the final location, there was nobody there, leaving us to frantically re-read the map, our clues, and listen to the phone message again to make sure we were in the right place. How about putting a sign at the final location informing participants that they did, in fact, solve the puzzle correctly, but that they didn't make it in time to find the guy in the Red Sox cap?
Gene Weingarten: This is a very good idea, and we will do it next year (if there is a site to go to. Not all Endgames end with your having to be at a specific place.)
Sorry to those smart people who figured out what to do but were just a little late. We should have rewarded you with the knowledge you were smart.
(We had certificates to hand out, but there was such a long pause between the first wave and the second that we just left.)
Anonymous: Hi Gene and Tom,
I am one of the team of four who was followed around yesterday during the Hunt by your video team. My husband is a Miami native who first told me about the Tropic Hunt when we were dating (many moons ago). We were so excited to see it come to D.C. and we had a TOTAL BLAST (even in the rain, hail, snow, etc. of yesterday). We are even thinking of flying down to Miami in October for this year's Tropic Hunt!
Question: We have our T-Shirt, but are there posters available for sale?
Many thanks to all of you who put on the event. Great job. We are already gearing up for next year!
Tom Shroder: mm. Posters are a good idea. Also, possibly plush toys of the Presidents and Gene and Dave.
Fairfax, Va.: You had Caitlin and Rachel put on a buck costume? Are you guys insane?
Tom Shroder: They put it on TOGETHER?
Gene Weingarten: I laughed at the question, but Tom's answer is better.
Rockville, Md.: Tom, you don't look at all like I pictured you. I envisioned you as a portly bald guy with suspenders and a cigar. You are HOT!
Gene Weingarten: Hey, you know how my voice kills the hot? Did you see how Tom WALKS?
Tom Shroder: Mr. Swivel-knees is talking about MY walk?
Gene Weingarten: My walk is painful, dude. Yours is pure comedy.
Penn Quarter: Had a lot of fun at the Hunt -- thanks for organizing!
I was curious about the Franklin Square puzzle. The Presidents were on specific coins (and also on bills), but the buck was just slang for a dollar. Given the clue, it seemed like we were possibly supposed to focus only on coins. So we couldn't decide if the buck was a distraction or not. The problem is both 26 and 126 were in the clue list.
Did you think through this issue?
Gene Weingarten: Sure we did.
Basically, it was "A buck and change." By your logic, you would have had to assume that we had a male deer there for NO REASON.
After interviewing participants, we came to think that this was the easiest of the Puzzles. You overthought it, methinks.
Reston, Va.: I am relieved that a large crowd showed up. I kept worrying that it would be limited to your immediate family and homeless people. How confident were you that The Hunt would be so popular? And what criterion, besides blind hope and hubris, did you use to justify this confidence?
Gene Weingarten: We were completely without confidence after the late weather forecasts. Our giant fear was that the only people out there would be the 20 or so teams that we knew were coming from Miami. It would simply BE a Herald Hunt.
Tom Shroder: I was nearly suicidal at 6 a.m. when I signed on and saw the latest reports called for 80% chance of thunderstorms -- especially at the precise time of the Hunt, and one even predicted HAIL. And even at 11:15, the parking lot in front of the stage was still virtually empty. Then, in something out of a movie, people just suddenly materialized, and by noon, it was a see of umbrellas out there. The cavalry had arrived in the nick of time!
College Park, Md.: We had a great time, and hats off to you and the staff for pulling off an amazing day. But to nitpick on the endgame puzzle, unlike what you stated in the opening, the first clue was not the 'eds' clue, it was the third clue. The first clue (as numbered by the Post magazine) was PS, then N_M, eds, for me, and finally what comes after third.
We were tripped up by this but also by the fact that we thought the endgame clue would result in a number in the magazine printed clues. Not that we would have solved the endgame puzzle by any means. I was impressed by those that did.
Tom Shroder: The "eds" clue was the only one of the five clues in parens -- to set it off from the others and indicate it had a special purpose.
Gene Weingarten: Also, it WAS the first clue.
I'm looking at it right here.
McLean, Va. (One right, three half-way there, missed the comics section): So how many teams made it [to] Mr. Brady?
Tom Shroder: Six before they left to come back to the stage. But we have heard from others that several more were on the way.
Gene Weingarten: Right. Actually, the team that arrived third was a fraud. They were apparently just following a running person. They put name and cell phone on their slip of paper, but not the additional thing needed: MCI. Which means they had not heard phone call, which means they didn't know why they were there, which means all they won was this here BOO.
Alexandria, Va.: This is Todd from the Boneless Chicken Cabaret. We were fortunate enough to win the Hunt, and I just wanted to first thank everyone involved in a fantastic event from start to finish.
As someone who spent numerous hours on Saturday night poring through The Post Magazine, I was wondering, how much thought goes into writing all the fake clues? We found so many interesting things in there and we were certain they'd come into play.
Ex: We noticed the clue "Gosh are hogs mixed up! What's laid?" gives you the word "DIAL". We thought we had stumbled onto part of the final answer!
Thanks again for a great time!
Tom Shroder: We made huge fun of Gene for obsessing over the fake clues for DAYS. He will be very happy, and suitably insufferable therefore, that they were appreciated.
Gene Weingarten: Oh, man! This is great. And from the winners.
But actually you misinterpreted that one. You weren't devious enough. It means DIAL BACKWARDS.
Washington, D.C.: Dude, the winners are hot! Who'd have thunk it?
Tom Shroder: And IMPROV ACTORS? What's up with that?
U St: While Hunting a bird pooped on me but I still had a good time. Please do this again next year. By the way, the cookie tasted nothing like coconut.
Tom Shroder: Wait, that bird poop was a clue!
We loved the Hunt. Our team got 4 of the 5 main puzzles pretty quickly, but overthunk the library one for a half an hour before our "Aha, duh" moment.
But the endgame? We were totally outclassed. Were the winners really brilliant, or do you think they just came to a lucky realization? I hope it was luck, maybe then I'll have a chance next year.
Tom Shroder: Truly, part of it is self-belief. If you got the five puzzles, you can solve an endgame if you stick with it, and a few random thoughts break your way.
Gene: Was your son surprised at how many autographs you signed yesterday?
Gene Weingarten: He is always surprised when anyone seems to think there is anything remotely special about me.
Tom Shroder: Other than that he is e-specially geeky.
eds: The "eds" clue was the third if you go by the order that the five coordinates were given out in the first place. It was the first if you look at the five clues in numerical order. Hence the confusion.
(But our team got it anyway! All the way to 1101 before time ran out!)
Gene Weingarten: Ah, okay, but the most logical way to address it is in the order on the page. Still, as Tom points out: It was in parens. It was intended to stand out.
Pretty Good for Washingt, ON: Definitively, which of the five main puzzles was the hardest? Easiest?
Tom Shroder: The two hardest were the Second Glance Puzzle and the Arch puzzle. It was a little hard to tell which was actually the hardest in the field because of all the liars who raised their hands to say they had solved them.
Washington D.C.: Gene, maybe no one took on the $5 challenge because you looked so stressed-out and unfriendly. I smiled and made a Hunt-related comment, and you sort of grinned at me, gave a terse answer and walked away. Hard to follow that up with a "and boy don't you look slim!" sort of remark.
Tom Shroder: There are moments during the Hunt when things are going awry and we are in private agony. Otherwise we are very chirpy and cheerful.
Anonymous: Tell us about all the red herrings you put in the hunt. What was on the map and what numbers were on the clue list that you knew would trip people up?
Gene Weingarten: I hid an elaborate series of poem-related clues on the Clue Page that, for someone trying to scope out things in advance of the hunt, might have delivered a message about a feather...did anyone see this? I have a bet with Tom that at lease one person would, but I forgot to ask, from the stage.
Tom Shroder: The diabolical thing about the Hunt is that in addition to all the decoy clues built into it, red herrings pop up everywhere. I'm sure we'll hear of some things that got people going this year, but in the past, people have spent half the Hunt gathered around something like a dead bird on the sidewalk, or a map opened on the dashboard of a parked car.
Arlington, Va.: I fear that after watching the videos, I absolutely, positively, would have failed miserably at each clue in the challenge. Even buck-twenty-six, because I would have thought of the bills instead of the coins. I hereby submit my resignation as a Washingtonian and will be looking in the real estate listings for cities that carry "Slylock Fox." Greensboro, maybe.
Tom Shroder: The thing you are missing is the back and forth thinking that goes on when you are working with a team. Nobody would be likely to solve these with out that. It is an incredible demonstration of team power.
Bethesda, Md.: The Hunt was great, but something besides missed clues was puzzling me afterward -- if Weingarten hates the Boston Red Sox so much, why did the endgame involve a guy wearing a Boston Red Sox cap?
I just realized this morning (and burst out laughing) that the puzzle finalists had to race to a spot on the map labeled "L." In other words, "Go to L, Boston Red Sox."
Wow. You are one sick puppy!
Gene Weingarten: Because I knew that when the bit about the Red Sox was explained on stage, everyone would boo.
Post Hunt Post-Hunt: This was a great community activity -- super job! We had a great time.
I think you also did a fantastic community service. It seemed that the demographics of the hunters leaned toward the, shall we say, nerdy-video-gaming-dungeons-and-dragons element. Many appeared to be quite pale and -- ahem -- "fitnessly challenged," what with living in their mom's basements and only emerging for brief trips to Best Buy and all. The Hunt may have been their only exercise for the year! Way to go, fitness gurus (although maybe next year, spread the puzzles out a bit more and perhaps include some physical challenges to increase the heart rate a bit more)!
Gene Weingarten: Maybe this will influence some of you for next year. The winning team were four very buff guys, and once they figured out where to go, their captain raced to the Red Sox cap in a seven-block sprint. He beat the second team by less than two minutes, says The Rib.
So draw your own conclusions.
Arlington, Va.: We really liked the movie theater puzzle - and the coconut-flavored fortune cookies! When we found the fake movie theater ad before the Hunt began, we suspected a puzzle would somehow turn on the fact that the ad used the correct spelling for the plural of the word "coconut", but misspelled the actual name of the Marx Brothers film, The Cocoanuts. Was that a discarded part of the puzzle, or just a random anomaly?
Gene Weingarten: Hm. You get more Googlehits for "Coconuts" as the movie than "Cocoanuts." Is it inarguably with an a? If wrong, this was unintentional.
Tom Shroder: Actually I did know that. I changed it to the standard spelling (but neglected to tell Gene) because I wanted to make sure that the connection to the FLAVOR was clear.
End Game: So did you guys base the date of the Hunt on whatever phone number was available, or did you use a reverse directory to find out who had the number and then do some arm-twisting?
Gene Weingarten: The number was available! We starting jumping up and down and high-fiving.
Cube City: OK, I watched the video explanations, but I didn't see any mention of the woman staffer who aggressively begged for "change" near Lincoln Park. How did she fit into the puzzle? Was she part of the endgame? And how did you make her smell so bad?
washingtonpost.com: Post Hunt: Video Coverage (including the solutions)
Gene Weingarten: We had several such decoys around. We put a dead guy somewhere, too.
202-478-6465: For the answer to clue 370 (Gee, are you n I ok?) did you forsee that people would think this clue translated to the phone number represented by GRUNIOK? Just wondering, because we called that number around 1230 to see if it was a serviceable phone number. Answer: it's not.
Gene Weingarten: Yes, that was my intent.
judi: but aren't you ALWAYS suicidal the morning of the hunt, sir?
Gene Weingarten: Haha. This is Judi Smith, Dave Barry's research department, and a veteran of all Herald Hunts.
She has me here. Yes, Judi. I always wake up around 4 am. Did it this year, too.
I was on the third winning team. We actually did solve the endgame; we weren't following anyone. I am really disappointed that you made this accusation publicly, especially since I believe you did not contact any of us prior to posting that comment.
Gene Weingarten: Well, comon. I didn't name you.
Why didn't you know MCI?
I will believe you and apologize. BUT HOW CAN YOU NOT HAVE KNOWN THAT?
Germantown, Md.: Hi Gene, Tom & Liz (behind the scenes)
I was one of the volunteers yesterday who doesn't actually work for the Post. I had a great time. I was assigned the wonderful job of passing out the comics. It was cool to walk around the parking lot and see the various teams with maps, notebooks, pens etc... studying and reading! Even better when a team found the answer in the comics. This was the only one I figured out on my own but I guess after listening to the Comics on stage for three hours it was drilled into me. lol
And yes, they did get funnier as time progressed. I was worried I would have nightmares about penguins and janitors and crocs last night.
Anyway, had a great time! It was nice to meet you all. Hope this becomes an annual thing for the city!
Tom Shroder: I've heard from a lot of the comics volunteers who reported that three straight hours of listening to the same routines over and over was a religious experience. Hunt Volunteers totally rocked by the way. Obviously, this thing would have required National disaster relief without them.
MCI Center: Kudos for incorporating some DC-specific elements into the Hunt - the Nats mascots, the Chinatown gate, the MCI/Verizon Center. Those of us who have been flying down to Miami every year for the Herald Hunt were especially grateful to not only have a Hunt on our home turf, but one that felt like it was designed just for us, not just transplanted from Miami. Great job!
Tom Shroder: We always try to let the location inspire our puzzles, which is another way of saying that we aren't original enough to come up with them on our own.
Alexandria, Va.: Can you confirm whether there was more to the Chinatown Arch clue than simply connecting "Angry Men" with 12? The Post staffers there kept saying one of the clues was "If you don't get it, you don't get it," an obvious reference to the Post's advertising slogan, so we looked in the Post Magazine. On page 12, there was a story about Sheila Johnson, part-owner of the Mystics, a team that plays on a -basketball] court. In addition, the hunt's preliminary question #5 had to do with the members of the Supreme -Court,- on which there was "no -Johnson-," and the right answer to this question was coordinate "XII," or 12. Seems too coincidental given all of the coordination elsewhere in the magazine . . .
Tom Shroder: There were three large Chinese characters on the arch, which were also on the handout. Their definitions were: Too small, Think, Vastly bigger. Plus volunteers were saying, "you have to see the whole thing". These were both references to the pictogram of the arch itself, whose definition was "angry men".
Is there any consensus on which puzzle was the hardest? It seemed like people were having most trouble with the Chinatown gate, but we got that one faster than any of the others.
We failed on the fortune cookie puzzle -- we thought it was orange, so we spent a lot of time looking in the grid for something that was "fat, but not overweight".
We got as far as NAME + FORMER + HOME + CAPS, but went too far back in time. Instead of MCI, we went to the Capital Center. The center of CAPITAL is I, so we looked on the map for the letter I. That didn't produce anything, so instead thought of Largo, site of the Capital Center, and looked on the map for a Large O. About that time, you began announcing the winners.
Tom Shroder: That's not bad!
Besides bruised egos were there any injuries?
Tom Shroder: I cut my finger trying to assemble the bell rope stanchions at the presidents' race.
Gene Weingarten: I just remembered this: AT the very first Tropic Hunt in 1984, I injured my right knee running up an escalator. This was the beginning of chronic knee problems.
The Hunt ruined my life.
Arlington, Va.: I don't think any locals participated in The Hunt as everyone seemed polite, did not rush around like idiots, and were generally friendly. Or was that a clue?
Gene Weingarten: You know what? It was a terrific crowd. I almost hate to say this because I am such an old curmudgeon, but people were really fabulous. Enthusiastic, polite, funny.
OMG THOSE COMICS WERE HILARIOUS: Hey Gene, Hey Liz.
Dave here from the comics stage. Overall -- very fun day. Doing standup in front of 5,000 people reading newspapers was really great. I now know exactly how flight attendants feel while doing the safety briefing.
My favorite part of yesterday was getting heckled by a guy complaining that I'd told the same jokes six times in a row. I had to tell him that all he had just accomplished was telling the entire crowd that he's been standing at this clue for 40 minutes because he's too stupid to figure out the answer.
Good times. Thanks for including us.
Dave George, ladies and gentlemen. He'll be here all week.
Alexandria, Va.: Was the homeless man in the red hat (not Red Sox) who was sitting in the park to the north of 1101 (the park labeled "That was Easy") a plant? Or just a man who chose hats poorly that day? Our team and about half a dozen followers behind us tried to hand him our papers. He looked puzzled but amused.
Tom Shroder: It's a Hunt tradition to think that actual homeless people are clues. This has happened before.
Gene Weingarten: Funny moment from yesterday: When we were setting up around 10 a.m. the only two people at the Presidents Site (Franklin Park) were the aforementioned lovely Caitlin and Rachel. They quickly found themselves surround by homeless people who were Getting Real Physically Close and Curious.
I got this whispered call from Cait: "We need backup!"
Centreville, Va.: So the coconut problem could have been solved another way...! We went to the Regal Cinemas 14 Theater (in Chinatown) and inside, there was a huge neon bowling pin. And what does a coconut look like? A bowling ball! And how many pins are there in bowling? 10! Voila!
Local Te, AM: GREAT Hunt! We were actually on our way to the 1101 point on the map when it was announced that there were winners -- so I HAVE to know: did a ton of people make it that far, or did we really have an actual chance (had we been a little quicker on our feet?)
Tom Shroder: Here's one of the teams that were on the heels of the "First Six".
Gene Weingarten: Yeah, again: There were the first six, and then a long hiatus. You are entitled to feel like the tier of Near Great Presidents. You weren't close to the Pantheon of Linc, Wash, and FDR, but consider yourself like Jefferson or James K. Polk.
Washington, D.C.: Third team quandry: I'm on the 3rd place team, too. Perhaps the 3rd team to arrive wasn't the 3rd place team. Perhaps we were the 4th to arrive but the 3rd to have the right answer?
Gene Weingarten: Sorry, I should have been more precise. Between the second team to win and the third team to win, another team arrived. But this team did not have the right code word. You came fourth, but won third place legitimately.
Sorry, I should have made this clearer. The teans that finished first, second and third were all legitimate winners.
Formerly Hialeah, Fla.: Hey Gene and Tom, the Post Hunt was a blast. Thanks. Gene, a couple of years ago I sent you an e-mail offering to help you if you did a hunt up here, having been to Hunts down in South Florida. It must have gotten lost due to insufficient e-postage. That being said, if I have an awesome idea for a puzzle for a future hunt, would you be willing to consider it if it was workable and/or warped enough? I realize that I would have to take a blood oath and be sworn to secrecy, give up my firstborn if I revealed something, etc., but I am willing to take that chance. If so, how would I go about pitching my idea?
Tom Shroder: Absolutely. We're always willing to steal good ideas.
Gene Weingarten: Send it to me at weingarten(at)washpost.com
The Library puzzle: Gene and Tom, I take issue with that one (even though my team got it anyway). VVV is NOT 555! That's DLV! Come on, if you're going with proper Roman numerals for the endgame, you have to know such an error would bug some of us!
(And my fiance got the Arch puzzle in about 10 seconds. But he's brilliant that way.)
Gene Weingarten: Ah. But nothing else was possible. 15 was not a possible answer. Neither was five times five times five. We made it so 555 was the only rational answer.
Northern Virginia: Woo! Just got home, and I'm proud to say that Team Spookymittens solved all the questions and figured out the endgame... at almost exactly the same time that word came that it was all over.
We have all sorts of plans and strategies for next year. So here's hoping there will be a "next year."
Thanks Gene, Tom, and Dave for bringing some much needed weirdness to D.C. This place takes itself way too seriously.
Tom Shroder: Thanks Joan. Spookymittens?
Gene Weingarten: Tom is being disingenuous. We have heard a lot of dumber team names, some of which are unprintable.
The second place winners this year wore t shirts that said Weapons of Mass Confusion.
Overthinker who apparently can't taste coconut: On the chinese puzzle, we were told to think bigger, so we looked at the biggest number, which was 1989, the year of Tiananmen square. And the clue there talked about things coming down, so we were looking for a statue.
It got more convoluted from there.
Gene Weingarten: Actually, that clue was another dummy. I wanted people to see 1989, when something came down. It was not a statue. It was the Berlin Wall.
Washington, D.C.: So how many fortune cookies did you guys buy? Was it another one of Gene's candy cane fiascos? How many were consumed? Where does one even buy coconut flavor fortune cookies? Oh, and p.s. I first saw the ad and thought to myself, "sweet, I wanna go see 'Duck Soup'...hey, wait a sec!"
Tom Shroder: We always come up with an idea -- coconut flaovered cookies! -- and then rely on smart production folks to find them in huge quantities (in this case, 15,000. About 5,000 were handed out). Nicole Marshall tracked down the cookies, and we tested them repeatedly to see if folks actually tasted coconut. They did. I thought the SMELL was even clearer than the taste.
What the Hey, Hank!: I have a bone to pick with Hank who did the announcing for the Presidents' race. My team had the answer 126 figured out but stayed by the course while waiting for a few other team members to come off the Metro, so happened to catch a few more runs of the race. In one of these races, the Lincoln character accidentally beat the Washington character, though the Buck still won. In our answer of 1 Buck + 25 cents + 1 cent = 126, this order didn't matter, however, Hank made big deal of the fact that "don't pay attention to the order you just saw, listen to this order for the clue..." then went back to the order of Buck, George, Abe as is was for every other race. So my team was completely thrown off thinking the answer could not be a simple addition problem if the order really mattered that much. I blame my team's loss on Hank's part as we subsequently spent a great deal of time focused on getting a different answer which at one point involved complex fractions and time on a watch... Hank owes me a trip to the beach. Or at least a margarita.
Tom Shroder: Hank will be dealt with harshly!
Gene Weingarten: We've already killed him.
No, he was asked to have them finish the same way every time.
Washington, D.C.: Gene Weingarten: To our knowledge, there is nothing remotely like this anywhere. There are scavenger hunts and other puzzle hunts, but none of this scope and wackoid design. Tom, do you know of anything similar?
Not to denigrate in any way your efforts, but in fact, there is. It's called The Game, and it's often played in the San Francisco Bay Area. The duration is 12 straight hours (no sleeping allowed) and involves driving all over the place. You're allowed to bring supplemental materials, too. I, in fact, brought a physics textbook when I played, The Game, and USED IT!.
Tom Shroder: Well, all night driving is not really remotely the same, is it?
Gene Weingarten: I don't know about the game, but I am guessing also that it is not humor oriented.
Washington, D.C.: My fiancee and I apparently have terrible senses of taste (we never thought the cookies tasted odd), but we were actually on the right track with the endgame anyway. Turns out the phoenetic Chinese in the cookies sounded like "dining one", which made us use the page number of Tom Seitsema's restaurant review in the magazine -- 44. The clue for that was "This is the answer" with "is" in italics. So we were this close to having "Caps" "itals" "former" "home" "name"... sadly, we screwed up one clue and I ended up yelling at my mom while she told me the Caps used to play in Landover, Md. Still, we had a blast and are in for next year!
Gene Weingarten: You should have run to Landover!
Fairfax, Va.: Since Northern Virginia won this year, don't we have rights to host the Potomac Hunt next year?
Tom Shroder: That's actually a possibility. And maybe we SHOULD change the name.
Arlington, Va.: Do you test out the puzzles on anyone -- friends, family, etc. -- before deploying each one in a Hunt?
Gene Weingarten: Sometimes. We were very concerned about the taste of the fortune cookies, but the taste tests were pretty conclusive.
Dave contends we should have tried out the arch first, but I think we have already established here, in his absence when he cannot defend himself, that he is wrong and an idiot.
Arlington, Va.: Getting custom-designed comic strips was awesome. Did these same strips run nationally, or only in The Post?
Gene Weingarten: Nationally! The three cartoonists just did it, as a favor to all of us, and all of you.
Potomac, Md.: Unfortunately I was unable to make it to the 2008 Post Hunt.
Will there be a 2009 Post hunt?
Tom Shroder: As of yet, there are no court injunctions barring us from doing so.
Gene Weingarten: Quick answer: I'm pretty sure we will. This was just too much of a blast.
I deserve accommodation: I am allergic to wheat, nuts, shellfish, gluten, MSG, dairy, eggs, Rise Krispies, and vodka martinis. Mascots with large heads give me panic attacks, and I'm agoraphobic. Also illiterate -- I'm dictating this to my dog. I felt this year's Hunt was completely unfair to me. Please send me a T-shirt and I'll consider dismissing my impending lawsuit.
Tom Shroder: It's in the mail.
A buck and what now ?: Are you guys able to pat yourselves (or each other) on your backs ? Because seriously, I think you should.
Gene Weingarten: We can pat each other on the backs, but we are guys, so would never that do anything involving touching.
Arlington, Va.: How fast did the best teams solve the preliminary puzzles? We got them all (correctly) in an hour, and then took a two-hour lunch break while we puzzled over the clues. (But, despite that, we bombed on the endgame.)
Gene Weingarten: An hour is great. We found one team that had solved em all in about the first 50 minutes, and we couldn't recall anyone being that quick before.
Mt. Vernon, Va.: Can you buy Post Hunt shirts?
Gene Weingarten: I believe so. I'm going to check, and please ask again during my regularly scheduled chat tomorrow.
Re: "possibly plush toys of the Presidents and Gene and Dave": I'm thinking bobbleheads.
Tom Shroder: They already ARE bobble heads.
RE: Coconut: Our (incorrect) logic but correct answer: We saw an advertisement in The Magazine for a trip to Florida with a picture of palm tress (where coconuts come from) which also mentioned The Post Hunt and The Washington Post. It was on page 38. 3 + 8 = 11 which was the correct answer (as there was no #38 clue).
Tom Shroder: Just shows you. . .
Gene Weingarten: See, this is exactly why we put in passwords and thus such: To prevent people winning for the wrong reasons.
Wheaton, Md.: So, the Presidents' question was titled a Time for Change -- GW and Lincoln make 1:16. Which is exactly what the baseball with the Nats hat was pointing to. And then "ruminating" about the ruminant led us to find four question marks in the map -- hence 120. Grr..
Washington, D.C.: are there any ethical implications in the fact that the Magazine's "second glance" labeled the top photograph as "original", when in reality it was altered? Oh, and thanks for making me read the lamest section of the Magazine -- I hate second glance.
Gene Weingarten: Believe it or not, Tom and I discussed this! We decided to risk the professional criticism, on the theory that NO ONE would be so SMALL MINDED to call us on it.
Parishu, NT: Tom Shroder: No, but we are available to design the Paris Hunt at a moment's notice.
I think that one's been solved, over and over and over and over again.
Tom won't get this, I predict.
Washington, D.C.: No no no... I typed "grimmed". Gene grimmed at me. He did not grin, as in smile. He grimmed as in, made a grim, annoyed face.
Gene Weingarten: What? Who is this? I try to reserve scowls for family and friends.
Philly: How fast did the quicker groups solve the first five puzzles? We got through them in about 75 minutes, after realizing that we really didn't need to hurry. Did any groups make it through all five, but have to rush to do so?
Tom Shroder: It's amazing how quickly people tend to get through these. The Hunt was originally FOUR hours before the Final Clue, but we realized that for the last two of those hours, most people were just sitting around, puzzling through the clue page.
Gene Weingarten: I think if we held a special Hunt only for winners of previous Hunts, we could make the puzzle part last only about an hour.
Greenbelt, Md.: Thanks guys! I've never had more fun feeling like a complete idiot! We only solved one puzzle. Can't wait for next year.
Gene Weingarten: Maybe next year you'll solve TWO.
No, actually you will all find Year Two much easier. People get shellshocked the first year. It's just all so ... puzzling.
Alexandria, Va.: Please don't tell me that you are now the "Official PostHunt of the Washington Redskins"!
Tom Shroder: The Redskins are The Official Football Team of the Post Hunt.
Clarksburg, Md.: The Hunt was a blast (and speaking of blasts, we wasted WAY too much time try
|
Humor columnist Gene Weingarten and Post Magazine editor Tom Shroder debrief, deconstruct and defy us all to understand what happened at Sunday's inaugural (and possibly only) Post Hunt.
| 357.30303 | 0.818182 | 1.242424 |
high
|
medium
|
abstractive
|
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/discussion/2008/05/16/DI2008051602075.html
|
https://web.archive.org/web/2008051819id_/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/discussion/2008/05/16/DI2008051602075.html
|
Cannes Film Festival
|
2008051819
|
Booth was online Monday, May 19, at noon ET, live from Cannes, to discuss all the movie news from this glitzy film festival.
William Booth: Hello sports fans, we're here at the Cannes Film Festival, where serious arthouse cinema and Kung Fu Pandas somehow co-exist. This year, Sean Penn is the head of the jury. Madonna is coming to show her documentary on Africa. There are some pretty excellent foreign language films -- and oh, that little thing about Indiana Jones. Lets go.
Arlington, Va.: So I understand Indy 4 got a lukewarm reception?
(This was my greatest fear, that Indy 4 would be another "Godfather 3.")
William Booth: Indy got a polite but far from enthusiastic applause at the press screening for several thousand critics. Most of the reviews I've seen were lukewarm.
Silver Spring, Md.: Inquiring minds need to know: if you saw Indy, how was he and is he worth dropping coin on this weekend?
William Booth: Well, it would be better to see it on a big screen than a DVD, which is hardly a rave. It was fine. Karen Allen is back. The new kid, Shia LeBeefcake, is fine. Harrison Ford actually looks younger in person than he does in Indy 4. Its got tons of jeep chases. There's temples and graves and blowguns and Cate Blanchett as a commie with a pageboy haircut. Its cute. Its ... been done? But there you are: a movie as nostalgia trip.
Washington, D.C.: I thought Cannes was for indie films and not blockbusters. Was I incorrect in assuming that?
William Booth: You are incorrect on this one. Cannes is a show. It is also one of the biggest film markets (buying and selling). In the morning you might go see Gomorra, a powerful Italian take on the real (lowrent) mafia, in the afternoon, a film such Un Conte de Noel, about a dysfunctional (seriously) French family and then top it off with the world premiere of the Kung Fu Panda. So its a mix.
New York, N.Y.: Have you seen anything that you really loved? And, more importantly, how glow-y is Angelina in person?
William Booth: Angie, as the entertainment press here calls her, is looking pretty ripe. Just ready to pop. And it suits here. Last year, when she was here for A Lonely Heart? She was a stick. Now? Mom curves.
Fairfax, Va.: You mentioned in your Post article today about the importance of foreign box office and that that was why Indy was opening there. Can you explain further? Is the U.S. not the largest market for movies?
William Booth: The United States is the largest single market for movies but the rest of the world combined now represents about 60 percent of all the tickets sold for Hollywood movies.
Silver Spring, Md.: In your article today, you mention "Da Vinci Code" was booed a few years back. Any booing this year? Are the films any better or are the audiences just more polite/bored?
William Booth: Haven't heard any real booing. They loathed the Da Vinci Code here, and they didn't like very much "Marie Antoinette" from Coppola, either. A theme this year? Good movies, but not great movies.
Washington, D.C.: Have you seen the Roman Polanski documentary yet? It seems to be the most buzzed about of the festival. What have you seen and heard?
William Booth: The Polanski documentary first showed at Sundance, where it wowed em. HBO is going to air it in June. I'm interviewing its director Marina Zenovich on Wednesday. It is a strong doc -- it doesn't forgive or forget what Polanski did (have sex with a 13 year old) but it also addresses all the other players in the drama, especially Polanski's judge in the Los Angeles case.
Reston, VA: How do they pick the jury? Is Eva Longoria on the jury this year? Did Aishwarya Rai register on anybody's radar?
William Booth: The French pick the jury. It includes past winners and Cannes veterans, and it always includes a couple of French actors or directors and then a smattering of artists and celebrities from US and around the globe. This year Natalie Portman is one of them. She is tiny.
Washington, D.C.: This is related to your article today, about global releases, moreso than Cannes. But I am wondering: What are people saying about "Speed Racer" and why it has done so poorly at the box office? Warner Bros. cannot be pleased about that.
William Booth: I think the main problem with Speed Racer was that it stunk.
Chicago, Ill.: This gig is old hat for you now, Mr. Booth, but have you been starstruck at all this trip to Cannes?
William Booth: I am capable of being starstriken, if thats the medical term. I could watch Penelope Cruz's mouth move all day. She reminds me of a Spanish Lucy Ball. She's pretty great in the new Woody Allen flick, which if you like Woody Allen flicks, you'll really like. Its called Vicky Christina Barcelona -- and we're writing about it now.
You and Scarlett:"Woody Allen is back at Cannes with "Vicky Cristina Barcelona," starring Javier Bardem and Scarlett Johansson, who decided (last minute) not to come to Cannes. This is a pity. Cannes is made for an actress of Johansson's talents."
Why did I get the feeling the fur was sticking up on your neck when you wrote that?
William Booth: Fur as in cur? Or fur as in my back hair? Either way, no, she was scheduled to come to Cannes. Everyone was expecting her. She was on the cover of French magazines next to big letters screaming CANNES! She would have been hot on the red stairs and she is Woody Allen's muse, so this is her town. She is missed. Is what I meant.
Denver, Col.: So I generally loathe and detest Woody Allen, but I have to admit to being somewhat intrigued by "Vicky Christina Barcelona." What's been the reaction in Cannes? Your thoughts, if you saw it?
William Booth: The critics are digging it. Its a light zany romantic comedy and another of Allen's mediations on love and lust, but not heavy. Barcelona, where it was shot, looks like a postcard, and Javier Bardem and Penelope Cruz steal the show as crazy latin lovers.
Chicago, Ill.: Do the people at Cannes actually watch movies like Indy 4 on a regular basis? I appreciate hearing about their lukewarm reaction to the film, but I'm wondering what their frame of reference is. Are they saying "it was better than 'Spiderman' but not as good as 'Empire Strikes Back,'" or are they comparing it unfavorably to some obscure 1967 Hungarian film shot in B&W with an 8mm camera? Thanks.
William Booth: Both. A lot of the attendees here either cover film or make movies themselves. They're pretty sophisticated. They know their Spidermans and their Pier Paolo Pasolinis (who I had to google last night).
Washington, D.C.: Has anybody tripped on the red carpet yet?
William Booth: Yes! Catherine Deneuve! And she has walked a million miles of red carpet. But she made a quick recovery. And then laughed. So..
Speed Racer: You are entitled to your opinion. "Speed Racer" is clearly the superior film to "Iron Man," which is an astonishingly simpleminded film (MIT doesn't do "summa cum laude" diplomas, for example). It's true parts of "Speed Racer" are little better than white noise but the film asked the audience to examine what their role is as the viewer. "Iron Man" asked me to sit there passively. I think you're going with the knee-jerk reaction.
William Booth: I confess I don't really have a strong opinion about Speed Racer. I think I was paraphrasing the general reaction. And good get about the MIT summa cums.
Annapolis, Md.: What's the word on "Kung Fu Panda"? I can't believe that one's opening in Cannes. Jack Black ... Come On!
William Booth: Kung Fu Panda also stars Dustin Hoffman, who was asked at a press conference, wow, you started your career with The Graduate and now its Master Shifu in the panda pix? And Hoffman quipped, "it's the decline of culture..."
McLean, Va.: What's Eva Longoria doing there? She's on "Desperate Housewives" and that's TV.
William Booth: Selling something I assume.
Arlington, VA.: So any embarassing red carpet moments that we folks at home have missed?
William Booth: You raise an interesting point. At the red carpet in the good ole USA, we make em answer questions as they stroll past, which can be funny, depending. Here they ascend the Red Stairway and have their pictures taken. No questions. Thats for the press conferences, where the questions are about as embarrassing as the answers.
Bethesda, Md.: So what is getting the biggest buzz at the festival right now? From what I have read, both "Blindness" and Indy were a bust.
William Booth: The buzz now is what will follow. There's a lot of interest in the new Soderbergh 4 hour and 28 minute "Che," starring Benicio del Toro as the revolutionary male model. That screens on Wednesday. Clint Eastwood is here tomorrow with "The Exchange," which stars Angelina Jolie. Charlie Kaufman ("Being John Malkovich") has his directorial debut late in the week. We're betting weird.
Alexandria: Eva Longoria's hubby is French; I'm sure they asked her b/c she's so glam.
William Booth: Thank you. Smart group.
William Booth: Well, Canners, chatters, this has just been a fantastic voyage of discovery. But I have to sign off a bit early to force my way aboard Ron Perelman's colossal yacht. Thanks for the good questions, as always.
Editor's Note: washingtonpost.com moderators retain editorial control over Discussions and choose the most relevant questions for guests and hosts; guests and hosts can decline to answer questions. washingtonpost.com is not responsible for any content posted by third parties.
|
Join live discussions from the Washington Post. Feature topics include national, world and DC area news, politics, elections, campaigns, government policy, tech regulation, travel, entertainment, cars, and real estate.
| 50.731707 | 0.585366 | 0.634146 |
high
|
low
|
abstractive
|
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/discussion/2008/05/15/DI2008051502120.html
|
https://web.archive.org/web/2008051819id_/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/discussion/2008/05/15/DI2008051502120.html
|
Talk About Travel - washingtonpost.com
|
2008051819
|
Got a travel-related question, comment, suspicion, warning, gripe, sad tale or happy ending? The Post Travel Section Flight Crew is at your service.
On the itinerary this week: a visit to a Swedish seaside town; a desert expedition in Twentynine Palms, California; fishing in New York City's Hudson River (really!) and vegetarian restaurants in Buenos Aires (again, really!).
All other travel topics are open as well. If you have insights, ideas or information to add to the discussion, just press the call button above your seat and we'll get to you as soon as we can. Different members of the Crew will rotate through the captain's chair every week, but the one constant is you, our valued passengers.
We know you have a choice in online travel forums, and speaking for the entire Flight Crew, we want to thank you for flying with us.
You may also browse an archive of previous live travel discussions. For daily dispatches, check out Travel Log, the Travel section's new blog.
KC Summers: Hi, everyone, and welcome to the travel chat. Got your summer vacation all planned? No? Well, no worries, the Flight Crew is here to help you figure out where to go, how to get there and how to get the most out of your vacation buck. Joining me today: staffers John Deiner, Christina Talcott, Scott Vogel, Cindy Loose and Carol Sottili. On a personal note, this is a sad day for me and Cindy -- it's our last chat, as we're both leaving the paper at the end of the month. So let's have a blowout giveaway and clean out my office at the same time. Quick, email and say why you want any one of the following items, and it's yours: * Fodor's book of "1,001 Smart Travel Tips" * Anthony Bourdain's book, "No Reservations" * A chef's apron from Annie's Kitchen in Provence * The Beer Drinker's Guide to Colorado (a handy map) * A pop-up map of Barcelona * A "CelebriDuck" rubber ducky from Nashville's Peabody Hotel * "A Stingray Bit My Nipple: True Stories From Real Travelers," from those tasteful folks at Budget Travel * and a Knee Defender, one of those little plastic devices that prevents the guy sitting in front of you from reclining his seat, because I'll never have the nerve to use it. And we're off....
Arlington, Va.: I submitted the question below a few weeks ago, and you all posted it, but no one had any advice. I figured I'd try to resubmit it given that Sweden was on the front cover of the travel section! Thanks so much for all the advice.
"Arlington, Va.: I'm flying into Stockholm this summer and am horrified by the hotel prices. It seems that even a hostel would cost $100 for two adults - and that is without all the extras like bedding. We've been considering two options: 1. Waiting and going to a hotel placement agency once we arrive and seeing if we can get a place at a pension or a last minute cheap hotel price or 2. Leaving Stockholm and spending the night in a cheaper city - Uppsala perhaps? Do you all have any advice about whether it is worth it to stay in Stockholm? And if so, how to do it cheaply. Thanks!
Cindy Loose: Sweden overall is a pricey place, which is why we don't cover it as often as we'd like. Any advice from you guys?"
washingtonpost.com: Here's a piece from our Post Company cousins at Budget Travel: Europe on the Quick: A Long Weekend in Stockholm (Budget Travel, Feb. 2006)
Cindy Loose: Let's try again, earlier in the chat, to see is anyone has advice about how to handle horrendous hotel prices in Stockholm.....See question as posted last week, late in the game.
Heslington, UK: Probably because Yorkshire is now my home, I felt the need to respond to York as too touristy, from last week's chat.
Though I would definitely not recommend as a day trip from London, it's a two hour train journey. I'd say it's a great weekend trip (just book your tickets as far in advance as possible to get the best prices, then pick up your tickets at the station. Last time I bought a full price return it was around £80. It's possible to get singles for under £12).
If tourist stops are not your thing, just relax and enjoy the city with all its twisty-turny ways. Spend an evening in one (or a few) of the local pubs, or see what bands are on that night at Fibbers. Or walk the walls, or check the race schedule at the race course and take a short bus ride there.
KC Summers: Thanks for chiming in, Heslington. You had me with "twisty-turny ways."
Chicago, Ill.: I am SO GLAD you put the case of the imprisoned Italian tourist on your blog site today, because it's a shocking story. We got on this topic a couple chats ago and you guys sort of demurred, noting that you write more about travel per se and leave the politics of customs and immigration to other reporters. But I would encourage you again to look at this subject in more depth, because it's really going to affect how tourism develops around the world. I mean, how many incidents like this before the Europeans start retaliating? At what point will Americans find themselves shunted into "special" lines when arriving overseas that take twice as long as everyone else's? Our policies invite reciprocal treatment. If we're making it so unpleasant and arduous for foreigners to come here, how soon before we're no longer welcome there, especially if our dollar isn't worth squat anyway? Thanks.
washingtonpost.com: The Monday Rant: Detaining Foreign Visitors (Travel Log blog, May 19)
Christina Talcott: I'm glad you appreciated my post this morning. Scott pointed out the story to me, and I found it really outrageous. We think and read and talk a lot among ourselves about how travel changes with current events, and we're always trying to pass on info about any actual trends and changes. I for one still have a lot to learn about all the rules and regs coming out of DHS/FAA/etc. While I'm dismayed and nervous when I hear stories like Salerno's, it's hard to speculate about what might happen in other countries as a result. Whenever we hear anything concrete, we'll be sure to blog about it to let you know. In them meantime, do you think there's anything we can do as individuals/travelers to ameliorate the situation, besides being good guests wherever we go outside the States?
Sunny Isles Beach, Florida: An article entitled "top 10 travel tips" was written by the Post about a year ago which identified Kleinert's underarm disposable dress shields as a great travel product. Can you please tell me how to get a copy of this article.
washingtonpost.com: Travel Aids You Can Buy Or Fashion for Yourself (Post Travel Section, Nov, 5, 2006)
KC Summers: Ask and ye shall receive, SIB. Thanks for the link, Elizabeth!
D.C.: We will be spending the end of our honeymoon in Costa Rica in the middle of December. Only have 2 days and we have to end in San Jose. Any ideas about what to see for people who love national parks/museums/beaches?
washingtonpost.com: Costa Rica Travel Stories (Post Travel Section Archives)
KC Summers: Elizabeth, you are the best. DC, here are some handy links for you. And chatters, feel free to jump in with suggestions for DC.
day trip from London: Hi, Flight Crew!
Last week, a chatter asked about ideas for a day trip from London.
Although I missed the chat, here are a couple of suggestions.
Their first choice, if they haven't been there before, should be Windsor Castle.
Second would be Oxford (mentioned by someone else last week) and Blenheim Palace (where Churchill spent a lot of time growing up), which is close by.
Third would be Hampton Court, the home of Henry VIII.
KC Summers: This was a popular thread last week. I don't think we had mentioned Hampton Court, so thanks much.
Baltimore, Md.: Rather impulsively, my fiancee and I bid on a two-week stay at a 500-year-old house in France at a charity auction. We didn't know the house's exact location until after we won. Turns out, it's in the Rhone Valley, in a little town called Charmes sur Rhone. We plan to go there on our honeymoon in August. Now, I'm researching the area, planning day trips. We want to see the sights, museums, historical buildings, eat in good restaurants. But I'm having some trouble coming up with places to do and things to see. Can anyone point me in the right direction??
Christina Talcott: That sounds like an amazing trip! You'll be a few miles outside Valence, which is an hour or less by train from Marseille, Avignon, Lyon and other amazing French cities. From the train station in Marseille, head south along the JFK Corniche to rocky Mediterranean beaches, grab some bouillabaisse and Pastis on a patio in Vieux Port, hop the ferry to Chateau d'If (the island prison from "The Count of Monte Cristo"), visit the fashion museum and wander the hilly streets of Old Town. In Avignon, visit the walled city, papal palace and lush parks; July-August are the Avignon Festival, with free street performances, music and art on every corner. Lyon I'm not familiar with other than its reputation for excellent cuisine. Can anyone help out Baltimore on Lyon and other places to visit in Provence?
Washington: KC, what has been your all-time favorite assignment from the Post?
KC Summers: That's a tough one. Usually it's been whatever my last assignment was -- I can honestly say I've never had a bad trip. But if I had to choose, it would be my hacienda/market tour of Ecuador last year. It was the perfect combination of discovery and relaxation. And shopping.
Headed to Barcelona: KC and Cindy - I can't believe you're leaving. We're going to miss you a lot!
I see one of your items up for grabs is the pop-up Barcelona map. I'd love to inherit that gem as I'm headed there next week. I'm very behind in my planning and could really use a map - especially a pretty pop-up one.
Good luck to both of you!
KC Summers: You got it. Send your contact info to summersk@washpost.com and we'll get it out to you. (And thanks!)
former D.C.: I'd LOVE the chef's apron from Annie's Kitchen!
KC Summers: But you have to tell us why!
Fairfax, Va.: Love the chats and learn an awful lot to put to personal use!
Here's a question that may be too narrowly focused for the chatters; however:
My husband recently had a colonostomy and is having trouble with the appliance (bag) consistently adhering to his skin. I do most of the emptying and changing of the pouch. We're hopeful that a trip to Austria and Germany in mid-2009 can still occur, but are concerned about dealing with our new situation. We don't recall seeing family restrooms in those countries in public spaces and worry about dealing with emergencies that may arise. Are our worries founded? Do you know of any chat rooms for travelers with this condition to share information?
Many thanks for your feedback.
Scott Vogel: Interesting question, and am throwing this out to our very knowledgeable readership in hopes of some good answers. One place to start is the Ostomyland Web site (www.ostomyland.com), which appears to have a chat room where you might post questions on this subject. Good luck!
Western N.Y.: Anthony Bourdain's book, "No Reservations"
Because I frequently violently disagree with his assessments and figure the only way to give him an fair chance is to read the book!
And I'm going to be very sorry to see you ladies go. Very sorry. I've found you to be level-headed, open-minded, and calm (the last of which is more and more rare in the world of travel)!
KC Summers: Why thank you (she said calmly). The book is yours -- send your info to me at address above.
Nashville, Tenn.: Hey gang! Former Postie Eric Brace here... I just got back from an acoustic tour of Holland and Germany, playing little clubs for people who seem to care about U.S. folk/country/rock! What a blast!
My question is one you've surely answered before: Changing money here in the States.
I gave most of the money I earned to a friend in Holland who used her PayPal account to send me the money (to -my- PayPal account), saying that PayPal gave the best exchange rate. All good.
Then, to my surprise, I just found in my suitcase another 500 Euros that I'd socked away from CD sales!! With the dollar still so low, I feel I should exchange the euros now, rather than hold onto them for my next trip, preferring to take the good rate and have the dollars now.
Where does one go here in the States for the best currency exchange??
Hope all's well in Travel-land!
Christina Talcott: Hey Eric! Nice to hear from you! Hmm, I'm not sure where you can exchange those Euros that'll give you the best rate; my fellow Travel-ers say they usually just pop down to TravelEx on K Street for convenience's sake. Do any chatters have particular places/ways to exchange Euros for dollars in the States in general, or in Nashville in particular? Any advice for my pal Eric on getting the best rate?
We will miss you both. We would love the pop-up map of Barcelona. My wife and I just booked a European cruise next year for her pants and us to help them celebrate their 50th anniversary.
washingtonpost.com: (I usually correct typos but this one is just too good - Elizabeth)
KC Summers: Sorry, Oakton, somebody beat you to it, but how about a book on European cruise ports? I'm in a good mood today.
SW D.C.: Flighters - What options are best for finding airfare that is not $490 from DC to Toronto the first week in July? That's the cheapest I could find. I've tried flying out June 29 to July 2, and coming back July 5 to July 8, but it's still around $500 round trip on Air Canada/United/Delta, etc. I thought about flying Porter Airlines from Newark to Toronto (read about it in in NYT), but is it worth it when I have to take a train from here to Newark and then transfer to the skyrail to get to the airport? Would it be better to book a flight to Newark and transfer? Or should I just skip this trip because it's an awful lot of money for a flight that is 90 minutes? Am I missing other alternatives? Driving or taking the bus is definitely not an option though.
Cindy Loose: Air Canada has so much dominance that the fares to Toronto are ridiculous, given how cheap it is. I wouldn't go to New York to get a cheaper fare, but I would consider flying from the D.C. area to Buffalo from Baltimore on SW and then renting a car to drive to Toronto. If you don't drive, then I'm stumped, unless there are buses from Buffalo to Toronto--something you could check with Greyhound. Otherwise, there are often last minute prices a weekend or two out, but then there is no guarantee you can get there.
Sarasota, Fla. -- Need tips!: I'm retiring June 1 and plan to spend as much time (and as little money) as possible traveling. Would love to have the 1001 Travel Tips book to get me started!
KC Summers: You've got it. Send info and out it goes.
Sarasota, Fla.: My NYC sister and I are rendezvousing for a long weekend in Niagara Falls in July (she's never been, I was there for a day trip 20 years ago). We've both heard the Canadian side is a more interesting place to stay... is that true? Any suggestions for hotels/motels or restaurants there? And how much of a hassle is going from the US side to the Canadian side and back in these days of way-heightened security?
washingtonpost.com: Both Sides Now (Post Travel Section, Sept. 18, 2005)
John Deiner: Hey, Sarasota. The Canadian side certainly seems to have a lot more going on, that's for sure. Tons of tourist-trappy activities and souvenir stands. That's the side I've been on the past two times I visited, and it's pretty easy to avoid the kitsch and concentrate on the falls. Lots of hotels, chain restaurants, up-close-and-personal falls encounters -- and the surrounding towns and countryside is lovely. You won't be bored. As far as getting over the border, just remember to have your passport on hand (don't pack it like we did), as it'll speed you through. On our last trip, we had to wait in a good deal of traffic at the border during both crossings.
former D.C.: Why I want the apron -- many more years ago than I plan to tell you, I spent my entire junior year of college in Aix-en-Provence. It was a year that changed my life in many, many ways, all positive. Provence will always be a place dear to me. And for the honeymoon couple staying in the chateau near Valance, do go to Aix for a day and have a coupe de marron for me at La Rotonde!
KC Summers: I'm so sorry but someone beat you to it. Want something else French? How about Travel & Leisure's "Unexpected France" (a hardback)? If so,email me.
Bowie, Md.: KC AND Cindy leaving at the SAME time??? Oh the horrors... you'll be missed! Well, being 6'2", I darn well could use that Knee Defender cause I'm TIRED of limping off a flight when some inconsiderate SOB slams their seat back with NO warning!
Also, here's something for you all to ponder... why is it, when the fuel prices go up, airlines just raise the ticket price, yet cruise lines tack on that tacky per person daily fuel surcharge?
KC Summers: The Knee Defender is yours, Bowie, just email me at the address above. Re fuel surcharges, who the heck knows. We're all victims of the oil companies' greed.
the apron!!!: I'd love the apron.
Also found info about fairly close balloon rides. Have not actually done it.
KC Summers: I don't have the apron but I do have a wooden spoon from the Trump Taj Mahal....
Dupont Circle: I am considering visiting a friend in Scottsdale, Ariz. over the third weekend in June, but am hesitating because of the weather. Any first-hand experience on what Ariz. is really like in mid-June? Also, would it be nuts to go to the Grand Canyon this time of year? A mostly free vacation (plus seeing old friends) sounds great, but suffering in 100+ temps during my vacation is making me reconsider! I don't want to have stay inside the whole time but I can give up the Grand Canyon if it's going to be miserable. My friend says it's "not so bad" but I think she may be unduly biased!
John Deiner: Hey, Dupont. Just checked Weather.com, and according to its historical data, the South Rim has an average high of 84 in mid-summer. Not bad, right? You're not going to hit horribly hot temperatures on the South Rim, but head to the North Rim if you really want pleasant weather. Be advised though that if you go want to hike a bit down into the canyon, that's when you'll hit the horrible heat. So spare yourself and look over the edge, and enjoy! As far as the rest of Arizona? Hmmm. I'm guessing hot, hot, hot. Anyone care to share?
Fortaleza, Brazil (formerly Silver Spring): Too bad you're leaving. What will you do next? Do any of you know anything about the Lake Huron ferry (Tobermory to South Baymouth)? We hope to take it at the end of September. Too late for Fall colors that far north?
Oh, I would love the Colorado beer map. The beer down here is not great (just too weak), but we will be in Colorado (Winter Park) next year for an event. We took the Durango-Silverton train last year and loved the Silverton Brewery restaurant.
KC Summers: The beer map is yours, Fort, just email me. Cindy and I are busy reconfiguring our careers... but nothing could possibly top the great experience we've had here in the Travel section. Re the Lake Huron ferry, can anyone help?
My wife's PARENTS would love that book. Her pants could care less.
KC Summers: From our pants to yours -- it's theirs. Just email me.
Paris!: My boyfriend and I are heading to Paris in two weeks and given the euro situation, we are decided to have casual lunches (picnics in parks and sandwiches by the Seine) but we would like to have a couple of tasty dinners. Any recommendations for delicious and inexpensive places? We will be staying in the 6th but are up to heading to any part of town.
washingtonpost.com: In Paris, Living Large for Less (Post Travel Section, May 8, 2005)
Tom Sietsema's Postcard from Paris (Post Travel Section, Aug, 5, 2007)
Scott Vogel: Hope the above two links help you narrow down your choices. And bon voyage....
Potomac Falls, Va.: What do you recommend as "must-see's" in and around Boston? I'll be there 7-10 days, staying in Needham, and will not have a car.
washingtonpost.com: You've Done This: Now Try This (Post Travel Section, May 11)
Scott Vogel: Glad you asked. As you'll see, we just explored this topic intensively in a recent feature.
Alexandria, Va.: I'm getting married. Weddings are fun, but you know what's more fun? Honeymoons.
We have never been anywhere tropical, or stayed anywhere especially nice, so this trip is a big deal to us.
Questions: We'll be going on our honeymoon in mid-October, which is still hurricane season. This seems to rule out so many places! I know Aruba is outside of the hurricane belt; any other suggestions?
Also, how realistic are we in wanting a two-week honeymoon, possibly at an all-inclusive, for $4,000? Do-able?
And, last but not least, do you think we should go to a travel agency for guidance?
washingtonpost.com: Island Finder: Your Spot in the Caribbean Sun (Post Travel Section, March 4, 2007)
Cindy Loose: Congrats! We've included below a story on various islands. Besides that: Oct is pretty near the end of hurricane season, but you are right to be concerned, cause even a small chance of having such a special trip ruined is a chance you don't want to take. The islands outside the hurricane belt are the ABC's=Aruba, Bonaire and Curacao. Check them out carefully, though, cause B and C are small and might not fill your wishes. Aruba is not the most expensive island, but not the cheapest either. As to $4,000 for two weeks--since airfare is the biggest expense staying longer doesn't necessarily add a huge price difference. If you do go all-inclusive, I'd suggest you not stay in the same resort,or the same part of an island, for the entire two weeks. I'd suggest you do a week all inclusive, to see what that's like, and a week that allows you to go where you want to eat. Another thing to consider: Is it critical that you take the honeymoon right after the wedding? I'd argue for waiting until Nov., when your hurricane free options open exponentially. Aruba is more expensive than many options, and you'll get more for your money in Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, Cancun in Mexico, maybe Jamaica, etc. I'd also say see a travel agent for a special trip, esp. if you haven't been to a region and you don't want to mess up with ill informed decisions. You can feel free to call and ask how many trips they book to the Carib and what islands they've been too before asking the advice they're paid to provide. If you have a knowledgeable person, they can help you a lot. After you've ascertained they have some expertise, you should see what they ask you: They should ask you about you, what your likes and dislikes are, what's most important to you, what you see yourself doing. No one place fits all travelers, and the Caribbean is a large category. If they start offering trips without finding out who you are, they're not doing it right and try again.
Rockville: Trying to put together a trip to Europe for the end of the summer with a few friends. We wanted to go in July to do the Benicassim Festival in Spain but seems a little late to do that now. Any other ideas for festivals that may be going on in August, and no it doesn't necessarily have to be music-related - though it would be a bonus.
Christina Talcott: Here are some other major music festivals going on in August: Budapest's Sziget Festival (Aug 12-18, www.sziget.hu/festival_english); Belgium's Pukkelpop (Aug. 14-16, http://pukkelpop.be/pp/nl); Notting Hill Carnival in London (Aug. 23-25). Anyone know of others?
McLean, Va.: A I correct in guessing that K.C. and Cindy will be taking a several-month breather from the fun of air travel before undertaking the next stage of their career lives?
Meanwhile, cue Roy Rogers and Dale Evans:
Happy trails to you, until we meet again.
Happy trails to you, keep smilin' until then.
Who cares about the clouds when we're together?
Just sing a song and bring the sunny weather.
Happy trails to you, 'till we meet again.
Some trails are happy ones,
It's the way you ride the trail that counts,
Here's a happy one for you.
Happy trails to you, until we meet again.
Happy trails to you, keep smilin' until then.
Who cares about the clouds when we're together?
Just sing a song and bring the sunny weather.
Happy trails to you, 'till we meet again.
KC Summers: Awww. Thanks, McLean. Unfortunately there doesn't seem to be a good way for me to avoid air travel over the next few months -- much as I would love to.
Minneapolis, Minn.: I went to law school at Vanderbilt which is in Nashville, Tenn. The Peabody is in Memphis. I want the ducky!
KC Summers: You've got it. Email me with your address and I'll send it out.
Provence tips: Places I love in Provence are:
Arles with its Roman amphitheater and baths
Aix en Provence (Beautiful hill town)
St. Remy where Van Gogh painted
Orange with its Roman ruins
Pont du Gard (well preserved Roman aqueduct)
Visit wineries. I loved Gigondas.
Christina Talcott: Wonderful suggestions for the honeymooners in Charmes-sur-Rhone! Thanks!
Minneapolis, Minn. : A great day trip from London for anyone who is interested in Roman history but doesn't have time to visit Bath is to hop on a train at St. Pancras station and head up to St. Albans (20 minutes). The town was built by the Romans who called it Verulamium. You can visit the ruins of a Roman villa and see the original hypocaust (hot water bath). There's a museum of Roman history, a Cathedral and an Abbey Church, and, nearby, the deHavilland Aircraft Heritage museum. Lots of nice pubs and restaurants for lunch, too.
KC Summers: Wonderful suggestion, Minn, thanks much.
wooden spoon would be super.: I am an avid cook and collector of Kitsch. I'd love the wooden spoon from the Trump Taj Mahal....
KC Summers: It's yours -- just email me.
Washington, D.C.: Hi Flight Crew,
My boyfriend and I are going to spend my birthday in Berkeley Springs, W.Va.. We've never been before so are looking for things to do for 2 days. I'd like to check out a winery or two while we're there. Any suggestions? Thanks!
washingtonpost.com: Thank You For Soaking (Post Travel Section, May 28, 2006)
John Deiner: Hey, DC. Never been to a winery near Berkeley Springs, but maybe our friends in e-land can help us. Check out www.berkeleysprings.com for a whole bunch of things to do. During my visits, I've generally been pampered at spas and have eaten a lot at the town's restaurants. The bathhouse in the state park is pretty cool, and the surrounding countryside is lovely. Nearby Cacapon State Park has lots of trails and a lake, or you can shop around town (lots of artsy places).
Rockville, Md.: I read in your CoGo section about the person that received the offer of two round tickets anywhere in the US just by calling a toll free number... well just a couple of minutes ago, I received a call from Global Vacations in Alexandria Va. telling me that only by making an appointment to see their resort they will give me two round tickets for free... when I asked her if she could send me all the information by email she said that before that I need to reserve for next weekend. I didn't reserve so she said she was going to give my tickets to another person, bla bla bla... What's all this about? Does anyone know about this Global Vacations in Alexandria?
Cindy Loose: All I know is what I wrote on Sunday. For me, the different names was enough to convince me I wouldn't lay out thousands of dollars to buy a lifetime of travel. Who knows where they'll be in your lifetime. Anyway, if you undergo a 90 minute presentation you'll probably get the free tickets. I'm willing to bet that if you call back now, they'll still offer them to you if you come next weekend. I'm also betting that if you call again next week, you'll be invited to come the following weekend.
Fairfax, Va.: I am planning a short trip to Albuquerque, NM next month. I got a one-way fare to ABQ on Delta for $158 and a one-way return on United for $168. Much cheaper than RT on either airlines. Any problems with booking this way? Purchased tickets on line from airline web-site.
Carol Sottili: I don't see any problem with this. It's unusual that one-way tickets are cheaper than a round trip, but it does happen. You may be scrutinized a bit more by security, but maybe not.
Bethesda Mom: Hi Travel Gurus:
No question today, but I want to say "thank you" to both KC and Cindy for wonderful stories and reporting over the years. The Washington Post Travel section is heads and shoulders above the competition (including the Gray Lady) and it's due to great writers like yourselves. Happy travels in the future!!
And, while I'm too broke to travel myself, I'd love to get the pop-up map of Barcelona for my college student who will be studying abroad there this summer (a direct correlation to why I have no money to travel myself, but he's a good kid and has been working himself to pay for some of it).
KC Summers: Thanks for the kind words, Beth. Unfortunately we've given the Barcelona map away, but email me and I'll find something else Barcelona-related to send your son.
Md.: Just because you are allowed to travel from Italy without securing a visa in advance doesn't mean you CAN'T. And the US didn't do anything to the guy that other countries don't already impose upon us. I dated a fellow in the UK for 5 years, and after my 5th or 6th trip was told by UK immigration that I needed to secure visas ahead of time in the future or risk being rejected entry, because (wait for it) they believed I was trying to determine a way to stay in the country (i.e., overstay to eventually get married). Guess what - if you are visiting the US with the intention of getting married, you no longer are considered a tourist and thus do not qualify for the Visa stamp upon entry. If you don't like the laws, lobby to have them changed, but they are what they are AND they already mirror the laws of most other westernized nation in that regard.
Christina Talcott: Thanks for weighing in. Here's another take on visa-waiver citizens' scrutiny at Customs. I'm curious, though, to hear about Americans detained in Europe or other countries that don't require us to have visas to visit. Can you elaborate?
Capitol Hill: Guys, I need the "A Stingray Bit My Nipple" book. My sister was bitten on the nipple by a woman in a Seoul bath house... no joke. The woman was mentally unbalanced and didn't like that my sister was foreign. So now, needless to say "bit my nipple" is a running joke in our family.
Please help me continue the joke!!
KC Summers: God, that's hilarious. You've got it -- email me your info.
Follow up to Lyon answer...: ...I meant to add one little Lyon tip to my answer. Right near the funicular up to ND de F, there are public bathrooms that have friendly, clean, and free services. Good to know!
D.C.: I was briefly in Lyon two weeks ago and definitely recommend taking the funicular up the hill to Notre Dame de Fourviere. It's a beautiful church and has an amazing view of Lyon from the top.
Christina Talcott: Sorry, posted the follow-up before the original about Notre Dane de Fourviere in Lyon...
Christina Talcott: Um, Notre DaMe. Je m'excuse!
Goodies: Ooh, ooh! I want the Fodor's Guide, so I don't look like an ugly American when I go abroad. (Although that wouldn't have helped me with the mean ticket guy who was very unhelpful when I wanted to buy tickets to Versailles - there's two Versailles stops!) Or that rubber duck thing, just cause I like rubber ducks!
KC and Cindy - I'm sad you're leaving! Always appreciated your great advice on my trips, and the ideas that popped into my head for other trips while reading these chats. Thanks, and good luck!
KC Summers: Thanks for the nice thoughts. I think I have another one of those Fodor's guides around, but if not, I'll send you some other kind of tip book, okay? Email me your address.
Fairfax, Va.: I know it's early, but can you tell me the best time to book flights for travel during the Christmas holidays? We know we are going to California this coming Christmas, and we know the exact dates we want to travel. Last year, flights we wanted were booked by October.
I checked online for flights for this year and airfare seems to have gone up an average of $150/per person for round trip fares. Also, there aren't many flights available -- on our preferred airline (JetBlue) I only found 1 nonstop flight and it leaves at 6 a.m. I'm assuming more flights will be added, right? Are airfares likely to drop at all in the next 4-5 months from what is now advertised? When is the best time to book flights for the holidays?
Carol Sottili: I'm not convinced there will be more flights added. Airlines don't add flights for holidays - they don't have spare jets that they can assign like that. Much depends on how flexible you are. If you want to fly nonstop on a find exactly what you want. Consider flying out of BWI to save money - Southwest is always a good bet. Take a look at www.virginamerica.com, although it is a small airline that doesn't offer a great variety of flights.
Minnesota, where it's almost spring!: For the honeymooners in France, if they're going to be in Lyon, check out the silk factories...beautiful handmade scarves, and interesting to watch the fabric dyeing process. Also, there are buildings throughout the city with painted trompe l'oeil scenes...you'll be amazed! If you go further west, you will get to some towns which have earned the designation of "Prettiest Villages in France" -- and they are...Sarlat has been the site of films set in medieval times, Salers and Conques are charming as well.
If no one claims it, I would love the Fodor's book...thanks!
Christina Talcott: Great advice, thank you!
Orlando in August -- am I nuts?: There's a fabulous bellydance conference planned for Orlando this August and I'm thinking about going. Fares should be not-so-crazy, right, but am I crazy for making the trip when DC summers are just about at the limits of my tolerance for heat and mugginess? Anything else to do there besides swelter? I am SO not into Disney.
Scott Vogel: The short answer to your question: yes, you ARE nuts. But that doesn't mean there aren't compensations. Yes, the airfare will be a steal (relatively) and so will accommodations. Also, John here informs me that the week before Labor Day, most of the parks will be empty (again relatively), so you might reconsider being not into Disney, particularly if the heat starts making you woozy. Definitely look into the water parks, particularly Sea World's new Aquatica, which I recently enjoyed, and the Orlando Museum of Art, which should be a cool cultural option when it's sweltering. Other air-conditioned suggestions welcome!
Arlington: If you were going to spend 11 days in Israel (not counting travel time -- actual time in country), your itinerary would include...?
I am not particularly religious but enjoy historical/archaeological stuff as well as typical sight-seeing, beach-going vacation activities.
KC Summers: Arl, we're gonna throw this one out to the chatters. But do keep an eye out for our upcoming piece on Israeli B&Bs -- it's really interesting. It's scheduled for June 1. (My last issue! Sniff.)
Alexandria, Va.: Happy Monday, Flight Crew!
My husband and I plan to take a delayed honeymoon later this year. Our timing is fairly flexible and we expect to spend up to two weeks away. We are strongly leaning toward a trip to Bryce Canyon National Park in Utah. Could you give some advice as to: the best time of year to visit; the best airport to fly into; where to stay; and whether we should consider expanding our trip to the surrounding area (we've been told Zion NP is also wonderful). Also, we've heard of full moon hikes at Bryce Canyon but know nothing about them -- could you provide any information?
washingtonpost.com: Utah Travel Stories (Post travel Section Archives)
Cindy Loose: I think Bryce is a great choice, and with two weeks I would expand my horizons. Zion is very pleasant. I adore Lake Powell--renting a houseboat is outrageously expensive but I've done that once and would love to go back and stay in the lodge and rent a small boat for exploring the water surrounded by towering cliffs. Summers can be hot and crowded, still okay, but if it were me I'd head there in September. Check temp charts just be Googling the name of a town and weather, which I just don't have time to do now, but I'm pretty sure you'll find good weather and water still warm enough to swim. You can fly into Bryce (code BCE) but I'm guessing that's expensive. Personally I'd look for a cheap flight into Las Vegas and plan a driving trip. The national park lodges are great choices if you can get it. Go to www.nps.gov to search Bryce, Zion and Lake Powell. Also check out www.brycecanyon.com.
McLean, Va.: If Potomac Falls is a cyclist, he or she might like to rent a bike and take part in one of the recurring rides of the Charles River Wheelmen.
I've taken one of the recurring routes from Needham and can tell you that it's a great ride.
Scott Vogel: Another great idea for the Boston-bound.
former D.C.: I'd love Unexpected France! How to send you my info??
KC Summers: Email me at summersk@washpost.com. Boy I hope I can keep all you guys straight. Be sure to mention which prize you're claiming.
Washington, D.C.: I'm looking into going to Anchorage, Alaska this July. What is the typical average price for a round trip flight out of a DC area airport? I'm seeing $600-$650 for roundtrip right now and that looks pretty good. Will those tickets get any cheaper?
Carol Sottili: That's not a bad price. I've seen it go as low as $450, but that was before the recent jet fuel price surge. If you're flexible, you can track fares for a while. Go to www.farecast.com, www.farecompare.com, www.priceline.com (scroll down to insidetrack) to see where fares are heading.
Arlington, Va.: So I went through BWI this weekend, Terminal C. The TSA screening area has a very strong, distinct feet smell. It's quite horrific, actually. It appears to be an enclosed space with little ventilation (note the industrial size fans). It's bad enough going through there when the line is short, I can't imagine having to wait a long time in that horrible stench, let alone work there. Can't they do something about it? You can even smell it on the return trip when you pass by the area.
John Deiner: Ah, the smell of feet as you depart on vacation. What could be better? That's disgusting, Arl. I haven't flown out of C in a while, so I'm not aware of the odor. Anyone else familiar with this scent?
Want something else French?: How about a 2000 bottle of Grand Cru Nuits Saint Georges?
Washington, D.C.: So, my husband is using up all his vacation time on an interesting, educational, and horizon-broadening trip this fall which has zero appeal for me. I want to use my vacation time to lie very still on a warm beach, preferably with nearby shopping. Any suggestions?
Cindy Loose: The way I'm reading this question, you both have already decided you'll do separate vacations, and you want a warm beach. If I'm wrong about that, let me know. Fall is hurricane season, so buy insurance. If you're going in early fall, I'd suggest checking out the Bahamas, which are close and cheap to get to. By late fall that's a little chilly for swimming, for my taste, except in pools. Otherwise, you'll have to let us know how much you're thinking of spending and what does fall mean. Sept. is lovely for beach time just about anywhere in North America, Oct. not. If you're thinking duty free shopping, like alcohol and jewelry, and crafts, then you have dozens of Caribbean options, but again, in hurricane season. If you mean shopping like nice designer clothes, Caribbean isn't so good.
Bethesda, Md.: Scott, you said you were throwing it out to readers for comments, so here goes. In response to the wife of the traveler with the ostomy, you may want to suggest to your husband that he try a two-piece pouching system. It consists of a flat mounting plate that is attached for several days and a disposable snap-off pouch that he may be able to do himself. Therefore, you would not need a family restroom to assist him.
One thing to keep in mind is that when flying, an airplane's cabin pressure may have an expanding affect on the pouch which can be shocking the first time it happens. You may want to consider pouches with a carbon-filtered vent, or add a vent to each pouch in advance of fitting them. Before I used vents, I found this out the hard way, but fortunately the cabin pressure was adjusted before anything serious happened. Good luck on your trips.
Scott Vogel: Thanks so much for chiming in with such valuable information for travelers with colostomy bags.
Boston: I am horrified at the treatment of the Italian gentleman referenced in today's blog post. But the Times' treatment of the story left an odd taste in my mouth. As much as all visitors to our country deserve to be treated with respect and dignity, the vast majority of them do not have the connections necessary to contact a major newspaper when they're mistreated. That does make these kinds of violations even more egregious. But, the story was very obviously a product of the American family trying to get publicity, and it didn't seem like the Times researched all of the angles as well as they should have. This quote from the girlfriend's father jumped out at me: "They were pretty shocked that the government could do this sort of thing, because it doesn't happen that often, except to people you never hear about, like Haitians and Guatemalans."
Christina Talcott: Yeah, the "Haitian and Guatemalans" comment grated on me, too. The article also made me wonder whether the family (locals, from Alexandria) contacted the Post, too, since I don't recall hearing about this before I saw it in the Times. Also, the Times story raised the possibility that the Italian guy might have indeed mentioned asylum, perhaps to avoid getting sent back to Italy. It's hard to know what the real story is, but hearing how these policies affect people - whether well-connected or not - is important and useful, IMHO.
Arlington, Va.: Does the zone or group system for boarding planes make the boarding process go smoother, or does it stretch out the process? I'm asking because the boarding by zones appears to slow the boarding rather than make it smoother: take a look at what happens if you're in a low number zone, such as 1,2, or 3, there's lots of space remaining in the overhead bins to put your larger items, but when you're in a higher number zone, there's little or no more space to put yourself, with the result of lots of people moving up and down the aisles to find space in the overhead bins, and clogging the aisles for other folks who have to find their rows and seats.
Here's a possible solution: Post a seating chart at the gate to show people where their seats are, which zones cover which seats, and how the plane and seats are oriented when they board. Also, show the status of the availability of overhead bin space: empty, full, available, etc.
John Deiner: Hey, Arl. I have to admit it: I like Southwest's new boarding procedure, when you get numbers and you line up accordingly. There's still some requisite pushing and shoving, and why do people stand on line so far in advance when their spot is assured? That aside, it works for me. I think your notes on the zone/group system make perfect sense. I don't see how it gets us into the plane any sooner, and with boarders scattered all over the place, seems to be a drag on the process. But the seating chart idea? I dunno. I'm thinking it would just confuse people. I miss the days when we boarded from the back of the plane and cleared the front for those heading toward the back.
Philly: Oh no! I'm a long time reader originally from Fairfax. It seems like the whole old gang is being replaced. Not that we don't love the new writers...but it's so sad. I miss Gary Lee and Anne and the guy who wrote about Vegas and his house in Central America...so sorry to see KC and Cindy leaving too. Best wishes for you both in the next phase of your lives. Your stories will be missed!
Cindy Loose: Thank you. The guy who wrote about his house in Guatemala is Steve Hendrix, who is still with the paper, and who knows what section he might turn up writing for in future. We think of John Deiner as our Vegas guy, and he's staying in travel. I'm sorry to leave, but figure I'll write stories during each of my four vacation weeks per year, and maybe a weekend here and there too. Thanks for your good wishes.
Grand Canyon temp: I was at the Grand Canyon in late April, not June, but I can tell you the temp at the South Rim was pretty chilly then. A lot of people arriving in shorts and t-shirts and having to immediately buy sweatshirts at the gift shop! So I imagine June will be warm but nice (and remember, it's dry heat in Arizona).
If you go South, like the Route 66 area, it will be pretty HOT.
John Deiner: Good points. I think a lot of folks assume it's a hot place to be when it frequently is not. And dry heat? Ack. Once it hits 105, it all feels the same to me!
Rockville, Md.: Sziget festival, Budapest. This was going to be my recommendation as well! Right after the end of that festival will also be the handicraft fair at the Buda castle, and the "foundation of the state" holiday celebration. (And I promise I am not with the Chamber of Commerce, just have been there several times and cannot say enough good things about Hungary and Budapest, and Hungarians. Who seem to still like Americans....)
Christina Talcott: That's great to know. I haven't been to Hungary since 2000 so I'm glad to hear from someone who's been there lately. Thanks!
Arlington, Va.: re: changing Euros. If Eric doesn't need the money now and can afford to hang onto those Euros until his next trip he probably should. The dollar is likely to continue its downward slide for the foreseeable future. If it was me and I knew I was going back to Europe at some point I would hold onto those cash Euros.
Christina Talcott: Ok, I'll tell him: Eric, maybe you should hang on to those Euros, you hear?
London: I just read that post about the guy from Italy thrown in jail. Believe me, that's the reason I don't travel to the States anymore. The fear of being taken to jail or being detained has really affected me and my friends. We refuse to go to the States.
Christina Talcott: Really? Wow. Had you made that decision before you heard about the Italian guy? Where are you going instead of the U.S., out of curiosity?
For Dupont Circle: We were in Arizona/Grand Canyon last June. It is hot, but dry hot, not humid like here. You need to drink a lot. But we found that it was OK. We planned the days so that we mostly were driving in the mid afternoons, and hiking and sightseeing in the early mornings and late afternoons. Stargazing was wonderful, next time I want to do the nighttime program at Kitt's Peak Observatory in Tucson.
John Deiner: There ya go...sounds like a dreamy trip, and good advice on how to schedule your trip. Thanks for the assistance!
I'm planning on going to Croatia and London this summer to visit friends and am having trouble figuring out the best way of booking flights. Basically I need to go from DC to Dubrovnik, then Dubrovnik to London, and finally London back to DC. Would it be cheapest to book a roundtrip into London, then try to find a discount flight between London and Dubrovnik, or just to book it as an open jaw type flight?
Any help would be appreciated. Thanks!
KC Summers: Hi Springfield. Usually when people try to put together an open-jaw itinerary we recommend using a travel agent, but in your case, it's worth at least pricing out a round-trip flight to London and then a round trip to Dubrovnik from there on a discounter. For info on European discount airlines, try www.lowcostairlines.org or www.euroflights.info. Also www.flybudget.com and www.whichbudget.com.
BWI: Try gate B next time (aren't they are connected someway anyway?). It's much better now that it's been redone (have they all or just gate B?). The line for A was horrible, so I walked over to B and zoomed through with the new system.
John Deiner: Pretty sure B and A are connected (it's Southwestville), and C is all by its lonesome. And it really pays to watch the lines in the Southwest terminal, btw. I find that heading to the security line to the left of the main ticketing area is always shorter. Or at least it looks that way.
D.C.: What's the most efficient (meaning cheapest) way to book a multi-stop flight? I am interested in booking some flights in Europe where I will also be traveling by train. A round-trip flight between two cities is fairly cheap, and so is an open-jaw trip. A one-way ticket between two cities, which I would need to connect with one of the other flights, is also fairly cheap. But as far as I can tell, trying to buy one ticket through Expedia or Travelocity that includes all three flights on one ticket basically turns them into three one-way flights and nearly quadruples the price. There has to be a better way to do it, right?
Carol Sottili: Why is it important to have everything on one itinerary? You could book your international ticket as either a round trip or open jaw, depending on your plans, directly through the airline. And then book the one-way flights separately directly through the discount carrier. For a list of discount carriers in Europe and the cities they serve, go to www.euroflights.com or www.lowcostairlines.org. But pay careful attention to the details on those discount flights re: extra charges for luggage, water, etc.
Knees, Please!: The Knee Defender!!!
I am close to 5'10 and have an abnormally short torso and legs til next Tuesday.
I am normally a very polite and even shy woman, even in stressful travel situations. This all changes when jerk-os who are 5'3 (it's always the short guys) choose to kick their seat ALL the way back on transatlantic flights. I very nearly got into a screaming match with a guy on a flight to Germany last summer. Turns out he was an Air Marshal!!
Please, PLEASE save me from air rage and the potential of being zip-tie handcuffed to my seat on my next long haul.
KC Summers: Sorry, I sent it out to a tall guy! You're very persuasive though.
London: Although I've never been, Festival in Edinburgh (through basically all of August) is HUGE. I believe the Military Tattoo is sold out, although if you call there might still be overseas tickets available, but Fringe goes on at the same time (www.edfringe.com). I know people who plan their summers around it - sure, they do the usual North African/Middle Eastern/European vacations everyone else does over here (I should note I'm from North America), but everything is planned around Festival.
Personally, I found Notting Hill Carnival disappointing, but I've only gone to the day parades. I wouldn't plan a trip to London around it, unless you're big into DJs, based on what I know of it. (I'm not big into DJs and so hoped I'd get to see the steel drum bands and things in the parade. Well, I saw them, but they weren't actually playing...)
Christina Talcott: How could I have forgotten about the original Fringe Festival?! I actually included Carnival because I saw it on Teletubbies yesterday. Don't even ask. Anyway, thanks for the report!
Scottsdale, Ariz.: Re. Weather in Scottsdale, Ariz. in June: to be honest, it's usually VERY hot since summer here goes from May-October. Temps probably well over 100 degrees most days. It's bearable to be outside in the early morning and later evening hours. Other than that, we tend to do indoor activities or those involving water. Great deals on hotels though sounds like she'd be staying with a friend so maybe that's not really a factor. On the plus side, it's a "dry heat" so it's not sticky and humid but it is hot enough to burn your hands on the steering wheel if you don't find a shady space for your car.
John Deiner: There's that dry heat argument again. I just need to buck up and deal with it next time I'm out there (last time I was in Vegas in the summer, it was 115, and that was just plain horrible). But thanks for the heads-up on Scottsdale -- sounds as if you have to be prepared for a pretty hot time.
Falls Church, Va.: I want the Bourdain book because from 1988 to 1993 I spent my summers as a dishwasher, then line cook, then sous chef at restaurants on Martha's Vineyard. It was a great experience, but I learned quickly how rough that life can be. Bourdain is one of the only people who accurately depicts that side of the food world. As for visiting the Vineyard, never go during the summer, and fly there from New Bedford on Cape Air for $80 r/t to avoid the hated Steamship Authority.
KC Summers: Hi there, I'm sorry we've already got a taker for the book, but thanks for the Vineyard tip!
Airfare and "cookies": I checked an airfare at US Airway's website from my work computer a couple of weeks ago, but when I went to purchase it from my home computer 3 days later, the fare had doubled (and remained so even when I cleared my cookies). I was pleasantly surprised when 2 days later I again checked from work--and the fare was back to the affordable fare! I hopped on it that time, but can you explain this???
Cindy Loose: Airlines are very sophisticated in setting their prices, and are constantly responding to the latest news. It's possible a competitor with US Airways had a sale, so US Airways matched it, and when the competitor ran out of sale seats, US Airways upped its price. Just an example. Besides paying close attention to competitor prices, the airlines also keep careful records of inventory, and when things aren't selling at the rate they expect, or selling faster than expected based on past history, then they'll drop or raise prices. Plus sometimes they have only a few seats at a discount price, and those are sold so you see the higher prices listed. Then they might drop again because they've added some cheap seats due to inventory or competitor reasons, or maybe a group with cheap seats changed their plans. In the end it won't seem to make any sense, but there is method in the madness.
Just returned from 12 days in Israel: So, not to miss (in no particular order):
1. Jerusalem and the Old City
2. Knesset tour (check on times for English tours)
3. Caesaria - ruins, on the Mediterranean, gorgeous
9. Eilat (if you can get that far south)
KC Summers: Lovely. Thanks much.
for the Niagara Falls sisters: Try to make a trip over to Niagara on the Lake -- the town that is about 15 minutes down the lovely Niagara Parkway (and right on Lake Ontario). The Shaw Festival is there (fabulous theater) and 17 wineries (Ontario is known for their ice wine). The town is lovely -- the falls can get so touristy and tacky (of course they must be seen -- gorgeous) but I'd stay in Niagara on the Lake instead. Great B and B's.
John Deiner: Jolly good show. And it's amazing how tacky those falls can be, isn't it?
Berkeley Springs and wine: While the immediate Berkeley Springs area may not have a lot of wineries, you can sure make a day out of visiting wineries on the way there. A couple of my favorite places on the way to Berkeley Springs are Loudoun and Breaux.
John Deiner: Excellent stuff...thanks for sharing.
1,001 Smart Travel Tips: I need that book because even after 33 yrs of traveling, and 9 yrs of reading the Post travel section, I still have lots to learn!
KC Summers: Don't we all, but unfortunately the book(s) are gone. Keep reading the section and these chats for more tips!
Arlington, Va.: re: Orlando in August. As some one who spent 4 years in Florida going to college I can say that Florida weather is no worse than D.C. weather in the summer. Sometimes I think it is worse here. At least in Florida you can pretty much expect a nice thunderstorm every afternoon. It doesn't cool things down for long and all the moisture just goes back into the air, but it is pretty reliable.
Scott Vogel: Okay, there ya go. at worst you'll be equally miserable, not more so.
Lake Huron ferry: The Lake Huron ferry is the Chi-Cheemaun. I remember taking that ferry in August of 1987 on the way home from Isle Royale in Michigan (went up via the Lower Peninsula, came home via Ontario). Nice alternative to driving all the way around Georgian Bay, and I recall there being some nice towns on the Bruce Peninsula, which is the spit of land on which Tobermory (southern ferry port) is located. The beach at Sauble Beach was nice, as was Sauble Falls Provincial Park (I recall swimming in the namesake waterfalls, which flowed in such a way that you were able to let the current carry you down the falls).
Unfortunately, after 21 years I don't remember all that much else, but it's certainly worth riding that ferry if you're in the area.
KC Summers: That's extremely helpful. Thanks much.
Washington D.C.: Hi Crew - My 40th Birthday is this Sunday and I am thinking of inviting some friends to the beach for the weekend. Only problem is I haven't yet rented a place. Can you tell me how I can find a rental house just for the weekend at either the MD or DE shore? Thanks.
Carol Sottili: Try www.cbvacations.com or www.shorepro.com. And you can always try to rent directly from owner via Craig's List, or through such sites as www.cyberrentals.com or www.vrbo.com.
re Israel: It's a tiny country so you can hit a lot of places in 11 days. There is also an extensive bus system to get you around. Top of the list, Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, and Eilat. Also add Haifa and Masada. I covered this territory 20 years ago in less than 11 days (with a backpack and starving!)
KC Summers: More tips for the Israel-bound. Thanks a lot.
Boston to San Diego: Which airlines would be good bets for flying from Boston to San Diego in August? I need to arrive Wednesday, August 20th or Thursday, August 21st. I can return any day starting Sunday through August 26th or 27th. I have a $50 gift card through JetBlue, but not sure if that will really help much or not. Help!
Cindy Loose: Hi--We keep fairly good track of airfares out of the D.C. area, but not out of Boston. What I can tell you though is that JetBlue is a good carrier, or as good as carriers are these days, so I'd check out what they have to offer. I'd do the following: check prices by going to www.orbitz.com and www.travelocity.com and jet blue and southwest, whose flights are at the big sites.
Bryce follow-up: Just wanted to say thanks so much for answering my question! I really appreciate the help.
Good luck to Cindy and KC!
Cindy Loose: Thanks. Hard to go, but I've had a great nine years in the travel section and couldn't pass up the buyout money. However, as I mentioned, I hope to still write for the paper as often as I can.
Arlington, Va.: I'm so used to booking my own travel on the Internet that I don't even know how one finds a travel agent these days - any suggestions on where to find a good agent and how to know that he or she is the right one for you?
KC Summers: It's like choosing a doctor -- a recommendation from a friend or colleague is the best. Barring that, you can try to find an agent on the American Society of Travel Agents' site, www.travelsense.org. Their members adhere to a strict code of ethics.
N.Y.: Hi Crew! We're thinking Rome (or some other "intense" European cities that can keep you solidly occupied for a week) and surrounding area for about 2 weeks all together, flight time included. What is a reasonable itinerary given that window - Rome and Venice? Rome and Naples (and the coast)? And what's best to fly into and out of?
Cindy Loose: With two weeks, Rome and Venice would work. I wouldn't plan on spending too much time in Naples, but would consider traveling down the coast to see the towns close to Naples, including the ruins at Pompeii, the towns hanging to cliffs like Positano, then on other towns to the south of that.
Native New Jerseyan: Last week there was some discussion of ground transport from CDG to inner Paris. Can I take the Air France bus to the 4th, near the Ecole Militaire Metro stop - the Rue Clere area?
Christina Talcott: As far as I can tell, the Air France bus only stops in Porte Maillot, Etoile, Gare de Lyon and Gare Montparnasse. Your best bet might be taking the bus to Gare Montparnasse and either catching the #6 Metro or a cab to that area.
Caribbean Honeymooner: Years ago, I had an October wedding then honeymooned in Grenada. Our experience was perfect - the weather was great and the island lovely. (They're generally outside of the hurricane zone, except for that storm a few years ago. Wars are another matter...) We stayed at a place called Twelve Degrees North, owned by two expat-Americans. Very hospitable!
Cindy Loose: Thanks. In fact the chances of a hurricane hitting you, in Oct. aren't huge, but they still exist. If they don't want to delay until Nov., they should at least buy hurricane insurance and study the policy carefully.
For Provence Honeymooners: If you do wine tasting in the Rhone, stop by Chateau la Nerthe. It's excellent wine and the staff is super-friendly. There is also a fabulous hotel/restaurant next to the Chateau that has a wonderful patio overlooking the vineyards. It is a wonderful place to sit, look at the fines and have a well-prepared meal (and glass of wine!) Sadly, I can't remember the name of it, but the good folks at the Chateau can help you out.
Christina Talcott: More tips for the Rhone-bound honeymooners. You chatters are amazing. Seriously.
Bethesda, Md.: I desperately want my aged grandmother to get to see Ireland, her life's dream, before the end of her life. She is 80, overweight, not very mobile, so we'd need a wheelchair or electric cart or something. Does anyone have any advice or suggestions?
KC Summers: Let's throw this out to the chatters (real fast, guys, we only have five minutes), but I'd also recommend contacting some or all of these companies that specialize in disabled travel: International Centre for Disability Resources on the Internet, www.icdri.org; Accessible Europe, www.accessibleeurope.com; Accessible Journeys, www.disabilitytravel.com.
Darn! I wanted Stingray: I e-mailed you already. Didn't know we were supposed to post in the chat. Sounds like the other guy had a better story than me, though. I guess I will have to go BUY the book.
Good luck in whatever you 2 decide to do next!
KC Summers: Thanks -- that other guy's story was indeed hard to top!
London: For anyone interested in Roman history who happens to be passing through London: a few years ago, they discovered the Roman amphitheatre. It's basically in the basement of the Guildhall. Anyone interested in seeing it should visit the Guildhall Art Gallery (itself quite interesting) - the ticket price (I think £2.5) includes admission to the actual Roman amphitheatre. They didn't excavate it all, but you can walk down the gladiatorial entrance.
Visits are free on Fridays, and there also are free guided tours on Friday afternoons. Plus, very few locals know about - my company transferred me here about a year ago, and no one in my office, including someone who'd majored in Roman history, even knew there was an amphitheatre. It's a very easy walk from St. Paul's, although off-hand I don't remember the exact street names to get to it.
KC Summers: What a great tip! Thanks!
Arlington, Va.: re: border treatment. I think this is one of the most scandalous stories we never read about. ICE officers appear to have unlimited powers when it comes to the treatment of people entering or leaving any country. The Post had a story a couple of months ago about people having their computers searched and their companies' confidential information being compromised. I understand the need for security, but give some people the power to do whatever they want and they will use it to make others miserable whether they are guilty of wrongdoing or not. And then there is also the issue of the interminable waits to get thru passport control at places like Dulles where the government seems to not care about staffing sufficient levels to make the process go smoothly.
Christina Talcott: So who's to blame, and what's the recourse? That's what I want to know. Of course, sometimes it all starts with getting informed and getting angry, right?
Family (2 adults, 1 8 year old) interested in cruising to Alaska next spring/summer.
Want to go in luxury, first class all the way. Looked at Regent, but I'm confused, as there are many ships, and all itineraries seem to be only one way. How do you get back from Alaska???
Can you give me some guidance on what to look for in a type of ship? We would love superb food quality, dining whenever/wherever/with whomever we want and top notch service.
Oh, and did I mention I'm prone to motion sickness?
So many thanks . . .
Carol Sottili: Regent Seven Seas is one of the luxury cruise lines, as is Silversea, Crystal and Seabourn. And there are also other smaller lines, such as SeaDream Yacht Club. As for which offer Alaska itineraries during spring/summer, Regent and Silversea are your choices. They both have excellent reps. They also both offer frequent specials, including free economy air to and from cruise beginning/end. Go to the Web sites and click on specials: www.silversea.com, www.rssc.com. For views on differences, go to reviews and blogs on such sites as www.cruisecritic.com.
Montreal Flight: Nonstop flight to Montreal for $600 per person in late September. Is this a good deal?
Cindy Loose: Not a good deal, but it might be the best you'll get, given the fuel surcharges and fears that jet fuel will go even higher. I wouldn't be like--oh, what a deal, I'm going to stop shopping around right now. For that amount or less you can often fly to California, which is much further away. But as I mentioned before, flights to Toronto, Montreal and Quebec are to my mind overpriced generally. If you have the time, have you considered taking the train? Nice way to go.
Oviedo, Fla.: Two WashPost travel types are leaving? Why? What's up?
KC Summers: The Post has made a voluntary retirement offer that's too good to refuse. About 100 reporters and editors will be leaving the newsroom in two weeks.
Baltimore again: Thanks for the great suggestions so far for ideas to visit around Charmes sur Rhone! I love it.
With the exchange rate so bad, what's the best way to pay for things over there? Exchange lots of money here? Credit cards? Travelers checks? Thanks for the help.
Christina Talcott: Hey Balt! I'd take out cash along the way once you get there and keep track of your spending. Paying cash - and paying attention - can help cut down on costs, I've found. Have a fabulous time!
re: Toronto bound: I just checked fares out of Richmond to YYZ - as low as $345 w/ connection, $433 direct. Not sure what taxes might get added. We're only 90 miles or so south, and to have somebody come down here to fly would make up for all those early mornings I've driven to IAD, DCA and BWI ...
Cindy Loose: Richmond has some good fares to a few places. Thanks for the tip. But do check to see if taxes, fees and fuel surcharge is included. Those two items are not little things--they can add up to more than the base fare.
Brit immigration: I think the difference is that, unlike the Italian, you were told what the law was instead of summarily being thrown in prison for ten days.
Christina Talcott: Good point. Helps that everyone in that case spoke English...
Swedish island article -- "I had a great stay, but don't stay there!": I enjoyed the Swedish archipelago article very much, but one thing really bugged me:
Author's article focuses on staying in the small town, hanging out, visiting the bakery, enjoying his brother's waterfront rental. Makes me want to do all these things. Then you get to "getting there," and the advice is: lodging are scarce, best stay in Stockholm and take day trips! Isn't this inconsistent?
I appreciate the two lodging tips mentioned, but wouldn't it have been helpful to at least provide one lead on longer-term vacation rentals, not just the youth hostel and a higher-end hotel? I felt the omission turned the piece from "this was my great experience, you should try it" to "this was my great experience, too bad you can't have it." I'm sure that's not what you intended.
KC Summers: Good question -- I just checked with writer Erica Johnston. Her response: Sorry, I didn't intend to send that message at all; I just thought that most visitors would center a trip around Stockholm. To my knowledge, there are two hotels in Dalaro proper: Dalaro Strand Hotel http://www.dalarostrandhotel.se/ and Dalaro Hotel Bellevue www.hoteldalaro.com Both sites appear to be only in Swedish, but phone numbers are provided, and it's a near guarantee that you'll be able to speak to someone in English. As for longer-term vacation rentals, I honestly have not looked. I would search online if I were you; you might start by Googling "vacation rentals" "Stockholm archipelago." At the very least, you'd come across the name of an agent you could get in touch with for a better search. He or she will almost surely speak fluent English. The fastest of searches came up with this: http://www.accommodationguide.com/sweden.htm Scroll down to the Stockholm section. There's then a listing that begins "A paradise in the archipelago". Happy hunting!
Provence: The honeymooners should make an effort to visit the markets. These move around every day of the week, so they should be
|
Post travel editors and writers field questions and comments. On the itinerary this week: a visit to a Swedish seaside town; a desert expedition in Twentynine Palms, California; fishing in New York City's Hudson River (really!) and vegetarian restaurants in Buenos Aires (again, really!).
| 264.965517 | 0.982759 | 36.810345 |
high
|
high
|
extractive
|
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/17/AR2008051700160.html
|
https://web.archive.org/web/2008051819id_/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/17/AR2008051700160.html
|
Safe Ways to Spend The Nest Egg
|
2008051819
|
I admit, I have a mild hoarding instinct. No, I don't have stacks of decades-old newspapers around the house, but I do pick up and hold on to the odd doorknob or electrical cord or fabric remnant, thinking: This could be useful someday.
That makes me think I might end up hoarding the funds in my retirement savings. I know I'll have to start drawing down funds from my traditional Individual Retirement Account when I turn 70.5. But I'm not sure I'll touch any of it before then, unless it's to shift the money to a Roth account, which has no requirement for mandatory withdrawals.
As a hoarder of savings, I'm not alone. Research by the Investment Company Institute, the trade association for mutual funds, found that seven out of 10 owners of traditional IRAs say it is unlikely they will make withdrawals prior to age 70.5. "People do tend to hold on to their IRA and tap it late in retirement," said Sarah Holden, senior director of retirement and investor research for ICI.
Why this reluctance to withdraw savings? In my case, since I have a traditional pension and plan to continue working, I feel no pressure to spend the money I have accumulated over several decades. And beyond that, I have a healthy fear of future medical costs. Right now I have limited health insurance that goes away once I become Medicare-eligible at age 65. Since Medicare only covers about 51 percent of medical costs, I know I will need the money in the future.
But I think another reason those of us lucky enough to have accumulated retirement savings are reluctant to draw it down is fear of not doing it right. The looming concern for many who have only retirement savings and Social Security is outliving the savings. The prospect of a reduced standard of living toward the end of our lives is a real concern, given that many workers have amassed relatively small retirement funds.
For retirees without a traditional pension providing monthly payments for life, there are some other options. Some retirees use their savings to purchase single premium lifetime annuities as a way to guard against outliving their savings. Some turn to financial planners to guide their spending. And now mutual fund companies are beginning to offer funds designed to help retirees receive income in retirement for as long as they need it.
Fidelity Investments was the first out with its Fidelity Income Replacement Funds. Similar to target-date funds, they provide a mix of investments that starts out more focused on growth and then shifts to a more conservative allocation. Jonathan Shelon, portfolio manager of the Fidelity Income Replacement Funds, said the funds were created after several years of research that produced two major findings. "One, people didn't have a good idea as to how much they should be spending, nor did they have a good idea of how to select a strategy to make the money last," he said.
They also found retirees in their 80s who regretted they had not spent more in the early years of retirement. Fidelity's approach was to set up funds with what Shelon called "time certainty."
"If you want to plan to age 100, as a 65-year-old you can buy our 2042 fund," he said. That fund starts out with 4.75 percent of the amount invested as annual income paid in monthly increments. The payment rate gradually rises until 2042, when the remainder of the fund would be paid out in 12 monthly installments. Funds with shorter time horizons have larger payments and exhaust savings faster.
Fidelity had a total of $38.1 million in its income replacement funds as of April 30.
In April, Vanguard rolled out three managed payout funds with different goals: the Growth Focus Fund, the Growth and Distribution Fund, and the Distribution Focus Fund. All of them seek to provide monthly payments, but the amount they pay out per share varies depending on objectives. The payouts are greatest for the fund that emphasizes distribution. "The real need was for a relatively straightforward way to move into the distribution phase" from the saving phase of life, said John Ameriks of Vanguard's Investment Counseling and Research Group.
Ameriks said the funds "serve an audience for whom a custom-managed plan developed by a planner is not an option, either because it is too expensive or they don't feel comfortable working with an advisor."
|
I admit, I have a mild hoarding instinct. No, I don't have stacks of decades-old newspapers around the house, but I do pick up and hold on to the odd doorknob or electrical cord or fabric remnant, thinking: This could be useful someday.
| 16.075472 | 1 | 53 |
medium
|
high
|
extractive
|
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/17/AR2008051700174.html
|
https://web.archive.org/web/2008051819id_/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/17/AR2008051700174.html
|
The Buyout Boys Reload
|
2008051819
|
One slide read, "The collapse of a major investment house," evoking groans -- Bear Stearns had collapsed two weeks earlier. "End of the 'leveraged' era," read another. "Middle East investor buys major stake in a U.S. bank." The audience nodded along, thinking about how the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority had poured capital into Citi. But before the conference could turn into a wake, Klein revealed that the stories were not from this past year but from 1990 and '91. The bank in question was Drexel Burnham Lambert, which was a casualty of the junk-bond collapse. Citi's Middle Eastern investor was Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal bin Abdul Aziz al-Saud.
Plus ça change, plus la même chose, as they say in the fancy French restaurants the buyout boys frequent. The industry, as the more grizzled audience members recalled, had survived that implosion and grown into a $2 trillion colossus. Paraphrasing Charles Dickens, Klein went on to explain how 2007 was a tale of two halves. The first was ebullient: nine of the 10 biggest leveraged buyouts ever ("leveraged" means using borrowed money) and Blackstone Group becoming a publicly traded company. The second was one in which LBOs fell from almost 40 percent of the dollar value of all deals through July to a single-digit market share.
While the days of the brainless megabuyout are over (at least for now), private equity has not gone away. It's merely retreated. Veteran dealsters say they welcome the current separation of the men from the boys, of the serious players from those who merely surfed on waves of cheap debt but have now wiped out. These periodic shakeouts are "what keeps the industry healthy," said Blackstone President Tony James, who has been in buyouts for almost three decades. "It squeezes out a large number of marginal players." TPG (formerly Texas Pacific Group) co-founder Jim Coulter describes the change this way: "There aren't 100 bankers showing up with companies they want you to buy, but the ones they're offering are much more interesting."
What's different in private equity now from its last meltdown, in the late 1980s? Answer: It has become part of the landscape in a way that it wasn't 20 years ago. If you buy a teddy bear at Toys R Us, stay at a Hilton or drive a Chrysler, private equity is part of your life. If your pension fund has money invested in buyouts, these guys' performance will have a say on whether your golden years are spent eating caviar or cat food. Many public-employee pension funds have a piece of buyout action (or soon will), and if they don't make their projected returns, governments will turn to taxpayers to make up the shortfall.
So what do smart people like the buyout boys do when they're confronted with violent change in the markets? They're engaging in what we call "double cropping," a classic example of the way the largest private-equity firms can adapt. Okay, you can't buy companies anymore, but you can make a second profit from the buyouts you've already done. How? By offering capital to the institutions with the greatest need -- the banks that financed your original deals.
The banks, nowhere near as clever as their clients, figured they would sell most or all of their takeover loans to institutions throughout the world, ending up with some nice fee income while having little or none of their capital at risk. But when the credit crunch began last summer, the music stopped and the banks lost their would-be dance partners.
Enter the buyout firms, which have tons of new money flowing into their funds. What to do with it? Rummage for value in banks' used-loan inventory. "The flavor of the day is buying your own debt at below face value," said David Rubenstein, co-founder of the Carlyle Group. "I'm buying bank debt in my deal with leverage from the bank that made me that deal."
You have to love it. First, banks provided lavish financing for the takeovers, making it possible for LBO firms to show double-digit returns to investors even if the properties themselves produced gains in single digits. (Example: Borrow $5 billion at 6 percent to buy a $6 billion company that's growing at 9 percent, and you make 24 percent on your $1 billion investment.) Now the banks are lending their borrowers money to cart off the loans at a discount, giving them another bite at the buyout apple.
Consider, if you will, the biggest double-cropping transaction to surface thus far: a deal in which Citi sort of unloaded $12 billion of buyout loans onto Apollo, TPG and Blackstone. The firms stand to make double-digit returns because they get to borrow so much money from Citi -- and they've even managed to limit their risk.
We're saying "sort of unloaded" because Citi didn't sell the paper to the buyout groups, contrary to what's been reported. Rather, Citi and the firms did "total-return swaps." The firms forked over $3 billion of cash and agreed to pay Citi interest (at a low 1 percent over the London Interbank Offered Rate) on $7.8 billion. In return Citi will pay the firms the interest and principal repayments generated by the $12 billion portfolio.
We don't have details on every loan, but we do know that Apollo and TPG, which took Harrah's Entertainment private for $28 billion, got some of Citi's Harrah's debt. We also know that TPG, which partnered with Kohlberg Kravis Roberts in the $45 billion purchase of the Texas utility TXU, got some of Citi's TXU paper. (None of the firms involved would discuss specifics.)
|
On a spring day at the Ritz-Carlton hotel in Key Biscayne, Fla., Michael Klein, Citigroup's chairman for institutional clients, took the stage at the bank's ninth annual private equity conference. In front of pension fund investors, hedge fund managers and private equity dealmakers, Klein flashed...
| 20.105263 | 0.649123 | 0.929825 |
medium
|
low
|
abstractive
|
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/17/AR2008051700151.html
|
https://web.archive.org/web/2008051819id_/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/17/AR2008051700151.html
|
- Help File - washingtonpost.com
|
2008051819
|
AIt's amazing how many manufacturers have ignored this common-sense idea. ThinkPads from IBM and now Lenovo include a little LED atop the screen that lights up the keyboard, and some Dell models feature backlit keys to match those on Apple's MacBook Pro and MacBook Air. But most other companies don't seem to have noticed that it's a pain to type on a keyboard you can barely see.
(You can notice this problem during keynote addresses at industry conferences, when reporters in the darkened room must hunch down to eyeball their keyboards while some suit on the stage drones through a presentation.)
You can, however, remedy this oversight with a cheap add-on: a small LED on a stalk or cable that plugs into one of your laptop's USB ports. Numerous manufacturers make these things, which sell for $5 to $20, depending on brand and store.
I keep coming across random abbreviations in postings online like "FTW" that make little or no sense. Where can I look them up?
You can try a Web search for "what does [random abbreviation] mean?" But you may find it easier to consult a specialized dictionary site. Urban Dictionary ( http://urbandictionary.com) is a decent resource, providing both explanations and context for these bits of jargon. Or try http://Abbreviations.com, which will also list technical terms matching a given sequence of capital letters.
"FTW" stands for "for the win" and equates to an exuberant expression of praise along the lines of "This is awesome!"
HTH. HAND. (Hope that helps. Have a nice day.)
Rob Pegoraro attempts to untangle computing conundrums and errant electronics each week. Send questions to The Washington Post, 1150 15th St. NW, Washington, D.C. 20071 orrobp@washpost.com. Turn to Thursday's Business section or visit washingtonpost.com anytime for his Fast Forward column.
|
Q Do any computers besides Mac laptops have backlit or otherwise illuminated keyboards?
| 25.928571 | 0.428571 | 0.428571 |
medium
|
low
|
abstractive
|
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/17/AR2008051702605.html
|
https://web.archive.org/web/2008051819id_/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/17/AR2008051702605.html
|
NBA Fans in Seventh Heaven
|
2008051819
|
Pro football unquestionably has become America's sporting obsession. There's no offseason anymore. There's no month when the NFL isn't front and center in the culture's consciousness. Even a complete non-story, such as this Matt Walsh nonsense out of New England that's little more than Geraldo standing before Al Capone's vault, can hold people's rapt attention for weeks.
But there's one thing pro football in all its glory can't give you: Game 7. The NFL can't give you six games of back-and-forth, of day-to-day adjustments and second-guessing, of cold stares and hard fouls, of familiarity breeding contempt even among friends. Only six previous games can produce the desperate drama that is Game 7, still the coolest thing in sports -- any sport and any teams.
That's why for some of us, the Sunday-Monday East-West doubleheader of Game 7s is pretty close to nirvana. You want to see champions and big stars under the ultimate pressure? You think pro sports don't have single elimination? Sure they do. Cleveland and Boston this afternoon, then San Antonio and New Orleans tomorrow night are down to their final out. Losers go, winners advance to the conference finals. It's one and done, only with context and recent history, with jobs and futures and reputations at stake.
It's hard to imagine a better mix. In the Boston Celtics, you've got the kings of Game 7, a franchise that has an 18-5 record in such games, a club whose very image was built on its ability to win seventh games. And a new Celtics team with star power but no pedigree is faced with the scariest manner of Game 7 opponent, LeBron James. He's the player who can slay a champ almost by himself; ask Detroit. LeBron lost the only Game 7 he's played in to date, two years ago against the Pistons. Still, if anybody wakes up the ghosts in the new Garden in Boston this afternoon, it seems as likely the shake will come from LeBron as anybody wearing the green and white.
In New Orleans tomorrow night, a total playoff neophyte, thought to be the worst kind of résumé entry for such a test, will go against a four-time and defending champion Spurs team.
So in all, the two Game 7s in back-to-back days will involve an historic champ (Boston), a current champ (San Antonio), a Game 7 virgin (New Orleans) led by one of the game's great young talents (Chris Paul) and a growing legend who quickly has come to understand the historic significance of certain moments and how to take ownership of them.
Statistical analysis says the home teams, the Celtics and Hornets, should be favored. But do you really want to bet against the Spurs and against LeBron James in a sport ruled by a handful of championship dynasties and outsize stars?
It really is scary how many surreal performances and great games have been Game 7s.
Going back to 1957, the first of five times these two squared off in the NBA Finals in five years, the Celtics beat the St. Louis Hawks, 125-123, in double overtime for the NBA championship. A rookie named Bill Russell had 19 points and 32 rebounds and finished off a series that began -- get this -- with St. Louis beating the Celtics, 125-123, in double overtime at Boston Garden. That was the Celtics' first league title; who knows how different the team's and league's history might be?
In the 1962 NBA Finals, Russell, who played in a record 10 Game 7s, had 30 points and 40 rebounds in another Game 7 OT victory, this one over the Lakers. Only three years later, in an Eastern Conference Game 7, "Havlicek stole the ball! Johnny Havlicek stole the ball!" He stole it from Hal Greer, hoping to get it inbounds to Chet Walker.
Not all these endings and dramatics involved the Celtics. The Willis Reed Game, May 8, 1970, at Madison Square Garden, speaks to the Knicks' captain limping out to score the first two baskets of the game against the Lakers and Wilt. Lost in all this was one of the great Game 7s, Walt "Clyde" Frazier's 36 points and 19 assists.
Three men who never won NBA championships -- Dominique Wilkins, Charles Barkley and John Stockton -- nevertheless turned in all-time Game 7 performances. Wilkins, 20 years ago on May 22, scored 47 points against the Celtics, only to have Larry Bird go 9 of 10 in the fourth quarter to beat the Hawks, for whom it has been pretty much downhill ever since. Barkley, playing against Seattle, had a Russell-ish 44 points and 24 rebounds. And Stockton had 29 points and 20 assists in a loss to the Lakers.
The Lakers, who used to come out on the short end of Game 7s all the time against the Celtics, turned around that trend during Magic's tenure and beyond. Shaq and Kobe, in for me the most memorable series played this decade, were assisted by regrettable officiating to extend the Kings to seven games, then won Game 7 of the 2002 Western Conference finals in overtime in Sacramento. The Suns won back-to-back Game 7s against Los Angeles, first the Lakers and then the Clippers, in 2006.
Every couple of years, a series will develop that you hope to see continue to the final game. Baseball has its history of 'em, as does NHL in the Stanley Cup playoffs. It's the NBA's turn, again, to show off if not the best of what it has to offer, very possibly the most dramatic.
|
Pro football can keep its manufactured offseason controversy. On Sunday and Monday, in a pair of NBA elimination games, the stakes are high and the drama is real.
| 34.212121 | 0.757576 | 0.939394 |
medium
|
low
|
abstractive
|
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/17/AR2008051702320.html
|
https://web.archive.org/web/2008051819id_/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/17/AR2008051702320.html
|
NAACP Chooses Its New President
|
2008051819
|
Jealous, 35, was chosen by the group's 64-member board after a year-long search and was introduced at the group's national headquarters in Baltimore. He is expected to start his new job Sept. 1.
In selecting Jealous, the NAACP broke with its tradition of picking politicians and ministers to lead, as it did three years ago with its selection of telecommunications executive Bruce Gordon. Jealous is the president of the Rosenberg Foundation in San Francisco, which advocates for immigrants and working-class families.
Jealous also is a former news executive, having served as executive director of the National Newspaper Publishers Association, which encompasses about 200 black newspapers, and as managing editor of the Jackson Advocate, a black newspaper in Mississippi.
"Ben Jealous has spent his professional life working for and raising money for the very social justice concerns for which the NAACP advocates," NAACP Chairman Julian Bond said in a statement. "He is a perfect match. . . . We are looking forward to a great future under his leadership."
In an interview with the Associated Press, Jealous said he is excited. "I think that it's a real affirmation that this organization is willing to invest in the future, to invest in the ideas and the leadership of the generation that is currently raising black children in this country," he said.
In June 2005, Gordon expressed a similar excitement when he was chosen to lead the NAACP but became disillusioned after the board and executive committee challenged his efforts to steer the group toward more humanitarian work rather than its sole civil rights mission. The board and Bond were equally disillusioned with Gordon, who they said did not meet his fundraising targets.
Shortly before his unexpected departure in March 2007, Gordon said the NAACP -- which billed itself as the nation's largest civil rights organization, with 500,000 members -- has 300,000 members. After Gordon resigned, the organization disputed his count, saying it does not include an additional 350,000 nonpaying members who have signed up on the Internet. Neither account could be verified.
Founded in 1909 by W.E.B. DuBois and Ida B. Wells-Barnett to fight black lynching, the NAACP is the most recognized name in the civil rights establishment with hundreds of branches. But after missteps, it is seeking to regain the influence of its heyday during the civil rights movement as it heads toward its centennial.
In recent months, the NAACP was forced to lay off a third of its staff because of a budget shortfall. The group also had to overcome public relations problems when it fired a past president for using organization funds to settle a sexual harassment claim against him.
The NAACP has long been criticized by young African Americans for failing to bring in fresh faces who can relate to the concerns of people who still face racial discrimination after the fall of segregation. Young bloggers have hammered the group, characterizing it as slow to react to a variety of issues.
Yesterday's selection might silence the criticism. Jealous is one in a growing cadre of young black activists emerging in San Francisco. Others include Van Jones, co-founder of the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights and the online group ColorofChange.org; and James Rucker, the other ColorofChange co-founder.
Jealous was raised in California and attended schools in Monterey County. According to the NAACP's statement, he holds a bachelor's degree from Columbia University and a master's degree in social policy from Oxford University, where he was a Rhodes Scholar. His activism started at age 14, when he participated in a voter-registration drive.
|
The NAACP selected Benjamin Todd Jealous as its president yesterday, tapping a young, Oxford University-educated activist to lead the nation's oldest civil rights group.
| 22.833333 | 0.766667 | 1.233333 |
medium
|
low
|
abstractive
|
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/17/AR2008051701074.html
|
https://web.archive.org/web/2008051819id_/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/17/AR2008051701074.html
|
Hundreds Held in Iraqi Sweep
|
2008051819
|
BAGHDAD, May 17 -- Iraqi troops have detained hundreds of people in the northern city of Mosul, where a massive operation is underway to clear the area of Sunni extremists, Iraqi officials said Saturday. But many fighters had fled to other areas, according to the officials and a spokesman for the Sunni insurgent group al-Qaeda in Iraq.
The offensive in Iraq's third-largest city, where al-Qaeda fighters have gravitated from other parts of the country, is the latest attempt by the Shiite-led government to show it is capable of tackling a still-festering insurgency and gaining control of al-Qaeda's largest stronghold.
Lt. Gen. Riyadh Jalal Tawfiq, the Iraqi army commander in Nineveh province, declared the operation, dubbed Lion's Roar, a success.
"We have captured 1,100 persons since the start of the Lion's Roar crackdown," Tawfiq said in an interview, adding that 94 suspects had been released after questioning. "The attacks of the militant groups have gone down."
In a phone interview, Abu Obaida al-Janabi, an al-Qaeda spokesman in Anbar province, said the group's top leaders, including Abu Ayu al-Masri and Abu Omar al-Baghdadi, are no longer in Mosul. He said they are in "quiet areas, not hot zones."
Janabi said that most fighters were warned in advance of the operation because the Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's government had trumpeted its plans for the offensive for weeks. The fighters, Janabi added, had moved their heavy weapons, along with "our explosives experts" and "engineers of our missile attacks," to other areas, while a small group of volunteers stayed behind to fight "a war of exhaustion" against Iraqi and U.S. forces.
He said that those detained by Iraqi forces were not al-Qaeda fighters but merely men "with long beards and who attend mosques," who were known to be anti-American. "So far only eight of our men have been captured," Janabi said.
Also Saturday, a booby-trapped bicycled exploded near a U.S. convoy in the western city of Fallujah, wounding one person, police said. Hours earlier, gunmen killed a Sunni religious leader who had recently publicly criticized al-Qaeda in Iraq fighters, said Capt. Mohammed Ali, a Fallujah police official.
The attacks were the latest in a string of bombings in Anbar province in recent weeks. On Friday, a suspected insurgent rammed a truck laden with explosives into a police station, killing a 2-month-old girl and wounding five policemen and seven civilians, Iraqi police said.
In Baqubah, another insurgent bastion about 35 miles northeast of Baghdad, a female suicide bomber detonated explosives near the office of a U.S.-allied group Saturday, injuring several people, according to police. Moments later, a suicide car bomber exploded near an Iraqi police patrol and ambulance team heading to the scene, killing one woman and injuring 16 other people, police said.
The violence coincided with the arrival in Iraq of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), who made an unannounced visit Saturday. Pelosi met with several Iraqi officials, including Maliki, who traveled down from Mosul, where he has been overseeing the offensive, and with U.S. Ambassador Ryan C. Crocker and Gen. David H. Petraeus, the top U.S. commander in Iraq.
Special correspondents Zaid Sabah and K.I. Ibrahim in Baghdad and other Washington Post staff in Iraq contributed to this report.
|
BAGHDAD, May 17 -- Iraqi troops have detained hundreds of people in the northern city of Mosul, where a massive operation is underway to clear the area of Sunni extremists, Iraqi officials said Saturday. But many fighters had fled to other areas, according to the officials and a spokesman for the...
| 11.877193 | 0.982456 | 55.017544 |
low
|
high
|
extractive
|
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/17/AR2008051702319.html
|
https://web.archive.org/web/2008051819id_/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/17/AR2008051702319.html
|
USDA Is Called Lax on Bias
|
2008051819
|
Nearly a decade after the Agriculture Department agreed to settle a discrimination suit brought by black farmers, one of the largest payouts in U.S. history at almost $1 billion so far, the department has yet to develop a system to adequately address hundreds of other bias complaints from farmers and its own employees, the Government Accountability Office said this week.
In blunt testimony before a House subcommittee this week, Lisa Shames, director of natural resources and environment for the GAO, said the department cannot prove that it has reduced its mountainous backlog of discrimination complaints and that its claims to the contrary cannot be trusted.
"At a basic level, the credibility of USDA's efforts has been and continues to be undermined by . . . faulty reporting of data on discrimination complaints and disparities in . . . data," Shames said. "Even such basic information as the number of complaints is subject to wide variation in . . . reports to the public and the Congress."
Shames said the GAO is preparing an audit of the USDA that will be released in fall. The report is expected to support her testimony that, in addition to failing to reduce the complaint backlog and adequately track cases, the agency has not diversified the field offices where discrimination is often reported. The agency does not have a uniform method of determining the race of farmers and other clients in order to study possible patterns of racial and ethnic bias.
"The fact of the matter is that discrimination is going on," said Rep. Edolphus Towns (D-N.Y.), chairman of the government oversight subcommittee before which Shames and USDA officials testified. "Even the staff members of USDA are saying it is, but if they say something, there's retaliation."
The USDA has been a frequent target of discrimination complaints for decades, resulting in taxpayer payouts in the hundreds of millions of dollars. The department is currently fending off class-action lawsuits from Latino, American Indian and women farmers similar to the claim filed by black farmers, who so far have been paid $972 million, according to the GAO.
Shames's testimony echoed criticism from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which reprehended the agency for taking an average of two years past the allotted time to process employee discrimination complaints, and the No Fear Coalition, a whistle-blower protection group, which issued a report card that gave the USDA a failing grade for the way it addresses employee concerns.
Margo M. McKay, USDA assistant secretary for civil rights, defended the agency, saying Shames's testimony was full of inaccuracies. "It's unfortunate that they put this out in the public without going through their normal process, without issuing a preliminary report."
McKay said Shames did not give the USDA time to respond. Given time, McKay said, she would have said that the USDA has various methods of reporting data related to the claims, which is why the number of resolved cases sometimes differs from month to month. "You're comparing apples with oranges," she said. The USDA is currently training employees to use a computer system that tracks cases.
"We have the same frustration and impatience" about the lack of progress, McKay said. "You do what you can do."
The civil rights division that McKay leads was formed five years ago, with a staff of 129 and a budget of $24 million. Her promises of progress are similar to those of Vernon Parker, who led the office before her and resigned in 2006 for personal reasons.
"It's been going on for a long time, for many decades, in terms of failure to address civil rights issues at USDA," Shames said. "Any claims coming out of this office need to be considered closely. These disparities in the numbers -- they do not have the management structure in place to be able to track these cases."
As an example, Shames questioned the veracity of a July 2007 report from McKay's office saying that a backlog of about 690 discrimination complaints had been reduced. At the time, Shames said in testimony, McKay and other officials "were well aware they had not succeeded in preventing future backlogs -- they had another backlog on hand, and this time the backlog had surged to an even higher level of 885 complaints."
As the office issued the report about reducing the backlog, "officials were in the midst of planning to hire attorneys to address the backlog . . ., including some . . . dating from the early 2000s that had not been resolved."
The GAO and the USDA Office of the Inspector General have submitted recommendations on how to address problems at least seven times in past years, Shames said. "They ignored many recommendations," she said.
"We think civil rights is going backwards at the department," said John Boyd, president of the National Black Farmers Association. "They can't tell us what's going on with the cases. There's no commitment whatsoever to rights. The GAO testimony supports what we've been saying for the past couple of years."
|
Nearly a decade after the Agriculture Department agreed to settle a discrimination suit brought by black farmers, one of the largest payouts in U.S. history at almost $1 billion so far, the department has yet to develop a system to adequately address hundreds of other bias complaints from farmers...
| 18.603774 | 0.981132 | 51.018868 |
medium
|
high
|
extractive
|
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/17/AR2008051701291.html
|
https://web.archive.org/web/2008051819id_/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/17/AR2008051701291.html
|
Kaine Sees Transportation Package as a Win-Win
|
2008051819
|
In blunt talk demonstrating his dual policy and political goals, the governor says he is convinced that he cannot lose when the General Assembly returns for a special session June 23 to consider his $1.1 billion tax proposal.
If legislators vote to increase taxes and fees, Kaine said, there would be more money for transportation, fulfilling one of his major policy goals. If Republicans block efforts to raise money statewide for roads, Kaine said Democrats would be on their way toward building a permanent majority in Virginia by painting state GOP lawmakers as obstructionists out of touch with the need to improve Virginians' quality of life.
"It will be very productive to either try to find a solution or make it plain to people who are standing in the way," said Kaine, who raised $4 million last year to help Democrats retake the state Senate. "We are going to make something happen or let the public see who is obstructing, and frankly, that is one of the reasons why Democrats have won elections in Virginia."
But many Republicans, and even some Democrats, say Kaine's latest plan for higher taxes goes too far, threatening the reputation of the state party he has worked so hard to build up.
"It paints once again . . . Democrats as the tax hikers, and in a recession, in particular, that is not a good thing to be to the average voter," said Sen. Ken Cuccinelli II (R-Fairfax), a candidate for attorney general next year.
Former governor L. Douglas Wilder (D), Richmond's mayor, also questioned Kaine's strategy of pushing for statewide and regional tax increases. Kaine unveiled a proposal Monday that includes higher taxes on car sales, an increase in vehicle registration fees and a 1-cent sales tax increase in Northern Virginia and Hampton Roads.
"It has consequences, and it's going to make it difficult for Democrats in next year's elections," said Wilder, noting that it is unusual for a governor to push for a tax increase proposal without first locking up support for it in at least one chamber of the General Assembly. "It's probably not going to be approved."
Wilder has also been skeptical of past efforts to raise taxes, but Kaine's style on the issue underscores the harder edge he is taking with his rivals.
When Mark R. Warner (D) wrestled the governor's mansion from Republicans in 2001, he governed largely through a prism of not challenging the underlying conservative nature of the state, although he did win support for a $1 billion tax increase for schools and social services in 2004.
Kaine, elected in 2005 in part because Warner left office with record-high approval ratings, has been more willing to try to force House and Senate Republicans into taking tough votes, especially those who represent Hampton Roads and Northern Virginia, regions rapidly trending Democratic in elections.
Kaine's approach has resulted in a number of legislative defeats, such as his efforts to close a gun show loophole and ban smoking in restaurants, but the governor has also helped force the Republican-controlled House to slowly change some of its conservative views.
|
RICHMOND -- Virginia Gov. Timothy M. Kaine (D) is giving House and Senate Republicans an ultimatum in the fight over transportation money: Work with me to make a deal, or face political repercussions from voters in next year's election.
| 13.577778 | 0.644444 | 1.4 |
low
|
low
|
abstractive
|
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/17/AR2008051702435.html
|
https://web.archive.org/web/2008051819id_/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/17/AR2008051702435.html
|
Graduates Prepare to Enter an Uncertain World
|
2008051819
|
Washington area colleges and universities will release thousands of fresh new graduates this weekend into an uncertain economy that has shaved off just a bit of their usual optimism and energy.
The graduates -- George Mason alone awarded 6,988 degrees yesterday, a school record -- will find a slowing economy. For the week ending May 3, the number of people receiving unemployment benefits rose by 28,000 to 3.06 million, according to Labor Department figures.
Also graduating yesterday were seniors at Bowie State University, Georgetown University and Patrick Henry College. Ceremonies are slated for today at the University of Virginia, George Washington University and Trinity Washington University.
Even in these uncertain economic times, the 851 graduates from Georgetown were told yesterday, there are opportunities to make profound impacts on the lives of the less fortunate.
"The world needs your inexperience . . . to solve problems that many more experienced people have given up on," said Wendy Kopp, founder of Teach for America, who outlined the idea of the national teaching corps to benefit the country's neediest schools in her senior thesis in 1989 at Princeton University.
"And the world needs you now because accomplishments take time," said Kopp, chief executive of the teaching corps. The challenges of creating equitable educational opportunities -- Teach for America's mission -- or eliminating poverty, she said, "are massive and inconceivably complex, and finding and implementing the path to success takes time."
The message was not lost on Georgetown graduate Vincent Jeffrey, 22, of Manhasset, N.Y., who was among the school's 85 graduates who applied this spring to join Teach for America. University officials said the organization will, for the second consecutive year, be the top private employer for the school's graduating class, with 59 graduates accepted for the two-year teaching program.
Jeffrey recently learned he did not make the final cut and will instead take an interim job working on the campaign of a state senator in New York this summer while he also studies for his law school entrance exam. But the government major said: "I'm definitely interested to see if the teaching can happen. . . . [Kopp's] speech was the exact reasons I wanted to do it in the first place."
In the meantime, said his father, John, the future is uncertain for the Class of 2008.
"This is so much different than the '70s, when we graduated, and it was so much easier to get a job," said John Jeffrey, 54. "There was competition domestically but not with someone who got an outsourced job. The benefits of globalization and the challenge of globalization is going to hit this generation."
At George Mason, Kritesh Gautam, 21, who received a bachelor of science degree in administration of justice, is planning to go to law school in a few years. But first he has to hunt for internships.
"The way the economy is trending, it's not looking too good," he said.
|
Washington area colleges and universities will release thousands of fresh new graduates this weekend into an uncertain economy that has shaved off just a bit of their usual optimism and energy.
| 18.1875 | 1 | 32 |
medium
|
high
|
extractive
|
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/17/AR2008051701294.html
|
https://web.archive.org/web/2008051819id_/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/17/AR2008051701294.html
|
At U-Va., a Dean Making a Difference
|
2008051819
|
Not only that, they've got Sylvia Terry, the associate dean of African American affairs, who has, in effect, re-created the high expectations and the support she learned from her parents, her small town and the historically black college her family attended. One by one, she's trying to ensure that these students get the benefits -- intellectual, cultural and economic -- of a college degree. She bakes them cakes, e-mails them poems, gives them hugs -- and expects them to make good. She'll celebrate with a couple of hundred of them today.
"Sometimes you can point to one person who makes such a huge difference," said John Blackburn, director of admissions. "She just nurtures every kid who comes through the door."
Race relations at U-Va. have never been perfect, and in recent years there have been flare-ups over racist graffiti and other issues. But there is an institutional commitment from President John T. Casteen III on down to ensuring that black students stay in school and graduate -- including generous financial aid for needy families, an emphasis on recruiting and academic support and an intense system of peer mentoring that Terry has built up.
Nationally, there's a gap of nearly 20 points between the percentage of black and white students who graduate; just 44 percent of black students finish within six years, according to four-year averages calculated by the Journal of Blacks in Higher Education, which has found U-Va. to be the leader "by far" among public schools for the past 14 years.
The University of Maryland has in recent years improved its six-year graduation rate, to 71 percent for black students who started in 2000. That's part of a systemwide initiative to improve all of Maryland's public universities' six-year graduation rate for black students, which is as low as 20 percent at Coppin State.
The most recent figure from U-Va., for black students who began college in 2001, is just shy of 90 percent. That rate is lower than those at the top schools in the country (Harvard University has steadily been in the mid-90s) but better than most of the schools U-Va. considers peers, such as the University of California at Berkeley, the University of North Carolina, Cornell University and Vanderbilt University.
The reasons some black students drop out include cost, poor academic preparation from weak high schools, the racial climate and a lack of support because there hasn't been a family tradition of college, according to Bruce Slater, the journal's managing editor.
One of the earliest black students at U-Va. told Terry that he always looked up at the dorm room of the school's very first black undergraduate to earn a degree, Robert Bland. The light was always on; the older student was always studying. And he would tell himself, if Bobby Bland can do it, I can.
It turned into a saying among the black students at U-Va.: Bobby stayed.
Terry kept it in mind. "I wanted to make sure that when students came to U-Va., they didn't just come. As Bobby stayed, I wanted them to stay."
Terry grew up in Courtland, Va., the only child of two teachers who had gone to Virginia State University and who encouraged others in the black community to get an education, to know they had options beyond the peanut and cotton farms. She remembers, as a little girl, riding along as they took their students to tour the college campus. On the blackboard of her English classroom at the black high school, her mother always wrote: Don't make excuses. Just make good.
Terry always knew she would go to college, and she loved Virginia State so much that she hopes U-Va. students will finish with the same kinds of memories she had -- memories of the professor who took such an interest in all the English majors and of the friends in study groups who wouldn't let anyone slack off.
She went to graduate school at U-Va. and, after teaching high school English for several years, she was hired in 1980 by the university to recruit black students. She traveled to schools and churches.
It struck her, though, when a senior said at a meeting: "U-Va. has done everything to get me here. Now that I'm here, where is everybody?" The number of black faculty was small in the 1980s, and she worried that there wasn't enough support to keep students in school. When she moved from admissions to the Office of African-American Affairs, she set to work on that.
She said studies show that students are more likely to stay if they feel engaged and involved in a place and feel they have people to turn to. "It's so much easier to leave a place if you haven't built up connections," Terry said. "It's so much easier to leave if no one has shown an interest in you." She paused and smiled. "We want it to not be easy."
U-Va. added orientation programs and made sure that the residence-life staff in the dorms was as racially varied as the student population. A few years ago, the university ensured that needy families don't have to take out loans to pay for school. And there are layers of mentoring, said Maurice Apprey, dean of African American affairs.
Through the peer adviser program, students' successes are celebrated at various milestones, such as when they make it through the first semester, and on Sundays, upperclassmen volunteer to tutor and help with study groups.
Terry spent part of the past week in the admissions office, reading the files of accepted African American students, making notes about their interests and activities or insights from their essays -- information she'll use to match them with peer advisers. Next month, incoming freshmen will start getting letters from advisers.
Demetra Gibson, who graduates today, said that getting handwritten notes made the school seem less far from her home in the Bahamas and helped her figure out what classes to take and how to enroll at a school very different from what she was used to. "Just the feeling that there's someone there who knows you and is going to be looking out for you, that was a real comfort for me and for my family," she said.
Chloe Jordan, who just finished her first year, turned to her peer adviser in the fall after several deaths in her family; she was grieving, homesick and worried about balancing academics and extracurricular activities. When her adviser baked her cupcakes for her birthday, she felt comforted, even though she was sad about not being home in Nevada to mourn with her family. Her peer adviser also recommended the campus writing center when she wasn't sure how to structure college papers, told her not to be shy about going to professors during office hours and recommended scaling back activities to focus on academics.
She finished the semester on the dean's list, and Jordan said she knows she has a real friend she can turn to over the next three years -- and after she graduates.
"When I look at what these students have done to help this institution," Terry said, "it makes me so proud of where we've come, so proud of where we're headed."
|
More black students graduate from the University of Virginia within six years than from any other public university in the country, and here's why: institutional commitment, an admissions process that selects strong students, generous financial aid and a network of peer advisers.
| 30.25 | 0.875 | 1.708333 |
medium
|
medium
|
mixed
|
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/16/AR2008051604027.html
|
https://web.archive.org/web/2008051819id_/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/16/AR2008051604027.html
|
Cannes, Sweet And Sour
|
2008051819
|
The world's most zuper-fabulous film festival began with an apocalyptic bummer of a movie about blind people -- being brutally degraded-- and then quickly moved on to cartoon pandas and Angelina Jolie, who is heavy with twins.
So it was sweet and sour. Angie? She positively glowed in a green Grecian-style gown, like a ripe pea pod on the red carpet for the world premiere of DreamWorks' animated "Kung Fu Panda," mugging first with a quickly tiresome Jack Black in full-tilt promotion mode beside a plushy costumed panda mascot with devil eyes. Then Jolie returned to the valet line to retrieve her real-life life-partner and to stroll/pose/waddle up the grand stairs in her Nike-soled flats. And there it was: He. The sexiest man alive. Her. The sexiest woman alive. Obviously. Been. Making. Babies. The paparazzi, they go wild, documenting . . . the evidence.
Earlier at a bizarre press conference that somehow managed to combine questions about the victims of the Burmese cyclone, childhood obesity and kung fu, Jolie, who is eight months pregnant, confirmed she was eating for three, and she delighted the locals by saying that she and Brad may linger in France and deliver the twins here (vs. Namibia the last time), which would make the babies . . . sorta French. (The couple are currently bunking at zillionaire Microsoft founder Paul Allen's Villa Maryland at nearby Cap Ferrat).
So this is the Cannes International Film Festival: an elegant pregnant lady in low-cut evening gown strolling through a Riviera Coney Island as French hicks gnaw on their baguettes, begging for freebie tickets for the latest in Hungarian cinema. The high-low thing? Somehow it just works. The genius is that the most blatantly commercial blockbusters, such as "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull," which premieres here Sunday, can coexist with a film such as "Leonera" from Argentine director Pablo Trapero, which screened Thursday. It is about female felons in prison (with their toddlers behind bars). It is not a comedy.
The jury that will select the winner of the Palme d'Or prize from all this is led by Sean Penn, who was praised by the festival's Artistic Director Thierry Fremaux as a representative of "a different voice from an America that has been in the headlines for the last 10 years," meaning, basically, that he isn't George W. Bush, whose approval ratings here hover in the low single digits.
At his press conference, the middle-age rebel Penn complained, naturally, about Bush and then went off on France's new smoking ban -- and then fired one up -- and said he thought it would be difficult for Barack Obama to live up to expectations. "I hope that he will understand, if he is the nominee, the degree of disillusionment that will happen if he doesn't become a greater man than he will ever be," said Penn in a cloud of smoke.
Oh, but what about cinema? you ask. The film "Blindness" opened the festival, from the Brazilian director Fernando Meirelles, based on the novel of the same name from the Portuguese Nobel Prize winner José Saramago, starring Julianne Moore, Gael GarcÃa Bernal, Danny Glover and Mark Ruffalo. The film depicts a world in which people suddenly go blind with "the white sickness," and humanity quickly reverts to extremo barbarism. The helpless blind are rounded up and forced to live in abandoned sanitariums, where they stumble around half-naked, starving, filthy, the weak preyed upon (and gang raped) by sightless thugs. "I don't think the film is very different from what would happen" if such a disease were real, Meirelles says.
It is a very grim fairy tale. Apparently, though, not as grim as it could have been. Meirelles said he showed an earlier "very hard" version of "Blindness" to focus groups, and 45 out of 500 people walked out. "It was almost unbearable," said Meirelles, whose film contains the message: We have eyes, but do we see? "It is a fable," Moore explains at the press luncheon. "It poses the 'what if' question for everyone." Bernal said they rehearsed by wearing blindfolds. Glover asked for some fresh-squeezed orange juice, not the kind made from concentrate. "The difference is night and day," he said.
After the premiere of "Blindness," guests strolled from the Palais (a.k.a. convention center) down the Croisette (a.k.a. street) to a party on the Carlton Hotel's pier. They entered the tent though a glowing white tunnel, filled with dense milky fog, creating the illusion of temporary blindness, before emerging to a tables laden with salmon mousse and flutes of champagne. It was only awkward if you thought about it. The patrons nibbled canapes and discussed the blind rape scene.
The buzz for the coming week? Very fluid. Many of the American films are being finished as this is typed. Woody Allen is back at Cannes with "Vicky Cristina Barcelona," starring Javier Bardem and Scarlett Johansson, who decided (last minute) not to come to Cannes. This is a pity. Cannes is made for an actress of Johansson's talents. Clint Eastwood is bringing "Changeling," with Angelina Jolie and John Malkovich, set in 1928 Los Angeles, about a disappeared kid. There's that little Indiana Jones thing. Posters of a sadly ageless Harrison Ford hang from every wall. Madonna is on her way here, to promote her Malawi AIDS documentary. Good for ole Madge. Sporting legends Diego Maradona and Mike Tyson are expected to show to support documentaries about their sporting legends.
The selectively reclusive screenwriter Charlie Kaufman is coming with his directorial debut called "Synecdoche, New York," starring Philip Seymour Hoffman in the role of a small theater director with, according to film notes, "a mysterious condition systematically shutting down each of his body's autonomic functions." Debate has mostly centered on what are autonomic functions and how to pronounce the title (think "Schenectady") and how weird the Kaufman project might possibly be -- word is: weirder than his "Being John Malkovich," which could be great. Unless not. Seasoned Canners say the film, which has not yet sold to a U.S. distributor, is screening at the very end of the festival, which is never a good sign.
Speaking of mysteries, Steven Soderbergh arrives here in a rush with his opus "Che," starring Benicio Del Toro as the iconic leader of the Cuban revolution. The film is being shown as two separate movies -- at a total of 4 hours 28 minutes. Did we mention it is in Spanish?
At the "Kung Fu Panda" press conference yesterday, Dustin Hoffman was asked, wasn't there, umm, a big leap in his career, from the early heights of "The Graduate" to his playing Master Shifu, the cartoon character?
Hoffman deadpanned, "It's a decline in culture." The international entertainment press corps laughed. Then Hoffman stuck in the knife: "But it's also reached your profession. We're all here, in the same bag together."
|
Get style news headlines from The Washington Post, including entertainment news, comics, horoscopes, crossword, TV, Dear Abby. arts/theater, Sunday Source and weekend section. Washington Post columnists, movie/book reviews, Carolyn Hax, Tom Shales.
| 27.941176 | 0.470588 | 0.509804 |
medium
|
low
|
abstractive
|
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/15/AR2008051503306.html
|
https://web.archive.org/web/2008051619id_/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/15/AR2008051503306.html
|
Hypocrisy on Hamas
|
2008051619
|
President Bush picked up this theme yesterday. Without naming Obama during his speech last night to Israel's Knesset, Bush suggested that Democrats want to "negotiate with terrorists" while Republicans want to fight terrorists.
The Obama campaign was right to criticize the president for his remarks and for engaging in partisan politics while overseas. Many presidents have said things abroad that could be construed as violating this unwritten rule of American politics. But it is hard to remember any president abusing the prestige of his office in as crude a way as Bush did yesterday. Charging your opponents with appeasement and likening them to Neville Chamberlain in the Knesset is a brutal blow. It is bad enough that Republicans use the politics of personal destruction here at home, but to deploy that kind of political weapon at an occasion as solemn as an American president addressing the parliament of a friendly government marks a new low.
McCain, meanwhile, is guilty of hypocrisy. I am a supporter of Hillary Clinton and believe that she was right to say, about McCain's statement on Hamas, "I don't think that anybody should take that seriously." Unfortunately, the Republicans know that some people will. That's why they say such things.
But given his own position on Hamas, McCain is the last politician who should be attacking Obama. Two years ago, just after Hamas won the Palestinian parliamentary elections, I interviewed McCain for the British network Sky News's "World News Tonight" program. Here is the crucial part of our exchange:
I asked: "Do you think that American diplomats should be operating the way they have in the past, working with the Palestinian government if Hamas is now in charge?"
McCain answered: "They're the government; sooner or later we are going to have to deal with them, one way or another, and I understand why this administration and previous administrations had such antipathy towards Hamas because of their dedication to violence and the things that they not only espouse but practice, so . . . but it's a new reality in the Middle East. I think the lesson is people want security and a decent life and decent future, that they want democracy. Fatah was not giving them that."
For some Europeans in Davos, Switzerland, where the interview took place, that's a perfectly reasonable answer. But it is an unusual if not unique response for an American politician from either party. And it is most certainly not how the newly conservative presumptive Republican nominee would reply today.
Given that exchange, the new John McCain might say that Hamas should be rooting for the old John McCain to win the presidential election. The old John McCain, it appears, was ready to do business with a Hamas-led government, while both Clinton and Obama have said that Hamas must change its policies toward Israel and terrorism before it can have diplomatic relations with the United States.
Even if McCain had not favored doing business with Hamas two years ago, he had no business smearing Barack Obama. But given his stated position then, it is either the height of hypocrisy or a case of political amnesia for McCain to inject Hamas into the American election.
The writer, an adjunct professor at Columbia University's School of International Affairs, was an assistant secretary of state and the State Department's chief spokesman during the Clinton administration.
|
As an interview from 2006 shows, John McCain was for talking to Hamas before he was against it.
| 32.35 | 0.8 | 1 |
medium
|
medium
|
abstractive
|
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/15/AR2008051503161.html
|
https://web.archive.org/web/2008051619id_/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/15/AR2008051503161.html
|
The GOP's Ideas Deficit
|
2008051619
|
In this respect, it doesn't matter who wins the Democratic nomination or even who wins the general election in the fall. I was going to try to write this column without using the word "paradigm," but already I've failed: Regardless of who takes the oath of office in January, the paradigm that reigned for nearly three decades -- the notion that government is useless, if not inherently evil -- is no longer operative.
All three of the remaining presidential candidates propose a far more activist role for government. Even John McCain, who tells conservatives that he's a Reagan disciple, proposes far-reaching government action on issues such as climate change, high energy prices and the mortgage crisis -- problems that are supposedly better left to the cruel genius of free markets, according to the old paradigm that Bush has pushed to absurd extremes.
It took a leader of the Decider's uncommon gifts to kill the philosophy he worships. To be fair, there is one area in which he has been the most proactive of presidents, to our nation's lasting discredit: Violating the basic rights of citizens and noncitizens alike in the name of his "war on terrorism."
Otherwise, he has interpreted Reagan's small-government mandate as an excuse -- or an instruction -- to abdicate government's most fundamental responsibilities. Anyone who wants to argue this point need simply remember the "heck of a job" our government did in handling the devastation from Hurricane Katrina.
Almost every day, there's more evidence that 2008 is turning into one of those watershed years in American politics -- 1980, say, or 1968, or even 1932. You can start with the fact that the Democrats are poised to nominate the first African American major-party candidate for president.
Even more telling, though, are the polls showing that soaring numbers of Americans believe the country is heading in the wrong direction -- more than eight out of 10, according to a new Post-ABC News poll -- and that Bush's popularity has fallen to historic lows.
The grinding occupation of Iraq is only partly responsible for the nation's discontent. Decades of government inattention have allowed chronic problems to grow and fester and putrefy and . . . well, we'll abandon that metaphor lest it turn into something that no one wants to read over breakfast, but you get the idea.
It turns out that Americans don't want their leaders to simply shrug, as George Bush shrugs, at the fact that 47 million citizens do not have health insurance. It turns out that Americans don't want their leaders to simply tsk-tsk, as George Bush tsk-tsks, at the wrenching economic dislocations that stem from globalization.
It turns out that if government declines to adequately regulate or even monitor the financial system, unfettered markets can make catastrophic blunders. When Joseph Schumpeter wrote admiringly of how capitalism was buffeted by the "perennial gale of creative destruction," I doubt he was talking about exotic mortgage-backed securities so complicated that nobody really understood how much risk was being undertaken, or by whom. I also doubt that families facing foreclosure are much comforted by being told that they're playing an essential role -- that of loser -- in classical free-market theory.
Evidence suggests that Americans are tired of a government that is slavishly beholden to a rigid do-nothing ideology -- and that they're ready to punish the president's party for its ineptitude and lassitude. Republicans have gone 0 for 3 in special elections this year for House seats, most recently losing a Mississippi district that gave Bush a landslide 62 percent margin in 2004. What a difference four years can make.
Throughout the year, the Democratic primaries have drawn far more voters than the Republican contests. Democratic coffers are brimming, and the party is bringing in millions of new voters. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton are glamorous and exciting candidates, but this Democratic surge isn't all about them. It's also about the Republican Party's utter exhaustion. Since Ronald Reagan's first term, Republicans have set the nation's ideological agenda. This was true even during the Clinton years. But it's not true now.
Party leaders speak of the need to refurbish the "Republican brand." The problem goes far beyond packaging, though. It's not that the box needs to be more colorful; it's that the ideas inside have long since gone stale.
|
The Reagan era is about to end, and we have George W. Bush to thank for its demise.
| 42.6 | 0.75 | 0.95 |
high
|
low
|
abstractive
|
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/15/AR2008051503543.html
|
https://web.archive.org/web/2008051619id_/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/15/AR2008051503543.html
|
Brand on the Run
|
2008051619
|
Corker is familiar with the feeling. His readiness to tell his story says much about the alienation of many Republicans from the national party's stale approach to politics and the limits of negative advertising. It is also a warning to GOP strategists who think that personal attacks on Barack Obama will be sufficient to win the presidency.
Facing a tough contest against Harold Ford Jr., a young, telegenic African American congressman, Corker says he watched his campaign flounder as his consultants ran television ads that tried to paint his opponent, a moderately conservative Democrat, as a "liberal."
"They were grotesque," Corker said of his own commercials in an interview this week. "It was just the same old stuff." By contrast, he said, Ford's spots were "fresh and refreshing."
Corker, the former mayor of Chattanooga, called in new consultants and switched to a more positive campaign. "We kept the race about Tennessee," he said. "We focused on my life, on who I was as a person." Independent voters who had been attracted to Ford started moving Corker's way.
Yet the national party almost blew the race near the end, Corker said, by running an ad that many saw as racist. The commercial, aired without Corker's knowledge, included a young, blonde, white actress declaring that she had met Ford "at the Playboy party." It ended with her whispering the words: "Harold, call me."
Corker was furious, and not just because his six-point lead melted into a four-point deficit. The party eventually pulled the radioactive ad, and Corker won narrowly. The senator has advised Republican colleagues in tough races this year to resist national party ads that mention their opponents.
Few Republicans will go that far. But Democrat Travis Childers's victory Tuesday in a Mississippi district that had given 62 percent of its vote to President Bush in 2004 caused something of a nervous breakdown in GOP ranks, breeding a crisis of confidence among Republicans about the party's consulting establishment and national leadership.
It was the third Republican special-election loss in a row, all in House districts that the party had counted as its own. It was the second time in less than two weeks that a big-money advertising campaign aimed at linking a conservative Democrat to Obama had failed.
In a remarkably open rebellion, Republican members of Congress and party strategists decried Bush's role in bringing down the Republican "brand," the party's failure to offer new policies, and the futility of campaigns rooted in the 1980s and '90s.
Rep. Tom Davis of Virginia, who is retiring, confessed to me that if his party "were dog food, they'd take us off the shelf and put us in a landfill."
Tony Fabrizio, a Republican pollster, said party leaders have "got their heads in the sand. They've kept on this track, they keep expecting miracles, and there are no miracles."
|
Republicans are turning on each other because even their best news is bad news.
| 39 | 0.466667 | 0.466667 |
high
|
low
|
abstractive
|
http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/postglobal/energywire/2008/05/bushs_oil_diplomacy.html
|
https://web.archive.org/web/2008051619id_/http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/postglobal/energywire/2008/05/bushs_oil_diplomacy.html
|
PostGlobal at washingtonpost.com
|
2008051619
|
President Bush pays another visit to Saudi Arabia this week, but the visit isnât likely to produce new flows of oil from the worldâs biggest exporting nation. That's not just a matter of Bush's own diplomatic shortcomings - it's also linked to changes in the U.S.-Saudi relationship and changes in the kingdomâs view of its self-interest.
Former U.S. Ambassador to Saudi Arabia Chas Freeman told me before I visited Riyadh last fall that years ago, the U.S.-Saudi relationship was based on a perceived exchange of U.S.-provided security for Saudi-exported oil. Nowadays, Saudi Arabia questions whether the U.S. invasion of Iraq enhanced the kingdomâs security and the regionâs stability. And the Saudi royals also wonder whether the giant U.S. military can really protect the kingdomâs oil infrastructure from terrorist attacks. On the U.S. side, many analysts believe that Saudi Arabia, by cutting its oil output on several occasions over the past nine years, helped drive prices up to their current peak.
One sign of the breakdown of the oil-for-security exchange is the effort by a group of Democratic senators, led by Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), to block arms sales to Saudi Arabia until that country increases its oil production. The kingdom could pump an additional 1.5 million to 2 million barrels a day, though most of that excess capacity is comprised of heavier crude oils that many refineries are unable to process. The move in Congress isnât likely to have much more impact than Bushâs visit. The Saudi oil policy seems surprisingly settled.
For years, many people viewed Saudi Arabia as a relative pricing âdoveâ in the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries â meaning that it favored moderate price increases in order to keep consumers hooked on petroleum and avoid what OPEC ministers call âdemand destruction.â But whatever gap might have once existed between OPEC pricing âhawksâ (who push for more limited output and higher prices) and OPEC pricing doves has practically vanished.
In a meeting earlier this week at the Brookings Institution, Fareed Mohamedi of the PFC Energy consulting firm said that Saudi Arabiaâs days as a pricing dove ended in the 1990s. Now, he said, Saudi Arabia worries less about oil consumers turning away from petroleum and focuses more about conserving its resources for future generations, while enjoying high prices in the current generation.
Another factor, he said, is that Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries are building up their own domestic industries to take advantage of their abudant oil and natural gas resources and capture some of the value added to finished products by Western companies. Georgetown University professor Jean-Francois Seznec noted at the same meeting that by 2015, Saudi Arabia will be the world's largest producer of petrochemicals, and by 2020 will produce a quarter of the world's aluminum. So the kingdom needs to keep some resources around to fulfill that vision of its future development.
Apart from changing Saudi attitudes, there are global reasons why the gaps between the two OPEC factions have narrowed. One is that growing world demand has soaked up most of the world's excess production capacity. OPEC doesnât need to cut output much in order to boost prices, so the problem of cheating on quotas that plagued the group in the 1980s and 1990s has become mostly moot. Most members are pumping as much as they can while Saudi Arabia restrains its own output. And it has worked. Just 16 months ago, OPEC trimmed output and stopped the price of oil from sliding below $50 a barrel. Just 16 months ago, OPEC was worried about falling prices.
Even though prices are soaring now, OPEC has little fear about losing oil customers. Even though demand is stagnant or even falling in the United States, China and India are adding millions of cars a year.
|
A debate with Steve Mufson on how energy prices are moving money, nations, and lives.
| 39.833333 | 0.5 | 0.722222 |
high
|
low
|
abstractive
|
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/16/AR2008051601111.html
|
https://web.archive.org/web/2008051619id_/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/16/AR2008051601111.html
|
Oil Efforts Are Best Possible, Saudis Say
|
2008051619
|
After a meeting with Bush and his advisers Friday afternoon, Saudi Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi announced that the kingdom decided last week to increase production by about 300,000 barrels a day to meet increased demand from customers for June. That would take Saudi production to 9.4 million barrels a day. The kingdom's production capacity is 11.3 million barrels.
The Saudi increase is modest and appears unlikely to have much effect on record crude oil prices. Despite the announcement, crude oil prices in New York climbed $2.17 to $126.29 a barrel.
With the president under pressure at home to show he is fighting to lower gasoline prices, the Saudi gesture gave Bush a face-saving outcome after a day of meetings with Saudi leaders. Bush has invested enormously in improving his personal ties to King Abdullah, and administration officials say the effort has paid off in greater cooperation in fighting terrorism, confronting Iran and other shared concerns.
But the limits to this warmth were on full display as Bush arrived in Saudi Arabia for his second visit of the year and was whisked off for private consultations and dinner with the king at his palatial horse farm near Riyadh. Not only did the Saudis resist efforts to boost production even more -- as many congressional leaders are demanding -- they also pointedly said that the extra output was a week-old response to commercial customers, not to the president. And they made clear their unhappiness with Bush's emotional speech Thursday to the Israeli Knesset.
In the address, Bush touched only lightly on the Palestinian quest for a state, while paying homage to the 60th anniversary of the Jewish state -- a contrast that deeply angered many Arabs. "It was so one-sided," said Saudi academic and writer Khalid al-Dakhil. "The president is supposed to be evenhanded."
Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal voiced disappointment in remarks to reporters. "We are well aware of the special U.S.-Israeli relationship," he said. "Stressing the right of a nation to exist should not strike out or revoke the rights of other nations." The Palestinians "are in dire need to enjoy their rights," he said.
White House officials dismissed the suggestions that the president is insufficiently committed to his goal of an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal by the end of the year, and said Bush will renew his efforts on Saturday when he meets with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in Egypt.
After a detailed briefing for the president by the Saudi oil minister, White House officials also seemed satisfied with Saudi explanations that they are investing billions to expand their production capability over the next several years and that there is not much more they can do to lower prices. White House officials said Bush asked the Saudis to increase production as much as they can but made no specific numerical demand.
"I think the message the Saudis were sending was, 'We're doing everything we can to meet this problem, but it's a complicated problem and the underlying causes of these high gas prices are going to take time and money to address,' " national security adviser Stephen J. Hadley told reporters.
Congressional Democrats were critical. "The president seems to value his friendship with the Saudis more than his obligation to help the American people with gas prices," said Sen. Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.)
The unwillingness of the Saudis to do more to relieve the pressure on prices is described by some Middle East analysts and politicians as emblematic of what they call a one-way relationship.
|
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia, May 16 -- Saudi leaders told President Bush on Friday that they are doing all they can to increase oil production, gently turning aside the president's efforts to bring down prices more rapidly.
| 16.536585 | 0.780488 | 1.219512 |
medium
|
low
|
abstractive
|
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/16/AR2008051601771.html
|
https://web.archive.org/web/2008051619id_/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/16/AR2008051601771.html
|
Paulson Upbeat on Economy and Markets, but Not Housing
|
2008051619
|
A severe housing slump remains "the biggest risk to our economy," Paulson said, adding that he was "very encouraged" to see "bipartisan progress" in Congress on a comprehensive plan to address the downturn.
"The markets are considerably calmer now than they were in March," Paulson said to business leaders gathered at a downtown hotel for a forum sponsored by The Washington Post. "In my judgment, we are closer to the end of the market turmoil than the beginning."
Paulson said the housing sector remains a major worry, as prices continue their two-year decline. About 1.5 million homeowners fell into foreclosure last year, and analysts predict that as many as 3 million more could join them over the next two years. Meanwhile, housing prices have plunged more than 10 percent.
Paulson noted the impact of sagging home prices and soaring energy costs, referring to "difficulties" in an economy that he said remains "structurally sound."
Asked by an audience member whether $100 billion in economic stimulus checks that were mailed this month to 130 million households would wind up paying for more expensive gasoline instead of stimulating the economy, Paulson acknowledged that "we've got some increasing headwinds."
But he insisted that the stimulus package approved by Congress and signed by President Bush will aid in the nation's economic recovery, creating 500,000 jobs.
"I don't mean to sound Pollyannaish," he said, but "I do believe our economy will be growing at a faster pace at the end of the year than it is now."
The Treasury secretary praised and defended the Bush administration's decision to focus on saving homeowners at risk of foreclosure by encouraging bankers to modify unaffordable home loans, particularly those with payments that escalate rapidly a few months or years after the papers are signed.
Paulson said a voluntary alliance of bankers and loan servicers assembled by the Treasury Department has modified 1.4 million mortgages since July. Meanwhile, the administration's decision to relax eligibility standards for government-backed loans has helped about 200,000 families refinance into more affordable mortgages since September.
"These are significant numbers, and a significant achievement," Paulson said, though he cautioned that 80 percent of distressed borrowers still are not responding to offers of help from alliance members. "We can't help those who aren't willing to help themselves," he said.
Congressional Democrats and other critics have charged that the administration's efforts are failing to reach the most desperate families who are months behind on their mortgage payments and in immediate danger of losing their homes. Late Thursday, the Republican and Democratic leaders on the Senate Banking Committee reached a tentative deal to help those borrowers by further relaxing eligibility standards for government-backed loans. To cover the cost of the program, Sens. Christopher J. Dodd (D-Conn.) and Richard C. Shelby (R-Ala.) agreed to use a portion of the profits from mortgage financing giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac that had been set aside for low-income rental housing.
The White House has threatened to veto a similar measure that the House passed last week. Paulson did not comment on that part of the Senate measure, but praised another provision that would strengthen regulation of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
Aides said Shelby was optimistic that the president would support the compromise measure, which Dodd hopes to bring to a vote in his committee on Tuesday and send to Bush's desk by early July.
Dodd said he, too, hopes that the president will reconsider his veto threat. "They have to," he said yesterday. "It's voluntary. There's a haircut for everybody here. There are plenty of people out there who are very knowledgeable about this who have said this may work to keep people in their homes."
|
Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson Jr. said yesterday that financial markets have stabilized since March, when the collapse of investment house Bear Stearns roiled Wall Street, and said he expects economic growth to rebound by the end of the year.
| 17.162791 | 0.627907 | 1.186047 |
medium
|
low
|
abstractive
|
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/16/AR2008051601760.html
|
https://web.archive.org/web/2008051619id_/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/16/AR2008051601760.html
|
Excavators Battle Debris in China Amid Fears of Disease
|
2008051619
|
With temperatures rising and 14,000 bodies still estimated by officials to be buried at building sites across Sichuan province, the government's Health Ministry instructed workers to find, clean and dispose of the bodies as quickly as possible.
Compounding rescue and cleanup efforts, a powerful aftershock Friday knocked out roads and communications in some of the most ravaged parts of the earthquake zone, the Associated Press reported. Damage from the 5.5-magnitude aftershock -- one of dozens of strong tremors since Monday's quake -- was a temporary setback to the mammoth relief operation. State media reported that repair crews were rapidly restoring cellphone service and unblocking roads, AP said.
Family members watched with roiled emotions as front-end loaders dug efficiently through the remnants of two apartment buildings along Dujiangyan Avenue. "There have been no rescue efforts here, and now they start digging without using life signal detection devices," cried Zhang Shili, whose daughter, brother and mother were buried under the tons of concrete that had been a five-story building. "They explained there are very few of those."
Though there were few hopes here that anyone was left alive, state media reported that a businessman was rescued Friday afternoon, nearly 97 hours after the quake struck, from a shattered building in Beichuan, one of the hardest-hit areas. A total of 33 people were rescued in the small mountain city, the New China News Agency said, including three schoolgirls who were pulled free early Friday.
After initially turning down international offers to help rescue survivors, a specialized team from Japan began work on Friday as China admitted other aid from Russia, Taiwan, South Korea and Singapore.
Chinese President Hu Jintao flew to Beichuan to assess the damage on his first trip to the region since Monday's disaster. "Saving lives is still the top priority of our work," Hu said, according to official media. "The challenge is still severe, and the time is pressing."
The official death toll rose to 22,069, with nearly 170,000 injured. China says it expects the number of dead to approach 50,000.
Many of the dead are schoolchildren who were killed when their buildings were demolished by the quake, and many grief-stricken parents have complained of shoddy construction.
China's housing minister, Jiang Weixin, announced an investigation at a news conference in Beijing, saying schools weren't designed to withstand such a strong earthquake, but he did not rule out corruption as a possible cause. "At this stage, we cannot rule out the possibility that there has been shoddy work and inferior materials," Jiang said.
Hu said the government also needed to make greater efforts to treat the injured and provide basic services for residents who had lost their homes. Tens of thousands of people are living in makeshift tents along the streets and in parks in Dujiangyan alone. With so much attention focused on rescue, they say they have no information about whether the government plans to rebuild their houses or when they will be able to move into some homes and resume their lives.
Local officials are trying to move many of them out into government-organized tent cities on the east side of the provincial capital of Chengdu, an area that experienced less damage in the initial 7.9-magnitude quake. Posters all over the city encourage people to head to designated transportation centers to be bused to the new area.
|
DUJIANGYAN, China, May 16 -- Heavy earth-moving equipment on Friday rolled up to the rubble of buildings decimated by this week's massive earthquake and began digging in earnest, as the race to find survivors shifted to a race to control disease from thousands of decomposing bodies still trapped.
| 11.781818 | 0.636364 | 0.818182 |
low
|
low
|
abstractive
|
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/15/AR2008051502737.html
|
https://web.archive.org/web/2008051619id_/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/15/AR2008051502737.html
|
In Tragedy, a New Kind of Unity
|
2008051619
|
On my street last week, the Communist Party's neighborhood committee moved old computers out of its storage room to make way for donated materials bound for earthquake victims 2,000 miles away. Within 12 hours, the space was crammed with clothes and blankets.
All across China, images of mass destruction and individual courage have inspired ordinary citizens to donate money, material and sweat to earthquake victims in the remote foothills of the Himalayas. This national sense of purpose might look similar to the response of average Americans after Hurricane Katrina battered New Orleans, but what's happening in China is new and significant.
This marks the first time in recent history that ordinary Chinese have participated in a national movement that was not a protest against something -- usually a foreign power. Until now, China has defined itself in terms of "Us vs. Them." Today, it's "Us Without Them." The change could have a profound and positive impact on this summer's Olympics in Beijing -- and on China's self-confidence for years to come.
Until the quake on May 12, the dominant mood in China was one of frustration. Citizens had seen this summer's Olympics in Beijing as an affirmation of China's progress. But everywhere they looked, the world blamed their country for something: its support for the regime in Sudan; its suppression of anti-government protests in Tibet; its dispatch of People's Armed Police cadets to protect the Olympic torch overseas. China was even faulted for Burma's unwillingness to accept foreign aid after a typhoon struck it two weeks ago. Few Chinese have problems with these policies, and most felt that the world had violated a compact: The Olympics were supposed to elicit praise, not condemnation.
Those feelings of betrayal are summed up in a hugely popular poem that popped up on the Internet in March, called "Chinese Grievances." The verses come across as an eloquent but passive-aggressive rant: "When we closed our doors, you launched the Opium War to open our markets./When we embraced free trade, you blamed us for stealing your jobs." (See complete poem at right.)
China's sensitivity to the attitudes of foreigners is nothing new. For the past decade, mass expressions of national cohesion have always derived from a shared sense of victimhood at the hands of other countries. Young Chinese united to protest against the United States for bombing China's embassy in Belgrade in 1999 (accidentally, says Washington) and after a collision between a U.S. spy plane and a Chinese fighter jet in 2001; against Japan several times, most recently in 2005 in remembrance of atrocities committed in China a half-century ago; and against France because of pro-Tibet demonstrations that disrupted the journey of the Olympic torch.
The Tiananmen Square uprising of 1989 was a rare exception, as much of China united against the government instead of a foreign power. But the focal point of the nation's cohesion was still opposition, and afterward, the government accused "foreign elements" of hoodwinking Chinese students into a plot to divide and weaken the country.
Go back further in time, and the pattern holds. All Chinese schoolchildren learn that modern China was born during a nationwide student movement that began in May 1919 to protest the Treaty of Versailles, which ended World War I and turned Germany's colonial holdings in China over to Japan instead of restoring them to Beijing's control. In the century before that, European powers started various wars against China to control parts of the country, including Hong Kong, which the Qing emperor ceded to Britain "in perpetuity" in 1842.
No one questions China's suffering at the hands of colonial powers. Yet China won't emerge as a confident, modern nation until it knocks the historical chip off its shoulder, and that won't happen until it generates a sense of national unity from within. The earthquake in Sichuan was nothing if not tragic, but its long-term effects may prove beneficial, even cathartic, as they help China shape its modern identity without resorting to foreign scapegoats.
For one thing, many Chinese draw genuine pride from their government's response, at least so far. The quake hit one of China's most remote and inaccessible regions. Local officials stayed on the job, put preexisting emergency plans into operation and coordinated their activities far better than might have been expected in a developing country -- or many developed ones. At the scene, the encouragement that Premier Wen Jiabao shouted through a bullhorn and whispered to survivors, at one point telling terrified orphans that the government would care for them, struck a Bill Clinton-like note.
For another, China's media have used their expanding freedoms to deliver stories of heartbreak and relief without turning the rescue effort into a flag-waving propaganda exercise -- at least not yet. One hopes that this new spirit of openness will enable China's journalists to investigate possibly shoddy construction and whether the troops dispatched to the region were properly equipped. Nonetheless, what I saw on Chinese TV last week was far superior to the coverage of flood relief on the Yangtze River 10 years ago, which was cynically marshaled to burnish the reputation of the People's Liberation Army.
These encouraging aspects of Chinese unity have become visible to a world that is most familiar with less admirable characteristics, such as the nation's inability to understand why Tibetans might have their own poetic list of grievances. Given the devastation afflicting Sichuan, it's healthy for the Chinese to turn inward right now. Suddenly, not even the Olympics look very important. Even the government has recognized this by scaling back the torch relay, which had been so maligned overseas and so triumphal at home. China shouldn't need to prove anything to the world anymore. By seeing its people through the Sichuan tragedy, it has proven enough to itself.
Matthew Forney, a former Beijing bureau chief for Time, is writing a book about raising his family in China.
|
China's reaction to last week's earthquake has been uniquely unifying.
| 88.076923 | 0.769231 | 1.076923 |
high
|
low
|
abstractive
|
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/15/AR2008051504039.html
|
https://web.archive.org/web/2008051619id_/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/15/AR2008051504039.html
|
'Prince Caspian': Fantasy Rules With a Iron Hand in Narnia
|
2008051619
|
Those plucky Pevensie children, the young and improbable heroes of 2005's "The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe," make an impressive if somewhat repetitive return in the second installment, "The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian." A little bit older, living in London, Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy are wistfully pining for the days when they ruled the parallel universe known as Narnia when they are suddenly whisked back, this time by way of an accommodating tube station.
Once returned to their former fanciful realm, they discover it has been taken over -- not by their erstwhile nemesis, the White Witch, but by the wicked King Miraz (Sergio Castellitto), who has driven the Narnians of old underground and set out to murder Narnia's rightful ruler, the young and handsome Prince Caspian (Ben Barnes). Once again, the four young crusaders do battle with the forces of evil, and once again they prove that a ragtag team of dwarfs, centaurs, satyrs and sundry talking animals can overcome swords and catapults through the sheer force of goodness.
As he did in the 2005 film, director Andrew Adamson -- best known for the "Shrek" movies -- imbues C.S. Lewis's beloved Narnia series with equal parts whimsy, action and moral seriousness. True to form, "Prince Caspian" is a muscular, handsome production, this time made more attractive by Adamson's attention to the stunning natural beauty of New Zealand: its turquoise rivers, verdant forests and breathtaking mountain ranges.
What's more, the Pevensies have changed in interesting ways: Peter (William Moseley), the levelheaded eldest brother, is now a hothead, prone to fighting. The problematic Edmund (Skandar Keynes) has mellowed, and now rests a calming hand on big brother's shoulder. Little Lucy (Georgie Henley), the younger girl, is still closest to the spiritual realm (she's the only one who sees the great lion Aslan when he makes his godlike presence felt). The most fascinating transformation is that of Susan (Anna Popplewell), who as a teenager seems to have ripened and sharpened simultaneously. When she dons her quiver of red arrows to do battle with Miraz's armored forces, she's the very picture of young womanhood, both soft and strong.
In a way, Susan embodies the strengths and failings of the "Narnia" series, which, if all goes according to plan, will eventually comprise seven movies. When she aims and fires, she perfectly conveys the vicarious pleasures of vanquishing the enemy, by way of a sure eye, steady hand and superior moral force. But her most pivotal and stirring scene, wherein she does single-handed battle with an oncoming cavalry in a wooded glen, ends with a retrograde whimper, reminding viewers that even as expansive and humanist an intellect as Lewis's was still a prisoner of his times where sexism was concerned.
Admittedly, the subtleties of gender symbolism probably won't divert viewers who are attracted to the "Narnia" movies for their sweeping, swashbuckling action. Indeed, by the end of "Prince Caspian's" nearly 2 1/2 -hour running time, viewers are likely to be feeling quite pummeled from all the duels, battles, showdowns and other ritualized aggression. (The Christian subtext that ran through "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe" here has given way to a greater fascination with medieval chivalric codes.) It's not much fun to root for Caspian, who compared with the Pevensies is kind of a Euro-trash ninny, but there's no denying he has the most interesting fighting force: a grumpy dwarf named Trumpkin (Peter Dinklage), a cheeky talking badger, some well-toned centaurs and a rapier-wielding mouse (voiced by Eddie Izzard) who seems to have pilfered the plume from Puss in Boots's hat in "Shrek 2."
With its ponderous, pounding musical score and more-epic-than-thou battle sequences, "Prince Caspian" finally teeters on the very edge of overkill, an effect not helped by Lewis's sanguinary sense of ethical certitude (how fine the line between moral courage and moral arrogance). The final battle royal, reminiscent of the showdown featuring the fabulously maned Tilda Swinton in the first film, does its best to up the ante but succeeds only in introducing the meanest bunch of trees since "The Wizard of Oz" and confounding all logistic and spatial sense.
Still, "Prince Caspian" fulfills its primary task, which is to move the "Narnia" franchise along with the verve and visual style to which its fans have become accustomed. And its most important elements are still sturdily intact: a richly imagined fictional world, four terrific tween protagonists and, as voiced by Liam Neeson, a magnificent mythical lion who still qualifies as cinema's greatest characterization of the Cat Upstairs.
The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian (137 minutes, at area theaters) is rated PG for epic battle action and violence.
|
Time travel! Talking mice! Terribly proper manners!
| 96.7 | 0.2 | 0.2 |
high
|
low
|
abstractive
|
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/16/AR2008051601090.html
|
https://web.archive.org/web/2008051619id_/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/16/AR2008051601090.html
|
Gruesome Killings by Mugabe Supporters Detailed
|
2008051619
|
Election officials announced Friday that the second round of voting would take place June 27, nearly three months after the original election in which Mugabe, of the Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front, or ZANU-PF, came in second, behind opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai of the Movement for Democratic Change.
The opposition confirmed Friday that it would participate in the runoff despite the violence.
"We are going to defeat Robert Mugabe and ZANU-PF any time, any place, any how," spokesman Nelson Chamisa said, speaking from Harare, the capital. "We have to make sure we defeat the dictatorship once and for all."
The most lethal attack so far happened here in Chaona, a village 65 miles north of Harare. Witnesses say that dozens of armed men, led by ruling party officials, rampaged through here the night of May 5, battering seven opposition activists to death. Large splashes of dried blood were still visible on the ground and on the sides of buildings a week later.
One man said he was beaten as if he were "an animal." The attackers stoned another man, beat him with clubs, then left him to die in a cornfield. One group grabbed a 79-year-old widow, yanked up her skirt, then lashed her bare buttocks with barbed-wire whips as two dozen terrified relatives looked on. The woman, Martha Mucheto, said she cried in pain and shame.
"If none of you confesses, we will hit this granny until she's dead," Mucheto, a great-grandmother and former nurse's aide, recalled hearing. She spoke from a hospital bed in Harare.
Political violence has been most severe in the rural areas that once were Mugabe strongholds. Analysts say that weakened support in these areas contributed to Mugabe's historic second-place finish in the March 29 election. The runoff is necessary because neither candidate got a majority of votes, according to the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission.
ZANU-PF also lost control of parliament for the first time since the country's founding in 1980. A surge of opposition support in towns and villages was key to that loss as well.
Political analyst Eldred Masunungure said the attacks are intended to win back support for the ruling party through terror.
"ZANU-PF is really saying that act of betrayal, of ingratitude, will not go unpunished," he said. "The idea is to teach the rest of the villagers a lesson by isolating an individual."
Human rights groups put the death toll from the violence at 25 but say it may be far higher. More than 1,000 people have been injured, according to official counts, and tens of thousands have fled their homes.
|
CHAONA, Zimbabwe -- President Robert Mugabe's post-election campaign of violence has reached a level and intensity not seen in Zimbabwe in 20 years, according to human rights workers struggling to track a surge of killings, torture, beatings, false arrests and arson attacks ahead of a presidential...
| 9.581818 | 0.6 | 0.963636 |
low
|
low
|
abstractive
|
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/16/AR2008051601089.html
|
https://web.archive.org/web/2008051619id_/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/16/AR2008051601089.html
|
Double-Amputee Allowed To Compete for Olympic Bid
|
2008051619
|
JOHANNESBURG, May 16 -- An international appeals court on Friday cleared the way for double-amputee sprinter Oscar Pistorius to make a historic bid to appear in the Beijing Olympics, ruling that his carbon-fiber running blades are -- for purposes of competition -- indistinguishable from human legs.
The 18-page judgment from the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne, Switzerland, reversed a ban issued in January by the International Association of Athletics Federations, which said that his J-shaped Cheetah Flex-Foot prosthetics gave him unfair advantages over other runners. The appeals court found no demonstrable difference after reviewing evidence from a team of American researchers.
Though the ruling applied only to Pistorius, athletes with disabilities said it was a landmark in their battle to compete equally with the able-bodied and would ease the stigma long associated with artificial limbs.
"It's a glorious day," said Dick Traum, an amputee marathon runner and president of the Achilles Track Club, the world's largest association of disabled runners, speaking from New York. "This means that when I'm walking around, people don't necessarily look at me as being frail."
Pistorius, a strapping, gregarious 21-year-old student who has become a hero in sports-crazed South Africa, still must shave a half-second from his best time in the 400-meter sprint to qualify for the Olympics. It is a significant margin behind the world's top able-bodied runners, but he has displayed a drive and determination that have won over detractors.
He expressed enthusiasm Friday that only his ability, rather than legal barriers, will determine whether he appears at the Olympics in August.
"It's still going to be difficult. I've missed lots of races," Pistorius said from Italy, where he was traveling. "Now that the ban's been lifted, my focus is back on athletics. I'm psyched about that."
Pistorius was born without fibulas and had his legs amputated at mid-calf before his first birthday. But he set world records for Paralympians -- as top athletes with disabilities call themselves -- in the 100-, 200- and 400-meter sprints. Along the way he picked up a global following and a pair of nicknames -- "The Blade Runner" and "The Fastest Man on No Legs" -- that he says he doesn't much like.
Even the International Association of Athletics Federations, whose ban would have blocked Pistorius not only from competing in the Olympics but most major able-bodied competitions, appeared to celebrate its loss at the appeals court. The association's Web site on Friday posted a picture of Pistorius blazing around a track, his muscles rippling beneath a green-and-yellow track suit.
"Oscar will be welcomed wherever he competes this summer," the association's president, Lamine Diack, said in a statement. "He is an inspirational man, and we look forward to admiring his achievements in the future."
Three athletes with disabilities, including an American gymnast who won a gold medal in 1904 despite having a wooden leg, have competed in the summer Olympics.
In initially banning Pistorius, the International Association of Athletics Federations relied on tests conducted last year at the German Sports University in Cologne. They found that Pistorius's J-shaped prosthetic legs demanded 25 percent less energy than human legs.
After the ruling, Pistorius publicly declared his chances for competing in Beijing dead. Yet batteries of tests conducted at Rice University in Houston revived his hopes.
Key were measurements of the amount of oxygen Pistorius consumed while running on a treadmill at about half of his full sprinting speed. There was no significant difference compared with the energy consumption of other elite runners, said Hugh Herr, a prosthetics expert at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, one of the researchers studying Pistorius. He said it was not possible to test energy consumption at higher speeds.
Herr said that despite major advances in the development of racing prosthetics, human legs remain at least as effective at producing speed for a sprinter.
"It's always, of course, very difficult to do better than the human body," Herr said.
The appeals court ruling called on the International Association of Athletics Federations to continue monitoring, on a case-by-case basis, whether other athletes using prosthetic limbs had unfair advantages. And while the court lamented the possibility of imposing new responsibilities on the association, the ruling said, "if it does create an additional burden, it must be viewed as just one of the challenges of 21st Century life."
To qualify for South Africa's Olympics team, Pistorius must improve his best time in the 400-meter sprint from 46.56 seconds to 45.95 seconds. The world record for all sprinters is 43.18 seconds.
South African officials also could name Pistorius a member of the country's 400-meter relay, but the national team is unlikely to be good enough to qualify for the Beijing Olympics.
South African athletic officials said that, in light of Pistorius's legal fight, they have waived the requirement that Olympics-bound athletes compete in the national championships in March. They plan to accept any qualifying time from a sanctioned event, anywhere in the world. Pistorius has several races already scheduled in Europe before South Africa must announce its Olympics teams in July.
"The young man is a fighter," said Leonard Chuene, president of Athletics South Africa, the national Olympics affiliate. "Let's give him opportunity and support, and I believe very strongly he will make it."
Pistorius said he would soon return to South Africa, and to the weight room, the exercise bike, the dietician, with the goal of qualifying for Beijing. Should he fail, Pistorius said, he will turn his attention to the London Olympics in 2012. At that time he will be 25 -- still in his prime as a sprinter.
"The fact that the doors are open for my future is something I'm ecstatic about," Pistorius said.
|
Double-amputee sprinter Oscar Pistorius will be allowed to compete for a spot on the South African Olympic team after a sport regulatory body rules that his carbon-fiber prosthetic limbs do not give him an advantage over other runners.
| 26.906977 | 0.860465 | 2.627907 |
medium
|
medium
|
mixed
|
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/16/AR2008051601721.html
|
https://web.archive.org/web/2008051619id_/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/16/AR2008051601721.html
|
U.S. to Send N. Korea 500,000 Tons of Food Aid
|
2008051619
|
U.S. officials said aid will begin to flow for the first time since 2005 because they reached a breakthrough with Pyongyang on oversight of how the food would be distributed, including random inspections and allowing Korean-speaking aid workers into the country.
Officials said the deal was unrelated to a separate effort to implement North Korea's promise to give up its nuclear weapons, but both the nuclear deal and the food agreement were reached after sustained diplomacy by U.S. officials. Talks on the food aid began last October at the administration's request, about the same time the United States and its negotiating partners achieved a breakthrough on the nuclear disarmament talks. Officials at the U.S. Agency for International Development made three trips to Pyongyang in the last eight months to achieve the deal.
"We don't see any connection," State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said. "We're doing this because America is a compassionate nation and the United States and the American people are people who reach out to those in need."
North Korea's 23 million citizens face a devastating crisis of food shortages and famine, and "the prospect of hunger-related deaths occurring in the next several months is approaching certainty," according to analysis released this month by the Peter G. Peterson Institute for International Economics in Washington.
Marcus Noland, one of the authors and an expert on the North Korean economy, scoffed at the notion that there is no connection between the food agreement and nuclear diplomacy.
"The United States government absolutely has maintained a separation between humanitarian assistance and diplomatic goals," Noland said. "In practice, we and others link the provision of food aid" to diplomacy. He said that he has previously documented 12 instances in which North Korean food aid has been tied to U.S. diplomatic actions, such as one major delivery that a senior Clinton administration official admitted was linked to a North Korean moratorium on launching missiles.
At this time, "the State Department is looking for every policy lever it can find" to persuade North Korea to give up its nuclear programs, Noland said.
Beginning in June, the U.N. World Food Program will distribute 400,000 tons of the new food aid, while U.S. nongovernmental organizations will distribute the rest.
U.S. food aid to North Korea reached a peak in 1999 of about 685,000 tons, worth $222 million, when the Clinton administration was seeking its own agreements with North Korea, according to the Congressional Research Service. U.S. food aid then fell dramatically during the Bush administration before ending entirely in 2005 over a dispute about monitoring.
There have been numerous reports of the North Korean military and senior officials diverting as much as 30 percent of aid for their own use, including reselling donated commodities at steep markups. But the United States and the World Food Program appeared to have little leverage to negotiate new terms because China and South Korea at the time shipped huge amounts of aid with few or no conditions attached.
When the U.S. aid program was shut down three years ago, the World Food Program had 50 monitors and five sub-offices around the country. But the North Korean government did not allow any Korean speakers on the teams and would not allow inspections without six- to 10-day notice. In addition, monitors had no access to the food once it arrived in the country.
Under the new agreement, Korean-speaking aid workers will be permitted, random monitoring inspections will be allowed and officials will have access to commodities in warehouses and other facilities, according to a USAID official involved in the negotiations. Officials expect to employ 65 monitors and have five sub-offices.
|
The Bush administration said yesterday it will restart food aid to North Korea and provide it with more than 500,000 tons of food -- the largest one-year amount since 1999.
| 20.939394 | 0.69697 | 1.545455 |
medium
|
low
|
mixed
|
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/15/AR2008051504007.html
|
https://web.archive.org/web/2008051619id_/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/15/AR2008051504007.html
|
Lockheed Wins GPS Satellite Contract
|
2008051619
|
The Air Force awarded Lockheed Martin a $1.5 billion contract to build the military's next generation of navigation satellites, crucial for the growing demand by the military, companies and consumers for technology that pinpoints and tracks location.
The Bethesda company beat out rival Boeing for a contract to develop and build two satellites, with an option for 10 more, the first batch of a constellation called the Global Positioning System III. The Pentagon has said that it would probably order 20 satellites on top of that, giving Lockheed a steady stream of revenue in the satellite business for the next two decades.
"We are honored that our government customer has entrusted our team to build this vital system, which will provide improved GPS accuracy and assured availability for military and civilian users worldwide," said Stephen O. Tatum, a Lockheed spokesman.
The deal edges the U.S. military into the next era of satellite technology. In the early 1990s, the military started using GPS technology to guide missiles and bombs to their targets. The current GPS constellation includes 31 satellites 12,000 miles above the Earth.
But use of the satellites has mushroomed to include hundreds of commercial applications, such as private aviation and driving directions, even while supporting a growing number of military operations. In addition, the military satellites have been wearing down and facing an increasing amount of traffic from private satellites.
The military's new satellites will be harder to jam, more powerful and more accurate, making it easier for bombs to hit their targets in Afghanistan under heavy cloud cover and for tourists to get directions in Times Square.
"The Global Positioning System provides precise timing and positioning information for military and civil users. It is the main reason our smart bombs can operate through cloud cover and it is probably the most important navigational tool devised in the postwar period," said Loren Thompson, a defense consultant at the Lexington Institute in Arlington. Lockheed claims that GPS contributes $30 billion to the U.S. economy annually.
Marco Caceres, a senior space analyst at the Teal Group in Fairfax, said the Pentagon has been lucky that the current GPS systems have lasted so long, but they now need to be replaced. "You're fighting two wars," he said. "You have military troops all over that have to communicate, and they're dependent on satellites."
The newest GPS program will be closely watched, as the Pentagon's space programs have long suffered cost overruns, problematic technologies and delays. John Young, the Pentagon's undersecretary for acquisition, technology and logistics, said he has directed the Air Force to tie the contractor's payments to "specific program accomplishments," not to adjust the scope of the program or change its technical specifications and to "consider solutions which lower cost or risk to deliver within or below budget."
The oversight efforts, Young said, are part of "continuing a DoD push to award fees more carefully and on a more objective basis."
Of the Pentagon's eight biggest satellite programs, all are over budget, from at least 20 percent over to more than double the original price, Caceres said. That includes a missile detection and warning satellite system made by Lockheed.
"DoD is always looking for the latest technology for its satellites," Caceres said. "The problem is that technology develops quickly but the development of the satellite itself takes a while. By the time it gets to its maturity, you realize there's more advanced technology out there, so you add that at the last minute, and it leads to higher costs."
Analysts said Lockheed had been expected to win the latest GPS deal after Boeing ran into delays and cost overruns in building 12 earlier GPS satellites. The GPS deal was the latest blow for Boeing in going after major Air Force contracts. In February, the Chicago aerospace giant lost a $40 billion deal to provide a fleet of aerial refueling tankers to rivals Northrop Grumman and EADS, its European partner.
|
This is your source for news on personal technology. Find info and reviews on the newest technology that affects your life. Read our latest features on new tech gadgets.
| 22.470588 | 0.529412 | 0.705882 |
medium
|
low
|
abstractive
|
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/15/AR2008051504052.html
|
https://web.archive.org/web/2008051619id_/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/15/AR2008051504052.html
|
Ex-PurchasePro Chief Found Guilty of Fraud, Obstruction
|
2008051619
|
Dot-com highflier Charles E. Johnson Jr. was convicted yesterday of stock fraud and obstruction of justice after a federal court found that he misled investors by inflating revenue at his Las Vegas software firm.
The decision ended a tumultuous six-year corporate fraud investigation of the founder of software company PurchasePro, which was shuttered when the bubble of the dot-com boom burst.
Johnson's flashy and brash style drew attention to the case, along with an investigation that involved officials of America Online, which had been involved in a marketing arrangement with PurchasePro. In an unexpected turn, Johnson was caught fabricating e-mails to use as evidence to support himself.
In a lengthy opinion yesterday, U.S. District Judge Walter D. Kelley Jr. found Johnson, known as "Junior," guilty of securities fraud, witness tampering and obstruction of justice.
Specifically the judge said there was "ample evidence" that the former dot-com billionaire was involved in a conspiracy to defraud investors by using false documents and accounting to claim enhanced revenues in an April 26, 2001, earnings report.
"Mr. Johnson tried to manipulate the system for his own gain at the expense of the investing public," U.S. Attorney Chuck Rosenberg said, "and now will be appropriately punished."
In his opinion, Kelley wrote that his decisions were largely based on the testimony of convicted former PurchasePro executives R. Geoffrey Layne and James S. Sholeff. The two executives had falsely testified to Securities and Exchange Commission investigators; they later said Johnson instructed them to deny the earnings forgeries.
Johnson's defense attorney, Yale Galanter, criticized the judgment, saying that Layne and Sholeff were unreliable witnesses because they had acknowledged lying to SEC investigators.
Galanter said he didn't know whether his client would appeal the verdict because "a decision doesn't have to be made until the time of sentencing." Kelley is departing the bench today to join a private law firm. Another judge will sentence Johnson, which could further complicate matters because that judge will need to become fully acquainted with all the trial testimony, Galanter said.
"I have the utmost respect for Judge Kelley, but how can you rely on testimony by two people you call liars and perjurers?" said Galanter, a Florida-based attorney who represented O.J. Simpson in a hotel break-in.
The judge, however, said there was additional evidence that supported large portions of the stories told by Layne and Sholeff.
"Despite this baggage, the Court finds both Layne and Sholeff credible," Kelley wrote in his opinion. He added that Johnson's "consciousness of guilt is evidenced by his attempts to destroy e-mails . . . and alteration of evidence in this case."
Johnson altered e-mail at least three times and gave false e-mails as evidence to support his defense to his attorneys, Kelley said. The tampering of evidence led to the obstruction of justice charges. Johnson gave false e-mails to his first attorney, Preston Burton, to use as evidence in his defense. When it was discovered that the documents were false, Burton abruptly resigned.
The case has led to the conviction of six other PurchasePro executives. Last month two AOL executives were cleared in a civil trial on their alleged involvement in inflating revenues in a marketing partnership with PurchasePro.
|
Washington,DC,Virginia,Maryland business headlines,stock portfolio,markets,economy,mutual funds,personal finance,Dow Jones,S&P 500,NASDAQ quotes,company research tools. Federal Reserve,Bernanke,Securities and Exchange Commission.
| 14.568182 | 0.5 | 0.772727 |
low
|
low
|
abstractive
|
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/15/AR2008051501003.html
|
https://web.archive.org/web/2008051619id_/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content//article/2008/05/15/AR2008051501003.html
|
CBS Turns Its Eye to the Web, Landing Network of Tech Sites
|
2008051619
|
CNet, based in San Francisco, operates a number of sites focusing on gaming, music, entertainment, food and parenting. It might best be known for its software-download service and its well-regarded reviews of technology products. It has a substantial presence in China, which made it attractive to CBS.
With the purchase, CBS becomes the last major television network to own a big digital-content property, though it has picked up smaller ones in recent years, such as Lastfm.com, a music and social-network site. ABC parent Walt Disney has a large digital and Internet group, NBC bought women's site iVillage in 2006 for $600 million and Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. paid $580 million for top social-network site MySpace in 2005.
Quincy Smith, president of CBS Interactive and one of the executives behind the deal, said CNet would help CBS expand its presence in online search and social-networking and provide premium content that is becoming ever more popular.
"The time spent with online content has increased" in recent years, Smith said in an interview yesterday, "and we think it's undermonetized."
Smith said he believes CNet will fit well with CBS's mobile and outdoor-advertising divisions.
"We're thrilled to join CBS and combine our interactive media experience with CBS's world-class content," CNet chief executive Neil Ashe said in a statement.
The CNet purchase price of $11.50 a share represents a 45 premium on the stock's closing price Wednesday. The transaction has been approved by the CNet board and is expected to close in the third quarter, the companies said. Standard & Poor's analysts wrote yesterday they do not believe CBS overpaid for CNet.
Shares of CNet closed up $3.46 per share yesterday at $11.41. Shares of CBS closed down 59 cents per share at $24.23.
Citi Investment Research analysts noted yesterday that CNet generates about $12 per thousand page views in advertising revenue, outpacing its rivals. However, Citi analysts noted that CNet's free cash flow was flat from 2006 to 2007.
"We see the acquisition as broadly complementary to CBS's existing online business, but believe online acquisitions bring certain challenges different from those of traditional media bolt-on acquisitions. [Those include] technology, strategy, culture and back-office integration," Standard & Poor's wrote.
Hedge fund Jana Partners, which owns about 11 percent of CNet shares, has criticized CNet for its stock price and urged the ouster of its board. During the tech boom in late 1999, CNet traded for nearly $80 per share.
|
CBS will buy CNet Networks, one of the Internet's most-viewed family of tech-oriented sites, for $1.8 billion in cash, the two companies said yesterday, substantially expanding the online footprint of the Eye network and creating another May-December media marriage.
| 9.788462 | 0.653846 | 0.961538 |
low
|
low
|
abstractive
|
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/15/AR2008051500707.html
|
https://web.archive.org/web/2008051619id_/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/15/AR2008051500707.html
|
A Very Hostile Bid for Yahoo
|
2008051619
|
Now comes billionaire investor Carl C. Icahn, who has no such qualms.
In launching his bid yesterday to replace the entire Yahoo board with a slate of his choosing, Icahn wrote a letter to Yahoo in which he called the board's actions in dealing with Microsoft "irrational," "irresponsible" and "unconscionable" -- all in the opening paragraph.
Yahoo Chairman Roy Bostock fired back: "Unfortunately, your letter reflects a significant misunderstanding of the facts . . . [the current board] remains the best and most qualified group to maximize value for all Yahoo! stockholders."
So went the first round in the new fight over Yahoo, one of the world's largest Web companies with 137 million monthly visitors.
Icahn, who has acquired 59 million shares of Yahoo, is trying to gain control of the Yahoo board and lure Microsoft back to buy the company. He is counting on the disgruntlement of other shareholders, who watched as the Yahoo board resisted Microsoft's $33-a-share bid, a large potential premium over the $19 shares were selling for before the offer.
"Microsoft wanted the deal to be friendly -- they didn't want to be seen as the hostile acquirer," said Chris Young, director of mergers and acquisition research at RiskMetrics Group, which advises large investors in such cases.
Ballmer's tactics were constrained by the fact that, if successful, he would be in charge of merging the companies, too.
But, Young said, "Icahn can take the heat."
Icahn, who is widely known for his aggressive posturing, enters the Yahoo drama as several technology and media companies are jockeying for position to dominate the Internet and all the billions of advertising dollars it could command.
So far, Google is way ahead.
The renewed battle for Yahoo is expected to be fierce and should last at least until early July, when Yahoo shareholders meet.
|
When Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer was trying to buy Yahoo, he didn't want to appear disagreeable, let alone hostile.
| 15.5 | 0.666667 | 1.333333 |
low
|
low
|
abstractive
|
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/15/AR2008051503487.html
|
https://web.archive.org/web/2008051619id_/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/15/AR2008051503487.html
|
United's Soehn Indicates Emilio Will Be Benched
|
2008051619
|
"We are just in a situation where we have not been getting enough out of that position and it is time to give someone else a shot," Soehn said before departing for Southern California, where United (2-5) will play Chivas USA (1-4-2) tomorrow night at Home Depot Center in Carson.
Emilio (one goal, one assist in seven league starts) sat out a portion of yesterday's practice with what Soehn described as a strained quadriceps, but was scheduled to accompany the team on the trip. He declined an interview request.
Asked to confirm that Emilio would travel but not start, Soehn said: "I didn't say that, either. You never know. We have a few days before we decide what our lineup is going to be."
MLS's leading scorer a year ago with 20 goals, Emilio has gone scoreless in his last six appearances, including an international tournament match against Pachuca (Mexico). His problems stem from both a lack of opportunities created by teammates and faulty finishing inside the penalty area.
"He just has to dedicate himself to the game," Soehn said. "He has got to apply himself more and work harder like everybody else in every other position."
Francis Doe or Franco Niell would start in Emilio's place.
United upgraded Emilio's contract to designated player status earlier this month, which means he will earn at least $400,000 this season. The raise was seen by some observers around the league as a way of motivating him. If he does not return to his scoring ways, however, United could end up transferring him abroad.
Meantime, United's game-day roster status remains unsettled. Brazilian midfielder Fred (hamstring) will miss his third consecutive match and defender-midfielder Devon McTavish (foot) is expected to miss his fourth in a row. Defender Gonzalo Peralta was not on the team flight yesterday to be with his wife, who is on bed rest while expecting their second child, but he might travel on his own to Los Angeles today or tomorrow.
There was better news concerning Argentine playmaker Marcelo Gallardo, who participated in workouts the past two days after overcoming a groin injury that sidelined him for one match. He is expected to start.
|
United Coach Tom Soehn indicates that he plans to bench Luciano Emilio, the reigning MLS most valuable player who has been stuck in a slump.
| 16.444444 | 0.592593 | 0.666667 |
medium
|
low
|
abstractive
|
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/15/AR2008051502712.html
|
https://web.archive.org/web/2008051619id_/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/15/AR2008051502712.html
|
Bergmann, Nats Escape From N.Y.
|
2008051619
|
Instead, he returned to his customary seat -- right in the middle of the Nationals' bench -- and watched the theatrics necessary to preserve his first win of the year. Eventually, the Nationals escaped Shea Stadium on Thursday with a 1-0 victory against the New York Mets, their third win in the four-game series. But to earn the small print in the box score -- Bergmann (1-1) -- the Nationals needed an eighth-inning double, one sacrifice bunt, one sacrifice fly, two relief pitchers, one sensational diving catch and two unorthodox double plays.
For Bergmann to earn his first win of 2008, though, he didn't just need the delicate equation of those final two innings. He needed to endure some setbacks and regain some composure.
Bergmann, 26, began the season in the Nationals' starting rotation. After three starts, an 11.68 ERA stamped his ticket to Class AAA Columbus. There, he worked with Clippers pitching coach Steve McCatty to redevelop his mechanics -- this time using more of his lower body. In his final three minor league starts, he looked much like the pitcher who flourished last season with Washington, going 6-6 in 21 starts.
On Tuesday night, while Bergmann ate in the Clippers' clubhouse, Class AAA Manager Tim Foli approached him and said, smiling: "Get out of here. You're in the big leagues."
This time, by striking out nine, and by refusing to crumble as Mets starter Mike Pelfrey held the Nationals hitless through six, Bergmann earned himself several more big league starts, at least. Acta called his outing "tremendous." Bergmann allowed this much: "I'm excited to be back."
The scoreless game he exited became a 1-0 game he could win thanks to a series of fundamental plays in the top of the eighth. Catcher Jesús Flores pounded a leadoff double off the left field wall. Willie Harris, pinch-hitting for Bergmann, angled a textbook bunt down the first base line, advancing Flores to third. When Felipe López swatted a sacrifice fly to left, the Nationals gained a 1-0 lead.
They would spend the rest of the afternoon realizing just how narrow that margin really was.
"Those last few innings were a lot of fun, as one-run games should be," Bergmann said.
By the bottom of the eighth, Bergmann had ducked into the team training room for a quick weightlifting exercise -- customary work for a departed starting pitcher. Bergmann tried not to let himself feel nervous about the goings-on outside, where his replacement in the lineup (Harris) now played left, and his replacement on the mound (Luis Ayala) now held the setup duties.
It's been a good game so far, Bergmann reminded himself, and there's no reason that can't continue.
When José Reyes singled to start the bottom of the eighth, 51,769 stood, anticipating a comeback. Somehow, the Nationals erased the danger using three unlikely numbers -- 5-3-6 -- in about five crazy seconds. Third baseman Ryan Zimmerman fielded Luis Castillo's bunt and threw to first baseman Aaron Boone, good for one out. At that moment, Reyes saw third base nearly uncovered and tried to advance.
Shortstop Cristian Guzmán broke from his position and followed Reyes down the base path, a step ahead the entire time. He'd botched a similar play earlier this season against Philadelphia, losingmail track of Jimmy Rollins. "I was thinking about Rollins," Guzman later said. "That's why I went to third base."
Boone's quarterback throw across the diamond hit Guzman in stride. In an instant it happened: a swipe tag, an umpire's out signal, a tying run up in smoke.
"Spectacular defense," Bergmann said. "Boonie -- heads up. And Guzmán getting over there to double off the guy at third base. You have to give it to our guys."
Jon Rauch closed it out in the ninth, but not before allowing the tying run to reach third -- and not before the tension coaxed Bergmann out from the dugout and up onto a second step, where he perched next to a water cooler.
The last three outs required a tightrope walk of plays, both precarious and exceptional. Left fielder Harris played Houdini by sprinting some 100 feet toward the foul line and diving under Ryan Church's fly ball. "I had no idea I was going to catch it," Harris said.
And later, with Carlos Beltrán on third -- he had singled, stolen second and advanced on Flores's throwing error -- Rauch recorded the final two outs when the winning run, Carlos Delgado, pinged a liner to first base.
Boone caught it and threw to third for the game-ending double play. Beltran, caught halfway to home, walked off the field. Bergmann accepted handshakes.
"Hey," Bergmann said afterward. "We scored one run on them, but that was one more run than they did."
|
Mets starter Mike Pelfrey carries a no-hit bid into the seventh inning, but Nats starter Jason Bergmann and Washington get the 1-0 shutout.
| 34.103448 | 0.793103 | 1.551724 |
medium
|
medium
|
mixed
|
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/15/AR2008051503730.html
|
https://web.archive.org/web/2008051619id_/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/15/AR2008051503730.html
|
Iraq Finds Its Arab Neighbors Are Reluctant to Offer Embrace
|
2008051619
|
But despite U.S. entreaties, there has been no second date. Riyadh -- along with every other Sunni Arab state -- still declines to send an ambassador to Baghdad or to forgive billions of dollars of Hussein-era debt.
To frustrated U.S. matchmakers, it is blindingly obvious that Iraq needs the Arabs and the Arabs need Iraq, as a stable economic and political partner and a regional bulwark against Iran. Iraq may be a Shiite-majority country with a Shiite-dominated government -- like Iran -- they say, but it is Arab, not Persian.
President Bush plans to press for closer ties again today at a Riyadh meeting with Saudi King Abdullah.
Administration officials say that whatever doubts Iraq's fellow Arabs have about its loyalties should have been laid to rest this spring, when Iraq's Shiite prime minister, Nouri al-Maliki, launched military offensives against Iranian-backed Shiite militias in Basra and Baghdad. Last week, the officials note, Maliki's government voiced its first major public expression of concern over Iran's arming of Shiite militias and sent a delegation to Tehran to discuss it.
But Arab governments say they are far from persuaded that Iraq has turned a corner on its internal security, reconciliation among its ethnic, religious and political factions, or its relationship with Persia, as they often refer to Iran.
Beneath differing U.S. and Arab assessments of Iraq's progress are more fundamental divides that neither mentions in polite company. The administration is convinced that the Arabs have a deep-seated, psychological resistance to embracing a Shiite-ruled Iraq, no matter how even-handed its government. What they fail to understand, according to the U.S. view, is that their absence from Baghdad leaves the field open for Iranian influence.
For their part, some Arab officials describe lingering resentment over what they considered Washington's cavalier disregard of their warnings that the U.S. invasion would destabilize Iraq and the region, and its subsequent failure to safeguard the interests of Iraq's minority Sunnis in the U.S.-orchestrated reconstruction of the Iraqi political balance. And they see no reason why they should rush to accommodate the wishes of a lame duck administration that only recently adopted what they consider an effective Iraq policy.
"They will wait for the American election," Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari predicted in a recent interview.
Those Arab states who once had representation in Iraq either scaled back or closed their embassies by the end of 2005 -- after Jordan's embassy was bombed, Egypt's ambassador was killed, and Algerian and United Arab Emirates diplomats were kidnapped. Some said security is their only hesitation.
But U.S. and Iraqi officials dismissed Arab security concerns as a smokescreen. "If I believed the issue were purely one of security, it would be one thing," a senior Bush administration official said. The Iraqi government has offered the Arabs space inside the fortified Green Zone, where the U.S. embassy and much of the Iraqi government is located.
The real basis for Arab reluctance, the U.S. official said, "is political. It's a choice, an acknowledgement that there is a new Iraq, of recognizing that its political structures, its constitution, its government, is in fact legitimate."
|
When Saudi Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal greeted his Iraqi counterpart with a bear hug at a Persian Gulf conference last month, Bush administration officials watching from the sidelines were all smiles. After years of trying to bring their client state and the Arab giant together, it looked lik...
| 11.407407 | 0.574074 | 0.833333 |
low
|
low
|
abstractive
|
http://blog.washingtonpost.com/the-trail/2008/05/15/edwards_supporters_start_to_sw.html
|
https://web.archive.org/web/2008051619id_/http://blog.washingtonpost.com/the-trail/2008/05/15/edwards_supporters_start_to_sw.html
|
Edwards Supporters Start to Swing to Obama
|
2008051619
|
Senator Barack Obama (D-Ill.) shakes supporters' hands with former Democratic challenger John Edwards at a rally with supporters in the Van Andel Arena in Grand Rapids, Michigan May 14, 2008. (Reuters)
By Shailagh Murray Former Democratic candidate John Edwards has joined the Barack Obama bandwagon, but will his small band of delegates and superdelegates follow his lead? At least six of the eight pledged delegates that Edwards won in South Carolina are expected to jump to the Illinois senator, according to CNN. And at least one of Edwards's four pledged delegates in New Hampshire has re-committed to the likely nominee. Edwards's four pledged delegates from the Iowa caucuses remain up for grabs.
One of those Iowa delegates, Machelle Crum of Newton, told the Quad City Times last night she had already been contacted by Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's campaign, although the law student said she was studying for an exam and couldn't focus on politics for the time being. "I'm going to get through the test and think about it after that," Crum told the paper.
When Edwards dropped out on Jan. 30, he had endorsements from 28 superdelegates, including Reps. Bob Etheridge (NC), Mike McIntyre (NC), Brad Miller (NC), Stephanie Herseth Sandlin (SD), Charlie Gonzalez (TX), Eddie Bernice Johnson (TX), Jim Oberstar (MN), David Obey (WI), David Price (NC), Heath Shuler (NC), Bart Stupak (MI), Mel Watt (NC), Michael Michaud (ME), and Bruce Braley (IA). The other 14 were Democratic National Committee members who had pledged as superdelegates to Edwards. As of this afternoon, nine of the House members backing Edwards had switched allegiance to Obama: Reps. Miller, Herseth Sandlin, Gonzalez, Johnson, Oberstar, Obey, Price, Watt and Braley. Four of the pro-Edwards lawmakers -- Reps. Ethridge, McIntyre, Stupak and Michaud -- remain uncommitted. Shuler has not officially endorsed Clinton, but said he would vote for her as a superdelegate at the convention, because she had won his western North Carolina district. Seven of Edwards' DNC superdelegates have shifted to Obama; two have switched to Clinton. Five remain uncommitted. So that leaves a total of 18 Edwards convention votes for both campaigns to phonebank until they break.
Posted at 5:19 PM ET on May 15, 2008 Share This: Technorati | Tag in Del.icio.us | Digg This Previous: Candidates Respond to Bush Talk of 'Appeasement' | Next: McCain's Grand Ambitions
Add The Trail to Your Site
Edwards for VP? NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!! A smart move for Obama, IMO, would be to choose a woman for VP--but NOT Hellary. No. No way. I suggest Kathleen Sebelius, Governor of Kansas. She has the respect of the State, a Republican state, and that says a lot.
Posted by: Kasha | May 20, 2008 11:14 AM
Some of the postings here seem to be written by people who think they are offering persuasive arguments while they are in fact just simply outrageous. Blind partisanship is not the means to persuade independent voters. Salacious over-the-top claims and rumor mongering, if they had any merit, would be reported by Fox, CNN, the Washington Post or Washington Times to name a few.
Freedom of speech - the right of all idiots to warn us of their presence.
Posted by: Rod | May 18, 2008 6:56 PM
Why are so many Americans ignorant of the fact that in order for America to be successful in the world you need to be admired. If you are admired you are respected and you reach by far more than when you are hated by all Arab countries and many European allies. Obama is not only admired in Africa, Asia(indonesia) and the Arab world but also in most European countries. He isnpires the world and if he becomes president he will be recognised as one of the greatest leaders in history.
Posted by: Obama man | May 18, 2008 8:46 AM
I don't know where you have been getting your information about former Edwards suporters leaning towards Obama.I was for Edwards in the beginning of this process,so were most of my family,friends & co-workers.But now we are all for Hillary all the way!!!Edwards endorsement did not do anything to change my mind,because Edwards is no longer a candidate.He dropped out the day after the millions of people voted in Florida on Jan.29th.So obviously that race mattered to Edwards.I am voting for Hillary on Tuesday when KY holds our long awaited primary for several reasons.1.She has been all over this state,talking to voters,and telling us where she stands on the issues. 2.Obama completely skipped both West Virginia and Kentucky,and his supporters called W.virginia and Ky"armpits of the U.S.A."3.If we are not states,then why do we have more men and women in uniform fighting to protect this country than any other state in America. 4.Hillary stands for the same positions Edwards stood for- Universal Healthcare,Ending Poverty,The Fight for the MIddle Class,Fighting for Veteran's rights and Better Healthcare for our Veteran's,Improving Education,and Raising Minimum Wage.There may be some Edwards supporters in Oregon who have decided to go with Obama,but here in KY she will deliver another blowout on Tuesday just like she did last week when she won by 41 points in W.Virginia.Keep on fighting Hillary,we democrats here in the mountains know you are our only hope,and you have 17 million of us who are behind you all the way to denver.Because no matter what the media says"WE WONT BACK DOWN!" KENTUCKY FOR HILLARY IN 2008!!
Posted by: once an edwards man now a hillfan | May 18, 2008 7:32 AM
It would be funny if it was not so serious. Hilary supporters whining about negative bloggers comments. I have now been reading comments for about 2 months and must say that the vitriol comes more from Clinton supporters than from the Obamafans.
Whoever is a democrat and doesn't vote democrat in November, whoever is the candidate has apparently not understood the value of the right to vote. Millions of people all over the world do not have that right and you vote out of spite! shame on you.
And for those who still go on about Fla and Mi..In Fla many voters turned up on SuperTuesday in Fla because they did not even know the primary had already been held.
Posted by: Tilleke | May 18, 2008 6:16 AM
Obama and Rev. Wright know who killed the choir director from their church and why. Rev. Wright and Obama staged their confrontation to take the limelight off of that issue and the REZKO trial. America has been fooled by that soap opera. Obama and Wright FOOLED YOU and made you look like IDIOTS. Obama had homesexual relations with a man who is willing to talk about but the media is too chicken @#@$# touch it for fear of being called racist. There is nothing racist about covering the truth and bringing truth into the open
Posted by: Ebonyflash | May 18, 2008 2:53 AM
White women are freaking over Obama. The "Mandingo Syndrome" has begun. Look, America needs a strong man... not a gay playboy to lead this country. This election isn't about "desparate housewives" nor is it about "sex in the city". So get your heads out of your crocthes and on the the issues.
Posted by: Ebonyflash | May 18, 2008 2:11 AM
We are a group of 50 and over women, of all races and color, but mostly white, liberal and conservative, all of us Christian, and we are all supporting Obama. When the race started we had a high opinion of Hilary but as time passed we have become disenchanted by her tactics and her character. She will say and do anything to get elected. Obama is a good Christian man, and this whole notion that he does not understand blue collar workers is ridiculous! That notion was fanned by the Republicans and the Clinton camp. He grew up in a single parent home, and his mom had to use food stamps for a while. His wife grew up in a blue collar home too. So to characterize his as an elitist is so silly. We are glad that Edwards came out to endorse him.
Posted by: Ann et al | May 18, 2008 1:05 AM
I am so disappointed in Edwards for his endorsement. I wonder what he will say when his daughter asks, "But, daddy, why hasn't a woman become president?"
Posted by: Monique from NC | May 16, 2008 2:12 PM
He will say we will elect a woman who is not a shirt tail candidate who is not running on the experience of another, who is honorable and recognizes truth from deceit and doesn't lie on tape and then deny it, is a good manager, and shows leadership skills, maybe someone like mom.
Posted by: james | May 17, 2008 12:12 PM
For you republicans posting anti-Obama--OK at least you're being straight forward with your predictable and transparent proclamations. But for you "Hillary supporters" that are besting the most viscious republican Obama attacks--how stupid do you really think we democrats are? Do you really think that we can't recognize Rush Limbaugh in a yellow pants suit? Puleeeeease! These hateful posters are not democrats or Hillary supporters--they are an INSULT to the dignity and inteligence of Hillary supporters! These are clearly Ditto Heads trying to tear us apart.
Posted by: Sam | May 17, 2008 10:26 AM
Posted by: ty0tonww5j | May 17, 2008 7:21 AM
Posted by: r4bdh0xz86 | May 17, 2008 6:51 AM
I am a retired professional. I take great pride in being an American. Yes, more young people are getting better and better educations. When I finished my post graduate work in college, I felt I had a powerhouse of knowledge to carry me through life. That was young and immature thinking. College offered me the opportunity to learn our history, our current situation, a fanciful look into the future, and skills needed for professional employment. After my post graduate studies were completed, I walked out of college feeling I'd learned everything to get me through life. Not so. I aged and matured and understood more and more of America's complexities, tasted it's tragedies, and became a better and better judge of human nature, including the darkness of some. 9/11 was a horrible lesson (although not the first) to all Americans. Just like Wright shouted in his church, "God damn America", the terrorists that guided those airplanes into the twin towers were giving us the same message~~~God damn America. They kept their promise of killing us from within. To hell with gender; to hell with race~~~those things do NOT matter when choosing a president. I have to wonder why any American would even consider Obama for president? He's has been active in a church for 20 years that has preached vicious hate for Americans so apparently he agrees with that mindset; a person whose experience in politics is nil; is shifty, sneaky, and evasive when questioned? Wake up people. This issue is so important to the future of your country. Take the time to go to on line sites. I was most distressed when I found a picture of a younger Obama holding an American flag while a young boy urinated on it. Read and learn a lot before making any decision about this campaign. There's a wealth of information out there. If you are allowed to vote for an American president, that means you are an American. Oh yes, one other thing. Young people are not stupid, just immature. We were all there at one time.
Posted by: Paddie | May 17, 2008 3:27 AM
Obama and Edwards, huh? One stentorian windbag and one ambulance chancing lawyer seeking to give his hairstyle a higher profile. Way to go dems - that's actually a faily formidable ticket for you pantywaists.
Posted by: Kyle Mcloughlin | May 16, 2008 7:40 PM
Seems like more and more Hillary supporters are finally speaking up to voice their disgust over how the pre picked candidate is a snake oil salesman who has fooled the zealots who blindly follow him. The newest Obama mis gaff over the fight with Bush and McCain just proves how inexperienced he is concerning foreign policy. Of course the media and suer delegates who support him will be spinning this latest gaff into a positive stance on foreign policy. The Democrats have not learned the lesson yet of the last election, you nominate an elitist with no experience and you will loose again, How do you define another Democratic loss, McGovern, Dukakkis, Kerry, and Obama. Hillary 08!
Posted by: jeiken@comcast.net | May 16, 2008 7:12 PM
Why do women seem to think that this election is all about making a woman President? That is just about the stupidest notion I've heard this year.
She lost fair and square. Get over it.
Posted by: Anonymous | May 16, 2008 7:08 PM
the Democratic Party leaders thought they could toss women and Hillary Clinton aside with bias and get away with it? Big mistake!
I'm trying to figure out who will be left to vote for the 'Chosen One' Obama. It won't be that many women and yes even some black women have seen the Hillary bashing. Nor will it be Hispanics, or Jews, Catholics, or independents since they tend to be towards the center and Obama is far far left. It won't be your average white voter who saw the Rev. Wight stuff and knows Obama is anti-American black elitist that is soft on national security. Sure they can slam Hillary around while giving Obama a free ticket to the nomination but did they think we wouldn't notice?
i don't think they understand how hated Obama is now that he has been so favored by the media that has found racism to be untouchable but has no problem slamming Hillary with sexist insults. To make matters worse we see a loyal experienced qualified long term Democrat with the best plans and proposals get trampled by the Party for a neophyte unable to hold his own in a debate against Clinton and that has no chance of winning the general election.
big bad mistake to think only of race and not of gender...perfect circumstances for a possible third party revolution led by women. just our way of saying f you for f'ing over the first ever women Presidential candidate.
Posted by: figureitout | May 16, 2008 6:29 PM
I love how Obama supporters play the race card - i.e. if you don't support Obama then you're defacto a racist like millions of voters in West Virginia supposedly are.
Ever think that millions of us are simply voting against him because of his total lack of experience? Compare his credentials with those of Clinton or Biden or Richardson and any intelligent person would have to come to the conclusion that his qualifications for the most important job in the world are essentially non-existent.
Posted by: Tristan | May 16, 2008 6:05 PM
The whole situation with her is sad.
She does have value within the Democratic Party...; but she put herself so far out there to be scrutinized and subjected to the level of criticism that has the potential to break anyone of lesser character.
I do respect that about her. But I do not see her as the savior of our circumstances here in America...
She displayed too many selfish and self serving traits. President Bush has demonstrated how dangerous those attributes can be.
I hope that when it is all said and done she will find what she needs to move on; Sincerely.
WHAT ARE HER SELFISH AND SELF SERVING TRAITS?
IS IT HER ENORMOUS VOTING RECORD FOR HELPING THE POOR AND UNFORTUNATE? FOR HELPING BLACKS WITH AFFIRMATIVE ACTION? FOR RAISIND THE MINIMUM WAGE, FOR BEING THE FIRST POLITICAL FIGURE EVER TO ATTEMPT TO INSTALL NATIONAL HEALTHCARE FOR PEOPLE LIKE YOU?
it's amazing how someone can do everything right and still be hated because members of the voting public have psychological baggage about the female gender.
ah well...doesn't matter. Soon you will be hating President Hillary Clinton because she wore a color of lipstick you didn't like.
Posted by: Anonymous | May 16, 2008 5:59 PM
there seems to be a lot of sour grapes, enought to make vinegar. All these Hiliary lovers will be happy to see another 4 years of George Bush,under a different name.
Posted by: Orm | May 16, 2008 5:21 PM
The whole situation with her is sad.
She does have value within the Democratic Party...; but she put herself so far out there to be scrutinized and subjected to the level of criticism that has the potential to break anyone of lesser character.
I do respect that about her. But I do not see her as the savior of our circumstances here in America...
She displayed too many selfish and self serving traits. President Bush has demonstrated how dangerous those attributes can be.
I hope that when it is all said and done she will find what she needs to move on; Sincerely.
Posted by: puddlescited | May 16, 2008 4:49 PM
The whole situation with her is sad.
She does have value within the Democratic Party...; but she put herself so far out there to be scrutinized and subjected to the level of criticism that has the potential to break anyone of lesser character.
I do respect that about her. But I do not see her as the savior of our circumstances here in America...
She displayed too many selfish and self serving traits. President Bush has demonstrated how dangerous those attributes can be.
Posted by: puddlescited | May 16, 2008 4:40 PM
Posted by: pubichaironmycokecan | May 16, 2008 3:26 PM
Someone needs to talk to the Republican Party, the Karl Roves, Sean Hannity, Rush Limbaugh. They all get their lessons from George W. Bush, a Fearmonger extraordinaire. These individuals are dangerous to our Democracy. They are race-baiters causing fear and emotion and their target are the underclass and poverty stricken. Bill Clinton taught this to Hillary and she obliged by spreading that negative presentation to the West Virginias. This country can no longer be looked upon as the United States as long as we have Republicans and individuals who are determined to Divide the country as the candidate Hillary Clinton. The 8 years have brought us a depression from all walks of life. We need real leadership and a better view of the world: translation tolerance
Sen. Obama represents a new kind of leadership. During his campaign he has shown over and over again that he can take a punch. The world needs him and all of his supporters await his coronation! It's too bad that the Republican Party would rather feed on "trivialities" and not substance during this campaign. We need honest, clear eyed leadership and not a "smear" campaign. Republicans needs to play a new game and not the same old game that people already know and that's "gutter" politics that Hillary picked up on so well to get votes!
Posted by: change | May 16, 2008 3:24 PM
Women have been messed over for many years by the Democrat Party and it appears that millions of "US" will be returning the favor, should this primary season continue on its current path. Hillary Clinton is clearly the best choice to be our party's nominee for President. As a life-long Democrat, age 55, I think the way my party has hosed Hillary and their most loyal and largest voting block; women intolerable. I am confident the Democrat Party will pay a severe price for this blatant assault on women in November. Cry all you want about this being "sour grapes" but little good will result from your on-going efforts to rally Hillary's staunch supporters around your chosen candidate instead of the people's choice. Now, the Democrat Party leaders want women to get their pre- selected from the start, elite, wimp, Barack Obama elected in November. It will be cold day in hell before I comply and I also hope Hillary walks away from this Party. Most of the women, and many men as well, with whom I have contact are finished with the Democrat Party, now and forever. Also, many of "US" are starting a grassroots movement to insure these kind of sorry tactics employed by my now soon to be former party, never happen again. This clear favoring of Obama, making him the nominee because the party doesn't want a woman, especially a Clinton woman, is more that I can tolerate. Of all the gall, the Democrat Party now expects "US" girls, including Hillary, to turn over our undying support to Obama. Sorry guys, this is not going to happen. Obama has no shot of winning in November without Hillary's help and all of us, her supporters. Not on your life or in your wildest dreams is this going to happen. Democrat Party leaders take heed and you superdelegates had better wait to declare your support until the final results of all the primaries are tallied and the voices of all 50 states and territories are heard from. At that time, the real nominee of the people can be declared for the fall election. Let it be known that the damage has already been done to the largest voting block in America. However, it remains to be seen how deep these "bitterly disappointing and highly blatant attacks" are to women. In my mind, this is a travesty and affects all women of America. I for one will change my registration to Independent, and possibly Republican, on the day I vote for Hillary Rodham Clinton in the KY primary. Bye, bye and good riddance from Mary O'Bryan, Louisville, KY, to my former party, no matter what happens in the primaries left to come. I will write her in if it is counted in my state and IF, she doesn't get the nomination.
Posted by: Mary O'Bryan | May 16, 2008 3:06 PM
GREG LIMES: In all of your babbling you failed to make a valid point. It isnt so much why you shouldnt vote for a candidate but more so of why you should vote for the other. I suggest you rethink your opposition, restrategized and try again, this time without making the same mistake as the Clinton campaign.
Posted by: SmarterThanYou | May 16, 2008 2:35 PM
GREG LIMES: In all of your babbling you failed to make a valid point. It isnt so much why you shouldnt vote for a candidate but more so of why you should vote for the other. I suggest you rethink your opposition, restrategized and try again, this time without making the same mistake as the Clinton campaign.
Posted by: SmarterThanYou | May 16, 2008 2:33 PM
GREG LIMES: In all of your babbling you failed to make a valid point. It isnt so much why you shouldnt vote for a candidate but more so of why you should vote for the other. I suggest you rethink your opposition, restrategized and try again, this time without making the same mistake as the Clinton campaign.
Posted by: SmarterThanYou | May 16, 2008 2:31 PM
WAKE UP DEMOCRATS.....Pls don't be fooled by a rookie car salesman (OBAMA). Why we can not trust this rookie? As Democrats, YOU need to figure it out. He is an empty suit, and just a talker. This rookie can say anything to get elected. This guy is PHONY...If he is the Democratic nominee, the Republican machine will eat him alive.
A vote or endorsement for this rookie car salesman is a vote/endorsement for WRIGHT, REZKO, AYERS, AND FARAHKHAN.....OBAMA is dishonest and disgrace. He does not deserve my vote! WAKE UP DEMOCRATS, ...
VOTE for Hillary, she has the strength and experiences, please don't waste your vote!
Posted by: GREG LIMES | May 16, 2008 2:19 PM
:Hillary Clinton is clearly the best choice to be our party's nominee for President. As a life-long Democrat, age 55, I think the way my party has hosed Hillary and their most loyal and largest voting block; women intolerable. I am confident the Democrat Party will pay a severe price for this blatant assault on women in November. Cry all you want about this being "sour grapes" but little good will result from your on-going efforts to rally Hillary's staunch supporters around your chosen candidate instead of the people's choice. Now, the Democrat Party leaders want women to get their pre- selected from the start, elite, wimp, Barack Obama elected in November. It will be cold day in hell before I comply and I also hope Hillary walks away from this Party."
Posted by: Anonymous | May 16, 2008 2:19 PM
wakeupnow, I believe it is fair to say that you are abusing the system here with that lengthy post. Lighten up.
Posted by: We're awake already!! | May 16, 2008 2:17 PM
Give me a break Monique in NC. What would Mr. Edwards say to an African-American child if he asked the former Senator why a black man had not become President?
Posted by: **** | May 16, 2008 2:15 PM
I am so disappointed in Edwards for his endorsement. I wonder what he will say when his daughter asks, "But, daddy, why hasn't a woman become president?"
Posted by: Monique from NC | May 16, 2008 2:12 PM
This is for all the Women for Hillary out there. I appreciate your support of a female candidate for president. I also understand your disappointment that it may not happen, this time.
What the GOP is counting on is a boycott from you. The choice is yours, but please act in an informed manner. Investigate what Obama's plans are for women's rights an equal pay, etc and compare it to McCain's plan.
You may have to be settling for less than you had hoped for, but in the end you will still be far better off than if you let the GOP propoganda and anti-Obama mud-slingers ruin the Democratic party's chance to win the white house back.
Hillary has already stated she will support Obama if he is chosen as our candidate. Please be as rational and make the informed, right choice.
Women have more power than people think, this is true. We also have the power to really screw things up if we let bitterness drive our decisions.
"Resentment is like taking poison and waiting for the other person to die." - Gandhi
Posted by: Melissa | May 16, 2008 1:50 PM
So I have been reading some of these posts and it boggles the mind how divided and bigotted a lot of your comments are. The very same people, might I add, who call Obama a racist and a bigot and would no doubt be a better president in Africa, still manage to add that they personally don't care about race. FASCINATING! If anyone is at all in doubt about whether racism and prejudice still exist in this country, they need only look at this election. Exit polls show "hard working white Americans" wouldn't spit on a black man if he were on fire let alone vote for him. And we are all SO evolved! Racism doesn't exist! That's a bunch of crap! And an even bigger bunch of crap is that Obama is anymore a racist or a hatemonger than the WHITE right winged gentleman who made the comments for which Rev. Wright and Obama have come under fire for in the first place.
The double standard under which we live is unbelievable! A recent incident in which a McCain supporter, John Hagee's derogatory comments about Catholics was met with a slap on the wrist and McCain's quip about how unlike Obama, Hagee wasn't his pastor for 20 years. Twenty years or twenty minutes, do not the same rules apply? The story has all but disappeared from the news and no press conferences and public denouncements necessary.
For those of you who hide behind your computer keyboards spewing viciousness, standing firmly on your soapbox of entitlement and division, YOU are what's wrong with this country! YOU!
Posted by: WOW! | May 16, 2008 1:45 PM
With the economy as the stated number one concern of a majority of voters in the most recent primaries, why would I, or anyone for that matter, opt for a candidate who is obviously mathematically challenged, doesn't believe in Economics or hold any regard for economists, and can't operate within (or even close to) her own campaign budget? Any one else having trouble with the math here? It just doesn't add up! Blessedly, neither do the delegate votes!
Posted by: Basic Math 101 | May 16, 2008 1:43 PM
Wakeupnow said, "All Democrats oppose racism..." Really? That's not pollsters found out in Pennsylvania and West Virginia. And that's certainly not what Hillary is counting on.
*****so you are playing a "reverse racism card"? If a white person doesn't vote for Obama it's because he is 1/4 black? Newsflash....he is not getting the vote in large part because he is unqualified for the job and that is just one of many reasons.
Now how many men do you think will not vote for Hillary Clinton because she is a woman? The media has pretty much told men not to vote for her because she is a woman. Yet you don't seem too upset about the woman hate that's been going on and the huge media sexism she has been subject to.
Putting all of this crap aside...Hillary Clinton is the qualified candidate. What has Obama done to prove to you that he can do what he claims? Don't get suckered by the media and a pie in the sky promise for "change".
Reason #1: In Arkansas she was instrumental in straightening out their school system - taking it from one of the worst systems to a role model used by other troubled schools on how to improve public education.
Reason #2: In 2006, she led the fight to kill the anti-gay Republican constitutional amendment that for the first time would have added laws to the Constitution that would INCREASE discrimination.
Reason #3: After being pummeled by the public for trying to pass Universal Health care while she was First Lady, she dusted herself off and in 1997, led a federal effort that provided insurance support for children whose parents were unable to provide them with health coverage.
Reason #4: She was able to secure a raise in research funding for prostate cancer and childhood asthma at the National Institutes of Health.
Reason #5: She initiated the Adoption and Safe Families Act.
Reason #6: She's authored a great deal of legislation during her years on the Armed Services Committee that has passed regarding increased and improved benefits for our returning Iraq veterans.
Reason #7: She was one of the key Senators who fought to give our military badly needed raises and increase in benefits. For being such flag wavers, it was the Republicans and Bush who resisted these attempts to show our military how much we value and appreciate them.
Reason #8: Since 1974 she has been fighting for a woman's right to choose.
Reason #9: She is fighting to lift the ban on stem cell research to cure devastating diseases.
Reason #10: Voted YES on $100M to reduce teen pregnancy by education & contraceptives. (Mar 2005)
Reason #11: Rated 100% by NARAL, indicating a pro-choice voting record. (Dec 2003)
Reason #12: Vows to protect next generation by paying off national debt.
Reason #13: Fought in Congress to "Help people facing foreclosure; don't just bail-out banks." (Aug 2007)
Reason #14: In 1962 she met MLK Jr. preaching a sermon in Chicago and learned from him the importance of equal rights for all.
Reason #15: In 1965 she brought black classmates to her until-then all-white church.
Reason #16: Since 1995 has criticized China's human rights abuses.
Reason #17: In 1972 worked as a lawyer suing white-only schools, working with Marian Wright Edelman on enforcing school desegregation in the South.
Reason #18: In October, 2000 she said it's not enough for America just to apologize for slavery and move on; we need to concentrate on civil rights now.
Reason #19: Has been pushing for a "Privacy Bill of Rights" for all Americans since 2000.
Reason #20: Will end don't ask, don't tell in the military, "Gay soldiers need to shoot straight, not be straight." November 2003.
Reason #21: Supports civil unions, with full equality of federal benefits.
Reason #22: Voted YES on adding violent crimes based on victim's sexual orientation to definition of hate crimes.
Reason #23: Rated 96% by the NAACP, indicating a pro-affirmative-action stance.
Reason #24: Freedom of Speech: Voted NO on recommending Constitutional ban on flag desecration.
Reason #25: [A.K.A "Whoopi Goldberg's reason to support Hillary"] Voted YES on repealing tax subsidy for companies which move US jobs offshore. (Mar 2005)
Reason #26: Voted more funding and stricter sentencing for prosecution of hate crimes. (Apr 2001)
Reason #27: Voted to Require DNA testing for all federal executions. (Mar 2001)
Reason #28: Although she was in college during the height of the drug culture in the late 1960s, she was devoted to work on civil rights instead of partying and taking drugs.
Reason #29: She is fighting for Universal pre-kindergarten.
Reason #30: Since 1998 has fought publicly to keep art and music programs in public schools. "Arts education is needed in our schools."
Reason #31: Wants a complete re-write, a Total change in No Child Left Behind. (August, 2007)
Reason #32: Rated 82% by the NEA, indicating pro-public education votes.
Reason #33: Voted YES on spending $448B on education & debt reduction instead of Bush's tax cut for the rich. (Apr 2001)
Reason #34: Wants to "Remove energy dependence on countries who would harm us." (Jun 2006)
Reason #35: Wants to build a "$50B strategic energy research fund from taxing oil companies." (Oct 2006)
Reason #36: Wants to Invest in alternative energy; jobs that won't be outsourced.
Reason #37: Called on U.S. to Ratify Kyoto; and fund more mass transit. (Sep 2000)
Reason #38: Rated 100% by the CAF, indicating support for energy independence. (Dec 2006)
Reason #39: Voted NO on drilling for oil in the Alaska National Wildlife Reserve on national security grounds. (Apr 2002)
Reason #40: Voted YES on targeting 100,000 hydrogen-powered vehicles by 2010. (Jun 2003)
Reason #41: Voted NO on Bush Administration Energy Policy. (Jul 2003)
Reason #42: Voted YES on banning drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. (Mar 2005)
Reason #43: (listen up Louisiana!) Voted YES on $3.1B for emergency oil assistance for hurricane-hit areas. (Oct 2005)
Reason #44: Voted YES on factoring global warming into federal project planning. (May 2007)
Reason #45: Voted YES on making oil-producing and exporting cartels illegal. (Jun 2007)
Reason #46: Rated 89% by the LCV, indicating pro-environment votes.
Reason #47: Voted NO on confirming Gale Norton as Secretary of Interior. (Jan 2001)
Reason #48: Called on Bush to "Put someone in charge of Katrina recovery who actually cares." (Aug 2007)
Reason #49: Her Support for green-collar job training
Reason #50: Introduced bill to Better track kids' products for exposures to toxic materials coming from China.
Reason #51: Calls for the government to treat kids as "child citizens" not "minors" under the law. (Since Dec 1999)
Reason #52: Rated 0% by the Christian Coalition
Reason #53: Voted YES on enlarging NATO to include poor Eastern Europe nations. (May 2002
Reason #54: "Smartest strategic choice is peace." (Nov 1999)
Reason #55: Calling for a NATO-enforced no-fly zone to end Darfur genocide. (June, 2007
Reason #56: IN the 1970s worked to pass Constitutional Amendment to allow young people aged 18, 19, 20 to vote.
Reason #57: Voted NO on allowing lobbyist gifts to Congress
Reason #58: Pledges to support $50B for AIDS relief in US and world
Reason #59: Rated 100% by APHA, indicating a pro-public health record.
Reason #60: Voted NO on funding GOP version of Medicare prescription drug benefit. (Apr 2001)
Reason #61: Voted YES on allowing patients to sue HMOs & collect punitive damages. (Jun 2001)
Reason #62: She would never say anything as creepy and cult-like as "We are the ones we have been waiting for."
Reason #63: Says, "Torture cannot be American policy, period." (Sep 2007)
Reason #64: Rated 100% by SANE, indicating a pro-peace voting record.
Reason #65: Voted NO on extending the PATRIOT Act's wiretap provision. (Dec 2005)
Reason #66: Voted YES on requiring CIA reports on detainees & interrogation methods. (Sep 2006)
Reason #67: Voted YES on preserving habeas corpus for Guantanamo detainees. (Sep 2006)
Reason #68: Voted YES on limiting soldiers' deployment to 12 months. (Jul 2007)
Reason #69: Voted YES on giving Guest Workers a path to citizenship. (May 2006)
Reason #70: Voted YES on comprehensive immigration reform. (Jun 2007)
Reason #71: Voted: No salary increase for Congress until minimum wage increased.
Reason #72: Would accept minimum wage as president. (Jul 2007)
Reason #73: Rated 85% by the AFL-CIO, indicating a pro-union voting record.
Reason #74: Voted NO on repealing Clinton's ergonomic rules on repetitive stress. (Mar 2001)
Reason #75: Voted YES on increasing minimum wage to $7.25.
Reason #76: Voted YES on restricting employer interference in union organizing
Reason #77: Admits she made mistake in believing in WMDs in Iraq after being mislead by the Bush Administration.
Reason #78: Reaches out to conservatives but voting record is progressive.
Reason #79: "Karl Rove is obsessed with me because I take Republicans on & beat them." (Aug 2007)
Reason #80: Served as a Staff attorney on Watergate/Nixon impeachment investigation.
Reason #81: 1976: Organized Indiana for Carter-Mondale campaign. She knows what it is like to work on a democrat campaign in RED STATES!
Reason #82: : Rated 100% by the AU, indicating support of church-state separation.
Reason #83: Voted NO on confirming John Roberts for Chief Justice of the Supreme Court.
Reason #84: Voted NO on confirming Samuel Alito as Supreme Court Justice.
Reason #85: Rated 100% by the ARA, indicating a pro-senior voting record.
Reason #86: Voted YES on increasing tax deductions for college tuition.
Reason #87: At Wellesley in 1968, steered college anti-war movement.
Reason #88: Recommended by EMILY's List of pro-choice women.
Reason #89: Voted YES on shifting $11B from corporate tax loopholes to education. (Mar 2005)
Reason #90: 1980s: Led her church to found the largest daycare in Arkansas.
Reason #91: 1978: chaired Legal Services Corp. in President Carter's Administration - allowing Poor Families access to legal aid
Reason #92: Voted YES on implementing the 9/11 Commission report to get us out of Iraq in a fast, safe manner.
Reason #93: Voted YES on restoring $565M for states' and ports' first responders eliminated by the Bush Administration.
Reason #94: Worked with Evan Bayh, Al Gore, Bill Clinton and others in the 1980s to rejuvenate the Democratic Party from within.
Reason #95 In 1969, she entered law school as "vehicle for social change."
Reason #96 Calls to Increase spending for libraries.
Reason #97: In October, 2006 - called for "Phased redeployment out of Iraq, beginning immediately."
Reason #98: IN 1988 Instituted gender diversity Report Card within the American Bar Association, which sets standards for lawyers in the U.S.
Reason #99: Wants to establish an education "Bill of Rights" - Establish right to education from pre-school through college.
Reason #100: 'Government should pay off all student loans for teachers who go to urban schools." March, 2000
Reason #101: We simply need another Clinton to clean up the mess left by the second Bush.
Posted by: wakeup now | May 16, 2008 1:20 PM
Wakeupnow said, "All Democrats oppose racism..." Really? That's not pollsters found out in Pennsylvania and West Virginia. And that's certainly not what Hillary is counting on.
Posted by: dcp | May 16, 2008 1:10 PM
Mark this date. Tonigt, the first story of the huge movement of women from the Democratic Party aired on FoxNews. They've been ahead of every other network throughout this election. The next big story to hit all networks will be the mass defection of women from the Democratic Party.
Once you put in FOXNEWS, you lost all credibility.
Posted by: Socom | May 16, 2008 1:10 PM
Posted by: wakeup! | May 16, 2008 12:53 PM
Nice try. The dems could put up anyone, and McBush would be crushed.
I suggest you lower your dosages, Rush.
Posted by: Franky | May 16, 2008 1:04 PM
Obama has turned out to be one of the most divisive political figures since Nixon.The candidate who said he has this great talent for unifying people, a talent that shows up nowhere in his past, has created more divisiveness in the Democratic party than any figure in history.But the issue that has caused one of the most serious divisions is the one that Obama himself has created over race. Furthermore,if super delegates let themselves be intimidated and give the nomination to Obama when the primary results show he was not the true will of the people the Democrats can look forward to a moment at the convention when the candidate takes the podium, the balloons are released, the confetti comes down and half the Democratic party including all of Clinton's delegates, will get up and walk out. And they will not be back in the fall. The election at that moment will be over.It will also give the networks one hell of an interesting shot. On that no one is going to forget. Money+Media=Obama People+Democracy=Hillary
Posted by: Nancy | May 16, 2008 1:03 PM
The Republicans are laughing at the Dem stupidity if Obama is the nominee. They would win by default because Obama would lose almost every state with the possible exception of one's with huge black populations. If the Wright thing had come out before Super Tuesday, Obama would be gone by now. What's nice about this Obama diversion is that it's got the Republican hate attacks on Hillary quieted down up until after the convention when she emerges the winner. This is actually really working in her favor because the Rethugs are relaxed thinking Hillary is out of the picture and for them; compared to Clinton, Obama is a frightening monstrosity with his anti-American past and Muslim background. It has another effect too. So many Clinton supporters are watching her get trashed by the media and the DNC, they are seeing the Obama arrogance and they don't like it. The aggression of the Obama campaign and the monstrous behavior of the Obama supporters is actually pushing the base of the Democratic Party strongly towards Clinton. The tackiness of the timing and the aggressive maneuver of the Edwards thing was the 'icing on the cake' insult to our intelligence. Democrats have always been very good at smelling a rat. If it behaves like a rat, it is a rat.
Posted by: wakeup! | May 16, 2008 12:53 PM
The time for Republican extremism is over. We've show the world what a fool the US Government is when the Republicans have control - its time to show them we're not all trying to be like the Republican idol - Hitler.
Posted by: Franky | May 16, 2008 12:38 PM
Its good to see the Republicans running around scared, like chickens with the heads cut off.
I'm sure they wake up every morning wondering how many elections they will lose that day.
Posted by: Kent | May 16, 2008 12:36 PM
Newsflash: NEITHER ONE OF THEM IS GOING TO BE PRESIDENT THIS SUMMER SO HOW ARE THEY GOING TO DELIVER. LOL!!!! Thank You Reader: 100% correct answer to your question is :::........drum....roll...PANDERING!!Its politics as usual.
Posted by: Latesha | May 16, 2008 12:14 PM
Clearly it is evident that the only way Obama can be racist is to be it against himself, look his mother was white and his father was black its going to be extremely difficult for one to choose either or the other, I believe that he has a remarkable job in defining both and attempting to bridge the divide.
Posted by: mixxed up | May 16, 2008 12:09 PM
to "wakeupnow" The only racist is you.
Posted by: muppet | May 16, 2008 12:05 PM
Gary, I really don't understand how people can say "where's the beef?" with regard to Obama. It has always seemed to me that he was the most clear about what he intends to do with his presidency. But maybe that's because I watch debates and look at websites. If you really want to know Obama's plans go to www.barackobama.com/issues. It's all there. And you really look dumb applauding mchillary's proposal about the gas tax. newsflash: NEITHER ONE OF THEM IS GOING TO BE PRESIDENT THIS SUMMER SO HOW ARE THEY GOING TO DELIVER. LOL. and as obama pointed out, some states have already tried lifting gas taxes before and the gas companies simply raise their prices to fill the gap. makes sense, that's how the market works. why charge less when you know you can get more? the only way to reduce the prices is reduce the demand...
Posted by: reader | May 16, 2008 11:47 AM
the confirmed racist in this race is Obama
Posted by: Anonymous | May 16, 2008 11:35 AM
The standard and media coverage concerning Obama's flaws is much greater than the other candidates. They accuse Obama of belonging to a church needed to his state senator seat. He condemns Wright's statements and views and is questioned. McCain condemns Hagee's statements and Hagee apologizes and McCain is accepted. McCain votes against MLK's holiday for votes and his new position is accepted. They accuse Obama of taking $260,000 in donations and buying 15 feet of adjacent property from Rezko. Hsu and Peter Paul gave Hillary millions. McCain was saved from indictment in the Savings and Loan by friendly politicians. McCain's Iraq, Iran and foreign policy platform is in direct contrast to the recommendations of the Joint Chiefs as well as Gates and Adm. Mellon. The media has not touched on husband/wife relations where Obama wins against both candidates. Obama is an Elitest in speech only. He could not lend his campaign (She did too late after super Tuesday losing 11 straight) 11 million like Hillary nor ten times the amount if he were McCain's wife. A serious character flaw in Obama is when faced with undue bias or criticism he uses inappropriate terms like "sweetie" and "bitter". Disheartened at willing to work hard to get ahead but not having the chance at anything except near minimum wage. Of course some people will fall back on their church in a time of nedd, they usually find and receive help. Some will go hunting with the spare time to get their minds off of their problems. Barack needs to check his anger at the door and let the people choose what they think will be best for themselves. Hillary and Obama's platform agree on 90% except in the foreign policy field, where Obama believe it or not has a position closer to the joint chiefs on Iran and elsewhere.
Posted by: Jimbo | May 16, 2008 11:34 AM
This is a real threat! I'm surprised there's still so much bigots in America, but they're losing out this time! if they had complained honestly last time , we wouldn't be saddled with the worst president we've ever had in Bush! Be honest for once you've listened to all the candidate...non-bigots have seen the light- OBAMA 08. Go on ranting like the sour losers you are...y'all!
Posted by: Larry | May 16, 2008 11:24 AM
Never has someone's influence been more exaggerated than that of former Senator John Edwards (D-NC).
He was always treated as a first tier contender even as poll numbers and fundraising lagged. Now after he has made an after the fact endorsement of Obama it is being reported that it has created a shift of delegates to Obama.
I guess Edwards who craves the spotlight saw this as an opportunity to reclaim it for a brief moment.
Edwards has won exactly one primary in two presidential campaigns. If any diehard Edwards supporters still believe that Edwards is not all about himself and want to sign up for him for another presidential run then I have some swampland in Florida to sell you.
Posted by: danielhancock | May 16, 2008 11:20 AM
The low level of discourse by anti-Obama posters is probably the work of dirty-trick Republican mercenaries. There are, unfortunately, two parties of any heft in the U.S., and for one of them, anything goes. The last eight years have seen which party that label mostly adheres to. The Republican tactic and strategy is to promote fear. That was also the Nazi strategy. The next election, there is a clear choice. The fear of Obama being an underminer is something implanted by the party that brought the nation the true Underminer--Bush.
Posted by: edwcorey | May 16, 2008 11:09 AM
What does Edwards and his "followers" want? For Edwards to be vice president, of course. If he didn't have what it took to remain in the race, do the next best thing~~~kiss Obama's butt and vie for the vice presidency slot. That way, save all the stress of campaigning for the Dem, nomination... and oh yes, a heap of work trying to hustle money for the campaign. So many see Obama as a most intelligent, charsmatic individual. I'd bet he's only using the deceptive skills he learned from countless "power" seminars~~check out that fact. He got so good at it that he started teaching these sort of seminars. Another thing, read parts of his wife's college thesis. Pure racist. The fact that he was an active member of Wright's "God damned America" church for the past 20 years should prompt those with active brain cells to see the light. A true Christian church does not preach hate. For many years, Obama has pledged his alligence to Africa. Maybe he'd make a good president there, but not in America~~~and folks, that's where we are.
Posted by: Paddie | May 16, 2008 11:07 AM
Lots of comments about Edwards joining Obama. Obama must win. He is our only hope for change.
Posted by: Anonymous | May 16, 2008 10:34 AM
I am a 44-year-old Man served 4 years in the Navy and I am a Computer Programmer with a college education making more then 50,000 a year. I guess by what the polls say it would make me an Obama supporter. The problem with this idea is I think outside of my cubicle and question what, where and why. I don't expect much from a politician just the answers to the questions. The old ad says it all (Where's the Beef?) Obama says allot of words and yet the questions are not being answered. I always liked John and Elizabeth Edwards but John and his endorsement really means nothing to the 15,511,000 Hillary supporters and yes only around 500,000 votes difference between the two candidates without counting FL & MI. With the FL & MI counted as of today Hillary wins the popular vote by 100,000 and I feel that even then it is still too close to claim a winner. That is why it is going to the convention unless by a mere miracle Obama reaches the 2012 delegates needed then the lady will have to step aside. It does seem comical with the introduction of Edwards by Obama. Obama was a little too child like with excitement of his endorsement. He and the media are putting way too much weight on it. Really! John Edwards didn't make the cut and had to drop out early in the run for the presidency so how much real influence does he have on the working class? The press and the candidates really over hyped him and I really don't care one way or the other if John is backing one or the other candidate. He probably should have stayed out of it or made it known from the start who he was going to back. Coming out now at this time just makes the voters question his real motives. Most voters can see what is playing out here. You can't forget that He and Obama as well as the press is ganging up on Hillary and I still won't forget the feeling I had watching it unfold on the debate in New Hampshire when John and Obama attacked her as a team. She may have a slim chance if any to make the nomination but I plan to write in Hillary's name in November. My family and friends feel the same as I do and we feel Obama is being pushed down our throats by the Democratic comity and the press with the comities lopsided enforcement of the rules on the states of the early voting debacle. Remember there were more then 2 states that moved the primary dates ahead. The media will never work hard to discredit Obama in anyway until Hillary is out of the picture. They really dislike the Clinton's to much to do that. With the endorsement and the timing it feels like Obama is pandering for super delegates and blue-collar votes that he is struggling with. He knows he can't win without the Hillary supporters. Obama accused Clinton of doing the same when she suggested lowering the Gas Tax. The real question with the gas tax is what other proposal is being put out there that is going to relieve our worries today. No one is willing to stand up and make an alternative suggestion. Instead we hear Obama saying it is a bad idea. Well! Come on! Make your words mean something this time and tell us what you are going to do that will relieve our pain at the pump. The strange thing to me it seems the media is in love with Obama like they loved the Bush Administration all these years. They are over looking Obama's faults just like they did when it came to Bush and his screw-ups. One sure thing is gas prices will come down when we clean our government of all the "Oil Men".
Posted by: Garyt1708 | May 16, 2008 10:26 AM
Edwards is so much better than Obama its still amazing to me that anyone would choose Obama over Edwards. Obama can't debate, says he would meet with terrorists groups now says he wouldn't, stood up for Rev. Wright then dropped him, gave a big explanation about not wearing a flag pin but now wears one everyday, can't hold his own in a debate, won't do press conferences, won't answer questions until his advisors tell him what to say. According to his supporters has done two things to talk about, communtity work in Chicago and passed his one bill on ethics reform. I doubt if we will see any changes at all if he is President because he doesn't know from one day to the next what he will do now let alone 2 or 3 years from now. Another President without a clue, wow thats something to look forward to.
Posted by: Jann | May 16, 2008 10:01 AM
Obama is laughing at the whites who worship him. His entire agenda is for blacks, black reparations, black elitism. Look at his transparent voting record as an Illinios Sen. to verify this. You fools you're being taken for a ride by a racist who despises that you have white skin. I don't give a damn about skin color but Obama sure does!
what I'm seeing is that some voters are using Obama's race as a trophy that allows them to feel that they are doing something symbolic to stop racism in the U.S. All Democrats oppose racism but you don't go about proving it by voting for a black racist! This is blinding voters to how scary this Obama individual is. http://www.obamaunveiled.com/
Posted by: wakeupnow! | May 16, 2008 9:41 AM
Talk about BITTER! Some of these messages are apalling, Calling Obama derogatory names,in such a disparaging tone.This proves the bitterness of all of you who are not having their own way, you are certainly members of the Clinton organization, other wise know as the I Want,I Want,Me Me Me Club. I certainly would never vote for Hillary, but I would never insult her with name calling!
Posted by: Phyl | May 16, 2008 9:41 AM
And don't let the door hit yer fat arses on the way out.
Gawd, it's great to be alive!
Posted by: Chuckamok | May 16, 2008 9:39 AM
Please go back to sleep. Of the total population, White Americans make up 74%. Not 83%. Get it right.
And since he has more total everything, votes, delegates, super delegates, he is apparently getting more than enough votes.
Which lays no claim to your "(he can't get the "average American" vote)" He doesnt need the Average American vote, he needs the majority of votes, which he has.
Why is that the Hillary campaign is looking more and more like a republican campaign? Using the fear mongering tactics and ignorance to scare votes her way.
This is what people are tired of, this is why people are going to Obama. Keep peddling your hate and preaching fear tactics to the ignorant to sway them. Eventually Obama will be the nominee and the majority of these so called Hillary fans will show their true colors and reveal themselves for what they always have been....Republicans.
Posted by: Stop the insanity | May 16, 2008 9:38 AM
bin laden is in saudi arabia more than likey where he has been quite some time...still plotting with the rulers..Saudi Arabia is out worst enemy..they tried to ruin our ecomony with 9-11 so that didn't work so now they trying it with oil....We should have invaded them...not Iraq...Iraq were no danger to anyone but their own people..Saudi Arabia want the Jews out of Israel and our govt is arming them....Who do we think they want all these arms to fight..its certainly not a fellow arab..Its Israel and if the truth were know,they are probaly financing Iran...Saudi Arabia with the other oil rich states are in A holy war with the world that is not Islam...They intend with their wealth to weaken the west financely in they years to come and retake Israel.
Posted by: lucygirl1 | May 16, 2008 9:37 AM
Still can't figure why the Cointon supporters cry "popular vote" but patently disenfranchise the one million Obama supporters in Michigan who never got to vote. That number alone assures Obama a popular vote edge.
Seems quite hypocritical, that Hillary's people want to change the rules again, especially considering those same Hillary people make up the majority of the rules committee that established those guidelines in the first place.
So now that the very rules they instigated are working against her, they want to reverse their own policies? Sounds like something Rove would advise Bush to do.
Those two factors, Obama's Michigan voters and Hillary's staff backpedalling on their own rules, are being ignored by the Hillary people, here on the blogs and in her campaign staff.
Be honest, folks, and consider the truth here. Not just the parts of it that fit your personal political agenda.
Posted by: JEP | May 16, 2008 9:26 AM
EDWARDS' I WOUNDER WHO YOU WOULD HAVE JUMP ON THE WAGON WITH [SADAM] OBAMA IF YOU DID NOT HAVE THE MONEY YOU STOLED FROM ALL THE POOR PEOPLE YOU CLAIM TO HELP' BY THE WAY HOW MUCH DID [OPRAH] HAVE TO GIVE YOU TO CHANGE COLOR' WHAT JOB DID [HUSSEIN] PROMISE YOU OVER THE CROOKS AT THE JUSTIC DEPT'
Posted by: RUGMAN | May 16, 2008 9:23 AM
Here we have another news day and not a mention of Hillary again. What is going on with her fantasy campaign? Does she even have a press core anymore? Shouldn't we at least hear a quote or two coming from her camp?
Posted by: Anonymous | May 16, 2008 9:14 AM
This former Edwards support is not swinging to Obama. I fear he may be the biggest menance ever to enter the White House. The media have not asked him the tough questions. And if Hillary is not his running mate, he is going nowhere. Seniors, Catholics, Jews, middle class whites and Hispanics are going elsewhere. Another failure by the Democratic Party.
Posted by: Political Watchdog | May 16, 2008 8:52 AM
Not only is Obama unqualified, so racist he is insane,...and unelectible:
Obama can not win in a country that is 83% white (he can't get the "average American" vote): http://www.nydailynews.com/opinions/2008/05/11/2008-05-11_face_it_democrats_barack_obamas_got_a_gr.html?print=1&page=all
(sorry if that bothers you but all of you observed blacks vote for their own skin color, .....whites will do the same)
this has been so eye opening. we have all just learned that some Democrats will jump off a cliff even if you have no qualifications and the media portrays you as a rock star, and you offer the "change" with absolutely no proof to back that claim. Yep, we are seeing that there are some very naive gullible folks in the Democratic Party. Even as more and more dirt comes out on Obama, they refuse to open their eyes. It's a cult at this point and they are about to drink that spiked cherry Cool-Aid to go down with their leader when the comet comes around.
I'm looking forward to Hillary winning the nomination despite all of this stupidity...."hopes" and "dreams" that an insane racist that hates America, with ties to Hamas, could win the US Presidency.
Posted by: wakeup | May 16, 2008 8:41 AM
I supported John Edwards initially because of his plan for universal health care.
And, like his wife Elizabeth, I now support Clinton because her plan has the same components.
Obama's health plan is not universal and is seriously flawed.
Edwards' endorsement of Obama does nothing to sway my opinion, nor that of many other former Edwards supporters who chose and will continue to support Senator Clinton.
About the only thing his endorsement did was to help divert media attention away from Clinton's win in WV.
Posted by: Health Voter | May 16, 2008 8:36 AM
I think that it will be "poor Hillary" who will have the last laugh. How quickly do people forget. We have been in the twilight zone for 8 years because of some smooth-talking guy who, basically did your thinking for you--lied to your face. It was an apparent--transparent lie, and I could not believe the number of people who fell for it. Now, here we are again. Playing out the Democrats version of WMD. We have another smooth-talking guy who is telling you what you want to hear--yep, lying to your face. All the signs are there, but once again all of the supposedly well-educated, highly-intelligent people are too stupid to heed the obvious. What makes this so bad is that you've been warned. Reverend Wright TOLD you "...say what you want to hear...anything that will get them elected." Then, we have Obama saying that he goes to this man's church, and the guy is and has been his spirtual ADVISOR for 20 YEARS, but he doesn't listen to him??? So...you ask the guy for advice, but you don't listen to his advise...for 20 years, you've been asking this guy, your spiritual advisor for advice and not listening?? Give me a break! Why are you even friends then?? Dah! I think Hillary is a remarkable person. When faced with adversity, she stands firm; she doesn't quit and SHE DOESN'T MAKE EXCUSES. She decisive and doesn't TALK a lot of NOTHING like Obama does. That's the leadership qualities that this country needs. Obama doesn't have enough well-rounded KNOWLEDGE or experience, and he doesn't do well under pressure, if you would take the time to notice. Pay attention. Take voting seriously. It's about the country. Don't join the crowd. THINK BEFORE YOU VOTE. Educate yourself to the candidate, and use some common sense.
Posted by: Annette | May 16, 2008 8:19 AM
It's over, Hillary! And it will soon be over for you, McBush!
Time for sunrise in the cloudy skies of our nation again!
Irish for O'bama! Obama-Gore '08!
Posted by: Kay | May 16, 2008 7:59 AM
Ãâ° importantÃÂssimo o apoio dado a Obama pelo ex-senador Edwards. Em um momento como esse na reta final ele ganha um aliado de peso. Sou brasileiro e tenho imenso gosto pela polÃÂtica norte-americana. A vitoria de Obama seria muito importante para a América Latina, a qual o possÃÂvel futuro presidente prometeu ter uma relação de maior proximidade com a região.
Posted by: Isaac | May 16, 2008 7:22 AM
Fran - Well spoken (written, whatever). America makes demands on its allies and threats to its adversaries. It's only fair to request that we listen once in awhile as well as talk.
Posted by: treetopflyer | May 16, 2008 3:13 AM
Posted by: OBAMA | May 16, 2008 3:10 AM
I understand your view, but the problem with this view is that it is precisely that of a non-American. Why should an American vote based on what other countries would like America to do? Yes, international reputation is a consideration in elections, but it is not the only consideration.
Many of those people voting for Bush in 2004 were voting about something other than Iraq, the "War on Terror," etc. Foreign policy weighed much more heavily in the minds of those voting against Bush, whereas probably half of the people voting for Bush were holding their noses about foreign policy while putting down a vote for the candidate who would decide two seats on the Supreme Court. Can you blame Americans for putting domestic concerns over foreign ones?
Most people (and not only Americans), whether they realize it or not, vote based on the things that affect them most closely. The situation in Iraq, in particular, has a tangible effect on very few Americans. Most people don't have a loved one in the military, and most people haven't yet felt any of the economic costs of the war. Perhaps Americans can be faulted economically for not tallying the costs--we are a nation of debtors, after all. But it is no surprise that people are fretting more about the housing crisis, more about rising gas and food prices, and more about the turbulent stock market than about how the rest of the world views us.
You can criticize this focus on domestic worries as selfish or narcissistic if you want, and it may well be, but I'd argue that fretting Europeans who want Americans to reflect on their views first are liable to make Americans even more likely to thumb their noses at you.
One of the big rallying points behind starting the Iraq War, after all, was that the French told us we shouldn't. That had many Americans dumping French wine down their drains and clamoring to change "French fries" to "freedom fries." Any chiding from abroad or any perception that foreigners, especially Europeans, are trying to meddle in our affairs or impose their wills on us leaves many Americans likely to do the opposite simply out of spite. Childish? Perhaps. But then who endowed Europeans with the superior moral sense that they can chide Americans?
Posted by: blert | May 16, 2008 3:10 AM
Posted by: OBAMA | May 16, 2008 3:10 AM
...He should be in Cuba with the other Muslim terrorists. This guy is a joke !!!
Posted by: Sad Democrat | May 16, 2008 1:06 AM ---
The Republicans' ways are fear and hate! They seem to be afraid of everyone, and hate anyone that does not look like themselves.
The "Sad Democrat" would be one who supports McCain and the Bush anti-american policy.
Bush and McCain should be in GitMo with the other terrorists they have created.
Posted by: Franky | May 16, 2008 2:28 AM
More pro-Obama subeterfuge from the Post. Almost all the Edwards-to-Obama delegates cited had aleady moved before the Edwards endorsement.
Posted by: Threedy | May 16, 2008 2:13 AM
In a way I am starting to think the Republicans have offered McCain as a sacrifice, because he is not going to win, I'd be willing to bed all the money I have, he is just not going to undo the travesties of the Bush administration. So that is that.
Posted by: Keith | May 16, 2008 2:04 AM
I Love My Country. It's Damaged Right Now, In Many Ways..
Posted by: Anonymous | May 16, 2008 1:46 AM
The neocon hate machine is in full swing here on this blog- along with the white trash and other assorted losers for Hillary. What an astonshing and impressive variety of bottom feeders. It's like turning on the light in a dank basement and watching all the creepy crawlies scatter. I am so encouraged by this process. I think you should all continue to rant and rave as much as possible- just let it all go. Pretty soon the overwhelming number of new democratic voters along with anyone with an IQ over say 75 will be voting for Obama. You can and you should persist with your delusions that you are still in power. But I guess you wouldn't know that, because you don't know where to go for real information and you wouldn't know what to do with it if it hit you in the face. Let's just put it this way; nice and simple- while you have been busy on these blogs and elbowing for position on your call-in hate shows and whatever else it is you do with yourself all day, the world has changed. People like me don't have time to write to blogs. This the first and only post I will make. And I will not be returning to read any more of your yammering madness. But I thought it was worth a moment to drop you all a line, because really it is kind of pathetic that you don't have a clue yet. You have inspired me and millions like to me get up and do something for our country. And we are. We are going to clean house. Your house. Your former house I should say. Your day is already over. Hate and fear mongering, along with wanton greed and self serving racist nationalism is on the wane. It's called human evolution. Oh I know, you don't believe in any sort of evolution. That's OK. You know that old sayin'- you don't need to believe in that tractor trailer to be run over by it.
- Oh and btw- I'm white middle working class born in Applachia of Welsh-Irish ancestry who admires a good fighter as much as anyone. Hillary is a pathetic cheating loser. It is Obama who has proven he floats like a butterfly and stings like a bee. He has thoroughly outclassed Hillary and angry old McAnger and outmaneuvered both of them every step of the way. Well done Obama. We need that kind of intelligence and cool thinking as head of state, not some bombastic senile old fart or another machine politician who will do anything (shots anyone?) to get elected.
Posted by: Next Chapter | May 16, 2008 1:21 AM
I put it to you all that "Sad Democrat" is neither.
Posted by: Just sayin' | May 16, 2008 1:15 AM
Has anyone ever told you we allow MORE Immigration than anyone else?
Some of us just want to have the Newbies arrive like they should.
Then, consider the American Melting pot like a Big Stew!
For decades we added Potatoes, Limes, Sourkraut, Lentils, Rice, Curry, Vodka, Even Snails!
But, lately, it has been Mostly Beans. Beans,beans, beans! They have swollen up and have begun to force all the tastier ingredients out!
We have a Choice. We can try to get the Beans to keep with the Recipe. Or,
We can just CUT THE BEANS OFF! Start throwing them OUT!
I, am happy to just get all the ones trying to FORCE their way in, back out, and try to live with the overload already in!
Nationalism, is NOT Racism! This is the year 2008. The US has 300 Million People. Our Resources are getting Maxed out!
I have made suggestions about what should be done, to Mitt Romney's Camp. In a Nut-Shell, it amounts to Venturing Capital, to OTHER places opportunities can exist.
Jerkwads like Chavez, Morales and others, DO MAKE IT A HARD SELL! Foreign Investments, should NOT be able to be STOLEN by Leftist Thieves!
The US is NOT the only place to go to get ahead. But, to minions wanting to pull the same garbage pulled in Venezuela, Bolivia, Ecuador, Chile, Nicaragua, and Cuba,
It IS the Shiny Prize!
Then Amigo, take a good look at the Protectionist Measures Mexico pulls to protect it's sovereignty! ;~)
Posted by: RAT-The | May 16, 2008 1:09 AM
If I can bring the perspective of a non-US citizen to this discussion ...
As most Americans who have been paying attention will know, the image of the US overseas has been pretty unappealing since Vietnam. For a time post 9/11 many people felt a degree of sympathy and even goodwill towards the US, but George Bush squandered all of that, and the status quo ante returned. Amongst educated people, the argument was between those who thought America was full of evil, greedy, narrowminded sociopaths or ignorant, xenophobic morons. When George Bush wangled his way back into power in 2004, the debate pretty much came to a halt. Much of the rest of the educated world was too gobsmacked to find the words. People largely shook their heads in disgust or concluded that US governmance could be described as the rule of venal sociopaths through the manipulation of xenophobic morons.
Since that time, people like Al Gore and now especially, Barack Obama have begun to undermine this view. West Virginia certainly gave aid and comfort to those holding on to the traditional view, and the ignorant bigoted 'swiftboat'-style campaigns against Obama remind us of all the things non-Americans think repulsive about the US, while every victory of Obama tells of the possibility of an America who could fly with the angels and play a part in a saner and more worthy world -- a world in which Americans everywhere could hold their heads up and declare that that most impressive preamble to the constitution amounted to more than mere words on a dusty old document.
Before anyone accuses me of being an America-hater let me say clearly, I don't hate Americans as a class. America strikes me as something like the mixed bag of lollies. Close your eyes, put your hand in, and take pot luck on what goes into your mouth. There are a great many worthy Americans -- so many in fact that Gore actually won the majority of the vote in 2000, and but for some electoral skullduggery would have won the Presidency. Regrettably, in recent years, the worst elements of America have proven better organised and more resolute in their determination to play out their angst as government policy. This has profoundly tarnished America's standing internationally. Mike Huckabee's policy on border security -- "Chuck Norris" -- and the antics of the conservative Christian right who were Bush's foot soldiers, underlines for many the popular view of the dynamics of your politics. For many, America's policy is not merely unethical but implausible. Many find it very hard to understand why the US essentially fund both sides of the "war on terror" by allowing itself to become increasingly dependent on a commodity held in substantial volume by those giving aid and comfort to its enemies and then having to spend up big and destroy its goodwill securing supply. One of your leading economists, Joseph Stiglitz, recently claimed that the Iraq war would ultimately cost the US something like $US 3trillion. It has already cost $US600 billion. The best explanations of this policy don't recommend the last half dozen administrations. It may well be that the people who qualify best as enemies of America have been your governments.
This election is for you, for Americans, but please bear in mind that others will judge you by how this plays out. In the minds of many a victory for Obama would draw a definitive line under the Bush years and signal that America planned to begin being part of the solution rather than part of the problem.
Posted by: Fran | May 16, 2008 1:08 AM
Actually, that would be a Palestinian in Gaza who believes Obama would do the best job at bringing peace to the Middle East. That's right. Peace. Damn Middle Eastern peacemonger, getting on the phone and asking people to support a president to bring peace. Why isn't he blowing something up the way he should be?
Boy, a Muslim can't even do something peaceful without nutbags like you getting scared out of your wits. What the hell is wrong with that?
Posted by: treetopflyer | May 16, 2008 1:08 AM
Michelle Obama was campaigning in Wisconsin last February for her husband, Barack Obama, when she said: "For the first time in my adult life, I am really proud of my country." Obamas preacher spews hate against our country & white people. Obama refuses to wear the American flag pin till recently. What kind of jerk is this ? He should be in Cuba with the other Muslim terrorists. This guy is a joke !!!
Posted by: Sad Democrat | May 16, 2008 1:06 AM
well, well...we all know who looks like they will win, huh? OBAMA! People can hate and come up with all this retoric bs...look at the current state w/ bush. nothing but b s! the worst president ever! you know it. he cant compare to obama...he doesnt care about the u.s. only his interests in oil for his biz and family ties...u cant see this? if not u r dumb & blind. obama and edwards will be the best thing for this country in a decade...just be patient and give hope its chance...republicans r so dumb to me...not all but alot. the way u think is incredible..all these young people dead in a bs war and u support it?! come on people...be smart for once. look at gas, and exxon making record profits and its ok? so u like pumping $4 in your tank per gallon huh? the only way to make peace is to sit down and talk to ALL who hate us. it does not mean we r giving in...but u cant bully everyone. we will be fighting 4ever. you cant print enough money to stop those from hating us. have fair forighn policy that doesnt screw people and there u go. folks like us so they wont want to blow us up...then you save $$$ on all the defense stuff because there's little to defend if people like you more...duh! take care of our own...healthcare, schooling, and so on. will bush do this? get real. democrats needed to re-build america now! repubs..take a chill pill and sit the f down...clip your finger nails or something while a real man (notice I said man) takes charge. Nothing wrong w/ woman in charge but woman base decisions on emotion (who disagrees? ask any married man. so a woman as prez....dont know about that. too much chemical balance issues and certain times of the month...might make a crazy decision on something important cause she was in one of her 'moments' that older woman have...stick with the fella's on this one. OBAMA & EDWARDS- a match made in heaven.
Posted by: makeba | May 16, 2008 1:05 AM
al-jazeera has a phone bank for obama... NoObama 2008
Posted by: mark | May 16, 2008 12:45 AM
JohnK--Hillary will do all she can behind the scenes to sabotage Obama. Don't doubt it for a second. We'll still win, but let's all be clear about what she is. The overtly racist campaign she has run would make Nixon blush.
Posted by: gmundenat | May 16, 2008 12:23 AM
Hillary's chickens are coming home to roost!!!
Posted by: Jack5 | May 16, 2008 12:22 AM
Sorry Republicans , you did not pull it off , Clinton has lost so get your crying towels ready and stand by , Obama and the Democratic party with the help of the Clintons will annihilate McCain and the Repugs , your party of crooks , lunatics and low life has done itself in .
Posted by: John Kooms | May 16, 2008 12:19 AM
As an independent, I say, vote against the party pushing anti-immigration as a racist web issue... although at least they chose McCain and not Mitt Romney...
I think Latinos this year will tilt Democrat if the old arguments from the right are brough out as reminders to voters...
Posted by: eljefejesus | May 16, 2008 12:12 AM
Perhaps Obama will hire Hillary to be a White House bathroom attendant. Given how she has run her campaign, parking cars would be too much for her.
Posted by: gmundenat | May 16, 2008 12:12 AM
Posted by: pubichaironmycokecan | May 16, 2008 12:11 AM
I don't blame McCain for his desperation, considering that the people are overwhelmingly voting for change...
Republicans, about face and retreat! Democrats, charge!
Posted by: eljefejesus | May 16, 2008 12:09 AM
It's true, even with her WV victory, Clinton is still behind in the popular vote if you include the estimates from Iowa, Nevada, Maine and Washington (which Clinton, who is all about the popular vote, surely doesn't want to discount). Bad news for Obama is that counting all votes, including FL and MI, he no only has an 80,000 vote lead. How that holds will be determined on how motivated the voters in Oregon and Kentucky are. Oregon has half a million fewer people than Kentucky, and the latest polls have Obama leading in the teens in Oregon and trailing by over 20% in Kentucky. Unless Edwards's endorsement has a significant effect in Obama's favor, Hillary could very well legitimately claim a popular majority with all the states counted, not just by her selective criteria.
If Obama has fewer votes than Hillary by the end of the primaries, I'll be writing as many super delegates as I can to switch their support to Hillary. Rules be damned. In the Soviet Union the rules said "criticize and go to the gulags". That didn't make it right, and neither does making Democratic voters pay for the decisions of Republican state legislators. I hope both the superdelegates and the rank and file will have the decency to accept the will of the majority, whichever way that may go.
Oh. And once again, I hope Howard Dean gets f___ed by an elephant.
Posted by: treetopflyer | May 16, 2008 12:08 AM
To: hmmmmm | May 15, 2008 11:58 PM
Nice try Rush Stooge! Operation Coo-Coos will not divide the democrats.
We will stick together and take the whitehouse this november.
The Republican's only tool is to use FEAR, as they are cowards always running scared and hiding from the truth. Its time for them to return to their caves and hide with their terrorist friends.
Posted by: Franky | May 16, 2008 12:08 AM
Hillary has lost. Ever since the Maine results--preceding the Potomac beatdown administered by Obama--the "race" has been nothing more than script playing itself out.
The junior senator from New York lost to a better candidate. Get over it.
Posted by: gmundenat | May 16, 2008 12:07 AM
Notice that McCain now stoops to trying to associate Obama with appeasement of Hitler and with terrorists. Wow.... desperate times I guess.
After Republicans lost special elections in the most Republican-strongholds time after time this Spring...
Posted by: eljefejesus | May 16, 2008 12:04 AM
I am a bit mystified - what is it about the Washington Post that invites comments that veer toward incoherent raving? By comparison, the New York Times comments at least generally fall into the realm of rational argument. Is it a lack of control over the comments at the Post, a more "polarized" readership, or something else?
Posted by: David | May 16, 2008 12:04 AM
what are you talking about "she lost"? millions have still not voted ....and then there is that all pervasive super-delegate vote..where they must choose who can win. This thing is so close it can go either way. You do realize that Obama has lost any chance of winning after the Wright thing? The Hamas thing? And you can see that he has lost much of the female vote, the working class white vote, and the Hispanics, the Jews, the Catholics, the older white folks? And women should not be insulted that this guy with no qualifications as been given a free ride to the nomination? So they will choose to screw Hillary over in order to make Democrats lose come November? This is a double whammy insult to women. Last we suspect corruption and paid off delegates. We suspect money is behind this. I think she will win the nomination. If she doesn't then we lose the Presidency regardless of many many women (and some men) writing Hills name in on the ballot. What we see happening now is the wake-up call. The beginning of the unraveling of the Obama arrogant and empty claim to the nomination. His free ride is over.
Posted by: hmmmmm | May 15, 2008 11:58 PM
Is Obama part of a political dynasty, like the Bushs and Clintons?
Nepotism has always rubbed me the wrong way.
Posted by: Random Question | May 15, 2008 11:44 PM ---
Hillary Clinton in 2008 & 2012! Chelsea Clinton in 2016 & 2020! Bill Jr. Clinton in 2024 & 2028! Bandar Bush in 2032 & 2036! Mohammed Bush in 2040 & 2044!
(I'll be really old for those last two, so I'd vote to be cruel to the youngsters with the loud radio next door!)
Posted by: Jeb | May 15, 2008 11:56 PM
Waiting for Hillary to DO, not hint at, the right thing is like waiting for Dan Rather to call Florida. A true narcissist has no higher purpose.
Posted by: gmundenat | May 15, 2008 11:50 PM
Anyone in the mood for some good music? Google "The Little First Lady with Megalomania".
Posted by: gmundenat | May 15, 2008 11:44 PM
Try Googling "Heavy Qoob" for a funny song/youtube video as well.
Posted by: Randy | May 15, 2008 11:47 PM
In efforts to keep my words civil in light of the foolish words of some posters on here, I'll only say that women who defect to the republican party or throw away their votes simply because Obama is marked as the winner for the democratic nomination have only temselves to blame for their misfortune. Don't side with Hillary because she is a woman, side with her because of her policies, then maybe your complaints won't fall on deaf ears. I am often amazed by the unrealistic idiocy in comments I come across on here. It goes both ways. If you're automatically voting for Obama because he is black as you may be, you're making the same mistake.
I voted for Obama, because I have looked into his platform. The man has undergone a Senatorial campaign and all of the associated background checks which aren't easy to get to where he is now. Its time for change, This is a democracy, not a dictatorship, why do we keep letting family politics run US politics? Voting for Obama means much more than beating Hillary. Get over it and focus your efforts on the next term instead of trying to screw up the political process if you can't win.
Posted by: jack5 | May 15, 2008 11:47 PM
"I'm going to work my heart out for WHOEVER our nominee is. Obviously, I'm still hoping to be that nominee, but I'm going to do everything I can to make sure that anyone who supported me ... understands what a GRAVE error it would be not to vote for Sen. Obama."
Posted by: Sally | May 15, 2008 11:46 PM
There's still states left to vote, but Obama leads the delegates, superdelegates, states, and popular vote. So if Hillary wants to win, it's a little late.
I'll say one thing, if she can will the popular vote, delegates, and the nomination, I'll vote for her. But if she doesn't have the votes, she doesn't get the nomination. Sorry, the voters have spoken.
Posted by: Six | May 15, 2008 11:45 PM
Yeah biased here, but has anyone pointed out that Clinton has picked up a net of 1 pledged delegate in the last 3 primaries, including her two wins? Sorry, but it is over.
Posted by: Chicago Matt | May 15, 2008 11:44 PM
Anyone in the mood for some good music? Google "The Little First Lady with Megalomania".
Posted by: gmundenat | May 15, 2008 11:44 PM
|
Superdelegates, pledged delegates and endorsers of former N.C. senator John Edwards come out for Barack Obama in the wake of Edwards's endorsement. --Shailagh Murray
| 670.296296 | 0.888889 | 1.851852 |
high
|
medium
|
mixed
|
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/14/AR2008051403364.html
|
https://web.archive.org/web/2008051619id_/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/14/AR2008051403364.html
|
Second Span of Wilson Bridge Ready for Debut, But Not Traffic
|
2008051619
|
The twin-span bridge was built with 12 lanes, but only half will be available to motorists until the Capital Beltway approaches are configured and local and express traffic are separated.
Project officials said that won't happen until October or November.
"First, we have to move the traffic off the current alignment, and then we can build the express lanes," said John Undeland, project spokesman.
Eventually, the 1.1 mile-long bridge will have two express lanes on each span that will separate truck drivers and vacationers who want to drive straight across the bridge from commuters and local motorists who get on and off the span. Until then, all traffic will use the six lanes that will ultimately be dedicated to local traffic. When completed, the bridge's capacity will be 295,000 vehicles a day, about four times that of the old one.
The bridge, the midpoint of Interstate 95 -- the busiest highway on the East Coast -- carries traffic over the Potomac River between Alexandria and Prince George's County.
Today's ceremony will have slightly less fanfare than the one that marked the opening of the first span in May 2006. That event included the Air Force Band, a flyover by the Blue Angels and a ride by officials in Woodrow Wilson's 1923 Rolls-Royce convertible.
Officials described today's ceremony as more "locally oriented." There will be a flyover by the D.C. Air National Guard, and the soundtrack will be provided by the Oxon Hill High School marching band. Instead of Wilson's Rolls, his Pierce-Arrow will take dignitaries across the new span.
U.S. Sen. John W. Warner (R-Va.), who was instrumental in winning funding for the new bridge and is retiring next year, will be given the honor of tightening the last bolt on the span.
"They just want to see if an 80-year-old can still turn a wrench," Warner joked. "But I'm a former Marine, and I'm as tough as I was in boot camp."
But don't hop into your own vintage vehicle thinking you can drive across the new span this afternoon. It won't open to traffic until after a weekend of road closures, detours and weather-dependent paving work scheduled to start May 30 to move inner loop Beltway traffic to the new span.
That transition could create more of a headache than the move last weekend of outer loop traffic to the permanent local lanes, officials said. Outer loop traffic can be detoured at the Springfield Interchange, in effect turning traffic off at a major spigot. Nothing like that is available on the inner loop. Traffic officials said they expect considerably longer backups and suggest that drivers avoid the area that weekend.
Once traffic is routed onto the three lanes on each span, workers will begin clearing the old roadway and start work on the express lanes, which are to open this fall.
The bridge project also includes the rebuilding of the Maryland 210 and Interstate 295 interchanges in Maryland and the Route 1 and Telegraph Road interchanges in Virginia; a landscaped bridge that carries Washington Street in Alexandria over the Capital Beltway; and a similar path for bicyclists and walkers from the north side of the bridge to Maryland and the National Harbor development.
With the completion of the second span, the $2.5 billion project will be 80 percent complete. But that won't be the end of headaches for drivers.
Major work is ramping up on the Telegraph Road interchange, the last major component of the bridge project, which is scheduled to be finished in 2013.
Then, officials will have the unusual problem of having too many lanes on the bridge. One lane on each span will be reserved for future use, such as a Metro line extension, high-occupancy toll lanes or bus-only lanes. In the meantime, they will be used as break-down lanes.
The new bridge replaced a rickety, pothole-dimpled structure with no shoulders and a vehicle capacity of 75,000. In the end, 200,000 cars and trucks a day were pounding across the bridge, which was built in 1961. More than 73 billion cars crossed it.
|
The second span of the new Woodrow Wilson Bridge will be dedicated today, but it will be at least two weeks before drivers will be able to use it and at least five months before they notice any real relief from congestion with the addition of more lanes.
| 16.12 | 0.72 | 1.2 |
medium
|
low
|
abstractive
|
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/15/AR2008051503676.html
|
https://web.archive.org/web/2008051619id_/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/15/AR2008051503676.html
|
Connolly's Job With Contractor Complicates Race
|
2008051619
|
Depending on who's talking, however, that last description could include Connolly's employer: Science Applications International Corp., a defense and intelligence contractor that has come under scrutiny for alleged mismanagement of several Iraq-related projects.
Connolly (D) had nothing to do with SAIC's more controversial contracts. He has worked at SAIC only since 2002 and leads the company's involvement in community activities and charitable events. But the fervency with which he has shared his antiwar credentials while working for one of the region's largest and most successful government contractors illustrates the challenge of navigating the politics of war in Fairfax, where the majority of voters opposes U.S. involvement in Iraq but where the economy has thrived on it.
"There are more government contractors than federal employees in the 11th District," said Rep. Tom Davis (R-Va.), who is retiring from that seat. He has been criticized for voting with President Bush on Iraq war matters but praised for helping to stimulate the region's booming contracting industry. "I voted against the surge, but it's low-hanging fruit to go after a contractor in a war zone. Some of these contractors are heroes. We have more contractors in Iraq than soldiers," he said.
All four Democrats seeking the party's nomination in the district's June 10 primary oppose the war in Iraq. Connolly and his best-known opponent, former representative Leslie L. Byrne, have competed ferociously in recent weeks with news media statements and mail pieces, seeking to outdo each other's antiwar credentials. Both campaigns have conducted polls showing overwhelming opposition to the war among likely Democratic primary voters.
Fellow Democratic contenders Douglas J. Denneny, a former Navy pilot, and Lori P. Alexander, a physical therapist, have made similar pronouncements.
Byrne said Connolly's proclamations are hypocritical, given his employer. She cited SAIC's widely reported role in trying to document the existence of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, an endeavor that Bush used to help justify his decision to go to war. She also noted SAIC's involvement in several no-bid contracts in Iraq that have come under investigation -- the kind that Connolly wants to end.
"Everybody has to make a decision about what kinds of companies they're going to invest in, what kind of companies they're going to have stock in," Byrne said. "The hypocrisy, I think, is the thing that is the most troublesome."
SAIC is a large government consulting firm based in San Diego with contracts involving the National Cancer Institute, NASA and many other agencies not related to defense. Connolly acknowledged that most of SAIC's contracts are within the defense and intelligence realms. And he said his support for the War Profiteering Prevention Act of 2007 could affect SAIC.
"I'm not trying to make the world easier for my employer," he said. "I'm trying to lay out a principled position irrespective of what my employer might do. I don't support war profiteering, and I don't support large noncompetitive contracts. I don't think they're healthy. I don't think they help the system. If that happens to hurt my employers, so be it."
Connolly said he is running for Congress because of his "moral outrage" over the war. A 10-year veteran of the staff of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Connolly said U.S. failures in Iraq were "entirely predictable" because there was never a plan for what would replace Saddam Hussein's rule.
"This is personal for me," he said, noting that a nephew served two tours in Iraq and that the son of a close friend, former Board of Supervisors chairman Katherine K. Hanley, lost an arm on patrol in Iraq two months ago when a roadside bomb exploded.
SAIC is not as well known as such federal contractors as Halliburton or Booz Allen Hamilton -- and is much smaller than the enormous defense systems builders Lockheed Martin, Boeing and Northrop Grumman. With $159 million in known contracts, it was ranked 27th on the nonprofit Center for Public Integrity's Windfalls of War list of postwar contractors doing business in Iraq between 2002 and 2004.
But the company is viewed as politically influential in Washington, ranked fourth in the industry in campaign contributions from 1990 to 2002, according to the Center for Public Integrity.
It also has come under scrutiny over allegations that it mismanaged several projects, including a $15 million no-bid contract awarded in 2003 to build an Iraq media network that grew to $82 million and that Defense Department investigators have criticized.
SAIC spokeswoman Melissa Koskovich, when asked to respond to Connolly's critique of no-bid contracts, said in a statement: "Gerry Connolly works as part of SAIC's community relations team. In this role, he is not involved in SAIC's work for government or commercial clients."
Others said that opposing the war does not have to go hand in hand with opposing defense spending or contracting.
"Defense contracting and the war are two different issues," Davis said. "Most companies don't make bombs and missiles. We need contractors for plan analysis. Software analysis. Defending the government's right to outsource that does not have anything to do with the war."
Still, Davis, who has represented the 11th District for 14 years, has intensely felt the tug in recent years between the district's increasing antiwar sentiment and his support for Bush and the contracting community.
In August, when contemplating a run for the U.S. Senate, Davis attended a meeting of the antiwar Americans Against Escalation in Iraq at the Accotink Unitarian Universalist Church in Burke.
Trying to reach out to a mostly hostile crowd, Davis said "there aren't any easy answers" and "we need to have more dialogues like this around the country that are civil."
If Davis was trying to inoculate himself against his record of voting with Bush on almost every Iraq-related measure, Connolly said he is not seeking similar immunity from his relationship with SAIC.
"I'm in the middle of a campaign trying to have a conversation with voters," Connolly said. "I oppose the war. I have thought it was folly from the word go. Everyone who knows me knows that's true."
|
In his bid for Congress from Northern Virginia's 11th District, Fairfax County Board of Supervisors Chairman Gerald E. Connolly recently mailed a campaign flier demonstrating his opposition to U.S. involvement in Iraq. Among other things, the piece accuses the "Bush-Cheney Defense Department" of...
| 23.384615 | 0.730769 | 1.461538 |
medium
|
low
|
abstractive
|
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/15/AR2008051503533.html
|
https://web.archive.org/web/2008051619id_/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/15/AR2008051503533.html
|
Official Urged Fewer Diagnoses of PTSD
|
2008051619
|
A psychologist who helps lead the post-traumatic stress disorder program at a medical facility for veterans in Texas told staff members to refrain from diagnosing PTSD because so many veterans were seeking government disability payments for the condition.
"Given that we are having more and more compensation seeking veterans, I'd like to suggest that you refrain from giving a diagnosis of PTSD straight out," Norma Perez wrote in a March 20 e-mail to mental-health specialists and social workers at the Department of Veterans Affairs' Olin E. Teague Veterans' Center in Temple, Tex. Instead, she recommended that they "consider a diagnosis of Adjustment Disorder."
VA staff members "really don't . . . have time to do the extensive testing that should be done to determine PTSD," Perez wrote.
Adjustment disorder is a less severe reaction to stress than PTSD and has a shorter duration, usually no longer than six months, said Anthony T. Ng, a psychiatrist and member of Mental Health America, a nonprofit professional association.
Veterans diagnosed with PTSD can be eligible for disability compensation of up to $2,527 a month, depending on the severity of the condition, said Alison Aikele, a VA spokeswoman. Those found to have adjustment disorder generally are not offered such payments, though veterans can receive medical treatment for either condition.
Perez's e-mail was obtained and released publicly yesterday by VoteVets.org, a veterans group that has been critical of the Bush administration's policies in Iraq and Afghanistan, and Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), a nonprofit government watchdog group.
"Many veterans believe that the government just doesn't want to pay out the disability that comes along with a PTSD diagnosis, and this revelation will not allay their concerns," John Soltz, chairman of VoteVets.org and an Iraq war veteran, said in a statement.
Melanie Sloan, executive director of CREW, said in a statement: "It is outrageous that the VA is calling on its employees to deliberately misdiagnose returning veterans in an effort to cut costs. Those who have risked their lives serving our country deserve far better."
Veterans Affairs Secretary James B. Peake said in a statement that Perez's e-mail was "inappropriate" and does not reflect VA policy. It has been "repudiated at the highest level of our health care organization," he said.
"VA's leadership will strongly remind all medical staff that trust, accuracy and transparency is paramount to maintaining our relationships with our veteran patients," Peake said.
Peake said Perez has been "counseled" and is "extremely apologetic." Aikele said Perez remains in her job.
A Rand Corp. report released in April found that repeated exposure to combat stress in Iraq and Afghanistan is causing a disproportionately high psychological toll compared with physical injuries. About 300,000 U.S. military personnel who have served in Iraq or Afghanistan are suffering from PTSD or major depression, the study found. The economic cost to the United States -- including medical care, forgone productivity and lost lives through suicide -- is expected to reach $4 billion to $6 billion over two years.
Ng said diagnosing PTSD often requires observing a patient for weeks or months because the condition implies a long, lingering effect of stress.
"Most people exposed to trauma, in general, can get better," Ng said. "You don't want to over-diagnose people with PTSD. Whether it's adjustment disorder is one thing. It's usually a temporary disorder with severity that is not as bad as someone with full-blown PTSD."
|
A psychologist who helps lead the post-traumatic stress disorder program at a medical facility for veterans in Texas told staff members to refrain from diagnosing PTSD because so many veterans were seeking government disability payments for the condition.
| 16.902439 | 1 | 41 |
medium
|
high
|
extractive
|
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/15/AR2008051503839.html
|
https://web.archive.org/web/2008051619id_/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/15/AR2008051503839.html
|
Rhee Has Dismissed 24 Principals
|
2008051619
|
Principals work on year-to-year agreements. About 15 to 20 principals are let go annually, according to the Council of School Officers, the principal's union.
This year's reshuffling has drawn heightened interest because it provides another window into Rhee's still-new leadership of the school system. The personnel changes also have added urgency because of the federal mandate to make major changes in 26 schools that have failed to show adequate progress under "No Child Left Behind."
Rhee has dismissed principals at five of the 10 high schools subject to restructuring under No Child Left Behind: Lynne Gober of Anacostia; Harriet Kargbo of Dunbar; Monica Taylor of Eastern; Gwendolyn Jones of Woodson; and Jacqueline Williams of Wilson. Five of the 11 middle and junior high schools facing overhaul will also have new principals -- Hart, Lincoln, MacFarland, Garnet-Patterson and Sousa -- as will three of the five elementary schools to be retooled: Moten, Stanton and Truesdell.
Ten other principals either retired or resigned.
Nelson Burton, principal of Coolidge High School and head of the principal's union, said that because principals serve at the will of the chancellor, there is no way to formally appeal the decisions. "There isn't much recourse there," Burton said.
Word of the dismissals began to circulate last week as principals received form letters over Rhee's signature informing them that their contracts would not be renewed.
Rhee and other school officials have steadfastly refused to discuss specific reasons for the dismissals, citing privacy and personnel regulations. In broad terms, she said yesterday that all the decisions are "absolutely" fair. She has been conducting an aggressive national advertising campaign to attract high-performing principals to the District.
Most of the principals who were not renewed either did not return phone calls or could not be reached for comment.
One of the few who would discuss the matter, Willie Bennett, principal of Hart Middle School in Southeast, said that Rhee is targeting older administrators. "Many of the people who were released were in the same predicament. Many of the people were older," said Bennett, who has worked for D.C. schools for 16 years, the last 10 at Hart as assistant principal and principal. Sixteen percent of the school's 508 students demonstrated reading proficiency on tests in the 2006-07 school year, according to school district records, down from 22 percent the year before.
Lucia Vega, principal of Powell Elementary, which is not targeted for changes under No Child Left Behind, said Rhee had a right to do as she wished. Vega said she is also dismayed because she submitted her resignation but was nevertheless listed as one of the principals fired.
Vega complained that during her five-year tenure she has received little support from administrators for a school where more than half the students are English-language learners and half receive free or reduced-price lunches because of their low-income status. In a 2007 Washington Post series on D.C. public schools, she talked about how she was forced to "warehouse" an incompetent literacy coach imposed on her by the central office.
"I just feel the system set us up," Vega, 54, said. "We do have a very failed school system. We all know that they promised us support and it was rarely given." She noted that plans for next year include major staffing increases, including an assistant principal, a full-time business manager, a full-time psychologist and a "functional" literacy coach.
Some of the leadership changes sparked controversy before they were formally announced. Some parents at Oyster-Adams-Bilingual School, where Rhee's two daughters are enrolled, were upset when they learned last week that Principal Marta Guzman would not be retained. Some parents said that Guzman's dismissal was engineered by a small group of parents who dined with Rhee. Other parents say there were serious problems with Guzman's leadership, including disorganization and poor communication.
|
D.C. Schools Chancellor Michelle A. Rhee has fired 24 principals, including 13 who headed schools deemed to be failing under the federal "No Child Left Behind Act," officials confirmed yesterday.
| 22.028571 | 0.742857 | 1.657143 |
medium
|
low
|
mixed
|
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/15/AR2008051503579.html
|
https://web.archive.org/web/2008051619id_/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/15/AR2008051503579.html
|
Plebes Rise To Occasion As Tradition Carries On
|
2008051619
|
Despite numerous spills, cuts and bruises -- and three precautionary trips to the hospital yesterday -- there were no major injuries at the annual ritual that marks the end of the grueling plebe year. And that came as sweet relief to fans after the academy's leadership announced this year that it was considering an overhaul of the climb for the sake of safety and professionalism.
In the end, the only noticeable safety changes were the addition of 30 student observers and a slight reduction in the amount of lard slathered on the Herndon Monument.
Three people, including one spectator, were flown to the Maryland Shock Trauma Center, an academy spokeswoman said. Before the event started, a woman fell down the steps of the chapel. During the climb, a female plebe walked out of the crowd, complaining of neck and back pain, and a male plebe might have suffered neck and head injuries. Otherwise, the scene was the same as it has been for decades.
The plebes scaled the monument in 2 hours, 35 minutes and 59 seconds, about twice as long as the better times in recent years.
It is an old military aphorism that no battle plan survives first contact with the enemy, and if the Class of 2011 had a strategy, it rapidly fell apart against the monument's stout defense.
Cheering plebes tore off their T-shirts and used them to wipe away the lard, then locked arms around the Herndon Monument's base, supporting the weight of barefoot classmates surging to the top. The goal: To replace a blue-rimmed sailor's hat, the symbol of the austere plebe year, with a proper midshipman's cap.
The mission was freighted with special meaning this year, for both hats belonged to Kristen Dickmann, a popular plebe and volleyball player from Pennsylvania who died mysteriously this month.
The plebes' initial burst of energy petered out as they realized just how hard it would be to reach the top. "I can't get a ladder!" a frustrated, red-faced plebe near the top of the squirming mass of bodies yelled above the din of battle.
But the plebes kept shoving forward.
Older midshipmen sometimes cackled as the plebes fell, watching with growing confidence that their classes' times would not be bested. Nevertheless, they understood the joy the plebes felt at being so close to the end of their introduction to military discipline.
Plebes have to run virtually everywhere and call everyone "sir" or "ma'am." They can rarely leave the academy grounds and are forbidden pleasures taken for granted by freshmen at other colleges -- booze and fraternization.
"Being a plebe means you're lower than dirt," said Ryan Rose, a third-year midshipman from Logansport, Ind.
Academy rules largely prevent plebes from speaking their minds. But the plebes did persist in the tradition of writing messages on their T-shirts that hint at some of the hardships they have faced during the past year.
"I'd rather be sleeping!" one shirt said.
"I can't wait to . . . Sleep. Walk. Frat. Be a Ma'am. BE A REAL PERSON," a young woman's shirt said.
"Can I Have a Beer Yet?" another shirt said in block letters.
As the morning wore on with little progress, the plebes and the upperclassmen watching them grew restless. This was the slowest class to scale the monument since 1997.
By 11:20 a.m., more than two hours after the climb started, a plebe big enough to be a football player started to rally his dispirited classmates.
"If you are between 180 and 200 [pounds], get in front of me right now!" he shouted, and the Class of 2011, reminded of its duty to conquer or remain plebes forever, surged forward for a final attack.
Twenty minutes later, Greg Reichel, a tall, lanky volleyball player from Hummelstown, Pa., who knew Dickmann well, reached up and grabbed the lard-encased plebe's hat, which had been taped to the top of the monument. He ripped it off and fell back, cannon-balling down into the mass of classmates below.
Undeterred, Reichel made a second push forward, Dickmann's cap on his head. Standing on the shoulders of his grunting, grimacing classmates, he reached out for the top of the monument with his long arms and placed the midshipman's hat atop the obelisk.
A cannon blasted, a wild cheer went up, and the Herndon Climb was done.
|
So maybe the U.S. Naval Academy's legendary Herndon Climb isn't particularly dangerous for an event in which a thousand mostly shirtless, screaming first-year midshipmen crawl over one another in a mad scramble to the top of a 21-foot stone obelisk coated in lard.
| 17.979592 | 0.653061 | 1.020408 |
medium
|
low
|
abstractive
|
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/13/AR2008051302303.html
|
https://web.archive.org/web/2008051519id_/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/13/AR2008051302303.html
|
McCain's America
|
2008051519
|
If the McCain campaign is still trying out songs, there's one by a couple of Brits, W.S. Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan, that it should consider. We have to change the words "an Englishman" to "American" to get it to work, but, that done, the song expresses succinctly and entirely the case for John McCain and, by implication, against Barack Obama:
For he himself has said it,And it's greatly to his credit,That he is American!That he is American!
And that, ladies and gentlemen, is the sum total of the Republican message this year. That is why McCain's first post-primary ad proclaimed him "the American president Americans have been waiting for." Not the "strong" or "experienced" president, though those are contrasts he could seek to draw with Obama. The "American" president -- because that's the only contrast through which McCain has even a chance of prevailing.
Now, I mean to take nothing away from McCain's Americanness by noting that it's Obama's story that represents a triumph of specifically American identity over racial and religious identity. It was the lure of America, the shining city on a hill, that brought his black Kenyan father here, where he met Obama's white Kansan mother. It is because America is uniquely the land of immigrants and has moved beyond a racial caste system that Obama exists, has thrived and stands a good chance of being our next president.
That's not the America, though, that the Republicans refer to in proclaiming their own Americanness. For them, "American" is a term to be used as a wedge issue, a way to distinguish their more racially and religiously homogeneous party from the historically more polyglot Democrats. Such separation has a long pedigree: Campaigning for GOP presidential nominee Alf Landon in 1936, Republican leader Frank Knox said that the Democratic Party under President Franklin Roosevelt "has been seized by alien and un-American elements. Next November, you will choose the American way."
Knox meant two things: that the New Deal represented an ideology outside the pale of American thinking and that the New Deal coalition, which represented record numbers of foreign-born, non-Protestant Americans, was therefore un-American. In more recent elections, Republicans have depicted Democratic presidential candidates as un-American cultural elitists heading up a dangerously diverse party.
This year, we can expect to see almost nothing but these kinds of assaults as the campaign progresses. The Republican attack against Obama all but ignores the issue differences between the candidates to go after what is presumably his inadequately American identity. He is, writes one leading conservative columnist, "out of touch with everyday America." His reluctance to wear a flag pin, writes another, shows that he "has declared himself superior to an almost universal form of popular patriotism."
There are good reasons Republicans are focusing on identity rather than issues this year: In poll after poll, there's not a single major issue on which the public agrees with them or their presumptive nominee. Not Iraq, certainly. Not the economy. Should the election turn on the question of "What are you going to do for America?" rather than "Are you a real American?" Republicans are doomed. They offer no solutions for the stagnation (or decline) of American living standards, or for the weakening of America's economic power. They offer no resolution to America's war of choice in Iraq. Their party leader, the incumbent president, let a great American city drown. They are the American party, and McCain the American nominee, that hasn't a clue about how to help America in its (prolonged, I fear) moment of need.
What remains for the GOP is a campaign premised more on issues of national identity, aimed largely at that portion of our population for which "American" is synonymous with "white" and "Christian," than any national campaign has been since the American Party (also known as the Know Nothings) based its 1856 campaign chiefly on Protestant bigotry against Irish and German Catholic immigrants. In Appalachian America (the heart of which went to the polls yesterday in West Virginia), as Mark Schmitt notes in the forthcoming issue of the American Prospect (which I edit), a disproportionate number of people write "American" when answering the census question on ethnic origin. For some, "American" is a race -- white -- no less than a nationality, and it's on this equation that Republican prospects depend.
Which is why Gilbert and Sullivan penned what could be the perfect McCain marching song:
But in spite of all temptationsTo belong to other nations,He remains American!He remains American!
|
The GOP claims this is McCain's country -- Obama only lives in it.
| 61.333333 | 0.8 | 1.066667 |
high
|
medium
|
abstractive
|
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/13/AR2008051302304.html
|
https://web.archive.org/web/2008051519id_/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/13/AR2008051302304.html
|
Truth Serum on The Trail
|
2008051519
|
It's been a blast, this presidential campaign. A great story, full of drama. But no one should think it's been honest. With the possible exception of Iraq -- a matter that compels candidates to face real issues -- the campaign has been an exercise in mass merchandising. Candidates make alluring promises (to "fix the economy," "defeat special interests" or "achieve energy independence") and offer freebies to voters (more tax cuts, health care, college aid). Complete the sale: That's the point.
There's a vast gap between the country's problems and the candidates' agendas and rhetoric. The candidates dissemble because they believe that Americans don't want the truth. It would be too upsetting.
They're probably right. Let's imagine what a candidate inoculated with truth serum might say. This gauges the distance between what Sens. Clinton, Obama and McCain are saying and what they should be saying. Here's the abbreviated stump speech:
"Fellow Americans, I know you worry about the economy. So do I. But, frankly, if you elect me, I won't do much about it. It's a $14 trillion economy. Every three months, 7 million Americans change jobs. Presidents aren't powerful enough to steer this colossus. Sure, we can pass 'stimulus' programs, but if we overdo it -- as we did in the 1970s -- we will make the economy worse. Believe me, presidents would prevent recessions if they could.
"What we can do is preserve an economic climate that favors long-term growth. That means holding down the tax burden to maintain incentives for work and investments. We're already running a $400 billion or so deficit; some broad-based tax increases may be needed. This will disappoint conservatives, who think no one should pay taxes, and liberals, who think only the rich should pay them. But we must also cut spending, because, unless we do, the future tax increases will be crushing.
"Of necessity, spending cuts should focus on Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. These programs are projected to grow from about 45 percent of the present budget to 70 percent over a couple of decades. Paying for that exclusively with taxes would be devastating for the economy and our children. Paying exclusively by cutting other programs would gut vital government services. I admit that raising eligibility ages for baby boomers and cutting some benefits are unfair. People should have received more warning. But our politicians have so dawdled that there's no warning time left.
"We've also dawdled on energy. No one likes $125-a-barrel oil. Last year, we paid an average price of $64 a barrel for imports. Some blame the oil companies, but the truth is that we're all to blame. Americans like cheap gasoline and big vehicles. Nothing was done to dampen consumption. Meanwhile, Congress restricted new oil and gas exploration on environmental grounds. So, demand rose and supply fell. In 1985, we imported 4 million barrels of oil a day; now that's 12 million.
" 'Energy independence' is a fraud. We simply use too much foreign oil. All we can do is limit our dependence by shifting to more-efficient vehicles and increasing domestic production. But these measures will take years and have only modest effects. The same is true of global warming. Without major technological breakthroughs, making big cuts in greenhouse gases will be impossible.
"Finally, let's discuss poverty. Everyone's against it, but hardly anyone admits that most of the increase in the past 15 years reflects immigration -- new immigrants or children of recent immigrants. Unless we stop poor people from coming across our Southern border, legally and illegally, we won't reduce poverty. Period. That doesn't mean we should try to expel the 12 million illegal immigrants already here -- an impossible and morally dubious task. Many families have been here for years; many have American children. We need a pragmatic accommodation: assimilate most people now here; shift future immigration to the highly skilled.
"Vote for me. I'll tell the truth."
Of course, our hapless candidate would be dismissed as misinformed, offensive, possibly racist and, of course, unelectable. People say they value candor, but in practice they don't. Almost all our major national problems require patience: the capacity to take somewhat painful actions now to avoid greater future pain. In an ideal world, elections would help move public opinion toward such policies.
But that doesn't happen. Politics is mostly about immediate gratification -- about offering up convenient scapegoats and instant solutions for voters' complaints, even if the villains and promises are often false. We in the media bless this process by treating much of the self-serving rhetoric with undeserved seriousness. Is it any wonder that our genuine problems persist year after year and, in the end, foster public cynicism?
|
What a stump speech might sound like if the candidates couldn't dissemble.
| 69 | 0.928571 | 1.357143 |
high
|
medium
|
abstractive
|
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/13/AR2008051302302.html
|
https://web.archive.org/web/2008051519id_/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/13/AR2008051302302.html
|
High Court Caricature
|
2008051519
|
The court stepped in, summarily overturning laws in 16 states. Tossing aside evidence that the constitutional provision was never intended to apply to the situation at hand, the court instead looked to what it grandly described as the "broader, organic purpose of a constitutional amendment."
Another example of "unelected judges" demonstrating "little regard for the authority of . . . the states" and "even less interest in the will of the people"? Of judges, unconstrained by constitutional text or history, turning to " 'emanations' . . . and other airy constructs the court has employed over the years as poor substitutes for clear and rigorous constitutional reasoning"?
The case is Loving v. Virginia, the 1967 ruling in which a unanimous Supreme Court found that state laws prohibiting interracial marriage violated the constitutional guarantee of equal protection. The decision has been on my mind recently because of the death this month of Mildred Loving, the African American woman who dared to marry a white man and try to live with him in Virginia. Last week, I happened to listen to C-SPAN's riveting rebroadcast of the oral argument.
A few days before that program, John McCain delivered the tired broadside, quoted above, against activist judges. As my car radio crackled with the tinny voice of Virginia's lawyer urging the court not to usurp the state's "legitimate legislative objective of preventing the sociological and psychological evils which attend interracial marriages," I could not help but recall McCain's critique.
I'm not suggesting for a second that the presumptive Republican nominee opposes interracial marriage or disagrees with the ruling. My point, rather, is that the debate over the role of the judiciary deserves a far more nuanced approach than McCain's caricature of "the common and systematic abuse of our federal courts by the people we entrust with judicial power."
"I disagree with Senators Clinton and Obama that federal judges should be able to legislate from the bench," says a petition on McCain's Web site -- as if his Democratic opponents have made that outlandish claim to judicial power.
The world he sketches of liberal Judges Gone Wild is largely imaginary. The freewheeling jurisprudence of the 1960s has tempered, if not vanished. That's not surprising: Seven of the nine Supreme Court justices are Republican appointees, as are about 100 of the 166 appeals court judges.
Indeed, the supposed distinction between activist liberals and color-inside-the-constitutional-lines conservatives is not only phony but often backward. In its first 200 years, the Supreme Court struck down fewer than 130 acts of Congress; in the past 13 years, it has overturned more than 30, including a piece of McCain's signature campaign-finance law. This behavior is hardly the "humility" McCain argues should be restored to federal courts.
Last year, the court told school districts that they could not adopt voluntary integration plans that use race as a factor in assigning students. Talk about legislating from the bench. I don't recall McCain complaining then that the court was intruding "on policy questions that should be decided democratically."
And, notwithstanding Justice Antonin Scalia's recent admonition to "get over it," the court's intervention in the 2000 Florida recount was the ultimate in judicial aggrandizement. To quote McCain, "A court is hardly competent to check the abuses of other branches of government when it cannot even control itself."
McCain's bill of particulars against activist judges was particularly unimpressive. He assailed one justice for stating "that he was basing a conclusion on 'my own experience.' " This was John Paul Stevens this year questioning the constitutionality of the death penalty -- and then, respecting the importance of precedent, voting with the majority to uphold lethal injection.
McCain derided Anthony Kennedy's 2005 opinion invalidating the death penalty for juveniles because it invoked international law (although it wasn't the basis for the ruling) and relied on gauzy tests such as "evolving standards of decency," the court's touchstone in capital cases.
|
McCain's depiction of liberal Judges Gone Wild is largely imaginary.
| 65 | 0.916667 | 7.083333 |
high
|
medium
|
mixed
|
Subsets and Splits
No community queries yet
The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.